Harmful Effects of Anti-Shia Discrimination Assignment

Harmful Effects of Anti-Shia Discrimination - Assignment Example The most agreed upon cause for the prejudice can be traced to the dispute that arose after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, which led to a split among the Muslim community into two fundamental sects: the Shi’a and the Sunnis. The Sunnis also referred to as the followers of the way, decided on following the caliphate maintaining that any Muslim, who is devout in the eyes of his peers, has the potential of being a successor of the Prophet. However, the Shi’a believe that only a person who is elected by Allah can succeed the Prophet after the Prophet has declared him his successor, deciding on Imam Ali as their religious authority. Following this split, the Sunni Muslims have over the centuries perceived their rival sect as a threat to their religious authority, and politically as well. Sunni leaders, especially under the Umayyad, began a systematic marginalization of the Shi’a, who formed a minority of the Muslim community, while the Abbasids also turned on the S hi’a, killing, persecuting, and imprisoning them (Walker 18). The Shi’a community to this day remains marginalized and persecuted sect in the majority of Muslim states. This discrimination has harmed the Shi’a by ensuring that they are less educated than Sunnis, cannot practice their religion, and cannot get work in their countries. Discrimination against the Shi’a has led to their inability to practice their religion, which has caused resentment towards their Sunni counterparts, as they are denied their right to worship. For example, Chehab in Sunni vs. Shia: All You Need to Know claims that â€Å"Jordanian tribes have banned Shi’as from paying homage at the historical grave site of a prominent Shi’a imam† (13).  This led to protests in which over fifty Shi’a members either were killed or went missing. The Shi’a Muslims are also disallowed to access religious centers such as mosques, forcing them to perform their pray ers on Friday in their houses (Chehab 13). This means that Shi’a Muslims, despite being part of the broader Islam family, are second-class religious citizens in most Muslim dominated countries. They are treated no differently than Christians, who are discriminated against in the same way and might as well be without religion. This has all the hallmarks of an irreversible religious war if unchecked. In addition, all able-bodied Muslims are required to visit Mecca at least once in their lifetime, which is one of Islam’s five pillars, to perform the Hajj. Although this event is supposed to count as one of the most intense religious times in the Muslim calendar, a group of Shi’as who were on a pilgrimage was arrested in 2009 by the Saudi religious police. This was part of Sunni Muslims,’ particularly the Wahhabi sect’s, aim to â€Å"purify Islam of any innovations or practices that deviate from the seventh-century teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions† (Giritlioglu 1). The incident resulted in one of the pilgrims, a fifteen-year-old boy, being shot in the head and chest, while a Shi’a sheik was knifed by an unknown person in the back for being what he termed as a rejectionist. Allowed to continue, such actions can only lead to reprisal attacks in Shi’a majority countries, resulting in a never-ending cycle of violence.

Philosophy of Social Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philosophy of Social Science - Essay Example (Gordon, 3) The considering of this second aspect engendered by social science, connects it to ethics, to the study of values. Dealing with the concept of "philosophy of social science", the same author defines it as "the study of how we are able to know whether our notions or theories about empirical phenomena are true or false." (3) Another definition is that the philosophy of social science is the study of the logic and the methods of social sciences. This second definition appears in the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. According to the same source the problems it deals with are those connected to answering questions like: "What are the criteria of a good social explanation", "How are the social sciences distinct from the natural sciences", "Is there a distinct method for social research", "Through what sorts of empirical procedures are social science assertions to be evaluated", "Are there irreducible social laws", "Are there causal relations among social phenomena", "Do social facts and regularities require some form of reduction to facts and regularities involving only the properties and actions o f individuals" One of the problems the philosophy of social science is concerned with is that regarding methodology... dividuals having to conform to a model or pattern offered by society, nowadays conceptions emphasize on the importance of respecting one's individuality, conception based on the idea that all human beings are free to choose their own and personal way of life. As a consequence of individualization, a new method of social science research appeared: the biographical method.Extensively discussed in The Turn to Biographical Methods in Social Science: Comparative Issues and Examples, the biographical method is new to the field of the social science methodology. The explanation the authors give in regard to the fact that social science researchers rejected this method until recently, lies in the fact that "modeling themselves on the natural scientists", they "set out to construct models of body and mind which described uniformities and regularities, and which enabled human behavior to be understood "objectively", that is in terms of its abstracted common attributes" (Chamberlayne, Bornat an d Wengraf, 36). The authors mention the fact that, although biography is commonly regarded today as a written work, it is, in fact, a production of face to face oral communication. The definition provided by the same researchers connects it to the social integration aspect: "The work of orienting the temporal process of the individual's life and of social change." (115) Through biography, meaning by telling their life, people integrate themselves in a context and realize that they belong to a structure, they reconstruct themselves. The biographical method was attacked, researchers warning about its inadequacy and supporting their position by two main reasons: the possibility of having to do with what was called "a neurotic narrator", or a person who invents the facts presented as

Components and Features of Central Locking System

Components and Features of Central Locking System Central locking The main function of the central locking system is controlling access authorization at all times but it also must cover the following areas: actuation of opening handles or lifting, braking and locking the doors during closing operation. The central locking system includes following components: -locking bars on the body pillars, -doors, door lock mechanism and dedicated mechanical and electrical parts, -electrical components required to access authorization facility and radio remote control. Depending on their location further dividing being made: -side door assembly, -trunk assembly, -hood assembly, Illustration 1: Central locking system schematic Door assembly consists of catch, pawl and latch. The door lock striker is attached to the body pillar. Under closing operation the door lock striker gets caught by the latch and hold in the closed position and centres the door. The pawl positively locks the catch in position. This lock condition is automatically aborted when opening procedures begin. For this process the forces acting on inner or outer door handle are transferred to the pawl and cause the catch release to open the door. The door lock striker stays in the position while the catch swivels go into an open position. In a case of operation methods central locking system consists of two types of actuators: electromagnetic and pneumatic. Electromagnetic actuators rely on solenoids which lock or unlock doors using current going in both directions (open/closed) through an electric module. On this kind of system two types of arrangements are in use. First one uses separate relays for each of action taking by the system. One dedicated to open and another one to close the door. Both of them are controlled by a transistor switching the circuit operated by the capacitor (storage for energy necessary to operate system) which is releasing current necessary to activate the locks. Another type uses two capacitors and two relays working as a tandem. One pair is responsible for locking and another for unlocking. When the circuit is closed a current is discharged from the capacitor and the lock is either opened or closed. IMAGE Pneumatic actuators are driven by a pneumatic central unit which controls vacuum/pressure pump. When vacuum is applied actuators acting on mechanism lock or unlock the door. The vacuum pump is driven by electric motor which is working in both directions. Forward rotation creates a compressor action (doors open), while backwards rotation creates vacuum (doors close). Polarity on the electric motor is changed by a change-over control switch. IMAGE In most modern cars electrical locking system replaced mechanical unit due to a demand for quality and reliability. The main advantages of electrical locking system are: -symmetrical design, -smaller and lighter in comparison to a mechanical unit -only one lock version per vehicle -individually encoding at the end of the production line -door handles no longer move Other supplementary functions, like an interior light or status indicator, can be easily introduced in electrical locking system because the lock is equipped with electronics, which can carry out these functions. Communications with the locks, power supply and security system take place via data can bus system. Engine immobilisers An immobiliser is an electronic anti-theft security device which prevents engine start by an unauthorised person unless the correct key or fob is placed in the ignition barrel. If the correct key is used, transponder inside the key sends a signal to the reader which transfer signal to the receiver (ECU). If the signal is recognised by the ECU, the system allows user to start engine. If not the immobiliser disables few car systems necessary to start the engine: usually it is fuel injection, fuel pump and ignition components. The immobiliser is strongly connected to the car security system, so any unauthorised access to the car that is detected by the security system (movement detectors, infra-red sensor, sonic sensor and many others, depending on the security system) automatically trigger the immobiliser and any other alarm aims such a horn and flashing headlights. Car alarm can be activated by infra-red signal generated by the fob or a key ring and received by optical sensing unit placed somewhere in the car. Another type is a radio control system. Radio wave is created by the fob or the key and received by car antenna quite often a car heated rear window.   In both examples the signal is unique for each car and only this one signal is recognised by the ECU. Alarm system uses few different types of sensors to protect the car: -shock sensor: detecting any vehicle moment -ultrasonic: car interior is covered by an ultrasonic signal; any change in the strength on the signal pattern activates the alarm -voltage drop or current drain: any drop of voltage (disconnecting the battery) or current drain (by switching on interior light) -infra-red: detecting any disruption of the beam transmitted between two points inside of the car -direct earth contact: detected by the bonnet, boot and door switches when an earth contact happens Diagnosis and repair defect. Make: Vauxhall Model: Vectra B Year: 1999 After connecting central locking rig to the battery I noticed that the locking system does not work properly. Firstly, I checked voltage on the battery, unfortunately it was too low: -12v. To rectify this I connected the battery to the charger. Since then the central locking system starts to perform quickly and properly. After a short while the system stopped working completely. It didnt react to the car key fob. First, I checked the battery voltage inside the key. Multimeter showed the voltage of 3v (battery type-CR2032), which is absolutely perfect. I was looking closely into the key fob for any damage on the electronic circuit or battery holders, but everything was in a proper working order. After that I measured the resistance of each door and readings on multimeter were as follow: Nsf-1 ohm, Osf-1 ohm, Nsr-1 ohm, Osr-1 ohm, According to the Autodata all readings matched the factory range. To be sure about my findings I checked continuity on each of the door and this confirmed my thought that wiring between the doors and the central unit is in a good working order. Last part of my diagnostics was checking the condition of the central unit itself. Firstly, I connected the multimeter to the port No2 and No8 to check voltage transferred from the battery to the central locking unit. Unfortunately the voltage was 0v. Then I checked continuity on the wiring between the central locking unit and the battery. There was no continuity at all. My diagnosis: The wiring between the battery and the central locking unit is faulty.   To rectify this the faulty wiring needs to be replaced. Electrical circuit diagram

Energy Consumption Essay -- Renewable Energy Essays Papers

Energy Consumption Continuing expansion of the world population results in increasing demands for energy to support human existence. I will concentrate on countries that use a lot of energy from fossil fuels, as well as examine countries that are increasingly becoming dependent on alternative forms of energy, such as nuclear energy and hydroelectricity, and others including geothermal and solar energy. The fossil fuels I am going to examine are coal, natural gas, and oil. Within the sector of oil, I will specifically show the demand for petroleum imports. I will also concentrate on renewable energies, such as nuclear energy, hydroelectricity, geothermal, and solar energy consumption. Some forms of energy are rapidly depleting, such as oil, coal, and natural gas, and if countries do not increasingly diversify their reliance upon fossil fuels, there will be economic tragedies in the near future. Recognizing this problem, countries around the world are relying more and more on renewable energies, not only for the economic benefits, but also for the environmental benefits which resul t in healthier living conditions for all human beings. Coal is a fossil fuel that poses serious threats to our environment, including greenhouse gases, acid rain, and air pollutants. It has the lowest consumption rate among all fossil fuels. Among all countries, Japan had the highest consumption rate of over 150 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mt’s). This country accounts for one forth of the world’s total coal imports, which reached 659 Mt’s (Key World Energy). Countries need to focus on alternative renewable sources of energy so they can become more self reliant. This is important because economies are so susceptible to price fluctuations, an... ...asteful way most of us use energy. So, if you want to do something personally to save the planet, think about what kind of car you own and how you use it. Works Cited 1. Academic. OFFSTATS. 22 January 2004. Key World Energy Statistics 2003. 2. Academic. OFFSTATS. 31 January 2004. International Renewables Information. 3. Academic. OFFSTATS. 31 January 2004. Statistical Review of World Energy 2003. 4. â€Å"Million Tonnes of Oil Equivalent.† 1 February 2004. 5. â€Å"Petroleum Products.† 1 Frebraury 2004. 6. Renewables in Global Energy Supply. 22 January 2004.

Effective HRM and its impact on an organisation Essay

Effective human resource is instrumental for ensuring the sustainable success of the organisation as a whole. Human resource is the most important resource in any investment. This is because it is the force behind the conversion of other resource into profitable products of services to the company. The roles of human resource management are to recruit, training, engaging, and retaining a strong workforce for the organisation (Jackson & Mathis 2008, p. 56). As an important role of an effective human resource management, it must seek to ensure that it attracts and recruit the best candidates to suit the requirements of the organisation. This gives the organisation a competitive advantage of sustainable realisation of its strategic plan. The other function of effective HRM is to train workforce. A trained workforce serves the ultimate purpose of providing quality services to the organisation. It is due to this that the function of effective human resource management to train the workforce remains of great importance to the organisation (Bates 2002). In addition, training should entail instilling a strong respect and uphold of the company’s corporate culture to new employees. This promotes accountability and reduces conflicts of interest. Effective HRM should invest much resource in developing and executing an efficient employee engagement policy. Employee engagement functions to encourage employee commitment towards the execution of the mission and objectives of the organisation (Bates 2002). This has the implication engaging employees as a function of effective HRM is a crucial factor in enhancing the competitive profitability of the organisation. The last important function of effective HRM is retention of the best employees in the organisation. With a strong workforce, a company is assured of meeting the demands of its customers as well as the dictates of its strategic business plan (Sempere, Lillo, & Lajara 2002, p. 13). This is because such a workforce enjoys the competitive advantage of innovatively resolving company problems. On the other hand, retention of employees save the organisation the huge costs involved in employee recruitment and training process. Thus effective HRM plays a pivotal role in the success of a company. Strengths and weaknesses of online recruitment Online recruitment practices are increasing becoming common in the modern business world. The practice enjoys the advantage of convenience. Online recruitment involves the access of potential employees from an online database, evaluating their qualification, and choosing the most suited candidate (Starcke 1996). This has the implication that online recruitment saves the organisation time. Just to be appreciated is the fact that the process of traditional recruiting entails conducting physical interviews with the candidates, an act which no doubt wastes time. Moreover, time is one of the most valuable resources in an organisation (Wuttke 2008, p. 34). This makes online recruitment to be of importance in saving time while getting the required talent. Other strength of online recruitments is cost effective and has provisions of variety of talents from across the globe. Online recruitment is entails the practice of candidate access at the click of the button, making less costly. On the other hand, the practice promotes diversity in an organisation as it provides the employer with a cross-cultural workforce from across the globe (Johannasen 2009). Such are instrumental in promoting innovation in the organisation. Nevertheless, online recruitment has a number of weaknesses. First, it opens a loophole for potential employment of unqualified candidates. Faking of certificates is not a new thing across the globe. Although the employer might realise of the certification problem, the costs and time incurred in facilitating the employment deal remains a major loss to the organisation (Younger 2007). Therefore, the practice fails to protect the authenticity of the information given by the candidates. Another weakness of online recruitment is that it involves too many candidates, an element that makes it demanding to make the right choice. Online job applications are quite many. Despite the specifications of qualification given by the employer many irrelevant applicants post their application. This means that the employer will be faced with the problem of sorting out numerous inappropriate and irrelevant candidates, an action that is no doubt time consuming (Jahannasen 2009). However, this can be easily resolved if clear description of job is made and the employers uses the candidate screening tools of the online job site board to limit candidate spam. Advantages of training and development to both organisation and individual Training and career development in an organisation is of great important to both the organisation and the individual. The organisation seeks to ensure the availability of reliable workforce to aid in the realisation of its strategic business plans. To achieve this goal, the company should train and development career (Wilson 2005). It is worth noting that different companies have different approaches to their businesses. Further, education seems to be the same for students of the same profession. This has the indication that the ultimate skill and experience enjoyed by employees reflect their training in a particular organisation (Wilson 2005, p. 102). Therefore, training and development will promote the effectiveness of the workforce in executing their duties. Another advantage of training and development is that it promotes employee commitment to the company mission and objective. Employee engagement practices are instrumental in promoting employee commitment to the mission and objectives of an organisation. According to the principles of effective human resource management, training of employees is one of the reliable tools of ensuring their satisfaction at the workplace (Bureau of Labour Statistics 2009). This is due to the fact that training eliminates the demoralisation aspects brought by failure to efficiently realise one’s expectations at the workplace. In addition, training gives employees an opportunity to achieve their professional career goals while earning a living. All these are important are important in meeting the social and economic responsibilities of both the individual and the organisation. Training and career development serves the important role of strengthening the reputation of an organisation. Reputation remains the best marketing tool for the products and services of any business. On the other side, the reputation of a company is defined by the effectiveness and reliability of its services to the customers (Aidele 2009, p. 76). This means that an organisation should have in place a strong workforce to meet its market demands. This calls for engaging in employee training and career development since such is vital tools in promoting innovative solving of problems. Still, providing training and development gives the organisation the competitive advantage of identifying the best talent for its workforce as it eliminates certification qualifications to engage in seeking actual capabilities of its employees. Why poor performance occurs and the strategies that can be used to overcome it Poor performance in an organisation is to be blamed to poor human resource management. This can be evident from failure of the HRM in its four main functions. Hiring discrimination practices which lead to recruitment of unqualified candidates compromises the reliability of the company workforce in providing quality services to the organisation. Another cause of poor performance is lack of training and engagement to employees (Booth 1993, p. 81). An informed and satisfied workforce gives reliable services to the company with a high degree of commitment. As an HRM function, employee engagement does not only promote commitment but also accountability of the employees in their duties. Therefore, poor performance can occur due to failure by the HRM in one or more of its functions namely; recruiting, training, engaging and retaining the best employees for the organisation. To overcome this problem, organisations should in formulating and implementing strong positive corporate culture to govern its human resource (Booth 1993, p. 89). This culture should dictate for giving employment opportunities on merit to mitigating incidence of recruiting unqualified and thus unreliable employees into the organisation. In addition, employee training must be given priority as it serves to equip the workforce with adequate knowledge on the operations and expectations of the organisation from them. This is important in mitigating operational mistakes of failures. Another strategy is employee engagement which seeks to enhance the commitment by employees to the mission and objectives of the organisation (Werner, Shuler, & Jackson 2008, p. 66). Most employees perform poorly due to failure by the company to care for their personal needs. However, the practice of employee engagement seeks to appreciate and address the social and economic concerns of individual employees as a way of ensuring their sustainable job satisfaction. The last strategy is striving to retain the best employees in an organisation. Most organisations lose reliable employees due to poor conflict resolution policies. This negates their sustainable development objectives, a problem that calls for implementation of an effective conflict resolution policies to eliminate resignations or conflict at workplace which compromises performance.

Family Members Making Care Decisions Health And Social Care Essay

Every twelvemonth the United States spends more than $ 100 billion supplying attention for 1000000s of persons affected by signifiers of dementedness and for their informal caregivers.1 Assuming no alteration in the incidence of dementedness and its attention bringing, between 11 and 19 million people in the U.S. will hold dementia by the twelvemonth 2050 with projected one-year Medicare costs transcending one trillion dollars ( Family Caregiver Alliance, 2005 ) . It is estimated that 13 million to 15 million grownups in the United States have chronic conditions that impair mental map, such as Alzheimer ‘s disease, shot, Parkinson ‘s disease, and traumatic encephalon hurt. Despite the big figure of people necessitating hands-on aid, we know small about how households make determinations about in-home attention and nursing place attention. See the illustration of make up one's minding whether to put a relation in a long-run attention installation ( Family Caregiver Alliance, 2000 ) . Dementia causes a high load of enduring for patients and their households. For patients, in add-on to cognitive and functional impairment, dementedness leads to behavioural and psychological complications, increased usage of ague and long-run wellness attention services, complicated clinical direction of other comorbid conditions, and increased hazard for medical complications such as craze, falls, motor vehicle clangs, incontinency, breaks, and infections. For household health professionals, dementedness can take to higher degrees of anxiousness, depression, usage of psychotropic medicines, and chronic weariness ( Boustani, 2007, p. 631 ) . Family members attention for about 75 % of these patients at place ( Dunkin & A ; Anderson-Hanley ( 1998 ) . Given the patterned advance of this enfeebling status and engagement in attention, it is frequently the grownups household members who must do the complex determinations about attention for a mentally impaired parent as the parent progresses through the class of the dementedness. Making attention determinations for a mentally impaired older household member can ensue in emotional, physical, and fiscal hurt, which in bend create tenseness and struggle in the household ( Donelan, 2002 ) . In a qualitative survey of the experience of health professionals actively involved in puting an older grownup in a long-run attention installation upon discharge from ague attention, noted that health professionals normally described internal struggle before, during, and after doing a determination about arrangement ( Walsh, 2002 ) . Dementia is predicted to be one of the greatest world-wide disease burdens in the twenty-first century with one new instance happening every 7 seconds. Alzheimer disease ( AD ) , the commonest cause of dementedness is a progressive, degenerative disease of the encephalon is the most common signifier of mental damage ( Whitlatch, 2006 ) . Symptoms of Alzheimer ‘s disease by and large advancement in phases. Functional troubles worsen in badness and frequence over a class of eight to ten old ages, ensuing eventually in complete loss of memory, judgement, abstract idea and ability to command behaviour. At the terminal of this flight, the single becomes deaf-and-dumb person and bedridden and dies of the disease ( Sloan, 2008 ) . As the affected individual experiences a gradual loss of rational maps, judgement becomes impaired and the individual focuses on irrelevant concerns, as all ability for abstract logical thinking is lost. Recent memory is impaired, and there is a gradual loss of distant memory. The individual ‘s emotions become labile and frequently inappropriate, jumping between agitation and apathy. Speech forms are thin and insistent, and finally the individual loses the ability to hide mental jobs from household and others in their lives ( The Alzheimer ‘s Association, 2004 ) . Much of the research to day of the month about household decision-making sing attention has been dominated by premature classifications that fit ill with today ‘s complex intergenerational relationships and wellness attention environment. Since anterior research has excessively narrowed the model in which to analyze attention determinations for mentally impaired parents, it is clip to analyze the research paradigm in which we study this phenomenon. The comparative dearth of interpretative surveies in the country of determination devising for mentally impaired parents limit our apprehension of grownup offspring and their experience of doing attention determinations for this vulnerable population ( Nease, 1995 ) . The proposed research is intended to research and understand the experience of household members doing attention determinations for aged parents that have mental conditions. The information aggregation scheme is designed to be from the sources ‘ point of position and sensitive to the emerging concerns of the sources themselves. To carry through this, open-ended inquiries will be asked and carefully screened out any preconceived impressions of what the experience might be like for the participants. This enabled the research worker to understand the sources experience during the under survey. The deepness of understanding gained from this attack leads to effectual appraisal tools, comprehensive course of study for wellness attention suppliers, direct patient intercessions, and reconsideration of wellness attention policy, all of which are aimed at bettering household results. The research worker will come to grok the demands, feelings, values, beliefs the household members who ar e doing these complex determinations. The direction and analysis of informations was enhanced by usage of the package plan EZ-TEXT 3.06C which offered rapid hunt, retrieval and browse of all informations sections. Significant text phrases were coded and labeled ; transitions with similar labels were categorized and grouped into subjects. Demographic information ( age scope, instruction, work scene, figure of siblings, presence of a mentally integral parent, subject of dementedness of the receiver of the attention determination, length of clip since doing the attention determination ) was investigated to see if it informed the aims. The purposeful sample will dwell of household members who had made determinations about attention of a mentally impaired parent within the past twelvemonth. Approximately 20 sources will be recruited for this survey through Sacred Heart Home. Adults over 21 who identified themselves as holding primary duty for doing determinations about the attention of a cognitively impaired parent aged 65 or older, who could talk English, and who consented to take part were included in the survey. Since a bulk of health professionals are adult females, it is anticipated that the sample will dwell chiefly of adult females. Sacred Heart Home installation is a immense installation it is comprised of over 100 beds, caring for more than 200 aged patients yearly. Respondents were solicited on-site at the nursing centre with aid from don by personally passing out the paper petitions for engagement in the survey. An abstract of the survey and transcripts of consent signifiers will be made available to possible respondents who are willing to depict the experience of doing attention determinations for mentally impaired parents by the decision maker. The rights of participants will be assured in the account of the survey, a written consent signifier and confidentiality of single informations. Once respondents have been identified and has given permission to take part in the survey, each individual will be contacted by phone and explained the survey in a little more item. The interviews will dwell of open-ended inquiries designed to arouse specific histories of events and feelings produces informations that are closer to populate experience. Each respondent will be interviewed for about one hr at the installation site or by phone, whichever is more convenient for each single respondent. During this interview, the first inquiry will be: â€Å" I know you made a determination about attention for y our parent a short piece ago. State me about when you decided. † The 2nd inquiry will be designed to arouse an opposite emotional response from the tone of the answer to the first inquiry. For illustration, if the informat relates how disconcerting the determination was for them, so the inquiry will be asked what has reassured or comforted the respondent since doing a major determination about attention a mentally impaired parents. The 3rd inquiry will inquire about a typical twenty-four hours in the life of the respondent when some contact with or about the parent has been made. Active hearing and usage of non-directive techniques such as contemplation and restatement will advance treatment during the interviews. Since the end of this survey is to obtain a description that exactly captures the significance of the experience, this analysis is coincident with informations aggregation. Data aggregation will happen in two stages. During the first stage, the research worker will place cardinal features of the interaction while retaining informant individualism. The 2nd stage will include a thematic analysis during which the research worker underlines text phrases that stand entirely in intending. Questions asked when construing subjects will include the possible being of an implicit in procedure that household members go through when doing attention determinations for a mentally impaired parent. All important phrases will be labeled with probationary labels. These labels inform the behavior of the following interview by assisting the interviewer to research probationary togss during the following interview. This procedure is reiterative and consequences in greater specificity as more informations are collected. Data will be examined for factors that potentially affect the experience of doing the critical determinations for a parent. The direction and analysis informations will be enhanced by usage of the package plan EZ-TEXT 3.06C. This plan offers a powerful and intuitive environment for get bying with built-in complexness of undertakings and informations. Interviews, field notes, memos and determination will be collected and organized, EZ-TEXT 3.06C offers rapid hunt, retrieval and browse of all informations sections. One of import inquiry that has been studied by research workers is the impact of caregiving for dementedness sick persons versus non-dementia individuals. In a survey, which drew from more than 1500 household health professionals in the 1996 National Caregiver Study, it was found that household health professionals of relations who suffered dementedness were more likely to endure from health professional strain and mental and physical jobs than those who cared for a non-demented relation. Leisure clip and clip with other household members was reduced possibility lending to more household struggle. In addtion, dementedness health professionals experienced more complications with employment than nondementia health professionals ( Ory, Hoffman, Yee, Tennustedt & A ; Schultz, 1999 ) . In contrast, another survey of differences in caregiving effects between dementedness health professionals and nondementia â€Å" non-caregivers † , found that when taken as whole, the sample of 52 health professionals and 66 non-caregivers did non differ in health professional strain. However, when within gender differences were compared, female health professionals suffered the most strain, which resulted in wellness jobs, household struggle, and strained relationships. Both female and male dementedness health professionals had less positive mentalities and more demand for societal support than their gender specific nondementia noncaregivers ( Ekwall, 2007 ) . Although this survey was conducted in Sweden, which means the consequences must be interpreted with cautiousness for generalisation to American health professionals, the sample came from a larger survey whose population was drawn from a representative sample of health professionals and noncaregivers. This is a distingu ishable advantage in a field where there are troubles obtaining representative samples. These apparently arbitrary results for dementedness health professionals are once more demonstrated in two surveies. In a annual longitudinal survey of 188 dementedness health professionals, nonsubjective and subjective primary emphasis predicted health professionals ‘ hazard of a depressive upset from those who remained at low hazard. Objective primary emphasis consisted of behavior jobs of the dementia household member ; subjective primary emphasis was defined as function imprisonment and overload. In another survey, 43 health professionals kept diaries for 14 yearss, noticing on their caregiving activities, daily temper, and riotous behaviours of the household member. Independent raters and bunch analysis showed that there are variable degrees of hurt among dementia health professionals ( Schubert, 2008 ) . The consequences of this survey, nevertheless, appear to be complicated by methodological jobs since the writers frequently intertwine both qualitative and quantitative n omenclature. Emotional rousing appears to be an of import contextual stimulation in health professionals ‘s ability to rate their ain wellness. One hundred and sixty eight grownup offspring were studied to find how a sense of self-coherence impacts hurt in health professionals of encephalon impaired parents. Interviews utilizing mensurable graduated tables of self-coherence, emotional rousing, perceived wellness and crisis were done at the beginning and terminal of six months. Consequences showed that crisis was positively correlated with emotional rousing and negatively correlated with self-coherence and perceived wellness. Perceived wellness was reciprocally related to emotional rousing despite the presence or absence of crisis ( Dunkin & A ; Anderson-Haley, 1998 ) . The latter determination is of import since recent surveies seem to bespeak that the wellness of the health professional is a major variable in dementia patient arrangement Most standards proposed for doing determinations about degrees of attention are care receiver related symptoms such as impaired IADLs and ADLs. Caregiver features and health professional well-being, nevertheless, are stronger forecasters of arrangement determinations than attention receiving system attributes. These properties include perceived relationships with parents. Contrary to the myth of seniors in isolation, there is strong grounds that middle aged offspring and their aged parents remain close, and more than half talk by phone or in individual at least one time a hebdomad ( Deimling, 1992 ) . Womans frequently assume the function of kinkeeper and study more contact with parents than work forces do. The bulk of household health professionals are girls or daughters-in-law lovingness for an aged female parent. When divorce is taken into the equation, nevertheless, the bond between grownup offspring and parents seems to weaken. Weaker ties between kids and divorced parents raising concerns about future coevalss of aged parents. Disabled or frail divorced parents may non be able to number on personal and fiscal support from their kids ( Smerglia & A ; Deimling, 1997 ) . Making determinations with and for an older individual is seldom a straightforward procedure. Unlike single, chiseled job work outing in a inactive environment, existent life jobs are frequently equivocal, high interest mystery, which are played out by many people in unsure, dynamic environments. Family deliberations about an older member ‘s attention, although by and large on-going, are frequently influenced by an emotionally charged heath attention crisis, which may take to determinations with negative effects. Research workers who began analyzing how people made determinations in their natural environment found that rational criterions and theoretical accounts of determination devising did non take into history the context in which the determination is made or the adaptative features of the determination shaper ( Gaugler, 2003 ) . Additionally, determinations become influenced by viing, altering ends and impacted by the effects of old actions and clip stressors Given the huge array of services now available for mentally impaired older grownups, determinations about attention are less structured than taking between two options, subjected to viing single and social ends, and made in unsure, dynamic environments. These surveies might non be turn toing the issues that are being experienced by this coevals of health professionals. When grownups make these complex attention determinations for their mentally impaired parents, their worldviews and stock of cognition complicate the environment. It seems appropriate, hence, to re-examine the procedure of doing determinations about the attention of a mentally impaired parent with peculiar accent on context and household discourse. The information collected in this survey is aimed toward understand what constitutes doing a attention determination for a mental impaired parents and bettering the opportunities that an effectual determination is made that will diminish emotional and fiscal costs to househo lds and society. Potential benefits could besides include the development of experimental educational and wellness policy intercessions that improve determinations and attention for mentally impaired parents.

ENL 1103 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH Essays - Nonverbal Communication

ENL 1103 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH Essays - Nonverbal Communication ENL 1103 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH Name: ID: Course: Title: GROUP PRESENTATION RUBRIC Exemplary (4)Good (3)Satisfactory (2)Need Improvement (1) Content / KnowledgePresenters possess excellent understanding on the topic.Presenters possess adequate understanding on the topic.Presenters possess general understanding on the topic.Presenters do not understand the topic at all. Non verbal elements (Intonations, eye contact, gestures, etc.) Facial expressions and body language generate a strong interest on the topic presented. Demonstrate a good effort in attracting audience.Facial expressions and body language generate some interest on the topic presented. Demonstrate an acceptable effort in attracting audienceFacial expressions and body language are rarely presented. Demonstrate a fair effort in attracting audienceFacial expressions and body language were not used. Do not demonstrate any effort in attracting audience. Language Excellent command in language used. No grammar error produced.Good command in language used. Minor grammar error produced. Fair command in language used. Poor command in language used. Too many grammar error produced. Voice Projection Volume is loud enough to be heard by all audience members throughout the presentation. Volume is loud enough to be heard by all audience members at least 90% of the time. Volume is loud enough to be heard by all audience members at least 80% of the time. Volume often too soft to be heard by all audience members. Audio Visual Aids (AVA) Use good AVA. The AVA used helps in presentation.Use acceptable AVA. The AVA used helps in some parts of presentation Use AVA. The AVA used does not really help the presentation. No audio visual aids used. TOTAL MARKS: Comments: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Name: 1)3)5) 2)4)6)

TRAVELCOMFORT BUSINESS PLAN

TRAVELCOMFORT BUSINESS PLAN Executive Summary TravelComfort UK, Incorporated is a start-up travel agency that specializes in small and escorted luxury touring packages for its selective clients.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Travelcomfort business plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The agency is strategically located in Hill Gate Notting, London- to better serve its customers across the UK. This location has of late experienced rapid growth in the number of discriminating or selective luxury tour clients. TravelComfort is a partnership between 4 experienced travel scholars named as Josh Foster, Rochelle Night, Mike Manning and Joshua Awozele. The first 2, other than sitting on the board are also the company’s Chief Executive and Operations Manager respectively. The last 2 do not have additional managerial roles. The first 2 have had extensive training in travel business, especially in sales and marketing to oversee the operations of this new venture. Their knowledge will thus be useful in this starting period. Other than the 2 managerial staff, and the additional 2 board members, the company intends to use an independent sales force of 6 individuals to keep its overhead expenses low hence increasing its sales returns. The owners feel that this will be the surest way of maintaining profitability and its subsequent expansion in this highly competitive travel service industry.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition, the company will make use of the 4 marketing mix to market itself to its customers as well as establishing best relationships with agent travel firms. More so, to ensure that it achieves its profitability and expansion outcomes, the management intends to source for a long-term loan of UK pounds 60,000 from Standard Chartered Bank to finance its required start-up capital of appro ximately  £120,000. The company is characterized by a strong commitment to customer value, service and specialized luxury tour needs; characteristics that set it apart from other UK travel agencies thus constituting its best attractions and unique selling points. Market Research of the UK travel industry A research article by Tassiopoulos highlighted that though there had been a major trend towards responsible and ethical consumptions across UK’s consumer markets, the demand for services in the UK travel industry had risen to match those in other sectors, with tourism given as an example.1 This increase has also coincided with increases in consumer expectations across the country. To expound on this, this plan went ahead to stress that in each holiday, a significant and a growing number of travellers in the UK were looking for better and high quality products. As such, the experiences provided by tour and travel firms should be able to enable the traveller’s access à ¢â‚¬Ëœreal’ living cultures within or without their nations. Nonetheless, previous researches highlighted that though UK travellers had accustomed themselves to taking shorter trips in most cases, at the same time, they expected to derive more value from such short trips.2Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Travelcomfort business plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A scholarly study by Pfister and Tierney summarized the above notions by arguing that nowadays, holidays spender’s across the UK preferred ‘real’ holidays that were characterized with a lot of authenticity.3 These expectations contradicted the scenarios dating 10 years back in this same country. Supporting the above frameworks, Page and Connell combined their findings to assert that in the UK, there has emerged a growing interest in the pursuit of more adventurous forms of travel agencies.4 For instance, the demand for the market has of lately shifted to those agencies that offer specialized travel and tour services such as land based expeditions of the nature of the Graham Land as well as skiing activities. On the other hand, drawing inferences from the Independent on Sundays, the authors of this plan established that the recent economic recession has been a blessing to the UK tour travel industry. This is for the reason that the ever increasing economic recession has increased costs of overseas holidays by a high of 10%- 7% more than domestic holidays.5 This in return has meant that more Britons have preferred to spend their holidays in their country as a budgetary precaution. TravelComfort will strategically position itself to maximise on this great opportunity. To add, Hogson went ahead to review statistics that also revealed that the travel and tourism industries across the UK had for years pursued profits within flexible, unrestricted and fast-moving environments.6 This, according to Robinson had led to most travel agencies failing to establish monitoring systems and formal objectives. They instead chose to seize each opportunity as it came their way without considering its long term effect.7Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To address this, TravelComfort has established and stated its mission statements. This will in turn assist it to achieve its outcomes since the mission statements will be used as statements of guidance and reference. Specific Target Market The stiff competition in the UK tour and travel industry has created the impetus to clearly understand the specific and the ever changing needs of the differentiated customer groups.8 TravelComfort has studied the market and identified UK citizens especially the retired or working couples who would like to go for adventure as constituting its key target market. Other than those, the company will emphasis on corporate travellers (business conference travellers) and any other travellers from any part of the world. Unique Selling Points These were comprised by the following brief features, concepts and benefits that our clients were happy to associate with our branding. In line with the above, TravelComfort has positioned itself to cater for speciali zed clientele group in the UK. As such, the company will offer small-group, budgetary and luxury modes of adventure travel. These will mainly target UK clients with a small global market presence also targeted in the plan. TravelComfort seeks to have a competitive advantage over its rivals by small but more exclusive packaged tours. These will enable our few clients to receive immediate personal or special attention from our travel hosts. As we expand, we intend to cultivate this niche of one-on-one contact to catch and retain on all our potential clients. The company will also provide accurate, first-hand and instant information concerning all its services to its customers. This can be achieved through mass-messaging or emailing service to registered clients. Market size/growth trends According to the statistics by the UK Office for National Statistics, the financial year ending February 2011 saw a total of 84.6 million travellers visit or depart from UK (visitors to UK were 29.6 m illion while visits abroad by the region’s citizens was 55.0 million).9 This number of travellers a combined drop of 6% compared to the previous year. The reason cited for the drop in the number of visitors was the bad weather. Table 1 showing the number of visitors entering or leaving the UK (Souce: UK Office for National Statistics, 2011). Despite the reduction in the number of travellers, the projected market growth for the UK travel industry stands at 10%. Of the total market size, TravelComfort aims to garner at least 5% of the market by the end of second year of operation. Competitive Environment At present, competition has been intense in the retail travel agency industry in Europe.10 As such TravelComfort will face stiff competition from both external and internal travel agencies. In the case of internal competitors, the company will compete with Thomson Travel Group-UK’s largest tour operator and Going Places-UK’s second largest travel agency.11 Other than the two, internal competitors will also include online travel agencies such as eDreams, Ebookers, Expedia, Iglue, LastMinute and Key2Holidays amongst others. External competitors will comprise of CN Travel Touristic Group- Germany’s largest travel agency and TravelPlanners from USA amongst others. Of late, the UK travel industry has been characterised by constant fluctuations both in service quality and sum of service providers.12 We intend to capitalize on this and broaden our market share. The competitive edge of our company will see us attract and retain customers through provision of up-to-date and accurate information. The company will also offer competitive discounted prices to win on repetitive customers. More so, the company will make use of IT and avail online tickets to its clients. To achieve on the above, the company will rely on the efforts of its experienced founders and personnel. These have great experience in luxury retailing, offering travel, achieving high-net-worth and offering and providing personalized services. Company Description TravelComfort is a full-service travel agency offering full-line travel planning for all its customers. The agency links all business, recreational and adventure travellers with travelling and accommodation firms. As was earlier highlighted, this agency is a partnership between Josh Foster, Rochelle Night, Mike Manning, and Joshua Awozele-who cofounded the agency in January of 2012. The company is located at Office Complex, Nottingham Hill Gate- London. The objectives of the company are as follows: To achieve a profitable status within the first year To garner a 5% market share within the first 2 years To increase its workforce to 20 by the second year (January 2012) and appoint a full-time Business Manager to enhance sales operations Expand the company’s corporate sales by  £ 85,000 each month. This is to happen by the 6 month of the agency’s operation. Services provided The compa ny will provide primary travel services that include, but unlimited to, hotel arrangements, bus and airline ticketing, car rental arrangements, conference planning, charter and tour services, student or employee-tour services and vacation packages. If these services are sold online, the agency will attain a sales margin of 10%. However, this is expected to rise to 15% if they are sold through agents. Marketing Plans/Strategies The company will make use of the four aspects of marketing mix to sell its services to its customers. These are: Pricing strategies The company will offer competitive rates to make its services affordable to all classes of people. In addition, the company will offer a 10% discount to the second ticket purchased by the same consumer. This will attract repetitive consumers to the agency thus increasing its market share. Promotion/Advertising strategies These will focus on the following: Buying ‘space’ in the UK daily newspapers for promotional adve rts on the agency’s services Creating a website where clients will be able search and review their services. The site will then allow them to make online reservations. This site will also be hyper-linked to social networking sites and other travel sites Distributing brochures or posters to strategic places to sell company services Product/ Service strategies The company has already achieved this strategy by incorporating a variety of services within service line. Distribution strategies The company intends to distribute some of its operations for instance, by using agents to market its services. Operational plans TravelComfort will ‘purchase’ its services from the above listed service companies using the following procedure: The company’s Operation’s Manager (Mr Night) will be tasked with negotiating with service industries on the awarding of service agency contacts. In this case, the agency will target to be awarded a commission of 10% on each tic ket (in this case service) sold. The company will then strive to sell more to improve on its profitability. The company intends to sell its services by using its other six sales-representative employees. These employees will improve service efforts by delivering tickets and making telephone follow-ups on their return. These will garner repeat sales and businesses. Besides their coordination, the 2 partners will perform initial sales management until the hiring of the Business Development Manager. Sales forecast The company targets to have sold services worth  £2,516,430 by end of 2012 and  £4, 50,100 by end of 2013 and 8,000,000 in the third year of 2014. This plan is based on the service arrangements to be increased between the agency and its partners. The following table 2 summarises the sales, gross and net profit’s highlights. The values are all in ‘0000 TravelComforts Projected Highlights Sales G/P margin Net Profit Margin Yr 1  £250  £80  £15 Y ear2  £450  £125  £45 Yr 3  £800  £225  £12 To achieve the forecasted sales above, the following sales programs are to be implemented: Issuing sales awards to those sales representatives who will be the top four in terms of highest grossing sales Issuing awards to employees who excel in delivering exemplary tour services to Travel comfort clients. This will create a scenario of retaining and attracting clients hence increasing the sales. The firm intends to implement e-commerce by allowing on-site ticket sales and registration through its Computerised Reservation System. This will ease the process of acquiring or accessing the firm’s services hence increasing the number of discriminative clients. Related to the above, the management intends to position customer care agents in its London office to carry out the role of selling tickets through the phone mode. The firm’s marketing and ticketing services are also to be re-distributed across key attraction points (a scenario commonly called sales retailing) across London to win on the potential passers-by who can top up as its customers. For instance, off-site sales are to be carried out at hired sites. For instance, the management plans to engage stadium managers across the UK to catch on the increased spectator audience. This is so because the management carried an earlier research that proved that spectators in the VIP ticketing category were likely to form a special group for the specialized tour services across London. Break-even analysis The levels of sales need to service all personal requirements and costs will be calculated as follows: Sales (required to break even) =  £ (Business Survival Budget/Drawings + Overheads/Operating Expenses) Sales=  £300,000 +  £400,000=  £700,000 TravelComfort’s Monthly Break-even points Figure1 depicting the break-even analysis From the above figure, it is projected the company will break even half-way through the third month. At this time, the company will have required to have sold an estimated â‚ ¬ 700,000 meet its personal requirements (drawings) and all its costs comfortably. Key Personnel Mr. Josh Foster- Company’s Chief Executive Mr. Foster is one of the co-founders of the agency. Having graduated with a distinction in Business Management, Sales and Marketing, he will spearhead the company’s growth. His strength to multi-task across dynamic environments will see him represent the agency at key stakeholder conferences. He will also spearhead the agency’s expansion module. Mr. Rochelle Night-Operations Manager Mr. Night will coordinate all agency operations. His leadership skills will ensure that a link exists between the sales representatives and the customers. He intends to maximise on his supervisory role at Easyjet Travel Agency to implement his new duties. Other than the two above, the following also topped up as Travel Comfort’s board members: Critical risks of the venture The following risks were identified as potential risks associated with this venture. Emerging travel agency businesses that were likely to cause stiff competition. The financial crisis that was likely to cause shifts in consumer demands (consumers were likely to reduce on their leisure expenditures). The company was likely to lose contact with some of foreign customers. Contingency planning The following measures will be implemented to safeguard the performance of the venture if sales reduce by more than 5% as projected. The management will carry out reviews to determine if the forecasts were realistic. If they were not, new estimates will be forecasted based on the sales statistics at hand. In this case, the last trading period’s actual results will be projected for achievable targets to be determined. If the forecasts were real, the management will review its budget to obtain a realistic one. In this case, the management will determine the expenses to be r educed and the margins to e improved. In this case the pro-forma revenues will be decreased by a realistic percentage based on the conditions facing the company. Having implemented the above, the company will carry out the following actions to improve on its performance: Carry out an aggressive promotion to increase its service awareness. Establish reward schemes for its sales team to motivate them in reaching more consumers. For instance, by rewarding employees who surpass a weekly target of  £ 20,000 with a 15% commission Likewise, the company willl try to re-negotiate its contracts with its partners. In this case, the management will point out the difficulties facing the travel agency and request a re-view of the engagements on mutual basis. Offering/ Funding The following table summarized the company’s start-up summary Item(s) Description Total amount Expenses Office supplies, rent, consultant’s fees, utilities, insurance, internet charges, website creation charges, communication bill etc  £80,000 Assets Furniture, cash, computers etc  £ 120,000 Owners’ Contributions Primarily cash  £ 150,000 Loans/ Borrowing From Standard Chartered Bank  £ 200,000 Total start-up funding  £ 550,000 Financial Plan Profit Loss Account The following is the profit and Loss account (projected for the first three years). Note: All figures are in  £. Year1 Year 2 Year 3 Sales (Direct and Indirect) 2,516,430 4,110, 345 5, 815,100 Less cost of sales 1, 910, 000 3, 515, 650 4, 910, 000 Gross profit 606,430 594,695 905, 100 Less Expenses 450,130 480,520 520,000 Pre-tax net income 156, 300 114,175 385, 100 Taxes Paid 18,900 11, 600 41, 200 Net income 137,400 102,575 343,900 Pro-forma Balance Sheet The following balance sheet has also been projected for the first three years. Balance Sheet (projected for the 1st three years) Note: All figures are in  £. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total Current Assets 450,000 4 20, 500 455, 100 Total Long-term Assets 150,000 214,000 139, 900 Total Assets 600,000 634,100 595,000 Current liabilities 250,000 242, 100 245,000 Long-term liabilities 200,000 112,000 0 Total Liabilities 450,000 354, 100 245,000 Total Capital 150,000 280,000 350,000 Total Capital and Liabilities 600,000 634,100 595,000 Reference List Doganis, R, Flying off course: the economics of international airlines, 3rd edition, Routledge, Newyork, 2002. Hogson, A, The travel and tourism industry: strategies for the future, CABI Publisher, Oxford, 1987. Horne, S J, Swarbrooke, Leisure marketing: a global perspective, Butterworth-Heinemann, UK, 2005. Independent on Sundays, Recession ‘is good news for UK travel industry’, 2008. Web. Needham, A, Business for higher awards, Heinemann, UK, 1999. Evans, N, Strategic management for travel and tourism, Butterworth-Heinemann, UK. Page, S Connell, J, Tourism: A modern synthesis, 2nd edn., PublisherCengage Learning EMEA, Stamford, 2006. Pfister, R Tierney, P, Recreation, event, and tourism businesses: start-up and sustainable operations, Human Kinetics, Leeds, UK, 2008. Plunkett, J W, Plunketts airline, hotel travel industry Almanac 2007: Airline, hotel travel industry market research, statistics, trends leading companies, Plunkett Research, Ltd., Texas, 2006. Robinson, P, Operations Management in the Travel Industry, CABI, Oxford, 2009. Tassiopoulos, D, New tourism ventures: an entrepreneurial and managerial approach, Juta and Company Ltd, Cape Town, South Africa, 2009. UK Office for National Statistics, Travel and tourism: Overseas visits still subdued, 2011, retrieved https://www.ons.gov.uk/. Footnotes 1 D Tassiopoulos, New tourism ventures: an entrepreneurial and managerial approach, Juta and Company Ltd, Cape Town, South Africa, 2009, p.309. 2 J W Plunkett, Plunketts airline, hotel travel industry Almanac 2007: Airline, hotel travel industry market research, statistics, trends leading co mpanies, Plunkett Research, Ltd., Texas, 2006, p.62. 3 R Pfister, P Tierney, Recreation, event, and tourism businesses: start-up and sustainable operations, Human Kinetics, Leeds, UK, 2008. 4 S Page J Connell, Tourism: A modern synthesis, 2nd edn., Cengage Learning EMEA, Stamford, 2006, p.81. 5 Independent on Sundays, Recession ‘is good news for UK travel industry’, 2008. 6 A Hogson, The travel and tourism industry: strategies for the future, CABI Publisher, Oxford, 1987. 7 P Robinson, Operations management in the travel Industry, CABI, Oxford, 2009, p. 254. 8 A Needham, Business for higher awards, Heinemann, UK, 1999, p.19. 9 UK Office for National Statistics, Travel and tourism: Overseas visits still subdued, 2011. 10 S, Horne J, Swarbrooke, Leisure marketing: a global perspective, Butterworth-Heinemann, UK, 2005, p. 233. 11 R Doganis, Flying off course: the economics of international airlines, 3rd edition, Routledge, Newyork, 2002, p.159. 12 N Evans, Strategic man agement for travel and tourism, Butterworth-Heinemann, UK, pp. 172-177.

4 key steps to starting a business - according to financial experts

4 key steps to starting a business - according to financial experts Attention entrepreneurs: Are you eager to kickstart your own business? Of course, the notion of being your own boss and taking your idea, nurturing it with some hard work and ingenuity, and grabbing hold of a little luck in order to turn it into a successful venture is an exciting prospect- and you may be itching to just throw caution to the wind and run with it as quickly as possible. That said, it may be in your best interest to slow things down a bit, temper your excitement with a little caution, and take some more cautious steps forward. After all, the business world is full of people who started off with grand plans for their new businesses but had their entrepreneurial visions knocked out of orbit by harsh reality, failed executions, and poorly-devised and ill-timed decisions.According to a recent article by Investopedia, â€Å"The Small Business Association states that only 30% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 50% during the first five years an d 66% during the first 10. The SBA goes on to state that only 25% make it to 15 years or more. However, not all of these businesses need to fail. With the right planning, funding and flexibility, businesses have a better chance of succeeding.†So, perhaps the first question you should consider asking yourself when planning to start a new business is if you want to be on the winning or losing side of these percentages. Sure, that may not be a difficult one to answer, but whether or not you’re willing to do the requisite amount of careful planning when you’re at the critical initial stages of getting your business off the ground may a bit more tricky. If you’re looking to stack the odds in your favor, then consider the following strategies on how to start a small business, according to financial experts who’ve seen it all and know the most common mistakes and pitfalls to avoid.Define your valueYou may have nothing but the best intentions for wanting to start your own business, but are you sure it’s one that’s poised to generate value (think revenue)? Sure, money isn’t everything, but it is an essential component to making your business take off and be sustainable, so make sure that your venture is one that has a reasonable chance of returning on your investment of blood, sweat, tears, and start-up capital.Back up your hopes with analytics that project a clear and realistic trajectory into the black at some point in time. Also be sure to define how your business idea and brand stand out from the competition, disrupt your industry, and contribute substantively to the world- because if they don’t, then what’s the point?Plan (and plan some more)Enthusiasm is a great thing to have when starting a new venture, but it will rarely sustain a business past initial takeoff. Get grounded and make sure you plan- both for the immediate future and for what lies ahead. Temper your entrepreneurial excitement wit h a solid business plan that legitimizes your goals with demonstrably achievable milestones. (If you’re going to court startup capital from outside sources, this is an absolute must.)Also, take the time to do some long-range projections for your business (try one- and five-year plans to start); these can always be revised as your business idea grows and evolves, but they will be a huge help in determining whether you’re on track for success or a collision course with failure.Get helpNo person is an island, and your business shouldn’t be one either. Savvy entrepreneurs know to leverage their networks to take full advantage of the knowledge, talent, and experience of people in their orbits in an effort to make their business ideas. Regardless of your industry, running a business takes a wide and varied set of skills, and unless you’re an indomitable entrepreneurial wizard and jack-of-all-trades, do yourself a favor and rely on the expertise of others to ben efit your new venture. Don’t be afraid to pay for some outside advice and guidance if need be- consider it a sound investment.Learn from mistakesThe truth is, almost no one gets everything exactly right when starting a business. But often, the difference between a successful business and a flop is an entrepreneur who learns from their mistakes. You can either self-assess regularly, take note of what went wrong, and make a swift course correction†¦ or sit back, avoid self-assessment, and remain doomed to keep repeating failures. Consider the missteps that happen along the way as valuable learning moments, and use them to your advantage as you trudge forward.

Taxonomy of Learning Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Taxonomy of Learning - Research Paper Example Benjamin as a committee chairperson, wanted to improve the level of understanding in students so as to deepen their understanding of the subject matter. Anderson has various believes in relation to excellence in a real life situation. Anderson’s argument and interpretation on intelligence of excellence is based on the Triarchic Theory on Intelligence. This theory entails three types of knowledge sub-sections that are; creative, analytical and practical knowledge and skills. All these sub-section of intelligence, have their basic roles to play. Creative part of the intelligence offers or creates room for acquiring and learning new things. This enables one to venture into various activities that need a lot of understanding and wise decisions. The analytical part of intelligence is used in planning, monitoring and evaluating the performance level of different tasks. This makes one to arrive at wise and ideal decisions that can help in making or enhancing academic success. Practic al sub-section of intelligence is used in performing to various tasks. This gives one the potentiality to apprehend positively to their duties and responsibilities. Generally, intelligence can be linked to education in which all the qualities and sub-sections of intelligence are needed for a student to successfully accomplish their set goals and objectives in life. The goal of education is always based on promoting high level of thinking and the ability to interpret information. Education in this case should always major on individual strengths as they think or find more ideal or genuine ways of curbing their weaknesses through the implication of all the three sub-sections of intelligence. Some bits of efforts to enhance the successful implementation process successfully should also accompany the three sub-sections of intelligence. Intelligence as a basic factor of education should be handled with a lot of care. This cannot be handled physically but by the kind of actions involved i n the school management system (National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2007). Learning institutions should also provide a conducive environment that can support the learning process so as to favor the comfort of scholars. This can really contribute in boosting the performance level of various institutions. There are also some of the things a part from intelligence instillation that various scholars and principals should know as far as the learning process is concerned. All the learning facilities should be availed to scholars so as to enable them have good reference and practical items that can enable them to understand their various subjects of study. Though the curriculum involved in the education systems of various institution in the world are effective There are still some little problems that tend to interfere with the whole thing. Some of these things are mainly centered on the quality of services received by the scholars. The school management system should ensu re that all its staff members perform their duties and responsibilities to perfection. On the other hand, scholars are also supposed to apprehend positively to some of the rules and regulations of the school (Woollaccot, 2009). The strategic position of the school should also be considered so as to enhance a conducive position that can support learning process. The school or learning institution should be position or built in places free from excess noise

Cause and effect essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cause and effect - Essay Example As a result, ocean waves travels out from the epicenter of the earthquake which rushes landward to the shorelines where the water was recently lowered. The huge ocean wave that strikes the shorelines causes flooding, destruction and disease. Tsunamis cannot be prevented despite its destructive nature. The first effect of the huge ocean waves caused by the tsunami is excessive flooding. The flooding caused by tsunami will literally submerge everything on its path. Tsunamis cause flooding due to the sheer volume of water carried by its massive ocean waves. The ocean waves that go to the lowered shorelines are so huge that it could tower as tall as 1720 feet just like when it struck at Lituya Bay in Alaska in 1958. This huge amount of water brought by the tsunami immediately floods the nearby inlands where the waters were temporarily lowered and subsequently submerges everything on its path. The flooding could submerge an entire community depending on the size of the ocean waves that st ruck the shoreline. The stronger the ocean floor movement and the nearer the shoreline to the epicenter, the larger the ocean waves are causing excessive flooding. The second effect of a tsunami is the deadly push of the ocean wave that will destroy everything on its path. ... The massive waves that characterize tsunamis can be a â€Å"wave train† or a series of powerful waves that would race toward shorelines making its destructive nature exponential by the multiples of its waves (www. Geology.com). Its strength can literally wipe out a community on the shoreline that will strike. This includes human beings, animals, trees and even structures. A strong tsunami is so destructive that it can even damage structures that are designed to withstand strong waves. The third effect of tsunami is disease. After the water of the tsunami has ebbed, it will leave rotting bodies of living things it drowned and plenty of contaminated water that could potentially precipitate an epidemic in the affected area. The diseases that the tsunami aftermath will range from skin diseases to more lethal diseases such as malaria that could potentially make the entire community sick if the disease is not attended. Tsunamis are indeed very powerful forces of nature that is very destructive and frightening. Its aftermath can leave diseases to the community it affected that could potentially make everyone sick. Also, the amount of energy accumulated in the bottom of the ocean that drive the waves of tsunamis are so powerful it can destroy anything that stands on its path. The power of its waves is terrifying because it can kill people and other living things in multitudes. Not even strong structures can withstand the power of a tsunami because it can destroy such structures like as the case of Fukushima plant that was supposed to be protected by a tsunami wall. The huge waves and massive amount of water wrought by a tsunami could flood the communities near the shoreline of its epicenter that could

Discuss how two authers use language to extend their meaning Essay

Discuss how two authers use language to extend their meaning - Essay Example Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street" tells the story of a man called Bartleby, who develops a passive resistance to his employer. The employer feels it so difficult to cope with his employee's decision to disobey his master's orders. The tragedy arises from Bartleby's reluctance and inability to find out the reasons for his passive rebellion, and the employer's failure to understand and accommodate the reasons for Bartleby's resistance. Critics have given numerous interpretations for this work. Some have tried to interpret this work as a criticism of the psychological effects of capitalism in its 1850s form. Other critics argued that it is a parable of human condition in general. Any way the modern readership of the story is largely due to its capability to generate various interpretations. These various interpretations happen due to the numerous meanings that the words can bring to the readers. This can be done most perfectly by introducing an unreliable narrator. The narrator in Melville's story, the lawyer serves this purpose beautifully. Many critics remarked about Melville's use of this unreliable narrator. Lawyer himself admits that he is a man of assumptions, and his prejudice prevents him, in many occasions, to give the accurate details of the events. After some initial events, like the lawyer's description of Turkey's unpredictable behavior, it is clear for the reader that they need to interpret everything that the narrator tells. This gives a wide opportunity and scope for the readers. The narrator's final statement, "Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity" (Melville 2006), is considered as the most controversial statement in the story. Some traditional critics interpreted it as the statement of a fraud, who fails to measure Bartleby's essence or a sensitive penetration of a sensible man to the essentiality of meaning. These contrasting definitions points out to the language of Melville, which gives numerous interpretations to the readers. When referring to Moby-Dick, James Guetti has opined that Melville's language is "pervasive, special and artificial kinds of languageserve to draw our attention to the limitations of such language" (Guetti 1967). As in The Metamorphosis, a metamorphosis is seen through out the story is the case of language. This linguistic metamorphosis suggests the change of lawyer's attitude towards Bartleby at the very crucial juncture when Bartleby's passivity becomes a threat to the professionalism of the lawyer. At this point, the language of the lawyer to describe Bartleby becomes stronger than before. Now "apparition", or a harmless ghost changes to "incubus", or an usurper. (Melville 2006). There are many symbols that Melville used in the story, which turns out to be motifs rather than symbols. One such symbolism is the finding of the narrator that Bartley has earlier worked with the dead-letter office: "Dead letters! does it sound like dead man" (Melville 2006). The dead letters have many symbolisms. It acts as a metaphor of hard work and toil of the then emerging middle-class. Wall is another recurrent symbol used in the story. The office room, located at Wall Street, has walls outside when viewed through all the windows. Bartleby has a habit of staring blankly at the walls. The wall is a symbol for the psychological imprisonment of Bartleby. These symbols of failed communication represent

Hospital- Acquired Infections Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hospital- Acquired Infections - Research Paper Example Researches have been launched to investigate for probable predisposing factors of HAI as well as the possible mitigation measure that can be put in place to control this disaster. This article will focus on the impact of HAI, its possible causes, and the measures being put in place in an effort to control it. As a result of the increase in cases of HAI, the medical sectors have launched various research programs as a strategy to come up with permanent solutions to solve this problem. Statistical researches have established the extent of occurrence of these Nosocomial infections. The most affected regions include the United States, Italy, France, United Kingdom and Switzerland. For example, in the USA, the center for Diseases control and prevention reported that about 1.7 billion of individuals had contracted this kind of infection (CDC, 2010). Of this number, about one hundred thousand are reported to die each year. According to medical literature, the most common HAI include Pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and bloodstream diseases (Plowman, 1). The most commonly affected individuals include the workers in hospitals, the patients admitted in these hospitals, and visitors who often come to see their inpatients. This has resulted in a large financial burden in the economy of the affected states. The Prevention epicenter program was launched by the Center for Disease and Control Prevention to research on HAI (CDC, 1). This research group has pulled a lot of efforts to establish the predisposing factors and the possible measures that can be implemented to control this calamity through following a scientific research approach. For instance, it has explored the biology of microorganisms that are commonly related to these infections. To kick off this disaster, the first step involves the establishment of the predisposing factors. Predisposing factors refer to

How democratic is the electoral college, based on the principals and Essay

How democratic is the electoral college, based on the principals and philosophies of the Framers of the Constitution - Essay Example In a bid to achieve this objective, USA has had various ways of electing the president. General elections and the electoral colleges are the main avenues for identifying or selecting the president. In every presidential election, the two methods are used (Dahl, 2001). However, the Electoral College method usually supersedes the general election method, that is, a person with the majority of votes from the general election may fail to be the president on the basis of the Electoral College method. The Framers of the American Constitution settled on the Electoral Colleges method as a way of deciding the winner of a presidential election amidst it flows. It is important to understand how democratic the Electoral College method is within the selection of a president. This would include how the framers would evaluate the Electoral College on the basis of their founding philosophies and writing. In addition, it is important to understand what the framers would think about American governmen t today and the intentions they had as well as the objectives and aims that they (framers) wanted to accomplish in establishing a new nation. Lastly, a deeper understanding of this concept would require a comparison of the theories and structures in the classical era with those in present day realities concerning the Electoral College. ... The constitution as prepared by the framers does not reflect their views, intentions, and accomplishments as highlighted later in this discussion. It is an event that whereas the framers would have wanted an American society where the executive is selected by encrypted electors, the reality is that the American executive is selected by the manipulated, partisan, political agents, and non-representative electors. The framers would view the American government as not only undemocratic but also formed on the basis of any protected interests. Electors are usually appointed by the states in correspondence to the number of senators and other legislative representatives (Williams, 2011). It is believed that the appointment of the electors aims at protecting the interests of the smaller states, which on the basis of the framers is against the bill of rights entrenched within the constitution. Proponents for the removal of the electoral system argue that the government is formed for the peopl e and not the states (Dahl, 2001). Besides, this was the main intention and objective of the framers. The objective of the framers in entrenching the Electoral College system within the selection of the president was to have men and women of virtue and outstanding characters to select the president. Many individuals such as James Madison continue to believe that the apportionment of the electors within the Electoral Colleges goes beyond the protection of American citizens as entrenched within the Bill of Rights (Williams, 2011). One question that James Madison asks is whether the less populated states have additional rights or interests that make them entitled to special protection against the unequal representation. In this question, it

HOW CAN MORAL RESPONSIBILITY BE ASCRIBED TO COMPUTER SYSTEMS Research Proposal

HOW CAN MORAL RESPONSIBILITY BE ASCRIBED TO COMPUTER SYSTEMS - Research Proposal Example Aside from this, a computer system is only helpful if its functions well and with ample amount of security. By this, it has a system that works the way it is as it is expected to work that way and be much reliable (Bace, 2000, p.29; Forester and Morrison, 1993). In other words, a computer system is created to maximise its benefits. We can actually see this happening now. Below are some actual observations we can associate with a computer system and its various benefits it offers to the humanity. Today, wherever we go, we always encounter highly systematic and computerized services, gadgets and other related technologies. Starting with our private and personal needs, many of them are now integrated with computer systems. Our mobile phones for instance, are designed with high ability to function based on a complex computerised system. Mobile phones for instance, have been revolutionised into smartphones with various features aside from their basic functions. With smartphones, we can co nnect to the whole world; extend our social networks and make it live wherever we go; we can shop in abundance or initiate business and conduct other related transactions; we can download and upload almost everything at anytime with all convenience and more. These are just some added features we can encounter with a highly innovative smartphones today aside from the very basic features of calling and sending or receiving short message service (SMS). For online access, we can even connect it anytime and almost everywhere to Wi-Fi zones and fast-speed internet broadband connections, which also perform at their best via assistance of a computer system. In addition to meeting our personal needs, the design of musical gadget such as iPods can play music and do more complex tasks with the use of simple features and commands, all are made possible because of intricate and powerful design of a working computer system. Furthermore, we can withdraw and transfer money from anywhere because of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) working online, 24 hours a day in a week, which allow us to insert our ATM cards designed to function in perfect compatibility with various banking machines. In fact, our banking transactions can even be made more complex as one could now initiate cross-banking services, all because of the upgraded computer system. Without any question, we now rely on a computer system our very crucial transactions like these. We might be unconscious about it, but we gave in to the promise of computer system into our lives, to the extent that we trust that our confidentiality will have a high value of assurance. In fact, various businesses offering service and product offerings are now depending their entire transactions on a computer system in order to meet the demand for more convenience, profitability and tough competition for gaining competitive advantage. As the world transforms and as the lifestyles of many change, we tend to rely on the capability of a computer system in order to aid our life for convenience and other substantial benefits it could possibly offer us. In addition, for various health services, we also depend on

How democratic is the electoral college, based on the principals and Essay

How democratic is the electoral college, based on the principals and philosophies of the Framers of the Constitution - Essay Example In a bid to achieve this objective, USA has had various ways of electing the president. General elections and the electoral colleges are the main avenues for identifying or selecting the president. In every presidential election, the two methods are used (Dahl, 2001). However, the Electoral College method usually supersedes the general election method, that is, a person with the majority of votes from the general election may fail to be the president on the basis of the Electoral College method. The Framers of the American Constitution settled on the Electoral Colleges method as a way of deciding the winner of a presidential election amidst it flows. It is important to understand how democratic the Electoral College method is within the selection of a president. This would include how the framers would evaluate the Electoral College on the basis of their founding philosophies and writing. In addition, it is important to understand what the framers would think about American governmen t today and the intentions they had as well as the objectives and aims that they (framers) wanted to accomplish in establishing a new nation. Lastly, a deeper understanding of this concept would require a comparison of the theories and structures in the classical era with those in present day realities concerning the Electoral College. ... The constitution as prepared by the framers does not reflect their views, intentions, and accomplishments as highlighted later in this discussion. It is an event that whereas the framers would have wanted an American society where the executive is selected by encrypted electors, the reality is that the American executive is selected by the manipulated, partisan, political agents, and non-representative electors. The framers would view the American government as not only undemocratic but also formed on the basis of any protected interests. Electors are usually appointed by the states in correspondence to the number of senators and other legislative representatives (Williams, 2011). It is believed that the appointment of the electors aims at protecting the interests of the smaller states, which on the basis of the framers is against the bill of rights entrenched within the constitution. Proponents for the removal of the electoral system argue that the government is formed for the peopl e and not the states (Dahl, 2001). Besides, this was the main intention and objective of the framers. The objective of the framers in entrenching the Electoral College system within the selection of the president was to have men and women of virtue and outstanding characters to select the president. Many individuals such as James Madison continue to believe that the apportionment of the electors within the Electoral Colleges goes beyond the protection of American citizens as entrenched within the Bill of Rights (Williams, 2011). One question that James Madison asks is whether the less populated states have additional rights or interests that make them entitled to special protection against the unequal representation. In this question, it

Verbal Art Essay Example for Free

Verbal Art Essay â€Å"All literacy practices can be considered creative.† Discuss.(2000 words)Prior to any discussion on the topic, it is imperative that the definitions for the key terms are given so as to ensure complete clarity.Literacy practices refers to â€Å"people’s everyday practices of producing and interacting with texts.† (Papen and Tusting, p312) This can include basic and tedious practices such as filling in forms, to more interesting practices such as writing a newspaper article, or composing a song perhaps.Creativity refers to â€Å"making something which is new, which did not exist before the creative act,† or â€Å"making something which is original, which is unlike things that have been made before. † (ibid, p.315) While the term is particularly fluid and open to different interpretations, this definition will suffice here for the purpose of this assignment.Although there are various approaches to the study of creativity – Carter (2004, cited in Maybin, p. 414) coined the term inherency model for creativity relating to the â€Å"formal aspects of language as an abstract system of sounds, grammar and meaning† – for the purpose of this paper, Carter’s second identified approach to understanding creativity in language – the sociocultural model – will be utilised. In this model, creativity in language is seen as determined to a greater or lesser degree, by social, cultural and historical factors.Studying specified texts and drawing out elements of creativity, in for an example a poem, is a specific task with a specific purpose, and is generally something pupils may do in school, but the real creativity, as highlighted by Camitta (Papen and Tusting: Reading A), is the collaborated effort to create a poem, song or rap purely for personal reasons.In her case study over three years at a Philadelphia high school, Camitta studied varieties of literacy among students who believed that â€Å"writing is central to transacting social relationships,, to making meaning out of their lives, and that the act of writing signals that the truth is being told about them.† (Camitta, cited in Papen and Tusting, p332) For them writing was an active form of self-expression, much similar to music, dance, and drawing. The types of texts they produced were vernacular – unofficial and closely related to culture, and as such, collaboration and performance were central processes to producing the texts. The author, in his/her free time, would read out or perform their text – be it rap, song, poem, letter – to an audience, who  would then collaborate and suggest changes. This highlights the author’s creativity in the first instance, but also the creativity of the audience. As is evident, this is quite different to the classroom setting, as these are texts that the collaborators can make suggestions about for changes which will actually lead to amendments, as opposed to commenting on set-in-stone texts. Context is an important factor in creating creative literacy practices. Camitta’s study focused on pupils who were constrained to a degree by the need to be in certain places at certain times, and hence had to fit their writing around that, but there are people who are much more constrained, and in that sense, their creativity is much more astounding. Wilson’s research focused on prisoners’ use of creativity. While the Philadelphia high school students used language as a form of self-expression, and also for play and innate creativity, Wilson states that â€Å"the vast majority of innovation in the prison setting is used not for play, humour or dalliance, but in order to â€Å"keep your mind† †¦ â€Å"and to encourage a sense of mental agility in a world designed to reduce everything and everyone to conformity and orthodoxy.† (Wilson Papen and Tusting, Reading B, p.341)Wilson goes on to highlight an important factor, that creativity and language are situated and contextualised by the environments, spaces, times and cultures in which they are located. In the case of the prisoners, their creativity was evident in the spatial and material forms as well. Spatially the prisoners formed a â€Å"third space† for themselves, which was separate from the prison and the â€Å"outside,† in which to â€Å"live† out their sentence. (Wilson, 1999, p.20) In terms of material creativity, Wilson gives examples of pressing mugs against heating pipes, using the toilet bowl for communication, hiding notes inside tennis balls, and â€Å"swinging lines.† (Wilson, Reading B, in Papen and Tusting, p.344) In terms of creativity in literacy practices, prisoners write letters, poems and raps, in a sense similar to the high school pupils. The difference here is that their literacy practices are a result of the â€Å"third space,† i.e. to retain a sense of individual identity and a â€Å"desire and need to maintain a sense of self agent and not just as subject to other people’s desires and rules.† (Papen and Tusting, p.322).â€Å"The possibilities associated with a setting do not determine what is created within any given context; but they do shape what is possible.† (Papen and Tusting, p.320) With this in mind, the reader’s  attention is not turned to a different type of affordances and constraints â₠¬â€œ that relating to new technologies.Bodomo and Lee (2002, cited in Papen and Tusting, p.323) claim that new forms of language and literacy emerge from the introduction of new communicative tools and media,† which in turn give way to the introduction of techno jargon, literary jargon and new types of digital literacies. The literacy practices associated with new technologies can be categorised into two concepts of creativity as outlined by Kress (2003, p.36). The first is the concept of ‘transformation’, which is the way â€Å"the producer of a text can alter and adapt the forms of signs within a mode in relation to their needs and interests† (Kress, cited in Papen and Tusting, p.323). This can be found in modern literacy practices such as emailing or texting. The use of emoticons is an altering and adapting of signs to create a new meaning in a situation where the texter/emailer is constrained by the symbols available to him via the keyboard/keypad, for example, when a colon and a closed bracket are put together thus: : ) they produce: ï Å  a smiley face.Kress’ second concept is that of ‘transduction’ which â€Å"refers to the moving of ‘semiotic material’ across modes, where meaning that was originally configured in one (or several) modes is moved across to a different one† (Kress, cited in Papen and Tusting, p.323). Papen and Tusting cite the example of the students in Reading A, who â€Å"performed† the poems they wrote, changing from the written to the oral mode. Another very clear example is that of online chatting. Friends usually make plans to meet up in the evening at the local McDonalds for example, but now via internet chat rooms and other forms of internet relay chat (e.g. MSN, Skype), friends can virtually meet up with each other while individually remaining in their own homes. Speech becomes writing, and in many cases still has the feeling of verbal communication, for example with the use of certain greeting words, acronyms, code switching, etc. The author’ has her own experiences of transduction as three of her brothers live abroad and her main communication with them, although previously was via face-to-face or telephone conversations, is now via computer-mediated-conversations. It becomes immediately apparent to her if one of their spouses is pretending to be a brothe r and is chatting to her from their use of language and the individual creativity inherent in it. Although the examples above highlight literacy practices that are constrained through the medium (for  example, the limited number of symbols on a keyboard/keypad), new technology also offers many affordances for the user. In the practice of ‘blogging,’ â€Å"blogs can include visual and other material, producing a kind of virtual scrapbook† (Maybin, p.266), thus drawing on the affordances offered by the Internet. Maybin comments on the dialogic nature of blogging (page 269); in the blog ‘The Story of an Aspiring Romance Writer’, the author’s posts are answered by other ‘bloggers’, who discuss the points raised and provide support and feedback for the author. One act of creativity present in this type of feedback and response is â€Å"the dialogic construction of the self† (Maybin, p.269), which is â€Å"the shaping of self in the course of responding to others† (ibid). Collaboration – discussed previously in the paper plays an important role in this particular literacy practice. Creativity also exists in the chosen medium of a literacy practice; for instance, advertising in Katutura is written on whatever material is to hand, whether it is wood, cardboard or on the wall of a house. Papen notes â€Å"creativity here has a material aspect† (p.352); this is clearly evident in Colour Figure 10, which is an example of heteroglossic diversity; this sign contains not only a multitude of voices, but also a multitude of genres. The phrase â€Å"Just find me here anytime†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is deliberately informal, even friendly in nature. It implies that the owner is an easygoing person, ready to help whenever is most convenient for his customer. This contrasts with the final line, â€Å"Thank you so much for your cooperation†, which adopts a typically business-like ‘official’ voice. Papen sees this sign as containing â€Å"a bricolage of genres and registers† (p.352) that is the result of â€Å"some careful thinking and creative approp riation of a new language† (ibid). There may be some parts of speech, or literacy practices, which are seen as creative â€Å"in the moment†, but perhaps not deemed creative later on, because there is no knowledge of what went before or after or the context. (Maybin, p.415). A poignant example of this is the author’s mother who came to England from India in her teens with very little knowledge of English, verbal or written. A very clear memory remains of shopping lists on the fridge door. In terms of â€Å"material creativity,† as discussed previously, the shopping list is not at all Indian in nature, and most people in India probably do not write them, but having come to England, the author’s mother was creative in that she adopted this simple practice for herself.  Furthermore, bearing in mind her little knowledge of English, instead of writing in her mother-tongue Gujarati, she would write in English, in her Indian scroll, spelling items the way she heard them: shugr, bred, weetbiks, e tc. The statement at the heart of this paper was: â€Å"All literacy practices can be considered creative.† The approach taken to explore this was the sociocultural model which allowed certain aspects to have a bearing on literacy practices, such as collaboration, performance, context, transformation, and transduction, highlighting that cultural and social change have caused creativity within literacy practices, but it would be a gross misjudgement here to fail to acknowledge that writing and literacy are also causal factors in the process of social change.Crystal distinguished between amateur and ‘professional’ users and uses of playful language. Amateur creativity is in the form of everyday language in riddles, jokes, limericks, playful uses of accents and dialects, nonce words in popular songs and sayings, while ‘professional’ creativity refers to language play in the work of headline and advertising copy-writers, professional collectors of ludic langu age, comedians and writers of humorous texts. (Crystal, in Carter, R. p.72) Regardless of which of these a literacy practice fits in to, as Papen and Tusting highlight: â€Å"There is an argument that all meaning-making processes have a creative element† (p.315). Furthermore, if one thinks about â€Å"language as [†¦] a system that is constantly created and re-created, changed and adapted, then creativity even at this level turns into a normal event.† (Papen and Tusting, p.324)Hence, as a final note, one may state, that every literacy practice, whether for personal pleasure, or for needs, in open and also restricted contexts, to more or lesser degrees are indeed creative.. Bibliography †¢ Carter, R. (2004), Language and Creativity: The Art of Common Talk, London Routledge.†¢ Kress, G. (2003), Literacy in the New Media Age, London and New York Routledge,†¢ Maybin, J. (2006) â€Å"Locating Creativity in texts and practices† in Maybin, J Swann, J. (eds) The Art of English: Everyday Creativity, Palgrave Macmillan, The Open University. †¢ Maybin, J. (2006), â€Å"Writing the self† in Maybin, J Swann, J. (eds) The Art of English: Everyday Creativity, Palgrave Macmillan, The Open University. †¢ Maybin, J. Swann, J. (eds) (2006), The Art of English: Everyday Creativity, Palgrave Macmillan, The Open University.†¢ Wilson, A. (1999), â€Å"Researching in the  third space – locating, claiming and valuing the research domain,† in S. Goodman, T. Lillis, J. Maybin and N. Mercer (eds), Language, Literacy and Education: A Reader, London, Trentham.