Dries Van Noten One of Fashions Most Cerebral De Essays

Dries Van Noten: One of Fashion's Most Cerebral Designers BUF 1101 Humzah Butt City Tech/CUNY December 1, 2017 Dries Van Noten: One of Fashion's Most Cerebral Designers Introduction A corner of Antwerp belongs to a man, whose boutique "Het Modepaleis" with an 1881 original sign with gold serif typeface affectionately restored, sits on Nationalestraat's corner. This distinct five-story triangular building has enough grandeur for a petite department store. Designer Dries Van Noten bought this shop in 1989, three years after he had launch his label into the fashion market. It was perhaps a heroic move for a fledgling company, however the purchase is now the designer's permanent landmark in the city. Dries Van Noten is renowned for his mastery of exquisite fabrics and his eye for and innovation of prints, embroideries and color. His singular creative process draws inspiration from many varied creative fields, from art to cinema, music to the performing arts. Any garment from Dries Van Noten should not be bought simply for its cut because the shape of every garment is architecturally sound. Background Van Noten was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1958. He is the third generation in a family of tailors. At the age of 18, Dries entered the fashion design course of Antwerp's Royal Academy. After he graduated, he started to freelance as a consultant designer before he started his own collection of menswear in 1986 "Noten, D. V. (n.d.). Biography. Retrieved December 02, 2017, from http://www.driesvannoten.be/biography/)". In September of 1989, Van Noten opened his first boutique in Antwerp's gallery arcade only to move into "Het Modepaleis" months later which remains his flagship store until this very day. Noten's father had hoped that Dries would do a degree in business and manage the family trade. Dries Van Noten's dream was much different than his father's because Noten desired to become a designer. His parents didn't agree with his dream and warned him that if he wanted to do something that he likes then he would have to support himself financially. This harsh statement from his parents made the designer into a hard-working and self-sufficient man. From the beginning, Dries Van Noten has always made sure that his every single piece of garment he designs doesn't look like anything he has made or seen before. Noten's work is a refusal to concede to trends and whims but rather an image that is impossible to copy or duplicate. A Dries Van Noten piece will never be mistaken for anyone else's. Dries Van Noten stayed to his childhood roots and resides in a house situated on a seven-acre plot of land outside of Antwerp with his partner Patrick Vangheluwe. Market Segment(s) Dries Van Noten does things differently. For 30 years his intelligent designs, in lush artisanal fabrications, rich colors and flattering silhouettes have been worn by independent women who care deeply about looking stylish but care little for extreme fashion ability. Michelle Obama, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Rihanna all wear Van Noten's clothes "Ellison, J. (2017, March 21). Dries Van Noten on the secret of his label's success. Retrieved December 03, 2017, from https://howtospendit.ft.com/womens-style/200373-dries-van-noten-on-the-secret-of-his-label-s-success". Design Dries Van Noten named his company after himself because his clothing and designs represents him in every perspective in life. As a base for his designs, Dries Van Noten uses standard tailoring lines and prefers traditional materials, to which he then adds his own personal touch by subtly changing the classic appearances by superimposing refined, rustic materials with vibrant and dark colors, that works as half-tints "English, V. (2012, September 26). Dries Van Noten. Retrieved December 03, 2017, from http://en.vogue.fr/vogue-list/thevoguelist/dries-van-noten-/1132". If one word can coincide with Van Noten's design, the word would be "Authenticity". The name Dries Van Noten has become synonymous with Belgian avant-garde fashion. Every season again he succeeds in surprising fashion critics with the most enchanting collections. Ethnic prints, atypical patterns and beautiful clothes which are always highly wearable: that's what the Dries Van Noten style is all about. Van Noten's styling is eclectic and works for very different bodies and women and men of all ages. He designs timeless clothes, which you will love to wear for years on end. Promotion Dries Van Noten started his company by opening his first and now flagship store in Antwerp, Belgium.

blackholes essays

blackholes essays Stars are affected by two main forces: Nuclear fusion, and gravitation Black Holes are the result of an imbalance of these two forces. Nuclear fusion- the outward force from the star's centre and gravitation- the force pulling inwards. These two processes balance one another until all the star's hydrogen is exhausted, allowing gravitation to take over. Once gravitation dominates, the star becomes unstable and starts to collapse. As the core compresses, it heats up and results in a supernova explosion in which the material and radiation blasts out into space. If what remains of the star is greater than 3 times the mass of our sun, it will continue to collapse and form a black hole. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity suggests that the most densest and massive objects conceivable, such as black holes, have gravity that is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape their grasp. I do not fully understand Einsteins general theory of relativity but Im going to try and give everyone a very basic understanding of why Einstein thought space and time are not separate but closely connected known as space-time. When we describe the position of a flying plane we can use length, width and height these make up the three dimensions of space. But another dimension can be used time, these four dimensions make up space-time. The fundamental aspect of general relativity is effect that matter, with a gravitational field, has on the curvature of space, rather on the four dimensional space-time. One way to visualise Einsteins view of gravity was to think of the rubber sheet analogy described in many texts. In order to understand this, consider a sheet of rubber, with a weight placed on it, to represent a star. The weight will form a depression in the rubber, causing the sheet near the star to be curved, rather than flat. If one now rolls marbles on the ...

Entreprenuerism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Entreprenuerism - Essay Example The researcher states that there are many facts, that to be understood from the interview with Jay Townsend, who is a mediocre entrepreneur in New York City. The main factor which attracted the researcher to him was the amount of energy and high spirit embedded in this charismatic business man. The researcher states that it is like he is seeing the same young man, who has started his venture in an adverse business environment with all positive energy and determination. Generally speaking, it can be understood that an entrepreneur is not a normal man, but one with exceptional courage, will power, creativity and dynamic personality. He has this ever sparking aura in him that attracts people around him to perform things which are productive and positive. It can be analyzed that starting a venture can be relatively easy, than making it a successful business firm in the competitive market. The researcher learnt from Jay that being optimistic and realistic is the key elements to be a succe ssful entrepreneur. â€Å"Successful entrepreneur has fire in the belly to get going, but are also realistic and practical. They are not emotionally attached to their business idea.† To make a business run successfully needs a lot of patience and understanding of customer needs and wants. One should be ready to suffer losses and failures and consequently to rise ahead in the future with a long term success and prosperity. No business is a cake walk, but a tremendous team work and significant risk taking can make it an adventurous experience.

The Painting Reclining Woman on the Beach Essay

The Painting Reclining Woman on the Beach - Essay Example The essay "The Painting Reclining Woman on the Beach" explores Pablo Picasso's painting. This painting Reclining Woman on the Beach has two distinct and strongly contrasting elements, the first being the woman and the beach she is lying on, and the second being the mountains and sky that serve as a background to the image. The woman and the beach she is lying on both use thick lines and broad, sweeping curves to define their shapes, while the mountain tops in the background are jagged geometric affairs like triangular teeth cutting into the sky, which creates offset parallel strucutures between the sky and the mountains – that is, if you mirrored the sky over a horizontal plane of the painting, it would make the shape of the mountains, and the mountains would make the shape of the sky. The coloration in the two main elements are also vastly different – the woman is predominantly pale or pearly, but has many dashes of different colors throughout her body, that fade in an d out gradually – green in some places, purple in others and so on. The mountains and sky, on the other hand, are broad swaths of a single color, with the mountains having distinct blotches of white on them. The jagged mountain tops serve as a geometrical counterpoint to the curve of the woman, emphasizing her curviness and underscoring the fundamental importance of curves to a woman’s beauty or form. Furthermore, the softy changing colors on the woman’s body could indicate aging, and imply mutability, which combined with her soft curves. contrast with the broad expanses of unchanging colors on the mountains and the sky, reminding the viewer about the corruptibility of beauty and the frailty of life, especially when compared with the age old mountains that go on essentially unchanged. With all this contrast, Picasso ties together the two elements by treating them with broadly the same light and texture to create a unified work out of all of these disparate parts . There are many elements of design present that touch on similar topics to the elements of form. The scale of the woman, who takes up the vast majority of the space on the canvas, both implies the woman is in the foreground (obviously) but also puts her in a relative position of power over the mountains, which are made subordinate by their less imposing size. She even casts a shadow on the mountains, making it appear that they are in fact close behind her and she is simply massive, further reinforcing her importance. The mountains are essentially the same shape, repeated again and again, which serves to emphasize their regularity and eternal nature, which calls the viewer’s attention to how unique the woman reclining on the beach is, that she is one-of-a kind, and that every person, while sharing forma similarities to other people, is completely unique. This composition is notably lacking in white space, with the closest things being the sky in the background and the orange shape that takes up a portion of the right side of the screen. This both makes the woman seem to be the negative space, but also gives a crowded compositional element to contrast to the woman’s apparent ease. The content of this work appears to be an analysis of the woman’s form, a kind of toying with it that over-emphasizes some shapes while under-emphasizing others. The ratio of the woman’s head to the rest of her body may be a telling indication of the focus of the piece, which could be set to objectify the woman who is at its heart. It also touches on themes of beauty, of the unique visual nature of each individual human, and of the soft, changing mutability of human nature in contrast to the

Marketing and the Information Technology Sector Research Paper

Marketing and the Information Technology Sector - Research Paper Example An analysis would consider the physical characteristics of the product and therefore its transportation and storage needs, the promotional activities associated with the product, the sensitivity of sale volumes of the product to price changes, and what distribution coverage is best met by customer demand for the product, i.e. whether the product should have mass distribution or a more exclusive distribution. Depending on the coverage of distribution required, the marketer would then be able to decide whether to use resellers, such as wholesalers or retailers, to assist with getting the product to the customer, or to use specialty service firms who would act as brokers in bringing the customer to the product. Another important aspect the marketer has to consider in choosing channel partners is the type of relationship, whether independent or dependent arrangements would be used to move the product to the customer. 2. How effective is the Tutorial in presenting the material: In covering the issues related to product distribution, the material provided in the tutorial can be easily understood by those without any marketing experience. In providing links to specific issues, the reader need not go through the entire tutorial but can select a topic that is of interest, and summary charts, such as those in the Wholesalers and Retailers section are well used to assist the reader with assimilating all the information in a topic. Given the breadth of information available in the tutorial, there are aspects of the tutorial that do not provide the depth of information required by some marketing specialists thus requiring further research elsewhere. Unfortunately, the tutorial does not provide any sources for further information.  Ã‚  

Unions And The Hotel Industry Management Essay

Unions And The Hotel Industry Management Essay While trade unions have been a significant factor for workers in the United States, beginning in the late 18th century and peaking in 1945 when 35 percent of the non-agricultural workforce was unionized, it is no secret that the membership of trade unions in the private sector has significantly been declining. The reason for decline may be the globalization of products, completion with overseas competition with overseas manufacturers causing a decline in sales; and work may be. Several studies point to compositional changes in the U.S. labor force in terms of demographic, industrial, or occupational factors (Bronfenbrenner, 2005). In addition, the cost of union workers have also become so expensive that it may be difficult for some industries to compete. Recently both Chrysler and General Motors went through bankruptcies primarily to regain the ability to compete by disavowing union contracts which impose specific wages and benefits that the company said they could no longer afford. While the service/hospitality industry in the past was a weak section of the union movement, it is now seen a ripe target for the unions to increase their membership (Source.. BLS). Given the low wages, poor job security, lack of trust of corporations and managers, and for many English not being their first language (which often increases the fear of asking for something), it was only a matter of time that hotel workers would embrace the idea and welcome someone coming in and saying they can make their life better with increased, wages, benefits and working conditions. It should be noted that even with the decline of numbers, unions are still an influential force. (Silverman, Jacob. how Labor Unions Work. June 2007. How Stuff Works.http://money.how stuff works.com/labor.union.htm June 26 2010 and it hopes to be an influential force within the hospitality industry. John Wilhelms said What workers in this industry need, what the country needs is a permanent campaign to do in the service sector what we did in the manufacturing 70 years ago: transform low-wage work into decent jobs that give people the opportunity to make it into the middle class. (Source). With all this being said the large percentage of hotel workers are not union members yet. In fact approximately 8% of hospitality workers are union members. However, with the new CARD CHECK, and the feeling of powerlessness in their employment, time is coming. But the question is why? Every hotelier knows that people are our business and people are our greatest resource to profits, yet many in the hospitality industry have forgotten about their prime asset, their workers This paper reviews certain key human relations practices at leading luxury hotel companies and the goals and methods of the leading trade union representing hotel and hospitality workers in the United States and Canada. The purpose is to assess whether the HR practices employed by leading luxury hotel companies are compatible with the goals and methods of the leading hospitality union. In this paper we will look at the unions within the hospitality industry, goals of the employees and the methods the leading trade union representing hotel and hospitality workers in the United States are using. We will also look at leading luxury hotel companies, some of which have been named in the top 100 companies to work, and assess whether the HR practices employed by leading luxury hotel companies are compatible with the goals and methods of the leading hospitality union. (Fortune). The objective herein is to assess whether the human resource practices employed by these hotels are compatible with those of the unions is to provide an understanding of unions within the hospitality industry as well as to assess whether these leading luxury hotels human resource practices are compatible with the goals of the unions. The questions are: a) with good human resource practices do we need unions and b) if unions are here to stay, can we work as partners with benefit to both industries. To achieve these goals, this paper will first provide a short history of unions which will include the methods of which they are presently using to increase membership of the hotel workers. We will look at the specific goals of the employees and how it relates to unions within the industry; how lack of attaining these goals may be impacting the industry. The luxury hotels we focus on are Marriott and the Four Seasons. Review of Union History Unions in the United States date back to the 18th century, with its first strike by the printers in New York City, in 1794. The issues then were not much different from today; a shorter work week and an increase in wages. The idea of coming to together to achieve a common goal was began to take hold in the 1800s. Workers as a Federation were seeking shorter work hours, from a 12 to 10 hour work week. In the beginning of the 20th century the union membership rose to 6.78 percent of workers to 13.24 percent in 1936. In 1945, shortly after World War II and a booming economy, the unions reached their peak with 35% of the industrial and manufacturing work force becoming members. Even the great hotels in large American Cities were unionized at that time. (Summer 2006). Unions and the Hotel Industry While during the peak of the labor movement, great hotels in American Cities were unionized, today approximately 8% of hotel workers belong to a union. Even considering the general decline in union members, the gap is quite significant. What happened? Characteristically hotel workers are low paid, work for tips, and due to large turnover they are not around long enough to be in a bargaining position throughout their career. Considering that at that time they did not fit the conventional union pattern, unions went on to the automotive, industrial, and manufacturing sectors. However, with the outsourcing of materials, competitive products from overseas and loss of dominance from many of the manufacturing and industrial industries, these industries are not as prominent as they once were. It appears that what once caused the service industry to be neglected by unions, now may be become their holy grail (Sherwyn, Eigen and Wagner, 2006à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.The Hotel Industrys Summer of 2006) UN ITE AND HERE joined forces to become UNITE HERE in 2004 and are putting 50% of their national budget to organize the non organized as that is their goal and main focus. ((Sherwyn, Eigen and Wagner, 2006à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.The Hotel Industrys Summer of 2006) UNITEs John Wilhelms said What workers in this industry need, what the country needs is a permanent campaign to do in the service sector what we did in the manufacturing 70 years ago: transform low-wage work into decent jobs that give people the opportunity to make it into the middle class. (Source). Why do the workers of the hospitality industry want to organize? Everyone wants their fair share of the pie and power comes with numbers. What they want is improved wages, better working hours, better working condition, benefits and job security. It is interesting to note that while the hospitality membership is growing in the United States, Great Britain still has difficulty unionizing this group. The reasons are similar, low pay, low j ob security, high labor turnover and arbitrary management. Current interviews with managers in Scotland concurred early studies that there is tension by the managers as well as reluctance to accept a need for union for union representation. In fact they believe that unions are irrelevant. What do hotel workers want that they feel the unions can get for them? What do they want and what goals does the Union have for them? Better Wages, job security, safe environment to work and respect. Since the 1980s the hotel industry has been steadily growing. Even with the glitch after 9/11, the industry is growing, yet the salaries of hotel workers are not keeping up. The median salary of most hotel workers like, housekeepers, doormen, servers, bell hops have not kept up with the median salary of the average U.S. worker. (This of course is without tips). Moreover, the gap between the high earner and low earner in this industry has grown wider and wider, creating more anger and distrust towards management. Back in 2000, for hotel service workers, the median wage was $8.62 per hour, $3.41 per hour below the overall median hourly wage of $12.03 (These wages may not include tips for such workers as waiters and waitresses, bartenders, and bellhops.) The wage gap between high- and low-wage hotel workers has grown during the last two decades. In 1979, high-wage hotel workers earned 240 percent of what their low-wage counterparts earned and in 2000, 325 percent of what their low wage counterpart workers earned. Moreover, the disparity between high and low wage earners was larger in the hospitality industry that in several others even if the overall wage levels are similar, including meatpacking, nursing homes, building services, laundry services, department stores, grocery stores, and child care. (Bureau of Statistics) Even more disparaging are the non-supervisory hotel employees salary with the CEOs of a number of chains these people work for. For example, the Hyatt CEO earns 3,670,913 per year which calculates to $1,835.46 per hour; Starwoods ($ 8,240,034 per year/ $4,120.02 per hour); Marriott ($4,280,311 per year/$2,140.16 per hour) and Wyndham ($6,095,801/ $3,047.90 per hour. Source: Proxy Statements for annual meetings filed with US Securities and Exchange Commission available at: www.sec.gov With regards to a safe environment; blue collar and service workers have a higher risk of injury, work related injuries and exposure to chemicals. (Public Health Reports/September 2007/Volume 122 670-679). Without a union, many service workers may never get the opportunity to express their concerns and needs regarding their job related health issues. However, with the union behind the worker, a 40 year old immigrant from Aguascalientes, Mexico was able to do just that. As part of a campaign to raise awareness regarding health perils in the hotel housekeeping, she will be able to improve her workplace environment and will not have to trade their health for any wage. Housekeepers have a high rate of pain with some having to take pain pills before going to work. In addition the rate of injury among housekeepers is almost twice as much as other service workers. Because this worker is in a unionized hotel, she can now seek medical health, where others working in a non unionized environmen t have no insurance, thus impeding their ability to obtain care. Opportunities to improve the health of a worker is a benefit to not only management but to the public as well. This was further demonstrated in a study reported by in Public Health Reports. (Public Health Reports/ September October 2007. Even though every employer has to follow the Occupational Safety Health Act, the environment can sometimes be unsafe and unhealthy; such has cleaning materials and second hand smoke. Union Contract Provisions Reviewing the union contract between Sunstone Hotel Properties, Inc. and UNITE HERE Local 21 of Rochester, Minnesota for the period September 5, 2005 through August 31, 2010, a number of the hotel workers goals were addressed with standard provisions concerning wages, overtime, benefits, seniority, termination only for cause, and grievance procedures. In addition, there are some provisions which reflect the unique nature of hotel operations. A Guest Service addendum states that premiere guest service is essential to the success of the hotel and provides progressive discipline up to discharge for poor, rude or discourteous guest service. This addendum also requires the hotel to train the employees in providing premiere guest service and allows termination of employees who fail the course or tests concerning the hotels service standards. ( Conflicts with between union and employer Successful luxury hotels such as Four Seasons and Marriott know that their employees are their greatest asset. They seek to embrace their employees into their family and have a culture of caring, open communication, fair resolution of disputes, innovative staffing initiatives and supportive management. Unions also consider the employees as their asset and seek to insinuate into the relationship and communication process between the employer and the employee and tend to stifle creative problem solving by the formal grievance procedure and the desire for uniformity. Creative staffing is also more difficult due to the union work rules. The hotels want to embrace their employees into their corporate culture and family. The union seeks to have the employees consider the union as their family and necessary to protect them from the employer. Some hotels have more difficult labor relations than others. In its 2009 initial public offering prospectus, Hyatt Corporation identified one of the major risk factors of its business as, Negotiations of collective bargaining agreements, or changes in labor legislation, could disrupt our operations, increase our labor costs or interfere with the ability of our management to focus on executing our business strategies. Hyatt is now the subject of a nationwide boycott due to the firing of 100 housekeepers in Boston after replacing them with minimum wage temporary workers. Resource Functions and Unions Impact A review of the literature notes via surveys, conferences, that human resource issues remain the most frequently noted area of concern. Much of the literature suggests that human resources is the central area of concern. Among a number of the issues within this area are retention and job satisfaction. According to one survey conducted in 2008, hotel managers. What one or two problems or concerns are most troubling to you as a manager? A total of 243 individuals from over sixty countries participated and the most frequently identified area of concern is human resources issues, such as attraction, retention, training and development of the industrys workforce Human resources are key to grown the overwhelming sentiment, similar to a paper written seven years earlier. (March 2009; Cornell Hospitality Report) A major human resource concern in the hospitality industry is the large turnover. Every time an employee leaves there are costs connected to new training, loss of productivity and loss of knowledge (Tracey Hinki 20606). With this in mind it would only behoove the companys to provide an exit interview to find out where the problem lies. (Tracey Hinkin, 2008) In another study indicated that while job satisfaction, extrinsic rewards, constituent attachments, organizational commitment and organizational prestige were the most frequently mentioned . However, what it is noteworthy is that those employees who were non hourly and high perormers were more likely to endorse advancement opportunities and prestige as reasons for remaining with the firm. On the other hand, low performers and hourly employees were more likely to choose extrinsic rewards as the reason or staying. With regards to unions and its impact on retention, non union personnel were more likely to leave if they were not satisfied, while union employees may indicate poor satisfaction but with no intent to leave. This indicates that the voice given to employees by the union was significant (Friedman, etal 2007) People are our most important commodity. Steven Porter, urged accountability from HR and senior leadership on people-related issues..Its not the bricks and morter. Its not the creativity. Its the people He also basically told more than 600 people that if this industry does not pay well we should at least do a better job of respecting individuals, engaging the heart of employees and expanding their horizons. On partnering with Unions interests are much great stated Christopher T. Chee, managing director of an equity firm that invests heavily in the hotel industry and further stated that partnership with unions is more productive than not. labor is a huge issue in hotels President of UNITE-HERE said both employers and unions will be losers unless they join together to create good public policy. And the (Human Resource Executive Online-Story:2010) Our employees are our most important commodity, satisfied employees..satisfied customers result is increased revenue. People are our most important resource If we are in the people business, shouldnt we know how to make our own employees satisfied and committed; do we need unions for this? Conclusion To provide superb customer service luxury hotels must motivate their employees to give more than the minimum level of effort to their jobs. They must build a culture where each employee is motivated to provide an extra level of effort. Although unions are seeking the best for their members the union culture with its us versus them confrontational style is not designed to encourage the level of engagement need by luxury hotels. If a hotel is focused on the employees well being, open communication, and a general sense of care and really direct their energy on taking care of their employees first, then the entire purpose of the union would cease to exist.  Not every hotel is willing or able to provide employees with the types of benefits and environment that will increase employee job satisfaction and retention.  This may due to competitive reasons or the desire to generate superior economic returns for the owners and management.   The unions may be able to help the employees of s uch ventures.  Ã‚  They will not be successful at luxury hotels with progressive employee relations models.

Essay --

Gun Control The time has come for our country to take action to reduce gun violence in America. Aurora, Colorado, Sandy Hook Elementary School, and most recently Arapahoe High School are only three of the recent atrocities. More than twenty mass shootings have taken place since 2009, yet many people still believe it’s acceptable to own guns. We, as a country, have suffered too many losses to not take action. No laws created can ever fully stop every act of violence, but there are ways to prevent the mentally ill, the suicidal, and criminally minded from buying guns and ammunition. If the government tries to ban people from owning every type of gun, we will get no where with the issue. The problem in our country is having access to assault rifles and handguns. Many assault rifles sold are semi-automatic, firing one round every time the trigger is pulled. For example, an AR-15 can fire between 45 and 60 rounds per minute. No civilian needs to have a gun this powerful; the only place they should be allowed is for military use. Having these types of guns available to the public ...

Reflective Account Essay

On an occasion at work I was aware of a staff member communicating very negatively, for example sighing and tutting and general negativity. Supervision was due so it was brought into meeting that last had concerned had noticed a change in the person’s general attitude, I asked if there was a specific reason and was told there was not. Although they agreed that they were being negative. We discussed the workload and it was decided it was not that. It was mentioned by the staff member that they were feeling a little unsure of how to deal with a service user who had dementia and was unpredictable and seemed to have taken a dislike to the staff member .We discussed at length the way forward and I arranged for some training in challenging behaviour and dementia. The staff member realised she could not avoid the service user and that if she had mentioned her concerns sooner the problem would not have escalated. She tried to hide her feelings but they were shown in a different way. I agreed to mentor and support the staff member with the service user helping her to find an appropriate approach, the service user was feeding on the negative behaviour of the staff .In a few weeks the situation was improved undoubtedly and the staff member is more positive and no longer showing any sign of negativity. I recorded everything we had discussed and we both signed it. At the following supervision the staff had been on a training workshop and was awaiting further news of more. She mentioned previously that she felt it was a weakness in her that is why she had tried to cover it up but since our discussion and my ongoing support she would never hesitate to mention any concerns she had in the future. I felt that we needed to improve activity at the Centre; the service users are a mixed group (physically and mentally frail) so I needed to find something they could all do and enjoy. I signed myself onto three one day courses with another staff member. The courses were all different but aimed at dementia sufferers. The first one ‘Bringing stories to Life ‘, I thought was going to be about putting together a Life Story, I could not have been more wrong! The ice-breaker at the beginning of the workshop was letter bingo, it involved walking around so I have adapted this so that my service users are seated, we use sets of the 26 letters of the alphabet and the service user chooses a letter and then gives me a word beginning with that letter before answering a quiz question, which I write down and while they are playing two alike trying to match up. I take the words and make up a little story or poem. The feedback from that activity has been very positive. Also from the workshop which involved using props to tell a story I have been able to do this activity several times? Using the props seems to help the quietest of the service user to join in and the feedback discussion afterwards have become very enjoyable to all. The second workshop was about using pictures (not personal) to story tell. Again this activity has been very successful, there was one or two people who were unsure but has we progressed they too joined in. The picture is given to the service user and they are asked open ended questions about it and everything is validated. Before we start we decide who is going to scribe and afterwards that person will firstly read back what as been said and ask if the service users would like to add anything? When everybody is satisfied the scriber will type the ‘story ‘ up and each service user gets a copy , we keep a copy in a folder for all to look at and we also pin a copy too our notice board . The third workshop was along the same line but using senses to make a story/poem, again we have done this a couple of times. We used a bottle of water some soil in a bag, cotton wool, leaves and bubbles, we pass the items around the room one at a time and ask the service user to say the first word they thought of when looking / touching or smelling the item .one thing we came up against was that the service users said the same thing as the previous person, so we are trying to adapt this activity further. From all three workshops I and my staff member redeveloped our armchair exercise which we do daily. We had heard the service users discuss how they were bored with doing the same exercise week after week and listening to the same music disc. So we put together some more upbeat music and sat and compiled our version of seated exercise ,using the same safe exercise taking advice from one of our other services ‘Ageing Well’ who had spent several weeks showing us seated exercise . Of course before we started any of the new activities we had a meeting with all the staff who were going to be involved. We discussed what we had learnt from each workshop and asked for feedback from the staff, some of them felt unsure about using the props and pictures, so me and the staff member who came with me agreed to lead the first one, we arranged a date and agreed on a theme for it and it was decided we would use props for the first one .I was to lead and the staff member was going to scribe. Before we started we went to each service user and asked them to sign a consent form to allow us to take photographs. This would allow another staff to get a little involved with out feeling to unsure .the discussion /feedback with the service users was great ,they were still talking about how much they had enjoyed themselves when they were going home. They were excited when I told them that there would be photographs to look at the following week. I discussed with the staff the following day how they felt about the activity and was pleased they were all positive. I continued to share taking the lead with the staff member who attended the training with me for several sessions to enable the other staff to be able to learn from us. Although with all the activities there is no right or wrong way. That is why we validate everything that is said. The change in the majority of service users is a pleasure to see, even the quietest person as become much more vocal and willing to join in with most of the activities we do. One person in particular who is hard of hearing and registered blind joins in, when in the past he as chosen not to. He still talks about certain themes we have done the story telling to, for example at Halloween we took the opportunity to do this theme, we used pumpkins and plastic spiders, I passed these things around the room and we used ‘The Monster Mash’ song to do some light movement to music before using props to make up a story relevant to the theme. I asked the service user to describe the spider, for example what he thought it was felt like and he got really into it and even had a photograph taken. Since then I have heard him telling others about ‘the day we let him hold the Tarantula ‘and how he danced to ‘spooky music’. Changing what we do and the way we do it as had a very positive effect all the way round. We still do the other activities for example Bingo, dominoes etc.During our action plan meeting we discuss which service users are in the centre that day and adapt our activity to suit, of course what we plan for the day may change if we ask the service users they may want to do another thing so if we can we will accommodate the majority. Usually the day is spent doing group work but if needed we do offer one to one.

Expert Review The Official ACT Prep Guide

Expert Review The Official ACT Prep Guide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Looking for official ACT practice? The Official ACT Prep Guide is a great resource. In this article, I'll provide a review of the current Official ACT Prep Guide, including positives and negatives of the new guide, how it differs from The Real ACT Prep Guide (3rd Edition), and whether or not you should buy it to help you through the study process. What’s in The Official ACT Prep Guide? The book is organized into five parts, which each are further divided into smaller chapters. The five parts of the book are: Part One: Getting Acquainted with the ACT Test (general study strategies and test-taking tips, explanation of the format and what’s covered on the test) Part Two: Taking and Evaluating Your First Practice Test (diagnostic practice test along with an explanation of how to use your results to identify weak areas) Part Three: Improving Your Score (test-taking strategies for each section of the exam) Part Four: Taking Additional Practice Tests (two additional practice tests for you to take after you’ve evaluated your mistakes and done more prep) Part Five: Moving Forward to Test Day (shows you how to sign up for the test and what to expect on test day) There are five full practice tests included in this guide, counting the initial practice test that you'll use to diagnose your mistakes in part two. The online bonus content includes 400 extra official ACT practice questions (100 each for English, Math, Reading, and Science). In the next section, I'll go through my full review of the book with extensive details on its strengths and weaknesses. The Official ACT Prep Guide Review There are many reasons to like or dislike this version of the Red Book. I'll start with the positive attributes of the guide and move onto its not-so-awesome qualities. Pros Smart Overall Structure The order of the chapters in the book corresponds to when you should take each step in the review and testing process. This book understands that the best way to guarantee improvement over time is to take a practice test, evaluate your mistakes, study the content that's relevant to your mistakes, and take another practice test to see if you’ve improved. You'll learn exactly how to begin studying and which steps you should take along the way to make sure you’re improving. Good Advice on Scores and What They Mean The guide walks you through scoring your practice tests accurately, and it gives you a table of percentiles so you can see how your scores compare to those of other students. It also does a good job of explaining how to judge your scores based on where you plan on applying to college and how much you improve from test to test. Learning to set appropriate goals is a huge aspect of studying for standardized tests that can be overlooked in some prep books. Abundant Test-Taking Tips There are many test-taking tips for each section of the ACT included in this book. Some tips can seem a bit repetitive (sometimes it seems like they’re just filling up space), but most are solid pieces of advice. For ACT English, helpful tips listed in the book include considering the context of the question before choosing an answer, rereading the sentence using the answer you've selected, exercising caution with two part questions, and paying attention to the writing style. Cons Dull Style This guide is dryly written, with little in the way of images, graphics, or differentiated headings to break up the text. There are sporadic efforts to be more engaging, but it’s definitely not the most student-friendly prep guide. Adding to this, Part 1 has an overview of the test that includes long lists of concepts covered by each section that could be condensed. The book makes the test seem way too intimidating and overwhelming (more on this in the next point). Complicates the Material While it's great that there are abundant test-taking tips included in this book, they aren't always presented in the best way. The tips are a bit hard to digest and use in practice on the test. While question examples are given to show how the tips work in some cases, these examples are not as abundant as they should be. This book falls short specifically in demystifying the science section. The main issue with this section for most students is that it looks super intimidating, and it's easy to feel overwhelmed. To overcome this, you need to learn to pick out the most important details and ignore extra information that’s just there to distract you. This guide makes the science section look scarier and more â€Å"sciencey† even though in reality it’s more about reading comprehension than scientific knowledge. Answer Explanations are Lacking Math and science question explanations are laid out in a way that makes them confusing and difficult to think through. Here's an example of what the answer explanations for math questions look like: As you can see, there are rarely any images to guide you in your understanding or even much room for the text to breathe at all. Everything starts to blur together into a mass of unintelligible math-like word goop. If you're already having trouble with the Math section, these sorts of answer explanations probably won't clear things up. The guide also makes some assumptions about how much you know about the content. If you didn't even understand where to begin in answering these math questions, the answer explanations provided aren't too enlightening. It would be helpful if they at least indicated the page in the book where you could find additional details on how to solve these types of problems. Not Enough Guidance on Understanding Mistakes The book tells you how to understand your mistakes, but it could have a more consolidated system to help you go through and diagnose them. An organized chart where you could record your findings would be better than just saying "put a checkmark next to the mistakes you made" and listing potential mistakes for each section. There are also no direct actionables that go along with each type of mistake. The guide doesn’t tell you which page to turn to if you have a certain problem. It would be great to know where to find advice that corresponds to the errors you made in each section. The tips for the Reading section also don’t elaborate on different ways to approach passages, which can be a huge problem for people on that section and should be addressed more comprehensively. It would be a shame to burrow down into your mistakes only to reach a dead end. Should You Get This Guide? You should get this book if you’re new to the ACT. It's a thorough summary of everything you need to know about the most up-to-date version of the test, even if has its imperfections. If you need additional practice materials, you may also choose to buy the 3rd Edition as a supplement (though don't use the old Writing prompts to practice your essays because they’ve changed significantly). Keep in mind that many of the questions from the fourth and fifth practice tests in the 3rd Edition were transferred over to the third practice test in the new edition. The first three tests will be the most useful for practice in that case. You also could decide to get the Official ACT Prep Guide book if you want to practice your essay-writing skills using new prompts that align with the current version of the ACT. There haven't been many official ACT essay prompts publicly released, and if you're struggling with the essay, four extra prompts to practice with could prove extremely valuable. If you're confident about self-guided studying and are just looking for more practice questions, it might be worth getting the new ACT prep book. The addition of the fourth practice test in this addition is valuable, since there aren't that many full, publicly released official ACT practice tests out there. However, there still isn't that much material, and almost all of it is recycled from previous tests. An alternative would be to get the 3rd Edition, which has more original practice materials, and supplement it with free online resources (particularly for ACT Writing). The third practice test in this guide is the rebellious twin of the last two practice tests in the 3rd Edition. It may have changed its hairstyle, but the same DNA is still there. Side note: If anyone had natural eyelashes that were this long, it would be a truly terrifying sight to behold. How to Get the Most Out of The Official ACT Prep Guide The best way to ensure that you're getting the most out of the guide is to go through it in chronological order. First, read the basic tips in chapter two so you can get a handle on the basics of how the test works. Then, take the first practice test and go through your mistakes. Go on to use the content sections of the book and any other resources on hand to study the areas that need the most work. When you feel that you've addressed your mistakes and are confident that your results will reflect your newfound expertise, take a second practice test to see if you've made significant improvements. Note that the most recent version of The ACT Black Book, a resource that we recommend alongside the Official ACT Prep Guide for the best strategic test-taking advice, is tailored to the practice questions in an older version of the guide. The main upshot of this is that there are no answer explanations in the Black Book for questions in the fourth practice test of The Official ACT Prep Guide (since previous additions did not have this test). The tips can still be helpful, but this is something to keep in mind so you aren't confused when you can't match questions to explanations using the newest Black Book and Official ACT Prep Guide editions. What's Next? Not sure what score you should be aiming for on the ACT? Learn how to calculate a target score that makes sense based on your college goals. Did your ACT test date sneak up on you? Check out our 10-day prep plan for advice on how to cram for the ACT and potentially raise your score by four composite points! If you still have quite a bit of time before the test, read this guide on how long you should study for the ACT so you can come up with a solid study schedule. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes your prep program to your strengths and weaknesses. We also have expert instructors who can grade every one of your practice ACT essays, giving feedback on how to improve your score. Check out our 5-day free trial:

String Types in Delphi

String Types in Delphi As with any programming language, in Delphi, variables are placeholders used to store values; they have names and data types. The data type of a variable determines how the bits representing those values are stored in the computers memory. When we have a variable that will contain some array of characters, we can declare it to be of typeString.  Delphi provides a healthy assortment of string operators, functions and procedures. Before assigning a String data type to a variable, we need to thoroughly understand Delphis four string types. Short String Simply put,  Short String  is a counted array of (ANSII) characters, with up to 255 characters in the string. The first byte of this array stores the length of the string. Since this was the main string type in Delphi 1 (16 bit Delphi), the only reason to use Short String is for backward compatibility.  To create a ShortString type variable we use:   var s: ShortString; s : Delphi Programming;​ //S_Length : Ord(s[0])); //which is the same as Length(s) The  s  variable is a Short string variable capable of holding up to 256 characters, its memory is a statically allocated 256 bytes. Since this is usually wasteful - unlikely will your short string spread to the maximum length - second approach to using Short Strings is using subtypes of ShortString, whose maximum length is anywhere from 0 to 255.   var ssmall: String[50]; ssmall : Short string, up to 50 characters; This creates a variable called  ssmall  whose maximum length is 50 characters. Note: When we assign a value to a Short String variable, the string is truncated if it exceeds the maximum length for the type. When we pass short strings to some Delphis string manipulating routine, they are converted to and from long string. String / Long / Ansi Delphi 2 brought to Object Pascal  Long String  type. Long string (in Delphis help AnsiString) represents a dynamically allocated string whose maximum length is limited only by available memory. All 32-bit Delphi versions use long strings by default. I recommend using long strings whenever you can.   var s: String; s : The s string can be of any size...; The  s  variable can hold from zero to any practical number of characters. The string grows or shrinks as you assign new data to it. We can use any string variable as an array of characters, the second character in  s  has the index 2. The following code   s[2]:T; assigns  T  to the second character os the  s  variable. Now the few of the first characters in   s  look like:  TTe s str....Dont be mislead, you cant use s[0] to see the length of the string,  s  is not ShortString. Reference counting, copy-on-write Since memory allocation is done by Delphi, we dont have to worry about garbage collection. When working with Long (Ansi) Strings Delphi uses reference counting. This way string copying is actually faster for long strings than for short strings.  Reference counting, by example:   var s1,s2: String; s1 : first string; s2 : s1; When we create string  s1  variable, and assign some value to it, Delphi allocates enough memory for the string. When we copy  s1  to  s2, Delphi does not copy the string value in memory, it only increases the reference count and alters the  s2  to point to the same memory location as  s1. To minimize copying when we pass strings to routines, Delphi uses copy-on-write technique. Suppose we are to change the value of the  s2  string variable; Delphi copies the first string to a new memory location, since the change should affect only s2, not s1, and they are both pointing to the same memory location.   Wide String Wide strings  are also dynamically allocated and managed, but they dont use reference counting or the copy-on-write semantics. Wide strings consist of 16-bit Unicode characters. About Unicode character sets The ANSI character set used by Windows is a single-byte character set. Unicode stores each character in the character set in 2 bytes instead of 1. Some national languages use ideographic characters, which require more than the 256 characters supported by ANSI. With 16-bit notation we can represent 65,536 different characters. Indexing of multibyte strings is not reliable, since  s[i]  represents the ith byte (not necessarily the i-th character) in  s. If you must use Wide characters, you should declare a string variable to be of the WideString type and your character variable of the WideChar type. If you want to examine a wide string one character at a time, be sure to test for multibite characters. Delphi doesnt support automatic type conversions betwwen Ansi and Wide string types.   var s : WideString; c : WideChar; s : Delphi_ Guide; s[8] : T; //sDelphi_TGuide; Null terminated A null or  zero terminated  string is an array of characters, indexed by an integer starting from zero. Since the array has no length indicator, Delphi uses the ASCII 0 (NULL; #0) character to mark the boundary of the string.  This means there is essentially no difference between a null-terminated string and an array[0..NumberOfChars] of type Char, where the end of the string is marked by #0. We use null-terminated strings in Delphi when calling Windows API functions. Object Pascal lets us avoid messing arround with pointers to zero-based arrays when handling null-terminated strings by using the PChar type. Think of a PChar as being a pointer to a null-terminated string or to the array that represents one. For more info on pointers, check:Pointers in Delphi. For example, The  GetDriveType  API function determines whether a disk drive is a removable, fixed, CD-ROM, RAM disk, or network drive. The following procedure lists all the drives and their types on a users computer. Place one Button and one Memo component on a form and assign an OnClick handler of a Button: procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); var Drive: Char; DriveLetter: String[4]; begin for Drive : A to Z do begin DriveLetter : Drive :\; case GetDriveType(PChar(Drive :\)) of DRIVE_REMOVABLE: Memo1.Lines.Add(DriveLetter Floppy Drive); DRIVE_FIXED: Memo1.Lines.Add(DriveLetter Fixed Drive); DRIVE_REMOTE: Memo1.Lines.Add(DriveLetter Network Drive); DRIVE_CDROM: Memo1.Lines.Add(DriveLetter CD-ROM Drive); DRIVE_RAMDISK: Memo1.Lines.Add(DriveLetter RAM Disk); end; end; end; Mixing Delphis strings We can freely mix all four different kinds of strings, Delphi will give its best to make sense of what we are trying to do. The assignment s:p, where s is a string variable and p is a PChar expression, copies a null-terminated string into a long string. Character types In addition to four string data types, Delphi has three character types:  Char,  AnsiChar, and  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹WideChar. A string constant of length 1, such as T, can denote a character value. The generic character type is Char, which is equivalent to AnsiChar. WideChar values are 16-bit characters ordered according to the Unicode character set. The first 256 Unicode characters correspond to the ANSI characters.

Managing Quality, Customers and Performance Essay

Managing Quality, Customers and Performance - Essay Example This statement sums up the kind of efforts required to deliver value to the customer and for producing a quality product. An individual's beliefs or conceptions about what is desirable, good or bad - forms the value system (Kotler, 1974). For Hotel Hilton, Optimus Ireland's Best award in December 2006 will go a long way towards encouraging it to perform still better. Innovation, excellence and value addition go hand in hand in today's competitive environment. Customers and the target segments are crucial stakeholders for hotel Hilton. Different types of value addition strategies are adopted by businesses to grow. These could involve trying out different types of market-product combinations, carrying out the business according to certain sets of principles, segmenting the market in their own way, or relying on the feedback of customers for shaping the final service. All this is possible only with the coordination and management of employees of the hotel, service processes, technology and other resources in order to produce better services for the customer. Hilton Hotels Corporation is recognized all over the world as a well known hospitality company1, offering guests and customers the finest accommodations, services, amenities and value for business or leisure. The group has been serving its customers for more than 80 years now. Conrad Hilton purchased his first hotel, The Mobley, in 1919, in Cisco, Texas. The first hotel to carry the "Hilton" name was built in 1925 in Dallas. There's no looking back since then. Today Hilton Hotels Corporation develops, owns, manages and franchises over 2,900 hotels, resorts and vacation ownership properties worldwide, with brand names like Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Hampton, Hilton Grand Vacations and Conrad (Datamonitor, 2006). In recent years, Hilton has been able to boost its leading position in the corporate travel and conference markets while making significant inroads into the growing leisure sector. The hospitality sector has become very much competitive with more and more companies entering the hospitality business with innovative ideas and newer technology. In order to maintain brand advantage, Hilton is constantly developing products and services designed to meet guests' changing demands and offer an enhanced experience. In order to create more opportunities for growth the shareholder of Hilton Group approved the sale of its hotels operation to Hilton Hotels Corporation for $5,900 million in January 2006. With the present operations in more than 80 countries, the hotel chain promises much more as the awards like the Optimus Ireland's Best award encourages it to do more. 3. Role of Quality The final service/ product and quality are to be valued by the customers. Quality is a function of value addition or vice-versa. The value that has been added to the product has to be seen in relation to the customer's needs and expectations. In general, for an organisation there are both external and internal customers. The external customers are those who use the services of the hotel while the internal customers are the employees and other internal stakeholders. Once the service is delivered to the intended

Managing Financial Systems in the Hospitality Industry Essay

Managing Financial Systems in the Hospitality Industry - Essay Example This essay stresses that financial statement appraises the company’s owners of the financial standing of the firm. Based on this the organization takes decisions, which affect both the profitability and the risk of the firm’s operations. In the hospitality industry, management accounting system (MAS) gives an evaluation of the performance. Financial statements help to monitor business performance and analyze statement relevant to investment decisions. There is more emphasis now on risk assessment and non-financial performance measures. This paper makes a conclusion that Market analysis gives details of competition, and expected business based on macro and micro factors. It takes into account the country’s economy, the reasons for recessions and downslide and the resultant impact on the business proposed. The projections of sales and profitability can only be made once the revenue per customer is estimated. Market segmentation further helps to get a realistic picture. The value of the company is determined by the analysts and the capital market by discounting the present value of the future cash flows that will be generated by the company’s operations. The assets and liabilities also change in value over time. The revaluations are fixed with reference to either the stock market or the real estate market. In the case of the hospitality industry it is related to the real estate market. The financial analysts also deal separately with the assets and liabilities.