Case Study Questions on Kimpton Hotels Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Questions on Kimpton Hotels - Case Study Example Each is individually designed to reflect the energy, personality, and pulse of its distinct location, history, and architectural style. Featuring highly personalized guest services, comforting in-room amenities, and one-of-a-kind specialty rooms and suites, Kimpton Hotels attract travelers with welcoming atmospheres that embrace its signature elements of care, comfort, style, flavor, and fun. Kimpton takes pride in its social responsibility, supporting select like-minded partners and is a leader in ecological practices. Kimpton Hotel serves their customer through their fundamental elements of Care. They try to ensure that this attitude of caring is reflected in each and every staff member to bring about a lasting and satisfying relationship with every customer. Service and caring-it's an attitude. They are very careful about the customer needs and their services. Comfort: The Kimpton offers the customer through the plush, cozy spaces with luxurious amenities for our guests to relax and rejuvenate. In trying to anticipate the customer's needs, wants or preferences, their intention is to see that guests are made to feels at home. Style: The Kimpton Group ensures that each of their locations are unique combining elegance with the whimsical. They design their hotels with the help of top quality designers and architects. They usually purchase existing property and modify it according to their needs rather than build entirely new building. Flavor: Imaginative and fun restaurants and lounges, which feature highly capable chefs that are favored by both locals and travelers. Fun: Fun and enjoyment is a favored theme and necessary activities are made available to see that customers... a. Business Philosophy and it adherence: An organization’s business philosophy can comprise of four components namely Vision, Mission, Culture and Values. This hotel group has a well defined business philosophy covering all the four components mentioned above. It vision is based on personal growth of its employees coupled with organizational growth. Its mission is equally praiseworthy and it is to getting new customers and keeping them for life. The same philosophy holds good for their employees as well. Culture is based on creating as atmosphere self leadership, creativity, performance and development. Values are based on creativity, passion, personality, focus and a system of continuous improvement. Even though many organizations have similar business philosophies, the hotel group has the ability to adhere to it. b. Treating guests as individuals: The Company takes great efforts to individually recognize and threat guests. They also have the software called Guestware to identify any guests who have once checked in before. c. Creating an ambience that is comfortable as well as fun. d. Unique architecture that is both whimsical and artistic. This is further made possible by the practice of purchasing existing buildings for their new hotels which enables them to have unique architectural styles for all their properties. e. Cost savings by following the above practice. f. Smaller number of rooms enables staff to extend more personalized service. g. A highly creative workforce on all their properties.

Sarans Essays Essay Example for Free

Sarans Essays Essay The ancient ideal the Greeks in ancient times and education the tendency today job oriented education the drawbacks of specialization education for livelihood. The ancient ideal of education was that education should be for life and not for livelihood. Knowledge was regarded as an end in itself and not a means to an end. The ancient ideal of education was a liberal one. Students were required to make a study of a variety of subjects, so that they could make a comparative study and develop their judgement and critical faculty. Knowledge was looked upon as a valuable possession which one had to try to acquire with much trouble and difficulty. Ancient scholars thought nothing of travelling to distant, lands to drink at the fountain head of knowledge. They would seek learned teachers and become their willing disciples. The ancient Greeks held the view that education had to help a man to have a balanced and well-integrated personality. It had to help him to achieve harmony within his own being by attaining a balance of body, mind and spirit. It had also to help him to achieve harmony with his environment and his fellow human beings. Education for life is meant to make a man liberal, tolerant and broad minded in his outlook. The tendency today, however, is towards providing for a Business Education or an Education for Livelihood. Todays education is a job oriented education. As a result of this, many Business Colleges have sprung up which are supposed to train people for particular jobs. The knowledge imparted in these colleges is rather limited in scope. It is restricted to whatever is connected with a special profession or trade. Though specialization is supposed to lean to thoroughness and efficiency, it has its own drawback. The students who go in for a Business Education become narrow minded. They lack tolerance and the ability to understand anothers point of view. They study everything from the view point of usefulness and not for aesthetic pleasure. They may not be able to relax and enjoy a book for its own sake if it has no connection with their trade or profession. They may never be able to enter and enjoy the magic regions of art and literature. Education for livelihood does not encourage a student to think for himself and to develop his creative and critical faculties. As his field of study is very narrow, he does not have a chance to make a comparative study, to judge the merits and demerits of other subjects.

Gaap Has Allowed Some Degree Of Managerial Judgment And Flexibility On Managers Accounting Essay

Gaap Has Allowed Some Degree Of Managerial Judgment And Flexibility On Managers Accounting Essay For accounting method, Generally Accepted Accounting Principle (GAAP) has allowed some degree of managerial judgment and flexibility on managers to choose their own accounting method, disclosures and estimates which can make their business underlying with the economics. By applying managerial judgement, it will give chance for the company to achieve on their own desired level of earning .This judgement is referred as to earning management (Wensheng and Jie; Belski and Brozovsky, 2002). According to Parfet (2000), with the flexibility and options given by GAAP it gives a good impact for economic development as others think that they really need the flexibility in accounting methods as diverse industries have different accounting requirements and changes which quickly happen than the FASB can respond. However, there is opportunity to the management to manage earning when many flexibility and options is given in accounting treatment such as too many depreciation methods, and inventory v aluation methods whereby give a chance to managers to choose the method that can achieve a certain level of income. Moreover, the information provided will be overload and user can easily to get confused when there are many options given and accounting profession feels that it is too costly for the preparation and audit of financial statement. As cited by Greenfield, Norman and Wier (2008) on study done by Rosenfield (2000) earning management has been allowed by GAAP in two ways. First way, GAAP permit the company to report all the income that has not been earned and second way, GAAP permit income smoothing whereby reporting the income with stability. There are examples given for these types of accounting practices such as recording revenues earlier than allowed, moving obligation to offshore holding companies to increase income and recording products sales as revenue preceding to definite shipment. For management perceptions, the purpose they operate the company is to have a continuous improvement in their operating business performance with progressively and consistently as to raise financial income and long term development in shareholders value. As for them, sometime they need to have smooth income earning for the value of companys stable growth (Parfet, 2000). Issues of earning management have been arising and take into consideration for a long decade in the accounting profession. These issues have been proven by the case of Enron and WorldCom whereby both the corporate giants collapsed due to practice of earning management. Thus, for company that involve with earning management will bring a lot of consequences and difficulties. It can be given example wherein earning management may let the management to achieve their earning based bonus which also may give impact on managements reputation. Particularly, managers that involve with earning management activities like increase the share price; they also involve in earning management for their own personal purpose and gain (Healy and Wahlen, 1999). Besides, it may cause the problems in management ethics wherein it will be questioned and issued (Guidry, Leone and Rock, 1999). In fact, Merchant and Rockness, 1994 has claimed that earning management may bring and give a potential to the ethical issue that are facing by accounting profession. It has been shown in their study wherein providing the evidence on the ethical assessment of earning management inside the organization which is between their various members only. General Managers, operating unit controller, internal auditor and corporate staff has been involved for this study. Futhermore, referring to Kaplan, 1999, he has extend Merchant and Rockness study by doing the ethical assessment that focusing on the external parties which is outside the organization where is called as users of financial statements. Managers, companies and policy makers will be aware and take a serious action when there is involvement by the external parties as they views earning management as unethical. Means that, if users of financial statement considered earning management as unethical, as a result it will affect managers and companies wherein they will suffer and credibility of companies in the financial markets will be damaged. Referring to Elias (2002), in late1998 of a series of speeches by the former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Arthur Levitt warned that for those who are misleading in managing earning in the financial report may finally give a bad impact to the US stock market: If a company fails to provide meaningful disclosure to investors about where it has been, a damaging pattern ensues. The bond between shareholders and the company is shaken; investors grow anxious; prices fluctuate for no discernible reasons; and the trust that is the bedrock of our capital markets is severely tested. Levitt (1998) claimed that earning management is a process on game of nods and winks between corporate managers, auditors and analysts. He put notice to the accounting profession wherein any of them is consider as poisoning the financial reporting process when they involve in grey area between legitimacy and outright fraud. Besides, he noted that management may threatening the integrity of financial reporting when they mistreatment of premature revenue recognition, cookie jar reserves, big bath restructuring charges, creative acquisition accounting and write off of purchased in process RD. Due to this matter, SEC has taken consideration and action by examine a new disclosure requirement and set up a earning management task force to clear-out all these things on company that manage earnings. As these speeches has been delivered and to address this concern, there are increasing number of members awareness for the accounting profession on the possible harmful effect of earning managemen t and many academic community has taken an effort to strengthen their research regarding this practice (Elias, 2002). Accordingly, based on the significance of ethical issues in earning management, the main objective of this study is to determine the ethical sensitivity of earning management actions which can be examine through determinants of ethical criteria like Professional Commitment (PC), Personal Benefit (PB), Ethical Relativism Orientation (ERO) and Ethical Idealism Orientation (EIO), perceived role of ethics and social responsibility and personal moral philosophies or ethical ideology. This study will explain the background of earning management and ethics, followed by determinants of ethics and ethics and earning management literature and finally is a conclusions. BACKGROUND ON EARNING MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS Earning Management In several decades, managers have used many practices to manage their earning to achieve different purposes for example DeFond and Park (1997) study has shown the result wherein earning management is used to smooth income in order to increase job security (Greenfield et al, 2008). In addition, some researchers also do a study based on surrvey and experiment on the practice of earning management like Elias (2002); Kaplan (1999) and Kavousy, Fard, Kangarluei and Bayazidi (2010). By comparing accrual accounting with cash accounting, accrual accounting is intend more towards to smooth earning and create a number that is more valuable for investors to forecast future earning. In order to define earning management, we should to find at which point that the managers accrual decision involve in too much smoothing and directly become as earning management (Dechow and Skinner, 2000). There are many ways to define of earning management. DeFond and Park (1997) suggesting that managers will borrow earning from the future in order to cover poor current earning in the current period and expected future current earning is good. On the other hand, when the current earning is good but expected future earning is poor thus manager will save current earning in order to cover the future earnings. While, based on the former SEC Chairman stated that earning management is called as accounting hocus-pocus wherein the managers has exploited the flexibility of financial reporting in order to achieve their earnings expectations (Levitt, 1998). According to Healy and Wahlen (1999, p.368), earning management is defined as: It occurs when managers use judgment in financial reporting and structuring transactions to alter financial reports either to mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performance of the company or to influence contractual outcomes that depend on reported accounting numbers. It means that, manager has many options to use judgment to adjust their financial report. For example, the judgment is needed for estimation various future economic event that are reflected in financial report such as obligations for pension benefits, expected lives and salvage values of long term assets, losses from bad debt, deferred taxes and impairment of assets. Managers also need to choose the appropriate accounting methods in order to report the same economic transactions for depreciation methods like straight line or double declining methods and inventory cost methods like the LIFO, FIFO or average cost methods. Management that exercise judgment in financial reporting has face both costs and benefits where the costs are the possible misallocation of resources caused by earning management while the benefits are the possible improvements for management to communicate the private information to the external stakeholders (Healy and Wahlen, 1999). In addition, managers may involve with earning management as due to the several reasons. Managers engage in the earning management in order to raise return, postponement or keep away from contract defaults, increase wealth throughout IPOs or to control particular regulatory outcome. Due to that, it will show a good perception by individual on the ethicalness of certain earning management behavior (Kavousy et al, 2010). The former SEC Chairman, Levitt also noticed that the main reason for increasing in earning management issues is due to capital markets reluctance to forgive companies that fail to notice their earnings estimates (Levitt, 1998). There are numerous incentives provided to the manager for the management of earning. The previous empirical research has classified two main incentives for earning management where divided into two factors which is internal and external factors. For external factors focus on manipulation of earning make by manager as to achieve expectation of financial analyst in order to increase the stock prices (Elias, 2002). Study by Kasznick (1999) shown that company will use unexpected accruals to manage earnings upward if the company face any danger that falling short of an earnings forecast. The result from Barton (2001) has indicated that company use plagiaristic such as income smoothing in order to maintain earnings constant with forecast. Erickson and Wang (1999) noted that due to the equity offering, company has report income by increasing unexpected accruals which managers have overstated earning. While, internal factors relates to the managerial incentives or management compensation con tract such as bonus plans (Elias, 2002). The result from Healy (1985) study indicated that the relationship between accruals of accounting and earning related bonus plans. As bonus plans referred to accounting numbers, managers could more enthusiasm to increase their bonus by exercises in earning management. Particularly, executives choose accounting procedures in order to increase their remuneration that can be rewarded by earning based bonus. Guidry et al (1999) noted that there is strong support for the business bonus maximization by using business unit level data. Earning management can be different with fraud by looking and analysing into conservative accounting, neutral accounting, aggressive accounting and fraudulent accounting. For conservative accounting, it will using GAAP for accounting choices. However, it make accounting treatments more aggressive recognition of provisions or reserves, overvaluation of purchase in process R D in purchase acquisitions, overstatement of restructuring charges and asset write-offs. Due to these accounting treatments, it leads to delay sales, accelerate RD or advertising expenditures. Neutral accounting are accounting involve in neutral operation of the process. For the transactions, it is recorded based on how the way they think is good which just looking by managers based on the transaction nature and the accounting treatment within GAAP. Aggressive accounting are accounting whereby managers understate provisions. The manager will try to appear a low number of estimates of bad debt expenses. It means, t he managers will draw aggressively as low as they can for provisions or reserves like delay R D or advertising expenditures and accelerate sales. The aggressive accounting treatment based on judgment which is not easy to judge. Fraudulent accounting means recording the items that are relate with sales where the sale is recorded before they are realizable, backdating sales invoices, recording fictitious sales and overstating inventory by recording fictitious inventory. As a result, this accounting treatment goes against GAAP and it is fraud (Wensheng and Jie). Overall, earning management will bring consequences in the wearing down of trust between company and shareholders as fraud have been arising to doubtful actual financial instability. Thus, in turn to that masks the true significance of managements decisions (Levitt, 1998). Ethics Of Earning Management According to Levitt (1998), earning management practices in the accounting profession is not a new environment but the implementing strategies to take actions for this issue is well kept secret by corporate executive. As evidence, the managers also unwilling to discuss more regarding the distinction between earning management and management fraud concepts. As a result, SEC has taken an action by identified and prevents this practice as earning management has brought a negative implications and consequences. However, even though earning management issues has been reducing this is not the main goal of the accounting profession to achieve (Elias, 2002). Debate regarding the earning management has been issued and studied by many researchers which are one side of proponent and the other side is opponent. On the proponent side of the debate is the former SEC Chairman who is stated that all earning management behaviour is unacceptable, even have materiality (Grant et al, 2000).In contrast, for opponents side which is the scholars that are disagreed with the SEC that stated earning management is unethical. Kaplan (2001) has given empirical proof to support this argument regarding earning management. He uses a sample of MBA students that can play a role as financial statement users. He makes a distinction for managerial action that can give the benefit to the company and the benefit to manager individually. The result which use shareholders rate showed earning management is more ethical when it more benefited to the company. Conversely, in the non shareholders rated it showed that earning management action as more unethical. This argument has been supported by the other scholar like Parfet (2000). In Parfet (2000) study, it has been gone further and identified that earning management is not essentially always give a negative phenomenon, however it depends on the logical result showed by applying the flexibility of financial reporting options. For example, if managers have credibility to increase shareholders wealth, thus they need to choose all legal options which can assist them to accomplish this goal. Besides, Parfet (2000, p.481) also has differentiated between good and bad earning management. It consider as a good earning management when managers make firm financial performance by voluntary and acceptable business decisions. In opposition, bad earning management is occur when managers has make false accounting entries or broaden estimates beyond reasonable limit. He noted that good earning management is not supposedly to view it as negative and manipulative and cannot be banned. Earning management has influence by many factors like ethics perspective and economic perspective and can be determined and defined from different perception. Ethics perspective is using in order to identify whether have any differences on earning management practices that are perceived by several groups. Normally the ethical research, it will use the assessment of ethical acceptability or unacceptability of various earning management practices by different diversity groups. Numerous attributes for accounting treatment have identified from ethics perspective researches to influence the assessment of ethical acceptability of accounting practices (Wensheng and Jie). Kaplan (2001) found the result this assessment has influence that role in order to determine the fraudulent of financial reporting. This study did not assess in details whether the professionals definitely consider the accounting treatment to be earning management or not. Managers purpose to manage earning is based on their ethics. If their ethics is strong they could hidden from manage earnings because their belief of value do not permit them to manage earnings. Nobody can stop them to do it if they do not have any intention to do so. Thus, it is good for the managers to select the accounting treatments that have been guidance by GAAP in order to minimize any risk arising from violating of GAAP (Wensheng and Jie). According to Kavousy et al (2010), there are four ethics criteria that consist of Professional Commitment (PC), Personal Benefit (PB), Ethical Relativism Orientation (ERO) and Ethical Idealism Orientation (EIO) has been use in order to determine the impact of level of these criteria on the earning management decisions. However, Elias (2002) has identified ethics criteria into two which is on perceived role of ethics and social responsibility and personal moral philosophies or ethical ideology like idealism and relativism. DETERMINANTS OF ETHICS Ethical Ideology and Ethical Judgment As cited by Greenfiled et al (2008) on study done by Schlenker and Forsyth (1977) and Forsyth (1980) noted that an individual ethical ideology or moral philosophy is one factor that are suggest to explain differences in ethical or moral judgment. Forsyth (1980) recommend that the individual ethical ideology is divided into two dimensions which is idealism and relativism that are developed from Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ). Relativism can be described as individuals consideration about universal set of rules or standards where individuals reject universal moral principles and rules. Idealism emphasis on human welfare which means describes the individuals attitudes toward the significance of an action and to see the effect of this significance to welfare of others. An individuals ethical ideology like idealism and relativism may affect the business decision making which is also include the decision to manage earnings. For individuals that are more intent towards idealism should be decide not to manage earnings as it could cause harm and undesirable consequences to others and this outcome should be prevented. These individuals also make a judgement on earning management actions as more unethical (Elias, 2002). In contrast, those individuals that are more relativist will think and make a consideration on certain circumstances first rather than caused the potential harm of decisions. These individuals are more lenient in make a judgment for decisions and as a group earning management actions are judge more ethical than do the idealists (Elias, 2002). Personal Benefit (PB) And Professional Commitment (PC) Personal benefit (PB) and Professional commitment (PC) is the objective of profession and acknowledgement the value which means the readiness of professional to practice substantial effort on behalf of profession and sustain their membership in the profession as an explicit objective that is cited by Kavousy et al (2010) on the study done by Porter et al (1974). Generally, the professional should focus more and give a high commitment on their profession rather than to their personal gain. Thus shareholder thinks that managers and employees can manage and protect the assets of the company and make a correct and firm decision in order to increase company value. In details, all stakeholders believe that certified public accountants can maintain the confidence of public that include remaining independent of the client and purposely speak out the financial condition of the company in the annual report (Greenfield et al, 2008). Ethics And Social Responsibility The relationship between ethical behaviour and social responsibility has been examined by Elias (2002) as this relationship is important for the business. As cited by Elias (2002) on the study done by (Davis, 1974; Robin and Reidenbach, 1987) stated it is due to the business that become as a part of a complex and mutually dependent with social system which means the others part of the system is influence by business actions. Besides, it is essential for the business to have a corporate social responsibility as it is a social contract between business and society and community to require a company to show a greater social concern to the society and community. Thus, the disclosure of corporate social responsibility in annual report becomes more important for company in order to maintain and attract companys customer and it also provide information to the public concerning on a companys activities that relate to the community. As to get a confirmation on the interrelationship between ethics and social responsibility, the study done by Singhapakdi et al (1996) that are cited by Elias (2002) shown that there is tools have been developed and used to determine the individuals belief concerning the role of ethics and social responsibility in organizational effectiveness. The questionnaire is divided into three factors. Part of social responsibility and profitability has become the first factor which consider about the individuals that are more concern and aware on this element which they believe that disclosure of companys social responsibility can bring to the profitability and competitiveness to the company. The second factor is regarding long term gain where the individual that involve more in this element will believe that social responsibility has play important role to sustain the business as going concern and maintain it for long term success. Lastly, the third factor is about short term gain where the i ndividual more in this element will believe that social responsibility will make a short term success for the company. ETHICS AND EARNING MANAGEMENT LITERATURE Numerous studies have examine the relationship between ethics and earning management as it become as a hot issue especially for the accounting profession. In the study of Elias(2002) with the research title Determinants of Earnings Management Ethics Among Accountants shows that by using 763 accounting practitioners, faculty and students sample there is positive relationship between social responsibility that focus on idealism and long term gains with ethical perception of earning management and negative relationship that focus on relativism and short term gains with ethical perception of earning management. The study by Belski and Brozovsky (2002) with research title Ethical Judgment in Accounting: an Examination on the Ethics of Managed Earnings shows that the intent of the earning management problems where managers involve in earning management that was assumed as opportunistic or selfish as more unethical compared with earning management behavior target at maximizing the form contracting efficiency. Furthermore, the method of manipulation was also important and to be considered. The study title The Effect of Ethical Orientation and Professional Commitment on Earning Management on study done by Greenfield et al (2008) with a sample of 375 undergraduate business majors, discovered that a positive relationship among an individuals ethical orientation and decision making. Moreover, individual with higher level of professional commitment look to be less likely to involve with earning management behavior and to behave opportunistically. Study by Marques and Pereira (2009) with the research title Ethical Ideology and Ethical Judgments in the Portuguese Accounting Profession indicate that a major determinant for relativism is an age. It contrasts with the prior research where older respondents exposed themselves significantly more relativistic than younger. While a major determinant of ethical judgment is a gender where against expectations, men shows significantly stricter judgments compared with women in two of the five scenarios. It also signify that respondents ethical judgments did not contrast significantly based on their ethical ideology as supporting the idea that determinant of ethical judgments is not important for ethical ideology. Finally, research done by Kavousy (2010) with the title The Relationship between Ethics Criteria and Earning Management in Accepted Companies in Tehran Stock Exchange found that ethical criteria of PC, PB, ERO, and EIO have an insignificant relationship with earning management. CONCLUSIONS Ethics issues have been taking into consideration and discussed by many parties like professional, academic journals and press. Due to this matter, it brings this research more specific on ethical issues that are related with earning management. The perception of earning management is hard to define as it is very subjective. Thus it is difficult to determine whether it is use appropriate accounting treatment or tend to earning management. It is good for the company to follow guidance from GAAP for applying the flexibility of accounting treatment as to reduce the risk that can violate GAAP. Since earning management issue has a great deal attention by many parties, therefore it is very important for the company to consider about ethical issue in order to manage earning. If individual has a strong sense of ethic, earning management can be avoided as they know it is unethical to do it. Even though manager has opportunity to manage earning as due to the flexibility of accounting treatment , they can manage it properly if they have a good ethics. Otherwise, it will caused earning management which show a unethical behaviour to the stakeholders especially the external parties like investors and customers. As a consequence, a strong relationship between ethic and earning management is taking as serious action to consider. Hence, there are ethics criteria like ethical ideology, personal benefit and professional commitment have been considered in order to determine the impact of it with earning management.

Cigarette Smoking is a Costly and Deadly Habit! Essay -- Argumentative

Abstract Cigarette smoking is the greatest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States. Secondhand smoke causes numerous lung cancer deaths annually. Measures have been taken in both workplaces and public places to limit exposure to secondhand smoke. The economic cost of smokers to society is phenomenal- it includes monetary costs, lost workdays and shortened work lives. Many states are establishing and maintaining comprehensive tobacco-control programs to reduce tobacco use. They provide education to our youth to prevent them from ever starting and smoking cessation programs for individuals that currently wish to stop smoking. Education and support are known ways to eventually prevent smoking in the future. Efforts to increase the public perception of the harmful effects of tobacco must utilize a comprehensive approach that affects policy development, education strategies and health care systems. Smoking is becoming more and more unfashionable as time goes on. There are many studies conducted showing that secondhand smoke is a health hazard to both the smoker and anyone that relies on the same air supply, not to mention the unpleasantness and discomfort it causes those that do not smoke. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that it is estimated that secondhand smoke that emerges from exhaling and burning cigarettes causes approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths and 37,000 heart disease deaths in nonsmokers each year. (Nolo, 2002). According to a 1998 Gallop poll, 94% of Americans, including both smokers and nonsmokers, agree that companies should either ban or restrict smoking to properly ventilated areas. Another Gallop poll indicates that 95% of nonsmokers, and 69% of smokers, t hink California's ban on smoking in almost all workplaces is positive. Some companies are now refusing to hire anyone who admits to smoking on a job application because of higher healthcare insurance, absenteeism, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation insurance associated with these individuals. (Nolo, 2002). Those that do not smoke feel it is an infringement of what they consider to be a reasonable right not to have to breath other people’s cigarette smoke while at work. During the 1970’s the dangers of secondhand smoke were beginning to amass and a movement for nonsmokers emerged. When it was proven that secondhand smoke was ... ...ity and Mortality Weekly Report, Guidelines for School Health Programs to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction, (Vol. 43). No. RR-2. Lee, P.R. (1994). Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People, A Report of the Surgeon General, Retrieved June 7, 2002, from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgryth2.htm. Nolo Law for All, (2002). Smoking in the Workplace: Still a Burning Issue, Retrieved May 16, 2002, from http://www.nolo.com.lawcenter/ency/article.cfm/objectID/5622E54E-4494-B†¦ Office of the Surgeon General, You Can Quit Smoking, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2002). Retrieved June 10, 2002, from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/consquits.htm. State of Delaware, (2002, May 31). Governor Ruth Ann Minner Signs Landmark Ban on Smoking In Delaware's Indoor Public Areas, Retrieved June 4, 2002 from http://www.state.de.us/governor/news/2002/05May/053102-SB99.htm. University of Nevada, Reno, Robert Shubinski, M.D., (1999, March 9). Costs of Tobacco Use, Retrieved May 16, 2002 from http://unr.edu/homepage/subinsk/smokost1.htm U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People, A Report of the Surgeon General, (1994).

Region – Cagayan Valley

Most of the region lies in a large valley in northeastern Luzon, between the Cordilleras and the Sierra Madre mountain ranges. The Cagayan River, the country's longest, runs through its center and flows out to Luzon Strait in the north, in the town of Aparri, Cagayan. The Babuyan and Batanes island groups that lie in the Luzon Strait belong to the region. Cagayan Valley is the second largest region of the Philippines in terms of land area. Ibanag, Itawes and Ilocano (in varied shades and intonations) and Malueg are the major dialects of Cagayan. Migration made Ilocano the dominant language spoken in the province, composing 67. 3% of the total population. (Dios nicamu ngamin in Ybanag greeting, Good Day to all), Itawes comprise 13. 5%, Ybanag 15. 3%, and Malaueg 1. 7%. Other ethnic groups that migrated speak their own dialects. A person in places where literacy is high speaks and understands English or Filipino (Cagayan, 87). It’s Culture People in the valley dressed very simply. Old women used the saya and kimono while men used the camisa de chino or the barong tagalog. Some of the houses that withstood the Japanese occupation were historical houses made of hard wood. Some were bahay-kubo. Most typical homes were strong and typhoon-resistant. For agriculture, today, there are only a few have modern agricultural implements. The majority still use traditional implements like animal-drawn tools. Filipinos are characterized by its close family ties such that majority of married couples with children lived with their parents. The value of bayanihan, sharing, cooperation, brotherhood, self-responsibility, respect, love, peace, and dignity, are still very much alive in Cagayan. Old songs, proverbs, and poems are still sung today, alongside the instruments Kuribaw, tulali and the kuritang produced by Ibanags. These produced warlike or sad music. It also exhibits the beauty of the unoni, the berso, and the pabattang (proverbs and the advises through songs) which convey Ibanag history and their mores that the ethnic group keep sacred and inviolable. The following are samples of the Unoni as described by the Ibanags: â€Å"maguray y mapporay, mesipo y massipo, mawawan y carwan† (the brave leads, the lenient are included and the rest gets lost).

Characteristics of Poor Teachers

Characteristics of Poor Teachers One would hope that all teachers would strive to be excellent, effective educators. However, education is just like any other profession. There are those who work extremely hard at their craft getting better on a daily basis and there are those that are just simply there never striving to improve. Even though this type of teacher is in the minority, just a handful of truly bad teachers can hurt the profession.   What qualities can deem a teacher ineffective or bad? There are many different factors  that can derail a teacher’s career. Here we discuss some of the most prevalent qualities of poor teachers.   Lack of Classroom Management A lack of classroom management is probably the single biggest downfall of a bad teacher. This issue can be the demise of any teacher no matter their intentions. If a teacher cannot control their students, they will not be able to teach them effectively. Being a good classroom manager starts on day one by incorporating simple procedures and expectations and then following through on predetermined consequences when those procedures and expectations are compromised.   Lack of Content Knowledge Most states require teachers to pass a comprehensive series of assessments to obtain certification within a specific subject area. With this requirement, you would think that all teachers would be proficient enough to teach the subject area(s) they were hired to teach. Unfortunately, there are some teachers who  do not know the content well enough to teach it. This is an area that could be overcome through preparation. All teachers should thoroughly prepare for any lesson  before they teach it to make sure they understand what they are going to be teaching. Teachers will lose credibility with their students quickly  if they do not know what they are teaching, thus making them ineffective. Lack of Organizational Skills Effective teachers must be organized. Teachers who lack organizational skills will be overwhelmed and, as a result, ineffective. Teachers who recognize a weakness in organization should seek help in improving in that area. Organizational skills can be improved with some good direction and advice. Lack of Professionalism Professionalism encompasses many different areas of teaching. A lack of professionalism can quickly result in a teacher’s dismissal. Ineffective teachers are often tardy or absent. They may fail to follow a districts dress code or use inappropriate language in their classroom.   Poor Judgment Too many good teachers have lost their careers due to a moment of poor judgment. Common sense goes a long way in protecting yourself from these sorts of scenarios. A good teacher will think before acting, even in moments where emotions or stressors are running high.   Poor People Skills Good communication  is essential in the teaching profession. An ineffective teacher communicates poorly, or not at all, with students, parents, other teachers, staff members, and administrators. They leave parents out of the loop about what is happening in the classroom.   Lack of Commitment   There are some teachers who simply lack motivation. They spend the minimum  amount of time necessary to do their  job never arriving early or staying late. They do not challenge their students, ​are often behind on grading, show videos often, and give â€Å"free† days on a regular basis. There is no creativity in their teaching, and they typically make no connections with other faculty or staff members. There is no such thing as a perfect teacher. It is in the nature of the profession to continuously improve in all areas, including classroom management, teaching style, communication, and subject area knowledge. What matters most is a commitment to improvement. If a teacher lacks this commitment, they may not be suited for the profession.

The Life and Times of Catherine Hicks essays

The Life and Times of Catherine Hicks essays Once upon a time, the most that kids had to worry about at school was a looming test or a deadline for a paper. No more. After the carnage that left 15 dead and 23 wounded at Columbine High in the affluent Denver suburb of Littleton, there can be few youngsters anywhere who feel totally confident that they won't one day encounter a fellow student with a gun in his hand and madness in his eyes. Although the tragedies of West Paducah, Kentucky; Peal, Mississippi; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Springfield Oregon (to name the most well-known school shootings earlier in the 1990s) were shocking enough, those tolls fell short of the clockwork slaughter among the 1,900 students at Columbine. There, for more than three hours, two misfits spread terror before killing themselves even as hundreds of local, state and federal law-enforcement officers lay siege outside. The two-Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17-savored Goth music like Marilyn Manson and violent computer games such as Doom as well as Nazi mythology and paraphernalia. They hated the jocks in the rah-rah school who made them feel like outcats. Klebold, who wore a T-shirt that read SERIAL KILLER the morning of the massacre, is remember by fellow seniors as a follower in search of a leader. He found one in Harris, who created a Web site on which he had posted bomb-making instructions and virulent warnings to classmates. The parents of Brooks Brown, a senior whom Harris had threated the previous yeaer, complained to both school and police numerous times, but nothing was ever done. If Harris and Klebold weren't well-adjusted teens, they still gave few hints of the depths of their lethal alienation. After getting caught stealing in early 1998, they sailed successfully through a juvenile rehabilitation program, and their police records were expunged. Both came from prosperous families, with parents who believed they knew their children well-though Littleton's sheriff ...

Commentary on The Poem of the Cid essays

Commentary on The Poem of the Cid essays Poetry played a vital role in the dissemination of information during the Crusade period. It provided a compact, easily memorized way of spreading news in a time bereft of the benefit of mass printing. According to Michael Routledge, who penned a chapter on Crusade songs and poetry in The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades, poetry was not only a way of recording and spreading news of current events, but also served to record and extoll the virtues and values of the ruling Medieval aristocracy. These values included commitment to one's lord, and an acceptance of the feudal duties of auxilium (armed help in time of attack by enemies) and consilium (counsel and rendering of justice) (Routledge 97). A fine example of poetry's use in the above context can be found in Paul Blackburn's translation of the medieval Spanish epic Poem of the Cid. The poem is a fictional account of the life of the eleventh-century adventurer and military commander Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar. The poem's title derives from Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar's Arabic title, Sayyidi (the Cid) or "My Lord". The poem's content describes a series of events transpiring after the main character, the Cid, is exiled from his homeland. Within the body of the poem, situations extolling the medieval virtues of commitment to one's lord, auxilium, and consilium are revealed. The theme of commitment to one's lord is prevalent throughout the Poem of the Cid. Initially, the Cid is exiled because his enemies have turned his lord, King Alfonso, against him. Despite being banished from his home and family, the Cid uses every opportunity that comes his way to show his valor and loyalty to Alfonso. In reality, being exiled should have turned a man like the Cid into a freebooter who had the right to earn a living however possible for himself and his followers. As a free agent, so to speak, the Cid would have been able to claim authority over whatever territory he conquered, and could even...

Journal Articles Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Journal Articles - Article Example The Democratic Party’s intense support for the principle of the Manifest Destiny, through the policies of the Democrat President James K. Polk, was the impetus of the war which moulded the nation (Apilado, 2011). The turn of events and the feats of the American political affairs at that time were discussed in Michael A. Morrison’s article "'New Territory versus No Territory': The Whig Party and the Politics of Western Expansion, 1846-1848" published on the Western Historical Quarterly. The History of 1846-1848 in the Eyes of Morrison The important arguments presented in Morrison’s article all revolve on the significant events of the Mexican-American War and the political affairs behind it. It analyses the dispute between important politicians of that time which emphasizes on the debate of the US territorial expansion. The pieces of evidence that the author uses in the article explicitly shows the partisan politics that delves on the politicians’ conviction on the use of force in order to achieve more territories and the otherwise. Morrison also tackles the views of the Democrat Federal government with concerns to the Congressional oppositions that Polk’s policies have met at the duration of the war. ... The article, in general, is a political analysis of the early American nation and the accompanying effects which ultimately manifest to the territorial expansion of the country. The author had written it in such a way that his arguments revolve on the different political sides and sentiments of the federal policy to sustain the two-year war with Mexico. More importantly, Morrison’s article creates much area for debate when it comes to the principles of the respective political parties at that time. It establishes insights on the partisan decisions of the federal government and the gravity of oppositions that the policies meet from staunch political rivals in the Congress. Manifest Destiny and Partisan Politics: the Dispute between the Whigs and the Democrats In the course of the American history, the principle of the Manifest Destiny had underwent through numerous developments which proved its full effect upon the formation of what is known to be the existing territorial expan se of the American nation. The principle simply states the use of conquest or force through military might which can award the nation more territories. The desire for further expansion after the nation’s freedom from the British colonial rule had manifested in many policies that the federal government had taken. A perfect example of this can be seen during the presidency of James Monroe and his Monroe Doctrine in the 1820s. The Monroe Doctrine explicitly stated the expulsion of any influence of any European power in the Americas and the propagation of the idea of Pan Americanism. Although Manifest Destiny was not a direct policy basis for the Monroe Doctrine, the very idea of territorial control was an emergent effect of President Monroe’s policy. The

Research Proposal (Advertising & Censorship) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

(Advertising & Censorship) - Research Proposal Example With the use of other strategies, advertisements help in building brand image for companies, meaning that clients can easily identify specific companies with specific products and services. In Honk Kong, the need for producers and service providers to be competitive is no different from what exists in other parts of the world as companies are constantly opened up to local and international competition (quote). As noted in the background, competitiveness among companies in Hong Kong is now an important determinant of success for various business operatives. Even though this is a situation that happens with almost every other company, quote (year) singled out the food and alcohol industry and said that these are faced with even stiffer need to be competitive as the industry is regarded as both important and exposed to perfect competition. On a daily basis, new food, beverage and alcohol companies spring up in Hong Kong in different sizes. As noted in the background, most of these companies resort to the use of advertisement to make their presence known to the public. The problem with advertisement from some of these companies however has to do with the consent of their products and the content of their advertisement. Even though even though alcoholic and unhealthy food are not prohibited in Hong Kong, quote (year) laments about how the content of advertisements are not made to reflect the t rue content of products but only to emphasise on persuading clients. In the light of the identified problem above, the proposed study will be carried out with the purpose of comparing alcohol and unhealthy food product in Hong Kong to the United Kingdom (U.K.). This means that the U.K’s model of advertisement and censorship on alcohol and unhealthy food is used as a model to test the rate of acceptability with what prevails in Hong Kong. U.K is selected as the model due to popularity of its advertisement regulations in literature and how

The case briefs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The case briefs - Essay Example They are also to provide assistance in case of an emergency at their premises. As such issues that surround the liability of the owners of premises under the special relations, doctrine needs to be effectively dealt with properly before the final judgment is provided. Disposition: The Court reversed the appellate court's decision and remanded the case.Case 2: Disabled Rights Action Committee, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Las Vegas Events, Inc.; University Of Nevada, Las Vegas, Thomas, and Mack Center; Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, Defendants-Appellees. History: The district court had felt that the private entities, that is, Events and Cowboys had no part in ensuring the compliance to public accommodation standards. Further, the court argued that the ownership did not stage the events giving them any case to answer. Facts: The plaintiff alleged that the physically challenged members of the society have been subjected to poor services, discrimination at the centre and further char ged higher ticket fees as compared to other people. As such, the plaintiff sought an injunction preventing the defendant from using the facility until it became compliant to ADA. Issue: The question was whether apart from the owners of the premise, Events and Cowboys could be enjoined in the suit to ensure compliance with public accommodation of the physically challenged. Rule: In public spaces accommodation, the owners or the management of the premise is expected to provide assistance to the physically challenged members of the society.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rhetorical Analysis Essay - Assignment Example Richard Cohen, in his article â€Å"The Dangers of Labeling Terrorism† brings out various perceptions about the role of US in Islam states conflicts. This paper shall present a rhetoric analysis of Cohen’s article. Global conflicts are seen to be closely tied to religion and balance of power politics. Based on the consistency of outcomes, the author argues that there is little logic in all US involvement in foreign conflicts. He sees no need for US to continue with a trend, which does not bring positive results. For instance, he cites all the countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan as some of the countries that have not realized peace despite to US intervention. In fact, in such places, the US could have reasoned logically to let those countries managed their affairs without any interference. Cohen also feels that the fact that US’s intervention in Iraqi affairs to save besieged Yazidis is another move that was not logically well thought out. He may be seen to take this position with the understanding that no other state should meddle with other countries’ political affairs (Cohen 1). In addition, he feels that Barack Obama’s position in the Islamic conflicts is logical. He argues that Obama does not see a blank cover of generalized criminal acts perpetrated by Muslim faithful as Islamic Terrorism. He notes that Obama is right to observe that terrorism by some Islamic states, which does not reflect true Islam, should not be generalized to the entire Muslim world. Religious scholars all over the world may support this claim. That is because many scholars have noted that the original Islam has been corrupted. This corruption, in many cases, has led to the lack of tolerance. Besides that, the corrupted Islam has led the emergence of radical sects within Islam. Thus, the author rightly maintains that Obama’s position is logical, as it does not

Journalism Mass Media and Communication Research Paper

Journalism Mass Media and Communication - Research Paper Example How is this history displayed for the audience? Is this history conveyed effectively? Is Kaufman constructing a history from above, from below or something in between? The Laramie project is based on a true story about voices of real people grappling with prejudice and tragedy in their small town (Bollas, 26). In 1998, Matthew Sheppard, an explicitly gay college student was beaten, tied to a fence, and let to die on the outskirts of Laramie in Wyoming. These actions lead to the small town being thrust into national spotlight revealing prejudice and the harsh truth of violence that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) community often faces in the contemporary society. After the event, Moises Kaufman and other members of the New York-based tectonic theater project traveled to the place. Through the utilization of interviews, theater techniques news report and interviews, the Laramie project was born. Moises Kaufman and other members of the tectonic theater project made 6 trips to Laramie in the aftermath of the beating and when the two young men accused of killing Sheppard were being tried. The Laramie is a breathtaking melodramatic collection that explores the height of compassion of which human beings are capable of as well as the depth to which humanity can sink (Elsbree & Wong, 100). The play is based on a true story of October 1998 when Matthew Sheppard, a gay student who was attending the University of Wyoming in the town of Laramie was murdered by two young men. Matthew was taken to a spot that was isolated by two local young men with the intent of robbery, Russell Henderson, and Aaron McKinney beat him up by using the butt of the butt of their guns and left him with injuries but tied to the fence. However, Sheppard was found eighteen hours later exposed outdoor and died a few days later. After the trial, Russell and McKinney were convicted and imprisoned for life.

B200 TMA02 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

B200 TMA02 - Essay Example This can lead to inefficiency due to imperfect competition, which can take many different forms, such as monopolies, monopsonies, cartels, or monopolistic competition, if the agent does not implement perfect price discrimination. OPEC (oil cartel in Middle East is an example of this). Second, the actions of an agent can have externalities, which are innate to the methods of production, or other conditions important to the market. An externality occurs when an economic activity causes external costs or external benefits to third party stakeholders who did not directly affect the economic transaction. In a competitive market, the existence of externalities would mean that either too much or too little of the good would be produced and consumed in terms of overall cost and benefit to society. Finally, some markets can fail due to the nature of certain goods, or the nature of their exchange. For instance, goods can display the attributes of public goods or common-pool resources, while markets may have significant transaction costs, agency problems, or informational asymmetry. In general, all of these situations can produce inefficiency, and a resulting market failure. "One cause of market failure is the limited nature of property rights. ... By extending these rights, individuals may be able to prevent other people imposing costs on them, or charge them for doing so." (2000: pp. 152-153) As a result, an agent can have imperfect control over the uses of its commodity, as the system of property rights that defines this control is not comprehensive. Typically, this includes two basic rights that have more generalized nature - excludability and transferability. Excludability caters to the an agent's ability to control who can use its commodity, how much, and for how long - and also the associated costs for doing so. Transferability states the right of an agent to transfer the rights of its commodity from one agent to another, primarily by selling or leasing a commodity, and associated costs associated for doing so. If a system of rights cannot fully guarantee these at low (or no) cost, then an inefficient distribution can be the consequence. There can be many examples of market failure. In this author's region, for instance, traffic congestion is an example, as driving can be considered to impose hidden costs on other drivers and the society, whereas the use of public transportation and/or other ways of avoiding driving to mitigate traffic congestion would be more beneficial to society as a whole. Other common global examples of market failure may include environmental issues such as pollution and exploitation of natural resources to an excessive extent. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is, currently, a cartel of 12 countries comprising Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. One of its principal goals

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rhetorical Analysis Essay - Assignment Example Richard Cohen, in his article â€Å"The Dangers of Labeling Terrorism† brings out various perceptions about the role of US in Islam states conflicts. This paper shall present a rhetoric analysis of Cohen’s article. Global conflicts are seen to be closely tied to religion and balance of power politics. Based on the consistency of outcomes, the author argues that there is little logic in all US involvement in foreign conflicts. He sees no need for US to continue with a trend, which does not bring positive results. For instance, he cites all the countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan as some of the countries that have not realized peace despite to US intervention. In fact, in such places, the US could have reasoned logically to let those countries managed their affairs without any interference. Cohen also feels that the fact that US’s intervention in Iraqi affairs to save besieged Yazidis is another move that was not logically well thought out. He may be seen to take this position with the understanding that no other state should meddle with other countries’ political affairs (Cohen 1). In addition, he feels that Barack Obama’s position in the Islamic conflicts is logical. He argues that Obama does not see a blank cover of generalized criminal acts perpetrated by Muslim faithful as Islamic Terrorism. He notes that Obama is right to observe that terrorism by some Islamic states, which does not reflect true Islam, should not be generalized to the entire Muslim world. Religious scholars all over the world may support this claim. That is because many scholars have noted that the original Islam has been corrupted. This corruption, in many cases, has led to the lack of tolerance. Besides that, the corrupted Islam has led the emergence of radical sects within Islam. Thus, the author rightly maintains that Obama’s position is logical, as it does not

B200 TMA02 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

B200 TMA02 - Essay Example This can lead to inefficiency due to imperfect competition, which can take many different forms, such as monopolies, monopsonies, cartels, or monopolistic competition, if the agent does not implement perfect price discrimination. OPEC (oil cartel in Middle East is an example of this). Second, the actions of an agent can have externalities, which are innate to the methods of production, or other conditions important to the market. An externality occurs when an economic activity causes external costs or external benefits to third party stakeholders who did not directly affect the economic transaction. In a competitive market, the existence of externalities would mean that either too much or too little of the good would be produced and consumed in terms of overall cost and benefit to society. Finally, some markets can fail due to the nature of certain goods, or the nature of their exchange. For instance, goods can display the attributes of public goods or common-pool resources, while markets may have significant transaction costs, agency problems, or informational asymmetry. In general, all of these situations can produce inefficiency, and a resulting market failure. "One cause of market failure is the limited nature of property rights. ... By extending these rights, individuals may be able to prevent other people imposing costs on them, or charge them for doing so." (2000: pp. 152-153) As a result, an agent can have imperfect control over the uses of its commodity, as the system of property rights that defines this control is not comprehensive. Typically, this includes two basic rights that have more generalized nature - excludability and transferability. Excludability caters to the an agent's ability to control who can use its commodity, how much, and for how long - and also the associated costs for doing so. Transferability states the right of an agent to transfer the rights of its commodity from one agent to another, primarily by selling or leasing a commodity, and associated costs associated for doing so. If a system of rights cannot fully guarantee these at low (or no) cost, then an inefficient distribution can be the consequence. There can be many examples of market failure. In this author's region, for instance, traffic congestion is an example, as driving can be considered to impose hidden costs on other drivers and the society, whereas the use of public transportation and/or other ways of avoiding driving to mitigate traffic congestion would be more beneficial to society as a whole. Other common global examples of market failure may include environmental issues such as pollution and exploitation of natural resources to an excessive extent. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is, currently, a cartel of 12 countries comprising Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. One of its principal goals

Isolation of Vibrations Caused By Human Sources Essay Example for Free

Isolation of Vibrations Caused By Human Sources Essay There are many different forms of vibrations that occur on account of human interactions and human involvement. In theory, these vibrations could cause a lot of problems for those who are trying to manage their buildings and structures. There are many different types of vibrations that can be caused by humans. These types of vibrations can include vibrations from trains, cars, airplanes, people who are outside of the structure, and the vibrations caused by small equipment. There are many different things that are done to structures in order to improve their ability to be able to handle the vibrations that are available for both inside the structure as well as what are available when building the structure. These precautions can help the building to be able to withstand the vibrations without causing structural damage or problems. The objectives will be to look at the overall importance of structures being able to withstand vibrations as well as the general knowledge that is needed in order to ensure that the vibrations do not cause structural damage in any form. Through Chapter 2 a literature review this report will look at the various reports and information that are available about vibrations and the various types of vibrations. The report will also look at the different types of problems that could occur within the structure as a result of the vibrations. The various types of precautions that are used to reduce the likelihood of structural damage from vibrations will also be looked at. As will the information that is new and shows the new research and technology that is available. This will all be done through a thorough review of the literature that has been written about the subject. In Chapter 3 the theory being discussed is the idea that structures are subject to a variety of vibrations at all times on account of human interaction with the structures. The theory is that there needs to be precautionary measures taken in order for the structures to be able to withstand the vibrations and therefore not have any structural damage as a result. These types of precautions can include both structural improvements within the structure as well as protecting certain parts of the structure. There are many different types of precautions that can be made and all of them have their own ways of protection for the structure from the dangerous vibrations. However there are many new things being developed through technology that could vastly improve the structure’s chances of withstanding the harmful vibrations. In Chapter 4 a lot of research will go into this report on how these improvements which will be discussed through the previous chapters can truly be the most affective. Analytical analysis of the problems as the solutions as well as the benefits of new technology will be discussed. Both the positive and negative aspects of said reports will be looked at and in the end the structures involved will be able to have the best structural chances possible at this time. These conclusions will be brought forth by information that has been researched and reviewed and through the process of analytical thinking to come up with ways that there can be improvements as well as things that should be continued or discontinued based on their probability of working. Through Chapter 5 it will be noted as to how the conclusions were made in Chapter 4. It will discuss the ideas, thoughts and theories behind the analytical conclusions and how these things were processed. This section will discuss the key points and the validity of the conclusions that were discussed in the previous chapter as well as how these things can be beneficial in being able to make further structural improvements. In Chapter 6 there will be a summary of the information included in the paper. There will also be conclusions that were obtained through the research as well as the information that will help to improve the structural components in being able to identify and withstand varying levels of vibrations. The main purpose of this report will be able to offer information that can be used in order to be able to better manage the overall design concepts and challenges in relations to being able to assist in having structures that can better withstand varying levels of vibrations.

The Language Of Shop Signs English Language Essay

The Language Of Shop Signs English Language Essay In the present study, the linguistic landscape will be established as a field of sociolinguistic inquiry. The focus will be on one aspect of urban language contact on written medium: the language of Tunisian shop signs. This paper will also examine the effect of such practice on young Tunisian people. The broad objective is to investigate the current status of English in relation and in contrast with French and Tunisian Arabic. 1.2. Background Many studies have been conducted to investigate the use of foreign languages on private shop signs and displays (Dimova, 2007; Hasnova, 2010; McArthur, 2000; Stewart and Fawcett, 2004; Schlick, 2002). McArthur (2000) examined this sociolinguistic practice in Sweden and Switzerland, Stewart and Fawcett (2004) in northern Portugal, McGregor (2003) in Japan. Common sociolinguistic patterns are observed. This evidences the important effect of globalization on visual aspect of trade. Scholars interested in LL show differences in perspectives. Some of them choose to compare the findings between cities belonging to the same country; while others limit their investigation to the shop signs that exist in a single city. The comparison between cities will be then drawn in forthcoming studies. There are also scholars like Schlick (2000) and McGregor (2003) who confine their surveys to examine the degree of the use of foreign terms on shop signs. Others like Dimova (2007) further explore whether there is a correlation between the languages used and types of shop. Rationale The linguistic landscape is part of our everyday experience and its importance as a social practice has been overlooked by sociolinguists. The study of LL enlightens the linguistic situation prevailing in a particular area. Torkington ( 2009) maintains that through an examination of these practices that symbolic power relations may be revealed (Torkington, 2009:123). This study will then use LL as a platform for sociolinguistic study. Expected young readers will be given voice through a questionnaire exploring their attitudes towards the languages used on shop signs in general, and English language in particular. The city is generally known as a place of language contact. Tunis center forms then a perfect field of investigation. Not only is it a place for talk but also a place where written forms do exist. From an academic perspective, writing is of equal importance to the spoken mode. Public written signs provide useful contextual information pertaining to the investigated environment. They would help the researcher to decode the multilingual situation. So, the analysis of the cityscape or one element thereof would provide a unique perspective on the coexistence and competition of different languages and their scripts, and how they interact and interfere with each other in a given place (Backhaus, 2007:145). Language attitude among expected young readers will be taken into consideration. It will be investigated to know whether visual interfaces influence language beliefs of these people. This stems from the general assumption that younger generation is fascinated by visuals. Along with the analysis of shop signs, language attitude investigation will hopefully provide a more valuable picture of the multilingual situation in Tunis. Traditional sociolinguistics is geared towards analyzing aspects of speech, such as pronunciation and accent, in order to determine how language varieties are expressed and represented within communities. LL research (Backhaus, 2007; Gorter Shohamy, 2009), on the other hand, examines language in its written form. Its broad objective is to determine the degree of multilingualism found on street signage in a specific area. The present study will be different than precedent sociolinguistic studies that focus on spoken mode of a language or a variety at the expense of its written form. It will examine scripts displayed on shop signs in Tunis. Literature review This literature review introduces the concept of linguistic landscape research in relation to sociolinguistics. It examines the similarities between linguistic landscape and advertising. It also discusses a number of empirical studies related to one component of LL: the language of shop signs. It finally tackles language attitudes in relation to shop signs. 2.1. Linguistic landscape and Sociolinguistic: Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society (Hudson, 1996). One of the key values of this field is the social context in which language is learnt or used. Sociolinguists study language in relation to social factors such as age, gender, class, social distance, and social status. They are also concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the way they are used to convey social meanings. But, it is important to note that sociolinguistics focuses on speech at the expense of written form of language. The bias is displayed even in the definition of language. The language is what the members of a particular society speak (Wardhaugh, 2010:1). The study of public signage has emerged presumably in the seventies. However, the term linguistic landscape was introduced by Landry and Bourhis (1997). Linguistic landscape is also used interchangeably with the term cityscape because the mainstream of LL literature selects urban public space as a place of investigation (Coulmas 2009: 13). The LL research is mainly descriptive: it observes and records how language is actually used. Coulmas (2009:14) defines LL research as the study of writings on displays in the public sphere. The constituents of LL are more detailed in the definition of Landry and Bourhis as follow: The language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings combines to form the LL of a given territory, region, or urban agglomeration(Landry and Bourhis 1997: 25; as cited in Backhaus, 2007:9). Ben-Rafael et al (2006) refute this definition as it consists of texts that are only o utside buildings. They maintain that LL does incorporate signs that are inside and outside public institutions or private businesses. Sociolinguistics and LL research have common threads. They both seek to understand how language is actually used. They also focus on urbanized settings as a place of analysis. They may be then combined to analyze distribution of languages and varieties in the city. Language in public signage can be a fertile ground for sociolinguistic investigation. The study of LL may even help the sociolinguist to more understand the nexus between language use in public signage and other social attributes like identity. 2.2. Shop signs versus advertising A successful ad is expected to accomplish five functions: attracting attention, commanding interest, creating desire, and provoking action (Vestergaard Schroder 1985:1, as cited in Sandhya, 2000). Likewise, a business name is good if it succeeds to catch the eye of the reader, stimulates his or her desire to buy goods from the shop. It is not a random use of words and expressions, but rather an art that aims to catch the readers eye. Shop owners are certainly aware that language has a powerful influence over people and their behavior. They try to be selective when naming their shops. They tend to use eye-catching phrases and word-triggers. Economy of words is also to be taken into consideration. Business naming is like usual ads, in that the language in use may not be correct. Business names are then a form of display advertising. But, this type of ads has certain specificity. It does not adopt any prescriptive or normative approach to language use (Bhatia, 1987:35, as cited in Thon us: 1991). 2.3. Anglicization of shop signs: With the growing interest in the concept of signage in public sphere, there have appeared a number of interesting articles in various journals, especially in English Today. Most of them focus on English spread in environment space in general and on shop signs in particular. This spread is obviously due to the political and scientific power of United States (Thonus, 1991). The appeal of Anglo-American cultures, lifestyle and values has further boosted the status of English language worldwide (McArthur, 2000). In Portugal, shop signs are mainly monolingual; mostly are in Portuguese and the larger remainder is in English (10%) (Stewart and Fawcett, 2004: 57). Two striking features are depicted in the aforementioned study. First, the six investigated cities are near to Spain, but Spanish words were never seen on any shop sign. Second, roughly two-thirds of English shop signs displayed Snack bar. This shows the lack of creativity. The authors found that even stop signs for the control of traffic in Portugal and those in United States are the same. This ascertains the widespread of English language not only in Portuguese shop signs, but in the overall Portuguese landscape. Even Post-Soviet states, like Uzbekistan, no longer view English language as the language of Western imperialism but a language of modernity and elitism (Hasanova, 2010:1). Hasanova (2010) examined 97 shop signs scattered in five districts in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. The number of shop signs in English (55.6%) is more important than those in native languages: Uzbek(17.5%) and Russian(24.7%). One may find that this is unusual insofar as English in not even a second language in the country. According to the author, English language is abundantly used in shop signs because it is the most widely learned foreign language in Uzbekistan. It is worthy to mention that English language appear not only on signs of stores but also in front of bazaar covered stalls. The superiority of English language is displayed in terms of frequency and appearance. This is manifested in non-English writings that appear in small scripts across the awnings and marquees of the investigated shops. Besides, most Englis h names were written in Roman letters and not transliterated in Uzbek or Russian. Hasanova (2010) found out that the choice of language used in naming depends on the store type. Shops that basically sell electronics and computers were named in English language. Surprisingly enough, none of them was named in Uzbek. On signs of Internet cafà ©s, the dominant language was English (62.5%), followed by Russian, than Uzbek (12.5%). Most English names were either compound nouns or meaningful words. On the other hand, Uzbek names either were proper names or simply indicated the type of the shop. Dimova(2007) examined the use of English language in a larger sample: 346 shop signs in Veles, Macedonia. It is worthy to mention that the data corpus include brand names and window slogans. The results of her investigation showed that English is the most dominant foreign language in shop signs (36.9%). According to Schlick (2003), using English in business names is a tendency to Westernize Veles and other cities, like Ljubljana and Kranjarea, after the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. This can be evidenced by the extensive presence of Western consumerism marked by the important presence of American brand names such as Coca Cola. The study also showed that bilingual English shop signs are more common than unilingual ones. Remarkably, none of the investigated shop signs feature words from English and other foreign language like Spanish or Italian. Dimova noted six patterns of use among English- Macedonian bilingual shop signs in the sample. One of these patterns is juxtaposing Macedonian names with brand names. Dimova focused on the subdivisions of business signs that were in English language. But, her study did not show how these English texts appear. It did not indicate whether Macedonian words are spelled in original, i.e. Roman Latin, or Cyrillic. Like the study of Hasanova (2010), it proved that Anglicization of shop signs depends on the type of business. English words and expressions appear in all signs of Internet cafà ©s. They are likely present in all signs of fashion and entertainment businesses. Hasanova (2010) also noted incorrect spelling of certain English words like cafà © which was written as caffee in almost all signs. McGregor (2003) examined 120 shop signs in central Tokyo. The findings of her research show that shop signs appear primarily in Japanese (43.3%) then in English. One-quarters of the investigated shops, especially womens clothing stores and hair salons, are named in only English language. This echoes the common belief that western Fashion is superior to Japanese one. English words are believed to ornament goods, namely clothing. They function as status-enhancing embellishment (McGregor, 2003: 21). Creativity is manifested in English-looking signs, called also made-in-Japan English signs. McGregor explains that those signs comprise loanwords from English language but with new meanings. Sometimes those words are meaningless. What is important is their visual charm (McGregor, 2003: 21). Thonus(1991) collected her business signage data from Yellow Pages telephone directories of seven Brazilian cities. She confined her investigation to the use of English in relation with Portuguese. The results show that only 10% of the investigated shop signs contain English terms. Hybridized business names are the most pervasive (56%). In these names, the generic element appears in Portuguese; and the specific element in English. Thonus noted that the spelling of 9 % of the investigated English naming in Porto Alegre is deviant in a way that it looks more Portuguese ,for example My-Deia instead of my dear (Thonus, 1991:72). There are cases that display the incorrect use of the genitive such as Silvascar (Thonus, 1991:72). Kashru (1992) distinguishes between a mistake and a deviation which is the result of the new un-English linguistic and cultural setting in which English language is used ( Kachru, 1992:62). He explains that The reincarnations were essentially caused by the new bili ngual (or multilingual) settings and by the new contexts in which English had to function (Kachru, 1992:6). But, among deviations characteristic is being systematic and not idiosyncratic (Kachru, 1992:62). According to Thonus, this deliberate spelling deviancy is simply perceived as an attention-getting device. Fused compounds and doublets consist of roughly 6% of the sample. They are mechanisms used in modernization (Dsouza, 1987:64, cited in Thonus, 1991). She noted confusion about word-order restrictions not only in English but also in their own language. For instance, a hotel is named Hotel Center Park instead of Center Park Hotel (Thonus, 1991:73). It is not clear whether the name-givers are attempting to adopt English nomenclature consciously, or merely to imitate English sounding words like the case in Japan. However, what is clear is that English terms in a business sign serve as a modern ring to the offered products in order to impress the passer-by. According to Thonus, En glish is used on shop signs to impress the Brazilian everyperson not the tourist (Thonus, 1991: 68). In the main, the aforementioned studies examined languages displayed on shop signs and their relative weight. English names are used in token of modernity and fashion (Dimova, 2007; Hasanova, 2010). They may be incomprehensible for some people, but attractive for the entire population (Hasanova, 2010). The English language depends on the type of the shop (Dimova, 2007; Hasanova, 2010). But, the name itself at times has no relation with the type of business. For example, SAPIX is an acronym formed from Science, Art, Philosophy, Identity, plus X despite the fact that science, art, and philosophy are not taught at cram schools in Japan (McGregor, 2003: 21). 2.4. Multilingualism in Shop Signs: The LL literature sheds light on multilingual practices in the written form. It reports that shop signs are increasingly multilingual worldwide. In urban space, written language mixing is examined in terms of types and functions. Recent studies of shop signs have documented a growing tendency to language mix in business naming (Shlick, 2003; McArthur, 2000). Apparently, one language is presumed to be not enough visible without the support of a foreign language, namely English. Apart from visibility, there is another function of language support especially when the local language and foreign language are used together. This combination makes it easier for the local community to understand the shop name (McGregor, 2003). This explanation is more valid for countries where the foreign language education is primarily given in translation. McArthur explains mixing languages on shop signs, apart from trendiness, as an attempt to revive the local language (Schlick, 2002). Multilingual signs contain real or coined words from two or more languages (Schlick, 2002:5). Certain messages are traditional and bland like Farmacia; while others are unusual and quirky such as Restaurant le bourjolais (McArthur, 2000:35). The stu dy McAthur(2000) focuses on the strength of macaronic usage in street and shop signs (McArthur, 2000:34). Such vigor is mainly due to two features: the creativity and the interplay (McAthur, 2000:41). Signs with macaronic tendencies are believed to be doubly eye-catching (Schlick, 2002:5). However, shop signs may lose their macaronic quality when translated. Besides, if they are naturalized into a language, they are no longer seen macaronic by native speakers (McArthur, 2000). Addison 1710 states that the great art in writing ads is finding out a proper method to catch the readers eye; without which a good thing may pass over unobserved'(as cited in Bassiouney, 2009:283). Alternating two or more languages on a shop sign seems to be a proper method to get the customers attention. This tendency is flourishing (McArthur, 2000:43). But, the degree of multilingualism differs from a city to another and from a country to another. For example, the study of McArthur (2000) shows that shop signs in Zurich are highly multilingual. The linguistic nature of Switzerland accounts for the great number of multilingual shop signs. Switzerland is known for being a multilingual country where English, French, German and Italian are in daily use. Japan, however, is different in terms of linguistic ecology. It has been known as one of the prototypes of monolingual society (Backhaus, 2007). This explains the predominance of Japanese language in business naming: Japanese is the la nguage used in 43.3% of unilingual business names. The research of McArthur (2000) is highly original in the conceptualization of the language of shop signs. The language of shop signs appears to be universal, whimsical, and translinguistic (McArthur, 2000:36). It is simply called interanto (McArthur, 2000:36). The opening element inter- refers to the internationalism and interplay of the language of shop signs. The suffix -anto , as in the artificial language Esperanto, adds an exotic meaning to the word it is attached to. The universality is depicted through the use of key international words like parking, restaurant, boutique, etc. Such words are no longer perceived foreign especially in urban environment. Whimsicality is the outcome of language mixing, and particularly when such mixing is unpredictable. It is often displayed in a sign that contains words from mother tongue and foreign language. Such a sign would mark trendiness and being rooted with ones soil at the same time (Schlick, 2002:5). A word is said to be translinguisti c when it has no precise canonical form or meaning. The translinguistic aspect is particularly manifested in bilingual and trilingual European shop names. Biona Reformhaus, a healthy food store in Zurich, is one of the hybrid constructions (McArthur, 2000:35). It includes Greek (bio- and -na), French (reform-), and German (haus). Language mixing can be at the level of lexicon, syntax or script. McArthur states that hybridization is a phenomenon happening on top of an ancient inclination to hybridize (McArthur, 2000: 35). Ancient hybridization actually refers to word adaptation. Hybridization comprises all cases of clipping, tacking, deviant spelling, and fused compounds. For example, sole in Studio Sole refers to the French word Soleil. The spelling is modified in order to match the phonetic reading of its Japanese counterparts, so-ray (McGregor, 2003:22). Besides, Language mixing can be at the word-order level. For example, the STEAK HOUSE POLAIRE sign in the study of McGregor comprises not only a French adjective: POLAIRE, but also French word-order (McGregor, 2003:22). However, it is worth to mention that a linguist may be often trapped in possibilities. In the aforementioned case, McGregor states that the context can be also Japanese. Transliteration is another type of language mixing. Backhaus (2007) con tends that a transliterated or translated text on a shop sign is designed for people with foreign backgrounds. Transliterated shop signs are considered clever names in Japan as they often acquire double meaning (McGregor, 2003:19). This accounts for the significant number of transliterated Japanese business names to Roman letters. The name manpuku, for example, means Im full and happiness. Transliteration is also depicted from Roman letters to Japanese script. The American giant McDonalds appear in Katakana. Shop owners in other countries avoid the transliteration to the local language script. For example, Uzbek shop owners avoid the transliteration of shop names to Uzbek or Russian script (Hasanova, 2010). In summary, the language of shop signs is universal, whimsical, and translinguistic. Multilingualism should be approached lexically, syntactically, and in terms of orthographically. It is very interesting to study unusual and quirky texts. 2.5. Methodological difficulties: The investigation of shop signs seems easy. The scholar would stroll along two or more streets and collect names of businesses, and analyze them afterwards. But, many methodological hurdles should be considered and dealt with first. To begin with, the unit of analysis can be a problem. The definition of a shop sign is controversial. Some scholars consider window-filling slogans part of shop signs (McArthur, 2000; Schlick, 2002, Dimova, 2007). Others exclude the names of internationally known products from the analysis of shop signs such as Coca Cola, Kodak, Fujifilm, etc. (Hasanova, 2010; Stewart and Fawcett, 2004). However, if brand names are eliminated from the data corpus, the linguistic impact of trademarks on individuals and groups would be denied. The overall understanding of shop signs would be then affected. Besides, when the term shop sign varies in scope from one study to another, the comparison between those surveys becomes impossible. Besides, the taxonomy of shop signs is difficult. Business names do not always fall into neat categories because of the word formation. For instance, there are true English loanwords and quasi-English words which are usually the result of back clipping (Gorach, 1989:303, cited in Thonus, 1991). Words pertaining to the second type are called so as they do not conform to the English norms. Adoption and adaptation process impedes an easy classification of shop signs. The term glass, a shop name in Sweden introduced in the survey of McArthur (2000:38), illustrates this ambiguity. One may think that it is an English word; while it is rather an adapted form of French glace. Ateljà © is another translinguistic word; and it is a Swedish adaptation of French atelier (McArthur, 2000:38). The ado in this case is whether or not to classify the adapted word if recognized in the class of etymon, i.e. the language of origin. McArthur (2000) suggests that an adapted cognate is naturalized into a di fferent language; and accordingly it must not be attributed to the language of origin. So, glass and Ateljà © are Swedish; they belong to German and not to French language. Besides, certain terms, such as restaurant and cafà ©, have become international and are no longer seen foreign (Schlick, 2002). So, to attribute cafà © or bar to English language can be also discussed as these words have the same form and the same pronunciation in a number of languages (Stewart and Fawcett, 2004). Furthermore, methodological decisions seem to heavily depend on the investigators perspective. In most LL research, the sites of investigation are chosen in central cities because they are the busiest streets or squares according to the scholar. Dimova (2007), for example, opted for a large city situated in central Macedonia. Others, like McArthur (2000), chose the more touristy streets in the city (McArthur, 2000:33). Besides, most studies of shop signs are based on quantitative approach. The perplexing question is whether the selected streets are representative of the whole city. Besides, some scholars tend to include all businesses they encounter; while others like Dimova (2007) limit their counting to only one sign per business. In conclusion, the study of texts on shop signs is difficult because different languages have the same form and pronunciation of certain words. Besides, the representativeness of investigated shop signs can be questioned because the site selection and the sample size depend on the investigators perspective. Moreover, the comparison between certain studies becomes impossible because the unit of analysis differs in scope from one survey to another. 2.6. Language attitude: Language attitude was introduced by the Canadian social psychologist Wallace Lambert. It started to intrigue the sociolinguists only in 1970s. Since then, many sociolinguists have been studying the language attitude that communities share. The mainstream of the studies; whereas, is geared towards attitudes towards speech styles. LL research provides an insight into the actual use of languages in environmental print. But, it does not indicate how these languages are perceived by the local community. The investigation of language attitude would help to produce a more complete picture of multilingualism in the city of Tunis. The present study will not be confined to the mere listing and enumeration of languages. The language used on shop signs is a standing point for a comprehensive understanding of linguistic situation in the city of Tunis. Gorter (2007) ascertains that language used in open environment affects language perception. He maintains that LL has some bearing on peoples perception and attitude about language, influences the use of language in society. He states that [t]he linguistic landscape has an added value because of the impact it can have on the people who see the signs (Gorter, 2007:24). So, the investigation of language attitude of the young expected readers of shop signs would be significant ly relevant to the study of language choice in a multilingual society. It would determine whether there is a nexus between linguistic choice of the shop owner and linguistic preference of young customers in Tunis. It would also examine whether there is a significant effect of visible signage in public space on language beliefs among the young readers (Coulmas, 2009: 28). In other words, it would clarify whether seeing abundant use of foreign terms in public space changes the customers language attitude favorably. The visibility of these scripts on shop marquees in great number must have some bearing on the individuals language attitude. This stems from the belief that Language has a powerful influence over people and their behavior. In a nutshell, the investigation of language attitude would foremost give a more comprehensive insight into the multilingual situation within the territory of Tunis. Baker (1992) states that attitude can be either instrumental or integrative or both. An instrumental language attitude is characterized by a desire to acquire or learn a particular language in order to fulfill material needs. An integrative attitude, on the other hand, reflects a desire to be identified as a member of the culture and community related to the language. According to Baker (1992), the language attitude is a construct of three components: cognition, feelings and readiness for action (Baker, 1992: 13). The cognitive component is made up of the beliefs and opinions about an object. The second component clearly refers to the emotions that the individual feels about that object. The behavioral component refers to ones actions or behavioral intentions towards the object. Questionnaires are generally used to explore one of the intricate and fascinating ways in which language can influence the individuals everyday thoughts, feelings and behavior. This is illustrated in the stat ement of Al-Saidat Emad (2009): An attitude is individual, but it has origins in collective behaviour. In the present study, it is hypothesized that the visibility of English language in streets develops positive attitudes towards English. When language becomes part of the individuals experience, one would embrace it to his/her linguistic repertoire. In conclusion, individual language attitude is a psychological construct that affects the reality of language for the whole society. Its investigation would help to understand the language growth, restoration or destruction. Methodology 3.1. Research questions: Q1: What is the linguistic classification of shop signs in Tunis? Q2 : Are unilingual signs more pervasive than multilingual ones? Q3: What is the most prominent language of store signs in Tunis? Q4: Is English the most attractive language in Tunisian shop signs? 3.2. Research hypotheses: H1: Shop signs in city center of Tunis can be divided into unilingual, bilingual and multilingual signs. H2: Shop owners prefer to mix two or more languages than to use a single language. H3: French is the most frequent language, then English, then Tunisian Arabic in business naming. H4: English is the most attractive language in Tunisian shop signs. Linguistic data: will be captured by a digital camera from two central shopping streets in Tunis City: Habib Bourguiba Avenue and Paris Street. More than three shopping centers happen to be situated in the survey area. Accordingly, the present study will compile a large electronic corpus of signs.  All signs of private businesses will be analyzed except those that display brand names. The classification will be according to the language used and the dominant language in each sign. Attitudinal data: will be collected from Tunisian informants through a questionnaire designed to investigate their attitudes towards the languages seen on shop signs: Tunisian Arabic, French and English. The investigation of language attitude can be at all the linguistic levels: accent, grammar, pronunciation, spelling, etc (Garrett: 2010). The present study will tackle how people perceive languages used on shop signs in terms of words and spelling. The research instrument is a questionnaire. The sample: will consist of pupils and students selected in the survey area. This study is interested in the language perception of youth. So, the age of the respondents will range from 15 to 25 years old. The selection will be based on convenience sampling. The questionnaire: comprises two parts. The first section consists of ten items that examine how young people perceive the languages used on shop signs in general. The measurement is five-point Likert Scale. The second part consists of multiple choice questions. The choices are real shop names that are seen in the survey area. This section is an evaluation of the responses given in the first part of the questionnaire. It examines how the informants perceive words from Tunisian Arabic, French and English in terms of likes and dislikes.