History of Guitar Essay Example for Free

History of Guitar Essay Music has always been a part of the world’s culture throughout the history. Way back thousands of years ago, people utilized their body parts such as their mouth, hands and feet, in order to create sounds. However, due to people’s inventiveness and resourcefulness, they have begun to use different materials that are part of their everyday life so the creation of musical instruments has begun. One of those discovered and invented instruments is guitar. This paper endeavors to present detailed information with regards to the history of guitar. First, it will provide a definition of the term ‘musical instrument,’ and its types. Then, it will also provide a definition of the musical instrument ‘guitar. ’ Second, it will trace and narrate its history. And lastly, it will reveal its benefits to the society. Furthermore, it will give a brief knowledge its contemporary status in the society. Musical instrument, traditionally, is any sound-producing material that comes from any culture, activated in any means, and is utilized for making what is universally and frequently known as â€Å"music. † It encompasses automatic or mechanical however it also includes recording or playback device (Rice). It is classified into different types namely: (1) idiophones, which consists of cymbals, triangles, gongs, castanets, bells, xylophones; (2) membranophones, which consists of drums, a skin or membranes is extended and stretched across a reverberating cavity; (3) chordophones or instruments that produce and make sounds by way of vibration of one or more strings stretched amidst two fixed points. It can be a guitar, lupe, harp, violin, cello; (4) aerophones which are blowing devices that use vibration of the air. These include trumpets, clarinets, flutes, bagpipes, whistle (qtd. n Wade 10). Guitar is a stringed instrument, which looks like the lute or the violin, however, it is bigger in size and has six strings: three of them are silk-covered silver wire and the other three are catgut (â€Å"Guitar†). It is a globally mobile instrument by which form, tonal textures and playing strategies and techniques are result of its appropriation. It is utilized in various locally specific musical contexts (Bennett and Dawe 1). It is made of wood, akin with lute, however, it has a more box-shaped resonator—the general characteristic of the instrument. All through the history, its strings are played by either a plectrum or a finger. It possesses a circular soundhole in its center (Wade 12). The modern English terminology for ‘guitar’ came from the Spanish term ‘guittara’ and was derived from Arabic and Latin terms ‘qitara’ and ‘cithara,’ respectively. These terms were derived from ‘kithara,’ and earlier Greek word, and from the Persian term ‘sithar’. â€Å"‘Sithar’ itself is related to the Indian instrument, the sitar† (â€Å"History of Guitar†). The history of guitar is traced hundred of years ago. It has been established along with other ancestor instruments known as lyres and harps, which are mentioned in the Old Testament, Mesopotamian long-necked lutes, string instruments delineated in ancient Babylonian and Egyptian art (Wade 13). The oldest famous representation of the instrument that displays all its important features is on a 3,300-year old stone carving of Hittite bard (â€Å"History of Guitar†) found at Alaca Hoyuk (Wade 13). Throughout the Middle Ages, three, four, five-string guitars do exist. The Guittara Latina, which has curved sides, is said and thought to have originated in Spain (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†). It is a product per se of a long and multifaceted history of various influences (â€Å"History of Guitar†). Renaissance is the chosen period that is said to be the suitable starting point of guitar because it is during this epoch that the instrument is already in relation to music (Turnbull 2). During this period, composers wrote most of the time in tablature (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†), a musical notation relatively different from the modern ones. Its page usually looked flamboyant, ornate and complicated but for musicians and instrumentalists, it has been a very practical, useful and a straightforward method and manner of transforming symbols into sounds (Wade 18). Nevertheless, in this period, the guitar never possessed the respect that the lute has because it has not been regarded as a serious instrument. The first publication for guitar was recognized to have come from Alonso Muddara’s â€Å"Tres Libros de Musica en Cifras para Vihuela. † Finally, the guitar commenced to attract instrumentalists hence; there had been an increase in publication and music (â€Å"Some Guitar History†). Italy became the center of guitar in 17th century. In the late 18th century subsequent to the addition of the sixth string, the Spanish school of guitar making flourished. In the era of 19th century, there was already an enhanced and improved communication and transportation that allowed the performers to journey around the world, thus, the guitar evolved to become a widely known musical instrument (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†). The aspects and dimensions of the modern classical guitar were established and founded by Antonio Torres, who works in Seville in 1850 (â€Å"History of Guitar†). Guitar music then became popular in Spain. The development in guitar that was done by Torres signified alterations in appearance. The modern guitar took the form of a broadened body, the waist curve was increased and the belly was thinned. An improvement with regards to its internal bracing was designed; single string courses were replaced by double courses and the machine head replaced the wooden tuning pegs (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†). By the end of the 19th century, the guitar has fallen out of favor. However, it was revived by Francisco Tarrega, who was known for his â€Å"Receurdos de la Alhambra. † He performed in public and chose to perform for his friends at his home. He wrote a technique on how to teach guitar. He also transcribed a myriad of musical pieces for guitar. He was also considered as the pioneer of playing guitar with fingernails; which evolved into a tradition (â€Å"Some Guitar History†). Most of the credit and recognition regarding the development of guitar was carried on to the Europeans. Today, steel-string acoustic guitars are developed by the Americans. In the early 20th century, when European emigrants arrived in America, a number of them are highly skilled musical instrument makers, which includes those specialists in the steel-stringed guitar. There are two kinds of production that have evolved—the flat-top guitar and the arch-top guitar (â€Å"Acoustic of Guitar History†). When guitar technology has finally led and made its way to the United States in the early 19th century, it was Charles Friedrich Martin, a guitar maker who migrated in New York in 1833, who initiated it. In early 1900s, the Martin Company produced and made larger guitar instruments yet still adhered and abided with the classic model designs, especially the Spanish guitar (â€Å"How a Guitar is Made: Background†). The lineage of the guitar is huge and arduous to trace especially because there is a partial misconception that the guitar is a direct successor of the lute. The lack of reputation and prominence of guitar in history is aptly due to the fact that it attracts little heed from good composers and musicians until the 20th century (â€Å"A Contextual Background†). The creation of guitar has been of vital importance in the field of music. It is a representation and embodiment of discovery, inventiveness, imagination and expression of performing intelligence and skill. The early guitar bestowed significant contributions during the Baroque period. The guitar and guitar ancestors took hold of the attention of folk culture and the middle class way back the Baroque era as well as the Classical period (â€Å"A Contextual Background†). The instrument represents an abstract idea, a mode of thinking with regards to sound and a mode of identifying and recognizing cultures. The guitar is a fundamental icon in American culture and other cultures around the world. There are several versions of stringed instruments that are crafted and created as distant away from Japan, and are developed into the orchestra. It also forms unique variations like the Sitar of India (â€Å"The Linage of Guitar Construction†). The growth of the guitar in the course of history is in a two-fold path. The technical progression and developments have been enthralling, fascinating and fundamental. Nevertheless, nourishing and developing that evolution and development has been the social element of guitar’s reputation and recognition. The mechanical alterations that have been demanded socially contributed to its better and louder instrumentation. Thus, there have been documentations on its development and journey. The guitar’s progression in the course of time is one of the mirrors that culture indeed changes over time. It evolves just like how the guitar evolves (Kentor and Michaels 10). The guitar is not just an embodiment of one’s culture and time. It is also a representation of the status of whoever owns it especially during the ancient times because most people in the middle class owned a guitar. Its development serves a reflection that people’s ingenuity, thinking and creativity do enhance and progress, alongside with the culture that they belong. The creation of guitar has helped a lot in the music industry because it accompanies and produces sound even without the use of electricity. It is purely mechanical because only the fingers or a pick is used in playing. However, the invention of electric guitar has contrasted that fact. Compared to the classic mechanical guitar, it produces louder and better sound. On the other hand, the discovery and creation of electronic music, music that can be created even without musical instruments at hand—purely digital, has given way to the somewhat â€Å"death† of guitar industry. It is now being taken for granted little by little even though there are still some who take hold of its importance and still utilize it in composing and crafting new musical pieces.

VDEC Based Data Extraction and Clustering Approach

VDEC Based Data Extraction and Clustering Approach This chapter describes in details the proposed VDEC Approach. It discusses the two phases of the VDEC process for Data Extraction and clustering. Experimental performance evaluation results are shown in the last section in comparing the GDS and SDS datasets. INTRODUCTION Extracting data records on the response pages returned from web databases or search engines is a challenge posed in information retrieval. Traditional web crawlers focus only on the surface web while the deep web keeps expanding behind the scene. Vision based data extraction provides a solution to extract information from dynamic web pages through page segmentation for creating a data region and data record and item extraction. A vision based web information extraction systems become more complex and time-consuming. Detection of data region is a significant problem for information extraction from the web page. This chapter discusses an approach to vision-based deep web data extraction and web document clustering. The proposed approach comprises of two phases, (1) Vision-based web data extraction, and (2) web document clustering. In phase 1, the web page information is segmented into various chunks. From which, surplus noise and duplicate chunks are removed using three parameters, such as hyperlink percentage, noise score and cosine similarity. Finally, the extracted keywords are subjected to web document clustering using Fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM). VDEC APPROACH VDEC approach is designed to extract visual data automatically from deep web pages as shown in the block diagram in figure 5.1. Figure 5.1 – VDEC Approach Block diagram In most of web pages, there will be more than one data object tied together in data region, makes difficult to search attributes for each page. Unprocessed source of web page for representing the objects is non-contiguous one, the problem becomes more complicated. In existent applications, the users necessitate from complex web pages is the description of individual data object derived from the partitioning of the data region. VDEC achieve the data capturing from the deep web pages using two phases as discussed in the following sections. Phase-1 Vision Based Web Data Extraction In Phase-1 VDEC approach performs data extraction and a measure is introduced to evaluate the importance of each leaf chunk in the tree, which in turn helps us to eliminate noise in a deep web page. In this measure, remove the surplus noise and duplicate chunk using three parameters such as hyperlink percentage, Noise score and cosine similarity. Finally, obtain the main chunk extraction process using three parameters such as Title word Relevancy, Keyword frequency based chunk selection, Position features and a set of keywords are extracted from those main chunks. Phase-2 Web Document Clustering In Phase-2 VDEC perform web document clustering using Fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM), the set of keywords were clustered for all deep web pages. Both the phases of the VDEC helps to extract the visual features of the web pages and supports on web page clustering for improvising information retrieval. The process activities are briefly described in the following section. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED IN VDEC APPROACH Definition (chunk): Consider a deep web page is segmented by blocks. These each block are known as chunk. For example the web page is represented as, , where the main chunk, . Definition (Hyperlink): A hyperlink has an anchor, which is the location within a document from which the hyperlink can be followed; the document having a hyperlink is called as its source document to web pages. Hyperlink percentage Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Keywords in a chunk à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Link Keywords in a chunk Definition (Noise score): Noise score is defined as the ratio of the number of images in total number of chunks. Noise score, Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of images in a chunk à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Total number of images Definition (Cosine similarity): Cosine similarity means calculating the similarity of two chunks. The inner product of the two vectors, i.e., the sum of the pairwise multiplied elements, is divided by the product of their vector lengths. Cosine Similarity, Where, , à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  Weight of keywords in, Definition (Position feature): Position features (PFs) that indicate the location of the data region on a deep web page. To compute the position feature score, the ratio is computed and then, the following equation is used to find the score for the chunk. (4) Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Position features Definition (Title word relevancy): A web page title is the name or heading of a Web site or a Web page. If there is more number of title words in a certain block, then it means that the corresponding block is of more importance. Title word relevancy, Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Title Keywords à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Frequency of the title keyword in a chunk Definition (Keyword frequency): Keyword frequency is the number of times the keyword phrase appears on a deep Web page chunk relative to the total number of words on the deep web page. Keyword frequency based chunk selection, Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Frequency of top ten keywords à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of keywords à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Top-K Keywords PHASE-1 – VISION BASED DEEP WEB DATA EXTRACTION In a web page, there are numerous immaterial components related to the descriptions of data objects. These items comprise an advertisement bar, product category, search panel, navigator bar, and copyright statement, etc. Generally, a web page is specified by a triple. is a finite set of objects or sub-web pages. All these objects are not overlapped. Each web page can be recursively viewed as a sub-web-page and has a subsidiary content structure. is a finite set of visual separators, such as horizontal separators and vertical separators. Every separator has a weight representing its visibility, and all the separators in the same have the same weight. is the relationship of every two blocks in , which is represented as:. In several web pages, there are normally more than one data object entwined together in a data region, which makes it complex to find the attributes for each page. Deep Web Page Extraction The Deep web is usually defined as the content on the Web not accessible through a search on general search engines. This content is sometimes also referred to as the hidden or invisible web. The Web is a complex entity that contains information from a variety of source types and includes an evolving mix of different file types and media. It is much more than static, self-contained Web pages. In our work, the deep web pages are collected from Complete Planet (www.completeplanet.com), which is currently the largest deep web repository with more than 70,000 entries of web databases. Chunk Segmentation Web pages are constructed not only main contents information like product information in shopping domain, job information in a job domain, but also advertisements bar, static content like navigation panels, copyright sections, etc. In many web pages, the main content information exists in the middle chunk and the rest of the page contains advertisements, navigation links, and privacy statements as noisy data. Removing these noises will help in improving the mining of the web and it’s called Chunk Segmenting Operation as shown in figure.5.2. Figure 5.2 Chunk Segmenting Operation To assign importance to a region in a web page (), we first need to segment a web page into a set of chunks. It extracts main content information and deep web clustering that is both fast and accurate. The two stages and its sub-steps are given as follows. Stage 1: Vision-based deep web data identification Deep web page extraction Chunk segmentation Noisy chunk Removal Extraction of main chunk using chunk weightage Stage 2: Web document clustering Clustering process using FCM Normally, a tag separated by many sub tags based on the content of the deep web page. If there is no tag in the sub tag, the last tag is consider as leaf node. The Chunk Splitting Process aims at cleaning the local noises by considering only the main content of a web page enclosed in div tag. The main contents are segmented into various chunks. The result of this process can be represented as follows: , Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   A set of chunks in the deep web page à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of chunks in a deep web page In Figure 5.1, we have taken an example of a tree sample which consists of main chunks and sub chunks. The main chunks are segmented into chunks C1, C2 and C3 using Chunk Splitting Operation and sub-chunks are segmented into . Noisy Chunk Removal A deep web page usually contains main content chunks and noise chunks. Only the main content chunks represent the informative part that most users are interested in. Although other chunks are helpful in enriching functionality and guiding browsing, they negatively affect such web mining tasks as web page clustering and classification by reducing the accuracy of mined results as well as speed of processing. Thus, these chunks are called noise chunks. Removing these chunks in our research work, we have concentrated on two parameters; they are Hyperlink Percentage and Noise score which is very significant. The main objective of removing noise from a Web Page is to improve the performance of the search engine. The representation of each parameter is as follows: Hyperlink Keyword – A hyperlink has an anchor, which is the location within a document from which the hyperlink can be followed; the document containing a hyperlink is known as its source document to web pages. Hyperlink Keywords are the keywords which are present in a chunk such that it directs to another page. If there are more links in a particular chunk then it means the corresponding chunk has less importance. The parameter Hyperlink Keyword Retrieval calculates the percentage of all the hyperlink keywords present in a chunk and is computed using the following equation. Hyperlink word Percentage, Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Keywords in a chunk à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Link Keywords in a chunk Noise score – The information on Web page consists of both text and images (static pictures, flash, video, etc.). Many Internet sites draw income from third-party advertisements, usually in the form of images sprinkled throughout the site’s pages. In our work, the parameter Noise score calculates the percentage of all the images present in a chunk and is computed using the following equation. Noise score, Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of images in a chunk à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Total number of images Duplicate Chunk Removal Using Cosine Similarity: Cosine Similarity Cosine similarity is one of the most popular similarity measure applied to text documents, such as in numerous information retrieval applications [7] and clustering too [8]. Here, duplication detection among the chunk is done with the help of cosine similarity. Given two chunks and, their cosine similarity is Cosine Similarity Where, , à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  Weight of keywords in, Extraction of Main Block Chunk Weightage for Sub-Chunk: In the previous step, we obtained a set of chunks after removing the noise chunks, and duplicate chunks present in a deep web page. Web page designers tend to organize their content in a reasonable way: giving prominence to important things and deemphasizing the unimportant parts with proper features such as position, size, color, word, image, link, etc. A chunk importance model is a function to map from features to importance for each chunk, and can be formalized as : . The preprocessing for computation is to extract essential keywords for the calculation of Chunk Importance. Many researchers have given importance to different information inside a webpage for instance location, position, occupied area, content, etc. In this research work, we have concentrated on the three parameters Title word relevancy, keyword frequency based chunk selection, and position features which are very significant. Each parameter has its own significance for calculating sub-chunk weightage. The following equation computes the sub-chunk weightage of all noiseless chunks. (1) Where à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Constants For each noiseless chunk, we have to calculate these unknown parameters, and. The representation of each parameter is as follows: Title Keyword – Primarily, a web page title is the name or title of a Web site or a Web page. If there is more number of title words in a particular block then it means the corresponding block is of more importance. This parameter Title Keyword calculates the percentage of all the title keywords present in a block. It is computed using the following equation. Title word Relevancy; (2) Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Title Keywords à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Title word relevancy, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Frequency of the title keyword in a chunk. Keyword Frequency based chunk selection: Basically, Keyword frequency is the number of times the keyword phrase appears on a deep Web page chunk relative to the total number of words on the deep web page. In our work, the top-K keywords of each and every chunk were selected and then their frequencies were calculated. The parameter keyword frequency based chunk selection calculates for all sub-chunks and is computed using the following equation. Keyword Frequency based chunk selection (3) Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Frequency of top ten keywords à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Keyword Frequency based chunk selection à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Top-K Keywords Position features (PFs): Generally, these data regions are always centered horizontally and for calculating, we need the ratio of the size of the data region to the size of the whole deep Web page instead of the actual size. In our experiments, the threshold of the ratio is set at 0.7, that is, if the ratio of the horizontally centered region is greater than or equal to 0.7, then the region is recognized as the data region. The parameter position features calculate the important sub chunk from all sub chunks and is computed using the following equation. (4) Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Position features Thus, we have obtained the values of, and by substituting the above mentioned equation. By substituting the values of , and in eq.1, we obtain the sub-chunk weightage. Chunk Weightage for Main Chunk: We have obtained sub-chunk weightage of all noiseless chunks from the above process. Then, the main chunks weightage are selected from the following equation (5) Where,à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Sub-chunk weightage of Main-chunk. à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Constant, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Main chunk weightage. Thus, finally we obtain a set of important chunks and we extract the keywords from the above obtained important chunks for effective web document clustering mining. Algorithm-1 : Clustering Approach PHASE-2 – DEEP WEB DOCUMENT CLUSTERING USING FCM Let DB be a dataset of web documents, where the set of keywords is denoted by . Let X={x1, x2, †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦, xN} is the set of N web documents, where, xi={ xi1,xi2,†¦.,xin}. Each xij(i=1,†¦.,N;j=1,†¦.,n) corresponds to the frequency of keyword xi on web document. Fuzzy c-means [29] partitions set of web documents indimensional space into fuzzy clusters with cluster centers or centroids. The fuzzy clustering of keywords is described by a fuzzy matrix with n rows and c columns in which n is the number of keywords and c is the number of clusters. , the element in the row and column in, indicates the degree of association or membership function of the object with the cluster. The characters of are as follows: (6) (7) (8) The objective function of FCM algorithm is to minimize the Eq. (9): (9) Where (10) in which, m(m >1) is a scalar termed the weighting exponent and controls the fuzziness of the resulting clusters and dij is the Euclidian distance from key to the cluster center zip. The zj, centroid of the jth cluster, is obtained using Eq. (11) (11) The FCM algorithm is iterative and can be stated as in Algorithm-2. Algorithm-2 : Fuzzy c-means Approach Experimental Setup The experimental results of the proposed method for vision-based deep web data extraction for web document clustering are presented in this section. The proposed approach has been implemented in Java (jdk 1.6) and the experimentation is performed on a 3.0 GHz Pentium PC machine with 2 GB main memory. For experimentation, we have taken many deep web pages which contained all the noises such as Navigation bars, Panels and Frames, Page Headers and Footers, Copyright and Privacy Notices, Advertisements and Other Uninteresting Data. These pages are then applied to the proposed method for removing the different noises. The removal of noise blocks and extracting of useful content chunks are explained in this sub-section. Finally, extracting the useful con

Why Is English Considered a Global Language?

Why Is English Considered a Global Language? Abstract This project aims to show us why the English known as a global language and why other languages do not have this ability. Also introduce some other languages such as Chinese that can be replaced with English and their capability of being a global one. Key words: english , global , language , capability. Introduction We all are able to communicate freely with one language to people all around the world. A single language would help to reduce misunderstanding and miscommunication. People will need to learn this one world language, whichever that may be, but we will also never forget older languages completely. It means that we can use both of them at same time for the several reasons. We use our mother tongue in our country (home town) and use second language (global language) for communicate with people that don’t know anything about our mother tongue or for some other reason like job, travel, migration and †¦. . Global language A language is called a â€Å"global language† when it achieves the official position and education preference in every nation, that language will finally come to be used by more people than any other language. The essential reason to make a language global or international is the power of its people. The power includes the power of military, politic and economic. Military power, political power and economic power are the three essential factors to make a language global and to keep its status (Culpepper, 1997). What does the global language do? When a new language is introduced to new communities, and a new better life is achieved by the new language, it makes people prefer to use the language than their own language. In turn, the low frequency of using particular language may cause the language to disappear. This was true when English was introduced to academic life (Kaplan, 2000). If the language is no longer the key in communication, it will not live anymore. People will forget it. Many factors cause to the death of the languages that cannot known as global language like War, revolution, economic development or urbanization (Kaplan, 2000). But the development of some areas, like aviation, tourism and banking can be help to be as a global. English English is universal language. It is the worlds second native language, the formal language in 70 countries, and English-speaking countries are accountable for about 40% of worlds total GNP. English can be used everywhere with educated people around the world. It can be used in media, cinema, pop music, TV and †¦for anyone who knows English (Bond, Michael, 1751). From Old and Middle English, English was spoken early in the last one thousand years. Examples of language written at that time, such as the works of Chaucer (mid to late 1300s) are useful in supervising linguistic evolution over the last thousand years. In these works, often spellings will be indistinguishable, but once pronounced phonetically, are understandable to modern English speakers (Sapir, Edward, 1871). Why English is the Most Widely Used Language in the World? 1-Some people may disagree that â€Å"English is the world’s most important language.† It is definitely the world’s most widely used language. It is spoken by a number of people 800,000,000 by a conservative appraise 1,500,000,000 by a liberal appraise. It has official status in over 60 countries. 150 million people use English fluently as a foreign language. English is also the language of international air traffic control, and the principal language of world publishing, science and technology (Crystal 2001). 2- In the postcolonial world, English is often used outside the domestic area, discussions of the links between English and Anglo culture may even seem repulsive. Speakers of English—in Britain, the United States, and elsewhere—discussions of possible links between English and Anglo culture may also seem to be best avoided (Quirk et al. 1985). 3- English is also important in business. 84% of companies want English as a foreign language; only 32% require French (Felberbauer 1996). In the Austrian job market, English is pay heed to as a basic qualification; therefore not knowing English may be a conclusive deficit. In Austrian businesses which operate internationally the internal use of English is not so much a feature as it is in Scandinavia (Dension 1981). According to research conducted by Stockinger, secretaries, for instance, are expected to be able to hold telephone conversations in English while technicians have to be able to read technical literature in English (Stockinger 1995). The Significance of Learning English: English may not be spoken language in the worlds, but it is an official language in a large number of countries. It also very important for whom works in global workforce because English is the language of business in world, so it had become necessary for people to speak English. Another reason for learning English is that many of the worlds top films, music and books are published and produced in English. Therefore by learning English, you will be able to have a great understanding. And also most of the content produced on the internet is in English. So knowing English will allow you access amount of information which may not be otherwise available. Chinese The Chinese language is the oldest language in the world with six thousand years of history. Chinese character inscribing has been found in turtle shells dating back to the Shang dynasty(Reid, Thomas, 1890). Chinese phonetics is very complex, making the learning of the language a far more difficult role than learning English (Simon-Vandenbergen, Anne-Marie, 1937). The written language is a common form of communication. Even though people are not able to orally communicate in different district, they are able to understand each other in writing (Saltman, Michael, 1903). Chinese is already the most widely spoken language in the world, but that is because of the large population of China (Aleksandr, 2001). Chinese is not suspended to pass English as a global language. The Chinese economy is strong enough to raise the cause and popularity of its language, just like the English did. But, it is possible that China economy is a result of its ability to conform to others’ languages and way of work rather than the task of the Chinese language on other countries (Spevack, Marvin 1985). In business, Chinese is the most useful language like English. Transacting business matters using a common language is essential for camaraderie building but also for the speed and effectiveness of your negotiations (Thompson, 1998). France French represents different cultures around the world. It is used on five continents, in more than fifty countries. French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and the official language of the Olympic Games (Vera. 2004). It provides the base for more than 50% of the modern English vocabulary, which improves presentation on standardized tests. French is supported by over 35 years of research and has been proven to be successful with students of all races, economic status and levels of English expertise (Quinn, Naomi. 2002). The importance of French has economic importance for major economies in the world, For example, French is the official global language of Canada, which performs major trade deals with the US. The knowledge of French for traders to such countries becomes all the more important (Jeremy. 1999). Being the second most taught language after English and having a readership and with the number of its students, French is absolutely the language to know these days. With English, French is the only other international language; being spoken in 5 continents (Steven. 2002).France has not lost its level of development in language. France is still a highly respected country, and still one of the top romantic languages in western civilization. The United Nations communicates have only two languages: French, and English. There are parts of Africa where French is still the native language, along with several islands. Test: I did a test on two groups. Group 1, who decided to learn English as second language Group 2, who decided to learn French as second language. I asked same question from two groups. Here are the questions and answers: Question 1: why are you choosing this language to learn? Group 1 à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚ ¨ we choose this language because it is an international language and is more important than other language to learn. Group 2 à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚ ¨ because nowadays some other language such as French comes to high level in international position and it may know as global language instead of English. So we try to learn it to be modern and update with worlds language changing. Question 2: How much do you want learn this language? Do you want to learn just for being good at conversation or more than it? Group 1 à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚ ¨ No, not just for conversation. We try to use it in our daily life such as reading English books, articles and watching English movies. Looking for medicine news in the internet and †¦ Group 2 à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚ ¨ yes actually we learn it to make conversation, greeting and understand what people say. Result à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚ ¨ nowadays we choose language instead of English just because of communicating, making conversation and understanding what other says. But we choose English to learn for several important reasons. As I mentioned before, we use English to being able to surf the internet, read the international book and magazine, being aware of news around the world and †¦ Conclusion We result that it is no surprise that English is becoming the language for international communication. English is the most widely spoken language of the world because of the power the United States in economic and politic. English is the mother tongue of 380 million people, and it is used worldwide by the newspapers, magazines, scientists, businessmen, and politicians. One billion to 1.5 billion people around the world presently speak English. It is the most widely language in 70 countries (J. Draper. 1994).Globalization at the end of the twentieth century is occurring through the media, and technology, thus affecting languages worldwide (Sebesta , 1996). In my idea, languages have fallen and risen with the military and economic growth of a nation. Western culture has a large influence to keep it raise and use these power to impose the word for being as a global language. References STIG HJARVARD (2008). How the Media Contribute to the Spread of English. The Globalization of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge university press. Nguyen Thuy Nga (2008). English A global language. Hanoi University press. Journal of Science, Foreign Languages 24 (2008) 260-266. Woody Allen (1968). Language is acquired, whining is learned. Second language acquisition. Harlow: Pearson. David Crystal (2003). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge university press Zuliati Rohmah (2000). English as a global language. Tierney, J (2009). Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. The myth of language universals. 32, 429–492 Jean Aitchison (2001).progress or decay? Language change. Bambridge: Cambridge university press (2001).5, 3-20 Danie Spich tinger (2003). The Spread of English and its Appropriation. Wien university press. (2003). Cornelia Hamann (1986). How Language comes universal. Language Acquisition. Journal of Memory and Language 33, 19-38. Pinker, S. Bloom, P. (1990). Natural language and natural selection. Behavioral  And Brain Sciences 13 (4): 707à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 784.

Weve Only Just Begun: Translating Third Wave Theory Into Third Wave Activism :: Free Essays Online

We've Only Just Begun: Translating Third Wave Theory Into Third Wave Activism After graduating from college in 1999 with a degree in Women's and Gender Studies, I was looking forward to beginning my new job as an abortion counselor at the local Planned Parenthood clinic. I envisioned working in a strong feminist community committed to a women's right to control her reproduction. On my first day I was ordered to prepare the doctor's scrubs and get his coffee while I observed him chastise women during the procedure for not using birth control. I was angry for having to accept and accommodate this man because he was the only doctor we could get to perform abortions (and according to Roe v. Wade, as I learned, abortions could only be done by doctors). I had studied reproductive rights and was excited and inspired by my Second Wave feminist professors' praises of Roe v. Wade and women's health clinics, but my present reality was not living up to their romantic historical vision. I had also studied Second Wave feminist theories of power, economics, and sexuality and it was this knowledge that allowed me to understand that my so-called glamorous feminist work at Planned Parenthood was not, in fact, expressing feminist principles. I cultivated a desire to use these personal experiences break the silence in the feminist community about these discrepancies and challenge the impervious reputation of Roe v. Wade and abortion providers. I sought to involve myself in organizations working to allow midwives to perform abortions, which would give women more options when it came to choosing a provider. That was also when I came to understand and be a part of third wave feminism. Feminism's first wave is usually seen as having begun with the Seneca Falls Convention of 1948 and ending with securing the right to vote in 1920 and the second wave categorizes the resurgence of women's activism beginning in the late 1960s and ending (or at least ebbing) with the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment and the Reagan-Bush era. Third wave feminism purports to encompass the young women born in the 1960s and 70s who feel their personal experience of their history set them apart from older women. Barbara Findlen in the introduction to Listen Up: Voices from the Next Generation of Feminism states, "I strongly believe that the experiences that led me to identify as a feminist were significantly different from those that inspired the previous generation" (xi).

Come Shouting to Zion and the development of African-American Religious Culture :: Religion Shouting Zion Essays

Come Shouting to Zion and the development of African-American Religious Culture Missing Works Cited In detailing the long process by which African-Americans came to embrace Protestant Christianity and shape their own unique form of it, Frey and Wood emphasize African agency throughout. Their case is better supported by evidence in the 19th century than in the 18th, during which time Christianity had little effect on slave society through the efforts of Anglicans, not so much because Africans rejected the gospel as because whites withheld Christian brotherhood from blacks. As blacks in the American South and in the British Caribbean struggled to develop individual and collective identities from the persistent remnants of African culture and their new conditions of life, the series of efforts by evangelicals to convert slaves eventually gave rise to a distinct African-American form of Christian theology, worship style, and religious community. The importance of religion among African Americans, as among all people, rests on fulfilling the human need for an understanding of one’s place in both the spiritual and temporal world. While it is difficult, as Frey and Wood concede, to know with certainty what lay behind Africans’ confessions of conversion to Christianity, we can understand how religion played a critical role in defining social relationships among slaves and between blacks and whites. Frey and Wood explain the appeal and success of Evangelicalism among slaves when they assert, â€Å"Deprived of their traditional supernatural means of dealing with recurrent life crises, [African-Americans] discovered in evangelical conversion requirements an opportunity to reassert personal authority based on their ability to communicate directly with God and to bring others to recognize the need for personal repentance and acceptance of Jesus† (109). One early example that supports this link between religiou s involvement and a sense of personal identity, if not between conversion and increasing social prestige or power, is found in a slave woman who tells Moravian missionaries that her people have come from across the sea and lost their father and mother, and therefore want to know the Moravians’ Father above. The displacement of Africans, for whom locality was critical to interactions with the spiritual world, did not deprive them of their religious cosmologies, but required them to learn the spiritual landscape of their new home and reshape their practices accordingly. Come Shouting to Zion details the many religious rituals that Africans preserved in the new world, especially those surrounding fundamental life events such as the birth and naming of children, marriage, burial ceremonies, and ritual dancing and singing to communicate with ancestors and deities.

The Color of Water Essay

The Color of Water by James McBride was a narrative about a immature male child seeking to calculate out his racial individuality but his female parent would non speak about her yesteryear or what race she was. All James knew was that she was white life in a black power vicinity and that fact terrified him. He thought that to turn up he had to cognize his racial individuality but through all the problem and difficult times he went through he learned that his race did non affair. It was his instruction that was the most of import. Ruth attitude about her race effected James through his childhood and as a immature grownup. she negatively affected his racial development. and Ruth finally clears up his inquiries that he has been deceasing to acquire replies from. Ruth McBride’s attitude toward her ain race affected her boy. James McBride. as both a kid and as a immature grownup. Ruth chiefly looked down on her race because of her male parent. All he care about was money and the shop. he did non care about his ain married woman or household. He besides molested Ruth when she was a immature miss. When James was a immature male child he ever questioned her about race. He wanted to cognize if he was black or white and he besides asked what colour The nazarene was. James mother would non wholly reply his inquiry. She responded stating that James was a human and instruction was all that mattered. and that Jesus was the colour of H2O. As a child. James knew that his female parent was white. and that terrified him. He knew that a white lady life in a black vicinity. besides with black childs. was populating in danger. James truly realized his mother’s danger when Ruth and James were walking place and a adult male came up and stole Ruth’s bag. James figured out how strong and brave or crazy his female parent was when she did non contend the larceny back and all she told James was that it was merely a bag and it did non affair. When James grew up. he thought that Ruth was traveling brainsick. and he didn’t esteem her like he did in the yesteryear. If James would hold known about his mother’s yesteryear. it wouldn’t have change much. He might hold been more excusatory for her but that would be about it. Ruth’s impact on James’s racial development is negative. but she had good purposes. James ne'er knows what his racial background is and that bothers him throughout his life. If he would hold known what his mother’s background was possibly so he would understand himself in his eyes. but it does non take your race to calculate out yourself. it takes larning who you are on the interior. Ruth was seeking to do it a positive impact on his racial development. Ruth knew that race did non affair. it was about what was on the interior of the individual. but James did non understand that construct. Race ne'er concerned him by stating he was non traveling to tie in himself with a individual because of their background but he want to cognize about their race. and Ruth had no attentions about their race. which is a better manner to travel at it. Ruth offers James confusion as he grapples with his racial individuality as a younger male child. but she offers him lucidity as a immature grownup. When James was immature. Ruth would reply any of her inquiries and that bothered him but he knew non to force her to her bound or he would acquire the belt. He does non cognize what half of his race is. he know he was black from his male parent but knew nil about his mother’s race. Ruth was non ashamed to be a Jew. but she did non back up Judaism because of her male parent. Tateh. She was non concealing the fact that she was a Jew from James but she did non desire to believe about everything that she ran off from when she left Suffolk. Virginia and her household. more significantly her female parent. Hudis Shilksy. When James turns into the immature grownup he finds out that cognizing your race does non assist you in life like a good instruction does. Even though he has learned this Ruth starts to explicate his inquiries about race to him. In the narrative The Color of Water. James has unanswered inquiries as a kid. At the terminal of the book James learns about Ruth’s race and he finds out his racial individuality. James besides finds out God’s colour. He is the colour of H2O and H2O is neither. black or white. Ruth had harmful memories when she was a Jew because of her male parent and when he might her first hubby. Dennis. she changed her religion and found felicity. Ruth’s race affected Ruth which subsequently on affected her boy James negatively. Her angry about her yesteryear led to James’s confusion about his ain racial individuality. but subsequently on got all his inquiries answered.

Banyan Tree Essay

Minimal advertising, still high level of brand awareness through company’s public relations and global marketing programs. Faced the challenge of translating and maintaining the success of a niche Asian hospitality brand into various market segments on a global scale ‘Innovative niche product that could also bridge the price gap in this market’ Building a resort comprising individual villas with locally inspired architectural design and positioned as a romantic and intimate escapade for guests; ‘Sanctuary for the senses’. Banyan Tree Gallery: ‘local culture and heritage and promoting cottage Crafts, retail outlet showcasing indigenous crafts, works closely with village cooperatives and not-for-profit craft marketing agents. Marketing: high-end travel magazines in key markets – public relations – global marketing programs (increase editorial coverage) – few key wholesalers in each targeted market – agents specializing in exlusive luxury holidays targeted at wealthy customers – membership in the Small Luxury Hotels and Leading Hotels of the World – GDS cose ‘BY’ (own global distribution system used by travel providers to process airline, hotel, car rental and other distribution partners around the world. Actively caring for the natural and human environment, revitalizing local communities, worked actively to preserve, protect, and promote the natural and human environments in which BYT resorts where located. Minimizing the impact on the environment Green Communities = planted trees, engage local communities, associates, guests to share the causes of climate change and actions that can reduce our collected carbon footprint. Green Imperative Fund to further support community-based and environmental initiatives in the regions where it has a presence. The company believed in building profitable resorts that would benefit the surrounding environment and contribute to local economies through the creation of employment and community development projects. Businesses with local farmers and traders by making it a point to purchase fresh produce from them. Community Relations Department was set up to develop and manage community outreach programs. Seedling: BTHR’s formalized program which aimed to help  young adults from local communities and motivate them and provide the means for completing their education to successfully enter the labor force as adults. Future: openening city hotels and angsana hotels in Dubai and London (angsana brand in response to the demand for hotel operators in Asia that were keen to introduce spa services in their hotel, it is more contemporary and affordable brand. Musem Shop by banyan tree: joint partnetship with Singapor’s national heritage board to showcase Asi’a rich and diverse cultural heritage through unique museum-inspired merchandise. Banyan Tree Holdings (Banyan Tree) is an investment holding company involved in managing and developing premium resorts, hotels and spas in the Asia Pacific. To date, the Banyan Tree Group manages and/or has ownership interests in close to 36 hotels and resorts, around 73 spas, 91 galleries  and 3 golf courses in 28 countries The company operates in Asia, Mexico and Morocco, New Zealand, Africa, Dubai, and the UK. Banyan Tree operates through three business segments: hotel investment, property sales, and fee-based. 1: The hotel investments segment relates to hotel and restaurant operations. The property sales segment comprises hotel residences, Laguna property sales and development project/site sales. Hotel residences business relates to the sale of hotel villas or suites which are part of hotel operations, to investors under a compulsory leaseback scheme. Laguna property sales business relates to the development and sale of properties which are standalone vacation homes in Laguna Phuket. Development project/site sales relates to pure development land sales or development land sales which are fully or partially developed with infrastructure. The fee-based segment comprises the management of hotels and resorts, the management of an asset-backed destination club, the management of private-equity funds, the management and operation of spas, the sales of merchandise, the provision of architectural and design services, the management and ownership of golf courses, and rental of retail outlets and offices. The company’s subsidiaries (dochterbedrijf) include Banyan Tree Spa Bangkok, Banyan Tree Spa Bintan, Banyan Tree Spa Ringha, Banyan Tree Spa Phuket, Banyan Tree Sanya, and Banyan Tree Macau, among others. Banyan Tree Holdings (Banyan Tree) is engaged in the management and development of premium resorts, hotels and spas. The company’s key services include the following. Hotel and restaurant operations Sale of hotel villas or suites – Development and sale of properties – Pure development land sales – Management of hotels and resorts – Management of an asset-backed destination club – Management of private-equity funds -Management and operation of spas – Architectural and design services – Management and ownership of golf courses – Rental of retail outlets and offices. The following companies are the major competitors of Banyan Tree Holdings Limited: Central Plaza Hotel Public Company Limited – Four Seasons Hotels Inc – Associated International Hotels Ltd In the past few years, such events risks as the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, bird flu, floods and riots in Thailand have been hard on our industry, causing tourism as a whole to dry up in their wake. By comparison, economic recessions are part and parcel of the business cycle, which we are able to take in our stride and counter with a variety of measures. During the year, the world remained mired in the European sovereign debt crisis and American economic weakness. Although these conditions affected our arrivals primarily from Europe, we were able to capitalise on the flourishing Chinese market. At our four resorts in the Maldives, for example, the number of Chinese guests surpassed those from Europe. In our continuing efforts to rebalance the Group’s assets, we made the bargain purchase of Banyan Tree Seychelles which gave rise to a net gain. We also sold and leased back Angsana Velavaru in January 2013. The hybrid structure of this deal is a first for Banyan Tree, and we are pleased with how it allows us to rebalance our portfolio while still participating in the profits from the operations of Angsana Velavaru. 2012: with overall revenue growing 3% to S$338. 4 million. Due to improved results from our hotel investments and fee-based businesses, as well as a higher contribution from completed sales of property units. Group EBITDA was S$74. 5 million, up 51% on the back of higher revenue and a gain on the bargain purchase of Banyan Tree Seychelles. This in turn resulted in PATMI increasing by 856% (S$14.9 million), tempered by higher finance costs and income tax expenses. HOTEL INVESTMENTS Our hotel investments delivered a stronger performance in 2012, with Group-owned hotels posting total revenue of S$187. 7 million, up 15% from the previous year. This was due to the higher contribution from our Thai properties and the consolidation of revenue from Banyan Tree Seychelles from 2Q12 onwards. These gains were partially offset by lower revenue from our Maldives properties as Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru and Angsana Ihuru were temporarily closed for refurbishment. As a result of the increase in revenue, EBITDA for this segment grew by a healthy 69% to S$36. 6 million. PROPERTY SALES Revenue from property sales was S$42. 7 million. The 36% decrease was due to the sale of development sites in Lijiang, Yangshuo and Huangshan to our China Fund in 2011. Excluding those transactions, revenue and EBITDA from property sales saw growth of 43% and 74% respectively, thanks to a higher contribution from completed sales of property units. FEE-BASED Total revenue from our fee-based businesses registered growth of 9% to reach S$108. This was attributable to an increase in fees from hotel management and architectural and interior design and other services. Accordingly, EBITDA for our fee-based businesses grew by 23%. 2013 appears to be another challenging year for the global economy. We anticipate continued weakness in our European target markets. In Asia, which has been the world’s economic engine these past four years, growth is likely to moderate. Despite the cooling of China’s economy, the tourism market both inbound and outbound is expected to continue to grow. The Chinese government is aggressively promoting domestic tourism as part of its strategy to increase domestic consumption, thereby cushioning the slowdown in export manufacturing. Banyan Tree’s strong branding and rapidly expanding footprint in China will position us to take advantage of this trend. Our seven regional marketing offices in China will be invaluable in enabling us to tap the vast potential of this market and to enhance awareness of our hotels with key accounts in China. Our strategy going forward will include continuing with our asset rebalancing to unlock value and deploy capital to more promising markets. At the same time, we are exploring the possibility of extending the successful Fund model into other areas. In terms of growing particular segments, we will be focusing on increasing income from our fee-based and property sales businesses. We have built the fee-based segment to a point where it now has an impetus of its own. On the property sales front, we plan to move into selling more primary and serviced residences. Primary residences under the Banyan Tree brand, â€Å"We will also be going forward with the establishment of a third brand of residences to be wholly sold and managed by us. † Rather than compete with local property developers, we will leverage our branding and design skills to market to a niche audience in China. We will also be going forward with the establishment of a third brand of residences to be wholly sold and managed by us. Catering to an entirely new market of price-conscious buyers, these properties will be smaller in size yet deliver the quality and innovation that are hallmarks of Banyan Tree. Strongly associated with our brand is the concept of a triple bottom line. In our pursuit of economic, social and environmental success, we made major investments in resource conservation, training and benchmarking, greening and community efforts in 2012. Under the EarthCheck system of sustainability certification, we also planted in six-year a total to over 220,000 trees. Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts offer an intimate retreat experience featuring its signature blend of romance, rejuvenation and exotic sensuality. Our philosophy is based on providing a place for rejuvenation of the body, mind and soul – a Sanctuary for the Senses. Placing special emphasis on providing guests with a sense of place, each Banyan Tree property is designed to fit into its natural surroundings, using indigenous materials as far as possible and reflecting the landscape and architecture of the destination. Pioneering  the tropical garden spa concept with Asian health and beauty remedies passed down from generations, Banyan Tree Spa was created as the signature experience in all Banyan Tree resorts, to complement the â€Å"Sanctuary for the Senses† wellness concept. With the emphasis on high service standards and consistency, therapists are professionally trained at Banyan Tree Spa Academies in Phuket, Thailand, and Lijiang, China. The Banyan Tree Gallery supports local communities by exhibiting and retailing indigenous handicrafts, which are also found in the resorts. A quintessential highlight of the Banyan Tree experience, Banyan Tree Gallery aspires to recreate the unique Banyan Tree experience with  its extensive selection of  Asian-style furnishings, Banyan Tree Spa collection, eco-friendly products, indigenous village handicrafts, ethnic apparel and accessories, and objects d’art. Banyan Tree Holdings Limited is a leading, international hospitality brand that manages and develops premium resorts, hotels and spas. Its innovative business model is based on seven business segments generating multiple income streams that is unique in itself within the hospitality industry. This formula of developing and managing complementary product offerings with in-house talent makes it difficult for competitors to duplicate with the same level of success. Banyan Tree’s vertically integrated business model comprises: Hotel investment– Banyan Tree owns and manages luxury hotels under its brands, as well as hotels that are managed by other world-class operators. Hotel management– Banyan Tree additionally manages properties under the Banyan Tree and Angsana brands for other owners. Canopy Marketing Group Pte Ltd – A company wholly owned by Banyan Tree Services, Canopy Marketing Group Pte Ltd provides high-level strategic insights on various global niche markets to drive top line performance of our diverse range of lifestyle products including hotels, resorts, spas, gallery, destination club and residential ownership. It has a full-suite of marketing capabilities specializing in the branding, marketing and promotion. Spa operations– Banyan Tree Spa pioneered the tropical garden spa concept, and has since grown to over 60 outlets worldwide. Gallery operations– The retail arm is consolidated under Banyan Tree Gallery, which comprises five brand segments located in over 70 stores worldwide. Hotel residences – Hotel inventory are primarily sold under the brand name Banyan Tree Residences. Property sales – Properties that are not part of hotel operations are sold by our subsidiary company, Laguna Resorts and Hotels, and its subsidiaries, in Laguna Phuket. Design and other services – Revenue from design services is earned by Architrave, Banyan Tree’s in-house architectural arm. Other service fees include income from operating golf clubs. Real Estate Hospitality Funds – Banyan Tree Capital was set upto tap private equity and other sources of investments in order to provide a cost efficient structure to fund the Group’s future developments. With about 8,000 associates of over 50 nationalities, the diversity of its workforce is a key feature of the Group and helps to inspire its international outlook. To address its talent development needs, Banyan Tree launched Banyan Tree Management Academy (BTMA) in 2008. This centralised training facility located in Phuket, Thailand will train future Banyan Tree leaders needed to sustain organisational effectiveness and to meet the demands of its rapid global growth. Part of Banyan Tree’s vision has always been to grow into a global business, with a portfolio of properties strategically placed around the world. The Group’s mission is inextricably intertwined with its commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainable growth, as it continues to expand globally. The launch of Banyan Tree Residences, which allows investors to buy their own signature villa, townhouse or apartment in Banyan Tree resorts. Banyan Tree Private Collection was launched to cater to the growing niche for destination club membership 2005: Marking the group’s long awaited foray into China is Banyan Tree Ringha, in Yunnan. 2001: Banyan Tree established the Green Imperative Fund to formalise its corporate social responsibility efforts. The Banyan Tree Spa Academy was set up to provide training for new therapists as well as research new treatment recipes and techniques. Banyan Tree Capital is a real estate fund management company established by the Banyan Tree group, a renowned luxury hospitality company listed in Singapore, to focus on hospitality-based real estate investment. Banyan Tree Capital raises, develops and manages branded hospitality funds in key development markets of the Banyan Tree group. With a combination of fund management and asset development capabilities, Banyan Tree Capital leverages on the group’s expertise in premium hospitality real estate development and management to generate attractive investment returns for its investors. Banyan Tree Capital is headquartered in Singapore with offices in China and Vietnam. We have successfully achieved higher room rates than the existing market in locations such as Lijiang, the Maldives and Seychelles. We have also found that our iconic brands also help raise the value of the surrounding land. Our innovative city products combine all the iconic elements of our brand and differentiate developers within established, high cost city markets. We have the flexibility and capabilities to adapt our model to various locations so as to maximize returns for the developer As part of our strategy of enlarging our footprint in China, we will also be launching two more hotels in Shanghai and one in Tianjin, adding to our ever growing presence in various gateway cities. We are also employing our capabilities all across China, where large tracts of land are being developed into gated residences and luxury hotels offered to the Chinese elite. One of Banyan Tree’s prime concerns is its associates. We pride ourselves in providing high levels of service excellence and providing tailor made training and career development programmes for our employees. No stone is left unturned in regards to training and proper introduction before a Banyan Tree is put into operation. Trained to the basic standards of 5 star hotels. Employees were empowered to exercise creativity and sensitivity although the strict administrative rules of the management. Employees were taken to and from work in air-conditioned buses, access to various amenities (good-quality canteens, medical services, childcare facilities). Banyan Tree is one of the world’s biggest and well known spa operators. Our levels of quality and service are unparalleled and uncompromised. We are the only vertically integrated hospitality company with strong capabilities to tackle and anticipate the challenges of master planning and developing an integrated resort. We are able to take a property from inception to delivery with efficiencies that is entirely brand specific. Our  in-house design team, Architrave, and project services team are extremely involved in all phases of the development – master planning, designing, developing and coordinating, to ensure developers a timely delivery of their asset. Being experienced developers, we are able to ensure that efficiencies and economies of scale are maximized along with guest experiences. Bintan, the Maldives and Phuket where the Angsana resort is positioned next to a Banyan Tree resort with shared back of house facilities. This model has allowed us to lower costs without cannibalizing rates, thereby boosting returns for our developers.