Thursday, November 14, 2019

Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet - Insanity in Hamlet Essay

Insanity in Hamlet  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   A consideration of the madness of the hero Hamlet within the Shakespearean drama of the same name, shows that his feigned madness sometimes borders on real madness, but probably only coincidentally.    Hamlet’s conversation with Claudius is insane to the latter. Lawrence Danson in â€Å"Tragic Alphabet† describes how Hamlet’s use of the syllogism is pure madness to the king:    What Hamlet shows by his use of the syllogism is that nothing secure can rest on the falsehood that masquerades as the royal order of Denmark. From Claudius’s point of view, however, the syllogism is simply mad: its logic is part of Hamlet’s â€Å"antic disposition.† Sane men know, after all, that â€Å"man and wife is one flesh† only in a metaphoric or symbolic sense; they know that only a madman would look for literal truth in linguistic conventions. And Claudius is right that such â€Å"madness in great ones must not unwatched go† (III.i.end). For the madman, precisely because he does not accept society’s compromises and because he explores its conventions for meanings they cannot bear, exposes the flaws which â€Å"normal† society keeps hidden (70).    Phyllis Abrahms and Alan Brody in â€Å"Hamlet and the Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy Formula† consider the madness of the hero to be completely feigned and not real:    Hamlet is a masterpiece not because it conforms to a set of conventions but because it takes those conventions and transmutes them into the pure gold of vital, relevant meaning. Hamlet’s feigned madness, for instance, becomes the touchstone for an illumination of the mysterious nature of sanity itself (44-45).    Hamlet’s first words in the play say that Claudius is "A little more than kin and less ... ...y Martin). On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters. 6th ed. London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1899.    Felperin, Howard. â€Å"O’erdoing Termagant.† Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. Rpt. of â€Å"O’erdoing Termagant: An Approach to Shakespearean Mimesis.† The Yale Review 63, no.3 (Spring 1974).    Foakes, R.A.. â€Å"The Play’s Courtly Setting.† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of â€Å"Hamlet and the Court of Elsinore.† Shakespeare Survey: An Annual Survey of Shakespearean Study and Production. No. 9. Ed. Allardyce Nicoll. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1956.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.      

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Sonny’s Blues

â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† by James Baldwin Internal and External conflicts Sonny is a young boy from Harlem struggling with his addiction to heroin and is eventually sent to jail for it. The Narrator, Sonny’s older brother is a high school Algebra teacher who loses connection with Sonny and does not realize where Sonny is till he reads in the newspaper about Sonny being imprisoned. During Sonny’s journey to get back on his feet once he incurs internal and external conflicts along the way.The series of events leading to Sonny getting back into the real world is really a struggle for him. He tries to find out who he really is and what he should be doing with his life, however along the way it’s not as easy as he would like. With external forces trying to tell him what he should do, such as: His brother, his Mother, and his sister in law’s Mother. His older brother allows him to stay with him until he graduates from college even though that’s not where Sonny’s passion is at. Sonny soon discovers his love for music, Jazz music, and practices every day his piano.This stirs conflict in the house hold because they soon grow tired of Sonny’s constant practicing. However there are also internal forces effecting the decisions that Sonny makes along the way as well, such as: Fighting his drug abuse, finding himself in what he wants to do , and his love for playing Jazz music on the piano. When the narrator finds out that Sonny wants to become a Jazz pianist he is against it and rather Sonny go to school, because the narrator doesn’t think Sonny can make it in the music industry or that there is no future playing Jazz Music.The Narrator and Sonny’s Mother is also and external force because she influenced Sonny’s living situation. Before the Mothers passing she had a conversation with the narrator telling him to watch out, and take care of Sonny. Flashing back to when their Father was alive, he t oo had a Brother and was killed by a car full of white men that never even bothered to stop. After that event it had their Father all shaken up. And lastly another external force depicted in the story is Sonny’s sister in law’s Mother.When he was supposed to be going to school he would skip much of the time. Sonny got sent multiple truancy letters and would just hide them. It was then that Sonny’s sister in law’s Mother found one and confronted Sonny about it he told her that he had been going to Greenwich  Village hanging out with musicians. It was then that Sonny saw what a burden he had been on the family and decided to join the Navy. Some of the internal conflicts depicted in the story also had a great deal on the decisions Sonny made as well.One of the main ones would be his drug abuse and addiction to Heroin, which is what landed him in jail in the first place and made his life take the course that it did. Him wanting to find himself also had a gr eat influence on the decisions that he made along the way, such as: Getting lost in his addiction, going to College, hanging out at Greenwich Village to hang out with musicians, and going to the Navy. Lastly, a final internal conflict with Sonny is his love for playing Jazz music on the piano.This is what drives him the most and realizes it’s what makes him tick and motivated. Practicing countless hours at a time and joining a band at the Village shows how dedicated he was to his dream. Sonny didn’t allow others to make the decision on what he was going to do in the end and just followed his heart because it was what he loved. At Greenwich Village Sonny was a respected musician and many knew him, ultimately it is where he belonged all along.It’s all of the internal and external conflicts depicted in the story that kept Sonny going. Whether it be the Narrator, Sonny’s Mother, the Sister in law’s Mother, his addiction to Heroin, him wanting to find h imself, or his love for playing Jazz music on the Piano. I believe that if it weren’t for all these different forces being presented in Sonny’s life, he wouldn’t have turned into the successful musician that he turned out to be in the end. Sonny’s Blues â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† by James Baldwin Internal and External conflicts Sonny is a young boy from Harlem struggling with his addiction to heroin and is eventually sent to jail for it. The Narrator, Sonny’s older brother is a high school Algebra teacher who loses connection with Sonny and does not realize where Sonny is till he reads in the newspaper about Sonny being imprisoned. During Sonny’s journey to get back on his feet once he incurs internal and external conflicts along the way.The series of events leading to Sonny getting back into the real world is really a struggle for him. He tries to find out who he really is and what he should be doing with his life, however along the way it’s not as easy as he would like. With external forces trying to tell him what he should do, such as: His brother, his Mother, and his sister in law’s Mother. His older brother allows him to stay with him until he graduates from college even though that’s not where Sonny’s passion is at. Sonny soon discovers his love for music, Jazz music, and practices every day his piano.This stirs conflict in the house hold because they soon grow tired of Sonny’s constant practicing. However there are also internal forces effecting the decisions that Sonny makes along the way as well, such as: Fighting his drug abuse, finding himself in what he wants to do , and his love for playing Jazz music on the piano. When the narrator finds out that Sonny wants to become a Jazz pianist he is against it and rather Sonny go to school, because the narrator doesn’t think Sonny can make it in the music industry or that there is no future playing Jazz Music.The Narrator and Sonny’s Mother is also and external force because she influenced Sonny’s living situation. Before the Mothers passing she had a conversation with the narrator telling him to watch out, and take care of Sonny. Flashing back to when their Father was alive, he t oo had a Brother and was killed by a car full of white men that never even bothered to stop. After that event it had their Father all shaken up. And lastly another external force depicted in the story is Sonny’s sister in law’s Mother.When he was supposed to be going to school he would skip much of the time. Sonny got sent multiple truancy letters and would just hide them. It was then that Sonny’s sister in law’s Mother found one and confronted Sonny about it he told her that he had been going to Greenwich  Village hanging out with musicians. It was then that Sonny saw what a burden he had been on the family and decided to join the Navy. Some of the internal conflicts depicted in the story also had a great deal on the decisions Sonny made as well.One of the main ones would be his drug abuse and addiction to Heroin, which is what landed him in jail in the first place and made his life take the course that it did. Him wanting to find himself also had a gr eat influence on the decisions that he made along the way, such as: Getting lost in his addiction, going to College, hanging out at Greenwich Village to hang out with musicians, and going to the Navy. Lastly, a final internal conflict with Sonny is his love for playing Jazz music on the piano.This is what drives him the most and realizes it’s what makes him tick and motivated. Practicing countless hours at a time and joining a band at the Village shows how dedicated he was to his dream. Sonny didn’t allow others to make the decision on what he was going to do in the end and just followed his heart because it was what he loved. At Greenwich Village Sonny was a respected musician and many knew him, ultimately it is where he belonged all along.It’s all of the internal and external conflicts depicted in the story that kept Sonny going. Whether it be the Narrator, Sonny’s Mother, the Sister in law’s Mother, his addiction to Heroin, him wanting to find h imself, or his love for playing Jazz music on the Piano. I believe that if it weren’t for all these different forces being presented in Sonny’s life, he wouldn’t have turned into the successful musician that he turned out to be in the end.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Assignments Physical Activity, Disease and Public Health

Obesity is becoming a leading killer disease in the world. The changing nature of life has led to change in lifestyle which has led to increased cases of lifestyle diseases.   It is estimated that more than half of the population of United States is obese or overweight.However epidemiological studies show ethnic and racial dimension with regard to prevalence of obesity in the population. African Americans especially African American women have a higher prevalence of obesity compared to other races.There are many genetic and environmental factors which have been predisposing African Americans to increased cases of obesity. Obesity does not only affect health and social life of the individual but it is also a gateway to development of many other chronic illnesses.   If not well managed, obesity leads to other terminal illnesses like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and others.Change in diet and tendency towards a sedentary lifestyle have been identified as the leading causes of ob esity all over the world.   The increasing prevalence of obesity in the population has been correlated with myriad of environmental, behavioral, physiological, and genetic factors.   Attenuated metabolic response to the exposures in the environmental combined with a number of predisposing factors and low level of energy expenditure leads to   positive energy balance which increases body weight.Several researches have underpinned the importance of diet modification and exercise in reducing body weight. However the emphasis has been mainly on diet modification with less attention on the role of exercises. Regular exercises can help to burn the excess body fats leading to reduction of obesity.In this study we are going to review a number of studies which have looked into the role of exercise in the management of obesity. The study   review a total of 10 studies from American Journal of Nutrition, JAMA, British Journal of Sports Medicine, and many   other renown medical sites. The key search words used include obesity, African Americans, Body Mass Index, and physical activitiesObesityObesity is one of the growing health problems in the world. Since the mid 20th century, the number of obese individuals in the population has been growing at an alarming rate due to the changing nature of our life.   The high prevalence of overweight and obesity is a great concern for adults, children, and adolescents not only in the United States but also in the rest of the world.  Obesity can be defined as increase in body weight due to accumulation of fat tissues. Individual weight status is usually determined by the Body Mass Index, which is a ratio of individual’s weight to height.   Body mass index has been shown as one of the most effective tools to assess the level of risk from individual weight. Obesity can be described as accumulation of fast on the body due to a positive energy balance.The food we eat is used up for body metabolism processes and the r est is stored as fats in the body adipose tissues.   If we eat too much and engage in fewer exercises, there is that energy balance in the body that is converted to fat.   Therefore the more we eat or the higher calorie foods that we eat, the more we gain weight and we end up being obese.According to the body mass index measure, a health individual should have a BMI of 18.5 – 24.9 kg/m2. The following table shows the classification of BMI and the body weight status.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Free Essays on Pro Prostitution

Pro-Prostitution It is rather odd to think how one of the world’s oldest professions is found as something of an illegal and harmful nature. For some, including myself, prostitution is considered mala prohibita or victimless crime, whereas others lobby to their local legislature to rid prostitution forever. What these people do not realize is that the problem of prostitution only exists in a non-legal setting. By allowing prostitution you will not only clean up the streets but you will inevitably have a safer and healthier environment. However, in order to establish my points on the benefits of prostitution, I must first present the negative effects of prostitution. This way you could clearly see why legalizing it would benefit society as a whole. First and foremost, non-legal prostitution is often found in the slums of big cities, where many of the young women feel forced into the profession because of hard economic conditions. A large percentage of these women are sadly hooked on drugs and end up trading sex to get high. If the poverty and the drug life aren’t bad enough, the women get to look forward to working for a pimp who eventually beats them and takes most of their hard earned money. Also, sexually transmitted disease is a huge topic of interest when it comes to non-legal prostitution. Sexual activities that take place are often not regulated nor are the women who provide the service. Many of these women carry condoms but they are rarely used due to the customer paying extra or pure neglect. Another problem, which is a common occurrence regarding prostitution, is rape where these women have no protection from the man or the diseases he might be carrying. The police try to crack down by arresting prostit utes quite often, but usually they are let out the same day with a small fine. That same night, the women are right back on the street. Recently police are taking a different line of action where they arre... Free Essays on Pro Prostitution Free Essays on Pro Prostitution Pro-Prostitution It is rather odd to think how one of the world’s oldest professions is found as something of an illegal and harmful nature. For some, including myself, prostitution is considered mala prohibita or victimless crime, whereas others lobby to their local legislature to rid prostitution forever. What these people do not realize is that the problem of prostitution only exists in a non-legal setting. By allowing prostitution you will not only clean up the streets but you will inevitably have a safer and healthier environment. However, in order to establish my points on the benefits of prostitution, I must first present the negative effects of prostitution. This way you could clearly see why legalizing it would benefit society as a whole. First and foremost, non-legal prostitution is often found in the slums of big cities, where many of the young women feel forced into the profession because of hard economic conditions. A large percentage of these women are sadly hooked on drugs and end up trading sex to get high. If the poverty and the drug life aren’t bad enough, the women get to look forward to working for a pimp who eventually beats them and takes most of their hard earned money. Also, sexually transmitted disease is a huge topic of interest when it comes to non-legal prostitution. Sexual activities that take place are often not regulated nor are the women who provide the service. Many of these women carry condoms but they are rarely used due to the customer paying extra or pure neglect. Another problem, which is a common occurrence regarding prostitution, is rape where these women have no protection from the man or the diseases he might be carrying. The police try to crack down by arresting prostit utes quite often, but usually they are let out the same day with a small fine. That same night, the women are right back on the street. Recently police are taking a different line of action where they arre...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

What Is AP Self-Study Should You Do It

What Is AP Self-Study Should You Do It SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Did you know that you don’t have to take an AP course to take the associated exam? Some people think this means all they need is a prep book, the registration fee, a pencil, and a dream. Are they right? In this article I will go over all the essentials of self-studying for AP exams: what it means, why people self-study, whether or not you should self-study, and five important tips for any self-studier. What Is AP Self-Study? As you might infer, AP self-study is when you study the material for an AP exam independently instead of taking the course associated with the exam. For some people, this takes the form of what is essentially a self-organized independent study. Others just grab a prep book a month before the exam, blaze through it, and hope for the best. Some people taking an honors level of a class, like biology or US history, decide to do extra studying so they can take the AP. (I did that myself with APUSH.) Still others self-study AP course material because they already have a deep level of knowledge in a subject and taking a course would be repetitive. This is common for people who are high-level speakers of one of the languages offered by the AP exam. They still need to study to familiarize themselves with the exam and brush up on their grammar, but it obviously wouldn’t make sense to take an entire course in a language they speak fluently! Why People Self-Study AP Material There are a few reasons people might decide to study for an AP exam on their own instead of taking a course. It could be because their school doesn’t offer a particular AP course they are interested in, or any AP courses at all. It might be because they don’t have room in their schedule for another AP course, but they still want to get as much AP credit as possible. This is common among people self-studying the more content-light AP exams like AP Human Geography or AP Environmental Science. Similarly, students sometimes feel that they can cover ground more quickly on their own than in the classroom. This may be especially true if they already have a certain baseline level of knowledge in the subject, like in a foreign language. Essentially, people self-study when they either can’t or don’t want to take the AP course associated with the exam, but believe they can still do well on the test through some amount of work on their own. This man is self-studying the river. Good idea? You decide. Should You Self-Study for an AP? Whether or not self-studying is the right approach for you depends on five key factors. #1: The AP Exam You Want To Self-Study The material you are considering self-studying makes a big difference here. It’s one thing to self-study AP Psychology, and quite another to try to self-study AP Chem. The more demanding the coursework is in the classroom, the less sense it makes to try to learn the material yourself. People in classes like AP Calculus, Physics, and Chemistry have a hard time getting 5s on the exam even when they take the course, so it’s not really feasible to expect you’ll be able to learn the material yourself. On the other hand, AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science, and AP Human Geography are frequently self-studied because the course doesn’t cover enormous amounts of complex material. See my article on the best AP exams for self-studyfor more info. #2: How Much Time You Have For Studying Assuming you’ve chosen a reasonable AP to self-study, the next main concern is, will you have time to study the material on your own? If you’re taking a challenging course load and have a slate of time-consuming extracurriculars, it might not make a ton of sense to try to study for a demanding exam on top of all of that. If, on the other hand, you already have late arrival and early dismissal built into your senior spring schedule and you just want to see if you can get some extra credits for college with exams, self-study could be for you. #3: Your Studying Motivation Level Even if you have enough time, you need to consider if you are self-motivated enough to do the extra studying. It’s important to be honest with yourself before you register for the exam. If you think it’s more likely that you’ll volunteer to clean the bathroom for your dad than to crack open a textbook with no one there to check your progress, AP self-study may not be a particularly useful or beneficial approach for you. #4: Your Ability to Stay on Track Similarly, if you think you won’t be able to keep on a relatively stable prep schedule, it may not make much sense for you to self-study. If you know you’re the kind of person who keeps a New Year’s resolution very diligently for about six weeks and then completely falls off the wagon, it might be difficult for you to stay on a self-study schedule. If you get too far behind, trying to cram to catch up will be very stressful. If you feel you really need some level of accountability to get work done for an AP on your own, you might consider taking an AP course online. In general, you will have weekly deadlines for the course, which may help motivate you to stay on track and actually learn the material. #5: Access to Study Material A final thing to consider before you commit to the self-study route is whether or not you have access to high-quality material for studying. As useful as a copy of the Princeton Review can be for AP prep, you’ll have a much easier time prepping for the exam if you have a variety of resources available to you: you’ll want practice problems or questions, maybe some explanatory videos, possibly a copy of an up-to-date textbook from your library, and so on. So before you decide to self-study, you may want to do some research to make sure there are adequate high-quality resources available for you to learn the material. If all of your textbooks did this, you would ace every exam. 5Key Tips for Effective Self-Studying Once you've decided to self-study for an AP, you might be wondering how exactly you should go about it. I've laid out five important practices that will maximize your self-study success. #1: Stay On Track The most important thing you can do for yourself when self-studying is to stay on track. Learning the material throughout the year will make you much less stressed in the months and weeks leading up to the exam. #2: Make a Schedule To help you stay on track, I advise you to make a study schedule and stick to it! This means you should both have a general plan of how much material you will cover every week or month, and that you will have consistent, scheduled times to learn the material and prepare. Of course it might take you a little longer or shorter to learn some material, so you can adjust your schedule as you go, but you’ll be much more successful with a plan of attack for learning all the material. #3: Find the Best Material Try to read reviews of any study resources before you commit to using them, especially before you spend money on them. You want to make sure that any material you use is actually relevant to what’s tested on the exam, and that other students have found it helpful. #4: Take Practice Tests Be sure to take practice tests! This is probably even more important for self-study students than for students taking a regular class, because the syllabus for regular AP classes have to be approved by the College Board. You’ll be flying by the seat of your pants in some respects, so practice tests will really help you gauge what you still need to learn and where you still have gaps. Of course, you want to use as many official College Board tests as you can, but these are somewhat limited, so if using non-College Board material, be sure to carefully read reviews. #5: Register for the Exam Make sure you register for the test! This probably seems really obvious, but it’s easy to forget, especially when you don’t have a teacher to remind you to turn in the form! You’ll need to talk to your school’s AP exam coordinator about registering for the exam. This takes place early to midway through the second semester for most schools. If you are self-studying because your school doesn’t have AP exams, your school won’t have an AP coordinator. Never fear! You can still take your exams at a school close to you that offers the tests. Here's how: By March 1st of the year you want to test, you will need to get in touch with AP Services. You can contact them by phone, e-mail, or fax. Phone (domestic): 888-225-5427 Phone (international): 212-632-1780 E-mail: apstudents@info.collegeboard.org Fax: 610-290-8979 AP services will give the phone number for local AP coordinators from schools who are willing to test students from other schools.You will need to call the AP coordinator of a local school by March 15th at the latest to make testing arrangements. Go forth and conquer, you majestic self-studying unicorn. Final Thoughts on AP Self-Study Can you take an AP exam without taking the course? YES! Studying on your own for an AP exam is a viable course of action if it doesn’t make sense to take the course, and it is definitely possible to get a five. You just need to choose the exam wisely, make sure you are diligent about studying, and use high-quality, relevant study material. So you probably do need more than a prep book and a dream, but you can definitely succeed at self-studying for APs! What's Next? Trying to decide what AP class to self-study? Look at our complete list of AP classes and exams. If you're self-studying AP US History, look at our expert review of APUSH textbooks. For AP Psychology self-studying, see our comprehensive list of practice exams. Self-studying AP Bio? We have a list of every AP Biology practice test available. Taking the SAT or ACT? Check out our expert advice on the pros and cons of all the popular study methods. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Why was Japan so unsuccessful in solving the problem of deflation over Essay

Why was Japan so unsuccessful in solving the problem of deflation over the past decade - Essay Example On 29 December 1989, the Nikkei peaked at 38, 916 after a five year return of 237%. The rate in June of 2008 was at 14, 354 which is a startling 63% lower than the 1989 figure (Harrison 2008). According to the International Monetary Fund (2006), Japan was experiencing recovery from its previous declining position, but by 2009, the International Monetary fund showed recognition that the economic downturn of 2008 had stifled progress and the deflation was still a pervasive issue. As Shown in the graph examples in figure 1, both the real estate market and the stock market have shown steady deflationary trends since 1990. There have been a series of attempts to remedy the problem of deflation in Japan. These attempts include fiscal expansion, reduction of interest rates, Yen depreciation, and finally a zero interest rate program followed by a quantitative expansion program (Greenwood 2010). Unfortunately, these programs have all been ineffective in providing relief from the ongoing deflationary period. Greenwood (2010) states that the lack of recovery is due to poor political and economic leadership, an unwillingness to adopt unorthodox strategies, mistakes at the technical level, and the appearance of a â€Å"balance sheet recession†. An expansionary fiscal policy adopted by a government is marked by measures that are taken in order to create increased economic stabilization through governmental policies intended to create economic stimulus. In 1981, Yasuhiro Nakisone, Prime Minister of Japan, instituted polices that were stringent for the Japanese economy. However, by 1986, Naksone believed that these policies would require some adjustment in order to avert the looming crisis. A private advisory group headed by Bank of Japan Chairman Maekawa Haruo and commissioned by Nakisone submitted a report commonly referred to as the Maekawa Report which states that the Japanese economic policies and

Friday, November 1, 2019

The Effects of Migration on the Labor Market in Bucharest Research Paper

The Effects of Migration on the Labor Market in Bucharest - Research Paper Example This research will also be descriptive and explanatory because descriptive data will be collected from the internet, businesses, individuals and journals on the subject area. The effects of migration on the labour market in Romania are an interesting topic for discussion, given the country's recent accession into the European Union (EU) in 2007 (Kotzeva and Pauna 2006). For instance, Romania is considered to have a high percentage of low-cost labour, which would affect other EU members' labour markets (Kotzeva and Pauna 2006), however, the greater issue is that of the highly skilled market. It's accession into the EU also meant that the labour market in Romania had to become flexible in order to meet market demands and development (Kotzeva and Pauna 2006), but this was a task on its own given the low cost base. Between the years 2000 and 2004, Romania experienced an increase in unemployment of 5% which was attributed to its policies of limiting real wage adjustment at a time of employment decline (Kotzeva and Pauna 2006). ... This increase in unemployment could be attributed to the non-employment of various groups within the community, such as women and those in their old age. For instance, in the UK and other countries it is widely accepted that women make up the bulk of the part time working industry. However, the World Bank (2004) reports that the participation of women in the labour market, has declined due to feeling discouraged with the lack of employment opportunities. This demonstrates that the labour market in Romania, is probably one which caters for a select few. In addition to this, the labour market is threatened with decline as Romania is experiencing a negative population trend (World Bank 2004) which further depletes the labour pool. This brief background to Romania's labour market is particularly important for studies into the hotel and hospitality industry which are labour intensive industries. The hotel industry will depend largely on the tourist potential of Romania, which it already has, in the form of protected national parks, the Black Sea coast and other eco-heritage sites. However, the flow of tourists to the country is low (Pop et al 2007) which means that the hotel industry is not operating at its peak capacity. The implications this has for labour is that, more employees are made redundant, as well as job positions due to a long-term decline in business. The other implication is that, the hotel industry ceases to become a desirable employment destination. It can be argued that other countries have periods of low activity and low hotel occupancy, however, the hotel industry thrives in other countries because of the level of