Characteristics of Gothic Literature Essay

The Gothic In 1798 an anonymous author published a commentary that revealed exactly how some writers received the Gothic during this time: â€Å" Take—An old castle, half of it ruinous A long gallery, with a great many doors, some secret ones. Three murdered bodies, quite fresh. As many skeletons, in chests and presses. An old woman hanging by the neck; with her throat cut. Assassins and desperadoes, quant. suff. Noises, whispers, and groans, threescore at least. † (1-7) After reading many of the selections in the anthology, I found this poem on a Gothic’s â€Å"recipe† to be quite true (602). However, in the case of this anonymous writer, he considers all of these characteristics to be negative. I, on the other hand, find it very intriguing that this type of novel developed in a time ruled by writers whose main focus was politics and poetry. Many influential writers including Coleridge and Wordsworth criticized the characteristics, morality, purpose, and significance of these novels; however, I believe many of the features they disliked actually broadened the scope of literature. The Gothic novel was often attacked for being too formulaic. Although the specifics of the plot changed from novel to novel, the characteristics were often similar, which is something that is pointed out repeatedly by the Gothic’s critics. The similarities encountered in the characteristics of these novels include the setting, mystery, and characters to name a few. The setting of this type of novel is usually in a castle of sorts, or in some other mysterious place that produces suspense and terror within the reader. Although these settings were often alike, they â€Å"exist to convey the atmosphere† and are used â€Å"for ends that are fundamentally psychological† (Hume 286). This characteristic is one that set up the entire feeling of the novel, one of suspense, horror, and mystery. The setting of various novels was not uniform because it was the easy or obvious choice like many critics believed, but because it created a certain atmosphere that was needed for the plot. If the story had been set on a sunny beach, the atmosphere would have been much different and the reader would not get the same affect. Like the settings, the mysteries that develop within Gothic novels are usually somewhat similar. From what I have come across, many include a murder or deep, dark secret that is unraveled by an ordinary person. While this may support Wordsworth’s claim that these novels are â€Å"sickly and stupid German tragedies† because of their straightforward plot, I find them to be quite interesting (266). These mysteries create suspense, and were the first â€Å"page-turners† that were ever written. Readers no longer had to decipher long and complicated meanings from pieces such as the â€Å"Lucy Gray† poems; instead, they could sit back, relax, and enjoy these novels that created an escape into a mysterious world. Another piece of the â€Å"formula† that was important to the genre were the characters that were used throughout the novels. The characters were often simple people who were thrown into a situation that required extraordinary actions. While the simplicity of the characters was often criticized by writers who considered themselves to be â€Å"high culture,† these characters had the ability to â€Å"involve the reader in special circumstances† (Hume 286). Unlike the pieces that came before them, the Gothic novel had the capacity to draw the reader in, and put them in the shoes of the main character. For me, it was very hard to feel for the personas in earlier poems that we came across. I think the main reason for this is that the characters tended to be somewhat generic, but interesting. They allowed for anyone to understand the character and immerse themselves within the character’s thoughts. They also allowed for people to sink in to a particular character and feel the terror that they were feeling. Another aspect of the Gothic that was often called into question was the morality of the characters and authors. There are many instances in which these novels incorporated grotesque scenes that included rape and murder among many other things. In The Monk by Matthew Lewis the main character, Ambrosia, is a virtuous and ethical man who seduced by the demon Matilda. In one scene â€Å"his desires were raised to that frantic height by which brutes are agitated†¦ and [he] hastily proceeded to tear off those garments which impeded the gratification of his lust† (598). Ambrosia is obviously an immoral character, and he is criticized for not being so. To me, it seems like critics were getting to the point where they were trying to find anything and everything to criticize about the Gothic novel. While this genre may involve some unseemly characters, they are needed in order to create an interesting plot. Having some sort of villain is necessary in any type of writing that has a mystery or murder involved. Without villains, we cannot have heroes, and both are very important aspects of literature. Coleridge, for example, not only attacked The Monk as a novel but also attacked Lewis as a person for having the ability to create such an immoral character. He believed that â€Å"the merit of a novelist is in proportion†¦ to the pleasurable effect which he produces (604). I highly disagree with this statement because I believe controversy affects change, and change is needed in order to forward society. Novelists and poets were no longer writing poems that had the sole purpose of making a person feel good or empowered; instead, they were writing for entertainment. Also, many of the writers before The Monk addressed political issues that were not considered pleasurable, but controversial and hard to confront. Coleridge’s statement seems to contradict everything that literature stands for. Authors and the literature they create are unpleasant at times, and that is not wrong—it is merely a necessity for the forward movement of society and evolution of literature. Another important issue to address when it comes to these novels is their specific purpose. It seems that every literary movement in history had some sort of motive or driving force behind them. For the Gothic, this driving force or purpose seems to be to induce terror while entertaining. Before this movement, we never really encountered works of literature that were straightforward, suspenseful, and enjoyable all at the same time. In an essay by Aikin and Aikin, they claimed that people would â€Å"rather chuse to suffer the smart pang of a violent emotion than the uneasy craving of an unsatisfied desire† (584). By this, they mean that terror is pleasurable, and that is exactly what these novels delivered to their readers. It was not an emotion that was regularly produced when readers came into contact with the typical works of this time. For a piece of literature to induce such error was something novel and interesting that affected many of their readers. Because terror is an emotion that is hard to come by, these novels were, like I said, an escape for readers. Terror is not something that a person wants to encounter in their real life, but is something they can enjoy and acquire through reading these novels. Their purpose was not to confuse the reader with complicated meanings full of allusions. Instead, these terrifying novels have the ability to â€Å"render the poorest and most insipid narrative interesting when once we get fairly into it† (584). Although many of the authors of Gothic novels may not have been the best composers compared to standards during this time, they were still able to draw in a huge audience because they gave the people what they wanted. I would not consider the narratives â€Å"insipid,† but compared to the works that came before them, they were much simpler and used language that was not considered to be as articulate. This simplicity that is encountered when reading a piece of Gothic work, though criticized, says much about how society was changing during this time. These novels significantly altered the way in which literature was composed and whom it was available to. Instead of being read by the elite few, it was accessible to pretty much anyone who could read. During this time, the percent of literate people was rising rapidly, especially in the middle class. These books appealed to these people, and sold millions upon millions of copies because of this. I think that much of the distaste that so-called â€Å"high culture† writers had for these novels is because of their success. They were extremely popular, more so than the most popular of the poets during this time. For example, Wordsworth was said to be a commercialized version of â€Å"real† poetry because it was easier to understand than many other pieces out during this time. However, he never even came close to selling as many copies of Lyrical Ballads as the Gothic writers did with their own works. For Wordsworth to criticize a genre that feeds off of the readers’ ability to comprehend seems to be extremely hypocritical of him. Also, I think that when something appeals to the masses, it is a good thing. Change cannot occur unless everyone is on the same page, and that is what the Gothic provided to the people. Finally, I would like to confront just how significant this movement is to the literature we have today. This was the first time we encounter a genre that is similar to the types of genres we see today. The Gothic genre was criticized because the novels were too alike—but that is exactly what a genre is, according to today’s standards. One could argue that the novels that are published today are not of the same caliber as novels published 50, 100, or 200 years ago. And maybe that is true, but is it necessarily bad? In my opinion, having novels that are more accessible to more people makes for a better, more unified society. Having works of literature that are too complicated, wordy, or abstract leads to more ambiguity, and eventually creates a divide among social classes. I am not saying that all written works should be easy to understand, but I do think that the Gothic novel was the first in a wave of works of literature that helped society grow more literate. Finally, scholars and everyday people were able to read and talk about the same kinds of things. Although scholars who thought they were better writers were constantly criticizing it, they could not appeal to the masses. Gothic literature had the ability to do this, and you can still see its influence in novels on shelves today. It has a definite place in literary history, and should not be overlooked. It may not have had the deepest plots or the most complicated characters, but the genre had an impact during the 18th century, and continues to have an impact today.

A Famous Festival in Myanmar Essay

Thingyan festival – Water Festival – Myanmar New Year – in April The country Myanmar is Known as the â€Å"Golden Land† in the world since every pagoda is decorated and painted with gold. Myanmar is full of very colourful and deep rooted festivals. There are 13 most popular year around festivals in Myanmar. One of them is the celebration on Thingyan Festival, as the Water Festival or Myanmar’s Traditional New Year Festival. Myanmar people celebrate the Water Festival all over the country for 4 days before New Year day by throwing water on each other. It takes place on April13th to April 16th of every year. It is believed that Water Festival washes away sins and welcomes the New Year, April 17th. The Mandats, water throwing and playing places with the large signboards are every where, not only in the cities but also in the villages. In major cities such as Yangon, garden hoses, huge syringes made of bamboo, plastic water pistols, bowls, cups and other devices from which water can be squirted are used. All these whole days, people are going round to the Mandats with their bicycles, motorbikes, opentop jeeps and trucks to play the water with each other. It is a hottest time of the year and a good dousing is welcomed by most. Everyone is fair game except the monks and obviously pregnant women. After playing around and having fun throughout the country, people welcome the New Year on the 17th by cleaning the floors of the pagodas and monasteries, washing old and aged peoples’ hair, helping to cut their nails. Some offer free foods and drinks for everyone who comes to the pagodas. Some make other donations. There is also a custom in Myanmar to buy live fishes and cows during the festival and let them free in sanctuaries or rivers or lakes with a prayer and a wish saying â€Å"I release you once, you release me ten times† on the final day of Thingyan. Most of the Myanmar’s believe in Buddhism and so killing any living creature is a sinful act. All these April days, there are music and sprinkling of water in the air. Throwing water on everyone with the intention to purify their mind and  spirit is really wet. If you are planning a trip to the Gold Land Myanmar, this is one festival not to be missed. All your sins are purified with Thingyan Water Festival. You will never forget true joy.

Adults with Learning Difficulties Essay

â€Å"People with Learning Difficulties are unique individuals with their own likes and dislikes, history and opinions. They have the same rights as everybody else† To begin my assignment I will be discussing the history of social exclusion in relation to people with l’earning difficulties/disabilities . I will then outline process of Social work and in particular I will be focusing on intervention and how intervention has been used in relation to my chosen case study. In addition to this I will pay attention to a number of key issues in relation to society’s views on people with Learning Difficulties. I will also be discussing what Laws, Policies and Practices have been implemented to protect people with learning difficulties from oppression and discrimination and how effective these Laws have actually been in assisting people with Learning Difficulties to live the life they choose to live. During the late 19th century in particular, socially excluding people with learning disabilities was particularly inherent. At the time, those with ‘mental deficiencies’ were regarded as degenerates, and would often be blamed for social problems such as crime and poverty. This in turn led to the removal and institutionalisation of people thought to be ‘feeble minded’ and those referred to as ‘idiots’. Wolf Wolfensberger first published his thoughts about normalisation in 1972, through his works ‘The principle of Normalization in human service’. Wolfensberger argued that many of the problems with the institutions arose from the way in which they were designed and run. The residents of these institutions were treated like numbers rather than individuals, losing their identity and also their dignity. They were often regarded as primitive, uncontrollable and unable to be educated. The basic ideas and aims of the principles of normalisation have aimed to advocate community-based support for people with learning disabilities, whilst moving away from institutionalisation. But one of the most apparent obstacles in achieving this has been the attitude of those in the ‘community’ towards people with learning disabilities. Up to this point Social workers were still using the â€Å"tick box format† when conducting assessments and the medical model of practice was used which resulted in oppression of the service user. It was not until the NHS and community care Act and the community care (Direct Payments) Act was implemented in 1990’s that the attitudes towards people with Learning Difficulties began to improve along with the balance in power between Social Workers and Service Users. Further implementations of legal frameworks, policies and practices such as Valuing People 2001 and the Mental Capacity Act have helped to improve Social Work practice and in turn protect the rights of vulnerable people whilst promoting Anti-Discriminator practice, Social role valorisation and normalisation. Today’s process of Social Work consists of five key stages. These are Assessment, Deciding on outcomes, Planning, Intervention and Evaluation. Inter professional working should be placed centrally throughout all stages of the social work process in order to achieve the best possible outcome for the service user. Once the service users initial assessment has been carried out, decisions can then be made regarding the individuals overall needs and also their eligibility to receive funding for care packages and/or direct payments. Intervention can differ according to setting, but when looking at the intervention process for people with learning difficulties working in partnership and respecting the service user’s expertise is vital when putting agreed plans into action. This aspect of the intervention process can be linked to the exchange model as this approach promotes Anti Discriminatory Practice by empowering the service user to help make decisions about their future wellbeing. It also meets the expectations of the service user that social workers are respecting their expertise. Milner and Obrien 2002) During the intervention process it is the duty of the care manager/social worker to ensure that services provided are meeting the required standards and that the care is co-ordinated successfully to prevent deterioration due to gaps or lapses in care. It is also the responsibility of the care manager to ensure that services users are not excluded from services or receiving care that is of poor quality by constantly checking for discrimination stereotypes and assumptions made during the social work process. It is at this point that the intervention process can be linked with the objectives of Social role Valorisation; the objectives being to prevent people from attaining negative social roles and to promote positive valued roles in the first place. Work to reverse, or at least reduce the impact of existing negative roles and promote positive valued roles. The two key processes od social role valorisation are to enhance the social image of vulnerable people and to enhance their competencies. Social workers are expected to monitor and review intervention lans on a regular basis. Because of this it is vital that these plans can be changed at any time to suit the needs of the individual. When changes are made it is important that other organisations involved are kept up to date with these changes to ensure that the plan remains co-ordinated and effective. Although this theory of intervention illustrates a person centred approach, there is evidence to suggest that people with learning difficulties are still being failed by society due to standardisation and computerisation which can also be known as the â€Å"tick box format†. There are also many instances where there is an incorrect assessment of finances during the initial assessment process, due to the focus on resources available rather than needs. This can lead to the service user being denied access to services that they are entitled to. When looking at my case study Gemma, she has successfully been integrated into society after a comprehensive process of assessment, planning and intervention has been completed to form a person centred care package that suits her needs as an individual with profound and multiple learning difficulties, but also as a young woman who is a human being. The implementation of policies such as Valuing People 2001 and Valuing People Now promotes personalisation within society and has given people with Learning Disabilities like Gemma the right to their own independence, choice and inclusion. Also to have the option of appointing an advocate. However, I cannot help but feel that her story of success was down to the sheer determination of her mother, who had to fight for her daughters individual needs to be met. Social Workers and other multi professionals who were involved in assessment of Gemma’s needs obviously felt that she would have benefited from institutionalisation, as it is stated that this was suggested as a future plan on numerous occasions. I cannot help but wonder whether this has been due to professionals focusing on Gemma’s disability rather than focusing on her as a person. Valuing people 2001 states that the role of services is to help people no matter how complexed their disability, to live full and equal lives in their local communities. Although the article states that ideas for Gemma to live as independently as possible were well received and finally implemented, It is also obvious that there have been constant struggles to obtain funding such as direct payments to accommodate Gemma’s visions to live a normal life within her community. Following Wolfensbergers development of Social Role Valorisation, Obrien developed the five service accomplishments, which provided a practical framework to work towards Social Role Valorisation. Obrien suggests â€Å"Each accomplishment supports a vital dimension of human experience which common practice limits for people with severe Learning Disabilities. They challenge and strengthen the relationship between people with disabilities and other community members. (Obrien 1989) Recent articles published on the community care website have suggested that social workers themselves are witnessing the target-driven culture of bureaucracy within councils (just like Gemmas mum experienced ),and are aware that this has created numerous barriers to people with mental health problems gaining access to direct payments. It has been reported that a Social Work Team Manager within Adults with Learning Disabilities actually left her role at Doncaster Council in 2010 because she had encountered these problems and felt that it hindered the intervention process. She has since started up her own Personalisation Forum Group to bring these service users together. The weekly meetings at a community centre now attract 30 regulars, providing support and regular socialising opportunities. I utilise my social work skills to help the group solve the problems that they face; this involves reducing dependency on professionals by highlighting people’s strengths, and encouraging them to think through solutions on their own and with other group members. People describe feeling part of something, like they have some power over their own future and many for the first time can see something positive,† Hicks says. Michelle Lefevre, senior lecturer in social work at the University of Sussex, says it is a â€Å"sad indictment† that Hicks felt she had to leave local authority social work to build such meaningful relationships with users. Not only is local government overly focused on administration rather than spending time with children and families, she says, but problems in social work degree programmes and supervision mean practitioners are not equipped to deal with the emotional dimensions of the job. Overall it is very refreshing to read success stories like Gemma’s as it seems that she is living her live as independently as possible, whilst being supported by a dedicated team of people who are constantly ensuring that she is receiving person centred care and that her wishes remain central. It is my only hope that in the future it will not require a loving parent to fight the rights of a service user and to overcome hurdle after hurdle to receive the funding and care package they are rightful entitled to, but that the service user will be granted access to the services and funding they are eligible for with ease.

Our Vanishing Nights With My Inner Voice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Our Vanishing Nights With My Inner Voice - Essay Example The tone has a strong academic sound to it. As for â€Å"My Inner Voices,† the writing is casual and conversational. I wrote: â€Å"It’s because the missing school in the morning could cause a lot of troubles and I don’t know, it was just like, do something wrong, you will be popular.† This style follows a conversation that I would have with a friend. Formality is also found in the choice of words or vocabulary. I use scientific and formal words in â€Å"Our Vanishing Nights,† while everyday words are frequent in â€Å"My Inner Voices.† The organization of thoughts strictly follows mechanics and academic writing norms for â€Å"Our Vanishing Nights.† I did not use contractions, and I observed strict academic writing rules. For â€Å"My Inner Voices,† contractions were common, and I wrote like I was talking to a friend only. Hence, the target audiences of the paper affected my writing style. The tone has a strong academic sound t o it. As for â€Å"My Inner Voices,† the writing is casual and conversational. I wrote: â€Å"It’s because the missing school in the morning could cause a lot of troubles and I don’t know, it was just like, do something wrong, you will be popular.† This style follows a conversation that I would have with a friend. Formality is also found in the choice of words or vocabulary. I use scientific and formal words in â€Å"Our Vanishing Nights,† while everyday words are frequent in â€Å"My Inner Voices.† The organization of thoughts strictly follows mechanics and academic writing norms for â€Å"Our Vanishing Nights.† I did not use contractions, and I observed strict academic writing rules. For â€Å"My Inner Voices,† contractions were common, and I wrote like I was talking to a friend only. Hence, the target audiences of the paper affected my writing style. Appeals varied for both papers, where I used logos more in â€Å"Our Vanis hing Nights,† while in â€Å"My Inner Voices,† I focused on ethos and pathos because the former is more on analysis of an academic source, while the latter relies on a portrayal of and reflection on personal events. Relying on an academic source and given the paper’s objectives, I wrote with a strong appeal to logic for â€Å"Our Vanishing Nights.† I wanted scientists to study light pollution further to persuade them, I needed evidence and logical thinking. As for â€Å"My Inner Voices,† I used ethos because I described my own experiences to explain what it means to follow the bad inner voice.

BORDER SECURITY ISSUES RESEARCH PROJECT # 2 Essay

BORDER SECURITY ISSUES RESEARCH PROJECT # 2 - Essay Example The CPJ report shows that Iraq has held this position since 2008, when there was another survey (Witchel, 2014). In 2012, when there was a U.S invasion, journalists were not killed because of their relation to their work. However, because of increasing terrorists groups in the country, there were 10 journalists killings of which nine were unresolved murders. In total, the report shows that there 166 journalist murder cases since year 1992, with 103 of these cases murdered with impunity. The second country ranked as the worst is Somalia, where there were four new murders last year. According to the report, there are elusive armed insurgent gangs who terrorize the media to the point that the law agencies do not follow-up the cases (Witchel, 2014). There were 53 journalists’ deaths since 1992. Out of these deaths, 35 journalists were murdered with impunity. In Philippines, there are 51 murders of journalists that are still unresolved. The country has remained number 3 after Iraq and Somalia since year 2010 (Witchel, 2014). According to the CPJ report, there are 53 journalists killed since 1992 and 35 of these journalists were murdered with impunity. In Sri Lanka, there was no progress made in the unresolved cases of journalist murders. However, CPJ notes that it did not record any of the murders from year 2009 to 2013. CPJ notes that out of 19 journalists killed since 1992m 10 of these journalists are murdered with impunity and go unreported in Sri Lanka. Colombia falls in the fifth category with 45 cases of journalists killed since 1992. 36 of the 45 cases were murdered with impunity. Nonetheless, it records so many cases of death threats of journalists in different states of Columbia. In Afghanistan, journalists who are also from other states are usually jailed for many years such as the Pakistani reporter who was sentenced to 4 years in prison in July, this year. In total, Afghanistan records 26 cases of journalists murdered since 1992, with

Managing the Artist Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing the Artist - Case Study Example His development in the music scene has recently seen him fall out with the recording company that signed him up because of losses that he was making. Therefore, the work considers personal management as a contributing factor to his down fall and hence proposes a way in which Jackson should follow in order to get a new recording deal from the theory mentioned herein. In doing this, his music career would start to follow in the right track. This text intends to look in to the artistic works of the musician Leon Jackson. It intends to unravel the themes envisaged inside the music works of this famous and renowned music artist. In identifying the nuances in his musical work, and management plan would be developed that would provide and exemplary basis in which Leon Jackson could use in furthering his career in the music industry with out managerial problems. Leon Jackson is a musical artist of this current time. He was born in December of 1988 in the country of Scotland. He began his career in the music industry as of 2007. The music genres that he exhibits in his songs are adult contemporary, pop and jazz. Leon Jackson music career became noted in the year 2007. This is when this music artist came to be known in the international music scene. Leon Jackson musical career was discovered and uplifted when he joined and won in the X Factor. The x-Factor was and is a UK based television series that encompasses talented upcoming musicians in discovering their vocal abilities. The participants compete among each other through the vocal tasks they are given and a panel of judges grade their performance which is further influenced by the public voting for their favourite contestant. Jackson advanced through the many stages of the X Factor in escaping elimination. He eventually reached the finals where he was awarded a one million contract music recording deal. The deal was sponsored by the Syrop music company, a branch of the popular Sony BMG music entertainment group. (BBC News, 2007) His first single debut was the song 'when you believe'. This song he produced after winning the X factor in the same year, 2007. The song was ranked among the top Christmas songs of the year. The original song was composed by Stephen Schwartz as a soundtrack to the animated movie 'The Prince of Egypt'. The song was first sung and released by vocalists Mariah Carey and Whitney Huston in a pop genre for the movie. The song exhibits a love theme according to its original composition for the romantic film it was prepared for. In 2008, Jackson was invited to the Wembley arena to do a performance to the song 'lost'. The song of pop genre was done by the Canadian singer Michael Buble. Buble welcomed Jackson to perform the song in a duet. (Holly wood grind, 2008) Still in the same year, Jackson released his first original single which topped the position three in the UK music chart and number eight in Ireland. The single was tilted 'don't call this love' and its theme was based on love relations. This performance in the charts made him begin producing more songs of this theme that has seen him become one of the most popular pop music artists in the UK. (A charts, 2008) Personal management and artists In divulging in to the management of artists, this section would look at personal managers as a theme in artist management. This section would trying to look at the

Group Project for Project Management Class Term Paper

Group Project for Project Management Class - Term Paper Example In the case of Lawson time tracking system, the project has been broken down into various manageable phases. The first phase is project initiation and planning. Here the main activity that should take place is the project stakeholders meeting to form working groups and split the various tasks to the teams formed. This whole phase has been approximated to take fifteen days after which the project is kicked off. The second phase is a bit short and meant to prepare the whole process of system installation. The stakeholders are supposed to identify the resources required, prepare the required hardware and create a deployment plan. The deployment plan is a document that will be given to the stakeholders informing them what they have been assigned to do and the period they are given to do the same. This should be a detailed document to avoid any sort of delays in the completion of this project. This phase is supposed to take a maximum of twenty one days. The second stage in this second pha se is system installation and testing. This stage is supposed to take a maximum of 374 days. It is the most critical stage in the process of system development since it also involves the system changeover. The first step is to install the software on the server after which the web applications are then installed. Care must be taken to ensure that all the security features and auto-update features will be installed together with the system. Security essentials are a necessity to ensure that the integrity of data and information is protected from unauthorized access. The auto update features are to help in updating the system platforms at all times to ensure they conform to the exact requirements. After the above is ensured complete and successful, the company data is installed into the system. The data installed include all the system users’ information and their log in verification information. Then a review is conducted on the checklist to ensure that all the steps are accom plished. This step is supposed to take 21 days. The second step in this stage is the testing of the installation stage. A test is conducted on the servers deployed and the general success in web application installation. After they are confirmed to function at the expected standards, the functionality of the user database is conducted. Here, the team is expected to check the security system to ascertain that user login safe and secured. All user passwords must be confirmed fed to the system to avoid denying any user access to his database account. All the errors confirmed present in the system are then fixed by the relevant personnel. This is a process expected to last 22 days maximally. A review on the inspection of the system is then conducted to signoff the whole process of installation. Work breakdown structure with estimated costs An estimated $100000 was to be used in the project. This was to cover for all the cost of all the phases that are in this project. When estimating th is cost, several factors were put into consideration. The amount of both skilled and unskilled manpower that was needed for the completion of the project was put in place. The estimated amount is not distributed equally in phases because some of the phases require more resourcing than others. Phases two is to take almost 50% of this amount because it requires a lot of things to be put in place. First the installation has to be put in plac

Nursing Research Day Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nursing Research Day - Essay Example It feels like the system we have that time only focused on the disease and not on what we can do to prevent occurrence of diseases. It is quite sad that ‘prevention’ was only a word because if not, should public health nurses receive more professional development trainings to help the community prevent diseases? Should more facilities and better health care delivery be obtained to prevent worsening of diseases or ease recovery? Attending a research conference like this will lead participants like me to examine current practices and advocate for change. Sometimes, it will leave you asking yourself a number of questions about the result and your immediate experience as you critically examine the findings. You see yourself in the process – directly or not directly involved. The second presentation entitled â€Å"An Update on the State of Nursing† has helped me realize that statistics and numbers would not matter unless it will be put into words and will be given interpretation. At first, participants of the research were only given demographics of the nurses’ educational pursuit, position in government and organization, and employment rates. These were not much appreciated until these results were interpreted and benchmarked. I have felt the need to fulfill several vacant opportunities, especially on the administration path. We, nurses, advocate for change in our status and in the delivery of care. However, how will the administration understand us if those who are seated are businessmen, stockholders, or others not from the health profession? How can we advocate for change in Congress if our voices were so little? Conducting and disseminating research findings are important in imbibing awareness of the current situations, changing our stand in the society, and becoming actively involved in the process. Without these, change will not be

Music Industry in US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Music Industry in US - Essay Example music market. Accessing the U.S. distribution channels is incredibly difficult. These channels involve four elements: the process of promotion (to break into the market), the system of licensing and distributing, the role of retailers, and the restructuring of the United States market's priorities which is currently going on. The production, innovation, sales, and distribution of music involves a complicated network. This network is controlled by large global firms, known as "the majors" that have complete control over the sourcing, creating, industrializing, distributing, and retailing of music. There is also a very big group of "independent" music companies that work in the same way as the majors which keeps the difficulty of accessing the U.S. distribution channels very tough and expensive. The U.S. has been the leader in music industry innovation and has a huge effect on the other music markets throughout the world. Along with world domination, from the U.S. comes some of the biggest names, i nnovations, and record labels in the business. However, the country is the least internally-oriented market partly because of the media. ... In order to "create a buzz", or the initial testing process, much money is spent on independent record companies to promote the campaign, set up performances, and pay for the airplay as being played on the radio many times over is the key to success for breaking in. It has been suggested that $500,000.00 is required to test a record. Labels and distribution is also very difficult as there are three main categories in which these can be handled: by going through a major record company that has its own distribution network, independents that distribute under a major company, and independents that uses other independents to get the items distributed. 85% of the music that gets to retailers is distributed by the major record companies. Independents use major companies because of the high costs in building and maintaining nationwide warehouses and distribution centers. Bigger companies can handle the legal and bridging costs as well as slow payments. U.S. laws also require that imports pay mechanical royalties although the country of origin has already charged these. This means that royalties have to be paid twice. It simply is too expensive doing business any other way in the U.S. The distribution of products to retailers is controlled by distributors and these distributors are the key to promotion. These major distributors have teams of people who have developed strong relationships with the top buyers such as Wal-Mart. Product priority lists are created by the major distributors as fees are paid to them. The higher up's of the major distribution companies, who are considered to be all powerful, prefer this "monopoly" type of doing business. New music must go through

Group Signature Essay Example for Free

Group Signature Essay Group signature schemes allow a member of group to sign a message on behalf of the group anonymously and in unlinkable passion. However, a designated group manager can easily identify the signer. The signer of a valid group signature is needed to be a member of the group. These features are important in some specialized applications. This scheme is to be used in electronic business transaction. The scheme needed to satisfy six properties to be secured. These are unforgeability, anonymity, unlinkability, no framing, traceability and coalition-resistant. Mathematicians and computer scientist continues their studies to improve their proposed schemes. It is to satisfy the six properties with no doubt. Key words: group signature, unforgeability, unlinkability, no framing, traceability, coalition-resistant Group Signature Introduction The process, in which certain anonymity is needed to perform a task in spite of a collection of people or groups, is the based the concept of group signatures is born. Chaum and van Heyst first introduced this. The concept of group signature provides a member of group to sign certain messages anonymously and unlinkably on behalf of the whole group. On the other hand, a designated group manager has power to unveil the identity of the signer in cases of dispute. A group signature is verified through a series of algorithm to ensure that the signer is a member of that certain group. However, the group’s structure is still concealed and the signer can only be identified if the necessity occurs. With this features, the group signature scheme have potential application. Such applications are needed in electronic transaction that needed to be signed. The anonymity of the signer is essential to prevent others to see organizational structure of the signatory group. A group signature is needed to be secured to preserve the unlinkability and anonymity. A group signature scheme must satisfy the six properties. One is unforgeability. This is the property which ensures that only members of the group can sign on behalf of the group. This feature is necessary to make sure that invalid members or revoked members cannot sign on behalf of the group. This provides a way on which if there is dispute in a valid group signature, the group manager can easily find out who the signer is or it can be concluded that it is a member of the group when the message is signed. Number two is anonymity. This feature assures the members of the group that the identification of the signer will be hard except to the group manger. This is one of the main features of group signature. It conceals the identity of the signer. Consequently, it conceals the organizational structure of the group. The third one is unlinkability. This is feature which tells that determining whether two valid signatures were generated by a common member will be hard. This feature is necessary to go with anonymity of the signer. Since if you can identify two valid signatures coming from single member then it will easy to identify the signer. Number four is no framing. This is ensures that no member or the group manager can sign on behalf of other members. This is necessary to protect any member from a wrong identification when a dispute occurs. The fifth one is traceability. The traceability means that a group manager will be able to open a valid signature and determine the identity of member who signed it. It means that in a dispute, the group manager can easily identify the signer. Additionally, this property does not the possibility of not identifying the signer. The last one is coalition-resistant. This means a subset of members of the group or even the whole group cannot generate a valid signature on which the group manger cannot link on one of the members of the subset group. This ensures that a certain valid group signature can always be associated with a single member of the group not with subset of the group. There are many studies which ensure that the six properties are satisfied. There are many proposals of which contains algorithm that is claimed to satisfy the six properties. There are some summaries of articles of proposals and advancement in group signature. The reader would find these summaries of articles to contain dispute of other schemes. Security Remarks on a Group Signature Scheme with Member Deletion The Kim-Lim-Lee group signature scheme is scheme which claims to have a member deletion function, security and unlinkability. These claims are put into consideration because it is found to be unsecured and linkable. This will present some remarks which will prove the unsecurity and linkability of the Kim-Lim-Lee group signature scheme (Wang et al. , n. d. ). This scheme consists of different stages. These are system set up, join, delete, sign verify and open phases (Wang et al. , n. d. ). The system set-up is done by the membership manager in which he sets parameters and compute for secret and public keys. At the same time, the revocation manager selects his secret key and then computes and publishes his own public key (Wang et al. , n. d. ). At the join stage, the user who wants to join the group need undergo an interactive protocol on which he is assigned to a generated membership key and given the public key. Additionally, current members of the group update their membership key (Wang et al. , n. d. ). The deletion stage happens when a member is voluntary or involuntary leaving the group. The membership manger performs a series of algorithm and updates the group’s public key. He then computes fro the renewal public key. Here, the membership manager publishes the two new public keys. Then, every valid members of the group updates his secret property key (Wang et al. , n. d. ). In the sign stage, a member needed to sign some message. The member submits his membership key and his secret to generate the group signature (Wang et al. , n. d. ). The group signature generated in the sign stage is then subjected to verification. The verifier then uses a series of computation to verify the signature. The verification will yield a result which indicates if a valid member of the group signed it or not (Wang et al. , n. d. ). In the case of dispute, the open protocol is done. The open protocol is done to trace the identity of the signer. Only the group manager can do this (Wang et al. , n. d. ). The process of which the Kim-Lim-Lee group signature scheme under is found to be unsecured. This is due to proven accounts its security parameters is lacking in some cases. It is proven the two parameters used in the scheme are not sufficient to ensure absolute security (Wang et al. , n. d. ). The unlinkability claim of this scheme is also taken to account. The unlikability claim was proven wrong. The group signature scheme of Kim, Lim and Lee is prove to be linkable. It is proven that it easy to associate a given group signature to member of a group. This is due to invariance in the group signatures within time and even in all time periods. It means two signatures can be traced back to signer simple computational analysis (Wang et al. , n. d. ). A member deletion stage is then scrutinized by disproving the claim of which a deleted member cannot generate a valid group signature. The problem with this is identified in the process of the updating the members secret key. It is said a deleted member can simply update his secret along with other valid members since he can compute for a member secret in a given time. At the same time, a new member can get a version of his secret membership in the past time when is not yet a member (Wang et al. , n. d. ). Thus, the security of the Kim-Lim-Lee group signature scheme is proven to unreliable and unsecured. It is needed to revised and improved to satisfy the needs for a good group signature scheme (Wang et al. , n. d. ). An Efficient ID-Based Group Signature Scheme The ID-based signature scheme is proposed to be more efficient than other predecessors. The scheme is based on the process of the ID-based electronic signature. The identity-based signature uses publicly known identifier such as IP address, e-mail address and other identifiers. It is use to compute for public key component of the pair use for digital signatures, encryptions, and key agreement. The private key is computed by a trusted authority. This scheme is aimed to have better efficiency and to cope with large number of members in a group (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The identity based signature scheme is done in several phases. The set-up process is done by the trusted authority which leads to the extract phase in which the user provide the ID. The ID becomes the public key and the trusted authority returns a private key which is needed to make for the signing protocol (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The verification of an identity based signature is done by inputting the message with the signature, the parameters and a public key ID. The verify stage outputs the validity of the signature (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). There is another type of ID-based signature which is from the pairings on elliptical curves. This scheme is done to improve the efficiency of the ID-based signature processes. It is basically similar with the conventional one. However, the computations are different and more appropriate for large number of users (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The scheme use in ID-based signature is put into the context of group signatures. The set-up procedures are similar with the ID-base signature but the group public key and the secret key is computed differently. Compared to other group signature schemes the set-up stage is done more efficiently (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). In the join stage, the user sends the ID to the group manager and the group manager computes for the membership certificate and secretly sends it to the new member in a secure private channel. This process is more efficient since the stages were reduced. However, the security is still intact because of the process in the set-up stage that lessens the work at other stages (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The signing stage makes use of the public and private key pair which was generated by the user himself. The pair key is use to compute and generate the group signature. It is combined with a random number for it to be anonymous and unlinkable (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The verify stage is split in the two parts. The first part is that it verifies if the signer is definitely a member of the group. If the signature generated by the group is valid and it is signed by a member of the group, the second stage commences. It is to verify that a member signed the group signature and not the group manager (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The open stage is done when there is time that the signer needed to be identified. Like other schemes, the group manager can only do this. This process is very easy for the group manager since the manager knows the identity of the user who is associated with the group signature. This is because in the join stage the bind between the user and the manager was forged (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The ID-based group signature scheme keeps the security properties of a good group signature in tact. The identity based signature guarantees some the properties and the added processes in the group signature scheme made other necessary security measures (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). The ID-based group signature from elliptic curves was derived from the identity based signature scheme. This scheme can handle a large number of members in a group without compromising the security and the efficiency of the process involved. However, the disadvantage is that the efficiency of the group signature is based on the efficiency of the identity based signature scheme it uses (Popescu, 2000, 29-35). Practical and Provably Secure Coalition-Resistant Group Signature Scheme Group signature concept is dual to the identity escrow which this scheme uses to create a coalition-resistant group signature scheme. The identity escrow can replace the membership certificate which other group signature uses. The use of identity escrow in group signatures can be regarded as group-identification scheme with revocable anonymity. This is scheme is just the second coalition-resistant group signature scheme which is an improve version of the first (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). This group signature scheme differs to other scheme in the efficiency of the join process. The user needs not to send his secret to the group manager not like other conventional schemes. The feature of which the user sends secrets to the group manager is found to be susceptible to attacks. This scheme eliminates such possibility and is proven to be coalition resistant even against adaptive adversaries (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). The model use by this scheme is somewhat similar to conventional group signature schemes. The group signature scheme undergoes several phases. These phases are the setup, join, sign, verify and in some cases open. Like the other group signature schemes every phase has algorithm need to be follow to ensure the properties to be intact (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). They only differ in the sign process as this scheme provides an interactive process between the signer and the verifier. The process is derived by replacing the call of the user to the hash function to the call to the verifier. The interactive protocol between the user and the verifier gives way to a more secure group signature (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). This scheme was proposed to have two major advantages over other conventional group signature schemes. One is the join process is more efficient than other scheme. This is since the new member just needed to provide proofs of knowledge of discrete logarithms in contrast with other schemes which requires new members to prove that a number is a product of two primes. The other advantage is that join process is more secure since it does not require the new member to send his membership secrets which is required in other schemes. Additionally, the property of being coalition resistant against adaptive is in fact an extra advantage (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). Generally, this scheme surpasses all other schemes created before it in terms of performance and security and it is proven to be coalition-resistant. It is because of the feature like spliting the group manager in two, a membership manager and a revocation manager (Ateniese et al. , 2000, 255-270). Group Signature Scheme with Revocation A number of group signature schemes had been proposed. However, these schemes don’t consider a growing membership or shrinking membership as well. In the real world, a member of a group can join, voluntary or be expelled from the group in any time. This done by other proposed schemes by not issuing changes to public keys and re-issuing group memberships. Thus, Popescu, Noje, Bede and Mang from the University of Oradea proposed a group signature scheme with revocation (Popescu et al. , 2003). There are other several group signature schemes that were proposed. However, these other proposed schemes lacked in efficiency and other others in security. There is a scheme which was proved to be efficient and secured but it requires time periods which any and all verifiers must know, thus requires more time in the verification stage (Popescu et al. , 2003). They proposed a group signature scheme in which every step or phase is different from other group signature schemes. It consists of different computational procedures (Popescu et al. , 2003). In the setup procedure, the group manager needs to undergo several steps which will yield the public key P, the secret key S and a group membership certificate consisting of two integers X and ? satisfying a certain equation which relates the two integers (Popescu et al. , 2003). In the join stage, a user wants to join a group. The scheme requires a secure and private communication between the group manager and the user to protect the anonymity of the user. The user chooses an element from a set formed by the parameters set by the group manager. From the chosen element the user will compute and send an ID which he needs to prove before he chooses a random number from a designated set. The group and the user computes and send computation results to each other until the user received his membership certificate. After this process, only the user knows his membership certificate and that the group manager only registers the ID of the user in the data base which was obtained in the first computation (Popescu et al. , 2003). The user is then allowed to sign to represent the whole group. At the signing process, the user can create a group signature inside a message by computation. The computation starts with the computation with his membership certificate. The user is the only one who knows his membership certificate so he remains anonymous to others. The group signature is then sent to the verifier for verification (Popescu et al. , 2003). In the verification phase, the resulting signature inside a message is verified through a series of computations in which the check the proof of equality between the double discrete logarithm of F (a part of the signature) and the discrete logarithm of D’s representation base on the element of the set that the group manager defined in the setup process. If it is equal the verifier concludes that the user who signed the group signature is a member of the group (Popescu et al. , 2003). When the time comes when it is needed to know who signs the message containing the group signature. He can do this by checking the correctness of the group signature. If it is incorrect, the group managers abort the process. Other wise, the group manager recovers a certain ID in the database and prove that the ID is relative to the D (a part of the group signature) (Popescu et al. , 2003). When a member of the leaves the group the group performs a series of algorithm which will result to the publication of the revocation status of a user in the Certificate Revocation List which was assumed to be available at all times in a well-known public servers. The CRL is also assumed to be signed by the issuer, the group manager or other trusted party (Popescu et al. , 2003). In this scheme, there are strong considerations in the security as provided different calculations that ensure the impossibility of some scenarios that compromises the anonymity of the members of the group. Furthermore, the cost of the revoke process is linear to the number of revoked members. Additionally, this scheme provides fixed signature size and constant work of the signers which makes it more practical than other group signature schemes. However, the opening process of this scheme can result to hundred of exponentiations per signature due to the proofs involving double discrete logarithms (Popescu et al. , 2003). Quasi-Efficient Revocation of Group Signatures This scheme is specified to address the inefficient and unsecured revocation methods use by other group signature scheme. The security of a group signature is not met if it uses an inefficient way of revocation. Additionally, the quasi-efficient revocation methods provide a practical public keys and signatures (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). The importance of a good revocation method is seen in groups with shrinking number of members. The security of the group is compromised if the revocation process is not well established since a revoked member can still sign in spite of the group (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). There are a number of group signature scheme which provides good revocation methods but they need to use synchronized clocks and the signature size is relative to the number of revoked members. The use of loosely synchronized clocks in revocation of membership needs to notify all existing members about the revocation. It modifies the membership certificate of all members and consequently, affects the size of group signature generated (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). This revocation method is made in line with the ACJT signature scheme. The revocation methods can only be done by revising the backward unlinkability to unconditional unlinkability. However, the easiest way of revocation is reissuing of the membership certificates and regenerating the public key. This costs a lot of work to the group manager and the members since they have to repeat parts of the join process. Additionally, the verifiers need to be informed of the changes. However, there is a way to eliminate this inconvenience by generating public keys and membership certificates automatically. This is will eliminate the interactive process between the manager and the members. On the other hand, it has impracticality in the process since it requires issuance of new certificates to existing members (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). The efficient way to overcome this problem is to avoid issuing new membership certificates in the event of revocation of a member. This is done in some scheme in which they use a Certificate Revocation List (CRL). However, the scheme’s group signature presented contains an encrypted version of the CRL. It is necessary to prevent the linking of the group signatures. However, the problem is resolved here by including the latest CRL to the group public key in which the unlinkability is preserved (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). The efficiency of this scheme is measured by the size of the signature, the signer cost, verifier cost, CRL size, and the CRL issuance cause. This scheme had passed all requirements since it minimizes the size of the signature as it fixed, the cost of the signer is constant, the verifier costs is also constant, the CRL size is inevitably rising but it is minimize and the CRL issuance cost is also unavoidable, however it is the least significant (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). The revocation method with the ACJT group signature scheme had been proven to be efficient and secured. This more practical than other group signature due to its features that fixes the size of the signature and requires constant work by signers. However, the ACJT group signature scheme requires the use of proofs-of-knowledge involving a double discrete logarithm (Ateniese et al, n. d. ). Conclusion These articles had proposed changes to other group signature schemes and some presented their own schemes. Generally, these articles aim to the advancement of the concept of group signature in relation to efficiency. The articles above had proposed methods of how to satisfy six properties needed fro a secure group signature scheme. These schemes are still subjected to further research to optimize its efficiency without compromising its security. References Ateniese, G. , Camenisch, J. , Joye, M. , and Tsudik, G. (2000). A practical and provably secure coalition-resistant group signature scheme. Advances in cryptography, CRYPTO, 1880, 255-270. Ateniese, G. , Song, D. , and Tsudik, G. (n. d. ). Quasi-efficient revocation of group signatures. The Johns Hopkins University University of California. Popescu, C. (2002). An efficient ID-based group signature scheme. StudiaUniv. Babes-Bolyai, Informatica, 47, 29-35. Popescu,C. , Noje,D. , Bede, B. and Mang, Ioan. (2003). A group signature scheme with revocation. University of Oradea. (Popescu et al. , 2003) Wang, G. , Bao, F. , Zhou, J. , and Deng, R. H. (n. d. ). Security remarks on a group signature scheme with member deletion. Infocomm Security Department, Institute for Infocomm Research.

Information Technology Advances In Hotel Industry Tourism Essay

Information Technology Advances In Hotel Industry Tourism Essay 4.1 Introduction Differentiation in competitive services virtually in all sectors has been characterized by growing commoditization Six Degrees, (2011) The purpose of this research was to identify the impact of Multi sensory marketing in Hotel industry, how modernization in Information technology trends reflect in Hotel industry and how International Hotel Chains compete in markets across India, UK and Singapore. The same has been discussed in Chapter 2 The surveys and interviews (structured and unstructured) generated the data apart from direct observations at brand agencies specialized in sensory branding. Throughout the process of research findings and gathering, the author was influenced (and indeed acted as a benefit) by the 5 years experience in hospitality industry. Communication therefore was smooth, flowing and evidently corporate as expected ensuring the interviewees were aware of the ethics followed in conducting this research. What acquainted as a golden thread in the research during the findings process were the objectives and research questions. Critical analysis of the impact of multi sensory marketing in Hotel industry Influence of Information technology on growth and development of Hotel industry Critical analysis of International Hotel chains and their competitive edge considering sensory branding in UK, India and Singapore. Recommendations on future research prospects, academic literature proposition and conclusion 4.2 Current trends in Hotel Industry The above topic is discussed in chapter 2, however the author has considered the impact of sensory branding in International Hotels considering each sense, what problems did International Hotels face and how the sensory branding strategies actually created a revolution. (Scentair, 2011) With the great economic crisis, political unrest, unfavorable factors evidently declined sales of travel accommodation by 4% in 2009 to  £10.3 Billion where London, Manchester and Edinburgh saw a decline in average daily room rate (ADR) by 8% (Euromonitor, 2009). Table 4.1 shows the Sales trend from 2004 2009 Even with these declining figures, restructuring, International Hotel Chains have ramped. (4hoteliers.com, 2011). Table 4.2.2 shows the World Travel Awards in Excellence, Business Services in Travel Accommodation, Nominees and the winners) Table 4.2.2 (Source: World Travel Awards, 2010) 4. 3 Information Technology advances in Hotel Industry The survey findings relating awareness of modernization in Hotel industry was time consuming. Unstructured interviews conducted at Ramada Jarvis Birmingham, Newcastle under Lyme, Marriott Birmingham, Hilton Park Lane reveal that the marketing triangle (consumers, organization and employees) were now remarkably aware how information technology influences corporate. Retail Travel giants like Tripadvisor forged a virtual relationship with consumers. My providing first hand information to consumers, the website translates the word of mouth into a World of mouth philosophy (Hotelmarketing.com, 2010). 88% of Tripadvisor visitors were influenced by the comments posted by first hand consumers. With corporate travel growing to 52% in travel and tourism in 2010, tripadvisor is one of the highly trusted sources for corporate buyers as well as domestic consumers. How a Guest iss purchasing decision influenced with Information Technology? The author has read a lot of articles of current trends introduced in information technology within the hotel industry. While conducting the unstructured interviews, the latest design in Information technology was a popular discussion. Accordingly, The InterContinental Hotel Group, introduced iPad2s in 10 hotels globally. The reason for doing so was to provide real time, recommendations to Guests (even corporate consumers). A 360 virtual concierge provide maps, videos and information (Melanie Nayer, 2011). Technology, space and color concepts create an edge to develop a Hotels persona, however more so is partially dependent on how functional the Hotel is. Enjoy the dream not only by luxury but also by scents, technology and experience. We bring happiness away from your everyday home Charles Yap, 2011 Table 4.3.1 shows the Sales value of Internet Transactions forecasted and actual. Between 2009 and 2010 there has been a growth of 8.9% in the internet transaction Sales. With corporate customer engagement channel in hotel industry (use of social media and information technology) travel consumers are engaged in mobile technology and virtual apps world. Because information is available in abundance on real time keeping consumers on a fast pace environments, the need to re centralize, change in marketing approaches have emerged in form of Customisation. This kind of hyper interactive behavior is termed as Impulse buying (Starkov, 2011). Gartner Inc, 2010 highlights a key factor to include while considering change in marketing strategies. Table 4.3.2 shows the 10 strategic technologies that will be implemented by hotel industry globally in 2011. (Please refer to video by Amadeus Jerome Destor, Director IT, Amadeus) and (Video by CIO Hyatt on IT in Hotel Industry) 4.4 Multi sensory Marketing in International Hotel Chain across UK, India and Singapore With dynamic changes in hotel industry, International giants are sustaining challenges. From Product extensions to Brandicide, meeting quality standards guaranteed globally in complex (Amadeus, 2011). What Hotels have now noticed is a shift in Paradigm. From a 2 dimensional approach to a 5 D holistic approach, because consumers demand sophistication in form of customization. The key to Business transformation is changing with time, adapting new environments, innovation and simplicity to emotional impact the customer experience. Building on this theory, the author noticed not much of innovational and change information is academically expressed in the marketing industry. What the author wants to convey is when Lecturers from universities across Manchester, Newcastle under Lyme , Stafford, Birmingham were interviewed to get an academic background, very little of information was actually discussed or observed. More surprisingly, some of the academic sources had interests in Hospitality industry and travel accommodation because of its diverse operations but yet Literature on hotel industry in Universities is limited in terms of Studying Modules. One of the reasons observed during interviews with Hoteliers and staff was of corporate rigidness, inflexibility to adapt or expose to new environments. Shockingly, Operations Manager Marriott Birmingham, Balaji Subramaniam along with Debbie Wyatts (HR and Events Manager) agreed to the extent of this rigidness. They added, Inflexibility has always been associated with Hotel industry because it is diverse and seasonal, of course we would like to share the Best practices with healthy competition. Senior Manager, Mark Starfov (Ramada Jarvis Group) shared that hotel industry or rather hospitality is closely linked to sophistication. That itself describes why the industry is not open to discussions or changes. Mark added that considering the economic crisis there could be a shift in their approaches but the corporate thinking a nd operations (rigid he claims) is always evident. Table 4.4.1 shows the impact of each form of sensory element interlinked yet utilized in marketing across these International Hotel Chains in UK, India and Singapore. To conduct the questionnaire survey, survey monkey tool was used. The survey was done in 3 parts. Part 1 and 2 for corporate users across India, Singapore and UK in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, London, Manchester , Birmingham and Newcastle under Lyme. Part 3 of the survey was a questionnaire discussing employee engagement and their awareness of sensory branding associated in their Chain Hotel. In order to understand the effects on purchasing decision few experiments included blind folding customers to understand how sensory environments are created (Heston, 2011). Four commonly used Mild fragrances were used to understand the customer experience phenomena. Also for Tactile Influence purposes, fruit flavored ice candies were used. What was particularly changed was the taste and color. Since interviewees were blind folded, ice candies like orange, pineapple, raspberry and vanilla were used to understand the pallets. However as we all know the color of Orange is o range, this time the author used Edible food coloring in Ice candies that changed the color from what consumers perceived. Again understanding that these interviewees were highly sophisticated all ethical aspects were discussed with prior permission. As we eat with our eyes, visual perception has always been the first element to influence purchasing decisions (Ramsay, 2009) When the interviewees were unfolded, they were shocked to notice the particular blend of flavor and color and admitted that there can be a shift in visual perception. Considering Scent marketing to be highly expensive and social, fragrances used included Rainforest (blend of aromatic spices with patchouli), Fresh Linen (Lavender, Orange and Caribbean Sea salt), Gardenia (Floral aromas with hint of citrus extracts) and Fresh Magnolia (vanilla and chocolate with lavender verbena and hints of aromatic ginger root). Each of the above mentioned were experimented at Marriott, IHG hotels, Ramada Jarvis, Hilton Park Lane and Westin Group Hotels with the help of Britains only sensory branding scent development company Scentair. Figure 4.4.1 shows the impact of sensory branding in Hotel Industry globally Figure 4.4.1 The sense of Visual Marketing The question is not what you look at, but what you see Henry David Thoreau cited by Lindstorm, 2005 From Figure 4.4.1 it is evident that marketers have only been targeting the visual impact of products and services, however the rest 4 senses are rationally ignored. Color, space and architecture included in the experiential branding are part of the Visual Holistic Marketing concept. (Aroma Logo, 2010). How can a sense as strong as this be interlinked with the others. In earlier chapter the experiment done clearly indicated that when Ice candies were provided to B2B customers, on seeing the ice candies, considering color, texture, individuals created a perception. To carve innovation in a perception involves high concentration on impulse timings and reactions from consumers. The focus on Customer engagement plays a vital role. Naturally because we eat with our eyes, consumers witnessed a shift in paradigm as the color of the ice candies actually differed to the flavor. (Lindstorm, 2005). To create a sophisticated impacting environment, during the survey 92% of the individuals said th e lobby was the most impressive part of the hotel, with proper lighting and Staff Uniforms being the highlight (Survey Monkey, 2011). The sense of Auditory Marketing in Hotel Industry Rhythm is a spice of life. As the Inuit asks the visitor out of the cold:Speak so I may see you. Add a voice, even a whisper, so that the other is really there David Rothenberg cited by Lindstorm 2005 Survey conducted indicated, 75% of B2B guests preferred the music in Lobbies, restaurants and passages. Ronal E. Millman published a study in the Journal of Consumer Research indicating that if the tempo is precise, music played in the background actually affected the service stations particularly hotel restaurants and events. The slower the music the more time guests spend at these places. Another experiment at the Ramada Jarvis, Newcastle revealed that when background music was stopped at the Lobby, guests rather would not prefer waiting or move to another area where music is played. 55% of the individuals said that they prefer to conduct meetings, events, conferences in places where music is customized and according to their needs. While 77% said that the tempo makes changes in the mood, on Fridays if the tempo of the music is high, loud on Bose components, more people start visiting pubs and restaurants. While 78% of those that were occupying the hotel said, it helps them relax w hen music is soft and base. Contradicting attributes but works in the hotel industry. For hotels like Hilton, InterContinental that bank of their In house pubs on Fridays and Saturdays impressing with elegance via music is quick pro (Rocha, 2011)

Qualified Employees In Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay

Qualified Employees In Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay The need of qualified employees in hospitality industry, their commitment to service quality and to what extent it impacts customer satisfaction is not any more a matter of question; it is an important issue that concerns not only hospitality management education in Bulgaria but it is recognized all over the world. The industry suffers from high turnover (Mehra, 2006) which directly reflects to the product and service quality offered (Pizam and Thornburg, 2000) and respectively to low revenues and profits (Tracey and Hinkin, 2008).Furthermore, problems occur in graduates perception of future career in hospitality industry due to disappointment of the work experience they gain during their mandatory practices in this industry which decrease their willingness for further professional development in this field (Waryszak, 1999; Jenkins, 2001).The gabs in hospitality management education system is an important issue of serious concern and represents a huge interest among researchers and a cademics. According Mr. Ilian Ilchev a manager of Vocational Training Center (VTC) Bourgas who is responsible of the training of cadres in hospitality industry, Bulgarian tourism sector faces serious problems finding qualified employees in this field. Most of the students in Bulgarian universities and colleges offer low quality of education. There is no interaction between the practice in tourism sector and the higher education offered in Bulgarian schools. Moreover, after graduation students are not attracted from the low payment in this sector, and the inability to start career on managerial level is from great disappointment for them. As far as the education of hospitality management is concerned, there is a need to classify the supply side of the Bulgarian education. The institutions that provide tertiary education in Bulgaria are separated into two types: universities with duration of study from four to six year, depending on the object of study which offer bachelor and master degree, and colleges with duration of study three years offering professional bachelor degree. There is existence of Private Professional Colleges (PPC) with duration of study two years offering certificate for professional qualification which are 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th degree (National Statistic Institute) and so called Vocational Training Centers (VTC) which are working at the same principle as PPC and offer the same levels of professional qualification. The difference between them is that PPC give opportunity for the student to continue their education for professional bachelor/bachelor degree in its partner Bulgarian university or colle ge but VTC on the other hand is considered to be not only for students but for everyone that wants to acquire craft knowledge in particular field. There is small percentage of private colleges which are part from any statistic that offer courses based on educational programmes similar to foreign colleges that suits the students needs in particular industry. The period of study in these colleges is from two to three years and after completing the course, student can continue their education in university abroad. Most of the courses are franchised and validated by the foreign college or university and the majority of them are based in Nederland, Great Britain, Norway etc. However, the degree awarded by their Bulgarian college or university partner is not acknowledged by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education. Here comes the question how effective is the education offered from these institutions connected with hospitality industry and how many of them produce qualified employees and leade rs that could suits the needs of this industry? According to Jenner, 1992 and Sneed Heiman, 1995 the concern for a good quality of education in tourism sector should be equally high for both government and hospitality and tourism industry. Bulgarian government does not subsidize the colleges that offer higher education in hospitality management and very few hotels do have clear structured training system. The limitation of Master and doctoral programs in this field in Bulgarian universities with specialization in hospitality is an obstacle for development of further academic resources and researches which could be in favor for the progress of these programs. Furthermore, courses such as Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, Marketing Management, Corporate Finance etc. which are essential for the hospitality education do not exist in Bulgarian State universities. Such courses are recognized in the Bulgarian colleges which are affiliated by foreign universities but from financial p oint of view, not every student can afford it. Unfortunately, such gaps in the hospitality education are not rare phenomena in other countries such as India that faces the same problems (Jauhari V.2006). A serious issue of concern in Bulgaria is connected with the jobs opportunities that the Bulgarian students have after graduation. It is generally known that the aim of the higher education is to prepare qualified cadres which are able to find a realization on the labor market. The quality of education is a leading factor that influences students opportunities of finding the most suitable job placement according to the acquired qualification (Georgieva Y., Kalinov K. 2005).Unfortunately, in Bulgaria it is a well known fact that the students find difficulties to find job in the sphere of their higher education and most of them start working something which is totally different or similar to what they have studied in the university, mostly at minimum wage rates.Moreover,the number of graduates in hospitality industry exceed the number of available managerial positions on the labor market, something that happens in India as well and that leads to : à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦mismatch of supply and demand of certain skills in hospitality industry (Jauhari V.2006). According to Zhang and Wu (2004), China faces the same difficulties in hospitality industry, namely: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦lack of qualified staff at both operational and managerial level, high staff turnover rates, unwillingness of university graduates to enter industry, gap between what is taught in school and college and realities of the industry itself In most cases, it leads to job dissatisfaction, low productivity and respectively to low quality of service. Researchers have found that there is absence of positive and strong interaction between job satisfaction and education (Gordon, 1975; Weaver, 1978). One of the assumptions is that the students with higher education expect their work during the years to be rewarded and when their expectations are not met it easily leads to dissatisfaction of the job position (Wright and Hamilton, 1979).However, a recent statistic shows that the number of people who mostly leave the country are young people between 25-29 years old (NSI). This means that higher educated or not, young people in Bulgaria prefer to work and to look for a better career opportunities abroad instead of develop their skills at home which directly reflects on the different branches of the Bulgarian economy, namely to operate with young and qualified cadres. It is a reasonable explanation why Bulgarian hospitality industr y desperately has a need of qualified employees and managers who can offer good quality of service and ability to compete with other popular hospitality industries such as Turkey, Greece, Malta etc. The good quality of higher education in hospitality management plays crucial role of providing the tourism market with well trained, skilled and educated managers, but on the other side, frontline employees are those who has direct contact with the customers, and the quality of service provided by them is essential for the success of any organization within the hospitality industry (Chang, 2006).Customer service is viewed as customer perception of what he/she had experienced and remembered (Beaujean, Davidson, and Madge, 2006; Bymes,(2005). Most of the time, when a customer leaves a hotel or a restaurant dissatisfied from the received service, it forms immediately a negative perception (Bymes, 2005).Thats why, it is essential and not fully recognized in Bulgarian hospitality industry that the successful organizations are those that perceive customer service as: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the starting point and ending point for any effective account relationship in which the key to success is clear thinking about what it feels like to walk in the customers shoes (Bymes, J., 2005). Employees commitment to service quality is also an important factor that contributes for a strong organizational performance. Organizations with high commitment among subordinates could only benefit from it with lower turnover and comparatively higher motivated employees. It is important for every company to know how to motivate its employees and to create better relation between customers and frontline employees. It is considered as a step ahead of creating a sustainable customer service (Cadwallader, S., Jarvis, C, Bitner, M., and Ostrom, A., 2009; Spector and McCarthy, 1996). It is also assumed that committed employees are more likely to provide customers with better quality of service (Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry, 1990).According to Kini and Hobson (2002) the good quality of service entirely depends on: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦employees commitment, satisfaction, involvement, and morale. In hospitality industry in Bulgaria is very difficult to be found such employees. Frontline employees are à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦typically underpaid, undertrained, overworked and highly stressed (Hartline and Ferrell, 1993), a statement which apply pretty much to the Bulgarian hospitality employees working environment. It concerns mostly the seasonal workforce in Bulgarian winter and summer resorts where people work almost at minimum wage, in most cases relying on tips or small percentage of their daily profit. Hotel and restaurant employees are occupied ten-twelve hours per day, sometimes even more, depends on how busy is within the organization. Furthermore, a common practice is working without days off which easily contribute for stressful working environment, a topical issue that contributes to low quality of service (Ross F. G 1995).All these factors reflect negatively on employee satisfaction, productivity and loyalty to the organization and respectively to customer satisfaction and pr ofitability. The link between frontline employees satisfaction, loyalty, productivity, customer satisfaction and companys profitability is well depicted in so called Service profit chain (Heskett, Sasser Schlesinger, 1997); illustrated in Figure.1.According to Crowford, A. and Hubbard, S. (2007), in the Service profit chain: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦there is a link between employee satisfaction and the service concept, directly impacting customer satisfaction. This impact affects customer loyalty, which in turn influences revenue growth. Lastly, revenue growth extends back to the beginning influencing the internal service of the organization. Understanding an employees level of satisfaction, commitment, involvement, and self-esteem gives managers and strategists means to create a favorable environment where the links in the service profit chain work to the advantage of the service provider. Employees satisfaction and commitment as a starting point in Service profit chain, impacting the delivery of good quality of service and companys profitability, are major components that absence in many Bulgarian hospitality organizations. The results are higher turnover among frontline employees and managers due to the lack of quality of work life (QWL), a topical issue of great interest among researchers and academics. The delivery of good service highly depends on QWL provided by the hospitality organization, mainly when employees needs and expectations are met, so that they are motivated to work in companys favor (Kanungo, 1982 and Efraty Sirgy, 1990) or in other words through better QWL there is a significant improvement of employees productivity, performance and service quality (Havlovic, 1991).A recent research made to investigate employees expectations of QWL (Kandasamy,I, I. Sreekumar, A., 2009) indicates that during a conversation with the employees from three different h otels, they show willingness to participate, when provided, in companys service training programs which could be a good chance for them to enhance their skills. According to Rousseau (1995), in most cases, employees even expect their company to provide training programs as an opportunity for further career development: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in exchange for the employees time, effort, and skill Tourism industry in Bulgaria supported by the government and orientated in the mainstream of mass tourism, entirely depends on its seasonal workforce. Practices such as service training almost do not exist in Bulgarian winter and summer resorts because of its seasonality, where the percentage of five and four stars hotels grow dramatically in the last couple of years. As Mr.Lubomir Popiordanov, Chair of the Bulgarian Association for Alternative Tourism (BAAT) pointed out Bulgarian mass tourism is mainly connected with quantity instead of quality and it lacks in added value (Sofia News Agency).Most of the hotel owners are mainly focused finding ways to be fully booked during the whole season instead of improving the quality of service through training programs. It is not yet recognized that through such programs frontline employees could work much more effectively when dealing with customers complaints which on the other side makes feel them satisfied with their job (Babakus et al., 2 003; Schneider Bowen, 1995; Tax Brown, 1998).Some other research papers support the thesis that organizations that invest money in service training programs are more capable to keep its employees within the company, makes them feel happy at the workplace and committed to the firms values(Babakus et al., 2003; Lee, Park, Yoo, 1999; Sweetman,2001; Tsui, Pearce, Porter, Tripoli, 1997). Other approach of keeping frontline employees committed to the organization, providing better quality of service is through companys reward system. George and Gronroos (1989) also suggest that rewarding service employees periodically ensure their commitment to service quality. Similar to the training programs, reward systems and policies are very important for motivating employees when dealing with customers complaints. The fact that companys reward structure contributes for employees satisfaction at the workplace and impacts their organizational commitment is so far supported by many service literature studies (Bowen, Gilliland, Folger, 1999; Brown Peterson, 1993; Farrell Rusbult, 1981; Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, Schlesinger, 1994; Lawler, 2000).For the Bulgarian hospitality industry a clear structured reward system could be in favor of reducing employees turnover and to encourage more qualified cadres to enter this sector. Most industry researchers agreed that employees commitment to service quality is highly influenced by managers commitment to service quality and the way they demonstrate it (Bowen and Schneider 1985; Hartline and Ferrell 1996; Mohr-Jackson 1993; Babakus et al. 2003). As it was mentioned before the higher education is from significant importance in hospitality industry in order to generate leaders capable to show their subordinates motivation, skills, confidence and flexibility which could positively affect employees behavior towards the delivering of a better quality of service. Managerial coaching is considered as an appropriate tool of providing employees with support mainly connected with their knowledge, skills and performance within the organization. This method embrace approximately the same goals concerning employees further skill development at the workplace as training ,but coaching is presented in more informal way. It represents the ability of the managers to create sustai nable correlation between employees and supervisors so that their everyday activities and experiences are synchronized and able to became an object of learning (Phillips 1994).Coaches is design to demonstrate employees the best way of doing their job when dealing with customers. It gives employees an idea of their opportunities, and how to perform better using new and different approaches.Furthermore, through coaches employees are provided with regular feedback which aims to get the best of its employees and to show them that their work is appreciated. Bulgarian hospitality industry has a lot to learn concerning the education provided, aiming to attract qualified cadres to work in this field and their ability to be committed to service quality. It is so far recognized internationally that qualified employees who are satisfied with their job are more committed to the service quality which directly affect customer satisfaction of the received service attitude. Having in mind that todays world economy is 70 percent service based, more and more academics and people working in this sphere are looking for a way to design companies that are able to provide the best service to its clients (Schneider White, 2004). The importance of improving the quality of service is the main driver for companys successful retention of customers (Gustafsson, A., Johnson, M., Roos, I., 2005).At operational level service employees are those who creates the connection between the customers and the organization and most importantly through them and their perso nal contribution to deliver proper service, managers are aiming to attract and impress customers (Chase, 1981; Heskett et al., 1994; Oliva and Sterman, 2001), and respectively to satisfy them. Thus, managers commitment to service quality has indirect impact on customers satisfaction (Subroto, B. Natalisa, D., 2003).Even that managers also contributes for the delivering of excellent service, frontline employees are from great importance when the target is better productivity performance and gratifying customers needs (Yee,R., Yeung,A., Cheng,T.C,2008). Service quality in the modern hospitality industry is a crucial factor in creating long-term relationship between organizations and customers and to make them feel satisfied (Martin, 1986; Croby et al., 1990; Tornow and Wiley, 1991; Tsa, 1994).Many researchers have argued that there is significant correlation between customer satisfaction and service quality (Roth and Van Der Velde, 1991; Roth and Jackson, 1995).Other studies in service marketing have suggested that customer satisfaction is in emotional reply of a particular experience connected with provided service( Westbrook and Reilly (1983).According to Yoon and Suh (2003), the excellent service highly depends on employees because when they are satisfied with their job and motivated, it is more likely to deliver better services and to give more from themselves. Other research papers prove that loyalty among employees contributes for higher levels of service delivering (Loveman, 1998; Silvestro and Cross, 2000).Employees which ar e able to provide service quality are considered much more capable to solve problems easily and in proper manner which positively affects customers perception of the provided service. Bulgarian hospitality industry needs serious improvements connected with the service attitude toward customers and radical changes in employees working environment, in order to work in full capacity. Successful tourism or hospitality business could not operate without satisfied guests and subordinates (Gursoy and Swanger, 2007). As pointed out in The Service Profit Chain: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦providing employees with a superior internal working environment is likely to lead to satisfied employees who are both loyal to the organization and able to provide the customer with an excellent service experience. Customers will recognize and value the outstanding service offered to them. (Heskett et al., 1994, 1997). However, several studies indicate that employees satisfaction plays crucial role in achieving companys financial aims (Koys, 2003), which means that when a company make an affords to take care for its employees, they will do the same in return for companys customers. This care could be express through better payment, reward practiced, training and managerial coaching and not at the end, through companys ability to make feel its employees secure (Gursoy and Swanger, 2007; Koys, 2003; Schneider, 1991). Customers loyalty and satisfaction are supposed to be contributory factor for customer profitability. The relationship between customer satisfaction and profitability is considered as fundamental marketing concept which means that the companys goal is to pursue customers needs, wants and wishes (Helgesen.O, 2006).When all this consumers factors are met, customers are satisfied from what they receive, the company is pleased having a long-term financial returns on business. Customers who are highly satisfied are considered to use one and the same products and services more frequently and respectively to stay loyal to the company that provides them (Anderson et al., 1994; Gronholdt et al., 2000).Customers loyalty is an important factor in hospitality industry that contributes for consumer reuse of a certain product or service which positively increase companys profitability. Moreover, satisfied customers are much less price sensitive and they are willing to pay even at high price (Ander son et al., 1994) which directly affects companys economic performance. Satisfaction among customers reflects in positive way on organizations overall reputation which on the other side could be a premise of creating strong relationship with important distributors and suppliers. From what was mentioned so far it becomes obvious that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦customer satisfaction generates more future sales, reduces price elasticity, and increases the reputation of the firm. (Yee, R., Yeung, A., Cheng, T.C, 2008). All of the mentioned sources and publications speak of the aspects that Bulgarian hospitality needs to focus in order to function successfully, to develop and to be competitive on the market.

Gangs and Violence :: Gangs Violence Psychology Essays

Gangs and Violence Gangs are a violent reality that people have to deal with in today's cities. What has made these groups come about? Why do kids feel that being in a gang is both an acceptable and prestigious way to live? The long range answer to these questions can only be speculated upon, but in the short term the answers are much easier to find. On the surface, gangs are a direct result of human beings' personal wants and peer pressure. To determine how to effectively end gang violence we must find the way that these morals are given to the individual. Unfortunately, these can only be hypothesized. However, by looking at the way humans are influenced in society, I believe there is good evidence to point the blame at several institutions. These include the forces of the media, the government, theatre, drugs and our economic system.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the surface, gangs are caused by peer pressure and greed. Many teens in gangs will pressure peers into becoming part of a gang by making it all sound glamorous. Money is also an crucial factor. A kid (a 6-10 year old, who is not yet a member) is shown that s/he could make $200 to $400 for small part time gang jobs. Although these are important factors they are not strong enough to make kids do things that are strongly against their morals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the ways that kids morals are bent so that gang violence becomes more acceptable is the influence of television and movies. The average child spends more time at a TV than she/he spends in a classroom. Since nobody can completely turn off their minds, kids must be learning something while watching the TV. Very few hours of television watched by children are educational, so other ideas are being absorbed during this period of time. Many shows on television today are extremely violent and are often shown this from a gang's perspective. A normal adult can see that this is showing how foully that gangs are living. However, to a child this portrays a violent gang existance as acceptable. 'The Ends Justifies the Means' mentality is also taught through many shows where the "goody guy" captures the "bad guy" through violence and is then being commended. A young child sees this a perfectly acceptable because he knows that the "bad guy" was wrong but has no idea of what acceptable apprehension techniques are.