Intelligence Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Intelligence Studies - Essay Example territories that a government runs and have a permanent population.3 Nation-states are the most important actors in the international relations, but non-states actors strongly influence them. Hence, nation-states actors are entities or organizations, which a government runs.4 Some of the state actors include elected leaders, diplomats, bureaucrats, militaries among others. Non-state actors have a responsibility of checking state parties in all their actions. For instance, non-state actors such as NGOs which comprises of civil societies scrutinizes government policies to make sure they comply with provisions of human rights. Similarly, these non-state actors play the role of influencing policies and pressurizing the government to implement policies towards meeting its agenda.5 This is contrary to the role of the government, which has a role in making national policies and executing them for the benefit of the people.6 The two actors are different because of the role they play for the people. In the past decades, different civil societies have echoed their voices on the actions of state actors to influence change. For instance, civil societies echoed their voices when the death toll was rising in Egypt. As much as the Egyptian government was condoning and comfortable with the developments, non-state actors comprising on international civil societies opp osed the actions. This is an indication of the differences between the two actors. State actors have their media that influences and pass information regarding developments as well as the activities of the nations. This is normally biased, as various governments do not want to expose the wrongs to the public or in the international area. Therefore, most of the wrongdoing of the government goes unreported. Nearly every country has its national broadcasting, which the government influences to get favor. On the other hand, non-states actors such as media expose the nations concerning their wrong doings. They have

Anti Gun-Control Essay Example for Free

Anti Gun-Control Essay Generally speaking, gun control is recognized as the effort to restrict or limit the production, shipment and ownership of certain guns. Over time, the issue of gun ownership has become a staple of controversy and one of the most hotly contested social issues facing Americans. More often than not, where one falls on gun control depends largely on their political affiliation, their moral standards and their past experiences with firearms. According to some estimates, approximately 80 million homes in the U.  S. own 223 million guns. As is the case with most issues, gun control comes with a list of pros and cons. The people who staunchly support gun control believe their argument would protect society and save lives, while those opposing gun control believe the opposite. Here are some of the most well-known arguments against gun control: Potential for more crime – It’s long been suggested that having a gun allows would-be victims to protect themselves against crimes. Proponents of gun control often point to crime statistics as a sign that gun control would be a positive for society. However, people against gun control firmly believe that by having a gun, people could prevent many of those crimes from happening in the first place. Second amendment – The second amendment from The Bill of Rights grants private citizens the right to bear arms. Thus, people who stand firmly against gun control insist that no legislation, technically, should have the right to take away a citizens guns without first repealing the amendment in question. Bad history – History appears to support the pro-gun crowd. Throughout various political regimes, the one constant of a tyrannical government has been the disarming of citizens. Thomas Jefferson once famously said: â€Å"No man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny in government. †

Role of mTOR in Pain

Role of mTOR in Pain Juliette Lanskey Introduction Pain perception protects the human body from damage, yet when the underlying mechanisms are disrupted pain can become a debilitating condition. There are almost 10 million Britains that suffer from pain on a daily basis affecting not only their personal wellbeing and quality of life but also the economy. Back pain is an example of chronic pain and back pain alone costs the NHS around  £5billion per annum and it was reported that 4.9 million days are lost per year to british businesses (http://www.britishpainsociety.org/media_faq.htm). Unfortunately, understanding the mechanisms that go awry leading to pain that is more harmful than beneficial is proving challenging. As a result, there is a deficit in treatments available to control chronic pain despite much research. There is therefore an urgent requirement to understand the mechanisms underlying pain perception in order for the development of therapeutics to reduce the sufferings of humans and the economy. This dissertation shall focus on a potential target, the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), which recent research has highlighted as playing a significant role in chronic pain. Pain Pathways The processing of painful stimuli by the nervous system is termed nociception. Pain is nociception with additional psychological and emotional inputs. Noxious stimuli cause an action potential to run through a specialised set of neurons termed by Sherrington in 1906 as nociceptors; the pain neurons. Nociceptors have free nerve endings to detect noxious stimuli and can be classified into two main groups taking messages from the periphery to the central nervous system, called Aà ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¤ and C fibres. Aà ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¤ fibres are medium-diameter, mylinated neurons and this myelination and wider diameter allows rapid signal conduction. It is the Aà ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¤ fibres that transmit the first, sharp, localised pain of an injury whilst C fibres which are small-diameter, unmyelinated neurons transmit slow, diffuse, secondary pain 2009CELLULARANDMOLECULAR. Hence Aà ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¤ fibres are crucial in rapidly signalling an injury whilst the slow, burning pain from C fibres is important for protecti on during the healing period. These primary afferent nociceptors transfer messages from the periphery to the dorsal horn of the spinal chord. The dorsal horn is particularly important for processing and modulating noxious information. The dorsal horn is composed of six rexed laminae with transition zones approximately dividing different cell types. Indeed, nociceptors terminate in particular laminae. The majority of Aà ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¤ fibres terminate densely in lamina I, though some do also terminate in lamina V. C fibres mainly terminate in laminae I and II, although there are also a few C fibre terminations in lamina V. Thus the majority of neurons which terminate in the superficial dorsal horn specifically respond to noxious stimuli while neurons terminating deeper in the dorsal horn tend to respond to innocurous touch (large diameter, rapid conducting Aà ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¢ fibres transmit such innocuous information CELLULARANDMECHANMECHS2009). It is within the dorsal horn that nociceptors synapse onto central projection neurons which transmit the noxious information up to the brain. The main central pathways run up to the brain via the thalamus or brainstem and terminate in areas such as the periaqueductal grey and the parabrachial nucleus REF. There are also descending pain pathways originating in the periaqueductal grey, rostral ventral medulla and coeruleus which pass signals to the dorsal horn modulating nociception. There are also modulating circuits in the dorsal horn composing of exitatory and inhibitory interneurons contacting further neurons in the spinal cord (Fields2006thesis). Nociceptors have a pseudo-unipolar morphology allowing bidirectional signalling. This means that nociceptors are able to transmit action potentials antidromically from the the central nervous system to the nociceptor terminals (Dubin, 2010). A result of central processing is increased sensitivity of the area at and around a site of tissue damage or inflammation (PUBHUNT). A chemical soup of cytokines and growth factors is released at the site of injury and causes an increase in the sensitivity of a subset of surrounding nociceptors. This means that these nociceptors have a reduced threshold for noxious stimuli (thus will now respond to less intense stimuli than before) and also an increased response to noxious stimuli. This sensitisation of neurons at the site of injury is called primary hyperalgesia. mTOR inhibitors do not affect primary hyperalgesia and thus it is unlikely mTOR is involved, however there is another phenomenon called secondary hyperalgesia which mTOR does seem to be involved in. Secondary hyperalgesia is when a set of neurons not directly at the site of injury but in the surrounding, undamaged area undergo an increase in sensitivity due to central processing (pubhunt). Recent studies have demonstrated t hat the mTOR plays a role in creating this sensitivity. Acute pain is the pain that follows immediately after an injury to protect the body from further damage and aid the process of healing but when pain exists for more than 3 months it is defined as chronic pain (SITETHESISMerskey and Bogduk, 1994; Russo and Brose, 1998). This chronic pain does not protect the body but rather hinders the quality of life. The pathology of chronic pain often consists of decreased pain thresholds and increased response to stimsuli; the nociceptors are more sensitive. Moreover, whilst nociceptors are generally silent, firing action potentials only when stimulated (dubin2010), in chronic pain, there is an increased tendency for spontaneous activity (JULIUSANDBASBAUMTHESIS). Altogether, chronic pain leads to allodynia (pain from a normally non-noxious stimulus), hyperalgesia (heightened sensitivity to noxious stimuli) and spontaneous pain. mtor The mammalian target of rapamycin is a regulator a number of cellular processes including synaptic plasticity, protein synthesis and cellular metabolism (XONCUETALTHESIS). It is a molecule belonging to the kinase family and forms two complexes with raptor; mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2). It is when part of these complexes that it administrates its cellular functions though much more is known about mTORC1 and so it is predominantly the role of mTORC1 in pain perception that this dissertation shall focus on. Signalling cascade There is a signalling cascade involving mTOR, the downstream targets of which lead to cellular activities resulting in the organisation of the cytoskeleton, the regulation of metabolism and cell survival (wullschlegerTHESIS). The signalling cascade is initiated by a signal such as a neurotransmitter acting on transmembrane receptors which activate phosphoinosital 3 kinase-AKT pathway. This results in the phosphorylation and thereby the activation of mTOR. Phosphorylated mTOR in turn phosphorylates the 4E-binding protein and in this phosphorylated state the 4E-binding protein is unable to bind and thus inhibit a protein called eIF4E. So when mTOR is activated it has the downstream affect of enabling eIF4E to associate with eIF4G, this is an essential step for initiating translation (TJ PRICE GERANTON). The fact that mTOR plays such a significant role in the regulation of translation is a hint of its importance in pain plasticity. Previously, it was thought by some that translation could only occur in the cell soma. However, others noted both the half-life of axonal proteins and the time it takes for a protein to travel down the length of the axon and concluded that the axoplasmic transport is too slow for protein synthesis only to occur in the cell soma HUNT. Indeed, following the discovery of ribosomes and ‘Golgi outposts’ in dendritic spines it is now believed that local protein synthesis at the sites of dendritic synapses plays a significant role in plasticity (2009REVIEW). Research demonstrates that chronic pain arises as a result of plastic changes that occur during persistent acute pain. During any pain there are noxious signals to the central nervous system enabling the pain to be perceived, if these signals persist it has been shown that this causes and maintains plastic changes that result in chronic pain. Indeed, it has been shown through advanced structural imaging methods that there are large scale alterations in the brain structure of sufferers of chronic pain CHRONICPAINPLASTICITY. There is relatively little research into the possibilities of targeting this pain plasticity to help patients cope with chronic pain in comparison with genetic studies. It is consequentially an exciting new avenue of exploration and the role of mTOR in pain plasticity is of particular interest. EARLIER As mTOR plays such a crucial role in cellular function it is unsurprising that mTOR dysfunction is believe to be involved in a number of maladies. The role of mTOR in cancer, diabetes and neurodegeneration is being explored and a number of mTOR inhibitors have already been tested for treating certain maladies. For example†¦..This has demonstrated that mTOR inhibitors are potential treatment regimes BUT THERE ARE SIDEEFFECTS MTOR THESIS MTOR SIGNALLING MTOR PLASTICITY see 2009reviewnociception and AMPKPG 6 is v good Dealing with pain MTOR AND RESEARCH thesis 2 Pain Pathways and Plasticity 3 The mammalian target of rapamycin 2007 Decreased Nociceptive Sensitization in Mice Lacking the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein: Role of mGluR1/5 and mTOR – mTOR’s role in nociceptive synaptic plasticity through translation regulation; ‘ the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin inhibited formalin- and DHPG-induced nociception’ †¦. mTOR is a major regulator of protein synthesis for it controls the initiation of translation (PUBLISHEDHUNT2009). It is thought that by controlling protein translation it maintains the sensitivity of nociceptors following local injury. Targetting mTOR could reduce the secondary hyperalgesia that occurs from pain and thus help patients cope with pain†¦ 4 The mTOR signalling cascade Unicellular organisms that are sensitive to nutrient availability in their environment control translation via a rapamycin-sensitive translation pathway. This process is controlled by a protein kinase, TOR, which is blocked by rapamycin. Interestingly, neurons appear to have co-opted this evolutionarily conserved mechanism to control activity-dependent local translation. Mammalian TOR, or mTOR, is activated by neurotransmitter receptor signaling cascades and phosphorylates downstream factors that control translation. Hence, mTOR is intricately involved in synaptic plasticity in the CNS, a mechanism that is linked to its role in controlling translation in dendrites (Jaworskiet al., 2006). The major mechanism of mTOR-regulated translation is control of the initiation of cap-dependent translation (depicted in Fig 1) (Gingras et al., 2004). This occurs because one of the major targets of mTOR phosphorylation is the elongation associated factor 4E-BP (Gingraset al., 1999). 4E-BP binds c c ap-binding factor eIF4E and, when it is hypo-phosphorylated, inhibits the formation of the eIF4E/eIF4G elongation complex preventing translation. When 4E-BP is hyper-phosphorylated, 4E-BP dissociates from eIF4E allowing eIF4G binding and the initiation of cap-dependent translation. Recently a small molecule inhibitor of eIF4G binding to eIF4E was discovered (4EGI-1) and this molecule inhibits cap-dependent translation (Moerke et al., 2007). Hence, mTOR is crucial for regulating activity-dependent translation in neurons via its regulation of elongation factors (Bankoet al., 2006; Tanget al., 2002; Tsokaset al., 2007) and the mTOR pathway is amenable to specific pharmacological manipulation. 6 Experiments suggesting inhibiting mTOR could help control pain 2007 Decreased Nociceptive Sensitization in Mice Lacking the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein: Role of mGluR1/5 and mTOR – mTOR’s role in nociceptive synaptic plasticity through translation regulation; ‘ the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin inhibited formalin- and DHPG-induced nociception’ NOT THAT RELEVANT – basically saying that because of mutation translation can’t happen properly†¦meaning mTOR has less control. However there is a subsection with rapamycin injections which does show decreased nociception with rapamycin 2011 – systemic inhibition of mTOR – mTOR regulation of nociceptive sensitivity; ‘ inhibiting the mTORC1 pathway systemically alleviated mechanical hypersensitivity in mouse models’ Good intro relating mTOR to chronic pain Local cutaneous intrathecal administration of rapamycin blocks activation of downstream targets of mTORC1 alleviating mechanical hypersensitivity – 21, 29 3 43 46 62 SHOULD PUT 1 OR 2 LOCAL EXPERIMENTS BEFORE THIS ONE If targeting mTORC1 signaling pathway has a potential thera- peutic application for controlling chronic pain, systemic rather than local administration (as has been used previously [21,29]) requires further investigation. Here we examined the effective- ness of temsirolimus (CCI-779), a clinically used rapamycin ester derivative, given systemically

Flowering Judas Essay -- Analysis, Katherine Anne Porter

Judas Iscariot, the disciple, hanged himself from a tree after betraying Jesus Christ and giving him a kiss. The tree in which Judas hanged himself is known as â€Å"Judas Tree† mainly found in Southern Europe and Western Asia. In the short story â€Å"Flowering Judas† written by Katherine Anne Porter the title is related to this religious event of betrayal, murder, and denial. The two main characters in this short story are Braggioni and Laura. Braggoni is a cruel, powerful leader of Marxist revolutionaries in and around Mexico City. Laura a beautiful American women, age 22, who took up residence in Mexico. The most known theme in Porter’s short story â€Å"Flowering Judas† is betrayal. Laura, Braggioni, Braggioni’s wife, and Eugenio are all guilty of betrayal. Laura betrayals love in her life. By rejecting all men who intend to reach for her heart. Laura pictures Braggioni a â€Å"revolutionist would be lean, animated by heroic faith, a vessel of abstract virtues† (Porter p.1692). Picturing a revolutionist as a Christ figure. Laura betrays Braggioni by leading him to believe that she is interested in him. â€Å"She knows what Braggioni would offer her, and she must resist tenaciously without appearing to resist† (Porter p. 1692). Laura does not intend to tell Bragioni to vanish from her life. Laura fears that she might mess with his pride and knows that Braggioni is powerful that it can lead in to hurting her. Porter states â€Å"Braggioni is cruel to every one, for it is dangerous to offend him, and nobody has this courage† (p. 1992). Not only is Laura betraying Braggioni but Braggioni’s wife as well. Laura is committing adultery by being leading false judgment on a married man, and she can cause a separation of somebody else’s marriage. A nineteen ye... ...ura declares that she has taken the narcotics to Eugenio. In the last supper where Jesus Christ presented his disciples with bread as his body and wine as his blood; they were to eat and drink of it in memory of him and accepting him as their savior. In the end of the story Porter presents to us a related event in a dream that Laura has with Eugenio. Eugenio says to Laura in the dream â€Å"Then eat these flowers, poor prisoner,† and from a Judas tree he stripped the warm bleeding flowers, and held them to her lips (p.1700). Here Porter mentions Judas as to referring to the disciple that betrayed Jesus. By Laura accepting and eating the bleeding leave from Eugenio, ripped from the Judas tree, she is accepting the contribution in his murder. Just as a Christian’s accept Jesus on Sundays by Holly Communion. Laura has betrayed Eugenio by participating in his murder.

Equipment and Books Essay

Use of persons name Specific dedication for person to know why he being recognized Public display of all awards Follow-ups Timely Manner If motivation is properly handled, employees will always be happy and the organization will retain their staff for longer time periods. Educational workplaces require books and equipment such as computers, laboratory equipments, and agricultural equipments for all staff and students. If equipment is not adequate, the staff may be strained and this may cause unnecessary delays in lectures and work. Some workplaces may lack current books because of proper funding and this may pose a major challenge to the staff. Cultural Differences Educational workplaces often are filled with people from different cultures. Cultural beliefs influence human behaviors to a great extent and as cultures differ it often makes it difficult to design an environment that is conducive to performance and satisfaction. An example would be a colleague who believes that women should not expose their faces. This cultural diversity will often make it difficult for women to associate with individuals who may find difficulty in relating to them. Cultural differences influences the following in educational workplaces Mode of dressing Food served; some people eat snakes and frogs while to others don’t Associations in the institution Language used Team work In any workplace, teamwork poses challenges to many people. This is because of attitudes, values beliefs and behavior. Some individuals may have bad attitude which may affect the goal being sought after by the team, thus affecting other group members. Others may exhibit behaviors that one may not wish to associate with. In order to find compatibility, educational workplaces should have working teamwork members who encourage all individuals to associate with others without consideration of their culture. Team work may result in positive consequences for competing teams and these instances may follow: Team members becoming more close and displaying greater loyalty from its members and some members who are close in rank may bury some of their internal differences. Team climate changes from informal, casual, playful and work and task oriented members as well, while concerns for member’s psychological needs decline while concern for task accomplishment is increased. Leadership patterns tend to change from more democratic toward more autocratic while the team becomes more willing to tolerate autocratic leadership Each team becomes more structured and organized Each team demands more loyalty and conformity from its members in order to be able to present a â€Å"solid front† What happens between competing team? Each team begins to see the other teams as the enemy, rather than merely a neutral object. Each team begins to experience distortions of perception and tends to perceive only the best outcomes while denying weakness and allows competing teams to perceive only negative assumptions of the other team members while denying their strengths, as each team is likely to develop a negative stereotype of the other such as saying, â€Å"They don’t play fair like we do. † Hostility toward the other team increases while interaction and communication with the other team decreases, thus it becomes easier to maintain negative stereotypes and more difficult to correct perceptual distortions. If the teams are forced into interaction, for example, or if they are forced to listen to representatives pleading their own and the other’s causes, in reference to some task that each team, they are likely to listen more closely to their own representative and not to listen to the representative of the another’s team member, except to find fault with his presentation, in other words, team members tend to listen only for that which supports their own position and stereotype. What happens to the winner? Winners retains their confidence and may become even more cohesive Winner tends to release more tension and become more casual and playful. Winner lean towards higher intra-groups and display more cooperation and concern for other member’s needs. Winners can become complacent and feel that winning has confirmed a positive stereotype and as the negative stereotypes of the â€Å"enemy† team, there is little basis for reevaluating perceptions or reexamining team operations, in order to learn how to improve them. What happens to the loser? If the situation permits some ambiguity in the decision (if judges have rendered it as a close game), there is a strong tendency for the loser to deny or distort the reality of losing and instead, the loser will find psychological escapes such as (the judges were biased) or (the judges did not really explain the rules of the game, clearly) or possibly they may think (if luck had not been against us at the one key point, we would have won,† and so on. If loss is accepted, the losing team tends to splinter and as unresolved conflicts come to surface, fights may breaks out. A losing team member is more tense and may be ready to work harder and may be desperate to find someone or something to blame their loss on. They may blame the team leader, the judges who decided against them or even the rules or the game. (The â€Å"lean and hungry† state). A losing member may look for inter-group cooperation, have little concern for other team member’s needs or huge concern for recouping, by working harder. A losing team member often learn a lot about themselves while working as a team, because positive and negative stereotypes of the other team are upset by their own loss, forcing a reevaluation of perceptions as a consequence and a losing member is more likely to reorganize their ideas and accept their loss more realistically. J. FUNDS In a workplace, funding a project that is viewed as personal is not easy. For example, funding research by one lecturer may be very difficult, although the outcome may benefit the institution and again, some projects may be very expensive and even the institution may not have the capacity to fund the project, therefore they may need external funding. Workplace funds may also be misused by staff members.

Feasibility Marketing Plan – Lumber Business

MARKETING PLAN OF MADERA SAN JOSE Marketing Tools Madera San Jose, from the name itself, will offer wood products specifically hardwoods or lumber that would be further used for production of different products such as wood furniture, residential or commercial structures, and etc. Madera is the Spanish word for â€Å"wood†. Madera San Jose’s hardwood products will be expounded on in the next part of the study – the marketing plan of the proposed business. This part of the feasibility study determines the different types marketing programs prevalent in the lumber industry that can help the Madera.Given that the proposed business is a medium-scale lumber business in the province of Pampanga, the province of Muebles San Jose and also the proposed province for the location of Madera San Jose, the group gathered few and simple but still effective marketing programs that are implemented by owners there to make their business known. They can also be considered as more of marketing tools. Firstly, the bu sinesses give free merchandise such as calendars, face towels and shirts. These materials bear the logo or name of the business as well as its location.Mostly the merchandise is given to both potential and loyal patrons for them to maintain and spread awareness of the business. This practice has been done not just in Pampanga but in other places, too, and not just by lumber business owners but by other business owners, too. Except for the calendars, that are given just once a year, other merchandises are given depending on the owners disposal or whenever the owners want to, and how frequently they want to. It is proven effective because most businesses that have done it are the long-running ones compared to others that have not.The costs associated with these merchandises are as follows: Merchandise| Price & Quantity| Calendars| Php 10. 00 per 1 pc. for 30 pcs. (in a bulk)| Face towel| Php 15. 00 per 1 pc. for pcs. (in a bulk)| Shirts| Php 80. 00 per 1 pc. for 100 pcs. (in a bulk)| Secondly, businesses in Pampanga sponsor basketball teams in town leagues. Lumber businesses there have done it, too. In exchange, their logos are seen on the basketball players’ jerseys. Basketball leagues are held more than once annually, sometimes at very frequent intervals. In these events, usually many people come to watch.Aside from basketball jerseys, there are also banners portraying the businesses’ logos and locations. These are seen by owners as opportunities for the business to be recognized so they sponsor. Lumber businesses in Pampanga have done so, too. In Pampanga, the total cost for sponsoring a team is Php 10,000. 00. Following is the breakdown of said amount that will be paid in case Madera sponsors a basketball team. Expenses| Price| Basketball jerseys| Php7,200. 00 (Php 600. 00 x 12 jersey sets)| Banners or Posters| Php 2,000. 00 | Miscellaneous| Php 800. 00|The third and the last marketing tool used by most business owners in the area as well as gi ving one peso discounts. This practice has long been used by business owners – from large department stores to local lumber business owners. The practice gives customers the mentality that they get to save more while at the same time, not affecting much the costs of incurred by the business for that certain item – considering that there were mark-ups added. Marketing Mix (4 Ps) The marketing plan mainly elaborates on the 4 Ps of a business: the Product, Place, Price, and Promotion.These 4 Ps are also considered the â€Å"marketing mix† of the business that determine what the business has to offer and what are the channels for this offer to reach the consumers. In this part of the study, the said principles are expounded on in the context of Madera San Jose. Product Usually, the first principle of the 4 Ps tackled in marketing plans is the Product. Madera San Jose will offer lumber – to be specific, hardwood products. In the simplest sense, lumber is †Å"wood in any stage from the time it is cut from a tree through its use in construction or paper,† (What is Lumber Homepage, 2013).Lumber is cut from a tree through a process called felling. After it is cut and shipped, it is supplied either â€Å"rough† or â€Å"finished†. Finished lumber is primarily used in the construction industry. Most finished lumber is cut from softwood trees such as pine, fir, or cedar. Some rough lumber includes hardwoods for use in high-grade wood floors (What is Lumber Homepage, 2013). Rough lumber is raw and uncut to standardized measurements. It is used for furniture or specialty manufacturing where custom cutting and shaping is required.Given that Muebles San Jose concentrates on furniture making – custom-made or otherwise – Madera San Jose will mainly sell rough lumber in the form of hardwoods. The hardwood lumber products to be offered by Madera are: Lauan, Yakal, Teak, Gmelina, Malabuaya, Narra, Mahogany, Apitong, and Antipolo. Like the competitors, Top Lumber and Angeles LCM Construction Supply, Madera San Jose will get most of its woods from the suppliers in Tarlac. Below are the illustrations of the different hardwood products to be sold by Madera San Jose. Lauan YakalTeak Gmelina MalabuayaNarraMahoganyApitongAntipolo These lumber products, as mentioned, are to be processed further for production of more products such as trimmings for structures and more especially, furniture. Place The second P stands for Place. Madera San Jose’s wood warehouse and store itself is to be established in Angeles City, Pampanga. Pampanga is the home of Muebles San Jose. However, be that as it is, Muebles is in Mabalacat, not Angeles City. Angeles City was chosen due to its close proximity to Mabalacat – Mabalacat borders Angeles City in the latter’s northern part.Secondly, it is considered as a first-class highly urbanized city in the country, with its numerous residential areas as well a s commercial ones such as restaturants, malls, universities and even tourist spots such as ancestral mansions and houses. These structures require a lot of wood – both for the building itself as well as the furniture. Since the site is a highly industrial part of Pampanga, it is accessible to its suppliers from both Tarlac and Manila; MARSSE Timber Suppliers, Tarlac and Mango and Timber Plantation, Manila – the latter’s office is located in Taguig.Each supplier supplies 3,000 board feet of wood monthly. The exact location of Madera San Jose in Angeles City will be in Brgy. Pandan. The proposed business will actually be located at Pandan Road, Brgy. Pandan, Angeles City, Pampanga. There are about nine puroks situated in Barangay Pandan. These are: Old Pandan, Land Tenure, San Ignacio Subdivision, Springside Subdivision, Citicenter A, Citicenter B, Magalang Avenue Extension, Jaovil Compound, and Saint Ignatius Subdivision.There are also several establishments â₠¬â€œ furniture shops, schools (public and private), barangay hall (of Pandan and of other nearby barangays) – that are relevant to the business. The exact location where the proposed business will be launched is noticeably located on a main road and is situated in a commercial-residential area. This is intended such that the business will be highly accessible to the chance buyers and to the greater market, specifically businesses within the vicinity and residents living in the area, who may have probably become the clients of Madera San Jose.The lot measures 300sq. m. and the lumber business is expected to occupy 280sq. m. Originally, the location was a bare land. It was acquired it years before by Mr. Manabat for the purpose of expanding his first business. Price The price for the lumber of Madera San Jose was also gathered from the standard prices of woods per board foot in Pampanga. Following are the prices: Hardwood| Price Per Board Foot| Lauan| Php30. 00| Yakal| Php40. 0 0| Teak| Php60. 00| Gmelina| Php26. 00| Malabuaya| Php30. 00| Narra| Php85. 00|Mahogany| Php30. 00| Apitong| Php30. 00| Antipolo| Php35. 00| One will notice that these prices are also the same as those of the competitors’. This is because of the fact that the owners want to use competition-based pricing. Competition-based pricing is the strategy used when a firm uses the competitor’s prices as benchmarks. In Madera’s case, since there are only two (2) competitors nearby that also offer hardwood lumber; Top Lumber and Angeles LCM Construction Supply, and both have the same prices, Madera used their prices.Same prices are used to get more people from the competitors’ pool of patrons, and no decreases are made either, so that Madera an establish stability since the business is new and so that there will be allowance for possible future discounts. Also, other lumber dealers sell at the same prices and the customers are used to the standard. Since Madera San J ose will be a new addition, the business will also use the same prices to establish its place in the market. Promotion Promotional tools used by lumber businesses in Pampanga have been mentioned already in the first part of this portion of the study.Going back, the three tools are: 1) giving of printed merchandise, 2) sponsorship of basketball leagues, and 3) one-peso discounts. `The group recommends Madera San Jose to use the first and second tools – printed merchandise and basketball league sponsorships. Giving printed merchandise such as calendars, face towel, and shirts is not something new in the small to medium industries but they are helpful in spreading knowledge of the business. For instance, buildings – whether private of public, large or small – that display the calendars will help in making the new business known.It is also an ideal way because calendars are displayed and looked at all year round. As for shirts and towels, people who wear or use them are mostly people from the manual labor sector. These people tend to move and work a lot in the local community. Without spreading information on the business verbally, these people â€Å"display† the business just by moving around. It will help that the printed information not just contains the business logo and name but the business address as well. The second tool is the team sponsorship in basketball leagues.As mentioned, basketball leagues are hugely-crowded events. Some people from other towns even visit to watch. In the basketball leagues, aside from banners that can be displayed around the court, Madera can gain exposure through basketball jerseys with the business logo printed on them. Aside from having huge crowds to whom Madera can be exposed to, basketball leagues are held more than once a year – even more frequently if the area has many playing teams. Madera will have more exposure time. One might wonder why the third tool was not applied.This tool is the one-peso discount strategy. It would be good for the business. However, it is also deemed ideal if this strategy will not be applied in at present – when the business is still new in the industry. Customers should be accustomed first with the actual prices before being given the discounts. Marketing Plan Conclusion In sum, unlike other industries, the lumber businesses in Pampanga do not highly focus on marketing. If one will notice in this study, this marketing part does not comprise much information compared to other aspects such as the operational plan and financials.This is so because first and foremost, the lumber industry in Pampanga mainly relies on word-of-mouth as the major marketing agenda. Owners, aside from giving free merchandise and some basketball leagues do not use famous media such as the television, radios and magazines. Some even do not have a marketing strategy at all, or if they do, they do not practice it for the long run. They just rely on word-of-mout h. In short, the most reliable and fool-proof way of gaining more customers for Madera San Jose is based on its products and how these will make the customers satisfied enough to spread information about them.