Monday, January 27, 2020

Effective Intervention Reduce Alcohol Consumption In College Students Nursing Essay

Effective Intervention Reduce Alcohol Consumption In College Students Nursing Essay Heavy alcohol consumption among college students remains a concern across colleges and universities in the United States. Approximately 80% of all college students drink, including nearly 60% of students ages 18 to 20 (Johnston, OMalley, Bachman, Schulenberg, 2008). Even more troubling, 40.1% of full-time college students underage for legal drinking engage in binge drinking and 16.6% of students engage in heavy drinking (National Survey on Drug Use and Health [NSDUH], 2006). Binge drinking is defined as consuming five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the past 30 days, bringing a persons blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 or above (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA], 2004;NSDUH, 2006). Consuming five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days is considered heavy drinking (NSDUH, 2006). All heavy alcohol users are also binge alcohol users. Many colleges and universities have implemented numerous initiatives ranging from enhanced enforcement to deferred community-wide celebratory events, but with little or no success (Turner, Perkins, Bauerle, 2008). College counselors and health education centers have been the main source of counseling for students who consume alcohol. Students have the opportunity to meet with counselors to discuss their alcohol use and their interest in moderating alcohol consumption and receive personalized normative feedback, advice, and behavioral strategies for avoiding alcohol-related harm (Barnett, Murphy, Colby, Monti, 2007). Although this traditional method is still used by counselors, advances in technology are allowing counselors to use new and innovative methods to educate students on the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption. Key programs include wireless devices, e-interventions, and cybercounseling. Wireless devices provide counselors with an interactive method of reducing drinking and alcohol consequences in college students. They range from mobile devices such as cell phones and handheld computers to audience response technology, or clickers (Bernhardt et al., 2009; Killos, Hancock, Wattenmaker McGann, Keller, 2010; Labrie, Hummer, Huchting, Neighbors, 2009; LeGreco, Hess, Lederman, Schuwerk, LaValley, 2010; Turner et al., 2008). Compared to one-on-one counseling sessions, easy accessibility and the ability to assess a group of students during one session are advantages of using this intervention model. The use of such technology varies, but the outcome is the same- providing fast and accurate assessments about college students own drinking habits and the drinking habits of their peers (Bernhardt et al., 2009; Killos et al., 2010; Labrie et al., 2009; LeGreco et al., 2010; Turner et al., 2008). Mobile devices would alleviate the need for pen and paper assessments. The Handheld Assisted Network Diary (HAND) is an effective and valid method of evaluating daily drinking among college students (Bernhardt et al., 2009). Rather than counselors expecting a student to complete a daily assessment and have them return it to them after 30 days, counselors can have students record this same data on mobile devices. Although more students are likely to complete a pen and paper assessment than HAND, Bernhardt et al. (2009) found no significant difference between the two methods when students recorded their total drinks, number of drinking days, and drinks per drinking day. This suggests that those students who did complete HAND were comfortable with using the device and provided accurate information similar to those who completed pen and paper assessments. The difference in completion rates between the two methods is due to the design of HAND; students have a particular time-frame to comp lete the days assessment and are locked out of their devices at a predetermined time. This inhibits students from completing missed assessments. The disadvantage of students self-reporting data in the HAND should not diminish its advantage of being able to be completed daily with little deviation from a students active lifestyle (Bernhardt et al., 2009). Although HAND may sound promising, it should be noted that Bernhardt et al. developed this program and any of their published results may be biased. Audience response technology, commonly known as clickers, is a second type of wireless device used by counselors and health educators. Clickers are used in group interactive-feedback alcohol education sessions to decrease students perceived norms of how much other students drink (Killos et al., 2010; Labrie et al., 2009). During these sessions, a counselor or health educator would ask a group of students a series of multiple choice questions pertaining to their own drinking habits and their perception of their peers drinking habits. Students can then simultaneously respond and have their answers recorded and displayed to the group in graphical form. Killos et al. (2010) found that students who attend at least one of these sessions are more likely to believe that the typical student drinks less alcoholic beverages than perceived; those who do not attend such sessions are more likely to over-perceive the amount of alcohol a typical student consumes. This demonstrates that group clicker sessions are effective in positively influencing students beliefs about their peers drinking behaviors (Killos et al., 2010). Clicker sessions are practical because they can be designed for any variety of student groups including resident assistants, freshmen orientation groups, and high-risk drinkers such as Greeks and athletes (Killos et al., 2010). Labrie et al. (2009) examined the effectiveness of one type of group intervention, brief live interactive normative group intervention (BLING), on collegiate athletes. During a one-month follow-up after the clicker session, athletes showed evidence of changes in perceived norms, leading to changes in their own drinking habits; no further changes were seen at a two-month follow-up (Labrie et al., 2009). This suggests that clicker sessions are a fast and effective model for educating students. Clicker sessions have expanded to include two-way communication models promoting health and encouraging dialogue, rather than the original one-way communication from facilitator to student. Lets Talk About It, for example, is a simulation game engaging students about decision-making and drinking on a college campus (LeGreco et al., 2010). It was created to generate, identify, and challenge the social norms that students utilize to construct and reconstruct reality through narrative sharing, facilitated learning, and inter-student dialogue. A scenario prompt about going to a party with a friend was given to a group of students and they were asked what they would do in a particular situation (e.g. your drunk best friend is about to leave with a boy she just met). LeGreco et al. (2010) concluded that facilitators can encourage students to complete the story of a night of drinking, filling the gaps with personal experiences, choices, and narrative details by utilizing incomplete scenario s. The advantage of using programs like this is that simulations can provide a safe place for individuals to critically examine their more risky behaviors and experiment with different possibilities for healthy changes (LeGreco et al., 2010). Wireless devices are intended to expose the truth about perceived norms of college drinking. Although the studies mentioned above have shown the effectiveness of these devices, particular limitations cannot go unnoted. The major concern is that these programs only evaluated the short-term effects of the devices, whether it was 30 days or 2 months. More research is needed to examine any maintained changes and long-term effects of using wireless devices as an alcohol intervention in college students. Another concern is attendance and participation rates. During the clicker sessions, the response results that are presented back to the students could be misleading if a handful of students do not respond to any of the questions. Since this is a device that is intended for rapid responses, facilitators would be spending unnecessary time trying to figure out which clickers did not answer any of the questions. E-interventions Computer programs are changing the way college students are learning about the dangers of heavy drinking. Aside from changing perceived norms, these programs are increasing students readiness to change their drinking behaviors (Chiauzzi, Green, Lord, Thum, Goldstein, 2005; Moore, Soderquist, Werch, 2005; Murphy, Dennhardt, Skidmore, Martens, McDevitt-Murphy, 2010; Walters, Miller, Chiauzzi, 2005). Electronic interventions, or e-interventions, are directing students away from face-to-face counseling sessions and more towards self-education with personalized feedback and preventative interventions (Chiauzzi et al., 2005; Doumas Andersen, 2009; Murphy et al., 2010). Counselors may be wary about assessing students drinking behaviors outside of a traditional office visit. Moore et al. (2005) addressed this as they studied the feasibility and efficacy of a binge drinking prevention intervention for college students via the internet. Students were sent either four email-based newsletters or four identical print-based newsletters in the mail. In each web newsletter, there was a link to a short process-evaluation survey. Mail newsletters had a hard copy of the survey that would be mailed back. A greater percentage of students receiving the email-based newsletter completed the process-evaluation surveys than did the students receiving the print-based newsletter (Moore et al., 2005). This could be explained by many reasons, including easy accessibility and convenience. Students who are receiving the newsletter via email are already online and can simply click on the links; the other students would have to take the time to complete the surveys and mail t hem back. Interestingly, Moore et al. (2005) observed that the greatest results in decreasing the number of drinks per occasion and the number of occasions feeling drunk were seen in binge drinkers. Students and counselors alike would benefit from using an email-based intervention. Students are comfortable with internet communications and it is fast and convenient; for counselors, the intervention is cheaper than printing materials, assessment results are easy to enter, and there is a higher response rate from students (Moore et al., 2005). E-interventions are different from all other types of interventions because they rapidly give students personalized feedback (Bersamin, Paschall, Fearnow-Kenney, Wyrick, 2007; Chiauzzi et al., 2005; Doumas Haustveit, 2008; Doumas Andersen, 2009; Murphy et al., 2010; Thombs et al., 2007; Walters et al., 2005). These programs provide students with personalized information as part of the intervention or the intervention itself. Most programs rely heavily on educational content, providing text information about the physical, social, and behavioral effects of alcohol in the form of interactive games and quizzes (Walters et al., 2005). Electronic Checkup to Go (e-CHUG) is a 15-minute intervention designed to reduce high-risk drinking by providing personalized feedback and normative data regarding drinking and its consequences. High-risk students who had access to e-CHUG reduced their weekly drinking quantity by approximately 30% compared to a 14% increase in students who did not have access to e-CHUG (Doumas Andersen, 2009). There was also a 30% reduction in reported alcohol-related problems for high-risk students in the e-CHUG group in comparison with an 84% increase in reported alcohol-related problems for high-risk students in the control group (Doumas Andersen, 2009). MyStudentBody (MSB) provides students with tailored motivational feedback about high-risk drinking according to gender (Chiauzzi et al., 2005). Both students having access to MSB and those who did not have access were asked to complete 4 weekly 20-minute sessions. The respective websites was available for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so students had flexible access. Chiauzzi et al. (2005) saw a significant decrease in the number of binge episodes in a typical week among all participants and a rapid decrease in the average consumption among persistent heavy drinkers who had access to MSB. Thombs et al. (2007) were the first to study normative feedback on the basis of a known blood-alcohol concentration. At night in the residence halls, freshmens BAC would be measured and recorded. The next day, these students were directed to a website where they found their BAC measure from the night before, the average BAC of the residence hall, and interactive activities. The results, however, were unexpected. BAC levels were lower in the residence hall that just had access to their own BAC level (Thombs et al., 2007). This could have been due to a number of reasons. The most practical reason, though, is that some students may have either increased their drinking on some nights or avoided providing data on nights they did not drink (Thombs et al., 2007). These automated interventions reflect the contributions of mailed self-help and in-person approaches. However, the advantage of the computer is the ability to provide much more information upon demand (Walters et al., 2005). As new programs are being developed, some questions remain unanswered. Although there is no clear relationship between the length of the intervention and its effectiveness (Walters et al., 2005), it is still unclear as to what type of information makes a difference and which approach is most relevant to college students. E-interventions have given counselors and students much to enjoy, but there is evidence that computer-based interventions are not as effective as in-person interventions with a counselor (Barnett et al., 2007; Carey, Henson, Carey, Maisto, 2009; Croom et al., 2009). These studies compared Alcohol 101 Plus with traditional brief motivational interventions (BMI). Students participating in the BMI were found to reduce drinking and related consequences (Carey et al., 2009). Similarly, at a 12-month follow-up from the initial intervention, students using a computer-delivered intervention were consuming a greater number of drinks per occasion than at baseline (Barnett et al., 2007). E-interventions focus on preventative measures and providing personalized feedback. Throughout the literature on these programs, researchers have noted a few limitations. The most commonly noted limitation is the inability to generalize the effectiveness of e-interventions. The students that are more likely to use such programs are those who report binge drinking and heavy drinking. Also, some students may find this type of intervention adequate, while others would prefer meeting with a counselor and work collaboratively on how to reduce their drinking habits. A second limitation is similar to that of the wireless devices. These studies on e-interventions only examined immediate and short-term effects of the program on alcohol reduction. Research with longer follow-ups would be ideal to examine the consistency of the students changed behaviors. Third, consideration should be given to the willingness of the university to invest in these computer programs. Lastly, concern arises with t he possibility of computers and the programs either malfunctioning or crashing. This could result in delayed feedback for students and loss of data for counselors. Cybercounseling Little, if any, research has examined the use of cybercounseling in reducing college drinking. Cybercounseling is the practice of providing professional counseling and information to clients when both are in separate or remote locations and they utilize electronic means to communicate over the Internet (Maples Han, 2008). E-mail, electronic bulletin boards, and chat rooms are all forms of cybercounseling. Counselors and students alike see the disadvantages of cybercounseling as outweighing the advantages. Maples Hans (2008) make it clear that communication by e-mail could pose a number of potential ethical concerns regarding the protection of students privacy. For instance, email accounts are prone to being hacked and the information between counselor and student could be compromised. Also, the absence of verbal and nonverbal cues in cybercounseling makes miscommunication between counselor and students more common (Maples Han, 2008). Proper assessment and interventions become non-existent when there is uncertainty about what is being said. This is especially true for counselors. Counselors are prone to use informal language while instant messaging with students; students are more likely to decrease their perceptions of the counselor as an expert and trustworthy (Haberstroh, 2010). Lastly, instant messaging is time consuming, especially if the student, the counselor, or both are slow typers (Haberstroh, Parr, Bradley, Morgan-Fleming, Gee, 2008). This creates a time-lag between responses that can lead to being distracted and slowing the pace of the session. Summary Excessive college drinking remains a national concern across all college and universities. Technology has made it possible for counselors to expand on the models of interventions used to educate college students and prevent heavy drinking. A few of these new interventions include wireless devices such as cell phones, smart phones, and handheld computers, clickers, and computer programs. Each method provides a unique, interactive experience for both the counselor and the student. Wireless devices are typically used to expose the truth about perceived norms of college drinking, while e-interventions are more focused on preventative measures and providing personalized feedback. With all technology, there exist flaws. One such flaw is seen in cybercounseling. Too many potential problems exist that the disadvantages of cybercounseling outweigh the advantages. Conclusion Technology is rapidly advancing and colleges are trying to keep up with it so that it may provide fresh solutions to existing problems such as alcohol consumption among college students. The programs that are available today vary in their purpose and their efficacy. Counselors need to consider what they want to use the intervention model for and then further research how they can get the most out of that particular intervention. E-interventions are the most popular alcohol prevention interventions; thousands of colleges and universities have implemented such programs among freshmen orientation groups and collegiate athletes. The reason for its popularity is that it is inexpensive, fast, and easy to use. Since an array of computer programs and software already exist, researchers today should be focusing on how to use these programs in the most efficient way possible. This includes studying the required length of the intervention to be effective and when the best time would be to use s uch programs.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Stopping Injustice

In â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† Martin Luther King Jr. claims â€Å"injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere†. This statement is accurate because unfairness or wrongness done to one person or a group of people directly, affects all indirectly. In World War 2 Adolph Hitler wanted to clear Germany of all Jews and turn Germany into a communist country. The injustice that was happening in Germany was spreading across Europe. Eventually other countries like Italy and Russia were under the influence of communism. This injustice was spreading across Europe . The United States found this to be unjust and had to interfere because they found this to be a threat to them. If there is injustice anywhere, there is an immense possibility of it spreading, thus affecting everyone and everywhere. Another example of this is the Gulf war. This war was between Iraq and an alliance organized by a number of countries. Iraq tried to take over a piece of Persia because of its rich oil supply. The United States sent a lot of support to Persia. Even though the US didn’t have anything to do with Persia but, they took the first step to defending Persia from Iraq. They believed that a country’s borders should be respected and felt that if they did not get involved in stopping Iraq from invading Persia, and allowed this injustice to happen in Persia, the rest of the world might soon follow taking over other countries by force. So Iraq’s injustice to Persia was a threat to justice everywhere else in the world. A further example would be bullying in school. Bullying would be seen as injustice that goes on in schools. In the 4th grade, a teacher did not punish a student for hitting and making fun of another student. The teacher should have stopped this injustice but because this student went free, other students started to bully the same student that had been bullied before and eventually bullying had spread across the school. In this case, injustice was not stopped in one classroom and eventually spread across the whole school. In these examples injustice was seen as a threat to others and was stopped, but when it wasn’t injustice spread and affected justice. These instances prove that Martin Luther King Jr. s quote is accurate.

Friday, January 10, 2020

The Future of Cruise Industry

The Future of Cruise Industry Abstract Cruise industry has rapidly developing since 1990s; it becomes not only as transportation tool, but a modern way of travel and even lifestyle. It is regarded as ‘floating resorts’. This journal article focuses on the future development of cruising industry.It examines cruise industry on five main factors: the structure of the industry: high concentration and enter of Low-Cost cruise lines; the potential customers: whether aging population or young generation would be the major group of consumers; destinations and markets: define the most popular destinations and core markets, as well as the exploration of new markets and destinations; the new innovation of sea-based apartment, the safety and security issues, which significant raised concern recently; and whether the cruise industry is environmental sustainable.Three key sources are used to compare and contrast the viewpoints: Hospitality 2010, which is written by Dr. Cetron; Cruise Ship Tourism, written by Dr. Dowling; and the Cruise Ship Experience, written by Dr. Douglas. These key sources are very up-to-date and reliable, the key authors are admitted as experts whether in the business or academic field, their works are in line with the topic. This journal article identifies current situation and the future developing trends of the cruise industry. It concludes that he cruise industry has a very bright future if proper measurements and regulation are being introduced and well implemented.Nowadays, Cruise industry is concerned as the most rapid growing sector in hospitality industry, which the business is expanding by 8 percent annually. In some specific area such as Alaska and Caribbean, it remains the top industry that contributes to the economy. Cruising business is expanding and changing world-wide; however, the industry is little understood by the society. Today, ships are not viewed as a means of transport but as floating resorts. Mega ships were introd uced to carry more than 5,000 people; new ports on call and destinations are been discovered and on the way of developing the business.However, accomplished by the booming of the industry, several issues have been risen concerns on. This journal article will discuss six issues relate to the developing trends of cruise industry: the structure of the industry and further trends; the potential passengers; the existing and potential markets and destinations; the sea-based apartment—will it be popular; the concern of safety and security which is considered as primary factor due to the terrorist attacks; and the environmental issue: should corporations be self-guarded or forced to implement regulations.The thesis statement of the article is that cruise industry will overcome the difficulties and have a fortunate future. The secondary research is based on both quantitative and qualitative data, include case studies, statistics and in-depth interviews. To support the secondary data, a primary research was conducted in the form of questionnaire. The sample gathered fourty international students that majoring in hospitality and tourism management in Sydney. The sample was gained from the Carrick College, International College of Management, Sydney and Holmes College.The nationalities are varies, include Sweden, Norwegian, Australian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. The questionnaire combines ‘Yes or No’ questions, multiple choices and short answers. These questions are in line with secondary data that discussed in the journal article, identify whether people are interested and willing to experience cruising in the future. The aim of primary research is to explore whether the responses are support or against Dr Dowling (2006), Dr. Cetron (2006) and Dr. Douglas (2004)’ findings. Literature ReviewIdeas from two key sources are used to compare and contrast in this journal article. The first key source is chapter 8 from Hospitality 2010, which is wri tten by Dr. Marvin J. Cetron, who is a professional forecaster for over 40 years admitted both by corporate and American government. He is admitted as an expert in the fields of technological forecasting, strategic planning, technology assessment, R&D planning, resource allocation, economics, marketing, and the behavioral sciences. Dr. Cetron has written 36 books, numerous articles and papers.His most popular works are future orientated. Hospitality 2010 is written in the form of business report and is considered American biased (Hall, 2007); Chapter 8 explores most of the aspects of cruising industry briefly which brought out discussion. It examines potential trends and problems such as waste management, aging population and future destinations that are particularly useful for this journal article. Dr. Ross K. Dowling is Foundation Professor and Head of Tourism in the School of Marketing, Tourism and Leisure, Faculty of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Western Australi a.Professor Dowling is an international speaker, author, researcher and consultant on tourism with over 200 publications. He is passionate about Cruise Industry and he has lectured on board Silver Cloud around the east coast of Australia and New Zealand. The second source: Cruise Ship Tourism is the first comprehensive academic book to raise the awareness of cruise industry. It analyses current status of cruise industry and investigates a number of industry issues and predicts the future trends. This book gives clear direction from academic viewpoint. The third key source is The Cruise Experience written by Dr.Norman Douglas and Dr. Ngaire Douglas. Dr. Norman Douglas is Director of Pacific Profile and has taught at the University of New South Wales, the University of the South Pacific, Fiji and the University of Hawai’i. Dr. Ngaire Douglas is Associate Professor in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. The Cruise Experience examines cruising today, the economic impacts of cruising, and case studies from various perspectives. The Structure of Cruise Industry No doubt, three major companies control about 80% of the cruise market worldwide.The top three companies are Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean and Star Cruise. While the cruise industry’s capacity is increasing, the number of cruise companies is shirking. Douglas (2004) states that the move towards oligopoly will continually contribute to the disappearance of the mid-sized independent cruise companies which are rating from three-to-four star; only companies which have their own niche market or have strong economic background will survive. Furthermore, the Carnival Corporation aims not only the ‘world leading cruise lines’, but ‘the world only cruise line’.It means more cruise lines would likely be merged in the future; the concentration in the industry is possibly to increase even further (Dowling, 2006). Klein (2002) identifies bankruptcies as another reason for high concentration of the industry. In 2000 and 2001, seven cruise companies have ceased operations, include Premier Cruises, Commodore Cruise Line, Cape Canaveral Cruise Line and World Cruise Company, which eliminated more than 7,000 berths. Klein (2002) observes that the cruise industry’s expansion would be greater if the bankruptcies were not happened. Besides concentration that highly emphasised by experts, Dr.Dowling (2006) argues that Low Cost Cruising would make a significant growth of the industry. For example, Low Budget ‘no-frills’ style airlines had made a success in 2000s, such as Midway Airlines and SunJet Airlines. In 2005, the founder of one of the Low Cost airlines, EasyJet, has started a Low Cost no frills cruise line EasyCruise in Europe, targeted at younger generation between 20 and 40 years old; more than half of the customers are British, followed by Americans, Germans and the Swiss. Dr. Do wling (2006) asserts that there will be a rapidly growing niche market for low cost cruises. Potential PassengersAccording to Dr. Dowling (2006), a recent survey has shown that the passengers are becoming more youthful and are demanding more active itineraries. Take example of Alaska, the average age of passengers has fallen from 65 to 50 during 2004-2005. Furthermore, Dr. Dowling (2006) claims that family orientated cruises is becoming increasingly popular and will become a major niche market in future. Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA, 2004) showed 16% of cruisers bring children under age of 18 years sailed on their member line ships in 2004, which estimated number of more than one million. Dr.Cetron (2006) agrees that younger travelers form a profitable market for family cruising; to build up brand loyalty is one of the biggest advantages of catering them, cruise companies considered them as the most profitable cruisers for their later lives. Dr. Dowling (2006) observ es that compare to younger generation, the number of full-time retirees is declining due to the fact that mid-career baby boomers now make up the largest market for cruises of 42%. In contrast, Dr. Cetron (2006) strongly argued that due to the fact that people are living longer and growing older on average, these people make up a growing segment of the cruise market.According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, people over 65 were only 8% of the population in 1950 in the developed world, but 15% in 2000 and will be 27% in 2050. In some countries like Japan, the number will climb up to 37%. Secondly, senior generation take the longest and most luxurious cruises. Different from family and budget-minded passengers, elder people prefer small ships and regardless of the money just to have good times. They would be very profitable for cruise operators. Thirdly, Dr.Cetron (2006) believes that the growth of over 65 market will moderate the regular seasonality of tourism, because retirees can travel at any time; this can help cruise operators to adjust their cash flow. In addition, some cruise lines have already targeted retirees as core market and adjust their service to suit the market; Dr. Cetron (2006) recommends this market has potential consuming strength that could definitely increase revenue for the cruise company; others should follow their lead. New Markets and Destinations A number of new markets and destinations are rapidly recognised in the cruise sector.Dr. Cetron (2006) illustrates that by 2010, China is expected to be the single largest source of international tourists in the world, displacing Americans, Japanese and Germans. He predicts that 100 million Chinese will travel globally in 2020; even 1% of them take cruise trip, the market size will be more than doubled. In the meanwhile, although Dr. Dowling (2006) concerns China as a potential market as well, he suggests more studies should be conducted before enter of the market to und erstand and explore the possibility to develop cruise industry in China. Another emerging cruise destination both Dr.Cetron (2006) and Dr. Dowling (2006) have strongly emphasised is the Indian Ocean. South Africa and the Eastern African ports have already established some trade, 0. 2% of the world market, as Dr. Dowling (2006) states; the National Ports Authority is working on the development of the cruise industry in this region in order to ensure that efficient, effective services and facilities are provided to cruise liners to populate the South African coastline. As Dr. Cetron (2006) observes, cruise lines will begin to offer cruises and on board amenities suited native Indian’s taste and serve the local market.A New Innovation: Sea-based Apartment Dr. Dowling (2006) states that another area of potential expansion in the future is the rise of service apartment ships. These type of ships represent another type of community, the service include Clinique, swimming pools, sev eral restaurants, grocery stores tennis court, disco, book store, mini golf course and helicopter pad. Already there is one privately owned residential cruise liner, the world, which houses 110 apartments that have already sold out, running the business. The residents mainly come from Europe and the USA.However, some apartments usually being left empty and treated as holiday homes. Dr. Dowling (2006) concludes that the possibility of whether sea-based apartment is a new opportunity for cruise lines or just a short term fashion will be identified by time. Safety and Security Anderson (2005) described security issues facing cruise industry include piracy, terrorism, drug smuggling, sexual assault and stowaways (Dowling, 2006). Piracy is a form of terrorism that exists for a long time. However, it has been largely ignored by the community due to the frequency of attacks. Dr.Dowling (2006) demonstrates the main cruise ships routes of piracy include the Straits and Malacca, the Red Sea a nd Indonesian and Malaysian waters. Another issue which has continually raising the concern is terrorism, despite of the infrequency of attack of cruise lines. The Caribbean has been identified as a major area of terrorist attack. Dr. Dowling (2006) detected that terrorist incidents within the cruise industry has been very rare, which is less than 2% of all terrorist attacks in the last thirty years. It may due to difficulty of accessibility and the specialist skills compare the way to attack land-based targets (Chalk, 2002).Dr. Cetron (2006) argued that cruise ships are ideal targets for terrorists who are willing to sacrifice themselves as they can take large number of people with them. The second reason is, as the government facilities and land-based buildings are becoming harder to attack, cruise ships are currently facing great risk. Furthermore, 94 percent of American rate the hotel safety as a primary factor in order to decide where to stay (Cetron, 2006). Regarding cruises a s floating hotels, terrorism becomes a top concern for passengers. Both Dr. Cetron (2006) and Dr.Dowling (2006) mentioned the highjack of the Italian cruise liner â€Å"Achille Lauro† in 1985, which a US citizen was killed. Great emphasis of improving passengers’ safety and security was implemented immediately after the attack. Even though, bomb threats on board have never stopped, accomplished by people being killed. Recently, The International Ship and Port Safety (ISPS) Code was fully implemented in order to control the situation. Dr. Dowling (2006) emphasises US and Australia have higher security measures than other countries to prevent terrorist attacks on maritime targets.In addition, Australia has some of the most secure ports in the world including the USA. Dr. Dowling (2006) concludes that there is little the industry can do to prevent terrorism, however, it can be minimised through better security both at sea and in port. In addition, Dr. Cetron predicts that the legislation will be much tighter in the future regarding to the prevention of terrorism on board. Environmental Sustainability: Environmental Policy Challenges The question has been raised that whether cruise industry is environment sustainable or not. As the primary survey shows, environmental issues are not being realised seriously by society.Surprisingly, 74 percent of the sample responded with no clue of what environmental impact the cruise industry would cause, which is very shock. In fact, the destinations that located in biodiversity hotspots are being highly concerned as they have the most diverse and threatened environments on Earth. The destinations include the Caribbean, The Mediterranean, Western Mexico, the Panama Canal Zone and the South Pacific. Over the last 40 years, the governments have already made some progress and implementing environmentally responsible legislation and policy guidelines.However, Furger (1997); Freeman (1997); Luke (1997) and Sinclair (1997 ) argues that â€Å"current debate shows ongoing progress will not be accomplished by government intervention alone† (cited in Dowling, 2006). To examine whether self-regulation and voluntary guidelines or control regulation is more suitable for the cruise industry, two case studies from Juneau, Alaska, USA and Sydney, NSW, Australia are examined in the article. No doubt, the state of Alaska has the strictest regulations for cruise ships in the world, as the state regards the industry as primary factor that contribute to the local economy.The sewage and grey water discharge are especially strict in Juneau. Dr. Dowling (2006) states The Clean Water Act in the USA allows sewage to be dumped into the ocean beyond 3 miles of shore but not navigable water. Grey Water can be discharged anywhere in the USA but Alaska and the Great Lakes. Once the legislation has set, cruise companies responded voluntarily and showed their enthusiasm to go beyond compliance, which effect their market ing, reputation and economic value. Their strategies include best practice management, eco-labelling and green marketing.In the meanwhile, innovative technology in the form of advanced on-board wastewater treatment facilities was introduced by the cruise industry that is commonly applied to the cruise ships today. However, Dr. Klein (2002) argues that environmental responsibility can never voluntarily assumed due to the disappointed history. Dr. Klein (2002) describes the pattern that most industry innovations follow is, deny their faulty behaviour, persuade government to not implement regulations, resist enforcement, and after being caught, announce new company’s regulations.He maintains that self-regulation is the way cruise companies to escape from being caught. The situation in Sydney is a reverse of Juneau, where ‘regulation stifles innovation and discourages beyond compliance behaviour’ (Dr. Dowling, 2006). The legislation of ‘no-discharge’ in Sydney has made shipping agents frustrated. In Juneau, those ships with the state-of-art wastewater systems can discharge continuously cannot make exceptions from no-discharge policy applies at Sydney Harbour.To reply these unhappy operators, Sydney ports argue that even advanced wastewater system installed in cruises, produce still excess nutrients (Sydney waterways, 2003). However, no-charge policy has made the new system become a financial liability to cruise companies. They have to afford the cost of installing and operating the system but still have to pay for sewage disposal. To reduce the cost, cruise companies use older ships with older technologies instead of new ships in Australia; they argue that the no-charge policy is actually posing a degree of harm to the environment, which because older ships poses even more environmental hazards.In summary, experts support various viewpoints: Sinclair (1997) noted that mix of policy mechanisms and technological innovation should be involved; Klein (2002) asserts the industry requires strong legislations to control the corporations’ behaviour; on the other hand, Rondinelli (2000) believes more industry self-regulation would work. The key author Dr. Dowling (2006) concludes that due to the failure of corporations to build up their credibility and continually being caught and charged, cruise companies should not be trusted by self-regulation; Dr.Dowling (2006) observes strong legislation would best control the disposal issue and maintains environmental sustainability efficiently. Conclusion It is obvious cruise industry is big business; not only for cruise operators, but valuable for many nations, cities, ports and communities. Just in North American region in 2004, it provided 135,000 jobs and contributed US$30 billion on the US economy, which increased more than 18% over the previous year.The business structure will be very similar to the current airline industry, which dominate by oligopolists but small growing sector for Low Cost cruises; and these large companies might implement predation strategy, increase the frequency of sailing routes and depress the prices to drive Cost cruises out, like what American Airline did in 1990s. Secondly, the passengers will not only be concentrated on elder generation, but involved all age groups; different cruise lines will particularly target different groups when considering purchase new vessels and planning market strategies.Thirdly, the progress of developing cruise industry in developing countries is on their ways, the future markets and destinations will not be only in developed nations, but spread globally. Next, the trend of sea-based apartment is difficult to predict, but due to the luxury and extremely high price of purchasing, one thing cannot deny that it is entertain for upper class only. Furthermore, due to the continue impact from terrorist attack and risen concern from passengers, the policy of safety and security will be increa singly tighter with new detecting technology involved.Lastly, the environmental sustainability issue will never be finished the discussion. In my opinion, doesn’t matter what action people take into account, when there is human activities, it will be no longer sustainability. However, due to the fact that it is merely impossible for human being to stop discovering the Earth, what government and non-profitable orgnisations can do is to minimise our influence to the environment, establish more policies to regulate and strict activities with monitoring, because I believe deeply that self-regulation will never work, as long as the improper discharge of wastes can save their cost.At the very end, I strongly believe the cruise industry will have a very bright future, for the cruise operators, the consumers, the employment, the society and the governments. References Cetron, M. (2006). Hospitality 2010— the Future of Hospitality and Travel. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall D owling, R. K. (2006). Cruise Ship Tourism. London: CABI. Douglas, N. & Douglas, N. (2004). The Cruise Experience – Global and Regional Issues in Cruising. London: CABI. Ebersold, W. B. Business Briefing: Global Cruise– Cruise Industry in Figures. 2004). [Online]. Available: http://www. touchbriefings. com/pdf/858/ebersold. pdf [Accessed 2008, April 1]. Klein, A. R. (2002). Cuise Ship Blues—The Underside of the Industry. Canada: New Society Publishers Ye, W. China’s Cruise Economy is Ready to Bloom. (2007). [Online]. Available: http://www. ccyia. com/english/News_View. asp? NewsID=154 [Accessed 2008, March 31]. Choi, C. Q. (2007, March 25). Cruise Lines Face More Policing of Waste Disposal. The New York Times. P5. Appendix Survey on Cruise Industry 1. Have you ever been taken a cruise trip?Yes No 2. Are you willing to take a cruise trip in the future? Yes No Not sure 3. Which type of cruise do you prefer? A. Small luxury ships with personalised service B. Big ships, 1000 – 2000 passengers, probably need to Queue for amenities/facilities C. Budgeted cruise trip 4. Who would you likely to travel with? A. Friends B. Family C. Alone 5. How many days do you prefer to spend on cruising? A. 3 days B. 3 to 7 days C. 14 days D. A month 6. What is your spending expectation during the stay on a cruise?A. AU$50 to 100 B. AU$100 To 300 C. More than AU$300 7. Is there any destinations you wish to visit? Eg, the Caribbean, Alaska, Australia round trip, Antarctic, Malaysia/Indonesia, China 8. Why you choose cruise trips but not land-based hotels/resorts? Give one or more reasons. 9. What is the most important factor that you consider when choosing a route or cruise line? 10. Do you know the cruise lines are damaging the environment especially the marines? If yes, what things should be done to prevent/reduce the impact of cruise industry?

Thursday, January 2, 2020

I Was a Tomboy - 1374 Words

I was a tomboy. Not a tomboy in the sense that most people think of one, but in the way that all adventurous, curious little girls are. I played kick ball at recess. I wore Bart Simpson sweatshirts. I played Indians. I went fishing. Somewhere along the way, Ive lost some of that tomboy in me. Its interesting that when changes come in my life, although the change has probably been brewing for some time, there is usually one event that seems to mark that change. So when I look back, I think of the change as before and after that one event. Its no surprise, then, that I remember one distinct event which, in my mind, was the point of my return from Never-Never Land -- the event that marked my transition from my protected place, my†¦show more content†¦This went on until the spring of my fifth grade year, when in gym class we began preparing for the Fun Run, an end of the year race for all fifth grade students in the Cedar Rapids area. I came home, excitedly telling my mom about the race. I told her I bet I would see all of my church friends at the race -- maybe I could even run with some of them! Later the week, Mom drove me out to JC Penneys and insisted that I pick out a bra to wear for the Fun Run. I was humiliated -- I walked out of the store, telling her to pick it out herself. As we walked around the rest of the mall, I hid the bag under my shirt because I was scared that people would be able to see through the bag, and think to themselves, Now why is that little girl carrying around a bra? nbsp; As the big race day began approaching, I got more and more nervous. What if people would be able to see through my shirt? They would know that I wasnt like them anymore, that I was somehow older. On the day of the Fun Run, even though it was 90 degrees outside, I wore two shirts. No one would know my dirty secret. nbsp; Up until the day when I had to wear that bra, I had felt free to be whatever I wanted. When I put on that bra, I felt changed, different somehow. Putting that bra on was like stamping me with a label -- I was now officially a young woman, there was a set of rules to go by. Society had taughtShow MoreRelatedEssay on Gender Stereotypes in T.V. Show How I Met Your Mother1421 Words   |  6 PagesMy chosen scene is from a popular T.V. show called How I Met Your Mother. This show goes with gender stereotypes and goes against gender stereotypes. The show is about a group of friends, Lily and Marshall being an engaged/married couple, Barney the single â€Å"player†, Robin a Canadian tomboy, and Ted the main character, who is a hopeless romantic trying to find true love in New York City. Ted, over the past couple episodes meets a girl and she becomes his girlfriend. 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