A Life in Japan - Documentary (English, no subtitles) Essay

A Life in Japan - Documentary (English, no subtitles) - Essay Example The movie is very informative about Japanese culture because it goes much deeper than sights and customs. It shows Japanese daily life with its positive and negative sides. I do not like the fact that some Western men defined their main purpose in Japan to have some relationships with Japanese women. On the other hand, it is pleasant to see that people adapt to local customs and contribute to community order and safety. One of the respondents found $3000, camera and passport and gave them back to the person who had lost all those things. It shows that Japanese culture changes people in some way making them more responsible and carrying. Overall, Japan has a very unique culture and people need to learn at least something about it before coming to Japan. There are not many people who speak English, so they need to take care about communication issue. At the same time, the movie shows that being a relatively isolated community, Japan is also influenced by world globalization. It becomes more tolerant to foreigners. This documentary significantly expands knowledge about Japanese culture and people; it contributes to my cultural knowledge and represents Japan in a totally different

Rooms and University Essay Example for Free

Rooms and University Essay My first day at University is a very important and memorable day in my life. I was waiting all the summer in 2011 to enter at the university at January 2012. That day i was so excited at as well as I was very nervous because it was my first day in the university and I didnt know any person. But at the end my first day in the university was wonderful. I had no idea how to arrive to my classroom and which room will be our class room. So I had to ask to the reception, where I was going to take classes. This person was very nice and told me the right direction. I walked to the building, and when I arrived I saw some people and I felt strange. I come up to to one girl and I asked for the classroom and I discovered that she is my close friend Shima from my school and college level and we were in the same group and I felt less nervous and comfortable . Then we went to the class room. When we began our classes, our lecturer first introduced herself and then we introduce our self in the class room. At the time of introducing all our classmates were quiet, nobody talked. I approached with two other girls they were completely unknown to me. I introduced myself, then they did the same and we began to know more about each other, like where we were from or what we did. After that, we spent the rest of the day together until we had to go home. I always remember this particular day, the reason behind it, it gave me a chance to meet with new people and making new friends. From my point of view, it is normal to be nervous in the first day at university but, there was a happy ending. So I think my first day at university was a fantastic day and it will be a memorable day in my life as said earlier.

Symbolism in The Great Gatsby Essay -- The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzg

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, there is lots of reflection on symbolism, and especially colored symbolism. In this novel symbolism is a very important factor, it shows the difference between the different characters and scenes in the novel. The color green influences the story a lot. Green shows many thoughts, ideas, attitudes, and choices that Gatsby has throughout the story. White too plays an even more important role in the novel as it is used to represent some of the characters, it also talks about the drinking and the driving that happened, where the color green is more a symbol of the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby. This sort of symbolism reoccurs in different places throughout the novel, especially with Gatsby. The color green, as it is used in the novel, symbolizes different choices the character, Gatsby, can make during his life. The green element in this novel is taken from the green light at the end of the dock near Daisy's house. " I watched the green light fade away as the boat drew farther from the dock" (Fitzgerald, 26). The color itself represents calmness, as in everything is perfect. This warns Gatsby that he should not pursue his dream of getting Daisy back because his chance has passed and everything is as it should be. More than other colors in the novel such as gold or blue, with the exception of white, the color green influences the story greatly. Green shows many thoughts, ideas, attitudes, and choices that Gatsby has throughout the ...

Compare the article in the Independent Essay

Compare the article in the Independent with the article in the Daily Mail, addressing the following aspects; layout, content and language. From this comparison, what conclusion can you draw with regard to the targeted readership and intended selling point of each newspaper? In this essay I will be comparing two very different articles from The Independent- a broadsheet and The Daily Mail- a tabloid. The story I will be studying is about a 14 year old boy called Luke Walmsley. Whilst he was waiting in the corridor to enter a classroom he was stabbed in the chest by a fellow pupil. The incident took place at the school he attended; Birkbeck School in Lincolnshire. The whole incident is said to be over who was better at sport and a girl that both boys were fond of, Luke had been seen getting close to this girl and the boy must of grown jealous. The boy who stabbed Luke had come from a troubled background himself and he was said to be quite insecure. I will discuss the following aspects the layout, content and the language that is included within the two articles, from this I will draw a comparison with regard to the targeted audience and intended selling point of each newspaper. The Daily Mail and The Independent are two different types of newspaper. The Daily Mail is what is known as a tabloid newspaper and focuses directly on the most popular events, human interests and trivial matters . A tabloid newspaper differs from the broadsheet paper this is included in its size, the range and depth of its coverage and the ratio of images to text. A Tabloid is around half the size of a standard broadsheet paper. Reports are more simplified or more direct and compact versions of a report. They also include a lot more images relating to the article. A tabloid is often found to be extremely biased and tries to influence the public’s opinions on the reporters own certain views. ‘The Independent’ is a broadsheet style newspaper. It generally focuses on the true given facts and includes great detail and goes into great depth in its articles. The question is why do people want to buy these newspapers? The Daily Mail attracts its readers by using a high rate of colour and images on its front page which is bound to catch the eye of passers by and interests them to buy the paper. In comparison to information in other newspapers it is often found to be exaggerated and is therefore in my opinion aimed at the less educated person. It is simple, easy and quite enjoyable to read with a range of bright pictures to accompany the article. The Independent doesn’t tend to use a lot of colour neither does it use many pictures. The reason I believe in which The Independent attracts the nation into buying the newspaper is by publishing truthful, detailed accounts. They only focus on what they know for certain are true facts and relevant figures. Tabloids are made up of celebrity news and gossip which is exaggerated to make the story more appealing. This type of article is aimed at the lower and of the market. Broadsheets, however, have a far more mature approach to what they publish and include news that is of a interest to the whole nation young or old, although in general it is often written to target the higher better informed end of the market. Broadsheets incorporate details about the shares and stock market, business news and in general financial information I think this would appeal to a high status businessman, a professional management team or a politician. However by saying this I am being quite stereotypical because many people are interested in the stock market so they may just buy this type of paper for the finance section and not care what else is published within the paper whether it may affect them or not. Concentrating on the article, firstly I will discuss layout. The layout of the Daily Mail is bold and in your face which is very eye catching. The pictures are vibrant in colour and stand out another eye catching feature. When using a picture, it has to be chosen carefully. They must have an effect on the person looking at it whether or not it’s on a personal level or an image you recognise. Having this image alongside the bright, bold headline that cannot be avoided makes the paper stand out and really makes you notice the paper. The way in which the headlines font and size is changed and how the headline is worded is well constructed to make the story stand out and appear more exciting and readable to the papers targeted audience. Due to the fact that the daily mail is a tabloid it is therefore aimed at the lower end of the JICNAR scale in the c1 – e category making it easier to read. The jobs these people may have would be lorry driver, factory workers, building site labour and unemployment. The front page is the main selling point to actually encourage people to buy and read the paper. Many housewives would also read ‘The Daily Mail’ for its gossip and celebrity news.

Foundational Accounting Principles and Terminology Essay

We all know how important the accounting aspect of any business/organization is. It is basically the most important way to manage finances. Without proper accounting for all expenses and finances, a company and/or organization will definitely have a hard time being financially stable. In this paper we will discuss some foundational accounting principles and terminology that are basic but quite essential to the accounting practice. Now let’s discuss some accounting terms beginning with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is a codification of how CPA firms and corporations prepare and present their business income and expense, assets and liabilities on their financial statements. GAAP is not a single accounting rule, but rather the aggregate of many rules on how to account for various transactions. GAAP are more like accounting standards (Wikipedia, 2009). Next we have Contra-Asset Accounts, which is defined as an account which offsets another account. A contra-asset account has a credit balance and offsets the debit balance of the corresponding asset. A contra-liability account has a debit balance and offsets the credit balance of the corresponding liability (InvestorWords, 2009). Let us move on to Historical Cost, which is a measure of value used in accounting in which the price of an asset on the balance sheet is based on its nominal or original cost when acquired by the company. The historical-cost method is used for assets in the U. S. under generally accepted accounting principles (Investopedia, 2009). Okay, now there is the Accrual Basis vs. Cash Bonus Accounting. This is the difference between the two. In Accrual basis accounting, income is reported in the fiscal period it is earned, regardless of when it is received, and expenses are deducted in the fiscal period they are incurred, whether they are paid or not. Basically, you record both revenues and expenses when they occur. In cash basis accounting, revenues are recorded when cash is actually received and expenses are recorded when they are actually paid (Ward, 2009). Last but not least, there is the Accounting Standards Codification. Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) is a major restructuring of accounting and reporting standards designed to simplify user access to all authoritative U. S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) by providing the authoritative literature in a topically organized structure. ASC disassembled and reassembled thousands of nongovernmental accounting pronouncements (including those of FASB, the Emerging Issues Task Force [EITF], and the AICPA) to organize them under approximately 90 topics. The ASC are those that oversee that all accounting and reporting standards are adhered to (Wikipedia, 2009). It is now time to move on to discuss and describe three sets of financial statements that are part of financial statements of companies /organizations. The three sets of financial statements we will be describing are The Balance Sheet, The Income Statement and The Statement of Cash Flows. The balance sheet also known as the â€Å"Statement of financial position† reveals a company’s assets, liabilities and equity (net worth). The balance sheet is divided into two parts that must equal each other, or balance each other out. The formula of the balance sheet is: Assets= Liabilities + Shareholder’s Equity. What this formula means is that assets, or the means used to operate the company, are balanced by a company’s obligations along with equity investment brought into the company and its retained earnings (Investopedia, 2009). Next we have the income statement, which measures a company’s financial performance over a specific accounting period. The financial performance is assessed by giving a summary of how the business incurs its revenues and expenses. It also shows the net profit or loss incurred over a specific accounting period, which is typically over fiscal quarter or year (Investopedia, 2009). Moving on to the last one, which is the cash flow statement. The cash flow statement allows investors to understand how a company’s operations are running, where its money is coming from, and how it is being spent. The cash flow statement is also a mandatory part of a company’s financial report, and has been so since 1987 (Investopedia, 2009). Now I will describe which is more useful, Net Income or Cash from Operating Activities? I believe that Cash from Operating Activities is more useful to companies because they can generate cash in several different ways. Three different ways to be exact, they are cash flows from operating activities, from investing activities, and financing activities. Cash from Operating Activities, in my opinion is the most useful because it paints the best picture of how well a company’s business operations are producing cash. After looking over the annual financial reports for Samsung, RTL Group and Lockheed Martin, I make the prediction that each company will continue to improve its net income as well as see a significant spike in their cash flow. As far as relevant information in regards to conglomerates, such as the IDOLS segment of the Fremantle Media North America, I was not totally sure how to get this information but I eventually continued to read the investor portion on the RTL Group website where I found out more information. All in all, I learned some new definitions when it comes to accounting and decision making. I thought this assignment was intense due to a lot of reading and research, but I believe I got through it well. I look forward to learning more about how accounting and decision making come together. References http://www.investopedia.com/articles/04/033104.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/04/031004.asp http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/incomestatement.asp http://www.investorwords.com/5476/contra_account.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generally_Accepted_Accounting_Principles

Architecture Definition Includes Construction & Design

Architecture Definition Includes Construction & Design What is architecture?  The word architecture can have many meanings. Architecture can be both an art and a science, a process and a result, and both an idea and a reality. People often use the words architecture and design interchangeably, which naturally broadens the definition of architecture. If you can design your own career goals, arent you the architect of your own life?  It seems there are no easy answers, so we explore and debate the many definitions of architecture, design, and what architects and social scientists call the built environment. Definitions of Architecture Some people think architecture is like pornography - you know it when you see it. Everyone may have an opinion and an elegant (or self-serving) definition for architecture. From the Latin word architectura, the word we use describes the job of an architect. The ancient Greek arkhitekton was the chief builder or master technician of all craftsmen and artisans. So, what comes first, the architect or the architecture?   architecture 1. The art and science of designing and building structures, or large groups of structures, in keeping with aesthetic and functional criteria. 2. Structures built in accordance with such principles.- Dictionary of Architecture and Construction Architecture is the scientific art of making structure express ideas. Architecture is the triumph of human imagination over materials, methods, and men to put man into possession of his own earth. Architecture is mans great sense of himself embodied in a world of his own making. It may rise as high in quality only as its source because great art is great life. - Frank Lloyd Wright, from the Architectural Forum, May 1930 It is about creating buildings and spaces that inspire us, that help us do our jobs, that bring us together, and that become, at their best, works of art that we can move through and live in. And in the end, that is why architecture can be considered the most democratic of art forms. - 2011, President Barack Obama, Pritzker Architecture Prize Ceremony Speech Depending on the context, the word architecture can refer to any man-made building or structure, like a tower or monument; a man-made building or structure that is important, large, or highly creative; a carefully designed object, such as a chair, a spoon, or a tea kettle; a design for a large area such as a city, town, park, or landscaped gardens; the art or science of designing and building buildings, structures, objects, and outdoor spaces; a building style, method, or process; a plan for organizing space; elegant engineering; the planned design of any kind of system; a systematic arrangement of information or ideas; and the flow of information on a web page. Tensil Architecture at Denver International Airport. George Rose/Getty Images (cropped) Art, Architecture, and Design In 2005, the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude implemented an idea, an art installation in New York City called  The Gates in Central Park. Thousands of bright orange gates were placed throughout Central Park, the great landscape architecture of Frederick Law Olmsted, erected as designed by the artistic team. Of course, The Gates is art, because what else would it be? wrote art critic Peter Schjeldahl at the time. Art used to mean paintings and statues. Now it means practically anything human-made that is unclassifiable otherwise. The New York Times was more pragmatic in their review called Enough About Gates as Art; Lets Talk About That Price Tag. So, if a man-made design cant be classified, it must be art. But if its very, very expensive to create, how can it be simply art? Depending on your perspective, you might use the word architecture to describe any number of things. Which of these items might be called architecture - a circus tent; a sports stadium; an egg carton; a roller coaster; a log cabin; a skyscraper; a computer program; a temporary summer pavilion; a political campaign; a bonfire; a parking garage; an airport, bridge, train station, or your house? The list could go on forever. The Architecture of the Car Park, 2010, by Herzog de Meuron, 1111 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, Florida. Roger Kisby/Getty Images What Does Architectural Mean? The adjective architectural can describe anything related to architecture and building design. Examples are abundant, including architectural drawings; architectural design; architectural styles; architectural modeling; architectural details; architectural engineering; architectural software; architectural historian or architectural history; architectural research; architectural evolution; architectural studies; architectural heritage; architectural traditions; architectural antiquities and architectural salvage; architectural lighting; architectural products; architectural investigation. Also, the word architectural can describe objects that have a strong shape or beautiful lines - an architectural vase; an architectural sculpture; an architectural rock formation; architectural drapery. Perhaps it is this use of the word architectural that has muddied the waters of defining architecture. When Does a Building Become Architecture? The land is the simplest form of architecture, wrote American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), implying that the built environment is not exclusively man-made. If true, are the birds and the bees and all builders of natural habitats considered architects - and are their structures architecture? Architect and journalist Roger K. Lewis (b. 1941) writes that societies tend to value most a structure that transcends service or functional performance and that are more than mere buildings. Great architecture, writes Lewis, has always represented more than responsible construction or durable shelter. Artfulness of form and artistry of building have long been the dominant standards for measuring the extent to which human made artifacts are transformed from the profane to the sacred. Frank Lloyd Wright claims that this artistry and beauty can only come from the human spirit. Mere building may not know spirit at all, Wright wrote in 1937. And it is well to say that the spirit of the thing is the essential life of that thing because it is truth. To Wrights thinking, a beaver dam, a beehive, and a birds nest may be beautiful, lower forms of architecture, but the great fact is this - architecture is simply a higher type and expression of nature by way of human nature where human beings are concerned. The spirit of man enters into all, making of the whole a godlike reflection of himself as creator. Apple Headquarters Designed by Norman Foster in Cupertino, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images So, What Is Architecture? Architecture is an art bridging the humanities and the sciences, says American architect Steven Holl (b. 1947). We work bone-deep in Art - drawing lines between sculpture, poetry, music and science that coalesce in Architecture. Since the licensing of architects, these professionals have defined themselves and what they do. This hasnt stopped anyone and everyone else from having an opinion with no one architecture definition. Sources Gutheim, Frederick ed. Frank Lloyd Wright On Architecture: Selected Writings (1894-1940). Grossets Universal Library, 1941, p. 141Harris, Cyril M. ed. Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. McGraw- Hill, 1975, p. 24Holl, Steven. Five Minute Manifesto. AIA Gold Medal Ceremony, Washington, D.C. May 18, 2012 Lewis, Roger K. Introduction. Master Builders, Diane Maddex ed., National Trust for Historic Preservation, Wiley Preservation Press, 1985, p. 8McIntire, Mike. Enough About Gates as Art; Lets Talk About That Price Tag. The New York Times, March 5, 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/nyregion/enough-about-gates-as-art-lets-talk-about-that-price-tag.htmlSchjeldahl, Peter. Gated. The New Yorker, February 28, 2005, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/02/28/gatedWright, Frank Lloyd. The Future of Architecture. New American Library, Horizon Press, 1953, pp. 41, 58-59

Search Engine Structure essays

Search Engine Structure essays The Internet is a vast and overwhelming collection of information on any subject that can be imagined. To provide structure to this huge amount of information, search engines allow users to search for specific pieces of Search engines such as Google and Yahoo are technically known as information retrieval systems (IR) (Liddy, 2001). These search engines then work on the basis of created indexes. These indexes are matched with queries entered by users. Indexes are created according to words in documents and pointers within documents. The IR system creating this index is structured according to four elements: a document processor, query processor, search and matching function, and ranking ability (Liddy, 2001). The document processor comprises a preparing, processing and inputting function when a search is conducted (Liddy, 2001). Several functions are inherent in this process, including normalizing the document stream, breaking it into retrievable units, metatagging subdocument pieces, identifying indexable elements, etc. The first three functions are known as pre-processing, and the main aim is standardization of multiple formats. The nature and quality of search results are determined by the index identification stage. Further concerning the quality of material is the elimination of stop words. These include words of little meaning to the content of the query, such as "and", "but", "of", etc. Deleting these words helps to save search time and volume. Closely related is term stemming, according to which suffixes are removed. This helps to reduce the number of unique words in an index, and again saves storage space. A disadvantage is that precision and accuracy of search results may be negatively affected. There is however the option of a strong or weak stemming algorithm in order to regulate precision. Finally, the document processor extracts i...

Atomism - Pre-Socratic Philosophy

Atomism - Pre-Socratic Philosophy Atomism: Atomism was one of the theories the ancient Greek natural philosophers devised to explain the universe. The atoms, from the Greek for not cut were indivisible. They had few innate properties (size, shape, order, and position) and could hit each other in the void. By hitting one another and locking together, they become something else. This philosophy explained the material of the universe and is called a materialist philosophy. Atomists also developed ethics, epistemology, and political philosophy based on atomism. Leucippus and Democritus: Leucippus (c. 480 - c. 420 B.C.) is credited with coming up with atomism, although sometimes this credit is extended equally to Democritus of Abdera, the other main early atomist. Another (earlier) candidate is Moschus of Sidon, from the Trojan War era. Leucippus and Democritus (460-370 B.C.) posited that the natural world is comprised of only two, indivisible bodies, the void, and atoms. Atoms continually bounce around in the void, bouncing into each other, but eventually bouncing off. This movement explains how things change. The Motivation for Atomism: Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) wrote that the idea of indivisible bodies came in response to the teaching of another Pre-Socratic philosopher, Parmenides, who said that the very fact of change implies that something that is not either really is or comes into being from nothing. The atomists are also thought to have been countering the paradoxes of Zeno, who argued that if objects can be infinitely divided, then the motion should be impossible because otherwise, a body would have to cover an infinite number of spaces in a finite amount of time. Perception: The atomists believed we see objects because a film of atoms drops off the surface of the objects we see. The color is produced by the position of these atoms. Early atomists thought perceptions exist by convention, while atoms and the void exist by reality. Later atomists rejected this distinction. Epicurus: A few hundred years after Democritus, the Hellenistic era revived the atomist philosophy. Epicureans (341-270 B.C.) formed a community applying atomism to a philosophy of living a pleasant life. Their community included women and some women raised children there. Epicureans sought pleasure by getting rid of things like fear. Fear of gods and death are inconsistent with atomism and if we can get rid of them, we will be free of mental anguish. Source: Berryman, Sylvia, Ancient Atomism, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2005 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)

What are the other categories of persons in need of protection not Essay

What are the other categories of persons in need of protection not defined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol - Essay Example It dictates the available solution for refugees as exile. On the contrary, we are in a different era where refugees problems can be properly handled and rule out exile. In this regard, dialogue can rule out or provide alternative amicable solutions to refugees. The Refugee Convention of 1951 and the 1967 Protocol covers widely the rights of the refugees in the entire world (Miller, 2014). However, the convention and its protocol fail to cover other groups of the vulnerable and the disadvantaged. These groups are the victims of female genital mutilation, child hunger, child recruitment into illegal militia, sex abuse victims, among others (Antoinette, 2010). The convection states that it does not provide permanent protection to refugees. This implies that when the refugee status of a person expires, he or she is venerable to other crimes such as sexual abuse and hunger. The 1951 refugee convention and 1967 protocol are to be The convection however, has its fair share of limitations that emphasis more on the need to have the convection revised. For instance, the convection denies the refugees and ‘camp’ refugees equality (Miller, 2014). More preference is given to those present instead of preference being based on the neediest. Furthermore, the convection also does not take into account factors accruing to the refugees as a result of political, financial or social factors. The convection based asylum deemed to be most efficient during the Cold War (Miller, 2014). Applying the same convection today has proved futile in seeking to solve some of the challenges faced by the asylum seekers. The convection fails to factor in mass asylum seekers outflows as well as their migratory movement patterns. The 1951 convection is very clear on the persons it protects. The convection clear defines refugees as a person who has freed his or her country due to risk of facing prosecution because of race, political opinion or religion. The 1967

Climate Anomalies for a Particular Region Essay

Climate Anomalies for a Particular Region - Essay Example The waves are disturbed by two forcing, namely, Orographic forcing and Thermal forcing. Orographic forcing, more relevant in northern hemisphere owing to dominating surface topography with Rocky Mountain and Tibetan plateau, relates to planetary waves generated due to the compression and expansion of air columns, leading to vortex stretching which can be balanced by the vorticity advection (Dickinson, 1978). Thermal forcing, varying with seasonal change in thermal effect, relates to generation of planetary waves by the adiabatic heating and cooling due to rising and sinking air motions; this maybe balanced by temperature advection (Ashe, 1987). In the subsequent paragraphs we shall examine climate anomalies for a particular region in the context of the large scale hemispheric wave pattern with a multiple objective to firstly, convert temperature and precipitation data, obtained from the Plymouth University Portal, into appropriate graphs, secondly, discuss and compare the seasons wit h reference to the hemispheric flow and lastly, discuss the possible reason for the variation in the temperature and precipitation on temporal and spatial scales. Examination of the climate anomalies involved collection of temperature and precipitati... This was followed by statistical analysis of the data which included determination of mean temperature and standard deviation for the four regions. The monthly hemispheric charts were plotted with the help of NOAA's Climate Diagnostics Centre following the link, http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/cdc/dtat.ncep.reanalysis.derived.html. Following steps are required for obtaining the plot:- When the above link opens Click on 'Pressure level Data'. The page automatically moves down. Now click on the 'Geo-potential height'. This should open a new page, scroll down and Click on 'make plot (Monthly Mean)'. To improve the chart quality, adhere to following details:- Select latitude between 20 and 90N, Select 500 mb and Select suitable dates (from, to). Now, select 'Plot' on white background, Polar stereographic and Remove Colour Plot. Finally click on Create Plot. Figure 1: Map of Europe, Source: Praxis network, 2007 The results were obtained place-wise, for four different regions, for summer and winter seasons. All graphs show the average monthly temperature or precipitation during a season. The data has been taken from the following regions (also marked in Figure 1 above):- Station Elevation (m) Latitude Longitude Toulouse 152 43.60 N 1.40 E Edinburgh 41 55.95 N 3.35 W Alborg 13 57.10 N 9.87 E Helsinki 53 60.30 N 25.00 E Table 1: Region Coordinates Final Results Figure 2: shows the average summer temperature for the period 1951-1991 for all stations Toulouse The average summer temperature graph shows the average maximum temperatures recorded in Toulouse from 1951 to 1991. The highest average temperature of 21.9 C was recorded in Toulouse in the summer of 1990 while lowest

Questionnaires for dissertation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Questionnaires for dissertation - Essay Example .......................................................................................................................... Why?.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Why?........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Why?.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Why?........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Why?.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Explain........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Why?.................................................................................................................................................................................................

Critically Evaluating Current Neo-liberal Education Policies Essay

Critically Evaluating Current Neo-liberal Education Policies - Essay Example 280). Attempts to improve the education system have been concerned with increasing the productivity of the education system. In a bid to change the education system new policies have been designed to raise standards following market ideologies. The schools become responsible for performance while the parents are given a variety of choices to select schools. Moreover, Bartlett and Burton (2006, p. 4) added that, the curriculum has been designed and dictated across the nation and attending school became compulsory. Those who choose to go for higher education have been required to pay tuition fee. The coalition government has reviewed the curriculum and qualifications in the education system since it assumed power in the year 2010. In order to enable learners to take the most appropriate route for the aspired profession, the coalition government introduced policies that facilitate them join a school to become an academy. An academy is an arrangement where students attend without paying and the school is managed by members of the local groups in the community. The coalition government reviewed funding for the vocational education. The motive was to increase the standards for qualification of the vocational education. Additionally, the school curriculum was reviewed to allow the instructors choose the method of delivery to the students. For the students in higher education, the coalition government ensured that there was mobility and sustainable funding. Qualifications pertaining diplomas and languages were reviewed. The language skills such as grammar, punctuation and spelling were incorporated in learning. The changes in funding arrangements... This essay stresses that attempts to improve the education system have been concerned with increasing the productivity of the education system. In a bid to change the education system new policies have been designed to raise standards following market ideologies. The schools become responsible for performance while the parents are given a variety of choices to select schools. Moreover, Bartlett and Burton (2006, p. 4) added that, the curriculum has been designed and dictated across the nation and attending school became compulsory. Those who choose to go for higher education have been required to pay tuition fee. This paper declares that the coalition government reviewed funding for the vocational education. The motive was to increase the standards for qualification of the vocational education. Additionally, the school curriculum was reviewed to allow the instructors choose the method of delivery to the students. For the students in higher education, the coalition government ensured that there was mobility and sustainable funding. Qualifications pertaining diplomas and languages were reviewed. The language skills such as grammar, punctuation and spelling were incorporated in learning. The changes in funding arrangements were to ensure that students continue with learning, develop and grow academically. After the government introduced a curriculum which requires all schools to teach certain skills and subjects, a nationwide assessment curriculum was formed.

How has the financial crisis of 2008 affected the real estate market Essay

How has the financial crisis of 2008 affected the real estate market in Dubai - Essay Example The recent global financial crisis affected nearly every major developed economy.   While there were numerous causes precipitating this near economic collapse, the reality is that it may take a decade of more for many sectors to recover.   One of the areas hardest hit globally is the housing sector.   In most locations, there was a tremendous drop in housing and property prices.   A glut of supply hit the market almost instantly; at the same time the access to credit became severely restricted.   In many respects, even though the economy is slowly recovering, the residual effects of economic downturn are still being felt, particularly in its impact on housing prices and the tightening of lending guidelines.   These topics form the basis for this study as we look at one of the areas in the Middle East, Dubai, which was particularly hard hit by the global financial crisis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and analyze the economic conditions, particularly in terms o f the real estate market, present in Dubai during and subsequent to the global economic crisis of 2008.   This focus was on an analysis of these economic conditions on the real estate market, how the market was affected by the crisis, and how it is expected to recover and perform in the future.   The following research question guided this process: How as the real estate market in Dubai affected by the financial crisis, and how did the market recover in subsequent years?

A Comparison of Structured Analysis to Object-Oriented Analysis Research Paper

A Comparison of Structured Analysis to Object-Oriented Analysis - Research Paper Example The structured approach got accepted and started being widely used for development and system analysis. Then, a methodology was created that helped the development of applications with the object oriented languages. This approach came to be known as the object oriented analysis and design. A comparative analysis has been conducted with respect to these two methodologies, along with their basic infrastructure and techniques. The structured approach enables the analyst to split a complex project into smaller and controllable parts. This approach is based on the step-by-step execution of the phases. The start of an activity in a phase will depend on the completion of activities in the preceding phase. It is based on a top-down, hierarchal approach that produces logical and organized systems (Holon Institute of Technology, n.d.). The structured nature of the design facilitates efficient project management, resource management etc. OOAD approach follows an object oriented approach instead of a functional one that is followed in SSAD (Pefkaros, 2008). An object in OOAD is considered to be any place, person or thing that can have the following aspects related to it; Structured approach promotes the concept of clear steps from the initiation of the project till the end; these steps are conventionally planning, analysis, design and implementation. Whereas the object oriented approach does provide any such specific number of phases. There are no clear steps from analysis to design. Structured System analysis and design is process oriented whereas object oriented system and design is data-oriented. There exists a clear separation between the between the data and the processes of the system in the structured approach, while the data and the processes of the system are encapsulated into objects (Pefkaros, 2008). OOAD seems more flexible and adaptive to changes as compared to SSAD. There can be many benefits gained from

How has the financial crisis of 2008 affected the real estate market Essay

How has the financial crisis of 2008 affected the real estate market in Dubai - Essay Example The recent global financial crisis affected nearly every major developed economy.   While there were numerous causes precipitating this near economic collapse, the reality is that it may take a decade of more for many sectors to recover.   One of the areas hardest hit globally is the housing sector.   In most locations, there was a tremendous drop in housing and property prices.   A glut of supply hit the market almost instantly; at the same time the access to credit became severely restricted.   In many respects, even though the economy is slowly recovering, the residual effects of economic downturn are still being felt, particularly in its impact on housing prices and the tightening of lending guidelines.   These topics form the basis for this study as we look at one of the areas in the Middle East, Dubai, which was particularly hard hit by the global financial crisis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and analyze the economic conditions, particularly in terms o f the real estate market, present in Dubai during and subsequent to the global economic crisis of 2008.   This focus was on an analysis of these economic conditions on the real estate market, how the market was affected by the crisis, and how it is expected to recover and perform in the future.   The following research question guided this process: How as the real estate market in Dubai affected by the financial crisis, and how did the market recover in subsequent years?

The effect of mohammed ali on Arabic culture in Egypt i mean how Dissertation

The effect of mohammed ali on Arabic culture in Egypt i mean how mohammed ali make modern egypt education scholarships , - Dissertation Example Research Methodology Why Muhammad Ali? As Viceroy (alternately Wali, Khedive or Pasha) of Egypt 125 years earlier had a revolutionary impact on Egyptian society, politics and culture. He also established a dynasty in 1805 that would last for almost 150 years: A dynasty that would only end with the Egyptian revolution and establishment of a Republic in 1953. (Dodwell, 1977, passim.) The following discussion will focus on the first Muhammad Ali and his impact on Egypt and Egyptian development. Initially, a brief biography of the Viceroy will be presented. The body of the discussion will focus on his reforms to various aspects of Egyptian life such as the army, academia and administration. The concluding section of this discussion will assess the impact of these changes and their importance. Biography Muhammad Ali was born in 1769, in the Ottoman province of Kavala, which was located in present-day Greece. According to Encyclop?dia Britannica online his â€Å"ethnic background is unkno wn, though he may have been an Albanian and was certainly a Muslim and an Ottoman subject.†(n. d.) Historian Afaf Lutfi Al-Sayyid Marsot, argues that even his birthday is unknown and suggests that 1770 was his actual date of birth. He also argues that Muhammad Ali was not Albanian but Kurdish. (1984, pp 24-25) His father was a military leader for the governor of Kavala. Muhammad Ali sustained a rumour that his father died when he was very young and thenceforward the young man was raised by the governor.(Encyclop?dia Britannica online, n. d.) Again, Marsot disputes this tale and asserts that his father did not die until Muhammad Ali was a married man of 20. (1984, p. 25) Details are sketchy but he followed in his father's footsteps in the military while also dabbling in trading and in 1787 he married his first wife, a relative of the governor. (Encyclop?dia Britannica online, n. d.) The various versions of Muhammad Ali's early life are complex and contradictory. However, this p roposal and the subsequent dissertation will focus on his life after 1801 and his impact on Egyptian politics, culture and society. Therefore, these specific historical questions do not have a major impact on this discussion. However, these disputes do clearly establish that the historical record of Muhammad Ali (as it is present in both primary and secondary sources) must be closely assessed for veracity and accuracy. What is clear and undisputed is military experience and connections to the government led to his being dispatched in 1801 as an officer in a force of Albanians sent to Egypt by the Sultan to drive out the French, who had invaded the Ottoman province three years earlier. He was to succeed in a manner that far exceeded the Sultan's expectations or desire. Napolean and Muhammad Ali The French invasion of Egypt in 1798 by Napoleon Bonaparte's Army of Italy had numerous motivations. Personally and politically, his eye on control of all of France, Napoleon hoped to enhance his popularity and prestige. Further, he was accompanied by an army of scholars who were assigned to explore and document Egypt's natural and ancient history. The French were also exploring the possibility of constructing a 'Suez' canal to facilitate destruction of Great Britain's hold over India (Harten, 2003). Eventually, the British defeated the French in Egypt, but themselves evacuated in 1803 once the Napoleonic threat was eliminated. Muhammad Ali remained and and a

Art & Literature Have No Place in the Modern World Essay Example for Free

Art Literature Have No Place in the Modern World Essay Creating and expressing ones self through various media, such as art and literature, has been a desire of mankind since the beginning of time. Art form and literature has been used to express mankinds deepest observations, most profound thinking and firmest beliefs; it encompasses many genres such as paintings,drama, poetry and novels. While both the physical arts and literature are a form of self-expression, each also represents a profession. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become. This adage is perhaps the most appropriate description of the importance of literature in our lives. As Amy Lowell quotes, ’Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. ’ When we look around us, we see a lot of things that relate to art.. , contain art.. , are art.. and shows art.. Art is everywhere because people need to use it for daily uses. Art can come in the form of many things, including posters, murals, portraits, covers, paintings and more. This is enough to show how art and literature are blended into our lives. Music, paintings, sculptures, epics, fictions, movies, stories†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. and so on and so forth are all a part of us. Is there a home in this modern world without a painting on the wall or a deck which doesn’t hum their favourite tune or a rack with Fredrick Forsyth or James Hadley Chase novels? Even a child of this generation has his ears plugged all the time either listening to a soulful raga or a foot tapping Michael Jackson and reading either a religious book or a comic or an encyclopedia†¦. this is the common usage of art and literature. Art can also be used to liven up things in this world. It may not have a specific idea or meaning but it can be used to make things look better and more complete. When you write a project, it looks dull just with words, but when you add a picture or two to it, it looks much better because now there is visual aid. Art is found everywhere, including parks, school, malls,homes†¦ and is used just to make the place more comfortable and appealing to the eye. It can sometimes act as filler because it looks better than to just leave something on its own. It is through reading great literary and poetic works, that one understands life. They help a person take a closer look at the different facets of life. In many ways, it can change ones perspective towards life. Lives of brilliant achievers and individuals who have made a valuable contribution to society, are sketched in their biographies. These works give the readers an insight into the lives of these eminent people and sometimes help people change for the good. Friends, don’t you agree that Art and literature are great tools for learning. They can be found almost everywhere where there is a school. They are important because of what they can be used for. It is fun and acts as an interactive tool for learners who learn to appreciate art and literature for what it can do for them. In the process, people can learn a lot. Sometimes, art and writing go hand in hand. Art and literature serves as an enormous information base. Many people depend on art and literature. People who draw and write are not the only people who use and make money out of it. People who are book publishers, magazine editors, newspaper people, painters, actors all need to use art to supplement their work. Art and literature are used by some people directly andsome indirectly. People can choose to make a profession out of this because it is fun for them; it is something that they like to do, and more. Hence I strongly believe that we had art and literature in our blood since ages and is still used and appreciated by us in different forms in the modern world. There is not even a single person in this room who doesn’t love music or reading!

The Development Strategies Of Budget Hotels In China Marketing Essay

The Development Strategies Of Budget Hotels In China Marketing Essay With rapid economic growth in China, the Chinas tourism industry has entered a huge stage of development. Such as mass tourism, individual travel, business travel has increased. Related data show that in 2020 there will be the number of tourists from the world to could reach 300 billion people. The market share is highest. According to the huge data, here is a huge market demand for budget hotel industry. At present Chinas tourism industry already entered the large-scale travel stage. The travellers are willing to accept clean, cheap, basic-service hotels. In order to meet Chinas tourism and business needs, the new trend is development of the international level of budget hotels. Here are some typical Chinas budget hotel chain such as Home Inns, Jin Jiang Inns, and 7 days Inns. They are use chain business model adapt to the China tourism industrys needs, the development will bring new opportunities for the hotel industry. The advantages of the budget hotel are the operational model i s small, the low-cost investment required, and easily developing chain business-make the hotels have a brand, customers, quality management based on low-cost investment. But the industry will face challenges by many local and foreign hotel competitors appear in the industry. And the budget hotel industry is in the preliminary stage, the concept of budget hotel is unclear, no standard industry rules, carefully dividing a market, and the marketing strategy also need to be development. The budget hotel industry has to develop marketing strategy to seek the road of sustainable development. In this paper, marketing strategy of budget hotel in China is the object of this study. I will evaluate the current situation of budget hotels industry in china, and analyze the problems in the budget hotel development. I will describe the marketing strategy of the Home Inns case study, using their successful marketing strategy to identify appropriate development strategies for budget hotels industry in China. I will focus on the marketing strategy theory from my BBA programme to analyze the actual problems and the successful industry cases such as Home Inns that will provide a great guiding to Chinas budget hotel industry have a new development strategy. Orientation The overview of China budget hotel industry In China the budget hotels is still a new concept. In Europe and the United States, the budget hotels are quite mature industry. It is compared with the full-service hotels form. But there is no form definition for budget hotel. We can accord the characteristics of the budget hotel to define the budget hotels is as follows: limited facilities and services; aimed at the travelers and business travelers market; standardized operation; the price is low usually below in 300 RMB in China (Table 1); branded network of hotels; located on major road networks or in secondary urban locations such as retail parks. They are generally good quality, service standards, the comfortable environment and value for money bedrooms designed and marketed in such a way as to appeal to the travelling public and is a cost-effective modern hotel business (Jones, 2002). Table 1- The Published Room Price of Home Inns Budget Hotels Room Bed Price Standard 1F Double: 15m2  ¥227 Standard King size 1F King size: 15m2  ¥227 Standard ¼Ã‹â€ 2F-4F ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° Double: 15m2  ¥265 Business ¼Ã‹â€ 2F-4F ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° King size:15m2  ¥265 (Source: Home Inn website) According to the Chinese budget hotel industry report 2011-2012, I saw the Chinas budget hotel industry has a rapid increase in market share. In 2011, the Market size grew 45 percent year-on-year to RMB26 billion and the number of budget hotels grew by almost 42.85 percent to 7,314. The industry is still in the big but not strong stage. For the market share, the total revenue of hotels in China has a concentration ratio just 37 percent in 2011. In future completion progression, the fast market expansion mainly through franchise chains, mergers and acquisitions. (China budget hotel industry report, 2011-2012. 2012) Analyzing the current business portfolio of the China budget hotels may use the Boston Consulting Group Approach (BCG) to measure market share and growth of their business. Here is a high-share business units in low-growth market is called Cash Cow. They need to develop strategies for growth. The hotels need growth if they are to compete more effectively, more satisfy their customers, and attract more professional staffs. The purpose of strategic planning is to find ways in which the budget hotel industry can best use its strengths to take advantage of attractive opportunities in the environment of the China budget hotel industry. (Armstrong Kotler, 2007) SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis is a useful tool to evaluate the businesss overall strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T) (Table 2). It analyzes businesss markets and marketing environments and base objective to find attractive opportunities and identify environmental threats. The strengths and weaknesses are in the internal environment, and opportunities and threats are in the external environment. I will use this tool to analyze the current situation of the budget hotel industry strengths and weaknesses in the internal environment to determine which opportunities it is best. The goal is to match the industrys strengths to attractive opportunities, overcoming the weakness and minimizing the threats (Armstrong Kotler, 2007). The SWOT analysis can be very good response current situation of the industry. Strengths Internal capabilities that may help a company reach its objectives Weaknesses Internal limitations that may interfere with a companys ability to achieve its objectives Opportunities External factors that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage Threats Current and emerging external factors that may challenge the companys performanceTable 2-SWOT Analysis Internal External Positive Negative (Source: Text book Marketing: An Introduction, Figure 2.7) The strengths of China budget hotel business: Low cost investment: the cost of budget hotel is lower than other star hotels, the development is easy. Price advantage: the budget hotel can proved a lower price for good quality, service standards, the comfortable environment, and the bedrooms designed. Customer advantage: the low price of the budget hotels can better attract customers improving occupancy rates. Management advantages: budget hotel use chain business operation, it is easy to set up management model and adapt to market competition. Information advantages: easily set up their own network, customer service systems, and reservation system. Using modern technology can obtain more stable customer source. (Zhao Guo, 2006) The weaknesses of China budget hotel business: Huge numbers of budget hotels had flocked together in China. No standard competition model in the industry. Lack of clear market positioning Lack of standard management system Some budget hotels cheap equipment cannot meet the customers needs. (Meadin, 2010) The opportunities of China budget hotel business: There is a huge Market demand for growth in China. According the world tourism organization predict the worlds largest tourism country will be China in 2020. Now, the demand of the budget hotels increases along with the increase number of Chinese tourists and foreign tourists. (Meadin Website, 2010) Change of consumption idea and behavior. With the improvement of the living standard of Chinese people, the consumption idea and behavior began to improve. So there is a huge space for development. (Zhao Guo, 2006) The threats of China budget hotel business: There is so much competition for the China budget hotel industry. Foreign budget hotel into the Chinese market. And the brand of Chinese budget hotel continues to expand. There are a lot of potential competitors and substitute hotels. Crisis of confidence. Some budget hotel cannot meet the needs of customers such as cheap facilities, low service quality, and bad hotel operations. This made a negative impact for the budget hotel industry. Lack of professional human resource management. The rapid growth of budget hotel in China to make the lack of management model and professional staffs. (Zhao Guo, 2006) The features of China budget hotels The limitation of product: the core of the budget hotels is accommodation. They remove some unnecessary service to cut the cost. Quality of services and products: the budget hotels emphasize the comfortable of guest room facilities, clean and convenient environment, and service standards. Reasonable price of the budget hotels: the main target markets are tourists, students, business man etc. The price is usually below 300 RMB. (Table 1) Chain business operation: a lot of budget hotel use chain business model such as JinJiang Inns, Home Inns etc. This way can enhance brand value, expand business range. This is important difference between other star hotels. (Zhang, 2008) The problems of China budget hotel industry Lack of service standards The biggest problem of the budget hotel is no-standard service, poor facilities of some budget hotels, and difficult to meet the needs of the customers. Most of the budget hotels management does not reach the position, low service level, and the environment is not enough comfortable. Some budget hotel also operate old low-star hotel model. They are not professional for the budget hotels core of service. The definition of the budget hotel is safe, clean, providing basic life needs. The budget only is less investment and less supporting facilities. It is not to decrease the basic management of service quality. Budget hotels investment is less, but also need to have a standard rules and basic service quality and professional level. (Gao, 2009) Lack of brand awareness In China budget hotel industry, the brand awareness is not strong. Many of the budget hotels are individual operation that not build a scale business and brand effect. The development of individual operation by the price competition is negative for the development of the industry. The customers acknowledge of brand and choice of service brand gradually growth that has also become a kind of consumption habits. Now the most main competition is brand competition, if the hotels have not a brand image they will lose competitiveness power. Actively implement the brand strategy has become an important issue for the budget hotel management. At present, the most of the Chinas budget hotels did not build a scale business and also not use chain operation, except JinJiang Inns and Home Inns have brand and collectivization characteristic. There are few budget hotel create their own brand awareness. (Gao, 2009) Lack of professional human resource Lack of professional talents is a development bottleneck with the company size is continually expanding. The lack of professional talents can easily lead nonstandard service operation skills and poorly service quality. The team building and developing personnel sources from which to recruit potential employees is so important for the company development. The budget hotels need the employees who can handle a wider variety of responsibilities that training and developing managers is so important (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhar, Wright, 2009). The professional talent competition is so importance for budget hotel industry. In practice, the budget hotels are faced with the lack of professional talents. The human resources required of the budget hotels are one person who can on more jobs and more abilities manager but there is lack of human resource in the market. Therefore, the Chinas budget hotel industry will face the strong challenge from foreign brand and capital. Attracting talents and crea ting high quality management team is so important improvement for the China budget hotel industry. There only have the strong human resource development the budget hotel achieve the goals by service standard and operation standardization. (Gao, 2009) Difficult to build scale management The budget hotel industry is an emerging industry. Many owners dont have a lot of management experience. At the same time, the budget hotel both in size and in financial resources is limited. The development of the budget hotel industry is mainly at an individual operation situation, so the weak profits for owners and for customers is difficult to meet their requirements. The budget hotel industry need to change the management model is necessary. (Gao, 2009) No clear market segmentation In China many budget hotels do not have clear target market and or market segmentation that causes the market overlap or product design is not obvious difference so lack of different subdivided market demand for products and services. In China there have been no analyses on budget hotel clear division of products to meet different customers with customer demand for the industry. In foreign the budget hotel can be divided into three categories: full service hotel, budget hotel, and cheap hotel. The three levels of the price and the facilities is bigger difference. At present the product design of the Chinas budget hotel is single. There is no obvious difference of product and individuality characteristic. The different customers have different demand that reflected in product demand. There has a strong required for product differentiation. (Qiang, 2008) Research Methodology In this paper, I will use case study method. This project uses the Home Inns budget hotel in China. It is successful marketing strategy experience for the budget hotel market. And analyze the issues and current situation of the Chinas budget hotel industry. After analysis, I find some greatest marketing strategy for the industry help other hotels to find their own suitable development road. They have appropriate marketing strategies to compete with other competitors, and establish their own brand image. The main research contents: Introduction the research background and objectives, the structure of this project, and the significance of the research in this paper; Analysis of the current situation and business environment of the budget hotel industry, include the definition and characteristic of the budget hotel, and defining the problems of the budget hotel industry; Analysis of the marketing strategy of Home Inns, include the introduction of Home Inns and its successful marketing strategies. Reporting the findings, include develop the greatest marketing strategy for the budget hotel industry based on analysis of the Home Inns marketing strategy and the theory of marketing strategy. Data collection: I plan to gather information from the Primary data and secondary data. The secondary data has been collected include magazine, newspaper articles, books and internet articles or journals, and a thesis on a marketing strategy topic. The main data is based on the secondary data source. On the other hand, the primary data also been used include internal report and document from their owned Website of the companies. I also will collect some literature and theory based on my BBA courses include marketing management, strategy management, small business management, human resource management, and service operations management what factors help the budget hotel industry find the appropriate road to face the challenges and develop their own marketing strategies. Review of Literature Introduction of Home Inns In China, Home Inn was founded in 2002 that is the first budget hotel company for the 21st century. The vision of the company is wherever you go, you are always at home with professional and courteous service, comfortable rooms, convenient locations, and low prices that make attractive for leisure travelers and individual business who demand clean, comfortable and convenient environment of the budget hotel. Home Inn continues to rapidly expand its nationwide network of hotels. In November 2011, Home Inn launched a new hotel brand- Yitel for the middle-class and high-class market. They also completed the acquisition of an all ownership interest of Motel 168 hotel chain and have retained the Motel 168 brand in October 2011. In 2012, home Inns operated across 243 cities in China with a total of 1,682 hotels (Appendix-2). Their goal is to continue expanding to ensure whatever how large grows they will always keep the consistent quality and superior service that guide each hotel in the ho me Inns group (Overview of Home Inn, 2013). Home Inn is a largest budge hotel company in China with a 23.7% market share in 2012. (Appendix-3) The history of the Home Inn is Ji Qi one of Ctrip founders who founded a good business chance. Because Ji Qi noticed a lot of traveler complaints the price is so expensive of the hotels in the Ctrip Website. After some analysis and reaches he found in China the full-service star hotels is not economy and the cheap hotel is poorly quality. This opportunity let Ji Qi created a chain brand idea for the hospitality industry in China. So the Home Inns hotel brand is developed. (Ma Chen, 2008) Analysis of marketing strategy in Home Inns The brand of Home Inn hotel is rapid growth in a short period that has become a first budget hotel chain. Its successful management strategy will be used for other budget hotels in China. To subdivide the market segmentation The company must to divide the market segmentation to decide its clear market positioning strategy. The company designs the strategy to build the right relationships with the right customers. First the company need to identify a set of possible competitive advantages which to build a position, second step is company chooses the right competitive advantages, and last one step is the company selects an greatest positioning strategy. Then the company must to effectively communicate and deliver the chosen position to the market. Market positioning includes deciding how to best serve target customers and setting the competitive advantage for the company. Company positioning should be summarized in positioning statements that state the target segment, positioning concept, and specific points of difference. (Armstrong Kotler, 2007) The segment market will be the direction for Chinas budget hotel business in the future, said Ye Bingxi the senior public relations manager at Home Inns and hotel management Inc. (Wang, 2012) The market position of Home Inns is the middle and high-end business hotel for individual business and leisure travellers who need a comfortable and clean hotel room at right price, Home Inns is a good choice that allows you feel the warmth of your home. The market is more carefully segmented to target customers. The Home Inns provide basic living facilities, clean room, and the equipment is simple and reasonable for individual business and leisure travellers will get the comfortable, clean and safe hotel environment at the right price is around 200 RMB. The clear positioning is an important competitive advantage. The marketing positioning of Home Inns to highlight their own characteristic, such as the room design is very unique. The most direct impression of the Home Inns is warm, simple, and convenient. They deliver the unique products and service for customers best impression. (Su, Shen Zhong, 2009) To emphasize quality consistency The high quality also can mean high levels of quality consistency. Today many companies have turned customer-driven quality into a potent strategic power. Customer-centered companies define quality in terms of creating customer value and satisfaction. They want to create customer satisfaction and value that is necessary of consistently meeting customers needs (Armstrong Kotler, 2007). A good quality control is a system used by a manager to ensure that the finished services meet the needs of customers. Effective quality control is needed to set standards for the service quality range, measure actual performance, and compare that performance with established standards (Byrd Megginson, 2009). Attracting talents and building a high quality management team is so important for perform the established standards of the service quality and ensure the quality consistency. There is only the strong human resource development lead the budget hotel to achieve the goals by maintaining the service standard and operation standardization. For a chain business, the service quality control is so important. If you dont have a good standard of the hotel will not be able to assure the quality of the company brand. The Home Inns practice has great directed function. Standardized service is a huge challenge for budget hotel chains. Only the standardized service can help consistently service quality. The Home Inns have established an effective management system. There are external and internal factor. External factors include industry, product, service and marketing. Inside factor include human resources, management system and core competitiveness. The home inn have wrote standards and procedures have established their own service standards. The different departments and teams within our management work together to maintain strong internal control and strengthen focus on risk management. (Tang, 2007) To build strong brand In China mostly budget hotels are single business form, no scale formation without the brand. For a budget hotel the brand is powerful assets that must be carefully developed and managed. The strong brand provides a company with many competitive advantages can create big benefits. A powerful brand enjoys a high level of consumer brand awareness and loyalty. The brand exists in the minds of customers. The real value of a strong brand is its power to capture consumer preference and loyalty that expanding the market share. (Armstrong Kotler, 2007) The Home Inns created their own brand that direct represents the characteristic and culture of the business in the market. The well-known brand is based on the quality of the products and services that maximum to meet the needs of the consumers. Home Inns create their own brand mainly following several ways as: Fist, Home Inns on the brand name is fully considered the characteristic of the budget hotels. On the one hand, home reflects the warmth, comfortable, home feeling meet the customer psychological needs. On the other hand also reflects its convenient and expeditious such as quick reservation system, good traffic conditions customer can easily and quickly find Home Inns. Secondly, through the reasonable and rapid expanding, home Inns hotel chain in order to build the good image. Third, Home Inns more focus on the satisfaction of the brand. The Quality control always is in the expanded scale process. Survey of customer satisfaction is used to timely analyze the customers comments and opinions, and then plan the best solution strategy at the first time. Finally, in the information and technology society, Home Inns paid more attention to the promotion such as advertising and public relationship. Include print, radio, television, magazines etc. The building advertising is an important part in the Home Inns marketing and is also a modern communication to achieved good effect. The Home Inns hotel builds up a good corporate image in the industry. (Su, Shen Zhong, 2009) To perform the chain operation strategy The budget hotel industry has to use the chain operation value for the biggest value. Because the low price of the budget hotels they should be collectivization and chain operation way for obtain more market share and development space. The chain operation strategy has many advantages over independents. Home Inns is a leading economy hotel chain in Chain. Home Inn Company has clear market position, standardized service processes, daily operations management and supervision system can make a best chain forms. They also provide the strong financial support, and then the ideal chain brand is effectively created. Home Inns use regular chain and franchise chain to expand the market size and the numbers of the home inns hotel. There are nine service support for franchise business, such as brand support, sales support, engineering and maintenance, and chartered service, maintenance profit, standard manuals, training, hotel management and network technical support content to ensure the standard of service and replication, as well as the brand is effectively expand (Tang, 2007). By the end of 2010, Home Inns Company has a total of 674 hotels covering 121 cities in China. Under Home Inns chain mode, its total room number is 7,8231 (Appendix 4). Its average per hotel guest room number is 116. In 2010, annual average every hotel room revenue is RMB 144. Under the back ground of collectivization and standardized chain replication model, Home Inns budget brings a large scale chain like brand effect. (Baidu, 2013) Research Finding Home Inns success experiences maximum meet customers needs and the basic requirement such as convenient, comfortable, clean environment and through the brand strategy and chain strategy to realize the company development. Now here is some the development issues of the budget hotel industry in China such as no clear market segmentation and poor brand marketing. But with the rapid development of Chinese economy and the tourism industry, the demand of budget hotels become more and more strong in the market. There are some success marketing strategies for the industry from Home Inns. Differentiation strategy Differentiation strategy provides the budget hotel products and services that offer benefits different from other competitors. The aim is to achieve competitive advantage by offering better products or services at the same price. The success of a differentiation strategy is likely to be dependent on two key factors: identifying and understanding the strategic customer that focuses consideration on who the strategy is targeting; and identifying key competitors (Johnson, Scholes Whittington, 2008). In China most budget hotel is not clear on the market segmentation. The target market is single, no clear subdivision. Here the Homs Inns is good example for the industry they accord different age will be divided into the senior passenger market and youth passenger market segment, and also be divided according the occupation. So the budget hotel industry should accord the gender, income and other factors to design different budget hotel products and service to meet the needs of the consumers for obtaining the customers loyalty. At the same time, the features of the budget hotel are also important for the differentiation strategy. The budget hotels implement specialization strategy the characteristic factors to meet diversification of the consumer demand and required. They need to focus on the maintaining the general service characteristics such as economic, comfortable and convenient and at same time creating the significant personality characteristics such as new concept and new acc ommodation experience to attract consumers is the service extends to the spiritual aspects. For chain operation, each budget hotel has different regional resources and market conditions advantages that through the diversification reengineering will be make the best choice for the budget hotel chain management. (Huang, 2012) Actively promote Chain operation The chain operation is the main trend in the budget hotel industry. Home Inn is a biggest chain operation business in China. It is good to ensure the most important customers resources through the chain model. The business travelers will choose familiar brand when they need a hotel service in another city. So the key of the chain operation management is to open enough hotel stores in more and more city that keep the travelers can find themselves familiar brand in different cities. Fist, individual economic only have small profits, the budget hotel is difficult to obtain rapid development by single unit profit. The scale economy is consequentially development trend. Second, the hotel is in a specific space environment to the customer provide accommodation facilities and service industry. The hotel hardware facilities is fixed in the specific space so the single budget hotel sales has a larger space limitations, will seriously affect to attract customers. Now the consumers activity area presents a wide range feature. Single budget hotel only through chain operation to speed expand their business scale and through the scale business reduce transaction costs and management cost, and integration of internal resources, expand the brand influence, the market competition advantage can be achieved. The chain operation management is the necessary way for the budget hotel industry development in China. (zhao, 2007) Brand strategy Brand is the intangible assets of the budget hotel it can produce huge economic benefits. Brand strategy is very effective marketing strategy. Brand is the culture and the unique advantages of different budget hotels. Brand is like the life of the budget hotel chain operation management, because the brand can let customer best understand and feel the different characteristic with other budget hotels that enhance consumers loyalty and identity. The well-know brand also is so important for the chain operation management that is effective competitive advantage. (zhao, 2007) The budget hotels need to manage brands as assets calls for longer-term strategy, maintain and protect their brands image, associations, quality, and to prevent short-term actions. First, the brands positioning must be continuously communicated to consumers that create brand awareness and to build preference and loyalty. The customers loyalty depends on the longer-term brand experience about the budget hotels consistent quality services and products. The budget hotel quality brand mainly through the image features, the price, the accommodation, the service staffs, and the hardware facilities to the customers produce the first impression. So the budget hotel build their brand depend on the long-term quality management and effective marketing strategy. The budget hotel needs to pay more attention to improve their own quality, and to train its staffs for professional manager market that to help employees understand and be enthusiastic about the brand promise. (Armstrong Kotler, 2007) Service strategy Service strategy is so important for the service industry-budget hotel industry. The service is to satisfy the needs of their customers through the place, staffs, price, equipment, and communications that they can see. For example, the budget hotel room is tangible services to customers enjoy the intangible service such as clean, warmth, comfortable. The budget hotel need to improve the service quality to meet the customers demand let them really feel the value. Successful budget hotels focus their attention on both their customers and their employees. First they need to ensure the internal

Ken Keseys One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest :: One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest

Ken Kesey and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with its meaningful message of individualism, was an extremely influential novel during the 1960's. In addition, its author, Ken Kesey, played a significant role in the development of the counterculture of the 60's; this included all people who did not conform to society's standards, experimented in drugs, and just lived their lives in an unconventional manner. Ken Kesey had many significant experiences that enabled him to create One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As a result of his entrance into the creative writing program at Stanford University in 1959 (Ken 1), Kesey moved to Perry Lane in Menlo Park. It was there that he and other writers first experimented with psychedelic drugs. After living at Perry Lane for a while, Kesey's friend, Vik Lovell, informed him about experiments at a local V.A. hospital in which volunteers were paid to take mind-altering drugs (Wolfe 321). Kesey's experiences at the hospital were his first step towards writing Cuckoo's Nest. Upon testing the effects of the then little-known drug, LSD, "...he was in a realm of consciousness he had never dreamed of before and it was not a dream or delirium but part of his awareness (322)." This awareness caused him to believe that these psychedelic drugs could enable him to see things the way they were truly meant to be seen. After working as a test subject for the hospital, Kesey was able to get a job working as a psychiatric aide. This was the next significant factor in writing the book. "Sometimes he would go to work high on acid (LSD) (323)." By doing so, he was able to understand the pain felt by the patients on the ward. In addition, the job allowed him to examine everything that went on within the confines of the hospital. From these things, Kesey obtained exceptional insight for writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. To make the novel seem as realistic as possible, he loosely based the characters on the personalities of people in the ward; also, his use of drugs while writing allowed him to make scenes such as Chief Bromden's (The Chief is the narrator of the story.

The Non-Proliferation Treaty: Its Establishment, Issues

The Non-Proliferation Treaty: Its establishment, Issues, and Current Status On March 21, 1963, President John Kennedy warned in a press conference, â€Å"I see the possibility in the 1970s of the president of the United States having to face a world in which 15 or 20 or 25 nations may have nuclear weapons. I regard that as the greatest possible danger and hazard. † Kennedy made this statement a month after a secret Department of Defense memorandum assessed that eight countries: Canada, China, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and West Germany would likely have the ability to produce nuclear weapons within the next 10 years after 1963.It was further assessed that beyond those 10 years, the future costs of nuclear weapons programs would decrease and provide way for several more states to pursue nuclear weapons, especially if unrestricted testing continued. Fear of the spread of nuclear weapons to vast nation states and superpowers including their military and ideological alli es is what urged the creation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Signed on July 1, 1968 and actually implemented on March 5, 1970, the NPT is a result of a compilation of efforts at enforcing international non-proliferation.With President Dwight D. Eisenhower calling for a new international agency to share nuclear materials and information for peaceful purposes with other countries in his â€Å"Atoms for Peace† address to the UN General Assembly on December 1953, the way was made for the Non-Proliferation Treaty to come into existence when the UN established The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on July 29, 1957 as result of negotiations sparked from Eisenhower’s proposal.President Dwight Eisenhower proposed to the UN General Assembly the negotiation of a treaty that would seek to control nuclear activities around the world and prevent, if possible, the spread of nuclear weapons to additional countries. However, President Eisenhower’s speech to the U N General Assembly came after the failure of earlier U. S. nonproliferation efforts. When the United States stood as the only true nuclear power in the world at the end of World War II, President Harry Truman proposed to destroy the U. S. uclear arsenal if other countries would agree not to acquire nuclear weapons and would permit inspections to verify that agreement. This proposal was presented as the Baruch Plan in 1946 and implied that the United States turn over control of all its enriched uranium, including that in any nuclear weapons it had, to a new UN body over which the United States and the other permanent members of the Security Council would have a veto. In addition to already seeking its own nuclear weapons, the Soviets rejected this plan on the grounds that the United Nations was dominated by the United States and its allies in Western Europe.Therefore, the Soviets argued it could not be trusted to exercise authority over atomic weaponry in a fair manner. They proposed that America eliminate its nuclear weapons before considering proposals for a system of controls and inspections. On the other hand, the United States, would not surrender its weapons to the agency until inspectors were on duty in the Soviet Union and in other countries with nuclear potential (Bellany 1985). With the Baruch Plan not going as planned, the U. S.Congress enacted the 1946 Atomic Energy Act which encompassed provisions designed to keep nuclear technology secret from other countries but then was amended to authorize nuclear assistance to others alike the IAEA which was created to provide both assistance and inspectors for peaceful nuclear activities after Eisenhower proposed providing assistance to other countries in the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The United States, followed by the Soviet Union, France, and others began providing research reactors that used weapons-usable highly enriched uranium to non-nuclear-weapon states around the world.These transfers and the t raining that accompanied the reactors helped scientists in many countries learn about nuclear fission and its potential uses other than in good measure. As these scientists became more versed in the uses of nuclear energy through the resources being provided to them, global support increased for controlling the spread of the new technology in order to prevent its use for weapons. This led to Ireland proposing the first resolution at the United Nations on October 17, 1958 to prohibit the further dissemination of nuclear weapons.On March 21, 1963, the UN General Assembly unanimously approved Resolution 1665, based on the earlier Irish draft resolution, reads that countries already having nuclear weapons would undertake to refrain from relinquishing control of them to others and would refrain from transmitting information for their manufacture to states not possessing them. In addition, countries without nuclear weapons would agree not to receive or manufacture them. These ideas formed the basis of the NPT (Bunn 2008).The United States then took another step toward non-proliferation and submitted a simple draft treaty of the NPT based on the resolution to the Soviet Union when a new eighteen nation Disarmament Conference opened in Geneva in 1962. Adversely, the Soviet response insisted that the treaty prohibit the arrangements between the United States and NATO allies such as West Germany for deployment in their countries of U. S. nuclear weapons under the control of U. S. soldiers.The stated purposes of these weapons were to protect these countries if ever in the event of an attack on them by the Soviet Union and its allies. The U. S. also proposed for implementation of a multilateral force in which would be a fleet of submarines and warships each manned by international NATO crews and armed with multiple nuclear armed Polaris ballistic missiles. The proposal was inspired by the complaints of NATO countries which voiced that the nuclear defense of Europe was beh olden to the Americans, who held the bulk of nuclear capability.Instead of an array of different independent forces ultimately acting under their own domestic banners on the waters, the result would be a fleet of warships manned and operated by general NATO command in broader cooperative efforts but the Soviets opposed to this. Later, a compromise was reached where US eventually gave up on efforts toward the multilateral force and the Soviets gave up on a prohibition against U. S. deployment of nuclear weapons in West Germany and other allied countries under the condition the provided weapons remained under sole control of U.S. personnel (Bellany 1985). On June 12, 1968 The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 2373 which endorsed the draft text of the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. The vote was 95 to 4 with 21 abstentions. The four no votes were Albania, Cuba, Tanzania, and Zambia. The treaty was signed by the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and the United States. Article IX of t he treaty established that entry into force would require the treaty’s ratification by those three countries and 40 additional states.It was by this time, five nations had developed a nuclear weapons capability: the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and China. On February 13, 1960, France conducted its first nuclear test explosion, establishing it as the the world’s fourth nuclear armed state after the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. Then China conducted its first nuclear test explosion on October 16, 1964 placing it as the world’s fifth nuclear armed state and leading to the acceleration of India’s nuclear program ( Bunn 2008).China and France were recognized as nuclear-weapon states under the treaty but did not sign it. China argued the treaty was discriminatory and simply refused to adhere to it. On the other hand, France implied that it would not sign the treaty but would behave in the future in this field exac tly as the states adhering to the Treaty. The treaty distinguishes between obligations of two parties such as nuclear-weapon states who are defined as those states parties which exploded a nuclear device prior to January 1, 1967 and non-nuclear weapon states which are all other states.The treaty called prohibition on non-nuclear-weapon states from having nuclear weapons and called for the IAEA to be permitted to carry out inspections to guarantee that their nuclear programs were limited to peaceful uses. In particular, the resolution asked the countries possessing nuclear weapons to refrain from relinquishing control of nuclear weapons and from transmitting information necessary for their manufacture to nations not possessing nuclear weapons.Second, it recommended that states not possessing nuclear weapons, â€Å"undertake not to manufacture or otherwise acquire control of such weapons. † In addition, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States agreed to provi de assistance to non-nuclear weapon NPT members in their pursuit of peaceful uses of nuclear energy and agreed to conduct future negotiations to halt the nuclear arms buildup and reduce their nuclear weapons with a goal of achieving nuclear disarmament.Negotiations then raised aiming efforts towards gaining acceptance of these provisions by important non-nuclear weapon governments and their parliaments along for the allowance of the inspections that would be conducted by the IAEA in accordance to the NPT. India was one of these non-nuclear weapon governments of interest but despite much active participation in the NPT negotiation, it refused to join because it wanted to retain the option to produce its own nuclear weapon as its adversary then, China had. Also, Pakistan which was another adversary of India refused to join because India would not.Israel, which the United States had tried to restrain from acquiring nuclear weapons in separate negotiations during the 1960s, also refused to join. China and France didn’t participate much in the NPT negotiations but had acquired nuclear weapons before its negotiation was completed. The NPT draft permitted them to join the treaty with the same rights and duties as the other nuclear-weapon states when they eventually did accede to the treaty in 1992 (Bunn 2008). The practice of inspections for non-nuclear weapon parties weighed as a major concern in the egotiations at the IAEA for several years and many countries including West European allies of the United States did not ratify the treaty until these negotiations were completed to their satisfaction. Till this day, this concern is still a pressing matter at hand. In its establishment, Article X of the NPT called for a conference of its parties to be held 25 years after the treaty’s entry into force in 1970 to determine whether the treaty would remain in force indefinitely or for other additional periods of time.This conference was held on May 11, 1995 an d began with much uncertainty regarding the nature of any extension. Leading up to this, parties of the treaty enacted review conferences every five years to revise the treaty according to the current state of nuclear arms at the time. During the 1995 review conference, non-nuclear weapon states expressed disappointment with the lack of progress toward nuclear disarmament and feared that extending the treaty indefinitely would enable the nuclear-armed states to hold on to their nuclear arsenals and disregard any accountability in eliminating them.In a different light, Indonesia and South Africa proposed efforts to tying the treaty’s indefinite extension to a decision to strengthen the treaty review process such as establishing of a set of principles and objectives on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament to hold NPT states-parties, particularly the nuclear-weapon states, accountable to their commitments.Indonesia and South Africa’s proposal included completion of th e Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty of 1996 which banned all nuclear explosions in all environments for military or civilian purposes along with negotiations on the cutoff of fissile material production for weapons purposes. The conference also adopted a resolution calling for establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East with the goal to win support for the indefinite NPT extension from Arab states which objected to Israel’s status outside the NPT and its assumed possession of nuclear weapons.During the 1955 revision conference of the NPT, the decision was made to extend the NPT indefinitely and with its last revision conference held in 2010, is still on its mission to global non-proliferation (Gunter 2010). The NPT consists of a preamble and eleven articles and is interpreted as a three part pillar system as non-proliferation being the first, disarmament the second, and the right to peacefully use nuclear technology as the third. Currently there are 189 countries as state parties under rovisions of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The major issues that the Treaty of Nuclear Non Proliferation is facing are loopholes in NPT withdrawal, non-compliance with state parties, particularly Iran, and in a safeguard system. Also, the future utility of the treaty will be dominated by its ability to attract the major non-parties into membership. Another flaw in the Treaty is that if diversion of fissile material is discovered, then no mechanism for sanctions exists other than taking the issue to the UN Security Council.The treaty is silent on how to deal with a situation where a non-nuclear weapon state acquires unsafeguarded weapon material for reasons not permitted under the Treaty (Kaplan 2005). Israel regarded NPT adherence and the IAEA safeguards system as an insufficient guarantee that Iraq would not use nuclear technology it was acquiring to make nuclear weapons and proceed to destroy that technology. This discouraged other Arab states from becoming NPT parties, as this appeared to offer no protection against unilateral Israeli action.With the notion that one state such as Israel could claim the NPT technically meaningless and allowed to act on that belief without sanction, the credibility of the Treaty in the eyes of many non-nuclear weapon states became undermined and brought up for much speculation. The NPT itself is silent on how to assess compliance, how to resolve compliance disputes, and what procedures to follow in the event of non-compliance. Specifically, there is no verification of the obligations in Articles I and II not to transfer or receive nuclear weapons.The treaty contains no language on verification other than to require states to accept nuclear safeguards in Article III. One precedent for handling non-compliance was in the case of North Korea. North Korea announced it would withdraw from the NPT on March 12, 1993 but suspended its withdrawal in June. Ten years later on February 12, 2003, the Board of Governors declared North Korea in non-compliance with its nuclear safeguards obligations, and referred the matter to the Security Council. The Board called upon North Korea to acknowledge its non-compliance, and fully cooperate with the Agency.North Korea stated it would withdraw from the NPT on January 11, 2003, and its official status is still uncertain. The legality of North Korea's withdrawal is debatable but as of 9 October 2006, North Korea clearly possesses the capability to make a nuclear explosive device. However, other states complain of U. S. noncompliance because the United States continues to conduct research and development new types of nuclear weapons and still has yet to accept much deeper reductions in its nuclear forces.Several additional measures have been adopted to strengthen the NPT with attempts to broader the nuclear nonproliferation regime and make it difficult for states to acquire the capability to produce nuclear weapons, including the export controls of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the enhanced verification measures of the IAEA Additional Protocol. However, critics argue that the NPT cannot stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons or the motivation to acquire them.They express disappointment with the limited progress on nuclear disarmament, where the five authorized nuclear weapons states still have 22,000 warheads in their combined stockpile and have shown a reluctance to disarm further. Several high-ranking officials within the United Nations have said that they can do little to stop states using nuclear reactors to produce nuclear weapons (Kaplan 2005). An issue that will require new and better strategic thinking is how best to proceed with efforts to make the Middle East a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) – free zone.This was a controversial issue on the table during the most recent 2010 NPT Review Conference. The final document produced from the conference addressing the matter calls on all state s in the region to participate in a conference in 2012 based on the terms of the 1995 resolution. The United States announced after the conference that it, Russia, and the United Kingdom, along with the UN secretary-general, will co-sponsor the meeting, determine a country to host it, and identify a person to organize it.The issue with this is that Egypt and other states may want to use a conference in part to criticize Israel’s nuclear weapons program. Also, the language of the document calls on all states in the Middle East to participate which includes a number of states that do not recognize Israel and in the past have not been willing to sit with Israeli officials in formal settings. To name a few, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria are some of these states. Therefore, such a conference would pose challenges to Israel. Iran and major Arab states would all have to reach the same satisfying terms and recognize Israeli de facto.If the conference is viewed strategically and handled carefully, it could advance the cause of peace and security in the region. In summation, President Barack Obama in Prague called for the â€Å"peace and security of a world free of nuclear weapons† on April 2, 2009. A Year later on April 8, 2010, President Obama returned to Prague a year later with President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia to sign a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that committed both countries to reduce their deployed strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems in accordance with agreed principles of verification.President Obama also convened a special session of the UN Security Council on September 24, 2009, which adopted Resolution 1887, which focuses on nuclear security and nonproliferation and seeking ways to enhance its means. Though the NPT has its weaknesses, it still has managed to link many countries together and has dodged the predicted amount â€Å"15 or 20 or 25 nations may have nuclear weapons† that President Kennedy warned i n his press conference in 1963.Today, we have nine counting North Korea but not Iran outside of the treaty. As we progress down the road to expanding non-proliferation, it is important for policy makers to keep in mind that for most states the demand for nuclear weapons is likely to derive from security considerations, and security consideration under conditions of uncertainty, especially if the states have lacking faith in the Treaty’s ability to make effective use of the safeguard system as we approach the 2015 NPT Review Conference.