Public Relations in the Hospitality Industry free essay sample

Public Relations in the Hospitality Industry Public elations practices and principles Imani Laport Imani Laport Public Relations Practices and Principles Midterm Reaserch paper Public Relations in the Hospitality Industry Public relations and the hospitality industry go hand and hand. Without the help of public relations the hospitality industry would not be successful. Public relations practioners have struggled over the years to find a sound definition for their work. It’s taken over a century to just find a basic overview of the practice. It has been called many things such as image management or perception management. Public relations in a whole, is how you present an organization to its publics. It is a communication process. The job of a PR person is to first create an image for an organization and present it to its public. Once that is done it is their job to uphold that image so that the organization will continue to prosper. We will write a custom essay sample on Public Relations in the Hospitality Industry or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The hospitality industry is the relationship between hosts and guests. It entails many different things depending on the business that you are a part of. Many different jobs fall under the hospitality industry such as the reception and entertainment of guests , visitors, or strangers, resorts, membership clubs, restaurants , attractions, and special events. It is a very profitable industry being that it is one that people rely on. People have very high standards for this industry. All employees must have proper training because of the high standards. When people travel to other places they need the hospitality industry. They need a place to stay when they’re away from there home; they have to find restaurants for food and things like that.Now that the basic need is established then you move into different levels of comfort such as five star hotels instead of motels or top of the line restaurants instead of McDonald’s and Wendy’s. All of this of course depends on a budget but this makes the hospitality industry a very competitive one because you have a bunch of different places competing with the next which can be very stressful which is where public relations comes into play. There could be the best hotel in New York with amazing services and amenities, but if no one knows anything about it then it is useless.The hospitality’s industries public relations department must always be updated and ready for change. They move with their competitors and things are constantly changing. This is good because it keeps people coming to your business. Once they have witnessed your amazing service the first time and perhaps they look into a brochure or and online website and see that you’ve added new things to your business, they will definitely come back. Public relations are not an easy job. It takes a lot of research and planning.Not only do you have to know your organization but you have to know about all other organizations like you. This is because you have to know who you’re competing against if you know nothing about other organizations then how you are going to set standards for yours. Marketing and advertising is a huge part of public relations. PR persons have many different advertising and marketing strategies. It’s like our game plan after the image for the business is created. We have to know of ways we can get that particular organization recognized. This is where the PR person needs to do a lot of research and planning. For example if you are the PR person for a specific hotel you need to know about the other hotels on your level starting with prices. A motel would not be trying to compete with a five star hotel. You compete with the organizations on your level. Then you would work on the amenities and services. You want your staff to very welcoming to your guest. When they are at your hotel they should not have to go through a world of trouble to get something as simple as more towels. This is why you have to do your research about other organizations because you need to see their strengths and weaknesses. A good way of doing that is looking at the reviews on those hotels then you know exactly how the customers feel because they are the ones who write them. Public relations in the hospitality industry could not do without each other. They need to be on the same page at all times. These businesses need publicity in order to make a profit and become reputable and public relations practioners need to have something with a reputation to uphold. That is our whole purpose and what we love to do.

Quote The Raven The Golden Office Rules

Quote The Raven The Golden Office Rules Here it is– another episode  of  #QuoteTheRaven,  TheJobNetwork.com’s  expert job-seeking job-keeping web series!  In this episode, host and job-keeping extraordinaire Raven Chiara welcomes special guest, Gary Bandit. Brace yourself for tried true  advice that’s  going to keep you at your job out of HR.  Watch the video check out the tips below! Tips in this episode include:How to talk about your weekend: Went to Burning Man last week? Maybe don’t highlight the spiritual-drug-filled-mind-beinding-life-altering-rave-naked-bug-filled extravaganza to your Don Draper-esque CEO. Instead, focus on the nature and fresh air†¦and put it in a British accent. Or how about a game of squash? That already sounds responsible†¦here comes that promotion, Junior!Compliments and jokes with your coworkers: Bad jokes suck. What’s worse? Offensive bad jokes. Avoid making a crack about someone’s race, religion, creed, and orientation. Besides, Creed fans are bizarrely defensive.Discussing a woman’s looks: Stay away here, especially all the guys out there. Nobody wants to mistake something you say for SEXUAL HARASSMENT. Raven and Gary suggest the only safe thing to say, if you really want to, is â€Å"nice nails†.Speaking of nails, stop clipping your nails at your desk†¦or at work. #grossFood habits in the office: Your food is good. I am sure you think so. The rest of us think it smells foul. Just stop. You know it stinks. You are self-conscious about it. Don’t blow up the microwave with last night’s fish and chips leftovers. Please. Stop. Now.Use the hashtag #quotetheraven and tag @thejobnetwork, @ravenchiara, or @whybegee to let us know what you think of the show, your nightmare stories from the office, and any questions you have about job seeking and job keeping.- - Missed the previous episodes? See The ABCs of Job Searching here.

Case-Training for Excellence at Wegman Food Market

Case-Training For Excellence At Wegman Food Market Case: Training for Excellence at Wegman Food Market Wegmans Food Markets, â€Å"a regional supermarket chain based in Rochester, New York, is one of the top 75 U. S. supermarkets in terms of sales volume and is widely respected in the industry. Observers agree that training is a big reason why the company stands out,† (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart Wright, 2009, p. 209). In this paper I will discuss how training at Wegmans’ is related to its organizational needs and how Wegmans’ measure the success of their training programs. I will also discuss if an e-learning will be an appropriate training method at Wegman and for what aspect of training might it be most beneficial? I will discuss how on-going training for employees can have a positive impact on employee retention Discuss how training at Wegmans’ is related to its organizational needs. â€Å"Hiring the right people means more than just securing employees who possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform a particular job; these people must also be able to acquire new knowledge and skills as jobs and environments change,†(Dreher Dougherty, 2001, p. ). Wegman Food Market Human Resources department have to ensure that they are hiring the right people that will provide the customers with superior customer service and commit to implementing the knowledge they receive during training. Wegmans organizational strategy is for the employees to â€Å"understand sales and competing on the basis of quality and service,† (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart Wright, 2009, p. 209). Wegman Food Market uses hands on training throughout their stores, to provide the employees with an opportunity to experience making the products themselves. Training content includes practical matters such as product knowledge, food safety, and the ways to cook and bake,† (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart Wright, 2009, p. 209) fits the organizational needs of the Wegman Food Markets. According to the case, how does Wegmans’ measure the success of its training? Increased sales and customer satisfaction reviews are ways that Wegman Food Market executives can mea sure the success of company training. â€Å"Wegmans measures the success of its training based on whether a store’s sales are growing. In fact, sales and profit growth are primary ways the company measures the performance of the company’s director of training and development,† (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart Wright, 2009, p. 209). Wegman Food Market employees’ new positive attitude towards doing their job and providing the best customer service are also ways that executives can measure success of company training. â€Å"Assessment of training also should evaluate training outcomes, such as change in attitude, ability to perform a new skill, and recall of facts or behaviors taught in the training program,† (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart Wright, 2009, p. 07). Do you think e-learning might be an appropriate training method at Wegmans? Why or Why not? For what aspect of training might it be most beneficial? E-learning â€Å"involves receiving training via the Internet or the organization’s intranet, typically through some combination of Web-based training modules, distance learning, and virtual classrooms,† (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart Wright, 2009, p. 192). E-learning â€Å"content may be delivered via the internet, intranet/extranet, audio or video tape, CD-ROM and satellite TV,† (SHRM, 2008, p. ). Wegman Food Market could benefit from implementing an e-learning training method in their stores. The Human Resource department can use the training tool to train new and old employees that may have missed a previous training session due to a scheduling issue. The employees would be able to train on their own time or refresh their knowledge about preparing a particular product without having to ask another employee or supervisor. The employees will be able to assist the customers with confidence and enthusiasm. The e-learning system may also process enrollments, test and evaluate participants, and monitor progress,† (Noe, Hollenback, Gerhart Wright, 2009, p. 192). This training system can help the Human Resource department keep track of all the employees tra ining. They will be able to see which employee’s needs to be trained and which employees passed or failed any training sessions. Implementing an e-learning system at Wegman would reduce the cost of traveling to training locations and the cost of bringing in training coaches from different companies. Discuss how on-going training for employees can have a positive impact on employee retention. Knowledge and skill acquisition will not lead to improved firm performance unless employees are allowed and encouraged to use job–related knowledge and skills when performing their jobs,† (Dreher Dougherty, 2001, p. 7). In order for Wegman Food Market to reduce retention rates, they will need to develop new training programs and make improvements continuously. Training should be offered to Wegman employees annually or quarterly to ensure that they are learning new techniques and different recipes to teach to the customers. â€Å"Effective initial and ongoing training can ge t employees engaged in their work. New employees that are given thorough orientation and training can take their new skills and start performing in their new role with confidence. On going training demonstrates that the organization values the employee in their current role as well as their potential for future personal development,† (Loyaltyworks, 2010). On going training at Wegman Food Market will lead to increased morale and a sense of achievement from the employees. Employees will feel appreciated for their work and want to help the company succeed in reaching any company goals and providing the best customer service to Wegman customers. When employees job satisfaction rates are up, the employees will be less likely to leave the company. In this paper I have discussed how training at Wegmans’ is related to its organizational needs and how Wegmans’ measures the success of their training programs. I have also discussed that e-learning will be an appropriate training method implemented at Wegmans’ and what aspect of training it will be most beneficial. I have also discussed how on-going training for employees can have a positive impact on employee retention rates. Dreher Daugherty. (2001). Human Resources Strategy: Understanding Behavior in Organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill Loyaltyworks. (2010). The 8 Drivers of Employee Satisfaction and Engagement. Retrieved on October 27, 2010 from http://hubpages. com/hub/The-8-Drivers-of-Employee-Satisfaction-and-Engagement Noe, R. A. , Hollenbeck, J. R. , Gerhart, B. , Wright, P. M. (2009). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management (3rd ed). New York: McGraw-Hill SHRM. (2010). Introduction to the Discipline of Human Resources Technology. Retrieved on October 29, 2010 from http://www. shrm. org/hrdisciplines/technology/Pages/TechnologyIntro. aspx

Leading change in Haworth Asia Pacific case study Assignment

Leading change in Haworth Asia Pacific case study - Assignment Example Finally the paper presents a guideline for Haworth Asia to manage the change journey in the near future. The guidelines present some standard tools and checklists that may help Frank Rexach in mapping an action plan for the future. 2. Case Summary and Key Issues 2.1 Introduction Haworth Asia is the second largest designer and manufacturer for contract office furniture and has recently started its second round of global expansion. The company wants to move towards a business model which works in a more integrative way. This will be a change from their present model in which sourcing and product development happens largely in isolation in different parts of the world. Thus the case was about a company which was a global organization and has to manage issues that are relevant to international marketing or international finance. The company also has to manage cross cultural management. 2.2 Office Furniture Industry Haworth is one of the four global leaders in the contract office furnitur e industry along with Steelcase, Herman Miller and Teknion. Haworth has been the most aggressive when it comes to global expansion, with presence in Europe, Australia and China. There are different strategies for global expansion and Haworth has been inclined towards acquisitions and others have been more inclined towards joint ventures. In joint ventures or agency relationships, these companies have to bear with agents or partners who try to push their own cheaper products to customers. Any corporation can adopt different methods to expand internationally. As was mentioned in the case Haworth has been able to choose its preferred mode expansion, partly because it was a private corporation. Normally a company starts with joint ventures or agency relations as it expands internationally. The tactics of Haworth, to expand with direct acquisitions, will be considered aggressive by most standards.   2.3  Ã‚   Haworth Asia Pacific Haworth is a private company which has worked to their advantage when it comes to global expansion. Their large competitors have to meet the near term expectations of financial markets, which can be a disadvantage during times of financial crisis (even though the crisis may be due to factors completely external to the furniture business, as in this case it was the dot com bubble burst). Haworth is a global organization since the product design and development takes place largely in USA and Europe, while the sourcing happens largely in Asia, and most of the clients are large multinationals. Haworth Asia pacific differs from Haworth operations in the USA, since Haworth Asia manages both manufacturing and client interaction. In USA, dealers manage the client interface. Haworth Asia was also considering targeting medium-priced segments since they have access to cheap labour and raw material. So when Haworth Asia Pacific decides to shift its head office from Hong Kong to Shanghai, they will be confronted with a unique challenge. For the fir st time in the history and culture of Haworth, the functions of manufacturing and marketing will be reporting to the same leaders. The conflicts and frictions that are usually between manufacturing and marketing in most industry can occur in Haworth Asia Pacific as well. They merit thorough consideration and analysis. 2.4  Ã‚   Market Analysis Haworth Asia was number two or three in all the markets, but in all the markets there

African American Empires Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

African American Empires - Essay Example This was then used for trade along trans-Sahara trade network. (Ancient Civilizations Website). Anything that the Wagadugu society required could be traded for gold, and this meant that the society soon became well established and very wealthy. The introduction of the camel increased the range of trading groups. (The Ghana Guide Website) Resources alone do not make a great nation. The second key success factor was the ability of the people to govern themselves wisely. They also made profits and distributed them widely. Taxes were levied from passing traders. An effective legal system based on tribal chief authority kept order and peace within the territory. Good leadership was a critical factor in Wagadugu’s success. When invaders arrived, there was a ready army for defence. Other nation wanted to have good relations with this territory. It was a beacon of enlightenment in Africa. This it was a combination of good fortune in terms of resources, and hard work in terms of organization that enabled the Wagadugu empire to be so

Is it appropriate to describe Virgil Aeneid Essay Example for Free

Is it appropriate to describe Virgil Aeneid Essay The Aeneid as written by Virgil is the great epic of one man who followed his destiny. He was both aided and hindered in his travels by the gods who watched his movements with great interest. But Aeneas was a hero, he understood what he was fated to do, what destiny needed fulfilling and despite great set backs, of war and loss, Aeneas forges on to complete his task of founding Rome. The Aeneid is in certain respects a poem of tragedy, of what must be lost to regain anything more and in the first books of the poem this loss is focused on. The destruction of Troy, the ruin of a city and of the honorable men within, a city that held against the sons of Atreus for ten years but finally was brought down. Aeneas personal losses in his wife and father, necessary though the former may have been, to allow Aeneas to begin a new family line, it was a painful loss. The death of a parent is not to be taken lightly and Aeneas is distraught over his fathers passing, but regardless of this all he pushes onwards, showing a sense of duty, reaching forever outwards to the goal of Rome, nudged on by the gods who champion him. His piety is unquestionable and proven again and again, this obligation to the gods, his family, and his city. Book four is the episode that encounters Dido, Queen of Carthage, who has suffered tragedy in her own forms, my husband was murdered and our home broken up by my brothers murderous act. Dido whose city and person offer Aeneas what he so longs for. He has craved settlement, to be still in a city he can make his own, to find peace. There seems little other reason for Aeneas to linger in Carthage save that therein he finds a much-needed calm to prepare himself. An audience waits also for Aeneas to gather himself together and set sail, as the gods do, but there is a steady calm in the everyday life of Carthage that is as lethargic and enjoyable to an audience as to Aeneas. The introduction of a romance is a way for Virgil to return Aeneas to the reality of a man and not yet a great hero who is still swayed by temptation. This episode in Carthage exposes a greater view of Aeneas, he is shown as a man but also his understanding of his mission his made obvious and his devotion to his destiny overrides his demands as a man and he is able to remove himself from the comfortable life in Carthage, true commitment to the task set out before him. Book four follows Dido and Aeneas as they experience this relationship and the hiatus in Aeneas plans. They are encouraged from many sides, Didos sister suggests, With the Trojans as our comrades in arms, what heights of glory will not we Carthaginians soar to! , and Juno, growing aware of the love Dido harbors for Aeneas goes to Venus and together they too conspire to bring the two together. How Dido and Aeneas later perceive their connection comes into question as to whether Aeneas was justified in his leaving but also in the tragedy of the story. They were brought together in a cave and Dido began to see her relations with Aeneas as a marriage, though he was not of the same mind. He seems to feel little by the way of obligation towards her, theirs was a political connection, one that allows him power over Carthage and fame throughout Africa. She perceives their bond as a permanent one, the beauteous Dido deigns to have her name linked with his. Perhaps it is in this self deception that lies tragedy, a woman who refuses to see what has been laid before her, to understand the prophecies recited to her by Aeneas that prove he must push on to Italy and that she does not lie in this destiny. By not acknowledging this information she leads herself to her own demise. Virgil had a good understanding of the need for great passion in his poem, the scenes with Nisus and Euryalus are paid long attention by the poet, he draws out their pain as well as their joy for the audience, using the tragic death of the characters to swing the emotions of an audience to and fro, to give a rest between the search of a hero for his destiny and show a level of more personal pain and feeling. The culture Virgil wrote from respect emotion and was enthralled by it, with other great authors producing love poetry, Propertius, Ovid, All his works fully shared the romantic ethos of his culture. (S. Farron. ) Virgil joined the ranks of these poets with The Aeneid, the romantic and destructive love characters possess fascinated Virgil and these episodes appeal to audiences, the culture and Virgil himself. Enabling the poet to include in his poem a contemporary understanding of romance and to allow his audience to exercise a need for cathartic explosion of emotion, swinging between great joy and great hurt. The emotions of Dido and Aeneas in book four are felt by the audience as well as their positions and backgrounds are known to the audience. There is an understanding between Virgil and his spectators, that he will tell a good tale and bring to an audience all emotions and display to them a range of characters. He constructs a situation for Aeneas to display his dedication, simultaneously forming a set of circumstances that make way for tragedy, for drama in the early parts of the poem. Virgil has been required in his epic to draw out Aeneas journey so that he may grow into a hero who was great enough to found Rome, along this journey he must be tested by grief and prove his capabilities as a leader. The first few books of the Aeneid have covered the excitement of war and constant movement, Aeneas cannot linger too long, and audience would weary of him and Virgil thus generates a commotion, the death of Dido, a tragedy that has been formed for these purposes. The nature of tragedy is called into question with the Dido-Aeneas affair. What troubles brought Aeneas to Dido, what caused him to leave, the culture of the ancient Romans, the misunderstanding of the characters, what each has encountered in their lives previous to their meeting and what their parting does to each of them. These subjects all lead to the end of the affair between Dido and Aeneas and to later conflicts but therein lies the tragedy and whether this particular chapter in the Aeneid qualifies as a tragedy. For tragedy has many formats but doubtless the end is the cruel and undeserved death of a character who perhaps merited more from a life, a poet or an audience. The nature of tragedy, as laid out by the Greek tragedies, is one that was used by Virgil. He understood Aristotle in his suggestion that tragedy consists of two emotions, By means of pity and fear effecting a catharsis of such emotions. Virgil builds for the listener the emotions of Dido, her lament takes precedence through thee final pages of the book and fear for her, her own fear, and great pity is created in the audience. These elements of the story aid the idea of tragedy in the book, tragedy that is a disastrous event ending in loss and distress. The Greek plays by Euripides and Aeschylus lay down an example of what tragedy is, what was perceived by the ancient peoples as terrible loss, and these ideas carried through into the Roman era. Tragedy cannot be easily defined, whether a situation is or is not a tragedy by definition cannot be determined through by examination but through emotion, what is felt by the audience, the characters who surround the tragic character. It is difficult to say what is tragic as there are no clear divisions in the understanding of the genre and emotions except what is experienced by the audience. Tragedy is a mood, that lights on an audience hearing of a characters unfortunate fate, though it does not belong to the listener is felt by him regardless. Upon reading the incident between Dido and her lover there is great shock left in the mind of the audience, how can Aeneas have allowed this, how can Dido who was so staid have done this to herself? It is the shock that remains as the an audience encounters the following books, not quite able to get Dido out of mind as Aeneas carries on with his journey that suggests tragedy, it lingers around the poem and in an understanding of Aeneas, for his character and behavior played such a role herein. There are in the Greek plays elements that define a tragedy. The emotions of a tragic play include pity, compassion between characters, grief, pain-at a destructive incident occurring to one who does not deserve it, fear, anger, stress, confusion. A list of emotions that are laid before an audience experienced by both audience and characters, but not positive emotions, deep felt sorrow, but passionately felt. If the Greek tragedies help characterize tragedy and all of its meaning better then Dido and her position in book four can indeed be classified as a tragedy, a short one in regards to a play but heartrending nonetheless. With regards to the physical structure and meaning of tragedy, the odes and chorus that occur in the template plays of the Attic Greeks. These do not exist in this book; it was not designed to mimic a tragedy in its forms but in its emotions. Virgil chose to focus on Dido and play for his audience a scene of great pain, not long and drawn out but a scene of sorrow slotted in between so many others but more poignant and personal to an audience, the loss of love being accessible in the minds of a romantic culture. The tragedy of the piece remains without the traditional structure. Death has a key role in tragedy, most tragedies contain death, if not of the protagonist then of the supporting characters. Oedipus is the focus of his own horror story but it is his wife/mother Jocasta who dies first though the tragedy lies more in Oedipus fate than hers, in the Orestia the deaths of Agamemnon and later Clytemnestra are as much tragedy as the dismal lives of their children. This suggests that perhaps it is not the death or the deceased that is tragic but the misery in the lives of those who live. This would note then that the gory death of Dido is not quite tragedy, for she most likely mourned by those close to her but not by Aeneas. The tragedy of this character is not in those around her but in the life she lived that was not always easy and a death that was public, without glory, and a terribly sad end for a queen, a life cut short that could have been lived longer and successfully. There are to tragedy many pieces, from the structure to the emotions; the same lies in the Aeneid book four. It is the story of the end of a good woman who loved deeply a man out of her reach, fated to greater things than her. Virgil drew from the Greeks before him and fashioned a poem into tragedy drawing on the emotional pieces of conventional tragedy to enhance his own tragic heroine. Her ending is terribly tragic due to the futility of her passing. She was a young woman, a queen, who would have found suitors elsewhere. She was a victim of the gods whim, her own fate and Aeneas, but she was to die at her own will, for whatever reasons, be they Virgils literary desires, the whim of a god or fate. Book four becomes tragic because it finishes with death. Any love that does not happen for any reason is a tragedy. Tragedy is defined by the audience who witness the events, to me, book four of the Aeneid is tragic for its loss of hope and a life. Bibliography Brasher, W. R. The Gorgons Head University of Georgia 1977 Farron, S. Virgils Aeneid a Poem of Grief and Love E. J. Brill 1993 Frye, P. Romance and Tragedy University of Nebraska Press 1908 Kitto, H. D. F. Greek Tragedy Routledge 1939 Monti, R. The Dido Episode and the Aeneid E. J. Brill 1981 Stanford, W. B. Greek Tragedy and the Emotions Routledge 1983 Valency, M. Tragedy New Amsterdam, 1991 Virgil, C. Day Lewis Translation The Aeneid Oxford University Press 1952.

In Favor of Lowering the Drinking Age to 18 :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Problem: A person should be able to drink legally at the age of eighteen. The law that states that it is legal for a person to drink at the age of twenty-one should be changed so that an eighteen-year-old would be allowed to drink alcohol legally. At 18, you are now an adult and you are expected to act that way. Legally you can vote, get married, buy a lottery ticket, serve in the military and be tried as an adult in the United States court system. These are very important responsibilities that are yours to take care of when you become an adult. â€Å"Good grief†¦let them [also] take the responsibility for the consumption of an adult beverage† (Conway 2000). Solutions: In order to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18, I would: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Find laws in other states and countries as examples. We should look to the European countries as an example to solve our problems in the United States. â€Å"The Europeans teach their children to respect [alcohol] from an early age† (Conway 2000). Theses countries do not have the minimum age of consumption at 21 and this has been proven to make a difference. There is less underage drinking because drinking is part of their culture and lifestyle. It starts in the household with their family and they are taught to drink smart and socially. Social drinking is acceptable; it is a time to have fun while still being in control. New Zealand changed their legal age to 18 in 1989. The slogan â€Å"You’re not just a teen when you’re 18† shows that the New Zealand government is taking the change very seriously and so should the men and women that are of the legal age. Maybe the United States should look around the world to try and solve our own problems. â€Å"Isn’t it ironic that the United States has the highest minimum drinking age and for some strange reason the largest problem with underage consumption† (Toomey & Rosenfeld, 1996)? This statement in itself should be one very good point when considering the change of the legal age to 18. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alcohol Consumption among minors:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some might look at this report and argue that at least the amount of alcohol consumption is decreasing among young people since the drinking age has been increased, but what most don’t know is that this has actually been occurring since about 1980. This was long before the states were required to raise the drinking age.

Artificial Intelligence for Speech Recognition Essay

ABSTRACT: When you dial the telephone number of a big company, you are likely to hear the sonorous voice of a cultured lady who responds to your call with great courtesy saying â€Å"welcome to company X. Please give me the extension number you want† .You pronounces the extension number, your name, and the name of the person you want to contact. If the called person accepts the call, the connection is given quickly. This is artificial intelligence where an automatic call-handling system is used without employing any telephone operator. Artificial Intelligence (AI) involves two basic ideas. First, it involves studying the thought processes of human beings. Second, it deals with representing those processes via machines (computers, robots, etc).AI is the behavior of a machine, which, if performed by a human being, would be called intelligent. It makes machines smarter and more useful, is less expensive than natural intelligence. Natural Language Processing (NLP) refers to Artificial Intelligence methods of Communicating with a computer in a natural language like English. The main objective of a NLP program is to understand input and initiate action. The input words are scanned and matched against internally stored known words. Identification of a keyword causes some action to be taken. In this way, one can communicate with computer in one’s language. One of the main application of AI is speech recognition system is that it lets user do other works simultaneously. The speech recognition process is performed by a software component known as the speech recognition engine. A speech recognition system is a type of software that allows the user to have their spoken words converted into written text in a computer application such as a word processor or spreadsheet. The computer can also be controlled by the use of spoken commands. As we can’t design electronic device which recognizes everyone’s voice, based on that it is divided into speaker dependency and speaker independency. The working of the system involves ADC, comparison of this binary version with the stored words. The limitations for this are: must be completely trained by the user, most successful for those competent in the art of dictation. It is applicable in blue eyes technology, telephone applications like travel booking, financial account information, in military for controlling of weapons. By considering all the above factors it differs from other technologies as it produce written text from the user’s dictation, without using, or with only minimal use of, a traditional keyboard and mouse. This is an obvious benefit to many people who, for any number of reasons, do not find it easy to use a keyboard, or whose spelling and literacy skills would benefit from seeing occur. Speech recognition will revolutionize the way people conduct business over the Web and will, ultimately, differentiate world-class ebusinesses the Web, decreases fatigue and created its own path across various fields. INTRODUCTION: Evidence of Artificial Intelligence folklore can be traced back to ancient Egypt, but with the development of the electronic computer in 1941, the technology finally became available to create machine intelligence. The term artificial intelligence was first coined in 1956, at the Dartmouth conference, and since then Artificial Intelligence has expanded because of the theories and principles developed by its dedicated researchers. Artificial intelligence, also known as machine intelligence, is defined as intelligence exhibited by anything manufactured (i.e. artificial) by humans or other sentient beings or systems (should such things ever exist on Earth or elsewhere). With the popularity of the AI computer growing, the interest of the public has also grown. Applications for the Apple Macintosh and IBM compatible computer, such as voice and character recognition have become available. Also AI technology has made steadying camcorders simple using fuzzy logic. With a greater demand for A I-related technology, new advancements are becoming available. Inevitably Artificial Intelligence has, and will continue to affecting our lives. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Effort to develop computer-based systems: that behave like humans: learn languages ï‚ § accomplish physical tasks use a perceptual apparatus With the development of practical techniques based on AI research, advocates of AI have argued that opponents of AI have repeatedly changed their position on tasks such as computer chess or speech recognition that were previously regarded as â€Å"intelligent† in order to deny the accomplishments of AI. They point out that this moving of the goalposts effectively defines â€Å"intelligence† as â€Å"whatever humans can do that machines cannot†. A speech recognition system is a type of software that allows the user to have their spoken words converted into written text in a computer application such as a word processor or spreadsheet. The computer can also be controlled by the use of spoken commands. Speech recognition software can be installed on a personal computer of appropriate specification. The user speaks into a microphone (a headphone microphone is usually supplied with the product). The software generally requires an initial training and enrolment process in order to teach the software to recognize the voice of the user. A voice profile is then produced that is unique to that individual. This procedure also helps the user to learn how to speak to a computer. WORKING: The user speaks to the computer through a microphone, which in turn, identifies the meaning of the words and sends it to NLP device for further processing. Once recognized, the words can be used in a variety of applications like display, robotics, Commands to computers, and dictation .The word recognizer is a speech recognition system that identifies individual words. Following are a few of the basic terms and concepts that are fundamental to speech recognition. Utterances Pronunciations Grammar Accuracy The speech quality varies from person to person. The grammar used by the speaker and accepted by the system, noise level, noise type, position of the microphone, and speed and manner of the user ¶s speech are some factors that may affect the quality of the speech recognition. The computer must be trained to the voice of that particular individual. Such a system is called Speaker-dependent system. Speaker-independent system can be used by anybody, and can recognize any voice, even though the characteristics vary widely from one speaker to another. SPEECH DEPENDENT WORD RECOGNIER: The normal speech has a frequency range of 200 Hz to 7KHz. Recognizing a telephone call is more difficult as it has bandwidth limitations of 300Hz to 3.3KHz.As explained earlier the spoken words are processed by the filters and ADCs. The binary representation of each of these words becomes a template or standard against which the future words are compared. These templates are stored in the memory. Once the storing process is completed, the system can go into its active mode and is capable of identifying the spoken words. As each word is spoken, it is converted into binary equivalent and stored in RAM. The computer then starts searching and compares the binary input pattern with the templates. It is to be noted that even if the same speaker talks the same text, there are always slight variations in amplitude or loudness of the signal, pitch, frequency difference, time gap etc.Due to this reason there is never a perfect match between the template and the binary input word. The pattern matching process therefore uses statistical techniques and is designed to look for the best fit. The values of binary input words are subtracted from the corresponding values in the templates. If both the values are same, the difference is zero and there is perfect match. If not the subtraction produces some difference or error. the smaller the error the better the match. SPEECH INDEPENDENT WORD RECOGNIZER: The search process takes a considerable amount of time, as the CPU has to make many comparisons before recognition occurs. This necessitates use of very high-speed processors. A Large RAM is also required as even though a spoken word may last only a few hundred milliseconds, but the same is translated into many thousands of digital words. It is important to note that alignment of words and speeds as well as elongate different parts of the same word. This is important for the speaker- independent recognizers. APPLICATIONS: HEALTH CARE: Speech recognition is used to enable deaf people to understand the spoken word via speech to text conversion, which is very helpful. Speech recognition is especially useful for people who have difficulty using their hands, ranging from mild repetitive stress injuries to involved disabilities that preclude using conventional computer input devices. (HAND FREE COMPUTING). MILITARY: speech recognizers have been operated successfully in fighter aircraft with applications including: setting radio frequencies, commanding an autopilot system, setting steer-point coordinates and weapons release parameters, and controlling flight displays. TRAINING AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS: Training for military (or civilian) air traffic controllers (ATC) represents an excellent application for speech recognition systems. TELEPHONY: Speech is used mostly as a part of User Interface, for creating pre-defined or custom speech commands. LIMITATIONS:   It needs to be completely tailored to the user and trained by the user. It is often set up on one machine, and so can create difficulties for a user who Works from many locations, for example from school and home. It depends on the user having the desire to produce text and be able to invest the Time, training and perseverance necessary to achieve it. It is most successful for those competent in the art of dictation CONCLUSION: Speech recognition had prevailed and achieved tremendous results in different field’s .I t made our interactions with the computer easier than earlier. This technology had reduced the difference between human-to-human and human-to-machine interaction. FUTURE TRENDS: It would yield better results: When it was made noise resistant. Understand our emotions User friendly as accent of a machine differs from human’s It must be portable to use irrespective of the device. REFERENCES: www.seminoron .com www.edu.org www.ibm .com www.dragonsys.com

College Essay Essay

Why is college important to me? College is important to me for many reasons. One being, my future goals will be unattainable without it. Also, I would be setting a good example for my kids once they reach the age to further their education. Another reason being, I never imagined I would finally make it to college. There are many more reasons as to why, but these are just a few reasons why college is important to me. I believe everyone should fight for their dreams. By setting goals, you have a plan and steps to follow in order to accomplish whatever dream you want. The world today runs on how successful a person is as well as how much money an individual has. I have always wanted to be a criminal psychologist. No matter what, I am going to need a doctorate degree. But, what if people cannot afford that or do not want to complete that much schooling? If you do not have some amount of post secondary schooling, you are not going to be as successful as someone who does have that education. â€Å"Occupations that typically require post secondary education for entry have higher wages. (BLS)† America runs on money. Everything costs a certain amount. Therefore having a post secondary education is what will get you far in life. It will help you gain the success you strive for. With a higher education, you can also live a more comfortable life without having to worry about financial problems, because you have a higher education and therefore more knowledge about a profession. I am constantly striving to do my best so that when I have kids they know what it entails to lead, not only a successful life, but also a comfortable, worry free lifestyle. My parents never went to college. The highest level both my parents had was a high school diploma. I never had an example of someone who went to college or got that kind of education. I was never one of those children who always knew where they were going to college because they were going to follow in their parent’s footsteps. Due to my parents lack of post secondary education, as well as no education on how to handle finances, my parents always had bill collectors calling. We were in extreme debt and my parents never knew what they could afford. Instead they would just spend money like it was growing on trees. I do not want any of this for my children. If I want to be able to spend money like there is no limit, then I know I need an education that can support the financial needs for my family and me. If that means getting a doctorate degree and still furthering my education after that, then that is what I will do. I don’t want my children to have to see me getting calls from bill collectors. It can be very scarring. College will always be recommended for that. It will always be something in the forefront of their minds. College was never something that I ever thought I would accomplish. Due to my parents not going to college, I never thought it was expected of me or it was even that important. Once I got into high school, everyone would talk about what kind of profession they wanted to be in and what college they wanted to go to. Everyone would worry about their grades, sports, and the electives they were a part of. They were all worried about what it would look like to college admissions counselors. I was never like that, until I moved out of my mom’s house. I was placed in a foster home during my junior year in high school. It started out okay. I had two sisters and everyone was nice. But after a while, I just wanted out. My senior year had came and I started applying to the colleges that were farthest away. I wanted to be no where near where I was from. I did not want anyone to come visit me. So, Ohio State became my dream. It was cold, always snowing, so naturally, no one would want to go there. It never happened because of other events that ended up occurring in my life. However, if I had never been placed in a foster home, college would have never been a thought in my mind. In the end, I went to cosmetology school and I am now taking online classes majoring in criminal justice. College is one of the most important things someone can do in life. Today, not many professions are attainable without a college degree or being certified in some kind of industry. Children need to be shown from an early age that college is always going to be an expectation for them so they can live a successful life. I am striving to do what I love to do. I am going for my dream, just like what Steve jobs said: â€Å"You’ve got to find what you love†¦ Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way  to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. (Isaacson, 2011)† My grandfather always told me that if I love what I do, I will always be good at it. I truly believe that! Works Cited Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2012. Education and Training Outlook for Occupations. http://www. bls. gov/emp/ep_edtrain_outlook. pdf. Isaacson, Walter. 2011. Steve Jobs. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Violence in Latin America during Colonial Era (1521-181)

Violence in Latin America during Colonial Era (1521-181) Violence in Latin America during Colonial Era (1521-181) Violence in Latin America during Colonial Era (1521-181)Violence in Latin America is still an important issue that affects the life of many people causing not only physical but also psychological sufferings. However, the problem of violence existed in the past as well, especially during the colonial era. In this regard, the violence was accompanied by extreme policies, including the policy of genocide which was the ultimate manifestation of violence and resulted to numerous casualties and long run social and demographic effects.Thesis statement: The violence in Latin America persisted before and after colonization but the colonization has brought the shift to traditional violence patterns, which were domestic and military ones mainly, with the expansion of the scope of violence and contributed to the emergence of the oppression of the local population and violence based on the ethnic and racial ground.Research Question: How does the violence in Latin America evolved during the coloni al era under the impact of colonization?The research of the issue of violence and its evolution during the colonial era should focus on the study of different types of violence and changes in violence patterns that occurred during the colonial era.At this point, it is possible to refer to existing studies of the problem of violence in Latin America that refer to the colonial period. The use of both primary and secondary sources helps to reveal the scope of the problem of violence in Latin America, how it affected the society and influenced the social and cultural life of people of that time.At this point, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that many researchers[1] reveal the fact that violence in Latin America before colonization was quite different from that after colonization. To put it more precisely, as a rule, researchers[2] report cases of violence at the dawn of the colonial era related to military conflicts between tribes, while some researchers[3] report cases of ritual violence which was used during religious or other rituals practiced by the native population of Latin America. In fact, such cases of violence were well-known and frequent. In case of ritual violence, this type of violence was systematic and long-lasting because the local population practiced their rituals and observed them carefully[4]. However, ritual violence varied depending on the specific tribe, religious beliefs and cultural norms of specific communities. As a result, some tribes were more violent, while others were more peaceful. In such a way, ritual violence were quite widely-spread but diverse. At the same time, researchers[5] point out that the domestic violence has started to decline overtime as the colonization progressed.As for the military violence, this type of violence persisted and many European colonists were shocked by the violence and cruelty of Native Americans[6]. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact violence associated with military action s, including the extreme violence in relation to captured enemies persisted during the colonial era with the only difference that the change of the enemy had occurred since it was European colonists, who became the main opponents and enemies of the local population of Latin America. The distinct feature of military violence was the extreme cruelty of Native Americans to captured enemies. They were not committed to be merciful in relation to their enemies. Instead, they worked hard on the development of different tortures which they applied to captured enemies.At the same time, it is worth mentioning the fact that cases of domestic violence in Latin American before and during the early stages of colonization were not frequent[7] but this issue may be under-researched because Europeans lacked evidence of domestic violence and this issue has to be studied further in details to find out the scope of this problem and how the problem has evolved in the course of time. Nevertheless, this p roblem did exist but reports on domestic violence were mainly recorded by European colonists and it is difficult to determine the evolution of the problem during the colonial era without the in-depth study of the issue.However, the most distinct shift in the violence that had occurred during the colonial era was the violence of Europeans against the native population of Latin America. This violence included numerous cases of forced removal of the local population from their lands. Furthermore, European virtually slaughtered Native Americans in the course of the military invasion of their lands. Moreover, Europeans also used spiritual violence forcing Native Americans to convert to Christianity that was definitely the new type of violence and was different from conventional violence which normally born physical features but not psychological or spiritual ones.Thus, the study of the problem of violence in Latin American during the colonial era should focus on the development and evolu tion of different types of violence, how violence changed and transformed and what was the impact of European colonists and colonization at large on violence in Latin America.[1] Larson, B. (2012) Cochabamba, New York: Routledge[2] Norman, G. (2007)  The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History, New York: Routledge[3] Hamnett, B.R. (1999)  Concise History of Mexico. Port Chester, NY: Cambridge University Press[4] Lipsett-Rivera, S. Johnson, L.L. (2011) The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame, and Violence in Colonial Latin America, New York: Sage[5] Spalding†ª, K. (2010) Huarochirà ­: †ªAn Andean Society Under Inca and Spanish Rule, New York: Random House[6] Spalding†ª, K. (2010) Huarochirà ­: †ªAn Andean Society Under Inca and Spanish Rule, New York: Random House[7] Spalding†ª, K. (2010) Huarochirà ­: †ªAn Andean Society Under Inca and Spanish Rule, New York: Random House

Critically discuss the relationship between uneven geographic Essay

Critically discuss the relationship between uneven geographic development and globalization - Essay Example As a result of the geographical inequalities manifested in different places of the world, it can be argued that contrary to the popular belief that the globalisation is bridging the economic, social and cultural gap between different regions, it is actually increasing the social, cultural and economic inequality; hence, uneven geographic development. The term globalisation can be traced back to the late 1980s when globalisation became fashionable idea that described contexts related to historical processes where world economic and societal integration was taking place rapidly commonly referred to as structural globalisation in addition to contexts related to policies underlying the historical processes which represents ideological globalisation (Kacowicz 2013). This social and economic integration has had different repercussions for different world’s geographical regions and countries at least in its initial stages. Due to globalisation in the current situation, the increased competition among countries has affected more negatively the Northern countries especially the US compared to the effect it has had on some of the Southern countries. The reason for this imbalance can be argued in terms of exchanges in trade where during the 1970s many developing countries benefited from the higher prices for natural resources like oil in addition to the plentiful supply of credit and investments at highly favourable conditions due to the increased competition among Northern countries (Arrighi 2002). In order to effectively explore the different views on how globalisation impacted on geographic development, it is necessary that different perspectives on globalisation can be identified. Superficially, globalisation can be considered as the deepening, expanding and accelerating international interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life, which covers such diverse contexts as cultural to the criminal and from the financial to the spiritual undertakings (Saxena 2010). A computer programmer located in India is in a position to offer services to an employer in Europe or USA in real time. In addition to the fact that farming of poppies in Burma can have a connection with drug abuse in Berlin is a good enough example of how globalisation links one geographical location to another in a different continent. However, away from the broad perception of the continued escalation of global interconnectedness there is considerable divergent view as to how globalisation is best conceptualized, how its causal dynamics works, and how its structural impact should be characterized. Therefore, due to issues raised by the question of what globalisation represents, three broad schools of thought have developed each having a different perspective of globalisation but all endeavour to comprehend and elucidate this phenomenon. Firstly, there are those who see globalisation as representing a new epoch where people from different geographical regions are pr ogressively being subjected to the controls of the global market. Secondly, there are those who conceptualize globalisation as a myth, which obscure the truth about international economy, which is in reality segmented into geographical blocs characterized by a powerful

Intellectual property Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Intellectual property Master - Essay Example How far can these innovations be protected from being illegally copied The justification on part of the innovator from stopping its innovations or products from being replicated in some other form needs to be debated both on ethical and moral grounds. This argument is particularly common and debated in the pharmaceutical sector. The scope of such protection covers a gamut of industries, professions and products. We shall restrict the scope of this study to the copyright laws, internet sector and particularly focus on the music industry. Bainbridge (2002) describes intellectual property rights as a form of property that can be dealt with just as with any other property, and which can be assigned, mortgaged and licensed. Intellectual property is property in the legal sense: it is something that can be owned and dealt with. Looking at this definition, as suggested by Bainbridge, one can observe that the properties rights do not just include rights associated with land or buildings or any other assets that carries the physical characteristics of a "land-building" asset form. Intellectual property gives rise to rights and duties. It establishes property rights, which give the owner the right to do certain things in relation to the subject matter. Bainbridge, in his study, supports this argument with an example relating to the music industry - if the right is a copyright and the subject matter is a piece of music, the owner of the copyright has the exclusive right to make copies of the sheet music, to make an arrangement of the music and to control the performance of the music unless until he surrenders that right to some music label company. According to the government-backed UK - Intellectual Rights, intellectual property (IP) allows people to own their creativity and innovation in the same way that they can own physical property. The owner of IP can control and be rewarded for its use, and this encourages further innovation and creativity to the benefit of us all.1 It is essential to protect innovations from being illegally copied or pirated. Such guarantee of protection to innovations and inventions will encourage further innovative research and development and also reward entrepreneurs and innovators for their discovery. The protections come in the form of law and legal proceedings. 1.2 Intellectual Property Law. Bently and Sherman (2001) defines intellectual property law as a means to regulate the creation, use and exploitation of mental or creative labour. Intellectual Prop