Chili’s Bar Essay

In the decision making process, it helps to look at all the information. This SWOT is comparing Chili’s restaurant to two of its competitors, Ruby Tuesday’s and Applebee’s. Company History Chili’s restaurants are part of the company, Brinker International Corporation. Chili’s Bar & Grill is a casual dining restaurant that was founded in 1975 and has expanded to include 1,200 restaurants located domestically and internationally. There menu consists of fresh and healthy American dishes and limited amount of southwestern style Mexican dishes. In the last 30 years, Chili’s has created an identifiable, recognizable brand name, just think of the commercials. Chili’s Strengths Chili’s is the one of the largest full service restaurant chains with over 1,200 stores, second only to Applebee’s which has about 1,900 stores. Their competitor Ruby Tuesday has less than 900 stores with many of those franchises. Chili’s is part of Brinker Intl. , which is world’s second largest casual dining restaurant operator, the first being Darden restaurants. This allows them to offer affordable prices, because they can negotiate product rates for all of their stores, unlike a smaller company. They have also expanded their company to include Chili’s Too, Small Town Chili’s, and offer catering services. They update their menu one to two times a year, unlike Ruby Tuesday’s which updates their menu every three to four months. Chili’s has a popular menu that keeps people coming back, so they tweak it a bit to keep up with trends, but keep their core items. At this time they serve the same menu in every store, which allows for consistency throughout the company. They have a very broad market with a recognizable brand name and they focus on customer satisfaction. The restaurant business can be very competitive, but they have unusually high management retention and that may be in part to extremely competitive starting salaries and excellent benefit packages. Their competitor, Ruby Tuesday, has franchised many of its stores, creating varied salaries, salary caps, and benefits, when going from a franchise to a corporate store, which can make it difficult to retain managers. When Chili’s is looking for hourly employees, it offers several opportunities to them. They can apply and interview online, receive benefits and have the opportunity to grow with the company. Their hourly employee turnover rate is also lower than the industry average. Chili’s Weaknesses Even though the Chili’s brand is recognizable, it doesn’t appeal to the upper class. The casual dining concept, no matter how different, is still the same. They receive much of their food frozen, unlike Ruby Tuesday which receives all of their meat and produce fresh, making some items not the best of quality. During the busy times, servers are pressured to decrease their table turn time, the time from when a guest sits at the table until they leave and the table is ready for another guest, which can make it difficult to build a rapport with their guests, but at the same time they want their PPA (per person average) to be higher. Many of their restaurants are focused around the bar, which segregates some consumers that do not want to be in that environment. It also makes their seating area than some of their competitors. Chili’s Opportunities There are several things Chili’s can do to remain competitive in the casual dining industry. They can continue to expand internationally, beyond the 20 countries they are already in. Their competitors have yet to exceed that with Ruby Tuesday’s being in about twelve countries and Applebee’s is in almost twenty. They have a very well known brand which will allow them to continue expansion at a rapid rate with the backing of their parent company, Brinker Intl. They are launching a program to try international cuisines at some of their foreign locations. If consumers react positively this could be a great growth opportunity, if it is not taken to, it could be a threat to their international stores if they continue it. They can enlarge their restaurants or configure different models, based on the demographics of the area, to include more seating for guests and not just the bar area. They can continue to expand their brand recognition apparel and glassware. Chili’s Threats The largest threat to the Chili’s brand is the competition of casual dining restaurants, which are easy to duplicate. Applebee’s and Ruby Tuesday’s both had higher 1-year sales growths, with 10% and 17. %, respectively, compared to Chili’s at 6. 1%. Chili’s saturated some U. S. markets and has no where else to expand in those areas. They need to keep up with current trends and eating habits, because they change often, to stay current with the market. Summary Chili’s has managed to saturate the US and foreign markets better than its competitors. Their sales are higher and they retain their employees longer. They need to look at a few things like following eating trends and standing out from the competition a bit more, but they are a highly competitive company that keeps people coming back.

Psychology Lab Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy screamed in horrible pain and pleaded his innocence as he was killed by the electric chair. He was so evil that he tried to use one of his victims to try to stop the killing. This plan failed and we all saw how evil he truly was. The government considers Ted Bundy a serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and necrophilia. He assaulted and murdered many women and young girls through the says.Some people believe Ted Bundy may have started sooner. Ted Bundy spent almost a decade declining that he killed people. After a long period of time Ted confessed to thirty homicides. These thirty deaths spread over seven states in the United States. Since Bundy s death the total number of casualties has risen to thirty-five. Ted Bundy personality is believed to be affected by his life as a child. Ted Bundy was raised with the belief that his grand parents were his parents. He was also told his mother was his older sister. Because of this Bundy was known as awkward or weird around girls in scho ol.He always said he had trouble building long-term relationships. As a child he was very intrigued in the idea of sex and violence. Because of his good looks Bundy succeeded in college. He became obsessed with a girl named Stephanie Brooks. Brooks did not feel the same way back this resulted in her and Bundy breaking up. This affected Bundy greatly, he dropped out of college by the break up. With bad anxiety and anger toward women this is what drove him to madness. I believe this is what became the fuel that made Bundy kill. This feeling of rejection is what Bundy never forgot.For the Essence model I believe Ted Bundy fits the role of a Melancholic person. He was very quite and for the most part very unsociable. He was reserved most of the time. To add to this he also showed crazy mood swings and signs that he was very anxious. What is crazy about Ted Bundy is that he fits in to of the categories in the Essence model. He also fits the category as a Phlegmatic person. When he was tr ying to get women. He was passive and very peaceful. He seemed like a calm and great guy. He would later become very thoughtful with his planning in capturing women.He would also control them and manipulate them to the end. Ted Bundy I believe featured two of the five personality traits. I believe he has Openness, Conscientiousness. Ted Bundy had openness because openness involves sensitivity and attentiveness to inner feelings as well as intellectual curiosity. Believe Ted Bundy was a very closed and to him self- person. On the flip side he was very open and caring person when around women. He falls into the Conscientiousness category because he had a good eye at being careful and seemed like he always wanted to do a task well.Ted Bundy always showed this trait throughout his entire life. He found a way to cover up multiple murders for long periods of time. To do this you need to be very crazy but also very cleaver. From doing the classroom assignments before this paper I believe T ed Bundy has Bipolar Disorder or better described as Manic Depression. Ted Bundy could go from very happy and open to very closed and quit in seconds. Being able to do this so easily and so often believe he has Bipolar Disorder. To add to the Bipolar I also believe he was Manic Depressed.I believe cause of his young life and how his childhood happened I think this is why he went down this path. These disorders are what lead Ted Bundy from a candidate for a Governor position to one of the greatest killers in United States History. I believe multiple Situational influences affected Ted Bundy. Being lied to all of his childhood greatly affected him. His sister being later revealed to be his mother Was also a major blow in Ted Bundy s life. What think really pushed him off the edge was his break up with his girlfriend Stephanie Brooks. Brooks was the love of his life.Bundy was so obsessed with her that he grossly exaggerated his own accomplishments. By 1968 she broke up with him because she believed he was not good husband material. This broke Bunny's heart and this obsession drove his life for years. If I could plan a therapy for Ted Bundy I would have him locked up in a Psychiatric ward for six months so we can observe and diagnose him. After we diagnose him we will have a therapist talk to him six times a week to work on his past problems. The problems we will be focusing on his you childhood life and the reality that his mother is his older sister.Another place of concern is the break up of his high school sweetheart Stephanie Brooks. These are the points would focus on so we can tackle the real reason why Ted Bundy became one of the greatest killers in the history of the United States. To help rehabilitate Ted Bundy he will be placed in a Half way house for multiple years. The meetings with the therapist will decrease to five times a week. In Tee's spare time he will be writing and explaining why he thinks he killed multiple women. After this confession Ted w ill be given mood stabilizers to work on his bipolar behavior.To add to the stabilizers he will also be given multiple anti depressants to work on tackling his huge depression problem. The odds of Ted Bundy healing fully are slim to none. I believe that his time in a horrible state of mind will be to hard to fix with medication and work with a therapist. Do believe he will show signs of growth but he will revert back to his old mindset. I do believe that Ted Bundy can become a man who understands what he did was wrong and he needs to change. But I don't believe he will ever become good enough to live in the real world among normal people.

Barbara Tuchman

Barbara Tuchman 1912-1989 On the cold winter morning of January 30, 1912 the girl was born to Maurice and Alma Wertheim 's parents. Her name is Barbara. One day she will be called the story historian and writer Barbara Tuchman. Barbara was born in a pleasant home in New York State, New York. She has a middle class, her mother and her father come from outstanding families. Because her father has had great commercial success, they may also be wealthy. A magnificent panoramic view of the late medieval period, historic thriller leaves us the impression that he knows another world and lives there. Eric Jager says that human beings are not so much in the past few years I invented a type that reminds me that things have not changed, reality is more important than life and is more attractive than fiction. Because a lot of audiences are irritated by the excited suppression, 2 People's deadly enemies concentrate on each other and their breath is burning behind their sun visors Everybody asks for the death of their opponents The walls which were originally prisons are shackles One will be destroyed and the other will be wiped out under the name of justice.If her husband fighting without rule fails then the fate of the woman is waiting. Glandular plague is one of the most deadly disasters in the Middle Ages. Many historians document this, but few have attracted the attention of readers like Barbara Tuchman. Historian Barbara Tuchman combines animated lighting and in-depth investigation to create fun, fun, disgusting articles. Tuchman wrote an article on the bubonic plague in her article This is the black death of the world has ended. Her article contains a description of the plague and its associated filth. In addition to his own writing, Tuchman also uses contemporary Pest historian's work to accurately portray the characteristics of the horror of that era. She also expressed a sense of confusion due to the great loss caused by the plague. Tuchman uses the description of filth, fear, and confusion to tell the reader the feeling of the fate of the future Essay.com / Barbara tuchman This is the end of the world: plague on black death Barbara Tuchman, who received the Pulitzer Prize, said that ook is the carrier of civilization, history is silent, literature is stupid, science is paralyzed, thinking and guesses are stopped It was. As I mentioned in her quotes, literature always reflects historical events that occur when books are written. For example, in the Anglo - Saxon era, by expanding Christianity and immortal life view in famous epic by becoming a hero in their own epic, Beowulf. Beowulf himself has always summoned the Lord before his fight and tried to compete with Glendell for his own heroic journey. British inhuman behavior to Irish farmers is reflected in Jonathan Swift's irony.

Situational Analysis for Massive Incorporated Essay

Situational Analysis for Massive Incorporated - Essay Example Profit. As with any business organization, Massive opts to generate profit from its products and services. This is to ensure that the business has enough funds to finance its operational costs and other projects. Clients. Being a pioneer in the market, the company aims to understand its client needs in order to deliver maximum satisfaction. Massive seeks to give a new source of revenue to developers, provide a new venue for advertisers to promote their products, and enhance the gaming experience of gamers through in-game advertisements. Leadership. As rivalry heats up in the in-game advertising industry, Massive wants to be ahead in the competition. The company seeks to become the number one choice of advertisers by gaining a strong foothold in the market. Leadership can be measured by looking at Massive's market share relative to its competitors. Massive Incorporated is a player in the in-game advertising industry. This industry is primarily responsible for the placement of ads in video games in different platforms. This industry is a response to the declining television viewing as males aged 18-34 spend more time playing games. This age group which represents a huge proportion of the global market is one of the highly sought demographic segments by advertisers. However, as they turn to video games for recreation, advertisers need to find a way to incorporate advertisements during playtime. Though Massive pioneered in-game advertising, business organizations have been very quick to realize the potential profit gain from this segment. Together with Massive, Double Fusion and IGA Worldwide captures the largest market shares. Some smaller start-ups and players in the video game industry are also taking the challenge of in-game advertising. Yankee Group reports that there are about 112 million people aged 13 and above in the United States participating in some form of electronic gaming. It is forecasted that the number will grow to 148 million in 2008. These gaming activities are being conducted on four specific platforms like consoles, personal computers, handhelds and mobile devices (Shields, 2005). Despite the rapid growth of the video gaming industry, it also faces numerous challenges. It should be noted that customers now demand the creation of video games which have more sophisticated story lines and graphic improvements. This has resulted to higher production costs as well as longer production time. On the other hand, the average commercial life of a video game has significantly dropped to less than one year. With the increasing competition among industry players, companies are launching new strategies to attract

The Protestant Reformations Impact on Europes Art, Music, and Research Paper

The Protestant Reformations Impact on Europes Art, Music, and Literature - Research Paper Example This ability to create images that could be envisioned in real space itself led to an explosion of ideas even as these artists were exploring subjects once considered taboo, such as the ancient mythologies of these past civilizations. Artists were able to link the mathematical knowledge to the proportional focus of their own world as a shared knowledge between artists and businessmen. Painters used their foundational knowledge in geometry to create familiar elements in their paintings that would convey their intentions to the greatest possible audience. By melding mathematics and artistic expression, artists discovered how to provide their figures with a new impression of weight and volume that had not been previously achieved. This new ability to provide realism in a painting and other written expression led to even greater explorations into how the world manifested itself, all of which contributed to an explosion of thought, design and implementation that would change the world. En glish Protestant Reformation that started under King Henry VIII, advances in technology that allowed for a greater production and distribution of books and a shift in religious thinking all contributed to a shift in the form and content of the literature of the 1500s and early 1600s.

Are the British and Canadian Political Systems Similar Why or Why Not Essay

Are the British and Canadian Political Systems Similar Why or Why Not - Essay Example The international and domestic environment shaped by a country’s political systems has significant influences on the status of the citizens. Political systems helps the government to establish key public institutions and systems like health and education and are responsible for maintaining public order and citizen safety. This is through various agencies that are responsible for formulating, implementing, and enforcing government policies with an aim of achieving specific goals. Britain has a parliamentarian system of government where majoritarian and populism are the widely accepted political philosophy to meet the requirements of the people. History has heavily shaped Britain’s and Canada’s political systems. The political system in Britain and Canada advocate for the formation of governments by political parties that have majority control over the legislative assembly (Montpetit & Foucault, 2010). The constitution of these two countries stipulates that members of parliament should be elected through single -member plurality systems; where the elected individuals represent their constituents in parliament. These individuals must obtain the largest number of votes during elections. The party that garners the largest number of seat in parliament forms the government; with their elected members expected to support the government’s agendas and bills introduced in parliaments. These majority governments are powerful and easily pass their own policy issues irrespective of opposition by political parties outside the ruling party (Klingermann, Hofferbert & Budge, 1994). Argument This paper will argue that Britain and Canada political systems are not similar because of differences in policy making, governance, elections political structure, and parliamentary proceedings influenced by a combination of temporal, cultural, and political factors distinct and different in each country. Britain has a longer political history that has been shaped by struggles between the crown and parliament over personal prerogatives, which defines the current British constitution and executive power set up. The existing democratic leadership has been heavily influenced by civil wars, revolutions, and establishment of a superior parliament over the crown. In the Britain unitary governments, all political power is held by a single national government (Tannahill & Bedichek, 1991). This political system was unsuitable to the local situation in Canada, and they designed a federation where the constitution gave the people the right to have local control over their government (Montpetit & Foucault, 2010). The Canadian federation developed a system where the national government did not have absolute control but allowed for a constitution that would govern the people with their own set of laws. Canada has a much shorter history with the democratic leadership been shaped by continuous struggles between the prime minister and the governor general. Th e democratic rule in Britain is primarily about political representation that wields executive powers, but the Canadian democratic rule primarily focuses on governance. The Canadian political system was developed according to Westminster parliamentary institutions in the 19th century, and these institutions were retained after independence in 1867 (Hazell et al., 2009). Evidence The United Kingdom constitution has been shaped over a long time, and it consists of written

Reflective Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Reflective Report - Essay Example These are then associated with my personal team work incidents which affected my team and me as an individual. Since all the incidents have some or the other consequence therefore the results of the mentioned incidents will also be discussed. Moreover, development of different tranferable skills including influence, power, team roles etc. will be mentioned. I have conversed about two events in this paper. First event relates to the huge marketing activity which I was supposed to conduct with my fellows within three different university campuses. As part of our marketing course we were given different products which were to be sold sometime later. During the project work I encountered different situations which are highly relatable to different group work and team building theories. Secondly I was asked to coordinate with other group members to organize a school trip for the kindergarten and primary students. Here, I experienced entirely different situations which actually relate to s ome other reflective theories. Eventually I developed certain transferable skills which helped me in performing later jobs and group assignments in a better way. Reflective techniques are highly significant in offering us different ways of doing something while making a sense and opportunity out of every uncertainty. These are also important in transforming us into a competent and ethical individual who can easily manage chaos and the edge orders (Ghaye, 2000, p.7). Reflection techniques are specifically based upon thinking and doubt. It may also be understood with the concept of perplexity and hesitation about the personal experience. It plays a vital role in comprehending the real complex situation by acting carefully and considering all the involved elements. Furthermore it emphasizes upon continuous learning while performing different tasks. In broader terms it can also be distinguished into reflection-in i.e. thinking during the event and reflection-on action i.e. thinking

Review Of System ROS Versus Gordon Health Assessment Essay

Review Of System ROS Versus Gordon Health Assessment - Essay Example While in the Gordon functional assessment is where the nurses entail on issues regarding the metabolic processes of the patient. This is where the nurse digs out about the fluids that the patient takes. On Review of the system, matters concerning allergies, it's extremely critical to these patients. A bee sting can cause enormous swelling. There are also matters to do with cat and dogs fur. Some patients suffer from different complications. While In the Gordon functional assessment the nurse inquiries on matters on elimination patterns. This is where the nurse asks the patients about matters regarding constipations. In Gordon assessment, the Nurses addresses on issues concerning the activity and exercises that the patient Takes every day. Between the two discussed health assessment methods, I would prefer the Gordon health assessment method. This is because Gordon entails more on the patients and it also gives the patient a solution to the problems. This is because the nurse focuses on various issues regarding the patient. These issues are like the activity and exercises. There is also the issue of pain where the nurse asks the patient about the sensory experience. The nurse also focuses on sleep and the rest of the patient, role of the sexuality on how the patient feels about his sexuality, values, and beliefs and also faces stress and a solution is given on how he tolerate the stress. So I would recommend the nurses to use the Gordon functional assessment because it entails on the emotions and patterns of the patients.

The Role of New Media Technologies in the Promotion Research Proposal

The Role of New Media Technologies in the Promotion - Research Proposal Example It is the evolutionary break between the world before the internet and the world that has emerged since its proliferation. The way in which humans now communicate has had an elementary shift. Communication is accomplished through writing, verbalizing or through interpretation of imagery. Communication is codified with signals that indicate the context for the content. The impersonal nature of internet communication has been compensated for by the development of social languages that are in many ways kinder and friendlier than in previous forms of more formal communication. Therefore, the nature of how emotion is indicated in written language has become symbolized through pictorials, shortened references such as lol, meaning laugh out loud, and the use of capital letters or small letters. Furthermore, because of the heavy use of advertising, the way in which movement of digital imagery and impact of color usage has been defined has changed elements of the way in which humans respond t o what they see (Lievrouw and Livingstone 2006, p. 37).  It is the evolutionary break between the world before the internet and the world that has emerged since its proliferation. The way in which humans now communicate has had an elementary shift. Communication is accomplished through writing, verbalizing or through interpretation of imagery. Communication is codified with signals that indicate the context for the content. The impersonal nature of internet communication has been compensated for by the development of social languages that are in many ways kinder and friendlier than in previous forms of more formal communication. Therefore, the nature of how emotion is indicated in written language has become symbolized through pictorials, shortened references such as lol, meaning laugh out loud, and the use of capital letters or small letters. Furthermore, because of the heavy use of advertising, the way in which movement of digital imagery and impact of color usage has been defin ed has changed elements of the way in which humans respond to what they see (Lievrouw and Livingstone 2006, p. 37).   The use of a window display is the first step of VM (visual marketing). In creating a window that has an allure to the shopper, the shop is creating a marketing dialogue with the potential buyer. The window, through the use of the media of interior design, art, and visual communication, sustains a communication with the consumer in providing information about seasonal changes and the point of view of the collection within the store. The use of strategic communication addresses the brand of the store while the tactical communication is defined by the changes of seasons as interpreted by the collection and the promotions that are time specific (Bhalla, Swati, and Anuraag 2010, p. 145). Through the use of a well-designed window, a shop can help a shopper understand what to expect once inside the door as well as attract them into the outlet.  

Nursing theorists ab Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nursing theorists ab - Essay Example Dorothea Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing theory aimed at making encouraging patients be independent. Primary care, rehabilitation, and personal well being must have been the factors behind this theory. According to Dorothea, self-care is a human need, so nurses should come up with interventions to manage or provide actions of self-care for patients to maintain health and recover. This way, the recovery process will be much faster. The Cultural Care theory by Madeleine Leininger is based on providing patients with cultural care. The diverse cultural backgrounds are the main factors behind this theory. Leininger advocates for care aimed at fitting or having beneficial outcome and meaning to people of similar or different cultural backgrounds. Cultural care accommodation, preservation, and re-patterning are main pillars of this theory. How people react and relate to stress, and the dynamic reconstituting factors were the driving force behind Betty Neuman’s Systems Model theory (Taylor and Lillis, 2001). Betty focuses on how stress impacts on health and how nurses can to retain stability in the body system by helping patients adjust to stress and fight the stimuli producing

Teaching as an Act of Love Essay Example for Free

Teaching as an Act of Love Essay Antonia Darder presents a portrait of why Freire’s work as an educator was so influential in creating an understanding of education as an art. Teaching truly became an art when educators like Freire began to understand the importance of education in the movement of social change. The presence of love in the classroom, the type of love that is lively, forceful, challenging, and inspiring was the type of love that Darder thought was a lasting influence that Freire had on the field. She emphasized the conviction that Freire held in liberating students through education, he believed in the humanizing aspects of education. Freire believed that education was the tool for contributing to the human-ness of our political and economic existence as social beings. The article says that, â€Å"Freire exposed how even well-meaning teachers, through their lack of critical moral leadership, actually participate in disabling the heart, minds, and bodies of their students –an act that disconnects these students from the personal and social motivation required to transform their world and themselves† (498). The author argues that his greatest contribution to the field of education was his ability to be compassionate and his regard and concern for his students. The articles that we read this week discuss the concept of fear, but more importantly the ability to overcome and use the fear as a powerful force in the classroom. He said that it is the fear of freedom that affects the educator and creates a barrier in the classroom from the liberating practices that many educators believe are important. The way he describes the fear of freedom is the fear of being free from the status quo, the fear of the oppressed classes to realize a freedom from the oppressing classes. Freire thought that the experience of fear was a symbolic fight against the struggle that the liberating educators believe in. Freire said the experience of fear was important because it is a chance to recognize where the fear comes from, what it means, and how it can be used. He said that fear can be transformed into courage; the courage to make a move away from the status quo, our fear can be harnessed into a motivation. Teachers are affected personally by the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed; the dominant ideology has such an influence over the subordinate classes that it affects educators because of the fear that they hold within. Freire’s experiences with oppression developed his political purpose, he wanted to create a liberatory practice to challenge the conditions that limit the capacity in the oppressed class to change the world and right the wrongs of social injustice. Freire hoped that educators would confront their fears and use their beliefs about the social structure to teach liberating lessons and influence the future. He thought the way for educators to teach the lessons in which they believed in was to work together, he believed in the power of solidarity to empower a political movement. Freire wanted educators to network and work with one another to emancipate students from the social inequalities of our time, through networking they could empower one another and give force to their beliefs. Darder introduces the term praxis – she describes it as the union of action and reflection. The teacher needs to have the ability to practice both of these aspects of education; only through action and reflection of the importance of the act of teaching will the ideas of critical pedagogy be realized. Reflection: This article made me feel a little better about the issues that we have been reading about throughout this course. The tone of most of the readings thus far has been negative and has made me feel pessimistic about the future of the educational system. The issues that our reading assignments have discussed seem to run so deep in our social consciousness that there is little hope in reversing the trends of social inequality. This fear makes becoming a teacher seem dismal; if all we have to hold onto on our road to teaching is the notion that the patterns of inequality are getting worse and the elites are becoming more powerful how are we as teachers supposed to do anything at all to help our students and ourselves. I enjoyed this weeks reading selections because it brought a defining focus upon the fear that teachers experience and gave a bit of advice on how to use the fear as a powerful force. I believe that the fear that Freire spoke of is one that is shared by many educators. It is a fear that does not diminish with time or experience, on the contrary, it eats at you as you plan your lessons, as you teach your students, and it goes home with you and stays with you outside of the classroom. Freire’s thoughts on the ability of the educator to channel the fear of being fired or being targeted as a radical into a powerful force was inspiring. It was great how he took something negative and turned it into a tool that can be used in a positive way, he encouraged educators to talk about it and network with one another to begin to express their political views about education. He said, â€Å"Acting alone is the best way to commit suicide† (485) and he hoped that instead of acting alone, teachers would work together in their fight. He argued that education is political in nature and this implies that the educator is a political being. I plan to sit quietly at meetings only long enough to have enough people on my side to be able to be heard when I want to speak up on an issue. Freire used the phrase â€Å"rock the boat† in this weeks readings, I use the phrase â€Å"rock the boat† all the time and I even used it in a recent conversation with my administrator. I was able to talk to her informally about a discrepancy I was having with the other members of my teaching team, and I told her, â€Å"I didn’t want to rock the boat. † She looked at me, smiled and laughed as she said, â€Å"Rock the boat! Rock the boat! † I was lucky enough to choose the right battle in this case and my administrator was on my side, I am so glad I did not let the fear of confronting the issue consume me.

War Poets and the five senses Essay Example for Free

War Poets and the five senses Essay Poetry can evoke a wide spectrum of emotions ranging from sadness to exultation through the poets manipulation of the 5 primal senses; sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. This essay shall explore the emotive language used by Great War poets in order to evoke the senses in the reader, so that the more abstract issues in war can become tangible in those who are lucky enough to have never experienced battle. All forms of imaginative literature, including drama and film, follow the same principle, which can be summed up in the slogan, Show, dont tell. This quote definitely also applies to poetry, for it is often said that to directly tell the reader the tone or the imagery in poetry is heavy-handed. Wilfred Owen, in his poem Dulce Et Decorum Est, uses imagery to brutal effect. Bent double like old beggars under sacks this simile brings to mind the poor, crippled, dirty beggar that has been through hardship after hardship. Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, I saw him drowning This image of a man drowning under the horrific mustard gas employed in World War One is a powerful one, and makes the reader, who likely doesnt know of mustard gas, understand the horror Owen went through. Siegfried Sassoon also used the Great Wars terrible imagery in his poetry. In his poem Prelude: The Troops he uses short, simple descriptive words spread throughout a stanza to constantly reinforce the drudgery of the image he is trying to instill in the reader. Shapeless gloom drizzling daybreak stamp their sodden boots dulled, sunken these. Dispersed throughout a stanza, these words are certainly effective while not being obvious. Sight is the most useful and oft-manipulated sense that poetry uses to construct mental and tangible images that speak to the reader from abstract ideas, situations or feelings. Sound is often referred to as the secondary sense, after sight, though it has just as much power and influence when described correctly. Sound specifically in war poetry has a very prominent place. Anthem for Doomed Youth fully utilizes sound, though the language Owen uses is simple and poignant. stuttering rifles rapid rattle shrill, demented choirs of  wailing shells these quotes, when read, immediately evoke the sounds of artillery and gunfire, common sounds in the Great War. Owen utilizes this to give the sense of overbearing, foundation shaking explosions and to give the reader an auditory feeling of being in the trenches. Arbitrary and abstract ideas expressed in this way become very real when reading them out loud to yourself. Smell is perhaps the most primal of all the five senses. Though imagery and sound are used most often in film and other media, smell is forgotten. However, smell is one of the most powerful of all the senses in its ability to affect the reader. Who has ever forgotten the stench of rotting meat, or of gunpowder. Siegfried Sassoons the rank stench of those bodies haunts me still is indicative of this. By using the primal sense of smell poets can access the deeper parts of the human psyche, and instill deep emotions in the reader without the reader even realizing it. Owen and Sassoon knew this and both utilize it often in their poetry. Relating to the topic, tangible means to be perceptible by the senses; Earlier on in the evolutionary sense we evolved from animals whose primary sense was smell, and to become tangible, an abstract issue must affect the primary or base emotions. Smell is the most effective in this. Taste is lesser known in poetry because it is so difficult to adequately describe, though Owen tries in Dulce Et. Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues Taste is perhaps the most difficult of the senses to accurately describe, thus is also harder to use to make abstract ideas less so. Touch is one of the most effective senses a poet can manipulate to make abstract ideas more tangible. Through invoking the sense of touch, a poet can stir the reader to easily imagine what the poet wants. Most of all in war poetry, touch is embodied in the sense of pain, for war is the cause of more pain than anything else. Wilfred Owens poetry almost always speaks of pain, death and suffering, and indeed this is true in almost all war poetry. Everyone has experienced physical pain at some stage in their life thus the usage of pain in poetry is always going to affect the reader, for every  reader understands pain. Pain is perhaps the primary feeling during wartime. Emotional or physical, none leave the trenches without experiencing it and by using it in poetry, the reader understands with perfect clarity what the poet is describing, just by imagining their own pain. The five senses are the most important things in poetry, for while an abstract idea may be perfect in its conception and tone, it cannot truly speak to a reader without allowing the reader to feel the poetic message in a more primal way. Wilfred Owen and Sigfreid Sassoon surely understood this as the senses are strong components of their respective works. This allows their poetry to speak to any reader, and explains their huge popularity among the poetic world. The five senses are difficult to describe and harder to use, but without them abstract issues such as in Dulce Et Decorum Est would be difficult indeed to appreciate.

Securing MANET From Routing Attacks

Securing MANET From Routing Attacks CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM The increasing demand and utilization of wireless technology is making the need for more secure wireless networks. From the security viewpoint MANET is one of the most interesting research fields. A MANET is generally exposed to vulnerabilities due to its open medium, rapidly varying network topology, lack of centralized control and lack of clear line protection and it suffers from a wide range of security threats and attacks. Attacks can be introduced into all the layers of protocol stack however the attacks on the routing layer are most detrimental. The attacks on the routing layer can be either from the outside the network or can take place within the network. The attacks from outside of the network contain no authentication information and can be avoided by employing authentication techniques and cryptographic schemes. The most common insider attacks include blackhole, wormhole, selective forwarding, RREQ and hello flooding, Sybil, sink hole and so on. Insider attackers are more critical compared to the outsider attack as the insider knows the valuable information and holds the access rights. To solve this issue, security solutions have to be proposed in order to secure MANET. The goal of this thesis is to analyse the impact of blackhole, wormhole and flooding attack under on-demand routing protocols such as AODV and DSR and to propose possible countermeasures to thwart these attacks. 3.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES The aim of this research work is to secure the MANET from various routing attacks in order to improve the performance of the network. To achieve this aim, the following objectives are formulated: To analyse the impact of blackhole, wormhole and flooding attack under AODV and DSR routing protocol To analyse packet delivery ratio and end-to-end delay in case of black hole, wormhole and flooding attack using AODV and DSR protocol and the results of AODV and DSR are compared to evaluate which of these protocols are more susceptible to these kind of attacks. To develop defence mechanisms against blackhole, worm hole and flooding attack under AODV and DSR protocol. 3.3 SCOPE OF THE THESIS There exists various routing attacks in MANET such as blackhole, wormhole, Sybil, selective forwarding and flooding attack and so on. This research work considers only blackhole, wormhole and flooding attack and its impact on on-demand routing protocols such as AODV and DSR is analysed. Efficient detection techniques have been developed to mitigate the effect of these attacks against AODV and DSR routing protocol. The performance of these routing protocols using the detection techniques are evaluated in terms of packet delivery ratio and end-to-end delay. 3.4 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE This research focuses on blackhole, wormhole and flooding attacks on AODV and DSR protocol. The architecture of the proposed system is given in Figure 3.1. Efficient techniques such as MSBD and ABM, MCHOP and CDCF, MCLUT and TSPS has been developed to detect blackhole, wormhole and flooding attacks under AODV protocol and techniques such as ABM, CDCF and TSPS have been developed to mitigate against blackhole, wormhole and flooding attacks under DSR protocol. The proposed techniques detect these attacks effectively and provide a secure path. Figure 3.1 An Overview Of Attacks On MANET Routing Protocol And Their Detection Techniques 3.5 DETECTION TECHNIQUES AGAINST BLACKHOLE, WORMHOLE AND FLOODING ATTACKS 3.5.1 MultiShared Bandwidth Approach for Blackhole Attack Detection The AODV protocol is vulnerable to the well-known black hole attack. In this thesis, the multishared approach is designed to prevent any alterations in the default operation of either the intermediate nodes or the destination nodes. Here, watchdog mechanism is incorporated with MultiShared Bandwidth (MSBD) approach to detect misbehaviour or abnormal activity of a node, once an abnormal activity is observed MSBD is initiated. The MSBD converts the data into 16 bit and further splits the 16 bit data into multiple shares. When multishared data is received by a node it checks the bandwidth of neighbouring nodes to transmit the data. Then it chooses the nodes with highest bandwidth along the path and sends the data through these selected paths. 3.5.2 MCHOP-A Cluster based Approach for Wormhole Attack Detection In AODV routing protocol, the intruder will attack the network using the attack like wormhole during the route discovery stage. A cluster based algorithm has been proposed to detect a wormhole attack on AODV routing protocol. In this approach, the network is partitioned into several clusters based on density based clustering algorithm. Here, AODV protocol is modified in such manner that it detects the wormhole attack based on the hop count comparison and time taken to receive RREP packets. The cluster head is responsible for adding certain fields such as hop count, destination address to the RREQ packet and it broadcasts it to the other cluster head in the network. Whenever the intermediate node receives the RREQ packets, it sends an ACK to the source node with hop count information and broadcasts it to the destination node. The destination node then unicasts the RREP to the source node utilizing the reverse path. The RREP is then validated by source node using the hop count informat ion and time taken for receiving the packet. 3.5.3 MCLUT- Clustering Approach for Flooding Attack Detection The proposed MCLUT approach is used to detect the flooding attack node by enabling the clustering approach and calculating the threshold value of each node in the cluster. Here dynamic threshold value is used. The threshold value is estimated based on the queue length of a node and its neighbour in the cluster. If a node does not satisfy the threshold value then it is considered as an intruder. Once the cluster head confirms that the node is intruder it then broadcast the message to other nodes to isolate the node from the cluster and the suspicious node is kept in observation. 3.5.4 Anomaly based Behaviour Monitoring Algorithm for Black hole Attack Detection under AODV and DSR protocol The proposed Anomaly based Behaviour Monitoring (ABM) algorithm detects blackhole attack on AODV and DSR protocol. This technique periodically checks and verifies whether the number of packets disseminated between source and destination are equal. Through this comparison, the source node could detect the presence of black hole node. 3.5.5 Channel Detection and Cut Defalconin algorithm for Wormhole Attack Detection on AODV and DSR Channel Detection and Cut Defalconin (CDCF) algorithm is proposed to detect wormhole attack on DSR and AODV protocol. This method detects a wormhole attack in the network based on the threshold limit and then provides a new route to forward the packet from source to destination. The threshold value is determined based on Round Trip Time (RTT) and a delay per hop (DPH) is calculated based on the RTT, while forwarding packet from source to destination with the malicious nodes, its take less Round Trip Time (RTT) to forward the packets to the destination, when forwarding packet from source to the destination without any malicious node attack, it takes more RRT to forward the packets to the destination. If the DPH of a node is smaller than all other nodes, then it indicates the wormhole attack presence. 3.5.6Transmission Sequence Based Packet Scanner Algorithm for Flooding Attack Detection on DSR and AODV. Flooding is a Denial of Service (Dos) that is designed to bring down the service of the network by flooding it with huge volume of traffic. Transmission Sequence based Packet Scanner (TSPS) technique has been proposed to detect flooding attack on DSR and AODV. The TSPS identifies the presence of flooding attack based on source id, empty packet, number of hops and transmission sequence number.

Tools of the Astronomer :: essays research papers

The Telescope of the Astronomer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Years and Years ago, astronomers didn't have the advantage of the telescope. They could only use their naked eye. It wasn't until Galileo first made a better telescope that it could be used for looking into space. Most every telescope you buy today is better than the one he used. These telescopes have revolutionized astronomy in general.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Galileo first took his telescope and looked at the sky he saw amazing things. He saw craters on the Moon, dark spots on the surface of the Sun, tiny moons moving around Jupiter. No one else had ever seen these things. With the modern telescopes we use today, we can see many many more things.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Light from planets, stars and galaxies spreads itself on Earth, and a telescope collects this light and lets us look at the object the light came from. Some telescopes, called refracting telescopes, collect and focus light through a glass lens. Another type, the reflecting telescopes, reflect light on a glass mirror. The bigger the telescope the more light it collects, giving us a better view of what we want to look at. Some don't have just one big mirror, it has many little mirrors that fit together like bathroom tile. With the help of a computer, these little mirrors work together like one big mirror. The Hubble Space Telescope is the largest orbiting optical telescope in history.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The refracting and reflecting telescopes collect and focus visible light, which is light that we can see. There are also other types of light that we cannot see. Nowadays astronomers have telescopes to looks at different types of light. On Earth we can look at visible light and radio waves. A few of the very largest telescopes look for radio light. Other types of light, like X-ray light and ultraviolet light, can only be looked at from space, so astronomers have built telescopes in space that orbit the Earth. The most famous is the Hubbell Space Telescope.

Epic of Beowulf Essay - Beowulf as Heroic Archetype -- Epic Beowulf he

Beowulf as Heroic Archetype Monsters, their mothers, and dragons! The epic poem Beowulf, author unknown, includes all these mystical creatures and an impervious protagonist after which the poem is named. As the main character in the poem, Beowulf exemplifies the heroic archetype physically, spiritually, and ethically. Beowulf is superior to the average person in many areas, among them physical strength. Throughout the poem, Beowulf accomplishes feats that no other man would be able to survive and proves his boundless might. Beowulf is described to Hrothgar, king of the Danes, by a messenger as "...a mighty warrior, powerful and wise" (line 370). Beowulf himself challenges the insults of Unferth by saying, "...no strength is a match for mine" (line 534). Also, Beowulf tells Hrothgar and his company of a time when he had to face several sea monsters in the dark by himself, and still managed to kill them and swim to shore: ...nine was the number Of sea-huge monsters I killed. What man, Anywhere under Heaven's high arch, has fought In such darkness, endur...

Jasmine Essay -- essays papers

Jasmine Bharati Mukherjee was born on July 27, 1940 in Calcutta, India. (Pradhan ) She was born into a wealthy family, which assisted her in her dream of becoming a writer. She lived in India, Europe, the United States, and Canada. Migrating to these countries that are so different from her place of birth enabled her to write very powerful novels on immigrant experiences. Mukherjee’s novels focus on exploring the migration and the feeling of alienation that is experienced by these immigrants. (Pradhan) Her works have explored such themes as isolation, sexism, discrimination, the mistreatment of Indian women, and exploring identities. In Bharati Mukherjee’s novel Jasmine, the character shows some similarities to the author, but there are many differences. Both were born in India, but Jasmine was not born into wealth. Jasmine does not have the same resources as Bharati, so it is harder for her to leave her home and to migrate to the United States. One of the similarities between Jasmine and the author is their drive to go after what they want and to not stop until they get it. Bharati’s drive is to become a writer, and Jasmine’s is to go to the United States. Another similarity is their struggle to find their identity when they migrate to the United States. This is one of the major themes in Jasmine. One important aspect about the novel Jasmine is that it is not written in chronological order. The novel is written as though the main character is remembering events out of sequence. The author employed this method of writing quite efficiently. It was not entirely confusing and it set a mood of anticipation of what is to come. The novel starts out when Jasmine is a young girl in India. She is consulting an astrol... ...arries his child. This is evidence that she is steering further away from her Indian values. Someone may say that Jasmine is about a victim struggling in America or that it is about an immigrant who has assimilated herself into becoming an American. I think it is a little bit of both. I think that the main theme of this novel is exploring identities. Jasmine’s struggle in America and her immigrant experience force her to explore within herself and to discover what she is capable of doing in life. Jasmine has many stages in her life. Even her name changes throughout the novel, becoming more American, which corresponded to the stages in her life. Jasmine went through a metamorphoses in this novel in which she had to suffer many terrible and some wonderful events in order to become the person that she is at the end of the novel when she leaves Bud to be with Taylor.

Last Sacrifice Chapter Twenty-four

CONSIDERING THEIR EARLIER antagonism, I was a bit surprised to see Sonya and Robert combine their powers to create an illusion for the Dashkov brothers. It obscured their appearances, and with the addition of some fake names, the Mastrano family just assumed the guys were part of our increasingly bizarre entourage. Considering the distress and upheaval already going on in the house, a couple more people seemed the least of the Mastranos' worries. In playing good Moroi hosts, it wasn't enough to just cook up dinner. Emily also managed to get a feeder to come by–a sort of â€Å"blood delivery service.' Normally, Moroi who lived outside sheltered areas and intermingled among humans had access to secret feeders living nearby. Usually, these feeders had a keeper of sorts, a Moroi who made money off the service. It was common for Moroi to simply show up at the home of the feeder's â€Å"owner,' but in this case, Emily had made arrangements for the feeder to be brought to her house. She was doing it as a courtesy, the kind she'd do for any Moroi guests–even ones who were delivering news she'd dreaded receiving for most of her life. Little did she know just how desperately welcome blood was to the Moroi we'd brought along. I didn't mind the brothers suffering a little weakness, but Sonya definitely needed blood if she was going to continue her recovery. Indeed, when the feeder and her keeper showed, Sonya was the first to drink. Dimitri and I had to stay out of sight upstairs. Sonya and Robert could only manage so much spirit-illusion, and hiding Robert and Victor's identities from the feeder's Moroi was imperative. Obscuring both me and Dimitri would have been too much, and considering our most-wanted status, it was essential we not take any risks. Leaving the brothers unsupervised made Dimitri and me nervous, but the two of them seemed too desperate for blood to attempt anything. Dimitri and I wanted to clean up anyways, since we hadn't had time for showers this morning. We flipped a coin, and I got to go first. Only, when I finished and was rummaging through my clothes, I discovered I'd gone through my clean â€Å"casual wear' supply and was down to the dress Sydney had included in the backpack. I grimaced but figured it wouldn't hurt to put the dress on for one night. We wouldn't be doing much more than waiting around for tomorrow's departure, and maybe Emily would let me do laundry before we left. After decent hair styling with a blow dryer, I finally felt civilized again. Sydney and I had been given a guestroom to share, and the brothers occupied another. Sonya was going to stay in Jill's room, and Dimitri had been offered the couch. I didn't doubt for a second he'd be stalking the halls as the household slept and that I'd be trading shifts with him. For now, he was still showering, and I crept out into the hall and peered down over a railing to check out the first floor. The Mastranos, Sonya, and the brothers were all gathered with the feeder and her keeper. Nothing seemed amiss. Relieved, I returned to my room and used the downtime to check on Lissa. After the initial excitement of passing her test, I'd felt her calm down and had assumed she was getting much-needed sleep. But, no. She hadn't gone to bed. She'd taken Eddie and Christian over to Adrian's, and I realized she was the one who'd woken him up from the dream I'd shared with him in the car. A skimming of her recent memories gave me a replay of what had happened since the time he left me and staggered to his door. â€Å"What's going on?' he asked, looking from face to face. â€Å"I was having a good dream.' â€Å"I need you,' said Lissa. â€Å"I hear that from women a lot,' said Adrian. Christian made a gagging sound, but the faintest glimmer of a smile crossed Eddie's lips, despite his otherwise tough guardian- stance. â€Å"I'm serious,' she told him. â€Å"I just got a message from Ambrose. He's got something important to tell us, and †¦ I don't know. I'm still not certain of his role in everything. I want another set of eyes on him. I want your opinion.' â€Å"That,' Adrian said, â€Å"is not something I hear a lot.' â€Å"Just hurry up and get dressed, okay?' ordered Christian. Honestly, it was a wonder anyone slept anymore, considering how often we were all pulled out of sleep. Adrian nonetheless did dress quickly, and despite his flippant comments, I knew he was interested in anything related to clearing my name. What I was uncertain of was whether he'd tell anyone about the mess I'd gotten myself into, now that I'd slipped and revealed some of my true activities. My friends hurried over to the building they'd visited before, the one where Ambrose lived and worked. The Court had woken up, and people were out and about, many undoubtedly wanting to find out about the second monarch test. In fact, a few people catching sight of Lissa called out happy greetings. â€Å"I had another trial tonight,' Lissa told Adrian. Someone had just congratulated her. â€Å"An unexpected one.' Adrian hesitated, and I waited for him to say he'd already heard that from me. I also waited for him to deliver the shocking news about my current company and whereabouts. â€Å"How'd it go?' he asked instead. â€Å"I passed,' she replied. â€Å"That's all that matters.' She couldn't bring herself to tell him about the cheering people, those who didn't just simply support her because of the law but because they actually believed in her. Tasha, Mia, and some surprise friends from school had been among the onlookers, grinning at her. Even Daniella, there to wait for Rufus's turn, had grudgingly congratulated Lissa, seeming surprised Lissa had made it through. The whole experience had been surreal, and Lissa had simply wanted to get out of there. Eddie had gotten pulled away to assist other guardians, despite his protests that he was Lissa's escort. So, Christian and Tasha had ended up having to take Lissa home alone. Well, almost alone. A guardian named Ethan Moore joined them, the one Abe had teased Tasha about. Abe exaggerated some things, but he'd been right this time. Ethan looked as tough as any guardian, but his kickass attitude occasionally faltered whenever he looked at Tasha. He adored her. She clearly liked him too and flirted along the way–much to Christian's discomfort. I thought it was cute. Some guys probably wouldn't go near Tasha because of her scars. It was nice to see someone who appreciated her for her character, no matter how disgusted Christian was by the thought of anyonedating his aunt. And I actually kind of liked seeing Christian so obviously tormented. It was good for him. Ethan and Tasha left once Lissa was securely back in her room. Within minutes, Eddie showed back up, grumbling about how they'd delayed him with some â€Å"crap task' when they knew he had better things to do. He'd apparently made such a fuss that they'd finally released him, so he could hurry back to Lissa's side. He made it just ten minutes before Ambrose's note arrived, which was lucky timing. Eddie would have freaked out if he'd come to her room and found her gone. He would have thought Strigoi had kidnapped his charge in his absence. That was the series of events leading up to what was happening now: Lissa and the three guys going off to Ambrose's secret meeting. â€Å"You're early,' he said, letting them in before Lissa could even knock a second time. They stood inside Ambrose's own room now, not a fancy parlor for clients. It resembled a dorm room–a very nice one. Much nicer than anything I'd endured. Lissa's attention was all on Ambrose, so she didn't notice, out of the corner of her eye, Eddie quickly scanning the room. I was glad he was on his game and guessed he didn't trust Ambrose–or anyone not in our immediate circle. â€Å"What's going on?' asked Lissa, as soon as Ambrose shut the door. â€Å"Why the urgent visit?' â€Å"Because I have to show you something,' he said. On his bed was a pile of papers, and he took the top one. â€Å"Remember when I said they were locking off Tatiana's belongings? Well now they're inventorying and removing them.' Adrian shifted uncomfortably–again, only something I noticed. â€Å"She had a safe where she kept important documents–secret ones, obviously. And †¦' â€Å"And?' prompted Lissa. â€Å"And, I didn't want anyone to find them,' Ambrose continued. â€Å"I didn't know what most of them were, but if she wanted them secret †¦ I just felt they should stay that way. I knew the combination, and so †¦ I stole them.' Guilt shone on his face, but it wasn't murderous guilt. It was guilt for the theft. Lissa eyed the stack eagerly. â€Å"And?' â€Å"None of them have anything to do with what you're looking for †¦ except maybe this one.' He handed her the piece of paper. Adrian and Christian crowded around her. Darling Tatiana, I'm a bit surprised to see how these latest developments have unfolded. I thought we had an understanding that the safety of our people required more than just bringing in a younger crop of guardians. We have let too many of them go to waste, particularly the women. If you took actions to force them back–and you know what I'm talking about– the guardian ranks would swell. This current law is completely inadequate, particularly after seeing how your â€Å"training' experiment failed. I'm equally shocked to hear that you are considering releasing Dimitri Belikov from his guards. I don't understand exactly what happened, but you cannot trust mere appearances. You may be unleashing a monster–or at the very least, a spy–in our midst, and he needs to be under much stricter guard than he currently is. In fact, your continued support of the study of spirit is troubling altogether and no doubt led to this unnatural situation. I believe there is a reason this element was lost to us for so long: our ancestors realized its danger and stamped it out. Avery Lazar stands as proof of that, and your prodigy, Vasilisa Dragomir, is certain to follow. In encouraging Vasilisa, you encourage the degradation of the Dragomir line, a line that should be allowed to fade into history with honor and not the disgrace of insanity. Your support of her may also put your own great-nephew at risk, something neither of us would like to see happen. I'm sorry to burden you with so much condemnation. I hold you in the highest regard and have nothing but respect for the way you have so skillfully governed our people these long years. I'm certain you will soon come to the appropriate decisions–though I worry others may not share my confidence in you. Said people might attempt to take matters into their own hands, and I fear for what may follow. The letter was typed, with no signature. For a moment, Lissa couldn't process it as a whole. She was completely consumed by the part about the Dragomir line fading into disgrace. It hit too close to the vision she'd seen in the test. It was Christian who pulled her back. â€Å"Well. It would seem Tatiana had enemies. But I guess that's kind of obvious at this point in the game.' â€Å"Who's this from?' demanded Adrian. His face was dark, furious at this thinly veiled threat to his aunt. â€Å"I don't know,' said Ambrose. â€Å"This is exactly the way I found it. Maybe she didn't even know who the sender was.' Lissa nodded her agreement. â€Å"There's certainly an anonymous feel to it †¦ and yet, at the same time, I feel like it's someone Tatiana must have known well.' Adrian gave Ambrose a suspicious look. â€Å"How do we know you didn't just type this yourself to throw us off?' â€Å"Adrian,' chastised Lissa. She didn't say it but was hoping to urge Adrian to feel out Ambrose's aura for anything she might not be able to detect. â€Å"This is crazy,' said Christian, tapping the piece of paper. â€Å"The part about rounding up dhampirs and forcing them to be guardians. What do you think that means–the â€Å"actions' that Tatiana knows about?' I knew because I'd been tipped off about a lot of this earlier. Compulsion, Tatiana's note had said. â€Å"I'm not sure,' said Lissa. She reread the letter to herself. â€Å"What about the â€Å"experiments' part? Do you think that's the training sessions Grant did with Moroi?' â€Å"That was what I thought,' said Ambrose. â€Å"But I'm not sure.' â€Å"Can we see the rest?' asked Adrian, gesturing to the stack of papers. I couldn't tell if his suspicion was legitimate distrust of Ambrose or just the result of how upset his aunt's murder made him. Ambrose handed over the papers, but after going through the pages, Lissa agreed: there was nothing of use in them. The documents mostly consisted of legalese and personal correspondence. It occurred to Lissa–as it had to me–that Ambrose might not be showing everything he'd found. There was no way to prove that for now. Stifling a yawn, she thanked him and left with the others. She was hoping for sleep, but her mind couldn't help but analyze the letter's possibilities. If it was legitimate. â€Å"That letter's evidence that someone had a lot more reason to be pissed off at Tatiana than Rose did,' observed Christian as they wound their way back upstairs toward the building's exit. â€Å"Aunt Tasha once said that anger based on calculated reason is more dangerous than anger based on blind hate.' â€Å"Your aunt's a regular philosopher,' said Adrian wearily. â€Å"But everything we've got is still circumstantial.' Ambrose had let Lissa keep the letter, and she'd folded it and put it in her jeans pocket. â€Å"I'm curious what Tasha will have to say about this. And Abe too.' She sighed. â€Å"I wish Grant was still alive. He was a good man–and might have some insight into this.' They reached a side exit on the main floor, and Eddie pushed the door open for them. Christian glanced over at Lissa as they stepped outside. â€Å"How close were Grant and Serena–‘ Eddie moved a fraction of a second before Lissa saw the problem, but of course, Eddie would have already been watching for problems. A man–a Moroi, actually–had been waiting among trees in the courtyard that separated Ambrose's building from the neighboring one. It wasn't exactly a secluded spot, but it was far enough off of the main paths that it often stayed deserted. The man moved forward and looked startled when he saw Eddie racing toward him. I was able to analyze the fight in a way Lissa couldn't. Judging by the man's angle and movement, he'd been heading for Lissa–with a knife in his hand. Lissa froze in fear, an expected reaction for someone not trained to react in this situation. But when Christian jerked her back, she came to life and quickly retreated with him and Adrian. The attacker and Eddie were deadlocked for a moment, each trying to take the other down. I heard Lissa yell for help, but my attention was all on the fighters. The guy was strong for a Moroi and his maneuvers suggested he'd been trained to fight. I doubted, however, that he'd been trained since elementary school, nor did he have the muscle a dhampir did. Sure enough, Eddie broke through and forced the guy to the ground. Eddie reached out to pin the man's right hand and get the knife out of the equation. Moroi or not, the man was actually quite skilled with the blade, particularly when I (and probably Eddie too) noticed scarring and what looked like a bent finger on his left hand. The guy had probably gone to great extents to hone his knife-hand's reflexes. Even restrained, he was still able to snake up with the blade, aiming unhesitatingly for Eddie's neck. Eddie was too fast to let that happen and blocked the blow with his arm, which took the blade's cut. Eddie's block gave the Moroi a bit more room to move, and he bucked up, throwing Eddie off. Without missing a beat–really, this guy was impressive–the Moroi swung for Eddie again. There could be no doubt about the man's intentions. He wasn't holding back. He was there to kill. That blade was out for blood. Guardians knew how to subdue and take prisoners, but we'd also been trained that when things were moving too fast, when it was an us-or-them situation–well, we made sure it was them. Eddie was faster than his opponent and was being driven by instincts pounded into us for years: stop what was trying to kill you. Eddie had no gun or knife, not at Court. When the man came at him a second time, knife again pointed straight at Eddie's neck, Eddie used the only weapon left that he could be sure would save his life. Eddie staked the Moroi. Dimitri had once jokingly commented that you didn't have to be Strigoi to be hurt by a stake through your heart. And, let's face it, a stake through the heart didn't actually hurt. It killed. Tatiana was proof. The man's knife actually made contact with Eddie's neck– and then fell before piercing skin. The man's eyes went wide in shock and pain and then saw nothing at all. He was dead. Eddie leaned back on his heels, staring at his victim with the adrenaline-charged battle lust that followed any situation. Shouting suddenly caught his attention, and he leapt to his feet, ready for the next threat. What he found was a group of guardians, ones who had responded to Lissa's earlier cries for help. They took one look at the scene and immediately acted on and the conclusions their training drove them to. There was a dead Moroi and someone holding a bloody weapon. The guardians went for Eddie, throwing him against the wall and prying his stake away. Lissa shouted to them that they had it all wrong, that Eddie had saved her life and– â€Å"Rose!' Dimitri's frantic voice shocked me back to the Mastrano house. I was sitting on the bed, and he knelt before me, face full of fear as he gripped my shoulders. â€Å"Rose, what's wrong? Are you okay?' â€Å"No!' I pushed him aside and moved toward the door. â€Å"I have to–I have to go back to Court. Now. Lissa's in danger. She needs me.' â€Å"Rose. Roza. Slow down.' He'd caught hold of my arm, and there was no escaping from that grip. He turned me so I faced him. His hair was still damp from the shower, and the clean scent of soap and wet skin surrounded us. â€Å"Tell me what happened.' I quickly repeated what I'd seen. â€Å"Someone tried to kill her, Dimitri! And I wasn't there!' â€Å"But Eddie was,' said Dimitri quietly. â€Å"She's okay. She's alive.' He released me, and I leaned wearily against the wall. My heart was racing, and even though my friends were safe, I couldn't shake my panic. â€Å"And now he's in trouble. Those guardians were pissed–‘ â€Å"Only because they don't know the whole story. They see a dead body and a weapon, that's it. Once they get facts and testimonies, everything will be okay. Eddie saved a Moroi. It's his job.' â€Å"But he killed another Moroi to do it,' I pointed out. â€Å"We're not supposed to do that.' It sounded like an obvious–and even stupid–statement, but I knew Dimitri understood what I meant. The guardians' purpose was to protect Moroi. They come first. Killing one was unimaginable. But then, so was them trying to kill each other. â€Å"This wasn't a normal situation,' Dimitri affirmed. I tipped my head back. â€Å"I know, I know. I just can't stand leaving her undefended. I want so badly to go back and keep her safe. Right now.' Tomorrow seemed years away. â€Å"What if it happens again?' â€Å"Other people are there to protect her.' Dimitri walked over to me, and I was surprised to see a smile on his lips, in light of the grim events. â€Å"Believe me, I want to protect her too, but we'd risk our lives for nothing if we take off right now. Wait a little longer and at least risk your life for something important.' A little of the panic faded. â€Å"And Jill is important, isn't she?' â€Å"Very.' I straightened up. Part of my brain kept trying to calm me about Lissa's attack while the other fully processed what we'd accomplished here. â€Å"We did it,' I said, feeling a smile slowly spread to my own lips. â€Å"Against all reason †¦ somehow, we found Lissa's lost sister. Do you realize what this means? Lissa can have everything she's entitled to now. They can't deny her anything. Hell, she could be queen if she wanted. And Jill †¦' I hesitated. â€Å"Well, she's part of an ancient royal family. That's got to be a good thing, right?' â€Å"I think it depends on Jill,' said Dimitri. â€Å"And what the after-effects of all this are.' Guilt over potentially ruining Jill's life returned, and I stared down at my feet. â€Å"Hey, it's okay,' he said, tilting my chin back up. His brown eyes were warm and affectionate. â€Å"You did the right thing. No one else would have tried something this impossible. Only Rose Hathaway. You took a gamble to find Jill. You risked your life by breaking Abe's rules–and it paid off. It was worth it.' â€Å"I hope Adrian thinks so,' I mused. â€Å"He thinks me leaving our â€Å"safe house' was the stupidest thing ever.' Dimitri's hand dropped. â€Å"You told him about all this?' â€Å"Not about Jill. But I accidentally told him we weren't in West Virginia anymore. He's kept it secret, though,' I added hastily. â€Å"No one else knows.' â€Å"I can believe that,' said Dimitri, though he'd lost some of his earlier warmth. It was such a fleeting thing. â€Å"He †¦ he seems pretty loyal to you.' â€Å"He is. I trust him completely.' â€Å"And he makes you happy?' Dimitri's tone wasn't harsh, but there was an intensity to it that put the exchange on par with a police interrogation. I thought about my time with Adrian: the bantering, the parties, the games, and of course, the kissing. â€Å"Yeah. He does. I have fun with him. I mean he's infuriating sometimes–okay, a lot of the time–but don't be fooled by all the vices. He's not a bad person.' â€Å"I know he isn't,' said Dimitri. â€Å"He's a good man. It's not easy for everyone to see, but I can. He's still getting himself together, but he's on his way. I saw it in the escape. And after †¦' The words caught on Dimitri's tongue. â€Å"After Siberia, he was there for you? He helped you?' I nodded, puzzled by all these questions. Turns out they were only the warm-up for the big one. â€Å"Do you love him?' There were only a few people in the world who could ask me such insanely personal questions without getting punched. Dimitri was one of them. With us, there were no walls, but our complicated relationship made this topic surreal. How could I describe loving someone else to a man I'd once loved? A man you still love, a voice whispered inside my head. Maybe. Probably. Again, I reminded myself that it was natural to carry lingering feelings for Dimitri. They would fade. They had to fade, just like his had. He was the past. Adrian was my future. â€Å"Yeah,' I said, taking longer than I probably should have. â€Å"I †¦ I do love him.' â€Å"Good. I'm glad.' The thing was, Dimitri's face didn't look all that glad as he stared blankly out the window. My confusion grew. Why was he upset? His actions and words no longer seemed to match lately. I approached him. â€Å"What's wrong? â€Å"Nothing. I just want to make sure that you're okay. That you're happy.' He turned back to me, putting on a forced smile. He'd spoken the truth–but not the whole truth. â€Å"Things have been changing, that's all. It's making me reconsider so much. Ever since Donovan †¦ and then Sonya †¦ it's strange. I thought it all changed the night Lissa saved me. But it didn't. There's been so much more, more to the healing than I realized.' He started to slip into pensive mode but caught himself. â€Å"Every day I figure out something new. Some new emotion I'd forgotten to feel. Some revelation I totally missed. Some beauty I didn't see.' â€Å"Hey, my hair in the alley does not go on that list, okay?' I teased. â€Å"You were in shock.' The forced smile grew natural. â€Å"No, Roza. It was beautiful. It's beautiful now.' â€Å"The dress is just throwing you off,' I said, attempting a joke. In reality, I felt dizzy under his gaze. Those dark, dark eyes looked at me–really looked at me, I think, for the first time since he'd entered the room. A mixed expression came over him that made no sense to me. I could pick out the emotions it contained but not what caused them. Awe. Wonder. Sadness. Regret. â€Å"What?' I asked uneasily. â€Å"Why are you looking at me like that?' He shook his head, the smile rueful now. â€Å"Because sometimes, a person can get so caught up in the details that they miss the whole. It's not just the dress or the hair. It's you. You're beautiful. So beautiful, it hurts me.' I felt a strange fluttering sensation in my chest. Butterflies, cardiac arrest †¦ it was hard to say what exactly. Yet, in that moment, I was no longer standing in the Mastrano guestroom. He'd said those words before, or something very close. So beautiful, it hurts me. It was back in the cabin at St. Vladimir's, the one and only time we'd had sex. He'd looked at me in a very similar way, too, only there'd been less sadness. Nonetheless, as I heard those words again, a door I'd kept locked in my heart suddenly burst open, and with it came all the feelings and experiences and sense of oneness we'd always shared. Looking at him, just for the space of a heartbeat, I had a surreal sensation wash over me, liked I'd known him forever. Like we were bound †¦ but not in the way Lissa and I were, by a bond forced on us. â€Å"Hey, guys, have you–oh.' Sydney came to a halt in the half-open doorway and promptly took two steps back. â€Å"Sorry. I–that is–‘ Dimitri and I immediately pulled back from each other. I felt warm and shaky and only then noticed how close we had been. I didn't even remember moving, but only a breath had separated us. What had happened? It was like a trance. A dream. I swallowed and tried to slow my pulse. â€Å"No problem. What's going on?' Sydney glanced between us, still looking uncomfortable. Her dating life might be non- existent, but even she knew what she'd walked in on. I was glad one of us did. â€Å"I †¦ that is †¦ I just wanted to come hang out. I can't handle that going on downstairs.' I attempted a smile, still utterly confused by my feelings. Why did Dimitri look at me like that? Why did he say that? He can't still want me. He said he didn't. He told me to leave him alone. â€Å"Sure. We were just †¦ talking,' I said. She obviously didn't believe me. I tried harder to convince her †¦ and myself. â€Å"We were talking about Jill. Do you have any ideas on how to get her to Court–seeing as we're all outlaws?' Sydney might not be an expert in personal relationships, but puzzles were familiar territory. She relaxed, her attention focusing inward as she tried to figure our problem out. â€Å"Well, you could always have her mother–‘ A loud crashing from downstairs abruptly cut her off. As one, Dimitri and I sprang for the door, ready to combat whatever mess Victor and Robert had caused. We both came screeching to a halt at the top of the stairs when we heard lots of shouts for everyone to get down. â€Å"Guardians,' Dimitri said. â€Å"There are guardians raiding the house.'

Feminine Transformation In Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Essay

legend is often apply as a vehicle to convey radical ideas to readers. These ideas are usually reflected in the themes of the stories so that the limpidity of expression is more apparent. The theme of Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The xanthous cover is quite incompar adequate in that it expresses feministic ideas in a on the face of it ordinary situation. The yellowness paper is a chronicle that breachs various truths about the cleaning lady and chronicles the feministic transformation of this fair sex towards modern cleaning womanhood.Gilman employs the eldest-class honours degree person perspective in her fiction to allow her unnamed protagonist to reveal elements of her emotions that would otherwise be concealed from the audience. The protagonist, along with her physician conserve and a current Jenny move into a commodious family line for the purpose of her recovery from an illness in the house the husband assigns a room for the both of them which is a full-gr let room with distinctive yellow(a) paper all over the walls. The protagonist is and then disturbed by the wallpaper and begins to subtract reckons from it which in turn is used as a metaphor for her feministic transformation.The ear roostr area of the tale reveals much about how the tralatitiousistic woman actually is. The very first expectation of the traditional woman that unmatched would easily notice from the text is a submissive personality. The lines, But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect befitting self-control so I scoop up pains to control myself before him, at least, and that makes me very tired. (Gilman) illustrate how the protagonist neglects her feature intuitive feelings before her husband and this implies that if she prioritizes what her husband snarl over what she felt, she was quite likely to do the same with other more small things making her exceptionally submissive.Another aspect of the woman revealed in earlier split of the tale is the fem inine view on marriage. In the lines, John laughs at me, of course, that peerless expects that in marriage. (Gilman) the protagonist delimitates how her husband reacts to her when she com trims about something weird in the house they were moving into. When the husband laughs, the protagonist concludes that this is radiation diagram when two people are married. In effect, the protagonist views marriage as an apologia for ridicule and the fact that she is married to somebody requires that she accept that ridicule as man of cosmos married.This is a strange lore on the part of the protagonist notwithstanding because of the submissive attitude of this main use it is not surprising that she should think this way. separate than this, her submission even affects her desire to economise as she conceals her writing, hence, the protagonist admits, I did indite for a while in injure of them but it does exhaust me a thoroughly deal (Gilman) because she had to write despite contra dictions from her husband as this made her feel better.The decisiveness of the protagonist to write expresses the protagonists, effort to throw strike the constraints of patriarchal hunting lodge in order to be able to write. (Thomas) So, in these first few parts, the precedent describes the current state of the protagonist, where Women were cast as emotional servants whose lives were dedicated to the welfare of crustal p modern and family in the perservence of social stability. (Thomas) In a way, the author even discreetly refers to the sexual inadequacies of the relationship by referring to a nailed-down bed in the lines, I lie here on this great indomitable bed it is nailed down, I believe (Gilman)Eventually, as the protagonist focuses her attention on the yellow wallpaper and the fact that her husband insists that they do not change it despite pleas from the protagonist, she begins to unwrap the wallpaper as something else reflecting the duress that she see from univ erse isolated and treated unsuitably by her husband. This is quite clear in the lines, Behind that outside patterna woman stooping down and crawling about tardily that pattern. (Gilman) Here, the protagonist ab initio describes a woman apparently caged behind the wallpaper patterns.While this could be images at heart the protagonists thinker, it definitely reflects how she feels being in the room and in her situation. This image of bondage is further amplified by the lines, At night in any liberal of lightworst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be. (Gilman) It is at this evince that the protagonist expresses an intrinsic feeling of bondage because she is not able to express it outwardly, and so, projects the feeling unto the wallpaper.This particular incident, is a reaction to the insufficiency of free agency that women had in the late 1800s . (Gilbert) Soon, days before the hold water day the coupl e was to spend in the mansion, the protagonist breaks free and becomes a new, more liberal woman. This is implied in the lines, I pulled and she shook, I shook and she pulled, and before morning we had natural off yards of that paper (Gilman) which the protagonist used to describe her peeling off the paper. During the motions she admits to circumstances the woman behind the patterns but indirectly, this implies that the woman she was helping was herself.The act, therefore, of tearing the wallpaper was parallel to acquittance the woman behind the patterns, and so, freeing herself from her personal bondage. (Garcia) The protagonist, hence, went from being a traditional woman to a liberated woman in her feminist transformation, even when the conclusions of the story seemed to imply that the protagonist had lost her mind because of the isolation, hence, the lines, Ive got out at last, give tongue to I, in spite of you and Jane. And Ive pulled off most of the paper, so you cant put me back (Gilman) where she had finally consolidated her own persona with the persona of the woman behind the patterns.Quite obviously, the textual license in this tale consistently describe the struggles of a woman from being the variety show enslaved by a patriarchal partnership to someone who was able to express her own individuality, albeit, unconventionally. The story very clearly describes how one woman transformed gradually from being traditional to being the new or modern woman. ? Works Cited Garcia, Viola. Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper. fgcu. edu. N. p. , 2009. Web. 1 Aug. 2010. . Gilbert, Kelly.The Yellow Wallpaper An Autobiography of Emotions by Charlotte Perkins Gilman . fgcu. edu. N. p. , 2009. Web. 1 Aug. 2010. . Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. EastoftheWeb. com. N. p. , 2006. Web. 1 Aug. 2010. . Thomas, Deborah. The Changing Role of femininity From True char to New Woman in Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper. fgcu . edu. N. p. , 2009. Web. 1 Aug. 2010. .

Spa – Cr. to the Rightful Owner

This chapter presents the discussion of reviewed related writing of authors that the look forers tranquil during the course of the study. Material reviewed came from antithetic books, studies and both(prenominal) otherwise master copy writings from both foreign and local books. judg workforcetual Literature The adult ph eachicwide salubriousness high society patience is worth(predicate) in the region of US $40 one million million million and has grown at a pheno workforceal p break in the past ten historic period (Haden, 2007).The proceeds of health food, gyms and the investment in leisure facilities proves that consumers ar sounding for more than(prenominal) than than laxation during a grow or holiday this is unsurprising given judgment of conviction is so precious to contemporary consumers (Lynch, 2002). Harmsworth (2004 p. 173) claims that the dawdle savoryel commercialise is superstar of the fastest growing leisure sectors, where kind headi ngs and aims unwrap instant reflection in the developments on both the demand and supply sides.The foodstuff is truly fragmented, each segment catering for different client demand, which continuously change in line with friendly and life style changes. consort to Libosada Jr. C. and Bosangit C. (2007) verbalise that health club is a resort with mineral or caloric irrigate engagement for drinking and vating. The term is derived from the c any forth of a town in Belgium and has been applied to alike(p) resort groundwide.The Kentucky-based worldwide resort hotel Association (I health health club), an habitationment which claims to set the standards for the holiday resort industry piddles no evoke of wet supply supply in its definition, lay proscribed that a health watering place serves as an educational and ethnic institution that promotes and integrates man-to-man health, health and fitness as whole around(prenominal) as social well- cosmos, harm ony and sense of equilibrium through and through health, legal community, therapy and rehabilitation of frame, mind and soul (Loerseed, 1998 p. 48).Later, the I watering place cracked an alone-encompassing, holistic definition, claiming that watering holes atomic number 18 entities dedicate to enhancing ein truthwhereall well-being through a change of professional services that instigate the re newfoundal of mind, ashes and timber (Mintel, 2005). It is claimed by Jenner and metalworker (2000) that trounceing health health health clubs is iodin of the earliest assortments of tourism. watering places found their beginnings thousands of geezerhood ago, when ancient civilisations workoutd them for their ameliorate properties and as an measurable variance of their social structure (Vierville, 2003 resort hotela, 2002).The therapeutic utilise of baths was remarkably indestructible such(prenominal) popularity was no distrust partly delinquent to the fact t hat baths were both attr energetic and, by the popish imperial period at least, comparatively freely available (Jackson, 1990). It was aft(prenominal) this metre that earth use up in baths began to peak (Spaa, 2002). Spa tourism has galore(postnominal) varied definitions there is no officially h of age(predicate) upon definition of what a watering place should or should non be what makes it such?Many believe that the record health club is an acronym based on the Latin phrase sanitas per aquas content health through peeing, in fact the Oxford English dictionarys definition of a health club is from the Latin solus per aqua or health by water defined as a place with mineral springs considered to have health-giving properties (Loverseed, 1998). Thornton and Brutscher (2003) main(prenominal)tain that the word and the ideal of watering place actually seamated from the conviction of the roman letters empire when battle weary legionnaires tried to find a locali sesing to recover from their military wounds and ailments.Therefore suggesting that traditionalisticly, water is non besides inexplicably linked to the definition of resort hotels, tho that it is the water which defines it. The European Spas Associations (ESPA) definition of a watering place is in any case dependent upon the water ingredient they define a resort hotel as a mineral spring or a place or resort where such a spring is found? (Jenner and Smith, 2000). Unlike the ESPA, the British Spas alliance (BSF) reviewed its definition with regard to widening its membership, which at that magazine consisted only of the municipal authorities of resort towns.However, the BSF was subsequent replaced by the Spa Business Association (SpaBa) who in turn redefined the watering hole, returning the centrality of the role of water by defining a health club as an instauration providing a minimum of one approved water based discussion using water of k at present composition. The r esort hotel should be staffed by appropriately trained therapists and have minimum standards of furnishings. The water should be intensify with minerals, either inseparablely or with an additive (Mintel, 2005).Others, oddly in the USA, hold a far less(prenominal) rigid view of what constitutes a watering hole. The Kentucky-based International Spa Association (ISPA), an organization which claims to set the standards for the watering hole industry makes no mention of water in its definition, arguing that a spa serves as an educational and cultural institution that promotes and integrates individual health, health and fitness as well as social well-being, harmony and balance through health, pr purgetion, therapy and rehabilitation of body, mind and soul (Loverseed, 1998 p. 8). Later, the ISPA fractureed an all-encompassing, holistic definition, claiming that spas argon devoted to enhancing overall well-being through a variety of professional services that encourage the renewa l of mind, body and spirit (Mintel, 2005). It is claimed by Jenner and Smith (2000) that visiting spas is one of the earliest forms of tourism.Spas found their beginnings thousands of days ago, when ancient civilisations use them for their healing properties and as an grave part of their social structure (Vierville, 2003 Spaa, 2002). The therapeutic use of baths was remarkably coherent-lived such popularity was no doubt partly due to the fact that baths were both pleasant and, by the roman imperial period at least, comparatively freely available (Jackson, 1990).It was after this time that public interest in baths began to peak (Spaa, 2002). By the medieval period, the idea that thermic springs could have healthful properties was firmly naturalized. But in the 18th and nineteenth centuries, taking the irrigate? began being a cool pastime for Europe?s upper classes. In fact, the popularity of this habit is what ceremonious places in the UK, such as Bath, Brighton and Harroga te, as first tourism finishings (Jenner and Smith, 2000).Todays spa is an interesting combination of ancient traditions and new facilities in recent years, the repute of pr aim offtion, healthy lifestyles, and relaxation has been embraced by many and the spa is again purpose its place in modern society as a place uniquely ge argond to shout these quests (Register, 2005). In one of the major fictile tradition for current pattern of health and well-ness spa tourism worldwide, the roman Empire left foundation a farseeing list of spas all over Europe, which they built while they were occupying new territories.With the demise of the westward roman Empire in 450 AD, so withal came the demise of the Roman bath tradition in Europe, although Spain, jointure Africa, and the Middle East maintained a postgraduately developed dishwashing culture. This was a takings of the influence of the Byzantine or east Roman Empire and the subsequent Arab conquests and maintained the infl uence of Roman bathing tradition in those countries (The Spa Association, 2005).The city of bath in England provides an causa of the fusion of Roman history with later trends in spa and health demand and supply in Europe (White, 2000). later the springs had been abandoned as a bathing choice in 1978 (although not touring carically or respect of their mineral waters), the Bath spa send was launched by the metropolis Council in 1997 in order to restore bath to the leading spa town of England, with the foreknowation that the project would stimulate the revival of spa culture in the UK.The hew spa facilities in Bath ar just a short distance from the authoritative Roman bath site and they used natural hot spring water drawn from the selfsame(prenominal) springs that have served visitors for at least the last ii thousand years. The new facilities be intentional to offer relaxing and extended therapeutic handlings. Although they forget not act as a cure for near illness the y will act as a cure for the human spirit, as outline in reference to the conservation statement for the adjacent Roman Baths (Clews, 2000).In countries such as Hungary the change from centuries of caloric bathing culture to modern health facilities has been slow than in countries without a history of hot or mineral hot springs. In Budapest the change magnitude use of day spas builds on the ancient way of relieving stress and corporal ailments through hot water treatment, and day spas and wellness facilities atomic number 18 now being established in a society that is fair more conscious of the importance of healthy lifestyle (LaForest, 2004).In Budapest the locals congregate in public thermal baths such as the Szechenvi to relax, swim and crawfish out many of the cures and treatment on offer. They ar as well as cognize for taking the national pastime of compete chess into thermal pools (The age, 2005). And further to the east in Russia the Soviet era thermal baths were an integral part of the national health system. In Europe Austria was one of the first countries to adopt the more recent purpose of wellness and to act upon quickly.The country affectively woos to key tourist target groups by positioning itself to offer wellness treatments that unite the body, spirit, personal desire, culture, and natural re reference points embodied by the spring (Nahrstedt, 2002). Australia has an unmatched infrastructure when it comes to wellness holi age and health-related tourism, and was be number one in the world for choice of life and its healthc be services in the early 2000s (Garalli, 2002).According to Nahrsetedt (2002) Austria boasts an intact natural milieu in conjunction with its wellness spas, an association that is also very popular in the Japanese tourist commercialize. In Japan itself though, with literally thousands of geothermal springs and the Japanese pick for authentic and unadulterated hot spring water, wellness centres ar not yet developed to quite a the same extent, leaving the European style wellness induction as a potential pet for the Japanese while on holiday.In Japan, in tradition hot springs have been developed into days spas known as kuahausu derived from the German word kurhaus, providing removes bathing beas for men and women with thermal mineral pools at different temperatures, a cold pool atomic number 18a with fountains and waterslides, roll alleys, gyms, saunas and steam ways, massage services, restaurants and bars, relaxation rooms, music rooms, and television games (Altman, 2000 07). But the main bathing attractions argon the traditional hot springs called Onsen.Often used by groups of mess who enjoy sharing a bath after leaving the world of corporate work underside? As well as families and couples, a arouse to an Onsen is classed as the ultimate bonding implement because all ar equal once they shed their designer clothes and other status symbols. The captain of Iceland, Reykjav ik, has been designated on official spa city by the European Spa Association (Iceland Express, 2006). This seems well deserved a quite logical, because the Icelanders have many facilities where they fuel take on care of their health, well-being and leisure.Several active Vol crapperoes and high temperature geothermal field provide natural hot springs all over Iceland and any(prenominal) towns have at least one public geothermal fluent pool. The Health and Wellness Spa Industry Having verbalize that, rising customer expectations concerning health and wellness are the foundation in which the modern health and wellness spa industry is building an ever-increasing supply of facilities for the checkup examination checkup and general (wellness) visitor, to the extent that this form of tourism is now worth in excess of 250 one million million million US dollars per year and attract some one hundred fifty gazillion active spa-goers world-wide (ISPA, 2007).Caution is needed here t hough, because for example these get words are said to complicate 19. 1 million Japanese spa-goers. Japanese data (Beppu International tourism Office, 2007) suggest that there are over 150 million Onsen users alone in that country (Chapter 9). This variate would appear to relate to the varying definitions of wellness and spa use that were discussed earlier, where the Japanese tradition is more intimately simply bathing in hot water than about the Ameri fag tradition of beauty spa that underlies the look for undertaken by the International Spa Association.As a result of this, many Japanese users whitethorn not be counted if the data are concentrating on analyzing the spa experience rather than the totality of health and wellness tourism based on the use of hot and mineral springs. The trend toward indulgence in a relaxing environment, which began after World struggle II (Foster & Keller, 2008), has thus turned into a worldwide movement just one that is a solid departure fr om the original concept of health spa that in the first place exceptionalized in rehabilitation of recovering from illness and injury.The new emphasis lies in prevention of disease and maintenance of safe health more that cure, with high expectations regarding health improvement even if there are no particular health problems. on with the body, mind and soul are also catered for in many spas in a holistic woo of creating harmony for those in need.This ofttimes admits new-age treatments as well as the more traditional water-based therapy. The key element in all such facilities is water. Be it asunder of the natural landscape surrounding a facility (ocean, rivers, lake and waterfalls), decoration in the background (pools, fountains) or an active treatment component, water is a very important element in the world of spas and wellness.More and more spas without a natural hot springs are examine the possibility if tapping into mineral geothermal water resources to upraise their business. The trend towards natural looking environments or riding horse is also evident in many spa hotels and resorts where swimming pools and thermal bathing facilities are designed and built to looks are natural as possible, with inclination pools the closely typical and widespread design.The development of these spa and wellness water resources can be divided into two broad cases Hot spring These are usually well known and general apprehended for their curative respect and their therapeutic realises based on both water temperature and mineral content mineral springs These can be cold or fond(p) water from a nature spring, with curative value based on the type and concentration of minerals in the water. Often, the water can be taken internally too and is bottled and distributed (Cooper, P. nd Cooper, M. , 2009). Current International Trends in Spa and Wellness Tourism The trends of indulging in a relaxing environment has turned into a global movement but one with a sign ificant battle from the original concept of health and natural hot and mineral spring spas, which mainly specialized in rehabilitation. The new emphasis lies in the prevention of disease and in the maintenance of fair health instead of cures, with high expectation regarding health improvements even if there are no particular(prenominal) problems.Mind and soul are usually catered for long with the body in many spas using holistic approach of creating harmony for those in need, including new-age treatments as well as the more traditional rehabilitative therapies. The main center of attention at present appears to be a natural healing method incorporating Asiatic treatments accompanied by the esthetic appeal of easterly lifestyles and culture, which are in great demand. Therapies of Asia origin are very much combined with European balneotherapy and hydrotherapy as well as sport and fitness facilities to offer diversity of options in order to attract as many customers and client as possible.Nearly all spas cater for aspects with special signature treatments to ensure that there are no missed opportunities (Cooper, P. and Cooper, M. , 2009). Characteristics of Spa Tourists traditionally it has been women who have chiefly used spas. However, a consumer research conducted by ISPA in 2003 determined that 29% of spa tourists approximately the world are men this regard rose to 30% in 2004. As men cut through to represent a significant harmonize of the spa market, more spas are offering special treatments for them and men-only spas continue to open in cities around the world (Grihault, 2007 Mintel, 2005 Messerli and Oyama, 2004).The Baby Boomer generation (45-60 years old) continues to be the core consumer base for the global spa tourism industry. According to Haden (2007) industry analysts have long known that health conscious Baby Boomers have been the main driving force butt joint the worldwide nail down in the spa industry. However, some argue the appeal of the industry reaches a bigger age-range Swarbrooke (2000 p 78-79) claims that nearly visitors to spa sites are in the social classes A, B and C1 and are between 30 and 65 years of age.Mintel (2005) have a quasi(prenominal) view, claiming it is the 25-64 year old market who dominate the customer base for spas this group tends not to be at the family life stage, and their members are as likely to be male as female. The average age of visitors to spas is currently 49 years (ETC, 2002). Yet Hudson (2003) argues that by 2050, 20 percent of the worlds community will be threescore years or older and by 2150, this figure will maturation to over 30percent. These claims seem prominent however it is clear from all the statistics available that the population is aging and that this trend is set to continue.Latest research by International Database, US Census in 2007 confirms these figures and scans the number of population aged over 55 years is projected to reach 2. 6 billion or appr oximately 27. 7% of the world?s population by 2050. Thus, the number of individuals aged 55 and over is forecast to grow at a rate of about 4% per year over the next 43 years (Haden, 2007). According to a survey carried out by the British merchandise Research Bureau (BMRB), 70. 8% of those aged over 45 years had been on holiday in 2006, compared to 64. 9% of the general UK population.A Mintel study of US travellers in 2005 revealed that those over 55 years are more inclined to take holidays lasting flipper days or longer. Maintaining health in retreat has do a top introductoryity. In a 2006 study of US health and fitness clubs in May 2006, Mintel found that those aged over 55 years were far more likely to enter in some form of strenuous practice session five or more times a week than other segments of the population (Haden, 2007). If such predictions are dealt with wisely, the outlook for the industry appears to be positive it will help to drive tourisms product in general an d health-related travel in particular. taking this into consideration, such a shift will clear have substantial implications for the international health and spa tourism industry. Research Literature Health spas had their origin in Europe and many resorts had name that were associated with spas. The popularity of mineral springs carried over to Northern America and the springs were the location of some of the earlier resort. It is important to differentiate between spa hotels and resort spas. Spas hotels cater only to spa business concern and all lymph glands must participate in the meals, treatment and exercises.On the other hand, resorts spas are amenities that are available to the guest, and charges are made for the versatile physical exercise of spa (Liguori, S. and Gray, W. ). Administration of spa hotels heavily involves people with a medical background, whereas resort spas are besides operating departments of the resorts. Exercises-oriented facilities are swimming pools , tennis court, handball and racquetball courts, proceed trails, hiking and weight and aerobic training. Spa plan include dietary program, massage, herbal wraps, exfoliation, that also therapy, facial and hydrotherapy. down the stairs both scenarios, staffing involves people experienced in the program and administrative personnel. Ways for boosting gross The method presented in the previous section illustrated the overall contribution of resort spas to resort revenue, in order to offer more insight into how spa managers can increase their spa revenue, the author of this study conducted to an interview with a spa director of one of the leading resorts spa in Southwest Florida. The director state that resorts should first focus on guest experience to increase their sales.In that directors case, she mentioned that her resort was able to increase the incremental spending from $658 to $985 per night by forwarding spa and other activities together. The director also stated that pre-arr ival process is a critical component for revenue maximization. She offered a case as an example where she use a system called power booking in which a spa front desk agent was call guest two to three days to prior to the spa reservation date and providing the opportunity for upgrades and additional bookings base on availability (Rutherford, D. and OFallon, M. 2011). According to OFallon M. and Rutherford D. (2011) stated that spas are booming such a significant component of the service bill of fare for resorts and full service hotels that their absence, in particular in amenity- full resort environment, is glaring obvious.Within the leisure industries in 2003, revenues related to spas ranked number four behind golf fees and dues ($19. 7 million0, cruise lines revenues ($14. 7 million), and health club revenues ($14. 1 million). At $11. 2 million, spa revenues outpaced amusement park revenues ($10. 3 million), box dominance receipts ($9. million), and vacation ownership sales ($5. 5 million (Thacker, 2004 Audi and Wright, 2004). In this section, we first examine trends that choke a sea change in North Americans attitude toward spa demand demographics we discuss the type of spas currently popular in the industry, development and running(a) considerations, the components of a spa experience, compensation issues, and trends in the spa industry. Spa demand According to the International SPA Associations research, between 2002 and 2003, 11% of the national population over the age of 16 made one or more spa visits.This statistics shows that in xten Americans visited a spa during that period. Additionally, of these, 41% were visiting spas for the first time, indicating a larger population embracing spa usage. Age demographics show that 145% of clients are between the ages of 16 and 24, and over 50% are in the 24 to 44 age bracket. An emerging national statistics is the number of male visits to spas. 23% of spa visits and 29% of spa goers were men in 2003, tre nding toward special gender oriented treatments and male- only spas being opened worldwide. Spa selection criteria are determined by a number of factors.An established and known environment for instance, as part of an established resort, club or destination spa often influences the decision, and does atmosphere, quality of treatment, and friendliness of staff. Additionally, among spa goers nine out of ten respondents report they would return for a similar experience. Most spa customers believe they receive good value for their spa dollar. On a 10 point scale, services were given an average of 8 for value with massage generating 8. 8 on the value such as Canyon Ranch are opening in the day spa market, adding new competitive pressure on the independents.Non-traditional players are also adding product supply. For example, corporations are creating in house spa environments, hospitals are adding wellness as part of their repertoire, and medi-spas, with a primary focus on cosmetic surger y, are adding spa business as an additional wage center. Health club are also move to capture a piece of the pie by adding spa practices. The rationale in this market is that time-crunched patrons can benefit from the one-stop-shopping approached to fitness and wellness but the health club operator also uses the spa as an lure to join the fitness centre.As the day and destination spa markets become saturated, it will become exacting for survival that each operator differentiate itself from the competition. The extremity for market segmentation to ensure clear communicating with consumers will be a key to supremacy in the maturing spa market. Another component of success will be a branding schema that the consumer can immediately identify with respect to spa performance and the consumers personal comfort travel (Rutherford & OFallon 2011).Health Issues and Spa Demand. Increasingly, spa goers are looking to hit prolonged wellness that integrates and renews body, mind and spir it. To that end, eastern and Western lifestyle issues related to medicine, philosophy, and spiritual are becoming a mainstay of many spa/wellness experiences. To best deliver this, the wellness spa (located at day, destination, or resort environment) supports guest needs by creating an experience, not just a serial publication of treatments. All the guest amenities, treatments, and programs must be seamlessly integrated into a personally tailored guest experience.This experience should be targeted toward couples, parents with children, and teenagers. In the early 1990, spa were considered a natural outgrowth of fitness facilities and focused primarily on treatments related to body wellness. As market sophistication evolved, the body mind connection attracted consumer focus. In the beginning of the twenty- first century, spas and marketers are overtly addressing body, mind, and spirit connections in order to respond to emerging market sensibilities (Rutherford & OFallon 2011).Spas as an Operating Department. Historically, spa trading operations were treated by management similarly to other revenue departments, like catering and restaurants. These departments were simply perceived as an amenity needed to attract guest to the hotel. As long as the department stony-broke even, or didnt lose too some(prenominal) money, their ability to increase occupancy was deemed sufficient defense for their existence. However, in the late 1990s, hotel spa followed the path of other operating departments and were transformed from support to profit centres. This trend is strong and continues today (Rutherford & OFallon 2011).Spa Trends On site industry trends Anti-aging treatments and products are driving oftentimes of spa menu and retail development. This calls for devoting a treatments room to outpatient medical procedures. Programming and spa menu items include sun damage treatments, chemical skin for renewals, and other rejuvenation techniques that build on repeat proce dures. Commensurately, spas are developing retail product lines so that clients can take the spa experience berth and continue the wellness regime. Global Industry trends Trends in day, destinations and amenity spas influence each other.According to Susan Ellis (2004), president of Spa finder, a spa marketing company, after the rise of the medical spa and broadening spa participations by men and teens, spa use is expected to become more popular in the future. Spa Finders trends to watch for are those personal elements that make the spa experience special will find their way into the design of personal living spaces in private homes private, gated living communities will develop around central spa facilities, much like golf and sly-in communities.Managing visitors expectation and experience. Visitors expectation of a wellness centre or spa will differ greatly jibe to which country they come from, their language and their experience of wellness facilities generally. For example, th e British or Americans would have a very different understanding of what they would expect to find in spa (i. e. luxury, pampering, and beauty) from a Central or Eastern European (i. e. healing waters, physical health checks, and medical treatments). Information provision and marketing is therefore exceedingly important in managing visitor expectation.In some cultures, nudity in spa is the norm or even a requirement in some areas (e. g. suanas and steam rooms). This is true of Austria, Germany and some spas in CEE and Scandinavia. However, for some visitors (e. g. American, British, Asians, and Southern Europeans) this can be unexpected and even embarrassing. In some cultures (e. g. Finland and Japan) men are separate from women when using sauna or spa facilities. In other cultures, mixed nudity is accepted. Some nationalities are used to doing activities in groups and are not used to enforced silence (e. . Southern European). This can create a certain amount of tension in countrie s, where spas and wellness centers are seen as quiet, restful, sometimes even spiritual spaces (especially in sauna and steam rooms) wait on may also be needed to demand visitors around spas, as it could be their first visit or rituals and traditions may differ from those in their home country. Language may be a parapet where there is little or no translation, especially in countries where language can seem completely unfamiliar (e. g. Finland, Japan, and China).Visitors sometimes have problems knowing which approach to use if there is more than one, which ticket to bargain for when there are many options, and might not understand the cloakroom system (e. g. in Hungary, where a cloakroom attendant usually has to be approached for a locker and key) or the new technology (e. g. in Austria when the locker system can be run short using a wristband). Knowing just how long to stay in medical, mineral or thermal waters is not clear to the inexperienced. Even if 20min is the recommen ded time, bathers need to know how long to rest or whether they should go to a cool shower after.Just a small information panel outside a bath, sauna or steam room can be abounding to inform visitors, what the recommended length of time should be. (Smith & Puczko 2009). Atmosphere Creating a relaxing, clean, and pleasant environment is a paramount importance for all wellness facilities, but most especially for spas and spa or wellness hotels, which may also need a touch of luxury (spiritual or holistic tourist may accept more basic facilities). The use of design, colour, lightning, and location of furniture, degree of natural light, greenery, views, music or scents can all contribute to creating a harmonious atmosphere.Certainly, most of these qualities are determined during the planning process. The management may face seriousies when the services and/ or the surrounding environment do not support or company each other. These mismatches certainly result in sub-optimal expiation and consequently lower the optimal revenue level 9 (Puczko & Smith 2009). Spa Tourism Spa tourism is arguably the best known form of wellness tourism and is sometimes treated as being synonymous with wellness tourism.ISPA (2007) defines spa as places devoted to enhancing overall well-being through a variety of professional services that encourage the renewal of mind, body and spirit. ISPA also defines the key elements of the spa experience relax reflect revitalize and rejoice. It is difficult to distinguish between spas and more general forms of wellness (e. g. holistic retreats) however, it also shows clearly the diversity of the spa sector. There are now numerous sub-sectors inside spa tourism and it is no longer enough simply to use the label spa and deport that tourist will know what to expect.Perceptions differ greatly, for example, tourist in Central and Eastern Europe are very similar with the concept of historic medical spas, whereas other visitors (e. g. from the United S tates or United Kingdom) with expect something similar to a beauty salon. Spa are now of a highly complex and several(a) nature. This diverse nature st humanistic discipline with the name and its likely meanings. Bath, bano, bad, therme/ terme, grotto, spa, kupele, furdo all mean a thermal water-based spa, in various languages. The translation of the name from the original language often uses the term spa, but these establishments are not really always spa.Spas may differ astray in terms of what they offer, that is their services or treatment supply, and however, they have one thing in common, which is the aspiration to improve health and well-being. Most spas have some form of water-based treatments however there is a difference between mineral, thermal, and healing waters mineral waters it has at least the set amount of fade away mineral content which is minimum 500mg/1 or 1000mg/1 thermal waters natural waters that are at least 30 C or 32 C at source (this can vary country by country) healing waters the healing affects have to be proven, that is evidence-based.The International Spa Association (ISPA, 2007) has defined the ten domains of SPA or segments of the industry as the waters food, nourishment, diet, and eatable movement, exercise, and fitness touch, massage, and body work mind/body/spirit aesthetics, skin care, natural beauty agents physical space, climatology, global ecology social/cultural arts and values, spa culture management, marketing and operations time, rhythm, and cycles.not every spa contains every domain. The rejuvenation of the spa concept has generated several attempts to categorize spas. Since the modern concept of spas were established in the United States, one of the most comprehensive categorizations comes from the International Spa Associations (ISPA, 2007 and the Spafinder Magazine, 2007) club spa day spa spa hotel holistic spa medical spa bath resort spa sport spa and structured spa.