READ ON THE INSTRUCTION Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

READ ON THE INSTRUCTION - Assignment Example However, some critics argue that this program just influenced women to have a baby earlier, rather than to have more babies. Evidently, the fundamental intention of this program is to increase the number of babies a woman has and thereby increase the overall birthrate of the country. In order to improve the chances that this program’s economic incentives would truly increase the birthrate, it is recommendable for the government to increase the amount of payment with respect to the number of babies. When women are paid on the basis of the number of babies they have, they are likely to give birth to more babies. Similarly, it would be a good idea to double the payment to the women who deliver their third of fourth baby. The government can consider some other attractive offers such as cars, laptop, or free electricity to women who conceive third or fourth time. The government may also consider opening a bank account in the name of newborn infants and bearing their full life expenses till they reach a particular age limit. Such alterations to this program may influence women to have more babies rather than to have a baby earlier. In addition, the government must pay all the hospital bills related to pregnancy/delivery and provide women with nutritional foods for some months post delivery. So as to determine whether or not this program really assists the country to increase its birthrate, the government can perform periodical census programs. Evaluating the increases in the country’s total tax revenues is also a potential strategy to analyze the performance efficiency of the program implemented. Finally, analyzing school entry data at primary classes can be a practical way to assess the outcome of the

Basic Electrical Components Essay Example for Free

Basic Electrical Components Essay Electrical and What it is The work of an Automotive Service Technician also known as a Mechanic has changed from normal mechanical repair to a high knowledge and very technical job. Today, integrated electronic systems and complex computers run and maintain vehicles. They also measure their performance while on the road and can adjust to certain conditions. Technicians must have a good base of knowledge about how vehicles components work and interact, as well as the capability to work with electronic diagnostic equipment and computer based vehicles. The most important system of your vehicle would definitely be the electrical system; the electrical system maintains almost everything in you car; from climate control to just adjusting your seat. There are many components to an electrical circuit that many people don’t know of. There are tons of different switching devices, protection devices, moving devices and plain old ingenious devices that seem to not even be possible. The car industry has really turned to upgrading there vehicles with more electrical devices to make the driver more comfortable when operating this brilliant machine. The most updated electrical device on a vehicle that I can think of is the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), which actually measures a wireless sensor that is installed in your tire to let you know if your tire pressures are off. The first thing that I would like to do is explain what electricity is in an automobile. Electricity is the worlds most widely used source if energy. Electricity is the flow of electrons through a conductor to eventually be used to supply a load of some sort. The electrons flow from positive to negative. In order to understand how an electric charge moves from one atom to another, you need to learn a little about atoms. Everything that surrounds us is made of atoms; every piece of grass, every plant, every animal. The human body is made up of a great amount of atoms. Air and water are made if atoms too. Atoms are the building block of the universe and without them there would be nothing. Atoms are so small that millions of them would fit on the head of a pin. Atoms are created by even smaller elements. The center of an atom is called the nucleus. The nucleus is made of particles called protons and neutrons. The protons and neutrons are extremely tiny, but electrons are much smaller. Electrons also rotate around the nucleus in there orbit a good distance from the nucleus. The proton is the positive charge and the electrons have the negative charge. These protons and electrons are rotating around the neutron in there orbit. These electrons can be bumped and moved out of their orbits. Applying a force can make the electrons move from one atom to another. These moving electrons are electricity. There are a few types of measurements to electricity that you will have to know. The first measurement that almost everyone has heard of is voltage. Voltage is the amount of pressure applied to push the electrons in the circuit. The second measurement is amperes also known as amps. Amps are the amount of current flowing through the circuit. For example; think of a regular neighborhood street. It is just a small street that is normally a low speed for vehicles, if we were to measure the speed in witch the cars are going we would get a small ampere reading maybe even milliamps. Now if we were to look at a sky view of a fast speed highway with more lanes you can see the amount of cars passing through is faster. That would be a high amount of amps. The last measurement of electricity that we use on cars today is resistance. Resistance is a property that slows the electrons. It is measured in Ohms the thing that resists a circuit is the load like a light bulb. The light bulb slows the electrons in the filament witch then creates heat, once heat is created then the gas inside the bulb glows. There is a part that is used inside cars called a resistor in a electrical circuit and what it does is slows the current flow in the circuit to make whatever load you have move slower. For example a variable resistor is used for the dash lights, you can control how much current is flowing through that circuit to dim the lights. So how does a battery work? A battery doesn’t make electrons; it holds them like a storage tank. A battery is made of two different metals that are opposite of each other and a chemical solution (Battery acid) that lets electrons flow through it. Electrons inside the battery are stationary at the negative terminal until a circuit is completed on the outside of the terminals. Once the circuit is completed the electrons pass from the negative plate to the positive plate and out the positive terminal. Once the electrons are at the positive terminal they pass through the circuit, used up by the load (for example a light bulb) and completed at the negative terminal which then goes to the negative plate. Once the circuit is opened the electrons are stationary at the plates until the circuit starts again. A battery is measured by amps; how fast current can flow through it and how much load it can take

Causes of Hypothyroidism

Causes of Hypothyroidism INTRODUCTION Hypothyroidism is the most common prevailing endocrine disorder among all endocrine maladies. It is an altered metabolic state, when the body produces insufficient amount of thyroid hormone. Hypothyroidism is not only a disorder of endocrine system, it also affects almost all the organ system of our body. It shows a wide range of disease severity from asymptomatic state to coma and made it an elusive clinical entity9 . Thyroid hormone in addition to governing the rate of metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and proteins, it also regulates the timing and pace of the CNS development. It is extremely important for the growth of cerebral , cerebellar cortex, axonal proliferation, branching of dendrites, synaptogenesis, and myelination . Thyroid hormone enhances the wakefulness, response to various stimuli like auditory sensation, learning and memory capacity1. By enhancing the gene expression it influences the synthesis of myelin. Myelin synthesis is an important factor determining the speed of impulse transmission along the complex neural pathway which mediates the evoked potential3 . Sometimes hypothyroidism is referred to as â€Å"Silent Disease† because the early stage of disease it is asymptomatic. About 1.6 billion people are at risk of getting thyroid disorders worldwide4. According to NHANES III approximately 4 – 5% of population in the developed world is suffering from hypothyroidism and about 4 – 15% of people by subclinical hypothyroidism5 . In a developing country like India, iodine deficiency is the most common cause of hypothyroidism. In India, hypothyroidism is classified under the group of Iodine Deficient Disorder (IDD) 6. Since 1983 India has been following the Universal Salt Iodization Programme. As a result of it, there has been a decline in the prevalence of IDD 7. In 2004, WHO assessment of global iodine status documented that India has optimal iodine nutrition and now India is undergoing transition from iodine deficiency to sufficiency phase8 . But a nationwide comprehensive epidemiological study done in the eight cities of India found that the prevalence of hypothyroidism was 10.95%. One third of them (3.47%) are not even aware of their disease. Subclinical Hypothyroidism was observed in 8.02% of people. Females are more prone to have hypothyroidism than males (15.86% to 5.02%). Unnikrishnan AG et al has also observed high prevalence of hypothyroidism among the Indian adult population6 . The well-known symptoms and signs of hypothyroidism are dry skin, weight gain, cold intolerance, muscle cramps, hoarseness of voice and constipation10 . As thyroid hormone is essential for the nervous system maturation , central and peripheral nervous system dysfunctions are also important consequences of hypothyroidism. About 60 – 90% of the patients may have features of peripheral nervous system dysfunction like weakness, paraesthesia and postural imbalance . The CNS manifestations of hypothyroidism seen in 60 to 80% of patients which include delayed mentation, sensory deficits, depression11 . It also produces delay in the neuronal conduction velocity, alterations in hearing threshold and sensation of smell . All these neurological complications of hypothyroidism will resolve completely with thyroid hormone replacement especially when diagnosed at the early stage12. The peripheral nervous system dysfunction has been studied in hypothyroid patients by a variety of techniques. But the studies in favor of quantification of CNS dysfunction were very sparse. The CNS involvement in hypothyroid patients can be identified with the help of existing advanced electrophysiological studies. Among the electrophysiological studies evoked potentials provide a more reliable and objective measure of the functional integrity of the related sensory pathway13 . Among the various evoked potentials tests, Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA) has been emerged as an effective method of revealing the involvement of auditory pathway even in asymptomatic stage itself11 . Brainstem Evoked Auditory Response are produced in response to brief auditory stimulation14,15 . In this technique following a brief acoustic stimulus, a series of potentials are generated which corresponds to the sequential activation of peripheral, pontomedullary, pontine and midbrain portion of auditory pathway. So BERA helps to evaluate the integrity of the auditory pathway13 . Persons who are having abnormal brainstem response to auditory stimuli more prone to develop Sensorineural Hearing loss16 . In 1948 Means states that Hearing loss is one of the troublesome symptom of hypothyroidism and it may be conductive, sensorineural or mixed hearing loss. About 25 to 30% of the hypothyroid patients having loss, but the exact incidence not yet known. So many researchers did study to find the type of hearing loss in hypothyroid patients. Howarth and Lloyd proposed that perceptive deafness is the type of hearing loss in hypothyroidism. (9) Rau et al, Bhatia et al, Von’t Hoff and Stuart , Parving et al and Isam et al were also accepted that sensorineural hearing loss was the predominant type of hearing loss in hypothyroidism people. Malik et al said that the site of lesion in auditory pathway remains speculative , may be at several levels viz in the middle ear, at cochlea and retrocochlear sites 17. The integrity of the auditory pathway is essential for the capture of the acoustic signal by the external ear to the coding of signals in the auditory cortex13 . Hearing loss is an invisible abnormality which will lead to so many devastating consequences in interpersonal communication, psychosocial wellbeing, quality of life and economic independence. Hearing loss in infants and children due to congenital hypothyroidism results in serious impairment in language, communication skills, cognitive and emotional development. In adults hearing loss will lead to loneliness, social isolation, psychiatric disturbances, depression, occupational stress and relatively low earnings18. There are literatures pointing out that early treatment of hypothyroidism will reverse the hearing loss 19-22. Electrophysiological testing for finding the functional integrity of auditory pathway is rarely performed in hypothyroid patients in neurology and otolaryngology practice. Now a days BAER is mainly used for screening the preterm infants and also prior to cochlear implantation. But it was proved that the delay in the auditory processing time may provide the information about the subclinical involvement of central as well as peripheral neuropathy in hypothyroid individuals 8. So they can be used to assess both normal and abnormal auditory function in the field of research. So that BERA can be used as a screening test to find the CNS involvement and the hearing loss in hypothyroid patients even in the earlier stage itself. In this study an endeavor has been made to find the changes in the brainstem auditory evoked responses in newly diagnosed hypothyroid individuals.

Charles Dickens Great Expectations Essay -- Great Expectations Essays

Charles Dickens' Great Expectations In chapter eight Dickens begins with a detailed description of Satis House, we are given a vivid idea of what is in store for Pip right from the beginning. The language and phrases used emphasise the darkness and forbidding nature of the house. When Pip first enters the house he describes it as having, 'old bricks, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred'. This adds to the atmosphere of darkness, because all the 'windows had been walled up'. In addition, there is a feeling of old age and this is portrayed when Dickens talks about the windows being 'rustily barred' and how the house was made from 'old bricks'. The mood is created by the portrayal of the dull, dusky and dispirited house. This is emphasised even more when Estella tells Pip about 'Satis House' meaning 'Enough House'. This could have two implications; one meaning is that the house is enough to satisfy anyone. Towards the end of the chapter, the reader will find that this is not the meaning that is being portrayed. The more sensible and relative meaning is everyone has had enough of the house and of life itself, this is more related to Miss Havisham. In addition, Pip has had enough of the house, because after being there for a little while he wants to go home. Inside the house, a feeling of death and darkness is revealed and we get the feeling that nothing is as it seems. This is shown by Pip's description of the house, for example Pip says, 'the cold wind seemed to be colder there, than outside the gate'. Satis House is also seen as a Prison through Pip's eyes because he talks about the windows... ...ip has to leave the room, because the surroundings are to daunting for him. This tells us that Jaggers has no remorse for those that have died and once again is heartless, but also brave for being able to live in such peculiar and unnatural atmospheres. To conclude everything, Dickens creates a sense of dirt and filth through out London; He does this by describing the surroundings in immense detail using effective language. However, the main reason why the image is portrayed very effectively is the change of setting, from the quiet countryside to the busy city streets. A lot is emphasised on the relationship between character and setting, so it should be no surprise when Pip encounters objects of punishment and Justice everywhere he looks at Jaggers' work. Overall, the images of death are conjured up to indicate Mr Jaggers has power over life and death.

Cgi (Computer Generated Imagery)

Sandra Lewis English 102. 033 Mr. Larsen April 3, 2011 Computer-Generated Imagery Forever Changes The Face Of Film And Television Movies were entirely revolutionized in the 1990s after the release of Toy Story (1995), the first feature length animation made entirely from CGI (computer-generated imagery) to be released. When it came to the drawing boards, productions companies changed the ways they had traditionally made animated movies. Movies made with CGI became easier to produce, more eye appealing, and realistic. The production of movies was entirely renovated.In the world of animation, CGI made the creating and editing of animated movies possible to change a scene in a month rather then a year. Movies have stuck to CGI majority of the time making it the new standard for most viewers, the new type competition between production companies, and the new requirement on resumes for hopeful animators. CGI gave the production of science-fiction movies the possibility to have a realistic feel. The significant differences between CGI and classical hand-drawn animations are not only the obvious; one being done by computer and one is on paper.The biggest difference is time efficiency and believability. A computer-generated image can be done one of two ways: a picture that is hand-drawn and then scanned into a computer or an entirely computer produced image, with a software specially designed for computer made imagery (Abbott, Pg. 91). After this step computer animators can move images around in one thousandth of the time it would take to move a hand-drawn image. Hypothetically meaning that if a hand-drawn scene took you twenty-four hours to move images around, with a CGI it would take twenty-four seconds. That changes the entire playing field when it comes to filmmaking.The ability to go in and out of scenes and move the image or objects not wanted, without distorting the background or surrounding images, is a step that has made CGI animator friendly. The images and s cenes that have been created are easily adjusted to perfection. For example in the television series The Silver Surfer which was a blending of cel and computer-generated imagery, it was possible to move him from one side of the screen to the other without distorting the rest of the image (in scenes that were completely CGI). CGI made thousands of jobs for editors and created a new field of expertise in film.With todays technology in special effects designers have walked a fine line between artist and technician. The increasing use of computer technology for special effects has made them seem more like modern day computer scientists rather then their predecessors. â€Å"Not only does the hardware and software require the highest level of computer expertise to operate, but the technicians must research, develop, and experiment with the technology in order to acquire its desired effects. † (Abbott, pg. 91) An animator today has to know not only how to draw and be creative, but a lso have to know how to do all of this on a computer.Therefore CGI has changed not only the production, but also the hiring and background education needed to become an animator. According to Manovich â€Å"Achieving synthetic realism means attaining two goals-the simulation of the codes of traditional cinematography and the simulation of the perceptual properties of real life objects and environments. (Bostic, Pg. 358) This is no longer just art and design of film, this is computer-programming and engineering at its very best. Movies have entirely been turned around due to the convenience and reality that CGI brings to the table. Never before have we been able to realize such fantastic imagery, blending live action with computer-generated imagery with seamless agility. † (Bostic, pg. 359) There is now a level of difficulty even for professionals in the field of special effects to determine what is reality and what is computer-generated. The imagery we see on TV and in the mo vie theatres has entirely changed what our expectations are when about to watch a movie. If a movie like Godzilla (1954) came out in todays’ world, the likely hood of it being a success is not probable.Watching a rubber suited monster attack a city is not the most eye pleasing special effect. A movie with no special effects doesn’t contain the believable factor. Where as a movie such as Jurassic Park (1993) containing several CGI, is one that brings a realistic feel to the dinosaurs. Humans and creatures/animals interacting with a realistic feel made science fiction movies much more believable. For example, in hit series of movies, Star Wars: Phantom Menace (1999) Jar-Jar Binks, a Gungan that helps Qui-Gon-Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, was completely CGI created and continuously standing near humans.The combination of background, scenery and creatures mixed with humans in outer space was â€Å"mind blowing† cool. The series became one of the most popular of all time. When imagining CGI involving humans and creatures, I think of a creature of social reality as well as a possible creature of science fiction (a hybrid machine). The ability to do this has opened a futuristic and fictional possibility to movies that was never possible. To watch a human on screen mutate, transform, or travel through time and dreams, creates a world that one can only imagine.CGI has turned horror, fantasy, and martial art into a form of hybridized science fiction. According to Abbott In Terminator 2: Judgment day (1991) â€Å"No longer simply the fusion of flesh and a metal endoskeleton, the new terminator was supposedly made of liquid metal able to transform from one shape to another. † (Abbott, Pg 92) Every year fiction movies are becoming more innovative with all the possibilities CGI offers. CGI has brought so much potential to the drawing boards of the movie industry. The industry has been using CGI in majority of movies for the past 15 years since the rel ease of Toy Story.The difference between Toy Story and Toy Story 3 in graphics is hardly noticeable. The biggest differences are within the new TV resolutions and Blu-Ray players. CGI has been some what updated and few glitches have been fixed, but it remains to be as used and as efficient as it was once Pixar mastered it with Toy Story in the mid ‘1990s. A movie such as Avatar, which is widely known for its graphics and unbelievable imagery, is setting new standards for CGI in the world of film. â€Å"After writing this story many years ago, James Cameron discovered that the technology he needed to make it happen did not exist.So, he went out and created it in collaboration with the best effects minds in the business. This is motion capture brought to a new high where every detail of the actors' performances gets preserved in the final CG character as they appear on the screen. Yes, those eyes are no longer dead holes but big and expressive, almost dominating the wide and lo ng alien faces. † (Honeycutt) James Cameron spent several years with highly trained computer-graphic engineers trying to exceed the limits of computer-generated imagery. In the end, after working so hard to bring a new level of realism to CGI, he made billions and broke more CGI barriers.It would be at the most difficulty to argue that CGI has not changed the, expectations that viewers have when entering a movie theater with, the requirements needed to be a successful animator today, the change in production of movies, and the possibilities that producers can bring to the screen. A film without CGI is typically not as good, because all of the films that come out of the cinema as blockbusters include a great amount of CGI and explosions, therefore as an audience we now expect them. Movies, television, and advertisement have been changed with CGI to please the audience and take cinema to a new possible level.Works Cited. Abbott, Stacey. â€Å"Final Frontiers: Computer-Generated Imagery and the Science Fiction Film. â€Å"Science Fiction Studies 33. 1 (2006): 89-108. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. Bostic, Adam I. Automatax: Seeing Cyborg Through the Eyes of Popular Culture, Computer-Generated Imagery, and Contemporary Theory. Leonardo, Vol. 31, No. 5, Sixth Annual New York Digital Salon (1998( pp. 357-361). Jstor. The MIT Press. ND. Honeycutt, Kirk. Avatar-Film Review. Hollywoodreporter. com. THR. ND. WEB. December 10, 2009. Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge. MA: MIT , 2001

Nike Supply Chain Essay

Nike has been able to become a global player in the industry of sports apparel and athlete endorsements because of many different factors that are outlined in the way they manage their company. By analyzing the business plan of Nike we can see how their supply chain is set up as is illustrated above. The supply chain is very important for the transfer of their goods from the supplier of raw materials to a manufacturer, then to a distributer, then to a retailer, to then be available for the customer. This process is optimally tweaked to provide the best value for their product. One factor that Nike has strived to make as a standard for their company is the idea of reverse logistics. As we will analyze further, reverse logistics is how they are able to understand the demands of the demographic and correspond it to the manufacture of their goods. This is seen as a vital tool for product research and development at Nike. As we explore the different parts of the chain, it is important to keep your mind on the big picture and how this process comes together. 1. Contract Suppliers What Nike has implemented into their system with outsourcing the production of raw materials, has been done by many large apparel companies and is seen as something that can be highly profitable rather than producing the materials within the company. So what Nike has done, is brought in contract suppliers from all over the world like Vietnam for instance. To help visualize this part of the process, we must understand that the supplier has its own supply chain and it ends with exporting the products to Nike, which is where Nike’s supply chain begins. In the 90’s there were serious allegations of unethical practices carried out by Nike in terms of their Asian suppliers and how services were being carried out. In an effort to get away from this image that was painted of them, Nike has taken strides to implement disclosure to how the supply chain is run. Over the years, they had been using a â€Å"push† system to measure sustainability based on compliance from overseas suppliers. As of recently however, Nike has turned to a â€Å"pull system† which is focused around incentives for a well carried out process from their contract suppliers. With this system in place, Nike is closely watching the performance of their  suppliers and rating them in colors with the best being gold and descending from silver, bronze, yellow and red. Colors from bronze to gold are seen as successful and are given benefits and opportunities that would not be accessible to suppliers given a rating of yellow or red. These benefits and opportunities are seen as incentives for these suppliers and form the system they have created for managing sustainability. 2. Logistics This part describes the movement of the raw materials from the contract supplier to the manufacturer. This is usually done by either boat or plane and this step varies due to the fact that Nike’s manufacturing plants are located all over the world along with the suppliers. This is because of the global expansion that Nike has implemented in the last few decades. The parties responsible for this transportation are also measured on this new system of incentives. Nike closely records each transaction and is in touch with the supplier and manufacturer to get the best idea of how the transportation was carried out. These third party transporters are rated in the same way as the suppliers and are given rewards for timely deliveries of material. 3. Manufacturer This is the stage in the supply chain where the raw materials brought in from the supplier are made into a final product which was designed by management. This is an important step in the cycle because this is where the ideas set by the research and development team, which are influenced by the target demographic, are made into reality and are kept until further movement of the product. Most Nike manufacturing plants aren’t designed to hold a large amount of products as once which brings us to the following step. Nike has also been known to use manufacturing plant from a third party. Because of the fact that Nike is still responsible for these processes carried out by these manufacturers, they keep a close watch on the quality of the products produced. This is a very important part of the supply chain because it is where the product is built that will eventually be sold to the customer so it is important for Nike to know that these manufacturers are  worth using. For measuring this, they have also been rating these manufacturers in the same ways they rate their other third party contracts for the different parts of their supply chain. 4. Logistics The second time that logistics comes into play is when the final product has to be moved to a distributing warehouse. This step also depends on the location of points A and B for each situation due to how global the Nike Company has become. This transport of products is a crucial part in the flow of the chain to move the manufactured product to a place where it can be stored. Again, we are able to see the rating system built around incentives at work when we analyze the logistics between the manufacturer and the distributor. It is highly possible that both the distributor and manufacturer was third party companies used in Nike’s supply chain and so they have to be closely in tune with the two stages of the supply chain as well as the transportation in between. For this reason they record timely deliveries of products and of course look for damage and inconsistencies that the transportation company may be responsible for. 5. Distributor This stage in the chain is composed of either Nike warehouses set up to store their finished goods until it is demanded by a retail store or other vendor or a third party distributor which would serve the same function. Oftentimes, a third party is used for this step but this all depends on the most cost effective and logical method of distributing the products at hand. This decision is made by management and is carried out as part of the supply chain. The warehouse would hold the product for as long as it is needed but due to how well measured out the manufacture of each product is carried out compared to their well estimated demand for the product, it is usually moved fairly quickly to continue the flow of the chain. Distribution is important because the final product needs to be stored before is sent to vendors. For this reason, Nike also works in monitoring the companies that work with them for warehousing purposes. To do this they closely analyze the inventory of their products being held at these  distributors and make sure everything is kept by the books and reported back to Nike. The rating system is also in place for distributors to better measure this stage of the supply chain to make future decisions regarding what third party distributors they should use. 6. Logistics For the third time in the supply chain, Nike has to move their goods to another part of the process. This time, the product has been stored in a distributing warehouse and is now ready to move to a place where it would be available to the customer. Nike is available all over the world and uses many different systems of transportation for bringing the product to the vendor. We have noted that the â€Å"pull† system in place for rewarding third party companies on merit which serves as incentives are very much used by Nike to handle their logistics. This is no exception with the transportation of the finished goods from the distributor warehouse to the vendors. They are graded on the condition of the products when they arrive to the vendor and how efficiently and timely the delivery was just like in the other parts of the supply chain where transportation of either materials or the finished product were needed. 7. Nike stores/ Retail stores/ Online stores This is the first and only time in the cycle where the finished product becomes accessible for the public. In today’s world, there are many people whom shop online for most of their needs so it is important to mention the distribution of the products to online vendors such as Amazon whom keep the product in their own facility until it is ordered. Retail stores are still a big part of this step because many purchases are still made in stores around the world that are licensed to sell Nike products. Finally, there are specific Nike outlet stores which get direct shipments from the distributor and exclusively sell Nike products. From here, the products are purchased by the customer, but the cycle does not end there. 8. Reverse logistics/ Customer feedback An important part of Nike’s supply chain and business plan is being in tune with the demands of their customers. This helps them to design new products  that they hope will sell efficiently because of the feedback they received from their target demographic. This process is known as reverse logistics and can be implemented through blogs, ratings, customer support, and other services set up by Nike for this purpose. 9. Product Development/ Management Even though this is the last step which I am describing, it is right in the beginning of the process where it comes into play and is where the cycle of reverse logistics and the supply chain meet. This is because the information collected from the customer feedback is researched by management and in turn is used to form a new design or designs. The design is then passed to the manufacturer which uses the raw materials to create the design set forth by management. This way, the cycle is continuous and efficient. This is the part of the cycle where innovations come into play. Ideas like switching to a â€Å"pull† system of managing sustainability are a prime example of what management is tasked with. Nike is constantly looking at ways to improve their processes. An example of this is how they’ve worked on a shoe made to be lighter for athletes but also optimized to produce the least amount of waste as possible. By utilizing a single thread to basically make the entire shoe. By doing this they were able to not only cut waste but also cut costs and therefore became optimal in multiple ways. Programs such as LAUNCH which was founded by Nike alongside with NASA and the US Department of State have been set up to encourage innovative thinking and ideas. These are just a few examples of the work being done by the people in charge of product development and supply and Nike says that their ultimate goal is â€Å"a fully sustainable supply chain†. Nike also hopes that their new rat ing system for parts of their supply chain will help them to soon have all the companies working with them to be rated a bronze level or above. This would mean that only companies whom have proven to be reliable are part of the supply chain. Reference Nike, Inc. 2011. Sustainable Business Performance Summary. Available at http://www.nikeresponsibility.com/report/files/report/NIKE_SUSTAINABLE_BUSINESS_REPORT__ FY10-11_FINAL.pdf Paine, L. S., Hsieh, N., Adamsons, L. 2013. Governance and Sustainability at Nike. Harvard Business School Teaching Case. Porteous, A.H., Cohen, S. A., Lee, H. L., Rammohan, S., V. 2012. Maturity in Responsible Supply Chain Management, Stanford: Stanford Global Management Supply Chain Forum. Available at: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/scforum/sisscr Schifrin, D., Carroll, G., Brady, D. 2013. Nike: Sustainability and Labor Practices 1998-2013. Stanford Graduate School of Business Teaching Case.