How to Make Silver Polishing Dip

The most effective method to Make Silver Polishing Dip As silver oxidizes, it will discolor. This layer of oxidation can be expelled without cleaning and scouring by just plunging your silver in this non-harmful electrochemical plunge. Another enormous preferred position to utilizing a plunge is that the fluid can arrive at places a cleaning material can't. This is a simple investigation and takes negligible minutes! Silver Polish Ingredients Sink or glass panHot waterBaking sodaSaltAluminum foilTarnished silver The most effective method to Remove Silver Tarnish Line the base of the sink or a glass preparing dish with a sheet of aluminum foil.Fill the foil-fixed holder with steaming hot water.Add salt (sodium chloride) and heating pop (sodium bicarbonate) to the water. A few plans call for 2 teaspoons of preparing pop and 1 teaspoon of salt, while others call for 2 tablespoons every one of heating pop and salt. No compelling reason to quantify the sums - simply include a touch of each substance.Drop the silver things into the holder so they are contacting one another and laying on the foil. You will have the option to watch the stain disappear.Leave vigorously discolored things in the answer for up to 5 minutes. Something else, expel the silver when it shows up clean.Rinse the silver with water and delicately buff it dry with a delicate towel.Ideally, you should store your silver in a low-dampness condition. You can put a compartment of initiated charcoal or a bit of chalk in the capacity region to limit future stain. Tips for Success Use care when cleaning or plunging silver plated things. It is anything but difficult to erode the slim layer of silver and cause more damage than anything else through over-cleaning.Minimize presenting your silver to substances that contain sulfur (e.g., mayonnaise, eggs, mustard, onions, latex, fleece) in light of the fact that the sulfur will cause corrosion.Using your silver flatware/holloware or wearing silver gems assists with keeping it liberated from discolor.

How Ethical Consideration Affects Human Resource Management free essay sample

You will meet numerous judgments in your calling. How you decide to oversee them will portray your moral qualities. The best organizations esteem their workers just every piece much as their customers. Human asset chiefs play a key capacity in utilizing moral standards. Human asset executives set an outline for the rest of the organization. as moral conduct trickles down from the executives. managers. workers. furthermore, customers into the neighborhood network. Practically all huge measured organizations have some kind of HR course in topographic point so representatives have individual accessible to help them spread with a wide range of sorts of issues that incorporate understanding the organizations clinical/dental program. covering with contrasts between workers. pull offing sick yearss. pull offing occasion cut. the recruiting and fire of representatives. what's more, the twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours gives that face all representatives. Without human asset heading. an organization will happen that any distinctions that surface between the organization and a worker. or on the other hand between two workers. will take far unreasonably much clasp to work out. Ordinarily the terminal outcome will be unsolved issues that cause a worker to suspend out of choler or destruction. HR are at that spot to prevent this from go oning by holding solid strategies in topographic point to cover with any conceivable occupation that may begin. The achievement of most organizations relies upon this HR to be in topographic point and thinks of it as a part of any solid bearing crew. Human asset course will capacity to ensure that workers are upbeat and that when contrasts and contrasts happen there is individual indifferent to approach who can execute the best possible constabularies to cover with them. A major nation of human asset course is worried about arranged moral issues. both on the part of significant level course in its anxiety conclusions and lower-level bearing in the intercession of single representatives. The executives conclusions must be made genuinely mulling over all features including cultural obligation. Bosses must deal with those they regulate sensibly in issues of exposure and pay. In human asset course. all things considered moralss is treated as be ing near. I. e. regardless of whether an activity is good or shameless. or on the other hand right or off base relies upon the main situation of the curious single human asset executive. Such positions are without a doubt formed by development. One of the most yearning aspects of human asset heading is to keep value in locks in. exposure. also, pay. For representation. a male chief must hold back from progressing or expanding the prizes of an alluring grown-up female who doesn’t wage taking care of him. in any case, who is constantly late for her occupation and whose work is second rate. Input about your open introduction is the best way for an organization to better. Workers would esteem face to defy criticism on their open introduction. It is both reasonable and consistent to assume that remuneration should follow open introduction and that moral contemplations would non be a factor in open introduction examination. Once in a while it is hard for a boss. who normally acknowledges this standard. to tail it. also, now and again it is difficult to convey a worker of its practicality. The manager who either prescribes or has the approval to set pay might be convinced by different elements to downplay the open introduction of an employee’s creation. Similarly. a worker who will be contrarily affected by mensurating an employee’s finished result may hold a troublesome clasp understanding why lower creation should deliver lower salary when the hours spent on the occupation are equivalent to others with higher creation and higher pay. Representative rating all things considered will stay of numerous variables including such focuses as instantaneousness. disposition. fitting dress. individual preparing ( curiously in a spot where customers are included ) . phonetic correspondence. spruceness. congenialness. also, open introduction finished result. in addition to other things. The rating strategy will be well unique among administration and creation workers and between general representatives and expert representatives. The moral test emerges after all the variables have been considered ; the assurance is made on factors other than those by which all the representatives have been assessed. Executives face a significant interior moral test when called to make their occupation. They recognize the one party and advancing the inclusion of others. Points may now and then include some significant downfalls to certain workers and injury others. Human asset management’s reason for existing is to pull the correct individuals with the correct disposition and edge of head to loan to their organization. Human asset heading guarantees that representatives develop with the association. That. as the organization develops and builds up the worker other than develops in comprehension. experience and quality to back up the hierarchical developing. Organizations that build up their workers ever acknowledge extensive developing in their anxiety. This is on the grounds that through readiness and improvement. representatives figure out how to execute their occupation better and increasingly effective. Human asset course conclusions can non be uneffective. Also, they ought to non be off base. Since truth is. it very well may be an association its truly being. Quality assurance formulating does non come consequently. It takes arrangement and experience to have the option to do viable and exact Human asset heading judgments that have any kind of effect in a worry. Choice conceiving is conceivably one of the most successive endeavors Human assets face every twenty-four hours. They need to make up ones psyche for themselves each piece great as rede their higher-ups on explicit HR issues on an invariable balance. Essentially. cognizing directly from off base is the control of the human asset executive. On the off chance that a worker is non attempting to conceivable. so you should go to the issue caput on. You should other than perceive that it is non ever the employees’ botch that is the reason HR chiefs must remain fair. There is an aureate guideline which areas. do unto others as you would want others to make unto you. In the event that you treat individuals decent. have a loosened head and have great hearing achievements. you will go far in human asset heading. I trust I can do a distinction in this field since I am a decent person. I love helping individuals and I trust in helping individuals arrive at their strength throughout everyd ay life.

Was Machiavelli Satan Essay Research Paper The free essay sample

Was Machiavelli Satan? Exposition, Research Paper The Church blamed Niccolo Machiavelli for being Satan for making his book The Prince. Machiavelli finished The Prince in 1513. He composed it as a blessing to Lorenzo Medici, called the Magnificent, swayer of Florence. The political positions Machiavelli communicated in his book conflicted with the godlikeness of the Church, explicitly the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. Machiavelli wrote to determine control of a princedom one must be boorish. # 8220 ; ( I ) degree Fahrenheit you are a sovereign in responsibility for newly procured area and hold it essential. . . to dispense with the individuals who can or should ambush you. . . . # 8221 ; , you should make so to ensure your princedom. He gave the representation of Duke Valentino # 8217 ; s murder of his Lords to maintain control, expressing if Valentino had non slaughtered his work powers, Valentino would hold lost force. The Bible unequivocally denies the rough demise of anybody. The Sixth Commandment states # 8220 ; You will non murder. We will compose a custom paper test on Was Machiavelli Satan Essay Research Paper The or on the other hand any comparative point explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page # 8221 ; In what is known as the Beatitudes, from Jesus # 8217 ; Sermon on the Mount, the Bible other than says the individuals who are gentle will acquire everything of importance. A mellow individual doubtlessly does non murder others for remaining in their way like Machiavelli is proposing to be finished. Another verse from the Beatitudes says the individuals who are conciliators will be called boies of God. Conciliators do non execute either. For Machiavelli to state if executing an individual is for the improvement of your princedom, so to make so conflicted with # 8220 ; God # 8217 ; s guideline # 8221 ; and the Church # 8217 ; s. Genuine followings of the Church submit to the Church convictions, in such a case that you are non for God, you are for Satan. As a swayer a ruler must do certain vows and solid guarantees ; by and by, Machiavelli grounds that a sovereign does non hold to keep up his promise all the clasp. The ruler can situation one thing under specific fortunes ; however in the event that those fortunes change, he is allowed to adjust his promise if the modification should benefit his situation. For case, Pope Alexander VI, who ruled before Machiavelli composed The Prince, # 8220 ; made guarantees all the more influentially or revile to them all the more gravely and kept scarcely any of them. . . . # 8221 ; Pope Alexander VI other than got what he needed by lead oning others. The Beatitudes state the individuals who want honorableness will be filled ; the individuals who are unadulterated of chest will see God. Uprightness and immaculateness do non occur through deception. The ninth of the Ten Commandments says # 8220 ; You will non give bogus declaration against your neighbor, # 8221 ; aiming do non lie. Matthew, the prim ary book of the New Testament, says # 8220 ; Do no interfere with your revile. . . . # 8221 ; The Church had great ground to contrast with Machiavelli about crafty. gt ; Nobility for rulers can be viewed as one of two different ways: liberal or penurious. In the event that a sovereign is liberal, his generousness regularly comes at the disbursal of his points. The ruler would hold to income upgrade his kin, all things considered, so as to give. # 8220 ; This will get down to do him evil to his subjects and. . . will lose him the respect of everybody. # 8221 ; For a ruler to give cash, he need non income improvement his kin, rather give what he ravaged and took piece on arranged runs. On the off chance that a sovereign is ungenerous with the people groups cash, he will non income improvement as much ; in this way, his themes will respect him more. The directions of the Church and the Bible advance generousness, and remark that keeping up one # 8217 ; s riches to oneself will take to self obliteration, Hell. The guidelines in like manner incorporate # 8220 ; You will non take. # 8221 ; In spite of the fact that his contemplations were in opposition to those of the Church and of the Bible, Machiavelli can non be contrasted and Satan. He was propelling the continuance of a princedom at any expense. He said a sovereign # 8220 ; will happen things which, however looking great, will take to his ruin whenever sought after, and others which, however looking corruption, will follow in his security and prosperity. # 8221 ; Machiavelli other than said that if a swayer increments control by barbaric treatment and devilishness the swayer is without prudence, and he can non be contrasted with work powers of good character. He does non pardon this kind of conduct, he just battles it is important to be as a sovereign. Grouped individuals in the Bible executed others. One of the best work powers in the Old Testament, King David took numerous lives so as to keep his territory. Abraham, the grown-up male to whom God guaranteed posterity each piece numerous as the stars in the sky, exorbitantly assaulted and killed individuals. By what method would machiavelli be able to be so shrewd for only proposing the demolition of foes, if extraordinary work powers of the Bible truly did likewise? Pope Alexander VI was a grown-up male of the Church and a swayer, yet he straightforwardly beguiled work powers. Satan exorbitantly overwhelmed work powers: in the Garden of Eden Satan deceived Eve, in the desert Satan attempted to mislead Jesus. Was Alexander ever contrasted with Satan as Machiavelli might have been? Ruler David, known for his honorableness and solidarity, beguiled a collaborator of his by executing criminal discussion with his colleague # 8217 ; s wedded lady, so covering his fiendishness. At one clasp, Machiavelli # 8217 ; s name was contrasted with Satan # 8217 ; s. His thoughts and contemplations written in his book The Prince negated those of the Church and the Bible. In any case, Machiavelli did non pardon the use of power, power, and deception. He said using those things would be awful if all work powers were acceptable ; by and by, work powers are shrewd. Orchestrating to him, all work powers have a little of Satan in them. 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Defining the Soul in Walt Whitmans Song of Myself Essay -- Song of Mys

Each sentence in Walt Whitman's Melody of Myself will in general either rehash or repudiate. He even says of himself, I repudiate myself (Lauter, p. 2793). This can make Whitman's verse a bit of befuddling to a few. In his numerous refrains, meaning of the spirit is vague and to some degree opposing. Whitman says, Clear and sweet is my soul....and clear and sweet is all that isn't my spirit (Lauter, p. 2745). What I trust Whitman is stating here is that his spirit and everything else that isn't his spirit, including the spirits of others, is clear and sweet. He proceeds to state in the lines following, Needs one needs both... (Lauter, p. 2745). As it were, a spirit can't be clear on the off chance that it isn't sweet and a spirit can't be sweet on the off chance that it isn't clear. In the event that it doesn't have one of the characteristics, at that point it can't have the other. By his words, a spirit is certainly not a spirit except if it has the two characteristics: clear and sweet. He says numerous lines down, I have faith in you my soul....the other I should not demean itself to you, And you should not be humbled to the next (Latuer, p. 2746). Whitman ... Characterizing the Soul in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself Essay - Song of Mys Each sentence in Walt Whitman's Melody of Myself will in general either rehash or repudiate. He even says of himself, I repudiate myself (Lauter, p. 2793). This can make Whitman's verse a bit of confounding to a few. In his numerous refrains, meaning of the spirit is equivocal and to some degree opposing. Whitman says, Clear and sweet is my soul....and clear and sweet is all that isn't my spirit (Lauter, p. 2745). What I trust Whitman is stating here is that his spirit and everything else that isn't his spirit, including the spirits of others, is clear and sweet. He proceeds to state in the lines following, Needs one needs both... (Lauter, p. 2745). As it were, a spirit can't be clear on the off chance that it isn't sweet and a spirit can't be sweet in the event that it isn't clear. In the event that it doesn't have one of the characteristics, at that point it can't have the other. By his words, a spirit is certifiably not a spirit except if it has the two characteristics: clear and sweet. He says numerous lines down, I put stock in you my soul....the other I should not dishonor itself to you, And you should not be humbled to the next (Latuer, p. 2746). Whitman ...

Individual Diversity and Organizational Behavior

Singular Diversity and Organizational Behavior Understanding individual assorted variety is a troublesome and testing task. It has prompted numerous explores, studies, contentions, and exchanges among scholars and savvy people. Lamentably, an actuated definition or comprehension of individual assorted variety has not been introduced is as yet warranted.Advertising We will compose a custom paper test on Individual Diversity and Organizational Behavior explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More The segment varieties in the workforce, modifications in hierarchical structures, and serious business scene have all added to the component of decent variety (both inalienable and procured) in the workforce and has made it standard in contemporary associations. This paper is expected to talk about the size of individual assorted variety and how it directly affects the authoritative conduct by giving various models. Besides, in the wake of introducing a careful comprehension of assorted variety different authoritative practices h ave been talked about which could assist with upgrading business tasks and hierarchical conduct. Singular decent variety can be clarified as the uniqueness or the nearness of attributes which are not quite the same as one another. In any authoritative arrangement, decent variety is seen at each level from assignments bunches/junior workers to directorate. It is contended that singular decent variety in any authoritative arrangement influences the results of associations; it decreases representative turnover and builds the presentation. Plotting the methodology through which the unmistakable direction of people both in minority and greater part influences groups’ working and operational result of organizations. This actuates the social personality uniqueness and can bring about eithers advantages or weaknesses dependent on the administration of issues (Kinicki, 2008). Now and again people experience issues and difficulties in bunch settings. Correspondence is a significant par t of overseeing assorted variety, which creates negative results if there should arise an occurrence of poor correspondence inside associations. People having a place with various societies regularly experience issues of language hindrances and absence of association with their colleagues. A portion of the issues identified with correspondence assorted variety remember contrasts for singular points of view, social foundations and getting, information, and assignment levels. Every one of these issues are countered in a differentiated association (Tosi Pilati, 2011).Advertising Looking for exposition on business financial aspects? We should check whether we can support you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To manage the issue of decent variety, viable administration is exceptionally fundamental. A few people add to inalienable decent variety while others have procured assorted variety. Factors, for example, age, ethnicity, race, sex and capacities fall under characteristic decent variety; while then again, area, salary, training, position and conjugal statuses fall under procured assorted variety. So as to lessen the issues of correspondence supervisors and pioneers should hold diverse intelligent meetings for the workforce so they become acquainted with one another and speak with one another. The pioneers ought to legitimately convey and sift through issues of individuals, which will expand efficiency and lift employees’ spirit (Kinicki, 2008). It relies upon supervisors and officials how they handle decent variety and how they plan successful systems, which can yield inspiration out of the assorted variety. In pretty much every association, administrators and colleagues have assorted foundation either inborn or procured. In any case, singular personalities, which are regularly watched, are fundamentally from contrasts in race and sex; while contrasts in physical abilities and assignments add to another type of decent variety, which is seen e verywhere in present associations. The distinctions in foundation and sexual orientation help in age of information, thoughts, and better answers for issues, be that as it may, contrasts in status in the workforce regularly has negative outcomes on colleagues. In such manner, senior representatives should work with the group, and they ought to empower different individuals and treat them similarly to defeat contrasts (Weiss, 2001). Associations at present are getting increasingly various. This is a result of the developing rivalry and globalization. Numerous MNCs, which work across outskirts, recruit people, who are socially different which creates both innate and procured assorted variety. In addition, associations are progressively embracing assorted variety as a result of its huge advantages, which conquer issues. Singular assorted variety offers numerous chances and is exceptionally gainful for the two workers and associations. Its advantages incorporate expanded efficiency, bet ter understanding and approach towards issues, better dynamic, connections, powerful promoting and numerous more.Advertising We will compose a custom article test on Individual Diversity and Organizational Behavior explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More It permits organizations to contend in the worldwide market (Kinicki, 2008). Keeping these in see organizations like Microsoft and numerous others are worker exceptionally differing workforce (Tosi Pilati, 2011). So as to maintain a strategic distance from the setbacks of individual assorted variety, supervisors and administrators ought to comprehend and deal with decent variety on a more extensive setting. They can cause groups by assembling differing people with the goal that they to cooperate more and offer thoughts. The groups ought to be little with the goal that they can do the subtasks all the more proficiently. Disregarding the generalization, people ought to be permitted to receive jobs and they ought to be w atched and checked by administrators (Weiss, 2001). Another training is the assorted variety preparing of workers through which the association can oversee decent variety. Such trainings are led to expand mindfulness among the workforce with respect to contrasts in social foundations, abilities and information. In addition, such trainings additionally decline odds of disregarding each other rights based on race, sex or various foundations or levels (Kinicki, 2008). In this manner, singular assorted variety has more advantages and points of interest which can beat its inconveniences, and certainly gives a gainful, potential, and serious edge to the association. The need is to comprehend assorted variety altogether and to proficiently oversee it through successful methodologies and systems with the goal that better results, for example, expanded efficiency and sound workplace are ensured. Reference List Kinicki, A. (2008). Hierarchical Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills Best Practices. Co lumbus: McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions. Tosi, H. L., Pilati, M. (2011). Overseeing Organizational Behavior: Individuals, Teams, Organization and Management. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.Advertising Searching for article on business financial matters? How about we check whether we can support you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Find out More Weiss, J. W. (2001). Authoritative conduct and change: overseeing assorted variety, culturally diverse elements, and morals. Boston: South-Western College Pub.

its ok that its not ok

it’s ok that it’s not ok Content Note: This post contains mentions of death, depression, and anxiety. In Infinite Jest, which I’ve been reading with a group of MIT students this fall, the characters talk about two types of depression. One is “anhedonia”, or the inability to feel anything, unable to feel happiness or pleasure. It is described as a type of numbness, a numb feeling where a person loses the ability to even understand what happiness is, or how to go about acquiring it. The other type of depression is psychotic or clinical depression (at least in the ‘90s, when “anhedonia” was probably not considered “enough” to be clinical) in which a person feels actively bad all the time. They feel awful, no matter what they dojust standing, or sitting, or doing work. They don’t simply feel unable to feel happiness; they are in acute anguish in all the small tasks of daily life. The more I read this description, which is provided by the narrator via a depressed character, Kate Gompert, in the book, the more I realized that, initially, I thought I only knew “anhedonia”, too. But then Kate describes (in her head) a psychotically depressed patient she met who had never actually tried suicide, but has willed for unconsciousness for a very long time. His condition is brought on by one day slipping on a patch of 3-in-1 oil that he used for model trains, hitting his head, and for twenty years after he was never the same. He dreams of attaining the simple anhedonia state; of being able to merely not feel happiness rather than actively feel awful. Kate self-medicates to reach that state, by imbibing marijuana or drinking, which leads her to the halfway house for addicts featured in Infinite Jest, although she doesn’t seem to be truly addicted like the other characters in the book there, rather spurred toward substances by her condition. I realized that, though fortunately I don’t feel this consistently and it is not the “norm” of my life, I actually identified more with Kate’s psychotic depression than I did with “anhedonia”. I have felt that way at times, like there is a horror trying to claw its way out of your stomach, and there’s nothing you can do about it, and how can you possibly go on. I think, in contrast to Kate, my self-medication is people, and work. When I’m working on things I enjoy, it goes away. When I’m meeting with people, even random strangers just chatting, it goes away. But in bad periods, every moment outside of enjoyable work or meetings with people, is a moment of suffering. But unlike Kate Gompert, I typically only feel this way because it’s triggered by an event. Before spring break, one of my smallest cousins died. She was around ten years old. Her name was Ruth, and she was the cutest, most bright-eyed and excitable little girl. My father told me all at once over the phone, and I don’t know if he realized how badly this would hit me. Maybe I didn’t realize either. I had slept next to this little girl, in our farm in Kafa. I had played with her and she had run around our house, and I had scolded the older boys for letting her do work that was clearly too much for her small frame. I still can’t think about her without crying a little, which I’m doing now in Hayden library and hoping no one notices, hiding my face with this laptop. Ruth had a brain tumour, which I had known about since my most recent trip to Ethiopia. She once had some issue where she couldn’t hear anything, and my aunt was worried and took her to the hospital, where they diagnosed her with this tumour. It also began to affect her sight, I’m told, as the illness progressed. She had a very hard life before coming to live with my grandmother, her great-grandmother. Her father is part of what we call Anamo, the traditional religion in Kafa. Without getting too detailed, this tradition allows polygamy, and her father, my actual cousin (in that he is the son of my father’s second-oldest sister, which makes Ruth some familial term I’m not clear about so I just use “cousin”), is more or less excommunicated from our family, which has been staunchly Catholic for several generations. I don’t know the details of what happened there, but I know the way Ruth came to be at my grandmother’s house was because her mother somehow fell out of favor in that other family, ran away and left the two of them there (Ruth and Asede) and just left. Ruth had brain surgery a few months ago, but it was either performed badly (my father’s theory) or simply did not work. Ruth was ok for a while, and then her condition continued to get worse. My aunt called me a few days after my father and said Ruth was crying on some of the worst days, she didn’t understand why she couldn’t see anything. Her sight was going. She passed away, finally, in our house on a hill in Kafa. I can imagine it, even though I wasn’t there. It would be quiet. The cattle would be grazing. Far away you might be able to hear the rushing of streams and rivers. Maybe days later, during a funeral ceremony, it would get loud with wailing. But in that moment I think it would have been too quiet. Empty. I cry thinking of this small, cheerful girl, herself crying because she can’t see anything. When I had been at our farm, tiny bodies of children would be curled up with mine at night. Ruth’s sister Asede on the one side, and Surafiel inevitably ending up somewhere on the edge, his arm inevitably thrown across my face. I laugh at that, and cry. Ruth was loud and cheerful. She had a way of calling out my oldest cousin’s nickname, Abush, who has a way with all the small kids and is always their favorite. She would say it more like “Abush-iy!”, and it made us laugh. I have a video of her I took on my phone trying to get her to say “Abush-iy!”, she’s playing with something on the ground. “Who are Fantaye’s children?” I asked, “Who’s Fantaye’s oldest son, eh?” There’s coaxing from the other relatives, and laughter, and she looks up at me, with a trademark smile, shy and toothless. “Abush-iy,” Fantaye’s oldest son. The bizarreness of this incident is partly what made me say nothing. So many points of it, from the relation with a polygamous family, to a countryside girl having a brain tumour, made me feel like no one I knew could possibly relate to this. I didn’t say any of this to my friends, or my significant other, or even really talk about it with my own father and my aunt. I felt hopeless and terrible. I buried myself in work and activities and meeting other people, because as I said, those are things that kept the monsters in my stomach at bay. And then, finally, when I decided to say something, I minimized it because how could they understand, or wouldn’t they think it’s sort of one-dimensionally-sad, an African child dying from a treatable illness (of course a brain tumour doesn’t exactly fall into the category of “treatable”, but this is what I do to myself in my head). Wouldn’t they all minimize it somehow, I thought. So I minimized it for them, mentioned it in passing, made it sound like I didn’t know Ruth well or didn’t feel like it was important. I minimized it to myself too; didn’t take time to properly deal with it. I felt like there was nothing I could do, that everything I had ever done was worthless. The seed of worthlessness started to grow and flourish again. I questioned every decision I had ever made. I grasped at strings that seemed like they would provide some sort of help, some sort of distant, different future where things like this would never happen. Would it be better if I were with people who shared more of my background, I thought, who might understand this pain and frustration I have? Would it be better if I moved back home, to Ethiopia? Could I make some sort of change there? Certainly, being motivated to change things is good. But the human condition is universal, and many Ethiopians themselves do not understand rural life. It was unreasonable to, however indirectly, turn away from the people closest to me because I thought somehow they would be inherently unable to understand, when I never gave them a chance to understand. I don’t know why I have this strong, overly stubborn determination to always be the comforter, yet be very scared and dismissive when it comes to seeking comfort. When I finally talked about it to one of my closest friends, what she shared from her own life was still helpful and comforting to me, even if the details were a little bit different. This all came to a head, I am shameless to say, on my period, where my sad emotions in particular typically get turbo-charged by hormonal imbalance. And that’s when I had An Episode, for the first time in a long while, and felt in every waking minute horror, and couldn’t ignore it. I prayed to fall asleep, as relief from the Feeling I had, but would wake up suddenly, way too early, from the stress and anxiety. I blamed America; I wanted to leave the country. I blamed most of all myself, for being useless and worthless and unable to do work. I nitpicked at every small thing that happened to me, turned it into a bad omen. On the inside, I still felt like this wasn’t a “Real Issue” (despite being a clearly serious issue) and that for whatever reason, I didn’t deserve to talk about it or didn’t deserve help. But eventually I scheduled an appointment with MIT Mental Health anyway. I talked about my work and being overwhelmed in a technical class and my thesis. I have never cried at mental health before, or while talking to a stranger, but I cried when I talked about Ruth. I cried when I got to the part of her last days, this ten year old girl. She couldn’t understand why she couldn’t see anything, as she was dying. I broke down; I cried in front of a therapist, while saying that. Ruth always seemed so bright in the face of so much. When you have a big family and you live in such a rural place, the death of children, the brightest people, is a statistical reality. They are like fireworks that burn spectacularly and go out suddenly. As much as I know I should have been more honest and open with my loved ones, I do still feel that other people can’t quite understand it the same way. I remember my father talking about it similarly, death that had happened to him. When we first moved from Denver to the suburbs in Colorado, my father did most of the landscaping. I was helping him one day; it was some weekend, with a bright blue and sunny sky. He planted two beautiful yellow flower bushes. “I named them,” he said. The two flowers were named after two of his close friends in childhood, who had died at 12 and 13 from typhoid fever. He looked up at the sky and there was a complicated look on his face, of sadness and disappointment. I followed his gaze there, up and up and up. Despite how much this event did affect me, I do feel like I’ve gotten better at handling things. I do feel like going through difficult emotional issues before gave me some tools to at least just let myself be, this time, to know what this is and just live in this state of not being fine, knowing that it will pass. I think this was highlighted well in something I wrote just before I went to MIT mental health, which I’ve copied from my personal tumblr, below: It took me years to get out of bed today. Or more precisely several hours. I went to bed at maybe midnight and woke up at 7:30 against my will. I tossed and turned to try and get some more sleep back. After giving up, I read articles and messaged people subletting for the summer until 11:30. I finally gathered enough energy to swing my legs over the edge, to tie up the curtains and let in the light. I am taking today one minute at a time. I showered and washed my hair, thoroughly. I stopped worrying about all the work I was supposed to be doing. I emailed in sick for my only class, stating nothing but the truth: hello Professor, I woke this morning not feeling well. I hoped it would get better as the morning went on, but I dont think Ill be able to make it to class. Washing my hair felt good. I took my time, detangling every strand of it with conditioner, shampooing and rinsing it clean, applying more conditioner and leaving it in longer. Water pooled around my feet from the slightly clogged drain. I stepped out of the shower and sighed. Washing felt good. I went back into my room and cleaned. I dressed. I made my bed. I wiped the surfaces of our small tables and the shelf. I organized my things and hung up clothes. Cleaning felt good, too. I still hadnt done any work. My mom called and I talked to her for a few minutes. Everything was ready at this point, but I was hesitant to get out of the door. I drank water. I checked the bus schedule. I decided to walkmaybe walking would be good. I went to a cafe, where I am now. I read some Infinite Jest and ate breakfast. The cleaning made me feel like Joelle. The unbearable feelings made me think of Kate Gompertthough thankfully, I dont feel like this everyday. At least I know what this is now. I know better than to ignore this feeling, when every little, normal, thoughtless thing is like a major checkpoint to my day. Like normally, my to-do list is “homework, fix current sensor, submit story critiques, blog”on days like today, its just “shower, eat breakfast, put on clothes, put on shoes”. I feel ready to go to office hours now, and ask about my class project. After that I will go to MIT mental health for their walk-in hours. After that I will go talk to my supervisor and cry about our current sensor issues and maybe he will deus-ex-machina my research into working. After that I will email Michael and ask to borrow his current sensor, one I cant remember if I tried or not, and maybe that one will work and solve the problem. After that I will try and do some work. I will try to get a good nights sleep tonightmaybe sleeping earlier will help. I will call my mother. It will be ok. I still think about my cousin Ruth, in the back of all these other things. I had so many plans for the small ones. I am too late for my older cousins, but for the small onesI can sponsor their education like my father does; I can make sure they do well and have healthcare, I can take care of our family. Its hard to think that Ruth passed away before I could do that for her. That maybe even if this all happened later in my life, I still couldnt have helped anything. It will be ok. Its a slow day today. Im just going to let it be slow, and not fight the pace of it. It will be ok. Post Tagged #mental health

More Students Prefer Public Colleges, Study Says

More Students Prefer Public Colleges, Study Says by: Nathan Allen on March 02, 2018 | 0 Comments Comments 645 Views March 2, 2018State Street in Madison, WisconsinState schools are all the rage for the current and future generation of college students, new data suggests. In a survey of more than 500 students between 18 and 23 who are in college or who plan to attend college, 57% say their sites are set on a state college — an increase from the more than 500 college graduates also surveyed by IonTuition, a financial technology company focused on student loans, which self-reported a state college graduation rate of just 44%. The latter group includes ages 24 to 40+ but skews heavily to 24- to 30-year-olds. Of that group, 49% reported graduating from a private college. But for the younger group, dubbed by IonTuition as Generation Z, the rate attending or planning to attend private colleges plummeted to just 18%.The data, part of a much larger report looking at how Generation Z plans on funding college versus previous generations, matches other studies published recently. Last November, the New York  Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities revealed enrollment dropped by 6% for in-state students attending private colleges. In 2016, more than two-thirds of private universities across the U.S. failed to meet enrollment and net tuition revenue targets. Many private liberal arts schools are trying to remedy the growing problem by introducing new majors like data analytics and computational neuroscience. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), total enrollment at U.S. universities dropped 6% from 2010 to 2015 — about 19.3 million students enrolled in 2010 to 17 million in 2015. While attendance at private for-profit colleges surged between 2000 and 2010, attendance dropped by 38% from 2010 to 2015. During the same time of the drop, private nonprofit colleges saw enrollment drop by 6% and enrollment at p ublic colleges decreased 4%.Generation Z is less likely to attend a private college, the report from IonTuition reads. Understandable, as public schools historically have lower tuition.if("undefined"==typeof window.datawrapper)window.datawrapper={};window.datawrapper["ezxwb"]={},window.datawrapper["ezxwb"].embedDeltas={"100":648,"200":403,"300":352,"400":310,"500":293,"700":276,"800":276,"900":276,"1000":276},window.datawrapper["ezxwb"].iframe=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-ezxwb"),window.datawrapper["ezxwb"].iframe.style.height=window.datawrapper["ezxwb"].embedDeltas[Math.min(1e3,Math.max(100*Math.floor(window.datawrapper["ezxwb"].iframe.offsetWidth/100),100))]+"px",window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if("undefined"!=typeof a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var b in a.data["datawrapper-height"])if("ezxwb"==b)window.datawrapper["ezxwb"].iframe.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][b]+"px"});The decrease could come down to simply cost. More than three-quarter s (77%) of Generation Z respondents said that cost was either a defining factor or very important when it comes to deciding which college to attend. The rate was a slight uptick from 70% of the current workforce that said cost was a defining factor or very important when deciding where to attend college. Many students choose to attend a more affordable school rather than apply to more expensive options, even those that may have otherwise been a better fit, the report reads.No doubt, debt is a growing issue in the country. Today (March 1), Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the growing level of student debt could actually slow down the economy in upcoming years. Some 38% of students attending college during the 2015-2016 academic year took an average of $14,000 in student loans, according to data published by the NCES last month. If that rate continued over the typical four years to graduate, thats more than $50,000 in student loan debt at time of graduation.The student loan crisis spans several generations, the IonTuition report reads. Over half of college students believe their parents’ student loans impacted their ability to help with college costs. If this pattern continues, the emerging workforce will be unable to assist their own children, creating a cycle where each generation’s loans make it harder on the next unless support is put in place to break the cycle.if("undefined"==typeof window.datawrapper)window.datawrapper={};window.datawrapper["GRVsF"]={},window.datawrapper["GRVsF"].embedDeltas={"100":605,"200":411,"300":360,"400":318,"500":318,"700":276,"800":276,"900":276,"1000":276},window.datawrapper["GRVsF"].iframe=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-GRVsF"),window.datawrapper["GRVsF"].iframe.style.height=window.datawrapper["GRVsF"].embedDeltas[Math.min(1e3,Math.max(100*Math.floor(window.datawrapper["GRVsF"].iframe.offsetWidth/100),100))]+"px",window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if("undefined"!=typeof a.data["da tawrapper-height"])for(var b in a.data["datawrapper-height"])if("GRVsF"==b)window.datawrapper["GRVsF"].iframe.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][b]+"px"}); Page 1 of 212 »

The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary

The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Founded 1352 by The Guild of Corpus Christi and The Guild of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Sister College – Corpus Christi College Oxford. Men and Women – Undergraduates 253 Postgraduates 220. Corpus Christi is unique in the university for being the only college founded by ‘town’ and not ‘gown’ – in other words established by town’s people and not the ruling class or clergy. The Guild of Corpus Christi and the Guild of the Blessed Virgin Mary pooled resources and were granted a licence by Edward III to build what was the eighth Cambridge college, in 1352. City mayor reminds college of its roots The original court was modest and supported a master and two fellows. They would have studied theology and canon law, along with their responsibilities as chaplains to the guild. The town’s people, led by the mayor, stormed the college in 1381, reminding it of its roots, protesting about the hated ‘candle rents’, levied upon its domestic properties. This led to further peasant protests that King Richard soon brought to a brutal conclusion. Trumpington Street Corpus is one of a cluster of impressive colleges and buildings facing Trumpington Street, the south approach road into central Cambridge. On the east side is Corpus and Pembroke while on the west side is the fabulous Neoclassical Fitzwilliam Museum along side Peterhouse and St Catherine’s College (directly opposite Corpus). Students have a three-minute walk to the market

Analysis Of The Movie The Cooler Essay - 1830 Words

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Ethics Is A Moral Principle That Governs A Person

Ethics is a moral principle that governs a person. As humans, we all share a common ethics that we use to guide us in our everyday life. However when it comes to Environmental ethics, we all have different point of views. Environmental ethics according to the Stanford encyclopedia of Philosophy is defined as â€Å"the discipline in philosophy that studies the moral relationship of human beings to, and also the value and moral status of, the environment and its non-human contents†. The reason why there is such a different point of view is because of education or just human greed. Not everyone in the world has access to education and so, it is hard to expect them to be fully educated on the topic of the importance of different types of natural resources. On another factor, human greed especially in the industrialized world, has become the driving force to get work done. An example could be cutting down trees, polluting different water resources, and hunting down endangered animals. 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Highschool Paper on Catcher in the Rye - 801 Words

Innocence and Purity Innocence is to be free from sin or moral wrong, and purity is freedom from guilt or evil. According to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, innocence and purity grow weaker with time and life experience. The main character Holden holds onto his innocence and purity for as long as possible before understanding that it is inevitable that he grow up. J.D. Salinger proves that innocence and purity fade with time and age. He proves that life experiences can change a person and compel them to grow up and in turn lose their innocence and purity. Innocence and purity are crucial aspects of Holden’s life; he does the best he can to hold onto these pieces of himself throughout the book. Holden takes his red hunting†¦show more content†¦Holden’s innocence grows weaker as he experiences more and more throughout the course of his life. Innocence and purity start to lessen with age and experience. J.D. Salinger proves this through Holden. Holden does not want to move forward in his life; he wants to bottle his innocence. He does not like advancement or the fact that each day he gets a little older. But as he experiences new things he starts to change – his innocence grows weaker and his purity fades. As we get older and encounter new things our purity and innocence grow fainter. Innocence and purity are a part of life in which we cannot hold onto very long. Miranda

Applying Servqual to Web Sites an Exploratory Study Free Essays

string(45) " online sales in the USA accounted for \$51\." International Journal of Quality Reliability Management Emerald Article: Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen Article information: To cite this document: Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study†, International Journal of Quality Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 Permanent link to this document: http://dx. We will write a custom essay sample on Applying Servqual to Web Sites: an Exploratory Study or any similar topic only for you Order Now doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 Downloaded on: 27-01-2013 References: This document contains references to 26 other documents Citations: This document has been cited by 25 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight. com This document has been downloaded 2679 times since 2005. * Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: * Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study†, International Journal of Quality Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 http://dx. doi. org/10. 108/02656710310493634 Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study†, International Journal of Quality Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),†Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study†, International Journal of Quality Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 8 pp. 919 – 935 http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by UCSI EDUCATION SDN BHD For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www. emeraldinsight. com/authors for more information. About Emerald www. emeraldinsight. com With over forty years’ experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download. The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at http://www. emeraldinsight. com/researchregister The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www. emeraldinsight. om/0265-671X. htm NEW RESEARCH Applying SERVQUAL to Web sites: an exploratory study Applying SERVQUAL 919 Jos van Iwaarden and Ton van der Wiele Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Leslie Ball and Robert Millen Received August 2002 Revised December 2002 Accepted December 2002 Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Keywor ds Worldwide Web, SERVQUAL, Electronic commerce Abstract In an effort to identify the quality factors perceived to be most important in relation to the use of Web sites, a survey was undertaken. The questionnaire utilized was based on the SERVQUAL instrument that identi? s ? ve quality dimensions in service environments. The results indicate that the quality dimensions found applicable in the service sector are also applicable to Web sites. The items that have been identi? ed as most important in relation to the quality of Web sites are tangibles (the appearance of the Web site, navigation, search options, and structure), reliability (the ability to judge the trustworthiness of the offered service and the organization performing the service), responsiveness (the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service), assurance (the ability of the Web site to convey trust and con? ence in the organisation behind it with respect to security and privacy), and empathy (the provision of caring, individualized attention to customers, including user recognition and customization). Introduction In the early 1990s three technologies (communications speed, memory capacity, and computer speed) were rapidly growing in terms of capabilities they had for over 20 years. However, their combined S-curve growths suddenly enabled one of the greatest technology revolutions ever seen – the explosion of the Internet. Originally designed as an information conduit, entrepreneurs soon saw the great power of a selling channel that enabled browsing, selecting, and buying without leaving the comfort of the home. Businesses realized that they could interact directly with other businesses over the Internet, as well. Additionally, government agencies caught on and began delivering services online, collecting payments for licenses and taxes, providing information, etc. The history of this explosion is well documented as both computer and Internet use have increased substantially in the past few years (US Department of Commerce, 2002). Since 1997 computer use has grown at a rate of 5. 3 percent on an annualized basis. Internet use has grown at a rate of 20 percent per year since 1998, and in the 13 months prior to the September 2001 survey by the US Department of Commerce, over 26 million more Americans went online. The authors are thankful to all anonymous referees for their valuable comments. International Journal of Quality Reliability Management Vol. 20 No. 8, 2003 pp. 919-935 q MCB UP Limited 0265-671X DOI 10. 1108/02656710310493634 IJQRM 20,8 920 While there is a great talk about the â€Å"digital divide†, the US Department of Commerce reported that 54 percent (or 143 million Americans) have access to the Internet in their homes and that nearly 100 percent of the US population has access through schools and libraries. Thousands of companies were formed to sell goods and services over the Internet during this period creating the â€Å"New Economy†. Subsequently, many of those companies are now gone as witnessed by the huge number of bankruptcies (Baldwin, 2002). Different experts might de? e e-commerce differently, but most agree on one thing: the sector represents a growing piece of the overall commerce pie, and its share is expected to increase steadily – though gradually – over the next ? ve years. Various parties have forecast different results. For example, Forrester reports that online sales in the USA accounted for $51. You read "Applying Servqual to Web Sites: an Exploratory Study" in catego ry "Essay examples" 3 billion in revenue during 2001, and revenue for 2002 is expected to a total of $72. 1 billion, a 41 percent increase over the previous year (Hirsh, 2002). However, this accounts for only 2 percent of the overall retail spending. It has been predicted that this share will grow by about three-tenths of a percentage point each year through at least 2005, marking a slow but steady climb. As for e-commerce sales, another projection estimates that online revenue will total about $90 billion in 2002, $160-$170 billion in 2004, and $287. 9 billion by 2006 (Hirsh, 2002). The value of the Internet goes beyond adding another selling channel. Researchers at McKinsey and Company report that the retention of customers online is easier than in traditional â€Å"bricks and mortar† companies where the online company spends three to ? ve times less to retain them. Companies that retained customers exhibited traits of reliable basic operational execution. Their sites downloaded quickly; they responded to customer queries quickly; they delivered more than 95 percent of their orders on time; and they made it easy for customers to return or exchange purchases. One company raised its on-time delivery rates from 60 to 90 percent, and cut customer churn in half (Agrawal et al. , 2001). The Internet also can play a pivotal role in enhancing brand relationships and corporate reputations. Nike, Disney, Coke, and Toyota are all well-established brands that drive us to search for and ? d their products. Branding is a critical component of the design of Web sites. It is about building a brand or corporate reputation to create relationships with customers (Chiagouris and Wansley, 2001). â€Å"Branding is rede? ned online,† says Caroline Riby, vice president-media director at Saatchi Saatchi Rowland. â€Å"We are moving beyond representing a brand t o experiencing it† (Chiagouris and Wansley, 2001). The Web site must capture the attention of those people who know nothing or very little about the company, but are interested in its category. It must also build awareness of what the company does within the context of the industry in which it is competing. Earlier Web sites were developed by large corporations, which required that they adhere to the corporate logo and color scheme, attach to the corporate databases, and comply with several other corporate requirements. This translated to high cost and signi? cant development time. Others (those created for â€Å"Mom and Pop† operations and early entrepreneurial operations), built over the weekend, did not connect to large databases, and had no standards. While the company was in operation fast, the sites were often unattractive and dif? ult to use. Is it not surprising that the companies that are most successful selling over the Internet are the former and not the later? Certainly, we can ? nd examples of the up-starts that have succeeded, but they have usually adapted to the model of the corporation that requires high standards. Just as in the bricks and mortar wor ld, companies have to offer excellent service on the Web. Web sites will become very important to companies as more products and services will be bought either over the Internet or by making use of the Internet before purchasing in a bricks and mortar store. Therefore, companies need to have Web sites that live up to customers’ expectations. The purpose of our research is to provide empirical evidence on the factors that contribute to the quality of Web sites. Our most important research questions are: . How do customers distinguish a good Web site from a bad one? . What factors determine the quality of a Web site? Customer satisfaction Companies offer quality to satisfy their customers (Dale, 1999). Because a Web site is part of the connection between a company and its customers, it is evident that it should re? ct the quality efforts that are in place throughout the company. Besides this reason there is another reason why a company should provide high quality Web sites to its customers: there is no human contact through Web sites. The interaction via the Internet between a company and a customer is always through technology. This means the â€Å"moment of truth† between a company and a customer is the Web site. Although c ompanies may try to emulate human behavior with technology, the interaction remains different because some aspects of human interaction cannot be replaced with technology, e. g. ourtesy, friendliness, helpfulness, care, commitment, ?exibility and cleanliness (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002). The absence of these aspects of human interaction through which quality can be delivered to customers will have to be compensated by better performance on other quality factors or by excellent performance on â€Å"new† speci? c Web quality factors. A key aspect in customer satisfaction is the way a customer can attain satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a company’s service. If a company wants to satisfy its customers the ? rst question it needs to answer is what is it that Applying SERVQUAL 921 IJQRM 20,8 22 satis? es customers and, equally important, what is it that makes customers dissatis? ed with the company and its products and services. Satisfying customers depends on the balance between customers’ expectations and customers’ experiences with the products and services (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). When a company is able to lift a customer’s experience to a level that exceeds that customer’s expectations, then that customer will be satis? ed. Because customers have ever increasing expectations it is necessary for companies continuously to improve their quality and hence customers’ experiences with the company. The issue is what should be improved to keep the customers satis? ed. What customers experience is not just one simple aspect of a company, but a whole range of aspects. Some of these aspects are concerned with the way customers experience the company itself, some are concerned with the way customers experience the physical product and, ? nally, some are concerned with the way customers experience the service the company offers. Comparing customers’ expectations and their perceptions of actual performance can be done by making use of the SERVQUAL scale of Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml (Zeithaml et al. 1990). This scale has been developed for the service sector. It has ? ve generic dimensions or factors and are stated as follows: (1) Tangibles. Physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel. (2) Reliability. Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. (3) Responsiveness. Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. (4) Assurance (including competence, courtesy, credibility and security). Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and con? dence. (5) Empathy (including access, communication, understanding the customer). Caring and individualized attention that the ? rm provides its customers. In the SERVQUAL instrument, 22 statements measure the performance across these ? ve dimensions. For each statement, the expectation and the experience of a customer is determined. There is some criticism on the long-term stability of the results of the SERVQUAL scale (Lam and Woo, 1997) and on the general applicability of the ? ve dimensions (Buttle, 1996; Crosby and LeMay, 1998). Although alternative models have been proposed for the measurement of service quality, e. . SERVPERF (Cronin and Taylor, 1992), the SERVQUAL scale has been widely used by academics and practitioners to measure service quality. Therefore, this model has been used as a point of reference in this paper. SERVQUAL dimensions in relation to e-business Tangibles Examples of the tangibles factor are â€Å"has up-to-date equipment†, â€Å"physical facilities are visually appealing† and â€Å"materials are visually appealing†. These aspects might be even more important in e-business as there is no face-to-face contact between the customer and an employee. The visual aspects of the equipment (i. e. the Web site) are the only visual contact between a customer and an organization. Therefore, the need to have well functioning and good-looking Web sites is paramount. There are a great number of customers who abandon their shopping carts on the Internet because they get frustrated with the technology, or the design and lay out of the Web site interface (Hager and Elliot, 2001). The visual aspects of Web sites are also judged differently by the people of different age. While young people may be attracted by ? shy graphics, sounds and a high-speed interface, older people do not want blinking texts that are hard to read or animations that distract from the use of the Web site (Houtman, 2002). Although a number of Web sites offer users the opportunity to customise the Web site to their needs, this customization process is mostly aimed at the content of the Web site and not at the graphics, animations and sounds. Reliability Some of the aspects in the reliability factor have to do with â€Å"doing what is promised† and â€Å"doing it at the promised time†. Although many organizations seem to think that the major reason why customers shop via the Internet is because of the low prices, this does not always need to be the case. Some organizations found out the hard way that there are also a lot of customers shopping via the Internet because of convenience considerations (Riseley and Schehr, 2000). If customers cannot trust an organization to do what they ask, those customers will be dissatis? ed. Priceline, for example, ran into big problems by the end of 2000 because of its focus on the lowest prices. People could buy a plane ticket at a very low price, but because of possible inconvenient ? ing times there was a big risk for customers. This resulted in dissatis? ed customers who were happy to trade off Priceline’s discounts for the convenience of a competitor (Riseley and Schehr, 2000). Responsiveness One of the aspects in the responsiveness factor is â€Å"gives prompt service†. The amount of time it takes to download a W eb page appears to be of great importance to the users of the Internet. Research in 1999 found that fewer than 10 percent of users leave a Web site if page response time is kept below 7 s. However, when it rises above 8 s, 30 percent of users leave. When delays exceed 12 s, a staggering 70 percent of users leave a Web site (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002). It can be assumed that people expect Web sites to be even more quicker than in 1999 because of the technological advances. Thus, it is very important Applying SERVQUAL 923 IJQRM 20,8 924 for organizations to have a Web site that is quick, but on the other hand users expect Web sites to be visually appealing. As the number and size of animations, pictures and sounds increase to make a Web page more visually appealing, the time it takes to download that Web page will also increase, which is judged negatively by users. Hence, there is a trade-off between the looks of a Web site and the speed of that site. Organizations will have to try to ? nd the right balance between good looks and speed. The trade-off between looks and speed is complicated by companies’ demand that their Web sites convey the corporate image (Manning et al. , 1998). The design department of a company wants Web pages to be easily recognisable as belonging to that company. In their view, Web pages have to display company and product logos as well as other graphics that underscore the corporate identity. These graphics add to the overall size of Web pages and thereby increase the download time for Internet users. It is questionable whether users are willing to accept slower pages in return for more logos and graphics that do not improve the functionality of the Web site (although they might improve the visual appeal). Assurance One of the aspects in the assurance factor is â€Å"knowledge to answer questions†. Customers expect to ? nd everything they want on a Web site. In a bricks and mortar store, people feel comfortable with a limited inventory. On the Internet, people are not satis? ed if they cannot ? nd everything they want. Web shops need to have great depth of inventory and rich and relevant product information (Dayal et al. , 2002). Two other aspects in the assurance factor are â€Å"employees can be trusted† and â€Å"feel safe in your transactions with employees†. First, there is the risk for users to share personal information with an organization they do not know. Research on this topic (Statistical Research Inc. , 2001) shows that at least 50 percent of users are very concerned about: misuse of credit card information given over the Internet; selling or sharing of personal information by Web site owners; and cookies that track customers’ Internet activity. Second, the same research shows that two-thirds of active Web users typically abandon a site that requests personal information and one in ? ve has entered false information to gain access to a Web site. Aspects in the assurance factor that could be very important in e-business are (Daughtrey, 2001): . availability of a formal privacy and con? dentiality policy on a Web site; . secured access to a Web site (that customers are prompted to acknowledge); . general reputation of supplier; . certi? cations or guarantees of assurance; and . reports of experiences of other customers. The ? rst aspect in this list is also acknowledged by the International Organization for Standardisation in Geneva. The Code of Practice for Information Security Management (ISO/IEC 17799:2000) provides a basis for establishing and maintaining the means of handling sensitive data (Daughtrey, 2001). Certi? cations and guarantees of assurance are also important in e-business. More and more organizations are trying to obtain certi? cation by an objective, consensus-based standard, just as they did earlier with quality management standards (Daughtrey, 2001). These organizations are becoming aware of the advantages of such certi? cation in relation to customers’ trust in these organizations. Empathy In the dimension of empathy there are several aspects that are usually not found on a Web site. Because of the fact that there is no human interaction, Web sites normally do not offer personal attention. To achieve this, a number of Web sites have a design that can be personalized by the users of these sites, so people can have their own version of the Web site. This kind of Web site design is aimed at giving users the experience of getting personal attention. The idea is that the more a Web site is tailored to a particular customer’s needs, the more likely that customer will return again and again (The Economist, 2001). The most advanced technologies in this area aim to create a face-to-virtual-face interaction. A friendly looking face of a virtual assistant on your screen is supposed to make customers feel more comfortable. With the use of arti? cial intelligence, the virtual assistant can suggest products or services that might be of interest to a customer based on previous purchases and on reactions to the questions of the virtual assistant. The latter possibility of asking users of a Web site questions via a virtual assistant will enable companies to tailor their offerings to the wishes of the user to prevent customer dissatisfaction. The only purpose of all these technological gadgets is to add one of the Web’s key missing ingredients: warmth (The Economist, 2001). Other aspects It seems that most of the dimensions and aspects that have been de? ned for general service environments are also important in e-business. Besides the ? ve dimensions as de? ned by Zeithaml et al. (1990), empirical evidence might come up with more speci? c dimensions related to e-business. Some preliminary research has been done in this area (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002; Fink and Laupase, 2000; Schubert and Dettling, 2001; Wan, 2000), but no de? nitive results have been attained. Hence, more research is needed (Zeithaml, 2002). Research methodology The research was conducted by means of a questionnaire survey. Employment of this approach provides a relatively easy means to study the perceptions and Applying SERVQUAL 925 IJQRM 20,8 926 opinions of a large group of people in a limited time frame and at low costs. The survey was undertaken with the student population at Northeastern University (NEU), Boston, USA. Students were expected to be familiar with e-business and the Internet. Students received an e-mail with a hyperlink to the Web site containing the questionnaire allowing them to respond to the questionnaire electronically and to submit by clicking a button. The purpose of the questionnaire survey was to develop empirical evidence on the quality factors of Web sites that are important to people who are familiar with the Internet and frequent Internet users. The survey comprised the following questions: . personal information (gender, age, academic discipline); . respondents’ use of Internet (equipment, frequency of use); . peci? c Web sites that are visited by respondents (a prede? ned list of 20 categories of Web sites); and . aspects of Web quality (a prede? ned list of 50 aspects). The core of the questionnaire consists of the list of aspects of Web quality. For every aspect we ask the respondent to indicate the importance of that aspect and at the same time we ask for thei r satisfaction with that aspect. The structure of the questions is based on the SERVQUAL scale (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). The aspects have been de? ned according to the categories of the model developed by Cox and Dale (2001, 2002) and are as follows: clarity of purpose; . design; . communication; . reliability; . service and frequently asked questions; . accessibility and speed; . product or service choice; . order con? rmation; . product purchase; . user recognition; . extra service; and . frequent buyer incentives. For each of these categories a number of aspects have been de? ned in the questionnaire. The questionnaire has been discussed with experts in the ? eld of quality management and a pilot study has been conducted amongst a small number of students. This lead to an improved questionnaire which has been used for the esearch presented in this paper. Survey results Sample and response rate All students who obtained a university e-mail account at NEU (approximately 6,000) rece ived an e-mail about the study and the questionnaire. Responses were received from 293 students. The response rate for the direct mailings to students was rather low (approximately 5 percent of the number of e-mails sent out), although acceptable for this type of mailing. Applying SERVQUAL 927 Descriptive statistics In Tables I and II, the response sample is described in terms of gender and age, respectively. A comparison of the response sample with the total population at NEU leads to the conclusion that the response group is representative for the total population. The respondents were enrolled across many academic disciplines, and judged by the age of the respondents, most students were at the undergraduate level. Table III shows the respondents’ use of the Internet in terms of the quality of their own equipment. Overall the students are rather satis? ed with their equipment and do not seem to have problems with speed and download time. Table IV summarizes the frequencies of respondents’ Internet visits. They visit the Internet on an average 18 times per week, for about an hour per visit. So, it is clear that students make frequent use of the Internet. Male Female Total 104 188 292 Table I. Number of respondents by gender , 21 years 21-25 years 26-30 years 31-35 years . 35 years Total 192 71 19 4 7 293 Table II. Number of respondents by age PC Connection speed Printing from the Web Downloading from the Web Notes: On a ? ve-point scale from very dissatis? ed to very satis? ed 3. 83 3. 59 3. 53 3. 57 Table III. Satisfaction of respondents with the equipment they use IJQRM 20,8 928 Table IV. The use of the Web It is interesting to note the types of Web sites that are used most often by our respondents (Table V). The types of Web sites that are used most often are: search engines, university sites, daily news and entertainment sites. Web sites that are used less frequently are: e-shops and chat rooms. Sites with stock exchange information are not visited very often either. In Table VI (top ten) and Table VII (bottom ten) the importance (expectations) and the satisfaction (experiences) are summarized on prede? ned aspects related to the quality of Web sites. The top ten aspects seem to relate to reliability issues in pure e-commerce. Customers who buy a product on the Internet want Web sites and the organizations behind them to be trustworthy. E-commerce Web sites need to be fast, simple and always available. Customers want a clear overview and con? rmation of what they bought and what they have to pay for. Easy to ? nd desired Web site 3. 80 Easy to use Web page links 3. 92 Easy to ? nd relevant information 3. 38 Time spent on one site , 12 min Time on the Web per Internet visit , 60 min Number of Internet visits per week , 19 visits Note: If not indicated otherwise, on a ? ve-point scale from very dif? cult to very easy Mean Table V. Web sites ranked by requency of visits Search engines Daily newspapers Entertainment Universities Electronic libraries Personal Web sites Information portals Games Travel Sports Banking Company information E-shops Book stores Music stores Movie stores Second-hand products Stock exchange information Who is where Chat rooms Note: On a ? ve-point scale from never to once a day or more 4. 64 3. 63 3. 47 3. 38 3. 02 2. 99 2. 92 2. 82 2. 72 2. 62 2. 60 2. 58 2. 57 2. 41 2. 39 2. 27 2. 16 2. 02 1. 84 1. 76 Top ten with highest scores on importance Finding your way on the Web site is easya Access is fasta A complete overview of the order is presented before ? al purchase decisiona Tax and/or other charges are clearly detaileda The registration process is simplea Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all timesa All relevant order con? rmation details sent by e-maila Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three daysa Order-tracking details are available until deliverya There are well programmed search optionsa Importance Satisfaction mean mean Delta S-I 4. 61 4. 60 3. 44 3. 31 2 1. 17 2 1. 29 4. 55 4. 50 4. 50 4. 46 4. 46 3. 75 3. 47 3. 36 3. 18 3. 84 2 0. 80 2 1. 03 2 1. 14 2 1. 28 2 0. 62 4. 43 4. 40 4. 39 3. 24 3. 30 3. 08 1. 19 2 1. 10 2 1. 31 Notes: a Mean values on ? ve-point scales; difference between importance and satisfacti on signi? cant at 0. 01 level based on a t-test (two-tailed) Bottom ten with lowest scores on importance Applying SERVQUAL Importance Satisfaction mean mean Searches on related sites are provideda 3. 81 The privacy policy is accessiblea 3. 79 The security policy is accessiblea 3. 76 The Web site contains company detailsa 3. 70 3. 68 Scrolling through pages and text is kept to a minimuma Links are provided to pages on related products and servicesa 3. 67 Web site animations are meaningfula 3. 52 A customer platform is provided for exchange of ideas 3. 36 The user is invited into a frequent buyer programa 3. 31 Brand image is important 3. 22 Notes: a Mean values on ? ve-point scales; Difference between importance signi? cant at 0. 01 level based on a t-test (two-tailed) 3. 40 3. 52 3. 51 3. 32 3. 29 929 Table VI. Importance of and satisfaction with aspects of Web quality Delta S-I 2 0. 41 2 0. 27 2 0. 25 2 0. 38 2 0. 39 3. 40 2 0. 27 3. 21 2 0. 31 3. 29 2 0. 07 3. 08 2 0. 23 3. 29 0. 07 and satisfaction The bottom ten aspects seem to relate to extra service (e. g. customization of Web sites) and information (e. g. ecurity policy and company details) that is provided to the customer. Apparently respondents do not ? nd these extras very important in their use of the Internet. Tables VI and VII also show the gaps between experiences and expectations (satisfaction minus importance). It can be concluded that the gap is widest for the aspects that respondents perceive as most impor tant. The aspect with the largest gap is â€Å"access is fast† (satisfaction score 3. 31 and importance score 4. 60). In the top ten aspects there are no aspects with a positive delta, meaning Table VII. Importance of and satisfaction with aspects of Web quality IJQRM 20,8 930 that for every aspect the experience is less than expected. In the bottom ten aspects there is just one aspect with a (very small) positive delta â€Å"brand image†. Factor analyses (varimax, principal components) on the importance data (KMO value ? 0. 91) and satisfaction data (KMO value ? 0. 93) based on Eigenvalues greater than one indicated 12 factor solutions. These factors cluster the aspects more or less according to the structure of the questionnaire. Most of these factors also become too speci? c and do not disclose the underlying structure of customers’ perceptions of the quality of Web sites. The Scree plots indicated solutions with fewer factors, possibly around ? ve factors. A comparison of the results of factor analyses with varying numbers of factors led to the conclusion that ? ve-factor solutions ? t the data best. These ? ve-factor solutions were used to ? nd evidence for the existence of the ? ve dimensions according to the SERVQUAL scale (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). The results of these ? ve-factor solutions are summarized in Table VIII. In Table VIII we only include the aspects with factor loadings greater than 0. 5. The aspects are ranked under each factor according to their factor loadings. It can be seen from the table that the two ? ve-factor solutions (importance and satisfaction) come to the same conclusions regarding the clustering of the aspects. There are some minor differences in the clustering of the aspects between the two factor solutions; however, these differences are related to the aspects with low factor loadings. It can be concluded that the factor analyses on both the importance of the Web quality aspects and the satisfaction with the Web quality aspects are compatible with the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale. Correlation between Web sites and Web quality factors The importance of any of the ? e factors of the SERVQUAL scale might differ per type of Web site, just like it differs per service sector in the bricks and mortar world. Therefore, a correlation between the ? ve SERVQUAL factors and the different types of Web sites is useful to determine these differences. In order to categorize the fairly large number of different types of Web sites, a fact or analysis (varimax, principal components, KMO value ? 0. 83) on the data on the use of Web sites (Table V) is conducted. The results of this factor analysis indicate that there are clearly ? ve groups of sites that form the underlying usage pattern. These are: (1) e-shops for books, music, movies, etc. (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 75); (2) university and study information (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 64); (3) games, entertainment, and sport (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 66); (4) company information, stock information, and banks (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 69); and (5) general information on daily news, travel, libraries, and search engines (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 58). Importance Satisfaction Factor 1 (Reliability) A complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision Tax and/or other charges are clearly detailed Different payment options are stated clearly All relevant order con? rmation details are sent by e-mail within 24 hours Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all times Terms and conditions of sales are accessible Order-tracking details are available until delivery Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three days Full details of product or service pricing are available The registration process is simple Full product or service characteristics are available Registration process details are retained The Web site offers free shipping and handling within a set of rules Access is fast The user can make a purchase without Web ite registration Factor 1 (Reliability) All relevant order con? rmation details are sent by e-mail within 24 hours A complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision Terms and conditions of sales are accessible Order-tracking details are available until delivery Different payment options are stated clearly Tax and/or other charges are clearly detailed Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all times Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three days The home page features options for new and registered users Registration process details are retained Factor 2 (Tangibles) Finding your way on the Web site is easy Information is found with a minimum of clicks Navigation is consistent and standardized There are well programmed search options Instructions are directly available Opening of new screens is kept to a minimum Applying SERVQUAL Factor 2 (Tangibles) Finding your way on the Web site is easy Information is found with a minimum of clicks Navigation is consistent and standardized The number and type of links are meaningful The purpose is clear Scrolling through pages and text is kept to a minimum Instructions are directly available It is easy to print from the Web Factor 3 (Empathy) Factor 3 (Empathy) Links are provided to pages on related products Links are provided to pages on related products and services and services A customer platform is provided for the On travel sites a ? ight/hotel search is provided exchange of ideas A standard navigation bar, home button and On travel sites the user can customize seat and back/forward button are available on every meal preferences and the information is page retained (continued ) 931 Table VIII. Con? rmative factor analysis (? ve-factor solution) IJQRM 20,8 Importance Satisfaction It is easy to print from the Web On travel sites a ? ight/hotel search is provided Web sites that focus on brand awareness have a store locator The user is invited into a frequent buyer program Factor 4 (Assurance) The security policy is accessible The privacy policy is accessible External validation of trustworthiness is important The Web site contains company details Brand image is important Page availability information is given on entry The user is invited into a frequent buyer program A customer platform is provided for exchange of ideas Factor 4 (Assurance) The privacy policy is accessible The security policy is accessible The Web site contains company details External validation of trustworthiness is important 932 Factor 5 (Responsiveness) The frequently asked questions and answers contain links that take the user to the relevant page(s) Information is provided to frequently asked questions and answers Queries or complaints are resolved within 24 hours User feedback is sought to measure customer satisfaction An e-mail address for queries and complaints is provided Table VIII. Factor 5 (Responsiveness) User feedback is sought to measure customer satisfaction Queries or complaints are resolved within 24 hours The frequently asked questions and answers contain links that take the user to the relevant page(s) Access is fast Opening of new screens is kept to a minimum Graphics and animation do not detract from use Full details of product or service pricing are available Notes: Principal component analysis. Varimax with Kaiser normalization. Rotation converged in nine iterations (importance) and ten iterations (satisfaction). Factor loadings . 0. 5, ranking based on factor loadings from high to low Table IX shows the correlation matrix between the frequency of use of types of Web sites and the importance of the Web quality factors. Some results are as follows: . All ? ve quality dimensions are most strongly correlated with e-shops, indicating that frequent users of e-shops tend to have higher quality expectations. . An increase in the frequency of use of the types of Web sites is in all cases most strongly correlated with either empathy (E-shops), assurance (company sites and search engines) or responsiveness (study related sites, Reliability Coef. Sign E-shops (books, music, movies etc. ) Study-related sites Games and sports sites Company and banking sites Search engines, daily news, travel Tangibles Coef. Sign Empathy Coef. Sign Assurance Coef. Sign Responsiveness Coef. Sign 0. 220 ** 0. 174 ** 0. 239 ** 0. 232 ** 0. 233 ** 0. 171 ** 0. 167 ** 0. 183 ** 0. 156 ** 0. 202 ** 0. 114 * 0. 124 * 0. 168 ** 0. 112 n. s. 0. 171 ** 0. 144 ** 0. 136 * 0. 151 ** 0. 166 ** 0. 144 ** 0. 122 * 0. 115 * 0. 115 * 0. 123 * 0. 115 * Notes: * Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 05 level (two-tailed); ** Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 01 level (two-tailed); n. s. ? no signi? cant correlation . Applying SERVQUAL and games and sports). More frequent users of the Internet tend to ? nd reliability and tangibles less important. All correlation coef? cients are positive, indicating that for all types of Web sites more usage leads to higher importance of all quality dimensions. The experienced user seems to have higher expectations of the quality of Web sites. Conclusion The results of this research can be summarised in the following way. Of a prede? ned list of Web quality aspects these aspects are considered to be the most important: access is fast; ? nding your way on the Web site is easy; a complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision; and the registration process is simple. Of the ? e factors that can be found by means of factor analyses (reliability, tangibles, empathy, assurance and responsiveness) various aspects related to the factors reliability and tangibles are included in the top ten important aspects. Various aspects related to the factors empathy and assurance are included in the bottom ten aspects ranked according to their perceived importance. Both the importance of the Web quality aspects and the satisfaction with the Web quality aspects are compatible with ? ve-factor analyses that support the existence of the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale of Zeithaml et al. (1990). The importance of any of the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale differs per type of Web site, just like it differs per service industry in the bricks and mortar world. So far, it can be concluded that the quality dimensions developed by Zeithaml et al. (1990) for service environments are equally useful in e-business. 933 Table IX. Correlation between the frequency of use of types of Web sites and the importance of the Web quality factors IJQRM 20,8 934 Further analysis of the data is needed. While this research project yields a number of very interesting results, we believe that there are a number of things that should be done to con? m our results as well as to expand our hypotheses. First, with the number of Internet users now over one billion, our sample is relatively small. Therefore, research with larger samples that pose the same or similar questions would be appropriate. Second, Internet users come from all over the globe. One has to suspect that there are differences between a sample taken from students of the USA and what might be found among students elsewhere. Possible, language, culture, religion, and a host of other factors may be important to a user’s impression of the quality of a Web site. Finally, quality is an area of critical importance for commercial companies. Businesses need to understand what attracts people to their Web sites, what keeps them there, and what keeps them coming back. They need to understand the differences between the casual buyer versus the user who visits their Web sites on a daily basis. Web sites for companies like Dell, Cisco, Orbitz, and Covisint do millions of dollars of business each day. They need to understand the factors that keep these businesses growing better by understanding what encourages buying and what brings them back to the Web sites. Likewise, their competitors need to understand these factors even more to compete in this highly competitive marketplace. Due to the signi? cance of this to business, we expect that this type of research will be ongoing for many years to come. The results of that research will be easier to use Web sites that are more customer focused and evolving as the user evolves. A Chinese proverb says, â€Å"May you live in interesting times†. We are certainly living in interesting times. References Agrawal, V. , Arjona, L. and Lemmens, R. (2001), â€Å"E-performance: the path to rational exuberance†, The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 1. Baldwin, S. 2002), Ghost Sites, available at: www. disobey. com/ghostsites (accessed 17 January). Buttle, F. (1996), â€Å"SERVQUAL: review, critique, research agenda†, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 8-25. Chiagouris, L. and Wansley, B. (2001), â€Å"Branding on the Internet†, available at: www. MarketingPower. com Cox, J . and Dale, B. G. (2001), â€Å"Service quality and e-commerce: an exploratory analysis†, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 121-31. Cox, J. and Dale, B. G. (2002), â€Å"Key quality factors in Web site design and use: an examination†, International Journal of Quality Reliability Management, Vol. 19 No. 7, pp. 862-88. Cronin, J. J. Jr and Taylor, S. A. (1992), â€Å"Measuring service quality: a re-examination and extension†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56 No. 3, pp. 55-69. Crosby, L. and LeMay, S. A. 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(2002), â€Å"How big is e-commerce? †, E-commerce Times, available at: www. ecommercetimes. om/perl/story/18403. html (accessed 27 June). Houtman, J. (2002), â€Å"Webpagina’s instelbaar voor oudere surfers†, Emerce, 25 March. Lam, S. S. K. and Woo, K. S. (1997), â€Å"Measuring service quality: a test-retest reliability investigation of SERVQUAL†, Journal of the Market Research Society, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 381-96. Manning, H. , McCarthy, J. C. and Souza, R. K. (1998), Forrester Report: Why Most Web Sites Fail, Forrester, Washington, DC. Riseley, M. and Schehr, D. (2000), â€Å"Priceline’s problems result from poor execution in a niche market†, Gartner First Take, 8 November. Schubert, P. nd Dettling, W. (2001), â€Å"Web site evaluation: do Web applications meet user expectations? Music, consumer goods and e-banking on the test bed†, Proceedings of the 14th Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, Bled, pp. 383-403. Statistical Research Inc. (2001), â€Å"Even veteran Web users remain skittish about sites that get personal†, 7 June, available at: www. statisticalresearch. com/press/pr060701. htm (accessed 15 March 2002). US Department of Commerce (2002), A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet, US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, February. Wan, H. A. (2000), â€Å"Opportunities to enhance a commercial Web site†, Information and Management, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 15-21. Zeithaml, V. A. (2002), â€Å"Guru view†, Managing Service Quality, special issue on service excellence, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 135-8. Zeithaml, V. A. , Parasuraman, A. and Berry, L. L. (1990), Delivering Quality Service; Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, The Free Press, New York, NY. Further reading Cutler, M. and Strene, J. (2000), E-metric: Business Metric for the New Economy, NetGenesis Corp. Applying SERVQUAL 935 How to cite Applying Servqual to Web Sites: an Exploratory Study, Essay examples