Explanation Of Choice Of Competitors

Explanation Of Choice Of Competitors The report is regarding Velour which is a Swedish fashion company in the upper medium price segment. The company has existed for 9 years and has succeeded to sustain and also expand on the Swedish market throughout the years. We as a consulting group have focused on Velours womens wear collection. Under a 6 week period we have been investigating how the fashion company Velour is operating. We have looked into the main competitors to the brand which we defined as Acne and Whyred. These are also Swedish companies which have the same target audience group as Velour; young women. The companies are also using the same kind of style in their design in womens wear and are strongly involved in the artistic sphere. The report describes Velours strategy of purchase, assortment and their different use of sales channels. The competitive brands are presented in the same way to create a coherent impression for the reader. The purpose of this report was to develop different parts within the company to be able to achieve its growth in the Swedish market. The improvements of Velours strategies are presented in the end of this thesis. A budget and time plan is also presented in the report. Table of contents 1.Introduction We have chosen Velour which is a brand based in Gothenburg. We were able to get in contact with Ann-Sophie and Hanna who are working with the brand and are also the persons who provided us with information about the company. We consider the brand to be interesting since it is a rather small clothing brand with clothes that attract us and we saw opportunities to develop brand strategies. The brand is still small but we think that Velour has capabilities to become an even stronger brand than it currently is on the Swedish market for womens clothing. We consider the design to be timeless and stylish which can be interesting for a lot of women in the Swedish market. Assignment We are acting as a consultant group with the purpose of developing new strategies for the brand Velour. This is made to be able to increase the sales volume and to increase the awareness of the brand. Method To be able to develop these strategies for Velour we have been in contact with employees of the company and also with employees of the competitors. We have also been visiting the stores and done researches on the Internet to increase our knowledge of the brands. Delimitations We are only focusing on womens wear on the Swedish market. Therefore other collection lines from the brand will not be mentioned in this report, neither will international markets. 2. Industry definition The industry contains of companies that are in the wholesale segment acting as product developing brand suppliers; that means that they are working with product development, design, marketing, purchasing and producing womens wear with a creative twist within the upper medium priced segment on the Swedish market. 3. Industry description Below description of the industry will be presented. Choice of competitors and an explanation of the five force model can also be found. 3.1 General description The fashion industry within textile is one of the most globalized sectors, this due to the great amount of employment opportunities the industry provides. The industry of fashion constantly changes and as a company in this industry one always has to pay attention and be first to deliver the latest trends. What is the latest today is not the latest tomorrow. There are constantly new competitors to the industry and to survive one really has to have a strong business idea and be clear about the message of the companys brand. http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/themes/crisis/textil.pdf The Swedish fashion market contains mostly of small to medium sized companies. The Swedish fashion market is of high importance for Swedish trade and today around 300 000 people work within the Swedish fashion industry and this is approximately 5 percent of the Swedish GDP. Many of the Swedish brands have succeeded on an international level. Velour is one of them and is followed by HOPE, Filippa K, Anna Holtblad, Whyred and many other fashion brands. http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/9622/a/96709 Velour is categorized to be an upper medium price brand on the Swedish market. The industry Velour belongs to, has a target group of young women to middle age women in Sweden. The woman is someone who is aware of her approach and has a rather large interest in fashion. However she is not a fashion slave since she does not follow all current trends, instead she creates her own style by combining different pieces. The woman in Sweden is a person who is down to earth and is conscious about society and environmental issues (M. Solomon and N. Rabolt, 2009). In the industry Velour belongs to, collections consist of quite plain designed clothes with a creative twist that very simply create recognition about the brand. Brands in this industry have a collection that fits in a base wardrobe with tops, dresses and chinos. Statistics kring turnover industry- mailat svensk handel 3.2 Explanation of choice of competitors Through the description of the brand and the description of the customer we can say that the competitors of Velour on the Swedish market for women swear are Acne and Whyred. We choose to select Acne and Whyred as competitors of Velour on the Swedish market for women swear through issues of price, presence in the country, style and interest in arts. To begin with Acne it is a young Swedish fashion brand which was founded in 1996. Acne represents the Swedish style for women from 18 to 45 years old and is the typical brand of style without efforts. We see Acne to have the same target group as Velour and to also have the interest in arts just like Velour but more interested in graphics and design. Acne has a Swedish style of clarity, fluidity and urban design and considering the price Velour and Acne are in the same price range. Our other competitor Whyred which was founded in 1999 also has interest in arts, especially in music. Whyred ´s clothes are classic, with a modern twist which give them this artsy touch that inspires Whyred designers. Considering the price Whyred and Velour is in the same range. Whyred as the other two companies have a Swedish styl e in their design. When looking at the three companies we can see that they all three have the same target group. 3.3 Five force model To understand the industry of Velour within the fashion industry we have been using the model of Porters five forces. The model is used to understand the structure and profitability within an industry. Porter states that the underlying economic structure is a factor that plays a great role of a companys strength to be competitive. The company analyzes Industry competitors, Potential establishers, suppliers, customers, substitutes. The five fundamentals in this model establish the strength for each force (Hollensen, S 2007). 3.3.1 Industry competitors Strong competitors on the Swedish market to Velour are Acne and Whyred. Both this companies are Swedish and have a Swedish background. When looking at Acne and Whyred one can see that they have quite the same target group within the women collection. Both Acne and Whyred have similar design of their collection as Velour and they all three is categorized within the middle price brand. You can find the collections near each other in the same town in Sweden. Other competitors on the Swedish market are brands like Filippa K, Carin Rodebjer, Carin Wester and Hope. 3.3.2 Potential establishers Both existing and potential companies in an industry can affect the profitability of the industry. As we already have mention the fashion industry constantly changes and the level of new players is also in constantly movement. The fashion industry has a high level of new entrants and the competition for Velour we see as quite tough. This due to new designers that more easily enter as an middle price brand than in comparison as an high price or luxury price brand. Some French brands like Sandro, Claudie Pierlot, Comptoir des Cotonniers and Maje are today not on the Swedish market but we see these brands to have the potential to become competitors on the Swedish market. They could compete with Velour if they were entering the Swedish Market. They are powerful French companies focusing on women, targeting the same group of people and really involved in arts. The price range is the same and they could offer a wider group of products, where customers could find anything: from shoes, via c oats, to evening dresses. 3.3.3 Suppliers Within the fashion industry the supply chain is of high importance. Merchandise trade in the fashion industry plays a very central role and the suppliers have to take action very fast. The bargaining power is high for the supplier of fashion companies and this due to the fact that they mostly have the control of the production. Some fashion companies own big parts of the suppliers themselves and this result in more control for the fashion companies. The most comment is that the fashion companies outsource some parts of the value chain to another company. Velour has manufacturers of fabrics, trimmings and garments. Velour design within the company and own their designers. The production and distribution is outsourced to other companies and today the company has dependency on single suppliers. 3.3.4 Customers We have been focusing on the companies bargaining power due to the suppliers within the industry. In the industry of fashion the buyers have a restrained power to effect to their benefits, this because there is a great amount of small buyers and retailers in this industry. Velour is selling to retailers who are selling to the end-consumers. Velour is also acting as an integrated retailer since they have their own stores. 3.3.5 Substitutes Substitutes can affect the attractiveness of the industry and also influence the profitability within the industry. A substitute in an industry depends on buyers willingness to substitutes but also of the cost performance of the substitutes. The risk of substitutes in this industry is very high and this because of the great amount of designer cloths and fashion houses. Another factor that influence is high threats between substitutes is the generic substitutes that mostly very easily enter the fashion industry. This with help from the already existing well know name that help the generic substitutes to be introduced on the market. We see luxury brands to be a substitute for Velour and this because the luxury brands offer high fashion products and also the absolutely latest trends to wear. Secondhand are also within this category and this because like Velour, secondhand products offer uniqueness and inspiration to create a style of your own. The option of tailor made fashion we also s ee as a substitute and this since customers today are more aware than ever to have perfect fitted clothes. It becomes more and more usual to travel abroad and in many countries you can get your tailor made items at a very reasonable price. We think this option is going to increase and the prices should decrease if the demand for tailor made clothes gets higher. We also place made to measure and swopping with colleagues as substitutes for Velour. Suppliers Manufacturers of fabric, trimmings and garment Substitutes Secondhand, luxury brands, tailor made, made to measure, swopping with colleagues Buyers Retailers + Velour is acting as an integrated retailer Potential establishers Maje, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Sandro, Claude Pierlot, Industry Rivalry Velour ACNE, Whyred, Filippa K, Hope, Carin Wester 4. Commissioned company description and analysis 4.1 General description The Velour brand was created by Per Andersson and Johan Lundell. The idea for the brand was created through the store Nostalgi which they operated in Gothenburg. The store was opened in 1997 and the idea was to sell never worn clothes from the 1940s and 1980s. The shop found success and became popular amongst the independent scene in Sweden and design and music people found the store interesting. Per and Johan started to design t-shirts during 2001 and the Velour label was created. A third person joined the team at this time, Andreas Remling who had knowledge in finances and could handle the brands economics. http://www.va.se/nyheter/2007/01/19/bakom-kulisserna-pa-svensk/ Mattias Lind also joined the brand but left the company and started his own brand Julian red in 2003. Today the company has got 14 employees working with the brand. At first only a few basic casual clothes were designed but this soon developed into whole collections of garment. The first real collection of the brand was launched in 2001 and could be found at the Nostalgi store. In the year of 2005 a woman named Titti Andersson was hired for the design of the womens collection. http://www.alltomstockholm.se/shoppingmode/article29059.aos The company has had several different designers working with the brand during their years in the business, one of them is Karl-Wilhelm Bjà ¶rk who previously worked with Vivienne Westwood. http://www.kingmagazine.se/Markeslistning/?designer=17771 The core values of the brand are tailoring, graphic and casual. Perfect fit and focus on beautiful details should create the opportunity for the person who wears the clothes to be able to create its own style by combining pieces from the brand. The overall design concept of Velour springs out of a classic preppy look with traditional garments redesigned in a new stylish, yet effortless, way. We call this Feelgood Preppy. [1] The clothes are for people who are interested in fashion but not follow all trends that are present, Velour is for the people who wants to create their own unique style. The colors used in the different collections are mellow with colorful accents. The brand is present in 100 stores spread through Europe countries such as Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom but its largest market is still in Scandinavia. Velour can also be found overseas in Canada, Australia, the United States and in Japan. The target group of the brand is people between 20-35 years. http://feed.ne.cision.com/wpyfs/00/00/00/00/00/0D/6A/CE/wkr0010.pdf The Velour creator Johan Lundell is no longer working with the brand and neither is Andreas Remling, however, Per Andersson has continued his work at Velour and is the head designer for the mens collection. He is at this point alone running the brand management for Velour. The turnover for Velour in 2009 was 19,807 million SEK. In 2008 the turnover was 13, 302 million SEK which was a small growth from the year before. http://www.foretagsfakta.se/G%C3%B6teborg/Velour_By_Nostalgi_AB/989686 Velour has used creative ideas in their marketing. For example in 2006 Velour held a fashion show in a tunnel in Stockholm. They got permission to block off this area and do this project. http://www.foretagsfakta.se/G%C3%B6teborg/Velour_By_Nostalgi_AB/989686 According to Velour people in the music business are dedicated to the brand and find it interesting. Velour is a brand which is inspired by the music branch and they mean that their design is following that lifestyle. http://feed.ne.cision.com/wpyfs/00/00/00/00/00/0D/6A/CE/wkr0010.pdf http://www.businessregion.se/download/18.8afae6210a70372e0c8000236/Business1-06_klar_pdf.pdf According to Velour they have a competitive advantage of being situated in Gothenburg. According to Andreas Remling their main competitors are located in Stockholm and this can result in that the brands from the same city become coherent in their design, they are inspired by each other and the uniqueness can fade. Another positive thing about Gothenburg is the good solutions for logistics and the existence of good suppliers. http://www.businessregion.se/download/18.8afae6210a70372e0c8000236/Business1-06_klar_pdf.pdf 4.2 Value chain 4.3 Brand promise Velours nerve springs out of their history, eclectic inspiration and their values. Velour is offering a perfect fit and beautiful details, leaving it up to the wearer to create his or her own individual style, offering key pieces or a whole wardrobe. Beautiful details Create an individual style Perfect fit To claim to be offering a perfect fit is crucial according to us. Everybody is different and do probably not fit perfectly in Velours clothes. Velour means that they are leaving it to the wearer of the clothes to create their own unique style which we think is correct. The customer is as mentioned above in the report aware of her appearance and approach and is combining different pieces to create her own individual style. They depend on the customer to be able to do this on her own which we think is the case. 4.4 Current Strategy In this part we will explain how Velour works with its purchase strategy and explain lead times within the company. The different lead times are regarding the different activities from idea to finished product and the time to perform the different activities. For Velour from the first day the inspiration starts to the day that the products is out in the stores it takes around 12 months. If Velour starts in August on a new collection the sales samples are done in December. The company uses different manufactures and the samples are sent to manufactures abroad and the manufacturers are choosing matching suppliers to Velour. Below the process will be explained more detailed. 4.4.1 Purchase strategy Velour gets a lot of inspiration from the city Gothenburg where the brand also was founded. The studio of Velour is located in the long streets in the Linnà © district in Gothenburg and this street represents a classic mixed- use variety. They all share the same precious urban oxygen and here you can find galleries, recording labs, artist studios, coffee shops and sex shop all in the same street. This gives a feeling of uniqueness to the design and the brand of Velour. The preppy classic look is the overall design concept for the company. The designers make new collection in an effortless, new stylish way with traditional garments. The Swedish west coast also influences the designers mind when it comes to creating the right style of Velour ´s collection. When the inspiration and the design are finished, Velour picks sober colors to use in the collections and this with colorful touch. The choices of the colors are often grey, black or marine blue. The prints and patterns that are u sed together with the colors are gently created where every image, square and pigment has its place. (www.velour.se ) The inspiration together with product development and the ready sales sample takes for Velour 4 month. (Interview with Velour) The company does not have any production of its own; instead the production is handled by manufacturers abroad in countries like India, China, Portugal and Tunisia. The lead time at the manufacturers is around 3 months. Velour ´s manufactures are always working with different suppliers and this to be able to find suppliers that can produce Velour ´s needs to the price the company is able to pay. The amount of different supplier varies from season to season, usually 20-25 different suppliers are used each season. (Interview with Velour) Velour is using the full price purchase which means that the product development manufacturer place a purchase order to the producers of finished products. Then it is up to the producer to (according to the description of the purchase order) to do the purchase of the different garments and trimmings. Then the producer send Velour a full price suggestion which consists of a total price to produce the products ( Interview with Velour).This way of work can also be called purchase of ready-made garment (RMG) (Hedà ©n, McAndrew, 2005) The transportation is at all times made through shipping by boat and Velour always has the FOB (Free on board) agreement. When a company has the FOB agreement, the company takes the risk of the goods when the goods have been shipped and are placed on the pier. The transportation from the factories to Sweden takes around 3 months. From April to July Velour have sell-in to their different retailers and for Velour this has a show room in Stockholm were they show all new collections to the retailer. Under this period the product also is placed in stock and Velour has their warehouse in Borà ¥s. When the time is ready for the collection to be out in stores all products are sent from the warehouse in Borà ¥s to all the retailers within the Swedish market and to the single store in Gothenburg. The company has no written code of conduct and does not follow any initiative but examines their businesses as well as they can. Velour tries to be as ethical and critical as possible regarding the process of making the clothes. In environmental aspects the clothes that are made in cotton are all made by ecological cotton. 4.4.2 Assortment strategy Velour uses different types of fabrics; the company describes them as traditional. Fabrics they use repeatedly are wool, nylon, lining, acetate, cotton, elastane, lambswool, polyester, polycrepe, acrylic, mohair and ramie. The cotton that is used in the garment making is ecological. The sizes of the womens collections are divided into 4 steps; XS, S, M and L. Two collections are launched each year and these are called spring and autumn. The product groups that Velour offers are visible below. This is based on the womens autumn collection 2010. The assortment in each product group are not the same in every collection, that is why for example no shoes are present in the womens autumn collection 2010. The product groups stay the same, but the number of products in each category varies from the different collections. 4.4.3 Sales channel strategy Velour has only got one store of its own. This store is situated in Gothenburg at Magasinsgatan 19. The brand Velour was founded in 2001 and at this point the brand was sold through the store Nostalgi which was operated by the founders of the brand. However, this store does no longer exist and has been replaced by the one on Magasinsgatan. Velour is mainly sold through retail stores and department stores where the brand is presented amongst other clothing brands. Velour is also sold through their own online store which can be found at the companies website. The reason for using this kind of sales channel strategy is because of the fact that it is requires a high financially capacity to own its own stores. Through shop-in-shops which are currently used, the brand is represented in a lot of location but at a smaller amount of costs. 4.5 Future goals In 2006 the goal was, within a ten year period, to be one of the top fashion brands within Scandinavia. http://www.businessregion.se/download/18.8afae6210a70372e0c8000236/Business1-06_klar_pdf.pdf 5. Brief competitor description and analysis for 2 competitors Below the first chosen competitor, Acne will be described. 5.1 General description of Acne Acne was founded in 1996 and the first collection of Acne clothes was launched in 1998. The company was founded by Jonny Johansson who did not have any background in design before starting the brand. The brand has been a success in Sweden and currently a well known brand among young people which are interested in fashion. Acne studios have an advertising agency, art gallery, furniture collection, magazine. (Acne Official Website) Today the Acne studio represents 5 brands (Acne Paper, Acne Advertising, Acne Art Department, Acne JR and Acne Fashion and Denim) with 200 employees and has approximately an annual turnover of 38 millions Euros. (Georgina Safe, 2010) . The company also enjoy the involvement of a Capital-Risk firm: ÃÆ'-resund, which opens Acne to a wide range of possibilities in term of development and investments. When it comes to self expression Acne sees fashion to be the best way of have that (Acne Official Website). The style is typical Scandinavian, with simple lines, without abundance of colours: The style is simplistic but in the same time Acne clothes can be identified to be cool and personal. They are creating an image, not only a clothing brand. They are building a Lifestyle brand through desirable products. They also created an identity through their jeans with the famous red stitching. This identity is the result of Jonny Johanssons will of a garment that makes you feel stronger and more self confident. The brand is known of the denim jeans but the company dont want to be a denim brand, instead they wanted to offer ready to wear where the denim is included as a product. According Jonny Johansson they did not wanted to categorize themselves (Nina Jones, 2009). When Acne opens a new shop they dont think in the way of where they need to be located, instead they use the strategy of where they want to set up new stores. They are based the store locations on friendship and people who really want to have the brand located in that particular area. Acne doesnt believe in the strategy to put stores everywhere just to cover the map. In terms of strategy they also have an attitude of branding by doing,not advertising(JC Marcus, 2010, [1]). Acne adopted a code of conduct; they joined the Fair Trade Foundation. Acne is in accordance with their value and this new value of the fashion industry: labour practices and conditions have to be taken in account to preserve social matters of the value chain. There are also two types of production, one for their own stores and the other for all the other retailers and franchises. This difference of production shortens or lengthens the lead-time. 5.2 Value chain Acne buys material and produces in factories in Italy, Portugal, Hong Kong and Turkey. All of the production is outsourced. They act in the textile value chain in the wholesale segment as product developing brand suppliers which means that they concentrate on design, purchase, marketing and distribution. Concentrating on distribution, Acne is present in the retail segment in several levels: as a retail branch company (they own 4 stores in Sweden), as integrated wholesalers through Corner in department stores for example, in the Internet through their website on which one can shop online and through outlets with two outlets in Sweden, one in Gothenburg and one in Stockholm and also the web outlet. 5.3 Brand promise; Create novel expression Current strategy We have to precise first that Acne does not have a proper strategy that leads the brand. The team does what is necessary to both realising Acnes envies and to satisfying customers. If once they have to change their own strategy, theyd do it. In fact, the brand is lead by its Brand Promise, its Values and Vision. 5.4 Purchase strategy Acne buys material from Italy, Portugal, HK and Turkey. These counties they also have al the production placed (S.Jà ¶nnson L.Lagerdahl, 2005).In the factories Acne has divided two groups: production for their own stores, and production for the other retailers. They have through this organisation different lead-times between inspiration and arrivals of the clothes on the shelves. Inspiration to garments in the stores takes approximately 10 months year since we first do a sell collection to our WH clients, then we need to wait for their sales figures before we place the production orders. If we do garments only for our stores it takes 4-6 months(Therese Munthe, Acne Chief of Production ) 5.5 Assortment Strategy The assortment strategy comes from a great group work. Jonny Johansson said that in Sweden he was used to work in groups and for him it is the only way to succeed. The brand produces two collections a year: Autumn/Winter, Spring/Summer. The collections do not have so many articles and are made on an arithmetic scale, 15 pieces for each product group (11). 5.6 Sales Channel Strategy In Sweden Acne develops itself through its 4 own stores situated in Gothenburg and Stockholm, they also own a corner in Ã…lhà ©ns and an Outlet Store in Stockholm. They also sell through department stores and via the Internet. Acne choose to work through this way to be able to control the image they have of their brand, they can choose the department stores they want to work with and with their own shops and the Internet they have a total image control of the brand. Moreover, they spotted a trend with the Outlets thanks to which they can sell what was left from the previous collections. 5.7 Future goals New collaborations. Bags/ Underwear 6. Brief competitor description and analysis for 2 competitors Below the second chosen competitor, Whyred will be described. 6.1 General description of Whyred Whyred is a Swedish fashion brand which is founded by three ex-employees of H&M; Roland Hjort, Lena Patriksson Keller and Jonas Clason, in 1999. The story began with a Mens collection in 1999 and one year later the first Womens collection was in the shelves. The brand is positioned in the middle high price segment, with a turnover of 45 million SEK in (2006/2007) and 75 million SEK in (2007/2008) the brand is really growing, touching new customers. The first own shop is opened in 2001 in Stockholm, they have in 2010, 4 stores in the main Swedish cities. In 2005 they launched the shoe production line and also they set up the online outlet stores in 2007. The interesting part is that Whyred has labeled the products with Stockholm instead of Sweden, because Stockholm shows the country of origin (Sweden) and it is known as a beautiful city (Knudsen Lind 2007). The name of the brand comes from a radio interview with Roland Hjorts grandfather who was a famous Swedish artist. In that interview he was asked, What is your favorite colour? He replied: Red and the interviewer asked immediately Why red, he quipped Well, blue then. (A.K Sari, 2010) The strong inspiration of Whyred has been from the iconic style of the 1960s to give to the consumer the possibility of a Clean Living under Difficult Circumstances, inspired from THE WHOs manager Pete Meaden(Whyred Official Website). Whyred is strongly involved into the arts (especially in Cinema and Music) since the primary steps, they have project through collaborations. For instance, for their fourth art project, the short movie La Vitesse Et La Pierre is directed by Igor Zimmermann and the music is composed by Yourhighness which unveiling will happen on November 2010 in Sweden (Whyred Official Website). Moreover, they are pursuing the pull strategy by publishing the pictures of well-known people who dressed Whyred garments in the magazines or the newspapers (Knudsen Lind 2007). The brand is following simplicity by considering postmodern aesthetics, giving aesthetic awareness and making new expressions for their customers. They have ambition to make a brand as a leading European premium fashion brand (A.K Sari, 2010). 6.2 Value chain 6.3 Brand promise 6.4 Current strategy 6.4.1 Purchase strategy 6.4.2 Assortment strategy Whyred has set up its production to tow collection per year f

Advantages and Disadvantages of Robotic Surgery

Advantages and Disadvantages of Robotic Surgery Tresha Reid-Matthew DeVry University Robotic Surgery is a surgical technology in the world of healthcare that doctors are opting to use for many surgical procedures on humans today. Robotic surgery is a procedure that involves a surgeon manipulating the hands of a robot. Many people don’t know enough about  robotic surgery. It is very important for everyone to familiarize themselves with this technology because in the near future this equipment has the potential to take over the operating rooms of many hospitals.The goal of this paper is to give some basic information about how Robotic surgical procedures has evolved and to bring to light some of the ways robotic surgical procedures might affect you one day. When I was faced with the choice of having robotic surgery two months ago I felt like I didn’t know enough about the technology. I had no knowledge of how this type of surgery would affect me. I would like people to be able to understand how this technology will affect their lives.For this assignment I decided to research the advantages and drawback of robotic surgery to inform everyone about this technology so that if faced with this choice you won’t be in the dark like I was. INTRODUCTION On television in shows such as Grey’s Anatomy the process of conventional surgical procedure are acted out on screen for the world to watch. In the near future many scenes in such shows will have to be altered to feature the surgeries being done by physicians with robotic surgical devices (if they haven’t already done so already). Robotic surgeries are becoming very common in our society.It is very important for everyone to know and understand what this practice entail so that if presented with the choice of human or machine one can make the right choice. I was living my life day to day like many people. I exercise when I can and I eat right. For a period of a little over a year I was ex periencing abdominal pains so my doctors put me through many series of exams. One of the test results came back abnormal showing that I had a tumor. Being a young woman that is recently married I was scared so I decided to have my tumor removed right away.When my husband and I sat down to discuss my options with my physician I was given a choice   between a conventional procedure that is performed solely by a human doctor or robot assisted surgical procedure that involves an actual surgeon manipulating the hands of a robotic machine. I was very frightened about the thought of having a machine working on my body because the idea was foreign to me. I heard about robots working on car and I heard of the surgical procedure but I never actually though about being the subject of one of these devices.I wasn’t confident enough about this type of surgery so I opted to go with the conventional type of procedure. Robotic surgery is performed everyday around the world and it has the po tential to dominate the world of surgery, however it has advantages and disadvantages. Discussion Many people might think that this is a topic of no interest to them because right now they don’t need a surgical procedure done or they have no plans of having a surgical procedure. To those people I would like to say neither did I!To make light of this subject the first thing I would like to do is provide a timeline that show a brief history on the development stage of robotic surgical machines. ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1921 a Czechoslovakian play writer named Karel Capez introduced and coined the term robot in a play called Rossom’s Universal Robots†. The play writer based the term off of the Czech meaning of the word â€Å"forced labor† (Long, 2007). ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1923 The term robots entered the English language (Long, 2007). In the begging of the robots career they started relatively as â€Å"dumb machines† that did onl y slavish repetitive tasks.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     1985 Robotic Surgeries began with a robotic machine called the Puma 560. The user of the robot was a surgeon named Kwoh et al who perform neurosurgical biopsies with the machine. He wanted to be as accurate as possible and felt the machine would be able to perform a greater precision. ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The next person to use the Puma 560 was Davies et al three years later during a transurethral resection of the prostate Lippincott, W (2004). ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The next system that was later developed was PROBOT. This was a robot designed especially to assist with transurethral resection a man’s prostate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the same time period that PROBOT was being developed, another machine called the ROBODOC was being developed. This robotic was designed to assist with precision of hip replacements. ROBODOC was the first surgical robot approved by the FDA. ?à ‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Researchers from the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) Ames became interested in using the information that was present from the previous robots to develop a technology called   telepresence surgery. The technology of telepresence became the major driving force behind the development of surgical robotic robots as we know them today. Lippincott, W (2004) ? 990’s Scientists from the National Air Space Administration teamed up with the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) to developed a dexterous telemanipulator for hand surgery with a design goal of give the surgeon the sense of   literally operating on the patient in front of them somewhat, instead of from across the room. ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The US Army recognized   the work being done by at the Stanford Research Institute and became interested of treating wounded soldiers remotely instead of putting   the surgeons in arms way the idea was to be able to treat solde rs and decrease mortality by â€Å"bringing the surgeon to the wounded soldier—through telepresence. ? Many of the surgeons and engineers working on surgical robotic systems for the Army eventually formed commercial ventures. These ventures lead to the introduction of robotics to civilian surgical communities. ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Computer Motion, Inc. of Santa Barbara, CA. This company used funding provided by the US Army to develop the Automated Endoscopic System for Optimal Positioning (AESOP), a robotic arm controlled by the surgeon voice commands to manipulate an endoscopic camera.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shortly after AESOP was marketed, Integrated Surgical Systems (now Intuitive Surgical) of Mountain View, CA, licensed the SRI Green Telepresence Surgery system. This system underwent extensive redesign and was reintroduced as the Da Vinci (one of the world most used surgical assisted device today. ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One year later C omputer Motion put the Zeus system into production   Robotic surgery today has certainly come a long way. The surgical procedure is similar to when it was first developed but more advanced in terms of the many procedures that robots can assist with.The device as we know it today is equipped with cameras and enhanced visual effects, to allow doctors the option of getting inside the body through tiny incisions and reparing what ever is necessary to be repared. The surgical procedure that I underwent conventionally is done by a surgeon making an eight to ten inch cut at the bottom of my stomach (very similar to the cut a woman gets when delivering a baby). I was hospitalized for three days and was given pain medication around the clock. Dr.Thad Denehy, MD (my surgeon) advised me that Robots in the field of surgery have dramatically changed the procedure and that my greatest benefit to having the Robotic Surgery was less pain, less bleeding and less scaring. Since the machine uses cam eras and enhanced visual effects, doctors make smaller incisions. The Da Vinci and Zeus system each use â€Å"arms† to operate. In order for these arms to get inside the body and operate, the robot only requires a one centimeter incision to fit each arm. For my procedure it would have required   three tiny incisions on my abdomen.The cut would have been about   one centimeter in   length (a little less than a half of an inch) to fit the arms of the robot instead of a 20 inch cut (about 8 inches) at the bottom of my stomach. According to Dr. Denehy the advantage to having the robot assist surgical procedure would have been that I would get smaller cuts the smaller cuts. He explained that smaller cuts are better because a large incision would require more time to heal. Another potential great advantage from getting the robot assist surgery Dr. Denhey explained would be less blood loss.This would be good for patients who are anemic (low blood count) or for people with medi cal conditions that cause them to bleed easily. In my case Im anemic so I would benefit from this procedure. With less blood loss and smaller incisions the the Dr. went on to advise me that would be less than half the recovery time of conventional surgery. Two weeks to full recovery instead of eight weeks to full recovery. This could be a determining factor for many people. a person who don’t have the luxury of staying out of work for more than eight weeks would be back to work in some cases as early as one week.According to Dr. Denehy the larger the cut the more trauma it cause to a persons body and the risk of getting an infection is high. Though Dr. Denehyy had such wonderful things to say about Robotic surgery I still wast convinced. One major disadvantage for me was the amount of experience he had with using the Robot assist device. He had only performed 32 surgeries using this machine while with the conventional surgery he had performed over 2000. I was very concerned a bout his experience level with this machine. This surgeon was recommended to me by two other doctors. According to Dr.Wai (One of my regular gynecologist) during my exam (before going to see Dr. Denhey) Dr. Denhey was the best surgeon in her opinion to remove my tumor. I was very freigtened that the best qualified doctor for the job only did this procedure 32 times with the robot that offered so many promises. In my research I learned that since robotic surgical procedure is a new technology   its uses and efficacy have not yet been well established (Anthony R. Lanfranco, BAS, Andres E. Castellanos, MD, Jaydev P. Desai, PhD,*† Ã‚   William C. Meyers, MD   (2011). I spoke with two surgions new in the field (Dr.Steven Choe, MD and Dr. Poovendran, Saththasivam, MD. to see if maybe Dr. Denehy experience level was due to him being an older surgeon. I was very surprised to learn that both new doctors had never used this equipment. I was told by both physicians that it wasnâ€℠¢t mandatory to learn how to use the machine but since the hospital had just purchased the machine they were both going to get training for using this machine. Surgeons start out their careers without learning about the robots initially. It is not mandatory for them to learn how to use the machine. This made me think of another disadvantage.What would happen if the surgeon performing the surgery become ill and need assistance. Who would jump in and assist him with the procedure ? If all surgions arnt on the same page with knowing how to use the machine Im not sure if this surgery is a benefit at all. As a patient I would be most confident knowing that if something should go wrong during the procedure with the health of my doctor another physicial in the vicinity of the hospital is ready and capable of jumping in and completing the procedure. According to Dr. many surgions still lack the skills of working with the surgical robot.Another disadvantage was that to date, most of the stud ies that have been done for the surgical robots has been of practicality of the equipment . The researchers of the technology haven’t done any follow up studies to date on a long-term period. At leart thatwas what my surgeon advised me during my consutation. I also learned that many procedures performed with the robotic surgical device will also soon be redesigned to optimize the use of robotic arms and increase efficiency. This is great for a patient looking to have a procedure done in the future but not so great for a patient waiting to have a procedure done today.Many of the disadvantages seem to be projects that can all go away with time and experience it see very likely that many disadvantages be remedied in the future( Anthony R. Lanfranco, BAS, Andres E. Castellanos, MD, Jaydev P. Desai, PhD,*† Ã‚   William C. Meyers, MD 2011) It became clear to me that though this technology offer many advantages there are some disadvantages that really concerns me. One of them b eing that because this equipment requires a surgeon to move the instruments while watching a video monitor potentially a lot could go wrong.Robot assist surgeries requires the surgeon to move in the opposite direction from the target on the monitor. If the surgeon becomes tired and forgets that he is to be moving in the opposite direction he or she can cause major damages. In order for this to work correctly it require a lot of hand eye coordination and great hand and finger dexterity. The idea that this procedure is done through the eyes and fingers of a human being, lead me to believe that this type of procedure is not safety proof.Perhaps even more important than the probability of a fault is the ability to detect that a fault has indeed occurred and prevent hazards resulting from it, that is, allow the robot to â€Å"fail safely†. This usually involves shutting the robot down and removing it from the patient, and having the operation manually completed by a surgeon. As th e task which the robot undertakes becomes more and more complicated, there is an increasing need for more complex hardware and software components (faster response, better accuracy, more degrees of freedom).This increases the probability of error exponentially. Software is notoriously difficult to reason about, while hardware reliability never ceases to be of prime importance. CONCLUSIONS Robotic surgery is rapidly making its way into the progression of surgical procedures as we know it today. Though the technology is fairly new it’s becoming the choice for surgery for both surgeon and patients. Many individuals still feel that they need time to completely trust theses machines and would probably consider it in a few more years.With the further use of this machine the pros will more than likely outweigh the cons. The more surgeons use this machine they will become more familiar with the different capabilities of Robotic Surgical devices. They will also figure out ways getter better trained and getting a lot of practice using the equipment. More studies will be done on the feasibility of the technology. Conventional Surgical techniques took thousands of years to develop to where it is today adding this new dimension to it will further expand and make better the many practices.People such as myself will take a second look at having the robot assist in with surgical procedures that involve myself and will probably be more excited about having to get smaller incisions and reduced recovery time for after surgery. References Brown University. (1999). Robotic surgery. Retrieved from http://biomed. brown. edu/Courses/BI108/BI108_2005_Groups/04/   Long, T. (2007, January 25). The robot cometh. Retrieved from http://www. wired. com/science/discoveries/news/2007/01/72500 Parmar, A. (2001). STRESS-FREE SURGERY. Siliconindia, 5(10), 44. Interview with Dr. DenehyInterview with  First year surgical resident at saint peters University Hospital Steven Choe Interview with first year sergical resident Povendran, saththasivam at saint peters university hospital Websites http://biomed. brown. edu/Courses/BI108/BI108_2008_Groups/group12/Roboticsurgery. html http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC1356187/ http://www. onlineschools. org/robotic-surgical-technology/ http://library. thinkquest. org/03oct/00760/ http://www. medscape. com/viewarticle/466691_5 Anthony R. Lanfranco, BAS, Andres E. Castellanos, MD, Jaydev P. Desai, PhD,*† Ã‚   William C. Meyers, MD SUMMARY

The Women of Colonial Latin America

The Book is rich with topics describing opportunities and challenges that shaped the lives of women in Latin America influenced by Spain and Portugal. Engagingly written by Socolow the book can be a very useful reference for teachers of Latin American Studies. The piece abounds with historical information covering effects of conquests, colonization, and settlement of colonial women. It looks into the various roles played by women stressing on their responsibilities and duties as well as their limitations.It gives light as to how factors like race, social status, occupation and environment among others affect women in every circumstance. I would say the piece is one whole powerful presentation. Socolow being a member of the gender in discussion gives weight to the whole intellectual experience. The book might have a different feel if it was written by a man. Socolow made sure that she started her book with an attention grabbing Introduction. I think everyone who has read would agree t hat it is very effective.It is very perceptive but not overly dramatic, it hands the reader all the needed information to the last detail but not to the point that it becomes dreary. The author can be likened to a professional cab driver – expertly maneuvering a vehicle full of passengers to an intended destination. Chapter One, Iberian Women in the Old World and the New is an interesting historical account of how key players in history changed women’s role across time.Chapter Two, Before Columbus: Women in Indigenous America and Africa is an enlightening and at the same time intriguing description of history. Chapter Three, Conquest and Colonization documents the hardships and brutality experienced by women during war. All the other Chapters namely Women, Marriage, and Family, Elite Women, The Brides of Christ and Other Religious Women, Women and Work, Women and Slavery, Women and Social Deviance: Crime, Witchcraft, and Rebellion, Women and Enlightenment Reform bear t he same keen observation and consistency of purpose.The book seems just historical at first but it has more than just historical information. I would say it is a must read – for those who wants to understand how the role of women evolve from early Spanish conquest to what it is presently. The author use easy and simple language that her ideas just flow from page to page. All in all – Socolow’s ‘The Women of Colonial Latin America: New Approaches to the Americas’ is a rich book that surely gets its reader’s hooked.

Aplastic Anemia Essays - Transplantation Medicine, Stem Cells

Aplastic Anemia Essays - Transplantation Medicine, Stem Cells Aplastic Anemia Aplastic anemia is a disease of the bone marrow? the organ that produces the body's blood cells. Approximately two thousand people in the U.S. are diagnosed each year with aplastic anemia. The symptoms of aplastic anemia are fatigue, bruising, infections, and weakness. Although these symptoms are much like those associated with leukemia, aplastic anemia is not a form of cancer. In patients with aplastic anemia the bone marrow stops producing, or produces too few red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Without sufficient red blood cells, oxygen cannot reach organs and tissues throughout the body. A decrease in the number of white blood cells causes the body's ability to fight infection as well as it should. Platelets are needed to help blood clot (Bone). Although the exact cause of aplastic anemia is not known, most evidence points to a combination of factors. The first factor is damaged stem cells. These are the primitive cells in the bone marrow that produce blood cells. Another factor is damage to the bone marrow environment in which blood cells develop (Aplastic). Other factors include abnormalities in the proteins that regulate blood cell production and a malfunctioning immune system that interferes with the normal blood cell production (Bone). Certain environmental factors have been associated with the development of aplastic anemia. Chemotherapy drugs such as busulfan or antibiotics such as chloraphenicol can cause temporary or prolonged aplastic anemia. Chemicals such as benzene and pesticides, infections such as viral hepatitis and mononucleosis, autoimmune disorders and ionizing radiation also have been linked to the development of aplastic anemia. Although exposure to these agents increases the risk of developing aplastic anemia, it is proven that they are not the sole cause of aplastic anemia (Aplastic). Aplastic anemia was once considered incurable. Today, more than fifty percent of patients diagnosed with aplastic anemia can be cured. For patients under the age of fifty and those over fifty that are in good health, the treatment of choice is a bone marrow transplant (National). However, more than half of the patients that are diagnosed are ineligible foe a bone marrow transplant because of age or the lack of a suitable bone marrow donor. For these patients, the preferred treatment is immunosuppressive therapy consisting of injections of antithymocyte globulin (ATG), with or without oral closporine. ATG therapy boosts the production of red blood cells, blood cells, and platelets in thirty to fifty percent of patients. In some cases, blood cell production returns to normal, while in others it returns to a level that allows the patient to have a normal lifestyle (Aplastic). Approximately ten to fifteen percent of patients who initially respond to ATG therapy have the disease relapse during the first twelve months following treatment. Another round of ATG therapy may be administered in an effort to bring blood cell production back to an acceptable level. Some patients who respond to ATG therapy eventually develop another bone marrow disorder such as myelogenous syndrome or acute nonmyelogenous leukemia. These disorders may be temporarily treatable, but are seldom curable. Overall, between thirty and forty percent of patients treated with ATG therapy become long term survivors and the majority of these long term survivors appear to be cured (Aplastic). Patients who have a relative with matching bone marrow have a seventy to ninety percent chance of being cured following a bone marrow transplant. Patients transplanted with marrow from a related donor whose marrow type nearly matches the patient's have a fifty percent chance of being cured. If marrow from a matched unrelated donor is used, the likelihood of a cure is twenty to thirty percent (Bone). Physicians determine whether a donor's marrow type matches the patient's by examining genetic markers on the surface of white blood cells called HLA antigens. These are the antigens that help the body identify invading organisms, and trigger an immune system attack on any substances that do not belong in that particular person's body, such as viruses and bacteria (Severe). If the patient's and donor's HLA antigens do not match, the patient's body will perceive the donor's bone marrow as foreign material to be destroyed. This condition is called graft rejection and results in a failed bone marrow transplant.

Dusicyon (Warrah) - Facts and Figures

Dusicyon (Warrah) - Facts and Figures Name: Dusicyon (Greek for foolish dog); pronounced DOO-sih-SIGH-on; also known as the Warrah Habitat: Falkland Islands Historical Epoch: Pleistocene-Modern (2 million-100 years ago) Size and Weight: About three feet long and 25 pounds Diet: Birds, insects and shellfish Distinguishing Characteristics: Small size; strange diet About Dusicyon (Warrah) Dusicyon, also known as the Warrah, is one of the most fascinating (and most obscure) animals to have gone extinct in modern times, certainly not anywhere as well-known as the Dodo Bird. Not only was Dusicyon the only prehistoric dog to live on the Falkland Islands (a few hundred miles off the coast of Argentina), but it was the only mammal, periodmeaning it preyed not on cats, rats or pigs, but birds, insects, and possibly even shellfish that washed up along the shore. Exactly how Dusicyon wound up on the Falklands is a bit of a mystery; the most likely scenario is that it hitched a ride with early human visitors from South America thousands of years ago. Dusicyon earned its amusing nameGreek for foolish dogbecause, like many animals restricted to island habitats, it didnt know enough to be afraid of the second wave of human settlers to the Falklands during the 17th century. The problem was, these settlers arrived with the intention of herding sheep, and thus felt compelled to hunt Dusicyon to extinction (the usual method: luring it near with a tasty piece of meat, and then clubbing it to death when it took the bait). The last Dusicyon individuals expired in 1876, only a few years after Charles Darwin had the opportunity to learn aboutand be puzzled bytheir existence.

Proposition paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Proposition paper - Essay Example nequality was not in decline; in fact, class inequality had made everyone become part and parcel of the struggle against the British crown (Young, 1999). To begin with, poverty had led to constant confrontations with the British as exemplified in the Boston massacre where British soldiers killed five men in a near riot situation. This riot inspired people like George Hewes to get involved in insurgent activities over the next three years including the Boston ‘Tea Party’. The enhancement of class inequality was also demonstrated in the life of George Hewes when he made shoes for poor people and had to compete with factories in Lynn that produced over 80,000 shoes a year (Young, 1999). In addition, he had to incur debts when he bought his attire for his wedding and would soon be in debt for ten years. This was compounded by the fact that his family had to stay with relatives because of extreme poverty. In such circumstances, it is plausible to argue that there was no decline of the class inequality in the revolutionary era (Young, 1999). The persistence of class inequality in America is demonstrated in its entirety by two significant factors that Alfred Young notes in his writings of George Hewes’ life. These are the revolutionary/ insurgency spirit, and the daily life of a common man (Young, 1999). To begin with, the development of an atmosphere of tension was not necessarily occasioned by hatred towards the British crown but towards the conditions of living which made people become ever more conscious about the inequalities they experienced. They had to compete with large factories in making common goods and had to endure low wages as demonstrated by the life of George Hewes living with relatives, being in debts because of clothes, and making shoes for a living. Additionally, the frustrations that were exerted on installations of the government and the capitalists such as the harassment of British soldiers in Kings Street in March 1770 and the destruction

The Effects of Technology On The Accounting Profession Essay

The Effects of Technology On The Accounting Profession - Essay Example Another useful technology is the automated manufacturing computer. With this form of technology, PCs gather and report data at the same time. The result is an operational data framework that completely incorporates producing with advertising and accounting information, expanding both the quality and timelessness of data (Warren, 1998). This definite data has been of importance in accounting, permitting the accountants to create action based costing frameworks. These new costing frameworks permit accountants to assign overhead more productively. These frameworks can likewise recognize non-value added expenses giving cost accountants a chance to change them to value added expenses (Warren, 1998).Another innovation that is having an incredible impact on the accountant profession is Wi-Fi innovation. Presently, accountants can be on the inverse sides of the nation and deal with the same issues without either being on same location due to the advances of Wi-Fi innovation. Accountants can transfer data and reports from anyplace in the country regardless of the length. Types of Software Used To Improve the Accounting ProcessesEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP) SystemsThis is software that incorporates distinctive divisions in the association into the same framework. This makes information accessible differently and backings exercises between the distinctive divisions. The data is made accessible through a typical focal database and imparted through practical ranges, for example (Laudon & Laudon,   2006).