Duke Ellington: the Music, Politics, and His Story Essay

Duke Ellington was a musical and political genius; he was â€Å"America’s only original musical mind. † He was not only a performer, but a composer. He learned the craft of composing by observing others instead of disciplined study. One important factor of Ellington’s music was its relation to black heritage and African American history. His symphony â€Å"Black, Brown, and Beige† displayed the African American struggle in America. Not only did Ellington use his music to portray the struggle, voice, and triumph of black Americans, he used his professionalism, originality, persuasiveness, and political performances. Edward Kennedy Ellington was born in 1899 and composed, arranged, and performed music for the majority of his life. Ellington was born and raised in a middle-class family in Washington D. C. , and that is where he first acquired his racial beliefs. During his grade school years, an emphasis of identity, pride, and history was instilled in the minds of him and his classmates. He was taught to command respect, not demand it. This meant that he was to act and speak in a respectable manner if he expected to be respected. He first began taking piano lessons at the age of seven but did not have particular interest in the trade at that time. In high school, he became interested in ragtime music. Also in his high school years, he acquired the nickname â€Å"Duke† because of his exotic choice of attire, and today, many believe that is his actual name. At age sixteen, Ellington was inspired by a â€Å"hot† pianist and decided that he wanted to be able to play like that. His knowledge of music was predominantly learned by ear, although he eventually learned to read music and took harmony lessons. Although he did have some music lessons, most of his musical mastery was self-taught by experimentation. Ellington became a professional pianist by the remarkable age of seventeen. Music was not his only artistic interest; he also excelled at visual arts. He was awarded an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute, but he preferred to play gigs instead. Duke eventually started a band of his own, originally containing only four players other than him. As the band expanded, he used the new members as resources to create a better product. Ellington and his band began a six-month residency at the New York Hurricane restaurant. There, he accompanied floor shows until he became the featured artist and broadcasted on the radio. In 1927 after the residency, he and his orchestra known as the Washingtonians moved to the Cotton Club in Harlem. He and his band were said to have â€Å"put the Cotton Club on the map†. While at the Cotton Club, his music was often referred to as â€Å"jungle music† due to his band’s trademark use of plunger mutes to create growling sounds. Often while his orchestra played, there would also be a skit being performed that was nearly primitive. At the Cotton Club, the families of African American performers had to sit in a separate section of the audience. Although Ellington was upset by this, he continued to perform at the Cotton Club because it was his opportunity to enhance his career and popularity. Duke always made sure that he and his band were dressed and behaved as gentleman in order to represent African American pride, beauty, and artistry. Unlike other African American artists of the time, Ellington’s compositions were used for the sake of listening purposes, in comparison to just background music. Silence was demanded. People who broke the silence were given a warning and then asked to leave if they disregarded that warning. This was the first time an African American band was regularly broadcasted nationally. As Duke’s music gained popularity, this became many white Americans’ first encounter with African American music. A radio popularity poll concurred: â€Å"They are heartily admired by the white as the colored people. † One of Ellington’s most prominent composing techniques was that he composed parts for the particular individual in the band rather than the different instruments. When he wrote a composition, he did so with the characteristic sound of the soloist in mind. An example of a musician with a distinctive sound is Johnny Hodges. Johnny Hodges was a member of Duke’s orchestra who had â€Å"complete independence of expression†, Ellington said. Ellington also stated that Hodges was the only man he knew who could pick up a cold horn and still play in tune. The specific sound of the individual was so important to a piece that if a member was to leave, the composition would almost always be omitted. Solos were atypically transferred to another musician. When Ellington composed pieces, he only had his own band in mind. This is why his orchestra’s sound cannot be imitated without sounding watered down. The unique style and tone qualities of the individuals made the orchestra nearly impossible to replicate. One thing that was often misunderstood about Ellington’s career was that he had two of them: bandleader and composer. He was famous for recording his own compositions as well as endorsements. He often composed music all through the night, and it has been said that he never went a day without composing something, whether it be a couple lines of a song or an entire piece. He would write music whenever and wherever he had the time to do it. Once, he even had to write a piece by the light of his band manager consecutively lighting matches. Ellington believed that music allowed him to express himself without reservation. Music, unlike words, provided Ellington with a way to express himself in a less controversial manner. It was a non-confrontational approach to expressing his beliefs to the world. In his compositions, he rarely wrote articulations, dynamics, or tempos. He expected the section leaders to decide the style indications. It is commonly know that Duke had finesse for placing an emphasis on colors in his compositions. The colors he used in the titles of his pieces often symbolized racial issues. He did a lot of experimenting with tone and color. Most of his music was instrumental and few incorporated lyrics. Some say his music is reminiscent of Bach. He mostly wrote short compositions with improvised solos, but when he did compose larger arrangements, they were often criticized for having a lack of inner coherence. He used the element of surprise instead of chorus succession to unify the arrangements. Ellington relied on sudden contrasts in theme, tempo, and key. He would also interchange swinging and non-swinging melodies. Some critics argued that his music should be danceable all of the time. Ellington clearly disagreed. Ellington’s compositions differed from other artists’ of his time because he employed a variety of instruments. Not only did he integrate a reed section, brass section, and rhythm section; he featured a valve trombone, a saxophone trio, and a baritone saxophonist who unusually played high notes. The reed section often provided the melody rather than the typical brass section. Ellington would apply asymmetrical themes such as parallel saxophone parts and improvised piano parts. He eventually stopped referring to his music as jazz. He called it â€Å"freedom of expression†. Ellington wanted to express the struggle of the Negro in his music, â€Å"We put the Negro feeling and spirit in our music. † Although his message was very serious, his music generally uplifted and entertained audiences around the world. When Ellington wrote compositions, he allocated certain measures for improvised solos. While it may seem that all of the solos in Ellington’s pieces are improvised, he actually composed the solos to seem as if they were improvised. This became known as â€Å"preconceived improvisation†. Only minor improvisations were allowed during the solos. In 1940, Ellington reached the peak of his compositional career. African American media deemed Duke Ellington the â€Å"race man† because he changed the image of African Americans in mass media. He was the first African American artist taken seriously without stereotypes. His music described the life of black Americans. He exuded his love of Harlem through is compositions. He used color in his music to radiate his appreciation and understanding of African Americans. His early arrangements represented the struggle of blacks during the Great Depression. Ellington was a strong believer that music could undermine the labels associated with how African Americans dressed and acted. His concern with blacks being portrayed as primitive encouraged him to strive to create a new identity for blacks in America through music. Ellington learned at a young age that a positive demeanor was crucial in order to earn respect. Since he was taught this so early, he always tried to be professional and as efficient as possible. He spoke of the significance of having a dignified stature and level of sophistication. Through radio, sound recordings, sheet music, advertising, and stagecraft; Ellington changed people’s conceptions of race and culture. In his advertising techniques, he focused on creating an image of desegregation. Black and white entertainers began to share advertising space, which was one step toward African American equality. His overall goal was to conquer racial and cultural stereotypes in and out of the media. He was forced to break through the barriers of the Eurocentric idea that African American music was not a form of art. He stopped using minstrel stereotypes that he had previously used at the Cotton Club. By the 1930s, he had differentiated many stereotypes from reality. It was important to Ellington that his marketing approach attracted all races and classes. He eliminated some prejudice by proving that music has no race. He always made sure to articulate the achievements, history, and value or African American culture. He trusted that the most efficient manner to protest was to â€Å"live and create in a way that undermined racial barriers and stereotypes†. Ellington, contrasting from many other African American artists, succeeded without using the white-dominated recording style. He was actually playing African American music and his pieces were on the record charts. Normally African American traveling performers struggled while on the road. Hotels and restaurants would not allow them. They would be physically and verbally attacked which often led to alcoholism. When Duke traveled in the South, he also brought two Pullman cars, a baggage car, lighting equipment, a stage, and an electrician. These assets made for a more secure trip. Ellington received the high honor of the Spingarn Medal which was the highest achievement for the American Negro. During his acceptance speech, he stated that he makes music for freedom. He later joined the Emergency Committee of the Entertainment Industry. This committee was opposed to race riots and poor treatment of minorities. This group advertised on stage, screen, and radio. In 1929, he played at a benefit performance. The proceeds when to the memorial fund for Home for Negro Performers. Another political act he did was assisting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by performing during the Montgomery Bus Boycott to raise funds for the Montgomery Improvement Association. Duke was described as a â€Å"symbol of power of multiracial appeal, the artistry and respect that African Americans could achieve, the money that could be made from the neglected African American market, and the possibility of a comfortable and mutually profitable meeting point for African Americans and whites. † This quote explains how the integration of blacks and whites could be beneficial to society as a whole. When Ellington traveled internationally, he came to realize that jazz music was more popular outside of the United States of America than inside. His overall goal of disproving African American stereotypes was a world project, not just a national project. He and his orchestra became the first jazz band to perform at Carnegie Hall when they premiered â€Å"Black, Brown, and Beige†. Ellington’s success created a new market for African American musicians. One of the first mixed race performances was â€Å"Cotton Club Medley† by Ellington. At this point in time, African American music had become a popular music genre. Racial lines were crossed within music advertising. White and black performers were featured on entertainment ads. Not only had Ellington become the most written about celebrity in this phase of time, his earnings were in the five figures. At the age of sixty, Ellington composed and recorded a song with John Coltrane and Charles Mingus for a motion picture. In the 1960s, he was considered the best known musician and composer in the world. In 1964, he composed a piece to defend the termination of segregation and discrimination entitled â€Å"Non-violent Integration†. Listening to the music of Duke Ellington began to symbolize looking at African Americans in a new light. Ellington’s final works submitted his vision of music, peace, brotherhood, and love. Ellington said, â€Å"The Negro is not merely a singing and dancing wizard but a loyal American in spite of his social position. I want to tell America how the Negro feels about it. † When he stated this, he denoted that black people were more than just a device for entertainment purposes; they were American citizens. One of Duke Ellington’s longest and influential pieces was â€Å"Black, Brown and Beige†, which was composed and performed in 1943. Ellington described this work as â€Å"a tone parallel to the history of the American Negro. † This composition was established to portray the history of the Negro from Africa to the present. The title â€Å"Black, Brown and Beige† symbolized the different skin tones of African Americans. Each color in the title also represented a different movement of the composition. When composing this work, Ellington incorporated music from the opera â€Å"Boola† and transformed it into a tone poem. He did not finish editing the arrangement until the day of his Carnegie Hall performance. This explains that Duke believed a piece could be altered numerous times in order to create a great product. Ellington and his orchestra premiered the full symphony, â€Å"Black, Brown and Beige† at Carnegie Hall in 1943. Five days later, they performed once again, only this time at Boston’s Symphony Hall. These two performances became the only full performances of â€Å"Black, Brown and Beige† for many years to come. Duke decided to only play excerpts from the piece in the future. The six most popular excerpts were â€Å"Work Song†, â€Å"Come Sunday†, â€Å"The Blues†, â€Å"West Indian Dance†, â€Å"Emancipation Celebration†, and â€Å"Sugar Hill Penthouse†. The premiere of the piece was deemed confusing and disappointing by critics. People who were not accustomed to Ellington’s musical style were also perplexed by â€Å"Black, Brown and Beige†. Ellington and his band began performing sections of â€Å"Black† and â€Å"Brown†, but rarely performed sections of â€Å"Beige† until 1965. He refused to play â€Å"Brown† in its entirety because he claimed that people did not understand the important story behind it. Ellington often spoke of his message prior to performing a piece, also called programming. His first biographer, Ulanov, said that â€Å"Black, Brown and Beige† was â€Å"more successful without programming†. Ulanov also stated that people â€Å"didn’t need to know about the American Negro to understand the music. † The first movement of â€Å"Black, Brown and Beige†, â€Å"Black† was worked at the most thoroughly of the movements. The first movement interpreted the sorrows and joys of the Negro when brought to America from Africa through work songs and spirituals. According the Ellington, the second movement, â€Å"Brown†, represented the recurring hopes and disappointments of blacks in America. It also symbolized the pain suffered through whippings, the bravery of the African Americans who attempted and/or succeeded at escaping, and the triumph of their emancipation. The last movement, â€Å"Beige†, was said to be a â€Å"vague and unfinished working of ideas†. Originally, the finale of â€Å"Black, Brown and Beige† consisted of the lyrics, â€Å"We’re Black, Brown, and Beige, but we’re red, white, and blue. † Although Ellington was advised to remove the line from the performance completely, he simply omitted it from the finale and instead, announced it in his programming prior to the final movement. This line was evidently very significant to Duke Ellington. It represented the point that although African Americans were different shades than white people, they were still Americans and deserved equal rights. â€Å"Black, Brown and Beige† was performed in segments for a few decades. The version recorded in 1958 was criticized because it was believed to have expanded the flaws of the original premiere at Carnegie Hall. During the 1958 recording, there were only four other musicians, excluding Ellington, remaining from the original orchestra that performed in 1943. These musicians were Ray Nance, Lawrence Brown, Johnny Hodges, and Harry Carney. Ellington took another large step toward presenting the African American struggle when he and his orchestra performed â€Å"Black† at the Festival of the American Arts in 1965. The audience included approximately four hundred members including President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Big Sky Resort Project

Big RESORT PROPERTY Ownership Big sky resort is currently owned and operated by Boyne Resorts Company, but its background is a bit more interesting than that. In 1970, after his retirement and return to his home state on Montana, NBC newscaster Chet Huntley began building the resort. In December of 1973 the resort opened for the first time. Unfortunately Mr. Huntley was not able to enjoy his resort very long as he died a few short months later on March 20th, 1974 at the age of 62.In 1976, Boyne Resorts purchased the property and has managed it since then. Boyne Resort Company (BRC) owns and operates 11 resorts in the continental United States, with the highest number of resorts, 3, in the state of Michigan and one resort in British Columbia, Canada. They are self reportedly the third largest resort network in America and boast some of the â€Å"best  snow sports destinations, championship golf courses, luxurious spas and a full menu of active lifestyle amenities. The company has b een family owned and operated since it was started by Everett Kircher in 1947, employees of 7,000 people and has a goal to become the â€Å"best four-season resort company in the world by 2015,† a goal they believe they are well on the way towards. They are also partners with the Cool Earth program to help protect the world’s rainforests. Types of Lodging Big sky offers three different property types: hotels & condo hotels, cabins & homes, and condominiums with a stunning 11 out of 14 lodging buildings, equating to over 800 rooms, allowing access for ski in/ski out lodging right on the slope side.Big Sky’s White Water inn is a former Comfort Inn sitting a little further away from the slopes, about 10 miles off property, on highway 191 that Big Sky purchased and converted into their own. This hotel boasts it’s own Spa and indoor water slide. It is also located only 47 miles from the west entrance to Wyoming’s Yellow stone national park, the closest of Big Sky’s properties to Yellowstone. The Huntley Lodge is the original hotel on Big Sky’s property envisioned and named after, you guessed it, Chet Huntley.Although it’s a simple room with only two beds, a desk, bathroom and a wet bar, it is as Huntley imagined it, a slope side hotel. It also houses a spa, Chet’s bar and grill restaurant, shops, ski storage, and the Huntley dining room which is the dining room where any guests to Big Sky go for the complimentary breakfast buffet daily. Prices / packages As you may expect from a resort that offers 14 different lodging properties, there are many different prices for each hotel. Interestingly enough, however, only one package/special centers on one hotel property. /5 of the packages offered by big sky encompass all hotels, or a selection of multiple in one area. (See appendix). Normal prices on a nightly basis range from as little as $169. 00 for a one bedroom, two queen bed room in the Huntley Lodge to $ 2958. 00 for a four bedroom penthouse at the Summit at Big Sky. Most hotel rates are less than $300. 00 a night for the lower end, one bedroom or studio room. Services During the winter months big sky offers a breakfast buffet to all guests staying in any hotel on the property. Many of the lodging properties have slope-side access for to the mountain.All hotels either have a gym in them or a pool and properties that don’t allow access to adjoining properties that do. There are over 20 ski lifts bringing skiers and riders all the way to the top of lone peak. Big sky offers ski school for children as young as 4 and adults of all ages. Facilities Big sky resort is a mountain based resort and, during the winter, their primary activity is skiing and snowboarding. The mountain offers 15 ski lifts ranger from sitting doubles to a fully enclosed tram that takes you to the top of lone peak.These lifts give skiers and riders access to well over 50 individual trails and three terrain pa rks. In the summer, lifts still operate to bring you to extensive hiking trails. At the base of the mountain lies Mountain Village, the focal point of the resort. The hotel and lodging properties are located either in the village or around it. Mountain village contains Solace Spa & salon. The village center area contains the Yellowstone Conference Center. The conference center is comprised of the Missouri ballroom on the ground floor which can be divided into up to six individual rooms for meetings.On the upper floor there are four stand-alone rooms for meetings or small conferences. In the remainder of the village there are seven other meeting spaces. Snow crest lodge has a ski and snowboard rental shop in the ground floor. Big sky has 21 different dining options on property ranging from burgers and brats to a bar and grill that brew’s its own beer to upscale Italian restaurant priding itself on Tuscan cuisine. Business cycle Big Sky is a mountain based resort that caters gr eatly to the skier and snowboarder crowd as well as snow tubers in the winter, making it it’s ‘on’ season.However, Big Sky doesn’t have an ‘off’ season, just an abbreviated on season. Obviously during the summer months there isn’t much skiing to be had but there are plenty of other activities. An extensive network of hiking trails is the most obvious of the resorts summer activities on property. Among the multitude of other activities that big sky offers are some you might think of immediately, like Zip lining and a scenic lift ride. Others still might take you by surprise such a skeet shooting and a rock wall. They also offer several Paintball courses throughout the mountain.Nearby Lake Levinski and the Gallatin River offer canoeing, paddle boarding, whitewater rafting and kayaking. Furthermore, Big sky advertises itself as being the perfect basecamp from which to visit nearby Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, with the west e ntrance to the park being a mere 47 miles away. The combination of Yellowstone national park and the summertime mountain based activities have the potential to attract a plethora of summer guests to Big sky resort. Seasonality Big Sky experiences cold winters with temperatures getting as low as 8 degrees on average but rarely higher than freezing, with a high of 34 degrees on average.Visitors can expect between 3 and 7 inches of snow monthly starting as early as late October in some cases. Summer weather is quite drastically different. Temperatures can rise to the mid 80s on average with lows in the 50’s during the day and colder at night even as low as upper 40’s. The cold and snowy winters will be attractive to skiers and rider’s alike, seeking fresh snow or temperatures sufficient to make artificial snow. The warmer summers will be attractive for visitors looking to partake in outdoor activities or visit Yellowstone.The cool nights could be a welcome refreshe r or an unattractive nuisance depending on how low they get; However, I do not believe cooler nights will have a large impact on guest’s opinions of the resort. MARKETING Target Markets 1. Experienced skiers and riders is who big sky markets to the most. With slogans like â€Å"The BIGGEST skiing in America† and multiple double diamond runs, as well as back country access with no cleaned runs. In all likelihood, this segment does not produce the highest revenue, since they may travel alone or in small groups (2-3), but big sky markets themselves to appeal to those advanced level groups.This segment could be drawn to Big Sky from around the world because of their intricate and advanced slope structure. 2. Big sky’s second largest market segment is medium sized families (3-5 guests) or extended families for a reunion type vacation (7+guests) in the middle or higher class. Families with children aged 4 and older can sign their kids up for mini ski camp. This group will fill a majority of the rooms on property and many of the people in this market segment have taken up skiing or riding in recent years. This market segment might be drawn to Big Sky from around the country.Especially since the airport in the city of Bozeman has flights that come in directly from major metropolitan areas such as New York, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Seattle 25 times daily. During the off peak summer season, this group might make up an even larger majority of Big Sky’s Guests due to 3. Group Travel is another large market at Big Sky. They have rooms available to accommodate large groups. More specifically, groups will be comprised of older teenagers and college students(17-21) and young working professionals(22-30). Having everything you might want to do on a vacation to a mountain based resort, ncluding pools, shopping, of course skiing and riding on property Big sky is trying to get these groups and keep them on property. Not to mention Yellow stone National pa rk being less than an hour away, Big Sky really has everything any member of your group would want to do in the North West. This segment will most likely be drawn from a region. It is not very likely groups New England, for instance, will travel to big sky when there are closer skiing options and if they do their return business is even less likely due to expensive travel costs. 4. Empty nesters (45+) may come to Big Sky to enjoy skiing and summer recreation.This segment can potentially be drawn from an international market. The spa at Big Sky would be icing on the cake for this group. It may offer a relaxing, slower paced day of fun and relaxation. The resort can appeal particularly to those individuals interested in the nation’s first national park, Yellowstone. The offer a cross country ski or snowmobile tours into the park to and from Big Sky. 5. Young couples (24-30) or even couple trips who are two or more years into their working lives and have enough vacation time to come for an extended weekend in the begging or end of the ski season or potentially even during the summer.Even couples where one or both individuals are not experienced skiers or riders, Big Sky’s adult lesson programs can bring them up to speed. Furthermore, these couples who have skied or need refresher courses, or wish to take on more challenging runs can enlist in the advanced programs, like Master the Moguls; a course for skiers â€Å"level 7 and higher’ who want to learn to â€Å"negotiate the bumps with style†. How Big Sky Markets Big Sky markets itself as a year round resort although their primary season is the ski season.Their favorite slogan and possibly even motto is â€Å"The biggest skiing in America. † Much of their marketing uses the word ‘Big’, for example â€Å"BIG Happiness† is sprawled across an advertisement on their website’s home screen with the ‘big’ being shown in their own calligraphy (See appendix). During off season summer month’s Big Sky markets it’s ‘Basecamp’ as â€Å"The perfect headquarters for mountain adventures. † Their brochure for summer activities explains over 10 of the summer attractions they have.Big Sky offers an eighteen hole golf course designed by Arnold Palmer in the 1970’s and updated multiple times. Surprisingly, Big sky does not advertise their golf course almost at all. There is only one, small picture in their brochure of the course and a very limited page online. It’s safe to say golf isn’t a big attraction to Big Sky in the summer and it definitely is â€Å"nice to have’ not â€Å"need to have†. You can tell winter is bigger at Big Sky just from the brochure. The winter activity brochure is twice the size of the summer one and it focuses on the mountain.Although Lone Peak and Flat Iron and Andesite mountains around it host almost all of the summer activities, they are th e primary attraction in the winter. They advertise over 5500 acres of skiable runs, over 4000 vertical feet, 26 lifts, 230 plus trails, ad over 400 inches of snowfall. They market themselves as â€Å"Head and Shoulders above the rest† siting more skiable acres than Vail, Colorado and more Vertical feet than Vail and Squaw Valley, California. The only time Big Sky stops’ talking about their ski slopes is to mention the resorts close proximity to Yellowstone and the trips they run there.Yellowstone is definitely integral in bringing them business, even in the winter and should have more emphasis placed on it, as well as other programs such as the spa. The spa has its own stand-alone brochure but is seldom mentioned elsewhere. RECREATION / ACTIVITIES Activities Spring, Summer, and Fall 1. Zip line 2. High ropes course 3. Downhill mountain biking 4. Skeet shooting 5. Paintball 6. Laser Tag 7. Scenic lift 8. Hiking 9. Climbing wall 10. Giant Swing 11. Bungee trampoline 12. Disc golf 13. Mountain scooter or watercraft rentals 14. Golf 15. Yoga 16. Spa 17.Swimming pools 18. Fly Fishing 19. Whitewater Rafting 20. Horseback riding 21. Rock climbing 22. Wildlife viewing 23. Children’s program including: a. Dodge ball b. Face painting c. Making terracotta pots d. Adventure race e. Nature hikes and crafts f. Supervised disc gold g. Teepee camp out Winter 1. Skiing and Snowboarding 2. Zip line 3. High ropes course 4. Laser Tag 5. Bungee trampoline 6. Climbing Wall 7. Giant Swing 8. Tube Park 9. Snow cat Rides (To yellow stone) 10. Cross country Skiing (Yellowstone) 11. Sleigh Rides 12. Backcountry skiing 13. Yoga 14. Spa 15.Swimming pools 16. Wild life viewing 17. Children’s program including: a. Dodge ball b. Face painting c. Making terracotta pots Activity and Market Segments Experienced skiers will primarily be attracted to Big Sky for their advanced ski runs and slope side lodging. However, many other aspects of the resort will aim attract t his group to Big Sky over other resorts. The close proximity to Yellowstone national park is an out of the ordinary aspect that can entice those skiers and riders who want to visit the park but don’t want to make it the main focus of their trip.This group which obviously likes to ski may want to try a cross country ski trip to the park. The plethora of additional activities, such as zip lining, can encourage these guests to book longer trips and offer breaks in between days of skiing. The back country skiing can bring in travelers from greater distances who want to break away from the rigid ski slopes offered at mountains local to them. Even the options at the spa can bring in these guests that want to have the opportunity to be rejuvenated in a relaxing environment and then get right back on the slopes.During summer months, Experienced skiers wouldn’t be attracted to Big Sky for the ski runs, but they might want to return for other outdoor activities like hiking on th e runs they enjoy to ski. The other outdoor activities such as horseback riding and white water rafting will without a doubt attract this group, assuming that they are avid out door travelers wishing to spend more time in the beautiful wilderness around Big Sky. Middle Class Families might be attracted to the resort for skiing because of the multiple day lift ticket discounts or the wide range of attractive lodging styles, from economical to the lush ad luxurious.Not to mention, when booking through Big Sky’s central reservation system or enrolling a child under ten years old young children (under 10) get to ski for free The Tube Park is also another great aspect for children. The other attractions like zip lining, the giant swing, and bungee trampoline can entice families in both the winter and summer months, as well as the children programs. Furthermore during the summer families may want to go hiking or white water rafting together. A warm Montana day might be the perfect setting for a father and son golf trip, or skeet shooting.Big sky could attract group travelers because of the plethora of activities. It really does have something for everyone in your group. Trips to yellow stone, yoga, rock climbing, and the spa are all enticing to different members of these groups. No single event or attraction can be attributed to this group, however low rates for condo style living at Alpenglow can entice this crowd. Empty Nesters who have reached a later age in life, and accumulated more time off with their companies now have a little extra cash flow since they are no longer supporting children.The slower paced activities at Big Sky, like Golf or the spa can appeal to this group; Even going on a relaxing hike or fly fishing trip. The more adventurous in this group might want to try white water rafting, skiing or cross country skiing to Yellowstone. Of course†¦. there is always just the pool! Although Big Sky doesn’t really â€Å"do weddings†, and the closest thing to anything seeming romantic is a free bottle of champagne when you book two nights it’s apparent that young couples are coming for the romance.Virtually all the activities could appeal to this group, skiing, downhill biking, horseback riding, high ropes, zip line, white water rafting. Why not enjoy all this while your young? RELATION TO TEXT Similarities 1. Big Sky is a type one resort (PG 25). Type one resorts, by definition are international destinations with excellent mountains and wide variety of lodging and real-estate accommodations. With 14 hotels ranging from simple ‘double-double’ hotel rooms to more advanced condominiums, Big Sky lives up to the plethora of lodging options. Lone mountain and lone peak are offer upreme runs with much variety, all the way from a bunny hill with green circle runs to double diamonds near the peak, and even back country skiing. Big Sky definitely meets the criteria for a type one mountain based reso rt. 2. Located just 50 miles south of Bozeman, MT and Bozeman/Big Sky airport there is airline access direct from 13 major cities in the US, including New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Portland. The book states that the more attractive the site, the farther people will be willing to travel to ski there (PG 33). The size and scope of Big Sky resort can attract people, not just on a national basis, but also internationally.The resort seeks to target not just local or regional guests, willing to travel up to half a day, but also those seeking to travel farther, and stay longer. 3. Big Sky offers 4,350 vertical feet to ski on Lone Mountain. For an area this size the book recommends one to two thousand vertical feet of lift (PG 42). The Southern Comfort high speed quad alone can carry 4 skiers 1,250 vertical feet. Big Sky has 15 lifts, one gondola, and 5 surface lifts throughout the mountain and is consistently known for little to no lift lines. 4. The way the way the lodging at Big Sky is laid out is nearly verbatim to the book (PGS 46-47).The resort offers a good mix of Hotel style lodging and condominiums. Mountain Village, at the base of the mountain, squeezes in a high density of lodging accommodations, many of the slope side. These include Summit Hotel, Snowcrest Lodge, and Huntley Lodge. Farther away from the base, but still offering slope-side access are the Lone Moose and Saddle Ridge properties, offering Condo and Townhouse style lodging, respectively. They are more spacious and offer a higher quality of room / amenity, but also are more expensive. 5. Mountain Village is a key feature to Big Sky resort.The book suggests that a base village is integral to a new kind of four season resort, like big sky (PG 88). Not only does Big Sky’s Mountain Village offer restaurants, lodging, and retail outlets near chairlifts, but also other activities, like ice skating, and a place to sign up for them at the concierge and basecamp facility. In the lobby of the H untley / Shoshone lodge is the Spa and Yellowstone Conference center. This complex which offers both hotel and condo style lodging options is the focal point of the base village area. Big Sky has certainly created a miniature town just for their guests.Differences 1. The book discusses the use and necessity of permits when dealing with land owned by the United States Forest Service, or USFS (PG 27). Although Big Sky operates on about 100 square miles of USFS land it seems apparent that some principles outlined in the book are being overlooked. Although the resort is a cool earth partner and does a lot to help the environment other aspects USFS and the National Ski Area’s Association try to meet are suffering. The establishment of local economies f and sustainable communities is suffering. Big Sky uses all of the land it has for ski runs and Local lodging.The work force needs to either travel from far away or get temporary housing and be bussed in from two properties operated by Big Sky for employees. Only one is open during the summer. 2. General design guidelines outlined by the book highlight the necessity of linking what is special about the local area and creating a strong emotional link between the local populace and natural environment (PG 34). By not putting a good foot forward to build a more permanent and affordable living area for general population they are greatly constricting the possibility of forming this strong bond between locals and themselves.Local people may grow discontent with the resort if they cause the area to belong to the tourists. 3. Adding illumination to Big Sky could potentially increase capacity by up to 60% (PG 40). Big sky does not have any options for night skiing and, while the potential risk and possible insurance costs are understandable, they are limiting themselves to the short hours of daylight during the winter months. Half of US ski areas offer night skiing and by not the resort is missing out on potential gues ts that may want sleep in and ski later in the day and into the evening.These groups will simply spend money and ski elsewhere. 4. North northeast facing mountains retain snowfall better by having less sun exposure (PG 40). Big Sky has set their runs up to be facing directly east, right in the face of the rising morning sun. This could potentially create a hazard for skiers coming down the slopes early and cause snow blindness. This sun exposure also causes snow to melt faster and potentially harm the integrity of runs. Because of this, more tree’s may be needed on the runs for shade, which could in turn limit the use of the mountain for runs. 5.Parking, everyone’s worst nightmare (PG 45). Big Sky wasn’t really built around the idea that many skiers would drive in and out, and it shows in their parking. Big sky has 4 parking lots and only 1, and a small one at that, is remotely close to the lifts. Big sky clearly sacrificed close parking for slope side lodging. Since they have already built up the prime parking area’s with Mountain Village, an idea as suggested in the book would be to make underground parking. Putting even one level underneath the base camp could make for an extremely efficient parking system and use of space.COMPETITION Local Heading south from Bozeman, MT will take you right to Big Sky’s doorstep, but going east will bring you to a local competitor, Red Lodge Mountain Resort. Red Mountain Lodge, or RML, has a close proximity to Big Sky, but they are miles apart in many other similarities. The most obvious is the mountain. By comparison, RML has a much smaller mountain with less lifts. Also apparent, is the mountain base. Where Big Sky has a lively mountain town with shopping, activities, hotels, RML has, well, nothing.Their lodging properties are located sporadically around the area. There is the actual town of Red lodge off the base of the mountain, but not far. This active host community is something that Big Sky doesn’t have. Because of their limitations in a base village, RML offer far fewer (almost no) other venues of entertainment besides the town and the mountain. The only exception to this is their golf course. They offer an 18 hole golf course run by the resort and located near the town of Red Lodge. National Alyeska Resort, in Girdwood, Alaska is a national competitor to Big Sky.Also making the top 40 list of ski resorts in North America by Outsideonline. com, Alyeska is no small time resort. Alyeska only has a couple of hotels and limited runs on the mountain, 73. However their system of 8 total lifts compliments the mountain well. Alyeska Also offers night skiing, which Big Sky does not. The resort and mountain is also well known, having hosted the US Alpine champion ships 5 times, the latest in 2009. Alyeska chargers comparable prices for comparable rooms to Big Sky, so guests willing to travel won’t choose one over the other because of price.Alyeska also ha s a spa complete with yoga classes. The average snowfall is 512 inches, which is over a hundred inches more that Big Sky can boast adding the grandeur of the runs. International Located in Savoie, France Les Trois Vallee, or The three Valley’s ski resort is the largest ski resort in the world. It is actually comprised of three separate ski resorts linked together since 1963 so it’s possible to ski between all of them. The Resort is actually 8 different resorts all operating together between the 3 valley’s and 4 ridges that create the mountain.The mountain has 183 different lifts, 37 of which are gondolas, servicing 600km (375 miles) of skiable areas spread out between 335 runs. Trois Vallee offers an even more extended list of accommodations between their 8 resorts than Big Sky. The range from ‘self-catered apartments’ and chalets, small ski side houses, to hotels and holiday clubs. This collection of resorts is a competitor to Big sky because the o ffer a similar experience with the mountain base village. The intertwining of multiple resorts compounds this and gives guests multiple venues to enjoy time off the mountain.

Summery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Summery - Essay Example Modern findings however argue that organisations are forced to adopt the culture of the wider society so as to be perceived as being legitimate (Dingwall & Strangleman, 2005). The early 1980s saw the idea of organizational culture popularized among managers. It was argued that successful companies created and possessed the right culture and managers were charged with initiating this. Dingwall and Strangleman (2005) further outline the role of culture in describing the cognition of members of an organisation to each other and the outsiders and explaining performance. Thus, the public sector was perceived to be inefficient due to the culture of indiscipline. These inefficiencies caused neo-liberal governments to front for privatisation and cultural change so as to equal them to their private counterparts. The interest in culture management in the private sector was largely driven by international competition. In the public sector, neo-liberal governments arriving in the UK and US and colonisation of international organisations pushed for adoption of culture management. Therefore, the modern cultural adaptation by the public sector fosters entrepreneurial go vernments which promote competition among service providers. They link culture to structure. Dingwall, R. & Strangleman, T. (2005). Organizational cultures in the public services. In E. Ferlie, L. E. Lynn & C. Pollitt (Eds.). The Oxford handbook of public management (pp. 468 - 490). Oxford, OX: Oxford University

The Impact of Employee Involvement in Hiring and Promotions Process of Assignment

The Impact of Employee Involvement in Hiring and Promotions Process of Public Administration Agencies - Assignment Example The dissertation looks at the goal of how beneficial employee involvement could be among public administration agencies if it is practiced during hiring and promotions processes. To this end, the topic of the dissertations is stated as: â€Å"the impact of employee involvement in hiring and promotions process of public administration agencies.† Considering the nature of the topic, which touches directly on an identified institution, it would be true to say that there will be a lot of institutional reviews needed for the research. Institutional review of the research would come in two major forms and formats. In the first place, there ought to be an institutional review that looks at the ethics and rules of engagement in the identified institution in the conduct of research of this nature. Even though this may generally be an academic exercise, it is important that some basic rules of research including the need for ensuring confidentiality and anonymity of data are reserved. As much as these standards are adhered to, the institutional reviews needed on the part of the awarding institution, which is the university will also be catered for to a very large extent (Schein, 2004). For a higher academic level dissertation preparation of this nature, it is always important for the researcher to appreciate the fact that all knowledge cannot rest with him alone (Schein, 2004). What this means is that the researcher would always, and at one point in time or the other need the inputs of other people in making highly informed choices on the dissertation. Considering the fact that the dissertation preparation goes through many different stages, it would be more than true to say that at every point or stage in the preparation of the dissertation, the input of some people will be needed.  

Chernobyl Disaster Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chernobyl Disaster - Essay Example Chernobyl disaster happened due to overheating of the core, which resulted in the core meltdown. The meltdown of the core exposed the radioactive matter to the outer environment and it was also carried far away by wind. People were forced to leave the city as quickly as they could. At first, people were not informed by the accident but after some time, the news of the disaster spread widely. The radioactive materials from the reactors were found hazardous to the people and other living beings of the place. The persons who were quite near the power plant or working inside the power plant faced the high exposure of radioactive materials. Only two workers had lost their lives, when accident happened but the accident caused severe damages to the people nearby the place of accident and a large number of people had suffered from cancer and died after the accident (World Nuclear Association 2011). The radioactive ash from the reactor had two parts. One part of the ash contained very small particles which were carried away by the wind. The other part of the ash contained a bit thick particles and could remain hazardous for many hundreds of years. The disaster had endangered more lives as compared to any other such incident. Belarus, the place nearest to Chernobyl, had been affected more than any other region from the radiations, spread as the result of Chernobyl disaster (World Nuclear Association 2011). ... The reactor no four was made with high precision and a lot of instrumentation was utilized to precisely measure different functionalities. A nuclear power plant is incomplete without the implementation of a cooling system. The cooling system is employed to draw the decay heat away from the reactor core. Water is utilized mostly as a coolant in the nuclear reactors. On 26th, April 1986, the water pumps, which were used to maintain the temperature of the core, were stopped for some time to verify that the backup power system to power the water pumps is working properly. In this little while the temperature of the core was raised but the backup power system did not worked. Then it was tried to normally start the cooling pumps but in vain. The temperature of the core exceeded to an uncontrollable level which blew the thick steel roof of the core with a massive amount of heat and unused radioactive material. Chernobyl power complex had lacked one of the most important safety features that are employed in modern nuclear reactors. Containment cooling method, that is considered when there is an uncontrollable situation at the nuclear reactor, prevents the radiations from spreading in the atmosphere. At the Chernobyl, there must be a containment cooling system which could reduce the spreading of the radiation material. The authorities like government should emphasize more on safety features rapture than generating high profits. The Chernobyl nuclear reactors had lacked other safety measures, active and passive cooling techniques must be there to meet the uncontrollable situations. There were construction errors, like the pillars that were to be placed horizontally were not present there at the reactor building

Literature review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Literature review - Essay Example Man has its own structure according to his responsibilities, woman posse’s different structure as per her responsibilities. Men and women both created in couples but both posses different attributes and different lifestyles. Woman posses some traits completely different from man and man owns some characteristics entirely different from woman. Still, there is a competition lies between man and woman. No matter in which part of the world, they live but it’s so easy to find a tight competition between man and woman. Gender plays an important role in both human beings. Gender helps creating special traits in every man or woman. It is generally considered that men are strong and women are weak, there are thousands of differences on the basis of which it is usually said. Regardless of strength, there are many other factors that make woman different from man. Man are usually strong in feelings, they do not take care lots of small things in their life, while on the other hand, woman are always possessive about their relationship, their belongings etc. The word docility states the trait of being agreeably manageable and submissive. Docility can also be defined as the willingness and readiness to fulfill other wishes without considering own’s wish. ... The term docility also points Judith butler’s (1990) theory of gender performance. She points that individuals must constantly perform defined gender actions, in order to get away the social discipline that is experienced against queer sexuality. In the repetition of gender actions, actions are usually ignored and the avatar is usually considered as an internal identity. In this way, gender seems a docile body. For instance, Miroslaw Filiciak (2003) argues that the developing of identities in cyberspace is not so much in plenty from a self as it is a longed for chance of showing one’s self beyond physical limits. These expressions might not move beyond the gender actions and sexual norms that make the â€Å"self†. In the eyes of many sociologist, docility in the main concept of performance. Docility usually helps in identifying personal traits as per their gender specification; it also helps in understanding why individuals authorize with the agency to develop th eir own sexual world rather to perpetuate the identified norms of gender and sexuality. Conformity is the action of relating attributes, concepts, and actions to what human gender considers is usual of their community or social group. This determination appears in small units and society as a whole, and normally output from elusive unconscious shapes, or direct and overt social force. Conformity can appear in the presence of others, or when an individual has no one around him. For instance, people incline to obey social values when eating or watching their favorite plays, even when they have no one around them. A number of people normally conform from a wish of being safe within a unit generally in a group of a similar religion, unit,

The Marketing Mix applied to a fast mocing consumer product Essay

The Marketing Mix applied to a fast mocing consumer product - Essay Example Customers tend to have built up brand loyalty due to the sentimental value that the branding has created over the years. For older customers, it may remind them of their own childhood days when their kids eat them and as for kids they will carry the memories on to their net generation. The Target customer of Cadbury associates sentimental value to it and thus Cadbury has become habitual for them. The packaging has been consistent during the last decades. The only changes have been in sies .The packaging is localized (in local language) to communicate the message of Cadbury to the customers. The packaging emphasizes on the brand color association i.e. Purple and all Cadbury dairy milk chocolates have the same solid purple color in their packaging. The packaging of Cadbury for the customers is convenient. It serves the function of keeping the chocolate fresh and crisp until consumption. It provides the health facts on its packaging for the health conscious people in their local language. The packaging of Cadbury, and the variants that are being offered, are made to suit the requirements of the customers. Thus the target customer of Cadbury dairy Milk seek: - The graphics on the Cadbury Dairy milk chocolate include the net weight, graphics showing the components i.e. milk pouring into chocolate bars, the positioning statement "more to share", barcode indicating shelf life, instructions to discard wrapper in the bin and diagrams showing it is best for consumption of vegetarians The target customer of Cadbury is: - 1. Health Conscious 2. Has positive response to the Cadbury Dairy Milk brand name 3. Likes to share the special moments in life with other people as demonstrated by the positioning statement. 4. Is conscious of the freshness of the product he is consuming 5. Best suited as an in between meals snack for vegetarians. Product support services Unsold bars that have exceeded their shelf life can be returned to the manufacturers The target customer: - 1 wants value for money and is quality conscious and can easily shift to other brands if their favorite brand does not deliver the quality it promises. Price Product mi pricing Cadbury Schweppes, the Australian Cadbury manufacturing company, has a diversified product mi and follows a market segmentation strategy focusing on different market segments some brands include Cherry Ripe, Crunchie, Freddo The target customer of Cadbury is: - Varying tastes The target customers are from different age groups Freddo is strictly for kids, Cadbury is for teenagers The target customers have different, localize tastes in different markets for example the target customers of Australia prefer the cherry flavor so for them the unique

Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 6

Marketing Plan - Essay Example forms of senior citizens day care Centre’s since the 1970s which are defined as community-based programs that are designed to meet the needs of minimally impaired adults through an individualized plan of care for part of the 24-hour day. According to the 2000 census, there are 3,407 senior citizens day care centers operating in the United States, serving primarily people with dementia (including Alzheimers disease) and the frail elderly who do not have dementia though experts suggest that this number is fast going to rise as more and more people require and seek these services, (Lakdawalla, Bhattacharya, Goldman, & National Bureau of Economic Research, 2001) The Sunset Senior Citizens Daycares mission is to provide a program of social, recreational, and health activities and services in a group setting that will keep our clients as comfortable as possible and at the same time caring for their immediate individual needs In the recent past, the demand for senior citizens day care centres has considerably grown. The lifestyles of the population has changed making the people need care at significantly early age thus the need to have more of this centres. This makes a venture such as opening this centre economically viable. In recent years, the age at which people adult day care services has considerably become lower as a result of the lifestyle diseases among other things. Therefore it seems that people age faster they did before. Family structures are also evolving and people prefer to have their aging loved ones cared for in these centres so that they get a chance to go make a living, (Kane, 1986). The technological environment changes rapidly and therefore people’s needs also follow these trends. The clients will need a variety of foods that are healthy and at the right times. They will also need to be entertained with activities like playing cards or board games and also scheduling activities such as bowling or even tennis if it is available. Other

Rugby Football Union Essay Example for Free

Rugby Football Union Essay With sport gaining increasing esteem, and spreading largely into university, the first sets of national rules came about through the Oxbridge melting pot with the Football Association (1863) and the Rugby Football Union (1871). The combination of Oxford and Cambridge university students comprised standardized rules and this further development undoubtedly helped expand sport in Britain. Increased participation by lower classes in the 19th century soon led to the questioning of middle class social control. The growth of professionalism resulted in a series of disputes between both classes with regards to sporting interests.   With regards to boxing, the changes have been remarkable with the core principles still continuing throughout the 19th century. For example, in 1867 the Marques of Queensberry Rules were drafted and introduced fixed time periods for rounds of three minutes and a one minute recovery period. There was also the beginning of gloves and a qualified referee to ensure a fair fight. Another change was in the location of bouts. After 1880, fights began taking place in designated arenas, with proper rings including ropes and canvases unlike the man made circle of spectators that previously made the ring.  Furthermore, there was the classification of weight divisions, formed around 1890 by athletic clubs. The original weight classes of light or heavyweight were then joined by four other categories; bantamweight, featherweight, welterweight and middleweight. In theory, the finely calibrated division were created to prevent mismatches; in practice, they have the felicitous effect of creating many more champions and many more title shots'(John Sugden Boxing and Society pg 31).  However, the continuity of boxing in the 19th century still included the main principal of inflicting a sufficient amount of physical damage to an opponent to win a bout. Outside the ring, gambling was still rife in the sport with potentials of big winnings if the higher class folk such as lords had good participants fight for them. Another aspect of continuity in boxing was the environment in which boxers fought in. The fighters in the 19th century were still surrounded by rowdy spectators which created a sense of hostility around the setting. Lastly, the social aspect of boxing remained within the sport. The working class men saw boxing as an outlet from the hard shifts undergone at the factories and could enjoy a social drink. With regards to horse racing, there were many changes within the 19th century. The variety of races were expanded and specific roles were assigned for certain people on the race course e.g. starters, judges and bookmakers.  Jarvie, G (2006) explains how the sport has developed after the 1800s. With the rail link leading to increased transport, came larger attendances at races, allowing for jockeys to travel about in order to compete elsewhere which is how Horne. J; Tomlinson, A and Whannel, G (1999) refer to the development of the characteristics of horse racing through the nature of the modernisation of 19th century Britain. An aspect of continuity in horse racing is gambling which is a key role within English horse racing. Gambling in horse racing has been rife since the beginning due to the large financial and economical profits that gambling provides to the British public and society.  Another point of continuity in horse racing in the 19th century is that it was the highest spectator sport within Britain, with the annual race being a large social event for many towns, merging all social classes together. Another change is in the equality of horse racing. Initially, in horse racing, the upper classes retained jockeys to ride on their behalf (Barry, 2002: p 5) due to the costs of maintaining the horses, travel expenses and entry fees. Kay, J and Vamplew, W (2003: p 128) stated that, there was an equality of aim to organise and win races but an inequality of means which divide the sport and its participants into discrete zones of competition. Furthermore, racing declared to, promote intercourse between different classes of society (Vamplew, W 1976: p 130) in order to provide equal opportunity and since there were no set rules prior to 1797, the 19th century was vital to horse racing, providing the Rules Concerning Horse Racing in General. These were followed by amendments made by the jockey club.  The 19th century brought an improved standard upon horse racing with time trials, improved diets and fluid retention along with sweating and purging and the first record of a horse race was made in 1842 in the Racing Calendar due to the improvement of literacy. Additionally, with British society rapidly altering with the industrial revolution, horse racing in the 19th century provided increased police supervision and protection to maintain order and set an example to society.  The new middle class also had a defining impact upon the change and continuity of sport in the 19th century. The population grew fourfold in the 19th century and, it was in the public schools that older ball games and athletic activities were re-invented and turned into modern sports. (Holt, R, 2001: p 75) Rugby came from the Rugby School; where Thomas Arnold was influential, and his students went on to spread the sport of rugby throughout the educational system in the 1850s. The game rugby, a strictly amateur sport, started with the simple rule of allowing a player to run with a ball if he caught it on the fly or on the first bounce. Formed in 1872 the Rugby Union initially consisted of teams with 20 players but was then cut down to 15 in 1875. Games were won by go als alone; however tries and penalties were added in 1877 as a scoring system which continues today. Brasch (1986) explains how Rugby league which can be traced back to the 1871, attracting large numbers of players and crowds from the working classes. With such a rapid growth in the sport came a fear of loss of control by the Rugby Football Union and an eventual split formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. There first action was to impose the payment of players and then gradually changed the rules with the abolition of the lineout and the value of goals was changed to two points. However, the sport maintained the fair play initiative and same method of scoring and purpose within the game. The strength of the men playing the sport epitomised muscular Christianity and embodied British society.  It is clear to see how the game of rugby impacted upon the latter stages of the 19th century. With vast change and rapid growth it is clear to see that compared to sport in the early 19th century it had begun to mature and cement its place amongst British society. The back streets were no longer areas of play, alcohol was controlled in order to maintain society and schoolyards were helping to increase participation along with the formation of new sports. The educational system was profound upon sport in 19th century Britain. It was not until 1890 when Baron de Coubertin revisited the Rugby School where Thomas Arnold was the headmaster, did his dream to revive the Olympics and globalise sport come true. He saw how sporting principles in British schools, muscular Christianity and athleticism were a good way to re-build the youth of France after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian war. His take on sport in Britain drove him to form the International Olympic Committee in 1894. In conclusion, sport within Britain in the 19th century evidently grew along with growth of the United Kingdom and the change from small towns to large industrial cities was like the change from early 19th century football to the rationalisation and formation of professionalism and the Football Association. The festivals and past times of playing sports in any street were given a purpose and designated area in the 19th century. The United Kingdoms initial reluctance to teach sport in schools was eventually turned around and seen as a perfect way to promote healthy living. Not only did sport in 19th century Britain create much change, much of its continuity is evident through the peoples passion to not let work control their life and pursue sporting events even though sometimes it wasnt in their free time. Bibliography Barry, T. (2002) Advanced PE for Edexcel (Limited Edition) Harcourt Education Limited, Heinemann and London.  Brasch, R. (1986) How Did Sports Begin? (edition published in 1990) Tynron Press, Stenhouse, Dumfriesshire.  Kay, J and Vamplew, W (2003)

Capital accumulation, Essay Example for Free

Capital accumulation, Essay Name two types of market failure. Explain why each may cause market outcomes to be inefficient. Externalities and Market Power. Externalaties are byproducts of a product. Exteranlities can lead to a failure because buyers and sellers do not consider the side effects, which can lead to imbalance in equilibrium based on a societal standpoint. Market Power occurs when there is a single buyer and seller (or small group of them) with the ability to control market prices. This can lead to failure because it keeps prices and quantity away from the equilibrium of supply and demand. 2. What happens to consumer and producer surplus when the sale of a good is taxed? How does the change in consumer and producer surplus compare to the tax revenue? When a product is taxed both consumer and producer surplus drop. This change in surplus is gained in tax revenue, but producers earn less and consumers get less for their value. 3. How do the elasticities of supply and demand affect the deadweight loss of a tax? Why does this effect occur? The elasticities of supply and demand affect deadweight loss in that when: supply/demand is elastic, then the deadweight loss is high. If the supply/demand is inelastic, then the deadweight loss is small. This occurs because taxes change the behavior of buyers/sellers. If tax increases price of buyers, they consume less. If tax reduces profit of producers, then they produce less. 4. What does the domestic price that prevails without international trade tell us about a nation’s comparative advantage? If the domestic price is low, then it says that county can produce that product cheaply, and has a comparative advantage. If it is high, then that country is at a disadvantage compared to other countries. What is the difference between the unilateral and multilateral approaches to achieving free trade? Give an example of each. Unilateral approach is when the country reduces trade restrictions on its own. ‘Isolandia’ removes tariffs on imports. Multilateral approach is when a country reduces it trade restrictions while other countries do the same (through bargaining) ‘Isolandia’ removes tariffs on imports if ‘Seclusia’ also removes theirs. 6. Why do economists use real GDP rather than nominal GDP to gauge economic well-being? Define the GDP deflator. Nominal GDP is GDP (goods and services produced, and their prices) calculated at current prices. Real GDP is GDP calculated at constant prices(goods ands and services produced). We use Real GDP because it reflects changes in production vice changes in prices. The GDP Deflator allows calculating only the prices of goods and services. 7. What is the CPI? Which do you think has a greater effect on the consumer price index: a 10 percent increase in the price of chicken, or a 10 percent increase in the price of caviar? Why? Consumer Price Index, is a measure of the overall cost of goods and services bought by a typical consumer. A 10% increase in chicken will have a greater affect on the CPI because more people typically by chicken than those who buy caviar. 8. Describe the three factors that make the consumer price index an imperfect measure of the cost of living. Then explain how the GDP deflator differs from the CPI. Substition Bias: Consumers substitute towards goods that cost less Introduction of new goods: A new product is introduced allowing more choices. This reduces cost of maintaining same level of economic well being. Unmeasured quality change – if a goods quality goes down, but remains at same price – then the dollar is worth less than previously. If the quality goes up, and price remains the same, then the dollar is worth more than previously. GDP deflator accounts for goods produced domestically, while CPI accounts for all goods purchased. GDP Deflator also accounts for all currently produced goods, while CPI accounts for a fixed set of goods, that may not include new goods or include goods that no longer exist. 9. List and describe the determinants of productivity. Physical Capital: Quality of tools the worker has – better quality, the more production. Human Capital: Knowledge and Skills – education, experience and training. Better training = better efficiency. Natural Resources: Resources made available for input into production. Either renewable or non-renawable. Access to resources reduces costs of importing them – but is not necessary. Technical Knowledge:Refers to societies understanding of how the world works. (Human capital refers to recources expended to transmit this understanding to its workers) 10. Explain how a higher savings rate can lead to a higher standard of living. What might deter a policymaker from trying to raise the rate of saving? Saving now and consuming less now, allows for investments and ability to consume more in the future. Diminishing returns are what might deter a policy maker raising rate of savings. At a low capital, an extra increase in capital increases production. But as you continue to invest capital, the growth of production is at a lesser amount. It continues until a point in where a large increase in capital only gives a minor increase in production.

Sexual exploitation of children: Issues in treatment

Sexual exploitation of children: Issues in treatment Social Work and Criminal Justice: Victims of Violent Crime Analysis Abstract This report explores many factors of sexual abuse, specifically sexual exploitation of children. Ethical and policy issues that may affect practice with this population as well as the nature of the violent crimes are some of the factors explored in this report. The sexual exploitation of children is widespread and exists worldwide. Many of these children have long-term effects from sexual abuse that follow them into adulthood. In order to provide the adequate and appropriate treatment to sexually abused and exploited children, one must understand the magnitude of this heinous epidemic that is steadily increasing. Introduction The role of a generalist social worker who works with victims of violent crimes is of extreme importance. This is significantly true for social workers working with children who are victims of sexual exploitation. When generally recognized standards do not exist with respect to an emerging area of practice, social workers should exercise careful judgment and take responsible steps to ensure the competence of their work and to protect clients from harm (Reamer, 2010). A generalist social work base provides an existing foundation on which direct intervention, policy formation, advocacy, and networking may be implemented (Herrmann, 1987). Social workers confront child sexual exploitation as school social workers, at runaway shelters, at counseling agencies, and within the court system. The history of the profession provides the precedent for social work’s involvement in ending child sexual exploitation. Sexual abuse is any sexual activity with a child where consent is not or cannot be given. This includes sexual contact that is accomplished by force or by threat of force, regardless of the age of the participants, and all sexual contact between an adult and a child, regardless of whether there is deception or the child understands the sexual nature of the activity (Zastrow Kirst-Ashman, 2013). The sexual exploitation of children includes sex trafficking, child pornography, and child prostitution. Exploited children carry the effects of sexual abuse for many years in an agonizing struggle with sexual dysfunction, depression, insomnia, suicide attempts, and self-mutilation. The population mostly affected by child exploitation is usually children from infancy to adolescence. These children often live in poverty or live in low-income environments. Often, these children lack parental guidance or have parents who are involved in substance abuse. This population is usually the target of sexual abuse. Because of the anxiety most people harbor about sexuality in general, children have little information about sex. They have limited life experience upon which to base judgments. Thus, children can be easily misled or tricked (Zastrow Kirst-Ashman, 2013). Those who sexually abuse children are referred to as pedophiles. Many pedophiles report a history of sexual victimization as adolescents. Occasionally, many children find themselves blackmailed into adulthood by their exploiters. Not all victims become victimizers. All, however, may experience guilt, confusion, shame, and anger as a result of exploitation (Herrmann, 1987). Risk Factors of Child Sexual Abuse Risk factors associated with sexual abuse and the exploitation of children includes the facts that suggest that girls are more likely to be victimized than boys. However, boys are equally as vulnerable as girls. The average age for the abused is between ages 4 and 6 years for boys and ages 11 and 14 years for girls. Children who have disabilities are at greater risk for sexual abuse. These children are more vulnerable and less likely to defend themselves (Zastrow Kirst-Ashman, 2013). Nature of Violent Crime The nature of this particular crime can be heinous. This includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, and power of manipulation. Often, children are profiled and sought for their openness to trust others. The children are misled and manipulated into thinking the perpetrator will provide conditions that are better than their current situation. Children are often beat and drugged then sold into human trafficking. These children are forced in prostitution and forced to participate in horrible sexual acts. This includes intercourse, fondling, pornographic photography, and other unthinkable acts. Scenario Angel is a 14 year old African-American girl living in an inner-city neighborhood. Angel has four siblings and both parents are incarcerated for substance abuse. Because of the absence of her parents, Angel and her siblings are cared for by their elderly grandmother. The family does not have much money and often goes without basic needs such as food and clothes. Angel dropped out of school due to the constant judgement and bullying from other students. Without anywhere to go, Angel would often walk the streets to pass away the time. While hanging out in the neighborhood, Angel was approached by an older man who mentioned he had taken an interest in her. He complimented Angel on her looks and told her that she should not be walking the streets, but pampered instead. Daily, the man would complement Angel and showered her with gifts. She had never been shown this kind of love before and felt she was in love. She was invited to the man’s home for dinner. Although the man was much older, Angel was eager to receive his charm. She agreed to dinner at his home. On the following evening, Angel met the older man around the corner from her family’s home. She was instantly swept off of her feet. The man arrived in a shiny, red convertible sports car with a bouquet of roses in hand. When she arrived to the man’s home, she was greeted with more flowers, candles, and wine. Although she had never had wine before, Angel felt a sense of maturity and drank the wine. During the dinner, the man told Angel that he was aware of her conditions at home. He promised her that he would make all of her sorrows go away if she allowed him to take care of her. He promised to provide all of her needs and that she will never have to go without any of her basics needs anymore. He promised to shower her with gifts and to show her the world. Angel felt all of her prayers had been answered and that she had met her knight in shining armor. Although the room began to spin and she felt slightly ill, Angel agreed to spend the night with the man. He insists tha t she should not go home in her condition. The next morning Angel awoke feeling very ill and confused. She could not remember where she was. Angel’s clothes had been removed and she was chained to a bed at her wrist and ankles. She is in a lot of pain and begins to cry out for help. Angel is aware that her body has been violated and wonders who could do this to her. Although she has been crying for hours, no one answers her cries for help. Eventually, a man she does not recognize enters the room and begins to yell and curse at her. He tells her that no one is going to help her and threatens to hit her if she does not stop crying. Although she tries to control her sobbing, Angel continues to cry. The man kept his promise and began to violently beat her. The violent beating left Angel unconscious and she never saw her knight in shining armour again. On the following afternoon, again, Angel awoke dazed and confused. She noticed that she was chained to a radiator and had been moved to another location. She was later approached by two men who informed her that she now works for them. She was promised shelter and protection in return for following their orders. Daily, Angel found herself in different locations servicing men for money. Often, Angel would be transported from state to state and advertised on the internet. Although Angel wants to escape the life she was forced to live, she often finds herself drugged, beaten, and far from home. She has no resources and is not allowed to make calls or befriend anyone. Angel feels trapped. She often contemplates suicide and feels that taking her life is the only way out of her lifestyle. Although Angel’s family attempted to find her, they had no luck. She was reported missing to the police, but dismissed as a delinquent runaway. Months began to pass and Angel became another statistic. Angel is now a part of the child sex trafficking ring. Daily, she is forced into prostitution and forced into a life she should not have to live. This commercial exploitation is the result of the lack of importance given to human rights around the world, the disregard of children’s needs, and the vast amount of money involved (Herrmann, 1987). Ethical Issues There are several ethical issues that may affect practice with this population. Although social workers are mandated to report sexual abuse of children, ethical and legal considerations for treatment of sexually exploited children remains an issue. Before treatment begins with the victim, is it appropriate for a practitioner to directly inquire and/or process information with a victim about an alleged offense in a pending criminal matter? To what degree can such inquiry, recounting, or processing of the events in question alter the child’s recollection of what took place (Branaman Gottlieb, 2013)? Social workers must consider ethical issues of the effects of questioning, retelling, and suggestion on perceived personal experience. These processes operate in all therapeutic settings, but when they arise in the context of treating a child witness, they may influence, if not dramatically alter, a child’s memory (Branaman Gottlieb, 2013). Also, social workers should be cau tious when considering introducing a new treatment approach to these children. New approaches to the profession usually generate controversy among social workers because many unknown issues may arise. Social workers should attempt to locate empirical literature documenting the effectiveness of new approaches. Most social workers will conclude that using a controversial new treatment approach is too risky, ethically and clinically (Reamer, 2010). Policy Issues Often, policy issues may affect practice with this population. Child sex abuse issues are handled by state and local authorities, and not by the federal government. This is because of the relationships between the states which have broad authority within their jurisdictions. Unfortunately, the federal government has constitutional limitations on its authority. Because of this matter, the Department of Justice generally has no authority over child sex abuse issues. However, if a child is sexually abused or sexually exploited on federal land, the offender may be prosecuted under federal law in addition to state law. Another policy issue is the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases. Every state has a standard suspension of the statute of limitation for legal actions while a person is a minor. Most states have adopted additional extensions for cases involving sexual abuse of children. In the state of Mississippi, victims must file their claim within 3 years of the sexual abu se and/or within 3 years of the victims release from incarceration. Assessment and Evidenced-based Practices Treatment and assessment of child victims of sexual exploitation has several objectives. According to Zastrow Kisrt-Ashman (2013), the first objective is to provide a safe environment where the survivor feels comfortable enough to talk. The survivor must learn to identity, express, and share feeling, even when they are negative and frightening. A second treatment goal is to have the survivor acknowledge that the abuse was no fault of theirs. The third objective involves teaching the child new ways to express their feelings. A fourth treatment goal is to address and special treatment needs of the child. These needs may include medical treatment or behavioral modification programs. The fifth goal is to enhance family communication, support, and understanding of the abuse. On a micro-level of intervention, practitioners have been known to use several evidence-based treatment modalities when treating sexually abused children. Often, the psychodynamic theory and treatment is used. Psychodynamic theories emphasize the importance of stages of psychosocial development and the unconscious mental processes of human behavior. According to Walsh (2010), in ego psychology, problems or challenges may result from conflicts within the person or between the person and external world. Also, crisis theory and intervention is used. A crisis is defined as the perception or experience of an event as an intolerable difficulty. Crisis intervention represents a strengths approach because it underscores the possibility of client growth, even in horrible situations. The social worker must build upon clients’ strengths in order to help them adapt to, and grow from, the experience (Walsh, 2010). On the mezzo-level of assessment and intervention, structural family theory (SFT) and intervention is often used. This theory attempts to bring structure back to the family. The focus of the theory is family structure. Family structure is a concept that refers to the invisible and often unspoken rules that organize how family members interact. In this intervention, the social worker is highly directive and directly leads the family’s process of problem resolution. During the intervention of SFT, role plays and role reversals are often employed by practitioners. The role plays are enactments of possible family situations that aim to adjust family interactions. The goal of role reversal is to sensitize family members to the feelings of other members in the family. Also, the Family Emotional Systems Theory is used. The theory provides a comprehensive conceptual framework for understanding how emotional ties within families of origin influence the lives of individuals in ways the y often fail to appreciate and may tend to minimize (Walsh, 2010). The theory offers broad intervention strategies with which the social worker can utilize techniques in accordance with a family’s particular concerns. On a macro-level of assessment and intervention, the ideal way to treat sexual abuse of children is to prevent the events from happening. Information and education are significant factors of prevention. In the community, parents need both education about how to raise children and knowledge that in the event they are in crisis resources are available to help. Special programs could be readily available in the community to help parents with these issues ((Zastrow Kirst-Ashman, 2013). These programs would be beneficial to the community on many levels. Diversity Issues There are diversity issues that affect this population. Minorities from different backgrounds are at higher risk of child sexual exploitation. Many children from low-educational backgrounds are also at higher risk for exploitation. Most of the children that are misled into sexual exploitation are from impoverished areas of the world. In some cases, racial disparity has become an issue in the matter of child sex trafficking. Often, cultural difference must be taken into account when working with sexually abused children. In some countries, touching of a child’s genitals is accepting. In the Philippines, it is culturally accepting to touch a child’s private area and not seen as deviant behavior. In the Korean culture, touching a child’s genital area is also an acceptable behavior. This behavior is considered an expression of adoration and pride for a male child who is to carry on the family name and tradition. In the Vietnamese culture, this behavior is thought of as an expression fondness, not a crime. The cultural differences of the world suggest that some cultures do not view the sexual abuse of a child in the same context as others. Although most societies view these behaviors as deviant and unacceptable, others view these behaviors as normal and accepting. These accepting views can be related to family pride or superstitions. It is of the most importance for practitioners and other health professionals to be aware of the cultural difference in order to provide adequate and effective treatment to children in need. This knowledge will help to ensure that social justice is granted to those who need it the most, sexually abused and exploited children. References Branaman, T. Gottlieb, M. (2013). Ethical and Legal Consideration for Treatment of Alleged Victims: When Does It Become Witness Tampering? Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 44(5). 299-306. Herrmann, K. (1987). Children Sexually Exploited for Profit: A Plea for a New Social Work Priority. National Association of Social Workers, Inc., 523-525. Reamer, Frederic. (2010). Ethical Standards in Social Work: A Review of the NASW Code of Ethics. (2nd ed.) Baltimore, MD: Port City Press. Walsh, J. (2010). Theories for direct social work practice. (2nd ed.) Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Zastrow, C. Kirst-Ashman, K. (2013). Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment. (9th ed.) Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.

Society Versus the Individual in Gather Together in My Name :: Gather Together in My Name Essays

Society Versus the Individual in Gather Together in My Name "I reassured myself. I was helping my man. And, after all, there was nothing wrong with sex. I had no need for shame. Society dictated that sex was only licensed by marriage documents. Well, I didn't agree with that. Society is a conglomerate of human beings and that's just what I was. A human being." What we have here from Maya Angelou's novel, Gather Together in My Name, is the basic battle of society against the individual. Who wins? Well, according to Angelou, the answer is no one wins because everyone loses. It is this particular theme that needs to be addressed the most for two reasons. One is that Maya Angelou is one of the first black females to write about the "Ritas" of the world. The second, which is the one under investigation in this essay, is in reference to John Oliver Killens' criticism, "This is the story of a great heroine who knows the meaning of a struggle and never loses her pride or dignity. Indeed, her story makes me proud of the human race." "I had no idea what I was going to make of my life, but I had given a promise and found my innocence. I swore I'd never lose it again." Those words spoken by Rita at the end of the novel seem to support Killens' appraisal. However, while an eighteen-year-old mother, who has had numerous failures and even a greater number of affairs, may know "the meaning of a struggle" quite well, it is not so that she never loses her pride or dignity. In fact, it is doubtful as to whether or not, even by the stories end, she has yet found it. One may argue that she found her pride and dignity after she stopped smoking pot or after she stopped prostituting or after (about the fifth time) she promised herself she would get her life together. Unfortunately, none of these are valid, for Rita did not actually discontinue the use of pot, she just ran out. Rita sleeps with a drug addict named Troubadour Martin for the security she thought she would receive from him.

Hope in The Sun also Rises Essay -- Essays Papers

Hope in The Sun also Rises WWI consumed the lives of millions. Those who lived through the war may have had only minor physical injuries or perhaps they were lucky enough to get away unharmed, but all of those who went home in the 1920s had lost an important feature in their life which was the importance of hope. The lack of hope hurt all the characters who experience the war in one way or another. Which, led to love being an empty word to the affected characters. These affected characters search for happiness in sex and in drunkenness and in superficial human relationships for the fulfillment that they were missing. Robert Cohn was about the only one who showed some kind of hope, but this hope seemed to bother the other characters. Of course the hope that Cohn demonstrated was that of hoping for some kind of respond from Brett. Robert Cohn was probably not even capable of truly being in love. He had severe self-esteem problems in college. "He took it out in boxing, and he came out of Princeton with painful self-consciousness and the flattened nose, and was married to the first girl who was nice to him."(4) Cohn was looking for love and thought he could find it in a girl who would care for him. All of the characters seem to be dealing with this same issue. Cohn, however, dealt with his problems in a different way. "He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority an... Hope in The Sun also Rises Essay -- Essays Papers Hope in The Sun also Rises WWI consumed the lives of millions. Those who lived through the war may have had only minor physical injuries or perhaps they were lucky enough to get away unharmed, but all of those who went home in the 1920s had lost an important feature in their life which was the importance of hope. The lack of hope hurt all the characters who experience the war in one way or another. Which, led to love being an empty word to the affected characters. These affected characters search for happiness in sex and in drunkenness and in superficial human relationships for the fulfillment that they were missing. Robert Cohn was about the only one who showed some kind of hope, but this hope seemed to bother the other characters. Of course the hope that Cohn demonstrated was that of hoping for some kind of respond from Brett. Robert Cohn was probably not even capable of truly being in love. He had severe self-esteem problems in college. "He took it out in boxing, and he came out of Princeton with painful self-consciousness and the flattened nose, and was married to the first girl who was nice to him."(4) Cohn was looking for love and thought he could find it in a girl who would care for him. All of the characters seem to be dealing with this same issue. Cohn, however, dealt with his problems in a different way. "He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority an...

Bluetooth based smart sensor network Essay

Currently, huge electronic data repositories are being maintained by banks and other financial institutions. Valuable bits of information are embedded in these data repositories. The huge size of these data sources make it impossible for a human analyst to come up with interesting information (or patterns) that will help in the decision making process. A number of commercial enterprises have been quick to recognize the value of this concept, as a consequence of which the software market itself for data mining is expected to be in excess of 10 billion USD. This paper is intended for those who would like to get aware of the possible applications of data mining to enhance the performance of some of their core business processes. In this paper discussion is about the broad areas of application, like risk management, portfolio management, trading, customer profiling and customer care, where data mining techniques can be used in banks and other financial institutions to enhance their busin ess performance. INTRODUCTION: As knowledge is becoming more and more synonymous to wealth creation and as a strategy plan for competing in the market place can be no better than the information on which it is based, the importance of knowledge and information in today’s business can never be seen as an exogenous factor to the business. Organizations and individuals having access to the right information at the right moment, have greater chances of being successful in the epoch of globalization and cut-throat competition. Business Intelligence focuses on discovering knowledge from various electronic data repositories, both internal and external, to support better decision making.  Data mining techniques become important for this knowledge discovery from databases. In recent years, business intelligence  systems have played pivotal roles in helping organizations to fine tune the business goals such as improving customer retention, market penetration, profitability and efficiency. In most cases, these ins ights are driven by analyses of historical data. Global competitions, dynamic markets, and rapidly decreasing cycles of technological innovation provide important challenges for the banking and finance industry. Worldwide just-in-time availability of information allows enterprises to improve their flexibility. In financial institutions considerable developments in information technology have led to huge demand for continuous analysis of resulting data. Data mining can contribute to solving business problems in banking and finance by finding patterns, causalities, and correlations in business information and market prices that are not immediately apparent to managers because the volume data is too large or is generated too quickly to screen by experts. The managers of the banks may go a step further to find the sequences, episodes and periodicity of the transaction behaviour of their customers which may help them in actually better segmenting, targeting, acquiring, retaining and maintaining a profitable customer base. Business Intelligence and data mining techniques can also help them in identifying various classes of customers and come up with a class based product and/or pricing approach that may garner better revenue management as well. The broad categories of application of Data Mining and Business Intelligence techniques in the banking and financial industry vertical may be viewed as follows: Risk Management Managing and measurement of risk is at the core of every financial institution. Today’s major challenge in the banking and insurance world is therefore the implementation of risk management systems in order to identify, measure, and control business exposure. Here credit and market risk present the central challenge, one can observe a major change in the area of how to measure and deal with them, based on the advent of advanced database and data mining technology.( Other types of risk is also available  in the banking and finance i.e., liquidity risk, operational risk, or concentration risk. ) Today, integrated measurement of different kinds of risk (i.e., market and credit risk) is moving into focus. These all are based on models representing single financial instruments or risk factors, their behaviour, and their interaction with overall market, making this field highly important topic of research. Financial Market Risk For single financial instruments, that is, stock indices, interest rates, or currencies, market risk measurement is based on models depending on a set of underlying risk factor, such as interest rates, stock indices, or economic development. One is interested in a functional form between instrument price or risk and underlying risk factors as well as in functional dependency of the risk factors itself. Today different market risk measurement approaches exist. All of them rely on models representing single instrument, their behaviour and interaction with overall market. Many of this can only be built by using various data mining techniques on the proprietary portfolio data, since data is not publicly available and needs consistent supervision. Credit Risk Credit risk assessment is key component in the process of commercial lending. Without it the lender would be unable to make an objective judgement of weather to lend to the prospective borrower, or if how much charge for the loan. Credit risk management can be classified into two basic groups: Credit scoring/credit rating: Assignment of a customer or a product to risk level. (i.e., credit approval) Behaviour scoring/credit rating migration analysis. Valuation of a customer‘s or product’s probability of a change in risk level within a given time. (i.e., default rate volatility) In commercial lending, risk assessment is usually an attempt to quantify the risk of loss to the lender when making a particular lending decision. Here credit risk can quantify by the changes of value of a credit product or of a whole credit customer portfolio, which is based on change in the instrument’s ranting, the default probability, and recovery rate of the instrument in case of default. Further diversification effects influence the result on a portfolio level. Thus a major part of implementation and care of credit risk management system will be a typical data mining problem: the modelling of the credit instrument’s value through the default probabilities, rating migrations, and recovery rates. Three major approaches exist to model credit risk on the transaction level: accounting analytic approaches, statistical prediction and option theoretic approaches. Since large amount of information about client exist in financial business, an adequate way to build such models is to use their own database and data mining techniques, fitting models to the business needs and the business current credit portfolio. Portfolio Management Risk measurement approaches on an aggregated portfolio level quantify the risk of a set of instrument or customer including diversification effects. On the other hand, forecasting models give an induction of the expected return or price of a financial instrument. Both make it possible to manage firm wide portfolio actively in a risk/return efficient manner. The application of modern risk theory is therefore within portfolio theory, an important part of portfolio management. With the data mining and optimization techniques investors are able to allocate capital across trading activities to maximise profit or minimise risk. This feature supports the ability to generate trade recommendations and portfolio structuring from user supplied profit and risk requirement. With data mining techniques it is possible to provide extensive scenario analysis capabilities concerning expected asset prices or returns and the risk involved. With this functionality, what if simulations of varying market c onditions e.g. interest rate and exchange rate changes) cab be run to assess impact on the value and/or risk associated with portfolio, business unit counterparty, or trading desk. Various scenario results can be regarded by considering actual market conditions. Profit and loss analyses allow users to access an asset class, region, counterparty, or custom sub portfolio can be benchmarked against common international benchmarks. Trading For the last few years a major topic of research has been the building of quantitative trading tools using data mining methods based on past data as  input to predict short-term movements of important currencies, interest rates, or equities. The goal of this technique is to spot times when markets are cheap or expensive by identifying the factor that are important in determining market returns. The trading system examines the relationship between relevant information and piece of financial assets, and gives you buy or sell recommendations when they suspect an under or overvaluation. Thus, even if some traders find the data mining approach too mechanical or too risky to be used systematically, they may want to use it selectively as further opinion. Trading is based on the idea of predicting short term movements in the price/value of a product (currency/equity/interest rate etc.). With a reasonable guesstimate in place one may trade the product if he/she thinks it is going to be over valued or undervalued in the coming future. Trading traditionally is done based on the instinct of the trader. If he/she thinks the product is not priced properly he/she may sell/buy it. This instinct is usually based on past experience and some analysis based on market conditions. However, the number of factors that even the most expert of traders can account for are limited. Hence, quite often these predictions fail. The price of a financial asset is influenced by a variety of factors which can be broadly classified as economic, political and market factors. Participants in a market observe the relation between these factors and the price of an asset, account for the current value of these factors and predict the future values to finally arrive at the future value of the asset and trade accordingly. Quite often by the time a trained eye detects these favourable factors, many others may have discovered the opportunity, decreasing the possible revenues otherwise. Also these factors in turn may be related to several other factors making prediction difficult. Data mining techniques are used to discover hidden knowledge, unknown patterns and new rules from large data sets, which may be useful for a variety of decision making activity. With the increasing economic globalization and improvements in information technology, large amounts of financial data are being generated and stored. subjected to data mining techniques to discover hidden patterns and obtain predictions for trends in the future and the behaviour of the financial markets. With the immediacy offered by data mining, latest data can be mined to obtain crucial information at the earliest. This in turn would result in an improved market place  responsiveness and awareness leading to reduced costs and increased revenue. Advancements made in technology have enabled to create faster and better prediction systems. These systems are based on a combination of data mining techniques and artificial intelligence methods like Case Based Reasoning (CBR) and Neural Networks (NN). A combination of such a forecasting system together with a good trading strategy offers tremendous opportunities for massive returns. The value of a financial asset is dependent on both ma croeconomic and microeconomic variables and this data is available in a variety of disparate formats. NN and CBR techniques can be applied extensively for predicting these financial variables. NN are characterized by learning capabilities and the ability to improve performance over time. Also NN can generalize i.e. recognize new objects which may be similar but not exactly identical to previous objects. NN with their ability to derive meaning from imprecise data can be used to detect patterns which are otherwise too complex to be detected by humans. NN act as experts in the area that they have been trained to work in. these can be used to provide predictions for new situations and work in real time. Thus, historic data available about financial markets and the various variables can be used to train NN to simulate the market. CBR methodology is based on reasoning from past performances. It uses a large repository of data stored as cases which would include all the market variables in this case. When a new case is fed in (in the form of a case containing the concerned variables), the CBR algorithm predicts the performance/result of this case based on the cases it has in its repository. Data mining techniques can be used to detect hidden patterns in these cases which may then be used for further decision making. CBR methods can be used in real time which makes analysis really quick and helps in real time decision making resulting in immediate profits. Thus data mining and business intelligence (CBR and NN) techniques may be used in conjunction in financial markets to predict market behaviour and obtain patterned behaviour to influence decision making. †¢ Customer Profiling and Customer Relationship Management Banks have many and huge databases containing transactional and other details of its customers. Valuable business information can be extracted from these data stores. But it is unfeasible to support analysis and decision making using traditional query languages; because human analysis breaks down with volume and dimensionality. Traditional statistical methods do not have the capacity and scale to analyse these data, and hence modern data mining methodologies and tools are increasingly being used for decision making process not only in banking and financial institutions, but across the industries. Customer profiling is a data mining process that builds customer profiles of different groups from the company’s existing customer database. The information obtained from this process can be used for different purposes, such as understanding business performance, making new marketing initiatives, market segmentation, risk analysis and revising company customer policies. The advantage of data mining is that it can handle large amounts of data and learn inherent structures and patterns in data. It can generate rules and models that are useful in enabling decisions that can be applied to future cases. Customer Behaviour Modeling (CBM) or customer profiling is a tool to predict the future value of an individual and the risk category to which he belongs to based on his demographic characteristics, life-style and previous behaviour. This helps to focus on customer retention. The two important facts that have important implication in selecting customer profiling methods are: – Profiling information can consist of many variables (or dozens of them). – Majority of them are categorical variables (or non-numeric variables or nominal variables). Customer profiling is to characterize features of special customer groups. Many data mining techniques search profiles of special customer groups systematically using Artificial Intelligence techniques. They generate accurate profiles based on beam search and incremental learning techniques. Customer profiling also uses many predictive modeling methods. Predictive modelling techniques applicable can be categorized into two broad approaches. They depend on the type of predicted information or variables, also called target variables. If the type of predicted values is categorical, classification techniques is preferred to be used. Classification Methods: In this approach, risk levels are organized into two categories based on past default history. For example, customers with past default history can be  classified into â€Å"risky† group, whereas the rest are placed as â€Å"safe† group. Using this categorization information as target of prediction, Decision Tree and Rule Induction techniques can be used to build models that can predict default risk levels of new loan applications. Value Prediction Methods: In this method, for example, instead of classifying new loan applications, it attempts to predict expected default amounts for new loan applications. The predicted values are numeric and thus it requires modelling techniques that can take numerical data as target (or predicted) variables. Neural Network and regression are used for this purpose. The most common data mining methods used for customer profiling are: – Clustering (descriptive) – Classification (predictive) and regression (predictive) – Association rule discovery (descriptive) and sequential pattern discovery (predictive) In CRM, data mining is frequently used to assign a score to a particular customer or prospect indicating the likelihood that the individual will behave in a particular way. For example, a score could measure the propensity to respond to a particular insurance or credit card offer or to switch to a competitor’s product. Data mining can be useful in all the three phases of a customer relationship-cycle: customer acquisition, increasing value of the customer and customer retention. For example, a typical banking firm let say sends 1 million direct mails for credit card customer acquisition. Past researches have shown that typically 6% of such target customers respond to these direct mails. Banks use their credit risk models to classify these respondents in good credit risk and bad credit risk classes. The proportion of good credit risk respondents is only 16% out of the total respondents. So, as net result, roughly only 1% of the total targeted customers are converted into the cr edit card customers through direct mailing. Seeing the huge cost and effort involved in such marketing process, data mining techniques can significantly improve the customer conversion rate by more focused marketing. Using a predictive test model using decision tree techniques like CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection), CART (Classification And Regression Trees), Quest and C5.0; it can be analyzed which customers are more probable to respond. And using this with the risk model using techniques like neural network can help build a test model. The way data mining can actually be built into the CRM application is determined by the nature of customer interaction. The customer interaction could be inbound (when the customer contacts the firm) or outbound (when the firm contacts customers). The deployment requirements are quite different. Outbound interactions such as direct â€Å"Building Profitable Customer Relations with Data Mining†, Herb Edelstein mail campaign involve the firm selecting the people whom to be mailed by applying the test model to the customer database. In other outbound campaigns like advertising, the profile of good prospects shown by the test model needs to be matched to the profile of the people the advertisement would reach. For inbound transactions such as telephone or internet order, the application must respond in real time. Therefore the data mining model is embedded in the application and actively recommends an action. In either case, one of the key issues in applying a model to new data set is the transformations that are made in building the model. The ease with which these changes are embedded in the model determines the productivity of deploying these tools. †¢ Marketing and customer care Because high competitions in the finance industry, intelligent business decisions in marketing are more important than ever for better customer targeting, acquisition, retention and customer relationship. There is a need for customer care and marketing strategies to be in place for the success and survival of the business. It is possible with the help of data mining and predictive analytics to make such strategies. Financial institutions are finding it more difficult to locate new previously unsolicited buyers, and as a result they are implementing aggressive marketing program to acquire new customer from their competitors. The uncertainties of the buyer make planning of new services and media usage almost impossible. The classical solution is to apply subjective human expert knowledge as rules of thumb. Until recently, replacing the human expert by computer technology has been difficult. An interesting tool available in marketing and financial institution is analysis of client’s data. This allows analysis and calculation of key indicators that help bank to identify factors that affected customer’s demand in the past and customer’ need in the future. Information about the customer’s personal data can also give indications that affect future demand. In case of analysis of retail debtors and small corporations, marketing tasks will typically include factors about the customer himself, his credit record and rating made by external rating agencies. With the advent of data mining and business intelligence tools it has become possible for banks to strengthen their customer acquisition by direct marketing and establish multi- channel contacts, to improve customer development by cross selling and up selling of products, and to increase customer retention by behaviour management. It is possible for the banks to use the data available to retain its best customers and to identify opportunities to sell them additional services. The profiling of all the valuable accounts can be done and the top most say 5-10 % can be assigned to Relationship Managers, whose job will be to identify new selling opportunities with these customers. It is also possible to bundle various offers to meet the need of the valued customers. Data mining can also help the banks in customizing the various promotional offers. For example the direct mails can be customized as per the segment of the account holders in the bank. It is also possible for the banks to find out thepr oblem customers who can be defaulters in the future, from their past payment records and the profile and the data patterns that are available. This can also help the banks in adjusting the relationship with these customers so that the loss in future is kept to its minimum. Data mining can improve the response rates in the direct mail campaigns as the time required to classify the customers will be reduced, this in turn will increase the revenues, improve the sales force efficiency from the target group. Data mining helps the banks to optimize their portfolio of services, delivery channels. A record of past transactions can give useful insight to the bank and different locations /branches of same branch can also follow some patterns that when noticed can be used as past records to learn from and base the future actions upon. Data Mining techniques can be of immense help to the banks and financial institutions in this arena for better targeting and acquiring new customers, fraud detection in real time, providing segment based products for better targeting the customers, analysis of the customers’ purchase patterns over time for better retention and relationship, detection of emerging trends to take proactive stance in a highly competitive market adding a lot more value to existing products and services and launching of new product and service bundles. Reference: