The Botany of the Tobacco Plant

The Botany of the Tobacco Plant There are few activities more controversial than smoking tobacco. Smoking is clearly detrimental to human health, but there is little doubt that tobacco is a highly profitable plant species. Lets learn more about the plant itself, including its history, anatomy and physiology, growth habit plant types, and other potential uses. History and Background of Tobacco Nicotiana tabacum is the Latin name for tobacco. It belongs to the plant family Solanaceae, so, perhaps surprisingly, tobacco is botanically related to potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant! Tobacco is native to the Americas, and cultivation was thought to have begun as early as 6000 BCE. It is believed that leaf blades were wilted, dried, and rolled to make primitive cigars. Columbus noted Cuban natives smoking cigars when he discovered America, and in 1560, Jean Nicot, the French ambassador to Portugal, brought tobacco to England and France. Nicot made a fortune selling the plant to Europeans. Nicot also reportedly gifted tobacco to the queen of France to cure her headaches. (Did you notice that the Latin genus name for tobacco, Nicotiana, was named after Jean Nicot?) Anatomy and Physiology The cultivated tobacco plant normally grows to one or two feet high. The five flower petals are contained within a Corolla and can be colored white, yellow, pink, or red. The tobacco fruit (yes, tobacco bears fruit!) measures at 1.5 - 2 mm, and consists of a capsule containing two seeds. With the tobacco plant, however, it is the leaves that are the most economically important. The leaf blades are enormous, often growing to 20 inches long and 10 inches wide. The leaf shape can be ovate (egg-shaped), obcordate (heart-shaped) or elliptic (oval, but with a small point at one end). The leaves grow toward the base of the plant, and can be lobed or unlobed but are not separated into leaflets. On the stem, the leaves appear alternately, with one leaf per node along the stem. The leaves possess a distinct petiole. The underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy. Why are the tobacco leaves important? The leaves are the plant part containing the nicotine. However, the nicotine is manufactured in the plant roots, not the leaves! The nicotine is transported to the leaves via the xylem. Some species of Nicotiana are very high in nicotine content; Nicotiana rustica leaves, for example, can contain up to 18% nicotine. Growing Tobacco Plants Tobacco, a plant that is cultivated as an annual but is actually a perennial, is propagated by seed. The seeds are sown in beds; one ounce of seed in 100 square yards of soil can produce up to four acres of flue-cured tobacco, or up to three acres of burley tobacco. The plants grow for between six and ten weeks before the seedlings are transplanted into the fields. The plants are topped (their heads are cut off!) before the seed head develops, except for those plants that are used to produce next years seed. The reason the plant tops are removed when flowering begins is so all the plants energy goes to increase the size and the thickness of the leaves. The tobacco suckers (the flowering stalks and branches, which appear in response to the plant being topped) are removed so that only the large leaves are produced on the main stem. Because growers want the leaves to be large and lush, the tobacco plants are fertilized very heavily with nitrogen fertilizer. Cigar-wrapper tobacco, a staple of Connecticut agriculture, is produced under partial shade- resulting in thinner and less damaged leaves. Plants grow in the field for three to five months until harvest. The leaves are removed and purposely wilted in drying barns, and fermentation takes place during curing. Tobacco Types Several types of tobacco are grown, depending on their use: Fire-cured, used for snuff and chewing tobacco.Dark air-cured, used for chewing tobacco.Air-cured (Maryland) tobacco, used for cigarettes.Air-cured cigar tobaccos, used for cigar wrappers and fillers.Flue-cured, used for cigarette, pipe, and chewing tobacco.Burley (air-cured), used for cigarette, pipe, and chewing tobacco. Fire curing is basically what the name suggests; open fires are used so that the smoke can reach the leaves. The smoke makes the leaves darker colored and more distinctly flavored. No heat is used in air curing except to prevent mold. In flue curing, heat is applied in such a way that no smoke reaches the leaves hung in racks. Other Potential Uses What other possibilities are there for tobacco, as smoking rates have been vastly reduced over the last 20 years? Believe it or not, there is a possibility that tobacco oils can be used in biofuels. Also, researchers in India have patented an extract from tobacco called solansole, for use in several drug types.

Role and Value of Information to Todays Marketing Managers Essay

Role and Value of Information to Todays Marketing Managers - Essay Example According to Holland and Naude, the effectiveness of a marketing campaign should be evaluated on the basis of the relationships formed (Holland & Naude, 2004, 167). However, a Kotler asserts that information is very important to a marketing campaign. Therefore, he criticizes that marketing campaign should be assessed based on the information driven approaches that are used in the campaign (Kotler, 2005, 25). Information helps managers to identify and be acquainted with the latest trends in the market. The world of today is very diverse and market trends keep on changing depending on the level of innovation in the market. Markets that have highly innovative businesses will tend to have vast changes in their ways of operation. Therefore, a business located in such a market will need to be equipped with data about the latest trends in the market (Randall, 1993, 5). Therefore, information is very important in helping marketing managers to recognize changes in the market prices, product d esigns and packaging methods. Impact of Information Information in the current days has greatly changed due to use of current technology. For instance, promotional methods have improved due to technological advancement. Therefore, the way in which goods and services are advertised in the market has greatly changed. Managers should be aware of these changes so that they can make the right decisions concerning their marketing procedures. This is because; all business activities are also becoming more information intensive and thus, this also makes it easier to solve physical problems in the business (Holland & Naude, 2004, 168). However, Holland & Naude have been criticized that they do not analyze the whole market when giving out this report because; it is not all business activities that are information intensive in the market. There are other business activities which require very little information (Georgia State University, 2002, 11). Information in marketing has also changed to an extent that it facilitates the marketing plan and control of the organization. Unlike with the old marketing methods, currently marketing managers are able to plan in advance concerning their marketing strategies due to availability of information. The business is able to analyze the whole market effectively since; it will have collected full market information from its competitors (Holland & Naude, 2004, 170). Therefore, the business can use this information to ensure effective

Critique of an Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Critique of an - Article Example Moreover, the authors assert that customers may have a central role to play in the employee turnover in a firm, since satisfied clients may increase the likelihood of employee retention for a firm due to heightened job satisfaction. Slatten, Svensson and Sv?ri (2010: 213) found out that all other factors contributing to the rate of employee turnover are dependent on the employees’ perception of the quality of service that one is capable of providing. The study shows that employee perception acts as the link between antecedents of employee turnover (empowerment, coaching and clarity of one’s role at the workplace), and the consequence that is the likelihood of employees to leave a workplace for another one. The 1076 subjects of the study completed a self-interview questionnaire, all of whom were frontline employees for service firms in Norway (Slatten, Svensson and Sv?ri 2010: 211). The sample was selected by judgment sampling, as 52 percent of the sample was male; avera ge age was 32 years; 61.3 percent were permanently employed and working on a fulltime basis; 74.6 had lasted for approximately 6 years with their employer; and about half had achieved higher education. This sample is only appropriate for demonstration purposes as it is not representative of Norway’s service industry workforce; in addition, the sample size is small and not appropriate for generalization to the whole population (Grant and Cavanagh, 2004: 18). The authors should have adopted a random sample, mainly by a combination of a cluster sample and a systematic sample that is inclusive of all components of the service sector employee population, and is random enough to give each member of the population a chance to be picked in the sample. However, testing the questionnaires on 53 respondents before the study was a proper approach since the pilot study enabled them to identify limitations of the study before incurring financial and time expenses, and make modifications. M oreover, the use of a combination of questions from previous studies gave the authors an increased chance of making corrections on errors made in previous studies and improving on previous study techniques. The variables in this study are qualitative, including satisfaction, perceptions, needs and preferences; however, Slatten, Svensson and Sv?ri (2010: 211) used a seven point Likert-scale to give the qualitative information a quantitative aspect. This involves making numerous assumptions, including the obvious one of assuming that employees had the ability to assign numerical values to their feelings and perceptions (Karatepe and Uludag, 2008: 116). Consequently, the objectivity of the study is reduced as a result of the process of changing quality into quantity, as employees are not homogenous in their perceptions. In addition, there is little difference between the seven levels of Likert-scale, and employees are more likely to be biased in their analysis due to real or perceived differences between them as seen in Chiu et al. (2005: 486). This makes it impossible to generalize the results of the study to include different backgrounds, mainly due to the varied results that are likely since employee perceptions are dependent on a myriad of market factors (Richards, 2009). Slatten, Svensson

Columbus - Ohio Essay Example for Free

Columbus Ohio Essay Do helium filled footballs travel further than footballs filled with ordinary air? Two experiments were conducted by members of the media in Columbus, Ohio to investigate this question. The experiment conducted using two different footballs, one of which was filled with helium while the other was filled with ordinary air. Each football was kicked four times with the wind and four times against the wind. The results of this study seem striking, the lighter helium filled football went much farther when the wind was at the kickers back, but did not perform so well into the wind. The helium filled football traveled an average of ten yards farther with the wind and an average of five yards less against the wind than its air filled counterparts. This all came about in1993, Auburn University played Mississippi State University in football. Auburn was set up to punt the football. The football was kicked and eyed in disbelief as it sailed an estimated seventy one yards through the air. Shocked, Mississippi State coaches claimed the football was filled with helium in order to produce such a kick. The football was immediately seized by officials and was later tested to see if it had been filled with helium. No helium was found in the football. A single outlier could account for the observed differences. Observing differences in small scales studies are often attributable to chance, if there is considerable variability in the individual results. To determine if there is considerable variability in the data or if there are outliers, people would like to see the actual data. It is difficult to evaluate the results of a study of you are not given the actual date. We don’t know if any randomization was used in the study. One would want to control for difference in the footballs perhaps by using several footballs. Mostly all the kicker for both helium and air filled footballs show a lot of variability with greater variability with the helium filled football than the air filled footballs. They mentioned in the histogram that the pair of kicks comparing a given trial might be viewed as a matched pair. It is often valuable to examine the difference in the pair of values comprising the matched pair. It is hard to see that there is any marked advantage  to kicking a football filled with helium versus one filled with ordinary air. There is weak evidence of a slight advantage for the helium filled football. The results do not substantiate the study, which seem to suggest a much clearer advantage to the helium filled football. There does not seem to be much evidence that a helium filled football outperforms an air filled football. The knowledge could effect the way the kicker kicked the football, kicking the helium filled football more smoothly than the air filled ball when the wind was at his back, while lunging at the helium filled football when kicking into the wind. A smoother rhythm generally produces a longer kick. After hearing all the results, skeptics from The Columbus Dispatch decided to conduct their own experiment with help of a team of physicists and chemists from The Ohio State University, by doing this experiment they learned that the kicks for both the helium and the ordinary air filled footballs show a lot of variability with the helium filled football than the ordinary air filled football. In the histogram the distributions of both are slightly skewed to the left but do have a rough bell shape. The center of the helium filled football data seems a bit larger than that for the air filled football. The difference is small and the variability is the data makes it hard to assert that there is any marked advantage to kicking the helium filled football.

A Womans Role :: essays papers

A Womans Role According to Judeo-Christian tradition, divine edict clearly relegates women to a position of subservience beneath men, as expressed in the Genesis creation account. This idea of female servility has dominated Western culture for thousands of years with virtually no significant changes; only in the past several decades has the notion of male dominance lost wide-spread acceptance in America. Prior to this cultural shift, American ideology mandated that women dutifully obey their husbands and confine themselves to managing the home and raising children, thus depriving them of any power beyond the sphere of the home and rendering them dependent on their husbands. This mentality is especially apparent in the movie, The Sound of Music. In The Sound of Music, female characters are portrayed to be highly dependent upon men, a central aspect of the "traditional" woman's role. This is initially shown in the scene where Ralph and Liesl are singing and dancing in the gazebo. Liesl sings that she is "scared to face a world of men" and would like to depend on Ralph in order to alleviate her fear. Ralph acknowledges and accepts her submission, telling Liesl that since he is "older and wiser" he will take care of her. Liesl offers to submit herself to Ralph in accordance with her preconceived notion of male-female relationships, thus fulfilling her yearning of security in social normalcy. She is willing to become dependent upon Ralph and cross the threshold into traditional womanhood. Although she may wear a mask of independence, Maria also fills the role of the traditional woman. Independence can be measured by the amount of control one has over her own life, and, if Maria's control over herself is analyzed, it is clear that she lacks independence. Initially, Maria appears to be independent when she ignores the Captain's prescriptions for stern child raising and defies his direct orders by making the children "play clothes". When Maria is reprimanded for her actions, she stands up to the Captain, criticizing the way he raises his children. Through these actions, Maria seems to deviate from stereotypical feminine behavior by challenging the Captain's authority, however, upon closer examination, such is not the case. The children are traditionally the woman's responsibility and are a matter over which she is supposed to have control.

Emancipation of Women Essay

Women all over the world have become the subject of debate, particularly in the developing countries in Africa, Latin America and some parts of Asia and Middle East. Most women in these parts of the world are victims of male dominance, domestic slavery, sexual oppression and educational deprivation, all of which are generated from religious beliefs or social rigidity against women. Male chauvinists and religious extremists consider women’s enlightenment, emancipation, and urban liberation as culturally wrong, a detachment from family duties such as catering for household chores and raising children. Moralists find the education of women as a western policy of exposing â€Å"the daughters of eve to the naked glue of the naked eyes which will amount to sexual temptations and an invitation to sin with the â€Å"daughters of Jezebel†. Even in the early 19th century, women’s education was seen as a wasteful exercise. Luckily, by the middle of the same century, any negative opinion about women’s education has been decisively opposed. In fact, it was around that time that an old feminist maxim, â€Å"educate a woman, you educate a nation† came to light. Some of the major social problems we have today, such as prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), VVF and early marriage, teenage pregnancy can be virtually wiped out by educating women who are directly the victims of these social ills. Otherwise, our national policies or even global agenda aimed at education, social and health development will only be a waste of time without the inclusion of women. In the present century, it is apparent that an educated and happy family is a prerequisite for development. Indeed, it is not an exaggeration to say that a woman is the nucleus of the family, a custodian of the family, and trustee raising the young and future generations. Often, some parents and guardians regard educating a woman as a waste of resources, because according to them, â€Å"they are not full members of the family.† This view is a myopic idea of the African culture, which we must collectively do away with to achieve a balanced development. We should let the primitive way of thinking pave way for sound civilization, if we are to attain sustainable development. Kudos and great bravo to the 1995 International Conference on Women held in Beijing, China, where most of the global problems affecting women were tackled. Some of the issues centred on education and women liberation. Statistics have shown that recent performance of women in various professions such as ICT, arts, politics, academics, research, etc. is a signal to the immeasurable contribution women can give to the world’s development. In conclusion, those who have the view that women’s education is wasteful, have been proven to be living in the past; therefore, they should embrace the global quest for women education for even and sustainable development of the world

Wal Marts Failure in Korea - 1166 Words

Wal-Mart’s Failure in Korea This case will present Wal-Mart’s unexpected failure to conduct local market research and conform to Korean consumers’ needs and wants. Introduction: There are many frameworks that help characterize the differences between different cultures and the way people communicate across different cultures. In our paper we will focus on the differences between Korean and American cultures and what effect these differences might have on conducting business between both sides. We will concentrate on a failure business case of Wal-Mart entry and withdrawl for the Korean market to explore these differences. Literature Review: Cultural orientations can be view as lying on a continuum with high – context cultures on one†¦show more content†¦(Gandolfi amp; Ã…  trach, 2009). Wal-Mart had a very sophisticated IT infrastructure in place to help integrated its suppliers into its supply chain. This IT system was a source of competitive advantage for Wal-Mart in the US allowing it to be a top notch negotiator and lower prices from vendors (Kim R. B., 2008). In Korea, however, Wal-Mart met with resistance from its distributors regarding integration into the IT system and ultimately did not create a nation-wide distribution network. (Kim R. B., 2008) The managerial style of Wal-Marts executives, especially their direct demands for lowering prices while negotiating and having distributors pay to have their wares displayed in good shelf space were direct causes for the soured relations between Wal-Mart and its vendors in Korea (Chang, 2008). Wal-Mart strategy in the US was to have price dominance. In Korea, not only could they not achieve consistent price dominance due to soured vendor relations, price dominance is not a very good strategy. Koreans cared more about service and convenience and the warehouse look did not convey saving to them. (Gandolfi amp; Ã…  trach, 2009) Method: Findings: Analysis: Recommendations: References: Works Cited Chang, D. R. (2008). The case of Wal-Mart and E Mart in the Korean discount retailing industry. In J. I. Ki, Corporate Competitive Strategy inShow MoreRelatedEssay Case Study #1: Wal-Mart’s Foreign Expansion1027 Words   |  5 PagesCase Study #1: Wal-Mart’s Foreign Expansion 1. Do you think Wal-Mart could translate its merchandising strategy wholesale to another country and succeed? If not, why not? I don’t think Wal-Mart could translate its merchandising strategy wholesale directly to another country and succeed. Because different countries have different cultures and backgrounds, in order to succeed in another country, it needs to adapt to these differences and find a way that best fits in the local market. ApparentlyRead MoreCh 13 Organization of International Business Essay882 Words   |  4 Pages1. 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Japanese consumers prefer to buy fresh, high quality food and have the tendency to purchase goods in small amounts and at frequent intervals. Since real estate is very expensive in Japan, peopleRead MoreWal-Marts Supply Chain Practices Essay4494 Words   |  18 PagesInformation Recent Failures†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.15 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦17 2|Page Supply Chain Management – Case Analysis Introduction and Summary Research opens many windows into the thinking of various types of business throughout the world. In researching Wal-Mart and analyzing this case it has opened the window to the ability of a small town business man of Bentonville, Arkansas. This man is the legendary Sam Walton. Who, in 1962, created his â€Å"Wal-Mart Discount