Thursday, October 31, 2019

How Do Dreams Work Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

How Do Dreams Work - Research Paper Example Dreams have been considered prophetic and delivered from the spiritual plane. The ways in which dreams have been stimulated include the concept of incubating in a place or chamber designed specifically to create a prophetic dream. However, dreams have been most used in the search for understanding the unconscious mind. Theories proposed by Jung and Freud have defined ways in which to approach dreams for their therapeutic values. The way in which dreams work has been studied for the brain waves that are associated to the different stages of sleep. As well, the way in which they are associated to the mental state of the individual has been examined for the many ways that dreams can be associated. The brain has been studied while sleep occurs in order to determine which parts of the brain are working compared to which parts are not working during the dream state. Still, the associations of the events in dreams to the biological event have yet to be fully explained. The state of dreaming has been somewhat defined for its biological function, but the true nature of dreams and how they work has yet to be fully established. Dreams: The Theoretical Divide Dreams have provided a great deal of study to psychologists, neurologists, and to disciplines that are concerned with the function of the brain. The concept of dreams has also been an interest to sociologists and anthropologists as they study culture. Sigmund Freud constructed his theory of dreams as purposeful in his theories of psychoanalysis where he insisted that dreaming had no connection to neurology and was a function of the mind rather than part of the brain. This divided the concept of mind and brain and even when modern scientists discovered REM and found evidence of brain functions in association with dreaming, it was still framed with the psychoanalytical structures, believing that the content of dreams was a separate issue to the physiology of dreams (Hobson 2005, xii). Previous to the work of Freud, peop le saw dreams, primarily, as nonsense of the mind. Some cultures believed in the mystical qualities of dreams, but the general belief about dreams was that they had no real value. Freud changed this through his discussions about the meaning of dreams in regard to psychoanalysis. He proposed that the mind had a hidden censor that could protect a person from sexual and aggressive threats, but that to act on every perceived threat would be socially unacceptable. The dream phase would allow for threatening thoughts to transform into harmless symbols within dreams. In allowing guilty feelings, anxieties, and inappropriate desires to manifest in dreams, the social world is safe from the intrusion of those thoughts (Plotnik and Kouyoumdjian 160). The two new concepts that Freud brought to the forefront of psychological evaluation was that dreams consisted of symbols and that they could be interpreted for psychologically relevant information (Plotnik and Kouyoumdjian 160). The idea that dre ams held symbols and could be interpreted was new from a cultural understanding as many religions and cultures had depended on the symbols and interpretations of those symbols for mystical meaning for centuries, perhaps back to the dawn of human history. However, that these symbols and interpretations could be used for the scientific study of the mind and focused upon the individual was a revolutionary idea. Freud had three

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

PROJECT 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

PROJECT 1 - Essay Example The use of the mobile phone for the group was advanced to the extent that they knew how to download music from online sites, but the usage had not been used to improve levels of literacy considerably. The researchers reported the use of mobile phones as exceptionally advanced for the group, and therefore a channel that promoted levels of literacy. The researchers emphasized the role that the use of mobile phones played in the social lives of the people living in the remote community, and went further to maintain that the usage was core to the levels of literacy attained. The ideas used to support the arguments include that the exchange between the mother and the child showed considerably developed uses of the phone as a tool for fostering literacy among the members of the community. 2. Connolly, T. M., Boyle, E. A., MacArthur, E., Hainey, T., & Boyle, J. M. (2012). A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games. Computers &Education, 59(2), 661–686. The analysis of the findings and the context reported from the 129 studies showed that exposure to computer games improved some skills, including those that were important to the learning of students. The skill areas reported to benefit from playing games included cognitive, perceptual; affective and also the learner’s levels of motivation for learning. The study revealed that the positive effects of playing digital games is widespread, therefore an area that calls for the exploration of the relationship further, so that it can be used to foster learning. The authors emphasized the importance of digital games in the learning of the students aged 14 and higher, by pointing out that it affected a variety of the skill areas that foster or limit learning. In conclusion, the position taken about the materials was that more study is needed, so as to

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The Hotel New World Collapse Commerce Essay

The Hotel New World Collapse Commerce Essay Public relation officers agencies are very important people to any organisation as they are the ones who in my opinion keep the ball rolling day in day out. Being a public relations officer, he or she must learn how to handle the media learn how to get clients to keep the business running and most importantly learn how to manage a crisis. There was crisis which took place in 1986, the Hotel New World collapse. 15 March 1986, at approximately 11.25 am The Hotel New World, which is also called the Lian Yak building, located at the junction of serangoon road and owen road, collapsed killing 33 people with 17 survivors. This collapse was a major factor why buildings in Singapore now are much more versatile and less likely to collapse. This was a major disaster which could also be classified as a crisis. And I believe there could have been more effective ways where they could have reacted better and save more lives. 2. Crisis management First and foremost what is crisis management? Crisis management, also known as firefighting, is where you know how to avoid the crisis if its possible and appropriately react to the crisis if it cannot be solved (Bernstein, 2011). During a crisis having a crisis team would be essential. Also the members of the team should be able to tell the higher officials in their organisation what to do during a crisis with no fear. The team members should consist of two spokesperson who are the mouth. One will be a backup. A leader who is the brain, someone who will make the important decisions and are accountable for those decisions, such as the CEO or owner of the organisation. And a lead in-house professional and the full PR agency team also known as the hands, for breadth of reach and redundancy reasons (Anthonissen, 2008). The spokespersons, also known as the mouth are representatives of an organisation. How many spokesperson an organisation needs depends on the size of the organisation as they might have many outlets in many countries. But the basics are two spokesperson. The first one would be the primary spokesperson. He or she would represent the company while handling the media. The second one would be a backup He or she will represent the company if the first spokesperson is not available or if is need to explain the crisis in another location. Also these spokesperson need to be media trained. They should know how to handle the media as its the organisations reputation which is at stake. Thus making a wrong move in front of the media would further add to the crisis hence the spokesperson need be a specialist but must be able to handle the media well. Next is the brain which is the crisis committee. This crisis committee is led by the leader who might be the CEO or owner of the company. The committee`s first job is to make a decision on how will they be operating during a crisis. A very simple way to operate is to make sure majority of the team agrees on the decisions made. But this might not be the best option as ex British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher said, Consensus is the negation of leadership. The team must co-operate with the leader to make it an effective committee. Also in the team one person has to be in-charge of all the communications taking place during the crisis This person has to be responsible for- getting the team together during the crisis Communicating the needs of the committee to the mouth Approving all communication messages before they go live Reporting the situation as it develops to the crisis committee Reporting the total crisis once it`s all over (Anthonissen, 2008). Usually the people who are in charge of communications point are the lead in-house communications professionals. During the crisis having a media contact team is also vital. As during the crisis calling up the media and updating would be time consuming thus this team would handle the information being given to the media. The team will need to inform he media about press conference etc. To have a good media contact team they must- Have good press contacts Have a clean and updated full media list at any given time Understand how journalists and editors from different news media work Be practised at media tools Have facilities to translate documents and provide simultaneous translations at a press conference or media interview, if required Have ability to move very quickly(Anthonissen, 2008). Therefore having these qualities would make the media contact team much more useful and essential to update the media about the crisis. Thus that would be one burden of the shoulders of the leader and therefore concentrate on how to resolve the crisis much more efficiently. A good public relations officer will not think that crisis would not happen in his or her organisation and would be well prepared for it. Therefore they must be well prepared for a crisis by looking into what could be the possible areas that might cause a crisis. Next they must come up with a crisis plan. A good public relations officer will plan out everything in detail on what to do when a crisis occurs. This crisis plan can include information such as what are the steps to take by the staffs, crisis management team members. Lastly they must implement the action plan. Planning for a crisis is one thing. But facing a real crisis will be very stressful and it will be a much tensed environment thus no matter how hard an organisation plans out a crisis plan it would be tougher when faced with a real crisis. Therefore it is important to select members of a crisis team for their ability to remain calm and in control while under pressure (Ali, 2011). Also during the crisis every member of the crisis management team should have a copy of what the crisis plan is. Also they should know what their roles are during a crisis. Therefore ensuring a smooth crisis management during a crisis. There are three types of crisis. They are creeping crisis, slow-burn crisis and sudden crisis. Creeping crisis is where a crisis is foreshadowed by a series of events that decision-makers dont view as part of pattern. An example of a Creeping crisis is when the steps take to save a persons life in an emergency situation is not clear. Slow burning crisis is where the signs or warning has been given about the situation but it has not caused any damage to the organisation yet. An example of slow burning crisis is when the organisation goes thru a lawsuit, discrimination complaints or when the organisations reputation is at stake. Sudden crisis is where the damage has been already inflicted and the crisis will get worst if the damage is not contained well. An example of sudden crisis is when a fire breaks out in the building or when the building collapses. The Hotel New World disaster is classified under the category of sudden crisis as it the building collapse was an unexpected event which took place too quickly for anyone to react in time. 3. Analysis The Hotel New World crash shocked everyone in Singapore. It killed a total of 33 people. The crisis is considered to be one of the worst in Singapore history. Before the collapse the building was also in the headlines as it left 35 hotel customers unconscious in August 1975 due to a carbon monoxide leak. The building came down within less than a minute. It was completely demolished. There were 17 people stuck in under rubbles still alive who were eventually the survivors. The building was occupied by an industrial and commercial bank and a night club. But major parts of the building were taken up by The Hotel New World. On 15 march 1986 at approximately 11.25 the lian Yak building came crashing down to rubbles. The building was brought sown within less than 60 seconds. The first call to the SCDF was made at 11.33 sending out their men to the area. First to arrive at the scene was station officer Abu Bakar. He was in charge of the first two fire engines which arrived at the scene with the thought of just nothing more then just a fire outbreak. Upon reaching at the location he then realise its way worst then what he had expected. There was not enough time for anyone inside the building to have escaped in time. Once the rescue team had arrived at that place they started planning on how to operate this mission as this building collapse was the first of its kind in Singapore thus the rescues team were not well trained for this situation and also the equipments were not the appropriate ones used for this type of rescue mission. By noon most of the ministers had arrived at the scene too and almost all the available rescue officers were deployed in order to help the survivors escape thru the rubbles. On first 2 days they tried removing the rubbles first then finding for people. After that on the second day the rescue officers consulted experts whom were at that time tunnelling for the MRT lines in Singapore. Then with their assist the rescue team had work intensively to find for survivors. On 19 march 1986, the rescue mission was called off. A total of 50 people were trapped under the rubbles of the building. 33 people died at the scene. There were only 17 survivors. Then president, Mr Wee Kim Wee had then set-up a group on 22 march to investigate why the building crashed without any warning. This team which was assembled consisted of Mr Justice L. P. Thean, Dr A Vijiaratnam, Professor S. L. Lee and Professor Bengt B. Broms. On 16 February 1987 the final report was submitted to the president. It gave the full details about the building the building owners and especially on why the building crashed was revealed. The main cause of the collapse was in the structural design. According and to the Report of the inquiry into the Collapse of Hotel New World, Analyses of the structural design showed that the dead weights of many structural elements were underestimated and that a large number of individual structural members were grossly under-designed. This is quoted directly from the report. This shows that the building is in fact a ticking time bomb. And the mistake was indeed made 15 years ago when the drawings of the building were made was the. Next w as the construction. The quality of the way the building was being constructed was unsatisfactory according to the report. Reinforcements were less than what was stated in the R.C drawings. Also there was no professional supervision in the construction site which was one of the many factors leading to the collapse. And finally three of the pillars in the building had cracked thus bringing the Lian Yak building down on 15 March 1986. It could stand its own weight because the building was like a time bomb waiting to collapse and when there were new installations placed in the roof the Lian Yak the building it could not hold any longer thus collapsing. The inquiry also brought to light that the managing director of Lian Yak Realty was the one who was the overall in-charge of the building. But unfortunately he had died in the collapse. It was revealed that he had actually used draughtsman to build the building. And the engineer did not calculate the weight of the building properly thus making the building collapse. Also after this incident, the Singapore government had made all their constructions of building rules much more tighter, did checks on existing buildings and find out which buildings were at risk and also they gave the power of authorising and inspection of the buildings to the Ministry of National Development. In my opinion this disaster could have been easily avoided. It was due to carelessness which caused 33 people lives. First and foremost I believe the managing director should not have overseen the construction of this building alone and they should have had group or a team which represents the Lian Yak realty company. Also I believe the communication process which went through the organisation was poor as in the end the managing director was at fault for hiring draughtsman to build the building. This shows that the organisation did not check what was the managing directors doing or who he was employing at the construction site. This is where a public relation officer would be vital. As they can come with a check list on what can be done when there is a crisis. What are the minor and major things to take note during a crisis. Also in my opinion I believe the government could have done their part by ensuring all the rules and regulations for construction were followed strictly. The recommendations that were given in the report could have been implemented earlier. They should have learnt from past disasters such as the collapse of Broadways Grandest Hotel which took place in the year 1973. Also they could have better prepared the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in theses type of crisis. They could haves sent them for training overseas instead of taking the hotel new world collapse as a lesson. This crisis clearly shows that nobody was prepared and had the mentality that the building will never collapse thus in my opinion a contributing factor for so many deaths. 4. Evaluation There are ways that could prevent this kind of sudden crisis. There are a lot of measures to be taken to avoid such crisis would be vital in life and death situations. Thus one must be prepared to face all kinds of situation. The definition of being prepared here is having a plan ready to be executed when there is a crisis (Anthonissen, 2008). This firstly there must be a check list created on what to do when a crisis occurs. When creating the check list the public relation officer must think of all possible crisis and what are the steps to avoid the crisis or escape the crisis. Like I earlier mentioned one must not be too complacent and think to themselves that the crisis would not happen. As a public relation officer we must expect the unexpected. Thus creating a check list would be beneficiary to anyone who uses it during a crisis. Also like earlier mentioned having a crisis management team would be very vital. Successful managers are those who work with successful teams (Hunsaker, 2001). Not only that the team should consist of people from various departments thus they would be aware of what to do when a crisis situation occurs. Thus it would be easier for them to escape during a sudden crisis compared to only one person handling the whole situation. This causes more stress on that individual this sharing the workload would be the best thing to do therefore having a crisis management team is definitely a positive impact. There also ways where we can prepare the people by having drills to for a sudden crisis would be a good solution to better prepare them and make sure they know what to do when having a crisis. There are three types of crisis drills. They are Tabletop exercises, Drills and Full scale exercises (Bernstein, 2011). Firstly the tabletop exercises. These exercises are usually done with the people sitting around a table. Its a discussion where the key manager explains the roles of the people during a crisis (Bernstein, 2011). Next is the Drill. Drills are where a specific department might be put to test to see how they would react when in crisis. External officers might sometimes do the evaluation. Finally the Full-scale exercise. As the names says it full-scale exercise, the organisation, the people working in that building will be put to test when they re-enact a crisis situation and would then see how quickly they escape and checking if their crisis management has been successful The Hotel New World collapse could have been a crisis avoided but the collapse has now educated the people the relevant authorities on how to improve their crisis management skills. The SCDF got experience on how to manage a sudden crisis like The Hotel New World collapse. The Singapore government came down hard on the rules of buildings. From a PR point of view, in my opinion the Lian Yak Realty failed in handing this sudden crisis. Yes this was a lesson but I believe the Lian Yak Realty should have been better prepared and should have at least done their part in the aftermath of the collapse. I am sure this crisis should have been avoided if there was a proper organisational structure in Lian Yak realty. This was an incident which changed the future of Singapore in terms of how the buildings were constructed and how to handle a crisis.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Shakespeares Hamlet - The Ghost Of Hamlet’s Father Essay -- GCSE Engl

The Ghost Of Hamlet’s Father      Ã‚   What would Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, be like without the character of the Ghost? The drama simple wouldn’t BE! The Ghost, though not a human character in most senses of the word, is crucial for the development of the play. This essay will analyze this interesting character.    Frank Kermode in â€Å"Hamlet† fits the Ghost into the local and national scene:    But meanwhile the ghost – â€Å"this thing† – has appeared. (Horatio as skeptic raises questions as to its status which could have been avoided.) There has been speculation as to its purpose, but one thing seems sure: it has to do with the state of the nation – it   â€Å"bodes some strange eruption to our state† – and with the armaments drive now in progress under the threat from Norway. That it genuinely has to do with the state of the nation – its spiritual rather than its merely political state – we shall learn; and to give us a â€Å"musical’ sense that this is so, there is the unexpected speech about Christmas. (1138)    The Ghost means more than a commentary on the spiritual and political state of the nation. Gunnar Boklund’s   â€Å"Judgment in Hamlet† introduces the Ghost in terms of the dilemma of the protagonist:      It is a commonplace to refer to Hamlet’s â€Å"dilemma† and a critical problem to explain in what this dilemma consists. A natural way to come to terms with the problem is obviously through the character that forces the dilemma upon Hamlet, that is to say, the Ghost. This is a particularly attractive approach, since it promises to bring the findings of modern research into Elizabethan demonology to bear directly upon the question of the nature of the Ghost and its message. It was apparently generally believed, a... .... San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: University of Delaware Press, 1992.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html    Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000 http://www.bartleby.com/215/0816.html    West, Rebecca. â€Å"A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption.† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957.    Wilkie, Brian and James Hurt. â€Å"Shakespeare.† Literature of the Western World. Ed. Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Inventory Management and Operations Efficiency Essay

Background of the Study In recent years, buffet restaurants are increasingly getting popular among other kinds. Buffets are effective for serving large numbers of people at once. Diners also see it as advantageous on their part because they get to have a great deal of choice and the ability to closely inspect food before selecting it. A more free form of buffet is called â€Å"eat all you can† wherein customers pay a fixed fee and then may help themselves to as much food as they wish to eat in a single meal. Therefore, customers have the privilege to eat to their heart’s content. However, on the part of the restaurant operators and managers, it is difficult to forecast how many people would come and how much one head could eat in a single meal. In case they run out of dishes, they must always be able to refill the buffet. After all, no one likes to get inside a restaurant that is not able to serve the customers well. It may affect customer retention, the level of customer satisfaction and may leave negative impressions on the restaurant’s efficiency. This means that the restaurant should have enough stocks to avoid running out of food to serve. This is now where the role of inventory management takes place. To ensure availability, an inventory system is adopted that provides the organizational structure and the operating policies for maintaining and controlling goods to be stocked. The system is responsible for ordering and receipt of goods; timing the order placement, keeping track of what has been ordered, and how much and from whom ordered. Regardless of the type of restaurant you operate, or whether the restaurant is in the start-up phase or has been operating for many years, adopting an inventory system is essential. Therefore managing inventory is very important in operating a restaurant. In the provinces, there are quite a number of eat-all-you-can restaurants that one can find. But in Butuan City, among the most popular is Roldan’s Eat All You Can. It is such a popular place that even locals from the nearby provinces prefer to eat lunch there when they happen to be in the city. Every day they offer variety of foods- from appetizers to desserts which make it irresistible for the customers. On the other hand, in their daily operations they face problems with inventory management such as running out-of-stock and other stock-related problems. The problem on inventory motivated the researchers to study about the inventory management and operations efficiency of Roldan’s Eat All You Can, Montilla Boulevard, Butuan City. Review of Literature The review of related literature is an essential part of the research. This section consists the ideas and studies and of various authors that will be of great help in the conceptualization of the research. According to Jacobs (2008), an inventory system provides the organizational structure and the operating policies for maintaining and controlling goods to be stocked. The system is responsible for ordering and receipt of goods: timing the order placement and keeping track of what has been ordered, how much and from whom. Restaurants guests are looking for value when they purchase menu items. In the same way, the restaurant manager is looking for value in the product purchase decisions he/she makes. Price is important but so are other components in the purchasing goal. During the growth of a new venture the management of inventory is an important task. Too much inventory can be a drain on cash flow since manufacturing, transportation, and storage costs must be borne by the venture. On the other hand, too little inventory to meet customer demands can also cost the venture in lost sales, or it can create unhappy customers who may choose another firm if their needs are not met in a timely manner. According to Ninemeier (2006), the typical restaurant requires several hundreds of food ingredients and, if alcoholic beverages are offered, many additional products must be purchased. Numerous decisions must be made to assure that the right products are purchased and are available when needed. According to David Kurtz (2005), inventory control captures a large share of a logistics manager’s attention because companies need to maintain enough inventories to meet customer demand without incurring unneeded costs for carrying excess inventory. Some firms attempt to keep inventory levels under control by implementing just in-time (JIT) production. The goal of purchasing is to receive the right quality of product at the right time in the right quantity from the right supplier at the right price. This goal is very easy to state but much difficult to attain. Products needed for Saturday’s banquet must be available on a timely basis and for example, if they are received on the Monday before the event, they will not be fresh or, if they are received on the Monday after the event, they are of no use. The standard recipe indicates products which are needed to help assure that the menu items which are served are of consistent quality and consistent cost. The concept of the right product in our purchasing goal relate to quality and quantity. If an insufficient amount of product is purchased, stock-outs are likely to happen; guests will be disappointed if their favorite item is not available, and operations may not be disrupted if substitute items must be produced. By contrast, if an excessive quantity of product is purchased, excess funds are tied up in inventory, there is an increased chance of spoilage, pilferage may occur, and there may be insufficient storage space. Restaurant managers in most areas have alternative sources of supply for most products. More than a product is purchased when a purchase agreement is made. Information and service are also very important, and some suppliers do a better job of providing this assistance than do others. A supplier offering a â€Å"good† price but does not deliver a product on time is not providing an advantage to the restaurant. Restaurant managers must implement systems to determine what to purchase, how much to purchase and when to purchase. Still according to Ninemeier and Hayes (2006), after products are purchased, they must be received. It is ironic that some restaurants implement many of the purchasing tactics but then fail to follow through when products are received. Purchasers are likely to pay for the quality of products which they ordered and are delivered. In spite of this, however, receiving procedures are lax in some properties and may involve little more than counting incoming packages and comparing that number to the quantity listed on the delivery invoice before it is signed. How much will the supplier charge the restaurant for its products? The answer is determined at time of receiving. Unless there is a credit memo, the restaurant will be charged for the quantity of products noted on the delivery invoice. Also, unless an error is noted on the invoice, the unit cost will be that noted on the voice. Effective restaurant managers, therefore, assure that proper receiving practices are consistently used. In the receiving process, first, delivery invoice from the supplier should be compared to the restaurant’s copy of the purchase order. This will assure that the quantity and price of products agreed upon at time of purchasing were, in fact, incorporated into the delivery invoice. The second step in the receiving process involves confirming that the product quality is in concert with that required by the purchase specification.According to Feinstein (2005), the basic goal of storage management is to prevent loss of merchandise due to: (1) theft, (2) pilferage, and (3) spoilage. Theft is premeditated burglary. It occurs when someone drives a truck up to the back door of an operation and steals all of the expensive foods, beverages, and equipment. Generally, storage facilities are not designed to prevent this. Management would need a citadel to eliminate theft by keeping honest employees honest. In some parts of the United States, and the rest of the world, theft is common. Thus, hospitality operators must see to it that storage facilities are designed so as to make theft more difficult, generally by some combination of clear visibility of general access storage located elsewhere. Locking storage areas when not in use and minimizing the number of persons who have access to the keys appear to be good practices. Pilferage is a serious problem in the hospitality industry and centers on the employee who sneaks off with a bottle of mustard or a couple of ashtrays. Eating on the job is another form of pilferage, unless the owner-manager allows it. Shoplifting also falls in this category. Pilferage is sometimes referred to as â€Å"inventory shrinkage† or â€Å"skimming†. The estimated dollar losses resulting from pilferage vary considerably, but industry experts feel that approximately two to four percent of every sales dollar is lost to employee and customer dishonesty. Several potential ways to control pilferage exist, some of which we discuss. Unfortunately, in some cases, the cure may be more expensive than the disease. Spoilage can be controlled a little more easily than neither theft nor pilferage. Generally, spoilage can be minimized by adhering to rigid sanitation practices, rotating the stocks so that old items are used first, and providing the proper environmental conditions for each time in storage. Rigid sanitation is, in fact, a must in all storage facilities. This involves two quite different kinds of steps. First, products that might induce spoilage in others through migration of odors or chemicals must be separated properly. For example, fresh fish is not stored with butter and cleaning agents are segregated from food products. A second and more obvious sanitation activity involves keeping the storage facility clean, for instance, by mopping it daily. The proper environmental conditions for storage seem easy enough to achieve. But the expense of providing for all the various temperature and humidity requirements for an entire spectrum of food products can be burdensome for small restaurants. Nonfood storage is a not so large problem, but a good deal of value space may be required. Freezers; separate produce, dairy, and meat refrigerator; and separate dry storage areas for groceries, beverages, and cleaning supplies can all add up to a large investment. This can be so large, in fact, that small operations often try make do with outdated facilities, which can get them into trouble with the local health department. The benefits of proper environmental conditions are definite but sometimes not readily apparent. The prevention of food-borne illness does not carry a price tag. Moreover, improper storage can cause a significant loss of nutritional value and taste. The value here is difficult to quantify. Lost nutrition does not necessarily concern restaurant customers, but school food service operations might consider this loss unacceptable. Fortunately, even though a hospitality operation msy maintain an old, erratic refrigerator, proper stock rotation and a reasonably quick stock turnover can minimize quality loss. On Issuing, according to Mill (2007), for control purposes, it is advisable that as few people as possible have access to signing as someone in authority, and such signature is needed before food and beverage items can be released from storage. A system of inventory management helps ensure cost control. Such forms aid in inventory control and analyzing menu costs. The objective is to ensure that only authorized personnel are allowed to requisition food and beverage items. Based on the study of Hayes (2006) there is a relationship between the quantity of food and beverage products produced and sold by the restaurant and the quantity of products removed from its storage areas. Some restaurants use an: open door approach to issuing: whenever someone needs something, they simply retrieve it. With this tactic, every employee is in charge of issuing. According to Dittmer (1999) anyone who has patronized restaurants and other foodservice operations can recognize that a number of different types of service are available. Some aid of very high quality, some much less so. Fast food restaurants and cafeterias tend to provide comparatively little service beyond the basic fine restaurants offer extraordinary levels of service, with some appearing to have more staff than customers. In establishments offering extensive service, it is sometimes of very high quality- swift, unobtrusive, and approximating an art form. More than commonly, however, the service is likely to be different-slow, disorganized, intrusive- with the servers obviously untrained. Each individual diner has a personal view, consciously or unconsciously, of the standards of service that he considers appropriate for any given occasion when a meal is consumed outside the home. Whenever possible, the customer will tend to select a restaurant offering a type and level of service that he finds appropriate to the occasion. If the individual’s time is strictly limited, he is likely to select a restaurant with limited service- one that allows a customer to eat within a limited time available. On the other hand, there are customers for whom time is of no concern. Sometimes they are celebrating some special occasion. Managers who seek to optimize restaurant sales should be aware of the extent and quality of service that their customers want. With that in mind, they may find it comparatively easy to adjust some aspects of service in ways that will increase customer satisfaction. According to Kurtus (2008), Restaurants are in the business of serving food to their customers. In other words, they are providing a product (food) and a service (waiting on the customer). The quality of the food and service is defined as meeting or exceeding the expectations of the customer as if promised by the restaurant. The food should be properly prepared and the service should be prompt and courteous. The benefit of quality food and service is that customers will come back and will recommend the restaurant to friends (http://www.school-for-champions.com/tqm/restaurantquality.htm). According to Khan (2006), â€Å"the primary function of any type of foodservice operation is to convert raw food into cooked products†. Profits come from converting and serving the food as efficiently as possible. High quality dishes come from high quality ingredients. The objective is â€Å"to obtain the right quality and quantity at the right and price and from the right source†. Food quality is more than just taste; it includes attributes such as texture, consistency, hold times, shelf life, and visual appeal. Restaurants need to guarantee food quality in every aspect of food preparation, from the moment the food is produce and delivered to the time it is stored, cooked and served(http://www.bukisa.com/articles/4355869how-important-is-restaurant-food-quality). According to Dittmer (1999), quality is a term that conveys different meanings to different people. Those with particular refined tastes-people sometimes referred to as gourmets- are more likely to seek perfection in food and may be inclined to accept nothing less. For them, this may mean that the quality of restaurant food must meet long list criteria: all ingredients must be fresh rather than canned or frozen, soups must be prepared from freshly made stocks, vegetables must be cooked only just tender, and so on. Unless the food products offered in a particular restaurant meet their exacting quality standards, they will not patronize it. There are some who appear to be completely different to all the quality standards for foodservice products that the majority insists on. For them, food is food- a necessity similar to fuel for an engine. They seem perfectly prepared to accept foodservice products of very low levels of quality – for patronizing restaurants do not appear to be related to product quality defined terms that the majority accepts. In any given population, various segments demand food products of various levels of quality such that they will appeal to large enough segment of the market to ensure the level of sales volume required for profitability. According to Stefanelli (2005), maintaining quality is not quite the same as establishing the firm’s desired level of quality. Some buyers have comparatively little to say about the quality of products they must purchase. They do, however, have a major responsibility to make sure that, once set, the quality standards vary only within acceptable limits. For some products, such as liquor and soap, brand names assure uniform quality. Unfortunately, the quality of fresh foods can change drastically from day to day and from one supplier to the next. This situation can make it particularly difficult to maintain quality standards. In addition, occasional overbuying or a sudden breakdown in storage facilities, such as refrigeration facilities, can wreaker or bring havoc on quality standards. Regardless of the associated difficulties, however, operators insist that their buyers maintain quality control. Food quality in restaurants seems to be accepted as a fundamental component to satisfy restaurant customers; however, it has been often overlooked in restaurant service quality and satisfaction studies. Upon starting a restaurant business, one could have attended a seminar that discusses the importance of food quality in restaurants. Most fast-food and restaurants claim to maintain a high degree of supervision in their food preparation process. Restaurants owners spend a lot of money to train their staff; they even have an excellent infrastructure that facilitates maintenance of cleanliness and hygiene. But despite all the rules and assurances, the complete safety of food bought from a restaurant is questionable. With a structural equation modeling technique, overall food quality significantly affects customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions and also revealed that the relationship between food quality and customer behavioral intentions is mediated by satisfaction. Subsequent regression analyses demonstrated that taste and presentation were the two greatest contributors to customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Thus, managers should pay attention to the key food quality attributes that elicit customer satisfaction enhance return visits in the restaurant business. Customers want to have exactly what they ordered, so food consistency is crucial to one’s business. Cooks should be able to cook the same dish and the same blend over and over. Otherwise, inconsistency of food will remove the customers’ interest from buying the best sellers over and over. It is a good move to conduct a training regarding ingredient proportions and standard preparation procedures. When a customer says that he or she has a food allergy, servers must pay close attention. Also, knowledge on the food quality standards is important. As a restaurant owner, one should carefully monitor how food is being consumed in the restaurant and how they are being prepared. Otherwise, the food quality will diminish overtime, and it would definitely differ and taste and would involve sanitary and health issues(http://www.bukisa.com/articles/435869how-important-is-restaurant-food-quality. Based on Mill’s study (2007), management is responsible for serving food that is nutritious, appeals to the senses, and is safe to eat. Sanitation refers to the hygienic measure for ensuring food safety and control of environmental factors that could arm human development, health or survival. According to the National Assessment Institute, a restaurant manager is responsible for identifying health hazards in the daily operation of the restaurant, develop and implement policies, procedures, and standards to prevent food borne illnesses, coordinate training, supervision, and direction of food handling and preparation while taking corrective action as required to protect the health of customers and employees and inspect the operation periodically to ensure that policies and procedures are being followed correctly. Any sanitation slip up not only hastens spoilage but also increases the risk of customer or employee sickness. Some states and local municipalities have legislation that requires hospitality management personnel to successfully pass some sort of a sanitation course. There is also discussion suggesting that eventually all of the hospitality employees will have to pass some type of sanitation certification exam. At fast food restaurants, kitchen workers are assigned a specific task which they have to perform throughout the day, because fast foods cater to hundreds of customers each hour the work volume is very high and workers get little or no time to clean their work area. Under a tremendous work load, workers usually do not find the time to implement their food safety training. So it may be concluded that despite all the quality assurances that the fast foods and other forms of food establishments offer eating out is not a safe thing to do. Perishable items should be carefully maintained. Each product has a shelf life, and a good idea is always to cook first those that are longer in the fridge. It follows the queuing concept of what comes in first must first go out since food that are longer in the fridge might likely spoil and could affect every single ingredient that is inside your chiller(http://www.bukisa.com/articles/436859how-important-is-restaurant-food-quality#ixzz1Vo7zZHq00). According to Stefanelli (2005), limiting prices a supervisor may suggest some flexible price limits for certain products, especially those products that represent the bulk of the purchasing dollar. And, for instance, if an item’s price rises above that limit, it may be time to reevaluate the item’s place in the operation. It is no secret that good pricing practices are good for business. They increase customer satisfaction, increase profits and go a long way toward assuring compliance with the law. While satisfied customers generally mean repeat business, price errors that stem from haphazard or inefficient pricing practices can cost store’s money. For one thing, the dollar amount of undercharges often exceeds the dollar amount of the overcharges. For another, it is against the law to charge more than the advertised shelf price. Stores that do may be subject to civil and criminal fines (http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus11-good-pricing-practices-scan-do). According to Griffin (1999), restaurants normally have standard sales prices for the menu items they offer. The sales prices for menu items are usually established by restaurant owners or managers and are communicated to customers via printed menus or conspicuously posted signs. Because the sum of the prices paid by all customers for their menu selections is the total food revenue for a restaurant, it should be evident that these sales prices are critically important in determining the degree of profitability for any restaurant.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Negotiating with Learners

Negotiating with learners, e. g. initial assessment, agreeing goals and actions Initial assessment is the beginning of a teacher/learner relationship, allowing the teacher to identify and discover learners with difficulties and disabilities if the learner is confident to talk about them. By recording this information, plans towards teaching can be made so every learner feels included and progress in their learning experience.The information will determine the learners starting point; the learners may already have skills and knowledge that relate to the subject taken, the teacher can also identify Literacy, Language, Numeracy and ICT that may be applicable. Assessment should not be something that is done to somebody. The learner must be involved and feel part of the process. Lesley Thom (2001 p13) All learners will want to achieve and have something to aim for. Learning goals can be negotiated and agreed.If working towards a qualification the awarding body or examining board will have a program in which to follow so the teacher will know what to teach and learner knowing what they will learn, from these targets and goals can be negotiated and agreed. Within the teacher/learner relationship, working together realistic goals and targets can be agreed and their progress assessed and recorded: Overall goals are long term which is the whole program. With aims and objectives/outcomes are usually established.Specific goals are short term which determines changes in the learner’s skills, knowledge understanding and attitudes. The learning process is effective and the goals clear and match the requirements of the learner. Immediate goals break down the specific goals into manageable tasks in the order that they are achieved. Ann Gravells & Susan Simpson (2008) Agreeing targets should be SMART (Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound) www. ifl. co. k Learners should be encouraged to take charge of their goals and learning journey, this enables l earners to become independent. When goals are set and assessed they should be recorded, all information that is recorded should be part of a plan-ILP (individual learning plan) Learning targets should be both verbal and written to ensure the learner has understood fully, learners should know their own strengths and where they can develop improvements to their skills. When setting targets, regular tutorials and review sessions and keeping the ILP up to date with learners.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

5 Situations When You DONT Need to Use the Services of Expert Writers

5 Situations When You DONT Need to Use the Services of Expert Writers 5 Situations When You DONT Need to Use the Services of Expert Writers Many students turn to the use of expert writers to seek help when they are busy or overwhelmed with writing assignments. And while expert writers are great to have on hand, especially for those more challenging situations, there are still times when hiring expert writers is not necessarily what you should do. Sometimes, you might be overwhelmed with your homework and you are just unable to complete all of your tasks. Often in these cases you might ask a custom writing service to provide you with a model paper so that you can use it as an example. But sometimes it becomes a habit, and it can become a bad one. It is for this reason that it is important to learn how to tell the difference between times when you need to order a model paper and times that you are merely falling victim to your laziness or procrastination. You do not need to services of expert writers when your paper is due within the span of several months. In cases like these you have plenty of time to conduct the necessary research, draft your outline, and write the paper. You need not bother with a model paper in such cases. You also do not need to rely upon the services of expert writers when your assignment is something designed to help you develop a new set of skills which you currently do not have. In cases like these you need to complete the task yourself as a matter of learning. You need to really push yourself in order to gain that knowledge, often because the knowledge or skillset you are gaining is something upon which you will expound for the next lesson. You really do not want to miss out on a key aspect of learning. When your professor sets extraordinary requirements it is important to avoid using a model paper. The reason for this is that a model paper might have different structure from the one required and if you do not follow the rules laid out by your professor it can end badly. Additionally, when an essay deals with the topic important for the whole subject you are writing your paper for, you should avoid working with a model paper because this means you need to plunge into it by yourself. When you know you can write it yourself but you are too lazy to do it, you should avoid hiring an expert. If you were to start writing the paper the moment you began making up excuses for why you don’t want to do it, you would be halfway done before you realized anything. Overall, there are times when the use of expert writers is ideal and a model paper can be used to help you write your paper. However, there are other times when you must avoid succumbing to the habit of using a model paper and instead overcome your laziness or procrastination so as to write a great paper.