Ocean Park Brand Equity Essay

I am genuinely tank to Mr. Nicholas Tam for supporting me all the time and spending many hours on my final year project. This was totally appreciated that he provided many professional and useful advices and recommendations to me. Otherwise, I would also like to thanks Mr. C. N. Lo as my second marker and give me suggestion to improve my project. ABSTRACT Ocean Park Hong Kong is a home-grown treasure. It is also one of the most popular amusement parks in the world, providing educational, conservation and entertainment. Ocean Park Hong Kong has brought joy to local and overseas visitors throughout her 30-year history. She lets everyone in Hong Kong has a special and memorable experiences. In these 30 years, it experienced many impacts that are occurred by outside and inside of the organization. They also recorded a deficit for a certain years. But it was carried out the revolutions continually. Afterwards, the business is still running. Recently, some information indicated that the ranking of the most popular amusement park of the world, which is the Ocean Park Hong Kong higher than Hong Kong Disneyland. Finally, through survey, focus group interview and brands performance measures, to conclude that the brand equity of Ocean Park was better. Better leadership, better quality, builds up customer loyalty. CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION Ocean Park is one of the theme parks in Hong Kong. â€Å"Marine† is the majority theme of the park. It is located at the Southern District of Hong Kong, and it was opened on 10 January 1977. It was constructed at a land granted by the government, and then the funding of construction is granted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), and it also operated by HKJC. In January 1979, Ocean Park introduced a Killer Whale for the visitors. It becomes a one of the selling points of the park. In the inception stage, there is not enough amusement rides for the public. But, there was expanded their scale of the park, and increased much more amusement rides into the park. The operating capital of Ocean Park was depends on the revenue from tickets and donation from HKJC in earlier stage. It also has a significant deficit for a long time because the price is set on the low side. In 1 July 1987, the â€Å"Ocean Park Ordinance† is constituted by the government. HKJC will granted that they are established the trust with $200M funding. In this time, Ocean Park becomes a non-profit making organization and needs to self-finance. The park changed their business to commercial-oriented, and increasing its ticket price. Thus, the park enhanced its financial conditions to be positive. In 1998, the park recorded deficit again caused by some factors, such as East Asian Financial Crisis. Although it received 2 pandas from China, it still could not increase the visitor’s attraction of the park. The park also closed the water attractions and the Middle Kingdom. And then, it introduced more amusement rises for visitors especially for the teenagers such as the Abyss Turbo Drop and the Mine Train. In Fiscal Year 2004/2005, there are more than 4 million visitors during a year. This is renewing the record since the park is opened. It is caused that PRC government implemented the â€Å"Individual Visit Scheme† under CEPA. Ocean Park revealed its redevelopment plan in 2005, which will upgrades the quality and availability of features at the park. This is response the impacts from the opening of Disneyland. Ocean Park is also held a groundbreaking ceremony for its redevelopment project in November of 2006. According to the Attraction Attendance 2008 releases by Economics Research Associates (ERA) and Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) on 16 April, Ocean Park is the world’s number 15 theme park, Asia’s 5th theme park (Judith Rubin, 2009). (Appendix 1b) 1. Industry Background The tourism industry is one of the four key industries in the Hong Kong economy. There were two types of tourism which were inbound tourism and outbound. For inbound tourism, there were 5 groups of sub-industries which included retail trade, hotels and boarding houses, Restaurants, Cross-boundary passenger transport services and others. The value added of tourism in 2006 and 2007 were HK$45,300 Million and HK$52,300 Million. There was increased around 14% from 2006 to 2007. And the employment in this industry in 2006 and 2007 was 176,300 and 193,800. There was increased around more than 8% from 2006 to 2007 (Census and Statistics Department, HKSAR, 2009). (Appendix 9) In order to support the poor economic condition, Hong Kong government was provided some supporting projects to the tourism industry such as â€Å"the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA)† and â€Å"Individual Visit Scheme†. These projects both were cooperated with PRC. Ocean Park is one of the participators in the amusement park market. Its major competitor is Hong Kong Disneyland. Before Disneyland involved its business in Hong Kong, Ocean Park was the only one participator in this market during the other amusement parks were closed their business such as Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park. On the other hand, the amusement park from neighbor country should also be the major competitors for Ocean Park such as Happy Valley from Shenzhen, PRC. As a famous landmark of Hong Kong, Ocean Park was a successful company in this industry. In accordance with the Attraction Attendance 2008, the 2008 attendance was equal to 5. 03 Million. It was a leading brand of the amusement park market (Judith Rubin, 2009) (Appendix 1b). In conclusion, Ocean Park should be capturing the opportunity derived from increasing attendance and the supporting from government, and focus its competence for facing the threat generated by intensive competition from the neighbor country. 2. Statement of issue In past certain years, Ocean Park faced impacts in different period of time, for example, East Asian Financial Crisis, SARS, and external environment. For the financial issue, Ocean Park was faced the financial distress on past certain years especially for the East Asian financial crisis. Besides, for the external environmental issue, Ocean Park should also be faced to the new entrants of Hong Kong amusement park market that was Disneyland. Ocean Park was a domestic famous brand in Hong Kong. On the other hand, Disneyland was an international famous brand. The overall size of organization of Ocean Park should be smaller than Disneyland. 3. Purpose of the study Propose of this study is to understand customer’s brand equity of Ocean Park. A result of questionnaire survey is to ascertain the sources (Brand Equity Ten) of brand equity of Ocean Park. Base on the findings of the survey, propose that the critical success factor of the theme park. CHAPTER II – LITERATURE REVIEW The Brand Equity Ten will be applying in this study, which is an effective method to evaluate brand equity. Ten sets of measures grouped into five categories, are shown in Table 1. The first four categories are to measure customer perceptions of the brand. The four categories of brand equity are including loyalty, perceived quality, associations, and awareness. The last category is to collect information from the market based information rather than directly from customers (D. Aaker, 1996). 1. Loyalty Measures Since it is now widely recognized that it is much less costly and much more profitable to keep existing customers than to win new ones, customer retention become an important goal for most organizations. In principle it’s simple: you just have to keep your existing customer (N. Hill, J. Alexander, 2006). The Hong Kong amusement park industry was created a monopoly loyalty during there was only two participators in the market, such as Ocean Park and Disneyland. The loyalty of these two amusement parks might be generated by devotion of its customers, for instance, the customer would be sought some adventure experiences at Ocean park during there was provided many thrill rides. Besides, if the customer would be found some story of fairy tales, they would go to Disneyland, it is because customer can be met many famous characters like Mickey Mouse. 1. Price Premium â€Å"A basic indicator of loyalty is the amount a customer will pay for the brand in comparison with another brand (or set of comparison brands) offering similar benefits†(D.Aaker, 1996). For the admission fees of both Ocean Park and Disneyland, there was a large difference between parks. For instance, in the adult’s general admission fees, Ocean Park was HK$208, and Disneyland was HK$350. Therefore, the price premium should be HK$142. 1. Perceived Quality/Leadership Measures â€Å"Perceived quality is often the key positioning dimension for corporate brands (such as Toshiba or Ford) and other brands that range over product classes (such as Weight Watchers, Kraft, and store brands such as Safeway Select). Because these brands span product classes, they are less likely to be driven by functional benefits, and perceived quality is likely to play a larger role. (D. Aaker, 2009) For Ocean Park, it provided different amusement facilities to visitors. Besides, Disneyland provided the story of fairy tales to visitors. Visitors could earn the different experiences during they are visiting these two parks. They would use the last experience to evaluate the perceived quality of the parks. â€Å"Leading brands are perceived to be relevant, unique and compelling. They inspire customer loyalty and enable organizations to charge price premiums. They increase bargaining power with business partners, make it easier to hire and retain talented employees and provide organizations with clear strategic direction and platforms for future growth. †(B. VanAuken, 2007) Both Ocean Park and Disneyland were performed their services at a unique and compelling ways. For example, Ocean Park provides a lot of amusement facilities for visitors; some facilities were very unique in Hong Kong such as Giant Panda Habitat. On the other hand, Disneyland arranges many owned international famous characters that visitors may take some photos with them. 2. Associations/ Differentiation Measures â€Å"The key associations/differentiation component of brand equity usually involves image dimensions that are unique to a product class or to a brand. The challenge, then, is to generate general measures that will work across product classes. † (D. Aaker, 1996) Since Ocean Park was opened, it was established a personal image for visitors that it was provided some messages like ocean protection and education, exciting experience. Visitors had no doubtful that the meaning of Ocean Park, and they was knew that it was not an amusement park only. Also, Disneyland was generated a dreaming place for visitors to enjoy a childlike and entertaining tour for their each visit. But it was not provided other functional characters to the public such as educational activities. 3. Awareness Measures â€Å"Brand awareness measures the accessibility of the brand in memory. Brand awareness can measured through brand recall or brand recognition. Brand recall reflects the ability of consumers to retrieve the brand from memory when given the product category. † (P. Chandon, 2003) Both Ocean Park and Disneyland were achieved to brand awareness. For Ocean Park, visitors may be bethought its owned characters when they were went to it such as Dolphin, Giant Panda, thrill rides and etc. On the other hand, also, Disneyland was gained the high level of international attention. Visitors were recall its owned characters like Winnie the Pooh, Stitch, and they can be got this memory outside it such as TV and other side-products of its owned characters. The dimension of differentiation in the association category is a summary of brand associations (D.Aaker, 1996). 4. Market Behavior Measures 1. Market Share â€Å"The performance of a brand as measured by market share (and/or sales) often provides a valid and sensitive reflection of the brand’s standing with customers. When the brand has a relative advantage in the minds of customers, its market share should increase or at least not decrease. † (D. Aaker, 1996) The performance of an amusement park can be measured by some elements such as its functions, service level, customer relationship management and etc. It can be grew its admission income during the higher service performance that it can be performed. 2. Price and Distribution Indices â€Å"Market share can be a particularly deceptive brand equity measure when it increases as a result of reduced prices or price promotions. Thus, it is important to measure the relative market price at which the brand is being sold. † (D. Aaker, 1996). â€Å"Market share or sales data are also extremely sensitive to distribution coverage. Sales may be dramatically affected when a brand gains or loses a major market or expands into another geographic region. A measure of distribution coverage is thus a second logical companion measure to market share. † (D. Aaker, 1996). As an amusement park, the market price data was equal to the admission income of a year, because this was majority source for capturing its operating resources. Besides, it indicated that the admission income might be affected by the change in attendance directly. On the other hand, the price and distribution indices should be reflected the market share that can be evaluated by admission attendance during a year. This may be found out the true picture of the growth of admission attendance rather than depends on admission income. CHAPTER III – METHODOLOGY 1. Sample Design Data will be collected by using a questionnaire. It is use to measure customer perceptions of the brand along with the four categories (D. Aaker, 1996). The questionnaire is use to survey those people who are visited Hong Kong Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland before. It is to ensure that the data from respondents are effective and reliable. The questionnaire will be distributed to them through e-mail, and the respondents are classmates, teachers, familiars, friends, and colleagues. 100 samples were collected through this survey. 2. Questionnaire Design First, questionnaire is used to measure the four categories, which are Loyalty Measures (price premium and satisfaction/loyalty), Perceived Quality/Leadership Measures (perceived quality, and leadership), Associations/Differentiation Measures (perceived value, brand personality, organizational associations, and differentiation), and Awareness Measures (brand awareness). Second, setting demographic factors, respondents were required to answer their personal information, including gender, age, monthly income, occupation and education. It is in order to compare the general information with the 25 items, and find out the critical success factor of Ocean Park. Nine dimensions including 25 items, plus 5 items of general information, there are totally 30 questions. Third, this study will compare with Disneyland because it is the mainly competitor in Hong Kong. The questionnaire format is Part A is Ocean Park, Part B is Disneyland, and Part C is the general information. â€Å"5-point Likert Scale† is usually used in questionnaires, and is the most widely used scale in survey research. †. There were used 5 choices of answer question for respondents to answer their questionnaire except general information. It was included â€Å"Strongly Disagree†, â€Å"Disagree†, â€Å"Neutral†, â€Å"Agree† and â€Å"Strongly agree†. (Answers. com, 2009) Fourth, set â€Å"Missing Data†. It is to reduce or ignore the answer of unclear, ambiguous or answer more than one choice, etc. The questionnaire format could refer to Appendix 7. 3. Statistical Package for the Social Science(SPSS) SPSS was established in 1968 by Norman H. Nie, C. Hadlai (Tex) Hull and Dale H. Bent. They want developed a revolutionary software system in order to turn raw data into representative information in an easily way. According to the SPSS’s website, â€Å"This revolutionary statistical software system was called SPSS, which stood for the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Nie, Hull and Bent developed SPSS out of the need to quickly analyze volumes of social science data gathered through various methods of research. † (SPSS INC. , 2009). In addition to statistics analysis, the features of the base software, which are included Descriptive statistics (Cross tabulation, Frequencies, Descriptives, Explore, Descriptive Ratio Statistics), Bivariate statistics (Means, t-test, ANOVA, Correlation (bivariate, partial, distances), Nonparametric tests), Prediction for numerical outcomes (Linear regression), and Prediction for identifying groups (Factor analysis, cluster analysis (two-step, K-means, hierarchical), Discriminant) (Wikipedia, 2009). In this report, there was using SPSS to analyze the statistical information, there are included Cronbach Alpha Reliability Analysis, Mean and Standard Deviation, Crosstab Test. 1. Reverse Scoring In order to calculate some opposite data in one dimension, there should be rescored the negative data to turn into positive data. This can be increasing the reliability and correlation among data in one dimension. â€Å"Items that are negatively worded in a scale must be rescored in a positive direction in order to match the other items in a scale† (S. Stark, et. al. , 2001). In the questionnaire, Question 22 & 25 of Part A and B was used this function that in order to find out the reliable and correlated data, and these sets of data should be opposite to other data in same dimension. 2. Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Analysis â€Å"Cronbach’s alpha measures how well a set of items (or variables) measures a single unidimensional latent construct. When data have a multidimensional structure, Cronbach’s alpha will usually be low. Technically speaking, Cronbach’s alpha is not a statistical test – it is a coefficient of reliability (or consistency). † (UCLA Academic Technology Services) There were used the Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Analysis to find out the reliability. The output table will then be displayed the Cronbach’s Alpha of the dimension. 3. Mean and Standard Deviation â€Å"The mean, indicated by ? (a lower case Greek mu), is the statistician’s jargon for the average value of a signal. It is found just as you would expect: add all of the samples together, and divide by N. † (S. Smith, 2007) It is the use to find out the average in a group of population. There were calculated the means by all of the scoring of each question. Afterwards, added up the separate mean from all dimensions which were found out the total mean of each category. â€Å"The standard deviation is one of several indices of variability that statisticians use to characterize the dispersion among the measures in a given population. To calculate the standard deviation of a population it is first necessary to calculate that population’s variance. Numerically, the standard deviation is the square root of the variance. Unlike the variance, which is a somewhat abstract measure of variability, the standard deviation can be readily conceptualized as a distance along the scale of measurement. † (R. Hoffman, 2002) Besides, the standard deviation was displayed on the output table of SPSS in order to analyze the dispersion of the result of nine dimensions. 4. Crosstab Test â€Å"Cross-tabulations give us much more insight into the data than do simple profiles or frequency distributions. Cross-tabulations are an example of bivariate analysis (i. e. , examining the relationship between two variables). However, cross-tabulations are of limited value, too, because we are realistically restricted to examining the relationship between only two variables at a time (e. g. , customer status and age; customer status and income; etc.). If we try to examine a cross-tabulation of more than two variables at a time, the results are very difficult to visualize and interpret meaningfully. † (SmartDrill, 2008) There was used the crosstabulation to compare the variability of general information. This can be easily found out the difference between two set of data. 4. Focus Group â€Å"Focus groups are a powerful means to evaluate services or test new ideas. Basically, focus groups are interviews, but of 6-10 people at the same time in the same group. One can get a great deal of information during a focus group session. † (C. McNamara, 2006) 5. Data Analysis. 1. Calculated the mean and standard deviation for all of 9 dimensions in order to find out the overall performance of both Ocean Park and Disneyland. 2. Used SPSS reverse scoring function in order to make some conflict data that reversed into same way. This can make that the reliability must higher than origin data. Besides, Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Analysis can be found out the reliability of all of the dimensions, and ignored some irrelative items in the dimensions. This can improve the reliability for each dimensions that if deleted the items. 3. Calculate the mean with both Ocean Park and Disneyland. 4. Used crosstabulation to compare which the general information of both Ocean Park and Disneyland such as age, gender and income, 5. After used of SPSS, there were formed a focus group that was invited 7 interviewees in order to discuss the issues that occurred in the result from SPSS. 6. Besides, found some corporate information of Ocean Park and Disneyland which how to performed the market behavior. 7. Match the result of mean analysis and the result of crosstabutaion analysis, in order to find out the source of brand equity and the critical successful factor of the theme park. CHAPTER IV – RESULTS. 4 Sample and Descriptive Statistics This survey totally collected 100 samples, 57 respondents are male and 43 respondents are female. The majority respondents aged between 20 to 24 years olds (83%). In the monthly income group, nearly 50% of respondents their salaries were $5,001 to $10,000 per month. Monthly income was â€Å"less than $5,000† which had 41% of respondents. Many of respondents were students and workers (80%). Over a half of respondents had education level at diploma levels or associate degree, and 37% of respondents had education level at undergraduate or postgraduate. (Appendix 2) 2. Cronbach Alpha Reliability Analysis. This research has nine dimensions which are belong to the four categories. The dimensions are including 25 items. Use the Cronbach Alpha Reliability Analysis to find out the reliabilities between the 25 items and the nine dimensions. The reliability test in order to define questions whether it is fit/relative to the nine dimensions. This can find out which items can be more significant and which are the insignificant. The existence of the items was whether or not to affect the result of the dimensions such as completion, reliability and accuracy. (Appendix 3) 3. Mean and Standard Deviations Table 2: Comparison of Mean and S. D. of dimensions with Ocean Park and Disneyland |Categories |Dimensions |Ocean Park |Disneyland |Mean Differences |Ranking | | | |Mean |Std. Deviation |Mean |Std. Deviation | | | |Loyalty Measures | |Dimensions |Ocean Park |Disneyland | |Price Premium |Medium |High (Negative) | |Satisfaction/ Loyalty |High (Positive) |High (Negative) | |Perceived Quality |High (Positive) |High (Negative) | |Leadership |High (Positive) |High (Negative) | |Perceived Value |Medium |High (Negative) | |Brand Personality |High (Positive) |Medium | |Organizational Associations |Medium |Medium | |Brand Awareness |High (Positive) |High (Negative). | |Market Share |- |- | |Price and Distribution Indices |Medium |Medium | 1. Loyalty According to the result after crosstab the items, it found that in the loyalty category, the effect of price premium for Ocean Park was medium. The acceptability of the admission price for Ocean Park was relatively higher than the Disneyland. Its admission price was cheaper than Disneyland. Comparatively speaking, the effect of price premium for Disneyland was high. The acceptability of the admission price was low, that was relatively expensive. The influence of price premium on Disneyland is negative. Besides, the result reflected that price was not the determining factor for respondents to switch brand. On the other hands, the effect of satisfaction for Ocean Park was high. The park was better than Disneyland in satisfied customers needs and wants. Loyalty was built by a cumulative result, which were the customers’ past visit experiences with the brands. The result indicated that the opportunity of respondents’ revisit the parks was based on their last visit experiences. Ocean Park was better than Disneyland, respondents were willing to recommend Ocean Park to others rather than Disneyland. The influence of satisfaction on Ocean Park is positive. However, the effect of satisfaction for Disneyland was high. It brings a negative influence on the park. In satisfied customers needs and wants, Disneyland was worse than Ocean Park. Respondents were unsatisfied with their last visit experience. Only seldom of respondents would revisit the park on the next opportunity and recommend the park to others. During the result of satisfaction was negative, the management from Disneyland would improve the quality for satisfying customers’ needs and wants. 2. Perceived Quality/Leadership. The result reflected that there was a linkage between perceived quality and leadership, Compare with Disneyland, Ocean Park was popular and more innovative, it was the leading brand in Hong Kong, and overall Ocean Park was better in quality. It implied that better leadership, better quality. It helps Ocean Park to keep closer relationship with loyal customers and less of switchers. The effect of perceived quality/leadership for Ocean Park was medium. Oppositely, Disneyland was worse, it was not innovative enough and not much popular than Ocean Park, and therefore Disneyland was not the leading brand in Hong Kong. One of reasons might cause by the negative news about the park. The effect of perceives quality/leadership for Disneyland was high and negative. 3. Associations/Differentiation Ocean Park could provide good value for the money. The effect of perceived value for Ocean Park was medium. Disneyland could not provide good value for the money. The effect of perceived value for the park was high and negative. Ocean Park had its own personality and it was interesting. Respondents had a clear image of the type of person who would visit the park. The effect of personality for Ocean Park was high and positive. Disneyland also had its own personality. However, seldom of respondents were agreed the park was interesting. Normally, respondents had a clear image for what type of person would visit the park. The personality of Disneyland was medium. The personality of Disneyland was indistinct. It could reflect the respondents’ imagery, which was a key driver of brand personality. About the organization management of Ocean Park, the results reflected that respondents were answered â€Å"neutral† about the organization trust and admire the Ocean Park Company. But the respondents thought that the organization association with Ocean Park had credibility. The effect of organization for the park was medium. On the other hand, many respondents were answered â€Å"neutral† about the organization trust with Disneyland, and admire the Disneyland Company, and the credibility of organization association. The results implied that the respondents were lack of knowledge about the organization management beheld Disneyland. The effect of organization for the park was medium. Organization management back of the theme parks is usually ignored by the visitors. It is because its lack of attractive for the visitors associated with its services. Therefore, the effect of this dimension with both companies was medium. Overall, Ocean Park and Disneyland were different. 4. Awareness Recognition of Ocean Park and Disneyland were high. Respondents had heard of the two parks, it was important for the exist brands. Moreover, respondents were knew what the parks stand for, it reflected that customers had a level of brand knowledge. Besides, respondents were no opinion about Ocean Park, but respondents had opinion with Disneyland. The result of brand opinion implied that respondents were less confidence with Disneyland. The effect of awareness for Ocean Park was high and positive, and for Disneyland was high and negative. . 5. Market Behavior For the market share measure, there was lack of information to compare the sales performance between Ocean Park and Disneyland. Therefore, the effect of market for both Ocean and Disneyland would not be evaluated. As the result, the market price was not compared between Ocean Park and Disneyland, because Disneyland’s admission income was not being provided in the Annual Report individually. The financial information of Hong Kong Disneyland was combined with European Disneyland. In the distribution coverage, the result of Attraction Attendance 2007 and 2008 (Appendix 1a & b) indicated that Ocean Park had higher indicated that Ocean Park had recorded higher attendance rather than Disneyland. It is implied that Ocean Park should be more successful on the admission income, and gained a large number of visitors rather than Disneyland. On the other hand, Disneyland had higher distribution coverage on the world, because it involved that its operations were involved 5 countries in the world. Besides, Ocean Park had lower distribution coverage in the market, because it only had one amusement in the world. As a result, both of Ocean Park and Disneyland were medium in the effect of market price/ distribution indices. To conclude that after use high/low method to compare with the two parks, it found that the brand equity of Ocean Park was better. Table 3 shown each category has a key driver of influence. Loyalty, the key driver is satisfaction. Perceived quality and leadership measures, leadership variable in this category should be considered. The key component of associations and differentiation measures is including the personality. In the category of awareness measures, brand awareness is the important component. Attendance of distribution coverage in market behavior is the most important. Matching mean analysis with crosstab test analysis, it found out that the loyalty is the most influence category among the brand equity of Ocean Park. The dimension of satisfaction in the loyalty category is the critical success factor of Ocean Park. CHAPTER VI – DISCUSSION During the study, there were faced such problems. This part of discussion would point out the problems, in order to share the editor’s opinions with those people who would having study or survey in the future. 1. Questionnaire Setting 1. Sample of the survey is not many, only collected 100 samples, representation of the result is low. 2. The method of collecting the data is not good enough. It is because through e-mail, which is inconvenience, low efficiency, and usually will ignore by addressees. E-mail is a passive method, and the respondents their replies are also passive. 3. Questionnaire is distributed to visitors through e-mail. Some respondents had their feedback about the questionnaire, such as wrong words, the questionnaire format, etc. 4. Focus on the questionnaire design, it could be improved. For example, in the price premium, the questionnaire did not ask respondents some questions about the â€Å"dollar metric†, and market research approach (conjoint/ â€Å"trade-off† analysis). Therefore, the dimension of price premium can not be accurately and clearly to analysis whether it can build up customer loyalty and whether it is important part of loyalty measures. 2. Information Collection 1. In the category of Market Behavior, there were not found some accurate information about the â€Å"Market Share† and â€Å"Market Price†. That is the admission price of Disneyland. According to the Disneyland Annual Report 2008, the financial information about Hong Kong Disneyland was displayed that it was combined the financial information associated with European Disneyland. This is indicated that the financial information should not be compared with Ocean Park directly, because any changes of the financial information may be occurred by both Hong Kong and European one. Therefore, the related information should not be really reflected the true information especially for Hong Kong Disneyland. 3. SPSS – Data Entry and Output 1. When setting the questionnaires, sometimes, may need to set some reverse questions. For example, asking respondents that â€Å"Ocean Park is different from Disneyland† and â€Å"Ocean Park is basically the same as Disneyland†, that is reverse question.

Lacsap’s Triangle

1 Introduction. Let us consider a triangle of fractions: Obviously, the numbers are following some pattern. In this investigation we will try to explain the theory behind this arrangement and to find a general relation between the element’s number and its value. The pattern above is called a Lacsap’s Triangle, which inevitably hints at its relation to another arrangement – Pascal’s Triangle (as Lacsap appears to be an anagram of Pascal). The algorithm behind it is very simple: each element is the sum of the two elements above it.However, if we represent a triangle as a table (below), we will be able to notice a pattern between an index number of an element and its value: column column column column column column column 2 0 1 2 3 4 5 row 0 1 row 1 1 1 row 2 1 2 1 row 3 1 3 3 1 row 4 1 4 6 4 1 row 5 1 5 10 10 5 1 row 6 1 6 15 20 15 6 6 1 It seems important to us to stress several points that this table makes obvious: ? the number of elements in a row is n + 1 (where n is an index number of a row) ? the element in column 1 is always equal to the element in column n – 1 ? herefore, the element in column 1 in every row is equal to the number of a given row. Now when we have established the main sequences of a Pascal’s triangle let us see how they are going to be expressed in a Lacsap’s arrangement. We also suggest looking at numerators and denominators separately, because it seems obvious that the fractions themselves can’t be derived from earlier values using the progressions of the sort that Pascal uses. Finding Numerators. Let’s begin with presenting given numerators in a similar table, where n is a number of a row. n=1 1 1 n=2 1 3 1 n=3 1 6 6 1 n= 4 1 0 10 10 1 n=5 1 15 15 15 15 1 3 Although the triangles appeared similar, the table demonstrates a significant difference between them. We can see, that all numerators in a row (except 1’s) have the same value. Therefore, they do not depend on oth er elements, and can be obtained from a number of row itself. Now a relationship we have to explore is between these numbers: 1 1 2 3 3 6 4 10 5 15 If we consider a number of row to be n, then n=1 1=n 0. 5 2 n 0. 5 (n +1) n n=2 3 = 1. 5n 0. 5 3 n 0. 5 (n +1) n n=3 6 = 2n 0. 5 4 n 0. 5 (n +1) n n=4 10 = 2. 5 n 0. 5 5 n 0. 5 (n +1) n n=5 15 = 3n 0. 6 n 0. 5 (n +1) n Moving from left to right in each row of the table above, we can clearly see the pattern. Dividing an element by a row number we get a series of numbers each one of them is 0. 5 greater than the previous one. If 0. 5 is factored out, the next sequence is {2; 3; 4; 5; 6}, where each element corresponds to a row number. Using a cyclic method, we have found a general expression for the numerator in the original triangle: If Nn is a numerator in a row n, then Nn = 0. 5(n + 1)n = 0. 5n2 + 0. 5n Now we can plot the relation between the row number and the numerator in each row.The graph of a parabolic form begins at (0; 0) and co ntinues to rise to infinity. It represents a continuous function for which D(f) = E(f) = (0; ); 4 Using a formula for the numerator we can now find the numerators of further rows. For example, if n = 6, then Nn = 0. 5 62 + 0. 5 6 = 18 + 3 = 21; if n = 7, then Nn = 0. 5 72 + 0. 5 7 = 24. 5 + 3. 5 = 28; and so forth. Another way of representing numerators would be through using factorial notation, for obviously Numeratorn = n! Now let’s concentrate of finding another part of the fraction in the triangle. Finding Denominators.There are two main variables, that a denominator is likely to depend on: ? number of row ? numerator To find out which of those is connected with the denominator, let us consider a following table: column 1 column 2 column 3 column 4 column 5 column 6 5 row 1 1 1 row 2 1 2 1 row 3 1 4 4 1 row 4 1 7 6 7 1 row 5 1 11 9 9 11 1 It is now evident, that a difference between the successive denominators in a second column increases by one with each iteration: {1; 2 ; 4; 7; 11}, the difference between elements being: {1; 2; 3; 4}. So if the number of row is n, and the denominator of the second column is D, then D1 = 1D2 = 2 D3 = 4 etc; then Dn = Dn-1 + (n – 1) = (n-1)! + 1; If we now look at the third column with a regard to a factorial sequence, a pattern emerges: In the series {1; 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7;†¦ ; }, if d is the denominator of the third column, then: d3 = 1 + 1 + 2 = 4 d4 = 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 d5 = 2 + 3 + 4 = 9 dn = (n – 2)! + 3; To check the consistency of this succession, we will continue with the study of the fourth column. By analogy, the result is as follows: Denominatorn = (n – 3)! + 6 (where n is a number of row) Therefore, it can be represented as follows:Column 2 (n-1)! +1 Column 3 (n-2)! +3 Column 4 (n-3)! +6 It is now clear, that numbers inside the brackets follow the (c – 1) (where c is the number of column), and the numbers outside are in fact the numerators of the row of the previous index num ber (comparing to the column). Therefore, a general expression for the denominator would be Dn = (n – (c – 1))! + (c – 1)! 6 where Dn is a general denominator of the triangle n is a number of row c is the number of column Now we can use a formula above to calculate the denominators of the rows 6 and 7. column 2 column 3 olumn 4 column 5 column 6 row 6 (6 – 1)! + 1 = 16 (6 – 2)! + 3 = 13 (6 – 3)! + 6 = 12 (6 – 4)! + 10 = 13 (6 – 5)! +15 =16 row 7 (7 – 1)! + 1 = 22 (7 – 2)! + 3 = 18 (7 – 3)! + 6 = 16 (7 – 4)! + 10 = 16 (7 – 5)! +15 =18 column 7 (7 – 6)! + 21 = 22 Fusing these value with the numerators from the calculations above, we get the 6th and the 7th rows of the Lacsap’s triangle: Row 6: 1; ; ; ; ; ;1 Row 7: 1; ; ; ; ; ; ;1 If we now let En(r) be the (r + 1)th element in the nth row, starting with r = 0; then the general statement for this element would be: En(r) =Conclusion. To check the validity and limitations of this general statement let us consider the unusual circumstances: first of all, will it work for the columns of ones (1st and last column of each row)? if n = 4 r = 0, then En(r) = =1 if n = 5 r = 5, then En(r) = =1 7 therefore, the statement is valid for any element of any row, including the first one: En(r) = =1 However, obviously, the denominator of this formula can not equal zero. But as long as r and n are both always positive integers (being index numbers), this limitation appears to be irrelevant.If the numeration of columns was to start from 1 (the 1st column of ones), then the general statement would take the form of: En(r) = 8 Bibliography: 1) Weisstein, Eric W. â€Å"Pascal's Triangle. † From MathWorld–A Wolfram Web Resource. http:// mathworld. wolfram. com/PascalsTriangle. html 2) â€Å"Pascal’s Triangle and Its Patterns†; an article from All you ever wanted to know http:// ptri1. tripod. com/ 3) Lando , Sergei K.. â€Å"7. 4 Multiplicative sequences†. Lectures on generating functions. AMS. ISBN 0-8218-3481-9

Acinetobacter Baumannii - Article Review

Background Acinetobacter baumannii is a pleomorphic aerobic gram-negative bacillus (similar in appearance to Haemophilus influenzae on Gram stain) commonly isolated from the hospital environment and hospitalized patients. A baumannii is a water organism and preferentially colonizes aquatic environments. This organism is often cultured from hospitalized patients sputum or respiratory secretions, wounds, and urine. In a hospital setting, Acinetobacter commonly colonizes irrigating solutions and intravenous solutions. Acinetobacter species have low virulence but are capable of causing infection. Most Acinetobacter isolates recovered from hospitalized patients, particularly those recovered from respiratory secretions and urine, represent colonization rather than infection. Acinetobacter infections are uncommon but, when they occur, usually involve organ systems that have a high fluid content (eg, respiratory tract, CSF, peritoneal fluid, urinary tract), manifesting as nosocomial pneumonia, infections associated with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), or catheter-associated bacteruria. The presence of Acinetobacter isolates in respiratory secretions in intubated patients nearly always represents colonization. Acinetobacter pneumonias occur in outbreaks and are usually associated with colonized respiratory-support equipment or fluids. Nosocomial meningitis may occur in colonized neurosurgical patients with external ventricular drainage tubes. A baumannii is a multiresistant aerobic gram-negative bacillus sensitive to relatively few antibiotics. Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter is not a new or emerging phenomenon, but A baumannii has always been an organism inherently resistant to multiple antibiotics. Pathophysiology In the uncommon situations in which Acinetobacter causes actual infection, the athological changes that occur depend on the organ system involved. The pathological changes, as observed in patients with pneumonia, are indistinguishable from those caused by other noncavitating aerobic gram-negative bacilli that cause nosocomial pneumonias. Similarly, Acinetobacter urinary tract infections are clinically indistinguishable from catheter-associated bacteremias caused by other aerobic gram-negative bacilli. Frequency International Acinetobacter commonly colonizes patients in the intensive care setting. Acinetobacter colonization is particularly common in patients who are intubated and n those who have multiple intravenous lines or monitoring devices, surgical drains, or indwelling urinary catheters. Acinetobacter infections are uncommon and occur almost exclusively in hospitalized patients. Mortality/Morbidity   Although Acinetobacter is primarily a colonizer in the hospital environment, it occasionally causes infection. Mortality and morbidity resulting from A baumannii infection relate to the underlying cardiopulmonary immune status of the host rather than the inherent virulence of the organism. ЂÃ'ž Mortality and morbidity rates in patients who are very ill with multisystem disease are increased because of their nderlying illness rather than the superimposed infection with Acinetobacter. Race Acinetobacter infection has no known racial predilection. Sex Acinetobacter infection has no known sexual predilection. Age Acinetobacter infection has no known predilection for age. Other Problems to Be Considered The main differential diagnostic problem presented by Acinetobacter is to differentiate colonization from infection. In the presence of pulmonary infiltrates in ICU patients, CAPC)-associated peritonitis, meningitis, wound infection, or catheter-associated bacteruria, the differential iagnoses include other aerobic gram-negative bacilli that colonize or infect these fluids, ie, Enterobacter species, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Burkholderia cepacia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Flavobacterium meningosepticum, and Serratia marcescens. Because Acinetobacter is predominantly a colonizing organism, the burden of proof is on the clinician to demonstrate its pathogenic role in a given situation.

Nursing Theory Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Nursing Theory - Article Example There are various classifications of nursing theories which include meta theory, grand, middle range and practice theories. These theories are descriptive, explanatory, predictive or prescriptive. Metatheory brings about the identification of specific phenomena through abstract concepts. Grand theory gives provision of a theoretical construction under which the main concepts and principles of the discipline can be recognized. Middle range theory is more precise. It examines a particular situation with a limited variable numbers (George, 2010). Nursing theories are useful in assessing patients’ conditions, identifying the patients’ needs, demonstrating an effective communication and interaction with the patient. The nursing practice theory provides the basis for nursing practice. Practice theory explores a particular situation in nursing and identifies clear goals and details of ways of achieving the goals (Masters, 2012). In this essay, focus is intently on the nursing caring theory which is fundamental and fits my nursing practice. The caring theory basically comprises of two vital constructive backgrounds of emotional response, and mutual and mutual interdependence. In this case, the ethics of care leads to the rejection of reasoning and judgements that are dispassionate and partial, that are dominant with the paradigms and models of bioethics (Parker, 2005). To be precise and more specific, we are going to select the Swanson Caring Theory. This is a middle-range theory, and as described earlier this theory is precise, examines a particular situation (in this case it is about caring), with somewhat limited variables (unchealthcare.org). The Swanson theory developed from the Carolina Care Model, at the University of North Carolina Hospitals. They designed the model so as to aid in the actualization of caring theory, support practices that uphold patient satisfaction, and bring a transformation in cultural norms. This is precisely what will enable the dealing the nursing issue of caring that is a concern in my nursing practice. I suppose that the model and the theory are specifically vital for scrutinizing the issue at hand. Furthermore, evaluation has suggested that this approach to care delivery boosts the hospital experiences of patients and families and smoothes the progress of the desired outcome (unchealthcare.org). With the current practice setting, the theory presents itself as the guide to an ideal caring practise in comparison the current situation in care delivery. The Swanson theory may possibly be remarkable in accelerating the progress towards the ideal in caring. The structure offers an articulate explanation of the relations between caring processes and the patient’s well-being (unchealthcare.org). The sub dimensions of every process at a deeper level, offer proposals for what can be done to create the correlation connecting theory and practice to be comprehensible and valuable to clinicians. Caring th eory suggests that nurses showing they care about patients is as imperative to patient well-being as caring for them via clinical means e.g. prevention of infections and administration of medications. The implementation of this model would be an approach to actualization of caring theory across a health care firm through systematic incorporation of interventions linking nursing actions, caring processes, and expectations (unchealthcare.org). Overview of key demographic data, health issues and diagnoses within the populations The region where we offer our nursing services is cosmopolitan. They are people from different cultural and racial backgrounds. They are from different dialects, hold different

Does the balance of power maintain international order rather than Essay

Does the balance of power maintain international order rather than peace - Essay Example Thus, the alliance of countries that shifts the balance of power is usually motivated by self interests rather than peace (Claude, 1989). Balance of power ensures that each country maximizes its security and thus effectively leading to international order. The other motivation for balance of power is the prevention of hegemony. No state desires to see another power exercising complete influence on it or others. Thus, nations may form alliances so as to neutralize the emergency of hegemony. The result is that the alliances countercheck each other and as a result there is international order. It should be noted that peace is attained on condition that the creation of hegemony is averted (Freedman, 1989). In some instances, balance of power is a core component of peace. This is evident in situations where the defeat of a Great Power results in a power vacuum. In order to prevent any other country from gaining extreme influence, the defeated power may be shown leniency so as to preserve peace. In conclusion, it is evident that the main motivating factor for balance of power is to maintain order. Countries form alliances in order to guarantee their own survival. Introduction Balance of power is a concept that forms a core part of international relationships. ... Theories have been fronted to explain the concept of balance of power and its origins. According to Bass, a state may respond to a threat in its national security by joining forces with other threatened states. This leads to formation of alliances that cause a shift in the dynamics of power. Although it is difficult to measure â€Å"power† in absolute terms, shifting of political alliances usually play a critical role the amount of influence that a nation or nations exercise internationally (Claude, pp. 80-81). As such, the countries are engaged in theatrics to continually counter check each other in terms of the power that they wield against each other. On the other hand, balance of power may be taken as a system or guide to policy making in international relationships. Butterfield (1966) suggests that balance of power is an organic and natural response of individual states to the dynamics of politics on the international scale. In essence, balance of power is a methodology f or self preservation which may not be necessary be motivated by a current threat (Henrikson, 1981 p. 157). This essay aims to discuss the role of balance of power in international relationships among countries. It evaluates critically how balance of power relates to international order and peace in the globe. Various historical scenes are evaluated to give a clear illustration of how balance of power shaped the political landscapes world. Balance of power for international order and peace The international political landscape is inevitably dynamic and prone to various rapid changes. Therefore, countries continually seek to find ways of strengthening themselves so as to be a good position to attain their interests of prosperity. In the process of strengthening themselves

Importance of employee performance management in retail Industry Essay

Importance of employee performance management in retail Industry - Essay Example Moreover, by evaluating and analyzing the performances of the organizations as well as the performance of the individuals working in the organizations, the management is able to formulate strategies that could further help in improving the productivity of the organization. Therefore it can be said that the performance management tools and performance management of employees help in improving productivity as well as in helping firms to gain competitive advantage. According to Armstrong (2006), employee performance management is the process in which employees are provided with significant opportunities to develop and nurture their skills and knowledge for the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Having mutual understanding between the manager and the employees is quite essential in the employee performance management as the employees tend to maximize their efforts for the accomplishment of organizational goals (Leopold et al, 2005). Therefore, establishing employee perfo rmance management is quite essential for the organization to increase its overall productivity along with the level of performance in the market. Performance management is a process that ensures improvement in both quantity and quality of work and activities taken into consideration by the organization. In addition, the process helps the organization in aligning all the activities with the organizational goals and objectives (Leopold et al, 2005). By identifying the areas of improvements and areas where the organization has its strengths, the organization is in a better position to make important strategic decisions and help in achieving competitive advantage particularly when the organization is operating in a highly competitive industry such as retail industry. The level of competition in the retail environment has significantly risen and the organization has to deal with variety of employees, due to which the implementation of performance management has become a necessity to achi eve the organizational goals while sustaining the business for long-run in the market (Jones et al, 2005). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the process of employee performance management. In order to do so, the importance and benefits associated with the employee performance management have been taken into consideration. Moreover, the retail industry within UK’s competitive environment has also been taken into consideration. For the effective evaluation of employee performance management, a case study of the UK retail industry has been presented in the study. Lastly, recommendations have been provided with an aim to help the organizations operating in retail industry to enhance the level of performance along with the overall productivity within the competitive retail landscape. EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Employee performance management, in simpler words is the process that allows the establishment of shared workforce understanding by motivating the managers and e mployees to have mutual understanding regarding the attainment of organizational goals and objectives. Employee performance management ensures that the employees would work towards the attainment of desired organizational goals rather than just the personal goals. With the help of this process, the objectives of the

Damage awards should be capped for product liability suits Research Paper

Damage awards should be capped for product liability suits - Research Paper Example This implies that if consumers are injured or suffer because of a product they purchase and use, they should possess a defective products claims. One of the key aspects of a product liability claim is determining the amount and the type of damages that a consumer suffers after using a product. Due to the complexity of determining the compensation, it is imperative for consumers to estimate their damages up front. For instance, if the consumer suffers minor injuries and the financial losses incurred are insignificant, then it implies that it is unnecessary to initiate a claim. In the same way, consumers who suffer fewer damages have a less chance of finding a lawyer as compared to those who incur significant damages. Customers who suffer significant damages are advised to catalog and list the damages at the beginning of their lawsuit (Kinzie and Mark 21). The responsibility for a defective product lies with a manufacturer or anyone who supplied the product. On the part of the manufacturer, he is responsible for producing the product that causes damage to the consumer. In the same way, the initial design of the product may be of poor quality, thus resulting to the defects during the production process. Additionally, poor marketing by the manufacturer, making of misleading claims and lack of providing the correct information regarding the product makes the manufacturer to be responsible for a defective product. Once the products are distributed from the manufacturer to the retailers, the retailer can also be held responsible. It is important to note that if a manufacturer is no longer operating his or her business or it becomes difficult to identify the source of a defective product held by a retailer, consumers can seek for compensation from the retailers. This implies that all the members of the distribution channel have an obligatio n of ensuring that products they handle are safe (Moore and Michael 26). Despite that consumers are the major

Brand positioning and focus Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Brand positioning and focus - Research Paper Example This research is intended to develop the sound understanding of the impact of the branding on the lives of individuals, especially their buying decisions. Moreover, we also aim to identify the best practices of branding in contemporary era. In past era, branding was considered to be what it is considered now. Few years back, brand used to be defined as "the name,associated with one or more items in the product line, that is used to identify the source of character of the item(s)" (Kotler 2000, p. 396) Another definition that was given by Keller (2003) depicts the same thought. He defines brands as "technically speaking, the n, whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo, or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand" (p. 3)" However, over the period of time, it was realized that branding has far wider scope than this. Realizing this, people started to explore more avenues into it. "For a long time, the brand has been treated in an off-hand fashion as a part of the product" (Urde 1999, p. 119). With the changing time, the needs and demands of the businesses were changing too. "The challenge today is to create a strong and distinctive image" (Kohli and Thakor 1997, p. 208). This definition shows that the scope of branding has been broadened and besides providing identity to the product, it is also responsible for conveying to customers that brand message associated to that brand through the process of branding. The modern concept of branding is associated to a number of other related concepts. In order to make the brand successful and the high impact brand, one of the most essential part is its positioning. It is well known phrase in the marketing circles that those brands which are top in terms of customer recall are really the leaders. Thus, brand positioning means that a brand should be presented as a response to some customer need, in order to make it successful. For example, if a company sells the cars. The brand manager of that particular car should see that what particular needs that car is going to fulfill for the customers and present the product as simply not the product, rather, the solution to that need of the consumer. Keeping in view the customer needs is simply one factor, others may include competitor's move, emerging trends and so on and so forth. Besides, other factors of success include, targeted marketing, efficient segmenting and focused advertising and public relations . Targeting marketing and focus advertising are essential because, we can't market our product to everyone. There is a cost to it. Every second that runs an ad on any channels, it costs a handsome some of money to the producer and this price is ultimately shifted to the customer. If lesser people Brand purchase that product, higher contribution from each purchaser is required. In today's world where there is cutting edge competition, one

Tort scenario Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tort scenario - Case Study Example According to the Police Act of 1996, an off-duty police officer can exercise their powers if the situation dictates it, and thus places himself back on duty. This was the case when PC Yaro say Bully commit the crime and subsequently chased after him. So it is clear that PC Yaro did have the right to arrest bully under #1, so we can now move to number #2. If Bully had not resisted arrest in any way, then PC Yaro would not have been within his legal rights to simply punch Bully. However, as PC Yaro attempted to arrest Bully (having gone through the normal procedure), he was then kicked on the shin by the suspect. Even if Yaro were not a police officer attempting to complete a justified arrest, he would have the right to defend himself. He has just witnessed Bully committing a violent act against an old lady, and thus has the expectation of further violence from Bully. What tort might Bully accuse PC Yaro of The basic tort would be that of assault, which includes deliberate violence against another person (Van Gerven, 2001). What defenses would Yaro have First of all, police officers have a general power to use force for the purpose of effecting a lawful arrest, Second, there is the concept of self-defense. In this case, Yaro would need to prove that the use of force was necessary and that the degree of force was reasonable. It is clear that the defenses to this tort would outweig... It is clear that the defenses to this tort would outweigh any arguments that Bully might have. Indeed, it seems clear that Bully would probably be convicted of the criminal offense of assault on a police officer (see Forbes, 1865). There is no tortuous liability for PC Yaro in this situation. The Case of Jim and Elsie/Mother - Nervous Shock and Economic Loss Most tort law depends upon the consideration and finding of the duty of care owed by one person towards another. Nervous shock tends to involve a serious psychological effect upon the injured party (see Alcock, 1992) As a heavy goods vehicle driver, Jim owes a duty of care to other road users to perform his job in a responsible and careful manner. He is a professional driver and needs to act as such. If Jim had been talking on his mobile phone with his girlfriend and crashed into the sports car, then it would be clear that he would not have shown a sufficient duty of care, and might be regarded as either negligent or perhaps reckless. But this is not the case. In fact Jim was performing his duties as a professional driver admirably through trying to avoid the drunken pedestrian. Everything that occurred from that point on:- from the crash with the car, the nervous shock supposedly suffered by Elsie and her mother and the failure to buy the winning lottery ticket - came about because of this initial perfectly justifiable act upon the part of Jim. However, Elsie and her mother might have a case if it could be shown that the manner in which Jim avoided the pedestrian was negligent/reckless by the standards of a reasonable HGV driver. The facts that are given within the case do not show this was the case at all. For the sake of argument, let us assume that Jim did show

Zeitgeist of the Twentieth Century - H. R. Giger Essay

Zeitgeist of the Twentieth Century - H. R. Giger - Essay Example Another important point of inspiration in his work is culture, to be more precise – the integration of all cultures into one phenomenon. Art has been a focal point for a variety of cultures since the history of time   new dimension of art. It is an expression of how a race or a group of people perceive themselves in relation with the world around them. In this context, an important premise remains the fact that art is born from within and from influences that come from the outside. This has been studied from the perspective of various art forms, ancient, medieval and modern so as to demonstrate how cultures are capable of affecting art forms and rendering finer detail to the structure. His inspiration has conceptualised the way art has been seen and used since 1985 with the advent of mass media and especially the Internet. This conceptualisation has reached a phase where the influx of ideas related with the use of technology and mass media has grown to such heights where it accommodates a whole new dimension of art.It is said that the way something is built has a large bearing on how it is perceived. In the case of art, the use of mass media has accentuated the play of technology to the extent that the very way that an art form is conceptualised depends on the factors that are a part of the culture surrounding it. Since 1985, the play of mass media has begun on a note that has created the scope to create art beyond what has been seen in the conventional sense.... It is an expression of how a race or a group of people perceive themselves in relation with the world around them. In this context, an important premise remains the fact that art is born from within and from influences that come from the outside. This has been studied from the perspective of various art forms, ancient, medieval and modern so as to demonstrate how cultures are capable of affecting art forms and rendering finer detail to the structure. His inspiration has conceptualised the way art has been seen and used since 1985 with the advent of mass media and especially the Internet. This conceptualisation has reached a phase where the influx of ideas related with the use of technology and mass media has grown to such heights where it accommodates a whole new dimension of art. It is said that the way something is built has a large bearing on how it is perceived. In the case of art, the use of mass media has accentuated the play of technology to the extent that the very way that an art form is conceptualised depends on the factors that are a part of the culture surrounding it. Since 1985, the play of mass media has begun on a note that has created the scope to create art beyond what has been seen in the conventional sense. The rise of technology has been accentuated by the west. Technology has come from the west and is associated with the west. Thus, an important premise here is that most of world sees western culture as an amalgamation of technology along with an ethic that is associated with the same. Communication forms in the form of electronic, print and other media has had a major role in deciding how western culture is perceived to begin with. Thus, art has been accepted in context of these communication forms that dominate the various

Golden Ratio Essay Example for Free

Golden Ratio Essay The Golden Ratio which is also referred to as golden mean, golden section or divine proportion is a number frequently encountered when calculating ratios of distances particularly in simple geometric figures like pentagram, dodecahedron, pentagon and pentagram. It is an irrational constant in mathematics which is given an approximate value of 1. 6180339887 and is symbolized by the Greek letter phi or in other words , or sometimes . Most of the greatest mathematicians in the ancient Greece, Euclid and Pythagoras along with Leonard of Pisa who was medieval Italian Mathematician together with Johannes Kepler, Renaissance astronomer and the present day scientific individuals like Roger Penrose, Oxford Physicist have spent a lot time in studying this ratio along with its properties (Weisstein, 2010). The Ancient Greek mathematicians initially studied the Golden Ratio simply because it frequently appeared in geometry. The Greeks have always attributed the discovery of this ratio to Pythagoras along with his followers. The Golden Ratio was first used by Martin Ohm in his 2nd edition book Die Reine Elementar-Mathematik in 1835. The fascination of this concept is not confined to mathematicians but also artists, musicians, biologists, mystics, architects, historians and psychologist have debated and pondered the basis of its appeal and ubiquity. Prof. Michael Maestlin wrote the first approximation of the Golden Ratio in 1597 and stated it to be about 0. 6180340. It is fair to declare that the Golden Ratio have brought inspiration to most thinkers of various disciplines than any other number has done in the history of mathematics (Weisstein, 2010). The Golden Ratio in Art Just as the Golden Ratio is used in the beauty and design of nature, it can also be applied in achieving balance and beauty in the design of art. This is just a tool for composition although it is not a rule. Leonardo Da Vinci, used the Golden Ratio intensively in designing and in many of his paintings, he featured the Golden Ratio which he called the â€Å"divine proportion†. This he did after his exploration of the human body by engaging in the ratios of the lengths of different body parts. His illustration of the polyhedra on the divine proportion, and his perspective concerning the body proportions portraying the Golden Ratio has led to the speculation by some scholars that he used Golden Ratio in painting. This speculation has been seen in his Mona Lisa painting where it employs Golden Ratio proportion. The Sacrament of the Last Supper, which is a painting by Salvador Dali explicitly, illustrates the application of the Golden Ratio. The canvas’ dimension is that of the golden rectangle and what dominates the composition is the large dodecahedron which has its edges in Golden Ratio and swings above and behind Jesus. Other paintings speculated to symbolize the Golden Ratio are Holy Family by Micahelangelo, Crucifixion by Raphael, Self-portrait by Rembrandt, Golden Section Plate by Fletcher Cox and Bathers by Seurat (Obara 2010). The Golden Ratio in Architecture The Ancient Egyptians became the first individuals to apply mathematics in art. It is obvious that they did this by ascribing magical properties of the Golden Ratio and henceforth using that in designing their great pyramids. Some studies regarding the Parthenon and Acropolis offer a conclusion that most of its proportions give an estimated value of Golden Ratio. The facade of the Parthenon along with the elements of its facade are suspected to be circumscribed in terms of golden rectangles. The fact that the proportions of the classical buildings or rather their elements are according to the Golden Ratio clearly explain that the architects who designed them were conscious of the Golden Ratio and applied it in their designs. On the other hand, it is possible that the architects applied their special sense of good proportion and as a result their proportions gave approximate of the Golden Ratio (Obara 2010). According to a geometrical analysis carried out by Boussora and Mazouz concerning to the Great Mosque of Kairoua, it is evident that there was consistent utilization of the Golden Ratio in its design. The Golden Ratio is applied in the overall proportion of the plan along with the dimensioning of the court, the prayer space and the minaret. Mazouz and Boussora further scrutinized earlier archaeological theories concerning the mosque and demonstrated the Golden Ratio in the geometric constructions through the application of the constructions on the plan so as to test their hypothesis(The Golden Number). Le Coubusier explicitly applied the Golden Ratio specifically in his Moduaor system which he saw as a continuation of the traditions of the work of Battista Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci’s â€Å"Vitruvian Man† and others who applied the human body proportions to improve the function and appearance of architecture. Mario Botta, a Swiss architect based most of his designs on figures of geometry. Some of the private houses which he designed in Switzerland consist of cylinders, squares, cubes and circles. In Origlio, Mario has designed a house with the proportion of the Golden Ratio between the side sections and the central section of the house. In a recent book by Jason Elliot, it has been contemplated that the Golden Ratio was utilized in designing the Lotfollah mosque and Naqsh-e Jahan Square. The Golden Ratio was also used in designing the Notre Dame in Paris in 1250 (The Golden Number). Conclusion The idea of translating beauty into a simple number, the Golden Ratio is quite disturbing. It is true that beauty is not something that is so substantial in something like a lifeless number but rather something we all have to make personal choices regarding it. Basing on the rule of thirds that is used in photography, for a photo to emerge appealing and balanced, the image must be made to abide by the grid that is divided into thirds. The number of comments that a person receives directly correlates with the beauty found in his/her image. Though, there are other factors that affect how people view a person or something, good comments are given depending on how the image appeals the eyes. For attractive people like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the skeleton of Golden Ratio almost fit perfectly on them. However, when the skeleton was put on a picture of an individual who looked a bit unattractive, the skeleton did not fit. I am not suggesting that beauty should be translated into being lifeless and cold because of it being defined inform of numbers. However, I think that the paintings and houses that used the proportions of the Golden Ratio look appealing and beautiful. In my opinion therefore, physical beauty can be measured by Golden Ratio.

Gender Issues and Roles Essay Example for Free

Gender Issues and Roles Essay Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behavior, activities and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women. It is a basic organizing principle of society that shapes how we think about ourselves and guides how we interact with others. The distinct roles and behavior may give rise to gender inequalities, i. e. differences between men and women that systematically favor one group. There are differences between the sexes in that men weigh more than women and have more muscle. Women outperform men in some test of long term endurance and life expectancy. However, biologically, the sexes differ in limited ways with neither one naturally superior. Origin of Gender roles The root of all gender issues which presently exist in society may be traced back to The Creation Story in Genesis. This crucial chapter of the Bible provides evidence supporting that God intended for man and woman to exist as equals, yet he assigned gender roles once Adam and Eve disobeyed him by eating the fruit from the forbidden tree of good and evil. Thus, men have been characterized as the â€Å"breadwinners† and women as â€Å"child bearers and housekeepers† since the beginning of humanity. Men and women have been trapped in certain roles since the beginning of time, and have always had a power struggle between them. Gender issues have not evolved over time; they have always existed. Partriarchy and Sexism Partriarchy literally means â€Å"rule of fathers†. Conceptions of gender vary everywhere in the world and we find some degree partriarchy. Sexism is the belief that one sex is innately superior to the other and is built into the institutions of society. Sexism stunts the talents and limits the ambitions of the human population who are women. Masculinity comes with a high price as it calls for men to engage in many high-risk behaviors, including using tobacco and alcohol, participating in physically dangerous sports, and driving recklessly. It is also closely linked not only to accidents but to suicide, violence and stress-related diseases. As men seek control over others, they opportunities for intimacy and trust. In general men have more social resources than women. Martriarchy is a form of social organization in which females dominate males. Although there is no clear case of matriarchy, women’s power can rival that of men. Many societies count among their historical heroes at least one brave woman warrior or leader, but few are as reviled as the Kikuyu Wangu wa Makeri. Appointed as the head of Weithaga, in Muranga district, by the colonialists, Makeri’s legacy is as a woman who made hell for the men of her tribe, wreaking revenge and sewing humiliation for the gender roles she had broken out of. Born in 1856, according to Nairobi University historian Mary W Wanyoike, Makeri’s rise to fame came relatively late in her life, when, in 1901 she was appointed as the head of her district. The elevation of a woman to such a position of power was unheard of in those days. Wangu, however, embraced the position with vigour. Tales abound of her demeaning men, riding on their backs on all fours, taking multiple lovers among them one Karuri Gakure and being very far from an â€Å"attractive’ woman. Certainly, such behaviour was anathema in early 20th Century Kikuyu culture. In those days, once men had paid the dowry on the women they were to marry, the women were considered their property. Women might be disgruntled, but they were expected to be silent victims. Thus when Wangu â€Å"superwoman† Makeri got power, she felt it her personal mission to avenge for the exploited women. Her zeal, however, quickly made her a hate figure for men, as did her tendency to overstep the boundary of leadership. Yet she held on to power for a remarkable 35 years. In the end, what lead to her downfall and death, was the brewing conflict between the Kikuyu and British colonialists. From around 1910, colonial resentment was budding. The Kikuyus who later formed the Mau Mau saw Wangu Wa Makeri as a proxy for colonialists. They instigated a rebellion against oth the colonialists and her. With her support thinning, her back-riding tenure ended unceremoniously. Yet her reputation for multiple lovers and a passion to domineer the masculine species, is still used as a weapon today in the gender war, driving accusations that any women who loves power and money is of her line, and setting up a horror figure that no good Kikuyu women would wish to be associated with. In time, it seems, hers is one story that may yet be retold. In preindustrial societies, women have little control over pregnancy and childbirth, which limits the scope of their lives. Similarly, men’s greater height and physical height and physical strength are highly valued resources. But industrialization gives people choices about how to live. Today, then, in societies like our own, biological differences provide little justification for partriachy. Legitimate or not, male dominance still holds. Some sociologists claim that biological factors â€Å"wire† the sexes with different motivations and behaviours, specifically more aggressiveness in males. Most sociologists, however, believe that gender is primarily a social construction that can be changed. Gender Socialization From birth until death, human feelings, thoughts and actions reflect the social as different kinds of human beings. By age tree, they incorporate gender into their identities by applying society’s standards to themselves. Just as gender affects how we think of ourselves, so it teaches us to act in normative ways. Gender roles are attitudes and activities that society links to each sex. Male – female differences Most of the differences between men and women turn out to be socially created. However there are some differences in physical ability between the sexes such as, on average, males are 10 percent taller, 20 percent heavier and 30 percent stronger, especially in their upper bodies. On the other hand, women outperform men in life expectancy. In adolescence, males show greater mathematical ability, whereas adolescent females excel in verbal skills a difference that reflects both biology and socialization. Research points no overall differences in intelligence between males and females. Biologically then, men and women differ in limited ways, neither one being naturally superior. Sex and the body At birth, females and males are distinguished by primary sex characteristics, namely the genital organs used to reproduce the human species. At puberty, humans exhibit secondary sex characteristics, whereby bodily development, apart from the genitals, that distinguishes biologically mature females and males. To accommodate pregnancy, giving birth, and nurturing infants, adolescent females develop wider hips, breasts and soft fatty tissue, thereby providing a reserve supply of nutrition for pregnancy and breast-feeding. Adolescent males, usually slightly taller and heavier than females from birth, typically develop more muscle in the upper body, more extensive body hair and deeper voices. Sexual orientation Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes. Sexual orientation also refers to a person’s sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions. Research over several decades has demonstrated that sexual orientation ranges along a continuum, from exclusive attraction to the other sex to exclusive attraction to the same sex. However, sexual orientation is usually discussed in terms of three categories: heterosexual (having emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to members of the other sex), gay/lesbian (having emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to members of one’s own sex), and bisexual (having emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to both men and women). This range of behaviors and attractions has been described in various cultures and nations throughout the world. Many cultures use identity labels to describe people who express these attractions. The most frequent labels are lesbians (women attracted to women), gay men (men attracted to men), and bisexual people (men or women attracted to both sexes).. Sexual orientation is distinct from other components of sex and gender, including biological sex (the anatomical, physiological, and genetic characteristics associated with being male or female), gender identity (the psychological sense of being male or female) and social gender role (the cultural norms that define feminine and masculine behavior). Sexual orientation is commonly discussed as if it were solely a characteristic of an individual, like biological sex, gender identity, or age. This perspective is incomplete because sexual orientation is defined in terms of relationships with others. People express their sexual orientation through behaviors with others, including such simple actions as holding hands or kissing. Thus, sexual orientation is closely tied to the intimate personal relationships that meet deeply felt needs for love, attachment, and intimacy. In addition to sexual behaviors, these bonds include nonsexual physical affection between partners, shared goals and values, mutual support, and ongoing commitment. Therefore, sexual orientation is not merely a personal characteristic within an individual. Rather, one’s sexual orientation defines the group of people in which one is likely to find the satisfying and fulfilling romantic relationships that are an essential component of personal identity for many people. How people know their Sexual orientation? According to current scientific and professional understanding, the core attractions that form the basis for adult sexual orientation typically emerge between middle childhood and early adolescence. These patterns of emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction may arise without any prior sexual experience. People can be celibate and still know their sexual orientation-–be it lesbian, gay, bisexual, or heterosexual. Different lesbian, gay, and bisexual people have very different experiences regarding their sexual orientation. Some people know that they are lesbian, gay, or bisexual for a long time before they actually pursue relationships with other people. Some people engage in sexual activity (with same-sex and/or other-sex partners) before assigning a clear label to their sexual orientation. Prejudice and discrimination make it difficult for many people to come to terms with their sexual orientation identities, so claiming a lesbian, gay, or bisexual identity may be a slow process. What role do prejudice and discrimination play in the lives of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people? Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people encounter extensive prejudice, discrimination, and violence because of their sexual orientation. Intense prejudice against lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people was widespread throughout much of the 20th century. Public opinion studies over the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s routinely showed that, among large segments of the public, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people were the target of strongly held negative attitudes. More recently, public opinion has increasingly opposed sexual orientation discrimination, but expressions of hostility toward lesbians and gay men remain common in contemporary American society. Prejudice against bisexuals appears to exist at comparable levels. In fact, bisexual individuals may face discrimination from some lesbian and gay people as well as from heterosexual people. Sexual orientation discrimination takes many formsSevere antigay prejudice is reflected in the high rate of harassment and violence directed toward lesbian, gay. Numerous surveys indicate that verbal harassment and abuse are nearly universal experiences among lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Also, discrimination against lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in employment and housing appears to remain widespread. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is another area in which prejudice and discrimination against lesbian, gay, and bisexual people have had negative effects. Early in the pandemic, the assumption that HIV/AIDS was a â€Å"gay disease† contributed to the delay in addressing the massive social upheaval that AIDS would generate. Gay and bisexual men have been disproportionately affected by this disease. The association of HIV/AIDS with gay and bisexual men and the inaccurate belief that some people held that all gay and bisexual men were infected served to further stigmatize lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. What is the psychological impact of prejudice and discrimination? On the social level, prejudice and discrimination against lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are reflected in theeveryday stereotypes of members of these groups. These stereotypes persist even though they are not supported by evidence, and they are often used to excuse unequal treatment of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. For example, limitations on job opportunities, parenting, and relationship recognition are often justified by stereotypic assumptions about lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. On an individual level, such prejudice and discrimination may also have negative consequences, especially if lesbian, gay, and bisexual people attempt to conceal or deny their sexual orientation. Although many lesbians and gay men learn to cope with the social stigma against homosexuality, this pattern of prejudice can have serious negative effects on health and well-being. Individuals and groups may have the impact of stigma reduced or worsened by other characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, religion, or disability. Some lesbian, gay, and bisexual people may face less of a stigma. For others, race, sex, religion, disability, or other characteristics may exacerbate the negative impact of The widespread prejudice, discrimination, and violence to which lesbians and gay men are often subjected are significant mental health concerns. Sexual prejudice, sexual orientation discrimination, and antigay violence are major sources of stress for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Although social support is crucial in coping with stress, antigay attitudes and discrimination may make it difficult for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people to find such support No, lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientations are not disorders. Research has found no inherent association between any of these sexual orientations and psychopathology. Both heterosexual behavior and homosexual behavior are normal aspects of human sexuality. Both have been documented in many different cultures and historical eras. Despite the persistence of stereotypes that portray lesbian, gay, and bisexual people as disturbed, several decades of research and clinical experience have led all mainstream medical and mental health organizations in this country to conclude that these orientations represent normal forms of human experience. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual relationships are normal forms of human bonding. Therefore, these mainstream organizations long ago abandoned classifications of homosexuality as a mental disorder. What is â€Å"coming out† and why is it important? The phrase â€Å"coming out† is used to refer to several aspects of lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons’ experiences: self-awareness of same-sex attractions; the telling of one or a few people about these attractions; widespread disclosure of same-sex attractions; and identification with the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community. Many people hesitate to come out because of the risks of meeting prejudice and discrimination. Some choose to keep their identity a secret; some choose to come out in limited circumstances; some decide to come out in very public ways. Coming out is often an important psychological step for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Research has shown that feeling positively about one’s sexual orientation and integrating it into one’s life fosters greater well-being and mental health. This integration often involves disclosing one’s identity to others; it may also entail participating in the gay community. Being able to discuss one’s sexual orientation with others also increases the availability of social support, which is crucial to mental health and psychological well-being. Like heterosexuals, lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people benefit from being able to share their lives with and receive support from family, friends, and acquaintances. Thus, it is not surprising that lesbians and gay men who feel they must conceal their sexual orientation report more frequent mental health concerns than do lesbians and gay men who are more open; they may even have more physical health problems. What about sexual orientation and coming out during adolescence? Adolescence is a period when people separate from their parents and families and begin to develop autonomy. Adolescence can be a period of experimentation, and many youths may question their sexual feelings. Becoming aware of sexual feelings is a normal developmental task of adolescence. Sometimes adolescents have same-sex feelings or experiences that cause confusion about their sexual orientation. This confusion appears to decline over time, with different outcomes for different individuals. Some adolescents desire and engage in same-sex behavior but do not identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, sometimes because of the stigma associated with a nonheterosexual orientation. Some adolescents experience continuing feelings of same-sex attraction but do not engage in any sexual activity or may engage in heterosexual behavior for varying lengths of time. Because of the stigma associated with same-sex attractions, many youths experience same-sex attraction for many years before becoming sexually active with partners of the same sex or disclosing their attractions to others. For some young people, this process of exploring same-sex attractions leads to a lesbian, gay, or bisexual identity. For some, acknowledging this identity can bring an end to confusion. When these young people receive the support of parents and others, they are often able to live satisfying and healthy lives and move through the usual process of adolescent development. The younger a person is when she or he acknowledges a nonheterosexual identity, the fewer internal and external resources she or he is likely to have. Therefore, youths who come out early are particularly in need of support from parents and others. Young people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual may be more likely to face certain problems, including being bullied and having negative experiences in school. These experiences are associated with negative outcomes, such as suicidal thoughts, and high-risk activities, such as unprotected sex and alcohol and drug use. On the other hand, many lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths appear to experience no greater level of health or mental health risks. Where problems occur, they are closely associated with experiences of bias and discrimination in their environments. Support from important people in the teen’s life can provide a very helpful counterpart to bias and discrimination. Support in the family, at school, and in the broader society helps to reduce risk and encourage healthy development. Youth need caring and support, appropriately high expectations, and the encouragement to participate actively with peers. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth who do well despite stress—like all adolescents who do well despite stress—tend to be those who are socially competent, who have good problem-solving skills, who have a sense of autonomy and purpose, and who look forward to the future. In a related vein, some young people are presumed to be lesbian, gay, or bisexual because they don’t abide by traditional gender roles (i. e. , the cultural beliefs about what is appropriate â€Å"masculine† and â€Å"feminine† appearance and behavior). Whether these youths identify as heterosexual or as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, they encounter prejudice and discrimination based on the presumption that they are lesbian, gay, or bisexual. The best support for these young people is school and social climates that do not tolerate discriminatory language and behavior. What can people do to diminish prejudice and discrimination against lesbian,gay,and bisexual people? Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people who want to help reduce prejudice and discrimination can be open about their sexual orientation, even as they take necessary precautions to be as safe as possible. They can examine their own belief systems for the presence of antigay stereotypes. They can make use of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community—as well as supportive heterosexual people—for support. Heterosexual people who wish to help reduce prejudice and discrimination can examine their own response to antigay stereotypes and prejudice. They can make a point of coming to know lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, and they can work with lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals and communities to combat prejudice and discrimination. Heterosexual individuals are often in a good position to ask other heterosexual people to consider the prejudicial or discriminatory nature of their beliefs and actions. Heterosexual allies can encourage nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation. They can work to make coming out safe. When lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people feel free to make public their sexual orientation, heterosexuals are given an opportunity to have personal contact with openly gay people and to perceive them as individuals. Studies of prejudice, including prejudice against gay people, consistently show that prejudice declines when members of the majority group interact with members of a minority group. In keeping with this general pattern, one of the most powerful influences on heterosexuals’ acceptance of gay people is having personal contact with an openly gay person. Antigay attitudes are far less common among members of the population who have a close friend or family member who is lesbian or gay, especially if the gay person has directly come out to the heterosexual person.

Overview of Different Web Structures

Overview of Different Web Structures Dark Internet, Dark net (File Sharing), Turbo10, Meta-Search Engine Mansi Iyengar (SCU ID: W1170603) This project is targeted for the researchers to gain insight into the different web structures. The primary focus being deep net and dark net. It also throws light on file sharing in dark net along with meta search engines used by them. This report is based on dark net, metasearch engines and file sharing mechanism. It has been categorized in the form of chapters. Each chapter gives us the below information Chapter 1 tells us about the different structures in the web Chapter 2 provides an overview of dark net and TOR Chapter 3 describes the file sharing mechanism in dark net and commonly used approaches Chapter 4 focuses on operation of meta search engine Chapter 5 talks about Turbo10 search engine for deep net The linkage of each web page is referred by websites structure. Consider for a website having high number of web pages. In such scenario, crawlers should have the ease to find the subpages. Figure 1: Web structure [1] Figure 1 portrays entire web structure that comprises of: Surface web Deep web Dark web Surface web The traditional internet we use for everyday life is the world wide web. Represented by www. Deep web Deep web provides the hidden part of the internet. Search engine do not index these. Thus deep web stands apart from the traditional web. Some components of deep web include email, online banking, on demand videos Dark web Dark web is different from above traditional web types. Dark net stands for a network accessed via specific software or configuration using protocol that are not standardized. For everyday life, we use regular search engines such as google. The exists websites that cannot be looked up on google. For such websites need a particular application in order to access. Such websites are known as dark web. Dark net comprises of decentralized computers that collaborate in tandem to send information from origin to the target. Some of the popular dark net are Limewire, Gnucleus. Users are members that share information. Hosts are the computers that help share the information. Dark web is also known as dark net or dark internet. For ease of understanding we can consider software named as Tor. Tor provides the functionality wherein the user cannot be identified on traditional websites. TOR Tor also provides sites that have hidden services. Basically the hidden or anonymous feature is leveraged to masquerade where server is situated. Tor makes it almost impossible to trace the members accessing website. Tor is not fool proof and comprises of some flaws. These pertain to security configuration. This gap can be used by officials to determine the real server location. The popularity of TOR is extremely high and hence most commonly used. Hence the focus on this example. Features of dark net However, dark nets provide additional facilities different from above. These may include collaborative effort of handling non-licensed software and content Content found on dark net On two fronts dark net facilitates anonymity member visiting website and also for website itself. Governments too use dark net. For example, in order to gain data bypassing and censorship, Tor provides that option Dark net too can be used by politicians. This is serves as a platform to mediate and take decision. Secrets are revealed by whistle blowers on certain sites so that they can avoid being traced. Webpages such as Strongbox help serve such purpose. This leads to establishment of websites that traditionally are not used. They can be used for anti-social purpose. For example, stolen credit card information, illegal currency, drugs and weapons are found here. Gambling activities too are provided. Illegal drugs and goods, part of commercial dark market are made popular by silk road and diabolic market. These are attacked by legal teams. Alternate hacking services are sold. These are at group level or individualistic level. This has led to cyber-crimes and counter cyber investigation. Government has started looking into these using tools procured from Procedia Computer Science journal. Denial of service attacks too have been made through Dark Web. [4] File Sharing File sharing involves the method of dividing or enabling digital media access such as audio files, video files, programs or eBooks. There are multiple ways to attain file sharing. Generally used approaches of storage, transmission include web url hyperlinked docs., p2p networks and centralized servers. [3] Figure 2 file sharing The above figure shows us how figure shows how file sharing can be achieved between access controlled digital systems like private, public and invited. P2P file sharing process Computers or nodes are connected with each other as part of P2P network. The members have the ability to share or download information immediately via the web. Figure 3 Peer to Peer network Above figure shows peer to peer network. Based on the model of self-server and client model, P2P is set up in general. for example, when the member connects to the P2P client and after initiating file download, he gets connected with other members downloading the information. In other words, others peers serve as file server. The initial member also acts as file server when another peer starts to download the file. Eventually this leads to augmenting of download speed. Some commonly used torrents for P2P are bittorrent and ÃŽÂ ¼Torrent. Other popular P2P networks being BearShare and LimeWire. [2] OnionShare Consider App called OnionShare that is available for multiple Operating Systems. This is a P2P program. Entire information from TOR anonymity network is sent through this file sharing program. consider regular file sharing system needs faith. Law regulators can tap into these. Tor helps bypass third party, there is direct sharing of file from one person to another via anonymous network Figure 4 OnionShare The above figure describes OnionShare process. After Tor instance is running, OnionShare will run. The beginning part is by starting a local web server that is viewable as tor hidden service, generating web link that cannot be guessed out. This web link is used to download the file. The web link is then provided to the recipient person via secure method the webserver is cancelled The moment the receipt downloads the file, Now the file becomes inaccessible to anyone. These is scope to expand this further by having a continuous running server in order to share with multiple recipients [5] BitTorrent File Sharing Process Background BitTorrent file sharing protocol for dark net. BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol and the most popular one according to a report  by (2008). In the same report one can read that BitTorrent takes  up a substantial amount of all the internet traffic in the world, between 27 and 55 percent depending on geographical location. This makes BitTorrent not only the most used protocol for file sharing, but of all application layer protocols. As per Schulse and Mochalski , Bit Torrent is popular file sharing protocol. This is also used by Darknet. BitTorrent breaks data into parallel smaller chunks instead of single chunk, enhancing reliability and reducing vulnerability Approaches for bit torrent file sharing Provided below are two approaches for bit torrent file sharing: Torrent file approach TFigure 5 Torrent file sharing approach A torrent file is setup that has tracker, file contents. This file is smaller than original file. Seed is the uploader and leech is the downloader. Above figure describes the torrent file sharing approach. User first downloads the torrent. From torrent the set of peers is found. From the network, file pieces are exchanged. Files are treated instead of atomic blocks but as smaller chunks. Advantage is that the bandwidth is spread among peer as against just the seeds. The tracker for a torrent provides peers a peer list. In this manner, bit torrent communication takes place, which is the same process involved for seeders and leaches DTH approach There is a second approach that bypasses the tracker. This provides greater anonymity. This approach is performed without generating torrent file. For this purpose, bit torrent protocol ends up implementing DHT i.e. distributed hash table. Figure 6 DTH file sharing approach The above figure describes DTH file sharing approach. DHT provides a set of key, value saved in it. The working is similar to how has table works. Nodes have ability to detect noes based on the key. There is unique identification for each node. For this the communication utilized is User Datagram Protocol (UDP). The benefit is that there no centralized trackers. However, the track list is provided by peers that send peer list. Traditional torrent file has web link to a tracker. This step is by passed in second approach, wherein DHT web link is used. DHT network is entered into by the peer using the URL. From the entry node, it can search across other networks for files and peer connection for file sharing. [6] The results of other databases are combined in meta search engine. It takes up the concatenation of various results from various search engines and links then to various resources. [1] Virtual databases are generated from the mirrors of the physical database results of other search engines. These virtual databases are generated from the meta search engines. The searches are concentrated over certain criteria. [2] Background Searching the web with multiple search engines was the issue tackled by researchers. One of the outputs was meta search engine. Search Savvy was the first engine discovered and used by Daniel Dreilinger from Colorado State University. This engine looks over the results from 20 different directories and search engines at once. Meta search engine crawler discovered by Eric Selberg at Washington University. It used its own search engine syntax and searched over 6 search engines. Dogpile formed at University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania State University measured ranking and overlap of various search engines. This proved to have one of the best results. [3] Advantages More information and search coverage can be achieved by using meta search engines. This helps the user to get faster and accurate results.   The query of the user results is generated in unique ways by using the indexes which are aggregated by search engines. The input effort for a meta search engine and normal search engine are the same but the results retrieved are more. They also reduce the effort of users to type on various search engines to find file and resources. Disadvantages Translation of the query format or understanding the query forms can be an issue in the meta search engine. All the results sets of a query are not given to a user as the links generated from a meta search engine are limited. The links generated are limited. Promoted websites are given higher priority over other websites. It is probable that the user will get multiple results from the search engine. It may not be stream lined. This is especially an issue due to more coverage over the queried topic. The users find it difficult to use meta search. They might not be able to get any precise information. Operation The above figure describes the meta search operation. The search engine receives a query from the user. The key parts are as below: Broker:   The query needs a pre-processing as each search engine has a specific format of the data being fed in. As they depend on different operators and they do not share the same syntax. The output is a series of ordered set documents. Rank: the documents are raked post identifying the result pages and also in the order of the most relevant links. [4] The input query is passed to the search engines database. It creates a virtual database. This helps to combine data from various sources. Duplicates can be generated as various search-engines have different methods of indexing the data. This output data is then processed by the meta-search engine. The revised list is produced for the user. They would respond in the following ways. 1)   Access to the meta-search engine reference is provided which also includes the private access to the database system The changes made on the database system would be captured. 2) In a non-cooperative way, the access to the interface may or may not be provided. 3) Meta search engine is denied access to the search engine. Architecture of ranking Above figure describes the architecture of the meta search engine. It consists of the users query being sent to the meta search engine. It contacts the other search engines its connected to. They process the results and generate resources. These results are then preprocessed and then given back to the meta search engine as a response. This collective response is given to the user. Fusion Fusion is a process for data filtering. It helps to build up efficient results. Collection Fusion Unrelated data is indexed via search engines it is dealt by the Collection Fusion process which is also a distributed retrieval process. Ranking on the data is based on how probable is the data to give the required information to the user. It picks up the best resources and ranks it. The resources which are selected are combined in a list and given to the user. Data Fusion Figure 9: Data Fusion Architecture Above figure give the architectural reference of the Data Fusion. L0: The user information which the sensors and the sources process is given to the fusion algorithm L1: The machine process of converting L0 output and it feeds it to the L1 process L2 L3: The human process of manually marking the retrieved data as relevant or not L4: Resource management layer adds to the sources and the L2/L3 layer providing th necessary feedback L6: The mission management helps to add context to the user query. This is added to the resource management layer L5: Once all the processing through the layers is complete the data is given back to the user. This is fusion mechanism which relies on the common data sets which are retrieved by search engines. The initial ranks are combined into a list. The analysis of the actual ranks of the documents retrieved is calculated. The links of the documents with the highest relevancy score is selected. ComboSum is one of the techniques used to normalize the scores. The scores produced are incomparable as different search engines run on different algorithms. Examples of Meta-Search Engines DeepPeep Figure 10 DeepPeep Snippet Above figure is a snippet for DeepPeet. Public web pages are indexes and expanded by search engine. It does so by search through various public databases. Traditional search engines cannot index by DeepPeep. It also looks to find urls into deep web. IncyWincy Figure 11 Incywincy snippet Above image is Incywincy snippet. It uses many search engines, combines and filters the results. It crawlers more than 200 million pages. It uses its unique algorithm for relevance tests. CompletePlanet Figure 12 Complete Planet Above figure is snippet of Complete Planet. It indexes and crawlers many search engines and special databases which are not public. It is one of the  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   main search engines of the deep web. Other Deep Web search engines include Intute, Infomine, Scirus, Turbo 10. The above figure is the Turbo 10 is a meta search engine snippet. It helps to engineer a universal reference for Deep Net. It refers to topic specific search engines. Google and Yahoo like crawler-based search engines do not use these files. Turbo 10 also lets you add more engines to the collection on which your search query is executed. [7] Pros The positive thing about turbo10 is that it has the ability to connect and maintain connection to online databases in bulk. This provides connecting to thousand engines in a fully automated capability which is scalable to further connect to another thousand. Turbo10 also finds content on deep net. Deep net encompasses multiple databases covering wide range of topics such as business, colleges, government teams. These are not accessible to traditional web engines and google. Traditional search engines are helpful for indexing static pages. Thus a rich experience is provided as we can tap into multiple databases across such a large range of domains, empowering the user. Turbo provides the option of having ten search engines to search from. Unlike other search engine like AskJeeves, that faces drawback of segregating information into different boxes, turbo streamlines the process by proving the result in weighted listing. This makes Turbo10 the ultimate search engine of search engine. Consider the fact that say four search engines are selected, turbo10 does the work of selecting additional six search engines as it deems as best fit. The result set would be based on either relevance or speed. The decision is independent of the search independent of search engine selected. The above reduction of search result occurs by usage of clusters in box on left-hand side. The benefit of having clusters a few time, desired result set is obtained quicker as against advanced searches or logical expression Turbo10 provides a new search paradigm. For a given page, there are ten result lists on a page. These have arrows. Thought this may also be unpopular, this generates hundred results for a given search. The average case being thirty to forty result set being provided as three or four pages are returned. . Google gives lots of options. Unlike Google, Turbo10 simply limits the search results and provides limited result set The main idea is that with Turbo 10, ability to choose search enigne is provided. Whereas say for a particular item through google, we need to keep searching and may find the same at pat a latter page say page forty How is the ability provided to select ten search engines? The task is completed via the web. A collection name is assigned to the ten search engines, mapped to your email. Capability Turbo10 has a vision to emerge as a leader for search engine Plan to use amazon based recommendation algorithms for personalized searching. This would include personalized profile search, providing bookmarking feature an ecosystem to be setup wherein the users profile would interact with other users. Additional browsing options would be generated for users. Revenue model would tap into sponsored web links. These would be flagged licensing of the product to corporates. Cons Tturbo10 faces the drawback of being highly cluttered. Google has lots of white spaces. The search results are not cramped up. Turbo10 is not visually appealing. It has purple colour screen that may not be appealing to all Many times the returned result set is cluttered. Sometimes the result set gets jumbled affecting result set. Additionally, there is no consideration for punctuation marks or logical expressions. Does not have ability to cache information. Due to high demand and expectation, knocked offline. Intense competition with google. The project is based on dark net ecosystem comprising of file sharing mechanisms and meta search engine. Dark net has continuously using evolving technology such as TOR, OnionShare. These help enable provide benefits of being anonymous protecting their identity. Similarly, the website to gets to preserve their anonymity. Dark net serves as a platform of communication to mediate, take decision and share information. These are used by different agencies including government and non-traditional activities such as whistleblowing. Products that are not listed in traditional websites too are available on such platforms. File Sharing approaches save bandwidth by helping sharing information efficiently. Easier to back up information. Fault tolerance is enhanced through decentralized approach part of peer to peer networking. Comparatively there is ease of maintenance over traditional files sharing system. Meta search engines help to get streamlined results from various search engines which helps to improve relevancy of searches. The benefits of dark net also include cross border payments, ensure complete privacy of sender and receiver. There is application in cryptocurrency, digital trading, eliminating middlemen. Set up of hassle free payments independent of weekend or holidays. Benefit of decentralization is control over your content that you want to share. Other advantages include establish net neutrality which means that internet can be used for all and not monopolized. Hence there is a large scope for expansion in dark net space and technology is playing a pivotal role in enhancing its adoption. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internet-deep-web-dark-net-firas-saras [2] https://sysinfotools.com/blog/peer-to-peer-file-sharing/ [3] http://www.spiroprojects.com/blog/cat-view-more.php?blogname=What-is-file-sharing-system?id=262 [4] https://www.howtogeek.com/275875/what-is-the-dark-web/ [5] https://darkwebnews.com/anonymity/some-ways-to-share-files-anonymously/ [6] Johan Andersson Gabriel Ledung, Darknet file sharing application of a private peer-to-peer distributed file system concept [7] http://techdiction.blogspot.com/2007/01/turbo-10-search-deep-net.html URL  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Uniform Resource Locator TORThe Onion Router UDPUser Datagram ProtocolDTHdistributed hash table WWWWorldwide web