Paper Publishing Versus Electronic Publishing

Our world evolves in a very fast manner: from our household to outside jobs to recreation. All works concerned time efficiency and how works are to be done in the fastest way we can but not restraining the good quality of the product. All information, literary works and other works concerning anything under the sun relevant to mankind must be accounted for. Upon considering all information, literary works, and other works, it should be known to public by disseminating it. Publishing is the best way to communicate and disseminate information and works to the people. Traditionally, paper publishing do all the works when it comes to publication may it be news, literary works, musical works, and others. At present, the use of paper media in publishing is still enormous. However, considering the vastness of cost in using paper as a medium in publishing, then alternatives should be considered. Electronic publishing is the best alternative the web can give which has its appealing qualities and products. The evidence of its appealing features and products relies on the availability of the topic to be found. Electronic publishing make sure that their products and works are easy to access by its consumers thus providing them a lesser time in finding any information. Electronic publishing also has a wide range of links for a specific topic. Through the use of the web more information are readily access linking a particular topic to a more specific one. This makes the consumers or readers lessen the wasted time and have that excess time be useful in other activities. Due to the reasons discussed, it is evident that newspaper and book publishers convert their primary product into electronic publishing. Time, quality and reliability must coincide in choosing what to patronize when it regards to the news, literary works and other related works. The fastest the reliable information is to be disseminated the more consumers will trust and the better our world will be. References: Lawrence.http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/publications/CITESEER2001online-nature.pdf. retrieved July 25, 2007 Â   Â  

Ducati Case Analysis Essay

Executive Summary As of year 2000, global motorcycle market is dominated by a handful of players. Japanese manufacturers such as Honda, Yamaha, and Kawasaki are low cost players while Harley and Ducati are in the high end of the spectrum and have been able to successfully establish themselves as a premium brand. Harley dominates the cruiser motorbike segment and is a really strong player in the US, where it has a big fan following and loyal customer base. However Ducati has been struggling to increase market share and reach to Harley’s level of profit margin that is highest in industry. Ducati is self discovering itself with Minoli to target right customer segments, retaining its core competencies and establishing its brand image for which Ducati stands for. Minoli’s consideration of entering into Harley’s niche market of cruisers is an excellent choice for Ducati’s future growth, as it reinforces the premium flagship of products that Ducati is famous for. We recommend Ducati develop a â€Å"sports-cruiser† motorbike that offers the riding style and comfort of a cruiser such as Harley Davidson, and yet be fast and nimble. We also recommend offering customization capabilities through Ducati.com and company-owned stores as well as single franchise stores that would continue to offer the same legacy and brand association that Ducati loyalists prefer. The motorbike will be priced at E12,000 (USD 16,200) which is right in the range of Harley’s custom cruiser motorbikes and will take a  step away from Ducati’s current line of sports bikes. This move may seem a bit risky at first, but the fact that Ducati’s R&D expenses will be fairly low due to availability of high quality engines and large su pplier pool; this will not require significant new investment to the current setup. Additionally, the company will be able to entice new customers in a niche segment with high margins and get a significant opportunity for gaining market share. Also, Introduction of these motorbikes in Europe initially will also reduce the possibility of a backlash from Harley who is the leader in the US market. Ducati can then expand to US once they have acquired some sales momentum. Ducati does not expect retaliation from the low-cost Japanese players as it is still positioning itself as a premium manufacturer. However, there is still possibility of new entrants or Japanese makers to introduce a knock-off model in which case Ducati will be able to distinguish itself on attributes including high performance, customization, brand image and the prestige that it has historically enjoyed and is respected for in the industry as well as the global market. Evaluation of Global Motorcycle Industry Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki and few of high end premium manufactures that include BMW, Harley-Davidson, Triumph and Ducati comprised the Global motorcycle Industry. These manufacturers compete in different market segments and select demographics based on different attributes and styles of motorcycles across the product offerings. Our analysis of the industry is summarized using Porter’s Five Forces analysis (Exhibit 1) Suppliers: Recent trends in the motorcycle manufacturing have been leaning towards outsourcing of most motorcycle components and the companies doing the final assembly in-house. Most manufacturers have multiple choices of component suppliers that they may switch at will. This strategy provides them with high negotiation power, reduced fixed assets, and greater flexibility to meet changing market conditions quickly. However, the companies need strong commitment from their suppliers for a quicker turn around, efficiency and quality. Buyers: Customers/end users have been categorized into different segments such as knee-down riders/fast riders, easy riders, hot rods/urban riders, and weekend riders. These riders choose the bike based on performance, lifestyle, function and comfort. A motorcycle is a highly  differentiated product that is used for transport and has lots of alternatives or competitors, and for this reason buyer power is high. Customers have myriad of choices ranging from different styles of bikes such as sports, super sports, off-road/dual purpose, cruisers, naked bikes, etc. to different brands including high end names such as BMW, Harley Davidson, Ducati, and low price options from Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, etc. Entry Barriers: The motorcycle industry is very difficult to enter and compete in due to high capital investments spent on R&D, well-established relationships with suppliers, and strong brand loyalty and recognition that has been established for decades. Motorcycles are becoming more and more technologically advanced, which makes it very difficult for a new entrants to compete on a similar level without large amounts of capital and innovative differentiators. Rivals: Rivalry between the eight major motorcycle manufacturers can be considered high. The total number of motorcycle manufacturers has declined dramatically, with only one major manufacturer remaining from the US. These major players are fierce competitors and are vying for market share based on the brand, style, attributes, service, and price (especially Japanese companies). As a result of such high competition within the industry, manufacturers constantly need to improve designs and functionality. Substitutes: Lastly, several substitutes are available if we consider motorcycle only as a mechanism of transport. However, in many cases, a motorcycle is beyond a mere mode of transportation as a curator in the case said, it is a â€Å"perfect metaphor for twentieth century.† Riding motorcycles provide a unique experience, and it has been a cultural icon as presented in a number of Hollywood movies. In this sense, threat of substitutes, which may be sports cars and racing cars or other mode of transportation, could be considered fairly low. The following section describes changes in the industry and how that affects Ducati. Industry Changes & Implications on Ducati: The industry is advancing at a high pace today due to technological innovations, such as the introduction of electronic components, advent of CNC and CAD technologies, advances in material science to introduce lighter and stronger composite materials. Superior engine performance combined with lower emissions and fuel consumptions is rapidly changing the face of the industry and competition. There is also a push from the manufacturers to improve  components like sophisticated air assisted forks, mono shock rear suspension, and front and rear disc brakes to meet the customers’ hunger for better quality as derived from market survey results and customer feedbacks. These technological changes and quality improvements are positive for Ducati who is abreast on its technological innovation and performance. Advanced engineering and state of the art technology have always been Ducati’s strengths, as evident by the number of World Superbike Championships won by Ducati between 1990 and 2000 (8 victories). Lighter materials help Ducati to continuously improve its already superior performance and retain its position in the sports segment where it already has a stronghold. Additionally, the outsourcing of components and in-house assembly platform of manufacturing turns in favor of Ducati as most of Ducati’s suppliers are concentrated in the Emilian district – a major hub of specialized parts and components suppliers. Ducati typically enters into short-term contracts with its suppliers. Effectively, Ducati has enjoyed a strong hold on its supplier base which in turn has made them the most-efficient manufacturer in the industry and this strategy will continue to provide them the flexibility and edge in design and sourcing of new components going forward. Ducati’s Current Strategy Frederico Minoli, the CEO of Ducati, had two strategic goals in mind when he took over: double digit growth and equaling Harley-Davidson’s profit level of EBITDA margin of 20%, which was the highest in the industry. The challenge was split within the company into polarized directions; Engineers wanted to continue company culture of high focus on product, and Minoli wanted to appeal to broader spectrum of customers and not just extreme riders. The following section provides our analysis of Ducati’s current strategy using Strategy Diamond method (Exhibit 2). Arenas: Ducati primarily offered performance bikes in sports and street category, which are broadly identified as Hyper-sport, Super-sport, Naked and Sport touring. They face tough competition from Japanese manufacturers such as Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki, who have captured the lion’s share of the market. Research shows that a large number of new registrants are categorized under customs and small motorcycle segments with 32.7% and 22.9% market share respectively in 2000 (Case Exhibit 2). Ducati is lagging behind  in this segment as far as the market share goes. In regards to geography, Ducati has distribution through Italy, US, Germany, France, Japan, UK (Case Exhibit 14). Ducati currently attracts and retains young male â€Å"knee down† riders and racing aficionados who associate Ducati with extreme performance and functionality, and recently there has been an increase in women customers (who comprise of 8% of their Monster line – their most popular model). This could be a growing segment that Ducati has not yet considered. Lastly, Ducati’s products are in the sports niche; 41% to 54% of its customers own large bikes greater than 500cc. It gradually entered in sport touring category to address older customer base and also entered into accessories and apparel b usiness by acquiring Gio.Ca.Moto which produces line of accessories for Ducati. Nonetheless, Ducati’s limited editions in 1999 were icing on Ducati’s portfolio. Vehicles: Ducati has excellent engineers and designers who themselves are fanatics of the motorcycle- they are purist â€Å"knee down† riders, and have strong beliefs in speed, performance, and passion for races. Ducati invested a large proportion of their revenue in designing new technology, development of products and human resource management. Ducati’s core strengths including the Desmodromic valve distribution system and the technical superiority of its engines, and their collaboration with other firms such as Lamborghini and Ferrari fueled Ducati’s growth. Ducati advertises through specialized magazines and focus on the Italian style, history, young riders, and a sporty attitude. Ducati.com website used the internet as a vehicle, and sold 500 units of a limited edition in 31 minutes and 2,000 units in 10 days at different times, educated customers, and created awareness about its brand, this has been a real win for Ducati. Differentiators: Ducati’s goal was to improve average quality of dealers and increase competence sales force unlike Japanese manufactures who utilized multi-franchise retailers to sell multiple brands with less specialized knowledge of products. Secondly unlike their competitors, they established Ducati clubs approximately 400 which allowed members to â€Å"live† at racing events and get inside access to teams. Ducati also participated in social events and museum tours that has helped Ducati disseminate information about its history and brand which increased customer loyalty and helped acquire new ones. Ducati is heading in the right direction but is still far from Minoli’s vision to enable and foster dealers  to connect with clubs more easily. Staging: Minoli strategized Ducati to turn into a powerful brand and would move away from just competing with Japanese brands. Ducati decided to build museum instead of fixing the raining roof and that’s one key factor in building the brand image of Ducati and sending the right signal to employees and customers. It then identifies the 5 core attributes that Ducati signifies – technologically advanced engine, tubular trestle frame, Italian style and its unique engine sound. Ducati was able to reduce the time to market effort for all its new products utilizing their research centers muscle. Another important decision Minoli took was entering into accessories and apparel producing business. This created the â€Å"world of Ducati† a very successful initiative to build on Ducati brand and strengthen its customer loyalty. Economic Logic: Ducati is a premium brand that consumers appreciate and regard highly. The brand image and legacy allows Ducati to keep prices high and hence reap high profit margins on its motorbikes, accessories, apparel, etc. Ducati motorbike prices can max out at $21,895 compared to $14,350 for Harley Davidson, $9,500 for Triumph, and $9,300 for Honda. Also, its limited edition bikes were sold at world-wide price of E26,000 that made Ducati reap huge profit margins. Ducati’s own marketing and distribution process and exploiting power of internet (Ducati.com) helped it retain most of its profit and have higher margins and they controlled their production costs by standardizing components, (eg: only two crank case and 3 cylinder designs).. Recommendations and Specific Actions Arena: We recommend Ducati to design and launch a custom sports-cruiser bike targeting sports bike fans, who would prefer the riding comfort, style, and customization of a cruiser. This new product is essentially a fast motorbike that has a sports engine morphed into cruiser style chassis. We also recommend offering customization services to suit the style and needs of our individual customers. This will be introduced initially in Europe and eventually in the US and Asia. Europe is the market where Ducati has experience, design expertise, preferred supplier base, proximity to racing arenas, and association with other world-renowned sporting car companies like Maserati and Lamborghini. Hence, building a strong foundation in Europe first provides the advantage that is very hard to imitate by others. Our  target segment is riders in the age group of 30-50 who like the comfort and the style of a cruiser, and yet prefer the power, speed, and especially the handling that is synonymous to a sports bike. Additionally, there is interest in customization especially for cruiser segment that we would like to exploit and offer as an added benefit to our customers. Furthermore, we will leverage light-weight design components (magnesium alloy frame, carbon fiber body and parts) to provide the performance edge needed in a sports bike. This will attract young riders as well as women, who typically prefer lightweight bikes. Vehicle: Initial launch will focus on current Ducati owned stores. This will help us gauge customers response; provide early feedback from Ducati loyalists, as well as opportunity to attract customers using word-of-mouth advertising. Based on the feedback and learning from this rollout, we would be able to identify other possible locations to open new stores (combination o f company owned and single-franchise dealers), starting from Italy, and then expanding out into the European sub-continent. We do not plan to open any new stores immediately, until the market picks up and demand is more than 25% of existing sales. The assumption is that any increase within 25% of sales volume can be managed via the existing stores. Any franchising will be done through single-franchise dealerships so as to maintain more control and emphasize quality. As a long-term plan, we also would like to add 10 new Ducati owned stores leased at strategically important cities around Europe, which would cost us E10M (E200K/year) over 5 years , and another E5M for maintenance (design, upkeep, staffing, taxes etc.) Differentiators: Customers value Ducati for its brand, high performance engines, strong association with racing, Italian style, and the unique sound of its engine, among other things. We believe that our strategy will help maintain our core competencies and resources intact, while allowing us to expand into newer space as well. The customization services that we also plan to offer along with our product will be a value-add service to Ducati loyalists, which can be priced at a premium. These customization services include different body styles, paint schemes, accessories etc., which will benefit from the availability of the large pool of supplier base that we have local access to. This large and varied supplier base also provides Ducati with buying power and quick turn-around time of new designs. Advertising expenditure for Ducati comes to about  three times that of Harley in the year 2000 alone. About 14.5% of gross revenue is being spent on advertising, marketing and sales effort, close to about what we get in return as our net income. We do not plan to cut down on advertising and marketing but will have to come up creative, more cost effective ways to get our message out there to reach a broader spectrum of customers like Minoli envisioned. Using channels such as word-of-mouth, social-media, YouTube videos, collaboration with sports bike bloggers, commentators, and also investing and expanding Ducati fan/owners clubs are ways we can leverage cost-effective marketing techniques. Economic Logic: Our R&D team (including HPE) already has several high-end performance engines that can be utilized in designing such a bike, hence we feel our major R&D expenses will be towards the design of the frame and body components. This will reduce our overall R&D spend, as compared to a full blown redesign/production of a new engine technology. Furthermore, we only need about E2M for R&D expenses; E5M for CAPEX, leaving the remaining E12M for advertising. This CAPEX budget covers the additional manufacturing capacity as well as assembly line expenses. We plan to leverage the existing network of suppliers by continuing to outsource. We forecast a sale of 3,300 bikes to be sold in the first year after launch (initially Europe only), priced at E12,000 ($16,200 per unit), see Exhibit 3, which is 2% of the worldwide cruiser/custom motorbike market, where Harley is the leader. Ducati was able to sell about 3,500 units of its sports touring after launch, so we think that we should be able to meet this forecast of 3,300 for the new sports-cruiser hybrid. Thereafter, we project a 10% growth in sales in the 2nd year, and thereafter about 15% growth in the 3rd, 4th and 5th year. We are assuming that the life-span of a design is typically for 5 years; thereafter, this design/model would be retired or become obsolete. We would price the bike at about E12,000 so that it is not seen to be a cheap bike, while at the same time making sure it is not too expensive for Ducati fans to buy. At a discount rate of about 8% and an initial investment of E17M to launch the product in Europe, we anticipate a net return on investments of a bout E16.8M in 5 years. Major Internal and External Risks Currently, there is no market research available that shows a segment in Europe and US who would like to have a hybrid cruiser that drives as a  sports bike. The retail chain and distribution channels available in Europe and the US are perhaps more familiar with Harley-Davidson dominating the cruiser segment, and the Japanese players competing in both the cruiser and the sports segment in Europe. Ducati is a world renowned Italian sports bike brand and although we are positive that we will have considerable success in carving out a sizable market segment with this new product we plan to launch, there is always a risk in going after a new market segment, especially a niche segment. Significant capital would have to be invested to arrange ad campaigns, events, retail chains to raise awareness, all before a dime is earned. Internal Risks: Ducati’s expertise lies in the sports bike arena, and it has never offered a cruiser style motorbike. The needs of this customer segment are definitely different than the sports bike segment, and it is possible that Ducati could run short on delivering a product that meets the needs of the segment itis targeting. Ducati may not necessarily have the skills or the expertise to provide this sort of value to its customers. Translating and adapting its core skill-set to a different model type to develop a product more aligned with the cruiser model is not going to be easy. Also, this move could upset hard-core Ducati fans, who would not want Ducati to be associated to anything other than sport bikes. Ducati could possibly risk losing their loyal fan base, if it were to diversify into bike-variants other than sports. Diversifying too far from what Ducati is known for also puts the reputation and prestige of the company and its engineers who have become respected and well-known in the industry for making high quality performance bikes. The technical excellence and performance that Ducati is so well-known for around the world could well be seen to become diluted by moving into a cruiser bike segment which historically has been associated with a different demographic segment altogether. Yet, by carefully positioning this new product to be a sports bike at its core and by re-establishing our commitment to producing high-quality performance bikes that we have come to be known for, we could potentially re-assure our current fans. External Risks: Harley Davidson has dominated the custom cruiser segment for years with a very loyal fan base and supplier chain. Ducati’s entrance in this segment will be seen as an aggressive move by Harley, and Ducati must be prepared for some backlash. Harley has a strong network of suppliers, and distribution channels in the  US, and has set high entry barriers for Ducati in the US market. Ducati’s suppliers are primarily located in Bologna, and hence Ducati has enjoyed the benefit of being in close proximity to a large pool of supplier base and component manufacturers. Going with sports cruiser hybrid could mean that Ducati may need to establish relationships with a whole new set of suppliers based out of the US. US suppliers might not necessarily have a sense of the Italian style, a core value that the product provides. Therefore, we do not plan to enter the US market just yet, thereby preventing getting ourselves into a face-face with Harley. Once we build some credibility with customers in Europe, where we have a strong supplier base, and a decent distribution channel, we could potentially launch in the US in 2-3 years time frame based on the success of this launch. European markets have been dominated by Japanese players in sales volume, and entering the market could prompt them to bring out a competing product of their own, which could eat into the market share that Ducati is hoping to grab with this hybrid. If Ducati does not differentiate its product and service offerings enough, there is a risk of being dragged into a price war with the Japanese. However, this is the arena where Ducati shines and has made its name- superb performance, exquisite design, and the racing dominance. By strategically positioning our product for a whole new segment of customers Ducati can protect itself from appearing to start a war. By providing additional customization services, which would be charged at a high premium, we separate ourselves by going after an audience who is not a typical low-cost Japanese bike buyer. BMW successfully launched and defined its own cruiser and so can Ducati! Exhibit 3: Projected Sales Year Unit Sales Growth Units Sold Price/Unit (in Euros) Total Revenue EBITDA 0 -â‚ ¬17,000,000 1 3,300 â‚ ¬12,000 â‚ ¬39,600,000 â‚ ¬6,930,000 2 10% 3,630 â‚ ¬12,000 â‚ ¬43,560,000 â‚ ¬7,623,000 3 15% 4,175 â‚ ¬12,000 â‚ ¬50,094,000 â‚ ¬8,766,450 4 15% 4,801 â‚ ¬12,000 â‚ ¬57,608,100 â‚ ¬10,081,418 5 15% 5,521 â‚ ¬12,000 â‚ ¬66,249,315 â‚ ¬11,593,630 NPV â‚ ¬16,862,800

‘Eve Teasing in Bangladesh’ -Causes and Remedies Essay

London, June 16 (ANI): Eve teasing in Bangladesh has taken such a heavy toll on the country’s women that the education ministry there has voted to have an â€Å"Eve Teasing Protection Day†. The announcement was made after the increasing concern over the worrying number of girls and women who have recently committed suicide in the country to escape eve teasing, a euphemism for sexual harassment. According to figures released by the Ain-O-Shalish Kendra (ASK) human rights organisation, 14 girls and women have taken their own lives over the past four months across the country as a direct result of the insults. In addition, a father and a daughter also committed suicide together – in an incident blamed by the authorities on â€Å"eve teasing†. Police say three men who publicly protested against the harassment have been killed over the past 12 weeks. Critics argue that laws, which should prohibit sexual harassment, are so poorly drafted that victims get virtually no help from the law enforcement agencies. Families of the victims are left feeling hopeless and helpless. â€Å"Some victims find suicide is the only avenue that enables them to escape this social pandemic,† the BBC quoted Sultana Kamal, executive director of ASK, as saying. â€Å"The situation is very frightening. The suicides of 14 girls are an alarming sign of the times. If it is not controlled, we women can no longer live in society with any dignity,† she said. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid while admitting to the menace said female students and female teachers were at present not safe on the streets or schools, a situation leading to an increased drop-out rate of female students in many schools, and underage marriages. (ANI) Bengal girl commits suicide after sexual harassment Kolkata, August 14 (IANS) Subjected to regular sexual harassment by a some local youths and following an altercation with her father on the issue, a 13-year-old-school girl committed suicide by immolating herself in West Bengal’s Burdwan district, police said Tuesday. Four people have been arrested in this connection. â€Å"Ujjawala Prasad, 13, had set herself on fire last night and she succumbed to  injuries Tuesday morning. Her father has lodged a complaint against nine persons who had been harassing the girl for the past few days. Four persons have been arrested,† a police officer said. The incident happened in Hirapur in Burdwan district, 213 km from Kolkata. Police said the girl complained to her father about some boys teasing her regularly, following which he went to confront them. The boys said the girl was having an affair with one of them. The father had a heated argument with the girl Monday night. After the incident, Leader of Opposition and Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Surjya Kanta Mishra said: â€Å"Not a single day passes when an incident of an attack on women is not reported. Today a girl committed suicide in Asansol after she was harassed by men. The attacks on women, especially on minor girls, has shot up.† Rising incidents of sexual harassment and increasing public anger in protest has prompted the Bangladesh government, headed by a woman, Sheikh Hasina, to take action. In the latest incident Friday, villagers set fire to houses of some alleged stalkers in Talupara village in Sirajganj district, about 110 km northwest of Dhaka. The mob also caught a stalker’s father and handed him over to the police. In another incident, at least 10 members of a family were Wednesday beaten for protesting against stalking, and one of them died, The Daily Star reported. Abdur Rauf, son of Delwar, used to pester Kamrul’s wife Joinab, 18, every day. After Joinab brought the matter to Delwar’s attention, Rauf and his men went to Kamrul’s house and beat up his family. Kamrul’s uncle Aser Ali succumbed to injuries on way to hospital. In another incident last week, a school girl’s father, who managed to nab her stalker and hand him over to the police, could not take questions from the media and died of heart attack. The government has promised a law to prevent sexual harassment of women at work. But the problem is difficult to tackle in villages where women and young girls from broken families or with men away on work face harassment from idle, at times better off, youths. The government declared to observe June 13 as the Eve Teasing Protection Day  from this year. The resolve to raise public awareness comes from the presence of several women in public life. â€Å"In a country where the prime minister (Sheikh Hasina), foreign minister (Dipu Moni), home minister (Sajeda Khatun), agriculture minister (Motia Chowdhury) and the leader of the opposition (Begum Khaleda Zia) are female, women and girls cannot walk on the streets, use public transport, or go to school, shops, parks or other public places without often being ogled, taunted, harassed, humiliated, sexually molested, groped and assaulted – and in some cases, attacked with acid, abducted and raped,† The Daily Star lamented in a commentary Saturday. According to the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association, almost 90 percent of girls aged 10-18 years are victims of sexual harassment. The perpetrators range from college students and unemployed youth to street vendors, rickshaw pullers, bus drivers, fellow passengers, colleagues and supervisors. â€Å"Sexual terrorism thrives on patriarchal attitudes, prejudices, cultural norms, double standards and discriminatory laws that devalue women and deny them their rights. Eradicating it will require transformative social change,† the newspaper said. A large number of school and college students held a rally in Dhaka to protest against ‘eve teasing’ and the sexual harassment of women. According to the BBC, the rally was the latest in a series of protests following a number of suicides and killings involving women subjected to bullying and harassment. The protestors have urged the Bangladesh government to take proper steps to curb sexual harassment and provide better protection for women. â€Å"Some right-wing parties say that if the girls wear a veil, then they can escape Eve teasing, but we don’t think so. We need tougher legislation and it should be properly implemented to stop this menace,† one of the protestors said. Young girls often face verbal abuse, taunts and stalkers, and critics are forcibly silenced. Those harassing them are often their school colleagues or men in the street, the report said. According to activists, eve teasing and sexual harassment has led to the deaths of more than 24 people, most of them women, since the beginning of this year in the country. In recent days, some who have spoken  out against sexual harassment have been murdered, it added. (ANI)

Cost projection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cost projection - Essay Example The pilot project is eligible for scrutiny and financial consideration as it falls among the green infrastructures programs in the city. In addition, the pilot project is part of the environmental program that the agency showed interest in supporting. The project involves constructing green roofs and blue roofs within NY City as a measure of reducing stormwater runoff. Blue roofs retain stormwater. However, they are not vegetated. The pilot project involves the construction of small-scale weirs at the rooftops that drain inlets and create temporary ponds for gradual release of stormwater. On the other hand, green roofs comprise a vegetative layer in a designed soil that rests on top of the drainage layer. The green roofs are relatively costly than the blue roofs, but they can absorb large amounts of water. The pilot project will scale down the full-scale project into smaller projects that will run for a given duration. The management will then access the benefits and compare the cost of sustaining the water management approach to other approaches under the same conditions of the environment. Installing source controls on the rooftops of the houses in NY City is a vital strategy that the agency needs to consider to reduce the amount of stormwater runoff from entering the sewers. A third of New York City consists of impervious regions. The massive surface of the rooftops in NY City is a characteristic that necessitates the construction of an effective green infrastructure. The pilot project is worth considering due to precision and high level of accuracy in representing the full-scale project. The actual project is big, and the compilation of data involving costs is complex. Additionally, the magnitude of the errors derived from the full-scale projects could be massive. The pilot project is necessary to ensure the reduction in the magnitude of the errors when implementing the actual projects (Mancuso, 2009). In addition, the efficiency of the

Marketing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing - Research Paper Example Average consumers Another attribute that I would use to segment the market is by the level of the consumption by the consumers. Most particularly I would focus at needs of the teenagers who are key part that forms average consumers. In this regard, I will undertake an intensive advertisement especially via the social sites such as face book and twitter in order to capture the attention of the average consumers. Benefits One of the key aspects that I would consider in the product segmentation is the benefits provided by the product. TM new products will create a strong positive relationship with our consumers thus enhancing the sales and profitability of the company. Additionally, the new product will be a favorite brand for young people in colleges especially during social occasions. Usage Based on the usage of the brands, consumers of the soft drink can be classified into light, medium and heavy consumers. Task 2. Major segments of the soft drink product Based on the psychographic a spects described in task 1, this section identifies key segments that I will focus at in order to maximize the sales and the consumption of the TM new product. Fashionable brand conscious customers This is one of the major soft drink segments that include young people in colleges and universities. ... Average consumers are mostly pressurized to buy due to advertisement and intensive promotions. The major group under this category is the teenagers. Additionally, this group of consumers looks for quality and the ingredients that make up the brands that are useful in making them strong and energetic. In this regard, I will undertake an intensive advertisement especially via the social sites such as face book and twitter in order to capture the attention of the average consumers. Benefits As mentioned earlier, consumers are attracted by products that offer them maximum benefits. By ensuring that TM new product is effectively packaged and that customers will easily carry the products, a positive product-brand relationship will improve the profitability and the sales of the company. To ensure that our consumers are aware of the benefits of the new product, an extensive advertisement and adequate training of new and existing consumers will be carried out. Usage The new product will be di rected to average consumers. This is based on the fact that by ensuring the loyalty of the average consumers, the product will be highly demanded when the average consumers changes to heavy consumers. Task 3. Profile of each of the major segments Market segment Profile Fashionable brand conscious customers The new products needs to look attractive thus attracting the attention of the young consumers. Additionally, it will portray a feeling of coolness. Average consumers Consumers are teenagers who will be attracted by advertisement and promotions through social media including face book and twitter. More advertisement will be conducted before evening prime news in major TV channels. Benefits

RETIREMENT ASSIGNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

RETIREMENT ASSIGNMENT - Essay Example The benefit is based on the ending salary. This means that the real dollar value of the retirement benefit will reduce during retirement. Imagine the same situation as above, but now you work for two employers during your career: You work for Employer A for the first 24 years, and Employer B for the second 24 years. Everything else in the problem is the same. Calculate your retirement salary from Employer A, from Employer B, and the total of the two retirement salaries. (Note that throughout your career, you receive a raise of 5.0% every year, even if you change employers, and you never loose salary when you change employers. Is a defined benefit a good plan if you do not stay with the company for your whole career? A defined benefit is not good if you do not stay with the company for your whole life because once you leave before the benefits are they vested, you may even lose the whole benefits or part of it if you worked for less than five years. If you work at a company for a whole career, you retire on your defined benefit salary, and the firm goes bankrupt, can the firm’s obligation to retirees like yourself be lowered, i.e. can retirees be left with a lowered retirement salary by the bankruptcy judge? Once the employer decides to offer the defined befits the company has no obligation to take back the benefit since it belongs to the retirees, hence incase the company goes bankruptcy, the retirees retirement benefits will not be

Different Speaking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Different Speaking - Essay Example English language is viewed as the simplest subject which is based on experience and personal judgment. Perhaps, according to the character his skills in this language where never referred to as poor but he never performed best. Compared to maths and sciences, he always scored A’s in these subjects unlike in the English subject where he used to score B’s. Although math’s has only one specific answer while English answers are based on personal judgment and experience he still scored highest in maths. Consequently,Eliza Doolittle who comes from a poor back ground and who has a flower shop has a bad Englishdue to the cultural influence has to be helped by Henry to improve her language to become good. He is told how to improve her pronunciation to become more fluent in order to be able to communicate with different kinds of people. It is of great importance for Eliza to be told how to pronounce to English well so as to be serving different kind of peoples regardless o f their neither origin nor back ground. Henry has an inner motive or rather it can be called personal intentions while teaching Eliza how to pronounce well because he wants to marry her. It can be seen as early preparation because henry also does the act of teaching Eliza English because it is viewed as for the high class people. Concurringly; different ways of identity is intertwined in that how different people speak and the ways in which a person feels of their own tongues.The view that language is a symbol that brings those people who speak it together is clearly explained in the example given by Amy tan’s. Further the play defined home languages as those which are spoken back at home by families when they are together. Because of the persistence practice and speaking of English, the character has lost most of the traditional influence. After 250 years of colonization, the Spanish that is being spoken is different. The practice of adjusting vowels into single syllable and other times shift the stress into certain words is commonly practiced. Consequently, the biblical of a child hood is also clearly explained. During the early days of school the main character was the only black person; his other colloquies where white. He bring into the mind of the readers the scenario which one faces as a child when introduced to school when they were used to spending most of their time with parents and families. Eliza at the first time felt out of place as most of the attention was drown to him sarcastically by even the nuns who controlled the school. Though he come for a fair background, his parents had the ambitions and faith in whatever little thy got to run the family affairs.Elizalived in a world that composed of many different languages. His life style never changed at any given time. Outside their house was the public society and when he came back to the house was the private society. He used to interact with her friends outside the house how specked diffe rent language but when he return into the house, his mother and dad will always talk their mother-tongue which made it be called private society (Moragaand Gloria). Eliza argues that biblical supporter of today explains that those who did not get the opportunity to be taught by their family language missed a great deal. He explains that most of the time their family gather at night to practice what was referred to as their English. They could try to define different terms, pronounce them and even they would play with strange English sounds.

Hofstedes Culture Work Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hofstedes Culture Work - Case Study Example This obliviousness to the existence of 'culture' and the shared basic assumptions that unites a cultural group often leads to members of that group becoming confused or irritated when situations arise which are alien to their set of norms and expectations. Hofstede has conducted a study in which he researched some employees of Germany's E.ON in Spain. However, Hofstede's E.ON questionnaire was not designed for cultural comparisons but for organisational development. Employees gave self-report responses to about 160 items which Hofstede analysed with ingenuity; he compared scores not for individuals but between countries, which he called an "ecological analysis." He reported and analysed four dimensions of culture: Individualism versus Collectivism: "Individualism - a preference for a loosely knit social framework in society, in which individuals are supposed to take care of themselves and immediate family's only; as opposed to Collectivism - a preference for a tightly knit social framework..." Masculinity versus Femininity: "Masculinity - a preference for achievement, heroism, assertivene... iduals are supposed to take care of themselves and immediate family's only; as opposed to Collectivism - a preference for a tightly knit social framework..." Masculinity versus Femininity: "Masculinity - a preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material success; as opposed to Femininity - a preference for relationships, modesty, caring for the weak, and the quality of life" Uncertainty Avoidance: "the degree to which members of society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity" (Hofstede, 1983, 1991) Hofstede has made unusual efforts to elaborate the conceptual nature of his dimensions. Such extensions have also been made by others such as Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997). There is already considerable research concentrating on these dimensions, especially regarding individualism-and collectivism. Individualism versus Collectivism Our sense of identity is often dependent, to a large degree, on our sense of belonging to and affiliation with a particular group - be it family, caste, clan, tribe or class. However, in individualistic countries, much more emphasis is placed on the realisation of the individual. Independence is greatly valued and social bonds between people tend to be relatively loose and flexible. This is particularly evident in the decision-making process as decisions tend to be made by individuals in positions of authority rather than by a committee or group. On the other hand, collectivistic countries are primarily oriented towards common goals and objectives and more value is placed on group interests. In collectivistic countries, employees often expect the organisation to protect their interests by way of providing them with professional development, benefits and long term security within the organisation. Needless to say

National Assemblies of Kuwait Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

National Assemblies of Kuwait - Essay Example 97). The subsequent National Assembly election was conduct in 1971, and it also produced an assembly that was deemed compliant with the wishes of the ruling family. Most of the former nationalist leaders, including al-Khatib, failed to re-enter the assembly. However, the 1971-1975 National Assembly made its voice heard during negotiations with major oil companies. It was during this session of the National Assembly that the opposition to Kuwaiti participation with the KOC began, starting Kuwait’s path towards nationalizing oil resources (p. 97). Nationalization of oil happened under the National Assembly of 1975, which also enthusiastically opposed other policies of the Amir. Finally, wary of the impact that a vibrant opposition would have on the ruling family, as well as with relations between Kuwait and other Arab states that disapproved of assemblies and the resulting Arab nationalist opposition groups, the Amir dissolved the assembly in 1976 (p.97). Kuwait remained without an assembly until elections were held in 1981. While they were relatively free and fair, the government subtly supported Islamist leaders as a counter-balance to the nationalists the government was still uncomfortable with. This meant that opposition pioneer al-Khatib was unable to rejoin the assembly again. Islamists formed the opposition core, while pro-administration Bedouins also made gains. The assembly was vocal in its opposition to the government to various government policies, including legislative-executive relations (p. 98). The next assembl y elections in 1985 saw the government encourage nationalists and Bedouins to run so as to reduce the Islamist influence. This assembly resulted in the formation of nationalist and Islamist opposition blocks that coordinated to block government bills. So effective was this assembly in opposing the government that, yet again, it

Follow instruction Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Follow instruction - Assignment Example My inspiration was the ability to control everything in my life as everything went according to my life. Simply put, I had everything going as I wished. To some extent, I even controlled my then boyfriend who we dated for approximately 6 years; throughout my campus life and after campus. Life was to change after campus when I realized that life is not about forcing things to happen but compromising on some things to gain others. My first blow was when my long time boyfriend left me after so many years of dating. He complained of the fact that I always controlled his life and I never gave him time to live his life. With time I decided to leave my home and live independently. Even after lot of advice that I was not prepared to live independently, I thought I was always right, so I moved out. It became very difficult to survive on my own especially without a job. In my mind I knew I was right. Since I was a graduate, I thought getting a job would be easy. This was the complete opposite as I struggled without a job and rent to pay. I suffered a lot in life and even opted to start drinking to seek solace. Life was getting worse by the day. I got a job later and moved out of town. It is at this juncture that my life started changing. I learnt that life is all about compromise. No person is right, and no person has the right to undermine and despise the other. With this bitter truth in my mind, I have learnt to live with all manners of people regardless of their social status, beliefs or even race. To some extent, I have changed for the better. I have moved on from my past mistakes and adopted a new lifestyle. I got married two years ago, and I have learnt to appreciate my husband whom we have a cute daughter. Conclusively, life changes play a critical role in shaping a new person. I am no longer proud and unappreciative of life’s little blessings as luck never waits for a person. I also learnt that forgiveness is vital in successful life. Forgiveness is not about

Art - Boston Memorials, New England Holocaust Memorial Essay

Art - Boston Memorials, New England Holocaust Memorial - Essay Example The New England Holocaust Memorial is located near Congress Street in Boston and by Carmen Park. The memorial is surrounded by buildings of Boston; however, the front area is open with a black granite walk that surrounds the memorial. When walking through the memorial, one will notice a stainless steel grate underneath the main pillars. This grate covers a six foot deep chamber, which is symbolic for the several deaths that were a part of the Holocaust. The wall of each chamber is representative of the six main death camps that were a part of the Holocaust. Each is etched with the names of the death camps. When looking into these chambers, one can see coals as a part of the pit. These light the etchings of the six main death camps. The death chambers that are in the memorial are highlighted by six main pillars, each which is made out of glass. These stand at fifty four feet high and are separated only by small frames from one level to the next. The glass is in a straight, rectangular form and doesn’t contain any alternative or outside shapes. The glass is lit from the bottom to the top to serve as a reflective element of this time frame. The memorial is not focused on the main glass but instead on the detailed etchings that are in place and which are symbolic to the memorial. There are six million numbers that are etched in the six pillars of glass to represent the 6 million Jews that died during World War II. The etchings are also known to be symbolic of the required tattoos that the Jews had to wear during this time frame. The concept that Calo speaks of in terms of memorials is to create a figurative and unambiguous way of honoring those that died in a specific situation. In some instances, this is based on human attributes that were a part of this, such as self – sacrifice or duty that one withholds in a specific

Psychological Distress and Coping Strategies Among Transgenders Essay Example for Free

Psychological Distress and Coping Strategies Among Transgenders Essay â€Å"Why compare yourself with others? No one in the entire world can do a better job of being you than you†.1 Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles. Transgender is the state of ones gender identity† (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) not matching ones assigned sex (identification by others as male, female or intersex based on physical/genetic sex). A transgender individual may have characteristics that are normally associated with a particular gender, identify elsewhere on the traditional gender continuum, or exist outside of it as other, agender, Genderqueer, or third gender. Transgender people may also identify as bigender, or along several places on either the traditional transgender continuum, or the more encompassing continuums which have been developed in response to the significantly more detailed studies done in recent years. 2 Transgender refers to a person, male or female, who dresses, acts or presents in a manner that differs from his or her gender norm. Transgender includes transvestites (both fetish and dual-role), drag queens, drag kings, androgynes and genderqueers. It does not include transsexual people.3 The transgender community in India, known as hijras, number up to a million people and occupy a unique role in society. On the one hand, they are called upon to offer blessings during auspicious occasions like weddings and at births. The rest of the time, they are not only ignored but often ostracized from society.4 Transgender individuals are commonly viewed as a part of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community, forming the commonly known acronym LGBT. However, inclusion of transgender individuals within the sexual orientation political movement, and at social or cultural gay/lesbian events is highly debated. This is due to the division of sexual orientation and gender identity, which, though correlated, are different constructs. Whereas sexual orientation refers to one’s emotional, romantic and sexual attraction to others, gender identity refers to the person’s relationship to their gender and is largely independent of orientation. It is important to make the distinction between sex and gender. Sex is biological and physical (e.g., chromosomes, hormones, gonads), while gender is psychologically and socially constructed. For transgender individuals, gender is not congruent with sex. In order to align sex and gender a transgender individual may or may not undergo medical treatment, such as hormones or surgery. 5 Psychological distress is the end result of factors–example, psychogenic pain, internal conflicts, and external stress that prevent a person from self-actualization and connecting with significant others6. Coping is the expending conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to master, minimize or tolerate stress or conflict. Psychological coping mechanisms are commonly termed coping strategies or coping skills. The term coping generally refers to adaptive or constructive coping strategies, i.e., the strategies reduce stress levels. Furthermore, the term coping generally refers to reactive coping, i.e., the coping response follows the stressor. This contrasts with proactive coping, in which a coping response aims to head off a future stressor7. Brief Resume of Intended Work 6.1 NEED FOR STUDY The term transgender (TG) was popularized in the 1970s (but implied in the 1960) describing people who wanted to live cross-gender without sex reassignment surgery. In the 1980s the term was expanded to an umbrella term, and became popular as a means of uniting all those whose gender identity did not mesh with their gender assigned at birth. In the 1990s, the term took on a political dimension as an alliance covering all who have at some point not conformed to gender norms, and the term became used to question the validity of those norms or pursue equal rights and anti-discrimination legislation, leading to its widespread usage in the media, academic world and law. The term continues to evolve.2 The population of hijras in India is estimated to be between 50,000 and 1.2 million. There is a huge disparity in the numbers because population censuses only give space to define either males or females. There are no reliable statistics. Tamil Nadu in a path breaking move has come to recogni ze transgenders – (the term itself is no monolith as transgender is more of an umbrella term). 8 Most hijras live at the margins of society with very low status; the very word hijra is sometimes used in a derogatory manner. Few employment opportunities are available to hijras. Many get their income from performing at ceremonies, begging, or sex work—an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times. Violence against hijras, especially hijra sex workers, is often brutal, and occurs in public spaces, police stations, prisons, and their homes. As with transgender people in most of the world, they face extreme discrimination in health, housing, education, employment, immigration, law, and any bureaucracy that is unable to place them into male or female gender categories. 9 Discrimination has prevented most hijras from obtaining decent education, jobs and housing, say transgender and human rights activists. The vast majority live in slums and, with limited job opportunities, resort to sex work or begging. They weave in and out of Mumbai’s traffic or come onto the women’s compartments of local trains, clap loudly and take money in exchange for a blessing. While hijras continue to face discrimination, they have also made significant social and legal gains in recent years. Last July, the Delhi High Court decriminalized gay sex, and in November, transgenders won the right to be listed as â€Å"other† rather than â€Å"male† or â€Å"female† on electoral rolls and voter identity cards.4 Tamil Nadu has an estimated population of 30,000 transgender people. It has made great strides in trying to integrate transgender people into society. This includes welfare schemes initiated by the Government and acceptance of transgender people into the mainstream media and film industry.10 The Hijra of India are probably the most well known and populous third sex type in the modern world – Mumbai-based community health organisation The Humsafar Trust estimates there are between 5 and 6 million hijras in India. In different areas they are known as Aravani/Aruvani or Jogappa. Often (somewhat misleadingly) called eunuchs in English, they may be born intersex or apparently male, dress in feminine clothes and generally see themselves as neither men. In June 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered a census of hijras, who number between 80,000 and 300,000 in Pakistan. In December 2009, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, ordered that the National Database and Registration Authority issue national identity cards to members of the community showing their distinct gender. 11 In a national school climate survey on the school related experiences of our nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, 55 percent of transgender youth report being physically attacked.33.2 percent of transgender youth have attempted suicide. 74 percent of transgender youth reported being sexually harassed at school, and 90 percent of transgender youth reported feeling unsafe at school because of their gender expression In a survey of 403 transgender people, 78 percent reported having been verbally harassed and 48 percent reported having been victims of assault, including assault with a weapon, sexual assault or rape. A study was found that bisexual students in Massachusetts and Vermont were three to six times more likely to use cocaine than their straight classmates.12 A study conducted on fifty-five transgender youth described their gender development and some of the stressful life experiences related to their gender identity and gender expression. More than two-thirds of youth reported past verbal abuse by their parents or peers related to their gender identity and nonconformity, and approximately one-fifth to one-third reported past physical abuse. The more gender non-conforming the youth were, the more abuse they reported. Four aspects of psychological resilience were examined: a sense of personal mastery, self-esteem, perceived social support, and emotion-oriented coping. A regression model of the selected aspects of resilience accounted for 40–55 percent of the variance in relation to depression, trauma symptoms, mental health symptoms, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Emotion-oriented coping was a significant predictor of negative mental health as determined by each of the mental health variables 13. A study conducted by GLSEN found that over 85 percent of trans students reported verbal harassment based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Nearly half (49.5 percent) reported physical harassment based on these characteristics, and a third (34.1 percent) reported being physically assaulted. Transgender students get harassed much more often than their classmates: the study found that transgender students were over four times more likely to be verbally harassed because of their gender expression. The dramatically higher frequency of such victimization among transgender people is alarming, and as one would assume, has significant effects on a student’s ability to learn. 14 Psychiatric nurses are often in ideal position to assess the health and its problems and to offer education and support. Nurse needs to be knowledgeable about psychological distress and coping mechanism among Transgender people. When the nurse develops an effective plan for nursing management, she should consider family involvement, appropriate referral resources. The above studies highlight the psychological distress faced by the transgenders. As there is a dearth of research studies on transgenders in nursing, the researcher felt the need to contribute, explore and identify the psychological distress and coping strategies among transgenders. 6.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE A study conducted on the fear of experiencing discrimination often provokes symptoms of psychological distress. One coping resource is positive identification with ones social groupknown as collective self-esteem. This preliminary study investigated whether collective self-esteem was related to fears regarding a transsexual identity and psychological distress among 53 self-identified male-to-female transsexuals (mean age = 50.79 years). Participants were recruited from transgender events held in Arizona and California. The majority (81 percent) reported living full-time as women (mean length of time living as a woman = 6.33 years). Negative feelings about the transsexual community and fears regarding the impact of a transsexual identity were positively related to psychological distress. A regression model revealed that the fear of how a transsexual identity would affect ones life was the best predictor of the severity of psychological distress. These results are consistent with findi ngs from other historically marginalized groups, whereby the stress of being stigmatized by society adversely affects mental health. 15 A study used three focus groups to explore factors that affect the experiences of youth (ages 15 to 21) that identify as transgender. The focus groups were designed to probe transgender youths experiences of vulnerability in the areas of health and mental health. This involved their exposure to risks, discrimination, marginalization, and their access to supportive resources. Three themes emerged from an analysis of the groups conversations. The themes centered on gender identity and gender presentation, sexuality and sexual orientation, and vulnerability and health issues. Most youth reported feeling they were transgender at puberty, and they experienced negative reactions to their gender atypical behaviors, as well as confusion between their gender identity and sexual orientation. Youth noted four problems related to their vulnerability in health-related areas: the lack of safe environments, poor access to physical health services, inadequate resources to address their mental health concerns, and a lack of continuity of care giving by their families and communities16. A study conducted on the sexual minority status is a key risk factor for suicide among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth; however, it has not been studied among transgender youth. Fifty-five transgender youth reported on their life-threatening behaviours. Nearly half of the sample reported having seriously thought about taking their lives and one quarter reported suicide attempts. Factors significantly related to having made a suicide attempt included suicidal ideation related to transgender identity; experiences of past parental verbal and physical abuse; and lower body esteem, especially weight satisfaction and thoughts of how others evaluate the youths bodies. Sexual minority status is a key risk factor for life-threatening behaviours among transgender youth.17 A recent study undertaken to understand the level of General wellbeing of Male-to-female (MTF) Transgender population living in Chennai shed light on the mental health concerns of the transgender population in Chennai. The study consisted of transgender (n=33), and that had been selected for the study by using Purposive sampling technique because it was a challenge to collect data from the population, given their obscurity. A standardized Tamil version of the Wellbeing Questionnaire-12 was used. As for the results of the quantitative data, 75.76 percent of the samples fell under Average Wellbeing Category, 24.24 percent of samples fell under Better Wellbeing Category and 0 percent fell under Poor Wellbeing Category. From the In-Depth Interviews it is inferred that the socio-economic status of Transgender is very poor, they feel inferior to others and are constantly humiliated and il l-treated by the society at large. However, support within the community is strong.18 A research study has documented the link between mental health disorders and discrimination. The coming-out process for an older LGBT person, who has lived most of his or her life in a hostile or intolerant environment, can induce significant stress and contribute to lower life satisfaction and self-esteem. Managing social stressors such as prejudice, stigmatization, violence, and internalized homophobia over long periods of time results in higher risks of depression, suicide, risky behaviour, and substance abuse. LGBT populations, therefore, may be at increased risk for these and other mental disorders. There may be a higher lifetime prevalence of affective disorders in LGBT persons, but no difference in current prevalence of such disorders. However, while little is known about the actual prevalence of mental health disorders in LGBT adults, even less is known about the prevalence of mental health disorders in older LGBT adults. 19 A study examined the relationship between psychological well-being variables (i.e., depression, anxiety, and self-esteem) and level of outness in male-to-female (M t F) transsexuals. Participants were 105 M t F transsexual attendees at an annual transgender conference held in Atlanta, Georgia. Participants completed seven questionnaires, including the Demographics Questionnaire, the Outness Demographics Questionnaire, the Outness Attitude Scale, the Openness Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. A canonical correlation was conducted with psychological well-being variables as the predictor and the outness variables as the criterion. Results indicated that psychological well-being variables are related to outness. Treatment implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed. 20 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM A study to assess the psychological distress and coping strategies among transgenders in a selected area, Bangalore. 6.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1. To assess the psychological distress among transgenders in a selected area, Bangalore. 2. To assess the coping strategies among transgenders in selected area, Bangalore. 3. To find out the relationship between psychological distress and coping strategies among transgenders in selected area, Bangalore. 4. To find out the association between the psychological distress and coping strategies among transgenders with selected demographic variables. 6.4 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS * ASSESS: In this study, assess refers to an organized and systematic way of finding out the psychological distress and coping strategies among transgender. * PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS: In this study, psychological distress refers to the failure of the people to respond adequately to mental, emotional, or physical demands which will be assessed by using Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. * COPING STRATEGIES: In this study coping strategies refers to the mechanism that adapted by the transgenders to overcome the distress which will be assessed by using Coping Strategies Survey. * TRANSGENDER: In this study, transgender refers to people those are born with a particular gender but have the behaviour and characteristics of opposite gender. HYPOSTHESIS H1- There is a significant relationship between psychological distress and coping strategies. H2- There is significant association between psychological distresses with selected demographic variables. H3 There is significant association between coping strategies with selected demographic variables. 6.5 ASSUMPTIONS * Transgenders adopt different coping strategies to overcome psychological distress. VARIABLES UNDER THE STUDY * Research variable: * Psychological distress * Coping strategies. * Demographic variable: Age, education, religion, marital status, cultural background, socio economic status, area of residence, past experiences. DELIMITATIONS: * The study is delimited to selected areas of Bangalore. * The study is limited to 100 samples. 7. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 7.1 SOURCE OF DATA The data will be collected from the transgender in selected areas in Bangalore. RESEARCH APPROACH: The investigator will use descriptive exploratory approach to conduct the study. RESEARCH DESIGN: The research design for the study will be descriptive survey design. RESEARCH SETTINGS: Study will be done in the selected NGO’s for transgenders in Bangalore. POPULATION: The target population for study is transgenders in selected area. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: Investigator is using purposive sampling technique to draw the samples. SAMPLE SIZE: The sample size will be 100 transgenders. SAMPLING CRITERIA: INCLUSION CRITERIA: * People who are willing to participate in this study. * People who know English and Kannada. * People present at the time of data collection. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: * People who are terminally ill or have critical illness. METHODS OF COLLECTING DATA Structured self reporting technique will be used to collect the data. Permission will be taken from samples and an informed consent will be obtained from the samples. 7.2 DATA COLLECTION TOOL * Part I – it consists of demographic variables like age, gender, education, socio-economic status, area of residence, past experiences. * Part II – the investigator will use Kessler Psychological Distress Scale for psychological distress and Coping Strategies Survey for assessing coping strategies. DATA ANALYSIS METHOD: * The data will be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. * Descriptive statistics like mean, frequency, percentages and standard deviation will be used. * Inferential statistics like â€Å"correlation co-efficient† and â€Å"chi- square† methods will be used. 7.3 DOES THE STUDY REQUIRE ANY INVESTIGATION OR INTERVENTION TO BE CONDUCTED ON PATIENTS OR OTHER HUMAN OR ANIMAL? IF SO PLEASE DESCRIBE BRIEFLY. * No, this is a descriptive study, it does not require any investigation to be conducted on patients or human or animals. 7.4 HAS ETHICAL CLEARENCE BEEN OBTAINED FROM YOUR INSTITUTION? * Yes, the ethical clearance certificate has been enclosed. 8. REFERENCES: 1. Available from: URL: http://thinkexist.com/search/searchquotation.asp?search=self+esteem 2. Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation (online). 2010 May ( cited 2011 Feb 24); Available from: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender 3. Available from: URL: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070926024655AAZAbtB 4. Hanna Ingber Win. Global post. Transgender India: Banned in Bombay? (Online) 2010 April 10; 1(8). Available from: URL: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/india/100409/india-transgender-scandal-banned-bombay 5. Kayden Z Healy. Internalized Transphobia, Minority Stress, and Collective Self-Esteem. June 2011 6. Available from: URL: http://medicaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com/psychological+distress 7. Carver, Connor-Smith J. Personality and coping, Annual Review of Psychology. (2010). P. 61, 679 – 704. Available from: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coping_(psychology) 8. Indian and Hijra (online). 2008 Nov 30 Available from: URL: http://shantanudutta.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/11/indian-and-hijra.htm 9. Ravaging the Vulnerable: Abuses against Persons at High Risk of HIV Infection in Bangladesh (online). 2003 Aug: Available from: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia) 10. Chennai: Move on toilets for transgenders sparks off debate (online). 2009 Jun 23: Available from: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_rights_in_Tamil_Nadu 11. Ahmed M. Scalo Publishers (online). 2001 Sep 15: Available from: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender 12. Available from: URL: http://www.youthprideri.org/Resources/Statistics/tabid/227/Default.aspx 13. Arnold H G, Anthony R D, John A F. Aspe cts of Psychological Resilience among Transgender Youth. Journal of LGBT Youth (serial online) 2011 (cited 2011 Apr 08); 8(2): (2y screens). Available from: URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19361653.2011.541347 14. Tonei Glavinic. Student plus online academic student journal. Research Shows Lack of Support for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Youth in U.S. School Systems 2009 January 24; 1. 15. Sanchez, Francisco J, Vilain, Eric. Journal of Counseling Psychology. Collective self-esteem as a coping resource for male-to-female transsexuals 2009 Jan; 56(1): 202-9. 16. Arnold H. G, Anthony R. D. Transgender Youth. Journal of Homosexuality (serial online) 2006 (cited 2008 oct 17); 51(1): (2y screens). Available from: URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J082v51n01_06 17. Arnold H. G, Anthony R. D. Transgender Youth. Life-Threatening Behaviors. 2010 Dec 18. Thilakaravi. Mental Health Concerns of Transgender Population Living in Chennai, South India – A Study. MeD INDIA Networking for health January 2011. 19. Mark J Simone, Jonathan. Appelbaum. Clinical gediatrics. Addressing the Needs of Older Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adults: 2011; 19(2) p.38-45. 20. Jeffrey D Strain, I Michael Shuff. Psychological Well-Being and Level of Outness in a Population of Male-to-Female Transsexual Women Attending a National Transgender Conference. International Journal of Transgenderis: 2010 oct-dec p. 230-240.

Development Of A New School in Malaysia

Development Of A New School in Malaysia Initial Business Proposal Business Concept Ideas Knowledge (IK) School is an education related. We understand teachers in school are overworked, underpaid and having large amount (35-45) of students in every class and they do not have enough time to finish the syllabus and do further explanations. (Nair, 2012) Slowly, it becomes parents and guardians worries because parents busy with works and they do not have time for their children education. IK will help to solve difficulty such as improving their weak subjects, coach them, motivate them in studies as well as answer their doubt on academic. A research of 100 different categories of students was carried out earlier. (Appendix 1) It stated very clearly that only three out of hundred is not attending tuition or coaching. Besides that, tuition industry had contributed RM4 Billion in the growth of Malaysia. With these facts, it is very clear that tuition industry potential and future scenario. (Lim Seng Poh, 2006) Malaysian parents even willing to spend RM200 to RM2000 a month on children tuition fees. (Nair, 2012) Research also stated that, two thirds (14%) of the households in Asia/Pacific spending enrichment classes for their children such as academic tuition, foreign language classes and public speaking. (MasterCard, 2013) 46% of Malaysian parents willing to spend extra tuition classes fees. (Appendix 2) Mission and Vision Mission Ideas Knowledge (IK) School belief that it is our responsible to teach and ready them with academic skills and values so that they are able to meet the future challenges. We believe that encourage the students to challenge, question and debate their ideas is good because they able to do critical thinking and very creative individuals in the future. (Gan, 2012) Vision Ideas Knowledge (IK) School will inspire the desire for knowledge and learning. Not just with excellence result but also be enterprising, creative spirits, responsible and cultivate caring in children is the future needs and wants of society. We provide the society with independently, proactive learners with interest, motivation, confidence, discipline, skills and characteristics to succeed. In the future, IK will be the leader of tuition industry. Target Market ‘Shadow’ education is expanding at an alarming rate. Household’s income being spend on tutoring. (ADB, 2012) Malaysia parents are more particular in academic tuition (46%), Sport (36%) and music instrument (32%). (Appendix 3) (MasterCard, 2013) From this research, we able to understand that parents nowadays are more concern on children education level. The number of student enrolled at the primary level in government-aided religious school has increased 9,284 students. (Appendix 4) But, the enrolment in primary level decrease from 2,859,921 in 2011 to 2,708,981 in 2014. (Appendix 5) Tuition and extra classes become the growing industry within Malaysia because there are strong demands towards the supply. At the same time, 2,967 registered tuition centre with the attending number of 194,567 students. (Nair, 2012) Around Selangor area, there are more than 600 primary schools. We will target the primary school students around Subang Jaya area such as SK Dato Onn Jaafar, SJK (C) Chee Wen and etc. Not just Chinese students, but all ethnic groups of Indian, Chinese and Malays. Competitive Strategy 4.1 Product and Services 4.2 Price Ideas Knowledge (IK) School offer tutoring class for primary school students in small group (maximum 10 students) and medium group (not more than 20 students) because this can help them concentrate. (Venus, 2013) However, the variety of the subjects offered in tuition mimics those in schools. (Lim Seng Poh, 2006) The differences between us and competitors are we provide coaching, counseling and outdoor activities services to the students. We also provide few facilities for the students, such as library. It is to make sure that they are not just excellent mentally but also physically. Penetration pricing strategy means selling product in lower pricing so that it can attract customers. (Roth, 2007) Sell product lower than the usual price can encourage customer to switch from old to new product. (Riley, 2012) Ideas Knowledge will use this strategy to begin the business. With this, the parents will consider our tuition centre first rather than others. When the business is on the right track, price will slowly be increase. But, no worries of price can’t be afford or not reasonable. 4.3 Place 4.4 Promotion Ideas Knowledge will locate in USJ 21. It is opposite The Main Place shopping Mall. Nearby area are all residences and office lot. The percentage for parents to visit our tuition centre is higher. There are a lot of facilities nearby such as shopping mall, restaurant, bank, etc. In the future of two to three years, there will be even more conveniences because rail station will be nearby. (Appendix 6) Students can travel from other place to attend classes. Through the research and analysis, there are more than 13 million of Malaysian are a Facebook user. It is a fastest and easier way to promote out Ideas Knowledge (IK) School. By using this kind of social media, we do not need to spend a single cent on promoting the business as well have reaching the potential customers. Besides that, in this technology centuries, every students owned social media account for example Facebook, Instagram, etc. Nevertheless, we will also promote it on school since there are few schools nearby. When promoting in school, students are require to fill up their basic personal data such as name, Facebook account, address, etc. All databases will keep for future uses such as share some academics knowledge, etc. We will also give out some flyers and prizes for students so that they can remember our centre. PEST Political Since independence, Malaysia government keep sustain in investing of education. Malaysia federal governments spend the highest percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on primary and secondary education in East Asia. (Appendix 6) (MOE, 2012) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is to evaluate the quality of educational outcomes. Year 2009, it was the first time Malaysia participated in the program and the ranking was not good. (Appendix 7) But, Malaysia aim to rise from bottom third to the top third in PISA ranking within two decades. (Gan, 2012) Economical Year 2012, the inflation rate increased up to 1.6%. 2009 and 2012 Department of Statistics’ Household Income Survey stated that it is a huge income gap between years 2009 to 2012. (Appendix 8) (Shams, 2014) As for the Salary Survey 2013 by the Malaysia Employers Federation (MEF), stated that salaries for executive increased 6.3% while salaries for non-executive increased 6.7%. (The Malaysian Insider, 2014) Malaysia Prime Minister introduced a new proposal that will let the civil servant to enjoy annual salary increment between RM80 to RM320 called New Civil Services Remuneration Scheme (SBPA). (The Malaysian Insider, 2014) Since Goods and Services Tax (GST) going to implemented in April 2015, KPMG Malaysia urged both public and private sectors to gradually increase salaries. Social Tutoring is one of the top 16 industries worldwide and the growth rate is 7% in year 2011. (ICEF Monitor, 2012) The magazine and website Inc. stated that start a new business, tutoring is the best choice. Among the parents, tuition is the latest trend that keeps growing in this recent year. They will send their children into extra classes and early child education programmes. Survey stated that about 82.2% of students said that tutoring allowed them to gain knowledge and 62.4% of students able to aim higher marks are because tutoring. (Kenayathulla, 2014) Even thought parents does not have strong evidence of the effectiveness of tutoring but the strong belief in efficacy of tutoring regarding the teaching and delivery methodologies used in tuition centre. (Tsang, 2012) Technological Ministry of Education Malaysia said that the government is trying their best to improve in term of education system and aspiration of individual students. Nevertheless, they also introduce ‘1 BestariNet’ to society. (Terrapinnspore, 2013)Thus project able to provide students and teachers a virtual learning environment. The latest technology that adopted by the Malaysia Ministry of Education is a technology which is a UK-based Frog / FrogAsia. It’s a type of e-learning system that allowed teachers, students, and parents have connection. They providing user to maximize own strength and develop leadership skills in flexible time and fast growing environment. (Frogasia, n.d.) They also provides effective access to classes, tests, homework, grades, assessments, academic or museum website links, etc. (Strauss, 2013) Personal and Business SWOT Strengths Weaknesses Able to communicate in few language (Malay, English, Mandarin, Cantonese) Talkative and friendly Management knowledge Lack of leadership skill Lack of experiences in handling business Weak social networking Opportunities Threats Quick learning Willing to gain experiences and listen to others Competitors in tuition industry keep increasing Parents and guardians unsatisfactory Social Aspect Parents and guardians always busy with work and not involving in children growth. Ideas Knowledge (IK) School created positive impression to the society in tutoring academic. We offer academic tuition, coaching and outdoor activities to children because with this, they can leave electronic devices and enjoy. As for parents, we will discuss and update them their children behavior and academic result once a while. This is to make sure that no matter how busy parents are, they can still involve in children growth. References Lim Seng Poh (2006) The impact of Service Quality Dimensions Towards Customers’ Satisfaction in Tuition Centers [online], Available at: http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/241/1/The_impact_of_service_quality.pdf, [accessed 29 Jun 2014] Venus (2013) Things You Should Know About Sending Your Kids to Tuition [online], Available at: http://www.venusbuzz.com/archives/41600/things-you-should-know-about-sending-your-kids-to-tuition/, [accessed 29 Jun 2014] The Straits Times (2008) Tuition Nation [online], Available at: http://news.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20080616-71121.html, [accessed 29 Jun 2014] MasterCard (2013) Press Releases: Two Thirds of Asia/Pacific Parents Spending on Extra Tuition for Kids: MasterCard Survey [online], Available at: http://newsroom.mastercard.com/press-releases/two-thirds-of-asiapacific-parents-spending-on-extra-tuition-for-kids-mastercard-survey/, [accessed 30 Jun 2014] ADB (Asian Development Bank) (2012) ADB Study Highlights Dark Side of ‘Shadow Education’ [online], Available at: http://www.adb.org/news/adb-study-highlights-dark-side-shadow-education, [accessed 30 Jun 2014] MOE (2012) Preliminary Report Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 [online], Available at: http://www.moe.gov.my/userfiles/file/PPP/Preliminary-Blueprint-Eng.pdf, [accessed 1 July 2014] Penang Monthly (2013) Statistics – November 2013 [online], Available at: http://penangmonthly.com/statistics-november-2013/, [accessed 1 July 2014] Penang Institute (2013) Statistics – November 2013 [online], Available at: http://penanginstitute.org/v3/resources/articles/statistics/541-statistics-november-2013, [accessed 3 July 2014] Nair, N. (2012) Increase in Demand for Tuition in Malaysia [online], Available at: http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx/?file=%2F2012%2F11%2F5%2Fmetrobiz%2F12265348sec=metrobiz, [accessed 3 July 2014] Noordin, Z. (2014) Education first, politics second, says deputy minister [online], Available at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/01/20/education-first-politics-second-says-deputy-minister/, [accessed 4 July 2014] Malaysia Educational Statistics (2013) Quick Facts 2013 [online], Available at: http://emisportal.moe.gov.my/emis/emis2/emisportal2/doc/fckeditor/File/Quickfacts_2013/quickfacts2013.pdf?PHPSESSID=abafcb466e89e750e551d9c7308ad840, [accessed 4 July 2014] Malaysia Educational Statistics (2012) Quick Facts 2012 [online], Available at: http://emisportal.moe.gov.my/emis/emis2/emisportal2/doc/fckeditor/File/Quickfacts_2012/quickfacts2012.pdf, [accessed 6 July 2014] EMiS (n.d.) Statistik Ringkas [online], Available at: http://emisportal.moe.gov.my/mainpage.php?module=Maklumatkategori=47, [accessed 6 July 2014] Gan, P.L. (2012) Can it transform our education system? [online], Available at: http://www.selangortimes.com/index.php?section=insightpermalink=20121018152643-can-it-transform-our-education-system, [accessed 6 July 2014] Penang Monthly (2014) East Malaysia in Numbers [online], Available at: http://penangmonthly.com/east-malaysia-in-numbers/, [accessed 6 July 2014] MOE (2014) Bab 5 Membangun Dan Mengekalkan Modal Insan Bertaraf Dunia [online], Available at: http://www.moe.gov.my/userfiles/file/RMK10bab5%2014_6_10.pdf, [accessed 6 July 2014] ICEF Monitor (2012) Global Tutoring Industry Experiencing Explosive Growth [online], Available at: http://monitor.icef.com/2012/11/global-tutoring-industry-experiencing-explosive-growth/, [accessed 6 July 2014] Tsang, H. (2012) Private Tutoring in Malaysia: Regulating for Quality [online], Available at: http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/private-tutoring-in-malaysia-regulating-for-quality, [accessed 7 July 2014] Roth .S.A, (2007), â€Å"Penetrating Pricing, Understand Pricing Objectives and Strategies† [online], Available: http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ua441.pdf, [accessed 7 July 2014] Kenayathulla, H.B. (2014) Teachers’ perceptions on the effectiveness of private tutoring in Malaysia [online], Available at: http://ries.revues.org/3801?lang=en, [accessed 7 July 2014] The Malaysian Insider (2014) Statistics Department survey shows average household income up 7.2% Bernama [online], Available at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/statistics-department-survey-shows-average-household-income-up-7.2-bernama, [accessed 8 July 2014] Shams, H.N. (2014) [2727] Income Distribution of Malaysian Household, 2009 and 2012 [online], Available at: http://maddruid.com/?p=11965, [accessed 8 July 2014] Eric (2013) Strategic Location for Main Place Resident [online], Available at: http://mainplaceresidence.blogspot.com/2013/08/strategic-location-for-main-place.html, [accessed 8 July 2014] Riley, J. (2012) Pricing – Pricing Strategies [online], Available at: http://www.tutor2u.net/business/gcse/marketing_pricing_strategies.htm, [accessed 8 July 2014] Strauss, K. (2013) Malaysia Taps Frog To Teach Its Youth [online], Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2013/05/08/malaysia-taps-frog-to-teach-its-youth/, [accessed 9 July 2014] Frogasia (n.d.) Careers at Frogasia [online], Available at: http://www.frogasia.com/v3/careers/, [accessed 9 July 2014] Video Terrapinnspore (2013) DDG of Ministry of Education, Malaysia, Shares on Education Technology, 11 May, Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceix4SpLBuo, [accessed 10 July 2014] Appendices Appendix 1 Private Tutors Tuition Centre Both ‘type’ of coaching No tuition 100 Primary, Secondary and junior college students 49 32 16 3 (The Straits Times, 2008) Appendix 2 Country Percentage (%) India 54 % Taiwan 52 % Thailand 52 % Malaysia 46 % Singapore 45 % Chinese 53 % Korean 50 % Hong Kong 50 % Households in Asia/Pacific spend extra tuition classes for their children (MasterCard, 2013) Appendix 3 Academic Sport Foreign Language Music Art Public Speaking Others Asia/ Pacific 32% 28% 24% 22% 15% 5% 8% AU 7% 36% 6% 4% 6% 3% 9% NZ 9% 43% 8% 15% 4% 2% 12% CN 26% 38% 53% 41% 32% 7% 5% IN 54% 16% 10% 15% 15% 17% 2% MY 46% 36% 17% 32% 17% 8% 10% PH 14% 33% 5% 16% 10% 2% 5% SG 45% 31% 8% 24% 14% 7% 9% KR 33% 28% 50% 32% 15% 2% 10% TW 52% 17% 39% 31% 17% 1% 19% MM 35% 4% 23% 1% 2% 1% 1% Children’s Participation in Enrichment Classes in Asia/Pacific (MasterCard, 2013) Appendix 4 Type of Schools 2011 2012 2013 National 2,150,139 2,106,603 2,063,666 National type (C) 598,488 591,121 566,324 National type (T) 102,642 97,884 92,919 Special education 1,606 1,535 1,479 Sports 11 4 9 Special Model – secondary with primary level from Year 4-6 1,055 1,014 901 Special model (K9) – primary with secondary level from Form 1-3 224 207 1,831 Gars 5,756 6,037 15,040 Total 2,859,921 2,804,405 2,742,169 Enrolment at primary level by type of schools, 2011-2013 (Penang Institute, 2013) Appendix 5 Schools 2011 2012 2013 2014 (31 Apr 2014) Pre-school 176,822 186,298 190,874 196,114 Primary 2,859,921 2,804,405 2,742,169 2,708,981 Secondary 2,296,034 2,281,224 2,296,189 2,253,160 Enrolment at Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Level (2011 – 2013) (Malaysia Educational Statistics, 2013) Appendix 6 Strategic Location for Main Place Residence (Eric, 2013) Appendix 7 Malaysia’s Basic Education Expenditure 1 As % of Total Government Expenditure for Malaysia and Peers (Penang Monthly, 2013) Appendix 8 Comparison of Malaysia’s PISA 2009+ ranking against other countries (Gan, P.L., 2012) Appendix 9 Households’ Monthly Income (Shams, H.N., 2014) Module Title: ILP 326 New Business Development Prepared by: Peck Jie YiPage

Technological Considerations in Interface Design

Technological Considerations in Interface Design Technological Considerations in Interface Design Physical characteristics of the device and device internal software affects the screen interface design. Graphics compatibility for Screen design must be ensured with the following system components: System power. Screen size. Screen resolution. Display colors. Other display features. Development and implementation tools being used. System platform being used. Platform style guide being used. Information Retrieval (IR): it concerns with the study of finding required data. i.e., IR helps users to notice data that matches their data desires. Technically, IR studies the organization, acquisition, distribution, storage, and retrieval of data. Information retrieval models An IR model directs how a document and a query are characterized and how the significance of a document to a user query is defined. Following are the main models in IR Boolean model Each document or query in Boolean model,is treated as a â€Å"bag† of words or terms. Mathematically for a given collection of documents D, let V = {t1, t2, ,t|V|} be the set of distinctive words/terms in the collection. V is called the vocabulary. A weight wij> 0 is associated with each term tiof a document dj∈D. For a term that does not appear in document dj, wij= 0. dj= (w1j, w2j, , w|V|j), Query terms are combined together logically using the Boolean operators such as AND, OR and NOT. Example : ((data AND warehousing) AND (NOT text)) Vector space model (VSM) In VSM too, Documents are treated as a â€Å"bag† of words or terms. Each document is represented as a vector. However, the term weights are no longer 0 or 1. Each term weight is computed based on some variations of called Term Frequency TF or TF-IDF scheme. Term Frequency (TF) Scheme: The weight of a term tiin document djis the number of times that tiappears in dj, denoted by fij. Normalization may also be applied. ,, Here, tf: still term frequency idf: inverse document frequency. n: total number of docs dfi: the number of docs that ti appears. 1.5.5 Popular HCI Tools HCI Browser This Browser (HCIB) is designed and implemented by the research team of North Carolina University. It can be downloaded fromhttp://ils.unc.edu/hcibrowser . Following are the features of HCI Browser: Web presenting task can be evaluated using this tool. designed to assist research activities in HCI through internet Can be added as an add-on to the Firefox browser. Presents operations for users working in toolbar area. Presents the following to the users: administer pre- task questionnaires administer post-task questionnaires event data of searching and browsing activities. Saves the following events of browser: Pages loaded Links clicked Window and tab focus changes Open/close windows and tabs Back/forward button clicks Typed URLs Scrolling History/bookmarks menu Closes windows automatically. Generates a new log file for each process Includes the following entries for log file: login time, session id, user id, and Process id Sketch Tools Natural art work designers are in need of many free form software tools to express their sketching designs. Right now, existing software tools support pen and ink input to certain extent only. There is a need for intelligent software that can sketch, recognize and convert the natural sketches automatically. Following are such tools: Inkkit It is a toolkit used to sketch diagrams. It can be applied over a range of domains. This software is able to run on a Tablet PC. InkKit consists of the following: User Interface The user interface is supported by two main views: sketch pages This view supports easy drawing process. portfolios. Here this point displays a set of sketches. These sketches can be linked to enable relationships. Recognition Engine The power of InkKitis its recognition engine To recognize a specific diagram, it creates a diagram domain and provides examples. The sketches on this user interface design will normally be converted into both HTML and Java. It is a research tool designed for non-commercial purpose. Freeform Freeform tools provide a pen based interface. This tool is mainly used to design controls in the forms by hand sketching. Requirements :Visual Basic Features: Designs of user interfaces are quicker and easier than creating them with a form builder. SketchNode Sketchnode is a tool used to draw graphs with edges and nodes easily. This tool runs on Tablet PC. Design in this tool can be either done by pen or using drag and drop interaction. Optimization algorithms are used for transforming of not clear graph into a clearer one. Features: supports both low and high fidelity graph rendering. Easy design process No convolution of images due to optimization. Intelligent Mind Map Humans effectively and effortlessly split between drawing and writing ink. This split is difficult to achieve in digital systems. This tool supports for the informal document on the tablet PC by recognition and ink reflow techniques. TATool This tool is designed to generate task representations in hierarchical manner. This research was carried out in the Patras University. The original task of this TATool is to analysis the task in interactive system design. It is recognized as a common tool to design hierarchical structures and Visualized objects This tool TATool generates output in XML form and an RTF report. This software runs only on Windows OS. It maps user-system interaction’s recorded events to the process model. COGTool It is one of the HCI tools used to predict total execution time for a skilled user for performing a particular sequence of actions on a system. The predictions made by CogTool are based on, a psychological theory of human cognitive and motor capabilities, called the Keystroke-Level Model (KLM). Following are the features: automates the application of KLM to specific problems, providing an alternative to time-consuming and expensive user testing. predicts what KLM can predict, that is, execution time for a skilled user of a system. Drawbacks It cannot predict learning time, problem-solving paths, or user satisfaction with a system. CMTool CMTool aims to achieve the task modelling process. Any major task can be splitted into many sub tasks by divide and conquer strategy and organising the task in hierarchical structure. This tool uses this hierarchical way along with logical operators such as AND , OR , NOT to solve the sub task. Following are its features: supports graphical and character notations for task representation. supports temporal analysis for each task supports relational database, grouping the various systems analyzed, with additional identification information. supports quantitative analysis tools for the task metrics provides various representations of data in the form of tree view , report view , structured view. automates synthesis of task structures already stored 1.6 Architecture of HCI systems Architecture of a HCI system should describe the working procedure of cooperation between inputs and outputs. There are two standard HCI architectures as follows: Unimodal systems Multimodal systems 1.6.1 Unimodal Architecture Modality means an independent single channel. Unimodal systems are designed based on single modality. They are further classified based on the nature as follows: Visual Audio Sensor 1.6.1.1 Visual HCI: Its application areas are facial expression analysis, Body movement tracking, gesture recognition and Gaze detection. Table 1.7 – Visual HCI Research areas 1.6.1.2 Audio HCI This uses various audio signals to acquire information. They are helpful, unique and trustable. It’s application areas are speaker recognition, musical integration, auditory emotion analysis and Human made noise or sign detections. 1.6.1.3 Sensor HCI It uses atleast one sensor between user and computer to enable interaction. Examples of sensors are not limited to pen based interaction, joysticks, mouse-keyboard, haptic sensors, taste or smell sensors, pressure sensors and motion tracking sensors. 1.6.2 Multimodal Architecture It combines multiple modalities. Here modalities refer to communication channels. The channels are sensors for sight ,taste , hear ,smell and touch. Gesture ,speech and gaze are common forms of input models. The examples of multimodal applications are not limited to smart video conferencing, driver monitoring, intelligent games, helping disable people and smart homes. 1.7 Advances in HCI Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence: It is also known as third way of computing that is interaction among many computers and one person. The evolution is as follows: First way of computing main frame era many people one computer. Second way of computing PC era one person many computers. 1.8 Overview The remaining part of this book includes both theoretical material and practical approaches to designing user interfaces. The topics include: Usability engineering principles Experimental and prototype cognitive architectures Design of effective spoken dialogue systems Role of recommender [e1]systems in web technologies Advanced visualization techniques based on ontologies Intelligent and adaptive HCI Ubiquitous computing and Ambient Intelligence. 1.9 HCI Sample Exercises Application of Weber’s Law in the design of Human Interfaces Weber’s Law It states that the size of the observable various is a constant proportion (K times) of the actual stimulus value. Stimulus intensity must be changed with a minimum amount to create a observable difference in sensory experience. Weber’s Law to user interfaces Information in a computer can be displayed in various formats such as text, pictures, drawings, maps, graphs, videos etc. This information may be from small to large in size with respect to the following: Brightness loudness line length visual weight of fonts in typography color matching Weber’s law helps to analyze and design the above effectively. Procedure Changing Shape – Rectangle Experiment Design a form with the following : 6 rectangular blocks -objects with different colour a stop clock timer -to observe the time value Start button -to start the event Text box -to display the time value Reset button-to restart the experiment Press â€Å"START†button. Observe all blocks minutely and identify the one that expands in breadth after some time. Stop timer themoment difference is identified. Record time. Repeat steps 2 to 5 and plot graph between% colour differenceandnumber of attempts. Repeat same experiment by pressing â€Å"RESET† button. Changing Shape Circle Experiment Design a form with the following six circles-object with colour a stop clock timer -to observe the time value Start button -to start the event Text box -to display the value Reset button-to restart the experiment Pressâ€Å"START†button. Observe all circles minutely and identify the one that expands in radius after some time. Stop timer themomentarea difference is identified. Record time and the % noticed difference or the %area difference. Repeat steps 2 to 5 and plot graph between% radial differenceVsnumber of attempts. ChangingColor CircleExperiment Design a form with the following 6 circles-object with colour a stop clock timer -to observe the time value Start button -to start the event Text box -to display the value Reset button-to restart the experiment Pressâ€Å"START†button. Observe all circles minutely and identify the one that changes colour after some time. Stop timer the moment colour difference is identified. Record time and the % noticed difference or the %area difference. Repeat steps 2 to 5 and plot graph between% colour differenceVsnumber of attempts. Discussion Good user interface design can be made by avoiding uneven size or mismatching colour controls. GOMS(Goals,Operators,Methods, andSelection rules) Objective To build a GOMSmodelforcomparing the actualtimetaken for a task by two interfaces and predict the best one. Experimental Procedure Design twodifferent user interfaces with the following controls: Label-to display users with questions Text box-to receive information about the user Button-to perform action Timer-to inform time to the user List box / option button-to display answers to the questions Make Interface-1to have list-boxestoinput user responses. Make Interface-2to haveradio-buttons toinput user responses. Use this interfaces to rate understanding of few core subjects. Pressâ€Å"Start†button tostartrecordtime beforeshowing responses to interface-1 Giveresponses for each subject using interface-1. Pressâ€Å"Stop†buttonto stop recording of time after finishing all responses. Repeatsameprocedurefromsteps 5to7forinterface-2. Observation: There might be a difference in the task completion time, because of Difference in interaction elementschosen andtheir layout a cognitive / perceptual factor is contributing to task completion time An interaction task is always guided by the user goals, interface operators andalternative methods available on interface for achieving those goals. Colour Design for a User Form Objective To apply colour theoryand features required for colour textand background legibility in creating attractiveuser form. Basics Primary Colours: colours that cannot be created by mixing others. e.g. Red, yellow and blue. Secondary Colours:colours achieved by a mixture of two primaries e.g. Green, orange and purple Tertiary Colours:colours achieved by a mixture of primary and secondary hues. e.g. Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green yellow-green Complementary Colours: colours located opposite each other on a colour wheel. Analogous Colours:colours located close together on a colour wheel. Procedure Design a form thatconsistsoftwosections Contentwindow Colour- settingwindow Design a Content Window with broad blackoutline. Split broad outline as three or more sections based on the usage withthin blackborders. Selectanyofthesesectionsbyclickingwithintheboundary. Change selection section border colour into red. Use coloursettingwindow tochange colours of the selectedsection. Design a Colour settingwindow(Textcoloursetting) Place three text boxes and slider to receive RGB colour values. Design a button to apply the computed RGB colorvalue. Design a Colour-settingwindow(Bakgroundcolour setting) Place three text boxes and slider to receive RGB colour values. Design a button to apply the computed RGB colourvalue. Apply colour brightness difference and colour difference formulae to see if they really work in practiceimproving legibility of the colour text. Observations: Allows user to apply various colours to text as well as its background andcreate differentcolourcontrasts. Review Questions How do you justify HCI as an interdisciplinary research domain? Why is HCI so important? Describe the framework of the three level model of HCI. Summarize the factors in HCI. Describe the framework of broad HCI issues and concerns. Discuss on the design principles of HCI Summarize advanced I/O devices [e1]Recommender or recommended