Organ Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Organ Report - Assignment Example The rate of blood flow is 1.5 litres per min. it possess diverse cells such as 70-80% hepatocytes, sinusoidal epithelial cells, kupffer cells, hepatic stellate cells. The essay seeks to dig out the anatomy, physiology and the relationship between the liver and other organs in the body. The liver plays a key role in digestion process through the production of bile. The cells responsible for bile production are the hepatocytes. Food contain fats stimulates the duodenum to secrete cholecystokinin, which in turn stimulates the gall bladder to release bile. Bile emulsifies fats for the ease of digestion process (Mitra & Metcalf 2009). Additionally, the Kupffer cells are involved chiefly in breaking down all the worn out red blood cells. Furthermore, it stores iron after the erythrocytes are broken down (Campbell 2006). The metabolic function of the liver encompasses breaking down carbohydrates, proteins and lipids into useful body materials (Vainer et al. 2008). Carbohydrates are broken down into monosaccharaides, fatty acids metabolised to produce ATP, while proteins break down to amino acids. The detoxification process involves removal of dangerous components inclusion of drugs and the rest of inactive metabolites. Moreover, the liver has a high potential in storage of essential nutrients, minerals and vitamin. It also produces vital body proteins such as pro-thrombin, albumins and fibrinogen. Most significantly, it acts as an organ contributing to the immune system via sinusoids containing Kupffer cells, a form of macrophages, phagocytic in nature. The Kuppfer cells capture and auto digest fungi, bacteria, worn out cells and other debris (Thomson et al. 2002). The stomach receives and stores food as they await digestion. It does initiates the proteins digestion process, and propels food down to pass through the duodenum. The gastric secretions initiates digestion process, while pepsin

Internet banking Essay Example for Free

Internet banking Essay Internet is rapidly turning out to be a tool of world wide communication. The increasing use of Internet earlier promoted producers and entrepreneurs to sell their products online. It has also become an important source of information and knowledge. Due to this, many banking and finance organizations have come up with the idea of Internet banking or online banking. What is Internet Banking Internet banking can be defined as a facility provided by banking and financial institutions, that enable the user to execute bank related transactions through Internet. The biggest advantage of Internet banking is that people can expend the services sitting at home, to transact business. Due to which, the account holder does not have to personally visit the bank. With the help of Internet banking many transactions can be executed by the account holder. When small transactions like balance inquiry, record of recent transaction, etc. are to be processed, the Internet banking facility proves to be very handy. The concept of Internet banking has thus become a revolution in the field of banking and finance. Brief History of Internet Banking The concept of Internet banking has been simultaneously evolving with the development of the world wide web. Programmers working on banking data bases came up with ideas for online banking transactions, some time during the 1980s. The creative process of development of these services were probably sparked off after many companies started the concept of online shopping. The online shopping promoted the use of credit cards through Internet. Many banking organizations had already started creating data ware housing facilities to ease their working staffs. The development of these databases were widely used during the development of ATMs. Sometime in 1980s, banking and finance organizations in Europe and United States started suggestive researches and programming experiments on the concept of home banking. Initially in the 80s when computers and Internet were not so well-developed, home banking basically made use of fax machines and telephones to facilitate their customers. The widespread of Internet and programming facilities created further opportunities for development of home banking. In 1983, the Nottingham Building Society, commonly abbreviated and referred to as the NBS, launched the first Internet banking service in United Kingdom. This service formed the basis for most of the Internet banking facilities that followed. This facility was not very well-developed and restricted the number of transactions and functions that account holders could execute. The facility introduced by Nottingham Building Society is said to have been derived from a system known as Prestel, that is deployed by the postal service department of United Kingdom. The first online banking service in United States was introduced, in October 1994. The service was developed by Stanford Federal Credit Union, which is a financial institution. The online banking services are becoming more and more prevalent due to the well-developed systems. Though there are pros and cons of electronic cash, it has become a revolution that is enhancing the banking sector. Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/history-of-internet-banking.html

Harlem Renaissance :: American America History

Harlem Renaissance During the 1920's, the spiritual, social, and literary eagerness that raced through Harlem could be called the most important period of self-discovery in African-American history after the Civil War. Black literature went through a tremendous outbreak in Harlem, which is a district of New York City. In the middle of the changing atmosphere, a small group of black men and women began a public relations campaign to promote what they called the "New Negro" movement. While these men and women promoted art and literature, they were credited with starting much more than just and intellectual movement. This movement included poetry and writing, which forever changed the African-American lifestyle into a unique and more educated culture. As the African American culture expanded their horizon, and viewed passed the obstacles and barriers that were set by other ethnic groups, many families migrated to the northern cities, including New York City. Harlem was a magical, transforming place then, and that was especially true for the forsaken civilians who went to New York in search of a greater opportunity. Many believe, the Harlem Renaissance truly began, when W.E.B. Dubois, editor of "The Crisis magazine" published "The Souls of Black Folks". He stated that "One ever feels two-ness-and American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn as under". There was an immediate reaction, it was clear that literature was definitely one art form that could bring the black culture together. Even though slavery had been abolished 75 years earlier, were still able to relate to racism. For the first time, African Americans felt open minded, and in which their creativity strongly impacted every field of art and entertainment. They viewed poetry and writing as a form of expression, as a form of freedom and escape during the troubled life that many lived. As more and more people moved into Harlem, the job opportunities became larger. People felt confident and took greater risks. They often wrote about alienation and their own life stories, which were directed mostly to African American people and the third world of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Very few became successful and flourish in every literary area. "The decade just past was the oleomargarine era of Negro writing," Hurston said (editor of "Opportunity" magazine). "Oleomargarine is the fictionalized form of butter. Harlem Renaissance :: American America History Harlem Renaissance During the 1920's, the spiritual, social, and literary eagerness that raced through Harlem could be called the most important period of self-discovery in African-American history after the Civil War. Black literature went through a tremendous outbreak in Harlem, which is a district of New York City. In the middle of the changing atmosphere, a small group of black men and women began a public relations campaign to promote what they called the "New Negro" movement. While these men and women promoted art and literature, they were credited with starting much more than just and intellectual movement. This movement included poetry and writing, which forever changed the African-American lifestyle into a unique and more educated culture. As the African American culture expanded their horizon, and viewed passed the obstacles and barriers that were set by other ethnic groups, many families migrated to the northern cities, including New York City. Harlem was a magical, transforming place then, and that was especially true for the forsaken civilians who went to New York in search of a greater opportunity. Many believe, the Harlem Renaissance truly began, when W.E.B. Dubois, editor of "The Crisis magazine" published "The Souls of Black Folks". He stated that "One ever feels two-ness-and American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn as under". There was an immediate reaction, it was clear that literature was definitely one art form that could bring the black culture together. Even though slavery had been abolished 75 years earlier, were still able to relate to racism. For the first time, African Americans felt open minded, and in which their creativity strongly impacted every field of art and entertainment. They viewed poetry and writing as a form of expression, as a form of freedom and escape during the troubled life that many lived. As more and more people moved into Harlem, the job opportunities became larger. People felt confident and took greater risks. They often wrote about alienation and their own life stories, which were directed mostly to African American people and the third world of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Very few became successful and flourish in every literary area. "The decade just past was the oleomargarine era of Negro writing," Hurston said (editor of "Opportunity" magazine). "Oleomargarine is the fictionalized form of butter.

Hinduism vs. Buddhism :: essays research papers

Hinduism and Buddhism are the two main religions of Ancient India. Both religions share common beliefs and have their differences. Some differences are the gods worshiped, the founders of the religions and the holy books worshiped. Both religions are similar and different at the same time. In the Hindu religion, the founder was not one person alone. Hinduism was developed over 3500 years ago by the Aryans. The Hindu religion was developed around the caste system. Important books of the Hindu religion are the Vedas. The Hindus are polytheistic, or they believe in many Gods. The caste system was the social class of India. At the top of the caste system were the Brahmins or the priests. Below them were the warriors followed by the merchants, the farm workers and lastly the untouchables. Some goals of the Hindus are to reach Moksha, or to be free of the caste system. The Hindu religion had many priests and religious rituals. Hinduism is still important and followed by people in India today. In the Buddhism religion, there was only one founder. The founder was the Siddhartha Gantina. Siddhartha founded Buddhism in 560 B.C. Buddhists rejected the caste system. Instead they focused on individuals. Important books of the Buddhist religion are the Triptakas. Buddhists have no Gods. They believed if you follow the Four Nobile Truths and the Eight Fold Path, you will live a great life. Buddhism is important throughout Asia, but there are few followers of Buddhism in India today. Hinduism and Buddhism share some beliefs as well. Both religions told people to live moral lives. People tried to live non-violent lives, or ahimsa. Both religions accepted reincarnation, which is the belief that after someone passes away, their soul, comes back to life in another body. The goal was to be united with an all powerful, spiritual force. They both thought animals were sacred.

A character analysis of john irving’s novel ‘a prayer for owen meany Essay

Applying to the theme of religious faith and personal fate in his famous novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving discusses this crucial issue through the narrator John Wheelwright whose unusual understanding of God and extreme political views uncover inner doubts of people in relation to Christianity. In this regard, John Wheelwright is portrayed as a person who is lost in his wrong worship and who is destroyed by his obsession of his closest friend Owen Meany, failing to find the true meaning of his life. In the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany John Wheelwright, the offspring of the noble family, uncovers the story of his upbringing, religious faith and his relations with Owen Meany who is usually treated by the narrator as a symbol of Christianity. In fact, John’s belief in God is based not on his faith, but on his belief in Owen Meany. As the narrator claims at the beginning of the novel, â€Å"I am a Christian because of Owen Meany. I make no claims to have a life in Christ, or with Christ – and certainly not for Christ, which I’ve heard some zealots claim† (Irving 1). John acknowledges that he has no profound knowledge of the Bible, although he regularly visits the Church and is used to repeat some passages from this Holy book. Such a contradictory attitude towards Christian religion reveals inner doubts of John, his inability to accept all religious dogmas created by the Church and his attempts to form his own belief. This is especially obvious from the following words of John Wheelwright: â€Å"†¦ but every study of the gods, of everyone’s gods, is a revelation of vengeance toward the innocent (This is a part of my particular faith that meets with opposition from my Congregationalist and Episcopalian and Anglican friends)† (Irving 7). Thus, the narrator eliminates some wrong assumptions of Christianity, substituting them with his own concepts and demonstrating his ironical attitude towards the existing images of gods. Applying to such a portrayal of the principal character, Irving makes an attempt to show that a person’s fate depends on his/her actions and his/her ability to critically evaluate social and religious systems of the modern world. But despite his acquired wisdom, John is unable to accept reality; instead he constantly returns to the past, failing to accept the changes that occur in the present. As John Wheelwright rightfully states, â€Å"Your memory is a monster; you forget – it doesn’t. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you – and summons them to your recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you! † (Irving 35). As a result, in his middle age John appears to occupy a neutral position in life, while his friend Owen Meany is overwhelmed with powerful emotions and energy in his religious activity. Despite the fact that John claims to believe in God, he also expresses anger towards his religious faith and opposes Regan ruling. John is greatly influenced by Owen, but deep inside he is not able to decide whether there is God or not; it is this doubt that makes John claim at the end of the novel: â€Å"watch out for people who call themselves religious; make sure you know what they mean – make sure they know what they mean† (Irving 572). The writer intentionally repeats the phrase two times to intensify the meaning of the whole narration and to reveal the importance of a personal choice; John is so influenced by Owen’s faith that he is not able to overcome the limitations of Christian dogmas and seek his own understanding of some crucial issues of existence. On the other hand, inner doubts of the narrator contribute to the formation of such negative traits as self loss and indecisiveness in him. As John Wheelwright points out in the letter to Owen, â€Å"You’re always telling me I don’t have any faith†¦ Well – don’t you see – that’s a part of what makes me so indecisive. I wait to see what will happen next – because I don’t believe that anything I might decide to do would matter† (Irving 504). Perhaps, John’s childhood experience results in his self loss and his unusual worship of Owen; the narrator constantly wants to find out the truth about his father, but mother’s death deprives John of this opportunity. Simultaneously, John losses both his parents and long-expected truth, hoping that somehow God in the face of Owen will give him the clue to his birth. However, as John becomes older, he finds it impossible to blindly follow everything that he believed in youth; for instance, when at the end of the narration Mr. Meany tells that Owen appeared as a result of a virgin birth and, thus, was similar to Christ, John expresses doubts as to this news. In fact, throughout the novel the narrator makes an attempt to overcome his doubts and understand the essence of religion, but he fails to find an appropriate balance between his doubts and his religious belief. The death of Owen relieves John of the necessity to differentiate between two excesses. However, John Wheelwright still has to decide whether to believe in the existence of God or not, but the novel ends without this answer. The narrator’s ambiguity intensifies the narration, revealing that John is psychologically destroyed by certain events of his life. Although John tells the story of another person, he implicitly expresses his views on some religious and political issues, demonstrating his inability to overcome the events that occurred with him in the past. Searching for his identity, John tries to explain his profound relations with Owen and his unusual religious faith, but his explanation is rather complicated. John makes an attempt to understand Owen and his belief in God, but everything that the narrator manages to achieve is intricacy. As John claims at the end of the novel, â€Å"How could Owen Meany have known what he ‘knew’? It’s no answer, of course, to believe in accidents, or in coincidences; but is God really a better answer? † (Irving 571). Thus, on the one hand, the narrator challenges the necessity to believe in God, but, on the other hand, John Wheelwright continues to pray for Owen Meany’s resurrection. To some extent, John explains this ambiguity at the beginning of the narration: â€Å"I was baptized in the Congregational Church, and after some years of fraternity with the Episcopalian†¦ I became rather weak in my religion: in my teens I attended a non-denomination church. Then I became an Anglican† (Irving 1). The variety of churches that John attended contributed to John’s inability to choose; this inability concerns not only his religious views, but also his political and social concepts. John believes in God only in view of Owen’s religious belief, he criticizes political leaders and their actions through Owen’s understanding of political events. As John remembers, â€Å"The only way you can get Americans to notice anything is to tax them or draft them or kill them, Owen said† (Irving 431). John’s life appears to be closely connected with Owen’s life and ideas, and after Owen’s death, Johns finds it difficult to live. Although John builds new life in Canada, finds an interesting job and constantly visits church, he feels that he lacks something important, the sense of life that he had while Owen was alive. In his middle age the narrator has no family and no sexual relations with women; he criticizes Iran scandal and the Vietnam War. His worship of Owen destroys John’s personality, depriving him of the possibility to create a personal life; as John admits, â€Å"I make no claims to be especially pious; I have a church-rummage faith – the kind that needs patching up every weekend. What faith I have I owe to Owen Meany, a boy I grew up with. It is Owen who made me a believer† (Irving 2). Throughout the narration Irving implicitly shows that such worship may be dangerous for a person, especially if it is formed in early childhood and youth; this childhood worship may destroy a person in adulthood. As John narrates of his early years and of his present life, he simultaneously reveals various psychological problems; he is a person who is unable to adjust to the existing political and social life in Canada, rejecting his status as an American citizen. The narrator is not able to find his true self, because he chooses wrong paths and wrong ways, although, contrary to Owen, he belongs to a well-known family that lives in New Hampshire. According to John, â€Å"I was a Wheelwright – that was the family name that counted in our town: the Wheelwrights† (Irving 6). However, growing up in a rather unconventional family, John follows the faith chosen by his best friend Owen, but his belief in God is different from Owen’s belief. John believes in a person who embodies God, but not in God, and this personification deprives John of the possibility to find true faith that will help him to overcome his inner problems. John’s criticism of Regan ruling is based on the fact of Owen’s death rather than on any specific political ideology. He does not want to accept Owen’s death and he implicitly accuses American government in his friend’s death. This oddness of the narrator is exposed to harsh satire by Irving who reveals the impact of worship on the behavior and thinking of John Wheelwright. Other characters of the novel explain John’s psychological problems as a result of his complex childhood: â€Å"You keep doing that and you’ll make yourself sterile’, said my cousin Hester, to whom every event of our shared childhood was either sexually exhilarating or sexually damaging† (Irving 54). Thus, Irving applies to some aspects of psychoanalysis in his portrayal of John, trying to find several explanations of his unusual behavior. John’s childhood experience and especially his ambiguous religious faith transform the narrator into a cripple. As John moves to Canada, he leads a secluded life there, working as a teacher of English, but being obsessed with his thoughts and recollections. John’s criticism of social and political life conceals his anger as to Owen’s death; although he accuses American government and God in this tragedy, he hurts himself for this death. Being a virgin in his middle age, the narrator reveals powerful emotions only when he reads some facts about crimes in the United States, as if seeking relief in the news that manage to suppress his pain. However, nothing can give John a hope after Owen’s death; his friendship with Owen was so prolonged and so strong that John continued to feel the presence of Owen. Even after death Owen influences John and controls all his actions, although only on a spiritual level. John Wheelwright believes in Owen’s support as if Owen is God; in fact, the narrator identifies Owen with an image of God, hoping that one day they will meet again. When Owen implicitly helps him to find his father and his identity, John is convinced of Owen’s divine origin, feeling that â€Å"Owen Meany was very near† (Irving 542). The mystery of his birth troubles the narrator, he is in search of various ways to find out the truth, because he feels that he is not able to lead a normal life without recognizing his origin. John’s faith in Owen is so powerful that he believes that Owen saves his life several times throughout the narration. Owen is John’s closest friend, despite the fact that Owen is the reason of the death of John’s mother. Creating a new life in Canada, John constantly thinks how Owen would act in various circumstances. In this regard, Irving demonstrates that John’s faith in Owen is intensified after Owen’s death; John is unable to forget a person who accompanied and supported him for many years. Through Owen, John tries to find answers to some crucial issues of existence. In his early years John makes constant attempts to repeat everything after his friend; however, he feels that he is not able to be like Owen, although he admires him. In his adulthood John also follows Owen’s advice, moving to Canada and finding a place in the Bishop Strachan High School. Thus, it is Owen who controls John’s fate, considering that he has such a right. Applying to a rather prosaic speech, the narrator contrasts himself to Owen and his inner power. The narrator even emphasizes Owen’s words throughout the novel, trying to prove Owen’s greatness and his impact on John’s personality. Owen’s authority is explicitly vivid, as the novel progresses, but Owen dies, failing to realize that, to some extent, his influence on John possesses some negative features. The fact is that faith inspired by Owen in the heart of John destroys the narrator, because this faith is a label that is not able to provide the character with real belief and understanding of the world around him. John appears to depend much on Owen, being unable to lead an independent life and experiencing considerable insecurity. When John has to take a decision, he applies to Owen for advice or simply evaluates something from Owen’s point of view. After Owen’s death John starts to believe that there are no coincidences in this world, everything is predestined; the similar words are expressed by Owen when he was alive: â€Å"Owen Meany believed that ‘coincidence’ was a stupid, shallow refuge sought by stupid, shallow people who were unable to accept the fact that their lives were shaped by a terrifying and awesome design† (Irving 186). However, following Owen’s thoughts, John Wheelwright ignores the profound understanding of the occurred events; although he accepts the fact of his mother’s death from the hands of Owen, he does not want to think why God punishes him in such a way. John seems to be the only person who has such a strong belief in Owen and in miracles that are connected with him. In this regard, the narrator evokes sympathy, because his wrong worship saved him only in early years. In adulthood he experiences discomfort over many things; although John claims to believe in God, he does not really understand the essence of Christian religion. Although he criticizes some political events, he does nothing to change the situation; for instance, he prefers to injure himself to avoid taking part in Vietnam War. The narrator is afraid of being destroyed by this War, but in reality he is destroyed by Owen. Throughout the narration John expresses contradictory viewpoints as to certain aspects of life; in particular, at the beginning of the novel he tells that faith should not be based on any miracles, but finally he accepts these miracles as an integral part of his own faith. Despite the fact that John constantly cites some passages from the Bible, he admits that he does not really know this Holy book; he simply wants to support the ideas of Owen with these passages. Thus, the narrator does not sincerely believe in God and he does not take part in any social or political activity. John Wheelwright lives in his own secluded world, keeping other people out of this world and believing only in Owen. John’s faith is intertwined with inner doubts, and faith can not survive if these doubts are not suppressed. True faith is based on trust, but Owen expresses the contrary idea that evokes doubts in the narrator. According to Owen, â€Å"That isn’t exactly what faith is†¦ I don’t believe everything that pops into my head – faith is a little more selective than that† (Irving 472). In fact, John does not realize his dependence on Owen until Owen’s death, he does not realize his weakness, and he has to face the consequences of his ignorance. As the narrator writes to Owen, â€Å"What good does it do to make whatever decision you’re talking about? What good does courage do – when what happens next is up for grabs? † (Irving 504). As a result of his dependence on Owen, John is afraid of life, he is afraid of any changes that may destroy his little world. Growing up with Owen in New Hampshire, John feels that this friendship is the only thing that supports him throughout his life. The narrator is not able to broaden his horizons and find other interesting things; his strange worship prevents him from finding the true meaning of life. John’s life is reflected in Owen’s life, thus, despite the fact that Owen and John share the similar life principles, their ways of life are different, as John has no personal life, he simply makes an attempt to resemble Owen. Contrary to Owen who manages to find the goal in life, John is unable to understand his own predestination. The narrator lives in the light of Owen, failing to find his own light; as a result, his life is spiritually destroyed after Owen’s death. Although John brings up some life issues, he is not able to understand what is crucial in his own life. Thus, at the end of the narration John turns to prayers, as if hoping to find solace in them, to find the meaning of his further life, but he is still full of doubts that prevent him from accepting reality. Although John Wheelwright is already an adult, to some extent, he remains a little boy who is in search of comfort and understanding and who needs another person to guide him through life. With Owen’s death, John collides with inner conflicts, concerning his faith. Perhaps, these conflicts can be explained by the fact that absolute faith created by Owen Meany is impossible for such persons as John; he is not Owen, although he tries to resemble him. John’s upbringing and life experience are different from that of Owen’s, thus John fails to fully believe in the things believed by Owen. Due to John’s inner doubts and inability to create a personal life, John usually turns to sarcasm in his evaluation of certain events. Instead of analyzing political or religious issues, the narrator treats them through his personal experience. Thus, John’s insight is restricted by his infirm intellect; the faith that he seems to have does not shed light on the narrator’s life; instead it transforms him into a person who experiences constant pain and obvious displeasure. Unlike Owen who finds power and inspiration in his belief, John is unable to experience the similar inspiration. He appears to be a tool in the hands of Owen who utilizes the narrator to his own liking, persuading John that he is a God’s instrument. It is Owen who performs home tasks for John, it is Owen who makes him receive a major degree in English, it is Owen who saves him from Vietnam and who persuades him to move to Canada. John is so used to this guidance and dependence that he does not realize that Owen manipulates him, depriving John of the possibility to become a mature adult in his middle age. Influenced by Owen, John Wheelwright prefers to keep in the background of Owen’s life, implicitly challenging the issues of true faith. Works Cited Irving, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1990.

Toxicity essays

Toxicity essays Our environment has been bombarded with toxins since the Industrial Revolution. Everything from cigarette smoke to the plastic factory down the road contaminates the air, water, and land causing harm to all living organisms. Monitoring and controlling toxins is the first step to removing them. After more than a century of irresponsible pollution its time that the public takes a look at the truth concerning toxins and the environment. Toxins cause harm to every living organism on the Earth. Toxins can come from things typically considered harmful to the environment such as pesticides to things that one would never consider, like nail polish remover or the insulation used in an attic. The truth is we live in a world full of toxins. A simple concept of toxicology today is that everything is toxic in certain amounts. Therefore, anything in a certain excess can harm you; the trick is to know what that level is. The solubility and mobility of a toxin determine how rapidly and effectively it moves through the environment. The solubility of toxins is typically divided into two groups, those that dissolve readily in water and those that dissolve easier in oil. Water soluble toxins move through the environment and into the body because water is so prevalent. Oil soluble toxins can also be of harm because of the damage that can be done to cell walls and muscle tissue. They also tend to stay in the body longer by being sto red in lipids in the body. The effects of toxins upon humans and animals are astounding. Two environmental issues affecting organisms is bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Bioaccumulation occurs when cells store toxins that are originally dilute but become more concentrated when accumulated. The result is a higher level of toxins within an organism. The problem with bioaccumulation is apparent when carnivores enter the picture. For example, if a fish eats a large amount of plankton but each plankton only has a sm...

Review of the film Eat a bowl of teiasa

Review of the film Eat a bowl of teiasa Introduction Eat a Bowl of Tea is a 1989 film directed by Wayne Wang in a Chinese America setting. It was crafted from a novel by Louis Chu, the novel was by the same name and had been published in 1961. The work is a depiction of the clashes between Chinese culture and way of life and the American ideas existing at the time in Chinatown of the City of New York in the period after the Second World War (Xiangyang, 2004, p. 215). The US immigration laws had been relaxed at the time. It has gained recognition over the years as a significant study in Asian American studies. The focus is on four main characters. They constitute a newly married couple, Ben Loy and Mei Oi, and their respective fathers, Wah Gay and Lee Gong. Russell Wong acted as Ben Loy, Cora Miao as Mei Oi, Victor Wong as Wah Gay and Lau Siu-Ming as Lee Gong. The film’s main comic is the impotence of a bridegroom after tying the knot. He finds himself in conflict with his community’s culture since his ideas don’t match with the community’s way of life. Issues of ethnic identity are brought out while at the same time bringing up light moments (Shu-yan, 1993, p. 99).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Review of the film Eat a bowl of teiasa specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Review The film begins with a Greek chorus, and a noticeably 40s setting. The newly-weds, Ben Loy and Mei Oi are peacefully sleeping when their sleep gets interrupted by the doorbell (Shih, 2001, p.45). It is a prostitute at the door and Loy lies still in bed to conceal his past way of life from his new wife. The story is then taken back, the scene is a gambling joint where Wah Gay and Lee Gong, who are Chinese immigrants and close friends find out that Wah has a son who should settle down and Lee has a marriageable daughter. Both these men’s wives and the daughter, Mei Oi, are in China. These men decide to send Ben back home to marr y Mei. Ben is at first reluctant and sees no sense in this because he’s gotten used to flings with the white prostitutes of New York (Shih, 2001, p.46). He eventually decides to move to China and there he marries Mei and takes her back to New York so they can start a family. All these movements, unfortunately, end up making the young man impotent. Though they made love at the initial times, Mei becomes increasingly frustrated because her conjugal needs are not taken care of. As time goes by, a visitor, Ah Song calls at the couple’s. He flirts with Mei and she gives in. Later, she discovers she is pregnant and knows not who between Ah Song and Ben is responsible; at one time Ben had successfully made love with her. Due to neighborhood embarrassment, the couple moves to Stanton. Even there, however, Mei can’t keep off the urge to see Ah Song and eventually convinces Ben that they move back to New York. The affair between Mei and Ah Song again goes on. Ben decides to retaliate and slices off Ah Song’s ear (Jinqi, 1995, p. 35). Wah Gay and Lee Gong decide to leave that community due to shame. The young couple decides to start anew and move to San Francisco. There Mei gives birth and the new setting enables them to get back on the right track. The film title comes into place here when Ben visits a Chinese herbalist, Dr. Suey, to cure his impotence. Dr. Suey advises him to eat a bowl of tea. Advertising Looking for report on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Even though the tea is thick, black, pungent and hard to ingest, Ben keeps going back (Shih, 2001, p.49). He eventually regained his masculinity, though it is not clear if it is the tea that helped him or it was his change in way of life. Major themes in the film One of the themes coming out is appearance versus reality. At face value, Ben looks like an innocent and righteous man, however, he is concealin g a dented past in the form of promiscuity. The young Mei from China is expected to be faithful to her husband but she does the opposite (Jinqi, 1995, p. 47). Another theme focuses on strains between the old generation and the new generation of the time. The young couple is living in modern-day America but is still under pressure to conform to Chinese traditions. The family and its continuity were still highly regarded at the time. This theme clearly comes out when the two friends Wah Gay and Lee Gong make an arrangement for their children to get married (Jinqi, 1995, p. 48). Conclusion This film is rich in representations whereby Chinese and American cultures clash with one another. For example, the couple’s first time alone in China on screen is against a background of an outdoor illustration of Lost Horizon, a well renowned American film (Shu-yan, 1993, p. 105). When the couple moves to San Francisco to escape embarrassment, well known sights are spread over the surface wi th Chinese music. Eating tea is an illustration of Ben going against the culture and way of life of the Chinese (Xiangyang, 2004, p. 224). It shows Ben’s urge for independence and moving away from his father’s control. Ben’s impotence and inability to continue his lineage is an indication of the inability to bring together Chinese and American ideologies at that time. These include societal expectations, personal wishes and business issues.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Review of the film Eat a bowl of teiasa specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Reference List Jinqi L. (1995). Reading for Historical Specificities: Gender Negotiations in Louis Chus Eat a Bowl of Tea. p.35-51. Shih, D. (2001) â€Å"A Resource Guide to Asian American Literature.† New York: Modern Language Association of America, 45–53. Shu-yan, L. (1993). Otherness and Transformation in Eat a Bowl of Tea and Crossings. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 99-110. Xiangyang, C. (2004) Constructions of Chinese Identity in Eat a Bowl of Tea and Chinese Box. Re-Reading America: Changes and Challenges. Cheltenham: Reardon, 215–26.

Power and Evocation of Horror The Macbeth Witches Chant

Power and Evocation of Horror The Macbeth Witches Chant The witches’ chant in Macbeth is powerful poetry and powerful drama. It derives its power from several features. Among them are the rhymes, the rhythm of the words, the interpolation of a chorus, the increasing complexity of the lines as the poem progresses, and the vivid and horrifying imagery. Shakespeare may have had many aims in this play, some of them as deep as the Protestant/Catholic conflict that was roiling in Elizabethan England, but this particular piece of poetry stands on its own, apart from its historical context.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Power and Evocation of Horror: The Macbeth Witches’ Chant specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The most striking characteristic of the poem upon first reading is the rhyming. As Clugson points out, most of the personae of the play speak their parts in blank verse for most of the time (Clugston, 2010). The appearance of these definite, assertive, unsubt le rhymes in the midst of the heroic declamation sets it apart instantly. The character of the rhymes is heavily constrained. Each line taps out a â€Å"four-beatrhythm†(Wilson, 2002, p. 126). Wilson describes the result as a â€Å"‘drumming insistence’ with a musical effect which is irresistibly conspiratorial, ‘hovering between a ritual and a threat’† (Wilson, 2002, p. 126). This wonderful description captures the feeling of a dance that this poem has evoked for many young people, even if they did not know what issues or events the play addresses. These lines are largely monosyllabic, a feature which, as Kranz notes, makes the iambic pentameter very obvious (Kranz, 2003, p. 346), almost a caricature of itself. The words that Shakespeare chooses for these lines also display what Kranz accurately describes as â€Å"fricative alliteration† (Kranz, 2003, p. 346). This gives the poem a hissing sound, which reinforces the nearly inhuman nat ure of the speakers and the spectral activities they pursue. A poem of equivalent power in using rhythm might be Vachel Lindsay’s The Congo(Lindsay, 1917). The chorus lines demarcate the verses, providing a welcome relief from the insistence of the ingredients list. The chorus also includes all the participants, transforming the poem from a recitation to an incantation, a shared, almost sacramental activity. This pattern is very reminiscent of the versicles/responses in the Christian mass, or the call-and-response of African music. In light of Wilson’s contention that the witches symbolized the Elizabethans’ suppressed and rebellious Catholic gentry (Wilson, 2002, p. 129), the chorus also seems more than a rhythmic change of pace. The altered rhythm makes the lines around the chorus stand out in greater relief. The imagery is where the poem really packs a massive punch. Shakespeare has assembled a collection of ghastly items that retain their power to shock and make us squeamish. This is true even in an era when the reader is quite likely to have a poison tree frog or an endangered tiger on their t-shirt.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Shakespeare manages this by selecting animals that are not our cuddly barnyard friends. These creatures mostly hail from other taxonomic groups and distinctly different modes of life. There are examples of reptiles (adder, blindworm, snake, and lizard), amphibians (newts, toads, and frog), nocturnal mammals (bat), nocturnal birds (owl, or howlet), notochord (shark), and mythical (dragon). The cat appears as a herald of mischief, and the dog appears in the form of its tongue. This latter is one of the most alien body parts of man’s best friend; dogs, after all, only sweat through their tongues. The goat, perhaps the least sympathetic of domestic animals, is represented by its gall, a bitt er and mysterious organ. The reader moves from the more revolting portions of the animal kingdom to the misfits of the human world. The poem lists the offal of the witch, Jew, Tartar and Turk, all despised groups. Jews were discriminated against severely (Campos, 2002), scapegoated even more severely than Catholics (who were in active, violent rebellion (Wilson, 2002, p. 139), and ghettoized. The Tartars were a name to evoke terror, for their ravages, all over Europe. The Turks had threatened Europeans in the Holy Land for centuries. These choices by Shakespeare for his poem, then, were among the most frightening boogeymen of Elizabethan England. Witches were another emerging fear, in an era of religious conflict. The most disturbing image that of the body parts of a poor, demoralized girl’s roadside infanticide being used in witches’ potions is distressing on many levels. Just in this one image, the reader is reminded of the issue of sexual exploitation of women (Wh y is the girl pregnant out of wedlock in the first place?), class oppression (If the father was of the same social class, why did they not simply get married? If the father is of a different social class, what gave him the right to victimize?), hypocrisy in attitudes about sexual behavior (Would a wealthy girl be consigned to this position?). Thus, Shakespeare caps off a gallery of horrors. These imagesmake readers and viewers think of all the things that made people shudder and cringe, from slimy or predatory animals to the Elizabethan world’s version of terrorists. Shakespeare has woven together rhymes that pound, a rhythm that evokes the slow, foreboding dance of the witches, a chorus that brings everyone into the action, and images that retain their power to disturb after all these centuries. I am struck by all, but especially by his deeply upsetting imagery.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Power and Evocation of Horror: The Macbeth Witchesâ€⠄¢ Chant specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Reference List Campos, E. V. ( 2002, Fall). Jews, Spaniards, and Portingales: Ambiguous Identities of Portuguese Marranos in Elizabethan England. Englis Literary History, 69(3), 599-616. doi:E-ISSN:1080-6547. Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into Literature. NY: Bridgepoint. Kranz, D. (2003, Summer). Sounds of Supernatural Soliciting in Macbeth. Studies in Philology, 100(3). Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/4174762?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Lindsay, V. (1917). The Congo. In H. Monroe (Ed.), The New Poetry: An Anthology. Retrieved from https://www.bartleby.com/265/193.html Wilson, R. (2002). The Pilots Thumb: Macbeth and the Jesuits. In T. L. Stories, R. Poole (Ed.), The Lancashire Witches (pp. 126-145). Manchester: Manchester Universiity Press.

What causes recessions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

What causes recessions - Essay Example By definition, a recession refers to a two or more consecutive quarters of a general decline in economic activity [gross domestic product] (Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel and Macpherson 171). Generally a precursor of a depression, a recession is comparatively less severe but with almost similar dramatic economic effects.   While the numerous past recessions appear unique in terms of origin, all are preceded by the Greenspan’s irrational exuberance that unduly escalates asset values (5). To be sure, there is no one single cause of a recession (Simpson 12-13). Economists are in agreement that while a significant event in a particular sector with notable economic effects may be a trigger, a number of factors often come into play to magnify economic contraction into a visible catastrophe. Accordingly, the causes are categorized into two: the demand side shocks that hit one or various components of the aggregate demand [AD] and the supply-side shocks that affect the short-run aggregate supply, inflation [through cost push], investments and business profits. According to the demand side economics, a recession can be triggered by one or a combination of: an economic slump of a major trading partner, which may be a country or region/an economic block [such as the EU]; a credit crunch driven by the inab ility of the financial institutions to meet lending requirements of households and businesses or conscious cutting back of credit through abnormally raised interest rates on loans; a sharp fall or total collapse of crucial asset prices [such as property prices]; and a trade imbalance prompted by an abnormal appreciation of the exchange rate (Tatom 2). On the other hand, the supply recession-causing shocks include: increasing international oil prices that subsequently translate into increased cost of production [through the oil costs

Question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Question - Assignment Example On the other hand, informal rule making procedures occur in instances whereby an agency publishes legislative procedures or rule making is consistent with the authority delegated by the Congress (Burrows and Garvey). According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the ad substantial rule seeks to maintain a marketplace that was free of any unfair and deceptive practices or acts in which advertisement of products was factual and truthful. Conversely, the corrective advertising rule is a remedy to prevent future misleading beliefs existing in the public due to past deceptive advertisements (Pelgro 938). Known as EIS, this document provides for the description of the impacts on the environment because of a proposed action. It also provides for the impacts of alternative impacts and plans to make the alternative impacts less severe or remove the negative impacts. In order to meet the threshold of an EIS, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) regulations require a detailed discussion of the proposed action and provision of a range of alternatives that were reasonable (Depleted UF). Companies and individuals will engage in speech with intent of making a profit. This speech is commercial speech, and it is economic in nature with an intention of convincing people to participate a particular action. Conversely, the intent of noncommercial speech is not economical. In effect, the commercial speech has a limited measure of protection in comparison to noncommercial speech (Delta and Matsuura). The commercial clause, which is a definite article in the constitution of the US, confers the Congress with the power to regulate commercial activities with foreign countries, between several states, and with the Indian Tribes (â€Å"The Commercial Clause†). The main advantage of the commercial clause was its nature in ensuring that Congress regulated trade and commerce, which was not the case prior

How have African-Americans Worked to End Segregation, Discrimination, Research Paper

How have African-Americans Worked to End Segregation, Discrimination, and Isolation to Attain Equality and Civil Rights - Research Paper Example Various methods have been evident in this struggle with others being dropped because of their incapability to address their needs. Most of these methods have worked and they have contributed to the success of the liberation of the black population from the discriminatory practices of the whites. There are various methods and tactics that were used to achieve equality and end discrimination and isolation especially after the end of civil war in America. The most common were based on two philosophies and were seen as very effective in achieving their intended outcomes. But, as we shall see, these methods emerged as ineffective and other tactics had to be thought of to help in the struggle. The first method or philosophy was based on Booker T. Washington ideas who advocated for the philosophy of accommodation (Dautrich, Yalof, Prindle, Newell, & Shomaker, 2010). This philosophy promoted vocational training for the African American’s and was against the aspect of confrontation wit h the white power structure that was in place in the post-civil war America. He believed that the practice of thrift, industry and Christian morality will eventually earn the blacks their rights (Sitkoff & Franklin, 2008). This was a very passive approach to dealing with the various problems that they faced as black American’s but Washington urged them to accept the current conditions of the state. He urged them to even tolerate racial segregation and other forms of discrimination. According to Washington and his philosophy it was only through engaging in law abiding practices and standing by their former white oppressors that the black American’s would get prepared for the exercise of the franchise. He said in his speech at the opening of the Atlanta Exposition on September 18, 1895 in all things that are purely social they could separate just as the five fingers, but remain united as the hand to all things that are essential to the mutual progress (Sitkoff H. , 2010) . According to various authors this philosophy of struggle fit well in the within the then dominant conservative political and economic structures of the time. His critics on the other hand saw Washington as accepting second class citizenship for his race. The speech especially symbolized his acquiescence to segregation and the erosion of Black’s rights (Korstad, 2008). Washington’s philosophy continued to influence people to avoid confrontation and only engage in peaceful activities but this stretched the people to the limit with the various discriminatory practices that were seen as continuing to be stringent (Peterson, 2003). This was evident keeping in mind that there was no other person that could help the Black Americans to advocate for their rights as the only person who was of great help Frederick Douglas died in 1895 and so they had to adopt this philosophy of self-help (Peterson, 2003). The second philosophy was in contrary to the above passive philosophy of accommodation. The agitation philosophy urged the African Americans to challenge the discriminatory practices that were affecting their lives such as racial segregation and injustice through various forms of political activity. The person that is most accredited for supporting this philosophy is W.E. B. Du Bois (Dautrich, Yalof, Prindle, Newell, & Shomaker, 2010). During the early 20th century, he and his colleagues proposed a specific platform

Philosophy High School Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophy High School - Essay Example This is usually translated as the Way. But it's hard to say exactly what this means. The Tao is the ultimate creative principle of the universe. All things are unified and connected in The Tao. Taoism is a religion of unity and opposites; Yin and Yang. The principle of Yin Yang sees the world as filled with complementary forces - action and non-action, light and dark, hot and cold, and so on.3 The common view of Daoism is that it encourages people to live with detachment and calm, resting in non-action and smiling at the vicissitudes of the world. Contrary to this common view, Daoists through the ages have developed various forms of community and proposed numerous sets of behavioral guidelines and texts on ethical considerations. Beyond the ancient philosophers, who are well-known for the moral dimension of their teachings, religious Daoist rules cover both ethics, i.e., the personal values of the individual, and morality, i.e., the communal norms and social values of the organization. They range from basic moral rules against killing, stealing, lying, and sexual misconduct through suggestions for altruistic thinking and models of social interaction to behavioral details on how to bow, eat, and wash, as well as to the unfolding of universal ethics that teach people to think like the Dao itself. About eighty texts in the Daoist canon and its supplements describe such guide lines and present the ethical and communal principles of the Daoist religion. They document just to what degree Daoist realization is based on how one lives one's life in interaction with the community-family, religious group, monastery, state, and cosmos. Ethics and morality, as well as the creation of community, emerge as central in the Daoist religion. Livia Kohn, Cosmos and Community Taoist ethics are concerned less with doing good acts than becoming a good person who lives in harmony with all things and people.4 Taoist ethics are inseparable from Taoist spirituality - both contain the same ideas. If a Taoist wants to live well they should take all their decisions in the context of the Tao, trying to see what will fit best with the natural order of things. Taoists thus always do what is required by events and their context, but they only do what is required, no more. But what is required may be a lot less than modern Westerners think: From the perspective of classical Taoism, Western humanism makes the mistake of assuming that the ability to intervene in life's events translates into a moral duty to do so. The constant and unmistakable teaching of the Tao Te Ching is that humans are indeed capable of intervening in life's events, but the evidence of life, which humans constantly ignore, is that such intervention is destructive to all involved, and that we therefore have a moral duty to refrain from taking such actions. Russell Kirkland, Responsible non-action in a natural world So, in theory at least, Taoists tend not to initiate action - but wait for events to make action necessary - and avoid letting their own desires and compulsions push them into doing things. In practice Taoism recommends the same sorts of moral behavior to its followers as other religions. It disapproves of killing, stealing

Business intelligence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Business intelligence - Essay Example lped shape firms business strategy as cross-functional and global processes that help business activities to be conducted across boundaries of time, distance, and function (El Sawy et al, 2013). The authors argue that digital technologies cannot be separated from businesses because it helps firms operate in distinct forms of dynamic capabilities relevant for difficult environments. In addition, digital technologies are reshaping the structure of social interaction in both the enterprise and consumer space with social sites and social media easing the means of interaction. The author wants to make it clear that digital technologies have introduced new trends in business strategy (El Sawy et al, 2013). They include emergence of huge information, pervasive connection between businesses and customers, enhanced price, growth of cloud computing and international supply chains. The author observes that digital business strategy has led to emergence of new organization shifts such as trans-functional role for information technology, increased knowledge with information technology and limitation of old business models. Furthermore, the emergence of digital business strategy has resulted in digitization of services and products and data or information around them (El Sawy et al, 2013). This incorporates the design of services and products with other related platforms using digital resources. The increase in speed of digital business strategy makes firms to reason about time and distance in significant

Philosophy High School Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophy High School - Essay Example This is usually translated as the Way. But it's hard to say exactly what this means. The Tao is the ultimate creative principle of the universe. All things are unified and connected in The Tao. Taoism is a religion of unity and opposites; Yin and Yang. The principle of Yin Yang sees the world as filled with complementary forces - action and non-action, light and dark, hot and cold, and so on.3 The common view of Daoism is that it encourages people to live with detachment and calm, resting in non-action and smiling at the vicissitudes of the world. Contrary to this common view, Daoists through the ages have developed various forms of community and proposed numerous sets of behavioral guidelines and texts on ethical considerations. Beyond the ancient philosophers, who are well-known for the moral dimension of their teachings, religious Daoist rules cover both ethics, i.e., the personal values of the individual, and morality, i.e., the communal norms and social values of the organization. They range from basic moral rules against killing, stealing, lying, and sexual misconduct through suggestions for altruistic thinking and models of social interaction to behavioral details on how to bow, eat, and wash, as well as to the unfolding of universal ethics that teach people to think like the Dao itself. About eighty texts in the Daoist canon and its supplements describe such guide lines and present the ethical and communal principles of the Daoist religion. They document just to what degree Daoist realization is based on how one lives one's life in interaction with the community-family, religious group, monastery, state, and cosmos. Ethics and morality, as well as the creation of community, emerge as central in the Daoist religion. Livia Kohn, Cosmos and Community Taoist ethics are concerned less with doing good acts than becoming a good person who lives in harmony with all things and people.4 Taoist ethics are inseparable from Taoist spirituality - both contain the same ideas. If a Taoist wants to live well they should take all their decisions in the context of the Tao, trying to see what will fit best with the natural order of things. Taoists thus always do what is required by events and their context, but they only do what is required, no more. But what is required may be a lot less than modern Westerners think: From the perspective of classical Taoism, Western humanism makes the mistake of assuming that the ability to intervene in life's events translates into a moral duty to do so. The constant and unmistakable teaching of the Tao Te Ching is that humans are indeed capable of intervening in life's events, but the evidence of life, which humans constantly ignore, is that such intervention is destructive to all involved, and that we therefore have a moral duty to refrain from taking such actions. Russell Kirkland, Responsible non-action in a natural world So, in theory at least, Taoists tend not to initiate action - but wait for events to make action necessary - and avoid letting their own desires and compulsions push them into doing things. In practice Taoism recommends the same sorts of moral behavior to its followers as other religions. It disapproves of killing, stealing

Biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Biology - Essay Example Before choosing whether to save seeds the farmer is expected to determine whether the seed is crossable with other seeds, in order to come up with new plants, that have an increased productivity, and their products are more refined. E. O. Wilson (n.pag.) in his presentation notes that the little organisms compose the foundation of the earth’s ecosystem. But, in addition, he states that the various organisms in the ecosystem relate closely to each other to come up with a stable and balanced ecosystem. Notably, the ecosystem would not exist if only one type of organisms existed. According to E. O. Wilson (n.pag.) , most of the organisms have not been discovered, though presently the scientists are making numerous attempts to find them. He reiterates that smaller organisms are the most important creatures, since they drive the ecosystem. The nematode worms are an example of these organisms. Their increased numbers enable them to effectively influence significant aspects of the en vironment. According to the research, E. O. Wilson (n.pag.) acknowledges that there are more than 5 million species in one ton of soil. He states categorically that scientists are not sure of the role that various organisms play, though they are convinced that they influence the form of the environment in a positive way. There are various organisms found such as algae and disease causing organisms. Some of the disease causing organisms include the bacteria, while some of them are harmful, the others are important to man. According to E. O. Wilson (n.pag.) there are more than 500 organisms that are found in the man’s bucal cavity. He also states that if a closer analysis is made, then someone might notice some microorganisms have their origin far from the earth, basically these organisms are aliens. E. O. Wilson (n.pag.) states that most organisms are very susceptible to various harsh conditions in the biosphere. Though human beings have made attempts to eliminate the organism s due to their harmful nature, they have not been successful. The various harmful practices that man engages in, and that threaten the survival of the organisms include: the habitat destruction such as the climate change, invasive species such as pathogenic bacteria, pollution, human population expansion, and overharvesting which leads to the extinction of certain organisms. E. O. Wilson (n.pag.) mentions that if such practices are not stopped, a half of the organisms will be eliminated within the next century. Some of the limitations that can be felt if some of the organisms are eliminated include the loss of important scientific research materials, a lack of environmental stability, and also the disappearance of some pharmaceutical products, thus, affecting wealth, security and the health in general. E. O. Wilson (n.pag.) acknowledges that the earth is on the edge of losing important scientific information and may lose various organisms even before discovering them. According to t he USA research statistics only 15% of the total organisms on the earth have been discovered. Hence, he proposes that human beings ought to preserve the environment and, at the same time, access the encyclopedia of life, which basically contains various organisms found on earth. It advocates that human beings should search for a new life, understand it, and help to preserve it. Vandana Shiva is an anti-GMO activist who advocates

My Achievements and Inspirations Essay Example for Free

My Achievements and Inspirations Essay Education does not stop after graduating in college. It actually starts once a person realizes that it should be innate until the last years of his or her life as it would ultimately become one of the treasures that we can keep in old age. I was born on July 19, 1983 in Lahore, Pakistan. However, when I was still very young, my parents Nisar Ahmad and Rubina Nisar decided to move to Bahrain, the country where I was raised. They sent me to a reputable school where I completed my high school. They have always been supportive when it comes to the quality of my education. Indeed, I was very young, but I believe this was where my dreams were born. In high school, I became very interested in biology and chemistry. I found out that there is much more to discover in a living organism than just its physical nature. This realization left me an overflowing surge of curiosity. My chemistry teacher, Mrs. Prasana, was the one responsible for this passion that I have right now. She provided me everything she could with regard to chemistry and biology-related information. Read more: Inspirational Essays about Life Gradually, she became my inspiration in pursuing this complex but wondrous fields of science. After high school, I moved back to my hometown in Pakistan where I earned my bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry in one of the most renowned universities of this field. It was absolutely a new phase of my life because I get to further my education in something that I have always dreamt of learning. Studying life sciences was my dream, which is why during my undergraduate program; I have undergone internship in a hospital near my home. It was a life-changing experience for me. I would feel most alive when I worked in the laboratory under the supervision of my supervisor. I am confident with myself every time I do laboratory works, and I know that I have significant skills in handling lab works with high efficiency which I believe should be necessary for a healthcare worker. I have lived in three different countries; Bahrain, Pakistan, and in the United States. As an effective clinical scientist, it is a must that one practices flexibility at all cost as it can be a necessary trait in producing quality outputs.

Customer Satisfaction Towards Service Quality

Customer Satisfaction Towards Service Quality QUESTIONAIRE ABSTRACT In any business-to-customer (B2C) type ofenvironment, satisfying a customer is the ultimate goal and objective. More often than not, it can be quite an issue. This is perhaps due to the fact that organizations sometimes do not really understand of what actually goes on in a customers mind. As such, this predicament has provided as a challenging task to most business conglomerates that places strong emphasis on customer relations. Although many researches and studies were conducted on the actual working of the customers mind, till today it is a still a mystery. Therefore, this research focused on the measurement of customer satisfaction through delivery of service quality of Service Counter staff of Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia. A quantitative research was used to study the relationship between service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction. Assurance has positive relationship but it has no significant effect on customer satisfaction. Reliability has negative relationship but it has no significant effect on customer satisfaction. Tangibles have positive relationship and have significant impact on customer satisfaction. Empathy has positive relationship but it has no significant effect on customer satisfaction. Responsiveness has positive relationship but no significant impact on customer satisfaction. The study highlights implications for marketers in banking industry for improvement in delivery of service quality. CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION Service organizations play an important role for developing countries like Malaysia. Therefore, it must be good quality and competitive organization in maintaining customer satisfaction and further needs to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. At the same time, as we all know that the requirements and higher customer expectations, it is different from the past (Rogerio Zulema, 2002). This is a very great challenge to all sectors. Banking business is now driven with the introduction of new products / services and processes which are facilitated through ongoing technological advancements. In such a scenario the expectations of customers also shift to a higher platform and is usually perceived against the backdrop of the experiences gained while dealing with competitors. The gap in customer expectations many a times results in complaints and the same can be said to be inevitable, as in any service industry. To retain as also increase customer base it is absolutely essential that the bank instills confidence in its customers through satisfactory explanations and resolution of complaints and at the same time use complaints as a feed back mechanism for bringing about improvement in services. The banking sector at present has put a benchmark index that determines the performance of Customer Service in the organization. It is also consistent with the requirements of the Bank that all institutions must be able to respond positively to a more competitive among the financial liberalization and technological revolution by offering an innovative range of products that range and improve the quality of customer service on an ongoing basis. (Tan Sri Dato Dr Zeti Akhtar Azizi, 2005). The banking sector also needs quality personnel and competency. Having employees like them to provide high quality products and services is critical to build consumer confidence and good relationship, drive customer satisfaction and enhance the reputation of previous research studies, (Ndubisi Tam, 2005) has stated bind the customer is as important as when they lose will harm the institution. This will lead to a decline in revenue, increased costs to attract new customers, a bad reputation when the customer is not satisfied the problem will spread to other customers and a decline in employee retention (Colgate Norris, 2001). 1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT The trend of world markets has changed noticeably from agricultural to service markets (Asian Development Outlook, 2007). All of the service businesses are trying their best to improve their service quality in order to make customers satisfied with their services. Banks now focus more on the quality standards in order to meet the basic needs and expectations of the customers. Once customers requirements are clearly identified and understood, banks are more likely to anticipate and fulfill their customers needs and wants (Juwaheer Ross, 2003). In the banking sector, the first place of destination by the customer is at the Customer Service Counter (Customer Service). Here, various questions, problems and complaints filed by customers. At the bank, customer service counter is the most important because this is where the Customer Relations Assistant job set to any direction so that customers, whether customers want to continue the operation of the counter, self-service terminals, counters open accounts, loans or financial adviser or directly to managers to make a complaint. Service quality was determined as the subjective comparison that customers make between their expectations about a service and the perception of the way the service has been run. Parasuraman (1985) defined service quality as ;a function of the differences between expectation and performance along ten major dimensions. In later research, Parasuraman (1988) revised and defined the service quality in terms of five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. In the banking industry, most researchers are interested in maximizing customer Satisfaction. Hernon Whitwan (2001) defined customer satisfaction as a measure of how the customer perceives service delivery. Liu (2000) stated, for example, that customer satisfaction is a function of service performance relative to the customer expectation. For this reason, it is important to understand how customer expectation is formed in order to identify the factors of service satisfaction. As Reisig Chandek (2001) discussed the fact that different customers have different expectations, based on their knowledge of a product or service. This can be implied that a customer may estimate what the service performance will be or may think what the performance ought to be. If the service performance meets or exceeds customers expectation, the customers will be satisfied. On the other hand, customers are more likely to be dissatisfied if the service performance is less than what they have expected. A greater number of satisfied customers will make the bank business more successful and more profitable. Previous research explored customer satisfaction regarding the service quality of all areas in the bank so that the bank can assess the customer perception. This study identified five factors of service quality by focusing on the Service Counter staff (including Customer Service Counter), and explored the customers expectations and perception levels of these services at Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia. The results of this quantitative assessment of service quality might provide some insights into how customers rate the overall service quality and assessed customers satisfactions at Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia. Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. The study is intended to identify customer satisfaction and retention is critical for retail banks, and investigates the major determinants of customer satisfaction and future intentions in the retail bank sector. Identifies the determinants which include service quality dimensions (e.g. getting it right the first time), service features (e.g. competitive interest rates), service problems, service recovery and products used. Banks are increasingly interested in retaining existing customers while targeting non-customers; measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace. Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the bankss products. 1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY To assess customers expectation and perception level towards service quality of the Service Counter staff of Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia; in five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy (Parasuraman, 1988). To analyze the discrepancy gap between customers expectation and perception towards the service quality of the Service Counter staff of Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia. 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS What is the level of customers expectation and perception towards service quality of the Service Counter staff? What is the discrepancy gap between customers expectation and perception towards service quality of the Service Counter staff? 1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY Customer satisfaction relied on customer expectation and customer perception towards 5 service quality dimensions of Service Counters of 10 Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia. The sampling group was 60 customers 6 customers from each bank. Definition of Terms Service quality means the difference between the customers expectation of service and their perceived service. In this study, the assessment standards of Zeithaml, Parasuraman Berry (1990) will be used, which consist of five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. SERVQUAL is an instrument for measuring service quality, in terms of the discrepancy between customers expectation regarding service offered and the perception of the service received. Respondents are required to answer questions about both their expectation and their perception. Customer expectation means uncontrollable factors including past experience, personal needs, word of mouth, and external communication about the bank services. Customer perception means customers feelings of pleasure / displeasure or the reaction of the customers in relation to the performance of the bank staff in satisfying / dissatisfying the services. 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study will be as a practical guideline for the bank management to identify weaknessess and rooms for imrovement in their service quality. Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where banks compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. The study is intended to identify customer satisfaction and retention is critical for retail banks, and investigates the major determinants of customer satisfaction and future intentions in the retail bank sector. Identifies the determinants which include service quality dimensions, service features, service problems, service recovery and products used. Finds, in particular, that service problems and the banks service recovery ability have a major impact on customer satisfaction and intentions to switch. This study investigates the relationship between perceived performance, satisfaction and behavioural intention, and the extent to which each is associated with actual performance, customers attributions for problems, experience and the level of performance which customers think is possible. Perceived performance and satisfaction are significantly associated with customer standards of the best possible performance, and satisfaction is also associated with the customers attribution of the cause of performance problems. While satisfaction was significantly associated with intention to re-purchase, a significant interaction was found between customer experience and satisfaction. Banks are increasingly interested in retaining existing customers while targeting non-customers; measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace. Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the organizations products. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Previous researchers have demonstrated the importance of increasing understanding of strategies to resolve customer complaints and more to study the behavior of customers, namely quality of life sex Ndubisi, 2005. Study customer behavior through the CM model to take the complaint as an opportunity to provide solutions, research studies and the Vos Huitema, 2008. As the study by Baptista, 2003 in which an organization should attempt to resolve complaints informally, taken orally and should make proper records and the complaint should be resolved as soon as possible so the problem does not persist. They have also emphasized differences in complaints against the Service Counter and self service terminals Vihtkari Snellman, 2003, is the notion that the use of self-service terminals in the bank to reduce customer complaints, but rather a circumstance where there is 40 per cent of users are not satisfied with the self-service. Researchers previously expressed understanding of customer dissatisfaction is the key to successful implementation of TQM and principals as well as the Puga Leal Pereira, 2002. Researchers say previous satisfaction is waiting to be served a major contributor to quality of service satisfaction Sulek Hensley, 2007. Researchers previously expressed satisfaction with the care, satisfaction, trust and satisfaction as a control, each dependent on each other that Beverland, 2005. Previous researchers to state that organizations need to keep employees as customers and keeping customers as employees of Bowers Martin, 2004. Researchers found that the quality of a product is dependent on the existing knowledge in the management of the Yang, 2006. Researchers say there is a strong relationship between the dimensions of service quality, performance and customer satisfaction. Previous studies have identified the benefits that customer retention delivers to an organisation (see Colgate et al., 1996; Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; Storbacka et al., 1994). For example, the longer a customer stays with an organisation the more utility the customer generates (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). This is an outcome of a number of factors relating to the time the customer spends with the organisation. These include the higher initial costs of introducing and attracting a new customer, increases in both the value and number of purchases, the customers better understanding of the organisation, and positive word-of-mouth promotion. Customer satisfaction has been said one of the most widely used study in marketing. The previous research has tries to identify a number of variables of customer satisfaction. Because satisfaction is basically a psychological state, care should be taken in the effort of quantitative measurement, although a large quantity of research in this area has recently been developed. Work done by Berry (Bart Allen) and Brodeur between 1990 and 1998 defined ten Quality Values which influence satisfaction behavior, further expanded by Berry in 2002 and known as the ten domains of satisfaction. These ten domains of satisfaction include: Quality, Value, Timeliness, Efficiency, Ease of Access, Environment, Inter-departmental Teamwork, Front line Service Behaviors, Commitment to the Customer and Innovation. These factors are emphasized for continuous improvement and organizational change measurement and are most often utilized to develop the architecture for satisfaction measurement as an integrated model. Work done by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (Leonard L) between 1985 and 1988 provides the basis for the measurement of customer satisfaction with a service by using the gap between the customers expectation of performance and their perceived experience of performance. This provides the measurer with a satisfaction gap which is objective and quantitative in nature. Work done by Cronin and Taylor propose the confirmation/disconfirmation theory of combining the gap described by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry as two different measures (perception and expectation of performance) into a single measurement of performance according to expectation. According to Garbrand, customer satisfaction equals perception of performance divided by expectation of performance. The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a study with a set of statements using a Likert scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement and in term of their perception and expectation of performance of the organization being measured. Based on their responses, customers can be categorized into one of three groups: Promoters, Passives, and Detractors. In the net promoter framework, Promoters are viewed as valuable assets that drive profitable growth because of their repeat/increased purchases, longevity and referrals, while Detractors are seen as liabilities that destroy profitable growth because of their complaints, reduced purchases/defection and negative word-of-mouth. Companies calculate their Net Promoter Score by subtracting their % Detractors from their % Promoters. The Kano model is a theory of product development and customer satisfaction developed in the 1980s by Professor Noriaki Kano that classifies customer preferences into five categories: Attractive, One-Dimensional, Must-Be, Indifferent, Reverse. The Kano model offers some insight into the product attributes which are perceived to be important to customers. Kano also produced a methodology for mapping consumer responses to questionnaires onto his model. SERVQUAL or RATER is a service-quality framework that has been incorporated into customer-satisfaction surveys (e.g., the revised Norwegian Customer Satisfaction Barometer) to indicate the gap between customer expectations and experience. J.D. Power and Associates provides another measure of customer satisfaction, known for its top-box approach and automotive industry rankings. J.D. Power and Associates marketing research consists primarily of consumer surveys and is publicly known for the value of its product awards. One of the newest and most innovative customer satisfaction measurement methodologies is called Gustometria. Gustometria is real time measurement of customer and employee satisfaction. Customers are invited to answer a short survey by touching the gustometer screen with their fingers. The responses are collected immediately by the Gustometria servers which tabulate the results in real time. Management can then log into their private website and use the sophisticated business intelligence reports which are built in to the Gustometria system. The rewards to firms that establish a loyal customer base have been well documented (Armstrong and Symonds, 1991; Heskett, 1994; Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). In general, increased loyalty leads to lower costs of servicing the firms customers, reduced marketing expenditures, increased business from the existing customer base and greater profits. These rewards are particularly true in the retail banking sector. By increasing loyalty, a retail bank: reduces its servicing costs (i.e. accounts do not have to be opened or closed, and credit ratings do not have to be established; gains knowledge of the financial affairs and needs of its customers (thereby allowing effective and efficient targeting); and has an opportunity to cross-sell existing and new products and services. In one case, a retail bank that increased its customer retention rates by 5 per cent increased its profits by 85 per cent (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). Improving customer satisfaction, and thereby retention rates, can come from a variety of activities available to the firm. The existing evidence suggests that major gains in customer satisfaction are likely to come from improvements in: Service quality; Service features; and Customer complaint handling. Not surprisingly, there are strong linkages between service quality dimensions (e.g. courteous service providers) and overall customer satisfaction (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993). However, there has been considerable debate as to the basic dimensions of service quality (see Brown et al., 1993 and Cronin and Taylor, 1992, for reviews), the measurement of these dimensions (Brown et al., 1993; Parasuraman et al., 1993; Smith, 1995; Teas, 1993), and the components of customer satisfaction (Hausknecht, 1990; Yi, 1990). Surprisingly, little empirical research has examined the importance of service quality dimensions in determining customer satisfaction. CHAPTER 3: THEORICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY 3.1 THEORICAL FRAMEWORK Independent Variables Dependent Variable SOURCES OF DISSATISFACTION Some empirical studies of service satisfaction suggest that â€Å"the human interaction component of service delivery is essential to the determination of satisfaction and dissatisfaction† (Bitner, 1990). According to Anderson and Sullivan (1993), when consumers perceived service quality performance falls short of their expectation, they become dissatisfied. Lewis and Spyrakopoulos (2001), in their research conducted on UK retail banking, categorized the causes of dissatisfaction in banking sector into five groups i.e. 1) Banking Procedures: Bureaucracy and slow banking, and Failure to keep customers fully aware of their banking situation. 2) Mistakes (i.e. wrong statement) 3) Employee behavior and training: Employees ignorant of certain banking procedures and Employees unwilling or slow to help the customer 4) Functional or technical failures: Long and/or unorganized queues ATMs out of order Limited network or branches Incomprehensible statements of accounts, terms of loans, conversions etc. 5) Action or omission of the bank that are against the sense of fair trade. Yanamandram and White (2004), in their research mentioned nine factors as main reasons ofdissatisfaction. These are lack of branch locations, high interest rates on loans etc, low interest rates on savings, long waiting periods, number of accounts fees, high account fees, poor counter fees, poor counter service, e-banking confusing, poor telephone banking service and others. Furthermore Johnston (1995), in his research demonstrated that, for personal customer of banks, the main sources of satisfaction are attentiveness, responsiveness, care and friendliness whereas the main sources of dissatisfaction are lack of integrity, reliability, responsiveness, availability and functionality. Further he argued that, all the reasons of dissatisfaction are not necessarily the other face of the sources of satisfaction though responsiveness is key component in providing satisfaction and the lack of it is a major source of dissatisfaction. Gronroos, C. (1984), cited in Panther and Farquhar (2004), argued service industry is much prone to entail greater dissatisfaction than products because both technical and functional aspects have an impact on consumer evaluation of the services. In financial services, self-service technologies (SSTs) become more wining tool to deal with customers resulting in customer dissatisfaction. To illustrate banks have adopted internet banking as service delivery tool, with a view to providing better and lowering costs, and sometimes new services to their customers. Further, they explained that presently as a regular practice banks start offering self-service technologies without having carefully studied what the true outcomes will be when customers interact with technology without a human component in the service encounter. SSTs interact with customer in a pre-designed way, rather than understanding individual customers need. Bitner (1990), found several satisfactions and dissatisfaction drivers applying criticalincident techniques. They identified key actions such as employee response to customer needs and requests, failure of service recovery action, lack of prompt and spontaneous employee actions result in both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Day and Bodur (1977) argued in their research that in most cases dissatisfaction is directly linked with quality of suppliers performance. In their research most frequently mentioned reason for dissatisfaction was, â€Å"The service was rendered in a careless, unprofessional manner.† Some researchers observe dissatisfaction drivers are determined at the time when customers directly interact with a service. Some aspects of a service may not be persuasive for customer satisfaction but can lead to strong dissatisfaction when they are under performed. On the other hand, some aspects of service lead to satisfaction if delivered properly, but may not necessarily emerge dissatisfaction if absent (Srijumpa , 2007). Furthermore, Bolfing (1989), argued that â€Å"Heterogeneity and intangible nature of services itself frequently produced situation in which customers needs are misjudged or mishandled resulting in customers dissatisfaction†. That is the nature of services itself is also a source of dissatisfaction. IMPROVEMENT OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS Gummesson (1999), finds three different options that a customer can choose between when he or she feels dissatisfied with something that involves their present supplier where the first one is to exit the customers leave for a competitor, or stop buying the goods or services temporarily or permanently. This option is also pointed out by Brandt (2003), who states that if a customer is not satisfied with the product or the salesperson, he or she simply does not purchase from the company again. The second choice is called voice the customers speak their mind and demand correction, and the third option is loyalty the customers remain loyal for lack of alternative suppliers or prohibitive switching costs, inertia, ideological reasons and others, at least within limits. All these options are used by customers according to Gummesson, who continues that the feeling behind them, however, is largely a black box to suppliers. Recovery is more than settling a claim, it is the restoration and strengthening of a long-term relationship and the course of action must be constructive, not just a mechanical routine. If the recovery is successful, continues Gummesson (1999) strengthened by Brandt (2003), then a well resolved customer complaint can create a solid relationship, sometimes better than before the incident. Another aspect that can be turned into something positive according to Arnerup and Edvardsson (1992) is that although many companies consider a customer complaint as something negative, they should instead use it as a possibility to learn more about the customers needs, improve the conditions to satisfy them and strengthen the relationship with them. Nyer (2000) states that customers who were encouraged to complain reported great increase in satisfaction. The author continues that the indirect benefits occurs when an unhappy customer complains, which leads the employee to respond in a way that makes the customer less dissatisfied in the future, and therefore benefits the company as well. Research has shown that excellent complaint management and service recovery can significantly influence customer satisfaction (Johnston, 2001). Furthermore the majority of highly satisfying experiences were the result of something that went wrong and the organization making the effort to compensate the customer: â€Å"The recovery of failures can provide a major opportunity for organizations to create very satisfied customers†. The critical issue is that it is not necessarily the failure itself that leads to customer dissatisfaction; many customers accept that things can go wrong; instead, it is more likely to be the organizations response (or lack of response) to a failure that causes satisfaction or dissatisfaction (Johnston, 2001). Kahn (1995, p. 97) has similar opinions, when emphasizing that it is beneficial to companies to encourage their customer to perform complaints when they are upset or dissatisfied, since these customers can become even more loyal and satisfied customers in the future. Halstead and Page (reported in Johnston, 2001) also find that complaint handling processes shows a clear relationship with loyalty and repurchases intentions. Furthermore, customers who have been successfully recovered not only remain loyal, but can become advocates for the organization, and as such be a source of referral business because word of mouth can be very persuasive in terms of influencing customers to use an organization and its services claims Spreng et al (reviewed in Johnston, 2001). Brandt (2003) follows the same track, describing that customers who experiences a good service recovery will spread more goodwill than even your otherwise best loyal customers do. Soderlund (1999), claims that even though a customer has shown dissatisfaction and directed complaints towards the company, he or she does not necessarily has to be â€Å"lost† to the company, a pleasing reaction and action can turn the annoyance to satisfaction. In many cases, a good recovery can turn upset customers into even more loyal customers and strengthen relationships. Customer retention has been shown to have a direct impact on revenue and profitability states Loveman (reported in Johnston, 2001). Loyal customers tend to buy more, and are willing to pay premium prices, and the company needs to spend less money on marketing activities, all of which increase revenue and profitability according to Johnston (2001). Companies need to understand that even though it is possible to retain dissatisfied customers, it can be difficult since not all customer complain to the company, out of 25 per cent dissatisfied customer, only 5 per cent finds making the effort of complaining worth. While according to Kotler (2003) and out of these 5 per cent, half of the customers report a satisfactory resolution. On average, continues the author, a dissatisfied customer gripes to 11 other persons whereas the satisfied customer only tells three other people, this is also commented by Soderlund, (1997) who finds that satisfied Customer Satisfaction Towards Service Quality Customer Satisfaction Towards Service Quality QUESTIONAIRE ABSTRACT In any business-to-customer (B2C) type ofenvironment, satisfying a customer is the ultimate goal and objective. More often than not, it can be quite an issue. This is perhaps due to the fact that organizations sometimes do not really understand of what actually goes on in a customers mind. As such, this predicament has provided as a challenging task to most business conglomerates that places strong emphasis on customer relations. Although many researches and studies were conducted on the actual working of the customers mind, till today it is a still a mystery. Therefore, this research focused on the measurement of customer satisfaction through delivery of service quality of Service Counter staff of Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia. A quantitative research was used to study the relationship between service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction. Assurance has positive relationship but it has no significant effect on customer satisfaction. Reliability has negative relationship but it has no significant effect on customer satisfaction. Tangibles have positive relationship and have significant impact on customer satisfaction. Empathy has positive relationship but it has no significant effect on customer satisfaction. Responsiveness has positive relationship but no significant impact on customer satisfaction. The study highlights implications for marketers in banking industry for improvement in delivery of service quality. CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION Service organizations play an important role for developing countries like Malaysia. Therefore, it must be good quality and competitive organization in maintaining customer satisfaction and further needs to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. At the same time, as we all know that the requirements and higher customer expectations, it is different from the past (Rogerio Zulema, 2002). This is a very great challenge to all sectors. Banking business is now driven with the introduction of new products / services and processes which are facilitated through ongoing technological advancements. In such a scenario the expectations of customers also shift to a higher platform and is usually perceived against the backdrop of the experiences gained while dealing with competitors. The gap in customer expectations many a times results in complaints and the same can be said to be inevitable, as in any service industry. To retain as also increase customer base it is absolutely essential that the bank instills confidence in its customers through satisfactory explanations and resolution of complaints and at the same time use complaints as a feed back mechanism for bringing about improvement in services. The banking sector at present has put a benchmark index that determines the performance of Customer Service in the organization. It is also consistent with the requirements of the Bank that all institutions must be able to respond positively to a more competitive among the financial liberalization and technological revolution by offering an innovative range of products that range and improve the quality of customer service on an ongoing basis. (Tan Sri Dato Dr Zeti Akhtar Azizi, 2005). The banking sector also needs quality personnel and competency. Having employees like them to provide high quality products and services is critical to build consumer confidence and good relationship, drive customer satisfaction and enhance the reputation of previous research studies, (Ndubisi Tam, 2005) has stated bind the customer is as important as when they lose will harm the institution. This will lead to a decline in revenue, increased costs to attract new customers, a bad reputation when the customer is not satisfied the problem will spread to other customers and a decline in employee retention (Colgate Norris, 2001). 1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT The trend of world markets has changed noticeably from agricultural to service markets (Asian Development Outlook, 2007). All of the service businesses are trying their best to improve their service quality in order to make customers satisfied with their services. Banks now focus more on the quality standards in order to meet the basic needs and expectations of the customers. Once customers requirements are clearly identified and understood, banks are more likely to anticipate and fulfill their customers needs and wants (Juwaheer Ross, 2003). In the banking sector, the first place of destination by the customer is at the Customer Service Counter (Customer Service). Here, various questions, problems and complaints filed by customers. At the bank, customer service counter is the most important because this is where the Customer Relations Assistant job set to any direction so that customers, whether customers want to continue the operation of the counter, self-service terminals, counters open accounts, loans or financial adviser or directly to managers to make a complaint. Service quality was determined as the subjective comparison that customers make between their expectations about a service and the perception of the way the service has been run. Parasuraman (1985) defined service quality as ;a function of the differences between expectation and performance along ten major dimensions. In later research, Parasuraman (1988) revised and defined the service quality in terms of five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. In the banking industry, most researchers are interested in maximizing customer Satisfaction. Hernon Whitwan (2001) defined customer satisfaction as a measure of how the customer perceives service delivery. Liu (2000) stated, for example, that customer satisfaction is a function of service performance relative to the customer expectation. For this reason, it is important to understand how customer expectation is formed in order to identify the factors of service satisfaction. As Reisig Chandek (2001) discussed the fact that different customers have different expectations, based on their knowledge of a product or service. This can be implied that a customer may estimate what the service performance will be or may think what the performance ought to be. If the service performance meets or exceeds customers expectation, the customers will be satisfied. On the other hand, customers are more likely to be dissatisfied if the service performance is less than what they have expected. A greater number of satisfied customers will make the bank business more successful and more profitable. Previous research explored customer satisfaction regarding the service quality of all areas in the bank so that the bank can assess the customer perception. This study identified five factors of service quality by focusing on the Service Counter staff (including Customer Service Counter), and explored the customers expectations and perception levels of these services at Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia. The results of this quantitative assessment of service quality might provide some insights into how customers rate the overall service quality and assessed customers satisfactions at Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia. Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. The study is intended to identify customer satisfaction and retention is critical for retail banks, and investigates the major determinants of customer satisfaction and future intentions in the retail bank sector. Identifies the determinants which include service quality dimensions (e.g. getting it right the first time), service features (e.g. competitive interest rates), service problems, service recovery and products used. Banks are increasingly interested in retaining existing customers while targeting non-customers; measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace. Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the bankss products. 1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY To assess customers expectation and perception level towards service quality of the Service Counter staff of Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia; in five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy (Parasuraman, 1988). To analyze the discrepancy gap between customers expectation and perception towards the service quality of the Service Counter staff of Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia. 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS What is the level of customers expectation and perception towards service quality of the Service Counter staff? What is the discrepancy gap between customers expectation and perception towards service quality of the Service Counter staff? 1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY Customer satisfaction relied on customer expectation and customer perception towards 5 service quality dimensions of Service Counters of 10 Commercial Banks in Penang, Malaysia. The sampling group was 60 customers 6 customers from each bank. Definition of Terms Service quality means the difference between the customers expectation of service and their perceived service. In this study, the assessment standards of Zeithaml, Parasuraman Berry (1990) will be used, which consist of five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. SERVQUAL is an instrument for measuring service quality, in terms of the discrepancy between customers expectation regarding service offered and the perception of the service received. Respondents are required to answer questions about both their expectation and their perception. Customer expectation means uncontrollable factors including past experience, personal needs, word of mouth, and external communication about the bank services. Customer perception means customers feelings of pleasure / displeasure or the reaction of the customers in relation to the performance of the bank staff in satisfying / dissatisfying the services. 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study will be as a practical guideline for the bank management to identify weaknessess and rooms for imrovement in their service quality. Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where banks compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. The study is intended to identify customer satisfaction and retention is critical for retail banks, and investigates the major determinants of customer satisfaction and future intentions in the retail bank sector. Identifies the determinants which include service quality dimensions, service features, service problems, service recovery and products used. Finds, in particular, that service problems and the banks service recovery ability have a major impact on customer satisfaction and intentions to switch. This study investigates the relationship between perceived performance, satisfaction and behavioural intention, and the extent to which each is associated with actual performance, customers attributions for problems, experience and the level of performance which customers think is possible. Perceived performance and satisfaction are significantly associated with customer standards of the best possible performance, and satisfaction is also associated with the customers attribution of the cause of performance problems. While satisfaction was significantly associated with intention to re-purchase, a significant interaction was found between customer experience and satisfaction. Banks are increasingly interested in retaining existing customers while targeting non-customers; measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace. Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the organizations products. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Previous researchers have demonstrated the importance of increasing understanding of strategies to resolve customer complaints and more to study the behavior of customers, namely quality of life sex Ndubisi, 2005. Study customer behavior through the CM model to take the complaint as an opportunity to provide solutions, research studies and the Vos Huitema, 2008. As the study by Baptista, 2003 in which an organization should attempt to resolve complaints informally, taken orally and should make proper records and the complaint should be resolved as soon as possible so the problem does not persist. They have also emphasized differences in complaints against the Service Counter and self service terminals Vihtkari Snellman, 2003, is the notion that the use of self-service terminals in the bank to reduce customer complaints, but rather a circumstance where there is 40 per cent of users are not satisfied with the self-service. Researchers previously expressed understanding of customer dissatisfaction is the key to successful implementation of TQM and principals as well as the Puga Leal Pereira, 2002. Researchers say previous satisfaction is waiting to be served a major contributor to quality of service satisfaction Sulek Hensley, 2007. Researchers previously expressed satisfaction with the care, satisfaction, trust and satisfaction as a control, each dependent on each other that Beverland, 2005. Previous researchers to state that organizations need to keep employees as customers and keeping customers as employees of Bowers Martin, 2004. Researchers found that the quality of a product is dependent on the existing knowledge in the management of the Yang, 2006. Researchers say there is a strong relationship between the dimensions of service quality, performance and customer satisfaction. Previous studies have identified the benefits that customer retention delivers to an organisation (see Colgate et al., 1996; Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; Storbacka et al., 1994). For example, the longer a customer stays with an organisation the more utility the customer generates (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). This is an outcome of a number of factors relating to the time the customer spends with the organisation. These include the higher initial costs of introducing and attracting a new customer, increases in both the value and number of purchases, the customers better understanding of the organisation, and positive word-of-mouth promotion. Customer satisfaction has been said one of the most widely used study in marketing. The previous research has tries to identify a number of variables of customer satisfaction. Because satisfaction is basically a psychological state, care should be taken in the effort of quantitative measurement, although a large quantity of research in this area has recently been developed. Work done by Berry (Bart Allen) and Brodeur between 1990 and 1998 defined ten Quality Values which influence satisfaction behavior, further expanded by Berry in 2002 and known as the ten domains of satisfaction. These ten domains of satisfaction include: Quality, Value, Timeliness, Efficiency, Ease of Access, Environment, Inter-departmental Teamwork, Front line Service Behaviors, Commitment to the Customer and Innovation. These factors are emphasized for continuous improvement and organizational change measurement and are most often utilized to develop the architecture for satisfaction measurement as an integrated model. Work done by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (Leonard L) between 1985 and 1988 provides the basis for the measurement of customer satisfaction with a service by using the gap between the customers expectation of performance and their perceived experience of performance. This provides the measurer with a satisfaction gap which is objective and quantitative in nature. Work done by Cronin and Taylor propose the confirmation/disconfirmation theory of combining the gap described by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry as two different measures (perception and expectation of performance) into a single measurement of performance according to expectation. According to Garbrand, customer satisfaction equals perception of performance divided by expectation of performance. The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a study with a set of statements using a Likert scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement and in term of their perception and expectation of performance of the organization being measured. Based on their responses, customers can be categorized into one of three groups: Promoters, Passives, and Detractors. In the net promoter framework, Promoters are viewed as valuable assets that drive profitable growth because of their repeat/increased purchases, longevity and referrals, while Detractors are seen as liabilities that destroy profitable growth because of their complaints, reduced purchases/defection and negative word-of-mouth. Companies calculate their Net Promoter Score by subtracting their % Detractors from their % Promoters. The Kano model is a theory of product development and customer satisfaction developed in the 1980s by Professor Noriaki Kano that classifies customer preferences into five categories: Attractive, One-Dimensional, Must-Be, Indifferent, Reverse. The Kano model offers some insight into the product attributes which are perceived to be important to customers. Kano also produced a methodology for mapping consumer responses to questionnaires onto his model. SERVQUAL or RATER is a service-quality framework that has been incorporated into customer-satisfaction surveys (e.g., the revised Norwegian Customer Satisfaction Barometer) to indicate the gap between customer expectations and experience. J.D. Power and Associates provides another measure of customer satisfaction, known for its top-box approach and automotive industry rankings. J.D. Power and Associates marketing research consists primarily of consumer surveys and is publicly known for the value of its product awards. One of the newest and most innovative customer satisfaction measurement methodologies is called Gustometria. Gustometria is real time measurement of customer and employee satisfaction. Customers are invited to answer a short survey by touching the gustometer screen with their fingers. The responses are collected immediately by the Gustometria servers which tabulate the results in real time. Management can then log into their private website and use the sophisticated business intelligence reports which are built in to the Gustometria system. The rewards to firms that establish a loyal customer base have been well documented (Armstrong and Symonds, 1991; Heskett, 1994; Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). In general, increased loyalty leads to lower costs of servicing the firms customers, reduced marketing expenditures, increased business from the existing customer base and greater profits. These rewards are particularly true in the retail banking sector. By increasing loyalty, a retail bank: reduces its servicing costs (i.e. accounts do not have to be opened or closed, and credit ratings do not have to be established; gains knowledge of the financial affairs and needs of its customers (thereby allowing effective and efficient targeting); and has an opportunity to cross-sell existing and new products and services. In one case, a retail bank that increased its customer retention rates by 5 per cent increased its profits by 85 per cent (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). Improving customer satisfaction, and thereby retention rates, can come from a variety of activities available to the firm. The existing evidence suggests that major gains in customer satisfaction are likely to come from improvements in: Service quality; Service features; and Customer complaint handling. Not surprisingly, there are strong linkages between service quality dimensions (e.g. courteous service providers) and overall customer satisfaction (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993). However, there has been considerable debate as to the basic dimensions of service quality (see Brown et al., 1993 and Cronin and Taylor, 1992, for reviews), the measurement of these dimensions (Brown et al., 1993; Parasuraman et al., 1993; Smith, 1995; Teas, 1993), and the components of customer satisfaction (Hausknecht, 1990; Yi, 1990). Surprisingly, little empirical research has examined the importance of service quality dimensions in determining customer satisfaction. CHAPTER 3: THEORICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY 3.1 THEORICAL FRAMEWORK Independent Variables Dependent Variable SOURCES OF DISSATISFACTION Some empirical studies of service satisfaction suggest that â€Å"the human interaction component of service delivery is essential to the determination of satisfaction and dissatisfaction† (Bitner, 1990). According to Anderson and Sullivan (1993), when consumers perceived service quality performance falls short of their expectation, they become dissatisfied. Lewis and Spyrakopoulos (2001), in their research conducted on UK retail banking, categorized the causes of dissatisfaction in banking sector into five groups i.e. 1) Banking Procedures: Bureaucracy and slow banking, and Failure to keep customers fully aware of their banking situation. 2) Mistakes (i.e. wrong statement) 3) Employee behavior and training: Employees ignorant of certain banking procedures and Employees unwilling or slow to help the customer 4) Functional or technical failures: Long and/or unorganized queues ATMs out of order Limited network or branches Incomprehensible statements of accounts, terms of loans, conversions etc. 5) Action or omission of the bank that are against the sense of fair trade. Yanamandram and White (2004), in their research mentioned nine factors as main reasons ofdissatisfaction. These are lack of branch locations, high interest rates on loans etc, low interest rates on savings, long waiting periods, number of accounts fees, high account fees, poor counter fees, poor counter service, e-banking confusing, poor telephone banking service and others. Furthermore Johnston (1995), in his research demonstrated that, for personal customer of banks, the main sources of satisfaction are attentiveness, responsiveness, care and friendliness whereas the main sources of dissatisfaction are lack of integrity, reliability, responsiveness, availability and functionality. Further he argued that, all the reasons of dissatisfaction are not necessarily the other face of the sources of satisfaction though responsiveness is key component in providing satisfaction and the lack of it is a major source of dissatisfaction. Gronroos, C. (1984), cited in Panther and Farquhar (2004), argued service industry is much prone to entail greater dissatisfaction than products because both technical and functional aspects have an impact on consumer evaluation of the services. In financial services, self-service technologies (SSTs) become more wining tool to deal with customers resulting in customer dissatisfaction. To illustrate banks have adopted internet banking as service delivery tool, with a view to providing better and lowering costs, and sometimes new services to their customers. Further, they explained that presently as a regular practice banks start offering self-service technologies without having carefully studied what the true outcomes will be when customers interact with technology without a human component in the service encounter. SSTs interact with customer in a pre-designed way, rather than understanding individual customers need. Bitner (1990), found several satisfactions and dissatisfaction drivers applying criticalincident techniques. They identified key actions such as employee response to customer needs and requests, failure of service recovery action, lack of prompt and spontaneous employee actions result in both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Day and Bodur (1977) argued in their research that in most cases dissatisfaction is directly linked with quality of suppliers performance. In their research most frequently mentioned reason for dissatisfaction was, â€Å"The service was rendered in a careless, unprofessional manner.† Some researchers observe dissatisfaction drivers are determined at the time when customers directly interact with a service. Some aspects of a service may not be persuasive for customer satisfaction but can lead to strong dissatisfaction when they are under performed. On the other hand, some aspects of service lead to satisfaction if delivered properly, but may not necessarily emerge dissatisfaction if absent (Srijumpa , 2007). Furthermore, Bolfing (1989), argued that â€Å"Heterogeneity and intangible nature of services itself frequently produced situation in which customers needs are misjudged or mishandled resulting in customers dissatisfaction†. That is the nature of services itself is also a source of dissatisfaction. IMPROVEMENT OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS Gummesson (1999), finds three different options that a customer can choose between when he or she feels dissatisfied with something that involves their present supplier where the first one is to exit the customers leave for a competitor, or stop buying the goods or services temporarily or permanently. This option is also pointed out by Brandt (2003), who states that if a customer is not satisfied with the product or the salesperson, he or she simply does not purchase from the company again. The second choice is called voice the customers speak their mind and demand correction, and the third option is loyalty the customers remain loyal for lack of alternative suppliers or prohibitive switching costs, inertia, ideological reasons and others, at least within limits. All these options are used by customers according to Gummesson, who continues that the feeling behind them, however, is largely a black box to suppliers. Recovery is more than settling a claim, it is the restoration and strengthening of a long-term relationship and the course of action must be constructive, not just a mechanical routine. If the recovery is successful, continues Gummesson (1999) strengthened by Brandt (2003), then a well resolved customer complaint can create a solid relationship, sometimes better than before the incident. Another aspect that can be turned into something positive according to Arnerup and Edvardsson (1992) is that although many companies consider a customer complaint as something negative, they should instead use it as a possibility to learn more about the customers needs, improve the conditions to satisfy them and strengthen the relationship with them. Nyer (2000) states that customers who were encouraged to complain reported great increase in satisfaction. The author continues that the indirect benefits occurs when an unhappy customer complains, which leads the employee to respond in a way that makes the customer less dissatisfied in the future, and therefore benefits the company as well. Research has shown that excellent complaint management and service recovery can significantly influence customer satisfaction (Johnston, 2001). Furthermore the majority of highly satisfying experiences were the result of something that went wrong and the organization making the effort to compensate the customer: â€Å"The recovery of failures can provide a major opportunity for organizations to create very satisfied customers†. The critical issue is that it is not necessarily the failure itself that leads to customer dissatisfaction; many customers accept that things can go wrong; instead, it is more likely to be the organizations response (or lack of response) to a failure that causes satisfaction or dissatisfaction (Johnston, 2001). Kahn (1995, p. 97) has similar opinions, when emphasizing that it is beneficial to companies to encourage their customer to perform complaints when they are upset or dissatisfied, since these customers can become even more loyal and satisfied customers in the future. Halstead and Page (reported in Johnston, 2001) also find that complaint handling processes shows a clear relationship with loyalty and repurchases intentions. Furthermore, customers who have been successfully recovered not only remain loyal, but can become advocates for the organization, and as such be a source of referral business because word of mouth can be very persuasive in terms of influencing customers to use an organization and its services claims Spreng et al (reviewed in Johnston, 2001). Brandt (2003) follows the same track, describing that customers who experiences a good service recovery will spread more goodwill than even your otherwise best loyal customers do. Soderlund (1999), claims that even though a customer has shown dissatisfaction and directed complaints towards the company, he or she does not necessarily has to be â€Å"lost† to the company, a pleasing reaction and action can turn the annoyance to satisfaction. In many cases, a good recovery can turn upset customers into even more loyal customers and strengthen relationships. Customer retention has been shown to have a direct impact on revenue and profitability states Loveman (reported in Johnston, 2001). Loyal customers tend to buy more, and are willing to pay premium prices, and the company needs to spend less money on marketing activities, all of which increase revenue and profitability according to Johnston (2001). Companies need to understand that even though it is possible to retain dissatisfied customers, it can be difficult since not all customer complain to the company, out of 25 per cent dissatisfied customer, only 5 per cent finds making the effort of complaining worth. While according to Kotler (2003) and out of these 5 per cent, half of the customers report a satisfactory resolution. On average, continues the author, a dissatisfied customer gripes to 11 other persons whereas the satisfied customer only tells three other people, this is also commented by Soderlund, (1997) who finds that satisfied