Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Cam) Essay

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) includes a variety of interventions—from exercise and dietary supplements to stress management strategies, biofeedback, and acupuncture. These therapies—which come from many different disciplines and traditions—are generally considered to be outside the realm of conventional medicine. When used in combination with conventional medicine, they are referred to as â€Å"complementary;† when used instead of conventional medicine, they are referred to as â€Å"alternative.† In the United States today, approximately 75% of people with MS use one form or another of CAM, generally in combination with their prescribed MS treatments. Are CAM Therapies Safe to Use? Many people use CAM because they believe that anything sold over-the-counter at a pharmacy or health food store is healthy and harmless. However, unlike conventional medical treatments—which are thoroughly tested and carefully regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—most CAM therapies have undergone very little, if any, scientific study. So some may be completely safe while others may actually pose significant risks—for example, by producing serious side effects or interacting negatively with other medications a person is taking. Fortunately, a greater effort is now being made to find ways to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of various types of CAM. Why is Controlled Clinical Studies So Important? Carefully-designed clinical trials are the best way to determine whether a treatment is safe and effective. Here are the reasons why: * Because the course of MS is variable, and each person’s symptoms tend to come and go in an unpredictable way, the only way to determine the effectiveness of a treatment is to test it on a large number of people. * Because most people—regardless of the disease they have—will have a positive response to any new treatment they receive (even if it’s an inactive substance or placebo), the effectiveness of a new treatment can only be proven by comparing it to a placebo or to another treatment that has already been shown to be effective. * Because every treatment carries with it the risk of anticipated and unanticipated side effects, the only way to evaluate a treatment’s safety is to evaluate it in a large number of people over a sufficient period of time. Recommended Guidelines to Follow People who are considering using a CAM therapy should ask the following questions: * What does the treatment involve? * How and why is it supposed to work? * How effective is it? * What are the risks? * How much does it cost? The answers to these questions can help a person considering a CAM therapy to weigh the benefits against the risks. For those who decide to go ahead with the CAM therapy, here are some good, common sense recommendations: Keep your physician informed about everything you are taking. Not sharing this important information is like asking your physician to treat you blindfolded—and knowing everything you are taking will allow your doctor to alert you to possible side effects or drug interactions. Don’t abandon conventional therapy. The treatments your physician prescribes for you are the ones that have been evaluated in controlled clinical trials or accepted by the MS medical community as safe and effective therapies. So stay with your prescribed treatments even if you decide to add CAM to your treatment plan. Document the experience. Keep a detailed log of what you take or what is done and any changes you experience. Check out These Complementary Approaches to Physical Health and Emotional Well-Being * Food and Diet—Although various diets have been promoted to cure or control MS, no diet has been proven to modify the course of MS. MS specialists recommend that people follow the same high fiber, low fat diet that is recommended for all adults. * Exercise— Exercise offers many benefits for people with MS. In addition to improving your overall health, aerobic exercise reduces fatigue and improves bladder and bowel function, strength, and mood. Stretching exercises reduce stiffness and increase mobility. The physicial therapist can recommend an exercise plan to fit your abilities and limitations. * Stress management—The relationship between stress and the onset or worsening of MS is far from clear—and different types of stress appear to affect different people in different ways. But none of us feel our best when we’re stressed, so it’s important to find the stress management strategies that work best for you. * Acupuncture—Acupuncture is finding its way into Western medicine, with studies suggesting possible benefits for a wide range of problems. Definition of terms: 1. Alternative medicines – is any practice that is put forward as having the healing effects of medicine, but is not based on evidence gathered with the scientific method. Typically not part of conventional treatment, alternative medicine is usually based on tradition, belief in supernatural energies, pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, or fraud. Alternative therapies lack scientific validation, and their effectiveness is either unproved or disproved. The treatments are those that are not part of the conventional, science-based healthcare system. 2. Complementary medicines – is treatment and medicine that you use in addition to your doctor’s standard care. 3. Dietary Supplements – dietary supplements are substances you eat or drink. They can be vitamins, minerals, herbs or other plants, amino acids (the individual building blocks of protein), or parts of these substances. They can be in pill, capsule, tablet, or liquid form. They supplement (add to) the diet and should not be considered a substitute for food. Importance of CAM in Clinical Pharmacy Studying CAM is important in clinical pharmacy since it is concerned with drugs. If you have a patient who does CAM system, then you can be aware of do’s and don’ts so you can perform a better patient counseling. Since CAM is not suggested, but at least you know it, then you can support your patients regarding that. Situational Analysis Talk to your doctor about risks and benefits of complementary and alternative medicine Work with your conventional medical doctor to help you make informed decisions regarding complementary and alternative treatments. Even if your doctor can’t recommend a specific practitioner, he or she can help you understand possible risks and benefits before you try a treatment. It’s especially important to involve your doctor if you’re pregnant, have medical problems or take prescription medicine. And don’t stop or change your conventional treatment — such as the dose of your prescription medications — without talking to your doctor first. Finally, be sure to keep your doctor updated on any complementary and alternative therapies you’re using, including herbal and dietary supplements.

Lost in the Desert Essay

Question 1. Given the conditions, what should Henry do to try to save Mark? He must decide very quickly. Mark has very little time left and may not survive the trip by helicopter to the hospital. What has caused Mark’s weakness, nausea, disorientation, headache, and low blood pressure? Why isn’t he sweating? Henry can do two things to immediately help Mark and his current physical condition. First, Henry should put clothing on Mark. Although Mark may feel very hot, his skin has already been exposed to the intense UV sunrays for an extended period of time. Continual exposure to these rays will worsen the severity of Mark’s sunburns. Henry should also start administering Mark diluted fluids that contain essential electrolytes, which to help restore hydration to Mark’s body without running the risk of his plasma becoming hypotonic from water intoxication. Mark has lost a lot of water through sweat and this combined with the intense heat of the sun has caused Mark to have heat stroke. The heat stroke and profound water loss is causing Mark to feel weak, nauseous, disoriented, have low blood pressure, and a headache. Water loss will especially have a large effect on Mark’s physical state because it will directly affect the blood pressure in his blood vessels due to water leaving the cells. Extreme water loss is also evident due to Mark’s lack of visible sweat. Hyperthermia has caused Mark’s heat loss process to become ineffective. In the extreme heat conditions, the heat stroke causes the skin to become hot and dry. Mark’s dehydration and heat stroke made it so that his body cannot produce sweat. (Mario) Question 2. Why didn’t the paramedic give Mark bottled water or distilled water rather than an electrolyte/glucose solution and what is an isotonic solution? In isotonic solutions, cells will be able to maintain their shape and size. This is due to the ability of water to move into and out of the cell when in this environment because the solution and solute concentration is at an equilibrium. The paramedic administered  Mark the electrolyte/glucose solution to help replace essential substances that Mark may have lost due to sweating or from being exposed to the harsh elements of the dessert. If Henry, the paramedic, were to give Mark a drink that was lacking the proper ratio of electrolytes/glucose to water, he could risk exposing the cells in the body to a hypotonic state, in which the cells would burst, or a hypertonic solution in which the cells would lose even more fluid. (Mario) Question 3. Why DID Mark become disoriented? How would you test your ideas to see if you are right? What does your group think based on the information in the text? Mark became disoriented because he was experiencing heat stroke. To see if I was right I would research the symptoms of heat stroke, and see if Mark had any of the symptoms. (Kassie) Question 4. What should Mark be concerned with regarding these moles? He talked to dermatologist, Dr. Charles Culp about the moles. What test might Dr.Culp conduct after removing the moles? Mark should be concerned that he has developed melanoma from his exposure to the sun without wearing sunscreen. If the dermatologist can tell for sure that the mole contains melanoma cells, special tests may be done to confirm their diagnosis. These tests that can be performed are called immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and comparative genomic hybridization. (Kassie) Final Set of Case Study Questions Question 1. Define the terms in the case study highlighted in boldface. Heat stroke is the condition in which the skin becomes hot and dry as the body temperature continues to rise. Damage may be done too many organs, such as the brain, due to the lack of blood flow. First-degree burn is a burn that affects only the superficial skin/first layer Electrolytes substance that ionizes in a water solution Glucose is a monosaccharide in blood that is the primary source of cellular energy Melanin is dark  pigment formed by cells called melanocytes (Kassie) Question 2. Assuming that Mark lost around 4 liters of water, what percentage of his body water did he lose? Would you expect his urinary volume to decrease or increase during his trek? Please explain your answer. If Mark, weighing 77 kg (average male weight), were to lose 4 liters of water that would be around 10% of his total body water. In his dehydrated and heat stroke state, Mark’s body would need to conserve water. I would expect Mark’s urinary volume to be decreased because he is dehydrated he isn’t in taking any liquid for him to be voiding out. (Vanessa) Question 3. Why was Mark’s blood pressure so low? Would his pulse rate decrease or increase? Also why was Mark dizzy and disoriented? Please explain. Mark’s blood pressure was really low because he was very dehydrated. Also because he is dehydrated and not in taking any fluids his blood pressure will continue to lower because there is no blood volume for his body to circulate his blood. Mark’s pulse rate will now increase, to try and raise his blood pressure to normal. Mark is dizzy and disoriented because he is dehydrated, and has a low blood pressure and pulse. Being severely dehydrated altered Mark’s brain and nerve function, making him feel very dizzy and disoriented. Also Mark’s low blood pressure and low pulse would make him feel dizzy because it is slowing the rate at which blood flows to his brain, lowering the levels of oxygen and making him feel light headed. (Vanessa) Question 4. Assume that Mark had an unopened six-pack of beer in his car. Would it have been a good idea for Mark to bring the beer along in case he got thirsty? Why or why not? Beer is known as a diuretic, which increases a person’s overall urine output. It would have been a bad idea for Mark to drink an unopened six-pack of beer for many reasons. Because beer isn’t water, it will eventually add to Mark’s dehydration by increasing his sodium levels and his urine output, both of which will make his cells in a furthered hypertonic state. This will also throw off Mark’s  electrolyte imbalance, adding to his cell’s hypertonic state. (Vanessa) Question 5. What vitamin would Mark have in greater amounts in his body after that day and what role does the vitamin play in the body? After spending an extended period of time in the sun, with no protection from the sun’s UV rays, Mark would have a great amount of vitamin D built up in his body. Vitamin D can be absorbed from dietary supplements or few foods, it is naturally produced when the sun’s UVB rays reacts with cholesterol. Vitamin D’s main role is to promote calcium absorption, as well as aid in bone growth and remodeling. Vitamin D also regulates cell growth, neuromuscular and immune function, and reduces inflammation. (La) Question 6. What did Mark do that increased his chance of burns and what could he have done differently? Mark took his shirt off as the heat intensity rose throughout the day. This exposed his unprotected skin to the sun’s harsh UVA and UVB rays. Not only was Mark not wearing any protection from the sun, but he also failed to wear sunscreen, which would have helped to shield his skin from the sun’s rays. If Mark had been wearing sunscreen or clothing to protect him from the sun, he may not have gotten such severe burns. (La) Question 7. Why would Mark’s skin have looked red within the first few hours of his adventure rather than redness developing hours and days later as a result of â€Å"sunburn†? Mark’s skin will appear red within the first few hours of his adventure rather than redness developing hours and days later as a result of sunburn because of blood in the dermal vessels adds color to the skin. When blood well oxygenated, the blood pigment hemoglobin is bright red, making the skin of light-complexioned people appear pinkish. (La) Works Cited Shier, David, Jackie Butler, and Ricki Lewis. Wholes Human Anatomy and Physiology. 13th ed. New York: McGraw-Hll, 2013. Print.

Scientific misconduct Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Scientific misconduct - Essay Example Since then cases of fraudulent scientific researches piled up. The main issue involves less information on major cases of scientific misconduct, but more information on minor cases. In Europe, countries such as Germany and the Dutch have had high profile cases of scientific misconduct. In the United Kingdom, Malcolm Pearce’s case was the first case of scientific misconduct. In 1994, the worldwide media covered a story on a successful ectopic pregnancy re-implant. Doctors had tried to do that for centuries without any success. At the time, Malcolm Pearce worked as a higher-ranking tutor in St George’s Hospital Medical School, in London. As a famous ultrasonography practitioner, the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology put him as an assistant editor. The chief editor of the journal, Geoffrey Chamberlain, alongside Malcolm carried out a study based on ectopic pregnancy. The cases involved the birth of a baby after a successful ectopic embryo re-implantation. Malcolm told one of his colleagues that he had successfully re-implanted an embryo. He added Chamberlain’s name in the article; therefore, the document did not go through the standard peer reviewing procedure. The second case involved a trial treatment of recurrent miscarriages in 200 women suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome. However, after a series of investigations, the hospital found out that Pearce had published two fraudulent papers. A young doctor in the Hospital where Malcolm taught raised questions based on the two papers. A series of investigations followed thereafter, which led to the discovery of the lies. Results of the investigations revealed that the patient who had given birth to the baby did not exist at all. He lost his job for fraudulent scientific research by giving false results about the study. For the second case, evidence showed that Malcolm could not have possibly treated 200 patients suffering from polycystic ovary

Question about how Immanuel Kant defined problems and attempted a Assignment

Question about how Immanuel Kant defined problems and attempted a solutions - Assignment Example What changed the face of philosophy for the first time in history is Kant’s answer to the problems generated by these traditions. To begin with, Kant argued that the old division between posteriori truths and priori truths which were employed in both camps was quite insufficient in describing the metaphysical claims which were under dispute. Also, an analysis of knowledge requires a distinction between analytic and synthetic truths. Analytically, the claim lies within the subject. Considering this claim, "Everybody occupies space," the aspect of occupying space simply explains in an analysis of what it means to be a body. Synthetically, the subject of the claim does not contain any predicate. In the claim, "This tree is 120 feet tall," the concepts are brought together to form a new claim which does not have any of the individual concepts. Kant further argues that Empiricists did not succeed in proving the synthetic priori claims like the fact there is a cause behind every. Their major assumption was that the two resulting categories were exhaustive (Lucien, 100). According to Kant’s arguments a synthetic a priori claim must be true without appealing to experience, without having the predicate within the subject. This is where the empiricists failed as they did not give their justification. Similarly, rationalists made the same

Personal experience in leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal experience in leadership - Essay Example paternalistic leaderships has various merits, combining transformational and transactional leadership styles dependent on the situation, offering better outcomes. I have always believed in achieving results efficiently and also that leadership is earned, it is not granted. In my past experiences, I have come across quite a few situations that tested my leadership skills and I believe that there were a lot of things that I could have done differently to make the situation or the outcomes relatively better. I have always found the quote of General George Patton quite overwhelming, â€Å"Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way†. The quote clearly states a desire to be lead, learn and be capable of influencing people; especially it focuses on getting the task done and overcoming the obstacles offered. There are various theories offered about leadership out of which situational leadership appears to be the most accurate one (Schermerhorn, 2001). Although leadership is an offshoot of the leader’s personality however situational factors cannot be ignored. Considering the audience, one may have an approach or attitude towards the situa tion in hand (Hersey, 1984). However, it is important to note that where leadership styles may vary according to circumstances, the main aura of leader’s personality remains relatively constant however for effective results, altering leadership style according to the situation may remain immensely helpful (Northouse, 2010). Through many online tests and self-assessment of my leadership style, I have come across the fact that my natural leadership style is of paternalistic nature (Erben & Gà ¼neÅŸer, 2008; Gerhardt, 2012). I find it more comfortable to develop strong relationships with my team, set clear objectives and provide enough time, effort and guidance to the team members in order to achieve the desired objectives. There are various instances in which I had a chance to

INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

INDIVIDUAL CASE STUDY - Essay Example Thus its organizational culture and leadership strategies are reflected in its focused strategic initiatives such as SWOT, PESTEL analysis and so on. However its leadership related and organizational culture centric problems have been highlighted in order to focus attention on its current level of operations. Business strategy is defined as the longer term directional thrust of the organization with specific focus of attention on resource capability enhancement strategies to achieve organizational goals in a competitive environment to satisfy stakeholders’ demands (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). The Real Chocolate Company Inc. has been in business for approximately three decades and now has become one of the top hundred fastest growing small public companies in the USA. Its concentration on gourmet niche chocolate market in the US is particularly significant against the backdrop of ever increasing diversity and complexity of the gourmet chocolate industry. With almost 300 chocolates in the portfolio and a further 100 turned out on special occasions like the Valentine’s Day, the company has achieved a marvelous feat of targeting every segment of the gourmet chocolate market. The company’s success is determined by the quality and strange enough the quantity of the product. With a gamut of popular proprietary recipes of its own, the company has positioned itself in the US market with unparalleled success. Its use of the best ingredients and chocolates has led to the current wave of demand for its caramel-coated apples, truffles, toffees and fudges among others which include even a range of sugar-free sweets. The company has been marketing a health-centric line of products to the health conscious customer. According to the National Confectioners’ Association (NCA) in 2006 alone the retail sales of confectionery topped $ 28.9 billion in the US while that of retail chocolate

Learning organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Learning organisation - Essay Example Learning organization can be defined as, â€Å"A Learning Company is an organization that facilitates the learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself†Development of an organization into a learning organization is not an organic process Instead, such a development is facilitated by certain factors. With the growth of organization and structuring of the company, individuals tend to assume more strength and power and their rigidity subdues the organization’s capacity to learn as it grows. In such circumstances, solutions applied to counter problems are often ineffective. Organizations tend to downsize in an attempt to enlarge profits and remain competitive. With fewer staff members, load on individuals grows manifolds. In order to gain competitive advantage and to promote a culture that is customer responsive, it is imperative that companies learn faster than their parallels in the market. This requires maintenance of knowledge regarding new processes an d products and an understanding of the outside environment. That is why learning organization has been defined as, â€Å"a company that can respond to new information by altering the very â€Å"programming† by which information is processed and evaluated† (Malhotra, 1996). In order to accomplish this, employees assume a greater responsibility of both managing their own works and cooperating with one another to play part in the organization’s strategic processes meant for competitive advantage. This paper aims at discussing some of the key features of a learning organization.... According to the systems thinking, in order for an organization to gain the qualities a learning organization, all traits should be simultaneously apparent in it. In case an organization lacks any of the five characteristics, it will not be able to achieve its goal. However, some people are of the view that these traits can be acquired or developed one by one with time. For example, O’ Keeffe (2002) is of the view that these features can not all be acquired at once, and are instead, developed gradually to convert an organization into a learning organization. Shared vision: One of the key factors that provide an organization with an opportunity to gain competitive advantage is shared vision. Shared vision among the organizational personnel builds their common identity. This in turn, provides the workers with tremendous energy and inculcates motivation in them to gain learning. In this way, shared vision plays a cardinal role in promoting learning among the members of the staff. Individuals’ vision plays a big role in the development and promotion of shared vision. Thus, if the vision in a company is enforced by particular people who assume greater power over others, this may hinder the development of a shared organizational vision. This is the fundamental reason why most of the learning organizations prefer to adopt decentralized and flat organization structures. Personal mastery: Personal mastery is the name of an individual’s commitment to the organizational learning process (Senge, 1990). An organization whose personnel are quick learners acquires an edge over the competitors whose employees are not. There are various organization specific events and happenings that

Natural science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Natural science - Essay Example This virus is closely associated to HIV-1. It is known as HIV-2. HIV-2 is mostly present in Africa however HIV-1 is present all over the world. This infection consists of three stages. In the first stage severe retroviral syndrome along with asymptomatic period occurs. This is the exactly like influenza or like mononucleosis that a good number people get in six to twelve weeks after acquiring the infection. It generally finishes without any treatment at all. It is at this point that a patients' blood test for HIV comes out positive. Symptomatic HIV infection is known as the second stage of AIDS. In this stage symptoms start to become prominent. This stage can be as long as a few months or even a few years. AIDS is the last stage. In this stage the immune system gets badly damaged and other opportunistic diseases infect the patient. This collapse of the immune system leads the patient top his death in just a few years. HIV causes a decline in the health and most of time even death. The virus is an extremely dangerously severely infects both the brain and the nervous system. It could cause dementia; dementia is an illness which is related sensory, thinking, or memory disorder. Brain infection might result in problems related to movement or coordination. HIV may have infected the diesel for two to twelve years without exhibiting any symptoms. This virus is transferable to other person symptoms regardless of the symptoms. As soon as HIV catches speed, a lot of symptoms begin to show up. The symptoms consists of mysterious fever, exhaustion, diarrhea, serve loss of weight, enlargement of the lymph glands, loss of hunger mouth and vagina's yeast infections, night sweats which may last more than a number of weeks, problems in breathing , dry cough, bad throat due to the swelling of glands, chills, and shivering. Other symptoms include flat or raised spots or bumps of Pink or purple, color which occur under the skin, in the oral cavity, nose, eyelids or rectum. They look like bruises, however they don't fade away. The skin around the bruises is not as hard as the bruises themselves. Another symptom is Spots or odd blemishes which are White in color start to occur in the mouth. HIV can be transmitted via 3 ways. One very common way is by means of unprotected sex (oral, virginal or anal). The most dangerous kind of sex which transmits this virus is anal sex as the anus does not stretch. The second way this virus can be transmitted is through direct contact with blood that is already infected with the virus. There are a number of ways of in which the virus can be transmitted via direct contact with blood that is already infected with HIV. The third way in which this virus is transited is when pregnant women is infected by this virus and transmits it to her fetus. Development After 6 years in 1987 a new treatment came into being this is known as the first big step in the direction of curing HIV and AIDS virus. The drug that was found was Retrovir (AZT, Zidovudine) and it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was immediately used to treat patients with HIV. In 1992, the first drug which was to be utilized with zidovudine was also approved by Food and Drug Administration. This combination of drugs was called Hivid; this was the start of HIV combination therapies. In the year 1996

Sustainable Leadership - develope Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sustainable Leadership - develope - Essay Example For the development of a sustainable leadership experience, certain strategies that increase company value by taking opportunities and managing factors that affect business (Avery & Bergsteiner, 10, 2011). In order to acquire and achieve the required success, leaders must be able to interact with people, both outside the business and inside the business. They must be able to be kind and caring. Leaders should make a point of getting to know the people around them well and in a deeper level (Edge Equilibrium. 2012). Knowing people will help leaders know what they value most and who they truly are in business and outside it. Learning about other people’s basics like family members, their anniversaries or birthdays go a terrific deal in ensuring that such human interactions and connections make leaders sustainable (Szà ©kely, & Knirsch, 630, 2005). Sustainable leaders know a thing or two about innovations, and they are innovators. Knowing how to be innovative and coming up with brilliant ideas, means that as a leader, one is willing to aim higher. A sustainable leader also surrounds him with ardent innovative minds (Casserley, & Critchley, 167, 2012). A sustainable leader is flexible, in that, no matter which direction life flows, he will still remain standing strong. To be a flexible leader means that every step that is taken is towards the betterment of the business. Flexibility is essential if a leader wants to succeed in business since just as life flows uncertainly, so does business, and it is the leaders’ responsibility to guide it down the right path. A sustainable leader plans and prepares for succession. This will ensure that for effective succession, those who follow them are more dynamic and have the potential and will to maintain the momentum for improvement. A sustainable leader has a clear vision and target that he wishes to accomplish within a speculated amount of time. They use their

Hong Kong Government dealing with Pollution problems Essay

Hong Kong Government dealing with Pollution problems - Essay Example In this paper, we particularly look at Hong Kong’s strategy of limiting emission of chlorofluorocarbons and analyze its effectiveness. As one of the most important export hubs of Asia, Hong Kong is beset with pollution problems which are regarded as the inevitable and necessary consequences of development (Ibid.). The amount of air pollution in Hong Kong, primarily come from the city’s dense population, from the factories and power stations that emit smoke, from the seemingly endless construction activities as well as the increasing number of vehicles which all have contributed to the very dangerous levels of air pollutants like particulate matter or the so-called RSP and the greenhouse gas nitrogen dioxide or NO₂ (Lou, 2007). In fact, the situation has been so bad that the visibility level in the area has been recorded at less than eighty kilometers for about thirty percent of a year (Ibid.). One of the most felt effects of Hong Kong’s high level of air pollution have been mostly on the residents’ health, which range from allergies like rhinitis, bronchial ailments, and asthma, among others. However, such are not the only effects of air pollution, as researches have reported many others as well as other causes and related issues, which will be tackled in further details in this paper. This paper intends to take a further look at Hong Kong’s pollution problem that has been very alarming even among the international institutions and companies who have stakes in the city, in relation to how the Hong Kong government responds to the situation. In the attempt to carefully analyze the government’s mechanisms and programs that have been put in place to resolve the issue at hand, as well as the milestones and failures of the government’s efforts, this paper will first take a look at the whole scenario to provide better understanding of the responses to it. The Government’s Strategies. The Hong Kong government, as a

Physics of an Amusement Park Ocean Park Essay Example for Free

Physics of an Amusement Park Ocean Park Essay Introduction On Friday 20th, February 2004, my physics class and I went to the amusement park Ocean Park for my physics visit coursework. While there, I observed many attractions which had an appreciable amount of physics related aspects included with it. Two attractions I found most appealing were the Atoll Reef and The Dragon. The two aspects The Atoll Reef is Ocean Parks fish aquarium, the attraction which draws the largest amount of spectators. The aquarium is the home of many tropical fishes, endangered, rare and normal, giving them a habitat where they can safely live without the threat of predators. Apart from letting the public view their collection of different fish, Ocean Park tries to educate the visitors about respecting the environment and saving endangered species. Aspects related to physics I could discuss regarding the Atoll Reef are: the energy required to heat the water in the aquarium to a safe, uniform temperature for the fish to live in, the pressure exerted by the water on to the glass panel, the Youngs modulus of the panel, and why that kind of glass was chosen for its material properties. The Dragon is Ocean Parks first ever built roller coaster. Roller coasters are essential to every amusement park because its the majority of peoples favorite ride; the high speed, steep drops, thrilling loops, and unexpected dips cant be beat. So, to meet popular demand, and incase not having a roller coaster causes not enough visitors to go to Ocean Park, thus effecting profit, Ocean Park built The Dragon. Aspects of physics related to The Dragon are: the conservation of energy with gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy, the different accelerations a passenger experiences, and the centripetal force of the roller coaster car when it is on a loop. Single aspect with physics principles discussed in detail I chose to discuss the water pressure exerted on the glass at the Atoll Reef. The aquarium has a circular cross-section with a radius of 10 meters, and a depth of 9 meters. It consists of 3 viewing levels for visitors: ground level, Lower 1 (L1), and Lower 2 (L2). The panels are 2 meters high each and each level is separated by 1 meter of concrete ground. As there are three different levels, the pressure is different for each level, resulting to panels of different thickness. On ground level, the glass is 2.54 cm (1 inch) thick, 5.08 cm (2 inches) thick on L1, and 7.62 cm (3 inches) thick on L2. The increasing thickness of the glass panels which are placed lower is due to the increasing pressure of water as you get deeper into the water. Without the right thickness of glass, the difference of pressure outside the aquarium and inside the aquarium might cause the less thick glass panel to crack, endangering both the fish and visitors. The glass must be able to exert an equal and opposite force to keep in equilibrium. The maximum force the glass can withstand must be around 10 times more than its usual load for obvious safety reasons; visitor like children hitting the glass panel, fish hitting the panel, and other unusual accidents which might occur which results to the glass panel withstanding an extra force. I am modeling this problem with air pressure and water pressure acting oppositely each others as vectors. I will work out the pressure on the very bottom of the panel of each level, which means I am using the depth readings 2 m, 5 m, and 8 m. I believe the glass of the aquarium is made of silica (SiO2), which has a Youngs Modulus of 94 GPa. P = gph Where P is the pressure exerted, g is gravitational acceleration, p is the density of the liquid, and h is the depth. Pressure at ground level: P = 9.8 x 1000 x 2 P = 1.96 x 104 Pa (2 s.f.) Pressure at L1: P = 9.8 x 1000 x 5 P = 4.9 x 104 Pa (2 s.f.) Pressure at L2: P = 9.8 x 1000 x 8 P = 7.84 x 104 Pa (2 s.f.) Now that we have the pressure exerted on the glass, we can work out by how much the glass is compressed by using Youngs Modulus. Using the information that the area of the glass is 2 x 1: For ground level: Youngs Modulus = Stress / Strain ?l / l = Stress / Youngs Modulus ?l / 0.0251 = (1.96 x 104 / 2) / 9.4 x 1010 ?l = 2.6 x 10-9 m (2 s.f.) For L1: l / l = Stress / Youngs Modulus l / 0.0508 = (4.9 x 104 / 2) / 9.4 x 1010 l = 1.3 x 10-8 m (2 s.f.) For L2: l / l = Stress / Youngs Modulus l / 0.0762 = (7.84 x 104 / 2) / 9.4 x 1010 l = 3.2 x 10-8 m (2 s.f.) As you can see, because of silica glass being a strong, hard and inelastic material, the ?l is negligible. There is not yet enough force to even take the glass towards its height of elastic regime, which is an advantage because it wouldnt be safe if it was. Other materials which constructors would have thought about using might have been using yet another material which is colourless and transparent, like plastic. But plastic isnt as strong, even if it may be cheaper. The downside of glass is when glass shatters, it breaks into random shards due to its random molecular structure. The limitation to using silica glass is the aquarium cannot be built much deep, because the glass would reach its elastic limit and shatter. There is not yet a material stronger than glass which has the same properties as glass made yet, so silica is the best material available. I think a development to the silica glass panels is the have them laminated. A laminated silica glass panels is having a sheet of pure plastic between two sides of silica glass. This is commonly used by car manufacturers to create a cars windshield which doesnt shatter when smashed. This wont increase the panels Youngs Modulus much, but it does increase safety by far. Another use of working out the pressure and Youngs Modulus of a material can be applied on the engines of vehicles. Fuel pipes, air pipes, and the cylinder where the combustions take place, are all under very high pressures when working. In that context, we can also work out the pressure exerted on the cylinder and pipes, and use this information, along with the Youngs Modulus and properties of materials, to work out which materials and of what thickness is needed to make a safe and powerful engine. Bibliography http://www.hk-phy.org/oceanpark/ http://www.walter-fendt.de/ph11e/hydrostpr.htm http://www.mse.cornell.edu/courses/engri111/modulus.htm

Recruitment Selection Process | Case Study

Recruitment Selection Process | Case Study How does the organization approach the nature and composition of the workforce? For example, does it emphasize low cost or high performance, and internal or external labour markets? The company I am employed with is a furniture company which tends to do most of the hiring based on the high performance and uses internal and external labour markets. Vacancies arise in our company as employees leave the company such as when they retire or resign or get promoted to other positions within our company. Our company ensures that we have developed an adequate plan to replace employees when needed. We decide what requirements we needs such as personnel requirements which will be supplied by either outside candidates or inside candidates. This decision is all based on need and if we have the qualified staff to step up and replace when needed. The company makes sure to comply with all government policies. We make sure to guarantee our valuable employees have long-term employment opportunities. They do this because it would be unfortunate to lose talent to another company. We are flexible to accommodate to changes in the nature of employees and in the way they do business. T hey are adaptable and cost effective in the hiring process. Our company approaches the nature and composition of the workforce by way of looking for the best employees that will help our company grow and become improved and superior. We want a strong employee community within our company so we work hard to build the relationships with our workforce. How many positions are filled annually? How many applications are received for each vacant position? The organization consists of about 150 people which means about approximately 10 hires a year occur from internal promotions or people seeking other types of employment or from turnovers. We do try to keep our employees with us as long as we can since they are our expertise in the field. When we must make new hires we do ask that current employees take on the training of their replacements because we understand that they know the jobs as well as they can. There are approximately 80 applications received each time there is a vacant opening for hire. This is mainly so high a number of people applying because of the current recession we are all facing. A normal amount of candidates would be about 20 for each position advertised. What methods are used to recruit candidates? Recruitment at our company involves attracting the right standard of candidates to apply for job openings. We tend to advertises jobs in different ways depending on the position available. We first looks at the internal replacement plan to fill a job opening. This is a process that lists all the current employees that are looking for a move which is either at the same level or on a promotion basis. We also advertise the post internally on our intranet. If there are no suitable people in this which are developed from the replacement plan, in the process of development or apply from internally then the company needs to start to look externally. For external recruitment, we advertise opening through our website and the available job boards in the stores. Applications are to be filled out online or in the store for positions. The chosen potential candidates are invited for an interview followed by their attendance at our assessment centre for the final stage of the selection process. We will seek the most cost-effective way of attracting the right candidates. We build up our external pool of qualified candidates by advertising the job through advertising, employment agencies, executive recruiters, college recruiting, the internet, referrals and walk-ins. It can become expensive to search for candidates although this is sometimes very necessary to ensure the right types of people are able to learn about our opening. Our company strives to make it easy for candidates to find out about an available job and we have a very simple application process. By accessing our website, a candidate can find out about our local available jobs, management posts and head office positions. The website has an easy to use online application form for people to submit directly through. We always make sure to never discriminate against any individual with respect to employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or age. All people are welcome to apply and be given a fair chance to go through the hiring process if they qualify each stage of the way. What is the general approach to selection (i.e., statistical, judgmental, or a combination of the two)? The general selection approach is through a combination of judgmental and statistical evaluations. Judgmental information is used in terms of that we tend to require an assorted amount of source data based from the managers personal judgments of the individual candidate. We also use the previously collected information such as resumes and application forms in our databases to make these judgment calls. We will use statistical information when we have made our judgments on who will be asked to participate in call backs for the next qualifying measures. The common selection approach we use is to find the essential key qualifications for each qualified candidates and the screening out of all the unqualified candidates. We make sure we have a list the characteristics and skills that are required for job performance. These requirements are the predictors of job performance. Selection involves choosing the most suitable people from those that have applied for an opening while at the same t ime keeping to the employment laws and regulations. Screening candidates is a very extremely important part of our selection process. The initial selection screening in our organization begins with an application form. Our manager uses these to obtain some valid background data. It is also a valuable tool to use the application form data to make predictions about the candidates future performance. For example application forms have been used in my company many times to predict the job success, job tenure and employee theft. A human resources manager will be able to tell a lot from an application form if they have trained extensively and have some experience in this field. The important thing to remember is that the personnel planning and recruiting will directly affect employee commitment. This is because commitment depends on the hiring of employees who have the potential to grow and develop. The more qualified candidates that have applied the higher chances of the selection standards are able to be. Selection at my company begins with the most effective testing and interviewing techniques available. This ensures that those selected for an interview will have the best fit with our job requirements. In the first stages of screening, our selectors will look carefully at each candidates resume. This information helps to summarize the candidates education and job history to date. A well-written and positive resume helps us to assess whether a candidate matches the individual skills need for the job specifications for the position. The company also provides a tool that can help to match individuals with careers on our website page. People interested in working for us can see where they might fit into our company before applying that way there will be less disappointment if they are not chosen for an interview. Statistical is used in terms of an individual assessment includes the knowledge, skills, and ability testing, personality assessment, work sample tests and assessment screenings . We usually try to use the predictive validation test developed specifically for the type of job and the industry in which our company operates within. The tests we choose tend to be based ones which will depend on the job we are hiring for at the time such as in the warehouse or in the office. We believe our test conditions should always be consistent. We hold the tests in areas that are reasonably quiet, private, well ventilated and well lit. We also make sure that the entire group of candidates takes the tests under the same evaluation setting. Once completed the test results are to be held in the strictest confidence. They are given only to the individuals who have a valid need for the test results. We use the tests that measure the attributes that are important for each type of job success. This choice is usually based on the experience, previous candidate search and gut instincts of the person performing the tests. We usually use more than one test in a sequence aimed at measuri ng a variety of possible predictors such as companionability, assertiveness, and mathematical ability. For legal reason we always make sure that the tests have accurate measures before they are used in evaluating a candidates potential ability to perform well on the job. The fact that similar tests may have proven successful in the same industry is not sufficient enough for us to use them unless we have done our own validation of these tests. If we are using a new test we tend to check the accuracy of it by testing it on the existing employees on the job. We then compare the candidates test scores with our current employees to confirmation the validation of these new tests. The one disadvantage is that current employees might not be representative of the new candidates. We use tests as one of a variety of the selection techniques as they are used to supplement the interviews and background checks. The process we use to select external candidates has several stages. Candidates who pass the initial screening process of the application form and resume than has the opportunity to attend our assessment screenings. The assessment screenings takes place in our store and is run by our managers. These assessment screenings help to provide consistency in the selection process. Candidates are given various exercises which include team-work activities or problem solving exercises. These involve real life examples of problems they might have to encounter at the workplace. Candidates that have been approved by the assessment screenings then have an opportunity to have an interview. Managers for the job being hired for are offered take part in the interview to make sure that the candidate fits the job requirements. Our company conducts the interview by following the layout of plan the interview, establish the rapport, question the candidate, close the interview and then review the data. Sele ction and testing of prospective employees is of great importance in my workplace. There are very good reasons why the process of selection and testing is crucial. Performance is extremely crucial to have from an employee since selecting an employee with the right level of performance should always be chosen for the job. Employees who do not have the right level of skills or who are cause difficulties or complicate matters will not be able to perform effectively. To have the most cost effective screening is important because it is expensive to recruit and hire employees. It is estimated that for an administrative assistant who earns $30,000 a year the cost of recruitment is around $12,000. This takes into consideration the total cost of the search fees; interviewing time, reference checking or using a company to search on our behalf. The cost of hiring employees could be proportionally high and this is a quite significant reason to make sure we hire the right candidates. We are always reviewing and updating our hiring process and making sure specific industry standards are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that the selection and testing process is fair. Even if a candidate is not able to make it through the hiring process for which ever reason when we chose to not invite them to the next step or they drop out the process we always make sure to keep accurate records. We believe it is extremely important to keep accurate records of why each candidate was rejected during the hiring process. The detailed records of why each candidate was rejected will be held to assist in the research on the trends in recruitment and to evaluate the performance of our recruitment process. We also hold on to them for legal reason should the need ever arise to provide proof of our fair practices. What selection devices or methods are employed? The common selection devices and methods we use include the following: ability tests such as physical, cognitive or psychomotor, knowledge tests, structured interviews, personality tests, the methodical collection of biographical data, and work samples. We must always be evaluating the evidence regarding the degree to which the selection tools predict job performance and the substantiation they put on the validity of the selection tools. Are these selection devices or methods validated? How? The candidate selection devices and methods are usually validated or shown to be job relevant using one or more of the following types of validity. The selection devices are validated through such methods as the validity of subject, concept, or criteria. It is by these means Does the organization attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of its RS system? If so, how? Which model does it apply? After we have established the accuracy of the tests we administer the test and hire the employees based on their test scores. At a later date compare the success candidates with their test scores with their performance on the job. The recruitment and selection methods are important for finding out the shortcoming of our processes. These test scores contribute to an organizations success by improving the performance and well-being of its employees. They help to identify how behaviors and attitudes can be improved through hiring practices, training programs, and feedback systems. Our company does attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of its recruitment and selection system through the job analysis procedures. The Job analysis is illustrated as the foundation of the successful employee selection efforts and the performance management initiatives. A job analysis involves the methodical compilation of information about the specific job that was hired for. Job analysis methods are often do ne through two approaches in our workplace. The first approach being the task oriented job analysis this involves an examination of the responsibilities, obligations or experience required by the job. The second approach is the worker oriented job analysis which involves an assessment of the knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics (KSAOs) which are essential to successfully perform the work. Job analysis data is often amassed using a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The information gathered from a job analysis is then used to create job related selection procedures, performance evaluations and criteria or training curriculums. The other uses of the job analysis information include job evaluations for the purpose of determining compensation levels and job revamping. It is important to know the Job attitudes such as their job satisfaction, commitment, organizational citizenship and retaliation on the company. The job analyst individual may use qualitative methods such as critical occurrence disc ussions and focal point assemblys to collect data components on the workplace performances. Is the RS system integrated into the organizations strategic management system? If so, how? If not, how would you describe the relationship between the two systems? The recruitment selection process is integrated into the organizations strategic management system by To what extent does RS abide by human rights principles at each stage of the process? Be specific. At each step of the recruitment selection process human rights principles are abided by strictly because it is very important to maintain ethics and local and national legislation. We always make sure that we never exclude anyone before they have had a chance to qualify on their own merits. We are an equal opportunity employer and are open to hiring any individual for any position as long as they qualify for the position. In what other ways could the RS process be evaluated either positively or negatively? The way that the recruitment selection process can be evaluated positively is when there is leadership through the employees that have been with the company a lot longer than the newer employees this provides a means of advancement for all in the company. Happy employees are a sign that the recruitment and selection process is working. Leadership should be a process by where the elder employed employees are positively supporting, influencing and motivating the other workers. These leaders could be members in a position of power such as managers or supervisors or they can be their own fellow workers. This should lead to employees working passionately and efficiently towards achieving the workplace endeavors and purposes. The workplace leaders behave as the ones who identify the potential of a worker and try to put that into actuality. A leader can be a positive leader or a negative leader which could upset the whole of the workplace or bring it to a place of achieving goals. Workers a re performing at high standards and understanding and achieving much in the workplace. The leaders influence within an organization can be derived from two crucial sources which is that persons personal characteristics and their position or power within the given organization. These personality elements such as their knowledge base, their individual personality, their capacity to successfully work with others, and their established level of exertion. Positional power is derivative from the leaders position within our organization and the authority encouraged in their behavior. This is either directly or indirectly by the organizations controlling faction to make available either opportunities or restriction for their personal performance levels. The leaders responsibility is to use their positive influence to persuade and encourage individuals within the workplace to focus themselves regarding the achievement of the organizations objectives. There are differences that should be distinguished between leadership and management. The way that the recruitment selection process can be evaluated negatively is through counterproductive behavior within the workplace. Counterproductive actions can be seen as employee behavior that departs from the objective of our b usiness. These actions can be deliberate or accidental and result from an extensive sequence of fundamental rationales and incentives. The types of common counterproductive behavior with most observed assessments within the workplace are the following: job turnover, accidents, job performance, absenteeism, theft, violence, substance use, and sexual harassment. In light of the above issues, what recommendations would you make to improve the RS process in the organization? The recommendations that the recruitment selection process can be improved in the organization is through better testing methods that could be suited to each type of personality since not all test are accurate for each person. It would be important to make sure when hiring candidates that during the probation period that the new hires are regularly evaluated and let go if they are not reaching the company expectations. It may have been a lot of money to make this new hire but it will be well worth not keep a good employee if they are producing to the standards they should be. Make sure all incidents are reported from the start to management and make sure that management is doing something about these reported issues. If not then maybe management that is condoning these types of workplace behaviors needs to be looked at also. It is never alright to turn a blind eye to unsavory situations in the workplace in hopes of the events that are occurring will go away. It is best to be on top o f each and every event as it happens and that consequences are being given as needed. A happy and productive workplace is the goal of every business but we must all do our part to be successful in having this outcome. Having current employees fill out confidential questionnaires and surveys on how they feel working for our company and what changes they would like see put into place. Freuds Cases of Hysteria: Birth of Psychoanalysis Freuds Cases of Hysteria: Birth of Psychoanalysis Abstract This thesis returns to the original case histories that Freud wrote on the patients he treated for hysteria. Here in these early works, the beginnings of psychoanalytical theory take shape in the acceptance of purely psychological theories of hysteria. Catharsis leads to the first inklings of repression which requires the use of free association, which again leads into Freuds attempt to explain the strange neuroses he sees through seduction theory, which is again transformed as his thinking moves on. Through Anna O, Frau Emmy von N. and Dora, Freud discovered the seeds of what would become his all-encompassing theory of the human psyche. Modern reinterpretations (e.g. Rosenbaum Muroff, 1984) of those early cases that form the basis of modern psychoanalysis have come and gone, but the original texts remain as historical testament to the fermenting of those fundamental ideas. Introduction Hysteria has been a hugely popular subject for research in psychoanalysis and in the history of ideas. Its roots are clearly signalled by the Greek word from which the word comes: uterus. Indeed the uterus was seen by Egyptians as a mobile organism that could move about of its own will when it chose to do so this caused the disturbances only seen (or acknowledged) in women. Treatments for this disease included trying to entice the uterus back into the body with the use of attractive-smelling substances as well as the driving down of the uterus from above by the eating of noxious substances. Just under four thousand years later, the formulation and treatment of hysterics had barely improved. The history of hysteria shows how it has often been seen as a physical disorder, rather than a mental one. Borossa (2001) describes some of the most common symptoms of hysteria as involving paralysis of the limbs, coughing, fainting, the loss of speech and parallel to this the sudden proficiency in another language. The change of viewpoint that lead up to Freuds analysis was slow in coming, and, as Bernheimer (1985) describes, only showed the first signs of changing in the seventeenth century with the first questions being raised that perhaps hysteria had its origins in a mental disturbance of some kind. Antecedent to Freuds interest in hysteria, it was the clinical neurologist, Charcot, who had a great influence on the field and accepted, by his methods, a more psychological explanation. Although sexual factors had long been implicated in the aetiology of hysteria (Ellenberger, 1970), Charcot did not agree that they were a sine qua non although he did maintain that they played an important part. He treated patients using a form of hypnosis and eventually his formulation of how hysteria was produced and treated was closely intertwined with the hypnosis itself. It was this use of hypnosis that interested Freud and it was the implication of sexual factors in hysteria that was eventually to become influential. It seemed that hysteria and hypnosis might offer Freud the chance to investigate the link between mind and body (Schoenwald, 1956). Anna O: The First Psychoanalytical Patient The literature often describes Anna O as the first ever patient of psychoanalysis. As it is notoriously difficult to define precisely what psychoanalysis might mean because of its shifting nature through time, this is a claim that is clearly interpretational. Still, the fact that this claim is made raises the interest into precisely what it was that marked out Anna Os treatment and the theories accompanying it from what had gone before. Although Anna O was not a patient of Freud, but a patient of his close colleague at the time, Joseph Breuer, he took a great interest in her case and its treatment, and from it flowed some of the foundational aspects of psychoanalysis both through the analysis of this case and Freuds reaction and reinterpretation of it. One of the reasons that Freud was interested in Anna O was that she represented an extremely unusual case of hysteria. Anna O had first been taken ill while she had been taking care of her dying father. At first she suffered from a harsh cough which soon expanded into a range of other perplexing symptoms. Freud Breuer (1991) describe these symptoms as going through four separate stages. The first stage, the latent incubation, occurred while she was nursing her dying father she had become weak, was not eating and would spend much of the afternoons sleeping, which was then unexpectedly followed by a period of excited activity in the evenings. The second stage, which had begun around the time Breuer started treating her, contained a strange confluence of symptoms. Her vision was affected by a squint, she could no longer move any of the extremities on the right side of her body. The third stage, which roughly coincided with the death of her father, heralded alternating states of somnam bulism with relative normality. The fourth stage, according to Breuer, is the slow leaking away of these symptoms up until June 1882, almost two years after she had first come to see her physician. The question is, how had these symptoms been interpreted and what had Breuer done in claiming to effect a cure? It is in the case of Anna O that the most basic elements of a new talking cure can be seen. As told by Breuer, it is a treatment that grew organically, as if by its own power, as he continued to see the patient. Often, in the afternoons, when the patient would habitually fall into an auto-hypnotic state, she would utter odd words or phrases, which, when questioned by those around her, would become elaborated into stories, sometimes taking the form of fairytales. These stories told to Breuer, changed in character over the period of Anna Os treatment, moving from those that were light and poetic, through to those that contained dark and frightening imagery. The unusual thing about these stories was that after they were told, it was as though a demon had been released from the patient and she became calmer and open to reason, cheerful even, often for a period of twenty-four hours afterwards. There seemed to be, staring Breuer in the face, some kind of connection between the stories that Anna O told him and the symptoms which she was manifesting. It was here that Freud was to find the roots of a purely psychological explanation of hysteria. Breuer describes numerous examples of this connection. On one occasion Anna O appeared to be suffering from an uncontrollable thirst and was given to demanding water, although when it was brought, she would refuse to touch it. After six weeks of this continuing, one day, again in an auto-hypnotic state, she started to tell a story about a friend who had allowed her dog to drink out of a glass. This had apparently caused the patient considerable distress and seemed to have led to pent-up anger, which was expressed on this occasion to Breuer. Afterwards Breuer was surprised to find that her previous craving and then abhorrence of water had disappeared. Other similar connections between symptoms and a story told by the patient were also s een by Breuer so that eventually he came up with the theory that the patient could be cured systematically by going through the symptoms to find the event that had caused their onset. Once the event had been described, as long as it was with sufficient emotional vigour, the patient would show remission of that symptom. It was by this method that Breuer claimed to have effected a cure of Anna O over the period of the treatment. It is from this case, although not in the immediate reporting by Breuer, that some of the most fundamental principles of psychoanalysis begin to form. An element of the story that has now passed into psychoanalytic legend, with some accepting its truth while others rejecting it, provides a more dramatic ending to the therapeutic relationship than that presented by Breuer. According to Freud (1970) in his letters, he pieced together an alternative account of what had happened at the end of Anna Os therapy. According to Freud, Breuer had been treating Anna O in the way he had discovered, as previously described, and had finally reached the point where her symptoms had been removed. Later that day he was called back to his patient to find her in considerable apparent pain in her abdomen. When she was asked what was wrong she replied that, Dr. Bs child is coming! This immediately sent Breuer away from her at the highest speed as he was not able to cope with this new revelation. He then p assed her onto a colleague for further treatment as he had already realised that his wife was jealous of his treatment of Anna O and this new revelation only compounded the problem. Forrester (1990) draws attention to the fact that Breuer acknowledged the importance of sexuality in the causes of neuroses. But despite this, he backed away from Anna Os case as soon as it came to the surface. As Forrester (1990) points out, Freud sees this as Breuers mistake and sees in it the birth of a psychoanalysis, especially one of its most important aspects: transference, and more specifically: sexual transference. Through the way that Breuer describes Anna Os progress in his new type of therapy, the path which the theory of hysteria and its treatment takes gradually emerges. Although Anna Os case was reported later it was Breuer Freud (1893) that used her case as the basis for their theory of hysteria. Breuer Freud (1893) state that they believe that the symptoms of hysteria have, at their root cause, some kind of causal event, perhaps occurring many years before the symptoms expose themselves. The patient is unlikely to easily reveal what this event is simply because they are not consciously aware of what it is, or that there is a causal connection. They are not worried by the seeming disproportionate nature of the precipitating event and subsequent symptoms. In fact they welcome this disproportionate nature as a defining characteristic of hysteria. Their analysis likens the root cause, or pathogenesis, of hysteria to that caused by a traumatic neurosis    perhaps similar to what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder. The patient has, therefore, suffered a psychical trauma that manifests itself in this hysteria. The idea that the psychical trauma simply has a precipitating effect on the symptoms is dismissed by the authors referring to the evidence they have from the case studies of the remarkable progress their patients made after the memory of the psychical trauma has been exorcised through its explication and re-experiencing. Importantly, in defining the problem, Breuer Freud (1893) see the symptoms as a kind of failure of reaction to the original event. The memory of the event can only fade if the reaction to that event has not been suppressed. And it is here that there is a clear precursor to ideas central to later Freudian theory about the nature and causes of repression. In normal reactions to psychical traumas, the authors talk of a cathartic effect resulting in a release of the energy. The reverse of this, the suppression of catharsis (Freeman, 1972), is seen here as the cause of the symptoms adequately evidenced by the new treatment of a kind of delayed catharsis that appears to release the patient from their symptoms. What, then, are the mechanisms by which a psychical trauma of some kind is not reacted to sufficiently? Two answers are provided here, the first that because of the circumstances of the trauma, it was not possible to form a reaction in other words the reactions is suppressed. The second is that a reaction may not have been possible due to the mental state of the person at that time for example during a period of paralysing fear. The circumstances in which the failure of a reaction occurs is also instrumental in the burying of these thoughts and feelings and helps to explain why the patient themselves is not able to access them in the normal ways. Frau Emmy von N. Freuds interest in hysteria and in hypnosis was certainly piqued by both Charcot and Breuer and having collaborated on the latters work with Anna O including the belief that he had found a theory of practical benefit it was only a matter of time before he became further involved in the treatment of hysteria himself. Reported as the second case history in The Studies on Hysteria, (Breuer Freud, 1991) a patient of Freuds, Frau Emmy von N., exhibited symptoms that typified hysteria and Freud resolved to treat her. He reports that the patient was 40 years old, was from a good family and of high education and intelligence. She had been widowed at a young age, leaving her to look after her two children this she ascribed as the cause of her current malady. Freud describes her first meeting as being continually interrupted by the patient breaking off, and suddenly displaying signs of disgust and horror on her face while telling him to, Keep still! and other similar remonstrations. Apart from this the patient also had a series of tics, some facial, but the most pronounced being a clacking sound which littered her utterances. Freuds initial treatment was more physical than mental. She was told to take warm baths and be given massages. This was combined with hypnosis in which Freud simply suggested that she sleep well and that her symptoms would lessen. This was helped by the fact that Freud reports that Frau Emmy von N. was an extremely good hypnotic subject he only had to raise his finger and make a few simple suggestions to put her into a trance. Freud wonders whether this compliance is due to previous exposure to hypnosis and a desire to please. A week later Freud asked his patient why she was so easily frightened. She replied with a story about a traumatic experience that had occurred when she was younger her older brothers and sisters had thrown dead animals at her. As she described these stories to Freud, he reports that she was, panting for breath as well as displaying obvious difficulty with the emotions that she was dealing with. After these emotions have been expressed, she became calmer and more peaceful. Freud also uses touch to reinforce his suggestion that these unnerving images have been removed. Under hypnosis, Freud continued to elicit these stories that demonstrated why she was so often nervous. She explained to Freud that she had once had a maidservant who told her stories of life in an asylum including beatings and patients being tied to chairs. Freud then explained to her that this was not the usual situation in asylums. She had also apparently seen hallucinations at one point, seeing the same person in tw o places and being transfixed by it. While she had been nursing her dying brother, who was taking large quantities of morphine for the pain he was in, he would frequently grab her suddenly. Freud saw this as part of a pattern of her being seized against her will and resolved to investigate it further. It was a few days after this that quite a significant point in the therapy came. Emmy von N. was again explaining about the frightening stories of the asylum and Freud stopped himself from correcting her, intuitively realising that he had to let her give full vent to her fears, without redirecting her course. This is perhaps a turning point in the way in which Freud treated his patient, made clearer by the historical context in which this scene operates. While still seen as authority figures now, physicians were much stronger authority figures then. This combined with the greater imbalance of power between men and women would have meant that the patient would be naturally hesitant about taking any control over their own treatment. Forrester (1990) sees this as a shift in the pattern of authority between the doctor and the patient that originated in Breuers treatment of Anna O a move from the telling the patient what to do, to listening to what the patient has to say. Forrester (1990 ) constructs the relationship that Freud began to build with Emmy von N. as more of a framework of authority within which the patient was able to express her thoughts and feelings to the doctor and in this sense the doctors job is to help the patient keep up this outpouring of stories. At this stage of the development of the therapy, the facilitation of the story-telling is being achieved by hypnosis, although later Freud was to move away from this. How great the shift in the power balance was, it is difficult to tell a this distance, but what is clear from the case report is that Emmy von N.s case provided a much more convoluted series of psychical traumas and symptoms than that presented by Anna O. While Anna Os symptoms seemed to match the traumatic events rather neatly, Emmy von Ns mind was not nearly as well organised. At one point Freud discovers that taking the lift to his office causes his patient a considerable amount of stress. To try and examine where this comes from he explores whether she has had any previous traumatic experiences in lifts a logical first step within the theoretical framework. Coincidentally, it appears, the patient mentions that she is very worried about her daughter in relation to elevators. The next logical step then should be that talking about this fear should release the affect and lead to catharsis, but this is not what Freud finds. The next part of the puzzle is revealed when he finds out t hat she is currently menstruating, then finally the last part falls into place when he finds out that as her daughter has been suffering ovarian problems, she has had to travel in a lift in order to meet with her doctor. After some deliberation Freud realises that there is in fact a false connection between the patients menstruation and the worry at her daughter using a lift. It is this confusion of connections that Freud begins to realise is a form of defence to the traumatic thoughts. Freuds Treatment of Hysteria In the final part of Studies in Hysteria Freud sets out his theory of hysteria and what he has learnt about its treatment. Not only does this part of the book recap some of the themes already discussed but it also highlights some future direction in which Freuds work would travel. Two key signposts are seen: first in his stance on hypnotism, and secondly in his view on what constitutes hysteria. In an attempt to be of benefit to patients with hysteria, who he believed this treatment would help, he tried to treat as many as possible. The problem for him was how to tell the difference between a patient with hysteria and one without. Freud chose an interesting solution to what might have been a protracted problem of diagnosis. He simply treated patients who seemed   to have hysteria and let the results of that treatment speak for themselves. What this immediately did was to widen out the object of his enquiry to neuroses in general. Picking up on the lightly touched theme of sexual tr ansference between Breuer and Anna O mentioned earlier, Freud made his feelings about the roots of neurotic problems quite clear, and in the process set the agenda for psychoanalysis for the next century or more. He believed that one of the primal factors in neuroses lay in sexual matters. In particular Freud came to acknowledge that peoples neuroses rarely came in a pure form, as the early and almost impossibly neat case of Anna O had signposted, and that in fact people were more of a mixed bag. Looking back through the cases reported in Studies on Hysteria Freud explains that he came to see a sexual undercurrent in his notes that had not been at the forefront of his mind when he had treated the patients. Especially in the case of Anna O as already noted Freud felt Breuer had missed a trick. What these ideas seem to be adding up to is almost a rejection of hysteria, if not as a separate diagnosis, certainly as a category of disease practically amenable to treatment. Freud, however, is defensive about rejecting the idea of hysteria as a separate diagnosis, despite the fact that that is the direction in which his thoughts are heading. At this stage he believes it can be treated as a separate part of a patients range of symptoms and the effect of this treatment will be governed by its relative importance overall. Those patients, like Anna O, who have relatively pure cases of hysteria will respond well to the cathartic treatment, while those diluted cases will not. The second key signpost for the future of psychoanalysis was Freuds use of hypnosis. What he found was that many of the patients he saw were simply not hypnotisable Freud claims unwillingness on their part but other writers are of the opinion that he was simply not that good at it (Forrester, 1990). This was a problem for Freud because Breuers formulation of the treatment for hysteria required that events were recollected that were not normally available to a person. Hypnosis had originally proved a good method and indeed in Anna Os case the only method for gaining access to these past events. In response, Freud now turned away from hypnosis to develop his own techniques for eliciting the patients traumatic events. These were quite simple: he insisted that the patient remember what the traumatic event was, and if they still could not, he would ask the patient to lie down and close their eyes nowadays one of the archetypal images of patient and analyst. Freud saw the patients relu ctance of his patients to report their traumatic events as a one of the biggest hurdles in his coalescing form of therapy. He came up with the idea that there was some psychical force within the patient that stopped the memories from being retrieved. From the patients he had treated, he had found that the memories that were being held back were often of an embarrassing or shameful nature. If was for this reason that the patient was activating psychical defence mechanisms. At this stage he hoped to be able to show in the future that it was this defence or repulsion of the traumatic event to the depths of the memory that was causing so much psychical pain to the patient. Overcoming this psychical force, Freud found, was not as simple as insisting, and he developed some further techniques. Patients would easily drift off their point or simply dry up and it needed more powerful persuasion to return them to the traumatic event. One particular technique he found extremely useful and would almost invariably use it when treating patients. This involved placing his hand on the patients head and instructing them that when they feel the pressure they will also see an image of their traumatic event. Having assured the patient that whatever they see, they should not worry that this image is inappropriate or too shameful to discuss, then they are asked to attempt a description of the image. Freud believed that this system worked by distracting the patient, in a similar way as hypnosis, from their conscious searching for the psychical trauma and allowed their mind to float free. Even using the new technique of applying pressure, it did not provide direct access to the psychical trauma. What Freud found was that it tended to signal a jumping off point or a way-station, somewhere on the way to or from the trauma. Sometimes the image produced would provide a new starting point from which the patient could work, sometimes it fitted into the flow of the subject of discussion. Occasionally the new image would bring a long-forgotten idea to the patients mind which would surprise them and initially seem to be unrelated, but later turn out to have a connection. Freud was so pleased with his new pressure technique that, in complex cases, he would often use it continuously on the patient. This procedure would bring to light memories that had been hitherto completely forgotten, as well as new connections between these memories and even, sometimes, thoughts that the patient doesnt even believe to be their own. Freud is careful to point out that although his pressure technique was useful, there were a number of very strong forms of defence that stopped him gaining easy access to the patients psychical trauma. He often found that in the first instance, applying pressure by his hand to the patient would not work, but when he insisted to the patient that it would work the next time, it often would. Still, the patient would sometimes immediately reinterpret or, indeed, begin to edit what was seen, thus making the reporting much less useful. Freud makes it clear that sometimes the most useful observations or memories of the patient are those that they consider to be of least use or relevance. Also, the memories will tend to emerge in a haphazard fashion, only later, and with the skill of the analyst, being fitted together into a coherent picture. Freud refers to this as a kind of censoring of the traumatic events, as though it can only be glimpsed in a mirror or partially occluded around a corne r. Slowly but sure the analyst begins to build up a picture with the accretion of material. There is nothing, Freud believed that is not relevant every piece of information is a link in the chain, another clue to the event that has traumatised the psyche. Another major component of psychoanalysis makes its first appearance in the Studies on Hysteria. Freud describes a final defence or block against the work of treating hysteria in the very relationship between the patient and doctor. Indeed, Freud sees this defence is sure to arise, and perhaps the most difficult defence of all to overcome. The first of the three circumstances in which it may arise is a simple, probably small, breakdown in the relationship between the physician and patient. It might be that the patient is unsure about the physicians techniques or alternatively has felt slighted in the treatment in some way. This can be rectified with a sensitive discussion. The second of the three circumstances occurs when the patient becomes fearful that they will lose their independence because of a reliance on their treating physician. As almost all of Freuds patients who had hysteria were women, this could be conceived as a sexual reliance. The third circumstance is where the pati ent begins to take the problem that they are trying to resolve and transfer it onto the physician, thereby seeing their problem there instead of where it really exists. Freud provides the straightforward example of the sexual transference of a female patient of his who suddenly developed the vision of kissing him. He reports that the patient could not be analysed any further until this block had been addressed. The mechanism by which this transference happens, he posits, is that the patient creates a false connection between the compulsion which is the basis for their treatment and the therapist, rather than its original recipient. In treating these defences Freud makes it clear that the main aim should be to make the patient aware that this problem exists, and then once they are aware of it, the problem is largely dealt with. The challenge, then, is getting the patient to admit to these potentially embarrassing feelings. The Aetiology of Hysteria The development of Freuds theory of the aetiology of hysteria provides one of the most insightful, and sometimes controversial, areas of his work. The formation of the theory, like the work on its treatment, provided another important testing ground for some of the basic elements of what would later become psychoanalysis. Previous authors, including Breuer in the joint work with Freud in Studies on Hysteria, gave great weight to the heredity factors in the causes of hysteria. Freud meanwhile acknowledged these ideas, but in Heredity and the Aetiology of the Neuroses (Freud, 1896b) set out the three factors he believed were important and began to formulate a new theory. The causes of hysteria could be broken down into: (1) Preconditions this would include hereditary factors, (2) concurrent causes which are generalised causes and (3) specific causes, these being specific to the hysteria itself. It is in these specific causes he believed he had found an important contribution to aetiology of the condition. One of the common factors of the patients Freud was seeing, and the one he was coming to see as defining, was in their sexual problems. He reports that while many suffered from a range of different symptoms such as constipation, dyspepsia and fatigue, almost all of them had some kind of sexual problems. These ranged from the inability to achieve orgasm to a more general inability to have a satisfying sexually relationship. Freud saw this as a very significant problem as he maintains that the nervous systems needs to be regularly purged of sexual tension. This pattern across his patients, and the development of his theory of traumatic psychical events, led him to wonder what past events could have caused the sexual dysfunction the patients with hysteria were manifesting. Radically, and expecting no small amount of opposition to the idea, Freud advanced the theory that these neuroses were caused by sexual abuse before the age of sexual maturity. Of the thirteen cases that Freud had tre ated at the time of the paper, all of them had been subject to sexual abuse at an early age. However, Freud does make it clear that the information about their sexual lives is not obtained without some considerable pressure, and it only emerges in a fragmentary way that has later to be pieced together by the therapist. At this early stage of the theory, Freud believed that the sexual abuse left a psychical trace and formed the traumatic experience which was locked away in the depths of the mind. These ideas were much further developed and expanded on in Further remarks on the neuro-psychoses of defence (Freud, 1896a). Earlier Freud had grouped together hysteria with hallucinatory states and obsessions (Freud, 1894) and had begun to formulate the idea that all of these conditions had a common aetiology. In particular, Freud felt these were all part of an area where the ideas of psychological defences and psychological repression were important. Freud had found that patients he had seen had suffered sexual abuse sometimes as early as two years old and up to the age of ten, which he drew as an artificial cut-off point. What other theorists saw as a heredity, Freud saw as the confluence of factors for example if a boy had been sexually abused when he was five then it was likely that his brother would have been abused by the same person. Rather than seeing heredity as a separate factor in hysteria, he saw the sexual abuse as a replacement for heredity, sometimes exclusively, as the root cause in itself. The theory shows an interesting divergence in the analysis of obsessional neuroses. Here, Freud believed that the obsessional neuroses were caused by a sexual activity   in childhood rather than the sexual passivity typical of abuse. These ideas linked in neatly to the greater preponderance of obsessional neuroses in males. A logical division is therefore made with the females, the apparently more passive sex suffering from hysteria, while the apparently more active sex suffering from obsessions. In searching for the aetiology of these two conditions, it is here that Freud prefigures his future thinking on stages of sexual development by introducing the idea that the development of neuroses and/or hysteria is/are dependent on when the sexual abuse occurs in the developmental stages of the child, with sexual maturation providing the cut-off point. In The Aetiology of Hysteria Freud again makes clear his divergence from his mentor, Charcot, in claiming that heredity is not the most important factor in the aetiology of hysteria (Freud 1896c). Freud (1896c) travels back through the life-histories of the patients he has treated looking for the original source of the psychical trauma, discounting all sexual experiences at puberty and later. It is only in pre-pubescent children, when the potential for harm is at its greatest that there lies a sufficient cause. Freuds theory revolves around the idea that at a

Marketing Islamic Travel Destinations A Religious Perspective Tourism Essay

Marketing Islamic Travel Destinations A Religious Perspective Tourism Essay Literature on tourism and destination marketing research is rich with key themes which seek to explain why people travel and select specific destinations. Many of the studies are based on the theory of pull and push motivations. The theory posits that tourists are pushed by internal desires or emotional factors to travel as well as pulled by external factors in the form of the attributes of various destinations. While many studies have been conducted to investigate the various types of destination attributes, there has been a lack of research on the religious attributes of the destination and its impact on tourists choice as well as satisfaction. Moreover, when it comes to Islamic religious attributes, the lack of study is more noticeable and profound. The objective of this study is to investigate whether there exists a basis for segmenting the tourism market by Islamic religious attributes through studying the views and opinions of tourists visiting Malaysia. 2. Significance of the Study The Muslim tourism segment may consider a target for destination marketers. Assuming religion represents one of important factors in the decision-making process in regards to travel destinations(Collins Tisdell, 2002), it is important to ensure that Islamic religious attributes are available in those destinations. This may lead to tourist satisfaction as well as encourage multiple return visits. Muslims are well-ordered to follow Islamic teachings which directly and indirectly impact on their decisions concerning leisure and travel plans (Hamira Henderson, 2009). In this regard plans to market destinations for Muslim tourists should be guided by Shariah (Islamic code of life) rules specifically those that pertain to tourism activities. In recent years, it has been observed that there is a growing interest in new tourism concepts such as Islamic tourism. Another concept is Halal hospitality which is akin to the concept of Halal food, a concept already recognized in many countries including those in the Middle East(WTM, 2007). Newspaper articles consider this to be a new phenomenon in the United Arab Emirates and Middle Eastern countries. Halal tourism has attracted many tour packages entirely based on what they term Islamic culture (Javed, 2007) which is defined as a type of religious tourism which is in conformity with Islamic teachings regarding behaviourisms, dress, conduct and diet (WTM, 2007). Heyers (2008) elaboration on the rapid large-scale development of Shariah-compliant hotels is but another expression of the existing trends towards increased Islamisation of activities which in the past focused more on banking, insurance and finance. Thus, tourism is generally encouraged by Islamic law as following the re ligion entails etiquettes, mannerisms, rules and regulations regarding conduct, dress, food, and prayer(Hamira Henderson, 2009). Halal tourism operators target families from the Gulf region known for their conservative interpretation of the teachings of Islamic Shariah. The World Travel Market Report (2007) shows that Halal tourism has the potential to develop into a resilient market. Promising market potentialities cause it to be targeted by industry operators and market researchers. Focus on this market is further increased by a forecasted increase in growth whereby tourist income for the Middle East is expected to grow 108% to a staggering US$ 51 billion while domestic tourism is expected to grow by 82% to reach US$24 Billion by 2011. Much of the forecasted growth is due to increased numbers of Middle Eastern tourists which underlines the need for tailored Halal tourist packages offering services catering to Muslim needs. The negative side of western tourism causing Halal tourism to be increasingly popular among Muslims is issues which have a negative impact on the Muslim community such as the consumption of alcohol, prostitution, inappropriate dressing, kissing in public and open affection between sexes in public (Sindiga, 1996). However, non-Muslim countries continue to attract Muslim families, including those from the Gulf region interested in visiting attractions such as nature parks as these comply with Islamic Shariah. In response to this the current study is an attempt to greater understand the new concept of Halal tourism. Muslims constitute a global market of 1.82 billion potential customers (Muslim population worldwide, 2009). Islamic religious attributes are bound to be very important considerations when a Muslim decides to travel abroad. Given the potential problems expected from non-Halal tourism, the Muslim tourist may decide not to travel to a particular destination due to the absence of these attributes. According to Uysal et al. (2008, p. 413) a study of a the particular attributes of any given destination would provide clues and/or insights that destination marketers could use in developing and promoting their tourism destinations. Bogari et al.(2004) claim that destination attributes and issues pertaining to Islamic culture were not sufficiently covered by researchers. In effect, the study focuses in the Islamic attributes of destinations which could be used as a base to attract Muslim tourists in destination marketing programs. The marketing of Islamic destinations is certainly not an easy task(Henderson, 2008b) because of the variance between the demands of western tourists and the Islamic teachings. Therefore, exploring Islamic attributes may help destination marketers to tailor products and services that satisfy Muslim tourists in addition to using them in promotional programs. In addition, this study attempts to offer insights into the tourism expectations and experiences of followers of the Islamic religion. Muslim tourists could be influenced by religious aspects in their destination choice. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore which Islamic attributes of destinations such as worship facilities and Halal food that may be important to the Muslim tourist; especially in the Muslim world. 3. Literature review: Religion plays a large influence on many peoples behaviour as customers (Essoo Dibb, 2004). In the context of tourism, religion may influence the choice of destination and tourists product preferences(Adi Ron, 2008). According to Poria et al. (2003), the effects of religious belief on behaviour come from two main sources First, there are the yes and nos, dos and donts of a persons religion which are to be observed. Examples consist of the religious rules prohibiting Muslims from consuming pork, or Hindus from consuming beef. The second means by which behaviour is influenced is the fact that religion shapes the culture, attitudes and values of society. This is supported by Grigg (1995) whose research provides evidence on the influence of religion and religiosity on dietary habits. Further support is found in Essoo and Dibb (2004) who demonstrated the influence of religion on consumer behaviour by identifying the differences in consumer spending between Muslims and Hindus. Although the relationship between tourism and religion has been addressed in the literature on tourism, there remains a shortage of theoretical publications in the area of tourism in the context of Islam. Religion and religiosity are acknowledged factors influencing behaviour according to various social settings. In spite of this widely acknowledged fact, research that explores relationships between religion, behaviour and tourist destination choice remains highly limited (Adi, 2006; Adi Ron, 2008; Din, 1989; Fleischer, 2000; Howe, 2001; Poria et al., 2003; Rinschede, 1992). Din (1989) argues that social scientists have tended to overlook the importance of religion in tourism studies. Its importance is emphasized by Adi and Ron (2008) who underline the general importance of the relationship between tourism and religion. For this reason Heo et al. (2004) recommend more related studies that identify and discuss special tourist requirements and preferences. Although neglecting to menti on religion specifically, Fang et al. (2008) conclude that tourists are more likely to choose destinations believed to best satisfy tourist push needs and preferred destination attributes. Studies conducted in this area include Adi (2006) which investigates the religious needs of Christian tourist in the hospitality industry and Fleischer and Nitzav (1995) which investigates the religious needs of Christian pilgrims in the tourism industry. Likewise Hoffmann (1994 Cited in Adi 2006) conducts research on Jewish ultra-orthodox tourism segment. In addition to this, some papers complement the aforementioned research by discussing the religious requirements in the tourism food sector. For example, Dugan (1994) presents the religious necessities in food supply for Muslim, Christian, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists. When it comes to the relationship between tourism and religion, particularly Islam, the lack of literature is more obvious especially regarding Islamic religious attributes and their impact on tourist needs in general and Muslim tourists in particular. The only studies available typically focus only on the needs of Muslim pilgrims (when they visit Makkah for the Haj) rather than the needs of tourists. However, Adi and Ron (2008) forecast increased number of religiously-minded tourists who join dynamic multipurpose packages especially from developing countries many of which are Muslim countries. 3.1 Religious Attributes What does the term `religious attributes of destinations really mean? There are many aspects that can constitute `religious attributes of destinations. The following sections present the literature on the matter: 3.1.1 Hotels Meeting the Religious Needs of Patrons Additional religious services and provisions in hotels may result in attracting new markets and improved hotel rates (Adi, 2006). A study in Israel conducted by Mansfeld et al. (2000) recommended placing Makkah stickers or `Qibla stickers (stickers with ornamented arrows pointing towards the city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia for prayer directions) as well as placing a copy of the Quran in every room occupied by Muslim visitors. Din (1989) found that hotels in Kuantan, Malaysia catered to Muslim needs in the hospitality industry by requiring first class hotels to provide prayer rooms fully equipped with prayer mats, the Quran, Suruh Yasin, and Tasbih, plus Qibla stickers. Adi (2006) presented a number of suggestions to improve the religion-friendliness of hotels. The suggestions begin by simply providing a bible in hotel rooms along with providing information on religious activities and institutions. This keeps religiously-minded tourists in direct contact with scripture and informed of available services. Employment of Christian workers creates a religious atmosphere in the hotel. The hotel may choose to organize its own religious activities. It should provide a place of worship within the hotel itself or be in close proximity to a church. Christian symbols within a hotel such as a cross and images of the Virgin Mary help to provide a religious environment and dà ©cor. Religious values play a role in catering to religious needs. For example, Collins-Kreiner Kliot (2000) hypothesizes the Protestants need for a bible in hotel rooms based on their belief in direct communication with God. Fleischer (2000) compares between Catholic and Protestant pilgrims in terms of the peculiarities of their tourist needs. The study reveals that Protestants appreciate religious symbols and opt for religious-sensitive tourist packages more so than Catholics. Moreover, Adi (2006) recommended catering to such Christian needs in the hotel room as that may increase the satisfaction of Christian tourists Empirical studies on the impact of catering to Islamic religious needs and the level of satisfaction of Muslim tourists are very few. Some of the studies discuss services of this nature which may include Muslim religious restrictions such as activities of vice and forbidden entry for unmarried couples (Din, 1989; Hamira Henderson, 2009; Henderson, 2003) . They also found that hotels may provide religious information such as the location of nearby mosques or prayer times and nearby Halal restaurants (Henderson, 2003). Furthermore, as Muslims avoid free mixing between the sexes, hotels could offer separate swimming pools and recreational facilities (Al-hamarneh steiner, 2004; Henderson, 2003; Timothy Iverson, 2006). Hashim et al. (2007) suggest that providing Halal food on the hotel menu or information on nearby Halal restaurants would enhance the holiday experience. Timothy and Iverson (2006) also suggest that hotels should educate their staff on cross-cultural communication to all ow them to treat Muslim tourists with respect and consider recruiting religious staff. 3.1.2 Places of worship The five daily prayers are of great importance to practicing Muslims. Therefore, the mosque (a Muslim house of worship) or prayer room is considered to be one of the most crucial facilities for Muslims (Al-hamarneh steiner, 2004; Syed, 2001). Adi (2006) suggests that proximity to a mosque may influence Muslim tourist preferences when making hotel reservations. Mohsin (2005) conducted a study to assess Peninsular Malaysians attitude towards choosing the Northern Territory of Australia for a holiday as a tourism destination and found that Muslim respondents were concerned about the availability of mosques. Mohsin and Ryan (1997) recommend that the ease of access to Islamic services are important when they explored the attitudes of Malaysian and Indonesian business people towards the possibility of holidaying in Australia. It is also suggested that Middle Eastern countries take concrete steps to develop Halal tourism internally by having prayer rooms at tourism sites (WTM, 2007). Syed (2001) also suggested that the availability of mosques at tourist destinations may increase satisfaction levels. The mosque itself may be considered as a tourist attraction if they are unique and outstanding (Henderson, 2003). 3.1.3 Availability of Halal food Dugan (1994) presented findings on food service requirements by Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians. Evidence from Browns (1996) ethnographic study shows the influence of religious prohibitions on determining their expectations regarding services provided by a hotel such as appropriate ingredient choice and preparation. This is further supported by Williams (2002) who identified the role of the Jewish Kashrus (Jewish religious requirements) in prohibiting certain foods and regulating compliance procedures for food preparation. For Muslims, the issue is centred on the concept of Halalness. Halal food refers to food that can be lawfully consumed when conditions for Islamic food preparation are met. Food that is unlawful to Muslims includes pork, pork-derived foods including lard and bacon and meat and other products from carnivorous animals or those that feed on carrion. Consumption of any food or drinks with alcoholic content is also prohibited (Dugan, 1994). One important distinguishing feature of the Halal label is that animals must be slaughtered in the name of Allah (God). There are many studies that show the importance of the availability of Halal food to Muslims in choosing their tourist destinations (Adi, 2006; Adi Ron, 2008; Mohsin, 2005; Mohsin Ryan, 1997; Syed, 2001). The importance of this to some Muslims is reflected by the fact that even when served halal food, many are still concerned over whether the food is genuinely halal. Henderson (2003) found that some firms in the Western tourism industry are concerned over this issue. Some Muslims ask about the ingredients the meal is made up of because pork and alcohol in all its many forms are forbidden. Therefore, meals which are provided to Muslim have to be alcohol and pork-free and the utensils have to be uncontaminated by these two elements (Dugan, 1994). Catering to Muslim tourists needs in terms of providing Halal food in any particular destination may increase their overall satisfaction and loyalty. Mansfeld et al. (2000) gives explicit recommendations for providing food which complies with Shariah laws. Therefore, a caterer who is aware on how to satisfy Muslims or who offers religious groups dietary needs will attract more Muslim customers (Dugan, 1994). 3.1.4 Banning of Alcohol Consumption and Gambling According to Islamic Shariah, it is completely forbidden for Muslims to drink or sell alcohol. Muslims are also prohibited from gambling and being involved in the gambling industry. It is stated in Al-Quran: O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satans handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper. (Al-Quran, 5:90). Moreover the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: Alcohol is the mother of all evils and it is the most shameful of evils. (Ibn Majah, 2004). It is also not permissible for Muslims to visit places where alcohol is consumed and gambling is practiced (Al-hamarneh steiner, 2004; Din, 1989; Hamira Henderson, 2009; Hashim et al., 2007; Henderson, 2003, 2008a). Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia implement very restrictive policies related to gambling and the sale of alcohol. Other countries are not so restrictive. For example, in most states in Malaysia alcohol is freely available although Muslims can be punished for drinking in public. 3.1.5 Sexual permissiveness The Shariah expressly forbids Muslims from engaging in fornication or adultery. Activities deemed conducive to sexual permissiveness are not allowed to take place in public. This is based on many verses in The Holy Quran including like: Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils). (Al-Quran, 17: 32). Many Muslim scholars take the view that it is Haram or not permissible to visit, for the sake of tourism, places where sexual permissiveness is rampant. Their opinion is based on the principle that Islam came to impede all roads leading to evil. If some tourist activities result in the facilitation or the commission of sins then it is not permissible for Muslims to be involved in such tourist activities (Rasma, 2008). Most Muslim countries including Malaysia prohibit adultery. The Malaysian licensing policy prohibits prostitution and behaviours such as public or indecent displays of affection (Din, 1989; Hamira Henderson, 2009; Henderson, 2003, 2008a). Moreover, in some Malaysian towns municipal enactments for lodging establishments explicitly forbid unmarried couples from being in close proximity (Din, 1989). Many Muslim authorities frown on tourism in general due to the perception that tourism is associated with sexual permissiveness (Din, 1989). Therefore, some Muslim scholars prohibit sex tourism as practiced by some Arab Muslims from the Middle East in travelling to Europe or Bangkok (Din, 1989). What is more, using sexually provocative images in marketing tourist destinations to Muslim customers is also frowned upon. According to Shariah, promotion techniques must not use sexual appeal in international marketing (Mohammad et al., 2001). Female images are therefore not featured in tourism promotion in some Malaysian states like Terengganu (Henderson, 2003). Mohsin (2005) is of the opinion that the use of sexually provocative images of bikini-clad girls to promote a destination will not attract Muslim tourists. 3.1.6 Dress code According to Shariah Muslim women must not expose their hair and body. The Holy Quran states: O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women to draw their outer garments around them (when they go out or are among men). That is better in order that they may be known (to be Muslims) and not annoyedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Al-Quran, , 33: 59) Men are supposed to cover their thighs (Timothy Iverson, 2006). In deciding tour destinations, Muslims look at the local dress codes in that particular region of the world being considered. Such considerations are to gauge the level of conformity to Islamic dress norms in order to determine if they will or will not be comfortable visiting that particular destination. This is particularly so for Arab tourists who have to observe strict dress codes in their native countries and prefer not to expose themselves and families to environments that may threaten their sense of proper dressing. Hashim et al (2007) demonstrates the Malaysian Tourist Boards awareness of Islamic dress sensitivities by restricting their marketing campaigns to present only traditional Malay Muslim dress codes. Women with headscarves and men wearing Songkoks-a black rimless hat worn by Malay men usually for praying-were depicted on advertising billboards and home pages. Some conservative Malaysian states enforce appropriate dress norms prohibiting people from disturbing cultural norms by wearing revealing clothes such as bikinis. Furthermore, western tourists are expected to adorn the Islamic attire when visiting religious places like mosques (Henderson, 2003). Hamira and Henderson (2009) claim that Shariah laws prohibit improper dressing. Al-Hamarneh and Seiner (2004) assert that considerations of the religious conservatism of any particular region including prescribed dress codes should be respected. Such cultural considerations are expected more so of tourism operators in all aspects of the tourism industry as they are interacting directly and regularly with foreign tourists (Adi Ron, 2008). 4. Methodology The objective of this study is to explore Islamic religious attributes which may be important to Muslim travellers. In order to achieve this objective, focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted and were followed up with interviews to explore opinions and travel experiences in more depth. This combination of the FGD and the interviews has its advantages. Firstly, in identifying a range of Islamic religious attributes from the FGD. Secondly, to explore in depth, by conducting interviews using a relatively wide range of participants in order to discover more Islamic attributes and to check the conclusions with the FGD (Morgan, 1996). The FGD and the interviews are research techniques pertaining to qualitative research (Myers, 2009, p. 121). The aim of the FGD is to collect information through group interaction but the interview is considered an opportunity to discover new information from individuals (Cavana, Delahaye, Sekaran, 2008, p. 138). Semi-structured questions were designed in this study for the purpose of conducting interviews and focus group discussions. Semi-structured questions were designed in this study for the purpose of conducting interviews and focus group discussions. The participants were asked about the Islamic attributes they would require when traveling in a Muslim country or a non Muslim country. They were then asked specifically about these attributes when visiting Muslim countries. This was followed by probing questions that sought to explore in detail specific attributes generated from FGDs such as access to worship facilities, availability of Halal food, services provided in hotels, and morality. Two focus group discussions were conducted in June 2009. The participants of these focus groups were international PhD students currently studying in Malaysia in different areas of research. The participants of FGD1 consisted of eight males from Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Mauritania, Oman, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt and Sudan. The duration of FGD1 was one and a half hours. The participants of FGD 2 consisted of seven females from Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Nigeria, Oman, Turkey, and Algeria. The duration of FGD 2 was one hour and fifteen minutes and the participants did not agree to record the session digitally. The reason for this may be culturally related. All FGD participants had overseas travel experience for various purposes such as tourism, business, learning, and visiting friends. A total of 53 interviews were conducted with tourists in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia; 27 interviews in July 2009 and 26 interviews in October 2009. Thirty of the interviewees were males, and twenty three were females. Only those who professed to be Muslims were selected. 38 tourists did not accept to be interviewed. The duration of most interviews was between 35 to 45 minutes. 41 interviews were recorded digitally. The rest were unable to be recorded due to objections from the interviewees who were females from the Middle East. The interviewer transcribed both the FGDs as well as all interviews session. Some interviewees from the Middle East preferred to communicate in Arabic while the rest were conducted in English. The interviewer adopted the probing technique during the session to encourage the participants to provide more details. Some demographic information was also gathered. The digital recording of the interviews was changed into text. The data was organized fo r easy categorization and systematic data analysis. 5. Findings Results of the analysis were categorized into two major aspects which are tangible and intangible. The tangible aspect consists of Islamic religious facilities such as, worship facilities, Halal food, and Islamic recreational facilities: (A)Prayer facilities: Mosque: all interviewees were concerned about the availability of Mosques (Masjid) or prayer rooms for their tourist destination. Easy access to a mosque/prayer room is considered a vital aspect for Muslim tourists and should not be ignored by tourism planning but should be considered a necessary service. This can be shown in the following response: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Masjid or prayer room must be available in the streets and public places. In other words, a prayer room should be available in all places which I may visit in the destination such as hotels, shopping malls, and airports. Even in the airplane to destination, it should allocate a place for prayer. (FGD No. 1) Masjid is available in most of the places in the destination during my journey, in shopping malls, highwaysà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and of course in the hotel. (Int. No.1, USA) It is noticed from the previous responses that Muslim tourists expect easy access to a Masjid and/or prayer room to be a primary requirement in Muslim countries. They also highlighted that they expect to find prayer facilities readily accessible during tourist activities. Islamic call (Azan) for prayer: 31 interviewees were concerned about the need for public calling of the Azan (prayer time). Destination operators should provide information about Muslim prayer times. 17 interviewees recommended a prayer time call during flights or journeys to their destinations, hotels, shopping malls and parks. Some also requested prayer time clocks (which ring with each prayer time) or a prayer timetable in the hotel room. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I need also Prayer time call in the airplane, airport, hotel or at least prayer timetable in hotel room. (Int.No.2, Canada) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Prayer timetable or Alfajr clock (Prayer time clock brand) should be found in hotel room. (Int.No.4, Saudi Arabia). In Islam Muslims should pray five times daily but they are permitted to merge and shorten the prayers while travelling according to the length of the journey and other Islamic legal rules and requirements. As such, the participants preferred that they be reminded about prayer times in order that they may choose between praying at the usual times or merge them. Quran and Qiblah direction pointer: all interviewees emphasized the importance of the provision of Qurans and Qiblah direction pointers in hotel rooms. Some proposed that one or two simple Islamic books to be provided in hotel rooms and in aeroplane seat pockets. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦It will be fine if I find Quran book in hotel room, some Islamic leaflets in the airplane seat pocket, Makkah direction pointer, Sejadda for prayer (prayer mat), simple Islamic book in hotel room à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (FGD No. 1) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I need the Holy Quran book inside the hotel room, some Islamic books which I can read; I dont want any statue or sculpture like a Buddhist. I found that in India when I was there. Also direction of Qibla is important to meà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Int. No.15, Djibouti) The Quran is the Holy book for Muslims. Muslims are requested to read the Holy Quran. Although most of Muslims have a soft copy of the Quran on their hand phones, the hard copy represents the preferable option for reading. Moreover, the Makkah direction pointer is a basic demand of Muslims as they perform their prayers elsewhere even though in public places. Some hotel industry practitioners, even some hotels in non Muslim countries, already provide Qiblah pointers inside their hotel rooms but some participants report that they did not find it in some hotels in Muslim countries. Muslim toilets: 36 interviewees who have travelled to western destinations complained about the bath room because they could not perform ablution (Muslim mandatory washing before performing prayers). There is no such facility inside airport toilets and hotels. Therefore, they requested Muslim toilets to be provided in all airports, hotels and public places. Muslim toilet is very important in airport because the regular toilets provide only tissue. As Muslims, we need water supply inside the toilet. It should be found in public places because in the hotel you can find water but in public it is difficult. (Int. No.14, Thailand) I will be very happy if I find à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and Bidet in the bathroom (Int. No.2, Canada). Muslim followers must do ablution before prayers. They are required to clean themselves with water when using the toilet. Some countries adopt modern toilet designs which do not enable users to wash themselves using water; providing only tissue. However, some Muslim countries have modified this style and have adopted a Muslim design for their bathrooms which provide water. From previous participant responses, they find it satisfying when water facilities are made available in toilets. (B)Halal food: all interviewees reported that the availability of Halal food is a basic need for all destinations. It is noticed that all interviewees need Halal meals in flights to their destination. Moreover, they recommended that hotels and restaurants in the destination should provide Halal meals free from pork and alcohol. Some of them were worried about the preparation of Halal meals. Seven interviewees highlighted that the kitchen should also be Halal which means that Halal and non-Halal foods cannot be cooked together in the same kitchen and with the same utensils. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I need Halal food to be available. The mosques and Halal food restaurants, mostly they are close to each other. Last week, I was in Cambodia. Once I was close to the Masjid I found Halal restaurants. (Int. No.13, Turkey) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Some hotels, in breakfast they provide Halal food and non-Halal food from the same kitchen that means the Halal and non Halal food are cooked together using the same facilities. I need Halal kitchen. Moreover, some Arabian tourists cant read English so they eat non-Halal meat. (Int. No.12, Egypt) The travel experiences of some participants highlighted that easy to find Halal food is one factor in choosing the destination for their vacation. Some are very sensitive regarding Halal issues and go well beyond Halal labels. They want to make sure the meat and ingredients used in cooking are Halal and do this by usually asking the service providers. On top of this they also ask whether the kitchen is Halal or not. In response to this some hotels in Malaysia allocate two kitchens; Halal and non-Halal. (C)Islamic entertainment: 39 interviewees gave high priority to finding Islamic-oriented recreations s