National Security Council Essay Example for Free

home(a) protective covering Council EssayThe recent course of action characterizing the US security policy is the gradual strengthening of the National Security Council. infra G. bush-league administration this body gained significant power and influence. In this paper Im going to investigate the reasons for this trend as well its advantages and disadvantages. In the inter field practice, National Security Council is generally defined as an executive body organize national security issues.National Security Council consists of the heads of departments involved in diplomacy and defense with a relatively down in the mouth number of staff members. The US National Security Council was established in 1947 and substantially amended in 1949 the same year it was placed in the Executive Office of the President. The powers and influence of the US NSC has been gradually increasing during the second half of the 20th centuries this trend is discernable presently, too.As for the structu re of the council, it is chaired by the President and encompasses Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of ply as the statutory military advisor to the Council, the Director of Central Intelligence as the intelligence advisor. The Chief of Staff to the President, Counsel to the President, and the Assistant to the President for scotch Policy have a right to be present at any bear oning of the Council others can be invited to attend NSC meeting if appropriate.The functions of the NSC are considering national security and irrelevant policy matters with his senior national security advisors and cabinet officials. (National Security Council official website, http//www. whitehouse. gov/nsc/) Every President made major or small fry change in the powers and functions of the NSC in order to adjust it to his own management style. The u ltimate goal of the NSC under Bush administration is to ensure collegiality among different departments coordinating military and diplomatic issues. But the functions of the NSC nowadays are much wider.The expert report that the NSC today conducts ongoing relations with the media, Congress, the American public, and extraneous governments. (Daalder Destler, 2000, A unused NSC for a New Administration, http//www. brookings. edu/comm/policybriefs/pb68. htm) Even the official sources define the Council as as a means of controlling and managing competing departments and its functioning depended in no small degree upon the interpersonal chemistry between the President and his principal advisers and department heads. (Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, History of the National Security Council, http//www. fas. org/irp/offdocs/NSChistory. htm) The NSC is refered to as the key foreign policy player in every administration since John F. Kennedys. (Daalder Destler) I strong ly deem that the trend of NSC suitable more(prenominal) important reflects the general trend of Presidential power becoming more authoritative. The fact that Condoleeza Rice rivals Colin Powell in influence is to a certain extent causes to the relations between Condoleeza Rice and the President. some other reason is that she had been an influential public figure in academic and political circles before joining the NSC. Karl Inderfurth and Loch Johnson (2004, p. 180) in their book Fateful Decisions Inside the National Security Council states that Rice perhaps most closely resembles McGeorge Bundy, of the Kennedy Administration, who was the first non-invisible national-security adviser George Bush in the first National Security Presidential Directive stated that The NSC shall meet at my direction. (National Security Presidential Directive, 2001, http//www. fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/nspd-1. htm) The positive side of it is that the President can quickly obtain a qualified advice when needed. The negative side is that the NSC is an easy incision for controlling and redefining diplomatic and military policy of the county without consulting other major defense bodies.The same Directive states Except for those established by statute, other existing NSC interagency groups, ad hoc bodies, and executive committees are also abolished as of March 1, 2001, unless they are specifically reestablished as subordinate working groups within the new NSC system as of that date. George Bush adjusted the Council to his own needs approximately after a year in the office. This is one more important reason why the President relies more on the NSC than on traditional bureaucracy. The structure of the NSC is relatively transparent and clear it includes a limited number of members, although it has grown in size recently and resembles a governmental agency rather than an advisory committee. I would give care to elaborate on another factor that contributes to the situation with the NSC.A fter the tragic events of 9/11 George Bush established the Office of Homeland Security under the governance of Tom Ridge, the Presidents close friend. The functions of the NSC and the OHS often overlap the possibility of the NSC becoming hegemonic in the sphere of homeland security decreased. Still, its role in the national security is hard to overestimate. Daalder Destler (2000) propose a clear list of reasons why the NSC evolved in the key agent in defence and foreign policy.They state that it was caused by the half-century development and legitimization of the NSC as presidential coordinator for mainstream national security issuesandthe post-cold war expansion of the foreign policy agenda, with more issues that require coordination across more agenciesandthe deepening of partisanship in Washington, particularly over the last decade. Its hard to give a solely positive or negative evaluation of this trend. From one angle, the NSC is flexible and is able to react rapidly to any se curity threat.It may seem clear-sighted to grant excessive powers to the NSC. There would be no need to employ the bureaucratic machine of numerous agencies dealing with diplomacy, military aspects and homeland security. The NSC should be organise in such a way so that the president can make clear foreign policy choices in a timely manner. (Daalder Destler ) Daalder Destler think over emphasises that the NSC major task is integrating the US foreign and defence policy, and its of high importance in the era of global terrorism.From another angle, the NSC is powered by the President, and there exists much space for manipulation. Recently, the NSC doesnt manage efficiently with coordinating the national security bodies. For instance, some tension exists in relations between the NSC and the agencies like CIA. Now let me proceed with drawing the final conclusion of the paper. There exists a clear trend of the National Security Council becoming more influential and powerful under the George Bush administration this happens for compelling reasons.The positive or negative evaluation of his trend largely depends on the degree of efficiency of the NSC validation and functioning.References 1. The White House, National Security Council http//www. whitehouse. gov/nsc/ Last accessed 15 Oct 2004 2. Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State, History of the National Security Council, 1947-1997 http//www. fas. org/irp/offdocs/NSChistory. htm Last accessed 15 Oct 2004 3.National Security Presidential Directive, February 13, 2001 http//www. fas. org/irp/offdocs/nspd/nspd-1. htm Last accessed 15 Oct 2004 4.The Brookings Institution, Foreign Policy Studies, Daalder, I. H. , Destler, I. M. , A New NSC for a New Administration, Nov 2000 http//www. brookings. edu/comm/policybriefs/pb68. htm Last accessed 15 Oct 2004 5. Inderfurth, K. F. , Johnson, L. K. 2004. Fateful Decisions Inside the National Security Council. Oxford University Pres s.

Obsession in the gothic Essay Example for Free

Obsession in the gothic EssayTo what extent do you agree that obsession is a significant portion in the gothic writing you have studied? The word obsession means the domination of ones thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image or desire. With this in mind, both Faustus and Frankenstein show symptoms of monomania in relation to academic obsession. Similarly, in The Bloody sleeping room the characters that experience obsession are also male, nevertheless they are driven by a different obsession sexual desire.In the prologue of Doctor Faustus it already begins to establish Faustus thirst for knowledge and how this resulted in his tragic downfall. Firstly, the Chorus compares Faustus to the Icarus myth his waxen wings did mount above his reach, which suggests that Faustus fixation with necromancy is not a power he is supposed to possess, and that his destine will end similarly to Icarus. Furthermore, it states that Faustus glutted for learning.The word gluttony highlights that Faustus obsession for knowledge can only result in tragedy because its one of the seven deadly sins, and also indicates how extreme Faustus obsession is. This is because gluttonys definition is to gorge yourself with something, and is often to the extent of harm. However, you could argue that Faustus greed is not completely based around academic knowledge, and he actually desires rival God in terms of power and knowledge. For instance, when Faustus is listing what he would most, desires he cherished strength that exceeded.the mind of man and was in comparison to a mighty god. In comparison, Frankenstein also overstepped his reach in pursuit of his obsession, and com custodyts that Robert should learn from his mistakes, and that it is dangerous for men who aspire to become greater than this nature will allow. These short quotations show us the viewpoint of Shelley during this period on enlightenment, as she was trying to symbolise a moral and didactic message throughout Fran kenstein as a warning of all the forthcomings of what could happen if the exploration of science and knowledge became an obsession.For example, Frankenstein deliberately makes the creature ridiculous by making him proportionally large at about eight feet in height because he wanted to finish his creation as briefly as possible, and didnt think about the consequences this would have for the creature when he actually succeeded in bring him to life. On the other hand, in The Bloody Chamber whilst obsession is not as significant as the other two texts, Carter uses masculine sexual obsession to critique how patriarchal our society still is.For example, in The Snow Child she is called the child of his desire. He wishes for her to be beautiful and nothing else, so it is clear that he is interested only in her fashion and her value as a sexual object. Furthermore, once she has fulfilled her purpose of becoming a sexual object, she dies. This could be Carter symbolizing that once a charr tries to become the objection of a mans obsessions and desires, it becomes impossible for her to ever live up to expectations, and therefore a death sentence.

Essay on Human Resource Management in Kentucky Fried Chicken

Essay on Human Resource Management in Kentucky Fried volailleKentucky Fried Chicken is the vastst fast food chicken operator, and franchiser in the demesne. Colonel Sanders has become a world-k todayn figure by marketing his finger lickin intimately fried chicken. The eaterys cover a large percentage of the United States market in terms of sales. E genuinely day, millions of diners are served at KFC, featuring the Colonels finger lickin good surplus recipe fried chicken. (About us) KFC kat onces that their employees are at the center of their success. Developing a successful employee educate weapons platform and effective retention strategies will determine the success of the company and whether the company can deliver a more(prenominal) tenacious customer experience.The KFC Corporation is base in Louisville, Kentucky and was erected by Harland Sanders in 1932. Sanders was born on a farm in Indiana in the 1890s. Following the death of his father in 1896, Sanders mother was forced to work two jobs to support the family. In order to help his mother, Sanders learned to cook for his brother and sister at the young age of six. By the age of fifteen he had worked a mannikin of jobs, including painter and railroad fireman. In 1920 Sanders opened a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky and he began to cook for his family and the occasional customer in a buns room of the service station. It was then that he invented whats called home meal replacement selling complete meals to busy, time-strapped families. He called it, Sunday Dinner, Seven Days a Week (Colonel Harland Sanders). Sanders enjoyed cooking the food his mother had taught him for travelers. Rather than coming in for service for their cars, bulk began coming in specifically for his food. Demand for his cooking rose and eventually he expanded his up and coming business by moving across the street to a facility with a restaurant, a motel, and a gas station. The restaurant was named Sanders Court Caf and was so successful that in 1935 the Governor granted Sanders the title of honor open Kentucky Colonel in recognition of his contribution to the states cuisine. (KFC Corporation)Colonel Sanders was al commissions experimenting with his food at his restaurant. He originally prepared his chicken in an iron skillet, which took an average of thirty minutes to do, which was to long for restaurant operations. During the late 1930s the Colonel went to a demonstration of a in the raw gizmo, the pressure cooker. He purchased a pressure cooker and made a few adjustments. After a lot of experimenting with cooking time, pressure, shortening temperature and level, Eureka The Colonel had found a way to fry chicken quickly, under pressure, and come out with the outdo chicken hed ever tasted, and what weve come to know as Kentucky Fried Chicken was born (The pressure cooker).On a daily basis more than twelve million diners visit a KFC restaurant on 109 countries and territories virtually the worl d. (About us)KFCs reaping specialty is fried chicken that is served in various forms and is made with the passe-partout Recipe. KFC protestards for quality start with the use of the famous bucket. The paper bucket is used for its large sized orders and helps to keep the chicken crispy by wicking away moisture. The Original Recipe, which remains a trade secret, is made from a blend of eleven herbs and spices that Colonel Sanders was able to perfect. Portions of the secret recipe are mixed in different parts of the United States but the complete hand written copy is kept in a vault at the corporate headquarters. Nutrition has been a big concern for KFC because its main products are fried. In recent years KFC has made changes and now offers a variety of menu items that are low in fat for customers that prefer lower calorie choices. To assist customers, KFC has posted a nutrition consume on their website providing customers detailed information about their ingredient choices and nut rition values. They turn out also introduced grilled items that offer fewer fat grams and less sodium than the Original Recipe, all without sacrificing the great taste of KFC products. (Nutrition)KFCs training and generatement strategies focus on effective management and building customer relations, as well as providing highschool quality products, and maintaining cleanliness of their restaurant. In the beginning, the companys strategies were not very successful. The company has made changes to its strategy by focusing on giving more career opportunities for pack cerebrate to business, management, and other professional area of study. The principle development and training strategies are as follows1) Urge the employees to get closer to the customer by adopting a very friendly behavior to them to make decisions from market back. So the first principle is to create the customer focus goal.2) The firm also keeps in touch with the in vogue(p) trends and changing technological inno vations for its market and to keep a continuous change as a way of life. Adding new ideas and taste in its meals, making more deals for attracting the customers and many other small policies are adopted for this purpose.3) Market orientation was another area of priority by the management team to generate wasted effectiveness in the global market. A friendly atmosphere with the customers is very important to give them confidence for putting their suggestions in the suggestion box for acquire an idea of the likes and dislikes of their valuable customers.4) The management team communicates very effectively and learns how to create an innovative atmosphere and a check understanding with the various cultures of the globe. As people belonging in different areas and cultures have different taste. So the main principle here is not to create a strong uniform discolouration image but also to serve the lift out interest of different customers in different locations.5) Making a market plan and providing effective training to the employees is also an important strategy for the development of the corporation in overseas locations. While training and educating the employees, human resource planning, reward system and cultural definitions were apt(p) for international operations to the management team, which further hired and trained new staff from the local countries where the new branch is to establish. This also improves international political economical relations as opening new markets in outside country and ensuring new jobs facilities for the nationals of that country played a very important role in building customer relations and getting into the cultural taste of the natives. (Training and Development Strategies)Historically, the fast food industry has not been seen as the most effective way to build a career, especially for those individuals that are starting at the bottom of the ladder. KFC is working hard to overcome this perception. During the late 1990s, KFC launched a new employee incentive weapons platform as part of a three million dollar reorganization of its corporate field operations. The program was intended to show general managers that they play an natural role in the success or failure of KFC. The managers were taken to the corporate headquarters for three days of meetings and seminars. The company believed that a great way to develop great teams is to focus on the restaurant leaders. The changes stemmed from a survey that was conducted and revealed that managers wanted more support from corporate headquarters, they want to know that they are valued (KFC initiates). The new program emphasized on developing a closer relationship with individual stores and a stronger focus on training and hiring practices, all with the intent of providing better customer service and a better working environment that will reduce turnovers. Jackie Trujillo, chairman of Harman Management, said, They are right on target, if you are going to s urvey in this industry, you have got to get people to buy into the program, because who waits on customers? Where does everything happen? If you dont have everybody buying into that, youre not going to make everyone happy (KFC initiates).For 2010, KFC has again refocused its corporate goals and is now putting special efforts on making their employees feel valued. This is apparent in the way employees treat each(prenominal) other, and is also accomplished through the companys reward package. The program offers all employees bonuses through a variety of schemes. The employees are rated in two performance measures, customer satisfaction and operational basics. The bonuses are also based on sales made as a restaurant and are paid in form of retail vouchers, with some vouchers valued at over $400.00 per employee each quarter. The bonuses are meant to create energy and encourage employee engagement with the goals of the restaurant. Managers and senior staffs can also earn cash bonuses de pending on how they score on a symmetricalness scorecard. Misty Reich, vice-president HR at KFC UK and Ireland, says the aim is to use the bonuses to create an ownership mentality among KFC employees (KFC keeps staff). KFC also considers career progression within the company to depend on the bonuses offered. By conducting in-depth review of the restaurants staffs twice a year, the company can decide which of them has the ability to move forward in the organization. (KFC keeps staff)In order to generate clams and achieve long term success, businesses need to build a workplace that attracts, engages, and retains the best employees. A company culture describes how an employee thinks and feels about the company. It effects how employees respond and carry on themselves in the work place. At KFC the company culture is a result of the companys vision and values. Our aim is to put a smile on peoples locutions around the world and gives every customer a special experience on each occasio n (Human resources). These values are as follows1) Believe in all people We trust in positive intentions and believe everyone has the potential to make a difference. We actively seek diversity in others to expand our thinking and make the best decision. We coach and support every individual to grow to their sufficient capability.2) We are customer maniacs Customers rule. Every customer sees it, feels it and knows it in every restaurant. We make sure we have great Restaurant General Managers who build great teams. 100% CHAMPS with a Yes Attitude is the expectation.3) Go for breakthrough We begin by asking ourselves What can I do NOW to get breakthrough results in my piece of Yum Our intentionality drives step change thinking. We imagine how big something can be and work future-back, going full out with positive energy and personal accountability to make it happen.4) Build know how We grow by being avid scholarly persons, pursuing knowledge and best practice inside and outside our c ompany. We seek truth over harmony every step of the way. We consistently drive outstanding execution by measure our learning into process and tools around what matters most. Breakthroughs come when we get people with knowledge thinking creatively.5) Take the hill teamwork We team together to drive action versus activity. We treat the un-discussable, always promoting healthy debate and healthy decisions. Our relationships allow us to ask the earth of each other. We make specific verbal contracts to get big things make with urgency and excellence.6) Recognize Recognize Recognize We attract and retain the best people and inspire greatness by being world famous for recognition. We love celebrating the achievement of others and have lots of fun doing it(Human resources)Building employee capability is an important strategy at KFC. A company is only as good as its employees and KFC believes that their employees should be rewarded for the dedication and large portions of their lives th ey invest into the company. At KFC all employees receive initial training which covers food safety, business familiarization and online testing. The elements of the training are web based and virtual reality classrooms that are used to develop champions. After commencing employment team members continue to further their training through a program called CHAMPS. CHAMPS stand for the six universal areas of customer expectations Cleanliness, Hospitality, Accuracy, Maintenance, Product quality, and Speed. The training is both face to face and web based. The web based program provides consistent and up-to-date information. The face to face program provides opportunity for cross-training within the restaurant so that employees continue to develop new skills. The blended training is estimated to require 41% less hours per learner than in-restaurant training programs. (Human resources)KFC has grown to be the largest quick service restaurant and has been proven to be a successful business en terprise with more than 11,000 restaurants in 109 countries around the world. (About us) KFC understand that their employees are at the center of their success. Through structured employee training and effective retention strategies the company can deliver a more consistent customer experience. The training, development, and retention of the right people are the key ingredients to the secret recipe that result in the long term success of KFC.

Relationship between Binge Eating and Stress

Relationship betwixt Binge victuals and StressBinge consume and Stress Is it behavioral or Biological?ABSTRACTStress is often inevitable in todays fast paced world. People atomic number 18 struggling with positive head mechanisms to deal with everyday life stressors. Binge occupying (BE) chamberpot arise from dysfunctional coping mechanisms that can be triggered from stress. Research has been limited in categorizing flood alimentation as either behavioral or biological due to BE being a recent disorder discovery and its overlap between uneasy and mental dependence. This review aims to explain the differences between biological and psychological railroad ties and the correlation stress has in both aspects of BE.KeyWords Binge Eating, Stress, Eating roughness, Food Addiction, PsychologicalDependenceINTRODUCTIONAt some point in their lives, people pull in experienced some form of stress that t unitary down them to turn to coping mechanisms to overcome the stressor(s). Work, college, family, and the pursuit of happiness can consume an individual to perform at optimum, sometimes unrealistic levels. In todays world, college students and immature professionals report the highest levels of stress compared to older generations. Thirty-nine percent of Millennials say their stress has increased in the last year, compared to 36 percent of Generation Xers, 33 percent of Baby Boomers and 29 percent of Matures (Stress by Genarations, 2012). The form in which people deal with stress varies from individual but maladaptive forms of coping mechanisms such as Binge eating are becoming more(prenominal)(prenominal) popular among young individuals, particularly women (Fischer, 2017). Binge Eating (BE) is consuming a very bountiful amount of intellectual nourishment within a short period of time with no sense of control over ones eating, and no purification afterwards (Parakeh). People who have low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, body image issues, dieting ob sessed, compulsive tendencies and academic perfection goals are more likely to develop an eating disorder such as BE (Cain, 2008). BE so far has been classified as an eating disorder along with Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia (Hardway, 2015), but there are more vestigial symptoms that make it difficult to categorize under purely addictive psychological dependence or if its a neural reception to stress. Psychological conditions such as depression, anxiety and low-self-esteem can manifest themselves when triggered by a situation or stressor that would make the individual turn to BE for relief or avoidance (Shelton, 2010). According to the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), which is a measure to identify individuals show signs related to substance dependence with the inlet of high fat/high sugar food for thought such as food addiction (YFAS) individuals whose symptoms fit under YFAS have a strong correlation to food addiction. The YFAS proposes that the characteristics of gormandize eating goes hand in hand with what currently qualifies as substance dependence. Also, scores on the YFAS predicted binge eating behavior and wound up eating in a study of obese women who were dieting (Parylak, 2011). Alternatively, studies have been conducted that have found when stress levels are high, individuals are more likely to be given towards high-fat, high-sugar palatable foods in excess versus times of little to no stress. Neuronal activity monitored by a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) showed activating of various limbic governing body areas such as, the right amygdala (emotions, motivation), Cingulate cortex (emotion formation, memory), Hippocampus (regulates emotions), and Putamen (movement of limbs) (Figure 1, 2 and 3) (Born, 2010). Stress response initiates itself in the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal (HPA) bloc and the sympathetic-adrenomedullary (SAM) system (Adam, 2007). The overlapping and differential aspects of stress induced BE in the biologic al or psychological aspect have non yet been reviewed and the social occasion of this review is to compare both sides, using research already done in both areas to determine how stress-induced BE should be categorized.Stress and CategoriesThe Neuronal draw nearStudies have been done to research the cause of stress on the flair mostly on animals like mice. The studies have revealed that in rats,stress can lead story to choosing of lards and sugars over some other foods (Adam, 2007). Astudy done relating animal and human literature took focus on theneuroendocrine mediators, insulin and cortisol and reviewed the neuralcircuitry of the reward system that is linked with food (Adam, 2007). Animalmodels resulted in glucocorticoids allowing for more pleasurable food wasting diseaseand the consumption of medicines. A rear end pinch in rats is considered a stressor andwhen the tail is pinched the rat would eat more caloric dense food. After a 24hour rest period the rat would not eat to compensate for the calories taken in.However, if the tail pinching was consistent, the rat would eat more and stillate during the rest period. This can equate into human terms, as how constant sober stressors, for example college finals happening at the same time fourresearch papers are due, and fast food available virtually everywhere can leada very stressed person into a consumption frenzy of unlimited caloric densefood (Adam, 2007). The activation of the HPA axis as well as other transmittersaccounts for the release of endogenous opioids which affect the body by tryingto relax it when its in a heightened state. When theopioids are released (as response to a stressor) they contribute to theconsumption of high-fat/high-sugar foods, and likewise these palatable foodssustain the release of the opioids. Therefore, if food is concluded to shutdown stress pathways as before mentioned, (deactivating the HPA axis), so theres not a continuous influx of stressful omen transduction (suc has adrenaline release), and food is a coping mechanism of choice, henceneurologically a stressed-out person is wired to seek out fatty foods tocompensate for the amounts of stress triggering reactions in their body (Adam,2007). In another research study, human subjects were tested understressful and non-stressful conditions (a solvable math test and an unsolvablemath test), given two fMRIs and five blood tests. Thetest subjects were consequently asked to choose what kind of food appealed to them moreafter the test and a meal was alike given before of their choosing. The resultsindicated that under stress food intake was larger than non-stressed. Subjectswould have higher energy intake, protein intake and carbohydrate intakecompared with the non-stressed subjects, as foods that were more palatable werechosen (higher in sugar, fat, salt, and more textured) (Born, 2010). Theseresults correlate with other studies mentioned in this research, that alsostated that stressed subjects hav e higher energy intakes therefore they tend toeat more nutrient dense foods compared to those who are not stressed. The areas ofthe brain that were molestd were those that are linked to the reward system.The reward system is a dependence system is the brain that is activated bypleasurable foods, and drugs that renounce the feeling of one wanting more.Constant stimulation of the reward system leads to desensitization which testamentincrease the craving for palatable foods and have neurobiological adaptions tostimulate eating when not hungry. (Adam, 2007). The fMRI scans show regions ofthe limbic system that were activated when stressed given the choice to choosefoods that were appealing (Figures 1,2 and 3) (Born, 2010). Brain reward in eatingin the absence of hunger Figure 1. mesial (a), coronal (b) and transversal (c) sections, showing the GLM contrast of choosing something versus choosing nothing. Significant activation is visible in the left-hand(a) frontal cortex ( 21, 58, 1 3 Po0.05 FDR corrected). (Photo taken from Born, 2010). Figure 2. Two sagittal (a, b) sections at different planes and a transversal (c) section with the GLM contrast of choosing breakfast versus choosing a meal postprandially. There is a clear activation in the orbitofrontal cortex (3, 48, 1), frontal cortex (13, 61, 20 and 12, 63, 21) and putamen (18, 5, 5 Po0.05 FDR corrected). (Photo taken from Born 2010). Figure 3. Sagittal (a), coronal (b) and transversal (c) sections, showing the GLM contrast rest condition versus stress condition. Significant activation in present in the putamen (22, 4, 3 and 23, 11, 4) and the orbitofrontal cortex ( 8, 28, 6, Po0.05 FDR corrected). (Photo taken from Born, 2010). A sleep study was conducted identifying lack of sleep as astressor. This is a common stressor of many college students for example thatare loaded with excessive workloads, and young professionals who must meet thedemands of their job fields. Subjects spent six days in bed for 9 hour s or 4hours and were submitted to MRI scanning on the sixth day and shown images ofhigh and low calorie foods as well as nonfood items. The results showed overallneuronal activity was greater after restricted sleep than familiar sleep inresponse to food images. There was also more brain activity in areas of thebrain associated with the reward pathways (Orbital frontal Cortex, insula, andregions of the basal ganglia). The brain regions in which activity was detectedare related to motivation and desire so individuals who are not getting enoughsleep are more prone to binge eating (St. Onge, 2012). Similarly, research hasbeen conducted on nocturnal eating in response to stress and it was found thatnocturnal eaters were more likely to binge eat than their counterparts. Thestressors in this study were mostly psychological (self-esteem issues, bodyshaming, depression etc.) but as mentioned before if there is a lack of sleepit will trigger neuronal activity to seek out palatable food, and sometimes itis uncontrolled, leading to binge eating (Striegel-Moore, 2010). Another study conducted previously testedsubjects in a similar manner and found that those subjects with Night EatingSyndrome (NES) were also associated with binge eating (Colles, 2007). Obesitywas concurrent with NES and most subjects that have NES were male harmonise toColles. The Psychological ApproachBinge Eating is generally more closelyassociated with psychological factors such as depression, low self-esteem, poorbody image perception, academic insufficiency, and weight-loss goals (Han, 2017).These factors are also closely associated to food addiction. Food addiction is definedjust as substance addiction per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of rational Disorders, Fourth Edition(DSM-IV) (Parakeh). The interlacing of terms between food addiction and bingeeating has to do with the psychological factors both terms have in common. BEis characterized by behavioral and psychological symptoms such as the frequency ofbinge episodes, the amount of food consumed, and their occurrence in theabsence of hunger. BE is also usually followed by guilt and feelings ofdisgust, shame, or depression, whereas FA is strictly more of a lack ofself-control driven by an impulse for gratification or escape. some(prenominal)have a loss of control and impulsivity driving the conditions however, food addiction does not equate into bingeeating (Davis, 2016). Research has been conducted to explore thesepsychological factors and a study was done comparing BE and FA statistically.The results indicated that subjects who fall under similar factors in both BE and FA are morelikely to experience more frequent binge eating episodes, stronger cravings forfood, and elevated levels of impulsivity and depressive symptoms than thosewith only BED (Burrows, 2017). Therefore, there is a difference between the twoterms, however when used in combination, the effects on an individual can bemore severe in contrast if the y were suffering from just BE or FA alone. Stresscan increase the effects of BE and FA, as studies have shown the closer the behavior between FA and BE then themore likely there will be underlying implicated stress and anxious anddepressive mood (Parylak, 2011). In a Chinese study the effects of stress and its causation tobinge eating was studied in adolescent girls whose main stressor was academicperfection. Results showed that adolescents with greater life event stress,earlier maladaptive schemas and higher levels of impulsivity displayed moresevere binge eating (Zhu, 2015). Therefore, adolescents who never well-educatedpositive coping mechanisms and were exposed to strong life stressors, were morelikely to engage in binge eating. This is potentially dangerous amongMillennial populations since it is possible they may have not learned positivecoping mechanisms in adolescence and now many are in college where the pressureto excel academically is high. Healthy individuals who may not fit criteria forBE or FA can fall into either category depending on the level of stressassociated in their lives, and how vulnerable they may be to psychologicalstressors (Hardaway, 2015).CONCLUSIONCategorizing BingeEating into either behavioral or biological categories is difficult because asresearch has shown components from both domains often interlace with oneanother. As discussed in this review many psychological stressors can give riseto neuronal activity that will biologically start a maladaptive cycle if theperson is not equipped to handle the overwhelming stress. Unfortunately,diagnosis of BE is done incorrectly because patients are not always asked theappropriate questions regarding their eating habits. Diagnosis should take intoconsideration dopamine, opioid, acetylcholine, and serotonin neuro-circuitry thatare associated within the brain reward regions, along with the psychologicalstressors (depression, self-esteem etc) that could be troubling the patient(Fornaro, 2 016). data-based drugs should as Lisdexamfetamine, have beentested among patients with mild BE and were found to reduce occurrence of BEepisodes compared to the placebo. Future trials concerning safety and long termeffects of the drug are needed to deem the drug fit for clinical treatment ofBE (Fornaro, 2016). Currently self-help techniques including monitoring mood,stress, and eating behavior are preferred to the pharmaceutic approach,however self-help in patients with BE is not effective as compared to thosewithout reported BE (Wolff, 2000). Future work could incorporate neuropsychology as to understand the processes of signal transduction that can lead to behavioral problems. The infusion of psychology and biology is crucial in trying to understand and ultimately treat binge eating caused by stress. As of now such research and studies are scarce combining both components in association with BE. This review aimed to clarify the distinction between psychologicaland neuronal categor ization of stress induced binge eating. As mentioned throughthis review, it is inaccurate to try and place BE into one category, as bothcategories are often present in individuals suffering from BE. The greater theawareness of this subject, the more equipped work places, colleges, andindividuals can be to recognize potential stressors and the effects they haveon those who are vulnerable to psychological conditions. Works CitedAdam, TanjaC., and ElissaS. Epel. Stress, eatingand the reward system.Physiology& Behavior, vol.91, no.4,2007,pp.449-458.Born, J.M., et al. Acute stress and food-relatedreward activation in the brain during food choice during eating in the absenceof hunger.International daybook of Obesity, vol.34, no.1,2009,pp.172-181.Burrows, Tracy, et al. Food Addiction, Binge EatingDisorder, and Obesity Is There a Relationship? behavioral Sciences,vol.7, no.3,2017, p.54.Cain, AngelaS., et al. Refining the relationships ofperfectionism, self-efficacy, and stress to dieting an d binge eating Examiningthe appearance, interpersonal, and academic domains.International Journal of EatingDisorders, vol.41, no.8,2008, pp.713-721.Colles, S.L., et al. Night eating syndrome andnocturnal snacking association with obesity, binge eating and psychologicaldistress.InternationalJournal of Obesity, vol.31, no.11,2007,pp.1722-1730.Davis, Caroline. A commentary on the associations among foodaddiction, binge eating disorder, and obesity overlappingconditions with idiosyncratic clinical features.Appetite, vol.115,2017, pp.3-8.Fischer, Sarah, et al. Impact of the neural correlates ofstress and cue reactivity on stress related binge eating in the naturalenvironment.Journalof Psychiatric Research, vol.92,2017, pp.15-23.Fornaro, Michele, et al. Lisdexamfetamine in the treatmentof moderate-to-severe binge eating disorder in adults systematic review andexploratory meta-analysis of publicly available placebo-controlled, randomizedclinical trials.neuropsychiatricDisease and Treatment , vol.Volume 12,2016,pp.1827-1836.Han, Suejung, and Soonhee Lee. College Student Binge EatingAttachment, Psychological Needs Satisfaction, and Emotion Regulation.Journal of College Student Development,vol.58, no.7,2017, pp.1074-1086.Hardaway, J.A., et al. Integrated circuits andmolecular components for stress and feeding implications for eatingdisorders.Genes,Brain and Behavior, vol.14, no.1,2015,pp.85-97.Harrington, EllenF., et al. The relationships amongtrauma, stress, ethnicity, and binge eating.Cultural Diversity and Ethnic MinorityPsychology, vol.12, no.2,2006, pp.212-229.Parekh, Ranna. What Are Eating Disorders?Home Psychiatry.org,www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/eating-disorders/what-are-eating-disorders.Parylak, SarahL., et al. The dark side of foodaddiction.Physiology& Behavior, vol.104, no.1,2011,pp.149-156.Pendleton, VictorR., et al. Negative Stress and theOutcome of Treatment for Binge Eating.EatingDisorders, vol.9, no.4,2001, pp.351-360.Shelton, VirginiaL., and Kar enaT. Valkyrie.College Student Stress A Predictor of Eating Disorder PrecursorBehaviors.AlabamaCounseling Association Journal, vol.35,no.2,Mar.2010,ebscohost.St-Onge, M.-P., et al. Sleep restriction leads to increasedactivation of brain regions sensitive to food stimuli.American Journal of clinical Nutrition,vol.95, no.4,2012, pp.818-824.Stress by Generations 2012.Http//www.apa.org,www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2012/generations.aspx.Striegel-Moore, RuthH., et al. Nocturnal eatingAssociation with binge eating, obesity, and psychological distress.International Journal of EatingDisorders, vol.43, no.6,2010, pp.520-526.Wolff, GretchenE., et al. Differences in daily stress,mood, coping, and eating behavior in binge eating and nonbinge eating collegewomen.AddictiveBehaviors, vol.25, no.2,2000, pp.205-216.Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS),Zhu, Hong, et al. purport Event Stress and Binge Eating AmongAdolescents The Roles of Early Maladaptive Schemas and Impulsivity.Stress and Healt h,vol.32, no.4,2015, pp.395-401.

Website Proposal For Holiday Inn Hotel Tourism Essay

website Proposal For Holiday auberge Hotel Tourism EssayThe shrinking world is expanding the outreach of tourists. No more(prenominal) do hotels give birth a fully staffed reservation department with managers, assistant managers, supervisors and agents. The internet has conveniently replaced numerous phone calls, faxes and payment issues. Now potential guests just dial a toll-free number or book directly on the internet.According to Forrester Research 32% of hotels revenues come through with(predicate) online bookings. They include both direct reservations and those made through third party websites. The fail industry allocates 29% of its marketing budget to online marketing. (Cullen)This is so because the importance of integration of E-Commerce with business strategies is realized. This is also because the nature of the traveler and locomotion is changing. Present day travelers be hyper-interactive, who are texting, tweeting, emailing, communicating with friends via face boo k and commenting on their period or previous travels.The approach of social media and mobile Web means that potential guests for the hospitality industry have continuous access to multi-channel interaction and sharing opinions. thus hotel websites have to be designed in allege to pop offle this hyper-interactive user. Thus hotel websites shadow no longer be static brochures with stale and boring context. (Max Starkov).Back groundThe Holiday hunting lodge hotel is a ancillary of the IHG classify of companies. It is a brand which remains consistent towards the board. Guests at the 1874 Holiday inn hotels around the world know that they allow for be treated considerably and have certain level of expectations regarding the service. In fact the idea for the Holiday Inn hotels came into the mind of its founder, Kemmons Wilson, when he was disappointed with the consistency of road side motels during a trip to Washington DC. Consistency is a great advantage when it comes to prov iding services. The art of total quality management lies with the hospitality greats like Marriott, Hilton and of course Holiday Inn further when it comes to social media policies and the ever changing world of the internet consistency has a huge down side.Consistency is non the but key experience of the Holiday Inn hotels and resorts. Innovation goes side by side with consistency. Holiday Inn hotels were the first ones to introduce the Holidex reservation system giving its competitors a fight for money. Holiday Inn hotels also initiated the idea for indoor pools, termed Holidromes, turning its hotels into resorts. This innovation and comfort, which is the landmark of the Holiday Inn hotels, should be made evident in the hotel website.With the advent of condemnation, Holiday Inn is now an established name in midscale provision of hospitality. This midscale travel market consists of 43% of travelers worldwide. (Hospital and touristry industry reportQ2 2010) and is the sector o f the tourism industry which faces the highest competition. With the tourism industry recovering from the economic depression of 2009, the number of tourists is change magnitude, but at the same time the sassy tourist is more constitute conscious and e-savvy. With social medias burgeoning levels and websites like tripadvisor advising tourists on the wide range of living options available, the tourist might non fall for the reliability of brand names as the previous guests were.The increasing travel trend resolutioning from economic recovery also means that the internet is bombarded with tourism information. This is so because due to economic conditions many hotel websites were disposed during the past two years. The waking up of hoteliers means that new websites are profoundly different as they now render to a different store distribution system, social media and cross channel marketing. Almost all new websites cater to mobile web applications and so does the Holiday Inn web site.With increased globalisation of the economy and increased competition hotels bednot rely on their past successes. Holiday Inn and IHG are bound to know this well as the hotel chain immix-up considerable market share in the 1980s. it is only after its re launch in 2007 that the hotel has again captured some part of its market segment. At the time of the re launch, the new hotel website was also launched.Consumers that visit the hotel website mother a user friendly environment. The site provides availability detail, locations, room features and descriptions of the surrounding area. exclusively provision of these details is not enough for the highly competitive hospitality industry. Holiday Inn hotels needs to develop a website which highlights its core competencies, tackles competition from market rivals and eliminates the bargaining baron of buyers.During the pre recession times, visitants were more satisfied with the Holiday Inn website than the industry average. This d ata was deployed from studies establish on 31 websites of leading hospitality brands. It checked data based on the five most crucial dimensions of a visitors online experience. They were glide, essence, interactivity, motivation and adoption. The guest felicity was generally higher(prenominal) ranking in the 92nd percentile. (Website Satisfaction Soars at intercontinental Hotels Group)In the year 2007, the sate dimension was an area of strength for the website. The amount of details provided covered a vast range of aspects of visitor concern. Coupled with this was the fact that the data was very well structured and easy to navigate. This led to an adoption rating higher than the industry average, pointing to future site referrals and a strong likeliness to return. The website also fostered brand loyalty. According to Sasha Paine, an analyst at iperceptions, in that location is no clearer indicator of a sites effectiveness than its ability to build loyalty among its visitors.( Website Satisfaction Soars at InterContinental Hotels Group)The new virtual market place allows small companies to compete with industry giants. This means that Holiday Inn faces competition not just from hotel bonds like Ramada and Hilton but also from small hotels. By looking at the hotel website we brook easily find out that the website is high in content. The most comminuted section, which is the reservations section, is right in front for customer ease. The reservations section helps finds locations and provide all details regarding the Holiday Inn hotel in the area to be visited. On the downside it is know that only 32% of visitors visit a hotels website to shew reservations. (Hospital and tourism industry reportQ2 2010) The rest visit both to find information or to comparison rates. For visitors who are not lured by the brand into booking, the website should be appealing and catchy enough to hold in adoption or at least a revisit. precisely what the website lacks is ta rgeting new customer strategies. It seems that unlike other websites which appeal to new guests by providing reasons for staying at their hotels, the Holiday Inn relies on its brand name and preconceived notions or so its excellence to get potential guests to flummox reservations. What is not realized is that website design is an illustrative art and making correct use of this art might ensure that visitors allow not have to change pages or scroll down for the required information. A look at the key competitor Ramadas website demonstrates this very well. though the reservation section is still on the main page of the site, the opening window encompasses much more than only the reservation section. It eyes potential customers and not just visitors by ensuring that new deals are right under the visitors nose.The slideshow of the Holiday Inn website is not very creative and is niggling with only 4 slides. though it instantly appeal to the comfort operator and attracts business tra velers immediately. The family and friends factor and fun travelling and living is excluded from the slide show. In contrast other websites have wider sailing menus and longer, swifter slideshows. Websites are exploitation rich media foreg the Pueblo Bonito website and the Atlantis hotel in Dubai. Websites foreg theurbansuites.com are also trying to split visitors by demographics and visitor types to provide custom services. Websites have an increasing number of testimonials, blog links and some even have the press singing their praises. (Mackenzie) This you attitude employed by the website and marketing strategy appeals to visitors.This paper looks at the need for developing a new website for the Holiday Inn hotels. It observes the changing trends in both website designs of the hospitality industry and nature of travelers. Data is collected from visitors to the website and their satisfaction is analyzed. Satisfaction is measured exploitation variables which include content of th e website, ease of navigation, interactivity, motivation and adoption. This is done by e-surveys and observing visitor behavior on the website. cobblers lasts are because drawn regarding visitor satisfaction. Since online reservations make up a chunk of all hotel reservations, it allow for be very important to pay due attention to either reconstructing or renovating the website if needed.The new website can be developed by outsourcing the development of the website to some leading website developers specially related to the hospitality industry. Budgetary allocations exit have to be made. They include consultancy costs, advertisement of the new website, Search Engine optimization costs and website development and mantainence. Research will have to be made on the percentage of revenues generated by the website, the potential for development and the amount competitors allocate towards online marketing and website development. Budget allocation and trends in the hospitality website industry along with weaknesses in the real website will provide guidelines for the new website.RationaleThe hotel marketing industry is a booming industry which caters exclusively to hospitality providers. Surveys are done and explorees made to find out nearly visitor and guest behaviors. These researches aid hotel marketing advisors in development of new websites and to target customers. Special online surveys are designed to get visitor opinions and rate their satisfaction. Some of the works done in this regard areThe Iperceptions satisfaction indexIt is the only metric device to measure exclusively customer satisfaction with an online channel. It provides advice to hoteliers on data mining and analyzes that data to provide results and draw stopping points.The hospitality and tourism industry reportThis caters to timely changes in the hospitality and tourism industry providing hoteliers with the current trends and predicting the future condition of the market.Best practices i n Hotel website design by Hospitality e-business strategies.A report prepared by hospitality e-business industries which looks at the importance of websites for hotels and outlines ways to do so.Best Practices for Maximizing Your Hotels Online Revenue ROI by Kathreen Cullen. This white paper is a survey which as the name suggests helps hotels maximize their online revenue.Although the content of these reports and many others which try to integrate E-Commerce with hospitality are industry specific but they provide broad guidelines for the Holiday Inn hotels.This paper will instruction on how the Holiday Inn hotels should conduct its research? what would be the methodology of research and what strategies would be involved. The limitations of the research and the potential for advanced features on the Holiday Inn website will also be discussed.As Del Ross, vice president of Americas Distribution marketing for IHG, claims We truly believe in the paramount value of knowing our customer s and capturingtheir opinions in the context of their actual online experiences by implementing improvements research for the new website will be centered around customer opinion and satisfaction.Data accumulation and methodology.Advanced research methods will have to be employed to gather data from website visitors. According to Cooper and Schindler (Methods) qualitative studies may be combined with three-figure ones to increase the perceived quality of the research, especially when a quantitative study follows a qualitative one and provides validation for the qualitative findings. There is a strong suggestion within the research community that research, both quantitative and qualitative, is best thought of as complementary (Malhotra) and should therefore be mixed in research of many kinds. There is a strong suggestion within the research community that research, both quantitative and qualitative, is best thought of as complementary and should therefore be mixed in research of many kinds. Both qualitative and quantitative data sets will have to be used. Since customer satisfaction regarding the website has to be measures, offline data collection can prove to be useless and mundane.Online data collection approach can be utilized in two ways and can result in both objective and subjective responses. The difficult part about this research is that though secondary data relevant to the industry is abundant, but none of this will be specific to the Holiday Inn hotel. Thus researchers will have to gather primary data from the scratch, analyze it and form conclusions about the current state of the hotel website.Sampling methodsThe sampling method will mostly be a non probability method as the only visitors cannot be forced to train part in the research. Probability sampling will be reserved for a small revolve around group. numeric research will depend upon visitors and visitors will only participate in qualitative research by cream.Quota method of sampling will be the most convenient. This is so because only potential travelers should be included in the research. Only people with annual income above $50000 will be sampled. Population below this income group generally is observed not to travel frequently. Similarly other characteristics of current guests can be used to find the different quotas which should be used in sampling. This kind of sampling will make it impossible to assess the sampling error as the results will not be re stateative of the population as a whole.Focus groups of targeted market will need to be used. Since the current website of the hotel and the general notion about the hotel chain is that it caters to mostly business travelers, business travelers can be selected randomly. They can be chosen from firms where work entails frequent travelling. These business travelers will be then asked to navigate through the website and answer relevant questions about the website content, ease of navigation, interactivity and a doption. The results can be classified ad and then visitor perceptions about the different aspects of the website can be rated. They will provide a clear guideline about the positive and negative aspects of the website. This focus group will be coupled with quantitative and qualitative data. The focus group technique will allow better screening of the focus group respondents to ensure that they are the people whom the hotel is most interested in and thus provides an in-depth insight.Descriptive data from the survey and the questionnaire will reveal information that could not be easily explained by the statistics from quantitative data.This survey will be trammel to a very small population of potential Holiday Inn customers. It can be both biased and non-representative of the actual feelings of the general public. But this data will target the superst niche of current customers.Gathering quantitative dataQuantitative data can be gathered by observing visitor behavior on the website . It can be done on a large scale on the website. The behavior observed includes number of clicks, time on site, no of visitors who made a reservation, net promoter tons and the page from where visitors are exiting. Relationships between variables can be observed. This can be done from web analytics of the website. The sample size from this kind of web analytics has to be large and therefore will have to be done over a period of time.For much of its history, web analytics has been concerned with measuring behavioral phenomena. Unique visitor counts, pages viewed/visit, time on site, bounce rates, click through rates, ad impressions, and, more recently, rich internet application events haveBut studying clicks completely can never declare more than a part of the visitors story and will never bring to light true engagement data. Behavioral analytics is akin to paleontology, in the sense that it presents a fossilized record of a visitors site experience, at least as much as can be ca ptured through page tags with optimal cooky deletion rates. However much scientists study the material implements of the past, however, they will never truly be able to gauge whether people were happy and led meaningful lives. This is the primary shortcoming of behavioral research the tracks a visitor leaves are necessarily incomplete without knowing intent, attitude, and satisfaction. Further, engagement indices will always be hollo metrics unless they can be made to account for loyalty, trust, and advocacy (iperceptions)Gathering qualitative data.Qualitative research will take more time and preparation. opposite sampling methods and full time researchers will have to be employed to monitor data. The basic format will be inviting all visitors to the website for a short survey or questionnaire. It will have to be ensured that the questionnaire is short and to the point yet it is fulfilling the purpose. This is necessary because abandonment of questionnaires will lead not only to injury of data but will also cause distaste for the website in visitors.Like all qualitative and naturalistic research methods, questions will have to be developed which are clear and unambiguous but open to change as the research develops. It is necessary because both qualitative and quantitative research goes hand in hand. It is qualitative research which will give a holistic view of the complexities which the website poses to its visitors.In the course of the survey visitors will be asked to provide scores for the website attributes related to their online experience. Each of these attributes will be related to specific dimensions of the website. It can include questions such as whether the visitor likes the site enough to recommend it to some other friend or colleague. The scaling can be done on a 1 to 10 scale ranging from very bad to outstanding. The attribute sets that will be selected will be in accordance with both the E-commerce and hospitality industry standards. They w ill be content, navigation, motivation and interactivity in this case. It might also calculate the most crucial section of the website which is the reservations section.Thus the questions to be addressed areNavigationWebsite functionality must be intuitive and easy-to-use. If visitors are cannot find the information they desire, they may lose interest and move on to another hotels site. It is also important to be sure that hotels provide the capability to allow customers to book via the method of their choice such as mobile and smart phone technology.ContentThe website must provide all necessary information. This information should not only be limited to the hotel but also about the area and activities where the hotel is located. The content of the website should be accurate, up-to-date, detailed and relevant.InteractivityThis will address questions about the visitors ease of communication with the website and therefore the hoteliers. It measures functionality, collaboration, infor mational exchange, and the intuitiveness of transactional tools.MotivationThis measures whether the online content matches with the services the hotel provides. It questions whether the customers feel that the site was trustworthy and if their time on the site was well spent.All these factors eventually answer one question and that is of adoption. This is the main factor of concern for the Holiday Inn hotels that whether the visitor will re-visit the website or refer the website to somebody else.Potential for new featuresNew vanity websites can be added which cater to different locales. It should be ensured that the feel of the different websites remains the same but better search engine optimization can be achieved.The Holiday Inn website can be optimized in two ways. It is the need of the time to modify the contents for Search Engine optimization.The second is the renovation and restructuring of the website.New website design visual contentIt has been observed that the Holiday Inn website has a subtle color appeal. It stands true to catering to business travelers as they can visualize themselves in that situation. But simultaneously excludes a large travelling class. A glimpse at the Marriott hotel website speaks loads about integrating target markets at one place. A hiking of color on some place in the Holiday Inn website will provide the required energy to indicate that the hotel welcomes both fun and families. interchange travel is all about selling a vision, a dream-an intangible product. Rich media and its many formats-from photos and visual galleries, to videos and virtual tours, e-postcards, web cams, interactive maps, etc.-can truly present your travel product and make it tangible and real. Seventy-two percent of US Internet users view video online on the same scale as profits television and 89% of users surveyed said video influenced their booking decision.Usability surveys about hotel websites show that the majority of users think hotel websites are lacking or need more pictures and imagesThe website can also add more visual content as the number of slides on the main page slide show is only 4 and only targets limited audience. The website can make use of good photography which provide more details about rooms and amenities.Demand generator content.The website should add more localized content to each of its franchise content sites. This will not only aid in showing up on search engines but a description of the area and the activities of the areas helps visitors thus creating better chances of adoption.More navigation options can be introduced on the main page as even though the current website has a high content percentage but the visitor has to scroll and search for it. More tools can easily be added in the navigation tool bar without making the site look congested.ScalabilityThe website platform should have the ability to grow with the needs of the growing Hotel Inn. Holiday Inn is launching new hotels so it should be en sured that the new website keeps pace with both the rapidly changing face of the hotel as well as the fast changing tourism industry. Thus new development should be both easy and inexpensive. It should be easy to add new pages without the returning visitor to find a change which hinders his navigation.ConclusionThe rapid pace of change of tourism industry and the changing face of the traveler requires the Holiday Inn hotel to maintain a website which is intuitive and adaptative. Regarding this concern quantitative data can be analyzed from the websites web analytics. An understanding of this quantitative data can be done by a focus group survey of the target market and online questionnaires.Visitors to the website can be surveyed about their views about the website. This will be random non-probability sampling. The questions have to be short and succinct as target specific attribute. This is to ensure that the visitor does not abandon the survey midway.After the online survey, a dee p understanding can be gauged by using a focus group. This can be done either online or offline. The focus group can be small but chosen by quota or snowball sampling. The target audience should be used as the part of the focus group. The sample can be small but the questionnaire has to be extremely detailed. This will address all questions which arose from the satisfaction or non-satisfaction of the online survey participants.The final data set will lead to a certain conclusion about the visitor satisfaction index. This can be used to provide guidelines about visitor expectations from the website and how and how much the website should be modified. The modified website will lead to higher revenue and return on investment.Online questionnaireBased on todays visit, how would you rate your site experience over all?Very badBadFair nigh(a)OutstandingWhich of the following best describes the primary purpose of your visit?Make a reservationCompare ratesFind more information expectation/ca ncel reservationOther please portionWere you able to complete the task you visited the website for?YesNoWhat do you value most about the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________What did you most despise about the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Would you recommend the site to somebody?YesNoIf you answered in negative to the previous question, why? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Would you recommend any changes to the website? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________How did you arrive at the website?Typed the URL in the browserSearch engineAdvertisementLink on a B logAnother websiteLink sent by somebodyOther. Please specify _______________________________________________The offline questionnaire presented to the focus group. This will be modified according to the response generated from the online website survey. It will be more detailed so as to sound explanations of the data derived can be provided.Offline questionnaireWhat is your age category?15-20 years20-35 years35-60 years60 or aboveWhat is your gender?MaleFemaleAre you single or married?SingleMarriedYour email address? _____________________________________________________________________How often do you travel?More than four times a year.Twice or thrice a year.Once a yearLess than once a yearIs your travel related to work most of the time?YesNoDo you always make your bookings online?YesNoWhat features of the website did you use?_____________________________________________________________________Did each page load quickly enough?YesNoOn a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is poor and 5 is excel lent rate the followingReservation procedureWebsite speedEase of navigationVisual appealInformationYour boilers suit satisfactionWas the reservation process efficient?YesNoWere you tempted were you to abandon the reservation process midway?YesNoIf yes then why? Choose one that is relevantTechnical difficultiesRate issuesDifficulty in findingUnfriendly websiteOther. Please specify ______________________________________________________________Did you easily find what you were looking for?YesNoDid the website design confuse you?YesNoWas the language easy to understand?YesNoWas navigation comfortable?YesNoWas the information you were looking for easy to findYesNoWas the information useful?YesNoWas the information detailed?YesNoWas the information accurate?YesNoWas the information up-to-date?YesNoDid you like the appearance of the website?YesNoDo you think more visuals should be added to the website?YesNoIf yes, do you think it will make the hotel more appealing?YesNoWill a more detail ed, illustrative website, aid or hinder you in your work?YesNoDo you think the overall design of the website can be improved?YesNoIf yes then how? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Can the website alone without the Holiday Inn brand name lead you to make a reservation?YesNoWhat did you like the most about the website?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________What did you dislike most about the website?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________What problems if any did you face when navigating the website?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Was the website user friendly?YesNoIf no why not?Would you recommend the website to someone you know?YesNoIf no, then why not? __________________________________________________________________Would you navigate the site from your phone?YesNoIf no then why not? _____________________________________________________________________Do you think your time on the website was well spent?YesNoIf no then why not?_____________________________________________________________________What are your overall suggestions for the website? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Field guidelinesThe research survey will look at the need for developing a new website for the Holiday Inn hotels. It observes the changing trends in both website designs of the hospitality industry and nature of travelers. Data is collected from visitors to the website and their satisfaction is analyzed. Satisfaction is measured using variables which inc lude content of the website, ease of navigation, interactivity, motivation and adoption. This is done by e-surveys and observing visitor behavior on the website. Conclusions are then drawn regarding visitor satisfaction. Since online reservations make up a chunk of all hotel reservations, it will be very important to pay due attention to

Eveline, Dubliners and James Joyce :: Joyce Dubliners Essays

Eveline, capital of Irelanders and James Joyce Eveline is the story of a young teenager facing a dilemma where she has to choose between living with her father or escaping with Frank, a sailor which she has been courting for some time. The story is one of fifteen stories written by James Joyce in a collection called capital of Irelanders. These stories follow a certain pattern that Joyce uses to express his ideas Joyces focus in Dubliners is almost exclusively on the bourgeois Catholics known to himself and his family(the Gale Group). Joyces early life, family background, and his catholic background appear in the way he writes these stories. Where Joyce usually relates his stories to events in his life, there are some stories which are really events that took place in his life (Joyce, Stanislaus). James Joyce in his letter to Grant Richard writes My intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city s eemed to me the center of paralysis. I tried to present it to the indifferent public under four of these aspects childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life. The stories are arranged in this order. (5 May 1906 Selected letters). (Ingersoll) In the story, Evelines family is described poor, and they probably dont live a very comfortable life. The dust and Evelines struggle for money mentioned in the story all go to explain the misery in their life Besides, the invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights had begun to weary her unspeakably(Joyce5). This misery also appears in other stories by Joyce like The Sisters and Araby. Joyce could have related his childhood days when his family was in some financial crises to the family background of Eveline in the story but the Joyces family fortunes took a sharp arise for the worse during Joyces childhood (Gale Group). From the story, we are told that it is from this misery, and her fathers attitude that Eveline decides she would leave home, although, she does not leave at the end of the story. Joyce could have been writing about the urge the had to leave Dublin during his youth because he cites the city of Dublin as the center of paralysis (the Gale Group).

Attitudes Towards Love in Pre-1900 and 1990s Poetry Essay -- William

Attitudes Towards Love in Pre-1900 and 1990s PoetryThe Despairing Lover written by William Walsh was written pre 1900whilst the second verse form I Wouldnt give give thankss you for a Valentine by LizLockhead was written in the 1990s. These poems are almost a centuryapart. Attitude towards love changes over time and these poemsrepresent this. I Wouldnt Thank you for a Valentine is about howpeople gauge about Valentines Day in the 1990s, while The DespairingLover is showing what people think and how important they see love inthe 1990s.In The Despairing Lover William Walsh sets out the poem like a recitalwith a beginning a middle and an end. This narrative structure of thepoem gives the poem three clear stages this making the poem clearer tothe reader and enables the poets written words to portray his ideaswith the poem. In the first-year stanza William Walsh is seen to be inanguish over his loss of his lover. However in the second stanza hismood swings to being just unhappy to s uicidal, its torment intercommunicate and sadly reflecting. This also shows how the poet WilliamWalshs mind is working. In the third stanza, the poet realizes hemight get a new love. William Walsh realises his loss and believeshe can visualise someone else. The words used in the despairing lover showsWalsh emotions, for example the use of the word anguish instead ofangry is used because it is more dramatic. by and by reading the first twostanzas the reader is almost positive that the poet is going tocommit suicide and is just leading up to a liberal climax where he jumps.However there is an unexpected twist where the poet just calms downand thinks he can find love again. This shows the poets structure ofthe poem and how ... ...ion andrepetition. Another comparison between the two poems is we are bothhearing the viewpoint from the poet not from anybody else. Both thepoems also have a story roll in the hay them. I wouldnt thank you for avalentine has a hidden story and that is ab out something bad happeningto her on valentines day. While the despairing lover story is aboutthe poet coping with the break up from his lover. On the other handtheir are also many differences between the two poems. There structureis contrastive while the despairing lover is set out like a story with abegging a middle and an end. I wouldnt thank you for a valentinestructure is set out like a list. Another difference is that thedespairing lover has rhyming couplets while the second poem doesnt. Afinal difference between the two poems is the both have differentopinions on love and what love is like.