Red Pada and Red Fox

The Red Panda comes from the family of Ailuridae and its scientific name is Ailurus Fulgens. The Red Fox, whose scientific name is Vulpes Vulpes, is from the Canidae family. They are both mammals and are the same size. However, the Red Panda and the Red Fox share similarities and differences in their appearance, habitat, diet, behaviour, reproduction and status of population. First of all, the Red Panda and the Red Fox are quite similar but a little different in their appearance. Like the Red Fox, the Red Panda has four legs, two ears, a black nose and two eyes at the side of their heads.They also have a long bushy tails with which they keep themselves warm, like a cover, in winter. The Red Panda looks like a cat, while the Red Fox looks like a dog. The main colour of the fur of these two animals is red. The Red Panda has while fur on its cheeks, around its eyes, and has black fur from its neck to its feet. In contrast, the Red Fox has while fur from its neck to its stomach and has b lack fur on its ears. There are both similarities and difference in their habitat. The Red fox and the Red Panda can both be found in the forest.But the Red Panda lives in temperature bamboo forests in northeast Asia, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Laos, Myanmar and Eastern Himalaya mountain at 1500-4000m above sea level. While the Red Fox lives around the world in many kinds of environments such as forests, grasslands, mountains and deserts. Most of the Red Foxes are found in the United States , Canada, Asia and Europe. The Red Panda sleeps in trees, whereas the Red Fox sleeps in dens. The next similarities and differences of them are in their diet.Both the Red Panda and the Red Fox eat many kinds of food, such as fruit, insects, bird’s egg, small birds and rodents. The main food of the Red Panda is bamboo leaves and young bamboo, while the favourite food of the Red Fox is rodents. In terms of behaviour they are somewhat similar, but there are also some differences. They are both sol itary animals, expect when they have a partner. The Red Panda is a excellent tree climbers. While the Red Fox hears very well and run with speed up to 48 km/h. Besides, the Red Fox like play with its prey before kill them.Finally, they are also similar but different in the way they reproduce. The Red Panda has a gestation period about 130 days, and its cub lives with it for one year. On the other hand, the Red Fox has a gestation period less than two months, and its cub leaves its mother after seven months. Both animals give babies although different gestation period. In conclusion, there are both similarities and differences between these two animals. They are share some similarities and differences in factor of them. The Red Panda is endangered species, while the Red Fox’s population are stable.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Essay

Three behaviors by expectant mothers that can negatively affect normal development of a fetus throughout life are consuming alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and using any kind of drugs. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders (FASD’s) are a group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. Some of the categories of FASD’s are: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS,) Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (ARND,) and Alcohol-Related Birth Defects (ARBD.) ARND is characterized by learning disabilities and behavioral issues. They might have difficulties with numbers, memory, attention, judgment, and also poor impulse control. ARBD is characterized by physical problems, mostly effecting the heart, kidneys, bones, and sometimes hearing troubles. The most severe of all FASD’s is fetal alcohol syndrome. The effects can include physical problems and problems with behavior and learning including abnor mal facial features, a small disproportioned head, shorter than average height, central nervous system problems, low body weight, hyperactivity, speech delays, poor memory, vision problems, hearing problems, learning disabilities, and even fetal death (Centers for Disease Control, 2011). Not every child whose mother consumed alcohol is born with FAS, but 1 in 800 are. Fetal alcohol syndrome is completely preventable as long as a woman abstains from drinking during the duration of pregnancy, as there is no known safe amount of alcohol (Myers, 2008). Smoking cigarettes during pregnancy can result in premature birth, birth defects, low birth weight, miscarriage, and has been linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Cigarettes also can cause the placenta (which provides the fetus’ oxygen and nutrients) to separate from the womb too early, which is extremely dangerous for both the fetus and the mother. (Centers for Disease Control, 2013). The use of illicit drugs during pregnancy can impede normal development in many different ways, but because of the usual lifestyle choices of people who use illicit drugs, including drinking, smoking, promiscuity that increases risk of STD’s, and poor nutrition, it’s hard to know the full extent of danger each specific drug causes (March of Dimes, 2008). Use of methamphetamine, ecstasy, or amphetamine during pregnancy can result in low birth weight, premature birth, heart defects and cleft lip. The babies also appear to go through withdrawal like symptoms, including jitteriness, drowsiness, and breathing problems. These babies will be at a much greater risk for learning disabilities. (March of Dimes, 2008). Babies of mothers who used heroin during pregnancy are at risk for poor fetal growth, premature rupture of membranes, premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight, and breathing problems. (March of dimes, 2008). The babies of heroin users also go through withdrawal symptoms within 3 day after birth, which include fever, sneezing, irritability, trembling, diarrhea, vomiting, crying, and seizures. They are also at an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The children of heroin users are also at an increased risk of contracting HIV and hepatitis C, due to the likelihood of mothers using dirty needles to inject the drug (Centers for Disease Control, 2011). Mothers who use cocaine during pregnancy subject their fetuses to low birth weight, developmental disabilities, cerebral palsy, urinary tract problems, strokes causing irreversible brain damage, and sometimes death (March of Dimes, 2008). The only way to avoid these serious and harmful effects is to abstain from drugs, alcohol, and tobacco throughout the entire pregnancy. It is recommended that women who have opiate addictions do not just try to stop suddenly if they find they are pregnant, and instead should start a methadone program (March of Dimes, 2008.) There are also many other resources for women who are dealing with any kind of addiction that could be harmful to their pregnancies. References Center for Disease Control. (2011, Sept 22). Facts about fasds. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/facts.html March of Dimes. (2008, January). March of dimes. Retrieved from http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnancy/alcohol_illicitdrug.html Meyers, David G. (2008). Exploring Psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers

The Prevalence of Production Sharing Contracts in Oil and Gas

Abstract IntroductionBackgroundThe nature of the environment in which a business operates determines how it engages other players in the sector. This, therefore, determines the types of contracts that businesses get into. The oil and gas industry relies on contracts to carry out its activities just like other business entities do. The oil and gas industry mainly engages production sharing contracts, driven by the numerous stakeholder interests the sector has.Research TopicThe Prevalence of Production Sharing Contracts in Oil and Gas (Case Study of Sonangol, an Angolan Oil Company)AimThe aim of the study is to establish the prevalence of production sharing contracts in the oil and gas industry, with particular interest in Sonangol, an oil company in Angola.ObjectivesThe objectives of the study are: To determine the nature of the oil and gas business in Africa To determine the types of contracts administered in the oil and gas sector To determine the share of production sharing contracts relative to other types of contracts To establish the reasons for adoption of production sharing contracts at SonangolResearch questionsWhat types of contracts does Sonangol engage Are production sharing contracts prevalent at Sonangol Why does Sonangol adopt production sharing contracts What benefits and challenges do Sonangol get by using production sharing contracts Literature ReviewKey WordsContracts, Production Sharing Contracts, Effects, Prevalence, Economics, International Oil Companies, National Oil Companies, AngolaKey LiteratureBindemann, K., 1999. Production Sharing Agreements: An Economic Analysis This source touches on the economics of production sharing agreements with reference to oil and gas in Angola and the Middle East. Bindemann, K. 2000. The Response of Oil Contracts to Extreme Price Movements. Discussion Paper. Department of Economics (University of Oxford). Fattouh, B. and Darbouche, H., 2010. North African oil and foreign investment in changing market conditions. Energy Policy, 38(2), pp.119-1129.Gaps in literatureMost literature refers to situations in North Africa and the Middle East and not Angola or Sonangol. Most available literature is more than five years old. Chances are that the conditions have changed, rendering them irrelevant to current circumstances This section presents an analysis of existing literature on Oil and Gas in Africa and Angola in particular, while studying the types of contracts that oil and gas companies utilize. This is broken down into subtopics as follows:Oil and gas in AfricaThis section provides a general overview of the oil and gas industry, highlighting the major players: companies, countries, communities, and other stakeholders. History of the oil and gas industry in Africa Challenges in the African oil and gas industryOil and gas in AngolaThis section provides an overview of the Angolan oil and gas industry, highlighting the major players: companies, communities, and other stakeholders. History of the oil and gas industry in Angola Challenges in the Angolan oil and gas industry Merits of oil and gas to the Angolan EconomyContracting in the oil and gas industryTypes of contracts administered in the global oil and gas industry Comparison between contracting in Africa and the Middle EastProduction Sharing Co ntractsIdentify the parties involved Terms and conditions Benefits/demeritsContracting at Sonangol (Types of contracts)Encompasses all types of contractual agreements Sonangol engages Criteria Sonangol uses to select the type of contractual agreements it uses Ratio of contracts based on typeProduction sharing contracts at SonangolThe nature of production sharing contracts at Sonangol Parties involved Responsibility Terms and conditions Research Methodology The study will follow the constructivist approach and rely on the analysis of secondary data that will be obtained both from the private and public domain. Of particular interest will be records from Sonangol and researches published in journals. The research will use catalogues to locate relevant books and indexes to locate appropriate periodicals. In addition, the study will use the Internet to find relevant electronic resources and databases. An analysis of the books, periodicals, and databases would follow to ascertain the authority and quality of information. Data analysis will be quantitative. Findings i.Reasons for the adoption of production sharing contracts at Sonangolii.Advantages of production sharing contracts at Sonangol iii.Disadvantages of production sharing contracts at Sonangol iv.Comparison between production sharing contracts and other types of contracts at SonangolDiscussion Discuss the reasons for the prevalence of production sharing contracts at Sonangol, their merits, demerits, and challenges. Conclusion Summary of the suitability of production sharing contracts at Sonangol. Are they the best for the oil and gas industryShould they be upheld? References List of all works cited in the study Appendices Relevant documents, tables, and graphs

Advancement and IT Organization Change Research Paper

Advancement and IT Organization Change - Research Paper Example This is a significant benefit to both IT managers and ultimately the company since initial budget is overridden. The software is cost effective since one pays for what they need. One gets a cost saving with regard to maintaining the respective platform of machinery, as well as, the necessary databases and the application server to run the application (OM Software, 2012). The company outsources to a level that systems do not disburse effort in the maintenance and choice of very systems. This allows the company to increasingly focus on the business as much as this requires an IT department. There is low confidence in data security. Corporate data is considered private to the company, and if let outside the walls of the company then many tend not to like it especially senior management (Brown, Southworth, and Sarzynski, 2008). In some occasions, it is conservative and skeptical There tends to be difficulties in integrating this system to the rest of the system. Normally local or in-house applications are installed, but with this system, there is complexity in case one wants to connect or use the available data in cloud with the data in the company. The question suggests that Quick Response Codes can be generated for either e-mail address or telephone number. It is worth noting that e-mail addresses are associated with online QR codes while the mobile phone (telephone number) is associated with offline codes. Both codes have obvious similarities in the sense that they are both meant to serve a similar purpose. They both convey information to users in a quick manner (Philogene, 2008). They signify a specific sense of exclusivity as regards the targeted users. They are also used to encode URLS for various websites. The two types of codes enhance efficient processing, for instance of tickets, as compared to the traditional barcodes. Additionally, these codes provided more information about a certain products as compared to

The Billabongs Development Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Billabongs Development - Case Study Example The name of the company- Billabong, means 'a place of stagnant creek water'. Billabong’s logo has 2 parallel and motionless waves. According to the Merchants, this was meant to depict the uniqueness of the Aboriginal culture and its interpretation of an oasis. The main factor that distinguished Billabong’s boards from those produced by other local companies were the triple-stitching method which made Billabong’s surfing boards short and thus more durable.When Billabong first began to market its products to the Australian market in 1975, its products were well received. This allowed for the company to be able to create more products and thus increase sales. By 1981, the Merchants had been able to move to a larger headquarters and reached $1 million in total annual sales. To gain more publicity for their company, they funded competitions such as the World Final Surfing. Billabong would soon branch into other nations such as South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, and the United States.  As the brand grew in popularity, the Merchants made the decision to begin creating other sports apparel. They began to experiment with manufacturing and marketing artifacts such as snowboards. In all the expansion efforts, Gordon Merchant was at the forefront of designing and marketing new brands.The surfing industry would witness great development all through the 1990s as professional surfing profited from a newfound respectability. By the end of the 1990s, the Billabong Corporation had been restructured to take advantage of the growing international opportunities in the sector of board-related sports.

U09d1 Sarah and Michael Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

U09d1 Sarah and Michael Case Study - Essay Example s good, there is a conflict on interest in the case as the couple have already decided how they would prefer to spend their last days and it is a personal will rather than one forced by others. It is also clear by law that an individual has the rights to make a decision for how they aim to spend their last few days. This is one of the few issues that have been presented in the case. Secondly, the end – of – life directive enables the medical assistance to discuss the wish of the parents with the children. This however is a major issue as the cases are generally very sensitive and discussing this with the children can prove to be very difficult. This is mainly because the amount of stress, trauma and emotional distress that children and family members go through when an elderly person is ill is very high. Hence it would be difficult for the health care providers to convey the news as well as the family members to hear the news of the will of the parents. This again causes a second of ethics in the case (Garrett, Baillie, & Garrett, 2009). Considering the end of life decision in my life or for someone I know, I feel that it is incorrect to allow anyone to take the decision to end the life of others. This is inappropriate and is completely inhuman. A person should be given the right to live as long as they can and as long as their body is able to accept the life. Using technology to keep a person alive or trying to kill a person against the flow of nature is not right and should not be accepted anywhere in the world. Life is given to all and mercy killing is not ethical in any manner and should not be permitted. Giving an end – of – life decision for someone irrespective of whether it is a mother or father of brother or sister is incorrect and is against the law of nature. Hence it is essential that this is not provided as an option ever as according to the ACA code of Ethics it has clearly been presented that, ‘counsellors must strive to take measures

The Artistic Genius Andy Warhol Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Artistic Genius Andy Warhol - Research Paper Example The paper "The Artistic Genius Andy Warhol" focuses on Andy Warhol. As a small boy, Warhol was always obsessed with the looks. He would at times wear wigs to try and change his own looks with make ups on his face. This is a special attribute that would later help him in his career. Different people of the world distinguished Warhol’s work from the rest in the way he always tried to â€Å"make up† faces of the individuals he used in his art work.1 The sexuality helped shape his life. It is hard to understand who Andy Warhol personally was even though he was such an iconic figure in the American culture; there are so many things in his life that could not be easily substantiated. Who was he? Was he ever married? Why did he always want to be famous? He even wanted so much more than what life can basically give. He wanted to be famous, rich and beautiful.2 It is very hard for an individual to achieve all these things in life but Andy did everything he could to be what he al ways aspired to be and just like his personality, his art work is equally hard to interpret in terms of humor, irony or even beauty. It is like he portrayed his personality through the paintings. Some individuals even suggest that he used to ask his friends the things he should paint but after being fed with the information he would then ignore the suggestions and instead incorporate his own ideas. He always had his own ideas. This is quite a special attribute towards originality especially in the field of art and even music.

Botlton Claims that Emotion Work can be Viewed as a Distinctive Form Essay

Botlton Claims that Emotion Work can be Viewed as a Distinctive Form of Skilled Work and Employees as a Multi Skilled Emotion Ma - Essay Example Emotion labour as defined by Payne is the work that involves trying to feel the appropriate feeling for a given job (2006, p.2). The emotion labour is common in the service industries. Payne states that, the workers have the obligation to carry out emotion work in the form of politeness, enthusiasm or remaining calm even when under intense pressure. This forms an integral part to achieve customer satisfaction. Payne agrees with Bolton’s argument that emotion work is a distinct highly skilled labour. Bolton’s argument is because emotion work shares some emotion features that prove its ability to be categorised as skilled labour.. Emotion labour requires that employees practice some level of discretion complexity and worker control (2004, p. 20). The complexity in emotional work comes from the explanation by Goff man that the everyday social interaction by employees in emotion work requires a person with the capability of switching through numerous feelings. Bolton states that, employees in the service field should have emotional managerial skills that will allow them to carry out their duties effectively. The workers should be able to distinguish the various emotional displays desired for a given task in their work. Bolton gives an example that the employees could utilise humour as a way of building rapport with the customer or as a means of defusing customer aggression. Emotion workers have to be able to control their interactions with customers to avoid unnecessary exchanges with their customers. In this case, the customer gets the right to display discontent and anger that are not available to the worker (2005c, p.26). Bolton further describes the emotion worker as an active and controlling force in the labour process. The emotion worker subverts the organisational feeling rules imposed to them by management. An example is the Disneyland operator who offers to be of assistance to customers by separating them into different rides despite the resi stance by customers. Bolton tries also to explain how a customer does benefit from the employees act of resistance (2004b, p. 29). An employer, despite his tight schedule, may take his time to help a customer who happens to be in dire need of help. The employee in this case violates the company’s regulation to help the customer. Emotion work, according to Bolton’s observation is indeed a skilled work in that it is through the employees’ interaction with the customer that the image of the company is portrayed and, therefore, serves as a marketing strategy. Emotion labour is a skilled labour, yet the many of emotion labour are low paying jobs with a low status. Bolton observes that the jobs need to be considered as skilled labour, and employees be provided with their rightful payment as skilled workers. The difficulty in categorising emotion labour arises because the traditional systems of certification find it hard to quantify emotional skills. Then again, the em otional skills are part of the worker this makes the skills to be easily dismissed as personal traits. Then it is argued that most of the workers involved in emotion labour are women. Philips and Taylor say that emotion work involves elements of people work and caring for others this trait is seen as an innate feminine quality (1986, p.55). They argue that women have a natural gift when it comes to handling emotional skills. Korczynski observes the scepticism that surrounds the description of emotion labour skills as real skills. Many believe

Industrial Revolution in Britain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Industrial Revolution in Britain - Essay Example England, having a profuse supply of laborers to mine coal and iron, meaning a good supply of industrial fuel, possessing colonies that serve as her sources of raw materials and as her markets, achieved a head start over its European equals in the phenomenon of Industrial Revolution. Most importantly, England's isolation kept her from wars bombarding other European countries, and allowed her to continue industrializing without disruption (Rempel). Industrial Revolution induced the widespread use of machineries for manufacturing. England went through the phenomenon beginning in18th Century. Soon, more things could be done quicker and labor costs became cheaper. The process changed England from an agrarian, handicraft economy into a machine-dominated manufacturing industry. This bought for England greater economic potentialities and urbanization. Urbanization as an effect of industrializing made England evidenced an increase in population, as well as the emergence of several new social classes (Rempel). An advent of factories in places where palpable resources of coal and other essential materials could be found was set up in the process of rapid industrializing and urbanizing. Concentration of work forces in these locations was then called for. Eventually, these areas were developed to great cities with established political centers. The problem was that these so called "factory" and "mining" towns became so crowded and swamped that no good living conditions were experienced. Sanitary provisions are found lacking, and diseases spread across these swamped areas. "The dreadful living conditions in these new towns can be attributed to lack of good bricks, absences of building codes, and the lack of machinery for public sanitation. Yet the more tenable cause was the fact that factory owners offered little regard to the laborers as they treat them as commodities and not as actually human beings with important needs" (Rempel). These towns then sprouted new categories of British social classes. Factory owners became the new bourgeoisie and the men, women and children became categorized as the new working class. The more alarming incident here was that women and child labor emerged prominently in this period. Yet, more and more people moved to these cities in search of the higher profits that was seem guaranteed in working for these industries. Unfortunately, the industry workers were not to become well-off despite having jobs. This is so because they play second fiddle to the sophisticated machines, and were often degraded to routine process laborers, working long hours yet receiving low compensations under quite inauspicious conditions (Rempel). Longer hours meant reduced leisure time even though their material consumption did not increased. It was apparent that the workers become concentrated on factories and mines, and less on agriculture, where half of the population was in a century earlier. Employment in agriculture as a percentage of the population declined rapidly. By 1850, only one in four British could be said to be working the land and as had been said, employment growth at this point in time took place mostly in traditional manufacturing service industries (Voth, 2003). Therefore, wage increases that would have been expected from

Professional Portfolio Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5750 words

Professional Portfolio - Assignment Example With his history of asthma, he was also manifesting anxiety over possible asthma attacks. His anxiety also put him in danger of a possible asthma attack. (42 words) After discharge, he was set to be discharged back to his home with his wife as his primary care giver. His wife is 70 years old, arthritic and has severe memory problems. She has difficulty moving around the house, but is determined to provide care to her husband. (48 words) Patient needs a nebulizer (salbutamol) in order to ease his chest congestion and speed-up his recovery. He also needs to complete 7-days of antibiotics in order to ensure complete recovery and prevent any relapse of his lower respiratory tract infection. (40 words) The patient is concerned about his prolonged recovery and possible asthma attacks. The carer is concerned about the patient’s difficulty in breathing which may be difficult to manage without medical assistance. (31 words) Patient needs to be referred to a respiratory therapist for further assessment of his coughing. He also needs a social worker who can assist in arranging his care and his daily activities. A private nurse who can assist his wife in the administration of medications and in the nebulization process can also be retained. (54 words) The patient also needs to be referred to his general practitioner for follow-up check-up on the progress of his recovery. He also needs to be referred to a private nurse who can help in the nebulisation and monitor his condition during instances when breathing may be difficult. (47 words) The wife may not be the best care giver for the patient because she is also senile and can sometimes be forgetful in her duties as carer. The wife has also admitted that she is concerned about her husband’s condition and that she does not know how to handle her husband’s condition, especially where difficulties in breathing and asthma attacks would occur. (62 words) The

IBM Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

IBM - Assignment Example According to this case, IBM needed to make necessary changes in order to survive on the market. (p. 2) All other decisions related to this basic idea, such as speeding up the cycle of product development, integrating IBM as global organization, and simplifying the process for the customer fall under it. 2. In order to make those decisions IBM needs to undergo certain processes. They include the following: finance, human resources, customer relationship management, incorporated supply chain, and incorporated product development. Naturally, one area of organization always requires more attention than the others, and in this case it is Personal System Group who had the major problem with the supply. It is recognized that this area needs to be properly taken care of, because it is equally important to overall success of IBM as its any other part. In fact, given that Personal System Group is a computer manufacturer its role in IBM is integral. 3. Implementation of an integrated system sug gests that IBM will benefit out of it, because it will resolve an issue it currently faces; an issue of plants working as an independant units rather than one single unit. However, certain risks of doing this have to be taken into account. The time and complexity of the process could potentialy be problematic, given that not all the plants are on the same page.

Contemporary Issues of Management Accounting Essay Example for Free

Contemporary Issues of Management Accounting Essay This allows the opportunity for them to hone their skills and abilities at a constant rate while offering numerous benefits to the company. These benefits manifest themselves in employee loyalty, low turnover costs and fulfilment of company goals. Figure 6: JIT Model * Some Key Elements of JIT: 1. Stabilize and level the MPS with uniform plant loading (heijunka in Japanese): create a uniform load on all work centers through constant daily production and mixed model assembly (produce roughly the same mix of products each day, using a repeating sequence if several products are produced on the same line). Meet demand fluctuations through enditem inventory rather than through fluctuations in production level. Use of a stable production schedule also permits the use of backflushing to manage inventory: an end item’s bill of materials is periodically exploded to calculate the usage quantities of the various components that were used to make the item, eliminating the need to collect detailed usage information on the shop floor. 2. Reduce or eliminate setup times: aim for single digit setup times (less than 10 minutes) or onetouch setup this can be done through better planning, process redesign, and product redesign. 3. Reduce lot sizes (manufacturing and purchase): reducing setup times allows economical production of smaller lots; close cooperation with suppliers is necessary to achieve reductions in order lot sizes for purchased items, since this will require more frequent deliveries. 4. Reduce lead times (production and delivery): production lead times can be reduced by moving work stations closer together, applying group technology and cellular manufacturing concepts, reducing queue length (reducing the number of jobs waiting to be processed at a given machine), and improving the coordination and cooperation between successive processes; delivery lead times can be reduced through close cooperation with suppliers, possibly by inducing suppliers to locate closer to the factory.

Features of a Professional Assessment

Features of a Professional Assessment This assignment will focus on addressing the distinctive features of a professional assessment in social work. It will look into the importance of assessment, the assessment process and law and policy which relates to assessment. Finally it will address assessment in practice with regards to two service user groups namely older people and mental health. Assessment is part of the foundation of social work practice, the better the quality of assessment the more effective it would be (McDonald, 2006). Coulshed (1991) describes assessment as analysing process of selecting, organising and synthesising information. McDonald (2006) describes it as an intellectual process, it is a tool used to make sense of information relevant to issues examined. Assessment is used in many different forms and with different service user groups, some forms of assessment include; risk assessment, the single assessment processes and mental health assessments. Assessment is essentially identifying the needs and risks in an individual situation to judge which intervention, services and resources would be most appropriate (Adams, Dominelli and Payne, 2009). The 1990 National Health Service and Community Care Act placed the assessment of community care services as statutory work. This enabled social workers to justifiably claim to be doing statutory work, which n eeded extensive knowledge and to be done quickly (McDonald, 2006). Community care assessment can be a gateway to other services, depending on the level of the patients need. The assessment process varies between social workers because of their social work experience, theoretical orientation of the social worker, the social workers values and the relationship between service user and social worker (McDonald, 2006). Social workers also need certain skills to be able to achieve an effective assessment these include listening and communicating skills, being able to counsel and understand a service users problem, have an insight of other services available to the service user and be able to weigh the risks the service user may face daily against the resources that may be available to the service user (McDonald, 2010) (Harding and Beresford, 1996). The Victoria Climbà © inquiry stressed the importance of assessment (Laming, 2003). If assessment is done properly and as a cycle constantly evaluating Laming (2003) predicts that social work practice and the help given to the family would be more effective. Parker and Bradley (2005) understand that assessment is a continual process and use the ASPIRE model to show how assessment should work. The ASPIRE model stands for assessment, planning, intervention and review and evaluation (Sutton, 1999). This model shows assessment as a process that never stops because service users situations change over time, reviewing and evaluating the situation and continually reassessing helps to discover if the approach taken is effective or if the service user needs a different one in place. Milner and OByrne (2002) have similar recommendations to Laming (2003) they conclude that intervention is more likely to succeed when assessment is effective (Parker and Bradley, 2005). Within any setting assessment involves a number of features according to Milner and OByrne (2002) these include preparation, planning and engagement. The first step involves identifying the main people surrounding the case and then establishing a deadline under which information has to be collected. The next step involves the collection of information. This includes what the individual wants, their problems and information from other sources for example professional statements. The next part of the assessment process involves looking at the data and assessing their needs, by taking into account how they are currently functioning and weighing the risks. The last step involves producing an action plan. This concludes what help is needed, what resources are available and when reviews will take place (Milner et al, 2002). There are a number of policies and guidance which highlight the importance of assessment and the need for them to be used by social workers. The National Health Service Community Care Act, 1990 section 47: Assessment of Needs for Community Care Services is an essential part of the legislation when assessing an individuals needs. Under this section when it appears that any persons for whom the local authority may provide community care or services or may be in need of any other such services the local authority should carry out an assessment of their needs for those services. Upon receiving assessment results the local authority can then decide whether their needs are great enough to be given provision of services. Fair Access to Care Services (2003) guidance understands that consistent access to services should be across the country but provision is prioritised into set criteria according to risk and independence. All local authorities have the same eligibility criteria. However they can come to different decisions. This is guidance not law, so any local authority can decide on the scale the individual would be on before services can be given (Clements, 2004). Features of assessment in relation to older people The NHS plan (Department of Health, 2000) and the National Service Framework for Older people (2001) introduced the single assessment process (SAP). The aim of this process is to provide person centred care to service users and also their carers. Parker and Bradley (2003) concluded that the government produced this new process because historically there were a number of criticisms involving team working within different disciplines. The SAP was produced to prevent questions being needlessly duplicated by different disciplines and to share the information between all and to ensure person centred care. The National Service Framework for Older People was the first wide-ranging strategy that focused on fair, quality health and social care for older people (National Service Framework for Older People, 2001). The aim of person centred care is to ensure all older people are treated individually, that they receive care appropriate to them. Social workers must also take into account anti disc riminatory practice when involved in assessing any individual, the service users decisions must lead the process. Social workers will have previous experience of the assessment process, and possibly of older people in similar situations, its imperative that the service user is safeguarded against direction from the social worker to ensure that the social worker does not lead the assessment. The process must focus on the service users views and perspectives throughout. The SAP involves three broad levels (McDonald, 2010). Contact assessment, which includes individuals who may need support from different services. Overview assessment involves mental, physical and social needs including the impact of their needs on the family and carers this level supports multi disciplinary teams. The last level is a specialist assessment, taken when more understanding is needed regarding an individuals need and how they can meet it. Another assessment available is a comprehensive assessment. This is offered when the older person needs intensive and long term treatment. A comprehensive assessment involves basic details, the category of need, the support network the individual has, current problems, carers views, a risk assessment of their current lifestyle, the individuals current strengths, social network and living situation as well as more extensive information. Assessment uses theory and practice to understand the situations of an older person. It involves problems, risks, needs and resources of the older person. It requires professional judgement to take into account all information to give an opinion, whether the older person needs services and resources to be available for them (McDonald, 2010). When processing an assessment with older people there are key elements the professional must consider. McDonald (2010) suggests that good quality assessments of older people involve specific components. These include using a strengths perspective, the older person still has the ability to know where their problems lie and how they would deal with them using this throughout the assessment identifies their strengths. Another component includes coping skills, as they grow older they focus more on what they can do and less on what they have difficulties with. Focusing on their strengths rather than problems ensures a positive approach to the assessment process. Social workers must ensure anti discriminatory practice takes place, an important component of this is citizenship, it involves the service user participating in decision making. When moving to a care home for example the older persons care plan should involve advocacy so they can continue to make decisions regarding their health and social care, societal changes and their living environment within the care home. Respecting their decisions is a value social workers should have in practice. Social workers need to understand that family and carers needs may be different to that of the older person and these may need to be a priority. The social worker must also tell the older person about the assessment process giving information about why its being conducted and what the aim of the process is. Although the SAP was produced to bring all information together there were criticisms of working with different disciplines. A literature review by Challis, Clarkson, Williamson, Venables, Hughes, Burns and Weinburg (2004) found that there was a lack of trust between disciplines when implementing the SAP. The SAP is a long process and each level takes time that some professionals dont have. Also if the older person is having difficulty they may need to make provisions to enable them to continue with tasks they find difficult until a decision is made regarding resources available to them. However they may not be given the amount of resources and services that the service user expects. Those who are not eligible have needs but are concluded to have not sufficient needs to receive help. These older people are expected to use provisions around them, for example family and friends to help with the problems they face (Henwood and Hudson, 2008). Henwood and Hudson (2008) found that those ol der people who had sufficient money to fund their services felt that they had to discover their own way to find the right services available, having not received the advice and information that other older people going through the assessment process would get. Following from the assessment process the older person then receives an individual care plan. This care plan shows the objectives and outcomes from the support provided. The individual care plan builds on the older persons strengths, how they can address their needs, the older person should also agree to the care plan being implemented. Personalisation is now being introduced in the UK. This new method of assessment involves a self assessment of needs. A Personal budget questionnaire is then completed. This questionnaire is simple and designed to help the older person give information about their needs. The social worker will complete it with the service user and family member. The decision of eligibility is then decided. If they are eligible they will be allocated a sum of money through a personal budget, further assessments would be completed to calculate how much the service user would have to contribute. Once the budget is agreed upon the service user can plan where they want to spend their allocated money on the support they want. Features of assessment in relation to mental health There are a number of different assessments which are involved in the mental health services. Depending upon the individuals circumstances specific assessments would take place. Section 47 of the National Health and Community Care Act (1990) states that any individual who has needs of services under a local authority the local authority must carry out an assessment. A decision then follows this assessment. Depending on the mental health of an individual the assessment would focus on their problems and needs and how they could achieve the best outcomes. Standard 2 of the National Service Framework for Mental Health (1999) specifies that any service user that has contacted their primary health care team with a common mental health problem should have their needs identified and assessed. Previously the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Common law of necessity have been used to assess the needs of individual with mental health problems. Recently the common law has been replaced by the Mental Capacity Act. Assessors within this service now use a broader approach to include the criteria of both the Mental Health Act, 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 (Barber, Brown and Martin, 2009). Mental health assessment involves a broad scope of information to collect. The Mental Health Act considers the mental disorder, the nature of the disorder, whether the person or others are at risk, the type of treatment necessary for example if the individual needs hospitalisation or if its possible to use community based mental health services and if its possible to give services without the individual being hospitalised (Barber et al, 2009). Its much less intrusive to the individual if it is appropriate for them to receive care in their community rather than going into hospital and because of the stigma attached to using a section 2 or 3 of the Mental Health Act any social worker or professional in this setting would chose community care if they could. Assessment with regard to the Mental Capacity Act draws upon information involving the impairment of the individual, the age of the individual, the individuals capacity of making decisions and if the care they would receive would be a deprivation of liberty (Barber et al, 2009). An assessment under the Mental Health Act can be done compulsorily when there is a mental disorder, or if it is in the patients safety or health and to protect others. Before the assessment takes place the social worker should look into previous history and liaise with other professionals involved in the case. Depending on whether you use a section 2 which last 28 days or a section 3 which lasts up to 6 months a team is needed to admit the individual. When assessing under these sections the social worker must ask questions regarding evidence of mental illness and the risk towards the individual or others, if the patient consents to informal admission or if there are alternatives to hospitalisation. A Care programme approach assessment may be offered when an individual leaves an inpatient psychiatric unit or uses a community mental health team. This assessment is encouraged as all aspects of care are co-ordinated by one person. The assessment involves personal history, social situation, description of the illness and symptoms and length of treatment and what the individuals needs are. The care programme approach incorporates four specific elements, as defined in Building Bridges: a guide to arrangements for inter-agency working for the care and protection of severely mentally ill people (DOH, 1995). These elements include the assessment of health care and social needs. The formed care plan, the appointment of a key worker who has a responsibility to monitor the care of the service user and the last element includes regular reviews of the care given and if needed how to adapt the care because of changes of need. Mental health assessments are complicated because of individuals complex situations assessing risk and needs as well as resources available. Social work practice must encompass a number of strategies when undertaking assessment for it to be effective. The care programme approach enables social workers to focus on the individual directing through all aspects of care and co-ordinating their care when the assessment process is finished. The social worker is constantly receiving information including guidance from governments, evidence from research and literature. There is only vague guidance on how to undertake the assessment of the individual, even though assessment is so important because the results will undeniably affect the individuals life for the upcoming future for a substantial amount of time. Social workers must balance risk, resources and the individuals needs whilst undertaking the assessment, a process which can be very intricate and complicated when an individual has diverse needs and their risks are so great. However as social workers reflect on their previous assessments they will take away a strong idea of what works and this over time will help make assessments more effective. Assessment is vital within social work and the features of assessment differ depending on the type of service the social worker is within. However within any service the assessment process still requires similar techniques including individualisation and citizenship and being open and honest. Many reports and papers have shown that when assessment is done correctly and uses an ecological approach which covers society and familial relationships as well as at an individual level then the assessment process will be more effective.

Manual Vacuum Aspiration for First Trimester Pregnancy Loss

Manual Vacuum Aspiration for First Trimester Pregnancy Loss Dr. Sindhoo TO DETERMINE THE EFFICACY OF MANNUAL VACUM ASPIRATION IN MANAGEMENT OF FIRST TRIMESTER PREGNANCY LOSS INTRODUCTION: An estimated 46 million abortions are performed globally each year, with one-third of all abortions are performed under unsafe conditions leading to 13% of all maternal death1. 10–12% of these abortions are performed in the early first trimester1, 2. Local data shows an annual abortion rate of 29 per 1000 in women aged 15-49 years. Incomplete and missed miscarriage being the commonest occurs in approximately 15 % of clinically recognized pregnancies and in 890,000 women per year3. One study conducted by Shonali Agarwal and Dolly Gupta reported the efficacy of MVA 90% in management of first trimester pregnancy loss5. First trimester of pregnancy ranges between 5–13 weeks and is associated with 3 to 5 times lower maternal mortality and morbidity risks than termination during second trimester4. Although the etiologies of first trimester loss are multi factorial and often remain unknown, certain risk factors increase the likelihood of pregnancy loss. Findings such as absenc e of cardiac activity after 5 wks, gestational sac smaller than expected for dates, an abnormal-appearing yolk, intrauterine hematoma (sub chorionic hemorrhage), vaginal bleeding after 7 weeks of gestation are potential markers for subsequent pregnancy loss4. Once a first trimester pregnancy loss has been diagnosed, there are three forms of management: expectant, medical, or surgical evacuation (with electrical or manual vacuum aspirator). The optimal mode of management is determined by gestational age, whether the pregnancy loss is delayed or incomplete, maternal hemodynamic stability, the presence of infection, and, most importantly, patient preference5. Manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) employs a vacuum pump in which the vacuum is created using a hand-held, hand activated plastic syringe. 4,5,6 Manual vacuum aspiration is safe, effective, easy to use, portable, and reusable. It is appropriate for use in many different clinical settings (Including office, emergency room, or the operating room) thus avoiding the need for the use of an operating theatre and the risks of general anesthesia. It does not require lengthy training for proper operation, and may be performed by a wide range of trained medical personnel including midwives and nurses. When conducted in the outpatient setting rather than operating room, manual vacuum uterine aspiration can result in substantial cost savings, electrical power saving and significant reduction in procedure time (3.7 minutes for MVA vs. 10.2 minutes for DC).The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends MVA as a preferred method of uterine evacuation2,7. RATIONALE: On robust literature search there was scant relatively old data available on efficacy of MVA but no one focused on efficacy of manual vacuum aspiration in management of first trimester pregnancy loss. This provide me the strong rationale to conduct this study, the aim of my study is to set a baseline data which will help to generate the current local statistics of MVA in terms of efficacy on this particular group of women with loss of pregnancy. If we found the significant efficacy of MVA then we will recommend MVA as first line of treatment in future in management of first trimester pregnancy loss. OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study is to determine the efficacy of Manual vacuum aspiration in management of first trimester pregnancy loss. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION: FIRST TRIMESTER PREGNANCY LOSS: An abortion is the spontaneous or induced loss of an early pregnancy. Miscarriage occurs within 12 weeks of gestation will be confirmed on ultrasound. EFFICACY: If an empty uterus with no evidence of retained products of conception seen within 24 hours on Ultrasound will be label as efficacy positive. MATERIAL AND METHODS: SETTING: Liaquat university hospital Jamshoro /Hyderabad DURATION: Six months after approval of synopsis. STUDY DESIGN: Case series study. SAMPLE SIZE: By using WHO sample size calculator taken efficacy of MVA i.e P=90% (5) margin of error (d) = 5.5% confidant interval 95% then the estimated sample size will be at least n=115. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: Non-probability consecutive sampling INCLUSION CRITERIA: All women with gestational age of ≠¤ 12 weeks confirm from last menstrual period with pregnancy loss (as mention in operational definition) Age 18-35 years Women with any parity Exclusion Criteria: Women who are hemodynamically unstable (systolic B.P Ectopic pregnancy assess on ultrasound Known systemic disease including hepatic or renal dysfunction. Had a history of cervical surgery. DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE: All patients fulfilling inclusion criteria and not having any of exclusion criteria attending Outpatient department/emergency department of Liaquat university hospital Jamshoro after evaluation by consultant will be included in the study. Informed consent will be taken from each patient about procedure and this study. Approval of the ethical committee will be sought. Patients will undergo elective abortion. All operations will be performed by fourth year residents under supervision of consultant having more than 5 years of post-fellowship experience. Intravenous anesthesia will be used in all the cases. Manual vacuum aspiration will be performed under par cervical block with 10-20 ml of 1% lignocaine using Glick technique3. MVA will be performed using a flexible Ipas Easy Grip cannula attached to a 60 ml syringe (aspirator), with a double locking valve mechanism. To assess the efficacy(as mentioned in operational definition) of MVA. Patients will be fallowed till 24 hours. Demographi c variables of name, gestational age, and parity will be noted. The final outcome in terms of efficacy will be noted after 24 hours will be recorded on approved Performa. DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE: Statistical analysis will be performed using statistical software SPSS version 16 on computer. Mean  ± standard deviation will be calculated for age gestational age and parity. Frequency and percentage will be calculated for efficacy. Effects modifier will be controlled through stratification of age gestational age and parity to see the association with outcome i.e (efficacy) by applying Chi-square test taking P≠¤0.05 will be considered statically significant. REFERENCES Wen J, Cai QY, Deng F, Li YP. Manual versus electric vacuum aspiration for first-trimester abortion: a systematic review. BJOG. 2008 Jan;115(1):5-13.Review. PubMed PMID:18053098. Yan J, Saravelos SH, Ma N, Ma C, Chen Z-J, Li T-C. Consecutive repeat miscarriages are likely to occur in the same gestational period. Reproductive BioMedicine;2012;24:634-38. Tasnim N, Mahmud G, Fatima S, Sultana M. Manual vacuum aspiration: a safe and cost-effective substitute of electric vacuum aspiration for the surgical management of early pregnancy loss. J Pak Med Assoc. 2011 Feb;61(2):149-53.PubMed PMID: 21375164. Allison JL, Sherwood RS, Schust DJ. Management of first trimester pregnancy loss can be safely moved into the office. Rev Obstet Gynecol. 2011;4(1):5-14.PubMed PMID: 21629493; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3100102. 5. Agarwal S, Gupta D. Comparison of manual vacuum aspiration (mva) versus traditional suction evacuation in first trimester medical termination of pregnancy. Int J Res Med.2013;2(1);11-14. Farooq F, Javed L, Mumtaz A, Naveed N. Comparison of manual vacuum aspiration,and dilatation and curettage in the treatment of early pregnancy failure. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. 2011 Jul-Sep;23(3):28-31. PubMed PMID: 23272429. Harwood B, Nansel T; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.Management of Early Pregnancy Failure Trial. Quality of life and acceptability of medical versus surgical management of early pregnancy failure. BJOG. 2008 Mar;115(4):501-8. Doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2007.01632.x. Pubmed PMID: 18271887;pubmed Central PMCID: PMC2424403. PROFORMA TO ASSESS THE EFFICACY OF MANUAL VACUUM ASPIRATION IN MANAGEMENT OF FIRST TRIMESTER PREGNANCY LOSS Date: ________________ Reg No: serial No: ___________________ Name: W/O Age: Gestational age: weeks Parity: EFFICACY: YES NO

NJROTC purpose :: essays research papers

The NJROTC, or Naval Junior Recruit Officer Training Corpse, is built not only to teach high school students about the navy but also allows student to become our great leaders of the future. In NJROTC cadets are asked to live up to very high standards because those students in NJROTC are thought of as the best of the best and are at that school to represent the military way of life. In this program I have learned three traits that will help me better myself not only in the future but in the day I live today. These traits that I speak of are discipline, punctuality, and respect. If not for NJROTC I would have not been as great a person and would have little or no direction in my life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the most important things that most cadets learn in NJROTC is to be well disciplined. Without the discipline instilled in every cadet, there would be total chaos and anarchy. Discipline helps us to march, to be able to sit down and do our homework when it needs to be done, and to keep our mouths shut when someone else has the floor. Because of the two years that I have completed of NJROTC, I have developed discipline because the instructors and the other cadets have pounded it into my brain like a square block going into a round hole, but this time it got through. In the future I will need discipline to not only get a job but also keep it. If, in the future, I do not have the discipline to stay with a single job, my life will never amount to anything. Even though discipline is a large subject, the first thing about being disciplined is being punctual.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Punctuality is another thing that I have learned in NJROTC, but with much hard work did I learn this. We all know that we slip up sometimes and slag around from class to class. Because of this we make ourselves late sometimes, and no one wants to get a tardy, so our instructors offer a healthy alternative. If you are late to class then you have the option of doing push-ups or getting a tardy, now witch would you rather do? Not only does this punishment instill punctuality, but if you are hard headed you can build up incredible upper body strength. Being punctual to a job will allow me to keep it and also impress my bosses.

Saint Augustine Essay -- essays research papers

Saint Augustine was born on 354 CE in Tagaste, Africa. His given name was Aurelius Augustinus. His father was Patricius, a pagan who was baptized Christian before he died, and his mother was Monica, a baptized Christian with an influential role in the life of her son. Augustine is regarded as one of the most intelligent Christian theologians and bishops of all time. His works and actions have left a major imprint on the Church and its doctrine. As a boy, Augustine was not baptized and grew up in the Roman Empire. He studied under the local schoolmasters in Tagaste until he turned fifteen and moved to continue his studies in Madaurus. From Madaurus, he moved to Carthage for advanced studies in rhetoric and law. It was in Carthage that he took a concubine and later had a son named Adeodatus from her. It was in this period of his life that embraced Manichaeism, which is a belief that one god is responsible for all good and another responsible for all evil. Augustine’s belief in Manichaeism prompted Monica, his mother, not to allow his entrance into the family’s house. Even with her actions, she continued praying and hoping that Augustine would find the Lord. After he ended his studies in Carthage, he became a teacher and was constantly on the move throughout Northern Africa. Augustine stopped teaching and moved to Milan where he gained the position of Public Orator. In Milan, Augustine met Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan. Augustine grew to love Ambrose’s allegorical interpretations of the Bible and this led to his appreciation and new understanding of the Scripture. He also studied and learned to appreciate Plato’s works and started linking a lot of his works into the meaning and messages in the Bible. Augustine’s family, including his mother, joined him in Milan. Her constant prayers for his conversion to Christianity and the strict ethical demands of Ambrose made Augustine’s appreciation of Plato’s work grew deeper. It made him no choice, but to convert to Christianity. On Easter Sunday of 387 CE in Milan, Augustine along with his son and his friend, Alypius, were baptized by Ambrose. After Augustine’s mother passed away, he traveled throughout the Roman Empire. He wrote many of his books on theology along the way. He had no aspirations of priesthood, but through a mere chance visit at Hippo in Africa; the bisho... ...howed that the Church is the union of all people into Christ. He defined free will, Christian sacraments, and original sin. His argument with the Donatists clarified Christian doctrines for further generations to come. Pelagianism was the final controversy that Augustine handled. They believed that God’s grace is not needed for salvation, but only good works. Augustine fought this controversy by explaining that grace was necessary for salvation because without it, people would be even more sinful. The leader of Pelagianism, Pelagius, never met with Augustine, but as a result of this controversy, "God’s saving grace" was clearly understood through Augustine’s arguments. On August 28, 430 CE in Hippo, Augustine died. He is regarded as one of the greatest and intelligent saints of the Church. He clarified Church doctrines, established monasteries for new priests, educated many into the meaning of Christianity and made Christianity humanistic which is nurtured by God’s love and grace. Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. Possidius. The Life of Saint Augustine. Villanova: Augustinian Press, 1988.

Al-Qaeda Training Manual

The US Department of Justice (US DOJ) has publicly disclosed the ‘Al-Qaeda Training Manual’ which was recovered from the house of arrested alleged terrorist Khalid Khaliq on July 2005 in Manchester, England.The training manual containing comprehensive chapters of lessons written in Islamic language has been translated in English; following US DOJ’s handling of a trial on the spate of terrorist attacks of the UK and the US vital installations (US DOJ, 2008).Accordingly, to cite, the training manual outlines four substantial topics, such as (1) Lesson 1: Principles of Military Organization, (2) Lesson 2: Necessary Qualifications and characteristics for the Organization’s Member, (3) Lesson 3: Counterfeit Currency and Forged Documents, and (4) Lesson 4: Organization Military Bases (US DOJ, 2008).In this paper, the position of a counterterrorism specialist will be discussed, relating the hypothetical questions on what implications for counterterrorism are conta ined in the training manual and what counterterrorism strategy can be developed in light of the manual.Implications for counterterrorismAs a point of view on the classification of the training manual as a â€Å"captured document†, counterterrorism specialist may critically consider two fundamental implications for counterterrorism, such as (1) revalidation of the captured document, and (2) operational review on counterterrorism strategies. This critical reconsideration underscores the â€Å"way of the systems† in assessing the counterterrorism campaigns in both military and civilian organizations.Revalidation of the captured document would exert extensive effort for key military units and the intelligence community to analyze the veracity of information contained in the training manual.The first scenario to implement the revalidation could be in the field personnel, like the CIA’s HumInt (human intelligence) clandestine operatives that verifies and classifies th e â€Å"substantive category† of such information. The second scenario could be the â€Å"analytical method†, examining the depth and breadth of the captured document in the aspect of strategic purpose and intent; referring to the psychological warfare (psywar) of the literature.The operational review on counterterrorism strategies could be in line with redefining and reformulating short and long term plans or tactics purposely â€Å"to counter† the operation plan or â€Å"OPLAN† that can be found in the training manual. Overall, the implication would take into effect the enactment of policy framework that deals with counterterrorism.Counterterrorism StrategyAs cited from the training manual, Al-Qaeda massively recruits individuals working in borders, seaports and airports, of which will carryout the mission to blast or destroy vital places, like public amusement centers, embassies, economic zones, communication and media establishments, and government an d military facilities to name a few (US DOJ, 2008).Given the above situation, the first employment of a counterterrorism strategy is to secure the possible, potential and vulnerable places for terrorist attacks. One aspect of security measures is through â€Å"personnel profiling† or the conduct of evaluating the profiles of working personnel and monitoring their activities. In which case, a security guideline must be decisively implemented in working areas.However, the counterterrorism strategy can be efficiently and effectively implemented without legal constraints by implementing the necessary, existing and applicable laws, regulations and state policies that are meant to safeguard the working places and promote lawful prevention against terrorism. Thus, mobilization of strategic counterterrorism campaigns can be implemented at the extent of public tolerance and compliance.On the other hand, it is a common knowledge that the US Naval facility in Guantanamo, Cuba has been u sed as a prison of arrested terrorists, in which the controversy of alleged inhuman treatment of prisoners has recently ordered by President Barrack Obama to â€Å"dispose of utilizing the facility as a torture den†.By mentioning this information, it owe to relate the situation that counterterrorism specialist or expert may rely on applying psychological and physical torture as a method to â€Å"extract information† or obtain it as a first-hand validation from detained terrorists, partly of the strategy in reaffirming the information which is also called by the intelligence community as â€Å"rendition†.

Digital Classroom Essay

I was really wondering what can I learn English when I came here. Because before I couldn’t go to course about English . I haven’t got an idea. After that we’ve seen two different classroom. Conventional and digital classroom. World is changing everyday. Person finds new technologies idea for everything. And I’m absolutely agree this statement what people learning English are able to make greater progress when using a variety of learning technologies within the classroom. I really like digital classroom. There are lots of advantages. In my opinion IWB is incredible . It looks like game and everybody like to play game. All word use to internet and computer because of this people can be to more interested with lesson. Some times we can want to speak with our friends and we can use to Synchron Eyes. I’m feeling comfortable to digital classroom. Pegasus is helpful for me. I can do some mistakes when I write by handed and after that maybe I can’t see my mistakes. But if I use to Pegasus I can see all my mistakes end of the exam or homework and maybe I can forget my homework but if I look for in the Pegasus I can see my homework. I used to conventional classroom for 23 years. Sometimes computers can’t work . there can be some digital problems. What can I do this time. I can use my book. We’re really old friends with my book. If I am in classroom I want to see my book and I want to use my pencil. This is really important for me. I want to write some notes on the book.  As a result two different classroom has a good speciality. I feel confused but actually digital class is better than conventional class.

Bringing Trauma Home: Spouses of Paramedics

The profession of emergency care inevitably brings along with it a lot of stress, both mental and physical. Paramedics and other emergency care professionals are faced with a multitude of varying situations ranging from harsh weather to violent patients and emotionally draining experiences such as witnessing extensively injured patients or deaths. Moreover, these individuals are also faced with different hassles such as working in exhaustive shifts, overtime issues and variable schedules (Blakely & Timmons, 2008; Regehr, Goldberg, & Hughes, 2002).All these factors not only influence the paramedics themselves but also have a significant impact on their families. Studies have shown the existence of the phenomenon of secondary trauma (Figley, 1995 cited in Regehr, Goldberg, & Hughes, 2002), or vicarious traumatization (McCann & Pearlman, 1990; Saakvitne & Pearlman, 1996 cited in Regehr, Goldberg, & Hughes, 2002) amongst mental health workers who have been exposed to individuals who are faced with traumatizing experiences.It has been proven that being exposed to the traumatic experiences of others predisposes individuals to develop symptoms of anxiety, sleep disturbances and affective arousal (Regehr, Goldberg, & Hughes, 2002). Studies have revealed that emergency workers including ambulance personnel have a high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Jonsson, Segesten, & Mattsson, 2003). Other studies reveal that by witnessing the trauma and suffering of victims, paramedics develop secondary trauma and if they share their experiences with their family members, they too might experience vicarious traumatization (Blakely & Timmons, 2008).Different individuals have been shown to deal with the stress in different ways. Some individuals might share their experiences with their family members and seek emotional support from them. In doing so, they inadvertently expose their family members to the same distress and anguish that they are experiencing. Thus fam ilies when extending their support towards the paramedics, who need to cope with the work-related stress, may themselves fall prey to developing mental distress via the process of secondary trauma (Blakely & Timmons, 2008).On the other hand, some individuals may cope with the work-related stress that they experience via emotional numbing, whereby they display a loss of affect and emotional detachment (Regehr, Bringing the trauma home: Spouses of Paramedics, 2005). They may thereby have impaired family functioning and limited interactions with their family members (Regehr, Bringing the trauma home: Spouses of Paramedics, 2005). Both these coping strategies have thus been proven to indirectly have a negative influence on the family members of paramedics.In addition, work stress has also been shown to impair the family functioning of paramedics (Blakely & Timmons, 2008). Another problem that the family members, in particular the spouses of paramedics have to face is dealing with the to ugh routine that these individuals have. Other concerns of the family members include the health risks and the physical violence that the emergency care personnel are prone to (Blakely & Timmons, 2008).Thus, the work-related mental stress experienced by personnel involved in emergency care does not only have impact on their own life and health but also on their family members, in particular their spouses. It therefore becomes imperative to study the influence and consequences of the mental distress which the paramedics face on their family lives and relationship, determine factors which influence the development of these problems, and hence improvise strategies to minimize the potential harm and risks associated with these problems.Qualitative versus Quantitative research design for addressing this issue When undertaking research to address any issue, two different kinds of research methods exist, viz. qualitative and quantitative methods. The choice of the research method depends o n the study question. When an exploration of the various aspects of a particular issue is required, qualitative research should be undertaken (Marshall, 1996). Qualitative research allows an in-depth study of the phenomenon of interest and involves observing the phenomenon in its natural environment without any interventions (Runciman, 2002).The results yielded as a result of qualitative studies are transferable and such research answers ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions (Marshall, 1996). It provides a conceptual analysis of the issue and serves various different purposes including hypothesis generation, which can be further tested via using quantitative methods, to assess the pre-existing systems and functions and to convey to the policy makers the views and experiences of the individuals in question, amongst others (Fitzpatrick & Boulton, 1994).Qualitative research is thus â€Å"complex, contextual and influenced by the interaction of physical, psychological and social factors (Runciman, 2002). † In the other hand, quantitative research uses a deductive or reductionalist approach and is aimed at testing preset hypothesis (Marshall, 1996). The main implications of this kind of research is in assessing the effectiveness of various interventions or comparing two different study groups. Quantitative methodology yields generalizable results and produces answers to ‘what’ questions (Marshall, 1996).Keeping in mind the above mentioned basic differences between qualitative and quantitative research and their applicability in various situations, the best suited form of methodology which can be used in identifying the impact of the work-related stress of the paramedics on their family lives is qualitative methodology. This is because the issue at hand requires an in-depth exploration of the various aspects and consequences of the work-related stress on the individuals, their family life and their spouses and qualitative approach i s the most suitable for answering such questions.Problem identification and definition The introduction section of a research article is aimed at identifying the research problem, to determine the magnitude of the problem in the society and to provide the rationale behind carrying out the study (Parahoo, 2006). In this article, the author clearly defines the problem which led to the conduction of this study viz. the negative impact of the work-related mental stress that paramedics face on their spouses (Regehr, 2005) and adequately explain the theoretical framework behind this problem.According to the author, paramedics experience a considerable amount of mental and physical stress while at work and this influences their overall mood and affect. There are two main types of coping strategies that paramedics can adopt in order to overcome the mental distress they experience and these involve either remaining detached and emotionally aloof from the situations faced, i. e. emotional num bing, or explicitly sharing their experiences with others (Regehr, 2005).Neither of these strategies have been found to be useful since the former leads to a poor quality of relationships as the numbing prevails in everyday life and leads to an inability to emotionally engage and interact with others, and the latter has been found to induce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in the family members whereby they start experiencing stress similar to that faced by the paramedics (Regehr, 2005).The author thus surmises that the work related stress of paramedics does not only bring significant distress to the individuals in question, but also to their family members, in particular their spouses, and this is a considerable problem that warrants research in order to elucidate the factors contributing towards this problem (Regehr, 2005). Thus, in this article, the phenomenon of interest is clearly identified and the theoretical underpinnings of the problem have been adequately address ed.However, when defining the problem, the author does not explain why the qualitative study design would be best suited for this particular problem. Moreover, this section also lacks a discussion of the significance of this research and its outcome to everyday clinical practice, i. e. How would identifying and addressing this particular problem prove to be beneficial for paramedics and their spouses in the short and long-term? Literature Review The literature review provided in an article provides an in-depth view of the research done on the topic.It should be based on an extensive review of literature and discuss all aspects of the topic in question (Parahoo, 2006). In this article, a thorough and comprehensive literature regarding the different aspects of the effect of paramedics’ work-related mental distress on their family and spouses has been provided. Moreover, the literature is logically organized and leads the readers sequentially from problem identification to its i mpact and consequences.Using the literature, the author initially discusses the magnitude and nature of the emotional stress that paramedics face and then moves on to describe the role of the family in helping paramedics to deal with this stress (Regehr, 2005). The author then quotes and discusses the different studies which been carried out to elucidate the coping strategies used by paramedics to vercome the mental distress that they encounter and the effect of these strategies on the family members (Regehr, 2005), thus providing a framework and the rationale for conducting the study in question.However, the literature review of this article has certain shortcomings. Firstly, the literature review fails to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the studies carried out previously and the gaps in the research literature that exist. This is important so as to ascertain what new findings this study would contribute to the existing literature on the subject. Moreover, some of the lite rature qouted in this article dates back to almost two decades ago, e. g. Verboski and Ryan, 1988 and Nezu and Carnevale, 1987, and is thus outdated.This shortcoming could have been avoided by using more recent and up to date literature, which would have contributed further towards the strength of the article. Thus in conclusion, the literature review is adequately performed and suffiently describes the previous research conducted on the topic but has certain limitations and shortcomings. Methodology The methodology section is one of the most important sections of any article as this part guides the readers on how the study is actually being conducted. It has several important components. The different components of methodology of this article are critically reviewed below.Research Design The research design used is for this study is qualitative research. This method is appropriately chosen since this study aims to identify the different consequences that the paramedics’ life style and the pressures associated with their job has on their family life and their spouses and these consequences are influenced by several factors and can be studied from different aspects (Regehr, 2005). Qualitative research serves the purpose of studying a problem from several different perspectives and is conducted in a natural setting.It does not require any intervention or control group and is a mere observation of the phenomenon of interest, giving a holistic picture of the problem being addressed (Runciman, 2002). This study is meant to be an exploration of the experiences, concerns and issues of the spouses of paramedics and thus the qualitative method is best suited method for it. Sampling The sample for this study consisted of spouses of fourteen paramedics who were employed at two different emergency medical organizations. The author describes the rationale of using a sample size of fourteen participants, viz. ensuring the occurrence of saturation (Regehr, 2005).Satura tion is an important concept applicable to qualitative research. In general, it is an established fact that as the sample size increases the chances of conducting a random sample error decrease and thus, larger sample sizes are preferred in order to reduce the variability in the results (Marshall, 1996). However, at a certain point, no new information or themes are revealed from the data set and this is termed as saturation (Marshall, 1996). For qualitative studies, the sample size required is usually small but recruiting an adequate number of participants in order to achieve saturation should be ensured.In this article, the sampling method used is not stated explicitly but the technique used reveals that purposive sampling was used, i. e. spouses of paramedics were approached and asked to participate in this study (Regehr, 2005). This kind of sampling is best suited for qualitative studies, in particular those who focus on a particular group of individuals rather than on the genera l population. However, this article does not mention any particular inclusion or exclusion criteria for the study participants.Inclusion and exclusion criteria are important in minimizing the variability amongst participants and in the reduction of any confounding factors which might lead to variation in the results and thus compromise the validity and reliability of the study findings. Data Collection Strategies The data collection tools used were audio taped interviews which followed a semi-structured interview guide and notes on the impressions of the interviewers which were taken during peer debriefing sessions (Regehr, 2005). Using interviews for data collection has the advantage of focusing on human experiences and emotions regarding the problem.Moreover, the use of semi-structured interviews in this case served a dual purpose viz. ensuring standardization of the responses, which facilitates organization and interpretation of the results, and providing opportunity for the expl oration of arenas other than those limited to and specified in the interview guide. A limitation of the description of the data collection strategies for this study is that the particular questions and themes addressed during the interview are not mentioned explicitly and the article only mentions the broad categories to which the questions belonged, e.g. family situation, the effects of shift work, etc (Regehr, 2005). This has the potential for leaving the readers in doubt as to which issues are being addressed and which ones are being focused upon in particular. Moreover, the time required for each interview is not mentioned, neither is the setting in which the interview was conducted. The article also fails to mention how many interviewers were involved in the data collection process and the steps taken, if any, to reduce the variations in data collection amongst different interviewers and to minimize interviewer bias.Data Analysis Strategies The data thereby collected via the in terviews was initially analyzed for common themes using computer based software named NUD*IST Vivo. As described by the author, open coding was utilized in the first stage for the broad categorization of data and subsequently, selective coding was done (Regehr, 2005). The author also mentions that throughout the research process, the input of emergency service organization members was acquired in order to ensure transferability and conformability (Regehr, 2005).The data analysis section of this article is very brief and not enough information is presented for readers to replicate the methodology. The author does not mention the use of any particular data analysis strategies such as iterative analysis and data triangulation. Thus, the data analysis described by author, although possesses credibility, lacks in auditability. Results and Important Findings For qualitative studies, the results need to be extensively discussed and should include actual quotes and statements of the study p articipants to give a clear view of the outcome of the study to the readers (Parahoo).The results section of this article is very comprehensive and gives a clear overview of the study findings. By organization of the results obtained under different subheadings such as concerns about the dangers of the job, effect of stress and trauma on the paramedic and the family, etc, the results have been made clear and easily interpretable by the readers (Regehr, 2005). Moreover, the use of actual quotes of the study participants gives a clearer view of and provides a better understanding of the participant’s experiences and feelings.The results reveal that the author’s conceptualization and the theoretical framework presented initially were true to the data and the findings obtained. This study, in addition to describing the traumatic experiences and stressful situations faced by the paramedics and their effects on their lives and functioning which have also been previously eluc idated by various studies, also provides an insight to the hassles which paramedics and their families encounter (Regehr, 2005).As described in the results, these include shift work, overwork, scheduling issues and equipment and personnel issues (Regehr, 2005). The recognition of these hassles is also important in addition to identifying the consequences of traumatic and stressful experiences on family life as these hassles also contribute significantly towards the disruption of normal family routines and may give rise to conflicts and discontent amongst spouses.In addition, in my opinion, the use of easy language in presenting the results adopted by the author facilitates the understanding of the readers and stimulates their interest in the article. Thus, the results section of this article effectively and comprehensively summarizes the main findings of the study conducted and presents them in an interesting, coherent and simple manner. Discussion, recommendations and conclusions T he discussion section is, in effect, an integration of all the subsections of the article which leads to the generation of a concluding statement (Parahoo, 2006).This section is aimed at linking the themes discussed in the introduction and background section of the study, the literature review and the important results generated (Parahoo, 2006). In this article, the discussion overviews all the important results and pertinent findings and compares them with the research which has been previously conducted. Almost all of the findings of this study conform to the findings generated by previously conducted studies. One limitation of the discussion is that the author does not report any conflicting results reported by previously conducted studies, if they exist.Providing different points of view that exist regarding a particular matter helps in improving the reader’s perspective of the subject and aids them in forming their views and opinions regarding a particular matter. Anothe r important component of the discussion is the identification of issues which require further research. In this article, the author correctly identifies the shortcomings of the study, where they exist and identify potential areas for future research. For example, this study identifies two main coping strategies which paramedics use in the face of traumatic experiences, viz.expressing their distress and anguish via debriefing with family members or keeping their issues o themselves and â€Å"putting up a wall (Regehr, 2005). † This study, although identifies these issues, cannot investigate further in to which of these strategies is more effective in coping with the stress that paramedics experience. The author hence recommends that further studies should be conducted in this regard in order to further explore this arena. Similarly, since the results of this study are generalizable to a particular subset of population only i. e.the spouses of paramedics, another recommendation proposed by the author is to conduct studies similar to this one involving participants belonging to other professions in which emotional management for dealing with traumatic experiences is required such as amongst firefighters, police and military personnel (Regehr, 2005). This study also identifies that formal and informal support systems did exist in the emergency medical service organization and were being underutilized. Moreover, no similar support systems existed for family members of the paramedics (Regehr, 2005).The author, although identifies this issue, does not suggest any measures which can be taken to overcome the problem that this issue poses. Moreover, the implications of this research and the findings of this study in everyday clinical practice and for paramedics and their spouses have not been addressed by the author. All the above discussed sections of a research articles lead towards the conclusion section of the article. The conclusions are meant to answer the questions raised and the objectives that were defined prior to conducting the study.They are also meant to summarize the important results generated from the study. The conclusions presented in this article serve all these purposes and briefly summarize and reflect the study findings. Ethical Issues As opposed to quantitative studies, observational and qualitative studies do not involve any intervention on the part of the researchers. Despite this, acquisition of ethical approval before conducting qualitative studies is as imperative as it is while undertaking quantitative studies.In this study, the author does not mention taking ethical approval for conducting this study by the hospital ethical review boards of either of the two emergency medical organizations from which paramedics were identified for their spouses to be recruited in the study. Moreover, the article does not mention taking informed consent from the participants of the study. Informed consent is one of the most impo rtant basic principles of research and should always be obtained prior to recruiting participants for any study.Another important ethical aspect which is not addressed in this study is that this study identifies several issues such as the problems faced by paramedics and their families as a result of job-related mental trauma, the underutilization of available support systems by the paramedics and the absence of the availability of any similar support systems for the spouses and families (Regehr, 2005). However, after identifying these issues, the author does not propose any interventions which might be useful in order to overcome these issues or the probable solutions for the problems identified.References Blakely, M. R. , & Timmons, S. M. (2008). Life Style and Health Research. Nova Publishers. Figley, C. (1995). Compassion fatigue: Towards a new understanding of the costs of caring. In B. Stamm (Ed. ), Secondary traumatic stress: Self care issues for clinicians, researchers, and educators (pp. 3–28). Lutherville, MD: Sidran Press. Fitzpatrick, R. , & Boulton, M. (1994). Qualitative methods for assessing health care. Quality in Health Care , 107-113. Jonsson, A. , Segesten, K. , & Mattsson, B.(2003). Post-traumatic stress among Swedish ambulance personnel. Emergency Medicine Journal , 79-84. Marshall, M. N. (1996). Sampling for qualitative research. Family Practice , 522-526. McCann, L. , & Pearlman, L. (1990). Vicarious traumatization: A framework for understanding the psychological effects of working with victims. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 3, 131–149. Parahoo, K. (2006). Nursing Research: Principles, Process and Issties. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Houndmills Basingstoke. Regehr, C. (2005).Bringing the trauma home: Spouses of Paramedics. Journal of Loss and Trauma , 97-114. Regehr, C. , Goldberg, G. , & Hughes, J. (2002). Exposure to Human Tragedy, Empathy, and Trauma in Ambulance Paramedics. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry , 505-513. Runciman, W. B. (2002). Qualitative versus quantitative research — balancing cost, yield and feasibility. Quality and Safety in Health Care , 146-147. Saakvitne, K. , & Pearlman, L. (1996). Transforming the pain: A workbook on vicarious traumatization. New York: Norton.

Media Industry

A REPORTSUBMITTED TOWARDS THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENTOF THE REQUIREMENTS OF TWO YEARS FULL-TIME POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN (BUSINESS) MANAGEMENT SUBMITTED BY: PUNIT GUPTA PROGRAMME: PGPM ROLLNO: 2K8/PGPM/B20 SESSION: 2007-09 ASIA PACIFIC INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES (NEW DELHI) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The feeling of acknowledging something and expressing it in words are two different things altogether. It is our weakness, but we honestly admit that when we truly wish to express our warm gratitude and indebt ness towards somebody concerned, we are always at a loss of words. We gratefully take this opportunity to express our gratitude and indebtedness to our most able guide Mrs. NIDDHI TANDON for his active interest, timely encouragement, valuable suggestions and unceasing assistance and creative criticism at every stage of this project. We would like to thank our institute HT MEDIA LTD. for providing us with this opportunity to undertake this project. KRATIKA SINGH Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction 1. Backgound 2. Title of the Project 3. Rationale of Study Chapter II. Objectives & Scope of Study Chapter III. Review of Literature/Theoretical Perspectives Chapter IV. Research Methodology Chapters V, VI, —- Observations, Data Collection, Analysis, and Interpretation Chapter Findings Suggestions Conclusions Annextures Bibliography INTRODUCTION Mint is the business daily launched by HT Media Ltd. With the collaboration of the Wall Street Journal which is the most authoritative business daily in the world of newspaper for over 100 year. It is the world’s largest and most respected business news platform. The purpose behind mint was the robust growth of the Indian economy as is evident in the growing stock market. This long-term segment growth opened up an opportunity for a high quality daily newspaper. Although the business newspaper market was mainly dominated by economic times however there was a huge untapped potential for a high quality daily. And this is where HT, in collaboration with the Wall Street Journal, came out with HT Mint. Media Industry Media Industry comprises of newspaper, television, outdoor, magazine, radio, internet and cinema. Indian Media and Entertainment Industry have out performed the Indian Economy & is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. It is rising on the back of economic growth and rising income levels. The current size of the industry is estimated at $7. 7 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19% for the next 5 years. |Industry |2006 ($ Bn) |% share |’05-10 CAGR |FDI Limit | |TELEVISION |3. 7 |42% |24% |49% | |FILMED ENTERTAINMENT |1. |20% |18% |100% | |RADIO |O. 1 |1% |32% |20% | |MUSIC |0. 2 |2% |1% |100% | |LIVE ENTERTAINMENT |0. 2 |2% |18% |100% | |PRINT MEDIA |2. |30% |12% |100% | |OUT-OF-HOME MEDIA |0. 2 |3% |14% |100% | |INTERNET ADVERTISING |0. 0 |0% |50% |100% | Total media advertising (ad-spend) in India in 2004 was estimated by TAM Adex India at Rs. 118 billion. Print advertising accounted for the largest share with 46. 0%, followed by television with 41. %, outdoor advertising with 7. 0%, radio with 2. 0%, cinema advertising with 3. 0% and internet with 1%. Although print media in India (newspapers, magazines and niche publications) dominates ad-spend, newspapers’ share of the ad -spend fell as television gained, rising from approximately 40% in 2001 to 41% in 2004 (source: TAM Adex India). In 2004, print media ad-spend grew by 15% and television ad-spend grew by 13%, respectively, compared with 2003 (Source: TAM Adex India). Print media’s share of the ad-spend in India vis-a-vis television may now have stabilized. The apprehension about the print media being adversely affected by the advent of the Internet as a medium of sharing information seems to have been settled. While newspapers and magazines may have experienced some cannibalization by their digital equivalents, ad-spend in the print media has stabilized over the past few years. Set forth below is a chart that shows the ad-spend by media category in Asia/Pacific in 2000 through 2003. [pic] Indian Print Media The Indian newspaper industry is intensely competitive, with multiple national and regional players vying for a larger share of the readership, circulation and advertising market. A strong national brand combined with multi-city operations and a high level of content and product quality are emerging as the key differentiators, because it gives an opportunity to larger non-retail advertisers to reach out to multiple markets and high quality audiences at a low cost, while local advertisers can concentrate on city-specific advertising. Given these inherent advantages associated with having multi-city, large scale operations, the industry has begun to witness a phase of consolidation. We expect this process of consolidation to continue. The domestic industry at this time does not have foreign or multinational players operating, although that could happen in the future if and when the Government of India changes its foreign investment regulations and restrictions applicable to the print media segment. In addition to intra-segment competition, the Indian newsprint industry is also faced with the competition posed by other forms of media including television broadcasters, magazines, radio broadcasters and websites. Trends indicate that unlike in the global markets, print-ad spend is growing faster than electronic in India. In the calendar year 2005, print media ad- spend grew by 15% against 12% television as per Industry estimates. Contrary to global trends, both readership and circulation of newspapers are also growing in India. This strong growth trend for the Indian newspaper industry appears sustainable from medium-term perspective. Continued economic growth and increasing literacy is expected to enable players such as HT Media to be bigger beneficiaries in the event of any reversal in newsprint price trends. Newspaper readership in 2005 was 190 million (Source: NRS 2005), up from 165 million in 2003 (Source: NRS 2003). We believe that daily newspapers are increasingly being bought for their analysis of the news and current affairs and in this context, newspapers are gradually taking on the role of a magazine, thereby adversely impacting the magazine segment. FORMAT OF NEWSPAPER Most modern newspapers are in one of three sizes: 1) Broadsheets: 600  mm by 380  mm (23? by 15 inches), generally associated with more intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards â€Å"compact† newspapers is changing this. ) Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at 380  mm by 300  mm (15 by 11? inches) and often perceived as sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets. Examples: The Sun, The National Enquirer, The National Ledger, The Star Magazine, New York Post, The Globe. 3) Berliner or Midi : 470  mm by 315  mm (18? by 12? inches) used by European papers such as Le Monde in France, La Stampa in Italy, El Pais in Spain and, since 12 September 2005, The Guardian in the United Kingdom. Newspapers are usually printed on inexpensive, off-white paper known as newsprint. Since the 1980s, the newspaper industry has largely moved away from lower-quality letterpress printing to higher-quality, four-color process, offset printing. In addition, desktop computers, word processing software, graphics software, digital cameras and digital prepress and typesetting technologies have revolutionized the newspaper production process. These technologies have enabled newspapers to publish color photographs and graphics, as well as innovative layouts and better design. To help their titles stand out on newsstands, some newspapers are printed on colored newsprint. For example, the Financial Times is printed on a distinctive salmon pink paper, and the Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport is printed on pink paper. Sheffield’s weekly sports publication derives its name, the â€Å"Green ’Un†, from the traditional colour of its paper, while L'Equipe (formerly L’Auto) is printed on yellow paper. Both the latter promoted major cycling races and their newsprint colours were reflected in the colours of the jerseys used to denote the race leader; thus, the leader in the Giro d'Italia wears a pink jersey. Introduction to Indian Newspaper Industry Newspaper is the oldest and the most conventional method of giving news on a wide array of topics to the people at their doorstep. The newspaper industry at the global arena has come a long way from presenting news in black and white to adopting the most innovative of methods, including colored background and text, unique paper materials, etc to depict all kinds of news for readers. The Indian newspaper industry has the record of giving the most number of newspapers to the readers, both at the national as well as at the regional levels. One of the oldest newspapers of India, The Statesman was founded in 1818. It has been almost two centuries now since the inception of the oldest newspaper in the country. During this period, the Indian newspaper industry has achieved tremendous ground of success for various newspapers that are circulated throughout the country. The most unique fact of the Indian newspaper industry is that newspapers in various regional languages, Hindi, and English are published and circulated throughout the country. The Indian English newspaper sector is the most published and circulated lot in the Indian newspaper industry. With the newspaper industry as a viable platform for the proliferation of advertising and marketing of public relations, there has been witnessed an impressive explosion of newspapers at all levels. A typical Indian English newspaper serves as an ideal banner for companies who would look forward to advertise their products or services keeping in mind the strength of the readers nationwide. Since a newspaper is the first thing that most of the citizens of the country go through early in the morning, it stands at an advantage of making its stand in full view of the massive number of readers. The more the readers or viewers of the advertisements, the more impact the advertisements have made in the minds of the people. An Indian English newspaper being the most read newspaper in the country, most of the companies highlighting their services and products for the citizens, targets these newspapers for the showcase . Newspapers act as the ideal method of public relations due to its strength as the best way of communication. About Ht Media Ltd Founded in 1924 when its flagship newspaper Hindustan Times was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi, HT Media (BSE, NSE) has today become one of India's largest media companies. With a combined daily circulation of 2. 25 million copies and a readership base of 14. 49 million readers, Hindustan Times (English) and Hindustan (Hindi) enjoy strong brand recognition among readers and advertisers, and are produced by an editorial team known for its quality, innovation and integrity. HT Media operates 17 printing facilities across India with an installed capacity of 1. million copies per hour. HT's internet business, under the HindustanTimes. com portal, is primarily a news website with 2 million unique visitors and 100 million page views per month, with a significant share of the traffic coming from outside India. As part of its expansion into electronic media, HT Media, through its subsidiary HT Music and Entertainment Company Ltd. , has entered the FM radio market in key Ind ian cities through a consulting partnership with Virgin Radio. The channel, Fever 104, is one of the most vibrant on the airwaves and is currently available in Delhi and Mumbai. HT Media has also launched a national business newspaper, Mint, with an exclusive agreement with Wall Street Journal to publish Journal branded news and information in India. HT Media reported 2007 annual revenue of $245 million. For the fiscal third quarter ended December 31, 2007, the company reported a 13% increase in revenue to $82 million and a 10% increase of profit after tax (PAT) to $9 million from the year-ago quarter. History Hindustan Times was founded in 1924 by Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, founder-father of the Akali Movement and the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab. S Mangal Singh Gill (Tesildar) and S. Chanchal Singh (Jandiala, Jullundur) were made in charge of the newspaper. Pt Madan Mohan Malayia and Master Tara Singh were among the members of the Managing Committee. The Managing Chairman and Chief Patron was Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri himself. K. M. Panikkar was its first Editor with Devdas Gandhi (son of Mahatma Gandhi) also on the editor's panel. The opening ceremony was performed by Mahatma Gandhi on September 15, 1924. The first issue was published from Naya Bazar, Delhi (now Swami Sharda Nand Marg). It contained writings and articles from C. F. Andrews, St. Nihal Singh, Maulana Mohammad Ali, C. R. Reddy (Dr. Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy), T. L. Vaswani, Ruchi Ram Sahni, Bernard Haton, Harinder Nath Chattopadhyaya, Dr Kichlu and Rubi Waston etc. It has its roots in the independence movement of the first half of the twentieth century. It was edited at times by many important people in India, including Devdas Gandhi (the son of Mahatma Gandhi) and Khushwant Singh. Ownership The Delhi-based English newspaper, Hindustan Times, is part of the KK Birla group and managed by Shobhana Bhartia, granddaughter of GD Birla. It is owned by HT Media Ltd. The KK Birla group at present owns 69 per cent stake in HT Media, currently valued at Rs 834 crore. When Bhartia joined Hindustan Times in 1986, she was the first woman chief executive of a national newspaper. [pic] [pic] [pic] Various brand working under HT media ltd. Hindustan Times: Hindustan Times, the flagship publication from the group, was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1924 and has established its presence as a newspaper with editorial excellence and integrity. Today, Hindustan Times has a circulation of over 1. million and is the fastest growing mainline English newspaper in terms of readership. Hindustan Times, Delhi, is India's largest single-edition daily. In July 2005, Hindustan Times made a successful entry into the commercial capital of India – Mumbai. Hindustan Times is printed in nine centres including Bhopal, Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna and Ranchi. Hindustan Times believes in continuous improvement and providing greater value to its readers and advertisers. It has set many a standards for its competitors and will continue to do so in the years to come. It is the first smart-age newspaper in India to evolve into a new international size – sleeker and smarter – which ensures enhanced ease of reading and convenient handling. In its endeavour to provide its readers with greater value, Hindustan Times has revamped its existing supplements and added new ones to its portfolio, offering a daily supplement catering to specific target audience. Supplements like Brunch are the first of their kind. The enlarged operations and enhanced look have also paid off with a substantial increase in circulation across the country [pic] Hindustan: Started in 1936 and with a readership of over 10. million, HT Media Ltd. ‘s Hindi daily, Hindustan, ranks as the 3rd most-read Hindi newspaper all over India. Edited by Ms Mrinal Pande, a noted journalist, academician and writer, Hindustan is known for its fair, unbiased and secular news reporting and analyses. The width and depth of Hindustan's editorial, including the newspaper's acclaimed supplements, is quite unparalleled in the Hindi language newspaper market. Hindustan is also the first and only vernacular newspaper to go all-colour in Delhi and other key markets. This has given Hindustan an un-paralleled edge over competition. The newspaper has four editions namely Delhi, Lucknow, Patna and Ranchi and nine print locations namely, Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Patna, Muzzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur , chandigarh catering to the reading habits of a cross- section of audiences in varying age groups. Hindustan is expanding rapidly in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is the largest Hindi newspaper market, and where Hindustan was already the fastest growing Hindi daily. Three new editions have been launched (in Meerut, Agra, and Kanpur) in 2006, giving a further boost to its growth and reach within the state. Hindustan dominates in Bihar with an undisputed readership of over 6 million. Its reader base is twice the size of its nearest competitor in the Hindi daily market of Bihar and Jharkhand (NRS 2003 vs. 2005). With some very exciting expansion plans already underway, Hindustan is all set to become the leading Hindi newspaper in the country. Currently, the Delhi edition of Hindustan is also available online in epaper format. [pic] Consolidating presence in existing businesses Revenue growing regarding Hindustan is more than 30% every year Aggressive expansion of readership base Rapid expansion in UP, Punjab & bihar Successful new launches in UP †¦.. Meerut/Agra/Kanpur and chandigrah Encouraging consumer response to product Future plans Transferring Hindi business into a subsidiary Aggressive expansion strategy to market leader through UP, Uttranchal, MP and Punjab expansion HT NEXT: HT NEXT has everything that the youth ever wanted in a newspaper: sports news (great stories for English Premier League and Formula 1 nuts), nuggets on celebs (yes, even more colourful than Laloo Yadav), global and local news – in other words, Your world (which, incidentally, is Our version of the world too). There is even a political digest – Day In Politics- for those who want to go beyond the simpler, lighter matter, and seek to know which way the times are moving. Delhi, India and World are your dedicated pages for all the news that matters. Check out the daily science and nature section, Life, The Universe and Everything,or JLT for what's in these days. In case you are bitten by the writing bug, HT Next has the space and readership. Participate in daily debates if you like to lock horns on current affairs, post a message on Plug In if you wish to connect or simply dash off an original poem for My Space, if you have it in you. There are quizzes for those bent upon winning fabulous prizes, on e-mail or SMS! For the youth of India, this is Where It's At. Kadambini: With a long and celebrated history since its inception in 1960, this monthly Hindi magazine is a one-of-its-own-kind socio-cultural-literary journal. Kadambini is a monthly Hindi magazine published by HT Media Ltd. with a long and celebrated history of 44 years. It is a one-of-its-own-kind socio-cultural-literary magazine, which has survived the demise of many other Hindi magazines in the genre. Its first Editor was Late Shri Balkrishna Rao, a prominent Hindi writer. He was followed by Late Shri Ramanand Doshi, who was also a well-known literary figure, and during whose tenure Kadambini touched new heights. Its third Editor Shri Rajendra Awasthy was also a known literary figure. Mrs Mrinal Pande took charge as Editor in February 2003. Mrs Pande is a well-known and respected journalist and literary figure in Hindi, as well as English. Associate Editor Shri Vishnu Nagar is also a well-known figure in Hindi journalism and literature. Under Mrs Pande's able guidance and Associate Editor Shri Vishnu Nagar's leadership, Kadambini has scaled new heights of quality, readability and scientific approach. It is the only Hindi magazine which covers a wide range of subjects including literature, science, history, sociology, politics, films and sports with sincerity and popular appeal. Its every issue becomes a special issue as it focuses in-depth on one important and popular concern apart from its various regular features. It always prefers quality and readability over cheap, popular taste. Its new approach is widely appreciated by common readers as well as the enlightened sections of society. The magazine has created a new space for itself while retaining its old base. It is the only Hindi magazine, which guarantees that it will not compromise on family values. Kadambini is the only Hindi magazine which covers a wide range of subjects including literature, science, history, sociology, politics, films and sports with sincerity and popular appeal. Nandan: HT Media Ltd. ‘s children's magazine has a popular appeal both in India and abroad. Ever since its inception in 1964, Nandan has published more than ten thousand stories, three thousand poems, and thousands of other creative pieces during these 40 years. It has been very popular among children and their families in India and abroad. The magazine was started in November 1964 in the memory of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, with its first issue being dedicated to the late Prime Minister. Nandan triumphs over its contemporaries because its stories are a combination of the best in both our traditional and modern cultural ethos. Nandan believes in shaping the mind and behaviour of our children in a positive way, and to challenge their minds by exposing them to new ideas for the world of science and technology. From its very inception, Nandan has been privileged to publish the stories, memoirs, excerpts, biographies and poems of many of the greats from the fields of literature and politics, some of whom are Dr Rajendra Prasad, Indira Gandhi, Gyani Zail Singh, V P Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, A P J Abdul Kalam, Bhartendu Harishchandra, Premchand, Jaishankar Prasad, Bibhuti Bhushan Bandhopadhyaya, Mohan Rakesh, Kamleshwar, Amritlal Nagar, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Satyajit Ray, Bhishm Sahni, Ashapurna Devi, Vishnu Prabhakar, Harivansh Rai Bacchan, Shivani, Rajendra Yadav, Khushwant Singh, Krishna Sobti, Manohar Shyam Joshi, Mannu Bhandari, Mrinal pande, Mridula Garg, Taslima Nasrin, Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, Ramesh Dutt Sharma and Kuldeep Sharma. Nandan has published more than ten thousand stories, three thousand poems, and thousands of other creative pieces during these 40 years. It includes more than 400 world classics for children. Nandan has been conducting story-writing, painting, poetry and crossword contests regularly, which has encouraged lot of interest among children and helped to develop their creativity. Nandan gets more than 5000 responses monthly from all over India and abroad, which is in itself a record. Mint: A Business Daily From HT The purpose behind mint was the robust growth of the Indian economy as is evident in the growing stock market. This long-term segment growth opened up an opportunity for a high quality daily newspaper. Although the business newspaper market was mainly dominated by economic times however there was a huge untapped potential for a high quality daily. And this is where HT, in collaboration with the Wall Street Journal, came out with HT Mint. Our Promise International style Clarity : News to knowledge, knowledge to understanding Business of life Wall street Edge & world class editorial Exclusive column partners†¦Kellogg’s/Wharton/Jack Welch [pic] . ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF HT MEDIA LIMITED DELHI [pic] Product profile of mint Mint: A paper that delivers refreshing clarity in business news. a unique inviting and uncluttered layout ensures that you reach the right audience in right environment. Powerful Lineage Regarding Mint 1} The Wall Street Journal: In India Mint is the business daily launched by HT Media Ltd. With the collaboration of the Wall Street Journal which is the most authoritative business daily in the world of newspaper for over 100 year. It is the world’s largest and most respected business news platform Features of Mint 1} Available for six days a week gives you clear ,relevant and well analyzed Indian as well as international business news . 2} Quick Scan – Act as summary of the key stories of the day with the index of company and people 3} Leading the News – A detailed perspective on key news and policy decision affecting business. } Corporate News – Financial results mergers acquisitions and everything that buzzing around the corporate corridors. 5} Economy and Politics: Targeted at decision makers, policies and politics that impact business. 6} Market and Media: Best to know latest on consumer behaviors and trends, innovation in media space. 7} On Advertising: Must read for Advertising and market professionals 8} Commodities: Pictorially depicts impact of weather on 4 major commodities of the day. 9} Management: Carries a legal column by AZB and partners, advocates and solicitors, fortnightly column on career. 10} Venture Capital: Get to know the latest venture capital action also get latest on private equity deals with Thomson financial deal counter. 1} The Wall Street Journal: Global news from the largest business publication in the world. 12} Money Matters: Summary of Market & Financial news from India & world plus news and column explaining market movement. 13} 2 pages of views that gives us a complete perspective on issues that matter. Mint on Saturdays A} Last Week . Next Week : Update on what happened last week and what will make difference in the coming week. B} Lounge : Read exclusive columns by Vir Sanghvi and Shoba Narayan and all about book’s , trends , travel and technology , paintin g and health and every Saturday columns by Jared Sandberg . style pursuits , insider play ,business lounge ,cover ,travel ,books, flavors. C} Mint Market Watch : Pull out from Tuesday to Saturday with the largest listing of mutual fund in business daily. On Monday mint have campaign on strategy , marketing advertising and management and column by Jack and Suzy Welch. Articles from Kellog , Oxford and Wharton . Readership and Circulation Profile of Mint. Second largest business daily in Delhi and Mumbai on readership basis . On an average Mint have Circulation of 100000 copies per day in Delhi, Mumbai , Bangalore , Chandigarh and Pune. The Mint have exclusively its presence in all major airlines, airports and 5 star hotels in Mumbai , Delhi and all premium clubs, restaurants etc. Mint as an ideal platform for advertising : Benefits that an advertiser could derive from advertising there product in Mint are . A} Reaches the right target audience. B} The Berliner format and clean layout ensures that advertisement is get noticed in more better way. C} Innovative and flexible advertising options. Types of advertisement in Mint are. a. Corporate Advertisement. b. Lifestyle Brands . c. Airlines d. Mint is a great hit between consumer durables . e. A hit among the real estate and infrastructure advertisers. f. Hit in automobile industry. g. And also acts as a leading platform for financial announcements. TITLE OF THE PROJECT THE STUDY OF CHANGE IN COMSUMER PREFERENCE DUE TO PROMOTIONAL STRETAGIES FOR ENGLISH NEWS PAPER IN SOUTH DELHI WITH PREFERENCE TO HINDUSTAN TIMES RATIONALE OF STUDY ? To RESEARCH PLAN Source of Data : Primary data, Secondary data Research Approach: Survey Research Instrument: Questionnaire RESEARCH OBJECTIVE ? To know about the consumers of mint. ? To know about what influence a customer and what way they select a particular business newspaper. ? To study current market scenario of mint. ? To know there competitors and key challenges. ? To know about preferences of costumer. Research Design Research design is different from the method by which data are collected. Many research methods texts confuse research designs with methods. It is not uncommon to see research design treated as a mode of data collection rather than as a logical structure of the inquiry. But there is nothing intrinsic about any research design that requires a particular method of data collection. Although cross-sectional surveys are frequently equated with questionnaires and case studies are often equated with participant observation (e. g. Whyte's Street Corner Society, 1943), data for any design can be collected with any data collection method (Figure 1. 5). How the data are collected is irrelevant to the logic of the design. Failing to distinguish between design and method leads to poor evaluation of designs. Equating cross-sectional designs with questionnaires, or case studies with participant observation, means that the designs are often evaluated against the strengths and weaknesses of the method rather than their ability to draw relatively unambiguous conclusions or to select between rival plausible hypotheses. Types Of Research Design Descriptive research Although some people dismiss descriptive research as `mere description', good description is fundamental to the research enterprise and it has added immeasurably to our knowledge of the shape and nature of our society. Descriptive research encompasses much government sponsored research including the population census, the collection of a wide range of social indicators and economic information such as household expenditure patterns, time use studies, employment and crime statistics and the like. Descriptions can be concrete or abstract. A relatively concrete description might describe the ethnic mix of a community, the changing age pro ®le of a population or the gender mix of a workplace. Alternatively the description might ask more abstract questions such as `Is the level of social inequality increasing or declining? ‘, `How secular is society? ‘ or `How much poverty is there in this community? ‘ Accurate descriptions of the level of unemployment or poverty have historically played a key role in social policy reforms (Marsh, 1982). By demonstrating the existence of social problems, competent description can challenge accepted assumptions about the way things are and can provoke action. Good description provokes the `why' questions of explanatory research. If we detect greater social polarization over the last 20 years (i. e. the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer) we are forced to ask `Why is this happening? ‘ But before asking `why? ‘ we must be sure about the fact and dimensions of the phenomenon of increasing polarization. It is all very well to develop elaborate theories as to why society might be more polarized now than in the recent past, but if the basic premise is wrong (i. e. ociety is not becoming more polarized) then attempts to explain a non-existent phenomenon are silly. Of course description can degenerate to mindless fact gathering or what C. W. Mills (1959) called `abstracted empiricism'. There are plenty of examples of unfocused surveys and case studies that rep ort trivial information and fail to provoke any `why' questions or provide any basis for generalization. However, this is a function of inconsequential descriptions rather than an indictment of descriptive research itself. Explanatory research Explanatory research focuses on why questions. For example, it is one thing to describe the crime rate in a country, to examine trends over time or to compare the rates in different countries. It is quite a different thing to develop explanations about why the crime rate is as high as it is, why some types of crime are increasing or why the rate is higher in some countries than in others. The way in which researchers develop research designs is fundamentally affected by whether the research question is descriptive or explanatory. It affects what information is collected. For example, if we want to explain why some people are more likely to be apprehended and convicted of crimes we need to have hunches about why this is so. We may have many possibly incompatible hunches and will need to collect information that enables us to see which hunches work best empirically. Answering the `why' questions involves developing causal explanations. Causal explanations argue that phenomenon Y (e. g. income level) is affected by factor X (e. g. gender). Some causal explanations will be simple while others will be more complex. For example, we might argue that there is a direct effect of gender on income (i. e. simple gender discrimination) (Figure 1. 1a). We might argue for a causal chain, such as that gender affects choice of eld of training which in turn affects. Causal People often confuse correlation with causation. Simply because one event follows another, or two factors co-vary, does not mean that one causes the other. The link between two events may be coincidental rather than causal. There is a correlation between the number of  ®re engines at a  ®re and the amount of damage caused by the  ®re (the more  ®re engines the more damage). Is it therefore reasonable to conclude that the number of  ®re engines causes the amount of damage? Clearly the number of  ®re engines and the amount of damage will both be due to some third factor  ± such as the seriousness of the  ®re. Similarly, as the divorce rate changed over the twentieth century the crime rate increased a few years later. But this does not mean that divorce causes crime. Rather than divorce causing crime, divorce and crime rates might both be due to other social processes such as secularization, greater individualism or poverty. Why to select Descriptive Research Design? Descriptive studies are also called observational, because you observe the subjects without otherwise intervening. The simplest descriptive study is a case, which reports data on only one subject; examples are studies of an outstanding athlete or of an athlete with an unusual injury. Descriptive studies of a few cases are called case series. In cross-sectional studies variables of interest in a sample of subjects are assayed once and analyzed. In prospective or cohort studies, some variables are assayed at the start of a study (e. g. dietary habits), then after a period of time the outcomes are determined (e. g. incidence of heart disease). Another label for this kind of study is longitudinal, although this term also applies to experiments. Case-control studies compare cases (subjects with a particular attribute, such as an injury or ability) with controls (subjects without the attribute); comparison is made of the exposure to something suspected of causing the cases, for example volume of high intensity training, or number of cigarettes smoked per day. Case-control studies are also called retrospective, because they focus on conditions in the past that might cause subjects to become cases rather than controls. A common case-control design in the exercise science literature is a comparison of the behavioral, psychological or anthropometric characteristics of elite and sub-elite athletes: you are interested in what the elite athletes have been exposed to that makes them better than the sub-elites. Another type of study compares athletes with sedentary people on some outcome such as an injury, disease, or disease risk factor. Here you know the difference in exposure (training vs no training), so these studies are really cohort or prospective, even though the exposure data are gathered retrospectively at only one time point. They are therefore known as historical cohort studies. We are working in a very wide area so we need to observe the facts in their actual condition, so we are using Descriptive Research. Sampling You almost always have to work with a sample of subjects rather than the full population. But people are interested in the population, not your sample. To generalize from the sample to the population, the sample has to be representative of the population. The safest way to ensure that it is representative is to use a random selection procedure. You can also use a stratified random sampling procedure, to make sure that you have proportional representation of population subgroups (e. g. sexes, races, regions). Selection bias occurs when the sample is not representative of the population. More accurately, a sample statistic is biased if the expected value of the statistic is not equal to the value of the population statistic. (The expected value is the average value from many samples drawn using the same sampling method. A typical source of bias in population studies is age or socioeconomic status: people with extreme values for these variables tend not to take part in the studies. Thus a high compliance (the proportion of people approached who end up as subjects) is important in avoiding bias. Journal editors are usually happy with co mpliance rates of at least 70%. Failure to randomize subjects to control and treatment groups in experiments can also produce bias: if you let people select themselves into the groups, or if you select the groups in any way that makes one group different from another, then any result you get might reflect the group difference rather than an effect of the treatment. For this reason, it's important to randomly assign subjects in a way that ensures the groups are balanced in terms of important variables that could modify the effect of the treatment (e. g. age, gender, physical performance). Randomize subjects to groups as follows: rank-order the subjects on the basis of the variable you most want to keep balanced (e. g. physical performance); split the list up into pairs (or triplets for three treatments, etc. ); assign subjects in each pair to the treatments by flipping a coin; check the mean values of your other variables in the two groups, and reassign randomly chosen pairs to balance up these mean values. Human subjects may not be happy about being randomized, so you need to state clearly that it is a condition of taking part. Types Of Sampling Random sampling Random, or probability sampling, gives each member of the target population a known and equal probability of selection. The two basic procedures are: 1 the lottery method, e. g. picking numbers out of a hat or bag 2 the use of a table of random numbers. Systematic sampling Systematic sampling is a modification of random sampling. To arrive at a systematic sample we simply calculate the desired sampling fraction, e. g. if there are 100 distributors of a particular product in which we are interested and our budget allows us to sample say 20 of them then we divide 100 by 20 and get the sampling fraction 5. Thereafter we go through our sampling frame selecting every 5th distributor. In the purest sense this does not give rise to a true random sample since some systematic arrangement is used in listing and not every distributor has a chance of being selected once the sampling fraction is calculated. However, because there is no conscious control of precisely which distributors are selected, all but the most pedantic of practitioners would treat a systematic sample as though it were a true random sample. Systematic sampling as applied to a survey of retailers |Systematic sampling | |Population = 100 Food Stores | |Sample desired = 20 Food Stores | |a. Draw a random number 1-5. | |b. Sample every Xth store. | |Sample |Numbered Stores | |1 |1, |6, |11, |16, |21†¦ |96 | |2 |2 |7, |12 |17, |22†¦ |97 | 3 |3, |8, |13 |18, |23†¦ |98 | |4 |4, |9, |14 |19, |24†¦ |99 | |5 |5, |10, |15, |20, |25†¦ |100 | Stratified samples Stratification increases precision without increasing sample size. Stratification does not imply any departure from the principle s of randomness it merely denotes that before any selection takes place, the population is divided into a number of strata, then random samples taken within each stratum. It is only possible to do this if the distribution of the population with respect to a particular factor is known, and if it is also known to which stratum each member of the population belongs. Examples of characteristics which could be used in marketing to stratify a population include: income, age, sex, race, geographical region, possession of a particular commodity. Stratification can occur after selection of individuals, e. g. if one wanted to stratify a sample of individuals in a town by age, one could easily get figures of the age distribution, but if there is no general population list showing the age distribution, prior stratification would not be possible. What might have to be done in this case at the analysis stage is to correct proportional representation. Weighting can easily destroy the assumptions one is able to make when interpreting data gathered from a random sample and so stratification prior to selection is advisable. Random stratified sampling is more precise and more convenient than simple random sampling. When stratified sampling designs are to be employed, there are 3 key questions which have to be immediately addressed: 1 The bases of stratification, i. e. what characteristics should be used to subdivide the universe/population into strata? 2 The number of strata, i. e. how many strata should be constructed and what stratum boundaries should be used? 3 Sample sizes within strata, i. e. how many observations should be taken in each stratum? Bases of stratification Intuitively, it seems clear that the best basis would be the frequency distribution of the principal variable being studied. For example, in a study of coffee consumption we may believe that behavioural patterns will vary according to whether a particular respondent drinks a lot of coffee, only a moderate amount of coffee or drinks coffee very occasionally. Thus we may consider that to stratify according to â€Å"heavy users†, â€Å"moderate users† and â€Å"light users† would provide an optimum stratification. However, two difficulties may arise in attempting to proceed in this way. First, there is usually interest in many variables, not just one, and stratification on the basis of one may not provide the best stratification for the others. Secondly, even if one survey variable is of primary importance, current data on its frequency is unlikely to be available. However, the latter complaint can be attended to since it is possible to stratify after the data has been completed and before the analysis is undertaken. The only approach is to create strata on the basis of variables, for which information is, or can be made available, that are believed to be highly correlated with the principal survey characteristics of interest, e. g. age, socio-economic group, sex, farm size, firm size, etc. In general, it is desirable to make up strata in such a way that the sampling units within strata are as similar as possible. In this way a relatively limited sample within each stratum will provide a generally precise estimate of the mean of that stratum. Similarly it is important to maximise differences in stratum means for the key survey variables of interest. This is desirable since stratification has the effect of removing differences between stratum means from the sampling error. Total variance within a population has two types of natural variation: between-strata variance and within-strata variance. Stratification removes the second type of variance from the calculation of the standard error. Suppose, for example, we stratified students in a particular university by subject speciality – marketing, engineering, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, history, geography etc. and questioned them about the distinctions between training and education. The theory goes that without stratification we would expect variation in the views expressed by students from say within the marketing speciality and between the views of marketing students, as a whole, and engineering students as a whole. Stratification ensures that variation between strata does not enter into the standard error by taking account of this source in drawing the sample. Number of strata The next question is that of the number of strata and the construction of stratum boundaries. As regards number of strata, as many as possible should be used. If each stratum could be made as homogeneous as possible, its mean could be estimated with high reliability and, in turn, the population mean could be estimated with high precision. However, some practical problems limit the desirability of a large number of strata: 1 No stratification scheme will completely â€Å"explain† the variability among a set of observations. Past a certain point, the â€Å"residual† or â€Å"unexplained† variation will dominate, and little improvement will be effected by creating more strata. 2 Depending on the costs of stratification, a point may be reached quickly where creation of additional strata is economically unproductive. If a single overall estimate is to be made (e. g. the average per capita consumption of coffee) we would normally use no more than about 6 strata. If estimates are required for population subgroups (e. g. by region and/or age group), then more strata may be justified. Sample sizes within strata Proportional allocation: Once strata have been established, the question becomes, â€Å"How big a sample must be drawn from each? † Consider a situation where a survey of a two-stratum population is to be carried out: |Stratum |Number of Items in Stratum | |A |10,000 | |B |90,000 | If the budget is fixed at $3000 and we know the cost per observation is $6 in each stratum, so the available total sample size is 500. The most common approach would be to sample the same proportion of items in each stratum. This is termed proportional allocation. In this example, the overall sampling fraction is: [pic] Thus, this method of allocation would result in: Stratum A (10,000 ? 0. 5%) = 50 Stratum B (90,000 ? 0. 5%) = 450 The major practical advantage of proportional allocation is that it leads to estimates which are computationally simple. Where proportional sampling has been employed we do not need to weight the means of the individual stratum when calculating the overall mean. So: [pic]sr = W1[pic]1 + W2 [pic]2 + W3 [pic]3+ – – – Wk [pic]k Optimum allocation: Proportional allocation is advisable when all we know of the strata is their sizes. In situations where the standard deviations of the strata are known it may be advantageous to make a disproportionate allocation. Suppose that, once again, we had stratum A and stratum B, but we know that the individuals assigned to stratum A were more varied with respect to their opinions than those assigned to stratum B. Optimum allocation minimises the standard error of the estimated mean by ensuring that more respondents are assigned to the stratum within which there is greatest variation. Quota sampling Quota sampling is a method of stratified sampling in which the selection within strata is non-random. Selection is normally left to the discretion of the interviewer and it is this characteristic which destroys any pretensions towards randomness. Quota v random sampling The advantages and disadvantages of quota versus probability samples has been a subject of controversy for many years. Some practitioners hold the quota sample method to be so unreliable and prone to bias as to be almost worthless. Others think that although it is clearly less sound theoretically than probability sampling, it can be used safely in certain circumstances. Still others believe that with adequate safeguards quota sampling can be made highly reliable and that the extra cost of probability sampling is not worthwhile. Generally, statisticians criticise the method for its theoretical weakness while market researchers defend it for its cheapness and administrative convenience. Main arguments against: Quota sampling It is not possible to estimate sampling errors with quota sampling because of the absence of randomness. Some people argue that sampling errors are so small compared with all the other errors and biases that enter into a survey that not being able to estimate is no great disadvantage. One does not have the security, though, of being able to measure and control these errors. 2 The interviewer may fail to secure a representative sample of respondents in quota sampling. For example, are those in the over 65 age group spread over all the age range or clustered around 65 and 66? 3 Social class controls leave a lot to the interviewer's judgement. 4 Strict control of fieldwork is more difficult, i. e. id interviewers place respondents in groups where cases are needed rather than in those to which they belong. Main arguments for: quota sampling 1 Quota sampling is less costly. A quota interview on average costs only half or a third as much as a random interview, but we must remember that precision is lost. 2 It is easy administratively. The labour of random selection is avoided, and so are the headaches of non-contact and callbacks. 3 If fieldwork has to be done quickly, perhaps to reduce memory errors, quota sampling may be the only possibility, e. g. to obtain immediate public reaction to some event. 4. Quota sampling is independent of the existence of sampling frames. Cluster and multistage sampling Cluster sampling: The process of sampling complete groups or units is called cluster sampling, situations where there is any sub-sampling within the clusters chosen at the first stage are covered by the term multistage sampling. For example, suppose that a survey is to be done in a large town and that the unit of inquiry (i. e. the unit from which data are to be gathered) is the individual household. Suppose further that the town contains 20,000 households, all of them listed on convenient records, and that a sample of 200 households is to be selected. One approach would be to pick the 200 by some random method. However, this would spread the sample over the whole town, with consequent high fieldwork costs and much inconvenience. (All the more so if the survey were to be conducted in rural areas, especially in developing countries where rural areas are sparsely populated and access difficult). One might decide therefore to concentrate the sample in a few parts of the town and it may be assumed for simplicity that the town is divided into 400 areas with 50 households in each. A simple course would be to select say 4 areas at random (i. e. 1 in 100) and include all the households within these areas in our sample. The overall probability of selection is unchanged, but by selecting clusters of households, one has materially simplified and made cheaper the fieldwork. A large number of small clusters is better, all other things being equal, than a small number of large clusters. Whether single stage cluster sampling proves to be as statistically efficient as a simple random sampling depends upon the degree of homogeneity within clusters. If respondents within clusters are homogeneous with respect to such things as income, socio-economic class etc. , they do not fully represent the population and will, therefore, provide larger standard errors. On the other hand, the lower cost of cluster sampling often outweighs the disadvantages of statistical inefficiency. In short, cluster sampling tends to offer greater reliability for a given cost rather than greater reliability for a given sample size. Multistage sampling The population is regarded as being composed of a number of first stage or primary sampling units (PSU's) each of them being made up of a number of second stage units in each selected PSU and so the procedure continues down to the final sampling unit, with the sampling ideally being random at each stage. The necessity of multistage sampling is easily established. PSU's for national surveys are often administrative districts, urban districts or parliamentary constituencies. Within the selected PSU one may go direct to the final sampling units, such as individuals, households or addresses, in which case we have a two-stage sample. It would be more usual to introduce intermediate sampling stages, i. e. administrative districts are sub-divided into wards, then polling districts. Area sampling Area sampling is basically multistage sampling in which maps, rather than lists or registers, serve as the sampling frame. This is the main method of sampling in developing countries where adequate population lists are rare. The area to be covered is divided into a number of smaller sub-areas from which a sample is selected at random within these areas; either a complete enumeration is taken or a further sub-sample. Aerial sampling [pic] A grid, such as that shown above, is drawn and superimposed on a map of the area of concern. Sampling points are selected on the basis of numbers drawn at random that equate to the numbered columns and rows of the grid. If the area is large, it can be subdivided into sub-areas and a grid overlayed on these. Figure 7. 4 depicts the procedures involved. As in figure 7. 3 the columns and rows are given numbers. Then, each square in the grid is allocated numbers to define grid lines. Using random numbers, sampling points are chosen within each square. Figure 7. 4 gives an impression of the pattern of sampling which emerges. Why to select Area Sampling? Since it is generally impossible to study an entire population (every individual in a country, all college students, every geographic area, etc. ), researchers typically rely on sampling to acquire a section of the population to perform an experiment or observational study. It is important that the group selected be representative of the population, and not biased in a systematic manner. For this reason, randomization is typically employed to achieve an unbiased sample. There may often be factors which divide up the population into sub-populations (groups / strata) and we may expect the measurement of interest to vary among the different sub-populations. This has to be accounted for when we select a sample from the population in order that we obtain a sample that is representative of the population. This is achieved by stratified sampling. A stratified sample is obtained by taking samples from each stratum or sub-group of a population. When we sample a population with several strata, we generally require that the proportion of each stratum in the sample should be the same as in the population. Stratified sampling techniques are generally used when the population is heterogeneous, or dissimilar, where certain homogeneous, or similar, sub-populations can be isolated (strata). Simple random sampling is most appropriate when the entire population from which the sample is taken is homogeneous. Some reasons for using stratified sampling over simple random sampling are: a) the cost per observation in the survey may be reduced; b) estimates of the population parameters may be wanted for each sub-population; c) increased accuracy at given cost. . Research Findings Q. 1. Do you read Newspaper? a) Yes (b) No Number of people reading news paper. [pic] Q. 2. Which newspaper do you read? (a) Yes (b)No [pic] APPENDICES Questionnaire 1) Do you read Newspaper? (a) Yes (b) No 2) Which newspaper do you read? (a) Yes (b)No 3) Which bu siness newspaper do you read? (a) MINT (b) ET (c) Business Express (d) Others i. Specify†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 4) Please rate the Mint, ET and other on the basis of 1 to 5 scale a. MINT ET Other (specify)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ b. Quality†¦.. 9, a) Quality†¦.. 9, a) Quality†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ c. Price †¦.. , b) Price †¦.. 9, b) Price †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. d. Service †¦. 8, c) Service†¦. 8, c) Service†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ e. Offer †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9, d) Offer †¦.. 7, d) Offer †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5) Which type of news do you like most in the newspaper? (a) Political News (b) Business News (c) Page 3 (d) Others 6) Do you like the Promotional programs? (a)Yes (b)No 7) Which promotional program attracts you more? a) Related to monetary terms b) Giving more attention for changing quality of news according to you 8) Do you ever taken any newspaper by promotional offers? (a)Yes (b)No 9) Which promotional offer do you like most? a)Short term (b)Long term 10) Have you ever trie d a new newspaper due to promotional offer? (a)Yes (b)No 11) Does offer giving newspapers satisfies your news needs? (a)Yes (b)No 12) Would you like to continue the newspaper without offer? (a)Yes (b)No (c)Looking for further offers ———————– RESIDENT EDITOR BHAGALPUR RESIDENT EDITOR VARANASI RESIDENT EDITOR RANCHI RESIDENT EDITOR PATNA RESIDENT EDITOR LUCKNOW EXECUTIVE EDITOR KADAMBINI EXECUTIVE EDITOR NANDAN RESIDENT EDITOR HINDUSTAN DELHI V. P. -LEGAL, TAX & CO. SECRETARY BUSINESS HEAD -SOUTH AND WESST CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER BUSINESS HEAD-NORTH & STRATEGIC MARKETING BUSINESS HEAD, BUSINESS PAPER HEAD BUSINESS EXCELENCE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER CHIEF EDITOR BUSINESS PAPER HEAD RADIO HEAD-KEY MARKETING SOLUTION & EVENT HEAD INTERNET BUSINESS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OPERATION & HUMAN RESOURCE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MEDIA MARKETING & CIRCULATION GROUP EDITOR HINDUSTAN ADVISORY EDITORIAL DIRECTOR MANAGING EDITOR, HINDUSTAN TIMES CEO HT MEDIA LTD. 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