Candidate Conundrum Summary Essay Example for Free

Candidate Conundrum Summary Essay The company personnel Robert (Manager) and Paul (Project leader) are interviewing two potential candidates Sonya and Jacqueline for a new position at the company. After interviewing both candidates Paul feels Sonya is the one they should hire while Robert believes they should hire Jacqueline. Paul’s reasoning is that he feels he’d work better with Sonya both being Caucasian while Robert thinks Paul may have personal feelings for his choice. Robert believes having Jacqueline hired will provide more diversity to the company, but Paul feels he is hiring her solely because of her race since it is stated that both candidates have the same qualifications. The issue is that both have valid reasons for wanting his choice for the job position. What did/didn’t the manager do well: Robert handled the situation relatively well. He listened to Paul’s reasoning for his choice, but was quite set with his decision to choose Jacqueline already. Due to his opinion he didn’t appear to consider Paul’s point of view. Robert shouldn’t have made up his mind on his decision prior to meeting with Paul at the end. This prevented him from having an open mind about Paul’s choice. What would you have done differently: If we were in Robert’s situation we would have tried to keep our minds open to consider Sonya as an option and take Paul’s reasoning into consideration. We probably would have still picked Jacqueline as well because we thought Robert’s reasons were completely valid. In the end Robert had a good case to not hire Sonya and choose Jacqueline for the position.

Romanians And Romanian Culture History Essay

Romanians And Romanian Culture History Essay In the name of the Romanians is reflected the reminiscence of their ethnic origins which are connected with the period when their country was part of the Roman Empire. Although the Romanians speak a language whose basis is spoken Latin, Romanian culture is permeated with traits that stem from periods predating the presence of Romans. Romanian culture owes much to the legacy of the earliest European civilization, the Danube civilization of the sixth and fifth millennia B.C.E. Scientists have often wondered how the Romanians could have maintained their Romance language through long periods of foreign domination and external influence. Similarly, one can wonder how certain cultural patterns of much older periods persisted to form an organic whole with more recent innovations, of what is known as Romanian culture. Most of the 26 million Romanians live in two states with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population. The great majority (Romà ¢nii) inhabit Romania (20.5 million) where they account for 90 per cent of the population. Among the minorities in Romania are (>) Roma (Gypsies), (>) Hungarians, (>) Germans, (>) Tatars and other ethnic groups. Neighboring Moldova is the home country of some 2.8 million speakers of Romanian who call themselves Moldovenii (Moldavians) and these make up 76 per cent of the population. Other ethnic groups living in Moldova are (>) Ukrainians, (>) Russians, (>) Gagauz and others. Romanian minorities are scattered outside the two states with concentrated Romanian population, in Ukraine (0.35 million), Serbia (0.25 million), Greece (0.25 million), Russia (0.18 million), Hungary (0.1 million), Bulgaria. There is a populous Romanian minority in Israel (0.25 million). Since the tenth century the development of the various groups of ethnic Romanians follows different trajectories. Four regional groups with distinct cultural patterns and local varieties of Romanian language can be discerned: 1)Daco-Romanians (the Romanian population north of the Danube, in Romania, Moldova, Ukraine); 2) Aromunians or Macedo-Romanians (in Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and in the historical region of Dobruja, south of the Danube); 3) Megleno-Romanians (Romanian minorities in the South of Bulgaria and in the Northeast of Greece; these groups originated, in a secondary ethnic process, from Aromunian populations); and 4) Istro-Romanians (Vlachs of Istria; Romanian minority on the Istria peninsula in Croatia). Romania is among the areas in Europe where the Neolithic inhabitants adopted agriculture at an early date. The beginnings of plant cultivation and animal husbandry go back to the sixth millennium B.C.E. The western region of Romania, Transylvania, is the cradle of metal-working. There, copper artifacts were worked hundreds of years earlier than in western Asia or Mesopotamia. Early evidence for the tradition of metallurgy in Transylvania dates to around 5500 B.C.E. The art of the ancient Danubians was prolific and varified in style and ornamentation. What strikes the eye in the archaeological record is the multitude of figurines, most of them female, that were found in sanctuaries, together with altars, and in areas of the households reserved for domestic rituals. The aesthetic impression of those figurines has not lost any of its attraction throughout the ages and their timeless aesthetic appeal inspired artists in later periods. In the early twentieth century, the Neolithic spirit was revitalized in the works of modern art. The Romanian-born Constantin Brancusi is among the best-known representatives of this trend. The civilization of Old Europe was overformed by the culture of the Indo-European nomads who migrated westward out of the Russian steppe and established themselves in the areas of the agriculturalists. Old European traditions, though, continued albeit in a fragmentary way. The legacy of the ancient Danubians was not limited to the technology of metal-working or to forms of the visual arts. Old European traditions also persist in certain architectural forms and in the narrative themes of Romanian folklore. And just as certain features of prehistoric shrines eventually evolved into basic parts of Christian churches (), much of what we know as mythology derived, more or less directly, from the ritual-cultural life of prehistoric peasants (Poruciuc 2010: xiv). Those who transmitted the Old European traditions into later periods were the Dacians, themselves descendants of the Indo-European tribes that came to populate Southeast Europe in the fourth and third millennia B.C.E. At the time when the Romans conquered the Balkans and were organizing administration in the provinces of Southeast Europe the Dacians were the strongest military power north of the Danube. At intervals the Dacians and Romans were in alliance but the interests of the indigenous population and the Roman colonizers differed fundamentally so that, eventually, military confrontation was unavoidable. In a long and hard war the Romans subdued the Dacians under their king Decebalus and established their power in Dacian lands, in 106 C.E. The Roman province was named after the people that inhabited the region, Dacia. New villages and towns were founded by the Romans, among them the administrative and economic center of Dacia. That was Sarmizegetuza in Transylvania, named after the former capital of the Dacian kingdom, located at some distance from the Roman town. Living-conditions in Dacia favored acculturation and assimilation, and within a few generations the majority of Dacians had experie nced a shift to Roman lifeways, including a shift from Dacian to spoken Latin. During the period of Roman rule groups of Dacians had been forcefully relocated by Roman authorities to areas south of the Danube, following rebellions of local Dacian tribes against Roman rule. Those Dacians who continued to live south of the Danube assimilated completely to Roman lifeways. During the tenth and eleventh centuries their descendants moved back into the region from where their ancestors had come. The kind of Latin spoken by the Dacians was different from the Latin in Italy or in the western provinces of the Roman Empire, and it absorbed words of the Dacian language before that was no longer spoken and vanished altogether. The development of the Latin speech as used by the new Romans deviated further when Dacia was abandoned by the Roman administration and the military in 271 C.E. and contacts with the Roman world were cut off. The Latin of Roman times gradually changed to become a local Romance language. Those who continued to speak it were ordinary people. This means that Romanian ethnicity finds its roots in the medieval communities of illiterate peasants and shepherds. Written Latin, the language of civilization and of the church in western Europe, played no role in early Romanian society. The medieval Romanian language lacked the medium that roofed local Romance dialects in the West and provided a source for literacy. The Romanian language and the Christian religion have been the major markers of Romanian identity since the Middle Ages. The development of the Romanian speech community, though, was quite uneven in the regions with Romanian populations. Transylvania has been a contact zone since antiquity. After the Romans had abandoned Dacia this region was settled by Germanic peoples, by Gepids (allies of the Huns) and Visigoths, later by Slavic tribes and Hungarian populations. German settlers arrived in the area in the twelfth century, leaving their imprint on culture and political history. Slavic, Hungarian and German influence shaped the interaction with local Romanians whose communities grew in size to eventually become the most populous of the ethnic groups in Transylvania. Political sovereignty was achieved, in the course of the fourteenth century, in other regions with Romanian population, in Moldavia and in Wallachia. The ruler of Wallachia, Mircea the Great (d. 1418), was aware of the po litical trend of his period which saw the rise to power of the Ottoman Turks and he advised his successor to come to terms with the Turks. Stephan the Great (d. 1504) of Moldavia tried to negotiate political relations with the powerful newcomers but, in the end, all of Wallachia and Moldavia were forcefully integrated into the Ottoman colonial territories of Southeast Europe. The region with German settlements in Transylvania (called in German Siebenbà ¼rgen the region with the seven fortified towns) retained some kind of autonomy, albeit under Ottoman supremacy. From 1709 until the 1820s, Romania was ruled by Greek governors (Phanariots) in Turkish services. This period is remembered by Romanians as one of oppression and exploitation. Gradually, Ottoman hegemony in Southeast Europe weakened in the wars with Russia that extended its territory at the cost of the Turks. In 1812, Russia occupied the eastern part of Moldavia, Bessarabia. The development of the Romanian communities in that part was different from the rest of Romania. Russia encouraged anti-Ottoman movements among the Romanians in Wallachia and western Moldavia and, in 1858, these two regions were united under a Russian-supported hospodar, Cuza. The year 1861 saw the proclamation of a Romanian state. The first king to rule the country was Carol I (reigned 1866 1914), a German-born prince of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Romanias infrastructure (i.e. railway system, army, school system, exploration of oil fields) was mostly developed according to the model of contemporary Prussia and later the German Empire. For several decades after World War I that ended in 1918, the countrys territory included Transylvania and eastern Moldavia and was reminiscent of a Greater Romania. As a result of World War II that ended for the Romanians in 1944 eastern Moldavia had to be ceded to the Soviet Union but Transylvania remained within the borders of Romania. Under the communist regime of Ceausescu (d. 1989), the Hungarian and German minorities of Transylvania became victims of a forceful Romanization campaign and many left Romania as emigrants. The demise of communism in Romania and the shift to a parliamentary democracy in 1989 did not change the high-handed attitude of Romanian governments toward minorities. Neither Hungarian nor German are acknowledged as official languages and Romanian, as state language, is the only official medium in administration and education throughout the country. Romanian is a Romance language and forms, with Italian, the eastern group. Its character as a Romance language is apparent in the grammar although less than half of the vocabulary has been preserved from spoken Latin. Nevertheless, these words of Latin origin are among the lexical elements of high frequency and they dominate everyday Romanian. Some 60 per cent of the Romanian lexicon are of Slavic, Germanic, Hungarian and other origin, reflecting the manifold contacts of Romanian with other languages in Southeast Europe throughout one and a half thousand years. Romanian remained unwritten until the sixteenth century. The earliest documents of written Romanian are a letter dating to 1521 (containing some 200 words) and a Lutheran catechism that was printed in Sibiu (the town in Transylvania that was founded by Germans under the name of Hermannstadt), in 1544. During its history, Romania has been written in two scripts. For about three hundred years the Cyrillic script predominated when writing Romanian. Although the Latin alphabet was already used in Transylvania in the late sixteenth century, it competed with Cyrillic well into the nineteenth century. With the rise of Romanian national awakening, the Roman heritage and the Latin script became celebrated. An orthographic system with Latin letters was adopted in Wallachia, in 1860, and in Moldavia, in 1863. The competition between the Latin and the Cyrillic tradition of writing Romanian was renewed in the twentieth century and, this time, it was politically motivated. Some groups of the Romanian-speaking population that lived east of the river Dniestr had remained on Soviet-Russian territory while eastern Moldavia had been united with Romania in 1918. Soviet language planners created a written standard, with Cyrillic orthography, for the Soviet Moldavians, as an ideological counterweight to language use in neighboring bourgeois Romania. When Moldavia was annexed to the Soviet Union in 1940 (and factually in 1944), the Moldavian standard language was used in all of Soviet Moldavia. The revised Cyrillic orthography for Romanian in Moldavia was in use until 1989 when the parliament in Chisinau, the capital of Moldavia, decided to shift to the Latin script and write according to the norms of Romanian in Romania. This regulation means that Romanians and Moldavians use the same standard langu age and write with Latin letters. The 1990s saw the division of the Romanian-speaking population in two independent states (i.e. Romania and Moldova) where they form the majority. Recent development in the two countries has followed very different trajectories. Romania joined the democratic integration movement of Europe and has been a member state of the European Union since 2007. Moldova has remained outside this process because of its weak economy, and it is in this country that ideas about communism still play a vital role in election campaigns. Harald Haarmann Further Reading Fernà ¡ndez-Armesto, Felipe (ed.). The Times Guide to the Peoples of Europe. London: Times Books, 1994 (Romanians: pp. 261-267). Goebl, Hans et al. (eds.). Contact Linguistics, vol. 2. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1997 (Romania: pp. 1458-1486, Moldavia: pp. 1933-1941). Haarmann, Harald. Balkanic Linguistics, vol. 1: Areal Linguistics and Lexicostatistics of the Balkanic Latin Vocabulary (in German). Tà ¼bingen: Gunter Narr, 1978. Pernicka, Ernst and David W. Anthony. The Invention of Copper Metallurgy and the Copper Age of Old Europe. In The Lost World of Old Europe. The Danube Valley, 5000-3500 BC, ed. David W. Anthony, 162-177. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009. Poruciuc, Adrian. Prehistoric Roots of Romanian and Southeast European Traditions. Sebastopol, CA: Institute of Archaeomythology, 2010. Treptow, K.W. A History of Romania. Iasi, 1999.

Native American Medicine Essay -- Essays Papers

Native American Medicine "Native American medicine is based on widely held beliefs about healthy living, the repercussions of disease-producing behavior, and the spiritual principles that restore balance." -Ken "Bear Hawk" Cohen (Chrisman 1). The beliefs that Cohen is referring to are shared by all North and South Native American tribes, however, the methods of diagnosis as well as the treatments vary significantly. This is mainly due to the fact that Native American medicine is based upon a spiritual view of life. A healthy person is someone who has a sense of purpose and follows the guidance of the Great Spirit who represented the central religious figure for most tribes (Chrisman 2). It is believed that someone is unhealthy because they have done something morally wrong, or not within their culture's boundaries of what is deemed acceptable. If the tribe member did do something wrong, often they would not receive medical treatment because it was believed that they were learning a lesson as a direct result of their actions. However, many times when an illness could not be accounted for the patient would receive medical attention. Native American medicine was administered through two primary sources, rit ual procedures and rational therapy (Vogel ix). These two sources provided working combinations that were able to cure many illnesses for several reasons. The medical practice of rational therapy was generally practiced first. It is referred to as rational therapy because actual substances, such as parts of plants and herbs, were used and often resulted in medical success. Many people do not realize how many contributions the Native Americans made in the field of medicine. They experimente... ...y due to the advances in scientific medicine, the introduction of medical insurance, free services, and the general availability of the medical care today. Also, many tribes have had to relocate to land where their valuable resources of plants and herbs may not be present. When a tribe member is ill, often he will visit a clinic on the reservation rather than the shaman. While at the clinic variations of the Native American remedies are used. The white man adapted the native practices to administer them through the clinics and hospitals. The medicine that we practice today is a combination of Native healing practices and modern science. The vast contributions made by our Native Americans must not be overseen or forgotten. The indigenous peoples of the Americas set up the basic grounds of experimentation and administration of multiple pharmaceuticals used today.

Reality is Like A Dream in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by

Reality is Like A Dream in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates intrigues readers in her fictional piece â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† by examining the life of a fifteen year old girl. She is beautiful, and her name is Connie. Oates lets the reader know that â€Å"everything about her [Connie] had two sides to it, one for home, and one for anywhere but home (27). When Connie goes out, she acts and dresses more mature than she probably should. However, when she is at home, she spends the majority of her time absorbed with daydreams â€Å"about the boys she met†(28). This daydreaming behavior is observable to the reader throughout the story. From theories about dreams, theories about subconscious thought, and the clues that Oates provides, the reader is lead to believe that Connie’s experience with Arnold Friend is a nightmare used to awaken her to the consequences that her behavior could result in. Have you ever experienced a dream or a nightmare that seemed like reality? Most people in the world today would say that they have. Although this realistic dream experience does not occur often, when it does, clear distinctions are hard to make between the dream and reality. Theories exist that explain dreams as our subconscious thoughts delving into our minds to make us reflect upon feelings or experiences that we neglect in life when awake. Connie often flirts with her feelings about sexual encounters. In fact, Larry Rubin believes that â€Å"Connie’s intense desire for a sexual experience runs head long into her innate fear of having such an experience† (58). Connie’s tendency to eventually dismiss these fears forces the reader to make the connection between her experience wit... ...tomy between reality and dreams quite well throughout her piece. She provides the reader with two ways to experience the story: either as reality or as reality that turns into a nightmare. This dichotomy that Oates creates â€Å"allows the reader to escape this story, and allows this story to end† (Hurley 374). The end of the story shows Connie entering the new world of experience, and Oates wants the reader to sense her fear. Oates intricately provides the reader with clues that help see why Connie’s experience with Arnold is just a nightmare. She also allows the reader to see how this nightmare is meant to scare Connie into making the realization that her decisions have consequences. I hope that anyone reading this learns from Connie that not everything we do is good for us, and we have to think about the consequences of our actions, whether good or bad, before we act.

Acid Rain :: essays research papers

Acid Rain If you have ever wondered why precious monuments are fading away, or the reason your car starts to look old, or if you can't understand why the bricks on the side of your house are breaking, look up the term Acid rain in your encyclopedia. Acid rain is the cause of all of this and much more. Acid rain is a widespread term used to describe all forms of acid precipitation (rain, snow, hail, fog, etc.)( ). Precipitation is naturally acidic because of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Acid rain begins with the production of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, oil, and from certain kinds of manufacturing. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides react with water and other chemicals in the air to from sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and other pollutants ( ). What was once a local problem for towns and cities is now an international problem. The spread of this problem originated from tall chimneys dispersing pollutants high into the atmosphere, which then traveled with the wind for thousands of kilometers until once again reaching the ground in an invisible state. The effect of acid rain when it reaches the ground reacts chemically with any object it comes in contact with. Acids are corrosive chemicals that react with other chemicals by giving up hydrogen atoms ( ). The acidity of a substance comes from the abundance of free hydrogen atoms when the substance is dissolved in water ( ). Acidity can be measured using a "pH" scale with units from 0 to 14. Rain (snow, fog, etc.) measured at a pH below 5.6 is considered acid rain. Acid rain is responsible for a widespread of environmental damage. Such examples of this include soil and plant degradation, depleted life in lakes and streams, and erosion of man-made structures( ). When acid rain enters the soil it dissolves and washes away the nutrients needed by plants. It can also dissolve toxic substances, such as aluminum and mercury, which are naturally present in some soils, freeing these toxins to pollute water or to poison plants that absorb them ( ). After events like this take place animals and humans are soon effected. If one plant or animal is adversely affected by acid rain, animals that feed on that organism may suffer and animals that feed on that animal may suffer also (usually humans).

Tourism: An Attractive Industry For Economic Development

ABSTRACT Tourism is widely recognized as an important catalyst for economic growth. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the tourism industry is amongst the biggest industries that make substantial contribution to the economy in terms of its contribution to the GDP, the revenue generated, increased employment and other benefits. The success of the tourism industry begs the question what are the characteristics that make it an attractive industry for economic growth. In order to respond to this question, this analysis will explore on the various tourist attraction sites including natural and cultural attractions, heritage sites, national and wildlife parks, theme parks, gardens and museums, beaches and coastal regions, and entertainment and events. This will include examining how these attractions contribute to economic development. UK will be used as the case study. INTRODUCTION Tourism is widely recognized as an important catalyst for economic growth. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the tourism industry is amongst the biggest industries that make substantial contributions to the economy in terms of its contribution to the GDP, the revenue generated, increased employment and other benefits (Business tourism 2003). Take for example the UK, the 6th largest destination in the world attracting over 32 million overseas visitors yearly (Williams et al., 2010). UK’s tourism industry is the 5th largest industry and contributes to a large proportion of the GDP. In 2007, the industry was valued at ?114 billion representing 8.2% of GDP and employing over 2.65 million people (Williams et al., 2010). In 2009, the industry was valued at ?115.4 billion of the UK economy, hence representing 8.9% of UK GDP (Williams et al., 2010). The tourism industry is further anticipated to grow yearly at 2.6%, a growth rate similar to that of retail and construction industries (Williams et al., 2010). Indeed, tourism increasingly continues to become an attractive industry for economic growth with an increasing number of visitors. This begs the question what are the characteristics that make tourism an attractive industry for economic developmentThis analysis is thus intended on exploring on these characteristics with a focus on the factors that lead to economic development. Before giving an overview of the fundamental aspects of the economics of tourism, we will first define what we understand by the term â€Å"tourism† WHAT IS TOURISM? The term â€Å"tourism† was first defined by Hunziker and Krapf (1942), the main pioneers of tourism research. They defined tourism as a sum of relations and phenomena that resulted from travelling and staying of non-residents. In this context, a stay does not result into permanent residence of the individual and is not in any way connected to permanent or temporary earning activity. This conceptual definition was for a considerable time generally accepted but had certain flaws. For example, a visit to the hospital could be considered as a form of tourism. Furthermore, under this conceptual definition, non-residents were only identified with foreigners; hence domestic tourism had no place in it. In the later years, a more succinct definition of tourism was put forth by the British Tourism Society. Based on the work of Burkart & Medlik (1974), the British Tourism Society adopted the following definition. Tourism is deemed to be inclusive of any activity concerned with short-term movement of people to destinations other than their neither main continuous domiciles nor place of work (Burkart & Medlik 1974. Within this conceptual definition, activities involving a stay or a visit to the destination are included. It also allows for domestic and day visits as well. This definition still applies up to date. Another conceptual definition that deserves special attention is that put forth by Gilbert (1990). Gilbert (1990) posits that tourism is a part of recreation that involves travelling to other destinations for a short term-period with the aim of satisfying a consumer need. This definition places tourism in the overall context of recreation. Recreation according to Cooper et al. (1993) refers to the pursuits engaged in during leisure time. However, it should be noted that tourism is not only confined to activities carried out during leisure time. Part of the tourism (business tourism in particular) takes place during working time including conventions and business meetings. TOURIST SECTORS Tourism comprise of five main sectors: THE ATTRACTION SECTOR: – this sector comprise of the natural and cultural attractions, heritage sites, national and wildlife parks, theme parks, gardens and museums, beaches and coastal regions, and entertainment and events (Anon 2004). THE ACCOMMODATION SECTOR: – this sector comprise of the hotels, motels, apartments, villas and flats, guest houses, holiday villages, campsites, marinas, touring caravans and condominium timeshares (Anon 2004). THE TRANSPORT SECTOR: – Consists of the airlines, railways, shipping lines, car rental operators, and bus and coach operators (Anon 2004). THE TRAVEL ORGANIZER SECTOR: – the sector covers tour operators, travel agents and incentive travel organizers among others (Anon 2004). THE DESTINATION ORGANIZATION SECTOR: – this includes regional and national tourist offices, local tourist officers and tourism associations (Anon 2004). In order to answer the question: what are the characteristics that make tourism an attractive industry for economic development, we will explore on the attraction sites discussed above. This will also include exploring on business tourism and its contribution to economic development. CULTURAL AND HERITAGE ATTRACTIONS Cultural and heritage attractions play a significant role in the tourism industry. Most of the world heritage sites have a cultural significance that transcend national boundaries and of importance to the present and future generations. Currently, there are 890 world heritage sites reflecting a rich diversity of the world’s cultural heritage (Endresen 1999). In the United Kingdom, sites as diverse such as the Giant’s Causeway, City of Edinburgh, Blaenavon Industrial landscape, and Manchester City help make up the UK’s heritage (UNESCO 2009). In this context, Manchester city, one of the most vibrant cosmopolitan cities has a thriving art and cultural scene that attracts a large number of visitors. The city’s attraction centres include the sports stadiums, museums and galleries, and music venues (UNESCO 2009). The rich cultural heritage, vibrant arts scene and the multicultural population in UK makes it a very attractive tourist destination. Museums which showcase the best of Britain’s culture and history attract millions of international and domestic visitors. Britain’s culture and heritage is estimated to attracting ?4.5 billion worth of spending by inbound visitors annually (UNESCO 2009). NATURAL LANDSCAPE SITES Another popular attractive site in the tourism industry is the natural landscape. Natural landscapes such as Stonehenge, the most famous and mysterious landmark in the UK, attracts a vast number of tourists (Mieczkowski, 1990). Built over 650 years ago and consisting of a ring of monolithic stones, the landmark is a very popular attractive site. Scenic landscapes such as the Wye Valley, an internationally protected landscape straddling the border between Wales and England also attracts a large number of visitors (Mieczkowski, 1990). This area that covers parts of Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire is widely recognized for its gorgeous scenery and dense native woodlands as well as for its wildlife and archaeological remains (Mieczkowski, 1990). NATIONAL AND WILDLIFE PARKS National parks also play a huge role in the tourism industry. Britain’s finest national and wildlife parks, zoos and animal attractions such as the Animalarium attract a large number of visitors (Mathieson & Wall 1982). The national parks offer a variety of activities ranging from walking, exploring on the rich and cultural heritage to pursuing other activities such as cycling, rock climbing, and absailing among others (Mathieson & Wall 1982). An estimated 110 million people are estimated to visit national parks in England and Wales annually (UNESCO 2009). ENTERTAINMENT AND EVENTS Entertainment and events also play a major role in the tourism industry. Majority of the concerts and music festivals taking place in the UK attract more than 7.7 million visitors, domestic and overseas combined (ICTHR 2010). The significant amount of revenue generated from entertainment and events is used in boosting the UK’s economy. A great majority of these tourists are UK residents who travel outside of their regions to attend events and see their favourite artists perform live in another region within the UK (ICTHR 2010). London dominates as the destination for live music tourism in the UK. Music tourists at the capital outnumber the local music fans. Its dominance can be attributed to the high number of domestic music tourists attending concerts. With a population of more than 7 million people, the region is host to the O2 Arena, the most successful concert venue in the world (ICTHR 2010). London region is also a host to Wembley stadium and Royal Albert Hall as well (ICTHR 2010). Its parks, mainly Victoria Park, Hyde Park and Clapham are home to a growing number of music festivals (ICTHR 2010). BEACHES AND COASTAL AREAS Beaches and coastal areas are also a huge attraction site for tourists. Tourism in the south of Wales, for example, is primarily focused on the coastal areas in order to attract its visitors. The Welsh tourist industry which is worth ?3.5billion and makes a significant contribution to Wales’ GDP relies largely on its excellent coastal scenery in attracting tourists (Williams, et.al, 2010) BUSINESS TOURISM Another important, yet least acknowledged component of the tourism industry is business tourism. It is one of the most lucrative components of the tourism industry with various benefits that stimulate the growth of the economy. In the UK, business tourism is a wide sector encompassing Conferences and meetings – the British Conference Market Trends Survey 2001 estimates this to be worth around ?7.3 billion annually (Business report 2003). Exhibitions and trade fairs: – these are listed as the 5th largest marketing medium in the UK attracting 11% of the media expenditure and are estimated at ?2.04 billion annually (Business report 2003). Incentive travel: – the value of inbound incentive travel market is estimated to be around ?165 million annually (Business report 2003). Corporate events: – estimates for this segment are between ?700 million and ?1billion annually (Business report 2003). Outdoor events: – a rough estimate of the outdoor events is around ?1billion annually (Business report 2003). In the past few decades, business tourism has grown significantly exceeding the overall tourism growth rate. According to the International Passenger Survey 2001, business tourism accounted for 29.7% of all overseas visitors to the UK and 31.7% of the inbound earnings (Business report 2003). From what can be discerned, investment in business tourism can significantly stimulate the growth of the economy. It may lead to regeneration of urban and inner cities as evident with Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast and Manchester (Business report 2003). Its resilience during the great recession makes it even more an attractive industry for investment. The business tourism proved resilient, being less affected by economic downturns and by disasters such as the Foot and Mouth Epidemic unlike leisure tourism (Business report 2003). With the above in mind, it is worthy examining some of the main elements that make attractions to be appealing to many. CHARACTERISTICS OF TOURIST ATTRACTIONS It is important to recognize that tourists’ attractions are not all equal. Some may have more potential to draw visitors than others. The main elements that set attractions apart include quality, uniqueness, authenticity, drawing power and activity options. QUALITY: – high quality is a key principle for tourism development. This means offering smooth customer oriented operations and procedures and ensuring that attractions have a pleasing appearance and that they are visitor friendly (Merchant 2005). This includes asking these questions Is the attraction visitor friendly .How does it rate in terms of the appearance, hospitality, operations and resource protection AUTHENTICITY: – authenticity refers to originality. For example, if it is a cultural heritage attraction, authenticity would imply letting the distinctive local flavour of the community to shine in ways that create a â€Å"sense of place†(Merchant 2005). We can consider: Whether the attraction reflects the natural and cultural heritage of the community UNIQUENESS: – this is the â€Å"edge† that sets attraction apart from competition. It involves asking the fundamental question: Is the attraction unique Take for example, The London Eye which is sitting on the South Bank of River Thames. Hanging like a gigantic wheel, this landmark is instantly recognizable. It is currently the biggest Ferris wheel in Europe standing 135 metres high and supported by a giant A-frame which juts the spindle (UNESCO 20090. This makes it unique from other Ferris wheels which use two A-frames and axle support method. DRAWING POWER: – this is a measurement on the power to attract a large number of visitors (Merchant 2005). ACTIVITY OPTIONS: – this is an important characteristic of attractions (Merchant 2005). It involves assessing whether the attraction site offer a varied and changing set of activities. CONCLUSION Indeed, tourism is an attractive industry for economic development. Major attraction sites including the scenic landscapes, cultural and heritage sites, national and wildlife parks, landmarks, theme parks, gardens and museums, beaches and coastal regions, and entertainment among others attract a large number of visitors. There is no doubt that the industry contributes to a large proportion of the GDP and is responsible for employing millions of people. This makes it an important industry for investment. (2,070 words) REFERENCES Anon, 2004. Economic characteristics of the tourism sector, http://v5.books.elsevier.com/bookscat/samples/9780750666374/9780750666374.PDF {Accessed 21st January 2012} Burkart, A.J. and S. Medlik, 1974. Tourism. Past, Present and Future. London: Heinemann. Cooper, C., J. Fletcher, D. Gilbert and S. Wanhill, 1993. Tourism. Principles & Practice. London: Pitman Publishing. Business tourism partnership report, 2003. Business tourism briefing: an overview of the UK’s business tourism industry. London http://www.businesstourismpartnership.com/pubs/briefing.pdf {Accessed 20th January 2012} Endresen, K., 1999. Sustainable tourism and cultural heritage: A review of development assistance and its potential to promote sustainability http://www.nwhf.no/files/File/culture_fulltext.pdf {Accessed 20th January 2012} Gilbert, D.C., 1990. â€Å"Conceptual issues in the meaning of tourism†. In: C.P. Cooper (ed.), Progress in Tourism, Recreation and Hospitality Management, Vol. 2. London: Pitman Publishing. Hunziker, W. & k. Krapf, 1942. Grundriss der Allgemeinen Fremdenverkehrslehre. Zurich: Polygraphischer Verlag International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR), 2010. The contribution of music festivals and major concerts to tourism in the UK. London: Bournemouth University. http://www.ukmusic.org/assets/media/UK%20Music%20-Music%20Tourism.pdf{Accessed 22nd January 2012} Mathieson, A. and G. Wall, 1982. Tourism: Economic, Physical and Social Impacts. London: Longman. Merchant, R., 2005. Tourism attraction characteristics. Community tourism handbook: Minnesota Extension. http://nercrd.psu.edu/entrepreneur_what_works_wksp/Handouts/MerchantCharacteristics23.pdf {Accessed 20th January 2012} Mieczkowski, Z., 1990. World Trends in Tourism and Recreation. New York. UNESCO, 2009. World heritage sites. http://www.unesco.org.uk/world_heritage_sites {Accessed 20th January 2012} Williams, et.al, 2010. An assessment of UK heritage coasts in South Wales: J A steers revisited. Journal of Coastal Research. http://www.griffith.edu.au/conference/ics2007/pdf/ICS087.pdf {Accessed 20th January 2012}

Elements of Music Essay

Review Questions: 1. The basic elements of music are pitch, rhythm, dynamics, melody, and form. 2. Pitch is the frequency of a sound; it relates to the highness or lowness of a tone that we hear. 3. Syncopation involves placing emphasis on normally un-emphasized beats or using a rest on a normally emphasized beat. The types of music that uses syncopation are ska, reggae, rap, jazz, and some forms of metal. 4. The three examples in forms of music are concerto, sonata, and symphony. A concerto is a musical piece in which one solo instrument (such as a piano or violin) is accompanied by an orchestra. A sonata is a musical composition for a solo instrument (often piano or other keyboard instruments). A symphony is a musical piece that has been scored for a full orchestra; it is often an extended composition. 5. Form in music is the framework that a composer uses to create a piece of music. It is the combination of other musical instruments, such as pitch, tempo, and dynamics. Critical Thinking Questions 1. I definitely agree with this assessment because music speaks to different cultures around the world, defining the term ‘’universal’’. Even if two people speak two different languages, such as French or Japanese, they would still relate to their own way of music throughout their language in their types of background. 2. Musical notation is important because it determines how you learn the notes of the music and how the piece is played. The benefits of writing down notes to make a musical piece are creating the melody sharing the music with others by communicating them through the piece, and possibly make more pieces somewhat similar to that. 3. The ways we use music in our society are through listening on the radio in our cars, or on our mp3 players. We use it through TV commercials, movies, in stores as background music, videogames, and mostly on the internet. We can also make music ourselves based off of playing instruments, recordings in studios, and making beats with any object or instrument. This is also how I mostly use music in my life, particularly through being in choirs, singing, and getting inspiration to do so by listening to different types of music on my mp3 player. 4. The experience I felt which changed my mood about the specific music that played is when in 2005 I went to my first concert in California with my mother and my aunt to go see Madonna perform. As we sat in the front row, it began by a huge crystal ball coming down on the stage and while it split in two, Madonna appeared and singed with all the backup dancers surrounding her. It was a strange scenery for me on how she appeared on how she appeared and basing her theme off of glittery, shiny glamorous things throughout singing from her most notable songs. Though I was confused at first especially since I was young and never experienced that before, it made me feel excited and happy listening to the rhythm and the melody of the music, which was mainly fast tempo.