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MAE 454 – Machine Design and Manufacturing Chapter Project – Rapid Prototyping and

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MAE 454 – Machine Design and Manufacturing Chapter Project – Rapid Prototyping and.

i need do Option 2Option 2 – Research additive manufacturing. Identify different additive manufacturing techniques and the physical characteristics (resolution size, material types, largest dimensions/volumes that can be made), machine costs, material/operational costs for each technique. Provide an assessment where additive manufacturing and conventional machining techniques are advantageous over one another. The length of the report of option 2 should be at least two pages using one and half spacing, 12 point font, with 1” margins. Your name(s) and references are not included with the length requirements. You may work with another person or you may submit the assignment individually.
MAE 454 – Machine Design and Manufacturing Chapter Project – Rapid Prototyping and

Site Directed Mutagenesis of Subtilisin. Introduction Subtilisin is a monomeric protein serine protease, which is produced by Gram positive bacteria and fungi.(1) Serine proteases are a subgroup of carbonyl hydrolase. These carbonyl hydrolases can be naturally occurring or recombinant. Naturally occurring carbonyl hydrolases consists of subtilisin matalloproteases, serine carboxypeptidase and thiol proteinase. In case of recombinant carbonyl hydrolase, the sequence coding for the wild type enzyme is altered to produce a mutant either by insertion, substitution or deletion of amino acid. Proteases are a diverse class of enzymes having several biological functions and specificities. The catalytic machinery of these enzymes is attributed to subtilisin and mammalian chymotrypsin related bacterial serine protease.(2) They are responsible for cleaving peptide bonds found in proteins. The proteases play an important role in cell wall turnover and are maximally expressed in the stationary phase. Serine proteases have molecular weights ranging from 25,000-30,000. They are inhibited by diidopropylfluorophosphate but are resistant to EDTA ( ethylene diamaine tetra acetic acid.) (3) The amino acid sequences of several subtilisins like subtilisin Carlsberg, subtilisin BPN, and subtilisin DY are known. Subtilisin BPN is a 275 amino acid serine protease, which is secreted by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. This enzyme is industrially important and its gene has been cloned and expressed in Bacillus subtilis. This molecule has two enzyme binding sites- one of the site binds weakly to cations and the other one binds calcium with high affinity. These calcium binding sites are common characteristics of microbial proteases since they contribute towards kinetic and thermodynamic stability. Subtilisin is majorly used in industries wherein the environment contains high levels of metal chelators which remove the calcium from subtilisin , thus reducing its stability. It would be highly beneficial to create a stable subtilisin which would be independent of calcium. These mutated subtilisin enzymes will have an enhanced stability even in the presence of detergents and chaotropic agents. X-ray crystallographic analysis of mutants revealed that the conformational changes due to the mutations are localized, with very less distortion of the backbone structure. Thus a large increase in stability can be obtained with very minor changes in the protein structure. Mutants can be created by deletion, addition or substitution of amino acids at positions 75-83. The deletion of amino acids 75-83 has shown to eliminate the calcium binding site while still retaining its enzymatic activity. However, calcium free subtilisins are susceptible to proteolysis. This can be overcome by converting the active site serine 221 to cysteine (S221C). This allows the protein to fold without any auto-degradation by proteolysis. A recombinant DNA was created which encoded an active subtilisin protein without the ability to bind to calcium. The protein had no codons which specifies amino acids 75-83 and had certain additional stabilizing mutations at the N-terminal amino acids 1-8 or the α helix amino acids 70-74 or the helix turn amino acids 84-89. Suitable host cells were transformed with an expression vector containing this DNA segment. Upon culturing the host cells the enzymatically active subtilisin mutant was expressed and recovered.(1) Fabric cleaning compositions containing subtilisin BPN mutants The ability to hydrolyze proteins can be exploited by incorporating these proteases as an additive to laundry detergents. Most of the stains on clothes are proteinaceous and these enzymes can efficiently aid in their removal. The amino acid sequence of the protease is responsible for its characteristics. The subtilisin BPN variants have modifications at 2-3 amino acid positions. This variant has an increased hydrolytic power and decreased adsorption to an insoluble substrate as compared to the original subtilisin. A decreased adsorption to the substrate results in a better cleaning performance. In subtilisin BPN, the amino acids ranging from position 199-220 form a large exterior loop on the molecule. This loop plays an important role in mediating the adsorption of enzyme to the surface bound peptide and mutations in this region will affect the adsorption. The substituting amino acids in case of a mutation are either neutral or negatively charged. The substituting amino acid for position 199 is mostly His, Ala, Cys, Pro, Glu, Asp, Gly, Asn or Gln and for position 207 is Glu or Asp. The cleaning compositions comprise of 0.001-1% of one or more enzyme variants. The enzyme variants can be used along with other conventional ingredients to produce efficient fabric laundry composition. These fabric cleaning compositions also contain various zwitterionic or anionic surfactants, hydrotopes, dyes or pigments, primary or secondary alcohols, chelating agents and brighteners. Fermentation: The Bacillus subtilis cells having the subtilisin mutant are allowed to grow till mid log phase in LB glucose broth and is then inoculated into a fermentor. The cells are grown overnight at 37ËšC. Chloramphenicol is added for the antibiotic selection of mutagenized plasmid. The cells are removed from the broth by centrifugation The enzyme is purified by affinity adsorption or cation exchange chromatography. The active enzyme concentration is determined by the pNA assay. ( para nitro anilide) This assay measures the rate at which pNA is released as the enzyme hydrolyses the substrate. The rate at which the yellow colour is produced is measured at 410nm with the help of a spectrophotometer and is directly proportional to the enzyme concentration. The total protein concentration can also be estimated by determining the absorbance at 280nm. (4) Production of subtilisin variants Techniques used in microbiology, molecular biology, protein purification and recombinant DNA technology are all used in developing a subtilisin variant, which is a part of dish washing and fabric cleaning compositions. Cassette mutagenesis method for production of protease variants The gene encoding the protease is sequenced The sequence is screened for a point at which desired mutation can be made The sequences flanking this region are checked for the presence of restriction enzyme site so as to replace a short segment of the gene with an oligonucleotide which will then encode various mutants. The gene is mutated by primer extension The oligonucleotides are synthesized to have the same restriction sites, eliminating the need for synthetic linkers to create the restriction site. The genes coding for serine proteases of B.amyloliquefaciens, B.subtilis and B.licheniformis can be used as targets for mutagenesis. The gene can be inserted into a suitable vector and introduced into a host strain ( Bacillus PB92) for expression and production of mutant proteases. These mutations / substitutions enhance the performance and stability of subtilisin in detergent compositions. These serine proteases can be used in the form of granules and liquid composition both in laundry dishwashing and cosmetic applications. These enzymes are often in the form of encapsulated particles in order to protect it from the other components. Encapsulation also improves the enzyme performance and helps in regulating its availability. The encapsulating material can be derived from carbohydrates, silicates, polyvinyl alcohol, borates, PEG or paraffin waxes. Fabric cleaning performance by Blood Milk Ink microswatch assay. (BWI) This assay is performed on a microtitre plate. Samples of the subtilisin variants and reference subtilisin are obtained from filtered culture broths. 10ul samples of the enzyme are added to the BWI swatch plate along with 90ul of working detergent solution. The plates are incubated for 30 minutes. 100ul of the supernatant is transferred into a new microtiter plate and its absorbance is measured. Control wells contain the detergent solution without the protease sample. The measurement at 450nm tracks pigment removal and at 600nm tracks turbidity and cleaning. The performance index (PI) of the variant is calculated. PI compares the performance of variant and reference enzyme at the same protein concentration. PI>1 the variant is better than the wild type. PI=1 variant and standard have the same performance PI<1 the standard performs better than the variant (5) Producing mutations in subtilisin genes Cloning the subtilisin gene The gene for subtilisin is cloned from any fungus or Gram positive bacteria. The subtilisin producing clones can be identified by introducing fragments of genomic DNA into an expression vector. They are then used to transform protease negative bacteria. The cells are plated on a media containing skim milk ( substrate for subtilisin.) The colonies producing subtilisin will be surrounded by clear agar due to the digestion of the skim milk by the secreted subtilisin. Generation of random mutations Mutations can be introduced into the gene by nitrous acid, sodium bisulphite or by replicating in a mutator strain of E.coli. In mutagenesis by nitrous acid, the coding region of subtilisin gene is cloned in M13 phage. A single stranded phage DNA is prepared and made to react with 1M nitrous acid ( pH 4.3 ) for around 15-60 minutes at 23ËšC or 1-5 minutes with 2.4 M formic acid at 23ËšC. After mutagenesis, a primer is annealed to the DNA and the double stranded molecule is synthesized. Expression of the mutants The mutated gene can be expressed in an expression vector. Screening of mutants The transformed B.subtilis are cultivated in the presence of a nitrocellulose filter paper. The secreted enzyme binds to it and can be identified by subjecting it to certain conditions which will help in differentiating the expression of the mutant product from the wild type product. For instance, the product can be treated under conditions that would inactivate the wild type enzyme. Therefore a preserved enzyme activity after this treatment indicates that the mutation conferred an enhanced stability on the enzyme. (3) Mutant type subtilisin YaB and its applications The subtilisin YaB mutanats are created by substituting the glycine residues at positions 124, 151 and 159 with other amino acids by site directed mutagenesis. The mutants have a higher casein hydrolyzing activity and an improved substrate specificity. They can be used for quality improvement of meat and other foodstuff. The ale gene encoding subtilisin YaB is carried by an expression vector like pUC, pBR or pET. Site directed mutagenesis of this sequence is carried out by PCR technique. The initial codon of ale was mutated from TTG to ATG. The plasmid with the wild type and mutant ale genes are then used to transform suitable host cells like Bacillus, E. coli or S. cerevisiae and expressed. The protein is isolated and purified by acetone precipitation or histamine affinity chromatography. Elastin is a protein which is present in the arteris and dermis of vertebrates. It is insoluble in water and is difficult to hydrolyze by ordinary proteases. Subtilisin YaB, originally known as alkaline elastase, is an extracellular protease secreted by Bacillus YaB. Bacillus YaB is an aerobic, rod shaped Gram positive bacterium. It is highly hydrolytic for collagen and elastin. At a pH lower than its isoelectric point (10.6) , it has high binding affinity to elastin. The enzyme has substrate specificity for small amino acids like glycine and alanine which constitute 50-60% of the elastin protein. The optimal reaction pH of the enzyme is 11.75, whereas that of the other subtilisins is around 9-10.5. Meat like pork, beef, chicken consists of connective tissues containing collagen and elastin. Meat tenderizers which are commercially available contain plant proteases like papain. However the substrate specificity of papain is very low and proteins like myosin and actin can also get hydrolyzed which will detoriate the taste of the meat. Subtilisin YaB mutants efficiently hydrolyze elastin and collagen and retains the good taste. (6) Other applications of mutant proteases Mutant proteases have important features that make them suitable for several applications. Enhanced oxidative stability, thermal stability and chelating stability are certain properties which make them ideal for use in cleaning compositions. They are also used for cleaning contact lenses. They are utilized for waste treatment, peptide hydrolysis, cleaning of medical devices, several textile applications and in cleaning compositions for oral care, hair and skin care. Proteases are part of the composition used for treatment of wool or silk. The wool fibres or animal hair are subjected to pre-treatment with these proteolytic enzymes for enhancing their overall properties which is then followed by the plasma treatment. The mutant proteases are used for processing skin or hides into leather. Hides and skins are brought to the tanneries in the form of dry or salted hides. The processing involves several steps like soaking, unhairing and bating. The enzymatic treatment with protease can be done anytime during these steps. (7) Conclusion Site Directed Mutagenesis of Subtilisin
Writer’s Choice Essay. 1) Explain what you think is going on in the anti-vaccination movement that is underway around the world. How should we evaluate the conflicting claim that vaccines are not safe? How should we regard the claims of medical experts that vaccines are safe? How does our personal experience (or lack of personal experience with the diseases vaccines prevent) play into the controversy? 2)Why do you think there is still so much hesitation to get vaccinated against a disease that has hobbled the entire planet for over a year? What are the conflicting claims? How should we regard the claims that the vaccines are not safe? Should we trust the medical community to ensure that vaccines are safe?Writer’s Choice Essay

“On Writing the History of Violence” by Henry David Thoreau Essay

American society has often been regarded as an example of democratic values. Americans are proud of the societal system where the rights of people are respected and secured by the government. However, American history includes a variety of controversial periods. The first part of the nineteenth century is an illustration of one of the most controversial periods in the history of the USA. On the one hand, people’s rights were secured by the government and constitution of the country. On the other hand, slavery (which can hardly exist in a democratic society) was a legalized part of the state’s economy. Of course, many people understood that slavery could not exist any longer. Many strived for abolition of slavery. Some even called for civil disobedience or even revolution to change the situation. Henry David Thoreau was one of such people and he revealed his viewpoints in his famous essay “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience”.[1] However, Thoreau’s opinion concerning justification of violence and certain forms of civil disobedience is unacceptable as civil disobedience can result in many deaths and devastation. Notably, Thoreau reveals many wrongs of the American society in his essay and he claims that the major vice of the society was slavery which could not exist in the industrialized and democratic society.[2] Thoreau stressed that it was a complete guilt of the US government which was totally responsible for injustice in the society, “I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave’s government also”.[3] The author accused politicians of abusing power and simply focusing on other issues. Thoreau also believed it was impossible to achieve the major goal and make politicians abolish slavery by constitutional ways. He claimed that only drastic changes in the society could lead to a better state. For instance, he justified such means as refusal to pay taxes[4]. Thoreau claimed that it was inappropriate to support the state where slavery is the basis of economy. He also noted that revolution could be necessary to stop the wrongs of the American society. Admittedly, Thoreau’s viewpoint concerning the vicious ways of the American society was correct, but he was too radical when he considered the possibility to use violence to fight the wrongs. Thus, he stressed that revolution was acceptable in the society where slavery was constitutional. He noted that violence could be acceptable if the government as well as the society accepted slavery as a norm. In other words, he stated that violence caused by revolution was justified by the violence associated with slavery.[5] Nonetheless, revolution was still a very radical tool to use. Cleves analyzes the outcomes of the French Revolution and notes that it caused a lot of destruction which was difficult to surmount.[6] Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More The French Revolution did bring a lot of changes for better. However, it also made people forget about peaceful ways of struggle. The French Revolution cannot be regarded as an event that happened in 1793.[7] France was in a great turmoil for years to come. It caused a lot of devastation. This was a very high price to pay for the new order. Thoreau claimed that constitutional tools were ineffective as the government was quite corrupted. The only way to change the government’s ways was to destroy the order established which could result in the creation of a new better government.[8] Again, the price is too high. Thousands should not die to make politicians think differently and try to address really important issues. Violence always leads to more violence. Therefore, even if people had managed to use violence against the government, it would have led to a revolution and bloodsheds. Thoreau also suggested that people did not pay taxes and in that way expressed their protest.[9] Nonetheless, this could have led to violence against citizens. Refusal to pay taxes is regarded as a crime against the state itself. Of course, refusal to pay taxes inevitably leads to revolution or war as the government has the army that could be used against people. Again, this type of civil disobedience suggested by Thoreau could have led to revolution. However, constitutional means are not that ineffective. Of course, they require more time and more effort. Nonetheless, trying to persuade people to see the wrongs is not such an impossible affair. Dedicated people can start campaigns and speak to different people. There are many ways to speak to people’s hearts. Even slavery could have been abolished without bloodsheds if people had been more patient. Constitutional tools could have been effective. First, even though some people did not want to think of the ethical and moral sides of the issue, people could have considered economic benefits of slavery abolition. Besides, the US government could have raised taxes for slaveholders. Admittedly, industrial society could not ‘co-exist’ with slavery. To sum up, it is possible to note that Thoreau’s opinion that violent measures could be the only tools to fight the wrongs in the society is quite wrongful as constitutional ways can also be efficient. Thus, even if the government is corrupted people can choose new representatives and people’s will triumph. We will write a custom Essay on “On Writing the History of Violence” by Henry David Thoreau specifically for you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Bibliography Cleves, Rachel Hope. “On Writing the History of Violence.” Journal of the Early Republic 24, no. 4 (2004): 641-665. Thoreau, Henry David. “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.” The Project Gutenberg. Web. Footnotes . Henry David Thoreau, “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” The Project Gutenberg. . Ibid. . Ibid. . Henry David Thoreau, “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” The Project Gutenberg. . Ibid. . Rachel Hope Cleves, “On Writing the History of Violence,” Journal of the Early Republic 24, no. 4 (2004): 642. . Ibid. . Henry David Thoreau, “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” The Project Gutenberg. . Henry David Thoreau, “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” The Project Gutenberg.

Panera Bread Business Case Study

help writing Table of Contents Company Background SWOT Analysis Strategies to attack major problems faced by Panera Bread Strategy that works Implementation of the strategy Conclusion/Evaluation of Strategy’s success Works Cited Company Background Founded in 1981 by Ron Shaich and Louis Kane, the famous Panera Bread Company started operating under the brand name Au Bon Pain Co. Inc. It first grew along the United States’ east coast before it was internationalized between early 1980’s to 1990’s. This immense growth had the implication of making the company a dominant business operator in the category of bakery-cafe. In 1993, Au Bon Pain Co. Inc. bought St.Louis Bread Company. At the time of this acquiring, St.Louis Bread Company had 20 bakery cafes. In 1993 to 1997, the company recorded an increment of 75 percent in its mean unit volumes. This prompted the alteration of the brand name from Au Bon Pain Co. Inc. to Panera Bread Company. In 1997, the Panera Bread Company recognized its capacity for growth to become a leading bread maker in the United States. However, to achieve this noble potential, heavy investment of monetary resources was required. Indeed, in 1999, the company completed a transaction involving a sale of the business units of Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. only remaining with those of the Panera Bread Company. With regard to Panera Bread, after the completion of this transaction, “the company’s stock has grown thirteen-fold, and over $1 billion shareholder value has been created” (Para. 5). The company acquired the title of the best performer under the category of restaurants with 1, 5, and 10-year shareholders’ returns. Later, in 2007, Panera Bread Company also purchased paradise bakery and cafe. As Panera Bread points out, “in March 2012, the company announced that Bill Moreton and Ron Shaich would both assume the roles of chief executive officers” (Para. 2). Currently, Shaich acts as the co-CEO and the chairperson of the board of directors. On the other hand, Bill Moreton is the co-CEO and the president of Panera Bread Company. As at September 2012, the company had established business presence in 44 states where it operated 1,625 bakeries. SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis involves strategic planning approaches engineered to evaluate strengths, limitations, and opportunities without negating threats that businesses face in their operation environment. Strengths are the traits that make it possible for an organization to have an advantage in comparison to other organizations. Get your 100% original paper on any topic done in as little as 3 hours Learn More For the case of Panera Bread Company, the strengths include appealing and attractive food menus that comprise a variety of products from which customers can choose. According to Panera Bread Company Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, these products include “fresh baked goods, made-to-order sandwiches on freshly baked breads, soups, salads, custom roasted coffees, and other complementary products” (10). Due to the company’s strong financial position, it has managed to invest in cozy cafes, which create a smoothing environment for the customers. This has the impact of making the company build a strong customers’ experience. The strength is implied in the company’s statement of goals, missions, and aims in which it stipulates that the central goal is to ensure that Panera Bread Company is the first choice of all customers who crave for sandwiches, soup, and salads. In addition to these strengths, the company has an enormous distribution ability covering a large geographic area (44 states as of Septembers 2012). It has products having relatively better quality while compared to its competitors. It has differentiated its services with the rival companies besides accumulating customers’ beliefs that the company stocks fresh breads. Besides, it has developed a powerful and winning business strategy. Amid the above-cited strengths, Panera Bread Company encounters some weaknesses. These include the traits of Panera Bread Company that place it at a disadvantage in comparison with rival companies operating in the same industry. One of the weaknesses is the heavy investments in bread centric line of business, which means that Panera Bread Company has a narrow product line. Other weaknesses are higher prices at the company-owned stores in comparison to the franchises, declining customer service, and customer preferences. In particular, alterations of preferences and customer tastes may make them consider opting for buying more nutritious food items in other restaurants. Contextualization of this weakness introduces some chances that the company may consider as existing external chances, which, while utilized, may make it improve its performance. They include international expansions and opening of new outlets to tap the growth potential within the suburban markets. We will write a custom Case Study on Panera Bread Business specifically for you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The fact that the company has a weakness of narrow product line introduces an opportunity for introduction of new items in the product line. On the other hand, Panera Bread Company encounters external chances that impair its performance. These are threats to the operation of the company. They include lawsuits, government regulations, and competition from rival companies such as Sturbucks and Mc Donald among other local and international restaurants offering fast foods. In the context of lawsuits and drawing from Panera Bread Company Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, the company admits that it is “subjected to other routine legal proceedings, claims, and litigations in the ordinary course of its business” (10). This requires heavy commitment of financial resources and management attention. Saturation of the market creates another incredible threat. The company would encounter challenges in getting strategic places for opening new outlets consistent with its strategic plan of enhancing profitability through rapid expansion. Strategies to attack major problems faced by Panera Bread Panera Bread Company encounters several problems in the derivation of its strategic plans to enhance a continuous growth in an environment that is saturated by a variety of companies offering similar or substitute products. One of the problems of the company is that it offers products in its company-owned stores at prices that are higher than the franchises. A significant reason for these differences is the need to gain higher profit margins to cater for the costs of running the business-associated issues that are extrinsic from the control of the company such as the cost of settlement of lawsuits filed against the company by past employees. For instance, in 2009, Nick Sotoudeh filed a case costing the company 5 million dollars in its settlement (Panera Bread Company Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q 2 4). In 2010, Corey Weiner, Caroll Ruiz, and Denarius Lewis filed another case against the company costing 1.5 million dollars in its resolution (Panera Bread Company Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q 2 4). To meet this cost to ensure that Panera Bread Company is able to offer bread at its own stores at competitive prices, it is crucial that the company results to intensive growth. On the positive side, growth is vital since it will provide the necessary economies of scale. This means that the company will remain profitable amid making small profit margins for every product sold. The negative side of this strategic move qualifies as a technique of enhancing growth such as forming joint ventures with other big competitors such as McDonald who will deprive the company of its executive control power. Panera Bread Company is likely to experience the problem of reduced profitability due to narrow product lines. To resolve this problem, it is crucial that it focuses on widening its product lines. Not sure if you can write a paper on Panera Bread Business by yourself? We can help you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This strategic move will, on the positive side, help in drawing more customers to its stores. Hence, the revenue will also hike. On the other hand, the strategic move will increase the logistical costs and other costs associated with service delivery at the stores. Therefore, under certain circumstances, increment in revenues would be outweighed by the resulting additional costs. Somewhat different from the above two strategic moves, to address the challenge of how to increase revenues, the company can resolve to recruit more franchises besides opening more stores that are company-owned. On the positive end, this would increase revenues. On the other hand, increasing the number of company-owned stores would truncate into recruiting more staff, a case that increases the risk of experiencing more employees’ filed lawsuits. Another strategy that has not perhaps been considered by the company is focusing on extending its services away from America and Canada to other continents of the world. On the positive side, this would increase the sales of the company since being global implies meeting new fresh markets in which the company can develop products consistent with the demand requirements. Unfortunately, the option would expose the company to different political, legal, and cultural environments. Consequently, Panera Bread Company would have to change some of its practices to match the new demand. For instance, there might be a conflict between the accounting standards. The company deploys the U.S’ GAAP, which might contradict the national generally accepted accounting principles of the new nations in the global space. Strategy that works With the current financial and business environment of the Panera Bread, the best option for dealing with the challenge of the need to increase profitability of the company is via recruitment of more franchises besides opening company- owned stores within Canada and America. Hence, I would open 300 new company-owned stores and franchises at the first phase of expansion of Panera Bread Company. The rationale for this strategy is based on the argument that, as evidenced by the estimations of good will in its balance sheet, the company has an immense market value. Additionally, in comparison to potential competing companies, Panera Bread Company has an incredible market position by virtue of its strengths. However, as argued before, the market is highly saturated with restaurants. Hence, there is a dominant challenge of acquiring buildings in strategic places within many cities where the company may consider as having the requisite market segment it targets. Additionally, at the entry level, many of these competing restaurants have the will and ability to pose competitive challenges to the company at the new franchises and or company-owned stores since they will have secured their market share. However, given the brand image and the quality of products and services offered by Panera Bread, the company has probabilities of getting some of this market share to build the clientele level at the new stores and franchises. The claim holds especially when it invests to improve its service delivery experience to levels above those of the existing restaurants in the new markets. Utilizing the strategy of growth through recruitment of more franchises and company-owned stores is particularly significant in enhancing Panera Bread Company’s competitive position since it will make it develop the capacity to take a full advantage of the economies of scale. At the current size of Panera Bread Company, attempts to exploit the markets of all continents of the world are found unworthy due to many standards and legal compliance issues, which go into adding the cost of running the company. Implementation of the strategy In the implementation of the strategy of recruiting more franchises and opening of new company-operated stores, several considerations are vital before the implementation process kicks off. In the first place, this strategy needs financing. It is thus vital to consider whether the financial position of the company and the anticipated incomes can support the strategy. If not, it is critical to consider whether there are alternative sources of finance. Fortunately, with regard to Panera Bread Annual Report on Form 10-K, the company charges a “franchise fee of $35,000 per bakery-cafe (of which it generally receives $5,000 at the signing of the ADA and $30,000 at or before the bakery-cafe opening)” (4). By noting that Panera Bread Company does not support the construction of the franchises, the money raised through the fees is utilizable in opening of the additional company-owned stores. According to Panera Bread Annual Report on Form 10-K, the company also has accessibility to a loan facility of 250 million dollars as an additional source of capital (3). Similar to the old food dealers like Mc Donald, the implementation of the strategy proposed above means the focus would entail opening a store or franchise and then waiting for the customer to do the purchasing. Based on the experience he or she gains with the product, he or she becomes loyal and hence a regular customer. Therefore, the strategy is customer-centric. For the success of such a strategy, it is crucial that an organization possesses the capability to penetrate new markets. It should develop services and products, which create an immense appeal to the customers besides possessing the capacity to offer outstanding customer services (Wheelen and Hunger 851). Fortunately, these are some of the strengths of Panera Bread Company. With these strengths, the challenges in the implementation process rests in the development of customer-centric growth strategies in the new company-owned stores and franchises. I would accomplish the implementation of the strategy from three customer-centric paradigms. These are identification of core business, creation of propositions that have high value and impacts, and focusing on businesses that are highly linked to the core business of the company. Determination of the core business of the new stores starts with the identification of the core business that will be conducted in the stores and the franchises. In other words, expansion through the opening of new stores and franchises is not done blindly but rather with considerations of geographic areas and channels that would help to generate the highest amount of revenues. Therefore, before the company’s financial resources are committed to opening and subsequent running of the stores, profitability benchmarking and evaluation of the reputation of the company within the new geographical areas are necessary. In this approach, the stakeholders of the company are fully involved in the implementation process. Some of the stakeholders that I would include are non-loyal and loyal customers of the existing stores. The views of the loyal customers on why they embrace the products of the company are critical success factors of the strategy implementation. They would help in incorporating the attributes of the company that attract them in the new stores and franchises. On the other hand, the views of the disloyal customers create opportunities of establishing new stores that have improved customer service experience. This would help to avoid replication of the past mistakes in the new franchises and stores. Arguably, this step of implementation of the project involves planning and analysis stage. It would take six months and an estimated cost of $ 210, 000. The second implementation step is the creation of propositions that have high values and impacts on the sub-segments of the potential customers. Based on the results of the first step discussed above, sub-segmentation of the customers’ groups in the new franchises and stores based on the found needs and anticipated buying patterns coupled with the profit contributions of the forecasted sales are vital in setting of a mechanism of reaping most from the new markets. This mechanism encompasses creation and innovation of value propositions targeting the sub-segments that are likely to be most attractive. This step is followed by conducting a field test of the impacts of the propositions. Based on the results of the field tests, scaling up is done. This step of the implementation process of the strategy is the analysis phase of the project. It is anticipated to take about 3-31/2 months. Its budget is $1 million. Most of this money caters for the wage expenses of analysts and data collection staff. Lastly, there is a need to focus on businesses that are highly linked to the core business of the company. The need implies that, after conducting a number of field tests and analyzing the potential of the success of the growth strategy, the next course of action will be to channel the resources of the company to open stores and accept franchise requests in areas that are likely to have large clientele. The point here is that there is no need of investing in an area where no substantive sales can be made to make the stores break even in the shortest time possible. Thus, the idea is to open stores selectively depending on the competitiveness of the market segments and sub-segments. Conclusion/Evaluation of Strategy’s success Upon implementation of the growth strategy, it is crucial to evaluate its success capacity. In the context of the proposed strategy for solving the problems of the Panera Bread Company, success refers to the accomplishment of the predicted outcomes when the strategy is implemented. The desired outcome is the increment of the revenue levels of the new stores and franchises such that the stores would be able to break even in the shortest time possible. On the other hand, it is desired that the new franchises end up being profitable so that Panera Bread Company can get substantive royalties. Measuring success calls for the evaluation of the strategy on its capacity to realize the core objective of the company. Measuring success in the context of the strategy for growth of the Panera Bread Company takes six approaches. In the first place, the strategy is implemented within fixed timelines. Therefore, one of the measurable success factors is whether the various time schedules for the strategy implementation were accomplished within the set timeframes. The other success factor is the degree to which the scope of the growth strategy has been released. The original plan is to open 300 stores and franchises. Thus, success is measured in terms of the number of the new company-owned stores and franchises opened. Thirdly, the implementation of the strategy must be consistent with the set budget. Consequently, the degree of success of the strategy is measurable from the context of the degree to which the implemented strategy complies with the budget constraints. Fourthly, it was argued in the implementation section that the overall goal of the strategy is to focus on opening stores in regions that will attract large clientele only who would get loyalty based on the company’s products. Thus, success may be measured from the dimension of the degree of customers’ loyalty, which is measurable through customers’ satisfaction levels. Unfortunately, satisfaction is only measurable qualitatively (either happy or unhappy). A subtle strategy of organizational growth needs to reduce the weakness and threats of an organization within the new operational centers. For this purpose, SWOT analysis is vital in determining whether the threats and weaknesses of the old stores and franchises have been replicated in the new geographical locations of the Panera Bread company-owned stores and franchises. Lastly, the success of the strategy may be measured in terms of the improvements of service quality in the new company-owned stores and franchises. Therefore, the growth sort for Panera Bread Company is not only in terms of numbers of stores and franchises but also in terms of increased quality service delivery in every new company-owned store or franchise that opens. Measuring success this way is inspired by the argument that learning organizations stand better chances of success than those, which do not learn. Works Cited Panera Bread Annual Report on Form 10-K. Annual Report Pursuant To Section 13 Or 15(D) Of The Securities Exchange Act Of 1934 For The Fiscal Year Ended December 27, 2011. Web. Panera Bread Company Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Quarterly Report Pursuant To Section 13 Or 15(D) of the Securities Exchange Act Of 1934 For the quarterly period ended September 25, 2012. Web. Panera Bread. Company Overview. Web. Wheelen, Thomas, and David Hunger. Strategic Management and business policy. New Jersey, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.

Florida National University Clotrimazole Pharmacology Case Study

Florida National University Clotrimazole Pharmacology Case Study.

Ms. Jones brings 6-week-old Sam to the clinic because of a bright red rash in the diaper area that has gotten worse since she started putting over-the-counter antibiotic cream on it 3 days ago. Sam is diagnosed with diaper Candida or a yeast infection. Clotrimazole (Lotrimin) topical TID for 14 days to the diaper area has been prescribed.Briefly describe the therapeutic actions of Clotrimazole (Lotrimin).Develop a teaching plan for Ms. Jones including age-appropriate considerations for Sam.Submission Instructions:Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources. Your initial post is worth 8 points.
Florida National University Clotrimazole Pharmacology Case Study

Workplace Violence Protection Plan

Workplace Violence Protection Plan.

Assess your current or most recent place of employment. Identify potential workplace violence issues related to each of the following categories. Make sure to use your own example(s) for each category:Outside persons (i.e., A robber intent on stealing from your store)Customers or clients (i.e., A former student who arrives on campus to inflict harm)Employees (i.e., An employee that attacks a coworker)Outside person who has a direct connection with an employee (i.e., an ex-spouse intending on inflicting harm on the other ex-spouse)Create a 350-word contingency protection plan outline for each potential issue.Use the following template for each outline, creating as many headings and sub-headings as needed: I. Violence by Outside Persons (describe) A. Policy Statement 1. 2. B. Summary of Training (describe) 1. 2. II. Violence by Customers or ClientsInclude the following in each contingency plan:Policy Statement against this form of violence in the workplaceSummary of training for employees to prevent this type of violenceResponsibilities of managers and employees before, during, and after incidentCreate correctly formatted APA references and a title page, and include a minimum of three references.
Workplace Violence Protection Plan