Contrast and Similarities Between Digital and Film Cameras Essay

Nowadays camera is very essential technology in our everyday life. But once upon a time, camera was very rare. Somebody had to go to studio to take his/her photo. This technology was also so complicated at that time. All cameras were either huge in size or immobile. But now we find camera everywhere. Presently, we can not think of any mobile phones or laptops without build-in camera. All classical cameras were film cameras and now we hardly find them. Through improvement of technology, almost all cameras are being digitalized. With this change, digital camers look very different from the films. The main difference between digital and film camera is the storage option. In film cameras, captured photos are stored in the film itself whereas photos are stored in a memory card in digital cameras. Digital cameras has an image sensor . This sensor helps take and store photos. This sensor is absent in film cameras. If the film is exposed once it can not be used again in film cameras. Memory card is re-usable Photos stored in memory card can be erased and then it again be re-usable. Film has to develop by using different kinds of chemicals in film cameras while we can see photos instantly either on the computers or in digital camera. A darkroom is required to develop photos captured in film cameras and this process is complicated. This process is much easier if photos captured in digital cameras. We can easily print digital photos from computer. Digital cameras require more power than film cameras. Generally rechargeable and non-rechargeable batteries are used in digital and film cameras respectively. Film cameras response quickly. Its takes less time than digital cameras to focus. The fraction time between to focus is also less in film cameras. Now let’s discuss about photo quality between digital and film cameras. Photo quality is depends on equipment in digital cameras whether film cameras has no variation. All film cameras are same. They provide same quality photos. But in digital cameras photo quality depends on megapixel, sensor and on many other things. Today in market , we found 1 to 50 or more mega pixels digital camera. Digital cameras can be many types, such as DSLR, SLR etc. Film cameras is only one type. Lens and scale is also a great difference between film and digital cameras. Professional photographers are demand high quality cameras that why there first choice is digital camera. The other most important contrast between digital and film camera is tonal range. Tonal range is number of grades of light to dark in photo. Digital cameras are limited to 256 grades whereas film cameras have unlimited grades. Film cameras are ahead in tonal range. So they can produce limitless grades of light to dark. More apparently, film cameras can capture all dark view, not matter how mild it is. On the other hand, digital cameras produce bright view instead of mild darkness. We already know that, in digital camera photo quality depends on megapixel. So here is a question about its work, and also how grains work in film cameras. More mega pixel produces more sharp photos. Grains also do the same thing in film cameras. Brightness, hue, value, saturation etc are also same in digital and film cameras. Both has required lens, both has same shape, both can produce monochromic and color photos. In film cameras, grains speed depends on speed of the film whereas megapixel can be troubleshoot from menu. More people choose slower film camera. A slower film camera is equal to 8 megapixel camera. Both in film and digital cameras megapixel alone can’t sharp photo quality. Some special effect and zoom etc can changeable in digital cameras while film camera does not has those option. Aparture is almost same in both type of cameras whereas shutter is same. Size of photo can’t vary and lens is obvious equipment of both cameras. In conclusion, we can say both cameras are important. Because the importance of cameras are vary from person to person, profession to profession. Professional photographers generally choose digital cameras and again sometimes they need film cameras for specific reason. Both film and digital cameras has lots of fan. It just like CD and cassette, both are important.

A view on Edward Snowden’s case Essay

American security consultant working for NSA on behalf of Booz Hamilton consulting Leaked top secret US and UK govt surveillance programs data to press bcoz of his â€Å"conscience† Charges on him of : espionage, theft of govt property. Leaked it to Guardian. Also, Nuremberg 1945 act says that â€Å"individuals have international duties that transcend national obligations of obedience. Therefore individuals have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against humanity† Daniel Ellsberg did similar expose in 1971, releasing US decisions on Vietnam war, and was also awarded in 1978 â€Å"Gandhi Peace Prize†. These â€Å"Pentagon papers† revealed that US knew it was gonna lose the war and that casualties would be higher if it continued. Snowden applied for political asylum in 20 countries but each was indirectly threatened by US. A hero, dissident, traitor, whistle-blower, and a patriot. Snowden made contact with The Guardian in late 2012. Left Hawaii for Hong Kong on May 20, 2013. Iceland was his choice but could not make it coz of fear of being interdicted. A 5min movie Verax was also made showing his successful hiding in Hong Kong 20 applications for asylum. Temporary asylum of 1year in Russia which could be renewed annually. Granted on August 1st Reactions: US National Intelligence chief calls it reckless. Obama dismisses him but still calls him no patriot and Americans were better off without knowing about the surveillance activities. Also, NI chief says it was good coz we needed the debate on secutiry vs privacy since long-time. Bt LAVABIT, an email service provider used by Snowden had to be shutdown after they felt they were going against the grain of being for the people â€Å"What makes us different from other countries is not simply our ability to secure our nation,† Obama said. â€Å"It’s the way we do it, with open debate and democratic process.† If that’s so, then Edward Snowden should be hailed as a hero. There’s simply no doubt that his leaks led to more open debate and more democratic process than would’ve existed otherwise. Obama reluctantly admitted as much. â€Å"There’s no doubt that Mr. Snowden’s leaks triggered a much more rapid and passionate response than would have been the case if I had simply appointed this review board,† he said, though he also argued that absent Snowden, â€Å"we would have gotten to the same place, and we would have done so without putting at risk our national security and some very vital ways that we are able to get intelligence that we need to secure the country.†

Advertising Victoria’s Secret Essay

Victoria’s Secret is a retail seller of women’s clothing and beauty goods, but is most familiar as a dealer of lingerie. Victoria’s Secret had retailing of more than US$ 2.6 billion through their over 900 retail stores in the U.S. in 2005. In Joseph Jaffe’s â€Å"Life After the 30-Second Spot,† he looks at how the mode that most companies and organizations believe is the best way to get their point crosswise to customers and projection – television advertisements. It is significant to note that it’s not that the ads aren’t imaginative, inventive, or are not talking the verbal communication of the spectator – no less than for the most part – that has sourced the need for a â€Å"life after† this type of marketing, it’s the empowerment of all of us in the marketplace, letting the people â€Å"call the shots† for maybe the first time in a long, long while. Victoria’s Secret was six money losing lingerie stores and a successful catalog when Wexner bought the company in 1982. It was a business aimed at making men comfortable buying lingerie. But what Wexner saw was an essential appeal to women. From its inception, Victoria’s Secret’s telephone operators were trained to be soothingly supportive when embarrassed males called. You don’t know your lady’s bra size? No problem. Do you know where she keeps them? Okay, look on the edge of the strap and it will tell you the size. Today almost exclusively women for women who are mainly buying to please themselves run Victoria’s Secret. Doing only $7 million when Wexner bought it, the business grossed nearly $1.8 billion in 2003, two-thirds from the stores. Wexner was at his best, grasping the potential of Victoria’s Secret and then realizing that potential. He created stores that enhanced a mood: pretty but not overtly sexy, with satin nightgowns hung on the walls, a color-coordinated spread of undergarments on tables and plenty of room to mill about on thick carpeting. Thus coddled, the Victoria’s Secret customer buys eight to ten bras a year; the typical American woman buys two. â€Å"We’ve made women consider the bra and panty part of their fashion wardrobe,† says Grace Nichols, 48, chief executive of Victoria’s Secret stores. A woman buys an aqua satin bra from Victoria’s Secret in the same way she buys a new lipstick color, to cheer up, to feel better or to indulge herself. â€Å"Narcissism is real,† says Wexner. â€Å"It’s the key to the business.† The stores and catalog arc now run separately and carry mostly different goods, with only about 5% overlap. But they reinforce each other. FORBES estimates between 200 million and 240 million catalogs are mailed to 10 million people–with some getting as many as 45 catalogs a year. As much as generating mail-order and 800-number business, the catalogs stimulate women to visit the stores. â€Å"We’re in the customer’s face on a regular basis,† Nichols says. She has plans to go from 600 Victoria’s Secret stores to as many as 1,000 stores, adding 50 a year, even without expanding abroad. Six years ago Victoria’s Secret introduced a line of scented bath gels, soaps and lotions. â€Å"These products are indulgence-oriented, so we saw a great emotional marriage between the two products,† says Nichols. The line now constitutes $180 million in revenues and 15% of sales, with better than 50% gross margins. Not rock music but Vivaldi and Beethoven pour softly from the loud-speakers in Victoria’s Secret stores. Customers started requesting tapes and CDs. Why not? Since 1989 the stores have sold more than 10 million tapes and CDs, recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra for the Victoria’s Secret label. Cynthia Fedus, chief executive of the catalog operation since 1988, also made major changes. Out went the steamy shots of scantily dad males and females grappling, ogling or embracing each other that were common under her male predecessor. In came a mannered, aristocratic look with British affectations. Though headquartered in New York, the catalog first listed a London address on the cover. But when people started showing up at that address, an administrative office, it was dropped. The catalog still states a price in pounds. â€Å"It became aspirational, with older models posing in rich-looking, lovely settings,† she says. Sales doubled her first year, to more than $100 million. Fedus also added to the lingerie a line of sportswear and evening wear, which has become 60% of sales. A supplemental swimwear issue debuted, bringing in $12 million in sales. There followed a country issue with rustic clothing and Timberland shoes. Leslie Wexner has always understood that retailing and show business are first cousins. Victoria’s Secret has become a powerful mainstream retailing brand image. Why. Those with a taste for pop psychology speculate that professional women, denied highly feminine clothes at the office, want to wear ultra-feminine garments underneath. Such talk bores pragmatic Nichols. â€Å"I could tell you any bullshit you want to hear,† she snaps, â€Å"but you’ll find the [lingerie] category hasn’t grown; we’ve just grabbed market share.† Victoria’s Secret has aided; perchance more than any other product attract notice to the lingerie industry. Their advertising operations, together with the Victoria’s Secret Lingerie Catalog and Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show are visually attractive and contentious. The notice received by Victoria’s Secret for their violent advertising campaigns has produced invaluable rumor and media bytes to further augment the Victoria’s Secret brand. References Joseph Jaffe, 2005, Life After the 30-Second Spot: Energize Your Brand With a Bold Mix of Alternatives to Traditional, Publisher: John Wiley ; Sons Inc

MANAGEMENT SOCIAL PLACE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MANAGEMENT SOCIAL PLACE - Essay Example e expectation of privacy is a legal phrase which suggests that individuals have certain amount of expectation of privacy and this expectation should only be protected if the individual believes that he/she should have privacy and the society is even of the view that an individual should have privacy (Walsh 318). If an individual is posting certain personal details such as pictures and texts over the social media without protecting them with privacy settings, they do not want to keep those posts private and cannot use the expectation of privacy clause. Under employment law individuals have certain rights to privacy in relation to social media. Under the 14th amendment as well as off duty statutes employees have the right to privacy and employers are restricted from infringing upon these rights. This means that employers cannot access the social media content of an individual while making hiring decisions. they can only access this information if they have obtained consent from the applicant, but this information should only be used if other background checks such as conduct of the employee in previous jobs are consistent with the content found on the applicant’s social media

Analysis of Crisis Management Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Analysis of Crisis Management - Article Example Construction companies are an example of companies faced with high possibilities of developing crisis. This is due to the risky environment within which they operate that may result to an injury of their employees due to accidents, lawsuits that may be as a result of injured persons claiming compensation and also the possibility of laborers getting involved in boycotts due to poor salaries etc. A crisis is an event that occurs as a result of the disagreement between two or more people, or out of the conflict of interest on a subject which may result to disruption of normal activities. In businesses, a crisis can have negative effects on the financial status if they are not well handled. A crisis can occur due to natural disaster, human error or technological failure (Friedman 2003 p 85). Crisis management is the process through which a company dedicates its efforts to ensuring that threats that occur without the anticipation of the management are solved professionally and effectively. Unlike the risk assessment process which concentrates on the prevention of risks from occurring, crises management is concerned with managing threats that have already occurred (Reason 2002 p 51). It, therefore, requires understanding and experience in the field which is important in saving time and resources required in containing the threat. It involves various strategies and set guidelines which are followed when responding to threats. These guidelines include well-defined methods of solving threats that have already happened, the well-established definition of crisis into categories that would determine the response period and the communication between the various personnel involved in executing the response mechanisms This refers to the challenges that face the construction industries. These industries are faced with many risks due to the working environment that pose danger to humans.  Ã‚  

Language diversity and global media Research Proposal

Language diversity and global media - Research Proposal Example However, a major concern facing advertisers now is the possibility that historical criticisms directed at limited or stereotypical advertising content involving minorities (Westerman, 1989; Wilson and Guitierrez, 1995) may have created a negative atmosphere for these consumers to receive current multicultural marketing communication efforts. Similarly, as in-language media continues to grow, some have come to question the usefulness of general market English language media channels to reach consumers from ethnic minority groups (NCM.com, 2005). Although extensive research since the 1960s has generally acknowledged improvements in the portrayals of minorities in advertising, scholars and practitioners alike still suggest a need for more frequent and more positive portrayals, along with a broader range of roles and a greater degree of accuracy in the portrayals (Taylor and Bang, 1997). Some have suggested that ethnic media--that is, culturally relevant and/or in-language media--may be a better means for successfully reaching and representing ethnic minority consumers than general market English language media (Kalita, 2005; NCM.com, 2005; Yin, 2002) With increasing improvements of minority portrayals in general media and the development of ethnic media, one area that has been largely overlooked in the literature has been how ethnic minorities actually feel about portrayals of themselves in advertising (Green, 1999; Grier and Brumbaugh, 1999; Holland and Gentry, 1999). Attitudes such as these help form the media environment that in turn determines advertising message effectiveness. A meaningful research agenda relevant to today's media landscape should therefore be to find out (1) if ethnic minorities desire more representation and/or more accurate representation in the media and (2) if the historical criticisms have created a generally negative attitude among ethnic minority consumers and thus a difficult media environment within which a rejection of "mainstream" English language media outlets may exist. To address these issues, African and Latin Americans were selected as the focus of a study as they represent the largest ethn ic minority populations in the United States, and these groups have been receiving a significant amount of attention from marketers (Minority Markets Alert IX, 1997). Size, Growth Rates, And Purchasing Power Today, there are just over 281 million Americans in the United States and nearly one in four claims to have non-European ethnicities (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). In some of the nation's largest cities (e.g., New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Atlanta) more than half of the residents are nonwhites, and in some cases up to 70 percent of a large city's population consists of minorities. This demographic shift is predicted to continue with non-European ethnicities expected to exceed 50 percent of the U.S. population by the middle of this century (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). Therefore, to ensure effective marketing communication, it is necessary that marketers understand all aspects of the various ethnic minority groups, ranging from their size and spending power to media use patterns and beliefs regarding marketing efforts. According to the

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

Obesity - Essay Example Children spend little or no time outside playing and running around because of video games. The pharmaceutical companies provide the population with pills to lose weight and this increases passive lifestyle because psychologically people will always choose swallowing pill over exercises because it’s easy (Flegal et al., 2010). I strongly believe that lifestyle and environmental factors are the major causes and it can be seen that from 1980 the breakthrough in modern technologies in all spheres of life. The dietary habit of people changed as fast foods replaced home foods; people adopted the consumption of fast foods which contain a lot of calories and sugars. This saves time and sometimes money but in reality it comes with serious health consequences. The spread of fast food like wildfire led to increase consumption of high calories and increase in machinery reduced physical activities, in the big picture children spend more time indoors with video games and eating high fatty foods which leads to obesity and the same is seen in adults who spend so much time working. The consumption of fast food relieves them of the â€Å"stress† of cooking and putting into account decrease in physical activities due to machinery. In the developing countries where western lifestyle is being adopted it’s seen that obesity is also increasing. To turn the trend of obesity certain measures need be taken, such as 1) encouraging physical exercises 2) control of appetite by educating the people on the dangers of unhealthy eating, 3) regulating the activities of fast food companies and 4) building of parks and providing free outdoor exercise facilities (Flegal et al., 2010). I will advise him to firstly decrease the consumption of high calorie intake especially in fast food and increase intake of vegetables and fruits, control of appetite and try to exercise at least 3 times in a week with the intensity of the exercise increasing

Frist quality management assays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Frist quality management assays - Essay Example Many a times people fail to realise that what they are doing is ultimately for the client and it is because the client pays that the company is running. Some companies were so surprised initially by the sudden ‘quality movement’ of the 1990’s that Cant (1992, p. 1) commented that Businesses generally have a lethargic approach towards any kind of change. When TQM was still a newbie, some people thought that it could rescue businesses from ‘flabby management techniques’ and ‘shoddy products’, while others thought it to be ‘too perfect’ and that such management techniques cost more than they are worth. American firms could not truly embrace ‘Quality Management’ until they thought it made their shareholders more money than it did the seminar organizers, consultants and book publishers, who again, they thought, reaped the biggest quality rewards of the 1980s. Only those who had the patience and stuck to it reaped the rewards. Many, who did not, were wiped out in the competition. Virtually every business depends on repeat business for survival. It’s a common sense answer that for customers to come back they should be happy with what they got before. Earlier, professionals could count on their reputations and work contacts to provide a steady stream of work; however, as a result of de-regulation, an over-supply of professionals in many disciplines and a declining public image, this is no longer guaranteed. A research study done on legal advisors, where the sample consisted of 600 commercial business organizations drawn from ‘Key British Enterprises’ 1989 proved that â€Å"Clients with higher perceptions of service quality are likely to consider changing their legal advisers less often and expect to enjoy longer working relationships with their corporate legal advisers.† (Morgan 2007, p. 38) Though we know that the relation between ‘customer satisfaction’ and ‘profits’ is quite obvious, there are 3 problems,

Cultural Considerations in the Design and Localisation of Essay

Cultural Considerations in the Design and Localisation of International Websites - Essay Example ses who want to make sure they can gain profits more efficiently in the fierce market competition should definitely design their websites in different languages and localise them to adapt to the local culture. Sun (2004), who is a senior localisation specialist from a software localisation company in Shenzhen, defines localisation as a process to custom-make software, websites, or documents according to the demands of the target country, or market, in order to eliminate the cultural barriers. For example, in the context of a company the term localization refers to the transformation of the company’s image to an international standard. Thus, it reaches more countries beyond that which it is mainly based in both expansion of services to target region and meeting their specific, cultural resemblance. In fact, other definitions of localisation also stress that website localisation is meant to revise the website to give the website a linguistic appeal in aagreement with the target culture so that the information on the website can be accessed and used by the target users more easily. It is an all-round process so the designer of the website must consider all business and cultural aspects. The designer should not only be a programming expert since great web design is not enough in business localisation. Thus, the web designer should also be familiar with the target culture knowledge, and of course, master the target language. It can be seen that, through restructuring of the web content and emphasis of a cultural appeal; the basic object of localisation is to eliminate cultural barriers. Therefore the cultural considerations are definitely necessary and even the most important concern in the design and localisation of international websites.The essay is going to start with describing the necessary of localisation of international websites. Next there are some analyses of important cultural considerations, such as language, colour, images and symbols, layout and data

Scope and System Dynamic Modeling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Scope and System Dynamic Modeling - Essay Example From this discussion it is clear that the model will be unable to tell the whole story behind the topic. Therefore, only impacts of interest are selected and included in the model. With the green house effect rising to alarming levels over the past decade, it seems worhtwhile to investigate the relationship between CO2 emission and global manufacturing in the current model. In addition, monetary relations between the multinationals and the host country which include taxation, contribution to Gross Domestic Product from global manufacturing and gross profit of the multinationals are likewise include in the model. Change in living standard and creation of employment from global manufacturing are also integrated into the model for better understanding between these global multinationals and the host country. This paper outlines that the Vensim software is used to simulate a system dynamics model of the situation being studied. Running "what if" simulations to test certain policies on such a model can greatly aid in understanding how the system changes over time. In the brainstorming phase, a ‘perfect’ model is the primary goal. Such a ‘prefect’ model will require the inclusion of every possible component with respect to the topic of interest. As a prerequisite, a causal loop diagram must be drafted before constructing the system dynamic model. A causal loop diagram is a diagram that aids in visualizing how interrelated variables affect one another. The diagram consists of a set of nodes representing the variables connected together. The relationships between these variables, represented by arrows, can be labelled as either positive or negative. The following is the first draft of the causal loop diagram.

Case study Pedophile Housing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Case study Pedophile Housing - Research Paper Example However, some argue that the offender's civil liberties are being violated in conjunction with these laws. In regard to Ms. Abaca's decision to change the current legislation she must consider the different types of offenders. The federal government requires the federal registration of all sexual offenders to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. However, sexual offenders can be further classified by their crimes. All sexual offenders have committed a violation of the victim's privacy. However, this violation can differ based upon classification. Presently differentiations divide sexual crimes into two categories. According to the United States Department of Justice (2008), "(i) any type or degree of genital, oral or anal penetration , or (ii) any sexual touching of or contact with a person's body either directly or through clothing" (6). However, there are strong differentiations between the two categories. Penetration of the victim's body is a serious violation of both the victim's civil liberties and personal space. In comparison category two as defined by the federal government is a broad category. These differentiations raise ethical questions if offenders that do not penetrate the victim should be required to register with both the federal and state sex offender registries as this maybe construed as a violation of the offenders civil liberties. The age of the victim plays an important role in sentencing the offender. Aggravated factors include imprisonment, kidnapping, making videos, prostitution of minors, possession/distribution of child pornography and any type of sexual violations that involve a minor. Currently sexual offenders cannot live within a specific distance of schools, churches, daycare centers, park and community centers. In certain states sexual offenders are not allowed to work within a specific mileage of these places. However, one can argue that this is not just to have broad rules and restrictions placed upon all offenders. Sexual offenders that do not have aggravated circumstances (which include the involvement of a minor) are classified into the broad classification of rules applied to sexual offenders. Like other offenders these offenders that have not committed sexual offenses against minors and do not have aggravated circumstances are not able to reside or work within a certain distance of places t hat involve children. These circumstances are unjust to these offenders as these limitations do not allow for the offender to pursue life in many different aspects. To further complicate the differentiations among sexual offenders, individuals over the age of 18 can be prosecuted for having sexual interactions with individual's fewer than 18. Although, this may appear to be a valid and important point there are instances in which this categorization can be unethical. For example, is it ethical to prosecute an 18 year old senior in high school that has had sexual interactions with his sixteen year old sophomore girlfriend In these cases, should the individual be forced to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life Instead of focusing on ethics these cases often slip through the system and are meant to be exemplary. According to Students Against Destructive Decisions (2007), "Currently 46.8% of all high school students report they have had sexual intercourse." With regard to these statistics one must wonder if it is fair to punish as eighteen year old senior that is having sexual

Friedman’s Discussion of Globalization and Flattening Essay Example for Free

Friedman’s Discussion of Globalization and Flattening Essay Globalization is regarded by its critics as a force which is extending the gap between the world’s rich and poor. In some ways, this has been true, especially throughout the first decade of the post-Cold War Era. The opening of gateways to the East created a relationship between the corporate partners throughout the globe that concentrated the spoils of free-trade into the hands of the wealthy. But in Thomas Friedman’s 2005 meditation on the topic, The World is Flat, there is evidence that in fact, the intended products of globalization such as a greater distribution of knowledge resources and a leveling of the technological playing field are beginning to surface. This latter product of free trade, the ‘leveling’ effect is that which informs Friedman’s title theme. The world has become flat by its increasing smallness. The economic, political, cultural and tele-communicative interconnectivity of nations is gradually eroding many of the geographic obstacles to popular progress. The strands of globalization, the New York Times journalist observes, have contributed to a broadening of access to independent entrepreneurialship and opportunity. Though many of the subjects of the author’s analysis are large American multi-national corporations, there is an evident transition in which knowledge-based internet startup enterprises from across the globe are undermining the more monopolistic proclivities of the American market. In nations such as India and China, American exploitation of lower operational, environmental and labor-oriented costs in the technological sector has caused a proliferation of such resources to the general public. This, in turn, is becoming a hotbed of alternative market action which will ultimately dismantle the superiority of the American economy. According to Friedman’s analysis, a core detriment to the U. S. economy, but a boon to independent operations overseas, has been a disregard for American private conceptions of property rights. From counterfeiting of American name brand consumer goods to pirate telecommunication infrastructural apparatuses, the bureaucratic vulnerabilities to effective globalization are numerous. Both partners in a free-trade circumstance stand to lose economic opportunity in the presence of such market subversions. Thomas Friedman’s text is eye-opening insofar as so many of the matters which he discusses may be directly implicated in the experiences of our everyday lives. In fact, this is the ‘flattening’ principle of which the author speaks, dictating that the public experience rather than simply large institutional abstractions are shaping the context in which we live our lives. Such is to suggest that the technological, educational, informational and recreational freedoms which have traditionally be reserved for those on the upper echelon of both their domestic setting and international geography are increasingly becoming democratic. However, in contrast to Friedman’s general tenor of optimism, his sarcasm only hints at the current consequences of globalization for so many individuals. This discussion is a reflection on Friedman’s text as informed by my own conception of globalization which brings future opportunity at the expense of current human dignity, personal satisfaction and even American prosperity. Therefore, the discussion will be oriented toward elucidating globalization’s internally contradictory nature. Just as it enriches one demographic in a developing nation, it facilitates the targeted abuse of another. Just as it endows us with a heretofore unseen capacity for self-sufficiency, it likewise robs us of the capacity to control the level of satisfaction which we achieve when relating to the commercial world. In the flattening of the global horizon that Friedman lauds as the eventual path to a shared standard of living and prosperity, there is the need for a greater analytical emphasis on the negative forces that are driving individuals to increasingly attempt to find their own pathways to social and commercial interaction. Friedman’s discussion, as we will see, is focused on demonstrating the permeation of benefits to the collective world community in free trade. This is quite supportable from a macrolevel standpoint. Indeed, nations engaged in free trade would do well to support one another in a mutuality of benefit. Certainly, as was illustrated by the economic phenomena of the 1990s’, the expansion of a single large market through a boom of technological progress will have the effect of disseminating to the rest of the free world. This was certainly proved to be true by the dynamic of that decade, when â€Å"there was a massive investment in technology, especially in the bubble era, when hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in putting broadband connectivity around the world. † (Friedman, 6) The result is what is seen as surfacing today. More than the United States, it is the world community which is producing the knowledge workforce of the future. And though Friedman is forthcoming in making that foreboding case, it is important that we expound upon this subject further in this discussion by acknowledging that globalization and the ‘flattening’ effect are not of a uniform pattern. Even as the proliferation which the author discusses is taking place, it has done so with a multitude of consequences that can neither said to have been desire nor can be said to have stimulated greater equality. Friedman, whom by his text we may suggest is a supporter of the ultimate purpose of globalization, makes the technological attribution that â€Å"it was actually the coincidence of the dot-com boom and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that launched the fiber-optic bubble. † (67) Friedman observes that the collective telecom industry invested roughly 1 trillion dollars in half a decade on ‘wiring the world. ’ (67) The deregulation in the 1996 American domestic legislation, which allowed so many larger companies to enforce hostile consolidation measures in a vast array of theretofore legally unapproachable markets, would coincide with the unfettered capital investment in global internet penetration that has ultimately elevated private sector rights over public rights while simultaneously helping to bring other nations to an eventually greater infrastructural promotion of internet access than would be found in the United States. In some manner, this is borne out by a pattern with incredibly broad-based implications for American consumer and job markets. Today, we have seen and experienced the wholesale transfer of our Customer Service industry to fledgling globalizing economies such as that in India. Here, major computer retailers, cable company operators, wireless communication device providers, bank/credit cards merchants and virtually every other monopolistic corporate industry in America is forced to maintain its competitive advantages by commissioning outsourced Customer Service agents located in India. It is their charge to replicate the experience of an American calling a support technician with an intimate relationship with the product in question. This is accomplished with, as Friedman reveals, intensive training in the adoption of linguistic, dialectic and etiquette-related behaviors designed to facilitate comfort for the American caller. â€Å"The Indian call center operators adopt Western names of their own choosing. The idea, of course, is to make their American or European customers feel more comfortable. † (22) Amongst the many indicators that cultural flattening would play a part in this transition of labor, the concept of taking on an Americanized name in the interests of facilitating the core consumer target is not only remarkable but intensely objectionable from the outside perspective, particularly when this outside perspective is informed by the sense of autonomy and individuality typically affiliated with western philosophy. However, for the subjects described in Friedman’s book, an aspect of the western philosophy perhaps more indicative of its cultural interest is the economic opportunity afforded to the hundreds of thousands of young Indian post-graduates competing for the chance to answer phone calls from Americans concerned with all manner of technical support or target marketing. This relatively low-level and typically micro-managed field in America has become amongst the most competitive entry-level positions in India. And in one sense that Friedman captures in the theoretical framing of his text, this is an opportunity for personal economic mobility which for the young student in India might have been seen as extraordinary and rarified just a decade ago. This may hardly be said to be true today, where â€Å"245,000 Indians are answering phones† 24 hours a day and charged with responsibility of representing themselves as being located somewhere in the United States. (24) From a personal perspective, this has produced an incredible dearth of quality service in the United States, where the usability of our products has become increasingly distant from the quality of the Customer Support which we have received. One of the qualities of our technology which Friedman believes has helped to diminish the relevance of geographical distance to serviceability has been the institution of automated Customer Service. For those of us who have been transferred and given insufficient options for contending with specific categories of problem, this has hardly been an added convenience. And the infallibly polite computerized operator is equally as unflappable or emotionally unresponsive as is the outsourced Customer Service representative. In a particularly telling passage where Friedman observes a woman in an Indian call center as caller after caller hangs up the phone in rage, we can see that there is something about this experience that can be excruciating and even unfair. It may be noted that Friedman does a very effective job at distinguishing between the economic, the sociological and the technological factors which have rendered our current level of global flatness. He acknowledges that there were world events which would make the type of collaboration now essential between the United States and India a natural matter of happenstance. Friedman describes the so-called Y2K crisis in which it was feared that a lack of programming foresight would result in the incorrect resetting of the world’s computer-based internal clocking mechanisms, creating the likelihood of widespread technical failure throughout the world. Thus, â€Å"with Y2K bearing down on us, America and India started dating, and that relationship became a huge flattener, because it demonstrated to so many different businesses that the combination of the PC, the Internet, and fiber-optic cables had created the possibility of a whole new for of collaboration horizontal value creation: outsourcing. † (108) So we must yield to the fact that, truly, globalization can hardly be avoided. The scope of consumer need does truly require a greater scope of consumer service, and the Indian economy does have the correct workforce makeup to address this need. But when combined with the expansion of private rights, courtesy of such legislation as the 1996 Act, this has created a frustrating sense for the consumer that ‘flattening’ requires a considerable decline from the experiences to which Americans have grown accustomed. Perhaps the overarching presence in Friedman’s text is the intimation that these factors which are impacting our lives and the affecting the shift of world order are of an inevitable nature. The ten factors which are identified as the flattening mechanisms of the changing globe are largely technological and economic forces with broad social and cultural implications. However, these latter qualities are merely the secondary consequence of a circumstance committed to by former. Such is to say that the proliferation of western culture, though certainly not accidental, is merely incidental. Referring once again to the problematic case of outsourcing Customer Support services, we can see that the imposition of American culture is only due to the need to cater to the American consumer. In reality, though Indian culture is threatened by subversion, it is American culture which is being co-opted for reasons having little to do with cultural expression. As a result, the American identity has been trivialized and largely represented as being tantamount to the conveyance of commercial interest. One of the core revelations offered by this text, at least when placed in the context of the general American’s everyday experience, is that the flattening which has occurred must necessarily come at the expense of the American’s staunch sense of individuality and belief in personal entitlement. Works Cited: Friedman, T. (2005). The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Progress Process And Prospect Of Green Hotels Environmental Sciences Essay

Progress Process And Prospect Of Green Hotels Environmental Sciences Essay Abstract Shortage of natural resources and environmental pollutions are considered as signs of global warming and serious world climatic threat in the last few decades. Hence, environmental conservation has been increasing important to all sectors of the economy for the countries. Though there are many tourism authorities that have created the standards or certifications for environmentally sustainable hotels, very few Malaysia hotels have policies addressing the issues. This study aims to define the progress of Malaysian hotel Industry and proposing the effectiveness and prospect for Malaysian environmental hotels. Research Objective As green becomes the color of the day, the big unknown, however, is whether the rest of the industry will follow suit as well as the uncertainty demand for green hotel. Green hotel always close related to sustainability. A sustainable hotel should have as small a footprint (calculation the sum of a buildings environmental impact) as possible. However, it is nearly impossible to achieve a zero footprint in reality. Most hotels could become truly carbon neutral only by purchasing green credits or carbon-offsetting (e.g., paying a company to plant trees to counteract the hotels carbon-dioxide emissions). In fact, it requires considerable of money for a hotel moving theirs step towards green practices by conserving energy, water and solid waste management, etc. Therefore, the objectives in this study are: To investigate the main factor that influence regular hotel change into green hotel To discover the proper ways that make the regular hotel become green hotel To perceive the future of the hotel after become green Problem Statement Recently more people are embracing a green lifestyle. Since existing buildings contribute almost 80% of the carbon emissions in some cities through their energy use, a major focus of these efforts has been on sustainable construction. Hotels use a tremendous amount of energy and water as well as collect a huge amount of waste. By doing their part to conserve, recycle, and reduce, they are protecting the planet as well as providing a great place for eco-friendly guests to stay. The purpose of this research is to examine the current state of green hotel industry. Further this study also makes the hospitality industry taking an initiative or implement for the sake of the environment. The industry is aware of these concerns, and has been investigating environmentally-friendly alternatives that would still prove consistent with guest concerns for at least the last 15 years.   Theoretical Framework Green hotel is created to decrease the amount of waste entering landfills and increase the amount of waste that can be recycled. Hospitality industry must change their strategy into green movement also they have to searching practical environmental that lead to a better world.   The hotel industry could benefit economically from the green movement, first by attracting guests who wish to adopt a greener lifestyle, as well as saving money through cost-saving energy practices and equipment adjustments.  Being green means Green hotels are adopting environmentally friendly practices and programs that will reduce energy management (Amy 2009), water conservation (JeongDoo), and waste management (Evans, 2008). H4 H5 H3 H2 H1 Figure 1 : Conceptual framework of the main practices of being a green hotel Hypothesis 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Introduction Green Hotels are environmentally-friendly properties whose managers are eager to institute programs that save water, save energy and reduce solid waste while saving money to help protect our one and only earth. Recently more hotels are embracing a green lifestyle. Being green means guests, staff and management are healthier. Since existing buildings contribute almost 80% of the carbon emissions in some cities through their energy use, a major focus of these efforts has been on sustainable construction. Many hotels are responding to consumer demands for a healthier and greener lifestyle by making their business more environmentally friendly. Not only consumer demand, financial incentives also like to encourage the hospitality industry to continue developing more environmentally friendly hotel. Being green means hotel are adopting environmentally friendly practices and programs that will reduce energy, water and waste (Amy, 2009). Green efforts can be as basic as water conservation measures (such as encouraging the re-use of guest linens), housekeepers employing environmentally safe cleaning products or Eco-sensitive spa and bath amenities to grander initiatives such as all-green construction (Kathy, 2007). Among the more pronounced Eco efforts are recently built hotels that weave the use of ecologically sound construction materials and ideas into their very conception. Expect further greening of hotels as consumer demand increases. According to a survey conducted by the Travel Industry Association and Partnership, most adults say they would be more likely to select an hotel that uses more environmentally friendly products and processes, because environmentally friendly product make them become more healthier. Besides providing a positive effect, green hotel also give some problems. Hotel must pay more to get friendly product, also they have to looking for a new place to develop their green hotel. It means that they must cutting down a forest to build their green hotel. And that makes our environment become more diminish. Literature Review The Origin of Green Practices The hotel industry, like many other did not entertain the concept of saving energy for many years, as oil prices were at an all time low in the 1980s and the early part 1990s (Hirschland, Oppenheim and Webb, 2008). The chemical and oil industries were the first to come under investigation by environmentalist due to the visible nature of their environmental impact. The hospitality an industry took a long time to come under scrutiny and as a result was slow to take responsibility in reducing the impact of their business were having on the environment. The concept of green or friendly hotel has become a very serious and profound topic within the hospitality arena in the past decade. Bowman (1975, p.74) states that a series of widely publicized environmental catastrophes signaled the globalization of environmental concern and that society has entered the last stage of a process that has taken humans from fearing, to understanding, to using, to abusing, and now to worrying about the physi cal and biological world around them Hospitality providers are now been forced to take responsibility for the impact their services are having on the environment. In 1996, Agenda 21 for the travel and tourism industry made hospitality providers aware of the need to enhance sustainability development. There is evidence in todays literature to suggest the implementation of environmental practices is widespread across the hospitality industry as the benefit are infinite, the most important being financial sustainability. Pizman (2009) believes that many hospitality organizations are not interested in environmental sustainability for altruistic or ethical reasons, but are purely investing in environmental practices for selfish profitable reasons. Houdre (2006), Brown (2006) and Stark (2009) have made it clear that the prime reason for implementing environmental practices is geared towards profitability. Cotton (2007) believes that the purpose of running any business is to make a profit and so it is alarming the number of hospitality organizations that are not adopting green practices in order to drive long term profitability. This suggests that there are barriers and obstacles with regard to the implementation of environmental practices in the hospitality industry. Green Hotels in Malaysia Over the past decade many organization, both in the private and the public sectors have recognized the value of a systematic approach to the management of their organization (Abdallah, 2007). Superficially, it might be argued that environmental management is not important issue in the Malaysian hotel industry. Comparing with the other environmentally developed hotel industry from other countries, Malaysia hotel industry appears lacking in the awareness for environmentally policy (Azusa, 2009). There is a realization among many hotels that environmental management does not solely mean preventing their surroundings from being polluted. Daily operational activities and consideration, which range from the use of recycled papers to minimizing the use of heavy chemicals also provide a significant cost saving measure for hotels (Hong and Parker, 2004). Therefore, it is not true to state that investment in environmental management practices will result in the escalation of operational costs and erosion of profit margins (Foster, Sampson and Dunn, 2000) According to the star.com.my five hotels in Malaysia have been chosen as the new recipients of the ASEAN Green Hotel Award 2010, bringing the total number of such hotel in the country to 10.the five hotels are The Andaman Langkawi in Sedah, Shangri-LAs Tanjung Aru Resort Spa in Kota Kinabalu. Mines Wellnes Hotel in Selangor, Shangri-Las Rasa Ria Resort in Tuaran and Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel. The ASEAN Green Hotel Award 2008 recipients which managed to retain their status were Hotel Melia Kuala Lumpur, Nexus Resort Karambunai in Sabah, Shangri-Las Rasa Sayang Resort Spa in Penang, Shangri-las Hotel Kuala Lumpur and The Frangipani Langkawi Resort Spa. The ASEAN Green Hotel Standard is an essential tool to support ASEAN as a world class quality destination. Zero Waste Approach Going Beyond Best Practices This report discusses several topics that illustrate ways hotel are becoming greener. Although implementing the best practices saves money, this report shows how to go beyond best practices. The goal being a friendly hotel is to eliminate as much as possible the negative impacts on the environment both by reducing consumption of resources and by changing the practices so that the waste hotel produce can be used as raw material. Achieving zero waste may or may not possible in the foreseeable future. What matters is working towards zero waste by continuing to implement programs as new opportunities to use previously wasted materials become available. Nowadays a few leading hotels are striving to become zero waste brands, which does not necessarily mean the elimination of all by-product. It means using resources efficiently, using renewable resources and when generation of by-products is unavoidable, using those by-product as raw material for other processes. Besides implementing zero w aste, energy conservation and water conservation also important to practices the green hotel. The cost savings and environmental benefits of the zero waste initiative more important and it takes to launch such a program. The process of reaching zero waste takes several months to complete with most organizations seeing viable results after the first year (Thayne, 2010). The zero waste process must involve every member of the hotel, with a core team or steering committee overseeing the initiative. To achieve zero waste hotels must identify how much waste exists in the organization past to the initiative and work together with the each member of the department to determine the amount of waste created in each category. A few leading hotels today are determined to become zero waste brand, which does not necessarily mean the elimination of all by products. It means that using resources efficiently, using renewable resources and when generation of by product is unavoidable, using those by products as raw material for other processes (Abhinav and Rajeshwari, 2001). Environmental Management Practices (EMP) Over the past decade many organization, both in the private and the public sectors, have recognized the value of a systematic approach to the management of their organizations. Apparently, it might be argued that environmental management is not an important issue in the Malaysian hotel industry. After all, certain groups might argue that it is impossible for the hotels to be environmentally aware due to high investment cost involved. However, upon deeper examination of the subject might reveal that hotels in Malaysia cannot avoid confronting this issue for long if they are to remain competitive (Ahmad, 2007). There is a realization among many hotels that environmental management does not only mean preventing their surroundings from being polluted. Daily operational activities and consideration, which range from the use of recycled papers to minimizing the use of heavy chemicals also provide a significant cost saving measure for hotel (Hong Parker, 2004). Environmental management is a management framework for reducing environmental impacts and improving hotel performance overtime. In other words, environmental management provide hotel of all types with a structures approach for managing environmental and regulatory responsibilities to improve overall environmental performance (Vandermerwe Oliff, 1990). Environmental management practice initiatives consist of several practices such as having an environmental policy, training and rewarding workers to find opportunities to prevent pollution, setting corporation wide internal standards, undertaking internal environmental audits and adopting the philosophy of total quality management in environmental management (Khanna Anton, 2002). In general, environmental management practice would include the extent to which a company has defined its environmental policy, developed procedures to establish environmental objectives, to select and implemented environmental practices assessed the outcomes of such practices and has allocated environmental responsibilities (Klassen Whybark, 1996). Such an pressure in the hotel industry would mean that environmental management should be studied from all technical and organizational angles so as to reduce the environmental impact caused by a hotel business operations. The benefit of adopting Environmental Management Practices is multifarious. For instance, of the streamlining of a hotels operational activities to be consonant with environmental needs will accrue savings (Rondinelli Vastag, 1995) through the prevention of environmental degradation in turn leading to reduced cost of production and higher profit (Pava Krausz, 1997; Russo, Fouts Paul, 1997; Waddoek Graves, 1997). Ultimately, the implementation of Environmental Management Practices may provide hotels with unique environmental resources operation, capabilities and benefits that may confer a competitive advantage to practitioners (Hart, 1995; Klassen Whybark, 1999). Such benefit may obtain from image benefit, embracing of eco-tourism and cost saving (Aalders, 2002 ; Holland Foo, 2003; Kollman, 2001; Prakash, 2002). Energy Efficiency Hotels are the largest consumers of energy not only in building construction but also as establishment with complex installations, which provide guests with high level of multi-faceted comfort and exclusive amenities, treatment and facilities. Many of the services provided to hotel guests are highly resource intensive whether it concerns energy, water or raw materials. A significant amount of the energy used is wasted leaving sample for intelligent measures of energy efficiency and conservation (Joseph, 2009). Since the installation of energy, water and raw material saving techniques in hotels can achieve environmental progress and offer competitive advantages to hotels in outperforming their counterparts, many new energy saving facilities have been introduced by the hotel sector in the past few years following technological advances (Willy, 2009). The increase in energy price means that energy conservation efforts should be taken to reduce the effect of energy cost (Weng Wai, Buang and Abdul Hakim, p.58, 2006). As stated by Yukata Mizuta (2003), energy conservation may not only bring reductions in carbon dioxide emission, but may also lead to saving in the expenditure on energy. On a worldwide basis, the energy used in the hotels is predominantly fossil fuel based or comes from nuclear reactors (Philip, 2009). A truly sustainable hotel must not only consider ways to use energy wisely but should also consider the possibilities of enhancing the use of energy from renewable resources. About 40% of the energy used in a hotel is electricity, 60% comes from natural gas and oils fuels (Niki, 2008). These energy bearers are brought in by the hotel. The energy is converted by a number of conversion into the most important internal flows of energy namely heat, cold and lighting. Heat is used in the form of hot water; hot water is used i n the form of hot tap water. Cold is used mainly for cooling and drying the ventilation air, mostly cold is produced in the form of ice water. Figure 1. Energy consumption that use in the hotel Lighting is one of the largest electrical energy consumers in the hotels, as in many other kinds of utility buildings. Figure 1 shows that some 35% of the total energy consumption in hotel goes to lighting. Lighting installation must provide adequate levels of lighting for each activity. Bright and comfort level are also important for lighting inside the hotels, depending on the area where lighting are required. Lighting levels necessary for each zone are established in the lighting regulations of each particular country. These levels should be reached by the most suitable lamps for each application. When it comes to the energy savings that can be made on lighting, there are two main ways. Efficient lighting Required lighting is supplied by light resources, which are made up of lamp and luminaries. The choice of light source depends on various criteria, e.g.: efficiency color temperature, color representation index, lamp life, emission modeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc. Lighting in the different areas of the hotels have different requirement, but it is very important that the most efficient lamp is chosen for each application. Smart switching Another savings can be achieved with smart switching of lighting. Lighting is frequently switched on unnecessarily when there is sufficient daylight or there is nobody in the room. With manual operated system especially, light tend to be left burning needlessly. Water Conservation Water conservation encourage hotel to manage how and when water is being used, handle both the technical and human side of water management issues. It is estimated that by 2010, water use increase to approximately 475 gallons per day for each hotel room (Sarah, 2002).however in other accommodations, water uses still a cost and an important stress on the local environment. In many cases water conservation can be a matter of purchasing and using the proper systems. Factors that consider water sources may include renewability, potential impact on the environment and water supplies as well as economic benefit. Some of developing countries, hotel water use may impact the water supplies of the local people. Any water use reduction program must have full support of the each member of the hotel. Some hotel estimated that only small percentage of water consumed by the guest, the remainder is used by the chambermaids during cleaning. Water is crucial resources for the hospitality industry as i t limited resource and needed for number activities as illustrated in figure 2. Figure 2. Hotel water system and use Identifying where water use is extreme important to hotel in developing areas. With increasing awareness of cost saving opportunities through water conservation, various related programs have been developed and implemented among hotel companies. According to Marriott International (2007) linen reuse program, encouraging guests to reuse lines and towels during they stay contributes to saving 11 to 17% on hot water. Previous literature also reported that linen and towel reuse programs are well-established practices in hotel in most countries, with more than two-thirds of the respondents in studies conducted in different countries using such program (Bohdanowicz, 2006; Erdogan and Baris 2007; Mensah, 2006). This program saves not only hot water and energy, but also reduces the use of detergents and thereby reduces wastewater. Waste Management Hospitality industry can become important factor in the minimization of waste that is currently disposed of at landfill sites. Waste management has been designed and implemented to reduce the volume and toxicity of garbage (Iwanowski and Rushmore, 1994). Erdogan and Barish (2007) conducted a study to examine environmental practices and found that paper and food waste are the greatest amount of waste generated sources of hotels. Previous research indicates that the level of hotels commitment to waste sorting and recycling varies, depending on regulatory pressures and local governments support. Waste minimization and management involves reduce, reuse and recycling. These efforts combine to minimize the amount of waste disposed and the cost of disposal and help to ensure that final disposal is done in an approved and sustainable manner. Minimizing waste generation begins in purchasing function. Purchasing in bulk, using product manufactured from recycled materials, controlling the usage of product to avoid waste and working with supplier to minimize product packaging are all proven ways to minimize waste generation (David, 2002) Reuse as a means of waste reduction has been practiced in the hospitality industry for many years; beverage container such as those holding syrup concentrate and beer kegs are typical. Reuse does not have to happen on the property itself; used linens can be donated to shelters or other charitable organizations for reuse (Willy, 2009). Reusing materials is better choice than recycling, burning or landfill. Reusing different from recycling, recycling breaks down an item into the basic parts and makes a new product out of it, but reusing an items keeps the material in its original form and uses the item over and over again for the same or different purpose. Recycling as a means of conservation can be turned into revenue steam. The price paid for recycled materials varies geographically and over time (Philip, 2009). A recycled product describes a product that is made entirely or partly from secondary material recovered from consumer waste. Some product are reduced to their raw state and remanufactured into something resembling their original state. In the case of recycled paper, the newspaper gathered from guest bedrooms and the used notepaper coming from the hotel copy shop are reduced back to their raw state of paper pulp which is then used to produce more paper. Unfortunately, many products recycled in this manner come back as lesser quality product (David, 2002). Reduce as a means lessening the amount items or resources that are consumed using the amount that is needed. The example of the reduce task that hotel can do is; reduce the amount and toxicity of trash that hotel discard, possibilities include purchasing durable, long lasting goods, seeking product and packaging that are as toxin free as possible and redesigning products to use fewer raw materials in production, last longer or can be used again after their original purpose. Hotel activities should be able to be safely assimilated into natural system, thus highlighting the need of solid and liquid management techniques Figure 3. Wastage that generated by hotel Solid waste in hotels has many components, including paper, food, various metals, plastics, aluminum and glass. This gives a picture of the variety of waste that can be produces by only a small number of hotels in a city. When looked at with a zero-waste attitude, these figures show the opportunities for both resource recovery and waste reduction. Implementing a solid waste reduction program in a hotel can create significant cost savings in waste hauling fees while creating a more environmentally friendly hotel (Sarah, 2002). This is especially true as solid waste becomes a more significant environmental issue and landfill fees increase. Often hotels hesitate to establish program in solid management because of the coordination and cooperation needed among management, employees and guests. However the cost benefit is an incentive. Implementing Green Initiatives While many companies and individuals talk about ways they can help the environment, it is still only a few that are actually creating a plan of action. Meeting Professionals International or MPI took its first step in 2006 at the Professional Education Conference, a convention of meeting planners from around the world. MPI worked with the convention center to recycle products from the meeting by donating leftover food bank, donating signs to local schools for art projects and using green catering for conference events (Gardner, 2006). These are simple ways to add a green initiative to the hotel and incorporate a no waste practice at little cost. One way meeting planners can learn what a hotel provides in term of green practice is by placing green request into the request for proposal. Some planners are asking for recycling programs to be in place. Planners are also requesting that hotels have complete green programs in place or their hotel will not be chosen for an event (Gardner, 2006) Banquet Department According to Nancy Wilson of Meeting Strategies Worldwide, these are some steps that can be taken to green the hotel: Use e-mail instead of paper mail Use an online registration system Forgo handing out conference bags unless they are made of recycled materials A really interesting thought is to choose hotels either near the airport or close to all activities relating to the meeting (Gardner, 2006). This will limit carbon dioxide emissions by limiting the need for vehicular transportation from one location to the next. As for food service, the banquet department should update how food and coffee breaks are presented to the guest. Instead of individually wrapped sweets, honey, jams and creams, the hotel needs to switch to bulk containers that can be reused many times, creating less trash (McPhee, 2006). In addition, instead of throwaway utensils, silverware should be supplied to stir coffee and tea. Refillable water jugs that can be set up sporadically throughout the meeting space with real glasses available should be used in place of bottled water. Changing the lighting to energy efficient bulbs in the meeting space, fitness center and employee only areas of the hotel will be high priority. Groups have specific lighting needs for the meeting space, but the fitness center and back of house do not need to have many different types of lighting. Fortunately, there are many new efficient bulbs that can now be dimmed and adjusted to the groups needs in the event space (Fedrizzi and Rogers, 2002). The more intense project will be installing motion sensors throughout the meeting space and back of house. These areas are used for a large amount of time each day, but there are times when no one would be in the areas at all. If the sensors could turn the light on and off when someone walks in or out of a room by detecting body heat, then the energy would be reduce in comparison to when the lights are left on continuously (Serlen, 2008). Guest Room The guest room is a difficult location to implement changes, as it requires the guest to believe what the hotel would like to change. If the guest wants new sheets each day, then the hotel most likely will oblige the guest to make them happy. That being said, many initiatives can be taken to make it easy for the guest to participate in the new policies. Another aspect is how to save energy in empty guest rooms. According to Jeff Sobieski (2008), hotel guestrooms are unoccupied approximately 60% of the time. This mean that for 60% of the time, the hotel can be in control of the temperature and lighting of a guestroom and manage how much energy is being used during that time without interfering with the guests comfort. The following are two examples of energy saving scenarios that can take place in guest rooms. The first is to change light bulbs to energy efficient light bulbs that will last long and use less power. The other change is the turn off program. This program will have the Thermostat linked to the hotel database so the temperature can change when the guest check in and out. This system can also reset itself anytime the guest leaves the room (Freed, 2008). Also, if the room has a balcony, anytime the balcony door opens, the temperature will reset itself. Ran in conjunction with the second scenario, the turn off program, hotels can use in-room occupancy detectors. These detectors use body heat sensors to scan the room to check is a guest has entered or exited the room. Once it detects that someone is in the room, the system will return the temperature of the room back to the guests preference. The sensors can also be used as a way to keep the lights from being left on all day and night. If there is no movement in a present amount of time, the sensors can report database that it is OK to turn off the lights. While this will save energy, some guest prefers to walk into a room with light. This can be fixed by having a hall light turn on when the front door opens so the guest is not entering a dark room. This can be managed by a sensor or by a connection between the door and the light (Hanna, 2008). Restaurant The areas of restaurant and kitchens that are not seen by guests can save energy through a study of how the appliances are used and comparing that to how they are supposed to be used. The main way to save energy in the kitchens is to teach the staff the proper way to use the equipment (Jones, 2002). For example teach the staff to close the refrigerator door when not in use. In addition, keeping the equipment cleaned and maintained will make sure that the equipment is running at its best level; this will help ensure the lowest amount of energy would be used (Lawn, 2008) The idea of replacing the appliances in the laundry area also can be applied to hotel kitchens. For example, a new energy star steam cooker can be 60% more efficient than the regular models available (Brodsky, 2005). This type of savings can be applied to all the appliances. Housekeeping or Laundry The energy saving in the laundry area will require some installing of new appliances and systems. While there will be an initial cost associated with the new appliances, it will save energy in the long run. The first change will be to install new gas dryers that can dry fabric more quickly and use less energy. The other new system is a heat recovery unit that can save the heat from the old water cycle in the laundry and transfer the heat to the clean water being used in the next cycle (Fedrizzi and Rogers, 2002). Both of these options are creating new ways to conserve energy, but not changing the actual process of doing laundry. The hotels housekeeping staff would be responsible for watching for leaks throughout all guest rooms and hotel space. According to Ashwin Patel (2008), a single leak can waste 10,000 liters annually; all sinks, showers and toilets need to be checked for leaks. These are initial step and easy fixes that can be taken while waiting for larger initiatives to take place. Expectation from Green Hotel For many

Influence of IT on Organisational Behaviour

Influence of IT on Organisational Behaviour The Influence of IT on organisational behaviour Carr (2003) concludes that Information Technology (IT) has become the backbone of commerce and that IT empower companies to serve their customers better. IT can alter the basic nature of an industry (Luftman et al., 1993), and rightly so; IT has forever changed the world that we inhabit. With the use of computers and software, IT has altered how the finance sector operates, how the education system work, how companies conduct their business and how the healthcare sector can help their citizens. Ultimately, IT has been able to help every company and government institute alike to transform their daily operation by turning labour heavy and repetitive burdens into automatic and streamlined tasks that often require little to no human interaction. The use of IT in healthcare enables citizens, healthcare professionals, authorities and administrators to have access to real-time and relevant information through secure delivery without unnecessary barriers. With the help of online healthcare portals, citizens can schedule appointments with their general practitioner, check their patient journal, look up digital medical information such as X-rays or blood samples. Healthcare professionals can save time spent on paperwork and instead concentrate their valuable time on helping their patients. Authorities, such as Data Protection Agencies will be better equipped to help the healthcare to improve procedures, processes and patient safety. Finally, administrators will have access to data and information that could help them improve the decision-making in everyday operations. A practical example of an IT implementation that is showing to have a long-term positive consequence is the implementation of one (a single) centralised Electronic Patient Journal (EPJ) for the whole country of the Faroe Islands. While decentralisation may bring flexibility and fast response to changing needs, decentralisation also makes system integration difficult, presents a barrier to standardisation and acts as a disincentive toward achieving economies of scale (DeSanctis Jackson, 1994). Even though the Faroe Islands is a small country of only fifty thousand people, the country has three hospitals and around hundred general practitioners. With the centralised EPJ system, the healthcare sector has the basics in place to start exchanging digital medical information by integrating with other systems to receive descriptions and answers from a specialist (doctor). These other systems include computerised axial tomography (CAT) scanners, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, Lab oratory and blood systems and so on. On an entirely different subject, albeit all the positives social media might bring, one should not ignore the negative effects. Negative effects from social media include addiction and privacy concerns. The social media is comparable to drugs; once addicted it is hard to let to go. Griffiths (2010) mentions a research conducted on 415 medical technologists that Internet Abuse falls into three distinct categories: browsing, non-work-related e-mails and cyberloafing. According to Griffiths (2010), addition is related to Internet abuse and does have an impact on the workplace in regards to the loss of productivity. To conclude, information technology has spearheaded the digital revolution for some time and is moving companies, consumers and government ever closer to a constant change for globalisation. References Carr, N.G. (2003) Why IT Doesnt Matter Anymore Harvard Business Review. [Online] Available from: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3520.html (Accessed: 15 January 2016) Luftman, J.N., Lewis, P.R. Oldach, S.H. (1993) Transforming the Enterprise: The alignment of business and information technology strategies. IBM Systems Journal Vol 32 (1). p. 198 DeSanctis, G. Jackson, B.M. (1994) Coordination of information technology management: Team-based structures and computer-based communication systems. Journal of Management Information Systems Vol 10 (4). p. 85-110. Alder, I. (2013) How Our Digital Devices Are Affecting Our Personal Relationships [Online] Available from: http://www.wbur.org/2013/01/17/digital-lives-i (Accessed: 1. June 2016) Griffiths, M.D. (2010) Internet abuse and internet addiction in the workplace. Journal of Workplace Learning, 7, 463-472.

Belief and Knowledge Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many contentions our present world has faced that require a thorough thought process in order to represent a side of the argument. We see that there are many different authorities that tell us we should be thinking in certain directions. However, most people need to realize that influence from these different sources such as academics, politicians, companies, global organizations, media, and others in this nebulous category, don’t always steer us in the write direction. Maybe they can provide us with knowledge about a certain problem, or information regarding each side, but when it comes down to the bottom, belief and knowledge seems to be what most people turn to. We see many people opposing social issues because of what their families have taught them, we see many people opposing scientific technology because of what their religion says. We see many people then opposing the â€Å"religious fanatics† because science is â€Å"the key to th e future.† And lastly we see many people opposing things just to cause trouble, and those are the types of protestors, I really cannot stand. But that’s beside the point. Reason and emotion are reflected in the way one uses them to distinguish between their faith and belief, and knowledge and solid fact. This can be shown through the abortion debate, stem cell research, and of course, the hot topic of 2004 and the near future- gay marriage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First, abortion has really taken center stage in our society. Both sides of the argument have been well thought out and make good sense; it is up to you to decide which one you feel more strongly represents your views. Or, you must interpret it and make your own opinion. Those who oppose abortion are called the â€Å"pro-life† group. These people believe that the fetus is a living thing, and that it should not be killed for it has yet to develop fully into a human being. By taking the life of a fetus, one is taking the life of a potential human being, and an innocent child. The opposing view is usually referred to as â€Å"pro- choice.† This argument is strong in the sense that people believe they should be able to exercise their rights as a free human being, and if they choose to abort their child, it is the potential parent’s choice. You will find that many people that belong to the â€Å"pro- life† side are religious. Most who are on the... ...Scotts Valley High. It took a long while for me to develop my full thoughts, and although some teachers at my school may choose a different lifestyle than me, it does not make them a â€Å"bad† person, or one that has â€Å"sinned.† As far as I am concerned, God will send those who discriminate and harass and who are hateful all down to hell before any homosexual who has lived their life virtuously. However, I do not support gay marriage because I believe that marriage is sacred and that it is something that should stay between a man and a woman.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Through this class, I have learned so much about the world, different cultures, perception, how we know things, what influences us, but most of all, I have learned the most about myself. I have learned to work thorough all factors that may intimidate me into forming my own opinion about things, and I have found that things I really rely strongly on, are driven not by fact or knowledge, but by what I believe and what is in my heart. Being able to distinguish belief and knowledge comes down to the individual and whether they feel that they can be more persuaded through solid fact, or what they believe and have faith in.

Racism in Tracking Essay -- essays papers

Racism in Tracking Ideally, the education system in the United States aims to serve as the great equalizer in the constant struggle to counter decades and centuries of historical oppression against those of non-European descent. The ideology of education as a great equalizer purports a pedagogy as a starting point for those oppressed and separated by such forces as race and class to have access to a quality education, and hence an equal chance at all the US has to offer. It attempts to bring children from disparate realms in a place that serves them all equitably. This ideal constantly challenges the broader values of equality, liberty and democracy considered to be at the core of American ideology. In interpreting this conception, two questions are indirectly answered by examining our educational practices: Does equality in education simply foresee that all students are treated the same, despite their different needs? Or, does it intend to challenge and rectify past inequalities for a truly equ itable educational system? The ideology of education as the great equalizer rests on several assumptions. The first, as stated by bell hooks, is the idea that, "To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn" (hooks, p.13, 1994). hooks expresses well the understated notion that, education as a democratic practice, available for all, is based on the assumption that all children, all people, are capable of learning. Another assumption is that children have different needs, and at its best, aims to provide resources according to need. Most importantly, naming this ideology "the great equalizer" in itself assumes that education has the potential to be the key force to counter inequality in society. Though a powerful assumption to make, it can fail to acknowledge the need to reconstruct all other institutions affecting children. The assumptions that everyone can learn, and that schools have the potential to transform a country with a tradition of hatred and an unequal distribution of wealth, extend from the vision of education as a democratic practice where there is "a struggle for both change and the freedom to change" (Irwin, p. 51, 1991). The change is about transforming an exclusive, often oppressive and disempowering system into a more inclusive, equal, and equitable one that is accessible to children from ... ...ike democracy, is a process, and not an end in itself. In my view, system-wide, large-scale reform is needed to achieve the goal of "getting all young people as close as possible to their upper limits of learning potentialities" (Perrone, p. 15, 1991). This is crucial to ensure change because "trying to transform schools within the existing structure is a contradictory process" (Murphy, p. 38, 1991). The first step is to involve the traditionally voiceless at all decision-making levels to best determine what the needs of the least privileged are, if we are truly committed to providing opportunities that respond to children's needs. I specify, "opportunities" through funding based on my assumption and belief that money can improve education through attracting and keeping good teachers, reducing class sizes, establishing programs to respond to different needs, and maintaining healthy facilities and quality resources. Equitable funding, where all children have the chance to receive a high-quality education, is the first step towards ed ucation acting as the great equalizer in a country where oppression limits, dehumanizes, and disempowers in virtually every other life realm.

A Big Issue for Home Appliance Manufacturers in China :: Outsourcing Retail Partner Manufacturing Essays

A Big Issue for Home Appliance Manufacturers in China Home Appliance manufacturers in china have made great progress accompany the fast development of the consumption of home appliance in the whole nation. There are many native home appliances manufacturers and foreign manufacturers especially those who come from Japan and South Korea, contest for this huge market. The competition among them is extremely scorching. To occupy the market, techniques, finance and management are undoubt tools for competing. However, the difference of those three elements among the manufactures become less and less. So another field was focused by those manufacturers and many issues arose. That is retailer. It is very difficult for those manufactures to compete with so many competitors in this big country by only their own branch representatives. Outsourcing retailer become absolutely important. However, common retailers can ¡Ã‚ ¦t help too much. What they need are outsourcing retail partner who keep stable relationship and supply long term retail service to them. The benefits of outsourcing retail partners are obvious but how to outsource is quite complicate and is the main issue will be discussed. Literature review 1. What is outsourcing ¡GThe definition of outsourcing 1. The process of transferring the responsibility for a specific business function from a employee group to a non-employee group (Zhiwei, Kathy, Joseph, 2001) 2. The outsource could be defined as a service outside the company acting as an extension of the company ¡Ã‚ ¦s business but responsible for its own management, while outsourcing could be defined as employing an outside agency to manage a function formerly carried on inside a company (Rothery and Robertson, 1995) 3. A transfer of an administrative responsibility to an outside organization, an arrangement that changes both service delivery and internal staffing patterns. Contracts with consulting firms, however, are also viewed by some as a form of outsourcing, particularly when close ties develop in long-term relationships.(Johnson and Cox, 1997) Others describe outsourcing as  ¡Ã‚ §the practice of handling over the planning, management and operation of certain functions to an independent third party ¡Ã‚ ¨ (Auerbach, 1996).  ¡Ã‚ §Finding new suppliers and new ways to secure the delivery of raw materials, goods components and services, by utilizing the knowledge, experience and creativity of new suppliers not used previously (Thames, 1994) 2. The benefits of outsourcing a supply partner To know the reason why the home appliance manufactures need to outsource retail partner. As Partner outsourcing is only a part of outsourcing, we need to find benefits or advantage gained from outsourcing and we can see all the benefits of partner outsourcing from there.

What Are the Ethical Teachings of Al-Ghazali and How Important and Relevant Are They to Contemporary Muslims? Critically Discuss

What are the ethical teachings of al-Ghazali and how important and relevant are they to contemporary Muslims? Critically discuss. Imam al-Ghazali (d. 1111) remains perhaps the most important religious authority in Islam after the first three generations of Muslims. The title, ‘Proof of Islam’, conferred upon him by the majority of Muslims, is a reflection of the complexity of his work, which included jurisprudence, theology, philosophy, psychology, and mysticism.This essay will demonstrate how al-Ghazali synthesised concepts of tawheed (unity of God), islam (ritual worship, virtue, ilham (Godly inspiration) and tasawwuf (Sufism) in a broad ethical theory. His ethics, as illustrated in the Ihya Ulum id-Deen, can be applied by common Muslims, Muslim scholars. More broadly, its implications–spiritual, social, behavioural, and intellectual–can play a significant role in the umma’s Islamic revival.Al-Ghazali’s ethical vision was based on humans att aining happiness, which is ultimately found in salvation in the next life (Hourani 1976, p. 77). The means by which he thought this was achieved best was through spiritual devotion rather than rationality. Al-Ghazali prioritises spirituality over intellectualism in knowing what is right and wrong based on his assertion of the soul as the human’s most important component (Moosa 2005). The soul possesses reason, thus holds the potential of knowing God and the capacity to know the realities of this world.As the immaterial soul is merged with the material body, the temporal worldly form of a human is experienced. The body is the vehicle through which the soul can achieve its potential of knowing God; bodily senses become tools through which the soul achieves ethical behaviour. The body has faculties such as anger, appetites for food and drink, lust and greed. It is possible for the bodily faculties to overcome the soul’s faculty of reason, a condition described in the Qura n as the ‘self that incites to evil’ (Quran 12:53).Conversely, reason can be used to control bodily faculties, and by doing this achieve the ‘serene soul’ (Quran 89:27). A third self is the middle one between the two, the reproachful self (Quran 75:2), which is in constant struggle with temptations of the evil self. The integrated divine and animal souls form the nafs, which is the human’s true self or identity. The coexistence of soul and body is volatile; the soul wishes to know God, while the body desires temporal sensory pleasure.The bifurcation of the human into these two opposing components indicates the necessity for a method of achieving equilibrium, for the solution to the struggle between the divine and animal forces is not a simple separation of soul and body, as this renders void the Creator’s wisdom in creating the worldly human. A more complex method assumes the human comprises other entities integral to the nafs. Here al-Ghazali ’s ethical theory assumes a view of the human imparted by Sufis before him; in addition to the soul and body, there is the ruh (spirit), qalb (spiritual heart), and ‘aql (intellect) (Moosa 2005, p. 24). The qalb is an abstract entity directly linked with the physical heart that contributes to the human experience, the faculties of perception, knowing, and spiritual experience (Moosa 2005, p. 225). The level of integration of the faculties of the qalb determines the success of the soul’s goal in knowing God. Thus, the qalb’s condition is vital to the outcome of the soul’s journey through this temporal life. Hourani (1976) describes Ghazali’s ethical concern as ‘right conduct and the purification of the soul by the individual . . ’ (p. 1). To this end, the method of equilibrium that al-Ghazali promoted, like Sufis after him, is tazkiyat al-qalb, or purification of the spiritual heart. Ameur (2009) notes three aspects of the process of purification: good action; virtues; and knowledge (p. 3). Good action refers to the following of ritual and social behaviour as prescribed by the shariah. Ghazali’s categorises actions in a five-fold system: fardh (commanded), sunnah (recommended), mubah (permitted), makruh (disapproved), or haram (forbidden).The significance of external acts lies in both their being rewarded as obedience, and their contribution to cultivation of virtues (Hourani 1976, p. 77). Good action cultivating virtues indicates a key agenda in Ghazali’s ethics: the restoration of balance between the outward and the inward states of people (Murad 2002). He realised that this balance could be best pursued in the purification of the inward, which requires first the elimination of vices. Vices are spiritual ailments of the qalb and include harmful traits such anger, envy, lust, and riya (ostentation). They form impediments to spiritual progress.The method of removing these impediments is mujahad a (Ameur 2009, p. 4) or what is commonly described by Sufis as jihad al-nafs (struggle against the self). Mujahada is a concept covering a broad array of practices used in tasawwuf to purify the nafs including: tafakkur (introspection); muraqaba (self-awareness); dhikr (meditation); and zuhd (asceticism). The previous two aspects of purification are not possible without knowledge. For al-Ghazali, knowledge is of two types: (a) one that is learnt in tenets of faith and rules of Islamic law; (b) one that is known through the qalb (Ameur 2009, p. ). The first type is all knowledge required to perform good action. This includes the basic tenets of faith, and worldly and religious activities including social dealings and private worship. The sources of these knowledges are – in accordance with Ghazali’s tradition-based approach to theology and jurisprudence – the Quran, Sunnah, ijma (consensus of ulama), and qiyas (analogical deduction from the Sunnah). The second ty pe of knowledge is abstract in nature as its locus is the qalb. This knowledge can be described as insight.One Prophetic tradition warns ‘beware the firasa of the believer, for he sees with the light of God’ (Tirmidhi, cited in Gulen). This knowledge is a set of experiences, or insights, impressed upon the heart through good action and Godly disposition. Such knowledge, Ameur (2009) states, â€Å"is a disposition deeply rooted in the soul, from which actions flow naturally and easily without need of reflection or judgement† (p. 4). This state is described in a hadith Qudsi reported in Sahih Bukhari:My slave approaches Me with nothing more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him, and My slave keeps drawing nearer to Me with voluntary works until I love him. And when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he seizes, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks me, I will surely give to him , and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely protect him (cited in Keller 1995). In this way a reciprocal relationship emerges between action, virtue and knowledge; each reinforcing the other.The successful integration of them leads to the soul’s objective of knowledge of God. Here the veil of the human’s limited ‘sight’ is lifted; the result is the realisation of truths (Gardener, p. 136). The culmination of Ghazali’s ethical purification is wilaya (intimacy). For the wali (an intimate) of God, the inner and outer are harmonised in realising tawheed. Here, tawhid (the unity of God) is not merely knowledge of theological principles, but rather it is ‘an inbuilt attribute’, the product of repetitive good acts and strengthening of virtues (Ameur 2009, p. ). For al-Ghazali, like other Sufis, knowledge of tawheed signifies the ultimate ethical goal of attaining happiness, which is experiencing as the nafs al-mutma’inna (the serene s oul). The scope of al-Ghazali’s ethical theory, incorporating shari’ah knowledge, theology, philosophy, and Sufism, ensure its relevance to contemporary Muslims is multifaceted. It holds special relevance to laymen, scholar and umma in general, as illsutrated in the title of the work that is a summary of Ghazali’s ethics: the Ihya Ulum id-Deen (Revival of the Religous Sciences)For the lay Muslim, al-Ghazali’s tripartite system of purification provides a practical guide to living Islam as a whole; hence, the Ihya covers all activities falling under iman, islam, and ihsan (Ormsby 2008, pp. 111-119). It explains the relationship between ritual devotion, social dealings, belief, vices, and virtues. Nofal (1993) uses a specific example from the Ihya that shows the relevance of the latter’s ethics to contemporary Muslims in the area of children’s education. Al-Ghazali says about children that:They must be trained to obey their parents, teachers an d elders, and to behave well towards their classmates’; ‘should be taught modesty, generosity and civility’; ‘[their] tutors must devote attention to religious education (cited in Nofal 1993, p. 5). A noticeable lesson here for Muslim parents and educators is that education ‘is not limited to training the mind and filling it with information, but involves all aspects—intellectual, religious, moral and physical—of the personality of the learner’ (Nafal 1993, p. 5).More broadly, the raising of children described by al-Ghazali facilitates adab, or Islamic culture, which in light of the modern culture of individualism and selfishness, is vital for cultivating Islamic personality. The scholarly class also may benefit from al-Ghazali’s Ihya. Ebrahim Moosa (2005) describes him as an exemplar for ‘critical traditionalism’ (p. 264). His scholarly legacy vis-a-vis ethics, Moosa (2005) comments, is that revival of traditi on entails fostering understanding of the ethical imperatives and practices in tradition (p. 278).This idea promotes juridical ethics over legal scientism, indicating the primacy of the implicit moral code of Quran and Sunnah over its text. In outlining this ethical system, al-Ghazali resuscitated the discursive sciences. The importance of his accomplishment is understood by reflection on his environment. To resuscitate the religious sciences, al-Ghazali effectively bridged the Arabicate and Persianate modes of thought prevalent at that time. Muslim scholars and students today, even moreso than al-Ghazali, face a dilemma of multiple matrices of cultures and politics.Within Islamic thought, Saeed notes eight main trends (ref), which can be characterised as varieties of traditionalism, modernism, and fundamentalism. Al-Ghazali’s approach to ethics could indeed be the bridge allowing crossing of ideas between the three main strands. Julia Day Howell (2001), commenting on Sufismà ¢â‚¬â„¢s role in the Indonesian Islamic revival, says that ‘as part of the broader revival, it has been subject to reinterpretations that have helped break down distinctions between ‘‘Traditionalists’’ and ‘‘Modernists’’’ (p. 710).Finally, the umma at large is also in need of the tasawwuf aspect of al-Ghazali’s ethics. The vagueness of the term within modern society notwithstanding, historical Muslim communities understood its importance, as noted by ibn Kaldun, who says about tasawwuf: This knowledge is a branch of the sciences of Sacred Law that originated within the Umma. From the first, the way of such people had also been considered the path of truth and guidance by the early Muslim community and its notables (cited in Keller 1993). Keller (1995) notes that for the early communities, tasawwuf signified ikhlas (sincerity).Ikhlas is a state of the qalb, and like other states of the qalb such as love, mercy, f ear is obligatory for Muslims hoping for felicity in the afterlife. The Quran says: ‘a day when wealth will not avail, nor sons, but only him who brings Allah a sound heart’ (26:88). Thus tasawwuf, Keller notes, is necessary for ‘fully realising the Shariah in one’s life, to attain the states of the heart demanded by the Quran and Sunnah’. Al-Ghazali’s ethics, as practical tasawwuf, becomes a means of addressing the spiritual aspect of religious life.The broader implications of Ghazali’s tasawwuf lie in negotiating the modern world. Murad (2002) notes that the failure of the ‘Enlightenment paradigm, as invoked by the secular elites in the Muslim world, to deliver moral and efficient government and cultural guidance, indicates that the solution must be religious’. To this end he suggests traditional Islam; it is the middle path between two extreme responses elicited by secularisation: liberalism and fundamentalism. Moosa (20 05) notes that one of the challenges to contemporary Muslim society is epistemicide, the destruction of a social-group’s knowledge (p. 65). The need to stem this epistemicide surely cannot be done by zealots or modernist liberals as the former cannot relate its scripture to changing circumstances and the latter decide to change its basic meanings. Here Ghazali’s ‘critical traditionalism’ may be utilised. Its moderate tradition-based ethics provides an antithesis to the ‘contemporary positivist and scientist ethics of dos and donts’ (Murad 2002). A critique of the relevance of al-Ghazali’s tasawwuf-laden ethics is that it may alienate many contemporary Muslims.The more advanced stages of his ethics involving knowledge of God are ungraspable for the non-initiated ‘purifier’. However, the beginning of his ethics, practice of daily rituals and pursing good character, remains accessible to all people. Therefore, in view of conte mporary society’s focus on materialism, and the lax attitude elicited by modernity towards religious life, al-Ghazali’s tasawwuf-laden ethics, at various levels, provides a robust cognitive-behavioural ethical methodology that can facilitate religious living in contemporary society. In summary, al-Ghazali’s ethics provides a successful method of attaining the ‘serene soul’.He framework of purification of the self involving action, virtue, and knowledge culminates in the state of wilaya wherein one witnesses realities of tawheed. The implications of his holistic ethics are daily application in worldly and religious living, resuscitation and mediation of Islamic scholarship, and a tasawwuf-based spiritual revival of the umma. References Ameur, R 2009, 101466 Ethical Traditions in Islam, The Ritual of the Law: lecture transcript, University of Western Sydney, Milperra. Gardener, RWR 1917, ‘al-Ghazali as Sufi’, The Muslim World, vol. 7, no. 2, 131-143.Hourani, G 1976, ‘Ghazali on the ethics of action’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 69-88, University of Western Sydney Resources Online ( 101466). Gulen, F n. d. , Basira and insight. http://www. fethullahgulenchair. com/index. php? option=com_content&view=article&id=626:basira-and-firasa-insight-and-discernment-&catid=69:key-concepts-in-the-practice-of-sufism-&Itemid=210>. Howell, JD 2001, ‘Sufism and the Indonesian Islamic Revival’, The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 701–729. Keller, NHM 1995, The place of tasawwuf in traditional Islam, viewed 8 June 2011, .Keller, NHM 1995, How would you respond to the Claim that Sufism is bid'a? , viewed 8 June 2011, . Moosa, E 2005, Ghazali: The poetics of imagination, The University of North Caroline Press, Chapel Hill. Murad, AH 2002, The Faith in the future: Islam after the Enlightenment, viewed 9 June 2011, . Nofal, N 1993, Ghazali, Prospects: The qua rterly review of comparative education vol. 23, no. 3/4, pp. 519-542. Ormsby, E 2008, ‘The revival of Islam’, in Ghazali: The revival of Islam, Oneworld, Oxford. Saeed, A 2007, ‘Trends in contemporary Islam’, The Muslim World, vol. 97, pp. 397-404.