Thursday, October 31, 2019

Demonstration Speech Explain and define how the game of Rugby is Essay

Demonstration Speech Explain and define how the game of Rugby is played - Essay Example During the 19th century, rugby was considered as one of the different versions of football played by the English public schools of the UK. The signature mark of the game of rugby, which is, running forward with the ball, was innovated only in the latter half of the 19th century. As record goes, the first written rules for playing rugby were produced by the Rugby School in 1845. Describing the rules of the game of rugby, the most important thing in the game is to handle the ball. Biscombe and Drewett (2010) have made it very clear in the beginning of their book: â€Å"All rugby players need good ball-handling skills to cope with the various demands of the attacking game: running with the ball, passing and catching at actual game speed, also called pace.† Keeping the possession of the rugby ball is of utmost significance if the rugby player wants to take full advantage of any attacking position. In order to further understand the various laws of rugby, it is important to know the structure of the rugby field. The rugby pitch is a 100 metres long and 69 to 70 metres wide grass field. The sidelines of are called touchlines. It includes two in-goal areas each of which is 10 to 22 metres deep. The front area is a try line while its back is a dead ball line. Goal posts are located on the try line. Other important lines on the rugby pitch are: The game of rugby starts with the tossing of a coin that determines the team which will kickoff first. Each of the two teams consists of 15 players – 8 forwards and 7 backs. The kicker from the team that wins the toss sets the ball on the ground and starts the match on the referee’s whistle by kicking the ball high and short to the opposing forwards. If a receiving team’s forward catches the ball successfully, then he will try to advance the ball running into the opposition. During this chase, there is a continuous effort of the opposing team

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Homosexuality Defaces the Bible Essay Example for Free

Homosexuality Defaces the Bible Essay Alright, I’d just like to start by saying thank you to everybody for coming tonight – I really appreciate it – and for being interested in learning more about this subject. I also want to thank College Hill United Methodist for graciously agreeing to host the event. My name is Matthew Vines, I’m 21 years old, and I’m currently a student in college, although I’ve been on leave for most of the last two years in order to study the material that I’ll be presenting tonight. I was born and raised here in Wichita, in a loving Christian home and in a church community that holds to the traditional interpretation of Scripture on this subject. Just to offer a brief outline for this presentation: I’ll start by considering some of the broader issues and divisions that are behind this debate; and then I’ll move to a closer examination of the main biblical texts that are involved in it; and then I’ll offer some concluding remarks. The issue of homosexuality, of the ordination of gay clergy and of the blessing of same-sex unions, has caused tremendous divisions in the church in recent decades, and the church remains substantially divided over the issue today. On the one hand, the most common themes voiced by those who support changing traditional church teaching on homosexuality are those of acceptance, inclusion, and love, while on the other hand, those who oppose these changes express concerns about sexual purity, holiness, and most fundamentally, the place of Scripture in our communities. Are we continuing to uphold the Bible as authoritative, and are we taking biblical teachings seriously, even if they make us uncomfortable? I want to begin tonight by considering the traditional interpretation of Scripture on this subject, in part because its conclusions have a much longer history within the church, and also because I think that many who adhere to that position feel that those who are arguing for a new position haven’t yet put forth theological arguments that are as well-grounded in Scripture as their own, in which case the most biblically sound position should prevail. The traditional interpretation, in summary form, is this: There are six passages in the Bible that refer in some way to same-sex behavior, and they are all negative. Three of them are direct and clear. In the Old Testament, in Leviticus, male same-sex relations are prohibited, and labeled an â€Å"abomination. † And in the New Testament, in Romans, Paul speaks of women â€Å"exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones,† and of men abandoning â€Å"natural relations with women and committing shameful acts with other men. † And so according to the traditional interpretation, both the Old and the New Testament are consistent in their rejection of same-sex relationships. But it’s not just those three verses, as well as three others that I’ll come to later. It’s true that 6 verses isn’t all that many out of Scripture’s 31,000. But not only are they all negative, from the traditional viewpoint, they gain broader meaning and coherence from the opening chapters of Genesis, in which God creates Adam and Eve, male and female. That was the original creation – before the fall, before sin entered the world. That was the way that things were supposed to be. And so according to this view, if someone is gay, then their sexual orientation is a sign of the fall, a sign of human fallenness and brokenness. That was not the way that things were supposed to be. And while having a same-sex orientation is not in and of itself a sin, according to the traditional interpretation, acting upon it is, because the Bible is clear, both in what it negatively prohibits and in what it positively approves. Christians who are gay – those who are only attracted to members of the same sex – are thus called to refrain from acting on those attractions, to deny themselves, to take up their crosses and to follow Christ. And though it may not seem fair to us, God’s ways are higher than our own, and it’s not our role to question, but to obey. Within this framework, gay people have a problem, and that is that they want to have sex with the wrong people. They tend to be viewed as essentially lustful, sexual beings. So while straight people fall in love, get married, and start families, gay people just have sex. But everyone has a sexual orientation – and it isn’t just about sex. Straight people are never really forced to think about their sexual orientation as a distinctive characteristic, but it’s still a part of them, and it affects an enormous amount of their lives. What sexual orientation is for straight people is their capacity for romantic love and self-giving. It’s not just about sexual attraction and behavior. It’s because we have a sexual orientation that we’re able to fall in love with someone, to build a long-term, committed relationship with them, and to form a family. Family is not about sex, but for so many of us, it still depends upon having a companion, a spouse. And that’s true for gay people as well as for straight people. That is what sexual orientation means for them, too. Gay people have the very same capacity for romantic love and self-giving that straight people do. The emotional bond that gay couples share, the quality of love, is identical to that of straight couples. Gay people, like almost all of us, come from families, and they, too, long to build one of their own. But the consequence of the traditional interpretation of the Bible is that, while straight people are told to avoid lust, casual relationships, and promiscuity, gay people are told to avoid romantic relationships entirely. Straight people’s sexuality is seen as a fundamentally good thing, as a gift. It can be used in sinful or irresponsible ways, but it can also be harnessed and oriented toward a loving marriage relationship that will be blessed and celebrated by their community. But gay people, though they are capable of and desire loving relationships that are just as important to them, are told that, for them, even lifelong, committed relationships would be sinful, because their sexual orientation is completely broken. It’s not an issue of lust versus love, or of casual versus committed relationships, because same-sex relationships are intrinsically sinful, no matter the quality and no matter the context. Gay people’s sexual orientation is so broken, so messed up that nothing good can come from it – no morally good, godly relationship could ever come from it. And so they are told that they will never have a romantic bond that will be celebrated by their community; they are told that they will never have a family. Philippians 2:4 tells us to look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. And in Matthew 5, Jesus instructs that if someone makes you go one mile, go with them two miles. And so I’m going to ask you: Would you step into my shoes for a moment, and walk with me just one mile, even if it makes you a bit uncomfortable? I am gay. I didn’t choose to be gay. It’s not something that I would have chosen, not because it’s necessarily a bad thing to be, but because it’s extremely inconvenient, it’s stressful, it’s difficult, and it can often be isolating and lonely – to be different, to feel not understood, to feel not accepted. I grew up in as loving and stable of a family and home as I can imagine. I love my parents, and I have strong relationships with them both. No one ever molested or abused me growing up, and I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive and nurturing childhood than the one that I had. I’ve never been in a relationship, and I’ve always believed in abstinence until marriage. But I also have a deeply-rooted desire to one day be married, to share my life with someone, and to build a family of my own. But according to the traditional interpretation of Scripture, as a Christian, I am uniquely excluded from that possibility for love, for companionship, and for family. But unlike someone who senses a calling from God to celibacy, or unlike a straight person who just can’t find the right partner, I don’t sense a special calling to celibacy, and I may well find someone I grow to love and would like to spend the rest of my life with. But if that were to happen, following the traditional interpretation, if I were to fall in love with someone, and if those feelings were reciprocated, my only choice would be to walk away, to break my heart, and retreat into isolation, alone. And this wouldn’t be just a one-time heartbreak. It would continue throughout my entire life. Whenever I came to know someone whose company I really enjoyed, I would always fear that I might come to like them too much, that I might come to love them. And within the traditional interpretation of Scripture, falling in love is one of the worst things that could happen to a gay person. Because you will necessarily be heartbroken, you will have to run away, and that will happen every single time that you come to care about someone else too much. So while you watch your friends fall in love, get married, and start families, you will always be left out. You will never share in those joys yourself – of a spouse and of children of your own. You will always be alone. Well, that’s certainly sad, some might say, and I’m sorry for that. But you cannot elevate your experience over the authority of Scripture in order to be happy. Christianity isn’t about you being happy. It’s not about your personal fulfillment. Sacrifice and suffering were integral to the life of Christ, and as Christians, we’re called to deny ourselves, to take up our crosses, and to follow Him. This is true. But it assumes that there’s no doubt about the correctness of the traditional interpretation of Scripture on this subject, which I’m about to explore. And already, two major problems have presented themselves with that interpretation. The first problem is this: In Matthew 7, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns against false teachers, and he offers a principle that can be used to test good teaching from bad teaching. By their fruit, you will recognize them, he says. Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Good teachings, according to Jesus, have good consequences. That doesn’t mean that following Christian teaching will or should be easy, and in fact, many of Jesus’s commands are not easy at all – turning the other cheek, loving your enemies, laying down your life for your friends. But those are all profound acts of love that both reflect God’s love for us and that powerfully affirm the dignity and worth of human life and of human beings. Good teachings, even when they are very difficult, are not destructive to human dignity. They don’t lead to emotional and spiritual devastation, and to the loss of self-esteem and self-worth. But those have been the consequences for gay people of the traditional teaching on homosexuality. It has not borne good fruit in their lives, and it’s caused them incalculable pain and suffering. If we’re taking Jesus seriously that bad fruit cannot come from a good tree, then that should cause us to question whether the traditional teaching is correct. The second problem that has already presented itself with the traditional interpretation comes from the opening chapters of Genesis, from the account of the creation of Adam and Eve. This story is often cited to argue against the blessing of same-sex unions: in the beginning, God created a man and a woman, and two men or two women would be a deviation from that design. But this biblical story deserves closer attention. In the first two chapters of Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth, plants, animals, man, and everything in the earth. And He declares everything in creation to be either good or very good – except for one thing. In Genesis 2:18, God says, â€Å"It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. † And yes, the suitable helper or partner that God makes for Adam is Eve, a woman. And a woman is a suitable partner for the vast majority of men – for straight men. But for gay men, that isn’t the case. For them, a woman is not a suitable partner. And in all of the ways that a woman is a suitable partner for straight men—for gay men, it’s another gay man who is a suitable partner. And the same is true for lesbian women. For them, it is another lesbian woman who is a suitable partner. But the necessary consequence of the traditional teaching on homosexuality is that, even though gay people have suitable partners, they must reject them, and they must live alone for their whole lives, without a spouse or a family of their own. We are now declaring good the very first thing in Scripture that God declared not good: for the man to be forced to be alone. And the fruit that this teaching has borne has been deeply wounding and destructive. This is a major problem. By holding to the traditional interpretation, we are now contradicting the Bible’s own teachings: the Bible teaches that it is not good for the man to be forced to be alone, and yet now, we are teaching that it is. Scripture says that good teachings will bear good fruit, but now, the reverse is occurring, and we say it’s not a problem. Something here is off; something is out of place. And it’s because of these problems and these contradictions that more and more Christians have been going back to Scripture and re-examining the 6 verses that have formed the basis for an absolute condemnation of same-sex relationships. Can we go back, can we take a closer look at these verses, and see what we can learn from further study of them? What are these 6 verses? There are three in the Old Testament and three in the New Testament, so I’ll go in order of their appearance in Scripture. In the Old Testament, we have the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 as well as two prohibitions in Leviticus 18 and 20. And in the New Testament, we have a passage by Paul in Romans 1, as well as two Greek terms in 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1. To begin, let’s look at Genesis 19, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 18, God and two angels come in the form of men to visit Abraham and Sarah at their tent alongside the Dead Sea. Abraham and Sarah do not yet realize who they are, but they show them lavish hospitality nonetheless. Halfway through the chapter, God – now beginning to be recognized by Abraham – tells him â€Å"[t]he outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. † Abraham’s nephew, Lot, and Lot’s family, live in Sodom, and so Abraham bargains with God, and gets Him to agree not to destroy the city if He finds even 10 righteous people there.

Friday, October 25, 2019

A Structuralist Reading of Austens Sense and Sensibility Essay example

A Structuralist Reading of Austen's Sense and Sensibility The fundamental structural dynamic underlying the whole manifested universe, much less literature, is duality; therefore, Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility is easily analyzed from the structuralist perspective. Each of us is a complex mixture of polar opposites, the most primary of which being the division between right brain and left brain, or, more commonly, "heart and mind." Austen's technique in this novel is that of eliminating altogether the corpus callosum, thus juxtaposing the two halves into a "binary opposition," a split between the heart that throbs and exults and the mind which ascertains and evaluates. Marianne is, of course, the heart of the novel, Elinor the mind. Moreover, the remaining characters, too, fall within one of these two categories. I have arranged the most important figures of the novel in this way: SENSE SENSIBILITY Elinor Marianne Edward Mrs. Dashwood Lucy &nbs... ...novel can stand alone from its constituent elements, to be used and reused again and again by simply replacing different characters, different circumstances. Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund is a perfect example. In this novel, the exact same dualism of heart and mind is explored (and far more interestingly, in my opinion) in the experiences of the two title characters. In closing, it must be stated that there are certainly other structural dichotomies within the novel, contrasts of high and low which bisect the lateral distinctions upon which I have focused. These involve the shifts in social stations experienced by various characters such as Elinor, Marianne, Lucy, and Edward. These are, however, secondary to the primary theme, the seemingly impassable, yawning chasm which separates those with sense from those possessed by mere trivial sensibility

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Innocent drinks Company Essay

â€Å"Innocent drinks† is company that selling famous drinks in The United Kingdom which started by 3 Cambridge students in 1999. This is a drink that makes with 100 percent pure and natural fruit juice. Smoothies are the primary product of â€Å"Innocent drinks† and people are aware of it due to its healthy image. The company provides different product range and the distribution of channels covered most of the supermarkets, coffee shops and etc. For every year â€Å"Innocent drinks† will donate 10 percent of their profits to charity and this called The Innocent Foundation. This foundation has helped a lot of people. This report will analyses the process of â€Å"Innocent drinks† from 1999 to 2013. 1.Organization Structure There are many types of organization structure, for example, hierarchical structure, matrix structure and etc. For different structure, it has different result, management and objective. â€Å"Innocent drinks† was a small business in very competitive markets which is fit to entrepreneurial structure. The advantages of this structure are that the core team can make decisions quickly and for the members they can give some ideas to the core team and solve the problem that they are facing. â€Å"Innocent drinks† started from entrepreneurial structure and turned to hierarchical structure after few years. The reason of â€Å"Innocent drinks† turned into another structure is because they cannot satisfy their needs. They want to make themselves to be more famous and to earn more profit. â€Å"Innocent drinks† thinks that hierarchical structure has a good scale that can separate into different departments to achieve specialization. This can let the employees know what spot they are doing and they can exert their abilities. For example, in marketing they can help to promote the product or to think of a new design to attract the customers to buy it. When every department do well in the way they have to, it is easy for â€Å"Innocent drinks† to manage and achieve expected target like turnover. Ownership According to Finance maps of world ( 2012 ), â€Å"Business ownership means having the control over business enterprise and being able to dictate is functioning and operations.† From the beginning of â€Å"Innocent drinks† there were created by three Cambridge students who are Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright. They used 500 pounds to set up this business with  partnership. The advantages of having a partnership are they can share the responsibility and operate for the common goal of making a profit. On the other hand, partnership lack of finance to expend so â€Å"Innocent drinks† decided to turn into private limited company in 2007 and it can separate legal identity, which can safeguard the operation of business and the company can debt more money from the bank it is because â€Å"Innocent drinks† can be a mortgage. Moreover, being a private limited company can have the purchase discounts and this can save some money for the company. Two years later, â€Å"Innocent drinks† has sold 18 percent of the company to Coca Cola which means that Coca Cola has the right to operate â€Å"Innocent drinks†. In 2013, Coca Cola has fully control â€Å"Innocent drinks† with 91 percent share. This cause that â€Å"Innocent drinks† has only a small minority holding. Hence, â€Å"Innocent drinks† turned into consultancy business which can only provide ideas and services. Growth Investopedia ( 2013 ) point out that â€Å"Growth is an increase in the capacity of an economy to produce goods and services, compared from one period of time to another.† Since the market change rapidly â€Å"Innocent drinks† has to create new type of product to cater the needs of the customers. From the beginning, â€Å"Innocent drinks† has only 3 recipes to almost 30 more over the years. The juice ranges of â€Å"Innocent drinks† started from the original taste and evolve to mixed taste. The product ranges is different, including kid, smoothie and thickies. For example, kid drinks are specially made to provide all the essentially vitamins to sustain their growth. In this product, â€Å"Innocent drinks† has made a different design and size to cater the needs children. 2.Reason of growth There are few reasons why â€Å"Innocent drinks† can be grown rapidly. Firstly, advertising. â€Å"Innocent drinks† has different advertisement on the television and for each advertisement it will represent their main product and shows that â€Å"Innocent drinks† never sweetened and never concentrated. The use of the advertisement is to build up a healthy image of â€Å"Innocent drinks† so that the customers will start considering to purchase this product. Secondly, PJ’s smoothies is the main rival of â€Å"Innocent drinks†. PJ’s smoothies has changed the image and increased price because it wants to be a  premier brand. While PJ’s smoothies increased its price, it lost some loyal customers at the same time. â€Å"Innocent drinks† might be cheaper than PJ’s smoothies, therefore, this cause more customers to choose â€Å"Innocent drinks†. Finance is another factor that enhances the growth of â€Å"Innocent drinks†. In 2004, the annual profit is 968000 pounds and it increases to 3066000 pounds in 2005. 3.Business strategy Business strategy is a business plan that takes place long-term in order to help achieve a specific goal or objective. Christina C (N.D.) The company analyzes the external and internal business environment before making an accurate decision. SWOT and PESTLE are the planning methods to evaluate the company. Strengths – â€Å"Innocent drinks† products are highly competitive because it made with 100 percent pure fruit juice and high quality and low price these are the advantages over the rivals. Weaknesses – distribution channels are small and weak brand reputation compare to other drink companies. Opportunity – â€Å"Innocent Drinks† serve the expectation of producing 100% fruit drinks and change the consumer tastes because the new products can attract their attention. Moreover, the company expands the market including target elderly. This is a unique area that preferable than other competitors. Threats – weather, the weather might affect the quality of the fruits and the transport and â€Å"Innocent drinks† has many rival, for example, PJ’s smoothies, Pepsi and Tropicana. Political – The government is very concerned about health and safety. â€Å"Innocent drinks† has to list out the ingredient on the product because it has to protect the consumer. Economic – Since inflation and the increase rate of unemployment will affect the confidence of consumers. Therefore, they tend to buy a cheaper brand instead of ‘Innocent Drinks’. Moreover, the economic condition also influences the company. For example, the high costs of purchasing ingredients and the taxation. Social – education, nowadays people are more concerned about their health therefore they will choose to buy a drink that is healthy for them, for example, 100 percent pure fruit juice and without any sugar. For population, â€Å"Innocent drinks† has not o nly targeted the adults and kids but also the elderlies. Furthermore, â€Å"Innocent drinks† will strengthen their brand through the advertisement, establish the healthy image in the society. Technological – affect the production level of  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Innocent drinks† because of the innovative technology. It leads to producing the juice efficiency and reduce the productive average costs by economies of scale. Moreover, the advance of technology can improve the communication flow which is beneficial of making accurate decision. Furthermore, the use of technology is helpful for ‘Innocent Drinks’ to recycle the bottles. Legal – minimum wage, for the company of â€Å"Innocent drinks† they have to sign a contract with every worker to protect their pay. Environmental – the trend of the world. The earth is facing global warming which makes â€Å"Innocent drinks† decided to recycle the plastic bottles to save the world

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Human Evolution by C.M. Davenport Essay

Since time immemorial, numerous researchers have been done to explain the mechanism by which humans were able to evolve from being ordinary, defenseless creatures in the Eastern African savanna to being the world’s most advance and high-functioning biological creatures that have ever walked on Earth. Scientific findings suggest that the aforesaid transition was characterized by a decision of our earliest human ancestors to leave their four-legged existence on trees and convert to a bipedal lifestyle on the terrestrial landscape. Such transition, which can be said to be one of the most dangerous yet most essential part of human anthropology, was driven by climatic changes in the African region. Consequently, changes in the general atmospheric conditions affected the vegetation and ecological properties of the ancient human surroundings. Scientists speculate that prior to the climatic alterations which is around ten million years ago, the East Africa was heavy forested and catered to a great diversity of tree-dwelling primates. Unfortunately, the end of the Miocene Epoch or around five million years ago, marked the start of the of the arid, grassland condition. These changes have encouraged primates to go down from the trees and convert to a two-legged manner of walking on the African plains. This transition was not easy because the early human ancestors had to face a multitude of predators on land including leopard, hyenas and lions. However, although this was the case, the need to look for food and other forms of nourishment that were no longer present in their original habitat was greater than the impending dangers they were likely to face. Hence, climate changes have commanded the onset of the start of human civilization by allowing early primates to convert to bipedalism and terrestrial living. Next to bipedalism, early human ancestors had to acquire certain bodily adaptations in order to make them fit to their new surroundings. Body adaptations included changes on speed and gait, acquisition of large buttock muscles and longer legs for running and sitting efficiency, evolution of larger body size, better vision, achievement of a sense of balance on body controls and other locomotory functions, and a more complex brain structure, physiology and function. These changes allowed early human ancestors to escape from predators and be able to gather food for nutritional survival. In this case, the author evidently placed much emphasis on the discussion of the running endurance of human ancestors. It was mentioned that along with the other adaptations, the ability to run from predators is also a very notable skill of the primates that allowed them to dominate the natural selection process. Increase in lung capacity, development of the heel bone and arched foot, ability to sweat were some of the changes that permitted running efficiency. Obviously, expansion of lung capacity accounted for a more organized breathing pattern during running activities while the heel bone and arched foot permitted improved upright position for running and load-carrying. The ability to sweat, on the other hand, is presumed to render more benefits to primates aside from thermoregulation. Reports suggest that sweat of early human ancestors were similar to the properties of the modern genetic disorder trimethylaminuria, a condition that makes a person produce sweat that smells like strong decaying fish odor but not decaying human or animal flesh (Davenport n. p. ). The chemical compound producing the odor is flavin monoxygenase 3 enzyme (FMO3) and analysis of this compound from present trimethylaminuria reveal that FMO3 has undergone molecular modifications thereby allowing the persistence of the disease from subsequent human generations. However, chemical rearrangements of FMO3 are also suspected to be the reason why sweat of humans today does not elicit the same kind of smell of the early primates, an event that is presumed to be a part of their survival strategies. Lastly, the acquisition of human intelligence was the final step in the human evolution process. The complex development of bodily functions for running endurance have also allowed for the creation of cells for specialized physiological, and neurological properties. After this, it was not long before behavioral skills were obtained and furnished. And after about five million years, the world witnessed the emergence of the modern human species equipped with all the necessary physical and mental adaptations that allowed them to be favored by natural selection and win against the other primal families. Consequently, the evolution of humans is characterized by a myriad of factors which are yet to be fully investigated and explained but all the findings we have today are enough to conclude that humans must value the properties that we have today because our ancestors have done so much effort just to let us achieve our present stature. Evolution is continuously happening and we will never know if conditions in the past will repeat themselves. Hence, everyone must continue to hone their skills and adapt with the changes of the environment in order to prevent ourselves from being selected against natural selection and for us to continue our dominance on this world.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Divorced beheaded survived Essay Example

Divorced beheaded survived Essay Example Divorced beheaded survived Paper Divorced beheaded survived Paper The pain from losing a beloved one Is In fact an Inevitable part of being alive. As much as we want to avoid it, the faint line between death and life is something we human beings have to learn how to live with. Robin Blacks short story: Divorced, Beheaded, Survived from 2010 portrays the life of Sarah before and after the tragic death of her brother. As Sarah is struggling with the difficulty of coping with her brothers death, she slowly draws closer to the essentials of the passage of life. Doubleday dealing with the plan of the loss of our loved ones Is tough and heart wrecking, but Is It possible to live on without a proper confrontation or closure of your grief? The storyline follows the protagonist Sarah through her mental progress of accepting the death of her brother, Terry. The emotional aspects in the story are exemplified through the twisted chronology consisting of Sarahs present life and flashbacks from her childhood. Black uses Sarah childhood home In Massachusetts as a contrast to show traces of Sarahs mental state of denial. WTFO my own children, that long- collected backyard is only part of grandmas and grandpas house, where we go for Thanksgiving, for the Christmas with Lyes folks in al- 52-53). It is shown here how the old backyard which used to hold a lot of importance for Sarah, her brother and their friends, has become a incidental place for annual occasions to her kids. This line emphasizes how Sarah has not passed on her Joyful memories to her kids as a result of her lack of confrontation about her late brother. The protagonist has still not fully processed her sorrow and she is therefore not capable f have her children involved in her own childhood. Also it is seen that Sarahs past still has a tremendous impact on her present life, as she speaks about the age gap between herself and Terry, comparing it to the amount of ages between her children Mark and Coco. The fact that she keeps intertwining past memories with her adult life throughout the storyline express that she Is still Incapable of letting go. Her present Is still muddled with the pain of the past. Later on Sarah reaches a significant turning point of her life, as a friend of her son, Mark, passes away in an accident. Sarah starts to see similarities between her son and herself, and slowly step-by-step she starts to open up about the details of the death of Terry. All the hurtful memories are reaching the light of day as Sarah for the first time In her life starts treating her long-hold sorrow. l took my son by the hand, into my room. Opened the dresser drawer and there he was, smiling out from above the softly folded scarves, the empty fingers of my own gloves seeming to want to hold him there. It was hard, I said to Mark, as he lifted the picture toward his face. There is no secret answer. It was terribly, terribly hard. (p. 5, II. 159-163). Near the end of the story, the amount of flashbacks and comparisons are reduced, as brother everyday, while feeling a little guilty, not only is her wound slowly healing, but Sarah draws closer to the understanding of life and death. It isnt only discomfort of disloyalty I feel, its the fact of utter disappearance after death. The idea that as loved as we may be, we may also be forgotten. If only for a day here and there. 4, II. 127-130). To bring the plot to a closure Black frames his short story with a last flashback about Sarahs near non-existent relation to her childhood friend, Molly Dunham. With this flashback Sarah finally understands how the thirty years without any confrontation has not been an essential way of coping with her pain, which could be one of the many messages of the story. Another message could be interpreted from the phrase where Sarah tries to convince herself that it is within human nature to keep on living. Maybe its a gift to be able to let go of the remembering. Some times. Some things. (p. 4, II. 155-156). With this phrase Black tells the readers that life goes on no matter what, and one should not be guilty about not thinking about the dead all the time, instead one should focus on holding on the Joyful memory and live life to its fullest. Another symbolic feature that lies within the choice of chronology and structure is the swift between present and past. It is a showcase for Sarahs past intertwining with her everyday life as a symbol of her incapability to let go. The title of the short story is Divorced, beheaded, survived which is the last part of a well-known phrase used to remember the six wives of king Henry 8th. The title itself is mostly explicit in the beginning and in the end of the story. Firstly as a memory of a fine day where Sarah, Terry and a couple of friends decides to act out the drama of king Henry 8th, then in another flashback from Sarahs high school days where they learn about king Henry 8th in history class. In many ways the title is sufficient to the plot and also from symbolic aspects. The phrase could be interpreted as a connection to the death of Terry. Intentionally the author chose to use the last part of the phrase as the title instead of the first. The only difference between the two parts is the fact that the word died is replaced with survived, Sarahs brother died by the hands of sickness, but because of all the memories that Sarah holds so dearly, Terry, still survived and he is therefore still alive in the heart of his sister. Judging from the essence of Robin Blacks short story, as much as life is filled with full and happy moments, all the dark sides like loss and death is something that is unavoidable. Death is part of life and the opposite. The sooner you realize it and start accepting those inevitable facts of the living the sooner you can free yourself from the endless cycle of grieving. For the protagonist, Sarah, the process of coping with her loss took decades, but luckily she realized that the only way out of the wilderness was to accept the fact that life goes on and our lost ones will always be alive in our hearts, even if we do not think of them every moment of our lives.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The popularity of Credit Derivatives first came into play at the early 1990s The WritePass Journal

The popularity of Credit Derivatives first came into play at the early 1990s Introduction The popularity of Credit Derivatives first came into play at the early 1990s IntroductionCredit Derivative OverviewStructure of Credit DerivativesThe significance of Credit DerivativesCredit Derivatives and the Financial CrisisCredit Derivatives Regulation Conclusion References Related Introduction The popularity of Credit Derivatives first came into play at the early 1990s, when Demchak (Team leader at JP Morgan, responsible for creating CDO’s) and his team have invented these financial instruments (Eisinger 2008). After the failure of the Bretton woods system in 1971, the economy faced a stable state with low interest rates. Banks struggled for profits with a low demand for loans. In these financial circumstances, banks lacked methods that avoid them from bankruptcy, and guarantee that they could survive independently and remain solvent on the collapse of the economy. Credit derivatives were born of such concern, allowing bankers, and others, the ability to reduce their risk by selling risk to other parties (Ayadi, Behr 2009). This paper gives a general overview on the concept of credit derivatives. In its opening section, this paper introduces credit derivatives definition, structure, and its usefulness in the financial market will be introduced. The essay then goes o n to review the existing credit derivatives markets regulation and explains the need to regulate these markets in light of the recent financial crisis. Although credit derivatives may have beneficial effects, but it can only be obtained if credit derivatives are used responsibly by all market participants. This essay will argue that the current regulatory regime is not sufficient to induce market participants to use credit derivatives in a desirable way. Credit Derivative Overview Credit derivatives are financial contracts that effectively shift credit risk, or the default risk, from one party to another. In so doing, for example, Paula Tkac (2007) describes that if participants default on their bond payment, the bond value decreases. The credit derivative, consequently, transfer this credit risk to another market participant for a specific periodic payment. Credit derivatives have achieved a marvelous growth throughout the past decades. According to the British Banker’s Association (BBA), the global outstanding notional volume of credit derivatives was 180 billion USD in 1996. After a decade, the market size of derivatives had increased 112 times the previous size in 1996 with a 20 trillion USD of derivative contracts. Only 2 years later, by mid-year 2008, and as it is shown in the figure 1 below, the fair value of the outstanding amount of credit derivatives was 53.3 trillion USD, reflecting the continuous growth of this market.(Ayadi ,Behr 2009) Structure of Credit Derivatives Credit derivatives can be categorized as portfolio credit derivative (single name) or asset backed security (multiname) (Mengle 2007). The most popular single-name derivative is the credit default swap â€Å"CDS†.   Shah Gilani (2008) illustrates that this is a contract that provides insurance from default risk of a specific party. This party is known as the reference entity and the default risk is identified as a credit event. In a CDS, the buyer of the insurance obtains the right to sell bonds issued by the party for their face value when a default takes place; also, the seller of the insurance agrees to buy the bonds for their face value when the default occurs (Gilani 2008). This face value is known as the CDS notional principal and the periodical payment the buyer of the CDS pays is known as the credit spread (Gilani 2008).   On the other hand, the most popular asset backed derivative is the collateralized debt obligation (CDO). This derivative is created by packaging a pool of similar assets or loans into one single investment that can be traded (Mengle 2007). When a CDO is purchased, the investor ends up with a basket of bonds. This portfolio of bonds generated an income that is used to provide a promised return to tranches. (Mengle 2007) The significance of Credit Derivatives According to David Mengle (2007), credit derivatives came out in response to two traditional problems facing the banking system. First, taking a short position in credit was not possible. Thus, a lender cannot fully insure the safety of the loan from default. Second, diversification of credit risk was difficult to achieve and became a problem in the financial market. Given such problems, the only way to enhance the financial world is by the creation of the credit derivative market. These derivatives helped banks to buy ‘protection’ (insurance) through allowing banks to sell credit and hedge their exposure to credit losses. Moreover, using the single-name derivative CDS do not require any permission from the reference entity (Gilani 2008). Therefore, Mengle   (2007) believes that the second problem can be solved when lenders hedge and reduce their exposure to risky investments, and by that they achieve diversification. Particularly, Ayadi and Behr (2009) researched and found out that the increased use of hedge funds provided an essential source of liquidity in credit derivative markets. This helped banks in reducing their credit risk by allowing them to transfer assets and credit risk off their balance sheets. Also, it improves their liquidity by providing secondary markets for credit risk. (Ayadi, Behr 2009) Credit Derivatives and the Financial Crisis It is often argued that the flip side of credit derivatives played a major role in the collapse of the financial market. First of all, critics of credit derivatives, such as Tim Weithers (2007), claim that risk transformation ballooned systematic risk, given the difficulty of identifying participants holding the credit risk. Some complain that the CDS notional amount accounting requirements worsen the credit crisis for many financial institutions (Partnoy 2009). Yet, supporters, such as David Mengle (2007), counter that if banks had properly valued their risk exposures at the beginning, they would avoid crash when crisis hit. Second, the argument that credit derivatives increase overall risks by transforming credit risk to less experience with less regulation institutions makes an implicit assumption that government regulation automatically leads to more cautious risk-taking (Partnoy 2009). But this argument ignores the potential moral hazard associated with such an assumption. David Mengle (2007) illustrated that where he believed that unregulated institutions are not protected by the government, such institutions are likely to have incentives to manage credit exposures. (Mengle 2007) Nevertheless, in almost twenty years, credit derivatives have expanded from nothing into a $54.6 trillion market. Nicholas Varchaver, senior editor and Katie Benner, writer-reporter (2008) found that this increase is because an investor does not have to own a bond to buy a CDS on it anyone can place a bet on whether a bond will fail. Indeed, they believed that the majority of CDS now consists of bets on other peoples debt. But, and on the contrary, this problem occurred due to the lack of financial regulation. The supporters of the credit derivatives believe and agree with other critics that these risk financial contracts led to a financial collapse (Mengle 2007). However, the unregulated area of the credit derivatives led to misusing these instruments. For example, during President Clinton phase, the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretaries started regulating banks to lend to the poor more (Partnoy 2009). They expected Banks to loosen their lending standards. Yet, Banks undertook investment banking. Specifically, Banks started lending to people whose credit history was suspect and who couldn’t afford mortgage payment (Partnoy 2009). Thus, credit derivatives were used in a wrong manner and led to the deterioration of the financial market. Credit Derivatives Regulation There has been high level of concern with respect to what regulatory steps should be taken to use credit derivatives properly. Ayadi and Behr (2009) have demonstrated several methods that help in regulating credit derivatives properly. First, companies and banks should provide higher transparency through additional reporting requirements. Second, systemic risk should be reduced through the creation of central counterparties (CCPs) for standardized contracts. Finally, banks should impose higher capital requirements for at least some of the market. Yet, these regulations do not mean that credit derivatives are safe from improper use. For example, the creation of CCP’s concentrates the risk in a small number of institutions and creates institutions that are too big to fail. Moreover, high transparency has an impact on market quality and in particular on market liquidity. Madhavan (1995) studied the relation between the market and the availability of trading information to market investors. He shows that fragmented markets are highly demanded by some market participants where their trades are unknown. Madhavan (1995) also shows that greater transparency reduces price volatility. Conclusion Credit derivatives are financial instruments used for credit risk management purposes. The structure of these derivatives enhanced the world financial market and provided a safer investment for banks especially. However, these complex derivative contracts have led to the recent economic collapse. The regulation measures included a lot of mistakes and have lead to the fact that financial institutions created such complex CDO’s and sold them without fully understanding them. Also, the availability of unregulated areas helped in misusing credit derivatives. The true purpose of derivatives was for managing risks and not blind speculation. Thus, if simple derivatives such as put, call options, interest swaps and futures are used wisely, they can be used in productive, safe means. In conclusion, the financial market is exposed always to new participants with new mentalities. Therefore, regulating credit derivatives will not avoid financial crisis in the future if there are no strict control on new participants entering the field. References Ayadi, R. Behr, P. 2009, On the necessity to regulate credit derivatives markets, Journal of Banking Regulation, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 179-201. British Bankers Association. (2006) Credit Derivatives Report 2006. London, September. Eisinger, Jesse. The $58 Trillion Elephant in the Room. Credit Derivatives Role in Crash. 15 Oct. 2008. Conde Nast Portfolio. 10 Mar. 2009 portfolio.com/views/columns/wall-street/2008/10/15/Credit-Derivatives-Role-in-Crash. Gilani, S. 2008, The Real Reason for the Global Financial Crisis the Story No One’s Talking About, Money Morning, moneymorning.com, vol. 18. Madhavan, A. 1995, Consolidation, fragmentation, and the disclosure of trading information, Review of Financial Studies, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 579. Mengle, D. 2007, Credit derivatives: An overview, Economic Review, , no. Q4, pp. 1-24. Partnoy, F. â€Å" Derivative Dangers†, Fresh Air, NPR, March 25, 2009 Tkac, P. 2007, Preface- Credit Derivatives: Where’s the Risk?, Economic Review, , pp. v-vii. Varchaver, N. Benner, K. 2008, The $55 trillion question, Fortune Magazine, vol. 30. Weithers, T. 2007, Credit derivatives, macro risks, and systemic risks, Economic Review-Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 92, no. 4, pp. 43.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Bilateral Trans-Scaphoid Perilunate Fracture Dislocation

Bilateral Trans-Scaphoid Perilunate Fracture Dislocation BILATERAL TRANS-SCAPHOID PERILUNATE FRACTURE DISLOCATION OF THE CARPUS. (CASE REPORT) Abstract: Trans-scaphoid perilunate fractures-dislocations are rare lesions. They occur in a high-energy trauma. The concomitent lesion of both wrists is exceptional. We report a case of bilateral trans-scaphoid perilunate dislocated wrist fracture in a 21-year-old man. The dislocation was treated by opened reduction and fractures by internal fixation. The functional outcome was satisfying after two years of follow-up. Introduction: Trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations are relatively uncommon. 1 These are the most common form of the complex carpal dislocations 2,3 causing marked disruption of the carpal anatomy. Time from injury to treatment (delay in treatment), anatomic classià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ cation, and open or closed nature of the injury are the major factors that determine the clinical outcome in trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations. 4,5 Late presentation combi ned with missed diagnosis often causes critical delay in the treatment of these injuries. If the acute phase is missed, then some authors recommend alternative procedures such as wrist arthrodesis and proximal row carpectomy which are relatively mutilating surgeries that leave a significant functional deficit. 4,6,7 The acute phase is defined as the first week after injury, whereas the delayed phase is the period between the seventh and 45th day and after 45 days the injury is said to be in the chronic phase. 4 We report the case of a patient who referred to our department two weeks after the initial trauma with bilateral dorsal trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations of the carpus. Anatomic reduction, percutaneous pin fixation of the carpus and fixation of scaphoid fractures of both wrists were performed by opened reduction under fluoroscopic control. Presentation of case: A 21-year-old, right-hand-dominant man sustained an isolated injury to his both wrists after a fall from a height of approximately 4.5 m. The carpal injuries of both wrists were missed initially and both wrists had been bandaged for two weeks after the trauma. He was referred to our department two weeks later with increasing pain. The patient reported that he fell on his outstretched hands with both wrists in extension. Both wrists were deformed in marked dorsiflexion, painful, swollen, and tender to palpation, with limitation of movement. The patient complained of paresthesia in both of his hands. On physical examination, meticulous cutaneous sensory mapping was performed of both hands to determine the area of decreased sensation. This was done with the use of the sharp end of a paperclip while applying a constant pressure. This revealed minor numbness in the median nerve distribution area of both hands (thumb, index, middle finger, and the radial side of the ring finger). The two-point discrimination was normal on both sides. The mobility of the fingers was normal but pai nful, and there was a slight decrase in grip strength of both hands. Motor power in abductor pollicis brevis and opponens pollicis muscles was full (5/5) on both sides. The Tinel’s sign was negative over the carpal tunnel in both sides. The findings of the patient led us to think that there is not any condition like acute carpal tunnel syndrome due to fracture-dislocation.We thought that the numbness of the patient was due to temporary traction injury of the median nerve caused by dislocation on both sides. The vascular status was normal on physical examination. Study of the anteroposterior, oblique and lateral plane radiographs showed that the patient had bilateral dorsal trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations of the carpi ( Fig. 1 ). According to the classification described by Herzberg et al., the fracture-dislocations were trans-scaphoid as path of trauma and Stage 1 as displacement of capitate on both sides. 4 The patient was informed about his pathology and a dvised to undergo surgery. If possible the patient’s preference was closed treatment. Therefore, we initially recommend closed reduction and percutaneous fixation. However, if this was not possible or in the situation of a failure we informed him about the open procedure. Under general anesthesia, a closed reduction was attempted with traction manoeuvre described by Tavernier 8 under fluoroscopic control. The reduction was not satisfactory,we opted for the open reduction by posterior approach.After anatomical reduction was achieved, intercarpal fixation was applied to carpal bones using three K-wires. The first K-wire was applied to scaphoide- lunate, the second K-wire was applied to- lunate-triquetrum and the third K-wire was applied to capitatum-lunate. After the procedure, reduction and fixation of carpal bones was confirmed under fluoroscopy. The same procedure was repeated for the other wrist. We noticed that the scaphoid fracture was reduced spontaneously along with t he reduction of the carpal bones. So we performed   fixation of the left scaphoid fracture using a 3.5 mm mini Acutrak headless compression screw through the fracture line from a dorsal-proximal to a volar-distal direction. Intraoperative fluoroscopic control confirmed anatomic reduction of the scaphoid fracture.. Finally, standard radiograms were obtained and both wrists were immobilized in a short arm cast ( Fig. 2 ). The patient noted complete relief of symptoms the day after surgery. The pain and the paresthesia that the patient complained preoperatively was relieved dramatically and the function recovered. The post-operative period was uneventful. Four weeks after surgery, the casts and the K-wires were removed. New casts were applied for another 4 weeks when union was visible on radiographs. The casts were removed eight weeks after surgery. There was radiographic evidence of union of the scaphoid on the left side, but on the right side radiography revealed delayed union of the scaphoid. The patient subsequently underwent 3 months of intensive range-of-motion and muscle-strengthening exercises. Intermediate clinical and radiographic examinations were performed 6 and 12 months after surgery. At the two-year follow-up, the radiographs showed normal carpal bone relationships on both sides, complete union of the scaphoid on the left side(Fig.3). Wrist motion on the left side was excellent with 70 ° of palmar flexion, 80 ° of dorsiflexion, full supination and pronation, full radial and ulnar deviation. The right wrist could achieve 60 ° of palmar flexion and 70 ° of dorsiflexion, full supination and pronation, but with a mild decrease in radial and ulnar deviation. The grip strength of the right hand was 30 kg while that of the left side was 38 kg, measured with the Jamar dynamometer (J.A. Preston, Jackson, Michigan) . Fig.3 Right wrist and Left wrist anteroposterior and   lateral view after two-years. At the two-year follow-up, the patient was symptom-free concerning median nerve functions. The patient was free of pain on the left side. On the right side there was mild pain with wrist motions due to non-union of the scaphoid.The patient was able to perform activities of daily living and he had returned to all of his previous activities. The functional outcome was good on the left side, with a Mayo wrist score of 80/100. The functional outcome was satisfactory on the right side, with a Mayo wrist score of 65/100. Radiographs of both wrists revealed no evidence of radiocarpal or midcarpal arthritis. No osteonecrosis of the lunate or the scaphoid was evident. The lunate position was correct, without signs of instability. Anatomic relationships of the carpal bones were maintained. Discussion Carpal fracture-dislocations are rare injuries; thus their classification and treatment are rather difficult. Osseous variants of this injury are common; the trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocation constitutes 61% of all perilunate dislocations and 96% of fracture-dislocations. 4 The trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocation is an uncommon injury sustained due to force transmission through a hyperextended wrist. 9,10 These injuries may be easily overlooked or misdiagnosed. 4 After a delay in diagnosis of several weeks or months, the clinical prognosis is poor compared with injuries that are treated acutely. 11 According to the classification described by Herzberg et al., we initially diagnosed our patient in the delayed phase. 4 Regarding the literature, the management of such injuries in case of delayed presentation is rare. 12,13 Dislocation in this region requires rapid realignment, as untreated perilunate dislocation will lead to serious secondary damage. 13,14 Perilunate fracture-dislocations are high-energy injuries, produced by wrist hyperextension. 3,15 There is disruption of the palmar capsuloligamentous complex, starting radially and propagating through the carpus in an ulnar direction. 3,15 This dislocation takes a transosseous route through the scaphoid resulting in a trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocation. 10 In trans-scaphoid perilunate dislocations the fractured scaphoid is the initial destabilizing factor of the carpus. 16 Regarding the literature, we believe that the mechanism of injury in our patient was fall from a height on the outstretched hands. Treatment options currently used for perilunar instability patterns include closed reduction and cast immobilization, closed reduction and percutaneous pinning, and open reduction. As the awareness of the anatomy and biomechanics of these injury patterns has evolved, authors have tended toward treatment approaches that attempt to repair the injured intrinsic and extrinsic carpal ligaments, that is, open techniques. 4,8,11 Most authors agree that closed reduction is the initial treatment of choice for trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations. 2,8,17 In addition, treatment often r equires intercarpal fixation within the proximal carpal row. Most authors have agreed that the key to a good clinical result in the management of trans-scaphoid perilunate dislocation is the anatomic union of the scaphoid and the restoration of proper alignment of the carpal bones. 17 In this case, we prefer a opened reduction and intercarpal fixation with K-wires, as well as screw fixation of the scaphoid, because we didn’t achieve a good fracture alignment after closed reduction . Gellman et al. suggested that anatomical reductions of the scaphoid, as well as the mid-carpal joint, and the restoration of the articular surface of the lunate are the most important aspects determining the prognosis. 11 An open reduction further increases the risk of a scaphoid blood supply interruption, whereas percutaneous screw fixation of the scaphoid minimizes this risk. 3,17,18 In addition, a rigid fixation with a percutaneous screw can also reduce the immobilization period and allow for an earlier rehabilitation. Acutrak screw fixation allows earlier discontinuance of the cast than K-wire fixation. In our case, the range-of-motion exercises of the wrist were started earlier after the initial operation. The nonunion rate was relatively higher in the series that were treated by closed reduction. 19,20 In our case study the radiographs obtained two years after surgery revealed a non-union of the right scaphoid. We believe that the delay in treatment and maybe the malrotation of the scaphoid that we overlooked on the initial radiographs led to the interruption of the blood supply which was possibly responsible for the non-union of the scaphoid. Despite the non-union of the scaphoid, the functional outcome of our patient was satisfactory, with mild pain, good range of movement and good grip strength. Similarly, Herzberg et al. 4 reported that unsatisfactory radiographs did not equate to a poor clinical outcome. We planned to perform open reduction and internal f ixation with grafting for the non-union of the right scaphoid. Conclusion As the injury have led bilateral dorsal trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations,  we therefore recommend minimally invasive techniques if an anatomical closed reduction and  a percutaneous rigid fixation of the scaphoid is achieved on the intraoperative evaluations.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Philip Kotler's experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Philip Kotler's experience - Essay Example Depending on the market and product characteristics, the competition takes place at one of the product levels. Six levels of product hierarchy with relation to certain other products are described and few possible classifications of the products listed. A notion of product mix, or assortment, is introduced and defined as a combination of all the products offered by a particular market player to its customers. It is characterized by the width, length, and consistency. Product line decisions are important for the product strategy and should be based on product-line and market analysis, considering optimal product-line length and issues of modernization, featuring and pruning. The second part of the chapter is devoted to the brand and brand decisions. Brand is a complex symbol; it identifies certain products and distinguishes them from the competition in the mind of the customer and in the marketplace. Building brand identity is extremely important as it allows the company to increase the differentiation of its products and receive price premiums. Building brand identity requires decisions on the brand's name, logo, colors, tagline, and symbol. Brand strategy decision includes choice between functional, image and experiential brand, and brand development and repositioning. Packaging and labeling are also important parts of the overall product strategy. This chapter is devoted to the marketing and management of services. ... Services can be classified as equipment-based or people-based; requiring client's presence or not; targeting personal or business need; based on the type of the service provider. Four main characteristics of the services are intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability. They influence significantly the development and implementation of the marketing strategies for the service firms and pose certain challenges. Marketing strategy elements for the services, besides traditional four Ps, include also people, physical evidence and process. Three main tasks the marketing of services should fulfill are differentiation of the offer from the competition, effective management of the service quality, and improving the employees' productivity. For goods-producing companies marketing of services is important while they sell not only the physical products but the product support services as well. The company should manage its product's life-cycle cost, and meet or exceed the customers' expectations. The offered services may be of several types: facilitating services (e.g. installation, financing, training), value-augmenting services (e.g. product warranties, trade-in allowances), postsale services (maintenance, repair etc.). The recent trends in the product support service include "service unbundling", accumulation of the maintenance services and outsourcing them to the third parties, increasing role of call centers and customer service representatives, and extended warranties. Chapter 16: Developing price strategies and programs This chapter looks in deep into price element of the marketing mix. It is of high importance

Work Schedule Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Work Schedule - Assignment Example Given this consideration, it is imperative to come up with a low cost customer service employee daily assignment schedule. The aim of this study was to utilize Linear Programing (LP) to review low- cost customer service employee assignment schedule options. The additional objectives included were to depict the necessity to test theses results for sensitivity to different constraints in order to include a number of total part time and increased labor cost due to non typical days. These models were created by the use of the Microsoft Excel solver to calculate the LP model. The variety of constraints that were included were: a minimum number of customer representatives per hour, mandatory full time shift schedules include a lunch break of one hour, a standard pay for full time and part time employees, a maximum number of total part time hours and ultimately, a requirement to minimize total wage costs (Tsogas, 2001). The results form the excel sheet indicate than scenario 3 will be the best as it is efficient and effective. This scenario allows for a minimum and a maximum number of full time employees per shift to maintain minimum levels of leadership with our customer services staff at all times, reasonable lunch and dinner will schedules and a maximum part time hours contribution of 50 percent. This will ensure a relaxation of the 50% constrain on the hours that will be worked on by part time customer service employees. Based on the requirements of the proposal to develop a minimum cost daily assignment schedule for the customer service employees at the Acme Mexico city star, the table will show a clear indication of how the LP model was developed to achieve optimal efficiency at a minimal cost to the company (DuBrin, 2009). From the table, it is evident that an integer Liner program was developed to address the labor restrictions amongst other consideration that were brought forward. The model used the develop this assignment

Ethical reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethical reflection - Essay Example Although it is unclear with respect to whether or not one or both of the twins could have survived if more timely action had taken place, it is affirmatively clear that the likelihood of one of the twins surviving could have been maximized if the hospital had the potential to perform the abortion when it was immediately required. Sadly, because of the ethical interpretation that such institutions hold onto, a baseline of help that would have been available to the patient was non-existent; further restricting the potential resources and means of address that this particular situation required. A further ethical reflection reveals the fact that even though an element of the Hippocratic Oath requires the medical professional to do no harm, they are also required to address the healthcare needs and promote life whenever possible. As can be seen, these two requirements of the Hippocratic oath, into conflict with one another with regards to the case in question. Rather than abandoning the Hippocratic Oath and attempting to forge and new ethical consideration that could address the situation at hand, it must be understood that the unique case represents a situation in which definitive action must be taken as a means of preserving the potential life that existed within the womb (Raghavan 1). By refusing the act in a time of need, the ethical burden is not only on the hospital and its staff with respect to not performing the abortion in conjunction with the parent’s wishes, it is also at fault for seeing the situation, prescribing a solution scenario, and then not addressi ng this scenario in the correct way. A further level of understanding and ethical analysis can be had with respect to the fact that the medical professionals intimately knew what was required in order for one of the fetuses to have a chance at viability; however, due to

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Personal essay on one thing I would change in the world

Personal on one thing I would change in the world - Essay Example I grew up in a small village, where I saw girls aged five or six, carrying younger siblings, and begging on the streets for food. They were dirty, unkempt and wore clothes that were little more than rags. I wondered, why their parents would not give them enough to eat, till I was told that their parents probably gave them all they had, and went hungry themselves. They lived in hovels, and often while the older children begged, the younger ones were asleep on the roadside probably having exhausted themselves crying. As I grew up, and left the village to pursue my studies in a bigger town, these images stayed with me. However, to my dismay, I found that there were more such beggars there, than I had seen in my village. It struck me then, that I lived in a poor country where poverty was a curse suffered by large numbers of the population. It was at this stage of my life, that I made up my mind to do my bit to ease the pain of these poor, unfortunate people. My parents were happy to see that I felt so much sympathy for those less fortunate than me, and encouraged me to do small things like offering food, sweets or clothes to poor people nearby on my birthday, instead of having a party for my friends. Fortunately, my school too was at the forefront of social work, involving educating those who did not have the means to go to a proper school. We students, were taken to nearby rural areas, to mingle with the villagers and understand their problems. We also sometimes helped the younger children with t heir homework, and encouraged them never to stop their schooling, because many children are forced to stop going to school, and instead help their parents out in small jobs. As I graduated from high school, I realized that the means to end poverty was education. I found that poor children were less healthy, and more prone to disease than their peers in more advantaged homes. Living in unhygienic surroundings, and never having the benefit of being educated in the

Public Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Public Health - Essay Example blishment of health care organizations such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the government has been able to provide effective guidelines to the communities. This paper seeks to identify five areas of public health guidance that are provided by NICE on type 2 diabetes. Additionally, the paper will also discuss the role of other organizations in producing the guidance as well as evaluation of the social, political, economical and environmental aspects facilitating the public health guidance. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence aims at providing national guidance to improve health and social care. Having being formed in 1999 as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, NICE is a non departmental public body that is under the department of health in UK (Sorenson et al, 2009). The renaming of National Institute for Clinical Excellence to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence came about in 2013 after the passing of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. NICE undertakes it duties by three notable ways. First, it embarks on providing evidence based guidance as well as advice for health to the social care practitioners and public health officials (Blustein, 2006). Secondly, NICE engages in developing quality standards and metrics that are used by those providing social care services and public health. Thirdly, the organization provides a range of information that across the spectrum of health care services. Since it was established in 1999 as National Institute for Clinical Excellence as indicated earlier, NICE has provided wide range of advice of effective as well as good value healthcare. During the month of April 2013, NICE was provided with a new duty that entailed providing guidance for the individuals working in a social care. Apart from encouraging healthy living to United Kingdom residents, NICE guidance emulates the necessary standards for quality health care (Boseley and Sparrow, 2008). Some of

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Ethical reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethical reflection - Essay Example Although it is unclear with respect to whether or not one or both of the twins could have survived if more timely action had taken place, it is affirmatively clear that the likelihood of one of the twins surviving could have been maximized if the hospital had the potential to perform the abortion when it was immediately required. Sadly, because of the ethical interpretation that such institutions hold onto, a baseline of help that would have been available to the patient was non-existent; further restricting the potential resources and means of address that this particular situation required. A further ethical reflection reveals the fact that even though an element of the Hippocratic Oath requires the medical professional to do no harm, they are also required to address the healthcare needs and promote life whenever possible. As can be seen, these two requirements of the Hippocratic oath, into conflict with one another with regards to the case in question. Rather than abandoning the Hippocratic Oath and attempting to forge and new ethical consideration that could address the situation at hand, it must be understood that the unique case represents a situation in which definitive action must be taken as a means of preserving the potential life that existed within the womb (Raghavan 1). By refusing the act in a time of need, the ethical burden is not only on the hospital and its staff with respect to not performing the abortion in conjunction with the parent’s wishes, it is also at fault for seeing the situation, prescribing a solution scenario, and then not addressi ng this scenario in the correct way. A further level of understanding and ethical analysis can be had with respect to the fact that the medical professionals intimately knew what was required in order for one of the fetuses to have a chance at viability; however, due to

Public Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Public Health - Essay Example blishment of health care organizations such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the government has been able to provide effective guidelines to the communities. This paper seeks to identify five areas of public health guidance that are provided by NICE on type 2 diabetes. Additionally, the paper will also discuss the role of other organizations in producing the guidance as well as evaluation of the social, political, economical and environmental aspects facilitating the public health guidance. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence aims at providing national guidance to improve health and social care. Having being formed in 1999 as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, NICE is a non departmental public body that is under the department of health in UK (Sorenson et al, 2009). The renaming of National Institute for Clinical Excellence to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence came about in 2013 after the passing of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. NICE undertakes it duties by three notable ways. First, it embarks on providing evidence based guidance as well as advice for health to the social care practitioners and public health officials (Blustein, 2006). Secondly, NICE engages in developing quality standards and metrics that are used by those providing social care services and public health. Thirdly, the organization provides a range of information that across the spectrum of health care services. Since it was established in 1999 as National Institute for Clinical Excellence as indicated earlier, NICE has provided wide range of advice of effective as well as good value healthcare. During the month of April 2013, NICE was provided with a new duty that entailed providing guidance for the individuals working in a social care. Apart from encouraging healthy living to United Kingdom residents, NICE guidance emulates the necessary standards for quality health care (Boseley and Sparrow, 2008). Some of

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Setting up a business - new business case study questions Essay Example for Free

Setting up a business new business case study questions Essay AO1: Knowledge AO2: Application and analysis: developing your explanation and using examples relevant to Josefs business. Explain two ways in which a bank can help a new business such as Josefs (4 marks) The first way in which a bank can help Josef is by giving him a loan of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10,000 to help him to set up his business, there are many start up costs ie: equipment and computers that he will need to cover and it is important that he has enough money. Another way they can help is by offering advice; the bank can appoint a small business advisor as Josef is a young, inexperienced small business owner, they can help him with financial issues, keeping records and taxes. Would completing a business plan make sure that Josefs business was successful? Give reason for your answer. (9 marks) AO1: Kn. 1 mark AO2: App 2 marks (explain and developing your point, with examples relevant to Josefs business AO3 / AO4: Evaluation: Justify (give reasons) your ideas. Drawing up a business plan would certainly help Josefs business but it does not guarantee its success. It is important for Josef to put together a plan as it helps him realise everything that needs to be done, for example, all the different market research and promotions. He will also put together forecasts for cash flow and budgets and this will help him foresee any problems so therefore he can organise an overdraft for that time. The business plan will certainly help him obtain a loan which will allow him to invest the money into developing his service and keeping ahead of the competition this will help him be successful. On the other hand the business plan may not be accurate and could lead to bad decision making. The banks may not have faith in his business idea and may not lend him money, therefore not having cash in his business to cover all his start up costs. More importantly he may not run the business very well and this will lead to many problems further down the line. I think a business plan is very important to guide an entrepreneur but it must also be flexible and reviewed over time. Explain two reasons why someone might choose to buy a franchise from The Greenhouse (5 marks) AO1: Kn: state reasons AO2: Ap An give the benefits and provide a detailed explanation using examples from the case study As stated in the case study the Greenhouse restaurants are known for their quality food and quality service, the business is already a success and an entrepreneur maybe interested because they know the business will do well because of its excellent reputation, it is seen as less of a risk. Another benefit of owning the Greenhouse franchise is that an entrepreneur will receive training from the franchiser, much of the hard work is done in terms of marketing and design of the restaurants and menus etc this will save an entrepreneur a lot of cost and therefore allowing them to enjoy higher profit margins. Phil and Sandra are thinking of offering higher wages than those paid in other restaurants. Do you think that this is the best way to motivate staff? Give reasons for your answer. (9 marks) AO1: Kn. 1 mark AO2: App 2 marks (explain and developing your point, with examples relevant to the business) AO3 / AO4: Evaluation: 6 marks Justify (give reasons) your ideas. There are many ways in which Phil and Sandra can try to motivate their workforce to work harder. Offering higher wages is just one way and in many cases can be appropriate. Money is the main motivate for many people, especially those employed in the low wage catering industry and if wages increase your workers are less likely to leave and more likely to feel happier in the work place and work more productively. Some people view wages as an indication of their worth however many other people and theorists believe that other things are just as important, such as free health insurance, being recognised for hard work through rewards such as employee of the month and also given trust and extra responsibility. All of these are important in building confidence of your workforce and therefore an effective workforce. Although money is a motivator for some it could increase the costs of Phils and Sandras business and they maybe better off choosing other non-monetary methods to ensure they make as much profit as they can. Explain why batch production might be a better way for Connie to make cakes (5 marks) AO1: Kn: state reasons AO2: Ap An give the benefits and provide a detailed explanation using examples from the case study Connie makes different types of cakes, birthday, weddings and other occasions, if she bakes them in batches than it will be more efficient as it can save on costs ie: cooking fuel. It will also save a lot of time as baking one individual cake at a time would take much longer than if they were baked in batches. Being more efficient will save money and help connie make more profit.

Monday, October 14, 2019

The Basic Tourism System Tourism Essay

The Basic Tourism System Tourism Essay Fennell defined tourism as the interrelated system that includes tourists and the associated services that are provided and utilized facilities, attractions, transportation and accommodation to aid in their movement (Fennell, 1999). 2. Tourism Defined Tourism, according to the Oxford dictionary, is the theory and practice of touring or travelling for pleasure. According to Leiper (1979) the foundations of tourism are thought to have Greek origins, with the term describing a circle, reflecting a key component of tourism, returning to the point of departure (Leiper, 1979: 391). The Leipers model which is also known as the basic tourism system is shown in the figure 1. Figure 1. The Basic Tourism System Source: Leiper (1995) Leiper.N. (2004) Tourism Management (3rd Edn) Frenchs Forest: Pearson p.53 A tourist, as defined by the World Tourism Authority is someone who moves away from home on a temporary or short-term basis for at least 24 hours and less than a year, it can be internal movements within a country (domestic tourism) or going to another country (international tourism) (Law, 2002: 2). McIntosh (1977) described tourism as the science, art and business of attracting and transporting visitors, accommodating them and graciously catering to their needs and wants (McIntosh and Goeldner, 1977: ix). Today, tourism is one of the worlds largest and fastest expanding industries. In 2010, the overall global tourism export exceeded US$ 1 trillion (World Tourism Organization, 2011). Tourism exports are accountable for 30% of the worlds commercial exports and as a category ranks fourth in size after fuels, chemicals and automotive products (World Tourism Organization, 2011). 2.1 Relationship between Tourism and Transportation Transport has a direct connection with the tourism industry. Progression in transportation technology has helped a lot to form the modern tourism industry we are evolving today. Since the beginning of time, people have been traveling by various modes. Tourism and transportation are inexorably linked (McIntosh et al, 1995). Without the element of transport there is by definition, no tourism. This means that, although transport contributes for only a part of the tourism business, without it there is no tourism business. However, transport is essential not only to tourism, it is also essential to the economy and indeed to society (Lockwood and Medlik, 2003). For that when we think of tourism we think of people who travels for main purpose of visiting ,that is, a particular place for sightseeing, visiting friends and relatives, taking a vacation and having a good time (Goeldner et al, 2009). These visitors will use all forms of transportation available. Furthermore, tourism is the entire world industry of travel, hotels, transportation, and all other components, including promotion that caters for the needs and wants of travelers (McIntosh et al, 1995). Thus, tourism can be seen as a whole range of individuals, businesses, organizations and places which works together in some way to deliver a travel experience (Leiper, 1979). In accordance with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism is the worlds largest industry surpassing autos, steel, electronics, and agriculture (McIntosh et al, 1995). Tourism set off important indirect development effects that improve the quality of life of citizens and enhance a countrys overall economic prospects. Crouch and Ritchie (2000) interestingly summarized (Figure 2) the various factors that together make the attractiveness of a tourist destination experience. Furthermore, they emphasized on the importance of the service infrastructure layer, which includes transport services, in the tourist destination experience. The destinations general infrastructure services in this category in fact represent one of the most important factors. The tourism phenomenon relies heavily on public utilities and infrastructural support. Tourism planning and development would not be possible without roads, airports, harbors, electricity, sewage, and potable water. The infrastructural dimension is thus a necessary element for tourism development and the factors below are all basic elements for attracting visitors to a destination. Kaul (1985) also recognizes the importance of infrastructure, more specifically transport as an essential component of successful tourism development meaning that it encourages the creation of new attractions and the growth of existing ones. Figure 2: The tourist destination experience Source: Crouch and Ritchie (2000) Transportation considered as one of the four main categories of tourism (transportation, accommodation, food and beverage services and other tourism goods and services). Dwyer and Forsyth, (1993) said that transport activities are fundamental for tourism because they provide the connection between generating and destination regions and the ability for tourists to move around the destination, that is, by making use of inland transportation services. The transport industry is also recognized as a central factor in destination development. Transportations included items such as ships, airplanes, buses, trains, limousines, taxis (Nariida et al, 2009), car traveling, (Rodrigue et al, 2009), cog railroads, aerial tramways, and similar passenger transportation facilities. Any and all of these modes may be relevant for tourism or recreational travel. Recreational facilities can include parks, stadiums, sporting facilities, and beaches. Furthermore, tourism sites are attractions for tourists as well as local residents and may include recreational facilities as well as cultural attractions (such as historical, musical, or educational facilities). Each type of recreational or tourism facility can have special and specific transportation needs (Petraglia and Weisbrod, 2004). Car traveling is usually an independent mean of transport. The driver is the one who decides where, when and how he is going to get to a destination. It is usually cheaper since roads fees are not directly paid but rather from taxes. It is the only transportation mode that does not require transfers, in the sense that the whole journey, from door to door can be achieve without even stopping (Rodrigue et al, 2009). Consumers choose cars based primarily on convenience and comfort (remote door openers, navigation systems, sound systems and cup holders) rather than maximum speed (Litman, 2007). Improving the quality of alternative modes is important for attracting discretionary travelers and therefore redu cing traffic problems such as congestion, accidents and pollution emissions (Litman, 2008). Ships as we know water travel is a major of tourism and contributes considerably to the development of travel as well as airplanes. Airplanes such as (Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Royal Jordanian) providing the seats which an individual traveler, business person or tour operator may purchase. On the other hand, rail travelers worldwide often prefer rail travel, (McIntosh et al, 1995). The operators of high-speed rail services find reliability and punctuality important factors that contribute to higher market shares (Jorritsma, 2009). Recently, train operating companies are delivering acceptable (and contractual) standards of service delivery in terms of information, comfort, cleanliness and quality of service on trains and at stations (Lyons et al, 2011) which are very important elements that tourists will consider in their decision process. High Speed Rail advantages are many, including getting people quickly and comfortably (Kinstlinger, 2009). But in Mauritius since we do not have tr ains therefore we will not lay much more emphasis on them. Consequently, having adequate taxi, limousine services are essential in a tourist area. Ideally, taxis should have removable and washable seat covers so the car always presents a clean appearance to the passenger. Also the taxi driver to make the best impression should show some courtesy by dismounting from the drivers seat and open the door for the passenger. He or she should assist his/ her passengers concerning their luggage or any other stuff and be courteous all times. Training taxi drivers in foreign language would ease communication and therefore create more foreign language ability (McIntosh et al, 1995). Usually, it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing a service to those who may have no other form of transportation. Therefore, Taxi service is a very important source of demand response transportation in many communities (Ridley, 2006). Moreover, buses are the most likely transit mode, which inten ded for tour use should have large windows, air conditioning, comfortable seats and rest room facilities. Springs or other suspension systems in the coaches should be designed so that the joggling of passenger is kept to a minimum or eliminated. Personnel assigned to buses should be selected for suitable temperament, courtesy and spirit of hospitality (McIntosh et al, 1995). Bus Rapid Transit is considered a more affordable alternative to rail for improving transit service quality and attracting travelers who would otherwise drive on congested urban corridors (VTPI, 2007). Bus organization, bus industry advocates believe that this form of transportation is particularly well suited to certain needs of tourism, especially one way trips of 150 miles or less. Furthermore, rental cars an important aspect of automobile travel is the rental car industry, whose growth has been paralleling or exceeding the growth in air travel. Taxi and Limousine service companies play an increasingly import ant part in tourism. Local transportation companies perform essential services for airlines in servicing departing and arriving passengers as well as providing similar services for bus, rail, and shipping lines (McIntosh et al, 1995). When taking a look at the position occupied by the various modes of passenger transportation one find that air travel dominates long -distance and middle-distance tourism. The nations economy and the tourism industry need a healthy air transportation system. The private automobile dominates for shorter trips and is the most popular means of travel for most domestic journeys. The auto is also very important in regional and international tourism. Affordability, flexibility, and convenience make auto travel the most popular mode of transportation all over the world. Air is the primary competitor to the automobile when it comes to travel, especially for long trips. The advantages of air travel, the quantity of service, speed and comfort must be weighed by travelers against the automobiles advantages of price and accessibility (McIntosh et al, 1995). But in Mauritius since it is an island, it is mainly accessible from air and the sea, therefore this type of competition does not exist. Furthermore, it is important to consider demand and supply when talking about transportation as they are together forming the transport market (Lockwood and Medlik, 2003). Many of the components of the tourist trip for example, transport and accommodation are demands derived from the consumers desire to enjoy what a destination has to offer in terms of things to see and do (Cooper et al, 2008). So, demand and supply are the main components which made up the transportation industry. 2.2 Transport Supply and Demand It is very important for a country to have the most efficient transport system. Efficiency means to say that the transportation system need to satisfy the transport demand for freight and passengers by using the best systems and the most appropriate balance between public and private transport and between modes of transport (For example; rail or road). The objective is to decrease overall transport costs for the collectively including direct costs (operating costs of the rolling stocks, the costs of infrastructure and the costs of time, security and comfort) and indirect costs (such as noise, pollution, accidents etc.) Transport supply can be defined in terms of infrastructures (capacity), services (frequency) and networks (coverage). Capacity is often assessed in static and dynamic terms the number of passengers, volume (for liquids or containerized traffic), or mass (for freight) that can be transported per unit of time and space is commonly used to quantify transport supply (Rodri gue et al, 2009), and these depend on the four basic elements in any transportation system: the way, the terminal, and the vehicle and motive power (Cooper et al, 2008). Transport demand is expressed as transport needs, even if those needs are satisfied, fully, partially or not at all. Similar to transport supply, it is expressed in terms of number of people, volume, or tons per unit of time and space (Rodrigue et al, 2009), other refers it to the amount of mobility and accessibility people would consume under various conditions (ITE, 2003). There is a demand for tourism products and demand for alternative non-tourism products (Lockwood and Medlik, 2003). Tourism demand and non-tourism demand will not only determine whether we travel but also which travel mode we choose, should we decide to travel, and indeed which particular service and carrier we choose. Principal among these features, other than physical transplant, are the following: speed, frequency, comfort, safety, availability, user information, access and price. For each mode is dictated by the weakest element in the system (Cooper et al, 2008). Speed in assessing the value placed, on speed it is important to take account not only of time saved but also of reduced journey time. For most people the ideal is to travel without any perceptible duration of time, not only because it would give up more time for doing other things (including doing nothing) but also because it would remove the many unpleasant aspects of travel that have to be endured when transiting to other places. This mean that we all display a stronger preference for speed and for paying a premium price for speed, than can be explained by the value place on time saved (Lockwood and Medlik, 2003). Transport system performance is often evaluated based on travel speed and distance (Litman, 2008A), some transport system changes intended to increase travel speeds and save travel time tend to reduce other forms of accessibility and increase travel time costs for other users (Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 2011) So, speed is an important feature to consider when t aking about transportation as people are limited in time and since lost time cannot be recovered tourists will rather prefer to have a rapid transportation system while visiting a destination. Frequency is another feature of transport that is to be considered as a good frequency of transport will mean that there is a greater possibility to use transport. But still if a particular route is not profitable there will be an inevitable decrease in the frequency level. Most public service vehicles notably trains, are so large in relation to expected traffic that economic operation can usually be achieved-except on a few high volume routes only by reducing frequencies to levels that are often unacceptable in the marketplace (Lockwood and Medlik, 2003), and for availability. Service availability trends reflect changes in demand, mileage, taxi fares and to a lesser extent transit fares (Consulting, 2000). Therefore frequency and service availability is mainly based on the demand for transportation. Comfort, safety and convenience significantly influence transportation decisions. Consumers choosing a motor vehicle are as likely to decide base on seat comfort and the ease of using navigation systems as on more quantitative factors such as speed, price or fuel efficiency (Litman, 2011). Tourists will travel in a mode of transport in respect to the satisfaction the will get from it and here when taking about comfort, the tourists will somehow benchmark the product available in their own countries so as to choose a mode of transport they will prefer to travel in. Prideaux (2000) argued that if the ability of tourists to travel to preferred destinations is inhibited by inefficiencies in the transport system such as uncompetitive prices or lengthy and uncomfortable journey, the likelihood that they will seek alternative destinations may increase. The quality of information can affect the functional availability and desirability of mobility and accessibility options. For example, motorists need actual and appropriate information on travel routes, roadway conditions (such as when congestion, construction and accidents delay traffic), vehicle services, and the availability and price of parking. Potential transit users need information on transit routes, schedules, fares, comfort factors (such as whether vehicles will have seats or stations will have washrooms), and access to destinations. There are many ways to provide transportation information, including maps, brochures, websites and telephones systems (Litman, 2008A). Also Information centers, welcome centers, and information displays are all ways in which visitors can be informed and guided to use appropriate travel routes and transportation facilities (Petraglia and Weisbrod, 2004). Finally, Price cost are the final essential elements in transport to consider. As the most price-sensitive user of fuel, airlines are again proving to be the first to suffer. In the case of surface transport, the effects are masked by the unfair taxation which so distorts the market that accurate forecasting requires advance knowledge of how politicians are going to tax as well as subsidize the various competing forms of transport (Lockwood and Medlik, 2003). Price is also a very important feature to consider as tourists will look for competitive prices so as to travel. Therefore these are the main features that are considered so as to travel, whether it is a tourist or not. These features are considered by anyone who needs to travel and these features will determine the satisfaction of the customer. Customer satisfaction is the aim of any industry as satisfied customers are more economical to an organisation as they not only generate repeat business but they also recommend the service or product to others. 2.3 Service Quality, Customer Perception and Satisfaction A review of the existing literature indicates a wide variance in the definitions of satisfaction and service quality. The customer could judge the quality a service delivered as good but they may not have had satisfaction from the experience (Randall and Senior, 1996). Crompton and Mackay (1989) acknowledged that satisfaction and service quality are not the same thing, stating, Satisfaction is a psychological outcome emerging from an experience, whereas service quality is concerned with the attributes of the service itself. Parasuraman et al. (1988) agreed but stated that customers use the same criteria to judge both, as they are interrelated. Customer satisfaction can be experienced in diverse situations and interrelated to both goods and services. It is a highly personal assessment that is greatly affected by customer expectations. Satisfaction also is based on the customers experience of both contact with the organization (the moment of truth as it is called in business literature ) and personal outcomes (Mack and Peter, 1989). Hunt (1977) defines satisfaction as a kind of stepping away from an experience and evaluating it. Oliver (1997) notes that satisfaction is the consumers fulfillment response, it is a judgment of a product or service feature, or product or service itself in its ability to provide a pleasurable level of consumption related fulfillment, including levels of under or over fulfillment. Most of service quality writers have considerable difficulty in understanding how customers judge services. One of the original service quality theories is that customers are satisfied when their judgement of the service they have received (perception) equals or exceeds what they expected: Customer Satisfaction Equation Customer Satisfaction (CS) = Perceptions (P) = Expectation (E) Gap analysis theory (Zeithaml et al., 1990) Olivers expectancy disconfirmation (Anderson Fornell, 1994; Olivier 1997) 2.3.1 Customer Expectation Zeithaml et al. (1990) considered that the factors that influence customers formulation of their expectations are word of mouth, personal experience, external communications and past experience. Parasuraman et al. (1988) tried to set customer expectations to context by suggesting that they are what an organisation should offer. So, a customer should expect the product or service to be in a specific standard. C:UsersnathanielDownloadsMGT613_Handouts_(Lecture_1_-_45)_img_55.jpg Figure 3: Basic Perceived Service Quality Model Based on figure 3, a basic perceived service quality model, we can say that the customers will decide whether they is satisfied by matching their expectation of the service to the perception derived from the service experienced. In an attempt to know the customer satisfaction, we must know what is the perception of the customer. 2.3.2 Customer Perception The final part of the customer satisfaction equation is their judgement of the service they have received: their perceptions. Olivier (cited in Taylor, 1997) defined customer perception as a comparison to excellence in service by the customer. It is often considered that customer perceptions of a service are made at the end of a service encounter. Customer perceptions of a service are a complex series of judgement made during and at the end of the experience but are modified by a range of factors including their mood, importance of the encounter. The tourism and leisure industry has to be aware of these elements, especially when designing methods of receiving feedback from customers. Customer satisfaction therefore needs us to think in a holistic manner by considering various factors that can affect it. 2.4 Transportation services in Mauritius. 2.4.1 Air Transportation Mauritius is an island and therefore the main access to the island is the air. The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, the airport of Mauritius, consists of one runway which cover a distance of over 3,047 m. The airport is situated in plaisance nearly the south of the island. Air Mauritius is the name of the national airline of the island. Air Mauritius Limited, doing business as  Air Mauritius, is the  flag carrier  of  Mauritius. The airline is headquartered at the Air Mauritius Centre in Port Louis, Mauritius. The company is the fourth largest carrier in  Sub-Saharan Africa,  and has an important standing in the  European,  African, and  Indian Ocean  region markets; the airline won the 2011 Indian Ocean Leading Airline Prize, making it the seventh year in a row for it to win the award. Out of a five-star ranking, the carriers inflight service is awarded 3 stars by Skytrax. As of July 2011, the Air Mauritius route network consists of 26 destinations in  Africa,  Asia,  Europe, and  Oceania.  Shanghai  became the 26th destination served by the company in early July 2011.  In February 2012, the airline announced the suspension of some non-profitable routes, starting with  Milan,  Melbourne, and  Sydney, effective May 2012. As of April 2012, Air Mauritius has  codeshare agreements  with the various following companies, which are the actual operators on the routes specified: Air France, on the Port Louis-Paris-Port Louis route and on several  European  routes radiating from Paris Emirates, on the Port Louis-DubaÃÆ' ¯-Port Louis route Malaysia Airlines, on some routes radiating from  Kuala Lumpur South African Airways, on the Port Louis-Johannesburg-Port Louis route   The Air Mauritius fleet consists of the following equipment, with an average age of 8.8 years: Mauritius has well organised its air transport so as to reach the markets that it has targeted for the tourism industry development. 2.4.2 Maritime Transport The Maritime transport in Mauritius is mainly focused on cargoes and merchandising. Tourism is not really at stake when talking about maritime transportation but still there are passenger ships which go to Reunion Island, Rodrigues and also Agalega Island. So these ships take tourists to the island. Cruise ships are another way where tourists can visit the island. The CRO (Central Statistics Office) published statistics for the year 2011 where it can be noted that total arrivals by sea included 29,900 cruise travellers (around 14,220 tourists, 5,500 excursionists, 330 Mauritian residents and 9,850 crews) aboard 18 cruise ships, which visited our port during the first nine months of 2011. Therefore we can conclude that there are tourists who travel to Mauritius by sea. 2.4.3 Public Transport The public transport in Mauritius consists mainly of the buses, the taxis and the car rentals. The most usual way of transport for Mauritian people is the bus. Bus is a quite easy way of transport in the island. The two main bus companies in Mauritius are the NTC (National Transport Corporation) and the UBS (United Bus services). These two companies deserve almost every regions of the island. Here is a list of all bus companies in Mauritius; NTC National Transport Corporation UBS United Bus Service RHT Rose Hill Transport TBS Triolet Bus Service IO Individual Operators MBT Mauritian Bus Transport Another way of transport and more comfortable is the taxis. A taxi  is a  mode of transport  that falls between  taxis  and  buses. These  vehicles for hire  are typically smaller than buses and usually take passengers on a fixed or semi-fixed route without timetables, but instead departing when all seats are filled. They may stop anywhere to pick up or drop off passengers. Often found in  developing countries,  the vehicles used as share taxis range from four-seat cars to minibuses.  They are often owner operated. Taxis are found in almost every corner of the towns, cities and villages in Mauritius. These taxis are individually owned as there are no taxi companies in Mauritius. In spite of those the taxis are well maintained and very comfortable. Mauritian taxis do not use a taxi meter even if they have it in their taxis, so it is usual here before entering a taxi to decide of the price before. A taxi driver knows usually all the interesting places of the island and therefore can help the tourists to go to a destination. Car rental can also be a good mode of transport in Mauritius. A car rental agency generally rents  automobiles  for short periods of time (generally ranging from a few hours to a few weeks) for a fee. In Mauritius it has become quite common to rent cars as various car agencies are offering this service now. Below is a list of car rental agencies that are available in Mauritius; Avis Rent Car Ada ABC Car Rental Budget Rent A Car Hertz Easy Drive Rent A Car Europcar National Car Rental In Mauritius these are the main in land public transport that is available for the citizens and also for the tourists. There are also some companies like Mauritour and Summertimes who offer small buses on rent to tourists who come to Mauritius and these buses are mainly for tourists. 2.5 Importance of Public transportation and inland transportation. Khadaroo and Seetanah (2008) link the importance of an effective and accessible transportation system to the length of time any given tourist would stay in one particular area in a destination. They go on to argue that if the ability of a tourist to travel within a preferred destination is hampered by inefficiencies in the transport system, then the tourist, may seek out alternative destinations. In regards to this identification by Khadaroo and Seetanah (2008) transport to and from the airport is viewed as perhaps the most essential element of a tourist city. This linkage plays an important role delivering visitors from the airport to the main area of accommodation, most commonly in the central city. Law (2002) stated that in the absence of such facilities, as with the city of Florence, it can be a deterrent for potential visitors (Law, 2002: 71). Public transport and other inland transportation services, like taxi or rented cars, provide an important role in enhancing accessibility to the various tourism attractions within a city. Meanwhile, Khadaroo and Seetanah (2008) noted that inadequate public transport provision in an urban environment can result in limiting the amount of attractions visited, resulting in negative implications on the potential tourism revenue of a city. This inability to derive maximum benefits with an inefficient transport network was also emphasised by Kaul (1985). Kaul recognised that transport plays an important role in the successful creation and development of new tourist attractions within a city and also regarded transport as a catalyst for many city transformations. Within this recognition was the fact that transport and accessibility were essential for profitable tourist attractions. Leask et al., (2000) also noted the significant connection between tourist attractions and tourism transportation, stating that transport and tourism have a close relationship due to the need for access (Leask et al., 2000: 212). In the past accessibility to attractions has been based primarily on access by private modes, however, by not providing public transport connections, the number of visitors that can reach an attraction are consequently reduced. Gimeno and Vita (2006) also recognised that the easier it is made for tourists to travel between points of interest, the visitor gains more ability to participate in activities, which in turn will generate enhanced tourism revenue for the destination (Gimeno and Vita, 2006: 14). When talking about public transportation and inland transportation, we should also think of who are those tourists who will travel in the p ublic transportation services available in a destination. Lew and Mckercher (2006) noted that tourists have access to four basic modes of transport within a destination personal vehicle, commercial vehicles in organized tours, public transportation and walking. However, conventional public transport system tends to remain majorly inaccessible/ non-preferred mode of transport to tourists for various reasons (Law, 2002): unfamiliarity with the system and the associated risk of entering terra incognita (unknown territory) should they choose the wrong bus route or get off at the wrong stop (Lew and Mckercher, 2006: pp. 408), need for negotiation with the staff in local language and a system design optimized to cater to everyday needs of the local population (Lumsdon, 2006; Thompson Schofield, 2007) Specialised or custom made tourism transport potentially offers a higher level of accessibility to tourists within the destination. While a large segment of such services is covered under tourist packages offered by private operators, there remains a definitive demand for tourism-specific public transport within the destinations. A large segment of tourists choose not to opt for tourist packages due to lack of flexibility in the choice of both tourist spots and lodging, higher costs and a reduced adventure factor. As such intra-destination public transport can become a vital factor in tourists choice of destination and their ability to access their nodes of interest within the destination. These types of tourists will use the transportation services available in the destination to travel by themselves. Therefore in this research I will aim at categorizing the tourists who prefer travelling by them and not to choose a ready-made package for their travelling at the destination. Another important facto