Awakening Essays (766 words) - The Awakening, Edna, Kate Chopin

Awakening When faced with the question of "which novel did I have the greatest reaction to this semester?", the first story that came to mind was The Awakening. Although written from the perspective of a woman, I found that this story rendered my greatest emotional appeal. It is a story of a woman, Edna Pontellier, who transforms herself from an obedient housewife to a person who is alive with strength of character and emotions that she no longer has to suppress. The metamorphosis is shaped by her surroundings. It is the narrow minded view of society in Victorian times that makes this story possible. Just as her behavior is more shocking and horrifying because of her position in society, it is that very position which causes her to feel restrained and makes her want to rebel against convention. Is Edna truly "awakened" at the end of the story? A typical Victorian woman maintained her sphere which deemed "women's personal lives center around home, husband, and children."(Bonner, 26) Women were supposed to accept this position in the home happily and be satisfied. It never satisfied Edna, who always seemed out of place when with other woman. She was a wife and mother, but not a typical Victorian wife and mother. With regards to her children,"Their absence was sort of relief...It seemed to free her of a responsibility which she blindly assumed and for which fate had not fitted her"(Chopin,18).Even early on, she reveals ideas uncommon to Victorian society. She tries to maintain her roles, but it is very difficult to her. The person who Edna truly admires the most is Mademoiselle Reiz, who is a brilliant artist and pianist. Mademoiselle Reiz is widely misunderstood because she is an eccentric, bold and does not conform to the traditional role of a woman in Victorian society. It her music that touches Edna. Edna claimed that something inside her stirred and she felt alive like she had never felt before(Chopin). It is at this moment that I believe that Edna began to "awake" and see the beauty of life. It is this awakening inside Edna that made me connect with this story. I have had similar experiences with art that made me too feel just as edna had felt. This was in great contrast to her boring marriage to Leonce. I could not blame Edna for striving towards that feeling of being alive. Edna's marriage to Leonce is safe, but there is no passion or excitement. " She grew fond of her husband, realizing with some unaccountable satisfaction that no trace of passion or excessive and fictitious warmth colored her affection, thereby threatening its desolution"(Chopin,18).While this lack of emotion is enough to satisfy Edna for the majority of the marriage, after she allows her true self to come forward, she feels trapped and seeks to escape. As the story progresses, Edna focuses on her desires rather than what her husband wants. Edna disregards her husbands appeals to conform and continues to do what she wants. These desires eventually lead her to commit adultery, which in Victorian times, would be disastrous for a woman. One must admire Edna's courage even if they do not agree with her decision to commit adultery. It is this aspect of adultery and disregards for the norms of Victorian society that led Chopin to receive rejection when the book was first published(Bonner, Introduction). Sadly, what Victorians saw as a rejection of convention on behalf of Edna can almost be seen as convention today. This is what makes the setting and time that The Awakening takes place in so important to the story. So was Edna truly "awakened" in the story? As the novel continues, Edna continues to feel trapped in the restricted environment and ultimately commits suicide to leave the world that will not let her leave her traditional role. Edna tried to maintain her role as long as she could, but it became too much for her , and she needed to do the best thing. In her mind, that meant killing herself in the water which had no boundaries and restrictions. In a sense, one could argue that she was not truly free because she ended up killing herself. On the other hand, she had been "awakened" to the beauty and joy of life. In Victorian times however, I don't think that Edna would have been happy living another day restricted by the outrageous norms of society at that time. I feel ,although harsh, that she ultimately found happiness in death. The Awakening is truly a powerful

The Courter essays

The Courter essays Immigration is a subject which is still seen all over the world. Although it is an interesting, it has lots of difficulties. People who immigrate from one country to another become face to face to lots of problems. These can be named as language, culture and conformity problems. There are some examples in the story, The Courter, which are very similar to these. In this story, there is a family which lives in India and after some time, they move to England because of some situations. Later on, they start to live some kinds of problems between the languages and the cultures. Although they speak the same language, English, in India, they meet with some difficulties about British English. For example, one day, one of the family members is beaten by a chemist because of a wrong usage of a word. The chemist is a woman who has big breasts and he wants nipple from her, but the word, nipple, has a different meaning,too which means the end of breast and the woman slaps him. This is an example from the story which shows the language problem they live. There is a main character, Certainly Mary, who lives lots of conflicts in her life. One of the conflicts she lives is, the cultural difference in her life because of the immigration and she becomes homesick. She also has lots of problems with her emotions. She has a desire to the person, Mixed up, and she loves him. The other thing is, she loves the narrator very much like a mother as being his baby-sitter. In both ways, she lives some disappointments and at the end, she returns to her own country. As a conclusion, immigration is a useful thing which provides you to learn different cultures and people, but it also may cause some problems while meeting with them. The thing is trying to come to terms with the differences. ...

Data Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Data Analysis - Essay Example Additionally, I recorded the observed behavioral and communication skills on a checklist. I observed that in each session that the student had, it improved his behavioral and communication skills. Observation requires attention; I took a period of about an hour to observe each student. In the process, I kept involving the student to ensure their attentiveness and reduce chances of boredom. Some activities were physical activities that included doing puzzles and job activities or super brain exercises which encouraged communication and interaction as well as developmental activities such as Webber Photo Cards and Jenga game. During data collection, I used the tally sheets to check on their behaviors both the desired and undesired. To enhance accuracy, I assigned a score sheet to each student where I recorded their outcome for every session. To ensure consistency of data, I held meeting twice every week for a period of five weeks with each session being one hour long. In the undesired tally sheet, it had four behaviors I was supposed to observe in each student. The first thing that I was checking was the capability of a student to pay attention. In this, I wanted to identify and then record on a tally sheet the number of times a student failed to pay attention in an ongoing procedure or activity. If in a day a student failed to pay attention three times, I would tally thrice for that student that day. The second thing I was checking was the number of times the student went off the allocated task. My observation was therefore based on the tendency of a student to leave the task for other activities. I rec orded data for three sessions in a week for five weeks. Additionally, I also checked for the student’s incomplete work behavior and out-of-seat behavior during all the sessions that I had with them for the whole duration. As for the behaviors, I was looking out for the desired behavior presented by each student in every session for five weeks. The first

Intellectual Capital and Competitiveness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Intellectual Capital and Competitiveness - Essay Example Not so long ago, business resources consisted of 80% tangible assets and resources. However, the picture today is quite different. By 1999, 80% of organizations’ assets were intangible (Andersen and Striukova, 2010). Today’s economy is characterized by intellectual property and assets forming a major part of business assets and resources. Therefore it is paramount to identify how intellectual capital and resources may influence management for the organization’s benefits. According to economic theorists, there are three major components of intellectual capital: human capital, structural capital and customer capital. Human capital represents employee competence, brainpower and knowledge (Berry, 2005). Customer capital on the other hand designates the organization’s relations with its suppliers, customers and distributors. Structural capital represents culture and systems, processes and practices (Bosworth and Webster, 2006). Recognizing the three components of intellectual capital is important for managers who are responsible for ensuring that the organization runs and performs as well as expected. Customer capital is one of the most important aspects of any organization. Customers are invaluable sources if organizational competitiveness in terms of market dominance, financial performance, dynamic capabilities and technological advantage. In today’s business environment, most companies have turned to e-business as a way to boost their businesses (Al-Ali, 2003). This means that a large percentage of an organization’s customers are found online. Managers need to evaluate the way they manage their entire customer capital so as to ensure that they maximize on this important part of the organization (Daum, 2010). This paper evaluates how an organization’s online and offline customer capital may impact on management, and how this influence affects the organization on a whole. Managing Customer Loyalty and Branding It is important for companies to develop strong long term relationships with their target customers so as to build a sustainable business (Choo and Bontis, 2002). ICT has changed the conventional methods used by managers to manage their intangible customer base asset. More and more people are opting to use the internet to do business. In some ways, the online customer base has some needs that are different from those of conventional customers (Bosworth and Webster, 2006). It is for this apparent reason why managers have to come up with ways to work within the new e-market environment so as to satisfy the needs of the customers. The creation of processes or platforms to build and maintain e-business customer loyalty is not a task that a manager can achieve by himself (Jolly and Philpott, 2004). He has to bring on board other customer relations experts to help him draft strategies that will appeal to most of the customers. The first thing that should be considered when creating customer loy alty management strategies is the organizations end goal (Daum, 2010). Although the aim of customer loyalty management is pegged on the idea that the customer has to be satisfied at all times, the way this is done should be determined mainly by the organizational objectives, that it, what the business aims to achieve in the short and long term. The operational front of an e-business should also be considered when managing e-business customers (Bryer, Lebson and Asbell, 2011). This means that the

Thesis The Real Intelligence English Language Essay

Thesis The Real Intelligence English Language Essay The article What is intelligence, Anyway? by Isaac Asimov, tells that he felt he was highly intelligent because he had been getting test scores that were higher than average, this didnt guarantee that he was very good at answering academic questions with worthy answers. He took his car repairman as an example of someone whose intelligence is not based on getting high scores in aptitude tests. When something went wrong with his car, he asked this auto repairman to come and fix the car, as if they were divine oracles. He supposed that in case this man, or a carpenter or farmers who have intricate knowledge or hard working ability ask him a question for an intelligence test, he would absolutely do poorly. He said that his intelligence is not absolute but functional to the society that he lives in and the society has created rules divining who is intelligent and who is not. His auto repairman started telling him jokes and tested his intelligence by asking him a question about the blind m an who came in the shop to buy scissors. Apparently, he answered the repairman with his fingers making a scissoring motion. The auto repairman laughed and said, Why you dumb jerk, he used his voice and asked for them. The car repairman had been trying this trick all day. Asimov asked if he caught any, and the repairman said quite a few, but I knew for sure Id catch you. He asked him what he meant by that, the repairman said, because youre so goddamned educated but you couldnt be very smart. The joke would fool most people, smart or not because theyre thinking about the item and not the mens disability. Thesis: Born Smart- or Get Smart Kathy Seals article The Trouble with Talent: Are We Born Smart or Do We Get Smart? tells us about Jim Stigler, a psychologist from UCLA, who wanted to test whether persistence might be the key factor why students from Asia do better than American kids at elementary math, (by designing an experiment in which the same insolvable math problem and separate group of Japanese and American children) Most American kids tried to solve the problem, after struggling, they gave up. The Japanese kids on the other hand, tried and keep on working until the test was interrupted. Stigler said, if the Japanese kids kept on working, theyll eventually get the answer and said that the American kids thought either you get it or you dont. He detailed that Asian education relies on rote and drill. Asian teachers believe that their chief task is to stimulate thinking and anyone who thinks long enough about a problem can move toward its solution. He also concludes that the Asian belief in hard work as the key to success is one reason why Asians outperforms Americans in academics. Americans are persuaded that success in school requires inborn talent and you dont believe in education in some fundamental level. The Japanese believe that everybody can master the curriculum if you give him or her the time. Theres some argument that the American fixation on natural ability causes to waste the potential of many children. Cross-cultural tests show that in a series of studies spanning a ten-year period, Stigler and his coauthor, Harold W. Steveson of the University of Michigan compared reading and math-test scores at more than 75 elementary schools in Sendai, Japan; Taiwan, China, Minneapolis and Chicago. The scores of the best-performing American school graders were lower than the scores of the worst performing Asian schools. Hard work pervades Asian culture, and even many folk tales make the point that diligence can achieve any goal. Asian countries demonstrate that the expectations in academi c effort are democratic and high. Stigler added, that if learning is gradual and proceeds step by step, anyone could gain knowledge. They showed that the Japanese snaillike pace of giving the lesson in 52 minutes from start to finish allows the brighter students time to understand the concept in depth and slower kids and even learning disabled students benefit from hearing one concept explained in different ways and a large number of Japanese children advance relatively far in math. Meanwhile, in America, assigning students to curricular tracks based to ability is common but happens even in schools where formal tracking is not practical. Kids always know who the teacher thinks is smart, sorta smart and kinda smart. Many kids face lower expectations and a watered-down curriculum. The national mania for positive self-esteem too often leads Americans to puff up kids confidence and forget to tell them that genius is 98 percent perspiration and many Americans believed people who work har d in schools are lack of ability and someone who is so smart dont have to try. According to the survey made by UCLA researcher Valanne Henderson, they asked 229 seventh graders whether people are born smart or get smart by working hard. They compared the sixth and seventh grade students achievement scores. The get-smart beliefs stayed high or improved while the born-smart believers scores dropped. Dwecks concluded that if you want your kids to succeed, you should emphasize effort and quit from praising or blaming intelligence per se. They even found out that bright girls believe that people are born smart, than boys, and that explains why many American girls stop taking high school math and science. Dweck added that seeing intelligence as a inborn trait also turns children into quitters, they are not worried about their intelligence, so theyre afraid to take risks. Kids who think you can get smart arent afraid by failures and find it exciting to figure out what went wrong and keep a t it. Getting Americans to give up their worship of natural ability and replace it with Asian belief in effort seems a big undertaking but possible to train kids in hard work. The key to bringing kids around is for the adults close to them to talk and act that effort counts. The efficacy Institute is working based on theories that social psychologist Jeff Howard developed. He investigated why black students werent performing on school as well as whites and Asians. Using the slogan Think you can; work hard; get smart, the school conducts a seminar for teachers that wean them from the born-smart belief system. They told the teachers to talk to kids and convince them that they can get As in tests and kids respond immediately and the results worked very well. Current efforts for change are modest, no less a force that the government is weaving this new thinking into its education agenda. During a talk by California Teachers Association, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, pledged to work on setting national standards in education that must be for all of young people, regardless of their economic background, and must convince the people that kids are not born smart but they get smart. Thesis: Mark -Oriented In A College Professors View of College and Teaching, one of a professors hardest experiences is to patrol the classroom during the final examination. If he tried to make the course important, and tried to interest the students in an adventure of learning, it is not possible for the teacher to know the students anxiety before or during the exam. The exam is there to prove that the students have actually learned something through the term. Students view finals as the last hurdle before they can move on. The examination gives the teacher the ability to see if information has been successfully transferred to the student. But the most important of all to the student is advancing toward their ultimate goal, a degree. Exams measure a students accomplishment and teachers assign a mark. An integral part of the educational process is the mark. The final examination is the culmination of all the school work and testing that has already taken place, and the mark is what the student is intereste d in. Colleges are interested in the final outcome of the exam, and less so in the professors and the students. Exams have moved towards essay questions rather than the true or false or multiple choice questions, this type of examination must still place its emphasis on the facts in order to make possible a uniform grading system by one or more readers. Some professors want their students to think for themselves while others prefer the subject matter to adhere strictly to the text book. The author says that the students who are left to think for themselves will only be able to think based on their life experiences. He asks what grade these students should be given. The author feels teachers should be able to grade students as they see fit based on the students ability where poor students maybe given an A for encouragement and good students maybe graded poorly if their work is below their ability. However, because marks are used as a measure of the students performance and can affect future scholarship or job opportunities, teachers do not have real freedom or flexibility to mark, as they want. Students seem conditioned by the educational system to know what will give them success. They measured their teachers based on their personality traits to figure out what the professors want to see, this locks the student from taking any risks or liberties with the system. Thesis: Bad Teaching In this story Sociology Final, the student arrived in the class late. The classroom was full because of an examination. The teacher seemed apathetic and was reading a book while smoking a pipe. When the student asked for the test booklet, the teacher had no idea who the student was. After establishing his identity and receiving the test booklet, the student went to find a seat but couldnt find one and sat down in the corner. When he opened the test booklet, he was completely lost. He had no idea about the subject matter; some of this could be because of nerves. He went to the cafeteria, had a cup of coffee, read his book. It seems that he quotes a passage from his book, Alonzos El Gibaro, where he talks about being able to withdraw to an imaginary world. He went home and translated some sentences from the test booklet as best as he could without a dictionary. It seemed Edward Rivera has no interest in learning sociology and the professor has no interest in teaching it as well. He fou nd out that this course is so shocking. He took his test booklet at home and apparently, he failed.

Separating Political Conduct and Personal Morality in Niccolò Machiavel

Separating Political Conduct and Personal Morality in Niccolà ² Machiavelli's, The Prince Niccolà ² Machiavelli wrote, in his novel The Prince, that strong central political leadership was more important than anything else, including religion and moral behavior. Machiavelli, writing during a period of dramatic change known as the Italian Renaissance, displayed attitudes towards many issues, mostly political, which supported his belief that strong government was the most important element in society. These attitudes and ideas were very appropriate for the time because they stressed strong, centralized power, the only kind of leadership that seemed to be working throughout Europe, and which was the element Italy was lacking. Machiavelli understood that obtaining such a government could not be done without separating political conduct and personal morality, and suggested that the separation be made. The Prince, written to the Medici family over five hundred years ago contained many truths, so universal and accurate that they still influence politics today. To understand the writings of Niccolà ² Machiavelli, it is necessary to understand the world of Niccolà ² Machiavelli, Renaissance Italy. The region was not one nation as it is today, rather a collection of several city-states, which contained internal fighting between powerful families, fighting with each other. This era differed from the preceding middle ages in many respects, the pope's power was weakened, money controlled power instead of noble birth, and there was a revival of ancient Greek and Roman literature, architecture and art by a new breed of people, the humanists. These changes created the environment in which Machiavelli lived. He saw how the quarrelling was weakeni... ...he ideas in contained proved themselves to be very useful in the government of people. Niccolà ² Machiavelli was born into a world of drastic change, Renaissance Italy, that would cause his mind to conjure ideas about many political issues transferred into books that the entire world has profited from since. His ideas were incredibly relevant to his time, because they suggested harsh governments, the only kind of governments that seemed to be working. He proposed creating these harsh governments through a separation of personal morality and political behavior. His ideas were so relevant and so universal, that they still influence politics today. Niccolà ² Machiavelli proposed the creating of strong central government more powerful than anything else, including religion and morality. Works Cited Machiavelli, Niccolà ³. The Prince. New York: Penguin Classics, 1999.

Wood Polymer Composite (WPC) and its infiltration into Eastern European Markets

Wood Polymer Composite (WPC) has increased demand over the recent past due to benefits that these products possess. Countries such as the US have used these products over the last decade, but some countries are currently realizing the benefits that the products have in local markets. It is therefore very important to analyze the benefits that these products have over wood products and how they can be made available to countries that have realized their potential, especially those in Western Europe. This paper aims at analyzing the manufacturing process of Wood polymer Composite, the history of the same products and the benefits and costs that such products have over wood. The paper will also analyze the level of demand that WPC products have in Western Europe, the available opportunities and the challenges of expanding these opportunities. Finally, the paper will give a brief conclusion on the subject and give a recommendation on the same. Table of Contents Abstract 1 Introduction. 2 History. 3 How WPC is manufactured. 3 Benefits of WPC. 4 Weaknesses. 5 WPC demand in Western Europe. 6 Growth in the use of WPC 8 Countries to be targeted. 8 Distribution 9 Challenges of expanding the use of WPC. 10 Conclusion and recommendation. 11 Works cited. 13 Introduction. The use of WPC products has increased in several countries and this can be traced to the benefits that such products possess. WPC products have several qualities that make them superior to wood, and this is the major reason that makes them popular in several markets. They are usually used in the construction industry, and some countries use these products for outdoor activities. These products are also very useful in the automobile industry. It is important to understand the nature of the Wood Polymer Composite before analyzing it further . Wood Polymer Composite is a material that is manufactured through impregnation of wood with monomers, after which the resultant product undergoes polymerization. This enables the materials to be tailored to special needs, and this is necessitated by the resultant properties that such materials possess. These include enhanced mechanical characteristics and lightness, but these will be discussed at a later stage. WPC is used for a wide range of activities and these include automotive engineering, construction and building. WPC is used for a wide range of activities such as outdoor floors, indoor furniture, fences, railings, park benches, landscaping timbers, door and window frames among others. History. Karpov is reportedly the first person who did research on WPC and he did this during 1960. Other researchers such as Meyer, Kent and Kenaga also conducted various researches on the prospects of producing WPC in various countries. These countries include Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, UK, South Africa and Denmark among other countries. The use of atomic energy such as gamma radiation has been a major contributor to development of WPC. The expansion of petrochemical industry market policies has also been linked to the development of WPC. These materials are relatively new to the market, especially considering the long history that wood has been used. However, their superior qualities are increasing their demand by a variety of consumers. These qualities that the WPC materials possess will be discussed at a later stage, but can be broadly classified as aesthetic and usage qualities. How WPC is manufactured. A palleted compound is fed through a gravity bunker into extruder. This mixture is heated until it melts to form a mass that flows uniformly in the extruder's cylinder. There is a screw present inside the extruder and this presses the melt flow through the die's slit. The extrusion process subsequently undergoes cooling with the use of a water tank. It is afterward pulled through water by a tractor to cool it . The sudden temperature change makes the extruded blank cool and shrink. the size of the final product is not only decided by the cooling but also by the traction speed. The extruded blank is further pulled by the tractor at a uniform speed to the handling and cutting table. The cutter subsequently holds the extruded profile and cuts it to the desired length. Benefits of WPC. Consumers are increasingly choosing WPC over wood due to the many benefits that they possess, over wood. Although they cost more than wood, they have superior features that make consumers ignore the price and purchase them. The consumers ignore the price since they reason that the long term costs of maintaining wood materials will supersede the cost of purchasing the WPC. Some of the benefits of WPC will be discussed below. One benefit of the use of WPC is that these products are weather resistant and moisture resistant. Another benefit is that these products have natural feel, longevity and dimensional stability. They are also more attractive than the natural wood, and this is the reason that they are used as finishes to various products. This makes them more popular than wood. They are also manufactured using various colors, which makes them attractive without the need for them o be painted. These products have also the ability to retain screws and nails for longer periods of time compared to wood. WPC products, unlike wood, are immune to termite attacks. This is one major problem that many consumers of wood products complain about, since termite attacks render the wood weak. This necessitates the need to replace such wood, which is expensive. Since WPC is resistant to termite attacks, this makes it popular with consumers. WPC is more environmental friendly than wood, and this is because of the following reason. As has been discussed, WPC products require lesser maintenance compared to wood. This means that these products last longer than ordinary wood, which necessitates fewer cases of replacing them. This translates to fewer trees being cut and hence is more friendly to the environment compared to wood. These products are also seen to be friendly to the environment as compared to wood, since they are mixed with other products during the manufacturing process. This means that the amount of wood used to manufacture these products is relatively less, and hence helps conserve the environment. WPC products are resistant to splitting and cracking. This feature makes them have the ability to be molded into various shapes and sizes, whether or not someone has the details on the wood grains. This is one feature that is superior to that of wood, since wood is prone to splitting when being molded. They also possess cellulose that can be as high as 70%, which makes them have similar properties to wood . Weaknesses. When WPC is being manufactured, there are many elements that are added to improve the capabilities of these materials. Such materials include adhesives and polymers and these complicate the process of recycling these materials. WPC is considered to have many impurities that make the recycling process more difficult, which means that fewer WPC materials are recycled, as compared to wood. This has a negative impact on the environment. Another weakness of WPC materials is that they are prone to staining due to the porous nature of such materials. These materials are porous and can be stained by some solvents, which might affect their beauty. The process of altering wood to a form where it can be used more effectively when finishing exposes some weaknesses. Since nitrocellulose polymers come into contact with organic solvents when carrying out the finishing operations, this makes organic solvents to be released in air before they dry. This presents a host of problems mainly to people who work around such environments. One problem is the danger of explosion or flammability of the solvents. The other is the potential health problems to workers due to inhalation of the vapor. When the air is released into the atmosphere, it poses a problem to the neighboring community. This final stage also presents another challenge to producers and this involves the drying process. As has been stated earlier, during this process, some organic solvents are released to the atmosphere. This solvent is expensive and some producers are not willing to ‘waste' it, thereby ignoring the process. Dispersing the vapor and recycling materials, in order to acquire the solvents is energy intensive and costly. WPC demand in Western Europe. The demand for WPC has risen in Europe, and this was after the success of similar products in American markets. European producers have envied their American counterparts for many years and they currently have an opportunity to reap the benefits of WPC products. The demand for these products has increased mainly because of the fact that the high purchase cost is compensated by the low costs of maintenance. This makes the products cheaper in the long run. Their durability is also another factor that has led to massive increase in demand of these products in Europe. According to the Hackwell group, the projected growth rate for WPC products in 2009 is expected to be close to 10%, which represents increase from 100,000 tonnes that were purchased in 1999, to approximately 144,000 tonnes. This is equivalent to approximately 290 million Euro. In 2004, Germany was producing approximately 5000 tonnes of WPC each year. In 2007, Europe produced approximately 100,000 tonnes of the same product, with Germany producing 20% of this total. When these figures are compared to those of North America, it becomes clear that Europe is lagging in the consumption of WPC. North America produced over 700,000 tonnes in 2005 and by 2010, the production is widely expected to rise to 1. 6 million tonnes. Most producers are based in countries which consume WPC the most and these include France, UK and Germany. However, there is a growing trend where suppliers establish themselves in emerging markets for these products, and these markets include Italy, Sweden and Netherlands. Currently, the major European consumer of WPC, is the automobile industry. Germany is among the highest European consumers and uses WPC for manufacture of vehicles such as BMW, Daimer Chrysler and Audi. These companies use between 7 and 10 kg for each vehicle, and WPC is used for car parts such as headliners, acoustic panels, interior panels, parcel shelves and seat panels. WPC especially convenient for these car parts due to its good strength, lower cost, ease in processing and light weight. In fact, estimates show that 90 million Euro has been used on research by automobile industry in Germany over the last decade. The general automotive industry consumes over 50% of the total WPC consumed in Europe. This is a stark contrast with the worldwide consumption trends, which reveal that automobiles consume less than 7% of the total WPC consumed worldwide. This means that there is a lot of untapped potential for the WPC in Europe, since furniture and construction are among the major consumers of WPC worldwide. Growth in the use of WPC There is optimism that consumption of WPC will increase in Western Europe due to certain technical innovations that aim at reducing the inefficiencies of the current WPC products. For instance, Austria's Melamine International developed melamine resin which is one of a kind since it can be extruded. Its thermoset is created in such a way that it allows the use of wood flour and fiber mix of 70%. This mix improves on the weaknesses of the current WPCs that are thermoplastic based. Such weaknesses include lower levels of stability when exposed to high temperatures, and they are solved through combining the product performance, and processing behavior of this thermostat. Products created using this technology are reputed to have higher resistance to scratch as well as better mechanical properties. In Netherlands, Holland Colours has produced natural colorants which are dust free which will be used in pigmenting WPC profiles. These additives allow faster color changes to be made, as well as reduce tear around the edges of such materials. Countries to be targeted. As has been discussed, there is a major potential for the use of WPC in Europe. Most economies are growing at a fast rate and there are increasingly new investments in most of the European countries. There has also been considerable growth in the real estate and automobile industry. This necessitates the need to develop and use WPC materials in a majority of these countries. Russia is one country which has the potential to make a major investment in this sector. Going by the success of the WPC in the US, Russia has an opportunity to reap the benefits that have been enjoyed by the US for over a decade. Germany has been seen to have invested in WPC in its automobile industry. As has been discussed earlier, Germany is among the leading WPC consumers in Europe. However, the bulk of the investment is in the automobile industry. This has been seen to go against the global trend where most of the consumption of WPC goes to construction sector. Germany therefore has a chance to increase consumption of WPC through diversifying its use beyond the automobile sector into other sectors of the economy. Another country that has the opportunity to take advantage of the use of WPC is France. France is one of the leading vehicle manufacturers and is also Germany's largest trading partner. France therefore should invest in WPC through importing the technology from Germany through their trade agreements. This will help improve the automobile industry, after which WPC will be used for other industries. This will not only create jobs, but will improve the overall utility derived by the consumers from these products. Distribution When undertaking distribution activities, it is imperative that there is a form of outsourcing for the minor services and operations. Outsourcing involves delegating the minor operations or activities that a company undertakes, to a third party so that the company can concentrate on its core duties and responsibilities. In undertaking distribution, these countries should outsource the minor functions so that they are not distracted from their core activities. One service that the companies can outsource is the maintenance of the warehouse. Outsourcing this service will enable the vendors, who are professionals in this operation, to provide warehousing services for the products that have been produced or imported. This will increase efficiency and reduce costs since the company can now concentrate on its core business. The companies should distribute the products to the clients through retailers and wholesalers. These are people who have high information an knowledge on the market since they are closer to the consumers. There should however be as few middlemen as possible in order to prevent the prices from rising. This is also done to prevent chances of the WPC products experiencing pilferage. When selling the products, the companies dealing in WPC product should use the correct forms of advertising so that they might capture a large number of clients. They may sell the WPC products under the theme ‘saving the environment' and organize for support from the local environmentalists. Some people might be against these products given the fact that these products still make use of trees, but as long as the products helps conserve the environment, even if it is one tree, the members of the public will identify with the product. Challenges of expanding the use of WPC. There are several challenges that face the use of WPC, which thereby hinder investment in this market. These challenges stem from the nature of the business and also the behavior of the investors. These challenges will be discussed below. The first challenge is that some European manufacturers are hesitant to the use of WPC in manufacture of car parts since these materials go against the European Union's directive of End of Life, when manufacturing products . The EU requires vehicles to be manufactured in such a way that once the life of a vehicle is over, 85% of it should be able to be recovered. Such vehicles have their parts recycled and metals extracted for the same purpose. However, in spite of the legislation, the growth of the use of WPC in automobiles is still expected to rise by about 4% each year. European environmental groups also oppose the use of WPC in manufacture of various products due to the perception that it has contents which are toxic . Another reason given by the groups include the perception that the manufacturing process emits some fumes which negatively affect the environment. There are also very few WPC manufacturers in Western Europe, since most are not willing to take the risk and experiment with new products. In Western Europe, there are only about ten producers of WPC, yet there are more than fifty such producers in North America. Most potential manufacturers are observing the market trends before fully investing in the trade. Financial analysts believe that by the end of the next three years, may producers will have invested in the trade, going by the current market demand. There needs to be incentives that encourage entry of new players in this industry . There are also challenges that are faced due to the rising costs of wood flour. This is one of the materials that are used in manufacturing WPC. According to senior managers in the wood industry, German prices for wood flour have increased by over 30% during the past year. This has the effect of increasing the prices of the final product which will discourage consumers from purchasing them. It is important for the German government to regulate the prices of material used in this process, since WPC products have benefits that far outweigh the costs. Conclusion and recommendation. It is evident that WPC products play a very important role in conserving the environment . Not only do WPC products conserve the environment, they have many features that make them superior over wood. These have been discussed in the paper, and it clearly proves that WPC products are better than wood. However, the fact that these products conserve the environment, this should be a major reason why people should embrace these products. This is because the environment is very important and it goes beyond the needs of the present generation. Environmental groups should come together and look for support in order to encourage people to use these products. It has also been seen that there is enormous potential that exists in Western Europe but is untapped due to many factors. Many producers are not willing to venture into an untested market, but they should observe the model that worked for the US government. The US economic environment is relatively similar to the economies of most of the Western European countries. This should act as an incentive for the European countries to invest in the WPC product market . The European Union should consider changing the legislation that requires manufacturers to manufacture vehicles in such a way that 85% of it should be able to be recovered. This will enable the consumption of WPC by motor vehicle manufacturers from the current 10% to approximately 80% each year . European governments also need to offer incentives to producers willing to invest in WPC products since this will encourage many investors to venture into this field. The benefits of this investment will not only be felt by these investors, but they will trickle down to the general population. In developing a distribution means, the companies that venture into this market should aim to reduce the costs of the products as much as possible. This is necessary especially considering the fact that this is a new product in the market and high prices will discourage consumers from purchasing it . The reduction in price can be achieved through the reduction of middlemen in the distribution process as well as outsourcing some non-core activities to vendors. Finally, it is important for all stakeholders involved to realize that benefits of such a kind of investment will not only help the current generation, but will help the future generation. The current generation will benefit from economic growth, employment opportunities and improvement in the standards of living. On the other hand, the future generation will benefit from the conservation of the environment which will ensure their future survival.