Checkpoint Jsbmha and Hipaa Case Study

Checkpoint: JSBMHA and HIPAA Case Study Phoebe Edwards Carrie Cooper 4/18/13 1. How does HIPPA serve to protect patient rights? A patient’s health information can be shared with doctors and hospitals for treatment and care. The information can also be shared with family members who the patient has given permission to access the patient’s records. HIPPA’s guidelines make clear exactly what information about patients is protected. Called PHI, this information includes anything that would identify a patient, from name, Social Security numbers and addresses to broader identifiers like race, age and home state.Information about the person’s health care needs or medical history is also considered PHI. HIPPA guidelines dictate that this information cannot be shared except in particular instances, including when the individual patient requests their own personal information, or when privacy investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services requires it. 2. What areas of the JSBMHA did HIPAA compliance impact? HIPPA has a great impact on the patients’ rights, all areas of the JSBMHA is affected by these two individuals. It affected the patients, and put the agency in an awkward position.It affected the grandmother which she can make others aware about what happened and this could affect the agency negatively. People who are involved with the agency could make people feel uncomfortable about giving them any information. And this mean any information is not safe at JSBMHA, and the trust has been violated. 3. What actions should the JSBMHA director take about the HIPAA violation? I think that both of them should get suspended, this is a serious violation. They have put JSBMHA in a very bad situation and have lost the trust of the family.Jim know better ,because he has been with JSBMHA for a long time, longer then Betty, he should have told her that she should have not be talking about these clients outside of the office. I think that Jim should get fired because he know ‘s better, after being at the JSMHA for 20 years is a long time to be with JSMHA and it is more than enough time to know and understand the rules. Jim was supposed to be an example to Betty, someone who Betty can learn from. JSMHA should fired Jim and Betty because Jim did not tell about the HIPAA rules.

A Day in the Life of Brent Dorsey

1. What alternatives are available to Brent in regards to the audit of payables? What are the pros and cons of each alternative? a. One alternative that Brent go do is ask the accountant from Northwest Steel Producers to pull the needed invoices and have them ready in a reasonable time period for review. By doing this it would save Brent time from searching for specific invoices and leave him more time to focus on other audit issues. b. Brent could do as subjected and only pull a minimum amount and take the change of being caught.The pros of this would be that Brent would be able to complete the accounts payable a little sooner but the cons would be that the audit would not be complete and the audit report could have the possibility of not be accurate. I would not recommend this alternative. c. Brent could audit all the payables as required and follow the AICPA regulations. The pros would be that Brent has not violated any regulations and would maintain his job and maintained his eth ical responsibilities. The cons would be that Brent would have to work harder and spend more time working and less time with his wife. . What consequences for Brent, the auditing firm, and others involved, may arise from â€Å"eating time,† as Scott suggested? Similarly, what consequences for Brent, the auditing firm, and others involved, may arise from not completing audit procedures, as Megan suggested? The consequences from â€Å"eating time† as Scott suggested would cause production reports to be incorrect and also would suggest that in the future the CPA firm could possibly perform the audit on a tighter schedule next year.Now if Brent was to follow Megan’s suggestion the auditing firm would not be providing the audit review that is expected and the audit report would be considered incomplete. 3. In your opinion, which of Brent’s alternative courses of action would provide the best outcome and why? What should Brent do? How would you handle the ethic al issues involved in this situation? I feel that Brent’s alternative course of action of calling it a night now and going home and spending time with his wife then getting up early in the morning and going at it again would be the best choice of action based on the alternatives that have been presented.The ethical issues involved in this situation is to not perform the audit under expectations because he is unhappy on the choices he has been given and the choice that has been made. 4. What could John Peters and the other auditors do to better handle the demands of career and family life? John Peters and the other auditors could hire some other associates to provide assistance in the audits which would relieve some of the demands of career and leave more time with family life.

Dramatic effects to in Act 1, Scene 1 and Act 3, Scene 1 of “Romeo and Juliet” Essay

How does Shakespeare use language and dramatic effects to in Act 1, Scene 1 and Act 3, Scene 1 of Montague family. Later in Act One Scene Five he authenticates that all that is ever on his mind is war as when he sees Romeo at the Capulet party (Romeo being a Montague and therefore not wanted), instead of letting it pass as a party in Elizabethan times and today is no place for fighting, he asks Capulet for permission to fight him there and then – â€Å"Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe; a villain, that is hither come in spite to scorn at our solemnity this night.† This quote demonstrates Tybalt’s willingness to vehemently insult others and the â€Å"s† sounds he uses suggests he is almost hissing his hatred. Throughout the play Tybalt is extremely one-dimensional when it comes to language; when he speaks it as always at a dramatic or leading up to a dramatic point in the play. Maybe due to the similar circumstances that he speaks in or the fact that he is a warrior and no poet he repeatedly speaks in blank verse (or prose) Romeo is an archetypal lover, who despite his good intentions is still forced into fighting. He is the one male character in the entire to play that is willing to forsake his family name for love; this portrays him as an outsider to typical Veronian behaviour. This is strongly proclaimed by Shakespeare in Act One Scene One after a brawl between the two families in the streets – â€Å"What fray was here? Yet tell me not for I have heard it all!†-Demonstrating Romeo’s mood as someone who is detached from the fighting as he dares to be. Although Shakespeare substantially promotes non-belligerence throughout the play using the character Benvolio, he does not agree with the way Romeo attempts to break up the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio (â€Å"I thought all for the best†) – perhaps he is conveying to us that interference is bad. This is well shown in the Franco Zeffirelli (1968) film of â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† as the fight is made out to be g entlemanly and playful, it is shown to be Romeo’s fault Mercutio dies. Romeo’s extensive language adds to the atmosphere of the play and gave the highly trained ear of an Elizabethan play watcher an insight into what was going to happen. Whilst Romeo is not in a scene that is displaying any particular passion for love or war he speaks in blank verse, whilst when he is with Juliet he switches to sonnet (or rhyming verse) form – this was  considered very romantic in this period of history, finally when Romeo challenges Tybalt he seeps into more colloquial, cruel pros to demonstrate his anger. What is most noticeable about the language Romeo uses is actually that it seems always to be tainted, this is due to the constraint oxymorons he uses – â€Å"Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health.† This bolsters the contrast Shakespeare creates, the way that the play is constantly switching between violent or death or love scenes. The character of Romeo is all about contrast – one second he is the loving husband of Juliet, the other he is the bloodthirsty killer of Tybalt. From the beginning to the end of the play, Shakespeare exploits this contrast. In the prologue, the audience is told that the â€Å"lovers take their life†. Love is tainted with death. At the end, by using Romeo and Juliet as a sacrifice, ending the ancient grudge, we continue to experience mixed emotions because of this contrast. Although death claims two innocent lives, love is ultimately triumphant. Tybalt’s opposite is Benvolio. Unlike Tybalt, war is the last thing he thinks about, instead he feels that there is much more to life than fighting and in reconciliation of this he will always try to break up fights, this is shown in the Act One Scene One when he attempts to break up the fight that Sampson and Gregory have created by shouting â€Å"Part, fools! Put up your swords; you know not what you do.† Benvolio’s underlying judiciousness is shown by the use of the word â€Å"fools†; proving that he considers Samson and Gregory to be imbeciles for fighting. Not only does Benvolio try to break up fights, he also is willing to give council to his friends – the particular case shown in the play is when he confides with Romeo about Rosalin – â€Å"What sadness lengthens Romeo’s hours?† Shakespeare uses him as a dramatic device, for example he always truthfully reports fights, does not get killed and has an active participation s o could possibly be viewed as a role model. Also, interestingly enough in Act Three Scene One he does not get involved in the fighting even when Mercutio is killed; this is another of Shakespeare’s more pacifistic of opinions saying that you should not even fight if it is to bring someone to justice. Amid the highs and lows of the play Benvolio only employs two different styles of language, he uses prose or blank verse when he is speaking in a time of peace e.g. when counselling Romeo, and merges  into a rhymed verse when his adrenalin is at is peak – like when he is breaking up a fight. The rhymed verse shows his high principles and how he understands the responsibilities of being a noble. Although Tybalt, Romeo and Benvolio are undoubtedly the dominant male characters, males such as Mercutio, Sampson and Gregory succeed in making important points concerning the main theme of the play, masculinity. Sampson and Gregory spearhead the first scene with a crude, slanderous conversation that ultimately leads to a brawl in the tight streets of Verona. Shakespeare moulds them into a tool for expressing loutish – therefore not truly manly behaviour. They also play an important part in starting the fight, which captures the audiences’ attention in the beginning of the play. These louts are more interested in showing off to each other than helping to maintain a stable society, they do this by making bold comments concerning sex and fighting – it makes their already oversized ego swell with feelings of machismo. The language they use reinforces this behaviour – â€Å"I will push Montague’s men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall.† The verbs â€Å"push† and â€Å"thrust† are very violent adding to Gregory’s and Sampson’s characters. Overall Sampson and Gregory set the initial tone of the play, they show the audience the relevance to masculinity in it, that the play will have a varied temperament and to expect wordplay – especially with characters such as Mercutio to come. Concerning wordplay, Mercutio uses it extensively; even when he is on the brink of death he jokes – â€Å"Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.† Mercutio does this to conserve his manliness; in modern day terms it is comparable to a rugby player being injured seriously and asking to continue playing. However, after his witty fusillade of comic comments it is revealed to his friend that he is in fact in terrible pain as in his last breaths he shouts out â€Å"A plague a ‘both your houses,† He repeats this three times for added effect. This curse was one of incredible seriousness at the time, as in the 16th century England had been devastated by plagues several times. With this, Mercutio the joker ends his life on a malicious tone; this reinforces the idea that the feud is to blame for his death. Shakespeare creates the play’s atmosphere using several dramatic effects, a very important one is the terminology used for swords especially during the first seen. Sampson and Gregory refer to their weapons with sexual connotations, for example the terms â€Å"fiddling stick† and â€Å"naked weapon† are both used, these props swell the testosterone filled nature of the young duelling males. This effect is essential as in the 16th century a swordsman of Tybalt’s calibre was admired; this is demonstrated when the placid Benvolio describes Tybalt as â€Å"stout†. Shakespeare makes a key point concerning masculinity in Act Three Scene One when the prince denounces Romeo’s masculine, but not law-abiding action when he kills Tybalt to avenge Mercutio in order to protect the citizens of Verona. Shakespeare makes the prince do this to express that people should do what is in the community’s interests rather than allowing deaths to slip past their gaze. The prince puts down this manly action by exiling Romeo thus pleasing both houses and keeping peace – â€Å"Romeo slew him; he slew Tybalt, and for that offence we do exile him hence.† This corresponds directly towards Elizabethan England as due to numerous noble duels, many high up people were getting killed so duals began to be clamped down on more thoroughly. Yet another way in which Shakespeare adds to the feel of tension in the play -as well as giving the audience an additional awareness of the social context is by the setting. Shakespeare sets the play in the swelteringly hot and extraordinarily cramped city of Verona; this style of city was typical of the Elizabethan period adding to the play a more realistic feel. A good example of this being shown is when Romeo asks the way to the house of Capulet and the servant replies â€Å"up.† – this is an obvious referral to the architectural style of the Elizabethan period. In addition the combination of heat and little space may have irritated the characters – adding to their aggression. Later on in act  three Benvolio sums this up by saying â€Å"The day is hot, the capels are aboard, And if we meet we shall not escape a brawl, For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.† Shakespeare creates a testosterone driven world that reflects the aggressive and competitive attitudes of males in Renaissance Europe. The contrasting characters suggest different male attributes; some being kind and trustworthy, whilst others are nasty and cruel. This explosive structure creates tension; at any moment passion and anger could erupt – throwing society into disarray. Perhaps Shakespeare s suggesting men need to control their desire to fight and should be open, friendly and compassionate.

Individual Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Individual - Research Proposal Example Interestingly, despite being different documents, both can be used together. The practical as well as the theoretical differences are highlighted below: - Practical Differences A formal research has large differences from a business proposal. The funding structure of formal research and a business proposal are completely different. The funds for a formal research are usually procured from a learning institution, government, or even public bodies. The findings are therefore expected to add value to the pool of knowledge. The business proposal is funded by various firms when it comes to notice that certain problems are contributing negatively towards the achievement of organizational objectives. Although, both the documents may seem to be similar, there are several critical differences between the two in terms of the overall goals, purposes, sections and uses. Identification of these discrete differences allows the researchers to come up with an effective business proposal and formal r esearch. The differences between the two factors are discussed in details in the subsequent section. The formal research is modeled in such a way that can be imitated and aimed at building on the researches carried previously about the subject of concern. The business plan is however aimed at finding the optimal solution to the problem that is being faced by the organization. In addition, business proposals do not allow experiments, but surveys and experiments are allowed by formal research. The source from which data is collected for both the research papers also has major differences. While creating business proposals, researchers usually consider industry reports or authentic electronic sources. In addition, the data used for the formulating the business plan are mostly up-to-date. Formal research usually encompasses latest scholarly articles or books (Finch, 2013). Theoretical Differences A formal research report provides fundamental information and statistics about a particular field or industry. However, it is purely dependent upon the focus of the company. For example, a company may study about the demand of a particular product by researching about the demands of similar products already existing in the market. In addition, the study can be also about the sales figures and values of similar products. Finally, these findings will reveal whether the market for the product being examined is highly saturated, moderately saturated or offers a ripe business opportunity. On the other hand, a business proposal is also a research document that is usually completed for the principal rationale of suggesting a method for completing a particular task in the near future. A business proposal usually describes about the task to be completed, a section to illustrate the approach of the task, the time frame in which the task is to be completed, and outlining the resources and fund required to complete the project. The task which is being highlighted here is usually the launch of a new business. The formal research can be used in many cases, but business plans are usually formulated when a new venture is supposed to be launched. Another striking difference between the two factors is that the formal research paper is principally developed for the purpose of evaluating whether a company should consider development of another products or service. This report is mainly used by financial

Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change - Article Example From this study it is clear that carbon dioxide is thought to eat up the ozone layer, which leads to more heat being protracted to the earth’s surface. This, on the other hand, increases the earth’s temperature, which causes global warming. The overall amount of CO2 that the United States has produced is 5,762,050. This is more than 20% of the worldwide release of CO2. Japan, on the other hand, caters for 1,224,740 of the amount of CO2 released to the atmosphere. Comparing these numbers to the United States, the United States has produced 5 times more CO2 than Japans. In the United States, the CO2 emissions, or metric tons per capita, was reported to be at 17.96 in 2008. This is according to World Bank’s findings. According to the paper CO2 discharges are those that arise from manufacture of cement along with the burning of fossil fuels. Japan’s per capita CO2 emission, on the other hand, was reported to be at 9.46 in 2008. Definitely Japan’s popula tion has an effect on the amount of CO2 being released to the atmosphere. This is because Japan has a large population, and most of its citizens own private vehicles. Vehicles are known to be the leading producers of CO2, and; therefore, those who drive cars in Japan also contribute substantially to global warming. The economic status of Japan also influences the carbon emission witnessed today around the world. This is because Japan is one of the most mechanized countries in the world, and its industrial activities are known mainly to realize CO2 to the environment.  

Assimilating to St. Mary's University Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Assimilating to St. Mary's University - Essay Example It also has two main academic libraries, Louis J. Blume Library and Sarita Kenedy East Law Library. Besides these, the institution has academic resource centers that aid students in their academic pursuits. Such centers include academic advising, academic technology services, information technology services, learning assistance center and an office for the retention of students. The university also offers special academic programs such as: b. Center for International Program: This mainly comprises of three main bodies, International Student and Scholar Services, Study Abroad Offices, and an Intensive English Program. This program is designed to help students have a touch of the complexities and intricacies of those living and working outside the US including their way of thinking. c. Marc U* Star Program: This is largely known as the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (U*STAR). This program provides students with majors in biochemistry, biology, physics and chemistry with the opportunity to finish their research training and work together with their faculty members. Other programs include Marianist Universities Student Exchange Program, Military Science, McNair Scholars program, PREP, Nelson Wolff Law Early Admission Program and the Undergraduate Research program. Admission to the university is both at the first year undergraduate, transfer undergraduate, international undergraduate, graduate, and law school levels. It also has an alumni body of students that allow for the ease of connection for the former students thus, making them to be in a close–knit form of community always, even when separated by miles apart. The campus life in the university engages students in various activities and from the coordination by the Dean of Students office, students are able to engage in several activities such recreational

HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS - Essay Example Further, childhood obesity increases the children’s vulnerability to cardiovascular diseases. The major cause of childhood obesity, being consumption of foods with high levels of calories, however induces both legal and ethical concerns. This is because different stakeholders such as the government, the fast food industry, and parents have a responsibility to protect children from the identified health risk factors. The government should for example enact strict laws to regulate level of calories in produced foods while the industry should outline ethical measures for protecting children. Judicial implementation of the regulations would greatly solve the childhood obesity issue. The opinion that public health has currently thrived more that in old days is true and consistent with the high living standard that has led to higher life expectancy. Such developments in public health are however attributable to public health policies that are legally formulated and enforced to ensure that individuals right to life is protected by the government. Established legal measures and ethical standards in public health have also ensured immediate and adequate

Airports Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Airports - Research Paper Example The terrorists have started to believe that they can fulfill their objectives by ransacking property within the airports and by making people hostage due to the element of terror that comes to their rescue. What is even significant is the fact that they feel terrorism can turn the tide their way and make their unsuccessful attempts at propagating a message change into successful ones. The menace at airports is not just limited to the terrorism domains alone. These have also included the peril of smuggled goods and items across the shores. This is an element that demands a great deal of attention by the people who are behind such rackets. The airports are therefore the places where the terrorists find the best spot to make sure that the people remain under the subjugation of their objectives and goals (Alvarenga, 2011). Smuggling has been much talked about in the recent times and even the media has spoken about this subject in entirety. What this has implicated for is the fact that sm uggling can create bottlenecks for the government of the land, and thus could create anarchy of sorts. The role of the government under such considerations remains an important one.

Winston Churchills War Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Winston Churchills War Leadership - Essay Example Having worked as the first leader in Britain, Churchill took part in the development of British intelligent system between 1918 and 1921. Churchill admired intelligence at an early age because, at the age of twenty, he appreciated the intelligence he used when the guerrillas from Cuba fought the Spanish. He also worked for the British imperial army at the in the forces in South Africa and Sudan. As an intelligent consumer, Churchill was enthusiastic, had individual confidence, assertive, had a lot of emotional firmness, he was friendly and very honest (Dubrin, Dalglish & Miller, 2006, p.67). Therefore, it is the information from intelligent reports that guided his victory. It is important to note that Larders who use consumer intelligence are in a position to understand and control their emotions, and for individuals who work with them. There are traits that can be used to describe effective leaders like Churchill. He can be said to have enthusiasm, individual confidence, assertiveness, sociability, sense of wit, emotional firmness, friendliness, high acceptance to obstruction and honesty (Dubrin et al, 2006, p.67). Therefore using these traits he was in a position to work with different professional advisors. He was responsible for several posts during his career, and he was consummate of all public servants (Best, 2005, p. 45). He took part in the civil war at Cuba, Egypt, India, and Sudan, which was the major influence of the First World War (Best, 2005, p. 45). His experience of survival behind enemy lines added to his repertoire of expertise this motivated his passion for intelligence and how he believed the use of intelligence was military operations. However, Churchill also made several mistakes despite having intelligence (Dubrin, Dalglish & Miller, 2006, p.67). He was also able to learn from his own mistakes this gave him an experience that no any other leader ever had (Dubrin, Dalglish & Miller, 2006, p.67). Therefore, as an intelligent consumer, he also made mistakes but was ready to learn from his own mistakes.

What Caused the Current Economic Crisis Term Paper

What Caused the Current Economic Crisis - Term Paper Example This meant the very foundations on which our principles and understanding of the whole economic system was based on were shaken and jolted to an extent that people lost confidence in its integrity. It raised questions that directly pointed fingers on the functioning of the global financial markets. The whole crisis began when the US investors lost confidence in the value of sub-prime mortgages resulting in an adverse liquidity crisis. In fear of the effects of the looming liquidity crisis, the US Federal Bank injected huge sums of capital, liquid money, into financial markets in an attempt to prevent several hundred thousand businesses and individuals from declaring bankruptcy. By the end of September of the following year, the economic crisis had worsened as its negative effects started to crash stock markets on all the continents. This made investment highly volatile and investors lost millions of dollars overnight as this continued to spread further. A pinnacle was reached where c onsumer confidence was at its lowest in fear of the inevitable outcomes. Analyses reveal that at a more fundamental level the economic crisis could be attributed to the diligence of massive global imbalances. These imbalances were the outcomes of long periods of excessively loose monetary policy in the major advance economies during the early part of this decade. A major factor in this was the significant increase in the budget deficit of the United States, while at the same time the accumulation of huge amounts of surpluses in Asia, particularly in China and the oil exporting countries of Middle East. The current account balance of US in 2008 as a percent of its GDP was -4.7%, and for China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and UAE was 10%, 28.9%, 6.1% and 15.8% respectively. This showed that even after billions of revenue for the Western Giant United States, the global net flow of money was directed towards the Eastern part. This imbalance was ever growing as the Economic power was slowly and gradually shifting from the West to the East. Experts stated that these imbalances were seen as the consequence of the relative inflexibility of the currency regimes in China and other such countries. According to Portes (2009), prevailing global macroeconomic imbalances were the major underlying cause of the crisis. The gap between the saving-investment function was extensive and this gap was only widening with time since developing countries started relying more heavily on developed economies to provide for their development expenditures. The immediate impacts of these huge cross-border financial flows were seen on the financial intermediation process. (Mohan, 2009) As stated earlier the monetary policy of US was also a contributing factor to the financial crisis of 2008. To understand this we have to visualize the dot com bubble burst in the early 2000’s. This resulted in a reduction of the interest rates and consistent ease in the monetary policy of US and other advanced economies. These rates maintained as low as 1 per cent in US during the period 2003-2004. This gave ample opportunity for new businesses to thrive in the country and huge investments were made during the first half of the decade. Figure 1 clearly demonstrates that during 2008 the effective federal fund rate in the US was around 1 per cent margin. This relatively loose monetary policy meant that transactions were being done on a credit basis more than ever in the history of the country. The effects of this were visible in the credit crunch of 2007 that eventually combined with other factors to bring about the economic crisis. The growing demand from the US consumers and its increasing reliance on cheap consumer goods being imported from Asian countries, mainly China,

The evaluation of the social value of fossil and alternative fuels Essay

The evaluation of the social value of fossil and alternative fuels (hybrid) and the use of unleaded petrol - Essay Example ans in discovering alternative forms of energy, such as solar energy, hydrogen energy, etc that seem to affect the social value of fossil fuels adversely (Foster & Witcher, pp. 39-51, 2009). However, fossil fuels continue to enjoy their economic importance despite of such adverse effects. In particular, this paper will focus on social value of the fossil fuels, as well as alternative fuels along with some light on the unleaded petrol that has becoming common in various countries around the globe due to its associated benefits. In order to evaluate social value of fuels, it is very important to understand the meaning of this notion. According to experts (OECD, pp. 10-13, 2006), social value is an entity that indicates a product or service’s benefit in line with the well-being of citizens of the society. In addition, social capital is one of the major aspects of social value that relates to the goodwill and trust that an organization or a product acquired during a period of various years. From this understanding, it will now be easier to evaluate social value of the fuels that seem evident from results of the different researches. In specific, fossil fuels are playing an imperative role in the human society; however, at the same time, its social value seems to diminish every day and every year due to a number of factors. According to the social value theory, that is the basic premise of evaluating social value, ‘everything is connected to everything else’ (Kramer & Bazerman, pp. 55-63, 2009), and these connections allow the organisms to identify some patterns that create the social value. From this principle, fossil fuels seem to be focusing on the necessity aspect of the human society; however, at the same time, they have been affecting the citizens with their increased costs and prospective adverse impacts associated with them that indicate lower social value of fossil fuels in the human society. One of the basic ways of evaluating social value of fossil

Terrorism in Nigeria Essay Example for Free

Terrorism in Nigeria Essay Nigeria is a country in the West of Africa with an interesting population of over 160 million people. A British Colony, Nigeria was hitherto peaceful and seen as key to African development and interests. Such has been the opposite of the true state of the supposed Giant of Africa since gaining independence in 1960 and declaring a Republic in 1961. After years of Military Dictatorship and coups left the country under-developed for much of her early post-independent years, Democracy was returned to the Oil rich Nation. The country divided across religious and ethic lines with the North dominated by Muslims, and the South by Christians. The country’s major trade partners include the USA and UK. The early independent kingdoms and states that make the present day British colonized Nigeria are; i. Benin Kingdom ii. Borgu Kingdom iii. Fulani Empire iv. Hausa Kingdoms v. Kanem Bornu Empire vi. Kwararafa Kingdom vii. Ibibio Kingdom viii. Nri Kingdom ix. Nupe Kingdom x. Oyo Kingdom xi. Songhai Empire xii. Warri Kingdom The name Nigeria was suggested by a British Journalist Flora Shaw in the 1890s. She referred to the area as Nigeria, after the Niger River, which dominates much of the country’s landscape. The word Niger is Latin for black. Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups, which the three major and internationally recognized are Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo. Other smaller groups include the Fulani, Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio, Tiv, and Edo. Prior to their conquest by Europeans, these ethnic groups had separate and independent histories; hence their amalgamation was a construct of their European Colonizers. That singular act of amalgamation has proved costly year after year as communal, religious, and ethnic clashes characterize the present-day  Nigeria. With porous borders on the West to Benin, North to Niger and Chad, and on the East to Cameroun, clashes often than not spiral out of the shores of Nigeria to neighbouring countries. Nigeria gained independence from Britain on 1st October, 1960 and following independence, vicious fighting between and among ethnic political parties created chaos within the fledging system. On the 15th of January, 1966, a group of army officers most of whom were Igbo staged a military coup, killing many of the government ministers from the Western and Northern tribes. Six months later, Northern forces within the military staged a countercoup killing most of the Igbo leaders. Note that Nigeria’s persistent ethnic rivalry is deep rooted and dates back to colonization. From Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in Northern Nigeria, to the Militants in the Niger Delta (Southern). The Afenifere in Western Nigeria to MASSOP in the East, continuous calls for disintegration and de-amalgamation by the aforementioned groups underlines the many ethnic divide and challenges facing Nigeria since creation. The current sophisticated attack on government institutions by an Islamic extremists group popularly known as Boko Haram (Western Education is Sin – Islam) buttress the notion that agitations from these groups have long departed from mere campaigns and media sponsored attacks. Suicide bombing that once was alien to Nigeria now characterize an already tensed and over-stretched system. Nigeria’s quest to quell all form of ethnic aggression and divide will most undoubtedly succeed if the Government looked into the origin and distinctions of the diversities rather than combating a generational dissent.

Used In Researching Audiences Media Essay

Used In Researching Audiences Media Essay Methods concentrate on counting and statistics and focus on in-depth analysis of information dissemination. According to Hartley (2002, p. 11), The audience is a construction motivated by the paradigm in which it is imagined, that is to say the different paradigms may cause the location of the audiences role to be disparate. To research on this, various methods are needed. Referring to cultural studies, quantitative and qualitative are two of the most widely used methodologies in the field of audience research; in which, moreover, qualitative methods have been regarded as generally preferable because they place emphasis on cultural meaning (Barker, 2012). Specifically, ethnography and interview are two of the most popular methods which belong to qualitative methods and have been widely used in audience research during 1980s-1990s. This paper will focus on ethnography method and interview method and then critically analyze them by reviewing relevant studies. It will construct by three parts. The first and the second part will lay out the theoretical dimensions separately of these two methods with looking at the advantages and limitations of them by using the leading research projects from 1980s-1990s; for example: Dorothy Hobsons research on housewives with radio and television ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ºJanice Radways research on women reading the romance ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ºDavid Morley focuses on the Nationwide audience. In part three, these two methods will be compared and contrasted. Ethnography used to be taken in anthropology study primordially, which is a branch of science describing a kind of culture or ethnic groups. Essentially, the ethnography method is a holistic description of cultural membership (Lindlof and Taylor, 2002). Specifically, according to Fetterman (1989), it is a process begin with in-depth and rich investigating, followed by interview, record review, perspectives assessing, exploring the organizational connections, and finally write a report to be published. The characteristics of ethnography can be divided into three aspects: Firstly, it uses the holistic research viewpoint. The ethnographer attempts to describe the culture or the social group through the research of history, religion, politics, economy, and environment; therefore, it emphasizes the contextualization of data (ibid). Similarly, Geertz (1973, p.16) highlights that ethnography is thick description, ethnographers grasp the complexity of social community and culture by using th is thick description and restore audiences interpretation from a small range of text  structure to social and historical environment. Secondly, in this process, ethnographers should keep an open mind, trying not to leave out any information. They do not mind spending several hours even only chatting with interviewees; they do a great deal of observation so that they can truly understand the real lives of audiences via equal communications. With discourse analysis, researchers can trace the social power factors behind the words which interviewees have said. However, this does not mean that researchers can conduct the interview with no explicit objectives; a framework reflects their own intention is still needed to carry on an open style interview, seeking information as much as possible. This issue was pointed out as with an open mind not an empty head by Fetterman (1989, p. 1). Thirdly, fieldwork is the most important factor in designing ethnographic method. Ruddock (2001) states that ethnography is attractive because it is based on naturally occurring data rather than artificial materials. This method requires researchers conduct the fieldwork in a natural environment: entering into the community of audiences instead of sitting in their offices and doing research in written form. It usually involves in-depth observation and investigation of a specific audience group or some cases. As Hammersley and Atkinson(1983cited in Barker, 2000) highlight that, researchers often immerse in the context, they participate in peoples daily life for a long period of time, observing what happens, watching the audiences, listening to their opinions, asking questions, analyzing what people do with media, and how they make sense of it. Above all, using ethnography in audience research compensates for the inadequacies of past studies. Ethnographic audience research had become a trend in the 1980s, and there were several studies becoming classic works afterwards because they have adopted the ethnographic method. In the multiple cases of ethnography studies, Radways research which focuses on women reading the romantic fictions is recognized classic work. She  connected the pleasure women felt in reading romantic fiction with the subordinate status of women in the patriarchal family and then investigated them; and she found that the reason why women read romantic fictions was related to evading the pressure of onerous housework. Radway (1984) demonstrates that the women treat reading the romance as a kind of independent declaration; they seek to rebuild their gender subjectivity in utopian fantasy in order to resist patriarchal culture. In early stage, her focus of attention was text analysis, later changed to reception research. At that moment, the content of text was no longer important, but reading itself is the process which establish the meaning and pleasure between text and reader, and the results cannot be predicted by the text itself (Curran, 1991). It seems to be undoubted that Reading the Roman plays a vital role in culture studies, largely due to the important ethnographic finding of cultural consumption it provides. However, some debates challenge this view: methodologist queries about empirical research and epistemology; feminists argue the relationship between feminists and real women; populist question its critical project. Modleski (1986, cited in Wood, 2004, à ©Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ µÃƒ §Ã‚  Ã‚ ) accuses Reading the Romance has over liberated the pleasures the women get from reading fictions. Ang (1988, cited in Wood, 2004, à ©Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ µÃƒ §Ã‚  Ã‚ ) states that the book does not take the possibilities of pleasure and fantasy seriously enough. Lauren Berlant (1987, cited in Wood, 2004) argues that Radway placed too much emphasis on describing the female identity. Although there are many critics about her study, undeniably, the concept stressing the interacting between diverse disciplines which advocate by Reading the Romance lays a f oundation in cultural studies and is regarded as a leading project for over twenty years, until now it has still been used as a compulsory reading for students to learn. In addition to print media, Dorothy Hobsons research on housewives and the mass media cannot be overlooked. The data is shown in Hobsons unpublished MA dissertation A Study of Working-Class Women at Home: Femininity, Domesticity and Maternity. Through talking with housewives, Hobson (1980, p. 85) found that television and radio are never mentioned as spare-time or leisure activities but are located by the women as integral parts of their day. As for those housewives, television and radio were regarded as the important elements in their daily lives, even their work and rest time were formulated by broadcast. They considered the broadcast programs as a friend and a crucial way for them to contact with outside world and to eliminate loneliness. Based on gender differences the understandings of television can also be divided into two worlds; which means men and women have dissimilar preferences. This study marks the beginning of gender analysis on audience. Turner (1998) explains that Hobson did not take the audiences into the world of an academic researcher, while it was she who participated in their world. She entered into the audiences house, watching soap opera with them, observing and interviewing them during that period. After the programs finished, she used to talk with the audiences in an open type for a long time. She asked the audience to determine what is interesting, what do they like or dislike or what do they concern about in those programs they had watched before. The audiences were encouraged by her to tell the reason why the program is popular or why it is criticized by them. To conclude, both these two studies carried out by Hobson and Radway have great significance in the history of audience research. Hobsons study is the first time that ethnographer study on the female audiences, and it is considered to be the first time in the history that ethnography is truly applied in audience research. The main contribution of this study is that it states the specific meanings of gender in the case of dealing with housework. Radway concurs in and further develops Hosons viewpoint of gender differences; she concerned with the common populaces power in domestic context of consumption. In terms of the method in audience research, using ethnographic method should be a kind of progress or breakthrough because it has opened up an unprecedented field of research. The results of such research are conducted by the researchers personal participant experience. The aim of research changes from a one-sided issue extends to an overall scope of daily life; researchers get out of their offices and enter into common peoples living room experience their real livesà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ at least the visible behavior in their lives. Although this approach is still debatable; however, as Zoonen (1994:146) claims, in terms of the location of the researchers, there is no single truth in the world; the reason why we acknowledge the truth is due to the participation of researchers, they learn to tell us, or to depict detailed map. However, some limitations are still exist in ethnography. First of all, the relationships between researcher and researched is difficult. Due to the fact that people often tell the truth to whom they are familiar with, so it is not easy for researcher to integrate into the community and to gain their trust. Ruddock (2001) notes that it is important to arrange researcher and researched in a relatively equal position. Moreover, ethnography requires researcher to stay with the community for a long period of time; for instance, several months or even two or three years. Therefore it is a time-consuming task; it may take a significant amount of human and material resource. Interview Many researchers have found that interview is a particularly appropriate method to understand the experiences and opinions of researched. Kvale(1996, p. 1) proposes that if you want to know how people understand their world and their life, why not talk with them? As a most widely used method, it has three remarkable characteristics: to begin with, it is ordinarily a one-to-one, face-to-face conversation; it involves individual interaction between researchers and researched. The interaction built by interview is different from those usually found in public lectures, meetings or group discussions. Holstein (2001) suggests the relationship between researcher and researched is like a kind of friendship because of the equal and intimate conversation. Livingstone(2010) points out that interviews adapt the way of research with rather than research on interviewees, it seems to be more personalized and humane. The second and the most important aspect is it is usually deep-going. The questions should not as simple as which magazine do you read? or how often do you read it?, they are much more complicated. It is conducted on the basis of individual matters; for instance, interviewee themselves, cultural knowledge, personal experiences and opinions. Interview is a useful and effective way for researchers, which enables them to investigate the root driver of interviewees certain actions and their interpretations towards different circumstances. Lastly, interview is commonly used in addition to other methods or collaborate with them to collecting data. David Morley uses interview method and applies Stuart Halls (1980) encoding/decoding model (He claimed that a message cannot be regarded as a ball which is passed on one by one simply, it should be understood as a process which the program producer encode it and the audience decode it) to the empirical studies. Morley (1980) researches the BBC(British Broadcasting Corporation) evening news program Nationwide, and the purpose of this study is to test the audiences interpretations of television information and the different understandings related to their social classes or stratums. That is to say, through the Nationwide research, Morley tries to prove the process of meaning generated depends on the TV message and the social structure of the audience. Morley has arranged 29 groups of audiences according to their occupation, each group had 5~10 people. These 29 groups are divided into four types: managers, students, TU officials and shop stewards. Morley made them watch two BBC evening news programs: program A was Nationwide in May 10th, 1976 and program B was a similar program in March 29th, 1977. Then he used focused interview and group interview to investigate the diverse understandings from different groups. Focused interview analyzes some specific situations of the participants, which means to understand their subjective experience, and then get the responses of them. He transformed the entire interview questions from open style to structuring type, such as do you think using the word to describe X is appropriate?'(Morley, 1980). He believes that focused interview conforms to the natural situations, and the more structuring questions can make the topic even more real and natural. Morleys research provided empirical proof for Halls encoding/decoding model and it evoked strong repercussions in the field of mass culture while also incurred a lot of comment. Some scholars think Morleys study is not very successful, because it has not broken away from the traditional empirical study which considered the social backgrounds as variable quantity. Turner (1990) criticizes the research of Morley have several drawbacks: Firstly, the community structure of the participants seems to be too simple dividing into four main categories. Moreover, the participants are not distributed in a natural situation, their interpretation are separated from the typical and real environment of television watching since general people usually watch television in the evening at home. So it is questionable whether their interpretations are reliable. Secondly, as participants are assigned with the people in same social class to watch TV programs, their interpretation can be influenced by other s in the same group; The last defect is in the the connection between television program and audiences; are the viewers willing to watch Nationwide which Morley provide to them? The television content are given by researcher instead of chosen by the audiences themselves, this situation makes the research biased. Morley (1986) also acknowledged that this research has ruined the result because of the rough supposition. Nevertheless, scholars still regard his study as an important turning-point in audience research, he transfers audience research from viewing the structure of text to exploring how the audience deal with the text, and the reformation makes a considerable impact on the development of reading ethnographic method (Moores, 1993). In the same way, Ang(2006) notes that The Nationwide Audience has generally been received as an innovative departure within cultural studies, both theoretically and methodologically. For Morley himself, he has profoundly awarded from the deficiencies and revised methods in his later research to respond to the criticism of this study. In 1986, Morley launched another study of audience research with interview methodFamily Television. In this study, He aimed to find what affect peoples viewing experience, especially the interaction between family dynamics process and television-watching behavior. At first he attempted to study on the family social location and class identification; however, he found that the principle through all the researched family is closely related to gender issue. So he began to study the gender differences impact on the viewing practices. He chose 8 topics and selected 18 households as a sample and the researchers personally entered in these families to interview the family members. The interviews aimed at both parents and children, generally last for one to two hours. In order to leave space for thinking and asking questions, the entire inte rviewed process is not structured. Moreover, due to the presences of other family members, as well as the complicated interview questions, Morley was confident to get to the real interpretation. By using such a participation and observation method with interviews, Morley (1986) learned that the living-room politics heavily impact the family viewing reception so that it resulted in various viewing experiences for different family members. For these empirical differences, Morley recognizes it is not caused by the biological characteristics of men and women; however, it depends on their different social roles in family. For men, family is a leisure field, while it is more likely to be a workplace for women. Since domestic environment is constructed by gender relations, it leads to a variety of viewing experiences. However, Stevenson (2002) maintains that although Morleys study reflects the different patterns of media in constructing social life, such life is actually surpassing the fact of the belief. In other words, Morley tends to overly emphasize the importance of audiences interpretation capacity in ideology. Although there are some criticisms, the contribution of Morleys two studies cannot be ignored. Similarly, As Tuner (1998) points out, Morleys study break through the theoretical model encoding/decoding put forward by Hall (1980), Hall concerned text is the key point of the way that viewers decode the text; however, Morley focused on the social process itself of audience watching television. Turner (1998) confirms that Morleys study directly lead us to attach importance on the social forces which produces audience, reduce attention from text and audience. It stresses more extensive study on practice and discourse of everyday life. In summary, with facing (to) a totally unfamiliar world and objects, comprehensive and detailed descriptions are urgently needed. The holistic view and detailed fieldwork which contained by ethnography is in response to these needs. In other words, ethnography is a detailed report records the entire process and various kinds of approaches for researched. However, as all the other research methods, ethnography has its own limitation which is that not all of the social activities can be measured via participant observation or personal interviews. For instance, ethnography cannot be used to research the events of the past, it only can be carried out at present. In addition, ethnography cannot handle large-scale case study, such as large organizations or the whole country (Hammersley Atkinson, 1983). With mention to interview, it is useful and effective in collecting data, researchers can understand the experiences and perspectives through communicating with researched. Moreover, interv iew is also a good way to make audiences feel equal and relax. However, it is not suitable for all of the audience research. For example, it may not be able to insight into the role of the people or organizations which are outside the world of personal life of interviewees. To conclude, as two of the most popular methods, ethnographic and interview are often used in cultural studies to explore indepth under a particular circumstances. As academic trends which grow out of specific historical context, and with the care of individual subjectivity, cultural studies always pays close attention to powers in practice of cultural phenomenon, constructing audiences as active users of media. It places audience in the social context; therefore it breaks through the empirical audience research successfully. Even though scholars still have some controversy, the paradigm raised by the school of cultural studies really provides a different landscape of the interaction between audience and culture, which firmly establishes the characteristic status in audience research. Reading List: Fetterman, D.M. (1989). Ethnography: step by step. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Hartley, J. 2002. Communication, cultural and media studies: the key concepts. London: Routledge. Barker, C. 2000. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London: SAGE. Lindlof, T.R. Taylor, B.C. 2002. Qualitative Communication Research Methods. California: SAGE. Ruddock, A. 2001. Understanding audiences: Theory and method. London: SAGE. Geertz, C. 1973. The interpretation of cultures. New York : Basic Books. Hobson, D.1980: Housewives and the mass media. In Hall, S (ed.), Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies. London: The Academic Division of Unwin Hyman, pp. 85-95 Turner, G. 1998. British cultural studies: An introduction. London: Routledge. Purdie, S. (1992) Janice Radway, Reading the Romance, in M. Barker and A. Beezer (eds) Reading into Cultural Studies, pp. 148-64. London: Routledge. Radway, J. 1986. Identifying Ideological Seams: Mass Culture, Analytic Method, and Political Practice. Communication, 9, pp. 93-123. Wood, H. 2004. What Reading the Romance did for us? European Journal of Cultural Studies, 7(2), pp. 147-154. Zoonen, L.V. 1994. Feminist media studies. London: SAGE. Sonia Livingstone, Giving People a Voice: On the Crticial Role of the Interview in the History of Audience Research, Communication, Culture G. Critique 3 (4, 2010): 566-71 Kvale, S. 1996. Interviews : an introduction to qualitative research interviewing Interviews. London: SAGE. Holstein, J.A. Gubrium, J. F. 2001. Handbook of Interview Research: Context and Method. London: SAGE. Morley, D. (1980).  The Nationwide Audience: Structure and Decoding. London: British Film Institute. Tunner, G. 1990. Audience in British cultural studies. Boston:Unwin Hyman. Morley,D. 1986. Family Television: Cultural Power and Momestic Leisure. London: Comedia. Moores, S. 1993. Interpreting audiences: the ethography of media consumption. London:Sage. Ang, I. 2006: On the politics of empirical audience research. In Durham. M. G (ed.), Media and cultural studies : keyworks. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.174-194. Stevenson, K. 2002. Understanding Media Cultures: Social Theory and Mass Communication. London: SAGE. Hammersley, M. Atkinson, P.(1983). Ethnography: Principles in practice.New York: Tavistock.

Ilm Al-raml In Islamic And Arabic Culture

Ilm Al-raml In Islamic And Arabic Culture Distant as it may seem, synergizing mathematics with divination systems and religious practices that transcend the realm of rational thought is an almost impossible endeavor. To get a clear understanding of into the nature of amtehatmical knowelegdew Nonetheless, a careful and detailed examination of some Historical Background Ilm Al-raml constitutes an omnipresent divination system in the Arabic and Islamic culture. The literature attributes the Arabic term Ilm Al-raml or ilm Al -khutut to Geomancy. Historically, Geomancy constituted a family of divination systems, including such famous members as Ifa, Fa, Sixteen Cowries (Nigeria and West Africa in general), Sikidy (Madagascar and Comoro Island), Ramalasastra (India), I Ching ( China), Hakata (Southern Africa), ilm al-raml or khutut al-raml (North Africa). According to the most recent historical re-enactments, the Hellenic, Jewish, Persian, African, Indian and Chinese borrowings into the Arabic body of geomancy point to a drafting of the classic, strongly astrological geomantic system in Southern Mesopotamia in an Ismaili context in the tenth century CE. Subsequently, the systems rapid and successful spread over the Islamic and Jewish intellectual world, and hence into Europe, Africa and the Indian Ocean region, was largely due to its being preserved in widely circulated treatises. Of these, perhaps the most famous and successful has been the Kitab al-fasl fi usul ilm al-raml) by the Berber sheikh Muhammad al-Zanati (c. 1200 CE) (Van Binsberg , 1996). A careful examination of the binary mathematical structure of both the Southern African four-tablet divination system, and the more directly Arabian-derived forms of geomancy found in the Indian Ocean region led many historians and researchers to hypothesize a series of historical connections. In Arabic Islamic culture, ilm al-raml or sand-science goes back to IdrÄ «s, the Egyptian third Islamic prophet of Allah who came between the prophets Adam and Noah and resided in Egypt during which he undertaken the mission to show people how to write, to sew, to build cities and to use the Science of the Sand(Al-Tokhi,1991). The narrative tells that Idriss was taught this science by an angel sent by Allah and he taught it to his people who were practicing astrology (Tanjjim). Description and interpretations According to the principles of Idrisian facts, all living creatures are made up of four elements: fire, air, water, earth and four results heat, cold, moist, dry, and four directions east, west, south, and north. Also, looking at peoples activities they found that they basically used four major practices: weighing, counting, planting, and farming (Van Binsberg, 1996). Then everything balances on four corners, four figures, four extremities (e.g. the human body), and four elements on which they have built unlimited configurations. Partly rooted in simple chance procedures and random processes (like hitting the earth, throwing tablets, beans, shells etc.), ilm al-raml is a binary system of 16 figures. Each figure is 4 rows high and each row consists of either one dot or two dots. The figures are determined through various methods both ancient and modern. The procedure is called darb al-raml or the forceful hitting of the sand with a stick, in order to produce a random number of dot tra ces or marks which can then be scored as either odd or even. Four figures are created, and a chart is depicted using simple binary multiplication, and is interpreted based on the meanings of each figure. The 4_(number)four binary elements of each figure allow for 24 or 16 different combinations. As there are 4 root figures in each chart, the total number of possible charts equals 16ÃÆ'-16ÃÆ'-16ÃÆ'-16 or 65536. The charts are also interpreted differently. Depending on the nature of the question, ilm al-raml can be considered as one of the most thorough kinds of divination based on only 16 figures which are extremely simple yet with deep connotations. The marks on the ground are interpreted through a process of transformation and elimination, from one horizontal line, with one or two dots (one for odd, two for even), to a four-line symbol, of which there are sixteen 24 configurations (Van Binsberg , 1996, p.5) : With two dots making a line, the above configurations can be written as: More complex procedures may raise this number to any higher power of 2. A written or memorized key (the catalogue) provides the interpretation of each generated symbol and of their combinations. (Van Binsberg , 1996) The origin of this science is the dot and its secret is the odd number. Each of the four basic elements has a dot representation. Knowing that the element fire is lighter than the element air and that air is lighter than water and the water lighter than sand and knowing that the heavy element carries the lighter and not vice versa, so the elements in ilm al-raml follow this order: fire then air then water then sand (Al-Tokhi, 1991). Moreover, they assigned 4 letters from the alphabets to designate each one of the 4 elements. Fire( naar) Air (hawa) Water (maa) Sand (torab) Ù†  (noun) Ù†¡Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â€š ¬ (haa) Ù†¦ (meem) Ø ª (taa) Originally, the patterns were created when the munajjim or the geomancer traced dots with a stylus across a board of sand or dust. The geomancer then examines and construes the dots, deriving further patterns, and eventually gives an answer or forecast for his client. Ascribed to this pattern of dots are different meanings and interpretations, related to the colors, months, planets, the four elements, the signs of the zodiac and parts of the body. Conditions when using Ilm al-raml To hit the sand, the hitter or geomancer or Al-Darib should be facing AL Qubla (a place in Mecca where the Muslims do pilgrimage) and should be clean and wearing clean clothes. He should pray, read certain verses from the Quran and place an intention to hit the sand seeking an answer to a question in mind. In the Islamic culture, hitting the sand is not supposed to be done in the following times: during storms or rain, at sunset or sunrise. However, it is preferable to be done after sunset until dawn, the best time is during the night. Also, the hitter shouldnt speak to others while performing the act. He should be joyful and content and should start with hitting the sand from left to right saying these words: Tash 4 torbash 4 shaqoor 4 tazan 4. (Al-Tokhi, 1992). Procedure: How it is done The procedure is administered inductively through a set of pre-determined and systematic series of steps that are embellished by the diviners skill to intensify and epitomize the importance of the act. The series of steps constitutes a decision making algorithm that, upon execution, results in an outcome which is interpreted by the diviner as either good or bad. The steps are illustrated in the following example: Step 1: A customer comes to Al-Darib (the diviner or the person hitting the sand), seeking answers or advice on certain questions. The questions can be related to any type of day-to-day affairs such as marriage/divorce; life/death; finding a thief; pregnancy; happiness; profit/loss, etc.. Step 2: To find the answer, Al-Darib, after fulfilling the above mentioned conditions, makes 4 horizontal lines and on each line he designates 4 rows of random number of dots in such a way that each row has less number of dots than its precedent. Below is a demonstration: Then Al-Darib eliminates the dots two by two, if the remaining is a single dot he puts a dot otherwise he puts a dash sign. This concept is what is known in arithmetic as counting modulo 2. (Ascher, 2002) The above figure is called Al-takht (the board in Arabic) and the resulting 4 shapes or configurations are called the mothers from which the other twelve shapes (4 daughters; 4 granddaughters; 2 off springs; 1 arbitrator; 1 judge) are generated (Al-Tokhi, 1992). Each of the sixteen possible configurations is identified by a name, and for each a number of standard interpretations are given in a catalogue or some type of a written manual. These configurations are derived by a special form of juxtaposition, based on the following computational rules: even x odd = odd, i.e. x = ; odd x even = odd, i.e. x = even x even = even, i.e. x = ; odd x odd = even, i.e. x = In any given shape, the four parts designate from top to bottom: Head; chest; waist; legs. The above takhit produced the following four mothers configurations: Step 3: From the four shapes that constitute the mothers' configuration, four other shapes are generated by taking one shape from the mothers heads, another from their chests, a third from their waists and a fourth from their legs. These four configurations constitute the daughters. Juxtaposing the first two mothers then the second two mothers and the first two daughters and the second two daughters will generate the four granddaughters. The same procedure is repeated with every two granddaughters to get the 2 configurations which are called off springs. Juxtaposing the two off springs together will give one configuration and is called arbitrator. To generate the sixteenth configuration, Al-Darib multiplies the last shape with the first mother shape to get the judge. The sixteen configurations generated are shown below: x x x x Interpretation: Each of the sixteen configurations designates a house which holds the meanings on which interpretations are made. The houses are different from the configurations itself. While the configuration or shape is the piling up of 4 layers of dots and dashes, the houses are the locations in which these configurations fall (Al-Tokhi, 1992). The first house represents the life of the client, the second house is the house of capital, the third for the brothers, the fourth for the parents, the fifth for the children, the sixth for disease, the seventh for marriage, the eighth for death, the ninth for travel, the tenth for luxury and fame, the eleventh for hope, the twelfth for enemies, the thirteenth for the asker, the fourteenth for the sponsors, the fifteenth for balance and equilibrium and the last shape is for judgment . The shapes in the sand speak to Al_Darib: When he sees distressful or tragic configurations he pronounces bad news irrespective what the object of consultation is. When he sees a mixed configuration he pronounces middle results. When he sees happy configurations he pronounces good news and success. Kinship relations: A number of researches indicate that the mothers here do not primary stand for a kinship reference, but for fundamental cosmological entities such as planets or elements, However, in hitting the sand, the client has to give the name of his mother and not the father. (Al-Tokhi, 1991). This in turn makes the descent series mothers/ daughters/ off springs distinctly matrilateral. (Van Binsberg , 1996) Calendar: The sixteen shapes or configurations are divided among the days, weeks, months, and years. For the days of the week, the shapes are distributed as follows: Sunday Thurs. night Friday Tues. night Wed Sat. night Wed Fri. night Sat. Wed. night Thurs.Mon. night Tues. Sat. night Sat. rest of days Adopted from Al-Tokhi (1992). Al-usul wa al-wosoul fi ilm al-raml.(Translated from Arabic) Also, the first twelve of these sixteen configurations are identified with the twelve astrological houses and are interpreted accordingly, taking into account the usual correspondences and conventional meanings of the twelve houses, the planets and the zodiacal signs. The planetary and zodiacal associations of each of the sixteen names are listed in the following table: Adopted from Van Binsberg, The Astrological Origin of Geomancy, 1996, p.43. Closure Ilm al-raml in Islamic, Arabic culture is a complex cosmological tradition that is still practiced and is highly popular in most Arab countries today. Although it is highly contextual and mostly spread out among the more underprivileged, poverty stricken people, it is nonetheless highly sophisticated with a systematic set of procedures that underlies its implementation and interpretation. As a divination practice, Ilm al-raml encompasses a range of mathematical ideas that are embedded in the daily life of indigenous people and play an unprecedented role in impacting the decisions they undertake in their everyday encounters. Concomitantly, such an inductive, semiotic system is based on mathematical and probabilistic principles that are constantly proposed as vital in the mathematics school curricula. Introducing students to such cultural practices can help embed mathematics in meaningful and novel contexts and consequently build a more positive attitude toward mathematics.

Brainstorming :: essays research papers

Brainstorming Need a topic for an English assignment? Need a solution to a business problem? Brainstorming is a great way to find answers. Many problem solving or idea generating solutions may not be best managed by the first idea. It is best to consider many solutions. Brainstorming is a method of shared problem solving in which all members of a group spontaneously contribute ideas in a set amount of time. It involves three basic steps: identifying the issue, generating and listing ideas, and evaluating and picking a solution. The first and most important step in brainstorming is to identify the problem or idea to be explored. Those involved in the process need to be clear on the topic. The question or issue must be one about which all participants can speak to. To maximize contribution, parties involved in the process must feel free from insults or evaluations of their suggestions. The second step in the process is to generate and list ideas or options. Begin with a few moments of reflection as the ideas start to come to mind. Write down ideas as they come to mind regardless how impossible they may seem. Repetitive answers or â€Å"piggy-backing† ideas should be encouraged. A reasonable time frame should be established to meet goals or deadlines in a timely fashion. The third step in brainstorming is to evaluate and pick a solution. In reviewing the ideas generated ask some questions about the ideas and/or solutions to determine the importance of these. What does this idea or solution have in relation to the key topic idea? Why is this idea listed? How closely related is it to other ideas generated? Does this solution best fit the issue addressed? Solutions should be reviewed for its effectiveness. In the event the solution is not effective, one can refer back to the creative

Political Rap and Boogie Down Productions :: Rap Music B-D-P Essays

Political Rap and Boogie Down Productions In the fall of 1987, Scott la Rock, the DJ of the rap group Boogie Down Productions (B-D-P) was shot in a car after trying to break up a fight (Small 77). In light of B-D-P's role in reforming rap in the succeeding years, his biography is significant; he was college educated and was employed--in addition to his musical activity--as a social worker. He had released a groundbreaking record that year, and had already worked on a follow-up, which would defy older categories of rap music. His violent death seemed a cause for pause to reflect on rap music's new direction. The effect on the other member of B-D-P, the rapper K-R-S One (Chris Parker), was devastating but quickened his mission. Nearly two years after the murder, he preached against black-on-black crime, promoting education, spirituality and vegetarianism. Rap had to be political and it required self-denial, even asceticism; he had made rap music an extremely serious endeavor. Enlightened rap seemed poised to enjoy mainstream popularity. But something about its message did not capture the popular imagination, and it has remained a sub-genre. Conversely, the highly materialistic rap that was popular when B-D-P appeared in 1987, glorifying jewelry, cars and brand names, is in vogue again. However, B-D-P--vintage B-D-P--enjoys a paradoxically respected position. This is strange because in some respects B-D-P's version of political rap was stricter than the other groups that comprised the so-called New School, the consciousness-raised groups that followed in his path. Something about B-D-P's asceticism had an edge that made it strangely attractive. I wish to explore this ambiguity. K-R-S One was the guiding force of B-D-P, writing its lyrics and producing its albums. He is generally regarded as the popular artist who, along with Chuck D of Public Enemy, politicized rap in the middle 'eighties. It is well known that popular rap was capable of political content from its earliest beginnings. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released both "The Message" (1982) and "White Lines" (Don't Do It) (1983), the first a lament about ghetto life and the second a powerful indictment of cocaine (then called "freebase"), well before crack became a mainstream epidemic. Run-DMC rapped in "Hard Times" about the early 'eighties inflation economy. Of course, the political discourse of rap music has been pointed out before, but almost always in exalted form.

4th new member discussion :: essays research papers

Brothers & Sisters we are privileged to be living in the most glorious of times, A time when all the generations of mankind come together. A time just before our Savior appears for his millennial reign. Think about that for a moment. Last General Conference in April our beloved Prophet spoke on this subject and reiterated the fact that these are perilous times. We know this to be true. Dallin H. Oaks spoke on the signs of the times & our need to prepare for his 2nd coming. He told us there are 4 matters indisputable to Latter-day Saints. 1. The Savior will return to the earth in power and great glory to reign personally during the millennium. 2 At the time of his coming there will be great destruction, a destruction of the wicked and a resurrection of the righteous. 3. No one knows the time of his coming, but , 4 the faithful are taught to study the signs and to be prepared for it. He focused primarily on the 4th with our need for spiritual preparation. He began the 4th topic with Alma 34:32 â€Å"this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God†¦.the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors† and he asked â€Å"Are we preparing?† Imagine that you are living just below a large dam. One day you notice a crack in the dam. What would you do. Would you call someone to repair the crack or see what could be done to repair it? Later you see water leaking thru this crack and you realize that the dam soon will break. Would you mention casually to your family and friends that a problem exists or is developing? Or would you urgently do everything possible to warn others to escape the danger? We should have much the same concern about sharing the saving truths of the gospel with those who have not yet heard them. We know the dam is about to break but do we see or feel the urgency D&C 88:81 â€Å"It becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.† When we accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and are baptized into his church we accept the responsibility of sharing it with others, particularly relatives and friends. Great blessings are promised the House of Israel. Some of us may not even comprehend these

Communication and management skills

Introduction:An individual, a family, and the society are engulfed in the cobweb of management skills and     pubic relations in every step of life. One is not actively aware of it. In this materialistic era of industrialization and internet civilization, public relations have not left any part of one’s life untouched. It creates better or worse effects. Public Relations is good in parts. It takes away one from the truth. Profiteering and Public Relations are alternative beats of the same heart. From the topics covered in James E. Grunig’s book, â€Å"Managing Public Relations,† one gets an idea of the domain of Management of Public Relations. The Public Relations Manager in any Organization is the key man; he has to present the best of the Organization, in all aspects to the individuals andInstitutions he is called upon to deal.Theme:The theme of any public relations exercise is ‘how to bell the cat.’ How to win over the other party to your view point! How to sell your product to the customer! How to face the competition! These challenges form the syllabus for public relations managers. The topics covered in the book are extensive and intensive. The book has enough resources for both the students and the professionals. It does the job of a knowledgeable teacher. Both the theoretical and the practical aspects are well taken care of. The Four Public Relations models defined by Grunig, deal with the core issues related to this topic.Main ideas/ techniques:The listing of the topics covered and enumerated is fairly long, but if one keeps out its printout, in the form of a pocket-guide, it will prove useful. The topics are, the concept of pubic relations, origin and contemporary structures of public relations, public relations and public responsibility, professionalism in public relations, elements of public relations management, defining and choosing goals and objectives, identifying organizational linkages and publics, budgeti ng and decision making, evaluation research, legal constraints, media relations, employee and member relations, community relations, public affairs and government relations, relations with active publics;consumers, environmentalists and minorities, financial public relations, promotion, fund raising and public communication campaigns, public relations writing, press releases, catering to the press, using radio, television and videotape, preparing to speak, brochures, fact sheets and   direct mail, newsletters, newspapers and magazines, photographs and illustrations, slides and multimedia representations, films, exhibits and special events, annual reports and financial writing, public relations advertising, lobbying and toward a mature profession.  So, that is public relations. Interesting and many times, annoying, because it is to deal with the public of various types of emotions, tempers and opinions.Evaluation:It is not possible to evaluate the issues involved in public relati ons within the perimeters of this small article. An effort has been made to discuss the most important aspect of it, in the prevailing conditions today– the management of media. Media is broadly categorized into print media and electronic media. In first flush of enthusiasm, all like media attention. But handling the media attention is not that easy. Mostly if anything adverse is reported, the readers and viewers believe it immediately.Contradicting the adverse reports is not an easy job; it is both expensive, and at times it invites further media wrath. News papers are published everyday. TV channels give the reporting 24 hours of the day. From where one can bring the enormous resources to meet the adverse challenge? The section of the viewers who have seen the adverse reports may not see your clarifications. They say, a lie reported from a platform a thousand times, becomes the truth. That is the position one would face while dealing with the media. It is necessary for you to evaluate whether the money that you are spending on image building exercise is hitting the right spot. A good press release is no guarantee for bettering the image. It may lead to both positive and negative results.People want to read what they want, not what you want. Every press release, every advertisement must have the sense of timing. You can’t advertise refrigerators for the Eskimos. You don’t advertise for woolen garments during summer, unless it is a heavy discount sale, and the people get attracted to the discount aspect. Pubic Relations, in the developing countries, is yet to take off. In the context of globalization, no business establishment can survive in isolation.The consumer is the king now, with so many brands of identical products available in the market. Fresh products arrive to provide stiff competition as for quality and cost both. It is not enough, what you produce is the best product. People need to know that it is the best product, and why it is the best product, in comparative terms. â€Å"Once you start promoting your business, don’t stop. A sustainable public relations strategy is a long-term endeavor. It can take months to capture the attention of targeted media venues. Plus, it’s important to remind the press about your business on a regular basis, so they don’t forget about you.†(Public†¦.)In Western countries, public relations are part of the top management function. It is the part of the agenda of the Board meetings. Management formulates its public relations policy. Continuous efforts are made by the public relations men to keep the organization on the high pedestal from the point of view of the public. Maintaining popularity is equally important as achieving the popularity.â€Å"We even shadow our own communications tactics trying to monitor their impact on audience perception — tactics such as face-to-face meetings, Internet and email, hand-placed newspaper and magazin e feature articles and broadcast appearances, special consumer briefings, news releases, announcement luncheons, onsite media interviews, facility tours, brochures and even special events like promotional contests, financial road shows, awards ceremonies, trade conventions, celebrity appearances and open houses — each designed to impact individual perception and behavior.†(The Fundamental†¦)Conclusion:â€Å"Now this soap has the juice of lemon, which nourishes your skin!† says an advertisement. Well, did you not know that lemon juice is good for your skin and in that case why don’t you squeeze a lemon get some juice and put it in the bucket of water and use it directly? Why buy the costly soap, just for the sake of lemon juice? And yet you buy! Why?-because the model engaged by the Company in the television advertisement has told you so. You pay for the soap and for their advertisement costs!   Yes, this is managing public relations!References Cited :Grunig, James E. Book: Managing Public RelationsHardcover: 565 pagesPublisher: Harcourt Brace College Publishers (January 1984)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0030583373ISBN-13: 978-0030583377Article: Public Relations Strategy on a Tight Budgetwww.startupnation.com/articles/1241/1/public-relations-strategy.Retrieved on December 9, 2007.Article: The Fundamental Premise-Public Relations-ezinearticles.com/? Public-Relations:-The-Fundamental-Premise&id=17377 – Retrieved on December 9, 2007.

Huck Finn Character Analysis Essay

Is huck in The Adventures of huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, a peachy literary char morseler for unexampled readers nowadays? He is seen at the extinctset of the original as a troublesome one-year-old child who needs to be taught how to act in a civilized expressive style and widow Douglas and fell Watson, models of conventional order take him in, attempting to educate him. His father further kidnaps him, and hucka linchpin is no longer confine by the con rowance of nine, scarcely kinda by the harsh treatment of his abusive father. Still seen as a misfit child, his computer address gains some gaze from the reader when he is able to fake his own finish and trip from his fathers jail. When huck and Jim, Miss Watsons hoyden slave, starting encounter one a nonher after(prenominal) both of them soak up leadd from rules of order, huckaback views Jim as property, yet decides to help him anyway.At this point huckabacks mention is developing on with the reade rs respect for him as a young adult. His important decision to help Jim dismount from slavery foreshadows hucks righteous change that will eventually hap in the novel. As the story progresses, huck and Jim sp contain significant time unitedly travelling land the Mississippi River, where Jims individual character begins to develop along with the two fugitives person-to-person kin. By the finis of the novel huck sees Jim as an equal, believe deep pop in his means that Jim is a muster out man. Due to his sledding from conventional community as nearly as his in the flesh(predicate) kind with Jim, huckaback is able to undergo extensive clean-living ripening as the novel progresses.Although by the end of the novel huckaback has set out an individual with his own opinions and chasteisticistics, throughout the beginning(a) section of the story he is in time a radical young son being trapped by the conformity of conventional ball club. Prior to being interpreted i n by Miss Watson and Widow Douglas, huck lived a rugged brio with his abusive, alcoholic Pap. huck was intelligent with this lifestyle of not going to school, and stealing to get by day to day. His base to fiat and the normal lifestyle it brings with it, throttle the adventurous nature of Hucks character and he becomes unhappy. After getting used to attending school regularly, use table manners, and being taught to believe in God, Huck makes an important observation by saying, I liked the old slipway best, yet I was getting so I liked the new ones too, a little bit. The widow said I was coming along slow but sure, and doing satisfactory. She said she warnt mortified of me (Twain 15).At thispoint it is app bent that Huck has not yet developed a nous of his own. He is letting society entrance the way he acts and thinks, not showing any of his true character. By conforming and adopting the ideals of conventional society, Huck is not thinking or living to his effective pot ential. The reader does, how of all time, see a clarified change when Huck and Jim meet at Jacksons Island where Huck admits that bulk could call me a low-down abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum- but that move intot make no inequality (Twain 36). Even though he knows society would not agree with his decision, Huck has agree to help Jim escape.Hucks personal choices, as well as virtuously challenging decisions made while traveling the Mississippi with Jim, are crucial to the development of his character. Although Huck did decide to help Jim escape from Miss Watson, he was originally only if in it for the adventure and planned on turning Jim in further down the river. However, Jim turns out to be a sympathize with man who treats Huck with immense respect and attention. Had Huck unflustered been under the bewitch of conventional society, his decision probably would have been different, because slaves were considered no matter to a greater extent than property and Huck had been taught to believe that fallacy. The two runaways form a relationship while traveling down the Mississippi River in which they help and value each other. Huck begins to think of Jim as a friend and the father he neer had. This change is made when Huck admits that it was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and blue myself to a nigger but I done it, and I warnt ever sorry for it afterward, neither (Twain 86). along with Hucks feelings of some form of racial equality came feelings of guilt.Huck is still feeling guilty for stealing some other persons property, someone who had never done anything to harm him. One literary critic says that, No more crushing comment has ever been made on the fraudulent pretensions of civilization then the grand scene in which Huck struggles with himself everyplace the question of whether to turn Jim back to Miss Watson (Podhoretz 2). At this crucial point in the story it can be find that the knead of society is still h every whereing over Huck in some way, but he is attempting to create his own moralistic opinion on the subject.In his struggle, Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson rotund her where she can find and recapture her runaway slave, but before sending the letter, hethinks about his relationship with him and the positive crop Jim has had on him, thinking, all right, then, Ill go to hell- and tore it up. It was thoughts and awful linguistic communication but they was said. And I let them hindrance said and never thought no more about reforming (Twain 214). Here Huck has reached his greatest self accomplishment he figures out the morally correct thing to do, without the influence of society.No sooner did Huck reach his paramount decision, than his convictions are challenged when Jim is exchange to the Phelpss grove and he comes into radio link with his old friend Tom Sawyer. The plantation belongs to Toms Aunt and Uncle, who are expecting a visit from Tom. Huck arrives at the plantation wi th the intent of finding Jim and context of use him free once again, but the touch mistakes him for Tom, he goes along with it. Tom arrives at the plantation and Huck living thither with him, begins to regress from his newly found moral reachment. The launch of Tom into the story is symbolical of the introduction of conventional society back into Hucks life. He has endlessly seen Tom as being the more intelligent half of the twosome, and when they team up to free Jim, Huck returns to the lower position. Huck allows Toms elaborate escape plan and foolish games to influence his actions. He is focused on achieving freedom for his friend, and is impulsive to do anything to accomplish that terminus.Huck stormily proclaims his true feelings to Tom when he states that, What I want is my nigger and if a excerpts the handiest thing, thats the thing Im a-going to dig that nigger out with and I dont eat a dead rat what the regime thinks about it nuther (Twain 246). Seeing Jim being h eld imprisoned on the plantation reminds Huck to taking into custody true to his self-proclaimed values, and not lose fortune of a promise to Jim to gain him his freedom. Achieving this goal and freeing Jim from slavery would enable Huck to remain an individual and overcome the influence of society that had entered back into his life. At the end of the story Huck is able to smatter to Jim with a feeling of accomplishment as he tells him that hes, a free man again, and you wont ever be a slave no more (Twain 275).How is Huck able to achieve this accomplishment? It is his departure from conventional society as well as his relationship with Jim that allows Huckto develop considerable moral character. At the start of the story Huck is restricted by society and constrained to believe what they tell him to believe, so he does not feel any personal connection with Jim. Once Huck leaves society he starts to form his own opinions and moral values based upon the way Jim acts towards him. His relationship with Jim makes Huck realize the equality of blacks and he thinks of Jim as a trusted and esteem person and friend. On the Phelps Plantation the introduction of Tom acts as the entrance of society back into Hucks life, and causes him to regress, but he is able to overcome its influence by the constant reminder of Jims captivity. Huck, in the end, demonstrates the importance of establishing a mind of your own, outside that of conventional society.

Marketing Plan: Product and Performance Essay

Executive SummaryMobility, latest trends and technologies are three most significant factors that customer seek today when they walk-in in an electronic item’s outlet. Years before the journey of technology started out from the calculator the most basic computer as we call it. Today how that technology has emerged and the most latest is PDA (Personal Digital System), full computer in a small device to perform click all of the tasks. New Nokia Mobile phone has all the features of a desktop computer, no need of a laptop.You get your product to begin with.The english major source in use during cricket matches, exercising in the morning and during traveling for work or school. 73% of college easy going women (18-25) years of age surveyed tune into radio, although the channel loyalty is not there. The most frequent listening occurs after dinner time.This is different from male portable radio listeners as the FM channels are replacing cassettes as a music source while driving, o ther survey shows that second one of the popular source of music are the FM stations, FM 89, 91 and 106.Finding the demographics of your target marketplace will permit you to good tailor the launch strategy to the folks.

180 million), 16.667% of Pakistanis are young. Statistics shows that 60% of population is under 25 that is 2/3rd wired and nearly 10 million are in the urban areas. GEN X and GEN Y is the most experienced  and accessed generation in the human history.A merchandise is a new product procured or produced by the business to meet with the requirements of the customer.Our Secondary objective is to make good profits and make few more products like this with working hand in hand with the fashion and our way would be walking extract from earrings to necklaces, bracelets and other fashion accessories.Marketing ResearchMethods of Data collection:Basically there are two methods of data collection:1) Primary Data2) Secondary DataPrimary Data Collection:Primary available Data is that data which is collected specifically for the project at hand. The primary data for our assignment resulted from the unstructured interviews that we conducted from different many friends and family members and also many strangers.Secondary Data Collection:Secondary Data is that data, which has already been collected for some other purpose but can be used as reference material.The aim is getting your product into the industry although delivery methods vary widely based on the product.

In other words, the market we are making is new from where fashion and technology work together but a relatively alike market of mobile phones has a situation that cares more about apps logical and memory than on radio and/or music player. So, we are going to come in with focus on music players and radios deeds that would even make consumers look different by the fashion of earring they’d carry. A new market but has links with the standing strong market of static mobile phones.The ProductIntroduction of product:Now days, mobility is becoming an important factor in electronic devices.A superb product isnt simple to define since itll mean things.Technical and Functional Aspect of the Product:This gross product would be an earpiece connected to a player that would be smaller than a phone. Both the devices would be connected via Bluetooth. Their range of connectivity would vary to many more than 20 square meter so the consumer doesn’t need to keep the device near and playlist functions would increase the ability of gross product to play songs as per the mood of the consumer. Reason of using earrings with the wireless earpiece is to make the product easier good for people to wear and increase the range of our target market.To start with, youre mindful of how much it costs to create your merchandise.

Issue: How to identify the potential outlets?Mission statement:â€Å"We are the followers of the latest trend we strongly believe that fashion develops, we provide the best and quality is never compromised. Technological more flexibility and innovation are the key factors that we emphasize on while shaping a solution for our customers.† Vision statement:â€Å"Innovation†Our product Oriented Definition:â€Å"We manufacture earrings local radio with music player†Our Market Oriented Definition:â€Å"To the trendy and tetchy, Moby X is the radio and music player that provides mobility and a perfect curious blend of fashion and technology that makes you feels different and latest than others.†Target MarketMoby X will form a major share of its domestic market amongst those people who are attracted towards the product with exclusive appearance, unique functionality, style and design.Describe the way your target marketplace free will get your merchandise and also how youll market your goods.The mini chip radio and music player in the earrings itself is fascinating and will communicate on its own towards the people who are engrossed through mini products.Positioning†¢Product Positioning:Moby X would provide higher frequency range compared to other radios available in the market, good will have a long lasting battery and the most important advantage that our product provides is the mix of fashion and technology that various forms our distinctive attribute.Value Proposition:Moby X is a better quality product providing distinctive feature and being a leader makes it more special and different letter from other competing products.  LAPCO using latest Japanese technologies is most reliable and durable.In the product description, you should explain what product or your service is, the particular thrust of apply your strategy and the strategies thatll be used to do your own objectives.

†¢ Complexity: Moby X is easy to use and the first demo CD provided with the product provides the proper guide and features to use the product.†¢ Divisibility: Moby X is an expensive product and initially no discounted rates can be offered.†¢ Communicability: The experience that customers take with them will make its use and only difference spread amongst customers.Market AnalysisBasis of SegmentationDemographic segmentation:Demographics refer to the characteristics of population including such factors as size, distribution and growth, because people constitute market, demographics are of little special interest to market executives.In the end, it is not mysterious and youll be able position to promote your company or to manage a person to deal with advertising for you once you understand how pieces fit together.Any one lying in the income bracket of Rs 50,000+ can afford this productPsychographic Segmentation:The psychographics of the Moby X can be analyzed by r eviewing the advertisement. The lifestyle shown in Moby X advertisements portray successful, sophisticated, professional women who are active energetic and full of life. Behavioral Segmentation:Under this aspect LAPCO Company has based their automatic segmentation on the basis of customer desired benefits. People would prefer buying our product because it’s the first ever product to be launched by LAPCO with radio logical and music player facility which is easy to use, and more over its attractive mix of not only radio and music player great but also as a fashion accessory.The plan has to be accessible to any employee at any given moment.

Proper awareness about the product logical and the setting of the frequencies accordingly so not to affect the ear would have to be justified to the people.Technological:Pakistan is developing technologically and further awareness and further development will assist in improving the product’s functionality.Competitor AssessmentCOMPETITOR ANALYSISMoby X is competing in portable media industry.Major Competitors:Our major competitors are all those manufacturers who are specialized in logical and dealing with microelectronic items, who believe in size and design of product with quality.A well-designed marketing program can help you bring new customers increase awareness of your company and boost sales.COMPETITIVE STRATEGIESDifferentiation:Moby X is an innovation in the arena of radios and all kinds of classical music players. It gives connectivity to the outside world in a way that adds value and beauty to the face.Focus:Moby X is designed especially unlooked for upper middl e class and upper class urban population including GEN X AND GEN Y, fashion followers and trend setters.COMPETITIVE POSITIONMultiple Markets:We what are following the multiple market strategy for Moby X by focusing more towards the upper class and upper middle social class of the society.A promotion program must be determined by where a business ought to be at some point later on.

Since our product is new we great need to do personal selling and convince consumers to buy our product. Then eventually as we gain a foot hold in the market we will have retailers selling our product.Marketing StrategyMARKETING MIXPRODUCT CLASSIFICATION:Moby X is broadly classified as consumer product and under this category we define it as a own specialty product because it is a perfect mix of style and technology. It involves strong brand preference and loyalty, special purchase efforts by consumers, little comparison of brands and low price sensitivity.The advertising program is an overall responsibility from the advertising staff along keyword with company leaders .It includes 3 years’ money back warranty and a pair of fabulous earrings along with the product. Customers are encouraged to fair share their views about the buying experience of the product and after sale experience through surveys conducted at the outlets. An exclusive website is designed to cater based its customers for solving all  their queries regarding the product. Online purchasing service is also available.Face it is a chore.

3 years (Limited) Warranty.Size – (1/3x 1/3 x 3/8) mm is the size of radio chip. 30 x 20 x 5 mm is the size of the earring. Weight – 1/2 oz is the low weight of the earring radio.Marketing plans might appear intimidating initially, but they are manageable and can be inspirational to collect.BRANDINGBrand Equity:Moby X will establish it with the passage of time because of new its good quality and better understanding of customer needs.Brand Name Selection:Moby X is selected as the brand name because it defines the mobility and easy to around carry feature of the product and X signifies the extra factor that we  provide to our customers in the form of earrings (fashion accessory).Brand Sponsorship:LAPCO is manufacturer’s brand.Brand Development:No extension.There are good essential elements that plans include although advertising strategies can change depending on type of goods or services, the business and the goals you last wish to achieve.

Free demo CD is also given. Product Mix:Initially Moby X is introduced in the form of earring but with the passage of first time it will offer in other versions also like in the form of bracelets, rings, and lockets.Product Life Cycle:Our product is at the introductory early stage of product life cycle stage.PRICEMarketing Objectives:â€Å"To create a market share and to stand out as distinct product amongst the other competitors†Marketing Mix Strategy:The price has been decided based on the competitors logical and customer needs and requirements.The promotion plan makes it possible for the advertising team to examine their prior decisions logical and understand their outcomes to be in a position to get prepared for the future.PRODUCT PRICING STRATEGYComparing competitor’s pricingCompetitorPriceSinclair XI Button RadioRs. 2304.93FM Mini Radios Rs.719.3500.PLACEMENTThe product would be sold through â€Å"Indirect Marketing Intermediary†. The product will be sold through push strategy that is product would be first distributed to the wholesalers and then to retailer. The retailers would assist in creating contact with the other retailers which would expand the network and add value.

Newspaper:Moby X is an expensive and new product. There is need to create awareness amongst people that such a product exists. ‘Dawn’ newspaper would be a better choice to advertise being one for the most popular newspapers in Pakistan. A full page would be dedicated to advertise the product providing  a detail know how of the features and distinctive attributes.Since it is a fashion product also magazines such like SHE, STYLE, SYNERGYZER and MAG would also be used to advertise the product.Billboards:The locations where we have decided to place our advertisements are cell all the upper class areas in the populated cities of Pakistan. For instance the major areas identified all the other malls where luxury electronic item’s outlets how are available advertising would be done by placing billboards. In Karachi, at Teen Talwar, Boat Basin, Shahrah – e – Faisal and other foreign markets like Tariq road, Saddar Mobile mall and the road that leads t o Jinnah International Airport.com that special offers all the latest songs.Sales Promotion:One free pair of earring apart from the one already provided in the package would be given with the product.Public relations:Brochures providing details of the safety of wood using the product would be distributed in public places. Articles about the working and flexibility in use would be published in a leading magazine to inform the public about the safety in using this product.August: Increase our relative market share and launch our product in other flat major cities of Pakistan i.e. Lahore, Islamabad.September: We will start an integrated internet campaign targeting young college students.