Outline and Evaluate Cross-Cultural Studies of Gender Role Essay

There have been various studies that have observed elements of gender roles in other countries, one such study was conducted by Williams and Best, the study explored gender stereotypes in 30 different nations involving 2800 university students as participants. They were given a 300 item adjective checklist and asked to decide whether an item was most associated with men or women. What they found out was that there was a broad consensus across countries with men being seen as more dominant and aggressive and women being seen as nurturing and defendant. This supports the common stereotype of both genders, that males are â€Å"dominant and aggressive† and that females are â€Å"nurturing and defendant†. The findings from this study do have strengths, due to the sample used. The studies sample firstly was large and also very diverse in terms of culture, religion and ethnicity (expected of universities) and because of this the population validity of the findings increases and makes the results more generalizable and representative of the wider population, this means the conclusion of gender roles being consistent throughout cultures is applicable to the general population. However there is a flaw within the study, you could say that although the sample was drawn from a large geographical pool, which should indicate representativeness, they were all students who share common attributes and viewpoints and so they may not being necessarily representative of the population of their country and all social groups within. Also the construction of the checklist did not include an equal category alongside the male and female category, so this means that the division between the male and female categories may be exaggerated, thus prompting the students to believe that there is a gap between men and women and thus making them draw upon their inner stereotypical views. Also there are methodological flaws, the checklist comes into account again as it is developed by Western psychologists, because of this the westernised perspective behaviours considered in one culture to be feminine may not be considered feminine in another, so therefore the findings may be of little use to those in other cultures. This study suggests that there are universal stereotypes about male-female characteristics therefore indicating that gender roles are influenced more y our biology and evolution rather than socially constructed. However its arguable that the findings lack validity and that empirical evidence of cross-cultural studies on gender roles is less useful than initially believed. Another study is one conducted by Margaret Mead, she studied social groups in Papua New Guinea. Initially, she argued that the â€Å"Arapesh† men and women were gentle, the â€Å"Mundugumor† men and women were violent and the â€Å"Tchambuli†exhibited gender role differences with women being more dominant and men dependable. She concluded that this date demonstrated cultural determinism and that gender differences are determined by social factors. However Mead later changed her view to one of culture relativism. When she re-analysed her data she realised that although both sexes of the Arapesh were non-aggressive and both sexes of the Mundugamor were aggressive, in all three societies the men were more aggressive than the women. This suggests that some behaviours are innate and universal, but the degree to which these behaviours are expressed is relative to the particular culture. The study was a natural experiment, so Mead was observing the groups in their usual enviroment, it could be argued that she was noting their true behaviour, however it could be argued that the natives were simply providing Mead with the information she wanted to hear and therefore the study may not be as valid as it seems. Also there are methodological issues with the research conducted by Mead, as she used ethnographic field research and the data would have been gathered through participant observation, interviews and questionnaires, all methods whereby the results are easily subject to observer bias. Mead would have had to speculate on what the data potentially meant and acknowledge that her own cultural biases will have affected the interpretation. Due to the fact results may not be objective and the fact that non-scientific methods were used to collect data (both key features of psychology as a science), the validity of the findings seems to decrease and due to this reduced validity we cannot accurately conclude that gender roles do vary depending on culture to the studies methodological flaws. However, there is further evidence to support the assumption that gender roles are not consistent worldwide, Antonia Young carried out a study on the unusual gender roles in Albania. She found a group called the Albania virgins who were born into families which lacked a male presence and thus adopted the male role, committed to being a virgin and dressed and acted as men. The society accepted them as male and they were admitted to all male clubs and social groups. This suggests that societies create gender roles based on the needs of their society/culture and therefore shows that genders do vary across cultures. In conclusion, cross cultural studies help us to establish whether nature or nurture has the greater influence over gender roles. Both Mead and Young’s studies imply that nurture and social influences have a greater influence on gender roles, however evidence from William and Best lies on the nature side of the debate by indicating that our biology is more dominant.

Gambling addiction in today`s society Essay

Have you ever gambled in your life? We live in a world where some form of gambling is within our grasp. It can be fun, exciting, and life changing. Some gamblers may say they have control of their gambling behavior; however, a lot of gamblers do not! Most of them lose so much. They lose their jobs, money, family, and friends. Since gambling has so much potential for abuse, external measurements must be put in place to prevent abusive gambling. Did you know Hawaii and Utah are the only 2 states that prohibit all forms of gambling? Gambling is betting money on any game or event. It takes a variety of forms, from nickel-and-dime poker to state-sponsored lotteries and casinos. Different forms of gambling are legal in different parts of the United States. In the early 1900s, most forms of gambling were illegal in the United States. However, legalized gambling has been on the rise since the 1950s. Casinos are establishments where people can place bets on games. They normally offer a variety of card games, dice games, and games of chance. In 1931, Nevada became the first state to allow casino gambling. New Jersey followed in 1978, making casinos legal in Atlantic City. In 2009, legal casinos were operating in forty seven states. Today, different states have different regulations on casinos. In some states, they are still prohibited entirely. In others, casinos may only be run on the water, like riverboat casinos. Casinos also exist on Indian reservations throughout the country. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, passed in 1988, declared that Native American tribes have the right to run gaming establishments on their reservations, as long as they are in a state that permits some form of gambling. By 1998, nearly three hundred Indian-operated casinos existed in thirty one states. Casinos have generated wealth and increased employment rates among Native Americans. However, many Native Americans, especially older people, consider the casinos a threat to their traditional values and way of life. The newest form of casino gambling is the online casino, which allows players to place bets over the Internet. Online casinos raise complicated legal issues. For example, if casinos are only legal in certain parts of a state, is it legal to make online casinos available in other parts of the state? If players are placing bets on the outcome of a game in a real, legal casino in another country, does that mean they are actually gambling in that country and not in their homes? Because of these legal problems, American companies have been reluctant to invest in online casinos. Nonetheless, consumers spent about 3 billion dollars in online casinos in 2000. Further restriction on internet gambling came when Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The purpose of the law is to prevent the use of certain kinds of payment, credit cards, and fund transfers for unlawful internet gambling. Another common form of legal gambling is the state lottery. A lottery is a drawing in which people purchase tickets. A ticket number is selected at random and anyone holding a ticket with that number wins a cash prize. The first state lottery opened in New Hampshire in 1964. By 2009, lotteries were operating in forty one states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

What can we learn from the product management of Microsoft Vista, and Essay

What can we learn from the product management of Microsoft Vista, and how to apply the lessons learned in managing digital products in general - Essay Example Product management is an organizational function within a company dealing with the planning or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle. Product management is also a collective term used to describe the broad sum of diverse activities performed in the interest of delivering a particular product to market" (Wikipedia, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to deter what we can learn from the product management of Microsoft Vista, as well as how to apply the lessons learned in managing digital products in general.The features of Windows Vista differ according to the edition: Ultimate, Home Premium, Home Basic, Business, or Enterprise. According to Microsoft, "Ultimate provides the power, security, and mobility features needed for work, and all the entertainment features that you want for fun" (2008). They claim that Home Premium, "provides a breakthrough design that brings your world into sharper focus while delivering the productivity, entertainment, and security you need from your PC at home or on the go" (2008). Their description of Home Basic is that "Easy to set up and maintain, it enables you to quickly find what you're looking for on your PC and the Internet, while providing a more secure environment to help protect you from an unpredictable world" (2008). They argue that with their Business version, users will "spend less time on technology support-related issues-so you can spend more time making your business successful" (2008). Finally, they claim that Enterprise was "Designed to significantly lower IT costs and risks, Windows Vista Enterprise meets the needs of large, global organizations with complex IT infrastructures" (2008). Physical products have several advantages over digital products, but there are also some disadvantages. First of all, pictures or actual representations or examples of physical products can be shown. Second, many shoppers know that they often get a real bargain when they shop for physical items online versus in a store, and the convenience of being able to shop from anywhere is second to none. Finally, physical products that are online appeal to a much larger and diverse pool of shoppers than those that are in stores in any given city. The downsides of physical products include that they are often expensive to ship, some physical products are perishable, and the inventory must be stored somewhere which is often a significant additional expense to the seller (Collins, 2007). Digital products have their advantages and disadvantages as well. First of all, there is no storage space needed other than for electronic storage. There is no need to worry about shipping, as customers can download the products. The downsides of digital products include vulnerability to computer problems, equipment maintenance costs, and the need for Internet with higher bandwidth (Collins, 2007). According to Wikipedia, "In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a new product or service to market. There are two parallel paths involved in the NPD process: one involves the idea generation, product design, and detail engineering; the other involves market research and marketing analysis. Companies typically see new product development as the first stage in generating and commercializing new products within the overall strategic process of product life cycle management used to maintain or grow their market share" (2008). This concept applies to digital products just as much as it does physical products. The following is a model of the new product development process. It shows the process starting with discovery, and then continuing on to exploration, scoping, building the business case, development, testing and validation, launch and, finally, post launch review. The strategic planning contained in such a

DETECTION OF ANTIVIRAL ANTIBODIES IN SERUM USING AN ELISA TECHNIQUE Essay

DETECTION OF ANTIVIRAL ANTIBODIES IN SERUM USING AN ELISA TECHNIQUE - Essay Example These immunoglobulins are of five types and they are different based on size, charge, amino acid composition and carbohydrate content. the class and the type of immunoglobulin molecule is determined by the heavy chain type. There are two light chains and two heavy chains. There are C and N- terminal in the heavy chains. (Crowther 1995). The N-terminals of the IgG constitute the antigen -binding site. Individuals can become resistant to many infectious diseases by active or passive immunization. The beneficial effects of the immunization are mediated by the antibodies and the effect of immunization is mediated by the immunoassays. (Crowther 2001). The measurement of the antigen and antibody by using sensitive assays are the useful indicators of the immune status. When an infectious agent enters the human body, the component is identified as the foreign particle and antibodies are produced against them. These antibodies interact with the antigens and reduce the load. (Edwards 1999). Th e immunoassay method identifies the antigens, antigen - particles present in the blood and provide the results. Each antibody is specific for an antigen. ELISA is basically of two types: competitive and non-competitive ELISA. ELISA involves two site recognition with two different antibodies (i.e.) an indirect estimation. Competitive ELISA is different from the sandwich ELISA and indirect ELISA. In the first step the unlabelled antibody is incubated on the presence of the antigen. This antigen-antibody bounded is added to the antigen- coated well. The plate is washed and the second antibody specific to the primary antibody is added and the second antibody is coupled to the enzyme. When the substrate is added, the signal is emitted by the remaining enzyme. In this ELISA, if the antigen concentration is very high, then the signal will be very weak. This method is mainly used to test the impure and crude samples. This method is very useful for the detection of HIV. For HIV diagnosis, th e patient's sample and the enzyme-labeled antibody (conjugate) is added simultaneously to the solid phase. HIV antibodies, if present in the sample will bind to the conjugate antibody and reduce the signal. Thus if the color reaction is produced, then it indicates that there are no HIV antibodies in the given sample. Applications of ELISA include screening of the donated blood for viral contaminations( HIV types, Hepatitis B and C, HTLV-1 and 2), measuring the hormone levels( pregnancy(HCG), ovulation( LH), thyroid function ( TSH, T3 and T4), anabolic steroids, hormones), detecting infections( HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, gondii), detecting allergens in foods and toxins in foods, measuring the concentration of the antibodies and detecting illicit drugs ( cocaine, opiates, marijuana, etc.), measuring auto antibodies in autoimmune diseases and measuring rheumatoid factors . (Sheehan 1997). (Wreghitt and Morgan-Capner 1990). Principle When an antibody is linked to the enzyme and allowed t o react with the immobilized antigen, antigen-antibody reaction occurs. This is identified by the production of colour by the substrate enzyme reaction. The antigen is immobilised in either a microtiter plate or on nitrocellulose membrane. An enzyme labelled antibody is added in excess to the system and these binds to the immobilised antigen. Excess antibody is removed by washing and the substrate specific for the

Superfund site Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Superfund site - Essay Example After 1992, leasing of the site following procedures defined by the Industrial Development Board. However, the buildings were not tampered with after the leasing of the site until during the cleanup exercise. Current reports indicate that the site is not occupied, but is under the ownership of R&B investments. The site borders two residential homes, and the EPA has carried out assessment tests of the quality of water in these residences after the clean-up process(United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2013). Contamination at the Site Processes involved in the smelting and foundry activities in the process of exploiting brass posed certain risks of contamination to the soil and water in the area. Contamination at the site was also evident at other materials at the site. As outlined by EPA, the soil and water exhibited the highest rate of contamination, although a range of media at the site also exhibited a level of contamination. These media include fish media, sediment, fish tissue, and groundwater. Evidently, contamination occurred on both liquid-based and solid-based media. This contamination was associated with the waste handling process at the site during the brass smelting process. It appears that the relevant efficiency in waste handling was not attained, contributing to a high risk factor of contamination to all the media at the site(United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2013). The contamination posed increased health threats because it affected the shallow water sources, the soils on site, and sediments. Assessment of the risk revealed that the highest contamination at the site was at the area in closest proximity to the smelting and foundry facility that lay on the site. It is worth noting that thorough assessment of the extent of contamination revealed that the drinking water in the adjacent residences was free from the contamination emanating from the site. Contaminants of Concern Analysis and assessment of the evident contamination resulting from the waste handling processes at the site revealed that several contaminants deserving serious concern were evident at the site. Experts highlighted that both metals and polychlorinated biphenyls were the contaminants posing the greatest risk at the site. Investigations on the area highlighted that the metal boron and lead were some of the leading contaminants of concern. Other monitoring processes that analyzed the level of contamination in the wells revealed the presence of nitrate and ammonia as some of the critical contaminants. EPA experts working on the site identified these as the major contaminants posing health risks to the people living in the proximity of the site as well as those proving detrimental to the environment. Clean up Measures Utilized The cleanup activities are planned in a specific order beginning with extensive studies of the site, selection of the most effective remedy, designing the remedy, construction of the remedy plan and post-constructio n activities(United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2013). Usually, EPA takes different clean up measures depending on the level of contamination at the site. Whereas some sites require energy action followed by a long-term remedial action plan of comprehensively studying the site ad developing an effective, clean up resolution. EPA implemented an emergency removal procedure in 1996 that sought to get rid of all the lead-contaminated soils as

The development of the Digital economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

The development of the Digital economy - Essay Example These are very different from each other and are different from the earlier end products of industrialisation. The digital economy comprising of information, computing, and communications - is now the primary driver of economic growth and social changes. It has reached a stage where it is no longer possible except to adapt and enhance oneself to the digital economy to avoid being left behind. A better understanding of these adaptations help in more efficient decision making that translates into better solutions in research, products, or services. The health of any economy has gone from the dependence on farming in the agrarian age to the industrial end products in the industrial age to the current digital or information age. The time period of growth seems to be accelerated and considering that the digital age only began with the invention of the ENIAC computer about less than four decades ago, the world as seem to have progressed in leaps and bounds. Then, Tim Berners-Lee and some others joined to pioneer another great step: the Internet. The Internet has become a critical component of the digital economy and the most influential. The impact of its power cannot be estimated. Internet commerce, which is arguably the most significant component of electronic commerce ("e-commerce"), includes consumer retail and business-to-business transactions; online financial services; media; infrastructure; and consumer and business Internet access services. Recent industry research shows that over one million people in the UK became Internet users for the first time during the third quarter of 1998. Fifteen per cent of the adult population in this country have now visited the World Wide Web. This puts it some two years behind the US, where web users now represent 37 per cent of the adult population, but ahead of Germany (ten per cent) and France (eight per cent). The Issues Economic Implications Every economy is now affected by the emergence of the digital economy. It has changed all the aspects of business, social and cultural entities. The Internet, a main component of the digital age has brought about significant changes in the way business is conducted and the way people work and live. Lowered costs and increased productivity have heralded rethinking strategies in all aspects of the society. Dependency and undue influences of the digital economy has given rise to speculations of how far out these can go without backfiring on the basic aspects of life. Globally, it has seemed to widen the gap between the developed and developing nations while at the internally it has seemed to widen the gap between the rich and the poor due to the accessibility of the infrastructure. Changes in Organizations Information technology has brought with it changes in the organisational performances, policies and people. Information technology has the potential to change the structure and performance of organizations and human enterprise. It has enabled companies to go global with ease and hence forth opened up the borders of the workplace. While it has created a new dimension of

A short-term e-Marketing Plan for a specified company Essay

A short-term e-Marketing Plan for a specified company - Essay Example still has a crucial role to play within the marketing mix, the discussion herein focuses upon three main strategies, as highlighted as being three of the most successful online marketing activities, in terms of return on investment. The three strategies focussed upon here include primarily Paid Online Advertising, via products such as Google AdWords, Search Engine Optimisation and Email Marketing. Each of these initiatives offer specific and definite measurement mechanisms, which allow the company to steer their marketing efforts in accordance with what is working and away from what may not be working, specifically for the paid advertising and email marketing aspects. The search engine optimization remains an ongoing initiative that requires up to date knowledge and implementation on a regular basis, as these aspects predominantly hinge upon the specific algorithms of the search engines at any given time. The specific initiatives and activities are provided briefly and then each is d iscussed in depth in order to display the necessary steps and requirements within the overall online marketing strategy. The internet has revolutionised business in a multitude of ways, from products becoming directly available, to offering the consumer the option of view reviews and opinions of products and services, not to mention the viral capabilities of the various social media platforms, such as Twitter, My Space, FaceBook, to name but a few. Many organizations, both large and small have taken advantage of the internet in both a marketing, as well as communications medium to remain in contact with the clientele, and more importantly from a branding perspective as well as seeking to secure new customers. However success within this ever evolving medium is not guaranteed and a number of key factors must be taken into account when seeking to establish a so called offer and service on the internet. These factors should furthermore be incorporated with specific, and proven strategies

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summary - Essay Example The strontium 90 released into the air is in the form of rain and lodges into the soil and pollutes the plants which are eventually consumed by humans. The effect to humans is diseases such as cancer thus leading to death. The article also talks about the effect of use of insecticides and pesticides including DDT that are used to destroy harmful insects (Carson 9). The insecticides destroy the pests intended and other insects as well thus causing equilibrium imbalance. Argument is that the insects also evolve and develop resistance to the pesticides. The article also talks about the hasty way in which new situations are generated through the influence of humans instead of allowing nature to take its course. An example of radiation is given, and how it has changed from backdrop radiation of rocks, ultra violet light from the sun and attack of cosmic rays to deviant radiation. The deviant radiation is caused by man’s interference with atoms of metals such as copper, calcium and silica making them unstable (Carson 12). The ways in which man uses chemicals has been censured since no proper investigation is done on their effects to water, soil, animals and human being. The environment should be preserved for upcoming generations and other forms of pest control should be used to avoid dire

Epidemiology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Epidemiology - Essay Example This entails food safety to ensure monitoring of food to avoid causing foodborne diseases. Therefore, the research question is â€Å"what can consumers do to protect themselves from foodborne illness. The study is purely cross-sectional and investigates the control measures used to enhance prevention of foodborne illness among the consumers. First the study identifies the community, who are the consumers. Some of the basic steps towards prevention of foodborne illness include buy of foodstuffs from reputable sources to enhance any follow-up in case of an emergency. The consumer should ask the supplier of the standards they normally impose to ensure food safety (Lindell & David, 2001). The consumer must choose foodstuff that is wholesome and appears fresh. Any unfamiliar color or odor causes for alarm, and any produce with excessive soil or dust on edible portions must be avoided. The foodstuff should be stored in dry and cool place, and the consumer should follow all directions for use. Washing of hands should be exercised before preparation of any food. All produce must be washed in a clean colander or sink under running water. The cutting boards should be washed in warm water, and any raw produce like fruits should not be chopped in a board used for poultry or raw meat (Lindell & David, 2001). The cross-sectional design involves the collection of data at a definite time to assess the prevalence of chronic or acute conditions. The study involves the collection of special data like the questions about past, and they rely on the originally collected data (Lindell & David, 2001). The design is relatively easy and quick to conduct, and the collection of data on all variables happens at once. This is because the design involves observing the entire population. The method is applicable where the prevalence can be measured for all the factors investigated. Also, multiple outcomes can be studied. The prevalence of any health related characteristics or

Peter The Great Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Peter The Great - Essay Example He was a true fighter and did not get discouraged by defeats. Rather he tried to strengthen himself so as to defeat his enemy. He has brought many reforms to Russia, be it be regarding marriages, taxes or the Church. Peter the Great also known as Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov, was a tyrant and ruler of Russia in the late 17th and early 18th century. He ruled, reformed and revolutionized the country in his own ways, bringing a storm of transformations. Peter was born on 9th June 1972 to Alexei Mikhailovich. He had a reign of forty two years over Russia, starting from May 7 1982 until his death. Peter was a curious man. He was receptive to all sorts of learning, whether it belonged to his own culture or not. He was also ruthless, having no mercy for those who rebelled. His list of achievements earned him many titles, such as "the Great", "Father of His Country" and "Emperor of all the Russias". Peter the Great had been given the gigantic responsibility of running the empire when he was a mere ten years old. Since then and till his death, Peter the Great's mind and body were always working to find ways in which he can improve Russia and make it better. His endeavours and successes made him great. Though he had been given power in 1682, he became the sole ruler of Russia in 1696 after the deaths of his mother, Naryshkina and half brother, Ivan V. Only then he had the authority and independence to take major moves and bring key reforms in Russia. Some of the accomplishments and reforms brought about by and the efforts put in by Peter the Great, in chronological order, are: Modernizing Russia Peter the Great was not one of the conventional types. He himself was eager to learn from other cultures and was willing to adapt their ways. He plays a big role in modernizing Russia. He had many Western advisors on the suggestions of whom he restructured the whole of the Russian Army on the standards and practices of the Europeans. Oppositions and criticisms were thrown at his new policies but he remained steadfast., showing utmost belief in his decisions. Peter cruelly suppressed everybody who rebelled against his new procedures, be it be the Streltsy, Bashkirs or the Astrakhans. Peter, during his visit to the West, realized that European ways and traditions were way superior to the Russian ones. As a result, he ordered all his courtiers and officers to get rid of their long beards. Moreover, Peter was so determined in sweeping westernization all over Russia that he passed the orders of collecting taxes from those who want to keep beards, in an attempt to decrease the number of people who keep beards. Not only his army, but other officials were also told to dress in European style. Furthermore, he endeavoured to bring a halt to the tradition of arranged marriages. He thought the custom was barbaric and led to domestic violence as the couple were being forced to stay with each other and the matrimonial ecstacy was missing. In 1699, Peter the Great changed the format of the calendar to incorporate the counting of years from the time Christ was born, rather than the old way of counting years from the Creation of the World. Now people had to celebrate New Year on 1st January, discarding the previous September 1. Russia - A

Chinese culture Essay Example for Free

Chinese culture Essay Chinese culture is known to value education as one of the most important things that you can have in the world. This historical importance of education in the Chinese culture dates back from the teachings of Confucius. China is also rich in great thinkers and philosophers, all having important contributions for China and in the global scale. There philosophy was that they believe in achieving social harmony through freeing humans from deprivation and be given appropriate education and learning. According to Confucian teaching, all of us have the potential to be great, and that education is a way to achieve this. Also, educating a person can help in correcting him, if ever he has strayed as to what is known as ethical behavior. Confucius is a proponent of offering education to all the people from all classes. Education has been a driving force for success; people from low social positions could have the chance to rise and make their selves know through proper education. Confucius’ teachings have become a basis of the social norms of the country and a great aspect in the formation of the Chinese society. Everyone, even the penniless, strives hard to send their sons to school, in hope for a change in their way of life. Education does not only prove to be a source of knowledge but also a source of hope. Chinese education is very democratic in nature, wherein it is open for anyone, and that it promises to uplift him the society as long as he is able to survive the hardships that are brought about by studying lessons and arduous examinations. Chinese people believed in the teachings of Confucius and have used the hope of education as a motivation. They are all veered towards a life of memorizing the Classics and studying for exams in the hope of having a good position in the society afterwards. Some of them succeeded in doing so, and have found that their efforts have all been rewarded. They believe that if they work with their heads, they will be able to rule, being in the top brass of the society; as for those who work with their hands, they are meant to serve others instead. Education then became a mode or strategy in order to survive in the country which is plagued with poverty, a country so large that the government barely hears the calls of the people, unless you strive and make you known: the purpose of having proper education. This was reflected in Lu Xun’s writings, especially in the Preface to â€Å"Call to Arms. † Lu Xun tells his life story, how he started as a young boy raised in a poor family. When his father died of an illness without getting properly cured, he was set into achieving a life in medicine. He aims to do this with the help of education. Just like most of the people in China, he sees education as a way to uplift them of their social status. Even if they are living a poor life, they still have the chance to rise up from poverty. This is by sending him to study and get proper education, away from his family. His mother did everything in order to send him to school. Poverty didn’t stand in the way; she literally worked till her back hurt in order to support Lu Xun in his education. Lu Xun on the other hand did his part and went to a school in his search for education. He was more inclined with medicine, and he further learned that his father wouldn’t have died if he was given the proper treatment, not the old ways of treating such ailments. Families suffered because of false prescriptions, lives were lost without actually being able to give any possible solutions to ailments. He studied a lot, and got into an introduction on Western medical science to Japan. This has brought him somewhere farther away from home, in the provincial medical college in Japan in his search for knowledge. He was thinking of being able to cure patients just like his deceased father, so that patients will not be wrongly treated anymore in the hands of the false prophets giving medical aids. He all dream of doing so upon his return to China even with the increasing unrest and development of wars at that time. Even so, he didn’t lose sight of his dream. He thought that if ever war broke out, he could then serve his country by volunteering to be an army doctor, alongside helping to strengthen the faith of his people towards reformation. What changed him that time is when he saw a film about the execution of a Chinese man. This was done in Japan when they found out about a Russian spy in the person of a Chinese man. Other Chinese people gathered around the man being executed as spectators of what is happening to a fellow Chinese. This had opened his eye that even if he pursue medicine, this can’t prevent the deaths of people who belong to a weak and backward country, and dying from illness may be very less likely to occur. The health of these people doesn’t matter anymore, as long as they are bound by the hardships of the society, they will all end up getting killed or watching others getting killed. The most possible solution that he could turn to was to change their spirit; and this sparked his motivation to move on to literature. He could use up his skills in writing to end this problem, and probably be able to initiate a literary movement. He will pioneer a movement that could hopefully serve his people’s interest; since most of the students in Tokyo are taking up law, political science, physics, chemistry and more, but none of them are studying the arts and literature. There were but a few who has the same inclination as Lu Xun, and they have conglomerated in order to fulfill the same goal by turning to using literature as a weapon against the problems of the society. As their first step, they decide to publish a magazine, signifying a new birth. There are a lot of things that happened afterwards, but eventually led to his collection of various short stories, something that signify his success, maybe not totally, but in his self, he was able to fulfill his dream of affecting a large number of people through literature. Lu Xun’s experiences were but a manifestation of China’s enlightenment, wherein he was able to analyze the worth of his actions, how his futile attempts to lift his position in the society become a detrimental action for the country itself. Chinese culture offered education as a solution, but not all the time should people rely on it. This may cause their demise, if not the total destruction of their beloved culture. Education is really an important aspect to consider, especially for the part of the Chinese people. They give it great value, and they see it as a way to uplift the life they are living in. But during the May Fourth Movement of 1919, people have stood up to the test of time; education is not always the solution. From Lu Xun’s pint of view, his pursue of getting proper education in the field of medicine is not enough. His eyes were opened to the reality of the society; they are living in a hostile environment, that if they don’t take action, they will end up getting crushed. Investing in the minds is not enough, since they have other aspects to fill in. People from other culture undermined the Chinese people’s abilities to assess things in life in the sense of practicality. They have been engrossed in education that they were neglecting the actual concerns of the people. They were more on an individualistic perspective rather that the interest of their nation. Lu Xun has realized this, from the time that he wished to have proper medical education so that he will be able to cure the person, which has been deprived for his deceased father. His personal intention of redeeming himself from the reality that his father could be saved has clouded his mind. In the early years of his time, he was just concentrating on his personal growth, despite the fact that he could have already involved in enriching the Chinese people’s spirit though literature. He realized this in his late years, and has been a manifestation of enlightenment in his personal level. Lu Xun’s writings were really a call to arms, encouraging people to move, to take action so that they can avoid getting crushed. These are encouragements that he gives out to the people of China, an enlightenment that takes them to a transitional phase. The transition of these people is from self-centered efforts of education to the efforts which are more on the national interest. People who were just thinking about raising themselves from poverty are now encouraged to think on a national level; what can they do to improve their country? It is truly a manifestation of enlightenment, wherein the writings of Lu Xun was a call to arms which transformed self-centered Chinese people to a Chinese citizen concerned with the greater interests of the country. This is highly manifested in the May Fourth Movement of 1919, wherein thousands of students stood up and fought for the country, making their voices heard all over the world. It was basically a cultural and political movement of the early modern China, which marked the awakening of a national interest, a wake-up call for the individualistic people to take action to save their country from the clutches of oppression from other countries. It awakened Chinese nationalism and re-evaluated Chinese cultural institutions including the pioneering Confucianism. This is to answer the oppression that they received from the unfair settlements of the Treaty of Versailles, which is known as the Shandong problem, arousing national interest and awakening a movement inside every Chinese citizen. When the Chinese government embraced the intervention from foreigners and the interests of other countries, the Chinese people sensed injustice in their demands from the country. Nationalism was ignited in every heart of the Chinese people because of the unfair treatment being given by the present government who are getting help from foreigners in exchange of favors against national interests. The major proponents of these movements are the students, who stood up and took the streets so that their voices could be heard not only by the government leaders but also by the world. In the outbreak of the World War I, the Beijing government took the side of the Allied Triple Entente because they are pursuing the return of Shandong to China. Shandong has been under the influence of Germany at that time, and China wanted its return. Japan, a fellow Allied power then pursued an attack on all German installations and properties including Shandong when the war came to an end. In a peace conference in Paris, the Chinese government requested for the return of Shandong to China, ever since Japan took it from Germany at the times of the World War I. But at the end of the peace conference in Paris, France, all the Chinese requests have been totally neglected by the Western Allies, dominating most of the meeting and ignoring the sentiments of China. Even though these western countries advocated self-determination, it seems that they have betrayed the fellow Allied power China when they didn’t care to notice of their few requests and arrangements. These events have fueled the fire inside the hearts of the Chinese people, most especially the Chinese students, leading to the outbreak of what we know now as the May Fourth Movement, and event in history that marked the awakening of the Chinese minds towards the harsh reality that we have today; the cruelty of man. In the early hours of May 4, 1919, Chinese students from the local universities of China came and met in Peking to draft and create a few resolutions to answer the Shandon Problem that has aroused from the unfair treatment that they have received from their allies. This includes the opposition of the German concessions in Shandong that was transferred to the Japanese hands. Another is to make everyone in China aware of the position they are into. They want them to know what is happening in their nation today, and that they want to raise the people’s awareness. Another was a â€Å"call to arms,† requesting the people to hold a demonstration that will show their disgust and opposition to the results and terms included in the Treaty of Versailles. The Allied betrayal of China has raised the anger of the Chinese people which encouraged them to stand up and took the streets to hold a demonstration. Majority of these people are students, coming from the local universities of the country. They wanted to get rid of the â€Å"traitors† that has overlooked the interest of China for their own interests. They wanted to punish the political figures at that time which hold important positions as diplomats. The following days were all signs of demonstrations. People especially students from Beijing and other neighboring regions of the country rose and went on strike as a whole, encouraging other parts of the country to do so and follow what they have started. The movement went one, from Beijing to Shanghai to other parts of China, calling the people to take the streets, a true â€Å"call to arms† in order to fight oppression from other countries that opposed them. They have been deprived of their small requests, which mean that they were betrayed by their allies at one point of time. This event is comparable to Lu Xun’s â€Å"A Madman’s Diary, wherein he feature’s the accounts of a person who may not be in the right frame of mind, chronicling everything that he experiences in his day to day life as a â€Å"normal† person in his own point of view. This diary serves as an answer to the May Fourth Movement, which is out on a different context. The mad man’s views may be considered to be as China at that time, while the other characters could be considered as the close people in his life. The mad man views that he is the center of the attention of all the people around him. They look into him as something different, not as a person, but as something material in nature. He thinks that these people wanted to eat him that they see him as someone that can be considered as food, someone that can be cooked just like pork, or chicken, and then be devoured to satisfy the hungry mouths of the people. He fears that anytime he can be attacked, be killed, butchered, and finally be eaten. Every time he walks out of his house, he is always wary that people are looking at him differently, that they have other intentions in their minds. Even the neighborhood’s youngsters look at him differently, just like how the old ones look at him. This has caused him of the uneasy feelings which deprives him of sleep and a good meal, and thinks that anytime soon, people will come barging in and attacking him so that they will be able to devour his flesh. These thoughts were not limited to his neighbors only. He has been thinking like this even with his relatives. He is thinking that his older brother and their caretaker also wanted to eat him. He sees his brother as the biggest threat to his welfare, that he is also interested in devouring his flesh and organs. Because of this, he thinks that he is not safe even in his own house. He then confronts his brother and gets into an argument with him. In the end, he suspected his brother more, with the intentions of devouring his flesh growing as the time lengthens. This was a manifestation of the May Fourth Movement’s awakening. The mad man was China, wherein he is afraid of getting eaten by the people in the community. It reflects the significance of China in a global stature. Many pursue his flesh, and that is literally the territories of the nation. China is a rich country which makes it susceptible for the negative intentions that other countries have against it and its territories. He was trying hard to protect it, and even seek the help of his relatives. These relatives are the Allied powers, whom China gave their allegiance. They wanted to get Shandong back in their names, only to find out that even Japan, a co-Allied power was after it. And the worst part was that they were ignored by the other allied nations. What the Western allied countries did to China was a big slap in their face. They trusted them to help in restoring the territorial claims of Shandong along with a few requests, but none of these were answered. Japan took advantage of their alliance and acquired Shandong for themselves, just like how the madman perceived it to be, his relatives, or in that matter his own brother, devouring his flesh out of greed.

Customer Analysis of the Airline Industry

Customer Analysis of the Airline Industry Introduction: In the highly competitive airline industry, customers become the most important factor of the whole producing process. Besides flight safety, enhancing service quality, and therefore customer satisfaction, is the most crucial strategies of the airlines (Fried, 1989; Gardner, 2004; Zaid, 1995). Customer complaints serve as a critical dimension of service quality and customer satisfaction. Both the great affect that complaint handling has on customer retention and the beneficial usage of complaint information for service quality improvements have been widely recognized by the airlines and evaluative institutions (Strauss Schoeler, 2004). Complaint management continues to be a focal point of research as more companies have become convinced that defensive marketing is a highly profitable endeavor (Davidow, 2003). Customer complaints provide organizations with an opportunity to rectify their mistakes, retain dissatisfied consumers, and influence consumers’ future attitudes and behavior (Estelami, 1999). There is much empirical evidence showing that the complaint satisfaction with a company’s response has an enormous impact on customers’ future behavior (Stauss, 2002). Therefore if the customer relation department is doing the job effectively and getting complains from customers it can be used a tool to make improvements in the company as their feedback will tell the airlines where there are lacking and how they can improve. So it will just not increase customer satisfaction but also the loyalty and the profit for airline as customers will like to use the services again and again. These days Airlines are in fierce competition with each other and they are trying to gain each others market share by using different strategies some are giving cheap tickets some are giving extra weight and so forth. The point here is no matter what strategies airlines are using the thing that matters is if they are satisfying the customers or not. Getting market share from other airlines might be easy but retaining that share is very difficult to retain. Nowadays people are highly price sensitive and they will switch the airlines for a minor difference too. So now the airlines really have to work on something so that they can retain the customer while satisfying them too. In Pakistan there wasn’t any survey which was precisely on Airline industry. So that is why this topic was chosen so as to provide better insight in this industry regarding the customer satisfaction. The Airlines really have to do something extra to attract more and more customers as the biggest problem airlines are facing are the economic problems like fuel prices and very tough competition from other carriers and getting very strict regulations from governments. The airlines have to develop new ways to attract the customers those days are long gone when airlines could charge as much as they want because of many new competitors now they can’t do that. After 9/11 the whole industry saw a major sets backs and increased fuel prices and security conditions were totally changed since then. The industry was facing setback economically and viably. They had to improve their operations so as to reduce as much costs as they can as they fixed costs were going sky high and it was getting very hard for the airlines to operate in such environment. While reducing costs they cannot ignore customers as they are the one who are getting them revenues. The Airlines have made their operations better so they were able to reduce operational costs and can give better fares with respect to other airlines. Airlines have started customer relationship programs so as to have better relations with customers so they can travel on the same airline again and again. But there were many airlines that went bankrupt because of high operational costs and low revenues even majors airlines were failed to make profits after 9/11. During the last eight years there were many airlines who ceased there operations mainly due to revenues and there were many airlines who are going in loss or hardly on break up. Due to this there were many mergers in the airlines too. All this happened due to the economic conditions across the world. It is worth mentioning here that air traffic has increase many times but still airlines are not making very high profits. It is all due to very high operating costs and due to security conditions. The losses faced by airline industry is also caused by many low cost carriers which are not giving other benefits and just taking from places to places and many travelers prefer to save on tickets. The security conditions has forced many airlines to step up their operations and make sure of the safety of passengers which has ultimately increased the fixed costs but in return they are giving complete satisfaction to passenger while providing safe journey. The passenger’s satisfaction differs from person to person some want more off board facilities some want onboard some like extra luggage some are satisfied with good food. Now the question arises here how an airline can satisfy so many people. This is the reason this research has been conducted to get a better insight of the customers that what customers are expecting and what airlines are giving them. The gap will tell us where airlines are lacking and how they can give better services to customers with better fares. The Main Hypothesis for the thesis is: Airlines with higher satisfied customers are getting more passengers. The Sub hypotheses are following. 1. Reliability Airlines with higher Reliability are getting more passengers. 2. Responsiveness Airlines with higher Responsiveness are getting more passengers. 3. Assurance Airlines with higher Assurance are getting more passengers. 4. Empathy Airlines with higher Empathy are getting more passengers. 5. Tangibility Airlines with higher Tangibility are getting more passengers. Literature Review Everyone knows what satisfaction is, until asked to give a definition. Then it seems nobody knows [Richard Oliver 1997]. He is expert and long time research writer and researcher on customer satisfaction. The definition of customer satisfaction is â€Å"Satisfaction is the consumer’s fulfillment response. It is a judgment that a product or services feature, or the product or service itself, provides a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment† [Richard Oliver 1997]. Customer satisfaction can differ from person to person and product to product. But generally if the product has at least met the needs of the consumer then it will be customer satisfaction. Incase it failed to meet the minimum expectation then it will be turned into dissatisfaction. Tolman (1932) was the first person to use the term expectation in the context of behaviour. In general terms, expectations borrow from Tolman’s expectancy theory whereby, subsequent to learning, people actualize or ward off potential consequences of their actions. Pretrial beliefs about a product (Olson Dover, 1979) that serve as standards or reference points against which product performance is judged (Zeithaml, 1993) is a commonly used definition of expectations that draws from Tolmans original conceptualization. Customer satisfaction is measured in a given reference of time. So with due respect of time even it changes so as the satisfaction level. It changes from time to time and factor to factor as it is a dynamic process. In highly involvement decisions it is very important to meet the satisfaction level. If it failed to meet the expected level then the companies will loose the customer. As there won’t be any second chance. The key to provide the excellent service is in understanding the customer expectation [Parasuraman, Berry, Zeithaml, 1991b, p. 39). Expectations play a role in the formation of satisfaction and service quality through the expectancy disconfirmation paradigm (Oliver, 1980, 1993, 1997; Tse Wilton. 1988), and the gap model (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, Berry, 1985) respectively.  Satisfaction and perceived quality result from a comparison of the level of performance perceived and the level of performance expected by the consumer. In this so competitive industry such as airline industry nowadays the airlines are meeting with very harsh realities first of fuel prices going sky high making there fixed costs sky high as well. Then due to high fares passengers are switching the airlines for any extra favors. Due to this many airlines went bankrupt as they couldn’t even have breakeven. That is why nowadays low budget airlines are making more profits then big airlines because of low fares. But it is just not fare which makes them change the airline. There are many other factors involved other then just fare. They need to even meet certain level of expectations. In the customer satisfaction, expectations are treated as predictions made by customers about what is likely to happen during a service encounter. Such expectations correspond to what the service will be like (Oliver, 1997; Zeithaml et al, 1993). Oliver defines expectations as predictions, sometimes stated as probabilities or likelihoods, of attribute or product performance at a specific performance level. Miller (1977) called this standard the expected standard, which is the result of a probability estimate. American Society for Quality told in a report that recently the troubles that airline industry are facing are, flights are getting delayed, overbooked and sometimes even cancel and due to that passengers are getting worked up are losing patience. The level of satisfaction is on the decrease and will continue to decrease. The airline industry analysts are expecting that the situation is going to get bad or even worst before it will get better. The American Customer Satisfaction Index score for industry in the first three months of 2007 was about three percent lower to 2006 score and it is 63 on 100 scale.   Satisfaction with constituent elements is particularly important in a service setting because customers are involved in the service process. Thus services are necessarily experiences, and as a result, customers rely on multiple indicators of service quality to evaluate overall satisfaction with the service (Bitner, 1990; Zeithamel 1990; Mittal, V., P. Kumar, and M. Tsirors 1989). Peripheral attributes are further distinguished as physical attributes, the choice of features and amenities that are included in the service concept, and interaction attributes, the way that service employees Interact with customers in the service delivery system. The importance of a particular attribute in the service concept is derived from the sensitivity of overall satisfaction to changes in satisfaction with the particular element (Kamakura et al. 2002). Customer satisfaction is desired because of its role in the service value profit chain in producing a stream of revenues that is resilient to competition and obtained at lower long run cost (Heskett et al., 1997). Research shows that irrespective of the outcome of the service encounter i.e., performance on core attributes, peripheral attributes both physical and interactional can independently affect customer satisfaction (Bitner, 1990) Taking quality and customer satisfaction into consideration, the airlines can improve their customer service and airline operations in a lot of ways. It will take sometime to apply better strategies to make the daily operations run smoothers and more effectively, but if you start implementing the better strategies and user friendly processes to improve passenger assistance and customer service it will give you a very good idea and plan what are the possible problems customers are facing and through which strategies can be adopted to prevent such problems in future. The service marketing literature discriminates among elements of the service concept. Some elements core attributes define the basic service being provided, while other elements, termed peripheral attributes specify the distinctive manner in which the service is delivered (Gronroos, 1990; Booms and Bitner, 1990). One of the leading reasons for customers loosing patience and showing dissatisfaction with the airlines is late departures or cancellations of flights. Customers just want to go from origin to destination on time but they are unable to trust the airlines with this issue. People are pointing fingers to different issues but no one is ready to accept the responsibility for flights late departure or arrival. It is because of number of reasons like bad weather; Aircrafts have to wait in sky to land at airports due to heavy traffic. Then maintenance problems of engines and fuselage, airport operations and ATC problems are some of the examples which make the flight difficult to depart or arrive on time. Even though all these arguments are valid and legitimate but still customers are not ready to relax. It has been found that airlines have no reason to improve the effectiveness and quality of their operations, since all airlines think and believe that they all are facing the same problems and no one is worst then anyone else. So when customers feel dissatisfied with a certain airline. They will travel on a different airline next time it will happen again and then again they will retry a new but how long they will keep on changing and ultimately they will feel all airlines are handling the customers in a same manner and eventually they will travel on same airline on which they traveled for first time. This is not necessarily true. TARP research indicates a passenger who files complain is thirty percent more loyal than a noncompliant and fifty percent more loyal than a dissatisfied complainant. Nowadays customers are not complaining much than they did a decade ago when half of the passengers will complain least once. Today, the rates of complaints even for big problems with serious consequences are not much and it is about 20%. Now hardly one percent customer’s complaints to the airline that too which are serious in nature. This is one of the major problems for airlines because when passengers will not file complaints then airlines will not know the problems which are faced by passengers during flight or even before or after flight. The fault here is not entirely on customers but on airlines more then customers but they are so hopeless that they think it is more of wastage of time. So airlines need to assure people that their complaints will be solved as soon as possible and it will not happen again. They need to inform the customers after it is resolved but how many airlines do that? Hardly a few, When customers will feel that airline wants to work on the problems and their problems will be solved only then they will start complaining and it is just not that problem they tell it is a whole new gateway to success because solving the complains means better satisfactions that will result in more revenue with good will. Airline Managers should not assume that if the customers are not reporting the problems or complaints it means they are not having any problems and customers are satisfied with the service. In fact it is the total opposite which is passengers are now so hopeless that they have assumed that even complaining wont help them either, so they don’t care to file a complaint. The expectations of the passengers have been decreased to such a point that they don’t expect the airlines will do anything to satisfy there customers. The airline staff that comes in direct contact with passengers on daily basis must understand and try to solve their problem as soon as they can. This is especially true for the channels in service industry and point where customers interact with employees working in customer relation department who are there to resolve customer complaints. In the situation which we are discussing, empathy has these things to be friendly, understand customer’s feelings,, Showing care to solve the problems and making sure to meet his needs, Make the customers feel that their concern is valid, and when in problem, solve the problem or at least try to find a solution. Handling the customers in airline industry is very much different and much personalized. It is not like dealing with lots of super market customers or like dealing them like they are dealing with loose cattle’s. How can an airline get its staff to show and have empathy? One way is to show staff videos of service experiences they can be real or staged in which empathy is there but is not expressed. A video is better instead of written description because a lot of times communication between staff and customer is nonverbal like body language, expressions, voice tone and even eye contact and consistency is part of quality. Consistency is vital for customers because consistency is an experience taken as reliability by the customer. So if there is a lack of reliability it will not only affect the customer’s trust in the company but will create bad image. This is an important issue to be addressed because trust is a essential condition for customer loyalty.   Passengers are not dissatisfied with all airlines. There are many airlines like Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Etihad and Qatar etc especially Emirates has constantly topped in customer satisfaction for consecutive four years according to Skytrax. Airline industry researchers find it very interesting that some airlines continue to satisfy the customers in most efficient manner and making huge profits in such industry where there rivals are not even having break even. In north America Southwest is one of the best airlines and in their ads they make it a joke that they are not giving you any special service but they’re doing what is precisely they are saying that is they get you on the destination on time without troubles. What they have done what so many other companies have failed to do. The secret of there recipe is they have met the most basic thing for a effective and quality airline operation that is consistently meeting expectations. This has enabled them to earn good profits with better customer’s satisfaction. The flights of reputed airlines arrived on time eighty percent of the time, they are able to set standards for even other airline and there operations are now used as benchmarks for other airlines. They are departing on time and getting to their destinations on time just because of effective management and quality tools. They have a proper and consistent process and they have documented their workloads properly. Their turnaround times are a lot better than other rivals in the industry because they use standardized operations. They know the more time plan will be parked at apron it is there loss the sooner the aircraft will be in air and is flying it is there profit so they land the plane, get new passengers and get the aircraft back in the air as soon as they can because that is only way airlines make money. Booming airlines are putting the aircrafts back in the air at much higher rate then other airlines because of the fact the more time the aircraft is parked at apron it is there loss and the more time it will be in air it will generate revenue for them thus making more profits. This makes customers at ease too as they don’t have to wait for hours to get to their destination. That means no long waits at airport thus no frustration for passengers. Reputed airlines set the expectations and then will meet the expectations. Airlines are thinking their problems are not much different from other airlines and everything is going smoothly even if not everyone is facing same situations. As they blame on weather and acts of God. Which everyone else is facing as well. Immense financial pressures, then with fuel prices going sky high and struggle in the low-fare market, is making the airlines believe that they are unable to afford to put all the resources together  to resolve their customer satisfaction problems. The most effective and cost efficient way to improve the complaint managing process is to prevent the problem by anticipating the problems instead of not acting on the complaint. It is better to take notice of the complaint than have the customer go away. The loyalty of customers who have experienced troubles is about 20% lesser than those of non-complainants customers. This 20% reduction includes both non-complainants and those who have filed the complaints. To prevent a problem the first thing one has to do is understand what is causing the troubles or problems for customers. In a recent it was found that most of the companies think if they have a customer who is dissatisfied for some reason, it is due to a worker who caused the dissatisfaction by doing wrong. The TARP’s study has found that most of the employees did a good job and hardly 20% of dissatisfaction was caused by staff’s bad attitude or by doing something wrong. Most of the problems which were between fourty to sixty percent are due to substandard processes, and the remaining are because of either customer mistake or confusion in either the kind of the product or service purchased. (Goodman 2006.) A satisfied customer can even get dissatisfied due to differences in current satisfaction level and previously measured one. Consider the following scenario. In 2008, a customer flies on a flight to Europe in Economy Class on an Airbus A380. She is happy to have her own personal TV screen, in which she can choose any channel, watch movies or listens to songs or even play video games. In 2009 she flies the same flight but in Boeing 777 to her dismay that her plane is not equipped with personal visual in-flight entertainment but it has movie projected on central screen. Even though the specific service of transportation did not change. This customer had increased her expectations about the service. Even though the airline provided the same transportation service in 2009 as in 2008, the customer was dissatisfied because her increased expectations were not met. While this customer may not file an actual complaint, the takeaway from this example is that customer dissatisfaction is a function of the gap between pre and post customer expectations about a product or service [Zeithaml, 1990]. So, the more perceptions fall short of expectations, the higher customer dissatisfaction will be. As customers can change their expectations over time, dissatisfaction can change even if the product or service remains the same. Therefore, customer dissatisfaction will be different from previous experience. Even if an organization delivers identical results over time, customer dissatisfaction may increase as customers increase their expectations. So it is imperative for airlines to manage the balance of customer pre and post expectations. Sasser (1978) originally coined the term â€Å"service concept† in reference to the bundle of elements packaged as a complete service for sale to the customer. In services marketing, research on customer satisfaction parallels Sasser’s concept, positing that satisfaction with elements of the service concept combine to create overall satisfaction with the service encounter (LaTour and Peat, 1979; Mitall et al. 1989; Oliver 1997). Managers may think that the company’s complaint handling is fine, but if customers disagree, then the company still has a problem. Attribution research on consumer behavior suggests that customers’ attribution plays a pivotal role in shaping their attitudes and responses (Folkes, 1988), and it may mediate the relationship between complaint handling and post-complaint behaviors, such as negative word-of-mouth, future patronage etc. (Au, Hui, Leung, 2001). Customer satisfaction is desired because of its role in the service value profit chain in producing a stream of revenues that is resilient to competition and obtained at lower long run cost (Heskett et al., 1997). There are many areas in the airlines itself where faulty processes are leading to customer complaints and displeasure. Some are infrastructure problems, then the heavy air traffic issues specially high season, but these reasons affect an airline just as they affect every other airline. So why some airlines are consistently better? It is because they have designed their own skills to handle problems and their own operating measures to operate within the resources that they have. With reasons which are not in their control, they must do something to improve their systems. The Airlines need to utilize their resources in most effective way so as to operate effectively and best possible manner. Then they must exert influence on the people who have got power to control the infrastructure. Flight delays and cancellation is one of the leading factors in dissatisfaction among the passengers. The airlines needs to continuously improve their processes and systems, as it is vital for any other industry too. What use to happen doesn’t mean it can happen now too because previously customers were not aware much and companies couldn’t charm them with their advertising? The days are long gone now the customers are very well aware of situations and they ask question when they get to know something so as to know it better. What was satisfying the customers that time will now make them highly dissatisfied because times have changed so as the customers. The performance of airlines will decrease over time until unless something is done to improve it or sustain it. To sustain the current standards of performance, it is highly important to perform high level of maintenance. Then to have a better and improved operations airline need a lot more then just maintenance to have an effective flight operation. Weather is one of the major factors which is beyond the control of an airline and is one of the leading cause of flight delays and even cancellations and it is just not causing great deal of dissatisfaction to customers it is also costing airlines huge sum of money as then they have to give them accommodation as well. Some customers don’t care about the weather and they just want to reach to the destination as soon as they can, which is not possible as it can be very dangerous to fly in such weather. Even a highly sophisticated aircraft can not fight with the forces of nature. If due to bad weather flights are delaying or canceling the airline must provide the actual cause of delay instead of saying delayed due to technical fault. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) compiled figures on weather-caused delays, free of the other categories. Weather caused the flights to be delayed approximately 9.5% of the time during the 2006 for seven airlines. Then 13% of the flights were delayed for different reasons which were in control of airline like fueling, aircraft cleaning, loading, crew problems, maintenance and baggage handling Then if a flight will depart will late that means it will arrive late at next airport and then again depart late for next leg of journey as it is a chain which will effect the chain until it makes up for that time. It will be just not delay but the passengers who got to catch a connecting flight will also miss their flight because of late departure. There are many reasons of dissatisfaction among the customers and just not food and check in problems. It is just not the dissatisfaction of customers but the airline will have to bear additional costs as well. There are some delays which are not due to weather but not also in control of airlines like heavy traffic volume at airport, ATC, Holding pattern of aircrafts due to runway not available even Airport operations too. Last but definelt not least the security reasons cause hardly 1 percent of flight delays. It is because of extra security check at the airport that at the end hardly flight gets . Communicating with customers when a problem occurs is a better way to improve the satisfaction. In this high – tech fast moving world due information and technology, everyone is now used to get instant information and communication. Passengers want to be instantly informed about the current status of their flights as if they are delayed or canceled. Industry experts said, the airlines cant change the weather in there favour, but what they can do is give customers better information. Several airlines have improved their communication processes by cross training and moving employees who aren’t busy due to a flight cancellation (baggage handlers, porters, etc.) and putting them in areas where other employees are overwhelmed at the gate and ticket counters. Rather than having two gate agents handling 200 unhappy passengers, there are now 10-12 employees helping. Lines move faster, and people feel like they’re making progress. Airlines have so many cancelled flights and weather problems, so how does one can make your work force that much efficient so that you can decrease the customers’ concern level? They can easily do that with updated information, empathy, and assistance, even if you can’t get them from origin to destination any faster. Now the question is should expectations are seen as the level of desired service. Desired and adequate services are two more service level expectations conceptualized by researchers (Parasuraman, 1991, 1994; Zeithaml, 1993). Desired is what consumer wanted; it represents the level of service performance consumers believe an excellent service provider can and should deliver. Adequate service is what consumers accept and is partly influenced by consumers predicted level of service (i.e., will expectations). Separating these two types of expectations is a zone of tolerance, which can vary from consumer to consumer and from situation to situation (Parasuraman 1991). The zone of tolerance will be higher for the outcome than for the process dimensions of expectations since the single outcome dimension, namely reliability, is the most important. Thus, it will be easier for managers to exceed the process dimensions of expectations (i.e., responsiveness, assurance, tangibles, and empathy) than the outcome dimension (i.e., reliability). The adequate level of Service performance is similar to the minimum tolerable expectation defined by Miller (1977). Deserved expectations, another level of desired service derived from Adams (1963) theory of inequity, are a consumers subjective evaluations of her/his own investment. A consumer who, for example, has invested much in ticket feels that he/she deserves a high level of performance or a reward. The leading Airlines try to identify the specific flights where customers experience a high level of inconvenience or trouble. So when it happens, the airline will send them a letter to explain the cause and apologize for the inconvenience caused. They don’t want the customer to feel that they should not go back to the same airline again. Industry analysts have said that enhanced customer services will help settle the passengers, but only for the short term. They think no matter what airlines can do but people are going to be annoyed because of the fact that customers are not getting to the destination on time. Some airlines are reworking. If they can they do it better next time. Sure, but the purpose is not to do rework in the first place. You will get to know that it is not a value-added practice. You don’t want to have such process or people when they will end up in customers disatisfaction because it will be a rework that you shouldn’t have to do in the first place. Federal Aviation Administration the regulating authority for aviation in United States is testing the new technologies and latest satellites technologies so as to replace the aging and old Air Traffic Controller radars systems. So they can  overcome the problems and short comings of the current air traffic network and want to implement the Global positions system in the country for all the phases of flights. (Carr, J. 2001) Currently the airports are

Impact of Walking on Excess Adiposity in Obese Adults

Impact of Walking on Excess Adiposity in Obese Adults The effect and efficacy of a health walk intervention in diminishing excess adiposity in obese adults ABSTRACT Introduction With the exponential rise in worldwide obesity rates, obesity is a non-communicable disease considered to be an epidemic cause of concern. Not only is this due to the physiological decline leading to premature mortality but also as a financial burden on society. Individuals meeting the cut-off point for obesity (BMI > 30 kg m-2) are reportedly at a higher risk of mortality or developing comorbidities than healthy-weight individuals. Accordingly, the role of exercise as a weight loss strategy must be examined. Objective To initiate a walking health route plan for a 2kg fat mass loss in an obese individual and to further investigate the efficiency of exercise (i.e. walking) as a role in weight loss. Methods Subject A, a male (age = 50 years, height = 1.77m, body mass = 96kg, body mass index (BMI) = 30.3kg/m2) was chosen as the target subject for a walking health route strategy to initiate a loss of 2kg of fat mass. Energy expenditure data was analysed using the subjects known anthropometric data along with the calories expended and duration of the walk as tracked and calculated by the app MapMyWalk. Results Subject A expended 379 Kcal (1585.74 kJ) as calculated by MapMyWalk for the designed health route walk. Subject A would have to repeat this health route walk approximately 49 times to lose 2kg of fat mass. In real time, this equates to performing 40 hours of this walk route for a 2kg fat mass loss. This is not a realistic approach to weight loss, especially in an obese individual already struggling to take up exercise. Thus, other methods that complement the walking health route must be considered for optimal weight loss. Conclusion Introduction With westernized lifestyles being adopted in developing countries and a growing obese population in the developed, obesity is now considered a worldwide epidemic. Obesity was officially recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2013) as a non-communicable disease that requires an effective intervention if its rise is to be prevented. Moreover, obesity is also the source of other non-communicable diseases that burden society, both economically and health-wise (WHO, 2000). Prospective Studies Collaboration (2009) performed an analysis of numerous studies that observed the effect of BMI on the risk of mortality. Their findings showed that every 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI resulted in a 30% higher risk of mortality. Additionally, the study concluded that while other anthropometric measures are useful, BMI alone is strong enough as a predictor of obesity. Despite the growing uncertainty over using BMI as a valid indicator of obesity, there is no strong evidence yet encouraging the dis use of this anthropometric measurement (Bouchard, 2007). The standard definition of obesity is a BMI of 30kg/m2 (Cole et al., 2000; James et al., 2001). If this epidemic rise remains unchanged, by 2025, more than 18% of men and 21% of women worldwide will officially be classified as obese (NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, 2016). NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (2016) further suggested that lowering global BMI numbers produces the largest health benefits. As recent research has indicated, the significant association between obesity and BMI is largely determined by adiposity. Malik, Willett and Hu (2013) stated that excessive adiposity is an important risk factor in the development of non-communicable diseases. Lowering BMI by targeting adiposity is the most commonly used method of intervention and this is often achieved through either an increase in energy expenditure, reduction in energy intake or a combination of both. A cohort study performed by Padwal et al. (2016) observed residents in Canada above the age of 40 years from the first trial, where their anthropometric measurements were taken, up until deaths among the subjects were documented. This study found that the men in the highest body fat percentage quintile had the highest risk of mortality and that there was a direct association between body fat percentage and mortality; a higher body fat percentage resulted in a higher risk of mortality. Moreover, Padwal and his fellow researchers concluded that adiposity levels higher than a healthy value reduces chances of survival. Obesity and a high BMI result in premature mortality mostly in due to the comorbidities that follow excess adiposity. A population-based cohort study by Reyes et al. (2016) found that being overweight or obese significantly increases the risk of hand, hip, and knee osteoarthritis and that these conditions increase in probability with increasing BMI. Both diabetes and hypertension are amplified in adult life by increases in BMI (James et al., 2001). A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study by Feigin et al. (2016) reported that more than 90% of the global stroke burden is a result of modifiable risk factors such as a poor diet and physical inactivity. Feigins study concluded that regulating behavioural and metabolic risk factors such as physical activity and diet prevents more than three-quarters of the global stroke burden. Chan et al. (1994) studied the risk of type II diabetes mellitus in men with obesity and high levels of adiposity. The study design recruited 51,529 U.S. men, all approximately 40 75 years of age in 1986, followed by a five-year follow-up on the same subjects. Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes have been long researched to understand its mechanisms. Various studies suggest that increased resistance to insulin and diminished expression of the GLUT4 glucose transporter are found in both obese and diabetic populations (Yang et al., 2005). Chan concluded from the results of the study that there is a strong positive relationship between obesity measured by BMI and risk of diabetes. Despite analysing the relationship between diabetes and other antecedents such as early obesity, waist circumference and childhood weight gain, the results determined that BMI was the leading risk factor for type II diabetes mellitus. Nevertheless, weight loss has been suggested as one of the few modif iable factors for reversing the metabolic effects of obesity and diabetes (Bassuk and Manson, 2005). Many studies have shown associations between physical inactivity and all-cause mortality. Cardiorespiratory fitness is a key marker of aerobic capacity and often found to be the link between obesity, and mortality from cardiorespiratory diseases. Wei et al. (1999) studied the relationship between low cardiorespiratory fitness and mortality in different weight category populations wherein 25,714 adult men were examined in 1970, with a follow-up of mortality rates in 1994. Low cardiorespiratory fitness was found to be a strong independent predictor of mortality in all BMI groups: approximately 50% of the obese group had low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, increasing health risks to 39% for CVD mortality and 44% for all-cause mortality. The aim of this report is to analyse the role of exercise as a health change behaviour of an obese middle-aged man to prevent the risk of obesity-related diseases and minimise the likelihood of premature mortality. Methods Subject A is a 50-year-old man with a logged height of 1.77m, with a body mass of 96kg and a body mass index of 30.3kg /m2. The health route designed for Subject A involved a 2.87 mile (m) walk at a speed of 16:52 minutes per mile (min/m), which equates to 3.75 mph miles per hour (mph). The walk included a maximum ascend of 327ft and an average heart rate of 144 beats per minute (bpm). The route involves Subject A to walk through a park and along an uphill footpath in a circle until the subject reaches the park once again. Figures 1, 2, and 3 present the body mass index calculation, the walk route, the data from the walk route and elevation from the walk route. Heart rates were recorded at random throughout the walk: a graphical representation of the recorded heart rates at 7 random intervalscan be seen in figure 4. The changing terrain can be seen through the varying heart rates despite the route being a steady-state, sub-maximal exercise. The results section and the appendix present the detailed calculations surrounding the data collected for the subject. Figure 1 BMI calculated and classified through the NHS website Figure 2 Health route data Figure 2 2.81-mile health route overview Figure 3 2.81-mile health route and further data calculated by MapMyWalk   Ã‚   Results Subject As data regarding their body mass (kg), height (m), the average heart rate and the duration of the walk (in minutes) was analysed by MapMyWalk to calculate the total energy expenditure (in Kcal) of the health route. The energy expenditure (in Kcal) was converted to energy in kilojoules (kJ) before calculating the energy expenditure of the activity per minute (kJ/min-1). Table 1 shows the duration, number of repetitions, and energy expenditure requirements to ensure a loss of 2kg of fat mass using the walking health route. According to the data, one repetition of the walk will require Subject A to expend 1585.74 kJ/min-1. Additionally, to lose 2kg of fat mass, the walk must be repeated approximately 49 times. Subject A Mean Heart Rate (bpm) 144 Percentage HR max 84% Total energy expenditure for the health route walk as given by the app MapMyWalk (Kcal) 379 Energy expenditure per minute (kJ/min-1) 32.6 Energy expenditure for total walk (kJ) 1585.74 Time required to lose 2kg fat mass (hours) 40 Time required to lose 2kg fat mass (minutes) 2392.63 Number of health routes required to lose 2kg fat mass 49 RPE 12 Table 1 Health route data (Refer to the appendix for the calculations) Figure 4 Health route walk: Randomised heart rate recordings at 7 intervals Subject As average heart rate was 144 bpm, putting him within the fat burning zone, which is optimal for the desired outcome. This equates to 84% of the subjects maximum heart rate (170 bpm). Discussion The results from this intervention suggest that Subject A must repeat this health route walk approximately 49 times to lose 2kg of fat mass, this equates to completing 40 hours of this walk route to initiate a 2kg fat mass loss. While completing the health route walk once is an appropriate duration of physical activity, the time needed to produce a reduction in weight loss of 2kg, and therefore a reduction in BMI value, is unrealistic and impractical. Research surrounding physical activity suggests similar recommendations for tackling weight loss. McGuire et al. (1999) observed the behavioural techniques used by the U. S. adult population. The subjects were divided into three different categories; weight-loss maintainers: individuals who had intentionally lost à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥10% of their weight and maintained it for à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥1 year, weight-loss regainers: individuals who intentionally lost à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥10% of their weight but had not maintained it and a control group of individuals who had never lost à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥10% of their maximum weight and had maintained their current weight ( ±10 pounds) within the past 5 years. The results of the study showed that the weight-loss maintainer group consistently upheld their initial weight loss over a period of 7 years. In regards to their intervention, the weight-loss maintainer group incorporated a larger variety of techniques to regulate and self-monitor their lifestyle. Th e study concluded that adherence to a controlled dietary intake and increased physical activity contributed to weight loss and its maintenance. Appendix Calculation of health route data Total energy expenditure for the health route walk as given by the app MapMyWalk = 379 Kcal Total energy expenditure converted to kJ = 1585.74 kJ Rate of energy expenditure = 1585.74 kJ à · 48.5333 minutes (OR 48 min 32 seconds) = 32.6 kJ min-1 1kg of fat contains 39,000kJ (McArdle et al.,1996), thus 2kg of fat = 78000 kJ: To find out the number of repetitions needed of the health route walk: Energy in 2kg of fat à · Total energy from the health route walk 78000 kJ à · 1585.74 kJ = 49.18839154 Thus, approximately 49 repetitions. To find out the total time taken for a 2kg fat loss using the health route walk: Energy in 2kg of fat à · Total rate of energy expenditure of health route walk 78000 kJ à · 32.6 kJ min-1 = 2392.638037 minutes (OR 39.8773006166667 hours OR 39 hours, 52 minutes, 38 seconds) Thus, when rounded up; approximately 40 hours. Average HR from 7 randomised points: 100 3 min, 140 8 min, 133 11 min, 143 27 min, 159 33 min, 165 36 min, 170 40 min = 1010 à · 7 = 144.2 or 144 BPM Percentage of HR max attained during the health route walk: = 220 50 years = 170 BPM = (144 BPM (average heart rate during health route walk) à · 170 BPM) * 100 = 84% Word Count: 2,500 excluding abstract and reference list References: Bassuk, S.S. and Manson, J.E., 2005. Epidemiological evidence for the role of physical activity in reducing risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Journal of applied physiology, 99(3), pp.1193-1204. Bouchard, C., 2007. BMI, fat mass, abdominal adiposity and visceral fat: where is thebeef?. International journal of obesity, 31(10), p.1552. Chan, J.M., Rimm, E.B., Colditz, G.A., Stampfer, M.J. and Willett, W.C., 1994. Obesity, fat distribution, and weight gain as risk factors for clinical diabetes in men. Diabetes care, 17(9), pp.961-969. Cole, T.J., Bellizzi, M.C., Flegal, K.M. and Dietz, W.H., 2000. Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey. Bmj, 320(7244), p.1240. Feigin, V.L., Roth, G.A., Naghavi, M., Parmar, P., Krishnamurthi, R., Chugh, S., Mensah, G.A., Norrving, B., Shiue, I., Ng, M. and Estep, K., 2016. Global burden of stroke and risk factors in 188 countries, during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. The Lancet Neurology, 15(9), pp.913-924. James, P.T., Leach, R., Kalamara, E. and Shayeghi, M., 2001. The worldwide obesity epidemic. Obesity research, 9(S11), pp.228S-233S. Malik, V.S., Willett, W.C. and Hu, F.B., 2013. Global obesity: trends, risk factors and policy implications. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 9(1), pp.13-27. McArdle et al. (1996) Exercise physiology: Energy, nutrition and human performance (4th ed.) Pub. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins pp. 774. McGuire, M.T., Wing, R.R., Klem, M.L. and Hillf, J.O., 1999. Behavioral strategies of individuals who have maintained longà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ term weight losses. Obesity, 7(4), pp.334-341. NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, 2016. Trends in adult body-mass index in 200 countries from 1975 to 2014: a pooled analysis of 1698 population-based measurement studies with 19 · 2 million participants. The Lancet, 387(10026), pp.1377-1396. Padwal, R., Leslie, W.D., Lix, L.M. and Majumdar, S.R., 2016. Relationship Among Body Fat Percentage, Body Mass Index, and All-Cause MortalityA Cohort StudyRelationship Among Body Fat Percentage, Body Mass Index, and Mortality. Annals of internal medicine, 164(8), pp.532-541. Prospective Studies Collaboration, 2009. Body-mass index and cause-specific mortality in 900 000 adults: collaborative analyses of 57 prospective studies. The Lancet, 373(9669), pp.1083-1096. Reyes, C., Leyland, K.M., Peat, G., Cooper, C., Arden, N.K. and Prietoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Alhambra, D., 2016. Association Between Overweight and Obesity and Risk of Clinically Diagnosed Knee, Hip, and Hand Osteoarthritis: A Populationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Based Cohort Study. Arthritis Rheumatology, 68(8), pp.1869-1875. Wei, M., Kampert, J.B., Barlow, C.E., Nichaman, M.Z., Gibbons, L.W., Paffenbarger Jr, R.S. and Blair, S.N., 1999. Relationship between low cardiorespiratory fitness and mortality in normal-weight, overweight, and obese men. Jama, 282(16), pp.1547-1553. World Health Organization, 2013. Global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013-2020. World Health Organization, 2000. Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic (No. 894). World Health Organization. Yang, Q., Graham, T.E., Mody, N. and Preitner, F., 2005. Serum retinol binding protein 4 contributes to insulin resistance in obesity and type 2 diabetes. Nature, 436(7049), p.356.

Symbolism in Bernard Malamuds The Natural Essay -- Bernard Malamud Th

Symbolism in Bernard Malamud's The Natural   Ã‚   The role of symbolism in Bernard Malamud's The Natural is important in helping the reader understand the theme and meaning of the novel as well as the time period in which it took place.   Malamud ¡Ã‚ ¦s use of symbolism defines the character of Roy Hobbs and shows how the events occurring around him affected his decisions and, eventually, his career.   Ã‚   Symbolism in The Natural takes the form of characters, such as women who strongly influenced Roy; historical events, such as the infamous 1919 World Series scandal; and even Greek and Roman mythology.   All forms of symbolism used by Malamud are woven into the life and career of Roy Hobbs.   As a first example, women have a tremendous influence on Roy ¡Ã‚ ¦s actions and feelings.   One of the more influential symbols in the book, women tend to control what Roy does.   The first woman Roy falls for is Harriet Bird whom he meets on a train on his way to Chicago to try out for the Chicago Cubs.   Roy is extremely attracted to her, but a major league ballplayer on the train named Whammer Wambold has already caught her eye.   Roy becomes jealous and begins to do things to try to get her attention.   At a stop in the route, the passengers get off for a break and go to a local carnival where Roy and the big leaguer clash in a contest of talent, a David-and-Goliath-type confrontation (Solotaroff 9).   Roy strikes out the batter with three blistering pitches, each of which make Harriet pay more and more attention to him.   As they arrive in Chicago, Harriet stays at the hotel at which Roy has booked a room.   She gives him a call and provocatively invites hi m to her room.   Succumbing to her invitation, and making his way to her room, he enters and se... ...he symbolism in The Natural is deep-seeded and is found by the reader upon reflection on the book. Therefore, understanding Malamud ¡Ã‚ ¦s use of symbolism is critical in understanding The Natural, its background, its times, and its meaning. WORKS CITED Abramson, Edward A.   Bernard Malamud Revisited.   New York:Twayne  Publishers,1993. Grail, Holy, ¡Ã‚ ¨Ã‚   Microsoft „ ¥ Encarta „ ¥ 98 Encyclopedia. „ ¦ 1993-1997 Microsoft  Corporation Helterman, Jeffrey.   Understanding Bernard Malamud.   Columbia:University of South  Carolina Press,1985. Malamud, Bernard.   The Natural.   New York:Avon Books,1952. Solotaroff, Robert.   Bernard Malamud: A Study of the Short Fiction.   Boston:Twayne Publishers,1989. Wasserman, Earl R.   "The Natural: Malamud's World Ceres" in Modern Critical Views: Bernard Malamud. Ed. Harold Bloom.   New York:Chelsea House Publishers. 47-64