Answer 3 required and 3 of the optional questions from the uploaded Research Paper

Answer 3 required and 3 of the optional questions from the uploaded information - Research Paper Example These financial statements are to be prepared using a predefined set of standards and guidelines, widely known as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) (Types of Accounting, 2013). Managerial accounting is an accounting process that reportedly produces information for the sole us of management of the organization. The form and the details to be included in the reportorial information would depend on the intricate and extensive requirements and purpose of management. It was actually disclosed that the information could be more detailed, as compared to financial accounting statements which were identified to be prepared exclusively for external uses. Thus, management could require budgets, forecasts, and financial highlights that would be used to make decisions regarding strategies and plans that would achieve identified goals. Cost accounting was noted to be a branch of managerial that focuses on monitoring and controlling costs. Tax accounting, on the other hand, as the term implies, focuses on accounting facets which are tax-related and are reportedly governed by tax rules and regulations, as well as observance to the GAAP. Governmental accounting, or also known as public accounting (or even fund accounting) was noted to be a type of accounting process and information system that is used by government agencies or public organizations. The main disparity of this type of accounting with private organizations’ accounting system is that their funds are governed by budgets set by the federal government. Likewise, the disbursement of funds are to be allocated subject to the aims or goals of the government agency. Internal auditing accounting focuses on an ongoing appraisal of the financial condition of the organization subject to conformity to accounting standards and accounting laws. Finally, international accounting is the type of accounting process or information system governed by international accounting standards, as contrasted with GAAP. 2. Describe the purposes of financial statements and corporate annual reports. The purposes of financial statements and corporate annual reports include the provision of accurate financial information to various users to serve various needs (Purpose of Financial Statements, 2013). For instance, financials statements are mandated to be published to the public to give them a general overview of the organization and provide information regarding the potential effects of the organization to the local community or to the economy, as a whole. Likewise, financial statements and annual reports are needed by management for decision-making purposes. The companies’ shareholders, on the other hand, use these financial information to determine returns on their investments and any potential risks from currently disclosed external or internal factors that impinge on the organizations’ operations. Concurrently, the investors of the organization need to be given accurate information on the financial condition and status through financial statements and corporate annual reports that contain profits, returns on investment, risks, and market value, as needed. In addition to these various users, financial statements are needed by other financial institutions, such as banks or lending institutions when organizations apply for loans or financial assistance in various endeavors. Suppliers also need the information disclosed in financial stateme

How Has Amazon Used Technology Essay Example for Free

How Has Amazon Used Technology Essay 1. How has Amazon used technology to revamp the bookselling industry? Amazon uses technology envelop in search engine of a website. The company captures comments and recommendations of buyers for site visitors to read and also recommends which book to buy. The website captures all the information of the customer such as what pages they are looking at, how much time they spend on site, no of visitors etc. This information is used by the company to evaluate buying and selling patterns of the book industry. 2. Is Amazon using disruptive or sustaining technology to run its business? Amazon is using disruptive technology where it uses new ways to do things that doesnot satisfy the existing customers. This technology brings up new market and destroy the old one to run the business successfully. 3. How could Amazon use kiosks to improve its business? Amazon released a free website that enables its business partners to interact with its website. This website allows partners to create, access to data, populate and even initiating checkout process so that business can improve. This is the way Amazon uses kiosks to improve its business. 4. What is Amazon’s e-business model? Amazon uses Business-to-Customer model because here it sells the product or services to customers over the internet. 5. Which metrics could Amazon use to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of Amazon’s website? Efficiency: Amazon uses following metrics for its efficiency. Throughput: amazon introduces new techniques and brings infront of the customers in a given time and according to time Transaction speed: the website speed is so fast that all transactions of the customers are done quickly. Availability: amazon provides everything for the customers so that it is available for everyone and everything is available in its website. Effectiveness: amazon uses the following metrics for its effectiveness. Customer satisfaction: amazon always thinks about the requirements of the customers so that they will be satisfied.  Ã‚  Conversion rates: amazon charges for the customers for using their site but it be reasonable for the customers to bear.  Sell-through increases: as amazon fulfills the requirements of the customers, sales also increase automatically. 6. What are some of the business challenges facing Amazon? Amazon has been spread global wide. But there are some issues with some countries where language became the main barrier. Site has been forbidden because they include foreign languages through which bookseller site could not be operated. So amazon have to face this challenge for its business improvements.

Rajasthan tourist destination

Rajasthan tourist destination The promotion of Rajasthan as a heritage tourist destination 1. Introduction In order to accomplish the aims and objectives, this piece of work focused on the promotion of Rajasthan as a heritage tourist destination in the world. The vital idea behind the selection of this topic is to discuss the importance of heritage tourism. Tourism plays an important role in the socio-economic development of any country. It is also one of the major sources to earn foreign exchange, and generating employment for urban as well as rural public. This chapter have 6 parts. Background of the study Background to the study: Tourism industry in India is on a great boom at the moment. India has a great potential to be a major tourist destination in the world. It’s the second highest foreign exchange earning industry and government gave travel and tourism industry an export status. Indian tour and travel industry is one of the most profitable industries in the country. During the year 2006, four million tourists visited India and spent US$8.9 billion (Economy watch, 2006). The buoyancy in the Indian tourism industry can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, the tremendous growth in the Indian economy, because of that the disposable income of the middle-class increased to expend on their recreation. Secondly, the IT sector in the country by which India famous as an IT hub in the world. Which attract people globally for business trips. Thirdly, the aggressive advertising campaign â€Å"Incredible India† by the tourism ministry of India also changes the image of India worldwide. Tourism industry also provides employment to millions of people directly and indirectly in the country. Which help the society and solve the big issues of unemployment in the country. Estimates of 20 million people are directly employed by this sector in the country currently. According to the above lines Rajasthan the north-west state of India is very popular among the national and international visitors. The royally palaces and forts, endless golden desert, hardworki ng and colourful people make the state more exciting to visit. Besides all this, Probably India is the only country which offers various categories of tourism. These include history tourism, adventure tourism, medical (Ayurvade and other) tourism, eco tourism, culture tourism, rural tourism, religious/pilgrimage tourism, spiritual tourism and beach tourism etc (I love India, 2007) Justification of the study: Heritage tourism is now big business. In economic and entrepreneurial terms, it is one of the major success stories of recent years. At a time of declining Industrial activity and rising unemployment in any society, heritage tourism has provided an alternative form of enterprise, creating jobs and generating wealth for local economies (Herbert, 1995). Tourism in India has the potential to do wonder in this upcoming industry of profit as well as fun. Rajasthan the largest state, and one of the most eminent tourist destinations, which is famous for its pictureqous natural beauty and wonderful construction. Rajasthan are usual attractions for first time visitors (Mintel, 2008). The outlook for travel industry in India looks extremely bright. â€Å"Conde Nast† rank India 6th amongst the top 10 tourist destination in the annual â€Å"Reader’s Award† in 2004, which was 9th a year before. The magazine ranked Raj Vilas, in Jaipur (Rajasthan) as 3rd in the overseas leisure hotel category for Asia (Business Standard, 2004). The JBIC (Japan Bank of International Cooperation) rank her 5th most attractive investment destination. The report â€Å"Indian Tourism Industry Analysis† provides an insight into the Indian tourism market. According to the report, India is one of the most potential tourism markets in the world. India expected to see 10million international tourist by 2010, which was 5million in 2007. Andhra Pradesh, Utter Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan are the leading tourist destinations in the country (Bharat Book Bureau, 2004) Aims and Objectives: To critically assess the opportunities to promote Rajasthan as a heritage tourist destination Objectives Evaluate the potential of Rajasthan’s heritage to develop as tourist destination. Critically evaluate the present tourism promotion system and the government policies on Rajasthan tourism. The development of recommendations for the promotion of Rajasthan as a heritage tourism destination. State profile: The colourful and exotic state of Rajasthan lies in the north-western part of India. It is the largest state (132,150 sq mi) and also knows as the land of kings, the home of Rajputs (Indianhills). Rajasthan is bordered on the west by Pakistan. In the west of state is the Thar Desert and the upland region of Deccan in the eastern part. The Aravalli hills cross the state from north-east to the south-west. The state was formed in 1948 from several former principalities states of Rajputana. Rajasthan is one of the strongholds of the conservative Hindu (75% of the population) then Muslims, Jains and native people (Encyclopaedia). The largest state with 33 districts and a population of 56.47million (2001 census) with a literacy rate of 61.03%, Jaipur is the state’s capital as well as the cultural, financial and trade capital of the state. Rajasthani, Sindhi and Punjabi are the regional languages of the state. Hindi and English also commonly used by people (Answer.com). Heritage is not only the monument or historic buildings, but everything which relate us to the rich past of that particular culture or tradition is heritage. The folk dance and music, souvenir (cloths and jewels), craft work (handicraft like paintings, iron or wood work) and festivals, fairs food and lifestyle are also the part of the rich cultural heritage of any destination. Rajasthan is a state with entirely different visage, the most scenic state of India. The culturally rich state of Rajasthan is popular for its festivals fairs, luxury trains, folk dances/music, arts/crafts and royal legacy in the form of palaces, forts and gardens. It medieval forts and palaces, the very distinctive nomadic desert lifestyle is unique all over the world. A world of colour, splendour and spectacle awaits visitors to India’s largest and the most romantic state. With its wild desert scenery, ancient sandcastle forts, pastel colour cities, dust speckled light and its swathes of scarlet, and marigold textiles (The Independent Asia), which creates Rajasthan one of the most popular tourist destinations in west India. It can be said as; it is the cultural capital of India. There are various popular destinations in Rajasthan but the main tourists attracting cities are Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Udaipur. All these cities were the former Princely states, as the result tourist can witness the imperial legacy everywhere in these cities. Here we have the brief panorama of the famous cities and their heritage. 1.5.1 Panorama of the Heritage Cities of Rajasthan: Ajmer Founded in the 7th century by ruler Ajaypal Chauhan. Have a famous fort called â€Å"Ajaimeru† or Invincible hill, lakes gardens and many other visiting places. Ajmer is about 130km south-west from Jaipur is the major religious centre for Muslims. This city is famous for the tomb of Khwaja Moin-ud-din Chisti, a medieval Sufi Saint, where pilgrims gather from over the world (India hills.com). 16km from Ajmer, Pushkar a very small town named after the holy lake â€Å"Pushkar†. 400 temples and 52 Ghats around the lake make it a very popular religious centre of Hindu community. The one and only lord Brahma temple is here. Otherwise sleepy town turn into a hub in the annual Pushkar festival in October or November every year (Travel 2 Rajasthan.com) Mount Abu, Rajasthan’s only hill station is home to Dilwara Jain temples known’s for their amazing marble carving. The oldest of the five temples dates to AD 1031. Nikki Lake, sunset point, Achal Garh fort and Guru Shikar the highest point of Rajasthan are the other famous visiting spot in Mount Abu. Chittaurgarh located 70 miles northeast of the City of Udaipur is the home of Chittaur fort India’s largest fort and the ultimate symbol of Rajputs chivalry and pride. The nine-story Vijay Sthambha or Tower of Victory is the most highlighting feature of the fort (Ref J). http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=6hid=5sid=af82485a-215e-4122-a4ff-0942348b33c5%40sessionmgr11 Located on the foothills of a sandstone hillock, the city of Jodhpur seems like an oasis in the vast desert was founded by Rao Jodha Ji (Rathore clan) in 1459. It named after him only. Jodhpur is the second largest city of Rajasthan, divided into two parts the old city (which is inside the 10km wall) and new city. Jodhpur is a very popular tourist destination. The city landscape is very pleasing and attractive. The city has lots of attractions in the form of forts, palaces, gardens, temples and lakes. The city is known as â€Å"Sun City† because of its bright and sunny weather throughout the year (Jodhpur India), and also the building were painted in light blue hue. Located at the edge of the endless golden Thar Desert, Jodhpur is a fascinating medieval city known for its amazing architectural splendour, lively culture, brilliant craftsmen, gourmet cuisines and lots of shopping. The city has various attractions in the form of Maharangarh fort, Umaid Bhawan Palace, Mandore gard en, Mahamandir temples and Jaswant Thada the royal cenotaphs. This attracts the domestic and international visitors equally (Palace on wheels). The ‘City of Lakes’ (often referred to as the ‘Venice of the East’) Udaipur is the home to lakes Pichola and Fateh sagar, both are amazingly beautiful for cruise and sunset. The city is also famous for City places and Lake palace (hotel), Sahelion Ki Bari or â€Å"Garden of the Maids of honour†, museum and temples are the other visitors attractions. Marwar festival fall in the spring is also very famous in national and international visitors. The Golden city of Jaisalmer is famous for its fort, havelies, national park and Sam (sand dunes). Nothing else in India is remotely similar to Jaisalmar, with its fort that straight out of an Arabian Night fable. The capital city and the natural gateway to the exotic state Rajasthan, Jaipur popularly known as ‘Pink City’ in the world is the main visitors delight. Founded in 17th century and named after is founder Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh. Jaipur is the cultural, trade and financial capital of Rajasthan. With Delhi and Agra, jaipur is the third important vertex of the ‘Golden Triangle’. Stunning backdrop of ancient forts: Nahargarh, Amer, Jaigarh and Moti Doongari fort. Hawa Mahal, City Palace, and Jal Mahal are some well-known landmark palaces in the city with famous Albert hall museum. Significance of tourism to the Indian economy: 2. Literature Review Literature pays a major role in any research or case study. Virtually no research can be done without the benefit of references, whatever the scale or nature of the project will be (Brunt, 1998). Fink (1998:3) believes that literature review is a â€Å"systematic method for identifying, evaluating and interpreting the work produced by researchers, scholars and practitioners† Yin (2003) also suggest that evidences for good literature may also come from six sources suck as documents, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant-observation and physical artefacts. Yin (2003) further suggested that literature review provided all sort of information like data, statistic, graphs and scholar view about the topic. A useful overview of the six major sources considers their comparative strength and weaknesses. You should immediately note that no signal source is highly complementary, and a good case study will therefore desire to use as many sources as possible. A good literature review is not just a description of previous work; it also appraises, compares and contrasts it with other relevant work, and with the authors own work (Brown, 2006). Literature review is the section which will provide reference, if followed up, will widen your knowledge and stimulate independent thought (Altinay el at, 2008:25). Hart (1998) explained the importance of literature review by suggesting that â€Å"without it you will not acquire an understanding of your topic, of what has already been done on it, how it has been researched, and what they key issues are† (Hart, 1998:1). At this point of report the critical review of the available literature is important in order to achieve above mention aims and objectives. In order to get main aim which to promote Rajasthan as a heritage tourist destination, number of academic Books related on heritage tourism and development will help to critically evaluate the prosperous cultural heritage of Rajasthan, which is the first objective of this report. Through this literature the value and significance of the heritage can identified, and it will also help to check the scale of the heritage in Rajasthan. As the new trend of getting information by electronic media like: Television, internet will be a great help, particularly the official tourism websites of Rajasthan or India tourism will provide the latest information on this sector. And also provide information about the recent tourism development promotion, policies and issues. Internet is the best ever, faster and the more efficient information provider these days, and also the information on the sites are more authentic and quick. Daily news papers contain articles, interviews and editorial will give the current updates about tourism industry and its achievement. Editorial column will provide critical analysis of government’s tourism policies and tourism forecast. Leading national and local dailies (Rajasthan Patrika and Danik Bashkar and The Times of India) will show case current events and news on Rajasthan tourism. The official statistics compiled by the government department and public sector agencies provide a valuable source of information (Burnt, 1998). This can provide by the official website, news dailies and journals based on Rajasthan. 2.1 What is Heritage and Heritage Tourism? In 1983 National Heritage Conference defined heritage as: ‘that which a past generation has preserved and handed on to the present and which a significant group of population wishes to hand on to the future’ (Hewison, 1989). Hardy (1988) said most researchers accept that heritage is linked to the past that it represents some sort of inheritance to be passed down to current and future generations, both in terms of cultural traditions and physical artefacts (Dallen et al. 2003:2). These definitions indicate culture choice; its focus on preservation and the fact that some people will adopt a conservationist view of heritage. (Herbert, 1997:8). Heritage is like a gift which is passed by one generation to another in the form of culture, nature, customs which is different and unique from others. Prentice (1993) said heritage can be classified as tangible immovable resources (buildings, natural areas) and tangible movable resources (objects in museums, documents in archives); or intangibles such as values, customers, ceremonies, lifestyles, and including experiences such as festivals, arts and cultural events. Heritage can also classified according to type of attraction (Dallen et al. 2003:3). Oxford English dictionary define heritage (1983) as which has been or may be inherited. That’s mean anything which pass from previous (old) generation to another (new) in the form of physical, cultural, natural and financial or other can be heritage. Tourism is not just an aggregate of merely commercial activities; it is also an ideological framing of history, nature and tradition; a framing that has the power to reshape culture and nature to its own needs said by MacCannell in 1992, (Herbert, 1997:1) The origins of tourism are ancient. Urry (1990) suggested that tourism was known in Imperial Rome with the use of seaside ‘resort’; certainly in medieval times pilgrimages to the Holy Land involved pleasure and sightseeing as well as religious duty. As a concept and a reality, the Grand Tour was established by the late seventeenth century as a component of polite society’s social round (Herbert, 1997:6). Heritage is not just the historic monument or cenotaphs buildings, but all which relate people with the rich past of that particular culture or tradition is heritage. These above lines explain that tourism is nothing recent, by which we can say that it’s a very new concept in the society. Tourism is very old and was present in the different form like seaside or pilgrims. But in 21st century it become more immense and fascination by the media. And tourism is different from leisure because in tourism people go out from there home overnight and stay there and enjoy the place by any reason. It can be religious, medical or just leisure. To show case the historic monuments to handicrafts or artefacts, and allow for community to view and be taught about there great past is heritage tourism. 2.2 Modelling of heritage and heritage tourism This debate reveals that heritage and heritage tourism is complex. To simplify and to make it more clearly the following model is proposed; model of heritage and heritage tourism. Figure 1 This model is approach the behavioural perspective within behavioural geography. It suggests that heritage exists within the two types of environment; ‘phenomenal (unique) and ‘behavioural’ (human behaviour). The previous is an expansion of the normal concept of environment that include natural phenomena and cultural and built environment that have been either altered or created by human activity on the other hand, the behavioural environment is where the social and cultural facts existing within the phenomenal environment are passed through a filter of human values (Dallen et al. 2003:7) According to Kirk (1963), these environments forms on the basis on which decision are made which may, or may not, be acted upon to be translated into action within the phenomenal environment. Heritage tourism experience is in the core of this model, and the key outcome is good experience out of every trips. As the expanded inner section of the model illustrate, the heritage tourism experience is formed within what is labelled here as the â€Å"experimental heritage environment†. The core heritage tourism experience is influence and shaped by mixed elements like supply and demand (of the destination), politics (government policies), authenticity, conservation (of heritage) with in any destination region. How all those element influence each other and by their role they play in heritage tourism experience. The model of heritage tourism clearly gives answer, that heritage and the heritage tourism is very complex and they overlap each other in different environments. And they both (phenomenal and behavioural) affect the destination with other components in the core; economic filter and cultural/societal filter. It is important now to return to the question of a heritage spectrum (range) as advocated earlier by Richards (1996). This concept is very important as it helps to clarify the existence of many types of heritage experiences and heritage landscapes. It purely means that when we talk about tourism experience it has all types of tourism with its landscapes types and heritage attractions. The heritage spectrum model suggest that the heritage landscapes pass through a multiplicity of setting ranging from the natural and immaculate to then built urban and artificial heritage landscapes. The model also shows that heritage tourism has common characteristics of ecotourism (nature based) on the left side and urban tourism (theme perks) and cultural tourism (viewing cultural heritage, architecture) in the right side and middle respectively. The following model also demonstrates that the tourism types (eco-tourism, cultural-tourism and urban-tourism) should not be viewed as mutually exclusive as overlaps most certainly exist. Because of this reality the model refers to heritage tourism as an overlapping concept. Types of tourism in heritage tourism overlap each other but also give types of landscapes and type of heritage attractions separately. In which ecotourism give natural and rural types of landscape if visiting national parks in the type of heritage attraction. 2.3 Value and significance of heritage The focus of value shifts to the significance people place on heritage. Hall and McArthur (1993) identified four interrelated areas of significance in heritage: economic, social, political and scientific significance. Economic significance: Heritage is not cheap! Restoring a property maintaining it, installing necessary facilities (i.e. toilets and drinking water) and establishing and running an interpretive programme can easily cost twice as much (Dallen, 2003:143). Zeppel and Hall (1992) believe heritage is preserved because of the value it offers in terms of expenditures, of visitors to site (Dallen, 2003:13). Tourism is big business and really in demand. People have started paying these days for outdoor fun, and if the destinations have potential they will not think twice to visit there. Rajasthan heritage have the potential to attract the tourist all over and generate foreign exchange. Social significance: this refers to the private and collective identity that people and society have with ‘their’ heritage. That’s what local person and community think about their heritage, and how they value to it. The people of Rajasthan feel pride on is rich and colourful cultural heritage. A social ethics will often be the driving force to consider preservation in the first instance (Dallen, 2003:13). Political significance: As Hall and McArthur note, heritage by definition is political, in terms of reinforcing what is conserved, how heritage is told, and placing the wishes of private owners of heritage into conflict with government or public interests. In the words of Johnson (1999:187), ‘heritage tourism is not just a set of commercial transactions, but the ideological framing of history and identity’. Politics is in its very essence about power, and heritage by its very nature is apolitical phenomenon, since history is always told from the perspective of winners of wars and people in positions of power (Hall 1994, 97, 2000), (Dallen, 2003:257). The history of Rajasthan is all about war and warriors. Politic is all over the place in Rajasthan. Even though in literature, arts and crafts there are a pinch of politic. Scientific significance: many national parks and protected forest areas may contain genetic material and ecosystems (flora and fauna) that will be useful to medicine and research work. They also provide habitats for rare and endangered species. There is also an educative part to heritage-providing visitors with information about the living history, culture, and people of areas (Dallen, 2003:13). Not only the national parks, protected forest and wildlife’s had their scientific significance in the heritage of Rajasthan, but the agrological site as well. The site of Indus valley civilisation in Indian sub-continent is very important for the study of river valley human history. The Harappa civilisation considers one of the oldest civilisations on earth. 2.4 Scales of Heritage Heritage is not homogeneous (uniform); it exists in different level and scales, namely world, national, local and personal (Graham et al. 2000; Swarbrooke 1994; Timothy 1997). Given model illustrates these scales of heritage tourism experience, suggesting that they are all linked by the notion of ‘shared heritage’ (Dallen, 2003:14). Heritage is very heterogeneous (varied); it can be different in one destination. And if the destination is in India the probability is much because India is a very diverse country with the birth place of many cultures and civilisation. Rajasthan which is the largest and the most colourful state is also not an exception in is cultural heritage. World: Timothy (1997) noted that world scale heritage attraction draw large masses of tourists from many countries. How ever, for most foreign tourist, these sites themselves are likely to be only a small part of more extensive itinerary. For example visiting a historic agrological site of Harappa visitor can witness the life and culture of that era. Visiting an international heritage attraction is a way of appreciating universal civilisation and achieving some degree of human unity (Moulin 1991). The idea to conserve our heritage came first in the early 1970s by UN’s environment programme and UNESCO’s Man Biosphere Programme. National: ‘Through time, certain heritage features came to symbolise a society’s shared recollection (Lowenthal 1975:12). Foe example the Holy town of Pushkar is a symbol (pilgrim) of Hindu community and Ajmer is for Muslims in Rajasthan. On this level, historical monuments often represent durable national ideals, and national pride can be an important stimulus of preserving the built environment in western societies (Lowenthal 1975; Timothy 1997) these type of historic site can be pride of any society like Taj Mahal is a pride for each and every Indian. Local: Lowenthal (1979:554) noted that the local level, communities need familiar land marks so that they can remain in touch with their own collective pasts in a rapidly changing world. There are many sites which are not very popular but they still have their local importance like, The nine-story Vijay Sthambha or Tower of Victory is the most highlighting feature of Chitturghar fort is the memorial of their local hero’s, women and children who sacrifice their lives for the motherland. For visitors it just a memorial tower but the significance for the local were very different, it very important for them. ‘Memorials erected in memory of a community‘s earliest pioneer efforts, or a local historical museum can provide an important experience for local to which outsiders may not be able to relate’ (Timothy 1997:752). Personal: Lowenthal (1979) asserted that modern-day destination of historic relics has deepened people’s sense of nostalgia for the past. A search for root and historical identity and an increased appreciation for one culture and family legacy are evidence of this phenomenon. Timothy said (1997) of the four type of scale of heritage here personal heritage has received the least attention in the literature and hence is least understood. Personal scale of heritage is very private. For example family reunions travel to historic or religious place, cultural and vocational interest is another form of personal scale of heritage. The attachments with family houses or souvenirs are perfect example of personal scale of heritage. 2.5 What is Marketing and Destination Marketing ‘Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirement profitably’ define by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, CIM UK. And the other hand the American Marketing Association ‘Marketing (management) is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational objectives’ (Seaton et al.1999:6). As per Adcock remark ‘The right product, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price’. The most influential and dominant word of 21th century is marketing or if said like this, that everything is saleable if the packaging is good i.e. the right product marketed at the right place at the right time (season) with a right price (in compression to competitors) is marketing by Adcock. It means that marketing is not only selling or advertising, but also to promote the brand value and quality to the customers. And also build a connection between the producer and customers. The aim of marketing for an organisation is to achieve profit or other objective. Marketing is not only important for the manufacturing or production industries, but equally necessary for the promotion of hospitality and tourism industry to achieve desire goal. A social and managerial process by which individual and groups obtain what they need and what through creating and exchanging products a nd value with others is called marketing (Kilter, P 2003). Destination marketing: Seaton (1999:351) said that the destination marketing is the spirit land of tourism marketing. The destination has the internal connection to all the other industries (stakeholders) in the tourism sector like transport, hotels and attractions. Destination management is not just managing the physical product (i.e. the venue, hotels, transport system, visitor attractions) but also very much to do with building companies reputation and teamwork across the destination, its also has an important component to play in creating understanding and recognition across the community for the economic importance of the conference, trade and events sector (Davidson et al. 2006:35). Marketing is the process of planning and execute and the promotion of the product of achieve the desire goal and objective in terms of profit and brand success. Like the same theory functioning behind the destination management or tourism marketing management. Destination marketing management show case the destination as product and highlights to get profit out of it heritage and culture. Benefits of destination management Marketing Mix: ‘Kotler (1984:68) define it as ‘The mixture of controllable marketing variables that the firm uses to pursue the sought level of sale in the target market’. The marketing mix is the most primary concepts of marketing (Seaton, 1999; Holloway, 1992; Middleton, 2001), it show how important all the four variable (4Ps) that comprise the marketing mix for any business prospect or destination. Marketing mix is the most controllable element of any marketing plan (Davidson et al. 2006:84). These marketing mixes are categories in 4Ps- product, price, place and promotion (Hollway et al., 1992:28). But Booms and Bitner (1982) added three more ‘service Ps’ to service (hospitality and tourism industry) marketing namely, People, Process and Physical Evidence. So altogether there are 7Ps for the hospitality and tourism industry. What are they and how they help the marketing managers to get their targets, are examine below: Product: Median (1984) suggested that in tourism, Attraction of the destination, facilities and accessbility are three main compnents of product marketinh mix. Meidan, A. (1984) The Marketing of Tourism, The Service Industries Journal, Vol. 4, No.3, pp: 166 – 186 Example-The Yahoo Finance, (2009) Information about the KFC outlets [online] [24th April 2009] The Linked In, (2009) what is YUM Brands [online] [24th April 2009] http://www.rajasthantourism.gov.in/Rajasthan/Naturopathy.aspx Rajasthan Tours,http://www.tour2rajasthan.com/rajasthan-tourism.html abt raj cul, stste, history http://www.iloveindia.com/economy-of-india/tourism-industry.html visit 4th July 2009 http://www.economywatch.com/business-and-economy/tourism-industry.html visit 4 July 2009 http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research-Reports/Indian-Tourism-Industry-An

Life is Glamorous Essays -- essays research papers fc

â€Å"Life Is Glamorous†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Whether you wander down random roads or plan precise paths, the exciting journey we call life involves many choices. The decisions we make on a day-to-day basis affect everything. Questions such as, â€Å"What should I wear today?† or â€Å"Should I really be eating this?† are asked by many people everyday. Sure, a simple beauty magazine could probably answer both questions in one article, but in order to live a happy, healthy life there are more important questions to be resolved. Glamour magazine answers every question, and includes unique highlights. Because of its superiority in the periodical market, Glamour has won over 75 editorial awards since 1990 (PRNewire 2). Much of this is due to its effective design in which the magazine is split up into seven main sections: beauty, fashion, health & body book, [men, sex & love], life & happiness, glamour news, and glamour buzz. Although there are numerous sections, they all tie into helping educate wom en on how to be happy with who they are and how to also make the most of what that is. Each part proceeds to give detailed professional advice on these topics. Also by understanding the broad range of potential readers, this periodical includes less inappropriately intimate articles like some other fashion/beauty magazines do. By providing factual information that is also interesting, Glamour makes it easy to find the answers to every quintessential question one might have about being a woman, and in doing so, empowers them with the knowledge needed to enhance their lives   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A visible enhancement Glamour can provide deals with physical appearance. Beauty is a very important part of womanhood. Many people weight their self-esteem solely on this alone, and although this may be unhealthy, it is a common occurrence in today’s society. To help relieve some of the pressures of societal demands, Glamour features articles that inform readers of the most recent methods to help them look their best. In the beauty section, the magazine includes reviews on new beauty products and the latest technology. This proves to be very helpful when purchasing cosmetics, moisturizers, and cleansers, or when pondering a surgical enhancement of some kind. The product reviews detail how effective each product is and if the dollar value is reasonable for t... ...en need someone to tell them they are beautiful just the way they are (Bear 1). Glamour knows that with exceptional beauty, fashion, and health knowledge every woman can look and feel their best. The professional advice on men and relationships helps a woman expand socially, as do the various styles of news. By educating them on all of these levels, the magazine empowers women with the knowledge and capability to improve their quality of life. In doing this, Glamour magazine proves to be comprised of quality worthwhile journalism, equipped with factual and entertaining information that profoundly benefits all women. Works Cited 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bear, Merryl. Friend Indeed. Winnipeg; Jul/Aug 2003. Vol. 20, Iss. 3; p.1, 1p. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Craig, Courtney. Great-fitting Jackets for All Shapes; Feb 2005. p.77, 1p. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hudephohl, Dana. The Dangers of Yo-yo Dieting; Feb 2005. p.92, 1p. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ostrow, Melissa. Jamie Lee Curtis: No Barbie doll. Mar/Apr 2003, Vol. 33 Iss. 3/4, p7, 1p. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PRNewswire. The American Society of Magazine Editors; Mar 21, 2004. p.2, 2p.

Foreign Aid and the Development of African Nations

The African Nations, particularly those lying in the Sub-Saharan region have been subject to poverty, inadequate financial resources of their respective governments, lack of proper infrastructure and essential services like health, sanitation and water supply. These countries have also long been plagued by corrupt leaders, who have no concern about the sufferings of their citizens, despite growing their personal wealth based on the countries’ natural resources and foreign aid.Despite billions of dollars of foreign aid pouring in the region by countries like the United States, U.  K. , Germany and Japan there is no tangible change in the development of these countries. This paper will discuss the role of foreign aid in the development of the African Countries. Though, the common perception among the people is that the sub-Saharan Africa receives fairly large amount of foreign aid, but there is no proper outcome of it. They often complain that most of aid given to the African governments is consumed in non-development expenditures, or either is directly deposited in the overseas accounts of the rulers.But the fact is that the amount of aid given to these countries is never enough, particularly when considered the amount of development work done. Another problem is the method of distribution of the foreign aid, as there is very little amount, which is directly handed over to the African governments for their projects. Most of the aid is either in the form of technical support in which most of the aid is used in paying the officials of the aid giving country in exchange of their services. For e. g.the United States, which is considered as a major ODA, provider in the region does not spend, as she should have and as much resources she has. Most of the foreign aid provided by the United States is either in response to catastrophes like famine, earthquakes and tsunamis etc. , or in the form of emergency relief, like the U. S. wheat supply in cases of shortage of food supplies due to draught in many African countries. (Sachs, 82) On the other hand the actual amount of Official Development Assistance is far below as it is thought by many Americans.It is simply because large portion of ODA is disbursed primarily to the strategic nations like Iraq and Afghanistan. The remaining amount left for the non-strategic countries is then distributed either via NGOs or in the form of technical expertise and services. In both cases none of the amount is directly handed over to the recipient government. Thus the leftover of the ODA, which is directly handed over to the aid recipient nations, is significantly low. The same is the case of most donor nations like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and Italy etc.The amount of aid actually handed over to these governments, which may help them to practically implement the public development projects like hospitals, schools, water supply and sanitation etc. (Sachs, 82) According to the 2003 U. S. gove rnment statistics regarding the ODA given by the United States to the sub-Saharan Africa, the total amount given was $4. 7 billion only. The sad story is that out of this huge amount only $118 million were directly handed over to African governments in order to support public development programs run by the government and communities.  (Sachs, 83)Therefore the given statistics regarding the U. S. aid depicts the inadequate amount of direct aid given to the African nations. Now speaking about the output and consequences of the foreign aid in the development of sub-Saharan African nations, the results are not encouraging. Partly because of inadequate amount of aid, ineffective method of aid distribution and disbursement, corrupt governments and leaders the outcome is not overall satisfactory regarding virtually the entire sub-Saharan region.The United States and other donor countries can shed their burden by using the United Nations as a platform of foreign assistance to the sub-Sah aran regions. (Tharoor) Kenya is a good example to analyze the role of foreign aid in the economic and public development of the country. Kenya had been among those countries, which have received huge external aid flows from the donor nations and institutions in order to foster economic growth and reduce poverty.But unfortunately the outcome has never been satisfactory as there is no major improvement in the economic growth of the country, neither there is any significant reduction in poverty or any tangible public development as an outcome of foreign aid. The country like other sub-Saharan African nations faces high indebtedness, unemployment and absolute poverty. The poor economic performance of the country has led to high dependency of Kenya on foreign aid. (Njeru, 1) The Kenyan development expenditures were slightly above 10% of the total government expenditures during the late 90s.This shows a development expenditure decline of about 50% from the 70s, which was just below 20% a t that time. Due to poor economic performance the government development budget has increasingly become dependent on donors. For e. g. in the 80s only 40% of the development expenditure depended on foreign aid, while in the next debate the dependence had raised to 70%. (Njeru, 6) This increasing dependence was the result of poor performance and using the local government resources on non-development expenditures.Most of funds disbursed by the donors is either in the form of appropriations-in-aid or revenue, the most common of which is appropriations-in-aid method. Using this method the donors have direct contact with the project coordinator, but there is a drawback of this method as the government loses control of these projects there is a big chance that they may become white elephants. (Njeru, 9) On the other hand, under the revenue system the funds are disbursed directly to the Treasury via special accounts in the central bank, but here are some other risks, like misuse of the fu nds because of weak accounting system at the Treasury.  (Njeru, 9)During the post-independence period Kenya receive heavy inflow of foreign aid particularly from the British. In the 70s and 80s there were high development activities in telecommunication networks, land settlement schemes, health and education sectors. During the 80s Kenya had enjoyed the highest level of foreign aid flow and there were about 600 active development projects in the above-mentioned sectors. (The Role of Foreign Aid in Development, 37)The major setback in the initial development progress was brought by former president Kenyatta and his successor Daniel arap Moi, as they not only backtracked the on going progress by making some unsound decisions like price control, marketing boards which soon adversely affected the prices and production incentive. Import substitution was also an important drawback, which resulted in poor economic condition and forced the government to stall many public development proje cts. (Erixon, 14) Corruption is also an important factor, which has led to the wastage of large amount of foreign aid.According to the Transparency International’s index of corruption Kenya was among the 10 most corrupted countries. According to TI the incidence of corruption is about 50% in most ministries, city councils, parastatals, SOEs and other governing bodies. (Erixon, 14) President Kenyatta’s regime was plagued by his so-called land reforms in the name of which he received large amount of foreign aid and subsequently became the largest landowner in the country. His alleged favor to his tribesmen and kinsmen, the Kikuyu, also resulted in mass corruption and loss of large amount of donor’s money.Using foreign aid to support their own kindred has become a norm in the Kenyan politics. (Cohen, 7) Presidents Moi’s regime is also marked by misuse of foreign aid in favor of the relative and political supporters. For e. g. the Kenyan government received $ 873 million in official development assistance in the fiscal year of 1991/92. All this aid was either on grant basis or loan basis and supported some 654 public development projects. These projects have about 2,000 sub-components, in order to give every ethnic group a fair price of the fund.Not surprisingly a large amount of the fund and project resources were not used accordingly. (Cohen, 13) Moreover the public developments on district level were also done on ethnic and political basis, as those areas where the residents are either the tribesmen of the president or loyal to him will receive a large sum of budget and public development programs, while those who oppose him like the Kikuyu, the people of the former president Kenyatta receive marginal amount of budget and public development funds. (Cohen, 16-17)President Moi’s government and leadership have been marked with more corruption and use of foreign aid on their own behalf. According to a Guardian report, President Moi , his associates and relatives have allegedly moved more than 1 billion pounds of government money to nearly 30 countries including Britain. Other relatives who have been involved in corruption of millions of dollars government money include Moi’s sons, which have moved 384m and 550m pounds respectively. (Rice) This report clearly depicts how ruthlessly these corrupt leaders have looted their country and fellow countrymen.The same is the character of NGOs in this regard, as most of the NGOs working in Kenya have their loyalties with one of the political parties or ethnic groups and they only work in their interest. Moreover those NGOs which are honest to their mission and objective face constraints and suppression from the government and they are only allowed to work according to the interest of the government officials, and their interest is always to do a favor to their kinsmen or political allies.In this way the people in real and dire need are often neglected, only becaus e they do not have enough political power or ethnic relation with the people in the office. Botswana is another case and a different story. The country has been the best example of good governance and leadership in the continent by far. It is the only country, which has been democratic in spiritually and practically throughout the entire post-independence period. The country has actively promoted the its’ citizens social and economic development throughout its post-colonial history.The country led by its founder Sir Seretse Khama and his successors were dedicated to deliberate democracy and market economy. Khama played an important role in developing a law-respecting political culture, which was wholeheartedly endured by his successors. (Rotberg) Though Botswana has received a heavy amount of foreign aid inflow the public development of the country in not based on that primarily. The main factor, which contributed in the country’s success, is its good governance and la ck of corruption.According to Transparency International Botswana is the least corrupted country in the African continent far better than many European and Asian countries. (Williams) Botswana has shown its capability of utilizing the amount of donors’ funds. Botswana has the strongest state institutions, professional civil services, strong planning systems and centralized aid management systems. All these have helped the country to utilize the funds wisely and accordingly with the minimum loss and misuse possible. The effective use of aid effectively contributes to the project plans, but also gave the country more control over the aid.This is in contrast to Kenya where the foreign aid froze twice due to poor compliance of the Kenyan government to the conditions of the donors. (Renzio, Whitfield & Bergamaschi, 1-4) After the independence Botswana was among the poorest countries of the world and there was lack of proper infrastructure and social and economic institutions. In t he initial post-independence period the country has used large amount of foreign aid, but the leadership was wise enough to use the foreign assistance in proper way.The government also preferred grants to loans and used diversified donors and also made a habit of refusing to accept aid when not necessary. (Togo, 3) The government wisely used foreign aid in not only developing the public sector like health, transportation, sanitation and water supply, but also used the chance to invest the aid heavily in the diamond mining industry which later boosted the country’s economy and help Botswana to overcome her dependence on foreign aid. (Togo, 4) But in the 90s the situation has changed and the new generation of leaders have emerged which are not willing to follow the path of Khama.They have allegedly used the government funds as their personal possessions acting double as the directors of private funds thus reserving these funds for the projects run by their firms. Furthermore in 1992 the credibility and respect of the Botswana government was further tarnished by the notorious Housing Corporation scandal in which the Vice president and other high-ranking officials were allegedly involved. (Togo, 5) Despite all these downfalls and shortcomings emerging in the new general of politicians, the country is still the least corrupt as compared to other African nations.According to recent studies Botswana has received the highest level of foreign aid up to 1980s, which has played a significant role in the development of the country. The foreign assistance had been as high as $200 per capita in 1980s. But the studies show that aid has only played siginificant role in public development in the early years of independence, when the country relied completely on the British aid for its expenditures. But in the next decade the ratio of aid had declined sharply, and the revenue from diamond mining far exceeded the aid. In the late 80s the share of aid fell to 3% of GDP fro m 29% in 1967.Therefore foreign assistance played significant role in the first two decades of the country history. (Togo, 6) The founder president of Botswana made his priority to secondary education in order to increase the proportion of the natives in the countries civil service and other comprehensive development projects, like mine development, construction of dams and irrigation. The government wanted to provide the natives jobs and reduce poverty. Thus they used the foreign aid initially to promote education and then focused on the infrastructure like roads, electric power and water supply, which will become the basis of the mining industry.(Togo, 8) The government than acquired $2. 5 million loan from the World Bank to finance the Shashe complex diamond-mining project. The government also won technical assistance from several developed countries. The foreign assistance acquired was largely used in the development of the infrastructure of the Shashe Complex project. Then the aid was used for the development of the human and physical capital. (Togo, 8)Thus Botswana used foreign assistance for the development of the human capital by promoting education and physical capital by developing the infrastructure.In this way one can easily conclude that foreign assistance played an important role in the development of the country in the first two decades. But when the case of Botswana is compared with that of Kenya, it becomes clear that foreign aid is not the sole factor in the success of a country. In the last four decades Kenya has received more foreign assistance than Botswana, but the country never became economical strong as Botswana did. The primary reason was the different in the vision and approach of the rulers of the two countries.The Kenyan first two rulers have been among the most corrupted and autocratic type of rulers and they have no interest in the welfare of their fellow citizens. They ruthlessly used the countries resources as personal possessi ons. On the other hand the Botswana founder president Khama and his successors have been honest to their country and fellow citizens and wisely used their country’s resources as well as the foreign assistance they had received to develop their country’s economy, public sector institutions and infrastructure. Therefore foreign aid has never been the primary factor in any country’s development.

Final draft short story Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

Final draft short story Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers Creative writing Final draft short story It was a hot summer day in Bethlehem, USA, all the kids were coming home for their summer vacations. The town that was once calm and peaceful, was now crowded. Everyone was complaining about all those noisy kids in town, but deep down they were very happy, everybody loved that time of the year. Those noisy kids were the ones who brought life to that small town. Stephen, the hot guy in town was there, all the girls dreamed about him. He was tall and athletic, he had a golden blonde hair, and eyes as blue as the sky in summer; there wasnt one girl who didnt at least once dreamed about him. Oh wait, there was Sara, Sara didnt stand Stephen. According to her, Stephen was to full of himself. Let me explain why, Stephen was the son of the mayor, he had some jerk friends, and he dated a girl who would be a perfect witch if she knew how to cast spells. Now, its hard to believe that a person surrounded by people who would be perfect villains in a movie is a nice guy. Yes I know its funny, but its real, Stephen was a really good guy. Sara was short, she had red hair, green eyes and freckles on her cheeks, which was something she hated, but I personally thought it was very cute. She was the Pastor's daughter. Therefore, there were certain things that the others did, but she couldnt. For example, she couldnt go to parties because her father wouldnt let her. He even controlled what she wore every day, poor Sara if she had a dress or a skirt above her knees, shorts? Forget it, he would look at them as if he was seeing the devil itself. Pastor Thomas was very strict. There was a welcome party, which the popular guys organized every year, and only the popular guys and girls in town went to that party. This year it would be different, they would invite everyone in town, and Lindsay and her friends would take care of every single detail to make sure nothing went wrong. The party was going to be at Stephens house, they would have all kinds of food, mexican, American, chinese, and many others. As for the drinks, since they were underage, they were not allowed to have alcoholic drinks, but since Ryan and Chris, Stephens friends were so smart, when it comes to parties of course, because at school it was a whole different story. But never mind, they found out a way to sneak alcohol into the party without anyone knowing. Lindsay was Stephen's girlfriend; every girl in town was jealous of her. She was what we call "the hot girl," tall, with a perfect blonde hair and a body that even the world's most famous supermodel would want. However, even with all that outside beauty, Lindsay was very ugly on the inside. She once cut a girl's hair because she didnt like the color, can you imagine these? She dropped a bucket full of white paint on Camila's head the day she was performing in the town's local auditorium. Lindsay was just awful. So, the party was on Saturday, everyone wanted to go as pretty as they could, specially the girls. Sara was invited too, and after a war to convince her father to let her go, she finally did it. Now, the problem was what to wear. All the girls were looking for the best outfit, but they had to be very careful not to outshine Lindsay, the princess of the town, or worse, not to wear the same thing as her. Last year, the girl that wore a bracelet that looked kind of like hers, was thrown into the lake. Fortunately she is alive, but she is now traumatized and doesnt want to go to one of these parties again. Finally Saturday, Lindsay as usual was stunning, she wore a short blue dress that showed a little bit more than we wanted to see, she had her hair pulled into a perfect ponytail and a perfect makeup of course. Stephen was also there, he had a red polo

McDonalds Russia essays

McDonalds Russia essays McDonalds outstanding success in Russia is a tribute to our Russian employees, suppliers and of course our customers Senior Chairman, McDonalds in Russia It all began in 1976 with an accidental meeting between George Cohon and a Soviet Olympic Delegation in Montreal, started fourteen years of negotiations and resulted in the busiest McDonalds restaurant in the world. McDonalds in Russia would have had to consider carefully all the P.E.S.T factors before opening up the restaurant in Pushkin Square, Russia There was many political issues that needed to be covered and this was accountable for the length of time it took for the restaurant to be built. In 1988 there was finally an agreement policy introduced that was to allow the building to go ahead legally. Building started soon after and there was no conflict because of the agreement policy. Staff had to go through tough training to meet health and safety standards which was a key issue and was to be maintained always. For this to be successful a large human resource department was also needed to cope with the training of 600 + staff. This was to meet the legislations that had been set and to ensure growth and survival. The economical factors were easily dealt with. The restaurant was to operate a roubles only policy, unlike other restaurants, which would encourage the community to come in and spend their money. This would have a knock on effect and would bring capitalism to Moscow. The food produced in Russia improved the countrys agriculture and import/export business. The jobs created by the restaurant would reduce Russias unemployment numbers and also give the country more money. There were many societal factors in the building and planning of the restaurant. Leaflets were created to hand out to customers on the first opening day to inform them on how to order what they wanted. This was because this new to th ...

Segmented Worms and Their Species

Segmented Worms and Their Species Segmented worms (Annelida) are a group of invertebrates that includes about 12,000 species of earthworms, ragworms, and leeches. Segmented worms live in marine habitats such as the intertidal zone and near hydrothermal vents. Segmented worms also inhabit freshwater aquatic habitats as well as moist terrestrial habitats such as forest floors. Anatomy of Segmented Worms Segmented worms are bilaterally symmetrical. Their body consists of a head region, a tail region, and a middle region of numerous repeated segments. Each segment is separate from the others by a structure called septa. Each segment contains a complete set of organs. Each segment also has a pair of hooks and bristles and in marine species a pair of parapodia (appendages used for movement). The mouth is located on the first segment at the head-end of the animal and the gut runs through all segments to the end where an anus is located in the tail segment. In many species, blood circulates within blood vessels. Their body is filled with fluid that gives the animal shape through hydrostatic pressure. Most segmented worms burrow in terrestrial soils or sediments at the bottom of freshwater or marine waters. The body cavity of a segmented worm is filled with fluid inside which the gut runs the length of the animal from head to tail. The outer layer of the body consists of two layers of muscle, one layer that has fibers that run longitudinally, a second layer that has muscle fibers that run in a circular pattern. Segmented worms move by coordinating their muscles along the length of their body. The two layers of muscles (longitudinal and circular) can be contracted such that parts of the body can be alternately long and thin or short and thick. This enables the segmented worm to pass a wave of movement along its body that enables it to, for example, move through loose earth (in the case of the earthworm). They can make their head region thin so that it can be used to penetrate through new soil and build subterranean burrows and paths. Reproduction Many species of segmented worms reproduce asexually but some species reproduce sexually. Most species produce larvae that develop into small adult organisms. Diet Most segmented worms feed on decaying plant materials. An exception to this are the leeches, a group of segmented worms, are freshwater parasitic worms. Leeches have two suckers, one at the head end of the body, the other at the tail end of the body. They attach to their host to feed on blood. They produce an anticoagulant enzyme known as hirudin to prevent blood from clotting while they feed. Many leeches also ingest small invertebrate prey whole. Classification The beard worms (Pogonophora) and the spoon worms (Echiura) are considered to be close relatives of the annelids though their representation in the fossil record is rare. The segmented worms along with the beard worms and spoon worms belong to the Trochozoa. Segmented worms are classified within the following taxonomic hierarchy: Animals Invertebrates Segmented Worms Segmented worms are divided into the following taxonomic groups: Polychaetes - The polychaetes include about 12,000 species that are characterized by having multiple hairs on each segment. They have nuchal organs on their neck that function as chemosensory organs. Most polychaetes are marine animals although some species live in terrestrial or freshwater habitats.Clitellates - The clitellates include about 10,000 species that have no nuchal organs or parapodia. They are noted for their clitellum, a thick pink section of their body that produces a cocoon to store and feed fertilized eggs until they hatch. The Clitellates are further divided into the oligochaetes (which include earthworms) and the Hirudinea (the leeches).

Compare and contrast different software life- Research Paper

Compare and contrast different software life- - Research Paper Example There are several life-cycle models that have been suggested including waterfall, Agile, Iterative model, prototype model, spiral model etc., each with its different strengths and weaknesses (Thayer, 2005). Moreover, differences exist the way software is developed in theory and in practice. Considering these factors, for a software development organization to make an informed decision on the most appropriate life-cycle model for the particular, organization, the staff and the software process, it is imperative to make a comparative analysis of various life-cycle models (Schach, 2011). This paper therefore, strives to compare and contrast the features and defects of waterfall, Agile, Iterative model, prototype model, and spiral model in order to show the advantages and disadvantages of each. Waterfall Model The idea behind this model is that a subsequent phase can only be initiated upon completion of the previous phases and at the end of each phase or stage, a review is carried out to determine if the project is on course or whether to discontinue or discard the project (Munassar and Govardhan, 2010). The model follows a sequential approach that flows progressively from top to bottom passing through the five stages of the SDLC which include the requirements analysis and maintenance among others. The Waterfall model has various advantages most notably being its ease of use given its popularity among software developers. Moreover, the model is very efficient when working on small projects where requirements are very well understood. The model is also very cost-effective since more time is spent to make sure that all requirements are clearly understood at the earlier stages, which ensure that there remains no need to conduct risk analysis at later stage, which would be more expensive. On the other hand, the model has various drawbacks, the greatest being that once an phase has been initiated, it is impossible to go back to previous stages. For example, is mistakes are made at the design stage, but the situation can get very complex at the implementation level. The client does not have access to the software until it is completed and therefore any changes he might want made during the process may cause problems. Another disadvantage is that the model comes with high amounts of risk and uncertainty, inflexibility and it is generally a poor model for complex and object-oriented projects (Munassar and Govardhan, 2010). Considering these features, the Waterfall model is an appropriate life-cycle model for projects that have clear and well-understood requirements, design and technical tools and infrastructure. Spiral model In the spiral life-cycle model, a lot of emphasis is put on risk analysis and decreasing project risk by disintegrating it into smaller subdivisions. In addition, the model has a greater level of involvement of the client unlike the Waterfall model since reevaluation is carried out every time a new prototype is introduced. Errors are consequently done away with during the early stages of project development only leading to proper control over time and manpower requirement for the development process (Sharma, Sharma and Mehta, 2012). Budget and time estimates can also be made in way that is more realistic because the crucial issues are discovered during the initial

Assignment1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Assignment1 - Essay Example Rarely do authors and instructors address the social perceptions of women in leadership roles; the general feeling is that there simply isn’t a problem to be addressed. Just follow the instructions (be assertive, state your mind, take the lead, expect people to follow you, search for common ground among disagreeing parties, etc.) and anyone, man or woman, can become a leader. Unfortunately, following the instructions in the real world brings women right up against gender bias. It is indeed difficult to determine the extent of the problem, or even if there is a problem. Rhode puts it succinctly, â€Å"Gender inequalities in leadership are pervasive; perceptions of inequality are not† (6). When looked at from the outside, especially with feminist eyes, gender bias is obvious and evidence-based. From the inside, for women and men doing their jobs, a snide comment can be overlooked, or the justification for being passed over for a promotion sounds reasonable, or raising the kids really is more important than the corner office. There are several root causes for overt or covert gender bias. Stereotyping plays a significant role. Lack of mentoring and support from female leaders stymies a woman seeking a more prominent position, because if she imitates a male mentor, she might be stereotyped as being aggressive. Workplace structures, entrenched for centuries, still encourage women to make their place in the home and family a top priority. Unequal opportunities lead to more unequal opportunities. A dichotomy emerges during the balancing act between the idea that gender should not matter when it comes time for promotions, and the fact that â€Å"gender differences do make some difference, and they need to be registered in leadership positions† (18). It shouldn’t matter when it shouldn’t matter, but it should when it should. During her

Real Sex and Pornography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Real Sex and Pornography - Essay Example The decision of being social or anti-social as to the choice of sexually explicit materials is being guided by their lifetime experience as to what is acceptable and what is not. There were studies supporting the fact that viewing pornography and practicing internet sex has become addictive to majority of the population. Kimberly S. Young (2008) of The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery said that "Internet sex addiction typically involves viewing, downloading, and trading online pornography or engagement in adult fantasy role-play rooms". According to the author, adult web sites have become now the biggest segment of electronic commerce offering wide choices of sexual interests. Due to the readily available sexually explicit material online, internet sex addiction has become a major problem among users. Internet sex addiction is now being considered as a form of infidelity and has caused numerous family break-ups and marital problems (Millner, 2008). There were reported instances that an internet sex addicted husband prefer cybersex over real sex with their wives (Craine 2008). This paper aims to support the position that internet sex addiction should be avoided and the practice should be done devoid of emotional attachment. Causes of Internet Sex Addiction Young (2008) reported that Internet sex addiction start with discovery that sex sites do exist. 2 The author reported that normally, the new user discover the existence of such sites by accident. Due to the overwhelming number of internet sex sites, there will always be a chance that a surfer will discover its existence. Young reported that according to Internet Filter Review of Pornography Industry Statistics, There were about 4.2 million pornographic websites in existence today; the size of the industry is $57 billion worldwide and $12 billion of that is in the US. The daily hits on these websites total 372 million with additional 68 million pornographic search engine requests (Caroll et al, 2008). This represents about 25% of total search engine requests (Ropelato, 2006). For the first time user, surfing the internet with a press of a button is so exciting, much so if one accidentally press a button and enter a cybersex chat room. With complete unanimity through username and handle, one can rewind after a hard work or simply relieve stress and personal problems.The next phase according to Young is experimentation. Due to the fact that one can access the internet at the privacy of one's own room or office plus the convenience of being anonymous and without the danger of being recognized or the truth be divulged, one can effectively pose according to ones fantasy (Barak & Fisher, 2005). In short, all the inhibitions and shame that an action may result in real life can all be prevented under the internet scenario. It was for this reason that according to Young (2001), more than 60% of on line users developed sex addiction exclusively on the internet. The third stage of addiction development according to You

Speech Audiometry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Speech Audiometry - Essay Example Use of hearing aids of many types and formats can bring normalcy and comfort to patient short fallings relates to listening and recognition of words which may result in improvement of professional capabilities, understanding relationships with others, self-confidence and self-satisfaction. Many researches were conducted in past and still going on for effective detection of primary listening disabilities. Scientists study speech as auditory signal to test new equipment. Since the advent of speech audiometry, it has helped in differentiating hearing aids from one another and so has come to be known as the basic assessment of the ability of hearing. Due to the significance and accuracy of its results; it has also been considered as the foundation in the hearing aid evaluation of the majority of speech. Hence, speech audiometry became the centre of evaluation in audiology and the primary methods used now are the same that were used in the 1920's. The research for speech audiometry has not only been vastly useful but also is revolutionary in regard to the technological advances. Communication ability of a person is considered very important thus, continual research on the subject has been going on for the past 60 years and more. The credit not only goes to the scientists but even to the military investigators, industrial development and clinical audiology researchers. In rel History: In relation to the hearing aid fitting procedure, speech audiometry serves its purpose through assessing the effect of occlusion, analysis of intelligibility, evaluation of quality, and degree of loudness. Comparative hearing aid assessments also used speech audiometry as the main evaluation of performance. In the late 1940s, speech testing started being used for evaluating and differentiating hearing aids due to its advancement speech audiometry quickly became the preferred method to evaluate real-ear hearing aid performance. Speech testing assesses how amply speech is understood. Surveys conducted in the 1970s show that almost 85% of audiologists were using speech testing when fitting hearing aid. But after almost 30 years it was realized that these methods were not reliable enough to secure investment by selecting hearing aids in a large amount of clinical time. As the 1980s rolled on, use of speech audiometry in hearing aid fittings dropped to an exceptionally low level. All this was caused because it was seen that hearing aid dispensing is a much less time consuming process than speech testing and fitting approaches were the ones comprising of functional gain rather than speech audiometry. It also lacked the sensitivity to distinguish small differences on an individual basis in hearing aid performance. The benefits received were limited in regard to the time taken to get to them. Due to the technological advancement of that time, the industry started using in-the-ear hearing aid fittings as they effectively eradicated the comparative hearing aid evaluation approach altogether. Recent Research: Eventually in the 1990s, speech testing was on the whole, rarely used for hearing aid differentiation and aided speech testing was

Wind farme Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wind farme - Assignment Example he farm, mean annual wind speed at elevation, turbine power curve, rated power capacity, investment required, operation and maintenance cost (O&M)/ year, durability and useful life. Covering the wind profile, total annual energy output per turbine, total energy output, capacity factor, uptime percentage, average annual cost, value of electricity, annual O&M cost, annual inflation rate Based on wind maps, the mean annual wind speed can be determined. In fertile areas, quite prominent for energy harvesting; 100 meter Mean Annual Wind Speed Map, 70 meter Mean Annual Wind ... Mean Annual Power Density Map; 30 meter Mean Annual Power Density Map. To illustrate, a basic analysis of the Buckeye Wind Farm, comprised of 54 wind turbines planned for Champaign County, Ohio. The wind maps provided by the Ohio Power Sitting Board indicate that the mean annual wind speed in the area of the wind farm is approximately 7.5 m/s. Based on this, the analysis indicates a non-existent ROI because the wind turbines do not produce enough reliable electricity to pay for the investment required within a reasonable amount of time. In short, the annual expectation of 439,852 MWh of electrical energy generated does not generate enough revenue at regular average rates to overcome the O&M costs and pay back the $380 million investment within an anticipated 20 year lifespan of the turbines. It can therefore be expected that government grants and subsidies will have to be used to offset the losses, and that the cost of electricity will have to be increased. The simple economic analysis does not account for the cost that will be incurred to maintain and operate a traditional back-up system for generating power when the wind is not blowing adequately, and for the added cost and inefficiency of cycling this back-up system on and off to balance the supply load against the variability of the wind generated power. The lowest wind conditions and the lowest power output will occur in the summer, when

Background introduction to Romans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Background introduction to Romans - Essay Example Written in A.D. 56-58, in Corinth, [Unger, 1959] Paul sought to address an audience of predominantly Greek and gentile followers, in a time when Christianity was still emerging from its origins in Judaism. The period it was written in can be easily and accurately verified in that it has dated mentions of the apostle's sojourns to Jerusalem on philanthropic missions [Rom15: 25], and repeated references of this particular epistle in Corinthian, which was written around the A.D. 57. The venue of authorship is proven beyond doubt as well: Through this gospel, Paul tried to reach out to the church in Rome that he had not visited so far, and attempted to establish a connection by praising the inmates and referring to his old acquaintances. This epistle is not meant to be a comment on an existing situation, like the one addressed to the Corinthians. It broadly engages in topics pertaining to theology, and its message can be found in the line: "The Gospel . . . is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith" [Rom1: 16-17]. The faithful in those years were separated by long distances, and were more or less disparate communities being touched up

Speech Audiometry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Speech Audiometry - Essay Example Use of hearing aids of many types and formats can bring normalcy and comfort to patient short fallings relates to listening and recognition of words which may result in improvement of professional capabilities, understanding relationships with others, self-confidence and self-satisfaction. Many researches were conducted in past and still going on for effective detection of primary listening disabilities. Scientists study speech as auditory signal to test new equipment. Since the advent of speech audiometry, it has helped in differentiating hearing aids from one another and so has come to be known as the basic assessment of the ability of hearing. Due to the significance and accuracy of its results; it has also been considered as the foundation in the hearing aid evaluation of the majority of speech. Hence, speech audiometry became the centre of evaluation in audiology and the primary methods used now are the same that were used in the 1920's. The research for speech audiometry has not only been vastly useful but also is revolutionary in regard to the technological advances. Communication ability of a person is considered very important thus, continual research on the subject has been going on for the past 60 years and more. The credit not only goes to the scientists but even to the military investigators, industrial development and clinical audiology researchers. In rel History: In relation to the hearing aid fitting procedure, speech audiometry serves its purpose through assessing the effect of occlusion, analysis of intelligibility, evaluation of quality, and degree of loudness. Comparative hearing aid assessments also used speech audiometry as the main evaluation of performance. In the late 1940s, speech testing started being used for evaluating and differentiating hearing aids due to its advancement speech audiometry quickly became the preferred method to evaluate real-ear hearing aid performance. Speech testing assesses how amply speech is understood. Surveys conducted in the 1970s show that almost 85% of audiologists were using speech testing when fitting hearing aid. But after almost 30 years it was realized that these methods were not reliable enough to secure investment by selecting hearing aids in a large amount of clinical time. As the 1980s rolled on, use of speech audiometry in hearing aid fittings dropped to an exceptionally low level. All this was caused because it was seen that hearing aid dispensing is a much less time consuming process than speech testing and fitting approaches were the ones comprising of functional gain rather than speech audiometry. It also lacked the sensitivity to distinguish small differences on an individual basis in hearing aid performance. The benefits received were limited in regard to the time taken to get to them. Due to the technological advancement of that time, the industry started using in-the-ear hearing aid fittings as they effectively eradicated the comparative hearing aid evaluation approach altogether. Recent Research: Eventually in the 1990s, speech testing was on the whole, rarely used for hearing aid differentiation and aided speech testing was

Background introduction to Romans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Background introduction to Romans - Essay Example Written in A.D. 56-58, in Corinth, [Unger, 1959] Paul sought to address an audience of predominantly Greek and gentile followers, in a time when Christianity was still emerging from its origins in Judaism. The period it was written in can be easily and accurately verified in that it has dated mentions of the apostle's sojourns to Jerusalem on philanthropic missions [Rom15: 25], and repeated references of this particular epistle in Corinthian, which was written around the A.D. 57. The venue of authorship is proven beyond doubt as well: Through this gospel, Paul tried to reach out to the church in Rome that he had not visited so far, and attempted to establish a connection by praising the inmates and referring to his old acquaintances. This epistle is not meant to be a comment on an existing situation, like the one addressed to the Corinthians. It broadly engages in topics pertaining to theology, and its message can be found in the line: "The Gospel . . . is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith" [Rom1: 16-17]. The faithful in those years were separated by long distances, and were more or less disparate communities being touched up

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Essay Example for Free

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Essay Sam Hickory February 17, 2010 Hum/Eng.9 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time In the novel, the voice of Christopher is important because if it was told from a different perspective it would be difficult to understand what goes on in Christopher’s mind and what the traits of a person with autism are. If this story was told from the perspective of a different character for example, Christopher’s father, the story would mainly be about how his wife left him, how its hard to take care of a child with autism and would not include the death of Wellington. If he included all of this in his point of view in the story then it would be less entertaining and interesting to read. Then Mark Haddon’s purpose of showing the world what it is like to be autistic would not be accomplished. First of all, Christopher’s voice is important because if it was told from a different perspective it would be different to understand what Christopher is thinking and what the traits of a person with autism are. He tells his story the way he sees it. He also includes many details and descriptions of the people around him. For example, in the beginning of the story he mentions a descriptive image of Siobhan, he writes, â€Å"Siobhan has long blond hair and wears glasses which are made of green plastic† (5). Christopher does not understand figurative language because he takes everything very literal. In the beginning of the story, Christopher mentions an important detail about his novel, he writes,†this will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them† (8). Throughout the story, Christopher mentions little details about himself like how he doesn’t like being touched, being in big crowds, and does not like strangers and will keep asking the same question over and over again until his question is Alexus Martinez February 17, 2010 Hum/Eng.9 answered. As you can see, these little details help interpret what the traits are to a person with autism. Christopher needs order and stability as he deals with autism because it makes his life happy and safe. Anything that jeopardizes this not only damages his mental state, but also brings him physical pain. Second, if this story was told from Christopher’s dad perspective, the story would mainly be about how his wife left him, how it is hard to take care of a child with autism and throughout all of this he would not mention the death of Mrs. Shear’s dog, Wellington. Christopher’s father, Ed Boone, would start talking about the past with his wife and how she left him. For example, in the middle of the book, he sees that Christopher read the letters from his mother, he says, â€Å"I did it for your own good, Christopher. Honestly I did. I never meant to lie. I just thought†¦I just thought it would be better if you did not know†¦that†¦that†¦I did not mean to†¦I was going to show you when you were older† (114). This shows that Christopher’s father told his son lies because deep down inside of him he was hurt still and tried to forget about the pain in him by not mentioning her name. Throughout the story, Christopher’s father has patience for his son once in a while. He is a good father and even though he sometimes loses his temper, he still loves Christopher. The hardest thing for Christopher’s father is telling Christopher to be staying out of peoples business. He tells him this because Christopher wants to find out who killed Wellington which bothers his father. Whenever Christopher mentions Mr. Shear’s name, it upsets him because Christopher’s father’s wife had an affair with Mr. Shears. For example, in the story, Christopher mentions about Mr. Shears being the prime suspect and his Alexus Martinez February 17, 2010 Hum/Eng.9 father shouts saying, â€Å"I will not have that man’s name mentioned in my house† (49). He says this because every time he hears Mr. Shears name in his home, it brings him pain but also gets him upset. Throughout the story, Christopher mentions a lot about himself. The things he likes and what he dislikes. He also mentions about Siobhan and how she helps him through his life. If this story were told from the perspective of Christopher’s father it would not be interesting or entertaining like the way Christopher put it. His father would not include any math pictures and equations that Christopher included or the way he always talked about his dreams and the way he thought about people. Christopher’s father would not include any of this or may not include his opinions on things. If none of this was included in the story if told from the father’s perspective, it would make the book dull and boring. In conclusion, the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, the voice of Christopher is very important because he tells it from his point of view. If it was told from Christopher’s father, Ed Boone’s point of view, it would be different to understand what Christopher is thinking and what the traits are to a person with autism are. Christopher’s father would mainly include the past with his wife and how it is to raise a child with autism. He would not include the death of Wellington. If the novel did not include any of this, the book would be less entertaining and interesting. Then Mark Haddon’s purpose of showing the world what it is like to be autistic would not be accomplished. The book would not be that good of a book if it was told through a different perspective. Alexus Martinez February 17, 2010 Hum/Eng.9 Works Cited 1. Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. New York: A Division of Random House, Inc, 2003.

The Theory of Comfort by Katherine Kolcaba

The Theory of Comfort by Katherine Kolcaba The Theory of Comfort by Katherine Kolcaba is middle range theory. Middle range theories contain a limited number of concepts and have a more limited scope. However, Kolcabas Theory of Comfort is classified as a high middle range theory making it a more general and abstract theory. Making it closely related to a Grande Theory which is very abstract and general and can be applied to a variety of experiences and responses (McEwen Wills, 2011). This is very true for The Theory of Comfort as many articles have been written adapting the theory to multiple scopes of nursing. Middle range theories include something specific related to nursing practice such as a situation or condition of a patient or patient population. Middle range theories also take into account the populations age and location when working on the development of a theory. A middle range theory also includes an intervention, proposed outcome, or an action of the nurse. Middle range theories are developed by interpreting and observing lived experiences with a relation to health and nursing (Tomey Alligood, 2002). In Katherine Kolcabas Theory of Comfort she spent much time examining the relationships and outcomes of patients in relation to comfort. Context Katherine Kolcaba originally wrote the Theory of Comfort with Alzheimers and dementia patients in mind. However, Katherine herself has co-written multiple articles about other scopes of nursing related to her theory. Two recent articles were written applying her theory to perianesthesia nursing and hospice nursing (Kolcaba Wilson, 2002 and Vendlinski Kolcaba, 1997).When Kolcaba was developing her theory she utilized logical reasoning. She utilized induction, deduction, reduction. Kolcaba utilized a preexisting framework as her antecedent. The framework was written by Henry Murray (Tomey Alligood, 2002), it was from a book entitled Explorations in Personality. Henry A. Murray was a professor of psychology at Harvard University; he received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association and the Gold Medal Award for lifetime achievement from the American Psychological Foundation. When it first came out in 1938, this book had a provocative and insightful effect, urging psychologists to study personality holistically and in depth and emphasizing the complex interactions between individual, social, and cultural characteristics. Salvatore R. Maddi, Professor, Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine (Explorations in Personality, 2007). This was a very good starting point for the theory as comfort is best achieved through holistic treatment. She also began with a concept analysis of the term, comfort. Katherine Kolcaba gathered the definition, of comfort from many different disciplines. Within The Theory of Comfort the metaparadigm proposition of nursing actions is utilized (Kolcaba, 2001). This is evident in this theory because it is built around evaluating for the lack of comfort and then reevaluating the patient to calculate the success of any implementations made or actions taken. Katherine Kolcaba utilizes the all four of the metaparadigm concepts: nursing, patient, environment, and health. In nursing there is an assessment of comfort needs, actions to promote comfort, and then the reassessment of comfort levels. The assessment and reassessment can be either subjective or objective. The patient can be an individual or their family. The environment is any part of the patients surroundings that can be manipulated by the nurse to enhance the patients comfort. Finally, health is the optimum functioning of the patient (Tomey Alligood, 2002).The author believes that Kolcaba does utilize all four of the metaparadigm because the patient is the center. The nurse is essential because the nurse provides the care to increase the comfort. The environment also plays an essential role in this theory as comfort or discomfort can be found in the patients environment. Finally the author believes that when all of these three are in cooperation to create comfort the patient wil l then have an increase in their health. The philosophical claim that The Theory of Comfort is based on is human needs. There are two core components of this philosophy. There first is the motivational drive that is behind human behavior. The second is the force driven by social and cultural politics that influences the patients expectations. Patients comfort needs are driven by their expectations of competent and holistic nursing care (Kolcaba, 2001). The world view that fits The Theory of Comfort most concisely is the reciprocal world view this fits well because human beings are active and holistic. Humans interact with their environment and this interaction may lead to pain, displeasure, or comfort. Humans learn from their experiences and this leads them to the ability to make decisions that can keep them in a more comfortable environment. Content The Theory of Comfort has six basic concepts: health care needs, nursing interventions, intervening variables, patient comfort, health seeking behaviors, and institutional integrity (Kolcaba, 2001). Health care needs are defined as the need for comfort that comes from stressful health care situations. The types of needs that can arise are: physical, psychospiritual, social, and environmental, these are the same terms that Kolcaba uses to evaluate the effectiveness. These needs are made apparent through close monitoring (Tomey Alligood, 2002). Nursing interventions are defined as the commitment of nursing and health care institutions to promote comfort care and meet the comfort needs of patients (Kolcaba, 2001). Intervening variables is anything that affects the outcome (Kolcaba, 2001). Some possible variables include: past experience, age, attitude, emotional state, support system, prognosis, and finances (Tomey Alligood, 2002). Patient comfort is defined as, immediate state of bei ng strengthened by having needs met in 4 contexts of human experience, (physical, psychospiritual, social, and environmental) (Kolcaba, 2001). Health seeking behaviors is defined as, the pursuit of health as defined by the recipient, in consultation with the nurse, (Tomey Alligood, 2002). Instructional integrity is an institution that possess qualities of completeness, honesty, sincerity and is also appealing (Tomey Alligood, 2002). Katherine Kolcaba has a total of six propositions that outline her theory of comfort. The first of the six is that a nurse identifies the comfort needs that have not yet been identified by the patients other support systems. The second proposition is that the nurse is then responsible for designing interventions to address those unmet needs of the patient. The third is taking into account the variables that could affect the intervention that has been proposed to help the patient. The forth proposition by Kolcaba is that once the comfort is met or achieved that patients are encouraged to engage in health seeking behaviors. The fifth proposition is that once a patient has been strengthened and are participating in health seeking behaviors they are then more satisfied with their health care. The last proposition of The Theory of Comfort is when a patient is satisfied with their health care in a particular institution that institution retains its integrity (Kolcaba, 2001). All six of the propositions are relational in the streamline. All six of the propositions have to take effect for the patient to be brought to an acceptable level of comfort with that level of comfort being maintained for an extended period of time. All six of Katherine Kolcabas propositions are relational as they are a streamlined reevaluating process that depends on all parts for success and structurally necessary to have holistic health. Katherine Kolcaba has listed four major assumptions in her Evolution of the Theory of Comfort. The first is human beings have holistic responses to complex stimuli (Kolcaba, 2001). The second is that comfort is a desirable holistic outcome that is relevant to the discipline of nursing. The third is, it is an active endeavor to meet and maintain comfort. The fourth and final assumption is that institutional integrity has a large component that is based on a patient oriented value system (Kolcaba, 2001). Katherine Kolcabas diagramed conceptual model consists of the basic principles of The Theory of Comfort. The health care needs, nursing interventions, and intervening variables all work in cooperation to become enhanced comfort. Enhanced comfort then leads to health seeking behaviors. The facility or company who has in use best policies and best practices will then be able to promote and relate health seeking behaviors utilizing those policies and practices. Health seeking behaviors then have the ability to become internal and external behaviors which can lead to greater health. The health seeking behaviors may also lead to a peaceful death, (The Comfortliners, 2010) as this is the goal of hospice nursing and the Theory of Comfort has been utilized in hospice nursing (Vendlinski Kolcaba, 1997). This concept is much easier to visualize than read. In order to evaluate the success of achieving comfort Katherine Kolcaba has developed a table or taxonomic structure to document comfort. On the left side of the chart are four rows labeled, physical, psychospiritual, environmental, and social, (Tomey Alligood, 2002) which are the context for which comfort occurs. The three columns on top are the types of comfort, relief, ease, and transcendence, (Tomey Alligood, 2002). Kolcaba defines relief as the stated of having had a specific need met or mediated, ease is, the state of calm and contentment, and transcendence is, the state in which one rises above problems or pain, (Kolcaba, 2001). When evaluating a patients comfort the nurse fills in the twelve empty squares with what action helps to achieve that level of comfort. Theory Evaluation Significance Comfort is a massively important concept of nursing and The Theory of Comfort is designed to bring comfort to patients. The diagrammed conceptual model provides the simplest explanation for the theory. The metaparadigm concepts are not clearly defined by Katherine Kolcaba; however she does clearly states the philosophical claim and its concepts. The conceptual framework and antecedent knowledge is minimally defined within her work, but they are acknowledged and cited. Internal consistence The content and context reflect each other nicely as they are both centered around holistic comfort, however the clarity throughout the theory is minimal. The six propositions of The Theory of Comfort are clearly stated by Katherine Kolcaba. The six propositions flow consistently to outline the theory well. The assumptions are clearly stated and are consistent with comfort and treating the patient holistically. The theory is reciprocal as all parts are dependent on the others for success. Parsimony Throughout The Theory of Comfort there is minimal clarity. The propositions and the conceptual diagram are the clearest components of the work. The theory would be more understandable if it were stated more simply. Testability The Theory of Comfort does not have a very specific evaluation processes aside from the taxonomic structure that the nurse fills in by documenting what implementations help to achieve comfort, which was previously mentioned. However with regular nursing assessments the nurse will know if comfort has been achieved, either objectively or subjectively. The best way to measure comfort rather a nurse is utilizing this theory or not is to frequently ask and objectively assess a patient and notice nonverbal indications of pain. As with any high middle range theory, The Theory of Comfort is very abstract and proves difficult to measure results in a definitive method. Empirical adequacy The Theory of Comfort has been adapted to several different fields of nursing aside from its original focus of dementia care. Perianesthesia nursing has adapted this theory to help patients especially by utilizing the table to document different methods of obtaining comfort. It has also lead nurses in this scope of practice to realize the importance of education (Kolcaba Wilson, 2002). The theory has also been utilized by hospice nurses, this is the ideal scope of nursing to utilize this theory. It has provided hospice nurses with a broader outlook on how to provide holistic comfort to their dying patients (Vendlinski Kolcaba, 1997). Pragmatic adequacy The Theory of Comfort is a very practical concept as everyone feels better when they are comfortable. Patients and families are more able and willing to absorb information when they are comfortable and focused. This theory provides simple steps to ensure comfort is being delivered. The Theory of Comfort encourages nurses to think more deeply about rather or not their patient is comfortable, along with what is causing discomfort and what is promoting comfort. It also encourages nurses to document the variation of methods in which a patient becomes comfortable in different settings. A basic nursing knowledge such as an associates degree is necessary for utilizing this theory, however in order to understand the written theory in its entirety a more advanced knowledge level proves to be a necessity.