Tourism to Hong Kong

1. 0 Introduction Hong Kong is one of the most important tourism destinations in the Pacific Asia region for its unique landscape and shopping convenience. According to statistics, a total number of 41921310 people visited Hong Kong in 2011, that is 16. 4% more compared to 2010 (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012). Total tourism expenditure was 263142. 71 million HK dollars and shopping accounts for most of them because it is the main purpose for individual visitors (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012).Therefore, to sustain tourism prosperity while seeking development in the city, it is necessary to understand its unique geographical features and precisely examine the tourism trends. Meanwhile, analysing factors that have influenced tourism development will also contribute to the study. Besides, eco-tourism and climate issues are discussed as implications for the future. 2. 0 Findings 2. 1 Physical and human geography 2. 1. 1 Location Hong Kong is a mountainous citylocatednearShenzhen, China.The re are four main areas in the city, including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New territories and Outlying islands, and their area add up to 1100 square kilometres (Cullinane&Cullinane, 2003). For the reason of its unique landscape, approximately 40% of Hong Kong is built up as country parks (Cullinane&Cullinane, 2003). 2. 1. 2 Demography The city enjoys of a population of 6. 7 million, and it is growing at a rate of one million every ten years (Cullinane&Cullinane, 2003). 2. 1. 3 Political statusFor over 150 years before 1997, Hong Kong had been governed by the British administration, and it became a part of People’s Republic of Chinaonce again on July 1st, 1997 (Cullinane&Cullinane, 2003). This reunification has brought opportunities and enormous changes in Hong Kong. 2. 2 Pattern of tourism 2. 2. 1 Visitor arrivals Figure 1Visitor Arrivals 2007 – 2011 (‘000) Source: (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2008, 2010, 2012) Figure 1 shows the total number of visitors to Hong Kong in every single year from 2007 to 2011.Visitors are divided into three categories, including overnight visitors, same-day in-town visitors, and Cruise-in/Cruise-out Passengers. It is indicated in the figure that overnight visitors occupied most of the visitors. Table 1Visitor Arrivals Details by Country/Territory of Residence 2007 – 2011 (Overnight Visitors – ‘000) Source: (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012) Table 1 shows that Mainland China has the most visitors to Hong Kong in the past five years, with an annual growth rate of approximately 15%.Besides, Taiwan, Japan, the USA and South Korea are also generating a large number of tourists to Hong Kong, leading to tourism prosperity of the city. 2. 2. 2 Total tourism expenditure Figure 2Total Tourism Expenditure Associated to Inbound Tourism Source: (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012) Figure 2 shows total tourism expenditure from 2007 to 2011 and the line chart presents an increasing trend. The growth rate is rather high i n 2010 and 2011 as a result of the tourist boom in those years. 2. 3 Factors that have influenced tourism in Hong Kong 2. 3. 1 Outbursts of infectious diseasesIn 2003, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) attacked the city of Hong Kong and led to the devastation of Hong Kong tourism. Originated in southern China, SARS was a mystery to the rest of the world until several people were infected in a hotel in Hong Kong and brought the disease back to their home country. Before understanding the danger and risk that would have been brought by SARS, the World Health Organization (WHO) made a recommendation to the world that Asia, especially areas of Hong Kong, Singapore, Mainland China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan, were not advisable destinations for tourism (McKercher& Chon 2004; Kuo et al. 008). This unprecedented announcement caused significant panic in the world, tourists were quarantined for no reason after returning to their country, breeding industry was interrupted for disinf ection on chicken farms, and Asians were restricted from traveling elsewhere. The mess finally led to the crackdown of tourism in Asia, with Hong Kong suffering the most (McKercher& Chon 2004). This outburst of SARS uncovered huge hidden dangers in the world tourism system.The governments’ over-reaction tounclear threat was nothing but rational (Mao, Ding & Lee 2010). The crisis was a lesson for the world on the relationship between tourism and crisis management, the government should act more judicious so that diseases could be effectively controlled and meanwhile, tourism does not suffer to a great extent. 2. 3. 2Construction of city infrastructure Since the accelerated development of infrastructure in Hong Kong in the 1990s, the number of tourists has experienced a continued increase (Poon, Yu & Ng 2001).Tourist infrastructure mainly includes apartments or hotels for accommodation and transportation infrastructure, and the latter consists of facilities for planes, trains, ships and other modes of transportation (Gossling 2002; Khadaroo 2007, 2008). Researchers have found that the ability of a city to attract tourists is largely determined by the level of traffic infrastructure in the city (Khadaroo 2007), for the reason that rational city planningand well construction of ports could provide convenience for tourists, which leads to smooth trips.Successful travellers are willing to recommend their tourism destinations to their friends, and this will further lead to lasting prosperity of that destination. Although most facilities in Hong Kong are relatively complete, there remain some incompletion. An example is medical facilities needed for medical tourism. Hospitals in Hong Kong provide high level healthcare services, and the government attempts to boost medical tourism in the city (Heung, Kucukusta& Song 2011). However, the lack of medical resources ends up to be the barrier which prevents tourists with medical needs from cutting edge technologies in Hong Kong.As a result, Hong Kong failed to build its reputation as a medical tourism destination. 2. 3. 3 Outbreaks of financial crises Hong Kong has experienced two major financial crises during past two decades, the Asian financial crisis burst out in 1997 and the world financial crisis in 2008 (Song & Lin 2010). This report mainly focuses on consequences that were brought to tourism in Hong Kong by the latter crisis. Table 1 shows that the USA, UK, Japan and Singapore are among the source markets that generate most tourists to Hong Kong.The high market share of long-haul markets indicates that Hong Kong tourism is vulnerable to world economy and thus would be negatively influenced if something went wrong. In 2008, tourists from long-haul markets such as the USA and European countries declined by 10% and hotel rooms were less occupied than ever before (Song et al. 2011). If the tourists increasing rate before the crisis is taken into consideration, conclusions could be drawn that the financial crisis really affected tourism in Hong Kong to a great extent.Fortunately, tourists from Mainland China were not greatly influenced by this enormous crisis and visitors continued to travel to Hong Kong. This prevented the city from tremendous losses. Nevertheless, the overall expenditures dropped in 2009 which leads to the conclusion that financial crises could impose great threats to tourism in Hong Kong (Song & Lin 2010). 2. 3. 4 Adjustments of policies towards Mainland China After introducing the Individual Visit Scheme on July 28, 2003, citizens of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdongare allowed to apply for visas and visit Hong Kong on anindividual basis (Wu, Li & Song 2012).The scheme was implemented forthe acceleration of tourism development in two special administrative regions in China, and it is successful according to statistical results. Statistics show that the number of tourists from the source market of Mainland China increased by 24% in 2003 compared to tha t of 2002, and most of the growth was contributed by individual visitors (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012). As a matter of fact, thousands of Mainlanders have boosted into Hong Kong for the purpose of shopping and Hong Kong has become the paradise for shopping in the eyes of Mainlanders ever since (Wu, Li & Song 2012).In order to guarantee long-term prosperity of businesses, merchants targeting Mainlanders have made adjustments regarding to shopping customs of Chinese consumers and the crucial point of the efforts is to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and cooperation (Wu, Li & Song 2012). Since tourists from Mainland China occupy approximately 60% of total tourists every year, it is important that policies towards Mainland China remain mild in the coming years to sustain tourism prosperity in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012). 2. 4 Implications for the future of tourism 2. 4. Sustainable tourism practices Experience has shown that it is almost impossible to develop tourism while maintaining a clean environment at the same time. However, people have been making efforts to seek some extent of harmony and unity between the two. Hong Kong is a perfect city for the development of eco-tourism for it has a spectacular landscape, including mountains, valleys, coasts and islands (Ng & Li 2000). Hong Kong government has been successful protecting the city’s natural resources, it had the highest percentage of the park area in the worldin 2000 (Ng & Li 2000).Besides, Hong Kong enjoys a large variety of both animal and plant species, some of which cannot be found elsewhere in the world (Ng & Li 2000). Enchanting as the scenery is in Hong Kong, eco-tourism is not a main form of tourism there. The following factors may account for this result. First of all, Hong Kong is in the sub-tropical zone, and the typical summer is so hot that people will feel uncomfortable to visit popular attractions (Ng & Li 2000). Second of all, eco-tourism destinations are usually sensitive to the number of visitors, thus, they normally have a low capacity (Ng & Li 2000).Rational management regulations should be made to balance tourism satisfaction and the necessary visitor limitationneeded for scenic spots. Finally, more experts in guidance have to be trained to provide information of spots (Ng & Li 2000). It seems that there is still a long way to go before eventually launching a successful eco-tourism plan in Hong Kong. 2. 4. 2 Climate change How climate change will affect the pattern of tourism has long been studied. Studies have shown that as climate change will either directly or indirectly influence tourism (Chan & Lai 2012).One of the main results of climate change is the rise in temperature. According to statistics, Hong Kong’s temperature has been surging during the past 15 years, and it is almost 5 degrees Celsius higher than 10 years ago (Chan & Lai 2012). The high temperature will definitely bring uncomforting experiences to tourists,. Thu s, it is likely that potential visitors will change their destinations elsewhere. Besides, although some tourists might not consider the temperature increase itself as a crucial factor in determining their destinations, the change due to this phenomenon, such as increased travel expenses, will affect tourism ehaviour to a great extent (Chan & Lai 2012). While efforts have been made towards lowering the speed of temperature increase, the results turn out not assuring. Although climate change does not affect tourism in Hong Kong as much as that in tourism-oriented island cities, people should deal will this issue seriously before it is too late. 3. 0 Conclusion In conclusion, although Hong Kong has been through some hard times, the city remains potential as a tourism destination.This report discusses the city of Hong Kong from tourism aspect. As an important city in the Pacific Asia region, Hong Kong has enjoyed a fine reputation among tourists. Its unique landscape and special locati on have attracted and are still attracting visitors in large scales. During the past two decades, several financial crises have imposed danger on tourism in the city to a great extent, but a few policy adjustments, especially the policy of opening up to Mainland China individual visitors, saved the industry from collapsing.Eco-tourism could be further developed to balance economic development and environment protection, but several issues need to be solved before concrete implementation. Climate change is also a challenge that needs early planning, thus, effective efforts demand immediate attention. ? References Chan, GKY & Lai, MTH 2012, Understanding Climate Change, Carbon-offsetting and their Impacts on Travel Behaviour, viewed 24 November 2012, . Cullinane, S , K 2003, ‘Hong Kong City Profile’, Cities, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 279-288.Gossling, S 2002, ‘Global environmental consequences of tourism’, Global Environmental Change, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 283-302. H eung, Vincent CS , Kucukusta, D & Song, H 2011, ‘Medical tourism development in Hong Kong: An assessment of the barriers’, Tourism Management, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 995–1005. Hong Kong Tourism Board 2008, A Statistical Review of Hong Kong Tourism 2007, viewed 21 November 2008, ; http://partnernet. hktb. com/filemanager/publication/143330/Default. html;. Hong Kong Tourism Board 2010, A Statistical Review of Hong Kong Tourism 2009, viewed 21 November 2010, ; http://partnernet. ktb. com/filemanager/publication/143332/Default. html;. Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012, A Statistical Review of Hong Kong Tourism 2011, viewed 21 November 2012, . Khadaroo, J , B 2007, ‘Transport infrastructure and tourism development’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 1021–1032. Kuo, HI, Chen, CC, Tseng, WC, Ju, LF & Huang, BW 2008, ‘Assessing impacts of SARS and Avian Flu on international tourism demand to Asia Original Research Article’, Tourism Management, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 917-928.Mao, CK, Ding, CG & Lee, HY 2010, ‘Post-SARS tourist arrival recovery patterns: An analysis based on a catastrophe theory Original Research Article’, Tourism Management, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 855-861. McKercher, B & Chon, K 2004, ‘The Over-Reaction to SARS and the Collapse of Asian Tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 716–719. Ng, CN & Li, Y 2000, Eco-tourism in Hong Kong: its potentials and limitations, Kiskeya Alternative, viewed 23 November 2012, . Poon, CS, Yu, ATW & Ng, LH 2001,‘On-site sorting of construction and demolition waste in Hong Kong’, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 157–172. Song, H, Lin, S 2010, ‘Impacts of the Financial and Economic Crisis on Tourism in Asia’, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 16-30. Song, H, Lin, S, Witt, SF & Zhang, X 2011, ‘Impact of financial/economic crisis on demand for hote l rooms in Hong Kong’, Tourism Management, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 172–186. Wu, DC, Li, G & Song, H 2012, ‘Economic Analysis of Tourism Consumption Dynamics: A Time-varying Parameter Demand System Approach’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 667–685.

Mary Shelley & ‘Frankenstein’ Essay

â€Å"How do the themes explored by Mary Shelley in ‘Frankenstein’ relate to a modern audience? † The beginning of civilisation brought the evidential classification of people as insiders and outsiders in any close society, due to the narrow stereotypical minds of the masses and often the simplistic facts of life. People are separated from the rest of the community as a result of perhaps their physical appearance or a difference in their personality. Stereotypical idols in today’s society are greatly influential; we are quick to identify faults in others and use this excuse to ostracise them from the world and ourselves. Mary Shelley embodies this ‘outsider’ through the monster that Frankenstein creates. He is isolated and rejected by everyone, so we are made to empathise with him; human beings have a natural instinct to do this, so the text is universalised. Ironically, at times the monster is more humane than those who consider themselves human, those who consider themselves ‘insiders’, opposed to the monster- an outsider. This novel opens on a personal note, Shelley uses the device of letters as a hook to draw in the reader; an invasion of privacy universalises the thoughts on paper, like reading someone else’s diary. This makes it easier for us to empathise to Captain Walton and subsequently Victor Frankenstein, who is very similar in many aspects to him. These two strong male characters are romanticised by Shelley make them easier to relate to in a modern audience, because they far more believable with multi- faceted personalities. They are romantic anti- heroes; their ambition intrigues us and we are able to identify with them and their achievements. The letters are deliberately left without an exact date, so as to not only create a sense of mystery but to also ensure that the story isn’t concreted to a specific era, as it relates more to society as a whole rather than a period of time. Shelley uses a high diction style of writing, which is littered with emotive adjectives to prevent it becoming stagnated and boring for the audience. The information is given to us little at a time to arouse our curiosity and make us read further into the book, where crescendos are commonly used after a more mundane part of the story, so the excitement peaks and falls throughout. An example of this is when the monster is first sighted in letter 4 where there is a dramatic climax before he disappears from view, leaving the audience in doubt of what will happen next. A prominent theme in Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ is one of an idealistic world. Victor idealises his family, like a fairytale, too good to be true in reality, which it seems he wants to escape as he knows his family are far from perfect, and a good example of this is portrayed in the quote; â€Å"There was a considerable difference between ages of my parents, but this circumstance seemed to unite them closer in the bonds of devoted affection. † (Ch1, pg33, line7)

Recruitment research and documentation Essay

It was a very well presented from then; it included clear questions and very valid ones as well, such as work permissions within the UK, and criminal offence questions. However, there were some which could have been altered or excluded, if they were related to anyone at Coventry City Council was unneeded, that should not have any issues with them in the job. Disability and Equal opportunities had to be included which meant that their gender and origin had to be responded to truthfully and meant we got a slight overlook to get a better understanding of who they were. Education was rather bleak, candidates were asked on what schools they had gone to and what degrees were gone from where, but that was about it, they were not asked why they wanted to and so forth, but in any other situation, professionally we would have been able to ask it all in the interview, but with limited time we could not afford to include it. Most of the employment history was very good, it gave high amounts of detail and was also so simple, yet we still added questions into our interview which could have then been excluded, the questions at the end informing us about their intentions over why they wanted to employ here, again we added it within our interview and now I feel it was something we needed to refer to rather than go into detail as we did. The job description gave a simple overview of the job role and what they would be looking to get paid and work a week. The duties and responsibilities as well as the brief description meant that the applicant would understand what we were looking for and if they were suitable to apply, however, the basic number qualifications could have been added in to make it even more suitable, therefore the applicants would know what degrees and grades we would be associating to our job role. The specification gave the number of GCSE grades and experience we were looking for which meant that together the job description and the specification were working well together and also suited the job. We included a physical essential that I feel should have been worded differently; to say we needed a â€Å"clear voiced† applicant was for me incorrect. It should have been more based on communicational skills and a more confident desirable. Team or social activities as well as personality aspects are seen in essential also but these are small issues, other than this, I feel both are successful and complete their roles well. As stated before, our interview was rather successful in its plan, we made concentrated on sections for each individual and when it came down to making notes, we took turns based on what questions were asked, also the grade given to the responses meant that we could evaluate effectively and without too much hassle. We had researched and included some of the legislation aspects within our application, and we believe we have concluded it up to a good standard, my knowledge has been relatively good up till now and we have been able to apply it successfully within our interview as well. We made sure all our questions were not biased and asked rather in the same manner to each individual, we never included any sexual or ethical discriminating questions or implied as much, but if we had the funds, we could have asked and gone to a legal advisor to completely check our application and interview plan to make sure were conducting everything in and orderly fashion. Legislation is difficult situation as anything which can be seen as slightly biased would be approached, yet we feel we have successfully completed and understood this section to a certain extent. Yet I feel we have done this on a basic level and to work at a higher standard this could have been elaborated and an increase in the number of suitable acts within our application would prove this. We have included different ethical initiations within our documents which meant that we would not be revealing any detail given to us and this fell under the privacy act, we had thought to test it out prior to the interviews but insufficient time gave us a limited period in which to do so. I personally feel that this would have benefited the group as we could then make the alterations that were likely to appear. Recruiting is a difficult section with all its legal and ethical dimensions, to get it correct can be a mission in itself, yet we took these into consideration and worked around them as best we could. We placed lines initiating what the documents would be used for and how privacy would be kept within the company. I feel we had a good variety of job adverts and other such documentations to which we could refer back to or get ideas from, yet it was a basic bit of annotation to which we conducted to, we didn’t do any detailed evaluation over other companies documents which meant that the standard of ours would fall slightly due to this. Therefore I would suggest next time that we re-do this section in order to get a better analysis over detailed aspects of the documents by realizing the types of wording used as well as the layouts provided. Job advertisements were provided but could have been identified and found out easily off the internet or at a job centre, however, internal documents had to be released or made up as we could not just get our hands on them. We had ideas given to us that related to them and we used them to the best we could but again I feel the time we had meant we had to make basic adjustments rather than go into strict detail over them. I would perhaps get a wider research range from the internet and companies to find small aspects of the job description to which I could include and then it would increase the standard on a general scale. I was the one who created the induction package, yet I had not thought of interviewing a real manager to see if they felt that it was suitable, this would have been rather easy under the circumstances and would benefit the group tremendously, yet previous induction packages off the internet and ones provided gave a good outline which made it easier to identify areas which needed to be targeted. It included all the basic details such as the general facilities and the safety procedures. Yet the layout again is rather basic, without a previous internal document to refer to in order to gain a good understanding, it was difficult to gain certain point or include others. Yet, the basic layout is made up for by the inclusion of all the main issues and points which need to be included in a real induction, signatures at the end and instructions are there also to professionalize the document as well as giving the candidate some sort of reference to what should be included once in the job.

The Coldest Winter Ever – Personal Reflection on Winter

Winter Santiago Isn't Just a typical teenager. She Isn't typical at all, she barely ever goes to school, she only goes when she wants something. Her family life Is anything but typical, her father Is a big drug dealer with a lot of money and her mother Isn't even Like a mother to Winter, she's more Like a sister to her. Winter Is very self- absorbed; she only worries about herself, even when her mom got shot In the face Winter gets jealous because she thinks her mother's hogging all the attention.She really only cares about herself. She is very street smart though, after her father goes to prison, her mother becomes a crack head and her sisters go into care, Winter knew how to take care of herself, she knew what to do to survive on the streets without the help of her father. She's done horrible things to survive and live the life she knew, like robbing people and betraying her family. Winter wouldn't make a good best friend at all; I don't even think she would make a good friend.She betrayed all of her friends one way or another, either by hooking up with their man because he had what she needed, or betraying Simons when she got arrested because she was telling for Winter, Simons was ready to have her baby and even though she said no, Winter persisted that she go and steal for her, because she wanted something, she didn't care that Simons was having a baby, if anything she used it against her saying she would need the money that she's making stealing, for the baby, in the end Simons lost the baby, and in my opinion a lot of the blame should be on Winter.She may be a fun person to be around and go out with because she does know how to have fun, but I would never want her as a friend because she's not loyal and she is untrustworthy.She does have a of of maturing to do though, so I really shouldn't judge too harshly, you can tell by the end of the book, when she Is In prison, and goes to her mother's funeral, she's a different person, her views on life are totally different, and when she sees her younger sister doing the same things she was doing she wants to stop her and tell her everything that she had gone through, but she held back knowing that it would only make her sister angry and make Winter look Jealous.I think that going to prison changed Winter In the best way, she was no longer the elf-absorbed, conceited â€Å"ghetto-princess† that she was before she had gone to prison, she actually grew up, and matured during her time In. The Coldest Winter Ever – Personal Reflection on Winter Santiago. By Joann Winter Santiago isn't Just a typical teenager. She isn't typical at all, she barely ever goes to school, she only goes when she wants something.Her family life is anything but typical, her father is a big drug dealer with a lot of money and her mother isn't even like a mother to Winter, she's more like a sister to her. Winter is very self- absorbed; she only worries about herself, even when her mom got shot in the face Win ter gets Jealous because she thinks her mother's hogging all the attention. She friend at all; I don't even think she would make a good friend.She betrayed all of her didn't care that Simons was having a baby, if anything she used it against her saying untrustworthy. She does have a of of maturing to do though, so I really shouldn't judge too harshly, you can tell by the end of the book, when she is in prison, and goes I think that going to prison changed Winter in the best way, she was no longer the prison, she actually grew up, and matured during her time in.

Reading Among Students Essay

Reading Among Students Reading  Among StudentsByAbdullah  I. Al FaifiIntroductionReading  in general is a big word that branches into so many topics. Nations advancement is based on education which includes reading as a main part of its elements. Therefore, whenever a nation wants to advance, reading must be one of its characteristics. Reading is not dedicated to certain people indeed. It is a gift for anyone can read and understand as well. But, there are places where reading must take place. In schools, it is expected that reading is a duty. Unfortunately, what is expected opposes the reality although there are few students do read. Then, we have two parties of students through which this research would survey its general topic. It is very strange to find people who have to read as one of their jobs; nevertheless, they even do not think to do. In specific levels, it is quite common that the majority of students do not read. Of course, such status did not happen haphazardly. There must be different reasons related to the main question why do not students read? On the other hand, there is a few numbers of those who read. Meanwhile, there are different stimulants urge them to read. Such students might read either outside reading which is in areas has nothing to do with their courses in the school or inside reading which means reading for studying. This particular point needs a practical answer given by the students themselves. As far as this research is concerned with students in the first rate, I will give priority to students themselves in some of my references. Simultaneously, I will not ignore books, articles, websites and other resources. As it is clear above, reading process is complicated area. Theorists always emphasize that whenever reading and studying become a kind of pleasure, everything will go smoothly. Almini, E. (2006) asserts that â€Å"one of the objectives is that students should take pleasure in reading in their free-time† (P. 6). This issue would be covered supported with convincing solutions. So, reading among students based upon so many questions, issues and problems are going to discuss is the central idea. This study would include questioning, interviewing, examining, investigating, quoting and finally analyzing so that a reader would receive a perfect view from which he can deal with this issue from various perspectives. Literature ReviewI found many writings deal with such ssue in details from different points of view although August, G. (2006) cited that â€Å"†¦it is surprising that there is little concrete research devoted to the development of good reading comprehension for adult readers† (P. 246). Certainly, I disagree with August because I found many articles for different people from different countries in Arabic and in English discussing readi ng among students from which I came up with different questions will be mostly the main bases of this work. Below, I am going to investigate the challenges that reading process faces among students beginning with reasons and finally ending with solutions. First of all, we must look for the reasons that cause ignoring reading process. In this area Mohandes, A. (2007) asks â€Å"are the expensive prices of books blocks the way of buying books? † (Riyadh News Paper). Mostly this is the main reason that many people agreed upon. Anyhow, I would examine it in a next section and we will see if it is really valid. Since students and schools are my main concern, I have to pay more attention to the process of reading in schools as long as it is a mere duty for them. As one of the main reasons behind neglecting reading in schools, the American author Stotsky, S. 2006) claims that â€Å"they also tell us that across grade levels, graphic organizers are least useful for elementary students as opposed to university population, result in little gain in student comprehension when used as a pre-reading activity. And may not be effective at all without direct by the teacher† (P. 10). Despite that the author here is throwing everything on the teacher, it is unfair indeed. I think that the teacher is a part of a united circle includes students and curriculum. Each one of them takes place in completing the whole circle although the teacher is the most important factor within the frame. The environment and the surroundings in general play a very significance role regarding. The factor of the environment can be looked at from the larger angle which includes everything around the reader even the weather as Dr. G, Sanstead. (2006) mentioned the importance of â€Å"understanding the effect of external factors on the health of individuals, families and communities† (P. 2). The other smaller circle is the family. In this regard  Hashem, N. (2003) points out that â€Å"a child will not be drawn to reading if his/her family does not read† (Riyadh News Paper). So, it is clear that the surroundings are another respectful factor. Students themselves are also responsible for this problem to a large extent. Taeb, M. (1419AH) provides three main reasons that cause abstention from reading. They are â€Å"reading a long book, difficult topics and the weakness of one’s language† (P. 26). Such reasons would create turning away from reading. It indicates that a student can familiarize himself with reading by avoiding these things. In other words, he must begin reading short books of simple topic. When he gets used to such kind of book, then he moves forward to a little bit longer books and so on. So far we have not zoom into the process of reading itself, I think it deserves to be investigated alone regardless of the other outside elements. Dr. Habibullah, M. (1421AH) points out very considerable aspect when he said â€Å"reading process cannot be excluded from the other related skills such as writing, speaking and listening† (P. 165). Hence, we ask that does that mean a good reader is also a good writer and listener? And what skill of these one should start with? Although it is a complicated matter, experts give us very excellent solutions. The previous quotation can be dealt with as a solution if we say that a student should improve all skills which are listening, writing and speaking altogether. Focusing on just reading is not enough. Furthermore, in the case of the teachers Alshalan, R. (1424AH) provides very good steps to help students to value books. He says â€Å"teachers have to give their students a free time for reading after which teachers should discuss with them what they have read. Through attractive indirect way, teachers should introduce some books for the sake of urging their students to buy them. Finally, teachers should set students in situation in which they should go to read books† (P. 28). Methodology  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reasons behind Neglecting ReadingResearchers question that why people in general turn away from reading books. It is known that this is a big global problem. Mohandes, A. (2007) asks â€Å"are the expensive prices of books blocks the way of buying books? † He brings out convincing answer for his question by stating that â€Å"the expensive prices of books are not the reason because books are less expensive than video tapes†. Then, he demonstrates that â€Å"the reason is that people become aware that there are easy-to-find and easy-to-use sources where you can find any knowledge or information you need such as TV, video and internet† (Riyadh News Paper). As some people thought, it is an old traditional way to bather yourself reading a book consists of hundreds of pages while you can learn what you want through fast, easy and interesting way. To certain extent, we agree with them as long as you will reach the same result wither from a book or from a website but with some reservations. Such concept faces certain obstacles in fact. Is learning or through a website is as useful as learning through books. It is absolutely not true for many valid reasons. First, the great scientists in mostly all fields have learned basically from books but not from websites or video tapes. We really admit that the TV, websites and video tapes are factor to have knowledge. However, I think that they should take place as secondary factors. Second, books are available and easy-to-carry everywhere. The importance of this exact reason is that the process of reading and educating oneself becomes continual all the time. Hence, we can say that you learn something every hour while websites and TV lack this advantaged characteristic due to the fact that they are not available all the and thus the process of learning is limited. Third, although you need a little bit an extended time to reach the information that you look for, you will lose nothing at all because you are going to see another and concepts you did not pay attention to. Sometimes you will be attracted to another direction where you find more and more information but in the case of TV, websites and video tapes, you will be taken directly to the point without any further information. Now, we recognize the difference between the two ways and we see the advantages and the disadvantages of both of them. Consequently, books are extremely better than any other sources. The Process of Reading in SchoolsThe problem occurs in a case like schools where reading should take place as an obligatory task. In schools, there are three factors play the main role in this regard. The teacher, the students and the curriculums. The most effective factor is the teacher of course. He is the one who controls everything. Mostly, students dignify everything gets out of his mouth. Consequently, teachers undertake the problem of neglecting reading among students to a large extent. As will be shown later, 30% of the students in the secondary school that I made my questionnaire in responded negatively when I asked them that do their teachers encourage them to study? Alshalan, R. (1424AH) puts forward some techniques, most of the teachers do not use them. However, we cane take them as good methods for teachers in how to deliver encouragements to students. â€Å"Teachers have to give their students a free time for reading after which teachers should discuss with them what they have read. Through an attractive indirect way, teachers should introduce some books for the sake of urging their students to buy them. Finally, teachers should set students in situation in which they should go to read books† (P. 28). While I was discussing with him an issue concerning the method of teaching, Alfaifi, M. (2006) who works as a supervisor in The Saudi Ministry of Education told me that â€Å"supervisors always deliver lectures to teachers in various topics concerning the way of dealing with students. But the problem is that rare are those who respond and apply. Moving to the second factor who is the student, we should start from his inner side in fact. If there is no seriousness within the student himself or what is called the personal interest, surely we are going to end up with nothing. Therefore, we should concentrate on how to familiarize what is not familiar? The third factor which is the weakest one is the curriculums. It is extremely a secondary one because it is controlled first by the teacher and second by the student. Anyhow, it is the responsibility of those who are charged with writing the curriculums. They have to guide the learner step by step from nothing into the stage of creativity trying to involve a kind of pleasure so that a reader can find what attracts him. The Effect of The EnvironmentAs a human activity, reading cannot be excluded from its surroundings. Almost, the existent of reading is a result of many causes stimulates a reader to read. That means, if a student was grown up in a family where no reading activity is stimulated, reasonably, we expect to have no interest of reading from any figure of that family. That what roughly all psychologists claim. Hashem, N. (2003) claims that â€Å"a child will not be drawn to reading if his/her family does not read† (Riyadh News Paper). Here, the writer observes the importance of the environment that either encourages or discourages. Out of this point, we figure out the importance of the model because if we agree that the environment may encourage or discourage, it means that we are moving around the idea of having a model that a reader would imitate. The effect might take place out of the family. An encouragement to read may occur eventhough the narrow surrounding which is the family is not a good place for that. That is exactly what happened to me. I remember that one of my colleges called Alshrimi, K. (2006) advised me â€Å"you have to read as much books as you can so that you become an intellectual man†. I directly answered â€Å"I am fed up with my courses in the collage. How it comes that you want me to bather myself with outside books again†. Although my answer merely reveals no possibility to think about reading, I was within myself seriously thinking to dive into the world of books. Statistics Analysis and ResultsIn the case of schools where reading from books is necessarily required task for students, there is no way to avoid this certain process. The problem is caused essentially by having students who are not accustomed with books from the beginning. As a result, they reject and even hate books. I made a questionnaire in Ibn  Almother Secondary School. I set forth various questions concerning reading in the case of studying and reading outside books in general. I come up with almost the following results.

Genetic modification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Genetic modification - Essay Example This may be to express a gene that is not native to the plant or to modify endogenous genes.† They have given full detail on the scientific procedure that is used in genetic modification of plants. DNA is transferred into the target plant; and, although DNA is not harmful to human health in itself because humans consume it with every plant they eat, yet the risky aspect is that scientists only transfer the genes of interest in the food. Also, the genetically modified plants hold more mutations than other plants, which may mean that the level of nutrients has been reduced or the level of allergens and toxins has been increased. However, this depends upon the procedure and intentions. Genetic modification can be used to increase nutritional content of crops, and also increase food production on the whole. If tightly regulated by government and food agencies, the genetically modified crops are safe to eat. The second article regarding genetic modification is, ‘Genetically mo dified humans: here and more coming soon’, written by Nick Lane (2008). Here, it is about humans and not plants. The thesis statement of this article is that a baby can be created by two mothers genetically which can save him from inheriting dreadful diseases, and this procedure can lead to the development of designer babies. In his article, Lane has illustrated the genetic modification of human beings and has described the procedure that can be used to create babies using the eggs of two women. He tells about the research work that is being carried out by a research team in UK whose purpose is the creation of an embryo with the participation of three parents and without any chance of the baby inheriting dreadful diseases. Lane further tells the role of mitochondria in the procedure. He tells that if the egg from one woman contains defective mitochondria, then these can be replaced by those attained from the donor egg from another woman, and since a mitochondrion itself conta ins DNA, this would mean that the baby is going to have genes from two different women or mothers. This variation in genes, on one hand, eliminates the chance of delivering mitochondrial diseases to the baby, and on the other, can affect the baby’s whole personality. However, Lane states that this procedure gives the baby chance to live with the healthiest genes. Moreover, the article tells about the fact that male mitochondria has nothing to do with the procedure as these are only present in the sperm tail and do not get the chance of penetrating the egg. Lane further talks about the ooplasmic transfer technique that was used in 1990s to control infertility but was afterwards banned by the FDA due to its vague consequences. He tells that the researchers from UK’s Newcastle University are trying another technique that involves the transfer of cell nucleus only and not the mitochondria. The nucleus of the egg with defective mitochondria is transferred to the donor egg. Male infertility can also be cured by injecting healthy mitochondria into the sperm tail which helps in sperm motility. However, scientists are not sure whether the complete elimination of serious diseases is possible by this technique or not. Comparing and contrasting the two articles shows that although both of these talk about genetic modification, but Key, Ma and Drake (2008) have talked about its impact upon plants

The Ethernet Technology Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Ethernet Technology Report - Essay Example For transporting digital bits of data through the carrier waves, Ethernet has some encoding techniques. These encoding techniques aid in synchronizing the data sending and data receiving stations and providing a signal with strength sufficient enough to deliver a required amount of data rate. So, the difference in encoding techniques relate to the difference in the data transfer speed provided by the Ethernet cable. For instance, the three encoding techniques Manchester, 4B/5B and 8B/10B are used for the providing Ethernet LAN of speeds 10Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1Gbps respectively (TechFest.com, 1999). Manchester encoding delivers a signal of frequency 10MHz which is sufficient to provide a data rate of 10Mbps for the 10Base5 and 10Base2 coaxial cables. The installation is easy and new systems can be added easily. However, owing to the bus topology (in 10Base5) and the fact that the cabling is half duplex (i.e. same cable used for sending and receiving), chances of collisions would be mor e and the throughput of the system would be less. In case of daisy chains (10Base2), routing difficulties would be present. Secondly, the higher data rates cannot be achieved due to coaxial cables. In case of using 10BaseT twisted pair cables, 20Mbps can be achieved owing to full duplex mode. New hosts can be added easily in the supported star topology network. However, repeaters are required after every 100m unlike 10Base5 and 10Base2. When using 10BaseFL, repeaters are not needed till 1000m. The 4B/5B encoding delivers a 62.5MHz frequency signal on the 100Base-Tx Cat 5 twisted pair cabling. A signal of maximally 100MHz is enough to be transmitted over a medium of 100Mbps. In full duplex mode, any new host can be added without affecting the collision rates. 4B/5B encoding is also used in 100Base-Fx cables.