Informal paper - Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Informal paper - Proposal - Essay Example For doing simple tasks like opening a door in the form of authorized entry to accomplishing complex organizational processes, IT and its tools are playing an optimal role. One of the key IT based processes inside an organizational environment is storing of digitized data, sharing it, and importantly processing or analyzing that data using specialized hardwares and softwares to get the desired results. Among the many existing and emerging technologies, cloud computing is being maximally implemented by many organizations in varied business sectors. When an organization utilizes cloud computing, it takes over majority of its IT processes â€Å"raining† benefits to it like how rainy clouds would normally ‘envelop’ a particular area. In the part one, we will provide background technical details about cloud computing and the processes behind it. In the second part, we will particularly focus on Amazon’s cloud computing service called EC2 and its effective feature s. In the third part, by comparing EC2 with other cloud services, will try to show how EC2 is a far superior service than others. Will conclude the report by summing up the points that will clearly show how EC2 is the best service for your company. Cloud computing refers to a IT based virtual infrastructure where business operations are carried out using third-party ‘virtual’ servers stationed in distant places through internet-dependant interface, instead of using in-house IT structure. So, it obvious that you need not required to build and maintain an internal IS based infrastructure. If you have a pre-existing structure, you can avoid expanding it. This is because normally cloud can store all kind of data and importantly host many softwares, which may be needed to run your processes. The data and softwares can be accessed using a web based application from any place without major physical limitations. â€Å"The storing and accessing of applications and computer data often through

Go Greek Essay Example for Free

Go Greek Essay They make assumptions that are most likely not true. They make assumptions from hear say only. You need to experience it, before you judge. Lauren Border’s negative outlook on the Greek system is mistaken, because she overlooks the positives like sisterhood and brotherhood, scholarship, and leadership, and what they have to offer. In â€Å"Pledging to never rush: a criticism of Greek life at Tufts†, published in The Tufts Daily, student at Tufts University Lauren Border writes how she is against the Greek life establishment at Tufts. She doesn’t understand why people would want to join an establishment that gives you so many bad names, and separates women from men, and men from women. In the article she did want to make clear that she does not dislike the people in the Greek life establishment. She has nothing against them; she is just against the establishment. She doesn’t like how the sexes are separated. She doesn’t understand that women are still trying to make a step up in the world and become equal to men, but then they have these establishments that separate them. She is also very against the hazing aspect on both sides of the Greek system. Girls’ egos are shut down, and men have to prove something, just to be part of something. She is stating that you can feel belonged to something and not have to partake in any of these things. In the article she states, â€Å"I am convinced that Greek life usually does much more harm than good. † She wants a change at Tufts and she is hoping that this article will make people wake up and see that there are other options out there. Border’s opinion on he Greek system lacks credibility when she points out the flaws of the Greek system. For every point she makes, she does not have any proof to back it up with. Also Border makes all of her judgments based off of the Tuft University Greek Life, when in reality not all Greek Life is the same on every campus nationwide. She is judging without knowing. Unlike Border I am currently part of a Greek establishment and it is the best decision I have ever made. I have only been in the house for three months, and I have experienced things I don’t think I would have ever experienced if I didn’t join. I don’t know if it’s because I go to the University of Idaho, but some of the stuff she mentions are not true. For example, Border states in the article that girls have it way worse in the Greek system than guys, but here at the University of Idaho, it’s the complete opposite. Absolutely no hazing is allowed, and if the house gets caught it will be shut down. No exceptions what so ever. There are many benefits for joining a Greek establishment. Border only looks at all the negatives, and doesn’t even bother to consider the positives. One of the multiple benefits for joining a Greek establishment is friendship and sisterhood/brotherhood you gain. When joining a house you have the advantage of meeting people of various backgrounds with both different yet similar interests. The ideal of sisterhood/brotherhood is the principal foundation upon which each fraternity/ sorority is built and from which you will receive the greatest benefit. You will always have people pushing you to be the very best you can be, and will be there when the going gets tough. Another benefit for joining an establishment is the academic side of it. One of the main purposes of the fraternity or sorority community is to develop and encourage high scholastic achievement among the members. Within the house you have the opportunity to take advantage of peer tutoring, upperclassman counseling, and chapter study hours. Those chapter study hours give the newest members a good sense of the change of study habits they are going to have to become accustom to in order to be successful in college. Also, there is the fact that your brothers/sisters can offer all kinds of academic advice after their experiences. There are so many benefits in joining a house, but I am only going to mention one more. When you join a fraternity or sorority you will be offered the opportunity to take on a leadership position. Leadership positions range from president to vice president of finance all the way to purchase chairman. Everyone in a fraternity or sorority is a leader, whether you’re an officer, on a committee, or just a participant. You will learn by doing. You will learn how to manage a budget, run effective meetings, speak in public, and motivate others. These are skills that will help you not only within the university but throughout your life. These days it takes more than just a degree to get a job, it takes leadership experience. Being a part of something that has a lot of meaning behind everything is an amazing feeling. Being a part of a sorority/ fraternity and forming that sisterhood/ brotherhood is such an amazing thing. You know people have your back all the time, and you know you are not alone. Everyone is going through the same thing. Learning life skills while being part of a Greek establishment will help you so much later down the road. Whether you hear good or bad things about joining a house, give it a chance. You will never understand the meaning behind everything if you don’t give it a try. Lauren Borders negative outlook on the Greek system is mistaken, because she overlooks the positives of what it has to offer. Everything was based on hearsay and personal opinion. She had nothing to back up any of her points.

My Mean Old Art Teacher Essays -- Personal Narrative Writing

My Mean Old Art Teacher Mr. Arnold stands smugly by his classroom door between classes, with his arms proudly crossed over his chest as trails of students trample past his art room each day. Many of the passers-by recognize this man simply as "the scary art teacher." Those who have experienced Mr. Arnold's art class first-hand regard him otherwise. I had heard many stories about Mr. Arnold before entering his grueling class. "Most people don't like him," some warned me. Others commented, "I've heard his class is really difficult." I can remember my first day in his art class clearly. I entered his room a timid freshman with unpleasant expectations. Maybe I was even a little more than timid. The concept of high school frightened me, and having a teacher with a bad reputation didn't ease my fears. I was a sheltered fourteen-year old girl; a girl who had been babied most of her life. I entered room 28 for the first time on a warm late-summer's afternoon, as the sun's rays attempted to soothe me through the windows. The poignant smell of oil paint filtered through the air, soft classical music drifted from his office and impressive artwork decorated the walls. Mr. Arnold always insisted, much to the students' opposition, that, "Classical music puts you in the right mind set to create art. It will not distract you, it will force you to focus." The shelves juggled piles of aged art supplies and half-filled canvases doffed the edges of the room. Mr. Arnold loomed in front of the class with his pointer, a man with frosty silver hair and an undeniable bald spot, unraveling his list of arduous requirements. "Art is not an easy B", he smirked, making reference to a sign on the wall, and squinting at us with his sharp icy eyes. "Furt... ...der his tutelege. Mr. Arnold's guidance has made me realize that if I deeply and genuinely love what I do, I can succeed. Art has wisked me into lands of creativity and imagination I never knew. I've learned to expand my boundaries by setting sail on risky bodies of water. I may be somewhat of a timid person, but when I create art, I can fly. Mr. Arnold has helped me gain more of the confidence I so desperately needed to break loose. I spent four years in that same room, a room where I grew to love the familiar smell of oil paint and the sound of classical music, listening to Mr. Arnold holler, narrate, criticize, instruct and laugh. I do know an art teacher, different from the one who stands smugly by the door of his art room, with his arms proudly crossed over his chest, and I will never forget him because his teaching has shaped me as an artist, and as a person.

IKEA Business Research Paper Essay

IKEA is a world renowned furniture and home goods provider. Like all international businesses they have challenges and dilemmas that effect how they approach different aspects of their business. By identifying issues and how to combat them by analyzing accurate data IKEA can better handle situations and ensure continued profitability and company success Statistical Analysis The first level of measurement that IKEA used was nominal measurement. With this level of measurement, items were assigned into groups or categories. This evaluated data was definitive and was captured with the questions that have a â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† answer. The next measurement level was the ordinal level of measurement. This level signified several specific reason behind the assignment and indicated an approximate ordering of the measurements. This evaluated the captured data using median and mode, with questions that have the answer choice for example; satisfied and unsatisfied. This allowed IKEA to determine how often customers were satisfied or unsatisfied with their goods and services. The third level deals with the interval which classified along with ordered the measurements; this level specified the distances between each interval on the scale were equivalent along the scale from low interval to high interval. The final level was the ratio level of measurement, this level the measurements can have a value of zero and the divisions between the points on the scale have an equivalent distance between them, and the rankings assigned to the items are according to their size (Marchal, William & Whaten 2009). To evaluate the data, each answer will be given a ranking; excellent (100% satisfaction), average (50% satisfaction), and terrible (0% satisfaction). This was used to measure the level of consumer satisfaction. Challenges to Validity and Reliability Validity and reliability are the two critical factors to be considered during a sample design and data collection. Survey is a very expensive approach. Therefore it is very important to do it right in the first time. Carefully evaluating the potential challenges to validity and reliability of survey question, data and analysis is crucial. Cooper, D & Schindler, P (2006) indicated that there were four major faults of the survey instrument design are 1) the respondent error; 2) the situation error; 3) the measurer; and 4) the data collection instrument (Cooper, D. R. , & Schindler, P. S. 2006. ) At least two potential challenges for the survey should be considered. Different ethic group membership could have different answer to a same question. For example, the customers in some countries may be reluctant to select â€Å"extremely satisfied† or â€Å"extremely satisfied† in the survey questionnaire to express their satisfaction level. This could cause the external validity issues when collecting the data. A defective instrument can cause distortion in a way of too confusing and ambiguous. When the researchers design the questionnaire, they should consider the participants’ education level and comprehension capability. Leading questions, ambiguous meanings, mechanical defects are also mistakes that could cause instrument errors. For example, in the questionnaire one question is â€Å"What are the main reasons you chose IKEA for your shopping needs? † This is an open question to the customers, the outcome of the answers may not be able to quantify for data analysis. It will be better to list the possible reasons to let the customers to choose. The researchers have to carefully determine the instrument scales Steps to Minimize Challenges Our reasoning for the minimization of these potential challenges is to save the company time and money. Having a properly outlined and well prepared survey will lead to validity and reliability. Both validity and reliability are again the two critical factors to consider in the sample design and data collection processes. As stated in our previous section, we have chosen to utilize the following two challenges: ethnical differences and evaluation of the potential challenges to validity and reliability of survey question, data and analysis. Consideration for both challenges can be addressed and identified under the four major faults of the survey instrument design. In order to properly prepare the survey and minimize challenges, IKEA must act as the end user. What essentially will happen is that IKEA will see how the final output questions can be effected by multiple factors. These factors can include the following but are not limited to: age, race, background, and educational background. When looking into these factors they will help to identify potential initial faults of the survey. Finally, the questions should be compared and analyzed to avoid more simplistic issues. The following simplistic issues that could occur and IKEA should be prepared for are the following: leading questions, ambiguous meanings, mechanical defects, and comprehension. When covering all of the bases listed in the above paragraphs only then can IKEA’s final questionnaire/survey be complete. There is no way to eliminate the margin for error in any test such as a questionnaire. However when properly addressed the potential for challenges effecting data validity and reliability can be minimized. Classification of Findings Currently, IKEA’s main focus is on profit sustainability and determining if true brand loyalty or short term effects of the world’s recession have affected buying behaviors which has lead to an increase in profits. IKEA can classify the order of power using the fundamental categories; nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. The nominal measurement scales categorize or put items in groups. The data that can be collected from a nominal scale will be definitive. For example IKEA will be able to determine regular customers from first time buyers and will be better able to analyze the data accordingly. The data reported that 8 out of 10 IKEA shoppers were returning customers. This data suggests that the economy did not have an effect on determining on where consumers were deciding to shop. With the ordinal level of measurement, it will evaluate the captured data using median and mode, with questions that have an answer choice. The data retrieved showed that for every 10 customers 9 were satisfied, which suggested that customers were returning customers because of true satisfaction and company loyalty. The interval along with ratio determines the distances between each interval on the scale are equivalent along the scale from low interval to high interval (Marchal, William & Whaten 2009). This will help to determine trend. This will happen from data being retrieved from questions like; what was your main reason for shopping at IKEA? If you could change something about your shopping experience what would it be? The ratio level is where the points on the scale have an equivalent distance between them, and the rankings assigned to the items are according to their size (Marchal, William & Whaten 2009). To evaluate the data each answer will be given a ranking; excellent (100% satisfaction), good (75% satisfaction), average (50% satisfaction), poor (25% satisfaction) and terrible (0% satisfaction). From the data collected it shows that there was 100% satisfaction 90% of the time. From this data we can conclude that customers are generally satisfied. By collecting data in an accurate and reasonably cost effective manner IKEA can determine their business success and shortcomings. This allows management to make educated decisions to continue company profitability and success.

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions (China and Germany) Essay

Gerard Hendrik Hofstede (born October 2, 1928 in Haarlem) is a Dutch expert in cultural studies [GHW]. Hofstede (1980) surveyed 88,000 IBM employees working in 66 countries and then ranked the countries on different cultural dimensions. His research resulted in four dimensions (power distance; individualism versus collectivism; uncertainty avoidance; and masculinity and femininity). In the beginning, China was not included in this study but later Bond and Hofstede looked at Chinese values. From this research they included a fifth cultural value dimension called: long-term versus short-term orientation [SKR]. Power Distance Index (PDI) The Power Distance index shows how less powerful individuals accept and expect an unequal distribution of power. High power distance means that power is unevenly distributed; low power distance means that power is more evenly distributed [TIP]. According to Geert Hofstede’s 5 dimensions China is located in the higher ranking at 80. That means that this society â€Å"believes that inequalities amongst people are acceptable† [GER]. The Power is centralised and the management is autocratic. The subordinate-superior relationship tends to be cleaved and â€Å"there is no defence against power abuse by superiors† [GER]. This means that â€Å"people are less willing to challenge authority which is likely due to old communism beliefs which still have a strong influence on people’s behaviour† [SKR]. Managers expect subordinates to obey them. Subordinates automatically show respect and know that they have to earn their respect. They also expect to be told what to do. Therefore social interactions are formal. In general we can say that the Chinese are â€Å"optimistic about people’s capacity for leadership and initiative† [GER]. The general attitude of the Chinese is that you should not fulfil any duties beyond your rank [GER]. In class I have noticed that the status of the teacher has to be respected and privileges are expected. To listen to a different example: In China it is very common that the workers should come 15 minutes earlier to a meeting and the manager with the most power is always five to fifteen minutes later. That shows that the managers enjoy more privileges. I was able to observe that the compliance of  the hierarchy is maintained very strictly. Individualism versus Collectivism(IDV) This index shows the extent to which individuals are integrated into groups or not [TIP]. In societies with a high IDV index particularly individual rights are protected: self-determination, I experience and personal responsibility are important. In a collectivist culture with a low IDV-index contrast, the integration dominates in any kind of networks. The team spirit is much more characteristic of such a culture [GHW]. According to Geert Hofstede China is located in the lower ranking at 20. â€Å"In collectivist cultures such as China, people work together in groups and often put the needs of that group ahead of their own personal wants† [SKR]. They share responsibility. The Chinese who are doing business tend to stay with the same partners and suppliers to keep loyalty and not worsen relationships [SKR]. In China the community had always the priority. Tian xia wei gong said the ancients – under the sky everything serves the community. In the Confucian influenced social system everyone expects from the individual subordination, self-control and willingness to make sacrifices in order that the family and state can benefit from it. Individualism is a term which has always had a negative connotation in China, because people associated it with egoism. The Chinese prefer a holistic thinking. An example, if a Chinese writes his address down he will start with the country, then the city and the street and at the end his own name. The traditional Chinese medicine is a prime example for holistic thinking. Each disease is always seen in the context of the whole body. Collectivism promotes harmony. In China people focus on harmony and shun the direct confrontation. Harmony is achieved by giving â€Å"face† to others and avoiding losing your own â€Å"face†. When I talked to my Chinese friend â€Å"David Zhang† and asked him about his study he will begin in Germany, he told me that this was a family decision. Of course, it was his wish but without the consent of the family he could never study abroad. Even if he had the money for it he would not do so, because his family is much more important to him. Masculinity / Femininity(MAS) This MAS index shows the expression of the dominant values that are  established in both sexes. Hofstede ranks to the female values of care, cooperation and modesty. As masculine values ​​Hofstede defines competitive readiness and self-confidence. A high MAS index shows a dominance of â€Å"typically male† values, a low MAS index shows a dominance of â€Å"typically female† values [GHW]. ​​According to Geert Hofstede China is located in the higher ranking at 66. It is more a masculine society – a society which is success oriented. You can see it on the fact that many of the Chinese sacrifice their leisure time to work [SKR]. I have noticed that shops are open until very late at night. Officially, nowadays women enjoy the same rights as men in the workplace. The Communist Party in China has made efforts to put both genders on almost the same level. Anyway traditional Confucian thinking does not fit easily with this term of gender equality. It seems to be a bit ironic that the liberalisation policies of the last decade might have turned around many of the advances made by women under the prevalent conditions of the hard-line regimes. Through the traditional values it is the boys who have strong preferences. The men own most of the power and responsibility although there is a high level of acceptance between genders in China [SKR]. Unfortunately, women in executive positions enjoy a low appreciation. There are successful women in all fields, they are among the winners of the economic reforms, but also among the losers. If the economic situation in the factories is poor and staff is reduced, they are the first to be fired. If high school fees are too high, it is usually the daughter, who leave school and has to go to work [BUC]. Uncertainty avoidance(UAI) The UAI index shows a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. Cultures with a high UAI, want to avoid the uncertainty and are characterized by many uncommitted laws, policies and security measures. Members are emotional and nervous. Cultures which are tolerant to accept uncertainty have a few rules that are changeable and thus tend to relativism. The members are phlegmatic and expect from their environment not to show feelings [GHW]. According to Geert Hofstede China has a low score of 30 on uncertainty avoidance. China has a high degree of acceptance of uncertainty. This society does not try to take control of the future, and therefore China’s society is not afraid of unforeseen situations [SKR]. The  Chinese consider written and oral arrangements sceptical. Contracts should be structured so that there is still the possibility to change the contract afterwards. The Chinese are very flexible. In case of conflict, a mentor is used, which takes care of the problems of both families instead of going to court. Uncertainty avoidance means for the Chinese first: What does my boss want? If he agrees with my ideas, then I can put it on. But I do not certainly know if he will like my ideas, I rather not ask him indeed I better wait for instructions. In this case, I can do no wrong, because the manager is responsible for all decisions, therefore the uncertainty is resolved. I could observe that the Chinese remain calm when unforeseen situations occur. They do not get upset about the situation. They can quickly accept the situation and adapt their surroundings. Long-term or short-term orientation(LTO) This LTO index â€Å"deals with the issue of virtue. Long-term cultures value thrift and perseverance; short-term cultures value tradition, the fulfilment of social obligations and protecting one’s ‘face’ or honour. A long-term orientation is associated with East Asian countries† [TIP]. According to Geert Hofstede China has a high score of 118. Hofstede analysed that China has the highest ranking of all countries in long-term orientation. It is 30% higher than the Asian average score. China is a country with a strong long-term orientation. It can be seen from the fact that China preferred a long-term development and indirect enforcement strategies [SKR]. According to the Chinese way of thinking it is not the shortest route that leads to the destination but the more difficult path. Therefore the Chinese can handle complex situations without a lot of stress neither they let push themselves through time. The key for the Chinese is to build up strong, reliable, lasting relationships. Before any decision is met there must be gained a certain amount of trust. Obviously this takes longer to finish a business deal. They do not like to rush into things [SKR]. Once you build up the trust and a strong relationship you can rely on it. This culture is marked by loyalty and respect. If you are willing to maintain this relationship you can trust your entire life on Guanxi. Comparison between China and Germany As you can see there are a few differences between Germany and China. In contrast to China the power is decentralised. The German culture is marked by a low power distance and the subordinates expect to be consulted as well as they expect to offer their ideas to the managers. Flashing back to my work experience I can say that I often had to take initiative. Often people are confronted with the adage: â€Å"think by yourself†. The other difference is that the management and subordinates respect each other and treat one another as equals. Usually it is as described, but there are of course exceptions. In most cases, however, I have had the experience that I had a good relationship to my boss. Compared to China, Germany has a highly individualistic society. Personal responsibility, independence, self-determination and I-experience are highly valued in Germany. A prolonged stay abroad is much respected. It shows that you can independently fulfil tasks. Companies wish to have workers with international experience due to growing globalization. That individualism counts, can also be seen in the fact that you put your name first when writing an address. This is totally different to China where you put the country at first as I have already mentioned. According to Hofstede Germany and China have the same MAS index. Mostly it is the men who hold the most of the power. I have noticed women get more and more acceptance in the man dominated business world. For example we now have a woman (Angelika Merkel) as chancellor and not a man. I can see more and more woman taking part in higher positions. Therefore I would rate Germany at 55 because there is no doubt about the increasing acceptance of women. Another example shows that a women’s quota should be introduced in Germany, which includes that at least 10% of women should sit in the top management. Furthermore Germany is a country full of bureaucracy. We have laws for almost everything, insurance companies are supposed to protect us and the institutions should regulate everything imaginable. We want to have everything controlled in order to control the future. Therefore we make contracts and then we act accordingly. This is totally different to the Chinese Culture where people like to keep the possibility to change things afterwards. The highest difference between China and Germany is the LTO index. Unlike China, Germany is more short-term oriented. Managers in Germany try to make high profits in no time. We put  truth and directness before diplomacy. Furthermore I have noticed that German employers are impatient because they want to get fast results. Criticism Unfortunately, I could not check if I would spread as much points as Hofstede because there was too less time to make an intensive investigation. However, I found out through discussions and research that Hofstede was pretty accurate with his assumptions. Furthermore, I want to mention a couple of criticisms of his study. The main point is listed by critics that the drawn samples were not representative. So in the original study(1967-1972 ) information were used from a global survey made by IBM. Thus, it is uncertain whether the system actually worked out measures of national cultures or rather differences in corporate culture between the countries. Furthermore, Hofstede’s approach ignores differences within a nation. The model treats a nation as a homogeneous state of individuals who all share the same value system. This is in most cases incorrect. In addition, criticism of the validity of the items was practiced [4]. Hofstede cites no theoretical justification for the selection of items. House and other people criticizes in particular the failure to distinguish between values ​​and behavior. This is problematic because negative values ​​and behavior are linked. Source Material: [TIP] Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions and Organisations across Nations (Place: Corwin Press, 2001). http://www.tiplady.org.uk/pdfs/LEA502-5-culturalissues.pdf [GER] The Hofstede Centre: http://geert-hofstede.com/china.html [SKR] Hofstede comparison of Germany and China: https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbuinternationalmanagement.wikispaces.com%2Ffile%2Fview%2FHofstede%2Bcomparison%2Bof%2BGermany%2Band%2BChina.doc&ei=vDRYUb6mKo7EswaMoICQAg&usg=AFQjCNHgjNwXhFqhxu015my2P3qIqIftMQ&sig2=MGY08eJFzKV1E–Q6iME-w&bvm=bv.44442042,d.Yms [GHW] Geert Hofstede http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Hofstede [BUC] Der China Knigge ; Yu-Chien Kuan, Petra Hà ¤ring-Kuan ; September 2006 ISBN: 978-3-596-16684-8 Persons I have talked to: David King (Banker / Chinese) David Zhang (Student / Chinese) Primel (Chinese Girl who studies German) Kim Lao (Chinese Business Man / employed by an American company) Lio (Student / Chinese)

Free Essays on Symphony With A Splash

Contrary to the atmosphere of most symphony concerts, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s â€Å"Symphony with a Splash† created a fun and easygoing setting. Both the conductor, Daniel Meyer, and host, Greg Sandow, encouraged clapping throughout the entire show including during the music. This crowd participation made for easy listening and enjoyment. The concert opened with a familiar song by Ennio Morricone, â€Å"Childhood/Manhood,† from the film â€Å"Cinema Paradiso.† This song can be recognized from a television ad for UPMC. Some people may agree with conductor Daniel Meyer when he said that â€Å"Childhood/Manhood† put them on the charts. Also preformed in the first half of the show was Gioachino Rossini’s â€Å"La Gazza Ladra [The Thieving Magpie].† This song, like most form this show, was not written for a formal concert setting. The percussion parts in this song were amazing. They were loud and captivating, forcing the audience to listen and hang on every note. With a similar feeling to the rest of this night’s performances was the Scherzo from the Tenth Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich. This song is similar because it was also not written for what people today believe is a formal concert. The Scherzo was written as a portrait of Joseph Stalin. The entire audience was able to feel the hatred toward Stalin through the tone of the music as well as the red lights that shined on the performers. Other music performed at this concert includes music from Handel’s â€Å"Music for the Royal Fireworks,† Mozart’s â€Å"Paris Symphony,† Mahler’s â€Å"Symphony Number 5", and Ravel’s â€Å"Bolà ©ro.† Of all the music performed, my favorite was the Scherzo from Shostakovich’s Symphony Number 10. I liked this piece the most because you could feel the song’s force and power. Walking into this concert I was expecting to hear a lot of soft music. However, this was not the case. The concert was filled with lively and e... Free Essays on Symphony With A Splash Free Essays on Symphony With A Splash Contrary to the atmosphere of most symphony concerts, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s â€Å"Symphony with a Splash† created a fun and easygoing setting. Both the conductor, Daniel Meyer, and host, Greg Sandow, encouraged clapping throughout the entire show including during the music. This crowd participation made for easy listening and enjoyment. The concert opened with a familiar song by Ennio Morricone, â€Å"Childhood/Manhood,† from the film â€Å"Cinema Paradiso.† This song can be recognized from a television ad for UPMC. Some people may agree with conductor Daniel Meyer when he said that â€Å"Childhood/Manhood† put them on the charts. Also preformed in the first half of the show was Gioachino Rossini’s â€Å"La Gazza Ladra [The Thieving Magpie].† This song, like most form this show, was not written for a formal concert setting. The percussion parts in this song were amazing. They were loud and captivating, forcing the audience to listen and hang on every note. With a similar feeling to the rest of this night’s performances was the Scherzo from the Tenth Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich. This song is similar because it was also not written for what people today believe is a formal concert. The Scherzo was written as a portrait of Joseph Stalin. The entire audience was able to feel the hatred toward Stalin through the tone of the music as well as the red lights that shined on the performers. Other music performed at this concert includes music from Handel’s â€Å"Music for the Royal Fireworks,† Mozart’s â€Å"Paris Symphony,† Mahler’s â€Å"Symphony Number 5", and Ravel’s â€Å"Bolà ©ro.† Of all the music performed, my favorite was the Scherzo from Shostakovich’s Symphony Number 10. I liked this piece the most because you could feel the song’s force and power. Walking into this concert I was expecting to hear a lot of soft music. However, this was not the case. The concert was filled with lively and e...

Fizzy Sherbet Powder Candy Recipe

Fizzy Sherbet Powder Candy Recipe Sherbet powder is a sweet powder that fizzes on the tongue. Its also called sherbet soda, kali, or keli. The usual way to eat it is to dip a finger, lollipop, or licorice whip into the powder. If you live in the right part of the world, you can purchase Dip Dab sherbet powder in a store or online. Its also super easy to make yourself, plus its an educational science project. Ingredients 6 teaspoons citric acid powder or crystals3 tablespoons sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)4 tablespoons (or more, adjust to taste) icing sugar or sweetened powdered drink mix (e.g., Kool-Aid) Substitutions: There are several possible ingredient substitutions that will produce fizzy carbon dioxide bubbles. You can mix-and-match citric acid, tartaric acid, or malic acid for the acidic ingredient.You can use sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), baking powder, sodium carbonate (washing soda), and/or magnesium carbonate as the basic ingredient.The sugar or flavoring is up to you, but its worth knowing most flavored drink mixes contain an acidic ingredient, so if you cant find any of the acids, you can simply combine a flavored drink mix that contains one of the acidic ingredients with any of the basic ingredients.  The ratio of the ingredients is not critical. You can adjust the recipe to add more sugar, a sugar substitute, or a different amount of acidic and basic ingredients. Some recipes call for a 1:1 mix of acidic and basic components, for example. Make Fizzy Sherbet If your citric acid comes as large crystals rather than as a powder, you may wish to crush it with a spoon.Mix together these ingredients.Store sherbet powder in a sealed plastic bag until youre ready to use it. Exposure to moisture starts the reaction between the dry ingredients, so if the powder gets damp before you eat it, it wont fizz.You can eat it as-is, dip a lollipop or licorice into it, or add the powder to water or lemonade to make it fizz. How Sherbet Powder Fizzes The reaction that makes sherbet powder fizz is a variation of the baking soda and vinegar chemical reaction used to make the classic chemical volcano. The fizzy lava in the baking soda volcano forms from the chemical reaction between sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and acetic acid (in vinegar). In fizzy sherbet, sodium bicarbonate reacts with a different weak acid citric acid. The reaction between the base and the acid produces carbon dioxide gas bubbles. These bubbles are the fizz in sherbet.   While the baking soda and citric acid react slightly in the powder from the natural humidity in the air, exposure to water in saliva allows the two chemicals to react much more easily, so much more carbon dioxide fizz is released when the powder gets damp.

The Value of Academic Debate

The Value of Academic Debate Decision-making (i.e parliamentary, presidential, etc.) and competitive debate (i.e. academic) are two major types of debate. In the United States, the major forms of competitive debate in high school include Policy Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and Public Forum Debate. The outcome of Policy Debate according to literature is either a resolution of fact (ex. â€Å"Resolved: O.J. Simpson murdered his wife Nicole†), value (ex. â€Å"Resolved: Civil disobedience is justified in a democracy†), or policy (â€Å"Resolved: The United States should change its foreign policy toward China†) while the Lincoln-Douglas Debate yield resolution of value. The outcome of the Public Forum Debate, on the other hand, is mostly resolution of policy. High school competitive debates appear addressing social issues, reuniting its division, and establishing a moral order within the particular academic level. This type of debate is exclusive to high school and college and mainly participated by gifted adolescents engaging in brutal arguments, making claims, and depending conflicting ideas for social good. Moreover, competitive debate in this academic level is a reflection of American values, politics, and law. The long tradition of Academic Debate started in about 481 to 411 B.C. and persisted in American schools as an educational method in college and characterized by the debate tournament. A form of informal debate, academic debate merely allows students to systematically express their opinion and support their arguments with facts or evidence. They are designed to facilitate the development of advanced  speaking skills, improve critical thinking, and increase students’ confidence about participating in academic community discussions and dialogue. Get more information here: Unacceptable Words in Academic World The Importance of the Transitional Words and Phrases Service-Profit Value Chain Learning Moral Values in College Movies Human Dignity: How Is It Valued? The Value of Academic Debate Academic debate is simply defined as a debate conducted under the auspices of an educational institution aimed at providing educational opportunities for its students. The purpose of an academic debate is to allow evenly matched opponents to present balanced arguments and evidence about critical issues. Some of the benefits students gained from their debate experience include awareness and knowledge of social issues,  development of critical thinking and communication ability, appreciation of change, and respect for academic research. The philosophy of college debate, for example, is â€Å" to learn not to win† because the most important thing is to be able to present both sides of the issue and make a critical decision on matters concerning public interest. The debate in a college environment provides students opportunities to apply their knowledge of debate principles, develop proper attitudes and skills, and experience almost real-life debates. More importantly, debating is to keep political and public issues alive in the hearts and minds of the academic community. The value of academic debate for some critics is limited to discussing social issues and developing students’ attitudes and abilities. Others see it as a structured academic game with self-actualization and enjoyment as goals. In practice, however, academic debate influenced some of the most critical issues in society. For example, the goals and rationales of criminal punishment according to literature were not the only outcome of evolving criminal procedures and customs but painstaking academic debate. Another is a  strong influence of academic debate on public attitude and government policy towards the harmful effect of some media content such portrayal of sex and violence, food consumption and eating disorders, and direct behavioral effect of television advertising on children.

Philippines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Philippines - Essay Example It has a land area of 114, 672 square miles and stretches almost 1, 150 miles. Its capital is Manila which is located on Luzon. According to Steinberg † The Philippines is one of the most disaster-struck countries in the world† (12). This country is located on the Ring of Fire and is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Steinberg stated that â€Å"It is averages about five earthquakes a day of all grades and intensities up to 7.9 on the Richter Scale† (12). Its climate is tropical. The monsoons mark the rainy and the dry seasons. In Manila the rain starts from June to November. The cool dry season comes from December to February while the hot dry season is from March to May. It lies in the path of several tropical storms and suffers several strong typhoons between July and October. The Philippines has a long history of exporting agricultural products. Rice is the symbol of life (Steinberg, 2000: 15). It is the most important crop grown in the country. The farmers rely on the monsoons to give the plant the necessary water. Bad crops can affect the peasants. The tropical rain forests are one of the key sources of export income. However, tree cutting and milling are changing the landscape and causing disasters. There are major extractive mining industries as the country has large deposits of chromite and gold. Of the 49. 4 million acres of mineral land, only 34. 6 million have been geologically surveyed. (Steinberg, 2000: 29). The Philippine territorial waters offer 2,000 local species of fish, giving the people a new source of protein. In the past few decades, prawn farming has become the major industry throughout the archipelago, offering the promise of a new export product. The Philippines is a democratic country. The population of the Philippines was approximately 84.2 million in 2004 (Abinales & Amoroso, 2005: 16). Filipinos are distinguished by ethno linguistic groups originally corresponding to geographical

International Businesses And Knowledge Transfer Essay

International Businesses And Knowledge Transfer - Essay Example Focusing on this construct, the current discourse will be developed using theory and literature relevant to internationalization while focusing on the main factors driving or contributing to knowledge transfer and development as well as highlight factors, if any, that inhibit this process. An overall conclusion will be drawn based on the findings from the entire study before reflecting on the entire learning and relating the same to practical experiences wherever feasible.  Etemad (2013) stressed that literature points to numerous reasons why businesses decide to explore international opportunities that could be related to internal and/or external factors. Internal factors are usually related to organizational factors such as organizational goals and objectives; and external factors are related to the environmental drivers such as competition in host countries, the huge business potential in international locations/markets, changing workforce demographics and economic situations et c. Based on these factors, organizations adopt different approaches to establish their businesses in international spheres. Based on these approaches, various theories have been formulated to explain the nature and reasons of internationalization of firms, some of which include Vernon’s (1966) life-cycle theory, Johanson and Vahlne’s (1977) Process theories, Bilkey and Tsar’s (1977) innovation-diffusion theories, the internalization theories (Buckley & Cason, 1976) and the Eclectic paradigm of multinationals by Dunning (1988); the latest additions include two models: AAA-framework by Ghemawat (2007) and gateway-hub model by Prahalad and Bhattacharyya (2008).  Knowledge transfer is a part of knowledge management process, which has been comprehensively explained by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1994), and this forms the foundation of all knowledge-related studies in organizations Dalkir.

RHETORIC AND LITERATURE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

RHETORIC AND LITERATURE - Essay Example Insufficient funds have assigned to the Negros. This was on the declaration of independence, where every American was to be a signatory. It was to include both the black and the whites. Most of the American society remained captives in their own land. This was time to check for the blacks in material prosperity. During the time, all men were to assured of rights to liberty, happiness, and life. Consequently, the blacks received insufficient funds for their bad check. Luther King lamented that it was not time for the state to claim that there were no funds and refused to believe. Instead, refused and cashed the check. This was to cash the riches of freedom and the justice security. He mentioned the promises of democracy where he stated the promises of goodwill and refuted the racial injustices. Martin Luther King talked about freedom and equality. He mentioned wrongful deeds by the Negros and stated the reason for cutting hatred and bitterness. Soul force was the way to go. This was to ensure all the Negroes and the rest share all the privileges without one being superior to another. Goodwill and brother-hood remains as the only way to forecast the

(Art) Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel Essay

(Art) Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel - Essay Example â€Å"In the same way that a painter could reduce the human form or settings to a play of geometrical figures, so could the merchant simplify all things to geometrical configurations† (Lemaitre & Lessing, 1993, p. 15). This common language forced artists to examine the world a bit more closely while also giving them the ability to display more realistic images that were better able to illustrate the natural world. This led to the development of numerous artistic techniques including linear perspective, chiaroscuro and foreshortening, different artistic mediums such as frescoes and new methods of working in often difficult places. These techniques, medium and need to overcome new challenges were all employed by Michelangelo in completing one of his most famous works, the Sistine Chapel. Before he could even begin painting, the first challenge Michelangelo had to overcome was reaching the ceiling itself. The architect of the ceiling project, Bramante, provided Michelangelo with some scaffolding that was suspended from the ceiling on ropes. â€Å"When Michelangelo saw it, he was convinced that Bramante was trying to discredit him in the eyes of the pope because he knew that when the scaffolding was removed it would leave holes in the ceiling and ruin the painting† (Marszalek & Panagakis, 2004). To avoid this problem, Michelangelo created his own scaffolding which was basically a flat wooden platform supported by brackets. These brackets were built out from the walls near the tops of the windows instead of hanging from the ceiling. They had the extra bonus of being reached via a series of zigzag ladders. With the scaffolding problem solved, the old ceiling was removed and a new coat of a special kind of plaster was applied to start the fresco process. This first layer of plaster, â€Å"called the arriccio, would be spread over the entire ceiling to a thickness of roughly three-quarters of an inch,

Middle of Acquiring Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Middle of Acquiring - Essay Example ourth step, the negotiation team will seek to ensure that the acquisition process will protect the interests of both parties and in case their interests clash then there has to be a compromise. In the fifth step, the negotiation team will present to the overseas company, strategies and policies that they will implement after the acquisition process, which will indicate on how the buying company will absorb the current workforce of the overseas company into their organizational structure. Secondly, the strategies and policies will show how they are ready to abide by the conditions set by the overseas company. In the sixth step, the negotiation team will state exactly how much they will are willing to pay for each division or the entire company and equally, the overseas company will state the selling price for the entire company. The negotiation team will engage in final price negotiations whereby they will give out their final buying price of which DePamphilis (2010, P. 175) notes that it should be considerably equally to the true value and potential of the overseas

(Art) Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel Essay

(Art) Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel - Essay Example â€Å"In the same way that a painter could reduce the human form or settings to a play of geometrical figures, so could the merchant simplify all things to geometrical configurations† (Lemaitre & Lessing, 1993, p. 15). This common language forced artists to examine the world a bit more closely while also giving them the ability to display more realistic images that were better able to illustrate the natural world. This led to the development of numerous artistic techniques including linear perspective, chiaroscuro and foreshortening, different artistic mediums such as frescoes and new methods of working in often difficult places. These techniques, medium and need to overcome new challenges were all employed by Michelangelo in completing one of his most famous works, the Sistine Chapel. Before he could even begin painting, the first challenge Michelangelo had to overcome was reaching the ceiling itself. The architect of the ceiling project, Bramante, provided Michelangelo with some scaffolding that was suspended from the ceiling on ropes. â€Å"When Michelangelo saw it, he was convinced that Bramante was trying to discredit him in the eyes of the pope because he knew that when the scaffolding was removed it would leave holes in the ceiling and ruin the painting† (Marszalek & Panagakis, 2004). To avoid this problem, Michelangelo created his own scaffolding which was basically a flat wooden platform supported by brackets. These brackets were built out from the walls near the tops of the windows instead of hanging from the ceiling. They had the extra bonus of being reached via a series of zigzag ladders. With the scaffolding problem solved, the old ceiling was removed and a new coat of a special kind of plaster was applied to start the fresco process. This first layer of plaster, â€Å"called the arriccio, would be spread over the entire ceiling to a thickness of roughly three-quarters of an inch,

Martha Stewart's Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Martha Stewart's Case Analysis - Essay Example The company’s stated market is ‘as big as everyone who has a house.’ The company is shown to have four segments which are divided into three platforms in order to leverage investments. There is the Omnimedia platform which is divided into publishing (focusing on the Martha Stewart Living (MSL) magazine, Martha Stewart Weddings as well as a selection of special interest magazines and books and a New York Times column) and television (focusing on the Martha Stewart Living television series, From Martha’s Kitchen, prime time specials and Christmas events). There is also the OmniMerchandising platform (focusing on Martha Stewart branded lines ranging from the Martha Stewart Everyday line to the Martha Stewart Home line, distributed principally through Kmart and Sears respectively) and the Internet/Direct Commerce platform (focusing on Martha by Mail catalog and the marthastewart.com website). Stewart herself is the driving force behind the company, maintaining control over the company following privatization with 60% control of shares and 96% control of votes. She maintains close relationships with her female dominated board of directors while her family also play an important role in the business. The root problem of the report is that it is difficult to assess the value and long term future of a company which is based around a personality. This is because the company could be seriously adversely affected by a change in public opinion with regards to Martha Stewart herself. This problem exists because the company has become a personality led brand. It is therefore extremely difficult to predict how public opinion will react to the personality in the future if their perceived strengths are threatened. Examples in the case study include criticisms of Stewart as being difficult to work with, as setting unreasonably

William Cowper Essay Example for Free

William Cowper Essay I am writing to tell you all about my misfortunes I had last month upon my wedding day. My wife decided that after 10years of marriage that it was time to go on holiday for the first time. As you know, she is very conscious about money and extremely proud, so she brought a carriage for herself, our 3children, her sister and her child, and so I had to ride upon horseback behind them but no-one was able to know. So once the morning arrived, I kissed her goodbye and we set off. The horse was misbehaving; I could not control him at all, all the time he was bucking, trotting and galloping when it wasnt necessary and especially on stony roads, so I fell off about twice. Then Betty came running back to me and said that we had left the alcohol behind and so I tied it to my belt, one on each side so I was balanced and so I could try to not fall off of the horse. Once on my way for the second time, I finally got to some smoother road which became easier for the horse to ride upon. But instead of the easiness I believed this road would be it was the complete opposite, the horse got faster, he began trotting. I tried to get him to slow down but he wouldnt and the trot soon turned into a gallop, even though I pulled the reins and demanded him to stop. It was terrifying, I was holding onto the reins for dear life. He continued to do this for miles, even through the towns. The towns people even believed I was racing and so cheered me on. I was confused and it scared the horse so it again galloped off leaving me holding on for dear life. I finally reached where I was meant to be and where my wife and the rest of my family were waiting for me. We went past them and they shouted after me to stop as they were all hungry and wanted to rest but the horse kept going and wouldnt stop. We kept going until we reached the horses owners horse, and finally the horse stopped! I got off the horse and spoke to its owner. He offered me dinner at his home, but I declined his request as it felt stupid to be having dinner in a different town to my wife, especially on our wedding evening. We were about to set off again, when suddenly a donkey made a noise and the horse set off yet again. We went racing on again, and once more we passed straight through the town I was meant to be staying. This time my wife saw me going past and told a messenger boy that if he caught up with me and brought me back safely then she would give him half-a-crown. So the boy set off after me and tried to stop my horse three times by pulling at the reins. Unfortunately that didnt work, and the horse got more scared and so galloped faster and faster. We then went past some other people who thought I was a highwayman as I was riding away and the boy was chasing after me. They kept shouting at me stop thief and as I didnt they all joined in, in the chase. When we arrived at the town I was meant to being staying at they thought I was still racing and so cheered me on even more, as they thought I had won. Was indeed a very bizarre way to spend my wedding day, and although I regret being away from my wife on that day I do not regret anything that happened that day!

Service: The Main Essence Of Hospitality

Service: The Main Essence Of Hospitality Service is the main essence of Hospitality .Guest service means being attentive to the guest request and needs. Good quality service is the main essence to run a good hotel and it can achieve by creating such a environment for the guest that should give feeling of Home away from home. Guest should feel comfortable and relaxed while staying in the hotel. Every guest should be handled as special customer which help in making good relation with the guest. It does not matter how good is the ambience, how tasty the food is, its always the service and attentiveness which guest experiences which determines their return in the hotel. Hospitality is known for its generously providing kindness and care, who is in need. Knowing what exactly the customer expects is the first and most important step in delivering good quality service.You cannot give quality service without knowing customer expectations. Hotels or inns are believed to have started around 12000 years ago.Traveling concept started in Greece and ancient Rome in 800BC-146BC.Early warriors and traders were the travelers.In thosedays accommodation means offering a cot or a bench in corner of a room or astable, most of them were private residences that used to give temporary residence or give loading to strangers.In the Dark Ages travelers had little choice except to stay in monasteries that offered food and shelter.The idea of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹hosting travelers was taken even further when trade and commerce began to boom, prompting taverns and inns to arise, especially in ports cities. That time sanitation and privacy was not in exist.When money came in establishment in 6th century BC, hospitality was one of the first enterprises where money was exchanges for receiving service.Inthose days Hotels or inns not used to operate for 24 hours, after a certain hour the main door of residence would close andafte r that one cannot enter although you are a customer. These Residences or inns were generally situated near intersection of two major roads or near railway station or at the entry of a city. Since then Hospitality industry has grown into a highly competitive industry (WelingkarI., 2011). Hospitality now just not about getting from point A to point B,its about how you go to your destination forwarded by how much you enjoyed your stay. Tourism plays an important role in the growth of throughout the hospitality industry because people will never stop traveling and while traveling they always require a place to stay. Intelligent commercial planners have realized the industries potential and are taking advantage of the same by providing all the wants and needs of potential guests. Hotel operators are radically changing the service manner in which they provide food,drinks,and accommodation within the organization,the main reason for doing so is that hospitality industry is movingvery promptly. Customers are varying, technology and markets are changing rapidly.Managers are reexamining their existing service offering and deciding which innovation will create more value.Managers are researching on innovation, which are economically sustainable to the organization but also delivering additional value to their customers. Each year Market Metrix evaluates industry best practices and publishes Hospitality Trends and Opportunities. One important trend is to focus on is Personalization and it is impacting customer engagement and loyalty for hospitality companies.(Merchant, 2011) Hotel industry has changed a lot compared to recent years and is changing continuously. Numbers of changes are coming in way to give service to guest. New applications are coming in the market that is helping in providing better customer service.They make a big difference in terms of winning new businesses and new customers.Technologies continue evolving to make it as easy to use as possible for the hotels staff.In the past, the systems that hotel staff uses have been traditionally designed and required a great deal of training in order to be used successfully.Hotel technology will continue to evolve and improve so that training is minimized and the type of training that the hotels can concentrate on will be on hospitality-oriented, customer facing services.The main emphasis is on how to treat the guests, not how to deal with computer systems. Service innovation not only involves new ideas or new technology but modifying and renovating existing ideas by new and unique thinking.The main objective of innovation is to improve operations, guest service and revenues. However, Hotel industry is one of the oldest industries so it is not easy to innovate in industry with traditional methods. Service science gives us a good chance to innovate services in a new day. As a growing industry, hotel industry includes all types of accommodations from 5 star luxurious properties to youth hostels, which offers a variety of services including but not limited to food, beverage, laundry and valet services. Servqual and TQM-Total quality management are the two widely used concepts within service industries to understand the perceptions of target customers regarding their service needs. And to provide ameasurement of the service quality of the organization.Servqual is an empirically derived method that may be used by a services organization toimprove service quality.The method involves the development of an understanding of the perceived service needs of target customers.These measured perceptions of service quality for the organization in question, are then compared against an organization that is excellent.The resulting gap analysis is used as a driver for service quality improvement(lalvanzonline,2011).TQM processes are mainly divided into four general categories: plan, do, check, and act also called as PDCA cycle. In the planning ,people define the problem to be addressed, collect relevant data, and ascertain the problems root cause; in the doing phase, people develop and implement a solution, and decide upon a measurement to gauge its effectiveness; in the checking phase, people confirm the results through before-and-after data comparison; in the acting phase, people document their results, inform others about process changes, and make recommendations for the problem to be addressed in the next PDCA cycle (Margaret Rouse,2005) The boutique hotel is an excellent example of innovation offering in hospitality industry. A boutique hotel is one that is generally not chain-affiliated, features an intimate, stylish appearance and provides impeccable amenities(Cathy Rogers,2011). The target market for most boutique hotels is the 25-55 age range, most within the middle to upper income level.These hotels are generally situated in a stylish location .The goal for a boutique hotel is a level of personalized service not necessarily doable in a larger hotel. At many boutique hotels, the staff knows each guest by their name. Most offer 24-hour guest services. Some offer the comforts of canopy beds, bathrobes and fireplaces in the lobby. Others offer healthy food choices, mind and body themes and on-site bookstores.As a boutique hotel varies in other features, so does its technological amenities. While some offer the latest in technology, others focus on a calm, soothing environment. To some patrons, the bed and breakfast concept may be similar to that of the boutique hotel. Many boutique hotels have on-site, reputable dining, as well as bar and lounge areas that are also open to the public. As the trend continues to grow, many hotels market themselves as boutique; most being small, luxury type hotels worldwide. Eva Floor is also a new concept which has started in India, by The ITC group, called Eva Floor which means a floor only for ladies travelers. Seven hotels have currently been outfitted with the Eva Floors.The main concept to come up with such idea is to provide maximum safety and security to ladies travellers. Amenities on the Eva floors include extra security in the form of double latches, special floor access cards, all-women staff and a separate check-in counter. Women like pretty colors, hate harsh lighting, are prone to lay around a lot, and spend most of the time in the bathrooms, the rooms are decorated in soft pastels, have special lighting, separate day beds for an afternoon nap, larger counters for cosmetics, high-end toiletries, silk robes and bathroom slippers, more powerful hair dryers, and ironing boards (Juliana, 2005). A good and important invention in Hotel services is the use of Information Technology. IT innovation are beneficial and have future benefits for Hotels.IT is playing a very important role in hospitality industry.Technology powers and contributes to the growth to practically every industry in the present age. Hotel industry too isnt insulated from its effects. Many new technologies have invented to run the system smooth and flexible. IT has minimized the human efforts in many levels. Some of the good examples of IT innovations includes Express check In/Check Out, , internet check in/check outs, wake up system , electronic door locks ,in-room pay-per-view, electronic safe guards, express check-in/out systems, CD/Dvd Players, voice mails, multiple phone lines,electronic mini bars. Technology powers and contributes to the growth to practically every industry in the present age. Hotel industry too isnt insulated from its effects. Many new technologies have invented to run the system smoot h and flexible. Now, with the invention of the internet and other electronic channels, new media offers an avenue for hospitality companies to gain an advantage. At one time travel agents were almost controlled the hospitality industry. They were largely responsible for creating guests travel plans and offering specified rates. While large chains and big time destinations can afford traditional marketing channels, smaller, independent entities can gain an advantage through new hospitality concepts. Companies such as Expedia, Tripadvisor, and TravelCLICK help level the playing field and empower the host as well as the traveler more than ever before in the history of the hospitality industry. Globallypeople are working overtime to take advantage internet, in order to catalyze their sales and to improve customer relations.Internet is playing a key role in development of hotel industry today. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc. are interestingly playing a dominant role in strategies of h otels all over. User generated feedbacks and reviews on such websites play a huge role in popularizing the services of hotels by word of mouth. Further, it also becomes easier to stay in touch with and maintain relationships with ex-clients by making use of online tools. The number of travelers booking and researching online is growing impressively. According to one research, more than 114 million people will research travel online this year, while 94 million will actually book reservations. While more than 50 percent of travel bookings are made on the Internet, the online travel market has matured and expects modest growth and stabilization. More and more travelers are using their mobile devices to not only research lodging and travel options, but to book and communicate room preferences directly with the hotel. Mobile channel booking has increased four times between 2008 and 2010 according to Forrester Research. Google is projecting that mobile will overtake PCs as the most common Web-access device by 2013. With travelers adopting smartphones and tablets at such a rapid pace, its crucial for hoteliers to optimize their website for mobile usage to capture potential mobile transactions(RobertRauch,2011). About a decade ago, hotel industry was much more concern on people who are now mostly in their 50s and 60s but now hotel industry has started to anticipate a group of travelers who are in their 20s to mid-30s and are very important for economic growth. They are more attracted towards technology, social media and design. Many hotels are renovating their existing hotels or introducing new ones with free hotel wide Wi-Fi connections, large welcoming lobbies with modern age ambience, comfortable fittings, state-of-the-art fitness areas; in-room power consoles to plug in iPads, laptops and other devices; and stylish bar. Some are also coming up with night social events, like happy hours and free wine tastings, aimed at attracting smartphone generation to their hotels . The changes involves higher-quality beds, brighter lighting and bigger work spaces. And those travelers were loyal to brands that offered reliable, comfortable services. Wi-Fi service is not only demanded but expected. Hig h-speed Internet is as essential as beds and towels (Janet Morrissey, 2012).Younger travelers tend to visit three or four different restaurants and bars a night, so hotels are opening up multiple bars and lounges with different themes at different times of the day to attract new crowd . Many many new concepts are which offers free daily events, including tea tastings, yoga sessions and wine tastings etc.(Stowe Boyd, 2011). The Arrabelle at Vail Square is implementing IntelityICE (Interactive Customer Experience) mobile technology for guests to use on Android, Apple smartphones and tablets. The Arrabelles traditional amenities, from in-room fireplaces to snuggly robes, will be complemented by the arrival of the most innovative, modern in-room technology available.After simply downloading the ICE app, all of the hotels services can be accessed directly from the palm of a guests hand. At the touch of a finger, guests can make a housekeeping request or look up information about the hotel and local attractions. They can also conveniently view signature dishes, like Executive Chef Douglas Dodds lobster mac and cheese, available at Vails hot new food and drink spot, Tavern on the Square (Hospitality Technology, 2011). Breadcrumb, an easy-to-use, powerful and affordable iPad point-of-sale (POS) system helps hotels to run their restaurants, bars and cafes more effectively. Breadcrumb combines intuitive and sophisticated software with outstanding support. Breadcrumb removes the complexities, frustrations and high costs common to legacy POS solutions. Breadcrumb streamlines all activity at local restaurants, cafes and bars, from taking and placing orders, to table management, payment processing and analyzing sales so merchants can learn about and improve their businesses.Servers can search for menu items or rearrange tables with a finger swipe, software updates are free and automatic, and we even ship new customers an all-in-one Breadbox that contains all hardware required to get started.Everything a restaurant or bar needs to operate more efficiently and deliver impeccable customer service. Breadcrumb has a full range of features that allows hospitality businesses to manage labor, take orders, proces s payments and analyze performance. Users can merge or split checks, add or adjust menu items, set employee access levels, view real-time sales and labor reports and more. The Plaza, the landmark New York City hotel located on Central Park South,have taken hotel lodging to a whole new, high tech level began by offering iPads in each of its guests rooms.The first hotel in the world to provide not only a tablet for each guest room, but a tablet with Intelitys ICE (Interactive Customer Experience) software to offer guests services and room controls.These iPads gives the abilities to guests to control hotel services and customizable content.These iPads are incorporated with the functions like to check flights, order room service, make dinner reservations, coordinate transportation, reach the concierge, request wake-up calls, explore destination guides and call a housekeeper (Katie Kindelan, 2011).Intelity has released the highlights of a two-year study of guestroom iPad usage. The first such study conducted using data from actual hotel guest usage.The study showed that 82% of guests used the tablet during their stays on a year-round basis. April had the hi ghest average guest usage at 91% (Hotel Technology, 2012). The industrys concern towards security has increased impressively due to severalterrorist attacks worldwide in recent years, and also because of the tourists kidnappings, robberies and assaults.Security of all types of hospitality and tourismoperations is critical and plans should bemade for each kind of threat.Personal safety of guests is the first priority (Walker, 2010). Increased security measures have forced hotel industry to upgraded their security measures by investingmillions of dollars in order to give the topmost security to the guests (Hall etal, 2003). Who Am I Now? Reflective Education Essay Who Am I Now? Reflective Education Essay My name is Muhammad Razin bin Amir Hamzah and I used to be called as Razin. I am 21 years old. Currently, I am furthering my study in Bachelor of Science in Computing under University of Wales, United Kingdom. Now, I am in the second year. There is only one year to go for me to complete my study. I enrolled in this course to fulfill my aspiration towards becoming the next Steve Job, the Chief Executive Officer of Apple Incorporation. It took 21 years to create where I am today. Within these years I worked hard to get where I am right now. The best way to know where am I now is by looking into my strengths and weaknesses. I have analysed, evaluated, and looked deep inside myself to determine the weaknesses and strengths of my true character. Positive attitude and patience are the two important strengths that I have built in me. These two characteristics have contributes to my career, my learning and almost everything in my personal life. On the other hand, the two aspects of myself that I need to improve are my organization skills and my public speaking skills. Having positive attitude is vital. This leads to a motivated learning team, a comfortable working environment, and a happy personal life. It is hard to find a scenario in which a person with positive attitude and full of compliments to be scolded. No negative or bad attitudes make my personal life great. I socialized with my family with happy and respectful thoughts which motivate them to share their happiness with me and others. My attitude keeps people around me in a good mood. This personal characteristic of mine allows me to manage the tense situations during my study sessions, especially when I have to answer assignment questions and submit them before the due date. Being positively motivated, I encourage others to be compliant and respectful. Positive attitude will be beneficial in my learning team because it will promote teamwork and friendship. I think a happy and friendly team will be more productive than a team that always argues and disagrees. My second strength is patience. We will feel comfortable when we speak to someone who is patient. People with patience do not interrupt others, instead they listen and try to be helpful. In my personal life, I have an autistic nephew who needs people with a lot of patience. Being bossy, angry, and snappy will only make me hard to handle him. I have to talk slowly and repeat my words several times so that he will understand me. In my study environment, it is also imperative that I have patience. I have to deal with tough and difficult assignment questions. Each question has its own degree of difficulties. Thus, I need to conquer each of the questions with my best answer and support it with reasonable evidence. I have to patiently search for the articles on the respective topics and provide my best answer to ensure that I get good results in my study. In addition, patience is a must when participating in a team environment. When many people get together in a team, things often progress very fast. However, sometimes things get sloppy or get misunderstood. With patience, I can maintain consistency and accurateness within an organization. Having described my strengths, I must now turn to reveal my weaknesses. I must say that I am not a superhuman or a perfect person. My weaknesses often frustrate and challenge me, but my positive attitude forces me to correct my weaknesses and win over them. My first weakness, I must admit, is public speaking. I get very nervous. The sign is my hands get clammy and begins to sweat. Droplets of water appear on my face and I mumble my words when I start to speak in front of large group of people. This problem neither gives a huge impact in my personal life nor affects my on-line learning team, but it does affect my daily duties at college. I speak with others in college, especially with my friends, regarding general knowledge and current issues. I am told that my nervousness does not show, but before and during every speech I feel my hands shake, my feet get clammy, and my face starts to sweat. Over the years, I have fought this battle of public speaking by doing many things. First, I h ave completed a college level English class. Second, I completed a college level speech class. Recently, I took an English tuition class to enhance my communication skill and widen my English vocabulary. My second blind spot that I must admit is my lack of organization skill. I organize my assignment papers by tossing them on my study desk. Thus, I will avoid looking at them. It is hard for me to find my belongings especially in my study room because of my unorganized attitudes. When the assignment season arrives, it will be a disaster for me. I often lose my important notes and my framework papers. These matters has made me spend twice the actual time needed to accomplish my task. I lose valuable times for this reason, whereas I could have used those precious times together with my family. Besides that, this will seriously affect my learning team. Before it gets much more severe, I have to improve my deportment and be a better organised person. I will not frighten up myself when I see papers containing college assignments. What I need to help me overcome my problem are a desk together with filing cabinets and a day planner calendar. The fears of obtaining a bad result in my diploma level made me realize that organization skill is crucial to succeed in life, especially in my study. WHAT DO I WANT TO ACCOMPLISH? My short term goal is to finish my undergraduate program with a first class honours. In other words, I want to complete my study with flying colours. This is because the only commitment that I have now is being a full time student. So, my part is just to concentrate on my studies and struggle hard to achieve my ambition towards becoming the Information Technology lecturer. By building up a good academic base, I can hunt the job I wanted very fast without any resistance. Besides, by achieving good results, I will be exempted from paying back Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN) loan. This will surely reduce my family burden to settle off my carried loan. My long term goal is that I will be counted among successful lecturer. I do often ask myself, what a better job would be than to be a lecturer. The answer is none. I believe that the ability to change and improve the world to be a better place for people to live starts from the effort and idea given by the educator. So, it will be my huge contribution to the society. I set high objectives for me as an educator and put a very great effort to accomplish my goals. I began to realize that awesome teachers have their own distinctive skills which I need to learn. Following their examples can make me become someone in the society. To be good at elucidating the contents of a subject, to be firm and patient towards students, to be always fair to students, to set high and realistic expectations, to have the skills to advice and motivate others are some of the indicators that are needed to become a great teacher. A great teacher will explain questions asked by their students and make them fully understand, and not let their students walk away in doubt. Brainstorming will be the best tool used by extraordinary teachers to convey particular lesson plan if their student did not understand. He or she would think, How am I going to explain this particular concept to my student and they need to understand clearly what I am teaching? This is the type of teacher I intend to be. Ability to inspire others is not just a gift or an opportunity but its a challenge. Currently, we can see that there are thousands of educators still with their old mind-set and do not like to accept this challenge. This serious matter need to be changed. Nowadays, students are being forced to school. Most of the time, students will think that learning is not their main priority but teaching is a teachers job. Students always learn but they may not be interested with the lesson taught by their teacher. An excellent teacher is not just an expert in his or her field, but he or she must be aware of the current issues and prepare himself or herself to teach something else. Some things can prove to be more valuable than knowledge itself, which are morals and character. I want to inspire the children who will represent the future of our great nation. In life, I tried to make many spectacular teachers that have taught me to be my role models. From the characteristic listed, I intend to grab them to become an excellent teacher. HOW DO I ACHIEVE IT? During my undergraduate program, I took a Computer Science course. This will help me to dual master myself, in Information Technology and in teaching. Most of the minor classes that I enrolled were communication and psychology, which would help me in my career as a teacher. Other than that, I also taught in a private tuition centres as my part-time job. During that time, I spent considerable amount of time observing classrooms. With strong education background and wide range of experience which I gained in the classroom, I realize that teaching will be the most suitable career for me. Meanwhile, I work as a personal Information Technology consultant for Smart Academic Management for about two years. This company was doing motivation work for universitie and college students. During this period of time, I am polishing my programming skills. Sometimes, I was given the opportunity to enrol in motivation programmes together with students. This exposes me to different range of human behav iours and life backgrounds especially those involving youngsters. Other than that, I do read a lot of articles regarding teaching methodology, student behaviour, and psychology. There are around 19 encyclopaedias in my book rack regarding software development and psychology. I often make my readings at night after performing my night prayers. I will make my own mind map to make me understand more and to get clear picture about the contents of books that I read. I do virtually contact my foreign friends via internet. This will help me keep in touch with their education line in Australia and Russia. Now, I need to start planning where to open my own private learning centre and how to enhance my marketing strategies. WHAT MIGHT STOP ME? I believe that, the time I set my goal there will be the obstacles to stop me achieving it. The most common barrier to reaching my potential is my mind-set, that is, what and how I think about myself and what I wish to achieve. I limit myself by the negative thoughts that I think and I may say. If I think and believe that I cannot accomplish something, then that will come true and I will fail. However, when I think that I can accomplish a task, or overcome a situation and I put in the effort, my future will turn bright. I will only succeed when I start to take control and action to change my destiny towards the goal rather than leave it to fate. Some people said that they have done some work and failed in their first trial. Thus they have not continued working on it anymore. This is just an irrelevant excuse. The solution for this is to reset our mind-set to believe in ourselves and achieve our goal in any way possible. Having failed in the past, does not mean that I will fail again and again for the rest of my life. I should think of things that happened in past in terms of what I can learn from them; seeing all the pass experience as feedback rather than as failure. I should think in this way Yesterday mining is for todays goal. The failure in my past will make me more matured. The past will be beneficial as I can learn from my mistakes. The only thing I can do about my past is to learn from it because the past is over and I cannot change them. Thinking negatively can really stop me from reaching my potential. Negative influences are always around us. Mass media such as radio and idiot box may pass some inappropriate message that can predispose our mind-set. Sometimes I do get negative feedback from family members and friends who are trapped in a negative mind-set. They believe that they are helping me by being realistic but it is not helping at all. The best solution is that I should make myself surrounded by positive minded people, people who work hard to a chieve their goals. Having positive support is vital. On the other hand, another obstacle that stops me from reaching my potential from being successful is inadequate of plan. Too many people including myself walk through their life simply by taking what is handed to them. The decision made by others will be the decision for themselves. I seldom make my duty plan for the weeks or months ahead. It is so essential that I take some time to start setting up my goals. During the process I can find out how to accomplish those aims, and make suitable timeline for me to have it done. This vital process is often neglected. To set goals starts with listing out what am I going to accomplish. They are those people who set their goal just to float along without any attention to better their situation. There is also people who have goals but they are unfamiliar with the correct way and proper plan to make their goal come true. I think I can be categorised under this type of person.

Sport Psychology Essay -- essays research papers

Sport Psychology: How it Helps Athletes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In our society today it seems like sports rule the land. Everywhere we look, there is some kind of sporting event going on or being televised. Almost everyone could be considered a fan of at least one sport. Some people follow sports like a religion. With such an increased focus on sports, the athlete's performances are put under a microscope. This puts more pressure on athletes to give a winning performance. No longer do athletes play for fun, they play to win. This isn't happening just on the professional level; it is happening on all levels of sport. From little league to backyard football, the goal is to win at all cost. With this increase pressure, athletes are looking for more and more ways to better their performance. One such way, which is now gaining popularity, is Sports Psychology. Though this isn't a new field, its popularity is just beginning to take off. There is still a lot of skepticism about the validity or worth while of the practices used. The f ollowing is a review of a number of articles that outline different studies done that show how athletes can improve their performances. The articles were found using a database search of PsychInfo. Keywords such as increased performance, psychological practices, and sports were used to narrow the search. What is Sport Psychology?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Over the years there have been many different definitions offered as to what Sport Psychology is. One of the best ways to look at it is to ask what does a psychologist do? A psychologist does a variety of things. They provide psychological assessment, crisis intervention, and psychological service. Just to name a few broad areas. All of these are areas that can also be useful to an athlete. A lot of the tools used by a sport psychologist are adapted directly from clinical psychology. Concepts such as Freud's Psychodynamics, Caltel's Personality Test, and The Piagetial Cognitive Theory are widely used. (Sloubanov, 1999) All of these are critical tools used by a sport psychologist to assist an athlete with his or her problem. Sport psychology involves preparing the mind of an athlete, just as one prepares the body. Sport psychology is an emerging field in the worlds of psychology and athletics. What Methods are Used?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The problem that an athlet... ...een much progress and many changes. Sport has gone through a great metamorphosis that no one of that time could ever imagine. Today sport psychology has moved from the simple experiments of the early labs to sophisticated trials and tests. Focus is now on subjects as mental health , psychopysiological reactivity, and body image and esteem. (Gauvin, Spence, 1995, p. 436) The world of athletics is now a business, and now like other businesses, is always looking for ways to improve itself. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since athletics seems to be moving from being a pastime to a way of life for many in today's world, it is important that there is a means to improve performance. The corporate world has long been using psychological techniques to improve employee performance. It was only a matter of time before the athletic world adopted the same practices. Some people are skeptical about the validity of sport psychology, while others live by it. With sports producing hundreds of millions of dollars each year. It is important that athletes do everything that they can to improve the way that they play. Sport psychology is a valid, scientific way for athletes to do just that.

Learning objectives Essay

1. After completing the lesson, the student will be able to analyze the question and build their own formula for them to answer and solve that problem. 2. After this unit, the student will have to recognize the meaning of that certain topic and state or identify it by their own interpretation. 3. By completing the activities, the student will provide a plan on every situation that challenge on them and organize it to reach their goals. 4. After the year, the student will recall the information of the lesson and it will easy for them to analyze every concept into components. 5. At the conclusion of the study, the student will make a percipients on how important the objective of the lesson and select an effective solution for their problem by using computer. Student’s Learning Objectives â€Å"Psychomotor Domain† 1. After completing the lesson, the student will able to follow instruction to notice the problem and for them to figure out the trouble encountered. 2. After this unit, the student will recognize one’s abilities and limitations and acts upon a sequence of steps in a process. 3. By completing the activities, the student will properly use computers, and repair simple problem, materially or psychologically. 4. After the year, the student will responds effectively to unexpected experiences and modifies instruction to meet their needs. 5. At the conclusion of the study, the student will construct their own theory, and will improve creativity based upon highly developed skills. Student’s Learning Objectives â€Å"Affective Domain† 1. After completing the lesson, the student will listen to other with respect and remember what other people open up. 2. After this unit, the student will show their ability to solve problems and provide a plan for the improvement of everybody. 3. By completing the activities, the student will differentiate the importance of freedom and responsibilities, and accept responsibilities for the progress of others. 4. After the year, the student will show his/her capability when working independently, and cooperates in a group that shows teamwork. 5. At the conclusion of the study, the student will values people for what they are, not how they look.

Acupuncture as a nonconventional chronic neck pain treatment Essay

Acupuncture as a nonconventional chronic neck pain treatment Introduction Abstract   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chronic neck pain is an ailment that is characterized by pain in the neck that lasts for a period of more than three months. It is usually different from common medical conditions of neck pains that last for only days. In most occasions, chronic neck pain is an ailment that may even take years without success in its treatment, particularly in the mainstream medical practices. Research assert that chronic neck pain is usually associated with a number of disorders, as well as diseases that can involve any of the tissues around the neck. The study was carried out to fully analyze the effectiveness of acupuncture in the reduction of chronic neck pain, and also to examine whether the possible effects attributed to the therapy are long lasting. The data used in this study was collected through specified procedures to ensure credibility of the results in regard to the use of acupuncture in health care to provide a remedy for chronic neck pain in both short and long term basis. Using a well-structured methodology to guide the research patients were carefully analyzed in regard to the various methods of acupuncture to determine the respective effectiveness of each method. Further, a thorough analysis of the data collected is subsequently discussed showcasing the viability of the medical alternative. Lastly, recommendations for further research of acupuncture as an ideal treatment for individuals with chronic pain of the neck is well provided in this paper. See more: Social process essay   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Research indicate that acupuncture as a recognized nonconventional alternative for chronic neck pain that is increasingly becoming popular across the world. Acupuncture therapy is among world widely known health care procedures that is used to treat over 30 health conditions and diseases, with a major emphasize of relieving pain to different ailments. One of the main uses of acupuncture is to relieve pain, hence it is one of effective remedies for chronic neck pains. Research has for a long time hinted on the benefits of acupuncture for relief of chronic neck pain, as well as other body pains such as chronic shoulder pain, migraines and osteoarthritis among others(Blossfeldt 2004, p. 146). Researchers have provided data from over 30 high quality studies involving more than 18,000 patients with different chronic pains. As a nonconventional remedy for different pains, acupuncture is commonly used in different methods, providing flexibility i n its treatment procedures, as well as a provider of choice for patients who opt to use acupuncture as a remedy for chronic neck pain(Salter et al, 2004, p 10).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Further, researchers assert that although acupuncture is increasingly being used for various conditions including chronic neck pain treatment, the evidence of its effectiveness remains inconclusive. This indicates that there is a need for a further well designed research. With the use of a variety of methods or options on the use of acupuncture to relieve pain, there is also a need to establish the key features required for the design, as well as implementation of larger scale trial on acupuncture for neck pain. Acupuncture is believed to decrease pain by enhancing the release of the chemicals responsible for blocking pain, commonly referred to as endorphins(Liang et al, 2010, p. 8). Most of the acu-points are usually found near the nerves. In this regard, when stimulated, the nerves cause a dull ache, a feeling of fullness in the patient’s muscle. The stimulated muscle then sends a message to central nervous system subsequently cau sing a release of endorphins. These are crucial elements in the human body that are automatically released to modify the nerve impulses, hence reducing or nullifying the effect of pain to the patient.The endorphins together with other neurotransmitters subsequently block the message of pain from being taken up to the brain, hence a relief to the patient(Blossfeldt 2004, p. 146). Acupuncture may be used as a reliable treatment for chronic neck,and therefore, should be included as a part of an extensive and comprehensive pain management programs for relieving pain in patients.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The scope of this paper is to ascertain the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic neck pain. The paper seeks to understand the role played by the various methods of acupuncture that are used to relieve pain for patients ailing from neck pains. Shallow, Sham and randomized acupuncture therapies are well explained in regard to their role in relieving pain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lastly, the main purpose of this study is to establish the use of acupuncture in individuals with chronic pain of the neck. The paper focuses to establish the effectiveness of three acupuncture therapies used as alternative medical conventions to relieve pain. Additionally, the study proposes to explain both the short term and long term effects of acupuncture therapies in the treatment of chronic neck pain. To establish the viability of acupuncture therapies in the treatment of chronic neck pain. To understand how sham, shallow and randomized acupuncture therapies are utilized in the treatment of chronic neck pain. To provide a conclusive evidence of the success of acupuncture as an ideal method of relieving pain. To establish the effects of the three acupuncture therapies in the treatment of individuals with chronic pain of the neck. To offer recommendation of the viability of acupuncture as a treatment option that can be used by people with chronic neck pains. Basic approach to acupuncture as a nonconventional chronic neck pain treatment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The use of acupuncture as an alternative chronic neck pain treatment is based on the medical understanding of the specific elements responsible for alienating pain or sending messages of pain to the brain. The study of acupuncture is based on the thought that decrease or alienation of pain can be enhanced by releasing the chemicals responsible for blocking pain, referred to as endorphins. Most of the acu-points are usually found near the nerves(Liang et al, 2012, p. 8). The approach of this study is based on the understanding that, when stimulated, the nerves cause a dull ache, a feeling of fullness in the patient’s muscle. The stimulated muscle then sends a message to central nervous system subsequently causing a release of endorphins. These are crucial elements in the human body that are automatically released to modify the nerve impulses hence reducing or nullifying the effect of pain to the patient(Willich et al, 2006, p. 98). T he endorphins, as well as other neurotransmitters, subsequently block the message of pain from being taken up to the brain, hence a relief to the patient. The findings of this study will pin point out how the alienation of pain is conversely connected to the various elements thought to treat people suffering from chronic neck pains. Basic Background information   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Acupuncture used in the modern day alternative treatment for pain is a branch of a traditional Chinese medicine practice. It is a practice that has historically been tired, and equally tested as a health care practice that has in practice for thousands of years, particularly in China and South East Asia. For centuries, acupuncture has been gradually developed, tested and researched, as well as refined over many centuries giving out a complex, and rather detailed understanding of the energetic balance of the human body. The first known record of Chinese Medicine was a book, the classic of Internal Medicine of Yellow Emperor, which dates back to between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD(Sun et al, 2009, p. 850). It is essential to acknowledge that all the styles of acupuncture found in the modern day health care practices trace their roots to this particular text.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Without the help of the modern day scientific equipment, scholars from the Ancient China discovered many aspects of biomedical science, like the effect of emotional stress on an individual’s immune system. The traditional acupuncturists were not less scientific or sophisticated that it is the case with the western clinicians with their understanding of the functioning of the body, although the contemporary acupunctural practices depict that of the culture and historic origin of the Chinese medicine. The traditional Chinese medicine has vividly remained in the shadow of the western medicine, until a certain period between 1934 and 1935, where the without drugs sick and wounded faced death. It was the intervention of traditional Chinese medicine, which generally used acupuncture and other several traditional treatment methods(Witt 2004, p. 99). From this point, the traditional and western medicines started to be practicing side to sid e in China. In the contemporary, the practice has gained popularity across different region of the world. More people with chronic pains, where it is primarily being used to treat such case, as it with the alienation chronic neck pain. Methods Population   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The research data collected in this study focused on patients suffering from chronic neck pain. The individuals used in the research fell within the age of 21 and 55 years old. Although there are many patients who report about neck pain ailments in different health care facilities across the United States, patients with the age of 21 and 55 years old were ideal for a research. This is due to the fact that they are easier to track their progress of healing over a longer period of time. Elderly patients over the age of 55 years are not best placed in this research considering the various attributes in the healing processes of such people, which is proven to be relatively lower. Most of the data about individuals with chronic pain of the necks was randomly collected in health care facilities in the State of California, United States. The majority of these patients was diagnosed with chronic neck pain and were put under a special focus while t hree acupuncture methods of therapies were performed(Witt 2004, p. 99). The study generally involved a thorough investigation of 191 patients in California’s health care. It is important to acknowledge that the various patients were deliberately initiated to acupuncture treatment as their decision to try the alternative medical practice after allegedly failed treatments in the mainstream medical procedures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There were certainly no limitation on the sex of the patients, hence the research involved both male and female patients. Additionally, there were no specified number of male or females in the study, as patients, as treatment and progress of treatment of patients was randomly taken. Further, it was assumed that both male and female patients presented similar responses to the different acupuncture therapies performed in the study(Sun et al, 2009, p. 850). The research was also not limited by either ethnicity or race, although believed to have different characteristics in regard to various medical procedures. Variable and Delimitations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The dependent variables in this study included the neck pain as an ailment caused by various aspects such as physical injury and disease or condition among others. The rates of cases involving chronic neck pains during the period of this study was generally unprecedented as the causes of such ailments greatly varied. Chronic neck pain among the patients varied in regard to the specific causes, which in this case included degenerative disc disease, neck injury, neck strain, herniated disc as well as pinched neck(Sun et al, 2009, p. 850). The first step in the treatment procedure involved a thorough diagnosis of common neck infections that caused the chronic pain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The key delimitations were based on neck pain due to common infection like virus infection of the neck and lymph nope swelling, as well as other infections such as tuberculosis of the neck, meningitis, and infection of spine bones around the neck.The different patients involved in this study had chronic neck pains attributed to extremely different causes, which included physical injuries, some rare infections, and virus infections among others(Witt 2004, p. 99). The patients with this problem are generally taken through the three acupuncture therapies, regardless of the cause of their condition(Hush 2004, p. 1533). The fact that all patients are uniformly taken into similar medical procedures without being categorized in relation to their specific cause of chronic neck pain remain as the greatest delimitating attribute of this research. Search Criteria   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The key terms I commonly used while searching for the relevant articles included: chronic neck pain, cervical pain types of acupuncture, alternative medicine, sham acupuncture, Shallow acupuncture and randomized acupuncture. Short statements were also useful in searching for relevant information about the use of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic pain. These statements included: Alternative treatment of chronic pain, use of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic neck pain, and the acupuncture methods used in the treatment of chronic neck pain(Witt 2004, p. 99). I thoroughly searched in various databases for article that provided information for patients suffering from chronic neck pains, specifically those individuals between the age of 21 and 55 years old. I further categorized the data collected to form two groups of patients of the age bracket of 21 and 34 years and those between 35 and 55 years old. The creation of these two grou ps was essential as taking a wider range of people of ages 21 to 55 years old would present relatively a higher deviation in the healing processes of the patients, as those above the age of 35 years present a much longer period of healing as compared to the youthful 21 to 34 years group. I also focused my research on the following: MasterFile Premier, ALT Healthwatch, US National Library of Medicine, BioMed central. Chronic Neck Pain   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chronic neck pain is an ailment that is characterized by pain in the neck that lasts for an unusually long period of time, commonly over a period of three months. Although different from the common medical conditions of neck pains that last for only days, chronic neck pain is typically an ailment that takes even years without success in its treatment in the mainstream medical practices. Chronic neck pain is usually associated with a number of disorders, as well as diseases that can involve any of the tissues around the neck(Witt 2004, p. 99). For instance, the common causes of this condition are strains of the neck, injury of the neck like a herniated disc, pinched disc, or whiplash, and degenerative disc disease. In addition, chronic neck pain is also linked to common infection like virus infection of the neck and lymph nope swelling, as well as other infections such as tuberculosis of the neck, meningitis, and infection of spine bones ar ound the neck. Some patients also had chronic neck pains caused by extremely different causes, which include physical injuries, some rare infections, and virus infections among others. Further, chronic neck pain is also caused by certain infections like virus infection of the neck and lymph nope swelling, as well as other infections such as tuberculosis of the neck, meningitis, and infection of spine bones around the neck. Risk Factors   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chronic neck pain is generally caused by numerous factors ranging from physical injury to certain infections around the neck body tissues. Since neck pain affects the muscles around the body areas of the neck, it becomes painful to move the neck as it is usually painful. The risk factors for pain usually include injury from involvement in motor vehicle accidents, horse rising, contact sports and bull riding among others(De Loose, 2008, p. 475). In order to avoid or to prevent neck pains for the patients, it is always essential to consider staying away from activities may twist the neck and subsequently aggravate the already painful section of the neck(Witt 2004, p. 99). In addition, it is also advisable to have activities that will enhance neck strengthening exercise, as well as neck bracing. Types of acupuncture used in the treatment of chronic neck pain Optimized acupuncture therapy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Optimized acupuncture therapy in the treatment of chronic neck pain involves the utilization of traditional acupuncture, which is usually followed by intradermal needle therapy, commonly referred to as INT(Hush 2004, p. 1533). The use of OAT usually consists of the use of nine acupuncture points typically selected for an optimized acupuncture therapy group on the advice and consensus of the national expert committee of the OAT procedures. In this case, four points are subsequently located by physician intending to perform the OAT. The points selected are usually the cervical positive reactions planes found in the top and bottom of the cervical planes as well as horizontally away from the corresponding cervical vertebra(Witt 2004, p. 99). This type of acupuncture practice is highly sensitive and usually need to be performed by an individual with more than five of practice experiences. Sham acupuncture therapy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sham acupuncture therapy involves the use of skin penetrating shallow needles on the specified sham groups’ tender points.The tender points that are used in this method of acupuncture therapy are categorized as the key areas recommended for the acupuncture, which are the Ah Shee, also referred to as â€Å"oh yes point†. The points are crucial in this therapy and have to be used throughout the treatment procedure. Typically, the location of sham points is commonly defined by 25mm lateral extending to the standard location used for the OAT group.They include: the sham point of Dazhui (GV14) 25mm, which is 25 mm vertically below the usual standard GV14, sham points of (S115) Jianzhongshu and Huatuojiaji, which is 25 mm lateral to standard S115 (Liang et al, 8).After the sham acupuncture, individuals undergoing the process or patients are treated through the use of point pressing (De Loose, 2008, p. 475). Shallow acupuncture therapy Shallow acupuncture group undergoes similar procedures as the other OAT groups.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, the physicians are required to insert the needles in a vertical manner in order to reach the subcutaneous level at a specified depth of not more than 3 mm (Salter et al, 2004). Needle manipulation or any other sensation is prohibited in this particular group. Ultimately, after the shallow acupuncture, the patients are additionally treated by INT through the use of a similar method as in the other OAT groups. Physiotherapy versus acupuncture   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Zhuang (2012) compares the use of acupuncture and physiotherapy in the treatment of chronic neck pain in a research that took place in China. The research involved screening of a total of 310 patients. The patients were then randomly split into two equal groups, where one group was treated using acupuncture method, while the other group received treatment through physiotherapy. The outcome of the treatment of the two procedures revealed that patients treated under acupuncture procedures had better results in relieving neck pain, particularly after a period of three months.It is essential to acknowledge that physiotherapy is an alternative medical practice that can be used in the treatment of chronic neck pain. While acupuncture therapies generally used sterilizes needles that are usually inserted in the area around the neck depending on the type of acupuncture used, physiotherapy does not involve the use of needles. Physiotherapy utilizes several types of manipulation as well as exercise to relieve pain. The common illustration of the use of physiotherapy is the stretch, strengthen and straighten up exercise movements of the neck. Adverse event and acupuncture   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   White (2001) researched about the adverse events following a use of acupuncture to treat patients with chronic neck pain. In his survey, which included a prospective survey of 32,000 consultations with physiotherapists and doctors, the researcher, Adrian White aimed at ascertaining the incidence of adverse events that are related to acupuncture treatment, as practiced by British doctors during that time. The research utilized data that were collected for the June of 1998 to February of 2000, from a total of 78 acupuncturists. Altogether the resulting significant events were 43, subsequently giving only a rate of only 14 patients of the 10,000 patients included in the data. The results of this study showed that only 0.14 percent of the patients who used acupuncture in the treatment of chronic pain experience adverse events. All the adverse events were reported to have had cleared within the period of one week after the therapy. Similar dimi nishing events were characterized at a longer period, except foronly one incident that lasted for several weeks. The result derived from the data of acupuncture treatment did not report any serious adverse events. The rates can only be classified as minimal considering that it was only 14 adverse effects out of the total 10,000 patients who were analyzed with the data provided. Generally, these event rates do not give significant risk per individual patient. Physician views on acupuncture   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The article by Chen, L. et al., (2010), offers exclusive views on acupuncture given by various physicians. The research by Chen among other authors who contributed to the article, there study targets collecting information that addresses the role of acupuncture in the management of pain in regard to opinions of physicians who manage such conditions. The research was conducted between 2007 and 2008 using a nationwide e-mail to 1083 physicians who were in active acupuncture practice in the United States. Chan et al., (2010) found that the overwhelmingly majority of the responders of the survey had a positive attitude and favorable experience of the use of acupuncture as an alternative modality in the management of chronic pain. The results of the survey subsequently indicate that acupuncture is considered effective by physicians in the management of chronic neck pain. Discussion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chronic neck pain commonly occur as a result of a number of disorders, and diseases that in involve any of the tissues around the neck (Witt 2004, p. 99). The risk factors of this condition have also been linked tothe strains of the neck, injury of the neck such as the herniated disc, pinched disc, or whiplash, and degenerative disc disease. Additionally, chronic neck pain is also associated with to common infection like virus infection of the neck and lymph nope swelling, as well as other infections such as tuberculosis of the neck, meningitis, and infection of spine bones around the neck. Further, chronic neck pain is also found to be caused other different causes, which include physical injuries, some rare infections, and virus infections among others. Moreover, chronic neck pain is also caused by certain infections like virus infection of the neck and lymph nope swelling, as well as other infections such as tuberculosis of the neck, me ningitis, and infection of spine bones around the neck. Despite the different causes of the chronic neck pain, the use of acupuncture has subsequently been showcased as an ideal alternative medical procedure towards the treatment of this condition. The research shows that the three types of acupuncture are equally ideal in providing effective treatment for neck pain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although I extensively performed research on a wide range of databases, there are some articles that may have been missed out. Since I was individually conducting this research alone, it is possible that the large number of crucial articles were subsequently overlooked. In addition, there are many external factors that could have influenced the entire result of the use of acupuncture as an ideal treatment for chronic neck pain. The majority of studies slightly differs in a number of issues such as data collected, population, or any of combinations of these factors. White (2001) preciselyresearched about the adverse events following a use of acupuncture to treat patients with chronic neck pain, with an extreme number of respondents. Chen, L. et al., (2010), had a relatively smaller number of responders, and also had collection of data to be collected only through email in his research on the effectiveness of acupuncture in the management of chronic pain in the neck. These are some of the factors that were out of the scope of the research, hence determining the effectiveness of acupuncture was difficult, since the aspect of effectiveness could easily be isolated from some external factors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The analysis of the specific information provided by the studies of the literature review of this research paper indicate that either of the three methods of acupuncture can effectively treat the chronic neck pain. The procedural practice of sham, shallow and optimized acupuncture, though different, they present similar way of performing the acupuncture therapy, equally offering effective treatment for chronic neck pain. Liang et al, (2012) asserts that the three types of acupuncture to be based on the thought that decrease or alienation of pain can be enhanced by releasing the chemicals responsible for blocking pain. Issues of age in the study have been considered as the research only focused on individuals between 21 years old and 55 years, as they are likely to have a faster period of healing as compared to adult elderly groups of more than 55 years old. Generally, the use of acupuncture is illustrated as effective as it has previously been used to treat patients with chronic neck pain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The loopholes evident in the research include the possibility of a prior knowledge in determining the differences that may emerge upon consideration for gender in the treatment program. In the entire study, there is no single explanation of the ratio of females against the males in finding out the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment procedures. The study focused on a general perspective of patients with chronic neck pain regardless of their respective sex or gender. The knowledge of the differences that exist between males and females could have some effects on the understanding the use of acupuncture. In addition, the paper did not focus on the causes of the various neck pain, which could also compromise the results of the study, considering that such plans are typically attributed to a wide variety of causes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Topics that can be considered for further research are establishing the element of gender in determining the effectiveness of acupuncture while treating chronic neck problem. The various studies illustrated in the research paper did not point out the importance of understanding differences in the healing process of male and female patients with chronic neck pain. I suggest a study be conducted with a major emphasis on the aspect of gender differences between patients in order to determine the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for neck pain in male and female patients. If this study is conducted, it will be possible to compare the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment between male and female patients within the same health condition of chronic neck pain. References Blossfeldt, P. (2004). Acupuncture for Chronic neck pain: a cohort study in an NHS pain Clinic.22(3): 146-151. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15551941Chen, L., Houghton, M., Seefeld, L., Malarick, C. & Mao. Jianren. (2010). A Survey of SelectedPhysician Views on Acupuncture in Pain Management. 11(4), 530-534 Salter, G.C, Roman, M., Bland, M. J & MacPherson, H. (2006). Acupuncture for chronic pain: apilot for randomized controlled trial. 7(1): 3-14 . Retrieved fromhttp://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2474/7/99 Liang, Z. H., Di, Z., Jiang, S., Xu, S. J., Zhu, X. P., Fu, W,. & Lu, A. P. (2012). The optimizedacupuncture treatment for neck pain caused by cervical spondylosis: a study protocol of amulticenter randomized controlled trial. 13(1): 2-18 . Retrieved fromhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22776567 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. (2013). neck pain. Retrieved from http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00231Chen, L., Houghton, M., Seefeld, L., Malarick, C., & Mao, J. (2010). a survey of selected physician views on acupuncture in pain management. Pain Medicine, 11(4), 530-534. Retrieved from SPORTDiscus. De Loose, V., Burnotte, F., Cagnie, B., Stevens, V., & Van Tiggelen, D. (2008). Prevalence and risk factors of neck pain in military office workers. Military Medicine, 173(5), 474-479. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier. Hush, J. M., Michaleff, Z., Maher, C. G., & Refshauge, K. (2009). Individual, physical and psychological risk factors for neck pain in Australian office workers: a 1-year longitudinal study. European Spine Journal, 18(10), 1532-1540. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier. Irnich, D., Behrens, N., Gleditsch, J. M., Stà ¶r, W., Schreiber, M. A., Schà ¶ps, P., & †¦ Beyer, A. (2002). Immediate effects of dry needling and acupuncture at distant points in chronic neck pain: results of a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled crossover trial. Pain (03043959), 99(1/2), 83. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier. Ji-Eun, P., Myeong Soo, L., Jun-Yong, C., Bo-Young, K., & Sun-Mi, C. (2010). Adverse Events Associated with Acupuncture: A Prospective Survey. Journal Of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, 16(9), 959-963. Retrieved by Academic Search Premier. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. (2012). Acupuncture: an introduction. Retrieved from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/acupuncture/introduction.htmNational Institutes of Health. (2013). neck pain. Retreived from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003025.htmRobertshawe, P. (2008). acupuncture and physiotherapy for neck tension. Journal Of The Australian Traditional-Medicine Society, 14(3), 187. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier. Sun, M., Hsieh, C., Cheng, Y., Hung, H., Li, T., Yen, S., & Huang, I. (2010). The therapeutic effects of acupuncture on patients or individuals with chronic neck myofascial pain syndrome:: a single-blind randomized controlled trial. American Journal Of Chinese Medicine, 38(5), 849-859. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier. Vas, J., Perea-Milla, E., Mà ©ndez, C., Navarro, C., Leà ³n Rubio, J., Brioso, M., & Obrero, I. (2006). Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for chronic uncomplicated neck pain: A randomised controlled study. Pain (03043959), 126(1-3), 245-255. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier. White, A. (2001). Adverse events following acupuncture: prospective survey of 32,000 consultations with doctors and physiotherapists. 10(1), 3-14 Retrieved from BMJ Research Articles Willich, S. N., Reinhold, T., Selim, D., Jena, S., Brinkhaus, B., & Witt, C. M. (2006). Cost-effectiveness of acupuncture treatment in patients or individuals with chronic neck pain.Pain (03043959), 125(1/2), 107-113. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Witt, C. M., Jena, S., Brinkhaus, B., Liecker, B., Wegscheider, K., & Willich, S. N. (2006). Acupuncture for patients or individuals with chronic neck pain. Pain (03043959), 125(1/2), 98-106. Retrived from Academic Search Premier. Source document