Tuesday, October 29, 2019

How Babies Learn Language Compared to How Adults Learn a Second Essay

How Babies Learn Language Compared to How Adults Learn a Second Language - Essay Example They further expand on these skills through imaginary play and through their perception of audio around them, as has been stated (Berk 2004). There is no extraordinary difference here then in regards to how adults being learning a second language as they hone in on their audio perception as well and gradually sound out new words from how they are hearing them formed in their social environment and through educators as well. Babies develop what sociologists and psychologists term as, "private speech" (Berk 2004). Even adults do this when they are learning a second language, and younger children do it when they are engaging in all sorts of activities such as building blocks, art and drawing, fantasy play, and in many other personal areas as well. For example, when adults are learning a second language, often when they are in the privacy of their car or at home they speak the new vocabulary words to themselves, sounding them out and testing themselves to see if they can pronunciate them properly. In Berk's book (2004) some sociologists define how children and adults utilize private speech when they are faced with issues that are relative to their cognitive abilities or issues that promote social challenges as learning language definitely would do. So obviously the correlation between the development of babies, young children, and adults who are learning a second language is absolutely obvious. The cognitive technique is identical yet is just approached in different ways at various stages of life. Therefore, for babies and toddlers, private speech is simply their way of vocalizing their developing cognitive skills. For example, the cooing that babies do early on such as when they are between 1month to 6 months later develops into actual pronunciated words, the first being ma-ma normally then da-da. Sociologists therefore point out that every stage of life is a developmental form of learning, even in adult life (Berker 2004). Liebergott et al (1995) points out that although th e language skills of infants in their first year of life is usually indiscernible it is still considered to be the most important year of cognitive development for babies, especially in regards to communication skills. This is due to the fact that this first year lays the groundwork for future cognitive learning abilities and the verbal sounds that infants hear during this first year and develop are then enhanced upon and developed into actual vocabulary words. Again, the similarity of adults learning a second language is astonishingly similar to the beginnings of vocabulary of that of an infant. This is because adults have to learn how to speak all over again, just in a secondary fashion. So adults, listen, observe and interact with others to develop the necessary cognitive skills to speak the second language fluidly just as infants follow the same developmental phases of their learning processes to develop their initial language abilities. Libergott et al (1995) emphasizes that the interactions between the mother and the infant in regards to vocalizing needs and wants is what helps build on the

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The marketing plan on levemir

The marketing plan on levemir The marketing plan on levemir 1.0 Executive Summary The marketing plan on Levemir for the Indian market presents the approach to increase market share of Levemir in basal analogue to 50% and in the basal insulin categories to 30% by 2012. We think that this target is achievable because of improving economy, market growth and our competitive advantage. In doing so we would retard the growth of Lantus and upgrade our existing patients on Insulatard (basal human insulin) to Levemir and would position Levemir the preferred basal insulin of choice for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. 2.0 Corporate Vision We will be the worlds leading diabetes care company. We will offer products and services in other areas where we can make a difference. We will achieve competitive business results A job here is never just a job Our values are expressed in all our actions Our history tells us, it can be done There was no mission statement but Novo Nordisk (NN) had the vision statement as mentioned above. Ideally a mission statement should cover the firms priorities in terms of customer focus, value provided, market scope, guiding values and core competencies. The vision statement of NN is fair enough to clarify all these aspects, may be they could have added or modified more about their core competencies. 3.0 Current Marketing Situation Information about Indian Pharmaceutical, Diabetes Care and Insulin market is described in the appendix p 24. 3.1 The Basal Insulin Insulin Analogue Market The insulin analogue market is growing at 27%, predominantly contributed by the multinational pharmaceutical firms including NN, Eli Lilly and Sanofi-Aventis (fig 1). NN is leading the insulin analogue market with 54% market share followed by Eli Lilly and Sanofi-Aventis (fig 2). Figure 1: Insulin Analogue Market Growth Figure 2: Insulin Analogue Market Share Basal Insulin market can be categorised as animal, human and analogues and it offers a total market of Rs.58 crores and growing at 57%. In terms of volumes the total basal market is 810.4 million units (MU) and NN is the market leader in this segment with 46% market share. However, this share is largely because of high contributions coming from human basal. In the category of basal analogue, Sanofi-Aventis is a clear leader with ~77% market share and NN with 23% market share (fig 3). The key market insights from the basal analogue segment are as follows: The total basal analogue is worth Rs. 58 crores Lantus (insulin glargine): Rs. 45 crores Levemir (insulin detemir): Rs. 13 crores Lantus has ~77% market share and Levemir has 23% market share. Figure 3: Basal Insulin Analogue Value Market Share 3.2 Internal Sales Trend Total sales in 2007 and 2008 were Rs. 309 crs (23.6% growth) and Rs. 363 crs (17.5% growth) respectively. With respect to Levemir, sales were Rs. 8.88 crs (94% growth) and Rs. 16 crs (81%) in 2007 and 2008 respectively. The sale of Levemir until YTD November 2009 is 28 crores. The planned growth for Levemir next year (2010) would be 70%. Introduction of Levemir PenFill will further strengthen Levemirs stand against Lantus. 3.3 External Environment India is a growing economy with a stable government and Indian Pharmaceutical Market is also growing rapidly at 15%. Moreover, India has the highest number of diabetes population (51 million) in the world and is growing with westernization. Hence, its a dream of every Pharmaceutical company with diabetes products to be present in India. High market attractiveness and no barriers to entry so number of players in diabetes and insulin are growing. NN is focussed in shifting the patients to insulin analogues from human insulins as the analogue market has barriers to entry due to patents in place, less competition, no price war and has high profit margin. It is discussed in detail in the appendix p 27. 3.4 Market Size (Patient Population) India has the worlds largest population of people with diabetes, with an estimated 51 million people suffering from the disease. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), India is expected to have 87 million people ailing from diabetes by 2030. India is considered as the diabetes capital of the world with a patient population of more than 50 million. Diabetes strikes the Indian population a decade earlier than the west. The reasons for the pandemic are attributed to genetic predisposition, changing lifestyle and urbanization. Treatment data (Table 1) suggests that out of 51 million, only 13 million people are diagnosed with diabetes but only: 7 million people are on medication Only 1.7 million are on insulin alone or in combination with OADs 3.5 Competitor Mapping Analysis The main competitors for NN India are: Eli Lily Sanofi-Aventis Wockhardt Biocon USV 3.6 Novo Nordisk SWOT Analysis (Internal Audit) Table 4: NN in the insulin market Strengths Diabetes is the core focus since 1920s esp. Insulin therapy Strong RD Well established in Indian market Developed the insulin market in india Continuous innovations Strong partnership with the Key Opinion Leaders in diabetes Large sales force > 500 dedicated for insulin products Weaknesses Lantus was the first basal analogue to launch in India, Levemir is not able to grow faster Higher attrition rate in the sales force Products are costly Opportunities India is the diabetes capital of the world with 51 million diabetic population Huge market for growth Develop the analogue market Threats Entry of local players Lantus patent expired launch of biosimilars, price cutting New therapeutic product launch such as GLP-1 analogues, DPP-IV inhibitors 3.7 Growth Strategy As per the Ansoffs matrix, NN is developing a new market for analogues. Hence, it is in the market development phase. As the human insulin market is crowded by generic players and more local players are entering due to market attractiveness and no barriers to entry, NN is focussing on creating and developing a new insulin analogue market so that the patients can be shifted to insulin analogues. The model is depicted pictorially in the appendix p34. 3.8 Portfolio Analysis Among the various diabetes care products, the insulin analogues including NovoMix, Levemir and NovoRapid are growing very fast and star as per the matrix. The human insulins (Mixtard, Actrapid Insulatard) are cash cows. The only OAD of NN is in the Dog stage and this maybe due to that we are not focusing in this product as we want to grow the insulin analogue market. As per NN strategy, we want to develop the analogue market, hence heavy investment and more noise level would be the key to our success. 4.0 Marketing Objectives Levemir the preferred basal insulin of choice for the treatment of both type 1 2 diabetes. Acceptance of Levemir as once-daily insulin by the doctors. To increase the value market share of Levemir in basal analogue category to 50% in next 3 years. To achieve a value market share of 30% in the basal human insulin category by 2012. To make Levemir a 30 crores brand by 2012. To launch Levemir Penfills by March 2010. To counter the growth of Lantus. To upgrade 50% of the patients on Insulatard (human insulin) to Levemir by 2012 To increase NovoRapid sales by copromotion with Levemir. 5.0 Marketing Strategy The complete range of insulin analogues, along with various delivery devices, in the Indian diabetes care market will be available only from NN. With NovoMix we will drive the analogue category in India which is predominantly a premix market (~80%). Levemir will be a part of this intensive offering, to shake up the market share occupied by Lantus. Being the only company with a full analogue portfolio, gives us the ability to initiate people with diabetes on a full analogue basal oral regimen. Levemir would be placed in the minds of the customers as the basal insulin of choice for intensive treatment for type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In both type 1 and type 2 patients, Levemir will be a once daily dose available in FlexPen. 5.1 Segmentation Prescribing doctors were divided into different categories on the basis of their prescription behaviour, qualification and influence on other peers, society or key decision maker in large institutions of repute (table 6). Prescription pattern was found out by market research (external agency) and internal data obtained from the sales team. The number of sales call, expenditure on the Dr for research purpose, international sponsorships, exposure to international forums and advisory board membership would vary for each category of physician. Levemir prescription would be generated primarily from the A and B class doctor. Hence, segmentation will help the sales force to focus better on the key customers and less cannibalisation into premix analogue segment. 5.2 Targeting Patients: Levemir will be targeted at the following categories of patients: Type 1 Diabetes: For intensive control Type 2 Diabetes: For patients on basal-oral therapy The main patient benefit will be improved control and safety coupled with no undesirable weight gain compared to Insulatard and Lantus. These benefits will be offered together with a far superior delivery device the FlexPen. Majority of the patients will come from basal-bolus to Levemir. As can be seen from the figure 5, 40% of the patients will come from basal-bolus therapy followed by basal only (20%). It will be important to focus on these two segments to ensure rapid market penetration. Prescribers: Levemir will be targeted at the following categories of doctors and prescribers (table 7): The target doctors for Levemir will be Diabetologists, Endocrinologists, Cardiologists and Physicians particularly Lantus prescribers. Key customers are described in detail in appendix p32. 5.3 Positioning The product proposition or the key to owning the positioning in the doctors mind is based on better glycaemic control and positive differentiation of Levemir over both Insulatard and Lantus. The positioning line for Levemir in India will be as follows: Add Levemir once-daily, reduce weight gain Weight neutrality assists the physician to achieve optimal control with fewer hypoglycaemic episodes and no undesirable weight gain. Levemir once-daily with OADs has to be ingrained in the doctors mind. Key messages: The key messages will aim to reinforce good glycaemic control and weight neutrality would be the key differentiator from Lantus: Weight neutral property Good glycaemic control with once-daily dosing with OADs. Controlling Diabesity leads to better quality of life and safety Levemir together with NovoRapid and NovoMix 30 are the only insulin analogues available in the advanced delivery system the FlexPen. Ultimate Control Key Messages are described in detail in the appendix p 35. 5.4 Critical Success Factors To block the growth of Lantus that has now been in the market for over 5 years Manage neutralize the entry of newer players such as Apidra (Sanofi) and Glargine from Wockhardt and Biocon. Ability of NN field force to effectively create awareness and brand acceptability for Levemir among prescribers will be crucial in establishing Levemirs position in the market. The benefits of basal-oral in type 2 and basal-bolus therapy in type 1 patients will have to clearly emerge. This will help in reinforcing the benefits of Levemir and strengthening the brand among the doctor and patient communities. Acceptance of the price point by the prescriber and the purchaser/ patient is critical for Levemir to gain prescriptions as well as market shares. Clear targeting of Levemir to Class A B doctors. Successful launch of Levemir Penfills in March 2010. 6.0 Marketing Mix 6.1 Product Levemir is a solution for injection that contains the active substance insulin detemir. It is available in pre-filled pens (FlexPen). Levemir is used to treat adults, adolescents and children over the age of six years who have diabetes. The medicine can only be obtained with a prescription. Levemir is imported to India from the manufacturing plant in Copenhagen (Denmark). Levemir is an insulin analogue prescribed to patients with diabetes for meeting the basal insulin requirement. Other insulin analogues of NN are NovoRapid and NovoMix 30. All the insulin analogues including Levemir are patented product of NN. 6.1.1 Product Life Cycle Management Source: mbarreiro.wordpress.com/ Levemir was launched in May 2006 in the Indian market. Levemir was second to Lantus in basal insulin analogue category in India. Although Levemir is 3 years old in Indian market, still it has not grown as expected compared to the global market. As per the product life cycle graph, Levemir is in the initial part of growth phase, needs more attention and intensive promotion to reach the peak. Hence the focus will be on the single biggest benefit of Levemir i.e. Less undesired weight gain and Once-daily therapy with OADs in all our communications. This will ensure that Levemirs key differentiator of Weight Advantage is completely understood and appreciated by the prescriber base. The integration of Levemir with NovoRapid will be extremely important to establish Levemir as the key part of basal-bolus therapy. This will be achieved with joint promotion and communication activities with NovoRapid with the key objective being the importance of basal-bolus therapy in the proper treatment of diabetes. Strong brand showcasing in all reputed diabetes journals, conferences and meetings with leading Key Opinion Leaders endorsements will be the key to success of Levemir so that Levemir reaches the peak of growth phase. 6.2 Price Pricing in India has to be extremely competitive as it is a very price sensitive market. Pricing here follows certain regulatory procedures. Since insulin falls under the price controlled drugs and pharmaceutical products category there is a maximum selling price which needs to be approved from the pricing authority NPPA (National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority). They would evaluate the recommendation on the following parameters: Affordability for the masses and criticality of making this product available to all if Life saving (Insulin comes under this category). Manufacturing cost the pharmaceutical company claims to incur Competitive pricing Post this NPPA gives clear approval based on which a license to market is procured. The following price was approved by NPPA after our recommendation. Product Type MRP (Rs) Levemir FlexPen 988 NN is a market leader in diabetes market globally including India and is known for its strong research and development activities. Levemir is an innovative patented product; the pricing is based on the value perceived by the customers (doctors). The pricing decision has also been done taking into account on the price of the competitor that existed during launch, Lantus Optiset Pen (MRP = Rs 801). 6.3 Promotion NN would adopt both Push strategy and Pull strategy as promotional tools. The Push strategy would be through promotional activities target at the prescribers (doctors), whereas the Pull strategy would be through increasing awareness of the end consumer (diabetic patients) about good glycaemic control, less undesired weight gain, less hypoglycaemia and easy to use insulin pens. Advertising Sales Promotion Public Relations Personal Selling Sampling The promotional tools are described in detail in the appendix p35. 6.4 Place Distribution channel structure: Levemir will be distributed via wholesalers through our channel partner M/S. Abbott India Limited. There will be no change in the distribution channel for Levemir. We will focus on Metros and larger cities to gain market volumes. Levemir will be made available in select retail outlets. The pharmaceutical distribution channel in India is described pictorially in figure 7. Figure 7: The Pharmaceutical Distribution Channel in India Note Figures in %age indicate %age of medicines supplied to the entity Acknowledgement: I am grateful to Mr Devdutt Dash, Senior Product Manager Levemir, Novo Nordisk India for providing the market data on Indian Pharmaceutical Industry, Diabetes Care, Insulin Insulin analogues and internal sales data of NN, Levemir and Lantus. 7.0 References and Bibliography 1. Kotler, P, Armstrong, G, Wong, V Saunders, J. ed. 2008. Principles of Marketing. Pearson Education Ltd: Prentice Hall. 2. mbarreiro.wordpress.com/ 3. Roger, J. B. 2nd ed. 2000. Market-Based Management: Strategies for Growing Customer Value and Profitability, (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall), p.127. 4. tutor2u.net/business/strategy/ansoff_matrix.htm 5. Wood, M.B. ed. 2007. Essential guide to marketing planning. Pearson Education Ltd: Prentice Hall. 6. www.financialexpress.com//indias-gdp200910/435703/ 7. www.IDF.org 8. www.novonordisk.com

Friday, October 25, 2019

The True Cost of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Essay -- PTSD Es

In 2010, veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cost the government about $1.3 billion (United States of America 17). This is an enormous amount of money, but it hasn’t even been helping veterans. Many vets aren’t finishing treatment but continue to receive disability checks from the Veterans Health Administration, abbreviated to VHA. Not only this, but some veterans are faking their way into the system and evading the diagnosis process by coming up with an tall tale. It is on the Veteran’s Affairs (VA) to determine whether these stories are fake (Department of Veterans’ Affairs), which is many times impossible to regulate. New laws that are being passed that make it easier for veterans to receive disability checks are not helping this problem either (Brown and Thompson 43). The government is spending too much money on a system that is failing our veterans; the public should not have to pay when the money is going to waste on misdiagnosis, fa iling treatment, and unjust laws. PTSD, also known as post-traumatic stress disorder, is an anxiety disorder. It affects people that have experienced, witnessed, or were confronted with a life threatening event. It can cause flashbacks, depression, nightmares, and change of mood. Other common symptoms of PTSD are difficulty sleeping, anger outbursts, decreased interest in activities, avoidance of people and places that can trigger a memory, and inability to recall part of the trauma. Symptoms can occur right after the incident but also much later in life. Other common occurrences with PTSD are depression, suicide, and alcohol or drug abuse (FAQs about PTSD). Treatment can last from three months to sometimes longer than 4 years. Treatment types are exposure therapy, using me... ...Angeles Times, 21 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. . United States of America. Congress of The United States. Congressional Budget Office. The Veterans Health Administration’s Treatment of PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury Among Recent Combat Veterans. Congressional Budget Office, Feb. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. Wood, David. "Iraq, Afghanistan War Veterans Struggle With Combat Trauma."The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 4 July 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. . "The human cost our veterans are paying.." The human costs our veterans are paying. Expedition Balance, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. .

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Dave Barry’s Where Did My Little Girl Go: Puberty in Girls

Have you noticed the rapid physical changes they're going through? If so, you are not alone. Countless parents are experiencing this, and so is Dave Barry. He recently explained this topic In his editorial, â€Å"Where Did My Little Girl Go? ‘ and for me, I completely understand his point of view. It seems as though the duration of puberty for girls Is Instantaneous. As young girl develops, many changes go on that seems to happen all at once. First, the monthly surprise that is a huge surprise for mostly male parents.Parents begin to acknowledge the fact that their child Is no longer a child. Barry even refers to this as the â€Å"hormone bomb† Secondly, young girls begin to develop physical changes. Girls become full-figured, and begin to grab the attention of young men. That Is where parents, mainly protective fathers, start to worry. Barras novel Is titled You Can Date Boys When You're Forty, which most parents force their daughters to do, but It never really happens . Finally, the main point to this argument is that boys develop ritually slower than girls.This is how parents are more resistant to letting go of girls, especially when thinking of how many bad things there are in the world. And for parents, those bad things are boys. Barry even talked on the subject about his disagreements with his wife in letting boys in the house. As you can see, Parry's point is valid for many reasons more than one. It is a true fact that girls experience rapid physical changes faster than boys even experience chest hair. The duration of puberty for girls is instantaneous.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Effects of cyber ego on morality Essay

When one is in a virtual environment for long, one soon becomes convinced that the cyber space world is the real world which is the turning point in his life after which everything turns against him. This virtual world that is mistaken to be the real world is a parallel world that one is in. the presence of one in the virtual world that is non – existent leads one to fall in a state is consciousness which is very different from the one in the real world. After this, one starts to think differently, act in a way one has never acted before and a lot of other things that soon do not make sense to him self either, but this is a fact that although one knows there is something wrong, one can not help it. (Johnson 2003) It becomes a part of one’s life and is difficult to get out of it. After being in a parallel universe that is all made up, there is different stimuli that then change and guides our behaviors. It is a journey which a lot of people find interesting. On their journey to no where, when they are entering the virtual world, they take along the best ethics that their religion could teach them, wonderful morals that they learnt from their parents since they were kids and the cultural ethics that they grew in since they were kids; all that is with them when they are entering the virtual world, but it is ironic that when they come out of it for something they are completely different. (Pritchard 2000) One is a completely different individual which some how loses all its values that were taught to him or her during their life span and all the ethics and morals that they learned while they were in school and all that goes deep down the drain. How the virtual world affects our culture, values, morals, ethics and perception of which we are and of what the world is, changes; is what we will be discussing through out this report. (Ess 2006) When one enters a virtual environment, it is a battle of what is real and what one has left behind. This is where one’s cyber ego comes into picture. Cyber ego is primarily what a person thinks of one self in a virtual environment. There is no doubt that there is a lot of artificial intelligence involved in the so called virtual environment that one enters in, but there is a problem of cyber ego that makes many individuals question themselves before entering an environment as such. The moral values are lost. This is not only true but has been experienced by many people who have made a mistake of entering a virtual environment. Talking to different people, people that one is not aware of as ever even existing before they started talking in the cyber world, it changes one’s attitude and the stimuli that one guided the person’s perception and state of emotion; this all mutate and make the individual a different person, for all wrong reasons. (Schultz 2005) There are a lot of things that have an impact on our morals and ethics. For example, the more time one spends on it, the more aggressive one gets. This aggressiveness can be because one can no more differentiate between the real world that one lives in and the virtual world that one is in most of the time of the day. This aggressiveness adds to the change in one’s attitude and hence personality. (Ess 2006) The changes in one’s attitude and personality all depends on how much one might be engrossed in cyber ego. How much one would want oneself to be a part of the virtual environment and adopt cyber ego is the question that will also answer how much a person changes and becomes a truly different person that one was not. It is the difference of decisions that one makes that leads one towards developing a cyber ego being unhealthy to an extent that it would drive the life long morals and ethics out of the person and make one a totally different person. Having this said, it is of utter concern of as to how the changes take place. Some claim that the fact that hours and hours of the week are spent in front of the computer screens being in a world that is non existent. Having a personality that is not the personality the person has in the real world, and faking that personality to be the real one; if so is done for hours, every single day of the week for months or even years, yes there will be a drastic change in what one believes and what one perceives. (George 2003)