Saturday, August 31, 2019

Old ways

Net, wife. Studying old ways are more effective but time consuming. But if you want to learn It will surely take time to do so. We can't literally blame people who invented this kind of entertainment since their objective is for the great and easy way of work. It is us the people who take advantage or maybe lazy or get addicted to it. We must have control. Like as If the government will control our time usage In vile. (repeat) Studying is not that hard, we just need to go back were there's no Net, win.Studying old ways are more effective but time consuming. But if you want to learn it will surely entertainment since their objective Is for the great and easy way of work. It is us the people who take advantage or maybe lazy or get addicted to It. We must have control. Like as if the government will control our time usage in wife. Studying is not that hard, we Just need to go back were there's no Net, wife. Studying old ways are more effective but time consuming. But if you want to lear n it will surely take time to do so.We can't eternally blame people who invented this kind of entertainment since their objective Is for the great and easy way of work. It is us the people who take advantage or maybe lazy or get addicted to it. We must have control. Like as if the government will control our time usage in wife. Studying is not that hard, we Just need to go back were there's no Net, will. Studying old ways are more effective but time consuming. But If you want to learn it will surely take time to do so. We can't literally blame people who invented this kind of entertainment since their objective is for the great and easy way of work.It is us the people who take advantage or maybe lazy or get addicted to it. We must have control. Like as If the government will control our time usage In will. Studying Is not that hard, we Just need to go back were there's no Net, will. Studying old ways are more effective but time consuming. But if you want to learn it will surely take time to do so. We can't literally blame people who invented this kind of entertainment since their objective is for the great and easy way of work. It Is us the people who take advantage or maybe lazy or get addicted to It.We must have control. Like as If the government will control our time usage in wife. Studying is not that hard, we Just need to go back were there's no Net, wife. Studying old ways are more effective but time consuming. But if you want to learn It will surely take time to do so. We can't literally blame people who Invented this kind of entertainment since their bob]active Is for the great and easy way of work. It is us the people who take advantage or maybe lazy or get addicted to it. We must have control. Like as if the government will control our time usage In wife.Studying is not that hard, we just need to go back were there's no Net, will. Studying old ways are more effective but time consuming. But If you want to learn it will surely take time to do so. We c an't literally blame people who invented not that hard, we Just need to go back were there's no Net, will. Studying old ways are 1 OFF their objective is for the great and easy way of work. It is us the people who take advantage or maybe lazy or get addicted to it. We must have control. Like as if the to go back were there's no Net, wife.Studying old ways are more effective but time misusing. But if you want to learn it will surely take time to do so. We can't literally blame people who invented this kind of entertainment since their objective is for the time usage in wife. Studying is not that hard, we Just need to go back were there's no Net, wife. Studying old ways are more effective but time consuming. But if you want to have control. Like as if the government will control our time usage in wife. Studying is not that hard, we Just need to go back were there's no Net, wife. Studying old ways are time usage in wife.

Discrimination in Labor

In the case of Sarah Crone vs. United Parcel Service, Inc. , decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the court decided against the complainant, and held that there was lack of evidence to show that the employer was discriminatory in not considering her for the promotion. In said case Crone, a dispatcher of the employer corporation wanted to be promoted to the dispatcher supervisor position, when the said position became available.However, she was not promoted because the Department Manager and the Division Manager feared she might not be able to deal with confrontations, which are necessarily attached to the supervisory position. For Crone, this ground was discriminatory on account of sex. According to the court, Crone was unable to show that the company’s reason was a mere pretext to cover up its discriminatory purpose. (Crone v. UPS, Inc. , 2002).The issue of discrimination can indeed be raised in this case, considering that it initially appears that Crone was not considered for promotion merely because of some trait that the managers ascribed to her on account of her being a woman. It should be noted that discrimination exists where distinctions are made, â€Å"in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit. (Dictionary. com). Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Laws prohibit all sorts of discriminatory practices of employers, which include making â€Å"employment decisions based on stereotypes or assumptions about the abilities, traits, or performance of individuals of a certain sex, race, age, religion, or ethnic group, or individuals with disabilities. † (Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Laws).These EEO laws, which have been passed in most states, enjoin companies to provide equal employment opportunity to all their employees, without regard to irrelevant characteristics such as age, religion and sex. EEO laws, having been based on the fundamental principle of fairness, urges companies to allow equal opportunity for employees to succeed. (Fair Measures). Following these laws, therefore, the company’s decision to choose another person over Crone falls within the category of employment decisions that should not be tainted with discriminatory considerations.However, it cannot be said that the court’s decision in this case in dismissing the complaint could lead to unlawful excuses for discrimination in other settings, because the ruling was not a statement of a policy favoring the creation of biases against women. The ruling was based on facts. The company was able to substantiate its defense that it was justified in finding Crone unqualified for the position because of her lack of necessary skills to deal with confrontations, which evaluation was supported by an occasion where Crone came close to tears while a driver became confrontational with her.Thus, the court upheld the ruling in Kiel v. Select Artificials, Inc. , 169 F. 3d 1131, 1136 (8th Cir. ) (en banc), cert. denied, 528 U. S. 818 (1999), which said, â€Å"In the absence of any evidence of discriminatory intent, however, it is not the prerogative of the courts or jury to sit in judgment of employers’ management decisions. † (Crone v. UPS, Inc. , 2002). Thus, it would be premature to conclude that this decision veers away from the policy against discrimination, as it is clear that the company’s decision was based on cold facts.This writer believes that the above case does not require elaborate changes in the present EEO structure, as there is no danger of discrimination, provided that the law’s nuances and policy are carefully followed. The law provides for instances that could be considered discrimination. In the absence of sufficient proof of such discrimination, the law is correct in providing equal protection to employers who have the right to man age their business in accordance with their preferences.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Conquering Arayat Essay

Thesis Statement: Conquering the town of Arayat is more than just trekking the mighty â€Å"Bunduk Alaya† but also discovering their fascinating history, savoring their tasty cuisine, celebrating their unique festivities and most of all learning more about their interesting people. I. A number of historians have proposed varied explanations regarding the etymology of the name â€Å"Arayat†. a. Some people believe that Arayat originated from Fernando de Arayat. b. Another historian argues that it came from the Kapampangan word â€Å"Dayatan†. c. A different account states it rooted from â€Å"Alaya† another Kapamangan term. d. A present-day researcher claims it obtained its name from the biblical Mt. Ararat. II. The fusses faced by the present day Arayat rooted from its controversial history. a. The origin of Arayat is still unknown but historical accounts show that it already existed between 1335 and 1380. b. The people of Arayat showed abhorrence to the coming of the Spaniards and other invaders. c. Arayat gained notoriety when it became the hotbed of many rebellious groups after the colonial war. 1. The prominent HUKBALAHAP movement stayed at the town till it faded at early 1950’s. 2. Following the Huks, HMB was established to fight against the US-sponsored Philippine government. 3. The said to be sons of HMB, NPA still continues to reside at the town. III. Arayat’s culture is a unique blend of its history, geography, customs and traditions. a. The Legend of Mt. Arayat is one of the well-known literatures in the town and in Pampanga. b. When it comes to architecture, Arayat exhibits classic and exemplary designs of its illustrious parish church and memorable national park. c. From the trees of Mt. Arayat, the towns boast of their high quality wood competent for global exportation. d. Its unique halo-halo by Kabigting’s is what makes Arayat a cut above the rest when it comes to Kapampangan desserts. e. Arayat’s major celebration is the feast day of its patroness, St. Catherine of Alexandria, every 25th of November. f. 90% of Arayat’s population is dominated by the devotees of the Roman Catholic religion. IV. The town of Arayat is not second-rate when it comes to its tourist attractions. a. The most outstanding landmark of Pampanga stands at the heart of Arayat. b. The Mount Arayat National Park offers a historical yet contemporary vacation experience. c. St. Catherine of Alexandria is the 7th oldest parish in Pampanga. d. The Cong. Dadong Dam was built to supply water to seven towns of Pampanga. V. Arayat is a home to several infamous revolutionary personalities, national government officials and Armed Forces of the Philippines generals. CONQUERING ARAYAT Demographics The town of Arayat lies in the northern tip of Pampanga, and is surrounded on the northwest by Magalang, on the northeast by Cabiao (in Nueva Ecija), on the east by Candaba, on the south by Sta. Ana, and on the west by Mexico. Its total land area is 17,694 hectares with a population of 118,312; less than one fourth is forested. Only 19 kilometers away from San Fernando, the capital town of Pampanga, Arayat is about an hour drive from Manila. The town is the biggest in northern Pampanga, It is composed of 30 barangays/barrios namely: Arenas, Baliti, Batasan, Buensuceso, Camba (Kaledian), Candating, Cupang, Gatiawin, Guemasan, La Paz (Turu), Lacmit, Laquios, Mangga-Cacutud, Mapalad, Matamo, Palinlang, Paralaya, Plazang Luma, Poblacion, San Agustin Norte, San Agustin Sur, San Antonio, San Jose ( Mesulo), San Juan ( Bano), San Mateo, San Nicolas, San Roque (Bitas), Sto. Nino (Tabuan), Suklayin, and Telapayong, not to mention subdivisions that sprout outside the town proper among which are: Fidela, Guemasan, San Nicolas, Aliwalas, Castillo (Bitas), and Leonor Subdivisions. Arayat is generally a plain or a level land, except the areas where Mt. Arayat stands and its vicinities, with a type I climate and two distinct seasons: dry and wet. The rainy or wet season normally starts in May and runs through October, while the dry season is from November through March of the following year. The Origin of the Name â€Å"Arayat† Some researches state that the name â€Å"Arayat† is derived from the name of Spanish encomiendero, Fernando de Arayat, who was first administrator of the town and who most likely came from a village in Spain called Arayat. Eventually another particular historian allegedly claims that it was the natives who coined the original vernacular name â€Å"Dayat† from their word â€Å"dayatan† literally meaning â€Å"irrigated seed bed†. Nonetheless, a particular researcher argues that Arayat was earlier known as â€Å"Alaya† meaning â€Å"east†. Mount Arayat was then called â€Å"Bunduc Alaya† or â€Å"Eastern Mountain†. The same source states that the Spaniards subsequently made up the word â€Å"Arayat† . However, on a different approach, a contemporary researcher proposes that Mount Arayat is the biblical â€Å"Mount Ararat† where Noah’s Ark apparently landed. But the same researcher does not say how the current name evolved; nor does he explain how come there is another Mount Ararat in the Middle East. Pre-Colonial History The accurate date of the founding of Arayat cannot be determined. However, between 1335 and 1380, historical accounts confirm that it was among the few Pampanga towns already existing. It was allegedly founded by either Prince Balagtas, a monarch of the Madjapahit Empire who came to Luzon, or his son Araw (Lord) Malangsic. It was then called â€Å"Bayan ning Pambuit† and situated in the barrio of Panlinlang. The present Poblacion was still a jungle with balugas (aetas) and other pagan tribes as residents. It was a widespread encomienda consisting of the town as it is known now. At that time, it was an extensive encomienda consisting of the town (present Arayat), and parts of Magalang, Sta. Ana, Candaba, San Miguel de Mayumo (in Suclayin) and Cabiao (in Nueva Ecija). It the present, it is cited in the northern part of Pampanga. It is bounded by the towns of Magalang on the northwest, Cabiao on the northeast, Candaba on the east, Sta. Ana on the south and Mexico on the west, with a total area of 17,694 hectares. The town of Arayat is the biggest in Northern Pampanga Colonial History By 1571, Arayat had emerged as one of the prosperous settlements in Pampanga. But by 1590 when the first Augustinian mission was established in the town by Fray Juan de Valderama, its population numbered only 100. This can be explained by the fact that many young men had been conscripted into the military service to help the Spaniards contain rebellions and defend the country against foreign invaders like the Dutch, the British and the Chinese. As early as 1660, there existed in Arayat a Spanish military for which figured well in the local revolts. Truly, Arayateà ±ous shared the Pampango’s reputation for bravery. The town bred such revolutionary personalities as Generals Jose Alejandrino, Mamerto Natividad, Benito Natividad and Ananias Diokno. Arayat was once the hideout of insurrectos. Hacienda Alejandrino in Panlinglang and Arenas (then called Baliti) was in fact attacked and destroyed because the insurrectos were known to be holding out there. Post Colonial History After the last group of invaders (the Japanese) left the province particularly the town of Arayat, it remained a nest to rebellious groups like the HUKBALAHAP (Hukbo Laban sa mga Hapon). In the late 1940’s Arayat gained unsavory reputation for being the breeding ground of HUKBALAHAP rebellious movements. At that time, Mount Arayat was often the scene of many military attacks. By early 1950’s the Huk rebellion reached its pinnacle and then diminished and disappeared gradually. This markee the formation of a new revolutionary army the HMB (Hukbong Mapagpalayang Bayan or People’s Liberation Army). HMB directed its fight against the newly established US-sponsored Philippine puppet republic. The thick forests of Mount Arayat and its hard terrain gave these rebellious groups advantages to lure the military away from tracking them. These characteristics of the mountain kept these rebellious groups secured and tenable. During the Marcos regime, a new vigilant group emerged, the NPA (New People’s Army) and even up to this time still growing in terms of numbers of members. At present there are still HMB’s and NPA’s residing in the town of Arayat. People there regard HMB’s as â€Å"matwa† meaning â€Å"older† men and the NPA’s as â€Å"anac† meaning â€Å"younger† men. The reason behind this is that the NPA is believed to be the younger generation of the HMB. It would be usual for people living in Arayat to see these rebels wandering around town. They learned to share their beloved town to these people. According to some of the people there when it comes to dealing with these rebels, â€Å"if you do not bother them, they will not bother you as well†. Literature Legend of Mt. Arayat (Sinukuan) There are various legends about the mystical Maria Sinukuan and the mighty Mt. Arayat. Here is one version popular in the town of Arayat: Long Ago, before the invaders came, the mountain of Arayat was alleged to be inhabited by an enthralled woman who was believed to be the fairy god mother of the townspeople. This lady is popularly known as Mariang Sinukuan. Her naturally curled black hair reaches down to her ankles. Her nose is finely chiseled and her eyes are framed with long, black lashes. Her lips were well-formed, her eyebrows were arched and her skin was flawlessly brown. But Mariang Sinukuan was not only known for her physical beauty. She possessed a kind and charitable heart because she always helped those who were in need. It was said that Mt. Arayat was flourished in all kinds of fruit trees. Aside from the fruit trees, it was said that animals of all kinds once rambled this mountain. The eccentric thing about these fruit trees and animals was that the fruit trees bore unusually big fruits all year round and the animals were owned by no other than Mariang Sinukuan. She used to distribute these fruit trees and animals to the deprived. Poor families often woke up to see fruits and animals for their needs at their doorsteps. They knew it was Mariang Sinukuan who left these foods while they were sleeping. the natives were very thankful to be graced by the enchanting goddess. And to show their appreciation and reverence, they never tried to go to her dwelling place in the mountain. The people considered her abode as a sanctified place. But such was not always the case. There came a time when the inhabitants were no longer satisfied with what the captivated lady left at their doorsteps. They wanted to get more. One time, some young men decided to go up Mt. Arayat. They wanted to get more of Mariang Sinukuan’s fruits and animals. They started for the mountain early at dawn. They reached the base of the mountain at sunrise. There were guavas bigger than their fists that drooped from the trees. Pomegranate branches almost reached to the ground because of the many and big fruits they bore. Ripe mangoes were just within one’s reach. Fowls of every kind were abundant. Pigs, goats and other animals wandered around. The young men were still viewing this marvel of nature when from nowhere came Mariang Sinukuan. They were impressed by her radiance. They could not find any words to say to her. It was Mariang Sinukuan who first spoke to them. She welcomed them and said that they could eat as much as they want but they shouldn’t take anything home without her knowledge. After recovering from their astonishment, the young men began to pick up fruits. They ate and ate until they could not eat anymore. Afterwards, one of the men encouraged the others to pick some fruits and fill the sack that he brought. But the other man said that they shouldn’t do that because the lady already warned them. However, the man insisted on getting some more fruits, he said that they’re plentiful and the lady won’t know the difference. And so the young men started to fill their sacks with as many fruits and animals as they could get hold of. Then they started for home. As they were about to begin their descent they felt their sacks becoming heavier. They didn’t mind this, but they had not gone ten steps farther when they felt that their load was pulling them down. Putting the sacks down, how surprised the young men were to find that the fruits and animals had become big stones. They remembered Mariang Sinukuan’s warning. The young men became horribly terrified. Leaving their sacks behind, they ran as fast as their feet could carry them. But before they reached the base of the mountain, they saw someone blocking their way. It was Mariang Sinukuan who was very mad. Because of the covetousness of the young men, Mariang Sinukuan punished them. With the wave of her wand, she changed the young men into swine. This was not the last time that people tried to get hold of Mariang Sinukuan’s fruits and animals. Again and again they tried to steal them. At last, fed up with the people’s greediness, Mariang Sinukuan stopped leaving food at their doorsteps. She caused the fruit trees and animals in the mountain to fade away. She no longer showed herself to the people for she was dismayed with their materialism. Architecture St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish Church Found in Arayat, St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish Church is the seventh oldest Church in Pampanga. This Church was built in the Spanish era in honor of St. Catherine of Alexandria. The Church, measuring 70 meters long, 16 meters wide and 12 meters high, is known for its classical architecture. The presbytery, ceiling and the main altar have been recently renovated. The original stone facade has been covered with cement and painted white. Mt. Arayat National Park Situated at the base of the well-known Mount Arayat is the Mount Arayat National Park, a major tourist attraction not only in Pampanga, but whole Luzon. It is noted for its swimming pools, refreshing surroundings and its cool water falling from its waterfalls. This Park was originally a project of Dona Aurora A. Quezon, wife of the late Manuel L. Quezon of the Philippine Commonwealth, and has been developed into its present state during the post war era. Arayat Institute Arayat Institute is one of the oldest schools that offers complete general secondary course and is recognized by the government. Together with new Berline High School these two public high schools are subsidized by the government, on the other hand, Mangga-Cacutud and Camba Public High Schools, schools cater mostly from barrio youth. All baranggays have their own elementary school. Agriculture and Woodcraft Arayat croplands cover 7,716.49 hectares or about 60% of the total area. It can be also said that it falls within the category of those with traditional industrial structures as reflected by its lands use, agriculture has the widest area, followed by forest land, swamp and marshed land. Rice and sugarcane are the main staple products of the town, followed by corn, mongo, watermelons, turnips, peanuts, camote and different kinds of vegetables. Fresh fish are abundant in its rivers and swampy areas. The forest land of Mount Arayat is the source of firewood, charcoal and the famous â€Å"Teak† wood used in furniture making. Cuisine It is not only having the most prominent landmark of Pampanga (Mt. Arayat) situated in its lands that the town of Arayat is proud of, it also boasts of having the best halo-halo in the country – Kabigting’s Halo Halo. It is not your usual halo-halo for it has caramel made from carabao’s milk, cream of corn and beans cooked for a day to acquire a sweet taste. So how did this pride of Arayat came to be? Sometime in 1970 gave rise to this famous delicacy when Geraldine Kabigting suggested to his brother Jacinto Kabigting to add an interesting flavor to the established and traditional tropical fruit flavors of halo-halo and so they added the caramel, cream of corn and beans. Susan and Johnny Medina who just reside near the Kabigting’s Residence have tasted the newly discovered exotic flavor of halo-halo. Subsequently days after the first taste-test, the group of Travel Time with Susan visited Kabigting’s Residence to savor and introduce their halo-halo on air. Kabigting’s Halo-halo was made popular through that documentary story from Travel Time. Unexpectedly, foreigners and tourists began to go and dine in the place. Ordinary people from the community, known politicians (Tessie Aquino-Oreta, Lilia Pineda, Dong Gonzales, Monz Laus, etc.) artists (Chesca Garcia, Angel Aquino, etc.) media people (ABS-CBD Crew, Jessica Soho, etc.) and even former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo personally went there to taste their infamous halo-halo. They also serve special pancit palabok. Kabigting’s residence served as the place to order Kabigting’s Halo-halo which is located at Paralaya, Arayat, Pampanga. It has branches also at Robinson’s San Fernando and Marquee Mall. Festivals Arayat is all the luckier in the facade of recent destructive natural calamities such as the 1990 Killer Earthquake and June 1991 Mt. Pinatubo Eruption, it being phenomenally spared of major damages in lives and properties. The town is blessed to have as its Patroness, St. Catherine of Alexandria, in whose affectionate concern and fortification, brings harmony and serenity among the people reign, despite the diffident livelihood of the people and their diverse political and ideological persuasions and viewpoints, not to mention social differences. By her compassionate intervention, Arayat remains to be on the forefront in so far as tranquility and progress are concerned. The feast day of St. Catherine of Alexandria is celebrated every 25th of November. In line with this, 25 other fiestas in small baranggays of Arayat are celebrated in honor of Santa Catalina (St. Catherine of Alexandria). Religion As with the rest of the town of Pampanga, Roman Catholic remains the dominant religion in Arayat, numbering for more than 90% of the entire population. Iglesia ni Cristo is second followed by the Aglipayan Church, Seventh Day Adventist, Rizalists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Methodist. The people of Arayat, although pre-occupied with different problems, are not negligent in their religious obligations. The Catholics are keeping pace with the demand for more religious facilities and services. The town’s old catholic church, St. Catherine Parish, which was built in the Spanish era, was the object of the recent major renovations through the collective efforts of mandated organizations. And due to demands of religious services to barangay northwest of the Pampanga River and to bring such services more accessible to people, the St, Isidore Parish (Camba) was established by the Archdiocese of San Fernando. The religion that catches our attention the most is the Rizalist. Like Mt. Banahaw, Arayat too has a mystical side for it is in her foothills that Rizalist gathers every December to honor the national hero in quiet ceremonies. The cult was brought about by Mariang Sinukuan, the female incarnation of Rizal. This religion negates the concept that Rizal is the reincarnation of Christ because they believe that Christ does not exist. For them, Rizal is God himself, the Alpha and the Omega, the Kristong Kayumanggi and the savior of the Philippines. There may be many different names but He is only one. Famous Sites MT. ARAYAT The most popular landmark of not only the town of Arayat but as well as the whole province of Pampanga is the majestic Arayat Mountain or also known as â€Å"Bunduk Alaya†. Mount Arayat is an extinct volcano on Luzon Island, Philippines, rising to a height of 1,026 m (3,366 ft) ASL. There is no recorded eruption of the volcano, and its last activity probably dates to the Holocene era. One academic report indicates activity within the last 2000 years, but it is believed that this refers to the volcano’s geothermal activity. Mount Arayat is equally recognized as â€Å"Mount Sinukuan†, entitled after the renowned Goddess and charmed lady, Maria Sinukuan. It has three peaks, the two highest of which the Northern Peak with 1086 meters altitude and the Southern Peak with 984 meters height. Fluttering at the foot of Mt. Arayat is the well-known Pampanga River. One does not have to mount its summit to see its natural beauty, for it is centrally located in the region, so that one will without doubt, take pleasure in its magnificence as he travel along national highways of Central Luzon. MOUNT ARAYAT NATIONAL PARK Located at the base of the highly recognized Mount Arayat is the Mount Arayat National Park, a primary tourist attraction not only in Pampanga, but the whole Luzon. It is noted for its swimming pools, natural, revitalizing and lush surroundings and its cool water cascading from its waterfalls. This park initially a project of Doà ±a Aurora A. Quezon, wife of the late Manuel L. Quezon of the Philippine Commonwealth, has been refurbished into its present state during the post war era after it has been shattered in the course of the World War II. It was established on June 27, 1933 to save and preserve the flora and fauna blossoming therein. The 3,564 feet high mountain at Baà ±o, Arayat is an perfect spot for outdoor activities with its picturesque vicinity under cool shades of fertile green trees, mountain wind, natural falls and two standard sized-swimming pools, recreational halls and picnic huts. The former President Quezon and his wife fell in love with the place when they visited their medical officer, Dr. Egmidio Cruz, a native of Arayat. He really liked the cool breeze of the serene and calm town. He immediately bought farms which later named Caledian & Suclayin, after his properties in his native Tayabas which bore the same names. During the summer he brought other government officials and foreign visitors to Arayat. Eventually he had several improvements done in the town. He was responsible for the concreting of roads, building of a bridge linking Arayat and Cabiao, as well as the development of recreational facilities at the base of Mount Arayat, with the construction of a swimming pool, dressing headquarters and a nursery. The project was discontinued when the World War II broke out, but resumed afterwards under the supervision of local officials and civil-spirited citizens. It now bears the name Mount Arayat National Park. ST. CATHERINE PARISH CHURCH The people of Arayat, although preoccupied with economic difficulties are not negligent in their religious obligations. The Catholics are keeping pace with the demand for more religious facilities and services. The town old Catholic church, St. Catherine Parish, which was built in the Spanish era, was the object of the recent major renovations vis-à  -vis the church proper, the convent and the church patio, through the collective efforts of mandated organizations. The church was built in honor of the Patroness of the town, St. Catherine of Alexandria who brings tender concern and safety and preserves serenity and tranquility among the people of Arayat, despite wide-ranging political and ideological points of view and beliefs, not to mention social differences. By her compassionate intervention, Arayat continues to be on the forefront in so far as harmony and advancement are concerned. Santa Catalina de Alexandria (St. Catherine of Alexandria) is the 7th oldest parish in Pampanga built in 1590. CONG. DADONG DAM The P3.4-billion Cong. Dadong Dam, also known as DELTA to the natives was designed to irrigate 10,270 hectares of farms in seven eastern towns of Pampanga. Recently, there are controversies that emerged regarding the discontinued use of the well-recognized dam. FAMOUS PEOPLE Like other towns in Pampanga, Arayat has bred some prominent and outstanding national figures from the Spanish era to the present. Noteworthy to mention are: Generals Jose Alejandrino, who is a contemporary of Jose Rizal, Mamerto Natividad, his brother Banito, Ananias Diokno, and Dr. Egmidio Cruz, the medical officer of foremer President Manuel Quezon and his wife Former executive secretary and Ambassador Amelito R. Mutuc and Press Secretary Leoncio R. Parungao, both of the Macapagal administration, also came from Arayat. Not to mention military figures that made their marks in the high echelon of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, namely: Commodore Lodogovildo L. Gantioqui of the Philippine Nave, Col. (Ret.) Vicente A. Pascual, former Deputy Judge Advocate General, Major General Rene R. Cruz, former RaCom V. Commander and PC-INP Deputy Commander for Administration. ——————————————– [ 2 ]. Arayat Map, JPG, http://www.batch2006.com/visit_porac.htm. [ 3 ]. Holy Angel Univeristy Center for Kapampangan Studies, History of Arayat (Angeles City, Pampanga, n.d.), p. 1. [ 4 ]. Den Mar, â€Å"Arayat – Our Ancestral Home,† Arayat,http://arayat2012.tripod. com/ index2.htm (accessed December 30, 2010). [ 5 ]. Holy Angel Univeristy Center for Kapampangan Studies, loc.cit. [ 6 ]. Den Mar, loc.cit. [ 7 ]. Holy Angel University Center for Kapampangan Studies, loc.cit. [ 8 ]. Ibid. [ 9 ]. Ibid., p.2. [ 10 ]. Michael Raymon Pangilinan, â€Å"Arayat,† Kapampangan Online, http://kapampangan-online.com/arayat (accessed December 30, 2010). [ 11 ]. Dugdale Pointon, â€Å"Insurgency in the Philippines,† Insurgency in the Philippines, http:// www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_philippines.html (accessed Decmeber 30, 2010). [ 12 ]. Mariang Sinukuan, GIF, http://arayat2012.tripod.com/maria.htm. [ 13 ]. Den Mar, loc.cit. [ 14 ]. Ibid. [ 15 ]. Holy Angel Univeristy Center for Kapampangan Studies, loc.cit. [ 16 ]. Den Mar, loc.cit. [ 17 ]. Ibid. [ 18 ]. Teak, JPG, http://www.indonesiafurniture.co.id/About/index.html. [ 19 ]. Den Mar, loc.cit. [ 20 ]. Kabigting, JPG, http://foodxpress.wordpress.com/. [ 21 ]. Pampanga Directory, â€Å"Pride of Pampanga†, http://pampanga directory.net/the-pride-of-arayat/ (accessed December 30, 2010). [ 22 ]. Saint Catherine of Alexandria, JPG, http://www.flickr.com/photos/58989268@ N00 /favorites/page36/. [ 23 ]. Den Mar, loc.cit. [ 24 ]. Rizalistas, JPG, http://www.mnnetherlands.com/dir/_page/100298/. [ 25 ]. Den Mar, loc.cit. [ 26 ]. Alex Castro, â€Å"Mountain of Myths†, Indung Kapampangan, http://kapampangan.word press.com/category/mount-arayat (accessed December 30, 2010). [ 27 ]. Dennis Villegas, â€Å"The Second Coming of Rizal†, Philippine Online Chronicles, http://www.thepoc.net/thepoc-features/buhay-pinoy/buhay-pinoy-features/8307-the-living-god-rizal-from-rizalistas-eyes.html (accessed December 30, 2010). [ 28 ]. Mount Arayat, JPG, http://www.lakbaypilipinas.com/travel_pampanga.html. [ 29 ]. WikiMapia, â€Å"Mount Arayat,† http://wikimapia.org/842045/Mount-Arayat (accessed December 30, 2010). [ 30 ]. Mount Arayat National Park, JPG, http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines /Pampanga/blog-7999.html. [ 31 ]. Den Mar, loc.cit. [ 32 ]. Jheng Arceo, â€Å"Things to do and see: Natural Parks and View Sites,† Jheng’s Blog, http: //jhengarceo .spaces.live.com/(accessed Demcember 30, 2010). [ 33 ]. Holy Angel University Center for Kapampangan Studies, loc.cit. [ 34 ]. Saint Catherine of Alexandria, JPG, http://www.andropampanga.com/churches /arayat_church.htm. [ 35 ]. Den Mar, loc.cit. [ 36 ]. Cong. Dadong Dam, JPG, http://www.flickr.com/photos/heraldicwhisper/26178 66344/#/. [ 37 ]. Tonette Orejas, â€Å"Pampanga dam with abundant water underused,† Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 8, 2007, http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id= 20070808-81413 (accessed December 30, 2010). [ 38 ]. Holy Angel University Center for Kapampangan Studies, loc.cit. [ 39 ]. General Jose Alejandrino, JPG, http://jinkysjourney.wordpress.com/. [ 40 ]. Den Mar, loc.cit.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

PHIL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

PHIL - Essay Example The contentious documentary entitled â€Å"The Bridge† featured the well-known Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. According to The Bridge, â€Å"the mythic beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge, the most popular suicide destination in the world, and the unfortunate souls drawn by its siren call† (Morrow, 2006). This controversial documentary documented how 24 people in year 2004 chose to commit suicide and die at the Golden Gate Bridge (Morrow, 2006). According to Fimrite (1998), a staff writer of the Chronicle, the Golden Bridge is the â€Å"No. 1 suicide landmark in the world.† Another famous bridge is the Coronado Bridge in San Diego, considered to be a suicide magnet too (Dotinga, 2009). Dotinga (2009) stated that Coronado Bridge is â€Å"one of the highest suicide tolls of any bridge in North America, almost certainly placing it in the top five.† Sunshine Skyway of St. Petersburg was also identified as the â€Å"nations fourth-most-frequent suicide brid ge† (Morales, 2011). Bridges are therefore considered to be sure, swift, clean and accessible method of committing suicide. The alarming cases of suicides committed in Golden Gate Bridge, Sunshine Skyway and Coronado Bridge are the proofs that commission of suicide in bridges is already common especially among the youth. In order for this situation and fact to be addressed, the engineers who build and design bridges should therefore take good consideration of the fact sheet of the country. Before they design and build bridges they should know the possible effects of their decisions. In cases like the Golden Gate Bridge, Coronado and Sunshine Skyway, what engineers could possibly do is to put barriers and or any devices that would surely prevent people commit suicide. It can be said that suicide is way out of the hands of the designers or engineers who build the bridges, but in the end, they can be considered partly responsible of the effects of the bridges they built. If the

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Energy as a Parameter in Politcs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Energy as a Parameter in Politcs - Essay Example It is true that Asia is the new ground zero for growth of energy consumption.it is also true that Asia will be responsible for 85% of the energy consumption growth on the planet in the next 20 years. This has seen Russia try to form ties with the east to establish a proper market for its hydrocarbon exports . The obvious deduction from this would be that Russia would wield more geopolitical power in the next few decades, which is not likely to be the case . The current technological advancements have enabled rapid expansion of the shale gas industry in the US. In a decade, the industry has grown dramatically with the product now in abundant supply,seeing drastic reduction in prices. The policy debate has snow shifted to how much of the nation’s energy resource should be exported.The strengthening of the US’ geopolitical strength due to the shift in paradigms of the global energy market has greatly hindered China’s attempt to be the global leader. The best way to counter this influence would be to weaken the alliances that the US has with states in the region. The result has been the heightening of maritime tensions in the region with the East China Sea conflict providing a good illustration . Both China and japan lay claim to a number of geographical features found in the sea. The features that comprise of a few islands and territorial waters could provide energy reserves and fishing grounds . However, this is not the only reason behind the conflict.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Initial Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Initial Market - Essay Example The latter poses the most difficult challenge as it requires creativity and a real close look at what consumers want. One issue that can be addressed is the combination packaging of products for the 1 million male cigar and cigarette customers who use both products. We can obtain some information from this segment in terms of cigar to cigarette use ratios, to provide the most desirable product combination. Branding efforts of cigarette products should continue to focus on the retailers who will likely sell higher volumes of product. Data from each retailer and customers who purchased our cigarette brand have disclosed the amount of sales volume we can expect at each location. Survey research efforts have provided information regarding target segments. In addition to the 1 million male cigar/cigarette smokers, the 10 million smokers in Britain come from all geographic regions, with highest concentrations in urban areas. The largest age group is 18-34, almost equally male and female, w ith construction, production and service jobs being the most reported occupations. Though many in the 35-55 age group have ceased to purchase tobacco products, this segment still contains a significant portion of cigarette consumers, as the largest segment of the general population. population. For the youngest age group cost and convenience are the main reasons for selecting brand, though recognition is another important factor as well. This group selects brand products based on exposure or influence. As peers share products and discuss products they expose others to product brands. Promotional activities for this age group should include referral bonuses and similar programs. Registration cards are sent or given to consumers who have already provided survey information. Three detachable coupons are given to friends so they can go to a retail location for a free pack of cigarettes. The customer is also entitled to one free pack for their efforts. Such activities will help to increase brand awareness. Our brand should be priced just below competitors, to urge repeated purchase and imprint the brand on this age group. "Pricing and price related promotions are among the most important marketing tools employed by tobacco companies" (Chaloupka, et al). Though this may be true in the introductory phase, future efforts should focus on brand image and availability as they are long term factors that affect buyers. The 35-55 age group is a tougher market. Smokers is this segment will likely have tried several brands. While price is a factor, taste and availability are the most important considerations. Market saturation, with placement of products in the most frequented retailers should be the main focus. Preliminary market research data suggests that our brand satisfies consumers at a moderately high level, within the 1-5 ratings system used. Availability is also important. Those established with families and careers often don't Have time to search for desired brands. Our research data also indicated that many in this segment frequent retailers located along routes to and from work. Proper distribution also improves brand recognition. "The marketer doesn't just need to tell people about the product, but also to ensure that it is priced, distributed and engineered correctly In this context, "correctly" means in a way that meets the needs of the customer" (Hastings, MacFayden &Eadie). Meeting the needs of customers in a relatively saturated market is difficult. However, opportunity exists for unique offerings that are generally provided by specialty tobacco companies. In Greece, tobacco use

Monday, August 26, 2019

The Importance of the Embargo in the Arabic Countries Research Paper

The Importance of the Embargo in the Arabic Countries - Research Paper Example During the embargo, the countries mainly Arabic countries made the unilateral decision to hike the prices and cause a disruption in the world oil prices. The price per barrel at the period between 1960 and 1971 was at $1.75. By mid-1973, the price had risen to $3.29 a barrel, and this was after negotiations. After the conflict had begun, the OPEC members raised the price to $5.12 a barrel. Iran auctioned its oil to the highest bidder at $17 a barrel. By the early months of 1974, the price was at $ 11.25. Since then, the prices remained on a steady rise. The Arabic countries who were the majority in the OPEC wanted to make the US bow down and cease supporting Israel. This also led to more conflicts and the US knew it was at a very bad position. The US was at a decline in its oil production, worsening the situation at hand. The process of dealing with the shortage also led to supplies that are more limited, and the price increase was beyond what the US could have done to limit it. Anot her problem was America’s unilateral decision of removing itself from the Bretton Woods Accord where the gold exchange standard was the main method of exchange. The price of gold was pegged on the value of the dollar and the fact that the US was removing itself from this accord was making it difficult to satisfy the market demands. The problem was that they had to make better choices and the depreciating value of the prices was not ideal for society. Ideally, the growing nature of the disgruntled attributes was making things worse and the countries were being fed up by the inability to make independent decisions without having to liaise with the US.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Working Capital Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Working Capital Management - Essay Example Gross Working Capital: It refers to the firm's investment in current assets. Current assets in year 2006- 2000000 and in 2007- 2470000. It increased significantly instead of dip in cash because of nearly 71% increment in debtors and 58% increment in inventory of finished goods, but cash reserve dipped by 96% and tightens the liquidity position of company by the end of 2007. Net Working Capital: It refers to the difference between current assets and current liabilities. In year 2006, NWC-1300000 and in year 2007, 1490000. Net working capital has been increased YoY but it's difficult to assume that how much Working capital is required by the company in the existing business as no industry standard or benchmark standard is not provided. Even the trading cycles are not mentioned regarding finished goods, creditors and debtors, therefore assuming the different cycles is difficult and so does the prediction of working capital. If we checkout the current asset to fixed assets ratio as it helps in determining the optimum level of current assets so that the wealth of shareholders is maximized. As the firm's output and sales increase, the need for current assets increases. Generally, current assets do not increase in direct proportion to output; current assets may increase at a declining rate with output. This relationship is based upon the notion that it takes a greater proportional investment in current assets when only few units of output are produced than it does later on when firm can use its current assets more efficiently. For year 2006, CA/FA ratio is 0.55 For year 2007, CA/FA ratio is 0.58 Company has nearly same ratio in both the years that means company increases its assets as per the requirement. That can be analyzed by taking ratio of working capital requirement as a percentage of turnovers, which is nearly 27% in 2006 and nearly 23% in 2007. Therefore it can be said requirement of current assets has been increased proportionately. It's difficult to assume how much is required to run the business as any standards are not given and it's difficult to presume for an industry. But it can be said that Adorama net working capital has been increased even though company might face problem in quick solvency (which includes mainly within a week convertible current assets) but if we see overall situation of working capital needs company is in sound position even it has overdraft problem but sound position of debtors and inventory can sort it out, certainly company might face liquidity problem as company has very less to meet immediate demands but money can be raised by mortgaging debtors to meet immediate requirements. Overtrading is mainly matching sales and production cycles, it takes place when a business accepts work and tries to complete it, but finds that fulfillment require greater current assets or working capital. Overtrading is a common problem in businesses and it often happens because of some mismanagement or any unprecedented cause. If you see Adorama has net working capital of 1490000 in 2007, which is enough to meet the requirements but in its cash kitty it has only 20000. Therefore, passing a judgment is difficult and highly depends upon the nature of business, position of different cycles( debtors and inventory mainly) but still I would like to say that there is certainly problem of cash crunch or current

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Second Language Acquisition Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6500 words

Second Language Acquisition - Case Study Example Contemporary attitudes towards English learning in Cyprus is divided into two - the early Cypriots who were educated during the reign of British rule acknowledged English as a tool to enhance their culture, knowledge and relationships with other countries, and those who in this era consider English to access resources around the world. The new generation of English learners hold a more positive attitude toward second language acquisition (SLA) and consider it as a tool to 'globalisation'. Cypriot learners of new generation are positive to grasp English language (EL) concepts while at the same time many teachers have noticed that they have fear of public speaking, however once they get over their fears; they will enjoy engaging in public debates since learners are well aware of the skills they are developing in context of SLA. SLA research suggests that a majority of English non-native speakers in Greek Cyprus are teaching English depending upon their Cypriot language backgrounds, level of education and training, teaching methods, aspirations and career prospects, and the status of English in Cyprus. Many linguists believe that an ideal teacher of English language is a native speaker, since native speakers of a language have a better command of fluent, idiomatically correct language forms, are more knowledgeable about the cultural connotations of a language, and are the intermediaries of the acceptability of any given samples of the language. Such a native speaker fallacy pointed out a number of weaknesses and contradictions when the features attributed to native speakers of a language, and it was discovered that native language features can be instilled through teacher training. The general nature of our research will highlight various communicative language teaching methods in context with SLA but would not be limited to what linguistic researchers view SLA as the process of combining the structural components into their preexisting mental structures. In fact it would be better to say that our research would seek means beyond traditional approaches learning SLA. The specific goals of research would follow a perspective varying from finding the most convenient theory of facilitating the integration of new systemic knowledge to discovering an ideal learner based linguistic system with the help of problem identification. Throughout each chapter we would be discussing various learning methods of SLA in context to the new changes and what made the initial learning methods to be criticised. Chapter 1 highlights the significance of grammar and translation while highlighting on further advancement of methods discussed in previous chapter. Chapter 2 would proceed the learning methods while at the same time mentioning theories of language acquisition in the light of its pros and cons. Chapter 3 discusses the significance of silence language learning techniques while chapter 4 discusses how new methods of language acquisition to teachers have brought challenges to the preexisting teaching methods. Learning or teaching a second language allows the learner to build a more comprehensive model of second language learning and this is done by creating a set of principles that are easily applied in the environment of classroom interaction practices. However in the case of Cypriot learners, it would be wrong to say that Greek Cypriot language would be helpful in communicating, it would not provide the learners with a new

Friday, August 23, 2019

Rights of police officers and the development of police unions Essay

Rights of police officers and the development of police unions - Essay Example Non unionized police officers also cannot negotiate the details of their contracts at a collective level, which is also a challenge for non unionized law enforcement agencies. Absence of union from agencies is also not good for authorities and management. When there are unions, management has an opportunity to negotiate with leaders of the union in order to solve any problem. Absence of unions might lead to organizational issues and uncertainty, which will be very difficult to resolve. This is why presence of unions is also important for management as they know people with which they can talk and negotiate in case of any grievance of employees. Police departments that have union protection are much better off than police departments without union protection. Unions are good for both employees and management. Employees can raise their voice against any injustice as they have a clear platform do so. Unions also give management and authorities a chance to resolve issues amicably without disrupting normal activities of the police department. Law enforcement agencies have an important function in the society and, therefore, employee dissatisfaction and grievance can have negative consequences for the whole society. This is why unionized police department are better off than non unionized police

Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

Music - Essay Example For entertainment, I usually listen to extensive lists of songs in additions to the above-mentioned types, as songs can serve a different purpose in different situations. For example, these songs can help me grab some news words while also entertaining myself. For inspiration, there are many inspirational songs, which can encourage someone in a particular situation. Again, through music, I can remove myself from the world by listening to music alone in my room. Music has many advantages. It reduces my stress, motivates me, and gives me joy and a new perception. Through listening to soothing music like country music tense muscles can be relaxed leading to the reduction of breathing rate. With these changes, my body relaxes leading to the reduction of stress. For motivation, songs like Survivor and Stronger by Clarkson are full inspirational themes that uplift the mood. The messages in inspirational song and that euphoria created by these songs motivate me. Soothing music bring joy to the listener by causing the body to release hormones that promote happiness. For instance, music can lead to the production dopamine that makes a person feel good or serotonin that fosters

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Incremental profit Essay Example for Free

Incremental profit Essay Distinguish between the following: a) Industry demand and Firm (Company) demand, b) Short-run demand and Long run demand, and c) Durable goods’ demand and Non-durable goods demand. 2 . What are the problems faced in determining the demand for a durable good? Illustrate with example of demand for households refrigerator or television set. 3 . Analyze the method by which a firm can allocate the given advertising budget between different media of advertisement. 4 . What kind of relationship would you postulate between short-run and long-run average cost curves when these are not U-shaped as suggested by the modern theories? 5 . How do demand forecasting methods for new products vary from those for established products? 6 . What are the different methods of measuring national income? Which methods have been followed in India? 7 . What do you understand by the investment multiplier? In what way does it defend the policy of public works on the part of the state during business depression? 8 . Discuss the various phases of business cycle: a. Are cyclical fluctuations necessary for economic growth? b. Suggest appropriate fiscal and monetary policies for depression Assignment B: all Case Study Electron Control, Inc., sells voltage regulators to other manufacturers, who then customize and distribute the products to quality assurance labs for their sensitive test equipment. The yearly volume of output is 15,000 units. The selling price and cost per unit are shown below:Â  Selling price $200 Costs: Direct material $35 Direct labor 50 Variable overhead 25 Variable selling expenses 25 Fixed selling expenses 15 150 Unit profit before tax $ 50 Management is evaluating the alternative of performing the necessary customizing to allow Electron Control to sell its output directly to Q/A labs for $275 per unit. Although no added investment is required in productive facilities, additional processing costs are estimated as: Direct labor $25 per unit Variable overhead $15 per unit Variable selling expenses $10 per unit Fixed selling expenses $100,000 per year Calculate the incremental profit Electron Control would earn by customizing its instruments and marketing directly to end users.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Principles of social control theory

Principles of social control theory Social Control Theories. Many criminological theories always explain why do people commit crime, or to find out what are the most influential factors motivate people commit crime and violate the social norms. Instead, social control theories have been already assumed humans are potentially committing crime. Moreover, the social control or social bond theory is emphasizing why a person do not be a criminal. In social control theorists assumptions, individuals have the capacity to violate the laws rather than obey the laws. Law-abiding behaviors are not the nature of human beings. People choose to commit crime because the forces or constrains of society is not strongest enough. It portrays people are standing in the dilemma between deviance and conformity. It shows the tension of everyone either commit deviant act or accepts the norms. Therefore, social control theorists propose a few elements to pull people back from the side of deviance, especially relationship, commitments, values, norms, and beliefs. Famil y and peer group become a crucial agencies that affect peoples conduct. Albert J Reiss The understanding of those early control theorists arguments are very important because they presented a framework or some basic propositions within the many theories of delinquency and crime. Each social control theorist had also been done an empirical study of their findings to support their point of views. Starting from an article wrote by Albert J Reiss (1951), his argument might be reproduced from Freuds concept of ego or superego mainly. He aims at noticing the prediction of probation revocation among juvenile offenders. He thought youths have a lower personal controls that might more likely to become juvenile delinquency. That is, those younger people lack of ability to refrain from desiring their needs when having conflict with the rules or norms of the society. Nevertheless, his explanation of juvenile delinquency is weak when discussing the relationship between probation revocation and school performance as truancy. Jackson Toby In 1957, Jackson Toby, a second social control theorist, offered a new concept called stake in conformity which as the fundamental mechanism to affect delinquents comportment. He also agreed that people are intrinsically and temptingly rupturing the laws, especially all youths. Some of them are having a high risk of the violation of laws due to this temptation. He believes students perform well in school not only they are being punished by school, but also endanger their future chances of success. Under the special academic-oriented circumstance, if the society allows students having a better career path when they got an excellent school result; therefore, some students who do poorly in school might have a great chance of committing crime because they seems lose lesser things than others. Apart from the academic result of an individual is an influential factor, peer support for deviant act could lead those youths with low stakes in conformity as well. However, even youths have low st ake in conformity, they are not become delinquents when lacking of peer support. F. Ivan Nye In 1958, Nye then concentrated on the issue of family relationship. He though that family is a single most crucial root of social control for adolescents. He divided diffent forms of control such as direct control, internal control, and indirect control. Direct control means the obvious restriction or punishments of a person. Internal control refered to a inward monitor or consciences. Indirect control linked to affectional or emotional identification with parents, noncriminals or legal codes. He stated that if all the above controls are sufficient, then those adolescents are more conform the rules of society. Nyes study had been tested by an empircal experiment. However, his experiment had been challenged by Toby already. First, altough Nye called the sample group as most delinquent, but many criminologist called them nondelinquents. Due to the sample group was selected in high school which was not included any youths age 15 or younger, and any youths age 16 with dropped out of scho ol. Furthermore, the questions being asked in questionnaires were too trivial such as taking things worth less than $2, and damaging public or private property. Therefore, Nye cannot recognize the strongly relationship between family bonding and serious delinquent behaviours. Walter C. Reckless In 1961, another social control theorist called Reckless, who proposed a containment theory. The main concept is that all individuals are influenced by different forces such as social pressure, social pulls, biological/ psychological pushes. Those forces are driving people to commit deviant act. However, these forces are againsted by both external and inner containments. For instance, social pressure can be defined as living conditions, family conflict, minority group, status, and lack of opportunities. Then the term social pulls is refered to the accepted norm of all individuals from their companions, criminal subculture, mass media and so on. Biological or psychological pushes can be easily linked to how those biological and psychological factors affect people fail to conform the norms of society, such as restlessness, inner tension, aggressiveness and so on. On the contrary, external containment is talking about the surroundings of a person. For instance, how parents or support gr oups promote right moral values, discipline, enforce the sense of identity and so on. Moreover, inner containment are those invisible stuffs which internalized our self-control; that related to how the goals/ abilities of a person against to commit crime. David Matza Travis Hirschi Matzas Delinquency and Drift (1964) and Hirschis Causes of Delinquency (1969) also advoacted two famous concepts in the later development of control theories. Alternatively, Matza has been already protraried the image of drifter. Emphasizing how social conditions shape people become a drifter. (However, he did not mention about what kinds of constraints and control that keep youngsters from drifting.) In Hirschis theory, he proposed four main social bonds that could determine ones involvement in delinquency, namely attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Attachment contains the interpersoanl and emotional bonds among others, especially parents and teachers. Commitment refers to how youths make use of the time, energy, effort expended in traditional path of success, such as saving money for the future and abtaining a high academic qualification. Involvement means the degree of ones involvement in those conventional activities, such as school, recreation, and family. Due to so ciety will share common moral values normally, therefore, beliefs of a person are very important. People might more easily commit criminal act if these moral values are absent or weakened. In short, Hirschis social bond theory emphasized all people are potential criminals, however, people will conform the norm or obey the law because they do not want to destroy the bondings with others. Criticisms There are few criticisms on social control theory. First, according to the assumption of it, social control theorists assumed human are potential law-violators. What if the youths commit crime just because they are fun? Another issuse is that such theories cannot be explained the causes of gang delinquency and adult criminality. Furthermore, most studies were referring the involvement of trivial offenses of nondelinquent youths. Hirschi also confessed that delinquents actually active in conventional events, which rejected his original theory (Vold Bernard, 1986). Social Learning perspectives Edwin Sutherland Differential Association Theory was the most direct and clear theory that proposed by Edwin Sutherland in 1947 from social learning perspectives. In 1978, Sutherland and Cressey consisted nine propositions of Differential Association Theory: 1. Criminal behaviour is learned 2. Criminla behaviour is learned in interaction with other persons in a process 3. The principal part of the learning of criminal behaviour occurs within intimate personal groups 4. When criminal behaviour is learned, the learning includes techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very complicated, sometimes very simple; the specific direction of the motives, drives, rationlization, and attitudes 5. The specific directions of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favourable or unfavourable 6. The person becomes delinquent because of an excess of favourable definitions to violation of law over unfavourable definitions to law-violation 7. Differential association may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity. 8. Process of learning criminal behaviour by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms involved in any other learning 9. While criminal act is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values (Sutherland Cressey, 1978, pp.80-82.) Here will be discussed each propositions respectively. First, it is clearly stated that criminal act is not inborn which is learned. Then, Sutherland provided how people learned to become delinquent which is learned in interaction with others, especially family, friends, and colleagues. Also, techniques of commiting crime are needed which are sometimes quite complicated/simple such as how to unlock a safe or steal a car on the street. Moral justifications also crucial that make people think their acts are reasonable. For example, a poor person steal foods in supermarket because they do not have money to buy enough foods to their sons. Therefore, they will justify they act as make sense. Fifth, it refers to the views of legal codes from an individiuals. The person may not want to obey the law because such laws are just controlling him/her, and killing his/her free will. The favourable definitions of law violation and the unfavourable definitions of law violation are two sides on the b alance that lead a person commit crime if the favourable definitions of law violation is excess. Moreover, how often are criminal contacts made, how long do the contacts last, and how significant to the individual are the criminal contacts are always being considered. Sutherland (1978) also though that there will be greater the chance to commit crime if people have been contacted criminals since early childhood. Role modeling or direct teaching is another way to learn the criminal acts. In chinese words, that means one who mixes with vermilion will turn red, one who touches pitch shall be defiled therewith; which implies good companions have good influence while bad ones have bad influence. Law-violation behaviours cannot be explained by fulfilling those general needs becauses those criminal acts are illogical. In brief, he emphasized the the significance of personal contact, and all individuals are follower. Criticisms There will be discussed a few main critiques of this theory. Differential association theory neglected that why some youths seems exposed to delinquent definitions, but finally they choose to stop the delinquent acts. Another major criticism is the problem of the principle differential association, which assumes criminal behaviours to be rational and systematics. However, this theory is very hard to illustrate the acts of those psychopathic killing or serial rapists (Sigel, 2009). Also, delinquents might seek like-minded peers rather than follow others which drafted another relationship between deviant peers and criminality.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Website Proposal For Holiday Inn Hotel Tourism Essay

Website Proposal For Holiday Inn Hotel Tourism Essay The shrinking world is expanding the outreach of tourists. No more do hotels have a fully staffed reservation department with managers, assistant managers, supervisors and agents. The internet has conveniently replaced numerous phone calls, faxes and payment issues. Now potential guests just dial a toll-free number or book directly on the internet. According to Forrester Research 32% of hotels revenues come through online bookings. They include both direct reservations and those made through third party websites. The travel industry allocates 29% of its marketing budget to online marketing. (Cullen)This is so because the importance of integration of E-Commerce with business strategies is realized. This is also because the nature of the traveler and travelling is changing. Present day travelers are hyper-interactive, who are texting, tweeting, emailing, communicating with friends via face book and commenting on their current or previous travels. The advent of social media and mobile Web means that potential guests for the hospitality industry have continuous access to multi-channel interaction and sharing opinions. Thus hotel websites have to be designed in order to handle this hyper-interactive user. Thus hotel websites can no longer be static brochures with stale and boring context. (Max Starkov). Back ground The Holiday Inn hotel is a subsidiary of the IHG group of companies. It is a brand which remains consistent towards the board. Guests at the 1874 Holiday Inn hotels around the world know that they will be treated well and have certain level of expectations regarding the service. In fact the idea for the Holiday Inn hotels came into the mind of its founder, Kemmons Wilson, when he was disappointed with the consistency of road side motels during a trip to Washington DC. Consistency is a great advantage when it comes to providing services. The art of total quality management lies with the hospitality greats like Marriott, Hilton and of course Holiday Inn but when it comes to social media policies and the ever changing world of the internet consistency has a huge down side. Consistency is not the only key feature of the Holiday Inn hotels and resorts. Innovation goes side by side with consistency. Holiday Inn hotels were the first ones to introduce the Holidex reservation system giving its competitors a run for money. Holiday Inn hotels also initiated the idea for indoor pools, termed Holidromes, turning its hotels into resorts. This innovation and comfort, which is the landmark of the Holiday Inn hotels, should be made evident in the hotel website. With the advent of time, Holiday Inn is now an established name in midscale provision of hospitality. This midscale travel market consists of 43% of travelers worldwide. (Hospital and tourism industry report:Q2 2010) and is the sector of the tourism industry which faces the highest competition. With the tourism industry recovering from the economic depression of 2009, the number of tourists is increasing, but at the same time the new tourist is more cost conscious and e-savvy. With social medias burgeoning levels and websites like tripadvisor advising tourists on the wide range of living options available, the tourist might not fall for the reliability of brand names as the previous guests were. The increasing travel trend resulting from economic recovery also means that the internet is bombarded with tourism information. This is so because due to economic conditions many hotel websites were abandoned during the past two years. The waking up of hoteliers means that new websites are profoundly different as they now cater to a different inventory distribution system, social media and cross channel marketing. Almost all new websites cater to mobile web applications and so does the Holiday Inn website. With increased globalization of the economy and increased competition hotels cannot rely on their past successes. Holiday Inn and IHG are bound to know this well as the hotel chain lost considerable market share in the 1980s. it is only after its re launch in 2007 that the hotel has again captured some part of its market segment. At the time of the re launch, the new hotel website was also launched. Consumers that visit the hotel website find a user friendly environment. The site provides availability details, locations, room features and descriptions of the surrounding area. But provision of these details is not enough for the highly competitive hospitality industry. Holiday Inn hotels needs to develop a website which highlights its core competencies, tackles competition from market rivals and eliminates the bargaining power of buyers. During the pre recession times, visitors were more satisfied with the Holiday Inn website than the industry average. This data was deployed from studies based on 31 websites of leading hospitality brands. It checked data based on the five most crucial dimensions of a visitors online experience. They were navigation, content, interactivity, motivation and adoption. The customer satisfaction was generally higher ranking in the 92nd percentile. (Website Satisfaction Soars at InterContinental Hotels Group) In the year 2007, the content dimension was an area of strength for the website. The amount of details provided covered a vast range of aspects of visitor concern. Coupled with this was the fact that the data was very well structured and easy to navigate. This led to an adoption rating higher than the industry average, pointing to future site referrals and a strong likelihood to return. The website also fostered brand loyalty. According to Sasha Paine, an analyst at iperceptions, There is no clearer indicator of a sites effectiveness than its ability to build loyalty among its visitors.(Website Satisfaction Soars at InterContinental Hotels Group) The new virtual market place allows small companies to compete with industry giants. This means that Holiday Inn faces competition not just from hotel chains like Ramada and Hilton but also from small hotels. By looking at the hotel website we can easily find out that the website is high in content. The most critical section, which is the reservations section, is right in front for customer ease. The reservations section helps finds locations and provide all details regarding the Holiday Inn hotel in the area to be visited. On the downside it is known that only 32% of visitors visit a hotels website to make reservations. (Hospital and tourism industry report:Q2 2010) The rest visit either to find information or to compare rates. For visitors who are not lured by the brand into booking, the website should be appealing and catchy enough to ensure adoption or at least a revisit. But what the website lacks is targeting new customer strategies. It seems that unlike other websites which appeal to new guests by providing reasons for staying at their hotels, the Holiday Inn relies on its brand name and preconceived notions about its excellence to get potential guests to make reservations. What is not realized is that website design is an illustrative art and making correct use of this art might ensure that visitors will not have to change pages or scroll down for the required information. A look at the key competitor Ramadas website demonstrates this very well. Though the reservation section is still on the main page of the site, the opening window encompasses much more than only the reservation section. It eyes potential customers and not just visitors by ensuring that new deals are right under the visitors nose. The slideshow of the Holiday Inn website is not very creative and is short with only 4 slides. Though it instantly appeal to the comfort factor and attracts business travelers immediately. The family and friends factor and fun travelling and living is excluded from the slide show. In contrast other websites have wider navigation menus and longer, swifter slideshows. Websites are using rich media foreg the Pueblo Bonito website and the Atlantis hotel in Dubai. Websites foreg theurbansuites.com are also trying to split visitors by demographics and visitor types to provide custom services. Websites have an increasing number of testimonials, blog links and some even have the press singing their praises. (Mackenzie) This you attitude employed by the website and marketing strategy appeals to visitors. This paper looks at the need for developing a new website for the Holiday Inn hotels. It observes the changing trends in both website designs of the hospitality industry and nature of travelers. Data is collected from visitors to the website and their satisfaction is analyzed. Satisfaction is measured using variables which include content of the website, ease of navigation, interactivity, motivation and adoption. This is done by e-surveys and observing visitor behavior on the website. Conclusions are then drawn regarding visitor satisfaction. Since online reservations make up a chunk of all hotel reservations, it will be very important to pay due attention to either reconstructing or renovating the website if needed. The new website can be developed by outsourcing the development of the website to some leading website developers specially related to the hospitality industry. Budgetary allocations will have to be made. They include consultancy costs, advertisement of the new website, Search Engine optimization costs and website development and mantainence. Research will have to be made on the percentage of revenues generated by the website, the potential for development and the amount competitors allocate towards online marketing and website development. Budget allocation and trends in the hospitality website industry along with weaknesses in the current website will provide guidelines for the new website. Rationale The hotel marketing industry is a booming industry which caters exclusively to hospitality providers. Surveys are done and researches made to find out about visitor and guest behaviors. These researches aid hotel marketing advisors in development of new websites and to target customers. Special online surveys are designed to get visitor opinions and rate their satisfaction. Some of the works done in this regard are The Iperceptions satisfaction index It is the only metric device to measure exclusively customer satisfaction with an online channel. It provides advice to hoteliers on data mining and analyzes that data to provide results and draw conclusions. The hospitality and tourism industry report This caters to timely changes in the hospitality and tourism industry providing hoteliers with the current trends and predicting the future condition of the market. Best practices in Hotel website design by Hospitality e-business strategies. A report prepared by hospitality e-business industries which looks at the importance of websites for hotels and outlines ways to do so. Best Practices for Maximizing Your Hotels Online Revenue ROI by Kathreen Cullen. This white paper is a survey which as the name suggests helps hotels maximize their online revenue. Although the content of these reports and many others which try to integrate E-Commerce with hospitality are industry specific but they provide broad guidelines for the Holiday Inn hotels. This paper will focus on how the Holiday Inn hotels should conduct its research? what would be the methodology of research and what strategies would be involved. The limitations of the research and the potential for advanced features on the Holiday Inn website will also be discussed. As Del Ross, vice president of Americas Distribution marketing for IHG, claims We truly believe in the paramount value of knowing our customers and capturing their opinions in the context of their actual online experiences by implementing improvements research for the new website will be centered around customer opinion and satisfaction. Data collection and methodology. Advanced research methods will have to be employed to gather data from website visitors. According to Cooper and Schindler (Methods) qualitative studies may be combined with quantitative ones to increase the perceived quality of the research, especially when a quantitative study follows a qualitative one and provides validation for the qualitative findings. There is a strong suggestion within the research community that research, both quantitative and qualitative, is best thought of as complementary (Malhotra) and should therefore be mixed in research of many kinds. There is a strong suggestion within the research community that research, both quantitative and qualitative, is best thought of as complementary and should therefore be mixed in research of many kinds. Both qualitative and quantitative data sets will have to be used. Since customer satisfaction regarding the website has to be measures, offline data collection can prove to be useless and mundane. Online data collection approach can be utilized in two ways and can result in both objective and subjective responses. The difficult part about this research is that though secondary data relevant to the industry is abundant, but none of this will be specific to the Holiday Inn hotel. Thus researchers will have to gather primary data from the scratch, analyze it and form conclusions about the current state of the hotel website. Sampling methods The sampling method will mostly be a non probability method as the only visitors cannot be forced to take part in the research. Probability sampling will be reserved for a small focus group. Quantitative research will depend upon visitors and visitors will only participate in qualitative research by choice. Quota method of sampling will be the most convenient. This is so because only potential travelers should be included in the research. Only people with annual income above $50000 will be sampled. Population below this income group generally is observed not to travel frequently. Similarly other characteristics of current guests can be used to find the different quotas which should be used in sampling. This kind of sampling will make it impossible to assess the sampling error as the results will not be representative of the population as a whole. Focus groups of targeted market will need to be used. Since the current website of the hotel and the general notion about the hotel chain is that it caters to mostly business travelers, business travelers can be selected randomly. They can be chosen from firms where work entails frequent travelling. These business travelers will be then asked to navigate through the website and answer relevant questions about the website content, ease of navigation, interactivity and adoption. The results can be classified and then visitor perceptions about the different aspects of the website can be rated. They will provide a clear guideline about the positive and negative aspects of the website. This focus group will be coupled with quantitative and qualitative data. The focus group technique will allow better screening of the focus group respondents to ensure that they are the people whom the hotel is most interested in and thus provides an in-depth insight. Descriptive data from the survey and the questionnaire will reveal information that could not be easily explained by the statistics from quantitative data. This survey will be limited to a very small population of potential Holiday Inn customers. It can be both biased and non-representative of the actual feelings of the general public. But this data will target the largest niche of current customers. Gathering quantitative data Quantitative data can be gathered by observing visitor behavior on the website. It can be done on a large scale on the website. The behavior observed includes number of clicks, time on site, no of visitors who made a reservation, net promoter scores and the page from where visitors are exiting. Relationships between variables can be observed. This can be done from web analytics of the website. The sample size from this kind of web analytics has to be large and therefore will have to be done over a period of time. For much of its history, web analytics has been concerned with measuring behavioral phenomena. Unique visitor counts, pages viewed/visit, time on site, bounce rates, click through rates, ad impressions, and, more recently, rich internet application events have But studying clicks alone can never tell more than a part of the visitors story and will never bring to light true engagement data. Behavioral analytics is akin to paleontology, in the sense that it presents a fossilized record of a visitors site experience, at least as much as can be captured through page tags with optimal cookie deletion rates. However much scientists study the material implements of the past, however, they will never truly be able to gauge whether people were happy and led meaningful lives. This is the primary shortcoming of behavioral research; the tracks a visitor leaves are necessarily incomplete without knowing intent, attitude, and satisfaction. Further, engagement indices will always be hollow metrics unless they can be made to account for loyalty, trust, and advocacy (iperceptions) Gathering qualitative data. Qualitative research will take more time and preparation. Different sampling methods and full time researchers will have to be employed to monitor data. The basic format will be inviting all visitors to the website for a short survey or questionnaire. It will have to be ensured that the questionnaire is short and to the point yet it is fulfilling the purpose. This is necessary because abandonment of questionnaires will lead not only to loss of data but will also cause distaste for the website in visitors. Like all qualitative and naturalistic research methods, questions will have to be developed which are clear and unambiguous but open to change as the research develops. It is necessary because both qualitative and quantitative research goes hand in hand. It is qualitative research which will give a holistic view of the complexities which the website poses to its visitors. In the course of the survey visitors will be asked to provide scores for the website attributes related to their online experience. Each of these attributes will be related to specific dimensions of the website. It can include questions such as whether the visitor likes the site enough to recommend it to another friend or colleague. The scaling can be done on a 1 to 10 scale ranging from very bad to outstanding. The attribute sets that will be selected will be in accordance with both the E-commerce and hospitality industry standards. They will be content, navigation, motivation and interactivity in this case. It might also address the most crucial section of the website which is the reservations section. Thus the questions to be addressed are Navigation Website functionality must be intuitive and easy-to-use. If visitors are cannot find the information they desire, they may lose interest and move on to another hotels site. It is also important to be sure that hotels provide the capability to allow customers to book via the method of their choice such as mobile and smart phone technology. Content The website must provide all necessary information. This information should not only be limited to the hotel but also about the area and activities where the hotel is located. The content of the website should be accurate, up-to-date, detailed and relevant. Interactivity This will address questions about the visitors ease of communication with the website and therefore the hoteliers. It measures functionality, collaboration, informational exchange, and the intuitiveness of transactional tools. Motivation This measures whether the online content matches with the services the hotel provides. It questions whether the customers feel that the site was trustworthy and if their time on the site was well spent. All these factors eventually answer one question and that is of adoption. This is the main factor of concern for the Holiday Inn hotels that whether the visitor will re-visit the website or refer the website to somebody else. Potential for new features New vanity websites can be added which cater to different locales. It should be ensured that the feel of the different websites remains the same but better search engine optimization can be achieved. The Holiday Inn website can be optimized in two ways. It is the need of the time to modify the contents for Search Engine optimization. The second is the renovation and restructuring of the website. New website design Visual content It has been observed that the Holiday Inn website has a subtle color appeal. It stands true to catering to business travelers as they can visualize themselves in that situation. But simultaneously excludes a large travelling class. A glimpse at the Marriott hotel website speaks loads about integrating target markets at one place. A boost of color on some place in the Holiday Inn website will provide the required energy to indicate that the hotel welcomes both fun and families. Selling travel is all about selling a vision, a dream-an intangible product. Rich media and its many formats-from photos and visual galleries, to videos and virtual tours, e-postcards, web cams, interactive maps, etc.-can truly present your travel product and make it tangible and real. Seventy-two percent of US Internet users view video online on the same scale as network television and 89% of users surveyed said video influenced their booking decision. Usability surveys about hotel websites show that the majority of users think hotel websites are lacking or need more pictures and images The website can also add more visual content as the number of slides on the main page slide show is only 4 and only targets limited audience. The website can make use of good photography which provide more details about rooms and amenities. Demand generator content. The website should add more localized content to each of its franchise content sites. This will not only aid in showing up on search engines but a description of the area and the activities of the areas helps visitors thus creating better chances of adoption. More navigation options can be introduced on the main page as even though the current website has a high content percentage but the visitor has to scroll and search for it. More tools can easily be added in the navigation tool bar without making the site look congested. Scalability The website platform should have the ability to grow with the needs of the growing Hotel Inn. Holiday Inn is launching new hotels so it should be ensured that the new website keeps pace with both the rapidly changing face of the hotel as well as the fast changing tourism industry. Thus new development should be both easy and inexpensive. It should be easy to add new pages without the returning visitor to find a change which hinders his navigation. Conclusion The rapid pace of change of tourism industry and the changing face of the traveler requires the Holiday Inn hotel to maintain a website which is intuitive and adaptative. Regarding this concern quantitative data can be analyzed from the websites web analytics. An understanding of this quantitative data can be done by a focus group survey of the target market and online questionnaires. Visitors to the website can be surveyed about their views about the website. This will be random non-probability sampling. The questions have to be short and succinct as target specific attribute. This is to ensure that the visitor does not abandon the survey midway. After the online survey, a deep understanding can be gauged by using a focus group. This can be done either online or offline. The focus group can be small but chosen by quota or snowball sampling. The target audience should be used as the part of the focus group. The sample can be small but the questionnaire has to be extremely detailed. This will address all questions which arose from the satisfaction or non-satisfaction of the online survey participants. The final data set will lead to a certain conclusion about the visitor satisfaction index. This can be used to provide guidelines about visitor expectations from the website and how and how much the website should be modified. The modified website will lead to higher revenue and return on investment. Online questionnaire Based on todays visit, how would you rate your site experience over all? Very bad Bad Fair Good Outstanding Which of the following best describes the primary purpose of your visit? Make a reservation Compare rates Find more information View/cancel reservation Other please specify Were you able to complete the task you visited the website for? Yes No What do you value most about the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What did you most dislike about the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Would you recommend the site to somebody? Yes No If you answered in negative to the previous question, why? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Would you recommend any changes to the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How did you arrive at the website? Typed the URL in the browser Search engine Advertisement Link on a Blog Another website Link sent by somebody Other. Please specify _______________________________________________ The offline questionnaire presented to the focus group. This will be modified according to the response generated from the online website survey. It will be more detailed so as to sound explanations of the data derived can be provided. Offline questionnaire What is your age category? 15-20 years 20-35 years 35-60 years 60 or above What is your gender? Male Female Are you single or married? Single Married Your email address? _____________________________________________________________________ How often do you travel? More than four times a year. Twice or thrice a year. Once a year Less than once a year Is your travel related to work most of the time? Yes No Do you always make your bookings online? Yes No What features of the website did you use? _____________________________________________________________________ Did each page load quickly enough? Yes No On a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is poor and 5 is excellent rate the following Reservation procedure Website speed Ease of navigation Visual appeal Information Your overall satisfaction Was the reservation process efficient? Yes No Were you tempted were you to abandon the reservation process midway? Yes No If yes then why? Choose one that is applicable Technical difficulties Rate issues Difficulty in finding Unfriendly website Other. Please specify ______________________________________________________________ Did you easily find what you were looking for? Yes No Did the website design confuse you? Yes No Was the language easy to understand? Yes No Was navigation comfortable? Yes No Was the information you were looking for easy to find Yes No Was the information useful? Yes No Was the information detailed? Yes No Was the information accurate? Yes No Was the information up-to-date? Yes No Did you like the appearance of the website? Yes No Do you think more visuals should be added to the website? Yes No If yes, do you think it will make the hotel more appealing? Yes No Will a more detailed, illustrative website, aid or hinder you in your work? Yes No Do you think the overall design of the website can be improved? Yes No If yes then how? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Can the website alone without the Holiday Inn brand name lead you to make a reservation? Yes No What did you like the most about the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What did you dislike most about the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What problems if any did you face when navigating the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Was the website user friendly? Yes No If no why not? Would you recommend the website to someone you know? Yes No If no, then why not? __________________________________________________________________ Would you navigate the site from your phone? Yes No If no then why not? _____________________________________________________________________ Do you think your time on the website was well spent? Yes No If no then why not? _____________________________________________________________________ What are your overall suggestions for the website? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Field guidelines The research survey will look at the need for developing a new website for the Holiday Inn hotels. It observes the changing trends in both website designs of the hospitality industry and nature of travelers. Data is collected from visitors to the website and their satisfaction is analyzed. Satisfaction is measured using variables which include content of the website, ease of navigation, interactivity, motivation and adoption. This is done by e-surveys and observing visitor behavior on the website. Conclusions are then drawn regarding visitor satisfaction. Since online reservations make up a chunk of all hotel reservations, it will be very important to pay due attention to

Monday, August 19, 2019

Parapsychology :: science

Parapsychology Derived from the term 'paranormal', parapsychology is the science that lies beside or beyond psychology; the field of psychology which studies those unique experiences and unknown capabilities of the human mind that suggest consciousness is capable of interacting with the physical world in ways not yet recognized by science, but not beyond science's ability to investigate. Two types of parapsychological phenomena have been described. The first and less common is pyschokinesis (PK) which is the direct influence of the human mind on the environment. In rare cases, this may involve obvious movement of objects, however most contemporary research studies PK influences on atomic or electronic processes. More commonly known is the second type of parapsychological phenomena, called extrasensory perception (ESP), which is the ability to acquire information without using the known senses. In cases when another person is involved, then it may be considered telepathy, or mind-to-mind communication. This is often common in twins, as many instance have been reported in which one twin can sense the other's thoughts or pain. When it is knowledge of just a distant place or event, then the term clairvoyance is often used. It is mainly this type of ESP which leads people to feel strongly about the existence of past lives, due to experience of deja-vous. In practice, it is often difficult to distinguish among types of ESP, thus investigators generally refer to all instances as ESP. When the information seems to be of some future event, it is called precognition. This category of ESP is also what makes fortune tellers so popular, as they claim to be able to see your future. Real life experiences that appear to involve ESP are commonly termed psychic experiences. Taken together, all of these phenomena are often called psi phenomena. Scientific interest in the subject is of relatively recent origin, beginning in 1927 when the Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory was set up under Dr. J. B. Rhine, an important figure in the advancement of parapsychology, particularly ESP. Dr. J. B. Rhine and his wife, Dr. Louisa E. Rhine, came to Duke University in 1927 to pursue studies of psychic phenomena with Professor William McDougall, chairman of the new Psychology Department. Within a few years, Dr. Rhine was conducting the groundbreaking research that demonstrated certain people had the ability to acquire information without the use of the known senses. He introduced the term extrasensory perception describe this ability and adopted the word parapsychology to distinguish his experimental approach from earlier methods of psychical research.