Geographical Scales in Human Geography

Geographical Scales in Human Geography Identifying and analyzing varying geographical scales is paramount to the study of human geography. At the heart of the matter lies the assumption that human processes do not occur in isolation from one another but in fact directly impact on the whole. Therefore, issues and events that occur on one scale, for example at the rural level, impact and are impacted upon by events taking place at the urban, national and even global levels. It is essential therefore that the entire process be viewed as one unified developmental progression and not as single phenomena with independent repercussions. Such is the ultimate concern of this work. What follows below is analyses how of different scales of geographical study impact upon one another and therefore shape the manner in which we conceptualize human processes as a whole. The scales in question will be confined to four areas of geographical analysis: rural; social; political and consumption. It is by using such defined criteria that we abl e to better comprehend how human society functions. This above all is the primary benefit in employing such analytical techniques because in doing so we are able to encapsulate the whole; as apposed to merely assessing individual factors without understanding their wider context and implications. Let us begin by looking at rural aspects in Britain. In terms of numbers, the rural population accounts for far less than their urban counterparts. The general movement of people from the countryside to the towns that was indicative of the period following the industrial revolution continued well into the latter twentieth century, and although in recent years there have been suggestions that it is reversing; urban dwellers still make up the vast bulk of the national population. Given this, it would be natural to assume that rural Britain would be of lesser interest to the study of human geography. Indeed, there was a time when urban studies enjoyed a relative preponderance in this regard, however in recent years the countryside has again returned as an exiting point of analysis. This is mainly due to the fact that rural areas have become the focus of broader geographical study and cultural developments. Cloke offers us three reasons to explain this progression. Firstly, the study of countryside landscapes provides us with a demonstration of power relations in addition to being â€Å"subjects of desire† and conservation.[1] Secondly, the countryside is perfect for the study of how nature and space interact. Also, the manner in which human and non human forces exist and co exist can be examined in rural settings. Finally, the countryside can conceal the presence of â€Å"hidden others†. As Cloke explains; â€Å"issues of gender, sexuality, poverty and alternative lifestyles are important in this context†.[2] Furthermore, rural matters and concerns impact upon other geographical scales. A pertinent example of this was seen during the Countryside Alliance Liberty and Livelihood March in London when 400,000 protesters descended on the capital to voice their frustration at the â€Å"encroachment of urban bureaucracy† into their lives.[3] The march was primarily concerned with government plans to ban fox hunting, however its wider connotations show the extent to which scales of analysis directly impact upon one another and as such, broaden our understanding. The arena of politics, due to its very nature never acts in isolation. Political processes affect every form of human organization and therefore they are vital to our present discussion. There is little need to spend time assessing the impact of traditional politics; as this is largely obvious. Therefore, I will look at the issue of nationalism as a reference point for assessing one political impact in detail. Nationalism is essentially the feeling of association and identification that a particular group of people feel to a particular nation. However, what is a nation? If we look at it one way we can say that a nation or country is nothing more than a geographical portion of land that a collection of people have taken a liking to. Now it is at this point that the issue of nationalism becomes pertinent to the human geographer. As Pyrs Gruffudd has asserted, it is territorial ideology that drives nationalism and therefore, this â€Å"leads on to a whole raft of cultural relationships through which a people make a land their land.[4] Nation building is a process that usually takes centuries to complete however it is nonetheless always formed on a geographical identify. Nationalists of course conclude that they have a whole plethora of things in common that make them distinct from other nationalities. However, it is their geography that sets them apart more than anything else. Furthermore, h istorical undertones are invariably used to bolster nationalist sentiment; Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill are classic examples. However, it is geographical underpinnings that form the foundation of this historical conception. A nation’s history is inextricably linked to its geographical space, which remains constant throughout the ages and therefore forms the basis upon which everything else ultimately rests.[5] Social geographers play a vital role in our process of conceptualizing human behavior. Above all, human behavior and the societal forces that dictate it form a large part of our identity and therefore go a long way to explaining human outcomes and events. It has been the case for many years now that the study of social geography has overlapped with; some argue even supplanted traditional sociology. Little time will be invested on such discussions here, but many social aspects of geographical study are strikingly similar to the issues pertinent to the sociologist. Social geography focuses its attention primarily on â€Å"social relations, groups and inequalities†.[6] The link with traditional geography is made by assessing social events and developments with reference to geographical phenomena. For example, one may examine how the social forces of a particular area have impacted upon its geographical nature. Also, the social geographer is concerned with examining how social constructs operate through geographical contours. Social geography does not offer the kind of in-depth societal analysis that we would find emanating from the sociologist or the anthropologist. However, this branch of geographical discipline is pivotal because instead offering detailed explanations of current social forces it suggests how these forces initially came about. As a paradoxical consequence of this it is then possible to trace social development and evolution, and account for modern phenomena and characteristics. As with all geographical disciplines, socia l geography is reliant on space for its analysis, however, it is also the study of place that determines much of the understanding here. The environment in which we live often dictates the outlook we will adopt and also has huge ramifications on our life options and choices. Furthermore, in addition to the impact on the individual there are also consequences for social formation and progression in general. Geography can have an enormous impact on local communities, particularly with the manner in which they develop cohesion and communal outlook. Who we are is therefore determined in many ways by where we are. Thus, the connotations that social geography has for other geographical areas and wider academic disciplines is considerable. In fact, as social foundations form the basis on which human existence essentially rests, we can conclude that the study of social geography, with its emphasis on the social implications of geographical factors is of paramount importance. The final area to which I will offer explanation is geographical consumption. At first sight consumption may appear a boring and relatively unimportant topic of discussion. However, this is most certainly not the case as issues pertaining to consumption have many times impacted on a massive scale. For example, it is not uncommon to find references to consumption and desire in analyses focused on the Cold War. In fact, some commentators have suggested that increased desire to consume on the part of many in the Eastern block played a considerable role in communisms demise. Consumption is therefore one of the ways that human geography crosses the boundaries of academia by infiltrating not only (in the above example) politics; but also economics. Nonetheless, the concentration on consumption is a relatively new addition to geographical study as previously; it was left to other academic areas to assess the impact of this most pertinent of issues. However, it is largely due to the importance of consumption in our every day lives that the subject has become a valid object of analysis for the human geographer. Furthermore, the extent to which consumption has impacted upon geography is also considerable and again has increased in recent years. A useful example that can amplify this development is to be found in the countryside. Traditionally, rural areas were considered to be bastions of production and not consumption. In the years before industrialization and large scale shipping altered food production and dispersal beyond all recognition, the countryside was a vital part of every nation’s survival. However, with the onset of global markets and multiple exports, the British countryside no longer acts as the nation’ s primary larder. As such, it is consumption that has filled the economic gap. The same of course can be said of Britain’s urban areas; once the home of the world most powerful productive machine. Since the onset of manufacturing demise in the mid to late twentieth century the factory and the mill have been replaced with the shopping centre and retail park. In addition, consumption contains a social facet. The cloths we wear and the car we drive all play a part in fostering our identity and as such, our social being. Therefore, the study of consumption provides the geographer with valued insight into human processes and also links together with other aspects of human study. In conclusion, it is clear how the above issues not only direct the study of human processes and events; but also impact upon one another. In doing so they form a whole that when conceptualized as such; can offer us a detailed and wide ranging assessment of how human beings order and organize their lives. Bibliography Cloke, Paul et al (Ed). Introducing Human Geographies. London: Arnold, 1999, Daniels, Peter. Human Geograhpy: Issues in the Twentieth Century. London: Pearson, 2001. Duncun, John and Agnew, John. The Power of Place: Bringing together geograhical and sociological imaginations. London: Unwin Hyman, 1989. Footnotes [1] P. Cloke, The country, in Cloke et al (Ed), Introducing Human Geographies, London: Arnold, 1999, 257. [2] Ibid. [3] Ibid, 256. [4] P. Gruffudd, Nationalism, in Cloke et al (Ed), Introducing Human Geographies, London: Arnold, 1999, 201. [5] Ibid. [6] P. Cloke et al, Introducing Human Geographies, London: Arnold, 1999, 207.

A brief history of diving Essay

For those who can swim, diving in the sense of scuba diving or deep sea diving is certainly one of the most enjoyable pastimes a person can have. Like anything else, it has its pleasures and its risks, but the allure of the sea is certainly a major part in the life of any avid diver. Still, diving has its risks and perhaps in some sense those risks are greater than in other endeavors. The allure of the sea and the desire to enjoy it as freely as a fish is irresistible to many. Our fascination with the oceans may have made diving popular in the 19th century, but if so, it was certainly made more popular by the introduction of scuba equipment in the middle of the 20th century. Despite the relatively recent development of deep sea diving apparatus and of scuba diving, men and women have been diving for centuries. Often diving is for pleasure, but at other times it is just another basic survival skill to gather food, hunt for sponges (Hong et al. , 1991) or engage in military endeavors or otherwise. Until the invention of diving equipment, man was unable to go underwater and remain submerged for any extended period of time. His stay under water was limited by his ability to hold his breath so the problem was how to extend the amount of time underwater and, of course, the obvious solution was to find a means to provide an air supply to a submerged person. In August of last year (2006) while testing the Navy’s new Atmospheric Diving System (ADS) suit off the coast of La Jolla CA, a village of San Diego, Daniel Jackson, a Naval Reserve Diver, made the deepest free dive in history, a total of 2,000 feet. (Guinness, 2006) Perhaps it is because of the allure of the sea, but long before Jackson, men and women practiced breath-holding. Diving has many useful purposes such as gathering and providing food, military, recreational, research and others so these factors have no doubt added to the allure of diving. Despite the relatively new advent of scuba equipment and deep sea diving equipment, diving has been around for a long time. Of course, it is necessary to hold one’s breath in order to go to any great depth and people have been using breath-holding techniques for diving for centuries. In ancient Greece, divers held their breath to search for sponges as some people do today, and throughout history some had done likewise in the process of military exploits. For those who wanted to stay underwater longer, the obvious question was how to do so? One solution was to breathe through hollow reeds while submerged. While this technique worked, there were limitations that prohibited it from being a valuable solution. Reeds longer than two feet long do not work well. Today we realize that it is difficult to inhale against water pressure below a certain depth. Another idea was to put air into a bag that could be used underwater, but that also presented problems, most significantly the fact that it caused divers to breathe in the carbon dioxide that had been exhaled. Although Aristotle wrote about a diving bell in the 4th century BC, all diving was probably done by holding the breath up until the 16th century. (Brylske, 1994; Somers, 1997) Whatever diving was done probably did not exceed depths of 100 feet if that much. The diving bell was the predominant diving apparatus during the 22 centuries from the 4th century BC until the around 1800. Using this stationary device, divers could get air from the bell and leave to do whatever they were doing underwater returning to the bell periodically for more air. This allowed divers to remain underwater until air in the bell was no longer breathable. By the 16th century, people began experimenting with diving bells. (Somers, 1997) These were actually bell shaped contraptions open at the bottom that were held a few feet from the surface. The diver could enter from the bottom which was open to water and the top part held compressed air, air that had been compressed by the water pressure. Early designs of the diving bell were refined in the late 1600s and became sizable and sophisticated by 1691 when Edmund Halley patented a ventilated diving bell that allowed divers to remain underwater for as much as an hour and a half. (Gilliam and von Maier, 1992) Even though electricity was not available for electric pumps at that time, manual pumps were used that could pump air from the surface down to divers as early as the 16th century in Europe. However, at greater depths, water pressure became a concern, so metal helmets and leather full diving suits were developed and used to protect divers who went below 60 feet. This diving equipment was continuously perfected up to the 19th and 20th centuries. By the 1830s, diving techniques that relied on air pumped to divers from the surface had been sufficiently well developed as to allow divers to work underwater for extended periods of time. Although these early techniques worked, they didn’t entirely compensate for some diving concerns. Eventually, the improved technology of the 19th century resulted in compressed air pumps, regulators, carbon dioxide scrubbers and other improvements that allowed divers to remain underwater for longer and longer periods of time. As diving techniques improved, it became more apparent that there were at least two concerns in diving to depth. One, of course, was the need for an air supply that would eliminate the need to hold one’s breath. The other problem was the need to compensate for depth. (Brylske, 1994; Somers, 1997) In 1905 Scotland’s John Scott Haldane reported the fundamental discovery that breathing is regulated by the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood and in the brain. Haldane developed a method of decompression in stages that allowed deep-sea divers to ascend to the surface safely, information used for today’s decompression charts. His work and that of the French physiologist Paul Bert increased our understanding of the physiological effects of air-pressure sufficiently to improve out knowledge of the hazards of diving to depth and how to overcome those hazards. Our understanding of the effects and safe limits of using compressed air for diving is due largely to the work of Haldane and Bert. (Gilliam and von Maier, 1992) Today, we realize that decompression, recompression, carbon dioxide and oxygen toxicity are important factors to consider in diving. Diving history can essentially be divided into four periods. Initially, there was the period of free diving when humans held their breath. Diving time and diving capacity were limited by the availability of air, the build-up of carbon dioxide and the effects at depth of pressure on the body. (Gilliam and von Maier, 1992) Later advances in diving during the second period of diving history led to the creation of heavy walled diving vessels which could maintain their internal atmosphere to that of sea level (1 atmosphere) so as to prevent the surrounding water pressure from being a hazard to the occupants. Diving bells and bathysphere are two such devices. Bathyspheres are essentially unpowered hollow steel balls that can be lowered from a mother ship by a steel cable. A bathyscaphe is a is bathysphere with a buoyancy control that eliminates the need for a cable. Then there is the submarine, a powered device with its own air supply and which is built so that it can handle all of the problems associated with depth and so it can travel great distances in any direction under its own power. Bathyspheres, bathyscaphes and submarines required a means to maintain the pressure at one atmosphere around the diver and a means to provide fresh oxygen while getting rid of exhaled carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide was eliminated by using soda lime, lithium hydroxide and other compounds that take up the carbon dioxide. Later during this period, one atmosphere diving suits were also developed that were flexible and yet able to withstand pressures at great death so as to allow divers to work at depths up to several hundred meters for hours. (Somers, 1997) Diving entered a period of using compressed air next. The air could be supplied from the surface and delivered to the diver at depth. The hand-operated air compressor was a major advancement in diving history. It had appeared by 1770 and allowed for the development of helmet-hose diving systems that were the predominant diving techniques from 1800 until the mid-1950s. Unlike then final period, during this period of diving the diver is separated from his/her air supply, but has air delivered through a long umbilical cord to a regulator and mouthpiece carried by the diver. At great depth, the diver can be enclosed in a dive suit that can handle the water pressure at depth. These suits can be cumbersome but the buoyancy of the water can relieve some of their burden. Although diving masks with a regulator, mouthpiece and hose may come to mind when one considers these devices, caissons are also included in this category. Caissons are huge spaces that are supplied with compressed air. Diving bells and rigid helmet diving suits are also grouped in this category. The air that the diver breathes is at the same pressure as that of the water surrounding the diver thus leaving him at risk for decompression concerns such as the bends, air embolism, etc. pon their ascent if they ascend too fast. To assist with this concern, special mixtures of gas are used that allow divers to dive deeper than with compressed air. These gas mixtures combine oxygen with another gas or gases such as hydrogen, helium and/or nitrogen. (Somers, 1997; Gilliam and von Maier, 1992) The most recent development in diving is diving with compressed air or gas mixtures that include oxygen carried by the diver. This is referred to by the acronym â€Å"S. C. U. B. A. † which is generally referred to as scuba diving. Scuba stands for self contained underwater breathing apparatus and refers to the fact that the diver carries his or her air supply on their back while diving. Although we may view scuba gear to be a recent development in diving technology, the development of scuba gear can be traced back to 1680 when Borelli, who also experimented with fins and buoyancy compensation, developed a device based on the theory that the hot air a diver exhales could be rejuvenated by cooling and condensing in. (Somers, 1997) Although Borelli’s gear failed, it still represents a step forward in diving theory and technology. By the first third of the nineteenth century, Condert published a scuba design using a helmet and a compressed air reservoir that fit around the diver’s waist. In 1865, Rouquayrol developed a surface-supplied regulator system that did ultimately have an effect on today’s scuba gear. By 1878, Fleuss and Davis developed a closed-circuit oxygen scuba device that used chemical carbon dioxide as absorbent. (Gilliam and von Maier, 1992; Somers, 1997) The scuba equipment commonly used today was developed by Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Somers, 1997; Cousteau, 1986; Marx, 1990) The two principle types of scuba equipment are open circuit and closed circuit equipment. Open circuit equipment vents the expired air into the water while closed circuit systems all the carbon dioxide to be absorbed and add more oxygen so that the air can be re-used. Scuba divers are at risk for decompression problems if they ascend too fast and various gas mixtures allow scuba divers to go d eeper than with compressed air. Scuba diving has a number of advantages over other forms of diving. The tanks allow the diver to remain underwater longer than would be possible by simply holding one’s breath. Even though scuba allows divers to go deeper than with snorkeling and allows them more freedom than would be possible using compressed air from the surface, its major disadvantage is that the time spent underwater is limited by the amount of compressed air in the tanks. Since time is of essence and all muscle activity decreases the amount of time that oxygen will be available, scuba divers can increase the amount of time they will have underwater with scuba gear if they exert less energy while diving. Although most divers swim underwater while diving, they can resort to propulsion devices referred to as Diver Propulsion Vehicles (DPVs) commonly called â€Å"scooters† to move underwater. The term SCUBA originally referred to rebreathers used by the military for underwater warfare but today it generally refers to open-circuit equipment. However, rebreathers are also classified as scuba gear. The history of diving is certainly to complex and exciting to cover in these few pages, but what few comments have been presented do demonstrate how rich that history is and how far it extends back in time. Only by considering how far back into history diving extends and the advances diving has made with the passage of time will we truly realize the fascination diving has held for us through time. Perhaps the next great advance in diving will not be man growing gills, but whatever it will be will only add to the present fascination and allure of diving. We can only build on the future of diving by understanding how we arrived at our present level of knowledge and technology.

Effective Management of the Logistics Essay

The concept of globalization has gripped the world of today. The constant evolution of the world around us has changed everything from our life styles to country politics. It has also changed the way businesses have operated traditionally. Today, the success of any business is more dependent on the use of elements which have emerged as a result of globalization. Like globalization has affected all, it also has changed many important concepts and theories in a way. For businesses, it has always remained a remained as to how to reach the prospective and existing customers for providing any services. This branch of management sciences is called logistics. The concept of logistics evolved in the 1950’s. It came into realization due to the increasing complexity with which material and supplies were being transported to the company and from the company to the customers. Logistics is defined as the most effective way to transport the product to the customer as fast as possible with high quality. The quality of the product, services given to the customers, availability of the product, lowest time advantages and a low cost of distribution altogether define logistics. If the firm uses its strategies and the capabilities of logistics effectively and efficiently then it can gain a competitive edge over other companies of the industry. Capabilities here are defined as a set of knowledge, skills, attitudes and attributes a company possesses which helps them to achieve a high quality and superior performance and to sustain the competitive advantage they enjoy over their competitors (Hoover 2001). These capabilities are essential for the company to adopt as they can prove beneficial. One of the key factors which constitute a part of logistics capabilities is effective management. Management is the art of managing everything so as to acquire desirable results. Management in the case of customers is also very important. Delivering them the right things in the right quantity and quality at the right time through low cost qualifies for effective management in logistics. If the firm manages the components of the logistics mix efficiently then the firm can sustain its edge in the long run. They also help to increase the value of the company as well as the customers. With the increasing globalization, the components of the logistics mix have evolved to a standard of five factors. These elements include unitization, transportation, storage facilities, packaging and communications. A correct combination of these components can help the company achieve its goals and objectives. Unitization here refers to breaking down the products into small units also called pellets that can be transported to the clients. Transportation involves the facilities, vehicles, freight charges and other costs in delivering the right product to its end users. Packaging is one of the four factors of marketing. Packaging is the most important component of the mix. It involves packing the products and supplies in a way that does not cause any damage. Protective packaging is important to ensure that the products remain intact. Storage facilities are the places or areas in which the products are stored for the time being. This case generally happens when the company has a lot of inventory. Products are kept in storage rooms or basements until the time they are delivered to the customers by whatever means. The last but not the least and the most important factor in the mix is that of communication. Communication is the delivery of messages from the suppliers to the buyers and vice versa. It is of utmost importance that the company has advanced means of communication which are in alignment with the latest technology. This will provide a faster method of keeping track of the client’s orders, suggestions, feedback and complaints. The management of logistics is applied to every industry around especially those which provide services. Almost all the companies whose core business is that of services have a department of logistics. People who specialize in this area are known as logisticians. One of the flourishing industries in the world today is that of hospitality. It basically involves the food chains, fast food joints, restaurants and hotels. Hotels are an important part of the hospitality industry. Hotels generate a lot of profits and in any country is a major source of boosting the economy. If the country is a tourist site then the main funding of the economy comes from the money generated by these hotels. The hotels are organized in a way that departments are interdependent. They operate and work together to manage the hotels’ large customer base and provide them with the best of all services. Every hotel has a logistics department which aims at providing the best of the hotels facilities and services to the customers. The services of a hotel range from providing accommodation to food to entertainment to the customers. Therefore, it gets very difficult for the logistics department to take care of the supplies as well as the end products. This is also the reason why logistic management is vague and difficult when it comes to the hospitality industry. For a hotel, the major objective is to satisfy its customers and do nothing to compromise on their tastes and demands. A bar of soap or a roll of tissue paper is probably the smallest item when it comes to a hotel’s room services. When management works to predict the trends of its usage, it wants the supplies in abundance and therefore, many hotels opt for the Never out of Stock inventory. This means ordering the supplies in large amounts so that the inventory never depletes. The inventory includes in-room products like medical aid boxes, stationary, tissues and other toiletries like soaps, disposable sanitary items, shower caps, toothpastes and other cosmetics. As many organizations think this is the best solution to their problem of depletion of inventory, it creates other issues like that of storage. Having the never out of stock inventory calls for more storage space. Space is one thing that the hotels don’t lack in and as a result they assign the required rooms to the storage of their supplies. It is because of this additional space advantage that many hotels also dream of having an accessible on demand warehouse dedicated to the purpose of accumulating its items of inventory(Harrison 2003). But in reality, many hotels encounter problems because of their habit of over-ordering these items. They do so because they are afraid to go out of stocks. This creates trouble for them because hotels often have a little space for storage and more than often they have no warehouses. Also, the staff is inexperienced when it comes to monitor the stock items. This massive ordering of items also weakens the monetary status of the company and they end up paying more money than the usage of these items as they have to be discarded because of their ‘best before’ and expiry dates, this addresses the component of storage facilities in the logistics mix. Another component is that of transportation. Hotel management often is faulty when it comes to estimating the time of the delivery of supplies. The transit time is undermined on many occasions. This also creates issues in the costs involved which get higher as the time of the transit of these items increases. This needs to be managed very professionally since a long delay from the origin of the supplies to the destination which is the hotel can threaten the replenishment of Never out of Stock items. Many unpredictable factors are involved when it comes to replenishment of these items. In a case of depletion of inventory the hotels try to buy stuff from the local markets. The stuff available there is an imitation of what they usually get supplied and therefore by doing so they risk the expectations and anticipations of their customers. In doing so, the corporate identity of the company is also put at stake(Miller 2003). The issue can be conquered with success if the logistics department at the hotel orders the items in large quantities. Bulk buying has always remained a favorable practice to be followed. Ordering the inventory in bulk two times a year is better than ordering the same items in small quantities twice every month. This bulk buying saves a lot of money on freight. Also, freight related costs decrease since the hotel does not have to pay additional charges on administration and customs. In short, the transportation component can be best handled if the logistics is handled effectively. Hotels have been seen fighting over lowering the costs by contacting different manufacturers or suppliers of their inventories and yet they fail to realize the potential that lies within an effectual management of the logistics. Packaging plays an important role as a component in the logistics mix. The smooth operation of every operation requires careful examination of every aspect involved in the process. From the time the shipment leaves for its destination till the time the item is received, all that is with the items is the protection which the packaging provides. The package determines the safety of the items and the exact location of its destination. Unitization is also a very part of the mix. A unit is a certain standard or volume of the quantity of the product that is to be delivered to the consumer. Units combined together form one large unit known as a pallet or units can be subdivided into smaller units for the ease of handling and management known as the consumer packages. Most of the products in the hotel industry move in the form of units. This makes the distribution of the products easier and is also easy on the part of supply chain. The purpose of using these units as a source of easy distribution is to ensure proper handling and storage of these products. They also help in alleviating the costs involved in handling and also reduce damage as lesser individual handling is involved. There are various types of designs which can be adopted to suit the requirements in the best manner possible(Larson & Halldorsson 2004). A very important component without which a lot of things aren’t possible is communications. Communications is supposed to be the most crucial component of all. Communication has always remained the most important item in anything and everything. Logistics too is incomplete without the element of communications in it. Communication is the exchange of messages between two parties for the sake of some purpose. In this case, communication is the passage of messages from the customers to the clients for the objective of placing their orders and other related tasks. For the purpose of communication, a medium is also required. A medium is a way through which the message is carried out to the intended party. Traditional media like phones and fax are there in all the companies. With the advancement of technology, now there are other media too through which one can communicate. For example: the internet. An effective management of this component is required as this is the primary source of every action taken by the hotel. The hotels can also outsource these works to the Hotel Logistics companies which excel at such tasks. These firms/companies provide the best storage facilities by warehousing and superior distribution services and freight management by lowering the costs and charges involved in transportation. They can be contacted through the internet. Popularity of e-commerce has now enabled the hotels and their procurement departments to contact such firms via internet and place their order on the web sites. They also provide solutions to these companies for their different requirements. From food to beverages, from cosmetics to toiletries, from in-room to bathroom products, they are in charge of providing all stocks as are wished for by the hotels. The frequency of use of items in the hotels varies from hotel to hotel. Some hotels place their orders on a weekly basis on any day so as to receive their supplies the following day while other hotels demand a delivery of inventory items twice a week. Some hotels even place orders once a month because of their low usage of these products. This variation of placement of orders is also dependent on regions(Lambert 2008). Hotels in countries which attract a lot of tourists have a higher frequency of placing orders than those which aren’t tourist spots. Also, underdeveloped countries have a low rate of frequency with which the orders are placed(Nathalie & Jahre n. d). Above discussed are the logistics involved in the hotel industry. It also discusses how to manage these components effectively. Now the question arises: how are the effective management of these components and a wise use of their combination is beneficial to the business. The answer is simple and lies within. All these activities of managing the logistics effectively add value to the business as well as to the customers. Increased customer satisfaction increases the loyalty of the customers. Positive marketing is also an outcome associated of this loyalty. This in turn, attracts new customers and widens the customer base of the hotels. It is evident from the above discussion that a strategy must be selected which combines these components in a way that provides best results to the customers. If any company learns to handle its logistics effectively then there is no way that the company is not ahead of the competition it faces in the industry.

The Energy Crisis Of Fossil Fuels - 2291 Words

Abstract Recently, the â€Å"energy crisis† of fossil fuels as our energy source has been brought to the forefront of public awareness through media. A complete examination of how and when fossil fuels were formed must be explored before we find a permeant solution on how we may begin to finds solution for the issue currently at hand. How and why fossil fuels are termed â€Å"non-renewable† must be explored in regards to our energy source of fossil fuels. Additionally, each of the three types of fossil fuel which are oil, coal and natural gas must be described in terms of its origins, extractions and processing. In conclusion, the specific social, economic, and political impacts of fossil fuels will be explored. We must have a full understanding of this so that we may begin the process of healing our earth. It is believed that fossil fuels were formed over 300 million years ago during the Carboniferous Period. Fossil fuels were formed when the earth was a lot different in its landscape. The seas were shallow and the forest was swampy. During this period, Dead Sea organisms, plants and animals settled on the ocean floor and in the porous rocks. These organic matter had stored energy in them as they used the sun s energy to prepare foods, which were proteins for themselves. (2013, US Department of Energy) This process is known as photosynthesis. Over time, this energy from the sun was trapped within the rocks which formed pockets of coal, oil and natural gas.(2013, UsShow MoreRelatedReusable Energy : Solution For Our Fossil Fuel Crisis978 Words   |  4 PagesReusable Energy: Solution to our Fossil Fuel Crisis Could you imagine a world without cars? Could you imagine a world without lights at school? Can you imagine a world where you can t charge your electronic devices? How will you walk to school on a super cold day if you lived a mile away? How will our school provide heat in the winter? Our rich black gold is running out! Where will people get our power from? 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