Ebola Virus Essays (1555 words) - Biological Weapons,

Ebola Virus The Ebola Virus A virus is an ultramicroscopic infectious organism that, having no independent metabolic activity, can replicate only within a cell of another host organism. A virus consists of a core of nucleic acid, either RNA or DNA, surrounded by a coating of antigenic protein and sometimes a lipid layer surrounds it as well. The virus provides the genetic code for replication, and the host cell provides the necessary energy and raw materials. There are more than 200 viruses that are know to cause disease in humans. The Ebola virus, which dates back to 1976, has four strains each from a different geographic area, but all give their victims the same painful, often lethal symptoms. The Ebola virus is a member of a family of RNA viruses known as 'Filoviriade' and falling under one genus, 'Filovirus'. The Ebola virus and Marburg virus are the two known members of the Filovirus family (Journal of the American Medical Association 273: 1748). Marburg is a relative of the Ebola virus. The four strains of Ebola are Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Reston, and Ebola Tai. Each is named after the geographical location in which it was discovered. These filoviruses cause hemorrhagic fever, which is actually what kill victims of the Ebola virus. Hemorrhagic fever as defined in Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary as, a group of viral aerosol infections, characterized by fever, chills, headache, malaise, and respiratory or GI symptoms, followed by capillary hemorrhages, and, in severe infection, oliguria, kidney failure, hypotension, and, possibly, death. The incubation period for Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever ranges from 2-21 days (JAMA 273: 1748). The blood fails to clot and patients may bleed from injections sites and into the gastrointestinal tract, skin and internal organs (Ebola Info. from the CDC 2). The Ebola virus has a tropism for liver cells and macrophages, macrophages are cells that engulf bacteria and help the body defend against disease. Massive destruction of the liver is a hallmark feature of Ebola virus infection. This virus does in ten days what it takes AIDS ten years to do. It also requires biosaftey level four containment, the highest and most dangerous level. HIV the virus that causes AIDS requires only a biosaftey level of two. In reported outbreaks, 50%-90% of cases have been fatal (JAMA 273: 1748). Ebola can be spread in a number of ways, and replication of the virus occurs at an alarming rate. Ebola replication in infected cells takes about eight hours. Hundreds to thousands of new virus particles are then released during periods of a few hours to a few days, before the cells die. The several cycles of replication occur in a primate before the onset of the fever and other clinical manifestations (Ornstein, Matthews and Johnson 7). In most outbreaks, transmission from patient to patient within hospitals has been associated within the reuse of unsterile needles and syringes. High rates of transmission in outbreaks have occurred from patients to heath-care workers and to family members who provide nursing care without appropriate precautions to prevent exposure to blood, other body fluids, vomitus, urine and stool. Risk for transmitting the infection appears to be highest during the later stages of illness, which are often characterized by vomiting, diarrhea, shock, and frequently hemorrhaging (JAMA 274: 374). Even a person who has recovered from the symptoms of the illness may have the virus present in the genital secretions for a brief period after. This makes it possible for the virus to be spread by sexual contact. Complete recovery is reached only when no particles of the virus are left in the body fluids, this however is rarely attained. The disease, for humans, is not airborne, capable to be passed on through air travel, but for nonhuman primates it has been a possibility in a few cases. Ebola Zaire was identified in 1976 in Northern Zaire and was the first documented appearance of the virus. This strain of the virus effects humans and nonhuman primates. Close contact and dirty needles spread the Ebola virus. The center of the epidemic in Zaire involved a missionary hospital where they reused needles and syringes without sterilization. Most of the staff of the hospital got sick and died. This outbreak infected 318 with a death rate of 93% (Le Guenno et al. 1271). Another fatal case was reported one year later in Zaire but nothing major ever became of it. The most recent case recorded was the infamous breakout in Kikwit, Zaire. This breakout had the world

The 44 Phonemic Sounds in English for Spelling

The 44 Phonemic Sounds in English for Spelling When considering a spelling program and how to best help children learn the sounds of the English language you need to remember to choose words that help them understand all of the 44 word sounds, or phonemes. English contains 19 vowel sounds including 5 long vowels, 5 short vowels, 3 diphthongs, 2 oo sounds, 4 r controlled vowel sounds, and 25 consonant sounds. The following lists provide sample words to teach the sounds in the English language. Certainly, you can find more words to fill out word families or align with a sight vocabulary list, such as the Dolch Word Lists.   The 5 Short Vowel Sounds short -a- in and, as, aftershort -e- in pen, hen, lendshort -i- in it, inshort -o- in top, hopshort -u- in under, cup The 6 Long Vowel Sounds long -a- in make, takelong -e- in beet, feetlong -i- in tie, lielong -o- in coat, toelong -u- (yoo) in rulelong -oo- in few, blue The R-Controlled Vowel Sounds -ur- in her, bird, and hurt-ar- in bark, dark-or- in fork, pork, stork The 18 Consonant Sounds C, Q, and X are missing as they are found in other sounds. The C sound is found in the k sounds and in the s sound in words like cereal, city, and cent. The Q sound is found in kw words like backward and Kwanza. The X sound is also found in ks words like kicks. -b- in bed, bad-k- in cat and kick-d- in dog-f- in fat-g- in got-h- in has-j- in job-l- in lid-m- in mop-n- in not-p- in pan-r- in ran-s- in sit-t- in to-v- in van-w- in went-y- in yellow-z- in zipper The Blends Blends are 2 or 3 letters combined to form a distinct spelling-sound. -bl- in blue and black-c- in clap and close-fl- in fly and flip-gl- in glue and glove-pl- in play and please-br- in brown and break-cr- in cry and crust-dr- in dry and drag-fr- in fry and freeze-gr- in great and grand-pr- in prize and prank-tr- in tree and try-sk- in skate and sky-sl- in slip and slap-sp- in spot and speed-st- in street and stop-sw- in sweet and sweater-spr- in spray and spring-str- in stripe and strap The 7 Digraph Sounds -ch- in chin and ouch-sh- in ship and push-th- in thing-th- in this-wh- in when-ng- in ring-nk- in rink The Other Special Sounds Including Diphthongs -oi- in foil and toy-ow- in owl and ouchshort- oo in took and pull-aw- in raw and haul-zh- in vision

Employment Law Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Employment Law Issues - Essay Example Despite hospitality industry best efforts to minimize the incidents of employment-related discrimination charges in the workplace, the number of discrimination charges lodged against the industry in on the increase. Majority of the EEOC cases revolve around not just grievances of harassment but also relating to retaliation where the complaining employee was forced to quit or fired due to hostile work atmosphere. In the majority of the cases, there are harassment charges mingled together with retaliation charges. In such cases, employees can seek both compensatory and punitive charges as this will increase the not only the amount of payoff but also employer’s liability. Denny’s Inc is a famous food chain restaurant in the U.S.A. However, in 1994 and recently also, it witnessed a host of racial discrimination cases and it settled these issues by paying whooping compensation amount to claimants. This research essay analyses how Denny’s Inc, is a famous restaurant chain witnessed a host of discrimination in employment litigations including racial, sexual and disability discrimination litigations and what are lessons learned by it in detail. â€Å"The Civil Rights Act of 1964† deals with numerous disciplines of discrimination from education to voting. The coverage of employment aspects falls under Title VII which prohibits discrimination in all features of employment footed on â€Å"religious faith, gender, race, nationality, and color,† The discrimination in the workplace was present widely and hence Congress took the unprecedented decision not to permit jury trial in Title VII cases. Hence, enforcement of Title VII was assigned to federal judges. It is really shocking to note that in the early years, some of the judges who heard indiscrimination cases were murdered due to their efforts o transform the world.

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Project management - Essay Example Each project undertaken is unique in terms of its timeline, cost, objectives, roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders and participants, issues and constrains and this requires the use of the right approach or methodology. The main challenges of project management are satisfactory achievement of goals and objectives and overcoming all project constrains. These constrains include time, project scope and budget. There is also a challenge of integrating and allocating necessary inputs. This means that a successful completion of a project and the attainment of its goals and objectives requires the use of the right approach or methodology and the utilization of appropriate project management tools and techniques. According to Ireland (2006), project management techniques refers to the ways in which we communicate, gather information and get things done in the most effective and efficient ways. Project management tools are helpful in the efficient organization and management of a pro ject. Generally, the project management tools and techniques should have an overall effect of ensuring that the particular project does not over run and that it operates within its allocated budget. They are also important for the quick spotting of delays so that necessary steps are taken to rectify them (Ireland 2006). Wysocki (2007) defines project management methodology as a set of practices and processes that are repeatedly carried out throughout the project in order to deliver the expected outcomes. The chosen methodology gives a clear process of managing the undertaken project. After customizing to the project environment, the project methodology directs on what should be done, how, in what order and by when. A project methodology can therefore be used create a project roadmap, control change and scope, monitor quality, time and cost, manage staff and supplies, and minimize project risks and issues. Popular project management tools, techniques and methodology in market Project management tools The most popular project management tools in the market are Gantt chart, PERT chart, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Logic Network and Product Breakdown Structure (PBS). A Gantt chart is a chart that illustrates the schedule of a project. The chart tracks tasks across time hence it indicates the starting and finishing dates of the projects’ terminal elements (Wallace and Gantt 1922). Some Gantt charts are able to illustrate precedence network or dependency relationships between various project activities. Most importantly, it is possible to use a Gantt chart to show a projects current schedule status. This is done using a vertical TODAY line and percent-complete shadings. A Gantt chart is important in tool for showing resources, tasks, phases and milestones required as part of a project. The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) chart is a project management tool used for the analysis of all tasks involved in the completion of a particular project. This mainly includes identifying the time required to complete each project task and the total project. According to Malcolm et al (1959), a PERT chart gives a graphic representation of a project as a network diagram composed of numbered nodes linked by directional lines. The numbered codes represent project events or milestones while the directional lines represent proje

Create a visual aid that illustrates a problem Assignment

Create a visual aid that illustrates a problem - Assignment Example The worst polluted cities Time Magazine has a listing of the world’s most polluted cities. Two are in China, two in India, two in Russia and a city each in Peru, Ukraine, Azerbaizan and Zambia. There are criteria set for categorizing the most polluted cities, and these are: the high volume of people, traffic congestion, trash and air pollution; mercury contaminated water and sewerage; danger to humans in contracting cancer by 50%, and danger to death by more than 50% compared with those not living in these cities. The most polluted cities show various types of pollutants, such as coal and particulates coming from automobiles and industrial plants. The city of Linfin in China, for example, is at the heart of China’s coal belt. Its air is filled with smog from burning coal; laundry on clotheslines turn black before it can dry under the sun. Sad to say, little is being done about the situation in these cities, especially as warnings on pollutants are muffled by talk on glo bal warming, the more dominant environmental topic today. But the problem of pollution in cities is most urgent since pollution is a direct threat to human health. Even the World Health Organization reports that water and air pollution cause GREENING THE CITIES 20% of global disease (Time). The greenest cities Fortunately solutions exist, and greening can start in cities where it is most critically needed. There are five cities recognized as the â€Å"Five Most Amazing Green Cities† by experts who used a combination of criteria including urban planning and environmental statistics (energy sources, consumption, emissions, transportation options, habits). Green cities show the availability of public parks, sustainable buildings, green jobs, and other ecological perspectives such as recycling (Howstuffworks). The first of the cities recognized for its green practices is Malmo, Sweden, with its canals, beaches, parks, and harbours looking as fresh as they were during the Middle A ges. Sweden itself leads in the green electricity revolution, while Malmo’s Western Harbour is run by 100% renewable energy sourced from the sun, wind, hydropower ad biofuels. Buildings and homes have green roofing, and are designed to be energy efficient. Streets are pedestrian and cycle friendly with 70% commuters and other travellers going on bike. The other four leading eco-cities are: (a) Copenhagen, Denmark, which has reduced cars for green transportation using bikes and a metro system. Its 56.000 windmills supply 10% of Denmark’s electricity comprising the world’s largest offshore windmill park. (b) Portland, Oregon, has 92,000 acres of green space and 74 miles of biking, hiking and running trails. Its ambitious goal is the use of 100% renewable energy by 2010. (c) Vancouver, Canada, was GREENING THE CITIES named â€Å"The World’s Most liveable City† by the Economist Magazine. It has a 100-year plan for clean and green living, and it leads t he world in the use of hydroelectric energy, while reducing wind, solar, wave and tidal energy. (d) Reykiovik, Ireland, is described as the smallest amazing green community with its 115,000 population, which is almost half of the 300,00 total population of Iceland. It uses hydrogen energy in addition to heat, geothermal and electricity energy sources. Turning the tide through greening is illustrated by a planned proposal for the capital city of Manila with its urban pollutants caused by heavy congestion of crude fuel-run motor vehicles, buildings without

Attributes Of Customer Satisfaction In Hotels

Attributes Of Customer Satisfaction In Hotels Relationship between customer satisfaction and hotel attributes, such as; service or facilities, will impact the preference of someone in choosing a hotel. Research in hotel selection criteria has focused on the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality or services and facilities. Whether or not they have experienced or it is their first time staying in a certain hotel, the hotel products characteristics which are intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable can create a perception to the potential customers as well as expectation which may results in future patronage (Parusaraman et al., 1985; Bitner, 1990). The attributes, features or benefits of the hotel consumer products can directly influence potential consumers to choose a certain hotel to stay which acts as determinant attributes. The chance to acquire potential customers increased when there is a attribute that is different with the competitors (Alpert, 1971; Kivela, 1996). Wuest et al, (1996) mentioned that travellers satisfaction can be increased by service qualities and facilities given that match their perceptions of hotel attributes. Moreover, there have been researches on needs and characteristics of travellers. Many researchers have found that travellers consider the cleanliness, location, room rate, service quality, security and reputation of the hotel (Lewis, 1984 1985; Atkinson, 1988; Cardotte and Turgeonm, 1988; Wilkinsky and Buttle, 1988; Burton, 1990; Rivers et al., 1991; Ananth et al., 1992; Marshall, 1993; McCleary et al., 1993; Clow et al., 1994; Clow et al., 1994). Atkinson (1998) findings showed that first of all the customer will consider cleanliness of the hotel as the most important thing, security comes into second, followed by the value for money and last but not least is the service quality provided buy the staff such as helpfulness, sincerity and courtesy. This is strengthened by a research that mentioned travellers really take personal service, physical attributes of the hotel, standard of service, image and worth for money into their consideration (Wilensky and Buttle, 1998). The results of Rivers et al (1991) study in examining factors affecting hotel selection for members and non-members in a hotel showed that convenience of location is the most important thing after service. Moreover, Ananth et al (1992) research asked 510 travelers to list down 57 hotel attributes in choosing a hotel. The result was price and quality was the priority in selecting a hotel regardless the age of the guests, security and convenience of location come in their mind after price and quality. Furthermore, there are five hotel factors that attract and signaling hotels image to the guests which are: physical environment, identity of hotel, staff, service quality and accessibility (LeBlanc and Nguyen, 1996). They also suggested highlighting the environmental factors in hotel marketing efforts in order to attract potential customers. Attributes of Customer Satisfaction in Hotels According to Wilkins et al (2007), customers have perceived value of the attributes to judge the hotel service quality during their stay in a hotel and Ekinci et al (2008) found that physical and service qualities of a hotel play important role on customer satisfaction. The criteria or factors sometimes are related to intangibility of service, tangibility of physical fundamentals and factor of value for money for instance, are more complicated to be determined (Mohsin and Lockyer, 2010). Normally, service or customer service are related to intangible elements of a hotel as well as understanding the division of hotel management, guarantee and the ease of dealing transactions during a hotel stay. These kind of intangible elements in a hotel are as well received by restaurant customers. While the tangible elements are normally associated with the physical facilities or attributes of the hotel, the accessibility and quality of facilities provided in a hotel, for instance; facilities in the room itself (for example: air conditioner, coffee machine and towels or bathrobe) as well as facilities in the entire hotel (for example: swimming pool and fitness facilities). The employees physical appearance (for example: uniform), the cleanliness of the public area of the hotel (for example: lobby and corridor) as well as the cleanliness of the room itself are also included in physical factors of the hotel. If the hotel owns a restaurant in the hotel itself, the cleanliness of the area and the food quality of the restaurant are also part of physical attribute that affect guests judgement of the hotel (Han et al., 2009; Wu and Liang, 2009). Customers use a variety of attributes to judge the quality of service that they receive during their stay in a hotel (Wilkins et al., 2007). Both physical and service qualities of a hotel have positive impact on customer satisfaction (Ekinci et al., 2008). Some of these criteria or factors are related to the intangible service elements, some are related to the tangible physical elements, while some other factors for instance value for money are more complex to define (Mohsin and Lockyer, 2010). The intangible elements are essentially service related customer service, understanding and caring on the part of hotel management, assurance, and the relative convenience of dealing with transactions while staying in a hotel. This will also include the service that the customer receives at the restaurant, if any, in the hotel. The tangible elements are essentially related to the physical facilities the availability and quality of various facilities in the room (e.g. coffee facilities and bathrobe) and in the entire hotel (e.g. swimming pool and gym). The physical appearance of hotel personnel, the cleanliness of the room as well as the entire hotel will also be included in the physical elements. If the hotel has its own restaurant for use by the guests, the cleanliness of the restaurant and quality of food are also some of the physical elements customers use to judge the quality of a hotel (Han et al., 2009; Wu and Liang, 2009). Claver et al (2006) and Holverson and Revaz (2006) found that The intangible and tangible factors have been recognized to be able to win good feedback or may result in complaint from the hotel guest, however, the ability of the intangible and tangible factors to affect guests experience are different from one to another. The study of which factors or attributes that will increase the possibility of getting good feedback or factors that might result in complaints are important for the management of the hotel in order to enhance the customer satisfaction and to ensure customer loyalty to their hotel. Moreover, Cadotte and Turgeon (1988) classified service attributes into four main factors or categories which are: criticals; satisfiers; dissatisfies and neutrals. Critical attributes are the attributes that normally contribute high possibilities for good feedback of the performance and at the same time provide high possibilities for complaints of poor performance. Cadotte and Turgeon (1988) found that rooms quietness in a hotel and the food quality in a restaurant are normally categorized in critical attributes. The critical attributes provide both an opportunity as well as a threat to the management. If the managers are able to identify the critical attributes of their establishment, they could overcome the threat and make it into an opportunity to perform better in the future. Furthermore, according to them, satisfiers are in a category whereby unusual god performance by the staff results in compliments from the guests while if the staff perform below the par performance, there will be no complain from the guests. For example: hotel lobbies or the portions of food in a restaurant. Silverman and Grover (1995) have categorized hotel service attributes using the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) theory. The categorization is according to necessary, desirable and passive in order to describe the attributes ability in influencing the guests perceptions of quality that results in customers loyalty. They mentioned that in order for the guest to judge the hotel has a high quality service, necessary attributes must be performed or functioned properly. Whereby, desirable attributes put a base of quality perceptions that the quality is good but, desirable attributes might tend to reduce the quality perception of a guest, however, the judgement is not to the point whereby the service quality is poor. Moreover, by using the same theory which is Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) theory, a framework has been found to identify the level of importance of perceived value of six hotels attributes that affect business and leisure guests to choose their hotel selection in Hong Kong. Recently, there was a research using the same IPA framework that identifies the behaviour of luxury hotel customer. The researcher (Mohsing and Lockyer, 2010) found that luxury hotel customers are associated with value for money of the hotel which is considered as high importance for the luxury hotel customers. In addition, room furnishings or physical quality of the hotel and rapid response of the hotels reservation system play an important role as well. By combining the ideas from Cadotte and Turgeon (1988) and Silverman and Grover (1995), Hartline et al (2003) classified the performance of hotel service in hotels as necessary, desirable or neutral. The survey found that, in order to guarantee the good perceptions of quality in a hotel, the front desk staff performance is the necessary factor that affects guest experience. The research has also found that the availability of parking lot in the hotel and the housekeeping staff performance are considered as desirable factor, whereas the room service performance and concierge or known as bell man were considered as neutral factor that affect customer satisfaction. Last but not least, works of Ingram (1996) which were cited in Briggs et al (2007) mentioned that there are 2 types of hotel management: independent vs chain hotel) and assumed that high service quality are mostly provided and emphasized by hotels which are part of a chain hotel than an independent hotel. However, that assumption was not correlated to the findings which were obtained using questionnaire survey data. The findings showed that there is no significant difference in customer service ratings of operational attributes in a hotel (for example: friendliness of staff, standards practiced, personalized service and tangibles factors of hotel). In conclusion, hotel attributes of customer satisfaction in hotels are related to intangibility of service and tangibility of physical factors (Mohsin and Lockyer, 2010). According to Han et al (2009) and Wu and Liang (2009), the tangible elements are related with physical factors of the hotel, for example, design of hotel, staff appearance, cleanliness, etc while the intangible factors are related to customer service. Both tangible and intangible aspects of hotel are important to win compliments from the guests or may result in complain from the guests (Claver et al., 2006; Holverson and Revaz, 2006). While there are many methods in determining the hotel attributes, it has been found that rooms quietness and food quality in restaurant as well as hotel are categorized as critical factors that affect customer satisfaction (Cadotte and Turgeon, 1988) and also front desk staff performance (Hartline et al, 2003). Hotels Attributes Preferred by Leisure and Business Hotel Guests As most of hotel guest are mainly consists of leisure and business guests, there have been researches on the attributes affecting leisure and business guests. Hotels generally meet the needs of both business and leisure guests. There were an attempts to understand the preferences of both leisure and business guests. Past study by Clow et al (1994); McCleary et al (1993); Yavas and Babakus (2005) have shown that the most important attributes considered by business guests are cleanliness and location of the hotel while determining in which hotel they should stay. While in the same research, It has been found that security, personal interaction or service and pricing (room rates) are considered as major attributes in leisure guests hotel selection. There was a research by Yavas and Babakus (2005) that examined whether the preferences of hotel attributes are equivalent between business and leisure guests. Their research discovered that availability of general amenities is the highest priority for both business and leisure guests. However, after general amenities, the next attributes are different between them. Business guests next ranked attributes were convenience, core service, room amenities and ambience accordingly, whereby, the order of preferred attributes of leisure guests were core service, convenience, ambience and room amenities which mean that there were no significant in preferred attributes by both type of guests. Another research has found that guest perceived prices and guest perceived quality of hotels public areas were important in determining the ratings and return intention for both leisure and business guests. However, the findings showed that the impact or the effect of perceived quality and price of both type of guests were different. The quality of hotels room was the most factor affecting return intention and ratings for business guests but it was not significant in determining the behaviour or return intention of leisure guests. Customer Satisfaction in Service Industry Determining customer satisfaction is essential in order to delivery efficient and effective service. The idea involves reasonable and emotional processes (Churchill and Suprenant, 1996 ; Gundersen, Heigh and Olson, 1996). According to numerous studies, customer satisfaction can be described as evaluative post-consumption judgement by customers before purchasing a product or service. Oliver (1980) defined customer satisfaction as a result of a process that evaluate the pre-purchase service expectation of customers with the perceptions of service performance while experiencing as well as after experiencing the service or consumption. There has been varieties of researches that were dedicated to investigate the satisfaction determinants. Barsky (1995) categorized the customer satisfaction as followed : expectations, consumer preferences and consumer satisfaction. Moreover, there was a finding that found atmosphere, availability, location, flexibility and communications between customers and service providers are the factors that may affect customer satisfaction (Choi and Chu, 2001). Zeithaml and Blittner (2003) explained that the customer satisfaction determinants are products and service characteristics, emotions of customers, success or failure of service attributes, fairness or equity perceptions, family members and friends or other consumers. In hospitality industry, there have been several researches regarding attributes that customers seek in a hotel that are important to their satisfaction in a hotel stay. Based on Atkinson (1988); Barsky and Labagh (1992); Choi and Chu (2001) studies, it has been found that the most important attributes a customer seeks are staff service quality and friendliness, the location of the hotel, the cleanliness and comfort of room and security. He also mentioned that those factors are the factors that affect customer satisfaction in a hotel stay. Even though researches have never clarified the connection between customer satisfaction and service quality, but Churchill and Surprenant (1982) ; Oliver (1997) ; Oh (1999) ; Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) researches acknowledged that one of the key triggers to enhance customer satisfaction is service quality. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988) argued that the gap between customer satisfaction and customer perceptions of a certain service is the most common comparison that customers make to determine whether they are satisfied or not. Therefore, according to Fornell (1992), in order to achieve customer satisfaction in service industry or hotel, service providers should meet the point of expectation or surpass beyond the guests expectation and perform an exceptional high quality service continuously as studies of customer satisfaction could affect the business results of a company. Whether the customer satisfaction is affecting the business directly or indirectly, it is understood that, customer satisfaction has an effect to a business future profits and customer satisfaction is touted as one of the most important indicators to improve and gain more profits in the future. Those statements from Fornell (1992) are strengthened by a research that found there is a significant correlation be tween customer satisfaction and business profitability in a hotel (Anderson et al., 1994; Yeung et al., 2002; Luo and Homburg, 2007). Moreover, Sà ¶derlund (1998); Dimitriades (2006); Faullant et al (2008) also mentioned that customer satisfaction may lead to the spread of a good word of mouth, behaviour as well as the customer repurchase intentions of the hotels service or facilities. Last but not least, the reasons why firms attempt to obtain and maintain customer satisfaction is the fact that attracting new customers is much more expensive than keeping the old ones (MarkoviĆ¡ et al, 2010) Factors Contributing Customer Satisfaction Towards Guest Experience in Hotel Stay According to Clowe et al (1994), McCleary et al (1993) and Yavas and Babakus (2005), there are 6 factors affecting guests experience in a hotel stay. The factors are customer service, cleanliness, facilities, price, food, and location which will be described one by one below. (1) Customer service Due to the direct communication or interaction between tourists and hotel staff, to maintain the quality service of a hotel is very important in order to create customer satisfaction. The statement is strengthened by numerous studies that argued service attitude provided by the staff has a critical effect in affecting customer satisfaction (Tas, 1983; Larsen and Bastiansen, 1991; Jaworski and Kohli, 1993; Heskett and Schlesinger, 1994 Bach and Milman, 1996; Mayo and Collegain, 1997; McColl-Kennedy and White, 1997; Kriegl, 2000). Moreover, there is a research that found employee service attitude is vital in successfulness of hotel operation (Guller, 1985). It has also been confirmed that there is a relationship that exists between customer satisfaction and service quality and attitude that are provided by the employee (Tornow and Wiley, 1991). From the investigation of hotel attributes affecting customer satisfaction in hospitality industry, researches have suggested the hotel to consider or to maintain the cleanliness of hotel, rooms, service quality and staff behaviour, location, security as well as the goodwill of the hotel brand name or hotel chain, as those factors are considered important for hotel guests (Cadotte and Turgeon,1988; Atkinson, 1988; Barsky and Labagh, 1992; Ananth et al., 1992; Verespej, 1994; Worcester, 1999; Dube and Renaghan, 2000; Choi and Chu, 2001)

The Power of Goal Setting Essay -- Organization Personal

The Power of Goal Setting Too many of us treat goal setting the same way. We dream about what we want to do, but we don't have a plan to carry out that dream. A mapped out goal is superior to a dream. You must have a plan. Dreams are merely thoughts or ideas, but, we need more than to simply scribble down some ideas on a piece of paper. Our goals need to be concise and focused. We must set both long-term and short-term goals, so for each short-term goal accomplished the long-term goals will seem easier to attain. As an example, a short-term goal for student of the University could be to accomplish each weekly assignment on time and to achieve significant working relationships with our other classmates. Short-term goals can easily be forgotten with hectic lives and tasks delayed because we obtain the "I'll do it tomorrow" attitude. Stay focused on the issues at hand, and completing assignments will become second nature. Daily to-do lists is a productive way to accomplish short term goals, but complete the list prior to any recreational activities, eventually, find recreation in...

Computer Science

What are the advantages of using internet? The advantages of using internet are they made our research easier like having some research on your investigatory project. It can also teach us some techniques Like solving the algebraic equations. We can also have faster communication with our love ones with the use of social networking sites Just like, backbone. Skips, twitter, etc. We can also download here some videos, songs and pictures that we want to download, some sort of entertainment. We can also buy here the things we want to have. 2. List some disadvantages of using Internet.Sometimes when downloading some files, you must be careful on It because It sends virus to the computer that may affect the other files In the computer or worst It damages the process of the computer because some sites are having virus. In internet, you can also see some inappropriate contents like porno. We could also plagiarism or steals someone's work, plagiarism. Some users are s sending some unwanted e- mails that could obstruct the computer, spamming. 3. How will you secure yourself from cyber bullying? We can avoid cyber bullying by not replying on someone's if he/she chat on you.We must also choose an appropriate email-address or surname in order that no one could identify your gender, your age and your occupation. Do not make your profile available in the public. Your profile must be known by the people you trust in order that you can avoid some spamming. 4. In your own way, how can you help improve the use of internet? I could help improve the use of internet by deleting/ locking some inappropriate contents. Also by warning to those who spam messages. Lastly, by making the research much easier by Just typing keywords on your research.

!6f==_ Essays - Marketing, Management, Strategic Management

!6f==_ Essays - Marketing, Management, Strategic Management !6f=="___> __4F___GR06 + B 6 : Current Events in Business Research RES / 351 June 19, 2013 Business research is systematic inquiry that provides information to guide decision. The business research process entails learning everything you can about a company, its customer, the industry and its competitors. You want to know what products or services to offer, who is more likely to buy them and where to sell them. Several steps in the research process are: clarifying the research question, research design strategy, pilot testing & instruments development, data collection, data analysis & interpretation, research reporting and management decision. These steps are not done in any order and some are not used at all. Good business research help management make better decision that help get goals set and done. It follows the standard of the scientific method which is systematic, empirically based procedures. The purpose is clearly defined and the research process is detailed. First you will need to identify the key competitors in your industry, which can be done by various sources. Second you must study the customers by looking at what they want and what products they need. This can be done through primary research, which includes phone surveys, emails surveys or interviews with the customers. Once the information on the competitors and customers are done, analysis can be used to study the weakness and strengths of the competitor and on the products that the customers may want and need. Sometimes a weak company can be purchased by it competitor in order increase sales and profits. When doing business research there are many steps and types of research that can be done. By following several steps you can achieve your goal in no time at all. References smallbusiness.chron.com/steps-business-research-process-3294.html (Ed (Edward M. Glaser, An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1941) ward M. Glaser, An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, Teachers College, Columbia University, 19 PAGE PAGE 1 CURRENT EVENTS IN BUSINESS RESEARCH

Thomas Malthus on Population

Thomas Malthus on Population In 1798, a 32-year-old British economist anonymously published a lengthy pamphlet criticizing the views of the Utopians who believed that life could and would definitely improve for humans on earth. The hastily written text, An Essay on the Principle of Population as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Other Writers, was published by Thomas Robert Malthus. Thomas Robert Malthus Born on February 14 or 17, 1766 in Surrey, England, Thomas Malthus was educated at home. His father was a Utopian and a friend of the philosopher David Hume. In 1784 he attended Jesus College and graduated in 1788; in 1791 Thomas Malthus earned his masters degree. Thomas Malthus argued that because of the natural human urge to reproduce human population increases geometrically (1, 2, 4, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, etc.). However, food supply, at most, can only increase arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc.). Therefore, since food is an essential component to human life, population growth in any area or on the planet, if unchecked, would lead to starvation. However, Malthus also argued that there are preventative checks and positive checks on the  population that slow its growth and keep the population from rising exponentially for too long, but still, poverty is inescapable and will continue. Thomas Malthus example of population growth doubling was based on the preceding 25 years of the brand-new United States of America. Malthus felt that a young country with fertile soil like the U.S. would have one of the highest birth rates around. He liberally estimated an arithmetic increase in agricultural production of one acre at a time, acknowledging that he was overestimating but he gave agricultural development the benefit of the doubt. According to Thomas Malthus, preventative checks are those that affect the birth rate and include marrying at a later age (moral restraint), abstaining from procreation, birth control, and homosexuality. Malthus, a religious chap (he worked as a clergyman in the Church of England), considered birth control and homosexuality to be vices and inappropriate (but nonetheless practiced). Positive checks are those, according to Thomas Malthus, that increase the death rate. These include disease, war, disaster, and finally  when other checks dont reduce the population, famine. Malthus felt that the fear of famine or the development of famine was also a major impetus to reduce the birth rate. He indicates that potential parents are less likely to have children when they know that their children are likely to starve. Thomas Malthus also advocated welfare reform. Recent Poor Laws had provided a system of welfare that provided an increased amount of money depending on the number of children in a family. Malthus argued that this only encouraged the poor to give birth to more children as they would have no fear that increased numbers of offspring would make eating any more difficult. Increased numbers of poor workers would reduce labor costs and ultimately make the poor even poorer. He also stated that if the government or an agency were to provide a certain amount of money to every poor person, prices would simply rise and the value of money would change. As well, since population increases faster than production, the supply would essentially be stagnant or dropping so the demand would increase and so would price. Nonetheless, he suggested that capitalism was the only economic system that could function. The ideas that Thomas Malthus developed came before the industrial revolution and focuses on plants, animals, and grains as the key components of the diet. Therefore, for Malthus, available productive farmland was a limiting factor in population growth. With the industrial revolution and the increase in agricultural production, land has become a less important factor than it was during the 18th century. Thomas Malthus printed the second edition of his Principles of Population in 1803 and produced several additional editions until the sixth edition in 1826. Malthus was awarded the first professorship in Political Economy at the East India Companys College at Haileybury and was elected to the Royal Society in 1819. Hes often known today as the patron saint of demography and while some argue that his contributions to population studies were unremarkable, he did indeed cause population and demographics to become a topic of serious academic study. Thomas Malthus died ​in Somerset, England in 1834.

Text-Based Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Text-Based - Research Paper Example The news media is also able to convey the health of the economy to the viewers of its different sections. They thus, perform a very valuable function in the society. This paper shall look at how the news industry has on occasions failed to live up to the expectations that are made of it. The article shall also look at news that focuses on gossip and its effects. Later on, the essay shall look at alternate forms of news. The essay shall also focus on the reporting of wars in the news media. The essay shall also look at the neglect that foreign affairs are made to face by the American public in times of peace. The essay shall then go on to analyze the selective reporting of news and the biases that may be behind such a phenomenon. The essay shall thus, look at various aspects of American news media, focusing on its problems and some of the solutions that have emerged from within the industry itself. The article by the news agency AP, â€Å"AP: We Ignored Paris†, points to a mala ise that affects news media in these times. Almost as a matter of routine, one finds that newspapers and news channels on the television report items that do not concern the daily lives of the common citizens of the world. This is a phenomenon that one finds all over the world. The ironic part of this phenomenon is the fact that this is carried out in the name of the common citizen, who according to the news media, wants them to report such news. The article in question repudiates such a myth, placing the blame for such standards of reportage on the reporters and editors themselves. Such reportage takes attention away from real articles of news at a time when the nation is at war and several internal security issues have been a thorn in the flesh of the government. The responsibility of the media is clearly to convey such issues to all sections of the society. This is not what the media has done and this reflects, according to Jan Wieten, a class-based bias that the media has harbor ed for years. The sections of the media that caters to the elite sections of the society has always reported on problematic areas of governance and the economy. On the other hand, those sections of the media that have been accessible to the lower classes of the society have always resorted to irrelevant pieces of news, under the assumption that such sections ‘want’ such news. Wieten argues that such a view has always taken the shape of gossip and tabloids. Such forms of the news media attempt to classify false articles of news as real in an attempt to sell them. The profusion of reality shows is only the latest form of such news, according to Wieten (1998). Such forms of the media obfuscate the real news, deflecting the attention of the masses, the people who are responsible for the election of the government that has to ultimately, take decisions. There are however, forms of the news media that do believe in entertainment and news value. Rachel Smolkin speaks of one su ch program, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in her essay, â€Å"What the Mainstream Media Can Learn From Jon Stewart†. She speaks of the fact that the binary between entertaining programs and non-entertaining or informative ones has led to the creation of certain shows that are merely entertaining without being informative and some with no entertainment at all. Her argument is aimed at such shows and reveals the need for

Global Environmental Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Global Environmental Issues - Essay Example US Company such as Exide Technologies export used batteries to Mexico for secondary melting. These batteries mostly contain lead. Through recycling, lead is useful. Unfortunately, lead exposure has severe effects to the health of the workers as well as the environment (Pistoia, Wiaux and Wolsky, 2014). The Exide Technologies exports lead to Mexico due to the low cost of recycling. These prompts many companies to export lead to Mexico. This brings many environmental issues. There is a difference in the regulations between US and Mexico. This leads to the question if US companies are acting in a socially and ethical way. Five environmental issues arise in these scenarios. It is unethical for US companies pollute the environment and the surrounding in order to save money (Mitchell, 2009). Ethical dilemma arises due the inferior environmental regulations in the host nations as compared to the home nation. Global climate change is an issue affecting all the nations. Resources held common by all, owned by no one are sustainable to degradation. Degradation comes by nations moving productions to low cost areas and pumping pollutants into the environment, this harms global commons. The question here is whether it is legal or ethical to carry out these activities. Lead is a poisonous gas, which is hazardous to the environment. This perspective of the US being unethical can probably say that U.S. companies should follow proper safety procedures regardless of whether they are mandated by law. Consequently, there should be an agreement between the two countries that will commit both nations to equivalent environmental regulations to avoid development of polluta nts harmful to the environment. Furthermore, a regulatory framework can be established in Mexico to close the gap in the environment performance and accurate data on performance be made available to the public, this data can include air