Letter to Friend Congratulating on Sucess free essay sample

It gives me extraordinary joy that you have topped the rundown of effective applicants in the Board Examination. It is even more great to discover that you have made sure about differentiation in all the subjects and in Mathematics you have made sure about 99% imprints. Your fabulous achievement involves pride for your family, companions, instructors and our school too. It is, truth be told, the aftereffect of your difficult work and commitment, penance and fixation. You have been reliable up and down your investigations. You never overlooked your investigations. It has paid well at this point. To be sure, it is a snapshot of festivity especially for your folks who have been exceptionally cautious for every one of your needs and solaces. This achievement has opened up the entryway to different open doors for your vocation. You can get affirmation in any of the great schools in India. A brilliant future anticipates you. Your splendid achievement has made sure about your profession. We will compose a custom paper test on Letter to Friend Congratulating on Sucess or on the other hand any comparative theme explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page Again my heartiest congrats on the upbeat event I am certain you will keep up this exhibition in future. Keep upthespiritand be mindful so as to your wellbeing and execution. We will met soon to have a treat. With loads of good wishes for a splendid future. Yours earnestly, Rishika My Dear Pramod, I am happy to see your outcome in today’s Rakasthan Patrika. Your exceptional exhibition in the RAS assessment has made sure about you a decent position. I passed on this cheerful news to my dad who was sitting next to me. He excessively was excited. I thank god for his graciousness and wish you a splendid future. You have been insightful and tenacious in your school and school days. Positively, your prosperity is expected to god’s effortlessness just as your difficult work and ideal direction of your regarded guardians. Keep it up! You will be of extraordinary advantage for your family and increasingly over to this country. If you don't mind direct your sister likewise to beat her IAS assessments which are expected in November. If it's not too much trouble pass on my aware commendations to your folks. Once more, congrats to you! Yours truly, Raj Kumar

Opinions on Stereotypes Essay Example for Free

Conclusions on Stereotypes Essay Webster’s Dictionary characterizes the word â€Å"stereotype† as a disentangled and normalized origination or picture of an individual, gathering, and so on , held in like manner by individuals from a gathering. (1265) Many individuals make generalizations of a whole gathering of individuals based off a solitary individual. There are a few unique generalizations that exist among society today in a wide range of structures. Most places of worship and strict partnered associations censure homosexuality which makes less gays be open about their confidence. This brings upon the generalization that the gay network isn't strict in any way. This, nonetheless, has been refuted. As indicated by Dan Giloff’s article, â€Å"While 72 percent of straight American grown-ups portray their confidence as ‘very important’ in their lives, so do 60 percent of gays and lesbians. †(par. 3), the gay network has a lot of strict partners now; The United Church of Christ currently appoints pastors. Different strict gatherings are emulating their example, making moves to make their ways for the gay network. The individuals of the gay network are generalized intensely in the public arena. Gay men are supposed to be fixated on style, have incredible style, have a caddy disposition with solid suppositions, an adoration for hounds and are bound to be beauticians, beauticians, Broadway artists, or design planners. Lesbians have bounty also, for example, they move quick seeing someone, dress masculine, work in a development field, wear wool, and detest men. These are for the most part gigantic speculations. Albeit gay men and lesbians may fall under a portion of these classifications, not all do. Individuals have an excessive number of components that make up their personality, so it is out of line to set a specific rundown of attributes to them. One of the most widely recognized generalizations is sexual orientation generalizing, which can be restricting to people on the planet today. During the time there have been a lot of generalizations put on ladies. One being that the lady ought to consistently be in the house cooking, cleaning, and watching out for their mates without any protests. The way of life of today has developed a picture of ladies, saying that they are straightforward and have solid sentiments about anything, that they go through the entirety of your cash, that they are amazingly requesting, and sit idle however tattle and shop unendingly. Ladies have moved in the direction of breaking this generalization by standing firm over numerous decades and really making numerous achievements. In spite of the fact that that is a major generalization including ladies, there is investigate that shows ladies are â€Å"typically ordered in 3 essential groups: conventional (e. g. homemaker), nontraditional (e. g. vocation lady) and provocative. † (Psychology of ladies quarterly). In an article from Psychology of Women Quarterly, researchers researched demonstrating that profession ladies held employments in higher status while the hotter ladies held more intrigue for the lower status, increasingly female occupations. A hotter dressed lady appeared to conjure antagonistic feeling while additionally making individuals think ineptitude was inescapable. Where as a more vocation based lady demonstrated to be taken a gander at as all the more a pioneer figure that was set up to put everything in order at any expense. While Women are generalized to be a homemaker or a lifelong lady, men also have sterotypes. Men have been generalized as being moronic and sex-fixated individuals just stressed over the following sporting event; or weathly agents who undermine their spouses continually with the nearest lady in his office. As opposed to most women’s conviction, there are a lot of men who are dedicated representatives who have glad and cherishing home lives. Men live over this generalization constantly. The blondie has different sides, the positive side where blondies are viewed as charming and attractive. At that point there is the negative side, where they are seen as not being excessively smart and don’t utilize their good judgment to make sense of things; they preferably depend on their investigates their insight. The hair shading is frequently connected with â€Å"floosies†, â€Å"airheads†, or â€Å"ditzy† ladies. This is an expansive generalization in light of the fact that there are many shrewd and fruitful fair ladies in the public arena among the administrations, educational systems, and numerous different spots. As indicated by Harriet Brown, â€Å"In milestone 2003 research from the University of Pennsylvania, the greater part of the 620 essential consideration specialists reviewed described their corpulent patients as ‘awkward,’ ‘unattractive,’ ‘ugly,’ and ‘noncompliant‘ the last implying that they wouldnt follow suggestions. More than 33% of the doctors viewed hefty people as ‘weak willed,’ ‘sloppy,’ and ‘lazy. ’† (standard. 3). The generalizations set upon hefty individuals as a rule falls under the words the specialists expressed in the examination from the article. A great many people over look that it could be an ailment causing such weight gain in fat individuals. They see the weight and naturally accept that it was a decision dependent on sluggishness and absence of drive. Individuals don't look past what they see, which makes a lot of deceitful allegations. While there are numerous ways of life that are generalized, for example, individuals accept if your gay; you should have helps, if your nonbeliever; you should abhor the world, in the event that you have no religion; you should not have any ethics, and so on. One specifically is if you’re a biker you like to party hard, have tattoos and are a crook. In any case, as much as individuals who ride cruisers love the smell of natural air and the open street, distinctive riding styles are related with various ways of life and are totally assorted Racial generalizations are in bounty in today’s world just as from the beginning of time. Most partner themselves with supremacist musings. Asians must be savvy, Arabs must be fear based oppressors, Irish must have drinking issues, Italians must be in the Mafia, Germans must be Nazi’s, African Americans must be in groups, whites must be geeks, and so forth. These generalizations can not be right and terrible as a rule. One open episode from any individual of any race can make a generalization. Society places individuals they don’t think a lot about or they don’t comprehend into orders, feeling that individuals who appear as though them will act the equivalent. Media assumes a job in making these generalizations despite the fact that individuals assume the greatest job in making them. It is human instinct to see the distinction among themselves as well as other people before the likenesses. Media is as yet considered answerable for a great deal of the creation in light of the fact that in addition to the fact that it uses photos of a summed up gathering to show how an individual may look, yet media additionally utilizes generalizations as comedic diversion on well known shows and motion pictures. The sentimental motion pictures of today ,just as before, delineate intensely the sexual orientation generalizations put upon people. They generally show the â€Å"knight in sparkling protective layer who spares the maiden in distress† story, the men continually adhering to their â€Å"typical† man generalization and the ladies consistently to theirs. Media influences our perspectives and contemplations about individuals and encourages speculations about specific groupings of individuals. Individuals right up 'til the present time despite everything battle with being held under substantial generalizing. Society puts an enormous measure of legitimacy on these free speculations. This tragically makes it hard for a ton of the individuals who don't fall under them and do break liberated from these generalizations. While there is some reality to a ton of generalizations, individuals need to comprehend one individual can't characterize a whole gathering of individuals. Regardless of whether a generalization is negative or positive, the two of them exist and are constraining and rule out singularity. Works Cited Brown, Harriet. Does Your Doctor Make You Feel FAT? Avoidance 63. 7 (2011): 26-33. Scholarly Search Premier. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. Gilgoff, Dan. Battling the Gay-As-Godless Stereotype. U. S. News Digital Weekly 1. 23 (2009): 12. Scholarly Search Premier. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. Heather Branstiter, et al. Assessments of Sexy Women in Low-And High-Status Jobs. Brain research of Women Quarterly 29. 4 (2005): 389-395. Scholarly Search Premier. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

What is Simmons Hall Like

What is Simmons Hall Like On my 18th birthday and going away party, we had a huge cake with an MIT Logo on it. Next to my birthday cake were two robotic arms (the ones that Iron Man talks to in his workshop), which I assembled (from cardboard). One of the others was holding up a picture of my high school friends and I during our superhero day. The other one was holding a picture of my soon-to-be home: Simmons. Lets talk a bit about this lovable concrete sponge. Simmons has been velociraptor free since 2002. They are the only dorm that guarantees no velociraptors attacks. The first time I set foot in Simmons was during CPW when I was given a tour around the Sponge. During the tour I got see their athena cluster, their famous ball pit, blocky cushions, hammocks, kitchionettes (usually a couple per floor) a small library and a koi fish pond (with rubber ducks instead of koi fish) Oh, and every room comes with one of these cubes for reasons. Oh man, I got lost so many times. See, Simmons is made up of three adjacent “towers” smushed together. There are 10 floors total, and on some floors A tower and B tower are connected while C isn’t. Once you get to the upper floors, A, B, and C towers are all separated, and at that point people actually start calling them “towers”. The floors that are connected all the way across are the first, second, fifth, sixth, and sometimes seventh floor. There were times, when I wanted to visit my friend on the same floor, I had to go down a level, walk to the end of the building, then walk up back to the same level. For my FPOP and half of orientation, I lived on the floor 3C. My dorm room was shaped like a triangle. A triangle. What better way of proving that your college is quirky than by saying you live in a triangle? I had the room for myself for the first few days since I was at MIT a week early for DEECS, the electrical engineering and computer science FPOP. My roommate, who I met on Facebook over the summer, arrived at the end of the week, just before orientation started. As our second week went by, we started playing pool on the second floor with a couple of other guys. When final assignments came out, we were all together in 5A. In fact, 5A, for the first time as long as the GRT’s could remember, was now all guys, with at least nine of us. We started calling ourselves a fraternity within Simmons, then someone made a joke about wanting us to have Greek letters like real fraternities, and then I made us Greek letters, and in a few days we had shirts with our logos on them. Next year it got bigger Oh dear, what have I started? Post Tagged #Simmons Hall

Online Fraud and Identity Theft - 3653 Words

Introduction: Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes statistically according to the Federal Trade Commission. Roughly 27.3 million Americans have fallen victim to this form of theft/fraud. According to last year the loss of money for businesses and financial institutions are in the billions and with consumers out of pocket expenses has been about 5 billion dollars. Identity theft refers to crimes in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another persons personal data (i.e., name, date of birth, social security number, drivers license number, and your financial identity— credit card, bank account and phone-card numbers) in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain (to obtain money or†¦show more content†¦Fraud is a broad strokes definition; fraud is a deliberate misrepresentation which causes another person to suffer damages, usually monetary losses. Most people consider the act of lying to be fraudulent, but in a legal sense lying is on ly one small element of actual fraud. A salesman may lie about his name, eye color, place of birth and family, but as long as he remains truthful about the product he sells, he will not be found guilty of fraud. There must be a deliberate misrepresentation of the products condition and actual monetary damages must occur. Online fraud is costing about 2.6 billion dollars a year and continues to grow at a rate of 700 million dollars a year. High fraud rates continue to plague electronic commerce Web sites, with criminals expected to steal $2.6 billion from online merchants this year, according to a new survey. While thats an annual increase of $700 million, the percent increase is roughly equal to the increase in total Net sales, so rates of fraud stayed essentially the same -- about 2 percent of sales -- according to the survey, conducted by CyberSource Corp. As Shakespeare wrote But he that filches from me my good name/Robs me of that which not enriches him/And makes me poor indeed. - Shakespeare, Othello, act iii. Sc. 3. The short answer is that identity theft is a crime. Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to allShow MoreRelatedâ€Å"According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Fraud Survey 2010-11, an estimated total1500 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Fraud Survey 2010-11, an estimated total of 1.2 million Australians aged 15 years and over were victim of at least one incident of identity fraud in the 12 months prior to the survey interview..† (Afp.gov.au, 2014) Identity fraud is a type of fraud that involves illegally pretending to be somebody else for a beneficial gain. This can result in emotional and/or financial devastation. This is a very common legal issue facing Australian stakeholdersRead MoreThe Role Of Online Health Records855 Words   |  4 PagesIdentity Theft â€Å"Your identity is your most valuable possession. Protect it.† - The Incredibles Technology in today’s world is forever changing providing individual’s with freedoms they were not able to take advantage of prior to advancements. This can offer many advantages to the average American. The use of online health records is a prime example. Many hospitals are providing online access to a patient’s medical records to provide faster results and quicker response time. Those who receiveRead MoreOnline Identity Theft1414 Words   |  6 PagesOnline Identity Theft What is identity? The word itself can have so many connotations, definitions, and subjects tied to it. However, the most basic definition of our identity would be the qualities, beliefs, and baggage that make up each person. An identity is something that each of us have a claim to from the moment we are born to even past our death. Through the recent technology surges however, our most basic claim is now threatened. We have all heard about crime on the streets but with theRead MoreIdentity Theft Is Not A New Type Of Crime776 Words   |  4 PagesMerriam-Webster defines identity theft as the illegal use of someone else s personal identifying information (such as a Social Security number) in order to get money or credit. The United States Department of Justice says identity theft is, â€Å"The short answer is that identity theft is a crime. Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person s p ersonal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typicallyRead MoreCyber Crime: Preventing the Horrific Crimes on the Inernet1649 Words   |  7 PagesHorrific Crimes on the Internet Cyber Crime, including fraud, identity theft, stalking, and hacking is a growing problem which can be prevented by taking the proper precautions. I. Background II. Cyber fraud A. Fraud sites 1. Free trials sites 2. Craigslist B. Preventing fraud 1. Personal information 2. Credit cards III. Identity theft A. Identity theft sites 1. Stealing information 2. Craigslist B. Preventing Identity theft 1. Who to give information to IV. Cyber Stalking Read MoreType of Crime That Use It Systems as Weapons1199 Words   |  5 Pagesof damaging, deleting or altering computer data. Computer crimes also include the activities such as electronic frauds, misuse of devices, identity theft and data as well as system interference. Computer crimes involve activities of software theft, whereas the privacy of the users is hampered. These criminal activities involve the breach of human and information privacy, as also the theft and illegal alteration of system critical information. The different types of computer crimes have caused the introductionRead MoreIdentity Theft Is Improving With Time1216 Words   |  5 Pages Identity theft is improving with time! Really. It is. Honestly, if I were to become a victim, better it be today then five, ten or even 100 years ago. The common perception is that identity theft is a computer generation crime, which is increasing by the day. Truth is, identity theft dates back before the Internet, computers, the digital age at all. Mobsters may have brought it to an art form decades ago, and its title was quite literal derived. In that era, identity theft was not a financialRead MoreThe Globalization of White Collar Crimes: An Inside Look of How Fraud, Embezzlement, Cybercrime, Identity Theft and Forgery Are Increasing World-Wide794 Words   |  4 PagesInside Look of How Fraud, Embezzlement, Cybercrime, Identity Theft and Forgery Are Increasing World-Wide In this paper I will examine some of the aspects of white collar crimes such as: fraud, embezzlement, cybercrimes, identity theft and forgery. I will explain what each of these are pertaining to criminal justice and how they relate to one another. And I will conclude by how each of these topics are growing into global problems. According to Criminal-Law-Lawyer-Source.com â€Å"Fraud is the act of deliberatelyRead MoreIdentifying The Different Ways Online Identity Theft1462 Words   |  6 Pagesdifferent ways online identity theft can be achieved by a cybercriminal Identity theft is when your personal details are stolen. Identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal information with the intention to access bank accounts for example, or commit many other crimes in your name and at your expense. Identity theft is a growing threat in the uk which is increasing at a rapid rate. It is said that it could be one of the leading threats in the coming years. Analysis of fraud trends in 2012Read MoreOnline Gaming and Fraud in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) 1359 Words   |  5 Pages1. Online Gaming Security and Fraud Throughout the evolution of gaming, there has been a movement of large communities to online gaming. With that high amount of traffic, these online games have become prime targets for crime to emerge from. Due to the online nature and virtual elements of this kind of community, the most common type of crime committed was theft, followed closely by fraud (Chen 2005). With the increase in online communities from online gaming, businesses have started advertising

Evaluation Of The Burke Litwin Modification Model

Diagnosis of Change Sarath Mulleti DeVry University Feb-06-2015. Change Diagnostic Model The Burke-Litwin modification model strives to usher in modification within the performance of a team or a corporation by establishing links between performance and also the internal and external factors that have an effect on performance. This modification this alteration this modification this variation this transformation} model relies on assessing the structure furthermore as environmental factors which may be tweaked therefore on guarantee an eminent change. The Burke-Litwin modification model begins with outlining a framework, comprising the moving factors which may be manipulated to ensure a power tool transition from one section of the modification method to a different. The foremost essential facet here is establishing the links between the twelve dimensions of this transformation framework. (Ginny Edwards, Sidharth Thakur, 6/7/2013). Identifying the Drivers of Change: †¢ External Environment: The main external elements need to be observed and established in and around the organization which will affect the organization. †¢ Mission and Strategy: The view and work plan of the management of the company should be tested in the perspective of average employee and need to be correct if any corrections needed. †¢ Leadership: The Main head of the organization should always shares their leadership structure and plan which need to be implemented. †¢ OrganizationalShow MoreRelatedAn Organizational Change at the MRI Department of the Al Amiri Hospital1535 Words   |  6 Pagesas to make this department an efficient one. Literature Review Every organization and company has to keep up with the modifications that are taking place in their environment so that they are able to provide the best of the products and facilities to the customers and so that they can remain in the competition with the competitors in the field. The environmental modifications that compel the organizations to change include the enhancement of competitors and the changes in the demand of the customers

Interest to UC Berkeley MBA program Free Essays

Interest to UC Berkeley MBA program is out of careful evaluation of MBA program in different colleges. I have had a personal experience at Berkeley campus in 2003 when I tried to find out the location of the campus. I happened to meet some MBA students who told me a lot about the program at Berkeley. We will write a custom essay sample on Interest to UC Berkeley MBA program or any similar topic only for you Order Now It was a very joyful and the good impression of Berkeley attracted me most from the Business weekly journal I happened have a view of the programs on offer and I happened to compare the various Berkeley MBA degree programs. From Berkeley’s website, the MBA program will give me innovation skills and enhance entrepreneur spirits. This will greatly improve my professional growth and development. I need to work on my knowledge of Accounts in junior high school and improve my ability to be a qualified graduate accountant. The Taiwan MBA forum I happened to develop a powerful feeling and realized that Berkeley MBA program will be a right fit for my career advancement. One of the Berkeley old students introduced the program to me and made me realize how much I could gain from schooling at Berkeley. The field experience given to MBA students international will provide me with necessary skills for my effectiveness and efficiency in production. I also have a number of relatives schooling at Berkeley society community. These are people who are used to the environment and know the place better. In conclusion, Berkeley MBA program will enhance my career, provide one with innovative, entrepreneur skills, give me a global exposure in business skills and is located at a good environment with good weather. I therefore don’t regret applying for Berkeley MBA. Conant E (2004) How to cite Interest to UC Berkeley MBA program, Papers

Role of IT in Australian Marketing Industries-Free-Samples

Question: Discuss about the Use of Information Technology for Securing Australian Marketing Industry. Answer: Introduction Technology is referred to as one of the most important thing that started occupying each industry exponentially. Therefore proper usage of technology is very much helpful to gain effective competitiveness and measurable success as well. From different report sources it is defined that, from the year of 2002 and 2003, the usage of Information Technology is increasing rapidly in the Australian Industries (Vila, Darcy Gonzlez, 2015). On the other hand due to lack of usage of technologies the marketing industries might face major loss. The traditional or manual data management system utilized by the marketing industries were facing major issues regarding personnel and financial security as well, which are strictly needed to be mitigated by the Australian management authority. A set of research questions have been developed in this research proposal and lots of secondary data sources have been collected using those, the readers would be able to answer the research questions. Problem statement The order placing and payment processing technique that was traditionally used by the Australian industry was facing huge security issues those are need to be mitigated. Research aim The aim of the research is to evaluate the role of information technology in the Australian marketing industries such as finance, retails etc. It has been found that with the help of internet and web browsers the process of different payment, order placing will become much easier. The aim of the research proposal is to define the benefits of using these advanced technologies in the marketing industries to mitigate the issues of traditional order placing system. Through this application the security issues are also resolved easily. Research question What are the different characteristics of internet and web usage? How the security issues can be mitigated with the help of advanced IT application? How the automated system stands beneficial to the marketing industry? Literature review According to Chong (2014), the aim of every business is to grow and develop its consumers base to gain competitive advantages and business revenue as well. In order to achieve such competitiveness and success online advertising and promotional events play the most important roles (Bussire, Delle Chiaie Peltonen, 2014). In case of traditional marketing the process used was very much time consuming. Though the modern marketing applications are costly but still these are much reliable, flexible, and scalable and secure at the same time. Shahiduzzaman and Alam (2014) stated that, there is a huge difference between the traditional and the modern process of marketing and event management. In traditional days the employees have to manage the orders and payment details and even the personnel details also manually which is not at all secured from both the consumers and business aspect. In order to overcome the issues of traditional marketing the Australian marketing are currently willing to adopt advanced technology based applications in terms of internet usage and web services as well (Homburg, Allmann Klarmann, 2014). With the help of the advanced technology regardless of the time and location the users will be able to access the information about their desired services. The services will be available for 24 hours and even the security of the system will also get enhanced. In this new technology the users could pay online with high level of security. In manual data management the there is huge chances of data hijacking but after the development of the advanced technical excellence without proper authentication none of the users would be able to access information stored in the server (McManus, 2013). Even the users would be able to search for their desired service and products anytime and from anywhere. Moreover, it could be said that the business will become more client based after the implementation and incorporation of Information Technology with it. Research planning Research planning is a set of phases those are needed to be used sequentially to conduct the proposed project accurately. However, the researcher should develop the research plan based upon the research issues and the strategies developed to mitigate those issues. This particular research topic is focused to the implementation of Information Technology in the marketing industries of Australia. In order to gain retention from the consumers it is necessary to follow all the phases of research development accurately. Literature review is the most important thing to be done by the researcher to collect and analyze the importance of the data. It has been found that due to lack security aspects the marketing industries of Australia is getting affected everyday and to ensure the security if the industries proper technology in terms of encryption, firewall, password, authentication etc (Smith Hutchings, 2014). Thus, for this particular research topic, the researcher has considered to collec t secondary data only. For this secondary data analysis different journals and books are collected by the research developers. The steps for planning the research work the necessary steps those have been considered include development of time scale, development f the already existing resources, improvement of the manpower, consideration of accurate supporting skills and sample as well. Overview of the proposed project This research proposal is focused to the development of Information Technology in the Australian business and in the entire marketing industry. It has been defined that the properties of the Australian business is keep on changing everyday with the development of computing technology into the business applications. With the help of web presence and other internet level service the security issues that the marketing industry was facing each day will be reduced completely (McManus, 2013). A strong relationship is there in between the business and the employment size is defined as after the industries have started using the concept of Information Technology. With the increasing rate of employment the rate of IT usage also keep on enhancing respectively. According to the statistical data in large businesses 100 % employees use computers. Again, 99% of employees use the internet service, 80% of the users use the web servers for increasing the business effectiveness, efficiency as well. Th e rate of market revenue also keeps on increasing and the revenue is expected to reach around $100,000 (Shahiduzzaman Alam, 2014). With the proposed project the readers will be able to gain ideas about the current application of Information Technology in the Australian marketing industries. Even in addition to this the ways through which the personnel security issues and other financial issues could be controlled easily are also elaborated in this proposal. Data collection and data analysis approaches Data collection approach Two different types of data collection approaches are there such as primary data collection and secondary data collection. Both of these data collection approaches are helpful from the research perspectives but for this particular research topic, secondary data collection approach is found to be as the most effective one to reveal the hidden facts. Primary data collection approach is avoided in this research topic because for that questionnaire survey is required to be done by the researchers. However, for this topic the data are collected from different published books and journals as well. The secondary data are collected from the below source links: [Online]: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4528.0Main%20Features122014-15 [Online]: https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2085.0Main+Features12006-2011 [Online]: https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/3A957ACB51FCEB50CA2574E400117CB1/$File/ABS%20Annual%20Report%2007-08_%20Final_22ndOct08.pdf [Online]: https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/7A9A6570D61DE269CA256E59007AC470/$File/81290_2002-03.pdf. Data analysis There is a difference between the primary data analysis and technical data analysis. The step followed for these two different analyses also varies. For analyzing the investment in the economic stock, these two common methodologies are used for data analysis. Both the qualitative and quantitative data are collected systematically to evaluate the resultant of the research proposal. Secondary data analysis is completely focused on the details provided in the journals, articles and books. In traditional days the orders placed by the consumers are managed manually which is not at all helpful from the business perspectives however, in order to mitigate the issues of manual order management, internet based rather web based order placing systems are arranged by the most of the large to medium industries (Mistilis, Buhalis Gretzel, 2014). The size of employment also keeps on changing with the changing events and time period. The data those have been collected for the research proposal are as follows: Person Person Person Person Person % 30 26 36 29 29 Lower cost of the products % 28 26 29 37 29 Lower rate of transaction cost % 87 83 89 91 86 Time saving approach % 44 33 36 50 40 Wider range supplier access % 20 18 25 30 20 Capabilities for tracking orders % 95 91 95 97 94 Benefits reached % Gantt chart In order to complete the research proposal successfully certain steps are required to be followed by the researchers and the following are the steps to be followed: WBS Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors 0 Research proposal schedule development 44 days Wed 12/20/17 Mon 2/19/18 1 Understanding project topic 5 days Wed 12/20/17 Tue 12/26/17 2 Identifying research data sources 7 days Wed 12/27/17 Thu 1/4/18 1 3 Collecting data from the sources 7 days Fri 1/5/18 Mon 1/15/18 2 4 Data analysis 6 days Tue 1/16/18 Tue 1/23/18 3 5 Literature review 5 days Wed 1/24/18 Tue 1/30/18 4 6 Research planning 6 days Wed 1/24/18 Wed 1/31/18 4 7 Selecting research methodologies 9 days Wed 1/31/18 Mon 2/12/18 5 8 Expected outcome 4 days Thu 2/1/18 Tue 2/6/18 6 9 Resultant discussion 5 days Tue 2/13/18 Mon 2/19/18 7 Figure 1: Gantt chart for research proposal (Source: created by author) Conclusion From the overall discussion it can be concluded that, based upon the type of the business details different technologies are adopted by the marketing industries. Along with the business properties, the web presences must be developed. Relative changes will definitely occur after the implementation of the information technology in the business application. It is defined that different business use internet, some uses web presences and some of the businesses use internet services. Based upon the user application, a set of questions have been developed by the researchers and it is expected that with the help of set of secondary data resources these questions could be answered easily. Both qualitative and quantitative data are collected for the research proposal. The primary data collection technique is not used for this research proposal to avoid issues. The collected information are properly analyzed also by the researchers to get the answers of the research questions. References Bakker, R. M., Shepherd, D. A. (2017). Pull the plug or take the plunge: Multiple opportunities and the speed of venturing decisions in the Australian mining industry.Academy of Management Journal,60(1), 130-155. Bussire, M., Delle Chiaie, S., Peltonen, T. A. (2014). Exchange rate pass-through in the global economy: the role of emerging market economies.IMF Economic Review,62(1), 146-178. Chong, S. (2014). Business process management for SMEs: an exploratory study of implementation factors for the Australian wine industry.Journal of Information Systems and Small Business,1(1-2), 41-58. Flanagin, A. J., Metzger, M. J., Pure, R., Markov, A., Hartsell, E. (2014). Mitigating risk in ecommerce transactions: perceptions of information credibility and the role of user-generated ratings in product quality and purchase intention.Electronic Commerce Research,14(1), 1-23. Homburg, C., Allmann, J., Klarmann, M. (2014). Internal and external price search in industrial buying: The moderating role of customer satisfaction.Journal of Business Research,67(8), 1581-1588. Juan Ding, M., Jie, F., A. Parton, K., J. Matanda, M. (2014). Relationships between quality of information sharing and supply chain food quality in the Australian beef processing industry.The International Journal of Logistics Management,25(1), 85-108. McManus, L. (2013). Customer accounting and marketing performance measures in the hotel industry: Evidence from Australia.International Journal of Hospitality Management,33, 140-152. McManus, L. (2013). Customer accounting and marketing performance measures in the hotel industry: Evidence from Australia.International Journal of Hospitality Management,33, 140-152. Mistilis, N., Buhalis, D., Gretzel, U. (2014). Future eDestination marketing: perspective of an Australian tourism stakeholder network.Journal of Travel Research,53(6), 778-790. Rollins, M., Nickell, D., Ennis, J. (2014). The impact of economic downturns on marketing.Journal of Business Research,67(1), 2727-2731. Shahiduzzaman, M., Alam, K. (2014). Information technology and its changing roles to economic growth and productivity in Australia.Telecommunications Policy,38(2), 125-135. Smith, R. G., Hutchings, A. (2014). Identity crime and misuse in Australia: Results of the 2013 online survey.AIC reports. Research and Public Policy series., v. Suzanne Harrison, T., Peter Onyia, O., K. Tagg, S. (2014). Towards a universal model of internet banking adoption: initial conceptualization.International Journal of Bank Marketing,32(7), 647-687. Vila, T. D., Darcy, S., Gonzlez, E. A. (2015). Competing for the disability tourism marketa comparative exploration of the factors of accessible tourism competitiveness in Spain and Australia.Tourism Management,47, 261-272

Social Media Marketing in Sports free essay sample

The article that I found was on how to market a sports team using twitter. I thought that this was an interesting article first because of the title The Twitter Sports Marketing Guide, Five Tips From the Leading Pro Teams. It starts by saying that marketing a sports team is very similar to marketing a product or yourself, the goal is to separate your object from the rest of the crowd. The teams with the most fans use strategies that make them stand out and attract the most followers. Most of this comes breaking the stereotypical mold. The first example is the LA Lakers with the theory of When in Doubt, Tweet Although the platform of Twitter success is already set up for the Lakers, the Lakers social media marketing managers found a way to gain followers. They found that Lakers fans are information hungry and want updated information as often as every minute. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Media Marketing in Sports or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When anything that is related to Lakers happens they tweet about it, and they put up context that does not make other media outlets. They also use Twitters Picture capability to give behind the scene shots that give followers a unique iew not on TV. They do everything that they can to makes fans feel they are a part of the organization. The second example is the Orlando Magic with the theory of Respect the Fan The Orlando Magic is a medium-sized sports market and does not compare to the Lakers. However, they are the second most followed sports team on Twitter. They uses the superstars on the team to promote their twitter. They understand the importance of their fans, and the Magic hold give-away contests for fans. When they had Dwight Howard they gave his one-millionth fan an all-expenses paid trip to Orlando to watch a game and meet him. They found a balance between promotions for fans and team updates. The third example is combined teams with examples of Using the Resources You Have Real Madrid have fans that bleed soccer and twitter gives an ultimate for fans to get news. They stay active by keeping up with all their players in the World Cup events. They stay active with video updates, highlights, interviews and articles. Real Madrid keeps it simple by goes beyond Just their team to their players for their own country. Cleveland Cavaliers do not tweet as often as the Lakers or Magic and are not a major market with only 50,000 followers. Most of the followers came when they had superstar Lebron James and used him to gain followers on twitter. They also offer promotions, but they need to improve their number of tweets. The fourth example is from the San Diego Chargers of Follow Back and Listen With only 38,000 followers they are one of the lowest NFL teams, even though they do tweet relevant information on the teams info they still have a lack of followers. However, they have adapted a strategy that no other team is using. The Chargers followers over 31,000 twitter accounts most of which are random fans that follow them. This creates a sense of community for the Charger fans, and opened the door for the Chargers to attract a lot more followers. The fifth example is from the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies and relevant retweets are their main post. The teams success and locations in large market cities make them popular teams and therefore need little help to gain ollowers. So they Just stay active on twitter with the basic formula that seems to keep their fans happy and feeling involved. Overall while many teams use different strategies on twitter to gain followers and recognition. The ultimate goal of each team is to use twitter to close the gap between the team and fan interaction. This allows fans to not feel distant from the day to day activities of the team. Each team is trying to find a way to distance themselves and make their twitter stand out to fans.

buy custom The Law of Contract essay

buy custom The Law of Contract essay The capacity of either the natural or artificial person in contracts determines whether they have the ability to enter into legally binding contracts. If a contract is made with a person with legal incapacity, the contract is voidable at the option of the person who had the incapacity at the time of entering into the contract. Legal incapacity is seen when dealing with minors and with people who are not mentally competent to know the legal implications that the contract will have on their rights at the time of signing the contract (Koffman and Macdonald 466).. A Legally binding contract cannot occur when a person enters into a contract with a person whom it should have been obvious that they did not have the capacity t contract such a s when a person is obviously drunk. Since Joe was evident to sue that Joe was completely drunk when he entered the contract, she has no claim over him. Joe would argue temporary insanity and unless he ratifies the contract when he was sober, the contract is voidable Minors are obliged by the sale of goods Act to pay for necessities (goods necessary for the survival of the minor). However, the Act protects minors from exorbitant prices by requiring that they pa only a reasonable price for the necessity. Jean cannot disaffirm the contract. The courts will have her pay the reasonable price of eighty dollars for the coat. When minors enter into contracts for the supply of non necessaries, they are not bound by the contract and can disaffirm such contracts when they are still minors. If they want to reaffirm the contract after turning eighteen, the must do so within reasonable time after turning eighteen. Willy affirmed the contract by conduct when he made payments for the car and went back for repairs. He is incapable of disaffirming the contract. Minors are legally bound by contracts that when taken as a whole are beneficial to them such as contracts for apprenticeship and education. In this case, the minor will be required to pay the fees for the services given out. Chris can sue for a refund of the money for the money for the services that the company had not already offered. The infants relief Act says that all the contracts for the supply of goods to minors other than necessities is void. For the contracts to be binding on the minor, the nature of the goods is considered when a seller tries to enforce such a contract. The seller must proof that the goods that they supplied are a necessary for the way of life of the minor since they will only be able to claim from the minor only that part of the supply that is necessary. When two intoxicated persons enter into a contract for the sale of an item, the contract will not be enforceable since they lacked the legal capacity to contract. In this case, the courts will look at the intent of the persons to be legally bound. In deciding such cases, the court will also seek to protect the incapacitated person without punishing the other party to the contract. If Taylor and Nate enter into the contract when both of them were in a state where both could reasonably judge the ramifications that their actions had at the time of agreeing the contract. Nate can escape liability if he proves he has a history of drunkenness. Marylyn will win in the case. When an adult enters into a contract with a minor, the infant can either do his part of contract or request that the courts void it. As a general rule, a person who enters into a contract with a minor does it in their own peril. Voiding a contract is wholly at the discretion of the minor and the other party is therefore liable for default. Buy custom The Law of Contract essay

Business management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Business management - Essay Example On the other hand behavioral theory argues out that any individual who can adopt a behavior that is appropriate can be considered to be a good leader. Behaviors could be learned in an easier manner than traits making the leaders to access all behaviors. As opposed to the trait theory that believes that all leaders may be born, behavioral theory argues out that leaders may not be born. The process of leadership can be learned thus not automatic. Different leaders are made through hard work and efforts. The behavioral theory argues out that managers’ potential of leadership can be could be trained to leadership that is effective thus leadership needs to be combined together with management so as to obtain significant outcome. In this regard, the theories of behavior are based on the idea that leaders are normally made instead being born. With this basis, the theory of behaviourism focus on the leaders actions instead of traits. Transformational leadership is a leadership style that facilitates morale, performance, and motivation of the followers by using various mechanisms. The first mechanism include having the follower’s identity and self sense connected towards the project and an organization’s identity. The second mechanism is challenging the followers for them to assume a great working ownership. The third mechanism involves serving as a role model of the followers hence inspiring them and boosting their interest. The last mechanism involves getting to know the weaknesses and the strengths of the followers for the leader to align the followers with tasks for enhancement of their performance. An organization that will call for transformational leadership is an organization whose workers need their needs to be addresses, for them to rise beyond self interest for the organizational sake. This is an organization whose workers have a consciousness level considered as below the optimal level o f the

The Most Turbulent Period in Modern America History Research Paper

The Most Turbulent Period in Modern America History - Research Paper Example In terms of racial inequality, no other time period has come to match the 1960’s in terms of turbulence and instability. This decade saw the uprising of African Americans who were fighting back against the widespread racism and inequality. These series of protestations came to be known as The Civil Rights Movement(Brunner, 2007). Although it began in prior decades, the movement grew in terms of size and effectiveness during this particular time period. Segregation was one of the forefront issues for those seeking equality. Segregation was the separation of African American and Caucasian peoples. This meant that the two races had separate schools, separate restaurants and bathrooms, even separate water fountains. The 1960’s featured the African Americans fighting back and demanding for segregation to be outlawed. Martin Luther King became an important figure and leader throughout this tumultuous time period and often spoke of the importance of peace in regard to the mult itude of riots which occurred as a result of these protests. The American government was compelled to react to the racial inequality as the voices of the African American people—and those who stood with them—grew louder. One such change took place in 1964 when the 24th Amendment was created which abolished the poll tax(Brunner, 2007). The poll tax was originally created in the mid to late 1800’s with the end of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction. The poll tax made it so that people had to pay a specific tax in order to vote. This Jim Crow law made it virtually impossible for African Americans in the south to be able to vote as they often did not have the funds necessary to pay the tax. By abolishing the tax in 1964, one particular road block was removed for the African Americans who had been deterred from exercising their right to vote prior to this(Brunner, 2007). Another important change in terms of how America dealt with race relations also occurred in 1964 when President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Trueman, 2010) This important piece of legislature became one of the most significant events in American social policy. The basic premise of the Civil Rights Act prohibited discriminating against anyone based on race, color, religion, or creed(Brunner, 2007). Perhaps President Johnson was convinced to sign the legislature due to the fact that around the same time, the Freedom Summer occurred where both African Americans and Caucasians traveled down to the south in order to convince other African Americans to register for voting(Trueman, 2010). A great deal of violence, threats, and even murder occurred during this short time period which could have been a deciding factor for Johnson since the Civil Rights Act originally was conceived of four years earlier. It also made it possible for the government to end segregation(Brunner,2007). Schools slowly had to integrate African Americans into the student population and often times these instances were met with a great deal o f protest from racist Caucasians and media attention. Not only did America experience many important changes in racial equality, the country also began to experience an important shift in its culture. The cultural changes occurred because of the American youth in the 1960’s. Literature, music, and education were particularly impacted during this time period and reflected the evolving mindset of the decade. Some of the more influential books that were published included â€Å"

The Trend Of The Wellness Industry

The Trend Of The Wellness Industry Introduction There has been a considerable rise in the trend of the Wellness Industry mainly in Asia-Pacific. As Destination Spas are developing in the industry, it seems it is still rather vague as to what the future holds for this particular sector. The rising awareness of people towards personal health and growth is creating a demand for a service role that is currently evolving to cater to the demands of this progressing market trend. This study will investigate possible outcomes for destinations spas, Mandala Spa, in the designated geographical area. Background The globalization of wellness products such as Spas are increasing and evolving, whereas the philosophies and traditions of the eastern culture are penetrating the western context and vise versa. These spas are growing by incorporating physical, emotional and spiritual activities coupled with the pop psychology that mixes more esoteric practices to raise the level of mental wellness. (Smith and Puczko, 2008) Wellness is defined as The multidimensional state of being well, where inner and outer worlds are in harmony: a heightened state of consciousness enabling you to be fully present in the moment and respond authentically to any situation from the deep inner well of your being. Wellness is an ever-evolving journey to a heightened awakening of the consciousness and working towards a fitter state in regards to the physical, mental and emotional sense of wellbeing, thus helping an individual to further experience life to its fullest with the greatest longevity. (Bodecker and Cohen, 2008) Figure 1: The Expanded Wellness Model Source: Mueller and Kaufmann 2001 p.6 Overview of the Wellness Industry A considerable amount of visitors going to modern day health and wellness centers are mostly not aware of the historical and cultural backgrounds of the treatments they experience. It would be not so far fetched to say that these visitors have not realized that the Ayurvedic practices from India date back as far as 5000 BC, or that the current make-up brands that women are using these days hold similar cosmetic traits to those used my the Egyptian women in 3000 BC. The earliest recorded documentation of Chinese medicinal methods date back to 1000 BC, however in Western societies Chinese medical methods are regarded as exotic and somewhat new in their perception. According to a study made by the Spa Research Fellowship, the earliest reference to so called magical healing waters is 1700 BC and as the classic physician and philosopher of the Hellenistic age, Hippocrates, once said that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦water is still, after all, the best. (Health Wellness Tourism) There is an increasing awareness of the healing properties of water, whether it be thermal, sea or mineral water. Civilizations such as the Greeks and Romans understood the various health related aspects of water treatments and thus were quite focused on fitness and cleanliness through such practices. On the other hand, other ancient civilizations from The Middle East and Asia and other indigenous people around the world were already aware of the health benefits of other practices like herbal medicines, yoga, massage, meditation and other related spiritual practices, for centuries before the cultivation of health related practices in Europe. Although by Western standards, the quality of life in many parts of the world are seemingly low or of poor quality in comparison to Western societies, India and Africa can be cited as two better examples. These people living in such poor standards have developed their own ways of maintaining their wellbeing, although such conditions of deprivatio n favor the triumph of illness over wellness. These practices of preserving health and wellbeing are continuing to become more and more popular among day spa operators and subsequently the visitors of these days spas are growing interests keen enough to want them to visit the origins or homes of these practices such as Yoga and Thai massage. (Health Wellness Tourism) The term Spa, is an adapted acronym for Solus Per Aqua, it can be translated as health through water. (Leavy and Bergel, 2002) According to Associate Professor Rujirutana Madhachitara, PhD of Penn State University in her paper, Opening Up a Services Market The Thai Spa Industry, From what we learn in the classroom and witness in real business life, market usually do not grow as explosively as health spas have done in Thailand. Hotels and resorts along with entrepreneurs have recognized the potential of spa development in Asia, it is even arguable to an extent that recent trend of spas has impacted the face of the Hospitality in the region. Intelligent Spas came up with the Spa Benchmark program across the major Asia Pacific markets and summarized the findings in the table below (Garrow, 2007) Table 1: Asia Pacific Spa Industry overview Malaysia Since the year 2002, Malaysias spa growth has increased by 200% and continues to foretell increased growth. Indonesia Is home to the larger spas in regards to indoor space and more than half of them are destination spas, within the region it is also second most affordable next to the Philippines. Philippines Is the smallest in terms of market size but regardless it also possesses on average, the most numerous amount of treatment rooms, studies show that there is also strong potential for growth in this sector over the coming years. Singapore relatively, the country has a mature market but is still predicted to grow at 11% annually over the upcoming years. There is a considerable amount of day spas of which half are said to be salon type oriented spas. Taiwan Over 81% of Taiwans 300 spa facilities were day spas, a large group of their spas use group brand names, whilst spa franchises are very common. Growth rate is said to be slow in the coming years. Table 2: Asia-Pacific Global Spa study The Asia-Pacific spa industry is the quickest growing region on a global basis, however it is yet relatively young. A larger proportion of spas are preset in emerging markets while resort/hotels spas are currently leading development. Typically, destinations spas are regarded as spa resorts. Growing but yet underdeveloped health resorts in a sense. In comparison to Europe, spa revenues in the Asia-Pacific are 35% lower and 19% lower on a global average, however hotel spas are only 3.75% to 5.8% lower respectively. Whilst in terms of staffing, hotel spas are at an average of 27 employees per establishment and 17 per spa. Intelligent Spas Global Benchmark Report, May 2009, states that the treatment room occupancy in the Asia-Pacific is 37% higher in comparison to other regions, 45% of total revenue accounts for payroll, and with an average treatment rate of US$77 it is the lowest economically among all regions. (Samantha Foster) The term Destination Spa holds a particular standard of luxury for spa-goers, as they were places where the rich and famous would go to slim down. These days destination spas offer more than just a luxurious way to get slim fast, they offer a variety of products that cater to the overall wellness of their customers. Such services offered are healthier diet alternatives, lifestyle lectures, yoga seminars and more traditional methods of energy attunement to find your own sense of inner and outer balance. (Leavy and Bergel 2002) Mandala Spa brands itself as a destination spa incorporating all the fore mentioned services and more, in 2005 they won the prestigious Asia Spa Award for best destination spa of the year and spa treatment of the year. Since then they have continued to win awards in 2006, 2007, and 2009. Since its inauguration in 2001, Mandala Spa has touched the lives of many people and has grown from a four-villa Day Spa to a full fledged Wellness Resort and Destination Spa. ( http://www.mandalaspa.com) Aims The author will conduct an in-depth research on what the future holds for Destination Spas in Asia Pacific, focusing on a developing boutique Destination Spa brand, Mandala Spa as a prime reference. Objectives To review literature about the Wellness Industry with emphasis on Destination Spas. To investigate the trends and variables influencing the development of the Wellness Industry with focus on the Destination Spa sector. To understand the strategies that Mandala Spa is using for its success and how they will use these for future development or expansion; and To recommend any findings to Mandala Spa and the Asia Pacific Spa and Wellness Coalition for the overall benefit of the industry and for future research; CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW The Concept of Wellness Tourism According to (Verschuren, 2004) Wellness tourism is very different from health tourism as wellness tourism is considered a unique product within the health tourism segment thus it is not a category in itself but a sub category of health tourism. Figure 1 According to (Kaspar 1996), health tourism is the sum of all the relationships and phenomena resulting from a change of location and residence by people in order to promote, stabilize and, as appropriate, restore physical, mental and social well-being while using health services and for whom the place where they are staying is neither their principle nor permanent place of residence or work. By definition of (Mueller and Kaufmann 2000), following (Kaspar1996), wellness tourism can be the sum of all the relationships and the phenomena resulting from a change of location and residence by people whose main motive is to preserve or promote their health. They stay in hotels that are specialized in providing the individual care with the appropriate personal know-how. To further the statement these guests require and expect certain service packages that are comprehensive in nature, such packages may include physical fitness, meditations, dietary advise, beauty care and education. According to The International Spa Association (ISPA) spas are defined as entities devoted to enhancing overall well-being through a variety of professional services that encourage the renewal of mind, body and spirit (ISPA, 2006) A comprehensive categorization of spas has been produced by the International Spa Association is listed below: Club Spa Day Spa Spa Hotel Holistic Spa Medical Spa Bath Resort Spa Sport Spa Structured Spa Definition of a Destination Spa There is no universally accepted definition of destination spas, rather the following academics present these definitions: Destination spas predecessors were referred to as fat farms due to their somewhat rigorous detoxification and weight loss programmes. These fat farms were perceived as the to-be places for communities high societies, yet most of these establishments were not deemed a pleasant holiday experience as most of them were ran similar to boot camps in a sense, where their guests would undertake restricted diets or fasting seminars where the promised results of weight loss would be achieved, however in no manner pleasant. Few of these fat farms would feature beauty treatments, relaxation or meditation programmes and even less provided in education in terms of how to maintain their lost weight, thus guests would eventually gain the weight back. The destination spa of today offer more than just weight loss programmes but are now geared towards more meaningful exercise programmes, education on lifestyle, wellness seminars, consultancy on diet and cleansing, and some offer medical tests or evalua tions. (The Spa Encyclopedia) Destination spas are built with the primary purpose of providing spa/wellness activities for guests as compared to resort/hotel spas whos primary purpose is to sell their rooms while the spa is an augmenting facility, the purpose of destination spas are the exact opposite of this. (Gibson 2008) Destination Spas are a place where visitors go for short retreats/wellness programmes that are somewhat life changing or produce a high impact on the guests lifestyle. (Spa bodywork: a guide for massage therapists) Asia Pacific Wellness Traditions The wellness traditions of Asia follow a more holistic approach to health and wellbeing, treating the mind, body and spirit as one. Their way of healing is by finding the essence of the problem and supporting the body in healing itself therefore boosting the bodys natural immunity against illness and disease. Therefore the approach through natural healing, in Asia, is rooted in spirituality and tradition rather than on a basis of natural assets. In Japan the traditional bathing establishments of onsens, which are Japanese hot springs, are commonly visited by locals in seek of meditation or relaxation and has grown in popularity among the tourists. Reiki and Shiatsu are two of the most prevalent wellness therapies from the Japanese culture and are currently very common treatments provided by western spas. The legacy of Indias historic culture has existed before that of Ancient Egypt as even scholars regard Ayurveda (the science of life) as one of the oldest healing systems in the world. It is still commonly the first form of traditional healing in Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. The traditional forms of Chinese medicine were focused on an individuals overall state through a variety of therapies, such as Chi (the overall flow of life force or energy of a person), Shen (the persons mind that is responsible for their mental abilities and consciousness), and Jing (The governing essence of a persons vitality). Traditional Chinese medicine, similar to Indian Ayurveda, leans towards the aspects of preventive and holistic approaches towards health in regards to physical movement, spirituality, diet and emotional wellbeing. A myriad of therapies are offered, some of the most popular to mention are Tai Chi, Qi Gong, herbal medicines, and acupuncture which focus on the flow of energy throughout the body. Thailand is currently said to be the leading country in spa development within Asia, featuring a wide array of services, products, aesthetics and centres. The basic principles of Wat Pho traditional Thai massage and the Lana traditions of Northern Thailand are what constitute the concepts of Thai spas. The Temple of the Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, located in the capital city of Bangkok by the Grand Palace, is where traditional Thai massage was born. During the era before the temple was built, the area was a site for the practice of traditional Thai medicine that has its relational origins from Ayurveda. Malaysia has a set of unique spa programmes and ambiences through the incorporation of village or kampung traditions along with the wellness traditions practiced in the royal courts. Pressure point and long stroke massage techniques which are the basis of Urut, the traditional Malay massage, which is the main feature of the services offered along with traditional post-natal care in womens health programmes. The foundation of these therapies are based on causative theory building on the organizing principles of cold and hot, damp and dry and of the natural elements air, fire, water and earth, derived from links to Ayurveda. Indonesias mainstay of promoting wellness and beauty comes from Jamu herbalism, traditionally it lies in the center of managing the populations healthcare. The spiritual approaches to wellness, along with traditional massage techniques and fresh herbal ingredients, are highly incorporated in Balinese and Indonesian spas. Vietnam, regarded now as the new Thailand amongst south east Asian investment circles due to its promising economy and influx of new beach, golf and health resort developments. The main medicinal tradition of the country is referred to as Thuoc Nam of which is based more on traditional folk knowledge. A Buddhist monk and scholar, Tue Tinh, developed Thuoc Nam into a national system. He consolidated all the local medicinal knowledge from Vietnam and established clinics within monasteries along with herbal gardens coupled with educating the public on the herbal home medicine. (Dung and Bodeker 2001) The Philippines, being an archipelago, has its traditional medicinal techniques deeply rooted in the multitude of ethnics groups found on its thousand of islands. Its traditional massage practice is known as Hilot and is just as diverse in techniques, practices and tradition as it varies from region to region within the country. It is however being standardized, and thus growing ever more popular among the spa programmes in the Philippines. (Marana and Tan 2006) Key Theories on Spas Compare and contrast an approximate of 3 key theories here, identify who your subject matter experts are through seeing who are the names who are always cited in the various journals and books you have on Spa. Support with some models, I think you have one model in your Chapter II already! Figure 1. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs and Schà ¼tte and Ciarlantes Asian Equivalent Model. Adapted from (Athena H. N. Mak, Kevin K. F. Wong and Richard C. Y. Chang) Maslows hierarchy of needs and the Asian equivalent model Tourist motivation embraces psychological as well as physiological facets because travel is expected to satisfy different levels of needs such as psychological (e.g. intrinsic, personal and interpersonal rewards) and physiological needs (e.g. food, shelter, safety, health and fitness) (Witt and Wright, 1992). Maslows (1970) hierarchy of needs is one of the most popular theories of motivation used by researchers to study tourist motivation (Iso- Ahola, 1980). Maslow proposes that human needs as motivators form a five-level hierarchy comprising of physiological, safety, love/ belonging, esteem and self-actualisation needs. He further states that the lower-level needs should be satisfied first before an individual could move up to higher-level ones in the hierarchy. Mill and Morrison (1985) cite that motivation is a phenomenon that takes place when an individual seeks to satisfy a need, and suggest a correlation between Maslows hierarchy of needs and tourist motivation. Maslows model is based on Western culture, so Schà ¼tte and Ciarlante (1998) have questioned whether self-actualisation (a personally directed need) is existent among Asian consumers. They contend that Asian countries predominately have a collectivist culture (Hofstede, 1980), so the idea that a personally directed need is at the highest level of needs would neither be readily accepted nor regarded positively in the Asian culture. Instead, socially directed needs seem to be more apposite in such cultural context. Schà ¼tte and Ciarlante thus put forth an Asian equivalent model, one that eliminates the personally directed self- actualisation need and emphasizes the intricacies and importance of socially directed needs, namely, affiliation, admiration and status. Based on the research conducted by (Athena H. N. Mak, Kevin K. F. Wong and Richard C. Y. Chang) Their study identified the motivating factors for Hong Kong spa-goers seeking spa experience when they travel. Their perceptions of spa, as well as their socio-demographic characteristics, were analysed. In addition, an instrument to measure motivation in the spa tourism domain was developed. Factor analysis results show that relaxation and relief, escape, self-reward and indulgence, and health and beauty are important underlying motivating factors for spa-goers, as shown in the study. The result contrasts interestingly with general European spa-goers perception that spa experience is largely for curative or therapeutic purposes (Miller, 1996; Douglas, 2001), and American spa-goers perception that spa experience is a means of self-reward (Kaspar, 1990; ISPA, 2006). For the Hong Kong context, it is actually an integration of self-reward and health, together with relaxation and escape motiva tions. This distinctive combination of motivating factors reflects the unique underlying needs of Hong Kong spa-goers. The demand for spa is anticipated to grow continuously (ISPA, 2006), and the opportunities associated with spa are many and varied. However, despite the bright outlook for the Asian spa market, it is imperative for the spa industry to maximise the potential for this niche market segment outlook for the Asian spa market, it is imperative for the spa industry to maximise the potential for this niche market segment. Current Situation of Mandala Spa Here you do a write up discussing the current situation of Mandala Spa as a destination spa in the Asia Pacific region. What is the key to Mandalas Success? You have to understand, that when you analyze wellnessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and a commitment to wellness and the wellbeing of other people, you realize very quickly that taking care of other people or being a good care taker for people, a very essential Christian quality, this is not something you do as a job like flipping hamburgersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ it is something that has to be developed inside of a person as part of their personality, inside of their heart, so Karen Reina and I realized very quickly that if you want to be sincere in the wellness industry by taking care of other people one way or the other. It could be in the spa industry, the hotel industry or that might simply be in the nursing or physical therapy industry, the most important quality is the love and compassion and ability to have positive relationships with the guests. We decided that this is one of the most essential qualities a place can have, this is what we have to focus our service on, the rest is really technical training, skill training, attitude refinement, the way your presenting yourself with etiquette training, but what makes us very different from all other aspects of the hospitality industry is that when your working really close with people, when your touching them literary with your hands and fingers, when your all over their skinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ YOU CANT FAKE IT! If your not real, people will realize it the latest at that point, when somebodys hands are all over them, thats when they realize if that service is real or fake, they are just pretending to give me a loving and caring service and just see it as a job. This is what really is the very essence of mandala spa, and this is what makes us different from many other places to start out withà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ our outlook was not based on a well organized spread sheet full of figures, our first challenge was and still is always, how can you install a culture and a commitment to the essence of hospitality in our staff, a corporate cultu re as it is calledà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ this is the same challenge others in the same field are experiencing now in hospitality, where they say that cutting edge is where the guest is loved or feels loved, what better hospitality can you give other than true love and true care? No matter on which level, and this is what our people and guests come back for. So when people ask what was their best holiday experience, it is often the very small relationships they had with their host, it is all about love, care and respect, the rest is really just dressing up. You very quickly realize that when you think that way, well its different that hamburger flipping in a way that you have to teach that way of thinking, you have to communicate that, you have to install that as a part of corporate culture.. that we want to do things with care, that we want to do things to maintain or better the environment, that we are caring for our employees as people and not just by looking at the annual growth rate of the company, caring by making an effort to communicate with them, by trying to provide personal growth opportunities for them, no matter if its through Yoga or personal talks or through participation in our social responsibility programs like planting trees, improving the environment, and they are proud of that, they should feel proud of being gentle, of being caring, of being compassionate. These are al the values we are trying to install within our corporate culture, not just the training to start out with and technical perfection, quality of touch, I am doing that myself. But what really brings everything through and what brings everything together is really when your heart is open and your heart is in it, and this is a big part of Mandalas secret, were trying really to maintain that corporate culture that is true to itself, that walks the talk. Wellness and wellbeing is not a five to nine job for Mandala Spa, it is a way of lie for Mandala Spa. Conclusively, a lot of people wor king with us or working with me are not there just for the job or the rewards or the growth opportunities on a proffesional career level, they are simply there because they love the way of life that they can live during eight hours of their prime time. CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY Research Paradigm and Design The Research Paradigm used in this dissertation is that of intepretivism in which is a comprehension of the differences between humans as social actors. The social actors in this case refer to interview respondents. Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007) presented an argument that the business world is too intricate to be at the disposition of theories and definite `laws` in which rich insights may be lost in the process. In line with this paradigm, the author maintains an empathetic stance and attempting to understand the social world from the point of view from the research subjects. As each situation is unique and stands alone, all these are a function of a specified set of individuals and circumstances brought together at a particular time. The epistemology of this paradigm is on subjective meanings and social phenomena with a focus into an in depth study on the details of destination spas in the Asia Pacific, the background reality and motivating actions. It will have a subjective axiology due to the research being value bound and the author being inseparable from the research. An inductive approach is used here in which the author theorizes that the wellness industry is a sub category of the health industry health tourism and from recent trends it is predicted that the health industry is beginning to adapt aspects of the wellness industry as a more informed clientele demand for an integration of wellness and nutrition into healthcare. This proposed theory is to be backed up with collected interview data for testing of validity. Qualitative Study Data Collection Development Open ended questions are structured or at least semi structured. It is important that the author guides the interview and steer it back on topic should digression occur. Nonetheless, for the purpose of the B.A (Hons) dissertation, structured interviews should be used. If you use interviews but did not manage to meet the person face to face, attach a copy of email correspondence in appendix. Or save MSN conversations into rich text format. Sampling Data Collection Data Analysis Ethics CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND RESULTS Introduction Profile of Participants How many of them Number of contacts (overall sampling frame) How many returns? (% of responses) DO NOTE THAT FOR ONLINE SURVEYS, THE ACTUAL QUANTITY IS NOT EASILY DERIVED AND IS MAINLY AN ESTIMATE. Give evidence of screening (How many were null? Even if person answers all strongly agree, it is null!) Proper steps supersede absolute numbers. Report the final, n = 19 (%) Who are the participants? (Use your background questions to assist you.) For qualitative interviews, youve been in contact with the person. Describe their qualification to prove that they are the appropriate person to individual on the subject. Background of Participants Analysis of qualitative data Reiterate that an inductive approach was used and that it is an exploratory paper You have a choice here of analyzing your data using a condensation, grouping or ordering process.

Steven Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets :: Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets

Maggie A Girl Of The Streets Maggie and Jimmie are two siblings being raised within the slums of New York City in the Stephen Crane novel; Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. The parents of these two are constantly fighting as broken furniture and fistfights are an everyday occurance in the decrepid family apartment. The mother and father fight while their children hide frightened as "There was a clash against the door and something broke into clattering fragments .... (Jimmie) heard howls and curses, groans and shrieks, confusingly in chorus as if a battle were raging" (11). Crane exxagerates the furniture destruction as every night when the two parents battle, seemingly all the furniture in the apartment is destroyed. Obviously, this poor family couldn't afford to fix and/or buy new furniture everyday. This then is the environment that Maggie and Jimmie struggle with throughout the novel, but both respond to in opposite ways. Maggie dreams of a better life than of her roots while Jimmie excepts his roots and becom es nihilistic. However, the hope of Maggie sadly goes unfulfilled. Maggie is introduced into the storyline quite subtle and quickly becomes the main focus of attention by the other three main characters. From the beginning, Maggie is a harsh contrast to the slum environment she has to endure. She "blossomed in a mud puddle ... a most rare and wonderful production of a tenement district, a pretty girl" (16) that not only had the physical beauty that her family seemed to lack, but also the hope that she could be better than what was around in her environment. Therefore, the slum environment that surrounds her contrasts her character greatly. "None of the dirt of Rum Alley was in her veins" (16) as she became the talk of numerous males in the neighborhood. Pete; an acquaintance of Jimmie, became Maggie's infatuation. They meet when Pete is called to the Johnson apartment by Jimmie after Pete promised to attend a boxing match with him. Although only a bartender, Maggie finds Pete as a man of "personal superiority" (17) that is capable of providing her with any dream she desires. She views the contrast between Pete and her environment when: The broken furniture, grimy walls, and general disorder and dirt of her home all of a sudden appeared before her and began to take a potential aspect. Pete's aristocratic person looked as if it might soil.

An evaluation of the impact of social policy in relation to childhood poverty since 1997

Introduction This essay considers the effects of government policy on child poverty since 1997. This date represents both a high and low point of the war against child poverty. On the one hand, poverty and inequality were at their most serious in post-war history, with over one in four children living in relative poverty; on the other hand, it saw child poverty come into focus like never before, leading to the development of some of the most ambitious new targets, the most notable of which was the commitment to completely ‘eradicate’ child poverty within 10-20 years (Hills and Stewart 2005). All policies must go through several stages, called the policy cycle. There are numerous different conceptions of the policy cycle, each with slightly different stages. This essay will concentrate on the four main ones: agenda setting (problem identification), policy formation, policy implementation, and post-policy evaluation. The chronological sequence of the policy cycle given above provides t he rough structure for this essay; however, on occasion policies are discussed with reference to all stages of the cycle. This essay begins with a brief background section in order to frame the discussion. It concludes by arguing that on the whole government policy has been relatively successful in combating child poverty across the policy cycle, but that there are several areas of weakness requiring improvement. The notion that child poverty should be a major area of government policy is relatively modern. Historically, children have tended to fall under the care of the immediate or extended family, or under unusual circumstances someone entrusted with their care from the community or social group of the parents. However, this norm has been revised in recent years, leading to a change in the effective definition of ‘caring’, which has been expanded to include care by social workers, nurses and doctors, nursery assistants, teachers, and others (Eisenstadt 2011). The very concept of poverty itself has also varied greatly over time. The important cornerstones of modern policy related to mental and psychological wellbeing are fairly recent in origin. By contrast, Victorian campaigners against child poverty focused on bodily, or physical, problems, as embodied in the period by ragged and starving children. By the mid-20th century many other issues were in vogue. For example, child poverty began to include deficits of education caused by socio-economic problems and learning disabilities. It also began to take into account social ills such as exclusion, asylum seeking, and refugee status among children. In 1997, poverty Government policy since the late-1990s has incorporated all these elements (Eisenstadt 2011). Prior to 1997 childhood has been described by some as a ‘policy free zone’ (Eisenstadt 2011), where goals and objectives were largely hidden from view, being established primarily in office by outside experts. Since then, however, there is a strong consensus that in the early stages of the policy cycle the government has been successful in its approach to child poverty. Agenda setting in particular has been on the rise perhaps since the early- to mid-1990s across many departments and in the core of government. For example, policy debates have been a regular occurrence on many topics regarding child poverty, including cash incomes and services, as well as long-term factors underlying disadvantage and survival chances for children. This represents an impressive degree of cross-policy linkages in the government’s approach. Moreover, it is argued that this has translated into concrete results in policy terms. As Bradshaw and Bennett (2014: 5) put it: ‘the use of targets has been prolific, with those on poverty and social exclusion some of the most high profile.’ This claim is well-supported by the evidence, and several prominent cases can be cited. Take, for example, the commitment to reduce relative child poverty by 25% by 2004-5 and by 50% by 2010-11, as well as to completely ‘eradicate’ it within twenty years (by 2020) – or more pessimistically to be ‘amongst the best in Europe’ (Bradshaw and Bennett 2014: 6). The latter is among the most enduring of government promises regarding child poverty. Additionally, there is the so-called neighbourhood renewal strategy, which laid out the government’s intention that within 10 to 20 years no one would be seriously disadvantaged by where they live. Bradshaw and Bennett (2014: 7) contend that ‘such targ ets (for example, in the annual Opportunity for All reports) involve the Government holding itself to account in a way that few predecessors have done.’ This suggests that at the level of agenda setting there has been considerable success in combating child poverty, but there are also many omissions in the way the government has approached important issues. For example, child poverty might arguably have suffered as a result of the conspicuously small number of targets for overall poverty reduction, as the two are strongly interrelated. It is also questionable whether the targets and agenda setting initiatives have translated to policy formation (Bradshaw and Bennett 2014; Lupton et al. 2013; Hill and Stewart 2005). Before proceeding to discuss this issue, a note of caution should be issued about the usefulness of policy in the first place. Lupton et al. (2013: 17) highlight some of the issues inherent in policy commitments: They note, for example, that goals are in actuality mere promises, or claims, which are unenforceable in both practice and theory. Moreover, it is likely under many circumstances that these will be driven by ideo logical agendas, which will shape change according to which party is in power, ‘and be more or less shaped by the legacy inherited, the particular problems of the moment, or fiscal pressures. They may be more or less explicit and discernible. Unstated goals, some of which later become apparent from internal documentary evidence and politicians or civil servants’ Lupton et al. (2013: 17). Indeed, it is for this reason that scholars working in this field tend to evaluate what Lupton et al. (2013) call ‘realised policy’ rather than policy in a broader sense (Bradshaw and Bennett 2014). There is evidence that this concern – that is, ostensible policy not translating into realised policy – has characterised much of the government’s approach to child poverty, rending it unsuccessful to a degree. For instance, it was only in 2012 that the (Social Mobility and) Child Poverty Commission was appointed. This meant that the body could not be consulted prior to the publication of the Child Poverty Strategy for 2011-14. This contravened the government’s statutory commitment and can be seen as evidence that policy has not necessarily been realised, to use Lupton et al.’s (2013) terminology. Importantly, this had concrete implications for the Child Poverty Strategy for 2011-14, which was widely criticised from not laying out in enough detail that actual means by which policy objectives would be achieved (Bradshaw and Bennett 2014). There are other reasons to believe that agenda setting so far has lacked specificity regarding how it will deal with child poverty. This conclusion emerges through a close examination of the policy statements of government publication and the results following from these policies. For example, the Department for Education posts a statement on its website reading: ‘Poverty, as measured by a household’s income relative to the national average, is often a symptom of deeper, more complex problems. Many of these problems are passed on from one generation to the next.’ As Bradshaw and Bennett (2014) note, the ‘background’ section state that one of its primary aims is ‘reducing poverty in all its forms’, and references social injustice, but does little to directly address the issue of child poverty. The website for the Department for work and Pensions does likewise, noting the existence of a child poverty strategy and the Positive for Youth Repo rt (2011) but failing to specify what this entails in terms of policy (Bradshaw and Bennett 2014; Forest and Parton 2009). This shows that to a certain extent there has been a disconnect between the early stages of the policy cycle (agenda and target setting) and the later one (policy formation). It can also be argued that the government’s approach to dealing with child poverty has been inadequate at the level of policy formation. There has tended to be a great deal of emphasis on the idea of encouraging unemployed parents to work in order that they may better support their children. While this is commendable in several obvious respects, it also has shortcomings. Bucci (cited in Forest and Parton 2009), for example, emphasises the importance of internal factors in children’s lives and downplays the external factors that are usually emphasised by officials and practitioners of policy. This suggests, therefore, the inclusion of many more people in the work force might actually worsen poverty of a social and emotional kind by depriving children of their parents for extended periods. Another strategy employed to end child poverty has come in the form of the Sure Start Centres, the stated aim of which is to ‘improve the outcomes for all children’ (Department of Education 2008). However, the attention paid to child poverty specifically was conspicuously lacking. For example, the first brief concentrated on the objective of ‘helping prevent family breakdown and promoting readiness for schools’, which only has an indirect relationship to child poverty and arguably should not have been prioritised over alternatives, such as the provision of financial support. In addition to the educational component, the Sure Start programme is largely geared around encouraging more parents to work. The government places the promotion of employment and education at the centre of its child poverty policy, as revealed in its description of Sure Start as ‘a cornerstone of the Government’s drive to tackle child poverty and social exclusion’ (D epartment of Education 2008) This is supported by a number of groups, including the Institute for Public Policy Research, which argued that ‘social inclusion is best promoted though enhanced employment opportunity’ and that ‘‘poverty and deprivation in children’s families and in their neighbourhoods is associated with their performance at school’ (Oppenheim, 1998: 113, 139). There is also support for this policy direction from the European Commission (2014), which argued that the most important priorities for reducing child poverty are to ‘improve access to affordable early childhood education and care services’ and to ‘support parents’ access to the labour market and make sure that work ‘pays’ for them’ (European Commission 2014). It might reasonably be claimed, therefore, that while the policy formulation as regards child poverty is indirect, its efficacy in ameliorating child poverty is supported in the literature. This gives credibility to the Sure Start programme, which represents not just successful policy formulation but also the successful implementation of policy initiatives (Lupton 2013). The noticeable educational improvements among children and young people reflect the efficacy of these policies, and it has been argued that they show the success of child poverty reduction measures. For example, results in national tests at 11 and 16 indicated great improvements and few people were leaving school with no qualifications by 2010 (Lupton 2013). Socio-economic gaps were reduced across all indicators – incrementally at age 11 and then more distinctly at age 16. Larger number remained at school after the age of 16 and more went to higher education. Socio-economic gaps in HE access also closed slightly despite concerns to the contrary (Lupton 2013). On the other hand, it has also been argued (e.g., by the European Commission) that the UK has so far not done enough on these fronts in order to combat child poverty. This suggests that while policy formulation might therefore be on the right track, the implementation has not yet gone far enough (European Commission 2014). On the whole, policy formulation has generally been lauded. Education Maintenance Allowances, for example, have complemented the Sure Start programme discussed above. More important have been the tax and benefit reforms, which Hills and Steward (2005) argue have ‘reduced child poverty quickly enough to give the Government a good chance of hitting its 2004-05 targets.’ This is a dated analysis, but it indicates that in the decade after 1997 policy was relatively successful. The importance of changes in incomes for parents and their children, moreover, is borne out by the Families and Children Survey, as well as other interviews conducted in low-income areas (Hills and Stewart 2005). Nevertheless, while there has been a fall in relative child poverty between 1996-7 and 2002-3, and falls in deprivation and child-related spending by parents, the UK is still some way behind the EU average (Hills and Stewart 2005; also see European Commission 2014) There has been considerable research into the effect of Labour’s efforts to alleviate child poverty, primarily because they have been in office for much of the period and have been the main drivers behind such initiatives. The Labour government’s record has been positive on many fronts. Health is closely related to poverty, and in these terms the life expectancy of children rose, with infant mortality declining and illness declining, between 1997 and 2010 (Vizard and Obolenskaya 2013). This is supported by Stewart (2013), who has noted that for young children in particular outcomes as a result of Labour’s policies improved markedly, with higher employment rates for lone parents and fewer mothers drinking and smoking during pregnancies (the tangible impact of this is reflected in a fall in low birth weights among infants); moreover, the improvements here were concentrated among the lower socio-economic groups, which suggests relative poverty declined (Stewart 2013 ). For older children and young people, results in national tests at 11and 16 showed substantial improvements and hardly anyone was leaving school with no qualifications by 2010. Socio-economic gaps closed on all indicators –gradually at age 11 and more dramatically at age 16. Greater proportions stayed on at school after 16 and went to higher education, and socio-economic gaps in HE access closed slightly despite concerns to the contrary (Lupton and Obolenskaya 2013). Some particular shortcomings of policy have been highlighted by the research, however. For example, research into child poverty arising from neglect and abuse has revealed policy failure at all levels of the policy cycle. The neglect, abuse and eventual death of Victoria Climbe in 2000 is a good example of a policy failure in the period under consideration (Forest and Parton 2009; Laming 2003). Older children have often been classified as ‘hard to help’ and failed by agencies, while long-term neglect cases have on occasion not been properly contextualised in terms of past events in children’s lives. Additionally, there has tended to be an overreliance on universal or adult social service for physically injured children rather than the more appropriate children social care. As Brandon (2008) notes, these are reflective of policy failures in this particular area at the levels of formation, implementation, and post-policy evaluation. At the final level of the policy cycle, evaluation, there has been some criticism of policy. In particular, March and Fisher (2005: 4) highlight ‘strong arguments for the development of the evidence base, and for shifting social services towards an evidence-based approach, instead of its historic reliance on an ‘authority-based’ approach. These arguments run similarly to those suggesting that healthcare needs more of an evidence-based approach (for example, the 1997 report for the DH on R&D in primary care) (Forest and Parton 2009). In this respect, it could be argued that policy has been less effective than it might have been because the research driving it has been conducted in the wrong way. It might even be said that improvements in this area required looking to the past: As Marsh and Fisher (2005: 5) put it: ‘Despite this lack of strategy, social work research has occasionally made a significant impact’. They point to the example of the childcare research programme that was shaped by the DH during the 1980s. This led to a cogent set of policies on many critical issues and helped to make policy more focused on relevance and practical matters.. Nevertheless, this ‘did not address the question of the infrastructure for research relevant to social care’ (Marsh and Fisher 2005: 5). In a sense, these failures of policy at the final stage bring the argument full circle back to the level of agenda setting and policy formation. Marsh and Fisher (2005) and Morrin et al. (2011) see the issue as a lack of a strategic framework, which impedes agenda setting from the outset and prevents re-evaluative improvement at the end. The fact that no publicly funded research body is in place makes this more difficult, ‘and the plethora of relevant bodies has not so far offered a unified voice that could command widespread support. Unclear academic roots complicate the process’ (Marsh and Fisher 2005: 15). It might be argued that this comes down to the problem that social care does not exist as an independent academic discipline (Morrin et al. 2011; Forest and Parton 2009). In conclusion, it can be said that the impact of government policy on child poverty has been mixed. On the one hand, many important and varied issues, ranging from education to financial hardship and psychological trauma, have been brought under the government remit. This represents a success in terms of agenda setting. A large number of influential programmes have taken form across the spectrum, and these have been implemented with reasonable success in many cases, as indicated by the fact that child poverty has declined since 1997 by nearly 10 percent (Forest and Parton 2009). To a certain degree, it is too early to tell whether evaluation has been successful. There have, of course, been various shortcomings such as the inability of policy to adequately protect abused children. Detractors have also claimed that policy, despite being relatively successful, has not been based on evidence. In the end, the record of government policy is generally good, although there is clearly scope f or improvement going forwards. References: Bradshaw, J. and Bennett, F. (2014) Investing in Children: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage: A Study of National Policies: The United Kingdom, European Commission http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/research/pdf/Naps2013Investing.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Brandon, M. (2008) Analysing child deaths and serious injury through abuse and neglect, Centre for Research on Children and Families http://www.uea.ac.uk/centre-research-child-family/child-protection-and-family-support/analysing-child-deaths [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Cleaver, H. and Walker, S. (2004) Assessing Children’s Needs and Circumstances: The Impact of the Assessment Framework, London: Jessica Kingsley Department for Education (2008) Sure Start Children’s Centres – good for your child and good for you http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/Surestart/Page1/DCSF-00787-2008 [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Department of Health (1997) R&D in primary care, London: The Stationery Office European Commission (2014) Investing in children http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1060&langId=en [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Eisenstadt, N. (2011), Providing a Sure Start: How Government Discovered Early Childhood. Bristol: Policy Press Forest, N. and Parton, N. (2009) Understanding children’s social care: politics, policy and practice London: SAGE Hills, J. and Stewart, K. (2005) POLICIES TOWARDS POVERTY, INEQUALITY AND EXCLUSION SINCE 1997, Joseph Rowntree Foundation http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/policies-towards-poverty-inequality-and-exclusion-1997 [Retrieved 22/06/2014] HM Government (2006) Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, Nottingham: Department for Education and Skills http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/youth-justice/improving-practice/WT2006-Working-together.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] HM Government (2004) Every Child Matters: Change for Children Programme. Nottingham: Department for Education and Skills www.everychildmatters.gov.uk [Retrieved 22/03/2014] Laming, H. (2003) The Victoria Climbie Inquiry https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/273183/5730.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Lupton, R., Burchardt, T, Hills, J. Stewart, K. and Vizard, P. (2013) A Framework for Analysing the Effects of Social Policy, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/spcc/rn001.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Lupton, R. (2013) Labour’s Social Policy Record: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010, Centre for Analysis and Social Exclusion http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/spcc/RR01.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Marsh, P. and Fisher, M. (2005) Developing the evidence base for social work and social care practice, Social Care Institute for Excellence http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/reports/report10.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Morrin, M., Johnson, S., Heron, L. and Roberts, E. (2011) CONCEPTUAL IMPACT OF ESRC RESEARCH: CASE STUDY OF UK CHILD POVERTY POLICY, Final Report to Economic and Social Research Council http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Conceptual_impact_study_report_tcm8-18146.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Stewart, K. (2013) Labour’s Record on the Under-Fives: Policy Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010. Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper. London: CASE Vizard, P. and Obolenskaya, P. (2013) Labour’s Record on Health: Policy Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010. Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper WP02. London: CASE