text
stringlengths 198
621k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| dump
stringclasses 95
values | url
stringlengths 15
1.73k
| file_path
stringlengths 110
155
| language
stringclasses 1
value | language_score
float64 0.65
1
| token_count
int64 49
160k
| score
float64 2.52
5.03
| int_score
int64 3
5
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Delhi’s air pollution disaster a fortnight ago seems to have alerted the Maharashtra government into taking preventive measures at the earliest. On Tuesday, the state cabinet approved the State Thermal Power Plant Ash Utilisation Policy which seeks to curb transport of fly ash produced in the coal-based thermal plants and stipulates measures to utilise all coal waste at source.
The government has announced cluster development of ash-based industries, such as cement, in the vicinity of all thermal power plants. The industries, in joint venture with the government, will be given land, ash and tax incentives.
Maharashtra produces nearly 18 million tonnes of fly ash annually. While one-third of it remains unutilised, the rest is provided to cement companies for free. The ash transportation cost, a Rs 2,000 crore burden on the state exchequer annually, is also borne by power stations.
The policy has been announced after the Centre’s directive in this regard, issued early this year. Maharashtra is the first in the country to formulate such a policy. It seeks 100% compliance by the end of 2017.
Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “We have already received some proposals from cement companies which are willing to purchase the coal waste.” About a third of raw material used in cement is fly ash.
Fly ash can be used for making cement, pre-fabricated building material, bricks, laying roads, housing and industrial buildings, dams, flyovers, reclaiming low-lying areas, wasteland development, stowing of mines and all other construction works.
The government has directed departments like Rural Development, Public Works Development, Urban development, Tribal, Social Justice and premier schemes such as Housing for All, Pradhan Mantri and Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojna to use at least 15% ash component in their works. The coal ash can be used in the agricultural land to increase its productivity and hence agriculture department has also been roped in to promote the fly ash among farmers. With the move, the government also hopes to bring down the cost of power generation and promises to pass it on to consumers.
The government has also decided to export fly ash after treating it with cenospheres, which is expected to generate revenue of Rs 1,500 crore. “There is a great demand of fly ash generated from power plants abroad,” said Bawankule.
The government has decided to set-up a company — Maha Gen Management Services (MahaGeMS) — to manage the ash generated at all government-run and private thermal plants in the state. Shyam Wardhane, the director of Mining in Maharashtra, has been given additional charge of the Managing Director of the under-construction company. The company will form joint ventures with private cement companies. The contribution of Mahagenco, the state-owned power generation company, will be its land and fly ash. Other investment will be done by the private partner.
If the venture is successful, it will reduce air pollution in the areas around power plants. Presently, fly ash is transported in trucks to cement plants. Many times the transporters do not pour adequate water on the fly ash and it spreads around during transportation.
“The cluster of industries can be set-up within 300-kilometer radius of the thermal plant. While those setting foot within 100-kilometer radius will have to collect ash on own expenses, for those established between 100- and 300-kilometer thermal plants will share 50% of the transport burden,” said Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
Ash content of Indian coal is approximately 30-45% while imported coals have 10-15%. A large quantity of ash is thus being generated at coal/lignite-based thermal power stations in the country, which not only requires large areas of precious land for its disposal near power plants but is also one of the sources of pollution of both air and water | <urn:uuid:307c3fae-3ffd-41a3-9a60-5d07d851b4ac> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://www.newsleakcentre.com/news/wake-up-delhi-after-delhis-pollution-disaster-maharashtra-adopts-policy-to-curb-transport-of-fly-ash/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780057479.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20210923225758-20210924015758-00330.warc.gz | en | 0.952212 | 821 | 2.515625 | 3 |
You’re just a simple airline passenger when the worst possible case happens during in-flight: the Flight Captain died. Most people think that the Captain’s death might also be the end of the airplane itself. However, this will probably not happen, that is until anyone is available to fly the said airplane.
The truth is, the passenger plane has two pilots in order to make sure that somebody is available to fly the plane even if the Captain dies during the flight. To those who didn’t know, both the Captain and the first officer are very skilled in flying their airplane. The only thing that makes the Captain different from his first officer is none other but their own rank. Needless to say, if it isn’t for the rank, they are equal.
So what happens when the Captain dies or gets sick during the flight? Listed below are the most possible things that the first officer will do:
- The first thing that the flight officer will do is for him to take the flight over as the main pilot before stating the situation towards the flight crew. Once oriented, the flight attendant/s will then make an announcement to the passengers, asking them if a commercial pilot is on board. If that one is available, the passenger will then be escorted right inside the cockpit where he or she will help the first officer during the flight by assisting him with the fight situations. Certain arrangements will be made in order not to cause panic among the rest of the passengers.
- If in case that a commercial pilot isn’t available, announcements will be made, asking the passengers whether somebody with a flight certificate is available.
- If a commercial pilot or someone with a flight certificate isn’t available, one of the flight attendants will be asked to help the first office during the flight since all of them are trained in this kind of situation.
Once done, the first officer will then assess the whole situation in order to determine whether the plane is in need of an emergency landing or not. If in case that the plane needs one, emergency landing procedures will be done during the flight. If it isn’t needed, the flight continues until everyone reaches the flight destination. It is also good pointing out that the flight passengers will be told to stay calm and buckled in their seats as much as possible | <urn:uuid:e2d39b5d-716e-41ac-9551-9e84573916b2> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | https://www.allinallnews.com/travel/what-happens-when-the-captain-dies-during-the-flight | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267865181.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20180623190945-20180623210945-00031.warc.gz | en | 0.968226 | 474 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Colombia Minimum Wage Rate 2023
Colombia has a government-mandated minimum wage, and no worker in Colombia can be paid less then this mandatory minimum rate of pay. Employers in Colombia who fail to pay the Minimum Wage may be subject to punishment by Colombia's government.
What is the Colombia Minimum Wage?
Colombia's Minimum Wage is the lowest amount a worker can be legally paid for his work. Most countries have a nation-wide minimum wage that all workers must be paid.
Columbia's minimum wage is 689,954 Colombian pesos a month. The minimum wage is established by the government every January and serves as a benchmark for wage bargaining. Colombia's minimum wage was last changed in 1-Jan-2016.
Facts and statistics about Colombia
Colombia is a country located in the South America region with a population of 42,321,000 and an average life span of 70.3 years.
|Gross National Product||$102,896.00|
|Current Leader||Andrés Pastrana Arango|
|Continent & Region||South America, South America|
|Surface Area||1,138,914 square kilometers|
|ISO 3166 Country Code||CO|
← Back to International Minimum Wages Home | <urn:uuid:360feda2-80c2-4cb5-851c-7ec587869370> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://www.minimum-wage.org/international/colombia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224644915.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20230530000715-20230530030715-00712.warc.gz | en | 0.881664 | 295 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Learn something new every day More Info... by email
Harmonics may be achieved in anything that can be fit to a wave, but most often the term is used to describe their use in music. In music, harmonics refer to the sounds which are produced at multiples of the same frequency as a base sound. This base sound is often referred to as the fundamental, or first harmonic.
An example may help demonstrate this more clearly: if the note being produced is A4, for example, it resonates at 440 Hz/second. At the second multiple of this fundamental, or 880 Hz/second, we find the second harmonic. At the third multiple of this fundamental, or 1320 Hz/second, we find the third harmonic. At the fourth multiple of this fundamental, or 1760 Hz/second, we find the fourth harmonic. This continues on well past the sound being audible to the human ear.
Musically, rather than talking about the actual frequencies of the harmonics, we would instead talk about their relationship to the fundamental in musical terms. So we can look at the second harmonic as being an octave above the fundamental. The third harmonic is then an octave and a fifth above the fundamental. The fourth harmonic is two octaves above the fundamental. And so on, with the harmonics alternating between being a major third and a minor third higher each time we go up.
When most musical instruments are played, they generate not only a fundamental sound, but can also generate a number of harmonics on top of this. This is most easily heard by listening to a guitar being played, where you will hear these other notes coming on top of the fundamental. For most people, these harmonics don’t actually sound like distinct notes — instead, it is this combination of sounds that helps give a song its distinct timbre. A singing bowl, such as those used in Tibet, also gives a very good example of multiple harmonics being generated on top of a very pure fundamental.
Sounds can also layer on top of a fundamental that are not actually harmonics. Musically these are usually referred to as inharmonics, and they can sound jarring or strange to listeners. This strangeness is most pronounced if it is very close to the frequency of a true harmonic, sounding slightly off. If it is far enough away from one of the actual harmonics of a fundamental, the sound is instead called a partial, and may be used for a musical purpose — although the effect is still rather eerie.
Harmonics may also be layered on to the human voice, producing some very interesting effects. This is usually referred to as overtone singing, and some specific styles are collected under the term throat singing. Throat singing makes use of the mouth as a resonating chamber, using its shape, and the shape of the tongue, to alter the sound as it travels out of the throat to shape it into a harmonic of the fundamental. When done correctly this can produce some truly amazing sounds — in the case of the Tuvan style of sygyt, the harmonics create a piercing whistle reminiscent of birdsong, with the underlying drone of the fundamental still audible.
An understanding of harmonics is not absolutely essential for someone taking up a musical instrument, but it can be very helpful in better understanding what’s happening. Particularly for stringed instruments, harmonics play a crucial role in developing a dynamic, interesting style. Knowing the physics involved allows a musician to manipulate them accordingly, to make the instrument’s harmonics sound the way they want them to.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK! | <urn:uuid:eff5249a-7697-492b-ae10-c9f8257423b6> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-harmonics.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510266597.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011746-00108-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944359 | 778 | 3.875 | 4 |
“The debate linked to a more responsive architecture, connected to nature, has been growing since the 1960s,” explains Irina Shaklova in her description of her IaaC research project Living Screen. “Notwithstanding this fact, to this day, architecture is somewhat conservative: following the same principles with the belief in rigidity, solidity, and longevity.”
“While Shaklova’s argument does generally ring true, that’s not to say that there haven’t been important developments at the cutting edge of architecture that integrate building technologies and living systems, including The Living’s mycelium-based installation for the 2014 MoMA Young Architect’s Program and self-healing concrete made using bacteria. But while both of these remain at the level of research and small-scale experimentation, one of the most impressive exercises in living architecture recently was made with algae – specifically, theSolarleaf facade developed by Arup, Strategic Science Consult of Germany (SSC), and Colt International, which filters Carbon Dioxide from the air to grow algae which is later used as fuel in bioreactors.
With Living Screen, Shaklova presents a variation on this idea that is perhaps less intensively engineered than Solarleaf, offering an algae structure more in tune with her vision against that rigidity, solidity, and longevity.
Instead of the more commonly-used water-based algae, Shaklova’s project incorporates aerial algae, which does not require a constant flow of water to survive. The algae is trapped inside a growth medium that is 3D printed in a pattern created from a single continuous line, with line intersections that help improve the structural strength of the final screen.” said archdaily.com
“Shaklova tested two different types of growth medium for the project, agar and Methylcellulose (powder hydrogel) with sodium alginate, finding that while agar was more efficient as a growth medium it presented problems for fabrication, as the algae had to be applied after the 3D printing process. Methylcellulose, on the other hand, could be mixed with algae before printing, dramatically simplifying the fabrication process.
Shaklova believes that the final result, a delicate 4 x 1.5 meter screen, offers an alternative to more standard water pump systems, with a shorter fabrication time and less technical details. Living Screen is also simpler to maintain, as it simply needs the right humidity to function – and even when this isn’t possible, in adverse conditions the algae simply shuts down into a form of hibernation, restarting operations when the conditions are right again.” said archdaily.com | <urn:uuid:6790f763-e501-472b-ae52-73b9549230b5> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://upriser.com/posts/iaac-student-develops-3d-printed-living-screen-from-algae | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964363445.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20211208053135-20211208083135-00011.warc.gz | en | 0.95075 | 560 | 2.953125 | 3 |
What is a finger dislocation?
Finger dislocation is a condition in which the bone of your finger has moved away from its normal position. Dislocation can be caused from jamming or overextending the finger during sports activities, or during a fall on an outstretched hand.
What are the symptoms of finger dislocation?
The symptoms of a dislocated finger include:
- Pain and difficulty in moving your finger.
- Finger appears to be crooked and swollen.
- A feeling of numbness or tingling.
- A break in the skin.
How is a dislocated finger diagnosed?
Your doctor can diagnose a dislocated finger by a physical examination of your hand. Imaging tests such as X-rays will be used to confirm the diagnosis of the dislocation.
What are the treatment options?
Initially, you will be advised to remove any jewelry on the finger. You will be instructed to apply an ice pack and keep your hand in an elevated position to reduce swelling. Your doctor will realign your dislocated finger, usually under local anesthesia and apply a splint or buddy tape it to the next finger for support. Your doctor may prescribe pain medications to reduce pain and swelling. | <urn:uuid:76976135-a420-4a2a-9dba-7dd9ef32b23d> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://www.seacoastorthopedics.com/hand-conditions/finger-dislocation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583822341.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20190121233709-20190122015709-00431.warc.gz | en | 0.927248 | 249 | 2.84375 | 3 |
By ANN LANDI
Tupper Lake, N.Y.
At the Wild Center, deep in the heart of the Adirondacks of upstate New York, it's not unusual to see a curator wandering the premises with a raven perched on his forearm. In the galleries surrounding a soaring central court, you'll hear peeps, screeches and birdcalls -- both simulated and real -- typical of the forests and streams of this sprawling wilderness. And if you sit down to lunch in the center's café, you'll be at water level with a man-made pond and might even catch sight of a graceful egret or paddling painted turtle.
The 54,000-square-foot main building of the Wild Center was designed to celebrate and explicate the natural wonders of Adirondack Park, an area encompassing more than 9,000 square miles, making it larger than the state of Vermont or five major national parks combined. To early European settlers, this irregular jumble of lakes, rivers and mountains was largely an impenetrable wilderness; even the Native Americans skirted the region, calling the few who lived in the area Ratirontaks, or "tree eaters," perhaps because they were such inept hunters.
Eventually, logging laid waste to the perimeter lands of the Adirondacks, and big animals prized for their fur -- beavers, moose, otters and mountain lions -- disappeared or were seriously threatened. In 1892 conservationists stepped in to protect the area's resources, and, in the years since, the forest has recovered and many species have returned. It's a rare model of man coexisting with nature, since many communities and private lands can be found within the park's boundaries.
The Wild Center
The Wild Center and its 31-acre campus, originally known by the stiffer name of the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, took about eight years from conception to completion in 2006. The museum was the brainchild of Elizabeth M. Lowe, who worked in public affairs for the state's department of conservation and whose family had deep roots in the area. An initial fund-raising effort among friends eventually led to $30 million in donations, about a third of it from government sources, and earned an environmental seal of approval from the U.S. Green Building Council. The project tapped the most sophisticated architectural talents, including HOK, the firm that designed the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
But it's the critters and exhibits that fascinate. Visitors enter through the Big Wolf Great Hall, a nine-sided space lined with stands of white birch. The introductory Glacial Wall tells the story of how glaciers carved out the region at the end of the last ice age. "The glacier is just a big dirty snowball," says Stephanie Ratcliffe, executive director of the Wild Center and my docent for much of the afternoon. "One of the things people find hard to believe is that the ice was two miles thick. Imagine the weight and the pressure."
Next comes the Living River Trail, starting with a trout pool populated by fish, serenely floating wood ducks, turtles and other peskier species such as "giant toe biters" (water bugs). Here, as throughout the museum, the exhibits offer a chance to touch, hear and smell. A keyboard makes different animal sounds, from frog croaks to the mournful vibrato of a loon. Bend your face close to a "sniff board" and you can get a whiff of the different boggy aromas of the marsh. (A similar contraption at another exhibit lets you inhale the essence of Adirondack mammals as well.)
The trail continues through fish pools filled with local species and displays of what they feed on. One instructive panel shows a model of a fish brain next to that of a human. "This is one of our little jokes," says Ms. Ratcliffe. "Notice the difference in size, but probably 11,000 books have been written by one on how to catch the other."
A series of galleries presents the smaller creatures of the Adirondacks, reptiles and amphibians, and the rich plant life that thrives on the forest floor. You can learn about the insidious ways of the pitcher plant, step on cushions that simulate the feel of a bog, or dip your hands in a shallow tank holding rocks and tiny fish. In the Find Out Forest, a large interior court, there is an almost bewildering array of short videos on separate screens; these might track an immigrant moose, explain how deer survive the winter, or take you on a raft trip through the Hudson Gorges.
Undoubtedly the high point of the Wild Center museum is the plunge pool where otters cavort around a miniwaterfall, diving into the water, swimming at lightning speed, and to this eye at least doing their thing with full awareness of a rapt audience. At feeding time in midafternoon the sleek little show-offs tuck into "bloodsicles," a frozen mixture of fish parts and water.
Outside the building is another habitat for the otters and generous cages for two ravens and a lone porcupine, all of which were found as "orphans" and given a new home. An exhibit about solar power explains where the center gets 10% of its electricity, and the green roof on an outbuilding offers a living experiment in further conserving energy. A network of trails around the pond and into the forest leads past a children's play area and a bird blind, down to an oxbow in the Racquette River where an overlook affords stunning views of mountains, sky and water.
"We're part aquarium, part natural history museum and part science center," Ms. Ratcliffe explains at one point during my visit. Needless to say, the place is extremely child-friendly, with a separate kids' playroom and plenty of interactive exhibits for small fingers.
It's a lot to take in at once -- the average visit lasts about three hours. But you'll want to linger in this glorious place, only a six-hour drive from New York City.
Ms. Landi writes on culture and the arts.Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page D9 | <urn:uuid:7d5062a2-0566-4822-acf2-5d08aac2d105> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124449834655195657.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953417 | 1,283 | 2.875 | 3 |
posted by Anonymous .
Which of the following is the best definition of Hess' Law?
A. Since enthalpy is a state function, it will be different if a reaction takes place in one step or a series of steps.
B. Heat is always released by the decomposition of 1 mole of a compound into its constitute elements.
C. Heat evolved in a given process can be expressed as the sum of the heats of several processes that, when added, yield the process of interest.
D. The enthalpy of a process is the difference between the enthalpy of the products and the enthalpy of the reactants.
E. At constant pressure the enthalpy change of a reaction is equal to the heat change of a reaction.
I think that the answer to this is D because to find the change in heat it is the final - initial. | <urn:uuid:399394bc-705f-4b27-b120-40fa05690ba1> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | https://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1203897662 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886133447.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20170824082227-20170824102227-00599.warc.gz | en | 0.947429 | 181 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Sampson White Pigeon – how do I record his name? Is his surname White Pigeon, or Pigeon. In his case, he lists his wife in the WWI draft registration as Eliza Pigeon, so I’m going to index him by the name of Pigeon, although I have my doubts. I will also cross reference it with White Pigeon.
He registered in Allegan County, Michigan, a county in the southwest corner of the state. There is town there called White Pigeon, so I decided to see if I could discover anything interesting, and sure enough, I did.
The history of the town of White Pigeon, which is in St. Joseph County, Michigan, also in Southwest Michigan, tells us that the town was named after the Potawatomi Indian Chief Wahbememe, which means Chief White Pigeon. According to legend, while he was at the gathering of the chiefs in Detroit, Wahbememe heard plans to attack the settlement which is now White Pigeon. The Chief was a friend to the white settlers and didn’t want to see harm come to them so he set out on foot and ran almost 150 miles to the settlement to warn the people. After running that long distance and giving his warning, he collapsed and soon died from exhaustion. His remains are buried in the town, and the site is now part of the National Register of Historic Places.
You can read more about the WhitePigeon family at this link: http://whitepigeonfamily.com/ | <urn:uuid:c2168dd8-253d-4bec-b70d-50afd8c03a12> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://nativeheritageproject.com/2012/03/28/white-pigeon/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496669225.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20191117165616-20191117193616-00129.warc.gz | en | 0.984956 | 330 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Peroxides can be produced when fish oil spoils. A study commissioned by the government of Norway concluded there would be some health concern related to the regular consumption of oxidized (rancid) fish/marine oils, particularly in regards to the gastrointestinal tract, but there is not enough data to determine the risk. The amount of spoilage and contamination in a supplement depends on the raw materials and processes of extraction, refining, concentration, encapsulation, storage and transportation. ConsumerLab.com reports in its review that it found spoilage in test reports it ordered on some fish oil supplement products.
Omega-3s are important components of the membranes that surround each cell in your body. DHA levels are especially high in retina (eye), brain, and sperm cells. Omega-3s also provide calories to give your body energy and have many functions in your heart, blood vessels, lungs, immune system, and endocrine system (the network of hormone-producing glands).
Sekikawa, A., Curb, D., Ueshima, H., El-Saed, A., Kadowaki, T., Abbott, R. D., ... Kuller, L. H. (2008 August 5). Marine-derived n-3 fatty acids and atherosclerosis in Japanese, Japanese Americans, and Whites: a cross-sectional study. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 52(6), 417–424. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2736602/
All people need to consume omega-3 fats regularly. The recommended daily intake for adults is 1.6 grams for males and 1.1 grams for females, according to the National Institutes of Health. The omega-3 family encompasses numerous fatty acids, but three primary forms are eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and alpha-linolenic acid. The first two forms primarily occur in fish, such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna. The third can be found in plant oils, including flaxseed, soybean, walnut, and canola oils.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease that can cause vision loss in older people. Two major National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored studies, called Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) and Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2), showed that dietary supplements containing specific combinations of vitamins, antioxidants, and zinc helped slow the progression of AMD in people who were at high risk of developing the advanced stage of this disease. AREDS2, which had more than 4,000 participants and was completed in 2013, also tested EPA and DHA. The results showed that adding these omega-3s to the supplement formulation didn’t provide any additional benefits. Other, smaller studies of omega-3 supplements also haven’t shown them to have a beneficial effect on the progression of AMD.
Another study conducted by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital examined the relationship between fish oil supplementation and indicators of cognitive decline. The subjects of the study were older adults: 229 cognitively normal individuals, 397 patients with mild cognitive impairment and 193 patients with Alzheimer’s disease. They were assessed with neuropsychological tests and brain magnetic resonance imaging every six months while taking fish oil supplements. The study found that the adults taking fish oil (who had not yet developed Alzheimer’s and did not have genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s known as APOE ε4) experienced significantly less cognitive decline and brain shrinkage than adults not taking fish oil. (9)
The most widely available dietary source of EPA and DHA is oily fish, such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, menhaden, and sardines. Oils from these fish have a profile of around seven times as much omega−3 as omega−6. Other oily fish, such as tuna, also contain n-3 in somewhat lesser amounts. Consumers of oily fish should be aware of the potential presence of heavy metals and fat-soluble pollutants like PCBs and dioxins, which are known to accumulate up the food chain. After extensive review, researchers from Harvard's School of Public Health in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2006) reported that the benefits of fish intake generally far outweigh the potential risks. Although fish are a dietary source of omega−3 fatty acids, fish do not synthesize them; they obtain them from the algae (microalgae in particular) or plankton in their diets. In the case of farmed fish, omega-3 fatty acids is provided by fish oil; In 2009, 81% of the global fish oil production is used by aquaculture.
In many cases, people are recommended to consume fish oil because it is an easy way to get additional omega-3 fatty acids into their diet. Omega-3 fats can be used to reduce swelling or to prevent blood clots which could cause major cardiovascular damage. There are many other conditions which can be decreased or improved with the use of fish oil. In most cases fish oil is used to help reduce high triglycerides which can cause serious conditions like diabetes or heart disease.
The studies recruited men and women, some healthy and others with existing illnesses from North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Participants were randomly assigned to increase their omega 3 fats or to maintain their usual intake of fat for at least a year. Most studies investigated the impact of giving a long-chain omega 3 supplement in a capsule form and compared it to a dummy pill. Only a few assessed whole fish intake. Most ALA trials added omega 3 fats to foods such as margarine and gave these enriched foods, or naturally ALA-rich foods such as walnuts, to people in the intervention groups, and usual (non-enriched) foods to other participants.
Chemical structure of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an essential omega−3 fatty acid, (18:3Δ9c,12c,15c, which means a chain of 18 carbons with 3 double bonds on carbons numbered 9, 12, and 15). Although chemists count from the carbonyl carbon (blue numbering), biologists count from the n (ω) carbon (red numbering). Note that, from the n end (diagram right), the first double bond appears as the third carbon-carbon bond (line segment), hence the name "n-3". This is explained by the fact that the n end is almost never changed during physiological transformations in the human body, as it is more energy-stable, and other compounds can be synthesized from the other carbonyl end, for example in glycerides, or from double bonds in the middle of the chain.
Higher visual acuity after DHA supplementation is a consistent finding in infants born preterm. For infants born at term, the results are less consistent and are better explained by differences in sensitivity of the visual acuity test (electrophysiologic tests being more sensitive than subjective tests) or by differences in the amount of DHA included in the experimental formula.
Belalcazar, L. M., Reboussin, D. M., Haffner, S. M., Reeves, R. S., Schwenke, D. C., Hoogeveen, R. C., Pi-Sunyer, F. X., and Ballantyne, C. M. Marine omega-3 fatty acid intake: associations with cardiometabolic risk and response to weight loss intervention in the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) study. Diabetes Care 2010;33(1):197-199. View abstract.
Jump up ^ Kwak SM, Myung SK, Lee YJ, Seo HG (May 2012). "Efficacy of omega-3 fatty acid supplements (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials". Archives of Internal Medicine. 172 (9): 686–94. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.262. PMID 22493407.
This constant sweeping motion of DHA also causes the breakup of lipid rafts in membranes (8). Disruption of these islands of relatively solid lipids makes it more difficult for cancer cells to continue to survive and more difficult for inflammatory cytokines to initiate the signaling responses to turn on inflammatory genes (9). In addition, the greater spatial characteristics of DHA increase the size of LDL particles to a greater extent compared to EPA. As a result, DHA helps reduce the entry of these enlarged LDL particles into the muscle cells that line the artery thus reducing the likelihood of developing atherosclerotic lesions (10). Thus the increased spatial territory swept out by DHA is good news for making certain areas of membranes more fluid or lipoprotein particles larger, even though it reduces the benefits of DHA in competing with AA for key enzymes important in the development of cellular inflammation.
Omega AD study, Irving et al. (54) Double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized 1741 DHA (1.7 g/d) and EPA (0.6 g/d) for 6 mo, then for all subjects (supplementation group and placebo group) Supplementation was associated with positive weight gain and appetite in supplementation group at 6 mo, but not in the placebo group, and for both groups at 12 mo
Not all forms of fish oil may be equally digestible. Of four studies that compare bioavailability of the glyceryl ester form of fish oil vs. the ethyl ester form, two have concluded the natural glyceryl ester form is better, and the other two studies did not find a significant difference. No studies have shown the ethyl ester form to be superior, although it is cheaper to manufacture.
The American Heart Association (AHA) has made recommendations for EPA and DHA due to their cardiovascular benefits: individuals with no history of coronary heart disease or myocardial infarction should consume oily fish two times per week; and "Treatment is reasonable" for those having been diagnosed with coronary heart disease. For the latter the AHA does not recommend a specific amount of EPA + DHA, although it notes that most trials were at or close to 1000 mg/day. The benefit appears to be on the order of a 9% decrease in relative risk. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) approved a claim "EPA and DHA contributes to the normal function of the heart" for products that contain at least 250 mg EPA + DHA. The report did not address the issue of people with pre-existing heart disease. The World Health Organization recommends regular fish consumption (1-2 servings per week, equivalent to 200 to 500 mg/day EPA + DHA) as protective against coronary heart disease and ischaemic stroke.
The omega-3 index may also be helpful for assessing health risks beyond cardiovascular disease. Studies are currently investigating the relationship between omega-3 index levels and mental health issues, like depression (15, 16, 17), cognitive functioning (18, 19), body weight (20), as well as eye health issues, like macular degeneration (21), to name just a few.
The nutritional value of seafood is important during early development. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015–2020 and guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency recommend that women who are pregnant or breastfeeding eat at least 8 ounces but no more than 12 ounces of a variety of seafood each week, from choices that are lower in methyl mercury. Methyl mercury can be harmful to the brain and nervous system if a person is exposed to too much of it.
According to research conducted at Harvard University, omega-3 fatty acid deficiency is officially one of the top 10 causes of death in America, claiming the lives of up to 96,000 people each year. Out of the 12 dietary, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors examined in the study, omega-3 fatty acid deficiency ranked as the sixth highest killer of Americans. (1) These deaths are considered preventable since getting enough omega 3-fatty acids in your diet can ward off this now common cause of death, and fish oil benefits omega-3 intake as a potent omega-3 source.
First, EPA inhibits the enzyme that produces arachidonic acid. Second, EPA impedes the release of arachidonic acid from cell membranes (where it is stored) and its metabolization once it is released. Without this release and metabolization, your body can’t make eicosanoids. The result is lower risk of the inflammation that would have been caused by all that arachidonic acid going to eicosanoids.
Norris, J. M., Yin, X., Lamb, M. M., Barriga, K., Seifert, J., Hoffman, M., Orton, H. D., Baron, A. E., Clare-Salzler, M., Chase, H. P., Szabo, N. J., Erlich, H., Eisenbarth, G. S., and Rewers, M. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake and islet autoimmunity in children at increased risk for type 1 diabetes. JAMA 9-26-2007;298(12):1420-1428. View abstract.
If you want to take higher doses of omega-3 fish oil supplements, talk to your doctor first. Your doctor can guide you in supplementing your diet with omega-3 fish oil. Also, your doctor can monitor all aspects of your health if you take higher doses of fish oil.For people with very high triglyceride levels, prescription omega-3 preparations are also available.
High blood pressure. Fish oil seems to slightly lower blood pressure in people with moderate to very high blood pressure. Some types of fish oil might also reduce blood pressure in people with slightly high blood pressure, but results are inconsistent. Fish oil seems to add to the effects of some, but not all, blood pressure-lowering medications. However, it doesn't seem to reduce blood pressure in people with uncontrolled blood pressure who are already taking blood pressure-lowering medications. | <urn:uuid:57963b4a-fb67-409b-baa2-cf693efd918b> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | http://frontrowrock.com/dr-tobias-fish-oil-benefit-dr-tobias-fish-oil-youtube.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039745800.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20181119150816-20181119172816-00325.warc.gz | en | 0.927123 | 2,962 | 2.8125 | 3 |
For long documents you are creating in Microsoft Word, it’s helpful for readers when you add a table of contents. Through this table, you can provide a brief outline of the layout of the document, complete with the main points.
When the reader will be using Word to view your document, the Word table of contents can work like a navigation system, allowing the reader to click on the specific listing in the table to jump to the related area of the document.
Setting up a table of contents in Word is an easier process than you may think. Best of all, when you use the table of contents feature in the app, Word allows you to update the table of contents with one click to reflect any editing changes you make in the main document.
Step 0: Format the Word Document Properly
Before you can set up a Word table of contents, you have to be certain to format your document properly. For this reason, we would recommend writing, editing, and formatting your document completely first and inserting the table of contents as the last step.
As mentioned earlier, Word will edit the table of contents to reflect the editing changes you make to the document, but the process just works better when adding the table of contents after writing the majority of the document. You may even find after writing the document that you don’t really need a table of contents because the document isn’t long enough.
The table of contents feature in Word will scan your document, looking for the heading styles you’re using in the document. It then pulls the information in the headings to create the listings for the table of contents.
To add heading styles to your Word document, highlight the text you want to use as a header and right-click on it. From the popup menu, left-click on Styles. You’ll see a list of styles available. Click on Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3 to assign that style to the highlighted text. Following this process throughout the document will greatly simplify the process of creating a table of contents later.
Step 1: Decide Where to Place the Table of Contents
If your document has a title page, you may want to place the table of contents immediately after the title page. Otherwise, some people will choose to place the table of contents at the beginning of the main document or (far less frequently) at the end.
Step 2: Insert the Table of Contents
Place the cursor in your Word document where you want to insert the table of contents. Click the References menu in the upper section of the screen in the middle.
In the submenu, look for the Table of Contents section. Click on the Table of Contents entry.
Step 3: Pick the Style of Table of Contents You Want to Use
You can select between two types of preformatted table of contents in Word and a manual entry option. (You can customize the look of the table of contents as well, which we’ll explain later.)
- Automatic Table 1: With this style of table, Word will use “Contents” as the title (as shown in the image above).
- Automatic Table 2: With this style of table, the title will be “Table of Contents”.
- Manual Table: With this style, you can edit the table with whatever text you want to add. Word will place sample text into the table of comments that you can edit. Understand that this process is far more time consuming than using the automatic option that relies on the heading styles.
Once you click on a preformatted table of contents style you want to use, Word will scan the document, populating the table of contents using the headings you formatted as you created the document. Word will automatically place a series of dots (called the leader) between the header and the page number. (You may need to switch to Print view to see the page numbers in the table of contents.)
When someone clicks on a listing in the table of contents in Web view, the reader can skip ahead to the linked item.
Step 4: Place the Finishing Touches on the Table of Contents
Here are a few final tips for making the table of contents look exactly how you want.
Reflect Editing Changes in the Table of Contents
As you make editing changes to the Word document, the page numbers in the table of contents or the actual listings themselves may need updating.
Word allows you to update the table of contents automatically, rather than having to manually change the table. Click the References menu, followed by Update Table (which is just to the right of the Table of Contents icon). Word then will update the table of contents to reflect your editing changes.
You can choose to update the page numbers only, or you can update all information in the table of contents through the Update Entire Table button, which is the option you’ll want to use most of the time.
Edit the Headings
Once you see the headings listed in the preformatted table of contents, you may decide the wording is poor or not descriptive enough. You can use this opportunity to edit the text in the headers to make them work better. Don’t edit the text in the table of contents, edit the text in the document and the entire table of contents will reflect the changes, as we just discussed.
Add More Headings
After creating a preformatted table of contents, you may find that in an especially long document, you don’t have enough headers. The table of contents shows you that you have too many pages between headers.
Go back and add some more headings to break up the text blocks in the document. If you did not use Heading 3 titles in the document originally, this is a good way to add more headings to break up the text. Then update the entire table of contents.
Insert Page Breaks
If you would like the table of contents to appear on its own page (or pages), separate from the main Word document, add page breaks before and after the table. (If the table of contents is the first item in the document, you don’t need a page break before it.)
Place the cursor in the document where the page break should appear and click the Insert menu, followed by Pages. Then select Page Break.
4 Ways to Customize the Word Table of Contents
Here are the four best ways to customize the way your table of contents looks in the Word document. You’ll make these changes through the Table of Contents popup window. To open it, click References, followed by Table of Contents. Then click Custom Table of Contents.
1. Remove Heading 3 Listings
If you used the Heading 3 style quite frequently in your document, you may find that the table of contents is too long or too detailed. You have the option of telling the Word table of contents feature to ignore all Heading 3 listings, which will shrink the table of contents.
In the Table of Contents popup window, click the Table of Contents tab. In the lower-left corner of the screen, in the General section, change the Show Levels number to 2. This should remove any Heading 3 entries from the table of content.
As we mentioned earlier, some documents are so long that using the Heading 3 listings in the table of contents is a necessity. You’ll may want to use the Show Levels feature to see how your table of contents looks with and without the Heading 3 style listings included, ultimately determining which way works better.
2. Modify the Font in the Table of Contents
You can change any of the fonts or text sizes in use in the table of contents. You may find that you prefer to have a different font style in use in the table of contents versus the main document to allow the table to stand out on its own.
Click the Modify button in the lower right corner of the Table of Contents popup window. Highlight TOC1 from the list to change the font for Heading 1 entries and click Modify again. (Click TOC2 or TOC3 to edit Heading 2 or Heading 3 entries.)
You then can select the font style and font size that you want to use for the selected heading in the table of contents. After changing the font, click OK three times and then click Yes to replace the table of contents.
This process should be the final step you take in editing the document and creating the table of contents. If you make additional editing changes to the document after altering the table of content fonts, Word may reset the table of contents to its default fonts.
3. Adjust the Leader Style
By default, Word uses a series of dots to serve as the leader (which is the set of characters that connect the listing in the table of contents with the page number. You can choose a different character as the leader.
In the Table of Contents window, click on the Tab Leader drop-down menu. You’ll see a list of characters you can use for the leader. Select the one you want to use.
Additionally, you can choose to use no leader, although this may not work well when the width of the table of contents stretches across the entire page. It may be difficult for someone to determine exactly which page associates with each entry without a leader.
You also could choose to remove the right alignment for the page numbers, placing them next to their associated entry on the left side of the table of contents. Just remove the checkmark from the Right Align Page Numbers checkbox. This is not the way a traditional table of contents looks, but it creates an informal look in your document’s table of contents, which may be perfect for the type of document you’re creating.
After making your changes, you may see a popup window, asking if you want to replace the table of contents. Click Yes to make the editing changes.
4. Changing Your Mind on the Table of Contents
After inserting a table of contents, you may decide you don’t like the way it works with this particular document. You have the option of removing it, and Word will make all of the spacing changes required to keep your document properly spaced.
Click References, followed by Table of Contents. At the bottom of the popup menu, you should click on the Remove Table of Contents entry. You may have to verify the selection.
Should you change your mind again and want to reinsert the table of contents, Word will remember all of the customization changes you’ve made, saving you from having to rebuild your table of contents from scratch.
To reinsert your deleted table of contents, just click References, followed by Table of Contents. Then click Automatic Table 1, Automatic Table 2, or Manual Table, and Word will restore your previous table of contents settings. | <urn:uuid:bdab67b8-c59f-4052-bed5-23c31d4cf513> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://nira.com/word-table-of-contents/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337680.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005234659-20221006024659-00447.warc.gz | en | 0.849376 | 2,229 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Pyridoxine, commonly referred to as vitamin B6, is a type of water-soluble vitamin. Unlike fat-soluble vitamins, water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the human body. As a result, humans need to obtain water-soluble vitamins daily to maintain adequate levels for proper bodily function.
In this article you can find:
- What are the benefits of vitamin B6?
- What foods are rich in vitamin B6?
- How much vitamin B6 do we require daily?
What are the benefits of vitamin B6?
Vitamin B6 has a range of benefits of the human body. It is particularly known for its role in processing of amino acids. It is important for normal energy metabolism, functioning of the nervous system, homocysteine metabolism, psychological functions, regulation of hormonal activity, red blood cell formation and immune system function.
What foods are rich in vitamin B6?
Vitamin B6 can be found in a variety of foods. This includes:
- Poultry, fish, and organ meats (chicken, salmon, tuna, liver)
- Starchy vegetables (potatoes, yams, corn)
- Fruit (excluding citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruits)
You can also ensure that you are receiving enough vitamin B6 through supplementation. Sona Vitamin B6 contains 50mg of B6 per table. One table is to be taken daily with your main meal of the day or as directed by your health professional.
How much vitamin B6 do we require daily?
Currently, the recommended daily amount (RDA) for vitamin B6 is 1.3–1.7 mg for adults over 19. Pregnant teenagers and pregnant women require 1.9mg daily, and breastfeeding teenagers and women require 2.0mg daily. Some signs that you are not getting enough vitamin B6 include tiredness and fatigue, skin rashes, dry cracked lips, weak immune system, numb hands or feet, and brain fog.
- B Vitamins. (2021). Retrieved 3 August 2021, from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamins/vitamin-b/.
- Huskisson, E., Maggini, S., & Ruf, M. (2007). The Role of Vitamins and Minerals in Energy Metabolism and Well-Being. Journal Of International Medical Research, 35(3), 277-289. doi: 10.1177/147323000703500301.
- Kennedy, D. (2016). B Vitamins and the Brain: Mechanisms, Dose and Efficacy—A Review. Nutrients, 8(2), 68. doi: 10.3390/nu8020068.
- Stover, P., & Field, M. (2015). Vitamin B-6. Advances In Nutrition, 6(1), 132-133. doi: 10.3945/an.113.005207 | <urn:uuid:d2f48ce5-006f-45a1-90dd-c3ded892849c> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://sona.ie/blogs/nutritional-blog-posts/vitamin-b6-benefits-sources-recommended-dietary-intake | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510219.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20230926175325-20230926205325-00378.warc.gz | en | 0.867016 | 627 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Getting Started with Makerspaces and 3D Printing – VSTE13
Makerspace is an idea that students can learn by making.
The presentation itself begins at around 15:30. Participants started the session by playing with 3D printed math and education related manipulatives, Cubelets, Little Bits, Bendaroos, LEDs and batteries. The bell ringer was a challenge to design an object using the Bendaroos.
I would love to hear you thoughts/advice/recommendations/links for teachers interested in starting classroom makerspaces and 3D printing. Please leave a comment or contact me on Twitter @DesignMakeTeach or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DesignMakeTeach. | <urn:uuid:17d64da7-8033-4b2e-8abd-0224e497ebec> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://designmaketeach.com/2013/12/14/getting-started-with-makerspaces-and-3d-printing-vste13/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540521378.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20191209173528-20191209201528-00473.warc.gz | en | 0.905114 | 148 | 2.984375 | 3 |
When it comes to addiction and recovery, there are a lot of so-called ‘hot button topics’, but there’s one that seems to be perpetually misrepresented and misunderstood more than the others:
RELAPSE IS PART OF RECOVERY.
As it happens, this idea was taken from a much bigger concept that was created in the 1970s, called the Transtheoretical Model. This model is also known as the Stages of Change Model, because it maps out the process or pattern of habitual change. The idea is that people don’t often change behaviors quickly on their own; instead, changes in habits happen over time in a cyclical (or circular) pattern.
The Stages of Change form a circle until the cycle of habitual behavior is broken. The Stages as they relate to recovery are as follows:
1. Pre-contemplation: In this stage, you don’t acknowledge that you have a problem.
2. Contemplation: You know you have a problem, but you’re not ready to do anything about it.
3. Preparation: You start to talk about doing something about it, maybe telling people you’re ready to stop.
4. Action: You actively change your behavior (usually detox and rehab).
5. Maintenance: This stage often includes some combination of Intensive Outpatient (IOP) Therapy, Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), 12-Step Meetings, etc.
6. Termination. In this stage there is no desire to return to use.
7. Relapse: If the cycle is not completely broken, a return to active use is common.
This is where the misunderstanding about relapse and recovery comes in, because relapse is absolutely a part of the Stages of Change cycle unless the individual holds fast to their decision to break that cycle successfully. If relapse occurs, the cycle continues.
A more appropriate way to state that problematic phrase might be that: RELAPSE IS PART OF THE CYCLE OF ADDICTION. This statement is more empowering because it is a reminder that breaking the cycle is the ultimate goal of recovery. | <urn:uuid:4c35ee93-8776-4d60-9f54-96d1c4827196> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | http://www.justlovemore.org/relapse-is-a-part-of-recovery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320306335.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20220128182552-20220128212552-00335.warc.gz | en | 0.945219 | 448 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Continuing the narrative on QR codes David Mitchell, this past week, took to stage at #tmbpool3 demonstrating how he has used QR codes to connect the myriad of online content produced by his students to the work they produce in their books. Using a beautifully designed Prezi and actual students books he showed how he was addressing the problem of evidencing where work and assessment is happening for parents, Ofsted, and more importantly for the students and themselves as educators. The post, titled: ‘Introducing 4D Books – Linking analogue to digital‘ is well worth the read.
In controast to David I have been taking a more gradual approach to QR codes. I have simply begun to include them in a variety of places over the last couple of week. I have added some to the VLE providing links to blogs or useful websites for Media and English students. I have added some to my lesson presentations such as on homework slides and I also left a link to my cover work, via a short url and QR code, on my classroom door while I was out of school on Friday. See below.
I have not actively engaged the students as a whole class in using them yet but simply encouraged students who have a QR capable phone to download a free app and scan the code to see what happens. The response has been positive and by the end of two weeks some students scan the code on the homework slide rather than copy all the info down into their diary. I am going to continue with this approach while I am in the process of developing a whole class activity for my Media Studies class (more on this in the near future).
Finally, David Hopkins retweeted a link to a page on the blog: ‘Web2 tools for in the classroom’ about QR codes. On the page there are a variety of links to useful posts and a clear explanation of what QR codes are, with some useful ideas on how they can be used in education. I certainly like the idea of students including QR codes in their assignments to send me the teacher to a useful resource.
Want to know more about QR codes in education? The read my most read post ever!
If you have been using QR codes or have ideas please comment below or share via Twitter with the hash tag: #qrcode | <urn:uuid:0f95ad4f-107e-4530-9638-ceed08723f56> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | https://jamesmichie.com/blog/2010/11/4d-books-cover-work-and-a-retweet-qr-codes-in-education/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501170521.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104610-00530-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970468 | 467 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Coloured glue and plywood.
The term bricoleur is used to describe a state of mind. the method is to collect allready defined objects, that together creates a new perspective on shape and material. Collecting and saving objects to combine them in a bigger constallation leaves the creator to his role as a survivor that quickly can make an assemblage and solve a problem, with what is at hand. look becomes irrationel – method and proces becomes evident. | <urn:uuid:55425a0c-6d07-4fd9-848a-739c0816cb46> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://jonasedvard.dk/work/the-bricoleur-sessions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267158609.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20180922162437-20180922182837-00278.warc.gz | en | 0.960942 | 99 | 2.53125 | 3 |
One of the basic skill crucial to every individual is the ability to read. Reading is a fundamental skill that allows a person to be able to expand knowledge and widen certain topics of interest. We do not just gather information and insights about various things from listening alone. People who lack the ability to read are just but unfortunate to not have this basic skill because it deprives them from getting equipped with apt knowledge and makes them feel mediocre in this ever-competitive world.
Reading also polishes a person’s listening and speaking skills. Silent reading is much like thinking aloud, only that the ideas are fed into the mind. Reading aloud is good practice to improve one’s speaking ability. As a basic language skill, it enhances or builds good vocabulary.
It is said that reading puts meaning on the written words and text. Emotions are conveyed when the written context are read aloud. Also, this basic skill encourages the reader to comprehend what was being read, understanding the thoughts and the message in the mind.
Importance of Reading Skill
There are three major goals every person should know in developing reading skill: independence, comprehension, and fluency. We all start out by reading words for the sake being able to utter them, just as how our parents and educators in school would teach us. Eventually, we learn to read and understand the meaning at the same time on our own. Finally, speed reading will make us fluent enough in acquiring the skill. Then, we become skillful readers.
Proficiency is what we get out of becoming skillful readers. You may not fully realize it, but having a good reading comprehension can be one of your weapons to achieving the career you want. Employers would associate an adept reader with being a critical thinker as well. Whatever we do and wherever we go, there is always something to read. Lack of good comprehension makes reading as a skill useless.
If you are a traveler, you must have the ability to quickly read signs, directions, instructions, and the like. In the office, employees read emails, memos, and directives almost everyday. When one lacks reading skill, it would be difficult to fully understand the information and instructions provided in these office communication tools.
How to Assess Reading Skill
Knowing how to tell if the person is proficient in this skill is fairly easy: having the ability to comprehend. This has been further explained in the former paragraph. Although fluency is a major goal in developing reading ability, comprehension is still the ultimate gauge to proficiency. A person may read fast but not really understand what was being read. Fluency and comprehension must go hand in hand. Now, this is true skill. If you can decipher the words, phrases, and sentences you are uttering from the written text, and paraphrase them based on your own understanding and interpretation, you are considered a skillful reader.
How to Enhance Reading Skill
Certainly, there are ways and techniques to develop the ability to read with proficiency. One method is skimming which is done by running one’s eyes over the written words or text with a purpose of getting the most essential information. Skimming is usually effective when reading newspapers, magazines, and business and travel brochures.
Another method to use is called scanning. Much like skimming, this technique is done by going through the text and spotting only for the needed information or detail. The difference between skimming and the latter is that through skimming, you can read through details after you found a certain heading or title that you want to read, for example. But with scanning, there is no need to read through every statement or the whole content but only makes use of key-wording.
Extensive reading and intensive reading are two other ways you can develop your reading skill. With extensive reading, you get to read longer texts especially when you are reading for pleasure or during your leisure time. Intensive reading is applicable for shorter texts with the goal of digging up only particular details. With this method, it is crucial to understand every word and number in the text. | <urn:uuid:3ea19978-7673-4b3b-a1b2-89661083c1da> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/core-skills/basic-skill-reading.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400196999.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20200920062737-20200920092737-00431.warc.gz | en | 0.965173 | 823 | 3.390625 | 3 |
History of Food and Drink
Found in 146 Collections and/or Records:
Agricultural Ephemera Collection
The Agricultural Ephemera Collection was established in 2015. The collection consists of materials in a variety of formats (advertisements, order forms and blanks, postcards, clippings, and more) that relate to agriculture, farming, livestock, and poultry & fowl, dating from the late 19th century to the present.
William Bradford Alwood Collection
William Bradford Alwood was a professor of horticulture, entomology, and mycology at Virginia Tech (1891-1904) and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His collection includes research papers, theses, brochures, and notebooks on such subjects as cider, wine making, grapes, and pellagra.
American Egg Board Collection
This collection contains educational pamphlets, recipe cards, and other materials created by the American Egg Board and previously used as part of an exhibit. Also included are issues of the American Egg Board bulletin "Sunny Side Up" and reprints of Reader's Digest articles about the American Egg Board.
"An Ideal Home" Illustrated Scrapbook,
The collection consists of an illustrated scrapbook, detailing the set up for a household, possibly compiled for a new bride or a school assignment.
"An Ideal Home" Illustrated Scrapbook, c. 1940s (Ms2013-026)
Ann A. Hertzler Collection, 1863-2003 (Ms2001-004)
Anti-Saloon League of Virginia Notice
This collection includes an undated Notice of Temperate Meetings held by Rev. J. W. West, Field Secretary of the Anti-Saloon League of Virginia. It includes subjects discussed and testimonials and probably dates between 1903-1909. The Anti-Saloon League of Virginia existed from 1901 to 1933, at the end of prohibition.
Atlas Flour Mills [Milwaukee, Wisconsin] Cabinet Cards
The collection contains a series of cabinet card advertisements for the Altas Flour Mills of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, probably from the early part of the 20th century.
Ballard and Ballard Company Collection
The collection includes a string of cardboard cut-out advertisements for Ballard's Obelisk Flour and a booklet with recipes and cooking tips from the Ballard and Ballard Company. In addition, it has a small pocket mirror with an advertisement on the back.
Judith Fenner Barnard Collection
This collection includes a memobook and journal owned by Judith Fenner Barnard (1896-1984), a teacher in Roadsville, Virginia, and Prince George County, Virginia. The memobook, dated July 1964, contains recipes, addresses, hospital records, and a seating arrangement for a dinner party. The journal, 1914-1972 includes journal entries about the Barnard family's lives and handwritten recipes. | <urn:uuid:ef0c349c-4840-4cea-b1d6-9fe8106a1534> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://aspace.lib.vt.edu/subjects/11? | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224657735.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20230610164417-20230610194417-00510.warc.gz | en | 0.918495 | 590 | 2.65625 | 3 |
|Beginnings of the Mission|
|Mission San Francisco Solano was the last of the 21 missions to be built and the farthest north. The Mission was founded by Father Jose Altimira on July 1823 and named for a missionary to Peruvian Indians.
At the time Mission San Francisco de Asis (Mission Delores) was doing very badly because of poor weather and diseases. The residents of Mission San Francisco de Asis had little food and only about 50 people to run the mission. Father Altimira, wanted to close the Mission and move north to a site with better weather. He did not ask permission from a very sick Father Señan, the president of the missions, and Father Señan was very upset. Father Vincente Sarria, who eventually took over for Father Senan, worked out a compromise that Father Altimira could build a northern mission as long as Mission Delores stayed open. Mission Solano was the only Mission to be built without permission from the Church and during a time when Mexico ruled California rather than Spain.
|Location and Geography|
|Father Altimira chose a site in what the Natives called the Valley of the Moon. The Valley had been named that by local Natives, according to local stories, because of the moons path behind seven mountains before rising into the sky.|
|The Native Americans|
|The main tribes in the area were the Coast Miwok and Pomo. Like most of the other tribes in California, they were nomadic. That means that they lived in one area for a time and would move their entire community to follow herds for food or when too much garbage piled up they would burn down the old ones and find another site to build their homes. Men hunted and fished to provide food while the women gathered acorns, wild herbs, roots, and berries to help feed their families.
By 1830 there were 1000 neophytes living at the Mission.
|Architecture and Layout|
The Fathers followed a regular plan for creating the layout of the mission buildings. Right after blessing the site the Fathers and the soldiers would start building a small building to hold the religious ceremonies, called a Mass. They would encourage local Natives to help them. Many often did; they were fascinated by the tools and gifts that the Fathers had brought with them. The first buildings would be built of wood poles and brush. Eventually the buildings would be replaced by larger adobe brick or stone buildings. After a chapel or church was finished where the Fathers and Neophytes could hold Mass they would start building the Convento. The Convento was where the Fathers would live. Next would come workshops and the Monjerio. The Monjerio was where unmarried girls and women would live and be locked in at night. The Fathers didnt think that unmarried girls and women should live near single men. Eventually there would be enough buildings for four sides of a square or quadrangle. The Mission complexes werent perfect squares because the Fathers didnt have a way to measure distance other than walking off distances. Most Missions included a fountain. The fountain was used for washing, laundry, and water. The more fancy the fountain the more successful the Mission.
The first church was finished in 1824 and in 1826 the foundation was laid for a larger one. Russian explorers lived in lands further up the northern coast and helped the Mission by sending objects for the church such as silk veils, linens, and bells. In 1826 the Mission was attacked by Natives living in the area. Several buildings were damaged and items were stolen.
|Life at the Mission|
Life at the Mission was difficult for both the Fathers and the Natives but because they were the last Mission to be built they had plenty of help to start the Mission. During the early years most Missions had trouble supporting themselves and depended on deliveries of supplies and food from New Spain and other Missions. Often the ships were unable to make the trip and the Missions members went hungry. It normally took several years before a Mission was able to plant enough food and raise enough cattle and other animals to be able to feed everyone who lived at the Mission. Mission Solano received tools, animals, and food from the other Missions in the area.
Normally those that lived at the Mission went by a strict schedule. The Fathers were used to this type of lifestyle, but the neophytes were not. The structure of Mission life was one of the reasons many Native Californians tried to leave. A French explorer, Jean François de La Pérouse, visited Mission San Carlos is 1786 and wrote a detailed account of what he observed. Events at the Mission were signaled by the ringing of the Mission bells. Each day started around sunrise (about 6am). The Mission bells would ring to wake everyone and summon them to Mass and morning prayers. Prayer lasted for about an hour and then everyone would go to breakfast. Atole, a type of soup made from barley and other grains, would be served. Breakfast took about 45 minutes and then it was time for everyone to go to work.
The Fathers were responsible for running the Mission and instructing the new converts and children in the Catholic faith. Most of the men went to the fields to tend to the crops or to help with the animals while women stayed at the Mission and worked on domestic chores such as weaving cloth and making clothes, boiling down fat to make soap and candles, and tending to the vegetable gardens. Children often helped at these chores around the Mission once their religious instruction was over. Depending on the particular industry at the Mission there also might be neophytes leatherworking, metalworking, wine making, and pressing olives for olive oil.
At noon the bells would ring again for everyone to gather for dinner, what we would call lunch. Lunch was normally pozole, another thick soup with beans and peas. After an afternoon break everyone returned to their work for another two to four hours depending on how much work there was to be done. A last bell would be rung to end the work day. Another serving of Atole would be served and the neophytes would be able to rest until it was time for bed (Margolin, Pg. 85). Women were usually expected to go to bed by 8pm and men by 9pm. Most of the Fathers allowed their neophytes to continue to hunt and gather additional foods and to cook some of their traditional dishes.
Living at the Mission was often difficult for new converts. They were used to working when work needed to be done and resting when they were tired. The Mission lifestyle was different. The Neophytes were the main source of labor for the Missions. It was their hard work along with the soldiers and Fathers that built the Missions and their outbuildings. Agriculture and ranching required constant tending to the crops and animals. Without this labor the Missions would not have been able to survive. Many neophytes missed the freedom of their tribal life and would try to leave the Mission. The Fathers wouldnt allow neophytes to leave and would send soldiers to search for them and bring them back. Runaways were usually punished for breaking the rules. Members of the Mission planted 300 fruit trees and 3000 grapevines during the short time that the Mission was active. They grew beans, peas, lentils, wheat, corn, and barley and also raised cattle, pigs, and sheep.
|The End of the Mission Period|
|The Mission was only open a few years before it was secularized. Most of the land was purchased by Mariano Vallejo, and important figure in Spanish and California history. Vallejo tried to keep the chapel open but wasnt able to find a priest to run it. Mission Solano was very important during the early beginnings of the California republic. The Mission served as the headquarters of the June 1846 Bear Flag Revolt. By 1881 the Mission buildings had been sold and were used to store hay and wine. The church was used by a blacksmith.
|Reconstruction and The Mission Today|
|In 1903 the Mission was adopted by the California Landmarks League. They collected $13,000 to purchase the Mission and donated it back to the State of California. Restoration started in 1911 and a museum opened on the site in October 1922.
|How to Reference this Page|
|To Reference or Cite this page you will need 5 items of information: | <urn:uuid:4eb35c35-8fec-4fc3-85e7-6680225241e1> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | http://californias-missions.org/individual/mission_san_francisco_de_solano.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250601241.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20200121014531-20200121043531-00043.warc.gz | en | 0.98558 | 1,724 | 3.796875 | 4 |
Failed pregnancy is a pregnancy that will not carry through to term.
The term "non-viable" pregnancy is often used by radiologists when a pregnancy fails to progress, especially in the first trimester, but caution must be used with this term. In some situations, a "non-viable" fetus is defined as a fetus that has a <50% chance of surviving outside the womb and is reserved for a fetus less than ~24 weeks gestational age. In certain countries (such as the United States), this distinction may carry significant legal consequences 3. A first-trimester fetus without a heartbeat may more accurately be called a "failed pregnancy".
- 1. Levi CS, Lyons EA, Lindsay DJ. Early diagnosis of nonviable pregnancy with endovaginal US. Radiology. 1988;167 (2): 383-5. Radiology (abstract) - Pubmed citation
- 2. Pandya PP, Snijders RJ, Psara N et-al. The prevalence of non-viable pregnancy at 10-13 weeks of gestation. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 1996;7 (3): 170-3. doi:10.1046/j.1469-0705.1996.07030170.x - Pubmed citation
- 3. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 160, 93 S.Ct. 705, 730 (1973).
First trimester of pregnancy
- ultrasound findings in early pregnancy
- confirming intrauterine gestation
- pregnancy of unknown location (PUL)
first trimester vaginal bleeding
- ectopic pregnancy
failed early pregnancy
- pregnancy of uncertain viability (PUV)
- anembryonic pregnancy
- yolk sac abnormalities
- gestational trophoblastic disease
- subchorionic haemorrhage
- demise of a twin
- implantation bleeding
- aneuploidy testing | <urn:uuid:02824116-00ba-4819-9eaa-371b25c7057b> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | https://radiopaedia.org/articles/failed-pregnancy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886118195.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20170823094122-20170823114122-00153.warc.gz | en | 0.811235 | 405 | 2.875 | 3 |
Double joints are used to drive steerable rigid axles. Their main area of application is all-wheel drive goods vehicles. The dimensioning criteria below therefore relate to this area.
9.1 Axial Movement of Drive Shaft on Turning
In Fig. 27, 1 represents the fixed bearing driven shaft, 2 the mobile bearing drive shaft. A and B are joint bearings, 0 is the pivot pin axle.
If the joint is fitted such that rotation point 0 of the pivot pin axle agrees with centre point M of the extended joint, with the joint bent by deflection angle ß, unequal deflection angles ß1 and ß2 occur and hence unequal transmission as shown in Fig. 29 curve ß0 = 0° and y = 0.
Now by offsetting the centre M of the extended joint by a dimension y in the direction of the fixed bearing, a specific deflection angle can be made to give constant velocity (Fig. 28). A constant velocity angle ß0 of 32°-35° is favourable, as this gives the minimum unevenness the entire deflection angle range (Fig. 29).
The offset y to be applied in order to achieve totally constant velocity at deflection angle ß0 is:
When the joint is deflected, an axial displacement of the drive shaft 2 occurs, so this must therefore have mobile bearings. The maximum axial displacement is:
With a constant velocity angle of 32°:
y32º = 0,02 · l1
x40º = 0,0641 · l1 at 40° deflection angle,
x48º = 0,0944 · l1 at 48º deflection angle.
9.2 Axial Movement of the Drive Shafts with the Use of Offset Axis Universal Joints
This catalogue shows only double jointed shafts with offset angle universal joints. In the bent state, in addition to the movements described under 9.1, these also generate an axial movement which is performed twice every shaft rotation (Fig. 30).
In the 0° and180° positions of the double joint, the axis offsets l (AA' and BB') are added linearly to the joint spacing l1k (A'B').
In the 90° and 270° position of the double joint, the axis offsets l are added to the joint spacing l1k according to the directions of the individual deflection angles ß1' and ß2'.
The difference X of these sums is the movement described by the drive shaft of the double jointed shaft twice per rotation. This must be taken into account in the dimensions.
Movement travel X = X - X'
X is the displacement of the double joint in the 0° and 180° position as produced also in the double shaft without offset axis joints.
X' is the displacement produced when on deflection of the joint in the 180° and 270° position of the double jointed shaft with offset joints, due to the shorter joint interval.
With a constant velocity angle of 32°, assuming that l = 0,1 · l1 and thus:
l1k = l1 - 2 · L
X'40º = 0,0756 · l1k
Thus for movement travel X:
X40º = 0,0641 · l1 - 0,0513 · l1k
X48º = 0,0944 · l1 - 0,0756 · l1k
The axial movement of the drive shafts takes place in the area of the axial movement of the deflection, i.e. the cardan shaft is "shortened" twice per rotation.
9.3 Centre Displacement of Fork Head (Carrier Ring) with Deflected Joint
When designing the space required for the yoke, it must be noted that, in addition to the deflection and axial movement, its centre is displaced twice per rotation. The centre displacement e is greater on the drive shaft side than on the driven shaft side.
For the drive shaft side:
emax = (l + X) · sin ß2'
where the input drive deflection angle ß2' is calculated as follows:
For the drive shaft side:
emin = l · sin ß1'
where the drive deflection angel ß1' is the difference between the total deflection angle ß and the input drive deflection angle ß2'.
So ß1' = ß - ß2' | <urn:uuid:81058142-94ff-4cdb-a651-06a0624635a4> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://www.klein-gelenkwellen.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=266&lang=es | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701163438.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193923-00161-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.863557 | 935 | 3.09375 | 3 |
EXT LM07 - Turf Management, Spring 1993
Professor Roger Kjelgren
College of Agriculture
Part of the Landscape Management Series
This course focuses on maintaining landscapes in the interior west of the United States. The course will instruct you on how to keep plants and trees healthy, how to think through and solve problems related to landscape maintenance, and how to maintain landscape with as little intervention as possible through understanding the needs of the plants.
This course is the seventh in a series of videos that offers a wide variety of information about landscape maintenance. Specifically this module covers an overview, how to install, and how to maintain turf in landscapes. Since turf takes the bulk of time and resources and creates the bulk of problems for landscape developers, this module explains the importance of turf in landscape management. | <urn:uuid:4115acd3-0237-48de-b454-0f1f150b3d19> | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | http://www.myoops.org/cocw/usu/University_Extension/Turf_Management/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1387345773230/warc/CC-MAIN-20131218054933-00039-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911449 | 161 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Datum planes are individual features that can be redefined, suppressed, hidden, or deleted. A datum plane is a planar reference that has no mass. It is infinite in size, but its display size can be edited to visually fit a part, feature, surface, edge, axis, or radius. You can also drag its drag handle. A datum plane has two sides that display brown and grey. The front, or brown side, is considered to be positive, while the back, or gray side, is considered to be negative.
The RIGHT, FRONT, and TOP datum planes included in all the default templates are known as the default datum planes. Every feature is directly or indirectly created off of these datum planes. A datum plane can be used as construction geometry for a feature. It can also be used as a reference for
- Assembling components
- Other features such as sketches on an angle
- Other datum features such as datum axes
Here is a simple method for creating the datum plane
1) Create a new Part file and name it as Datum
2) For the sake of practice select the front plane and click at plane.Or you may do it in reverse
order you can select the plane option then select the front plane.
3) When you do 2nd step a new dialog box will open as shown in following fig
The offset option will enable you to create a plane that is referenced to the selected plane (in this case it is front plane) and at a specified distance apart. In the above fig you can see I am creating plane that is 70 units far from front plane. You can change the placement of plane by making the distance negative (-70) .
Second thing that you can do by clicking at the word “offset” so it turn in to a box.Now if you click at the drop down box you will see four types of datum plans that you can create
The example shown above is for offset type.
“Through” option will enable to create datum plane by using any of one of these
using ” Parallel” option you can create a datum plane by selecting a plane
In “Normal” option you can create plane by using
The Method of creating these datum planes will be updated in the tutorial that i will make. | <urn:uuid:dc6c7cb0-de13-4b45-9e3b-fd55eb0cad93> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | https://www.mechanical360.net/creo/create-datum-plane-creo-elementspro/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721347.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00061-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.888919 | 487 | 3.953125 | 4 |
Who can teach tech these days, better than children? Kids are practically born with a wireless mouse in their hands. It starts in the early years with electronic educational games that teach kids their numbers and colors, states and presidents.
Next, the family PC replaces these "toys." By middle school, each child needs his or her own laptop. When kids hit the teen years it’s all about smartphones and tablets, complete with expensive data plans and unlimited texting.
While most of us still have nicer cars than our kids, our young technocrats are loaded to the gills when it comes to technology, and it’s all we can do to keep up. Much as we hate to admit it, our children are often more tech savvy than we are, and at times we have to turn to them for help. Turns out, in addition to doing chores, teenagers have another useful purpose: to teach parents technology.
Weaned on technology
As recently as 2008, teens were considered less tech-savvy than their parents. A mere three years later, today’s teens have been labeled the iGeneration, characterized "by their technology and media use, their love of electronic communication, and their need to multitask."
Teens have surpassed all other age groups in their use of connected devices (e.g., smartphone, Xbox, iPod, and laptop). While the rest of us have adopted technology as a convenient new tool to make life easier, today’s teens have embraced it as a way of life.
So who better to teach tech than teens?
Teens are naturally adept at using computer interfaces and have a knack for troubleshooting (a skill that eludes many adults who freeze when confronted with a technology glitch).
Perhaps the most important lesson teens can teach us is technical jargon. For example, dropping articles is absolutely critical. Never ever precede your reference to a social networking site with the word "the" as in "the Facebook" or "the Twitter." Doing this is tantamount to admitting that you save plastic margarine tubs and listen to Linda Ronstadt.
Teens speak the language of texting. It’s full of funky abbreviations and colloquialisms that will serve you well to learn. (Ask your children what AITR and PAL mean... if they won’t give up the goods, you can translate text slang here.)
Throw your teen a bone
Getting teens to teach parents technology is a great way to empower them. Here are some things that they can help you with:
Set the privacy settings on your Facebook page.
Download a teen curfew app.
Install your wireless printer.
Set up your DVR to record your favorite series.
Disable your Bluetooth when around unsecured public Wi-Fi (and make sure they know the importance of doing this at the same time).
Get all of those icons off the screen of your Mac and into folders.
Explain the difference between upload and download.
Delete that old email account that has been co-opted by phishing scammers.
Savvy is as savvy does
Just because teens know so much about technology, it doesn’t mean they possess the judgment required to always use it wisely and safely. Parental support based on nurturing, providing guidance and the wisdom of experience will never be replaced by advances in technology.
Parents’ roles in their teens’ lives are more important than ever as they try to navigate their way through the pitfalls unique to the iGeneration. There are still a few things mom or dad can teach them when it comes to their cyber welfare.
Cyberbullying is no joke and kids need to understand how to navigate problematic social situations online. Stress related to technology overload is also on the rise. Helping a child balance screen time with sleep time is another area in which parental guidance and authority are critical.
And everyone is vulnerable to malware and hacking - teens included - so they need to protect themselves with security software.
They’ll be the ones who save the world
Though kids can offer great nuts-and-bolts technology assistance, the bigger lesson they impart is an inspirational one. For most teens, their attachment to technology is not motivated by a desire to keep up with the Joneses or to leave their folks in the dust. iGeneration teens tend to be generous with their time and enthusiastic teachers. They instinctively understand that leveraging technology is one of the main ways to improve our planet.
So look forward to your teen hanging around the house this weekend. After you have her rake the leaves off the roof, she can fix the sound on your PC... so you can watch a few of those tutorial videos. | <urn:uuid:3221bbf5-7e86-49a1-ba1f-084f9dcde5da> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://www.webroot.com/us/en/resources/tips-articles/what-parents-can-learn-from-their-tech-savvy-teens | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560627998369.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20190617022938-20190617044938-00444.warc.gz | en | 0.956182 | 964 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Developing a Purpose-Driven Approach to Learning
Jason C. Lange, BloomBoard
The way we interact as human beings has changed significantly over the last twenty years. Daily communication between friends is no longer a phone call, but instead a tag, a tweet, or a disappearing video. The process of navigating the world has changed from an immersive and physical experience with a map, to a disconnected and technology-reliant after-thought with a smartphone. Yet, for all of this societal advancement, the ways we support learning look remarkably similar to those from centuries ago.
Historically, outcomes in education have been driven by the agendas of schools, policy makers, and academics. The destination of a successful student pathway, as defined by these stakeholders, was college. However, due to large-scale societal change in recent times, a shift in the balance of power away from policy makers and towards employers is beginning to take shape.
Employers are continuing to have a growing influence on the way learning and education systems look, as they control the desired outcomes for students. Yet, traditional models of learning and instruction are not meeting these professionally driven set of expectations. Alarmingly, only 11 percent of employers believe that recent graduates have the skills needed to succeed within their workforces.
The Problem With Historical Models of Learning and Instruction
The two most critical drivers of educational outcomes for students are the learning model and the instructional model. The learning model is starting to change with the introduction of technology and student-centered approaches to learning, while the instructional model has stayed largely stagnant for decades. This disparity is a cause for concern.
The system by which we train instruction is well documented to be both ineffective and incredibly costly, with little impact on actual classroom practice. A report published by TNTP found that school districts are spending upward of $18,000 a year per teacher on all costs associated with professional development. However, only 5% of the learning teachers obtain from this investment is being implemented in the classroom (Joyce & Showers, 1995, 2002, 2016).
The question has to be asked, how much of an impact is the current approach to learning having on teacher practice and student outcomes?
It’s clear that more and more school boards are becoming frustrated with the growing gap between the money they spend on traditional professional development initiatives and the level of impact (or lack thereof) these funds seem to have on classroom-related outcomes.
In many states, this frustration at a district level is being compounded by a shift in priorities at the state level, where education budgets are being withheld when there is no clear connection between student learning, teacher instruction, and proven outcomes. Add to these issues, mounting pressure from the business industry calling for higher standards, transparency, and accountability on graduates, and we have created the volatile dynamic around what the future of learning might look like.
To close the gap between investment and reported outcomes, many states have started the move toward a competency-based approach to learning. With a competency-based approach, by default, individuals are working to build a portfolio that showcases their skills. This shift is not about how they learn or how long it takes them, it’s about building mastery and demonstrating skills relevant to success in their field.
Within the current system, the incentives for practical learning are based on box checking, rather than meaningful progression. The high standards expected of competency-based learning are, therefore, inconsistent with the ease-of-credit accrual associated with traditional consumption-based learning. This leaves teachers and students unmotivated to go above and beyond to develop their skills.
While the move from consumption to competency is starting to take shape at all levels of education, the process is slow. In this paper, we will explore how this much needed change can be accelerated.
PATHWAY 2 TOMORROW
Pathway 2 Tomorrow: Local Visions for America’s Future (P2T) matches responsive and agile education policy solutions with the needs of states and local communities.
For questions please contact us | <urn:uuid:2a8c9a67-5813-40d7-a51a-add6b293389e> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | http://p2tomorrow.org/impact-plans/competency-based-educator-licensure-through-micro-credentials/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662540268.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20220521174536-20220521204536-00792.warc.gz | en | 0.962607 | 828 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The simple answer to this question is yes. Over-grooming is an anxiety disorder in cats that can be compared to obsessive compulsive behavior in humans. Many cats find grooming themselves to be quite relaxing and in stressful situations will turn to grooming to calm down. Over-grooming, however, is a sign that your cat may be suffering from a more serious anxiety problem and that they have difficulty relieving stress. In many instances, over-grooming in cats begins when there is some kind of environmental change; for example, a move, the introduction of a new pet or family member, or even illness may lead to over-grooming.
Recognizing that your cat is over-grooming may be difficult. Still, excessive licking or pulling at fur are two of the earliest signs of over-grooming. Eventually, cats that groom too much may develop bald patches especially around the inside of the thighs, near the abdomen and groin, or on the forelegs. Because over-grooming in cats may be caused by a medical condition, it is always best to visit your veterinarian if you notice these symptoms. Hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, allergies, bacterial infection, and viral infection are all examples of medical conditions that may cause cats to over-groom.
In most cases, over-grooming is treated by dealing with the underlying medical condition. However, if your cat over-grooms because of an anxiety disorder, the treatment is aimed at removing the stressful situation or helping your cat to cope with stress. Anxious over-grooming in cats is usually caused by some environmental stressors. Find and eliminate the stress causing factors and your cat may recover. In addition, try to maintain a regular routine that includes a healthy diet, exercise, and play with your cat. Finally, ensure that your cat has a stimulating environment so that she can entertain herself when you are away. In very extreme cases, vets may recommend anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medications. | <urn:uuid:69fe2701-3587-4d5a-959f-2926933866fa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.crittercures.com/blog/2010/05/can-cats-groom-too-much.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954276 | 407 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Oxford referencing is often called as “documentary note referencing system” because it uses a combination of inline annotation, footnotes, endnotes and annotated bibliographic appendices. It is used in the historical and philosophical fields. Oxford In –Line notations, use of markers is recommended every time the information or a quote from a source is used. Markers appear sequentially and point to a specific footnote and normally are found at the end of the sentence rather than the end of the section.
Footnotes and endnotes are also sequentially numbered. For citing resources, full citing is used for the first incident, however after that name, date, page format for subsequent notes is recommended.
A first reference to a work should be : Author’s first name, Author’s surname, Title (in italics), Place of publication, Date, Page. Paraphrasing and summarizing are both permissible in oxford. This system of referencing relies upon annotated bibliography, wherein, each entry will include a brief description (annotation) of the source and its relevance to the document. The bibliography will a contain list of works that were consulted or studied it may also include a section of materials not used or referenced, but that the author feels may be of interest related to the subject.
Quotes of less than thirty words are used in text of related paragraph indented an additional four-tenths of an inch from the left margin. In both cases, the supra-script notion should immediately follow the quotation. For online journals, the referencing should be:
Author’s first name, Author’s surname, title (in single inverted comas), Journal name, v (volume no.), p (page no.), Retrieved date from the link. | <urn:uuid:4d5ce2ce-ca3e-42a5-a87f-bca97874ce4e> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://termpaperwritingservice.co.uk/price/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463609305.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20170527225634-20170528005634-00483.warc.gz | en | 0.917116 | 365 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Extinctions: Georges Cuvier
By the 1700s, fossils had been inducted into the living world. Instead
of being produced by rocks themselves, fossils were recognized as the
remains of animals or plants. They looked too much like particular living
to be anything else. As the eighteenth century wore on, some fossils emerged
that could not be tied so neatly to the known living species. Elephants,
for example, had left fossils in Italy, where they could no longer be
found. Yet elephants still lived in Africa, and naturalists assumed that
other fossils had living counterparts of their own in some remote part
of the world. But, at the end of the century, a French naturalist popularized
an astonishing revelation: some species had actually vanished from the
face of the Earth.
||Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) joined the fledgling National Museum in Paris
in 1795, and quickly became the world's leading expert on the anatomy
of animals. He then used that knowledge to interpret fossils with unprecedented
insight. Legend has it that sometimes even a few fragments of bones were
enough for him to reconstruct the complete anatomy of a previously unknown
species with uncanny accuracy.
|This print shows the recovery of the first mosasaur fossils in 1780.
Cuvier used the fossils to support his radical ideas on extinction.
A few earlier naturalists, such as Buffon,
had argued that species might become extinct. But for some people
in Cuvier's day, the idea of extinction
was religiously troubling. If God had created all of nature according
to a divine plan at the beginning of the world, it would seem irrational
for Him to let some parts of that creation die off. If life consisted
of a Great Chain of Being, extending from ocean slime to humans to
angels, extinctions would remove some of its links.
Cuvier carefully studied elephant fossils found near Paris. He discovered
that their bones were indisputably distinct from those of living elephants
in Africa and India. They were distinct even from fossil elephants in
Siberia. Cuvier scoffed at the idea that living members of these fossil
species were lurking somewhere on Earth, unrecognizedthey were simply
too big. Instead, Cuvier declared that they were separate species that
had vanished. He later studied many other big mammal fossils and demonstrated
that they too did not belong to any species alive today. The fossil evidence
led him to propose that periodically the Earth went through sudden changes,
each of which could wipe out a number of species.
|A 1798 paper by Cuvier
contained this drawing showing the differences between the lower jaws of
a mammoth (top) and an Indian elephant. These differences supported the
idea that mammoths were indeed extinct.
Cuvier established extinctions as a fact that any future scientific theory
of life had to explain. In Darwin's theory, species that did not
adapt to changing environments or withstand the competition of other species
faced annihilation. Darwin did not, however,
accept all of Cuvier's ideas on extinctions.
Lyell before him, he doubted that species
went extinct in great "catastrophes." Just as the planet's
geology changed gradually, so did its species become extinct gradually
as new species were formed.
Background extinction and catastrophe
On this score, Cuvier has been somewhat vindicated. Perhaps 99% of all
species that ever existed on Earth are now extinct. Most of those extinct
species disappeared in a Darwinian tricklewhat paleontologists call
"background extinctions." But several times over the past 600 million years,
life has experienced "mass extinctions", in which half or more of all species alive at the time
disappeared in fewer than two million yearsa blink of a geological
eye. The causes may include asteroids, volcanoes, or relatively fast changes
in sea level. These extinctions mark some of the great transitions in
life, when new groups of species got the opportunity to take over the
niches of old ones. Mammals, for example, only dominated the land after
giant dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago in the Cretaceous-Tertiary
extinction. We humans, in other words, are the children of extinctions.
Lifes history has been marked by both catastrophic extinction events
(red spikes) and constant background extinction (yellow). | <urn:uuid:56f8db31-a463-4696-8bb8-d27df14c38ad> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://www.evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/history_08 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701174607.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193934-00073-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962917 | 924 | 4.09375 | 4 |
Understanding "Cancel Culture"
According to Wikipedia, Cancel Culture (or Call-out Culture) is “…a form of public shaming that aims to hold individuals and groups accountable for their actions, by calling attention to behavior that is perceived to be problematic, usually on social media.” It is universally known that Social Media brings a heightened sense of reality, where many say what’s on their minds. Social Media provides a platform for those perspectives; whether they’re based on personal beliefs, opinions, facts or even a mere sounding board. Sharing of these points of view and opinions is protected by Freedom of Speech.
And in today’s day and age, where the gap between the left and right is more intense than ever before, there are those who believe that they need to create a punishment to any speech, post, videos, or anything people deem “Harmful” or “Hate Speech.” Despite the classification of Hate Speech, it’s still protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as it is the right for anyone to express their opinions.
It’s no surprise that people, like myself, are more hesitant to express opinions with consideration to the possible backlash on free-speech. Despite the promises of a free-speech and freedom of expression, there’s a fear. The fear of being “called-out”, threatened and further such abuse is always in the back of people’s minds. Especially on known social justice and activist spaces.
A single tweet or statement can ruin a person’s credibility or even their way of life. These self-proclaimed activists search for perceived comments they can cite as racist, Islamophobic, homophobic, or other buzz words among its members. They love spitting them out when someone with different views than them expresses an opinion of whether it is right or wrong.
While many people might agree that it is necessary to call-out people based on their bigotry, after all, it is their right to do so under Freedom of Speech, it is a well-known fact that not all people have the same opinion. We all have our views; this is what makes us well-rounded individuals, not a hive-minded creature.
This culture of cancellation among its followers has the assumption that humans are either born “woke” and are good or weren’t and are bad. By doing so these people are dismissing the idea that humans develop a new viewpoint, opinions or new ideology towards something they might outgrow.
Examples of "Cancel Culture"
Let’s look at Brother Nature for example. A 20-year-old Twitter personality who was once faced with a backlash from a tweet he sent when he was 12. Before he could apologize for his past statements, he had to make his Twitter account private because of all the attacks he was facing.
And now we take a look at another recent case of Zoë Quinn, a 32-year-old indie game developer, who became famous during the Gamergate controversy. She accused fellow game developer and ex-partner, Alec Holowka, of harassment and abuse which resulted in Holowka’s suicide. Holowka received immeasurable online abuse by this Social Justice Warrior (SJW) community, not to mention he lost his employment as well. The SJWs were following their “Cancel Culture” principals, after all.
What is even more destructive and disturbing about this case is Quinn‘s allegations on these sexual assaults against Holowka are yet to be proven. This “Cancel Culture” community seems to ignore the term “innocent until proven guilty”, a term giving someone the benefit of the doubt until their day in court. But no, these angry people with their mob mentality posted at their keyboards sought the public execution of the accused. An accused person not given a chance to prove himself innocent.
Those who’re “calling-out” or “public shaming” were the ones pulling the guillotine. These individuals may be no saner than the ones they are beheading, which is why natural law exists that separates us from the animals. However, what’s more troublesome are their actions are readied to defend anyone with the same views as themselves, as if they’re in some kind of war.
Meanwhile, Quinn wields social media as her weapon. Utilizing her fame, particularly in Leftist leaning activism. collective shaming, timely accusations, and bandwagoning causes (in 2019 Quinn declared that she is to be referred to as “they/them”) all of these traits strengthen her ground as a Social Justice Warrior (SJW).
“Until now, Quinn has not taken any responsibility for what has happened – not even a word of sympathy or regret towards Holowka, or how the story has played out. But soon she will emerge again, and none of this will be her fault, and she will be declared by all to be the real victim here. And the cycle will continue.” – Ogorodnev, RT.com
Lost Intentions in Mob Metality
This culture right now has appeared to diverge from its supposed purpose and intentions of holding people accountable into a justification to insult and demean people on Social Media.
Even going as far as to abuse them, pushing them to the point of psychological trauma and self-harm (such as the case of Holowka).
Although it seems like the “Cancel-Culture” has good intentions behind it like “Cultural Appropriation” arguments, the intentions have diverted so badly that it is weaponized to attack someone who did not share the same views as them. It’s not only very dangerous but exceptionally inhumane to do so. Treat people as people, simple as that. People make mistakes, and they also may not have the same view as you. Yet, most importantly, have respect for one another and treat everyone equally as a human being.
“Think of people as people, not as abstractions who have to conform to bloodless logic but as people — fragile, imperfect, with pride that can be wounded and hearts that can be touched, Literature is my religion.
I have learned from literature that we humans are flawed, all of us are flawed, but even while we are flawed, we are capable of enduring goodness.”
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
Gregory Nicholas is a personal blogger, and an aspiring writer interested in geek culture like movie, comic book, Superhero Enthusiasts, and occasionally some novel. As a Communication student with Journalism focus, He aspire to look at any issues with fresh pair of eyes and to report everything as accurate as it can get. | <urn:uuid:6fbd1513-5c86-43d4-b239-3f8ecb61d674> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://khaoscentral.com/cancel-culture-a-problematic-future | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703522242.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20210121035242-20210121065242-00387.warc.gz | en | 0.974004 | 1,425 | 2.625 | 3 |
SII pauses India trial of COVID-19 vaccine: Move may delay release but inspires confidence in process, say experts
It is standard procedure to pause trial until further information is obtained about any unexplained symptom or any developments in a recipient's health
Clinical trials for AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine candidate have been paused in India, said Serum Institute of India on Thursday, days after similar trials were halted in the UK after a recipient developed a “potentially unexplained” illness.
The move also comes after the company received a notice from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for not submitting casualty analysis of the "reported serious adverse events".
Why was the vaccine trial paused?
It all started when one of the vaccine recipients developed an unspecified serious illness in the UK. It is not yet clear whether the vaccine and the onset of disease are co-related. But it is standard procedure to pause trial until further information is obtained about any unexplained symptom or developments in a recipient.
AstraZeneca, a Bretish-Swedish drug company, which is manufacturing the vaccine in a tie-up with Oxford University, didn't reveal any information about the possible side effect except to call it "a potentially unexplained illness".
The health news site STAT first reported the pause in testing, saying the possible side effect occurred in the UK.
It’s likely that the unexplained illness was serious enough to require hospitalisation and not a mild side effect such as fever or muscle pain, said Deborah Fuller, a University of Washington researcher who is working on a different COVID-19 vaccine that has not yet started human testing.
Earlier-stage studies of the Oxford vaccine canddiate hadn't revealed any serious side effects, but that's a key reason for doing ever-larger phases of research — to widen the search for any reactions.
Meanwhile, it is important to note that temporary holds of large medical studies aren't unusual, and investigating any serious or unexpected reaction is a mandatory part of safety testing. AstraZeneca pointed out that it's possible the problem could be a coincidence; illnesses of all sorts could arise in studies of thousands of people.
How does it impact search for coronavirus vaccine?
Even though such interruptions in last-stage trials of drugs and vaccines are not uncommon, the suspension of trials, while temporary, may offset hopes of an early vaccine.
Scientists have been scrambling to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus since the outbreak began, and experts across various countries are testing several vaccine candidates. Due to the severity of the situation, the world has even witnessed calls to fast-track trials to ensure an early launch of vaccine. On average, vaccine development can take 10-15 years.
The pause on the last-stage trials may offset the release date that SII and AstraZeneca were hoping for.
“We are working to expedite the review of the single event to minimise any potential impact on the trial timeline,” AstraZeneca statement said.
SII, which was responsible for carrying out the trials in India, however, refused to comment on how the pause will effect the production timeline.
"We are reviewing the situation and pausing India trials till AstraZeneca restarts the trials. We are following DCGI’s instructions and will not be able to comment further on trials. You can connect with DCGI for more updates on this front," SII said.
Experts call pharma giant's move to pause trial despite public glare 'reassuring'
However, apart from a possible delay in production of vaccine, public health experts feel the decision to pause trials was actually encouraging.
“This is not something to be alarmed about,” Fuller said. Instead, it’s reassuring that the company is pausing the study to figure out what’s happening and carefully monitoring the health of study participants.
Dr Francis Collins, director of US National Institutes of Health said, "This ought to be reassuring... When we say we are going to focus first on safety and make no compromises, here is Exhibit A of how that is happening in practice."
Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University in New York, tweeted that the illness may be unrelated to the vaccine, "but the important part is that this is why we do trials before rolling out a vaccine to the general public".
So...this is why you need to do phase 3 clinical trials prior to a vaccine getting approval. https://t.co/YJGfc0jaBK
— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen) September 8, 2020
Rasmussen's comments bring to light the importance of sticking to the due diligence in vaccine and drug trials.
During the third and final stage of testing, researchers look for any signs of possible side effects that may have gone undetected in earlier patient research. Because of their large size, these studies are considered the most important phase for picking up less common side effects and establishing safety.
The trials also assess effectiveness by tracking who gets sick and who doesn’t between patients getting the vaccine and those receiving a dummy shot.
This process isn't new — phase 3 studies of vaccines and therapies are always done this way — though they are rarely in the spotlight.
This week news broke that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked states to sweep away red tape that could prevent a network of vaccine distribution centres being "fully operational by 1 November, 2020". The country faces its presidential elections this year on 3 November.
The US Food and Drug Administration has also raised the possibility that a vaccine might be given emergency authorisation before the end of trials.
President Donald Trump dangled the possibility in front of supporters last week at the Republican National Convention saying the US "will produce a vaccine before the end of the year, or maybe even sooner".
Furthermore, Russia had launched its vaccine Sputnik V last month without conducting phase 3 trials. Reports said that human trials of the Sputnik V vaccine only began in June, at the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, and fewer than 200 people were tested in phases 1 and 2.
The vaccine was released for public distribution on 7 September 2020 to the country's population.
Brian Oliver, who leads the Respiratory Molecular Pathogenesis Group at UTS had told ABC News at the time of Sputnik V's announcement, "In some ways, the approach reported to be taken in Russia is to have a phase 3 trial on the whole population. However, if the vaccination proves to be successful, I'm sure that people will ask why other countries didn't also take this approach."
The roadblock in the AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine trial should reinstate the importance of a larger study before a possible vaccine is released to the world population.
With inputs from agencies
Delta variant of COVID-19 can infect despite Covishield, Covaxin doses, claims preliminary AIIMS study
The study included 63 people who got breakthrough infections; of which 36 patients received two doses, while 27 had received one dose of vaccine
COVID-19 vaccination guidelines: How spirit of 'Lok Kalyan' can help economically weaker sections get inoculated
The Centre will allocate vaccines to states based on criteria such as population, disease burden and the progress of vaccination
Since October, the WTO has faced calls led by India and South Africa to ease patents, in what proponents argue will boost production in developing countries of vaccines, treatments needed to battle COVID-19 | <urn:uuid:8d0d2fbc-3530-4e2d-9b05-3658f7612b8c> | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | https://www.firstpost.com/health/sii-pauses-india-trial-of-covid-19-vaccine-move-may-delay-release-but-inspires-confidence-in-process-say-experts-8804541.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623487621627.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20210615211046-20210616001046-00202.warc.gz | en | 0.948464 | 1,563 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Forgiveness - How Do We Show We Forgive Someone?
At Oakhill Drive our students understand that relationships sometimes need fixing and can be mended.
When events occur that impact on relationships, we use the 3 step apology
“I’m sorry": is a STATEMENT
“I won’t do it again” is a PROMISE
- “How can I make it up to you?” is a RESPONSIBILITY
We often teach a child to appologise, but teaching a child the act of forgiveness is important too. Choosing to forgive someone not only makes the offender feel better, but makes the forgiver feel happier too. Studies show that the act of forgiving someone can make us happier, healthier, and may help children maintain strong relationships. | <urn:uuid:115dffdc-7453-42b6-959e-d5594c126b5d> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://oakhilldr-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/positive-education/positive-relationships/forgiveness.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570921.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809094531-20220809124531-00690.warc.gz | en | 0.931195 | 167 | 2.84375 | 3 |
During locomotion cyclical interchange between different forms of mechanical energy enhances economy; however, 100% efficiency cannot be achieved and ultimately some mechanical work must be performed de novo. There is a metabolic cost associated with fluctuations in mechanical energy, even in the most efficient animals. In this study we investigate the exchanges between different forms of mechanical energy involved in high-speed gallop locomotion in Thoroughbred race horses during over-ground locomotion using innovative, mobile data collection techniques. We use hoof-mounted accelerometers to capture foot contact times, a GPS data logger to monitor speed and an inertial sensor mounted over the dorsal spinous processes of the fourth to sixth thoracic vertebrae (the withers) of the horse to capture trunk movement with six degrees of freedom. Trunk movement data were used to estimate the movement of the centre of mass (CoM). Linear (craniocaudal, mediolateral and dorsoventral) and rotational (roll, pitch and heading) kinematic parameters (displacement, velocity and acceleration) were calculated for seven horses at gallop speeds ranging from 7 to 17 m s-1 during their regular training sessions. These were used to estimate external mechanical energy (potential energy and linear kinetic energy of the CoM) as well as selected components of internal energy (angular kinetic energy). Elastic energy storage in the limbs was estimated from duty factor, sine wave assumptions and published leg stiffness values.
External mechanical energy changes were dominated by changes in craniocaudal velocity. Potential energy change, which was in phase with craniocaudal energy during the front limb stances, was small. Elastic energy storage in the limbs was small compared to the overall amplitude of fluctuation of external mechanical energy. Galloping at high speeds does not therefore fit classical spring mass mechanics.
Mechanical energy changes in biological systems cost energy. The spring-like properties of the limbs of animals help to moderate this cost during running through the storage and release of elastic energy; however, these mechanisms are not 100% efficient. Energy is lost from the system because tendon springs only return 90-95% of the energy originally stored in them (Ker, 1981; Riemersma and Schamhardt, 1985; Bennett et al., 1986) and because there may not be total interchange between potential, kinetic and elastic strain energy. Also, energy lost to the environment through aerodynamic drag, ground deformation etc may only be replaced during stance periods and primarily by the hind legs, due to the large proportion of muscle mass found there (Payne et al., 2004; Payne et al., 2005). Even when the average speed does not change between strides, some mechanical work must be performed de novo and therefore there is a metabolic cost associated with fluctuations in mechanical energy, even in the most efficient animals.
The centre of mass (CoM) of an animal is the point inside or outside the body at which the entire mass of the subject can be considered to be concentrated. External work of locomotion is defined as the work required to transport the CoM, and in limbed animals this is achieved by cyclical movement of the limbs. The total external mechanical energy associated with this type of locomotion is equal to the sum of the kinetic and potential energies of the CoM. Although few biological analogies exist, the optimum method of transporting a mass over ground is the wheel, being able to maintain constant forward velocity and constant vertical position, and thereby minimising costly conversions of energy from one form to another in biological systems (Minetti, 2000). Recently, it has been shown that when humans travel without CoM oscillations they do so at a higher cost than by not doing so (Ortega and Farley, 2005). However, it is likely that biology has attempted to optimise locomotion to be energetically efficient. In particular, cursorial animals, which must travel long distances at the minimum energetic cost, are likely to have evolved mechanisms by which fluctuations in mechanical energy can be avoided or minimised.
Conventionally, gaits are categorised as walking or running depending upon the phase relationships of the fluctuations in kinetic and potential energies during the stride cycle (Cavagna et al., 1977; Ahn et al., 2004). Walking gaits classically demonstrate an out-of-phase relationship between these two energy forms, with pendulum-like exchange helping to maintain a relatively constant total mechanical energy. In contrast, during running, the fluctuations of kinetic and potential energies are in phase and elastic energy storage helps to compensate for the decrease in mechanical energy during the stance phases, much like a bouncing ball or a pogo stick. Galloping at low to medium speeds, however, fits neither the inverted pendulum nor the bouncing ball paradigms well, with a combination of spring-like and vaulting mechanisms described for horses (Minetti et al., 1999) and dogs (Cavagna et al., 1977). Galloping in horses has therefore been likened to bipedal skipping (Minetti, 1998). Measurements of skipping and galloping have shown that a combination of both elastic and inverted pendulum energy-saving mechanisms may be at work in these gaits. It remains likely, however, that a novel mechanistic description based on collision events is required (Ruina et al., 2005). Mechanical energy also exists as internal work or the movements of body segments relative to the CoM and rotation of the body around the CoM. In the horse the limbs represent a small portion of the total mass and the large trunk has significant angular inertia. A large part of the internal work will therefore consist of changes in rotational energies of the trunk around the CoM.
Measurements of the mechanical energy of animals have traditionally been made using kinematics studies. However, for higher speed gaits treadmills are necessary to allow the collection of repeated strides at a controlled speed. Large marker sets are required to describe the three-dimensional motion of all body segments (Buchner et al., 2000; Minetti et al., 1999). Motion data, together with inertial data for each body segment, are subsequently used to compute displacements of the CoM and internal work (Buchner et al., 1997). Treadmill locomotion, however, creates artefacts in the gait patterns of animals, which lead to increased vertical trunk oscillations (Buchner et al., 1994; Barrey et al., 1993). This is particularly important when considering the mechanical energy of the animal. In addition, energy transfer between the treadmill and the subject may be an important confounding factor (Savelberg et al., 1998) and treadmills offer only a limited range of speeds (typically up to 15 m s-1 for horses) for the study of high quality animals. Measurements of the trajectory of the CoM during very fast exercise have therefore not been performed. The maximum speed at which such measurements have been made is 12 m s-1 (Minetti et al., 1999).
A good estimate of CoM displacement can be gained from the measurement of the overall trunk movement (Buchner et al., 2000). This is especially true for large cursorial animals because they have relatively low limb masses (e.g. 5.8% and 5.5% of the total body mass for the hind limbs and fore limbs of the horse, respectively) and most of the limb mass is proximal. Although visceral movements will cause the CoM to change location within the trunk, this factor can only be quantified by the use of force platforms as ergometers (Cavagna, 1975). Models have been developed which attempt to quantify visceral displacements; however, these rely on detailed cinematographic and dynamometric measurements as well as knowledge of the visceral mass (Minetti and Belli, 1994). Recently, a six degree-of-freedom (d.f.) inertial sensor has been shown to provide accurate trunk movement data for horses during treadmill locomotion by integration from 3D accelerations assuming cyclical movement over a series of strides (Pfau et al., 2005). Angular velocities from the sensor along with estimates of whole body inertia can be used to estimate internal work related to trunk movement.
Equine gallop is a poorly understood gait and difficult to study, particularly at the highest speeds. The goal of the present study was to test the hypothesis that the energetics of gallop locomotion under field conditions at truly high speeds fit neither the inverted pendulum nor the spring mass paradigms of terrestrial locomotion. We estimate body mechanical energy changes during high speed gallop exercise under field conditions from an inertial sensor attached to the trunk of a horse. The speed dependence of translational and rotational trunk displacements, velocities and accelerations were documented. From these data, CoM displacement and the associated mechanical energy were estimated.
Materials and methods
Seven clinically sound Thoroughbred racehorses of mean age 2.9 years (range 2-5 years) and mean mass 480 kg (range 460-500 kg) were used in this study. The animals were stabled at a single yard and were all undergoing the same regime of flat race training. Prior to testing the mass of each horse was measured using standard equine weighing scales. The mass of the jockey and riding equipment was 63.5 kg.
Each horse was equipped with a modified 6 d.f. inertial sensor (MT9, Xsens Technologies, B.V., Enschede, The Netherlands) and four foot-mounted accelerometers (ADXL150, sensitivity 38 mV g-1, Analog devices; Norwood, MA, US), and the jockey with a GPS data logger (modified G30-L, Laipac Technology Inc., Ontario, Canada). The inertial sensor comprises a three-axial accelerometer (max. 10 g) a three-axial gyroscope (max. 900 degrees s-1), three magnetometers and a thermometer. Inertial sensor data were low-pass filtered (analog low-pass filter, 50 Hz cut-off frequency for accelerometers and gyroscopes, 10 Hz for magnetometers) and subsequently AD converted. The sensor was mounted in a custom-made harness constructed of malleable casting material (Dynacast, Smith and Nephews, Wound Management, Hull, UK) over the spinous processes of the fourth-sixth thoracic vertebrae (the withers) of the horse, beneath the forwardmost edge of the saddle. A cable ran from the sensor, between the saddle pads under the saddle, to a DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) telemetry unit (HW8612, Höft & Wessel, Hannover, Germany) and battery pack mounted on a waistband worn by the jockey. A cable ran from the telemetry unit to an antenna, which was mounted on the jockey's skullcap. Serial data from the sensor (at 115 200 bit s-1) were transmitted at 1.88-1.90 GHz using DECT-CLDPS (ConnectionLess Data Packet Service), an extension of the DECT telephone standard tailored for general data transmission, which handles up to six data streams of a combined bandwidth of 460 kbit s-1. The mobile DECT telemetry receiver and laptop computer were mounted in a vehicle, which stayed within range of the exercising horses. Data were recorded at 250 samples individual sensor-1 s-1 via custom software written in Microsoft Visual C++ (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, USA) using the sensor's software development kit (SDK, Xsens). Data files consisted of ten channels; the calibrated output from three accelerometers, three gyroscopes, three magnetometers and the sensor temperature, each at 250 samples s-1.
A stand-alone Global Positioning System (GPS) device (modified G30-L, Laipac Technology Inc., Ontario, Canada) was configured to log the GPRMC GPS data once per second (Witte and Wilson, 2004; Witte and Wilson, 2005). GPRMC data consist of speed (knots), position (latitude and longitude), time (Universal Time Constant) and date. The GPS device (dimensions 70 mm×50 mm×25 mm and mass 95 g) was mounted securely on the rider's hat by means of a custom-made elastic strap and was powered on as the horses left the yard. Data were logged continuously from this time until the horses returned from exercise.
Foot-on and foot-off events of all four limbs were determined by measuring foot acceleration using solid-state capacitive accelerometers with a dynamic range of ±50 g (ADXL150, Analog devices; sensitivity 38 mV g-1). These were protected by enclosure in epoxy-impregnated Kevlar fibres (total mass 2 g) and mounted at the dorsal midline of each hoof with the sensitive axis orientated in a proximo-distal direction using hot melt glue. Output signals were telemetered via four narrow-band analogue FM radio telemetry devices operating in the 458 MHz band range with an audio response of 9 Hz to 3 kHz at -3 dB (ST/SR500, and Douglas Ltd, Baughurst, Hampshire, UK). Data were logged at a sample rate of 1000 samples s-1 via a 12-bit A/D converter into a PCMCIA card (DAQcard700, National Instruments, Austin, TX, USA) onto a vehicle-mounted laptop computer running custom software in MATLAB (The Mathworks, Natick, MA, USA). Each telemetry transmitter and its battery were mounted within a standard elastic exercise bandage on the lateral aspect of the third metacarpal/metatarsal bone of each limb (mass of telemetry unit and battery 140 g, total mass of bandage plus telemetry unit, 310 g). A short cable running along the lateral aspect of the digit linked the telemetry unit to the accelerometer. See elsewhere for more detail (Witte et al., 2004).
The horses were ridden by their regular exercise rider during the study. They were exercised in groups of three, although data were collected from only one horse at a time. The horses were warmed up by walking and trotting for approximately 10 min on a level racetrack (Polytrack, Martin Collins, Hungerford, Berkshire, UK) and were subsequently galloped at a steady speed for 600 m before gradually accelerating to maximum speed over a further 400 m (about 80 strides). Inertial sensor, accelerometer and GPS data were collected continuously throughout the period of gallop exercise. The entire collection period lasted approximately 2 min and encompassed the entire range of exercise speeds.
GPS data were downloaded from the data logger using GPS Wedge Software (CommLinx Solutions Pty Ltd, Lutana, TAS, Australia). Speed and time data were extracted for each position fix using custom software written in MATLAB.
Voice transcription software `Transcriber' (Barras et al., 1998) was used to manually identify the times of foot-on and foot-off from the accelerometer signal. Stride start times were defined from the foot on events identified in the left fore foot accelerometer signals. Foot-on and foot-off timings were used for three different purposes:
Synchronisation with GPS data to obtain speed for each stride;
Determination of duty factor to estimate limb force and hence elastic energy storage in the limbs through stance;
Determination of stride times for integration of inertial sensor acceleration to velocity and displacement.
First, the time of the midpoint of each stride was determined and GPS speed values were interpolated to give the average speed for the stride.
Second, peak vertical ground reaction force (Fmax) was predicted for each limb (according to Alexander et al., 1979), using a front/hind mass distribution of 57/43% (Witte et al., 2004). For each stride the lead and non-lead legs were identified from the relative timing of footfalls. Using a front limb stiffness kf of 55 kNm-1 and a hind limb stiffness kh of 40 kNm-1 [data from McGuigan and Wilson (McGuigan and Wilson, 2003) and hind leg stiffness by scaling using front hind impulse distribution], and assuming a sinusoidal resultant leg force-time relationship during stance (Witte et al., 2004), limb elastic energy storage was calculated at each time point during the stance phase using Eel=1/2F2/k (F, limb force and k=kf or k=kh, respectively), similar to what has been done before (Robilliard and Wilson, 2006).
Third, initial analysis of trunk movement from the inertial sensor data followed the process described earlier (Pfau et al., 2005). Briefly, the orientation of the sensor in the form of Euler angles representing rotations from the sensor into the global coordinate system were computed from the raw data using the sensor fusion algorithm of the MT9 software development kit (MT9 SDK, Xsens Technologies, B.V., Enschede, The Netherlands). Linear accelerations were projected from the sensor coordinate system into a horse-referenced coordinate system based on rotation matrix data. Accelerations were then double integrated to displacements based on stride segmentations gained from the signals of the hoof-mounted accelerometer on the left fore limb. Angular velocities and accelerations were derived from orientation data using numerical differentiation of a regression line fitted to 11 data points (current + 5 left and 5 right neighbouring data points).
As described above, preliminary segmentation of inertial data was performed using stride timings from the hoof-mounted accelerometer of the left fore limb. However, although the stride durations derived from the accelerometer were accurate the accelerometer could not be absolutely synchronised with the inertial sensor due to channel-dependent delays in the DECT telemetry. Therefore a trunk movement feature was used to re-segment the inertial sensor data for each individual stride. The minimum vertical velocity was chosen as a consistent feature and this feature was identified within each stride. The subsequent re-segmentation ensured that data of different horses were cut in a similar manner, although this method causes a variation of up to 4% of stride time at medium speeds. Aerial times were estimated from plotting the sum of dorsoventral kinetic and potential energy (Fig. 1) and locating the aerial phase within that area of the curve where it is approximately constant. This procedure is based on the assumption that the sum of dorsoventral kinetic energy and potential energy is constant during the aerial phase (when no feet are on the ground to produce an external ground reaction force) and the validity of this approach was confirmed through simultaneous collection of inertial sensor data and high speed video in a treadmill experiment with a cantering Thoroughbred horse. Indeed, the sum of dorsoventral kinetic energy and potential energy was found to be more constant during the aerial phase after the displacements were projected to the CoM (see next paragraph).
Based upon previous studies of inertial properties of Dutch Warmblood horses, the position of the inertial sensor was known to be some distance above and forward of the actual CoM of the horse (Fig. 2). The average position of the CoM in those horses has been shown to be 0.22 m below the withers (the location of our sensor) and about halfway between the withers and the dorsal spinous process of the fourteenth thoracic vertebra (Buchner et al., 1997). It was therefore inevitable that displacement data derived at the location of the sensor were not an accurate representation of displacements of the CoM itself. In general, rotations around the CoM result in a combination of rotation and linear displacement at any point distant from the CoM. For example, changes in the pitch orientation of the trunk would result in additional craniocaudal and dorsoventral displacements at the location of the sensor. Here, a fixed point estimate of the CoM relative to the sensor position was used. An empirical method was used to analyse the influence of the assumed position of the CoM on the estimated external work. The amount of external mechanical work (positive changes in the sum of potential energy and the three (craniocaudal, mediolateral and dorsoventral) linear kinetic energies) was calculated over a grid of positions starting from the position of the sensor and going 400 mm backwards and downwards (in steps of 50 mm). At each of these 81 (9×9) positions the external mechanical work was calculated assuming that all measured rotations originate from a rotation around the CoM and that the relative position of the CoM does not change during the stride. The final estimate of the CoM movement was then derived from the combination of sensor linear movement and sensor orientation to calculate the movement of a fixed point estimate 250 mm below and 200 mm behind the sensor position (see Results). As discussed below (see Discussion), sensor roll was ignored at this stage of the analysis. Subsequently velocity and acceleration were calculated by numerical differentiation. Here a local regression line was fitted around each data point (of displacement, respectively, velocity data) and the slope of this line used as the velocity (respectively, acceleration) value.
Potential energy (Ep) and linear kinetic energies (Ekx, Eky, Ekz) were calculated routinely (Ep=mgΔh and Ek =mv2/2, where m=mass of horse, Δh=vertical position from a datum and v=velocity), with front-back velocities constituting of the sum of the average speed for the stride (determined from the GPS data) and the mean-subtracted velocity output of the inertial sensor. In order to calculate rotational kinetic energies and hence derive an estimate of the internal work associated with trunk movement around the CoM, it was necessary to calculate the rotational moment of inertia of the animal. In the absence of detailed morphological measurements, the inertial properties of the horse were estimated by modelling the trunk as a cylinder of radius 0.3 m and length 2.0 m. This gives a volume of 0.57 m3, which is sensible for the mass and density of a horse. Each horse's individual mass was then used to calculate roll, pitch and heading moments of inertia (I). It was then possible to calculate the kinetic energy of roll, pitch and heading (Ek =Iω2/2). The external mechanical energy of the trunk was calculated as the sum of all the linear kinetic energies and the potential energy through time. External mechanical work for each stride was calculated by summing up positive increments in total external energy over the complete stride.
Strides were categorised into 1 m s-1 speed categories with the speed label representing the middle value, and individual strides were interpolated to 100 samples for each variable [linear (craniocaudal, mediolateral, dorsoventral) displacements, velocities, accelerations and energies; rotational (roll, pitch, heading) displacements, velocities, accelerations and energies; and potential energy].
For each stride the maximum, minimum and range were determined for each variable of interest. Mean data were derived for each horse at each speed and a population mean calculated. The ranges and maxima were regressed against speed, median and interquartile ranges calculated, and quadratic curves were fitted to the data. Median and interquartile ranges were chosen for the maxima in order to account for the apparent non-Gaussian distributions. Quadratic curves were chosen as they consistently gave high r values, indicating they represent the general trend in the data with speed.
A total of 1601 strides were collected, of which 1107 were analysed (ranges 133-210 per horse and 28-182 per speed category) during this study. The large amount of data made it necessary to use automatic computer-based procedures to divide the data into strides (see data analysis). This resulted in the exclusion of 494 strides, which could not be processed automatically, from the analysis.
The results of the sensitivity analysis to determine the influence of the assumed relative position of the CoM by calculating external mechanical work of locomotion are shown in Fig. 3. The figure shows the average mechanical work per stride for a typical horse in this study for all the locations included in the grid search. A distinct minimum can be observed in the vertical direction at 250 mm below the sensor position. The craniocaudal distance is less influential, resulting in a broad minimum around a distance of 200 mm towards the back of the horse. The following results presented in this study are based on this estimate of the position of the CoM.
Figs 4 and 5 show craniocaudal, mediolateral and dorsoventral displacement, velocity and acceleration for the speed categories 12 m s-1 and 15 m s-1, respectively. Data from three typical horses (horses A-C) are shown. Horses were chosen based on the number of strides available for the speed categories 12 (11.5-12.5 m s-1) and 15 (14.5-15.5 m s-1).
Craniocaudal and dorsoventral displacement curves show sinusoidal behaviour with one clear maximum and one clear minimum per stride. Mediolateral displacement was less sinusoidal and more variable between horses. In addition, mediolateral data for horse C (Fig. 3) and horses B and C (Fig. 4) show two distinct clusters of curves constituting left and right lead gallop, respectively. Velocity curves reveal one bimodal minimum and one bimodal maximum per stride for craniocaudal velocity, and one bimodal maximum and one unimodal minimum for dorsoventral velocity. Mediolateral velocity is more variable and shows distinct curves for left and right lead gallop. Craniocaudal accelerations show a minimum at around 30% of stride duration followed by an area of near zero acceleration, which coincides approximately with a dorsoventral acceleration of around -10 m s-2 (1 g). Mediolateral accelerations are variable and in general small during the estimated aerial phase.
Angular parameters (12 m s-1: Fig. 6, 15 m s-1: Fig. 7) show consistent characteristics with pitch being most similar between horses. Pitch displacement curves show one unimodal minimum and a characteristic, broad bimodal maximum (approximately 40-60% stride time), which corresponds to a near zero pitch velocity and acceleration. During this time (aerial phase), roll and heading velocity and also acceleration appear to be small. However, this was not true for all horses. For some horses considerable roll displacement, velocity and acceleration can be observed during the estimated aerial phase (see Discussion for explanation).
Over the speed range analysed here, displacement amplitudes (ranges) generally increased with speed, with the exception of dorsoventral displacement amplitude, which decreased with increasing speed (Fig. 8). Displacement in the craniocaudal direction increased from 75 mm (range 62-88 mm) at 7 m s-1 to 89 mm (range 82-97 mm) at 17 m s-1 (P<0.05), levelling towards higher speeds. Dorsoventral displacement decreased substantially from 185 mm (range 170-200 mm) at 7 m s-1 to 83 mm (range 75-91 mm) at 17 m s-1. Maximum and minimum velocities and accelerations in craniocaudal direction show a slight increase in absolute value with increasing speed, whereas maximum and minimum absolute value of dorsoventral velocity decreased with speed. Dorsoventral acceleration minimum was independent of speed at about -10 m s-2 (1 g) experienced during the aerial phase whereas the maximum acceleration slightly decreased with increasing speed.
The amplitude in trunk pitch and heading increased with speed. Pitch range increased from 11.2° (range 10.0-12.4°) to 19.0° (range 18.3-19.7°) and heading range increased slightly from 4.8° (3.8-5.8°) to 7.5° (range 5.8-9.2°) (Fig. 9). Increase in heading velocity and acceleration with speed was found to be more pronounced than increase in pitch velocity and acceleration.
Changes in mechanical energy through the stride for moderate and high speed gallop (12 m s-1 and 15 m s-1) are shown in Fig. 10 and Fig. 11, respectively for three typical horses. Fig. 10A and Fig. 11A show the total external mechanical energy and its components (linear kinetic energies, potential energy). In order to be able to compare these energies in one figure, minimum craniocaudal kinetic energy has been subtracted from craniocaudal kinetic and total external energy for each individual stride. Estimated elastic energy stored in the legs (as described in Materials and methods) has been added to this figure. Fig. 10B and Fig. 11B show a more detailed view of the small-amplitude external energies. These are dorsoventral and mediolateral linear kinetic energy and potential energy, and the figures also include components of the internal energy of the trunk: the rotational kinetic energies, which were derived from pitch and heading of the trunk.
Comparison of Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 reveals similar shaped energy curves for the two speeds. External mechanical energy is largely dominated by craniocaudal kinetic energy with a decreasing influence of potential energy with increasing speed (difference between the minima in the plots of total and craniocaudal linear energy), due to increasing amplitude of craniocaudal energy and decreasing amplitude of potential energy. Energy fluctuations during the estimated aerial phase are in general small compared to the time when at least one foot is on the ground (Fig. 10C, Fig. 11C).
Gallop is a four-beat gait that is employed by many quadrupeds when travelling at high speed. The mechanics of this asymmetrical gait have yet to be definitively defined. Recently several mechanistic explanations of galloping have been reported. Minetti has described galloping as similar to the bipedal skip, with both gaits employing a combination of pendulum and elastic mechanism (Minetti, 2000). It has also been proposed that galloping may primarily involve the deflection of velocity during the stance phases whilst minimising the variation in speed (Butcher et al., 2001; Ruina et al., 2005). However, no extensive studies of the mechanics of galloping horses travelling over ground at truly high speeds have been performed. This study set out to quantify CoM movement in the horse and to estimate the mechanical energy that this movement entails.
The inertial sensor technique represents the only known method by which trunk movement can be quantified for a continuous series of strides (comprising footfalls of all four feet) during genuine high-speed exercise. Other kinetic and kinematic data collection techniques restrict data collection in practice to the laboratory environment. True high-speed data of horses is not easily available in that environment. Outside the laboratory these techniques are realistically restricted to the collection of data from a few strides (3D motion analysis) or individual stance phases (force plates). Arrays of force plates and 3D motion analysis systems with a sufficient number of cameras are several orders of magnitude more expensive than the mobile data acquisition equipment used in this study and infrared-based 3D optical motion analysis systems are prone to difficulties in daylight. Although inertial sensors have been shown to be accurate for the determination of the movement of a landmark on a subject during cyclical motion (Pfau et al., 2005), their application for the measurement of CoM displacement has yet to be validated. Essential to this method is the projection from the sensor position to the assumed fixed position of the CoM. Here, the sensor is fixed over an external landmark (the withers) and the movement of the sensor is described with 6 d.f. (3 linear and 3 angular displacements). Then the movement of a fixed-point estimate of the CoM 250 mm below and 200 mm behind the sensor position (in the standing horse) is calculated. This is theoretically sufficient to calculate the position of the CoM if the CoM is assumed not to change its position within the body and thus relative to the position of the sensor. The sensitivity analysis applied here to estimate the influence of the assumed position of the CoM on the estimate of mechanical energy was based on one important assumption: the CoM does not move within the animal. In favour of this assumption it can be stated that horses have a relatively low limb mass (5.5% and 5.8% of the whole body mass for the front and hind limbs, respectively) and that it has been observed that a good estimate of CoM displacement can be gained from the measurement of overall trunk movement from a fixed landmark (Buchner et al., 2000). The sensitivity analysis of the relative position of the CoM showed a minimum in external work at a position of 250 mm below and 200 mm behind the sensor, which is close to the position reported previously (Buchner et al., 2000), thus this estimate was used in the data analysis presented here. Adding in internal mechanical energy (angular kinetic energy of the trunk) had little influence on the location of minimum energy fluctuation. Interestingly, the sensitivity analysis showed a bigger change in external mechanical work when deviating from the assumed position in the dorsoventral direction compared to a deviation in the craniocaudal direction. This might indicate that the method may just be less sensitive to the craniocaudal position of the CoM and maybe that the position of the CoM within the body undergoes bigger changes in the craniocaudal direction during a stride, thus wrong estimates over a whole stride lead to under- or overestimations, which in effect cancel out. Again, this is in agreement with previously reported data (Buchner et al., 2000), which show a smaller R2 value of 0.37 for the equation relating external trunk landmarks to the craniocaudal movement of the CoM than for the respective equation for dorsoventral movement for which a R2 of 0.86 is found. Finally, the use of more than one sensor at different locations on the trunk and head may allow motions of the CoM to be determined with greater accuracy.
The measured angular energies were small and dominated by pitch movements (Figs 10, 11). This was significant in magnitude (peaks ∼1000 J at 15 m s-1), peaked during the stance phases and was almost zero in the aerial phase. Fluctuation of angular kinetic energy was therefore in phase with the total mechanical energy and does not provide a mechanism for `storing' energy to reduce total external mechanical energy fluctuations through the stride.
The projection from the sensor position to the assumed position of the CoM implemented here is applied to the displacement data derived from the sensor accelerations and rotations. Inspection of the estimated CoM movement showed relatively large mediolateral movements during the aerial phase, including changes of the direction of movement. We identified this lateral movement and rolling movement of the sensor as a potential source of error (see Figs 6 and 7). One possible explanation for this is that while the forward-backward, up-down, sideways, pitch and heading movement of the sensor was very closely linked to the trunk movement of the horse with the harness being tugged underneath the most cranial edge of the saddle, the harness was strapped to the horse with a surcingle (wide elastic strap around thorax) crossing both shoulders of the horse. Scapula movements (the scapula lies under the attachment and displaces upwards in the stance phase) are likely to introduce a `pulling' movement (at different times on each side of the horse), which will cause the harness to tilt around the withers, producing a wrong roll estimate. Assuming all the roll movement to be caused by a rotation of the trunk around the CoM will therefore introduce wrong estimates of mediolateral movement. While roll movement is presented here it was ignored during the calculation of the fixed point estimate of the CoM and roll and mediolateral movement ranges were excluded from the analysis, since maximum and minimum values are likely to be heavily influenced by this effect.
CoM velocities and accelerations then have to be calculated by numerical differentiation of the CoM displacement data. Clearly the differentiation function, which is applied twice (once to the displacement data and once to the velocity data), will influence the shapes of the curves and the values of maximum and minimum values extracted for each stride. Experiments with local regression lines fitted to the data to calculate the local derivative showed that mediolateral velocities and accelerations were more sensitive to the technique used than the corresponding craniocaudal and dorsoventral data.
Mediolateral accelerations seemed large although the displacements were reasonable. This may reflect the above effect, non-cyclical movements distorting the mean subtraction assumption and to a lesser extent also centripetal forces due to the horses going round curved regions of the track. The coordinate system used is aligned with gravity and the long axis of the horse, so even when horses lean into the corner and the force is acting along the legs a centripetal acceleration will occur in the `mediolateral' direction. Force can only be applied during stance phases and is likely to be greater for some legs than others, so it may create some offset in the data.
The influence of the jockey on the trunk movements observed here was considered to be small. When travelling at high speed, the jockey perches on his toes, with only a very small area of contact to the trunk of the horse. Subjectively, he does not appear to follow the fluctuations in velocity of the horse around the mean progression velocity. Rather, if one were to subtract the progression velocity, the jockey's trunk would be stationary and the horse (and his feet) would move back and forth beneath him. This could cause a small force acting in the craniocaudal direction, which will effectively appear as an external force in our analysis and thus might explain some of the discrepancies observed during the aerial phase. Interestingly this would imply that the jockey exerts a downward force on the horse and has some vertical inertial influence but would not add to the inertial properties in the horizontal direction. Further studies will be undertaken with an inertial sensor mounted on the jockey as well as the horse and will hopefully clarify this.
In order to assess the validity of the approach presented here, it is interesting to compare the amplitudes of the displacements calculated here with those measured previously during treadmill locomotion at 12 m s-1 (Minetti et al., 1999). Vertical displacements concur with those from that study, falling curvilinearly with increasing speed in the 9-17 m s-1 speed range. Craniocaudal displacements are however about double those seen by Minetti and co-workers (69 mm versus 30 mm at 9 m s-1), and in this study they increase over the range up to 17 m s-1, which was not apparent in the published data. This difference may represent an artefact of the CoM estimation used here or may represent differences in treadmill locomotion. Treadmill belt speed changes (stretching of the belt, slip between drum and belt and deceleration and reacceleration of the moving mass) during the stance phases (Savelberg et al., 1998) might be a confounding factor and moderate the trunk deceleration and acceleration during the stance phase to some extent. Mediolateral displacements were also higher in the data presented here; however, mediolateral forces were variable between individuals and the displacements are comparatively small. Other possible causes are discussed above.
During data analysis, it became evident that the DECT telemetry system introduced a variable delay in the transmission of the inertial sensor data. The exact reasons for this are not clear but are likely to be related to error checking methods and serial port buffering. Thus strides were resegmented using the time of minimum vertical velocity of the trunk sensor as a fixed point within each stride. This was chosen after initial segmentation based upon accelerometer-derived footfall data since minimum vertical velocity approximately corresponds to foot contact of the non-lead front limb (with possible differences between horses and with speed). Therefore, in order to compare the curves produced here to those previously published (Minetti et al., 1999), where the start of the stride was defined as the first foot contact after the aerial phase, the data presented here have to be shifted by approximately 60-80% towards the left. In addition, this delay meant that there was no `absolute' synchronicity between hoof mounted accelerometers and inertial sensor data, thus aerial times presented in the figures are fitted to the data to our best knowledge. The sum of dorsoventral kinetic and potential energy, as well as dorsoventral acceleration, were the strongest indicators during this procedure. In the absence of any external force (apart from the jockey, see above) during the aerial phase, both of these parameters are theoretically expected to be constant (the latter having a value of -9.81 m s-2). The aerial phases are thus presented in the area where both of these conditions were best met. We were able to confirm the validity of this method in a treadmill experiment where we collected inertial sensor data and high speed video data simultaneously during a medium speed canter.
The patterns of mechanical energy exchange presented here concur with published data (Minetti, 1998; Minetti et al., 1999) showing a bimodal peak in mechanical energy during slow gallop (canter) locomotion. However, Minetti's data show a third peak (approximately coinciding with a peak in potential energy), which is not apparent in our data collected at higher speeds. Unfortunately higher speed data are not presented for the previous study, so differences could also be attributed to a gait shift from a slow to medium speed canter (a three-beat gait with a diagonal pair of limbs contacting the ground virtually simultaneously) to a high speed gallop (a true four-beat gait). However, even our lower speed data do not show this feature. Again, treadmill effects could be responsible for some of this difference.
An apparent inconsistency in our external mechanical energy is the fact that craniocaudal and thus total external energy does fluctuate during the aerial phase more and differently than could be expected from wind resistance alone for a passive object. Modelling the aerodynamic drag of a horse by assuming 1 m2 frontal area with a drag coefficient Cd of 0.7 (e.g. Cd for a human runner, 0.5; Cd for a racing bicyclist, 0.4) leads to a relatively small drag force of 123 N and a power of about 2.1 kW at a speed of 17 m s-1 (using the quadratic model for pressure drag). Craniocaudal energy seems to be increasing at the end of the aerial phase before the first hind leg contacts the ground. Likely explanations for this effect include jockey movement (discussed above), movement of the CoM relative to the sensor position, rapid hind leg retraction before foot contact moving the trunk forward (comparable to a child's legs on a swing) as well as errors in sensor orientation and integration inaccuracies (e.g. estimates of initial conditions) from accelerations to velocities at high speed. Also, a change of± 1000 J in craniocaudal energy of a 500 kg horse galloping at an average speed of 15 m s-1 corresponds to a change in velocity between 14.86 m s-1 and 15.13 m s-1, a relatively small change compared to the overall change of about ±6000 J (14.17 m s-1 to 15.78 m s-1). Further studies will aim to use a multi sensor system (head, withers and back of horse as well as jockey) to explore the influence of effects such as relative head and limb movements and movement of the jockey.
Overall, potential energy was greatest during the aerial phase and at a minimum during stance of the two front legs, as would be expected for running gaits. Fluctuation of total mechanical energy was dominated by horizontal kinetic energy (Figs 10, 11). This cycled once per stride with a maximum around the end of hind leg stance and a minimum during the aerial phase. The once per stride cycle is concomitant with the legs functioning in sequence as proposed in Ruina et al.'s model (Ruina et al., 2005). The rise in energy prior to and throughout hind foot contact indicates that the trunk is moving forwards when hind leg retraction occurs (see above) and that work is done throughout hind leg stance by limb retraction. It is known that almost 90% of propulsive musculature is located in the hind legs and mostly as hip extensors (Payne et al., 2004; Payne et al., 2005), thus the hind legs are able to create a substantial torque around the hip. A similar effect can be seen in dogs galloping at relatively low speeds (Cavagna et al., 1977), where little deceleration is found after the aerial phase.
There were fluctuations in total external energy that reflect when energy was stored in the front and hind legs. These fluctuations are, however, smaller than the total change in energy through the stride. This raises the interesting question of whether an additional energy store exists other than the legs or if the fluctuation in mechanical work seen in Fig. 10 is actually dissipated and performed de novo in each stride. Some insight can be gained by calculating the mechanical power of galloping (fluctuation of external mechanical energy times stride frequency) from Figs 10 and 11. Fluctuation at 9, 12 and 15 m s-1 was 4, 6 and 10 kJ, respectively, through the stride. Multiplying by a stride frequency of 2, 2.1 and 2.25 Hz gives a mechanical power of 8 kW, 12.6 kW and 22.5 kW, respectively. Dividing by speed and body mass gives a mechanical work of transport of 1.6, 1.9 and 2.8 J kg-1 m-1, respectively. These values are 55-70% of those presented by Minetti et al., who quote an external mechanical work of 2.3, 3.4 and 4.6 J kg-1 m-1 for these speeds (Minetti et al., 1999). Those authors, however, observed a metabolic cost of galloping of about 2.5 J kg-1 m-1, rising somewhat with speed. Therefore even with our lower figures comparison of the mechanical work performed and the metabolic cost of transport gives an improbably high efficiency of muscle contraction. There must therefore either be an additional energy store acting during the stance phase or we are overestimating mechanical energy fluctuations of the centre of mass.
The spine and hind limb retractors may store some elastic energy during the flight phase (Alexander, 1985) by stretching of the considerable amount of collagenous tissue along the dorsal spine, although spinal flexion has been reported to be relatively small during canter (Faber et al., 2001). It is difficult to estimate how much energy could be stored through this mechanism in the highly pennate spinal extensor muscles present in the horse; however, 7000 J (the total fluctuation in external energy) seems improbably large. Hind limb retraction may increase trunk movement relative to CoM movement, but if this was the source of the discrepancy then Minetti et al.'s data (Minetti et al., 1999) should be more reasonable in terms of efficiency since they calculated the contribution of these segments in their analysis.
Second, gut movements could ameliorate the movement of the CoM that we predict. The abdominal and thoracic contents of a horse comprise about 25% of its body mass. Relative to its mean position the horse goes backward in the aerial phase and during early non-lead hind stance (Figs 4, 5). The onset of inspiration at canter is approximately seen some time between the end of the lead front leg stance phase and the beginning of the aerial phase (Attenburrow, 1982; Lafortuna et al., 1996). This effectively increases the CoM movement in the horizontal direction. Assuming a tidal volume of a galloping horse of about 10-15 l (Lafortuna et al., 1996) and a cross-sectional area of the thorax of about 0.25 m2, the diaphragm will move by about 0.05 m, which is slightly less than the observed displacement of the trunk. Ventilation should thus increase the actual fluctuation of the horizontal kinetic energy of the CoM relative to trunk movement and not contribute to a reduction of mechanical work. This effect would not be detectable from kinematics but would be apparent in integrated force plate data.
We, like others, are therefore left with the question: how does the horse achieve such improbably high efficiencies? Unfortunately we do not have an explanation but suggest that a combination of spinal energy storage and errors in CoM determination are likely to account for much of the discrepancy. It would be very interesting to see accurate horizontal force data from a force plate or an instrumented horseshoe for all four legs in a horse undertaking high speed gallop as this would add insight and accuracy to the true fluctuation in horizontal momentum and hence kinetic energy.
The mechanics of gallop have received some attention in recent years (e.g. Minetti, 1998; Minetti et al., 1999; Ruina et al., 2005). It has been likened to a combination of vaulting and running gaits, with Ruina et al.'s model (Ruina et al., 2005) bringing some insight as to why the legs should be used in sequence to create a single `stance phase'. Our data demonstrate that whilst the legs have spring-like properties, storing and returning mechanical energy during each stance phase (Figs 10, 11), these energies are small in comparison to the total fluctuation in mechanical energy. This difference is a direct effect of high speed over ground locomotion where small fluctuations in horizontal momentum/speed result in large fluctuations in horizontal energy (see above). In terms of mechanical efficiency this indicates that minimising horizontal forces is critical in economical high-speed gait. This must be combined with the demands of providing sufficient vertical impulse to support body weight (and hence maximising duty factor). Spring mass mechanics with the constraints of a fixed protraction time (Robilliard and Wilson, 2006) demonstrate that with increasing speed an increased leg angle is used, which creates a greater horizontal and vertical impulse. Increasing leg stiffness decreases the leg angle used at that speed for the same vertical impulse and hence the horizontal impulse experienced (but at the cost of a shorter contact time and higher peak force). One would assume that maximising stance time carries benefits in constraining peak limb force and achieving economical locomotion (Kram and Taylor, 1991), but it appears here that another pressure may become significant and that horses may sacrifice the benefit of storing all the fluctuation in kinetic energy in the limb. This raises the question of `what is the optimum limb stiffness', which is beyond the scope of this study.
The stance timings from these data (Witte et al., 2006) (Witte, 2004) show that the total contact period (i.e. one or more legs on the ground) and the aerial phase duration are almost independent of speed. This is achieved by reducing the fraction of the stride where more than one foot is on the ground and one might imagine that top speed results where this overlap reaches some apparent minimum (Pratt and O'Conner, 1974). There may be one final benefit from overlapping contact phases, which is that one leg can be applying an accelerating force on the CoM whilst another is acting to slow it down, hence cancelling out as occurs in walking (Donelan et al., 2002). Such a locomotor mechanism is explained by the proposed collision model of galloping (Ruina et al., 2005), where legs act in sequence to redirect the CoM. In that model energy is lost during the stance phase. The amount of energy lost is a function of the change in the angle of the trajectory of the CoM (like a bouncing or skimming stone on a hard surface). Examining our data in the light of that model would imply that the lead fore limb is most important in redirecting the CoM since during the stance phase of the lead fore limb the CoM experiences a craniocaudal deceleration, vertical acceleration, and an increase in potential energy. The energy lost is returned throughout the stance phase of both hind legs. This indicates that the work is performed by the powerful hip retractors rather than the leg extensors (Usherwood and Wilson, 2005), otherwise work would be performed during leg extension late in each stance phase.
Mechanical energy fluctuation in the galloping horse is dominated by changes in forward kinetic energy through the stride. Mechanical energy peaks during early fore limb stance and is at a minimum during flight phase. These data are consistent with a collision based model with propulsive effort being provided by retraction of the hind legs.
We would like to thank John Best for providing the horses used in this study, Justine Robilliard for help with data collection, HBLB for funding T.H.W., and BBSRC for funding T.P. A.W. is a BBSRC Research Development Fellow and holder of a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit award.
↵† Present address: Cornell University Hospital for Animals, Box 25, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
- © The Company of Biologists Limited 2006 | <urn:uuid:7dc6f100-4e4b-4962-922d-416e85a9fc0b> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://jeb.biologists.org/content/209/19/3742 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917119225.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031159-00517-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937891 | 11,193 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Oral Care for Babies & Children
Through all the stages of their dental development, from baby bottle tooth decay, to brushing and flossing techniques, prevention strategies and regular dental appointments, we've got you covered!
Children have unique oral health needs.
The dental term 'caries control' refers to the treatment and prevention of dental decay, or cavities. For children, controlling decay is a crucial element to overall dental health, both now and as they grow up. That's why caries control is often our focus for our younger patients.
And that means lifelong oral health starts in childhood! Regular professional cleanings and check-ups are the keys to maintaining excellent dental healthin children as they grow.
Surdel Dental Centre provides various services to support your children's dental health, including:
- Regular checkups & cleanings
- Fluoride treatments
- Specialized advice for children's dental hygiene routines
These elements all contribute to the oral health of children as they grow up.
Oral Hygiene & Care for Young Children
The fight against tooth decay starts the moment your child's teeth begin to erupt. Babies' teeth need to be cleaned twice a day, just like adults' teeth, to keep them healthy and strong.
Regular cleaning are performed to remove bacteria and prevent sugar from becoming trapped in the tooth and gum area.
Even before your baby has teeth, you can get a head start use a clean, damp cloth to wipe their gums after feeding.
Water, instead of juice or milk, is the best choice if leave a bottle with your baby throughout the night. This will help minimize the exposure to decay-producing acids.
Brushing & Flossing
It's important to start cleaning your child's baby teeth as soon as they begin to erupt.
To brush your baby's teeth, apply a small dab of child-friendly toothpaste to an ultra-soft toothbrush, and brush the teeth and gums gently in a circular motion.
When all the baby teeth have erupted, you can begin flossing your child's teeth. Be sure to ask our staff about our special flossers for kids!
How often should children visit the dentist?
Children should have a professional check-up and cleaning every six months at least. Every patient is different, and certain children may require more frequent check-ups or cleanings. | <urn:uuid:05118aa0-e513-4c7a-aeb5-02d8fd4996aa> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://www.surdeldentalcentre.com/site/oral-care-children-dentist-delta | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794866772.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20180524190036-20180524210036-00536.warc.gz | en | 0.940573 | 490 | 3.5 | 4 |
Automotive History Review, Spring 1998, No. 32, p. 7 – 27.
Cited in Neil Young’s Waging Heavy Peace (NY: Penguin, 2012); Mark Fiege’s Republic of Nature (U.Washington Press, 2012); C. Boyden Gray and Andrew R. Varcoe’s “Octane, Clean Air and Renewable Fuels” (pdf), (Energy Future Coalition, 2006); and others. Banner photo above from 1933, Lincoln, Nebraska courtesy of the Nebraska State Historical Society with thanks to John Carter.
The fuel of the future, according to both Henry Ford and Charles F. Kettering, was ethyl alcohol made from farm products and cellulosic materials. Ford, of course, is well known as an automotive inventor; Kettering was the head of research at General Motors and a highly respected inventor in his own right.
Henry Ford’s outspoken support for alcohol fuel culminated with the the Dearborn, Mich. “Chemurgy” conferences in the 1930s. Little is known about Kettering’s interest in ethyl alcohol fuel and how it fit into G.M.’s long term strategy. Moreover, aside from the Chemurgy conferences and a brief period of commercial alcohol-gasoline sales in the Midwest during the 1930s, very little is known about the technological, economic and political context of alcohol fuels use. This paper examines that context, including the competition between lamp fuels in the 19th century; the scientific studies about alcohol as a fuel in the early 20th century; the development of “ethyl” leaded gasoline as a bridge to the “fuel of the future” in the 1920s; the worldwide use of alcohol – gasoline blends in the 1920s and 30s; and the eventual emergence of the farm “Chemurgy” movement and its support for alcohol fuel in the 1930s.
When Henry Ford told a New York Times reporter that ethyl alcohol was “the fuel of the future” in 1925, he was expressing an opinion that was widely shared in the automotive industry. “The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumach out by the road, or from apples, weeds, awdust — almost anything,” he said. “There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented. There’s enough alcohol in one year’s yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for a hundred years.” 1
Ford’s optimistic appraisal of cellulose and crop based ethyl alcohol fuel can be read in several ways. First, it can be seen as an oblique jab at a competitor. General Motors (and Charles Kettering) had come to considerable grief that summer of 1925 over another octane boosting fuel called tetraethyl lead, and government officials had been quietly in touch with Ford engineers about alternatives to leaded gasoline additives.
More importantly to Ford, in 1925 the American farms that Ford loved were facing an economic crisis that would later intensify with the depression. 2 Although the causes of the crisis were complex, one possible solution was seen in creating new markets for farm products. With Ford’s financial and political backing, the idea of opening up industrial markets for farmers would be translated into a broad movement for scientific research in agriculture that would be labelled “Farm Chemurgy.”
The history of ethyl alcohol fuel has been partially explored by Giebelhaus, 3 Bernton 4 and this author, 5 but the historical focus of all three works tended to be on the U.S. Farm Chemurgy Movement in the 1930s. The context of Ford’s support has not been well understood. And the ideas of Charles F. Kettering, in particular, have been grossly misrepresented.
American farmers embraced the vision of new markets for farm products, especially alcohol fuel, three times in the 20th century: around 1906, again in the 1930s with Ford’s blessing, and most recently, during the oil crisis of the 1970s. By the mid-1980s over one hundred corn alcohol production plants had been built and over a billion gallons of ethyl alcohol were sold per year in the fuel market. In the late 1980s and 1990s, with an apparently permanent world oil glut and rock bottom fuel prices, most of the alcohol plants shut down. Some observers joked that ethyl alcohol was the fuel of the future — and always would be. “Gasohol” had become passe.
Why, then, delve so deeply into this history?
Even if infinite amounts of petroleum were available, the history of alternative energy sources is worthy of study from many points of view, not the least of which is the pragmatic need to understand alternatives to oil supply from politically unstable regions of the world. Francis Garvan noted the problem in a speech promoting alcohol fuel at the Dearborn, Mich. “Chemurgy” Conference on Agriculture, Industry and Science in 1936.
“They say we have foreign oil,” he said. “It is … in Persia, and it is in Russia. Do you think that is much defense for your children?” 6
Another pragmatic reason to consider the history of alternative fuels involves the risk of continued reliance on oil relative to global climate change — a problem more recently appreciated.
Aside from pragmatic justifications, historians of technology have long noted a general preoccupation with “success stories” to an extent that might be called “whiggish.” Research into some of the “roads not taken” would provide history with better focus and broader perspective, according to historian John Staudenmier. 7 The direction a technology takes is too often seen as a result of pre-determined or inevitable conditions that arise from instrinsic properties of a technology, rather than from industry preference or policy choice.
Ethyl alcohol has long been used as an automotive fuel in two ways: First, it replaces gasoline outright in a somewhat modified internal combustion engine; and secondly, it is an effective “octane booster” when mixed with gasoline in blends of 10 to 30 percent and requires no engine modification. These blends achieve the same octane boosting (or anti-knock) effects as petroleum-derived aromatics like benzine or metallic additives like tetraethyl lead.
Many people are familiar with “Gasohol,” a popular fuel blend in the American Midwest in the late 1970s, which was a blend of ten percent ethyl alcohol and gasoline. (Fuel pumps are now simply labelled “with 10 percent ethanol.”). Most people are not familiar with the other fuel blends using alcohol. “Gasonol” (with an “n”) was a blend of 20 percent sugar cane alcohol with gasoline and kerosene used in the Philippeans in the 1930s. Koolmotor, Benzalcool, Moltaco, Lattybentyl, Natelite, Alcool and Agrol are some of the other obscure but interesting blends of fuels once found in Britain, Italy, Hungary, Sweden, South Africa, Brazil and the U.S. (respectively) in the 1920s and 1930s.
Economic issues have generally worked against the use of alcohol in favor of petroleum, but it is simplistic to view the problem simply in terms of relative consumer expense. Prices for ethyl alcohol blends and high octane gasoline are in the same relative range, and alcohol has been cheaper at times in various countries, depending on international politics and national tariff and incentive program
In the cultural and political context, alternative fuels — especially ethyl alcohol — have held a symbolic and politically strategic significance among advocates and opponents alike that goes far beyond the simple substitution of one product for another. Opponents have seen ethyl alcohol fuel as a scheme for robbing taxpayers to enrich farmers, as turning food for the poor into fuel for the rich, as compounding soil erosion problems, and as a marginally useful enhancement or replacement fuel for a transportation system that is poorly designed in the first place.
Advocates have seen in alcohol fuels the potential for revolutionizing agricultural economics, for dispelling city smog, and for curbing the power of the petroleum industry over the economy. In addition, the idea that agriculture and biological resources could be primary sources of energy, the idea that humankind could live on solar “income” rather than fossil fuel “capital,” has held a fascination for several generations of automotive and agricultural engineers. Proponents could see in ethyl alcohol the potential to help strike balance between city and farm and the prospect of civilizing and humanizing industrial machinery.
For example, this hope is graphically depicted in the symbolism used at the 1902 Paris alcohol fuel exposition. On the cover of the exposition’s proceedings, a muse with an overflowing bouquet of roses looks down over the steering wheel with a confident smile. She is a portrait of wisdom and beauty, firmly in control of a gentle machine which seems appropriately located in some lush flower garden. 8
Rhetoric of the technological sublime, as it has been called, frequently attends the birth of any new technology, and of course there is nothing surprising about the high hopes of French automobile enthusiasts for alcohol fuel in 1902. While the spirit of the marriage was not always as artfully depicted, many of the great scientific minds of the 20th century expressed their support and interest specifically in alcohol as a high quality fuel and the general idea of opening vast new industrial markets for farm products. These included Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and Charles F. Kettering.
Bell called alcohol “a wonderfully clean-burning fuel … that can be produced from farm crops, agricultural wastes, and even garbage.” 9 Henry Ford, who idealized country life despite his contribution to the urbanization of America, hoped that alcohol could help power a rural renaissance. Thomas Edison backed the idea of industrial uses for farm products, and respected Ford’s vision of the fuel of the future. 10 Charles Kettering and proteges Thomas Midgely and T.A. Boyd noted that the “most direct route which we now know for converting energy from its source, the sun, into a material suitable for use as a fuel is through vegetation to alcohol…” 11 Kettering’s interest is particularly important because, as we will see, he was enthusiastic about alcohol fuel even after the discovery of tetraethyl lead. In fact, Kettering originally planned that the octane boosting power of leaded gasoline would pave the way for the fuel of the future — ethyl alcohol from cellulosic biomass.
The broad ranging competition between gasoline and alcohol fuels around the turn of the century is not today as well known today as a similar competition between steam and electric automobiles with gasoline powered automobiles. 12 Nevertheless, the competition from alcohol fuel was a well recognized fact at the time. Hundreds of magazine articles, reports, books and technical papers were written about alcohol fuel from the 1900 – 1926 period before and during the “Ethyl” leaded gasoline controversy, and hundreds more were published in the 1926-1960 period. 13
Ethyl Alcohol Fuel before the Discovery of Petroleum
The history of energy is loaded with inaccuracies and myths. One myth is that Edwin Drake’s first oil well, drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859, arrived in the nick of time to replace a rapidly dwindling supply of whale oil. Actually, as we will see, a variety of lamp fuels were common in the U.S. and Europe through the 19th and early 20th centuries. These fuels offered the most logical starting point in the search for portable liquid fuels which inventors would use in the internal combustion engine.
Lamp fuels included all kinds of vegetable oils (castor, rapeseed, peanut); animal oils (especially whale oil and tallow from beef or pork,); refined turpentine from pine trees; and alcohols, especially wood alcohol (methanol or methyl alcohol) and grain alcohol (ethanol or ethyl alcohol). The most popular fuel in the U.S. before petroleum was a blend of alcohol and turpentine called “camphene” or simply “burning fluid.”
The”whale oil myth,” appears in many places, most recently in the history of the oil industry, The Prize, which hailed kerosene as “the new light which pushed back the night and extended the working day.” It was a “marvel to eyes that had strained to see by means of a lighted rag,” 14 A recent Smithsonian exhibit provided a similar perspective: “It was the discovery of petroleum in 1859 that kindled the revolution in artificial lighting,” the exhibit said. “Kerosene …was cheap and relatively clean. Lamp companies had sprung up immediately and by the 1870s virtually everyone could enjoy indoor lighting.” 15 This traditional error is found in many other accounts of the history of energy. According to a 1960 history, “petroleum arrived on the scene in answer to a world-wide quest for a new source of artificial light.” 16 In an Ethyl Corp. magazine of 1943, for example, we find the following:
“During the first half of the 19th century, scientists eagerly sought to develop better lighting fuels … At that time, rural America for the most part depended on whale oil and sperm oil lamps to light its homes, and upon beeswax and tallow candles. Supplies, however, were limited and were becoming insufficient to meet a constantly growing demand.” 17
These accounts seem to be inspired examples of rhetoric of the technological sublime. They are also fiction. In fact, kerosene came into an already well-established liquid fuel system with full scale production, distribution and end-use technology well in place. In other words, kerosene replaced other fuels; it did not emerge to light up a previously dark world.
In the 30 or 40 years before petroleum was discovered in Pennsylvania, the leading fuel was “camphene” (sometimes simply called “burning fluid”). It was a blend of high-proof ethyl alcohol with 20 to 50 percent turpentine to color the flame and a few drops of camphor oil to mask the turpentine smell. Alcohol for camphene was an important mainstay for distilleries, and many sold between one third and 80 percent of their product on the fuel market. 18 The first U.S. patent for alcohol as a lamp fuel was awarded in 1834 to S. Casey, of Lebanon, Maine but it is clear that alcohol was routinely used a fuel beforehand. 19 Samuel Morey used the readily available alcohol in the first American prototype internal combustion engine at the surprisingly early date of 1826. 20 We should note that Morey’s work was lost in the enthusiasm for the steam engine and a lack of funding. No other internal combustion engine would be developed until Nicholas Otto began his experiments 35 years later.
By the late 1830s, alcohol blends had replaced increasingly expensive whale oil in most parts of the country. It “easily took the lead as the illuminant” because it was “a decided improvement on other oils then in use,” (especially lard oils) according to a lamp manufacturer’s “History of Light.” 21 By 1860, thousands of distilleries churned out at least 90 million gallons of alcohol per year for lighting. 22 In the 1850s, camphene (at $.50 per gallon) was cheaper than whale oil ($1.30 to $2.50 per gallon) and lard oil (90 cents per gallon). It was about the same price as coal oil, which was the product first marketed as “kerosene” 23 (literally “sun fuel”).
Kerosene from petroleum was a good fuel when it arrived in the 1860s: it was usually not too volatile, it burned brightly and it was fairly cheap. A gradual shift from camphene to kerosene might have occurred, but instead, a $2.08 per gallon tax on alcohol was imposed in stages between 1862 and 1864 as part of the Internal Revenue Act to pay for the Civil War. The tax was meant to apply to beverage alcohol, but without any specific exemption, it was also applied to fuel and industrial uses for alcohol. “The imposition of the internal-revenue tax on distilled spirits … increased the cost of this ‘burning fluid’ beyond the possibility of using it in competition with kerosene..,” said Rufus F. Herrick, an engineer with the Edison Electric Testing Laboratory who wrote one of the first books on the use of alcohol fuel. 24
While a gradual shift from burning fluid (or spirit lamps) to kerosine did occur in Europe during the last half of the 19th century, the American alcohol tax meant that kerosene became the primary fuel virtually overnight, and the distilleries making lamp fuel lost their markets. The tax “had the effect of upsetting [the distilleries] and in some cases destroying them,” said IRS commissioner David A. Wells in 1872. “The manufacture of burning fluid for lighting suddenly ceased; happily, it was replaced by petroleum, which was about to be discovered.” 25 Similarly, C.J. Zintheo, of the US Department of Agriculture, said that 90 million gallons of alcohol per year were used for lighting, cooking, and industry before the tax was imposed.26 Meanwhile, use of oil shot up from almost nothing in 1860 to over 200 million gallons in 1870.27 “The effect was disastrous to great industries, which, if [they were to be] saved from ruin, had to be rapidly revolutionized,” according to Irish engineer Robert N. Tweedy.28
The distress in the alcohol industry may be reflected in the number of patents for various combinations of burning fluids. Between 1861 and 1867, the patent office issued 32 different patents for burning fluids, alcohol or camphene blends; only five had been awarded in the previous 33 years. After 1867, no patents for “burning fluids” are listed.29 The dramatic increase in numbers of patents, as alcohol became prohibitively expensive, may reflect desperate attempts to find new combinations of inflammable liquids to replace the product of the rapidly dying alcohol fuel industry .
Thus, the growth of the petroleum industry in the 1860s was greatly aided by the heavy federal tax on its primary competitor .The myth that petroleum was at first a dramatic deliverance from the darkness, and then the only important fuel for the horseless carriage, indicates the extent to which oil industry historians have been influenced by the rhetoric of the technological sublime. In fact, early automotive inventors resorted to both petroleum and alcohol spirit lamp fuels as readily available energy sources.
Fodder for the Horseless Carriage
The idea of replacing the external combustion steam engine with an internal combustion liquid fuel engine seized the world’s imagination in the late 19th century, but the origins of internal combustion engines can be traced back to early experiments with gunpowder in the late 1600s. Historian Lyle Cummins has noted that at least a dozen inventors tried to develop some form of internal combustion engine by the early 19th century.30
The first authentic internal combustion engine in America, developed by Samuel Morey around 1826, ran on ethyl alcohol and turpentine. It powered an experimental wagon and a small boat at eight miles per hour up the Connecticut river. Morey, like many other inventors, was never able to attract financing for his idea and only the prototype was built.31
Another early developer of the internal combustion engine was German inventor Nicholas August Otto. In 1860, Otto used ethyl alcohol as a fuel in an early engine because it was widely available for spirit lamps throughout Europe. He devised a carburetor which, like Morey’s, heated the alcohol to help it vaporize as the engine was being started. But a January 1861 patent application with the Kingdom of Prussia was turned down, probably because heated alcohol carburetion was already being widely used in spirit lamps.32 It is interesting to note that Otto’s initial financing came from Eugen Langen, who owned a a sugar refining company that probably had links to the alcohol markets of Europe. Of course, the Otto & Langen company went on to success in the 1870s by producing stationary gas engines (usually powered by coal gas) and the later “Otto-cycle” engine was fueled primarily with gasoline but was still adaptable to alcohol or benzene from coal.
Numerous other engine prototypes were developed using alcohol or turpentine, including US inventor George Brayton’s engine developed in the 1870s. However, at the dawn of the automotive age, kerosene was widely available and gasoline, although volatile and dangerous for lamps, was cheap and very much in surplus.
Promoting Alcohol Fuel in Europe 1890 – 1914
During the 1890 – 1914 time period, German, French and British scientists and government officials were worried about the longevity of oil reserves and the unpredictable nature of oil supplies from Russia and America. “The oil trust battles between Rockefeller, the Rothschilds, the Nobels and Marcus Samuel’s Shell kept prices in a state of flux, and engines often had to be adaptable to the fuel that was available,” said Cummins.33 Manufacturing companies in Germany, England and France sold engines equipped to handle a variety of fuels. In tropical nations where oil supplies were quite irregular, and in closed environments such as mines and factories, alcohol engines were often preferred.
With few domestic oil reserves, France and Germany especially were eager to encourage widespread development of a fuel that could be readily distilled from domestic farm products. Research at the Experimental Mechanical Laboratory of Paris and at the Deutsche Landwirtschaftliche Gesellschaft in Berlin in the 1890s helped pave the way for expanded use of alcohol fuel.34 By 1896, horseless carriages were showing up on roads in Europe and the United States, and internal combustion engines were also beginning to replace steam engines in light machinery and farm equipment. The question of whether gasoline or alcohol was the better fuel often provoked spirited debate, and numerous races between cars with different fuels were held in Europe.
One of these races took place in 1899 with four alcohol fueled vehicles racing from Paris to Chantilly. Only one made the entire distance.35 Two years later, 50 vehicles ranging from light quadracycles to heavy trucks made the 167 mile trek from Paris to Roubaix. The rallys were sponsored by the Automobile Club of Paris and fuels varying from pure alcohol to 50 percent alcohol and 50 percent gasoline were measured for each vehicle before and after the 1902 rally. Most drivers apparently preferred the 50-50 blend.36
Exhibits of automobiles held every year contained large proportions of alcohol fueled cars, and the growing enthusiasm was reflected in the 1902 Paris exhibit (mentioned above in the introduction). The exhibit was devoted to alcohol powered automobiles, farm machinery and a wide variety of lamps, stoves, heaters, laundry irons, hair curlers, coffee roasters and every conceivable household appliance and agricultural engine powered by alcohol. Many of these were not experimental items but represented a well established industry.
By one estimate, some 95,000 alcohol fueled stoves and 37,000 spirit lamps were made in Germany in 1902. 37 The exhibit published a set of papers and speeches, 38and was reported in many newspapers and technical journals of the day. Eight other exhibitions and congresses on alcohol fuels took place — in Germany, France, Italy and Spain between 1901 and 1904.39 Meanwhile, French fuel alcohol production rose from 2.7 million gallons in 1900 to 5.7 million gallons in 1903 and 8.3 million in 1905.40 Enthusiasm over the marriage of agriculture and industry in alcohol fuel was not the only motivation for French interest. A very practical problem was the decline in French sugar beet exports and rising surplus of many crops. Another concern was the increase in oil imports from the U.S. and the lack of domestic oil reserves.41
Germans were also concerned about a domestic fuel supply that would also provide farmers with new markets for crops. In 1899, the German government organized the Centrale fur Spiritus Verwerthung (office of alcohol sales) which maintained alcohol prices at an equilibrium with petroleum at around the equivalent of 27 cents per gallon through subsidies to alcohol producers and a tariff on imported oil.42Other incentives included scientific prizes, including a medallion from the emperor offered for the best alcohol engines. As a result, alcohol production rose from 10 million gallons to about 26 million gallons between 1887 and 1904.43 “To Kaiser William II, it seems, we are indebted for the great, new industry,” said a New York Times magazine writer in 1906. “Not that he discovered the fuel, but that he forced its use on Germany. The Kaiser was enraged at the Oil Trust of his country, and offered prizes to his subjects and cash assistance … to adapt [alcohol] to use in the industries.”44
According to a representative of the Otto Gas Engine Works of Philadelphia, by 1906 ten percent of the engines being produced by the firm’s parent company in Germany were designed to run on pure ethyl alcohol, while one third of the heavy locomotives produced at the Deutz Gas engine works of Germany ran on pure ethyl alcohol.45 Alcohol engines were advertised as safer than steam engines (as they did not give off sparks from smokestacks) and far cleaner than kerosine or gasoline engines. In a survey conducted around 1903, some 87 percent of German farmers considered alcohol engines to be equal or superior to steam engines in performance.46 Conflicting reports on the number of German distilleries at least give some idea of the scale of the enterprise. By one 1906 account, some 72,000 distilleries operated, of which 57,000 were small farm “Materialbrennereien” stills producing a total of 27 million gallons.47 Another account, from 1914, put the number at 6,000 distilleries producing 66 million gallons of alcohol per year.48
These alcohol stills may have had the effect of prolonging World War I. According to Irish engineer Robert Tweedy, when oil shortages seemed likely to paralyze Germany’s transportation system in 1915, thousands of engines were quickly modified. “Every motor car in the empire was adapted to run on alcohol. It is possible that Germany would have been beaten already [by 1917] if production of alcohol had not formed an important part of the agricultural economy.”49
U.S. Congress Lifts Alcohol Tax in 1906
American farmers watched the growing use of alcohol fuel in Europe with great interest. Their markets were glutted with grain surpluses created when vast new tracts of virgin prairie were plowed under to produce bumper crops. To absorb these surpluses, many looked to the market for liquid fuels created by the widespread acceptance of the automobile. It seemed logical to replace their declining market for horses by growing fuel for the horseless carriage.
Several attempts had already been made to remove the $2.08 federal tax placed on alcohol during the Civil War.. In 1894 the Wilson tariff bill allowed a rebate of taxes on alcohol for industrial uses, but the Treasury Dept. refused to issue regulations. Manufacturers tried to claim the rebate but lost in court. In 1896 a joint committee studied the issue, and minutes show opposition from wood alcohol (methyl) producers.
In 1906, the farm lobby found an ally in President Theodore Roosevelt, a bitter foe of the oil industry. Although embroiled in other disputes at the time, Roosevelt sent a message of support for the repeal of the alcohol tax to the House of Representatives, saying it provided a possible check to the depradations of the oil trust.50 In April, 1906, a bill to repeal the alcohol sales tax sailed through the House on a 224 to 7 vote with widespread support from farm-belt representatives. Additional support came from the Temperance Party, which saw in alcohol fuel a beneficial use for a pernicious commodity.
When the Senate Finance Committee attempted to table the “Free Alcohol” bill, the president of the Automobile Club of America said that he was considerably surprised and disappointed at the Senate committee, although he did not think Standard Oil would oppose the bill. “Gasoline is growing scarcer, and therefore dearer, all the time… Automobiles cannot use gasoline for all time, of that I am sure, and alcohol seems to be the best substitute that has yet appeared.”51 U.S. Senator Champ Clark of Missouri, however, placed “the Rockefellers” squarely in the opposing camp as attempting to retain the tax on a potential competitor.52
By mid-May, 1906, the Senate committee relented and the New York Times reported the bill was likely to be approved. “It is only the heavy tax imposed by the United States that has prevented the use of a large number of vegetable products for the manufacture of exceedingly cheap and available alcohol,” a Times editorial said. These sources included potatoes in the West, sugar beets in Michigan, and cheap imported molasses in the east. A report from the U.S. ambassador to Cuba noted alcohol made there cost 10 cents per gallon, and with improved methods in the U.S. it could cost even less when made from imported molasses. “The chief opponents, at least the open opponents, have been the manufacturers of wood alcohol,” the Times said.53
Auto manufacturers supported the bill wholeheartedly. A representative of the Detroit Board of Commerce, James S. Capen, told the Senate Finance Committee that alcohol was “preferable” to gasoline because it was safer, “absolutely clean and sanitary,” and because “artificial shortages” could not raise the price in the future. The biggest problem for auto makers, Capen said, was not so much cost as the question of long term supply.54
The Senate passed the bill May 24, 1906, and the New York Times again noted the low cost of alcohol (14 cents from corn, nine and a half cents from molasses) as compared to the high price of kerosene and gasoline (18 and 22 cents, respectively). “The new fuel and illuminant will utilize completely an important class of agricultural crops and byproducts thus benefiting in a double sense the farms and villages throughout the country,” an editorial said.55 Roosevelt signed the bill June 8, 1906.
Additional bills specifically exempting farm stills from government controls passed shortly afterwards, and triumphant farm belt senators, like North Dakota’s Hansbrough, proclaimed that “every farmer could have a still” to supply heat, light and power at low prices. “Advocates look forward with hope to a big change in the farmers life,” the New York Times reported. “If the law accomplishes what is hoped it will… make a revolution on the farm.”
Experts noted that while alcohol would probably not drive out gasoline entirely, “it will find its field as every other fuel energy has.” More typical was the statement of a National Grange master who predicted an immediate market for 100 million gallons of alcohol. Along with a large additional market for farm crops, alcohol would serve as a “balance wheel to maintain an equilibrium” in commodity prices.56
The lofty farm rhetoric obscured a difficult economic picture, but the bill kindled interest in alcohol fuels among farmers who wanted new markets and automakers who wanted to continue to have a market if oil were to run out. Pure alcohol fuel went on sale in Peoria, Illinois at 32 cents per gallon in January, 1907 as the tax took effect, and prices elsewhere hovered around 25 to 30 cents. At the same time, gasoline prices at 18 to 22 cents per gallon were beginning to drop as new Texas oil fields came on line and found markets on the East Coast. These new fields were brought in by independent oil companies, especially Gulf and the Texas Co. (Texaco). Suddenly, the future for alcohol fuel seemed more remote than anticipated.
“Of all the chimerical projects ever foisted upon Congress, the free denatured alcohol scheme has proved the greatest disappointment,” said a news column in the New York Times in 1907. With only ten alcohol plants built under the new law, “gasoline, kerosene and electricity are still being used.” One disappointed farm machinery manufacturer said the problem was a lack of frugality among Americans; the manufacturer said German farm stills often used “cull” crops that had been partly damaged or spoiled. Meanwhile, an Internal Revenue commissioner noted that Germany protected farm alcohol with tariffs on petroleum imports, and said that fuel prices there were the equivalent of 15 to 27 cents per gallon.57 USDA set up a demonstration small scale alcohol still in the Bureau of Chemistry with “the aim of creating a body of experts who would return to their districts filled up with enthusiasm and knowledge which would be served out to farmers.” In 1908, fourteen experts were trained; in 1909 only four could be trained, and the project was abandoned. The U.S. commissioner of revenue noted in 1910 that no alcohol had been used for fuel, and in 1911 he reported that a new industrial alcohol industry was unlikely.
Attempts to revive the moribund hopes of the alcohol industry proved futile. In 1914 the Free Alcohol bill was amended again to decrease the regulatory burden, but one observer said that the small distillery “is only a myth in this country.” In 1915, Congressional hearings on more demonstrations and proposals for an Industrial Alcohol Commission within the Department of Agriculture were held, but the proposals were turned down. “The theater is open, the stage is set, but the play does not begin. There are no actors…” said Tweedy.58
Alcohol from grain and potatoes, at about 25 to 30 cents per gallon, was far too expensive to compete with petroleum, but alcohol from Cuban molasses, at 10 cents per gallon, was thought to be competitive. Some observers suspected a conspiracy in the fact that Standard Oil of New Jersey had financial ties to the Caribbean alcohol market. The influence of an oil company over the alcohol industry was “a combination which many will regard as sinister,” said Tweedy.59 In 1942, Senate committees began looking into the extent to which the oil industry had controlled other industries, including the alcohol industry and the rubber industry. Attorney General Thurmond Arnold testified that anti-trust investigations had taken place into the oil industry’s influence in the alcohol industry in the 1913-1920 period, in the early 1920s, and between 1927 and 1936. “Renewed complaints in 1939 were brought to the anti-trust division but because of funds no action was taken,” Arnold said.60 Then the investigation of 1941 which exposed a “marriage” between Standard Oil Co. and the German chemical company I.G. Farben also brought new evidence concerning complex price and marketing agreements between du Pont Corp., a major investor in and producer of leaded gasoline, U.S. Industrial Alcohol Co. and their subsidiary, Cuba Distilling Co. The investigation was eventually dropped, like dozens of others in many different kinds of industries, due to the need to enlist industry support in the war effort. However, the top directors of many oil companies agreed to resign and oil industry stocks in molasses companies were sold off as part of a compromise worked out with Arnold.
Scientific Investigations of Alcohol Fuels 1890 – 1920
Scientific journals contain hundreds of references to alcohol fuel at the dawn of the automotive era. Research during the earliest decades tended to focus on pure alcohol as a replacement for petroleum. The focus shifted to the anti-knock (“octane” boosting) properties of alcohol blends in gasoline during the 1915 to 1936 period because of an increasing need for anti-knock gasoline and because of improvements in anhydrous alcohol production techniques.61
Studies of alcohol as an internal combustion engine fuel began in the U.S. with the Edison Electric Testing Laboratory and Columbia University in 1906. Elihu Thomson reported that despite a smaller heat or B.T.U. value, “a gallon of alcohol will develop substantially the same power in an internal combustion engine as a gallon of gasoline. This is owing to the superior efficiency of operation…”62 Other researchers confirmed the same phenomena around the same time.
USDA tests in 1906 also demonstrated the efficiency of alcohol in engines and described how gasoline engines could be modified for higher power with pure alcohol fuel or for equivalent fuel consumption, depending on the need.63 The U.S. Geological Service and the U.S. Navy performed 2000 tests on alcohol and gasoline engines in 1907 and 1908 in Norfolk, Va. and St. Louis, Mo. They found that much higher engine compression ratios could be achieved with alcohol than with gasoline. When the compression ratios were adjusted for each fuel, fuel economy was virtually equal despite the greater B.T.U. value of gasoline. “In regard to general cleanliness, such as absence of smoke and disagreeable odors, alcohol has many advantages over gasoline or kerosene as a fuel,” the report said. “The exhaust from an alcohol engine is never clouded with a black or grayish smoke.”64 USGS continued the comparative tests and later noted that alcohol was “a more ideal fuel than gasoline” with better efficiency despite the high cost.65
The French War Office tested gasoline, benzene and an alcohol-benzene blend in road tests in 1909, and the results showed that benzene gave higher mileage than gasoline or the alcohol blend in existing French trucks.66 The British Fuel Research Board also tested alcohol and benzene mixtures around the turn of the century and just before World War I, finding that alcohol blends had better thermal efficiency than gasoline but that engines developed less brake horsepower at low rpm.67 On the other hand, a British researcher named Watson found that thermal efficiencies for alcohol, benzene and gasoline were very nearly equal.68
These experiments are representative of work underway before and during World War I. The conclusions were so definitive that Scientific American concluded in 1918: “It is now definitely established that alcohol can be blended with gasoline to produce a suitable motor fuel …”69 By 1920, the consensus, Scientific American said, was “a universal assumption that [ethyl] alcohol in some form will be a constituent of the motor fuel of the future.” Alcohol met all possible technical objections, and although it was more expensive than gasoline, it was not prohibitively expensive in blends with gasoline. “Every chemist knows [alcohol and gasoline] will mix, and every engineer knows [they] will drive an internal combustion engine.”70
During and after the war, the British Fuel Research Board actively researched military and civilian fuels. W.R. Ormandy in 1918 said that alcohol and coal based fuels could replace oil in the post-war period, and Ormandy noted that only five percent of the American grain crop would meet requirements for a blended fuel.71 The board’s committee on “power alcohol” noted the absence of technical problems a year later, although it concluded that “alcohol cannot compete with gasoline at present prices.”72 Harold B. Dixon, working for the board and other governmental departments, reported in 1920 that higher possible engine compression compensated for alcohol’s low caloric value. A mixture of alcohol with 20 percent benzene or gasoline “runs very smoothly, and without knocking.”73 Also, B.R. Tunnison reported in 1920 the anti-knock effects of alcohol blends in gasoline and said mileage was improved.74
Another significant set of British experiments was performed by the London General Omnibus Co. in 1919 comparing gasoline with blends of ethyl alcohol and benzene. Mileage was about the same, with gasoline slightly ahead. “In all other respects the [alcohol] fuel compared favorably with petrol [gasoline], and exhibited the characteristics of other alcohol mixtures in respect of flexibility, absence of knocking and cleanliness.”75 The absence of knocking is significant, since London omnibus studies were widely reported and well known two years before leaded gasoline was discovered and six years before oil industry representatives told government officials that alternatives to leaded gasoline did not exist.76 The bus experiment also showed that a large scale switch from petroleum was technically feasible. “We are fast squandering the oil that has been stored in the fuel beds, and it seems so far as our present knowledge takes us that it is to the fuels experimented with that we must turn for our salvation,” said the omnibus company engineer in a technical journal.77
Despite the value of demonstrating the flexibility of technology, road tests proved to be an unreliable index of mileage and thermal efficiency. A German road test of benzene alcohol blends found that the 50 /50 alcohol benzene mixture had 30 percent better mileage than gasoline.78 Because of the unreliability of such road tests, Thomas Midgely in the U.S. and H.R. Ricardo in Britain developed reference engines, indicators, and measuring apparatus for showing the exact extent of knocking. Midgely’s system led to the development of iso-octane as a reference fuel, and eventually, the “octane” system of measuring anti-knock. Ricardo’s work focused in part on testing fuels at various compression ratios up to the point where they would begin knocking, or what he termed the “highest useful compression ratio.” Ethyl alcohol had a 7.5 value, with commercial gasolines then available at 4.5 to 6. Ricardo also developed the Toluene Index, which like “octane” measured anti-knock with a reference fuel. Ricardo concluded that the low burning rate of alcohol lessens the tendency to knock, and that, using toluene as the reference point at 100 anti-knock, alcohol had a 130 rating. 79
Several difficulties with alcohol fuels were known: cold starting was one, and E.C. Freeland and W.G. Harry noted in a chemical society paper that blends of small amounts of ether in alcohol could solve the problem.80 Another problem was “phase separation,” noted above. But the tendency of alcohol and gasoline to separate at lower temperatures in the presence of water could be easily overcome with “binders,” and was noted by Thomas Midgley, among others. These were small amounts of additives such as higher-carbon alcohols (such as propyl or butyl alcohol), ethers and / or benzene. Operating practice was also important tin dealing with alcohol fuels. Fuel distributors and chemists used anhydrous (low water content) alcohol and avoided storing alcohol-gasoline blends in tanks with water “bottoms.” Swedish researcher E. Hubendick said that the danger of separation “can be ignored in my estimation” because even if it did occur, it would never stop the motor in the way that a small amount of water in the gas tank would.81
In short, technical research into ethyl alcohol as a fuel ranged from neutral to extremely positive, with very few negative findings. By 1925, an American researcher speaking at the same New York Chemists Club told an audience:
“Composite fuels made simply by blending anhydrous alcohol with gasoline have been given most comprehensive service tests extending over a period of eight years. Hundreds of thousands of miles have been covered in standard motor car, tractor, motor boat and aeroplane engines with highly satisfactory results… Alcohol blends easily excel gasoline on every point important to the motorist. The superiority of alcohol gasoline fuels is now safely established by actual experience… [Thus] the future of alcohol motor fuels is largely an economic problem. 82
Yet in the 1930s, oil industry opponents of alcohol blends in the US claimed that technical problems prohibited their use. “Alcohol is much inferior, gallon for gallon, to gasoline as a motor fuel,” claimed the American Petroleum Industries Committee. While admitting there was some anti-knock advantage, the committee said the blends would be “unstable in the presence of small amounts of accidental moisture.”83 The American Petroleum Institute’s Conger Reynolds, in a 1939 barb aimed at Henry Ford and the Farm Chemurgy conferences of the 1930s, said:
“With all due deference for the dream chemists, armchair farmers and platform orators who have touted alcohol-gasoline as the greatest of all fuels, oil industry technologists know and automotive engineers know that it is not as satisfactory a fuel as straight gasoline of normal quality.”84
The context of Reynolds speech to fellow oil men was that of fending off (by his count) 19 federal bills and 31 state bills on alcohol gasoline tax incentives and blending programs between 1933 and 1939. To be forced to use alcohol gasoline would mean giving consumers an inferior fuel at an exorbitant cost, Reynolds said. At the time, the API had virtually no technical data to back up claims of inferiority. The vast bulk of scientific research pointed very much in favor of alcohol blended fuels. That soon changed as industry-sponsored tests found phase separation, cold starting and other problems. Ten years later, British researcher S.J.W. Pleeth would observe:
“The bias aroused by the use of alcohol as a motor fuel has produced [research] results that are incompatible with each other … Countries with considerable oil deposits — such as the US — or which control oil deposits of other lands — such as Holland — tend to produce reports antithetical to the use of fuels alternative to petrol; countries with little or no indigenous oil tend to produce favorable reports. The contrast … is most marked. One can scarcely avoid the conclusion that the results arrived at are those best suited to the political or economic aims of the country concerned or the industry sponsoring the research. We deplore this partisan use of science, while admitting its existence, even in the present writer.”85
U.S. Automakers, Alcohol Fuels and Ethyl Leaded Gasoline
Before World War I, U.S. automakers were aware of the potential for alcohol fuel, but given the short-term economic picture, stayed with gasoline and low compression engines. Most popular cars, such as the Ford Model T, had low compression engines, an adjustable carburetor and a spark advance that made it possible to switch from gasoline to alcohol to kerosene as needed. Despite Ford’s later support for alcohol fuel in the 1920s and 1930s, the only fuel the company actually handled was “Fordsol,” benzine from Ford factory coking operations and regular gasoline. Some early auto manufacturers, such as the Olds Gas Power Company, offered a simple mixer attachment for alcohol and found that “under actual operating conditions… the fuel consumption per horsepower is about the same, pound for pound, whether using alcohol or gasoline.” The Hart-Parr Company, a tractor manufacturer based in Charles City, Iowa, commented in 1907: “We have watched with great interest, and added our efforts to help bring about the free use of alcohol for power purposes… Our engine is so constructed that alcohol can be used with very little change …” 86
Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Co. began making alcohol engines for tractors in 1909, and with increasing demand for alcohol powered farm equipment after World War I, began intensive studies on a more efficient alcohol engine. “In our opinion alcohol is an ideal fuel,” said researcher A.W. Scarratt, because it vaporized at a practically constant temperature and it formed no carbon deposits. “We believe the entire automobile industry should get behind this idea and bring it to pass as quickly as possible so as to provide another source of fuel supply and to bring down the operating costs of all equipment depending now on hydrocarbon fuels.”87
After World War I, the focus of fuel research shifted into two directions. One research direction led to the discovery of a metallic additive called tetra ethyl lead. The story of how General Motors researchers Thomas Midgley and Charles F. Kettering discovered it has often been told.88 However, the second research direction into the “fuel of the future” is not well known.
Kettering and Midgley’s initial research into fuel involved work on DELCO generators and airplane engines in World War I. In a report on the war research, Midgley wrote: “Engineers have heretofore believed knocking to be the unavoidable result of too high a compression, and while the fact that [ethyl] alcohol did not knock at extremely high compressions was well known, it was [erroneously] attributed to its extremely high ignition point ..”89 The point was generally understood by scientists and military technology experts. For example, a naval committee concluded in 1920 that alcohol gasoline blends “withstand high compression without producing knock.”90
Kettering, who had become General Motors vice president of research and the president of the Society of Automotive Engineers, noted two directions in fuel research in a 1919 speech to the society. There was, he said, a “high percentage” direction, with blends of up to 20 percent or more of benzine or alcohol; the other was a “low percentage” additive, such as iodine, which was too expensive to be practical but pointed to the possibility of other additives.91 The low percentage research effort would lead to the discovery of leaded gasoline in 1921.
Around 1920 and 1921, Kettering came to believe that alcohol fuel from renewable resources would be the answer to the compression problem and the possibility of an oil shortage. Along with his British counterpart, H.R. Ricardo, Kettering settled on alcohol as the key to unshackling the internal combustion engine from non-renewable fossil fuels,” said historian Stuart Leslie. “Ethanol (ethyl alcohol) never knocked, it could be produced by distiling waste vegetable material, and it was almost pollution-free. Ricardo compared alcohol fuel to living within a man’s means, implying that fossil fuels were a foolish squandering of capital.” 92
At Kettering’s urging, General Motors began to consider just what would be involved in a total switch from petroleum to alcohol fuel. One G.M. researcher reported that some 46 percent of all foodstuffs would have to be converted to alcohol to replace gasoline on a BTU for BTU basis.93 In another G.M. study, T.A. Boyd surveyed the steep rise in number of new cars and the increasing difficulty of providing new fuel supplies. The solution, Boyd said, would be to use other fuels, and benzene and alcohol “appear to be very promising allies” to petroleum.94 Alcohol was the “most direct route … for converting energy from its source, the sun, into a material that is suitable for a fuel…” Boyd said.
Despite advantages of cleanliness and high antiknock rating, there were supply problems. In 1921, about 100 million gallons of industrial alcohol supply was available. Overall, enough corn, sugar cane and other crops were available to produce almost twice the 8.3 billion gallon per year demand for gasoline. But the possibility of using such a large amount of food acreage for fuel “seems very unlikely,” he said.95 In a speech around 1921, Kettering noted that “industrial alcohol can be obtained from vegetable products … [but] the present total production of industrial alcohol amounts to less than four percent of the fuel demands, and were it to take the place of gasoline, over half of the total farm area of the United States would be needed to grow the vegetable matter from which to produce this alcohol.”96
Kettering, Midgley and Boyd apparently framed the question in terms of totally replacing gasoline, although a related goal of the research was to create antiknock additives. It stands to reason that if a 20 percent blend of alcohol were to be used in all fuel, then (using Boyd’s figure) only about nine percent of grain and sugar crops would be needed. Since grain was in surplus after the war, American farmers probably would have welcomed a new market for their crop, and the kinds of supply problems in the G.M. and du Pont studies would probably not have materialized. Also, with Prohibition, distillers would have welcomed a new use for their services. Another problem with Kettering’s analysis is an apparent lack of understanding of agriculture and the distilling industry. Grain is not “used” for fuel; it is fed to cattle after it is distilled with no loss in food value. This is as true of brewers’ grains from breweries and beverage distilleries as it is of fuel facilities.
Thus, supply of an additive would not have been the problem that G.M. engineers apparently assumed that it would have been. However, since the original studies on fuel alcohol are missing from the archives, and it is difficult to fathom the reason for their narrow frame of reference.97 One reasonable explanation is that Kettering, Boyd and Midgley were preoccupied with the long-term replacement of petroleum. In 1920 and 1921 they were not technically or politically opposed to ethyl alcohol as a straight fuel or in blends with gasoline. Kettering spoke out against taxes on alcohol as an impediment to fuel research and helped overcome other obstacles.98 In 1920, K.W. Zimmerschied of G.M.’s New York headquarters wrote Kettering to note that foreign use of alcohol fuel “is getting more serious every day in connection with export cars, and anything we can do toward building our carburetors so they can be easily adapted to alcohol will be appreciated by all.” Kettering assured him that the adaptation “is a thing which is very readily taken care of,” and said that G.M. could rapidly change the floats in carburetors from lacquered cork to metal.99 Midgley also filed a patent application for a blend of alcohol and cracked (olefin) gasoline on February 28, 1920, clearly intending it to be an antiknock fuel.100
The problem of the long-term resource base for the fuel of the future continued to worry Kettering and Midgley. At one point they became interested in work on cellulose conversion to fermentable sugar being performed by Prof. Harold Hibbert at Yale University. Hibbert was a visionary, and pointed out that the 1920 U.S.G.S. oil reserve report had serious implications for his work. “Does the average citizen understand what this means?” he asked. “In from 10 to 20 years this country will be dependent entirely upon outside sources for a supply of liquid fuels… paying out vast sums yearly in order to obtain supplies of crude oil from Mexico, Russia and Persia.” But chemists might be able to solve the problem, Hibbert said, by converting abundant cellulose waste from farm crops, timber operations and seaweed into ethyl alcohol.101 In the summer of 1920, Boyd and his family moved to New Haven so that he could study with Hibbert. Boyd found Hibbert impressive but the volume of literature about cellulose hydrolysis and synthesis was overwhelming. When Midgley came east in late July, he was more interested in meeting Standard Oil Co. officials than with Hibbert, and Boyd left without a clear sense of where the cellulose research could go.102
Boyd did insist that a source of alcohol “in addition to foodstuffs” must be found, and that the source would undoubtedly be cellulose: “It is readily available, it is easily produced and its supply is renewable.” Using it and returning farm crop residues to the soil would not harm soil fertility. But the problem of developing a commercial process for cellulose conversion to alcohol was serious, he had learned in his stay with Hibbert. A ton of wood yielded only 20 gallons of alcohol in the least expensive “weak acid” process, whereas a commercially profitable “weak acid” process would need a yield of at least 50 gallons, and possibly 60 to 65. Such yields had been achieved with the “strong acid” process, but that technology was complex and more expensive. Still, success might be found if the “strong acid” yield could be obtained in a weak acid process, and as a result, “the danger of a serious shortage of motor fuel would disappear,” Boyd said. “The great necessity for and the possibilities of such a process justify a large amount of further research.”
To promote the idea of alcohol blended fuels among automotive and chemical engineers, Midgley drove a high compression ratio car (7:1) from Dayton to an October, 1921 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) meeting in Indianapolis using a 30 percent alcohol blend in gasoline. This was only two months before tetraethyl lead was discovered. “Alcohol has tremendous advantages and minor disadvantages,” Midgley told fellow SAE members in a discussion. Advantages included “clean burning and freedom from any carbon deposit… [and] tremendously high compression under which alcohol will operate without knocking… Because of the possible high compression, the available horsepower is much greater with alcohol than with gasoline…” Minor disadvantages included low volatility, difficulty starting, and difficulty in blending with gasoline “unless a binder is used.”103 Another unnamed engineer (probably from G.M., possibly Boyd) noted that a seven and a half percent increase in power was found with the alcohol-gasoline blend “…without producing any ‘pink’ [knock] in the engine. We have recommended the addition of 10 percent of benzol [benzene] to our customers who have export trade that uses this type of fuel to facilitate the mixing of the alcohol and gasoline.”104 In a formal part of the presentation, Midgley mentioned the cellulose project. “From our cellulose waste products on the farm such as straw, corn-stalks, corn cobs and all similar sorts of material we throw away, we can get, by present known methods, enough alcohol to run our automotive equipment in the United States,” he said. The catch was that it would cost $2 per gallon. However, other alternatives looked even more problematic — oil shale wouldn’t work, and coal would only bring in about 20 percent of the total fuel need.105
Midgley and Kettering’s interest in ethyl alcohol fuel did not fade once tetraethyl lead was discovered as an antiknock in December, 1921. In fact, not only was ethyl alcohol a source of continued interest as an antiknock agent, but more significantly, it was still considered to be the fuel that would eventually replace petroleum. A May, 1922 memo from Midgley to Kettering was a response to a report on alcohol production from the Mexican “century” plant, a desert plant that contains fermentable sugars. Midgley said he was “not impressed” with the process as a way to make motor fuel:
Unquestionably alcohol is the fuel of the future and is playing its part in tropical countries situated similar [sic] to Mexico. Alcohol can be produced in those countries for approximately 7 – 1/2 cents per gallon from many other sources than the century plant, and the quantities which are suggested as possibilities in this report are insignificantly small compared to motor fuel requirements. However, as a distillery for beverage purposes, these gentlemen may have a money making proposition.106
Even as chemists tinkered with various processes to produce tetraethyl lead in a nearby lab, Midgley and Boyd continued working on alcohol for fuel. In a June 1922 Society of Automotive Engineers paper, they said:
That the addition of benzene and other aromatic hydrocarbons to paraffin base gasoline greatly reduces the tendency of these fuels to detonate [knock] … has been known for some time. Also, it is well known that alcohol … improves the combustion characteristics of the fuel …The scarcity and high cost of gasoline in countries where sugar is produced and the abundance of raw materials for making alcohol there has resulted in a rather extensive use of alcohol for motor fuel. As the reserves of petroleum in this country become more and more depleted, the use of benzene and particularly of alcohol in commercial motor fuels will probably become greatly extended.” 107 (Italics indicate section omitted from printed version).
In September, 1922, Midgley and Boyd wrote that “vegetation offers a source of tremendous quantities of liquid fuel.” Cellulose from vegetation would be the primary resource because not enough agricultural grains and other foods were available for conversion into fuel. “Some means must be provided to bridge the threatened gap between petroleum and the commercial production of large quantities of liquid fuels from other sources. The best way to accomplish this is to increase the efficiency with which the energy of gasoline is used and thereby obtain more automotive miles per gallon of fuel.”108 At the time the paper was written, in late spring or early summer 1922, tetraethyl lead was still a secret within the company, but it was about to be announced to fellow scientists and test marketed. The reference to a means to “bridge the threatened gap” and increase in the efficiency of gasoline clearly implies the use of tetraethyl lead or some other additive to pave the way to new fuel sources.
This inference is consistent with an important statement in an unpublished 1936 legal history of Ethyl Gasoline for the du Pont corporation:
It is also of interest to recall that an important special motive for this [tetraethyl lead] research was General Motors’ desire to fortify itself against the exhaustion or prohibitive cost of the gasoline supply, which was then believed to be impending in about twenty-five years; the thought being that the high compression motors which should be that time have been brought into general use if knocking could be overcome could more advantageously be switched to [ethyl] alcohol. 109
Thus, during the time Kettering and Midgley researched anti-knock fuels (1916 to 1925), and especially after tetraethyl lead was discovered in December of 1921, there were two “ethyls” on the horizon for General Motors: Ethyl leaded gasoline, which would serve as a transitional efficiency booster for gasoline, and ethyl alcohol, the “fuel of the future” that would keep America’s cars on the roads no matter what happened to domestic or world oil supply. Thus, Kettering’s strategy in the post World War I years was to prepare cars for high-octane alternative fuels.
Clearly, G.M. switched gears sometime in 1923 or 1924. When controversy broke out about the public health impacts of leaded gasoline in 1924, Midgley and Kettering told the media, fellow scientists and the government that no alternatives existed. “So far as science knows at the present time,” Midgley told a meeting of scientists, “tetraethyl lead is the only material available which can bring about these [antiknock] results, which are of vital importance to the continued economic use by the general public of all automotive equipment, and unless a grave and inescapable hazard exists in the manufacture of tetraethyl lead, its abandonment cannot be justified.”110 And at a Public Health Service conference on leaded gasoline in 1925, Kettering said: “We could produce certain [antiknock] results and with the higher gravity gasolines, the aromatic series of compounds, alcohols, etc… [to] get the high compression without the knock, but in the great volume of fuel of the paraffin series [petroleum] we could not do that.”111 Even though experts like Alice Hamilton of Harvard University insisted that alternatives to leaded gasoline were available,112 the Public Health Service allowed leaded gasoline to remain on the market in 1926. (Leaded gasoline was banned in 1986 in the US for the same public health concerns that had been expressed 60 years earlier).
Interestingly, Kettering and Midgley came up with another fuel called “Synthol” in the summer of 1925, at a time when the fate of leaded gasoline was in doubt. Synthol was made from alcohol, benzene and a metallic additive — either tetraethyl lead or iron carbonyl. Used in combination with a new high compression engine much smaller than ordinary engines, Synthol would “revolutionize transportation.”113 When Ethyl leaded gasoline was permitted to return to the market in 1926, Kettering and Midgley dropped the Synthol idea.
By the mid-1930s, the alliance between General Motors, DuPont Corp. and Standard Oil to produce Ethyl leaded gasoline succeeded beyond all expectations: 90 percent of all gasoline contained lead. Public health crusaders who found this troubling still spoke out in political forums, but competitors were not allowed to criticize leaded gasoline in the commercial marketplace. In a restraining order forbidding such criticism, the Federal Trade Commission said Ethyl gasoline “is entirely safe to the health of [motorists] and to the public in general when used as a motor fuel, and is not a narcotic in its effect, a poisonous dope, or dangerous to the life or health of a customer, purchaser, user or the general public.”114
Direct comparison between leaded gasoline and alcohol blends proved so controversial in the 1920s and 1930s that government studies were kept quiet or not published. For instance, a Commerce Department report dated May 15, 1925 detailed dozens of instances of alcohol fuel use worldwide.115 The report was printed only five days before the Surgeon General’s hearing on Ethyl leaded gasoline. Yet it was never mentioned in the news media of the time, or in extensive bibliographies on alcohol fuel by Iowa State University researchers compiled in the 1930s. Another instance of a “buried” government report was that of USDA and Navy engine tests, conducted at the engineering experiment station in Annapolis. Researchers found that Ethyl leaded gasoline and 20 percent ethyl alcohol blends in gasoline were almost exactly equivalent in terms of brake horsepower and useful compression ratios. The 1933 report was never published.116
International Use of Alcohol Fuels, 1920s and 30s
By the mid-1920s ethyl alcohol was routinely blended with gasoline in every industrialized nation except the United States. Ten to twenty five percent alcohol blends with gasoline were common in Scandinavian countries, where alcohol was made from paper mill wastes; in France, Germany and throughout continental Europe, where alcohol was made from surplus grapes, potatoes and other crops; and in Australia, Brazil, Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippians, South Africa, and other tropical regions, where it was made from sugar cane and molasses. In some countries, especially France, gasoline retailers were required to blend in large volumes of alcohol with all gasoline sold. Germany, Brazil and others also followed the “mandatory blending” model. In other countries, such as Sweden, Ireland and Britain, alcohol blends received tax advantages.117
In France, insecure supplies of oil during World War I led to a research program at the Pasteur Institute on sources of alcohol, including marine biomass sources like kelp.118 Continued research by a national fuels committee appointed in 1921 led to a recommendations of a national fuel consisting of 40 to 50 percent alcohol, and on Feb. 28, 1923, “Article 6″ required gasoline importers to buy at alcohol from a state monopoly at a volume of at least 10 percent of their gasoline imports. “Article 7″ provided a five-Franc per hectoliter tax on gasoline to help subsidize the alcohol monopoly. The blend, often reaching as much as 50 percent in some fuels, was not well accepted by consumers who were using engines which were specifically adapted to gasoline. At a minimum, carburetor settings needed to be changed to allow a greater fuel volume when the percentage of alcohol in the gasoline rose above 20 to 30 percent, and bitter complaints flowed in from motor clubs and garages.119 Amendments to the law in 1926 and 1931 helped create a more workable blend, and alcohol fuel use rose from 7.8 million gallons per year in 1925 to 20 million gallons in 1932.
Although the French government was initially one of the most enthusiastic toward alcohol, by 1932 so many other nations had surpassed the French effort that one proponent explained the “slowness” in reviving alcohol fuels use. It “is due in part to the poor results obtained when such fuels were first introduced and also to the casting of discredit upon such fuels by its adversaries who profit in the fuel business,” said Charles Schweitzer, a research chemist in the Melle complex.120 Schweitzer also noted that alcohol was far preferable to leaded gasoline from a public health standpoint.121
National initiatives were also under way in Britain, Italy and Germany, and tax incentives were passed in all three nations to encourage the use of alcohol or alcohol blended fuels.
In England, a Departmental Committee on Industrial Alcohol reported in 1905 that alcohol from potatoes would be more expensive than gasoline, even though farmers wanted an alcohol industry built to absorb crop surpluses. In 1915 “agitation” for an alcohol industry was noted.122 A Fuel Research Board experimented with alcohol production between 1917 and 1924, and reported that while economics of traditional crops were marginal, novel crops like Jerusalem artichokes might be useful. “The most economical source [of alcohol] may be found ultimately in some of the luxuriant tropical growths within the Empire,” an article in SAE Journal said. Even so, it continued attention to power alcohol was important. “Looking at the fuel question very broadly, the dominant fact is that almost all the fuel supplies at present used are what lawyers call wasting securities… As mineral fuels grow dearer, the advantage of fuels of vegetable origin must become accentuated.”123 By the 1930s, two major blends of up to 30 percent alcohol — Cleveland Discoll (part owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey) and Cities Service — were widely used. Discoll continued to be used until the 1970s.
German firms such as I.G. Farben had by the early 1920s come up with a process for making synthetic methanol from coal, a development which was widely reported in the popular and technical press. Observing the synthesis of methanol and other fuels, the editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry said: “We do not predict that these will necessarily be the fuels to supplement our diminishing petroleum reserves … But who shall say? The field is new and the opportunities are correspondingly great.”124 The German ethyl alcohol monopoly of the pre-World War I (the Centrale fur Spiritus Verwerthung) had apparently fallen apart in the post-war chaos, but in September, 1926 a commercial fuel called “Monopolin” was introduced and “favorably received due to its anti-knock qualities.” 125 The fuel, which included I.G. Farben’s octane-boosting iron carbonyl additive, was endorsed by a famous race car driver of the era, Herbert Ernst, and alcohol use in fuel climbed from a quarter million gallons in 1923 to 46 million gallons in 1932. In 1930 gasoline importers were required to buy from 2.5 to 6 percent alcohol relative to their gasoline import volumes, but around 1933, I.G. Farben and several oil companies acquired 51 percent of Monopolin.126 Production of alcohol did not diminish, abut climbed by 1937 to about 52 million gallons per year as part of Hitler’s war preparations.127
In Italy, the first Congress of Industrial Chemistry which took place in April 1924 focused strongly on fuel problems, with a large percentage of the papers concerned with alcohol fuels. 128 A strong scientific endorsement of the idea of using surplus crops in the national fuel mix led to a national decree on mandatory use of alcohol fuels in 1925. Several oil companies initially refused to blend alcohol with gasoline, but government pressures prevailed. By the late 1920s blends included Benzalcool (20% ethanol and 10% benzine) and Robur (30% ethanol, 22% methanol, 40% gasoline and other additives). Other nations, such as Hungary, Poland, and Brazil would follow the French and Italian examples with mandatory alcohol and gasoline blends in national fuels in the 1920s and 30s, while the tax incentive approach was adopted by many other European nations such as Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and Czechoslovakia.
The total use of alcohol as a substitute fuel in Europe may have never exceeded five percent, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Synthetic gasoline and benzene created by I.G. Farben from coal substituted for seven percent and 6.5 percent respectively of European petroleum by 1937. Synthetic gasoline was cheaper (at 17 to 19 cents per gallon) than alcohol at around 25 cents per gallon, API said. 129
In tropical nations where sugarcane was abundant and petroleum sources distant, blends and straight alcohol fuels were common. A tractor operator for American Sugar Co. in Cuba in the 1921-24 period recalled using cheap molasses derived alcohol by the barrel at a time when gasoline was expensive to import. The practice was to start the tractors with gasoline (which cost 40 to 50 cents per gallon) and then run them on alcohol (at 5 cents per gallon) for the rest of the day. When the tractors were to be idled over a weekend or between harvests, a little gasoline was injected into the cylinders to minimize corrosion.130 In 1931 the Brazilian government followed the French example and required alcohol mixtures in five percent of imported oil; blending continued sporadically through the 1950s. When the oil price shocks hit Brazil in the 1970s, the relatively recent technological expertise with alcohol fuel blends was a factor in that nation’s adoption of an extensive alcohol fuels program.131
Alcohol use in fuel dropped by 25 percent in 1937 as Europe shifted gears and prepared for war. Crop failures in 1938 and 1939 eliminated surpluses and, temporarily, the need for an alcohol fuels program for farmers. With the outbreak of World War II, virtually all industrial alcohol production shifted to ammunition, and crop surpluses disappeared for a decade.
Alcohol blended fuel was adopted in isolated instances in America during the 1920s and early 1930s. One World War I era American blend was “Alcogas.” Little is known about it, although a photo of a service station at an unknown location survives 132 and references to Alcogas are found in the technical literature.133 Another 1920s blend was made from potatoes. The alcohol was distilled in Spokane and the blended fuel, called “Vegaline,” was widely sold in Idaho and Washington state. “There was no apparent difference in the operation of the vehicle whether it was fueled by the Standard Oil pump or the Vegaline pump,” said Ralph Curtis, a Washington resident. Curtis’ great-grandfather was an enthusiastic investor in Vegaline. “He would tell us that by adding this alcohol to gasoline that the farmers of our area would benefit. His theory was that production of the alcohol would not be limited to cull potatoes but [could include] other unmarketable fruits and vegetables.” The Vegaline plant was caught up in the great depression of 1929 and closed its doors.134
An apparently formative experience for the oil industry was Standard Oil’s attempt to market a 10 percent alcohol blend in Baltimore for a few months in 1923. At the time, industrial alcohol from molasses was selling for less than 20 cents per gallon, while retail gasoline prices had reached an all-time high of 28 cents per gallon. But “difficulties” stopped the experiment, according to a cryptic 1933 internal memo of the American Petroleum Institute’s “Special Technical Committee” on alcohol fuels. The memo did not refer to Standard itself, but said that a major company had experienced the difficulties. A 1939 publication would later identify Standard as the company in question. All that is known about the difficulties is that they were “largely were of a marketing and car operating nature and resulted from the instability of the alcohol-gasoline in the presence of water.”135 Standard apparently did not clean out its fuel storage tanks and viewed the resulting “problem” as a difficulty inherent in using the fuel rather than in the fuel handling system. Standard did not document the experiment or publicize its results. No reference to it is found in the Baltimore Sun during this period. However, the American Petroleum Institute used this single incident as a technical justification for opposition to alcohol blended fuels in the 1930s.
Alcogas, Vegaline and other sporadic attempts to market an alcohol blended fuel never caught on in the 1920s, due to primarily to economic disadvantages but also to Prohibition and opposition by the oil industry. By the 1930s, with the country caught in the depths of the Great Depression, new ideas were welcome. Corn prices had dropped from 45 cents per bushel to 10 cents, it was only natural that people in Midwestern business and science would begin thinking about new uses for farm products, and indeed, alcohol fuel turned out to be the most controversial of these proposals. The battle between U.S. farmers and the oil industry in the 1930s over alcohol fuel has been reviewed by Giebelhaus136 and Bernton137 but aspects of this tumultuous debate has yet to be fully explored.
Many scientists, businessmen and farmers believed that to make their own fuel would help put people back to work and ease the severe problems of the Depression. Nearly three dozen bills to subsidize alcohol fuel were taken up in eight states in the 1930s. Most of the subsidy proposals involved forgiveness of state sales taxes. Not surprisingly, the incentives had the most support in the central farm states such as Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and South Dakota. Legislation did pass in Nebraska and South Dakota, but the tax break passed by the Iowa legislature was struck down by the state supreme court. The Nebraska legislature also petitioned the US Congress for a law making 10 percent ethyl alcohol blending mandatory throughout the US. This proposal, along with a national tax incentive and other pro-alcohol bills, were defeated in Congress in the 1930s.
The thinking behind these proposals had little to do with energy substitution. Rather, it was “a form of farm relief and not energy relief,” said Ralph Hixon, who along with Leo Christensen and others in Iowa State University’s chemistry department, had been testing blends of alcohol and gasoline. “We found that it was one of the very best fuels, it gave a performance greater than Ethyl,” Hixon said. The Ames chemists worked with local gasoline retailers to put a 10 percent alcohol blend with gasoline on sale in Ames service stations in 1932. The alcohol-gasoline pump at the Square Deal stations operated until the late 1930s, and the blend sold for 17 cents. It was “in competition with Ethyl,” which also sold for 17 cents at the same stations.138 Some 200,000 gallons of Agricultural Blended Motor Fuel were eventually sold in an Iowa campaign in the early 1930s.139
Similar efforts, not as well backed up with research and documentation, broke out all over the Midwest. In Lincoln, Nebraska, the University of Nebraska and the Earle Coryell gasoline company marketed several hundred thousand gallons of “Corn Alcohol Gasoline Blend.” In Peoria, Illinois, the Illinois Agricultural Association teamed up with Keystone Steel & Wire Co. and Hiram Walker distillery to produce half a million gallons of “HiBall” and “Alcolene” blended fuels.140 In Yankton, South Dakota, Gurney Oil Co. marketed 200,000 gallons of blended fuel.141
After legislative setbacks in 1933, the movement for alcohol fuels then came to be seen as part of a broader campaign for industrial uses for farm crops to help fight the Depression. It was called “farm chemurgy,” and it was, in part, a populist Republican alternative to Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s agricultural policies. Henry Ford backed the idea by sponsoring a conference at Dearborn, Mich. in 1935. The conference created the National Farm Chemurgic Council, and annual conferences followed.142
Another key supporter of the farm chemurgy concept was the Chemical Foundation, quasi-federal agency which administered German patent royalties as part of reparations for World War I. The Chemical Foundation, with Ford’s blessing, decided in 1936 to finance an experimental alcohol manufacturing and blending program in the Midwest. The chemurgy movement, with alcohol fuel as a controversial centerpiece, had far outstripping original legislative proposals and had grown into an unprecedented mixture of agronomy, chemistry and Prarie Populism. Many felt that the time had come to compete directly with the oil industry. By 1937 motorists from Indiana to South Dakota were urged to use Agrol, an ethyl alcohol blend with gasoline. Two types were available — Agrol 5, with five to seven percent alcohol, and Agrol 10, with twelve and a half to 17 and a half percent alcohol. “Try a tankfull — you’ll be thankful,” the Agrol brochures said. The blend was sold to high initial enthusiasm at 2,000 service stations. However, Agrol plant managers complained of sabotage and bitter infighting by the oil industry,143 and market prices were also a major influence. Although Agrol sold for the same price as its “main competitor,” leaded gasoline, it cost wholesalers and retailers an extra penny to handle it and cut into their profit “spread,” Business Week said. “Novelty appeal plus ballyhoo provided sufficient increase in gallonage to offset the difference in spread. Now jobbers and dealers, having done their share, are again plugging the old house brands with four and a half cent spreads. Agrol is in the last pump — for those who want it.”
By 1939, the Atchison Agrol plant closed its doors, not in bankruptcy, but without viable markets to continue. The experiment had failed, but it was not the end of the story. As war broke out two years later, California assembly considered a motion to create an auxiliary fuel from surplus fruits and vegetables. President Franklin Roosevelt wrote the speaker of the assembly and said:
“While it is true that a number of foreign countries process agricultural materials for the production of alcohol as a motor fuel, it is equally true that the motor fuel economy of countries possessing no petroleum resources is very different from such economy in the United States. It has never been established in this country that the conversion of agricultural products into motor fuel is economically feasible or necessary for national defense. On the other hand, it has been recognized for a long time that a real need exists in this country for the development of all the information possible on this very contentious subject…” 144
Roosevelt’s intense political feud with the Republican forces who backed chemurgy, and especially with Sen. Guy Gillette over the Supreme Court issue in the late 1930s, would have led him to oppose virtually anything that the Midwestern Republicans advanced, but Roosevelt’s judgement was premature. Several months later, as war industry plans were accelerated, the need for alcohol became apparent. Within two years, chemists and agricultural engineers from Midwestern universities who had tried their alcohol production ideas at the Agrol plant would be mass producing enormous quantities of ethyl alcohol for synthetic “Buna-S” rubber and for aviation fuel. From a pre-war peak production of 100 million gallons of alcohol per year, well over 600 million gallons of new capacity was created. The alcohol based system which in 1942 seemed capable of providing only one-third of the raw materials for the total synthetic rubber demand ended up supplying three quarters and making a significant impact on the war effort.145 The Agrol experience had clearly helped pave the way for this war effort, in terms of providing trained personnel, novel techniques and a history of mistakes to avoid. The resilience and flexibility of agricultural systems was well demonstrated, the chemists believed, because petroleum based synthetic rubber technologies owned by Standard and the German chemical company I.G. Farben had faltered at the critical moment. Without the previous experience in alcohol fuels production in the 1930s, the war effort might have been considerably delayed.146
The Agrol experiences and the mass production of alcohol for war industries were also recalled in the 1970s, when the conventional wisdom recognized only coal and nuclear power as alternatives to embargoed Middle Eastern oil.147 In contrast, it was clear at the end of World War II that eventually US oil reserves would be depleted. According to the US Tariff Commission in 1944: 148
“When a certain point in costs has been reached, several methods of meeting the situation will be available: These include: increased importation of petroleum; more complete recovery of domestic petroleum from the ground by various so-called secondary methods; conversion of natural gas into gasoline; extraction of oil from shale; synthesis of oil from coal; domestic production of alcohol from vegetable materials; and foreign production of such alcohol.”
Oil Industry Opposition to Ethyl Alcohol Fuel
The onset of interest in alcohol fuel in 1933 caught the oil industry off guard, but once alarmed, it reacted swiftly. The American Petroleum Institute urged formation of state level “emergency committees” in the spring of 1933 to oppose proposals for tax incentives. In a set of memos sent under a red cover marked “IMPORTANT,” API introduced a “coordinated program to be connected throughout the industry” to combat alcohol gasoline blending. The memo explained the threat: compulsory blend of alcohol and gasoline, as was used in France, Italy and Germany in the 1920s and early 30s, “will harm the petroleum industry and the automobile industry as well as state and national treasuries by reducing [oil] consumption,” the memo said. The only ones to benefit would be distillers, railroads (which would transport the alcohol) and bootleggers “to whom would be opened brand new fields of fraud.” 149
API’s campaign was waged across many states, especially the Midwest, in the spring of 1933, and at the federal level for most of the 1930s.150 Technical experts in the oil industry claimed that alcohol fuel blends “are definitely inferior to gasoline alone from every angle of motor performance.”151 Editorials by Lowell Thomas and other radio announcers paid for by oil industry sponsors claimed that alcohol fuel would make “speakeasys” out of gasoline stations because bootleggers could easily separate out the gasoline and sell the alcohol. Thomas said: “The automobile manufacturer resents it [alcohol ] because it interferes with the horsepower of the motorists car, requires extensive carburetor changes and presents other difficulties…” (In fact, this might be true of pure alcohol but not alcohol blends with gasoline). Thomas’ radio address was recorded in a cable sent from Sun Oil Co.’s J.Howard Pew to H.D. Collier, president of Standard Oil Co. of California, on April 26, 1933. “Confirming telephone conversation reference alcohol blend our radio announcement was as follows quote…” When an apparently large number of critical telegrams poured in, Sun took pains to distance Thomas from “our radio announcement,” even writing a “suggested reply to Congressman Dirksen” in which Thomas was to say “This is news and not propaganda, which I myself nor my sponsors would for a moment tolerate over the air.” The suggested reply was unsigned but written on stationary clearly showing the Sunoco watermark.152 It was not clear whether Thomas actually sent the suggested reply.
Other tactics involved private investigations of politicians and businessmen who supported alcohol blends. Sun Oil Co. investigated the private lives of the directors of Keystone Steel and Wire Co. and others.153 Then-Congressman Everett Dirksen, who supported Keystone, wrote constituents that he was being investigated by unknown people. “Here you have the proof of how the insidious oil lobby works in order to defeat any measure or any individual who opposes their interests,” Dirksen said.154
Officials from Standard Oil of Indiana and the Ethyl Corp. exchanged worried letters about the outbreak of interest in alcohol blends in the winter of 1933. Standard’s chief lawyer wrote Ethyl president Earle Webb: “Much publicity has gone through the state to the effect that alcohol mixed with gasoline makes a motor fuel high in anti-knock rating and the move has been to require gasoline to contain a high percentage of alcohol (manufactured locally, of course) or pay a high state tax. Manifestly this would materially interfere with the use of Ethyl in Iowa… Let me know what you are doing or intend to do, and to what extent we can cooperate.”155 Webb wrote back: “I entirely agree that proposed legislation of this character is apt to have a serious termination and that almost anything may happen where there is so much discontent. We would very much appreciate being kept informed as to developments.”156 By April, 1933, Standard was apparently worried about anti-trust laws, and wired Ethyl: “Believe absolutely necessary Ethyl Gasoline Corp. avoid any public opposition or any such direct action.”157
Also in the 1930s, as Ethyl’s marketing power grew, the company began to enforce what it considered to be “business ethics” on the market. Ethyl refused to grant dealer contracts to certain gasoline wholesalers, and often provided no formal explanation for their actions. The exclusion of “unethical” businessmen was especially aimed at those who cut prices, but it was a means of excluding from the entire fuel market any wholesaler who adopted practices which the oil industry disliked. Since wholesalers had to carry a wide range of products to survive, and since advertising had created enormous consumer demand for Ethyl, to be denied an Ethyl contract was in effect to be forced out of business. Most wholesalers could not or would not tell the Federal Bureau of Investigation why Ethyl would consider them unethical, but at least one wholesaler, the Earl Coryell company of Lincoln, Nebraska, blended ethyl alcohol about the same time that it could not get an Ethyl license.158 Pressure to stick with Ethyl leaded gasoline exclusively rather than try alcohol fuel blends would have been quite strong with this enforcement mechanism at the oil industry’s disposal, but it is difficult to estimate how many gasoline dealers wanted to use alcohol instead of lead. In 1940 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an anti-trust verdict against Ethyl, 159 but by then, the Midwestern alcohol fuel movement had disintegrated.
Clearly, the tactics used by the oil industry involved more than simple marketplace competition and public relations in response to the prospect of legislative controls. Yet economic issues and assumptions are at the heart of the dispute and deserve careful consideration.
Economics of Alcohol Fuel
Alcohol fuel has never been economically attractive as a straight gallon for gallon substitute for gasoline. When alcohol fuel returned to the American market in 1907 at a retail price of 32 cents per gallon, it was competing with gasoline at 18 to 22 cents per gallon. This roughly one-third advantage has been the rule for most of the 20th century in the U.S. In 1933, grain alcohol cost 25 cents per gallon wholesale as opposed to gasoline at 10 to 13 cents per gallon wholesale. Despite attempts to make alcohol from cheaper materials (such as wood waste and cellulose), the cost differential has been the most serious obstacle to the widespread use of alcohol fuel and, according to some historians, the primary focus of most oil industry resistance to its use.160
Modern researchers have noted that the value of alcohol as a fuel depends on whether it is considered a gasoline substitute or an octane enhancer. “If refiners turn to using alcohols as octane enhancers as lead phasedown occurs, there may be sufficient demand to warrant the capital outlay required for production facilities, in which case the market value of alcohol fuels would become much greater,” according to the Canadian Energy Research Institute.161
Although T.A. Boyd and Thomas Midgley of Ethyl found ethyl alcohol to be a good anti-knock additive in 1922, it was not until 1933 that studies at Iowa State University publicly quantified the quality and economic comparisons between ethyl alcohol and Ethyl lead. Hixon and others concluded that it took 15 percent alcohol to create the octane boost of 3 grams of lead, as seen in the table below. Since Ethyl lead sold at a 3 cent premium over regular gasoline, the question was whether ethyl alcohol blends, with the same anti-knock / octane advantage, should not be sold at the same premium price. Proponents of alcohol blended fuels insisted that this — and not the “extender” use of alcohol — was the proper basis of comparison.
How Agriculture Compared
Ethyl leaded gasoline and ethyl alcohol
|Fuel||Octane number||Increase||Wholesale Price *|
|Base fuel plus 3 grams lead||68||12||13|
|Base fuel plus 10 % ethyl alcohol||65||9||11.5 **|
|Base fuel plus 20 % ethyl alcohol||80||24||13 **|
* Wholesale price; assumes 25 cents per gallon for ethyl alcohol and 10 cents per gallon for gasoline purchased from jobber in Midwest.
** Note substitution of base fuel with 10 percent ethyl alcohol means 9 cents worth of gasoline added to 2.5 cents worth of alcohol. Substitution of 20 percent ethyl alcohol is 8 cents gasoline + 5 cents alcohol = 13.
Also note: Iowa State included a half-cent per gallon blending charge for the two alcohol blended fuels. Data from: Iowa State College, The Use of Alcohol In Motor Fuels, Progress Report Number III, Divs. of Industrial Science, Engineering, Agriculture; Jan. 20, 1933. Also: Rayburn D. Tousley, “The Economics of Industrial Alcohol,” Washington State Univ., 1945.
The oil industry did not use the same economic yardsticks in comparing the costs of alcohol fuel blends, although they did incorporate the same half cent per gallon blending charge used by the Iowa State researchers. According to one pamphlet, alcohol cost five to ten times more than gasoline, depending on the price of corn, and had technical problems. “Seeing that alcohol fuels cannot compete with gasoline on a price or quality basis … huge sums of money [are] now being spent on a nationwide propaganda campaign to convince the American people that alcohol gasoline would bring permanent prosperity to farmers.” The “Alky-Gas” scheme “robs Peter to pay Paul,” that is, it takes money from motorists to pay for farm relief. It would be cheaper just to pay farmers to burn their corn.162
How the Oil Industry Saw
Alcohol Fuel Economics
|Total cost gasoline one gallon||13.5 cents|
|Base gasoline 9/10 gal||12.1 cents|
|Ethyl alcohol 1/10 gal (at 39.3 cents/gallon)||3.9 cents|
|Total cost 10 % alcohol-gasoline blend||16 cents|
Notes: All prices before taxes. Source “Who would Pay for Corn Alcohol?” Iowa Petroleum Commission pamphlet, 1935, American Petroleum Institute library, Washington, D.C.
Perhaps the most extreme example of the oil industry’s argument is illustrated by a letter from Joseph Pew of Sun Oil Co. to an alcohol fuels proponent. Pew said that alcohol had 60 percent the BTU value of gasoline, and it would only be worth 60 percent of the value of gasoline. To a refinery, gasoline was worth only 6 cents per gallon. Thus, alcohol would have to cost only 3.6 cents per gallon to compete with gasoline, and even then there would still be the expense of having it transported to the refinery. “I figure it isn’t worth more than a cent” per gallon, Pew said.163
The differences in these economic assumptions demonstrate that the debate over alcohol fuel that broke out in the Midwest in the 1930s depended greatly on the viewpoint of the company or individual. In essence, political conditions shaped the marketplace and the new competition faced a difficult economic playing field heavily tilted toward established industries.
Alcohol fuels as anti-knock blending agents were well known long before tetraethyl lead was discovered in 1921, and their technical qualities had been well characterized by scientists in the US and in Europe by 1925. The experience in other nations with alcohol blended fuels was usually (although not universally) quite positive. Practical techniques were well known to overcome most problems with alcohol as a pure fuel or in blends with gasoline. Fuel blends were economically successful in countries where oil was more expensive or where independence in fuel supply was seen as a political or strategic problem.
Alcohol fuels advocacy among American farmers was present in the 1906 – 1908 period and again in the 1930s. Scientists and engineers in the U.S. and Europe ranged from neutral to enthusiastic about the clean burning, high compression characteristics of alcohol fuel, yet the U.S. oil industry claimed it was technically inferior. Charles Kettering and his General Motors researchers were particularly interested in alcohol from cellulose in the 1919 – 1925 time frame, and saw Ethyl leaded gasoline as paving the way for the “fuel of the future” by providing a temporary octane boost and allowing engine compression ratios to increase. In 1924, however, G.M. allied itself with Standard Oil, creating the Ethyl Corp. Shortly afterwards, G.M. researchers contradicted years of their own research and hundreds of other studies by claiming that only tetra ethyl lead could produce anti-knock results.
If there is an historical lesson to learn from the “fuel of the future,” it is that technology is often political. In this case, fuel technology developed in a direction that was a matter of policy choice and not predetermined by any clear advantage of one technology over another. For different reasons, Henry Ford and Charles Kettering both saw the fuel of the future as a blend of ethyl alcohol and gasoline leading to pure alcohol from cellulose. A dedicated agrarian, Ford thought new markets for fuel feedstocks would help create a rural renaissance. On the other hand, Kettering, as a scientist, was worried about the long term problem of the automotive industry’s need for oil, a resource with rapidly declining domestic reserves. Clearly, the shortage of domestic oil that was feared in the 1920s has occurred in the late 20th century, although it has hardly been noticed because of the abundance of foreign oil. Whether the oil substitute envisioned by the scientists and agrarians of the first half of the century would be appropriate in the latter half remains an open question.
“Many years may be necessary before the actual development of such a [fuel] substitute,” Kettering concluded. There was always the possibility, according to Kettering’s friend Charles Stewart Mott, “that if a time ever came when the sources of [fossil] heat and energy were ever used up … that there would always be available the capturing of… energy from the sun… through agricultural products …”164
1 “Ford Predicts Fuel from Vegetation,” New York Times, Sept. 20, 1925, p. 24.
2 Reynold Millard Wik, “Henry Ford’s Science and Technology for Rural America,” Technology and Culture, Summer 1963; also see “Ford Predicts Fuel from Vegetation,” New York Times, Sept. 20, 1925, p. 24
3 Augustus W. Giebelhaus, “Resistance to Long-Term Energy Transition: The Case of Power Alcohol in the 1930s,” paper to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Jan. 4, 1979.
4 Hal Bernton, Bill Kovarik, Scott Sklar, The Forbidden Fuel: Power Alcohol in the 20th Century (New York: Griffin, 1982).
5 Bill Kovarik, Fuel Alcohol: Energy and Environment in a Hungry World, (London: International Institute for Environment and Development, 1982). Also, “Charles F. Kettering and the Development of Tetraethyl Lead in the Context of Technological Alternatives,” Society of Automotive Engineers, Fuels & Lubricants Division, Historical Colloquium, Baltimore, Md. Oct. 17, 1994.
6 Francis P. Garvan, “Scientific Method of Thought in Our National Problems,” Proceedings of the Second Dearborn Conference on Agriculture, Industry and Science (New York: The Chemical Foundation, 1936), p.86.
7 John Staudenmier, Technology’s Storytellers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), p. 175.
8 Congress des Applications de L’Alcool Denature, 16 au 23 Dec., 1902, Automobile-Club de France, National Agricultural Library collection, Beltsville, Md. Ironically, it was in this same Paris exhibition hall in 1900 that American writer Henry Adams found dark inspiration for his book “the Virgin and the Dynamo,” in which he described the end of religious faith.and the dawn of powerful yet somehow profane technology. Adams dark vision might have been lightened had he attended the 1902 Paris exposition. Not only was the scale of machinery far less imposing, being made up of small horseless carriage engines and household items like alcohol-powered irons and stoves, but the symbolism of the exposition had a far different flavor.
9 National Geographic, Vol. 31, Feb. 1917, p. 131.
10 Christy Borth, Chemists and Their Work (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1938).
11 Thomas Midgely, “Our Liquid Fuel Reserves,” Soceity of Automotive Engineers, Oct. 13, 1921; CF Kettering, “The Fuel Problem,” draft address, unprocessed papers, Thomas Midgely drawer, GMI Alumni Foundation Collection of Industrial History, Flint, Mich (cited as GMI).
12 George Basalla, The Evolution of Technology, (Cambridge University Press, 1988) p. 197.
13 Some 152 popular and scholarly articles under the heading “Alcohol as a Fuel” can be found the the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature between 1900 and 1921; about 20 references to papers and books written before 1925 are found in the Library of Congress database catalog; a 1933 Chemical Foundation report lists 52 references before 1925 on alcohol fuels; a 1944 Senate report lists 24 USDA publications on alcohol fuels before 1920; and several technical books from the period document hundreds of references from the 1900 – 1925 period.
14 Daniel Yergin, The Prize, (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1991), p. 14, also p. 51.
15 Henry R. Luce exhibit on American Journalism, Smithsonian Museum of American History, Washington DC. 1970 – 1990.
16 Sam H. Schurr and Bruce C. Netschert, Energy in the American Economy 1850 – 1975; An Economic Study of its History and Prospects (Baltimore, Resources for the Future, Johns Hopkins Press: 1960).
17 Anon., “Gasoline to Burn,” Ethyl News, March, 1943, p. 20.
18 Robert N. Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol (Dublin, Ireland: Plunkett House, 1917).
19 Index of patents issued from 1790 to 1873, Inclusive, (Washington, D.C.: US Patent Office). Listed as “patent for alcohol for burning fluid, carbureted,” March 17, 1834.
20 Lyle Cummins, Internal Fire (Warrenton, Pa.: Society of Automotive Engineers, 1989), p. 81. Also, Horst Hardenberg, Samuel Morey and his Atmospheric Engine (Warrendale, Pa.: Society of Automotive Engineers, Feb. 1992), SP922; also Katharine Goodwin and Charles E. Duryea, Captain Samuel Morey: The Edison of His Day (White River Junction, Vermont: The Vermonter Press, 1931); also Gabriel Farell Jr., Capt. Samuel Morey who built a Steamboat Fourteen Years Before Fulton, (Manchester, NH: Standard Book Co., 1915). Ray Zirblis, “Was Samuel Morey Robbed?” Vermont Life, Autumn, 1994, p. 53.
21 History of Light, pamphlet by the Welsbach Gas Co., Philadelphia Penn, 1909; on file in the Smithsonian collection of Advertising, Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.
22 Free Alcohol Law, Senate Finance Committee Hearings on HR 24816, Feb. 1907, Doc. No. 362, page 320. The authority cited is the Civil War era Special Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, David A. Wells, and the apparent reference is to the New York regional market. It is possible that ovar a hundred million gallons per year of camphene were sold by the late 1850s. The city of Cincinattie alone reportedly used 10 million gallons in 1860. Note that kerosine sales in 1870 reached 200 million gallons.
23 Harold F. Williamson & Arnold R. Daum, The American Petroleum Industry, 1859-1899, The Age of Illumination (Evanston Ill NW U Press, 1959).
24 Rufus Frost Herrick, Denatured or Industrial Alcohol, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1907), p. 16.
25 Free alcohol hearings, U.S. Senate 1907, p. 320. Also, Free Alcohol Hearings, House Ways & Means Committee, 59th Congress, Feb.-Mar. 1906. It is interesting that Wells’ contemporary account places the discovery of petroleum after the cessation of alcohol fuel use. Note also that most turpentine came from the U.S. South at this time.
26 John K. Brachvogel, Industrial Alcohol: Its Manufacture and Use, (New York: Munn & Co., 1907) p. 13.
27 “How Long the Oil Will Last,” Scientific American, May 3, 1919, p. 459.
28 Robert N. Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol .
29 Author’s search of records at the U.S. Patent Office, Crystal City, Virginia.
30 Lyle Cummins, Internal Fire (Warrendale, Pa.: Society of Automotive Engineers, 1989).
31 Ibid., p. 81. See above for additional references.
32 Ibid., p. 135. The patent was not granted “because of cited prior art.” Apparently the idea was a commonplace. American burning fluid lamp manufacturers described the carburetion process in brochures in the 1850s.
33 Ibid., p. 281.
34 Brachvogel, Industrial Alcohol, p. 353; also G.W. Monier-Williams, Power Alcohol:Its Production and Utilization (London: Oxford Technical Publications, 1922, p. 275.
35 “Alcohol Automobiles at the Paris Alcohol Exhibition,” Scientific American, Dec. 28, 1901. Note that gasoline powered automotive races had begun five years earlier with the Paris-Rouen race of 1894.
36 “Alcohol as a fuel for motor carriages,” Scientific American, June 1, 1901, p. 344.
37 Robert N. Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol .
38 Congress des Applications de L’Alcool Denature, 16 au 23 Dec., 1902, Automobile-Club de France, National Agricultural Library collection, Beltsville, Md.
39 C.E. Lucke, Columbia University, and S.M. Woodward, USDA, “The Use of Alcohol and Gasoline in Farm Engines,” USDA Farmers Bulletin No. 277, (Washington: GPO, 1907).
40 Rufus Frost Herrick, Denatured or Industrial Alcohol, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1907), p. 9. Also see Brachvogel p. 405.
41 “Paris Exhibition of Alcohol Consuming Devices,” Scientific American, Nov. 16, 1901
42 Rufus Frost Herrick, Denatured or Industrial Alcohol, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1907), p. 307.
43 Brachvogel, Industrial Alcohol, p. 13.
44 “Launching of a Great Industry: The Making of Cheap Alcohol,” New York Times, Nov. 25, 1906, Section III p. 3.
45 Statement of Leonard B. Goebbels, Otto Gas Engine Works, Senate Finance Committee hearings on HR 24816, Feb. 1907.
46 Brachvogel, Industrial Alcohol.
47 “Free Alcohol Distilleries,” New York Times, Sept. 13, 1906. The source of the statistic is U.S. Consul General Thackara in Berlin.
48 Col. Sir Frederic Nathan, “Alcohol for Power Purposes,” The Transactions of the World Power Congress, London, Sept. 24 – Oct. 6, 1928.
49 Robert Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol.
50 Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol. Tweedy did not directly quote Roosevelt but the phrasing is suggestive of Roosevelt’s tone.
51 “Auto Club Aroused over Alcohol Bill,” New York Times, April 26, 1906.
52 Free Alcohol Hearings, House Ways & Means Committee, p. 113.
53 “Tax Free Alcohol,” New York Times, May 22, 1906.
54 Capen testimony to Senate Finance Committee.
55″The New Cheap Illuminant,” New York Times, May 25, 1906.
56 “Future of Alcohol in the Industries,” New York Times Aug. 5, 1906.
57 “Farmers Neglect Making of Alcohol,”New York Times, Dec. 23, 1907; note that the USDA’s 1907 report said alcohol prices were 15 cents per gallon in Germany, while benzene was 16 cents per gallon and gasoline 32 cents per gallon).
58 Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol.
60 “Utilization of Farm Crops,” Hearings of a Subcommittee of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, United States Senate, S. Res. 224, (1942), Part I, p. 286.
61 Gasoline and alcohol do not readily mix unless the alcohol is nearly free of water (“anhydrous” or 99.4% pure), or unless a blending agent or “binder” is used, such as benzene or a higher alcohol (butanol, propanol, etc.). Otherwise, alcohol tends to separate from gasoline at lower temperatures, a problem known as “phase separation.” Ordinary distillation only achieves 95 percent purity because of a final chemical bond between the remaining water and alcohol known as the azeotrope. The final azeotropic processing tends to be somewhat complex and expensive.
62 “Future of Alcohol in the Industries,” New York Times Aug. 5, 1906. Note that in publications as recent as 1990, fuel tanks of double the volume are supposed to be needed for pure alcohol vehicles because of this smaller BTU value.
63 C.E. Lucke, Columbia University, and S.M. Woodward, USDA, “The Use of Alcohol and Gasoline in Farm Engines,” USDA Farmers Bulletin No. 277, (Washington: GPO, 1907).
64 Robert M. Strong, “Commercial Deductions from Comparisons of Gasoline and Alcohol Tests on Internal Combustion Engines,” Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 392, (Washington: GPO, 1909).
65 R.M. Strong and Lauson Stone, “Comparative Fuel Values of Gasoline and Denatured Alcohol in Internal Combustion Engines,” Bureau of Mines Bulletin No. 43, (Washington: GPO, 1918). Strangely, some 75 to 80 years later, many technical editors still believed that a crticial problem with alcohol fuel was that lower BTU necessitated double-sized fuel tanks.
66 A. E. Davidson, Proc. Inst. Automobile Engineers, 1913-14, p. 98, cited in G.W. Monier-Williams, Power Alcohol: Its Production and Utilization, Oxford Technical publications, 1922, cited hereafter as Monier-Williams.
67 W.R. Ormandy, Proc. Inst. Automobile Engineers, 1913-14, p. 49, cited in Monier-Williams.
68 W. Watson, Proc. Inst. Automobile Engineers, 1913-14, p. 73, cited in Monier-Williams.
69 Scientific American, April 13, 1918, p. 339; also July 6, 1918.
70 Scientific American, Dec. 11, 1920 p. 593.
71 W.R. Ormandy, “The Motor Fuel Problem,” Journal of the Institute of Petroleum Technologists, Vol. 5, 1919, p. 33-66.
72 Redwood, Boverton, et al, “The Production of Alcohol for Power,” Chemical Age, 1919, cited in Chemical Abstracts, 13:2271
73 H.B. Dixon, “Researches on Alcohol as an Engine Fuel,” SAE Journal, Dec. 1920, p. 521.
74 B.R. Tunnison, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1921, p. 370.
75 G.J. Shave, Imperial Motor Transport Conference, Oct. 18-21, 1920, cited in Monier Williams.
76 U.S. Public Health Service, Proceedings of a Conference to Determine Whether or Not There is a Public Health Question in the Manufacture, Distribution or use of Tetraethyl Lead Gasoline, PHS Bulletin No. 158, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Treasury Dept., August 1925).
77 G.J. Shave, “Fuel Mixtures on London Omnibuses,” SAE Journal, Dec. 1920, p. 556.
78 Donath and Groger, Die Treibmittel der Kraftfahrzeuge, Berlin 1917, cited in Monier-Williams.
79H.R. Ricardo, “The Influence of Various Fuels on Engine Performance,” Automobile Engineer, Feb., 1921.
80 E.C. Freeland and W.G. Harry, “Alcohol Motor Fuel from Molasses,” Part II, Industrial and Chemical Engineering News, July 1925, p. 717; also see Part I in the June issue. Its interesting to note that General Motors considered cold starting to be a serious problem in a 1979 technical paper which did not consider additives as a solution.
81 E. Hubendick, “Use of Alcohol Motor Fuels in Sweden,” Petroleum Zeitschr. 26, No. 12, 3-9, 1930, cited in Hixon, “R.M. Hixon, L.M. Christensen, W.F. Coover in “The Use of Alcohol in Motor Fuels: Progress Report Number VI,” May 1, 1933, unpublished manuscript, Iowa State University archives, Ames, Iowa.
82 M.C. Whitaker, “Alcohol for Power,” Chemists Club, New York, Sept. 30, 1925. Cited in Hixon, “Use of Alcohol in Motor Fuels: Progress Report No. 6,” Iowa State College, May 1, 1933.
83 Victor H. Scales, Publicity Director, American Petroleum Industries Committee, “Economic Aspects of Alcohol-Gasoline Bleds,” API, May 1, 1933; Also “A Reply to The Deserted Village, No. 6 of the Chemical Foundation,” American Petroleum Industries Committee, 1935; “Who would Pay for Corn Alcohol?, ” Iowa Petroleum Industries Committee, Des Moines, Iowa, 1933.
84 Conger Reynolds, “The Alcohol Gasoline Proposal,” American Petroleum Institute Proceedings, 20th Annual meeting, Nov. 9, 1939.
85 S.J.W. Pleeth, Alcohol: A Fuel for Internal Combustion Engines (London: Chapman & Hall, 1949) .
86 Rufus Frost Herrick, Denatured or Industrial Alcohol, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1907), p. 299.
87 A.W. Scarratt, “The Carburetion of Alcohol,” SAE Journal, April 1921.
88 Joseph C. Robert, Ethyl: A History of the Corporation and the People Who Made It (Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1983); Also Stuart Leslie, Boss Kettering (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983);T.A. Boyd, Professional Amateur (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1957); Rosamond Young, Boss Ket (New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1961); Graham Edgar, “Tetraethyl Lead,” paper to the American Chemical Society, New York, Sept. 3-7, 1951, reproduced by the Ethyl Corp.; T.A. Boyd, “Pathfinding in Fuels and Engines,” Society of Automotive Engineers Transactions, (April 1950), pp. 182-183; and Stanton P. Nickerson, “Tetraethyl Lead: A Product of American Research,” Journal of Chemical Education 31, (November 1954), p. 567.
89 “A Report of Fuel Research by the Research Division of the Dayton Metal Products Co. and the U.S. Bureau of Mines,” July 27,1918, Midgley unprocessed files, GMI.
90 “Alcogas as Aviation Fuel Compared with Export Grade Gasoline,” SAE Journal, June 1920, p.397.
91 Charles F. Kettering, “Studying the Knocks,: How a Closer Knowledge of What Goes on In the Cylinder Might Solve the Problems of Fuel Supply,” Scientific American, Oct. 11, 1919, p. 364.
92 Leslie, Boss Kettering , p. 155. Ethyl alcohol was “income” rather than “capital” because it could be produced from renewable resources.
93 Boyd, Early History p. 54.
94 Large-scale production of benzene was questionable. Even if all the coal mined in the U.S. in 1920 were used to supply benzene, only about 900 million gallons, or one-fifth of the U.S. gasoline supply would be replaced, he said.
95 T.A. Boyd, “Motor Fuel From Vegetation,” Journal of Industrial and Chemical Engineering 13, No. 9 (Sept. 1921), pp. 836 – 841.
96 C.F. Kettering, “The Fuel Problem,” undated, probably 1921, Kettering collection unprocessed, GMI.
97 This is probably a good point to note that a good many original documents are missing from public General Motors archives. These include: “The Lead Diary,” a collection of several thousand original documents from which T.A. Boyd and Charles Kettering refreshed their memories as their memoirs were written in the 1940s; Test diaries and day-to-day records of experiments conducted during 1920 – 22 period when tetraethyl lead was discovered by G.M. researchers in Dayton, Ohio.; Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Ethyl Corp 1924 to 1940; Minutes of the “Medical Committee” of du Pont, G.M. and Standard, 1924 to 1925. Reports of the Standard Oil Co.of New Jersey experiment with alcohol fuel blends in Baltimore, Md. in 1923 and (possibly) correspondence with G.M. researchers about the experiment; Reports on the use of the century plant in Mexico to produce alcohol at 7 cents per gallon, cited in 1922 memo from Midgley to Kettering; and records or memos relating to “Synthol” experiments, Dayton G.M. labs, summer 1925.
98 Leslie, Boss Kettering, p. 156.
99 Zimmerschied to Kettering, Feb. 27, 1920; Kettering to Zimmerschied, March 3, 1920, Kettering collection, GMI. Note that carburetors had been built with lacquered cork floats before this time, which was not a problem with gasoline. However, alcohol was a solvent for the lacquer. Therefore, GM switched to metal carburetor floats to accommodate the new international fuel blends.
100 Application Serial No. 362,139, Patent No. 1578201, issued Mar. 23, 1926. The patent covers blending alcohol and unsaturated hydrocarbons, particularly olefins formed during the cracking process.
101 Harold Hibbert, “The Role of the Chemist in Relation to the Future Supply of Liquid Fuel,” Journal of Industrial and Chemical Engineering 13, No. 9 (Sept. 1921) p. 841.
102 Boyd to Midgley, July 8, 1920, Midgley unprocessed files, GMI.
103 This is an important point in technical discussions. Many who object to alcohol fuel, ostensibly on technical grounds, will omit any mention of the possibility of a “binder,” which is a small amount of a higher alcohol or other compound that prevents “phase separation” of gasoline from alcohol in the presence of water. The American Petroleum Institute’s discussions concerning the technical problems of alcohol blends in the early 1930s, for example, did not mention such binders. .
104 “The Discussion” transcript of SAE meeting discussion, Indianapolis, Oct. 1921. Midgley unprocessed files, GMI.
105 Thomas Midgley, “Discussion of papers at semi-annual meeting,” SAE Journal, Oct. 1921, p. 269.
106 Midgley to Kettering, May 23, 1922, Factory Correspondence, Midgley unprocessed files, GMI.
107 Thomas A. Midgley and T.A. Boyd, “Detonation Characteristics of Some Blended Motor Fuels,” SAE Journal, June 1922, page 451. Note: italics indicate a section used at the oral presentation at a June 1922 SAE meeting but not published in the SAE paper; oral presentation from Midgley unprocessed files, GMI.
108 Thomas Midgley and Thomas Boyd, “The Application of Chemistry to the Conservation of Motor Fuels,” Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Sept. 1922, p. 850.
109 N. P. Wescott, Origins and Early History of the Tetraethyl Lead Business, June 9, 1936, Du Pont Corp. Report No. D-1013, Longwood ms group 10, Series A, 418-426, GM Anti-Trust Suit, Hagley Museum & Library, Wilmington, Del., p. 4.
110 “Radium Derivative $5,000,000 an ounce / Ethyl Gasoline Defended,” New York Times, April 7, 1925, p. 23; Also, Thomas Midgley, Jr., “Tetraethyl Lead Poison Hazards,” Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Vol. 17, No. 8 August, 1925, p. 827.
111 U.S. Public Health Service, Proceedings of a Conference to Determine Whether or Not There is a Public Health Question in the Manufacture, Distribution or use of Tetraethyl Lead Gasoline, PHS Bulletin No. 158, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Treasury Dept., August 1925), p. 6. (Hereafter cited as PHS Conference). Of course, Kettering originally planned to get alcohols fom outside the paraffin series through grain and cellulose.
112 “U.S. Board Asks Scientists to Find New ‘Doped Gas,'” New York World, May 22, 1925, p. 1.
113 “Work on New Type of Auto and Fuel,” New York Times, Aug. 7, 1925; also “New Auto, Fuel to Save Costs are Announced,” United Press, Aug. 6, 1925.
114 Federal Trade Commission Docket No. 2825, Cushing Refining & Gasoline Co., June 19, 1936, Dept. of Justice files, 60-57-107, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
115 Homer S. Fox, “Alcohol Motor Fuels,” Supplementary Report to World Trade in Gasoline, Minerals Division, Bureau of Domestic & Foreign Commerce, Trade Promotion Series Monograph No. 20 (Washington, D.C.: Dept. of Commerce, May 15, 1925). The report provided detailed statistics on trade volume, duties, tax incentives and laws surrounding the use of alcohol blended fuels, including ethanol and methanol, in France, Germany, England, Italy and 15 other countries were it was routinely used.
116 R.B. Gray, “On the Use of Alcohol-Gasoline Mixtures as Motor Fuels,” unpublished, USDA, April 1933, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, Md.
117 World Trade in Gasoline, Bureau of Domestic & Foreign Commerce, US Dept. of Commerce monograph, Trade Promotion Series No. 20, May 15, 1925.
118 “Seaweed as a Source of Alcohol,” Scientific American, Nov. 9, 1918, p. 371. A simple acid hydrolysis technique yielded only about 10 gallons per ton.
119 “What French Motorists Say about Alcohol-Gasoline Motor Fuel Blends,” Washington, D.C.: American Motorists Association, Dec. 15, 1933. The association reprinted letters to the magazine of the French National Federation of Automobile, Bicycle, Aeronautical and Related Trades. In a decidedly non-random poll, the majority of 40 letter writers disapproved of the inconveniences of alcohol blends, primarily citing problems with cork floats in carburetors and hesitation and stalling with high volume alcohol blends used in unadapted engines. Note that GM changed cork floats to metal floats in the early 1920s to deal with this problem.
120 Charles Schweitzer, “L’Etat Actuel De La Question De L’Alcool Carburant,” Chimie & Industrie Vol. 28, No. 1, 1932; Translated and abstracted by E.I. Fulmer, R.M. Hixon, L.M. Christensen, W.F. Coover in “The Use of Alcohol in Motor Fuels: Progress Report Number I, A Survey of the Use of Alcohol as Motor Fuel in Various Foreign Countries,” May 1, 1933, unpublished manuscript, Iowa State University archives.
121 “Anti-detonants: leur emploi dans les carburants et leur danger,” Ind. Chimique, 1931, No. 208, p. 332, cited in Fulmer, “The Use of Alcohol in Motor Fuels.”
122 New York Times, Nov. 28, 1915.
123 “Power Alcohol from Tubers and Roots, SAE Journal, May, 1925, p. 546. Also, Nathan, “Alcohol for Power Purposes.”
124 Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, April 1925, p 334 .
125 E.I. Fulmer, “The Use of Alcohol in Motor Fuels.”
127 Gustav Egloff, Motor Fuel Economy of Europe (Washington, D.C.: American Petroleum Institute, Dec. 1940).
128 “Italian Congress of Industrial Chemistry,” Industrial & Engineering Chemistry, July 10,1924, p. 6.
129 Egloff, Motor Fuel Economy of Europe.
130 Personal communication, Fred R. Robinson to columnist Jack Anderson, April 24, 1978. See footnote No. 91. Cuba continued using alcohol fuels throughout the 20th century, especially after the communist revolution of 1960, in order to stretch petroleum supplies from the former Soviet Union.
131 Bernton, The Forbidden Fuel, p. 140, p. 226.
132 Personal communication, Maurine Lorenzetti, editor, Oxy-Fuel News, Information Resources Inc., Washington DC, March, 1991.
133 “Alcogas as Aviation Fuel Compared with Export Gasoline,” SAE Journal, June 1920, p. 397.
134 Personal communication, Col. Ralph Curtis, April 17, 1979. Curtis’ letter to columnist Jack Anderson was prompted by Anderson staffer Hal Bernton’s articles about gasohol.
135 “Analysis of Technical Aspects of Alcohol Gasoline Blends,” Prepared by American Petroleum Institute Special Technical Committee, No. 216 in an unspecified series, undated, with memo dated April 10, 1933. Series 4, Box 52, Pew collection, Hagley Library, Wilmington, Del.
136 Augustus W. Giebelhaus, “Resistance to Long-Term Energy Transition: The Case of Power Alcohol in the 1930s,” American Association for the Advancement of Science, Jan. 4, 1979.
137 Hal Bernton, Bill Kovarik, Scott Sklar, The Forbidden Fuel: Power Alcohol in the 20th Century (New York: Griffin, 1982).
138 Joyce Manchester, “Gasohol born in Ames, sold at service station,” Ames Daily Tribune, March 11, 1978.
139 Donald Despain, The One and Only Solution to the Farm Problem (New York: Vantage Press, 1956), p. 113. Critics of alcohol fuel might describe this book as one of the world’s longest crank letters because Despain is so obviously emotional about his subject. Factual information should be seen in this light as potentially biased.
140 Everett M. Dirksen, “The Congressional Front,” March, 1933, Dirksen Congressional Center archives, Peoria, Ill. Also, “Why the Proposal to Blend Alcohol with Gasoline for Automotive Fuel is Simple and Practical…” Keystone Steel & Wire CO, Peoria, Ill.
141 Donald Despain, The One and Only Solution to the Farm Problem (New York: Vantage Press, 1956), p. 113.
142 See, for example, Proceedings of the Third Dearborn Conference, Farm Chemurgic Journal, National Farm Chemurgic Council, Dearborn, Mich., various volumes. Numerous references to the Farm Chemurgy movement are found in the literature.
143 Statement of L.M. Christensen, “Use of Alcohol from Farm Products in Motor Fuel,” Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate Hearings on SB 522, May 1939 (Washington: GPO, 1939); Also see “Alky-Gas Flops in Sioux City, Business Week, July 30, 1938, p. 20; “Farm Crop Alcohol Blended into Auto Fuel,” Popular Mechanics, Oct. 1937; “Alky-Gas Gets Going,” Business Week, Dec. 25, 1937; “Blackstrap Alky-Gas,” Business Week, Sept. 9, 1939.
144 “Power Alcohol: Not yet feasible or necessary in U.S.,” Scientific American, April, 1942.
145 U.S. Tariff Commission, Industrial Alcohol, War Changes in Industry Series, Report No. 2, (Washington, GPO: Jan. 1944).
146 It certainly would have been delayed had not chemists familiar with details of the synthetic rubber process been smuggled by British spy groups out of Poland and Russia to the US just as war broke out. The British were well aware that Standard Oil of N.J. had a deal with Farben to block synthetic rubber, and considered Standard a “hostile and dangerous element of the enemy” according to William Stephenson’s A Man Called Intrepid (New York: Ballentine, 1976), p. 284.
147 For example, see Al Frisbie, “The Old Alcohol Plant: Is there a Lesson There?” World-Herald Magazine, May 28, 1978, Omaha, Nebraska. Similar articles by other enterprising reporters turned up information about American energy history which had been completely overlooked.
148 US Tariff Commission, Industrial Alcohol.
149 Harry Benge Crozier, Director of Public Relations to members of the public relations advisory committee, American Petroleum Institute, April 24, 1933, Series 4 Box 52, J. Howard Pew papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del.
150 Hundreds of memos on the organization of the anti-alcohol campaign originating from API’s various committees, including the industries, public relations and refinery committees, are found in Series 4 Box 52, J. Howard Pew papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del. Memos prepared by the “Special Technical Committee” and the “Special Economics Committee” show an intense level of activity. Every major American oil company and most minor ones were involved in the campaign against alcohol fuel through these committees, either directly or indirectly. It is interesting to note that the position papers presented by these committees contained not a whiff of dissenting data, nor were any of the conclusions footnoted or referenced in any way whatsoever.
151 Gustav Egloff, “Alcohol Gasoline Motor Fuels,” National Petroleum Association paper, April 21, 1933, Series 4 Box 52, J. Howard Pew papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del.
152 These docuemtns are found in Series 4 Box 52, J. Howard Pew papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del.
153 “I have told you what we could find out about the Keystone officials …” E.W. Teagle, Chicago office of Sun, to J.N. Pew, April 27, 1933. Series 4 Box 52, J. Howard Pew papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del.
154 Everett M. Dirksen, “The Congressional Front,” May 5, 1933, Dirksen Congressional Center archives, Peoria, Ill.
155 L.L.Stephens to Webb, Jan. 24, 1933, transcribed by FBI agents, US Dept. of Justice Central Files, RG 60-57-107, Box 386-387, National Archives, Washington, D.C. Parentheses as transcribed.
156 Webb to Stephens, Feb. 9, 1933. US Dept. of Justice Central Files, RG 60-57-107, Box 386-387, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
157 William B. Plummer to Graham Edgar, Ethyl, April 12, 1933, US Dept. of Justice Central Files, RG 60-57-107, Box 386-387, National Archives, Washington, D.C. It should be noted that while the FBI found this telegram, other documentary sources about Ethyl’s activities at this time that should have been reviewed are missing from GMI, Justice Dept. archives and other areas.
158 FBI Interview with L.L. Coryell, Jr., Jan. 18, 1935, US Dept. of Justice Central Files, RG 60-57-107, Box 386-387, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
159 Ethyl Gasoline Corp. et al, v United States, 309 US 436, March 25, 1940.
160 For example, Giebelhaus reaches this conclusion.
161 Michelle Heath, Towards a Commercial Future: Ethanol & Methanol as Alternative Transportation Fuels, Canadian Energy Research Institute, Study no. 29, Jan. 1989.
162 “The ABCs of Alky-Gas,” Iowa Petroleum Public Relations Committee, 1936, library, American Petroleum Instutute, Washington, D.C.
163 Joseph Pew to H. Smith Richardson, Dec. 23, 1938, Hagley Museum & Library, Wilmington, Del.
164 C.S. Mott, Kettering Oral History Project, Interviewed by T.A. Boyd, October 19, 1960, GMI, Flynt, Mich. | <urn:uuid:35412d8d-6c3c-45f8-838c-1a0bc5073280> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://www.environmentalhistory.org/billkovarik/about-bk/research/henry-ford-charles-kettering-and-the-fuel-of-the-future/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042988310.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002308-00190-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953502 | 28,505 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Communities all over the world are starting to take an active effort in banning the fluoridation of their local water supply. Not to long ago, Windsor, Canada and a Queensland community in Australia did the same thing. Although the city itself was pushing for water fluoridation, Oregon citizens strongly opposed it with a majority of the voters saying no. It’s really encouraging to see the world waking up, one community at a time. It seems the ripple effect is growing, and information is spreading rapidly. The city council voted last year to add fluoride to the water supply that serves about 900,000 people, but opponents quickly gathered enough signatures to force a vote on the subject. Portland is one of the largest U.S. cities, and a majority of it’s population is well aware that the water used in water fluoridation practices is actually industrial toxic waste from the nuclear and fertilizer industries.
Voters in Portland felt that fluoride is a harmful chemical that will ruin the cities pristine water supply, they argued that adding it would violate an individual’s right to consent to ‘medication.’ Many communities around the world still continue to fluoridate their water. At the same time alternative media outlets are providing a lot of credible information and research to show that it is not in our best interest to fluoridate. The issue appeared last summer in Portland, health organizations had quietly lobbied the City Council and persuaded it to unanimously approve fluoridation by March 2014. Given the recent exposure of how bad fluoride is for us, do you think the ones who have been putting it in our water supply for decades don’t know about the dangers? We’ve seen this phenomenon exposed recently with vaccinations, you can read more about that here. Do you think all of this research and information is new to them? It’s not, the entities responsible for global water fluoridation have always been well aware of it’s dangers. The problem is that the research and information is used to educate medical practitioners is completely false, they have literally been brainwashed when it comes to fluoride. All it requires is us to wake up, ask questions and accept portions of our reality that are sometimes hard to face, but in order to change them we must face them. We should not be putting sodium fluoride, sodium silicofluoride and hydrofluorosilicic acid into our bodies! In point of fact, fluoride causes more human cancer death and causes it faster than any other chemical – Dr Dean Burk, Ph.D. 34 years at the national cancer institute It seems the general public does not know a lot about fluoride, although many are starting to question its use and overall safety considering its presence in both our toothpaste and water supply. Sodium fluoride, sodium silicofluoride and hydrofluorosilicic acid are all used in dental offices, toothpaste and water fluoridation practices. Again, they are toxic waste substances created from the creation processes in the fertilizer, steel, nuclear and aluminum industries. Why do we continue to debate on a substance going into our bodies when it is illegal to dump the hazardous fluoride waste products into water streams or rivers? It’s considered a strict crime to do so, even when it is perfectly legal to add it to our water supply under the disguise that it is helping our teeth. 99% of the water pumped through municipalities is not consumed through the mouth. Most is used for showering, watering crops and washing clothes. 24 studies have shown a link between fluoride exposure and the lowering of IQ(1). When you really think about it though, is it all that surprising that brain function is hindered by the consumption of an extremely hazardous waste product? I could go on and on, but do we really need to debate the addition of toxic chemicals into our water supply? It was used in Nazi Germany for a sterilization and poisoning method, and it’s also the main ingredient used in rat poison. Water fluoridation is nothing more than the dumping of industry produced hazardous waste onto both people and our environment to avoid having to pay to dispose of it. Fittingly enough, they in fact make a profit instead.
Collective Evolution released a documentary on Fluoride a couple of years ago, you can check it out here:
Note: if these are creating some challenge to our current beliefs on fluoride, then do research about this to see what resonates most. This has become very clear, well documented and proven knowledge. Roughly 99% of the water pumped through municipalities is not consumed through the mouth. Most is used for showering, water crops and washing clothes. Given these facts, most of it ends up in streams, rivers and ends up in oceans where this hazardous waste is destroying and contaminating our environment. This is also proof that it cannot be helping with dental hygiene as most of it does not touch our teeth. What is consumed does nothing more than harm our bodies. 24 studies have shown a link between fluoride exposure and the lowering of IQ. When you really think about it though, is it all that surprising that brain function is hindered by the consumption of an extremely hazardous waste product? Fluoride is an unapproved drug being used in a highly illegal mass medication scheme. Fluoride is said to be voluntary by municipalities but the people never get a vote. The drug has not been approved by any drug agency and no one has been assessed for prescriptions. Fluoride is so toxic and dangerous that it has the ability to eat through metal and concrete. A fluoride spill results in the use of haz-mat suits to clean up. Water fluoridation is nothing more than the dumping of industrial hazardous waste into people and our environment to avoid having to pay to dispose of the waste. They in fact make a profit instead. Drinking fluoridated water has never been scientifically proven to reduce tooth decay. Research has found that fluoride affects normal endocrine function, causes kidney disease, bone weakness, dental fluorosis, cancer, lowering of IQ, calcification of the pineal gland, arthritis, immune deficiencies, skeletal fluorosis and much more. Here are more of CE’s articles on Fluoride if you’re interested: FLUORIDE AWARENESS GROWS: NO SCIENCE TO SHOW FLUORIDE PREVENTS TOOTH DECAY 10 FACTS ABOUT WATER FLUORIDATION EVERYBODY SHOULD KNOW DO YOU STILL THINK FLUORIDE IS GOOD FOR YOUR TEETH? READ THIS! ANOTHER CANADIAN CITY BANS FLUORIDE FROM ITS WATER SUPPLY CITY PUBLIC HEALTH UNABLE TO SUPPLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT WATER FLUORIDATION Sources: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/fluoride-childrens-health-grandjean-choi/ (1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3491930/ http://www.cleanwaterportland.org http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-30229-portland_voters_soundly_reject_fluoride.html http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/152986-portland-voters-reject-water-fluoridation-http://www.nofluoride.com/quotes.cfm http://cnsnews.com/news/article/portland-ore-rejecting-water-fluoridationhttp://www.fluoridealert.org/ http://www.naturalnews.com/040465_water_fluoridation_Portland_ballot_measure.htmlhttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/cairns-to-abandon-fluoride-program/story-e6frg8y6-1226566277552 http://www.fluoridealert.org/issues/health/ http://www.naturalnews.com/038984_Australia_fluoride_involuntary_medication.html | <urn:uuid:f2a0b535-bb99-4bd3-af06-c0ce9e12f232> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | http://healthfreedom.org.nz/campaigns/fluoride/more-no-to-fluoridation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243991413.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20210512224016-20210513014016-00623.warc.gz | en | 0.941145 | 1,673 | 2.875 | 3 |
TOEFL Writing Tips
The TOEFL Writing Tips Section of the TOEFL iBT tests your ability to communicate effectively in an academic environment through written English, and is the fourth and final section you will encounter on test day. The Writing Section is divided into two different tasks: the integrated task and the independent task. The first task in this section, the integrated task, is similar to some of the tasks in the listening section in that you must first read a passage, then listen to a portion of a lecture. This writing assignment requires you to relate the information in the reading and the lecture and respond to the given prompt. You should spend 20 minutes on this task and write between 150 to 225 words. TOEFL Writing Tips.
The second task, the independent task, will ask you to respond to a given prompt by giving your opinion. You should spend about 30 minutes on this task and write a minimum of 300 words for an effective answer. TOEFL Writing Tips.
Although writing in any language can be challenging, you will be sure to increase your score if you follow the simple tips listed below: TOEFL Writing Tips.
1. Focus on Structure TOEFL Writing Tips.
When typing your response for the written section of the TOEFL iBT, it’s very important to ensure you have all the correct elements of a well-constructed essay. This means that each response should include an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. For the second task, your introduction should clearly state your opinion and outline the topics you will cover in your essay. Your body paragraphs should cover three distinct topics, with examples and details to support each topic. Finally, your conclusion should restate your opinion and summarize the main points of your essay, solidifying your response. TOEFL Writing Tips.
2. Create an Outline TOEFL Writing Tips.
Sometimes the hardest part of writing is just getting started. It can be difficult to know where to begin and how to organize our thoughts unless we plan the essay before we begin. An outline is a tool to help us keep our ideas in order and make sure we have included all the necessary parts. Start by writing a one-sentence representation of your introduction. Then write your three main topics for the body, with short bullet point details to support each one. Doing so will save you time once you begin writing, as you will essentially be connecting the dots of your outline. Memorize and use transitions to make your writing flow smoothly. TOEFL Writing Tips.
3. Choose the Side Easiest to Support TOEFL Writing Tips.
This tip applies specifically to the independent writing task. Task two will often give you a statement and ask you to what extent you agree or disagree with that statement. Regardless of what your personal feelings are about the subject, it is always better to choose to agree or disagree based on which side you can quickly come up with the most reasons and examples to support. Once you read the prompt, quickly choose a side and list the reasons you will use to support it. If you can’t easily think of three good ones, try the other side. Do not waste time trying to come up with examples to support an opinion that is difficult to explain. TOEFL Writing Tips.
While there are many more strategies for the TOEFL exam, following the basic ones listed here will put you well on your way to achieving the TOEFL score you desire. If you’d like more detailed tips and information for each section, read our series of in depth articles below: TOEFL Writing Tips.
- How to do well on TOEFL: TOEFL Reading Tips
- How to do well on TOEFL: TOEFL Listening Tips
- How to do well on TOEFL: TOEFL Speaking Tips | <urn:uuid:821ef30e-c892-45ea-bdd3-40b1186f5d8a> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://www.educationgateway.co.th/toefl-writing-tips/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347419056.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20200601145025-20200601175025-00565.warc.gz | en | 0.93085 | 787 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Medications in this family sharply decrease stomach acid production. They are widely used for the treatment of ulcers as well as for mild cases of esophageal reflux (heartburn).
Drugs that fall into this family include
- cimetidine (Tagamet, Tagamet HB)
- famotidine (Pepcid, Pepcid AC, Pepcid RPD)
- nizatidine (Axid, Axid AR)
- ranitidine hydrochloride (Zantac, Zantac EFFERdose, Zantac GELdose, Zantac 75)
- and others
-receptor blockers appear to impair the absorption of vitamin B
This is thought to occur because the vitamin B
in food is attached to proteins. Stomach acid separates them and allows the B
to be absorbed.
The solution? If you regularly use H
blockers, take B
supplements. They can be absorbed easily because they are not attached to proteins.
There is some evidence that H
blockers may slightly reduce the absorption of folate.
Folate is an important nutrient and one that is commonly deficient in the diet; so if you are taking H
blockers, you should probably take folate supplements, too.
By reducing stomach acid levels, H
blockers might interfere with the absorption of
, and perhaps other minerals.
Taking mineral supplements that provide the U.S. Dietary Reference Intake (formerly known as the Recommended Dietary Allowance) of these substances should help.
Magnesium supplements may interfere with the absorption of H
However, the interference may be too minor to cause a real problem. If you think your magnesium supplements are interfering with your medication, you can get around the problem by taking these minerals at least 2 hours before or after you take an H
Cimetidine may interfere with vitamin D metabolism.
blockers may not interact. Whether taking more vitamin D is useful remains unknown.
Salom IL, Silvis SE, Doscherholmen A. Effect of cimetidine on the absorption of vitamin B
Scand J Gastroenterol
17: 129–131, 1982.
Streeter AM, Goulston KJ, Bathur FA, et al. Cimetidine and malabsorption of cobalamin.
Dig Dis Sci
27: 13–16, 1982.
Blache J, Zittoun J, Marquet J, et al. Effect of ranitidine on secretion of gastric intrinsic factor and absorption of vitamin B
Gastroenterol Clin Biol
7: 381–384, 1983.
Russell RM, Golner BB, Krasinski SD, et al. Effect of antacid and H
receptor antagonists on the intestinal absorption of folic acid.
J Lab Clin Med
112: 458–463, 1988.
D'Arcy PF and McElnay JC. Drug interactions in the gut involving metal ions.
Rev DrugMetabol Drug Interact
Hathcock JN. Metabolic mechanisms of drug-nutrient interactions.
44(1): 124, 1985.
Sturniolo GC, et al. Inhibition of gastric acid secretion reduces zinc absorption in man.
JAm Coll Nutr
4: 372–375, 1991.
Aymard JP, Aymard B, Netter P, et al. Haematological adverse effects of histamine H
Med Toxicol Adverse Drug Exp
3: 430–448, 1988.
Bachmann KA, Sullivan TJ, Jauregui L, et al. Drug interactions of H
Scand J Gastroenterol Suppl
206: 14–19, 1994.
Bengoa JM, et al. Hepatic vitamin D 25-hydroxylase inhibition by cimetidine and isoniazid.
J Lab Clin Med
104: 546–552, 1984.
Anonymous. Cimetidine inhibits the hepatic hydroxylation of vitamin D.
43: 184–185, 1985.
Odes HS. Effect of cimetidine on hepatic vitamin D metabolism in humans.
46(2): 61–64, 1990. | <urn:uuid:f2242d81-daac-4ff9-b224-61758df54977> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | https://www.holy-cross.com/library-detail?chunkid=21655&subject=Axid&lang=English&query=AN%2021655&db=hlt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042986022.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002306-00049-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.808988 | 876 | 2.546875 | 3 |
How to manage the increasing sludge amount in urban areas in Vietnam? Experts said that the institutional and technological solutions need to be synchronized.
The major challenges
Nowadays, in urban areas of Vietnam, wastewater is discharged into the public sewerage system, the sludge generated from sanitation structures (toilets, septic tanks…) is sucked, collected and transported without any treatment to open-air locations such as ditches, lakes, landfills (with domestic wastes).
Furthermore, the sludge collection and transportation methods in small and medium-sized urban areas are still simple and manual while these jobs are gradually mechanized in modern urban areas. The manual methods have low productivity, unsafe and harmful to human health.
Many sludge treatment technologies have been applied in many countries in Asia, Africa or developed countries. The sludge generated from septic tanks is combined and treated with the sludge from the drainage system… However, this technology requires not only high cost in construction and operation but also high level of management.
Thus, with the increasing rapid urbanization, the challenges in sludge management and treatment also increase due to its negative impacts on environment and human health.
Efforts to find solutions
Recently, Vietnam has issued many regulations, standards related to sludge classification and management, including: QCVN 07:2009/BTNMT – National technical standard on hazardous waste threshold, considering to sludge; QCVN 25:2009/BTNMT – National technical standard on leachate of solid waste landfill; QCVN 50:2013/BTNMT – National technical standard on hazardous threshold of sludge from wastewater treatment…
Particularly, the Decree 80/2014/ND-CP dated on 6th August 2014, issued by the Government on drainage and wastewater treatment, has stipulated specifically the sludge management from drainage system, sludge management from septic tanks; as well as reuse of sludge. This is one of the most important legal documents in this sector.
According to Mr. Nguyen Hong Tien, Director of Technical Infrastructure Agency (Ministry of Construction), the related agencies should review, update and issue the regulations relevant to waste management; review and supplement issues of sludge management into urban planning, regional planning; research and apply modern technologies in sludge treatment towards minimizing waste to landfills; consider both environment and economic aspects to sort out a suitable technology while protecting environment. Besides, it is necessary to develop a sludge database including information such as quantity, types (to be treated, can be reused or recycled; to improve the investigation and supervision as well as strengthen the international cooperation in this field.
Đăng ký: VietNam News | <urn:uuid:11e85061-b69d-4053-99be-cbaae6d6523b> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://vietnam.rssfeeds.pw/2015/03/need-more-solutions-for-sludge.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560627998376.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20190617043021-20190617065021-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.919986 | 552 | 2.828125 | 3 |
|Census-designated place (CDP)|
Bland County Courthouse in Bland
|Elevation||2,438 ft (743 m)|
|Time zone||EST (UTC-5)|
|• Summer (DST)||EDT (UTC-4)|
|GNIS feature ID||1498536|
Bland is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Bland County, Virginia, United States. Bland was originally known as Bland Court House. The population as of the 2010 Census was 409.
The climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year round. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Bland has a marine west coast climate, abbreviated "Cfb" on climate maps.
- "Bland". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
- "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
- Photo of envelope addressed to Bland Court House - Back of envelope showing cancel by Bland Court House post office in 1883
- Virginia Trend Report 2: State and Complete Places (Sub-state 2010 Census Data). Missouri Census Data Center. Accessed 2011-06-08.
- Climate Summary for Bland, Virginia
|This Bland County, Virginia state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.| | <urn:uuid:807733a4-6ad0-4b04-a610-2e28fd668cd3> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bland,_Virginia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440645311026.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827031511-00335-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.822305 | 293 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The amount of radiation released by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the days after the 11 March tsunami could have been more than double that originally estimated by its operator, Japan‘s nuclear safety agency has said.
The revelation has raised fears that the situation at the plant, where fuel in three reactors suffered meltdown, was more serious than government officials have acknowledged.
In another development that is expected to add to criticism of Japan’s handling of the crisis, the agency said molten nuclear fuel dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel in the No 1 reactor within five hours of the accident, 10 hours earlier than previously thought.
By the end of last week, radiation levels inside the reactor had risen to 4,000 millisieverts per hour, the highest atmospheric reading inside the plant since the disaster.
The agency also speculated that the meltdown in another reactor had been faster than initially estimated by the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco).
Continue reading at Japan doubles Fukushima radiation leak estimate | <urn:uuid:fc09abea-56d1-4925-9233-c30c29fb03bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/atomicage/2011/06/07/japan-doubles-fukushima-radiation-leak-estimate-via-the-guardian/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049278417.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002118-00101-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964234 | 208 | 3.15625 | 3 |
What is membrane lipid peroxidation?
Lipid peroxidation is oxidative damage that affects cellular membranes, lipoproteins, and other molecules that contain lipids in conditions with oxidative stress. Lipid peroxidation is a chain reaction and is created by free radicals influencing unsaturated fatty acids in cell membranes, leading to their damage.
What is the difference between oxidation and peroxidation?
As nouns the difference between oxidation and peroxidation is that oxidation is the combination of a substance with oxygen while peroxidation is (chemistry) any oxidation reaction, especially of an oxide, that produces a peroxide.
Is lipid peroxidation good or bad?
ROS oxidize the lipids to generate peroxides and aldehydes. The lipid peroxidation (LPO) products are highly reactive and display marked biological effects, which, depending upon their concentration, cause selective alterations in cell signaling, protein and DNA damage, and cytotoxicity.
What is meant by peroxidation?
Definition of peroxidation : oxidation to the greatest possible extent resulting especially in formation of a peroxide.
What causes lipolysis?
Lipolysis is triggered by the activation of adenyl cyclase, which converts adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). Catecholamines, acting via beta-adrenergic receptors (βADRs), stimulate adenyl cyclase but this action is counteracted by activation of alpha-adrenergic receptor (αADR).
What is the peroxidation reaction?
Lipid peroxidation is the chain of reactions of oxidative degradation of lipids. It is the process in which free radicals “steal” electrons from the lipids in cell membranes, resulting in cell damage. As with any radical reaction, the reaction consists of three major steps: initiation, propagation, and termination.
Which enzymes prevent lipids from peroxidation?
Elimination of peroxides—Bioactive reducing agents In particular the glutathione peroxidase (GPx) class of enzymes are responsible for reducing lipid peroxides.
What happens during lipolysis?
Lipolysis. To obtain energy from fat, triglycerides must first be broken down by hydrolysis into their two principal components, fatty acids and glycerol. This process, called lipolysis, takes place in the cytoplasm. The resulting fatty acids are oxidized by β-oxidation into acetyl CoA, which is used by the Krebs cycle …
Where does lipolysis occur?
Lipolysis /lɪˈpɒlɪsɪs/ is the metabolic pathway through which lipid triglycerides are hydrolyzed into a glycerol and three fatty acids. It is used to mobilize stored energy during fasting or exercise, and usually occurs in fat adipocytes.
Why is lipid considered a nonpolar molecule?
Lipids are nonpolar substances. Because lipids are nonpolar compounds, they are soluble in nonpolar compounds, such as chloroform or benzene . However, lipids are not soluble in water because it is a polar compound.
What does lipid peroxidation stand for?
Lipid peroxidation refers to the oxidative degradation of lipids. It is the process in which free radicals “steal” electrons from the lipids in cell membranes, resulting in cell damage. This process proceeds by a free radical chain reaction mechanism.
What type of lipid is found in the cell membrane?
Since a lipid molecule contains regions that are both polar and nonpolar, they are called amphipathic molecules. The most abundant class of lipid molecule found in cell membranes is the phospholipid. The phospholipid molecule’s polar head group contains a phosphate group. It also sports two nonpolar fatty acid chain groups as its tail.
Why are lipids important to plasma membrane?
These basic structural properties of plasma membranes enable them to carry out their fundamental functions. For example, the propensity of membrane lipids to form a thermodynamically stable, closed lipid bilayer structures renders them stability and encourages the formation of closed subcellular compartments. | <urn:uuid:81cea2ec-e13c-4d4a-9482-0124608167cf> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://wanderluce.com/advice/what-is-membrane-lipid-peroxidation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103337962.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20220627164834-20220627194834-00351.warc.gz | en | 0.926685 | 894 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Natural closed-loop system turns waste into wildlife
A series of reed beds at the School of Veterinary Sciences has provided an environmentally-enhancing and cost-effective solution to manage farm waste on the 255-acre site.
Located on the edge of the Mendips in Langford Village, the School of Veterinary Sciences and its associated Wyndhurst Dairy Farm has run-off from silage clamps and compost bays, which contain organic material that needs to be managed carefully to mitigate against any adverse effects.
Working with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), we created a set of constructed wetland sites, also known as Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), which provide a natural filtration solution to treating wastewater and rainwater run-off. Alongside the reed beds are long treatment swales which have been designed to hold water in place and slow the flow of surface water from the yard.
Creating a thriving habitat for wild plants
Not only do the reed beds reduce flooding, but they're also helping to create a new hotbed of wild plant species, including wavy hair grass, meadowsweet, silverweed, hairy sedge, yellow flag, water forget-me-nots, marsh marigold and purple loosestrife.
Embedding learning about sustainable solutions
Once they've become more established, we also plan to use the reed beds to demonstrate sustainable solutions to students, as part of our commitment to embed sustainability in all our courses and programmes.
The reed beds have created the perfect habitat for many native plant species to thrive - helping us not only manage waste, but increase biodiversity at the same time. | <urn:uuid:505c3d9e-ed6d-4862-a280-555196eec571> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/green/doing/our-achievements/waste-to-wildlife/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585449.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20211021230549-20211022020549-00324.warc.gz | en | 0.944342 | 342 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Sprayed-Foam and Foamed-In-Place Insulation Introduction
Today, some foam insulation consists of materials similar to those found in pillows and mattresses. Also, foam materials now use foaming agents that don’t use chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) or hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC’s), which are harmful to the Earth’s ozone layer.
Some types of available liquid foam insulation materials include these:
Some other types include Icynene foam and Tripolymer foam. Icynene foam can be either sprayed or injected, which makes it the most versatile. It also has good resistance to both air and water intrusion. Tripolymer foam—a water-soluble foam—is injected into wall cavities. It has excellent resistance to fire and air intrusion.
Urea-formaldehyde (UF) foam was used in homes during the 1970s and early 1980s. It is no longer available for residential use because of health-related risk with formaldehyde. All new types of foam insulation do not use formaldehyde.
Liquid foam insulation—combined with a foaming agent—can be applied using small spray containers or in larger quantities as a pressure-sprayed (foamed-in-place) product. Both types expand and harden as the mixture cures. They also conform to the shape of the cavity, filling and sealing it thoroughly.
Installation of most types of liquid foam insulation in large areas requires special equipment and certification. Therefore, you’ll probably want a certified insulation installer to do it.
Following installation, some foams require a thermal barrier—such as drywall or an intumescent paint. Also, building codes recognize sprayed closed cell foam insulation as a vapor barrier, so you do not need an additional air barrier, like polyethylene or some other vapor retarder.
Liquid foam insulation products and installation cost more than traditional batt insulation. However, liquid foam insulation also forms an air barrier. This can help eliminate some of the other costs and tasks associated with weatherizing a home, such as caulking, applying housewrap and vapor barrier, and taping joints. When building a new home, this type of insulation can also help reduce construction time and the number of specialized contractors, which saves money.
Sprayed Urethane Foam
All closed-cell polyurethane foam insulation made today is produced with a non-CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) gas as the foaming agent. These foams have an aged R-value of R-6.5 per inch thickness. Their density is generally 2.0 lb/ft3 (32.0 kilograms per cubic meter [kg/m3]). There also are low-density open-cell polyurethane foams (0.5 lb/ft3 [8 kg/m3]). These foams are similar to conventional polyurethane foams, but are more flexible. Some low-density varieties use carbon dioxide (CO2) as the foaming agent.
Low-density foams are sprayed into open wall cavities and rapidly expand to seal and fill the cavity.
One manufacturer offers a slow-expanding foam, which is intended for cavities in existing homes. The liquid foam expands very slowly and thus reduces the chance of damaging the wall from over expansion. The foam is water-vapor permeable, remains flexible, and is resistant to wicking of moisture. It provides good air sealing and yields about R-3.6 per inch of thickness. It is also fire resistant and won’t sustain a flame.
Soy-based, polyurethane liquid spray-foam products are also available. The cured R-value is around 3.7 per inch. These products can be applied with the same equipment used for petroleum-based polyurethane foam products.
Rigid Insulation Board
Rigid insulation board will work only if provisions are made for at least 1 1/2” of ventilation space between the outside sheathing and the insulation. Without an air tight seal around all the edges of the rigid foam pieces, you need to deal with ventilation and vapor barriers. Most rigid foam’s R-value is twice that of fiberglass but its cost is two to three times greater
Cellulose, lamb’s wool, natural cotton
These insulation types are some of the other insulation currently available. We can help you figure out what’s best for your dome. We have tried some – some work, some don’t. | <urn:uuid:5b2e43e3-bb91-4d7b-b4b9-c6b6082f08dd> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://naturalspacesdomes.com/dome-system/pricing-and-planning/sprayed-foam-insulation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103626162.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20220629084939-20220629114939-00757.warc.gz | en | 0.923823 | 988 | 2.890625 | 3 |
The Factory Environmental Policies
The Factory Green Office program engages and educates staff in modifying behaviors and practices for the benefit of the environment. The green office implements actions in the areas of WASTE, PAPER, ENERGY, WATER, PURCHASING and TRANSPORT.
A Factory Green Office:
- Has in place a recycling program.
- Aims to reduce the amount of paper we use.
- Reduces energy consumption.
- Reduces water consumption.
- Purchases environmentally friendly products where viable.
- Aims to educate staff in the use of sustainable transport.
- Is educated, engaging and aware of sustainable office management initiatives. | <urn:uuid:076a84c4-84fe-4742-ac16-ae6e40deb752> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://the-factory.com.au/profile/3/environmental | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267159570.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20180923173457-20180923193857-00223.warc.gz | en | 0.824261 | 139 | 2.609375 | 3 |
From the AIG debacle to the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme that plagued 2008, hedge funds have been finding their way into the headlines in a negative light. Many are wondering exactly what are hedge funds? This guide will provide an overview as to the nature of a hedge fund.
History of Hedge Funds
In 1949 the first hedge fund was established by Alfred W. Jones, who was the first to use the combination of leverage and short sales techniques. Hedge funds are similar in nature to mutual funds due to the fact that both investment vehicles pool together investors money and collectively invest these funds. Hedge funds historically lived up to their name by attempting to hedge the downside risk of a bear market via leverage and short sale techniques as its implementor Alfred W. Jones first established. However, today a vast array of techniques are used in hedge funds with the original aspect of hedging most of the time not even entering the picture.
The ultimate goal of these varying techniques is to generate high returns for its investors. Primarily hedge funds are set up as private partnerships with a limited number of (generally rich) investors. Due to their illiquid and highly unregulated nature, United States law requires for a majority of the investors in a hedge fund to be accredited.
A Virtually Unregulated Investment Vehicle
Hedge funds escape most the regulations that other funds such as mutual funds are subject to by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). If a hedge fund manages fewer than 15 funds it is not mandatory for them to register with the SEC. One regulation that hedge funds are not able to escape are the anti-fraud provisions of United States federal securities laws. Even though hedge funds are similar to mutual funds, they escape many of the regulations that mutual funds have to adhere to such as:
- liquidity requirements
- allowing shares to redeemable at any time
- disclosure regulations
- limits on the use of leverage
Though hedge funds in the United States are highly unregulated the case is different in other parts of the world. The nations of Europe for one make an attempt to have regulations in place for hedge funds. European nations often regulate hedge funds either by the type of investors they have or by the minimum subscription level needed to invest in hedge funds.
Different Types of Hedge Funds
A common misconception about hedge funds is that all are volatile. Not all hedge funds rely heavily on leveraging and derivatives in their strategies and some still live up to their name by derivatives for hedging purposes. Which leads to another myth about all hedge funds being the same. Different strategies are used by different hedge funds according to the University of Iowa's Center for International Finance and Development there are 12 classifications of types of hedge funds:
- Aggressive Growth – investment in equities that are expected to perform well with accelerated growth. This fund is typically hedged by shorting either equities that are expected to disappoint or stock indices.
- Distressed Securities – Purchases equity, debt, or trade claims at huge discounts in companies facing bankruptcy or reorganization.
- Emerging Markets – Hedging is difficult for this type of hedge fund due the investment in equity or debt of these less mature emerging markets which tend to experience inflation and volatility in growth.
- Fund of Funds – The pooling of various hedge funds together utilizing the various strategies of each fund.
- Income – Primary focus is on yield or current income versus solely focusing on capital gains. Uses leveraging and derivatives in its strategies.
- Macro – Aim is to profit changes in global economies. Participation in all major markets at different times while using leveraging and derivatives in it s strategies.
- Market Neutral - Arbitrage – Hedges out a majority of the market risk via taking offsetting positions with various securities of the same issuer.
- Market Neutral – Securities Hedging – Equal investment in long and short equity portfolios in the same sectors of the market.
- Market Timing – Allocation of assets amongst different classes based upon the funds manager's view of the economic or market outlook.
- Opportunistic – Strategy changes as opportunities arise to maximize profit. May use various investment styles in unison and is not restricted to any single approach or asset class.
- Short Selling – selling securities short in order to re-buy them in the future at a lower price.
- Value - the investment in securities forecast to sell at deep discounts to their potential worth.
Hedge funds themselves are not as volatile as many believe. However, the different strategies used by any particular hedge fund is what causes major fluctuations in volatility. Although most investments that offer a high return take major risks in their efforts to make good on their claims of such returns. If your investing needs require more security with regards to liquidity and SEC regulations, then hedge funds may not be the wise investment choice for you. For those with the money to invest and the willingness to venture out at a higher risk than more regulated investment vehicles then hedge funds may be worth the gamble. Just do your research of the hedge fund and its manager to make sure they have a proven track record of appropriately handling investor funds. | <urn:uuid:2f9e9042-ea9c-4be5-a297-bc1f57280e00> | CC-MAIN-2016-40 | http://www.brighthub.com/money/investing/articles/33247.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738659496.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173739-00061-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950245 | 1,025 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Brush twice a day, floss often, use mouthwash… and eat? The secret to healthy teeth for life might be in the refrigerator. Certain foods can help prevent cavities and tooth decay, keep plaque (sticky bacteria filled-film that can cover the teeth and gums) at bay, and even freshen breath. Read on to learn how to impress the dentist by incorporating tooth-friendly foods into every meal.
Milk and Eggs
You might have guessed milk would be on this list. Dairy products like milk and egg yolks are excellent sources of calcium and vitamin D. (Fun fact: You can also get vitamin D from about five to 30 minutes of sun exposure at least twice a week). Think of calcium and vitamin D as the Batman and Robin of bone health. The body requires a dose of vitamin D to absorb calcium, which in turn strengthens bones and teeth.Calcium and vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis – a clinical update. Boonen S, Vanderschueren D, Haentjens P. Journal of internal medicine, 2006, Jul.;259(6):0954-6820. Not into milk? There are plenty of non-dairy alternatives.
Cheese and Yogurt
Foods rich in calcium and phosphorus can protect tooth enamel and even help replace minerals in teeth (a process called remineralization). Low-fat cheese and plain nonfat yogurt are classic calcium-rich choices. Cheese is especially beneficial because it contains casein, a protein found in milk products that can shore up enamel.Remineralization of early enamel lesions using casein phosphopeptide amorphous calcium Phosphate: an ex-vivo study. Vashisht R, Kumar A, Indira R. Contemporary clinical dentistry, 2012, Mar.;1(4):0976-2361.
Meat, Fish, and Tofu
Meat, fatty fish (like salmon), and tofu are loaded with phosphorus, another important mineral that may protect tooth enamel.Quantitative analysis of the calcium and phosphorus content of developing and permanent human teeth. Arnold WH, Gaengler P. Annals of anatomy = Anatomischer Anzeiger : official organ of the Anatomische Gesellschaft, 2007, May.;189(2):0940-9602. Homemade broth made from meat bones is a particular good source of this essential mineral.
Broccoli, Bok Choy, and Other Dark, Leafy Veggies
Looking for vegetarian-friendly sources for the minerals we’ve mentioned? Broccoli, bok choy, kale, okra, collards, and other dark, leafy veggies are excellent animal-free ways to get plenty of vitamins and minerals.
Celery, Carrots, and Other Crunchy Veggies
Just like the rest of your body, teeth require a little work every now and then to stay sharp. Crunchy, firm foods that contain lots of water (and require lots of chewing) are good for oral health because they stimulate the flow of saliva and can actually scrub tooth surfaces, brightening your pearly whites.Mastication and its influence on human salivary flow and alpha-amylase secretion. Mackie DA, Pangborn RM. Physiology & behavior, 1990, Aug.;47(3):0031-9384. Saliva also contains enzymes that buffer the acids present in food and clean bits of food out of nooks and crannies. Celery is almost always a good dietary choice. Full of water and fibrous strands, this raw veggie is basically nature’s floss.
Whether artificial sweeteners are safe is still up for debate, but some dentists might be in the “pro” camp. Some fake sweeteners, like Xylitol, can actually prevent cavities.Are sugar-free confections really beneficial for dental health? Nadimi H, Wesamaa H, Janket SJ. British dental journal, 2011, Oct.;211(7):1476-5373. So when an urge to snack on sweet stuff hits, grab a stick of sugar-free gum instead of a lollipop.Sugar-free chewing gum and dental caries: a systematic review. Mickenautsch S, Leal SC, Yengopal V. Journal of applied oral science : revista FOB, 2010, Jun.;15(2):1678-7765.
Apples and other high-fiber fruits can scrub away plaque and freshen breath (so hit up the produce stand before heading to a hot date).
Lime, Lemons, Oranges, and Grapefruit
It’s no surprise that citrus is loaded with citric acid.Quantitative assessment of citric acid in lemon juice, lime juice, and commercially-available fruit juice products. Penniston KL, Nakada SY, Holmes RP. Journal of endourology / Endourological Society, 2008, Sep.;22(3):0892-7790. Strong acids (foods with a low pH rating) are the number-one cause of enamel erosion and tooth decay.The role of diet in the aetiology of dental erosion. Lussi A, Jaeggi T, Zero D. Caries research, 2004, Feb.;38 Suppl 1():0008-6568.But if you just can’t go without a glass of Florida O.J. in the morning, minimize your acid exposure by drinking the juice in one sitting (a.k.a. not sipping for hours) and then avoiding other acidic foods and drinks for several hours. And keep in mind: If a food or drink easily stains the teeth (we’re looking at you, coffee and red wine), it’s usually fairly acidic.
What happens when you mix veggies and vinegar? If you guessed a tooth’s worst nightmare, you’d be right. Pickles are tasty on a sandwich, but the combination of super-acidic vinegar and sugar is a recipe for enamel erosion.
Sorry, coffee addicts. Not so surprisingly, that morning cup (or three) of Joe puts oral health at risk. The tannic acids in coffee (and some teas) wear down enamel and can even stain teeth brown.The effect of at-home bleaching and toothbrushing on removal of coffee and cigarette smoke stains and color stability of enamel. Bazzi JZ, Bindo MJ, Rached RN. Journal of the American Dental Association (1939), 2012, Oct.;143(5):1943-4723. But if you refuse to give up your brew, take heart: Coffee does have several health benefits.
Studies show a glass of red wine every once in a while can be good for the heart and cholesterol levels. Unfortunately, anyone who’s ever experienced “wine teeth” knows that the purplish beverage can stain quite easily. The acids in red and white wine wear down the surface of teeth, which is why stains are so common.
They might make taste buds happy all summer long, but tomatoes are less beneficial for teeth. Both raw and in sauce form, tomatoes are pretty acidic. The solution? Eat them as part of a meal to get the health benefits, and avoid the dental issues.
We already know that soda is bad for happiness and health. The combination of sugar, acids, and carbonation is a death sentence for teeth. Countless studies have linked soda consumption (both regular and diet) with tooth erosion and decay.Dental erosion and severe tooth decay related to soft drinks: a case report and literature review. Cheng R, Yang H, Shao MY. Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B, 2009, Jul.;10(5):1862-1783. Diet, nutrition and the prevention of dental diseases. Moynihan P, Petersen PE. Public health nutrition, 2004, Apr.;7(1A):1368-9800.
Remember how Mom cautioned against a sugar binge on Halloween? Turns out, she was right: Chowing down on tons of sugar is bad for tooth health. The sweet stuff can cause cavities and get stuck in crevices (becoming tasty fodder for bacteria).Hard candies are particularly bad for your pearly whites. Lollipops, mints, and any other sugary treats (even cough drops) that linger in the mouth expose teeth to sugar and acids for a long period of time. They’re much worse than a sugary treat that’s quickly chewed and swallowed (especially if they’re sour or tart flavored).
Though yummy in granola or energy bars, dried fruit is a perfect storm of stickiness and chewiness. The gooey bits are practically made for getting stuck between teeth, and most dried fruits (even those without added sugars) are off-the-charts sweet.
Avoiding dentures by age 40 doesn’t mean swearing off all dark liquids, sweets, and citrus fruits. Keeping teeth healthy (and making the dentist happy) is all about using techniques that limit damage. Here are a few easy tips:
- Eat acidic or sugary foods or drinks as part of a meal rather than on their own. Pro tip: Though brushing after a meal is generally a good idea, avoid brushing your teeth after consuming acidic foods. Acid softens your enamel, and brushing can speed up tooth wear.
- Limit snacking on acidic or high-sugar foods.
- Use a flouride toothpaste, which can help repair enamel, and reduce the risk of tooth decay and dental erosion.
- Don’t swish acidic drinks or hold them in your mouth—this exposes the teeth to acids for longer than necessary. Better yet, use a straw when drinking coffee, wine, or soda to protect enamel. The bartender might poke fun, but we’ll see who’s laughing at your next dentist appointment.
Originally published October 2013. Updated September 2015. | <urn:uuid:3d47d7eb-4db4-470b-b56f-5864f8a0cef5> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://greatist.com/health/healthy-teeth-foods | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560628000231.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20190626073946-20190626095946-00348.warc.gz | en | 0.881277 | 2,089 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Remote sensing geodetic observations (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar [InSAR] and optical correlation [“pixel tracking”]) serve an increasingly diverse and important role in earthquake monitoring and response. This study introduces the Geodetic Centroid (gCent) catalog—an earthquake catalog derived solely from space‐based geodetic observations—and analysis of 74 earthquakes ( 4.3–7.4) imaged from 1 August 2019 to 01 February 2022. For gCent, we use InSAR and optical correlation observations derived from the Sentinel‐1 satellites and various publicly available optical satellites to systematically image all global earthquakes 5.5 or larger and shallower than 25 km, 7.0 or larger at any depth, and other high‐impact earthquakes or seismic events of special interest. We invert surface displacements from successfully imaged earthquakes for the location, orientation, and dimensions of a single slipping fault patch that describes the centroid characteristics of the earthquake. These centroid models, in turn, are compiled into a catalog and used in U.S. Geological Survey/Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) operational earthquake response products such as ShakeMaps and finite‐fault models. We provide a comparison of the gCent catalog to the ANSS Comprehensive Catalog and Global Centroid Moment Tensor (Global CMT) catalog to compare reported locations, depths, and magnitudes. We find that global earthquake catalogs not only generally provide reasonably comparable locations (within 10 km on average), but also they systematically overestimate depth that may have implications for earthquake shaking predictions based solely on earthquake origin information. Geodetic magnitudes are comparable to seismically inferred magnitudes, indicating that gCent models are unlikely to be systematically biased by the presence of postseismic deformation. We additionally highlight limitations of the gCent catalog induced by both the limitations of remote sensing imaging of earthquakes and our imposition of a simplified earthquake source description that does not include spatially distributed slip. | <urn:uuid:764ae96a-7ece-415b-b594-f7e0300ff767> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/bssa/article-abstract/doi/10.1785/0120220072/617576/The-Geodetic-Centroid-gCent-Catalog-Global?redirectedFrom=fulltext | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335448.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20220930082656-20220930112656-00232.warc.gz | en | 0.900509 | 407 | 3.015625 | 3 |
In Greek mythology, Tartarus (Τάρταρος, Tartaros) is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato’s Gorgias (c. 400 BC), souls are judged after death and where the wicked received divine punishment. Tartarus is also considered to be a primordial force or deity alongside entities such as the Earth, Night and Time.
In Greek mythology, Tartarus is both a deity and a place in the underworld. In ancient Orphic sources and in the mystery schools, Tartarus is also the unbounded first-existing entity from which the Light and the cosmos are born.
In the Greek poet Hesiod’s Theogony, c. 700 BC, Tartarus was the third of the primordial deities, following after Chaos and Gaia (Earth), and preceding Eros, and was the father, by Gaia, of the monster Typhon. According to Hyginus, Tartarus was the offspring of Aether and Gaia.
As for the place, Hesiod asserts that a bronze anvil falling from heaven would fall nine days before it reached the earth. The anvil would take nine more days to fall from earth to Tartarus. In the Iliad (c. 700 BC), Zeus asserts that Tartarus is “as far beneath Hades as heaven is above earth.” Similarly the mythographer Apollodorus, describes Tartarus as “a gloomy place in Hades as far distant from earth as earth is distant from the sky.”
While according to Greek mythology the realm of Hades is the place of the dead, Tartarus also has a number of inhabitants. When Cronus came to power as the King of the Titans, he imprisoned the one-eyed Cyclopes and the hundred-armed Hecatonchires in Tartarus and set the monster Campe as its guard. Zeus killed Campe and released these imprisoned giants to aid in his conflict with the Titans. The gods of Olympus eventually triumphed. Cronus and many of the other Titans were banished to Tartarus, though Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Metis were spared (according to Pindar, Cronus somehow later earned Zeus’ forgiveness and was released from Tartarus to become ruler of Elysium). Another Titan, Atlas, was sentenced to hold the sky on his shoulders to prevent it from resuming its primordial embrace with the Earth. Other gods could be sentenced to Tartarus as well. Apollo is a prime example, although Zeus freed him. The Hecatonchires became guards of Tartarus’ prisoners. Later, when Zeus overcame the monster Typhon, he threw him into “wide Tartarus”.
Originally, Tartarus was used only to confine dangers to the gods of Olympus. In later mythologies, Tartarus became a space dedicated to the imprisonment and torment of mortals who had sinned against the gods, and each punishment was unique to the condemned. For example:
- King Sisyphus was sent to Tartarus for killing guests and travelers to his castle in violation to his hospitality, seducing his niece, and reporting one of Zeus’ sexual conquests by telling the river god Asopus of the whereabouts of his daughter Aegina (who had been taken away by Zeus). But regardless of the impropriety of Zeus’ frequent conquests, Sisyphus overstepped his bounds by considering himself a peer of the gods who could rightfully report their indiscretions. When Zeus ordered Thanatos to chain up Sisyphus in Tartarus, Sisyphus tricked Thanatos by asking him how the chains worked and ended up chaining Thanatos; as a result there was no more death. This caused Ares to free Thanatos and turn Sisyphus over to him. Sometime later, Sisyphus had Persephone send him back to the surface to scold his wife for not burying him properly. Sisyphus was forcefully dragged back to Tartarus by Hermes when he refused to go back to the Underworld after that. In Tartarus, Sisyphus was forced to roll a large boulder up a mountainside which when he almost reached the crest, rolled away from Sisyphus and rolled back down repeatedly. This represented the punishment of Sisyphus claiming that his cleverness surpassed that of Zeus, causing the god to make the boulder roll away from Sisyphus, binding Sisyphus to an eternity of frustration.
- King Tantalus also ended up in Tartarus after he cut up his son Pelops, boiled him, and served him as food when he was invited to dine with the gods. He also stole the ambrosia from the Gods and told his people its secrets. Another story mentioned that he held onto a golden dog forged by Hephaestus and stolen by Tantalus’ friend Pandareus. Tantalus held onto the golden dog for safekeeping and later denied to Pandareus that he had it. Tantalus’ punishment for his actions (now a proverbial term for “temptation without satisfaction”) was to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reached for the fruit, the branches raised his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever he bent down to get a drink, the water receded before he could get any. Over his head towered a threatening stone like that of Sisyphus.
- Ixion was the king of the Lapiths, the most ancient tribe of Thessaly. Ixion grew to hate his father-in-law and ended up pushing him onto a bed of coal and woods committing the first kin-related murder. The princes of other lands ordered that Ixion be denied of any sin-cleansing. Zeus took pity on Ixion and invited him to a meal on Olympus. But when Ixion saw Hera, he fell in love with her and did some under-the-table caressing until Zeus signaled him to stop. After finding a place for Ixion to sleep, Zeus created a cloud-clone of Hera named Nephele to test him to see how far he would go to seduce Hera. Ixion made love to her, which resulted in the birth of Centaurus, who mated with some Magnesian mares on Mount Pelion and thus engendered the race of Centaurs (who are called the Ixionidae from their descent). Zeus drove Ixion from Mount Olympus and then struck him with a thunderbolt. He was punished by being tied to a winged flaming wheel that was always spinning: first in the sky and then in Tartarus. Only when Orpheus came down to the Underworld to rescue Eurydice did it stop spinning because of the music Orpheus was playing. Ixion being strapped to the flaming wheel represented his burning lust.
- In some versions, the Danaides murdered their husbands and were punished in Tartarus by being forced to carry water in a jug to fill a bath which would thereby wash off their sins. But the tub was filled with cracks, so the water always leaked out.
- The giant Tityos attempted to rape Leto on Hera’s orders, but was slain by Apollo and Artemis. As punishment, Tityos was stretched out in Tartarus and tortured by two vultures who fed on his liver. This punishment is extremely similar to that of the Titan Prometheus.
- King Salmoneus was also mentioned to have been imprisoned in Tartarus after passing himself off as Zeus, causing the real Zeus to smite him with a thunderbolt.
According to Plato (c. 427 BC), Rhadamanthus, Aeacus and Minos were the judges of the dead and chose who went to Tartarus. Rhadamanthus judged Asian souls, Aeacus judged European souls and Minos was the deciding vote and judge of the Greek.
Plato also proposes the concept that sinners were cast under the ground to be punished in accordance with their sins in the Myth of Er.
There were a number of entrances to Tartarus in Greek mythology. One was in Aornum.
In Roman mythology, Tartarus is the place where sinners are sent. Virgil describes it in the Aeneid as a gigantic place, surrounded by the flaming river Phlegethon and triple walls to prevent sinners from escaping from it. It is guarded by a hydra with fifty black gaping jaws, which sits at a screeching gate protected by columns of solid adamantine, a substance akin to diamond – so hard that nothing will cut through it. Inside, there is a castle with wide walls, and a tall iron turret. Tisiphone, one of the Erinyes who represents revenge, stands guard sleepless at the top of this turret lashing a whip. There is a pit inside which is said to extend down into the earth twice as far as the distance from the lands of the living to Olympus. At the bottom of this pit lie the Titans, the twin sons of Aloeus, and many other sinners. Still more sinners are contained inside Tartarus, with punishments similar to those of Greek myth.
Tartarus occurs in the Septuagint of Job, and in Hellenistic Jewish literature from the Greek text of 1 Enoch, dated to 400–200 BC. This states that God placed the archangel Uriel “in charge of the world and of Tartarus” (20:2). Tartarus is generally understood to be the place where 200 fallen Watchers (angels) are imprisoned.
In Hypostasis of the Archons (also translated ‘Reality of the Rulers’), an apocryphal gnostic treatise dated before 350 AD, Tartarus makes a brief appearance when Zōē (life), the daughter of Sophia (wisdom) casts Ialdabaōth (demiurge) down to the bottom of the abyss of Tartarus.
Tartarus also appears in sections of the Jewish Sibylline Oracles. E.g. Sib. Or. 4:186.
See also: Christian views on hell
In the New Testament, the noun Tartarus does not occur but tartaroo (ταρταρόω, “throw to Tartarus”), a shortened form of the classical Greek verb kata-tartaroo (“throw down to Tartarus”), does appear in 2 Peter 2:4. Liddell–Scott provides other sources for the shortened form of this verb, including Acusilaus (5th century BC), Joannes Laurentius Lydus (4th century AD) and the Scholiast on Aeschylus’ Eumenides, who cites Pindar relating how the earth tried to tartaro “cast down” Apollo after he overcame the Python. In classical texts, the longer form kata-tartaroo is often related to the throwing of the Titans down to Tartarus.
The ESV is one of several English versions that gives the Greek reading Tartarus as a footnote:
- “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;”
- – Footnotes 2:4 Greek Tartarus
Adam Clarke reasoned that Peter’s use of language relating to the Titans was an indication that the ancient Greeks had heard of a Biblical punishment of fallen angels. Some Evangelical Christian commentaries distinguish Tartarus as a place for wicked angels and Gehenna as a place for wicked humans on the basis of this verse. Other Evangelical commentaries, in reconciling that some fallen angels are chained in Tartarus, yet some not, attempt to distinguish between one type of fallen angel and another.
Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia | <urn:uuid:9a07907b-d61e-48c7-97f2-34eca2d284b2> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://slife.org/tartarus/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679101195.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20231210025335-20231210055335-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.971163 | 2,476 | 3.59375 | 4 |
The Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS-Kenya) has lined up seminars and training sessions for its membership to facilitate continued interaction and learning.
The Seminar that was to be facilitated by Dr. Said Mohammed of ILRI. The presentations started with the Chairperson giving the briefings on SCGISKENYA, its mission, vision and objectives together with three months programme from June to August. Thereafter she invited Dr. Said for the day\'s presentation.The topic was Kenya ATLAS of Nature\'s Benefit, which came from his four years work in Kenya with other partners both individuals and institutions like DRSRS, WRI,and RCMRD among others. The presentation was narrowed down to Using GIS to Connect Ecosystem Services and Human Well being in Kenya which came as a result of the realization that;1) Human demand for ecosystem services is quickly growing,2) Capacity for the provision of these services is reducing, and3) Science has not been brought to effective use to bear these challenges.This lead the study to focus on;1) Mapping of ecosystem services.2) Relate poverty and ecosystem services.3) Consequences as a result of change in ecosystem services.Thy focused on provision, regulating, cultural and supportive services which were put on a map of Spatial Pattern of Poverty and Human Wellbeing which is available for use in the WRI website. Through analysis, the map showed that both poverty and cultivated land is increasing as wildlife is decreasing. The study also realized that lowlands like Machakos and others where ecosystem services have been destroyed have the highest rates of poverty as compared to highlands which have undisturbed ecosystem have the lowest poverty rates as per the analysis done in the Upper Tana Catchment; one of the Kenya\'s five water towers. Also another big realization was the rate of land subdivision which is a great threat to both ecosystem and poverty alleviation. This then need to be communicated to the policy and decision makers in all levels and sectors especially the government and its agencies not forgetting the private sector.GIS was found useful in;1) Bridging the gap between science, policy and communities.2) Bringing people together and intergrating disciplines.3) Linking it with other analyses e.g. statistics.4) Presenting the data as maps which is common language for people and cuts across disciplines.5) Playing role in planning, policy formulation and scenario development.His next step with the atlas is to;1) Use and communicate it through:a. Publicly available at the WRI website.b. Incorporating it in the environmental reports.c. Integrating the map and information on ecosystem in the university coursework.2) Strengthen institutions to study poverty-ecosystem relationships by:a. Developing technical and analytical skills for spatial analysis.b. Establish new techniques on it that can spearhead more work on it, integrate and encourage cross cutting work involving multiple ecosystem services and poverty. That is it, how do you find it, you are therefore advised not to miss the 31st July 2008 seminar by Dr. Tom Owiyo of World Bank on GIS Application in Environmental Management. More information on the same will be circulated soon.Interesting phrase: policies are like hypothesis and have to be tested.By Clifford Otieno Okembo
For more information visit:
Subscribe to our newsletter
Stay updated on the latest technology, innovation product arrivals and exciting offers to your inbox.Newsletter | <urn:uuid:8ab6a0c1-992d-4982-ba6f-5ca13ab5b4f0> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.geoconnexion.com/in-depth/scgis-kenya-seminar | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652663019783.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20220528185151-20220528215151-00509.warc.gz | en | 0.944385 | 716 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The “umbilical cord” of international trade
Despite its remote geographic position New Zealand is entangled in international trade and British imperial politics, Colin Ross notes.
The interchangeably ‘American’ character of the city of Auckland suggests to Ross the extent to which New Zealand is an interdependent part of world economy rather than a self-sufficient, remote island of bliss. At the moment of writing this mainly means that New Zealand’s agriculture is hit hard by the Depression. The political dependency on Great Britain is to New Zealand's disadvantage as well, Ross argues, citing disproportionately high defense spending and New Zealand’s colonial administration in Samoa, which Ross pronounces to be a failure.
In his view, a globalized world does not necessarily imply such entanglements. In this case they are rather the consequences of New Zealand’s misguided internationalism. This nation would do better, Ross argues, to use its geographic position, too remote even for Japanese invasion, to lead “an ideal, placid life” occasionally interrupted by earthquakes [p. 93]. After his return, Ross would in a similar manner advertise a more autarkic model of economy for Germany. There, he argued that the concept of a world economy, seen against the background of Asia’s inevitable emancipation, is a chimera.1
Colin Ross. [Excerpt from] Abschied in Auckland. In: Haha Whenua - das Land, das ich gesucht. Mit Kind und Kegel durch die Südsee. 4. Aufl. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus; 1933; 91–3.
Case: Oceania-Asia trip 1928-30
1 Colin Ross. Die Fiktion der Weltwirtschaft. Zeitschrift für Geopolitik. 1931 Jul;Jg. 8, 2. Halbband(H. 7); 562–6. See Library. | <urn:uuid:8cc9fc35-8bb8-4d02-b073-d4e0247e1ae5> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | http://colinrossproject.net/detail/exhibit/the-umbilical-cord-of-international-trade/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676591332.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20180719222958-20180720002958-00548.warc.gz | en | 0.825974 | 411 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Soccer is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end.
The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal. The goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play and then only in their penalty area.
Outfield players mostly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, but may use their head or torso to strike the ball instead. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. | <urn:uuid:72cee777-b0ba-4100-9b61-c3dee998cfe9> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | http://www.2015woodbuffalo.com/sports/12.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570986673538.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20191017095726-20191017123226-00218.warc.gz | en | 0.986722 | 144 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Evergreen trees and shrubs are popular anchors for many North American yards. The average consumer thinking about purchasing one might ask, What’s the best information to have in hand when making a decision?
Start with some basic clarifications and the choice becomes less complicated. First, what type of pine trees might the consumer be interested in? Consumer related discussions commonly use both formal and informal language. For example, the term pine tree can refer to either all trees in the pine family (pinaceae), or to the one hundred plus trees in the genus Pinus.
While botanists classify types of pine trees based on strict physiological criteria, a lay person’s less comprehensive approach, provides a quick way to organize an answer to your basic what type of pine tree is this question.
Most consumers recognize Pinus species by their common names such as Scots Pine, Jack Pine, Red Pine and Stone Pine.
Because most pine tree species grow in specific areas, any particular area usually only hosts a few of the total one hundred plus pinus species. Consumers can easily discover the dominant pine in their region by consulting with a local extension service.
The second question of interest to most consumers is how large the tree will grow. Available space structures many consumer tree buying decisions, and again, local tree nurseries often breed small, medium and large varieties of many popular trees.
Identifying Pine Trees
Identifying any of the handful of pines native to an area can be as easy as examining the tree’s needles and matching them with the local species. With few exceptions, pine tree needles grow in pairs of two, three and five, giving rise to the common phrases two-needle pines, three-needle pines and five-needle pines.
Many pine trees referred to as the true pines grow large and consumers interested in anchoring their yard around a standard pine might also want to look at some commerical varieties bred for limited height. In some areas, smaller pines are often available for the yard. Shore Pine (Pinus contorta contorta), a two-needle pine, grows on many types of soils along the Pacific Northwest coastal areas. The trees grow in a somewhat irregular pattern, often smaller and wider than the typical tall and thin pine tree shape.
Their adaptability makes them a popular landscaping tree. The picture shows a cone surrounded by the two needle bundles on the branches.
Two conifer families, pines (pinaceae) and cypress (cupressaceae), dominate the North American Landscape, with names such as larch, cedar, spruce and pine almost universally recognized. The picture shows foilage from a Western Red Cedar, a common cypress family member.
Types of Pine Cones
Discussion of the types of pine cones that come part and parcel with any conifer purchased typically focus on shape and size. Loosening the definition of pine cone to the less formal starting place of any seed bearing cone found on any trees in the larger Pinales order (Coniferales) allows for pine cone discussions to refer to two conifer families, pines (pinaceae) and cypress (cupressaceae). Both conifers dominate the North American Landscape, with names such as larch, cedar, spruce and pine almost universally recognized. Their cones vary in size and shape.
Starting with pine trees in the formal pine genera (pinaceae) no discussion of pine trees and pine cones is complete without mention of the White Pine. These are large growing trees characterized by needles growing in groups of five. The Eastern White-Pine, eastern North America’s tallest growing tree, gets overshadowed by the Sugar Pine, the western North American version, and the world’s tallest growing pine tree. Additionally, White Pines also produce the world’s largest pine cones. The Sugar Pine, for example, can produce cones reaching two feet in length.
The picture show a cone with thin papery scales of a spruce cone. When it comes to landscaping choices, spruce trees are very popular anchor evergreen tree in yards from coast to coast.
Thinking of a an evergreen tree anchor with a state identity? Consider the Pacific Northwest alternatives. Picture five shows a Douglas Fir cone, a predominantly Western pine genus (Pseudotsuga). Second only to the coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in size, Douglas Firs can reach heights of three hundred feet or more. The three-pronged bracts that cover the sides of the cone, give it a distinct look and make it one of the easiest cones to identify.
Douglas Firs are the state tree of Oregon.
Nothing says tree like the Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Pound for pound they rank as the world’s largest tree. According to the National Park Service the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest (by volume) tree in the world. It’s a very popular tourist destination.
Homeowners will be interested to know that they are adaptable to a variety of climates, so growing one in the back yard is not an impossible task. They need a good deal of water and patience. It will take a hundred years or so for anyone in the family to see them as a massive tree.
Formally speaking, Sequoias are related to the Coastal Redwoods and Cyprus trees in the family Cupressaceae. The cones are relatively small.
Five different Hemlock species (Tsuga) grow in North America. Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), the tallest species, grows up to two hundred feet in height, in its moisture rich Pacific Northwest coastal environment.
Like the Giant Sequoia, the Western Hemlock demonstrates the big is not always better cone concept. Picture six shows a cone, measuring around one inch, enlarged by a factor of three. The small, soft needles, have white stripes on the back. The Western Hemlock is the state tree of Washington State. | <urn:uuid:1ef387bb-fae9-4bba-b85a-135c95dc0c3c> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://greennature.com/pine-trees/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655929376.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20200711095334-20200711125334-00405.warc.gz | en | 0.927858 | 1,248 | 3.1875 | 3 |
"Languages are dynamic and change over the years. Changes in sign languages have been usually initiated to accommodate the needs of the local Deaf community. With the increase in smartphone use, sign languages are influenced not only by the local Deaf community, but also by foreign Deaf people on the other side of the screen, regardless of their location. Smartphones influence the sign language itself and the Deaf community by connecting different communities of Deaf people through messages, shared information and experiences, and news delivery. The popularity of this technology among Deaf communities is a social phenomenon emerging from Deaf people themselves. Smartphones may promote the globalization of sign language, shortening distances between Deaf communities around the world"
Disability & Society, Volume 33, 2018 - Issue 2 | <urn:uuid:2be16b69-24be-40f4-a44c-7fe2bafcf6aa> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://asksource.info/resources/search/keyword/sign-language/keyword/information-technology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540525598.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20191209225803-20191210013803-00374.warc.gz | en | 0.948778 | 156 | 3.203125 | 3 |
A popular rebellion against impunity manifested itself in 2012, after a series of grotesque crimes against the vulnerable. In other years, people rose up against the impunity of the state and its officials – a theme of the Arab Spring. In the year just ended, tens of thousands of protesters against a Taliban shooting in Pakistan and a gang rape in India signalled a broad movement against the cultural norms and state policies that promote impunity for crimes against girls and women. In Canada, the norms of a free and open Internet that bullies hide behind came under sustained attack.
Three girls and women victimized in brutal and callous ways provided touchstones of universal power. Just as more people understand the Holocaust through Anne Frank’s diary than perhaps any other source, the emergence in 2012 of three individuals whose lives of promise were cut short, in two cases, and nearly ended in a third, moved large numbers of people to action.
Amanda Todd, 15, of Port Coquitlam, B.C., spoke in plaintive handheld signs on an Internet video about the pain of cyberbullying and ostracism, before taking her life. Malala Yousafzai, 14, of Pakistan’s Swat Valley, was targeted for assassination by the Taliban because she spoke out for girls’ right to go to school. An unnamed 23-year-old trying to escape rural poverty and her low-caste status by studying physiotherapy in New Delhi died from injuries suffering in a gang rape on a moving bus.
Resisting impunity meant pushing government and less visible targets – the social foundations of impunity. In Canada, reaching those who join in ostracism is a complex task; laws holding bystanders to account are on the way. In India, all parties have fielded candidates charged with crimes against women, a measure of the crimes’ acceptance. In Pakistan, religious schools spread oppressive attitudes toward women and girls.
As in the Arab Spring, victory is far from assured. And there is a battleground in its early days – a battle against the United States gun culture, and the laws (or lack therof) that support it. The massacre of 20 children and six educators at a Connecticut elementary school, like the crimes against Malala, Amanda and the unnamed student, was so outrageous it made silence seem like complicity. But impunity was on the defensive, and our wish for the New Year is that the resistance to it makes concrete gains.Report Typo/Error
Follow us on Twitter: | <urn:uuid:526c3c3f-d278-4550-bd6c-16104fea452e> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/the-year-of-rising-up-against-impunity/article6820664/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501171932.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104611-00056-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964804 | 502 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Join Connections IN Health and the Indiana State Department of Health in spreading awareness of National Diabetes Month and World Diabetes Day!
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Indiana (CDC, 2017). Hoosiers are increasingly feeling the effects of the disease with 2,096 deaths in 2017 (CDC, 2017). In 2018, 12.5% of Hoosiers were told they have diabetes, 1.2% having gestational and 9.4% having prediabetes (BRFSS, 2018). The World Diabetes Day (WDD) campaign goal is to boost awareness of the rising concern, promote early screening, and effective management within Indiana and beyond.
Diabetes Prevention and Awareness
- How much do you know about #Diabetes? Click to find out whether what you know is myth or truth.
- Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Indiana with 2,096 deaths in 2017 (CDC, 2017). Are you at risk?
- Are you at risk for type 2 diabetes? Don’t worry! The Diabetes Prevention Program is a proven way to prevent or delay type 2. #WDDIndiana #PreventDiabetes #DiabetesEducation
- 12.5% of Hoosiers were told they have diabetes by a doctor. Once diagnosed, it cannot be reversed. But prediabetes can. Check your prediabetes risk.
Diabetes Affects the Whole Family
- If type 2 diabetes runs in your family, take a moment to complete the Type 2 Diabetes Risk Test and learn about risk factors and steps to reduce your chances of developing #type2DM. #WDDIndiana
- History of type 1 diabetes? If an immediate relative has T1D, one’s risk of also developing T1D is 10 to 20 times greater than the risk for the general population. To find out more about your risks visit the Joslin Diabetes Center website.
- Gestational diabetes affects as many as 7% of women during pregnancy. The American Diabetes Association recommends all pregnant women without #diabetes be screened between the 24th and 28th week. Learn more about risk factors, testing, and treatment for gestational diabetes.
- Heart Disease and Diabetes: What is the Link? People with diabetes are twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as people without Diabetes. Learn more about the link between Diabetes and Heart Disease.
Diabetes Health: Nutrition:
- Do you love cooking with your family around the holidays? Check out the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Food Hub for videos, recipes, meal planning resources, and more to make tasty meals your whole family will love!
- Diabetes can run in your family, but so can a healthy lifestyle habit! #WDDIndiana #PreventDiabetes
- Being active & eating healthy can manage #diabetes and prevent #Type2DM. What’s one change you can make for #DiabetesAwarenessMonth?
- Thanksgiving is almost here, which means it’s time to talk about holiday food! Check out this document from the Northwest Kidney Centers for info on buying and preparing a healthy turkey and other tasty recipes too!
Impact of COVID-19 & Diabetes
- People with diabetes face a higher chance of experiencing serious complications from COVID-19. In general, people with diabetes are more likely to experience severe symptoms and complications when infected with a virus. To make sure you do not have any symptoms visit the CDC website.
- Your risk of getting very sick from COVID-19 is likely to be lower if your diabetes is well-managed. Learn more on diabetes management.
- Plan ahead, what you should know and have if you get Coronavirus.
- If you are a person with Diabetes and do get coronavirus, here are some tips on what to do. | <urn:uuid:a545ada5-a202-4e1e-a34b-1dbfd1eb87d7> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://indianactsi.org/november-is-national-diabetes-month/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233511424.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20231004220037-20231005010037-00826.warc.gz | en | 0.916213 | 796 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Did the recent cold temperatures have you wondering why the water mains in the ground didn’t freeze? Well, you are in luck. We asked Gabe Sasser our Water Quality Specialist and Clemson Alum (Go Tigers!) that exact question, and here is what he said:
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) requires water mains to be buried below the frost line or at a depth providing at least 30 inches of cover, whichever is greater.
The frost line is relative to the climatic conditions of a geographic region and is the depth to which the groundwater in soil is expected to freeze. So the frost line in northern states would be deeper than here in the south. For example, the New England region has a frost line of 48 inches (that’s a lot of digging)! The frost line in Mecklenburg County is approximately 12 inches (significantly less digging). Soil depths below the frost line are relatively constant in temperature. Positioning mains below the frost line provides thermal insulation to the water line that helps prevent water from freezing within.
During the winter months when air temperatures in the Charlotte area may dip below freezing, source and treated water temperatures trend consistently higher by comparison. In addition, a substantial amount of kinetic energy is generated from the flow of water through underground pipelines as a result of pumping and customer usage which also aids in preventing water from freezing within the distribution system. So basically the more the water moves the less chance it has to freeze. | <urn:uuid:95e022ed-2107-459e-b9b2-f05983d9a55f> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://cltwaterblog.org/2017/01/why-dont-the-water-mains-underground-freeze/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100551.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20231205105136-20231205135136-00492.warc.gz | en | 0.937419 | 305 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Arts in Education: Background and Legislation
Publication Date: January 2007
Publisher(s): Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
The "arts" are considered a core academic subject as part of the core curriculum for K-12 education, according to the Goals 2000 panel and as defined in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended. The federal program that supports integrating arts in the schools at the K-12 level is the Arts in Education program, authorized under the ESEA, as amended, and administered by the Department of Education (ED). This program provides grants for model projects that integrate the arts into school curricula. It has, in the past, given two major grants: one to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and one to the Very Special Arts (now VSA ARTS) program for children with disabilities. P.L. 106-554 increased funding from $11.5 million to $28.0 million for additional arts education grants in FY2001. In the 107th Congress, the Arts in Education program was considered under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) (P.L. 107-110) as part of the reauthorization of the ESEA, and it remains a separate program under ESEA, Title V, Part D, Subpart 15.
The FY2006 appropriation for the Arts in Education program was $35.3 million. Both in FY2006 and FY2007, the Bush Administration proposed to eliminate funding for the Arts in Education program. The FY2007 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies (L-HHSED) Appropriations bill (H.R. 5647, H.Rept. 109-515), as reported by the House Appropriations Committee during the 109th Congress, would have provided no specific funding for the Arts in Education program. In contrast, the Senate Appropriations Committee-reported bill would have provided $36.5 million for Arts in Education for FY2007. This would have included $6.369 million for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts program, $7.44 million for VSA ARTS, and $7.936 million for professional development for music, dance, drama, and visual arts educators, a program to be administered by ED. It would also have included $13.755 million for the competitive art education model grants program and $1 million to continue evaluations and national dissemination of information regarding model programs and professional development.
The third continuing appropriations resolution (CR) for FY2007 (P.L. 109-383) carried funding for the Arts in Education program through February 15, 2007, at the lower of the House-passed, Senate-passed, or FY2006 level. In this instance, the FY2006 funding level ($35.3 million ) will be provided.
This report provides background and legislative history on arts in education. It will be updated. | <urn:uuid:fa9583cc-cbcd-4771-bd03-9c3ed5f584cc> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://www.policyarchive.org/handle/10207/3059 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549424961.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20170725042318-20170725062318-00204.warc.gz | en | 0.950376 | 600 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Dare to Pass on Seeds of ‘Wisdom’
The Roman poet Horace challenges us, for the good of humanity, to "dare to be wise." And in his recent Commentary, Robert J. Sternberg makes a strong case that we must begin this process by educating our young people for wisdom ("Teaching for Wisdom in Our Schools," Commentary, Nov. 13, 2002).
We believe in giving students a balanced education, one that teaches to the whole child—intellectually, physically, socially, emotionally, and morally. True learning occurs when knowledgeable and intelligent students take that one step beyond and use the information they attain in a meaningful way. This transfer of knowledge into productive use, when initiated at a young age, creates a kind of patterning for life. Hence, the seeds of wisdom are planted.
We piloted the Teaching for Wisdom program in 8th grade U.S. history classes at our middle school in Saddle Brook, N.J., during the spring 2002 semester. After receiving training provided by Yale University's PACE Center in New Haven, Conn., we were excited to use the strategies suggested to make our students think and act "wisely." The students learned to look at moments in history through a kaleidoscope of viewpoints. They practiced walking in the shoes of others; they questioned wise elders, quite often their grandparents or local senior citizens. And some of them gradually began not to simply think and talk wisely, but to make wise decisions and take actions for the good of the class.
We hope to employ the theory of the Teaching for Wisdom program in other academic arenas this year. Wisdom is not something to be taught in isolation, but rather should be infused throughout the curriculum.
It is a challenge to teach our students to be wise, and it is a challenge to find exemplary, wise role models. We need wise leaders in government, wise doctors, wise teachers, wise parents, and many others to serve as models of wise behavior: to act for the good of humanity.
Who will accept the challenge of Horace and dare to be wise?
Marilyn Hamot Ryan
Coordinator of Gifted Programming
Middle School Teacher
Saddle Brook School District
Saddle Brook, N.J.
Counting Students in 'A Small World'
To the Editor:
Your article "A Small World," (On Assignment, Nov. 13, 2002) must have contained a typographical error. You describe the plight of Martinsville, Va., whose schools have been affected by the region's loss of manufacturing jobs and the decline in enrollment that has entailed. Apparently, there are 8,371 students enrolled this fall, which has led, you say, to "cutting 54 staff positions this school year, including 36 teachers, out of 1,432 total employees."
If this is not a typographical error, then you have misplaced the emphasis of your article. Rather than bewailing Martinsville's budgetary woes, you might well have wondered at the ludicrous ratio between the number of students and the number of adults the town employs to educate them.
San Francisco, Calif.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The figure in the article for the total number of Henry County, Va., school employees is correct.
Technology Needs More School Study
To the Editor:
The story of technology in our schools is like a fragmented jigsaw puzzle; failure to see the whole picture costs us dearly ("Technological Progress: An Oxymoron?," Commentary, Nov. 6, 2002).
Companies see the situation very clearly, and drive the "computers-in-school movement momentum" Dennis L. Evans describes in his essay. Teachers, administrators, and school board members cannot compete with their salesmanship, and are pressured to keep up with "technological progress." Nobody studies the evidence.
The Kansas City, Mo., schools, for example, invested early and heavily, creating a technology- rich, state-of-the-art high school more than a decade ago. The goal was to raise academic achievement and inspire interest among students. That never happened.
Your recent report on research in California ("Internet Access Has No Impact on Test Scores, Study Says," Sept. 4, 2002) has particularly powerful evidence. Two University of Chicago economists studied the impact of the federal E-rate program on schools there, finding that while it does succeed in increasing Internet access, it doesn't necessarily have an impact on student achievement.
Likewise, your Nov. 6, 2002, article "U.S. Lagging in Graduation Rate, Report Says" has information showing that, when compared with 30 other industrialized countries, our graduation rates are troubling. The final paragraph contains this nugget: "American students have the best access to computers at school among the countries studied. In the United States, the ratio is five students to every computer, while the average student-to- computer ratio for OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] countries is 13-to-1." There is, apparently, no correlation between classroom computer access and graduation rates.
Scarce education resources are directed away from traditional programs and towards computers, software, and continuous maintenance. Yet, as Mr. Evans says in his essay, "there is little room or patience for any reflection or discussion regarding a possible downside." What a scary truth.
Betty Raskoff Kazmin
Board of Education Member
Poor Taste Is Seen in Photo Selection
To the Editor:
Your Nov. 13, 2002, cover photograph [in the print edition] of a small Minnesota girl holding aloft a "We Love Norm" sign was in extremely poor taste after the tragic deaths of Sen. Paul Wellstone, his wife, daughter, campaign aides, and plane crew shortly before the Nov. 5 election ("Schools to See Big Windfalls From State Ballot Measures").
A "cute" photograph such as this one is not at all amusing in light of such a loss.
Vol. 22, Issue 14, Page 39
Vol. 22, Issue 14, Page 39
Get more stories and free e-newsletters!
- Assistant Principal
- The Help Group, Valley Glen, CA
- Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools, Williamsburg, VA
- Head of Upper School
- The Ramaz School, NY
- FLOSSMOOR SCHOOL DISTRICT 161, Chicago Heights, IL
- Ben Bronz Foundation, Inc. Executive Director
- NESDEC, W Hartford, CT | <urn:uuid:3a357f4f-ca7f-4fb7-86fa-41caedcfc9c6> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2002/12/04/14letter.h22.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698543316.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170903-00221-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944335 | 1,330 | 2.953125 | 3 |
My family loves the Little House series. So, when I got to pick a title from YWAM Publishing to review, a title in their Heroes of History series immediately caught my eye. I knew the kids would enjoy learning more about one of their favorite authors in Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Storybook Life.
I received a paperback, 193 page book, along with electronic access to a study guide about Laura Ingalls Wilder.
A biography, this book weaves together information about Laura into an easy to read format. It walks readers through events in Laura’s life from her home on the prairie through her death shortly after her ninetieth birthday.
I love the details included, and how it read like a great story. Another great part was that it went over events that didn’t get mentioned in the Little House books. The death of Laura’s brother, Freddie is included, along with information about her life after These Happy Golden Years ends.
The beginning of her writing career is covered, along with the role that her daughter Rose played in helping Laura land her first paid writing gigs. As a freelance writer myself, this chapter really resonated with me!
The Study Guide
The study guide is a wonderful resource to dive deeper into topics covered in the books. It was easy to access, which I appreciated.
Broken into two parts, part one of the study guide is the meat of the guide. It contains 80 pages of material to use alongside the reading of the book.
There were key quotes, ideas for hands on activities, and a variety of questions for each chapter. I appreciated that the questions didn’t all require a direct, route answer. Some were about vocabulary words, some required critical thinking, and some that asked students to go back to the text to find the answer.
There was a section of the guide with ideas for further student exploration. This section included activities that’d include a variety of learning styles. Suggested activities included:
- Essay prompts
- Hands-on Projects
- Audio/Visual Projects
- Arts and Crafts
My kids LOVED the variety! There really was something for everyone. They weren’t really interested in the essay questions, but the arts and crafts, and hands-on projects gave them plenty to choose from.
My oldest daughter liked the idea of looking up music for some of the songs Pa used to play for Laura and the other girls. She found several of the songs, and enjoyed playing them on the recorder for the rest of us. Here’s her playing “Pop Goes the Weasel”
This wasn’t everything the unit study included. There were also ideas for getting out into the community. This included field trip suggestions, and recommendations for experts from areas in the book to speak to.
Then there were plenty of activities included in the Social Studies section. I liked the idea of learning about more of the locations where Laura and her family lived. There were vocabulary words, questions to ponder, and more.
One section had suggestions for similar topics to explore for further study. Another contained a list of suggested books and resources to accompany the study. Altogether, it was a well-done, high-quality study guide.
The second part of the guide included four pages of printables.
How We Used This Book
I read this book aloud to some of my middle kids. Then, we picked a couple of activities from the guide to work on. I also asked some of the questions.
What I Thought of the Book
I really enjoyed reading this book, and using the study guide as an accompaniment. YWAM Publishing produces very high-quality work, and just like their Heroes of History: Davy Crockett book I reviewed last year, I was definitely impressed. I highly recommend any of the books in this series!
To read what other reviewers had to say about this and other books in the Heroes of History or Christian Heroes: Then & Now series, please click on the banner below. | <urn:uuid:e283bc86-40d0-42fa-ab36-2fea60228c31> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://maggiesmilk.com/2018/05/my-review-of-laura-ingalls-wilder-a-storybook-life/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506481.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20230923130827-20230923160827-00805.warc.gz | en | 0.975287 | 844 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Skip to comments.Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Tails of Comet Lemmon
Posted on 05/06/2013 4:04:21 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: What caused the interestingly intricate tails that Comet Lemmon displayed earlier this year? First of all, just about every comet that nears the Sun displays two tails: a dust tail and an ion tail. Comet Lemmon's dust tail, visible above and around the comet nucleus in off-white, is produced by sun-light reflecting dust shed by the comet's heated nucleus. Flowing and more sculptured, however, is C/2012 F6 (Lemmon)'s blue ion tail, created by the solar wind pushing ions expelled by the nucleus away from the Sun. Also of note is the coma seen surrounding Comet Lemmon's nucleus, tinted green by atomic carbon gas fluorescing in sunlight. The above image was taken from the dark skies of Namibia in mid-April. Comet Lemmon is fading as it now heads back to the outer Solar System.
(Excerpt) Read more at 184.108.40.206 ...
[Credit & Copyright: Gerald Rhemann]
Cosmonova: APOD editor to speak in Sweden on May 28
Where is Comet Obama? (Lemon)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. | <urn:uuid:9d6c0e2d-6baf-4eee-addc-d290a252cd47> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3016176/posts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207928754.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113208-00163-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92457 | 321 | 3.65625 | 4 |
9. Impedance and Phase Angle
The impedance of a circuit is the total effective resistance to the flow of current by a combination of the elements of the circuit.
The total voltage across all 3 elements (resistors, capacitors and inductors) is written
To find this total voltage, we cannot just add the voltages VR, VL and VC.
Because VL and VC are considered to be imaginary quantities, we have:
Impedance VRLC = IZ
So `Z = R + j(X_L− X_C)`
Now, the magnitude (size, or absolute value) of Z is given by:
Angle θ represents the phase angle between the current and the voltage.
Compare this to the Phase Angle that we met earlier in Graphs of y = a sin(bx + c).
A circuit has a resistance of `5\ Ω` in series with a reactance across an inductor of `3\ Ω`. Represent the impedance by a complex number, in polar form.
A particular ac circuit has a resistor of `4\ Ω`, a reactance across an inductor of `8\ Ω` and a reactance across a capacitor of `11\ Ω`. Express the impedance of the circuit as a complex number in polar form.
Interactive RLC graph
Below is an interactive graph to play with (it's not a static image). You can explore the effect of a resistor, capacitor and inductor on total impedance in an AC circuit.
Activities for this Interactive
- First, just play with the sliders. Drag the red dot left or right to vary the impedance due to the resistor, `R`, the blue dot up or down to vary the impedance due to the inductor, `X_L`, and the green dot up or down to vary the impedance due to the capacitor, `X_C`.
- Observe the effects of different impedances on the values of XL − XC and Z.
- Observe the effects of different impedances on θ, the angle the black line makes with the horizontal (in radians).
- Consider the graphs of voltage and current on the right of the interactive. Observe the amount of lag or lead as you change the sliders.
- What have you learned from playing with this interactive?
Copyright © www.intmath.com
Referring to Example 2 (a) above, suppose we have a current of 10 A in the circuit. Find the magnitude of the voltage across
i) the resistor (VR)
ii) the inductor (VL)
iii) the capacitor (VC)
iv) the combination (VRLC) | <urn:uuid:3e601f8c-13a6-462a-87b1-6eeb71dfbe04> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.intmath.com/complex-numbers/9-impedance-phase-angle.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719908.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00464-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.835598 | 563 | 4.53125 | 5 |
Canonical Tags are an Essential Part of Every Site’s Architecture: Here’s Why
Canonical tags are a powerful way to tell Google and other search engines which URLs you want them to index.
They can prevent duplicate content issues if you have different versions of the same page: for example, an original and print version of the same page, session IDs or color variations of the same product.
What is a Canonical URL?
The canonical URL is the primary version of your content. It is the URL that you want to appear in Google’s search results.
The full set of canonical URLs on your site are created using a set of rules to ensure they are consistent. For example, you might decide that your canonical URLs should always end with trailing slash. Or you might decide the canonical URLs should not include any URL parameters.
What is a Canonicalised URL?
A canonicalized URL is a page with a canonical tag and a different URL inside its canonical tag (the canonical URL).
By including a different URL in the canonical tag on a page, you are instructing Google to index the canonical URL instead of the page’s URL.
Authority signals collected on the canonicalized URLs are also consolidated to favor the canonical URL.
Where and how do I add a canonical tag?
Insert the following tag into the page you want to canonicalize.
<link rel=”canonical” href=”https://www.example.com/a-different-page” />
Alternatively you can include them in the HTTP headers.
Link: <https://www.example.com/a-different-page>; rel=”canonical”
Adding canonical tags: the rules
In order for canonical tags to work properly, they must be used correctly and consistently:
Use absolute URLs, including the full domain.
Be consistent in whether you use a slash or no slash at the end of the URL.
Don’t mix your cases: use upper case characters consistently, or don’t use them at all.
- Use Google Webmaster Tools to specify how Google should handle parameters
and exclude those that don’t return unique content. Strip all the same parameters from your canonical URLs.
Use character codes (ampersands etc) consistently, or don’t use them at all.
What’s the difference between these and 301 redirects?
A canonical tag is only visible to search engines so it allows the user to remain on the URL, whereas a 301 will redirect users and search engines.
A redirected URL won’t be stored in your analytics, whereas a canonicalized URL will be tracked.
If you want a URL to be accessible to users then you should use canonical tags, otherwise you can redirect.
What can go wrong?
Search engines will ignore your canonical tags in the following situations:
Content different on canonical and canonicalized URL:
Google may choose to ignore canonical tags if the canonical URL and the canonicalized URL are different.
Page missing a canonical tag:
All pages should contain a canonical tag to prevent any possible duplication, including on the canonical page.
Canonicalising to the wrong URL:
If the canonical URL is not similar enough to the canonicalized one, then Google will probably ignore it.
Multiple canonical tags:
If the canonical tags on the same page are different, then Google will ignore both.
A page canonicalizes to a page that canonicalizes back.
Unlinked canonical pages:
Most canonical URLs would probably be linked internally at least once because they are usually an important part of the site.
If a canonical URL is not linked directly it may indicate the canonical URL is wrong.
Redirecting canonical URL:
If the canonical URL redirects to another URL, then it can’t be a true canonical URL.
Broken canonical URL:
If the canonical URL isn’t a valid URL then Google will probably just ignore it but it will still waste time, which reduces crawling efficiency.
Empty canonical tag:
Canonical tag does not include a URL.
Using canonical tags for mobile
If you have a mobile website on separate URLs, Google recommends that you canonicalize your mobile site to your desktop site to compliment a rel-alternate.
Canonical tags for pagination
If you have implemented pagination with a view-all page (typically used for articles broken up into many pages), then Google recommends canonicalizing all the paginated parts to the full version.
Keep track of your canonical tags with Lumar
Lumar’s three canonical tag reports will show you all of your canonicalized pages, pages without a canonical tag, and unlinked canonical pages.
1. Find canonicalized pages
This report will find all pages with URLs that are different to the canonical URL specified in the canonical tag, in either the HTML or HTTP header.
Go to: Indexation > Canonicalized pages.
You will then see a list of all your canonicalized pages, plus their location and the canonical URL:
2. Identify pages without a canonical tag
Go to Validation > Pages without Canonical Tag
This view will show an at-a-glance view all of your pages that are missing a canonical tag.
3. Find unlinked canonical pages
Go to Validation > Unlinked Canonical Pages
Here you will find a list of all pages found in canonical tags that are not linked:
Lumar will always follow any canonical URL, so if any of these are broken then you can find them in the other error reports. | <urn:uuid:e700b547-0b59-4453-a8b8-0e7f7b19ef5d> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.lumar.io/blog/best-practice/why-canonical-tags-are-essential/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710900.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20221202082526-20221202112526-00305.warc.gz | en | 0.784705 | 1,182 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Which of the following tools would a security administrator use in order to identify all running services throughout an organization?
A. Architectural review
B. Penetration test
C. Port scanner
D. Design review
Correct Answer: C
Section: Threats and Vulnerabilities
Different services use different ports. When a service is enabled on a computer, a network port is opened for that service. For example, enabling the HTTP service on a web server will
open port 80 on the server. By determining which ports are open on a remote server, we can determine which services are running on that server.
A port scanner is a software application designed to probe a server or host for open ports. This is often used by administrators to verify security policies of their networks and by
attackers to identify running services on a host with the view to compromise it.
A port scan or portscan can be defined as a process that sends client requests to a range of server port addresses on a host, with the goal of finding an active port. While not a
nefarious process in and of itself, it is one used by hackers to probe target machine services with the aim of exploiting a known vulnerability of that service. However the majority of
uses of a port scan are not attacks and are simple probes to determine services available on a remote machine.
A: An architectural review is a review of the network structure (servers, switches, routers, network topology etc.). It does not list running services on computers.
B: Penetration testing evaluates an organization’s ability to protect its networks, applications, computers and users from attempts to circumvent its security controls to gain
unauthorized or privileged access to protected assets. It is not used to list services running on computers.
D: A design review is the process of reviewing the design of something; examples include reviewing the design of the network or the design of a software application. It is not used to
list services running on computers. | <urn:uuid:046c29bf-5e48-443e-9ba5-e387db8f4008> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | http://comptiaexamtest.com/Security+SY0-401/comptia-security-plus-mock-test-Q656/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125944851.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20180421012725-20180421032725-00146.warc.gz | en | 0.924887 | 406 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Psychologists say that alcohol consumption can lead to increased expression of racial stereotyping.
Simply being exposed to alcohol-related images can have similar effects, even when no alcohol is consumed, MU Professor of Psychological Sciences Bruce D. Bartholow and his colleague, Elena Stepanova of Florida Gulf Coast University found.
"Simply seeing images of alcohol, but not drinking it, influences behaviours like racial bias on a subconscious level," Bartholow said.
"Walking by a bar or seeing an ad for beer could be enough to affect someone's mindset. You don't have to be aware of the effects for it to affect you," he stated.
The recent study found that participants who had initially viewed a series of magazine ads for alcoholic beverages made more errors indicative of racial bias in a subsequent task than did others who had initially seen ads for non-alcoholic beverages, such as water or coffee.
Test participants were shown a series of ads for either alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages. They then completed a computerized task in which pictures of white and black men's faces were shown for a split second, followed immediately by either a picture of a handgun or a tool.
Numerous previous studies using this same task have shown that people often mistakenly identify tools as guns following presentation of a black face, a response pattern attributed to the effects of racial stereotypes.
The fast pace of the experiment kept participants from thinking about their responses, which allowed the subconscious mind to control reactions.
In the real world, snap decisions in which one object is mistaken for another can be deadly.
Accusations of racism accompanying the death of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent actions of Florida police are prevalent in the national media this week. Many are questioning the psychological motivations of everyone involved.
"As for the Trayvon Martin case, it very much reminds me of the Amadou Diallo case in 1999, when an unarmed black individual was shot to death by New York City police officers," Stepanova said.
"Diallo was shot because officers claimed that they thought he pulled a gun, while in fact he reached for his wallet. The wallet was misconstrued as a gun by police officers.
"Associations between blacks and guns, violence and criminal behaviour played a role in Mr. Martin's case.
"Mr. Martin was essentially a victim of racial stereotypes that so many in our society hold, and that cost him his life," Stepanova claimed.
The results of Bartholow and Stepanova's study don't contend that every test participant was a racist, however.
"Even if people do their best to be open-minded, we are all aware of stereotypes," Bartholow said.
"Participants' responses could have been due to associations they are aware of but don't personally endorse. Also the results could be influenced by people's ability to control their behaviours. A member of the KKK could hide his prejudice if he had good control of his responses," he stated.
Analysis of the results showed people's automatic, subconscious behaviours were most affected after seeing an alcohol ad, whereas earlier studies found actually drinking alcohol most influenced conscious, controlled reactions.
Bartholow suggested the mental associations people have with the effects of drinking alcohol may have been what caused their increased expression of racial bias after seeing alcohol ads.
Upon seeing alcohol, they subconsciously felt they could relax their inhibitions and allow their behaviours to be more influenced by stereotypes.
The study was published online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. | <urn:uuid:a105b4e9-a18d-4c8a-8fd4-854c5af00a25> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | http://www.medindia.net/news/racial-stereotyping-increased-by-simply-seeing-alcohol-related-images-99586-1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187823114.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20171018195607-20171018215607-00668.warc.gz | en | 0.976965 | 713 | 3.140625 | 3 |
When officials in drought-stricken California found last week that snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada mountains were at historic lows, they took drastic action, implementing unprecedented water-use restrictions.
But record-low snowpacks aren’t just a thing in California. They’re also happening further north. In western Washington, snow levels are more than 90 percent below normal, and statewide the snow level is at 71 percent below where it should be. The situation is even more severe in Oregon, which has received less than a quarter of its normal snowfall.
It was bad news for skiers, and now officials are worried about how the lack of snow could affect water levels into the spring and summer. Worse: This could be a sign of things to come.
“When people ask me about this year and whether this is global warming I say, well, global warming looks like this and I also say we’ll see a lot more of these, more frequently, as we go forward,” says Amy Snover, the director of the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington
But unlike their California counterparts, Pacific Northwest water manages aren’t ready to press the panic button just yet. That’s because while snow levels are low, total precipitation is, for now at least, at or above normal for most of the area, and water managers can change the way they manage their systems to catch water further downstream.
Also, water managers in region don’t just look at their own backyard when trying to gauge how much water to expect from snow melt.
“That doesn’t give you the total picture,” explains Mike Hanson, a spokesperson for Bonneville Power Administration, which manages 31 federal dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, and provides about a third of the electricity for the Northwest. “What’s really important to us is what is happening at the higher elevations throughout the northern Rockies going into Canada.”
Among the things that Canada can be counted on for are exceedingly nice people, and snow. Hanson expects Canadian snow melt to flow into the Pacific Northwest via the Columbia and Snake rivers over the next few months.
Snover sees this year’s low winter snow back—and terrible ski season—as kind of “dress rehearsal for climate change in the Pacific Northwest” as water managers find new ways to cope and anticipate what will likely be a continuing trend.
“The climate models show us that a winter like this in the Pacific Northwest could become the new normal within a handful of decades, instead of the rare tough year that we live through as best we can and hope doesn’t happen again anytime soon,” she says.
A practice round or two isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either.
“The silver lining about this year is that it provides an opportunity to test our ability to cope with exactly the change we know is coming,” Snover says. “Will we watch and learn, and where we fall short, develop better approaches so when the lights go down and the curtain goes up, we’re ready for the real thing?”
This story originally aired on PRI's Living on Earth with Steve Curwood. An earlier version was produced by EarthFix, a public media partnership in the Pacific Northwest focused on environmental news. | <urn:uuid:d0a9fcf6-92d4-44c9-aa0f-dd024f47ad79> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-04/record-low-snow-pack-pacific-northwest-could-be-dress-rehearsal-global-warming | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049282275.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002122-00150-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953726 | 694 | 3.046875 | 3 |
The commentary on Joel starts by helping us to visualise the plague of locusts and the devastating effect they would have had on Joel’s community. We have almost no historical background on Joel, but his call to repentance for a nation that had lost its spiritual life is as relevant today as ever. Prior provides an overview of the teaching on “the day of the Lord” from the prophets – a day of decisive judgement on which the people were naively assuming they would be vindicated and saved. Nothing less than a genuine and heartfelt repentance from the whole community was required if they were to escape calamity. In response to the people’s repentance, Joel prophesies blessing restored in the near future, the Spirit’s outpouring (fulfilled at Pentecost) and then finally the “day of the Lord” would arrive. In the third chapter Prior draws parallels with modern day nations as judgement is pronounced.
Micah writes to an affluent society who were sidelining God and growing richer at the expense of the poor. It was also a time of political upheaval with the Assyrian empire invading Samaria during his ministry. Prior follows most commentators by dividing the book into three cycles of threat and promise. He does a good job of filling in a lot of the background details (such as the significance of the places) and pointing out where allusions to other Old Testament books are being made. This allows the essence of the prophetic message to be seen in passages that most Bible readers will skip over quite quickly as a generic list of judgement prophecies. As he comments on Micah’s indictment of the pride, greed and injustice of his day, Prior himself takes on a prophetic edge speaking forthrightly into modern political and cultural situations.
Habakkuk is introduced to us as a man zealous for God living in a society filled with violence. Again we are encouraged to see contemporary parallels. Prior spends most time on chapter two as Habakkuk asks the difficult questions of God boldly and yet reverently and waits for his response. He is rewarded with his answer in the form of a vision, but it wasn’t necessarily what he wanted to hear. Finally, Prior argues that Habakkuk has matured through the course of the book, demonstrated as he comes to a place where he rejoices in God purely because of who he is, irrespective of his own personal circumstances.
Prior has provided a helpful resource on these three Old Testament books. It took me longer than I expected to read, perhaps because it is a bit heavy-going in places. In many ways it is like reading the biblical books themselves – there are sections that can seem hard and dry interspersed with some real high points. Its best feature is the way that Prior gives us a feel for what issues these three men might address were they preaching today. | <urn:uuid:cbbc4fdd-e064-4d68-a669-4689296091bc> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | http://www.wordandspirit.co.uk/blog/2005/01/29/book-review-the-message-of-joel-micah-habakkuk-david-prior/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794867046.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20180525063346-20180525083346-00024.warc.gz | en | 0.980717 | 585 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Overwhelming is the evidence that perception management campaigns have been unleashed to dismantle international democracies and associated governmental institutions. The headlines offer a peek at some of the strategies: directed mass and social media efforts to discredit and dismantle; deliberate, vindictive attacks of mass media; election interference; politically inspired chaos, violence, distractions and divisiveness; loss of truth to power; deception, fake news and lies; emergence of fringe political organizations; and undermining international coalitions. An analytical glance establishes the least common denominator to be nothing more than a manifestation of our individual and collective human condition. Consequently, we need to have leaders who are students of the human condition and leadership and who have a track record of leadership successes with measureable accountabilities.
LEADERSHIP: Leadership is an earned, trust based, influence relationship between the respective leader, other leaders and followers who intend ethical changes that mirror common purpose. Good leaders are humble and simple; and have tasted freedom, authentic joy and wholeness, yet have experienced that the human condition demands growing awareness and personal development coupled with a felt need to help others. Some key accountabilities for leaders are as follows:
- ETHICS, MORALS, VALUES and PRINCIPLES: The art of being a good person, practicing goodness in everyday life, making good moral judgments; and it includes all ways of being truthful, authentic, caring and courageous that constitutes integrity: coupling intentions, promises and commitments with actions and behavior. Ethical persons “walk the talk” and model the way as persons; in relationships; and when skillfully helping and supporting others. Good leaders provide clarity about institutional values and beliefs and behave consistently with these values and beliefs.
- Values: Trust and trusted; integrity; direct; open; honest; caring; compassionate; moral; joy; hope; peace-of-mind
- Principles: Does not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate those who do. Objective, not self-serving and acts in the best interests of the people and organization being served. Committed to the concept of 100% responsibility: life happens because of me and not to me. Does not blame others, learns from one’s own experiences in an intentional and self-directed manner and applies that learning to new challenges. Sets a good example for physical health, emotional balance, mental clarity, spiritual awakening, ethical behavior and integration of hidden, denied and repressed reflections manifested in the world.
- STRATEGIC VISION: Creates and communicates vision, strategies and direction for the organization and persons led. Articulates a worldview for the Nation and the globe.
- MISSION-PURPOSE-RESULTS DRIVEN: Peace-of-mind with purpose and connections built on a foundation of compassion. Has a bias for action, for trying new things and for getting things done. Aggressively pursues objectives and sets high standards for self and others. Takes calculated risks and makes personal sacrifices in order to get things done.
- FINANCIAL SAVY: Plans, communicates, monitors and controls, establishes risks, solves problems and makes sound decisions concerning economic and financial performance.
- STAFFING and STAFF DEVELOPMENT: Attracts and selects people with innate talents and learned skills. Assesses the short and long-term needs of the institution and develops plans to improve the overall structure and talent and skills strength of the institution.
- QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS and INFLUENCE: Develops, uses and sustains strong, cooperative relationships with persons. Uses effective listening and interpersonal skills to achieve mutual trust and respect. Accomplishes tasks and objectives by resolving conflicts and influencing the actions of others. Is seen as a change agent; and makes a difference when involved.
- COMMUNICATIONS and TECHNOLOGY MASTER: Simply keeps persons informed and creates communication forums and diverse coalitions to give and receive information and ethically manage perceptions. The spectrum of communication expertise: intrapersonal, interpersonal, person-to-persons, mass media, social media and associated technologies that exploit communication needs and strategies.
- BUSINESS and POLITICAL SAVY: Has a worldview perspective, is aware and understands the implications of changes in the globe. Has “street smarts,” sizes-up situations quickly, is practical, knows the right things to do and when to do them.
- TEAM LEADERSHIP: Achieves results by motivating and inspiring a winning team. Builds commitment to common goals by communicating a sense of mission and by energizing the team. Creates an environment where differences are valued, where systems work equally well for all and wherein persons can retain their uniqueness and contribute at their full potential.
- EXECUTIVE MATURITY: Acts appropriately in business, social and political situations. Displays control in complex, ambiguous or stressful situations. Identifies with persons, shares their values and beliefs and is comfortable with them. Works toward mutually carved-out, worldview goals.
- HUMAN NEEDS SATISFACTION: Is “in-tune” with mental and emotional needs of others, cares about people and puts action plans in-place to create an environment to improve the quality of life and personal productivity that is beneficial for persons. Links recognition to accomplishment and shows appreciation and expresses pride in the team’s accomplishments.
- HANDLING COMPLEXITY: Analyzes and solves complex problems. Deals effectively with large amounts of data, changing conditions, incomplete data or uncertainty. Understands how seemingly unrelated issues interact and affect one another. Gets to the essence of complex issues quickly, generates a variety of alternative courses of action and makes effective decisions.
- IDEA LEADERSHIP: Implements breakthrough and innovative ideas, programs and processes that make a genuine difference.
Individuals matter, leaders matter and leadership matters. If democracy is to prevail, we must select good leaders and hold them accountable for high quality leadership!! The evolution imperative of wholeness and inspired, growing awareness of the human condition, coupled with helping others, can change the daily headlines from an underlying sense of fear and domination to love and freedom. Yes! Leaders can be selected and held accountable to create a vibrant civil society where people continue to be free, to live as they choose, to speak their minds, to organize peacefully and to have a say in how they are governed. | <urn:uuid:814d29ef-db33-4392-af94-0f4fb47bc300> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.johnedwindevore.com/2018/08/06/leadership/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100056.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20231129041834-20231129071834-00170.warc.gz | en | 0.92508 | 1,309 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Verbs ending in vowel seems to be more complicated (as it has more rules and variation in making the infinitive form) than the consonant ending one. These so far are the ways i have learned out of the 8 possibilities mentioned in the book:
- Verbs with base form ending in 아,어 or 애 has the same infinitive form as its base form. No wonder I always hear in Korean movies and dramas 가 and 자, which means go and sleep respectively. Other example would be 서 (stand) and 매 (tie). These verbs have the same base and infinitive form.
- Verbs ending in 이 is suppose to be added with 어 to have the infinitive form but the ending is abbreviated to 여 instead of -이어. Example is 가르치 (teach) which becomes 가르쳐 instead of 가르치어.
- Another abbreviation happens for verbs ending in 우, to form the infinitive 어 should be added. However, instead of yielding a -우어 ending, it will become 워. As such, 주 is 줘 in infinitive form.
- The next rule is similar to principle mentioned in consonant ending verbs where the last vowel is ㅗ. Verbs ending in ㅗ will have its infinitive form by adding 아 BUT this should be shortened to 와. Classic example is the Korean word ‘come’ and ‘look’ which is 오 and 보 respectively. To get the infinitive form this words become 와 and 봐.
- For verb ending in 으, either 아 or 어 is added but ㅡ has to be dropped. So for the verb 쓰 which means write, instead of 쓰어 the infinitive form becomes 써. The principle of last vowel after dropping ㅡ will apply. So if the last vowel is either ㅜ or ㅏ after ㅡ is dropped then 아 should be added instead of 어. An example of this would be the word 바쁘 which means busy. Since the last vowel when ㅡ is dropped will beㅏ then the infinitive form of this word would be 바빠.
The 3 other ways to form infinitive are a bit complicated. Its really more of an exception. This will require more time for me to fully understand. So far these 5 ways are easy to remember.
There are other vowels in 한글 that i find complicated. These are combinations of two vowels to form the sound starting ‘w’. There many combinations but these so far are the common to me:
- ㅘ – sounds like ‘wa’ of want
- ㅝ – sounds like ‘wo’ of won’t
- ㅞ -sounds like ‘we’ weather
- ㅢ -sounds like ‘wi’ winner
There are Korean words I encountered with these characters specially on names. One of my language exchange partner is name 지원 (Jee-won). One of my favorite songs of se7en is 와줘 (Wa-juo) which is translated as ‘comeback’.
2007년 8월 30일
The following characters are also considered as vowel in 한글, the sound is very similar to the ‘y’ sound which is a consonant in the alphabet:
ㅑ (ya) as in yak
ㅕ (yo) as in yolk
ㅛ (yaw) as in yawn
ㅒ(yae) close to yale
ㅖ(ye) as in yesterday
ㅠ (yoo) as in yultide
In my advance reading, there is a concept of postpositioning in words when using in a sentence. This is when a a character is added in a word to properly identify it as subject or object in a sentence. The character to be added depends on the final character of the word if consonant or vowel. So it’s important that these characters be remembered as vowel.
Word for the day is 어머니 (o-mo-ni) . This is how you call mothers in Korea.
In most Korean books I read, the characters are discussed only after the common phrases are introduced. There may be a scientific explanation about this. When I gained interest in learning Hangul, I immediately checked on the characters and its near equivalent to the alphabet. Most books say you need to hear how the words are pronounced by native Korean speakers <this is another tough task–to find a native speaker> . I must say I have memorized the characters at least the basic ones.
ㅏ (a) as in ant
ㅓ (eo) as hot
ㅗ (aw) as in toe
ㅜ (oo) as in loop
ㅡ (u) short uh sound as in put
ㅣ (i) as in feet
ㅐ (ae) as in apple
ㅔ (e) as in pet
There are other vowels aside from these. In fact they have more vowels than consonants. From my readings words seemed to be formed by sound.
Word for the day starts with the ㅏ sound. 아버지 (a-beo-ji) means father. Note that the word actually starts with the ㅇ character which is actually classified as consonant in Hangul. When i was doing initial self study I learned that the pattern per block is Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (C-V-C) and in some cases could be C-V-C-C. I noticed that if the word has to start with a vowel sound, ㅇ is present. Then I learned that this character is actually silent in terms of pronunciation and will only have a sound if its used as final consonant in a word. In such cases ㅇ becomes ‘ng’ in sound such as the word 사랑 (sa-rang) then C-V-C pattern still applies. | <urn:uuid:09945b6a-f42b-444d-b644-b59e75a67e13> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://hanguladay.com/category/vowel/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347401004.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20200528232803-20200529022803-00203.warc.gz | en | 0.966902 | 1,414 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Scientists express the acidity of acid rain using the pH scale. The scale defines a solution's acidity, neutrality or alkalinity based on its concentration of hydrogen ions. Acids have a high concentration of hydrogen ions and a low pH. The scale ranges from zero to 14, with pure water at a neutral 7.0. Most water, however, is not exactly pure. Even clean, normal rain has a pH of about 5.6. This is because it reacts with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and forms mildly acidic carbonic acid before it becomes rain.
Acid rain has a pH of 5.0 or less. Most acid deposition ranges from pH 4.3 to 5.0 -- somewhere between the acidity of orange juice and black coffee. But comparing acid rain to safe, natural acids can be misleading. Even at its weakest, acid rain wrecks ecosystems by stunting sensitive plants and killing delicate aquatic eggs.
Programs that monitor acid rain analyze hydrogen content to determine pH. They also measure atmospheric concentrations of nitric acid, nitrate, sulfur dioxide, sulfate and ammonium. In the United States, the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) supervises wet deposition while the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET) observes dry deposition. Monitoring acid deposition helps determine critical loads, or the amount of pollutants an ecosystem can support before damage. Accurate critical loads help set effective targets for SO2 and NOx reductions.
Now we'll learn about the harmful effects of acid rain on aquatic environments, forests, finishes, building materials and human health.
Surface waters and their fragile ecosystems are perhaps the most famous victims of acid rain. Most of the precipitation that enters a lake, river, stream or marsh must first pass over and seep through soil. All soil has a buffering capacity, or ability to resist changes in acidity and alkalinity. The soil's buffering capacity determines a water body's acidity. If the capacity is low, or has reached its limit, acid rain can pass through un-neutralized.
Most life is comfortable at a near-neutral pH -- stray too far from pH 7.0, and delicate organisms begin to die. Plankton and invertebrates are sensitive to changes in acidity and die first. At pH 5.0, fish eggs degrade and young cannot develop. Adult fish and frogs can sometimes tolerate acidities as low as pH 4.0, but they starve as their weaker food sources die out. When acid rain disrupts the food chain, biodiversity decreases.
Nitrogen deposition from acid rain also damages coastal waters and estuaries. Nitrogen-rich water supports massive algae growth and algal blooms. Bacteria decompose the dead algae, flourish themselves and soak up the water's available oxygen. Fish, shellfish, sea grass beds and coral reefs die in the algae-choked, oxygen-depleted waters. Scientists estimate that 10 percent to 45 percent of human-produced nitrogen that winds up in coastal waters comes from atmospheric deposition [Source: Environmental Protection Agency].
Most acidic bodies of water do not look polluted. As decaying organic matter settles, acidified water can appear clear and blue. Some species, like rushes and moss, even thrive in acidic conditions. But the greenery and clear waters belie an unwholesome environment. Diversity drops, and species left without predators often grow disturbingly large.
Acid rain also damages forests, as we'll see in the next section. | <urn:uuid:cfc25e79-d56a-4e17-b10e-08c492e95c45> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/acid-rain.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703506640.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20210116104719-20210116134719-00050.warc.gz | en | 0.910915 | 712 | 4.09375 | 4 |
Mekong Delta Map
The delta is a web of waterways from the Mekong River that covers an area of about 60,000km across three provinces. It is called the 'rice basket' of Vietnam because it yields 50% of all the rice supply in the country, as well as other produce. This landscape, consisting of rice paddies, sugar-cane fields as well as fruit and vegetable gardens, is home to a population of about 17 million. As expected, most of the inhabitants are involved in farming and fishing.
Most tourists are encouraged to visit the Mekong Delta, as no trip to Vietnam would be complete without it. Life along the river is something to see, and the region's southern charm is truly refreshing after visiting the country's busy cities. There are organized tours available in the region, and these include trips (by bus and boat) to fruit orchards, craft villages and floating markets. Some tours also take travellers to what used to be Viet Cong hideouts, because the delta used to be a hideaway for guerrillas.
Other Mekong Delta attractions include fish farms, flower markets, and bird sanctuaries. Indeed, the delta is a recommended stop for all nature lovers. | <urn:uuid:74b44d3e-b45e-4f4e-b03c-dfe07b80160f> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://www.asiawebdirect.com/maps/vietnam/mekong-delta.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438043062723.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002422-00307-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955893 | 249 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Here at The Adventurous Child we make lots of site plans for preschool playgrounds. We enjoy it and I bet your preschool children would too! Take clipboards with blank paper outside so the children can make maps of their playground. They can walk around and draw in the different equipment such as slides, sandboxes, art easels, musical instruments, or climbers. Don’t forget the natural landmarks like trees, rocks, logs, bushes, or flowers! It’s a great way for young children to start learning about geography and cartography. When making maps, children are also learning about spatial relationships, directions, distance, symbols, size, and all of the words that go along with these concepts (up, down, bigger, smaller, far away, close, next to, in-between, etc.).
This activity could easily be switched up and made into a treasure hunt. Make the drawings into treasure maps leading to a buried treasure! The sandbox is the perfect place to bury a few treasures, perhaps some small toys or a box with pennies in it. The children can draw in a dotted line to follow through the playground to lead them to the treasure (X marks the spot!). This further reinforces the concepts of direction and spatial relationships (plus, it’s fun!).
If you do this activity or have done something similar before, we’d love to hear how it went! Like us on Facebook and tell us about your children making maps of their preschool playground. | <urn:uuid:6bd40b3a-00a7-4a3d-8fed-38289e8710d1> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://adventurouschild.com/making-maps/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764494974.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20230127065356-20230127095356-00766.warc.gz | en | 0.956047 | 303 | 3.796875 | 4 |
American Bulldogs are stocky and well built and have powerful jaws. They are higher on the leg and more agile than their English cousins, but are still square and fairly compact. Historically, this breed has been predominantly white in color, but has grown to include many color pattern including black, red, brown, fawn and brindle. Blue or merle is always undesirable, and is a disqualification by breed standard. Eye rims and nose should be black, but some pink is allowed. Their front legs are heavy, strong and straight, while the hind legs are broad, thick and should have well-defined muscles. They have wide chests, thick necks and square heads. The standard preferred bite of the teeth is reverse scissor, but even, under and scissor bite will not disqualify a dog in the show ring. The ears also come in a variety of shapes including cropped, rose, half-pricked and forward flap. The American Bulldog's tail is set low on the body.
Size and Weight
Male American Bulldogs stand between 22 and 28 inches tall and weigh between 75 and 125 pounds. Females stand between 20 and 25 inches and weigh anywhere from 60 to 100 pounds. In general, males are stockier and heavier boned than their female counterparts.
Coat and Color
American Bulldogs' coats are smooth and short and come in all shades of brindle, various shades of white, red, brown, tan, and fawn. White is the most common of all colors.
This breed is relatively low maintenance on the grooming front. Regular brushing can keep their moderate, year-round shedding from becoming unruly and baths only need be given when the dog has gotten himself into a bit of muck, or he begins to smell. The wrinkles of the face should be wiped and dried regularly in order to prevent bacteria from developing and care should be taken to dry the wrinkles after bathing, as well. They are prone to bad breath, so weekly or even daily tooth brushing is a must to keep bacteria from building up and causing tooth loss later in life. Regular cleaning of the ears with a veterinarian-approved cleanser can keep infections from forming. Active Bulldogs will wear their toenails down naturally, but if you can hear nails clicking on the floor, a trim is in order. Puppies feet should be handled from an early age to prepare the Bulldog for nail trimmings later in life. | <urn:uuid:17386c0b-f6be-466b-b82e-87ec31f20087> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Breeds/American-Bulldog/Appearance.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676589892.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20180717183929-20180717203929-00596.warc.gz | en | 0.970909 | 492 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Feeding your chinchilla a healthy diet
When chinchillas were first imported from South America - into the United States initially, and then into Europe - people found it really difficult, at first, to keep them alive in captivity. This was mainly because of a lack of understanding of what wild chinchillas eat. Chinchillas are entirely herbivorous (they only eat vegetable matter) and where they live in the wild, most of the vegetation is quite fibrous and dry, not lush and juicy! They eat grasses and other low-growing greenstuff, and chew the bark off trees.
What should I feed my chinchilla?
Chinchillas need a diet that is high in fibre, quite high in protein, but low in moisture and very low in fat. High fat foods will cause liver disease and greenstuff that is too lush will give them colic or bloat. A diet lacking in fibre will cause poor gut movement, and allow the teeth to get overgrown. Chinchilla teeth, like those of rabbits and guinea pigs, grow constantly throughout the life of the animal, and need to be worm down by constant chewing.
The most important part of the diet for your chinchilla is hay. There should always be hay available. It must be good quality hay - sweet smelling, not musty, and certainly without any trace of mould. Feed the hay in a small rack and refill it each day, removing any that’s been pulled out of the rack.
Is there a less messy alternative to hay?
Alfalfa block are much less messy, but some chinchillas don’t like them. You can give them a try, but don’t stop giving hay completely until you are sure your chinchilla is happy eating alfalfa. It is important that your chinchilla eats plenty of fibre.
What other things can I feed?
Chinchilla pellets can be a convenient food source. However, they should be rationed (except for pregnant or lactating females or very underweight chinchillas). A healthy adult chinchilla needs about a heaped tablespoon of pellets each day. If he is still hungry, he should be encouraged to eat more hay.
Chinchilla mixes are also available but these vary in quality. A good chinchilla mix should be high in fibre and have a fat level of 3% or less. It should be sold in small sealed packets, and smell sweet and fresh once opened. The problem with mixes is that they allow the chinchilla to select his favourite items and leave the rest - which may mean that he ends up with less than a balanced diet. This can be controlled to some extent by only feeding a small amount at a time and not topping the bowl up when it is empty. Muesli mixes should be avoided.
Ideally pellets should be fed as they prevent selective feeding. However, they come in two types; the genuine chinchilla pellet is very thin, long and very, very hard, giving lots of good gnawing exercise. The other type is broader, shorter and more crumbly (more like rabbit pellets) - these are of poorer quality.
Should I feed my chinchilla supplements?
Most chinchillas, especially young animals or mothers with kits, occasionally have fits caused by low calcium levels in the blood. This may be caused by the diet being too low in calcium or the chinchilla being unable to take up and use the calcium in the diet. In these cases, or if the chinchilla has developed tooth problems, your vet may suggest that you give a vitamin/mineral supplement. However, over-supplementation, or wrong supplementation can cause problems; so do check with your vet first.
Can I treat my chinchilla to some titbits?
Most chinchillas will do almost anything for a peanut, a raisin or a sunflower seed. Unfortunately, only one of these is a good idea - both peanuts and sunflower seeds are very high in fat so can contribute to liver disease (although the odd one or two every now and then won’t do much harm). Raisins and sultanas are treats traditionally fed to chinchillas, and yes, they are very sweet which could lead to dental disease if fed in large quantities, but they are generally safe treats to feed… in moderation!
Do chinchillas eat like guinea pigs?
Chinchillas are related to guinea pigs, but this doesn’t mean their diets are the same. Chinchillas cannot cope with very lush green vegetation, however, you can feed things like carrot and apple (in small quantities), they also like to chew on branches of apple, pear or mulberry, and will eat other course weeds like plantain. However, if you feed anything from the garden, make sure it is free of chemicals.
Any changes you make to your chinchilla’s diet must be made very slowly, adding just a very little of the new food to start with, and remember don’t feed anything too lush or watery.
Can poor diet lead to any diseases?
High fat diets can cause liver disease and even death; this could be a cause of overfeeding sunflower seeds or peanuts.
Dental problems can be caused through lack of chewing; therefore plenty of hay should be fed along with a good quality pelleted feed. Teeth problems can also be due, in part, to poor calcium metabolism. Check your chinchilla’s teeth regularly to make sure they are healthy and to detect any early signs of dental disease - you can do this like you would check a rabbit’s teeth.
Digestive problems can be caused through feeding poor quality, mouldy hay. Ensure your chinchillas hay is stored properly; if rats or mice get access to it, then chinchillas may develop listeriosis, an often fatal disease which can also affect people. | <urn:uuid:94c9dcde-b0e7-4679-be98-958bbf34d5de> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://www.allcreatures.co.uk/pet-factsheets/?vetstream-type=Um9kZW50cw==&nodeguid=a2e4569d-2451-4ee7-b206-5434bb03360d | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046152000.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20210726031942-20210726061942-00489.warc.gz | en | 0.954615 | 1,233 | 2.90625 | 3 |
“When looking at a geographically defined but culturally complex region such as Southeast Asia, it is immediately evident that the convenience of geography belies a highly complex and rich diversity of cultures. Lack of familiarity with those cultures overlays a new set of problems upon the existing or ‘old’ problems commonly experienced by firms operating in the domestic marketplace. The ‘new’ problems alluded to are encompassed by the marketing and branding process in a cultural context where diversity creates inconsistencies of interpretation, association and perception.” (McDonald and Roberts 2000: 6-7)
Summary This chapter is broken down into three parts. A discussion of theoretical premises of culture and the different concepts and definitions of culture operationalization will precede the work’s underlying research framework and its application in the Indonesian context. After the content and objective of international marketing have been introduced theoretically and practically (Part B), the ethnocentric perspective of international marketing will be augmented in a cultural sense. That means culture and its influence on consumers and marketing will be given an appropriate role and an adequate position due to its importance as influencing factors on international marketing (which could then be called intercultural marketing). Following the chapter introduction, the definition of culture and the research methodology, the presentation of the ten orientations developed to facilitate intercultural marketing strategies will be presented. The presentation and definition of each orientation is followed by the analysis of cultural elements which are to explain Indonesian consumer behaviour. In a further part, the repercussions of the orientations and consumer behaviour are shown. Upon presentation of the ten orientations, a summary of this analysis’ results will follow.
Intercultural marketing as an applied science is still in its early stages of development and implementation in Southeast Asia like in Europe. Whereas in the field of international marketing there is already a comprehensive list of text and handbooks (see for example: Johansson 2000; Kotler, Ang, Leong and Tan 2003; Czinkota and Ronkainen 2004; Jeannet and Hennessey 2001; Cateora and Graham 2004; Deresky 2006; Kotabe and Helsen 2004; Backhaus, Büschken and Voeth 2005), the list on culture comparative monographs and collections on Asia in general and Southeast Asia in particular (see for example: Leong, Ang and Tan 2001; Schütte and Ciarlante 1999; Pecotich and Shultz II 1998), is relatively short. On the whole, with few exceptions, business studies deals with the phenomenon of culture in a principally descriptive and anecdotal way. In spite of recognizing cultural differences in consumer behaviour, these are often prone to failure due to weaknesses of measuring instruments (Winter 1986: 598). Every company which would like to operate internationally has to ask itself the following question: should or can it process several differing foreign markets in a standardized way (i.e. using known strategies and instruments from the domestic market), or should it proceed in a differentiated way (customized to the respective culturally influenced market conditions)? The decision to act in a more or less differentiated way bears the following key question within the company’s decision-making-scope: in what way should a company customize? While the room for decision-making is limited (for example when it is a question of the influence of legal factors) in other cases the advantages must be weighed up carefully against the disadvantages. Simply put, the answer is easy. The cultural environment is always an influential parameter in the decision-making process for marketing when culturally sensitive services in heterogeneous cultural environments need to be marketed. But how exactly is culture to be understood and how can different cultures be compared?
Although at first glance the expression “culture” appears to be comparatively unequivocal, upon closer inspection it reveals itself to be ambiguous. This is owing not least to the fact that several scientific disciplines and intellectual traditions of thought used this term in a subject-specific and therefore often different manner. In the Anglo-Saxon world, the word “culture” (Latin “colo, -ere”, with its root meaning "to cultivate") was first revealed in printed format in 1483 in the sense of worship and reverential homage. How the expression was interpreted has changed over time. At the beginning of the 20th century, meaningful culture was ostracized from “indifferent nature“. Nature gives rise to spontaneously growing natural products from mother earth. Culture, on the other hand, is that which is created by mankind, for example created by ploughing and sowing (processing nature). It has been only since the end of the 18th century that the expression has been used in the context of comparing progress of mankind and various societies (for example, the European, Asian or African culture). Because it is largely unknown why culture developed in different ways and what differences signify, the concept has been criticized by some as random. Baeker (1985: 1) considers the concept of culture as a European ethnocentric construction. Therefore, a binding core definition would neither be available nor expected in the future. Various theories or currents can be differentiated according to whether they focus on the genesis of culture more or less statically (Sobrevilla 1971). Thus in the 19th century a static-universal-anthropological concept dominated, contributing to the interchangeability of the terms “culture“ and “region” in various disciplines (for example Middle Eastern and Oriental studies which continue to use both concepts interchangeably today). In the first half of the 20th century a division between anthropology and sociology occurred which was equally the result and the expression of a then acute rivalry between both disciplines. In contrast to anthropologists who retained their original static conception and interpreted culture in terms of behavioural patterns (culture patterns), sociologists developed a comparatively dynamic perspective. They interpreted society as a social structure, i.e. as a network or system of social relationships, for which culture provides the context. Hofstede (1999) describes culture metaphorically as “software of the mind” and Jaeger (1986: 179) as “mental programs that are shared”. Both describe culture in a scientific language as a specific combination of (1) values, (2) basic underlying beliefs and (3) presumptions for a society (about humankind and the world). The effects of various cultural influences on several behavioural areas were systematically investigated in the course of the research discipline’s development. These included consumer behaviour, negotiation and conflict management, the former being the research subject of this thesis.
It was also a sociologist who, with his analysis, started the field of research into cultural studies in whose tradition intercultural marketing is steeped: Max Weber. Rather as a structure (What is culture?) and genesis (How and why cultures develop in different ways?) the consequences of culture and religion interested him (Müller and Kornmeier 2000: 87; Inglehart 1998: 302). Weber justified his cultural concept anthropologically, and from the perspective of marketing research it could be said that he rejected the naïve unstructured empiricisms and he postulated that hermeneutics is the most important method.
Many definitions, mostly vague and abstract, have been formulated for culture (Kroeber and Kluckhohn 1952). Some say that no definition of such a complex construct as culture is possible (post-structuralism). Deconstructing culture and its elements is, in their view, objectionable as it suppresses historical and diachronic analyses, a method described as reductionistic. They argue that culture is too complex, and has no structure or entity. Contrary to the above, there are the structuralists’ approaches. According to structuralist theory in anthropology, meaning within a culture is produced and reproduced through various practices, phenomena and activities which serve as systems of signification. Structuralists study activities as diverse as food preparation and serving rituals, religious rites, games, literary and non-literary texts, and other forms of entertainment to discover the deep structures through which meaning is produced and reproduced within a culture.
Hall, who offers significant descriptions of culture, traces the difficulties of a definition of culture not back to its complexity, but to the limits of language to describe culture. He argues (1976: 57):
“The paradox of culture is that language, the system most frequently used to describe culture, is by nature poorly adapted to this difficult task. It is too linear, not comprehensive enough, too slow, too limited, too constrained, too unnatural, too much a product of its own evolution, unnatural, and too artificial.” (Hall 1976: 57)
Onkvisit and Shaw (1993: 257) give the following definition: “… culture is a set of traditional beliefs and values that are passed from generation to generation”. Culture, it seems, is usually transmitted from parents to children, but social organizations, interest groups, the government, schools and religious institutions also come into play. “Culture is prescriptive, …facilitates communication, … is subjective, … is enduring, … is cumulative, … is dynamic” (Onkvisit and Shaw 1993: 257). The development of collective mindsets and behaviours is intensified by social pressure (Czinkota and Ronkainen 1993: 154). Despite many different definitions of culture, anthropologists seem to agree on three of its characteristics (Hall 1976: 16):
“[Culture] is not innate, but learned; the various facets of culture are interrelated – you touch a culture in one place and everything else is affected; it is shared and in effect defines the boundaries of different groups.” (Hall 1976: 16)
Of the many possibilities of definitions of cultures, one definition and view of culture proved to be particularly suited to the meaning of “culture” in the context of international marketing und will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
The theoretical basis’ common deficit negatively influences comparative cultural research (Holzmüller 1989). Basically the methodological structure of culture comparative management research (Redding 1994: 332) can be differentiated from nomothetic and ideographic research strategies. Weber, Parsons, Kroeber and Kluckhohn and Porter’s research strategies are, according to Redding, (1994: 332) rather nomothetic, as is Hofstede’s strategy. Intercultural marketing’s requirement profile deems the choice of a nomothetic research strategy necessary, since this thesis aims to develop an appropriate analytical diagram which will serve further research projects both in country-wide culture comparisons and on other comparison levels, that of ethnic groups, for example.
Culture in the framework of this thesis, is understood as an explanatory construct which is operationalized and thus comprehensively comparable. Since an appropriate initial definition of culture needs to be made, culture, for the purpose of this thesis, is understood as a binding orientation system for society or group members (for example members of an ethnic group).
Hofstede (2005: 4), whose cultural analysis has been widely adopted in the arena of international management and partly in international marketing, shares the idea that culture is learned and not innate and therefore derives from one’s social environment rather than from one’s genes. Hofstede (1993: 19) sees culture as a collective programming of the mind, i.e. culture is always a collective phenomenon, “because it is at least partly shared with people who love or live within the same social environment …” (Hofstede 2005: 4) and distinguishes the members of one group of people from another. Hofstede’s definition of culture is particularly suitable for research into consumer behaviour since culture is hierarchically structured with the aid of the so-called layer model (or culture onion model). In this model “culture” is seen as an abstract reflective of reality, as a system of rules, codes and symbols which enable a particular culture’s members to behave coherently. The collective system of meaning (kollektives System von Bedeutungen) (core of the layer model) derived from this model, differentiates several cultures from each other. From a formal point of view it is irrelevant whether a country, sub- or corporate culture is being addressed. This allows the necessary cultural comparisons for intercultural marketing.
Often the culture onion (layer model) (Figure C-1) is chosen as a diagrammatic way of presenting culture in the layer model as is the case for Trompenaars (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 22; 46) and Hofstede (1997: 8). In the culture onion, the visible symbols, heroes and rituals form the first cultural layer. The second invisible inner layer, therefore the invisible core of culture, is formed by culture specific values.
|Figure C-1 Pictorial representation of the defining premises of culture|
Hofstede distinguishes four manifestations of culture: symbols, rituals, heroes, and values. In the above figure (C-1) these are depicted like the layers of an onion, indicating that symbols represent the most superficial, and values, the deepest manifestations of culture, with heroes and rituals falling somewhere in between.
Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular meaning recognized only by those who share a culture. The words of language or a particular kind of jargon belong in this category, as do dress, hairstyles, flags, status symbols, brands like Coca-Cola. New symbols are easily developed and old ones quickly disappear; symbols from one cultural group are regularly copied by others. This is why symbols are shown in the outer, more superficial layer in the above figure. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Marlboro and Nike are examples of brands that have become global symbols. Yet they may include different associations in the U.S., the country of origin of the brands, than they do for Indonesians.
Heroes are persons - alive or dead, real or imaginary - who possess characteristics that are highly prized in a society, and who thus serve as role models for behaviour (Hofstede 2005: 7). Even fantasy or cartoon figures, like Batman in the United States and Astérix in France, can serve as cultural heroes. In the television age outward appearances have become more important in choosing heroes than they were before. Fantasy heroes can become known globally, but the stories in which they play a part are often local. In Indonesia, Inul Daratista, a dangdut 79 singer and performance artist who rose to national fame after a televised January 2003 concert in Jakarta, is one such cultural hero. Her dance moves, which she calls “Goyang Inul”80 or “Ngebor”81, quickly became the source of controversy due to her suggestive gyrating hip motions, though these criticisms did little to dent her popularity.82
Rituals are the collective activities considered socially essential within a culture: they are carried out for their own sake (Hofstede 2005: 8). Examples include ways of greeting, ways of paying respect to others, and social and religious ceremonies. In the above figure, symbols, heroes and rituals are included in the term practices. They are visible to an outside observer. Their cultural meaning is invisible however; it lies in the way the practices are interpreted by insiders of the culture. In Indonesia, product launches increasingly coincide with Ramadan (particularly its last days - the holiday of lebaran or Idul Fitri in Arabic) and the selamatan (a religious meal - selamat - cosmic salvation) (SL, interview October 2004; IS, interview October 2004; HaS, interview December 2004). Hofstede subsumes symbols, heroes and rituals under the term practices, as they are visible to an outside observer.
Values lie at the core of culture. Values are defined as “broad tendencies to prefer a certain state of affairs over others” (Hofstede 2005: 8). Values are among the first things children learn, not consciously but implicitly. The core values of culture are stable, and often what is presented as a new “trend” is merely a new practice format of existing and stable values.
With regard to cultural change, Hofstede notes that our world is changing but there are many things in society “that technology and its products do not change” (Hofstede 2005: 12). If young Indonesians drink Coca-Cola or eat at McDonald’s, this does not necessarily affect their attitudes toward authority. In some respects, young Indonesians differ from senior Indonesians, just as young Germans differ from senior Germans. Nevertheless, these changes mostly involve the relatively superficial spheres of symbols and heroes, and of fashion and consumption. Hofstede (2005: 13) declares: “There is no evidence that the values of present-day generations from different countries are converging”. Thus, culture change can be fast for the outer, visible layers of culture (symbols, heroes and rituals, which are labelled as practices), but culture change is slow for values. McCracken (1986: 71) describes these changes, though slow, as “constantly in transit”. Nevertheless, values are not deeply changed, as there is the need to fit in, to behave in ways that are acceptable to the groups we belong to.
Based on this structuralist definition, culture has to be operationalized firstly to be able to compare countries and secondly to contrast social groups and their culture within a country (in the case of a multiethnic country). There are a variety of approaches available for the operationalization of culture. The prerequisite is that not only has it to describe the observed, i.e. visible layers of the culture onion, but also to explain the core of culture, i.e. the invisible moral concepts and norms, and then to draw conclusions from them and apply them to the observed visible practices (consumer behaviour). So it is necessary to connect concepta (explanatory part) and percepta (descriptive part) and to find an investigative model for the above explained research formation. A mere description of Indonesian consumer behaviour would not have allowed a comparison with other countries. Neither would such a description be valid long-term due to its dynamic nature, i.e. transience of visible practices means that it would only be valid short-term.
Taking Hofstede’s structuralist definition of culture as a starting point, the underlying analytical diagram of this thesis will now be explained. The empirical based culture theories (Hofstede 1997; Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997) used in culture comparative advertising research (de Mooij 1997, 2003, 2004, 2005) offer the following advantages. The empirical culture theories are based on dimension-analytical approaches; culture is objectively deduced from data with the help of a formalized calculation (factor analysis) and is reflected in the cultural dimension. The aim of Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’, among others’, works is to identify and compare these dimensions across countries.
The advantages of these dimension-analytical approaches are (1) they can be linked to culture comparative advertising research, (2) for the purpose that one could expect selected interviewees to be acquainted with the theories owing to their international education and high position within the corporate organization, (3) that the model’s simplicity made it easily accessible to the interviewees and (4) that these approaches have come forward with empirical data for Southeast Asia.
Intercultural marketing in many ways refers to a society’s value system both directly and indirectly (Trommsdorff 2003: 180). The latter prescribes standards of behaviour and directly and indirectly influences the preferences, decisions and rationalizations of a particular group’s member. The individual learns to cope with the complex environment of a society by adapting his or her role (for example as a consumer) whether consciously or unconsciously to the framework which dictates socially accepted values.
The theoretical basis of the research framework on which the research in Southeast Asia was carried out, will now be presented. In order to operationalize culture, a research framework was created by linking two normative approaches (Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ dimension-analytical approaches of empirically based culture theories). By connecting both models it is possible to make more comprehensive and concrete statements on how values and their impact on cultural behaviour (Kulturverhalten) influence consumer behaviour. Prior to presenting a research framework, Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ approaches are to be explained and discussed. Theoretically Hofstede’s approach is based on the works of the social anthropologists Margaret Mead (2000, 2002) and Ruth Benedict (2006a, 2006b). According to their observations all societies are faced with similar fundamental problems. The solutions to these problems with which different people have come up can, however, be extremely diverse. According to Inkeles and Levinson (1969) the following fundamental problem situations can be distinguished from each other: (1) the relationship between the individual and society, (2) the individual’s attitude to masculinity and femininity (3) the relationship to authority (4) ways of dealing with conflict (how to control aggression and how to express feelings).
For every individual there is a unique interaction between genetic makeup and environmental influences. This interaction causes every individual’s uniqueness to be visible as surface characteristics in his or her personality. By using the so-called onion model, Hofstede symbolizes in which way this is apparent. The deeper a culture layer is, the less obvious is its composition and are its consequences. In the same way in which the core of the onion can be exposed by removing the outer layers, the quintessence of a culture can be revealed, as can the perception of the world. Hofstede, in the so-called pyramid of mental programming summarized his view of how a country’s culture generally influences human behaviour (Hofstede 2005: 4).
|Figure C-2 Pyramid of Uniqueness in Mental Programming|
”Human nature“, namely what every human being has in common due to his or her genetic makeup, is symbolized at the bottom level of the pyramid. This structure embodies the operating system (“Betriebssystem”, Vogelsang 1999: 40) (to express it in terms of an analogy with the computer) which determines physiological (for example breathing reflex), and to an extent, psychological functions (for example fear of unknown, intensive and sudden unexpected stimuli). Culture is learned, not innate. It derives from one’s social environment rather than from one’s genes. Culture should be distinguished from human nature on the one hand and from an individual’s personality on the other. The tip of the pyramid describes “Personality“. Hofstede (2005: 5) writes that the personality of an individual is their personal set of mental programs that does not need to be shared with any other individual. It is based on traits that are partly inherited from the individual’s unique set of genes and partly learned. Learned here, means modified by the influence of collective programming (culture) as well as by unique personal experiences.
Hofstede sees culture as software learned in a social environment which, for example, determines how the emotion “fear” is appropriately to be expressed in a given socio-cultural context. That is now the classic quote according to which culture is collective programming of the mind which differentiates members of one group or category of people from another (“die kollektive Programmierung des Geistes ist, der die Mitglieder einer Gruppe oder Kategorie von Menschen von anderen unterscheidet”, Hofstede 1993: 19).
Hofstede’s suggestion on how to operationalize culture is the most comprehensive till now. The decisive factor is that in the initial phase of the study he had a data bank to fall back on, in which the results of a survey with IBM employees from 72 branches in 40 countries were recorded. The survey dealt with 32 statements pertaining to work related moral concepts (attitudes). In the second phase of the survey study the investigation was extended to 50 countries and three regions (Hofstede 1991: 252). A total of 116,000 testimonials from 38 professional backgrounds took part in the first two study waves and the following studies from 1968 till 1992. The questionnaire had to be translated into 20 languages.
Hofstede proceeded to evaluate the data collected correlation-statistically in order to reduce it to four dimensions by using factor analysis. The resulting four dimensions are: whether individualistic or collectivistic values dominate in a culture region, whether the existing power distance is accepted or not in a society, whether feminine or masculine values are the norm; and whether uncertainty avoidance or the pursuit of “new” predominates. All these affect the most diverse life and work spheres as is shown in his list of selected consequences of cultural programming.
These so-called culture dimensions have been defined by the author as collective mental programming of a population. In a further step, Hofstede defined idiosyncrasies which co-vary with the poles of the culture dimensions. These characteristics refer to societal norms, effect on the political regime, religion, philosophy, ideology and their consequences for companies and organizations.
The countries with which Hofstede did not deal in his investigations were assigned a culture-index by Weidmann (1995: 53) among others. This is partly based on considerations of plausibility or was considered on the basis of other empirical investigations’ findings. Furthermore, these findings are polemical in individual cases.
Scarcely another scientific work is as often quoted and reviewed as Hofstede’s “Culture’s Consequences” (first published in 1980 with a second edition appearing in 2001). This monograph had been listed over a thousand times in leading scientific journals by September 1983. According to the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), 80 percent of these quotations were taken in the second half of the 1980s. Even if a presumably potential part of these are merely compulsory quotations, it can without doubt be considered a resounding success. The reviews of “Culture’s Consequences” which had been presented by the mid 1990s agreed that, in view of the dramatic growth in importance of international operating companies, this book appeared just at the right time (Galdwin 1981: 681) and created an “I see” experience (Sondergaard 1994: 448), for a whole generation of scientists and managers. Furthermore the general awareness of scientific and practical meaning of the multicultural phenomenon was clearly focused. In fact from around the mid 1980s, more and more works appeared which focused on the analysis of international interaction (mostly with the outcome that a country’s culture significantly influences managers’ decision-making behaviours and the company strategies preferred by them).
Initially Hofstede’s work was mostly considered stringent. It fulfils the criterion of methodological and scientific rigour due to the competitive methods of analysis being used, the pursuit of comparability of sample surveys, the securing of equivalence as well as further development of the culture concept (Neghandi 1974). However, criticism became more vocal, too. Kagitcibasi (1997) considered the research strategy to be untheorized and solely empirical. Rather than developing the operationalization from a theoretical concept starting point, Hofstede had instead merely interpreted existing data theoretically at a later date. Schooler (1983: 167) or Triandis (1982: 89) on principle also doubted that it was possible to obtain stable values from the attitudes surveyed. Furthermore, the sample survey was criticized because it was limited to employees of a single company, thus lacking external validity. It was undoubtedly problematic, too, that country and culture could simply be interchanged. To exchange the former as a proxy variable for the latter is often doomed to failure since the majority of countries is multicultural (Nassig et al. 1991: 79). Furthermore, the IBM corporate identity would overlay various countries’ cultures. Moreover, a differentiated culture model could presumably have been developed had they had a representative sample which included employees from other companies. This would be owing to a greater data variance. However, since, only due to this atypical situation, i.e. to exploit the IBM-internal infrastructure, was it possible for Hofstede to conduct a field study of this scale. Therefore this criticism is superfluous. Additionally, numerous following investigations have shown that the measuring approach, initially exclusively targeted at the work sphere, was valid when applied to other fields (e.g. consumer behaviour) (Schuh 1997: 84).
Following the tradition of debate, quantitative versus qualitative methods (Müller 1999), others doubted on principle the capability of survey (question) methods to mirror social reality (Lamnek 1993). Yoo and Donthu (2002) reviewed the second edition of Hofstede’s work which was published in 2001 with some chapters completely unaltered and others completely reworked. Moreover the culture scores of 50 countries, i.e. also of those ten countries which were not included in the first edition due to having insufficient sample size (n = 56 to 132) per country, were excluded from the study since up to then they were considered to be unsatisfactory. However, it is incomprehensible why these scores are now considered to be satisfactory. Yoo and Donthu (2002) criticize above all the fact that the author simply makes the effort to defend himself and his work against the criticism which has been raised since 1980 instead of rectifying the existing weaknesses. From many colleagues’ point of view, Hofstede would simply reject that the phenomenon of a transformation of national culture would be comparable to a change of values even though numerous studies indicate the opposite. According to Oyserman et al. (2002) the Japanese and South Koreans have in many aspects become more individualistic and less collectivistic than the Americans.
The suspected reason for Hofstede’s insistence on the assumption of country score stability (the empirical basis of which was created by him from 1967 to 1973) is still germane. Moreover it is a prerequisite for the validity of the data. Only if these culture scores are considered stable, are they still valid. Hofstede argues that value or cultural transformation is not a homogenous process. The reason that value and culture change is not a homogenous process but translates itself differently in the various social strata and groups of a country, offers a possible explanation for the previously described transformations.
Between 1980 and 1992 Hofstede’s study was replicated 61 times and tended to have mostly similar results. While Hoppe (1990), Shackleton and Ali (1990) and Punnet and Withaney (1988), confirmed the four-dimensional structure of the culture model completely, others reported only partial accord (for example, Chew and Putti 1993; Fidalgo 1993). Despite the considerable justifiable criticism, the underlying implications of Hofstede’s approach are undisputed. Hofstede was able to present via a paradigm the influence of culture on a concrete research object (for example cooperation of employees from different cultures). In addition, he managed to arouse worldwide interest in the subject “culture and management”. The special role with which Sondergaard (1994: 454) endows this work, results not least from the fact that a host of sciences (human resource management, organizational theory, marketing, intercultural psychology and social psychology) implement this culture concept. To sum up, according to reviewers, the book has dramatically facilitated culture comparative studies and continues to be the best available source for national culture analysis.
Besides Hofstede’s dimension-analytical model, that of Trompenaars (a student of Hofstede) and Hampden-Turner is also applied to intercultural research. Trompenaars investigates cultural differences primarily from a practical management viewpoint. The Dutch social scientist interprets culture as a path along which human societies find solutions to problems (Trompenaars 1993: 18). According to this observation, these problems are similar worldwide; there are always difficulties arising from the relationships with fellow humans as well as those arising from the attitude to time, work and nature.
When putting this approach into a concrete form, the author follows those dimensions named by Kluckhohn and Stodtbeck (1961) (human nature orientation, man-nature orientation, relational orientation, time orientation and activity orientation) and those of Parsons and Shils (1951: 77) who in their “General Theory of Action“ describe complex social constructs which would determine human action” and name them (1) human nature orientation, (2) man-nature orientation, (3) relational orientation, (4) time orientation and (5) activity orientation. In the latest research carried out by Trompenaars, the following two constructs also appear: (6) short-time versus long-time and (7) inner-control versus outer-control orientation (Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004). Basically, Trompenaars like Hofstede uses as a structuralist definition of culture as a starting point and works with a layer model of culture which corresponds to Hofstede’s. The complex constructs presented above (which would determine human actions) would correspond to the core of culture, (that is the values in the layer model) which are, as previously mentioned, the starting point of Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ researches.
A comparison of Hofstede’s dimensions with those of Trompenaars reveals the following. Of the seven value dimensions, two reflect closely the Hofstede dimensions of collectivism versus individualism and to a lesser extent power distance. Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner's communitarianism versus individualism value orientation seems to be virtually identical to Hofstede's collectivism versus individualism. Trompenaars’ achievement versus ascription value orientation, which describes how status is accorded, appears to be linked to Hofstede's power distance index, at least if one accepts that status is accorded by nature rather than achievement, and that this reflects a greater willingness to accept power distances. It is, however, not a complete match, as Hofstede's power index does not only relate to how status is accorded, but also to the acceptable power distance within a society, an area that is not touched upon by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner. Trompenaars’ universalism versus particularism value orientation, describing a preference for rules rather than trusting relationships, could be interpreted as part of Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance dimension on the one hand, and to some extent the collectivistic versus individualistic dimension. Trompenaars’ diffuse/specific value orientation, describing the range of involvement, seems to have no direct link to any of Hofstede's dimensions. Human-Time relationship is closely related, if not identical, to Hall’s polychronic and monochronic time perceptions. The Human-Nature relationship appears to be closely related to the Human-Nature relationship in Strodbeck and Kluckhohn's (1969) value orientations.
Trompenaars’ dimension-analytical approach is likewise based on empirical preliminary investigations. In manager workshops, Trompenaars questioned 15,000 participants from 47 countries (approximately 75 of whom were executive and 25 percent were administrative staff). In contrast to Hofstede who took his sample exclusively from IBM employees, other companies (for example, AT&T/USA, BSN/France or Heineken/Netherlands) took part in this study. The aim of the investigation was to ascertain universally valid cultural dimensions: “shared ways groups of people understand and interpret the world“ (Feichtinger 1998: 58).
The scientific value of this work was considered by many to be more limited in scope than Hofstede’s, and is not considered to be in the same league as his study. This is for one, because of a failure to expose the research concept. Among other things the reader lacks the customary exact documentation of the research design, procedure, details of the period of the investigation and sample survey composition or the validity and reliability of the findings. In addition, Trompenaars refrains from discussing his theoretical basis critically. Incidentally there is little more than the hypotheses that western countries are the heritage of the Christian West and that oriental countries are coloured by Confucianism and Buddhism, behind many statements. Furthermore, it is not entirely comprehensible which criteria or algorithm the author, in the 16 statements of his questionnaire, applies to the seven culture dimensions. The reader has also to ask how two or three questions per culture dimension are weighted, i.e. summarized in an index value, especially since many countries on one subscale have such extremely different scores. To compound this, the individual countries were given a ranking according to the 16 questions but were not however given a ranking in the seven dimensions.
Like Hofstede, Trompenaars is able to refer to an impressive database - 15,000 managers from 47 countries. However, since the sample survey took participants from the author’s intercultural training seminars, serious deficits with the sample survey are inevitable (Schmid 1996: 270). Besides which, the period of investigation is unclear. Hofstede, as well as Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, derive their data from questionnaires that were distributed among professionals – in the case of Hofstede among employees of IBM, and in the case of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner among a large number of executives from different organizations. Hofstede’s work is based on a questionnaire originally designed to evaluate work values, and, not surprisingly, it is mostly focused towards that end. Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s questionnaires on the other hand ask respondents for preferred behaviour in a number of both work and leisure situations. What both studies have in common is that in both questionnaires the focus is on the ultimate goal, and that the underlying values are derived from a series of questions about more outer layers of the “culture onion”. This research focus gives both approaches a very practical flavour. Yet at the same time, the underlying value claims are frequently the result of very little data, or are derived from a limited number of questions. This has at least the potential to disturb significantly the derived value predictions. It may also conceal certain dimensions, or values may be wrongly derived because of certain situational influences on the respondents.
In spite of the documented conceptual and methodological criticism, the underlying significance of this dimension-analytical approach is undisputable for both works and complies with the requirements of intercultural marketing with regard to (1) high information demand, which increases with the internationalization of the company (the number of regions, countries, cultures) targeted, (2) general practical orientation of marketing (3) intercultural marketing’s general necessity to work in a culture comparative manner.
The above mentioned complex constructs which determine human behaviour correspond to the core of culture, or the values in the layer model which, as already mentioned, form the basis of Hofstede’s research. Due to their having the same structuralist definition of culture, it is possible to combine the partly differing dimensions of Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ models and combine and merge them into a new, integrative research framework. As a result of integrating the initial models into a new research framework, the number of the dimensions increases. Thus the relevance and explanatory potential of the model in terms of its relation to the number of dimensions or orientations (the term assigned to dimensions in the integrative model) increases its explanatory capability in relation to consumer behaviour. A comparative analysis of Trompenaars’ and Hofstede’s dimensions results in the following.
The guidelines, i.e. the dimensions (value orientations) from both models with which the following discourse is worked, i.e. the existing models to operationalize culture, will serve as the basis of consumer research in intercultural marketing. In intercultural marketing, consumer research is the central variable and needs to be assigned research technically in an appropriate way.
The retort of critics of a structuralist definition of culture, (which is the starting point of this thesis and serves as a research framework for a dimension-analytical model), is that intercultural marketing ought to be freed of its standardization strategies. This can only be achieved however, if empirically verifiable and dimension-analytical quantifiable differences between cultures, whether on a macro (country) level or micro (social groups within a country) level are included in culture comparative studies. Intercultural marketing attempts even more so than international marketing to overcome the descriptive and partly pre-scientific phase. It is desirable to develop explanatory approaches, which, with the exception of isolated cases, allow the generalization of theoretically based statements which in turn allow the construction of prognosis, which allow checking their workability - in short - which allow one to work scientifically. The intercultural starting point should most importantly enable knowledge to be generalized and concrete occurrences to be predicted.
An integration of both models is justifiable on the grounds that the models originally developed for intercultural management (not for intercultural marketing) were only intended to reflect the internal corporate sphere. Employees from different cultural backgrounds collaborate in this corporate sphere and are therefore possibly faced with culturally based conflicts and not with those existing outside the corporate sphere, i.e. the entire life sphere (life world), where consumer decisions are made. The entire life sphere and the decisions to be made within it, is much more complex since it does not have the underlying corporate maxim of profit maximization (decisions made within the corporate world). Rather, purchasing decisions are subjugated to the much more complex utility maximization.
The raised complexity of decision-making outside the company is the reason for this thesis having an underlying model with ten dimensions (or orientations) rather than the five or seven dimensions found in Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ models. Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ dimensions did not appear to be sufficiently comprehensive for the investigation of consumer behaviour. Only their being combined in a new model allows graphic analysis, concrete description and an all-encompassing understanding of consumer behaviour and the effect of culture upon it. A purely descriptive presentation of consumer behaviour and of consumers’ social environment (life world) would not have justified the aims of this thesis which were: firstly, to develop a model with which consumer behaviour and its underlying value orientations (culture core in the layer model) can be compared culturally on a country-wide and other levels such as that of social groups (ethnic minorities, for example) and secondly, to explain the cultural circumstances which are responsible for different consumer behaviour patterns, and thus not only to describe them but to understand them.
The integrative model serving as a research framework for this study unites Hofstede’s five with Trompenaars’ seven dimensions, which would result in twelve dimensions. Since two dimensions overlap, the integrative analytical diagram only lists ten. These dimensions will henceforth be described as orientations in order to differentiate the new model from Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ original one. The model presents ten basic orientations (culture core in the layer model) (Figure C-3).
The reasons why Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ models were selected and merged into a new analytical diagram have been stated in the preceding paragraphs (why the following comments fail briefly). Rationales behind this choice are the following. The empirical culture theories (as presented by Hofstede and Trompenaars) are based on dimension-analytical approaches which facilitate to research culture with the help of a formalized calculation (factor analysis) (Table C-1). These factor analyses generate dimensions which can be used to compare different cultures (C.1.3 - C.1.4). The aim of Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ works is to identify and compare these dimensions across countries (C.1.3 - C.1.4). By connecting both models it is possible to make more comprehensive and concrete statements on how values and their impact on cultural behaviour (Kulturverhalten) influence consumer behaviour. An integration of both models is therefore justifiable on the grounds that the models (originally developed for intercultural management and not for intercultural marketing) were only intended to reflect the internal corporate sphere. However, the work’s underlying research objective is to analyse consumer behaviour which takes place outside the corporate sphere, i.e. in the life world of consumers. The life world of consumers is far more complex than the corporate sphere which was the object of study of Trompenaars and Hofstede (particularly intercultural communication). With regard to this complexity the analytical diagram with consumers as its research object had to fulfil the requirements of a higher information demand, general practical orientation of marketing and intercultural marketing’s general necessity to work in a culture comparative manner.
The ability to use the analytical diagram for cross-country research (or cross-ethnic [in case the analytical diagram is implemented below the country level]) was another reason why a dimension-analytical approach was selected. The advantages of these dimension-analytical approaches are (1) they can be linked to culture comparative advertising research, (2) for the purpose that one could expect selected interviewees to be acquainted with the theories owing to their international education and high position within the corporate organization, (3) that the model’s simplicity made it easily accessible to the interviewees and (4) that these approaches have come forward with empirical data for Southeast Asia.
The analytical diagram has proved rewarding in a multitude of ways. Firstly, it enables researching consumer behaviour in the context of culture. This is novel since conventional international marketing literature is predominantly overly-economic and unequivocally quantifiable. Secondly, the model is application-oriented in the sense of allowing readers themselves to apply the model’s underlying structured approach. Thirdly, it is applicable to different countries (macro-level), and simultaneously to sub-groups, for example certain ethnic groups. Fourthly, the focus of the model is how and why a particular behavioural pattern transpires. Fifthly, the model enables explanations that surpass stereotypical generalizations.
The fundamental idea behind the work’s underlying research approach is the following. The cultural environment determines the context in which the purchasing decision is made. The respective orientation’s score leads to different consumer behaviour, which must in turn be acknowledged by intercultural marketing, and be interpreted in the form of the adapted 4 Ps for market strategies. Consequently the analytical diagram assisted this thesis in two ways. Firstly, it offered the theoretical basis to put to the test whether or not a global consumer exists, and secondly it provided support for the investigation of other markets and their cultural peculiarities (model transferability and comparison enabling).
The model can be represented visually in the following way (Figure C-3).
|Figure C-3 Analytical diagram for intercultural marketing|
Each arrow represents one orientation (dimension). A total of ten orientations were the starting point of this investigation. Both ends of each arrow are to be seen as opposing poles of an orientation. In this way the social orientation is described as the conflict between collectivistic and individualistic cultures. The individual orientation and the area of conflict in which they can move will be defined in the following sections which address the analysis of Indonesia.
The list or order of the orientations in the figure and that of the individual orientations in their discussion does not reflect specific importance or ranking. The ranking of the orientations in the diagram and in the discussion is chosen at random. Only following the analysis of the individual orientations, will a ranking in order of importance of its impact on consumer behaviour in Indonesia be created. Since this order of orientations can vary, owing to their differing importance from country to country (or social group - should a micro-level investigation take place), the orientations can only be put into their respective order upon completion of the analysis. In addition, correlations between certain orientations were presumed, i.e. that scores on some orientations might positively or negatively be related to another orientation’s score (high or low). This assumption was later confirmed during field research and will be discussed later (C.2 and C.3).
The terms “individualistic” and “collectivistic”, for example, as they are commonly used in their broadest sense, do not apply to the definition put forward by Hofstede and Trompenaars, which serve as the basis for this respective research. The same applies to all of the other ten orientations.
After the above presented model of intercultural marketing’s ten orientations, the empirical data was assigned to the individual orientations (deriving either from Hofstede’s or Trompenaars’ model respectively). Merely by relating Hofstede’s data to the respective orientation in the new integrative model, and by comparing randomly selected Asian countries’ scores and the scores’ mean value, a picture emerged that shows Asia’s countries and their scores to be widely heterogeneous. Furthermore, it weakened the belief prevalent in many companies that there is such a thing as universal Asian consumer behaviour.
The following figure (C-4) presents the experimental standard deviation of each orientation score (by country) from the mean score of the respective orientation of all eight countries. Thus it appears that the respective deviations are high already for the case presented here where only Asian countries have been selected and their scores compared. The deviations are even higher when one includes other, non-Asian countries. Based on the assertion, that the orientations significantly affect consumer behaviour the suspicion is confirmed that due to the high deviations the existence of globally homogenous consumer behaviour must be doubted.
|Figure C-4 Hofstede Country Scores (of randomly selected Asian countries)|
After several statistical preliminary investigations of this kind were carried out, the model serving as a research base was examined and applied to Indonesia. Previously hypotheses were made that, for example a high score towards collectivism in the social orientation labels it as collectivistic (in the tradition of Hofstede and Trompenaars) and is reflected in a - for collectivistic scoring societies - characteristic visual language in advertising (as was outlined by de Mooij 2005). This loosely pursues Niklas Luhmann’s (1996: 9) idea: “Everything we know about society or even about the world is thanks to mass media” („Was wir über unsere Gesellschaft, ja über die Welt, in der wir leben, wissen, wissen wir durch die Massenmedien“, translation by author). Luhmann refers this quotation to advertising, too. Norbert Bolz (1996: 77) articulates this more provocatively: Advertising is the most conclusive self-description of our culture („Werbung ist die schlüssigste Selbstbeschreibung unserer Kultur“, translation by author).
Through analysis of TV and print advertising, the hypothesized impacts of the orientation on advertising were able to be examined on site and discussed with experts in Indonesia. To this end qualitative interviews were conducted which allowed conclusions to be drawn concerning consumer behaviour in several regions of the country. Furthermore the interview questions were targeted at which element (i.e. language and/or religion) Indonesians themselves could associate with a certain orientation’s score.
The advantage of the explained operationalization of culture (empirical based culture theories) is its applicability in the field of culture comparative analysis, which does not allow a comparison exclusively between countries, but also between social groups, for example ethnic groups living in one country. Only being freed from the fixation with country comparisons and the interchangeability of culture and territoriality separated regions (country) will enable companies to set-up a target group affined international marketing approach (i.e. intercultural marketing). The majority of countries are not culturally homogenous; rather they are culturally pluralistic. As already presented, widely different ethnic groups cohabit in Indonesia, a multitude of different languages are spoken, and besides Islam and Hinduism, other religious communities colour spirituality and reality. Thus, from a scientific point of view, the variable “country” is on the whole a poor indicator of culture, at best a less than satisfactory substitute.
In spite of the polemic problem of interchangeability of country and culture, this is often the sole practical possibility not only for research economical reasons (Schmid 1996: 260). Furthermore, managers and researchers etc. find it easier to think in fewer (and as a result wider-ranging) categories. Firstly from a research economical standpoint and additionally from necessity to test the explanatory potential first on a country level prior to extending it to ethnic groups (micro level), the analytical diagram had to be tested on a country level, i.e. Indonesia, in order to analyse the general Indonesian society’s consumer behaviour first before carrying on the investigation to various ethnicities. The necessity to customize the corporate strategy can be derived from the positioning of a respective country in the value analytical diagram. Whether it ought to be standardized or differentiated can be decided rationally and not only dogmatically or intuitively, with the help of the model. A car manufacturer in a masculine scoring country for example, would presumably implement advertising messages which reflect significantly more dynamism and aggressiveness than in a feminine scoring country, where, for example, the appeal for needs such as safety and caring would spell success.
All that remains is to present and explain the results of research in Indonesia based on their application to the above introduced integrative analytical diagram.
The rule orientation defines how one judges other people’s behaviour. One differentiates between universalistic and particularistic societies (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 29-4), which are distinguished by the respective behavioural nature of their members. Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s “universalism versus particularism” value orientation describes a preference for rules rather than trusting relationships. Universalistic cultures tend to feel that general rules and obligations are a strong source of moral reference. People from these cultures tend to follow the rules and look for a single best way of dealing fairly with all cases (Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 51). “Do not lie. Do not steal. Do unto others as you would have them do onto you” (the Golden Rule), are some of the standards adhered to in universalistic cultures (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 31). People from universalistic cultures assume that the standards they hold dear are the right ones, and attempt to change the attitudes of others accordingly. Universalistic, or rule-based behaviour, tends to be abstract and to imply equality in the sense that all persons falling under the rule should be treated in the same way (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 31). Particularistic societies, on the other hand, are those where particular circumstances are much more important than any rules. Bonds of relationships, such as family and friends, are stronger than any abstract rules, and responses may change according to circumstances and the people involved (Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 51). The person is not “a citizen” but one’s friend, brother, wife or person of unique importance. One must therefore sustain, protect or discount this person no matter what the rules say. Personal relationships may be of greater importance than the rules in these societies, which is the reason for them being called relationship-based societies.
Empirical findings on the first orientation present Indonesia as rather particularistic and it scores similarly compared to China and Singapore (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 35; Boucher-Floor, THT Consulting, email August 2005). However, the charts presenting the country ranking for this dimension offer a rather patchy picture for Indonesia and other Asian countries thus leaving many questions unanswered (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 37) and rendering a detailed investigation necessary. Owing to the data available, it can preliminarily be assumed that Indonesia is rather particularistically oriented, as is reflected in the following figure (C-5).
|Figure C-5 Indonesia scoring rather particularistically|
Since Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 35-36) see a connection between religion and the first orientation, the inclusion of other Muslim countries’ scores in the rule orientation might have offered some hints as to whether Indonesian society needs to be seen as universalistically or particularistically oriented with its results on consumer behaviour. Notwithstanding, very few Islamic countries were investigated, resulting in insufficient data being provided to make an accurate statement as to which direction Islamic countries tend. Additionally, a comparison with the neighbouring country Malaysia should be treated with caution, since, according to Ricklefs (2001: 9) the Islam of Java is “… rather different in style from that of Malaya or Sumatra”. This was also confirmed by Braten (1999: 150-172). In the context of the cultural foundation of this orientation, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 35-36) argue: “universalists are more common in Protestant cultures, where the congregation relates to God by obedience to His written law”, whereas Catholic cultures where there are intermediaries between God and his adherents, “forgive sins or make special allowances”. Some religions, for example Catholicism, consequently are more relational and particularistic. This is reflected in the orientation’s ranking (as presented by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner) in which countries where the majority of the population is catholic, such as the Philippines, score rather particularistically (Boucher-Floor, THT Consulting, email August 2005).
The relationship between religion and this orientation is the reason why a look into Islam, as the religion of more than 88 percent of all Indonesians (Suryadinata, Arifin and Ananta 2003: 105), is necessary in order to look for indications as to whether Indonesian society scores particularistically or universalistically in general. This is a multifaceted undertaking since: firstly, it is evident that the modalities and cultural achievements of religions are far richer in Indonesia than in many other countries (in Indonesia disparate, even opposing, beliefs were fused into syncretistic practices over time, a sign of cultural acceptance). “Indonesians are fond of marvelling at the complexity of their own society” (Vatikiotis 1998: 92) underscores the validity of this observation. Secondly, Islam in Indonesia reveals little similarity to the far more austere Muslim regimes of the Middle East (whose Islamic countries score rather particularistically). Thirdly, the undertaking is complicated by the fact that some analysts tend to portray Islam as rather universalistic (no separation between religion and state, unity of the Muslim community “tauhid”), where others offer a different picture, i.e. they highlight its particularistic aspects. The latter describe Islam as having a generally universalistic approach but some elements would suggest particularistic behaviours.
Despite its universalistic character in the sense of unity of all Muslims, certain elements, for example in “sharia” (sacred law) (Schimmel 1990: 54-56; Newby 2002: S), tend to make Islam rather particularistic. This can be seen in its display of gender relationships (Jones 2002: 219) and its distinction between non-Muslims and Muslims (Noerdin 2002: 179-186). This view is supported by the idea that the original Muslim community of Medina represented a monotheistic vision entrenched in a community of clans (Lapidus 2001: 37), placing a great deal of emphasis on bonds of relationship within kin groups. Moreover, in order to gain a complete picture of how religions and their core values could have shaped Indonesia’s particularistic or universalistic score, not only Islam needs to be considered. Other religious denominations need to be considered, given the diversity and discontinuities of religions in Indonesia.
It emerges therefore that an analysis of Islam for categorizing Indonesia as universalistic or particularistic is insufficient since the first Indonesian grown Islamic communities were established around the 1280s (Taylor 2003: 66; Ricklefs 2001: 3) and the earliest Islamic states not before the 15th century on Java (Schumann 1999: 435; Ricklefs 2001: 4-5; Damais 1957: 353-415). Woodward (1989: 53) writes in this context: “It is known that there was a Muslim presence in Java as early as the late fourteenth century” and thereby confirms the relative influence of cultural behaviour in Indonesian society owing to its late arrival.
Consequently, in Indonesia one is confronted with several landscapes of belief, some indigenous, others Muslim and Hindu, transposed with their respective values from India and the Middle East (Hall 1964: 12-24). Hinduism and Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity were brought in that order from across the ocean and absorbed without being superimposed on one another. Elements of the previous religions’ forms were preserved and integrated into the new faith (Islam) (Ricklefs 2001: 59). Thus, elements of all these religious customs can still be seen side by side today (Ricklefs 2001: 59-69). This can be seen in Indonesia where Muslim and pre-Islamic local identities and affiliations blend together. Islam came to the Indonesian archipelago during a period which Anthony Reid (1993, Vol. II, Ch. 3), has called the “age of commerce” (1450-1680). Islam was preceded by Hinduism and Buddhism (Kulke 2001: 349-350; Bellwood 1997: 138), which together with Islam and Christianity represent the major religions in Indonesia (Suryadinata, Arifin and Ananta 2003: 103-138). In addition, there are indigenous religions which have been practiced throughout the Indonesian archipelago for centuries (Schreiner 2001: 159) and are, with their affirmative character, an integral part of Indonesian identity (MP, interview December 2004). Their various forms continue to influence Indonesians today. “Religion came from across the sea, but customs and tradition came down from the mountains”, says an Indonesian proverb, demonstrating that indigenous religions have been around much longer than the world religions. The observation that Islam was a seaborne civilization, adaptable to archipelago conditions, when Indonesian societies were converting (Taylor 2003: 73), underscores the perception of an unorthodox Islam, first introduced by Arab traders in the 7th century (Dahm 2002: 3; Schumann 1999: 434).
This rich cultural heritage of pre-Islamic Indonesia, often regarded as “classical” (Ricklefs 2001: 59), provides authoritative cultural standards and frames of reference even today. In this context, Johns (2002: 165-191) describes neither the arrival of Islam nor its development as being “spectacular”. This is reflective of the idea that Islam is to be considered as a “cultural influence on the Indonesian scene, but not as the dominant theme” (Federspiel 2003: 202). “Islam in Southeast Asia has its own styles and its own temper and intellectual traditions” (Johns 2002: 165). Sacral practices and folk beliefs colour and live alongside the profession of Islam (Johns 2002: 165) since Islam was “transmitted at different levels of intensity and perceived in rather different ways according to the cultural backgrounds of the various communities” (Johns 2002: 171). He adds that numerous cults survived alongside Islam, together with practices and rituals and the set of spells and magical formulas that derived from the Indic and megalithic traditions (Kulke 1999: 349-369; Johns 2002: 172).
Moreover, for the examination of the rule orientation, it is imperative to look into explanations as to why Indonesians converted to Islam. Historians of Indonesia often refer to the Islamic concept of equality of believers as a powerful reason inducing conversion in the four hundred years of Islamization of the archipelago (Taylor 2003: 73). They contrast Islam’s equality of believers before God with Hindu and Buddhist beliefs in a hierarchy of souls, and argue that this allegedly striven for equality by Islam was the reason for the conversion of many sections of the population. However, Taylor, for example, states that the idea of the Islamic concept of equality as the powerful reason for conversion is not tenable (Taylor 2003: 73). He argues, inter alia, that the view of Islam as having a concept of equality, “goes against Koran teachings that accord higher status to Muslims over non-believers, men over women, and owners over slaves” (Taylor 2003: 73). He supports this view by adding: “… the argument ignores the history of Islam in which binding rulings (fathwahs) proclaim submission of subject to a Muslim ruler as a religious duty (Taylor 2003: 73). Ricklefs, too, rejects the idea that Indonesians were attracted to Islam as its egalitarian ethos supposedly provided relief from the Hindu caste system, too. He argues: there is “no evidence whatsoever that there was anything egalitarian about Islam in practice … none of the Islamic societies … was in any sense egalitarian.” (Ricklefs 2001: 15).
According to official figures, as stated beforehand, some 88 percent of the Indonesian population is Muslim (Suryadinata, Arifin and Ananta 2003: 104-105). This makes Indonesia the largest Islamic nation in the world. However, Islam as practiced here is much more liberal when compared with other Islamic nations. A referendum held in 1956 revealed that there was no majority in favour of turning Indonesia into an Islamic state (Dahm 1999: 230-231). Although many Javanese groups have accepted Sunni teachings in recent years, and although the revivalist “dakwah” movement has convinced many Indonesian Muslims to take their Islamic obligations more seriously, others have resisted for perpetuation of their own particular beliefs and practices (Hefner 1987: 533-554). Such revitalized Islamic activity, under the demand of the “Sunnatization” of life worlds, includes increased attendance at mosques, attention to fasting, performance of the pilgrimage and other indications of religious association. Despite the aforementioned re-Islamization of Indonesian society in the last 15 years or so, the indigenous elements are still lived, and Indonesian Muslims, in the main, have not followed the lead of some Malaysian Muslims, in adopting militant political attitudes and taking actions to further their Islamic agenda (Federspiel 2003: 207).
As practised today in Indonesia, Islam is strongly characterized by various elements of indigenous religions and local beliefs, as well as Javanese culture. Islam can be very orthodox as in Aceh, as well as virtually nominal, as in Central Java, where it is practiced in a blend with animism and Hindu-Javanese mysticism (Geertz 1956: 134-158). The large majority of Javanese, called “abangan”, represent a very traditional Javanese view of the world. They do not adhere strictly to the teachings of Islam. Their view of everyday life and religion is strongly influenced by traditional Javanese opinions and elements carried over from the Hindu-Buddhist period. This is in contrast to the “santris”, who represent about one third of the population and who are a closed society adhering strictly to Islam and its teachings. Ricklefs, who describes the diffusion of Islam as “one of the most significant processes of Indonesian history” (2001: 3) points out ,too, that Islam in Indonesia is a product of cultural assimilation and accommodation as encountered in the high culture of Old Java (Ricklefs 2001: 9). The following examples underpin this observation. Customary regulations (adat) remain significant in Indonesia’s regional cultures, particularly in life-cycle ceremonies, such as marriage, birth, puberty, death and inheritance (Garang 1974: 10-42). The Department of the Interior was assigned the administrative oversight of Javanese mystical orders with instructions that these practices were to be nurtured (Federspiel 2003: 205). The common argument that Islam has been indigenized in Indonesia reflects the notion that attention should be given to tradition based on pre-Islamic Indic civilization. This indigenization is the reason why syncretism is still evident throughout the country. Hinduism and Buddhism made their way into the courts of the Hinduized states of Southeast Asia as early as the 7th century (Kulke 1999: 349).
Therefore, in Indonesia, cultural traits which influenced the first dimension in pre-Islamic religions must be traced, too, as Islam (as well as other religions making their way into Indonesia in later periods) was significantly enriched by mystic elements. Even though it makes sense to classify Indonesia as particularistic, it is necessary to take a look at why Hinduism and Buddhism seemingly back the hypothesis of Indonesia as particularistic. A history of Hinduized culture spanning a thousand years has left a legacy of diverse mystic traditions in the country. Hinduism is the oldest world religion and was the first to reach Indonesia. Although in Indonesia Hindu influences have been superseded or overshadowed by the influences of other religions (principally Buddhism and Islam), Hinduism left an impression lasting to this day (Hiltebeitel 2002: 3). Its heroic tales can be found in puppet plays and classic Javanese dances. Sanskrit, the language of the Hindus, made many inroads into both the Javanese and the Indonesian language (Sneddon 2003: 45; Nothofer 1999: 73-76). The “garuda”, the legendary giant bird, has survived as the national emblem, and the word “Pancasila”, describing the state philosophy, is derived from Sanskrit. Bellwood adds (1997: 139): “…the only ethnic group in Southeast Asia to have maintained a coherent – even if highly modified – Hindu tradition is the Balinese”. This does not, however, imply that Hinduism influenced the cultural traditions that today at first sight appear unaffected by Hinduism, but which were influenced anyhow.
Hinduism, a Vedic religion, is characterized by a society organizing people according to a caste system (Klostermaier 1994: 333-344; Schluchter 1984: 45-50; Weber 1988: 108-114; Eliade and Culianu 1995: 291). The ideal social arrangement (organization) was to reflect the theory of the law of castes and life stages, which was worked out in texts as a model for the whole of Hindu society (Hiltebeitel 2002: 15). A person’s duties vary according to caste and stage of life, not to mention other factors such as gender, family, region, and the quality of the times (Hiltebeitel 2002: 15). Hiltebeitel explains (2002: 15):
“…the ideal represents society as working to the reciprocal advantage of all castes, each one having duties necessary to the proper functioning of all castes, each one having duties necessary to the proper functioning of the whole and the perpetuation of their hierarchical principle that defines the whole.” (Hiltebeitel 2002: 15)
Not only Hinduism supports the idea of Indonesia being rather particularistic. Buddhism does, too. Buddhism, a religion without the caste system of Hinduism was, in pre-Islamic Indonesia, a religion in which “… a new elite of religious specialists appeared” (Goméz 2002: 61). Buddhist teachings are not absolute statements about reality which make it malleable to diverse populations (Goméz 2002: 71). Furthermore, the form of Buddhism which was assimilated by the Indonesian archipelago can be described as eclectic (Eliade and Culianu 1995: 277). Most of the Buddhist schools believed that only a few human beings could aspire to become fully awakened beings (Eliade and Culianu 1995: 264-277). But the attainment of liberation was a great achievement, and a person who was assured of an end to reincarnation (nirvana) was considered the most saintly, and deserving of the highest respect (Goméz 2002: 58). Swearer (2002: 119) adds that Buddhism in Southeast Asia was diverse and eclectic, infused with elements of Hinduism and became “transformed in the process” (120) and part of a larger Indian cultural influence. It competed with autochthonous forms of animism as well as Brahmanic cults (Swearer 2002:123) which are again particularistic due to their differentiation of society and particular behavioural systems for each stratum. Today, the majority of Buddhists are to be found in Java, and its followers are mainly found among Indonesian of Chinese descent. Buddhism reached the Indonesian archipelago via trade as did other religions (Ray 1994: 121). Although social status in Buddhism is not rigidly caste bound, it is however, linked to professions. Ray (1994: 124) notes: “… Buddhist literature emphasized the occupational divisions among the people and the distinction between the higher and lower occupations.” This view reflects the idea of particularistic elements of Hinduism and Buddhism, which had dominated the Indonesian archipelago for more than one thousand years before the arrival of Islam and which are still present in Javanese traditions today (Hall 1968: 12-40). This would give reason to assume that Indonesia, formed by its rich cultural heritage of Hinduism and Buddhism, might score particularistically, following the dimension’s underlying assumption of a relation between a country’s score and religious history.
It is relevant to include Javanese social structure, too, in this comparative perspective, in order to better understand why it is plausible to describe Indonesia as rather particularistic. For centuries, Javanese social culture has deeply influenced Indonesian society. The Javanese have a tradition of absorbing foreign cultures and of blending them into their own culture in an unparalleled way (selective adaptation). Old and new, foreign and indigenous are all integrated, with long-standing traditions being continued. Even today, many Indonesians consider Javanese behavioural patterns as binding. Many Javanese principles have become, by extension, Indonesian principles (Dahm 1999: 231). The history of Javanese society, embodied in Javanese patterns of thinking and behaviour, still continues to shape present-day life, with harmony being the ultimate goal and conflicts being avoided at all costs (rukun) (Markham 1995: 67-71). Another key term is “display of respect” (hormat) (Markham 1995: 72-77). In all matters, “face” (preservation of face) plays a central role (Mulder 1990: 139).
These traditional Javanese cultural traits can still be found in most villages throughout Java. It is there that the division between the common people and the rich elite, as practiced for more than a thousand years, is still evident. The kings of the city states during the Hindu-Javanese era were perceived to have cosmic powers, and the king would rule his people with his magical powers (kesektèn) (Kulke 1993). Whilst the kings, and after them the sultans, were clearly superior to all worldly matters and viewed as deities (Kulke 1999: 103), the priyayi residing at the Javanese courts developed their own elite culture. There were court ceremonies and music, dances, courtly literature, and the art of batik-making, all of which blended into a culture for the privileged at the courts. Status and etiquette were inseparable from it. The sultanates of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, in particular, were the centres of “kejawen”, the Javanese etiquette. Courtly culture had a particularly strong influence on social manners. All behaviour had to obey the rules of politeness; the objective was to be “alus”, which means harmonious and reflective interaction. Refinement was the measure of all things (Keeler 1984: xvii-xxiv). In the opinion of the Javanese, the ability to be ”alus“ is a real symbol of power (Anderson 1972: 38). This included polished social manners as well as neat presentation. Acting differently was called “kasar”, meaning rough, unrefined, uncontrolled and generally inconsiderate behaviour (Keeler 1984: xvii-xxiv). As was the tradition of a courtly culture, mystic rituals were the expression of the world view of a small elite, although Javanese mysticism with its teachings of inner values, “kebatinan”, was and still is practiced by lower social classes, and traditionally expressed through various aspects of life, most notably the arts, which are again enjoyed by all social strata (Mulder 1979: 13). Social divisions in Indonesia are seen as the result of two thousand years of Hindu-Javanese development (MP, interview December 2004). Accordingly, there is a segment of “small people” (wong cilik), including peasants and the poorer classes on the one hand, and the “priyayi” on the other, consisting of civil servants, members of the wealthy classes, and more recently, intellectuals with university education (Koentjaraningrat 1960: 89; Geertz 1969: 6). Even today the priyayi enjoy a very high social standing (Markham 1995: 55). Good form, “kehalisan”, is their ideal. Priyayi have always been the stalwarts of the culture adhered to at the former Javanese courts. All the aforementioned examples support the notion that Hinduism has decisively shaped Indonesian culture. Headley (2004: 79) sums up nicely: “The hierarchy of a kinship system like that of the Javanese … insisting on a very rigid status system is linked to Hinduism”. Javanese aristocratic names often indicate status, as do clothes, language and behaviour. These attributes of Javanese culture do not only influence the first orientation, but also, as will be expressed later, other orientations, for example the status and the emotional orientation. Koentjaraningrat (1967: 391) writes in connection with social relationships in many parts of Indonesia: “Kingship, for instance, is one, but by no means the most important organizing principle”.
Reasons to argue that Indonesia scores rather particularistically can be found outside the religious sphere too, and have been agreed on by some political analysts. Freddy Kalidjernih explains this value orientation in the context of foreign relations (Kalidjernih 2001: 1-9). He reveals that particularism stands for relationship-based behaviour which is deeply rooted in Indonesian society. Also the idea of “bapakism” (literally fatherism) where a “bapak”, a superior (father), and a “anak buah”, an inferior (child), have reciprocal duties, speaks for a particularistic society. Bapakism is the Indonesian variant of the patron-client relations which can be found all over Southeast Asia (Dahm 1999: 243). According to Jackson and Rye (1978: 35): “These diffuse, face-to-face, enduring, non-contractual relationships are the primary social cement integrating Indonesian organization …” They go on (ibid: 35): “Substantial inequalities of income and opportunity exist throughout Indonesia…” People would interpret the huge social differences as “God given” (ibid: 35). Others see a relationship between corruption and particularistic societies.
To summarize, one can say that Indonesia seems to be rather a particularistic society than a universalistic one, and the aforementioned cultural traditions and religious conditions are regarded by the author as sufficient evidence to categorize Indonesia as rather particularistic (MP, interview December 2004). Once again the emerging consensus among researchers who believe that universalism is a feature of modernization per se, of more complex and developed societies, and who think that particularism is a trait of smaller, largely rural communities where everyone is known personally, could be rebutted. This is the case in many other Asian countries which, despite their modernized character, still score particularistically. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner themselves doubt the opinion that universalism and modernization go together, as the dimension is closely related to religion (1997: 35).
After examining the hypotheses that Indonesian society is rather particularistically oriented, it is now necessary to examine the ramifications of this orientation on marketing and consumer behaviour.
Choosing where to shop
Although a particularistically influenced consumer behaviour (which can be accommodated for by a marketing mix targeting these behavioural patterns), the benefit of explicit use of this orientation’s meanings in relation to consumer behaviour seems to have been greatly underestimated in Indonesia until now. Cultural conditions of the orientation have led to a social life and consumption patterns in Indonesia which are more particularistic than in most western nations, which is the reason why the marketing mix must be customized to these cultural differences. As mentioned, in particularistic societies, relationships are especially important, for example those to family and friends. But the meaning of relationships can be extended to those outside this private social sphere, for example, those between buyers and sellers, and producers and distributors. These relationships tend to be close in Indonesia, where significance is attached to the interdependence between subjects inside and outside the marketplace. Interviews and observations showed that these linkages exist not only between the commercial players in markets (intra-market), but also between these players and the end-consumer (inter-market) ( IS, interview October 2004; HS, interview December 2004). Even in Jakarta, which is a collection of villages each with its own market and stores (van Diermen 1997: 44; IS, interview October 2004), people from all social backgrounds still tend to shop daily und prefer local neighbourhood stores in view of the fact that in Indonesia’s large cities, the traffic situation can only be described as chaotic. Those who do so, have built up strong relationships with their sellers. The boom of convenience stores (which are also called “neighbourhood stores”, reflecting the importance of intra-community relations) is, as figures show, especially strong in particularistic societies (such as Thailand) and much less so in universalistic societies (such as Germany). Of course, there are generally many reasons behind such trends, but one could be that the particularistic consumer prefers a nearby shop (where one can meet neighbours and build-up a relationship with the employees) to an anonymous super- or hypermarket. This is true for relationships on traditional markets, as well as modern convenience stores or luxury boutiques (MP, interview December 2004), i.e. there is a dichotomy between formal/informal sectors, which are both capitalist modes of production and consumption reminiscent of Boeke’s (1942) “theory of ‘dual economy’”.
Customer-relationship management (CRM) [pemasaran hubungan pelanggan]
Relationship-based consumer behaviour can be beneficial for companies if consumers are provided with services in ways reflecting the importance of particularistic, i.e. relationship-based conduct. Retail Asia83, in its March edition 2005, mirrors this position by arguing that “providing a preferred customer experience” is one of the biggest challenges” (62). This experience is associated with the need to enhance in-store service and to maximize the use of relationship programs and loyalty schemes, as well as to conduct “…ongoing, rigorous analysis of customer-purchase patterns” (ibid: 62). Brian Moore added in Retail Asia December 2004 that: “… a high-invest customer has to be treated as a partner…” (55) and be targeted with appropriate strategies. The relationships are usually fostered by customer-relationship-management (CRM) programs which have been gradually implemented in some Indonesian companies. Not surprisingly, companies founded by Asians, i.e. from countries which generally score higher on the particularism ranking, set benchmarks for CRM programs. In this context, the CRM programs of Asian hotel chains, such as Mandarin Oriental84 or Shangri-La85 often set standards and have been copied by companies, whether competitors or players outside the hotel industry. However, Indonesia lags behind in the development of these programs, for example when compared to Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, and it is the believed that these CRM programs can be adapted to the Indonesian consumer mindset in a more appropriate manner, i.e. by leveraging on the particularistic behaviour of Indonesians.
|Figure C-6 Le Meridien Jakarta CRM|
In Indonesia one CRM program is frequently quoted, mostly because of the size of its customer base. Matahari86, Indonesia’s largest listed retailer (Retail Asia December 2004: 22), which targets middle and middle-up market segments, offers one form of loyalty program through its Matahari Club Card (MCC). This program, pioneered in Jakarta, has more than four million members (Retail Asia December 2004: 24). Matahari’s target is to become “…the store of choice for customers in the middle to middle-upper segment”, as its president director and CEO Mailool notes.
Banking and the credit card sector (in contrast to the retail segment) introduced CRM programs in Indonesia early, since they were aware of the significance of personal relations. Financial services in Indonesia have also implemented a number of CRM programs resulting, for example, in the opening of numerous so-called VIP lounges at airports to pander to their customers. This has been incredibly successful and Indonesians who enter these lounges by showing their golden credit cards almost burst with pride. The high demand for, and easy availability of, gold cards in Indonesia has led banks to the strategy of upgrading most of their customers to platinum level in order to make them show their cards (HaS, interview December 2004).
Consumers do not only spend more on cards of higher tier levels, since they can signal their financial background via their cards, but also because the CRM can cater for card holders’ requirements and wants in a more targeted manner. In the November 2004 edition of “Prestige Indonesia” Vadyo Munaan, MasterCard International Vice President and Country manager, explains that the premium card business is being driven by “the greater perceived prestige of being a Gold or Platinum cardholder”. (Prestige Indonesia 2004: 94-95). He adds: “MasterCard has been surprised at the amount of Platinum card usage” (Prestige Indonesia 2004: 95). Munaan believes that there are currently 15 million Indonesians who qualify for premium cards and this segment is likely to grow. He explains that, before the crisis, the percentage of gold card holders was about 20 percent of the total, and the classic card holders, 80 percent. However, after the crisis, this balance shifted to 50:50 as if status symbols had become more important - “the one you pull out is the platinum card”- (ibid 2004: 95). For further growth, MasterCard advises its issuing banks to tie the cards to additional benefits to boost customer relationships. He sees points and discount schemes as big pull factors, as in other countries. The author believes that the tier system of credit cards and its popularity in Indonesia, which is much higher than in other markets, can be transferred and implemented also in retailers’ CRM.
|Figure C-7 Credit cards in Singapore and their CRM schemes|
A comparison of countries and their rankings in the rule orientation with Transparency International’s global corruption perceptions index (CPI), reveals that corruption is especially rampant in particularistic oriented countries. As the following figure shows, advertising sometimes uses this kind of taking advantage. An advertising campaign such as this is possible in Singapore, which is generally considered not to be corrupt; however, in Indonesia which is generally considered to be very corrupt, an advertisement of this kind would be met with resistance (AS, interview December 2004).
|Figure C-8 Titanium Card in Singapore "Power corrupts. Use it wisely"|
Ideas and recommendations for action
The particularistic behaviour of Indonesians combined with its status consciousness (which will be discussed in detail later) offers substantial business opportunities. Indonesians expect to be treated according to their status and spending patterns. This means a good customer (high-turnover) prefers retailers where his standing and commitment to the shopping outlet are reflected in services around the shopping experience. This means, in fact, that the Matahari Club Card does not conform to Indonesians’ preference to be recognized not only according to their status but also to their commitment to the outlet. A Matahari Club Card as part of a CRM program which recognizes customer commitment, i.e. turnover, shopping frequency etc. not only in terms of points accrued but also in services, such as different tier club cards, check-outs according to tiers etc. might be more beneficial for the company in terms of customer satisfaction and subsequently, spending. There is a common saying in business, that one makes 80 percent of turnover with 20 percent of the customers. This is universally true and this 20 percent of customers in Indonesia seems to need to be treated according to their particularistic background. In more luxurious surroundings, for example, in SOGO department stores, one could think of implementing not only different check-outs but also of having invitations to special events or late-night shopping when busy well-heeled customers have more time and are not stuck in traffic (as discussed with HaS, interview December 2004). Personal shopping experiences, such as being greeted at the entrance to private viewing rooms, could complement the shopping experience. In the automobile industry the shopping experience, for example, can be differentiated on the basis of which car one is interested in and then customers can be dealt with in different showrooms complementing the lifestyle represented by the car (DM, interview December 2004).
Generally it seems that CRM programs are becoming increasingly important all around the world. However, in particularistic societies such as Indonesia, pandering to customers’ thirst for status (there is a positive correlation between the rule and the status orientation), prestige and treatment according to their relationship to the outlet, combines with customers’ willingness to show their special relationship and customer status off. Special hospitality events which cater for a company’s best clients are not only covered by local press in Indonesia, but parallels can be found in other particularistic societies.
In Singapore, BMW went so far as to cement its relationship with clients by setting a four-page promotional feature which shows nothing but portrait pictures of their best customers under the headline “Society’s Top 300” (Singapore Tatler April 2005: 98-101), while a two-page ad features BMW’s 7series with the tagline “Vision, the true aspect of leadership”. The importance of the relationship with customers becomes particularly evident in promotional features such as these.
Irwan Danny Mussry, the director of Time International Indonesia, reflects on the special customer loyalty trend by saying: “Limited edition timepieces are extremely important in the eyes of our customers here in Indonesia” (Soelaeman 2004: 32-33). A customer in a particularistic society expects much more to be treated according to the relationship built with the company (HS, lecture October 2004). In a country where collecting watches is one of the hobbies of the well-off (Appendix 1, Figure 223-224) it makes sense to sell limited editions to the most loyal of customers and to inform them early of new models. Special horology workshops enjoy popularity in Indonesia, which is the reason why European watch manufacturers frequently offer very exclusive seminars in hotels in Jakarta (Appendix 1, Figure 223-224). What they are trying to do is to secure long-term customer loyalty and retention. European watch manufacturers’ keen interest in their special Indonesian and Singaporean customers is also shown in the edition of the most exclusive watches. Thus the German Watch Manufactory “Glashütte” presented a special edition (limited to only a few dozen watches) to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Singapore’s independence. These watches were discreetly decorated with Singapore’s national flower, the orchid, and were specially made for the loyal customers of the company in Singapore. The benefits of customer cards are however not only seen in the context of increasing customer loyalty but it is also believed that by giving customers more benefits they are less likely to ask for discounts, a behaviour still widespread in Indonesia (HaS, interview December 2004).
Interestingly, in particularistic societies (such as Indonesia) where customer relationships need to be fostered, more than 79 percent of respondents to the Siemens Mobile Lifestyle Survey in which more than 3,000 people were surveyed, agreed that “mobile phones and SMS help to foster customer relationship” (2001). This particularism comes into play again in the form of ring tones pertaining to individual callers. In Indonesia (43 percent) and the Philippines (48 percent) of interviewees answer that they “… have a distinct ring tone to distinguish my loved one when he/she calls”. This figure is much lower in less particularistic and universalistic societies.
Relationships to national or ethnic groups
Relationships to customers can also be fostered by emphasizing one’s “Indonesianness”, and familiarity with Indonesian values can be used as a means of competing with foreign companies. Sampoerna and Indofood have been able to achieve a high standing in Indonesian society (reflected by their brand values) (Indonesian Brand Award 2004a). Other possibilities might be to stress friendly service and the fact that they represent sound family values, saying that they have been a family-run business for the past fifty years or so.
Another interesting consumer behaviour feature which can be linked to the rule orientation is the following. Indonesians as well as Singaporeans, and to a much lesser extent Malaysians (Malaysia scores much lower on the particularism range), are very particularistic about festive days. A festive day in any ethnic group is welcomed as a reason to celebrate and offer sales specials. Where else than in Singapore would one find a shop with a sign saying “Jesus is the reason for the season” to make people aware of the Christmas sales?
|Figure C-9 Localized advertising campaigns (1)|
Singapore has always been a very diverse society in which the need for marketing to different ethnic groups has been taken for granted. European luxury brands in an, for the high-end market, unprecedented move to niche or intercultural marketing, have started to create commemorative items in a tribute to Singapore’s national day (Channel News Asia 2005a). Sales figures for the S$6,000 “National Day fountain pen” created by Montegrappa surpassed expectations. The French jewellery house Cartier, counting Singaporeans among their most loyal customers, created “a white gold Lion pendant and pen named ‘Living Harmony’” which sold out quickly (Channel News Asia 2005a). Behind Cartier’s particularistic, i.e. localized product, is a lot of understanding of the diverseness of Singaporean society. Cartier’s designer Orina Maretzi explained:
“…the main concept was to represent the four different cultures in Singapore. [One] can see on the murals, there are two temples, an Indian and a Chinese, a Christian church and a mosque for the Muslims. This piece represents the four cultures living together in a harmonious and democratic way.” (Channel News Asia 2005a)
The following figures (C-10 - C16) highlight the impact of ethnic-specific marketing in particularistically oriented societies.
|Figure C-10 Localized advertising campaigns (2)|
|Figure C-11 Advertising and festive days|
|Figure C-12 Twisting tradition: BMW’s award-winning ads in Singapore (1)|
|Figure C-13 Twisting tradition: BMW’s award-winning ads in Singapore (2)|
|Figure C-14 Localization of the 4 Ps in Singapore|
In Indonesia, with 88 percent Muslims, the need to take social diversity into account seems to be less urgent. However, the reality requires a different approach as Nestlé and Unilever have recently shown (Part D of this thesis).
Another strong, interesting argument supporting the difference between particularistic and universalistic societies could be the higher brand loyalty of Asian consumers, who are generally more particularistic than consumers in western countries. Brands, so it is believed by advocacies of the identity-oriented theory in brand management, are recognized by consumers as personalities (brand personalities) and over time they establish relationships to these brands (“brands are friends”) (Meffert et al. 2002: 42). One can assume that the intensity of consumers’ relationships is higher in countries where relationships and relationship-based behaviour play a larger role.
|Figure C-15 Localized marketing approaches in Singapore (ad, courtesy of Miele)|
|Figure C-16 Glashütte’s tribute to its Singaporean customers|
The first orientation, however, does not only translate into relationships with humans and brands, but also into specific products. Research by the author revealed that agreement with the idea “my mobile phone is the technological extension of my personality” correlates with the country’s score in the first dimension. In Indonesia (65 percent), which scores rather particularistically together with the Philippines (62 percent), the majority of the populations agree, whereas in Australia - a rather universalistic society - only 19 percent of the people agree with the statement (Siemens Mobile Lifestyle Survey 2003). The same correlation is seen in interviewees’ agreement with the statement “when I leave my mobile phone at home – I just have to go back home and get it” and “if I don’t receive an SMS or call for a long time I begin to check my mobile phone constantly” (Siemens Mobile Lifestyle Survey 2003).
Relationship-based behaviour is also apparent in the usage of celebrities (artis) who endorse products on Indonesian TV. According to Daniel Ziv, (2003: 31) Jakarta is home to approximately three hundred gossip and celebrity tabloids, through which Indonesia’s working class lives vicariously. Drivers and housekeepers spend much of their time watching soap operas on TV and reading the latest gossip about their favourite stars, so “that the relationship becomes almost personal” (Ziv 2003: 31). Clearly this admiration for media and sports stars is reflected in Indonesian advertising, where, compared to China, specialists such as doctors are less likely to endorse products. Professional arguments seem to be less important, as do rational TV ads.
Given the observed interaction between, for example, retailers and consumers, which appears to be much closer than in universalistic societies, the following course of action can be recommended. In order to secure long-term relationships (which are more significant in particularistic societies such as Indonesia than in so-called individualistic societies), a special way to address customers is necessary. How this sales approach can happen, whether with CRM programs or with a much localized advertising campaign, was explained in the previous paragraphs and was illustrated with some examples. Appendix 1, (Figure 22-48, 64, 66, 77) offers further visuals, and makes the meaning of this orientation in consumer behaviour (and therefore in advertising – promotion of the 4Ps) apparent. Just how far marketing mix localization can go, is shown firstly in the case-study (Part D) and secondly in the exhibits showing various McDonalds products from Prosperity Burger to McD Ayam (Appendix 1, Figure 7-11).
Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner's “communitarianism versus individualism” value orientation (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 50-68; Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 62-72) is virtually identical to Hofstede's “collectivism versus individualism” dimension (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 73-114). This orientation reflects one of the most frequently discussed and researched concepts. Hofstede defines this dimension as follows:
"Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him- or herself and his or her immediate family. Collectivism as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people's lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty." (Hofstede 1994: 51; Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 76)
Collectivism and individualism deeply pervade cultures since an individualistic culture sees the individual as the end and improvements to collective arrangements as the means of achieving it. Individualism is based on the principle of asserting one’s independence and individuality. All societies have individuals and groups, but individualism stresses the smallest unit as being that where the solution lies (Usunier and Lee 2005: 55). Individualism has been described by Parsons and Shils (1951: 10) as “a prime orientation to the self”, and collectivism as “a prime orientation to common goals and objectives” (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 50). Collectivistic societies consider not the individual, but the group to be the most fundamental component of society (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 57). The orientation covers how people relate to others and concerns the conflict between what one wants as an individual and the interests of the group to which one belongs (Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 62-63; Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 50).
In individualistic cultures, one’s identity is in the person. People are “I”-conscious, express personal opinions, and self-actualization is important; individual decisions are valued more highly than group decisions. In collectivistic cultures, people are “we”-conscious (Newman and Grauerholz 2002: 52-54). Their identity is based on the social system to which they belong, and it is important to avoid the loss of “face” (preservation of face).
Collectivistic cultures are, in contrast, “shame” cultures (Bakhtiar 1994; Neckel 1991). The expression used by people from collectivistic cultures is having or losing “face”. Another difference between individualistic and collectivistic cultures is it that in the latter, priority is given to relationships with people, whereas in individualistic cultures, priority is given to tasks.
Between 70 and 80 percent of the world’s population is more or less collectivistic. All of Asia, Africa, and Latin America are collectivistic (de Mooij 2005: 62). Indonesia scored 14 on the individualism index which is rank 68-69, compared to Singapore which scored 20 like China (rank 56-61), and Malaysia, 26 (rank 52). A lower score in the dimension, i.e. a lower rank, stands for rather collectivistic societies and vice versa.
|Figure C-17 Indonesia scoring rather collectivistically|
Many countries that score highly on Hofstede’s power-distance-index (portrayed later in this chapter) score low on the individualism index and vice versa, which corroborates the negative correlation between the two dimensions. These assumptions are confirmed by Talcott Parsons (1937), well known for his idea that every group or society tends to fulfil four “functional imperatives” (structural functionalism), which support the assertion of correlations between Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s dimensions. One of the characteristics used by him to describe societies is the differentiation between “group” and “self”. A society whose priority is “group”, i.e. a collectivistic society, also shows, according to Parsons, the characteristics of “particular” which can be translated as being “particularistic” in Trompenaars’ and Hofstede’s terms (described in the prior paragraph about rule orientation). One can therefore assert that collectivistic societies are rather particularistic, too, and individualistic societies are rather universalistic.
|Figure C-18 Correlations between different orientations|
In the context of this orientation (which is of the utmost importance for the Indonesian and for Asian cultural as well as consumer behaviour) it was deemed necessary to explain first the effects of the orientation on cultural behaviour, prior to explaining the cultural premises of the orientation. The decision to proceed in this way was taken since this orientation can be considered basically one of the most important for consumer behaviour and the orientation is clearly reflected in everyday life. It is precisely this behaviour evident in everyday life (cultural behaviour) which influences consumer behaviour.
Extreme collectivism and extreme individualism can be considered the opposite poles of the second global orientation of national cultures, and have been studied by Hofstede (1991, 2005) as well as Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997). In individualistic societies, relationships with others are not obvious and prearranged: they are voluntary and have to be carefully fostered. In the collectivistic society, there is no need to make specific friendships: who one’s friends are, is predetermined by one’s family or group membership. In collectivistic societies, such as Indonesia, the family within which the child grows up consists of a number of people living closely together: not just the parents and other children, but, for example, grandparents, uncles, aunts, servants, or other housemates. This is known in cultural anthropology as the “extended family” (consanguineous family) and used to refer to kindred (an egocentric network of relatives that extends beyond the domestic group) who do not belong to the conjugal family (Hill and Kopp 1989: 44-58; Newman and Grauerholz 2002: 7-12¸ Saxton 1983: 327-329). Cultures in which the extended family is common, usually happen to be collectivistic cultures (Newman and Grauerholz 2002: 55-56). When children grow up, they learn to think of themselves as part of a “we” group, a relationship that is not voluntary but innate. The “we” group is distinct from other people in society who belong to “they” groups, of which there are many. The “we” group (or in-group) is the major source of one’s identity and the only secure protection one has against life’s hardships. Therefore one owes lifelong loyalty to one’s in-group, and breaking this loyalty is one of the worst things a person can do (AS, interview November 2004). A mutual dependence relationship which is both practical and psychological develops between the person and the in-group. The loyalty to the group that is an essential element of the collectivistic family also means that resources are shared. If one member of an extended family of twenty persons has a paid job and the others do not, the earning member is supposed to share his or her income in order to help feed the entire family (HS, conference October 2004).
In contrast, a minority of people in the world lives in societies in which the interests of the individual prevail over the interests of the group and which are called individualistic. There, most children are born into families consisting of mother, father and, possibly, other children. This type is called “nuclear family” (conjugal family) (Hill and Kopp 1989: 44-58; Newman and Grauerholz 2002: 7; Saxton 1983: 327-329; Hutter 1981: 94). A conjugal family (sometimes known by the British sociological term, “cornflake family”) is a household distinct from the extended family (Newman and Grauerholz 2002: 7). Nuclear families are typical in societies where people must be relatively mobile, such as hunter-gatherers and industrial societies (Hill and Kopp 1989: 44-58). In nuclear families, relatives tend to live elsewhere and are rarely seen. As they grow up, children from families such as these, soon learn to think of themselves as “I”. This “I”, their personal identity, is distinct from other people’s “I” (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 75).
In an environment of intense and continuous social contact (such as that of an extended family), the maintenance of harmony with one’s social environment becomes a key virtue that extends to other spheres beyond the family. In most collectivistic cultures, direct confrontation by another person is considered rude and undesirable. The word “no” is seldom used, because saying “no” is confrontational. In individualistic cultures, on the other hand, speaking one’s mind is a virtue (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 86). Confrontation can be salutary: a clash of opinions is believed to lead to a higher truth. According to Magnis-Suseno, in the region of Java described by him, obedience within the family is not sanctioned by the mother’s punishment or expression of disapproval, but rather by the threat that some external force (bad spirits, dogs and strangers) will do something to the child (Magnis-Suseno 1981: 44). In this way, the child experiences its own family solely as the source of its emotional and physical security. Every type of behaviour which is in accordance with the family unit, is internalized as being correct. By the same token, everything which divides the family is considered to be wrong. The outside world is a permanent threat. Magnis-Suseno has a direct explanation as to why Javanese, even when they are adults, fit unreservedly into their groups in the same way. To be opposed to someone else’s will, is tantamount to revolt spiritually and emotionally. The principle of conflict avoidance is ultimately extended to social relationships as a whole. The code of customs of the common law “adat” is especially affected by it. Avoiding confrontation (“rukun”) is the most important commandment (Mulder 1978: 39).
The orientation and communication
When people meet in an individualistic culture they feel the need to communicate verbally (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 88), in order to confirm their relationship to one another. Merely being present is insufficient, and silence can lead to misapprehensions. Social conversations can be depressingly banal, but they are compulsory. In a collectivistic culture, the fact of being together is emotionally sufficient; there is no compulsion to talk unless there is information to be transferred. Raden Mad Hadjiwibowo, an Indonesian businessman from a Javanese noble family, recalls family visits from his youth as follows (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 88-89):
“Visits among Javanese family members needed no previous appointment. … it never occurred to one that a visit would not suit the other party. It was always convenient. […] There we sat, but nobody spoke. We were not embarrassed by this silence; nobody felt nervous about it. Every now and then, thoughts and news were exchanged. But this was not really necessary. We enjoyed being together, seeing each other again. After the first exchange of news, any other communication was utterly redundant. […] After an hour or so, the guests would ask permission to leave. With mutual feelings of satisfaction, we parted. In smaller towns on the island of Java life is still like this ...” (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 88-89)
According to this quotation, mere physical togetherness suffices, and constant chatter and communication is superfluous. This, of course, does not imply that Indonesians always remain silent. They are very loquacious; what is important is that speaking is not necessary to confirm their relationship to another conversation partner. For this, mere presence will suffice. When discussing this orientation, the following theories are also to be examined. In the context of language and communication, U.S. anthropologist Edward T. Hall (1959, 1966, 1976) distinguished cultures on the basis of their way of communicating along a dimension from high-context to low-context (Hall and Hall 1989: 6-10; Hall 1976: 101). According to Hall (Hall and Hall 1989: 6) “context is the information that surrounds an event…” Hall (1976: 101) explains:
"High context transactions feature pre-programmed information that is in the receiver and in the setting, with only minimal information in the transmitted message. Low context transactions are the reverse. Most of the information must be in the transmitted message in order to make up for what is missing in the context." (Hall 1976: 101)
High-context communication is one in which little has to be said or written because it is mostly either in the physical environment or supposed to be known by the persons involved, while very little is in the coded, explicit part of the message (Hall and Hall 1989: 6-7). This type of communication is frequent in collectivistic cultures. Hall (1989: 6) explains that Japanese, Arabs, and Mediterranean peoples, who have extensive information networks among family, friends, colleagues, and clients and who are involved in close personal relationships, are high-context. A low-context communication form is one in which the mass of information is vested in the explicit code, which is typical for individualistic cultures. Many things that in collectivistic cultures are self-evident must be said explicitly in individualistic cultures (Hall and Hall 1989: 9). Although Hall does not define “context” precisely, the following components can reasonably be presumed: location, people involved (age, gender, dress, social standing, etc) (Hall and Hall 1989: 6).
As a result of the following analysis, Indonesia, (as many other Asian countries) can be described as a culture of high-context communication, i.e. a culture where context plays a significant role. One example is the rule of politeness; the manner of speaking perceptibly shifts in register according to the age, gender and social position of the conversation partner, as well as the relative positions of the speakers (pupil/teacher, buyer/seller, and employer/employee). The word “no” exists in Bahasa Indonesia but is rarely used (Nothofer 2001: 29).
The orientation and language
So far, the mostly high- and low-context modes of communication and their relationship to meaning in general have been discussed. Yet the cultural element “language”, generally assumed to be associated with the social orientation of a society, (Sapir 1929: 214) has not been discussed. Yoshi and Emiko Kashima (1998: 461-486) studied the relationship between culture and language. Among other features of languages, they studied “pronoun drop”, the practice of omitting the first-person singular pronoun from a sentence. They included thirty-nine languages used in seventy-one different countries and looked for correlations with a number of other variables. The strongest correlation was found in the social orientation, i.e. between collectivism and the pronoun drop practice.
Languages spoken in individualistic cultures tend to require speakers to use the “I” pronoun when referring to themselves, whereas languages spoken in collectivistic cultures allow or prescribe dropping this pronoun. “Bahasa Indonesia” (Indonesian language), a normative form of the Malay language, (an Austronesian or Malayo-Polynesian language) (Bellwood 1997: 97-99; Sneddon 2003: 7-10) which had been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries (Bellwood 1997: 141), and was elevated to the status of official language in 1945, practices the “pronoun drop”, too, as well as the drop of subjects where grammatically allowed (Sneddon 1996: 160-165; Nothofer 1998: xiii-xv, 9; 1992: 10). The “pronoun drop” in Bahasa Indonesia, a grammatical phenomenon of many languages spoken in collectivistic societies, underscores the conclusion (made by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner as well as Hofstede) that Indonesia scores rather as a collectivistic-oriented country. However, Bahasa Indonesia’s and other regional Indonesian languages’ (such as Javanese and Sundanese) grammar rules seem to have major impact on dimensions concerning, for example, the status orientation (ascribed versus achieved status) and the power orientation (high versus low power-distance) (both orientations will be discussed later), too, since many of these regional languages use different personal and possessive pronouns depending on characteristics (age, status, kin group) of the person addressed, and also show the pronoun-drop rule (Nothofer 2001: 29-32).
An analysis of not only the main language Bahasa Indonesia but also of regional languages and dialects gives rise to the impression that these were languages whose grammatical rules (for example pronoun drop) are similar to those in other collectivistic countries. This in turn reinforces the impression that these languages shape Indonesian society collectivistically. Further linguistic characteristics which could support the contention that Indonesian society can be described as collectivistically oriented, are the following.
The English language, spoken in the most individualistic countries, (the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom) representing ranks one to three on Hofstede’s individualism index (IDV) Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 78), is the only one that writes “I” with a capital letter. In Bahasa Indonesia, for example, the word “saya” (meaning “I” in English) is actually often dropped because its usage is seen as inappropriate in certain circumstances (Sneddon 1996: 165). Hazel Rose Marks and Shinobu Kitayama (1994) argue that the way people experience their self differs with the culture they live in and influences whether a culture is rather individualistic or collectivistic.
According to Hofstede’s interpretation (2005: 93), “… individualistic cultures encourage an independent self [whereas] collectivistic cultures an interdependent self”. It is generally believed that the essence of the relationship between the individual and society, at least in the West, has changed considerably since the Renaissance (Martin 2004). In earlier societies, individuals were defined primarily in terms of their surrounding community: the family, the clan, the tribe, the city-state or the feudal group (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 52) but with individualism being the result of periods of intense innovation such as the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration, the Netherlands’ Golden Age, the Age of Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution, collectivistic behaviour was repelled (Zwiedineck-Südenhorst 1949; Weippert 1949). In contrast, the Arabic-Islamic region and later the Ottoman Empire too, did not experience the enlightenment and thereby secularization, which rejects the theological idyll of unity of church and state (Hendrich 2004: 47-62), and which does not significantly support the development of the individual independent of his environment. Since the Indonesian archipelago was outside the sphere of influence of this era, it can be assumed that it was largely unaffected by this development.
Hadiwijono (1967: 51) investigates among others, the individualization factor in Indian influenced Javanese traditions. Accordingly, an explicit historically grown concept of mankind can be derived from old Hindu-Buddhist Javanese sources. Individualization is regarded here, however, as negative. Precisely as a result of individualization, human beings suffer, which means that they are bound to the cycle of reincarnation According to this, individualistic actions should be avoided and one should conform to the group. Freedom in this connection is only seen as liberation from the coarse, i.e. from the material world and personal, individual passions. Furthermore, “adat” is endowed with a spirit of collectivism (Garang 1974: 27). In Indonesia, the collective system is summed up, for example, in the expression “gotong-royong”. The origins can be traced, among others, to external conditions (the effect of the environment on people and their culture has been well-known since the age of Enlightenment) for example, in the working practices of wet rice cultivation, which requires mutual support and help. These environmental factors determine an individual’s or group’s behaviour and lead to conforming behavioural patterns, i.e. to cooperative oriented working patterns within the community (Garang 1974: 31).
A whole range of causes and effects has been offered to explain the decreasing importance and appeal of collectivistic behaviour (Usunier and Lee 2005: 54-56). But the idea that increasing individualism is a part of the rise of civilization itself, needs to be treated as a cultural belief rather than an undisputed fact, explains Hofstede (2005: 110-114), since Asian societies which have experienced modernization in the form of economic development still score rather more collectivistically than individualistically. The cultural contribution of the Age of Enlightenment (which advocated rationality regarding ideas concerning God and instigated revolutionary developments which influenced pietism) leads to a further important cultural element for the social orientation: religion. This means that, besides language which seems to influence societal behavioural modes resulting in a rather individualistic or collectivistic score, religion needs to undergo examination to decode its influence on this dimension. However, the consensus of opinion is that religion is not the definitive criterion for the investigation and classification of a country within the social orientation since, as already shown, the cultural element “language“ provides unequivocal clues. The following observations on religion are therefore kept to a minimum.
According to Hofstede (2005: 112), there is considerable evidence that individualism and collectivism follow the Protestant-Catholic religious divide. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 52-53) offer the following explanation. Each Puritan worshipper approached God as a separate being, seeking justification through works. Roman Catholics have always approached God as a community of the faithful. Research has found that Catholics score higher on group choices and Protestants significantly lower. Hofstede, too, confirms this with his findings that Latin catholic cultures, along with Asian cultures of the Pacific Rim, score lower on individualism than the Protestant West, particularly the U.S.
Although no research has been done on Islam in this respect, Arab countries, as well as Pakistan and Turkey score rather collectivistically in Hofstede’s research with Indonesia emerging as one of the most collectivistic countries (rank 68-69 of 74) (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 83). In Arabic, Islam means "submission" (understood as submission to God) (Newby 2002: I) and is described as a “Dīn” or “Deen”, meaning “way of life” and/or “religion” which indicates the unity of Muslims (community of the faithful, no separate being) who do not believe in absolute free will, since that contradicts God's omniscience and omnipotence. There is no official religious authority which decides whether a person is accepted into, or dismissed from, the community of believers, known as the “Ummah” (family or nation). Muslims regardless of differences regard themselves as one “ummah” (Newby 2002: U). The latter, seen as a community of believers as opposed to non-believers, manifests collectivistic orientations in its rituals of collectivistically oriented nature, for example, the pilgrimage to Mecca, fasting or the Friday prayers (which often have a significant community or even political role). The assumption that a collectivistic orientation in Islam colours Indonesian society is reinforced still further through basic Islamic tenets, i.e. equality and fraternity between all believers. The hypothesis that Indonesia is a collectivistically shaped society is further confirmed by this.
Thus, following this discussion, it can be declared as proven that Indonesia is to be classified as rather collectivistic. The effects of this collectivistic orientation on consumer behaviour and international marketing will be shown in the following section.
The following remarks commence with a brief overview of to what extent scholars consider that the purchasing-decision process is influenced by the social orientation. So far, in this field of research, the individual who makes a usage oriented purchasing-decision has been the focus. However, the latest research from the Asia-Pacific region reveals that the decision to purchase a certain product or service is not always an individual one, especially in collectivistically oriented societies, where groups such as the family influence the decision to purchase considerably more than in individualistically oriented cultures (HS, lecture October 2004).
After introducing the literature which reflects these new findings, an investigation of the repercussions of the social orientation on advertising will be carried out. A comprehensive perspective has been chosen, i.e. advertising initiatives from the collectivistically oriented Indonesia will be compared to those of individualistic societies. Furthermore, an example from the German advertising world has been chosen with the presentation of the ice cream brand Magnum. With the help of this example, the extent to which advertising reacts to political and social transformations (which can in turn alter consumer attitudes) is illustrated. This example should be seen as a means of making the reader sensitive to the case-study in which Unilever Indonesia reacted to societal change (Part D). Subsequently, with the aid of an example (growth in the fitness sector) a discussion will be held as to whether or not a change of orientation (in the area of conflict between individualism versus collectivism) is perceptible in Indonesian society. Firstly, however, a brief overview of current research in the field of purchasing decision-making is necessary.
The orientation and purchasing decisions
As aforementioned, most of the available marketing literature depicts individual consumers who make their own decisions (Jeannet and Hennessey 2001: 201-207). While the individualistic conception remains very much at the heart of the mental picture of marketing, there has lately been recognition of shared social intentions. For instance, Bagozzi and Lee (2002: 229-230) describe the concept of social intentions, termed “we-intentions”, to perform a group act. While there is a great deal of support for attitudes and subjective norms explaining individual intentions, they suggest a greater influence of the group on we-intentions, including group norms and social identity. They find multiple group influences on we-intentions, including social identity for Korean consumers. In similar studies, for example by Lee and Soutar (2004), it is also found that group norms strongly influence Singaporean’s we-intentions to travel to Australia. Another area of research, i.e. family decision-making, has a history of examining group decisions. The family is often seen as an interacting group of individuals, all influencing each other. While an organic conception of the family as a single-decision-making unit is not easily grasped, some intercultural consumer behaviour researchers have depicted the family group as an organic entity, as opposed to a casual collection of individuals who share information and some common interests and constraints, living together within the family cell. This is particularly true in Asia. Redding (1982: 112-113), for instance, emphasizes that:
“In most Asian cultures there is a particular grouping to which a person belongs, which involves him or her in patterns of obligation and behaviour of a special kind … It would, for instance be naïve to suppose that the spending power of a teenage market in a western country would be equivalent to one in, say, Hong Kong or Singapore.” (Redding 1982: 112-113)
The discretion over the use of income is heavily influenced, in the case of the Chinese teenager, by the expected contribution to the family. The tradition of deference to parental wishes also affects buying patterns in clothing, leisure expenditure, etc., especially as it is normal to live at home until marriage, i.e. expenditure for certain things which are used communally by the family, can be much higher, since numerous family members can be involved in financing the purchase.
The influence of collectivism on family decision-making has been well documented in literature where, particularly in China, Taiwan and Japan, a high level of joint decision-making has been reported (Chen et al. 1999). For China, Yang (1989) describes the influence of what she calls “familism” on behaviour as individuals, as family members and as consumers. The dimension of individualism versus collectivism presents that the vast majority of people in the world live in societies in which the interest of the group prevails over the interest of the individual (more countries cluster in the quadrant representing “collectivism” than in the quadrant “individualism” (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 83). The delimitation of particularistic behaviour on the family is also apparent in the economic sphere. The overseas Chinese business conglomerates are almost exclusively family businesses (Wijaya 2002: 229-256; Hamilton 1996: 13-26).
The orientation and advertising
All the aforementioned works reflect initial approaches as to how a collectivistic social orientation affects purchasing decisions. Subsequently, how purchasing decisions in collectivistic oriented societies are reflected in advertising, will be ascertained. To illustrate the analysis, where necessary, current examples taken from the world of advertising have been selected and compared to advertisements in less collectivistically oriented societies. The difference between collectivistic and individualistic cultures is reflected in the different roles of advertising and branding. In collectivistic cultures, corporate brands are favoured over product brands (de Mooij 2005: 64). In Indonesia, one can build a relationship between a company and consumers better than between (abstract) brands and consumers, which leads to public relations (PR) activities, in which the company being presented is considered more important than in the United States, for example, which scores rather individualistically. This often happens with the help of advertorials or newspaper articles about the company which do not always name the client. However, the consumer is not only interested in the manufacturer but also in its products; the product brands play a lesser role than the manufacturing brand or the name of the manufacturer in collectivistic oriented societies (HS, interview December 2004). In collectivistic cultures, people are more interested in concrete product features than in abstract brands, reflected in the fact that the Indonesian consumer asks a lot of questions and this results in a more time-consuming purchasing process.
Individualists tend to see brands as unique human personalities. In the extremely individualistic United States, even children have been named after big brands, such as L’Oréal, Chevrolet, and Armani, as de Mooij (2005: 65) vividly notes. More examples of the differences between individualistic and collectivistic countries could be added, but in the interest of brevity only a few have been quoted. In collectivistic societies the brand is seen as a symbol or an organization, whereas in individualistic societies it is regarded as a person or a concrete product. This behaviour is another reason for the high quality expectations in rather collectivistically oriented societies. This was especially apparent during the Asian crisis during which consumers did not switch to cheaper generic (no-name) products, private label products or “me-too” products but stuck to reputable companies which symbolize quality and trust to them more so than product brands do. Trust and quality are to be found in the organization (firm) or its logo, rather than in the brand name or the product itself. In this way, Indofood and Nestlé and their company logos are trusted rather than the individual products and brand names of these companies. This observation has to be taken into account when labelling products and advertising them. Well-known and trustworthy individuals should make their name and logo clearly visible to Indonesian consumers. Unilever Indonesia’s campaign for Sunsilk shampoo clearly shows Unilever’s name although Sunsilk is actually the brand name being advertised. In other countries the Unilever logo in Sunsilk campaigns is not visible.
As described elsewhere, an important difference between individualistic and collectivistic cultures is between low- and high-context communication. In individualistic cultures, the public tends to be addressed in a direct and personalized way. Words like “you”, “we”, and “I” are frequently used. So are imperatives. Some examples from highly individualistic cultures are: “Mein Magnum und Ich” (My Magnum and I) (Magnum of Unilever), “Just do it” (Nike), “I’m lovin’ it” (McDonald’s). In rather individualistic cultures, the personal pronoun “I” is frequently used, as in the global advertisement for McDonald’s. Such approaches tend to be rather unattractive in collectivistically oriented cultures, especially in countries where the pronoun-drop in languages is prevalent. The considerable impact with which a language endows advertisements reflects its importance as an influential cultural element on this orientation. The following example is designed to show how certain events can alter communication and visual language in advertising initiatives.
|Figure C-19 Advertising and purchasing decisions (1)|
|Figure C-20 Advertising and purchasing decisions (2)|
Magnum ice cream and the September 11th
According to Unilever Germany (GM, Unilever Germany, speech November 2002), the events of September 11th led to a perceptible shift of the social orientation towards collectivism in all societies. This led to a rejection of extreme hedonism (shown in individualism), in favour of so-called soft-hedonism (which is more collectivistically coloured) to use the language of advertisers and trend scouts in Germany. This reflects a global change of values which resulted in family and religion assuming greater importance. The post-September 11th metamorphosis had to be translated visually into advertising language. Unilever Germany, for example, reacted by changing the way in which the ice cream brand Magnum was positioned and communicated. The hedonistic, almost egoistic appearing ice cream which was eaten alone (seen in the campaign Me & My Magnum) in the 1990s became the caring, sharing ice cream of post-September 11th society. The content and visual language of the campaign had changed radically. The solitary character was replaced by a group of family and friends eating this brand of ice cream together. Even the range of products was adjusted accordingly to match changes in society. This led to the introduction of ice cream products with the brand name Magnum, intended to be shared and eaten together. This example highlights the influence of the social orientation on every day behaviour and consequently on consumer behaviour. As is the case for each of the orientations, these values will remain stable in the long term. However, value orientations can shift short and mid-term in the area of the social orientation either towards collectivism or individualism. This can be seen as a result of the events of September 11th which caused a rupture, especially in Western societies.
The orientation expressed in the visual language of advertising campaigns
The following aspect demonstrates, too, the considerable difference between collectivistic and individualistic societies as reflected in advertisements. The difference between the independent and interdependent self has an important impact on advertising appeal. Members of individualistic and collectivistic societies will respond differently to advertisements emphasizing individualistic or collectivistic appeals. In collectivistic cultures, such as Indonesia, appeals focusing on in-group benefits, harmony, and family are more effective. In individualistic cultures like the United States, advertising is more effective when appeals to individual benefits and preferences, personal success, and independence are made. A commercial where a man breaks out from a group and starts doing something on his own that the group has not thought of, would be seen positively in individualistic cultures but negatively in collectivistic Indonesia (AS, interview November 2004). Furthermore, the following aspect is important not only for advertising but also for product development. Whereas in collectivistic cultures people like to share things, in individualistic cultures people tend to keep the nice things for themselves. The above-mentioned ice cream brand Magnum has used this approach, as illustrated in their advertisements that say, “I share many things, but not everything”. A statement such as this would be unthinkable in Indonesia, as interviews revealed. Furthermore, as demonstrated, in collectivistically oriented societies a lot of things are shared. Gerke (1995, 2000), shows that students, for example, purchase an item of clothing together, which the group members can take in turns to wear. This fact should be borne in mind should a product be developed especially for collectivistically oriented societies.
The orientation also impacts on visual language and communication. In collectivistic societies, people do not like being alone or eating alone, whereas in individualistic societies people cherish their privacy. In collectivistic cultures, being alone means one has no friends or identity (JK, lecture October 2004). If one is alone, one is outside the group to which one belongs. This difference between advertisements showing individuals and loners, or showing people as part of groups is particularly evident in the visual language of advertising campaigns. Whereas in individualistic cultures people can enjoy fast food alone and being alone can even have a relaxing function, this is not the case in collectivistic cultures where people enjoy food together as illustrated below. Visuals by “McDonald’s Indonesia” or “KFC Indonesia” reflect this aspect: people in their commercials never eat alone, but always with family and friends.
Concepts reflecting collectivism may be more successful across borders than the highly individualistic approach. Marlboro, although not a resounding success in Indonesia (Marlboro’s parent company Altria bought the Indonesian cigarette maker Sampoerna to increase market share and sales in Indonesia) (de Mooij 2005), was more successful in Asia than Camel. The Camel man represented the lonely, masculine individual whereas the (also very masculine) Marlboro cowboy was implicitly part of a group. Sometimes he was seen alone, but he always returned to the campfire, to his companions. This is of course merely an assumption, but it appeared to interviewees in Indonesia to be a plausible explanation (AS, interview October 2004; BR, interview October 2004).
|Figure C-21 Collectivism and visual language|
However, in this context a value paradox between belonging-independence can also be recognized in Indonesian advertising, where on the one hand one sees groups of people in advertising, but on the other hand celebrities endorsing a product frequently are depicted alone. This reflects the fact that desired values can be diametrically opposed to one’s own reality (for example, individual success as a contrast to conformance to the group) (de Mooij 2005: 172).
Tag lines in advertising campaigns
Advertising content in individualistic cultures can refer explicitly to the independent self, for example “Designed for the Individual” (Mitsubishi, UK), “In a world of conformity some things are still made for the individual” (Herblein watch), and “Go your own way” (Ford Probe). Examples of collectivistic claims are “Prospering together” (Chiyoda Bank), Philips Electronics presents the slogan “Together we make your life better” in some cultures (always in local language) whereas in Dutch and German advertisements, the claim is “Let’s make things better” (always in English). The name “Tchibo Privat Kaffee” (Tchibo Private Coffee), makes such universalistic claims as “Überall auf der Welt” (everywhere in the world), supposing that the feeling will be the same for all people in the world who drink coffee. “Worldwide” and “world” are power words for individualistic societies, whereas “modern” and “international” (they appeal to the need to conform, and to belong to a new and greater world) are popular appeals in collectivistic cultures. Reader’s Digest (www.rdtrustedbrands.com), for example, publishes data on personal traits found in readership surveys. One of the traits is measured on the scale modern-traditional and the percentages of answers from people who considered themselves to be modern correlate with collectivism.
Considering the fact that approximately 70 percent of the world population is more or less collectivistic and many global advertising campaigns (usually made in their international advertising centres London or New York) reflect individualistic values, it is fair to assume that much global advertising is only effective for a small part of the target group. Most global ads address people in a direct way, show people alone, and refer to all sorts of individualistic claims such as “the power for self-expression”, (for example an international ad for Lexus).
The body and the self: an indicator of growing individualism in Indonesia?
After explaining the influences of the social orientation on advertising, an investigation of the phenomenon observed, i.e. of the trend among certain social strata signing up at a fitness club, will follow. In the field of market research, this trend has often been associated with individualization in society. Closer inspection of consumer expectations and behaviour has revealed however, that this assumption was not tenable in Indonesia. This trend was selected since the significance of local in global trends is abundantly apparent here. It is actually the area of leisure activities where changes have occurred which could easily be misinterpreted as signs of growing individualism in Indonesia. The following comments on the increasing popularity of fitness centres in Indonesia (as in other countries in Southeast Asia) is intended to demonstrate that exact analysis and interpretation of trends is necessary if they are not to be misinterpreted as a change in social orientation (values).
In Indonesia, fitness clubs which offer training facilities to individuals for individual sports (as opposed to team sports) seem to be gaining in popularity, at least with certain segments of society, usually younger people who have the financial means to join a fitness club and reside in one of Indonesia’s major cities. The success of muscle growth health supplements, sold nearly everywhere, confirms, together with images of men in advertisements, the trend towards a more hedonistic beauty ideal in Indonesia reminiscent of those in the Europe of the 1980s and 1990s. De Mooij (2005: 78) notes that there is no indication that individualistic cultures are healthier or unhealthier than collectivistic cultures, but the fact that people in individualistic cultures are more focused on their self is visible in a greater concern for their own health than is the case in collectivistic cultures. Analyzing the fitness trend in Indonesia and the seemingly hedonistic attitude of young Indonesians, no matter from which racial and religious background, falsely leads one to believe that this trend is a reflection of the individualization of society, i.e. a shift of the social orientation towards individualism. The following observation may also lead people unfamiliar with Indonesian society to drawing such conclusions.
A California fitness manager explained why the chain’s club in the entertainment centre of Jakarta’s famous Plaza Indonesia shopping centre offers workout facilities which allow mall visitors to watch men and women “exhibiting” themselves while doing sports: “Indonesians like this; we even added another floor where shoppers and fitness club members are only separated by panoramic glass windows” (CFM, interview September 2004). These windows do not fall short of their target. Many shoppers watch the sports enthusiasts watching shoppers admiring their stamina and beauty from behind windows in a steel-and-glass environment. Similar developments can be witnessed in Singapore where “The Straits Times” presents a so-called “HotBod” section of men and women showing-off their trained bodies in its Sunday edition, which in the Sunday papers in more individualistically oriented Germany (compared to Singapore) would be scarcely imaginable.
Conversations which took place in Jakarta quickly revealed however, that individualism only appears to play a role in the fitness and beauty trend. In individualistic countries such as the United Kingdom, people sign up at fitness clubs in order to work out when and how they please. Such individualistic thoughts however do not apply in Indonesia. There, the emphasis is on wanting to play sports with other people in a safe, clean and cool environment. When visiting one of these clubs, the notion of “communal“ becomes apparent when one sees people swapping machines and when it is realized that group training is the most popular form of training for both men and women. The following comments are intended to explain these findings with the aid of diverse examples.
With regard to Indonesia scoring collectivistically and being described as “not a place to be alone”, one can also assume that Indonesians prefer to do sports (as well as so many other activities) with others. Nothofer (1992: 74) reflects this assertion through his research into the Indonesian language. He explains that in most Western languages words like “noisy”, “busy” and “highly populated” are negatively connoted whereas “quiet” is seen in a positive way. Nothofer explains that in Indonesia the opposite is true. “Ramai” (noisy, busy) is seen positively and “sepi” (quiet), negatively. This can be seen as suggestive in the sense that Indonesians prefer to be with a group of people, instead of being alone. There might seem to be a positive correlation between individual sports/leisure activities and a move towards a more individualistic society. This, however, is not the case. In fact, the reverse is true. Indonesia reveals collectivistic leanings since the population prefers being in a group and the crowded fitness centre atmosphere panders to this predilection. Nothofer (1992: 74) adds that when Indonesians are confronted with loneliness (“kesepian”), they tend to switch on the radio or TV in order to create an atmosphere of “ramai” (noisy, crowded) which they prefer to quiet surroundings. Living-space prices reflect this preference, too, i.e. houses and flats are most expensive in lively, rather noisy areas, as it comes with the positive connotation of having access to markets, services, goods and wealth (PM, interview December 2004; PM is the wife of a Soeharto minister and society lady whose family owns several domiciles in Menteng). The mansion in which the interview took place is in heavy traffic Jalan Surabaya where one side of the road is occupied by informal traders, attracting hundreds of customers per day, and the other, by exclusive houses protected by meter high concrete walls). Despite being able to build palatial-like mansions for her family in South Jakarta (Kebayoran Baru and Pondok) where there is much less traffic and noise and more space, she answered that she would never move, giving the exact reason of “kesepian”, mentioned above.
Possible misinterpretations of the orientation’s impacts
Caution is necessary however when investigating the repercussions of the social orientation on certain behavioural patterns or preferences which could be interpreted as collectivistic in one society, but could have an entirely different significance in another country. The following examples are intended to draw attention to the danger of an ethnocentric analysis of consumer behaviour.
Marieke de Mooij (2000, 2005) compared fifteen European countries and finds meaningful correlations between consumers’ behavioural data and the social orientation. In all these cases, a country’s score on the individualism versus collectivism index (social orientation) explains the country differences in consumer behaviour better than national wealth does, argues de Mooij. According to her consumer survey, persons in rather individualistic countries are more likely to live in detached houses than in apartments or flats compared to collectivistic countries. This first correlation is not applicable to Indonesia. In Indonesia most people live in houses, not flats, although particularly in urban regions, flats in the form of condominiums are becoming increasingly popular. This is because these housing developments offer many facilities (Appendix, Figure 253-271) which the average owner of a condominium flat could not afford to install in his or her house. Therefore, in Indonesia, although it scores rather collectivistically, most people live in houses. The trend towards people moving into apartments and flats in condominiums cannot be seen as a trend in the direction of collectivism, as de Mooij’s study would suggest, but rather in the direction of individualism, i.e. of having one’s own space separate from the extended family (Interviews with residents of Apartemen Taman Rasuna Said 2004).
|Figure C-22 Housing developments in Indonesia|
In addition, de Mooij (2005: 63) remarks that people in individualistic countries are more likely to have a private garden and to own a caravan (trailer, mobile home) for leisure. To associate caravan ownership with individualistic behaviour (in the sense that one has the freedom to go and stay wherever one wants), might be valuable in the American or European context where this correlation exists. However, applied to other cultures where travelling by caravan seems uncomfortable or even uncivilized to members of the social strata who could afford such a vehicle, this correlation is meaningless (AS, interview October 2004; BR, interview October 2004). De Mooij (2005) also finds proof of a correlation between individualism and home ownership as well as life insurance. High rates of home ownership exist in Indonesia as in many other Asian countries, although they score rather collectivistically. Indeed, Asia has the highest home ownership and saving rates in the world. The fact that life insurance has not taken off in many countries in the Asia Pacific region seems does not seem to be associated with collectivistic values, but rather with legislation which prevented foreign insurance companies from offering insurances to local individuals in many markets. However, as soon as the financial and insurance markets were liberalized, in the case of Indonesia after 1998, sales of life insurance and other financial products soared. These examples show that de Mooij’s correlations are culturally bound, if not ethnocentric. It seems logical that do-it-yourself (DIY) activities, (which reflect the idea of a lifestyle in which the person tries to be self-supporting and not dependent on others), tend to be more popular in individualistic countries and reflect the way of life in such societies. But the reasons why, for example, DIY activities are not adopted by Indonesians are not connected to collectivism but to Indonesia’s cultural traditions where manual labour is seen as low-class. These examples demonstrate that simply transferring results from consumer studies is not feasible without the benefit of intimate knowledge of the culture of the respective markets to be investigated.
The orientation and social change
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 52) argue that individualism is often regarded as the characteristic of a modernizing society, while collectivism is reminiscent of more traditional societies. Conventionally, all societies were more collectivistic than individualistic because of the interdependence characteristic of agrarian communities. Individualism as such, is a rather modern phenomenon of culture, which began in 16th-century England through the work of such philosophers as Kant, Bacon, Rousseau, Hume and Locke (Farr 1982: 15-37; Hauser 1994: 25-53, 97-123; Kopper 1979: vii-ix; Kopper 1983: 48-92, 93-113, 124-193; Loeb 1981: 25-75). Schütte and Ciarlante (1997: 29) add: “Individualism has come to be considered a natural component of a modern.” However, according to them (ibid 1997: 29), Asian cultures are now challenging this assumption. Singapore, Japan, and South Korea are thoroughly modern societies that continue to have firmly entrenched collectivistic orientations. Even at a level of per capita income equal to or larger than Western countries, Singaporean society has conserved distinctive collectivistic elements in its family, school, and work spheres. Of course, as in any rapidly modernizing society, there is great concern that Asia’s young people are becoming too individualistic and losing traditional morals and virtues (FEER 1996: 50). The Singaporean press, for example, regularly publishes stories concerning breaches of traditional family solidarity or criticizes the materialistic behaviour of adolescents loitering in shopping malls. It remains to be seen what the future will hold and whether the values of Asia’s teenagers are “rock solid” as described in an article in the Far Eastern Economic Review:
“Their elders complain that they are acquisitive, fickle and faddish, steeped in Western fashions and shallow consumer values. On the inside, though, most cling to the family as the bedrock of life; they are fiercely proud of their own countries and cultures and often reject what they see as the individualism of the west.” (FEER 1996: 50-52)
It remains to be seen how these transformations will change society and in what way they will impact on consumer behaviour. According to HS (lecture, October 2004), the deep roots of national cultures make it likely that individualism-collectivism differences (social orientation) will survive for a long time to come (see also: Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 114). Yet, if there is to be any convergence among national cultures, it should be on this dimension (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 114). Indeed, as the examples in Indonesia indicate, parts of Indonesian society tend to be moving at least in behavioural modes such as leisure activities, in a more individualistic direction, although their core values are still highly collectivistic (HS, interview October 2004). The success and inevitability of individualism remain therefore rather questionable. The strong positive correlation between national wealth and individualism is undeniable, with the arrow of causality directed, as shown earlier, from wealth to individualism. However, societal change occurs slowly over generations and core cultural traits, such as collectivistic behaviour, which have been part of a society for more than a thousand years, do not change within a short period of time.
As was shown above, the significance of this orientation became especially apparent for the fourth “P” (promotion), i.e. for the visual language of advertising campaigns. Rarely are individual people depicted in Indonesian campaigns. This is not indicative of Indonesia’s dominant image of people not wanting to be, or being alone. In the appendix (Appendix 1), numerous additional examples are available which serve to sensitize the reader to this orientation, and to highlight their implications.
The third dimension, the “specific versus diffuse orientation”, concerns the degree of involvement in relationships (Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 72). The orientation has been adapted from Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 69-101). The idea behind this orientation is the degree to which people engage others in specific areas of life and single levels of personality, or diffusely in multiple areas of lives and at several levels of personality at the same time (ibid 1997: 81).
The orientation reflects on the fact that in a specific-oriented culture, a manager segregates out his or her work and isolates this from other dealings outside the work sphere. Each area - one could describe them as life spaces - (for example the life space “work”, “family”, “past time activity 1, 2 etc.”) is considered apart from the other, i.e. as a specific case. However, in countries which score rather diffusely, every life space and every level of personality tends to permeate all others. An example will serve to illustrate this difference. The Indonesian tycoon (IK, interview April 2001, August 2001, October 2004) is considered and expected to be an authority in all domains of life. He runs a well-known Indonesian business conglomerate87 and is expected to have the best knowledge of golf, watches, travel, consumer electronics and other apparently extravagant avocations. His taste in clothes and value as a citizen are all permeated by his directorship and being a member of Jakarta’s top echelons. This view is reflected in how his employees see him (they see him as a benchmark for everything) and how he regards himself (as a tycoon he cannot travel with his employees in commercial aircraft, nor can he use the same type of mobile phone as his employees). Interestingly, none of his employees would dare to be seen with a more advanced mobile phone than the one he owns in front of him (KB, interview April 2001, October 2004).
Of course, reputation always flows over to some extent into other areas of life. However, the extent to which a person’s standing in one life space influences his standing in other life spaces varies between societies. In diffuse societies one’s reputation in one life space, for example work, permeates all other life spaces. What is specific in a strong diffuse orientation is the underlying assumption that what people are, naturally, legitimately and forcefully, influences the roles, power and capacities they have in society. A typical causal chain in this dimension is: he/she is a director, thus he/she belongs to the elite, and thus he/she must wear an expensive watch. In specific societies clear limits are set between life spaces. Here, for example, a job title is a specific label for a specific job in a specific place (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 83).
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner have used the model of Kurt Lewin (1935, 1951), a German-American psychologist, in research of this dimension (see figure below). Lewin (1935, 1951) presents in his study “A dynamic theory of personality” personality as a series of concentric circles with “life spaces” or “personality levels”, and sees contrasts between diffuse and specific oriented cultures. Lewin’s circles show specific cultures, such as the U.S., as having much more public than private space, the latter segregated into many specific sections. The specific citizen can have status and reputation at work, in the sports club etc. but the status stays specific, i.e. it does not affect the person’s reputation in other life spaces. A person who enters any of these life spaces is not necessarily a close or life-time friend and being admitted into one life space is not a very big commitment. One knows the person for limited purposes only, for example to play golf. This example reflects a society which scores rather specifically. The following exhibit depicts Lewin’s theory which differentiates between specific and diffuse oriented societies. The difference between specific oriented societies (clear division between individual and public spheres) and diffuse (large private sphere, smaller public sphere which is categorized by smaller but not divided individual spheres) is evident.
|Figure C-23 Lewin's life circles (author's adaptation)|
In diffuse societies it is more difficult to access a person’s life spaces as life spaces have no borders and barriers, i.e. if a person is allowed to enter one life space the person actually enters all life spaces. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 82) note: “The private spaces are large and diffuse, which means that once a friend is admitted, this lets him or her into all, or nearly all, your private spaces.” The concentric circles are not simply mental pictures but refer to physical spaces in which people live. This is why private spaces, which include the home for example, are highly guarded in diffuse societies. This is visible for example in how private spaces are protected with high hedges and walls as is the case in Indonesia. Another concept connected with the idea of the relationship orientation is the principle of “losing face” which is important in diffuse cultures where one’s lost face would permeate all other life spaces. China, Indonesia, Southeast Asia and Japan all score diffusively, whereas Germany scores in the middle of the ranking. The United States are very specific-oriented (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 88, 93) whereas Indonesia scores in a rather diffuse-oriented manner.
|Figure C-24 Indonesia scoring rather diffusely|
The relationship orientation has major impact on consumer behaviour and how companies can use the implication derived from the orientation in international marketing. The orientation has, for example, implications for customer relationship concepts such as endorsements (the inclusion of famous people in advertising campaigns), the involvement of people in the buying process and extends to the idea of which different requirements customers’ needs products have to fulfil in a diffuse society compared to specific societies.
Not a great deal of research has been done into the extent to which culture elements, such as language or religion, influence the relationship orientation. However, it seems that the orientation correlates to some extent with the high-context and low-context orientation of countries. That is, those societies which score as high-context also score as diffuse. Therefore, language is probably one of the cultural elements which influences the orientation. Reasons why the Indonesian and other Asian languages score as high-context have been stated elsewhere and shall not be repeated here.
|Figure C-25 Correlations between different orientations|
It is important in this respect to remember, that in Indonesia, a grammatical phenomenon called “pronoun-drop” (Nothofer 2001: 29-32), which has been discussed already (in the context of the social orientation), and which is deemed to be a sign of a high-context language, with all the resulting consequences which affect this orientation, can be proven for the Indonesian language.
Additionally in this orientation, religion as a cultural element influencing a country’s score is again significant. A diffuse score, often combined with an affective score (emotional orientation) (to be discussed later) is very common in Muslim countries, according to Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 96), whereas Indonesia scores marginally as diffuse-neutral. The fact that the Indonesian score is diffuse is important in this case, and has major implications on how Indonesian consumers behave and how companies have to adapt their international marketing programs to court them. Owing to the comments concerning “high-context and low-context cultures” and “pronoun drop” made in previous sections describing other orientations, this section has been kept to a minimum, in the interests of brevity. The significance of this orientation is reflected by the influences concerning international marketing and consumer behaviour.
The orientation and product usage
One of the orientation’s important implications for companies is that in diffuse-oriented countries, such as Indonesia, products which might be used only for a specific purpose in specific-oriented societies are used for other purposes as the purpose for which the product was originally designed or intended (RD, interview December 2004). The diffuse consumer behaviour in diffuse societies leads to certain products being diverted to different uses from those intended by the company. Particularly in the realm of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) is this visible in Indonesia and other diffuse-oriented nations where consumers are creative in using products for a diverse range of activities (for example tooth paste is used to clean tea pots whereas in specific countries there are probably products just being offered for this activity). Another often-mentioned misappropriation is the use of soap bars to clean hair. The list presented in interviews seemed endless. In these diffuse-oriented countries it is important for a company to have precise visual product usage descriptions in addition to text descriptions (IS, interview 2004). This is particularly important since, according to IS, Indonesians do not read manuals, which has lead to the misuse of products in many categories and which has sometimes resulted in injuries (IS, interview 2004).
Since products and their possible usage are seen more holistically in diffuse cultures where there are no specific life spaces, products should therefore also be designed in a way which allows multiple usage (multi-functional devices). From an Asian viewpoint the product appears to have more features when it is really an identical product (Kotler 2003: 31). A golf shoe in Indonesia might not only be worn on a green, but also in other locations or on other occasions. Or, for example, cereals are not only be consumed for breakfast but whenever one enjoys them. This has implications, for example for advertising campaigns which should not show actors eating breakfast at a specific time but perhaps at different times.
The orientation’s influence on purchasing decision-making
Evaluations of participating observations in Indonesia revealed that consumers from diffuse oriented societies need more time to make a purchase than those from specific oriented societies. The reasons for their requiring a longer decision-making time for purchases is that, as a rule, sales consultations last longer, and the consumer checks the various product uses since a sole use of the product seems illogical to him or her. This leads to sales consultations for luxury goods, for instance, taking longer in diffuse societies than in specific societies. This was ascertained by implementing concepts such as participating observation, mystery shopping, customer observation, sales staff and manager interviews (SOGO, PRADA, Louis Vuitton, The Time Place, Cortina Watch, Versace, Hugo Boss)88 (conducted in respective outlets in Plaza Indonesia89 and Plaza Senayan90, Jakarta, September 2004).
Due to the impact of diffuse-oriented behaviour orientation, sales consultations (mystery shopping)91 in Louis Vuitton branches in Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya, Hong Kong, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul are considerably more time-consuming and in need of explanation than in branches in specific oriented countries, such as the United Kingdom or the United States. This leads to lengthy and detailed explanations of an article’s design, the manufacturing process, the steps involved in this, manufacturing period and materials used, etc. This leads to European luxury brands (which have realized the difference between specific and diffuse cultures) converting their Asian boutiques into holistic luxury temples (and here the Japanese ones are exemplary) with exhibition rooms showing the history of the company, as well as museum-like premises where one can visit art exhibitions or listen to music performances, as well as the sales rooms. Thus BMW Japan invites its customers to classical concerts in its Tokyo showroom, while BMW Indonesia offers golf tournaments and BMW Malaysia, yachting events (DM, interview December 2004).
|Figure C-26 Product presentations in diffuse-oriented societies|
In contrast, in specific-oriented countries, where customer service is merely a question of selling, the selling process is not as time-consuming and detailed. Here, questions are not asked about personal lifestyle or wardrobe and the reason why the product is being purchased (in specific-oriented countries there is only one use for each product). The following figure, adapted from Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s model (89) illustrates strategies for getting to know other people and can be translated into the sphere of sales, too. The figure below shows the typically diffuse strategy (common for example in Indonesia) on the left. Here one circles around the stranger, getting to know the person diffusively and one gets down to the specifics of business only later when relationships of trust have been established. On the right hand side of the figure one can see the specific strategy where one gets down to the specifics of the business deal immediately. Selling with a culture more diffuse than one’s own is very time-consuming. In diffuse cultures, everything is connected to everything else. This is true not only in the context of retailing but overall in business negotiations where one’s business or interview partner from a diffuse-oriented culture may wish to know where you went to school, who your friends are, what you think of life, politics art, literature and music.
|Figure C-27 Communication in diffuse and specific societies|
The orientation and endorsements
The relationship orientation influences consumer behaviour in that consumers in diffuse societies seldom question the connection between a celebrity and the product he or she endorses. This is why David Beckham, for example, can advertise several products in Japan, from chocolate to whiskey, since his sporting reputation influences every life space (i.e. he is famous and successful, so he must know the best chocolate and whiskey, for example) (see also, Appendix 1, Figure 306).
|Figure C-28 Endorsements in diffuse-oriented societies (1)|
|Figure C-29 Endorsements in diffuse-oriented societies (2)|
|Figure C-30 Endorsements in diffuse-oriented societies (3)|
In specific societies, ads are used more specifically, i.e. if a sport star advertises chocolate, it must seem to be healthy chocolate (diet chocolate) and it has to have attained a degree of credibility in the sports world. Advertising has to communicate clearly the connection between sports and chocolate (for example, eating chocolate on the tennis court). However, Beckham can, for example, advertise chocolate in a non-specific environment due to his fame in diffuse-oriented societies, as seen in the above figures. Another important point when using celebrities in advertisements is their credibility and ability to integrate. In a diffuse society such as Indonesia where religion plays a big role in the public and private life of people, people who are not only famous but also religious and who embody Islamic ideals have to be selected for endorsements (like for example Unilever Indonesia which successfully engaged Inneke Koesherawati).
|Figure C-31 Inneke Koesherawati endorsing Unilever's Sunsilk in Indonesia|
Since life spaces are not separated but are inextricably entwined, the celebrity chosen to endorse a product has to appear credible in life spaces of importance to the consumer. This is vital in Indonesia and Malaysia where religion is not one’s own business and where celebrities are asked explicitly about their religious beliefs. This is the reason why there are hundreds of web pages and weblogs (blogs) on Indonesian stars (such as Inneke Koesherawati, chosen for the Sunsilk campaign), so that their fans and admirers can exchange ideas. In Inneke Koesherawati’s case, her clothes (the veil) are of particular interest and her beliefs are of general interest. The diffuse orientation can be advantageous for celebrities as someone who is famous in a particular field, especially music, can try out every imaginable field at the same time and still be successful. It is not relevant to ask why a model is trying out acting or singing; she is famous, so she must be good at everything.
The orientation and brand appeal
Generally speaking, the diffuse orientation has a positive correlation with the status orientation, meaning that diffuse societies are generally status oriented, too. When both concepts are considered with a product, this means that a brand name has to embody status and prestige in multiple life spaces (spill-over effect), not just in one. A brand normally known only by runners (for example, ASICS), which does not however guarantee status in other life spaces is less likely to be chosen over a brand which does guarantee this (IW, interview November 2004).
Another concept is brand loyalty. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 91) believe that diffuse cultures value loyalty more than specific cultures which could mean that brand loyalty is higher in diffuse cultures than in specific cultures. It would be interesting to see whether there actually is a correlation between brand loyalty and the orientation. The Indonesian consumer market is still too immature however shown in the fact that people consistently try out a different shampoo and soap, to allow a scientifically based investigation to be conducted (IS, interview October 2004). It is widely known that recent research actually shows that brand loyalty is high in some categories. However, what relationship this has with the orientation is unclear since data is unavailable (DT, interview December 2004) and as a result cannot be explained in greater detail.
The orientation and advertising
The diffuse orientation also has implications for advertising. Advertising in diffuse societies is to be carried out in such a way that the company is seen to be feeling responsible for the personal problems and welfare of its customers, consumers and society as a whole. Based on the concept of life spaces in diffuse oriented societies, citizens do not regard a company in a limited sense, but it is seen as a corporate citizen, with joint responsibility for the economic, social and political development of the country (IS, interview October 2004). This responsibility has also to be transferred to advertising. Especially in Indonesia, this became apparent in advertising campaigns during the financial crisis where companies indicated, for example, how products could be used more sparingly in order to avoid costs. Generally speaking, in diffuse oriented societies, public relations (PR) initiatives are an extremely important advertising tool compared to the marketing mix in specific societies (AR, interview, January 2004). Finally, company representatives must note that in a diffuse-oriented society, such as Indonesia, a more holistic marketing approach is needed as it is important to understand that products might be used outside the specific usage-pattern for which the company originally designed the product. Since there is no clear line drawn between people’s individual life spaces, the marketer is to approach the market from a wide range of perspectives including religion, language, history, and politics, etc. It is ideal, however, to start at a much earlier stage in the planning process i.e. to know the respective markets’ customers and their wishes, and to include both in the planning. This thesis, with its delineated orientations, fulfils this demand (pre-requisite). How companies can be faithful to this requirement will be shown in the case-study (Part D).
Reason and emotion both play a role in relationships between people, an observation which introduces the dilemma between the “neutral and affective orientation” (Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 83). The contrast between affective and neutral cultures is described by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 63) as: “Members of cultures which are affectively neutral do not telegraph their feelings but keep them carefully controlled and subdued.” In affective cultures people show their emotions and get an emotional response in return. People in neutral-oriented cultures, on the contrary, do not show feelings as openly and emotionally as in affective-oriented cultures. The amount of emotion one shows therefore is often the result of convention (Vester 1991: 98-124). Vester (1991: 98) explains: “Emotions are ‘characterized’ by culture; they are ‘cultivated’ by cultural codes, i.e. emotions are represented in a system of signals, are expressed by semiotic processes and are ‘interpreted’ by means of signals” (“Emotionen sind durch die Kultur ‘gezeichnet’, durch kulturelle Codes ‘kultiviert’, d.h. Emotionen sind in Zeichensystemen repräsentiert, kommen durch semiotische Prozesse zum Ausdruck und werden mittel Zeichen ‘interpretiert’”, translation by author).
In contrast, in cultures scoring highly on affectivity, people show their feelings plainly by laughing, grimacing, scowling and gesturing. People in affective cultures attempt to find immediate outlets for their feelings. However, one should be careful not to over-interpret differences between neutral and affective cultures. Neutral cultures are not necessarily cold or unfeeling, nor are they emotionally repressed. Societies do differ only in the extent to, and the way in which feelings are expressed, but do not differ in the issue of whether feelings are expressed at all, or not which means that showing emotions is culturally restricted.
There are considerable variations between countries’ rankings. Countries were classified according to their response to questions asking, for example, if they would express their feelings openly. In Indonesia 55 percent, in China 59 percent and in Singapore 48 percent of those who participated in the survey were in favour of not showing emotions openly, according to Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s research. Malaysia (30 percent of respondents were in favour of not showing emotions openly) scores much lower and other Muslim countries, like Egypt and Kuwait, score even lower, i.e. are actually in favour of showing emotions openly.
People in affective-oriented countries reveal their thoughts and feelings verbally and non-verbally, an extreme example is behaviour at Middle Eastern Muslim funeral services or via the most recent uproar over the caricatures of Mohammed which reflects the transparency of their emotions and the expressiveness with which they try to release tensions. Touching, gesturing and strong facial expression are also common in affective countries where statements are declaimed fluently and dramatically. The amount of visible emotion is a major difference between cultures. Indonesia, however, scored in the middle, (namely between neutral-and affective, and is therefore less affective-oriented than most other Muslim nations, but also less affective-oriented than Malaysia). Indonesia is therefore to be considered as neither solely neutral nor as purely affective-oriented, as shown in the figure below.
|Figure C-32 Indonesia scoring "in the middle"|
The contrast between affective and neutral cultures is closely related to the “being” versus “doing” divide (status orientation). If people are strictly “doing”-oriented they generally tend to disregard expressions of “being”. Feelings and affectivity are seen as being in the purely personal and private realm. Thus, neutral cultures tend to suppress these feelings and view their direct expression as inappropriate for effective interaction. This correlation can be pictorially expressed in the following way.
|Figure C-33 Correlations between different orientations|
Prior to examining the repercussions of the orientation on consumer behaviour and international marketing, in the next paragraph, the general cultural conditions which lead to the previously described behavioural patterns, will be examined.
Asked which cultural influences made Indonesia score so differently from all other Muslim nations, interview partners in Indonesia argued that the reason is to be found in Javanese social conduct where loud and very emotional behaviour is unacceptable (Magnis-Suseno 1981: 37-54). It is considered polite to speak slowly, softly and monotonously, whereas fast, loud speech is considered crude, and shows great variation in pitch (Markham 1995: 104). Similarly in the Javanese Shadow play, wayang, heroes, knights and noblemen use monotone, polite, and soft speech (“alus”). Giants, demons and comic characters, on the other hand, speak using the crude “kasar” register (Soepomo 1968: 54-55; van Groenendael 1985: 21-39). Javanese social behaviour, according to interviewees, has influenced Indonesian people’s behaviour to some extent over time although large differences between ethnic groups in Indonesia are still noticeable (MP, interview, December 2004). However - and this is an interesting point to make - it was mentioned, that it seems Indonesia is moving somehow in the direction of being affective, although Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 94-97) believe that value orientations will remain stable over time. However, social practices such as popular music and TV, have partly left behind the rather neutral emotional behaviour of Indonesians. Take for example “Dandgut” music, the shows presenting it and Islamic TV dramas which tend to be highly emotional (more emotional than, for example, German soap operas). These shows reflect only one trend, i.e. they can be found on the outer layers of culture, and not the core. The change to often highly emotive behaviour on TV or on shows can be approved but does not imply however that such behaviour would be acceptable in real life.
Again however, one of the cultural elements shaping this orientation is religion and Islam is generally seen as affective (emotional) where emotions flow easily, effusively, vehemently and without inhibition. The heated, vital, animated expression once only known from TV news broadcasters in the Middle East, has now entered Indonesia, too, as could be vividly observed during the Tsunami catastrophe (own observation, December 2004). Notwithstanding, this development in Islam seems to play a lesser role (at least for Indonesia) in its effect on the orientation, than, for example, in the Middle East. The reasons behind this are Buddhism and Hinduism with their religious concepts focusing on contemplation and containment, which together with indigenous Javanese world view, colour Indonesian cultural behaviour which can be described as neutral in its emotional dimension. Here, one can see that although there are differences between Asian countries, religion here seemingly has less impact, otherwise Indonesia and Malaysia would score more like Arab countries where warm, expressive and enthusiastic behaviour is not seen as lack of control over one’s feelings. As the orientation is strongly connected to communication, i.e. the exchange of information, it seems reasonable to suppose that “language” is another cultural element which influences a society’s orientation between neutral and affective. Indonesian speakers have a rather monotonous style which reflects the self-controlled attitude of respect. Frequently, the higher the position a person holds, the lower and flatter the voice. Shouting is a sign of loss of “face” (BR, interview November 2004).
The orientation and advertising
The emotional orientation issue is important in the field of marketing communication whether it is TV, radio or print advertising. Every culture has certain codes and rituals that allow for a compromise between the two extremes, namely affective and neutral. What varies, is the starting assumption: (1) expressing emotions is legitimate and useful for action (affective cultures) and (2) expressing emotions needs to be separated from action (neutral cultures). To what extent emotion in advertising can be expressed, depends on the extent to which the society is neutrally or affectively oriented. It is perfectly feasible to express positive emotions in a humorous way in the less affective (rather neutral) Indonesia. Negative emotions on the other hand, cannot be shown since that would lead to a loss of face in Indonesia. However, this differentiation is more complicated in Indonesia than in other countries, such as China, since the former appears to be stuck somewhere in the middle between neutral and affective. China, on the other hand, is unequivocally neutrally oriented, and this is reflected in advertising. Moreover, this orientation is influenced more than any other orientation by personality, i.e. the personality traits and individual interaction which influence whether a person behaves rather neutrally or affectively. However, some of the important findings about the orientation’s influences on consumer behaviour and how marketing adapts to this behaviour were revealed in interviews in Indonesia.
Generally, to be taken seriously, language in Indonesian advertisements should reflect self-control (BR, interview November 2004). The higher the status of the product advertised, the lower and flatter the voice. Cool and self-possessed conduct is admired and gesturing or strong facial expressions are often taboo (BR, interview November 2004). Advertising statements are often read out in a monotonous voice. Warm, expressive and enthusiastic behaviour (interpreted as lack of control over feelings) should particularly be avoided when promoting prestigious products since they are supposed to give status and prestige to the buyer and any display of emotion is at odds with the display of high status (RD, interview December 2004).
Of course, there is no doubt that, as a matter of principle, advertising in Indonesia should appeal to the emotions of its target consumers, but what few advertisers without Indonesian-specific knowledge realize, is that emotions play a lesser role in this country than in other Muslim countries which score rather affectively when interviews in Indonesia are considered (Social Marketing Circle Indonesia, welcome address, Power Breakfast 2004)92. When referring to Indonesia’s score, Indonesians are less affective than Malaysians but less neutral than Chinese; Indonesians need more rational reasons in ads to buy products than Malaysians, but fewer rational reasons than the very neutrally-oriented Chinese consumer. The reasons given why a product should be bought by the customer should emphasize specific features, benefits, quality, or guarantees and should be read in a relatively neutral language. Visual language, on the other hand, is decidedly emotive in Indonesia, as in Malaysia.
|Figure C-34 Emotional visual language in Indonesia (left) and Malaysia (right)|
Furthermore, and this is now one of the most important findings, this changes dramatically during emotionally charged times, such as Ramadan (the Muslim fasting month), when people are generally more expressive. During this time, companies advertise with specially produced ads featuring touching, moving cultural and religious symbols and gestures. Emotions play a much larger role then in Indonesian advertising, reflecting the more affective Indonesian consumers’ psyche.
|Figure C-35 Emotional visual language in Indonesia (1)|
Interestingly, ads during Ramadan are then much more affective there than in Malaysia (which generally is more affective-oriented, but where advertising themes do not change in the same patterns as in Indonesia). The reason might be that Malaysia has a lower Muslim population portion than in Indonesia where over 80 percent of all citizens are Muslim. Further investigation and interviews in Malaysia (2004: CCL, AR) showed that even in newspapers and magazines which are exclusively targeted at Malays (Muslim Malaysians), such a swing towards affective ads cannot be observed. During Ramadan, emotions play a large role in making purchasing-decisions, and therefore companies should tap into this emotion through symbols (as shown in the following figure).
|Figure C-36 Emotional visual language in Indonesia (2)|
As can be seen from the visuals, during Ramadan ads in Indonesia are emotionally charged. A specific colour such as green, Muslim symbols, gestures and traditional, often oriental-sounding music, is played on TV and radio ads. Also, the content of television programs changes during that time; more Muslim TV dramas are played and presenters wear Muslim clothing. TV stations such as MTV play more traditional music while video jockeys (VJs) wear Muslim clothing and the studios are decorated with Arabic décor. Interestingly, ads in rather affective Malaysia, which do not become more affective during Ramadan, become very affective during national holidays, notably National day. This is the time when Malaysian ads can be described as very emotional.
Rather than displaying overt emotion to sell a product, the Indonesian will strive to create an overall atmosphere (“feeling tone”) (IS, interview October 2004) in an advertisement. This approach is especially popular when advertising traditional Indonesian products, such as domestic food or “kretek” (Indonesian for clove) cigarettes. For example, the tranquillity of a Balinese rice field requires little display of human emotion to get a message across. This kind of ad seems to be very successful since Indonesians understand the feelings and atmosphere even though there might be no strong changes in facial expressions. It requires little display of human emotions to get a message across when themes such as “Bali”, “mountain” or “Kampung” (Indonesian for village) are used in Indonesian advertising.
|Figure C-37 Emotional visual language in Indonesia (3)|
|Figure C-38 Emotional visual language in Indonesia (4)|
This can be linked to a further idiosyncrasy of the Indonesian language, namely the widely used paraphrasing. At its most polite, this form of expression can be very visual and differentiated (Markham 1995: 105).
|Figure C-39 Emotional visual language in Malaysia|
It is evident that, owing to the ambivalent positioning of Indonesian society (i.e. neither very affective nor very neutral), an area of conflict emerges which is especially apparent in advertising. Advertising communicates in neutral words and emotive pictures, i.e. makes use of emotive visual language. During Ramadan this impression is even stronger, i.e. the visual language becomes more affective, for example by using various cultural symbols.
The orientation and endorsements
Additionally, the emotional orientation is reflected in the choice of endorsements for products whether in promotional campaigns, such as road shows, or in media advertising. In Indonesia, whose score is between affective and neutral, celebrities are often used to endorse products. In very neutral China, however, neutrality towards displaying emotions is reflected in the frequent use of experts rather than enthusiastic product users in advertising. In China, many products are endorsed by a person wearing a long white lab coat (representing an authority like a doctor) (Appendix 1. Figure 94). In a similar way, candy may be endorsed by happy children, but a parent, doctor, or kindergarten nurse will also be there to add that the product is good for the child’s health. In China, an overtly enthusiastic advertisement or talking “too much” is often associated with not knowing much, or to use a Chinese proverb, “you have more saliva than tea” (SN, interview September 2005). Although experts are used to back products such as health supplements, for most other products the use of experts in Indonesia is rather uncommon, so advertisers fall back on popular celebrities for endorsements. This is clearly visible from the marketing campaign for the product featured in the case-study in the practical part of this work (PART D). In it, an Indonesian celebrity, not a hair expert, endorses a new hair shampoo. The celebrity endorsing the shampoo does not try to convince consumers to buy the product by listing reasons in favour of purchasing the product, as the hair expert would do.
It remains to be seen whether or not advertising activities on the part of companies will become more affective and whether they will make greater use of religious imagery, owing to the influence of Islamization. In a multiethnic country, would ethnic-specific marketing not be more sensible since twenty percent of the Indonesian population is not even Muslim and the Sino-Indonesians with their on average high disposable incomes could, for example, easily be put off by advertising which is overly affective? Particularly in the context of this orientation, more in-depth research needs to be carried out considering ethnic-specific advertising appeals.
It is a matter of fact that all societies assign certain of their members higher status than others. By doing so they signal that special attention should be given to these individuals of higher status. To describe the variation in how different societies assign status to their members, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner introduced the “dilemma between achievement and ascription” (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 102-119; Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 97). Generally, status is the relative rank that an individual holds, with attendant rights, duties, and lifestyle, in a social hierarchy based upon honour or prestige. Status may be http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic?idxStructId=762644&typeId=13ascribed (assigned to individuals at birth without reference to any innate abilities) or achieved (requiring special qualities and gained through competition and individual effort). The first form of status is called “achieved status” and the latter “ascribed status”. While achieved status refers to what one does and to what one has done (“doing”), ascribed status refers to who one is (“being”) (Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 97). Ascribed status is therefore typically based on gender, age, race, family relationship, or birth, while achieved status may be based on education, occupation, marital status, accomplishments, or other factors. In ascriptive oriented societies, one is one’s status. It is important to see how different the logics of achievement and ascription are and not consider either as meaningless. The status orientation is correlated with the power orientation, i.e. countries which score highly on Hofstede’s power distance index (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 43-44), also score highly on the ascribed status orientation. Both orientations’ implications for consumer behaviour and international marketing partially overlap, but their cultural foundations are different as well as their character, or meaning. As can be seen in the figure below, status orientation correlates positively with power orientation, i.e. in high power distance societies, ascribed status orientation dominates.
|Figure C-40 Correlations between different orientations|
A certain status is natural to one as one’s birth or formal education through which one’s innate powers were made manifest. Ascribed status simply “is” and requires no rational justification, although such justification may exist. In these societies one is, for example, respected more because of age and experience than for achievements, whereas achievement oriented societies believe that such behaviour is rather archaic (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 103). In ascriptive oriented societies, therefore, status is attributed to those who “naturally” evoke admiration from others, that is, older people, males, highly qualified persons and/or persons skilled in a technology or project deemed to be of national importance. To show respect for status is to assist the person distinguished in this way to fulfil the expectations the society has of him or her (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 113). In these societies the individual is unique and not easily comparable with others.
Most literature, such as David McClelland’s (1966) “The Achieving Society”, sees achievement orientation as part of modernization processes. The theory goes that (this idea results from the essence of American Protestantism), once business achievement is rewarded, the process is self-perpetuating. However, Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s research shows that the achievement orientation might be sufficient but not necessary for modernization and economic growth. South Korea and Japan (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 105) score in an ascription oriented and not in an achievement oriented way. Their score has been stable over the years, despite the countries’ modernization with all the social and economic transformations that went with it. Indonesia scores as a very ascriptive society (Boucher-Floor, THT consulting, email August 2004; Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 105; Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 98) whereas Singapore is much more achievement oriented. This is abundantly clear from advertising as it will be demonstrated.
|Figure C-41 Indonesia scoring highly status-oriented|
The cultural foundation of the orientation in Indonesia will be discussed in detail in the following section.
The orientation and religion
What are the cultural foundations causing Indonesia to score as one of the most ascriptive oriented societies? There appears to be a reasonable answer to this question. The cultural element religion exerts the greatest ability to shape society in all of the countries investigated. Depending on content, moral guidelines and interpretation, religions shape culture in diverse ways. In the context of this orientation, the ability to shape status orientation can either be ascribed or achieved depending on the existing religion in the country. According to Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 104-107) the idea of achievement orientation generally goes back to the essence of Protestantism: the pursuit of justification through works which long ago gave achievers a religious sanction and capitalism its moving spirit (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 104). People work hard to assure themselves of the esteem of their culture (Weber 2005). Catholic countries ascribing status to more passive ways of life, Hinduism associating practical achievements with delusion (Eliade and Culianu 1995: 293-294), and Buddhism teaching detachment from earthy concerns (Eliade and Culianu 1995: 267-268) are all forms of ascribed status with its impact on social behaviour. Aspects of ascription vary greatly from country to country whereas Protestantism correlates with achievement orientation and Catholic, Buddhist and Hindu cultures score in a considerably more ascriptive-oriented manner. Howe (2001: 84-108, 138-162) illustrates what importance status and hierarchy still exert on Bali today.
Although Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) make no reference to Islam and in which way Muslim belief influences the status orientation, taking a look at how several Muslim countries score in this orientation provides clues. In Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s tables (1997: 105-106), Muslim countries score highly on the ascriptive orientation although Islam preaches essential egalitarianism within the community of the faithful. This apparent contradiction can be justified in the following way. The tendency of the Islamic ethic to strengthen the community at the expense of the extended family or http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic?idxStructId=604711&typeId=13tribe has not succeeded, however. Muslim society, until modernizing influences encroached upon it, had remained basically one composed of tribes or quasi-tribes which strengthened elements such as descent and lineage (which are clearly “being”) and influenced a society’s orientation in the direction of ascribed status.
However, the ascribed-status supporting role of Islam, whose ability to shape cultural behaviour and therefore the status orientation, is less prevalent in Indonesia. The reason for this is, pre-Islamic religions have been influencing Indonesia’s contemporary social structure in a lasting way, as already discussed at length in the context of other orientations. The concept of ascribed status is founded in its history and especially refers to the time before Islam became influential as Palmier (2004: 5) reveals. She continues by explaining that “the conversion to Hinduism of Indonesia, and the consequential unification of the archipelago, brought hierarchy with it” (Palmier 2004: 5). The most striking manifestation of Hinduism and its impact on status groups is found in the religion’s http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic?idxStructId=98395&typeId=13caste system. Before the coming of the Hindus it would appear that there was relatively little social class differentiation, i.e. pre-Islamic religions also possess considerable influence in connection with these orientations.
The initial questions can be seen to be clarified, namely that Hinduism and its societal influence led to the development of hierarchies which previously did not exist in this way. The following line of argument will facilitate comprehension of these connections. Before the arrival of the Hindus, shifting-cultivation was the dominant agrarian method in Indonesia. Shifting cultivation, a flexible and highly adaptive means of production, was one of the very first forms of agriculture practiced by humans who took an area of land to use for agriculture, only to abandon it a short time later. Before rice began its spread across Southeast Asia, the physical mobility (nomadic movements) of groups relied on hunting and gathering (Piper 1993: 12). They practiced shifting-cultivation which usually did not lead to the creation of permanent settlements with hierarchical social structures. Irrigated rice seems to have become established in Java shortly before the ascendancy of the Majapahit kingdom in the thirteenth century (Piper 1993: 12). Wet-rice cultivation which was introduced by Hindus and which gradually eroded shifting-cultivation as the dominant method of agriculture, led to a settled form of existence and with it also the creation of a “social structure of differing degrees of status” (Palmier 2004: 5). In this new social structure power then came into the hands of the nobility, who were both military and spiritual leaders, and subservient to the sultan (Palmier 2004: 5). These have always gone to great lengths to emphasize and trace their descent and kin relations (Palmier 2004: 7), a fact which displays qualities of an ascribed status orientation. These new society structures offered a hierarchy of statuses. One quality which gave and continues to give value is an occupation. The value of an occupation in this system increased with distance from manual labour, i.e. the further away, the higher the status. “A way of life free from the toil of one’s hands is ‘refined’; one which involves it is coarse”, writes Palmier (2004: 5). This is an attitude to life which still persists in Indonesia and Thailand today, and which is noticeable in certain cosmetic brands’ sales figures. Since status is not associated with manual, outdoor occupations, but rather with jobs in air-conditioned offices, having tanned skin is tantamount to being unrefined, since a tan is linked to manual labour. The paler the complexion, the higher the status. This explains why so many people are attracted to skin lightening cosmetics. The following figure presents some information on these lightening products.
|Figure C-42 Advertisements for skin whitening products|
According to Rappe (1995: 341), self-identity on Java is especially dependent on social status. This status is pre-determined through birth or by decent, and must be corroborated through rituals. Errington (1984: 278-280) provides a sophisticated portrayal in this context. According to it, there are two kinds of self in the tradition of Javanese nobility (“priyayi”): the large, “aku”-self, and the small “ingsun”-self. “Aku” is the worldly self, brought out by interaction with the world. This “aku”-self must be overcome, so that man can achieve unity with the holy, refined “ingsun” self. Both relationships have differing personal pronouns in the first person. “Aku” is used for spontaneous, familiar discourse, in the so-called “ngoko” register in Javanese (Markham 1995: 95-98). “Ingsun”, on the other hand, is used as the personal pronoun for the king and gods of shadow play “wayang kulit” and is reserved for festive, ritual occasions. These differing spheres correspond to internal and external behaviour. In this way the “aku”-self can be assigned to the area crude (“kasar”), in which uncontrolled passions play a huge role. The “ingsun” self, in contrast, represents the refined (“alus”) area of people. From the “aku”-self one gets to the “ngsun”-self by performing mystical practices by which one attains the necessary dignified feeling (“rasa”). The following elaborations will highlight the importance of status.
The orientation and language
Besides religion, language (particularly the Javanese language) supports Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s classification of Indonesia as an ascribed status orientated society. As already explained in detail in another paragraph (power orientation) the Javanese tongue is structured so that it permits recognition of seniority and social status as well as having fine nuances (Keeler 1994: xvii-xxiv). Basically, it has two main language forms. Addressing one’s juniors, inferiors or intimates one uses “ngoko”; addressing one’s seniors, superiors or strangers, one uses “kromo” (Markham 1995: 95-98). Palmier (2004: 44) notes in this respect: “… naturally, the kinship terms of reference for seniors were usually of the honorific vocabulary, “kromo”; for juniors of the “ngoko”. Woodward (1989: 8-9) clarifies that Javanese chronicles (“babad“) are exclusively concerned with princes, kings and local saints.
The above-mentioned observations cited as the basis for Indonesia’s ascribed status orientation are, like all culture elements, prone to a dynamic process of change. These transformations led to new status symbols replacing others as described by Palmier (2004) and Gerke (1999) through shifts in meaning of noble titles and other such symbols. Palmier (2004: 48) explains:
"Whether in housing, dress, manners, education, interests, or speech, these leaders are moving out of traditional Indonesian styles into modern Western ones. And the more Western, the more prestige.” (Palmier 2004: 48)
This change in how certain status symbols are regarded does not, however, lead to a general change in status orientation in Indonesian society. This is owing to the fact that this change only affects the attributes described as practices in the model of the culture onion. The values which remain constant are therefore unaffected by this change. This is shown in the extent to which fascination with status, hierarchy and symbols (in whatever form they may take) continues to mould Indonesian society. As shown, societies confer status on individuals in diverse traditions. In Indonesia, status and prestige are associated with seniority (which is often associated with experience), nobility and job titles, family names, and ethnic and religious background. These qualities (attributes of being) generally count more than specific achievements (attributes of doing) in Indonesia. However, a change seems to have taken place over time as to which properties are associated with status. These changes took place in the form of an increasing significance of new elements, while at the same time a loss of other elements’ importance occurred. Elements are understood as differing symbols which convey status. Although the above-mentioned attributes such as family name or nobility continue to be significant, they have been complemented by materialistic attributes such as possessions (Gerke 1999). This means that status and prestige are nowadays things that can be bought, for example objects such as televisions, mobile phones, motorbikes and cars have a high status value, as do nearly all consumer goods available today. Their status increases with the price paid for the product.
Thus it is possible to possess consumer goods and the status which accompanies them through hard work and its resulting affluence. This does not mean, however, that ascribed status oriented Indonesian society is shifting to an achievement orientated one as a result. It is not activity (doing) through which affluence is accomplished, but the symbols and their display which primarily creates status. It is precisely because of this fact that status symbols continue to exert such great influence with important repercussions on consumer behaviour and international marketing. Leslie Palmier (2004) takes the change in status and its impact over time on Java as her subject matter and confirms with her research that originally the cultural element religion brought hierarchy and with it the ideas of status and prestige to Indonesia. Symbols which entitle status have changed over time. Especially the western influences which first came to Indonesia with colonization play a role. The repercussions on marketing and consumer behaviour will be explained in the next paragraph.
Status orientation has far-reaching implications on the one hand in its influence on consumer behaviour, and on the other, in the extent to which companies tailoring their marketing strategies to the orientation (insofar as those in charge) are aware of the existence of different status concerns (DM, interview December 2004; IW, interview November 2004; SL, interview October 2004; HS, interview October 2004; KS, interview October 2004; JiK, interview October 2004; LSML, interview October 2004; KSBH, interview October 2004; AK, interview October 2004; ACWC, interview October 2004; AR, interview April 2001, September 2004, December 2004; CCL, interview August 2005; SN, interview August 2005). Since this orientation affects all marketing aspects (4Ps), the orientation’s impact on the 4Ps (product, price, place, promotion) should be discussed. First of all, however, Indonesian consumers should briefly be interpreted in the framework of the status orientations.
Basically it is noteworthy that Indonesians are extremely status conscious. This consciousness is apparent in all aspects of life, not only in consumer behaviour. It influences to a greater or lesser extent the entire population’s behaviour, even though Indonesians with a Chinese background (Sino-Indonesians) are considered to be less status conscious (SL, interview September 2004). This lack of status consciousness is evident from the fact that purchasing status symbols is not a top priority for them, even if financially possible. It is not a cliché to say that it is more important for the Chinese minority to have a school and university education for their children than it is to purchase status symbols (SL, interview September 2004).
When it was suggested that all areas of life are affected by status orientation, the religious sphere is not excluded from this. Undoubtedly Indonesians show more respect for people with religious knowledge (irresponsible of religion). Differing status is recognizable, for example in Protestant communities in Jakarta, by the fact that certain chosen members of the community or foreign visitors automatically sit in the front row, and if this is not the case, they are requested to do so. Frequently the front row has different seating available - often decorative sofas. It is assumed or known that the people who are seated here have a higher status. It was observed that foreigners who generally receive high respect are usually asked to sit in the front row or at a table with a so-called VIP or a person considered to be important. The Indonesians who arranged the foreigner’s visit and who greeted him or her are also endowed with status. Therefore the people who invited the author were asked to sit further towards the front than their status would usually permit, and a year after the author’s visit they were still allowed this privilege.
The same was true of conferences and seminars where foreigners and wealthy looking Indonesians received privileged treatment. This meant that the author was automatically seated at Chatib Basri’s table (MarkPlus Economic Outlook, Jakarta December 2004)93. If the Indonesian counterpart’s status is unclear, then clothing, language and manners automatically count as status. This explains their obsession with status symbols. Palmier (2004: 149) notes: “Indeed, the pattern of clothing was itself revelatory of status”. Whoever is well-dressed, preferably with clearly visible designer logos (logo-mania), receives a lot of respect. Security checks at the entrances of malls, hotels and restaurants are less stringent for seemingly expensively dressed people, who are treated by the security staff in what can be described as an obsequious manner (from a western viewpoint). Anyone who gets out of a Mercedes-Benz at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Jakarta, for example, receives the red carpet treatment. Anyone who asks for a taxi there and is well dressed will not have to wait in line at the taxi stand, because it will immediately be organized for them. And apart from the foreigner who follows the rules and waits, no one will complain about this person’s apparel dependent behaviour. Indonesians understand and accept this behaviour and always seem to justify it with similar comments such as “This person is rich, so she/he deserves this treatment…”.
Foreigners may in general perceive the status consciousness and behaviour on the part of Indonesians as somewhat grotesque. An Indonesian employee at the Portuguese embassy, for example, takes a taxi to work although these daily trips drastically reduce her disposable income (MI, interview September 2004). It was argued that as an employee at an embassy, to go by bus is not the done thing, since this would mean loss of face in the neighbourhood and in front of colleagues. Behaviour of this kind is reminiscent of Mulder’s assessment (1990: 139): “In questions of status, the Javanese are irreconcilable“. According to him, people are often obstinate and uncompromising, determined to protect their status with all means and regardless of the consequences, all of which can be traced back to the fear of losing (ibid: 139). Passengers on the bus would also wonder in the case of the embassy employee why a well dressed lady had to take the bus. The same is true of the following behaviour. Office workers take the bus to work and then change to better clothes at the workplace and change back into their old clothes for the way home (unless a dinner or outing is planned). They do this not only to keep their work clothes good, but also because it would mean loss of face to travel by public transport in good and expensive-looking clothing. Many visitors to the malls demonstrate a similar kind of behaviour, especially the younger among them, when they change clothes upon arrival at the mall. At the mall they often wear clothes borrowed from friends or jointly purchased with friends. Before leaving the mall, they change back into their everyday clothing. The fact that mall clothing is shared, is reminiscent of Indonesian neighbourhood helping (“gotong-royong”) (Koentjaraningrat 1967: 394), i.e. clothes are borrowed from family, friends and colleagues in order to go to the malls. Often people purchase an item of clothing together in order to lend it out to others depending on who needs a specific T-Shirt, for example, at a specific time. This status oriented behavioural pattern appears to be grotesque or unauthentic to the foreign observer since clothing does not necessarily reflect the biographical or financial background of the buyer in Indonesia. One has to ask oneself why specific branded goods are so important that they must be bought even they have to save on food or rent to buy them. The answer to this question is Indonesian’s extreme ascribed status orientation which was reported over and over in interviews.
The interview setting for this work was especially tailored to take account of this intense status consciousness. Interviewees were received at rented conference rooms in business centres at leading hotels. This was to show them respect and acknowledge their social status. Palmier (2004: 153) explains why this is so important in Indonesia: “To show respect for status is to assist the person so distinguished to fulfil the expectations the society has of him or her.”
The orientation and promotional activities
Generally in the context of this orientation, the fundamental question companies should ask themselves is whether customers want to own functional products that achieve a utilitarian purpose or whether they prefer to buy status. It was clear from interviews the extent to which some companies advertise their products country specifically and at the same time unwittingly translate status orientation (“doing“ versus “being“) into advertising (DM, interview December 2004). Achievement-orientated cultures market their products and services on the basis of their performance. In ascribed-status cultures, such as those generally found in Southeast Asian countries, status is ascribed to products that naturally evoke admiration from others and are symbolic representations of status. This status is less concerned with the functional capabilities of the product. If status is linked to “being” of the status orientation, the products and brands should be positioned so that their attributes are seen as prestigious. In achievement oriented cultures, the emphasis is on performance, reliability and functionality. This is especially apparent in promotions (another of the 4Ps) and campaigns designed for different target markets. The BMW campaigns can be taken as an example here. In Indonesia (which is a strongly ascribed status oriented country), BMW campaigns reflect this being orientation. In Singapore, which is much more achievement oriented, BMW advertisements have a much more technical feel. Cars are advertised in such a way that if one purchases a BMW, one’s hard work seems to be rewarded. This kind of performance oriented advertising, however, would not be broadcast in Indonesia since it would be unsuccessful there (BR, interview November 2004).
|Figure C-43 BMW ads in Singapore (1)|
|Figure C-44 BMW ads in Singapore (2)|
|Figure C-45 BMW ads in Indonesia|
The same goes for the luxury watch sector. In Indonesia, luxury watches are purchased more than anything else to express status and this is reflected in adverts broadcast there. In other countries (for example Germany which is regarded as scoring in a similarly achievement oriented fashion), watches are more likely to be advertised as a reward. Similarly, de Beers’ advertising in Japan shows women who should treat themselves to a diamond as a present. Japan, too, is achievement oriented. Due to ascribed status, products with logos seem to sell well in Indonesia.
|Figure C-46 Wempe advertising campaign clearly reflects a "doing orientation"|
|Figure C-47 DeBeers new "A diamond forever" campaign reflecting a "doing approach"|
|Figure C-48 The status orientation in Indonesia|
Experience shows that brands like Giorgio Armani which are difficult to identify, sell poorly among the logo-loving Indonesian elite. Logos are a way of setting yourself apart from others and appear to be so valuable that the fake goods available in Indonesia often flaunt logos from more than one company. Indonesian consumers’ logo-mania leads to insiders labelling Indonesian consumers as unsophisticated. They are merely interested in logos and status and not in individuality. Expensive sounding brands and logos create prestige, with European sounding names often being used to name condominium and shopping complexes and boutiques. Palmier’s argument that “…in Java names have long been important social indicators” (Palmier 2004: 119-120) is true in the world of goods, too. The resourcefulness with which Indonesian businessmen and women name their shops and goods is incredible. But they all have one thing in common. They sound outlandish and conjure up the impression of exclusivity and luxury. Many shops not only in the fashion business, but also patisseries, restaurants and clubs give themselves exotic foreign, often English, French or Spanish sounding names; most recently even Arabic sounding names are being used. In connection with product and brand names, attention should be drawn to the differing brand awareness in the luxury goods branch (as explained in the power orientation paragraph). In Indonesia, products in this sector only sell if the brand name and brand logo are clearly visible. Less ostentatious brands are only successful to a limited extent. This is why Prada in Indonesia mostly sells shoes from its sports range which is easily identifiable because of its red stripe (HaS, interview December 2004). They do not, however, sell shoes from their main range which is only recognizable as a status symbol to those in the know.
|Figure C-49 Foreign names evoke status in all fields of business|
It would be interesting in this context to carry out an investigation comparing status orientation scores and turn-over of individual luxury brands in selected countries. In ascribed status oriented countries, sales of those brands which have big logos would possibly be higher than in achievement oriented societies where quality is the main factor in purchasing. Price (one of the 4Ps) has a different significance as a buying criterion in an achievement oriented culture than in an ascribed oriented society. In the former, price is often a synonym for quality (high price equals high quality). In ascribed status societies, price is more of a synonym for status. This means that a high price endows the product with prestige which as a result rubs off on the consumer. In the framework of price determination SL added the following: “Price is an important buying criterion for certain products” (SL, interview September 2004).
Interestingly, status is not only ascribed to people, but also to buildings and locations. There is scarcely a residential complex without a foreign sounding name. The concept of country of origin is closely linked to this, too. This means that for ascribed status societies this purchasing argument is important, providing the products are from a prestigious country of origin. In Indonesia, products from Europe, the United States and Japan rank highly; at the lower end of the scale, China ranks after Indonesia’s own products. This idea leads to the last of the 4Ps -place. By this (as already explained in the chapter on international marketing) the environment in which the products are presented, from distribution channels to the individual outlet, is meant. Here it is important to find a place which matches the product image. This is difficult in Indonesia (especially when one leaves the cities) where approximately 75 percent of total outlets are traditional. Notwithstanding, Indonesians are very resourceful when it comes to decorating their traditional outlets. Painted scarves, company flags and pennants doll off their point of sales (POS). By doing so, they aim to crate an ambiance which reflects the product or brand images of goods sold.
|Figure C-50 Examples of traditional retailing in Indonesia and presentation of products|
The orientation’s impact on concepts used in consumer behaviour and marketing
In order to understand consumer behaviour, it is generally believed that one must understand the motivating forces driving consumption decisions. In other words, one needs to know what needs consumers are seeking to meet and why they choose to meet them in the way they do (Schütte and Ciarlante 1998: 90). In the context of this orientation it is necessary to reveal whether needs, motivations and means of fulfilment differ from those of Western consumers and what the cultural reasons for this are.
The most popular and well-known approach to human motivation is based on the research of psychologist Abraham Maslow (1997, 2002). Maslow’s needs hierarchy specifies that needs are arranged in a sequence from lower-level to higher-level (see following figure). Each level of the hierarchy specifies a certain type of need. Maslow identifies five needs: (1) psychological (the biological needs for food water and sleep), (2) safety and security (the need for shelter, protection, and security), (3) social needs (the need for affection, friendship and acceptance), (4) ego needs (the needs for prestige, success, accomplishment, and self-esteem) and (5) the need for self-actualization (self-fulfilment and enriching experiences). Lower-level needs (starting with the physiological) are considered to dominate higher-level needs, i.e. consumers must satisfy low-level needs before they begin to pursue higher-order needs. According to Maslow, the highest level of need is related to self-realization (self-actualization). Consumers desire to live up to their full potential. They want to maximize the use of their skills and abilities. This need for self-realization only becomes activated if all four of the lower-level needs have already been satisfied. These five basic levels of human need rank in order of importance from lower-level (biogenic needs) to higher-level (psychogenic needs). The individual’s lowest-level need which is unsatisfied serves to motivate the individual’s behaviour. Once satisfaction of that need is achieved, a new and higher need emerges that the individual is motivated to fulfil. Upon satisfaction of that need, a still higher need will emerge, again motivating the consumer to fulfil it.
|Figure C-51 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (1)|
Maslow’s hierarchy provides useful organization for thinking about needs and motives. However, the hierarchy ignores the intensity of needs. The avid consumption of luxuries in poor transitional economies illustrates aspects of oversimplification. For example, Indonesian families forgo needed food in order to afford a television or a refrigerator that then remains empty. This might seem to be an extreme example, but examples such as this really do exist. It seems that sometimes higher-level needs win over basic needs. Even in ancient cultures in which people often struggled to meet basic needs, one can see evidence of human tendencies to make art and assemble collections.
Maslow’s needs hierarchy provides a useful summary or inventory of human requirements that can be useful for marketing managers interested in understanding their customers’ necessities. However, they should be cautious in assuming that a hierarchy of needs holds. The theory assumes some overlap between each level as no need is ever completely satisfied. While all the needs below those which remain unsatisfied continuously motivate behaviour to some extent, it is the lowest level of unsatisfied need that serves as the dominating motivating force of an individual’s behaviour. Thus the theory asserts that dissatisfaction is a stronger motivation than satisfaction.
While Maslow’s theory is agreed to be broadly applicable across many social disciplines, his needs hierarchy seems particularly suited to western culture, specifically American culture (Schütte and Ciarlante 1998: 92), although Maslow himself dismissed the question of intercultural transposability by arguing: “…societies are much more alike than we would think…” (Schütte and Ciarlante 1998: 92). Kindel, on the contrary, asserts that Maslow’s needs hierarchy is inappropriate for the Chinese, particularly at its stages of self-realization. In addition, Maslow’s ordering of needs may not be consistent across cultures. Research supports somewhat different hierarchies in the East (HS, lecture October 2004). Some cultures certainly put more value on social needs and belonging (as presented in the social orientation) and less on ego needs and self-realization. Different cultures have varying conceptions of the self that are likely to influence whether they value self-fulfilment or collective fulfilment. The presentation of this concept to them led to unanimous agreement on the part of the interview partners.
In the case of the Asian consumers, not only are modifications to Maslow’s ranking of needs required, but also the definition of and even existence of such needs must be questioned (JK, lecture October 2004). Since Southeast Asians, like everyone else, must be fed and protected in order to survive, changes are not required as far as physical needs are concerned. However, it is debatable whether self-realization as a personally directed need actually exists for the Asian consumer. Instead, it may be a socially directed need reflecting the desire to enhance an individual’s image and position through contributions to society. Among the collectivistic cultures of Southeast Asia (social orientation), the idea that personal needs are the highest level of need would neither be readily accepted nor regarded positively by others. To compare Maslow’s hierarchy of needs with the one suggested as being relevant for Indonesian consumers, refer to the next figure at the end of this paragraph. Indeed, the emphasis on achieving independence, autonomy and freedom (characteristic of the individualistic value system of Western cultures) is visibly absent form Asian cultures, according to Schütte and Ciarlante (1998: 92). In the Asian context, socially directed needs are considered to be those of the highest level. Rather than redefining Maslow’s self-actualization need as a socially directed self-fulfilment need, Schütte and Ciarlante hypothesize that personal needs in Southeast Asia tend to be subordinated to social needs. As a consequence, the highest level of satisfaction is not derived from the actions directed at the self but from the reactions of others to the individual. Therefore, a more accurate hierarchy of needs in the Southeast Asian context is one which eliminates the personally directed self-actualization need and instead emphasizes the intricacies and importance of social needs. What Maslow has identified as social needs of belonging and prestige can, according to HS, (lectures October 2004) in fact, be broken down into three levels: (1) affiliation, (2) approbation, and (3) status.
|Figure C-52 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (2) (adapted from HS, lecture October 2004)|
Affiliation is the acceptance of an individual as a member of a group. In the family, this acceptance is automatic, but in most other groups certain qualifications must be met in order to gain membership. In terms of consumer behaviour, the affiliation need will encourage conformity to group norms. Once affiliation has been attained, the individual will desire the approbation of those in his group. This is a higher level need and requires effort, as approbation must typically be earned through acts that demand the respect of others. Once the individual feels sufficiently approbated within his group, he/she will desire the status that comes from the esteem of society at large. Fulfilment of this level of need requires the regard of outsiders, whereas fulfilment of the approbiation need is on a more intimate level. This status level of needs most closely resembles Maslow’s prestige need and manifests itself in highly visible conspicuous consumption.
Schütte and Ciarlante (1998: 94-97) present other attempts which are believed to complement the idea of human needs and their impact on behaviour in the context of Maslow. One of the theories presented, groups together three human needs with the most significant ramifications for consumer behaviour as a “trilogy of needs”. These are the needs for power, affiliation and achievement.
|Figure C-53 Trilogy of needs|
These can be related to Maslow’s needs hierarchy and go even further in delineating the contrasts between Western and Asian consumers in terms of the nature and importance of each need and the type of consumer behaviour each one inspires. Schütte and Ciarlante (1998: 94) find that while these needs can often be personally directed in the case of the Westerner, among Asians these needs are far more often socially directed. The need for power refers to an individual’s need for control. This control can be directed towards the individual’s environment as well as towards other persons or objects. When an individual feels that controlling other people or things increases his status in their eyes, the individual experiences increased self-esteem as a result. This need for power is personally directed and is related to the individual’s need for self-esteem. In the Asian hierarchy of needs, the need for power would relate to the status need when the individual feels that greater power brings with it greater esteem from others. The collectivistic Asian consumer, according to Schütte and Ciarlante (1998: 98), however, “…is typically more satisfied to remain a part of the group rather than to control it, and the personally directed motivation the Western consumer experiences is therefore relatively absent in the Asian context. However, in Indonesia, people feel a great need for power over others. Historically power over people (prestige increases with the number of subjects) in Southeast Asia was considered more valuable than power over land. Land was plentiful, people, however, compared to area of land, were relatively scarce. The need for affiliation is very similar to Maslow’s social need and therefore ranks as extremely important in motivating consumer behaviour among individuals with a high dependence on the acceptance and approval of others. As Schütte and Ciarlante (1997) reveal with their hierarchy model of needs, the affiliation need is of particular importance in collectivistic cultures and may therefore be a greater motivator than in the Western context. People with high affiliation needs often select goods that they feel are in accordance with group norms and will thus meet with the approval of their group. In the western context, this need pertains to products and services that are consumed in groups and alleviate feelings of loneliness, such as team sports, coffee bars and shopping malls. In the Western context, the achievement need is related to both the socially directed prestige need and the personally directed self-realization need. People with a need for achievement tend to be more self-confident, enjoy taking calculated risks, actively research their environments and are very interested in feedback. Products and services that signify success are particularly appealing as they provide feedback about the realization of their goals. In the Western context, products associated with the need for achievement include cigarettes, candy, alcohol, ice cream and cookies because they serve as rewards for achievement. For the Asian consumer, “…achievement is a primary means of satisfying the social need for admiration from the peer group as well as status from society at large” (Schütte and Ciarlante 1998: 96). The self-satisfaction that achievement brings to the Asian consumer is derived not from providing a means of setting oneself apart from or above the groups, but from the social rewards in terms of status and the acceptance it brings.
In other words, achievement in the Asian context is very much a socially directed need in contrast to the personally directed self-realization needs of Western consumers. The figure illustrates the different weighting of needs between Western and Asian consumers. For the Western consumer, the individualistic needs of achievement and power are more prevalent and motivating than is the need for affiliation. In the collectivistic Asian cultural context, social needs (affiliation, admiration and status) are far more motivating than the need for individualized self-fulfilment in the form of achievement and power. This might be right, but the need for power over people certainly exists in Indonesian society. The needs for power and achievement are most motivating to the Asian consumer when they are socially directed, thus being subsumed by the affiliation need. Hence, for the Asian consumer, it is the “social self” that motivates. The “private self” is sublimated to concern over the effects of one’s actions and behaviour on others. It is therefore more important to monitor the motivations of the social than the private self. Motivational research techniques designed to reveal hidden motives may provide interesting detail, but the outward, social self is the active participant in consumption choices. Since the social self is far easier for the marketer to measure and respond to than the private self, it may be relatively easy to predict responses of Asian consumers to product-offering and promotional activities (Schütte and Ciarlante 1998: 97).
To sum up, the considerable significance of this orientation in connection with Indonesian cultural and consumer behaviour must be highlighted. Strong status orientation is reinforced through the power orientation, which will be explained in the course of this chapter. Since both orientations can be considered to be the most important in terms of affecting certain consumer behaviour patterns, both will be dealt with again in the summary and discussion of the model and results for Indonesia.
The “control orientation” has been adapted from Trompenaars’ and Woolliams’ “internal versus external control value dimension” who describe this dimension as “the dilemma between internal versus external control” (Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 107). This dichotomy is also known as “internal locus of control versus external locus of control” (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 141; ibid: 107). The dimension concerns an existential matter of life which affects all human beings, i.e. the meaning people assign to their natural environment. The dimension enquires whether a culture tries to control and dominate nature or submit to it. Societies have developed two major orientations towards nature; either that one can and should control nature by imposing one’s will upon it, as in the ancient biblical injunction “multiple and subdue the earth”; or that man is part of nature and must go along with its laws, directions and forces (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 141). The orientation therefore reflects the idea of an inner-directed versus an outer-directed worldview. One can see considerable variations in this external versus internal control dimension between countries (ibid: 143-144).
A divide between countries is reflected in Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s ranking of the dimension where predominantly Muslim countries and Hindu India score as externally controlled. It seems that people in Muslim countries and Asian countries in general, are less likely to believe in internal control than people residing in Europe or North America. In the latter two, a strict separation between religious beliefs and science has been drawn, as well as a separation between church and state. The foundations of this behaviour will be explained in the next section. Indonesia’s score exemplifies a society principally believing in external control of the world (Boucher-Floor, THT consulting, email August 2005). Indeed, there is much evidence to indicate that Indonesian society is heavily influenced by religious and cultural influences which are the reason for the country’s score as a society where people believe in being outer-directed (externally controlled).
|Figure C-54 Indonesia scoring rather externally controlled|
In the course of human existence, there has been a shift from a preponderant fear that nature would overwhelm human existence, to the idea that nature can be controlled. This transformation is closely linked to the rationalization of the world, i.e. that the truth should be determined by reason and factual analysis, rather than faith, dogma or religious teaching (Kopper 1979: 1-39). Before the fifteenth century in Europe, nature was seen as an organism. People believed that nature and the environment determined what human beings needed to do, and that nature controlled them, rather than the reverse. With the Renaissance, this organic view became mechanistic and the idea that nature could be controlled, developed (Debus 1978: 1-15; Gerl 1989: 19-40). Thus religion was replaced by a civic order, culminating in the secular viewpoints expressed in the French Revolution (for example laicism). The 18th century also saw a continued rise of empirical philosophical ideas, and their application to political economy, government and sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology. The idea of uniform laws for natural phenomena mirrored the greater systematization in a variety of studies. The Enlightenment’s intellectual heritage is reflected in the view that it was the point where Europe broke through what historian Peter Gay (1966) calls “the sacred circle”, where previous dogma circumscribed thinking. The Age of Enlightenment, as is generally believed today, facilitated the beginning of a human-centric (internally controlled) versus a God-centric (externally controlled) worldview with major implications for humankind and the organization of life (Trinkhaus 1999: XVI., 667-684). However, the Age of Enlightenment - a western cultural heritage - influenced primarily the cultures out of which it originated, and in other parts of the world had too minor an influence on people’s life worlds to rationalize the organic view that nature dominates individuals and directs actions. People’s focus in these cultures tends to be on the environment rather than on themselves. This has been described as external control and has major implications on peoples’ world outlook, self-assessment and self-development. Those people who have a mechanistic view of nature have, in addition to the belief that man can dominate the environment, a tendency to take themselves as the point of departure for determining any course of action. This is known as internal control.
Fatalism is often closely connected to outer control orientations as religion exerts influence on people’s life worlds, particularly in regions where people are predominantly believers of religions which were not de-mystified by the innovation of the Age of Enlightenment. Fatalism is a belief that directly influences action, not necessarily in terms of acting less, but rather in terms of acting differently. It clearly posits the locus of control as being outside, in the metaphysical environment. There are huge differences in how religious beliefs influence this orientation. Where, for example Christianity fundamentally differs from Islam, is in the assumption that God would ask human beings to accept their destiny as it comes (Usunier and Lee 2005: 66). The Christian creed separates the worldly from the heavenly sphere more strictly, as mentioned elsewhere. Furthermore, there is a less personal and direct relationship to God than in Islam, since, at least in Catholicism, it is largely mediated by the Church. This frees the tendencies towards mastery over nature, since God gives mankind leeway in relation to worldly enterprises. In Christian religions, the way is cleared for proactive attitudes. In Islam, omniscience is, as generally in monotheistic religions, typically attributed to God. Thus, it is not primarily the presence of omniscience which exists traditionally in theology, but the degree of emphasis placed on the capacity to know everything across religions. In religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism (Weber 2005; Schluchter 1984) where this emphasis is strong, people see themselves as externally controlled (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 144) with major implications on cultural behaviour.
As mentioned elsewhere, Indonesia’s society is culturally influenced by the religions and traditions of the Indian subcontinent (Hinduism and Buddhism) and that of the Middle East (Islam) as well as indigenous customs (“adat") (Garang 1974: 10-40). The phenomenon of inter-personal relationships dominating all areas of Indonesian society is “adat”. The term “adat” originates in the Islamic-Arabic region, and describes non-coded local-traditional habits which are summed up in the expression “what is commonly known and accepted”, or “custom” among Islamic nomadic tribes (Garang 1974: 10). “Adat” is a means of social control.
Java, Indonesia’s main island, once the site of many influential kingdoms in the Southeast Asia region, is still, despite what Mulder (1994: 19) has called “santrinisasi” (continuous penetration of orthodox Islam), a strong repository of an amalgam of classic Javanese ideas exercising a powerful spell (“Javanization”) on present-day social, political and cultural spheres in Indonesia. At the heart of Javanese civilization there are, as exemplified elsewhere in this chapter, mystic and religious practices which are shaped by the idea of being in step with cosmic rhythm and destiny (ibid: 23), clearly favouring an outer-control orientation. Javanism’s underlying thinking that events are preconditioned and are manifestations of God’s omnipotence or the power of nature (“kodrat”), and the Javanese belief in the projective power of puppet plays (“wayang”) exemplify the assumption that Javanism promotes a view of an externally controlled world. Together with Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, all chiefly propagating an externally directed world, one can conclude that Indonesian society in general scores in a rather externally controlled way. Finally, the hypothesis that Indonesian society is rather externally controlled, can be confirmed.
The orientations’ implications mainly concern organizational and strategic companies’ matters (rather than questions arising in the field of consumer behaviour) since the orientation’s influences on individual consumers are rather inconsequential compared to its impact on strategy and organization. The reason for this is that the relationship closely analogous to man and nature, outlined in this orientation, is that of organizations and markets (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 148). While the belief that the environment is all-powerful in deciding the future and can lead to fatalism or resignation (American belief), it can also lead to a company view where markets and consumers are central variables of success and where direction is taken from markets (outside) and not only from the company’s research and development (R&D) department (inside) which tends to be far away from the end-consumer. It may be for this reason that some outer-directed cultures (for example Japan, Singapore and South Korea) are among the world’s better economic performers with their innovative and consumer-centric companies (for example Toyota and Samsung). This gives clues as to why a product may succeed, i.e. not simply because the company wills it to, or because its special design features delight customers, but a combination of all product features. This shows how much it helps to be outer-directed, because this cultural tendency focuses on what customers want. It may succeed for reasons other than those which come from inside the organization, namely the customers’ preferences.
|Figure C-55 Interaction with consumers in externally- and internally-oriented companies|
Unlike Indonesians and generally most Asians, Germans are inside-oriented and focus on quality (RD, interview December 2004). German companies expect to sell on this, but this can also mean losing track of competitors or managing markets with a homogenous global strategy without taking local idiosyncrasies into account. For inner-directed companies, local peculiarities deriving from culture are rather meaningless as the products and services are believed to be so superior that they can sell worldwide without adaptation. As Colenso (2000: 149-168), Howaldt, Kopp and Winther (1998: 13-19) and Imai (1997: 15-26) show, such introspectiveness can lead to many faux-pas in the corporate world. Therefore, it can be concluded that the main issue related to this orientation is to connect the internally controlled culture of technology push (selling what one can make) with the externally controlled world of market pull (making what one can sell). Outer-directed need not mean God-directed or fate-directed but directed by the knowledge revolution, by a joint-venture partner or the end-consumer.
To accept direction from customers, market forces or new technologies can be more advantageous than opposing these with one’s own (or company’s) preferences. Ideas like “scanning the environment” and “customer orientation” usually come very naturally to cultures scoring as outer-directed, as mentioned elsewhere. As shown, in a cultural environment where a lot of attention is given to outside forces, companies are very keen to find out what customers want (Colenso 2000: 113-124). Manufacturers do their best to make or develop products that fulfil customer needs. The most effective organizations are those which are better at connecting the push of technology to the pull of the market (Colenso 2000: 149-168; Howaldt, Kopp and Winther 1998: 13-19; Imai 1997: 15-26).
Another important aspect regarding this orientation is that of innovation. Asia’s major inroads into Western markets have come less from products that have been invented there and more from products that were “refined”. It is believed that this is possible because of Asian’s outside orientation. Western contention that sees Asians as “stealing ideas” is also shaped by the West’s proprietary notion about what comes from inside of us and is therefore “ours”. The concept is so apparent to Southeast Asians and especially the Japanese, that they are hardly aware of it (Imai 1997: 15). Not all Southeast Asians follow the concept, but being outwardly oriented to the market is generally discernible in companies. Southeast Asians may regard western technologies as part of the environment, like fruit on a tree, which wise people pick and incorporate into themselves. Moreover concepts such as “kaizen” (refinement, improvement) have very high cultural prestige. Colenso (2000: 8) adds:
“It is important to recognize that kaizen is not an initiative, it is an ongoing organizational culture which, as a matter of primary focus, is dedicated to and active in, the process of improvement.” (Colenso 2000: 8)
The concept is heavily linked to environmental adaptation (Imai 1997: 19-21), while many companies in the West espouse the view that the consumer would adapt himself to their products. To take something from the external environment and then refine or improve it is not “copying” but simply making something better. For Southeast Asians, the process of refinement has very high cultural prestige and is considered as art in its own right (Howaldt, Kopp and Winther 1998: 13-17). To invent something, to be its author and originator, is associated with high status in an internally oriented culture. To refine and develop something that was invented elsewhere is less prestigious. Finally, it can be claimed that an outer-directed orientation is the starting point of this thesis’ contention. This is because, without taking the importance of markets, consumers and their culture into consideration, it is impossible to have successful products as the company is then too internally-oriented. What can happen in a case such is shown in the next figure.
|Figure C-56 Possible results of an inner-controlled (directed) market approach (images, courtesy of Coke)|
In general it seems that the most successful foreign companies are the ones that manage to combine the image of a foreign brand with some degree of adaptation to local circumstances and preferences (Imai 1997: 15-26). In international marketing, control orientation does not play a central role in direct communication with the consumer. It rather concerns the basic direction of the company - whether it works in a customer-centric way or if the organization itself is at the forefront. This is the reason why, in the context of this orientation, consumers and their behaviour played a lesser role. However, the case-study presented in Part D reverts to this orientation and shows how successfully some outer-oriented companies operate.
Time is more than what the clock says since different cultures have different concepts of time (owing to people’s need to coordinate their activities), which introduces dilemmas arising out of the different meanings given to time (Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 119). Time orientation has been analyzed by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner as well as Hofstede. Hofstede (2005: 207-240) referred to this as “long-term versus short-term orientation”. For the purpose of this study it has been renamed “time orientation”, since not only differences between short-term and long-term concepts, but other time concepts will be investigated in conjunction with this orientation as well. Long-term orientation is the extent to which a society exhibits a pragmatic future-oriented perspective rather than a conventional historic or short-term point of view. Values included in long-term orientation are perseverance, ordering relationships by status and observing this order, thrift, and having a sense of shame. The opposite is short-term orientation, which includes personal steadiness and stability, respect for tradition and reciprocation of greetings, favours and gifts. Focus is on the pursuit of happiness rather than on the pursuit of peace of mind (Hofstede 2005: 210). The combination of long-term orientation and collectivism results in family ties, long-term thinking and other elements of Confucian philosophy such as filial piety and paternalism (Bond 1986: 214-216).
Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ studies, based on the dimensions of past, present and future time orientations, were found to be important in the Chinese Value Survey (CVS), which was developed by Michael H. Bond and Peter B. Smith (1993) to measure values suggested by Chinese scholars. Both employ this concept for their own research and extend the study in a non-Chinese cultural environment. The purpose was to introduce a deliberate Eastern bias into value surveys that had historically been developed by Western scholars. This new instrument was tested on students in 22 countries (Bond and Smith 1993: 149-150). It revealed a dimension they termed “Confucian Work Dynamism”, which corresponds to a future-orientation on the one hand and a post- and present-orientation on the other (Bond and Smith 1993: 149-150, 186). East Asian countries scored highest, followed by Western countries. Key differences between short- and long-term orientations are thrift, being sparing with resources, respect for circumstances and the willingness to subordinate oneself for a purpose (Bond and Smith 1993: 149-150). At the short-term orientation pole, personal steadiness and stability, if overstressed, discourage the initiative, risk seeking, and changeability required of entrepreneurs in quickly changing markets. Other key differences are main work values including learning, honesty, adaptability, accountability and self-discipline. Leisure time is not important. Large savings are connected to funds available for investment - most of which is in real estate (AS, interview November 2004; HS, interview December 2004; IK, interview August 2004). Something that is often perceived as paradoxical in the measurements on this index is the combination of strong respect for tradition and short-term orientation in a large part of the Western world, whereas respect for old age and ancestor worship are such strong elements of Asian value systems. This reflects the desirable versus the desired: tradition is important, but it is innovativeness that is desired. Particularly in China, pragmatism tends to overrule respect for tradition. Besides Trompenaars’ and Hampden-Turner’s derived Chinese Value System, there are further theories which should be named at the juncture of this orientation.
Hall’s (1989) important study of time as an expression of culture provides an explanation of the difference in behaviour and language. One distinction by Hall of how people handle time is between monochronic (M-time) and polychronic (P-time) cultures (Hall and Hall 1989: 13-31). People from monochronic cultures tend to do one thing at a time; they are organized and methodical, and their workdays are structured to allow them to complete one task after another (Hall and Hall 1989: 13-14). Polychronic people, on the other hand, tend to do many things simultaneously. Their workday is not a chain of isolated, successive blocks; time is more like a vast, never-ending ocean extending in every direction (Hall and Hall 1989: 16-17). Germans adhere to the more rigid and compartmentalized way of dealing with time. To people who do many things at the same time, however, such as the Indonesians, Arabs or Pakistanis, punctuality is nice, but by no means an absolute necessity. In monochronic cultures, time spent on the Internet takes time from other activities, such as TV viewing. In polychronic cultures, people do both at the same time. Not all cultures are the same, however. In Japan, tight M-time is for business, and P-time is for private life (de Mooij 2005: 58), and work ethics are adapted to suit the circumstances. The figure below highlights this time concept.
|Figure C-57 M-time versus P-time cultures and timing|
Besides Hall’s analysis of language and time, one can distinguish between cultures and their orientation toward the past, present and future. Hall (1989: 17) identified three types of culture: present-oriented, which is relatively timeless, tradition-less and ignores the future; past-oriented, mainly concerned with maintaining and restoring traditions in the present; and future-oriented, envisaging a more desirable future and setting out to realize it. It is chiefly people who fall into the latter category who experience economic or social development (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 121). North Americans tend to be future-oriented; the future is a guide to present action, although the time horizon is short-term (Hall and Hall 1989: 17). The old is easily discarded and the new embraced. Most things are disposable, from ideas, trends, and management fads to marriage partners. Even the “old” is treated as new. Many Europeans are past-oriented; they believe in preserving history and continuing past traditions. Japan has a very long-term future time horizon, as has China, but they look to the past for inspiration (Hall 1989: 17). Furthermore, in societies undergoing a rapid process of economic change, past orientation is often temporarily played down (Usunier and Lee 2005: 27). This behaviour is often described as belief in the future, a phrase which is intended to express which great hope believers in the future associate with their future.
Another methodology used by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 125-127) to measure time interculturally is set out by Tom Cottle, who created the “Circle Test”. People are asked to think of past, present and future as being circled and asked to draw and arrange these circles in any way that shows how one feels about the relationship to the past, present and future. Four possible configurations were found. First, he found absence of zone relatedness. There is no connection between past, present or future, though in their view the future is much more important than the present and than the past. The second configuration was temporal integration; the third was partial overlap of zones and the fourth had zones touching but not overlapping, hence not sharing common regions of time (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 126). The figure below illustrates the results of the investigation into this concept schematically.
|Figure C-58 Time zones and their relatedness|
China is characterized by absence of zone relatedness, whereas Malaysia shows an orientation where all three aspects overlap, usually where the future is bigger and more important but where the past touches not only the future but overlaps it. All three aspects are important. The circle test measures how different cultures assign different meanings to past, present and future. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997: 126) extended the test to include short- and long-term horizon. Most Asian countries except the Philippines and Pakistan, which are very short-term-oriented are in the higher long-term orientation range. The Philippines and Pakistan are very-short term oriented (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 211) Unfortunately, there are no exact figures for Indonesia. However, Islamic countries are considered to be short-term oriented (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 234). The tables presented by Hofstede contain data from only two entirely Muslim countries and Islam by itself does not stand for a short-term orientation, but the strength of its fundamentalism does. This fact renders categorizing Indonesia difficult, even if advertising placed there strongly implies short-term-orientation due to its emphasis on the here and now. This was also confirmed by Tineke Boucher-Floor of THT Consulting (email, August 2005) who characterizes Indonesia as shown in the previous figure (figure: time zones and their relatedness). Yet, the most important aspect of the time orientation is whether a society is short- or long-term oriented. Indonesia scores as short-term oriented as the following figure demonstrates.
|Figure C-59 Indonesia scoring rather short-term oriented|
As Gurevitch states (1976: 229): “Time occupies a prominent place in the ‘model of the world’ characterizing a given culture”. People’s relationship to time changes with respect to periods of history and levels of human development, the technology available for measuring time, the emphasis given to natural and social rhythms, and the prevailing metaphysical views. This means that each perception of time corresponds to a vision of the real world, its origin and destiny (world perception). Time appears predominately therefore through this social function, in that it allows people to have a common framework of activities and helps to synchronize individual human behaviour. Encyclopedic approaches to the concept of time (Attali 1982) show that one time pattern has never eliminated a previous one. Each new time pattern superimposes itself on the one that previously prevailed. As a consequence, individual time perceptions may result from adding or mixing different basic patterns of time. Most of the literature in cultural anthropology considers time perceptions as cultural artifacts.
The orientation and religion
In conjunction with the time orientation, the culture element “religion” plays an important role in pushing people towards a present orientation, if it emphasizes that only God decides the future. In terms of temporal orientations, the Arabic-Muslim character has been described as fatalistic and short-term oriented. As stated by Harris and Moran (1987: 474):
“Who controls time? A Western belief is that one controls his own time. Arabs believe that their time is controlled, to a certain extent, by an outside force – namely Allah – therefore the Arabs become more fatalistic in their view of time… Most Arabs are not clock watchers, nor are they planners of time.” (Harris and Moran 1987: 474)
In contrast, future orientation is naturally related to the view that people can master nature, and think the future can in some way be predicted or at least significantly influenced. In societies where future orientation is strong, it is backed by the educational system and by an “imagination of the future” supported by reports on scientific breakthroughs and technological developments. A strongly economic view of time, when combined with monochronism, emphasizes the linearity of time. Time is viewed as being a line with a point at the centre, i.e. the present. Each portion of the line can be cut into slices, which are supposed to have a certain value. Basic religious beliefs play a key role in supporting such a linear view of time. Christianity has a one-shot interpretation of worldly existence. Only on the final judgment day will Christians know if they are to be granted eternal life. However, the Asian religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism, assume that on the death of the body, the soul is born again in another body. The belief is that regular reincarnation, i.e. until a pure soul is allowed to escape the cycle and enter nirvana, radically changes the nature of time in a specific life (Becker 1993: 1-22, 23-45).
|Figure C-60 Worldly existence of humans: time bar versus time circle|
For most Asians, cyclicity is central in their pattern of time as illustrated above. Naturally, patience is on the side of people believing in cyclical reincarnation of the soul. For Christians, it is more urgent to achieve, because their souls are given only one worldly life which in fact supposedly has important repercussions on consumer behaviour and marketing. Elements of cyclicity are based mostly on metaphysical assumptions. Elements of cyclicity of time therefore have one main origin - religious assumption about reincarnation of the soul.
The orientation and language
Besides the influence of religion on this orientation, language plays a role in that it identifies a society as being either short-term or long-term oriented. Short-term or long-term orientation can to a lesser extent be investigated with the help of language. However, it is possible to comment on the relationship between past, present and future. It seems that there are clues as to culture’s time orientation in its language, since representations of time are conveyed through the medium of language, as a means of communication and therefore collective action, too. The vocabulary of time reveals a great deal about the linkage between language and cultural representations. Since Indonesian does not have any conjugations, the time of an action (tempus) cannot be identified through the verb. Thus the verb can have many meanings from a time point of view (Nothofer and Pampus 1998: 39). Generally, the context is sufficient to determine the tense. If this is not the case, the adverbs of time can be used for assistance. In Indonesian the completion of the action is more important than the tense; comments about the tense are carried out by three adverbs (sudah [already], belum [not yet], sedang [now]). On principle, these grammatical elements reveal that there is no clear division between tenses. It could be assumed that this is why the circles do not overlap in the circle test in this case. Finally, the culture element language has a decisive influence on this orientation, too. To what extent the orientation determines purchasing behaviour is the subject of the next section.
As demonstrated, time is a core system of cultural, social, and personal life. Each culture has its own unique time frame. Different concepts of time can explain significant differences in behaviour. A few aspects of time that are relevant to consumer behaviour are summarized in the following paragraphs. Furthermore, it should be noted that many marketing concepts are time based: product life-cycle (Kotler, Ang, Leong and Tan 2003: 316-318, 329, 332), sales forecasting (Kotler, Ang, Leong and Tan 2003: 133-137) or the planning of new product launches (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2004: 613-620) to name but a few. Normative time in marketing and management seems indisputable, and its very nature is rarely questioned. It is perceived as linear, continuous and economic. However, time in an intercultural perspective is probably the area where differences are both the largest and the most difficult to pinpoint, because (1) assumptions are very deep rooted and (2) formally one adopts a common model of time, which could lead to conflicts when different models and assumptions about time meet. Short-termism is the expression used to describe the pressure exerted by money markets for profits now, in the short term. Because of the monetary value placed on time in the US, companies that have a product that will save people time usually emphasize this feature. But in other cultures not everything that will save people time generally sells and therefore this feature should not be exploited in advertising. Western advertisers tend to use clocks in their international advertising to symbolize efficiency. At the same time however, the fact that clocks are not recognized as symbols of efficiency in cultures where people have a different sense of time is not taken into consideration (de Mooij 2005: 57). The long-term orientation is often also associated with a country’s high rate of savings. In comparison to China or countries with a large Chinese minority, Muslim countries’ scores are low here, too. Investigation of Indonesian consumer behaviour clearly indicates differences between ethnic groups. Muslim Indonesians do not comply with long-term orientation (fostering virtues oriented toward future rewards) but rather their behaviour (fostering of virtues related to the past and present) conforms to short-term orientation. The “time to market” is the period of time taken from the start of the development of a product until it is offered to customers in the marketplace. A variation is “time to break even”, or how long it takes to earn enough money to cover expenses. Generally speaking, American managers seek to make this time shorter and shorter. A window of opportunity can close in your face if you are as much as a few weeks late. In sequential cultures, most attempts to decrease time to market, or time to break even are based on pushing people and events to move faster. This is the consequence of thinking sequentially. Push equals linear acceleration, or going faster. Pull strategies are popular in Japan. The Japanese start by “thinking backwards” from a future rendezvous with the customers to the pattern of current activities needed to make the rendezvous happen. Japan is also the place where just-in-time production practices (JIT) was developed. Those cultures that use pull strategies tend to put their focus on long-term effectiveness. The opposing value of long-term orientation is “save for tomorrow”. Short-term orientation is reflected in the sense of urgency so frequently encountered in U.S. advertising. Examples are “Hurry”, “Don’t wait”, or “Now 50% off”. Another expression of short-term thinking is “instant pleasure”, or living in the now and not thinking about the future, as the advertisement below illustrates.
|Figure C-61 An example of short-termism in advertising (image, courtesy of GMC)|
A strong value in long-term orientation cultures is reverence for nature. This is also related to collectivism, so it is particularly in the configuration of long-term orientation and collectivism that harmony of man with nature plays such a major role in people’s lives. Nature and symbols of nature are important elements in the advertising of Japan, China and Chinese-related cultures (see for example Appendix 1, Figure 307-309) and to a much lesser extent in Indonesian ads. Harmony with both nature and fellow humans is a popular subject in Asian advertising. It is part of an indirect approach that helps to build trust in the company. Much advertising is pure entertainment and visuals and objects that please the eye, many of which relate to nature (bamboo trees, flowers, autumn leaves, or other representations of the seasons) and which often have a symbolic meaning unknown to foreigners, are used (see for example the BMW X5 ads discussed). Indonesian advertising reflects thoughts and harmony less via citing actual facts than in the depiction of certain familiar practices, as illustrated in the figure below.
|Figure C-62 Harmonious sentiments as indicators of long-termism|
|Figure C-63 Harmonious sentiments as indicators of long-termism|
Many Westerners do not understand the butterflies in ads for computers or other natural elements in Asian advertising. The combination of collectivism and long-term orientation demands harmony with nature and thus explains this advertising style, the objective of which is to please the customer, not to intrude. The short-term orientation of the Indonesian society is mostly articulated in advertising campaigns for banking services, such as credit cards and consumer credits and less so in ads for consumer goods where campaigns accentuate visual elements associated with, for example the status and power orientation or the social orientation.
The orientation and shopping behaviour
The sequential tendency is apparent in purchasing behaviour. People in these societies like to do a lot of things simultaneously and therefore places where they spend their leisure time (for example malls) reflect this. In the mall, not only can one shop, but one can also ice skate, visit a spa and have something to eat. Asian’s sequential tendency could explain why shopping malls that include recreational facilities are preferred. Shopping is regarded positively and as a social activity with the possibility to meet friends, to go with the whole family, to eat, or to go the cinema. All over Asia the latest data shows that economies are becoming 24-hour economies. It seems that Asians like always having something to do.
On principle, the time orientation is clearly visible in consumer behaviour and their attitude “buy now, pay later” instead of “save for later“. This became especially apparent from the interviews conducted in Indonesia. Advertising campaigns are not necessarily targeted at the average richest groups but at the groups of people which like to spend even if they cannot afford to. It became apparent that Muslim consumers in particular were the target of advertisements since they would not hesitate to spend money on every imaginable kind of consumer good. A similar experience was had in Malaysia in 2001 where a product was initially only displayed in bookstores frequented by the Chinese-Malaysian minority. The reasoning behind it was that it was believed that they would purchase the product rather than the comparatively less well-off Malays (Willer 2003). Later, it turned out that it was precisely the less well-off Malays who did not care about the price. Kids wanted the product and it was bought for them (Willer 2003).
The orientation and consumer credit
Banks and credit card issuing institutions are aware of Indonesian consumer short-term oriented behaviour and exploit this opportunity to their advantage. Consumers are bombarded with advertising for consumer credit and credit cards everywhere. Credit card companies put up their stalls at the personnel entrances or beside the prayer rooms of an office building in order to advertise their products. Restaurants, cafés and whole malls have certain offers for credit card holders. Owning a credit or bank card in Indonesia is equated with being modern, a sales argument per se, and nearly everyone today has at least one bank card (IS, interview October 2004). Since bank cards allow people to go overdrawn, a lot of Indonesians take advantage of this if no cash is available. Paying by credit or debit card leads to a gradual deterioration of traditional retailing where only cash would normally be accepted. Modern retail outlets take full advantage of this fact. A lot of Indonesians feel rich because of having bank cards and so they love to go out shopping and use them (IS, interview October 2004).
|Figure C-64 Short-termism in Indonesian advertising campaigns for banking products|
Finally, it can be concluded that the orientation is on the one hand quite visible in advertising campaigns for banking services in Indonesia, on the other hand, however, less frequent in ads for products outside the banking sector. For cars, cigarettes and many other products, visuals are used which evoke thoughts of harmonious living, a sentiment associated with a rather long-term outlook of a society.
Rubber time (jam karert) - often associated with Indonesian consumer behaviour -, was not gone into in depth in connection with this orientation, since it is only important in intercultural communication and not in International marketing.
“Power distance” is one of the dimensions of national culture suggested by Hofstede (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 41) to put value concepts in a global comparative perspective. Power distance measures the extent to which a society and its individual members tolerate an unequal distribution of power in organizations and in society as a whole. De Mooij (2005: 60) defines power distance as “the extent to which less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally”. Power orientation is reflected in the values of both the less powerful and more powerful members of society, for example by behavioural values of superiors who display their power and exercise it, as well as by their subordinates who are uncomfortable if they do not personally experience it (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 39-46). In high power distance societies, superiors and subordinates feel separated from each other and everyone has his or her rightful place in a social hierarchy, and as a result, acceptance and giving of authority is something that comes naturally. At society level, power distance translates into how society handles inequality. It is accepted that some people are given more status and respect than others. In cultures scoring lower on the power distance index, authority can have a negative connotation, as focus is on equality of rights and opportunity and independence are highly valued (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 40-41).
In the large-power-distance situation, children are expected to be obedient toward their parents. Sometimes there is even an order of authority among the children themselves, young children being expected to yield to older children, for example (HS, lecture October 2004). Independent behaviour on the part of a child is discouraged (Bond 1986: 203-205). There is often considerable warmth and care in the way parents and older children treat younger ones, especially those who are very young. They are looked after and not expected to experiment for themselves (HS, lecture October 2004). Respect for parents and other elders is seen as a basic virtue; children see others showing such respect and soon acquire it themselves. This can be confirmed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. Respect for parents and older relatives lasts through adulthood: parental authority continues to play a role in a person’s life as long as the parents are alive. Parents and grandparents are treated with formal deference even after their children have actually taken control of their own lives (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 51) and children are supposed to support their parents financially and practically (HS, lecture October 2004).
In the small-power-distance situation, children are more or less treated as equals as soon as they are able to act. The goal of parental education is to let children take control of their own affairs as soon as they can. Active experimentation by the child is encouraged, for example being allowed to contradict their parents. Behaviour towards others is not dependent on the other’s age or status; formal respect and deference are seldom shown (HS, lecture October 2004). In the large-power-distance situation, the parent-child inequality is perpetuated by a teacher-student inequality that caters to the need for dependence well established in the student’s mind. The educational process is teacher-centered, that is, teachers outline the intellectual paths to be followed, are never publicly contradicted or criticized and are treated with deference even outside school. The teacher is a “guru”, a term derived from the Sanskrit word for “weighty” or “honorable”, which in Indonesia is, in fact, what a teacher is called. Corporal punishment at school is much more accepted in a large-power-distance culture than its opposite. It accentuates and symbolizes the inequality between teacher and student and is often considered good for the development of the child’s character. In a small power-distance society, it will readily be classified as child abuse.
Other key differences between small and large-power-distance countries are that whoever holds the power is right and good; skills, wealth, power and status go together; the powerful should have privileges. Power is based on tradition or family, charisma (Weber 1922: § 12), and the ability to use force. There are large income differentials in large-power-distance countries which are mostly poorer countries with a small middle-class (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 67). Interview partners in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore considered that power orientation is one of the value dimensions with the biggest impact on consumer behaviour and a major reason for European luxury goods companies having their main retail markets in Asia (KS, interview October 2004; LSML, interview October 2004; ACWC, interview October 2004; AK, interview October 2004; BH, interview October 2004), since it would provide meaningful links between the orientation and the status behaviour of a society’s members.
In the power distance index (PDI), the following countries’ scores are high, i.e. in these societies power distance is rather big, reflected in steep social hierarchies; Malaysia scores 104 (rank 1-2 of 74), Indonesia 78 (rank 15-16 of 74) and Singapore scores 74 (rank 19 of 74). The reasons for these scores will be summarized in the following sections.
|Figure C-65 Indonesia scoring as rather highly power oriented|
Except for Pakistan (rank 48 of 74) which scores in the middle, most Muslim countries included in Hofstede’s study score rather high, i.e. they are societies with high power-distance (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 41). This shows that the core cultural influences of this dimension might again be related to religion. All the religions (Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam) which colour Indonesian culture are more or less hierarchically organized as mentioned in the comments concerning the other orientations. However, Hofstede and Hofstede (2005: 66-68) do not consider religion the only element in forming the origins of power distance differences. “There seems to be a relationship between language area and present-day mental software regarding power distance” (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 66).
The orientation and language
Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the official language of Indonesia. It is, in a sense, a very "modern" language: officially it came into being only in 1945, and it is a dynamic language that is constantly absorbing new loanwords. While only a tiny fraction of the inhabitants of Indonesia speak it as a mother tongue, a substantial number use it as a second language (Nothofer 1999:73-75). This is remarkable as the syntax of other regional languages is believed to foster Indonesia’s high power orientation. This is an assumption which is only possible, though, since the Indonesian language was unable to suppress the significance of regional languages in everyday life (Nothofer 1999: 73-75). The Javanese, as the most influential group in Indonesia, speak a language which reflects steep social hierarchies. The Javanese language is the inferred language of more than 75 million people in the central and eastern part of the island of Java, in Indonesia (Sneddon 2003:196-197). Javanese can be regarded as one of the classical languages of the world, with a vast literature spanning more than twelve centuries (Keeler 1984: xvii-xxiv). At this juncture, the following should be pointed out.
The Javanese culture has various registers of politeness, which are reflected in different linguistic levels. Up to fourteen degrees of politeness in the Javanese language serve to identify the social standing of the person being addressed. The Javanese consider their hierarchically structured language a reliable means of assigning respect (Markham 1995: 78), which is extremely important to them for a harmonious family life and ultimately for the entire community. Although not currently an official language anywhere, Javanese is by far the Austronesian language with the largest number of native speakers (Sneddon 2003: 196-197). At least 45 percent of the total population of Indonesia are of Javanese descent or live in an area where Javanese is the dominant language, and four out of five Indonesian presidents since 1945 are of Javanese descent. It is therefore not surprising that Javanese has profound impact on Indonesian society. Javanese speech varies depending on social context, yielding three distinct styles or registers. Each style employs its own vocabulary, grammatical rules and even prosody. This is not unique to Javanese; neighbouring Austronesian languages as well as East Asian languages such as Korean, Japanese and Thai share similar constructions. In Javanese these styles are called: (1) “Ngoko”. “Ngoko” is informal speech, used between friends and close relatives. It is also used by persons of higher status to persons of lower status, such as elders to younger people or bosses to subordinates (Keeler 1984: 4-5; 29-30; 47-48; 65-66; Errington 1988: 152). (2) “Madya”. It is the intermediate form between “ngoko” and “karma” (Keeler 1984: xix; Wolff and Soepomo 1982: 25). An example of the context where one would use “madya” is an interaction between strangers on the street, where one wants neither to be too formal nor too informal (3) “Krama” is the polite and formal style. It is used between persons of the same status who do not wish to be informal. It is also the official style for public speeches, announcements, etc. It is also used by persons of lower status to persons of higher status, such as youngsters to elder people or subordinates to bosses (Keeler 1984: 1-3; 27-28; 45-46; 63-64; Wolff and Soepomo 1982: 13).
In addition, there are also "meta-style" words - the “honorifics” and “humilifics”. When one talks about oneself, one has to be humble. But when one speaks of someone else with a higher status or to whom one wants to be respectful, honorific terms are used. Status is defined by age, social position and other factors. The humilific words are called “krama andhap” words, while the honorific words are called “krama inggil” words. For example, children often use the “ngoko” style when talking to the parents, but they must use both “krama inggil” and “krama andhap” (Keeler 1984: 215-234; Errington 1988: 152). The impact of the Javanese language on Indonesian culture and society therefore should not be underestimated, particularly its influence with regard to the power orientation.
The orientation and natural conditions
Alongside religion and language, it is believed that natural conditions (geographic latitude) influence a society’s ranking in the power orientation. The logic of the relationship could be as follows: first of all, the societies involved have all developed to the level of sedentary agriculture (for the impact of geography on the wealth of nations, see, Landes 1998: 17-28). At lower latitudes (more tropical climates), agricultural societies generally have more abundant nature at their disposal. Survival and population growth in these climates demand relatively limited intervention of humans with nature: everything flourishes. In this situation, the major threat to a society is competition from other human groups for the same territory and resources. Those societies that have organized themselves hierarchically and in dependence on one central authority that keeps order and balance, have better chances for survival. At higher latitudes (moderate and colder climates), nature is less abundant. There is more of a need for people’s intervention with nature in order to carve out an existence. The first enemy to be resisted is nature rather than other humans. Societies in which people have learned to fend for themselves (without being too dependent on more powerful others), have a better chance of survival under these circumstances than societies that teach steep social hierarchies. The value system in this part of Asia has been, as literature shows, influenced by thousands of years’ tradition of wet-rice cultivation which has led to a societal formation in hamlets and villages which still impact social life today. Bellwood (1997: 146) argues in this respect for example: “Ranking in Indo-Malaysian small-scale traditional societies is based on a number of principles, the main one being that the descendants of the group that founded a settlement and first cleared the land will tend to preserve high status”. This leads to a “rise of inequality” (Bellwood 1997: 146). Bellwood (1997: 147) explains that standing and class exert less influence in many areas of Southeast Asia, for example, in Borneo, Sulawesi and the Philippines, where the population is scarce and agriculture is dominated by shifting cultivation. It is different however in regions with wet rice cultivation in Indonesia. Here there is a difference between nobility and commoners. Bellwood (1997: 147) notes: ”This is especially true for those societies that have had close associations with the Islamic sultanates and the networks of international trade“. The latter brought prestigious goods into today’s Southeast Asia, and with it, objects to display status.
Before discussion of the orientation’s implication on consumer behaviour, the following significant point needs to be mentioned. Although countries have, in fact, all moved to lower power distance levels (i.e. countries score lower in power distance today than in the 1980s) this has neither led to changes in their mutual ranking in due course (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 71) nor has it diminished the orientation’s consequence for consumer behaviour. The orientation’s stability reflects the perpetual existence of cultural elements which are considered to be constant over time und which reflect the inner layer of the structuralist culture model.
What is important for marketing is that, in large-power-distance societies, inequalities among people are expected and desired, whereas in small-power-distance societies inequalities should be minimized. This is true for more, as well as less educated persons who both show equally authoritarian values (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 57) although it is expected that improved education worldwide will lead to a decrease of power distance, but relative differences between countries are not expected to change. Interviews (MP, interview December 2004; HS, lecture October 2004) showed that increased levels of education have not led to a lesser degree of power distance, regardless of whether power distance levels in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore were being investigated in the interviews (CCL, interview August 2005). Thus the picture of differences between countries with regard to power distance is a static one, despite an era of unprecedented intensification of international exchanges. Moreover, hierarchies and centralization are popular, privileges and status symbols are common, and competition accepted.
Results from interviews prove the following observations made during field research in Indonesia and experiences gained in connection with the status orientation. Facts support the assumption that there is a correlation between status and power orientation, i.e. countries with higher status orientation are also highly power oriented (shortly the analysis will be concentrated on status behaviour, which can be traced back to a high score on the power index). That is valid at least for the countries of Southeast Asia investigated. Indonesian consumers display social habits and customs (every greeting, every contact must indicate the kind and degree of social distance between individuals). One’s social status must be made clear so that counterparts can respond using the register appropriate to their power positions. It is generally believed that well-known global brands serve that purpose, i.e. to distance one from others by using status brands. It is a matter of fact that Indonesians who arrive in a luxury car at a hotel or visit a restaurant fashionably dressed receive much better service than someone who does not. Clothes make people, or brands make people; this is definitely true for Indonesia.
Indonesians are generally believed to be among the most status-conscious consumers in the world and nearly everything can be used to distance oneself from others (emphasis on distance – power distance) and receive respect from people of a lower social level (DM, interview December 2004; HaS, interview December 2004). This includes manners and language (verbal dexterity and style), personal appearance (some women’s hairstyles add status) and dress, as well as the number of people surrounding a person (for lifestyles and behaviour patterns of Indonesia’s wealthy, see for example, van Leuwen 1999: 339-359). In malls, mothers with kids are frequently accompanied by their nannies and other domestic staff. In hotel lobbies people who like to be called “boss” are surrounded by their entourage who listens obediently and attentively like the boss’s royal subjects. Power over people (subjects), an old tradition in Indonesian culture, bears status. To make clear who among them wield power, Indonesians who have the financial means put their employees (mostly nannies) in uniforms, with masks on their faces since the advent of SARS and avian influenza. But not only power over people bears status; even certain products do, too.
|Figure C-66 Power distance in advertising campaigns|
The orientation and products preferences
In Indonesia and Malaysia, some luxury alcoholic drinks have social status value as well, as observed in outlets in both countries. As de Mooij notes (2005: 60) there is a significant correlation between power distance and consumption of Scotch whiskey. Interviews in Singapore in 2004 confirmed this view, particularly the comments by the Senior Brand Manager of Riche Monde Sdn Bhd, Mr. Andrew Khan. He commented that a lot of alcohol is consumed because of reasons of “face” in Southeast Asia. HS replied that the fact that virtually all sales of alcoholic drinks occur in outlets (consumption in food and beverage F&B outlets) versus very low sales for home consumption show that one must doubt whether Asians really like to drink alcohol, for example wine or liquor or whether they consume it for purely status reasons in order to distance themselves from others. This phenomenon was observed in Jakarta’s clubs as early as 2002 (Willer 2003). This gives reason to believe that the current wine trend in Asia might be short-lived because it is popular only due to image reasons. It could lose popularity overnight if Asians substituted wine for other drinks whose image promised greater status and helped to assure superior social standing. This applies not only to alcohol consumption, but also to coffee consumption. The reality is that most Asians actually prefer tea, but coffee is consumed publicly in coffee shops such as “Starbucks” or “Coffee Bean” where the image of the foreign brand is designed to guarantee the consumer a certain lifestyle and can assure the consumer of who he or she is and the lifestyle he or she wants to portray. At home, other hot drinks are often consumed, such as tea or Milo (AK, interview October 2004). Since these product preferences belong to the so-called practices or the outer three rings of the structuralist culture model, and since these change in the course of time, it is correct to assume that wine consumption is nothing more than a trend. Wine consumption (practices) allows people to set themselves apart from other social groups who cannot afford it. The desire to be different, however, reflects the high power orientation (one of the ten orientations in the core of culture in the structuralist culture model) which is stable over time.
Purchasing decisions are generally highly influenced by external stimuli and reflect the consumer’s overall evaluation of the product in Indonesia (AS, interview November 2004). The consumer first develops a feeling for the product that arises from stimuli such as advertising, the brand name and others’ opinions (DM, interview December 2004). Based upon this feeling, the consumer forms an intention to purchase or not to purchase. This can be seen in the conspicuous consumption behaviour of many Indonesians. Products which communicate status are valued for their expressive ability, and attitudes towards such products will be formed based less on the individual’s personal beliefs and more on the overall image of the product communicated by brand and the opinions of opinion leaders. People who endorse products are important in advertising as their image and status spills over to the product endorsed.
|Figure C-67 Product endorsements in Indonesia|
|Figure C-68 Product endorsements in Singapore|
Another important impact of the orientation is that of being market leader and the image it brings with it. The “rightful place” concept implies that in high power distance cultures, being the “number one” brand is important (BR, interview November 2004). A brand that has entered markets early and is viewed as the number one brand will remain much more easily than it would in low power distance cultures where challengers are favoured with a “we try harder” approach. This attitude is reflected in the many brand rankings and brand awards being published in Asia every year (DM, interview December 2004; RD, interview December 2004).
Power distance, however, is not limited to the realm of brands only. In Indonesia, power distance is associated with many features. It is important for the feature which determines power distance to be visible, this means for example that non-descript brands have only limited success (BR, interview November 2004). Giorgio Armani, whose products are more understated than for example those of Louis Vuitton with its big logos, had to close its boutiques quickly (BR, interview November 2004). This was due to the fact that the understated Armani luxury did not live up to Indonesian’s expectations of what luxury should be like in order to rub off on its owner (BR, interview November 2004). Preference for ostentatious brands and logos (logo-mania) is apparent in all social strata (logo-mania brands, see Appendix 1, Figure 206-217). For those who are less well-heeled, there are fakes of all brands in the informal sector and to an extent in the formal sector (observation, Jakarta and Surabaya, September until December 2004). Nowhere else, it seems, are there as many Montblanc pens with their white logos sticking out of men’s breast pockets, as in Indonesia. Whether pens or sports shoes, jeans or leather goods, almost every brand is available as a fake in Indonesia – even brands which are not as yet available there (HaS, interview December 2004). This kind of democratic luxury (fakes) is all the more astonishing since, apparently there are not any no-name sport shoes or T-Shirts at all. “The bigger, the better” is the manufacturer’s motto as far as brand names are concerned, in order to meet customers’ expectations. Indonesia is one of the biggest markets for counterfeited products.94
|Figure C-69 Imitating European architectural styles in order to add status to buildings|
Another important aspect relevant to high power distance cultures is the relationship between age and status, as well as respect connected with age. Not only are older people perceived and portrayed in ads as wise and experienced, but respect connected with age can also be understood as behaviour in which authority and relationships between individuals and groups are held in high regard. Indonesia’s social life, of course, reflects this attitude (which has its foundation in the significance of age) not only between family, friends and colleagues, but also in the salesperson-customer relationship which is considered important in Indonesia.
Although age (which translates itself into power distance) is an important feature of societal values and influences consumer behaviour, a new trend, i.e. that buying decisions are increasingly influenced by Asian children and teenagers, needs to be taken into consideration, too. In the past, this trend was much too often misinterpreted. It was and still is commonly believed that the youth in Southeast Asia imitate their Western counterparts by showing less respect for elders. However, what many marketers forget is that, although children increasingly influence purchasing decisions, this is neither tantamount to disrespectfulness nor to an assimilation of values between Asia and the West. Relationships between parents and children still vary with power distance and therefore between countries, but are as stable as the orientation itself, i.e. the disparities in status and power between them. In low power distance cultures, parents play with their children as equals, whereas in high power distance cultures children play more with each other. This explains why Lego (toys, building blocks) does not sell well in many high power distance societies as the concept is based on parents and children constructing buildings together (HS, lecture October 2004).
Finally the considerable influence of this power orientation on consumer behaviour in Indonesia becomes apparent. This was confirmed over and over by interviewees who were convinced that this orientation and the status orientation exert greater influence on consumer behaviour than all the other orientations. Therefore this can be considered a general characteristic of the average Indonesian consumer who on principle acts in a status oriented way.
The orientation, adapted from Hofstede’s dimensions of culture, can be labelled the “masculinity versus femininity dimension” or “gender orientation”. The question whether one interacts with others or for others is a common problem and responses are made on the basis of dominant value systems, which roughly correspond to male (assertive) and female (nurturing) roles. This orientation can be defined as follows:
“A society is called masculine when emotional gender roles are clearly distinct: men are supposed to be assertive, tough, and focused on material success, whereas women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life. A society is called feminine when emotional gender roles overlap, i.e. both men and women are supposed to be modest, tender and concerned with the quality of life.” (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 120)
To summarise, it can be said that the dominant values in a masculine society are achievement and success; the dominant values in a feminine society are caring for others and quality of life. Other key differences between masculine and feminine societies are that both men and women should be modest and both men and women can be tender and focus on relationships (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 134-136). There is tendency to polarize in masculine societies, i.e. big and fast are beautiful, whereas feminine societies, those scoring low on the masculinity index, are more people-oriented, and small is beautiful. In typically feminine societies, such as Northern European countries, the welfare system is highly developed and education is largely free and easily accessible. In these societies, patience and helpfulness are shown to those in trouble. In typically masculine societies, whether individualistic or collectivistic, weaker people find, on average, less support from society at large. In the more masculine countries, sense of responsibility, decisiveness, liveliness, and ambitiousness were considered characteristics for men only, while caring and gentleness were seen as solely for women. In the more feminine cultures, all these terms were considered as applying to both genders. In this dimension Indonesia scores 46 (rank 41-42) whereas Singapore 48 (rank 38) and Malaysia 50 (rank 34-36). All three countries’ rankings reflect a rather feminine orientation, with Indonesia rating as the most feminine. The following section will explain the reasons for this score.
|Figure C-70 Indonesia scoring rather femininely oriented|
The issues related to the gender orientation are central to any religion. Whereas masculine cultures worship a tough God or gods who justify tough behaviour toward fellow humans, feminine cultures worship a tender God or gods who demand caring behaviour toward fellow humans (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 152). Outside the Christian world there are tough and tender religions. Buddhism in masculine Japan is very different from Buddhism in feminine Thailand, just as Islam in Saudi-Arabia is different from Islam in Indonesia. The same is true for Christianity which has always maintained a struggle between tough, masculine and tender and feminine elements (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 152). Sunni Islam is a more masculine version of the faith than Shia, which stresses the importance of suffering (Iran as predominantly Shiite, scores in a more feminine way than the predominantly Sunnite Arab-speaking countries) (compare rankings in: Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 120-121). Although Islam is regarded as a tough, masculine religion and many Islamic countries score in a rather masculine way in Hofstede’s ranking (for example Arab countries rank 31-32 of 74), Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic country, scores as being more feminine (rank 41-42).
Another important aspect is related to Hofstede’s (2005: 120) definition of a feminine society: “A society is called feminine when emotional gender roles overlap: both men and women are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.” Islam’s being a religion which calls for modesty (Weber 2005, Schluchter 2001, 2005) explains why many Muslim countries, although Islam is perceived as a tough, masculine religion, tend to score in the middle region of the ranking. This is since religion demands modesty from its followers. Socialization in male-dominated Islamic countries seems to discriminate against women (men dominate social life) and therefore these countries appear to be particularly masculine (because of the inequality between men and women). The ranking is based on factors like ambition and gentleness, which are irrelevant to male-female inequality, at least in Hofstede’s view. Muslim countries seem to be less ambitious but more gentle. Since the rankings again take a look at religion in isolation, seeing a correlation between Islam and a high score on the masculinity index would be a false conclusion to draw.
Explanations stated elsewhere in this chapter on the cultural heritage and environment of Indonesia where pre-Islamic beliefs (whether indigenous, Hindu or Buddhist religions) still exert influence on the value dimensions, are valid in the context of the gender orientation, too. The assumption of a less masculine Islam in Indonesia is fostered by its description as moderate and liberal. A brief look at one of the many ethnic groups in Indonesia can vividly underpin this assessment. The “Minangkabau”, an ethnic group indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra is strongly Islamic but its ethnic traditions (“adat”) make it the world's largest matrilineal society (Bellwood 1997: 143), in which properties such as land and houses are inherited through female lineage, unknown anywhere else in the Muslim world. Its culture is matrilineal, with property and land passing down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are a male domain (although some women also play important roles in these areas).
Finally, this is one of the dimensions where no final assessment can be made as Indonesia is a diverse multi-ethnic society. Indonesians themselves agree that especially on this dimension, considerable variations between ethnic groups within the country exist, reflecting its multi-ethnicity. The Javanese, for example, take an extreme position toward the tender side of the orientation (IMP, interview December 2004). The Christian ethnic group of the Batak95 are very different to the rather tender and modest Javanese.
All things considered, it is interesting to note how Indonesia’s rather feminine score affects consumer behaviour.
Marieke de Mooij (2005: 65-66) who studied consumer behaviour data across sixteen European countries and found several significant differences related to the masculinity versus femininity orientation, is one of the very few researchers who has looked for a correlation between culture dimensions and consumer behaviour. She draws some interesting conclusions, which again however, as in the case of the society orientation (individualism versus collectivism), seem only to be valid for the countries she studied. De Mooij’s research provides her with data from which she concludes that status purchases are more frequent in masculine cultures where more expensive watches and more real jewellery are bought. However, when de Mooij’s research results were cross-checked in interviews in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (2004 and 2005), the ethnocentricity of her approach and conclusion attracted attention. During a seminar at INSEAD Singapore, it was possible to speak to business leaders from around Asia. One of them, the country manager (KS) for the diamond group, De Beers96 (in Thailand: DTC, Diamond Trading Company, see: Appendix 1, Figures 310-312), noticed that de Mooij’s conclusions which the author had presented to her were not true for most parts of Asia. De Mooij notes in her research (2005: 65) that in masculine societies, performance and achievement are important, and achievement must be demonstrated, so status brands are important to show one’s success. De Mooij goes so far as to see a positive correlation between the masculinity orientation and sales of real jewellery (gold and diamonds). Leading business figures of the Diamond Promotion Group (DeBeers) stated that de Mooij’s conclusion might be true for the West but definitely not for Asia (ACWA, interview October 2004; LSML, interview October 2004; KS, interview October 2004).
Although most Asian countries score in a rather feminine way, showing off one’s success is important and accepted (as already elaborated on in the paragraphs on power and status orientations). In a detailed presentation on Thailand, one of the most feminine countries (rank 64 of 79 countries) (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 120-121)), KS described her countrymen’s aspirations for status and prestige (status orientation) as having a higher influence on consumer behaviour than the gender orientation. Other interviewees (HS, October 2004; JSWY, October 2004) have supported the author’s opposition to de Mooij’s conclusions by corroborating that her findings might be relevant only in the countries she included in her research, but that the findings are not transferable to the Asian market. In Asia, the correlation between masculinity and the sales of status products (jewellery and luxury brand products such as handbags) is invalid, except for Japan and Korea which both score in a masculine way. But especially in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, luxury goods (often with logos) are important to convey status although these countries praise modesty and score in a rather feminine way. Therefore, it must be concluded that orientations other than the gender orientation are more important in this context, for example rankings in the power and status orientations (where the aforementioned countries score highly, i.e. high power (distance) and status orientation) which might have a far-reaching impact on consumer behaviour. In a personal discussion with Bernhard Dahm (February 2006) he concluded that status orientation plays a more significant role in Indonesia than, for example, the culture behavioural effects of the gender orientation. As mentioned, in Asian countries, men and women show off their success with expensive goods and products, from jewellery and watches to cars and memberships etc. Although consumer expenditure for luxury items in Japan and South Korea reflects de Mooij’s correlation (both countries score as highly masculine and status products have high sales), the sale within product categories is extremely different and shows how important it is to take a closer look. Japan and the US score in a masculine way, both have high sales of status products (such as diamonds) but the diamonds sold, for example, are very different. In Japan big diamonds seem to be un-sellable on the mass market and the quality of the stone is more important to the consumer than size. In the U.S., the stone cannot be big enough (“Big is beautiful”) but the quality, however, of the stone is less of a concern in the buying decision (KS, interview 2004).
Similar findings were made in the case of luxury consumer goods, such as handbags clearly marked with brand logos. In Asian countries (whether they score in a rather feminine way as in Indonesia or in a masculine manner as in Japan and South Korea), consumers have the urge to show off what they can afford. Here again, informal interviews during the INSEAD Singapore executive education event as well as in Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Seoul (mystery shopping) show that de Mooij’s assumptions are relevant only in Europe where she has done her research but that the findings cannot be transferred and implemented in Asia. The Louis Vuitton country manager for South Korea, Jean Sung-Wook Yang (JSWY), confirmed the importance of status in Asian markets and believes that other orientations presented to him might be more influential. HaS (interview December 2004) made it known, too, that the greatest factors of influence on the Indonesian consumer are the status and power orientations which outweigh the importance and impact of the gender orientation. Apparently, in Asia, the impact of this orientation on consumer behaviour might be less important than those of the power and status orientations. This reveals important insights into possible recommendations for action, i.e. the orientations exert differing degrees of impact in their influence on consumer behaviour depending on the cultural background.
Furthermore, the correlation between this orientation and sales of gold and diamonds in Europe could well be coincidental in de Mooij’s research. However, one can conclude that this orientation influences Indonesian and Asian consumers in different ways than consumers from other parts of the world. In Asian countries, such as Indonesia, it is not a problem for men to wear jewellery, such as diamond rings and watches (as can be observed at the meeting places of Jakarta’s rich). Swiss luxury watch makers, such as the “maisons” of the Richemont Group97, and French luxury houses are particularly successful in these (more feminine) countries. In European countries, de Mooij’s assertion is that a core value of feminine cultures is modesty, and not showing off. This is true for Indonesia, too, but it does not influence the sales of modest products (non-branded or non-logo), which symbolizes some kind of false-modesty. Other findings of de Mooij’s research are that in masculine societies more often foreign goods are considered more attractive than local products. Here again it must be stated that this is not true for Southeast Asian countries, whether Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam or Singapore. Foreign products are favoured in these societies although their score is rather feminine.
Cultural decoding of the gender orientation and its supposed effects on consumer behaviour and international marketing lead to the following important findings. The gender orientation exerts a very specific impact on societies in individual countries and regions and therefore also on consumer behaviour. This, however, was not the case for the orientations discussed so far. This shows that de Mooij’s comments on the effects of the orientation on consumer behaviour in European countries are not transferable from country to country or region to region. Actually, the orientations are ascertainable worldwide, since they are basic societal premises. Nevertheless the effects on society are different and mirror heterogeneity (which was already discussed in the chapter on the global consumer). This heterogeneity reveals itself in practices, rituals and heroes. Particularly since these can reflect short-lived trends, a correlation of practices, to which undoubtedly consumption practices belong, is possible with the orientation. Additionally, it must be mentioned that the correlation demonstrated by de Mooij could possibly be coincidental. Furthermore, when dealing with a correlation of this kind, micro-data is to be used (for example a comparison between a certain group of diamonds or a specific product, rather than macro-data which only considers the overall quantity purchased (for example the total number of diamonds rather than the size and quantity). Implementing macro-data can create misleading results, as clearly shown and confirmed by industry representatives. Furthermore, in certain countries, gold is purchased for completely different reasons from those in Western countries. Thus, it demands a careful approach and interpretation. To conclude this orientation it is relevant to note that even researchers from Hofstede’s circle can be victims of ethnocentricity.
The orientation and product design aspects
One further aspect of interest in connection with this orientation is car design. The figure below speaks for itself. The link between the brand of car’s country of origin and design is evident. Automobile companies in somewhat feminine oriented countries develop rather round (globular) cars, whereas in masculine countries (for example the USA) powerful, angular cars are developed. Advertising language is similarly masculine in these countries (”Built Tough“, see figure below).
|Figure C-71 Car design and the gender orientation (images, courtesy of Citroen, Ford)|
In masculine cultures, male choice prevailed in matters of family size and led to (too) large families in poor countries and to small families in wealthy countries (Hofstede and Hofstede: 2005: 160). Family planning programs’ success in Indonesia may be attributed to the rather feminine orientation of its society in general. This relationship is important to know for marketing managers as the average Indonesian family is smaller in size than its Malaysian counterpart (scoring in a more masculine way) and therefore expenditure per child in Indonesia (which has a lower birth rate) can be higher than in families with more children in Malaysia.
The orientation and advertising campaigns
As shown, the masculine/feminine dimension discriminates between cultures particularly with respect to values related to winning, success, and status, which are much used in advertising appeals. It is therefore an important dimension to understand as it leads to differences in marketing-communication styles. In Indonesia comparative advertising is seen as inappropriate and is even forbidden (Indonesian Advertising Agency Society, The Power Breakfast at Le Meridien Jakarta). Discussions with a representative of the Indonesian and Thai advertising agencies at a Power Breakfast of the Social Marketing Circle again revealed that here practices depend not only on the orientations, such as that of gender, but more on local laws, regulations and customs influenced by culture. More caring roles and groups are often assigned to the visual language of print, TV and online advertising as the following examples, with which the discussion of this orientation comes to an end, articulate. The examples reveal how important the orientation is, especially in advertising.
|Figure C-72 Watch makers and their campaigns in Indonesia. What might be the more appropriate approach?|
|Figure C-73 Caring in advertising campaigns in Indonesia|
The risk orientation deals with another common problem faced by people in any society: namely how people deal with risk. “Uncertainty avoidance”, as Hofstede (2005: 163-206) originally named the orientation, is “the extent to which people feel threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity and try to avoid these situations” (de Mooij 2005: 67). Ways of handling risk are part and parcel of any human institution in any country. All human beings have to face the fact that they do not know what will happen tomorrow (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 165). However, one can differentiate between societies’ reactions to unpredictability (i.e. risk). The risk orientation measures the extent to which people in a society tend to feel threatened by uncertain, ambiguous or undefined situations. Rather than leading to risk reduction, risk avoidance leads to ambiguity reduction. Generally, it is believed that people in societies scoring highly on the risk avoidance index (high risk avoiding cultures) search predictability and truth. This search for truth is closely connected to religion. In the following section, culture elements which account for Indonesia’s low risk avoidance score are looked at. Furthermore, high risk avoidance is expressed through nervous stress and in the need for predictability, such as the need for written and unwritten rules. Aggression and other emotions are not to be shown in these societies: people who behave emotionally or noisily are socially disapproved of. This means that stress cannot be released through activity, it has to be internalized. Anxious cultures, i.e. cultures scoring highly on the index, tend to be excessive cultures. They are the places where people talk with their hands, where it is socially acceptable to raise one’s voice and to show one’s emotions. There are basically two ways to react: the first is based on the assumption that people have to deal with risk, because it is in the very nature of the situations they face. The future is uncertain, but one has to live with it, and extreme ambiguity creates intolerable anxiety which every human society has developed ways to alleviate. These ways belong to the realms of technology, law and religion. Religion is a way of relating to the transcendental forces that are assumed to control man’s personal future (Weber 2005). Religion helps to accept the uncertainties one cannot defend against, and some religions offer the ultimate certainty of a life (Weber 2005) after death. The other extreme is marked by risk aversion, which results in the assumption that risk is bad and everything in society must aim to reduce it.
A medium to low score on the uncertainty index is common for all Asian countries other than Japan and South Korea with Indonesia scoring 48 (rank 60-61), Malaysia 36 (rank 65) and Singapore 8 (rank 74) on the index (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 169). In weak risk avoidance countries, anxiety levels are relatively low (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 171).
|Figure C-74 Indonesia’s rather low score on the risk orientation|
Religion was previously mentioned as one of the ways in which humankind avoids anxiety and searches for truth (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 197). Religious beliefs and rituals help to accept the uncertainties one cannot defend against, some even offer the ultimate certainty of life after death (for example Islam). The grouping of countries in Hofstede’s ranking according to a risk avoidance index score is associated with their dominant religion. In establishing a relationship between risk avoidance and religious belief, it makes sense to distinguish between religions. Some religions, such as Protestantism, Catholicism and Islam share the assumption that there is an absolute truth that excludes all others. According to Hofstede (2005: 198), the difference between strong and weak risk lies in the amount of certainty one needs to have this truth. In strong risk avoidance cultures, the belief that there is only one truth is more prevalent. Eastern religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, which influenced Indonesian society before the arrival of Islam (Klokke 2003: 17), are less concerned with one truth (Becker 1993: 23-45; Schluchter 1984: 41-44, 50-59). The assumption, according to Hofstede (2005: 199) that there is one truth man can possess, is absent from their thinking.
Muslim countries tend to score in the middle, and Buddhist and Hindu countries, medium to very low on the uncertainty avoidance index. Indonesia and Malaysia have the lowest score of all Muslim nations (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 168-169, 187, 191). While in Malaysia the reason for this low score is probably the high proportion of Buddhist Chinese and Hindu Indian citizens (although Muslims are in the majority) who were included in the interviews and biased Malaysia’s score in that it is much less risk avoiding than other Muslim countries, where the proportion of Muslims in the entire population exceeds 60 percent. Malaysia’s score in the ranking therefore reflects its multi-ethnic and multi-religious background, which leads to its obtaining a relatively low score on the risk avoidance index.
On risk avoidance, Chinese-speaking countries Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore scored lower, as did countries with important minorities of Chinese origin, like Indonesia and Malaysia. Across these countries there is a strong correlation between the percentage of Chinese in the population (as opposed to Muslims) and the country’s score on the risk avoidance index. However, Indonesia’s low score on the risk avoidance index is not attributable to its multi-religious background but rather to pre-Islamic influences of Hindu and Buddhist religions, a fact which was already highlighted in the context of the previous orientations. Furthermore, Indonesia’s brand of Islam can be regarded as moderate and tolerant. According to Hofstede, tolerance indicates low risk avoidance. The orthodox Islam found in Saudi-Arabia and Pakistan which is much less tolerant than the Indonesian kind, fosters a higher risk avoidance orientation, when one interprets the figures from Hofstede’s standpoint. In Islam there is clearly a visible conflict between more and less risk avoiding factions, the first dogmatic, intolerant, fanatical and fundamentalist, the second pragmatic, tolerant, liberal, and open to the modern world (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 200).
This indicates that the difficulty in classifying countries by religion is that the great religions of the world are all internally heterogeneous. A country with an Islamic majority does not of necessity display the risk avoidance with which the society’s existing religion is generally associated, as is demonstrated in Indonesia for example. It is evident that religious conversion does not cause a total change in cultural values. Indonesian (Javanese) mysticism has survived Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian conversions. Key differences between weak and strong risk avoidance societies are that in the latter, there is more ethnic prejudice and high risk of violent inter-group conflict. Furthermore there is a propensity towards religious, political and ideological intolerance where there is only one truth. The aforementioned statements about the influence of the culture element religion, its origin, character and repercussions (which were already analyzed in the context of the discussion of cultural influence on individual orientations) will not be repeated here. With the aid of the findings related to how Indonesia’s cultural heritage affects risk avoidance in today’s society, an analysis of the extent to which the orientation determines consumer behaviour and international marketing will follow.
The risk orientation is connected to two aspects of consumer behaviour; the first is perceived risk and the second, consumer involvement. Perceived risk is an important variable in consumer behaviour, and differs according to its breakdown into various components: physical risk, financial risk and social risk. Whereas people in certain cultures may be more susceptible to physical risk, others may be more sensitive to social risk.
The orientation and perceived risk
As stated, most Asian cultures rate medium or low on the risk avoidance orientation (Indonesia ranks 60-61 of 74 countries evaluated) (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 168-169). Nonetheless, surprisingly, Indonesian consumers, like Asians in general, exhibit consumer behaviour which shows high-brand-name consciousness, brand loyalty, a greater insistence on quality, the active use of reference groups and opinion leaders, group shopping and a slower acceptance of new products, although their score is low on the risk orientation. Behaviour of this kind would normally be associated more with a high risk avoidance score. Although all consumers are concerned to a greater or lesser extent, depending on individual circumstances, with monetary, functional, physical, psychological and social risks, it is believed that in high risk avoidance cultures this perceived risk is higher and therefore more brand name products are sold in these countries. Low risk avoidance, as it is measured in most Asian countries, is equated (in consumer behaviour research) with a degree of willingness to take risks to buy products which are new, from unknown manufacturers, or no-names. This however is not the case in Indonesia where consumer behaviour which complies with the conventional standards of a society with high risk avoidance can be observed. How does this deviation come about?
With the help of interviews, it was ascertained that risk avoidance is not the decisive factor for Indonesian consumers, since consumers are extremely status oriented (Indonesia scores highly on the status and power orientation) and therefore social risk bears enormous influence. In the context of risk avoidance, status orientation has therefore to be included. The following explanation will reinforce this. Basically when analyzing consumers, one has to distinguish between physical, functional and social risks that lead to different consumer behavioural patterns. Asians on the whole tend to be more sensitive to social risks than Western consumers. This sensitivity (as well as economic constraints that increase monetary and functional risk) leads consumers to a greater hesitancy when trying out new products and thus to a different rate of diffusion of innovation from that in the western context (HS, lecture October 2004). This aspect will be dealt with in depth in the next section. Additionally, in the Asian context, brand loyalty may sometimes be more due to “inertia” than to “brand loyalty” as defined in a Western context, in which a conscious decision to continue buying the same brand is involved. Brand loyalty arises chiefly from the psychological comfort provided by avoiding social risk through sticking to the brand chosen by reference group norms. The focus on quality and brand-name consciousness that most Indonesian consumers exhibit therefore is partly a reflection of risk aversion since a recognized brand name serves as a substitute for quality. This suggests that non-branded or generic products, particularly intended for social-use consumption, meet with a less than favourable response. In social-use situations, the quality of a product demonstrates not only the level of living standard, but also the sensibility and taste of the persons who buy or own the product. In Western cultures, risk aversion is most likely to be oriented towards monetary or functional risk, depending on the product type, cost, complexity and less so towards social risk. Such risk aversion in a Western context would typically lead to extended problem-solving. The consumers collect as much information as possible, from both internal and external sources, evaluate each product alternative carefully, consider the attributes of each brand and finally select the brand to purchase based on this evaluation. This can be seen, for example, in Germany in the high reputation of “Stiftung Warentest“ (German consumer testing association) an independent organization, which actually wants to reduce buying risk. However, social risk (which plays a lesser role in Germany than in other societies) is not taken into consideration.
|Figure C-75 Perceived risk in Indonesia and Germany|
More importantly however, is that while risk aversion leads to active involvement of the Western consumer in the search process, it leads to …”a more passive, conformist behaviour in the Asian consumer” (HS, lecture October 2004). The Asian sense of status propriety plays, as mentioned, a part in fostering adverse behaviour towards new products which have not been adopted by one’s reference group.
Bao et al. (2003) studied risk aversion and face consciousness and their impact on decision-making styles with students from the United States and China. They found that the Chinese were more risk averse and face-conscious than their American counterparts. Further, risk aversion was positively associated with being confused by too many choices and negatively associated with fashion-consciousness and novelty, as well as recreational and hedonistic characteristics of the shopping experience. These results found in the context of the Chinese consumer, are believed to be transferable to the Indonesian consumer.
The orientation and consumer involvement
Furthermore a correlation exists between risk avoidance and consumer involvement. The involvement of the consumer in product purchase or consumption varies across cultures. The Indonesian consumer is in a low-involvement situation when it is a matter of private consumption goods. In this case, Indonesian consumers are likely to adopt a rather simple cognitive stance, favouring the physical functions of the product and being mostly concerned with price and quality. Conversely, there is a high level of purchase involvement when Indonesian consumers buy products for their social symbolic value. These consumers greatly value social harmony and harmonious relationships with the extended family, therefore the social significance of a product is very important because it may express status, gratitude, approval or disapproval. Additionally, de Mooij (2005) established the following correlation between risk orientation and consumer behaviour. In shopping for food and beverages, higher risk avoidance stands for valuing purity and basic products. Risk avoidance cultures used mineral water rather than tap water (even where tap water was of good quality) and they ate more fresh fruit. Risk accepting cultures valued convenience rather than purity: they consumed more ready-made products, such as ice cream, frozen foods, etc. Risk avoiding cultures believed more in cleanliness. On the other hand, risk accepting cultures valued looks more than cleanliness; they used more beauty products, such as cosmetics, lipsticks, body lotions, deodorants, etc. This behaviour is recognizable in Indonesia where physical attributes are extremely important. There is hardly a place in the world with as many adverts for shampoo as in Indonesia (IS, interview December 2004; Synovate 2004: 131). They were slower in introducing electronic communication tools, even if eventually they may use them as much as people in risk accepting cultures. Advertising campaigns, in print and TV, for risk avoiding cultures frequently feature experts, such as doctors in white lab coats, who recommend the product. At this point de Mooij (2005) has to be contradicted since this correlation is not applicable to Asia, for example China. China’s score is very low on the risk orientation, but endorsements by experts are nonetheless favoured.
Now that differences in behaviour have been explained, companies can decide which course of action is to be taken. To what extent the orientation affects a marketing concept which is closely connected to the customer’s willingness to take risks, needs to be analyzed. This will be dealt within the next section.
The orientation’s impact on concepts of consumer behaviour and international marketing
Risk aversion, expressed in high uncertainty avoidance orientation leads to a distinctly different rate of diffusion of innovation among Asian consumers compared with consumers from less risk-aversion cultures. In traditional diffusion theory, consumers are categorized in relation to other consumers in terms of when they adopt a new product. The five adopter categories frequently cited are: (1) innovators, (2) early adopters, (3) early majority, (4) late majority and (5) laggards (see exhibit on the last page of this section). In a Western context, these categories are generally depicted as a normal distribution curve with innovators, early adopters and laggards accounting for 2.5 percent, 13.5 percent and 16 percent, respectively. The early and late majorities each account for 34 percent of the total population which ultimately adopts a product (HS, lecture October 2005). The figure below depicts the correlations described.
|Figure C-76 Diffusion of Innovation|
In Indonesia, however, very few consumers are prepared to take the social risk of being innovators and trying a new product first. The discomfort of being left behind, however, induces them to follow suit if they think that others have tried a new product. Trials by early buyers thus soften the perceived risk for followers, who are then inclined to “pile in” in their haste to buy. This suggests that the percentage of both innovators and laggards (which form the two tails of the distribution curve) is much higher among Indonesian consumers, resulting in a steeper distribution curve. Additionally, the curve will no longer be symmetrical, the left tail of the curve will be longer, reflecting the hesitancy to try out a new product, whereas the right tail of the curve drops off sharply as consumers are ready to switch brand once the normative standards of their reference group change.
Diffusion of innovation in the Indonesian context reflects the fact that referral is a highly powerful way of expanding product trial by the first wave of consumers (Yan 1994: 66-74). Thus the most effective way of reducing risk and winning acceptance for an innovative product lies in access to the Indonesian consumer’s referral network and utilizing positive word of mouth (HS, lecture October 2004). Once a brand has gained acceptance among early adopters, the rate of diffusion will proceed rapidly. Being an innovator also reflects an active, or “doing” orientation, which is more characteristic of Western than Asian cultures. The marketer should try to use social interdependence and reliance on informal communication channels for Indonesian consumers to his advantage. A popular and effective way of generating positive word of mouth is to conduct consumer promotions at retailer venues. Sampling encourages trial and builds consumer knowledge about particular brands. Attracting the attention of potential customers, educating them and encouraging brand loyalty are key objectives, particularly in Indonesia where consumers are not affluent enough to experiment with brands and social risk is perceived as high. Thus, although a high level of social risk aversion among Indonesian consumers poses challenges, innovative ways can be found to overcome risk aversion, stimulate interest and trial, and eventually establish brand loyalty.
The introduction, presentation, derivation, and explanation of the integrative analytical diagram is now at an end. The model will conclusively be evaluated in the next chapter.
After presenting the integrative, multi-dimensional analytical diagram for intercultural marketing and its application to Indonesia, the analytical diagram has to be evaluated and traced back to the discussion of the myth of a globally homogenously thinking and universally acting consumer (global consumer). Subsequently at the beginning of this chapter, the analytical diagram outlined in the Indonesia-specific context will be assessed and one orientation (status orientation) which has proven especially significant during field research will be delineated. Finally, the degree to which models which schematically present culture as a factor and element of international marketing need to be re-examined in this chapter. In almost all handbooks on international marketing, representative models treat culture as merely one of many equally significant factors. In view of the research findings of this work, it is, however, questionable whether such an opinion holds (culture as a factor or element of international marketing). This work shows by means of the Indonesian example that culture is indeed more than merely a factor: it is in fact the context, background and environment of every dealing, thought and action. As a result, a new schematic presentation of the factors in international marketing is rendered necessary. This interim chapter concludes with a presentation of this nature and completes the theoretical discussion initiated in the chapter on international marketing. Finally the analytical diagram, research results and their subsequent discussion clarify one point: international marketing can and must (if culture is not to be understood simply as an equivalent, peripheral legal, economic or infrastructure variable) always be intercultural marketing, i.e. a form of marketing in its own right, which considers seriously and exploits fully the relevance and implications of culture in a success-oriented manner.
The starting-point of the integrative, multidimensional analytical diagram is the assumption that commonly, in every culture, a limited number of general universally shared human problems needs to be solved. One culture can be distinguished from another by the specific solution it chooses to those problems which are also named “cultural dimensions” (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 22-25; Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997: 26-27; Trompenaars and Woolliams 2004: 9-12; Johansson 2001: 62-65) or “orientations” in the context of this work. These cultural dimensions are mostly psychological dimensions, or value constructs, which can be used to describe a specific culture. The author follows the school of thought that international marketing research can operate on the theoretical foundations of these cultural dimensions (de Mooij 2001, 2005) (orientations) which were once developed for intercultural communication but (as this work demonstrates) can be merged into a new analytical diagram and expanded onto marketing. The following figure (C-77) reconstructs this work’s underlying thinking. From a structuralist starting-point, culture - in the sense of Hofstede’s definition (2005: 7) - can be schematically represented in such a way that visible elements of culture (practices) i.e. symbols, heroes and rituals form the outer rings on the model, and moral values which represent the value orientations or value dimensions, are shaded black in the inner ring of the model. Within these value orientations (also known as “mental programming of the mind“ [Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 4]), one can differentiate between ten distinct orientations within the integrative, multidimensional analytical diagram for intercultural marketing. The thinking behind the following figure is to be interpreted in the subsequent way (from left to right). Practices (symbols, heroes, rituals) distinguish the outer layers of culture in the structuralist model of culture while values, “mental programming of the mind” (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 4), identify the invisible layer of culture. Within the invisible layer, ten orientations can be differentiated in the context of this work. They can be found at the right side of the model in parentheses.
|Figure C-77 Value orientations and their position within the culture onion|
A comparison of cultures, i.e. members of one culture whether on a micro or macro level, allows differing alignments within the respective orientations to be determined, as was investigated in the previous chapter on Indonesia. For example, the American society is considered to be rather masculine (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005: 120-121) and that of Indonesia, to be on the whole feminine (gender orientation). Here it is to be reiterated that generalizations are implied. Every culture, here on a macro level (i.e. countries or society levels), reveals individuals who behave differently from the majority of citizens (of that country or society) being observed. However, in the scope of this work, basic trends in Indonesian society had to be determined and consequently the country level was the research frame. In subsequent works, more specific and detailed comparisons can be carried out between individual societal groups e.g. between different ethnic groups. It would be desirable to research the extent to which orientations between ethnic Chinese and Muslim Indonesians deviate or to examine to what degree Javanese and Batak differ in their orientations. Initial observations in Indonesia revealed great differences in culture and consumer behaviour in both groups (ethnic Chinese and indigenous Indonesians), which even decades of assimilation policy were unable to eliminate (on the topic of the ethnic Chinese minority, see for example: Suryadinata [2005, 2004a, 2004b, 1997]). Since this ethnic subject matter has not yet been freed from stigma, research in this area is considered problematic. This was apparent above all in interviews where Indonesian interviewees avoided questions concerning ethnic dimensions of Indonesian consumer behaviour. Only IW (interview November 2004), Puma’s98 Far-East president was willing and able to provide insights. Referring to the youth segment of the market, he explained that Puma sub-divided their target group into ethnic categories after having limited it to demographic variables. The reason for this was that one would concentrate mostly on young ethnic Indonesians, who were considered to be more fashion-conscious and who spent significantly more money on clothing and shoes than their native ethnic Chinese counterparts. The latter were mainly influenced by rather conventional fashion trends from Singapore, whereas indigenous Indonesians would generally look to Hong Kong, Japan and Western fashions for inspiration. As a result of this conclusion, outdoor advertising space would be booked, for example, near universities with a majority of native Indonesian students. Also, several campaigns were concentrated in Bandung, which is considered to be a trendsetting location in Indonesia. Bandung is a place where many indigenous Indonesians study. Furthermore, it is a popular and well-known holiday destination for young native Indonesians. IW explained that basically many companies underestimated this ethnic dimension. This brief explanation demonstrates how significant cultural aspects are in consumer behaviour and shows in Puma’s case, how the 4Ps (especially place and promotion) were tailored to foreign cultural conditions.
This ascertainment reveals that if one can identify and compare cultures and how culture affects consumer behaviour, one can adapt international marketing strategies to these cultural dissimilarities and extend the international perspective of marketing by adding an intercultural dimension. The construction of the analytical diagram is designed to enable practical and structured approaches for intercultural marketing, and it is believed that the analytical diagram and the structured approach will considerably ease the process of dealing with foreign markets and provide advantages to companies. It should be expressly stated here that other subjects such as political science can benefit, too, from application of the analytical diagram and a subject specific interpretation of the results.
In spite of the very positive experience and feedback concerning the analytical diagram, limitations of the model are, of course, inevitable. The country or nation variable which allows the division of individuals into larger groups to become operational is obviously convenient, but controversial since the direction of causality between the concepts of nationality and culture is unclear. Not all nation-states are an enduring reality, nor do all national territories hold homogenous ethnic, linguistic and religious groups. Basic sources of cultures can be the sense of belonging to an important ethnic group and may override and even nullify the feeling of belonging to a particular nation-state. National and cultural territories with specific, recognized borders are rarely wholly homogenous. One of the principal aims in international marketing is, however, to identify, categorize, evaluate and finally select market segments, and country or nation states are often a primary segmentation basis, due to the ease of implementation.
When discussing the model with local experts, Indonesians continually emphasized the impossibility of applying an orientation’s evaluation in a generalized way to all members of Indonesian society. It could, however, be assumed that the majority of Indonesian society in general embodied the respectively discussed orientations. This is particularly true as modern lifestyles in the very urbanized Java exerts considerable influence on other parts of the Indonesian archipelago and furthermore, it goes without saying that Javanese culture is the one which exerts the most influence on Indonesia (Graf 2002: 22; Dahm, personal discussion February 2006). In this process the Javanese culture had a pivotal role in influencing Indonesian culture as the numerically largest and most influential ethnic group.
It is obvious that in investigations generally the focus has to be put on the majority when eliciting and describing trends typical of the country. This approach is valuable in highly heterogeneous societies like Indonesia which do not offer the existence of a unique modality (master variable) throughout its whole population (that is, only one religion, or one language). Due to its heterogeneousness Furnivall (1939: 45), for example, describes Indonesia as a plural society, i.e. a society in which two or more groups live side by side but separately within the same political unit (Furnivall 1939: 239). This emphasizes the importance of follow up research which concerns itself with individual social groups more intensively than this work (which focuses on Indonesian consumers in general).
In conclusion, it should be recognized that the concept of national culture may seem dangerous in many respects, because it sums up a complex and multiform reality and national culture is at a level that generally smacks of cliché and stereotype. Nonetheless the analytical diagram and its application circumvent these risks by, on the one hand, wanting to draw attention to country typical trends of the respective orientations and their ramifications on consumer behaviour, and on the other, by virtue of offering the possibility of also conducting studies at a sub-country level (for example at an ethnic group level). The advantage of this feature of the analytical diagram is that it permits comparisons, which in the author’s opinion, ought to be the crux of area studies.
Evidence was found that Indonesia’s orientations, and thus what motivates consumers to behave in a certain way, to prefer some products or brands to others, are different and remain different in comparison to the values of people from other countries, i.e. orientations. If one takes the enormous differences in the impact of the orientations into consideration, and if one recognizes the significance and therefore the influence of culture, then standardized global marketing does not appear to be appropriate. Moreover, in view of the relative stability of the values over time, it cannot be assumed that globalization processes will lead to a convergence of the orientations’ shaping in due course (Sondergaard 1994; Hofstede 2001; de Mooij and Hofstede 2002; de Mooij 2005) and thus standardized global marketing in the future will appear as inappropriate as it does today. This view is confirmed by Tineke Boucher-Floor (email, THT-Consulting, August 2005) who indicates that if one analyses the broad spectrum of 55 countries represented in THT inter-cultural databases, then there is no single paradigm of converging or diverging values (orientations). If the results of this thesis are put into practice (i.e. that culture exerts considerable influence on consumer behaviour and consequently on purchasing patterns – expressed differently according to consumers’ backgrounds), it will be apparent that culturally convergent and homogenous behaviour of consumers does not exist. Owing to the analyses which confirmed that there are no changes at the core of the structuralist model of culture (the ten orientations of which supposedly determine consumer behaviour), culturally convergent and homogenous treatment of consumers will not exist in the future either. The global consumer popular at company headquarters as the prototype of a culture-less, contemporary human being demanding the same products and services worldwide, is, and continues to be a myth.
In the course of the introductory discussion on globalization and its dimensions at the beginning of this thesis (resulted in the ascertainment that globalization is to be taken as glocalization) the theoretical line of argumentation against the existence of a global consumer will be summed up. Except in the case of raw materials, there is no global market, just as there is no global consumer. Apart from raw materials, almost all products are culturally-bound, i.e. they are considered, chosen, bought and interpreted locally.
As a result of the data, i.e. the scores from over 50 countries (their respective orientations), it can be assumed that at least for the countries for which data is available, similar purchasing behaviour on a country level cannot be observed, since the scores of the respective countries are extremely dissimilar. When observing all ten of the orientations, not even two countries are close-clustered, i.e. all ten orientations of the two countries show similar results. As stated at the beginning of this part of the thesis, when comparing countries within Asia, even the differences in scores from within the region are enormous. If there is no such thing as the global consumer, what is there then? There is only one answer based on this thesis. All consumers are glocal consumers, i.e. they may to an extent buy globally available products from multinational companies, but they buy and use them locally, i.e. on a local platform, and they interpret them locally.
The following paragraph is devoted to a synopsis of the Indonesian results of the analytical diagram of intercultural marketing and an explanation of the significance of two orientations needing special attention with regard to the Indonesian market.
Discussions with interviewees in Indonesia have enabled a picture of Indonesian consumers to emerge and have permitted conclusions on the far-reaching repercussions on consumer behaviour to be made. This was effected in detail in the previous chapter. This paragraph serves to reiterate the results on the one hand, and on the other to prioritize the orientations in light of their influence on Indonesian consumers in general.
According to the given definitions Indonesian consumers appear to be particularistic, collectivistic and rather femininely oriented. Additionally, they are somewhat short-term oriented, externally-control oriented, and have a rather low score on the uncertainty orientation. Furthermore, and in the opinion of the majority of interviewees these are the two most crucial criteria, Indonesian consumers are generally high power oriented und high status oriented (both orientations correlate positively). Both will ultimately be investigated in greater detail. The statements pertaining to the emotional orientation are largely contradictory, and thus it is seemingly infeasible to arrive at a coherent verdict (as to why Indonesia can neither be considered very emotional nor very neutral). The following figure (C-78) depicts the ten value orientations and their respective bias in Indonesia. The figure after the former one (C-79) is an arrow diagram which was employed for the initial presentation of the analytical diagram. This has now been completed with data gleaned for Indonesia and the completed arrows reveal the respective alignment of the orientations (see, Figure C-79).
|Figure C-78 Value orientation results for Indonesia (1)|
The above figure (C-78) shows the ten orientations in the left box, and the respective bias of the orientations for the Indonesian case in the right box. The following figure (C-79) resumes the depiction familiar from the introduction to Part C. The tips of the arrows shaded darkly show the direction which Indonesia tends towards.
|Figure C-79 Value orientations for Indonesa|
In addition to the above results, correlations between individual orientations are discernible, such as, for example, between status and power orientations. The following figure reveals the correlation between status and power orientation, a fact to be highlighted in more detail in the next paragraph.
|Figure C-80 Correlation between status and power orientation|
The economic expansion in recent years in the ASEAN countries has allowed enormous growth in status-seeking conspicuous consumption throughout the region (Gerke 2000: 135-158; Chua 2000: 183-201; Finkelstein 2000: 225-240; Robison and Goodman 1996: 1-18; Kahn 1996: 49-78; Robison 1996: 79-104; Pinches 1999: 1-55; Young 1999: 56-85; Heryanto 1999: 159-187). Robison and Goodman (1996: 1) observe:
“In recent years the imagination of the West, and indeed, of the East as well, has been captured by the dramatic emergence in East and Southeast Asia of a new middle class and a new bourgeoisie. On the television screens and in the press of Western countries, the images formerly associated with affluence, power and privilege in Asia – the general, the princes and the party apparatchiks – however outmoded in reality, are being increasingly replaced by more recognizable symbols of modernity. Western viewers are now familiar with images of frustrated consumers in Bangkok and Hong Kong traffic jams, Chinese and Indonesian capitalist entrepreneurs signing deals with Western companies; white-coated Malaysian or Taiwanese computer programmers and other technical experts at work in electronics plants; and above all, crowds of Asian consumers at McDonalds or with the ubiquitous mobile phone in the hand.” (Robison and Goodman 1996: 1)
Bright new shopping centres sporting expensive boutiques and flagship stores can be found throughout Southeast Asia (Finkelstein 2000: 225-240). Among consumers with the financial means, conspicuous consumption is the rule rather than the exception and is distinctly motivated by the pursuit of status (HS, lecture October 2004). As economic growth progresses, families feel compelled to display their increasing wealth and status. Lavish spending on consumer goods is common (HaS, interview December 2004). The pursuit of status is the leading determinant of such consumer behaviour and it is Western brands that often connote status. Indonesian consumers are eager to be “modern” and so adopt Western consumption habits, buying French perfumes, German appliances, Swedish furniture and Swiss watches, which unlike local products are interpreted as modern (Hoffmann 2006: 53). Products intended for display are regarded as an important vehicle for self-enhancement (HS, lecture October 2004) and imports of apparel, cosmetics, and automobiles have seen enormous increases over the past few years (Hoffmann 2006: 53). While many West Europeans appreciate understated luxury and purchase pieces only recognizable to those in the know who realize their true value, Indonesians adore blatantly obvious logos which clamour “Look here, I’m rich!!”, something which can be observed everywhere in Indonesia or in these groups’ shopping destinations in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Although such spending may seem incongruous in view of the still relatively low incomes in many Southeast Asian countries, the pursuit of status is so important that some of these consumers have shown themselves willing to go into debt to buy products (IS, interview September 2004). For example, it is not just the small number of Indonesian and Malaysian millionaires who partake in conspicuous consumption, but also middle-level managers on shopping sprees. Even teenagers in rural towns sport expensive running shoes and office boys the latest mobile phone (AS, interview November 2004; TS, interview October 2004). Southeast Asian governments regard this development from two standpoints. From an economic standpoint, the governments have grown increasingly concerned about the current account deficit (trade deficit). From a cultural standpoint, they are concerned about the strong growth in consumerism and its apparent opposition to many of the values, attitudes and behaviours associated with their traditional cultures. Even in Vietnam which only instituted “Doi Moi” (the policy enabling partial reform to a market economy) as recently as 1986, there has been a rapid movement towards consumerism in urban centres (see, for example: Carruthers 2004). In Indonesia, the relatively low income level precludes all but a small minority of “orang kaya baru” (OKB) (nouveaux riches) from being able to afford the luxury of status-seeking consumption through top luxury brands (Shamsul 1999: 86-110). Only a few thousand Indonesians can afford European luxury goods such as cars, clothing, watches and jewellery, however, most Indonesians aspire in general to Western brands because they have an image of higher quality compared with national brands (HaS, interview December 2004). True perfection in Indonesia is not expressed through refined and subtle luxury, with discreet symbols, but (as previously mentioned) through purchasing garish, gaudy articles decorated with flashy, showy logos. Part of the attraction lies in status-seeking, as can be seen in the tendency to leave tags on sunglasses and labels on the sleeves of suits or in general in the preference of “logo-mania” goods. However, this trend has not yet reached levels like in Japan where a dangerous and disturbing side to such consumerism is, for example, the recent spate of schoolgirl prostitution. High-school girls have realized that a means of financing their taste for expensive brands such as Chanel, Fendi, and Prada is to sell sex. One 16 year-old girl says:
“If I want to buy Prada and Vuitton bags that cost $600 to $700, I have to have this kind of job. Everybody wears them. I feel like a more valuable person if I have them.” (Schütte and Ciarlante 1998: 107)
Although most Indonesians claim not to have a lot of money, the desire for social status has motivated the contemporary phenomenon of competition to possess, display or consume whatever is the most modern or most famous item of its type.
Western consumer goods have been a mass phenomenon since the beginning of the 1990s, however the desire to distance oneself from others via certain symbols, is culturally motivated and can be traced back to high power and status orientations. Consumption, possession and showing-off of certain cultural wares are thus means of differentiation. During the late 1990s, as Indonesians took the leap towards conspicuous consumption, the items chosen to communicate status were typically Western brands. This awakening in Indonesia, produced by contact with the West in the early 20th century where goods imported from the west were available only to very well-heeled Indonesians at the top of the social hierarchical pyramid, and were therefore considered to be status symbols. Western or imported goods (except for those from China) even today continue to qualify as status symbols although their number has increased dramatically and these are affordable (at least in the fast moving consumer goods [FMCG] sector) to all Indonesians. The desire to possess goods such as these is astonishing upon closer inspection since Western culture and material objects have come to represent (to the Indonesians) qualities of the West which most contrast with Indonesian culture: individualism, freedom of expression, Western modernity and so on. This assumption is flawed and is based on the belief in globalization (and its resulting homogeneous global consumer) and not in glocalization and its resulting glocal consumer, in whose tradition, consumers act locally (purchase, choose, use and interpret locally). In Indonesia the motivation to possess Western goods such as these is not to express freedom via consumption; rather it is the compulsion to expose one’s own status through the medium of consumption. Indonesians do not seem to use Western brands to express the meanings of individuality, rather they try to express worldliness and status. Young people in particular are very brand conscious, but are more selective when it comes to brand consumption (IW, interview November 2004; G, interview December 2004). No longer will just any new Western brand sell (IW, interview October 2004). The results of interviews conducted with experts reveal that the status and power orientations (which both lead to status-aware conduct) can be seen as characteristic of Indonesian society and thus as behavioural patterns which influence consumer attitude. Bernhard Dahm, the doyen of Southeast Asian studies in Germany confirmed this opinion in an interview conducted with him in February 2006.
Generally, social stratification is based on somewhat different criteria across cultures, even though social classes consistently appear across cultures. It is not the existence of social classes that differs, but the degree of emphasis placed on social stratification that varies across societies. In countries where the emphasis on power and status orientation is strong, people in higher classes see themselves as being substantially different from others in lower classes. This can extend to speaking the language differently, prohibiting inter-class marriages, and distinguishing oneself by specific tastes and lifestyles unaffordable for other social strata. Indonesian society which figures an extremely high power distance and a high power orientation, avails itself of a multitude of status symbols. Behaviour on the part of middle and upper classes appears to be intensely driven by the pursuit of exclusiveness (Gerke 1995: 7-11). Symbols of exclusiveness include the appropriate clothing, jewellery and other possessions not to mention cultural goods such as the command of a foreign language (Gerke 1995: 8-13).
The immense status-motivated behavioural patterns are especially apparent in Java, and have over time, extended to the whole of Indonesia thanks to the media and migration. According to interviewees, the prerogative of the “priyayi“ (the educated Javanese upper class, who, according to their religion are predominantly followers of syncretistic religion “agama kejawen“) way of living, became a behaviour and style forming phenomenon aspiring to social strata. In many respects they display a patriarchal and in this sense autocratic social structure (Markham 1995: 83; Berman 1998: 6-17; Errington 1998: 1-21). A person’s social standing depends on his/her belonging to one of the two prime social echelons of Indonesian society which differentiates between white collar workers with desk jobs and blue collar workers with manual labour jobs. Members of the lower strata (farmers, labourers, manual labourers and servants) must show respect to members of the upper classes (higher ranking employees and well-heeled self-employed people) by means of language register and posture (Markham 1995: 83; Berman 1998: 6-17; Errington 1998: 1-21). The “priyayi” distinguish themselves from the remainder of society with their way of living. The expression priyayi denotes the bearer of courtly culture which peaked at the courts of Surakarta and Yogyakarta. In priyayi-view of life, differences in standing are deep rooted and find their expression in sophisticated etiquette as well as different Javanese language register according to rank. Socially “priyayi” are on a par to nobility, “ndara“, with whom they share lifestyle and philosophy. They only have contact to people of the same social class.
The priyayi continue to command the greatest respect today. It is impossible to belong to this stratum with wealth: rather you belong to it because of ancestry and lifestyle, and more recently because of academic achievement, too (Geertz 1969: 9). The “priyayi” are set apart from the others since they generally live in cities, and never exercise manual labourer positions (BR, interview November 2004). They are civil servants, employees and intellectuals. The lifestyle and realm of imagination of both strata are coloured by “agama kejawen“ and frequently are connected to Javanese mysticism, “kebatinan“ which places emphasis on order at all levels of existence (Mulder 1978: 106). The priyayi, in contrast to the “wong cilik” (who earn a living as farmers, manual labourers or workmen), emphasise their connection to courtly arts of bygone days such as Gamelan music (Gramich 1995:3-4; Becker 1980: 1-10), dance, puppet plays and literature and display their “alus”-nature. Order means the control of every aspect of their very existence (Magnis-Suseno 1981: 115). Markham (1995: 83) explains: “Status is determined inter alia by wealth, provenance or education“. Poedjosoedarmo (1972: 6) differentiates social groups, too, between physical constitution, economic and political power, relatives, age differences, sex, magic abilities, and psychic peculiarities etc. According to Javanese hierarchical order, everyone who submits to those people who are worthy subordinates the source of life, respects moral wisdom and the proximity to power (Mulder 1990: 31). Harmonious coexistence can only be achieved when all members of society are aware of and assume their social role and thus their rights and duties. On the subject of Javanese status behavioural patterns, Mulder (1990: 139) sums up: This imaginary world is concentrated on an individual level on the yearning for status and hankering after prestige.
Since status has become the only real thing in the world, people identify with it, and self-satisfaction is wholly dependent on status recognition on the part of others. In this way each moral issue or problem is concealed behind the satisfaction with one’s own ego. The greatest threat to this ego is posed by losing, i.e. by being humiliated or by being insulted since they would “rather die than be humiliated”, and they believe it is preferable to lose money than status. As a result, status (that was held on to just for the sake of not losing it) obscured one’s view of the objective consequences and furthermore led to negligence for all worldly and material living conditions. To a certain extent it led to somewhat narrow-mindedness and obstinacy to the point where status satisfaction overrode everything else. Mulder (1990: 139) adds: “In matters of status, Javanese are irreconcilable“. For this reason people are often obstinate and uncompromising, wanting to protect their status at all costs (which on the other hand can be traced back to the fear of losing). The end justifies the means as far as protection of status is concerned: even lying is justified. Mulder explains (1990: 140): The external life must be pushed aside; it is best to invent one’s own truth. Confrontation with the real world is avoided by means of escapism into a fantasy world –“wayangan“- filled with status symbols, self-deception, and the superciliousness of a personal truth in the process of development. How this observation in today’s consumer is made apparent, will be revealed in the following paragraphs. The significance of status in Javanese society in particular and in Indonesian society in general cannot be more demonstratively expressed.
When one visits a well-off Indonesian one gets the impression that their visible, domineering edifice is a meaningful symbol of their holiness and their right to be respected. Concrete proof of the worth of a person deserving of respect is the arrangement of rooms which visitors, supplicants or clients have to go through in order to reach that person. Ante-chambers ritually segregate distinguished people from the common people. Thus on a visit to a high-ranking Indonesian individual, the tea was placed at the other end of the table to ensure the ceremonial distance between the distinguished person and the deferential visitor. After the author had to wait in three different places to be taken to the room where the interview was to be conducted, he was seated at a befitting distance from the interviewee. As previously mentioned, interviews and meetings with Indonesians were conducted in a manner which respects Indonesians’ extreme status orientation. Premises were looked for which were appropriately decorated for extraordinary and worthy people. These rooms had to make people feel that they were something special, and to revere them with suitable politeness. Visitors had to be enabled to show symbolically to outsiders that they belong to the elite in society. Private office rooms in the business centres of the Four Seasons Hotel, Grand Hyatt and Shangri-Là in Jakarta apparently met these criteria, and were therefore chosen to conduct interviews in an environment where the interviewees felt at home. In this manner the interviewees were made to feel that their social status was recognized and respected.
It was obvious that behaviour in public situations is apparently of the utmost importance for these people’s identity. By particular behaviour consisting of being surrounded by a host of people, characterized by slow and quiet speech, people attempt to prove to others that they are especially noble, honourable and holy. How one wants to be seen and as whom one wants to be seen is perceivable through certain symbols in Indonesia, which are not merely limited to physical symbols (for example clothing) but which are also visible through certain behaviour. This behaviour, especially apparent at high-tea in international hotels, requires leisure time which not everyone has at his or her disposal. Another element which is absolutely de rigueur in Indonesian social circles, is that people should be greeted with great discretion and reserve. It is advisable to avoid becoming overly familiar with those individuals who did not benefit from a noble upbringing. In Indonesia one avoids establishing too close a relationship with people in menial positions. The latter would not want this kind of relationship either. People in menial positions are often not even treated like human beings. Seemingly courtly behaviour is supposed to reveal elevated status. What is considered to be crude in Europe, is not necessarily considered in the same way in Indonesia despite their lifestyle’s emphasis placed on the subtleties of life. It is perfectly acceptable to discuss the cost of having watches made, the value of jewellery, clothing and cars, all in an endeavour in order to set oneself apart from others. Everyone is constantly trying to impress, it seems. When strolling through the malls it appears that besides consumption, leisurely strolling is characteristic of people’s life. The pursuit of a noble lifestyle is typical of the new middle and upper classes and becomes especially obvious in malls – the spare-time destination, where well-heeled families are accompanied by a host of subordinates at a respectful distance.
Many readers will have their attention drawn for the first time to the enormous status-driven behaviour of Indonesian consumers, and will be able to compare it with their own society’s wealthy people’s behavioural patterns. For many people in Indonesia who are the proud owners of cars, there is yet another way to show off their exclusiveness and social power: an exclusive number plate. A considerable number of Indonesian car owners are interested in distancing themselves from the crowds of ordinary drivers by choosing a certain unusual, rare or lucky number for their license plates. This is by no means limited to members of the Sino-Indonesian minority. Furthermore, extremely expensive cars are bought as collectibles rather than as a means of transportation. Anyone who purchases a Ferrari or similar car (for example at the luxurious “AutoMall”99 in Jakarta [see, DVD → Folder “Pictures”]) usually puts it in the garage to show it off to visitors and friends. With this, he/she wants to express that he/she can afford such an elegant, albeit pointless, car (not even the motorways would allow the use of a Ferrari due to the poor tarmac and notorious traffic jams in Jakarta). The car becomes the symbol of distance from mundane prosaic pragmatism (IK, October 2004). One’s name or one’s photo appearing in the newspaper or another publication (for example, because of one’s car fleet) is tantamount to being awarded a medal, and bestows prestige on the recipient. Less well-heeled Indonesians living in areas far away from Jakarta try to add status to their cars and social standing by having their cars registered in Jakarta and then being able to own a number plate beginning with a “B” (which stands for Jakarta) and then impressing their local community (a Jakarta number plate implies being connected with power and money as well as the influence which comes with them) (observed and discussed in Banjarmasin and Ujung Pandang, April 2004).
The credit card
Someone from a noble background would never come directly in contact with money. Nobility is demonstrated by means of another person than the consumer paying the bill. Especially in particularistic societies, owning and showing off a credit card reinforces the worth of a person and exposes him as a member of the upper-middle and upper classes in front of hoteliers and business people etc. The person is deemed to be someone trustworthy to the institution, and as someone who has money at his disposal without his necessarily having it on him at the time. Moreover, credit cards are instantly visible to all and sundry when the wallet is opened.
Stringent dress codes are supposed to signify the lifestyle of these people. Fashion is characterized in a two-fold manner. Firstly their intention is to imitate others who have a role model effect. These role models include first and foremost people who wield social power and those from the social elite, and secondly they represent an endeavour to be distanced symbolically from those people with whom they do not want to be associated. Above all shoes are apparently an important symbol. Shoes in Indonesia today which inhibit movement such as high heels or leather shoes, are designed to demonstrate that the wearer is liberated from the need to perform physical or manual labour, as opposed to those who can only afford slippers.
The statements are summed up in the following figure (C-81). It demonstrates the consequences of a high power and status orientation in Indonesia, and how they will change over time. Start at the top left “practices” and read clockwise.
|Figure C-81 Status and power orientations over the course of time in Indonesia|
The following quotes are excerpts from an article which was published in the Australian Financial Review (27 February 2004) and which shall explain pictorially the status-conscious behaviour of some leading examples of Indonesian society.
“By his own reckoning, Hotman owns 60 houses and 15 luxury cars, including a new-model Porsche, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz. Around his neck is a glistening diamond he bought for US$150,000. Oversized opal rings adorn his fingers and a gold-encrusted watch and bracelet cover his wrists… Of his fleet of vehicles – which require the services of six full-time personal drivers – Hotman says his favorite is a new SL 500 silver Mercedes-Benz that set him back a cool Rp3 billion (US$470,000) [imported cars are subject to special import taxes which leads to the fact that foreign luxury cars are more expensive than palatial-like mansions in Indonesia].” (Financial Review 27 February 2004)
Hotman has accumulated almost all of his extraordinary wealth since 1999, when he left a leading city law firm to start his own practice, aiming to capitalize on the new legal framework set up after the 1997 financial crisis. “Yes, it is a good life”, he smiles, sitting in his luxurious office on the 18th floor of the Summitmas Tower in central Jakarta. “The crazy thing about people in Jakarta is that they believe the most expensive is also the most luxurious, so they just buy it”, says Hotman, “But I work hard, I don’t corrupt anyone. It’s my sweat, so if I like it I just buy it – it’s entertainment for me.” And in that Hotman Paris Hutapea is anything but exceptional. In fact, he is only the most obvious example of Jakarta’s new rich – a breed of 20, 30 and 40-somethings which has boldly rewritten the rules for wealth in the six years since Indonesia was plunged into economic and political chaos. As the country’s economy edges towards recovery, the super-wealthy are now free to flaunt their affluence in a style unimaginable a decade ago – even though half of the country’s 220 million people still live in poverty. The trend towards ostentation owes much to Indonesia’s new political landscape; post-Soeharto governments have brought freedoms that were unimaginable under the dictator’s 32-year reign.
“Before 1998, nobody was allowed to appear wealthier than the Soeharto family. It just wasn’t acceptable… Now there are no restrictions like that, and you can see that the rich in Indonesia are comfortable to show it off.” (Financial Review 27 February 2004)
Nowhere in Indonesia is this new face of wealth more evident than in the steamy, swarming capital of Jakarta. Luxury apartments in Jakarta are selling as fast as they can be built, many for more than $US1 million. The overseas-educated children of the elite are opening Manhattan-style hip bars, and glitzy new shopping malls are opening at a cracking pace, catering to the eager-to-spend middle and upper classes. One of Indonesia’s leading economists, Chatib Basri (speech, December 2004), says that while Indonesia’s upper and upper-middle classes comprise only about 5 percent of the population that means that the country still has 11 million people with extremely high purchasing power. Perhaps the clearest sign, however, of the resurgent spending power of Indonesia’s upper-middle and upper classes is the booming popularity of shopping malls, the staple of Jakarta entertainment and a favourite hangout for Indonesian to see and be seen. At least six giant shopping centres have opened in recent months.
After having described status behaviour in depth, the next paragraph is dedicated to understanding culture not simply as an element or factor of international marketing (as is the case in literature), but as the concrete context of all dealings, actions and thinking.
Consumer behaviour has strong universal components (psychology and economics), however its cultural variations cannot be ignored (Usunier and Lee 2005: 88) as they tend to influence the meaning and manifestations of consumer behaviour and make intercultural applicability of consumer behaviour concepts impossible (Usunier and Lee 2005: 96; Schütte and Ciarlante 1999: 92). As demonstrated for Indonesia, variations in consumer behaviour therefore cannot be linked solely with economic factors, such as per-capita income for example, but must be investigated in cultural determinants and be put into perspective according to their impact on society. Consumers and their needs are largely driven by cultural norms (Kotabe and Helsen 2004: 93). The great importance of culture as an influencing factor on consumer behaviour, as articulated in this work, is not acknowledged by business studies or its sub-disciplines, or is even suppressed (cultural ignorance) since cross-border marketing is already highly complex. Therefore, the culture phenomenon is often concealed for reasons of simplification (for managers culture seems to be too fuzzy and hard to come to grips with). In many companies, the opinion reigns that foreign markets and people should be subservient to domestic products and advertising initiatives (cultural imperialism). The reason for this is the lack of a systematic approach to these issues, leaving the decisions to intuition and prior experiences. Confronted with the complexity of international marketing, most managers feel overwhelmed (the unanimous opinion of INSEAD participants of “Marketing of consumer goods in Asia”-seminar, October 2004, Singapore). Decisions ought to be taken with the utmost care as, with international involvement, the demand for management abilities and skills increases. The fact that a company has to operate several markets or observe several countries does not only imply proportional multiplication, but also the potential for more effort and problems. Owing to cultural components, especially in negotiations (presence of varying cultures within the company) complexity takes on an additional emotional dimension, and conflict (intra-organizational) is nigh inevitable. If, however, culture were internalized not only as an element but as a context, and if the context’s impact were appreciated, gaffes could be avoided. The following figure (C-82) demonstrates how the influence of culture as a success factor in literature and practice is indicated. Besides many other factors such as infrastructure, competition, political climate etc., culture is an equally relevant factor. Since these factors are considered uncontrollable by companies, they are thus described as uncontrollable elements, too.
|Figure C-82 Culture as a variable|
After the research conducted in connection with this work, this viewpoint of culture as being merely a factor appears reasonably to be unsatisfactory since the significance of culture is not recognized. Culture is not merely a factor but the context which influences all dealings, thinking and actions, as proven by this work. Companies have to come to terms and cope with this context. Therefore the following figure (C-83) appears more appropriate i.e. it reflects the complex nature of culture, and its role for consumer behaviour. Culture is no longer deemed to be an uncontrollable factor but as the context itself in the life world in which the consumer chooses, buys and interprets. This context (culture) is equally uncontrollable; however, those who are aware of the significance of culture can minimize the risk for the company. The following figure (C-83) replaces the previous one (C-82). Culture is now understood as a context and not only as a factor.
|Figure C-83 Culture as context|
Owing to the great significance of culture, it is recommendable to carry out culture-appropriate differentiation, i.e. between the poles of standardization and differentiation to select a suitable strategy. The following paragraph will clarify this.
Based on the understanding that culture is the context of all action, it has now to be decided which strategy a company should follow in order to minimize the risks of an overseas operation.
|Figure C-84 Between standardization and differentiation|
It has been shown that companies have the opportunity when dealing internationally to standardize (standardization strategy) or differentiate (differentiation strategy), i.e. either to establish a global marketing mix and to adhere to it, or to customize it to local requirements. The strategy of choice which actually exists, will in time be denoted as a contingency perspective, i.e. the possibility to adapt exists, but is not an absolute necessity (opportunity and at the same time lack of urgency), but in order to maximize success rate, a strategy of differentiated standardization should be strived for. The following figure (C-85) will highlight this strategy. The variables of a perspective such as this are arranged on different levels, whereby one can differentiate between the following four: firstly a macro-economic level, which arises due to local economic developments, legal regulations, physical features and demographics. Secondly, the micro-economic level consisting of consumer particulars, the competition, and the structure of intermediaries (distribution system). Thirdly, on an internal-company level, where strategic basic orientations (de- or centralization of decision-making, relationship between parent company and overseas subsidiaries), property structure, knowledge of the market, experience with business overseas - are condensed. On the fourth level, described as product or branch specific level, product type, product life-cycle, culturally bound specifics of the product, the uniqueness of the product, how the product is used, and the foreign buyer’s product knowledge can be found. All of these levels are embedded in the cultural level (culture as the context), which in turn affects all the other levels. This is depicted below:
|Figure C-85 Differentiated standardization (adapted from chartbook, Müller and Gelbrich)|
Many global companies have become aware of the fact that people are not the same across countries and that they are not becoming the same either. Currently, in Southeast Asia one can see pan-Southeast Asian advertising campaigns slowly turning into local campaigns (implementing a strategy of differentiated standardization) (for example: Mercedes-Benz and Me)100, obviously because global or regional campaigns did not work.
|Figure C-86 Regional (Asia-Pacific) campaign Mercedes-Benz & Me (online campaign of the year)|
In Part C the reasons for the failure of these global marketing campaigns were elaborated in detail. Even Marlboro, the quintessential global advertiser, has localized its brand portfolio with the take-over of Sampoerna since its own brands were not able to penetrate the Indonesian market successfully. Coca-Cola, for example, localized its product development and marketing communications. Anyone who is familiar with the Coca-Cola vending machines in Japan and South Korea would have to admit to what extent Coca-Cola has adapted to local challenges in these markets. The traditional Coke is frequently unavailable in vending machines operated by Coca-Cola there, besides a variety of chilled teas, coffees and lemonade beverages. Marketing and advertising are basically about consumers, and not producers. Markets are people, not products, one can reasonably summarize. There may be global products, but there are no global people. There may be global brands, but there are no global motivations for buying those brands. Research revealed that the reasons for young people buying global sports brands for example, differ a great deal worldwide (see for example: Holt, Quelch, Taylor 2004; Quelch 2003; Raman, Thompson, Aaker, Manwani, Clift, Kotabe 2003; Yankelovich and Meer 2006).
To return to the integrative, multidimensional analytical diagram of intercultural marketing, these trends can be illustrated in the following way (Figure C-87). In the middle of the following figure (C-87), the known structuralist model of culture (whose outer layers [rings] distinguish visible elements of culture and the innermost layer [values]) differentiate the ten orientations) (researched in the case of Indonesia) can be found. The latter are pictured on the right and denoted as steady over the course of time. On the left hand side, i.e. depicted as unstable over the course of time, are the visible elements of culture, also described as practices (symbols, heroes and rituals). For example music styles, fashions, celebrities or various lifestyles can be subsumed to these practices. These change over time - an unquestionable fact. A clothing style which is considered to be modern today may be outdated a year later. Owing to this, the outer layers of the culture model are to be understood as unstable, i.e. as variable. Outer changes in the visible layers of culture do not reflect changes in the innermost layer, values or value orientations, since they are stable.
|Figure C-87 Variable versus steady elements of the structuralist model of culture|
In an extremely status-oriented society, which, for example, has a high power and status orientation, there will always be the desire from the consumer to be separated and distanced from other social strata. The means of distancing oneself, for example by purchasing certain goods, may change over time, but the desire to be different will remain the same, as reflected by the high status orientation. It may be true that consumers use goods in many transitional or developing societies to symbolize modernity or their ability to participate in an apparently global consumer society but which has a rather glocal conformation. However, the idea that consumers’ conspicuous consumption of status symbols is a frequent by-product of economic development, does not appear plausible. This is because conspicuous consumption, the acquisition and visible display of luxury goods and services to demonstrate one’s ability to afford them, is first and foremost a sign of high status and power orientation in a society where the need to be different from others exists permanently. If this need did not exist, then people would refrain from buying certain status goods (these would not even occur to someone owing to the low status orientation). If status orientation were pronounced, then more status goods would be purchased. This observation is also the reason why European luxury concerns target in particular the strongly status-oriented Asian societies to make the most turnover, as can be seen in the figure below (C-88).
|Figure C-88 Turnover by selected luxury goods companies by geographic region|
It may be true that many of these countries are less developed than the USA or many European countries, but the latter’s score is rather low on the status orientation. The decisive differences can all be traced back to cultural reasons and show that the concentration, expansion, and internationalization of the consumer goods industries, the growth of affluent consumer segments in every nation, democratization, loosening of class boundaries, and a quickened flow of information through the commercial media, all contribute to global market expansion but that these developments have not led to the development of a globally homogenous consumer culture. With this ascertainment this discussion will now proceed to the practical section, Part D.
79 Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music which is partly derived from Arab, Indian, and Malay folk music. Beginning in the 1970s, it developed among working class Muslim youth, but especially since the late 1990s has had a broader following in Indonesia. A dangdut band usually consists of a lead singer backed by a band of four to eight musicians. The term has been expanded from the 'desert-like-style' music, and embraces other musical styles today. Modern dangdut incorporates influences from Latin, house, hip hop, R&B, and even classical music. Most major cities, especially on Java, have one or more venues that have a dangdut show several times per week. The concerts of major dangdut stars are also broadcast on television.
80 http://www.detikhot.com/index.php/tainment.read/tahun/2006/bulan/02/tgl/01/time/173429/idnews/530392/idkanal/230 (12 August 2005); http://www.tempointeraktif.com/hg/nusa/jawamadura/2003/05/17/brk,20030517-04,id.html (12 August 2005);
81 http://www.kompas.co.id/kesehatan/news/0601/23/125752.htm (12 August 2005);
82 http://www.ndrtv.de/weltspiegel/20030706/indonesien.html (12 August 2005); http://www.geocities.com/inuldangdut/ (12 August 2005); http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Daratista (12 August 2005); http://www.femina-online.com/serial/inul/srlinul1.html (12 August 2005); http://www.femina-online.com/serial/inul/srlinul1.html (12 August 2005); http://www.tokohindonesia.com/selebriti/artis/inul-daratista/index.shtml (12 August 2005); http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0514-01.htm (12 August 2005);
83 http://www.retailasiaonline.com/ (16 March 2006)
84 http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hotel/507000006.asp (14 August 2005)
85 https://www.shangri-la.com/gc/en/index.aspx (14 August 2005)
86 http://www.lippobank.co.id/produk_dbt_mthr.html (17 August 2005)
87 http://www.datascrip.com/ (17 November 2005)
88 Interestingly, most companies which represent European luxury brands in Indonesia (import and sales) belong to the Soeharto clan. The French luxury brand Hermes, for example, is represented by a niece of Soeharto. Most up-market boutiques call “Plaza Indonesia” its home, which together with the Grand Hyatt Hotel above the mall, is believed to be owned by the Soeharto family, too.
89 http://www.plazaindonesia.com/ (19 September 2005)
90 http://www.plaza-senayan.com/html/index.php (19 September 2005)
91 A service test which serves to evaluate and determine quality of customer service of companies. This activity from market research and the findings leaned from it are the precondition for further initiatives to optimize service and to eliminate deficits. To this end mystery shopping is conducted (usually under cover) to evaluate criteria relevant to service. Staff friendliness and competence etc. are tested. A test customer poses test questions and rates quality of service.
92 http://www.bisnisjakarta.com/agenda_bisnis.html?start=20&bulan=9&tahun=2004&dt=1096218000&s_q=&PHPSESSID=8ed9a7be114243126ca35e7a814be23a (12 August 2004)
93 http://www.markplusnco.com/ (13 August 2005)
94 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4076982.stm (12 November 2005)
95 Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of ethnic groups found in the highlands of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Their heartland lies to the west of Medan centred on Lake Toba. In fact the "Batak" include several groups with distinct, albeit related, languages and customs (“adat"). While the term is used to include the Toba, Karo, Pak Pak, Simalungun, Angkola, and Mandailing groups, some of these peoples prefer not to be known as Batak. Before they became subjects of the colonial Dutch East Indies government, the Batak had a reputation for being fierce warriors. Afterwards Christianity was embraced widely, and the HKBP (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan) Christian church is presently the largest Christian congregation in Indonesia. Batak societies are patriarchal. The Batak culture(s) stands out in weaving, wood carving and especially in its ornate stone tombs. Their burial cultures are very rich and complex, and includes a ceremony in which the bones of one's ancestors are re-interred several years after death (mangungkal holi).The Bataks themselves today are mostly Christian with a Muslim minority. The dominant Christian theology was brought by Lutheran German missionaries in the 19th century. One of the most famous German missionaries involved was Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen. Bataks speak a variety of (closely related) languages, all members of the Austronesian language family.
96 http://www.debeersgroup.com/debeersweb (10 December 2005); http://www.adiamondisforever.com/ (10 December 2005); http://www.dtc.com/ (10 December 2005);
97 http://www.richemont.com/ (13 August 2005)
98 http://about.puma.com/puma.jsp?type=company&lang=eng (17 November 2005)
99 http://www.agungautomall.co.id/aam-contact.html (17 November 2005)
100 http://www.asiadma.com/adma/resources/newsitem.asp?NewsID=100064 (17 November 2005); http://www.mercedesbenzandme.com/global/index.php (12 November 2005)
|© Die inhaltliche Zusammenstellung und Aufmachung dieser Publikation sowie die elektronische Verarbeitung sind urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung, die nicht ausdrücklich vom Urheberrechtsgesetz zugelassen ist, bedarf der vorherigen Zustimmung. Das gilt insbesondere für die Vervielfältigung, die Bearbeitung und Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronische Systeme.|
|DiML DTD Version 4.0||Zertifizierter Dokumentenserver|
der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
|HTML-Version erstellt am: | <urn:uuid:0901702d-35c0-48a9-940a-1457dba79582> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/dissertationen/willer-ragnar-karl-2006-07-19/HTML/chapter3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942862 | 82,575 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Calculus emerged in the seventeenth century as a system of shortcuts to results obtained by the method of exhaustion and as a method for discovering such results. The types of problem for which calculus proved suitable were finding lengths, areas, and volumes of curved figures and determining local properties such as tangents, normals, and curvature—in short, what we now recognize as problems of integration and differentiation. Equivalent problems of course arise in mechanics, where one of the dimensions is time instead of distance, hence it was calculus that made mathematical physics possible—a development we shall consider in Chapter 12. In addition, calculus was intimately connected with the theory of infinite series, initiating developments that became fundamental in number theory, combinatorics, and probability theory.
KeywordsSeventeenth Century Infinite Series Algebraic Curf Biographical Note High Degree Term
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF. | <urn:uuid:452c11db-5e3a-4350-a616-ec469cd00866> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://rd.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-0007-4_8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267157070.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20180921112207-20180921132607-00031.warc.gz | en | 0.938411 | 181 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Animal cruelty informative speech
Essay on informative speech outline: animal cruelty 1993 words | 8 pages children who live in homes where animal abuse is present are often abused themselves and. Open document below is a free excerpt of persuasive speech outline (animal cruelty) from anti essays, your source for free research papers, essays, and term paper. Animal testing informative speech how we treat each other and it’s very important we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty perpetrated on animals. I wrote this paper as an assignment for my english class, and feel very strongly about the issue of animal cruelty every day in the united states animals are beaten. Abuse of animals abuse of children these are sample topics for brief process speeches get your instructor's permission before bringing animals, babies.
A collaboration between an attorney and an animal protection advocate, this work utilizes the extremely controversial and high-profile “crush video” case, us v. View notes - animal abuse outline from cis 150 at wake tech nikki nodelman informative speech outline topic: animal abuse and neglect general purpose: to inform my. Animal cruelty speech imagine you were the one being tested on, imagine your skin animal cruelty animal cruelty speech animal testing animal cruelty. I'm doing an informative speech on animal cruelty but as you know this category is a bit broad, so i have to pick a more specific subject would there be.
Animal cruelty informative speech
Animal cruelty what is animal cruelty animal cruelty is when someone hurts an animal or does not care for an animal responsibly, like not giving a dog or cat food. I wanted to know how i can talk about animal abuse in an informative speech i don't want it to be persuasive and i wanted to have some suggestions on how. Free essay: children who live in homes where animal abuse is present are often abused themselves and unfortunately, sometimes carry on with the cycle of. Check out our top free essays on informative essay animal cruelty to help you write your own essay.
A speech on animal abuse to inform this feature is not available right now please try again later. Feedback help others started writing your own what informative speech topics and what to write animals sample literary analysis essay for the gift that has required. Read this essay and over 1,500,000 others like it now don't miss your chance to earn better grades and be a better writer. It is also extraordinarily difficult to carve out free-speech exceptions animal cruelty is often depicted in videos and on web sites that seek to call.
The most awesome animals speech ever 1 animal rightsanimals have rights they have rights because they were created by god. Speech topic: animal abuse ourspeeches: because of this kind of animal cruelty and abuse, many animals are endangered such as the koala bear and polar bear. Informative speech outlinerd copy 2 - download as word doc (doc / docx), pdf file (pdf), text file (txt) or read online bad. Speech about animal cruelty for school were very shocked by this cruelty we decided to both write a speech about some very important topics that our school.
Speech: animal informative speech outline animal cruelty essay - 1993 wordsread this essay and over 1,500,000 others like it now. Animal abuse factory abuse poaching south carolina laws locked up what is illegal don't hurt animals 180 days to 5 years $5,000 fine no chance for bail torture. Speech topic: animal abuse animal abuse and cruelty what would you do if you saw someone hurting an animal. Free informative animal shelters of animal cruelty - every day in the about cats a cats are very intelligent animals [tags: informative speech. | <urn:uuid:3edbaff7-d028-430d-81aa-f0864f834b5a> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://rmtermpaperxstf.sgoods4.me/animal-cruelty-informative-speech.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267164469.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20180926081614-20180926102014-00439.warc.gz | en | 0.943009 | 730 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Entomophagy (eating insects) expands our choices of cuisine and is envisioned as a protein source of the future as the human population continues to increase. For much of western culture, entomophagy has a “yuk” factor that is a current barrier. Artists can help us envision the future and reframe how we think of insects as food.
Artist Vanessa Cox uses insects in her art and her cuisine. The artwork (pictured) is a painting of a dish that has insects as an ingredient. The artwork contains cockroaches placed on the canvass and painted over as part of the design. The insects in the picture add texture. The insects are not the center of attention, but blend into the food as if they are supposed to be there. Her art captures the status of entomophagy. More widespread adoption of entomophagy in western cultures will likely involve insects as an ingredient rather than the whole food. | <urn:uuid:f7d74991-dcfc-4fae-aac6-413d2ecb28eb> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://livingwithinsects.wordpress.com/2017/07/09/art-and-entomophagy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496669422.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20191118002911-20191118030911-00526.warc.gz | en | 0.969525 | 191 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Fill out this form to receive a FREE initial consultation today! All fields are required.
Shoulder dystocia happens when a fetus is too large for the mother’s pelvis or when a fetus is in an abnormal position in relation to the mother’s pelvis. When this occurs, the infant’s head delivers, but one of the shoulders is caught.
Shoulder dystocia is a serious emergency requiring immediate intervention to free the shoulder and fully deliver the infant. While it is difficult to predict and prevent shoulder dystocia, certain factors help identify who is at risk.
Shoulder Dystocia Risk Factors
- Large fetus
- Maternal weight gain of more than 35 pounds during pregnancy
- Maternal obesity (having a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2)
- Diagnosis of diabetes mellitus before or during pregnancy
- Previous delivery complicated by a shoulder dystocia
- Rapid or prolonged second stage of labor
- Operative vaginal delivery
- Delivering after 40 weeks gestation
- Pregnant with two or more babies
Shoulder Dystocia Management
As soon as a shoulder dystocia is identified, special maneuvers are performed to reposition the mother and free the infant’s shoulder.
The McRoberts maneuver requires the mother to draw her legs in to her abdomen in a flexed position to widen the birth canal. Applying manual pressure in the suprapubic region (lower abdomen) may also successfully free the shoulder.
There are more invasive maneuvers a doctor can perform—including delivering the arm that is not stuck (known as delivery of the posterior arm), turning the baby, and then trying to deliver (known as Woods’ screw maneuver).
If a series of different maneuvers proves unsuccessful, the infant may be pushed back into the birth canal and rushed to the operating room for an emergency cesarean section. The delivering physician or midwife should not simply pull harder to deliver the baby, as this can result in serious permanent injury to the baby’s nerves.
Poor Outcomes Associated with Shoulder Dystocia
Complications of shoulder dystocia vary in severity. The most common injury associated with shoulder dystocia is injury to the brachial plexus nerves. These nerves control the function of the shoulder, arm, and hand.
A common brachial plexus injury that occurs with shoulder dystocia is known as Erb’s palsy. Permanent Erb’s palsy, or other brachial plexus injury, following a shoulder dystocia is usually the result of excessive pulling by the delivering doctor or midwife. Further, if the dystocia is prolonged, the infant is at risk of receiving inadequate oxygen and nutrients to the brain. | <urn:uuid:6570e11d-3980-47d3-8b59-8970d089670f> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://www.nphm.com/cases-we-handle/birth-injury/shoulder-dystocia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370528224.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20200405022138-20200405052138-00474.warc.gz | en | 0.896166 | 585 | 2.75 | 3 |
Growing a pear tree from a seed is relatively easy--but be aware that any tree grown from a seed will not necessarily produce the same great tasting fruit as the parent tree. This is because in order for a pear seed to be viable, it must contain a mix of genetic material, and this mix may not produce a tree with the same flavor as the fruit that the seed came from. In order to produce a pear tree with the exact same flavor characteristics as the pear you are trying to imitate, you would need to graft wood from the good tree onto pear rootstock; in this way you could create a "clone" of the original tree with the delicious fruit. However, if you wish to grow a pear from a seed, there is little standing in your way.
Collect your pear seeds, wash them under running water and pat them dry with a paper towel.
Fill one or more 4-inch planting pots with potting soil. Plant one pear seed in each pot, approximately 1/2 inch deep. Dampen the soil.
Insert the pot into a large baggie and zip the baggie shut. Place the bagged pot into the refrigerator and leave it until all possibility of frost has passed for your area.
Remove the baggie and pot from the refrigerator and remove the pot. Place the pot in a warm place with plenty of indirect sunlight and mist the soil daily. Keep it damp but do not saturate it.
Plant your young seedlings outdoors in a sunny location with well-drained soil. Dig a hole at least twice the size of your tree's root ball and mix compost into the soil in a 50/50 mix. Keep the soil damp, but do not allow the ground to become saturated. Protect your young tree from deer, rabbits and other hungry wildlife with wire mesh. | <urn:uuid:b952f228-1fa3-4948-bd19-b471ee5006cd> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://www.gardenguides.com/97617-start-pear-tree-seed-plant.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398450762.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205410-00039-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932242 | 369 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was fought between France and England during the late Middle Ages. It lasted 116 years from 1337 to 1453. The war started because Charles IV of France died in 1328 without a son. Edward III of England then believed he had the right to become the new king of France through his mother.
The French did not want a foreign king, so Philip VI of France said he ought to be king because by the Salic law women could not rule or transmit the right to rule to their sons. The two countries went to war because of this disagreement.
At the beginning of the war France was the stronger of the two countries. France had about 17 million people while England had only about 4 million people. France had an alliance with Scotland against England, and England tried to ally with parts of the Low Countries. The English won a great victory at sea in the Battle of Sluys in 1340 which prevented France from invading England. After that the war was fought almost totally in France. England won again at the Battle of Crécy in 1346: the English longbow was part of the reason for the victory.
From 1348 to 1356 there was very little fighting because of the Black Death. Then Edward, the Black Prince won the Battle of Poitiers for England. King John II of France was captured during the battle. The English invaded France again but were not able to take any more cities. A truce gave England about one quarter of France.
The new king Charles V of France was more successful, with Bertrand du Guesclin as his best knight. The Black Prince was busy at another war and Edward III was too old to lead an army again. So France allied with Castile against England and Portugal. France won back many French towns from the English during this time. A peace followed from 1389-1415.
Then the most famous part of the war began. Henry the V of England invaded France and won the Battle of Agincourt with many bowmen. King Charles VI of France was insane and unable to rule, and nearly all his sons died young. The queen of France Isabeau of Bavaria married one of her daughters to Henry the V and signed the Treaty of Troyes to make Henry V the next king of France. Both Henry V and Charles VI died at almost the same time. So the English believed Henry VI of England was the new king of France and many French people agreed. Charles VI's last son Charles VII of France said he ought to be the new king, but many people said he did not deserve to be king because somebody else had probably been his father.
The English continued to capture land in France until Joan of Arc led the army to success at the Siege of Orleans and the Battle of Patay in 1429. She regained many cities and brought Charles VII to his coronation, but she did not recover Paris. Her enemies captured and killed her. After her death the French continued to take back territory, although more slowly. France had a diplomatic win in 1435 with the Treaty of Arras. The war ended in 1453.
References[change | change source]
- "Medieval Sourcebook: Jean Froissart: On The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)". fordham.edu. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/froissart1.html. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
- "Hundred Years' War". theotherside.co.uk. http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/100yearswar.htm. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
Bibliography[change | change source]
- Allmand, Christopher, The Hundred Years War: spain and France at War, c.1300-c.1450, Cambridge University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-521-31923-4
- Braudel, Fernand, The Perspective of the World, vol III of Civilization and Capitalism 1984 (in French 1979).
- Burne, Alfred, The Agincourt War, Wordsworth Military Library ISBN 1-84022-211-5
- Seward, Desmond, The Hundred Years War. The English in France 1337-1453, Penguin Books, 1999, ISBN 0-14-028361-7
- Sumption, Jonathan, The Hundred Years War I: Trial by Battle, University of Pennsylvania Press, September 1999, ISBN 0-8122-1655-5
- Sumption, Jonathan, The Hundred Years War II: Trial by Fire, University of Pennsylvania Press, October 2001, ISBN 0-8122-1801-9
- Dunnigan, James F., and Albert A. Nofi. Medieval Life & The Hundred Years War, online book.
- Wagner, John A. Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, August 2006. ISBN 0-313-32736-X
- Bell, Adrian R. War and the Soldier in the Fourteenth Century, The Boydell Press, November 2004, ISBN 1-84383-103-1
Related websites[change | change source]
- Timeline of the Hundred Years War
- Jean Froissart, "On The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)" from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook
- The Hundred Years' War (1336-1565) by Dr. Lynn H. Nelson, University of Kansas Emeritus | <urn:uuid:ce092f03-9b0b-442d-8bf8-dfe70c808a86> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_War | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982958896.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823200918-00285-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937546 | 1,135 | 3.734375 | 4 |
This set of task cards includes 20 colour cards with Australian coins. Students add up the coins shown and write their answer on the answer sheet provided. Teacher answer sheet also provided. They are perfect for use in a maths/numeracy centre or as an extension or early finishers task.
Aligns with the Australian Curriculum!
Mathematics / Year 2 / Number and Algebra / Money and financial mathematics / ACMNA034
Count and order small collections of Australian coins and notes according to their value | <urn:uuid:e0dda046-93c1-4439-9a08-aa784195975a> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Australian-Money-Adding-Up-Coins-Task-Cards-3124978 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187828178.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20171024052836-20171024072836-00122.warc.gz | en | 0.928729 | 106 | 2.59375 | 3 |
You have specified an incorrect subnet mask value.
Standard IP address classes are restricted to default formats. For example, in Class B addresses, the first 2 bytes represent the network ID, and the last 2 bytes are used for host IDs. Subnet addressing extends this range by taking bits from the host part of the IP address, to divide the network into subnets.
A subnet mask is a 32-bit number that allows you to specify which bits in the base IP address identify the fixed network ID (set to 1) and which identify the variable host IDs (set to 0).
Define the subnet mask by one of the following methods:
- In Network mask, specify the mask in a
- In Network address, in the dialog box
next to the IP address, type the network prefix length in shorthand
notation to indicate the number of bits in the subnet mask–the
number of high-order (starting at the left end of the mask) bits
set to 1. When you enter a value, the mask will display
automatically in Network mask.
You have a Class B address of 126.96.36.199 with a default subnet mask of 255.255.0.0, and you want to allocate 8 host bits for subnets. To do this, you would specify the mask 255.255.255.0 (11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000). By using 8 host bits for subnetting, you obtain 256 (that is, 28) subnet network IDs, supporting as many as 254 hosts per subnet. The number of hosts per subnet is 254 because 8 bits (28 minus 2) are reserved for the host ID. You subtract 2 because subnetting rules exclude the host IDs consisting of all ones or all zeros.
You have a Class B address of 188.8.131.52 with a default subnet mask of 255.255.0.0, and anticipate needing only 32 subnets rather than 256. To do this, you would specify the mask 255.255.248.0 (11111111 11111111 11111000 00000000). In this scenario, each of the 32 subnets can support as many as 2,046 hosts (211 minus 2).
To allocate 8 host bits for subnets in shorthand notation, set Network address to 184.108.40.206/24, indicating that 24 high-order bits will be set to 1 for the subnet mask, and leaving 8 bits (set to 0) for the host IDs. | <urn:uuid:358d70e7-9da9-4528-831f-1c7939718d8d> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | http://certsrv.ru/tmg.en/html/5685112b-1198-419d-bdf5-b1d1327d8c09.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500641.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20230207201702-20230207231702-00451.warc.gz | en | 0.834352 | 544 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
What You Need to Know
- Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a disease that affects a person’s central vision.
- AMD can result in severe loss of central vision, but people rarely go blind from it.
- Risk factors for AMD include being 50 and older, smoking, having high blood pressure and eating a diet high in saturated fat.
- Although there is no cure for AMD, there are treatment options that may prevent or slow the progression of the disease.
Age-Related Macular Degeneration Definition
Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of severe loss of eyesight among people 50 and older. Only the center of vision is affected with this disease. It is important to realize that people rarely go blind from it.
AMD affects the central vision, and with it, the ability to see fine details. In AMD, a part of the retina called the macula is damaged. In advanced stages, people lose their ability to drive, to see faces, and to read smaller print. In its early stages, AMD may have no signs or symptoms, so people may not suspect they have it.
Types of Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Causes
The two primary types of age-related macular degeneration have different causes:
Dry. This type is the most common. About 80% of those with AMD have the dry form. Its exact cause is unknown, although both genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role. This happens as the light-sensitive cells in the macula slowly break down, generally one eye at a time. The loss of vision in this condition is usually slow and gradual. It is believed that the age-related damage of an important support membrane under the retina contributes to dry age-related macular degeneration.
Wet. Though this type is less common, it usually leads to more severe vision loss in patients than dry AMD. It is the most common cause of severe loss of vision. Wet AMD happens when abnormal blood vessels start to grow beneath the retina. They leak fluid and blood — hence the name wet AMD — and can create a large blind spot in the center of the visual field.
Risk Factors for Age-Related Macular Degeneration
There are several risk factors that can contribute to developing age-related macular degeneration, including:
Being 50 and older
Eating a diet high in saturated fat
Age-Related Macular Degeneration Symptoms
The following are the most common symptoms of age-related macular degeneration. However, each individual may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:
Blurry or fuzzy vision
Difficulty recognizing familiar faces
Straight lines appear wavy
A dark, empty area or blind spot appears in the center of vision
Loss of central vision, which is necessary for driving, reading, recognizing faces and performing close-up work
The presence of drusen, which are tiny yellow deposits in the retina, is one of the most common early signs of age-related macular degeneration. It may mean the eye is at risk for developing more severe age-related macular degeneration. These will be visible to your doctor during an eye exam.
The symptoms of age-related macular degeneration may look like other eye conditions. Speak with an eye care professional for diagnosis.
Age-Related Macular Degeneration Diagnosis
In addition to a complete medical history and eye exam, your eye doctor may do the following tests to diagnose age-related macular degeneration:
Visual acuity test. This common eye chart test measures vision ability at various distances.
Pupil dilation. The pupil is widened with eyedrops to allow a close-up examination of the eye’s retina.
Fluorescein angiography. Used to detect wet age-related macular degeneration, this diagnostic test involves a special dye injected into a vein in the arm. Pictures are then taken as the dye passes through the blood vessels in the retina, helping the doctor evaluate if the blood vessels are leaking and whether or not the leaking can be treated.
Amsler grid. Used to detect wet age-related macular degeneration, this test uses a checkerboardlike grid to determine if the straight lines in the pattern appear wavy or missing to the patient. Both indications may signal the possibility of age-related macular degeneration.
To use the Amsler grid, follow these steps:
- Wearing any glasses you normally use to read, hold the grid 12 to 15 inches away from your face in good light.
- Cover one eye.
- Look directly at the center dot with your uncovered eye and keep your eye focused on it.
- While looking directly at the center dot, notice in your side vision if all grid lines look straight or if any lines or areas look blurry, wavy, dark or blank.
- Follow the same steps with the other eye.
If you notice any areas of the grid that appear darker, wavy, blank or blurry, contact your ophthalmologist right away.
Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatment
Specific treatment for age-related macular degeneration will be determined by your doctor based on:
Your age, overall health and medical history
Extent and nature of the disease
Your tolerance for specific medications, procedures or low-vision therapies
Expectations for the course of the disease
Your opinion or preference
Currently, there is no treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration, though vision rehabilitation programs and low-vision devices can be used to build visual skills, develop new ways to perform daily living activities and adjust to living with age-related macular degeneration.
The main treatment for wet AMD is the injection of medications called anti-VEGF agents. VEGF stands for vascular endothelial growth factor. A high level of VEGF in the eye is linked to the formation of the abnormal blood vessels that cause much of the damage in wet AMD. Anti-VEGF agents are used to combat the disease process and reduce the damaging effects of these leaky abnormal blood vessels. They are also able to effectively stabilize vision in many patients.
In some patients, anti-VEGF injections actually improve the level of visual acuity. Anti-VEGF medications are administered by injecting them directly into the affected eye. Although this sounds daunting, the procedure is done with a very fine needle and under the cover of numbing (anesthetic) eyedrops, so patients are usually very comfortable. Anti-VEGF treatment is usually administered regularly over time, requiring multiple injections to maintain the treatment effect, and your retinal physician will discuss the best treatment schedule for you. In selected patients, other treatments, such as laser therapy, can be used, if necessary.
Complications of Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Age-related macular degeneration can result in severe loss of central vision but rarely causes blindness. It can, however, make it difficult to read, drive or perform other daily activities that require fine central vision. In AMD, the health of the peripheral retina is unaffected, so patients can rest assured that their peripheral (side) vision, and their ability to walk around without bumping into things, is usually preserved. | <urn:uuid:9d3abcfa-dc34-4f68-a157-ffa80bdf6fc1> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/agerelated-macular-degeneration-amd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780057018.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20210920040604-20210920070604-00501.warc.gz | en | 0.926237 | 1,507 | 3.375 | 3 |
Intensive, high yield gardening uses growing space more efficiently than traditional methods. Instead of wasted room between rows of crops, the garden area is maximized — that way you can grow more vegetables in less space.
Even if you have plenty of room in your backyard, square foot gardening can require less work while still providing lots of healthy plants. Usually there is less weeding involved since plants are spaced closer together and every bit of garden space is cultivated throughout the entire growing season. However, because there is less room between crops, weeding will need to be done by hand or with smaller garden tools — there will not be enough room for machinery. Another drawback — to some people — is that because plants are always growing, they are not all ready to harvest at the same time.
The leader in organic gardening supplies since 1991! Planet Natural offers 100% safe and natural products that really work. Come see what we can offer your garden, your yard and your family.
A raised bed is simply when the level of the soil is higher than the surrounding ground. The Ohio State University Extension has listed several benefits of gardening in a raised bed. A few of these benefits are:
- Higher yields
- Improved soil conditions
- Ease of working
- Ease of pest control
- Water conservation
A raised bed should be just wide enough that you can reach all the way across without climbing into it (or, if you can access both sides of the bed, you need to be able to reach half way across). See Building a Raised Bed Garden (PDF).
One of the reasons raised beds have such high yields is that the soil is mixed with amendments to create a light, fluffy growing medium to a depth of about 2-feet. This encourages great root growth.
Vertical gardens are both a wise use of space and aesthetically pleasing. They can help keep plants up off the ground and can be used to define landscaped areas, by creating interesting focal points and eye-pleasing boundaries (see our article Containers with Altitude). Plants grown on walls, trellises and fences can cool your home or garden and block views you don’t want to see.
Good support surfaces for a vertical garden include:
- Openwork fences
- Hanging baskets
- Poles with string or nets
#1 VINE SUPPORT
Perfect for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers… any tall plant! Reusable Tomato Clips make it easy to tie plants to stakes, trellises or support wire. Works with stems up to 3/4″ in diameter and features open sides to improve air circulation and reduce disease problems.
Choosing the right plants for a vertical garden is important. While many plants can be trained to grow upwards, not every plant is suitable. Some of the best fruits and vegetables are as follows:
Tomatoes do better grown in a cage or other support system than when left on the ground. Not only do they use up less space, but they are less likely to become infected with a soil-borne disease. Learn more about tomato gardening here.
Cucumbers grow as vines and are a natural for vertical gardening.
Corn grows vertically, naturally, and can be used as a support for beans or other plants.
Peas, melons, and passion fruit take well to upwards growth. Even zucchinis, pumpkins and other squashes will grow vertically as long as their support system is strong enough.
Tips for a Successful Vertical Garden
- Make sure your vertically-grown plants are in a location where they won’t shade out sun-loving plants.
- Grow plants on the south side of the support structure for maximum sunlight.
- Don’t forget to water. Your vertical garden will dry out faster without plants laying on the soil to shade it.
- Soil should be deep and well-drained so plant roots can grow down into the soil, rather than growing outwards where they will compete with other plants.
- Heavy crops, such as melons, pumpkins and squash, may need additional support. Construct a “hammock” from strips of old pantyhose by tying it to either side of the crop you are supporting and place the vegetable/fruit inside.
Growing two or more plants in the same place at the same time is known as interplanting. This can be done by alternating rows within a bed, alternating plants within a row or mixing up plants throughout the bed.
Increase harvests in small spaces with Dalen® Trellis Netting. Made of high-quality nylon, it can be used to support extremely heavy crop loads and has large 7 in. reach through mesh for easy harvesting. Lasts for years and is available in 3 convenient sizes.
When interplanting flowers and herbs in the vegetable garden make sure to grow plants with similar requirements near each other. Consider the following factors for each plant:
- length of the plant’s growth period
- growth pattern (tall, short, below or above ground)
- possible negative effects on other plants (such as the allelopathic effects of sunflowers and Jerusalem artichokes on nearby plants)
- preferred season
- preferred light
- nutrient and moisture requirements
In a raised bed or interplanted garden, plants are grown more closely together than in a traditional row garden. When growing vegetables, herbs or fruits, stagger your rows so that a plant in one row is between two plants in the other row. This creates an almost continuous leaf cover that shades out weeds and reduces the amount of area that needs to be mulched.
The following chart from the Arizona Cooperative Extension indicates how closely seeds or seedlings can be planted.
|Asparagus||15 to 18||Lettuce, head||10 to 12|
|Beans, lima||4 to 6||Lettuce, leaf||4 to 6|
|Beans, pole||6 to 12||Melons||18 to 24|
|Beans, bush||4 to 6||Mustard||6 to 9|
|Beets||2 to 4||Okra||12 to 18|
|Broccoli||12 to 18||Onion||2 to 4|
|Brussels sprouts||15 to 18||Peas||2 to 4|
|Cabbage||15 to 18||Peppers||12 to 15|
|Cabbage, Chinese||10 to 12||Potatoes||10 to 12|
|Carrots||2 to 3||Pumpkins||24 to 36|
|Cauliflower||15 to 18||Radishes||2 to 3|
|Cucumber||12 to 18||Rutabaga||4 to 6|
|Chard, Swiss||6 to 9||Southern pea||3 to 4|
|Collards||12 to 15||Spinach||4 to 6|
|Endive||15 to 18||Squash, summer||18 to 24|
|Eggplant||18 to 24||Squash, winter||24 to 36|
|Kale||15 to 18||Sweet corn||15 to 18|
|Kohlrabi||6 to 9||Tomatoes||18 to 24|
|Leeks||3 to 6||Turnip||4 to 6|
To determine spacing for interplanting, add the inches for the two crops to be planted together, and divide the sum by 2. For example, if radishes are planted next to beans, add 2 inches + 4 inches = 6 inches, then divide 6 inches by 2 inches = 3 inches. The radishes should be planted 3 inches from the beans.
Tip: Be careful not to sow seeds too closely together or your crops may be at a higher risk of plant disease (often caused by poor air circulation). Always refer to the seed packet for appropriate spacing.
Succession and Relay Planting
Once a crop has reached its full production, it is time to plant more. Cool-season crops (peas, lettuce, broccoli) are followed by warm-season crops (peppers, tomatoes, beans), and if you live in a mild climate, these may be followed by more cool season plants, or even a fall/winter crop. Read our article on successive planting in the home garden to learn more.
Relaying is overlapping planting of one type of crop. For example, spinach may be planted at 2-3 week intervals to ensure a steady harvest. Or you can plant early, mid and late season crops all at the same time (see Planting Crops for a Second Harvest).
T5 GROW LIGHT
Say goodbye to leggy plants! The Jump Start T5 Grow Light produces more than double the light output as standard shop fixtures — perfect for seedlings, cuttings and houseplants. Each system includes a T5 high output grow light fixture and bulb (6400K daylight spectrum – 10,000 hour life).
If seeds are started indoors, there is always something ready to go into the garden as space opens up. Don’t forget to add compost or an organic fertilizer to get the soil ready for the next crop of plants.
Planning & Design
Start early when planning an organic garden. In January or February, while snow still covers the ground, it is time to get out some graph paper and seed catalogs and get to work.
2.) Grab a pencil and paper and draw your garden plot(s). Using graph paper helps determine how much space you have to work with more precisely.
3.) Choose what plants you wish to grow. For each plant consider:
– Nutrient needs
– Shade tolerance
– Above and below ground growth patterns
– Preferred growing season
4.) Determine which plants can be grown together or successively. Read our article about companion planting here.
5.) Add the plants to your chart after determining how closely together they can be grown.
6.) Order your seeds. You can start some plants indoors so they are ready to go or directly seed into the soil.
All Purpose (4-4-4)
Provides balanced nutrition quickly, yet continues to feed for several months.$13.50Read more
Fish and Seaweed Fertilizer
Use on a regular basis for bigger crops, increased sugars and better blooms.Read more
Savvy growers know redworm castings to be rich in nutrients and beneficial microbes.$27.95Read more
Handy dispenser with built-in cutter can be hung with a nail so it's always close by.$4.95Read more
Sup'r Green provides over 5 times more plant food value than steer manure.$14.95Read more | <urn:uuid:5fa588e3-e1d3-42ff-9a49-87dfd4689ec7> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.planetnatural.com/square-foot-gardening/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446711017.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20221205132617-20221205162617-00643.warc.gz | en | 0.914999 | 2,296 | 2.65625 | 3 |
European Business School, Research Paper No. 09-03
Relying on a single supplier can be risky. Honda Motor Company learned that lesson the hard way in 1994 when its only supplier for critical plastic parts used in every vehicle lost its plant in a fire. With no other vendor to turn to, Honda had to shut down production for three days. But having too many suppliers can also result in distressing operational headaches. A larger pool of parts vendors often results in greater overhead costs, weaker relationships with each individual supplier, and fewer economies of scale. Purchasing managers have to determine how many suppliers to work with, and must balance the costs of managing multiple suppliers with the risks associated with partnering with only one. In this research, the authors developed a model to help companies better understand the trade-offs, and to help them determine how much supply they should allocate to each vendor. The resulting formula could be helpful for operations managers who struggle with finding the optimal number of suppliers.
By weighing the advantages of volume-pricing discounts against the costs of a potential supplier failure, companies can optimize their supply chains. | <urn:uuid:1ce79f0d-6f6d-4b4b-b139-768eff7afd55> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.strategy-business.com/article/re00078 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679103558.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20231211045204-20231211075204-00844.warc.gz | en | 0.953583 | 222 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Methodology in thesis examples methodology section is an essential component of methodology in thesis examples research project/plan: This section: methodology in thesis examples term paper ne demek. These four government officials knew a great deal.
One source for assistance with writing this. Course title: Research Methodology and Thesis Writing. This chapter presents the methodology and limitations of the study. Chapter 1 of a thesis should contain a discussion of each of the following topics: Introduction Statement of the. Although thesis writing may be viewed as an unpleasant obligation on the road to htesis degree.
This study. aviation, Doctoral Thesis, University of New South Wales. Lewis (2004). 15. Table 4: Jn chapter structure of a quantitative thesis.
Nov 2017. This content belongs to the Manuscript Writing Stage. Hi, everybody, well, a graduate thesis methodology could be different and it also depends on the field of research.
Feb 2015. This article will discover basic methods that can assist students in writing methodology for a dissertation.
It is vital you pick approach research methodologies and methods for your thesis. Methodologg ultimate test of a well-written Methods section is in replicability -- could. Outlining your methodology lies at the core of your paper, and fulfills one of the basic principles underlying the scientific method.
When writing a lab report, it is often a good idea to begin by writing the Materials and Methods section. Methodology in thesis examples Academia Hi Edamples Currently, I am writing a thesis for a masters in STS (Science and Technology Studies), with a.
Sample job application cover letter sample
Example: Describing the instrument design and development. This is likely to be the methodology of. Examples of qualitative methods are action research, case study research and.
Personal statement dental examples
ELTT course 10: Writing Up Qualitative Research (Independent Study version). Order a dissertation methodology online from qualified, professional academic writers. To describe your methodology and report your results. A good research methodology contains.
Oct 2018. If you are looking for a document in the Dissertation Center and cant. Chapter 1. THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING. The methods section, or chapter three, of the dissertation or thesis is often the most.
Case study microsoft word
OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY. This section includes descriptions of the specific objectives and methods for: (1) the study sample selection, (2) the. Results. – Discussion. • You are. Mar 2007. Samples of Writing Methodology WTUC Ma 7 Sep 2018.
Momentum problem solving the physics classroom
Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature review Chapter 3: Methods Chapter 4: Paper 1 & general discussion Chapter 5: Paper 2 Chapter 6: Regular. A realistic design methodology should define global objectives and choices in a more concrete way than for example the waterfall model (e.g.
Friday is my favorite day essay
Sample Methods. Thesis Structure. So what exactly do you need to include when writing your method section? If, for example, you are unsure about the limitations of your methodology you. Thesis.. How will the different methods and algorithms be combined.
Polytechnic graduation speech
Writing methodology for thesis - Best Paper Writing Website - Get Original Essays, Term Papers, Reports and Theses For Cheap Reliable Research Paper. I am working on my Master Thesis and I have chosen the Topi and the. An attempt was made to align the methodological guidelines for VU BS students. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the research methodology for this..
Especially in this section you should be as clear and concise as possible. Jul 2015 - 20 min - Uploaded by cecile badenhorstWriting the Methodology chapter in a dissertation. The sample was drawn from a methodology in thesis examples of women who studied a STEM field. Chapter 1 Thesis Context and Research Methodology. | <urn:uuid:e93e0808-3335-4026-86f5-f3158fbf1787> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | http://bigcheesestudios.com/methodology-in-thesis-examples.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247489282.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20190219000551-20190219022551-00584.warc.gz | en | 0.893245 | 801 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Foreign grain beetles are red-brown or black in color and minute in size, a mere 1/12 of an inch long. What sets this beetle apart from other insects are its club-shaped antennae. The adults also have knob shaped projections on the front corners of the pronotum, which is the upper surface of the prothorax (the first segment of the thorax). People often confuse the foreign grain beetle with flies or gnats because they fly in the same manner, but these beetles have hard shells and do not have clear wings. Foreign grain beetle larvae are off-white in color and worm-like in appearance. The foreign grain beetle is most active in early summer to late fall when humidity levels reach their peak. They can only survive if relative humidity is above 70%. Once humidity in an area drops below 60%, foreign grain beetles die off on their own.
Normally, foreign grain beetles stay outside scavenging on plant and animal debris with their accompanying fungus. They can also easily enter the home through window screens and seals around doors and windows, and through walls near pipes or electrical outlets. When in the home they show up around bathtubs, sinks, and other moist areas. The larvae will often appear on the floor around baseboards where adults are laying eggs. Foreign grain beetles are most often found eating mold or fungi on spoiled grain. Aside from grain, they also like to infest cereal products, oilseeds, dried fruit, beans and spices. They are likely to infest food if the products have attained mold due to storage in a moist environment. Foreign grain beetles cause the most trouble in new homes because of the fungus and mold that tend to grow on new lumber or wet wallboard.
Foreign grain beetles do not bite or harm people or pets in any way. They do not ruin furniture, clothing, or other property. They are only after old food that is already infested with fungus and mold. Very rarely are they found in dry food products.
Foreign Grain Beetle Control
These tiny pests are unsightly and can be difficult to flush out of your home. A professional pest control service might be your best option.
Interview: A professional will first interview you to find out areas of infestation.
Clean up: The first step to getting rid of foreign grain beetles is to clean, dry out, and sanitize the areas they like best, especially bathrooms.
Insecticide: Finally, the professional will use a pesticide containing pyrethrins or synthetic pyrethroid to kill the foreign grain beetles.
Foreign Grain Beetle DIY Pest Control
To win the battle against these pervasive pests, look in damp areas around your home. Foreign grain beetles like to set up shop around all sinks, bathtubs, spoiled food, and other moist areas. Here’s how to kick them to the curb:
Fix it! Repair any areas of your home that might be causing fungus and mold to grow in your walls. Fix those leaky pipes and ventilate your home. Repair anything that is causing moisture buildup.
Spray it! Use an aerosol with pyrethrins or use dry residual dust around baseboards and spaces between electrical outlets and walls. This discourages foreign grain beetles them from entering the home.
Dry it! Use a dehumidifier to dry out the walls of your home and kill mold and mildew. Damp areas in new homes can take up to four years to dry out. A dry home is a foreign grain beetle-free home.
Vacuum it! Suck up the pests with a vacuum cleaner when you see them. You won’t be able to get to the beetles hidden within your walls, but it will control the visible pests around your home.
Foreign Grain Beetle Green Pest Control Solutions
If you want to banish these foreign grain beetles in an environmentally friendly way, follow these green tips for getting rid of them.
Spot them! Identify infested food products, seal them up in a bag and immediately remove them from your home.
Freeze them out! Foreign grain beetles can be terminated by freezing them at 5 degrees Fahrenheit or below for 2-3 days. They can then be removed from infested grain by using a sieve. To insure that eggs are killed as well, freeze the product for 3 weeks or longer.
Bake them! To kill eggs, larvae, and adults, spread out the infested food in a thin layer on a baking sheet in the oven. Bake at 120 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours. Dried fruit can be saved from foreign grain beetles by submerging in boiling water for a minute. Make sure to allow the fruit to dry out again before re-storing.
Don’t invite them in! The best way to prevent infestation is to make sure bags of food are stored in plastic containers with lids that seal. Flour and other grain products should be stored in the freezer. When shopping, look closely at food products for broken bags or containers. Tagging along on groceries is the most common way foreign grain beetles enter your home, don’t let them hitch a ride. Don’t pour new food on top of old food in the same container. Clean out an old container before putting new food in it. | <urn:uuid:ae81e42e-fcdd-4945-9060-81dbac1191a3> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | http://www.pestnet.com/beetle/foreign-grain-beetle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195524517.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20190716075153-20190716101153-00434.warc.gz | en | 0.940612 | 1,082 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Healing water resorts were all the rage in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Doctors would prescribe water from from springs to cure many ailments and diseases. Hotels started opening in areas with natural springs that offered mineral baths to improve one’s health. It was at this time that New York businessman James F. O. Shaughnessy purchased the Red Boiling Springs tract and began development of the area as a resort.
Of the five types of mineral water available at the resort, three types were available on the Counts Hotel property: “white,” “red” and “black.” One of the two doctors in the town would prescribe the appropriate water and dosage to each guest. The “white” water was recommended to aid digestion. The sulfurous “red” water was said to be helpful for the bladder and for Bright’s disease. The sulfur and magnesium “black” water was claimed to treat the stomach and liver.
One of the original “Healing Water” resorts of Red Boiling Springs, TN., is now for sale. Originally built in 1924 and known as Smith’s Brick Hotel, as it was the first brick hotel in the area. It was soon after purchased and named the Counts Hotel where it operated as such until it finally became the Armour’s hotel. You may change the name as you wish when you take ownership.
For more information on the listing please click HERE.
“The hotel is an example of colonial revival architecture, constructed of locally produced brick. Although at its peak there were additional buildings to boost occupancy, the original structure has only 24 guest rooms. The hotel was built in a T-shape, featuring a full-length two-story porch facing northeast along the 61-foot front of the building, with two-story columns of brick and wood. It has a metal gable roof, with wide eaves supported by vertical wood brackets, and wood shingles decorating the gable ends. Eleven guest rooms are on the first floor. There is a cherry wood stairway to the second floor, which includes 15 guest rooms. Access to the upstairs guest rooms is from an interior hallway, and only one downstairs guest room has an external door, which allows access to a southeast-facing sun porch. Each guest room has an individual bathroom. In addition, there is a bathhouse with twin claw-foot bath tubs for mineral water baths.” –Wikipedia
$539,900 $50/sqft For Sale
321 E Main St
Red Boiling Springs, TN 37150
2.700 Acres, 10870 SqFt
Own a unique and stunning piece of history with this BEAUTIFUL, FULLY furnished, turn-key Bed and Breakfast located in historic Red Boiling Springs, TN. It offers 15 guest rooms, 4 suites and owners quarters, all with private bathrooms. Guest common areas include a library and public restrooms throughout. HUGE dining room and commercial kitchen both are fully furnished. 2 large front porches. Featuring a One of a Kind, historic mineral bathhouse/spa. All on 2.7 level acres!!
FOR THE COMPLETE LISTING PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Listed by Matt McClane, EXIT Realty Garden Gate Team
For buyer’s representation call Jason Galaz, eXp Realty 615-410-6393 or email [email protected]
We found old advertisements of previous sales. | <urn:uuid:3c5cf428-e2c0-499c-9cd4-2fa413241e00> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://www.findahomeintn.com/1920s-healing-water-resort-for-sale/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224652569.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20230606114156-20230606144156-00430.warc.gz | en | 0.962734 | 731 | 2.734375 | 3 |
, January 4, 2009 (ENS) - Research conducted during 2009 shows that first responders to the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks suffer from asthma at more than twice the rate of the general U.S. population. They also suffer other ongoing lung problems and may have a higher risk of cancer.
The federally funded World Trade Center Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York offers WTC responders free medical surveillance examinations and targeted treatment for health conditions related to WTC work exposures.
The wreckage of the World Trade Center still smolders as recovery operations continue, October 10, 2001. (Photo by Michael Rieger courtesy FEMA)
Of the estimated 40,000 men and women who were exposed to products of combustion and particulate matter following the attacks on September 11, 2001, more than 27,000 responders have been medically screened under the Mount Sinai program.
Post 9/11 asthma attacks or episodes were reported by as many as eight percent of 20,843 workers and volunteers who provided rescue and recovery, essential service restoration, and cleanup efforts after two terrorist-controlled planes struck the twin towers, releasing caustic dust and toxic pollutants, according to a Mount Sinai study published in November.
Asthma is typically seen in only four percent of the population.
"Although previous WTC studies have shown significant respiratory problems, this is the first study to directly quantify the magnitude of asthma among WTC responders," said Hyun Kim, ScD, instructor of Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and lead author of the analysis.
"Eight years after 9/11 the WTC Program is still observing responders affected by asthma episodes and attacks at rates more than twice that of people not exposed to WTC dust," he said.
Of the study's rescue and recovery workers, 86 percent were men and the average duration of work at World Trade Center sites was 80 days. The study followed uniformed and other law enforcement and protective service workers, who made up 42 percent of subjects, as well as construction workers and other responders.
Dr. Philip Landrigan (Photo courtesy NIEHS)
"It is important to note that this report focused on findings from baseline or initial visit examinations," said Philip Landrigan, MD, who chairs Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Department of Preventive Medicine and serves as principal investigator of the WTC Program Data and Coordination Center.
"The data show an increasing percentage of responders reporting asthmatic episodes, rising to double that seen in the general population," Dr. Landrigan said. "It is clearly vital that we continue to track responders' health and look further into the medical outcomes of this population."
In addition, a study by Mount Sinai researchers published in February 2009 found that 24 percent of World Trade Center responders continued to have impairment of their lung function after their second exams at Mount Sinai's World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program.
Led by Gwen Skloot, MD, associate professor of medicine and pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at Mount Sinai, analyzed the changes in spirometry results between the first exam and the second exam of WTC responders, which occurred an average of 32 months after the first exam.
Spirometry, the most widely used measurement of lung function, is a 15-minute breathing test that Mount Sinai offers to all WTC Program participants. "The majority of individuals did not have an excessive decline in lung function between examinations," said Dr. Skloot. "We are now intensively studying the subgroup with excessive change in lung function in order to identify important predictors of change."
"We believe that these persistent abnormalities were due to a combination of persistent asthma, restrictive disorders such as lung scarring or chest wall abnormalities, as well as unknown factors, " said Paul Enright, MD, research professor of medicine at University of Arizona College of Public Health and adjunct professor of community and preventive medicine at Mount Sinai.
Rescue workers at the World Trade Center, October 5, 2001. (Photo by Andrea Booher courtesy FEMA)
"We think that it is important for us to continue to examine the responders to determine the possible causes," Dr. Enright said.
Medical experts agree it is important to continue close monitoring of the 9/11 responders for emerging health problems.
"Asthma and other chronic lung conditions remain a significant burden for rescue and recovery workers responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center," said Kalpalatha Guntupalli, MD, president of the American College of Chest Physicians.
"The significant chronic health problems associated with the WTC attacks only reinforces the need for stronger disaster preparedness plans as well as long-term medical follow-up for 9/11 responders and individuals who respond to disaster-related events," said Dr. Guntupalli.
In addition, multiple myeloma, a form of cancer whose time of onset is usually after 50, has been detected in a small but significant number of World Trade Center responders under age 45, Mount Sinai researchers reported in August 2009.
They believe is too early to say whether a higher cancer risk exists among personnel who worked at Ground Zero.
"While it is too soon, and the numbers are too small at this juncture, to state unequivocally that a risk of multiple myeloma is truly increased among WTC responders, the program felt it important to report these cases, particularly since this type of cancer is unusual in persons under 45," said lead author Jacqueline Moline, MD, director of the WTC MMTP Clinical Center at Mount Sinai.
"Physicians who may be caring for 9/11 responders should be alert for diseases occurring at unusual ages or other emerging conditions among WTC responders," said Dr. Moline.
There are no other published studies evaluating the potentially carcinogenic effects of exposure to a complex mixture of substances comparable to that sustained by WTC responders. But it is known that many of the potential exposures at the World Trade Center, including benzene, paint and solvent vapors, aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxin, pesticides, engine exhaust and metals, have been associated with increased rates of multiple myeloma in other studies.
"This finding also underscores the importance of regular, ongoing medical monitoring for this highly exposed population, including surveillance for cancer and other emerging diseases," said Dr. Landrigan. He said Mount Sinai's WTC Program is establishing linkages with the New York State Cancer Registry.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2010. All rights reserved.
|Let's Keep the Upper Lillooet River Wild! Three-time EUEC Keynote Speaker Gina McCarthy Confirmed to Head the EPA Aquaponics Revolutionizes Local Food Growing by Recycling 90% Water| | <urn:uuid:50fce27c-acaa-4e70-b84f-1d9c7e7d4b8e> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2010/2010-01-04-092.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1409535921872.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20140909030952-00041-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957623 | 1,363 | 2.75 | 3 |
Common hazardous ingredients
Methylene chloride, mineral spirits, nitrobenzene, silicones, trichloroethylene.
Flammable; toxic; air pollutants. Methylene chloride is a suspected human carcinogen.
Use according to label instructions in a well-ventilated area. Wear rubber gloves.
Keep container tightly closed when not in use. Keep contaminated rags and brushes in a sealed container. Store all materials out of reach of children and away from sources of flames.
Best: Use up or give away. Dispose of empty non-aerosol containers in the garbage.
Second best: Take to a hazardous waste facility or collection event.
- Wipe-on rather than spray polishes have fewer solvents and are less likely to be inhaled.
- Apply beeswax-based products, olive oil or cold pressed nut oil to leather and buff with a soft cloth to shine.
- Work a dab of petroleum jelly into patent leather to give it a glistening shine and prevent cracking in the winter. | <urn:uuid:d06ad367-3cb1-4c40-8c06-86a3bb6907f1> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://www.oregonmetro.gov/so/tools-living/healthy-home/common-hazardous-products/polishes-shoe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540548537.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20191213020114-20191213044114-00468.warc.gz | en | 0.856299 | 220 | 2.984375 | 3 |
The Department of Health & Human Services unveiled on Wednesday new details about plans to collect data on the LGBT population as part of federal health surveys.
According to a statement from the department, HHS will incorporate questions on sexual orientation into the National Health Interview Survey by 2013. Further, the department plans to hold a series of research roundtables with experts to determine the best way to collect data related to gender identity.
Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius already announced last week that her department would start collecting health data on LGBT people during a news conference in response to a question from the Washington Blade. The information unveiled on Wednesday sheds greater light on the plan to start collecting this information.
In a statement, Sebelius emphasized that collecting health data on the LGBT population could lead to reduction of health disparities faced by the LGBT community.
“Health disparities have persistent and costly effects for minority communities, and the whole country,” Sebelius said. “Today we are taking critical steps toward ensuring the collection of useful national data on minority groups, including for the first time, LGBT populations. The data we will eventually collect in these efforts will serve as powerful tools and help us in our fight to end health disparities.”
According to a fact sheet from HHS, the administration has the authority to collect data on the LGBT population as part of the health care reform law passed by Congress last year, which allows the department the opportunity to collect demographic data to further improve understanding of health care disparities.
“In the past, identifying disparities and effectively monitoring efforts to reduce them has been limited by a lack of specificity, uniformity, and quality in data collection and reporting procedures,” the fact sheet states. “Consistent methods for collecting and reporting health data will help us better understand the nature of health problems in the LGBT community.”
The plan from HHS states that limited data on the LGBT community already shows the population is subject to certain health problems more than others. For example, gay and bisexual men make up more than half of new HIV infections in the United States each year; HIV infection among transgender women exceeds 25 percent nationwide; and lesbian and bisexual women are prone to receive less routine care than other women, including breast and cervical cancer screening.
The fact sheets made public on Wednesday outline the path under which the Obama administration plans to start collecting data on individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity:
* June to Dec. 2011 — Continue cognitive testing and begin field testing of sexual orientation data collection.
* Summer 2011 — Conduct first roundtable on gender identity data collection development. Complete initial development of sexual orientation data collection questionnaire.
* Winter 2011 — Conduct follow-up roundtable on gender identity data collection.
* Spring 2012 — Conduct and complete initial field testing of sexual orientation data collection. HHS Data Council presents a strategy to include gender identity data collection in HHS surveys.
* Winter 2012 — Conduct and complete large scale field test of sexual orientation data collection.
* 2013 — If the field test is successful, implement new data collection on sexual orientation into the full National Health Interview Survey data collection.
Gary Gates, distinguished scholar at the Williams Institute at University of California in Los Angeles, said the new details on data collection for LGBT people “solidifies the commitment that Secretary Sebelius made last week to provide more and better data” on LGBT health needs.
“As was clearly stated in the findings from the recent Institutes of Medicine report on LGBT health disparities, the need for more data is acute,” Gates said. “I urge HHS to move as quickly as possible to include sexual orientation and gender identity questions on the NHIS.”
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, called the commitment from the Obama administration to collect data on the LGBT population “a big deal.”
“When the federal government starts to count us, we will have the proof of the health disparities we all know exist,” Keisling said. “With the data, advocacy for better health programs becomes possible, vital resources can be directed to our community, and better health for transgender people will follow.” | <urn:uuid:b1a4945a-1807-4bf5-a59e-807ad43757d4> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/06/29/hhs-unveils-plan-to-start-data-collection-on-lgbt-health/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719416.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00330-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93224 | 857 | 2.875 | 3 |
REDDING PIT DISASTER
The Redding disaster was one of the worst in the history of the Scottish coalfield and a devastating event in the life of a small local mining community. At 5.00am on Tuesday 25th September 1923 an inrush of water flooded much of No. 23 pit and by the time the rescue and recovery operation was completed in December the bodies of 40 men had been recovered.
Redding No. 23 Pit Crowds at the pit head
Redding No. 23 pit was operated by the Nimmo family of Westquarter House on a lease from the Duke of Hamilton. The main shaft was on the north bank of the Union Canal to the west of Redding village and the coal was being worked in a southerly direction towards a dyke of hard rock created by an ancient geological fault which separated No.23 from old abandoned coal workings. These were filled with water but it was believed that the dyke was thick enough to prevent any dangerous inrush. However it transpired that on the abandoned side of the dyke a sump, or chamber had been cut deep into the dyke making it significantly thinner at that point. This was opposite the Dublin section where coal was being stripped from the dyke. It was at this point that water entered and flooded the pit. There were 66 men trapped in the pit at the time of the disaster and a huge rescue operation was mounted involving pit rescue teams from all over the Falkirk district and beyond. After 5 hours 21 men were rescued as they emerged through a old shaft to the south east called the Gutter Hole. Huge crowds of anxious relatives gathered near the pit head and teams of divers arrived to examine the flooded workings. On 4th October five men were recovered alive and well but they were the last.
Over the next days and weeks the bodies of the other men were brought to the surface. Most had been drowned in the first inrush of water but 11 had survived for up to 14 days in a dry section of the pit which the rescuers had assumed was full of water. Several of the men had left messages for their families, at first full of optimism that rescue was near but later despairing of their own futures and those of their families. The last body was recovered from the main part of the pit in early December, the fortieth man on the fortieth day of the rescue operation. Amazingly, work began again in Pit No.23 in January.
The Funeral Procession in Falkirk High Street
Within days of the disaster a fund had been extablished by the Provost of Falkirk and the Falkirk Herald and within a year had raised over £60,000, well over £1million at today's values. A official enquiry was held in Glasgow in February 1924 and concluded among other things that it was the existence of the sump cut into the universal dyke which was the main cause of the inrush of water. They decided that the since the colliery management did not have positive proof of the thickness of the dyke they should not have allowed the stripping of coal from the dyke in the Dublin section. The enquiry also found that miners had commented in advance of the disaster on the unusual amount of water seeping into the pit but concluded that this had probably not been conveyed to the colliery managers. The enquiry made a number of recommendations for future safety in mines based on the events of September 25th 1923.
Redding No. 23 Pit was finally closed in 1958 and 22 years later a memorial stone was unveiled near Redding Cross with the names of the forty men who lost their lives. In the last two years this stone has been beautifully refurbished with mining scenes etched on a black granite stone. Much of the credit for both the original and new stones must go to Jim Anderson former Convener of Central Regional Council and to the members of the Sir William Wallace Grand Lodge of Scotland Free Colliers whose annual demonstration on the first Saturday of August includes the laying of a wreath at the Redding Memorial.
Ian Scott 2006
Amanda M. Barrie The Redding Pit Disaster Falkirk District Council (1988) | <urn:uuid:15ee53d5-beb6-474e-8b2c-2499ef4c4a8c> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://www.falkirklocalhistorysociety.co.uk/home/index.php?id=125 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440644065306.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827025425-00300-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98848 | 846 | 3.125 | 3 |
Managing Obesity and Cholesterol in Kids
If you are concerned about your child's weight, you are in good company. According to Samuel S. Gidding, MD, pediatric cardiologist at Virtua-duPont, "Childhood obesity is a serious problem. Over the past 20 years, the number of children who are overweight has increased by more than 50 percent and the number of extremely overweight children has nearly doubled. About 25 to 30 percent of school-age children in the United States are overweight or obese, which puts them at a high risk for heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, asthma, orthopedic problems, hypertension and other health problems."
Obesity is a condition of excess weight, which puts a person at health risk. Defined as an excess of body fat, obesity is the result of a body's inability to balance calorie intake and energy expenditure. (Weight is evaluated by body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and a patient's risk factors for disease and conditions associated with obesity.)
According to Dr. Gidding, poor eating habits and inactivity are the root causes of childhood obesity. A family history of obesity may also increase a child's risk of becoming obese, especially if both the parents are overweight. In addition, the high level of fat and calories in the average United States diet combined with the inactive lifestyle of many children is contributing to the dramatic increase in the prevalence of childhood obesity. "In today's fast-paced society, foods with higher fat are easier to access as many families tend to eat out or eat on the run, often eating foods in larger portions with a higher caloric intake," says Dr. Gidding.
"Many parents worry about whether their children are at an unhealthy weight," says Dr. Gidding. "One way to know for sure is to check with your child's doctor, who will determine if your child is above the ideal weight for their height and age. A child usually is obese when they are significantly over ideal body weight for their height. In general, if a child's weight is 20 percent or more in excess of the expected weight for a given height, a child is mildly obese. More than 30 percent above ideal weight is severe obesity. Additional ways to determine childhood obesity include the measurement of skinfold thickness, bioelectrical impedance and whole-body densitometry."
Dr. Gidding recommends that if a child is more than 40 percent overweight, a physician or registered dietitian guided weight loss program may be suggested to modify the child's eating behaviors, rather than just restricting calories. "During the course of the program, the emphasis should be on adopting a healthier lifestyle for the long term, not just on losing weight now, explains Dr. Gidding. "Children are developing physically and mentally, and they need adequate nutrition as they grow. Combining a healthy well-balanced diet with exercise is the best way to achieve healthy levels of body fat. By setting reasonable goals, weight maintenance should be achieved before weight loss is contemplated."
Although rapid growth and weight gain are part of puberty and adolescence, Dr. Gidding explains that many children and teens become overweight because of too many calories and too little exercise. "If your child or teen tends to sit around and watch television or play video games, try gently introducing more physical activities into your family life whether in an organized sport or individual pursuit," suggests Dr. Gidding. "Take a walk together or go for a bike ride. Make good nutrition and exercise a family affair by planning lower fat meals, nutritious snacks and family activities."
One of the most important
strategies of preventing childhood obesity is to provide adequate nutrition
for growth and development. Dr. Gidding reminds parents to take a look at
their own eating habits to see if they are setting a good example. "Family
involvement is encouraged in identifying eating habits, exercise and
lifestyle patterns that can be modified through nutrition counseling and
behavior techniques," says Dr. Gidding. "Eliminate unhealthy foods from your
household rather than singling out your child and prohibiting her from
eating them; keep healthy snacks in a place where your child can easily get
to them; limit television and computer time and make time to exercise with
your child. Exercise is the simple thing that you can do to lower your
cholesterol and blood pressure and make you feel better." | <urn:uuid:b1f47a76-9f50-4e35-bc62-f4e339004639> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://www.contactpakistan.com/childcare/article21.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934806309.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20171121002016-20171121022016-00543.warc.gz | en | 0.954406 | 893 | 3.625 | 4 |
A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 8, the City of Coventry and Borough of Warwick. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1969.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
Churches Built Since 1800 (fn. 1)
ALL SAINTS, Far Gosford Street, was consecrated in 1869. It was designed by Paull and Robinson (fn. 2) in the Early English style and built of red sandstone. It consists of an aisled and clerestoried nave, a chancel flanked by an organ chamber and a north chapel, and a south-west bell-cote containing one bell. (fn. 3) The aisles are roofed with small transverse gables, one to each bay. The church possesses a silver flagon and chalice of 1850. (fn. 4)
The parish was created in 1869 from parts of the parishes of Holy Trinity, St. Michael, Coventry, and St. Peter. (fn. 5) The living, a titular vicarage, was in the gift of the Bishop of Worcester (fn. 6) until 1919 when the patronage was transferred to the Bishop of Coventry. (fn. 7)
CHRIST CHURCH, situated in the angle of Union Street and Warwick Lane, was built in 1830- 32 and incorporated the 14th-century tower and spire of the former Greyfriars church. (fn. 8) It was intended as a chapel of ease to St. Michael, Coventry, (fn. 9) in the charge of a perpetual curate appointed by the vicar. (fn. 10) The parish was not created until 1900, when part of St. Michael was detached for that purpose. The new living, which was styled a vicarage, was at first in the gift of the trustees of the church, (fn. 11) and from 1932 in that of the Church Trust Fund Trust. (fn. 12)
When the decision to build a new church was generally adopted in 1825 the tower was presented by the corporation and additional land, which was being offered for sale as building plots, was acquired. (fn. 13) The costs were met partly by public subscription and partly by parliamentary grant from the Church Building Commission. (fn. 14) Rickman and Hutchinson were the architects of the new building, which consisted of an aisled and clerestoried nave and was of scholarly Gothic design in keeping with the 14th-century character of the tower. The west end had a central doorway, three large windows with Decorated tracery, and angle pinnacles. The base of the Greyfriars tower formed the chancel, entered from the nave by a low segmental arch. The aisles contained galleries behind the arcades and there was also a west gallery supporting the organ. The structure was of brick, faced with Bath stone, the same stone being used to re-face the tower. (fn. 15) There was one bell, of 1851, by W. and J. Taylor of Oxford. (fn. 16)
The body of the church was reduced to a shell by bombing in 1940. It was eventually decided to demolish the ruins and rebuild on another site further from the centre of the city. (fn. 17) The octagonal tower, the smallest of Coventry's 'three spires', has been preserved.
CHRIST CHURCH, Frankpledge Road, Cheylesmore, was built to replace the bombed Christ Church and was consecrated in 1958. (fn. 20) The parish was created in 1957 out of St. Anne and Stivichall. (fn. 21) The living, a titular vicarage, remained in the gift of the Church Trust Fund Trust. (fn. 22) The large parish hall was completed first and was dedicated for services in 1956. (fn. 23) Attached to it are smaller meeting rooms on two floors.
The church, designed by A. H. Gardner (fn. 24) and built of brick and concrete, consists of aisled nave, shallow chancel, organ chamber, and vestries. The nave and aisles are of equal width, each housed under a segmental barrel roof; they are divided internally by slender cylindrical columns. The entrance front consists almost entirely of glass. Between the church and the parish hall is a tall brick tower, the base of which forms an entrance vestibule. The vicarage stands on the opposite side of the church and is connected to it by a covered way. The church possesses an early Gothic Revival set of plate, consisting of a silver flagon, chalice, and paten of 1843. (fn. 25)
ST. ALBAN, Stoke Heath, originally a mission church of St. Mary Magdalen, Wyken, (fn. 26) stands at the junction of Mercer Avenue and North Street. It was opened in 1929, (fn. 27) designed by H. B. Creswell, (fn. 28) and is built of red brick with a Roman tile roof. It consists of aisled nave, chancel, transepts, vestries, and a bell-cote containing one bell. A parish was assigned in 1939 out of Wyken. (fn. 29) The living, a titular vicarage, is in the gift of the bishop. (fn. 30)
St. Chad, Upper Stoke, in Stratford Road, which had been a mission church successively of Stoke and Wyken parishes, (fn. 31) was transferred to St. Alban in 1929 (fn. 32) and is still used as a parish hall. (fn. 33)
ST. ANNE, Acacia Avenue, was originally erected during the First World War by John Davenport Siddeley (created Lord Kenilworth in 1937) as a canteen and recreational centre for munition workers at the Armstrong-Siddeley factory, Park Side. (fn. 34) The building was given by Siddeley after the war to St. Michael, Coventry, for use as a mission church and was dedicated in 1930 after being enlarged and refurnished, mainly at his expense. (fn. 35) Its dedication was that of the medieval Charterhouse which had stood nearby. (fn. 36) It comprises a two-story brick building, to which was added, in 1930, a tower above the main entrance in the north wall, small transepts, and an apsidal chancel. (fn. 37) The church is on the upper floor and the semi-basement is used as a church hall.
The parish was created in 1930 out of All Saints and St. Michael and the patronage assigned to the bishop. (fn. 38) The living was styled a vicarage. From 1938 to 1948 the patronage belonged to the bishop and the Crown in alternation, but subsequently to the bishop alone. (fn. 39)
The hall church of St. Catherine, Stoke Aldermoor, a small brick building faced with stucco, was built in the Pondfield, Pinley, in 1939 (fn. 40) to serve the new Stoke Aldermoor housing estate. (fn. 41) This area, including the church, was transferred to Stoke parish in 1959. (fn. 42)
ST. BARBARA, Rochester Road, Earlsdon, was consecrated in 1931. (fn. 43) A temporary church, at the junction of Rochester Road, and Palmerston Road, Earlsdon, had first been opened in 1913 as a mission of St. Thomas, Albany Road, (fn. 44) and a conventional district was assigned to it in 1917. (fn. 45) The new church was built of red brick with stone dressings and was designed by Austin and Paley of Lancaster in an elaborate Perpendicular style. It consists of nave and apsidal chancel, both having aisles and clerestories. The north aisle and west wall were never completed to the original design and are of much simpler character. There is a large carved oak pulpit, probably of 17th-century German origin. The church was damaged by bombing during the Second World War. (fn. 46) The old church in Palmerston Road continued to be used as a church hall. In 1965 it was converted for use as offices.
The parish was created in 1922 out of St. Michael, Coventry, and St. Thomas. (fn. 47) The living was styled a vicarage and was in the gift of the bishop. From 1922 to 1924 and after 1937 the patronage belonged to the Crown and the bishop in alternation. (fn. 48)
ST. CHAD, Hillmorton Road, Woodend, was consecrated in 1957. The architect was Basil (later Sir Basil) Spence (fn. 49) and the church is one of three in Coventry of similar design, the others being St. John the Divine, Willenhall, and St. Oswald, Tile Hill, qq.v. In form the building is a plain rectangle with a low-pitched roof, the interior containing nave and chancel. Structurally it consists of a steel frame of eight bays, the end walls being of glass and the side walls of concrete with the aggregate left exposed. There is a detached campanile of openwork concrete construction and a vestibule connecting the church with the parish hall.
ST. CHRISTOPHER, Allesley Park, standing at the junction of Buckingham Rise and Winsford Avenue, was consecrated in 1960. (fn. 52) It is built of yellow brick and is a cruciform church with a flat roof, the church hall, screened off with folding doors, taking the place of a nave. In addition to the high altar there is a free-standing communion table at the crossing, surrounded by an octagonal rail. The architect was N. F. Cachemaille-Day. (fn. 53)
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Links Road, North Radford, was consecrated in 1959. (fn. 56) It was designed by N. F. Cachemaille-Day (fn. 57) and is built of yellow brick in a simple traditional style. The only external ornament, on the south wall of the bell turret, is a fibre-glass relief of St. Francis preaching to animals and birds. The accommodation consists of a clerestoried nave with passage aisles, a south porch, north and south transepts, and a chancel with a freestanding altar. To the east of the chancel is a Lady Chapel with a rectangular bell turret, containing one bell, against its south wall. The north transept houses the organ and in the south transept is a chapel dedicated to St. Francis.
The church replaced an earlier church hall, a mission of St. Nicholas, Radford, which occupies the adjoining site. This was opened and a conventional district assigned to it in 1939, (fn. 58) but the building was twice rendered unusable by bomb damage, in 1940 and 1943. (fn. 59) A parish was formed in 1952 out of St. Luke and St. Nicholas. (fn. 60) The living, which was styled a vicarage from 1959, (fn. 61) is in the gift of the bishop. (fn. 62)
ST. GEORGE, Barkers Butts Lane, was dedicated in 1939. (fn. 63) It was designed by N. F. Cachemaille-Day (fn. 64) and built of red brick in a modern version of the Perpendicular style. It consists of nave, north aisle, Lady Chapel, west tower, and south porch. The tower, entered from the porch, has a low octagonal second stage surmounted by a spire. Internally its base forms a spacious baptistery which also serves as a vestibule to the nave.
The building replaced St. George's Hall which had been dedicated in 1929. (fn. 65) A conventional district had been assigned to it in the same year. (fn. 66) The parish was formed in 1935 from St. John the Baptist, Coventry, St. Nicholas, and St. Thomas, Keresley-with-Coundon, and the living, which was styled a vicarage, (fn. 67) was then placed in the gift of the bishop. (fn. 68)
ST. JAMES, Fletchamstead, which stands at the junction of Tile Hill Lane and Westcotes, was begun in 1936. (fn. 69) It is built of greyish-yellow brick and is approximately square in shape, consisting of a nave, lit by tall pointed windows, and an organ gallery only, with provision for an eastward extension. Internally the nave is spanned by open concrete trusses reaching to the ground.
The building was licensed in 1937 as a mission church of St. John the Baptist, Westwood. (fn. 70) In 1964 a parish was assigned to it out of Westwood and the living, styled a vicarage, placed in the gift of the bishop. (fn. 71)
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, Westwood, was consecrated in 1844 (fn. 72) as a chapel of Stoneleigh parish. A district was assigned to it out of Stoneleigh in 1846 (fn. 73) and the living was declared a vicarage in 1866. (fn. 74) The major part of the parish was taken into Coventry in 1928 under the boundary extension Act of the previous year. (fn. 75) The church, which stands in Westwood Heath Road, very near the city boundary, is a stone building in the style of the 13th and 14th centuries, consisting of chancel, nave, north porch, and a western bell-cote containing one bell. (fn. 76) It was designed by Scott (later Sir Gilbert Scott) and Moffat; a vestry was added in 1876 and a choir vestry in 1923. (fn. 77) The patronage was at first in the hands of the Vicar of Stoneleigh, but it was transferred to Lord Leigh in 1873 (fn. 78) and again, in 1925, to the bishop. (fn. 79)
A mission room was built in Station Avenue, Tile Hill, in 1923, (fn. 80) but was later replaced by St. James, Fletchamstead, q.v., which was licensed as a mission of Westwood in 1937. St. James became a parish church in 1964 and, at the same time, a conventional district was assigned to St. Stephen, Canley, a daughter church of Westwood opened in 1954. (fn. 81) This is a small brick building in Charter Avenue.
ST. JOHN THE DIVINE, Willenhall, which stands in Robin Hood Road, in the centre of the Manor House estate, was consecrated in 1957. (fn. 82)
The first modern place of worship in this district, which was a detached part of Holy Trinity parish known in the 20th century as Holy Trinity Without, was St. James's mission room, built and licensed for services in 1884. (fn. 83) The mission room, a red-brick building with a small belfry, (fn. 84) stood in St. James's Lane, south of the site of the medieval chapel of Willenhall. (fn. 85) It also housed a Church of England day school which was opened in 1885. (fn. 86) The mission was served from Holy Trinity and was apparently rebuilt or at least re-licensed, as St. James's mission church, in 1933. (fn. 87) In 1940, as the result of a change made in the ecclesiastical parish boundaries, an area roughly corresponding to that of the medieval locality of Whitley (fn. 88) was transferred from St. Anne's parish, which had formerly been part of St. Michael's ancient parish, to Holy Trinity Without. (fn. 89) Thenceforward this area was served by the Abbey Church, Whitley, (fn. 90) formerly the Roman Catholic chapel attached to Whitley Abbey, which was in the charge of a curate from Holy Trinity. (fn. 91) The Abbey Church was replaced in 1950 by the church of St. James, Whitley and Willenhall, (fn. 92) a small brown-brick building in Abbey Road, which was licensed in 1951. (fn. 93) St. James's was transferred to the parish of Willenhall with Whitley when this was created in 1958, and has since then been known simply as St. James, Whitley. (fn. 94)
The new church of St. John the Divine was designed by Basil Spence (fn. 95) and was one of three new Coventry churches by this architect built in 1956-7. (fn. 96) It is similar in design to St. Chad's, Woodend, (fn. 97) except that the east end is not glazed, the sanctuary being lit by tall narrow windows in the side walls. The campanile is connected with the north door by a covered way. A vestibule on the south side forms a common entrance to both church and parish hall.
ST. LUKE, Rotherham Road, Holbrooks, was completed in 1939, and was designed by N. F. Cachemaille-Day. The exterior was of red brick and notable features were an external altar, an external pulpit, and concrete windows filled with elaborate fretted tracery and stained glass. The accommodation consisted of nave, south porch, apsidal chancel, and vestries; a north aisle was never completed. The church was rendered unusable by bombing in 1940 but was restored to its original design, with the exception of the south windows, about ten years later. (fn. 100)
An earlier church of St. Luke, built of coke-breeze blocks and standing at the junction of Lythall's Lane and Holbrooks Lane, had been erected in 1916 as a mission church of St. Paul for the use of munitions workers in the hostels and factories of Foleshill and Whitmore Park. (fn. 101) This was taken over as a rest centre in 1939, but was also damaged by bombing. A wooden church hall adjoining it was used for services between 1940 and 1944 when the new church was made weather-proof. In 1949 the walls of the old church were cased in brick and it was restored for use as a church hall. (fn. 102)
ST. MARGARET, Walsgrave Road, was completed in 1911. (fn. 105) Services were held at first at the Coronet Works in 1909 before the foundation stone was laid in 1910. (fn. 106) The church is constructed of red brick with stone dressings in the Perpendicular style and consists of an aisled and clerestoried nave, a chancel flanked by a north chapel and a south organ chamber with vestries, north and south transepts, west baptistery, and north porch. There is a west bell-cote containing one bell. The church was severely damaged by bombing during the Second World War. (fn. 107) The work of restoration was completed in 1954; (fn. 108) the chancel was also altered to give a more forward position to the altar.
The church was built as a chapel of Stoke parish and was served by a curate-in-charge (fn. 109) until the parish was created in 1913 out of St. Peter and Stoke. (fn. 110) The living, a titular vicarage, was in the gift of the Bishop of Worcester (fn. 111) until 1919 when the patronage was transferred to the Bishop of Coventry. (fn. 112)
In 1915 a site was acquired for a mission church in Camden Street, on which was built St. George's Hall. This was used as a parish room until it was handed over to the parochial authorities of St. Mary Magdalen, Wyken, about 1921. (fn. 113)
ST. MARK, which stands at the junction of Bird Street and Stoney Stanton Road, was consecrated in 1869. It was designed by Paull and Robinson, the architects of All Saints, (fn. 114) and is built of red sandstone in the Gothic style, comprising chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, transepts, a north porch, and a double bell-cote at the north-west angle containing one bell. (fn. 115)
The parish was created in 1869, out of Holy Trinity, a detached part of St. Michael, Coventry, and St. Peter. (fn. 116) The living, styled a vicarage, was at first in the gift of the Bishop of Worcester, (fn. 117) but the patronage was transferred to the Bishop of Coventry in 1919. (fn. 118)
From 1894 the church conducted a mission room in Stoney Stanton Road, (fn. 119) which was moved to Cobden Street in 1896. (fn. 120) In 1901 a new mission room was opened in Red Lane; (fn. 121) another room was built in 1906, at the junction of Red Lane and Smith Street, which was used as a parish hall and for occasional services. It was sold in 1958. (fn. 122) In 1933 the mission moved to the newly-completed mission church of St. Barnabas in Cromwell Street. (fn. 123) This is a substantial red-brick building with stone dressings, consisting of nave, chancel, and north aisle.
ST. MARY MAGDALEN, which stands at the junction of Hearsall Lane and Sir Thomas White's Road, Chapel Fields, was built in 1934 (fn. 124) and consists of aisled nave, apsidal chancel, Lady Chapel, and vestries. The architect was H. T. Jackson. (fn. 125) It is a tall red-brick church with stone dressings and a roof of glazed blue tiles; in style it incorporates Romanesque and Byzantine features. Provision has been made for the addition of a tower at the end of the nave. The dedication of the church is that of a medieval chapel at Spon which probably stood nearby. (fn. 126)
The first church in the area was a corrugated iron structure at Spon End, which was opened in 1895 as a mission room of St. Thomas, Albany Road, to serve the district of Spon End and Chapel Fields. (fn. 127) In 1917 a conventional district was assigned, and the mission was moved from Spon End to the mission church of St. Mary Magdalene in Sir Thomas White's Road, (fn. 128) which was later replaced by the new church. (fn. 129)
The parish was created in 1926 out of St. Michael, Coventry, and St. Thomas, and the living, a titular vicarage, was assigned to the gift of the bishop. (fn. 130) Between 1938 and 1945 the patronage was exercised by the Crown and the bishop in alternation, but subsequently by the bishop alone. (fn. 131)
ST. NICHOLAS, Radford, which stood at the junction of Dugdale Road and Radford Road, was consecrated in 1874 as a chapel of ease to Holy Trinity. The dedication is that of one of Holy Trinity's medieval chapels. (fn. 132) The church was designed by G. Taylor of Coventry and built of locally-quarried red sandstone in the Early English style. (fn. 133) Originally it comprised a chancel, nave, and western bell-cote with one bell; (fn. 134) a north aisle was added in 1913. (fn. 135)
On 14 November 1940 the church was destroyed by bombing and four fire-watchers were killed. (fn. 136) Services were conducted in a public house and a cinema until the damaged church hall was repaired. The new church of St. Nicholas was built on a site to the north of the churchyard and was consecrated in 1955. It was designed by Lavender, Twentyman, and Percy (fn. 137) and claimed to be the 'first new church consecrated in Coventry after the war which broke away from traditional church design'. (fn. 138) The building is of reinforced concrete, faced externally with yellow brick; the roof is segmental and the side walls are sloped inwards at 10 degrees to the vertical. It consists of a structurally undivided nave and chancel, north and south aisles, vestries, and a tall brick campanile containing two bells. The south aisle forms a vestibule between the nave and a future church hall. The north aisle contains a Lady Chapel and baptistery, the stone font having been rescued from the old church. The two-manual organ, by Nicholsons of Worcester, is designed as an architectural feature at the west end of the nave. (fn. 139) The church possesses a silver gilt chalice of 1849. (fn. 140)
The parish was formed in 1912 out of Holy Trinity and the living, a titular vicarage, was placed in the gift of the Bishop of Worcester. (fn. 141) The patronage was transferred to the Bishop of Coventry in 1919. (fn. 142)
ST. OSWALD, Tile Hill, stands in Jardine Crescent and was consecrated in 1957. It is one of three similar churches designed by Basil Spence, the others being St. Chad, Woodend, and St. John the Divine, Willenhall, qq.v. In most respects St. Oswald resembles the latter, but the glazed area at the west end has been reduced, leaving only a margin of glass. Externally on the east wall is a bronze figure of Christ. The church hall stands to the south, the campanile to the south-east, and the vicarage to the north of the church. (fn. 143)
The new parish was formed in 1958 out of St. John the Baptist, Westwood, with the bishop as patron of the living, a titular vicarage. (fn. 144)
ST. PAUL, Foleshill Road, was completed in 1841. It was built of red brick in the Gothic style, to the design of J. L. Ackroyd, (fn. 145) and comprised chancel, nave, north and south aisles containing galleries, and a west tower with one bell. (fn. 146) The cost was partly defrayed by a grant from the Church Building Commission. (fn. 147) The church was largely destroyed by bombing in 1940 and was rebuilt after the war. The tower was retained, but was reduced in height. The new church is of red brick in a simplified Romanesque style, having round-headed windows and semi-circular arches to the nave arcades. The church possesses a silver chalice and paten of 1577. (fn. 148)
ST. PETER, Canterbury Street, Harnall, was completed and consecrated in 1841. (fn. 151) The building, of red brick, was designed by Robert Ebbels (fn. 152) in a free version of the Gothic style, having tall lancet windows to the nave and a Perpendicular west tower. In the 19th century it was criticized both for its brick construction and for its 'want of architectural character'. (fn. 153) The church stands in a large graveyard and consists of a wide unaisled nave, formerly fitted with galleries, a shallow chancel, and a west tower with its base forming an entrance vestibule. The tower contains one bell of 1853 by C. and G. Mears of London. (fn. 154) Part of the cost of the building was contributed by the Church Building Commission. (fn. 155)
A parish, consisting of the locality of Harnall, was formed in 1842 out of Holy Trinity. (fn. 156) The living, which is in the gift of the Vicar of Holy Trinity, was at first a perpetual curacy but was styled a vicarage after 1868. (fn. 157)
A mission room of corrugated iron and wood was opened in Sackville Street in 1900. (fn. 158) It comprised chancel, organ chamber, and vestries, with space for three classrooms, separated by movable screens. (fn. 159) The building was disused and derelict in 1964.
ST. THOMAS was opened and consecrated in 1849. It stands at the junction of Albany Road and the Butts on land over which the Coventry freemen formerly had pasturage rights. (fn. 160) The building is of red sandstone and was designed by Sharpe and Paley of Lancaster in the early Decorated style. It consists of aisled and clerestoried nave, chancel, north porch, vestries, and north-west bell turret containing one bell. (fn. 161) The cost was partly defrayed by a grant from the Church Building Commission. (fn. 162)
The parish was created in 1844 out of St. John the Baptist, Coventry. The living was at first a perpetual curacy, (fn. 163) but since 1868 has been styled a vicarage. (fn. 164) It was in the gift of the Crown and the Bishop of Worcester alternately (fn. 165) until 1911, when the Crown's alternate right of presentation was transferred to the bishop. (fn. 166) The patronage was again transferred, to the Bishop of Coventry, in 1919. (fn. 167)
ST. THOMAS, Keresley-with-Coundon, was consecrated in 1847. (fn. 168) The building, of red sandstone, standing in Tamworth Road in Keresley, between High Street and Sandpits Lane, was designed mainly in the Early English style by Benjamin Ferrey. It consists of nave, chancel, south porch, and pinnacled western tower surmounted by a spire, with a ring of five bells by C. and G. Mears. (fn. 169) The cost was partly defrayed by a grant from the Church Building Commission. (fn. 170)
The consolidated chapelry of Keresley-with-Coundon was created out of detached parts of Holy Trinity and St. Michael, Coventry, in 1848. It was to be served by a perpetual curate with the Bishop of Worcester as patron. (fn. 171) The living was styled a vicarage after 1868, (fn. 172) and the patronage was transferred to the Bishop of Coventry in 1919. (fn. 173) In the late 19th century the church became the social centre of the neighbourhood. (fn. 174)
With the growth of the colliery estate during the First World War, (fn. 175) it became necessary to make special provision for the north of the district, and a mission room, served by the vicar, was opened in a hut in Fivefield Lane, at Keresley Green, in 1920. (fn. 176) In 1925 the Colliery Company provided a permanent wooden building, known as (Lower) Keresley Mission Church, in Bennett's Road. The church was for some years served by a lay-reader; subsequently a full-time mission worker was appointed. (fn. 177) The Church Hut in Fivefield Lane is still used for social purposes. (fn. 178)
ST. THOMAS, Longford, which was consecrated in 1874 as a chapel of ease to St. Lawrence, Foleshill, stands at the junction of Hurst Road and Longford Road. It was designed by J. Cotton of Birmingham in the Gothic style, and was built of red brick with stone and blue brick dressings to include nave, north aisle, chancel, organ chamber, (fn. 179) and north-west tower with a porch at its base. A ring of eight bells by Taylor of Loughborough was hung in the tower in 1892. (fn. 180)
The parish was created out of Exhall, Foleshill, and Sowe in 1908. (fn. 181) The living, a titular vicarage, was in the gift of the Bishop of Worcester (fn. 182) until 1919 when the patronage was transferred to the Bishop of Coventry. (fn. 183)
In 1908 St. Thomas's took charge of Hawkesbury mission church, (fn. 184) which had first been licensed in 1859 as a mission of Sowe parish to the colliery district. (fn. 185) This church, later known as St. Matthew, Lenton's Lane, or St. Matthew's Mission, Hawkesbury, (fn. 186) was originally built of corrugated iron with a cast-iron framework and included a small belltower at its south-east corner. The building was faced with concrete in the 20th century. (fn. 187) Because of disrepair it was closed for worship in 1963 and was completely derelict by the following year. | <urn:uuid:7fcd88cc-79bf-4d34-bff3-f866e57f45aa> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol8/pp361-367 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398447758.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205407-00061-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979038 | 7,042 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Numerous people believe that cancer cells are a result of DNA damage. However, just because cancer cells might have DNA damage, DNA damage does not make a cell cancerous.
In the last 125 years, researchers have examined and discovered a lot about this disease. For instance, in 1890, William Russell (1852-1940) found the existence of microbes inside and outside cancer cells.
It has been found that these microbes inside cancer cells are “pleomorphic,” meaning that the pH inside them change their size and shape.
In 1931, Otto Warburg won the Nobel Prize in Medicine due to his discovery that the defining property of cancer cells was low “ATP energy”. ATP, or “adenosine triphosphate” is formed inside the mitochondria of cells.
A year before, in 1930, Dr. Royal Rife, found that the death of the microbes inside cancer cells caused the cells to be reversed into normal cells. Dr. Rife discovered a treatment using “harmonic frequencies” as a way to make the microbes vibrate until they “explode” and die.
Instead of winning the Nobel Prize, his lab and discovery were destroyed by the combined consensus of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is a fact that he was shut down due to his treatment causing a 100% cure rate amongst patients who suffered from cancer.
It is not that strange that he was silenced even though he found the cure for cancer considering that the pharmaceutical industry and the conventional medicine industry were struggling to find the same cure. More importantly, both of them are seeking a way to increase their profits by the use of their patented drugs and treatments. Keep in mind, Rife’s cancer cure would significantly decrease their income.
The FDA is essentially a “private police force” of the pharmaceutical industry, so their major aim is to protect their profits. Even if it means that they need to shut down those who discover the cure for this deadly disease.
Unfortunately, patents are the key factor here. While drugs can be patented, frequency waveforms and molecules cannot. Patents are the main cause for the war between natural remedies and treatments and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the AMA and the FDA. The media can also be added to the list of offenders, as they promote conventional medicine and advice patients to seek their wellbeing at the doctor’s office.
A person who was an expert in the field of propaganda techniques, like the ones put into use by Stalin, explains:
“No one understood better than Stalin that the true object of propaganda is neither to convince nor even to persuade, but to produce a uniform pattern of public utterance in which the first trace of unorthodox thought immediately reveals itself as a jarring dissonance.”
~ Alan Bullock, in Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives
Therefore, the media has instructed people to immediately visit the nearest oncologists as soon as they get a cancer diagnosis.
Although nowadays experts are even more skilled and experienced about cancer treatments than they were 8 decades ago, patients would still start their therapy in a conventional way, and avoid natural alternatives.
The Independent Cancer Research Foundation (ICRF) is a non-profit foundation which examines natural medicine. These researchers found that the microbes in cancer cells are partially obstructing the ATP energy. This has helped them develop over 25 natural kinds of treatments of cancer and destruction of the microbes in cancer cells, just like Dr. Rife practiced, which eventually reverses the cells into normal ones.
The Cancer Tutor website, their main website, states that using the equipment of Dr. Rife as an inspiration, they invented a new technological device which destroys these microbes, called the “High RF Frequency Device”.
In order to understand this new approach to treating cancer cells, you need to understand the way microbes cause a partial blockage of the production of ATP energy.
- Step 1: In normal cells, the receptors of glucose allow glucose inside the cell.
- Step 2: This glucose is turned into pyruvate in a chain reaction which consists of 10 steps.
- Step 3: The pyruvate enters into the mitochondria od the cell.
- Step 4: The pyruvate is at the beginning of a chain reaction known as the “Citric Acid Cycle” or “Krebs Cycle.”
- Step 5: At the middle of the Citric Acid Cycle, another chemical chain reaction starts, known as the “Electron Transport Chain.”
Other included sources linked in The Hearty Soul’s article: thetruthaboutcancer.com — Original Article Source
Featured image sources: | <urn:uuid:27300afb-bfac-4df0-a035-17117a50445b> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | https://healthywhispr.com/2017/12/23/the-root-cause-of-cancer-no-one-knows-its-been-hidden-since-the-1930s/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891817999.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20180226025358-20180226045358-00030.warc.gz | en | 0.956981 | 980 | 3.296875 | 3 |
(NaturalNews) By now, almost everyone is aware of the out-of-control oil spill down in the Gulf of Mexico that seems to be getting exponentially worse with each passing day. But what people may not know is that BP’s efforts to control the oil by burning it are actually burning alive a certain rare and endangered species of sea turtle.
For several weeks now, rescue crews have been feverishly trying to save Kemp’s Ridleys sea turtles, as well as four other endangered varieties, from being caught in the oil corral areas that are being intentionally burned by BP, but according to Mike Ellis, one of the boat captains involved in the project, BP has now blocked all such rescue efforts from taking place.
“They ran us out of there and then they shut us down, they would not let us get back in there,” he explained in an interview with Catherine Craig, a conservation biologist.
According to Dr. Brian Stacy, a veterinarian with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there are five different endangered sea turtles living in the Gulf that are all at risk, but the type being found “dead or covered in oil” the most is the Kemp’s Ridleys variety, which is the rarest species of them all.
So why would BP intentionally block rescue efforts aimed at protecting and saving wildlife and other endangered species from being burned alive in controlled burning pits? For starters, the Kemp’s Ridleys sea turtle is listed in the Endangered Species Act, which means there are severe penalties for those who harm or kill them.
According to the law, harming or killing even one animal on the endangered species list can result in a fine of up to $50,000 and may include prison time. This means that the hundreds, or even thousands, of endangered sea turtles being burned alive by BP are going to cost the company a lot of money, not to mention the prison time its executives might have to serve. Continue reading » | <urn:uuid:e92d74dd-10b8-49b4-aef0-36788dd4bd8c> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.infiniteunknown.net/tag/sea-turtle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279915.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00434-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972997 | 406 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Rabbits/Difference between wild North American rabbits and wild rabbits from England
QUESTION: This isn't an urgent question but one I have been thinking about for a long time. I've read Watership Down several times, which deals with a group of wild rabbits that inhabit England. There, wild rabbits live in social groups called warrens,unlike wild rabbits in North America who are solitary. Why do they do this when they are basically the same species?
ANSWER: Dear Nathan,
Actually, they are not the same species. Wild rabbits in North America are in the genus Sylvilagus, and are commonly called cottontails. There are at least a dozen different species. The most common in your area is Sylvilagus floridianus, the Eastern Cottontail.
The wild rabbits in Europe and the British Isles are Oryctolagus cuniculus, the same species as our domestic rabbits (domestics were derived from wild European rabbits).
Cottontails are somewhat social (they congregate, but don't form warrens), but not as social as Oryctolagus. Oryctolagus build warrens in which an extended family group will live and interact with the fluctuating hierarchies you read about in Watership Down. Domestic rabbits will do ths if allowed to go feral (which they often do in the U.S., unfortunately).
We also have hares (Lepus species) in both North America and Europe, but these, too, are different species from each other. None of the hares burrow, and their main mode of escaping predators is RUNNING!
I live with three different species of lagomorphs (cottontails, jackrabbits (hares), and domestic rabbits), and it's fascinating to see how they interact with each other. Each species is entirely different, and they sort of treat each other as foreign exchange students. :)
Hope that helps.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Do you know of any specific areas that are populated with feral rabbits here in the US? Are they pictures or studies about them?
There are lots of different feral rabbit colonies throughout the U.S. A famous one is still reproducing on the campus of Long Beach City College, California.
At the moment, one of our chapters--I think it's Colorado, but I'm not sure--is dealing with rabbit raising situation gone bad, in which the owner just let the bunnies loose and they're all over the neighborhood, eating plants, digging burrows, dying in people's yards (because they have no veterinary care), etc. There's another in northern California on an enclosed property that's off limits to the public, and the jerks who own the place won't let rescuers come in to save the rabbits, and they are slowly starving to death as the food runs out.
Almost anywhere people have abandoned rabbits with regularity, some will survive and start to settle in.
Don't know of any studies being done on them, nor pictures. But it's a sad situation that should not be allowed for the suffering it causes.
Domestic rabbits cannot generally survive well in the wild, just as wild rabbits do not thrive in captivity. | <urn:uuid:f11c0ef8-c01f-4962-a933-d573895f9ca5> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/2013/1/difference-wild-north-american.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698541886.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170901-00308-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958148 | 676 | 2.671875 | 3 |
As cases of coronavirus increase in Leeds and further restrictions are implemented, Global Handwashing Day (Thursday 15 October) is a stark reminder that handwashing is vital in preventing the spread of Covid-19 and other illnesses.
The local NHS is urging Leeds residents to practice good hand hygiene in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Washing your hands regularly with soap and water, for 20 seconds, is a simple yet effective way of preventing the spread of the virus. This should, however, be practiced alongside other preventative measures such as social distancing, and wearing a face covering in indoor public spaces.
As winter approaches, handwashing is also essential for avoiding other illnesses that are common this time of year – including colds, flu, and norovirus. Again, thoroughly washing hands with antibacterial soap and water, particularly before eating and after going to the toilet, will reduce the risk of catching winter bugs.
Dr Sarah Forbes, GP and Associate Medical Director for NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group said: “Global Handwashing Day aims to raise awareness of the importance of handwashing – a message that is now more important than ever. Good hand hygiene is fundamental in preventing the spread of coronavirus and, along with social distancing and wearing a face covering, can protect the most vulnerable in our community.
“Coronavirus isn’t the only illness that can be avoided with handwashing – it can also help protect us from other unpleasant illnesses such as colds, flu and stomach bugs. We touch countless surfaces when we’re out and about, so always avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Make sure to regularly wash your hands when you’re out, and as soon as you’re home, or use hand sanitiser if soap and water are not readily available.
“The role of hand hygiene in keeping us healthy shouldn’t be underestimated as we head into the colder months. Global Handwashing Day is an opportunity to remind others of the benefits of handwashing, and help prevent the spread of coronavirus in Leeds.”
Learn more about the best way to wash your hands on the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/best-way-to-wash-your-hands/
Notes to editors
Global Handwashing Day 2020 – Hand Hygiene for All:
Find out more about this year’s Global Handwashing Day: https://www.unwater.org/global-handwashing-day-2020-hand-hygiene-for-all/
The latest NHS information and advice about coronavirus:
Visit the NHS website to find out more about how to protect yourself and others from coronavirus, and what to do if you have symptoms: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
For media enquiries please contact:
Issued by the communications team at NHS Leeds CCG. You can contact the team on 0113 84 35528 or 0113 84 35470. Alternatively, please email us: [email protected] | <urn:uuid:f12c0192-acef-4f8a-84d5-56931df0c558> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.leedsccg.nhs.uk/news/nhs-in-leeds-highlights-the-importance-of-hand-hygiene-on-global-handwashing-day-2020/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506029.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20230921174008-20230921204008-00191.warc.gz | en | 0.907175 | 663 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Advantages & Disadvantages of Polymer… Polymer composites consist of fibers embedded in a resilient plastic matrix. The fiber provides the strength, or reinforcement, for the composite material, and the.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Carbon Fibre… 15 Oct 2016 . Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite have been widely used in various applications especially used in the fabrication of.
A Review on Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite… 30 Aug 2015 . A number of drawbacks of NFPCs like higher water absorption, . The different kinds of natural fibers reinforced polymer composite have.
Natural Vs Synthetic Fiber Reinforced Polymer - UK… 10 May 2017 . However , the disadvantages are located on fragile nature , tensile strength and . To know about polymer concrete and why fiber being reinforced in it. . Polymer concrete is a composite material in which the binder consists.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of… What are the advantages and disadvantages of using fiber reinforced composites? I have used materials like this as a substitute for wood on exterior decks and as.
Fibre Reinforced Plastic: Advantages and… 26 Feb 2014 . The most important advantage of filament-winding is its low cost, which is less than the prepreg cost for most composites. The reduced costs.
What Are CRFP Composites and Why Are They Useful? -… 2 Apr 2017 . Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP composites) are . This can be both an advantage to carbon fiber composites, or a disadvantage.
Hemp fiber and its composites - A review (PDF… The use of hemp fibers as reinforcement in composite materials has increased in recent . However their biggest disadvantage is the variability in their properties. . Hemp fiber as a filler has been used with various polymers matrices such as.
fibre reinforced polymers – strengths . - Civil… www-civ.eng.cam.ac.uk/cjb/papers/cp83.15 Jul 2009 . The cost of FRPs is the killer disadvantage in almost all cases. . reinforcing bars, and up to 10 times as much for aramid fibre or carbon fibre for.
Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites www.fdot.gov/./GevinMcDaniel-F.0Composites.Chase Knight, PhD. Composite Materials Research Specialist . Disadvantages: - Sensitive to UV .. Control (QC) Programs for Fiber Reinforced Polymer.
Maurizio Guadagnini - The University of Sheffield Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP) are composite materials comprising a polymer . The fibers are usually glass, carbon, or aramid fibres, while the polymer is usually an . The main advantages and disadvantages of these advanced composite.
fibre reinforced polymer composites as internal and… bipcons.ce.tuiasi.ro/Archive/105.Abstract. During the latest decades fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composite . The advantages and disadvantages as well as the problems and constraints.
Carbon fiber reinforced plastics - SlideShare 4 Jan 2016 . Fibre-reinforced polymer(FRP), also Fibre- Introduction to CFRP . of equal strength, would Disadvantages of CFRP Composites • Cost - There.
A review of recent developments in natural fibre… Interest is warranted due to the advantages of these materials compared to others, .. It has been reported that hemp fibre reinforced PP composites with a fibre .. Both thermoplastic and thermoset polymers have been used for matrices with.
1.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of… ae.metu.edu.tr/./Advantages%20.n%20Systems.this definition usually refers to fibers as reinforcement in a resin matrix, but it can also . Composite parts have both advantages and disadvantages when compared to the metal parts they are being used to replace. .. plastic resin composites.
Fiber Reinforced Composites - - Altair Enlighten 7 Mar 2016 . The glass or carbon fibers are significantly stronger than the plastic . A composite construction, therefore, allows one to take advantage of the.
Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites: Pursuing… energy.gov/./fiber_reinforce.tes_factsheet.advantage for U.S. industry. Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are made by combining a plastic polymer resin together with strong reinforcing fibers.
Basalt Fiber Properties, Advantages and… Basalt fiber is a relative newcomer to fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs) and structural composites. It has a similar chemical composition as glass fiber but has. | <urn:uuid:76671db5-c0c7-430c-8031-2d7d3109b938> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | http://triadexpressoil.com/install/8568-disadvantage-of-fiber-reinforced-polymer-composite.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247493803.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20190219223509-20190220005509-00169.warc.gz | en | 0.873251 | 983 | 2.5625 | 3 |
US consumers are being offered a cornucopia of smartphone apps to track or manage health, but only a small number of people are using them, according to a survey released on Monday.
The Washington, DC-based Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project study, which interviewed 3,014 adults across the country, found that only about 7% of the people surveyed used a smartphone app to track a health indicator like weight, diet, exercise routine or to monitor a chronic disease such as diabetes.
“There’s still a low uptake in terms of apps and technology,” said lead researcher Susannah Fox.
“It is surprising. We’ve been looking at health apps since 2010, and health-app uptake has been essentially flat for three years.”
“The explosion of mobile devices means that more Americans have an opportunity to start tracking health data in an organized way,” Fox told The New York Times (NYT).
But the research suggests that consumers have been slow to latch on to smartphone technology for health despite hundreds of new apps to manage weight and track blood pressure, pregnancy, blood sugar, diabetes or medication.
An NYT report said more than 500 companies are making or developing self-management tools according to Health 2.0, a market intelligence project that keeps a database of health technology companies. Nearly 13,000 health and fitness apps are available.
“There’s a proliferation of choices, and consumers are being faced with a food court of options,” Fox told AFP.
“What we see is that consumers are losing their appetite.”
Fox said her research and other studies have shown that systematic tracking for health issues is helpful.
“People are reporting that tracking as an activity is having an impact,” she said.
“But I can’t make a judgement on whether it’s better to use paper and pencil or an app.”
The researchers found that 19% of smartphone owners have downloaded an app related to health, although these were not necessarily used for monitoring a specific health issue.
Exercise, diet and weight features are the most popular types of health apps downloaded, the study found. Some 38% of health app users track their exercise, 31% monitor their diet and 12% use an app to manage their weight.
Around one in seven adults surveyed track a health indicator like weight, diet or exercise routine for themselves or another person.
Roughly half of those tracking their health or symptoms said they keep track of progress “in their heads”, with 21% using some form of technology, which could include a spreadsheet, medical device or app.
The study found that a third of all “trackers” share their data with someone else, most often a medical professional. It also found that a “notable number” of trackers with chronic conditions said they do not keep formal records.
Some 37% of people with two or more conditions said they memorize progress notes, as do 48% of those who are monitoring a single health issue. | <urn:uuid:1a67764a-8db6-4bff-bf55-981b0013d632> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/5XkDt2XE7GLsTi1hAyZGHI/News-You-Can-Use--Few-use-apps-to-track-health.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737940789.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221900-00196-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964463 | 641 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Subsets and Splits