Impact of Current Events and Trends on Tourism Essay

Threats of terrorism, pandemic outbreaks, natural calamities and, finally, pesky security checks notwithstanding, the international tourism industry is booming. Tourism has become a key economic driver globally, and is one of the main sources of income for many developing countries today. The global crisis that shook 2008 to the core (and continues to do so) has impact in industries across the board. One of the most affected fields is tourism as it’s an elected excess and not a necessity. A recently released research by the Tourism Journalist’s Association shows that people will be more cautious in spending for leisure travels and will engage in more meaningful, rather than extravagant, vacations. The tourism industry has matured significantly in recent years and is displaying a new willingness to share information and co-operate. The result: A different type of growth, one that is more moderate, more solid and more responsible. Many of the crisis events that affect tourism have been occurring for millennia. The global financial and economic downturn that affected tourism from 2007 through to 2010and beyond has cast substantial attention to the role that crisis events play in tourism. These concerns have only been exacerbated by natural disasters. The potential affect of crisis events on international tourism is likely to increase both in size and frequency as tourism becomes increasingly hypermobile and the global economy even more interconnected. The impact of technology and the competitive factors on tourism were among the interesting trends. Technology Technology is a driving force of change that presents opportunities for greater efficiencies and integration for improved guest services. Technology has become a tourism business activity in development of strategic resources and is considered as a tool to increase competitiveness. Effective use of information technology can make significant operational improvements. Advanced software and communication tools allow enlarging operational efficiency, for example, orders may be made better, faster and cheaper. In addition, decision-making through decision support tools, databases and modeling tools assist the manager’s job. Technology changes the tourism business rules. More specifically: Information on all tourist services is available virtually from all over the world. Potential client can be any resident of the world. More territorial boundaries restrict the number of customers. Decision making turns into a tourism specialist in each component. Changes in customer service technology and service personalization occur. International Competition Tourism services compete on more than just image, differentiation, and benefits offered. Tourism demand trends. While the mass tourism market remains fundamental to the growth of many destinations, the new challenge for the decision makers of the tourism sector nowadays seems to be the choice between supporting the conventional mass tourism activities or creating the conditions for the development of a new local tourism supply (Conti and Perelli, n.d.:17). The multi-motivational nature of holiday decision-making combined with the fact that tourists become more and more sophisticated, seeking increasingly for tourist products that fulfill their particular needs, has increased competition between destinations, fuelling the need to target particular special interest visitors.

Black People and Grandfather Essay

8. How can the dream at the end of the story be related to the major incidents that precede it? The dream at the end of the story is about the circus with his grandfather. He refused to laugh at the clowns no matter what they did. There is a relationship between clowns at circus and the black boy in battle royal. They are forced to entertain the white man and are treated as if they are no better than animal. The seemingly endless series of envelopes implies that inequality still continue for a long time until black man fall of weariness and white society will continue to create clowns for their entertainment. 9. Given the grandfather’s advice, explain how â€Å"meekness† can be a â€Å"dangerous activity† and a weapon against oppression. In the death bed the grandfather told his son as well as his grandson keep up a good fight. â€Å"Live with your head in the lion’s mouth†, the grandfather want his son to prepare for himself a mask of meekness, overcome white persons with yeses, underline them with grins, agree them to death and destruction. This meekness is considered as dangerous activity because their family as well as many black men in recent society is controlled and oppressed by the white man. Becoming the white’s favorite is the only way to survive. However meekness is not the same as surrender, it seems to be a shield to conceal a deeper revolutionary spirit. The grandfather bequeathed to his grandson not only strategy to live with â€Å"the lion† but also a weapon against oppression.

Waves On Pregnant Women Health And Social Care Essay

Waves have been applied to many of import processs presents. In this article I am traveling to look into the application of moving ridges on pregnant adult females. One of the really of import subjects is the application of echography in antenatal medical examination ; therefore I would concentrate on this subject and discourse its rule and advantages among other different methods of antenatal medical examination. However moving ridges do non merely conveying benefits to pregnant adult females, but besides injury. There are some electromagnetic moving ridges ( or EM moving ridges ) which may be harmful to both the female parents and the foetuss, such as X ray. Yet, will pregnant adult females truly have an increased hazard of abortion after holding an X-ray? Recently there are besides concerns about the consequence of wireless moving ridges and microwaves on gestation. In this article I am traveling to look into them one by one. Obstetric Ultrasonography Ultrasonography refers to the usage of ultrasound. Ultrasound is longitudinal moving ridge, it has the same velocity as hearable sound moving ridge in air, which is 340ms-1. The chief difference between hearable sound moving ridge and ultrasound is that ultrasound has a frequence beyond hearable scope of homo, which is around 20 Hertz ( 20 Hz ) to 20 kHzs ( 20 kilohertz or 20,000 Hz ) . Normally the frequence of ultrasound used in antenatal medical examination is ranged from 1.6 to 10 MHz ( MHz ) , depending on what constructions of the foetuss are being examined. Ultrasound with lower frequence can perforate deeper into organic structure tissues, because the higher the frequence, the more supersonic moving ridges are being absorbed alternatively of reflected, therefore while analyzing deeper tissues like the liver and kidney, ultrasound with lower frequence ( around 1.6-6MHz ) is used. In the echography, ultrasound moving ridges are emitted by a device called transducer. Actually the term transducer refers to a device which converts one signifier of energy into another, so there are tonss of types of transducer. In the echography, an electroacoustic transducer is used to change over electricity to breathe and have ultrasound ; therefore to be more exact, the device used is besides called an ultrasound transceiver. The transducer is placed on the venters of the pregnant adult female, the ultrasound emitted penetrates the tegument and so reaches the fetus and other internal variety meats of the female parent. The moving ridges are so reflected back to the transceiver, the transceiver senses the moving ridges and converts them into images. An ultrasound transceiver: hypertext transfer protocol: //l.b5z.net/i/u/6062479/i/transducer_tn.jpg beginning: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.chesapeakeultrasound.com/ultrasound_products An echography: hypertext transfer protocol: //gulfcoastmri.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/sonogram-human-foetal-fetal-ultrasound-scan-at-22-weeks-mono-1-anon.jpg Beginning: hypertext transfer protocol: //gulfcoastmri.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/obstetric-ultrasonography/ In instance that the pregnant adult female is in early gestation or corpulent, she can undergo transvaginal echography, which a investigation is placed in the adult female ‘s vagina. Sometimes the trial is besides carried out if the pregnant adult female has got unnatural vaginal hemorrhage or pelvic hurting. This type of echography has the similar rule as the echography mentioned above. Some female parents may desire to see the pulse of their babes, they can transport out the Doppler echography. It has fundamentally the same rule as the echography except the ultrasound is farther enhanced by Doppler Effect. Generally the foetus ‘s pulse can be detected after 7 hebdomads of gestation, therefore the blood flow of the foetus can be detected every bit good. The blood flows in a circulation in the organic structure of the foetus, the Doppler echography can therefore observe the alteration in waies of blood flow by Doppler consequence and see if the circulation is normal or no n. This can be done by mensurating the alteration in the frequence received in the transceiver. In fact there are a few more types of prenatal medical examination, such as amniocentesis and chronic villus trying. However, the echography is the safest manner for diagnosing. The echography merely involves a transducer puting outside the female parent ‘s venters, while amniocentesis and chronic villus trying necessitate mechanical incursion and trying inside the female parent ‘s womb or venters, this increases the hazard of abortion during the trials. Despite this fact, echography can merely give an early diagnosing of the female parents and foetuss, it can non handle anomalousnesss or familial diseases. Harmonizing to the trial conducted by RADIUS survey group in 1993, research workers found that obtaining echography has no significantly negative consequence on cut downing perinatal morbidity or mortality among the foetuss or the female parents. Furthermore, the sensing of anomalousnesss really did non change the result of newborn babes. Therefore it is of import to a dmit that echography is merely a trial whether the foetuss are healthy, but non a intervention to anomalousnesss. Harmful consequence of X ray X ray is an electromagnetic moving ridge with a wavelength ranged from 0.01 to 10 nanometres ( 0.01-10 x10-9m ) . It has a velocity of 3Ãâ€"108 ms-1 in vacuity. In fact, X ray is normally used in medical interventions, such as radiation therapy of malignant neoplastic disease and medical imagination engineering. X ray is produced in an X-ray tubing. In the X-ray tubing, negatrons are accelerated by using a high electromotive force. Electrons so collide with a metal, and the sudden slowing of negatrons consequences in the emanation of X ray. An X-ray tubing: hypertext transfer protocol: //hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/imgqua/xtube.gif Beginning: hypertext transfer protocol: //hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/xtube.html X ray has high ionising power, therefore there are many people worrying about the harmful effects of holding an X-ray diagnosing, particularly pregnant adult females. It is true that a really high dosage of radiation from X ray may ensue in radiation illness. Prolonged and uninterrupted exposure to X-ray besides increases the hazard of malignant neoplastic disease development, and in pregnant adult females, there may besides be a hazard for the foetus to develop childhood malignant neoplastic disease or even abortion. However, it seems that the harmful effects of exposing to X ray are exaggerated. The serious harmful effects mentioned above are merely the consequences of high dose in a short period of clip. There are different sorts of X raies, one type is used in scanning or diagnosing, one type is used in handling malignant neoplastic disease. The energy stored in different types of X raies is different. For normal X-ray scanning, the dose is highly little. The captive dosage of X ray is measured in rad, which 1 rad = 10Ãâ€"10-3 J kg-1 = 10-2 J kg-1. If a pregnant adult female is holding a chest X ray, the estimated fetal dosage is about 60 millirads, the dosage is about 290 millirads for an abdominal X ray. This is rather a low value, as the dosage from the radiation from outer infinite is around 90-100 millirads. In fact, the hazard of the foetus holding oculus abnormalcies or mental deceleration additions merely when the dose exceeds 10 rads, therefore it is really rare that pregnant adult females suffer from harmful effects by the X-ray radiation. Harmonizing to the American Academy of Family Physicians, by and large X raies are safe even for pregnant adult females, and harmonizi ng to radiotherapists, no individual diagnostic X ray has a radiation dosage important plenty to do inauspicious effects in a underdeveloped embryo or foetus. Normally physicians will non inquire pregnant adult females to undergo an X-ray scanning, unless when it is pressing and necessary. It is besides suggested that pregnant adult females should state the radiotherapists about the gestation, so that radiotherapists can set the radiation degree to better protect the female parents and the foetuss. To reason, many people are afraid of holding X-ray scanning when they are pregnant, but in fact the hazard is non that high if we compare the dose to the exposure to outer infinite radiation. An X-ray movie demoing gestation: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.neurobodyfit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/xray-pregnancy.jpg Beginning: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.neurobodyfit.com/x-rays-are-safe-during-pregnancy/ Concerns of wireless moving ridges and microwaves Besides X-ray, some people are refering about the consequence of wireless moving ridges and microwaves on gestation. In fact the consequence of these two types of EM moving ridges is even less than X ray. There has been a survey look intoing the relationship between exposure of wireless moving ridges and microwaves of female physical therapists, and the ratio of abortion. Due to occupational usage, physical therapists are really frequently exposed to medical equipment breathing microwaves diathermy and wireless moving ridges. Harmonizing to the survey, research workers compared the uneven ratios between those pregnant physical therapists and other pregnant adult females. The consequences showed that the hazard of abortion was non associated with reported usage of diathermy equipment, therefore people need non worry excessively much about this issue. A microwave diathermy: hypertext transfer protocol: //image.ec21.com/image/medicm/oimg_GC04993002_CA04993086/Microwave_Diathermy_HM-801C.jpg Beginning: hypertext transfer protocol: //medicm.en.ec21.com/Microwave_Diathermy_HM_801C — 4993002_4993086.html Decision Waves have been widely used in medical equipment, and there are several applications of moving ridges on gestation. Ultrasonography is the most common and the safest method of antenatal medical examination. Though it can be used in diagnosing, it is unable to handle diseases in foetus. Many people concern about the side effects of utilizing X-ray, microwaves and wireless moving ridges, nevertheless it is in fact really safe because the dose of radiation is highly little. Therefore people need non worry excessively much about the hazard of abortion caused by exposure to these moving ridges.

Legal Method - Case Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Legal Method - Case Summary - Essay Example The Court of Appeal also found that negligence could be inferred. The defendant then appealed to the HKC. The legal issue at the heart of this case was the extent to which the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur can be successfully claimed in relation to the facts of the case and the trial judge’s ruling. Pursuant to the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, the defendant would be liable if upon the evidence presented, it was found that the injury complained of, was such that it would not have occurred but for the defendant’s negligence and injury itself was within the parameters of the defendant’s duty of care relative to the plaintiff. The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is especially relevant in medical cases alleging negligence where the plaintiff is not conscious and the medical professional administers care that is presumably within his/her knowledge and outside of the plaintiff’s knowledge. The res ipsa loquitur operates to establish causation and was therefore the legal issue at the center of the case. The plaintiff had surgery for prostate cancer on the lower part of his body and immediately after discovered that he had sustained a serious nerve injury to his left arm, an injury that he did not have prior to going into surgery. The injury was diagnoses as left radial nerve palsy. Since the injury was not associated with, nor in the vicinity of the surgery, the presumption was that the injury occurred during the anesthetist’s care. Moreover, the trial judge found that the injury was sustained while the plaintiff was under the effects of the anesthesia. It therefore followed that the injury occurred in circumstances where the patient/plaintiff was under the care of the anesthetist, albeit while in surgery. The factual issue in dispute was whether or not the injury occurred as a result of compression to the injury area and whether or not that

Economic Article Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Economic Article Analysis - Essay Example Formerly, most of the economic analysts opined that crude oil stock might fall by 600,000 barrels over the last week of August 2009. But eventually it dropped by 200,000 barrels less than the expected level1. In a sharp contrast the gasoline inventories experienced an alarming decline of 3 million barrels. However the recession ridden US economy, which were experiencing a falling fuel demand over the past one-year, breathed a shy of relief in terms of a marginal increase for the same. It is obvious when crude oil stock fell to a less than expected level and gasoline stock fell to a more than expected standard, therefore in reverse terms, crude oil draw would be less than that of gasoline. This fact has been rightly pointed out by Phil Flynn, analyst for PFGBest Research in Chicago, the Energy Information Administration (EIA). He further observed that a bullish demand for gasoline neutralizes a bearish crude oil demand. We have observed over the last one-year what immense effect a fal l in effective demand for a commodity can have on its price level. For instance, in less than 6 months (from July 2008 to December, 2008) crude oil price experienced almost 78 percent drop. Thoughtfully an expected fight back of the economy from the abyss of recession perhaps generated some kind of positive demand boost for fuel in general (although slower than expected)2 and thereafter (December, 2008 onwards) might have made some positive price adjustments. The relation between recession and dampening price of fuel might be logically illustrated as follows – recession implies declining production, falling economic activities, that is, industrial, tertiary and primary sector related activities. All these activities use fuel as a source of energy and decline in such activities leads to decline in fuel consumption, resulting in less demand and hence fall in price3. However on one

Industry Analysis - Application to the Oil Industry Case Study

Industry Analysis - Application to the Oil Industry - Case Study Example Suppliers play an imperative role in the success of any business. As such, a supplier may affect the profitability of a company either positively, by boosting it or negatively, by reducing it. This is what forms the power of suppliers. A supplier has powers to determine the profitability of a company, and in the case of the oil industry, the suppliers of BP can either assist it to become more prosperous and productive or to lose their market and make losses. This stems from the fact that suppliers agree to supply their products to the company at a certain given market price. If they increase the price at which they sell their products to the company, this will reduce the profit margin of BP, and the lack of alternative suppliers, as well as the strong power of the suppliers will bring the profitability of the company down. On the other hand, these suppliers can equally boost the profitability of the company by supplying it with product at a low cost, thereby increasing the companyâ⠂¬â„¢s profit margin and hence boost its profit levels. As such, it is imperative for BP to make the right choices of suppliers in order to secure a significant profit margin. BP sells its products to a wide range of customers. These people bring profit to it by purchasing its petroleum products. Its major customers include airline companies, governments, as well as ordinary motorists and companies. The bargaining power of these buyers is not as strong enough as to influence the selling price as set by BP. BP has sales points in many regions across the world, bearing the fact that it is a global multinational, and it has control over its buyers in almost all of its markets. It is only in some minor occasions where the governments within the markets in which it operates step in to regulate the fuel prices in the country generally, thereby also setting the price limits for the petroleum products sold by BP. However, this only strengthens the bargaining power of these customers to a considerable level, not strong enough to affect the profitability of the company

Human Anatomy The body in movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Anatomy The body in movement - Essay Example There are 206 bones in the human body which have roughly 700 muscles pulling on them. This paper aims at using daily human activities to discuss human and anatomy and the body in movement. Skeletal muscles can be said to be the only voluntary tissue in the human body. Every movement that a human being initiates voluntarily cannot take place in the absence of the skeletal muscles. Skeletal muscles perform the function of contracting in order to make various parts of the body to move closer to the bone they are attached to. Most skeletal bone served two adjustment bones that are connected via joints. Therefore, skeletal muscles can be said to be for the purpose of moving parts of these adjacent body bones close to each other. As a result of this involvement it can be said that skeletal muscles are vital for the movement in human beings. This is because most movements in the bodies of human beings always involve movement of bone joints (Palastanga, Field, and Soames 77). Skeletal muscles are not only essential for voluntary movements, but the involuntary ones too. In most cases, skeletal muscles do not manage to make the human body by themselves. The most common occurrence is that they work together in order to make human bodies move in certain ways. When a muscle initiates a certain movement in the human body, it is always referred to as the prime mover. The prime mover always works together with an opposing muscle that has the main responsibility of availing an opposite effect on the same bones. For instance, the biceps brachii muscle flexes the human hand at the elbow, while the triceps brachii muscle opposes these forces at the same point (Palastanga, Field, and Soames 89). However, there are some muscles that act in support of the body movement initiated by another muscle. Such muscles are referred to as Synergists and have the main purpose of stabilizing the body movement. For this

Compare and contrast the use of dramatic irony in Oedipus Rex and Essay

Compare and contrast the use of dramatic irony in Oedipus Rex and Doll's House - Essay Example th plays use dramatic irony to develop conflict in situations that would otherwise not appear to have any, but they differ greatly in how that irony is developed and who is aware of what; in â€Å"Oedipus Rex† the irony develops as a slow but inevitable march towards disaster, making the tone of the play about sweeping concepts like fate, whereas in â€Å"A Doll House† the irony develops through constant attempts by each character to hide their actions from each other, making the play a universal parable about the life of the typical 19th century family. Both â€Å"Oedipus Rex† and â€Å"A Doll House† are similar in using dramatic irony in a plot that would otherwise be bereft of conflict. For instance, in Oedipus, there is no particular antagonist as exists in a traditional narrative – Oedipus is essentially a hero and an anti-hero. The plot revolves around a â€Å"murder† that happened before the play even begins (Sophocles 18), and centers on a quest in which the hero eventually finds himself guilty of that same murder. Likewise, in â€Å"A Doll House,† one of the central themes is the inability of this family to openly communicate with each other, until the relationships in the family erode to the point that Nora, the protagonist â€Å"does not love† her husband Helmer anymore (Ibsen 1333), leaving her house â€Å"empty† when she goes (1333). Obviously this lack of communication would not function to advance the plot if the audience could not see it develop; thus â€Å"A Doll Hou se† uses dramatic irony to advance the plot While both â€Å"Oedipus† and â€Å"A Doll House† use irony to advance the plot, the effects of that irony on the viewer are very different, because the mechanism of developing the irony is very different between the two works. In â€Å"Oedipus,† the narrative relies almost entirely on outside knowledge of events to drive the irony. The audience never sees the events that set Oedipus up to kill his father or sleep with his mother, so when he

Technology and Interpersonal Relationships Essay

Technology and Interpersonal Relationships - Essay Example The fast-paced life of people today keeps human relationships on a standstill most of the time. The many things that occupy our time – family, school, building a career at work, etc., have made rushing from one place to another and always lacking time for everything common features in most people’s lifestyles. However, the human need to be connected to others is always present, and so people have turned to technology, specifically the internet, or mobile phones to fulfil this need. Family and friends have become more accessible and available in just a click of a button. The internet also offers a myriad of opportunities for meeting more people, relaxing with online games, sharing pictures and videos and an outlet to express innermost thoughts and feelings to share with others. The question of how technology affects interpersonal relationships is becoming a popular issue nowadays. The generation gap between the older people and the younger generation is broadening. Older people are accustomed to candid conversations with eye contact and are usually adept at reading body language and nonverbal gestures. The young people of today are very much into technological communication via texting, internet chatting, tweeting, etc. and are engaged with their mobile phones, Ipods, Ipads and other gadgets. When brought together, the older people may complain that the younger ones are lacking manners because they do not know how to give due attention to their companions. It is as if they live in their own worlds, with their gadgets as their gateway to reach their friends. Michael Bugeja’s book on the Interpersonal Divide meticulously describes how the technological age has affected humankind, most especially its humaneness in interacting with others. What prevail right now in terms of technology are computers, the internet, mobile phones, television, radio and other media paraphernalia. These things physically separate people from each other but provide a way for them to connect using technology. In Chapter 3, Bugeja explains how the proliferation of computer-mediated communication affects our views, expectations and interpersonal relationships. In computer-mediated communication, so many of our personhood becomes filtered that the communication lacks social cues. It then prevents the establishment of strong interpersonal collaboration and trust especially in cyber environments where invisibility is an option. Thus, when people chat online or send text messages, a lot of miscommunication may take place when the received messages are interpreted differently from how the sender meant it. This is because the text do not show people’s tone of voice, facial expression or non-verbal gestures which contribute to the clarity of the message sent. Media and technology saturate the lives of people with so many tasks they can do simultaneously and that makes them feel productive at a faster rate. When they log-out from the virtual world a nd re-join the real world, they may find it difficult to be accustomed to it for some time. The real world has three dimensions- up, down and breadth. It also offers intricate human sensations experienced in person. Bugeja also explains that interpersonal skills become the result of physical formats in the real world such as touch, eye contact, smell,

Cross-cultural business issues Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cross-cultural business issues - Coursework Example Most of them concentrate more on basic commodities, and luxuries such as extra hard engines may have a poor market penetration. The national language is Chinese, and very few people understand English. This makes communication between the marketers and the Chinese nationals difficult. Translations from English to Chinese may lose some of the intended meaning and impact (Emery and Tian, 2010). Chinese people have a slow decision making and response tradition. They have to scrutinize every detail before making their judgment. The marketers take long before getting the response, which slows down the marketing process. Gender differences are experienced in china. Men are regarded as social figures of authority, influence, and respect. Male marketers are therefore more effective than female counterparts. Social relationships (Guanxi) are family ties, relationships with strangers, and relationships with familiar people. Marketers will be regarded as strangers at first. The Chinese people h ave little ties with strangers, and may fail to communicate with them. This will hamper effective marketing for the engines. However, these ties may improve with time when the two parties become more familiar with each other. Cross-cultural communication refers to the use of language during marketing. In china, the Chinese language is dominant, and a larger percentage of the population does not understand English. The marketing staff has to engage the Chinese in word of mouth. This occurs during discussions for customer expectations, satisfaction, and product quality. English marketers may fail to explain all engine qualities or collect all expectations from the customers. Translators are required, which increases the marketing cost and the process may take longer. Marketing also requires advertisements through billboards, television, radio, internet, and newspapers. The advertisements are in Chinese language or a combination of both. Translations from English to Chinese lose some o f the intended meaning affecting the impact of the products on the consumers. The locals have to develop friendship with foreigners before they interact with them according to guanxi. Cultivating these relationships may involve dining with them or attending their social gatherings. This prolongs the marketing period (Emery and Tian, 2010). Ethnocentrism refers to reluctance to accept foreign goods. The Chinese people are reluctant to accept foreign goods, and the company requires promotions, marketing slogans, and staff training. Slogans used should not conflict with their beliefs. Staff training helps the marketers understand the culture of the locals to avoid conflicts due to different perceptions. Female marketers have to engage with the male citizens differently compared to the male marketers. Effective communication requires empathy. The two parties must try to understand each other’s ideas, feelings, and experiences. The Chinese people may be reluctant to share their id eas, expectations or feelings with the Americans. The company will therefore take long to understand the customer expectations, and the products will take long before market establishment. Cross cultural ethical differences have significant impacts on marketing. Gift giving in china is a sign of respect and business etiquette. The gifts however require careful choice to avoid influencing the decisions of the recipient. In such cases, the gift is considered as a bribe,

The Role of HR in Health Care Settings Term Paper

The Role of HR in Health Care Settings - Term Paper Example A description of how the perceptions were similar or different from the roles outlined in the learning resources is also covered. Subsequently, my experiences that may have influenced my perceptions are also outlined in this paper. Before delineating these issues, it is of importance to mention the different roles of HR and nurse managers. The HR is mandated with the role of negotiating the pay package, giving advice on rules and regulations pertaining to employment, organizing all aspects relating to recruitment of new employees, and giving recommendations when it comes to terminating employment. Nurse managers are the ultimate decision makers when recruiting and terminating new employees, perform sporadic appraisals of performance, gives constant trainings to employees, and also ensure a conducive and friendly working environment (Introduction to Healthcare Human Resources Management Program Transcript, 2002). My experience conducting the media survey was rather mystifying. This is attributed to my perceptions on the different roles of the nurse managers and the HR. Therefore, I got some of the questions on the media survey right and some wrong. To get all the survey questions right, one needs to have a clear comprehension of the different roles of nurse managers and HR before conducting the survey. This would help in doing away with personal opinions or perceptions regarding their divergent roles. My initial perception was that the roles of the two entities were entangled, meaning they do not differ as much. One of the assumption I had is that HR and nurse managers do not work together. Based on the results from the survey, it was clear that my perception was wrong . In fact, my perception was that HR does a lot more than I even knew with the nurse managers. According to Stewart, McGoldrick, and Watson (2002) the role of the HR is "To manage and co-ordinate

Accreditation Audit Essay Example for Free

Accreditation Audit Essay A1. Evaluation Nightingale Community Hospital (NCH) is committed to upholding the core values of safety, accountability, teamwork, and community. In preparation for the upcoming readiness audit, NCH will be launching a corrective action plan in direct response to the recent findings in the tracer patient. Background information on the tracer patient is as follows: 67 year old female postoperative patient recovering from a planned laparoscopic hysterectomy turned open due to complications. Patient developed infection that formed an abscess and was readmitted to the hospital for surgical abscess removal and central line placement for long term IV antibiotics. The tracer methodology was employed when auditors reviewed this patient’s course. Many things were done well and right with this patient and NCH is pleased to know that the majority of items analyzed with this patient proved that NCH was in compliance with regulatory standards; however, there were some troublesome areas that we need to focus on. The primary focus area that we will put our energies into will be the fact that there was not a history and physical completed on the patient within 24 hours of admission, and in fact it was greater than 72 hours before one was completed. See more: My Writing Process Essay The Joint Commission mandates standards that are to be met in order to maintain compliance. Standard PC.01.02.03 states that history and physicals must be documented and placed in the patient’s medical record within 24 hours of admission and prior to procedures involving conscious sedation or anesthesia. History and physicals are also considered in compliance if documented 30 days prior to procedures as long as there are no changes documented or the changes in status are specifically noted. (Joint Commission Update, n.d.) A2. Plan Often, rules and regulations are met with disdain and it is usually because there is no explanation provided as to why the rule exists. The rules for History and physical documentation are in place for a reason and are not just to make things more complicated. History and physicals provide  all health care providers that participate in a patient’s care a glimpse into that patient’s health status and immediate concerns. (Shuer, 2002) The information provided in a history and physical paints a portrait for all other health care team members to follow and treat accordingly. Often, emergent situations may arise where other health care specialty providers may not have the time to glean medical background information from patients and/or their representatives and the history and physical then serves as the go to source of information. Compliance regulations can be hard to understand the reasoning behind them sometimes, but if we all work together to make sure that we meet them, then NCH will continue to embrace the core values that we have worked so hard to instill and embrace. The following outline is a corrective action plan that will ensure compliance with the Joint Commission and bring us up to par for the readiness audit. Action Accountable Parties Timeframe Measurement History and Physical Physicians physician assistants 1. Within 24 hours of admission. 2. Within 30 days prior to a procedure involving conscious sedation or anesthesia. Chart reviews and if requirements are not met, patients will be held in the surgical admitting unit and procedures will be delayed. There must be 100% compliance. B. Sources Joint Commission Update Study Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved August 31, 2014, from med2.uc.edu/libraries/GME_Forms/Joint_Commision_Upd_1.sflb.ashx Shuer, L. M. (2002). Improvement needed on hp documentation. Medical Staff Update, 26(5), Retrieved from med.stanford.edu/shs/update/archives/May2002/chief.html

The Comprehensive And Flat Tax System Economics Essay

The Comprehensive And Flat Tax System Economics Essay The comprehensive income tax system in its ideal form enjoys a good reputation due to the structure which is based on the ability to pay principle. In general this principle points out that taxpayers with the same low level of income are taxed at the same rate and the ones with higher income are taxed heavier. 4 What makes this taxation system even more attractive to countries is that due to the equalization of capital and labour income, there is no interest in income shifting. This would be a so called tax arbitrage profit. That means it is more profitable to transform labour income into capital income and pay less taxes due to the different tax burden between labour and capital income. 4 2.1.2 Disadvantages of the comprehensive tax system 4 2.2 Flat Tax 5 2.2.1 Advantages of the flat tax system 5 2.2.2 Disadvantage of the flat tax system 5 Introduction In this Paper I will discuss the so called dual income tax. This system is considered to be one of the most auspicious taxation alternatives to existing taxation systems. This paper is build up in three big chapters. Firstly I will describe the environment of the actual taxation systems. On the one hand there is the system which is used in almost all European countries, the so called comprehensive personal income tax. And on the other hand the flat tax system, which can be found in the Este-European countries. Secondly I will point out more accurately the development of the Dual income tax system with its mayor advantages and disadvantages. Finally I will draw my personal conclusion to the dual income taxation system, its possibilities and future evolution. The major objectives of the taxation system in a country are clearly to earn as much tax affordable to obtain a solid and running state. This aim is collateral with the idea that everybody pays the amount of taxes one has to pay according to the ability to pay principle. Therefore leave as little as possible chances to cheat. Aligned with this aim the system should have two additional targets, fairness and simplicity. Fairness as a basis requires a system to be fair in the way that people with same income should be taxed in the same way. Simplicity should make taxpaying as easy and efficient as possible. This means in an ideal world there would be no exceptions or special tax treatments. Through globalization, easier and faster communication, many people start to find more and more possibilities to optimize their tax expenditures. This, for example is possible by investing in foreign countries causing harm to the own. As a consequence of missing tax income and loosing the possibility to keep up the states standards, a change in form of a reform is unavoidable. There are as many possibilities as there are countries on earth to reform a taxation system, by raising / lowering taxes or changing the whole system to become more attractive again. I will now present 3 exemplary systems. The comprehensive tax system The comprehensive income tax system also known by other synonyms as global income tax, unitary income tax or synthetic income tax is the most used taxation system in western European countries. It has got its name due to the fact that all income types are seen as a one and therefore are added together and taxed as one whole income. In Germany it was installed in the late 1950, and since then has been subjected of many changes from its original form. It was seen as the ideal tax system in Europe because in its original form it could align fully with the ability to pay principle and to both tasks of simplicity and fairness. This method is composed as a system which adds together all the taxpayers income (from labor, capital, rent and business) in a single measure and taxes it with a single progressive tax. Labour income is usually defined as income earned from activities as an employed individual. Capital income can take a variety of forms such as dividends, interests, income from real estate and to add further complications capital income is not always from a single organization, but can come from pension funds, life insurance companies, corporations, banks etc. Business income is income earned out of entrepreneurial activities. Normally the minimum subsistence level remains tax free. Income surpassing this minimum level is typically taxed on a progressive scale. For example in Germany it starts with a tax rate of 15% and ends up as high as 50%. Losses of one income type can be offset with gains from other sources. One tax rate will then be applied on the taxpayers total income (Synthetic taxation system). The idea behind the comprehensive tax scale is the assumption that someone with higher income is able not only in absolute but also in relative numbers to pay a higher share of his earnings to the government. This is by the majority of the most western cultures felt as a fair distribution of the tax burden also called tax fairness. This is the reason why there is a progressive tax table lying behind this structure. 2.1.1 Advantages of the comprehensive tax system The comprehensive income tax system in its ideal form enjoys a good reputation due to the structure which is based on the ability to pay principle. In general this principle points out that taxpayers with the same low level of income are taxed at the same rate and the ones with higher income are taxed heavier. What makes this taxation system even more attractive to countries is that due to the equalization of capital and labour income, there is no interest in income shifting. This would be a so called tax arbitrage profit. That means it is more profitable to transform labour income into capital income and pay less taxes due to the different tax burden between labour and capital income. 2.1.2 Disadvantages of the comprehensive tax system Although this taxation system seems to be clear and easy, when installed and worked with there are always specialties and exceptions. These treatments were implemented during many years and destroyed the purity of the comprehensive system. The special treatments came along with a high amount of administrative costs and a loss of the simplicity. The possibility of the capital income to become negative and be cleared with the labour income is just one example. This even can be seen in the tax declaration. Hardly anybody is capable to hand in a correct tax declaration without concerning a tax accountant. All countries with the comprehensive taxation system implied special tax treatment for a particular type of income (e.g. pensions, capital gains or lottery wins) to grant a tax relieve. But there is no systematic reason that for example lottery wins stay completely income tax free in Germany. Theoretically the State should levy taxes to generate income for funding its public tasks, as production public goods (eg. Schools, streets). It should not use the taxation system to channel the spending and investment behaviour of its citizens and tax payers. By doing so the systematic foundation, the justification and the acceptance of the comprehensive taxation system gets lost. The maximum rate should in no case surpass the 50% level because it is perceived as unfair from the tax payers when more than half of the money earned has to be transferred to the government. Some decades ago Sweden had a maximum tax rate of 90% with the consequence that people had no incentive anymore to generate income and tried to transfer their income stream to foreign countries. This effect is described as a so called Laffer curve. (It is used to illustrate the concept of  Taxable Income Elasticity  (that  taxable income  will change in response to changes in the rate of taxation). The curve is constructed by  thought experiment. First, the amount of tax revenue raised at the extreme tax rates of 0% and 100% is considered. It is clear that a 0% tax rate raises no revenue, but the Laffer curve hypothesis is that a 100% tax rate will also generate no revenue because at such a rate there is no longer any incentive for a rational taxpayer to earn any income, thus the revenue raised will be 100% of nothing. If both a 0% rate and 100% rate of taxation generate no revenue, it follows that  there must exist  a rate in between where tax revenue would be a maximu m. The Laffer curve is typically represented as a stylized graph which starts at 0% tax, zero revenue, rises to a maximum rate of revenue raised at an intermediate rate of taxation and then falls again to zero revenue at a 100% tax rate. One potential result of the Laffer curve is that increasing tax rates beyond a certain point will become counterproductive for raising further tax revenue because of diminishing returns.) 2.2 Flat Tax An alternative to the just described global tax system is the so called flat tax system. Herewith a flat proportional taxation for all net income types, capital, labour and other income is installed. This taxation system does not consider the taxpayers ability to pay taxes but sets a flat level for all income types. Some east European countries (Russia and Slovakia) have installed this taxation system. Russia replaced its progressive taxation system with a single flat tax rate of 13%. (Under a pure flat tax without deductions, companies could simply, every period, make a single payment to the government covering the flat tax liabilities of their employees and the taxes owed on their business income.  For example, suppose that in a given year, ACME earns a profit of 3 million, pays 2 million in salaries, and spends an added 1 million on other expenses the IRS deems to be taxable income, such as stock options, bonuses, and certain executive privileges. Given a flat rate of 15%, ACME would then owe the IRS (3M + 2M + 1M) x0.15 = 900,000. This payment would, in one fell swoop, settle the tax liabilities of ACMEs employees as well as taxes it owed by being a firm. Most employees throughout the economy would never need to interact with the revenue authorities, as all tax owed on wages, interest, dividends, royalties, etc. would be withheld at the source.) 2.2.1 Advantages of the flat tax system Aim of this taxation method is to gain a very simplified and transparent Tax system. Those who perceive the comprehensive taxation system with its progressive effects as unfair often are in favor of a flat tax system and claim it to be fairer to apply the same tax rate to all income sources and amounts. Because there is only one tax rate for all income, the administration costs are definitely lower and there is a balance between lower tax and lower cost. Additionally every taxpayer can easily calculate his taxes due which are usually not the case in the very complex progressive taxation system. After Russia installed the flat tax the real revenues from its Personal Income Tax rose by 25.2%, 24.6% and 15.2% in the first three years. 2.2.2 Disadvantage of the flat tax system Despite all the Pro arguments the problem of the flat taxation system is that hardly any country could keep it as a fully flat income tax system due to too many special tax treatments. Because everybody has to pay the same percentage of his total income the ability of pay performance is not considered or minded. This is the biggest contra argument of the flat tax system. It only seems to be a fair system but leaves only a small to no gap for a fair sharing of the tax burden. For many people it is not convincing why rich people should only pay as much as the poorer. And therefore it can hardly survive. In Addition to fairness another adverse point is the fact of the pure flat tax system that the government loses its power to steer the investing behavior. So if it would be of interest to support the private pension reserves, a deduction of capital income taxes on these payments is not possible. The Dual Income Tax Development of the Dual Income Tax (DIT) system The Dual Income Tax (DIT) is a combination of both of the recent presented tax systems. It is not a plain comprehensive system with a single progressive tax development or a flat tax with only a proportional tax, but a combination of both. It attempts to tax the personal capital income at a uniform (low) proportional tax while maintaining a (higher) progressive rate on the labour income. This taxation system was first introduced in Denmark 1987, other northern countries as Finland, Norway or Sweden followed. Until today the Norwegian system is seen as the most experienced one and is seen as very respected for the consistency with which it was implemented. Until today the system as such had to be subject to changes. Germany introduced the dual income tax system in 2009. Income was taxed according to the global tax system with the progressive taxation method whereas capital income was taxed deducted at source at a rate of 25 %, without exception. A unique aspect of the dual income tax system is the problem of how to distinguish labour from cpital income when the two are mixed together. A typical example is the business man who provides labour and capital with one business. These types of business are tempted to declare their gains of labour as capital income to avoid the higher progressive tax. The Finnish Government countered this problem with a division of dividends paid by unlisted companies into two components. Each half is then treated as either labour or capital income. Advantages of the Dual Income Tax system A country with lower capital income taxation becomes more attractive to foreign investors with a higher local capital income tax. This also has a positive effect on the attractivity of corporate investments. The further positive impact on the economic development is obvious. The generation of capital income tax by collecting it at its source, creates a higher possibility of tax payment in comparison to individual tax declaration. The incentive for capital exports and tax avoidance is reduced by a lower tax rate on capital income. It also diminishes the risk of tax evasion. Neutrality or simplicity means an equal treatment of capital income tax without personalized deductions or any other special handling. The main tax income which is raised for public finance can be brought up alone by the labour income tax. Disadvantages of the Dual Income Tax system Compared to the comprehensive taxation system, the dual income tax system has left the tax arbitrage is theory open. This is the (income shifting between higher-taxed labour income and lower-taxed capital income) to gain the difference between these two tax rates. Nevertheless it can reduce the incentives of capital exports to cheaper capital income neighbor countries. A common mentioned disadvantage of the dual income tax system it the so called problem of the double taxation. This taxation problem does not only exist in this taxation system but is characteristic for this system. Double taxations is a  taxation  principle  referring to income taxes that are paid twice on the same source of earned income. The problem herewith is the question when and how the best way is to tax capital income. The current scheme taxes the first time when earned as labour income. The taxpayer now has got two options, one would be to consume directly and have no further problems. In times of shrinking pension accounts many people prefer to save the money in forms of capital investment eg. shares, bondsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The real dual taxation problem now appears when these capital investments start to pay their interests or dividends. The argument behind this contra argument is that the capital to buy a investment was already taxed. 3.4 The dual income tax system in Germany and its impact In this section I will outline the general impact of the dual income tax system for Germany. In 2009 Germany installed the dual income tax system, keeping its progressive tax for labour income and changing its capital income to a flat taxation rate of 25%. The aim of this change from the comprehensive to the dual income tax system was diverse. First of all the German state wanted to stop the emigration of capital income to abroad countries. By implementing the 25% capital income tax Germany became more attractive to investors from foreign countries like Switzerland due to their higher taxation rate of 35%. As an additional positive effect Germany could hold its own capital income taxes in the country. If Germany would have kept it this way, a major relief of administration on the governmental and in the private sector would have been seen. The taxation on capital income would have been done directly as a deduction at source by the capital organization like banks or pension organizati on, as a standard anonymous fee. This as consequents would have meant a higher and more continuous reliable income flow and a real established flat tax for the capital income tax. But this was not the case, due to a minority, the people whose income tax is below the minimum subsistence level. These people claimed that the taxation of capital income at a rate of 25 % compared to their taxation level from the comprehensive taxation system which is lower than 25 % is unfair and not feasible. This is why the German model of the dual income taxation system could not be installed in its pure way, but with a major amount of adjustments. To give people living at the minimum subsistence level a chance to be taxed by their correct tax rate the capital income tax from banks had to be change from anonymous to personalized. On the one hand this meant a huge effort for banks to change their standard fee to a personalized fee tracing every capital movement on bank accounts. And on the other hand the anticipated administration reduction was not fulfilled. Taxpayers below the minimum subsistence level still have to create a tax declaration with a special request form. The problem with one special treatment is that it never comes alone, and so it is the same in Germany. As one of the few countries left which still has got the church tax as a fixed component of the tax system, the simple neglection as it is foreseen in the flat tax system for capital income was not possible, has to keep the church tax specialties in mind. The church fee in Germany is even dependant the federal state you life in and can vary between 8 9 %. In the old comprehensive system it was an easy task to retain the church taxes, due to the fact that this tax was retained as one tax from the hole income. With the new dual income tax system the labour income part of the church taxation is treated in the same way, by deduction of the entrepreneur. But to keep the principle of being a fair state, of course the capital income part of the church tax hast do be discharged as well. In principle this doesnt seem to be that big of a task but as the capital income is deduced by a capital company as banks even more information exchange is necessary. An aligned problem with the further information exchange is the question if a, lets stay with this example, bank should have the right or need to know ones religious orientation. As a diverse and social alert state Germany added another special treatment to the capital income taxation system. Church tax payers who have capital income then have two options. These would be on the one hand, provide your bank with you religious orientation who then would have to check each capital income payment on the capital income tax 25 % the 5,5 % solidarity surcharge tax and then depending on the Information the 8 9% church taxes. Or on the other hand declare your taxes through the normal tax declaration and being charged retroactively. Especially here you can see how the gap between fair and simple is a thin line which Is hard to meet. Either a taxation system is held flat and small so special tax treatments like church taxes or the regard of the Taxpayers below the minimum subsistence level are not concerned, or the system is tried to be held fair and a huge amount of administrative costs is installed. Another side effect of the dual income tax system is a well known problem that in general equity in personal businesses should be intensified. With the flat tax for capital income in Germany unfortunately the opposite is achieved. If an business owner gives a loan to his own company, his interest incomes are taxed according to the normal progressive tax rate (up to 50%). Giving the money to the bank instead of his own company allows him to make use of the favour of the flat tax rate. This lead to an unforeseen out pulls of money of personal businesses and reinvesting it in the capital market. Here again the question can be asked, which aim is the dual income taxation system following? If the main aim was to ensure a larger capital spend in the local market then the aim was fulfilled, but if a long term effect as supporting the increase of equity in private businesses was targeted then a clearly miss must be admitted. Anyhow the change to the dual income tax system for people with income greater than the minimum subsistence level presented a pleasant relief. As the capital amount of exemption in Germany is currently at 801 euros any capital income higher than 800 euros (20000 euros at an interest rate of 4 %) and a labour income tax higher than 25 % can make a noticeable saving. The problem in the Germany state is that it always tries to care for everybody, this is why a simplified system is hard or even impossible to install in Germany. Conclusion Because the fiscal functionality is not a static system there is in my opinion hardly any tax system which can last all too long. This is also the reason way a change in the German taxation system was needed badly. In my opinion the dual income tax system as it is thought of, in its original form without any special treatments is a very attractive and a realizable taxation system. With its aim to simplify the capital taxation by installing a flat tax which is deducted at the source is a major relief to administrative effort. As a critical discussion Point concerning the dual income tax system, is my question: can a taxation system be seen as fair if a person who owns an X amount of Euros (which is enough for him to live from the interests) should be allowed life a nice and easy life and only having to pay a low capital income Tax. on The contrary the taxpayer working 330 days paying the higher labour tax rate according to a comprehensive tax system? To illustrate this a little more clearly lets make a simple example with numbers. In the one hand we have the rich person with a capital of 5 million Euros who, with a interst rate of 4 %, has got a capital gain of 200.000 Euros. As this is seen as capital income it is only taxed at a low rate of 25 % so, the rich person can keep net 150.000 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬. He can keep his life standard without working and exaggerated be on holiday the whole year. On the other Hand the person who works hard and has got a labour income of 200.000 Euros, hast to pay the top ta x rate of 50% and can only use the remaining 100.000 Euros. Summary Due to new European taxation systems many countries changed their view on taxation and had no other opportunity than to reform their own system. The dual income tax system, as a so called Scheduler Taxation System, because it has different schedules for the different income types originates from two different taxation models, these are a comprehensive, and flat tax taxation methods. The Main aims of the DIT system is the separation of capital and labour income. The dual income tax system underlays a proportional tax rate on all net income (e.g. Capital, interests, dividends, business income, income from real estate) and a progressive tax rate on labour income. With this background I took a look at the previous described Tax systems. Conclusions of the A major problem of the dual income tax in Germany is the sense of unfairness that is implemented by the general application of this tool. This lead to possible individual tax deductions. A general capital income tax, that is collected right where it is generated from the bank and is discharged anonymously is administrated easily. An advantage of a flat tax rate is ideally a simplification of the existing system. In Germany however in order to avoid unequal treatment individual tax deductions are possible. This counterstrikes the hoped effect. Vereinfachungs effect flat tax vereinfachung. A) keine abzà ¼hge b) depot gebà ¼hrenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ etc. Æ’Â   wird einfacher aber immer grà ¶ber (ungerecht)Aufantragà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Auch die capitalertrà ¤ge.

Importance Of Consumer Attitude Toward Advertising In Smartphones Marketing Essay

Importance Of Consumer Attitude Toward Advertising In Smartphones Marketing Essay The exponential increase of smartphones in the last two years has created unique marketing opportunities for the advertising world. Lack of academic research in the realm of smartphones, and the fragmented and controversial results of studies in the field of conventional mobile advertising, insist on the need for further research in the field. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the consumer attitude toward smartphone advertising, in order to learn how consumers perceive smartphone advertisements. The study was conducted among the US consumers. A thorough review of academic literature on advertising in general, conventional mobile advertising and consumer perceptions to both set the foundation of this thesis. Using this foundation, a research framework of consumer attitudes in the context of smartphone advertising was, then, constructed. The results of the analyses indicate that all the attitudes of conventional mobile marketing affect smartphone advertising as well, and these attitudes differ with different kinds of advertisements. The attitudes are likely to be positive when the mobile advertiser has targeted actual needs of customers. This implies that mobile advertising should be based on service rather than selling. Moreover, the consumer attitudes toward internet advertising strongly correlate with that of smartphone advertising, which suggests the potential replicating of the online Ad-revenue model in the smartphone marketing. Emotional attachment appears to have no influence on the attitude toward smartphone advertising. Additionally, the results of the study show that incentives have a strong positive effect toward consumer behavior. Therefore, incentives must be used by marketers to gain user permission and acceptance for the advertisements. Keywords: smartphone advertising, mobile marketing, consumer behavior, attitudes, incentives, advertising, emotional attachment Introduction The recent rise in smartphones, coupled with advances in wireless information technologies, has placed users in a ubiquitous computing environment, with access to and possibility of exchange of information anywhere and anytime through these smartphones. The ability to see rich content on a smartphone and the larger extent of interactivity possible on it, coupled with GPS capabilities of smartphones, provides the marketers a potentially strong channel for advertising. However, for the advertising efforts to be rightly focused and, in turn, to succeed, knowledge of consumers perceptions towards these advertisements is essential. This research aims to study the consumer perception of advertising in smartphones, using the US consumers as the test case, drawing from academic theory on advertising in general, conventional mobile advertising and consumer perceptions to both. The reason US population is chosen is because smartphone penetration is still very low in other countries, and US has the second highest smartphone penetration in the world  [1]  , which provides a good base for research. This chapter is organized as follows: First, a background of the field of advertising that has recently focused a lot of interest on digital advertising on the internet and the mobile phones, followed by, a review of the recent popularity of smartphones and the growth of the smartphone industry. The importance of investigating the consumer attitude toward smartphone advertising is then emphasized, and the additional opportunity for advertising available on smartphones highlighted. Next, the research problem is defined and the structure of the research study is presented. 1.1. Background Traditional advertising media has undergone rapid change, as the technological developments have given rise to numerous new marketing media. Traditional media has diminished in the last few years due to inroads by online competitors. New media types, like the internet, then the mobile phone, and now recently the smartphone, have emerged, offering greater and greater possibilities of interaction with the consumers. However, in order to effectively benefit from using the mobile marketing channel, the unique characteristics of the mobile and the behavior of consumer interaction with this channel need to be understood. Another major development in the advertising industry has been the increase in empowerment of the consumers in advertisements. The wide-spread availability of the internet means that consumers can compare product offerings and prices before making a buying decision. Additionally, with increasing use of social media, they also share their experiences with others. The contemporary consumer is informed, connected and active (Prahalad 2004). Resultantly, consumers now expect the companies to do more than just delight them, which has resulted in companies advocating greater for their customers (Urban 2004). This means that companies are pushing harder with their marketing efforts, looking for channels that provide more interaction with the consumers: companies are re-inventing marketing services (Mitchell 2006). Communication options have increased in number. The internet has been used as a marketing channel for some time, but the use of mobile phone, and recently the smartphone, as marke ting mediums is still recent. 1.2. Rise of smartphones Mobile phones have increasingly become feature-rich and more sophisticated, since their explosion in popularity. The recent phones come with greater features to supplement, or even replace, other devices such as mp3/video players, digital cameras, and PDAs  [2]  . This technological advancement has given birth to the smartphone, a device that brings together the mobile phone and the PDA. Smartphones are more than mobile phones. They come packed with a diverse range of features and functionalities, which makes them a mobile information center and entertainment device for the user. They commonly include features such as a full-featured QWERTY keyboard, web browser, e-mail, multimedia capabilities, touch screen, built-in cameras, music players, Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation software and even the ability to read and edit Word, Excel and PDF format documents, making them an excellent all-in-one substitute for variety of other devices. Certain models have enough processor power to run complex software applications such as enterprise CRM software and car navigation softwares. Another feature rapidly becoming common is the instant messaging. As such, the definition of a smartphone, or what constitutes a smartphone, is constantly evolving. Mobile phones went from zero in the global population in 1982 to 3.3 billion in 2008, serving about half the worlds population (Alexandros Labrinidis, University of Pittsburgh computer science professor, Feb 2010). A growing majority of the population now expect to be nearly always connected and to be reachable almost instantly via e-mail. The smartphone is the instrument of that connectedness, both as a communications tool and as a status symbol (Lohr 2009). Smartphones have risen in popularity almost instantaneously, due mainly to the fact that they offer the ultimate in connectivity (Figure 1). They provide connectivity not just via phone communication, but are able to connect to the internet at almost any location via network internet services. This means that users never have to face the prospect of going without phone, email, or access to social networks. Smartphones represent a small, yet rapidly growing, segment of the mobile market. Smartphone sales at 17.5 million units in 2004 accounted for 3% of the worldwide sales of 684 million handsets (Kang 2010). This represents a significant jump from the 8.2 million units sold in 2003. The demand for smartphones is growing rapidly in the recent years. In Q3 2010, the number of smartphone units sold globally increased to 77 million, an increase of 78% y-o-y (n.d. 2010). The smartphone sales are forecasted to reach 350 million units in 2012 (Kang 2010), about 40% of total handset sales. By 2012, smartphones will, resultantly, outship the global notebook and global PC market (Meeker 2010). Figure 1. Global Smartphone Sales Source: McKinsey: Exploring Mobiles Digital Future: Smartphone and Access, 2012 This increase in smartphone use, coupled with advances in wireless information technologies, has placed users in a ubiquitous computing environment, with access to and possibility of exchange of information anywhere and anytime through these smartphones. The ability to see rich content on a smartphone and the larger extent of interactivity possible on it, coupled with location tracking due to phones GPS capabilities, provides the marketers an opportunity for greater interaction with the consumers, enabling them to provide better content and making the consumers more probable to view the advertisements. Smartphones offer marketers unique opportunities to influence consumers at the very moment they are considering their purchase decisions and comparing the product prices. Companies and marketers are, therefore, working harder than ever on ways to deliver product marketing and services over smartphones. The smartphones, thus, increasingly serve as both the engine and the vehicle for sha ring product information. Media and advertising executives expect more than a quarter of media time and spending to move away from traditional channels, while mobile and social media advertising are seen gaining steam (Goncalves 2009). The smartphones are becoming less and less about wireless online and highly as personal and customized medium. While the general media environment is typically full of noise and distraction, consumers report being surprisingly focused when using the mobile internet (Hutton and Rodnick 2009). This result provides an opportunity for advertisers, who are constantly competing with external distractions, to engage users in a meaningful way. 1.3. Importance of consumer attitude toward advertising in smartphones The emergence of smartphone advertising opens up a new area of research. For instance, given the increased possibility of presentation and interactivity, is this marketing medium more effective than the conventional mobile advertising media? How do consumers perceive smartphone advertisements? What factors need tobe kept in mind when designing smartphone advertisements? A better understanding of these issues is essential to the effective use of smartphone advertising. Researchers agree that investigating the behaviour of the mobile consumer is critical towards offering effective customer services and accelerating the diffusion of mobile marketing (Mort and Drennan 2002; Nohria and Leestma 2001; Carlsson and Walden 2002). For example, Carlsson and Walden (2002) suggest that the key question for mobile commerce is to find some way to assess the value of mobile applications to prospective users. This provides the motivation for this study in investigating the consumer attitude toward ad vertising in smartphones. 1.4. Research objectives Since the mobile phone is still a relatively new channel for advertising, academic research in this field has been, to a large extent, inconsistent and fragmented (Roach 2009). Leppà ¤niemi (Leppà ¤niemi, Sinisalo and Karjaluoto 2006) has divided the current mobile marketing research into three categories: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Consumer: acceptance, perception, attitude, responsiveness and effectiveness of mobile marketing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Business and Management: value chain, performance measurement, business models, branding and operations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ General research: antecedents and consequences, legal and political factors, adoption and diffusion of mobile marketing Leppà ¤niemi notes that majority of the research has mainly dealt with the various facets of consumer behavior, with several of them dealing with consumer attitudes toward mobile marketing (e.g. Tsang et al. 2004; James 2004; Jun 2007). However, the results of these studies have been contradictory (discussed in detail in Sec 2.1.4 and Sec 2.2.8), and have been limited to SMS advertisements on conventional mobile phones. The trends in the smartphone unit sales suggest that in the next five years, about three quarters of all phones will be smartphones. With the unique marketing opportunities available in smartphones, other than just the SMS, and the background suggesting further academic research in the domain of consumer attitude towards mobile advertising, the broader purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of the domain, looking into the specific segment of smartphones only. This study will serve as a first attempt yet to examine the consumer attitudes towards advertisements in smartphones, and is conducted by implementing an empirical research. The subject will be approached through the following primary research question: What are the underlying factors which characterize the attitudes of consumers toward mobile advertising in the domain of smartphones? The following specific questions will be used to serve as basis for addressing the primary research question: How do demographic variables influence attitude towards advertisements in smartphones? Do the factors influencing attitude toward advertising on traditional mobile phones also influence attitude toward advertising on smartphones? Does attitude toward advertising in general and attitude toward internet advertising influence the attitude toward smartphone advertising? Does the type of advertisement have an impact on the factors that influence the attitudes toward smartphone advertising? Does emotional attachment to phone impact the attitude toward advertisements? Would incentives influence consumer intention to receive advertisements? From the managerial perspective, the research will provide insight into marketing viability in smartphones. More specifically, the results of the research will enable to judge the possibilities of incorporating the different facets of the Ad-revenue model in the smartphones, and also shed light on the realities of the bet that companies like Google have put on the success of the model in the Android based smartphones. Additionally, the knowledge regarding the factors contributing to successful smartphone advertisement would help managers to fully exploit the potential of the smartphone marketing medium. 1.5. Structure of the Thesis The research will start with a literature review of the most significant research streams relevant to the research problem. Chapter 2.1 will discuss the nature of attitudes, bringing together knowledge from both social and advertising psychology. Chapter 2.2 will present the consumer viewpoint of the concept of mobile marketing. Chapter 3 will discuss the hypotheses of this thesis, and present a research framework based on it. Chapter 4 will describe the methodology used for data collection and survey construction, as well as assess the data validity and reliability, also addressing the potential biases that might arise. Chapter 5 will present the results of the various analyses, followed by conclusions in Chapter 6. Literature Review This chapter will focus on the theoretical foundation of the study. It is divided into two parts: the first part focusing on attitude toward advertising in general and the second part, specifically, on mobile advertising. The first part of the chapter will begin with an attempt to define attitudes. Next, an overview of internet based advertising will be presented. This will be followed by consumer attitude toward advertising. The second part of the literature review will then discuss the prior research specifically on mobile advertising. It will begin with the definition of the term, followed by discussion of the motivation of consumers behind the use of mobile and the emotional attachment to the device. Next the characteristics of the mobile will be presented, which validate it as a marketing channel, and interactive advertising in mobile phones will be discussed. Furthermore, permission and control in the mobile marketing context will be reviewed, and the need to provide incentives will be discussed. Additionally, academic literature regarding consumer acceptance and consumer attitudes towards the mobile advertising will be highlighted. 2.1. Academic insight on attitudes in advertising domain With different streams of advertising emerging nowadays, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out with a particular advertisement. The costs of marketing are getting increasingly higher, making marketers more and more concerned about the attitudes of consumers and the factors contributing to effective advertising  [3]  . In order to be able to design effective advertisements, it is, therefore, imperative to first understand advertising itself. This chapter will, therefore, begin with the literature view of attitudes. Since mobile marketing has evolved, with the rise of smartphones, to provide advertisements similar to internet based advertisements, the chapter will also provide an overview of internet based advertising. This will be followed with literature view on attitudes towards advertising in general. 2.1.1. Defining attitudes Although research on attitudes has been abundant, there is no consensus on the general definition of the concept among researchers. Eagly and Chaiken (1993) defined attitude as a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. Kotler (2000) stated that an attitude is a persons enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluations, emotional feelings and action tendencies toward some object or idea. Attitudes are typically derived from judgments, which everyone makes. Aakerman, et al. (2001) describe attitudes as mental states used by individuals to structure the way they perceive their environment and guide the way they respond to it. In general, attitude is a predisposition or a tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea,  object,  person, or situation. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] The four major components of attitude are (1) Affective: emotions or feelings, (2) Cognitive: belief or opinions held consciously, (3) Conative: inclination for action, (4) Evaluative: positive or negative response to stimuli. (BusinessDictionary  [4]  ). Triandis (1971) also defines attitudes as consisting of the three correlated components: affect, cognition and conation. 2.1.2. Internet based advertising The rise of internet has led to the evolution of commerce into the electronic age (Maamar 2003). As surfing the World Wide Web (WWW) has become ever more popular, the internet has clearly become an important information source and an integral part of daily life (Ko et al. 2005). As such, the internet represents a huge opportunity for advertisers in terms of the potential for efficient and effective communication with customers (Faber et al. 2004). Recently, internet advertising or web advertising has become one of the first choice advertising media for anyone wanting to promote their products and services to a global audience. The basic kinds of internet advertising include e-mail advertisements, banner advertisements, pop-ups, social media and endorsements from other websites. Pop-up advertising implies that an advertisement window pops up when the user visits a webpage, forcing him to see the ad before being closed. E-mail advertisement implies sending advertisement e-mails to the users. Banner advertisement is where an advertisement is placed in a section of a webpage. And social media marketing is done by putting advertisements on the homepage of users social media profile pages, e.g. in Facebook. Internet advertising has been perceived by many consumers to be intrusive and disturbing (Li et al. 2002). Banner advertisements on the Internet were found to produce dull results, with the click-through rate as low as 0.3% (Green and Elgin 2002). 2.1.3. Attitude toward advertising in general Attitude toward an advertisement is defined as a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner towards an advertisement in general (MacKenzie and Lutz 1998). The general attitude toward advertising manifests itself not only through political and regulatory activities but also through the exposure of individuals to advertising, the attention they pay to it, their evaluations to specific advertisements, and their responses to those advertisements (Zhou and Zhang 2002). Brackett and Carr (2001), and James and Kover (1992), showed that the overall attitude towards advertisement had significant effect on the involvement with specific advertisements. Involvement refers to the relationship of the consumers to the advertisements encountered. (Greenwald and Leavitt 1984). James and Kover 1992, through their research, suggest that liking a particular advertisement is not enough. Instead, industry should invest efforts to help people like advertising in general. This could make all advertising more effective. The results of James and Kovers (1992) study also suggest that attitude toward advertising has no significant interaction with demographics of age, education and gender. This signifies that advertising should not be segmented on these three demographics; other variables are probably more efficient, especially the degree of involvement with the advertising. James and Kovers (1992) results indicate that attitude toward advertising in general is channel dependent, i.e. the effect of an advertisement presented to an audience depends on the chosen channel of advertising, so it should be studied channel dependently. The reason for this could be the varying extent to which the viewer can exercise control on the advertisements. So, unlike television advertising in which a commercial runs for a given time, control of time looking at print lies with the reader (James and Kover, 1992). This can be attributed to the result that consumers show more negative attitude toward television advertising compared to print. Calfee and Ringold (1994) analyzed sixty two years of survey data to find the majority view on the perceptions of advertising. The results indicated that on average 70% of consumers think that advertising is often untruthful and that it seeks to persuade people to buy things that they do not necessarily want. However, consumers still tend to find advertising as informative. Shavitt et al. (1998) report that three quarters of the respondents in their study had either positive or neutral perceptions of advertising. Coulter (2001) found similar duality in consumer opinions, with results showing that consumers can, simultaneously, hold positive as well as negative opinions about various aspects of advertising. In his study, Coulter, however, found that information and entertainment are advertisings greatest assets. The discussion above shows that consumer attitudes are, to a large extent, mixed. So, while consumers consider information and enjoyment as important antecedents of advertising, they also consider advertising as not trustworthy. 2.2. Mobile advertising As an extension of the internet environment, the high penetration of mobile phones in recent years has created a good opportunity for mobile advertising (Bauer et al. 2005; Leppà ¤niemi et al. 2006). However, the channel has not been fully embraced by the marketers, despite its cost effectiveness. This chapter will focus on mobile marketing from the consumer viewpoint, in order to study the areas that influence effective mobile advertising. The chapter will begin by defining mobile advertising, followed by discussion of the motivation of consumers behind the use of mobile and the emotional attachment to the device. Next the characteristics of the mobile will be presented, which validate it as a marketing channel, and interactive advertising in mobile phones will be discussed. Furthermore, permission and control in the mobile marketing context will be reviewed to assert the need to provide incentives in mobile marketing. Additionally, academic literature regarding consumer attitude a nd response toward the mobile advertising will be highlighted. 2.2.1. Definition At a very basic level, mobile advertisement is defined as any form of advertisement that is delivered through a mobile as the medium (Mary Mathew 2010). Mobile advertising is one of the most common forms of mobile marketing. Different from traditional advertising, which is non-personal and applicable only via mass media, mobile advertising is more individual and interactive, while informing and persuading the customer (Chowdhury, et al. 2006). Mobile advertising can, thus, be defined as the usage of interactive wireless media (such as mobile phones and pagers, [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] GPS-based locators and maps) to transmit advertising messages to consumers in the form of time and location sensitive, personalized information with the overall goal to promote goods and services (Haghirian and Madlberger 2005). The high penetration rate of mobile devices among consumers has provided an opportunity for companies to utilize this means to convey advertising messages to consumers. Recently, there has been an increase in mobile marketing campaigns. Since each mobile device is used by an individual, it provides a suitable platform for delivering individual-based target marketing (Barnes and Scornavacca 2004). Therefore, mobile marketing could be the leading application of mobile commerce (Yuan and Zhang 2003). Among mobile marketing applications, the most popular format is SMS (Okazaki 2005). However, due to rise in smartphones, internet has been reinvented on the mobile devices, which as led to new forms of interactive advertising being discovered, as the internet advertising models get migrated from PCs to mobile devices. This has given rise to a broader range to mobile advertising in the form of in-search advertising to in-application placements (Laszlo 2009). However, to date these methods have not been significant (Idean 2009). 2.2.2. Consumer perception of a mobile The way consumers use their mobile phones influences how mobile advertising is perceived (Salo and Tà ¤htinen 2005). Additionally, results of Jun and Lees (2007) research indicate that consumer perception of mobile influences consumer attitudes toward mobile advertising. Understanding the motivations behind consumers use of mobile phones is, therefore, an important factor for determining the success of mobile advertising. The results of the uses and gratifications model of Leung and Wei (2000) showed that the consumers use mobile for seven distinct purposes: To look fashionable To provide affection, sociability and caring for others To relax and pass time To provide mobility and avoid queuing To provide immediate access regardless of time and location To carry out business transactions To provide security and safety in case of emergency The research stressed that as wireless technology becomes ubiquitous, there will be more freedom for consumers, in the form of mobility and immediate access anywhere, which will greatly facilitate the life of the consumers today. 2.2.3. Emotional attachment of consumers to mobile devices With the emergence of smartphones, mobile phones have now evolved into functionally sophisticated, ubiquitous and socially embedded devices. As a result, consumers now consider them indispensable and, as such, are becomingly increasingly emotionally attached (Wehmeyer 2007). Mobile phones have become mediators of expression, experience and communication of feelings and emotions. Users feel increasingly attached to their phones. This may partially be due to inherent emotional character of human communication, and may also be because mobile phones stay closer to the body. For many consumers, mobiles are an extension of themselves to the extent that removal of the device is likened to the loss of a limb (Hulme 2003). Emotional attachment is enacted in the personalization of the mobile devices. Mobile phones are not only an extension of the users own presence, but they also allow the virtual presence of those connected to the user by phone or wireless communication. As the social networking websites, like Facebook, have become increasingly popular and are now available as applications on the smartphones, the phones have become an important element in the building and maintaining of groups and communities. Users are able to act spontaneously and emotionally, whether it is spur-of-the-moment meetings, emotive text messaging or status updating on Facebook, and these attributes, in tandem with the always on facility, are crucial to the creation of emotional attachment (Kolsaker and Drakatos 2009). As such, Kolsaker and Drakatos identify four components of emotional attachment to mobile devices: the ability to strongly personalize the device, the ability to keep in touch with family and friends when on the move, the ability to manage ones private and emotional life, and the idea of feeling part of the modern world. For this study, only the first two components are used for measuring the emotional attachment, as they are considered to be most influencing, as they are cited in most research studies on emotional attachment to mobile devices. 2.2.4. Mobile phone as a marketing channel Mobile phone marketing is where internet advertising was in 1996, and now its about to really take off [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] There are already more mobile phones in use worldwide than televisions and computers put together (Nylund 2009). The mobile phone offers possibilities for a very unique consumer experience, when compared to the traditional advertising channels. Sultan and Rohm (2005) divide marketing approaches along two dimensions: 1) the degree of interactivity possible on the advertising channel and 2) the degree of location based advertising possible on the channel. According to Sultan and Rohm (2005), the mobile channel provides high interactivity as high possibility of location based advertising (figure 2.). Figure 2. A Comparison of Marketing Communication approaches (Sultan and Rohm 2005) Internet and telecommunication services are constantly evolving in order to fulfill customer satisfaction. Enriching these services with innovative approaches such as context-aware, interactive, adaptable and mobile mechanisms enables users to experience a variety of personalized services seamlessly across different platforms and technologies. Rafaelis research showed that interactivity with advertisements often leads to positive attitudes toward the advertisement (Gao, et al. 2010). Moreover, Macias (2003) results indicate that interactivity leads to better understanding of the advertisement message by the user. This suggests that advertising should become more interactive. The mobile phone offers a bi-directional and individual connection to the consumer, which makes it a highly interactive marketing channel (Park, et al. 2008). 2.2.5. Mobile interactive advertising Mobile interactive advertising is defined as advertising or marketing messages delivered to portable devices, either via a synchronized download or wirelessly over the air (Laszlo 2

Psychological Effect Of Technology (Technophobia) :: Internet Technology Cyberspace

Psychological Effect Of Technology (Technophobia) Technology is taking over all aspects of life. Education, work and leisure are all becoming increasingly dependent on being able to interact with technology. But what of the academic or career prospects of those who do not want to interact with this technology? Before taking this class, I tried to avoid computers as much as possible. I didnt have any interest in cyberspace such as chatting, email, and gender swapping. Through this class, I had a chance to contact others through cyberspace. However, I still have a fear of computers. I decided that I want to know more about computers and cyberspace. I will first discuss cyberspace, then I will discuss about technophobia. Its well known that people say and do things in cyberspace that they wouldnt ordinarily say or do in the face-to-face world. The virtual world is quite different from the real world. People cant see a person in cyberspace. People cant see a persons facial expressions and body language. The sensory experience of encountering others in cyberspace-seeing, hearing, and combining seeing and hearing is limited. For the most part, people communicate through typed language. In cyberspace, people will probably never be able to physically interact with each other. There are no handshakes, pats on the back, hugs, or kisses. The limited sensory experiences of cyberspace have some significant disadvantages- as well as some unique advantages - as compared to in-person encounters. Since communicating only with typed text, people have the option of being themselves, expressing only parts of their identity, assuming imaginative identities, or remaining completely anonymous. Anonymity has a disinhibiting effect that cuts two ways. Sometimes people use it to act out some unpleasant need or emotion, often by abusing other people. Anonymity also allows them to be honest and open about some personal issue that they could not discuss in a face-to-face encounter. Sitting quiet and staring at the computer monitor can bring a person to an altered state of consciousness. Some people experience a blending of their mind with that of the other person. Some people experience a state of consciousness that resembles dreams. These altered and dream-like states of consciousness in cyberspace may account for why the Internet is so attractive for some people. It might also help explain some forms of computer and cyberspace addiction. In cyberspace, birds of a feather easily can flock together.

Polite Society Gone with the Wind in A Good Man is Hard to Find :: A Good Man is Hard to Find

Polite Society Gone with the Wind in A Good Man is Hard to Find A Good Man is Hard to Find is consistent with Mary Flannery O'Connor's view that contemporary society was drastically changing for the worse. O'Connor's obvious displeasure with society at the time has often been attributed to her Catholic religion, her studies in the social science field, and the fact that the celebrated lifestyles of the elite southern whites were "Gone with the Wind." Evidence of society's "demise" is woven into the story, and presented through an interesting generation gap. The grandmother is representative of godliness and Christianity which O'Connor apparently believed to be more prevalent in the "glamorous" Old South: The old woman settled herself comfortably, removing her white cotton gloves and putting them up with her purse on the shelf in front of the back window. The children's mother still had on slacks and still had her head tied up in a green kerchief but the grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collar and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace, and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once she was a lady. (2148) The parents pay little attention to the grandmother and when they do, they are often quite rude. The unruly children are representative of the breakdown of respect, and discipline, and are consequently a forecast of future generations. The Misfit represents evil. At one point the Misfit likens himself to Christ, in that they both were punished for crimes they did not commit. Christ accepted death for the sins of all people, however, and not only did the Misfit not do that, but he also killed other innocent people. Near the end of the ordeal, the grandmother recognizes the shirt the Misfit has put on as her son's shirt.

Phantom Limbs, Phantom Pain, And The Essay -- Biology Essays Research

Phantom Limbs, Phantom Pain, And The "I-Function" The so-called "I-function" which describes the brain's sense of self takes on interesting connotations when discussing phantom limbs and associated phantom pain. The loss of an arm or leg through amputation is not an easy experience to endure, and is even more difficult when the patient begins to feel sensations in their now missing limb. These feelings, sometimes referred to as "stump hallucination", is the subjective sensation, not arising from an external stimulus, that an amputated limb is still present (1). Although they no longer exist, patients perceive these limbs as still being essential components of their body-image, and continues to move in sync with their torso and other limbs. For some amputees, these phantom sensations may be no more than painless distractions of pressure, warmth, and cold that do not interfere with their everyday lives. But for the majority of amputees, about 50% to 80% (2), they experience phantom pains that vary in classification from cramping, burning, tingling, shocking, shooting and stabbing pains. These episodes are severe enough to interfere with work, sleep and normal function and do require some kind of treatment. Phantom pain can occur anytime, from immediately after an amputation to several years later. The powerful impression of a stable, embodied self is taken for granted. But it's an perception that's possible only because of the body image created by the brain. A significant element of that image is a mental map of the body surface, generated by the cortex using the sensory signals it receives from the skin. Other regions of the cortex control other components, such as the position of muscles and joints (proprioception),... ... http://www.bfe.org/protocol/pro05eng.htm 3)THEY DO IT WITH MIRRORS , From New Scientist http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/brynmawr_main?http_rc=400&class=session&sev=temp&type=session&cause=http%3A%2F%2Fweb1.infotrac.galegroup.com%2Fitw%2Finfomark%2F805%2F448%2F25790840w3%2Fpurl%3Drc1_EAIM_0_A63676311%26dyn%3D4!ar_fmt%3Fsw_aep%3Dbrynmawr_main&cont=&msg=No+Session+cookies&sserv=no 4) Harris, J. A. "Cortical Origin of Pathological Pain." in Lancet, vol. 354 (pg. 1464-1466) 1999 5)Scientific American, Ronald Melzack article http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web1/= 6)Discover Phantom limbs , Brief Article http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/is_n2_v19/ai_20159526 7) Ramachandran, V.S. & Rogers-Ramachandran, D. "Phantom Limbs and Neural Plasticity." in Archives of Neurology. Vol. 57 (pg. 317-320), 2000, Ramachandran article