The Growth Of The Internet - 1911 Words

environment and include a brief comparison of different approaches. With the growth of the internet comes a great deal of electronic commerce, neatly and commonly referred to as E-Commerce. This concept is a fast growing industry that allows its participants to buy or sell products and services to each other using electronic devices via the Internet. With this increasingly huge industry comes a danger of security among its users. It is quite a concern to the general public that they may have their personal and financial information leaked through the internet from security threats. To counteract these threats, we must not overlook a few fundamental elements of transaction security, typically generalized as: - confidentiality - integrity - authentication - availability - non-repudiation - authorization Confidentiality is an element defined by the protection of a user’s information from other parties than the recipient. Integrity enables the recipient to ensure that the information provided to them by any sender is correct and accurate. This element is usually confused with confidentiality because it is often involved in the same technologies as confidentiality. Authentication is the confirmation of a user, typically to ensure that they or their data is authentic, i.e. safe. Availability, usually associated with online stores, ensure that certain information – or in the case of online stores; that products or services – are ready and in stock before a transaction takesShow MoreRelatedThe Growth Of The Internet1874 Words   |  8 Pageswe teach our children, communicate and interact as individuals.† (Gerstner L., 1996). The growth of the internet has changed the way that consumers buy and the way that brands and consumer will communicate with one another as a consequence of this. The growth of the internet has had a serious impact within the market industry and each business will need to take this into account. As a result of the growth the communication models have been restructured to keep up-to-date with the consumer’s wantsRead MoreThe Growth Of The Internet Essay2269 Words   |  10 Pagesbeen given the opportunities to use the Internet more frequently and more conveniently. According to Internet Live Stats, around forty percent of the world population are Internet users. In other words, about 3.5 billion individuals, more than double the population of the world’s most populous country China, can get access to the Internet at home by any devices with varied types and connections. There are many reasons leading to the rapid growth of the Internet, but one of the biggest reasons is theRead MoreThe Growth Of The Internet1030 Words   |  5 Pages Introduction The growth of the internet has had a positive effect on various aspects of human activities ranging from professional life to social life. More people are having access to the internet with time and the products and services offered through the internet are increasing. Online streaming is one of the services that have experienced a surge because of improved quality and access to the internet. Online video streaming from paid or free online channels are very popularRead MoreThe Growth Of The Internet2368 Words   |  10 Pagespurpose of this essay is to discuss how the growth of the internet is altering the relationship between consumers and brands and also the opportunities that are now available to retail marketers. Key points that will be focussed on in this essay are; the characteristics of the internet and their implications, communication models available to marketers, the market environment online and the overall impact the internet has on consumer behaviour. The internet is available for use 24/7 worldwide and onRead MoreEssay On The Growth Of The Internet1378 Words   |  6 PagesDue to the immense progress in growth of the internet, massive quantities of data are constantly produced. This exponential increase is correlated with the arrival of modern technology in various sectors such as healthcare, banking and finance, engineering, and energy. There is a noticeable surge in volume of information being shared on platforms such as Google, Twitter and Stack Overflow. Given the tremendous amount of data, it is essential to draw meaningful results from this dataset. The aim ofRead MoreThe Growth Of Internet And Computer Technologies1290 Words   |  6 PagesQ1. The growth of Internet and computer technologies have created new opportunities to better serve the corporations and consumers. Describe 3 new technologies that have changed the ways people communicate or the ways companies conduct their business. ANS: New technologies offer services and products that otherwise would be too difficult, costly, or time-consuming and the Internet allows traditional competitors to introduce new products and services and lure customers away. It helps a lot in costRead MoreDatabase Management System And Growth Of Internet1670 Words   |  7 Pagesand the growth of Internet I. Executive Summary A. Database management system B. Growth of Internet II. Background A. Database 1. History 2. Creation of database 3. Development 4. Today’s market place B. Internet 1. History 2. Growth of Internet 3. Market position 4. Customers C. Situations 1. Cost Structure 2. Development III. Problems A. Causes B. Nature C. Consequences IV. Solution A. Demand B. Innovation V. Conclusion Database Management system and Growth of Internet Case studyRead MoreCloud Computing Is A Part Of Internet Growth1015 Words   |  5 PagesCloud computing is a part of internet growth, it’s the next generation of internet. Cloud computing deliver everything –computing resource, infrastructure, application, and business process to personal collaboration – and can be access as service wherever and whenever through various devices. The cloud itself is a set of hardware, networks, storages, services, and interface that enable to delivery of computing as services based on user demand. (Hurwitz, J, 2009) From the various definition of cloudRead MoreThe Growth Of Internet Coupled With The Rise Of Multimedia Piracy1566 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract. The growth of internet coupled with the rise in networked infrastructure has resulted in exponential increase in the multimedia content being shared over the communication networks. The advancement in technology has resulted in increase in multimedia piracy. This is due to the fact that it is very easy to copy, duplicate and distributes multimedia content using current day technology. In such a scenario Digital Rights Management is one of the prominent issues to be dealt with and tremendousRead MoreThe Impact Of Internet On The Field Of Plant Growth And Agriculture1955 Words   |  8 Pagestechnology and data, these resources can be better utilized. Data and data analysis will allow these systems to be optimized to produce more and waste less. The goal of this project is to use data and apply it to the field of plant growth and agricult ure. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a data driven technology that seeks to integrate and connect everyday devices and sensors. This data infrastructure can be used for a variety of applications such as home automation, industrial manufacturing, healthcare

My Ethical Dilemma Of A Loan Officer Should Offer A Family...

To begin, my ethical dilemma deals with the notion of whether a loan officer should offer a family/individual a mortgage for a home or not even though they are on the borderline criteria and possibility of default based on known circumstances such as low income or even a credit score that is a few points lower than the required score to obtain a loan. This whole idea correlates to the mortgage crisis of 2007 when the growth of housing prices stalled and demand slowed. As a result, lenders accepted loans when they knew that a high degree of risk and insolvency was probable. Eventually, banks became bankrupt and the government established stimulus programs aimed at reducing the problem. Unfortunately, this did more harm than anything as†¦show more content†¦For an employee to be aware in this situation, a good concept to note would be how other loans similar to the one they are offering have performed in the past. The officer could analyze each one and determine the right path they might have chosen based on the criteria. As a result, they have more knowledge of what may and what may not happen. The officers have to be morally aware of the consequences even though they want to help these people out and provide them with a possible good future. Another way the employees can be morally aware in this position is to know the client from top to bottom. This means that they should have extensive knowledge about the client primarily in terms of finances, but other attributes as well such as their character. For instance, if they have had a loan in the past, have they paid the loan back or not along with say what their income is. Correspondingly, the loan officer needs to be mindful of the financial stability of the bank along with current government regulations. For the bank to help the employees, they could give out monthly reports on the bank’s finances. However though, the officers in most banks are recommended to stay up to date on government regulat ions, but a word document/pdf of all the regulations would be a

Report on Visitor Attractions in UK

Questions: Explanation of the challenge 1. Have you explained what the unique selling proposition is? Have you included aspects that relate to demand and competition? Discussion of the Guinness Storehouse 2. Have you explained in what way the visitor experience at the Guinness Storehouse is unique? Have you identified any aspects that may not be unique? Have you identified aspects that add to the visitor experience off site? Have you explained and discussed (not just described) the experience? Support through relevant literature 3. Have you used relevant sources (e.g. journal articles, books etc.) to back up your arguments? Have you used a range of reliable sources? Have you used appropriate citations? Presentation 4. Have you formatted the essay according to the guidelines given? Is the answer well written? Does it follow a clear structure? Have you included your reference list? Have you correctly applied Cite Them Right for your citations and reference list? Answers: 1. All businesses these days need to have a certain Wow factor, which is its USP, in order to be successful. (Burkart, 2014). In todays highly competitive, globalised markets, it is often not enough to just have a good product to make the business a success.(Burkart, 2014) Organizations need to pay greater heed to adding something extra, which not only distinguishes the product from others, but also add to consumers delight in order for them to buy the product. Burkart (2014) believes that taking care of small yet important things can help in this. She adds that some of the activities businesses can employ in order to develop an USP can be; giving something extra to the customers, taking care of the little details, offering a demonstration or trial for your services, eliminate the risks and back your product thoroughly as well as remembering your customers. (Burkart, 2014). During the course of this essay, we will examine the Guinness Storehouse at Dublin (Ireland) and whether it has managed to develop that wow factor. Guinness Storehouse is located in Dublin and is a major part of Irish heritage. (Frochot and Bachat, 2014) 2. The Guinness storehouse has seven stories of space in the center of Dublin. (Frochot and Bachat, 2014). Apart from its high quality products, it invites its guests for various value added services such as smelling the different ingredients that go into making the beer, they are also invited to touch the barley and feel it.(Frochot and Bachat, 2014) The store also provides the customers a brief history of the brewery culture in Ireland, and the top floor provides them with a chance to capture the beautiful view of Dublin. (Frochot and Bachat, 2014). Additionally, guests can sample the different variety of beers Guinness offers. (Frochot and Bachat, 2014). Also, visitors can figure out how to pour the ideal pint at the Guinness Storehouse.(Dienst, 2012). The experience of the storehouse is one of a kind. It starts off with the worlds largest pint of brewed beer, which runs across the seven storied building. (Guinness, n.d.) The experience is enhanced with the splendid gift shop whic h offers one of a kind treats and memorabilia for the customers to purchase. (Guinness, n.d.). The Gravity Bar on the top floor of the store gives its customers a panoramic view of the city of Dublin, where they can enjoy their favourite Guinness Beer. (Guinness, n.d.). The view of the entire city is certainly one of the highlights of a customers experience at the store. The Arthurs Bar on the fifth floor serves amazing snacks and condiments along with the stores flagship Guinness Beer and offers a view of the St. Jamess Gate Brewery which brews the famous Guinness Beer. (Guinness, n.d.). Adding to customer delight is an innovative certificate which Guinness issues to its customers who complete the perfect pint pourer(Frochot and Bachat, 2014: 95). Guinness, with its innovations like the largest pint of beer in the world, the Gravity Bar on the top floor and customers getting a real feel of the brewery industry certainly adds to the customers happiness index during a visit to its st orehouse in Dublin. Add to that an entire floor dedicated to alcohol prevention(Frochot and Bachat, 2014: 96) and the customers get a fair idea of the risks involved with drinking. This further improves the image of Guinness as a company with excellent social values and regard to the safety and well being of its customers. 3. The Guinness Storehouse is a wonderful experience to be a part of. It is one of the most famous tourist destinations and attractions in Ireland. It has certainly created its own Unique Selling Proposition and developed a wow factor to its store. Overall, one would have to say that Guinness, through its storehouse has concentrated on its niche product the beer, and transformed it into something much more than a pint of beer at the store. The overall experience, which includes many unforgettable ones, is part of folklore today. One would imagine that even one or two of the attractions at the storehouse would make a customer feel very delighted. However, Guinness surpasses consumer expectation and enters into consumer surplus, which is rarely found in organizations these days. 4. If we take Burkart (2014) notions on what contributes toward creating a wow factor, we can closely associate it with the Guinness Storehouse. It has paid attention to detail, offered extra incentives for customers to keep coming back and even offers free trials of its beer. However, it can look to introduce a customer loyalty program, whereby repeat customers or customers who bring their friends with them are entitled to some form of discount or extra value added services. References: Burkart, K. (2014) Give your business the wow factor , 27 February, [Online], Available: https://missouribusiness.net/article/wow-factor/ [09 January 2015]. Dienst, J.N. (2012) Ireland: Where Timeless Meets on Time , December, [Online], Available: https://www.pcma.org/convene-content/convene-article/2012/12/18/ireland-where-timeless-meets-on-time#.VK9333upevc [09 January 2015]. Frochot and Bachat (2014) 'The Guinness Storehouse - an experience involving all senses' Marketing and designing the tourist experience', Woodeaton: Goodfellow,., pp. 95-96. Guinness Inside the storehouse, [Online], Available: https://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/Inside.aspx [09 January 2015]. Question: Abstract 1. Does your abstract summarise your assignment? Does it include your findings? Is it of appropriate length? Changing tourism demand 2. Have you explained how tourism demand has changed? Have you discussed relevant mega-trends? Have you considered quantitative and qualitative aspects of demand? Have you provided relevant statistics? Have you explained the opportunities and challenges that have resulted from the change in tourism demand? Have you ensured that the changes in tourism demand as well as the opportunities and challenges are relevant for your sub-sector? Addressing changing demand 3. Have you focused your discussion on the opportunities and challenges that you have identified before? Have you considered several aspects of the visitor experience? Have you provided clear solutions to the opportunities and challenges you have identified? Have you presented aspects and measures that are already in place (these could be supported by the examples) as well as your own recommendations? Have you included different management functions, e.g. marketing, product development, support services etc.? Answers: Abstract: 1. Visitor attractions assume a urgent part in the achievement of a tourism terminus, where they go about as key sparks for visits and as assets for nearby groups. The scope of stakeholders included means their powerful administration is of key criticalness in the end and in the general accomplishment of a nation's tourism item, yet they are an under-scrutinized segment of the tourism framework. The paper looks at the importance and challenges in Visitor Attraction in UK, as well as outlines some effective ways to manage the challenges. Introduction: The UK Government's approach incorporates amplifying tourism's commitment to the economy (Blake Cortes-Jimnez, 2007). To do this, marketing of the UK abroad and of domestic attractions inside the UK are an critical strand of UK tourism arrangement, and additionally supply-side strategies, for example, enhancing aptitudes and administration quality. These approaches are hard to execute on the other hand, without learning of how changes in the drivers of tourism demand will influence the quantities of tourism outings and estimation of tourism consumption, both for inbound and domestic tourism. This report plans to support these arrangements by giving assessments of the degree to which the drivers of both inbound and domestic tourism demand influence demand levels. In 2006, consumption by domestic visitors in the UK was 21 million, while use made by inbound travellers was 16 billion. In 2006 the UK positioned sixth in the global tourism profit UNWTO characterization behind the USA, Spa in, France, Italy and China. The main five abroad markets for the UK in 2006 were the United States, France, Germany, Irish Republic and Spain. This report will contemplate these five particular nations and additionally Italy and the Netherlands. Similitude's and contrasts crosswise over nations will be recognized and examined in the present report. The tourism division is portrayed by nonstop change. Tourism ends are liable to solid rivalry, especially from developing objectives and through costs and the accessibility of low cost air transport. The investigation of the drivers of the inbound and domestic tourism demand, paying extraordinary consideration regarding the diverse purposes of visit, can give a valuable instrument to the government in request to detail proper strategy choices or suggestions. This report distinguishes the key drivers of tourism demand in the UK for diverse markets (nationalities and purposes of visit). By assessing versatilities of demand for these driver s, the report gives valuable data that can be utilized to evaluate the effect that progressions in costs and trade rates have on inbound and domestic tourism in the UK. The model created gives the Department to Culture, Media and Sport with condition of-the-workmanship instruments for aiding its choice making methodology.(Blake Cortes-Jimnez, 2007) 2. Importance of Visitor Attractions: The monetary commitment of retail is felt through immediate purchaser use and through neighborhood vocation and personal satisfaction as a consequence of expanding openings for work, and the backhanded local speculation that is produced through the production network and then instigated job opportunities through more noteworthy internal venture from logistics, money and friendliness businesses. Exploration proposes that voyagers 'use give or take one-third of their aggregate tourism consumptions on retail buys'. Look into additionally distinguished clear connections in the middle of age and sex and shopping action, which impacts the sorts of shops that gatherings will visit, with a customary family bunch prone to visit most shops on the grounds that their blended retail typologies implies they all have diverse hobbies. A wide advance can be accomplished, along these lines, through a blended retail offer, as is frequently seen in branded shopping outlets. In urban areas the outline of shopping plazas has been an alternate center of examination, examining the relationship in the middle of construction modelling and consumerism. Most present day shopping offices incorporate in their outline catering spaces, tyke mind zones, routinely procurement occasions and stimulation offices including films and bars, making a micro-end inside the terminus. This is obviously to be praised in the connection of the additional guest numbers produced thus, however regularly the organizations that populate these microcosms of trade are obliged to pay an impressively higher rent than neighbourhood business may have the capacity to manage, and such an area may not be the privilege position for conventional retailers. Since large portions of these focuses are loaded with homologous high-road retailers, which is not by any methods a feedback, the "neighbourhood" item stays in its customary area on the high road. It is pivotal then to arrange how to sway poten tial guests to the conventional retail zones to leave the shopping plazas to investigate these territories and to buy products. This can be attained to through limited time action, social occasions and different exercises that raise the profile of conventional shopping regions. At that point there are the littler towns. These shopping centres put an enormous weight on customary strip malls and business towns, conceivably pulling purchasers far from these conventional retail situations, with the guarantee of simple stopping, simple access, long opening hours and haven from nasty climate. The danger here is really two-fold. The first issue is the risk from the planner shopping environment, which has been examined, and alternate originates from the effect of out-of town retail stops which have supplanted the conventional butcher, cook and merchant of the customary market town. In this circumstance it is considerably more essential to expand upon neighbourhood personality and items, and to consider the more extensive shopping environment. The business town needs to contend, not simply on the retail offer, however on the nature of the experience of the customer. 3. Challenges: The UK has, as of late, seen a fast increment in the quantity of guest attractions of different types. Some of this development has been fuelled by National Lottery subsidizing, and various these new attractions have been decently advertised disappointments.(Swarbrooke, 2001) Besides, tragically this increment in supply has not been matched by business development. This has put weight on existing attractions and also making it troublesome for new venues to break into the business sector. It could be contended that the UK attractions market has never been so focused. In the meantime, the client is more experienced, proficient and demanding than any other time in the recent past. These variables give the connection in which today's UK fascination supervisor meets expectations.(Swarbrooke, 2001) Waves of financial trouble have cleared crosswise over numerous parts of the world in the previous year, moving from the 'credit crunch', climbing swelling, falling house costs and, in harvest time 2008, worldwide currency markets pounding to a stop and coin markets demonstrating extreme instability. (British Tourism, n.d) Deloitte was asked to audit their tourism commitment gauges in light of this. These demonstrated a prompt effect on vocation figures in the tourism business, prompting 114,000 less occupations in 2010. Indeed the demonstrating for this expected a dollar/sterling rate of 1.8, which is liable to be excessively hopeful of the conceivable effect. Having now possibly crested, expansion has determined up expenses for vacationers, yet similarly vitally for tourism organizations. The "bushel" of merchandise and administrations bought by tourism organizations does not reflect the 'buyer value record' wicker container for some organizations vitality expenses make up a criti cal piece of consumption, and for tourism organizations giving nourishment and beverage, the expense of these products has climbed significantly more pointedly than the run of the mill family crate whereupon feature expansion figures are based. This implies that organizations confront a twofold test; possibly debilitating purchaser demand (with an ever more prominent yearning for quality for cash) joined with an expanding expense base. For tourism organizations to get by throughout the following year or two it will be crucial for a tight cover to be continued costs that are charged and subsequently costs; any expenses considered expendable will be reduced, and we confront a hazard that numerous will see quality accreditation plan instalments (or actually marketing use) as just pleasant to have in times of bounty, however unimportant when difficulties are out of control. (British Tourism, n.d) A division effectively feeling the squeeze is the carrier business. Around three-dozen aerial shuttles crumpled far and wide in 2008, and most investigators suspect that, in spite of the declining cost of oil, more are situated to take after. Business tourism is a vital component of demand for tourism, with "genuine" inbound business using up 109% since 1979, looked at with development of just 18% in inbound occasion use. (British Tourism, n.d) Nonetheless, we hazard seeing a time of withdrawal, particularly inside the monetary and business administrations area; this right now takes the type of volume holding up and organizations discovering approaches to trim expenses, in any case, if subsidence is certain, the volume of business tourism will conceivably decrease for sure, inn inhabitancy in London amid September 2008 was strongly down on a year prior. London remains an overwhelming worldwide city for 'working together', yet this position is under danger from the current financial downturn as well as from the development of new business centres in spots, for example, Dubai, Shanghai and Mumbai. After a time of supported development for the volume and estimation of inbound tourism for Britain, we are currently entering a spell of far weaker development and, conceivably, withdrawn.(British Tourism, n.d) England is moving from a time of high open interest in objectives and the associations that help and oversee them, to an additionally difficult budgetary environment. The landscape for tourism backing is additionally changing, as will the part of the private area in setting needs which will get to be more noticeable. It is currently much more essential that information and understanding about end of the line administration is imparted and made generally accessible. End administration will be significant in the accomplishment of the development focuses of the Strategic Framework for English Tourism. The related Action Plans highlight various regions in which ends of the line have a key part to play however these arrangements may not concentrate on more extensive chances to accomplish development that different segments of the neighbourhood economy can give. For instance, confirmation proposes that the evening time economy is a region that numerous urban objectives can underwrite upon. Given the differing qualities of the goals inside England, and the scope of associations included in their administration, it is not suitable to recommend that there is stand out, ideal method for dealing with a region. Every terminus has its own particular special set of issues, and arrangements need to be customized to these conditions. Reinforcing the information, capacity and aptitudes of the individuals who deal with these spots will help associations react to the novel difficulties they confront. Goal administration is not exclusively about marketing. The assignment incorporates creating the item, keeping up and improving the experience and giving a typical vision to open, private and nearby power accomplices to work towards. Goal administration does not happen by a solitary association being altogether control of the entirety. Successful goal administration truly does mean cooperation and organizations. Making viable connections between Local Enterprise Partnerships, Local Authorities and tourism organizations will be discriminating in giving key authority in creating nearby guest economies. Building and supporting those connections obliges the privilege individuals, with information and understanding of the guest economy, and with the validity to represent the organizations in the part. 4. Effective management of Visitor Attractions: Concur a typical understanding of end administration among current driving professionals and associations who champion tourism administration. This is the premise of the promotion, capability and model practice that takes after. Put forth the defence for why end administration is essential both at a nearby level in making better ends of the line and at a national level in understanding the government's development focuses for the business. Secure and concur the parts of great end of the line administration. This will incorporate a philosophy which permits goals to: 1) Assess their situating of the guest economy inside the terminus' key setting 2) Measure their execution; and, 3) Demonstrate their effect. Secure a gathering of model goals focused around concurred situating and execution criteria. This gathering will: Own the terminus administration activity plan for its three year length of time; and, Help convey the usage of activities. This gathering will be a piece of the Destination Management Forum (either the fundamental gathering or a sub bunch). Distribute a rundown of Destination Management Organizations that are working towards attaining to all segments of the execution and situating lattice. Expand on existing systems and occasions (for the individuals who are occupied with terminus administration in its broadest setting) keeping in mind the end goal to encourage an enhanced understanding and selection of the DM execution lattice. Exploration existing assets for the administration of spots and ends of the line to: Recognize the scope of materials accessible and distinguish holes. Cases of materials could incorporate the settled Destination Management Handbook, Mosaic Place Making Toolkit or Living Places. Recognize careful investigations and illustrations to help enhance the methodology of goal administration, e.g. the most effective method to create an end of the line administration plan. Create an entryway that will empower key assets to be sourced by those with a part in overseeing ends of the line. The gateway will have two key topics individuals and spot: The "Individuals" segment will have the extensive variety of materials that backing the advancement of skills and abilities in the field of goal administration to underpin understanding at a neighbourhood level (e.g. the post graduate capabilities from TMI). The "Spot" area will be a stage that permits the offering of data and assets around goal administration (i.e. not only for the single person). This will incorporate briefings on regions for development potential that objectives can consider, e.g. the evening time economy and/ or Purple Flag. This will be an open hotspot for anybody to get to, change and help towards. Overseen in conjunction with key accomplices this asset will work as a Destination Management Wiki. Offer the lessons from the move pathfinder program. This project is intended to encourage the imparting of encounters amid the advancing landscapes for administration of the guest economy at a neighbourhood level Conclusions: There was proceeded with shakiness in the UK economy in 2012, with Gross Domestic Product in decay for 75% of 2012, and the Olympics additionally having an unsettling impact for a few attractions. The climate was portrayed by a genuinely warm, dry Spring took after by one of the wettest summers on record, with above normal precipitation proceeding for whatever is left of the year. Generally speaking there was a -1% yearly decrease altogether visits to attractions in 2012. Divisions with high quantities of open air attractions and paid attractions discovered 2012 especially difficult, however just two parts (historical centers displays and working environments) had the capacity resist this pattern and develop guest numbers. Free locales fared much better than paid, developing guest numbers by +2% versus a decrease of -3%. The biggest attractions (with 200,000 guests) likewise figured out how to build affirmations (by +1%), helped by development of the abroad market. Grown-up section charges to paid attractions expanded by +4% in 2012, with kid charges expanding by +3%. This served to balance the effect of a drop in guest numbers, empowering locales to become terrible income by +1% generally speaking. Notwithstanding, the income increment was determined by simply a quarter of attractions, and there were more destinations reporting a decline (36%) than an expand (27%) in income in 2012. In the course of recent years, the extent of attractions making extra marketing speculations has been in steady decay. There are currently almost the same number of attractions diminishing their marketing use as there are expanding. References: Blake Cortes-Jimnez (2007) 'The Drivers of Tourism Demand in the UK', Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute, December. British Tourism (n.d) 'Achieving the Full Potential of the visitor Economy', British Tourism. Burkart, K. (2014) Give your business the wow factor , 27 February, [Online], Available: https://missouribusiness.net/article/wow-factor/ [09 January 2015]. Dienst, J.N. (2012) Ireland: Where Timeless Meets on Time , December, [Online], Available: https://www.pcma.org/convene-content/convene-article/2012/12/18/ireland-where-timeless-meets-on-time#.VK9333upevc [09 January 2015]. Frochot and Bachat (2014) 'The Guinness Storehouse - an experience involving all senses' Marketing and designing the tourist experience', Woodeaton: Goodfellow,., pp. 95-96. Guinness Inside the storehouse, [Online], Available: https://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/Inside.aspx [09 January 2015]. Swarbrooke, J. (2001) 'Key challenges for visitor attraction managers in the UK', ournal of Retail Leisure Property , pp. 318336.

Saving Water and Methods of Its Protection

Abstract Every form of life depends on water for existence. Water is also critical for most industrial processes. However, misuse and pollution of water are making it a very scarce commodity although most of the world population does not realize this. This paper describes water scarcity, factors behind the scarcity and the possible methods of protecting and conserving it.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Saving Water and Methods of Its Protection specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At an industrial level, a good water management plan (WMP) is mandatory. Apart from saving water, the good WMP benefits the industry in various other ways. These are described in the paper. It also considers various methods of saving water at home and the possibility of forced water conservation in cases where consumers are ignorant. Introduction What is water? How and why do we need to conserve it? These are very important questi ons when considering sustainability of life in the future. Most people especially in the developed world do not realize that sustainability of life in the future is at stake if measures to conserve water are not implemented. This is because through out their lives, these people have had readily available fresh water (Cheng, 2010). Their taps and showers never run out of water, the water closets always flush and even when they need ice, the refrigerator has more than enough. The only people who realize that water is scarce are those from arid and semiarid regions where getting a cup of clean drinking water counts as one of their greatest challenge. In the developing countries of Africa and the Middle East, women from some places walk for six kilometers a day just to fetch water. Even in their cities, water crisis is not a new thing. This has not been felt in the developed countries because of the well-established infrastructure, which is absent in the developing countries. Due to thi s, the issue of water scarcity is assumed to only affect the developing countries. However, this is not the case and Live Earth CEO has warned that in 20-25 years time, there will be a disaster in developed countries (Mueller, 2010). There is therefore a dire need to protect and conserve water in our daily domestic and industrial activities. Water scarcity Water is a unique compound. It exists naturally in three physical states namely: solid, liquid and gas unlike many other compounds.It is vital for sustenance of life; it transports nutrients and oxygen to cells, normalizes body temperature, regulates Earth’s temperature, removes wastes, protects tissue, and many other functions (â€Å"importance of water,† n.d.).Advertising Looking for research paper on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Without water, standard animals would only survive for a few days.At an industrial level, all manufacturi ng and processing companies require water somewhere along their production lines.Water is therefore important not only for existence of life, but also for economic activities.It needs to be protected and conserved. In order to show effectively the importance of conserving water, it is imperative to show the logical reasons for doing so. Since it is a known fact that 80% of the earth’s surface is covered by water, someone may ask how then water can be scarce. To answer this question, water is scarce because only less than 1% of this surface water is fresh water (â€Å"The water cycle,† n.d.). Almost all of our daily needs such as drinking, cooking, irrigation, manufacturing and many others require this fresh water. Apart from the surface water, there is the ground water. This water is also available for use but over the years, the water table has been decreasing day by day. Boreholes dry up and deeper ones need to be drilled. Another problem with availability of water i s water pollution. Although Earth’s processes recycle water, its pollution makes it unavailable for future use. Factory discharges, pesticides and herbicides, sewage waste, detergents and all other chemicals that we use on the surface affects the natural water sources. Pollution is therefore acting as one of the major reasons of scarcity in portable water. Measures to protect and conserve water can be applied at domestic and industrial level. Industrial Water Protection and Conservation Industries should also strive to conserve water. To do this, they need a water management plan (WMP) which is effective. For the water management plan to be effective, it must incorporate both systems and technical approaches (Mohan, 2007). This is because incorporating both systems and technical approaches ensures that water management is sustainable. That is, the plan will effectively manage the water usage at the current state of the company as well as in the future. The change in managemen t priorities or departure of a champion for the plan does not jeopardize the WMP. Therefore, an effective WMP ensures continued improvement in water conservation. All companies that are planning to conserve water must have an effective WMP. Traditional water management systems only incorporated the technical approach and sustainability was a problem. Mohan (2007) describes the characteristics of a good WMP to be leadership, accountability, efficient water usage, minimized pollution, addressing behavioral changes in water usage, driving development of data collection and reporting of water usage, specifying the benefits and costs of the system to the company and driving changes in how the company interacts with suppliers.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Saving Water and Methods of Its Protection specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More By ensuring that the water management plan of the company meets these charact eristics, sustainable water management by the company is achieved. The company also achieves other benefits. It saves costs, aligns water conservation with corporate strategy, good public relation and citation for obtaining subsidies among others. The plan also has the overall effect of minimizing water shortage. Domestic Water Protection and Conservation Measures At home, every individual can contribute at protecting and conserving water. If everybody is made aware of the importance of conserving water, the world’s population may safeguard its future and that of the future generations. One of the areas in which people can save water is through minimizing the quantity of water spent every day. People use water without caring if there will be more tomorrow. They just know that if there is no water, they will complain to the city council and the problem will be solved. This is especially the case if the families can afford the clear the water bills. People misuse the water beca use they can pay for it. They spend too much time in the shower, leave the taps running unnecessarily and excessively water their lawns. These are just a few examples of some of the ways people use excessive water in circumstances that would require less water. By making people aware of the effect their activities have on water availability, some wasted water will be conserved. Apart from conserving water, individuals may also protect water sources from pollution. Use of environmental friendly detergents and other household chemicals will have a positive impact on minimizing the level of water pollution. By minimizing water pollution, the costs involved in treatment and purification of water will be used to implement other infrastructure in water management. Forced Water Conservation Leaving the option of conserving water to individual citizens may not be very effective since some of them may not care much. The authorities involved in provision of water should put in place measures that force the consumers to conserve water. In Los Angeles, the city’s department of water and power has implemented several restrictive measures to cub water wastage. Lawn sprinklers in the region are not permitted between 9.00am and 4.00pm (Welch, 2009). This ensures minimum water loss through evaporation. In addition to this, the sprinklers are only permitted twice a week a week (Welch, 2009). The result of these restrictions is that water consumption by single-family homes decreased by over 23 percent.Advertising Looking for research paper on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To be able to observe these restrictions, Los Angeles residents had to change the type of vegetation they planted on their compounds. They replaced grass that requires a lot of water with low water native plants like rosemary and synthetic grass. These measures by the city council were effective in controlling wastage of water. It is worth noting that the city council determined the most water wasting activities performed by residents of Los Angeles and restricted them. This can also be done in other cities. If residents of Los Angeles, which receives very little rainfall in a year, can save water, residents of other places can save water too Discussion and Conclusion Ensuring water conservation is a challenging task. It has many challenges especially since it mainly depends on people’s perception and willingness to change. To change people’s perception and habits, intensive awareness campaigns are needed and this requires a lot of investment. With few bodies ready to support such campaigns, it is still not possible to reach every individual and change their water usage habits. At the industrial level, investment is also needed to implement WMPs. Most corporate organizations are not willing to make the step especially those focused on only maximizing their profits. These limitations therefore call for forced water conservation by authorities, which is not sometimes possible due to lack of such laws in many places. Water is vital for existence of life. It is also important for economic activities carried out by man. The amount of water available on Earth is not enough to meet all its requirements. Further more, with the current excessive waste of fresh water and pollution, the life of future generations is at stake. If protection and conservation of water is not done, there will be a disaster in the coming few decades. The conservation measures are needed at both domestic and industrial levels. At the domestic level, awareness is needed since most people in developed countries do not realize the importance of conserving water. Forced water conservation is even needed in some cases. At an industrial level, all companies should develop and implement an effective water management plan (WMP) that ensures sustainable water management. A good WMP has far-reaching benefits for the company as well as the society. (1640 words). Reference List Cheng, M. (2010). Teen Ink. Be hydro-smart. 21(6), 25-25. â€Å"Importance of water.† (N.d.). Water is our lifeline that bathes us and feeds us. Fremont watersheds. Web. Mohan, S. (2007). Practical Approach to Water Conservation for Commercial and Industrial Facilities. Amsterdam: Boston Elsevier. Mueller, E. (2010, April). Going the Distance-An Interview with Live Earth CEO Kevin Wall. The water cycle.† (N.d.). Ecosystems. Thinkquest. Web. Welch, W.M. (2009, December 13). L.A. mows down water usage. USA Today. Retrieved from https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-12-22-LA -water_N.htm This research paper on Saving Water and Methods of Its Protection was written and submitted by user Saige Campbell to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Interview with content editor Harrison Demchick Reedsy

Interview with content editor Harrison Demchick Reedsy â€Å"It’s about creating the very best version of your story†: An interview with Harrison Demchick It’s good to see indies and traditional authors brought together on what really unites them: the story, the craft, and offering great content to readers. And editors have a big part in that, one that is often untold. This is why we like to give them a spot on the Reedsy blog.Today, we interview one of these authors’ unsung heroes: a developmental editor. With 10 years experience both in-house and freelance, Harrison Demchick is one of the great editors we have brought to Reedsy, and one of our very first users. Plus, he has a great story to tell! For the lovers of the written word, I’ve transcribed most of it below.  But for those who want to take part in the discussion, you can directly join us on the hangout!Hi Harrison, good to have you here. You’re â€Å"the world’s most thorough content editor†, according to your Reedsy profile. Did you start out as a content editor or more as a copy editor or proofreader?At the time I started, I didnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t know the distinctions yet. When I was in high school and college I was doing copy-editing for several magazines or newspapers but when I started working in publishing, the publisher just gave me a manuscript and told me to â€Å"edit it†, and for me that inherently involved both the copy and the content.From the very first Summer I began in publishing (2005), I’ve been doing content (developmental) editing. It just took some time before I knew the formal term that was ascribed to it.Do you accept to work with authors who come to you with an unfinished draft? Or is there a particular at which you prefer authors to contact you (first draft, third draft, etc.)?Generally I do prefer working with a finished draft, that makes it much easier to provide overall feedback, especially when it comes to story or character arch, climax, etc. But as far as as polished that draft needs to be, I feel I can be very useful anytime from the first draft on. I personally like going through the whole developmental edit process and provide feedback relatively early, if not right after the first draft, so that the author is able to know what they need to do and have a plan of attack for the next draft.If you start working with an author on the first draft, generally how long does it take for you and the author to reach the final manuscript stage?Well that depends a lot on the context and how long I’m staying with a project. When in traditional publishing I was with a project from start to finish and that could be a process that could last anywhere from 6 months to two years, to make sure that the books that we put out were as strong as they possibly could be.On the freelance side it depends a lot on the author and their direction. I love to stick to projects when I can: I start with a developmental edit and do a smaller consultation afterwards. And if I look at when books happen to be published rather than when I’m finished working on them, it stil l often ends up being more than a year after we start.Obviously it really comes down in the end to how quickly and effectively the author works, and what they want from me afterwards.As you have worked both in-house for a publisher and freelance, do you see any big differences in how you work with authors in both cases? The differences, in my opinion, are not necessarily that vast. Well, the big difference for me as far as what I get to do for a living, is that I now get to focus entirely on the editing, and that’s one of the reasons I chose to go freelance. But as far as the authors, I work with both with authors who plan to self-publish and with authors who plan to start contacting publishers after they’re done working with me.And in either the case the goal is the same: it’s to identify what’s working, what’s not working, and how we can make it better and create the very best version of the author’s manuscript.One could make the case that when working with someone pursuing traditional publishing the focus could be more on how to best market it for publishers. And while I’m happy to give feedback on that, for me it doesn’t matter as far as the story itself is as good as it can be. For me it’s all about creating the best possible version, and that’s the same whether it’s for traditional or self-publishing.I definitely like your point there, it should always be about getting the quality of the writing as high as possible. I also think that some books, according to the genre, are actually more suited for self-publishing (because the target market is smaller, maybe). Do you try to advise authors on which publishing route they should take? Or do you adapt the adapt their writing and their story to the route they’ve chosen?I definitely advise, but I don’t recommend, necessarily. Every author has their own approach and my job is to help them achieve their goals. Of course if I see an issue with those goals or something that could make it easier I will let them know that.Self-publishing and traditional publishing both have their pros and cons, and I don’t see genre as one of them, necessarily, one of the distinguishing characteristics. Generally authors who have decided to self-publish or traditionally publish have done so for specific reasons and as long as those are valid I will do my best to advise them and work in that way. Fortunately, my experience is such that I can advise effectively no matter which direction they choose.Do you think a good editor can work with any author out there, or is there one perfect editor for every author?I certainly wouldn’t go that far. I think there are certainly cases where a particular editor’s personality or approach would work better for a particular author, that is no doubt true. But there are also a lot of disparities in quality among editors out there. A lot of the time it’s not so mu ch searching for the one that fits, than going through a lot of people who are not really fantastic at it before finding somebody who actually is.Fundamentally it comes down to being as effective as you can possibly be. I think that’s   more important than having a particular chemistry with the author you’re working with.I definitely agree with your point on the disparity of quality in editors out there, and that is part of the reason why we created Reedsy.Exactly, and one reason for that is that a lot of people assume that they can edit, because they love to read and they’d love to be helpful to authors. Also, because they don’t know fully what goes into it. And some start with that belief and actually become amazing, which is exciting to see.All this makes it very hard for the authors to know whether the person they’re talking with is someone genuinely skilled or just someone very enthusiastic who wants to believe they are going to be able to h elp the author. That’s why I, too, love what Reedsy is going for because it helps authors navigate that.You are yourself a published author with one book out there: The Listeners, and were also a screenwriter before that. What pushed you to publish? Did editing a lot of books make you want to put your own work out there?Actually, it’s just the opposite. The Listeners started out as a series of short stories I wrote in my last semester of college, around the same time I started my career in editing in a publishing company.This particular series developed in a screenplay, and the publisher I worked for expressed an interest in a novel version, which I wrote. But for a while, my experience in publishing actually made me not want to put the book out there, because I knew the marketing challenges. I knew I would be out there, front and center trying to build a readership, doing book signings, interviews, etc. These are all things that I know how to do, and that I recommend to authors, but things I don’t have a particular knack for myself. I’m not a great marketer or self-promoter, it’s not my nature.Fortunately, I had enough people around me telling me I was an idiot and that I should pursue publishing, so I did, and I’m very grateful for the opportunities I have had since thanks to that.I’d like to finish with an easy question: if you had one recommendation for indie authors out there, whether they’re traditionally published, self-published, or hybrid, what would it be?I suppose it would be to hire me, haha! But more broadly and less egocentrically than that, the thing that divides a writer from an author in my mind is the revision process: pushing forward, doing everything that’s in your power to create the very best version of your story. There is nothing more spectacular than taking an idea not only from concept to first draft but from first draft to final draft. So my advice would be: follow that r oad to the end, do not stop part way through.I agree, and I certainly second that advice. Thanks a lot for your time, Harrison!You can find Harrison Demchick, Ricardo and Reedsy on Twitter: @HDemchick, @RicardoFayet  and @reedsyhqDo you work with a developmental editor? If yes, tell us what he/she brings to your writing in the comments below! And if you have any question for Harrison, do use the same commenting space 🙂

Censorship of pornography essays

Censorship of pornography essays The censorship of pornography has been an issue under constant debate in our society. There are many arguments for and against the censorship of pornographic materials. Advocates for freedom of expression feel that increased censorship violates many basic human rights and consequently may harm our society. They believe in personal choice and that any action is lawful as long as it brings no harm to others. Supporters of an increase in censorship are rooted in the belief that such material may cause direct and/or indirect detriments to society. They believe that enabling people, primarily men, to view degrading and violent material to women, and sometimes children, will increase their likelihood of them acting out on women and children and make the world a more dangerous place for those groups to live. The purpose of this essay is to present the issues of those who are for censorship and those who are opposed to it and to present some of the arguments they put forth to support the ir position on the subject. Those groups who are opposed to censorship include Liberals and Feminists, more specifically radical libertarian feminists. Liberals oppose any abridgment of the freedom of speech through government censorship, regulation or control of communications, which includes books, magazines, movies, the internet and pornography. Liberals believe that the censorship of pornography is a violation of the liberty of expression and freedom of speech that every person is entitled to. Liberals believe that a person should be free to do whatever he or she chooses to do as long as it does not harm themselves or any other individuals. For Liberals, pornography is encompassed within this Harm Principle. They believe that those people who make pornographic videos should be able to do so as long has it is done in a lawful way and does not cause harm to others, stores should be able to rent and sell the pornographic videos without ...

How might a constructionist approach to gay, lesbian, bisexual or Essay

How might a constructionist approach to gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans persons differ from both a biological essentialist and a - Essay Example This paper analyses three approaches used understand these sexual orientations, namely constructionist approach, biological essentialist and a religious essentialist. Sexuality is an instinct or a natural drive that becomes inevitable a person’s biological make-up and seeks fulfillment through sexual activity. All essentialist approaches take the view that all genders, both male and female, have an essential nature as opposed to differing by various contingent or accidental features that result from social forces. These include biological essentialist and a religious essentialist approaches. From the perspective of the essential nature of a person, it is taken that the sexual preference of a person is natural and important/essential to the personality of the person. The essential nature entails caring and nurturing. This means that being a gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans person is a sign of aggression and selfishness (Clare 28). Biological essentialists take sex as a natural i nstinct required for reproduction purposes. This means that there is a relationship between the biological sex/gender and the sexuality of a person. This approach therefore considers being heterosexual as normal but considers gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans persons as unnatural and deviant.

Critically compare and contrast the arguments of classical and modern Essay

Critically compare and contrast the arguments of classical and modern liberals regarding the role of the state - Essay Example Upholding individual rights and ensuring equality of opportunity are considered to be better than theocratic rules, absolutism and totalitarianism. This ideology arose in the Age of Enlightenment; out of dissatisfaction with the interference of the Church and â€Å"the comprehensive political control and regulation of economic affairs† (Balaam, 2007:7) that prevailed. A liberal state neither seeks to resolve the conflicts of people on various matters of faith and life, nor interfere in the market economy. Instead, it â€Å"provides a neutral framework within which citizens can pursue their diverse conceptions of the good life† (Honderich, 1995: 483) and live together. Classical liberals favour religious tolerance over a religious monopoly. All liberals seek â€Å"the best form of government which will permit the individual to pursue life as he or she sees fit† (IEP, 2006). Liberal ideas now dominate many parts of the world. The USA was founded on the very principles of liberty, freedom and equality. Freedom is considered an ideal, which is only possible if people are allowed to be autonomous. The value of freedom â€Å"has its roots not only in Rousseau’s and Kant’s political theory, but also in John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty†¦ [and is still] a dominant strain in liberalism† (SEP, 2007). Liberalism prefers a limited role of the state because the state is perceived to be abusive of individual liberties, which leads to tensions between the individual and the state. Liberals believe that the tasks performed by the government must be limited to â€Å"tasks that individuals cannot perform by themselves, such as establish a basic legal system, assure national defence, and coin money† (Balaam, 2007: 50). Adam Smith, concerned with state interference in the market system, was a proponent of this view when he stated that the government’s role should be restricted to only doing work that private

How Customer Service is provoded in business Essay Example for Free

How Customer Service is provoded in business Essay Costumer service is the ability of an organisation to recognise and consistently meet the costumers needs. Costumer service generally involves service teamwork and service partnerships so they can meet customer expectations and produce costumer satisfaction. Costumers contact an organisation when they need something, the main reasons are: * To complain * To request/ order a service/product * To obtain information * To ask for advice * To enquire about an order * To change an order or request * To report a problem to return and exchange goods * To ask for assistance or help The organisation I have chosen to study for this is the National Maritime Museum which consists of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, Queens House and National Maritime Museum. Together these constitute one museum working to illustrate for everyone the importance of the sea, ships, time and the stars and their relationship with people. A customer is anyone who has the right to ask or expect a service as part of a job role; this means there are two types of customers internal and external. Internal customers are all the colleagues who need assistance to fulfil their obligations to their own customers; these include the supervisors, staff, staff teams and managers. External customers are those who contact or visit the organisation because of what it provides or supplys as it is something they need. There are a wide range of external customers but only a few can apply to each business, some businesses have a wider range of external costumers compared to other businesses, such as a supermarket will have a wider range of external customers as it will sell a wide range of goods whereas a youth club or nursery will have a smaller rage of external customers as its only aimed at a certain age group. The National Maritime Museum has a wide range of customers and provides everyone access to its historical buildings and unique collectors; as a result the customers have a wide range of needs so they provide products and services to fit their needs. On any average day the museum staffs have to deal with * People wishing to research their family history in our archives * Ship model-makers wanting advice on details of a ship * Film companies wanting to use our buildings as a location for an advert or television drama * Domestic tourists wanting a fun day out * Foreign tourists wanting to experience British history * School and college groups wanting to investigate the Museum to help with their studies. The Museum has 7 main categories of customers which have their own special needs and interests and they are the following 1. Individuals Casual Visitors Special Interest Visitors Individual Researchers 2. Families Parents along with Young Children 3. Groups Mixed age groups Special Interest and Education 4. People from different cultures with different languages Foreign and Domestic Tourists People from Diverse Ethnic and Religious Communities 5. People with special needs Blind and Visually Impaired Deaf and Hearing Impaired Learning Difficulties Physical, Emotional or Mental Health Needs 6. Virtual users who access the Museum via our website People who access the museum via the website 7. Internal customers Members of Staff who Support the Work of Others The main three types of customers the National Maritime Museum focuses on are families, disabled visitors and groups. Families are an important target audience for the museum as it is a free family-friendly place to visit; it focuses of the key needs and expectations of family audiences which are: its free the price of tickets can be a barrier for many families, especially with the costs of travel and lunches its fun and educational with lots to see and touch, like the All Hands interactive childrens gallery theres lots to do such as special activity workshops, storytelling and treasure trails its easy to get to only 20 minutes from central London, with good transport links The Museum also has family-friendly events which bring the Museum galleries to life including practical activities for 2-to-6-year-olds (weekly); trails revealing the secrets of their vast collection of objects; action-packed art and science workshops, and actors performances for all ages. Their family-friendly facilities include areas for changing and feeding babies, clean and accessible toilets, cafe and picnic areas and online activities in the E-Library and on the website. The Museum aims to increase the number of families who visit the National Maritime Museum by expanding programs of events, activities and special exhibitions for families, especially during weekends and holidays. All this makes the Museum more appealing to families. Along with individuals the Museum has also built up experience in providing for different type of groups who each have a different set of needs. Foreign language students The Museum provides souvenir guides and essential visitor information on their website in different languages. This service targets both foreign tourists and domestic visitors with English as a second language. They also have non-Eurocentric displays and events which inform customers of the history of people and cultures from all over the world. Large Groups For large groups coach parking is easily attainable, there are special discounts given to access the charging exhibitions, pre booked tickets make it easier for large groups to book easily and guided tours and talks are especially available for larger groups. Special Interest Groups At the museum there are enquiry and research facilities accessible via the library, there are archives and online sources at hand and also special curator talks and tours for all the groups that have a special interest. Corporate and Private Hire Groups There is event planning and support available for Corporate and Private Hire groups including venue hire and catering for those who want to use the museum for private hires and corporate reasons. Educational Groups The museum provides curriculum recourses and educational talks along with support with visit planning and booking. They also have a lunchroom and cloakroom especially suited for school/ educational groups. Lastly the National Maritime Museum also focuses on developing access for all their visitors and users which includes those who are disabled. It continuously tries to exceed and improve the museums facilities to meet the basic requirements of those who are physically disabled, deaf and blind. They believe good, inclusive customer service is about understanding everybodys special needs. For visitors with disabilities, the Museum has a range of access facilities as part of its customer service. o Installing new lifts and ramps o The Road Train service o Providing detailed information for disabled visitors o Providing alternative ways to access the Museum o Maintaining a policy of welcoming assistance dog They have added lifts to improve physical access around the Museum site. Members of staff are always at hand to help. The new lifts and ramps that have been installed provide flat or wheelchair access to all levels and galleries. Visitors may also borrow manual wheelchairs from admission areas. Special bookings for those who are disabled are also available by calling the bookings unit who will make any special arrangements. There is also information available online such as the availability of disabled car-parking, mobility buses and the access facilities on all their sites. It is also important that the customer information also describes areas that are not accessible such as parts of the historic buildings of the Royal Observatory. This avoids frustration and disappointment on the day. Touch Sessions for Visually Impaired Visitors are also available. They have a number of alternative methods to accessing the Museum and its collections. For blind and visually-impaired visitors they provide: o Braille Guides o Raised drawing o Magnifying glasses o Large-print guides o Tactile maps o touch packs They also run a program of pre-booked touch talks and tours by Museum staff and guest speakers. The National Maritime Museum also has a sign-interpreted talk for deaf and hearing-impaired visitors. They have installed perimeter loops in the galleries, admission areas, information desks and key audio installations. They also run a program of pre-booked British Sign Language sign-interpreted talks and events. Customer service is important to the National Maritime Museum because without customers there would not be a business. Excellent customer service results in: * higher visitor numbers and greater customer diversity Visits to the sites are increasing each year provides a public service for groups of people who dont traditionally visit or use cultural or heritage organizations like museums Has an outreach community newsletter which has news and events for communities under-represented among the visitors * increased sales The Museum generates increased income through shops, cafes and charging for special exhibitions It also supplies hiring venues for corporate events and weddings and sales from the Picture Library. * increasing public image The Museum has to compete with other organizations for peoples leisure, by providing excellent customer service it increases public image they do this using their website and leaflets * survival in terms of competition Good customer service can give the Museum an edge over other tourist attractions or leisure facilities, as they compete for customers leisure time and money. * satisfied customers and greater job satisfaction for staff As well as asking for feedback from customers and monitoring visit numbers the Museum pays a market research company to conduct surveys, the customers are asked to rate their experiences and satisfaction levels, this helps knowing the customers needs and satisfying them. The staff also takes pride in being part of an organization which delivers high levels of customer service Job satisfaction is increased by positive feedback from the customers * repeat business and customer loyalty Museum donation box Analysis of feedback and visitor surveys indicates that 94% of visitors would recommend the Museum to their friends. Excellent customer service results in strong customer loyalty and increased visitor numbers especially repeat visits. The National Maritime Museum believes that to enjoy and learn from a museums collections, visitors must first feel welcome, secure and comfortable in their environment. Crucial factors include friendly staff to greet and help, clear signage, queuing systems, gallery plans and well-maintained washrooms and cloakrooms. Improvements to these areas can significantly increase word of mouth recommendations, repeat visits and time and money spent by visitors as competition for the publics time and attention is intense.

King Claudius within Hamlet Essay -- Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

King Claudius within Hamlet  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   William Shakespeare produced in Hamlet a pair of quite noble characters: One is the protagonist and the other, the antagonist. King Claudius is a close second to the hero in many ways, even superior to him in some. This essay will consider the truly fantastic creation of the character of King Claudius.    Salvador de Madariaga in â€Å"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern† discusses Claudius’ relationship with the two emissaries and former friends of Hamlet, who were escorting the prince to his execution in England:    The two young men receive from the King a commission which, whatever the King’s secret intentions may be, is honorable. Hamlet, the King in fact tells them, is not what he was. The cause of the change "I cannot dream of."    Therefore, I beg you so by your companies    To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather So much as from occasion you may glean Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus That opened lies within our remedy (n. pag.).    Like everyone else in the kingdom of Denmark, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are deceived by the king – and it costs them their lives. Just what sort of character do we find in the person of Claudius? Does the following critic misinterpret him? G. Wilson Knight in "The Embassy of Death" interprets him:    Claudius, as he appears in the play, is not a criminal. He is - strange as it may seem - a good and gentle king, enmeshed by the chain of causality linking him with his crime. And this chain he might, perhaps, have broken except for Hamlet, and all would have been well. (n. pag.)    The drama opens after Hamlet has just returned from Wittenberg, England, upon hearing the news of his fa... ..., Helena (Lady Martin). On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters. 6th ed. London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1899.    Knight, G. Wilson. "The Embassy of Death." The Wheel of Fire. London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1954. p. 38-39. http://server1.hypermart.net/hamlet/wheefire.html N. pag.    Mack, Maynard. â€Å"The World of Hamlet.† Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Madariaga, Salvador de. â€Å"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.† â€Å"On Hamlet.† 2nd ed. London: Frank Cass & Co., Ltd., 1964. p.14-16. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/essayson.htm#demag-ess N. pag.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.   

Masculinity in the Philippines Essay

In the imperial age, the military shaped society to suit its peculiar needs. Modem armies are complex, costly institutions that must ramify widely to mobilize the vast human and material resources their operations require. Since the armed forces demand the absolute obedience and, at times, the lives of ordinary males, the state often forms, or reforms, society’s culture and ideology to make military service a moral imperative. In the cultural encounter that was empire, colonial armies proved as surprisingly potent agents of social change, introducing a major Western institution, with imbedded values, in a forceful, almost irresistible, manner. As powerful, intrusive institutions, modem armies transformed cultures and shaped gender identities, fostering rhetoric and imagery whose influence has persisted long after colonial rule. Above all, these armies, colonial and national, propagated a culture, nay a cult of masculinity. Recent historical research has explored the ways that rising European states reconstructed gender roles to support military mobilization. To prepare males for military  service, European nations constructed a stereotype of men as courageous and women as affirming, worthy prizes of manly males. In its genius, the modem state-through its powerful propaganda tools of education, literature, and media-appropriated the near-universal folk ritual of male initiation to make military service synonymous with the passage to manhood. Not only did mass conscription produce soldiers, it also shaped gender roles in the whole of society. Modern warfare, as it developed in Europe, was the mother of a new masculinity propagated globally in an age of empire through colonial armies, boys’ schools, and youth movements. As a colony of Spain and America, the Philippines felt these global cultural currents and provides an apt terrain for exploration of this  militarized masculinity. Like the other colonial states of Asia and Africa, both powers controlled their Philippine colony with native troops led by European officers, an implicit denigration of the manliness of elite Filipino males. For the all-male electorate of the American era, Filipino nationahm thus came to mean not only independence but, of equal importance, liberation from colonial emasculation. Over time, a cultural dialectic of the colonial and national produced a synthesis with symbolism and social roles marked by an extreme gender dimorphism. When Filipino leaders finally began building a national army in the 1930s, they borrowed the European standard of military masculinity with all its inbuilt biases. By exempting women from conscription and barring them from officer’s training at the Philippine Military Academy, the Commonwealth exaggerated the society’s male/female polarities. Once set in 1936, these military regulations and their social influence would prove surprisingly persistent and pervasive. It would be nearly thirty years until the armed forces recruited their first women soldiers in 1963; and another thirty years after that before the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) admitted its first female cadets in 1993 (Hilsdon 1995, 48, 51, 89; Duque 1981, vii). If we accept what one historian has called â€Å"the emancipated status of Filipino women in the 19th century,† then the prewar nationalist movement, with its rhetoric of militarism and male empowerment, may have skewed the gender balance within the Philippine  polity. In a Malay society with a legacy of gender equality-bilateral kinship, matrilocal marriage, and gender-neutral pronouns-this aspect of nationalism seems socially retrogressive.’ Understandably, postwar historians have overlooked this glorification of masculinity and military valor in their sympathetic studies of prewar Filipino nationalism. Nonetheless, mass conscription shaped gender roles in the first half of the 20th century and fostered a rhetoric that pervaded Philippine politics in its second half. In deploying Europe’s cult of masculinity to support mass conscription, the Commonwealth introduced a new element into the country’s political culture. Indeed, this engendered social order-propagated through conscription, education, and mass media-fostered imagery that would shape Philippine politics at key transitional moments in the latter decades of the 20th century. For well over half the fifty plus years since independence, the Philippines has been ruled by presidents who won office with claims of martial valor and then governed in a military manner. COMMONWEALTH A N D MASCULINITY The Philippine acceptance of this Euro-American model of masculinity provides strong evidence of the paradigm’s power. The successful imposition of this Westernized masculinity, with its extreme gender dimorphism, upon a Malay society with a long history of more balanced roles, makes the Philippines a revealing instance of this global process. Within twenty years, the span of a single generation, mobilization and its propaganda, convinced a people without a tradition of military service to accept conscription and internalize a new standard 1 of manhood. When tested in battle during World War 1, the generation of Filipino officers formed in this mobilization proved willing to fight and die with exceptional courage. Models of Masculinity During the two decades of this extraordinary social experiment, prewar Philippine institutions used two complementary cultural devices to indoctrinate the young into a new gender identity: a mass propaganda of gender dimorphism and a militarized form of male initiation. Among the many schools that participated in this experiment, t w v t h e University of the  Philippines (UP) and, a decade later, the Philippine Military Academy (PMA)-would play a central role as cultural mediators in constructing this new national standard for manhood. To translate a foreign masculine form into a Filipino cultural idiom, the cadet corps at UP and the PMA appropriated local traditions of male initiation, using them as a powerfully effective indoctrination into modem military service. Scholars of the Philippine military have often noted how the ordeal of the first or â€Å"plebe† year serves to bind the PMA’s graduates into a class or â€Å"batch with an extraordinary solidarity. The half-dozen doctoral dissertations on the Philippine military argue, in the words of a Chicago psychologist who observed the PMA in the mid-1960~~ that cadets form â€Å"lifetime bonds. . . in the crucible of the hazing pro~ess.†~ What is the meaning of this ritual with its extreme violence? Hazing, seemingly a small issue, has embedded within it larger problems of masculinity central to armies everywhere. In fieldwork around the world, anthropologists have discovered the near universality of male i n i t i a t i ~ nAround the globe and across time, many societies view .~ manhood as something that must be earned and thus create rituals to  test and train their adolescent males. Observing these rituals in the remote Highlands of Papua-New Guinea, anthropologist Roger Keesing offers a single, succinct explanation for the prevalence of harsh male initiation: warfare (Keesing 1982,32-34; Herdt 1982,5741). Similarly, at the m a r p s of the modem Philippine state, young men have long been initiated into manhood through ritual testing of their martial valor. In the 20th century, Muslim groups in the south have formed all-male â€Å"minimal alliance groups† to engage in ritualized warfare, while the Ilongot highlanders of northern Luzon require boys to pass â€Å"severe tests of manhood† by taking â€Å"at least one head† in combat (Kiefer 1972; Rosaldo 1980, 13940). From an anthropological perspective, hazing becomes the central rite in a passage from boyhood to manhood, civilian to soldier. Filipino plebe and New Guinea adolescent pass through similar initiations to emerge as warriors hardened for battle and bound together for defense of the ir communities (Gennep 1960, vii, 11). Recent historical research has explored the ways that rising European states reconstructed gender roles to support mobilization of modern armies. By marrying anthropologists’ universals to the historian’s time-bounded specifics, we can see how European nation-states, by making military service an initiation ritual, primed their males for mass slaughter on the modem battlefield. After Britain’s dismal performance in the Crimean War of the 1850s, headmasters at its elite â€Å"public schools† began hardening boys for future command through sports. Indeed, Harrow’s head proclaimed that â€Å"the esprit de corps, which merit success in cricket or football, are the very qualities which win the day in . . . war.† A half-century later in South Africa, British troops faced difficulties subduing Boer farmers, raising questions about the military â€Å"fitness† of ordinary Englishmen. Responding to this perceived crisis, Lord Baden-Powell organized the Boy Scouts in 1908 â€Å"to pass as many boys through our character factory as we possibly can (Mangan 1987, 150-53; 1981,2241; 1986, 33-36; Rosenthal 1986, 1-6). In his study of the cult of war in nineteenth-century Europe, historian George Mosse asks: â€Å"Why did young men in great numbers rush to the colors, eager to face death and acquit themselves in battle?† Simply put, they volunteered because the modern nation-state, through its poets and propagandists, made the passage to manhood synonymous with military service. To become a man in Victoria’s England or Bismarck’s Germany, a young male had to serve. In the first months of World War I, this cult of war achieved a virtual florescence  as young idealists hurled themselves into the slaughter. After 145,000 German soldiers died at Langemarck in 1914, one poet wrote: â€Å"Here I stand, proud and all alone, ecstatic that I have become a man.† Recalling this battle in Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler said: â€Å"Seventeen year old boys now looked like men.† Similarly, during World War 11, U.S. Army researchers found that American soldiers fought hard to avoid â€Å"being branded a ‘woman,’ a dangerous threat to the contemporary male personality† (Mosse 1990, 15, 72; Stouffer, et al. 1949, 131-32). Not only did mass conscription produce soldiers, it also shaped gender roles in the wider society. To prepare every male for military service, European nations constructed a stereotype of men as  courageous, honorable, and physically formed on â€Å"borrowed Greek standards of male beauty.† By the 1920s, w omen were, through this century-long process, â€Å"transformed into static immutable symbols in order to command the attention of truly masculine men.’I4 Rhetoric of Colonial Masculinity Although the American colonial regime eventually played a central role in the formation of a Filipino officer corps, the US Army was initially hostile to the idea. During its first decade in the islands, the US Army was absorbed in a massive counterinsurgency campaign, and, like colonial armies elsewhere, denigrated the masculinity of its subject society. In little more than two years after their landing in 1898, the U.S. Army learned the same colonial lessons that the British and Dutch had distilled from two centuries of using â€Å"native troops† in India and Indonesia. Asian soldiers were, from an imperial point of view, welladapted to withstand the rigors of service in their own country. But only a European had the character required of an officer. As the editor of England’s Statesman wrote in 1885, educated Indians were â€Å"wanting in the courageous and manly behavior to which we justly attach so high an importance in the culture of our own youth.† Colonials often found dominant lowland groups both â€Å"effeminate† and insubordinate. But certain â€Å"martial racesn-such as the Gurkhas, Ambonese, or Karens-were thought capable of great courage under fire and fierce loyalty to their white officers5 In effect, there was an imperial consensus that certain native troops, when drilled and disciplined by European officers of good character, made ideal colonial forces. From the outset, the American commander in the islands, General Elwell S. Otis, felt, like most Americans of his day, that elite Filipinos were unfit for command. In an essay for a U.S. military journal in 1900, one American officer dismissed the typical officer in General Emilio Aguinaldo’s revolutionary army as â€Å"a half-breed, a small dealer, a hanger-on of the Spaniards.† Thus, when the US Army formed its colonial forces, the Philippine Scouts, the soldiers would all be Filipinos, but their officers  were to be white Americans selected from â€Å"the line of the Regular Army† (Woolard 1975, 13, 225; Franklin 1935). In sum, America’s high colonial rhetoric celebrated the special bond between American officers and their Filipino troops, and, by implication, denigrated elite Filipino character and capacity for command. Writing from retirement at the end of the US rule, one American veteran, Constabulary Captain Harold H. Elarth, offered a succinct version of this rhetoric. â€Å"By fair dealing, unusual sagacity and confirmed courage,† young American officers, â€Å"pacified and controlled tribes that for 300 years had continuously warred with the Spaniards.† This success, he explained, came from â€Å"the psychology of the Malay† which inspired Filipino soldiers to follow their American lieutenants with â€Å"adoration† (Hurley 1938, 298-99; Elarth 1949, 14-15). Nationalist Response In the early years of American rule, Filipino nationalists rejected this emasculating colonial rhetoric and made the training of native officers a central plank in their campaign for independence. By demanding officer training, the all-male nationalist movement challenged colonial assumptions that native men were, by racial character, unsuited for command. In the political rhetoric of the day, military drill would advance the nationalist cause by training officers for a future army and hardening the fiber of the country’s youth. To assert their manhood, nationalist leaders seized upon any pretext for military drill, even service under the colonial flag. Only a few years after the Philippine-American War, certain colonials and nationalists began to cooperate in building a Filipino officer corps. In 1907, the fledgling Constabulary School at Manila graduated its first Filipino officers from a short, three-month training course and then moved to permanent quarters in the mountain city of  Baguio for a more rigorous six-month curriculum. A year later, the U.S. Congress authorized the admission of Filipinos to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In 1914, the h s t Filipino cadet, Vicente P. Lim, graduated with an academic rank of seventy-seven among 107 cadets-an event of such  significance that the Philippine Resident Commissioner, Manuel Quezon, made a special trip from Washington, DC.6 When America entered World War I, the Philippine Legislature voted overwhelmingly to raise a Philippine National Guard division and Senate President Quezon crossed the Pacific to lobby personally for Washington’s authorization. Even the War Department’s determined effort to block its mobilization until 11 November 1918, the very last day of war, could not dampen the Filipino enthusiasm for military service. Over 28,000 men volunteered. With bands playing and banners flying, the Philippine National Guard drilled for three months until it was disbanded in February 1919 (Woolard 1975, 170-84, 196). During the 1920s, the American colonial regime, in fundamental change of policy, began training Filipinos for command. After taking office as governor-general in 1921, General Leonard Wood, a career officer, mobilized the resources of the US Army to open officer training programs (Hayden 1955, 734-35). To train a first generation of Filipino officers, the US Army loaned instructors, rifles, and bayonets to the newly-formed military science departments at Manila’s colleges and universities. Along with the weapons, these programs also borrowed an American model of the military male. Though the program spread to many schools, the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at the University of the Philippines (UP) remained, for over a decade, the largest and most influential. UP Cadet Corps Drill began at UP in 1922 when its Regents funded a Department of Military Science and Tactics, retained an active-duty U.S. Army captain as its chairman, and authorized an armory. Five years later, UP President Rafael Palma, a prominent nationalist, praised the Department for establishing â€Å"the nucleus of a future national military organization† (Panis 1925, 14-15; Palma 1924; Peiia 1953, 1-2). As Palma predicted, the ROTC program grew rapidly, adding field artillery in 1929 and machine guns six years later. After passage of the National Defense Act in 1935, the university acquired another 2,000 Springfield rifles and doubled its cadet corps to 3,304 trainee officers by 1938. Beyond drill and marksmanship, the program indoctrinated its cadets into nationalism. â€Å"We need to make . . . our youth . . . so proud of their race and their democracy that they will die fighting for it,† President Quezon told the UP cadets in 1937. â€Å"We have all been trained,† wrote the Corps’ cadet colonel a year later, â€Å"with patriotism ever so carefully engraved in our hearts by our military instructors, we are proud to say, as they would have us say, w e are ready.07 Other Manila universities followed these leads. While the publiclyfunded UP had the largest cadet program, the elite, Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila was proud home to the country’s top drill corps. The 1923 Manila Carnival featured a drill competition by cadets from San Beda, the National University, and, of course, Ateneo and the UP. Along with basketball and baseball, close-order drill contests would remain a high point of inter-collegiate competition until the war. These parades, featuring what one UP cadet called â€Å"thousands of virile young blood[s]†¦rifles on their shoulders, gallantly marching to the time of their music,† drew large crowds and sparked school ~ p i r i t . ~ By the early 1930s, a decade of reserve-officer training had encouraged an ideal of military masculinity among cadets at Manila’s universities. At the UP, trainee officers articulated an ideology that equated masculine strength with national defense. â€Å"A nation stands or falls, succeeds or fails, just in proportion to the . . . manliness of each succeeding generation,† wrote a cadet in the 1931 yearbook (Viardo 1931, 381). Cadet sergeant Fred Ruiz Castro, a future Supreme Court chief justice, explained that military training helps â€Å"engender the proper citizenshipu-notably â€Å"courtesy to all especially to the old and to the weaker sex.† In the 1935 UP yearbook, Castro and his comrade Macario Peralta, Jr., a future defense secretary, co-authored an essay arguing that drill molded the masculine virtues necessary to build the nation: â€Å"From the Corps, graduate men steeped in patriotism . . . men who know their duties both to country and to God . . . men who are sound thinkers, strong hearted †¦These are the men the country needs to cope with new problems† (Castro and Peralta, Jr. 1935, 345). Reinforcing this gender dimorphism, UP’S all-male cadet companies barred women from drill but recruited them as â€Å"sponsors† to appear in formal, frilly gowns at full-dress parades. Illustrative of this imbalance, in the  late 1920s one of these sponsors gave the Corps a â€Å"colorful oration† titled â€Å"The Woman Behind the Man Behind the Gun† (Castro 1932; 355; Quirino 1930, 427). By 1936, the UP cadets had expanded their Corps of Sponsors to  forty coeds such as Miss Eva Estr ada, the muse of the Second Artillery Battalion and a future senator. On National Heroes Day, the UP cadets staged a mock battle in the city’s main park, the Luneta. â€Å"Planes sweep down from the clouds to drop their deadly bombs,† wrote the college yearbook, â€Å"men shoot, advance, fall . . . beneath the smoke the unseen drama of war with its horrors and victories.† As male cadets littered Luneta’s smoking battlefield, â€Å"the Nurses’ Corps recruited from the ranks of the Sponsors rush to the field to give aid to the wounded and the dying.† Among these all-male cadets, appeal to women, the defining opposite within this dimorphism, was deemed an essential attribute of future military leadership. â€Å"The girls go for him in a big way (very big way),† said the 1937 UP yearbook of cadet Major Ferdinand Marcos, â€Å"so much so that most of the time he has to put up the sign ‘Standing Room Only.’ Claims his heart is impregnable to feminine allure, and insists on calling guys who fall in love inebriated weaklings.† Marcos himself internalized this gendered duality to write, after the war, of sacrificing his manhood to defend a feminized nation he calls Filipinas. â€Å"We cursed ourselves . . . for having given up our arms and with them our manhood. . .,† Marcos wrote of their wartime surrender to Japan on Bataan. â€Å"Filipinas had welcomed us in spite of the disgrace of our defeat in Bataan. But it seemed that although she had smiled at us through her tears, she would not bind up our wound^.†^ Harsh male initiation also became part of officer training at UP. Cadet Sergeant Macario Peralta, Jr., the future defense secretary, noted in the 1932 yearbook that the Corps had faced difficulties in â€Å"breaking in the new cadets,† but made sure that troublesome plebes â€Å"receive sundry other polite attentions† (Peralta 1932, 358). Peralta’s yearbook biography, published two years later when he was cadet colonel, revealed the meaning of this euphemism. â€Å"O ne year after the Colonel sprouted in the University campus, he commenced hazing the plebes and beasts with unrelenting inhumanity. He is  still at it† (Philippinensian1934, 396). Commonwealth Army In 1935, national defense suddenly became the most critical issue facing the Fhpino people. In Washgton, President Franklin Roosevelt approved the creation of the Philippine Commonwealth as an autonomous, transitional government with a ten-year timetable to full inde-  pendence. Under the National Defense Act, President Quezon made mobilization his top priority and committed a quarter of the budget to building a national army that would, by independence in 1945, have 10,000 regular soldiers backed by reserves of 400,000. In April 1936, some 150,000 Filipino men registered for the country’s first draft and, nine months later, 40,000 reported for training. Within three years, over a million schoolboys were marching.I0 From its foundation in 1935, the Commonwealth, through military mobilization, intensified this process of gender reconstruction-encouraging a reinforcing array of national symbols, militarized masculinity, and domestic roles. With only a decade to prepare for independence and the burden of defense, the Commonwealth tried to fashion a masculinity that would sustain mass conscription. As it mobilized in the 1930s, the Philippines imported a Euro-American form of manhood along with the howitzer and the pursuit plane. To build popular support for a citizens’ army, the neophyte Philippine state deployed a gendered propaganda with men strong, women weak; men the defenders, women the defended. Just as the new nation was personified as the feminine â€Å"Filipinas† in currency and propaganda, so young men were conscripted to defend her and her defenseless womankind. The government, in this transition to independence, slullfully manipulated public rituals and symbols to make a polarized gender dimorphism central to a new national self-image. We do not have to read against the grain to tease gender out of the Philippine Army, as if from some recondite cultural text. The key actors+ezon, Army Headquarters, and the cadets themselves-were quite self-conscious in their use of such imagery. The impact of militarization upon gender roles was most evident at the Manila Carnival-a grand, pre-war festival celebrating the fecundity of the land and the glories of its people. Like other pre-Lenten festivals across the Hispanic world, Carnival was a mix of the serious and frivolous, of celebration and reflection. Located at the heart of Manila, the sprawling Carnival enclosure held elaborate displays of provincial products such as rope or coconut. The two-week whirl of spectacle, society, and sport culminated in the crowning of the queen and her court at an elaborate formal ball. With the Philippines on parade, elite actors gained a stage to project images of nation and society before a mass audience. Before conscription, the queen’s coronation had been a lavish, highsociety affair-with eligible bachelors as escorts, whimsical Roman or  Egyptian themes, and matching costumes for court and consorts. Since the city’s elites selected the carnival queen by jury or press ballots, winners were women of wealth, prestige, and intellect. At the 1922 Carnival, for example, Queen Virginia Llamas was escorted by her future husband Carlos P. Rom ulo, later president of the UN General Assembly. The queen’s consort at the 1923 Carnival was Eugenio Lopez, later the county’s most powerful entrepreneur, just as 1931 queen was Maria Kalaw, the future Philippine senator and UN delegate (Nuyda 1980, 1920, 1922,1931). With the launching of the Commonwealth’s army only months away, the 1935 Carnival saw revelry and whimsy giving way to military symbolism and a serious debate about gender roles. To accornmodate its greatly expanded display, the US Army occupied â€Å"an entire section of the Manila Carnival Grounds† for 400 linear feet of military exhibits and a replica of a World War I trench warfare complex (Tribune, 3,9 February 1935). The cadets of Manila’s universities were honored with a large military parade, treated to guided tours of the military exhibit, and featured as the queen’s escorts. In this martial spirit, gender was on the march. At her coronation ceremony, the Constabulary band played a march while Queen Conchita I-walked between â€Å"two files of University of the Philippines cadets with drawn sabers† to a throne where the US Governor General placed a crown of diamonds on her head and the â€Å"admiring throng applauds† (Tribune, 16, 21, 22 February 1935). On their night in this Carnival Auditorium, Far Eastern University students staged a  spectacular revue called â€Å"Daughters of Bathala,† with males forming an outer, protective circle while women in gowns whirled about in a â€Å"grand finale . . . symbolizing the types of modern Filipino women from the suffragettes and debutantes to the thrill-girls of the cabarets and the boulevards† (Tribune, 3 March 1945). Instead of the usual frivolous rhetoric about feminine beauty, the 1935 Carnival launched a national debate on women’s rights. Speaking before the convention of the Federation of Women’s Clubs, Senate President Quezon announced that the Constitutional Convention had just approved compulsory military service. He urged the nation’s women to assume â€Å"the duty to mould the character of . . . youth that we may build up here a citizenry of virile manhood capable of shouldering the burdens of our future independent existence.† And how was such a radical social reconstruction to be accomplished? Men would be called away for â€Å"training in patriotism,† but women,  Quezon said, should stay home to â€Å"bring up upstanding, courageous and patriotic youngsters.† Instead of being lulled by the â€Å"sentimental glow† of his oratory, the Federation’s president, Mrs. Pilar H. Lim, the wife of General Vicente Lim (USMA ’14), co nfronted Quezon, demanding that he redress â€Å"the injustice done . . . through the failure of the constitutional convention to insert a provision . . . granting the women . . . the right to vote.† Quezon assured Mrs. Lim that he has â€Å"always been in favor of granting this right to women.† Indeed, two years later, under his presidency and through Mrs. Lim’s leadership, a plebiscite on women’s suffrage passed by an overwhelming margin.† Over the next three years as mobilization intensified, each carnival accentuated the military symbolism and its supporting gender dimorphism. When President Quezon opened the towering gateway to the 1936 Carnival city, a full battalion of Philippine Army troops formed an honor guard while he â€Å"severed† the ribbons with a specially-made native sword. In its Carnival coverage, the Sunday Tribune Magazine juxtaposed photo-essays of the military review (â€Å"the steel helmets of the U.P. cadets glaring in the afternoon sun†) and the 1936 Fashion Revue (â€Å"models resplendent in shining silver and satin.†) For their night at the Carnival, the UP students  presented a richly engendered historical pageant, written by Dr. Carlos P. Romulo, featuring a cast of one thousand students (â€Å"including seven hundred girls†) and starring a woman student as â€Å"Filipinas,† the feminized symbol of the nation (Tribune, 15 February, 1 March 1936). Theme: After the establishment of the Republic, the nation will meet with difficulties and dangers, but it will overcome them all and thereby become stronger . . . Book of Time Revealed. Spirit of History ascends the stage from stage right and writes â€Å"Commonwealth.† 111. Trumpets. Filipinas enters from stage left followed by people, including agencies, soldiers, dancers . . . IV. Spirit of Prophecy ascends from stage left . . . and . . . writes â€Å"Republic.† V. People cheer, bells ring, salute of guns . . . VIII. Invasion-all to arms. Battle. XI. Mourning dance. Filipina rises from the center of the floor, flag over her. National hymn is sung by all. I. 11. Despite such military inroads, the coronation of Queen Mercedes I featured the usual â€Å"fantasy numbers† such as â€Å"Parisian Lace† and the â€Å"exotic South Sea Wastes.† Her escorts were still society bachelors in white-tie and tails. A year later, the military symbolism was triumphant. At the 1937 Carnival, the queen’s escorts were now uniformed ROTC cadets. The queen now became â€Å"Miss Philippines† and her coronation, as its libretto indicates, was a martial drama of male soldiers rising to her defense as the engendered symbol of the nation. Scene I Triumphal entrance of the Army of Miss Philippines, sovereign of our cultural and economic progress, composed of officers and soldiers who will stage a military exhibition. Scene I1 Entrance of the Drum and Bugle Corps which will go through some military evolutions. Scene 1 1 1 The Drum and Bugle Corps will announce the arrival of Miss Philippines and her Court of Honor . . . Miss Philippines will be preceded by a group of pages carrying the crown and other presents, and another group of pages carrying her train . . . Scene IV The Drum and Bugle Corps announces that all is ready for the coronation of Miss Philippines. Scene V Ceremonies of the coronation of Miss  Philippines, placing of the crown by His Honor, The Mayor of Manila . . . Scene VI Gun salute to Miss Philippines by her Army. Entrance of Foreign Envoys-Royal offering, etc. Scene VII Military evolutions by the Army of Miss Philippines and the Drum and Bugle Corps. Beyond the ballroom, the Carnival’s sporting contests and the ROTC drill competitions proliferated in celebration of a physical, martial masculinity. Before a crowd of 40,000, for example, the Schools Parade featured girls in gowns riding on flower-covered floats while high school boys stepped past in â€Å"uniforms and snappy marching [that] thrilled the watching t h o ~ s a n d s . † ~ ~ By the 1938 Carnival, the military parade had been transformed from a procession of students in their toy-soldier uniforms into an awesome spectacle of military might. With thousands of spectators packed along the boulevards, armed columns of Philippine Army, Philippine Scouts, and college cadets tramped past the Legislative Building as tight formations of bombers and pursuit planes â€Å"roared overhead† (Tribune, 15, 16 February 1938). After its establishment in 1936, the Philippine Army deployed a similar dualism to build support for conscription among a people without a tradition of military service. As the date for draft registration approached, the Commonwealth plastered public spaces with recruiting posters. One depicted a statuesque Filipina, neckline cut low and bare arms outstretched for the embrace, calling on â€Å"Young Men† to â€Å"Heed Your Country’s Call!† Another asked, â€Å"Which Would You Rather Be . . . this or that?†-and then showed a snappy soldier smiling at two admiring women while a civilian male skulks in the rear, hands in pockets-a universal sipifier.I4 Then, at 8:30 A.M. on 15 May 1936, each provincial governor supervised an elaborate ritual to select the first conscripts for basic training. Before the public, the governor, flanked by military guards, placed the registration cards for all twenty-year old men in two large jars. â€Å"Two young ladies, not over eighteen years of age, shall . . . make the drawing,† read the Philippine Army regulations. â€Å"These young ladies shall be blind-folded and shall wear  dresses with short sleeves-not reaching beyond elbow† (Commonwealth, Bulletin No. 17; Meixsel 1993, 301). So strong was the appeal of military training that four of the country’s leading legislators, including presidential aspirant Manuel Roxas, volunteered for the first Reserve Officers’ Service School (ROSS) in mid-1936. In this commencement address to this class in September, President Quezon explained that officers were to serve as the nation’s models for patriotism and new, virile form of citizenry (The Bayonet 1936, 94, 98). The good officer. . . , wherever he is, . . . spreads the doctrine of loyalty, of respect for law and order, of patriotism, of self-discipline and education, and of national preparation to defend our country. . . . Our whole nation will become more firmly solidified, more virile, more unselfishly devoted to promotion of the general welfare, as our officer corps grows in quality and strength, and the results of its efforts permeate to the remotest hamlet of our country. Philippine Military Academy Forming such an officer corps was the most difficult part of this mobilization. As Quezon put it, â€Å"the heart of an army is its officers.† Along with buying rifles and building camps, the creation of this army required, as the president was well aware, the construction of officers as exemplars for a new image of the Filipino as warrior. To form such leaders, the Defense Act provided for the establishment of a Philippine Military Academy at Baguio for the education of career officers. This academy was, in the words of the Commonwealth’s vice-president, â€Å"the foundation stone of the entire military establishment,† providing â€Å"the leadership necessary to knit together a scattered and loosely connected citizen army into one whole, living, pulsating, homogenous machine that can fight with courage† (Scribe 50; Osmefia 7-8, 10). In establishing his new academy, Quezon, through his military advisers Douglas MacArthur and Dwight Eisenhower, chose the US Military Academy at West Point as its model. Transporting the West Point system, with all of its peculiarities, from the bluffs of the Hudson to the mountains of Baguio entailed cultural adaptation. From the perspective of the PMA staff, the new academy would socialize the cadets through its formal  curriculum and a four-year progression from neophyte to command. To succeed, however, these formal processes rested upon rituals and symbols that would make the academy’s abstractions meaningful to teen-aged Filipinos. Drawing upon the country’s culture of masculinity, cadets used rituals of male initiation and group solidarity to reinforce the PMA’s institutional imperatives. Through a fusion of the West Point curriculum, faithfully reproduced by the PMA’s staff, and informal innovations by these Filipino cadets, an American academy became a viable model for a Philippine institution (Love11 1955, 316-21; Wamsley 1972, 399-41 7). To ensure that its cadets would be archetypes of masculine beauty, the academy barred applicants with â€Å"any deformity which is repulsive† or any who suffered from â€Å"extreme ugliness.† Medical examiners had to insure, moreover, that an applicant’s face was free from any â€Å"lack of symmetrical development† or â€Å"unsightly deformities such as large birthmarks, large hairy moles, . . . mutilations due to injuries or surgical operation† (Commonwealth of the Philippines 1937). To mould these exemplary males, the PMA became a total institution that would, like West Point, leave a lasting imprint upon every  graduate (Janowitz 138; Goffman 1961). The PMA’s 1938 yearbook thus described the Tactical Department and its drill instructors as â€Å"a veritable forging shop in which the raw and crude materials are . . . purified of their undesirable qualities.† In their song P.M.A. Forever, cadets celebrated their academy’s capacity to make men (Sword 1938, 46-48, 104). Within the walls of old and glorious P.M.A. They’re molded to the real men that they should beMen who can face the bitter realities of life With courage even in the midst of bloody strife. As centerpiece in the nation’s gender reconstruction, the PMA indoctrinated its Filipino cadets into a Euro-American ideal of military manhood. With its alien curriculum, the PMA, more than any Philippine institution of its era, aspired to a cultural transformation, a remalung of its cadets on a European model of mascuhity. The academy made its imprint through a program of moral formation through body movement, incessant supervision, and formal in doctrination. In its own words, the PMA taught â€Å"soldierly movements to inculcate prompt obedience† in  daily marching; â€Å"knowledge of ballroom ethics† with weekly waltz lessons; and â€Å"self-reliance, poise, initiative, judgment, enthusiasm, and discipline† in gymnastics (Commonwealth 1938,1619). Filipino cadets reshaped imported values through their own culture of masculinity, malung hazing the PMA’s central rite of passage-from civilian to soldier, from plebe to cadet. Entering plebes arrived at the academy from communities with their own rituals of male initiation and expectations for manhood (Rosaldo 1980, 35-37). In many lowland villages of the 1930s, adolescent males passed through an initiation, such as circumcision, and had elaborate codes for masculine friendship epitomized in peer groups called barkada. In the villages of Central Luzon, for example, Tagalog males who joined tenancy unions during this decade were tested in an elaborate midnight ritual that branded each on the upper arm with a poker plucked white-hot from a raging bonfire (Fegan 1995; See also Blanc-Szanton 1990, 350). Growing up in such poor communities, many future members of PMA’s Class of 1940, the first products of this new school, were familiar with these masculine rites of testing and bonding. One classmate, Francisco del Castillo, recalled in his autobiography for the class’s 50th reunion Golden Book, that he often missed class in high school to join â€Å"youth who did nothing but form gangs to fight other gangs for su-premacy in the municipality of Vigan.† In a later interview, he added that his reputation as â€Å"a local champion† in ritualized knife fights, attacking with the right hand and defending with a towel wrapped tightly about the left, made him the â€Å"leader† of the town’s west-side gang. Asked if his gang practiced any sort of initiation, del Castillo replied that â€Å"you let him do a certain errand and see how brave he is† (Mendoza 1986, 178; del Castillo 1995). For PMA cadets, hazing and the broader experience of plebe initiation served as a transformative trauma–coloring the subsequent academy experience for individuals and uniting a new class through shared suffering. During their first months, plebes were subjected to an unbroken regimen of running, recitations, and drill under nameless, powerful upperclassmen. Arriving during summer recess when the main activity was their initiation,  incoming plebes faced the harsh, unwavering attentions of the second-year cadets, or â€Å"yearlings†-still aching from their own humiliations that had ended only weeks before. After the initial â€Å"beast barracks,† the hazing subsided into a constant, low-level harassment that continued for another eight months until the upperclass â€Å"recognized† them as full members of the Corps. Surviving this abuse left cadets with a strong sense of personal pride and class identity. Writing in the Golden Book, Class ’40’s Cesar Montemayor recalled their plebe year as â€Å"a one-year initiation period full of rites, rules and requirements† that instilled â€Å"desirable manly and military qualities† (Batch 36 Golden Book, 110-11). In showing how the Commonwealth constructed a new masculinity at the PMA, we cannot ignore the impact that this mobilization and its prop aganda had upon â€Å"the whole order† of gender roles in an emerging nation (Morgan 1994, 169-70). Despite its isolation in the mountains of Baguio, the PMA’s training of these young males had lasting implications for the whole of Philippine society. The school served, in effect, as a social laboratory, a crucible for casting a new form of Filipino masculinity. Through hazing, study, and drill, the academy pounded young males into a foreign mold of military manhood. By parading before the masses in Manila and acting in Tagalog films, these prewar PMA cadets projected this image of masculinity into an emerging national consciousness. Only a year after the PMA opened, a Manila film crew shot a two-reel documentary, titled The West Point of the Philippines, which, the cadet yearbook reported, was â€Å"now being featured at the Ideal Theatre† and was â€Å"taking Manila by storm.†