Estimation of Weighted Average Cost of Capital Essay

Estimation of Weighted Average Cost of Capital - Essay Example The paper also discusses the various project evaluation techniques like Net Present Value Method, Internal Rate of Return, and so on. The paper takes a quantitative approach for the explanation of various concepts in Capital Structure and Project Evaluation Techniques/Capital Budgeting Techniques. Cost of capital is an important phenomenon in determining the overall/weighted average cost of capital. In fact, the financial risk is judged by investors and other stakeholders in line with cost of capital and nature of capital structure. The overall cost of capital can be reduced and value of the firm can be improved by maximizing the debt content in the capital structure. But, as debt content goes on increasing, equity investors expectations about risk will also change. Investors feel risk in investment with highly levered firms and vice versa. Capital structure theories postulate the various possibilities of capital structure. It does not speak about which approach is most beneficial to companies in various situations. Capital structure is not a static phenomenon. It keeps on changing with every change in the mix of various sources of capital/fund. The profitability of a business proposal/ project can be evaluated in various ways using both discounted and non-discounted project evaluation methods.

Leadership Style Essay Example for Free

Leadership Style Essay The main focus of any organization is viability or productivity (Mastrangelo, Eddy and Lorenzet, 2004). This is further heightened by the increasing changes in product market activities (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), 2001). The fact that consumers now have a better and affordable access to market information has brought about an increase in their market power and the resultant effect is a more challenging and competitive market especially in the private sector. The public sector on the other hand is under increasing pressure for a more effective utilization of public funds. Consequently, the quest for a competitive advantage and increasingly better performance is becoming a major factor for consideration in virtually all organizations. In this light, the CIPD (2001) emphasized on the role of leadership as a major factor essential for an enhanced organizational performance. Taormina (2008) supported this in stating that in leadership is vested the ability to decide how organizations will be run and it plays a major role in influencing the organization to success. The CIPD (2001) further added that leadership (or people management) is the main element harnessing other success factors in an organization for effectiveness. A number of authors have also supported the foregoing discussions on the leader-success relationship (e. g Harris and Kuhnert 2008; Mastrangelo, Eddy and Lorenzet, 2004). Furthermore, research works have identified certain pointers to high performance leadership. A major one among these is leadership behavior or leadership style (Mastrangelo, Eddy and Lorenzet, 2004; Taormina, 2008). Leadership Style and Organizational Success: Drawing a Correlation Leadership style is one of the major traits that may be used to draw a line of difference between high performance and low performance organizations (Adeyemi-Bello, 2001). Since the management in an organization has a great impact on how it will be run, the style of leadership within the management cycle has a way of dictating the direction that such an organization will go. Taormina (2008) buttressed this point in his work. He established the fact that leadership behavior go along way in determining the culture or the prevailing atmosphere in an organization and this will in turn affect employees’ attitude towards performance and ultimate success of such an organization. A number of dichotomies on leadership behavior have been presented. However, leadership style can be broadly categorized into two – ‘People-Centered’ leadership and ‘Task-Centered’ leadership (Adeyemi-Bello, 2001 pg 150; Taormina, 2008 pg. 87). ‘People-Centered’ leadership Versus ‘Task-Centered’ leadership Various progressive attempts have been made at investigating leadership from the behavioral angle. However, a remarkable point was reached in the 1950s with the introduction of ‘Ohio State model’ which talked about ‘task-oriented’ and ‘people-oriented’ leadership (Taormina, 2008 pg. 87). These two categories seem to have been a perfect one that describes leadership behaviors because it is still being referred as at present. According to Adeyemi-Bello (2001), task-oriented style emphasizes on production and organizational goals. This leadership style is concerned about how the organizational goals may be implemented. People-oriented leaders on the other hand show great concern for the followers (Adeyemi-Bello, 2001). They create a warm environment within the organization and foster a strong positive relationship among members of the organization. While this style offers a system that respects the personality, feelings and opinions of the employees and gives them a feeling of empowerment (Taormina, 2008), task oriented approach is thirsty for achievements sometimes at all cost (Adeyemi-Bello, 2001). Subsequent studies after the initial presentation of these leadership models have made attempts at differentiating between them. The intention was to determine which one should be preferred above the other. However, Adeyemi-Bello (2001) explained that current researches have shown that preferences for any of the two styles depend on the current situation within the organization. There are cases where one style will fail to impact a good result, not because it is less effective but because the situation at hand does not create an environment conducive for its functionality (Mastrangelo, Eddy and Lorenzet, 2004). Furthermore, Jacques, Garger and Thomas (2008) remarked that the recent behavioral theory of leadership took the studies a step further by suggesting that the two behavioral approaches will be more effective when adequately blended under any given situation. Their paper revealed that graduates of project management performs better in leadership than those from another management related courses because of their ability to blend the two leadership styles; a training that the other group did not receive. Adeyemi-Bello (2001) had earlier presented this fact in her work. The result of her survey on 29 Baptist church leaders shows a better result when the two styles were combined in church leadership than when each one was singly adopted. She concluded for the extension of these results into leadership in other realms of human activities. The implications of these results are quite obvious. A paradigm shift in the content and delivery of leadership training programs has become very necessary. The current training inculcating strategic planning and tasks-focused practices should pave way for a more balanced approach in management training. People managers should also learn to engage in a better interpersonal relationship with those under them, create a warmer environment conducive for a healthy work relationship, and engage in strategies that will give employees a feeling of empowerment (Adeyemi-Bello, 2001; Monstarangelo, Eddy and Lorenzet, 2004; Taormina, 2008). The case of Kleine Plastics in the UK presented by Ludlow (1987) serves as a good example in driving home the points that has been raised so far (in Tyson and Kakabadse eds. ). The work contrasted between the leadership attributes of Joseph Kleine, the founder of Kleine Plastics and that of David, his son at a particular time during the early stages of the company’s development. It reviews Joseph Kleine’s attitude as ‘a charismatic leader with whom his managers and work force wish to identify’ (pg. 23). He engages a style that trusted and respected his employees and empathizes with their situations. To him, these people were his main assets. This, coupled with his result oriented tendencies, propelled the work force towards a high performance level. However, David Kleine could not maintain this approach when he had to stand in during his father’s absence. He wanted result at all cost without due regards for his team members. Objections to his propositions by his managers were downplayed no matter how genuine they may be. Though work was still progressing, enthusiasm and productivity level dwindled. The return of Joseph was welcomed with protests from every quarter. David style was found to be less effective because of its lack of ‘human face’. Conclusion Leadership style is an issue that will still continue to be a subject of interest among research workers. The world is ever changing and people are becoming increasingly dynamic in attitude and thinking. This calls for a leadership approach that will keep up with the pace of the changes. A dynamic leader is one that is better equipped to respond to changes and easily enlist the cooperation of people in managing them effectively towards a greater level of production performance.

Perspectives of Marriage in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre :: Jane Eyre Essays

Perspectives of Marriage in Jane Eyre          Many novels speak of love and indulging in passion, but few speak of the dynamics that actually make a marriage work. Jane Eyre is one of these novels. It doesn't display the fleeing passions of a Romeo and Juliet. This is due entirely to Bronte's views on marriage and love. The first exception to the traditional couple the reader is shown is Rochester's marriage to Bertha. This example shows the consequences of indulging in passion. The opposite side is shown through another unlikely would-be couple, Rosamund and St. John. Through this pair, Bronte reveals the consequences of indulging in duty. Another view of marriage is also present in the book, through the character Jane Eyre and her actions.    The first example of Bronte's view on the role of passion is in Rochester's marriage to Bertha. This marriage is based entirely on passion. Rochester does nothing to either restrain or question his passion. Because of his impulsive passion, he entraps himself in an unfufilling marriage. He thought nothing of his duty and his consequence of this was he becomes the pride owner of a marriage based entirely on duty. Through Rochester's choices and consequences of those choices, the reader can see that Bronte asserts that marriage decisions based on passion and ignoring the role of duty will bring more than the loss of passion, it will bring an abundance of what you failed to factor into the decision, duty. People have to take care of responsibilities if they want to have fun and happiness later.    In case the reader failed to recognize the opportunity the Rochester marriage gives her to see Bronte's views, she puts in the book the could-be St. John marriage. St. John decides not to marry Rosamund Oliver based on his passion for her. He completely shuns his passion, the opposite extreme of Rochester. In doing this and basing his marriage decision on his duty to God, he looses a genuine chance to gain true happiness. Through this example in Jane Eyre, Bronte is trying to show the reader that the opposite end of the spectrum is also wrong in making a marriage decision.

The relationship between the economic development and the prevalence of education

This research paper examines the relationship between the economic development and the prevalence of education. Also, the correlation between the two will be discussed. The main goal of this paper is to identify whether a country’s economic growth increases the widespread of its education or not. Furthermore, the changes in universal literacy will be analyzed in relations to the reinforcement on economic advancement. Following this main question, this paper will also deliberate on whether or not an economic prosperous country will allocate more funds in education. Thus, as a family’s wealth increases, parents would be more likely to invest more money in educating the next generation. Through this research, increasing the prevalence of education indeed brings a tremendous amount of benefits to the personal financial growth, yet not national economic growth. Unexpectedly, econometric tests invalidate the correlation between education and economic growth. More expenditure in educational funds does not mean more economic growth for a nation. Nevertheless, economic development does lead to an accelerated literacy rate in a country. The millions of people are going through the pains of hunger, abject poverty, illiteracy, homelessness, orphanage, and rejection. A dollar a day may seem meaningless to us, but it can pay for a one-year’s worth of school supplies for a third world country. Television commercials and flyers always solicit donations to help the third-world countries, in particularly their literacy rates, through organizations such as The World Charity Foundation, Inc. Would a higher literacy rate improve a country’s economic status? Does a country’s economic development boost the level of education in its citizens? In the past thirty years, the phenomenon of immigrating and studying abroad is more common in China. This phenomenon reflects that China’s rapid economic development leads people to a greater opportunity of acquiring a higher-level education. Not only China, but also other several third-world countries have become developing countries and made some prolific economic progresses. The growth of a country confers on education a major role as an essential engine of the economic development. The controversial argument of whether a country’s economic growth increases the widespread of its education has been examined from various perspectives. Furthermore, the changes in universal literacy and the population’s average years of schooling will be analyzed in relations to the reinforcement on economic advancement. Economic growth is a sophisticated phenomenon that involves masses of economic, social and political judgments. Explicating the growth is a crucial task by accounting for these factors. Dawood Mamoon and S. Mansoob Murshed compare â€Å"the role of human capital accumulation measured by the number of years of schooling with the relative contribution of institutional capacity to prosperity. Therefore, education is not the only determining factor of the development of a country’s economy; the direct link between the two has yet to be established. However, the relationship between the national GDP and education cannot be overlooked. It is a common myth that more education certainly leads to higher economic growth has an omnipresent influence across both the developed and the developing countries. Many po licy makers of these countries emphasize the importance of allocating budgets in expanding and improving the education system will lead to a prosperous future for their countries. Alison Wolf (institute of education, University of London) indicates that â€Å"when tested against the evidence, both of these ideas turn out to be surprisingly ill-founded. † Besides, widespread education is equivalent to a country as building a solid foundation. Although, there is no clear correlation between education and economic growth, to make compulsory education universal still bring huge rate of returns for the growth in the individual living standard. According to a new report from the College Board in 2005, which makes the circumstance that higher education profits all U. S. citizens by increasing the rates of return on investments in higher education both for one’s who is doing well in college or university and for society as a whole. In this paper, I explore a comprehending of the role of education in the processes of flowering a country’s economics. Through this research, increasing the prevalence of education indeed brings a tremendous amount of b enefits to the personal financial growth, yet not national economic growth. Unexpectedly, econometric tests invalidate the correlation between education and economic growth. More expenditure in educational funds does not mean more economic growth for a nation. Nevertheless, economic development does lead to an accelerated literacy rate in a country. In what follows I will look upon my three chosen academic articles in turn, stating a succinct framework of the neighborly connections between a country’s economy and education. Then I will utilize some tangible evidences to advocate the main ideas. Ultimately, I will conclude this paper with some impressions on what connotations these justifications have for the study of education and growth.

Analects of Confucius – Analects of Life

Analects of life As â€Å"the greatest single force† in a fifth of the worlds population, Kong Fuzi or Confucius, spread his intelligence on philosophies to try and better the world (pg. 4). The Analects of Confucius is a book that essentially supplies the people of the west with the Chinese code of life in the words of Kong Fuzi. His words and beliefs helped shape Chinese civilization and spread father throughout the west, making Confucius one of the most profound scholars in western history. The book The Analects of Confucius written by Chichung Huang is a translation of the word of the words and beliefs of Confucius.The book focuses on many different themes of life in Chinese culture. Filial piety and good behavior are two major themes in the book that go hand in hand. Family is an extremely important part of Chinese culture. Relationships, loyalty and the institution of family as a whole is one of the highest points of significance of society and in china and throughout th e west family bonds are very sacred and respected. In this culture and throughout The Analects there was especially a great influence and demonstration of a â€Å"son’s love for his parents† (pg. 28). Confucius wrote, â€Å"In serving your parents, be gentle in remonstration.Seeing that they are not inclined to comply, remain reverent, and do not disobey them. Though weary, do not feel resentful,† (pg. 70, 4. 18). A son’s job was to serve his parents at any moment and he was only considered filial after he served his parents in the correct ways, â€Å"When his father was alive, he observed his aspirations, when his father died, he observed his deeds. If, for three years he does not change his father’s Way, he may be said to be filial† (pg. 49, 1. 11). Filial piety was said to be the â€Å"first and foremost of all virtues,† and honoring ones family went much farther than daily life (pg. 8). There was also a big emphasis on respecting parents after they had passed away.Confucius said, â€Å"When your parents are alive, serve them in accordance with the rituals; when they die, bury them in accordance with the rituals; offer sacrifices to them in accordance with the rituals† (pg. 53, 2. 5). Chinese cultures portrayed that for a son to be filial he had to â€Å"serve his parents in three ways: to feed them when they are alive, to morn them when they die and to offer sacrifices to them when mourning is over,† (pg. 28). It was so much of n importance to serve ones parents after death that Confucius himself said, â€Å"There is hardly anything that can make a man spontaneously exhaust his grief. If an exception must be made, it is perhaps a parent’s death,† (pg. 181, 19. 17). By instituting these analects of filial piety so intensely into the west and having them obeyed helped establish good behavior and put an emphasis on roles of the people. Since filial piety was such an essential virtue it was known for helping to â€Å"shape young people into loyal law-abiding subjects† (pg. 29).Social order and good behavior was a prominent throughout the west and taught through Confucianism. In Chinese culture reverence and respect was key and went along with good behavior. Confucius said, â€Å"nowadays filial piety merely means being able to feed ones parents. Even dogs and horses are being fed. Without reverence, how can you tell the difference,† (pg. 53, 2. 7). He was essentially trying to say that if respect isn’t important than what’s the difference between a parent and a dog. Through reverence and family relationships it helped shape young people and instate good behavior.The analects went into great depth of illustrating being an ethical and good citizen. Confucius said, â€Å"Keep wholehearted sincerity and truthfulness as your major principles. Do not befriend those beneath you. When you make a mistake, do not be afraid to correct it,† (pg. 106, 9. 25). He believed it was better to admit you mistakes than try and cover them up. The Chinese culture did not promote negative behavior or disobedience what so ever. They focused on ‘the gentleman’, the most virtuous and talented man, the role model for everyone else.Confucius stated, â€Å"the gentleman helps others achieve their good ends; he does not help them achieve their evil ends. The small man does the opposite,† (pg. 129, 12. 16). The gentleman was essentially the perfect man and promoted good behavior. Having the gentleman in Chinese culture helped uphold and spread the analects and good behavior. Overtime Confucianism and Confucius’ philosophies spread throughout Chinese civilization and the west and became very popular. Even after Confucius’ time his students and followers spread his beliefs.His moral codes and ideals were accepted grew more prominent overtime by Chinese civilizations and were adopted by neighboring countri es. Although his ideals not always followed in every dynasty and period of time they came back in the time of the Han Dynasty and the civil service exam is an example of how the teachings of Confucius was later intertwined with society. Confucius is a critical scholar and philosopher in western history and for the rest of the world. His teachings will never be forgotten and his analects will always be referred to.

Can technology improve diversity in hiring

Can technology improve diversity in hiring Improving diversity in all aspects of our cultural and business environment is an ever-increasing concern in the twenty-first century. While certain strides have been made in ensuring that people of all genders, races, nationalities, religions, and orientations are better represented in our society, these efforts have only just begun. Hopefully, far greater strides are to come in our collective future. According to Jeanette Maister, the managing director, head of Americas at Oleeo, that hope may arrive in the form of artificial intelligence (AI).Oleeo is a London-based company that provides solutions for companies looking to acquire new talent. Before joining Oleeo, Maister led recruiting efforts at such companies as Lehamn Brothers and Gartner, so she has a very firm background in hiring. In such roles, she has also witnessed the flaws in common hiring practices. Despite the desire of many companies to reflect society’s diversity more accurately in their hiring processes, man y businesses just can’t seem to get with the times. They have no established processes for ensuring greater diversity. In fact, as Maister recently told SHRM Online, many companies are â€Å"still doubling down on the same approaches they have used since the 1960s.† She says that such half-hearted efforts are more about avoiding lawsuits than actually improving diversity. In many cases, these â€Å"efforts† to increase diversity are downright backward, as potential employers only consider whether or not applicants were sufficiently diverse after those applicants had been interviewed.Maister sees technology as a possible solution to this problem. By using AI programs and Big Data to select the ideal person to fill a position, the biases of recruiters are less of an issue- these programs make automatic decisions based on myriad data points. It is essentially a computer-based form of blind screening, which is a hiring process that removes all identification informa tion from an applicant’s application and resume. AI can focus only on skills and experience rather than factors such as name, age, and gender that could provoke bias.Improving diversity in the workplace is not as easy as merely blocking out applicants’ personal information. It is a matter of ensuring that all phases of the hiring process are balanced and unbiased; it is also a matter of adjusting the language of job posts to be more inclusive, such as using gender-free pronouns in help-wanted ads. Some companies are already using technology that scans job descriptions for gender bias to help manage this issue. Algorithms and intelligent automation can also be used to cut the fat from job descriptions so that they only focus on the skills and duties essential to the given job. This will be a boon for women, who are more likely to ensure that they meet every criterion in a job description before applying than men are. In other words, by streamlining job descriptions, wom en will be more likely to apply to those positions.Of course, to create a completely unbiased hiring process, the hiring technology itself must be free of bias. After all, these systems are programmed by human beings who come with their own baggage and may possess personal prejudices that can end up in the very programs intended to curb bias. Maister reveals that a solution to that potential problem is to make the selection compliance rates of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission an essential part of the algorithm.hbspt.cta.load(2785852, '9e52c197-5b5b-45e6-af34-d56403f973c5', {});This is just the beginning of a new age in which technology is used to improve diversity in the workplace. New regulations will likely be set in place as the technology improves, and existing technology must be scrutinized to ensure that it utilizes sound data. Like all aspects of progress, improving diversity in hiring is a process, but hopefully the end result will be greater representation of all genders, races, nationalities, religions, and orientations in the workplace.

The decision of one women Essay Example

The decision of one women Essay Example The decision of one women Essay The decision of one women Essay The decision of one women to offer her body as a host for another womans baby or even possibly to allow her own eggs to be fertilised by another womans husband and then pass it over after carrying it for nine months, is a tough decision and one not many could make. This essay will examine the for and against of this emotive subject.Some women go through fertility testing only to find they have a major health problem such as endometriosis, blocked tubes, mal-formed womb, were born without any eggs, have had an early hysterectomy or have polysistic ovaries. After having experience of infertility and its possible solutions, most would- be mothers embrace any kind of help offered to them. Some people however can only see the fact that one person has given birth to a baby and is intending to pass it over to another person to take up the role of mother. The fact that the baby is often the genetic offspring of the couple and simply baby sat by the host mother is beyond some peoples comprehe nsionMost of these problems can be solved by treating the woman for her relevant condition but there are just a couple that cant be overcome without the help of a third party. If the womans problem is endometriosis then there is a possibility of controlling the problem long enough for her to conceive and carry the pregnancy to term, however 30 -40% of sufferers will remain infertile. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopaedia online (2003.), these couples join the ranks of those needing outside help. An abnormally shaped uterus, often called T -shaped, or a cervix which is hostile to sperm are just two of the conditions that add to the list that IVF cannot be used to help and these are examples of the occasions when surrogacy can be the only answer.There are two types of surrogacy, gestational, when the egg from the mother is fertilised by the sperm from the father and the resulting embryo implanted in the surrogates womb and non-gestational where the surrogate is artificially inseminate d with the fathers sperm. The latter is more fraught with emotions as the surrogate has to hand over a child which is genetically half hers rather than just one which she has nurtured for nine months and, should she decide she wants to keep the baby, would give her more legal standing should the issue go to court. In the highly publicised Baby M case (1986-1988), Mary Beth Whitehead, the surrogate and biological mother, sued William and Elizabeth Stern, the babys father and his wife, for custody of the child. Although the surrogate mother was not awarded custody in this case, she was granted visitation rights. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopaedia online (2003).Surrogacy is legal in this country but payment of a fee is not, keeping the moral high ground on not buying and selling babies whilst allowing couples to accept help from friends and family. The law says that you can meet any reasonable expenses incurred by the surrogate but not allow her to make a profit on the arrangement. This only becomes a problem when the surrogate has to take unpaid time off from work and the couple dont want her to be financially out of pocket.In conclusion, the point of laws is to ensure that a woman cannot set up a business producing and retailing babies and this has to remain for Britain not to become a country that trades in human life. On the other hand should a woman who is otherwise physically capable and emotionally devoted to becoming a loving mother, be prevented from doing so by the cruel twist of fate that her womb is not perfect?

The secrets to writing effective subheadings

The secrets to writing effective subheadings The secrets of effective subheadings Its easy to treat subheadings as a token afterthought once youve gone through the hard work of actually writing your document. But its worth paying more attention to them than that. They can be an effective tool in drawing your reader in to your full text or helping them find your most important points. Watch the video to find out how: Cant watch the video now? Heres the transcript: Guide the way with subheading signposts You know how it is. Youve written your document. Now you want people to read it (or what was the point?). You probably know no one wants to look at a big block of text, so you break it up. Good start. But thats not enough, is it? No, you also need signposts – like subheadings. Well, that looks better already. And subheadings dont just help your writing look good and your documents more inviting. They can work much harder than that. More on that in a minute. But first, a word of warning. Far too often, people write subheadings like these: Background Our experience Recommendations Background: What does that tell you about whats coming? Not much. Our experience: Is that specific? Not really. Recommendations: Are you engaged by this? Do you want to follow these signposts? Probably not. If youre trying to find your way in the world, a signpost will be no help at all if it doesnt actually tell you what its pointing to. And, just like signposts youd follow to get somewhere, your subheadings have to be specific. They have to tell your reader exactly whats ahead, to help them get where they need to go. Even better if your subheading signposts make the reader want to go there. For example: Background âžÅ"
What you told us Our experience âžÅ"
40 years in the business Recommmendations
âžÅ" How well meet your aims So, what techniques can you use to inspire subheadings that not only draw your reader in but also lead them through your document? Well, remember: well-written subheadings can make your reader want to dive in. So try some of these techniques. Direct Interest Verbs Evoke curiosity with a question Insight (to expand on) Numbers Play on words (if appropriate) Short (ish) Make sure your subheadings are direct and to the point. Corporation tax rate reduced Say something that will be of interest to the reader. How to expand our customer base Try using verbs – remember, those are the ‘doing’ and ‘being’ words. Doing so sounds dynamic and might even encourage action in some cases. Industry achieves positive change Evoke curiosity with a question. Ready for the low-carbon future? Give an insight that you’ll expand on in the following section. Real estate to outperform Try including a number – a technique often used online, which lets your reader know exactly how much information to expect. Five ways to combat climate change And theres a PS You can use a play on words – but only if you think it’s appropriate to the tone of your document and the intended reader. Face the storm with catastrophe bonds And finally: remember to keep your subheadings shortish. They should be long enough to be meaningful but short enough to be understood and absorbed quickly. So, try some of these techniques for signposting your next document and see how far it takes you. To sum up Remember, the best subheadings will read like an overview of your document – but they should also be compelling enough to encourage readers to dive in to the main copy. If you write online content, like blog posts, remember that website visitors do tend to skim-read a page before deciding whether to stay on it. The right subheadings could help tip the balance in your favour. Help your readers navigate In an ideal world, your documents and emails would never be skim-read. But, realistically, some of your time-pressed colleagues or clients will have to do just that. In which case, well-chosen subheadings will at least give them a summary and help them quickly find the most relevant parts. Find your route Subheadings can also help you with your writing process: try coming up with them as part of the planning stage before you write the body of the document, when youre deciding the structure. Or, if you prefer, you could read through the summary your subheads make after youve finished the document to double-check its structure: did you pick the best route? You can then adjust the order if necessary (but dont forget to make sure the text still flows logically). Keep it appropriate Just like anything else you write, judge the suitability of your subheadings against the tone of the document and what you know about the reader. This post is an extract from a lesson in our online-learning programme, Emphasis 360, which is designed to transform your writing step by step, in practical, bite-sized lessons. You can try it out for free here.

International business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

International business - Essay Example They are the result of the industry formation, their personal resources and the expertise the products rely on. Even if the industrialists did not clearly utilize the suggested framework to develop strategies, they do take advantage of a few aspects of these theories to support their decision-making. Nonetheless, the suggested theories cannot justify all of their strategies. It was interesting how the industrialists made use of â€Å"fortune†, â€Å"opportunity† and â€Å"gut feeling† to explain how they came about starting their businesses and why the business models developed the way they did. A number of decisions did not have a strategic foundation and were comparatively extemporized. This reveals the approach of startups to function as opposed to transnational businesses, which generally have some set of rules to follow before executing any plans (Lymbersky, p. 83, 2008). A lot similar to the rest of the Middle East, the Egyptian market is creating a taste f or foreign goods and newer generations are keen to try a rising range of these products. Introduction Once regarded as an improbable trade associate because of a fragmented retail sector as well as shortage of cold storage capability, the Middle East’s progress in both areas has led to better prospect for foreign confectionery providers. In addition, trade liberalization, better infrastructure in addition to distribution arrangements are aiding to smooth the progress of new product entry as well as brand development. In the present day, the Middle East (Lymbersky, p. 83, 2008) is among the most lucrative markets for confectionery around the globe. Demographically, the young people, rising number of emigrants, and mounting disposable income per capita should carry on creating demand for confectionery. Suppliers from all over the world are eager to meet this rising demand and are intensifying the competition for same reason. In a few of the smaller Middle Eastern nations such a s Israel, the supermarkets as well as hypermarkets make up the major share of confectionery sales. There are two national supermarket chains in Israel that currently control the retail scenario. Convenience stores, naturally, still play a most important part in confectionery supply; however, the small self-regulating grocer has mostly washed out from the scene (Sekkat, p. 29, 2009). Background The report helps in better understanding of the opportunities and possible barriers to enter the confectionary market of Middle Eastern region. The report is made with a regional focus and the information has been collected from all individual markets of Middle East region including Egypt, Israel and Turkey. Objective The objective of this report is to identify different market entry strategies and select the one that is most suitable for the company. The areas covered in this report are strategic issues this company is required to fix on earlier than product launch, to guarantee successful ma rket entry as well as their consequent survival. These consist of, but are not restricted to, the basis for entering that particular market segment, the types of promotion, their competitive advantages and methods to maintain these advantages. Reasons for Selecting Middle East Region There is developing awareness among international confectionery producers on the Middle East market. For many years, confectionery sales within the region have witnessed double-digit yearly growth, rising by almost 15 percent per annum between 2006 and 2009. There are quite a lot of bases for

Motivation in Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Motivation in Workplace - Essay Example The earlier theories of motivation include the work of many pioneers in the field such as Herzberg, Maslow etc and attempted to analyse and evaluate the motivation within work environment. However, the literature on the subject has evolved over the period of time to include many important and new topics also. This essay will look into the motivation concepts and theories as outlined in the work of Maslow, Aldefer, and Herzberg besides discussing the motivation theory of acquired needs. It is also important to understand that this paper will attempt to analyse above mentioned theories with respect to FBI- an American agency involved in criminal justice. Maslow's theory of motivation is one of the earliest attempts to study motivation and it advocated a systematic and staged process of motivation. According to this theory, in order to motivate an employee, it is necessary that first the physical needs of the employee are taken care off. ... FBI agents though might have a good pay and most of their physical needs are fulfilled however their social security and safety stage may not be achieved. One of the most critical flaws in Maslow's theory of motivation is the fact that it advocates that an employee cannot proceed to next stage if her needs at the earliest stage are not fulfilled therefore though given the nature of the job of FBI agents, their social security and safety may not be guaranteed by their employer. In this regards, Maslow's theory of motivation may not be the appropriate theory to achieve employee motivation until it allow the skipping of various stages of motivation. Aldefer's theory of motivation Aldefer's ERG theory is another attempt to look at the motivation in much broader level as compared to the Maslow's theory. ERG theory is also a hierarchical in nature as that of Maslow's however it attempts to reduce the stages of motivation and classify the human needs into three classes or stages. Existence, Relatedness and Growth are three stages of motivation as outlined by Aldefer. The first level of motivation which is of existence suggest that in order to motivate an employee it is important that the employee's physiological needs are fulfilled first and then followed by the security needs. Since FBI is a crime investigation agency and most of its employees are directly involved into crime investigation which involve possible threat to the life therefore again like Maslow's theory, the safety needs of the employee are not being guaranteed by FBI. It is important to note that FBI has in place different benefits for its employees including Health Insurance benefits, life insurance benefits, retirement

Critically evalute the legacy of the Chicago School of Criminology Essay

Critically evalute the legacy of the Chicago School of Criminology - Essay Example Before the dominant theories in Criminology emerged, the leading theories were classical criminology and positivist theories of crime. The emergence of classical school of criminology can be traced in the early 18th century lead by philosopher Jeremy Bentham who focused on criminal justice and penology. He opined that crime results from a product of human nature and since humans posses free will, they have therefore the ability to control their own actions (Carrabine, Iganski, Lee, Plummer, and South, 2004). Bentham suggested that a criminal justice system is more reasonable as compared to the classic barbaric system of capital punishment. According to him, there should be more focus on the enforcement of the law and the legal processes instead on the different causes of crime (Bentham, 1789). For Beccaria (1764), in his famous book On Crimes and Punishments , crimes do not exist by reason of bad individuals but from bad laws. He suggested new perspective based on justice. This became major foundation of the modern criminal justice system. As asserted by the early positivist theorists, free will is out of the question in studying crime. These theorists used empirical research methods by which they theorized that the causes of crimes are biological, psychological and environmental factors (Carrabine et al, 2004). This is different from the classical approach which has its sight on legal issues and crime prevention. According to the positivist criminologists, as shared by Cesare Lombroso, the causes and effects of criminal behavior can be directly observed. Lombroso opposed that crimes are due to human free will as criminal behavior can be inherited; that there are people who are â€Å"criminal type† of persons; that criminals are physiologically different if compared to the non-criminals; that these criminals have observable physical

Violating Company Social Networking Policy Assignment

Violating Company Social Networking Policy - Assignment Example NLRB ruled in favor of the employer because it is important that the activity should be concerted in order to provide relief to the employee in such cases. In this case, the employee was properly disciplined and therefore there was nothing wrong in it, according to the ruling and judgment of NLRB. Â  I agree with the decision of NLRB because it is also important to protect the rights of the employer. There are guidelines which NLRB has to follow and in this case, they have followed the guidelines. NLRB makes sure that rights of employees are not violated and employment terms are such that use of social media activity against employer does not become grounds for termination (Belicove, 2012). But the social media activity should be concerted, meaning that the employee should take up the issue with other employees before posting something online regarding his or her employer. This was not done and therefore this case was decided in favor of the employer. The decision was accurate because it was based on the laws and guidelines of NLRB and the termination of the employee was not legal because he did not talk about the issue with his fellow employees. Â  The decision would not have been taking in a positive way in any organization by the employees. Employees would feel that they were violated and employer got off because of a technical issue. The issue would have created many work-related problems and moral issues in any organization. Employees have a natural tendency to think positively regarding their fellow employees. Also because in this case the employee posted something that was very true and therefore sympathies of employee would always be with him. This would worsen the employee relations in any company and more and more of such cases would come up which will negatively affect employee productivity. Â  

Challenges for Immigrant Children and their Parents Research Paper

Challenges for Immigrant Children and their Parents - Research Paper Example There are several factors involved in the challenges that immigrant children and their families face. The influx of immigrants and their children are so great that the child welfare services are swamped by these sheer numbers on one side, and on the other side, there is the lack of ability in child welfare services to understand and meet the requirements of the immigrant children. Another factor in the well-being of the immigrant children and their families is the legal status of the immigrants, as different statuses carry with it the deriving of different levels of benefits and services. Another important challenge for immigrant children and their families is the lack of proficiency in the English language, as nearly all of the immigration come from countries, where there is limited exposure to the English language. This deficiency is likely to lead to the family falling in the low-income group, with the accompanying issue of the poor health status of the children. Understanding the challenges of immigrant children can be derived from the stages of migration framework, and the critical variables involved in it, and the factors that have an impact on each stage of migration. Factors that impinge on the different stages of migration include age, family background, urban or rural background, socioeconomic background, occupation, religion, and social support. The premature stage or the departure stage, transit or immediate stage, resettlement stage, and return to the country of origin stage make up the four stages in the stages of migration framework. This framework provides an understanding on the challenges that are faced by immigrant children and their families, which are important for child welfare social workers.

Violating Company Social Networking Policy Assignment

Violating Company Social Networking Policy - Assignment Example NLRB ruled in favor of the employer because it is important that the activity should be concerted in order to provide relief to the employee in such cases. In this case, the employee was properly disciplined and therefore there was nothing wrong in it, according to the ruling and judgment of NLRB. Â  I agree with the decision of NLRB because it is also important to protect the rights of the employer. There are guidelines which NLRB has to follow and in this case, they have followed the guidelines. NLRB makes sure that rights of employees are not violated and employment terms are such that use of social media activity against employer does not become grounds for termination (Belicove, 2012). But the social media activity should be concerted, meaning that the employee should take up the issue with other employees before posting something online regarding his or her employer. This was not done and therefore this case was decided in favor of the employer. The decision was accurate because it was based on the laws and guidelines of NLRB and the termination of the employee was not legal because he did not talk about the issue with his fellow employees. Â  The decision would not have been taking in a positive way in any organization by the employees. Employees would feel that they were violated and employer got off because of a technical issue. The issue would have created many work-related problems and moral issues in any organization. Employees have a natural tendency to think positively regarding their fellow employees. Also because in this case the employee posted something that was very true and therefore sympathies of employee would always be with him. This would worsen the employee relations in any company and more and more of such cases would come up which will negatively affect employee productivity. Â  

Humanities Baroque Period or Italian Reinassance or Northern Essay

Humanities Baroque Period or Italian Reinassance or Northern Reinassance - Essay Example The Fountain of the Four Rivers, created between 1648 and 1651 and commissioned by Pope Innocent X, is Bernini’s largest and most celebrated fountain. He was asked to erect a monument sufficiently large enough to emphasize the center of the square without upsetting its unity. â€Å"At the same time, the fountain – not axially related to the faà §ade of S. Agnese – had to be attuned to the Baroque church that had been planned for the area, but not yet erected†. The difficulty of the assignment itself was daunting, yet Bernini managed to execute a fountain that not only complemented its location, but also captured attention as a monument in and of itself, speaking with eloquence and grace regarding the new ideas of his age. Although the fountain was actually executed by a large group of co-workers who worked under Bernini’s direct supervision, existing sketches provide proof that the idea and the design are definitely Bernini’s. In recognition of the Age of Exploration that characterized this entire time period, the fountain represents the four continents that were identified in Bernini’s time, which were Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas, via the four major rivers that were associated with each of these continents – the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges and the Rio della Plata respectively. The continents are represented by a different figure at each of the cardinal points of the fountain with significance attached to the direction they face helping viewers to identify the continent being represented.

Discuss the importance of nature in Hardys Essay Example for Free

Discuss the importance of nature in Hardys Essay Nature was extremely important in the Victorian era, after God and religion, Hardy shows the importance of nature throughout ‘Tess of the D’urbervilles’ by certain techniques of language and structure. Hardy uses nature to explain and portray aspects that happened within the Victorian society, and Tess’s life itself; there is always a underlying piece of information. ‘They followed the way till they reached the beginning of the ascent on the crest of which vehicle from Tantridge was to receive her’ this extract informs us, as readers on several things, not only about Tess but also about the society in the Victorian era. ‘They followed’ in this context Tess is shown to be moving on with her life, and as she is about to move social class, her family are seen as beneath her in this aspect behind her, within the eyes of society itself. The extract goes onto say ‘beginning of the ascent’ this could be interpreted two different ways, either as Tess was moving on with her life, she is experiencing the change from a girl to a woman, a she becomes more independent and leaves her parents behind. However, it could be viewed in society eyes, that Tess is climbing the ascent, from the lower class to the higher class as she goes to meet Alec. These two interpretations, portray both society and the development of Tess’s character, society could also support the change within Tess, as when a girl becomes to work, she is vied as a woman. Another word in this quote that shows a strong aspect of society and current government threats is the word ‘vehicle’ as this portrays the threat of England and the industrial revolution, as well as presenting the equipment available to the upper class, that isn’t available to the lower class; again nature shows the importance of most things. At the very end of the quote the words ‘receive her’ presents Tess’s move up the social hierarchy as easy, as the upper class was waiting on her arrival, perhaps hinting that Tess’s appealing appearance and character at first to a stronger, however this hypothesis contrasts to earlier in the book when Tess is described as ‘queer’. There is another quote that supports the importance of nature, ‘far away behind the first hills the cliff-like dwelling of Shaston broke the line of the ridge’ Here Hardy develops interestingly the split in society between the classes, he uses ‘cliff-like dwelling’ to describe the D’urberville’s highness in society, where as Tess is described to be ‘broke the line of the ridge’ portraying her breaking the line that society places firmly between the lower and upper class. ‘They were just beginning to descend†¦ Down, down, they sped, the wheels humming a top, the dog-cart rocking right and left, its axis acquiring a slightly oblique set’ Hardy informs us on several details throughout this short passage, ‘they sped’, portrays how fast Alec was moving within there relationship, showing nature been used to foreshadowing the future, and also maybe spiraling out of control. ‘the dog-cart rocking right and left’ this is presenting the sexual aspect to the novel and foreshadowing how there relationship will end, leading to the rape/seduction. This quote finally ends with ‘slightly oblique set’ this concludes nature showing the danger/caution towards Tantridge itself, and nature enhances this. In conclusion, Hardy successful uses nature to portray the underlying details of the novel, informing us on both the aspects of Tess’s character and mind set that has not yet appeared, as well as the society at the time, giving the reader a deeper view. However, all of the parts that nature shows, builds a conclusion that nature is very important in general, and especially within this novel as it explains a great deal of detail to the reader.

Content Analysis of Web-based Norovirus Education Materials

Content Analysis of Web-based Norovirus Education Materials Content Analysis of Web-based Norovirus Education Materials Targeting Consumers Who Prepare and Handle Food: An Assessment of Alignment and Readability Hillary Evansa Morgan Gettya Cortney M. Leonea Michael Finneyb Angela Frasera* aDepartment of Food, Nutrition, and Packaging Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA bDepartment of Mathematical Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA ABSTRACT word count Huma noroviruses sicken 19-21 million people in the U.S. each year, suggesting the need for education. The World Wide Web is a readily accessible source of information about how to prevent a norovirus infection but at present the accuracy and readability of materials targeting consumers is unknown. The aim of our study was to evaluate the alignment and readability of web-based norovirus education materials targeting consumers using CDC guidelines and Microsoft Word readability formulas. Our search yielded 60 artifacts. Most did not address duration of handwashing (83%), use of hand sanitizers (83%), type of drying devices (92%), or avoidance of bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods (97%). Less than half (n=29) recommended minimizing contact with sick persons. Two-thirds of the artifacts (n=40) also did not mention the recommended concentration of sodium hypochlorite (bleach) solution to be used to disinfect surfaces contaminated with Noroviruses. The mean Flesch Reading Ease scor e was 47.75 (score of >70 is easy to read), and the mean Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level was 10.36 so documents were written at a 10th grade level. The alignment and readability of web-based educational materials about Noroviruses must be improved as knowledge is a prerequisite to application of behaviors that can prevent one from becoming infected with Noroviruses. Key words: Huma noroviruses, content analysis, consumer education, food safety, readability Content Analysis of Web-based Norovirus Education Materials Targeting Consumers who Prepare and Handle Food: An Assessment of Alignment and Readability INTRODUCTION Worldwide, noroviruses are the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis. In the U.S., an estimated 21 million individuals (1 in 14) are sickened each year by this group of viruses resulting in $777 million in healthcare costs (Hall et al., 2013). Most reported outbreaks are attributed to person-to-person contact (69%) followed by the consumption of contaminated food (23%) making noroviruses the most common cause of foodborne disease (58% of cases) in the U.S. ((Hall, Wikswo, Pringle, Gould, Parashar, 2014; Scallan et al, 2011). Results from a nationally representative survey of 1051 U.S. adults revealed that consumers are not aware of noroviruses and have limited knowledge about how to prevent an infection. Forty-seven percent of respondents reported awareness of noroviruses, and 85% had heard of the terms cruise ship virus, the stomach bug, or the stomach flu, which are commonly used to describe norovirusess (Cates, Kosa, Brophy, Hall, Fraser, 2015). Less than one-third (341) correctly answered 50% or more of the 22 true-and-false questions, suggesting consumers have limited knowledge on how to prevent a norovirus infection. These findings support the need to provide consumers with accurate and complete information about noroviruses as knowledge is a prerequisite to implementation of a behavior (DiClemente et al., 1989; Fisher Fisher, 1992). The World Wide Web (hereafter referred to as the Web) is one way to reach consumers with information about how to prevent a norovirus infection. Eighty-seven percent (87%) of U.S. adults use the internet, and of those, 72 percent use the Web to seek health information (Pew Research Center, 2014). While the internet has accelerated the speed and spread of information, it also has a downside allowing the dissemination and diffusion of information without checks and balances, peer review, and/or fact checking. Three studies that evaluated health information available online reported a lack of quality information characterized by accuracy of content and/or appropriate design and usability (Berland et al., 2001; Scullard, Peacock, Davies, 2010; Irwin et al., 2011). Moreover, a systematic review of medical information further supported the above-mentioned authors conclusions that there is a lack of high-quality sites on the Web that offer complete and accurate information on various heal th topics (Eysenbach, Powell, Kuss, Sa, 2002). One problem with inaccurate or misleading health information being so accessible on the Web is that the user of this information might implement recommendations that have no effect on preventing the targeted disease or condition or even worse one might implement recommendations that cause harm (Ilic, 2010). In addition to providing accurate and complete information, it is also important to determine if recommendations, or changes that might become recommendations in the near future, are relevant and practical under real-world conditions. Another problem is the readability of the text. If the text is not easy to read its usability is greatly diminished. To illustrate how wide ranging this problem could be one needs to simply read the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), released in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Education. The authors report that 30 million adults struggle with basic reading tasks, which represents nearly 10% of the U.S. population (Kutner, Greenburg, Jin, Paulsen, 2006). Within the context of health information, Kessels (2003) pointed out that 40-80% of information provided to patients by health professionals is forgotten immediately not only because terminology is too difficult to understand but often too much information is presented at one time leading to poor recall. One conclusion is that when text is too difficult to read, the reader could become frustrated hence they stop reading, hence the purpose of the materials is not achieved improving knowledge. Using the results of a readability formula is also recommended by experts to guide the development of written work as it is recommended to write documents for U.S. adults at the 7th grade level and documents about health, medicine, or safety at the 5th grade level (DuBay, 2004). As an assessment tool, one of the several dozen readability formulas are useful and convenient but must be employed with caution. These formulas determine the grade level demand of specific written information based on an analysis of sentence structure and word length. But, readability does not necessarily guarantee comprehension, which is the degree to which one understands what they have read (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Assessing comprehension is a much more complex task, which is why readability is more commonly used as a general indicator of how easy a document is to read. Therefore, we assert that if consumer education materials are aligned with evidence-based guidance documents and are easy to read, the reader is more likely to engage in behaviors known to prevent Noroviruses. Thus, the aim of our study was to evaluate the alignment and readability of Noroviruses consumer education materials available on the Web using evidence-based guidance documents and Microsoft Word readability formulas. Two research questions guided our study: 1) Are noroviruses materials targeting consumers who handle food aligned with the three prevention strategies for noroviruses recommended in CDC guidance documents? and 2) Are materials written at the recommended grade level for health-related documents (5th grade level)? Our study findings can be used to inform the revision or creation of consumer education materials that focus on preventing a norovirus infection. METHODS To be included in the sample, eligible educational materials (referred to as artifacts hereafter) were published between January 1, 2011 and May 23, 2013 and: 1) target adult consumers, 2) pertain to preparing food in the home, and 3) be available via Advanced Search of Google.com. The start date of our search was chosen because in January 2011, Scallan et al. (2011) reported that Noroviruses causes 58% of foodborne disease in the U.S. We excluded artifacts directed toward children and those formatted as blogs, news articles, theses, dissertations, research articles, Wikipedia entries, question/answer sites, forums, and continuing education training materials. We conducted a Google.com Advanced Search using the following search string: Norovirus AND food handling AND food preparation. Food-related terms were chosen as we assumed this would narrow our findings to artifacts that address preventing Norovirus infections related to food preparation in the home. Artifacts were sorted by re levance, and two team members screened each artifact based on inclusion criteria. All eligible artifacts were downloaded as Portable Document Format (PDF) files or HyperText Markup Language (HTML) files. A coding manual comprised of 71 items divided into four topic areas was created. The topic areas included: 1) identifying information, 2) format (including readability statistics), 3) content (including food safety hazards), and 4) prevention strategies. The items in Table 1 assess three prevention strategies outlined in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for preventing and managing a norovirus infection: 1) hand hygiene, 2) exclusion and isolation of sick individuals, and 3) environmental sanitation (Hall et al., 2011). While these guidelines were designed for use in health care and not home settings, at the time of the analysis we believed and continue to believe they were the best source of evidence-based information to prevent norovirus infections. A corresponding SurveyMonkey ® (Survey Monkey Inc., Paolo Alto, CA) instrument served as the coding sheet. Four trained coders independently conducted a pilot-test of the coding manual. Inconsistencies or ambiguities found in the manual during piloting were corrected before analysis began. Two trained coders then independently reviewed each artifact. Responses were entered into the SurveyMonkey ® instrument. All responses were exported to an Excel spreadsheet. A third coder reconciled disagreements between coders. Based on alignment, each artifact was assigned a total score, and sub-scores across the three disease management guidance documents were assessed: hand hygiene, isolation and exclusion of sick persons, and environmental sanitation. The maximum possible quality scores for each topic area were 7, 2, and 5, respectively. Response frequencies as well as mean scores, standard deviations, and ranges were calculated using SAS 9.3 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC). To assess readability, we used two formulas Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level both available in Microsoft Word. Flesch Reading Ease scores range from 0-100, with a lower score indicating that a document is more difficult to read than one with a higher score. A score of 70 or above is classified as easy and is written at the grade school level. A score of 60 to 70 is standard and is written at the high school level. A score of 60 or below is difficult. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level uses mean sentence and word length to determine grade level between grades 3 and 12 (DAlessandro, Kingsley, Johnson-West, 2001). RESULTS Our Google Advanced Search yielded 826 results. After opening and viewing the first 292 results (sorted by relevance) the following was displayed on the results listing screen: In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 292 already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included. We repeated the search and determined all results were duplicates of those already viewed. These 292 results were screened using our three eligibility criteria and yielded 74 artifacts which were then downloaded. After a second screening, 14 artifacts were removed due to page unavailability, duplicity, or wrong target audience. A total of 60 artifacts were included and analyzed. Research Question 1: Alignment with Prevention Strategies The total mean score across all three prevention strategies was low 5.2 of 14 points suggesting artifacts were not aligned with CDC guidance documents (Table 2). All (N=60; 100%) artifacts mentioned at least one of the seven components of hand hygiene we assessed but the mean sub-score for hand hygiene was low, 2.3 of 7 points (SD=0.77). Most artifacts (83%) did not address length of handwashing, type of drying devices (92%), avoidance of bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods (97%), or use of hand sanitizers (83%). One artifact stated that hand sanitizers were an acceptable alternative to hand washing. Of the artifacts that mentioned exclusion and isolation of sick individuals (78%), the mean score was 1.2 of 2. In nearly all artifacts (72%) sick individuals were discouraged from preparing food for others, but 48% recommended minimizing contact with sick persons. Less than half (48%) addressed at least one aspect of environmental sanitation with the mean quality score 1.7 of 5. Research Question 2: Readability The mean Flesch Reading Ease for our sample was 47.6, indicating artifacts were difficult to read as the score is th grade) for health-related materials (DAlessandro, Kingsley, Johnson-West, 2001). DISCUSSION Knowledge is an underlying construct in many health behavior models necessary for one to take informed action, such as implementing strategies to prevent a norovirus infection. So it is reasonable to assert that if one does not have accurate and complete information about these strategies, then one cannot engage in necessary behaviors, defeating the purpose of consumer education. In addition to providing accurate and complete information, the information must also be practical and presented in a manner that is easy to read to increase the likelihood that the recommendations will be implemented. For these reasons, we analyzed consumer-targeted materials available on the Web to determine if existing materials need to be revised or new materials created as we believe consumer education is critical to preventing norovirus infections. In our analysis, we found information was omitted and/or inconsistent with the CDC guidelines. For example, many artifacts did not address length of hand washing, use of hand sanitizers, type of drying devices, and avoidance of bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods. While many discouraged preparing food, less than half recommended minimize contact with sick persons. Furthermore, disinfection was frequently mentioned but the recommended concentration of sodium hypochlorite (bleach) solution to be used to disinfect surfaces contaminated with noroviruses was not. And, none addressed the clean up of vomit and fecal matter. It is through the proper implementation of the three prevention strategies (hand hygiene, exclusion and isolation of sick individuals, and environmental sanitation) that we begin to reduce the burden of illness attributed to noroviruses. One obvious reason for the incompleteness and/or omission of information is the creators of materials in our sample might not have known about the CDC prevention guidelines. The guidelines were published in March 2011 in Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) which is in the public domain, but MMWR might not be a known or commonly used source of information for those who author consumer education materials. As a result, information to guide development of materials came from other sources, for which the evidence base might be unknown or possibly incorrect. To illustrate, it is well known that an effective hand wash can disrupt transmission of noroviruses with effective hand wash defined as applying hand soap to hands then using friction (rubbing hands together) for a sufficient time (Michaels et al., 2002). While a scrub time of 10-20 seconds is commonly recommended as sufficient by the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA, 2013; Hall et al., 2011), three laboratory s tudies report longer wash times are needed to remove microorganisms (Ojajà ¤rvi, 1980; Fuls et al., 2008; Jensen, Danyluk, Harris, and Schaffner, 2015). To further complicate matters, some experts question the evidence base for scrubbing hands for 10-20 seconds suggesting an even shorter time (Bloomfield et al, FILL IN). These various positions on length of a handwash illustrates the importance of creating (and subsequently using) evidence-based guidelines to inform development of consumer education materials as recommendations cannot be based on one or two published studies. In health care, clinicians commonly use clinical evidence-based practice guidelines, recommendations systematically developed by panels of experts who have access to the available evidence and an understanding of the clinical problem and research methods as these clinicians, just like food safety educators, might not have the expertise to consider the quality of the evidence. Thus, evidence-based guidelines such as those prepared by the CDC should underpin consumer education efforts about preventing norovirus infections. However, these guidelines should be routinely reviewed and updated as even within the CDC guidelines there are gaps in information as the present evidence base to inform norovirus prevention strategies is incomplete. When educators are faced with incomplete information they might use whatever information is available, even if it is not grounded in science, or and simply ignore omit details (Kardes et al., 2008; Sanbonmatsu, Kardes, Herr, 1992; Simmons Lynch, 1991). One clear example of this centers around vomit and fecal matter clean up, which none of the reviewed materials addressed. To disrupt the transmission of noroviruses, vomitus and feces must be properly cleaned up. But, how far out one needs to disinfect an area to eliminate noroviruses is unknown as the evidence to support a geographic radius is inconclusive. The only published evidence we have suggests that vomit can be deposited up to 25 feet from its point source but these findings are based on one epidemiological stud y and not a well-designed laboratory-controlled study (Booth, 2014). Moreover, even when the evidence base is good, sometimes information that is presented is not complete. Case in point, many materials recommended using sodium hypochlorite (bleach) solutions to treat surfaces, which is correct, but most did not state a concentration of the disinfection solution. Norovirus is a hardy pathogen that resists most disinfection strategies and persists in the environment for long periods, possibly weeks (give citation) illustrating the importance of using a chlorine solution at the proper concentration (Doultree, Druce, Birch, Marshall, 1999; Gulati, Allwood, Hedberg, Goyal, 2001; Jimenez Chiang 2006; Belliot, Lavaux, Souihel, Agnello, Pothier, 2008). One explanation for this lack of detail could be that some authors presented motivational messages, which tend to be briefer than procedural messages. While motivation is important, alone it is not sufficient because one can be motivated to enact a behavior but do it wrong which is why consumers must have accurate as well as complete information. It is important to note that we did not evaluate the messaging approach as this was beyond the scope of this study but an analysis of messaging approach should be considered in future analyses of materials. Another potential problem is that in the absence of consumer-targeted prevention strategies, government regulations are often used as a proxy. This appears to be a sensible approach as the presumption is that most regulations are grounded in science. However, one must exercise caution as regulations might not always based on the most current evidence given the often lengthy adoption process. Take for example the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers as an alternative for hand washing, which the U.S. Food Code prohibits, and which most artifacts in our sample did not mention. In 2002 the CDC released Guidelines for Hand Hygiene in Healthcare but in May 2003 the FDA prepared a written response, clearly stating the CDC guidelines could not be applied to foodservice establishments (FDA, 2003). The underlying logic was that (1) pathogens commonly transmitted by hands in health-care settings differ from those transmitted in foodservice settings; (2) the use of alcohol-based hand rubs in pla ce of hand-washing has not been shown to reduce important foodborne pathogens on food worker hands; and (3) the types and levels of soil on the hands of health care workers differ from that on the hands of foodservice and retail food handlers. Another concern was that while alcohol-based hand sanitizers have been demonstrated to be effective for many pathogens, their efficacy has not been consistently demonstrated for norovirus. It is unclear how much published evidence has been used to support these recommendations as much has been learned about hand hygiene in the last 20 years. In reality, information suggests that some hand sanitizer formulations may be somewhat effective while others are not. Obviously, this situation is complex, and in the interest of providing a clear message, it may be unclear whether to include recommendations regarding alcohol-based hand sanitizers or to rely on government regulations. The conservative approach would be to omit the recommendation; whereas, some authors may decide to provide the knowledge under the impression that recommending some hand cleaning behavior is better than no recommendation. Some guidelines might be viewed by educators as impractical or unnecessary to implement in a home setting. An example of this is not handling food when sick, which was mentioned but minimizing contact with sick persons was addressed less frequently. This is a significant oversight as many people do not realize that noroviruses are transferred via the fecal-oral route (i.e., associated with contacting persons, contaminated surfaces, and food) (CATES ARTICLE). In a regulated food facility, workers cannot work while ill to minimize sickening others as well as contaminating surfaces and food. This recommendation might not be possible in a home setting as one probably cannot isolate themselves from others in the household as well as they might be the primary food preparer. This illustrates why it is important to analyze not only the accuracy and completeness of information but also its practicality. Along with lack of alignment, the artifacts in our sample were also not easy to read written at a high school grade level and not at the 5th grade level as suggested. Our study findings are consistent with a study conducted by Badarudeen and Sanjeev (2010) who concluded that in a health-care setting patient education materials were often too difficult to read and could not be comprehended by a substantial portion of the adult U.S. population. Therefore, even when information is accurate, if a reader cannot understand it, they cannot act on it. Educational materials are only as beneficial as the knowledge gained as a result of being able to read them. Limitations Due to the ever changing nature of the Web, artifacts sampled during the study could change as time progresses so new materials that might be better aligned with CDC guidance documents and that are easy to read might be available. Likewise, knowledge evolves: in late 2014, the CDC published on their website five messages to help consumers prevent a norovirus infections: 1) practice proper hand hygiene; 2) take care in the kitchen; 3) do not prepare food while infected; 4) clean and disinfect contaminated surfaces; and 5) wash laundry thoroughly (CDC, 2015). However, coding and analysis had already been completed so kitchen and laundry practices were not assessed, demonstrating the challenge of evaluating web-based health messages. Further, to analyze the readability of the artifacts in our sample, we used two readability formulas available through Microsoft Word. This method is widely used, but also not comprehensive, as it only considers factors such as word and sentence length so d oes not take into consideration comprehension. Future research should also be done to assess materials using the CDC Clear Communication Index, which is a set of 20 items that can be used to develop as well as assess public communication products (CDC, 2014a). The 20 items in the Index build on and expand plain language techniques described in the Federal Plain Language Guidance documents (Plain Language Action and Information Network, 2011). CONCLUSION At present, there still is a need to revise and possibly create materials that are accurate, complete, practical, and easy to read. Consumer education, if approached properly, could help reduce the burden of illness attributed to noroviruses, the number one cause of acute gastroenteritis and foodborne disease. To be effective, consumer-targeted materials must be aligned with evidence-based guidelines that carefully assess the practicality and necessity of the recommendations in a home environment. While government regulations are sometimes used as a proxy for recommendations to be applied in a home setting, one must use caution in doing so as the regulatory provisions might not be grounded in the most current science or might be impractical under home conditions. Most importantly, evidence-based guidelines also need to be periodically as the evidence base to inform practices continues to grow. Finally, the readability of the materials must be evaluated and REFERENCE THE CDC CLEAR COM MUNICATION INDEX. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, Building Capacity to Control Viral Foodborne Disease: A Translational, Multidisciplinary Approach, Grant No. 2011-68003-30395. REFERENCES Abad, F. X., Pintà ³, R. M., Bosch, A.(1994). Survival of enteric viruses on environmental fomites. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 60(10), p. 3704-3710. Atmar, R. L., Opekun, A. R., Gilger, M. A., Estes, M. K., Crawford, S. E., Neill, F. H., Ramani, S., Hill, H., Ferreira, J., Graham, D. Y. (2014).Determination of the 50% human infectious dose for Norwalk virus. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 209, 1016-1022. Badarudeen, S. Sabharwal, S. (2010). Assessing Readability of Patient Education Materials: Current Role in Orthopaedics. Clinical Orthopedic Related Research, 468(1):2572-2580. Barker, J., Vipond, I. B., Bloomfield, S. F. (2004).Effects of cleaning and disinfection in reducing the spread of norovirus contamination via environmental surfaces. Journal of Hospital Infection,58(1), 42-49. Belliot, G., Lavaux, A., Souihel, D., Agnello, D., Pothier, P. (2008). Use of murine norovirus as a surrogate to evaluate resistance of huma norovirus to disinfectants. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 74(10), 3315-3318. Berland, G. K., Elliott, M. N., Morales, L. S., Algazy, J. I., Kravitz, R. L., Broder, M. S., Kanouse, D. E., Muà ±oz, J. A., Puyol, J.-A., Lara, M., Watkins, K. E., Yang, H., McGlynn, E. A. (2001). Health information on the internet: accessibility, quality, and readability in English and Spanish. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285(20), 2612-2621. Bloomfield, S. F., Aiello, A. E., Cookson, B., OBoyle, C., Larson, E. L. (2007). The effectiveness of hand hygiene procedures in reducing the risks of infections in home and community settings including handwashing and alcohol-based hand sanitizers. American Journal of Infection Control, 35(10), S27-S64. Booth, C. M. (2014). Vomiting Larry: a simulated vomiting system for assessing environmental contamination from projectile vomiting related to norovirus infection. Journal of Infection Prevention, 15(5), 176-180. Cates, S. C., Kosa, K. M., Brophy, J. E., Hall, A. J., Fraser, A. (2015). Consumer education needed on norovirus prevention and control: findings from a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults. Journal of Food Protection, 78(3), 484-490. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Preventing Norovirus Infection. Accessed 29 October 2015. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/preventing-infection.html Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014a). The CDC clear communication index. Accessed 27 August 2015. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ccindex/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014b). Norovirus. Accessed 27 August 2015. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/ DAlessandro, D. M., Kingsley, P., Johnson-West, J. (2001).The readability of pediatric patient education materials on the World Wide Web. Archives of Pediatrics Adolescent Medicine, 155(7), 807-812. DiClemente, R. J., Pies, C. A., Stoller, E. J., Straits, C., Olivia, G. E., Haskin, J., Rutherford, G. W. (1989). Evaluation of school-based AIDS education curricula in San Francisco.The Journal of Sex Research, 26(2), 188-198. Doultree, J. C., Druce, J. D., Birch, C. J., Bowden, D. S., Marshall, J. A. (1999). Inactivation of feline calicivirus, a Norwalk virus surrogate. Journal of Hospital Infection, 41, 51-57. DuBay, W. H. (2004).The principles of readability. Costa Mesa, CA: Impact Information. Eysenbach, G., Powell, J., Kuss, O., Sa, E.-R. (2002). Empirical studies assessing the quality of health information for consumers on the World Wide Web: a systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Association, 287(20), 2691-2700. Fisher, J. D., Fisher, W. A. (1992). Changing AIDS risk behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 3, 455-474. Fuls, J. L., Rodgers, N. D.,Fischler, G. E., Howard, J. M., Patel, M.,Weidner, P. L., Duran, M. H. (2008). Alternative hand contamination technique to compare the activities of antimicrobial and non-antimicrobial soaps under different test conditions. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 74(12), 3739-3744. Girard, M., Ngazoa, S., Mattison, K., Jean, J. (2010).Attachment of noroviruses to stainless steel and their inactivation, using household disinfectants. Journal of Food Protection, 73(2), 400-404. Gulati, B. R., Allwood, P. B., Hedberg, C. W., Goyal, S. M. (2001). Efficacy of commonly used disinfectants for the inactivation of calicivirus on strawberry, lettuce, and a food-contact surface. Journal of Food Protection, 64(9), 1430-1434. Hall, A. J., Lopman, B. A., Payne, D. C., Patel, M. M., Gastaà ±aduy, P. A., Vinjà ©, J., Parashar, U. D. (2013). Norovirus disease in the United States. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 19(8), 1198-1205. Hall, A. J., Vinjà ©, J., Lopman, B., Park, G. W., Yen, C., Gregoricus, N., Parashar, U. (2011). Updated norovirus outbreak management and disease prevention guidance documents. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 60(3), 1-15. Hall, A. J., Wikswo, M. E., Pringle, K., Gould, L. H., Parashar, U. D. (2014). Vital signs: foodborne norovirus outbreaks- United States, 2009-2012.Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 63(22), 491-495. Huang, C., Ma, W., Stack, S. (2012). The hygienic efficacy of different hand-drying methods: a review of the evidence. Mayo Clini

OConnors The Lame Shall Enter First :: Lame Shall Enter First Essays

O'Connor's The Lame Shall Enter First "The Lame Shall Enter First" concentrates on the relationship between Sheppard and, on the one hand, his son Norton, and on the other a boy in a reformatory, Johnson. Sheppard's wife is dead and Norton misses his mother. Sheppard can't understand Norton at all and chooses to spend all of his time helping Johnson, who tells him that Satan has him in his power (150). Sheppard of course does not believe in Satan and tries to rationalise the whole situation. He brings Johnson home and Johnson interferes with Norton's mother's belongings which, of course, greatly upsets Norton. Sheppard's reaction to this is that Norton really needs to learn how to share things. Johnson reacts very badly to this and plays Sheppard off against his son. When Sheppard leaves the room after he has told Johnson that he thinks he's good for Norton because Norton needs to share things, Johnson says: "'God kid . . . how do you stand it? . . He thinks he's Jesus Christ!'" (161). As the story proceeds Johnson tries to get Sheppard to see that evil exists and that Satan actually runs the world as he sees it (164). The outcome of the story, as might be expected from the rest of O'Connor's stories, is that Sheppard is unable to use reason to change Johnson. Despite Sheppard's attempts to help Johnson walk better (hence the title "The Lame Shall Enter First") by giving him a wooden leg, Johnson sticks by his notion that what is really wrong with him is evil: Sheppard said . . . "I am going to save you." Johnson thrust his head forward. "Save yourself," he hissed. "Nobody can save me but Jesus." (180) A little later Johnson says to Sheppard: "'The Devil has you in his power'" (185). He then disappears. At the end of the story Johnson is caught by the police in further wrong-doing and Norton commits suicide by hanging himself from the window through which he has been trying to find his mother amongst the stars with a telescope. Towards the end Sheppard realises that he has confused good works with Christian faith. Works won't save you but great faith will: Norton's face rose before him, empty, forlorn, his left eye listing almost imperceptibly toward the outer rim as if it could not bear a full view of grief.

Recognizing the Fireside Poets

Poetry characterized by its metrical form is one of the most well-liked forms of literature. It served as a creative expression of one’s thoughts and emotions. There are poems that became famous and had been preserved and past down through generations. The American poetry had established its own identity from British poetry by varying the rhythms, forms, diction and tone. During the 1600 the history of American poetry formally began. During that time poems were mostly written and based on the British language standard. First there are the Puritan and Satirical poets that dominated earlier the American literature.Later they were replaced by Revolutionary Era Poets and even African American poets. When the 19th century arrived there was optimism for major achievement in poetry. During this time the Fireside poet’s goals and works emerged and made significant impact in the world of American poetry. The Fireside poets later were recognized as the first group of American poe ts that had successfully competed British poets in terms of popularity. Fireside Poets: Goals and Works Who were these so called â€Å"Fireside poets† and why are they called in that name?The Fireside Poets are composed of five persons namely Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) and lastly John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892). They are given this title of Fireside Poets because most of them have used the image of the hearth or the fireplace where the family gathered together to read stories and learn their poems. The goal of the Fireside Poets is to create poems that were based on traditions but can also be of equal level in terms of quality, breadth and creativity of content to that of the British poetry.Their poems are highly notable for wisdom and flexibility in lines and themes. They preferred conventional forms over experimentation in poetic styles and had often used American legends, scenes of American life and even politics as themes in their poems. The careful attention given to rhymes or the strict metrical rhythm made their works popular for memorization and recitation activities in schools and even at homes. Among the five Fireside Poets the most popular then was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. One of his well known compositions is the Song of Hiawatha. Aside from these he was also a well known translator in several languages.He became the first American to be honored with a bust at Westminster Abbey’s Poet Corner. Second to him was William Cullen Bryant who became famous for his work entitled Thanatopis, a poem that recognized death as the great equalizer of life. He worked as a lawyer and editor of New York Evening Post. Third is James Russell Lowell known for Biglow Papers, included among the American tradition of long satirical poems. Next one was Oliver Wendell Holmes a medical doctor that composed the poems Old Ironsides and The C hambered Nautilus. Lastly was John Greenleaf Whittier known for his poems Snow Bound and Legends of New England. ConclusionThe Fireside Poet’s greatest ambition was to be able to carve out their names, established their identity and be of equal to their British counterparts. Their poems have been a lasting legacy among the collections of American poetry. Although they are traditionalist they had been the first to made significant contributions in the area of American poetry. They have been able to use their poems to fight for a cause, portray the way of life or cultures, and share their imaginations and experiences to their readers. The Fireside Poets no longer exist but their compositions continue to live and inspire the new generation of poets.

Geography Coursework – Methodology – Centre Of Leeds’ CBD

For my geography project I visited Leeds to try and find the economic centre of the CBD of Leeds. I needed to collect land use data as this would help me investigate the first of my hypotheses which is the nearer to the centre of the CBD, the taller the buildings as I counted the heights of buildings in my area on the geography field trip and with the groups data of the building height of the whole CBD. Also I would have needed to count the pedestrian flow as this would help me investigate the second of my hypotheses which is there will be a higher volume of pedestrians nearer the centre of the CBD .The data collection area was near the centre of Leeds CBD as I collected my data around Briggate as the edge of the Leeds CBD is near the tall office buildings. < a map to show the buildings that our group had counted in our square B2 and shows numbered square > The two pieces of individual data that I collected was: 1. traffic count 2. Environmental quality assessment The two pieces of group data we collected was: 1. Pedestrian flow 2. Land use 3. Building height The individual secondary data that I will be collecting is: 1. Land values The structure of the day was that we were going to split the day into two halves. We collected the group data in the morning and the individual data in the afternoon so we had much more time to collect our individual data. Group data For our group data we split the CBD into grid squares and two people were responsible for recording the building height and land use for the buildings in the given area and to do four pedestrian flows and we did the pedestrians flow outside the Town Hall on Westgate. We did this so we could cover more area and therefore the data collection techniques had to be the same throughout the whole year. For the group data we calculated the Pedestrian flow in a certain area at four different times also we calculated of the building height of the buildings in my groups square and started straight after we got out off the coach. Also we did land use of the buildings for this we calculated what particular use a building would be. We put letters on a map of Leeds that sod for type of the building e.g. a=commerce, b =administration etc. All the data in the Group Data was to be shared between all the groups. < The image on the left to shows my square which was B2 and the image on the right shows the building we had to investigate> Building Height To collect data for building height I worked with a partner and we counted the number of windows of each building in our grid and used this as the height, we did this because we didn't have the time or equipment to measure the exact heights. We then collected the whole of the year's data and have a good number of buildings from each grid to see where the tallest buildings are also the Building Height was fairly easy at times as you had to count the floors on the outside of the buildings, but there were problems counting the building height as we agreed not to count the cellars, but some buildings on slopes had cellars at the back and ground floors at the front of the buildings and we did not agree to count these aswell. Pedestrian flow We marked out four points on our maps equally distant apart and took counts of people who pass us. One of our pair counted right to left and the other counted left to right so we could efficiently record everyone. We went to the Town Hall on Westgate and we counted the number of pedestrians who were walking either in or out of the CBD. We thought this was an ideal to do our pedestrian count as we were near the edge of the CBD, so it was an ideal place to count the number of pedestrians walking in and out of the CBD. Land Use For this we used the ground floor land use of each building on our maps; we had certain categories and we put them in the ones which best fitted the land use. We did this because the categories gave an idea of the type of land and what it was used for. We then collected them with the rest of the year's data on a database to see the different land uses around the CBD. We had filled in the land use of the buildings in a table which has all the number of the buildings. I think that the amount of categories that sort out the buildings was the right amount because if there were more categories it would have made it more complicated to organise the Land use on GIS, if there was less categories then it would have made it hard to organise the different types of buildings in the categories. Luckily we had successfully had no problems classifying the buildings into different categories. Individual data For individual data I collected raw data for the two options I chose. I did this by going round Leeds CBD and recording the data. In the second part of the day we did Individual Data. I did 10 environmental quality assessments and I did 2 traffic counts as they took 5 minutes each and the environmental quality assessments were scattered around the Leeds CBD. Environmental quality survey I did many of these all around the CBD of Leeds as I had done 10 environmental quality assessments and I had done many of these near the centre of the CBD as my investigation is to find the centre of the CBD of Leeds. I did many of the environmental quality assessments around the centre of the CBD (which I think it is near or on Briggate) and I did the rest of the environmental quality assessment sheets around the edges of the CBD. The reason I did the survey in different areas of the CBD was to see the difference of the quality of the environment throughout the CBD of Leeds. I also thought that this survey was important as the centre of the CBD is supposed to have the best quality of environment in the whole CBD of Leeds. As the table shows this is not true and the cleanest area is in Gourmet Pizzeria, St Paul's Street. < Shows the Quality of environmental survey I used> Traffic count Our group did the Traffic count in a busy location. We did our traffic on Bishopgate Street, beside Leeds Train station. The reason of us choosing the location was because it was at the edge of the CBD meaning the traffic that we had counted had been going in and out of the CBD. We did 3 traffic counts at different times but at the same location as we wanted to see the change of the traffic flow throughout the day. In our traffic count we had counted all the vehicles that came passed the road, cars, buses, taxis e.t.c. The most amount of traffic that had come past our point (the highest number of vehicles an hour) was at 2.30 pm and there was 1524 Vehicles an hour.

Business Communication Essay

Introduction This report is based on how nonverbal communication such as body language can be used within the hospitality environment when language becomes a barrier in the form of contact between the service provider and the guests. This highlights how a staff, who works within the hospitality industry who are usually seen on a daily bases dealing with certain number of guests who is unable to speak the local language. These staffs must not only be able to notice the different body language that the guests are sending but to understand what each different body language means in order to provide the guests with the best service possible. This could involve the basic forms of interaction such as eye contact, hand gestures and the physical space between the service staff and the guests (Sana Rynolds & Deborah Valentine 2004, p. 77 – 90). With studies have stating that a majority of communication done is non-verbal and the rest is verbal (Linda Lee-Davis 2007 p. 127), this could heavily affect the communication between the first contact between the guest and staff if the staff is unable to use body language to try and understand what was it meant for. As a tourist travelling to a new destination With more and more tourist having the motivation of traveling to a different country for short break or long overdue holiday, the situation that they might face there is they might not be able to speak the local language and finding a local person that might speak the same language as them might be hard provide that these guests are in a group which have a tour leader together with them. (J Christopher Holloway 2009 p. 62 – 66) Free independent travellers (F.I.T) who on the other hand usually travel alone or without guides, usually have to rely on hand signs and body language in order to get the message across to the local service provider’s staff for examples at the hotel and restaurants and hoping that they would be able to understand what the traveller is saying or tying to say. Should a guest or traveller who know the certain information about body language and is being served by a front line staff, the guest would be able to tell if the staff is providing the guest with the quality of service and value that is expected of the organisation or the staff does not care about the service that he or she is providing. As a staff of a hospitality service provider For staffs who are working in the hospitality industry especially as a front line staff in places such as boutique shops, hotels or restaurants which interacting with guests would be a daily part of the job. These staff would need to have a better understanding of the different types of body languages and what each of these different body languages represent so that the staff would be able to know how the guest or customer is feeling or reacting if the opposite party does not speak the language the staff speaks. As a front line staff in such an industry, being trained to recognise certain body languages that the guests are displaying like nervousness or doubt can help those guests in their problems and make their experience an enjoyable one. While dealing with guests, different forms of body languages like eye contact lets the guests know that the staff is trying to help him or her in their problems and not just for the sake that it is part of their job; this reassures the guest that the staff is trying his or her best to solve their problems, the facial expression can also be used to show the guest that the staff might not understand like nodding of the head for a yes or a no or a simple smile to indicate a simple kind of friendliness toward the guests and the staff is there to help. The staff should also know some information about different cultures so as to avoid offending the guest that they are serving or help as to some cultures it might seem appropriate but to another it might be taken as an offence towards them. (Linda LeeDavis 2007 p. 127) Examples of how body language can be used in such an environment As one example, a tourist visits a place of attraction and is lost among the attraction at the same time, tourist does not speak the local language; in such cases, the tourist would display signs of nervousness and doubt as the tourist is unsure who to ask for help. As the tourist is displaying such signs it becomes a giveaway that the tourist is in need of help, this signs can become visible to a staff working at the attraction and the staff could offer assistance to the tourist. Another example is about front line staffs that work in hotel. They are mainly working in the front of the house, this staffs are expected to portray certain body language clusters like openness, enthusiasm and confidence as these staff will look more approachable for the guest to ask for help, as such presentation would help break down the fear of the guest from approaching the staff to ask for help even if the guest does not speak the language. Such portray of positive body language at the front of the house would also projects a positive image to the guest arriving about the hotel. Conclusion Body language is an important tool that can be used in the hospitality industry as working in this industry, a staff would not only just be meeting guests but at the same time providing a service them. With body language, it can help the staff to take notice of guests that are in need of assistance. Body language can also be used as an expression between two parties that do not speak the same language but with body language, the two parties could understand what each other are saying. Body language can also be used providing the first impression in places like restaurants and hotels as it give a positive image of both the hotel and brand. With the two examples that is show above, its gives a clearer ideas on the different ways how body language can be used to either help a guest/ tourist and to project a positive image.