IMC plan of Lays Seaweed Flavor Snack Essay

1.1 Purpose The purposes of this creative platform are to understand the product and target market, to aware of the current promotional mix, to develop the IMC objectives and to discuss a creative strategy and major selling idea that suitable the best with this product. To expand and develop the promotions of the current product so that it increases the sales and has better image for the consumer to consume the product. 1.2 Limitations This creative platform have the limitations of time and limitations of information of the writer can gain since we can not contact the company and only can access from the public materials, therefore it may contains some errors due to the limitations of the writer as well. 1.3 Authorization This report is created for Indofood company to discuss about the current product of Lays as well as to improve the promotion and creative strategy in order to maintain its competitive advantage in the market. This report is commissioned by Thomas Thjie, CEO of Indofood Fritolay Makmur 1.4 Scope of operations The scope of the operations would be in discussing the specific snack product from Indofood which is Lays potato chips seaweed flavor in various elements of company background, product description, competitor analysis, and target  market in Indonesia region. The informations of this report is gathered from public materials, corporate website, web articles and text book. This report also contains current description of promotional mix, IMC objectives and response hierarchy as well as creating a new promotional tool and suitable creative strategy that would suit best to sell this product to the target market. 2. Background of Company PT Indofood Fritolay Makmur started commercial operations since 1990. The company hold the brand of Lays, Cheetos, Chitato, Chiki, and JetZ brands manufactures and markets snack food. (Bloomberg Businessweek, 2014) The company also offers cassava chips under Qtela brand. PT Indofood is based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Since March 17, 2010, PT Indofood Fritolay Makmur has been a joint venture with PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur Tbk and Pepsico, Inc. PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur Tbk (â€Å"ICBP† )is an established market-leading producer of packaged food products with a diverse range of products providing everyday food solutions for consumers of all ages. According to PT Indofood (2010) Many of its products brands are among the strongest brands with significant Top-of-Mind status in Indonesia and have gained the trust and loyalty of millions of consumers in Indonesia for decades. (PT Indofood , 2010) ICBP was established as a separate entity in September 2009 and listed on the IDX on 7 October 2010. It was established by means of internal restructuring of the CBP Group of Indofood, the parent company, listed on the IDX since 1994. Following the listing, Indofood remains the majority shareholder of ICBP with 80% ownership. Hence, ICBP continues to enjoy synergies with other Indofood Group companies to maintain its competitive advantages. Most of ICBP’s business operations and product brands have been well-established for many years, with many of them enjoying leading positions in their respective market segments. Its various business operations are noodles (Indomie, Supermi, Sarimi, Sakura, Pop Mie, Mi Telur Cap 3 Ayam and Pop Bihun), dairy (Indomilk, Cap Enaak, Indoeskrim and Orchid Butter), food seasonings (Sambal Indofood, Sirup Indofood Freiss and Bumbu  Racik Indofood) , nutrition & special foods (Promina, SUN, Govit and Provita) , and snack foods (Chitato, Lays, Qte la, Cheetos and Trenz) which produces and markets a range of western and modernized traditional snacks which will be focus on this report. Here is the vision, mission and values of Indofood Company. VISION A Total Food Solutions Company MISSION To provide sustainable solutions for food needs To continuously improve our people, processes and technologies To contribute to the welfare of the society To continuously improve stakeholders’ values Values â€Å"With discipline as the basis of our way of life; We conduct our business with integrity; We treat our stakeholders with respect; and together we unite to strive for excellence and continuous innovation.† 2.1. Product Description Brief History of Lays, it all started when chip was found by C.E. Doolin in 1932. Tanenbaum (2014,) Doolin loved those corn chips so much that he purchased the recipe and began to sell bags of the crunchy snacks. While Doolin was making his corn chips, Lay was busy producing his potato chips. Lay purchased Atlanta’s Barrett Food Company in 1938 and then formed H.W. Lay & Company. FritoLay (2014) Years later, in 1961, the Frito Company and the H.W. Lay company merged to become Frito-Lay, Inc. Today, Frito-Lay brands account for 59% of the U.S. snack chip industry. Lays started selling products in Indonesia around mid year of 2009. Lays (2013), Before Lay’s entry into the Indonesian market, the brand had already gained worldwide recognition. In Indonesia, Lay’s is marketed and produced as a joint venture between Indofood and Fritolay International, and becoming PT Indofood Fritolay Makmur. Fritolay International itself is also being owned by Pepsico Inc. Lays present their products in 6 flavors, there are  Pizza, BBQ Fiesta, Classic Salty, Grilled Chicken Paprica, Salmon Teriyaki and Seaweed Flavor. In this report, the focus will be Lays Seaweed flavor which contains natural fresh potato with seaweed seasonings. 2.2. Target Market Even though Snack Lays is categorized as undifferentiated marketing, it still needs target market so that it can build the best way to advertise to its perspective costumers. The segmentations of Lays are divided into Geographical, Demographical, Psychographic and behavioral segmentation. The geographical segmentation is about the region or area of the target market. Lays choose Indonesia region especially in Java Islands with the area of City, Urban, Suburban accross Indonesia the size of population: 250,585,668 people (World Population Review, 2014). The Demographic Segmentation is about to targeted the people with both gender whose age between 10 – 25 years old with any family size, but especially a family consists of parents and children. Because It is targeted more to young people or in school age, therefore the education background is children from elementary school to students in the university with any ethnic or racial background in Indonesia . On the other hand, the P sychographic Segmentation which based on the lifestyle preferences will using VALS framework (VALS, 2014). There are 4 types of people Lays want to target. They are first, Experiencers, with the personality of young, excitement, still open to the new, and have a lot social activities. They are potential because they are tend to be an impulsive consumers. Second, is Achievers, they have many needs and wants, goal oriented, like prestige products, predictability. Thy are active self-discovery in consumer marketplace. Third, Believers, people who are idealist, have concrete beliefs, religious, community. They are potential because they are predictable consumers, choose familiar product,and loyal customers.Fourth, Makers are motivated by self-expression, organized, practical people who have constructive skills and value self-sufficiency. They prefer a practical or functional purpose, and buy basic products. Furthermore, Behavioral Segmentation is about the behavior of the target market. Behavioral consists of the occasions of special and regular occasions such as hang out with friends, watch movies, snacks time with The Degree of use in Light use and medium use. The Brand Loyalty of target  market vary into Not loyal, loyal to very loyal . The Benefits target market can have is Lays serve as snacks, good quality, crispy and delicious, convenience, easy to access, enjoyable. Whereas, the Readiness stage is All people who know Lays and the attitudes toward product are neutral, positive attitude toward Lays. 2.3. Positioning Strategy Based on Foote, Cone &Belding (FCB) model, Lays Seaweed Flavo is positioned as Habit Formation (the doer) which in the thinking grid and considered as low involvement. It is habitual purchase and marketers does not have to market the product, yet creating an advertisement to act as a reminder about the product According to Belch& Belch (2009) Positioning can be defined as the art and science of fitting the product or service to one or more segments of the broad market in such a way as to set it meaningfully apart from competition. Market positioning is the most important factor in establishing a brand in marketplace. Positioning strategy that would suit best with Snack Lays is Positioning by Product Attributes and Benefits. This strategy is to set the brand apart from competitors on specific characteristic or benefit offered. In this case, out of other competitors, Lays offer a unique quality of characteristic of potato chip with seaweed flavor. Lays has been very strategically posit ioned within the snack food industry, the salient attributes which important to consumers and are the basis for making a purchase decision. One of the salient attributes is its international recognition and worldwide brand makes Lays trusted and worthy in the mind of consumers. Moreover, the taste, the brand prestige, and communicating a fun delicious snack brand to the consumers makes the Lays has positive positioned in the mind of target market. 3. Promotional Mix Elements Lays has been using several promotional mix, there are: 3.1. Advertising â€Å"Advertising is any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization, product, service, or idea by an identified sponsor and usually being used by companies whose products and services are targeted at mass consumer markets† (Belch&Belch, 2009). Lays was using TV advertisement to  promote its product, the advertising was about the deliciousness and irressistible Lays Seaweed flavor. The advertisement can be seen widely in youtube It was an effective nonpersonal communication because it can transmit a message to large number of groups of individuals (mass coverage) at the same time efficiently. It shows an immediate popularity from consumers who tried this new product and most people admit that they are satisfied with Lays Seaweed flavor. Moreover, Lays also had done print advertising in several female indonesian magazine such as citacinta and gogirl (Sulung, 2010) Print media play an important role, in earning the right to carry the Lays’s message of enjoyable and delicious potato chip. Haight (2005) Advertised in Print media can make consumers go backward to consume an advertisement, so it is an amazing alignment between advertiser transmission of Lays message and consumer consumption. 3.2. Sales Promotions Sales promotion provides extra values or incentives to the sales force, the distributors, or the ultimate consumer and can stimulate immediate sales (Belch & Belch 2012). Lays had done sales promotion in several local supermarkets in carrefour, hypermart, indomaret and alfamart by giving consumers discount, buy1get1 event, and bundles promotion. Recent sales promotion from Lays was related to price promotions in Circle K where consumers can buy two Lays seaweed flavor and additional drink with cheaper price which only IDR 12000 (Circle K, 2014). Lays also had a promotional event in several public holiday event in big supermarkets periodically such as (Lays, 2013) in christmas event when the discount and buy 1 get 1 available widely for consumers. Last, but not least, Lays also created competitions for consumers to win the prize. For instance, last year on March 2013 Lays held Lays Taste Adventure which is a competitions for consumers to post their photo eating lays, in order to win iphone 5, ipod nano, exclusive vouchers and hampers exclusive lays. In 2012, Lays Irressistible Moments Indonesia, (2012), on December 2012 also a contest which offer the opportunity to win exciting prizes by submitting their moments with lays. (Lays Indonesia, 2014)The competitions held in social media by Lays Indonesia, called Harpitdays where the winner can win voucher gift valued of IDR 200,000 for six winners. 3.3. Interactive or Internet Marketing â€Å"It allows for a back and forth flow of information whereby users can participate in and modify the form and content of the information they receive in real time† (Belch&Belch, 2009,p. 12) Lays Indonesia connect and relate with their consumers through internet media with social media sites which is facebook. It is the only official page of Lays Indonesia where directly speaks to Indonesian consumers about the products and promotions and create a platform where people can communicate to Lays. The social media page allows the brand to pay attention or care to the consumers mind by asking their opinions, encouraging their life, giving fun status, games, and more. Compliment and complaing about the brand also can handle well with the use of social media. In addition Lays Indonesia also create website contains basic informations to provide some information about Lays. 4. IMC Objectives According to (Reid, 2001) â€Å"Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) has been promoted both as an emerging communications philosophy and as a strategic management process for creating and managing the development of strong brands.† â€Å"It is also considered as the planning and execution of all types of marketing communication needed for a product, brand, idea, company or place in order to satisfy a common set of objectives and support the positioning of promotion† (Zimuto, 2013, p. 95). The DAGMAR approach suggest a logical process for advertising and promotion planning. Using DAGMAR approach in IMC objectives would focues the advertisers’attention on the value of using communications based objectives to measure advertising effectinveness and encouraged the measurement of stages in response hierarchy to asses a campaign’s impact (Belch & Belch, 2012). Therefore, the element of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Rational, Time-Limit) must be considered in order to create an effective communication with consumers. The advertisement can be done in small space ads, point of sale, and short spots For the IMC Objective, Lays Seaweed Flavor use print or media advertising therefore hierarchy of effects model would fit the best to show the work process. Here is the IMC Objective for Lays: 1. To create brand awareness of Lays Seaweed Flavor among non user young people of the  target market in Indonesia region to 75% by next year. 2. Create a positive feelings toward Lays Seaweed Flavor to 55% and preference of choosing this product to 45% especially by young people age between 12-20 years old who are still in studying in school by next year. 3. To increase sales of Lays Seaweed Flavor by 20% in next year and maintain customers to repurchase and regularly consume the product, to become consumers favorite seaweed snack. New Promotional Tool 5.1. Public Relations In order to reach the objectives and gain more competitive advantage in the market, a new promotional tool is created to able target the market. A new promotional tool that Lays Seaweed have not done before is using public relations. Public Relations defined as â€Å"the management function which evaluater public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of a organization with the public interest, and executes a program o action and communication to earn public understanding and acceptance† (Belch&Belch, 2009, p.559). The public relation activity that Lays seaweed will go through is sponsorship. It is strenghten by the opinion of Riley (2012) that Sponsorship is a specialised kind of public relations and increasingly popular, particularly with larger businesses. A business will sponsor an event, team or individual in order to build brand awareness. Because the target is young people especially those who are still in school, so Lays will sponsor a school events at several schools and universities in Indonesia. In the event, Lays will place a fun-catchy advertisement in the place of event to gather attention of the students and create interests and positive feelings to people who see. In the event, Lays can participate by creating some fun games for students to do to create more positive feelings toward Lays. There also may be opportunity to sell products, so Lays can use this opportunity to give free trials to student, young people, it is a good way to grab young non user consumer. The period of doing this public relation suggests in 3 – 6 months. 5.2. Sales Promotions The sales promotions is given to the consumers in the public area, such as  supermarket retailer, shop groceries and also can be given while doing the public relations. This will attract buyers to buy more and consuming Lays Seaweed. Because most people attract to any sales promotions in the market, highly effective if there is any event of the moment such as Public Holiday or Weekend days. The type of sales promotions would be discounts, giving 10% discounts for students who buy Lays Seaweed, buy 1 get 1 free promotion and bundles promotion such as it is cheaper if consumers buy 3 Lays at once and valied with multiple purchases. Vouchers and Gifts also can be given if consumer buy certain numbers of Lays Seaweed, for example 3 and they will be given a gift or if they buy 6 they will be given vouchers. This sales promotions should have limitations of time 1 – 3 months of availability. 5.3. Print Advertising To gain an effective promotional campaign, Lays will also do print media advertising to gain awareness and attention from the urban city people. Although print advertising looks a passive advertising yet it considered effective. Lays Seaweed will do the print advertising in the popular magazines like females magazine such as gogirl!, citacinta, gadis, femina. Food magazine such as sedap, selera,and nova. 5.4. Point of Purchase Moreover, for the other months of not doing sponsorship, Lays can advertise in outdoor advertising to gain mass coverage of attention and point of purchase (pop) by display largely in supermarket retailer, groceries shop and supermarket mall to attract young people who live in urban city. Traffic flows in the grocery store greatly influence grocery shopping behavior. In fact, consumers often buy products that are placed on display simply because they are on display. Retailers use the â€Å"brand-lift index† to measure the incremental sales that occur when a product is on display. In fact, one study indicated that POP displays in convenience stores can increase product sales by nearly 10% (Babin & Harris, 2012). The trials and sales promotions also are provided to ensure effective communication with consumers. 5.5 Internet/Interactive Marketing To develop and maintain current social media promotion with facebook and to  make a new internet or interactive marketing for consumers to persuade them to be active and engaged more with Lays brand from their own place and time. Lays can be updated more informations in the Website as it is considered as inactive and has uninterested layout website. The website should be updated at least once in a month to give audience the new information about Lays activities in sponsorship and promotions. Moreover, giving others useful information such as facts, opinions and ideas will become more interesting and attractive website to let young people experience with Lays from their gadgets and phones. 6. Major Selling Idea Major selling idea is the basis for the central theme or message idea in an advertising campaign (Belch & Belch, 2012). Major selling idea is important part in creative strategy. The competitive advantage Lays have over other competitors are differential advantages, it is created when a company’s products or services differ from its competitors and are seen as better than a competitor’s products by customers. Lays Seaweed have differential advantage in which it has an international recognition and worldwide coverage, with historical background of creating the potato chips and excellent leadership over the years, made it possible for the leaders to work their way up the corporate ladder. More advantages are being owned by a larger corporation like PepsiCo has advantages in its own like mass advertising and an established name. One word to describe the key characteristic that can be used as competitive advantage for Lays Seaweed is â€Å"happiness† because eating the crispy and crunch potato chip would make the consumers feel joy and happy to taste the delicious seaweed potato chip which is unique as a snack. This â€Å"happiness† is strong and meaningful to appeal the target audience. It has positive and good meaning in many ways and all people wants to be happy. Therefore, The selling idea with theme of happiness will be interesting and draw people to know more about Lays Seaweed by consuming it. This major help positioning the brand and creating a brand image because it creates unique selling position in promoting a happiness product. 6. Creative Strategy 7.1. Advertising Appeal Lays Seaweed advertisement is emotional appeal with happines and joy. The idea of the advertisement comes from the magic tree that can produce fresh potato. It called the magic tree because it has sparkles of firework to create delicious potato to become a fresh-cut- crispy potato chip that Lays use to the consumers. 7.2. Execution Style The execution style of this advertisement is dramatisation, because it is dramatized the pictured with a tree and form a firework and potato which burst out to become the potato chip with seaweed seasonings. 7.3. Creative Tactics Headline The headline of this advertising is â€Å"Happiness is closer than you think † This headline is leading position of the ad therefore it placed in the center of the advertisement with a portion of bigger writings than others. The purpose is to gain attention with the happiness in the capital size as it is the main word of the advertisement. It is considered as indirect headline because it provokes curiosity and motivates involvement of people to consume this Lays Seaweed. The headline is indirectly persuade people to eat Lays because it can create happiness, and happiness is easy to get as closer to the local groceries to buy Lays Seaweed. Subheadline The subheadline is placed under the headline with the yellow banner to support the headline. It is smaller the headline and larger than a copy And telling the product of the advertisement. Body Copy Body copy is the main text portion of a print ad. The body copy support the headline and subheadline to perform a good and effective advertisement. The body copy is persuading people to buy the product now and promise they will not regret to taste the Lays Seaweed. Visual Elements The visual elements of this advertisement is considered as colorful and fun with the elements of the potatoes tree and firework sparkle. The lays seaweed is placed on the down right of the advertisement to make consumers focus on the advertisement as much as the product. The visual elements compliment to each other with the background of a sunny day with green grass. The visuals convey a strong meaningful image and compliment the headline, subheadline and body copy. Layout Layout is the physical arrangement of the various parts of the ad – headline, copy and visual The layout of the advertisement is blended together to perform a finished advertisement. The layout is centered to enhance the focus of the people, so as the people see they will focus on the headline, the products image, the subheadline and the body copy as all of them are complimenting each other elements. The layout if full image and has no white space to let people focus on visual and enhance the use of effective advertisement. 7.4. Media Vehicle Media vehicle is the specific carrier, publication or promotional piece used to carry an advertising mesage (Belch & Belch, 2012). The advertisement will be exposed in a print media of popular magazine in Indonesia, in the big mall as an advertisement and as the point of purchase in groceries retailer. In the magazine, the advertisement will be placed on the back cover of magazine as it has more exposure rather than inside the pages of magazine. The reach of potential buyers exposed to the message are expected to be 60% of audiences who see the advertisement. The audience will be exposed to the message for several times, but not too much to ensure the customer attention and not as a disturbing advertisement. So, the frequency of being exposed to the media is from 3 – 10 exposures. While the coverage of the advertisement is people who live in urban city where the advertisement is placed, especially in the public places where people are passing by. The advantages of using this strategy are it is surely will gather consumer’s  attention about the advertisement as it is unique, colorful and interesting. The placement of this advertisement in public spaces where people move a lot and passed by will increase the brand awareness and store the brand advertising in their memory so that when they go to groceries shop, they want to buy and try the Lays Seaweed Flavor. The disadvantages is it is a passive advertising and some people may feel disturbed or dislike towards the advertisement because it did not match their perception. The company’s financial position is strong enough and capable to make this advertisement campaign works because it is a top company in Indonesian which are place in the top as the one of the company which having high gross profits and income in Indonesia 8. Conclusion & Recommendation Lays as one of brand under the PT Indofood company has been known as an international potato chip brand that is sold in many countries, especially in Indonesia. Lays comes in many flavors but the focus of the promotional campaign is the product of Lays Seaweed Flavor because it is a potential product to gain consumers interests and consumption. To create a creative IMC Plan, the target markets are divided into demographic, geographic, behavioral and psychographic. The IMC objectives of Lays Seaweed are determined through the response hierarchy and DAGMAR approach and focus urban and suburban market area with people aged between 10 -25 years old. The positioning strategy is product attributes and benefits with a new IMC mix of Public relations, and Point of Purchase which will strengthen the product position in the market. The creative strategy and the advertisement is created to enhance the creative platform in order to develop Lays Seaweed in new and different ways. Furthermore it i s recommended for the company to develop the public relations activities that benefits the development of young people physically and emotionally by creating an event such for teenagers such as bike for fun, competitions and contests other than sponsorships in order to create stronger values in the eyes of the target market. List of References Belch, B. &., 2009. Advertising and Promotion. 8th penyunt. New York: McGraw-Hill. Bloomberg Businessweek, 2014. Bloomberg Businessweek, viewed 6 May 2014 Circle K, 2014. Circle K Indonesia, viewed 6 May 2014 FritoLay, 2014. History., viewed 8 May 2014 Haight, D., 2005. Advertising and the future of print media. Pulp & Paper, 79(2), p. 64. Insights, S. B., 2014. US Framework and VALSâ„ ¢ Types. , viewed 8 May 2014 Lays Indonesia, 2014. Lays Indonesia Facebook, viewed 10 May 2014 Lays, 2013. Lays., viewed 5 May 2014 PT Indofood , 2010. Indofood CBP. , viewed 6 May 2014 Reid, D. M., 2001. Building Strong Brands through the Management of Integrated Marketing Communication. International Journal of Wine Marketing, vol. 14, no.3, pp. 37-50. Review, W. P., 2014. Indonesia World Population Review., viewed 8 May 2014 < http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/indonesia-population/> Riley, J., 2012. Promotion – public relations & sponsorship, viewed 10 May 2014 Strategic Business Insights, 2014. Stragegic Business Insights, viewed 10 May 2014 Sulung, A., 2010. Julie for Lay’s. , viewed 10 May 2014 Tanenbaum, K., 2014. Snack Food Rewind: A History of Our Favorite Treats. , viewed 8 May 2014 Zimuto, J., 2013. The Perception Of Small And Medium Enterprises (SMES) Marketing Managers on IMC Strategy in Zimbabwe. Journals of Arts, Science & Commerce, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 95-100.

Internal Control Requirements for Publicly Traded Companies

In a meeting last week, the president of LJB expressed interest of going public in the near future and asked us about the internal control requirements for such action. To become publicly listed, LJB must follow the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), which requires all US publicly traded companies to maintain an adequate system of internal control. Under SOX Section 404, a company must report on internal controls over financial reporting in its annual report. Four key elements must be included in this report (Smith, Ledyard;): 1. Statement of responsibility by the company management (CEO and CFO) for establishing and maintaining an adequate internal control structure and procedure for financial reporting. 2. Statement identifying the framework used by management to evaluate the effectiveness of the company’s internal control over financial reporting. 3. Management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting. 4. Attestation by the company’s external auditor on management’s assessment of the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls and procedures for financial reporting. As the president of LJB, he and other executives and board of directors must ensure that the internal controls are reliable and effective. In addition, he must hire independent outside auditors to attest to the adequacy of the internal control system. LJB’s Proper Internal Controls To beco me publicly listed, LJB must ensure and maintain an adequate and effective internal control system. After evaluating LJB’s current internal controls, I have found several positive acts. First, the accountant of LJB has recently started to use prenumbered invoices, which I believe to be a right decision because all companies, including LJB, should establish proper documentation procedures. LJB should document transactions and events when they occur. The use of prenumbered invoices can help to prevent a transaction from being recorded more than once, or conversely, from not being recorded at all (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 341). In addition, an effective internal control system should require that all source documents be promptly forwarded to the accounting department for accounting entries; this helps to ensure timely recording of the transactions and contributes directly to the accuracy and reliability of the accounting records (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 341). So when the accountant has asked for buying an indelible ink machine to print checks, I believe it will be a wise and necessary purchase. Second, the accountant does a good job of moving all checks into a safe in his office during weekends. This is in compliance with physical controls, which relate to the safeguarding of assets and enhance the accuracy and reliability of the accounting records (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 342). By moving the checks into the safe, they are secured during nonbusiness hours and not accessible to no one, this prevents potential fraud and theft. LJB’s Improper Internal Controls On the other hand, there are several other controls which LJB is not doing properly. First, the accountant is now serving two roles as both treasurer and controller. This is a violation of segregation of duties. Different individuals should be responsible for related activities, however, the accountant is responsible for both supply purchases and payments for these purchases, and this increases the potential for errors and irregularities (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 339). Since the accountant can make orders of supplies without supervisory approval, he may be tempted to receive kickbacks from suppliers (not saying he will); he may authorize payments for fictitious invoices since he also has payment authorization. Moreover, the accountant should not be responsible for both receiving checks and completing monthly bank reconciliations, because since he is the person who handles record keeping for LJB, he should be neither responsible for physical custody of the received checks (which are basically cash) nor have access to them (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 340). Both vacancies of segregation of related activities and segregation of record-keeping from physical custody controls leave a great potential of fraud for LJB, not mentioning there is a lack of independent internal verification (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 343). Second, LJB is missing control over its petty cash. If all employees have access to petty cash, it is a violation of establishment of responsibility (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, pp. 338-339). In addition, not only no one is responsible for the petty cash, employees who use the money are only asked to leave a note, this violates the documentation procedures controls. Third, the firing incident indicates LJB is doing poorly on three controls: human resource controls (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 344), physical controls, and establishment of responsibility. LJB did not conduct a thorough background check on the convicted employee. If a thorough background check was performed LJB should had found out that this person was convicted guilty and served time for molesting children. Also, since LJB does not assign individual passwords to employees, it was no surprise that it had difficulty getting the convicted employee’s confession of viewing pornography on company computer. Last, the accountant should not be engaged in interviewing and approving new hires, since he is already responsible for other tasks. Instead, the human resources department should be involved in the hiring process, along with the president. Recommendations for Improvement These poor internal controls indicate LJB’s vulnerability to frauds, which not only serve as threats to LJB but also hinder the company’s capability of going public. Nevertheless, actions can be taken to fix such flaws. First of all, LJB should assign different individuals to handle supply purchase and payment tasks. If the accountant is responsible for making orders of supplies, he should receive approvals for these purchases, and should not be granted payment authorization. If he authorizes payments, he should not be made responsible for purchasing supplies. Also, since he prepares bank reconciliations, he should not have custody of the received checks; a different individual should be assigned for such task. In addition, for enhanced security, LJB can assign another employee who is independent of the personnel responsible for the activities to conduct independent internal verification. He/she can compare the payment checks to invoices; he/she can also compare total receipts to bank deposits on a monthly basis to see if there is reconciliation between the cash balance per books and the cash balance per bank. If there is any discrepancy, he/she can report to the management immediately for corrective action (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, pp. 343-344). Secondary, LJB needs to set up a petty cash fund (not sure one is existed currently) and appoint a custodian who is responsible for such fund. Size of the petty cash fund should be determined, expenditures from the fund should be limited and certain types of transactions should not be permitted from the fund. The custodian of the und should have authority to make payments from petty cash that conform to these prescribed policies (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 367). Also, for documentation purpose, instead of a note from users of the petty cash, each payment from the fund must be documented on a prenumbered petty cash receipt, signatures of both the custodian and the individual who receiving payment must be on the receipt. If other supporting documents such as an invoice are available, they should be attached to the receipt (Kimmel, W eygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 367). Furthermore, internal control over petty cash fund can be strengthened by (1) having a supervisor make surprise counts of the fund to ascertain whether the paid petty cash receipts and fund cash equal the designated amount, and (2) canceling or mutilating the paid petty cash receipts so they cannot be resubmitted for reimbursement (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 369). Lastly, from now on, LJB must conduct thorough background checks on all new hires. Two things can be verified to support the checks: (1) Check to see whether job applicants actually graduated from the schools they list. 2) Never use the telephone numbers for previous employers given on the reference sheet; always look them up (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011, p. 344). The human resources department should be held responsible for all background checks. In addition, all employees should be assigned individual passwords for signing into company computers, and these passwords should only be known to the individuals who m they are assigned to. LJB may also consider installing an advanced firewall program on computers which prohibits users from logging in external indecent websites.

Obama being presidentelect Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Obama being presidentelect - Essay Example The answer is twofold. Obama was elected because of a) changing times and attitudes and b) his position on Iraq war. We have to admit that our younger generation is not as biased as our older generations were when it comes to race. The youth especially in urban areas and big metropolitan cities have come in contact with people from so many countries that they do not even know if there could ever be just one skin color. They know very well that nationals of different countries have been contributing to the growth of the country and hence consider them as much an American citizen as any. This has had a major impact on Obama's campaign that was all about "change". Obama said from the very beginning that all he wanted was "change". And he as an African American was the very symbol of "Change". A white man in his place talking of change could never have been as effective as him. This is simply because to talk about change, it was important to also represent change and be a symbol of change. That is what people found in Barack Obama's racial background. Another very important thing was Obama's stand on war. ... We need to understand that most countries can fight their own wars and if they cannot, then USA must learn to choose its battles carefully. This is because over the last many years, we have lost hundreds of thousands of our men to senseless wars- to wars that were not even ours. Being a military person, I know how much our country means to us. But when a young person joins the army, he is doing that to protect the country and defend its interests. However over the past 20 years, we have fought wars that had little or nothing to do with United States directly. As the result of this, resentment has grown in people's minds and hearts. They may respect the military but they do not want to see their young boys die in battles that were not even their own. In other words, if a boy dies while fighting to defend his country, it is seen as an honor. But when the same person dies on foreign land, fighting a battle between two countries that he doesn't even belong to, people naturally resent it. This doesn't make them any less patriotic. They only want to see battles chosen carefully so their boys can fight for their own country and not lose their lives in a futile war. This is exactly what has happened during Iraq war. We have lost tens of hundreds of precious lives both in Afghanistan and Iraq. And these wars have been going for a long time now. People are tired of senseless killing and want to see their children come back home. Obama touched people's hearts and souls when he said he would end the war in Iraq and bring those young boys back. Imagine the relief so many mothers and families must have felt upon hearing this. Do you think that with such a claim, anyone else had even a remote chance of

Mc Donalds and Coca Cola Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mc Donalds and Coca Cola - Essay Example As the discussion stresses the innovative and appealing advertisements of Coca Cola have created a great demand for the product in the current market. They are using the social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube which form effective means of marketing mix in the modern world where most of the population are technology savvy. This has enabled makes the company to capture the minds of young generations and impress upon them a definitive brand image. The most effective means of traditional media behind the success of the brand Coca cola has been was television.   Newspapers and websites also attract consumers. Thus, the brand image has remained very consistent for this company.This paper stresses that McDonalds is the largest chain of fast food restaurant in the world. The customers recognize its logo instantly as it appears in the media. They also use social media like Facebook, Twitter, My Space and in addition to traditional media like TV, newspapers as well as magazines. In their case also, a marketing mix using both the forms of media, has helped them create and retain an everlasting brand image.  Both media are effective communication tool with the consumers. Both companies use these media to generate the demand for their product.  This has increased the brand image name of both companies. It has become a significant factor in the business.  Coca cola is a soft drink company and McDonalds maintains the top spot in the fast food industry.

What Causes Conflict Among Nations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What Causes Conflict Among Nations - Essay Example One of these major issues that can be brought up for mention is the issue of conflict among nations (Hugh, Ramsbotham & Woodhouse 72). This conflict may exist in varying types and may not only involve outright war between two countries. There are more subtle conflicts between nations that take place in this day and age of politicizing strategies and economic competition. All these variations can be referred to as conflict amongst nations and one may not need to look hard to observe their presence or the impact they have had on the affected nations. In order to understand the issues that arise behind conflict between nations one has to identify the underlying causes that allow these conflicts to settle and take root. Once the main source of the problem has been located the matter is able to be effectively dealt with (Hugh, Ramsbotham & Woodhouse 39). With regard to the main cause of conflict among nations, it can be argued that power is the main culprit in many cases. A majority of the conflict that arises between nations can be traced back to issues of power between the involved parties with the main question usually being â€Å"Who has the most?† This power struggle can either take place via blunt ambition from the two nations with each showcasing their capabilities as in times of war, and it can also take place in a calmer pretext with political arguments and stances being the main tools initialized in this form of sparring. Types of Power Struggle Case Scenarios There are various positions that a conflict between nations may take, but they all result in the same conclusion, discontent among the involved nations. The issue of a power struggle may not always be observed from the cliche case scenario whereby it is the matter of a weaker power struggling against a mightier one (the classic David versus Goliath Situation), but as a result of the political bonds and legal agreements between nations amongst other factors, there are a number of case scenarios that a power struggle can take (Hugh, Ramsbotham & Woodhouse 67). It is essential that these scenarios be studied in order to better understand the reasons behind the struggle (Jabri 78). By doing this, one may be able to resolve the conflicts in an amicable manner that would preserve the relationships that may have been previously fostered between the involved nations. The main case scenarios involving power struggles include: 1. Too Much Power This is a case scenario whereby one or more of the nations involved in the conflict may feel that a group of nations or a particular one may hold too much power in certain matters and thus are intent on leveling the playing field. This power may take on a number of forms within the nation such as military, political or economic strength of a country (Stark 91). Nations that may be involved with such nations may feel the need to strengthen their position so as to get a better deal out of the relationship they are trying to foster. It should be noted that in such a case the main issue is not exactly that the power acquired by the nation in question is more than the protestors but to do more with the manner in which this power was acquired. Such conflicts usually arise when a nation or group of nations may feel aggrieved in a certain position as they feel they may have been put at a disadvantage via certain factors that may tend to lean the advantage towards the accused nation. A good example of this is the de-arming process in the Middle Eastern regions whereby nations may

Medicine in the Ancient and Medieval World Essay

Medicine in the Ancient and Medieval World - Essay Example Long before Western society developed even a rudimentary level of understanding concerning the human body and/or disease, societies within Asia were figuratively light years ahead of what understanding was represented within the Western world. As a function of discussing an understanding this differential to a more full and complete manner, following analysis will be concentric upon representing the case of India and the case of Georgia1; with regard to how these societies and cultures integrated with an understanding, interpretation, and application of relevant understandings of health and/or patient care. It is the hope of this author that the reader will be able to utilize these relevant interpretations as a means of engaging with an understanding contributions and differentials that other cultures have been able to bring to the field of medicine throughout the course of millennia. Dating as far back as 5000 B.C.E., Ayurveda, is a system of traditional medicine that is native to the Indian subcontinent. Although there is a great deal of disagreement among historians and scholars with respect to the actual amount of change that has been exhibited within Ayurveda since it first came to appear within the historical record, it is clear that this particular approach to medicine and understanding the relevant needs and issues that the human body experiences has fundamentally shaped the way in which individuals from this part of the world integrate with an understanding of healthcare. In determining the ultimate background of this particular approach to medicine, it must be stated that from a review of relevant resources and a historical analysis, the reader can and should come to the understanding that Ayurveda initially was put forward in tandem with religious practice and interpretation of the spirit world. This is a fundamentally important aspects of early Indian medicine as it has been retained, passed on, and understood in tandem

Boss Speech in an away day event Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Boss Speech in an away day event - Essay Example Particularly, I present my gratification for all your input, which has made us to achieve tremendous results recently. Needless to say, our recent achievement as a company has been made possible by your individual contribution within your various teams. Although our growth as a company is indeed greatly appreciated, the same has come with increased challenges. This is because we are getting more responsibilities as a company, at the teamwork level and most importantly at individual level. The increased responsibilities to handle increased challenges should not be faced with fear but with much optimism and courage. It is also undeniable that we have been working under capacity as individuals and as a team. We have not been able to utilize our full potential in various aspects especially in communication and interpersonal relationships. I strongly believe that we have a more profound potential and that we can put more concerted efforts towards achieving and exceeding the company’s goals and objectives. In our endeavor to achieve the company’s goals, objectives vision and mission, I think it is overwhelmingly important for all of us to take time to understand how everyone feels. Indeed, effective communication and interpersonal communication begins with understanding one another. Although we come from different cultural, educational, intellectual, and social backgrounds, we can work together cohesively as a team by understanding each other. The teamwork spirit should be encouraged, respected and nurtured at all times. As we prepare ourselves for the challenging times ahead, it would be essential to be open, cheerful, and free to communicate and interact with one another at a personal level. This way we will all be in a position to get the most out of this interactive session. The openness and freeness generated in this interactive

Performance and Reward Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Performance and Reward Management - Assignment Example The above issue is critically discussed in this paper. Reference is made particularly to the potential decrease of the payroll costs without the corporate plans to be affected. The reward practices, as a tool for supporting employee motivation, are analytically explained because of their high contribution in the increase of payroll costs. Particular emphasis is given on the problematic relations between the reward policies and practices since the above problems can negatively affect the payroll costs of organizations. A series of studies related to the issues under discussion have been studied. It is made clear that the limitation of payroll costs, as a strategic target of firms in different industries, is feasible; however, it is not clear whether the above finding involves in all organizations or whether there are organizations where the limitation of payroll costs is more difficult – especially when the need for increased profits, even in the short term is high and the limi tation of payroll costs would negatively affect such effort. In any case, the decrease of payroll costs should be adopted by all organizations, which are interested in establishing a long-term growth. The use of specific strategies, as indicatively suggested below, could help these firms to be protected from failures in their plans, as a potential consequence of the limitation of payroll costs across their departments. 2. Reward policies – role and forms In everyday business practice, the term ‘reward’ is used instead of the terms ‘salary’ and ‘wages’ (Cowling et al. 1998, p.173). In other words, the particular term is used in order to show all the potential benefits of an employee from his work in a specific organization. Moreover, the term reward can include both the monetary and the non-monetary benefits of employee in the workplace (Cowling et al. 1998, p.173). It should be noted that reward, as described previously, is part of a gre ater framework, the reward system, which has specific structure and rules as explained below. Moreover, in the context described above, reward can affect the payroll system of each organization (which under these terms is considered equal to the reward system). For this reason, the evaluation of the potential limitation of the payroll costs of a particular organization requires the reference to the reward system of the specific organization. The reward system of each organization can be differentiated, in accordance with the organizational culture and goals but also with the resources available for the realization of the relevant plans. In accordance with Armstrong (2007) the reward system established in modern organizations is likely to include a series of policies and practices, as for example: a) a reward strategy including the future plans of the organization regarding the payroll of employees, b) a reward strategy that refers to the terms on which the payment of employees in va rious organizational departments is based – compared to the average salary of employments within the same industrial sector; the particular strategy needs to be based on the relevant provisions of the law – referring both to the type of the reward given to each employee but also to the level of the reward, c) a reward practice referring to the techniques used for estimating the effectiveness of job evaluation techniques – as developed within the local or the international

DEATH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

DEATH - Essay Example He does this as a gesture of remembrance, to hopefully keep his brother from focusing on the negative aspects of him being away, and instead remember the fond times the two of them had shared in the car. When Henry finally leaves, the car seems to be the only comforting semblance for Lyman, of the times they had spent together. The images of a healthy, happy Henry are embodied in the spirit of the red convertible, and these special memories are what keep Lyman from digressing into sorrow. Some of the relaxing and content thoughts Lyman conjures up are ones where they had no specification of destination, during the summer when there were traveling in the car. â€Å"We took off driving all one summer,† and the story goes on to show how happy and at peace they both were, finding spots in areas where they felt â€Å"so comfortable†, Henry is depicted as feeling at ease enough to fall, â€Å"asleep with his arms thrown wide† (Erdrich 2002). Lyman continues to grasp onto these visual memories he brings up, in anticipation of those same feelings for when his brother will finally return. The car itself is what symbolizes the bond between the two of them, even with a gre at distance of separation dividing them. Finally, Henry returns home in the story but it’s obvious he has changed; things are just not the same. â€Å"Henry because quiet and restless† (814). Often he secluded himself and although he was there, his mind seemed to be somewhere else. It appeared war and the white mans culture had taken its toll on him and all that was there for him was ugliness. This is evident in the story when, one night they all gather around the dinner table and beforehand, Henry has bit down into his lip so hard from frustration that he sits with blood dribbling down his chin, theorizing how badly he wanted to be done with American ways, in his mind and in his life (817). This is representative

Nursing theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Nursing theory - Essay Example Nightingale’s environment metaparadigm is informed by the aforementioned tenets. The focus here is the link between the environment and health. Nightingale argues that the environment informs nursing practices in one way or another. For instance, unsanitary conditions pose health risks and vice versa. The ventilation, light, warmth, effluvia, and noise tenets can be altered to influence the outcome of nursing practices. Johnson’s metaparadigm is informed by social bonds, dependency, ingestion, elimination, procreation and gratification, aggression, and achievement tenets (Walker & Avant, 2011). The application of these tenets is broad and wide in relation to the nursing practice. Their integration into the nursing practice influence health completeness under the health context metaparadigm. Finally, Watson’s tenets include altruistic value system, faith and hope, trust, sensitivity, feelings, solution to problems, teaching and learning, addressing human needs, countering phenomenological forces, and enhancing an environment that is supportive (Walker & Avant, 2011). Tenets related to Watson are spread across the four aforementioned metaparadigms that inform nursing

Computer Security Risk for Home Users Essay Example for Free

Computer Security Risk for Home Users Essay This history of computers started long before it emerges in the 20th century. Computer was a man made device that acts as string from mechanical inventions and mathematical theories towards the modern concepts and machines formed a major academic ground and the basis that became a worldwide phenomenon. It is true that any great invention that is created to solve human lives will always have its negative side that will serve as a prey to embellish and cause catastrophic impact in a perfect device. As computer became to replace human brains, business partners, our media devices, our financial advisors, connection to the world and computer has also became our number one security threat. According to the class textbook, â€Å"A computer security risk is any event or action that could cause a loss of damage to computer hardware, software, data, information, or processing capability.† (Vermaat, 2010) Some of these security risks have caused users millions of dollars due to identity theft and at the same time computer has helped law enforcement agent captured convicted felons. Computer Security risk can be classified into two main categories which are computer crimes and cybercrimes. Computer crime involves knowingly interfering with computer security which involves a deliberate act against the law and cyber crime is defined as â€Å"Traditionally, crime has been defined as an intentional violation of the legal code that is punishable by the state†. (Vermaat, 2010) Cybercrime has become a serious crime and the FBI as include this into their top three priorities. The perpetrator of cybercrime and computer crimes has fall into seven basic categories which are hacker, cracker, Script Kiddie, corporate spy, unethical employee, cyber extortionist, and cyber terrorist. Home users are mostly exposed to security threats today because they do not have the financial means to protect themselves and also home users think their level of vulnerability is small. â€Å"While the risks to standard home computer users are not as catastrophic in cost as those of small businesses and home office computer users, they are still substantial enough to not ignore. The cost in lost data, missed emails, and possibly the theft of your identity all are significant enough to warrant consideration.† (EITS, 2008) It is better to spend few dollars now to take proactive measures to protect your computer and its information will out weight the time it will take to recover from the losses you likely will suffer without an adequate protection. There are several typical technical issues and risks involving computer networks and computer users. One of which is a commonly used term called computer â€Å"virus†. A computer virus is potentially negative and damaging computer programs that affects or infect a computer negatively by altering the way the computer works without the user’s knowledge or permission. Once the virus infects the computer, it can spread throughout the computer and damage important programs and folders in the operating system. Another computer threat for home users is a â€Å"worm†. The book defines a worm as a â€Å"program that copies itself repeatedly, for example in memory of on the network, using up resources and possibly shutting down the computer or network†. The third computer threat for home users is a â€Å"Trojan horse† this type of attack is derived and named after the Greek myth and its define as â€Å"a program that hides within or look like a legitimate program. A certain condition or action usually triggers the Trojan horse. Unlike a virus or worm, Trojan horse does not replicate itself to other computers.† (Vermaat, 2010) The last known computer or network risk for home users is â€Å"rootkit† define as â€Å"a program that hides in a computer and allows someone from a remote location to take full control of the computer. Once the rootkit is installed author can execute programs, change setting, monitor activity and access files on the remote computer†. (Vermaat, 2010) How to safeguard against Computer viruses and other Malware: Home users can take several precautions to help prevent intruders into their personal home computers and mobile devices from malicious infections. These programs can help detect problem that might affect home computers before they occur. Install a quality antivirus application such as, AVG, McAfee, Norton, and Avira antivirus programs are sufficient enough to protect a computer against virus and spyware infections. Some of these antivirus programs are provided for free, however may not be sufficient enough to protect a computer from virus and spyware infections â€Å"Pro-grade antivirus programs update more frequently throughout the day thereby providing timely protection against fast-emerging vulnerabilities, protect against a wider range of threats such as rootkits, and enable additional protective features such as custom scans.† Install real-time anti-spyware protection is a way to have a real time program on a computer that will help protect against the skyrocketing number of spyware threats on a timely manner. Free antivirus program do not provide a real-time protection against Trojan and other spyware and that is why a fully paid antivirus protection is recommended. This fully paid program can detect problems before it occurs. Keeping anti-malware applications current is another way to protect a computer against viruses or malware. â€Å"Antivirus and anti-spyware programs require regular signature and database updates. Without these critical updates, anti-malware programs are unable to protect PCs from the latest threats. In early 2009, antivirus provider AVG released statistics revealing that a lot of serious computer threats are secretive and fast-moving. Many of these infections are short-lived, but they’re estimated to infect as many as 100,000 to 300,000 new Web sites a day. Computer users must keep their antivirus and anti-spyware applications up to date. All Windows users must take measures to prevent license expiration, thereby ensuring that their anti-malware programs stay current and continue providing protection against the most recent threats. Those threats now spread with alarming speed, thanks to the popularity of such social media sites as Twitter, Facebook, and My Space† (Eckel, 2009) Once an antivirus has been installed on a device it is crucial to perform a daily scans. This can be programmed directly by the owner to either perform a scan on a hourly bases, daily or monthly bases. â€Å"The sheer number and volume of potential and new threats make it inevitable that particularly inventive infections will outsmart security software. In other cases, users may inadvertently instruct anti-malware software to allow a virus or spyware program to run.† (Eckel, 2009) Don’t click on email links or attachments it’s a tune most every Windows user has heard repeatedly: If an email link looks fishy, most likely it is, don’t click it. Antivirus software will trigger a warning sign if a link appears to be dangerous to a computer system. Sometimes a â€Å"distracted, trustful of friends or colleagues they know, or simply fooled by a crafty email message, many users forget to be wary of links and attachments included within email messages, regardless of the source. Simply clicking on an email link or attachment can, within minutes, corrupt Windows, infect other machines, and destroy critical data. Users should never click on email attachments without at least first scanning them for viruses using a business-class anti-malware application. As for clicking on links, users should access Web sites by opening a browser and manually navigating to the sites in question.† (Eckel, 2009) The quote that says â€Å"protection is better than cure† makes perfect sense even in the computer work. The only way to protect a computer is by playing it safe. Invest a little after a purchase of a PC by buying a powerful antivirus protection to protect the PC from intruders. It is also very important to be very watchful of the type of programs you download or upload into the system. One of the advantages of having that extra protection for a PC is the auto scan option that’s offered by the antivirus program. The software will automatically scan all the files or virus that might cause a negative impact on the computer. Bibliography Eckel, E. (2009, June 19). 10 ways to avoid viruses and spyware. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from A ZDNet Web Site: www.techrepublic.com EITS. (2008). Retrieved November 6, 2012, from entsols: www.entsols.com Finnie, T., Petee, T., Javis, J. (2010, September 22). Future Challenges of Cybercrime. Volume 5: Proceedings of the Futures Working Group , pp. 5-7. Vermaat, G. B. (2010). Discovering Computers Microsoft Office 2010. Boston: Course Technology Cengage Brain.

Directional stroop test

Directional stroop test Abstract This study assessed differences in gender performance between males and females for reaction time and error rate on the Directional Stroop Test. To date no study has explored the relationship between gender performance and the Directional Stroop Task, although prior studies have shown that females perform better than males on the Classical Stroop Test. 50 university students (25 males and 25 females) were exposed to 3 stimuli types, in the first they were required to locate the position of the word on the screen by pressing a button to indicate their response, in the second stimuli type participants were required to locate the position of the arrow shown and in the third they were required to select the direction the arrow was pointing in. Findings showed that although females respond faster to the stimuli presented to them and males make fewer errors, overall gender does not have a significant effect on reaction time and error rate. The Effect of Gender, Arrows and Words on Reaction Time and Error Rate The Stroop Effect is widely thought to cause interference because the information of one stimuli interferes when a person is trying to process another stimuli. An example of the Classical Stroop Effect is if the word red was presented to a person in the ink colour blue; the person would automatically try to read the word but the task requires for them to read aloud the ink colour the word has been presented in, this causes interference and results in a slower response. Interference is thought to occur because the process involved in naming words is thought to be automatic, compared to the process involved in naming colours or pictures which is thought to require a voluntary effort (as cited in Macleod, 1991). The famous Classical Stroop effect is named after J. Ridley Stroop who discovered this effect in the 1930s. In Stroops first experiment, he observed that his participants were slightly slower when reading words which were printed in an incongruent ink colour, that is to say that the word did not match the ink colour it was printed in, for example the word blue printed in green ink, compared to reading words which were printed in black ink; this is a demonstration of the effects interference can have on reaction time (as cited in Wuhr, 2007). There have been countless replications in addition to many variations of the Classical Stroop study. In 1977 Wheeler conducted a study in which 36 participants, all of which were college students, were required to first read words aloud and then name the ink colour aloud, they then had to repeat this but indicate their response by pressing buttons. Wheeler found that it took participants twice as long to name ink colours than read the word aloud, however there was no time difference when participants pushed buttons to indicate their responses; interference may occur in the Classical Stroop Test because participants respond verbally (as cited in Wheeler, 1977). There are two theories which attempt to explain the cause of interference which occurs in the Stroop Effect. The first is Speed of Processing Theory which suggests that words are read faster than colours are named and that because of the speed that we read it makes it difficult for us to name the colour the word is printed in, this difficulty causes interference which effectively results in a slower reaction response or incorrect answer. The second theory is Selective Attention Theory which proposes that naming colours requires more attention than reading words, this may be because people are so fluent at reading and therefore this is more of an automatic process, whereas naming the ink colour of a word is not an activity one comes across everyday and therefore this requires more of our attention (as cited in Stroop, 1935). The Selective Attention Theory is consistent with the distinction between two basic types of processing information. Schneider and Shriffin suggested that information can be processed either automatically or in a controlled way. Automatic processing is thought to be involuntary, effortless, fast and requires minimal attention, on the other hand controlled processing is thought to be voluntary, relatively slow and requires more effort and attention (as cited in Schenider and Shriffin, 1977). The Stroop Task has achieved broad recognition as a way to differentiate between controlled and automatic processes. As cited in Cothran and Larsen (2008) processing tasks may become automatic from exposure to repeated experiences, these repeated experiences of particular stimuli strengthens the memory representation a person has which eventually leads to less effort and attention being required. Some psychologists have questioned whether interference can be overcome or reduced by practice; in a s tudy by Shor, Hatch, Hudson, Landrigan and Shaffer (1972) researchers observed that interference was still present even after participants had training and practice of between 30-50 days (as cited in Shor, Hatch, Hudson, Landrigan Shaffer, 1972). However, in another study researchers found that older and younger participants displayed a decrease in interference for the colour-word Stroop test after humdreds of practice trials, although older participants consistently displayed greater interference effect throughout the practice compared to younger participants (as cited in Davidson, Zack Williams 2003). The type of Stroop variation which has been developed for this study is the Directional Stroop, an example of this is if the word right was presented on the left hand side of a screen and the participants were asked to locate the position of the word whilst ignoring its content. One of the first studies investigating the Directional Stroop Effect was conducted by Shor (1970,1971) who in the first condition inserted the words left, right, up and down into arrows, which were pointing in the directions named but were not congruent to the name in the arrow, for example, an arrow may be pointing right but it will have the word left embedded into it. Shor observed that interference was present when participants identified the words with a manual response, but not when they identified the words with a vocal response. In the second condition of the study Shor only used arrows and observed that interference was present when participants identified the arrows using both manual and vocal respon ses, but this interference was small in relation to the Classical Stroop. This study also indicates the importance of the type of stimuli being used in studies, arrows have produced interference for both manual and vocal responses compared to arrows which have directional words embedded into them (as cited in Baldo, Shimamura Prinzmetal 1998). Furthermore, in a study by Clarke and Brownell (1975) participants were asked to decide whether arrows were pointing either up or down whilst positioned inside a rectangle; in a study by White (1969) participants were asked to name the position of the words North, East, South and West inside a rectangle; both studies found similar results to Shor, with small but reliable interference. There have been many studies which have included variations within the Directional Stroop Test (Greenwald 1977; Dyer 1972; Pieters 198; Roefols, Turrenout Coles 2006). In studies done by Seymour (1973/1974) and Palef and Olsen (1975) participants were asked to name the locations of words in relation to a fixation point, both studies noted that interference was present (as cited in MacLeod, 1991). Many studies have also looked at the link between gender and Stroop performance. Even before the Stroop task, a psychologist named Ligon (1932) claimed that girls were able to name colours faster than boys, although he did not note any difference in their word-reading speed ability (as cited in MacLeod, 1991). This claim may be supported by some of the findings that researchers have discovered in their studies; one study found that females performed better than males on 2 colour card tests (Golden 1974), another study found that females gave a significantly higher performance than males after both sexes completed the colour-word test 5 times (as cited in Sarmany, 1977). According to Baroun (2006) females have been found to have an advantage over males for colour recognition and have been reported to be quicker at reacting to Stroop tasks; another psychologist suggested that this may be due to the general response speed females have (as cited in Jensen, 1965). Other psychologists such as Shen (2005) suggested that males take a longer than females on the Stroop task because males have a different cognitive strategy to females (as cited in Shen, 2005). There has always been controversy over whether there are differences in gender performance on the Stroop test and many studies have attempted to test whether differences in gender performance exist or not. In a study by Baroun and Alansari (2004) 210 university students took part in the Stroop test, 96 were male and 114 were female, although Baroun and Alansari found that Kuwaiti students (140 of the participants) had greater interference than British students (70 of the participants), no gender differences were observed for Stroop interference (as cited in Baroun Alansari, 2004). However in 2006, a study by the same researchers found differences in gender performance in Kuwaiti males and females on the Stroop test, researchers found that Kuwaiti females were faster on the colour card Stroop than Kuwaiti males (as cited in Baroun Alansari, 2006). The dependant variables for this study are reaction time and error rate and it is important to research what previous investigators have found in relation to reaction time and error rate, as this provides valuable contributions as to what should be expected. Mekarski, Cutmore and Suboski (1996) tested 6 males and 8 females in a Stroop test in which reaction time and error rate was measured. Researchers found that males were consistently slower than females but error rates did not differ significantly (as cited in Mekarski, Cutmore Suboski, 1996). Boyden and Gilpin (1798) established that errors made on 2 tests were correlated positively for males but not for females, they indicated that this may be due to males being linked distractability and being impulsive. Many psychologists have suggested that although females may be faster in naming colours for the Stroop Test this does not relate to the measuring of interference (as cited in Macleod, 1991). As mentioned previously the type of stimuli used in studies is important. In one study 36 undergraduate students were required to respond to one stimulus whilst ignoring another, so if presented with an arrow participants were required to ignore the word stimuli, and if presented with a word then they were required to ignore the arrow stimuli. Researchers found greater interference for participants when they responded manually to the word stimuli whilst ignoring the arrow stimuli as well as when they responded vocally to the arrow stimuli whilst ignoring the word stimuli. Although interference was present for both types of stimuli the magnitude of interference seems to be dependent on response modalities; vocal or manual (as cited in Baldo, Shimamura Prinzmetal 1998). Many of the studies investigating the effects of gender performance that have been discussed have tested reaction time but not error rate. This study has been carried out because there is a lack of studies investigating the difference in gender performance for the Directional Stroop, although there are handfuls which have done so for the Classical Stroop. This study aims to explore the Directional Stroop Effect using words and pictorial targets in the form of arrows and its effect on reaction time and error rate between males and females. This study will examine whether interference occurs in participants for both words and pictorial targets and whether gender has any effect on reaction time and error rate. The hypothesis for this study is that there will be a significant difference in performance between males and females, which will be measured by reaction time and error rate. A further hypothesis being tested is that stimuli type will effect reaction time and error rate. Method Participants The participants used for this study were 50 University of Greenwich students (25 males and 25 females) who were obtained through stratified random sampling method; a sampling method which allows individuals to be equally selected for participation therefore reducing bias, but also selecting individuals who belong to a certain sub-group, this study only required 25 males and 25 females. This study was conducted in the U.K. Materials The materials used for this study include a borrowed laptop from the University of Greenwich with the software application Superlab. Superlab is an effective application for presenting visual stimuli on the screen, and was used in this study to present word and arrow stimuli in addition to recording the reaction time and error rates of participants to explore the performance level between males and females. Design This is a quantitative study and a repeated measures design was used to reduce individual differences and test the effect of 3 factors at the same time. The independent variables are gender and stimuli; gender has 2 levels (male and female) and stimuli has 3 levels (word-location, arrow-location, arrow-direction). The dependent variables for this study are reaction time (in milliseconds) and error rate. This study has used a correlation analysis which describes how one variable relates to another, in this study we are looking at whether gender has an effect on the reaction time and error rate of participants performance and whether stimuli type can affect reaction time and error rate. Procedure Participants were first given an information sheet detailing the procedure of what they would have to do and any ethical risks involved in the study and were then asked to sign the consent form declaring that they had read and understood the details of the study. To maintain confidentiality of records participants were asked to invent a personal code, known only to them and which would be used to identify their data should they choose to remove it. Each participants personal code was entered into Superlab before they started their study to ensure that data recorded concerning their reaction time and error rate would be saved under their personal code. Participants were informed that there would first be a practice session to ensure they understood what to do; the practice session consisted of 2 slides, after the practice session participants began with the first condition of the study which was responding to where the location of a word on the screen was by pressing a button. The wor ds used in this study were up, down, left and right; participants were presented with a RB-530 response pad (see appendix a) which they used to indicate their responses. The second condition of the study was responding to where the location of an arrow was on the screen by press the correct button on the response pad and the third condition was participants responding to the direction in which the arrow on the screen was pointing; each of the conditions consisted of 10 slides, participants reaction time was measured from when the stimuli appears on the screen to when participants press any button. After the experiment participants were provided with a debrief sheet containing details of what the study was investigating and contact details of the investigator. Results The raw data (Appendix B) was analysed using PASW Statistics 17. A mixed design was performed on reaction time and error rate separately. The between subject factor was gender (male/female) and the within subject factor was stimuli (word-location/arrow-location/arrow-direction). Discussion The results show that females have performed faster and made fewer errors for the word-location stimuli compared to males, similarly males have performed faster and made fewer errors for the arrow-direction stimuli. However, arrow-location is the stimuli in which both males and females have scored high, one of each dependant variable; males made the least errors but females gave the fastest responses. Results also show that stimuli type affects participants reaction time significantly, but does not have a significant effect on error rate, additionally results showed a weak stimuli X gender interaction on reaction time in particular and a significant stimuli X gender interaction on error rate, however gender alone does not seem to have a significant effect on reaction time or error rate. The results from this study indicate that overall women respond faster to the Directional Stroop and that males and females do not differ significantly in terms of error rate. The findings show that arrow-direction is the stimuli in which participants take the longest to respond and also tend to make the most errors, this may be explained by the Selective Attention Theory, which may suggest that naming the direction of an incongruent arrow may require more attention as the participants have to focus on the point of the arrow, compared to naming the location which does not require as much focus on the stimuli, but more on its location on the screen. Many psychologists and studies (Ligon 1932; Golden 1974; Sarmany 1977; von Kluge 1992; Baroun 2006; Baroun Alansari 2006) have previously implied that females respond faster than males, additionally Jensen (1965) proposed that this may be because of the general response speed females have. The results from this study are similar to the findings in the study performed by Mekarski, Cutmore and Suboski (1996) who found that males responded slower but there were no significant differences between males and female for error rate. The results for the present study show that overall females responded the fastest and males made the fewest errors. 50 University of Greenwich students were used as participants for this study and 50 participants can be assumed to be a small and unrepresentative sample of the general population. For future studies a larger sample could be collected and participants could be selected for their age as well as their gender, age would be interesting variable to examine and investigate how people from different age groups differ in performance. This study took place in the U.K. and therefore lacks in ecological validity, the participants from this study were all obtained from the U.K. and were all volunteers therefore it is difficult to draw up appropriate conclusions about cause and effect relationships because the findings from this study may not be generalisable to people from other countries. Baroun and Alansari (2004) found that Kuwaiti students displayed greater interference than British students, this is a good example of how the present study may not be generalisable to other people. However, the study Baroun and Alansari conducted in 2006 did find similar results to the present study; females were reported to respond quicker to the stimulus presented to them than males, therefore there may be certain variables which have been found world-wide and others which still need to be investigated. The experiment also lacks ecological validity because it was not a realistic situation, people would not usually press buttons on a response pad indicating their answers to what they see on a laptop screen. In this study all the participants started with the word-location stimuli and then moved to the arrow-location stimuli and then finally finished with the arrow-direction stimuli, this may have led to the order of stimuli being confounded. Participants have been reported to respond slowest and make the most errors to the arrow-direction stimulus, but participants may have been affected by an extraneous variable which may have effectively slowed down their reaction time and therefore affected their results. Extraneous variables are situations or factors which can have an impact on participants performance and results. In future replications of this study the order of presenting stimuli could be counterbalanced which is a method used to avoid the confounding of variables. Participants could be divided into different groups and each group could be shown the stimuli in a different order. Before the actual experiment started, participants were given the opportunity to experience a practice session, however as this practice session was only 2 slides long and only used the word-location stimuli participants may not have understood or had the chance to properly understand what they were asked to do. For future replications of this study it can be suggested that participants experience at least 2 slides of each stimuli type which they will be presented to them in the real experiment so that they can actually practice properly and have have a real opportunity to understand what there are being instructed to do. Another limitation of this study is that slides showing each stimuli one by one flows straight to the next one as soon as the participant presses a button on their response pad. Participants are informed at the beginning of the study that they must try to respond as quickly as they can, and in haste some participants may have missed the slide which describes the next set of instructions for the next stimuli type. Due to this error participants may respond slowly because they are suddenly exposed to an arrow instead of a word which they have been exposed to in the previous slides, in addition to this if participants miss the slide informing them to switch from selecting the location of the arrow to the direction the arrow is pointing in then they may make errors, which may as a result be due to misunderstanding of instructions. It may be more effective if after every stimuli type is presented there is either a loud beep sound indicating the start of a new stimuli type or for each stim uli type to be opened in a separate window as to avoid any confusion. Future replications should also include congruent stimuli to begin with so that reaction time and possibly error rate can be compared to when participants are shown uncongruent stimuli. Unfortunately the eye-sight of participants were never tested before the study therefore there is no guarantee of whether any of the participants were long sighted and may have had difficulty viewing what was on the screen. Although the words and pictorial targets used were of a large size, future studies should ensure a check-up of participants eye-sight before the study to ensure that this variable does not affect the outcome of the results. As discovered in the study conducted by Baldo, Shimamura and Prinzmetal (1998) response modalities can have a great impact on the amount of interference observed. Future studies into gender and the Directional Stroop could use both manual and vocal responses from participants, this would help expand knowledge on how type of response could affect interference. In addition to this the present study presented words and pictorial targets separately, future replications could include a condition which presents words and pictorial targets combined as well as separate. This study used a quantitative design method which is statistically reliable as well as replicable. However the results provided are also likely to be limited as they provide a less descriptive and detailed account of the actual human behaviour which takes place during interference for the Stroop test. It is believed that for this study a quantitative approach was the right design method, there are no studies which could be found, which have investigated gender and its effect on reaction time and error rate for the Directional Stroop therefore any future psychologists who wish to investigate these variables and effects further will be able to easily replicate the methods used for this study. A future replication of the Directional Stroop Effect could use a matched pairs design in which group one are tested as if they are taking the hazard perception practice section of a driving test, participants would need to locate the uncongruent directional words and pictorial targets, which could be in the form of an arrow or other road signs. The second group of the matched pairs design study would also need to locate the same uncongruent directional words and pictorial targets but would also have a distractor task such as trying to text someone from a mobile phone at the same time they are locating the uncongruent stimuli. This type of study should be able to provide some insight into the type of interference drivers experience and which type of distractors, such as making a call, sending a text message to someone, or even applying make-up, cause the most accidents or interference. In conclusion, the results support the hypothesis that stimuli type affects reaction time, although stimuli type does not seem to have any affect on the error rate of participants. In consistency with some previous studies (Merkarski, Cutmore Suboski 1996; Baroun Alansari 2004) the results from the present study has found that females respond faster than males, which may be explained by Jensen (1965) who suggests that this is possibly related to the general response speed of females. Results also show that males make fewer errors than females, however there is no overall significant difference between gender performance for the Directional Stroop Effect. References Baldo, J.V., Shimamura, A.P. and Prinzmetal, W. (1998) Mapping symbols to response modalities: Interference effects on Stroop-like task. Perception and Psychophysics, Vol. 60 (3), 427-437. Baroun, K. and Alansari, B. (2004) Gender and culture performance differences on the Stroop colour and word test: A comparative study. Social Behaviour and Personality, Vol. 32 (30), pp.235-246. Baroun, K. and Alansari, B. (2006) Gender differences in performance on the Stroop Test. Social Behaviour and Personality, Vol. 34 (3), 309-317. Cothran, D. and Larsen, R. (2008) Comparison of inhibition in two timed reaction tasks: The Colour of Emotion Stroop Tasks. Journal of Psychology: Indisciplinary and Applied, 142 (4), 343-385. Retrieved from PsycINFO database. Davidson, D., Zack, R. and Williams, C. (2003). Stroop interference, practice, and aging. Aging Neuropsychology and Cognition, Vol. 10 (2), 85-98. Golden, C.J. (1974) Sex differences in performance on the Stroop colour and word test. Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol. 39 (3), 1067-1070. Retrieved from PsycINFO database. Jensen, A.R. (1965). Scoring the Stroop Test. Acta Psychologica, Vol. 24, (5), 398-408. MacLeod, C.M. (1991) Half a century of research on the Stroop Effect: An Integrative Review. Vol. 19 (2), 163-203. Psychology Bulletin. Mekarski, J.E., Cutmore, T.R. And Suboski, W. (1996) Gender Differences during processing of the Stroop Task. Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol. 83 (2), 563-568. Sarmany, I. (1997) Different performance in Stroops Interference Test from the aspect of personality and sex. Studia Psychologica, 19, (1) 60-67. Retrieved from PsycINFO database. Schneider, W. and Shriffin, R.M. (1977) Controlled and Automatic Human Information Processing: Detection, Search and Attention. Psychological Review, 84, pp. 1-66. Shen, X. (2005) Sex differences in perceptual processing performance on the colour-kanji Stroop Task of visual stimuli. International Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 115 (12), 1631-1641. Shor, R.E. Hatch, R.P., Hudson, L.J., Landrigan, D.T. and Shaffer, H.J. (1972) Effect of practice on Stroop-like spatial directions task. Journal of Experimental Psychology, Vol. 94 (2), 168-172. Stroop, J.R. (1935) Studies on interference in serial verbal reaction. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643-662. von Kluge, S. (1992) Trading accuracy for Speed: Gender Differences on a Stroop task undder mild performance anxiety. Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol. 75 (2), 651-657. Wheeler, D.D. (1977) Locus of interference on the Stroop Test. Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol. 45 (1), 263-266. Wuhr, P. (2007) A Stroop Effect for Spatial Orientation. The Journal of General Psychology, 134, (3), 285-294.

A Look At Spirituality And Health

A Look At Spirituality And Health Spirituality and health are two fields that are closely related but peoples in a way such that ones spirituality in some ways will tend to affect their healths welfare. Some medical facts have shown that holy or spiritual people show fewer human destructive behaviors such as taking of alcohol, committing suicide or drug abuse. They suffer less stress and always live comfortably. Most of the religious practices actually make one feel relaxed and cheerful. This may entail singing and sharing spiritual ideas with others. This subsequently reduces the chances of one acquiring stress related ailments hence an improved health (Mieler, 2005). Majoring on a clinical context, particular psychologists pioneered some work in the area of psychology and spirituality. One of them who goes by the name Alfred Adler formerly studied medicine and supported the allegations that a religious belief system normally supports a healthy life style that may result to healthy outcomes referring to the clinical context. Adlers Psychology strives for the holistic outcomes. Consequently this develops a kind of life-style that tends to reinforce a healthy relationship. These given relationships will then promote a good health referring to the clinical context for both the care giver and the patient. To most people spirituality is believed to be powerful and an important source of strength. This is because when they are faced with tough situations in their life such as health problems, their beliefs in God and practices assist them to overcome spirit of helplessness. This will eventually leads to achieving a sense of control. Spirituality can improves the medical state of human being.   Some patients in hospital from religious background mostly recover faster from their mental disorder compared to those who are not religious. Religious people are always hopeful hence are good in dealing with various challenges they face in life no matter how stressing they are. Unspiritual people most of the times give up very fast hence they may end up committing suicide. Most spiritual families are good in bringing up children healthier ways compared to unspiritual families. Most parents who are unspiritual engage their children in irresponsible behaviors such as taking alcohol. Taking of alcohol affect peoples health since it causes some liver disorders for instance liver cirrhosis that may end up costing them their lives. Many people who are unspiritual are fond of taking toxic substances such cigarette which contains chemical called nicotine. Spiritual people avoid taking of substances such as alcohol and cigarette hence they have a healthier life. Once spiritual people are role models of young people in the society they will copy them and therefore stay free from diseases brought about by of toxic substances.   Also young religious people dont involve themselves in irresponsible sexual behaviors such as fornication hence they cant get some sexual associated diseases such HIV/AIDS that may affect their health negatively. Staying healthy is very important all human beings.   Good health helps in staying fit and avoid some diseases and sicknesses. Healthy people are usually active and are able to carry out their daily activities. Health does not only increase youth body performance but still increases confidence.   Healthy people increase their mental activities and are able to grasp things very fast since they develop a good wit. Staying healthy makes people to complete their duties in place of work and their goals in life. Maintaining good health keeps one away from psychological problems such as stress. It also reduces chances of being depressed by small things in life. Good healthy increases self-esteems. Taking alcohol and cigarette can cause ill healthy which can expose one to some psychological torture, but quitting this can promote your healthy. Healthier people live longer since all their organs are functioning properly. Spirituality and health are related in various way, as mentioned above those people who are spiritual are likely to cope with various situations in their life that can pose a threat to their health. Spiritual people share various things in common such as positive beliefs; strength and comfort gained from their religion, prayers and meditation play a great role in healing and sense of well being. Spiritual health mighty not cure illness, but it may help one feel better, prevent various health problems and help one to cope with sickness and stress hence improve human health.   Religious practices reduce cases of blood pressure, improve mood, reduces the healing period and improved blood circulation are various benefits that one is exposed to due to religious practices. Staying healthy requires one to be committed in taking good food and doing various exercises so as to stay fit. Taking balance diet is one way of keeping your body healthy. Exercise for instance running and jogging help in burning excess fat that can cause blockage of arteries and cause heart failure and stroke. It is also recommendable to consult a physician for proper dietary recommendations. Staying free from various drugs such as bhang and nicotine can still improve healthy.   One chief purpose of Christian in life is to promote and grow spiritually each day so as to reflect love and righteousness of God in their life and that of the whole community. There are various methods that can be used to promote spirituality for instance praying. Concern for others is a vital part of Christian life; one should keep on praying for them. Some prayer items should include praying for good health, marital problems and other challenges that face them in life.   Another method of promoting spirituality is by reading scripture. This can be achieved through exercising topical bible study in which one write down topics to study within a particular week.   While prayer and bible study are essential exercise, one should not forget to attend services in the church and fellowship with other Christians. Sharing witnesses or testimonies, encouraging each other and preaching to one another can also be used to promote spirituality.   Furthermore it is important to find opportunities to serve others and influence them with Gods love and holiness. These include visiting orphans or mentally handicapped people. Charity walks and doing volunteer work can also be used to promote spirituality among Christians. Most Christians promote their spirituality through repenting daily of their sinful ways and make a change for better. They should always focus to be surrounded by positivity and abandon negativity in their life. Reading inspirational books, meditation of Gods word, obeying Christ by doing as he commands and allowing their spirit grows through learning more of his truth can also be methods of promoting spirituality  (Orchard, 2001). Many medical schools have included spiritual teaching in their curricula. However, the role that a doctor should play in guiding and assisting patients in spiritual matter remains a controversial. Although there appear to be growing belief in connection between spirituality and health, scientists in this field feels that a research should be carried out to determine this connection, a better understanding where there is this connection, and how it works.