The Balance Of Power And The Security Dilemma Essay

War seems to many to be an irrational act of passion....Yet for all the emotion of the battlefield, the premeditation of war is a rational process consisting of careful and deliberate calculations. (Bueno de Mesquita, 1981, 19) War choice is rational when the benefits exceed the costs and rational war choice should always be determined by the calculations of expected benefits versus the costs. Traces can be found from the complexities of international relationships that the choice of peace or war follows several basic rules, among which are the theories of the balance of power and the security dilemma. The balance of power is one key concept to understand about the rational choice of war. In any given system, which is comprised of several neighboring nations, major or minor according to the distinctive scale of influences it could have to the system, any change of power in one nation applies to the system as a whole. The major powers refer to the ones that are capable of influencing the system greatly and initiating a war that goes to the whole system; while the minor powers have the only limited strength and can only start wars in a smaller region rather than the whole system. Thus, major powers play the key role in a system and determines the balance of power (Lecture, August 3, 2016). The balance of power shifts from two states: stable or unstable. The stable balance of power refers to the state that the relative powers of nations or alliances areShow MoreRelatedThe Theory Of The International System1741 Words   |  7 Pagesanarchy is the dominant structural condition (Class Notes, August 31). Other theories such as liberalism or idealism refute these ideas. These theorists embody a more optimistic approach in which cooperation is key and the individual is given more power than realists believe. Although these approaches raise significant counterarguments to the realist view, realism provides a more practical framework for the way in which international re lations works today. While war has many causes, realists are correctRead MoreChina s Foreign Policy Record967 Words   |  4 Pagespolicy, can be further explored through the lens of China. In his book, International Politics of the Asia Pacific, Yahuda states, â€Å"It is only since the end of the Cold War that China’s leaders have developed policies that recognize that the future security and prosperity of their country requires the cultivation of close relations with the Asia-Pacific as a whole and with its neighbors in particular.† (Yahuda 2011, 137) Yahuda points out, significantly, that only with the Cold War coming to a closeRead MoreThe Second World War I1363 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Allied Powers. Realist perspective argues that a crucial event in the cause of the World War one was the unification of Germany in 1871. The unification in Germany created a new power in the center of Europe, and this new power had a larger population, and a more powerful economy compared to other European Countries. â€Å"German Unification created a new power in the heart of Europe that had a larger population, and in short order, a more powerful economy than any other European power.†(Nau). ThisRead MoreNon Proliferation Treaty And The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights1594 Words   |  7 Pagesanarchy. Realism is a dominant theory of international relations focuses on state s security and power primarily. Besides, states are considered the only unitary rational actors where its survival and interests is the cornerstone of interstates relation highly based on might rather than on right. Hence, realists believe that people are by nature sinful and instinctively seeking power to dominant others. Power will be everlasting in the human s nature and the possibility to be eradicated is a utopianRead MoreEssay on The Realist Theory and The Outbreak of World War I1289 Words   |  6 Pagesfearful, selfish and power seeking† (Mingst, 2011). WWI was initially a war between two countries, Austria-Hungary and Serbia; but due to assassinations, the strength of alliances, binds by treaties, and increasing security dilemma, more and more countries entered the war until it manifested into a complete World War. Countries increased their weaponry and made other nations apprehensive. Even count ries that felt compelled to stay neutral became fearful of the ever increasing power of countries in theRead MoreIII. Dependence of the Gulf states on external security guarantees The previous part of the1200 Words   |  5 Pagesthe Gulf states on external security guarantees The previous part of the essay mostly focused on internal political dimensions of instability and conflict in the Arab part of the Gulf. Other factors of instability in the Gulf belong to the systemic level of the Gulf subregion. One of these factors is the existing regional security architecture, which fosters dependence on the U.S. to provide means of defence and deterrence. Part of the issue is that U.S. security guarantees result in lack ofRead MoreThe Modern Rising Powers Of China1206 Words   |  5 PagesIn an anarchical international order, the modern rising powers is very crucial in the security of states as it would create a bi-polar world and would undoubtedly pose a threat to smaller states around the world as they strive to maintain the balance of power. China is seen as the main power challenging the uni-polar world, however China seems to be more focused on economic power and might rather than military might due to their lack of an airforce that would be able to successfully challenge theRead MoreThe, State, And War918 Words   |  4 Pagesnon-exhaustive list of the conscious reasons why governments have decided to go to war. The two reasons I found to be related to the Cold War were the following: to preserve or restore a balance of power and to thwart the hegemonic aims of another power. Additionally, to fight small war now against a grow ing power that would pose a greater threat later (p. 284). Kenneth Waltz in his book Man, the State, and War, distinguished three images of international relations, or levels of analysis, in termsRead MoreThe Rise Of Chin Through The Realist Looking Glass1519 Words   |  7 Pages‘rise of China’ is lauded as the determinative issue for international relations this century with China assuming a more powerful role in the international system. This essay considers the issue of China’s rise and its implications for international security from both an offensive and defensive realist approach. I will show that neither realist approach can adequately explain China’s rise and its implications because it relies on realist optimism and does not account for the determinative effect of theRead MoreConflict Between Iran And Iraq Essay1590 Words   |  7 Pagestheories of balance and power and the security dilemma, this all plays to a patterned framework consistent with mistrust, uncertainty and opportunism which come to exp lain the major causes of the conflict and why countries compete. The following historical narrative serves as a background to highlight the major points of conflict, while furnishing a concise view of the complexity of the war. Following this narrative will be a supplied theoretical evaluation of Realism and the Security dilemma, and its

The Voice Of Prejudice By Nelson Mandela - 2024 Words

Anisha Desai Mr. Smith Survey Comp 3 November 14, 2014 ROUGH DRAFT The Voice of Prejudice No one is born prejudiced because it is a learned behavior pattern. Nelson Mandela, an internationally acclaimed figure in the fight against racism, describes this idea as, â€Å"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harper Lee’s renowned novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a classic of American literature, explores a story of prejudice through the lives of some small town Southerners in the early 1930’s. The book is narrated by Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, a tomboy who prefers to solve issues with her fists instead of her words and possessing knowledge of life far beyond her years. Scout, her brother Jem, and their father Atticus reside in the small, fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus is a lawyer who is appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of the rape of a white girl, Mayella Ewell. The novel takes on a life of its own describing t he seemingly endless gossip spread from person to person, solely based off of personal prejudices. People get so wrapped up in their hearsay, it begins to become an alarming reality, and those who pay are the ones who get unfairly excluded because of traits they cannot control. These ideas slowly become standards by which individuals are categorized in. Harper Lee uses almost every character throughout the book to teach us that prejudiceShow MoreRelatedThe Hurricane Starring Denzel Washington As Rubin, Hurricane Carter And The Handout Provided For Nelson Mandela1286 Words   |  6 Pages In this paper, I am going to compare and contrast the movie The Hurricane starring Denzel Washington as Rubin â€Å"Hurricane† Carter to the handout provided for Nelson Mandela. I will begin with a critical review of the movie. The setting of the movie rotates from past to present, as the movie begin you will notice him in the ring with the middle weight champion and eventually defeat him in the first round with a knock-out. Than the movie switch to him protesting in a jail cell, 193 at Trenton StateRead MoreMahatma Gandhi And Nelson Mandela1447 Words   |  6 PagesIf Mahatma Gandhi never inspired Nelson Mandela to fulfill his vision for human rights, would Nelson Mandela have inspired Barack Obama to continue that legacy? Mahatma Gandhi practiced civil disobedience and lobbied for the rights of Indians in South Africa and India. Nelson Mandela hungered and fought for a South Africa, where all races were equal and unified as nationalists. Barack Obama sought to build a more tolerant United States through his historic presidency, immigration policies, andRead MoreNelson Mandela Hero1366 Words   |  6 Pages Many people have heard of Nelson Mandela, but what makes him such an important figure? How has he influenced South Africa and the world? Nelson Mandela’s history can clearly tell the tale of heroism. South Africa suffered under apartheid from 1948 until 1994 where Nelson Mandela was elected the first black president of South Africa. For 46 years, laws of racial discrimination and oppression flooded the land, and police brutality and tensions between the people increased, but it all came to an endRead MoreThe Book Thief By Markus Zusak1047 Words   |  5 PagesIn the Novel the Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Breaking Prejudice from National Radio, we see there to be a change in perspective due to insightful personal discoveries. We see this occur for the better and the worse, on a smaller scale in the case of the Book Thief and on a larger scale in Breaking Prejudice, which serves to demonstrate to the reader the many levels on which insight can affect perspective. In the Book Thief, Liesel’s initial perspective of both her foster mother Rosa, and HitlerRead MoreEssay on Famous Thinkers1570 Words   |  7 Pages Famous Thinkers By this time, 2013, the world has been blessed with a good handful of creative thinkers who have greatly contributed to their communities, thus, to the world. Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr are to excellent examples of outside the box thinkers who strove relentlessly to make a difference in the way society was thinking, and acting The purpose of this paper is to give information about these two thinkers’Read MoreCivil Disobedience And The Apartheid1428 Words   |  6 PagesStates, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. employed civil disobedience to overcome both the Jim Crow laws that had oppressed the African-American minority and the systemic racism that was once prevalent in the Southern United States. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela utilized civil disobedience to lead an anti-apartheid revolution to combat the apartheid system that systemically discriminated against the black inhabitants of South Africa. All three of these exemplary men have earned a Nobel Peace Prize forRead MoreThe, Antigone, And The Island By Athol Fugard1423 Words   |  6 Pagesbottled up in this case and sometimes it leads to revolt, such as in Sophocles’, Antigone, and in The Island by Athol Fugard. Unfortunately, many people get killed when this such event occurs. Since the entire country of South Africa is under racial prejudice, similar to Creon’s rule in Antigone, the characters in both The Island and Antigone feel the obligation to protest authority and change the course of their lives in similar methods. It is first very important to understand deep history of ApartheidRead MoreMahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela1504 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela Non-violence is a concept that people participate in social and political change without violence. It is a form of social and political change between passive acceptances and armed struggle. Non-violence way to participate in the social and political change is including nonviolent civil disobedience against, acts of civil disobedience or other powerful influence uncooperative antagonistic form; it is similar with pacifism, but it is notRead MoreAnalysis Of Alan Patons Cry, The Beloved Country962 Words   |  4 PagesNelson Mandela once declared, â€Å"As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.† Nelson Mandela explains that seeing the injustice and prejudice in society but not doing anything to try and fix it will ultimately not solve the issue of racial division. In the novel, Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton, a wise man named Msimangu, and Arthur Jarvis, a well-respected activist, are characters that seek an en d to the racial divide in the country ofRead MoreMusic, Music And Music1293 Words   |  6 PagesOver the millenniums, music has had a profound ability to capture revolutionary moments, condemn injustice, and raise hope for change in the future. In particular, music and singing have played an integral role in inspiring, mobilizing, and giving voice to civil rights movements around the world. ‘‘The freedom songs are playing an active and vital role in our struggle, said Martin Luther King, Jr, during the Albany Movement. ‘‘They give the people new courage and a sense of unity. I think they

Ethical Dilemma Of Mandatory Vaccinations - 1065 Words

Introduction The classic essay Tragedy of the Commons describes the dilemma society faces when the interests of a group conflicts with the interests of individuals (Hardin, 1968). The example presented is that of a group of cattle ranchers commingling their cattle in a common pasture. At full capacity, each cattle owner still has an incentive to include additional cattle, since the slight decrease in overall yield per animal is offset by the additional animal. Unfortunately, this overgrazing inevitably leads to failure of the commons. The community goal of maximizing food production can only be achieved by placing controls on the interests of the individual cattle ranchers in favor of those of the community (Hardin, 1968). This paper is†¦show more content†¦This is called an immune response. Vaccination is an attempt to manipulate the immune system to provide protection from disease caused by a pathogen without subjecting the person to the actual disease. The cowpox virus was sufficientl y similar to the smallpox virus that if an individual were exposed to cowpox, the person would develop antibodies that would subsequently attack and disable the smallpox virus. This basic principle discovered by Jenner over two hundred and fifty years ago is used today to develop the dozens of vaccines we take for granted. What Is Herd Immunity? The term herd immunity first appeared in a paper published in 1923, entitled â€Å"The Spread Of Bacterial Infection - The Problem Of Herd Immunity (Topley Wilson, 1923). Herd immunity refers to the protection of populations from infection, which is brought about by the presence of immune individuals (Anderson May, 1985). Herd immunity occurs when the proportion of people in a population that has immunity to a pathogen is so high, the pathogen cannot find enough susceptible hosts to infect and consequently can no longer survive (Coico Sunshine, 2015). For example, if only 50% of a population has immunity to pathogen X, the chances of an infected person coming in contact with a susceptible person to pass along pathogen X, is one in two. On the other hand, if 90% ofShow MoreRelatedMandatory Vaccination in Children: An Ethical Dilemma Essay1569 Words   |  7 PagesVaccination was first introduced globally for small pox and later on extended to other communicable diseases which are now known as vaccine preventable disease. Vaccination is beneficial both for individuals and community. This bring us to the ethical dilemma - Vaccination of a healthy child with the intention of protecting both the individual child and the community at the same time exposing the child to the theoretical risk of exposure to disease products whether live, attenuated or killed. ThereRead MoreImmunizations And Vaccinations : A Hot Topic1426 Words   |  6 Pages Immunizations and Vaccinations: A Hot Topic Crystal L. Clauser Frostburg State University Immunizations and Vaccinations: A Hot Topic In the United States, the childhood immunization schedule recommends that children receive approximately 15 vaccinations by 19 months of age, and it specifies ages for administration of each vaccination dose (Luman, Barker, McCauley, Drews-Botsch, 2005, p. 1367). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a vaccine is a product thatRead MoreThe Importance Of Vaccinations1372 Words   |  6 PagesVaccinations have proven time and time again to be an effective form of preventive medicine, but in recent research it has been associated with serious developmental problems. The controversy over whether childhood vaccines are actually the cause of these development issues has been an ongoing debate for 2 centuries and is even more prominent in society now as more research is becoming available to the public, even if some of it says there is no link between the two. Parents and guardians now alsoRead MoreEvaluating The Ethical Principles Of An Axis And Identifying Concre te Points At Which Certain Values Outweigh Others?1549 Words   |  7 Pagesevaluating policy decisions. Vaccine mandates can elicit emotionally charged responses, and simplification of arguments to their ethical ideals can provide essential guidance when crafting policy decisions. Field and Caplan attempt to apply sometimes vague guiding ethics to a real policy issue and are able to draw a conclusion from their model. In their attempt to fit these ethical theories to a graphical model, Field and Caplan make a few substantial simplifications. First, their analysis of the utilitarianRead MoreEssay on Should Vaccines Be Mandatory?902 Words   |  4 Pagesfor one individual may bring deep-seated ethical issues for another individual. With the vast amount of possibilities expanding through research, ethical dilemmas develop and complicate the decisions we need to make for ourselves and loved ones. The varied choices regarding cancer vaccines, fraud and euthanasia will be explored. Cancer Vaccines The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer demonstrates a parade of polarizing ethical issues of today, but the topic of mandatory cervical cancer vaccines particularly caughtRead MoreChildren Should Not Receive Scheduled Vaccinations1508 Words   |  7 Pages Children who do not receive scheduled vaccinations put themselves, as well as others at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases, as infants who are too young of age to receive vaccines, children, elderly, and community members who have compromised immune systems most vulnerable to acquiring vaccine-preventable diseases. Omer, Salmon, Orenstein, DeHart, Halsey (2009) argued that outbreaks of diseases regularly begins with individuals who refuse vaccinations, as it spreads within communities and otherRead MoreThe Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (Cdc) Claim1254 Words   |  6 Pagesqualified to make this statement as research shows the vaccinations have eradicated smallpox and nearly eliminated the polio virus, in addition to dimin ishing the occurrences of preventable infectious diseases such as measles, diphtheria and whooping cough (2015). However, despite the statistics and research, in 2015, only 71.6% of the children between 19 and 35 months received the combined 7 vaccine series (CDC, 2015). This decline in vaccination rate can have devastating effects not only on the individualRead MoreShould We Be Vaccinated For Annual Influenza Vaccinations?3314 Words   |  14 PagesIntroduction Vaccinations have been a topic of controversy among various populations for decades. The controversy exists around the decision to be vaccinated for certain contagious diseases or to omit receiving vaccinations for various reasons including those of medical, ethical, and religious derivation. The profession of healthcare faces a particular obstacle in regard to annual vaccinations against influenza. This review will discuss the following ethical debate: Is it ethical to mandate healthRead MoreEthical Concerns Regarding Pediatric Vaccinations1623 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract Ethical concerns regarding pediatric vaccinations span several viewpoints including clinicians, policymakers and parents. A parent’s concern is to protect their children. Parents want to know more about how vaccines work - the risks and side effects, vaccine ingredients, and vaccine safety - before deciding to vaccinate a child. The responsibility of the medical professional is to protect the public while preserving the rights of the patient. The ethical issues concerning childhood immunizationRead MoreShould We Need The Right Choice?1276 Words   |  6 Pagesthe media instead of trusting their pediatrician. Parents should at least consider listening to a consultant or a medical professional opinion. Many hospitals and other health facilities offer programs to educate parents about the importance of vaccination. Free riders are the parents or the ones that take an advantage of the freedom given to them thus, refuse to participate in the program or even listen (Diekema 1430 ). They tend to believe that a herd immunity, which refers to the community immunity

The Views Of Nature Expressed By Emerson And Thoreau

Analyze the views of nature expressed by Emerson and Thoreau in this week’s readings. Then compare and contrast them to one another. You might also want to apply these themes of nature overall thought of the Transcendentalists as a genre or discipline. Transcendentalism reports an easy idea that people fairly and evenly have ability about themselves, what’s around them and that goes above, â€Å"transcends† what people can do beyond their five senses. There are people that believe in themselves to endure their very own power on what is correct or what they feel is right. A transcendentalism is a person that obtain those ideas but not for religious reasons but for an approach of accepting life’s relationships. A group consist of citizens that was affiliated with a new process of thinking, would meet in Emerson home in Boston and they were called Transcendental Club. Margaret Fuller was the editor of their own publication called â€Å"The Dial.† She was also known as a radical and a feminist. The leader of the Transcendental Club was Ralph Waldo Emerson (Perkins). Ralph Waldo Emerson is considered to be the â€Å"All American† thinker. He advised Americans not seek into Europe for insight and stimulation. He asked for them to be themselves in his legendary essay â€Å"The American Scholar.† Emerson believed that people are commonly pleasant and people’s future was boundless. He attempted to influence his associates to seek in themselves character ability and effort for the solution ofShow MoreRelatedHow Does One Find the Miraculous in the Common? Essay example1187 Words   |  5 Pagespoet Ralph Waldo Emerson would call the previous statement a fallacy. This is due to his belief of finding the miraculous in the common as â€Å"the invariable mark of wisdom†. Emerson along with Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard all answered in regards to finding such miracles. These three authors have displayed their reasoning in their popular works. With the works of Self Reliance and Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson defined how one would find the miraculous in the ordinary. Emerson does not pose whatRead MoreRalph Waldo Emerson And Thoreau975 Words   |  4 Pagesoptimistic outlook. It stress an importance of nature. That has a valued a feeling over reason. A following of the heart rather than the mind. Also the setting apart from society. There are two who comes to mind; Thoreau and Emerson. Where Emerson and Thoreau were clear examples of Bright Romanticism exemplified by the inclusion of nature, a positive view of mankind, and a poetic style that broke traditional method. Ralph Waldo Emerson exemplified him being a clear examples of BrightRead MoreTranscendentalism And Ralph Waldo Emerson And Henry David Thoreau807 Words   |  4 Pagesambassadors, Ralph Waldo Emerson and apprentice Henry David Thoreau. These men believed nature is what forces us not to depend on other ideas but to develop our own. Born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 25, 1803 as the fourth child in a family of eight, Ralph Waldo Emerson was brought up in an atmosphere where seven of his ancestors were ministers, and his father, William Emerson (who died when Emerson was eight), was minister of the First Church (Unitarian) of Boston. Emerson graduated in 1821, atRead More Oneness in Walden, Nature and American Scholar Essay1154 Words   |  5 PagesOneness in Walden, Nature and American Scholar  Ã‚   Some of the most prominent works which express a relationship between the individual and nature are undoubtedly Walden by Henry David Thoreau and the essays written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, specifically Nature and The American Scholar. In each of these works, an idea of wholeness, oneness, with nature is expressed. Thoreau and Emerson both believe that man, in order to live a full, happy life, must live in harmony with nature. Both writers shareRead MoreEmerson Thoreau and Individualism in Society Essay1370 Words   |  6 PagesRalph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are still considered two of the most influential writers of their time. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was a lecturer, essayist, and poet, Henry David Thoreau is his student, who was also a great essayist and critics. Both men extensively studied and embraced nature, and both men encouraged and practiced individualism and nonconformity. In Ralph Waldo Emersons essay Self Reliance and Henry David Thoreaus book Walden and es say Resistance to Civil GovernmentRead MoreTranscendentalism : Ralph Waldo Emerson And Henry David Thoreau967 Words   |  4 PagesRalph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are two of the most inspiring and accomplished writers to ever walk upon this Earth. They dared to question how people lived and how people should live. They were light years ahead of their time with their transcendentalist ideas. Transcendentalism can be defined by this quote, â€Å"People... have knowledge about themselves and the world around them that transcends... what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel†(History). This is a perfect explanation forRead MoreTranscendentalism Is Not A Beneficial Way Of Life1403 Words   |  6 Pagespeace. Thoreau’s â€Å"Walden† is about leaving the cities, abandoning one’s possessions and living out in nature to find one s true self. Emerson’s â€Å"Self- Reliance† is about resisting society and living true to oneself and ne ver following society’s standards. A modern Transcendentalist named Josh from the novel The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian follows in the footsteps of Emerson and Thoreau and tries to live a Transcendentalist way of life. When a person does follow the transcendentalistRead More Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau as Fathers of Transcendentalism730 Words   |  3 PagesRalph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau as Fathers of Transcendentalism Transcendentalism was a movement in writing that took place in the mid-nineteenth century. It formed in the early to mid nineteenth century and reached it climax around 1850 during an era commonly referred to as the American Renaissance, America’s Golden Day, or the Flowering of New England. The basic tenets of Transcendentalism involve the relationships between one’s self and the world at large. First, the searchRead MoreThe Great Traversers By Ralph Waldo Emerson2868 Words   |  12 Pagestranscendental ideas, as presented by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau) In this spirit I have just discovered Emerson. For forty years I have known something about him, of course—that he was a mystical philosopher; the apostle of transcendentalism in America†¦.† (Abbot, lines 9-10). From within the text of the author of this quote, it can be seen the shear praise and gratitude held for a man by the name of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson as mentioned in the quote, is considered to be theRead MoreThe Literary Movement of Transcendentalism Essay examples872 Words   |  4 Pagesand communicated with nature to find union with the Over-Soul. When this occurred, one was cleansed of materialistic aims, and was left with a sense of self-reliance and purity. Two authors who were among the leaders of the movement were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, whose works quot;Naturequot;, quot;Self-Reliancequot;, and quot;Waldenquot; brought America to the forefront of the transcendentalist movement. Their ideas opposed the popular materialist views of life and voiced a

Originally By Carol Ann Duffy poetry commentary Essay Example For Students

Originally By Carol Ann Duffy poetry commentary Essay Our Life Is one long Journey, with good as well as bad times In it. From childhood to old age, we strive forever to experience and learn, often positive as well as negative turns In life often brisling upon one a lot of change. In the poem originally by Carol Ann Duffy, one reads about a seemingly sudden change In a Childs life, where one Is confronted with leaving their home, their country, to live somewhere else unknown. In Originally, which is divided into three parts, one follows the experiences of a beaker, who seems to have been forced to leave his or hers home, change and crisis being endured, and how the speaker in the end effect, slowly, adapts. The Poem though seemingly talks about this child leaving its home and changing, the Poem also shows how People all there lives change, starting by growing up to become a teenager, then to an adult and in the end to an aged person. We will write a custom essay on Originally By Carol Ann Duffy poetry commentary specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The Poem starts of with a type of introduction; It begins the Poem by setting up a mood, by explaining how she moved with her family. The speakers love for her Malden Is exemplified by using domineering words such as own, which makes It seem as something unique, and also by telling the reader that her brothers were bawling the word home. A combination of alliteration and imagery in the first line red room and fell through the fields also helps emphasize this. All of these rather unsympathetic words encourage a development of a depression throughout the Poem. The personification of the miles (which ran) back to the city seems to indicate how, while being on this train, makes the child feel worse and worse owing its becoming more distant from its homeland, and this reflecting that the land is passing so quickly it seems to be running away past. The whole stanza mainly concentrates on the child and its family, except for the last line, this sudden change also brings up strong emotions because from one Image of leaving the place you have always known to be your home, one suddenly notices how scared this child must me when the speaker says that It stared/at the eyes of a blind toy, holding Its paw It shows how terrified It feels and how It only has her old trustworthy bear with err to help her. The Bear being blind seems symbolic, suggesting that the speaker does not know what will become of its family in their new home, and much like an old toy is often blind because it has lost its eyes over the years. In the second stanza one learns about the problem the person had to go through once it had arrived in its new homeland. The first line all childhood is an emigration fittingly captures the themes of the entire poem it shows how especially in ones childhood one changes all the time, teenager, Puberty, becoming an adult these are age changes and can also be compared with types of emigrations. Throughout this stanza one learns about what difficulty the child had learning to adapt to the new culture, the accent sounds unfamiliar, kids do things she has not seen any of her friends do in her old homeland, and it shows how people all there lives are to live with them, often to such an extent that you dont know anything else anymore. The speaker talks about a lot of unusual and seemingly repulsive things like boys eating worms or shouting words one doesnt understand, in the lines before she also talks about Pebble-dashed estates, meaning very boring and dull housings. .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb , .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb .postImageUrl , .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb , .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb:hover , .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb:visited , .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb:active { border:0!important; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb:active , .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u854fce4e1d13bc02888cfe3024dac1bb:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The entire poem EssayAll this also seems to point out that the child seemed to have once lived in a better place, maybe the child parents use to have more money and something happened making them loose everything, and forcing them to move to a cheaper living area. This also gets reflected when the speaker talks about its parents anxiety stirred like a tooth in my head which is a very effective way of explaining the worries and problems the child was confronted with. In the last line the font is though changed to italics representing the speaker talking and for the last time saying l want our own country, the speaker saying own for the last time also shows how the child still doesnt feel at home and by wanting its own country, meaning its original homeland where it lived in before everything else changed. In the last stanza the Crisis has ended the person has gotten use to its new surroundings and is already feeling at home in this once new place. The mood is still relatively unenthusiastic but the person does start seeing a positive side in things. The speaker incorporates the persons family for a last time, when she says seeing your brother swallow a slug, feel only/a shelf of shame. this line links back to the previous stanza with the imagery of worms and slugs, which is not literal, but a metaphor for fitting in. The simile my tongue shedding its skin like a snake tells the reader of the speakers not only of the speakers changed accent but also perhaps refers to many of the speakers old memories and habits which she has had to get rid of as they seem useless in her new home, and the person now in class sounding Just eke the rest also emphasizes it having completely adapted to its (now not so) new surroundings. In the final lines of the poem though the person looks back one last time when being asked, where do you come from? By a stranger, remembering its troubles having to adapt and sadness of having leave its once homeland, but now when being asked Originally? the child hesitates because it doesnt not anymore if this is now his homeland or if Originally means the one he once came from. The poem shows, in this case, how a child had to suddenly move from its homeland o a new place, strange and bizarre, in its view so different and at first seemingly impossible to be able to adapt, but in the end the child does manage to get over all its troubles, and to adapt to a completely new culture, where people do things it thought know one does. The Poem seems to use this childs story as an example, of how much change people have to go through, and that even though it always seems impossible to be able to learn and adapt, one nearly always manages, and even though one does remember how it had once been, lives with it, and enjoys its new way of living.

A Modest Proposal short essay free essay sample

A critical analysis of ‘A Modest Proposal’ ‘A Modest Proposal’ is a Juvenalian satirical essay which was written by Jonathon Swift in 1729; a period of great inequality in Ireland which was then ruled by England. During this period, the poorer sections of the Irish population were subject to severe economic hardship, in which thousands literally starved to death every year whilst others were forced to beg in order to survive. Swift, along with many others, was dissatisfied with what he perceived as a refusal on the Irish aristocracy and English establishment’s behalf to help the Irish peasants. His essay, which he published anonymously, was born out of such frustrations. Swift uses the speaker to personify the Irish aristocrats and English decision makers and reflect what he felt was their attitude towards the peasants. He is mocking their ineptness and inability to resolve the issues with poverty and inequality in Ireland by presenting them with a hyperbolic, ridiculous solution. By Swift giving his speaker such an absurd proposal, he hopes that it could ultimately result in one of his readers, perhaps an important political figure, accepting the severity of the Irish peasants’ plight and actually stepping up to do something about it. Swift is acknowledging that the poor are being treated like animals by the wealthy landowners and aristocrats so he satirically presents them as literally being like animals; suitable to kill, eat and sell by the pound. Contextually, it is worthwhile to remember that in Ireland around this time, people’s attitudes were beginning to change as they started valuing money and the material possessions that come with it more than people, who had become somewhat of a commodity for wealthy land and factory owners. Swift presented people as a literal commodity in his essay. Perhaps comparisons can be made with the way in which Swift uses the speakers’ proposal and a psychological theory called the ‘door-in-the-face technique’ which is perfectly summed up on Wikipedia thus â€Å"The door-in-the-face technique is a compliance method commonly studied in social psychology. The persuader attempts to convince the respondent to comply by making a large request that the respondent will most likely turn down; much like a metaphorical slamming of a door in the persuaders face. The  respondent is then more likely to agree to a second, more reasonable request, compared to the same reasonable request made in isolation†. The way the reader (respondent) will reject the absurd proposal made by the speaker, yet be left open to Swift’s (persuader) actual proposal, which is more reasonable and conservative, of just doing something to solve the poverty crisis in Ireland is similar to the ideas from the ‘DITF’ technique; by m aking a foolish request, you strengthen the possibility of your actual request being accepted. Furthermore, like in the explanation of the ‘DITF’ technique, Swift’s conservative, realistic proposal is strengthened whilst presented in tandem with the extraordinary one. The method by which the narrator makes their proposal begins with them asserting that seeing a street in Ireland lined with beggars and peasants is ‘a melancholy object’. By making this assertion, the reader, the speaker hopes, is open to the idea that, ultimately, having beggars on the street is a bad thing. Now, after their audience has acknowledged that there is a problem, the speaker can proceed to present a resolution to it. Structurally, this is important as it allows Swift to engage his audience quickly and plant the seed of thought which he hopes will flourish as the text goes on, ultimately making it more likely that one of his readers can fully understand the severity of the situation and attempt to resolve it. It’s a bold start for Swift; he begins with harsh ima gery of destitute, impoverished people whose lives are in need of intervention. The inclusion of descriptions of children, whilst being necessary for the development of the proposal, is wise on Swift’s behalf as it is a more dramatic, harsher and more emotive picture to paint. Perhaps Swift deliberately chose for the proposal to revolve solely around the consumption of small children because we find their suffering more upsetting and troubling than we do with teenagers and adults. This helps Swift to shock and disturb his audience easier, resulting in the essay having a more profound effect on us. Apart from the obvious ironic and satirical features present in his essay, Swift has used other rhetorical devices to help develop and maintain his ideas. Rhetoric today is largely based on the original Greek ideas for persuasion; logos, ethos and pathos. The narrator’s argument is neither logical (logos) nor ethical (ethos) yet, vitally for Swift and the development of his ideas within the speakers’ proposal, it does appeal to his audience in an emotive nature (pathos). The inclusion of statistical information in the essay adds to it a hint of realism. Swift has done this not to serve the narrator’s argument but his own. By doing this he is highlighting the plight of the Irish peasantry, something which he is keen to do, whilst also continuing development of the speaker’s narrative and ideas. The way in which the narrator references the Commonwealth and ‘the kingdom’ serves Swift’s purpose too because it plays on the audience’s sense of identity and national pride. Swift used sensational linguistic and literary features in his essay which is reflective of the text’s overall themes and ideas; firstly, the inclusion of the word ‘modest’ in the title. The idea that the narrators’ proposal is a modest one is simply ludicrous but this reflects the absurdity of the speaker’s suggestion. The anecdote that the narrator has included about being assured by ‘an American acquaintance in London that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most deliciou s, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled’ is absolutely preposterous. The strangeness of the anecdote again reflects that of the entire essay. At the end of the extract is direct comment about landowners who it seems Swift holds particularly responsible for the impoverished Irish population. It says ‘I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children’. This is an attack on landowners’ excessive wealth by stating, sarcastically, that expensive food is like the ideal food for them. It is also an example of figurative language too; as the landowners have metaphorically devoured the peasantry with excessive bills for farming the land, either through monetary or crop payments that they are best fit to literally devour their children. This bold, harsh assessment of the landowners not only helps develop Swift’s ideas on the peasants’ treatments and the morals of the landowners but so too does it underline the severity of the ill feeling he holds towards them and the sympathy he has for the poor. In terms of the extract, this is very important structurally because, having started on a particularly extreme, dire description it also finishes on a severely critical observation. Swift maintains an ironic, cynical tone throughout the extract through the way he mocks the aristocrats and presents them as selfish and partly to  blame for the peasants’ situation. Moreover, the way in which Swift also displays the narrator’s proposal in tandem with his damning analysis of the landowners’ deeds only serves to amplify said ironic tone. Despite the essay being specific of a particular location and period, it remains a timeless text that underlines the selfishness and inequality of a Capitalist society in which material possessions and worldly goods are almost always valued higher than people and human life. In today’s world, the same sort of poverty exists; there are still severe food shortages in African countries despite there being millionaires and billionaires all over the globe, literally with money to waste. As long as there is selfishness, greed and poverty in the world; ‘A Modest Proposal’ will still be relevant.

The Australian Cane Toad Essays - Toads, Cane Toad, Frog, Bufo

The Australian Cane Toad THE AUSTRALIAN CANE TOAD Introduction The cane toad, Bufo marinus, or giant toad, was introduced to Australia by the sugar cane industry with government sanction, in order to control two specific pests of sugar cane. The grey backed cane beetle and the frenchie beetle. Native to Central and South America, the cane toad has been introduced to several Pacific islands as well. One hundred and one toads arrived at Edmonton in North Queensland in June 1935. About 11 sugar growing locations in northern and central coastal Queensland received authorized shipments. People at Normanton and Burketown, and in northern New South Wales deliberately released the cane toad into the wild. Scientists warned the farmers not to bring the cane toad to Australia but the farmers did not listen and brought them in anyway. Did the cane toad have any impact on the two cane beetles it was introduced to control? Apparently not. The cane toad ate beetles when they were available, but as a control agent, it had no impact at all. Instead of controlling certain insect populations, the cane toad ate large numbers of bees and other beneficial insects. Within 5 years, an effective insecticide became available and the sugar industry lost interest in the cane toad. Although not native to Australia, the cane toad has one of the widest ranges of any living toad. The species lives in a wide variety of habitats, but is restricted mainly by the availability of water, since water is a vital element in the breeding cycle. However, toads can survive near very small pools, or steams in arid regions. During the dry or cold seasons, they remain inactive in shallow ground excavations beneath ground cover. Description Cane toads are very large and heavily built amphibians (up to 15 cm long) with warty skin. The skin is strong, tough, and durable. Females tend to be larger and smoother-skinned than males. Cane toads are olive-brown to reddish-brown on top, with a paler white or yellowish belly. The underside is usually spotted with brown. The toad is characterized by a stout body, which is heavier than that of frogs. The most distinctive features of the cane toads are bony ridges over each eye and a pair of enlarged glands, one on each shoulder. These glands are able to ooze venom. A pronounced angular ridge runs between the eyes and snout. Giant toads can tolerate temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius to 41 degrees Celsius and are able to survive high levels of dehydration. They can also adapt to different temperatures. Their temperature and moisture tolerances may limit their distribution. However, they do occur in warm temperate to semi-arid climates and are abundant in the wet and dry tropics. A prediction, based on their ability to tolerate a variety of climates, is that they will become established in Darwin early next century and eventually spread over much of the coastal seaboard of Australia. The call of the male cane toad is a high-pitched brrrr which sounds like a telephone dial tone. The cane toad also has a distinctive stance and hop. It sits upright in an almost vertical position and moves in a series of fast, short hops rather than long 'frog like' hops. Also cane toads do not have webs between their toes. Diet Cane toads will eat almost any small creature they can catch. They eat whatever is available. They often eat bees and dung beetles, small amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. In fact, they eat any animal they can swallow. Unlike other amphibians, giant toads eat things which do not move. They have also been known to steal food from dog and cat bowls. They have few predators native to Australia. The common Fresh Water Snake, (Tropidonophis mairii), is the only Australian snake known to be able to feed on small cane toads without dying as a result. Other native animals such as the estuarine crocodile, the water rat and species of ibis are believed to feed on toads or on their internal organs. Behavior and Breeding Cane toads are highly adaptable, both in terms of survival and reproduction. They are much more tolerant than other Australian frogs and can survive and breed in somewhat salty water. In Australia, giant toads normally

The Crucible, Movie vs. Play free essay sample

There are several differences between the way the play The Crucible was written and the way it was presented in the film adaptation we watched in class. One major difference was that in the movie, the girls were shown dancing in the forest at the beginning. In the play it is only a flashback. The scene was added in the movie to make it more dramatic and foreshadowing. I think it helps to understand the movie better and it sets the mood of the story from the very beginning. In the movie, when the girls visit Betty before the trial, Betty is very wild and almost violent and even tries to jump out of the window. That makes the girls, that are much more than in the original play, more hysteric and the whole scene is wilder and more exiting. The adaptations help to make the scene more important because it supports the idea of the mass hysteria that the girls spread in the town. We will write a custom essay sample on The Crucible, Movie vs. Play or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Another difference is that in the movie, Abigail tries to accuse Reverend Hale’s wife of witchcraft. She is told by judge Danforth that the accusations are wrong. In the play that doesn’t happen at all but I think in the movie the scene is very important. It shows the true personality of Abigail and identifies her as the â€Å"bad character† because she just makes stories up and accuses everyone. The scene also shows how corrupt the court was because the judge tells Abigail that the devil would never come to the Reverend’s wife, so they actually used the trials as an excuse to get rid of the â€Å"lower class† people. In the movie Abigail comes to see John Proctor while he is in prison. She has a plan to help him get out but he doesn’t want to flee with her because he knows she’s a liar. In the play Abigail flees Salem and never comes to see John in prison. I think the scene is a contrast to the general personality of Abigail because in the movie she shows guilt and apologized to Proctor, but in the play, she is very cold-hearted and doesn’t feel guilty at all. Also the scene detracts from the rest of the movie.

A Generation Set Aside Essays - Demographics, Free Essays

A Generation Set Aside Essays - Demographics, Free Essays A Generation Set Aside Often we hear of the generation gap that huge expanse between parent and child. Perhaps it is an acquaintance gap. Young people and adults do not know each other. The inability to communicate often enters the picture. Sometimes it is because neither knows what the other is interested in. They live under the same roof, but they rarely see one another, especially after the teenage years come along. The father goes off to work before the children are awake. Mother may go back to bed after seeing the husband off to work; or off to her own job. Teenagers get themselves up and off to school without seeing either parent. Then after school there is ball practice, band practice, or something else that consumes their time; maybe a job that lasts until bedtime. Parents have things that tie them up in the evenings; so the days come and go, and there is precious little time spent together. A meal together is even a rare occasion. All of these activities may be wholesome and proper, but still the family suffers because there is so little time spent together. This causes many children to make too many decisions on their own, and so often they will leave important and crucial matters out of their thoughts and plans. This generation often gets labelled by the media and the older people in society as the "youngsters who are tearing this country apart." The fact of the matter is that we are a product of our parent's mistakes and remain to be misunderstood. In the past several years we have seen much media attention focused on the generation that followed the boomers, popularly known as Generation X. Born between the mid-1960s and early 1980s , this is the most complex of the generation, and by far the least understood in spite of its current celebrity. This generation can best be described as the "Misunderstood Generation." They are the generation that dealt with and are still dealing with broken homes, drug addiction, AIDS, and bleak futures. A great deal of the young people in this "Misunderstood Generation" think very little about the future or present issues. This generation has lost sight of long terms goals and the idea that hard work pays off in the end. Instead, the people in this generation concern themselves only with what will bring immediate satisfaction and gratification. This part of society cares only about money and themselves, never thinking about the consequences of their actions. The "Misunderstood Generation" feels overwhelmed with the idea of a country with a multi- trillion dollar deficit, a high rate of poverty, and relatively no jobs. The "Misunderstood Generation" wants less out of life. This generation has evolved from the children that came home from school to an empty house because mom had to go back to work after the divorce. This is the generation that got its morals from watching T.V. after school and was parented by an older brother or sister. This is the generation that has unconventional ways and does not always reason for them. They are uncertain and need answers. They poke and prod to find what is lying ahead. They have loud voices but are seldom heard. This is the generation which has high expectations and are often disappointed. I, as well as all of the others born in my generation, were unleashed into an ever changing world. The advances of today can easily be old news tomorrow. Along with this they, the people who have lived and controlled up until this day, have allowed the respect of the living to dwindle with the consistently increasing ease of everyday life. Transportation from one point to another can be the simplest of tasks. Communication with someone in any far off land can be reached with just the touch of a button. And access to almost all the information the world has to offer is free for all with the use of the Internet. No other group of people have grown up with these things as being such the standards and necessities of life and living that they are today. We have never had a war in our country. All of

Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine Essay Example

Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine Essay Example Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine Essay Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine Essay Introduction It is important to understand the cause of the current crisis on the matter, factors that lead to diseases and good health, in addition to the steps that need to be taken by an individual so as to maintain good health. Traditional medicine, also known as conventional medicine, relies on scientific principles, contemporary technologies as well as scientifically proved methodologies for purposes of preventing, diagnosing, and treating adverse medical conditions (Treweek Heller, 2006). Health care professionals within conventional medicine believe that diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms such as viruses and bacteria. In conventional medicine, health care professionals must undergo extensive training and meet the standards set by the American Medical Association. By contrast, alternative medicine in its medical approach takes in to account the body and mind, experience and knowledge for diagnosis and treatment. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the national Institutes of health did a survey in May of 2004 and found that 36 percent of adults in America use some form of alternative medicine(Arias, 2004). They argue that conventional methods of treatment focus on diagnostic testing as well as treating with medications, but not on the patient as a whole. So as to gain an understanding on the increasing medical shift towards alternative treatment, it is important to understand what alternative medicine and conventional medicine are. Alternative medicine vs. conventional medicine Alternative medicine employs natural treatment modalities in treatment of diseases. Various alternative treatment approaches including massage, water treatment and herbal remedies were used, and still are used today by the Chinese communities to manage a variety of diseases. Modern alternative treatment techniques are developed based on the ancient treatments (Paquette, 2000). Modern alternative treatment techniques include: acupuncture, homeopathy, spiritual devotions, chiropractic, aromatherapy, psychotherapy, osteopathy, naturopathic, nutrition medicine, in addition to a wide range of other natural remedies (Alters and Schiff, 2010). These therapies have proved to be of much benefit in supporting the normal healing course of the body. Even though there are many modern alternative remedies, with different beliefs, all of them operate under some common principles. One of these principles is that the body has the capacity to heal naturally and maintain stability (Paquette, 2000). The other one is that adverse health conditions can occur as a result of factors emanating from mind, emotions and the body. Alternative medicine, according to Goldberg, Trivieri and Anderson, (2002), focuses on determining the chief cause of a particular condition, and dealing with the whole person rather that concentrating on symptoms. If a person pays close attention to his/her health he/she can contribute to his/her wellbeing. Alternative medicine holds firmly to the principle that one treatment cannot be used for all people even though they may be suffering from the same condition. Each and every person as per alternative medicine has distinct bodily, mind and spiritual make up (Goldberg, Trivieri and Anderson, 2002). Health care professionals within conventional medicine believe that diseases are caused by microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses. Medical care professionals in conventional medicine must meet the national set standards concerning education and certification. These professionals constantly update their knowledge through educational programs so as to maintain their professional licenses. Alters and Schiff (2010), asserts that, before any treatment procedure is put into use in conventional medicine, health care professionals in this field must verify that it does not subject human beings to adverse medical side-effects. Numerous studies are conducted using animal and human subjects to determine the effectiveness of a certain treatments. Conventional medicine is recommended when a patient is suffering from a life threatening condition. It focuses on the symptoms which a patient is presenting with. Generally, conventional medicine focuses on dysfunction. Those who prefer conventional medicine to alternative medicine, seek treatment only after they have fallen ill. This is due to the fact that conventional treatment puts very little emphasis on the prevention as compared to treatment (Treweek and Heller, 2006). The major difference between conventional and alternative medicine is that conventional medicine concerns itself with the management of symptoms through scientific modalities and modern technology rather than dealing with the whole person as well as the root cause of an illness. Alternative medicine emphasizes on the prevention of illnesses and aims at treating the whole person in order to strengthen his/her immune system as well as producing a sustainable healing. Conventional medicine uses drugs to treat various illnesses thereby suppressing the body’s natural immunity; alternative medicine employs strategies that assist the body to heal naturally (Goldberg, Trivieri and Anderson, 2002). Conclusion The issue relating to the differences between alternative and conventional medicine can be very highly controversial. Alternative medicine has been employed as treatment in the world for thousands of years. It involves the use of natural treatment techniques in management and prevention of diseases. Alternative treatment techniques including acupuncture, homeopathy, spiritual devotions, chiropractic, aromatherapy, psychotherapy, osteopathy, naturopathic and nutrition medicine among many others are developed based on the ancient treatment techniques. Conventional medicine involves the use of drugs, surgery, and other medical procedures in dealing with various medical conditions. Conventional medicine employs scientific principles, scientifically tested medical procedures as well as modern technologies to diagnose, manage and prevent diseases. Conventional medicine focuses on treatment of various symptoms; alternative medicine concentrates on prevention, determination of the root cause as well as treatment of the whole person. Reference: About 70 percent of older adults use alternative medicine. (2005, April 11). Ascribe Newswire, pp 1-3, 3p. Retrieved July 5, 2010, from Ascribe Newswire database. Alternative Medicine Angel, Alternative Medicine: A Comparison, retrieved on July 2, 2010 from http://altmedangel. com/am. html Alters, S. , Schiff W. , (edn 5), (2010), Essential Concepts for Healthy Living, ISBN 0763789755: Jones Bartlett Learning Arais, D. , (2004, August). Alternative medicines prompts concern. , The Nations Health, 34(6), 6-6. Retrived July 5, 2010, from ephost database. Field, T. , (2009), Traditional Medicine vs. Alternative Medicine, retrieved on July 2, 2010 from asktheinternettherapist. com/archive_traditional_medicine. asp Goldberg, B. , Trivieri, L. , and Anderson, J. , (edn 2), (2002), Alternative medicine: the definitive guide, ISBN 1587611414: Celestial Arts Meines, M. , (1998), Should Alternative Treatment be Integrated into Mainstream Medicine? Nursing Forum, Vol 33 Paquette, M. , (2000), Does Your Assessment Include Alternative Therapies? Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, Vol 36 Treweek, G. , and Heller, T. , (2006), Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, ISBN 0415351618: Routledge.

Time to Retire Political Correctness

Time to Retire Political Correctness Time to Retire Political Correctness Time to Retire Political Correctness By Maeve Maddox The expressions â€Å"political correctness† and â€Å"politically correct† have gone through so many meanings that it’s no longer possible to know what a speaker means by them. The word correct was used as a verb by Chaucer in the fourteenth century in reference to correcting his writing. It’s from Latin corrigere, â€Å"to make straight, set right, reform, amend.† In the seventeenth century, Dryden used correct as an adjective with the meaning, â€Å"in accordance with an acknowledged or conventional standard.† The abstract noun correctness is also cited from the seventeenth century, with the meaning, â€Å"the quality or condition of being correct; conformity to an acknowledged rule or standard, to what is considered right, or to fact.† The early use of correctness was in reference to language, both written and spoken. In the 1950s, correctness came to mean â€Å"conformation to a dominant political or ideological orthodoxy.† It usually referred to the necessity in non-democratic countries to accept government policies without complaint or suffer punishment. The unstated qualifier for this use of correctness was ideological or political. By 1992, the use of correctness had expanded to refer to conformity to established beliefs in other matters. It was possible to speak of â€Å"environmental correctness† and â€Å"feminist correctness.† The early 1970s saw the rise of the phrase â€Å"political correctness† to mean, â€Å"conforming to a body of liberal or radical opinion, especially on social matters.† This kind of â€Å"political correctness† tended to focus on language, especially the rejection of words and phrases thought to be offensive or discriminatory. For example, words like blind, deaf, short, and fat were no longer considered acceptable descriptive adjectives for people who are blind, deaf, short or fat. Carried to its extreme, this type of linguistic political correctness became the target of ridicule, but it did have the positive effect of causing people to think about the social implications of language. In 2016, the phrases â€Å"political correctness,† â€Å"politically correct,† and â€Å"politically incorrect† are getting an intense workout. A Google search shows the following results for the three phrases: â€Å"politically correct† About 7,110,000 â€Å"political correctness† About 6,610,000 â€Å"politically incorrect† About 3,440,000 Although not all of these examples stem from campaign rhetoric or media coverage, a great many- perhaps most- do. For example: Trump has been running against â€Å"political correctness.† Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have blown up political correctness in New Hampshire Presidential candidate Ted Cruz has called gluten-free military meals a sign of  political  correctness. Whatever value the phrases may have had as meaningful expressions of thought has by now been lost. For example, depending on the topic, â€Å"political correctness† may refer to anything from word-choice to the rule of law. In a society that values freedom of speech, the term â€Å"political correctness† should be unnecessary. In a democracy, no opinion- no matter how hare-brained- is forbidden. Self-styled language police may urge people not to use words they don’t like, but no one is going to be thrown into prison for calling a woman a girl. In a society that purports to value education, shameless public displays of vulgarity and incivility are inappropriate- especially in the behavior of (presumably) educated public figures. The popular sentence-opener, â€Å"It may not be politically correct, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  often signals no more than the imminent expression of a vulgarity or an insult. â€Å"Political correctness,† â€Å"politically correct,† and â€Å"politically incorrect† belong on the linguistic trash heap with all the other mostly meaningless, hot-button words and expressions used to manipulate people. Related posts Brainstorms Turning to Showers Euphemism and Euphuism Mankind, Humankind, and Gender Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Computer Terms You Should Know30 Baseball IdiomsEbook, eBook, ebook or e-book?

Rose Water Recipe

Rose Water Recipe Rose water is one of several products your can buy or make that retains the fragrance of rose petals. It is used in perfumes and cosmetics, plus it has slightly astringent properties, so it makes an excellent facial toner. Because the commercial process used to make rose water is labor intensive and requires a lot of roses, its an expensive product to buy. However, if you have roses, you can make your own rose water quite easily. Its an easy example of distillation, an important chemical separation and purification process. Rose Water Materials rose petalswatersmall pancotton balls Experiment with different types of roses, since each rose has its own characteristic scent. Damask rose has the classic rose scent, but some roses smell like citrus fruit, spices, or licorice.The resulting rose water wont smell exactly the same as the original flowers because distillation only captures some of the volatile compounds present in the petals. There are other methods used to capture other essences, such as solvent extraction and more complex distillations. Directions Place the rose petals in a small pan.Add enough water to just barely cover the petals.Gently boil the water.Collect the steam that boils off using a cotton ball. You may wish to place the cotton ball on a fork or hold it with tongs, to avoid getting burned. Once the cotton ball is wet, remove it from the steam and squeeze it out over a small jar. This is the rose water.You can repeat the process to collect more steam.Store your rose water in a sealed container, away from direct sunlight or heat. You can refrigerate it to keep it fresh longer. Large Scale Rose Water Recipe Are you ready for a more advanced version of the project? If you have a few quarts of rose petals, you can collect much more rose water using a slightly more complex home steam distillation apparatus: 2-3 quarts rose petalswaterice cubespot with rounded lidbrickbowl that fits inside pot Place the brick in the center of the pot. There is nothing magical about the brick. Its purpose is simply to hold the collection bowl above the surface of the roses.Put the rose petals in the pot (around the brick) and add enough water to barely cover the petals.Set the bowl on top of the brick. The bowl will collect the rose water.Invert the lid of the pot (turn it upside down), so the rounded part of the lid dips into the pot.Heat the roses and water to a gentle boil. Place ice cubes on the top of the lid. The ice will cool the steam, condensing the rose water inside the pot and making it run down the lid and drip into the bowl.Continue gently boiling the roses and adding ice as needed until you have collected the rose water. Dont boil off all the water. Youll collect the most concentrated rose water in the first few minutes. After that, it will become more and more dilute. Turn off the heat when you notice the condensation isnt as rose-scented as you would like. You can collect be tween a pint and quart of rose water in 20-40 minutes using 2-3 quarts of rose petals. Other Floral Scents This process works with other floral essences, too. Other flower petals that work well include: honeysucklelilacvioletshyacinthirislavender You can experiment with mixing the scents to make custom fragrances. While rose water, violet water, and lavender water are edible and safe for use in cosmetics, some other types of flowers are only good as fragrances and shouldnt be applied directly to the skin or ingested. Safety Notes This is a fun project for kids, but adult supervision is required because boiling water and steam are involved. Kids can collect flowers and squeeze liquid from cooled cotton balls.If you are using the rose water (or violet or lavender water) for cooking or cosmetics, be sure to use flowers that are free of pesticides. Many gardeners spray flowers with chemicals or feed them with systemic pesticides. For a simple fragrance project, its fine to simply rinse off the flower petals to remove any residue, but avoid using chemically treated flowers for food projects or cosmetics. Learn More Design Your Own PerfumeSolid Perfume RecipeSafety Tips for Making Perfume

Byzantine Constantinople Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Byzantine Constantinople - Essay Example However, the structures are also indicative of the insecurities felt by the royal family members despite their feelings of need to show status (Mango 39) C. The Basilica cistern considerably reveals political power resting on religiously affiliated personalities, but, that the authority does not render the ruling party immune to the vulnerabilities of the century, in as much as subjugation was the trend. The cistern itself apparently allows unobserved entrance and exit of ruling parties to and from their palace which were eventually turned into huge family mausoleums (Alpaslan 192). D. The architecture is a mixture of a typical Roman design for the famous colonnades and extensive spaces that indicates reputation, and those of the Greeks which are the rolling tendrils of vines with leaves another symbol of power and status. In addition, Christian cross carved on columns can not be mistaken for the influence of religion on the design. A. The Byzantinian church, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul Turkey is lavishly decorated with mosaic of murals of cherubs and holy people who have long gone but was considered as sacred. The edifice was believed to be constructed in AD 532. This was designed by architects Anthemius of Tralles and Isidrous of Miletus. During the Ottoman Empire, the church was converted into an Islamic Mosque. The decorations were all carefully plastered. This was to hide the images as they were a taboo to Islam. But, the plasters were torn off in 1935 to reveal the original images which were grandiose (Jack 75). B. Hagia Sophia was named as Christian Church of Divine Wisdom apparently because of the internal ornaments depicting colorful images of angels and saints constructed under the Roman Emperor who ruled Turkey. But, it was actually a tomb apparently designed for the Emperor and his family's mausoleum. C. The lavishness of Hagia Sophia is a reflection of Roman power in Constantinople. Additionally, authority is coupled to Christian religious affinity. D. The general architecture depicts the complexity of the ideas of the architects in both the interior and exterior part of Hagia Sophia. The posh internal decoration which is a mixture of colors and images represents an abode only meant for royalties. The focal part of the edifice are the vaults right under the biggest dome held by arching pillars and decorated by images of seraphs, saints and flowers in a rainbow of colors. Much similar to what most people usually call as paradise on land. E. Hagia Sophia is a total reflection of a creative mind or minds of people living in the past. It is also an edifice reflective of human desire to dwell in a sanctuary where only beauty exists even after death. 3. The Topkapi palace, Istanbul Turkey A. The Topkapi palace was the imperial palace of the Ottomans in 1465 while the sultans ruled Turkey. As the structure was intended for residence, its size and decorations emits an aura of power. Construction of the huge edifice took place in the 15th century. According to literatures, the palace is actually constructed with varied materials influenced by old structures in Turkey which is mostly of stones. Decorative designs

The Educational Needs of Caregivers of Stroke Survivors Assignment

The Educational Needs of Caregivers of Stroke Survivors - Assignment Example In addition, the responsibility of health care professionals of informing patients and their family members meant the giving out of the right information to the right people at the right time. In essence, it is only through education that people can partake in the entire health care process, formulate clued-up decisions and eventually take on behavior and lifestyle changes. In short, patient-family education leads to improved health outcomes (American Academy of Family Practitioners 2000; Close 1988). Therefore, to cope with health problems and deal with health-related decision-making courses of action, people have to have knowledge coupled with pertinent objectives and therapeutic targets specific to Medication, Activity, Nutrition, Treatments, Risk factors and Aftercare or MANTRA (Pestonjee 2000). Family Education-Definition/Description Family education is a continuing and enduring progression of different processes and practices in instructing family members about the poor health or regarding the grave illness of a relative so as to enhance their abilities to handle the situation and their facility in assisting the affected family member (Fuller 2001). In the UK, the United States and likewise in other countries, countless individuals with unbearable physical illness, debilitating mental problems and extremely destructive behaviors reside with their relatives and immediate families and rely on them for monetary aid, housing, encouragement, and sincere collaboration. Because of this reality, it is imperative for families to obtain knowledge and skills so that they can assist their ill or emotionally distressed relative and evade deterioration, gain from the treatment and attain recovery.

What happens to the design object when it becomes a museum object Essay

What happens to the design object when it becomes a museum object - Essay Example The answer to these questions lies in the development of cognizant regarding the museum and how it impacts the value of the object Concept of Museum The Museum, as described above, is a place which is not only an artistically design building of different historical objects, but it may also have profound impacts on the people, who have interest in the history hidden behind the object2. The Museums are normally established with having social authority. The social authority refers to the perception that museum creates regarding the meaning and importance of the object. In depth and highly reliable research is required to place the object in the museum along with its exact history. The social authority also refers the social responsibility of the authority, who manages the museum objects along with its deep traces, so that the trust of the people must be maintained regarding the reliability of the history behind the object. The museum controls the ways of seeing3. 1 Controlling the ways may mean that the perception of the people regarding the object can be created or developed by the museum authorities through the way of presentation of the object along with the context of the history described with the object. The museum, as described above, creates its importance and validity. Museums are believed to be the places, where not only historical objects are gathered but their importance also increases. In other words, museum does not only gather the valuable objects but the value and the meaning of the object increase by gathering the objects under one roof. The museum’s artistic framework and design make it able to generate and spread the cultural knowledge that can change the value of the object. Moreover, the museum preserves the cultural heritage so the people from the new world can trace its history more interestingly and realistically4.. The value of the design object: Discoveries of different objects may always lead to the creation of new story of the pa st. Past has always left some signs to be remembered. The objects such as paintings, metals, clothes, skeletons, books, papers etc may be the representative of the past. The reason is that the people from the past are no more. Therefore, only their related stuff can help the researchers, as well as, those who take interest in the histories of the people who are no more. The importance of its history may be mixed with the histories of other objects. Therefore, the common eyes may not be able to catch its importance4. The increase or decrease in value of the objects by displaying the objects in the museum depends upon following different factors 2 1. Size of The Object The Size of the object matters a lot in terms of its importance in front of the common eyes. The reason is that the big pictures, objects can be easily captured by the eyes but the small objects along with thousands of different objects may be neglected because the eyes may not be able to catch the objects view. Therefo re, small objects if combined with other object in the museum may have low value in front of common eyes. On the contrary, the people who have high interest in the history of the particular times they may give high value to even the small objects as well. It can be explained with the help of the common example of museum of Australia 5. The histories behind the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ancestral provide different tales of the past6.3 2. Display Pattern Of the Object: The Museum’

GEOL - Meteorology and Space Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

GEOL - Meteorology and Space Science - Essay Example Scientists almost proved that more greenhouse gases appeared in the atmosphere after the industrial revolution and with the development of the technology. Heating effect is dangerous for human life, moreover global warming causes many other problems such as rising sea level, undesirable change of climate etc. The given paper will discuss the potential causes and consequences of global warming and try to find possible solutions. Actually, some scientists do not believe in global warming. Some people consider it to be a myth. In order to define if it is really a myth or a real phenomenon, it is important to implement scientific research. Moreover, according to some researchers, the global warming is a phenomenon that was not caused by industrial revolution as it was met before: â€Å"Global warming is not a 20th century phenomenon. It has, in fact, occurred in the past more than once, along with periods of extreme cold known as the ice ages. With so much written and reported about global warming, sometimes its difficult to detect which is fact and which is just part of scientific scare tactics† (Fiset). There are indicators, which are used by scientists to control the climate shift, the main of them are temperature and sea levels. Researches made certain conclusions about the changes in temperature during the last 1,000 years. The 20th century is characterized by frustration of temperature. Between the1960-1970s the earth underwent the period of cooling, but still in general the average temperature increased. The temperature is increasing by 0.1-0.2 oC every ten years. â€Å"Keeping planetary warming below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) would, it was thought, avoid such perils as catastrophic sea-level rise and searing droughts. Staying below two degrees C would require limiting the level of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 450 parts per million (ppm), up from todays 395 ppm and the

Hotel and Information Systems Essay Example for Free

Hotel and Information Systems Essay It has been accepted for inclusion in Communications of the Association for Information Systems by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contact [emailprotected] org. 102 Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005) 102-118 OUTRIGGER HOTELS AND RESORTS: A CASE STUDY Gabriele Piccoli School of Hotel Administration Cornell University [emailprotected] edu ABSTRACT This case describes the history, strategy, and current information systems infrastructure of a midsize, privately owned hospitality firm. The case is designed to provide the substantial background information needed to engage successfully in setting direction for IS resources and their use at Outrigger Hotels and Resorts headquartered in Hawaii. It enables students to analyze the firm’s strategy thoroughly and to assess its current use of information systems resources. With this assessment as a starting point, students can develop an appropriate IS vision, IS architecture, and a strategic IS plan for Outrigger Hotels and Resorts. The case was originally designed to use the process of setting direction for IS resources as described by Martin and colleagues [2005], but is flexible enough to adapt to the structure of other approaches to planning for information systems use. Keywords: IS planning, IS assessment, IS visioning, infrastructure, hospitality. Editor’s Note: A teaching note is available from the author to faculty so requiring it that are listed in the MISRC-ISWorld Faculty Directory. I am involved with every decision that senior management takes. They look to me for an IS slant to it – whether an IT solution can capitalize on opportunities or eliminate threats. They also expect my team to independently develop an IS strategy that will further the business. Joe Durocher, Senior Vice President CIO Every manager must have an IT strategy. You can’t delegate to technologists and only worry about your allocated cost or what training your employees need. You must understand how to be master of your own destiny and make IT work best for you. Too many managers still don’t get that. Rob Solomon, Senior Vice President Sales Marketing Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005)102-118 103 I. INTRODUCTION Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, a mid-size lodging firm focused on leisure travel to the Hawaiian Islands and the South Pacific, uses Information Technology (IT) in numerous aspects of its operations and therefore must carefully engage in the information systems planning process. After analyzing Outrigger’s strategy and assessing the firm’s current use of information systems resources, we can develop an appropriate IS vision, IS architecture, and a strategic IS plan for Outrigger Hotels and Resorts. On Black Friday, September 13, 1929, Roy C. Kelley arrived in Hawaii with his wife Estelle. An architect by training, Mr. Kelley joined the firm of C. W. Dickey and was responsible for designing many of Honolulus landmark buildings, including the main building of the old Halekulani Hotel and the Waikiki Theater on Kalakaua Avenue. Nine years later Kelley set out on his own, building numerous homes, apartment buildings, and hotels on the island of Oahu. In 1963, Kelley took over the land occupied by the old Outrigger Canoe Club. Outrigger Hotels then became a reality with the mission of bringing the dream of a vacation in Paradise within the reach of the middle-class traveler. Included in the agreement were leases on three Waikiki lots that later became the Outrigger East, Outrigger West, and Coral Reef hotels. The Outrigger Waikiki Hotel was built on the site of the old canoe club, arguably the prime spot on Waikiki beach, in 1967. Throughout the next two decades, Outrigger Hotels Hawaii, as the company was named, continued its expansion in Waikiki. When in the 1970’s the zoning authority put a cap on new construction in Waikiki, Outrigger began to expand through acquisition rather than construction, ultimately becoming the largest chain in the State of Hawaii, with over 7,000 rooms and a total of 15 properties concentrated in Waikiki. Thanks to its clustered configuration, with all of its hotels located within one square mile, Outrigger was able to maintain a centralized management structure fitting Mr. Kelley’s ‘management by walking around’ style. In 1989, Outrigger Hotels Hawaii, now under the leadership of Roy Kelley’s son Dr. Richard Kelley, took over management of The Royal Waikoloan Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii. When hurricane Iniki, heading for Waikiki in 1992, barely missed Honolulu and ravaged the island of Kauai, it provided further impetus for Outrigger’s geographical diversification strategy to and beyond neighboring islands. The firm, expanding into management agreements with third party owners, added properties on Maui and Kauai and ultimately grew to a total of 26 locations in the Hawaiian Islands. In 1996 the firm made its first international foray, opening the Outrigger Marshall Island Resort on Majuro Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Through partnerships, joint ventures, acquisitions, and new developments the firm continued to grow internationally, adding properties in Guam, Fiji, Tahiti, Australia, and New Zealand. While growing geographically, in 1990 Outrigger Hotels Hawaii began to diversify its product portfolio by adding condominium resorts. Because of ts geographical and product diversification, in 1995 Outrigger Hotels Hawaii changed its name to Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, and in 1999 re-branded fifteen of its hotels in Waikiki to launch a new hotel brand called OHANA Hotels of Hawaii. We had an identity crisis because the market moved up, we upgraded the onbeach properties where we had higher demand and bought some nice properties in neighboring islands. But we had huge variation in the portfolio—if you stayed at a budget property vs. a beach front property, you’d be very confused as to what an Outrigger was. President and CEO, David Carey Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli 104 Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005) 102-118 Figure 1: Outrigger Properties in Waikiki Figure 2: Outrigger Properties in the Hawaiian Islands Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005)102-118 105 Figure 3. Properties Managed by Outrigger Hotels and Resorts (International) The on-beach properties became upscale full-service hotels under the Outrigger brand. The condos, also typically on-beach upscale locations, maintained the Outrigger brand. Conversely, the OHANA brand was positioned to cater to the budget traveler looking for value on off-beach properties. Condominiums represented an increasingly important share of the total portfolio of properties, even though the firm stumbled upon the opportunity that condominiums offered. Condominiums appealed to independent travelers who would do much research and planning on their own. Condominiums were also complex, non-standard products that travel agents and wholesalers found hard to sell. Because condos were rarely built as business ventures, but rather were designed as primary or vacation homes for the tenants, they offered little office or staging space for management companies to operate in. They also lacked many of the typical hotel services and departments such as food and beverage, room service, laundry, and daily maid service. These difficulties notwithstanding, Outrigger found the condo business appealing because it provided a means for expansion through management contracts without the need to acquire expensive properties. By 2005, Outrigger was a sizable firm, with about 3,600 employees (of whom about 230 were at corporate headquarters), a portfolio of properties exceeding US $1. 4 billion, and approximate revenues of US $45 million [Hotel On-Line, 2003]. But at the heart of its strategic positioning a commitment remained to providing a ‘sense of place,’ an experience attuned to the culture and the characteristics of the destination, and to avoiding a cookie cutter approach. Our business is really about being a â€Å"window† to an experience, not the experience itself. We are the enabler through which people can engage in the leisure experience they desire. We don’t try to export Hawaii when we go elsewhere, but we do honor the same values in the places we operate hotels and resorts. David Carey Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli 106 Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005) 102-118 Outrigger’s senior management believed that its key competencies resided in providing hospitality to guests visiting their properties and marketing those properties successfully through leisure distribution channels. To complement these basic competencies, Outrigger’s management developed what it believed to be a superior capability to manage in a multicultural environment, including multicultural and multilingual employees and guests. Aided by a turnover rate in the single digits and an average of 25 years of employee tenure with the company, Outrigger managed to be a mostly non-union shop in the heavily unionized Hawaii labor market. We operate properties that have good locations, we have a strong travel distribution network, and our employees really provide hospitality from the heart. That creates a differentiated product making price less important. David Carey Outrigger was wedded to the success of its destination markets and to the well-being of airlines serving its destinations. If Hawaii does well, so do we. I spend a lot of time working with local tourism authorities to improve the appeal of the destinations we operate in. But airlines can be a bottleneck. We may not have available lift at times when we need it. If the airlines are full or they have decided in their yield model that they are going to only sell their top fares, there is nothing we can do. From purely the hotels’ perspective, the best thing for us is an airline price war to Hawaii. David Carey III. THE HOTELS AND RESORTS INDUSTRY As the 21st century dawned, the global lodging industry was estimated to exceed $295 billion in sales (about 11% of the world’s economic output) and employed more than 250 million workers [Encyclopedia of Global Industries, 2003]. The leisure travel segment accounted for about 45% of total volume [Horwath International, 2002]. THE HAWAIIAN HOTEL MARKET In the Hawaiian market, which was Outrigger’s traditional stronghold, 2004 data showed performance levels above the average of the global industry. Being quite isolated from any large population pool, Hawaii was a classic destination market with an exclusive fly-in customer base. The major feeders were U. S. westbound traffic and Japanese eastbound traffic. These markets were thought to yield very high return rates1—estimated by some to be around 50% westbound and over 65% eastbound. This trend made for a very location-savvy customer base. Peculiar to this market was also the trend of multi-island stays, with guests visiting more than one destination during the same trip. Table 1. Performance of Hawaii Hotel Market Occupancy Avg. Number of rooms Average Daily Rate2 Revenue* * Amounts per available room 72. 1% 706 $198. 41 $78,488 In the hotel business, return rate is used to refer to the percentage of visitors who come back again for more than one visit to the same location. 2 Average Daily Rate (ADR), is the average of all rates charged on a given date for all rooms sold that day. A yearly ADR can be computed by averaging ADRs for all days of the year. 1 Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005)102-118 107 PRICING Because the Hawaii and Pacific Rim markets were exclusive destination markets, the use of packages – including air and accommodations – was pervasive. Historically, packages were assembled and sold by wholesalers and tour operators who purchased both air and hotel rooms in bulk and re-marketed them to the traveling public. With the widespread adoption of the Internet, a new type of package was emerging under the leadership of large online travel agencies: dynamic packages. A dynamic package was one that enabled the guest to choose air, hotel, car rental, and even activities, ticket them independently, and then price them out as a bundle. Dynamic packages were appealing to suppliers because the price of each item was not disclosed, making price comparison difficult and alleviating commoditization fears. They were appealing to prospective travelers because they increased choice and fostered flexibility. Finally, they appealed to online travel agents because they built upon their value proposition—customer choice—and could potentially improve their margins. COMPETITORS As a mature destination, Hawaii had been entered by many of the larger branded hospitality and resort companies. The largest hospitality firms, such as Marriott International, Hilton Hotels and Resorts, and Starwood, developed a significant presence with eight, five, and eleven properties respectively. But the largest operators in Hawaii were geographically- and leisure-focused players such as Outrigger, ASTON Hotels ; Resorts Hawaii (with twenty-eight properties), and Marc Resorts Hawaii (with eleven properties). IV. OUTRIGGER CUSTOMERS AND THE COMPETITION THE OUTRIGGER HOTELS AND RESORTS CUSTOMERS Outrigger’s original mission was to bring the opportunity for a vacation in Paradise within the reach of middle-class families. As the firm began to diversify its portfolio, the profile of its customers and the competition also changed. The typical guest staying with the premium brand – Outrigger – was often a multigenerational customer with a sense of loyalty to the brand (about 25% of guests were returning to Outrigger) and an annual income exceeding $75,000. Outrigger guests were almost exclusively leisure travelers. This customer base created seasonality, with winter and summer being the high seasons when properties like the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach reached an ADR of $260 and an overall occupancy around 90%. Our customers are independent-minded and look for an experience that is more regional and attuned to the destination, but still within their comfort zone. They may stay with big brands in their road warrior capacity, but that’s not what they are looking for in a tropical destination. Rob Solomon Table 2. Outriggers Portfolio and Sample Competitors Location Properties Rooms Lowest Rate * Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Waikiki 2 1,383 $160 Starwood Hotels and Resorts Waikiki 4 4,132 $150 Marriott International Waikiki 1 1,297 $209 Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Waikiki 1 1,230 $210 Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Guam Fiji 2 895 $203 Starwood Hotels and Resorts Guam Fiji 3 995 $145 Hilton Hotels and Resorts Guam 1 587 $110 *Rates for comparable rooms as they appear on the company website, December 2004, for January 2005 stays Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli 108 Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005) 102-118 Competing for these customers, Outrigger went head-to-head with major brands that enjoyed name recognition amongst the traveling public, a flow of customers redeeming points, available capital, and availability of programs for employees such as discounted travel beyond Hawaii and the Pacific region. In response, Outrigger leveraged its assets: some of the premier locations in the markets in which it competed, strong name recognition, long-term relationships with the travel distribution network, a strategic focus on vacation destinations, a deep local knowledge and community ties, and good employee relations. THE OHANA HOTELS CUSTOMERS The typical OHANA guest was a value-minded and Hawaii-savvy leisure traveler with income below $100k a year. Typically, OHANA guests had visited Hawaii multiple times, stayed longer than average, and visited more often. Business travel was mainly military personnel and employees of corporations who operated on multiple islands. Groups accounted for less that 10% of OHANA’s overall traffic. We have about 50% return guests. Your first trip you want a beach front hotel, the atmosphere, the ambiance—you want the full Hawaii experience. When you come more often, you still want the experience, but you look for more value and instead of spending $250-$300 a night for a beachfront you can stay longer offbeach for $70-$80 a night. Chuck Shishido, OHANA Hotels VP of Operations With seasonality similar to that of the full service Outrigger Hotels, OHANA Hotels typically achieved an ADR around $66 and approximate occupancy levels of 75% over the year. A number of small regional chains (such as Marc Resorts and Castle Resorts) and many off-beach independent hotels existed in the Waikiki market. Pricing for off-beach properties was much harder to manage because of the commodity nature of the hotels not enjoying a premium location. OHANA was the largest operator in Waikiki and the largest Hawaii-owned operator. Table 3. OHANA’s Portfolio and Sample Competitors Location Properties Rooms Lowest Rate * OHANA Waikiki 13 4564 $76 Marc Resorts Waikiki 4 314 $74 Castle Resorts Waikiki 6 N/A $75 * Rates for comparable rooms as they appear on the company website, December 2004, for January stays CONDOMINIUMS CUSTOMERS Two types of customers typically stayed at the condominiums. On the low end of the $90,000 to $160,000 income bracket were families visiting during school breaks, looking to control expenses, and control their vacation experience. They valued the full kitchen – a standard in every unit – and the two bedrooms and two baths. This assessment was substantiated by the fact that condos had four times as many reservations coming direct from the Internet and tended to recover faster after a soft economy. On the upper end were ‘newlyweds’ and ‘nearly dead’ couples who liked the privacy and space afforded by a condo. Because of the need to convince individual owners to join the pool of Outrigger managed units, the firm competed with small local management companies and individual owners’ beliefs that they could do a better job alone. This idiosyncrasy of condominium operations amounted to dealing with two customers—the unit owners and the guests. The guests were unaware of the workings of condo operations and looked for the same level of service they would receive at a resort. On average, a condominium with mostly two bedroom units would achieve an ADR around $175, while properties with mostly studio and one bedroom units would go for around $140. Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005)102-118 109 MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION Outrigger operated a Central Reservation Office (CRO) in Denver, Colorado with anywhere from 40 to 70 reservationists (FTEs), mainly depending on the volume of business. A corporate marketing staff of 12 people, allocated about 6% of revenue, was responsible for managing the brand and for going to market. An additional 2% of revenue was used to fund reservation and other distribution costs. Reservations were centralized for all properties in Hawaii; beyond Hawaii reservations were only taken at each property. Outrigger’s executives believed that distribution was a cornerstone of the company’s success, with about 50% of the business coming from wholesalers. Consumer direct (via voice or the Web), travel agents, government and military, and corporate clients made up the rest. For international properties, the source of business percentage from wholesalers was close to 80% and almost all reservations were faxed to the property. V. OUTRIGGER’S ORGANIZATION Outrigger Hotels and Resorts was a management company wholly owned by a holding corporation called Outrigger Enterprises. Reflecting its real estate development roots, Outrigger Enterprises also owned a real estate ownership company called Outrigger Properties. Figure 4 shows the Outrigger organization. Figure 4. Organization Chart Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli 110 Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005) 102-118 Outrigger Properties wrote and managed real estate contracts with third party owners and supervised the owned assets (accounting for about a third of all properties in the Outrigger portfolio), as well as the development, acquisition, and sale of properties. Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, the operating arm of Outrigger Enterprises, was responsible for the writing of new management contracts, and for overseeing property renovations and operations of the managed hotels, resorts, and condos. Outrigger Properties generally negotiated a base rent and a 3 percentage of revenue with tenants; revenues from leased space were assigned to the hosting property’s own PL. Room revenue made up the bulk of each property’s revenue. Income from leased space ranged from as low as 5% in hotels with little retail space to as high as 20% in some of the most appealing locations. Other more marginal revenue was derived from parking, in-room entertainment, telecommunications, and kids’ clubs operations. Outrigger Hotels and Resorts historically maintained a highly centralized organizational structure. As the firm grew in size and geographical distribution a more distributed structure emerged, but, reflecting its roots, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts remained consolidated where possible. We have centralized services – accounting, IT, finance, engineering, purchasing, special projects – that support all the properties on Oahu, as well as indirectly the neighboring islands. There is also one executive housekeeper in charge of all properties. We run the OHANA Hotels like a 4,200 room distributed hotel. It is very efficient. Chuck Shishido As the firm expanded internationally it became more decentralized, with resorts in the Pacific Rim working much more like independent operations and organized like traditional resorts. Recognizing the significant advantages offered by its centralized structure, Outrigger was looking at the possibility of integrating its international resorts better. However, distance presented new challenges: We need a reservation solution for Australia, a real-time coordination with a central reservation service. They are operated as individual hotels; the central 800 number today is just switched to the correct hotel. A centralized system would offer tremendous value because we get drive-in business and substantial potential cross-property traffic. Executive VP and COO Perry Sorenseon, VI. OUTRIGGER IT INFRASTRUCTURE Joe Durocher, the CIO of Outrigger Enterprises, was hired by David Carey in 1986. Mr. Roy Kelly was a hands-on manager. He once told me he hated two things: computers and vice presidents. As the VP of IT, I had two strikes against me. Yet, in 1986 I was brought in to overhaul Outrigger’s IT infrastructure and we built Stellex—our integrated CRS/PMS. At the time all our properties were in Waikiki, within one square mile of each other. Joe Durocher In this type of agreement the landlord receives a fixed payment plus a percentage of the total sales made by the tenant business (e. g. , restaurant, shop). 4 The CRS, Central Reservation System, is the computer system used by a hotel chain to support call center operations and, generally, its web site. The CRS holds chain-wide inventory and allows reservationists to sell room inventory at all the hotels affiliated with the chain. The PMS, Property Management System, is the â€Å"brain† of hotel operations. It is the computer system that is used to manage the inventory of hotel rooms at an individual property. 3 Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005)102-118 111 Figure 5. Timeline of Major Infrastructure Developments at Outrigger OUTRIGGER’S SOFTWARE Stellex, to which Durocher refers, was introduced in 1987 as a COBOL application that guaranteed complete redundancy and 24 x 365 uptime. These two properties are particularly important in the hotel business, which depends on being able to make reservations at any time during the day and wants to make sure that its computer system is always operational. For the technically minded, the application ran on a Tandem NonStop platform and a proprietary Enscribe database management system. 5 In 1992, Outrigger introduced its first major update to Stellex, Stellex 2. 0, which ran on a Sun Microsystems UNIX platform and provided revenue management functionality and reservation center support. Because of its unique need for substantial wholesale interaction, Outrigger engaged Opus, a software company specializing on revenue management systems,6 to build their revenue management module for Stellex 2. 0. Outrigger retained control of Opus’ source code7 and over the years made substantial enhancements, mainly to manage wholesale relationships. Outrigger implemented JD Edwards ERP as the cornerstone of its back-office operations in 1990, years before the ERP craze swept the business world. JD Edwards ran on an IBM AS 400—widely considered to be a mature and stable platform. The firm felt that its centralized IT infrastructure was a source of competitive advantage. Durocher discussed the trade-offs associated with centralized IT: Decentralizing IT would decrease our capabilities while increasing overall costs. But centralized IT creates friction at times. When a hotel is sold for example, the IT allocation may increase for other properties. 8 Joe Durocher Stellex provided the anchor to which all other operational systems connected, including telephone switches, call accounting, and in-room entertainment. All of the properties in the Hawaiian Islands had access to Outrigger’s centralized IT systems, served from the Honolulu-based data center, through the firm’s proprietary Wide Area Network. Stellex, for example, was accessed using an ASP model by all the properties in the Hawaiian Islands, the firm’s Denver-based Central Reservation Office, and the Portland, Oregon-based Web servers, thereby greatly simplifying the achievement of single image inventory, disaster recovery, and overall IT management. This configuration enabled the properties to operate with PCs (as few as 12 in a 5 Tandem Computer Systems was bought up by Compaq in 1997. Compaq, in turn was purchased by HP. Enscribe is still in business in December 2004. 6 Opus was subsequently bought by Micros-Fidelio, the dominant hospitality-focused software company. 7 ‘Source code’ refers to the original, human readable computer program. By owning it, Outrigger could change it as they saw fit. Note that Microsoft, for example, guards its source code jealously so that others can’t change Microsoft’s programs. 8 In many companies, such as Outrigger, IT costs are allocated to users, such as hotels, on an annual basis. IT cost is relatively fixed and not affected much by the number of units it supports. If a property is sold, the fixed cost allocated to all other properties must therefore go up. Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli 112 Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005) 102-118 Figure 6. Outriggers IT Infrastructure typical 500-room property) and networking equipment. The Point of Sales (POS) systems9 were not centralized, since Outrigger leased retail and restaurant space. This state of affairs generated some friction at times: The POS is the computer software used to support retail and restaurant operations. It enables operators to keep track of sales and accurately bill customers. Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005)102-118 113 We offer to interface their POSs to Stellex and pay for interfaces to automate room charges. But many of those POS ar e old and can’t interface, they must be upgraded first. Restaurants have to write a manual charge voucher and walk it to the front desk for input. It’s not a popular or efficient way to do it. VP of Property Technology, Allen White Due to the need for local support, the high telecommunication costs to and from Hawaii, and the unacceptable reliability of international networks, Outrigger did not extend this centralized model to its operations in Australia and the Pacific. The properties in Australia and New Zealand, all condominiums, used a highly specialized PMS particularly well suited for their condominium properties and their unique tax code requirements. None of the properties in Hawaii has a server on property. In the outer regions we have standalone PMS’s and on-property reservations. We don’t even try to keep Stellex in sync, they just open and close. If a date is getting full, they issue a stop-sell. Reservations that are taken centrally are automatically emailed. Joe Durocher APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT Beyond maintaining and upgrading Stellex, Outrigger’s IT professionals engaged in minimal application development—mainly writing customized reports, and configuring and interfacing offthe-shelf applications. The use of outsourcing was limited to the Web site, developed and hosted by a third party in Portland, Oregon. Yet, in order to maintain the integration of direct channels, Stellex served as the booking engine behind Outrigger’s Web site. A key initiative for Outrigger was the development of electronic interfaces with wholesalers. These interfaces were customdeveloped by the firm’s IT group using XML. 10 With many wholesalers we have real-time electronic interfaces—they can check availability and we get their reservations instantaneously. Without the interface, if they create a reservation six or three months out, we don’t see it until reporting time, ten days out, when we receive a fax and manually input it. It is virtually impossible to revenue manage like that. Many big brands have great revenue management systems, but don’t have real-time wholesaler data. Moreover, we can write wholesale contracts brand-wide. Joe Durocher Outrigger felt that its electronic interfaces afforded it a competitive advantage and preferential treatment from interface-enabled wholesalers, a relationship that proved particularly important during slow periods or a soft economy. Electronic interfaces generated substantial efficiencies, including automatic billing and invoicing without human handling, lowering estimated costs for these functions to $0. 75 from an estimated $10 for manually handled ones. But not all wholesalers were able or interested in automating reservation processing. This lack of interest was particularly true for small operations or those for whom Hawaii and the Pacific represented a small percentage of business. The industry is a mess from a connectivity standpoint. We are fortunate that we have the in-house expertise and the recognition from senior management of how important this is. Even the big companies often don’t understand the conditions for success. The dirty little secret of the travel industry is that the fax machine still rules. Rob Solomon 10 XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. It is a language used to create a protocol enabling computer applications of partnering firms to exchange information easily. Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli 114 Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005) 102-118 I spend 30-40 hours a week working with wholesalers on interfaces. There are many legacy systems out there; the fax is state of the art. We have made great progress with the more advance wholesalers or those that upgraded recently. Alan White Outrigger found the Open Travel Alliance (OTA) XML standards, specifying common message format and common content, of great help. But being able to pick the right partner, and avoid costly failures, remained the major challenge. While Outrigger felt it had been successful to date, with an estimated 33% of total reservations received electronically through the various channels, it still handled more than half a million faxes a year—about eight hundred a day from its largest wholesaler alone before that wholesaler migrated to the electronic interface. The firm felt that it had been able to capitalize on the use of technology to increase distribution efficiencies in the face of ever rising labor costs. Conversion rates at the Central Reservation Office improved from 20% to 45%-50% with widespread consumer adoption of the Internet. The firm estimated that as much as 60% of callers had already researched the Outrigger website and made a purchase decision but, as Solomon put it, â€Å"had one more question. † In an effort to provide support right on the website, the firm introduced live chat functionalities and offered email confirmation for significant savings in labor and postage costs. DATA MANAGEMENT In 2001, Outrigger acquired business intelligence software, a data mart, and analytical tools from 11 E. piphany running on a Windows 2000 platform. The data mart held detailed data for three years, enabling analysis down to the individual guest folio. Data were consolidated afterwards, enabling only aggregate analyses. While E. piphany was a recent purchase, Outrigger had been disciplined in collecting data for some time. We had 10 years of high quality data from Stellex; we are very rigid about data capture standardization like room category, naming conventions, request codes, [and] what goes where. For example, postal and country codes are mandatory fields. Our employees’ long tenure helps, and peer pressure is a great asset— nobody wants to be the one that ruins the value of these reports for all. Alan White The data collected by Stellex, including source of business, stay information, and consumption, were extracted every night by load programs that scrubbed (i. e. , cleaned) them, and transferred them to the JD Edwards ERP system for accounting and to the E. piphany system for analysis. Feeding historical data and forward looking availability and reservation activity, Outrigger learned to harness the analytical power of E. piphany to do forecasts and generate business intelligence both at the source of business and at guest levels. We want the marketing data. It is stupid to have a treasure trove like that and not use it. We mine it. We send thank you letters to recurring guests, we can give you history on who visited, how they got here, what in-flight magazine we should hit. We sold a resort once and they figured they would have to hire 3 people to achieve manually what our reports gave them automatically. They even set their rates based on E. piphany forecasts. Alan White The IT group served as custodian of the data, but any user with security clearance had access to E. piphany data though a web interface; the data was used for marketing and operational analysis (e. g. , analysis of call patterns to evaluate the appeal of Voice over IP solutions). Incorporating the information into daily operations was more challenging. Definitions of technical terms such as Business Intelligence, Data Mart, Data Mining, and many others used throughout this case study can be found free of charge at http://www. whatis. com. 11 Outrigger Hotel and Resorts: A Case Study by G. Piccoli Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005)102-118 115 Outrigger found it hard to justify a frequent guest program—with an average repurchase cycle for returning guests of three years, a once a year purchase was considered very high in Hawaii resort operations. Speaking about recognition programs, Individual properties have their own customer database and a strong informal recognition system. We haven’t been able to justify the investment technologically to do it brand wide. It would be a natural extension of the recognition we give our return guests, but it must be cost-effective. Perry Sorenson If a guest did not tell us he is returning when making the reservation, our current system does not have a database with guest history. Many times we recognize our frequent return guests only at the door, or during check in at the front desk. We have special programs (e. g. , for honeymooners, wedding anniversaries), but we need to know their history to appropriately acknowledge these returning guests. VP of Operations for Outrigger’s Waikiki Beachfront Hotels Kimberly Agas, a 20 year veteran with the company, IT STAFFING AND ORGANIZATION Outrigger’s IT staff consisted of 26 full time employees. Of these, 4 data entry operators and 3 developers were housed in a separate limited liability company to help Outrigger take advantage of tax incentives offered by the state of Hawaii.