How Religion is Detrimental to Human Enlightenment Essay

Religion has bequeathed us with numerous powers to live, breathe in peace, and capture our soul to realize the truth of ourselves and divine. The whole concept of religion lies in the fact that it binds us with our imperceptible creator and enables us to visualize our self and our esteem perquisite hidden power. But to this religion only, we owe extreme form of fundamentalism and fanaticism that since centuries and as far as our history goes have been detrimental to the basic core of all our religions and religious faiths. Religious doctrines of almost all over the world laid down principles of the life for their respective societies: how they will live and follow their religious rituals? These religious practices prepared persons in their respective societies to live in harmony with each other and maintain the cordial ambience with their environment. Almost all the religions of the world adopted their own religious belief systems. But when these systems take an extreme form of fundamentalism and show their aggression and disbelief against other religious groups and faith, they hurt at the most fundamental concepts of human lives on which religions are based. They make religion as the most hatred thing in the world and turn it into the most inauspicious aspect for human enlightenment. Religion enlightens by inculcating within the people the moral values on which the human life and society is flourishing but when the propagators of these moral values use the religious beliefs and religion to instigate their fame and for their own commercial purposes, this religion only becomes a darker phase in their life. Just when 16th century began to shower the new rays of hope on the mother Earth, Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, an Italian political philosopher, diplomat poet, playwright and musician wrote, â€Å"We Italians are irreligious and corrupt above others. †¦.. because the church and her representatives have set us the worst example. †1 According to Machiavelli, religion became just a mere tool in the hands of ruling powers to change the mind set of the public according to their own needs and aspirantions. And its happening till today. This world of today is witness to the massive force of ruling class using religion to meet their political and commercial needs. Cotton Mather, writing of a former condition which he would admired to have renewed in his own time, said: â€Å"New England being a country whose interests are remarkbaly in ecclesiastical circumstances, ministers ought to concern themselves in politics. † 2 Further said by Cobb, in the early days, the clergy had a greater influence on the minsteral affairs and the influence was so much that they with their ruling power could bring magistrates and courts too to their dictate. This led number of clergies to misuse the power and made the religion as an instrument of bigotry and superstition. 3 The clergy, political class and other religious fanatics made religion an arena of superstition and doctrine of blind faith that did not believe in the new thoughts of this scientific and highly technological advanced world of today and made religion deterimental to Human enlightenment. Human enlightenment endows the knowledge and awakening of human values and the knowledge of scientific truths and temperament that has made our life at ease. Science wants us to solve all problems of our life through deep regressive thoughts and our own efforts. Atheists began to instigate the adherance to religion and God within us. They believe that no divine power can solve our problem and prayer is just a wastage of time. 4 1 Burckhardt, pp. 272 2 Cobb, pp. 237 3 Cobb, pp. 237 4. Cronish, para 2, Online Edition In fact even Albert Ellis, PhD, said, â€Å"If religion is defined as man’s dependence on a power above and beyond the human, then, as a psychotherapist, I find it to be exceptionally pernicious. Religion, first of all, is not self-interest – it is god-interest. Religiosity is essentially masochism and both are forms of mental sickness. All religions contend that their super-human entities cannot be humanly experienced and that their gods and their principles are beyond science. Religion is†¦ directly opposed to the goals of mental health. †5 Religion beckons us to follow spiritual life but the way religious doctrines are propagated and publicized and mould the mental attitude of the people, they are going even against the moral values that are so basic for a person to be human. The politicians, religious heads and other fanatics are misusing the religious doctrines to spread among human race superstition, blind faith, sins, violence chaos and disorder. History is clear proof to show how since ages poltical rulers and religious heads are degrading the religious doctrines and misrepresenting them to fulfill their own aims and are spreading useless dogmas, corrupt powerhouses, chaos and confusion and thus result in making the religious values as a sole detrimental to Human enlightenment. The religious texts of almost all the religions of the world have been written by humans, that are centuries old, in their own language and style that people of today’s generation are not able to comprehend and take out the extract what lies beneath the hidden text. This lack of understanding belies the own faith and life style of the contemporary world. As Christopher Hitchens in â€Å"God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything† said that as religion has impeded people to treat other persons in a just manner and it is not necessary to learn the basic human values and human relations from religion or religious doctrines. Human relations come 5 Cronish, para 2, Online Edition from human own needs and aspirations. Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens state that â€Å"Religion and churches are manufactured, and this salient fact is too obvious to ignore. †6 And according to Dawkins, â€Å"The manufacturing and growth of religion is best described in evolutionary terms: Religions, like languages, evolve with sufficient randomness, from beginnings that are sufficiently arbitrary, to generate the bewildering – and sometimes dangerous – richness of diversity. †7 And Harris delving into the historicity of the religious tradition and doctrine states that â€Å"The Bible, it seems certain, was the work of sand-strewn men and women who thought the earth was flat and for whom a wheelbarrow would have been a breathtaking example of emerging technology. †8 He further states that it was not even the work of sand-strewn men but several written pieces were pierced together and compiled to give shape to the bible. Further elaborating Dawkins states that, â€Å"Ever since the nineteenth century, scholarly theologians have made an overwhelming case that the gospels are not reliable accounts of what happened in the history of the real world. †9 It implies that the bible and almost the majority of the religious texts were written taking in view the social, culture, political turmoil that were affecting the people of that time and period but that can be relevant to this time and period too if properly interpreted and comprehended. But unfortunately this is not happening, Hitechens wants to tell us that all our academic studies, like â€Å"the sciences of textual criticism, archaeology, physics, and molecular biology have shown religious myths to be false and man-made. †10 Science has proved that all religions are construed by 6 Fish, para 1,Online Edition 7 Fish, para 1, Online Edition 8 Fish, para 1, Online Edition 9 Fish, para 2, Online Edition 10 Fish, para 3, Online Edition men for their own purpose and it was the man of that time and age who wrote the textual books. Titus Lucretius Carus, Roman poet of first century B. C in his magnificent rendered opus De Rerum Natura postered the view that, â€Å"But ’tis that same religion oftener far Hath bred the foul impieties of men. †11 He held the belief that the world was made up of matter and void, and everything in the world is learned and understood purely from nature and that all the religions of the world are born because of the fear that people faced because of the dangers that nature had in store for them in their primitive stage and their ignorance about the world around, about themselves and about everything that were part and parcel of their life. Humans were afraid of fire that is why they started worshiping fire, they were afraid of animals so they made many of the animals their deity. Slowly and slowly, they turned their worshipping into rituals that necessiated them to follow in their lifes. Their religious freedom and beliefs strangled their hold on the people’s freedom. Initially they made this beginning to give protective cover to people against discrimination, persecution and oppression but in this momentum, the religious fundamentalists and fanatics made religion too symbol of slavery, persecution and oppression of weaker sects and women. For e. g. many of the propagators of the religions thought it their right to confer discriminatory attitude against gays, force women and children to cover their face with veil. 12 And above all their rights to threaten to death or kill anyone and everyone who comes in front of their religion. In many religions, women’s place is inferior to men. Rev. Jill Nelson, pastor of the Sunshine Cathedral Metropolitan Community Church, commenting on Leviticus 20:13, said, â€Å"It is grounded in the old Jewish understanding that women are less worthy than men. For a man to 11 Lucretius, Book I – Proem, Line 3-4. 12 Namazie, Online Edition. have sex with another man ‘as with a woman’ insults the other man, because women are to be treated as property. †13 The most essential needs of our human beings are food, clothing, shelter, leisure and the most important being freedom. It’s the freedom that we all cherish and along-with the freedom need awareness, emotional satisfaction, responsibility towards ourselves and for others. Human beings are enlightened if they get freedom and independence of thoughts and sexuality and many of the religions are snatching this only freedom by putting before us several of their religious doctrines. Though many of the religions like Buddhism and Christianity say that feeling of essence of spirituality itself is the freedom for you. The New Testament of the Christianity says, â€Å"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free† implying that knowing the spiritual truth and freedom of choice will give you freedom but in this materialistic and scientific world of today we are not seeking just the freedom of spirituality but freedom in all the way’s of our life, and in all our breath. We cannot grow unless we are free. Karl Marx had an ardent belief that religion is socially construed, and is harmful for human lives as it discourages the down trodden human beings from participating actively in the political, social and economic upheavals of the society as it promises that the faithful people shall be rewarded in the life after. Ruling class treat religion as a tool to suppress the sufferings and down trodden by implying their own modifications of religious doctrines. For their own commercial and social gains, they imbibe the religious textual principles and traits among the poor and hamper their economical progress and independence. 13 Kinney, Online Edition. 14 Muhammad, Online Edition Marx labeled religion as an opium of people because the religion could give poor the momentarily relief but could not make them rid of their prolong sufferings. Secondly, religion gives them dreams of better life after their death. In other words, Marx treats religion as a rout of Escapism. In the words of Marx, â€Å"The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo. †15 Marx says that the concept of sin so highly delivered by Christian doctrine is anti-social as Christian doctrine is inherent in the nature of human beings that becomes the part of the misery and Marx says that sins are socially planned and implemented and ought to be changed. It is the world of man, man is a part of this state and society, and it is this society that religion own its existence to. To ignore religion means to ignore the roots of our civilization, its monuments, its beliefs and practices, achievement and the legacy that it had bestowed onto us by our ancestors. If we do not have our own religious faith, its bound to have venomous effect on our own personality but this very religion becomes our enemy when we begin to use its doctrines and principles to embellish our own selfish ends. And this misinterpretation of the religious doctrines, selfishness of the ruling and powerful elite make our religions detrimental to Human Enlightenment. WORKS CITED Burckhardt, Jacob. â€Å"The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy† (Translated by S. G. Middlemore) USA: Penguin Classics, 1990 Cobb, Sanford H. â€Å"The Rise of Religious Liberty in America: A History† Ayer Publishing, 1970. Cornish, Keith S. â€Å"SECULAR SYSTEMS† atheist foundation. org. au Internet (19August 2002) Available: http://www. atheistfoundation. org. au/secularsystems. htm, 10 December 2007 Fish, Stanley. â€Å"Is Religion Man-Made? † Internet (24 June 2007) Available: http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/is-religion-man-made/

Assignment Week 6: Sleep Deprivation, Disorders, and Drugs

Any of us if not more than some have experienced some difficulty sleeping. This can happen because of a number of things: We worry about some sort of troubling thing to come or one that has passed, or there is the all too famous insomnia, which gets the best of us from time to time. There are many times in my life that I have had trouble sleeping, whether it was from one of my three children being sick, my husband being sick, me being sick, or my mind just running from here to there which happens quite frequently.The last time I recall that I had not gotten enough sleep would have been when my middle child had to have oral surgery. I don’t really know if it was because she was going under and she hadn’t been before, if it was the fact that my little girl was going to have surgery for the first time. I tried for several hours to fall asleep, but my mind would not stay still. I finally decided to get up and try to doze off to the television, after that did not work I made some coffee and worked on my assignment. When it was time to get up my husband and my little girl I was exhausted, as if I was at work all day.I drove us to where we needed to go with no problem, but as we sat in the waiting room I dozed off for a few hours. As I woke it felt as if I had not slept as all, I was still exhausted. After the surgery was over and the care plan for her was set we left for home. I had got a huge cup of coffee from a convenience store, as I drank it I felt more tired. I slept for about 30 minutes on the way home, and when I got there I felt so awake. However, as I went in and settled down for a little bit, I felt more tired than I ever had.Unfortunately though I needed to take care of my other two children, which was a very hard task at hand, even with the help of their father. I was finally able to get to sleep that night however it was a rough start to the next day. When I am unable to get to sleep I tend to sleep more than normal, and as I wake I am dra gging all day and feel as I need more sleep. As I read chapter 14 Sleep, Dreaming, and Circadian Rhythms, I am better understanding of why my body reacts the way it does if I get too much sleep or not enough sleep.When reading about the recuperation theories of sleep it made a lot of sense to me. I believe it is reasonable that we need to sleep in order for our bodies to revitalize its self, and that at some point if we were to develop a total sleep deprivation it could result in one’s death. We do know that we are in need of some sleep, however, we are still uncertain about how much sleep we much have. It is also know that many years ago people slept much more and today a person usually sleeps anywhere from seven to nine hours of sleep.According to the circadian theories of sleep, we possess an internal timing mechanism, called a circadian clock. I fully support the belief that we are programmed or have developed a habit of sleeping at night. I believe that we choose to rest and relax not only for our health, but also because we like it so much. I believe that we experience Microsleep from time to time as well. Mucrosleeps are short periods of sleep when we shut our eyes for a few seconds either while sitting or standing. I remember while I was working I had stayed up all night, when I went to work I was completely exhausted.I had to get something out of the walk in cooler, since it was a hot day out I sat on a crate and I dozed off for just a second, and ended up jerking awake. We do not know exactly how much sleep a human should sleep and exactly why it is necessary to need sleep. There are many types of sleep disorders, one in particular would be insomnia. There is insomnia that involves disorders of getting to sleep and staying asleep and hypersomnia, which includes disorders of sleeping too much. Causes that can influence insomnia are, for example, if a person is experiencing physical pain.This could influence a person when falling asleep or stayi ng asleep. There are drugs (hypnotics) that can help a person to fall and stay asleep but they have negative effects. Prescribing benzodiazepines, like valium, have side effects as a person can develop a tolerance and might have to increase the dose of that specific drug. In addition, they are also addictive. Another insomnia disorder is called sleep apnea. A person with this disorder stops breathing during sleep, which makes him or her wake up and then go right away to sleep. This disorder is very common in older or overweight people.There is also nocturnal myoclonus (a body twitches and keeps a person awake) and restless legs syndrome. In hypersomnia, narcolepsy is the most well-known disorder. A person with this disorder complains about daytime sleepiness and falls asleep almost anywhere. Another symptom of narcolepsy is cataplexy, in which a person can lose muscle tone while being awake. This can make a person sit down suddenly or in the extreme, cause a person to drop down to t he ground. Then there is sleep paralysis (unable to move when going to sleep or awakening) and hypnagogic hallucinations (dreaming while being awake).There are drugs such as stimulants and tricyclic antidepressants that might help; however, they are very addictive and can have side effects like not wanting to eat. There is also the hormone melatonin, a natural hormone produced in the brain, which is also manufactured commercially and is associated with sleeping, but the studies are still inconsistent and debatable. (Pinel, 2011) As we know we need some sort of sleep to function normally or on a normal basis, without it we could face some pretty severe consequences. If there are problems they make medication that can help with those problems, which will allow us to sleep.

A handful of dates Essay

Children like to copy their favorite character. They imagine  themselves to be like that person when they get big. Like this, a young boy , the  main character of the story, â€Å"A Handful of Dates†, by Tayeb Saleh, imagine  himself to be like his grandfather, when he get big. The story describes the  childhood of a young boy, who does the things children typically do, go to school,  attend religious services, plays outside, and spends time with his favorite family  member, his grandfather. Although the boy loves his grandfather and considers him  as a great man, the boy realizes, through his treatment of his neighbor Masood,  that he is a greedy man, and doesn’t like him anymore.  Early in the story, the boy loves nature. The boy loves to go to the  mosque every morning to learn Quran. He also loves to swim in the river and  play in the field. The boy says, â€Å"The mosque, the river, and the fields – these were  the landmarks in our life†(p-1,para-1).He also says, â€Å"†¦I loved the river  too†(p1,para-2).In other words, the boy love the river as well as his village nature.  The boy was idealistic about his grandfather and wanted to be like him.  His relationship with his grandfather was very close. The boy says, â€Å"I loved to  give rein to my imagination and picture myself a tribe of giants living behind that  wood, a people tall and thin with white beards and sharp noses, like my  grandfather†(p-1,para-2).In his imagination he thinks about his grandfather, and  says, â€Å" when I grew to be a man, tall and slender like him, walking along with great strides†(p-1,para-2).He thinks himself to be like his grandfather when he gets  big. As the story begins, the boy notices his grandfather doesn’t like their  neighbor Masood. In a conversation he asked his grandfather that why he doesn’t  like Masood. His grandfather answered that Masood is lazy person  that’s why he  doesn’t like him. â€Å"He’s an indolent man and I don’t like such people†(p-2,para-5).  Moreover, grandfather also said that Masood married more than one time and  every time he got married, he sold some part of his property. â€Å" Masood, my boy,  was a much married man. Each time he married he sold me a feddan or two†(p-  3,para-14).The boy was thinking and made a calculation that may be Masood  married more than ninety women, and then remembered that he had three wives  and asking himself many questions. At the end of the story the boy realizes that  his grandfather wasn’t that kind of person which he thought.  According to the boy’s grandfather, he will buy all of the Masood’s  property before he dies. Long time ago when the grandfather first came in the  village he didn’t had any property. Now two third of his property’s owner is  grandfather. â€Å"†¦forty years ago all this belonged to Masood, two-thirds  of it is now  mine†(p-2,para-9). â€Å"†¦ I think that before Allah calls me to Him I shall have  bought the remaining third as well†(p-2,para-11).Grandfather also said to the boy  that he will buy Masood’s remaining property before he dies. The boy was  thinking of himself that why his grandfather doing that and felt sorry for Masood. An inner conflict develops when he found his grandfather is greedy,  which he should not be as a Muslim. When the grandfather said he will buy  Masood’s remaining property, the boy was thinking of himself that his grandfather  will do what he said, and felt sorry for Masood. â€Å"I do not know why it was I felt  fear at my grandfather’s words-and pity for our neighbor Masood. How I wished  my grandfather wouldn’t do what he’d said !† (p-2,para-12). The boy learn from the  Quran that people should be sympathetic to weaker section people of the society.  Instead of that, his grandfather wants to buy Masood’s remaining property, which  shows that he not the kind of person he should be as a Muslim.  The boy begins to notice Masood at the harvest, and he feels  sympathy for him.Masood invites the boy and his grandfather to harvest dates. At  the harvest field the boy noticed Masood and thinking what his grandfather said  about him. â€Å"I remembered Masood’s remark to me when he had once seen me  playing with the branch of a young palm tree: Palm tress, my boy, like humans,  experience joy and suffering. And I had felt an inward and unreasoned  embarrassment†(p-3,para-19).The boy remember, once he was playing with the  palm tree Masood told him that palm trees are like human, which means Masood  loves nature.

LSEP(legal, social, ethical and professional) issues associated with Essay

LSEP(legal, social, ethical and professional) issues associated with the introduction or increased use of cloud computing services - Essay Example Systems in the company are predominantly legacy-based and operate in silos. Each of the legacy systems is responsible for various parts of the business’s operations. Some of them take care of the inventory, while others focus on shipping. Alternatively, other systems handle terminals while, others work on sales data. A lot of this data is not transformed into useful information, and most times, employees feel overwhelmed by the speed, volume and even variability of the data as it is always changing. The company feels that it currently has too many servers in each of its stores, as most of them are not run in remote server farms. Cloud computing is only used for periphery services at this fashion retailer because employees have a relatively good understanding of browser-based software, but the infrastructure required to make the transition has not been installed. Sometimes, employees will use Dropbox to manage and send files, but this is often not powered by the organisation. The company also thinks of cloud computing as a means of storing its information rather than an opportunity to expand its possibilities. Whenever there is a power blackout or some form of data disaster, the company is assured of accessing its data safely through any internet connection. This acts as a form of disaster relief for the company as it makes it immune from physical attacks on its information (Balagopalan, 2010). There are a number of reasons and limitations that have presented Magneta from fully utilising cloud computing to manage its information. First, the company is concerned about the issue of security and compliance with information security standards. The retailer has a lot of sensitive information including client credit card information or their payment history. If a cloud provider does not comply with the same standards as the retailer, then it is difficult to secure transactions. Magneta is afraid of putting all their trust in an application that they have minimal

DIABETES - APA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

DIABETES - APA - Essay Example It is most common in those people having high weight issues and family history of diabetes problem. However, South Asian Women are highly prone to diabetes because of insulin resistance, high calorie diet and lack of physical activity. South Asians are emigrants and second generation from India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It needs to be understood that Type-2 Diabetes is quite common among Asian Women that creates Insulin resistance along with disallowing blood sugar to enter into cells and thus affecting the energy level. Ramachandran and Vijay, (1999) believed that high weight and calorie rich diet along with genetics play an important role in increasing the chances of diabetes. There is no denying that Asian Women are on a healthier side because of high consumption of oily and rich food stuffs. Their living standard and life style also makes things difficult for them in the short as well as in the long run. Sriskantharajah and Kai (2006) stated that people of South Asian origin have higher degree of mortality and morbidity because of diabetes and heart complications. This is mainly because of the low degree of physical activity and wellness among this group compared to European and other ethnic groups. The prime reason behind high degree of diabetes complications among South Asian Women is mainly because of issues like obesity, consumption of foods leading to obesity and low insulin and cholesterol resistance. Moreover, South Asian Women are not very much into physical activities that further affect the diabetes issues along with aggravating the issue. Diabetes is a metabolic disorder resulting in chronic hyperglycemia and Hyper lipidemia that ultimately induces multiple system pathologies; increasing the risk for atherosclerosis, coronary heart diseases, myocardial infarction, renal disease and periodontitis. The purpose of the study is to determine

Capital Punishment in film Dead Man Walking Essay

Capital Punishment in film Dead Man Walking - Essay Example The film â€Å"Dead Man Walking† depicts the appeal process faced by a convicted murderer, and how his crime, trial and acts on death row affect himself, a nun who is working with him on his appeal, and the families of the victims. It invokes some of the hardest and most troubling questions facing society today such as: does the state have the right to kill its own citizens? and ‘is it ever right to kill?’. Philosophers and thinkers have been struggling with these same questions for thousands of years. Somewhat surprisingly in a field where many experts disagree with each other, three of the greatest pillars of Western Philosophy over the past two thousand years, Aristotle, John Stuart Mill and Emmanuel Kant are all staunchly in favour of the death penalty as a punishment for murder. Even more surprisingly, all three philosophers justify their defence of capital punishment through three amazingly different theoretical frameworks, all coming to the same conclusion through very different means. All three philosophers, however, have serious flaws in their arguments for capital punishment (especially when considered in today’s society) and strong arguments against capital punishment can still be made. This essay will critically examine cases such as those in the film â€Å"Dead Man Walking† through the lens of Kant, Mill’s and Aristotle’s ethical philosophies. This case can serve as something of a testing ground for when capital punishment would be the most justified.... One of the first recorded philosophers to try to tackle the question of capital punishment was Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics. These ethics do not attempt to address the issue of capital punishment, but rather form foundations from which he believes all ethics should be derived. These ethics are based on several foundations, and demonstrate an understanding of the fact that different societies will have different societal expectations, and in attempting to create a universal ethic Aristotle tries to make a flexible system that will accommodate these differences. He main way that Aristotle attempts to accommodate for these differences is by introducing the idea of the â€Å"just man† (Aristotle 68). Aristotle says that moral actions can be viewed through the lens of what a just man in a particular society would do; if a good just, honourable man of one’s society would behave in a certain way then that action is what must be considered just. Aristotle adds two furth er theories to make sure their is some stability and objective morality across all cultures by adding the ideas of fairness and equality to the idea of the just man, so that if a society would consider a just man’s actions good even if they were unequal or unfair, Aristotle would still consider those actions immoral (74). The final aspect of Aristotle’s theory of justice is that of rectification, that is, when one commits a wrong towards another he must make recompense to the person who he has wrong equal to the amount of wrong done (67). If for instance, someone killed another person’s sheep, he would be responsible for providing a sheep to make up for the damages. All these theories combine to support capital punishment in a variety of ways. First,

PCR pratical Write-up Journal style.(VIROLOGY) Lab Report

PCR pratical Write-up Journal style.(VIROLOGY) - Lab Report Example However, no viral DNA was detected in MRC5 cell line. In conclusion, PCR is an effective tool for the detection of viral genome in infected host cells. Conventional laboratory methods of identifying disease-causing pathogens often involve morphological characterization and antigen detection (Lee et al., 2009; Nitzan et al., 2009; Cicek et al., 2007). However, the traditional morphological examination which relies heavily on culture techniques, presents a serious laggard, on top of contamination problems (Candrian 1995). The emergence of molecular diagnostic tools have circumvented and altered the limitations brought about by the conventional diagnostic techniques (Lion et al., 2006). Specifically, genome-based techniques are increasingly becoming popular due to their high specificity and sensitivity. One tool that has revolutionized the field of clinical diagnostics is polymerase chain reaction (PCR), an enzymatic procedure which amplifies a specific fragment of DNA or RNA (Lion et al., 2006). Since PCR makes use of nucleic acids to detect the presence of organisms, it is extremely useful in the identification of notoriously difficult-to-detect pathogens like viruses. It has been established that human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is a necessary precursor for the onset of cervical cancer (Stanley 2010). In fact, approximately 90% of cervical cancer cases can be accounted for by HPV types 16 and 18. Since HPV infection is very common with a lifetime risk of infection of 50-80%, its accurate diagnosis is very crucial (Stanley 2010). . The purpose of this experiment is to detect the presence of viral genome using polymerase chain reaction. Specifically, the experiment seeks to compare the genomic DNA extracted from HeLa cells, a cervical cancer cell line and MRC5 cells derived from a 14-week old fetal lung tissue in order to confirm that HeLa cells contain human papilloma virus (HPV) 18 DNA. The HeLa

Free Trade Zones in UAE and Economic Development Research Paper

Free Trade Zones in UAE and Economic Development - Research Paper Example These areas are very advantageous to traders and manufacturers in various industries, since there are fewer barriers to trade in these zones than in areas that are not free trade zones. The first Free Trade Zone was established in a small rural town in Ireland to reduce the rate of unemployment in the town, to utilize the airport that was mostly being underutilized in the town, as well as to generate revenue for the Irish government (Brzuzy and Lind, 2007). This was in the early 20th century, and since then due to its colossal success, many more FTZ’s have cropped up throughout the world, mostly in developing countries. One of the main aims of establishing FTZ’s was to create employment opportunities, especially for locals in the area around the FTZ’s and also to generate income for governments. Toward this end, the employment rules governing the FTZ’s are a little different from those governing those companies that do not fall under FTZ. Firstly, corporat ions operating in the FTZ’s usually discourage their employees from joining or forming trade unions. Workers who try to do so are usually threatened with dismissals or closure of the companies, hence loss of livelihoods (Perman et al., 2004). FTZ’s are also usually exempt from most countries’ employment laws, mostly using the laws set out by the International Labor Organization, ILO. Most FTZ’s also emphasize that a majority of the workers in the zones be citizens of the host country. However, exceptions are made if there is not enough local labor to be employed by industries in the zone or if there is a need to import people with certain skills that are required by the companies. Furthermore, most corporations in the FTZ’s employ workers on short contract basis of between one and at most 5 years. However, most countries’ legislations require that these companies provide benefits such as medical schemes to their workers despite their contrac t status. One of the most vibrant FTZ’s in the world is the Dubai Media City free zone. As the name suggests, this FTZ is located in the city of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East. The zone was established in 2001 and is located a few miles from the Dubai International Airport, which serves as the main infrastructure for the traders that visit the zone (BBC News, 2009). As the name suggests, Dubai Media City is a free zone established wit the media as its main trade. In the zone, there are several media hoses, both local and international which carry on their business. The main media activities in the zone include Music, Public Relations, Broadcasting, Publishing, Advertising, Marketing Consultancy, News Agency, Production and Post-production, Research among other media-related activities. Located in over 30,000 square meters of land, the DMC has enviable infrastructure unrivalled in many areas trying to reach its status. Several advantages have been experi enced by the UAE because of the DMC. The first and most obvious is the increase in revenue from the zone; the DMC contributes a substantial amount to the country’s economy. The DMC has promoted the development of infrastructure in Dubai. There has been an influx of media houses from all over

The musical student Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The musical student - Essay Example He clutches his backpack awkwardly. If his fingers do not have an instrument to strum, pluck, or press, the music students hands moves nervously around whatever object is closest. When heading off to school, the object closest is the backpack strings. The music student is going to study music at college once again. If he is not at college, the music student is holed up in his apartment playing music. The music student’s haunting music must come from his breakup. Once a striking woman started coming to the music student’s apartment. All the music from the apartment was full of romance. I would see him carrying flowers in and out of his apartment. The last time the woman was seen around our neighborhood, she sat in a coffee shop with her boyfriend. The music student’s fingers were twisting a coffee cup. She was crying and gesturing towards him. Every now and then, she would grasp his arm. The look on his face was sheer agony. However it was not an agony that could be expressed, this agony was like soul cancer. The music student’s aura was never the same after that night. If spoken to, the music student does not reply. He is no longer part of our world. The music is where he resides today. Only the shadow of the man walks. The music student evokes great sympathy in our world. However he does live a spectacular life. When on stage, in his studio apartment, or college class, the music student is alive in the world of music. Many would pity the music student, but he does not want pity. He is glad that his heart was broken. Without a broken heart his music would not have the same quality. In the end, the music student only loves the music. Humans come and go in his life, but music has always been a comfort. The music student would rather have his music than the

Thoreaus Ideas of Sound Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Thoreaus Ideas of Sound - Essay Example The incident of hearing the railroad cars moving along the tracks prompted an extended meditation on the relationship of man to nature. Thoreau originally responded to the sounds of the train as normal people would. He was bothered by the disruption, feeling a great distaste for the loud, clanging noise. It bothered him that it was this train that disturbed the natural peace and quiet of Nature. These thoughts led to the concept that some aspects of the modern human world were not always horrible. The trains, for example, allowed people to get from one place to another, especially if they were great distances from each other.   However, almost in the same breath, Thoreau realises that trains have taken away from a more simple time of life, when travels were done by means of walking or loading wagons - methods that did not involve disturbing Nature. Furthermore, these methods of transportation actually allowed these people to become closer to Nature. It aggravated Thoreau to realise that while people had come along way in regard to technology and amazing inventions that they had really set themselves quite far back by abandoning Nature for these wonderful creations.  It became rather confusing trying to decipher how Thoreau really felt about the existence of the train, especially as it was so close to his new home. He understood its purpose in the modern world, yet he found it difficult to comprehend why people would want to trade such peaceful methods of transportation for something.

Descartes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Descartes - Essay Example Although he decided to doubt everything, at some point the Cartesian method hit  a brick wall. This happens when he himself agrees to settle for an assumption in as far as the existence of God is concerned. He makes an inference by saying that God is infinite and that he cannot conceive a cause by which God is produced, this means that his perception of God is doubtable since he is unable to explain the origin of God (page 117). This explanation does not in any way prove the existence of God. It is probably the weakest argument in his work and which also shows either fear or reluctance on his part to challenge the existence of God. Assuming that he feared to challenge the existence of God, it can be argued that such utterances as to the existence of God may have resulted in severe punishment for him during his time. TheCartesian theory reaches its point of elasticity when Rene Descartes approaches the argument of the existence of God.   The Cartesian theory does not therefore suf fice as an essential school of thought in totality due to the fact that it leaves a rather big loophole to convince the layman and other philosophers how God came into existence. Therefore his view of the existence of God does not satisfy any philosophical urge to explain the existence of God. Philosophy aims to answer questions and set the standards in the way people think and assess situations. Its nature is such that it is critical and rationale. This means that all possible weaknesses have to be nipped in the bud. Positing absolute certainty means that philosophy has to reach an acme beyond which no one can come up with any further argument. Philosophy relies on rational judgment, so any philosophical claim or statement should be critical and based on pure reason and should not lead in circles. Philosophy should have a definite end point, a point which leaves no room for question marks. This is why philosophy must be absolute. However, since it is based on rational judgment, thi s absolute certainty can be difficult to achieve because rational judgment is relative, depending on factors like the environment one grows up in and even the foundations and teachings of one’s faith. It is thus rational to argue that the Cartesian method  does not fully satisfy the philosophical requirements since the existence of God according to this method, though based on rational judgment according to the creator of the theory, leaves many a question unanswered as to the how God came to being, something that even Rene Descartes himself cannot explain satisfactorily. Although the Cartesian method has been criticized by many people, it actually does hold water. It achieved absolute certainty when Rene Descartes argues that he cannot be deceived into thinking that he does not exist, because unless something existed there would be nothing to deceive. This implies that one has to exist so as to be deceived, you cannot deceive that which does not exist. Absolute certainty b ecomes achievable mainly up to the extent of concrete things, those that we can see and touch, but when it comes to abstract matters which are based in thought and ideas, like the existence of God, the answers and explanations put forward in relation to the Cartesian method sometimes do not achieve the threshold required. According to the theory of knowledge by Rene Descartes, natural light or by the light of nature is the clear and distinct perception which emphasizes the nature that has been made by God. Natural light seems like the basis

Hunting should not be outlawed Essay Example for Free

Hunting should not be outlawed Essay Hunting should not be outlawed. It is still a source of food for people who still live off the land . Hunting can be a very effective method of population control. Hunting is a sport of tradition it offers recreation from everyday life. Hunting animals for food is better for people because it does not have all the hormones that farm raised animals have. There aren’t very many diseases that affect humans in wild animals. Majority of the animals that have seasons are edible. Hunting is a very effective method of population control. If too many animals of one species or several related species live in one area they could possible wipe out there entire food source or sources. Then many of them would starve to death which unknown to the tree huggers that want to stop this is a very painful death, being shot is a very quick painless death. Hunting can save an ecosystem and entire species, by killing some of the animals in the ecosystem you can save the food source for the animals still left living. Hunting is a tradition in most of the world. People have been hunting for tens of thousands of years. Many people still use hunting as their many food source throughout the world. It is also a recreational activity. Tradition’s should not be outlawed. Hunting can help save the environment in which they live in by population control. It is a source of food. It’s an activity that people have been using to get away from society as we know it for several years. In conclusion Hunting should not be outlawed.

The Errors Vs Mistakes English Language Essay

The Errors Vs Mistakes English Language Essay According to Brown in order to analyze a learner language, it is important to understand the distinction between errors and mistakes. A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a slip, seeing as a failure to use a known system correctly. Mistakes can happen in both native and second language are the result of some sort of temporary breakdown, hesitations, slip of the tongue, random ungrammaticalities, or imperfection in the process of producing speech and can be recognized and corrected by native speakers. However errors are idiosyncrasies in the language of the learner. They are actually deviation from adult grammar of a native speaker. It shows the competence of the learner. Then mistakes are referred to performance errors in which the learner knows the system but fails to use it while errors are the result of ones systematic competence. It means that the learners system is incorrect. According to James cited by Brown (2007) the learner is not able to self correct the errors while mistakes if called, can be corrected by the learner. Then error correction can be used as a means for identification of errors and mistakes. However, Brown noted that making a distinction between errors and mistakes is difficult because if no such error correction occurs, we are not able to distinguish those (2007). Keshavarz (2008, p.49) also noted that there is a distinction between errors and mistakes. Errors are rule governed, systematic in nature, internally principled and free from arbitrariness. They show learners underlying knowledge of the target language that is his transitional competence. In contrast to errors, mistakes are random deviations and unrelated to any system. They are related to performance of the learner and might occur in the speech and writing like slip of the tongue, slip of the ear, slip of the pen, and false start. According to Keshavarz (2008) mistakes are due to non-linguistic factors such as fatigue, strong feeling, memory limitations, and lack of concentration and so on. These kinds of mistakes can be corrected by the learner if brought to his attention. He considered that distinguishing between learners errors and mistakes has always been problematic for teachers and researchers as Corder (1967) and Brown (1987) cited in keshavarz (2008) maintained this problem too. Nevertheless most error analyst use a general criterion for distinguishing between errors and mistakes the frequency of occurrence that is: errors which are low frequent are considered as mistakes or performance errors and those which are high frequent are systematic errors. However this criterion alone is not enough for distinguishing between errors and mistakes because low frequency of certain error may due to the low frequency of grammatical patterns or avoidance strategy that a learner uses. Then error analyst should consider casual factors of learners deviant structures as a means of distinguishing between errors and mistakes. According to Corder (1997) cited in Park (2010) errors refer to learners underlying knowledge of the language and mistakes refer to incorrect forms caused by memory lapses, slips of the tongue and other instances of performance errors. Corder considered that learners can correct their own mistakes but they cannot correct their errors because they do not have enough knowledge to distinguish their own utterance and that of the native speaker. He also pointed out two explanations with regard to learner errors. First, the occurrence of errors is merely a sign of the present inadequacy of the teaching techniques (p. 163). That is, if it were possible for teachers to achieve a perfect teaching method, there would be no occurrence of student errors in the target language. The second explanation is that despite teachers best efforts, the occurrence of errors is inevitable because errors occur for many reasons. The reasons can be: interference from L1, overgeneralization, an incomplete knowle dge of the target language, the complexity of the target language, and fossilization. Therefore, teachers should be more concerned with how to deal with students errors than the simple identification of them. For this study, I will use the terms errors and mistakes interchangeably because sometimes it is difficult to distinguish students errors from mistakes. Identification of Errors: (Categories of Error) Corder (1971) cited by Brown (2007) provided a model for identification of errors. Based on his model any sentences uttered by the learner can be analyzed for idiosyncrasies. According to his model there are two types of error: overt and covert errors. Overtly incorrect utterances are ungrammatical at the sentence level and covertly incorrect utterances are grammatically correct at the sentence level but are not interpretable within the context of communication. Then overt errors are sentence level and covert errors are discourse level errors. Burt (1975) cited in Park (2010) categorized errors as global and local ones. Global errors are errors that hinder communication and affect the overall organization of the sentence such as wrong word order, missing, wrong or misplaced sentence connectors however local errors do not usually hinder communication and affect single elements in a sentence such as error in noun and verb inflections, articles, and auxiliaries. He mentioned that the correction of global error clarifies the intended message more than the correction of several local errors. Moreover he argued that teachers should correct high frequent errors first. From another perspective Chaudron (1977, p.32) cited by Park (2010) classified the range of errors from linguistic (phonological, morphological, syntactic) to subject matter content (factual and conceptual knowledge) and lexical items. Valdman( 1975) cited in (salim shahin) provided the same division as Burt and said that in the case of global error the communicatio n between the student and teacher will be blocked and the student requires correction but in the case of local error, communication between the teacher and the student will not be blocked and it is up to the teacher to require the correction of the error, or let the error passes. Hammerley( 1991) cited in (Salim Shahin, 2003) classified errors into surface and deep. According to him surface errors need minor corrections and explanations while deep errors require explanation of why the error was made and what the correct form is. Hendrickson (1978) cited in (Salim Shahin, 2003) divided errors into three main types. 1) errors that hinders communication; 2) errors that have highly stigmatizing effect on the listener or reader but do not hinder communication; 3) errors that can be described as lapses that students usually have in their utterances. These errors are quite common in the speakers utterances yet they hardly block communication between the speaker and his interlocutor. Mackey et al. (2000) cited by Park (2010) categorized four types of errors in their analysis of L2 interactional data as phonological, morphosyntactic, lexical, and semantic ones.1) Phonological errors were non-target like pronunciation; 2) morphosyntactic errors were omitted plural-s and the preposition in; 3) lexical errors were inappropriate lexical items; 4) semantic errors were incorrect meaning or expression. Prabhu (1987) cited in (Salim shahin, 2003) divides errors on the basis of their treatment rather than their nature. According to his division there are two kinds of error: systematic and incidental errors. Systematic errors are those that deviate from the native speakers form and the teacher uses linguistic explanation, long interruptions, and exemplification to help and correct learners error. But Incidental errors do not require linguistic explanation or exemplification from the teacher, such as when the teacher corrects a pronunciation error or when he raises his eyebrows to draw the students attention to the error. Moreover Lennon (1991) cited by Brown (2007) identified different categories for description of errors: Errors of addition, omission, substitution, ordering Level of errors: phonology or orthography, lexicon, grammar and discourse Global and local errors: an error that hinders communication or prevents hearer or reader from understanding some aspect of a message is global and an error that does not prevent a message from being understood, usually due to a minor violation of one segment of a sentence, allowing a hearer or a reader to make an accurate guess about the intended meaning is a local error. (burtkiparsky, 1972 cited by Brown, 2007) Domain and extent error: domain error is the rank of linguistic unit from phoneme to discourse that must be taken as context in order for the error to become apparent. Extent error is the rank of linguistic unit that would have to be deleted, replaced, supplied, or recorded in order to repair the sentence. Other educators like Allwright (1975) cited in (Salim Shahin, 2003) believed that errors should be treated on the basis of their frequency, rather than on their classification. Then errors of high frequency should be given more attention and emphasis than errors of low frequency. Some Definitions in Error Correction: There are different terms when providing feedback in response to learner error in second language acquisition. These are repair, treatment, feedback, negative evidence and correction. Brown (2007, p.388) defined repair as correction by the learner of an ill-formed utterance, either through self-initiated repair or in response to feedback. Chaudron (1988) cited in Dabaghi (2006) defined treatment as any teacher behavior that follows error and shows the error to the learner. Ellis (1994a) cited by (Dabaghi, 2006) also identified feedback as a general cover term in which listeners provide information on the reception and the comprehension of the messages. Lightbown and Spadal (1999) cited in Dabaghi (2006) defined corrective feedback as an indication to the learners that they use target language incorrectly. According to Ellis (1994a) cited by Dabaghi (2006) correction has a narrower meaning than these terms. It is any attempt to provide negative evidence in the form of feedback that draw learners attention to the errors they have made. As Schachter (1991) cited by Dabaghi (2006) said corrective feedback, negative evidence and negative feedback are terms that are respectively used in the field of language teaching, language acquisition, and cognitive psychology. Most of the researchers use these terms interchangeably. In the present research we use error correction and corrective feedback interchangeably whenever the general sense of feedback provision was involve. Types of spoken error correction: According to Lyster Rantas model (1997) cited by Coskum (2010) the types of spoken error correction are as follows: Explicit correction: clearly indicating that the students utterance was incorrect, the teacher provides the correct form. S: there is a little milk in fridge. T: + in the fridge Recast: the teacher implicitly reformulates the students error, or provides the correction without directly pointing out that the students utterance was incorrect. In other words it is the teachers reformulation of all or part of a students utterance, minus the error. S: he like pop-music. T: yes, he likes pop-music Clarification request: the teacher indicates that the message has not been understood or that the students utterance included some kind of mistake and that a repetition or a reformulation is required by using phrases like Excuse me? S: there arent many /hotÄ ±ls/ in this town. T: again? à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Metalinguistic clues: the teacher poses questions like Do we say it like that? or provides comments or information related to the formation of the students utterance without providing the correct form. Metalinguistic clues contain comments, information or questions related to the well formedness of the students utterance, without explicitly providing the correct form. Metalinguistic comments generally indicate that there is an error somewhere. Metalinguistic information generally provides either some grammatical metalanguage that refers to the nature of the error or a word definition in the case of lexical errors. Metalinguistic questions also point to the nature of the error but attempt to elicit the information from the student. S: there isnt any books. T: + there isnt gà ¶rà ¼nce uncountable, yani sayÄ ±lamayan bir Ã…Å ¸ey kullanmamÄ ±z gerekiyormuÃ…Å ¸. Ds: there isnt any money Elicitation: the teacher directly elicits the correct form from the student by asking questions (e.g. How do I ask somebody to clean the board?), by pausing to allow the student to complete the teachers utterance (e.g. He is a good à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..) or by asking students to reformulate the utterance (e.g. Can you say that again?). Elicitation questions differ from questions that are defined as metalinguistic clues in that they require more than yes/no response. It refers to at least techniques that teachers use to directly elicit the correct form from the students. First teachers elicit completion of their own utterance by strategically pausing to allow students to fill in the blank as it were. Second, teachers use questions to elicit correct forms. Such questions exclude the use of yes/no questions. The question likes Do we say that in English is metalinguistic feedback, not elicitation. Third teachers occasionally ask students to reformulate their utterance. S: there are a few books in my /lÄ ±brari/ T: in myà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦? à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Repetition: the teacher repeats the students error and changes intonation to draw students attention to it. S: How much money do you have in your /pakÄ ±t/? T: /pakÄ ±t/? à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ DS: /pokÄ ±t/ T: yes Sources of Error: According to Brown (2007, p.263) there are four sources of error: 1) Interlingual transfer: it is a significant source of error for all learners. It is the effect of one language (usually the first) on another (usually the second). At early stages of learning a second language, the linguistic system of the native language is the only system that a learner is familiar with. Then the native linguistic system can interfere or transfer and cause some errors in second language. 2) Intralingual transfer: Another source of error which goes beyond the interlingual transfer is intralingual transfer. It is the effect of forms of one language (usually the target language) on other forms within the same language. According to Odlin (2003), Jaszczolt (1995) and Taylor (1975) cited by Brown (2007) once learners have begun to learn the system of second language, it is the system of second language that cause error. In fact intralingual transfer that is generalization within the target language occurs. 3) Context of learning: The third source of error is context of learning which is called false concept by Richard (1971) and induced error by Stenson (1979) cited by Brown (2007). It overlaps two types of transfer and refers to classroom, materials and social situation that can lead learners to make faulty hypotheses about the language. 4) Communication strategies: The forth source of error is communication strategies. They are production strategies that learners use to enhance getting their message across, but these strategies can become a source of error. Moreover Corder (1975) cited by Keshavarz (2008, p101) distinguished three types of sources of errors: Inter lingual errors which are caused by first language interference Intralingual errors that are caused by the learners generalizing and over generalizing particular rules. Errors caused by faulty teaching techniques. Another classification was considered by Dualy and Burt cited by Keshavarz (2008, p. 101) for second language learners error which are called goofs: Interference-like goofs: errors which show native language structure and are not found in first language acquisition data of the target language. L1-developmental goofs: errors that do not reflect native language structure but are found in L1 acquisition data of the target language Ambiguous goofs: those errors that can be as either interference-like goofs or L1 developmental goof. Unique goofs: errors that do not reflect L1 structure and also not found in L1 acquisition data of the target language. Significance of errors: Many scholars in the field of error analysis have stressed the significance of second language learners error. For example Corder (1967) cited by Keshavarz (2008) remarked that errors are significant in three ways: First errors are significant to the teacher in that they help him to understand how much the learner has progressed and what remains for him to learn. Second errors provide evidence for the learner to recognize how language is learnt or acquired and what strategies and procedures are used by the learner to discover the language. Third errors are important to the learner himself in which they are a device the learner uses in order to learn. Moreover Richard (1971) cited by Keshavarz (2008, p.45) noted that errors are significant and of interest to: 1) Linguistics, because according to Chomsky the study of human language is the best way of understanding the human intelligence; 2) Psychologists, because by comparing childrens and adults speech, they can examine the nature of the mental processes that seem to be involved in language; 3) Teachers, because by analyzing learners errors, they would be able to discover their difficulties and devise a method for comparing them. Besides, Jain (1974) cited by Keshavarz (2008) maintained 2 reasons for the significance of error: Understanding the process of second language acquisition Planning courses incorporating the psychology of second language learning. Other researchers like Dulay and Burt (1975) cited by Dabaghi (2006) stressed the significance of error by indicating two major reasons: 1) error provides data from which interferences about the nature of the language learning processes can be made, and 2) it shows to the teachers and curriculum developers in which part of the language, learners have difficulty with and which error types detract most from the learners ability to communicate effectively. Historical perspectives of error correction: Russel (2009) noted that error correction is a controversial issue in the field of second language education (SLE) and second language teacher education (SLTE). How to correct errors depends on the methodological perspectives of teachers. In behaviorist teaching models such as audio lingual method that was popular in 1950s and 1960s, error correction was stressed at all cost. Behaviorists believed that errors were inevitable but they tried to provide the correct form immediately. Brooks (1960, p.56) cited by Russull (2009) considered that like sin, error is to be avoided and its influence overcomesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the best way to overcoming errors is to shorten the time lapse between the incorrect response and a presentation of correct form. However in 1970s the value of grammar instruction and error correction in behaviorist model was questioned. Russull (2009) considered that in 1970s and 1980s some scholars claimed that error correction was not only unnecessary but also harmful to second language acquisition. The most well known model which was against error correction was Stephan Krashens monitor model which has five hypotheses about language learning. Rashtchi keshavarz (2007) noted that the learners affective an d emotional status can act as filters which do not allow easy absorption of input. It means that affective filter will hinder the process of learning (p.76). Moreover they noted that according to natural order hypothesis all linguistic elements and skills are learned in a predictable order and this order is not influenced by the native language of the learners. Russell (2009) mentioned that Terrell created the natural approach which is a method that emphasizes the development of communicative competence. According to his approach affective rather than cognitive factors are primary concern in the language classroom and correction of learners error is negative in terms of motivation, attitude and embarrassment. In this approach teacher never correct the learner oral errors. Then learners themselves should study grammatical structures in order to correct their mistakes. Communicative language teaching approach became popular in 1980s and like natural approach focuses on communicative competence and notional functional concepts over the instruction of grammatical structures. (Richards Rogers (1986) cited by Russell (2009). The objective in CLT is the development of fluency and acceptable language use and since emphasize is on meaning over form, error correction is not of primary importance. However when learners accuracy is assessed, it is always done in context. (Omaggio Hadley, 2001 cited by Russell), and in 1990s some researchers assert that explicit grammar instruction, error correction and focus on form could promote SLA. (Aljaafreh Lantolf, 1994; Doughy Varela, 1993; Ellis, 1993, 1994; Fotos, 1994; Long 1996; Schmidt, 1990, 1993, 1995; Sharwood Smith, 1993). Error correction and second language acquisition: According to Dabaghi (2006, p. 25) there are different views and opinions about language teaching and learning in which the changes in methodologies, materials and attitudes toward second language learning have always been important to language experts. Since error correction cannot be separated from these views and opinions, it must be discussed in terms of its relation to the theories of second language acquisition. In the following sections, we can see a number of second language acquisition theories and models that in some way affect our understanding of error correction. Contrastive analysis model: In the era of contrastive analysis and audiolingualism, there was a negative approach towards errors. According to Stern (1983) cited in Dabaghi (2006, p.25) some of the scholars during 1950s and 1960s had a puritanical perspective about errors committed by second language learners and as Brooks (1960) cited by (Dabaghi, 2006, p.25) said like sin, error is to avoid and its influence overcome but its presence is to be expected. According to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982) cited by Dabaghi (2006), in contrastive analysis, there is a comparison between learners native and target language and these differences cause the majority of an second language learners errors. Based on behaviorist view which was prevalent at that time, learning is a process of habit formation and errors from first language habits interfere with the learners attempt to learn new linguistic behaviors. Then to avoid errors, teachers should prevent and correct errors and shorten the time lapse between the incorrect response and the correct model. But as Dabaghi (2006, p.26) said, paying too much attention to prevention of errors and teaching learners to use language creatively in response to expected and unexpected stimuli in the environment are the drawback of contrastive analysis model and structural approach and caused the very foundation of contrastive analysis as a result of Chomskys transformational generative grammar, which emphasize d the active participation of the learners mind in processing data. In short, according to CA, learning is a process of habit formation and interfering language habits with learners attempts to learn new linguistic behaviors cause errors. Then the audio lingual approaches to teaching aimed to prevent learners from committing errors and believed that errors should be corrected immediately. Inter language model: In inter language era the second language learner was considered to be an autonomous creator of a language system who has a built-in-syllabus (Corder (1981) cited by Dabaghi (2006, p. 26)). It means that a learner is equipped with an internally programmed sequence which is sometimes in accordance with what teacher teaches and sometimes contradictory and learner follows his/her own build in syllabus. According to this view errors are the evidence of the learners present transitional competence and manifest the way the learner processes the input in her linguistic environment. Dabaghi (2006, p.27) mentioned that the inter language view of language acquisition believed on the whole role of language learning to the language learner and weaken the impact of negative evidence in second language development. According to this view, if negative evidence is provided within the syllabus predetermined in the mind of language learners, it can be effective otherwise it causes frustration and confusion for the learner and teachers. This view was strengthened by non-interventionist view taken by Dulay and Burt (1973), Krashen (1983) and Prabhu(1987) cited by Dabaghi (2006) who argued that grammar instruction should be abandoned in order to let the learner acquire the language from untutored language setting. The teacher should only provide the learner with opportunities for natural use of language. To sum up, the inter language model considered second language learners as self governing creator of a language system who follow their own built in learning program which c an sometimes benefit from error correction and sometimes not. Krashens Input Hypotheses: it is commonly known that for the acquisition of a second language, input that is provided either by a teacher or by another learner is essential. Corder (1967) cited by (Faqeih, 2012) distinguished input from intake. According to him, what is available to the learner is called input and what is actually internalized is called intake. According to Faqeih (2012) Krashen proposed the most influential theory of the role of input in second language acquisition in 1980. He noted that for the acquisition of second language, learners must be exposed to comprehensible meaningful input which contains linguistic data that are a little beyond learners knowledge (i+1) where i is the second language learners current linguistic competence and (i+1) is the next level of that competence achieved with comprehensible input ( Krashen, 1985 cited by Faqeih, 2012). He also suggested that production of the target does not directly aid acquisition. Krashen considered that learners can make use of three kin ds of contextual information: extra-linguistic information that is learners knowledge of the world and previously acquired linguistic competence; the input that can be available via interaction; and interaction in which meaning has to be negotiated e.g. when there is a communication problem. Krashen (1985) cited by (Faqeih, 2012) also distinguished learning and acquisition. He considered that acquisition uses unconscious processes and those grammatical rules are not helpful. In other words, second language is acquired more like first language and parents focus on communication and meaning instead of focusing on explicit instruction of the language. He also implied that if input is understood and there is enough of it, the necessary grammar is automatically learnt. He also argued that error correction (= negative evidence) do not improve second language performance. On the other hand learning is the conscious process that involves the memorization of many formal grammatical rules and error correction can have a role in this. According to him learning leads to grammatical and mechanical knowledge of the language, but it does not lead to fluency. Note that although Krashen distinguished between learning and acquisition, but this thesis uses them interchangeably. According to Faqeih (2012) Krashens input hypothesis is supported by some scholar such as Shwartz (1993) and Truscott (1996). They noted that for learners to acquire second language, only positive evidence that is a model from the target language is sufficient and negative feedback such as implicit and explicit feedback to any non target like feature in learners speech does not help learning and that structures learned through error correction cannot become part of internal grammar. They also proposed the negative effects of error correction such as confusing the learners, causing over use of a particular form or interfering with natural language acquisition processes. Others like Lightbown Spada 1993 cited by Faqeih (2012) said that excessive use of error correction lead to lower motivation. According to Krashens affective filter, classroom teachers should not focus intentionally or explicitly on errors of language from during class but should instead provide comprehensible input t o learners. Other scholars such as Mitchell Myles (2004) cited by Faqeih (2012) criticized this hypothesis because of lacking in empirical evidence and untreatable owing to its vagueness. Moreover White (1987) criticized Krashens input hypothesis for not considering the possible benefits of providing rules, said that certain types of errors may need rules instruction. Others like Ellis, Tanaka, Yamazaki (1994) cited by Faqeih 2012 considered that although interaction can solve communication problems through negotiation and increased comprehension, it does not mean that increased comprehension automatically leads to L2 acquisition; that is, learners may not necessarily retain the comprehended target language. Longs Interaction Hypothesis: Based on Krashens input Hypothesis in which input is important for acquisition to take place, Long suggested his own interaction hypothesis (Long, 1996, 2007 cited by Faqeih (2012)). He considered that input is not sufficient on its own for language learning to occur and some type of negative evidence may be beneficial role in acquisition and more attention should be given to the interaction that learners are engaged in. In 1996 he updated his hypothesis and mentioned that some controversial strategies such as repetitions, confirmation checks, comprehension checks, clarification request or recasts can solve communication problems. This kind of interaction involved components like negotiation, recasts, and feedback. According to Long (2007) cited by Faqeih (2012) interactional feedback is very important aspect for language development because it helps learners become aware of their error, and notice the mismatches between their inter language and the target language. It also encourage s learners to hypothesize the correct form and test them and modify their inter language. Long (2007) cited by Faqeih (2012, p.29) claimed that for error correction to be affective, simultaneous focus on form and meaning should be provided in a classroom context and the best strategy for the negotiation for meaning is recast, Because it is implicit and does not interrupt the flow of interaction. Dabaghi ( 2006, p.28) mentioned that according to Long, when there is a conversation between two interlocutors ( native speakers and non native speaker) there are both similarities and differences in the form of grammatical complexity between them. They use some conversational tactics such as clarification request, repetition or comprehension checks. It shows that the non native speaker or less component interlocutor is experiencing comprehension problems and using these tactics is very useful in language learning. In the process of interactional adjustments, both interlocutors make effort to understand each other. It means that they adjust their input to make it more comprehensible that is i+1 in Krashens term. However this hypothesis was criticized by Braidi (1995

PHR Implementation

PHR Implementation Melchor Abejon   With the advent of the internet, including emails and other web-based technologies, patients nowadays have assumed a much more active role in managing their health care. An evolving concept that makes a great potential to improve the health of individuals and efficiency of health care is the use of Personal Health Records (PHR). The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the American Medical Information Association (AMIA) continue to advocate for the use of PHR, empowering individuals to engage in a much more active role of managing their health care. According to AHIMA (2005), the PHR is an electronic, lifelong resource of health information needed by individuals to make health decisions. The individuals manage and own the information in the PHR, which comes from health care providers and the individuals. The PHR is maintained in a secure and private environment with the individuals determining the right of access. As the chief technology officer of an academ ic medical center in the western United States, planning to adopt and integrate a PHR software in its existing Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, the purpose of this paper is to outline my recommendation of the essential functionalities of a PHR that are to be considered for the organization. Choosing a PHR that would fit the needs of the organization is not going to be an easy task. There are a number of PHR software in the market to choose from, so it is necessary to take precaution and compare the products and check out for reviews because the same as in the EHRs, once you purchased the system, you will be tied for it for a long time. The PHR software that is to be selected should be reliable, sophisticated and secure. Enumerated below are the functionalities of a PHR that I would like to be implemented first for the organization: Compatibility functionality. My chosen PHR should be compatible with the organizations EHR system and with other third party tools. It should be able to directly interact with the organizations EHR. This functionality is extremely important as it will enable the sharing of information of patients with their healthcare providers. Also, with the PHR connected to the organizations EHR, patients can make their appointments online, consult their providers from their PHR, and obtain drug prescriptions without the hassle of visiting the doctors office. The many number of third party tools and mash-up services are also becoming available online to provide personalized health and wellness tools in which individual patients can use depending on their health needs. Examples of these third-party tools are the (a) Microsoft Healthvault (b) Training Peaks and (c) Google Health to name a few. The compatibility of the PHR with such mentioned web based applications enables patients to have access to a more personalized tool, thus letting them reap the most benefits from their PHRs. Must have the basic features, intuitive tool design, and ease of use functionality. Not all people are comfortable with the use technology, so needless to say, my chosen PHR should be easy to use. It must have the standard features which are (a) add (b) delete (c) correct and (d) share records. Patients should be able to add, delete, correct and track their medical history. The menu navigation should be intuitive and most used features should be quickly accessed. It must also have the ability to control and share health information with health providers and as well as family members with the consent of the patient. Security and control functionality. Security and protection of a patient health information is always a top concern in the field of healthcare industry to achieve the meaningful use of systems. My chosen PHR must have the security features to make sure health information is protected and secured all the time while still accessible from anywhere. Ability to automatically pull records from healthcare providers. My chosen PHR should enable patients to pull their historical information about their health problems, drug prescriptions, test procedures performed and as well as allergies. Having this feature would enable the patients to become more aware of their health care and as well as engage themselves in a much more active role of managing their health care. Proactive health monitoring functionality. My chosen PHR must have the advanced features to help patients take control of their health. Example of proactive health monitoring features are (a) weight loss, body mass index, and cholesterol monitoring (b) alerts when certain health conditions reach a certain threshold such as blood pressure and (c) a health planner services to help patients live a healthier and more productive life. References PHR Reviews (2009). How to choose a PHR- Personal health record system. Retrieved March 7, 2017 from http://www.phrreviews.com/how-to-choose-a-phr Wager, K.A., Lee, F.W., Glaser, J.P. (2013). Healthcare information systems: A practical approach for health care management (3rd ed ). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

OSHA :: essays research papers

The OSH Act gave OSHA the authority to come into work places and inspect facilities for health and safety risks. Due to shortages in personnel, OSHA inspects accidents and safety complaints that are filed, and those facilities that have a high volume of accident rates. If an individual state has an approved safety and health enforcement plan, than they may be exempt from yearly inspections by OSHA and have their own state personnel conduct the inspections. The Act sets a maximum penalty for safety and health violations, but OSHA has the authority to calculate fines. If an industry objects to the citation or fines, they can go before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. OSHA has been criticized on both ends, by industries for being too strict, and by unions for not being strict enough. In the 1980s, OSHA had instituted a policy that would exempt some workplaces from a complete inspection if they had a lower than average injury rate. However, that policy was abandoned when an employee died from a workplace that OSHA had not fully inspected. OSHA has implemented new procedures that have set higher penalties and increased the maximum fine for all types of infractions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  OSHA may inspect a workplace at anytime. It can be a programmed inspection that was scheduled in advance, or an unprogrammed inspection that was unplanned which resulted from a workplace may be in violation of standards. Unprogrammed inspections usually have priority over scheduled ones. Programmed inspections are usually conducted at high-hazard workplaces, those that have a history of OSHA citations for serious health violations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Congress did provide for special exemptions from programmed OSHA inspections. These exemptions apply to small business that felt they were being subjected to many undue inspections. This provision does not completely exempt them from OSHA visiting the workplace to investigate complaints, injuries, or provide assistance. Some workplaces that have a lower than average accident rates can fall under the voluntary protection program. They are still subject to OSHA inspections if complaints are received or if an incident occurs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  OSHA usually does not notify a workplace that they will be inspecting.

Right-Wing Influences in American Media :: Essays Papers

Right-Wing Influences in American Media Since the advent of television networks, Americans have relied on local and national newscasts to inform them of the world’s happenings. In the 1950’s there were no other mass informational outlets besides the network news and newspapers. Today we have the internet, which allows independent research, but the majority of Americans still depend on network and cable newscasts for their local, political, and foreign news. With the responsibility and power of informing an entire country, are television newscasts as reliable as most Americans assume them to be? Most Americans don’t consider where their news is coming from or who is producing it. Network and cable news are owned and operated by people and thus are not as objective and unbiased as we would like to think. In light of the war in Iraq and the most recent presidential election, critics of television network administration are voicing their concern for today’s presentation of the news. Increasi ngly more Americans are demanding a rehabilitation of newscasts, starting with ownership. News Ownership Before examining media practices, let’s establish what the major news networks are and who owns them. As most Americans know, ownership of media outlets is largely centralized around 6 main networks or mergers. Since 2000 the â€Å"Big Six† conglomerates (as they are often referred to) account for ninety percent of all media ownership including television, radio, newspapers, internet, books, magazines, videos, wire services and photo agencies. (Adams) In 2001, America Online (AOL) and Time Warner merged to become the world’s largest media organization. AOL Time Warner accounts for twelve television companies including Warner Brothers, 29 cable operations companies across the globe including CNN and Time Warner Cable, 24 book brands, 35 magazines including Time and Fortune, 52 record labels, the Turner Entertainment Corporation which owns four professional sports teams, and provides AOL internet services to 27 million subscribers in fourteen countries. In addition, the conglomerate owns multiple theme parks and Warner Brothers stores in thirty countries across the globe. AOL Time Warner is chaired by Steve Case, with Gerald Levin as CEO and boasts 79,000 employees worldwide. AOL Time Warner’s multi-faceted conglomerate brings in $31.8 billion in revenues annually. (New Internationalist) The second-largest media conglomerate is the Walt Disney Corporation, which has come a long way from its cartoon industry decades ago. The Disney Channel broadcasts in eight countries, with its sister sports channel ESPN broadcasting to 165 countries on three continents.

Annual School Day

List of Indian Classical Music Book Book Title| Author| Publisher| Description| Abhinav Geet Manusha (3 volumes)| Pt. S N Ratanjankar| | | Abhinav Geetanjali| Pt. Ramashreya Jha| | | Acharya Tanarang Ki Bandishen| Acharya V. G. Ringe (Tanarang)| | | Anup Rag Vilas| Pt. Kumar Gandharva| | Bandishes composed and sung by the author, most available on cassettes. | Bandish/Upaja| Mahammad Husen Khan| | Collection of bandishes composed by the author. | Bhartiya Sangeet Mala| Mirasha Bua| | Collection of traditional bandishes from Gwalior gharana. Bhavrang Lahari| Pt. Balwantrai Bhatt| | Collecton of Bandishes composed by Balwantrai Bhatt. | Dhrupad Dhamar Gayan| Rajabhayya Punchhawale| | Collection of traditional Dhrupad Dhamar bandishs. | Dinarang| Pt. Dinkar Kaikini| | | Geet Manjiri| Pt. Vinaychandra Moudgalya| | | Hindustani Khayal Gayaki| Mirashi Bua| | Collection of Khayals with notations of full improvisation. | Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati| Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande| | | Jivi Ji vai (Golden Voice Golden Years)| Pt. Jasraj| | Bandishes with notations composed by the author. Mai Jaisa Bhi Hun| Balasaheb Punchhawale| | Collecton of bandishes composed by the author. | Mukkam Vashi| Pt. Kumar Gandharva| | | Pranav Bharati| Pt. Omkarnath Thakur| | | Raag Bodh| Prof. B. R. Deodhar| | Collection of traditional compositions. | Raag Darshan| Pt. Manikbuwa Thakurdas| | Collection of Bandishes| Raag Rachananjali| Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande| | Bandishes composed and sung by the author. | Raag Sangraha| Lt. Master Krishnarao| | Collection of traditional compositions taught by Bhaskarbuwa Bakhle. | Raag Sarita| Pt.C R Vyas| | | Raag Vigyan| Pt. V R Patwardhan| | | Rajabhayya Punchhawale Swaranga Darshan| Balasaheb Punchhawale| | Collection of bandishs from repertoire of Pt. Rajabhayya. | Rasa Gunjan| Pt. Birju Maharaj| | | Rasaraaj| Pt. P N Barve| | | Sangeet Kala Prakash| Pt. Ramkrishna Vaze| | Collection of bandishs from repertoire of Pt. Vaze buwa| Swarangini| Dr. Prabha Atre| | Collecton of bandishes composed by the author. | Thumri Parichay| Leela Karwal| | | Thumri Tarangini| Rajabhayya Punchhawale| | Collection of traditional thumris. * A Discography of Hindustani and Karnatic Music. by Michael S. Kinnear / Hardcover / Published 1985 Price: $79. 50 * The Life of Music in North India : The Organization of an Artistic Tradition  by Daniel M. Neuman / Paperback / Published 1990 Price: $25. 00 * Bismillah Khan and Benaras, the Seat of Shehnai  by Rita Ganguly / Hardcover / Published 1994 Price: $30. 00  (Special Order) * Broadcasting : New Patron of Hindustani Music  by B. N. Goswami / Hardcover / Published 1996 Price: $30. 0  (Special Order) * The Classical Music of North India : The Music of the Baba Allauddin Gharana As Taught Byali Akbar Khan/Volume One : The First Years' Study  by Ruckert / Paperback / Published 1991 Price: $59. 95   * An Introduction To Hindustani Music  by Arati Chakravarty / Hardcover / Published 1999 Price: $24. 00  (Special Order) * Keywords and Concepts : Hindustani Classical Music  by Ashok Da. Ranade / Hardcover / Published 1990 Price: $26. 00  (Special Order) * Penguin Dictionary of Indian Classical Music  by Raghava R. Menon / Paperback / Published 1995 Price: $9. 0  (Special Order) * Between two tanpuras  by Vaamana Harai Deasapaaonode   * Hindustani sangeet paddhati : Bhatkhande kramik pustak  by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande * Indian music in performance : a practical introduction  by Neil Sorrell * Indian musical traditions : an aesthetic study of the gharanas in Hindustani music  by Vaamana Harai Deasapaaonode * Islamic Contributions to South Asia's Classical Music  by Mobarak Hossain Khan * Musicians of India : past and present gharanas of Hindustani music and genealogies  by Amala Daaasaasarmaa * Pillars of Hindusthani Music  by B.R. Deodhar, Ram Deshmukh (Translator) * The Ragas of North India  by Walter Kaufmann * The Rags of North Indian Music : Their Structure and Evolution  by Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy * Some immortals of Hindustani music  by Susheela Misra

Tien Tien

Phung Th? y Tien ATCC-K13 In Britain, when someone gets old they often go to live in a home with other old people where there are nurses to look after them. Sometimes the government has to pay for this care. Who should be responsible for our old people? ESSAY There has been an ongoing debate for years about which one will care for the elderly. It would be argued that the government has to be responsible for the old people. Others would believe that the adult children have to take responsibility for their parents by themselves.Personally, I am convinced that taking care of the senior citizens is the responsibility of both the family and the government. On the one hand, people who dedicated all their life to build up their home deserve the best care from their children when they get old. It would be argued that it is expensive to support old people who have little or no income. In my opinion, it is a dogmatic statement and it goes against the moral values if family members abandon the old people because of those reasons. We should not forget that older people may financially and morally contribute the family when they were young.Their children have gained various things from them like financial security, moral values and so on. All family members need to respect the elderly people, make them feel happy and give them the best care. On the other hand, the Government also has to take the responsibility for taking care the old people. The old people may have done many things to contribute to the national budget like paying tax or working for free when they were young, so they should be received financial assistance from the Government when they get old.Government should give the elderly old-age pension or pay for the care in the nursing home where the old people live in. The Government can also provide subsidy to the poor members who live with elderly parents and invest more money in facilities and training for care workers in the nursing home as well. All things con sidered, the old people must be received the best care from not only the government but also their family members and society. Children have to look after their elderly parents well, and the government should support the senior citizens in many ways. (346 words)

Problems & Prospects of Women Entrpreneurship

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In Bangladesh, a large number of women work in the informal sector, but the real value of their participation and contribution is not recognized in the society. Differences and inequalities between women and men exist in terms of opportunities, rights, and benefits. There are various constraints in the way to the up-gradation of their skills and enhancement of their productivity. These include poor access to market, information, technology and finance, poor linkages and networks with support services and an unfavorable policy and regulatory environment.However, it is heartening to note that despite many barriers, a new women’s entrepreneur class in the Small and Medium sector has developed in the country taking on the challenge to work in a male dominated, competitive and complex economic and business environment. It has been found that at present women entrepreneurs constitute less than 10% of the total business entrepreneurs in Bangladesh whereas women in a dvanced market economies own more than 25% of all businesses.Inspire of these, in Bangladesh, not only have the women’s entrepreneurship improved their living conditions and earned more respect in the family and the society, but they have also contributed to business and export growth, supplies, employment generation, productivity and skill development . our study includes introductory part that contain introduction about women entrepreneur , scope of women entrepreneurs, objective of our study, methodology, limitation of report that we found to prepare our report on problem and prospectus of women entrepreneur in Bangladesh.In second part, we explain literature review that contain problem and prospectus of women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh. To explain these problem and prospectus of women entrepreneurship. We also explain scope, source, characteristics, growth, profile of some successful entrepreneur, their barriers and the way to overcome the barriers and future scope of women entrepreneur in Bangladesh. In third part, we explain our findings from surveying some women entrepreneurs around us. Here we express our findings by some descriptory relevant points.Concluding some of our findings, recommendation in our respects and I tried to set a figure that I've found in this study of problems and prospects of women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh. There adding some recommendation to the study. I finish my summary. INTRODUCTORY PART OF STUDY INTRODUCTION: Bangladesh is still a poor country, but she is rich in human resource. In Bangladesh women constitute slightly less than half the population. The majority of them are underprivileged, under nourished, illiterate and poor. There are not enough employment opportunities for women.Therefore, economic activities, through self-employment have become essential for potential working women. As a matter of fact, women entrepreneurship or â€Å"women in business† is a very recent phenomenon in Bangladesh. Al though women are taking to entrepreneurship in many challenging fields, their activities in Bangladesh are not that extensive. In spite of fewer opportunities, many women have succeeded in business, but they are still very small in number. But it is true that they are overcoming their obstacles and build a strong contribution in our national economy. Objective of the studyThe overall objective of the study is to identify the problems and prosperity of women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh. The objective of our study is described in below: a) To identify the present status of women entrepreneurs in different sectors and the role of women entrepreneurs in the national economy, b) To determine the women entrepreneurs profile, their success indicators with reference to a particular sector c) To examine and assess the socio-cultural/educational and legal barriers to women's entry into enterprise, as well as performance and growth in entrepreneurship ) To examine the issues need to address to increase access to economic opportunities and formal inputs which promote entrepreneurship development. e) To review the current policies towards gender equality and identify gaps; f) To examine how women’s business associations can strengthen women’s position in business and international trade promotions; g) To indicate areas in need of further research with understanding of economic contributions by female enterprise owners; h) To provide strategic directions on how to promote and strengthen potentiality of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.Scope of the study The scope of the present study covers women entrepreneurs of 34 districts of Bangladesh, irrespective of their ownership pattern and type of enterprises. The study also makes an attempt to project a broad view of the status of the existing women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. Some important factors such as personal, social, psychological and economic-factors have been examined in order to understand whether t hese facilitate or constrain women to emerge as successful entrepreneurs.The study also throws light on women entrepreneurs’ strength and weakness that have impact on entrepreneurship on the socio-economic status of both urban and rural women and their living conditions. Methodology Selection of Study Area: He sample data is collected randomly from different parts of Bangladesh. Sampling Design: Random sampling procedure was followed to select the sample. the number of total sample is 10. Sample was taken from Dhaka and Chittagong City. The Questionnaire: A set of questionnaire was prepared to conduct the field survey.The questionnaire contain some relevant question about women entrepreneurship and their problem and prospectous in this field. Method of Data Collection: Our method of data collection are based on: * Primary Data * Secondary Data * Questionnaire Survey * Questionnaire Interview * Website Limitations of the study Since the study is based on problems and prospectu s of women who engaged in Bangladesh, it has some obvious limitations. These are as follows: * 1 . Data collection through primary source or through interview was a time consuming matter. The respondents sometimes were found non-cooperative with the interviewers. 2 Present study covered women problems and prospectus in entrepreneurship sector. Large scale business had been kept outside the purview of the present study. * 3. Gathering information from some of the women entrepreneurs was sometimes very difficult and extremely time-consuming. They did not give enough time to the interviewers. * 4. Further, it was also found that women entrepreneurs have a tendency to disclose lower income and higher expenses. They think that this would help them to get more credit. This is considered to be a limitation to the research study. * 5.Contacting women entrepreneurs to gather information was a very difficult task. * 6. The study was conducted among women entrepreneurs all around Bangladesh wh ere all the Upazillas were not covered and as such this may not reflect the total picture of Bangladesh relating to women entrepreneurs. * 7. In view of time and resource constraints, conducting a comprehensive study in full depth and width has not been possible. Literature review A. Concept of women entrepreneurship Women Entrepreneurs may be defined as the women or a group of women who initiate, organize and operate a business enterprise.Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs as an enterprise owned and controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of employment generated in the enterprise to women. Like a male entrepreneurs a women entrepreneur has many functions. They should explore the prospects of starting new enterprise; undertake risks, introduction of new innovations, coordination administration and control of business and providing effective leadership in all aspects of business. It is noticeable that en trepreneurship development and empowerment are complementary to each other.Women empowerment depends on taking part in various development activities. In other words, the involvement of women in various entrepreneurial activities has empowered then in social, economic and cultural fields. The power of an access to taking decisions has increased for women in Bangladesh, within as well as outside the family. Yet, women entrepreneurship development varies across rural and urban areas B. Growth of women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh: Ten years ago, a majority of the women workers in Bangladesh worked in the informal sector.They were mostly unpaid and did not contribute directly to formal economic activities. However, the demographic structure of the labour participation in Bangladesh is witnessing a remarkable change. An increasing number of women are working in the formal sector as entrepreneurs and paid workers, a situation that was not seen in the past. This gradual transformation o f women’s participation from the informal to the formal sectors has resulted in an upward mobility in the social and economic status of women, especially that of poor women in the country.In order to gain an understanding of the current situation, it becomes important to trace the factors that are contributing towards a progressive transformation in the status of women in the country. Since the early 1990s, the growth of manufacturing industries provided women an opportunity to enter the formal labour market. A large number of rural women migrated to cities at a very young age, thereby reducing women labour in agriculture in rural areas. A new generation of women workers emerged in the country that was financially independent and lived alone in urban areas without male supervision.Moreover, expansion of credit facilities gave women access to funds. Initially, women had access to less than one percent of the credit in the formal banking sector in Bangladesh. However, with the advent of the micro finance sector, many women had the opportunity to actively participate in income generating activities. Women, who mostly participated in non-farm activities and homestead farming, engaged in small-scale production, especially in rural areas. On an average, women earn 40% less than men in Bangladesh and have limited ownership over assets.Although there is a persistent problem of under-remuneration of women employed in formal sector activities, the potential of women’s economic contribution is slowing gaining recognition. Along with the expansion of the manufacturing sector and credit facilities, the growth of the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) has had a positive impact on women’s empowerment. A good number of NGOs engaged women not just in implementing development projects but also in the planning and designing stages. Women were actively involved in all stakeholder consultations. As a esult, women’s role and participation in health an d community development activities has been steadily increasing at the local level. At the same time, active participation in development projects has raised women’s awareness on their legal rights and benefits, which is also contributing towards their empowerment. In 2009, women’s labour force participation rate stood at 31. 5%, an increase of around 2% since 2005. During this period, although the participation of women in the labour force has increased by roughly 1 million as compared to 3 million of men, there is definitely a progressive change taking place.The changing role and status of women in Bangladesh today is characterized by increased opportunities. A research study conducted by the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry reveals that women entrepreneurs are more likely to hire other women. In addition to creating jobs opportunities for women, such a trend will result in an overall increase in the progress of women in the country. Greater particip ation of women in remunerative work will not only improve their living conditions but also improve their bargaining positions.Employed women will have better access to mainstream banking services which will help them to save and invest their income in tangible assets. Furthermore, formal sector employment opportunities for young women could reduce early marriages. Roughly 33% of women aged 15-49 in Bangladesh get married before the age of 15. Participation of young women in formal employment will not only prevent early marriages but also reduce fertility rates and health-related problems caused by early marriage.Looking ahead, while access to labour markets is rising for women, capacity building services for women workers such as comprehensive training programs need to be developed alongside in the country. One of the important challenges faced by most women entrepreneurs is lack of access to market information. Therefore, supportive infrastructure such as information centres must b e established to disseminate information on potential buyers, available technology and finance, which will make their business sustainable and profitable.Addressing such key challenges presents a strong prognosis for women’s employment in the long run, which will in turn result in greater empowerment of women and gradually eliminate social barriers in the country. C. Main scope: Scope of women enterprise covers a wide range of activities. The activities which are found particularly amenable to and can be successfully. The scope of women enterprise are represented: Figure: Scope of Women Entrepreneurship in Bangladesh D. Capital Structure: Capital is most important part to start up business.Women take initiative to start their business if she is financially strong or if she get financial support. We can define the capital structure of women in two way- 1. Long Term Sources 2. Short Term Sources 1. Long Term Sources: These are the loans taken for a fairly long duration of time ranging from 5 to 10 years or more. Long term loans are raised to meet the financial requirement of enterprise for acquiring the fixed asset including land,building,plant and machinery etc. Figure: Sources of Long Term Capital 2. Short Term Sources:Short term capital is obtained for aperiod upto 1 year. These are required to meet the day to day business requirement. In other words,short term capital is obtained to meet the working capital requirement of the enterprise- Figure: Sources of Short term capital E. PROFILE OF SOME SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR The assignment also includes conducting of 30 case studies of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. The entrepreneurs were selected for the purpose at random. However, the accessibility of the entrepreneurs in terms of their time and convenience was also a factor in the selection.The studies are presented in the following pages. The case studies mirror some important aspects of women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh. PROFILE 01: BRIDAL WEAR AN D FASHION DESIGN: DALSANEA Dalsanea, an exclusive fashion house is a popular brand name to Bangladeshi fashion loving people. The enterprise represents the beauty, women power and sprit of our time. Inspired by the theme, the enterprise was established in 1989 in Chittagong by Afsana Ahmed Shoma, the Chief Executive. Shoma is a truly self motivated business woman. Although she is an M.Com (Finance), had a great interest in women fashion from her teenage life with a dream to be a fashion designer which inspired her for establishing the enterprise. She learns from new fashions that came to her notice. Today, she is specialized in wedding outfit design. Now Shoma is using a rented house in Dhaka as her work place and residence. She employs over 60 men and women to design and manufacturing wedding and party collection and soft evening dresses. She also uses contract workers for minor initial works. She is looking forward to establishing a separate workshop for her business, if financial support from banks is available.The demand for her products is quite high and she has no marketing problem. Her products go mostly in big cities such as Dhaka and Chittagong. Most of the time, she receives advanced orders from the showroom owners of the big cities. She has participated in a number of national and international trade fairs and received recognition for her customized fashion brand. Investment: Originally, she invested about Tk. 1. 5 lakh in her business mostly from her own savings and borrowings from the close family members and about Tk. lakh from a private Bank and repaid. Recently, she applied for a loan of Tk. 10 lakh to MIDAS financing limited and the application is under process. Today the total investment in her business amounts to about Tk. 40 lakh. Income /Expenditure: Her average turnover per month is over Tk. 60 lakh with an operating cost of Tk 35 lakh. Social and environmental factors: The social factors that generally hinders Bangladeshi women in taking up business as a profession does not affect her much although her family members could not take her decision positively.However, she has overcome these problems with perseverance and determination. Environmental problems don’t affect her much since the by products from her operation are mainly dry and degradable materials that are disposed by the Municipal waste collector. She is a member of several professional bodies and a familiar person in business and social life.. Future Prospects: The Dalsanea has good prospect for further development. At present, it is growing at the rate of about 25% per year. It has a plan to export mainly in the South Asian region. PROFILE 02: LEATHER AND JUTE GOODS: KARIGARKARIGAR, a leather and jute goods producing enterprise is a pride and inspiration of young entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. The enterprise was established in 2005 by a young graduate in Leather Product Technology, Tania Wahab and her friend. Tania is a self motivated business woman at a time when a large number of young professionals look for job after graduation instead of becoming entrepreneur. Bangladesh is an exporting country of lathe products and jute goods. Animal skin and hide are available in Bangladesh and the climate made the country as the producer of best quality jute in the World.After graduation, Tania spends no time to take the advantage of raw materials availability in the country and the skill she acquired from the Bangladesh College of Leather Technology to fulfil her dream to be a business women. She is a self motivated, energetic and heard working woman with keen interest to learn. Although Tania is specialized on leather products but she is learning business management by doing. KARIGAR has two factories and a showroom in Dhaka- the second showroom is on the way. It has over 50 products such as Leather goods (jacket, wallet, belt jewellery box, slipper etc. , Jute goods (bags, cushion cover, table matt, table runner etc. ) and promotiona l items. The company employs 35 people of whom 95% are women to run the factory and the showroom. The enterprise also uses contract workers during the peak season. Tania is looking forward to establish an international standard factory in course of time. She markets her products by selling from her showroom and supplying to different client’s office on order. She has participated in national and international trade fairs with her products and gain respects. Investment: Initially, she and her friend have invested about Tk. 0. lakh in the business mostly borrowing from the close family members. Today they have accumulated about Tk. 15 lakh as operating capital. This year they borrowed Tk. 5 lakh from a private Bank. Social and environmental factors: The social factor affected her very much, initially. Fellow business men at the hub of Leather business in Dhaka could not believe that she will survive with the business because she is a woman. Gradually she has overcome these prob lems with enthusiasm and determination and become a member of their association, which makes her presence acceptable to the member of the association.Environmental problems, especially disposal of waste materials affect her and she is trying to dispose the waste, scientifically. She is a member of several professional bodies. She is a resource person in different training programs. In 2006, Tania received National Best WomenEntrepreneur Award from SME Foundation, Bangladesh and listed as a raising business woman of Bangladesh by the International Trade centre, Geneva. Income /Expenditure: Her average turnover per month is over Tk. 10. 0 lakh with an operating cost of Tk 8. 0 lakh. At present the enterprise is growing at a rate of about 60% per yearFuture Prospects: KARIGAR’s products have good prospect for marketing both at home and abroad. The enterprise exported about Tk. 18. 5 lakh worth of leather, jute and leather-jute mix products to UK and Australia in 2007-8 through a buying house. To increase the export, the enterprise must have international standard environmental friendly workshop for which Tania has a plan to setup. However, she needs promotional support from SME Foundation and long term loan from banks. PROFILE 03: HEALTH FOOD: EYA DON ENTERPRISE EYA DON, an exclusive health food supplier is a popular fast food in Dhaka.The enterprise represents the quality; test andnutritious food for all. Khalida Ahmed, the director, is a children story writer, wanted to do something for the children. She is a very good cook of specialized Indian food from her family life and develops her brand with special sugar content food which is good for children test and growth. Khalida raised her three children and learned the requirement Of nutritious and healthy food for children. She is now an expert of testy food especially for children. With the help of husband and other family members, she established the enterprise in 2000 at Mohammedpur, Dhaka.Khalida is a truly motivated social worker and business woman. She makes ready polau in 10 minutes, prepares Makhna, a special nutritious food for children, mixed acher (pickles), frozen kabob and many other food items. Eya Don’s food items received Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute (BSTI) approval for marketing by fulfilling quality, nutrition and hygienic requirements. Khalida is using a rented house in Dhaka as her work place and residence. She employs seven men and women to prepare and market food items. She also uses contract workers for minor initial works.She is looking forward to establishing a separate kitchen for her business, if financial support is available. She supplies foods to schools, Government and non-government offices on a contract basis. She also markets her products through super stores such as Agora, Nandan, Destiny, Prince Bazar etc. in Dhaka. She also made push sell, participated food fairs in Bangladesh. In 2004 she has exported a ton of frozen food to UK but could not continue due to lack of sufficient fund to build a bigger factory. Investment: Originally, she invested about Tk. 1. lakh in her business mostly from her and husband’s saving. She has now accumulated about Tk. 20. 0 lakh as operating capital. Recently, she applied for a loan of Tk. 8. 0 lakh to MIDAS financing limited and the application is under process. Income /Expenditure: Her average turnover per month is over Tk. 1. 5 lakh with an operating cost of Tk 1. 2 lakh. Social and environmental factors: The social factors do not affect her much rather her husband and family members helped to establish the enterprise to keep her busy when children grown up. Environmental problems don’t affect her.She is a member of several professional bodies and a familiar person in business and social life. Future Prospects: The EYA DON Enterprise is growing at the rate of about 16% per year with good prospect for further growth. It has a plan to establish a frozen food factory with international standards for which the staff needs HACCP training; technical know-how and the company need financial support. F. Problems of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh: Our study paid a lot of attention to investigate the challenges and problems faced by women entrepreneur. According to the study 94. % entrepreneur face different types of challenges and 5. 95% does not face any challenges or problems to start their enterprise. The challenges or problems are categorized in following ways: Figure: Problems of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh 1. Financial Problem: Inadequacy of capital is the main problem of women entrepreneureneurs. Women have limited capital mainly from family savings and for initial capital they have to resort to the relative and other sources. For bank loan women need to give the collateral. Most women cannot expand their business due to financial problem.Marketing: Absence of marketing facilities for women or easy access and the absence of prop er sales centre are some of the major obstacles to do business. Women supply their products in markets through middleman. Due to shortage of capital women cannot afford to establish sale centers and they cannot expand their market for this. Raw Material: Women often face problem of price increase of the raw materials they use and have to pay high rate for retail purchase. Due to lack of capital they cannot purchase bulk quality of raw material and have to pay a high rate for retail purchase.Price: Due to lack of market facilities women do not get the proper prices for their products,which are under priced by the customers or wholesalers who order their products. Other problems arise when the buyer does not provide the actual price or the wholesalers takes goods on credit. Labor: Moreover, on-availability of efficient or skilled labor is another problem. Equipment: Lack of improved equipment and machinery,existing competition faced due to expansion of production. 2. Political Problem : Political unrest like hartal /strike hindrance brings harm to their business .In that time the entrepreneurs face a problem to produce and sale their goods . 3. Family problem: Some entrepreneur‘s mention that they also face family problem, they cannot spend. Much time for their business because they are engaged with their house hold work and take care their children . Women are in traditional and skill based business because the household members want that women should be involved in home based business which require less mobility or interaction mainly women customers . 3. Social problem: Women are handicapped in the current centralized wholesale market set up controlled by men.The men in business do not welcome women’s entrance in the market and they often discourage women. Women entrepreneurs are often cheated by their male partners. 4. Transportation Problem: Linkages with the markets and flow of constant supply of product are hampered by the lack of quality trans portation problem. 5. Lack of technical problem: Technology is changing and women have very little access to new technology and market information. Women normally work within a small geographic area with limited mobility. 6. Stiff Competition:Women entrepreneurs do not have organizational set up to pump in a lot of money for canvassing and advertisement. Thus,they have to face a stiff competition for marketing their products. 7. Limited Mobility: Unlike men, women mobility in Bangladesh is highly limited due to various reasons. A single women asking for room is still looked upon suspicion. 8. Lack of Education: In Bangladesh, around 60% of women are still illiterate. Illiteracy is the root cause of socio-economic problems. Due to the lack of education and that too qualitative education, women are not aware of business, technology and market knowledge.Thus, lack of education creates problems for women in the setting up and running of business enterprises. 9. Male-Dominated Society: W omen suffer from male reservations about a women’s role, ability and capacity are treated accordingly. Thus in turn, serves as a barrier to women entry into business. 10. Low Risk Bearing Ability: Women in Bangladesh lead a protected life. They are less educated and economically not self-dependent. Risk bearing is an essential requisite of a successful entrepreneur. 11. Other Problems: Law and other situation poses problems for women’s mobility. Another problem is insecure feelings.Sometimes police, admen create problem to carry their goods. Women have no legal knowledge or help in protecting their industries and often fall victims to illegal threats or criminal offenses. Frequent power failures are another important factor which hampers their production in time which effect on their business market. Women suffer from information crisis. In addition to above problem, inadequate infrastructural facilities, shortage of power, high cost production, social attitude, low ne ed for achievement and socuio-economic constraint also hold the women back from entering into business.G. Prospects of Women Entreprenuer Though women entreprenuer have a lotos of problems,still there are lots of opportunities also for them to continue. Women get preferential treatment in different official matter, handle with considerations, to better quality controlling and can maintain good customer relation. Now day’s educated women are coming forward to entreprenuership just after comleting their education. This is a very good sign for women empowerment and as well as material development There are several areas where the women entreprenuers have good prospect.The areas where the women entreprenuers can get an easy access are discussed: Figure: Prospects of Women Entrepreneur 1. Self –Employed: These women have acquired on own, especially from parents, relatives or friends, the skills and capacities to operate enterprises. Some have undergone training and apprenti ceship or worked as skilled labourers and obtained enough knowledge to start their own business. So women can move toward self employment. 2. Enterprise Ownership: Women can be the owner/operators of existing micro-enterprises, prove management and technical skill in self-employment. They often wish to xpand, upgrade or diversify their business through employment of family members as apprtenticeship especially in the rural areas or engage and hire workers for the production when the business progresses in the urban areas. 3. Manufacturing: Women’s traditional skills enable them to take up manufacturing in areas where raw materials for the products is available. Women in these activities employee workers skilled, non-skilled, permanent or as seasonal workers. With the expansion of business and the development of quality products, training in skill, technology, management and marketing becomes essential. . Family Trade: Many women can involved in the family trades, hereditarily performed through generations and the skill is traditionally kept within the family. Manufacturing handicrafts pottery, involved in food preparation operating individual units of embroidery, tailoring printing, dyeing, weaving, spinning, net marketing, etc. 5. Agricultural Activities: The rural women participate more in the agricultural sector, especially in operating vegetable gardens, horticulture production, nursery or even rice husking and preparation of varied rice products. 6. Sub-contracting:This new system of generating income in the non formal sector is providing opportunities for women through negotiable procedure obtaining orders for product from either, exporters, procedures, whole seller’s or middlemen. 7. Women as exporters: Women can venture into exports directly by themselves or through other exporters. Export fairs, international trade fairs, single country fairs and initiative by importers have helped the women to produce quality products for exports. FINDI NGS: 1. the contrinution % of the women entrepreneurs in different districts:A questionnaire survey conducted among 130 women entrepreneur and based on this survey and statistical data the approximate result of women entrepreneur in Bangladesh are come out. The number of women entrepreneur in different district can be mentioned as follows__ 2. Motivating factors to enter into business: The respondents were asked to describe factors that encourage them to enter into business and entrepreneurial activities. The opinions they expressed in response to this questions are compiled and given in the following table with relative frequency and ranking.Factors that encourage women to enter into business| %| Ranking| Inspiration from family and family had business| 29| 1| To create self-dependency| 24| 2| Self inspiration| 22| 3| Extra income for the family| 22| 3| For economic freedom| 14| 4| Self employment| 12| 5| Inspiration by friends| 9| 5| To upgrade social status| 6| 6| Pass leisure ti me| 5| 7| Economic development| 4| 8| Inspiration from some organizations| 3| 9| No alternative to have a job| 1| 10| Inspired by training| 1| 10| To establish women’s rights| 1| 10| Eradicate gender discrimination| 1| 10| Creating opportunity for others| 1| 10| . previous occupations: Previous occupation of women entrepreneur are describe by the following pie chart _ 4. Nature Of Ownership: individual ownership is dominant type Among 130 enterprises established by women entrepreneurs. Their nature of owner ship are shown by following figure_ individual ownership is dominant type Among 60 women entrepreneurs, 73. 2% is owned by individual, 15. 9% is jointly owned by family members and only 7. 3% business is run in partnership with other members. Partnership is also dominated by the traditional kinship relationships as 38. % of women entrepreneurs have partnership with mother, 26. 9% with sisters, and 3. 8% with brother. Only 3. 8% of women entrepreneurs interviewed have partn ership with husband. In 15. 4% cases, partnership is found with friends. Domination of partnership by the kinship relationship can be explained by traditional patriarchal social values and social system, under which, women’s social dealing with the people, particularly men, outside of the family is highly restricted. This is also associated with the fear of social insecurity and social stigma. 5. Types of Business Where Women entered:Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs by the types of business are shown in following. Type-1| Type-2| Type-3| Description| %| Description| %| Description| %| Manufacturing| 61. 6%| Only Export| 15. 6%| Whole sell| 16. 2%| Service| 12. 8%| Only Import| 0%| Retail| 43. 0%| Trading| 12. 8%| Neither Export Nor Import| 82. 8%| Both| 40. 8%| Other| 12. 8%| Both Export & Import| 1. 6%| | | | 100%| | 100%| | ! 00%| Table : Types of Business Where Women Are Entered . Among 130 women entrepreneurs interviewed, about two third of them (62%) were f ound to be involved in manufacturing sector followed by service (12. %) and trading sector (12. 8%). Among them, 82. 8% has no relation with export-import business as only 15. 6% were found to be involved in export-oriented business. Retail is the dominant trend among women entrepreneurs in the sample. More than one third of them (43%) were found to be involved in retail business. Only 16. 2% enterprises were found to be wholesellers and 40. 8% were involved in both retail and wholesell business. 6. Experiences in Trade Licensing and Company Registration: Women Face various types of Problme to Register their enterprise.It Causes various harassment for women. That’s why they are not interested for register their business. Their registration status are shown in following figure-eight†¦ Figure: Status of enterprises in term of having company Registration The figure shows that almost half of the women entrepreneurs (49. 7%) interviewed did not get their enterprises registere d with any legal authorities. Among women entrepreneurs, who have trade license, most of them run their business in the city corporation like Dhaka, Rajshahi and Sylhet. About 90% of the women entrepreneurs from Dhaka have trade license.Most of the women entrepreneurs, who do not have trade license, are from the district town or local area like Jessore (85. 7% have no trade license), Comilla (57% have no trade license). It could be assumed that having trade license is associated with the access to information. Since the women living in the city corporation areas have greater access to information and public institutions, most of them were able to get their company registered. It is also evident from the result of cross tabulation that education and training has a great influence to inspire women to get their company registered.About 70% of women entrepreneurs having trade license completed at least secondary level of education and have some training experiences on various issues. Ye ar of company registration: Although 50% of women entrepreneurs did not get their company registered from any legal authority, the tendency to have trade license is gradually increasing, as it is evident from figure 8. that 59% of enterprises become registered during 2001-2007. It can be assumed that educated women are entering into business and they have better knowledge of regulatory Trade license-providing agencies:In Bangladesh there are some agencies that provide trade license who are authorized by Govt. the license providing agencies are shown in following figure. Figure-9: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs by the trade-licensing authorit Among 50% of the respondents having trade license, majority of them (67. 9%) got trade license from the City Corporation, 17. 9% from Municipality, 3. 6% from Union Parishad. It is also evident from the findings that 40% were unable to complete trade licensing procedures on their own resulting in increased expenditures for compan y registration.About 45% of them had to expend, on average, extra 2000 taka only to get help in trade license processing. The median value for this purpose was found to be 5000 taka, which means about 50% of the women entrepreneurs, who were unable to accomplish trade licensing process on their own, had to expense, on average, 5000 taka or more than 5000 taka. Expenditure for getting trade license: It is evident from the findings that most of the women entrepreneurs have experiences of informal source of expenditures like bribery in the process of getting trade license. Expenditure| Name of the trade licensing authority| City corporation| Municipality| Union parishad| Mean| 2400| 1200| Not available| Median| 2250| 1200| Not available| expenditures like bribery in the process of getting trade license. The women entrepreneurs interviewed mentioned that they had to informally pay from 50 to 1200 taka to get trade license from the city corporation. Regarding informal expenditure, they h ad better experiences with municipalities. Average expenditure including formal and informal for getting trade license from the City Corporation was found to be BDT 2400 and median was calculated for this category as BDT 2250.In case of Municipality, both mean and median were found to be 1200. It means getting trade license from municipalities is less expensive. It is also mentioned by the respondents that getting trade license from Municipality was less bureaucratic and complication free compare to the services from the city . corporation. Reasons behind not having trade license: The women entrepreneurs, who did not have trade license, were asked to describe the reasons. The opinions they expressed as reasons for not having trade license were as follows: Opinion| %| Unaware of the necessity of having trade license| 37%|Aware but not familiar with the process| 41%| Applied for trade license and the process is going on| 3. 7%| Others| 18. 3%| Total| 100%| Problems faced by the women entrepreneurs with different trade licensing authorities: The following table Show the Problems faced by the women entrepreneurs with different trade licensing authorities— Types of Problemsmentioned by thewomen entrepreneurs| CityCorporation| Municipalities| UnionParishad| Taxdepartment| Complex process| X| X| | X| Time consuming| X| X| X| X| Bureaucratic process| X| X| | X| Bribery| X| X| | X| Indecent behavior| X| X| | X| Sexual harassment,teasing| X| X| X| X|Lack of cooperation| X| X| | X| Problems faced by the women entrepreneurs due to not having trade license: Due to not having trade license women faced different types of problems and harassments. The problem that they face are represented in following tables Major Problems| %| Could not get access to bank loan and financial institutions| 80| Could not participate in trade fair| 60| Could not get membership with the chamber of commerce| 45| Could not enter into export-import oriented sectors| 35| It is observed from th e table-13 that women entrepreneurs faced various problems due to not having trade license.As per responses by women entrepreneurs, for the lack of trade license, 80% of them were refused by banks or financial institutions to give a loan to them, 75% of them could not participate in trade fair. Since, it is mandatory to have trade license for getting membership with the chamber of commerce, 60% of them failed to apply for membership. Another 35% told that they could not enter into export-import business Opinion of the women regarding company registration The women entrepreneurs in the sample were asked to express their recommendations about existing company registration process.The major issues they raised were as follows. Opinion| %| Make registration process easier| 75| Make information available towomen entrepreneurs| 70| Create awareness regardingregistration process| 60| Create awareness regardingregistration process| 85| Make the people gender sensitive| 66| Organize training on regulatory process| 58| Reduce company registration fee| 70| Reduce complexity| 55| Fasten registration process| 45| 7. Main sectors Sector-wise percentage distribution of the respondents. Name of the sectors| % enterprises| Garments/Home textile| 16. 1|Printing| 1. 6| Handicraft| 69. 4| Agro based| 3. 2| Parlor| 4. 8| Food| 3. 2| Others| 1. 6| Total| 100| Among the respondents, majority of women entrepreneurs (69. 4%) were found to be involved in handicraft sector followed by garments/ home-textile (16%). The table-8 also shows that women are becoming in non-traditional sectors like printing and media, food business, etc. It is observed that 60% of women entrepreneurs did not know how to conduct feasibility study before selecting a specific product, 26. 7% of them were completely found unaware of feasibility study and 6. % of them did not feel necesity to conduct a feasibility study. Only few women entrepreneurs told that they conducted feasibility through market observation and participation in trade fair. 8. Training and Human Resources Training Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs by the status of training: Whether received training| % of therespondents| Received before starting business| 35. 5| Received after starting business | 42. 1| Received before and after starting business| 13. 2| Did not receive any training| 9. 2| Total| 100| n=60 Training is a vital issue for women entrepreneurship development.It can facilitate women to internalize required business skills and attributes. The table-15 shows that among the women entrepreneurs interviewed, almost half of them(48. 7%) had received training on various issues before they entered into business. Different NGOs, public institutions like women and children affairs department, youth development department, chamber of commerce, trade bodies provided these training. 42. 1% of them started their business without having any training on business development although they received training after the y had entered into business. In 9. % cases, there was no opportunity to receive training and they did not receive any training on business. This group is from the remotest area that means women entrepreneurs live in the rural areas or local areas are more vulnerable than their urban counterpart is. Percentage distribution of the respondents by the name of courses that they received before and after their business initiatives: Name of the trainingcourses| % of the respondents| | Before starting12business| After starting13business| Sales and marketing| 44| 69| Training on sewing| 44| 6| Training on block and boutique| 40| 28| Training on embroidery| 19| 0|Training on cutting| 11| 0| Training on Tailoring| 26| 9| Handicraft| 41| 19| Computer| 4| 22| Financial Management| 11| 9| Business Management| 7| 16| Leadership of women| 4| 0| Poltry| 15| 3| Mini garments| 4| 0| Screen print| 4| 3| Cooking| 4| 3| Beauty & herbal care| 4| 0| The above table shows training courses which were organiz ed for women entrepreneurs before or after their entry into business. It is expected that those training courses were helpful to buildcapacity of women entrepreneurs at entry level but in terms of the degree of effectiveness, there is a scope to raise questions.The women entrepreneurs who did not receive any training mentioned that they did not know where to go to receive training. They do not have proper idea about training providing agencies. It is also observed that public training providing agencies do not have proper mechanism to go to women entrepreneurs, particularly to rural women with their services, as said by the respondents. 9. Sources of capital: Starter Capital and Trend in Investment: The picture of starter capital are representing by following table- | Starter Capital (BDT)| Current amount of capital (BDT)| Mean| 207265| 290884| Median| 20000| 600000|Mode| 100000| 300000| Minimum| 500| 10000| Maximum| 4000000| 5000000| Out of 130 women entrepreneurs interviewed, 77 w omen entrepreneurs were able to provide information about the amount of their starter capital. Based on available informationprovided by them, mean value of starter capital for 77 women entrepreneurs were found to be BDT 207265 but the median value was found to be BDT 20,000, which means 50% of 77 women entrepreneurs’ starter capita was equal to or less than BDT 20,000. The minimum starter capital was found to be only BDT 500. The maximum amount of starter capital was BDT 4000000.This extreme case has positive influence on the value of mean. Compare to the current amount of capital, it is evident that average capital has been increased from the amount of the starting point of business. For 69 women entrepreneurs, mean and median for existing capital were calculated as BDT 290884 and BDT 600000. In case of starter capital, 50% of women entrepreneurs’ investment was from BDT 500 to 20000 while 50% of women entrepreneurs’ current investments were found between BDT 10000 to 600000. It can be considered as significant growth in investment for micro women entrepreneurs.Sources of Starter capital: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs by the sources of starter capital are presented by following table- Opinion| %Of Respondents| Own savings| 61| Parents| 39| Husband| 18| n-laws| 6| Relatives belong to kinship group| 2| Friends| 3| Public commercial bank| 1| Private commercial bank| 1| NGO| 5| Other government agencies| 3| Cooperative society| 0| Leasing company| 0| Mahajan| 0| Others| 0| Credit Facilities For Women: In our social world the women did not get enough facility for the credit facility. The face various problem for collecting their capital.If an women goes for institutional facility then she does not get enough respons from them. Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs by their first impression at bank Level Of Impression| % Of women Entrepreneurs| Very good| 11| Moderate| 67| Bad| 22| Total| 100| Among the respondents, 9 8 women entrepreneurs out of 130 visited various banks and financial institutions for a loan but only 5 of them managed to get a loan from banks. 98 women entrepreneurs were also asked to express their first impression about bank. Only 11% mentioned that they have very good impression. 7% of them expressed their moderate impression and 22% told they had bad impression while they went for a loan to a bank. SOWT Analysis about women entrepreneur according to survey: Here the SOWT analysis from the survey explain the internal capacity and external capacity analysis of an women to establish en enterprise. According to our survey the explanation of strength, opportunity, weakness and threats. A. Strengths of Women: * Initiative * Self-inspiration * Efficiency at work * Self-confidence * Growth oriented * Good organizer * Ambitious * Imitation of innovations B. Weaknesses of Women: Low risk-bearing ability * Low literacy rate * Low work participation rate * Low urban population share * Lo w utilization capacity of resources * Low level of mobilitys * Inability to hardwork and tencious work * Confusion in decision making C. Opportunities of Women: * Tchnological opportunity * Support from government * Professional consultancies * Micro-finance facilities * Availability of raw material * Tax facility * SME * Export facility D. Threats of Women: * Unfavourable cultural practices * Social inhibitions * Unaware of government facilities * Huge competition * High cost against loan Lack of training facility * Inadequate infrastructural facility. * Family ties * Male dominating society. * poor linkages and networks * unfavorable policy and regulatory environment RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION Recommendation Based on the present stydy the following recommendations are put forward for further improvement of the condition of women entrepreneur of Bangladesh. * Establish a separate cell to deal with women entrepreneurs regarding trade license and company registration. * Create eas y access for women entrepreneurs to the local administrative support public institution . The central bank should fix up a target for each bank to provide loan for women and from a monitoring team to monitor the implementation of its circular. * A comprehensive credit policy should be initiated under the supervision of the central bank in order to create access of women entrepreneurs to finance. this policy must keep a provision of collateral free loan, credit without interest or low rate of interest (maximum 8% interest),loan for long time duration etc. for women entrepreneurs. * Establish a separate bank for the development of women entrepreneurs.Impose an obligation for other banks to maintain a minimum quota for women entrepreneurs in loan disbursement and ensure the implementation of this quota. * All types of new women entrepreneurs should given a provision of tax-exemption for at last five years. * Include a special provision for women entrepreneurs in the policy and procedur es of value added tax (VAT) and keep a provision of VAT exemption for new women entrepreneurs for at least first five years. * Increase budgetary allocation to facilitate women entrepreneurs, particularly women entrepreneurs to participate in the national and international trade fair. Provide special support to women entrepreneurs who are involved in export-oriented activities for promoting marketing of their products. * The required amount of credit and its timely disbursement have an important role to continue and expand the enterprise. * Timely support of credit facility has to be ensured. * Collateral requirement of bank should be revisited and procedures should be made simple. * All banks should allocate a portion of their loan for women entrepreneurs and should open a separate window for them. Lack of management experience of entrepreneur they should be trained on â€Å"Entrepreneur Development Training†. Proper step should be taken for this purpose. * Women entrepreneu r needs management assistance to improve the administrative capacity and increase productive activity and capacity in quality as well as in volume. Conclusion: Entrepreneurship to women in Bangladesh is more than just income generation. It is about working to build a more prosperous country, to lift the many millions of Bangladesh people out of poverty. It is about achieving economic independence and women’s empowerment.And it is about striving for emancipation of women’s gender roles, to create a better future for generations of women to come. So,all of us who have a role to play must come forward in this extremely important development and growth process to build the nation that Bangladesh should be. The present study show that most of the entrepreneurs were from young and less educated. They were migrating from different areas. According to the survey results women are found to have engaged themselves in different type of enterprises. Women entrepreneurs selected th eir enterprises with what they were familiar.Most of the cases show that they were previously worked on others as worker from which they earned their working skill and later on they started their enterprises in those Ares only. The study clearly indicate that lack of capital is still the remain problem, absence of marketing facilities, absence of proper sales center are some of the major problem. Another common barrier faced by the women entrepreneurs was balancing time between the enterprise and the family. If the major barrier in marketing for women entrepreneurs can be removed then the women lead sector can surely add income for the economy.This study focuses that if the women are provided with appropriate training and need based assistance and make an easy environment they will incrementally enter into the entrepreneurial occupation and will prove their worth through efficiency in operation to contribute to the economy of Bangladesh. Reference 1. Multiple responses were allowed and responses were not mutually exclusive 2. N=36, multiple responses were allowed and data were not mutually exclusive 3. N=32, for both cases, multiple responses were allowed and data were not mutually exclusive 4.Shamim, Munir Uddin, Report on Promoting Women Entrepreneurship through Advocacy, March 206-February 2007, BWCCI, July 2007, pg. 24. 5. Afsar, Dr. Rita, Bringing Women Entrepreneurs in Policy Focus for SME Development in Bangladesh, A keynote paper presented at the Seminar on Strengthening Capacity of Women organized by BWCCI, February 26, 2008 6. 4. BBS, The Statistical Pocket of Book of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 2006 7. Shamim, Munir Uddin, Report on Promoting Women Entrepreneurship through Advocacy, BWCCI, Dhaka, July 2007 APPENDIX Questionnaire Survey on Women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh 1.Personal Information: I. Name:_________________________________________________________________________ II. Company name:_______________________________________________________________ __ III. Address:_______________________________________________________________________ IV. Address 2:_____________________________________________________________________ V. City/Town:_____________________________________________________________________ VI. State:________________________________________________________________________ VII. ZIP/Postal Code:_______________________________________________________________VIII. Country:_____________________________________________________________________ IX. Email Address:________________________________________________________________ X. Phone Number:_______________________________________________________________ 2. Establishing this Business is very simple in our country by Women? StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| Disagree| StronglyDisagree| | | | | | 3. The structure of Women Entrepreneur is appropriate for business world? | StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| Disagree| StronglyDisagree| Partnership| | | | | | Corporation| | | | | | sole pro prietorship| | | | | | 4.Is the Bank Loan is Difficult to get? StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| Disagree| StronglyDisagree| | | | | | 5. Have Difficulties in obtaining Financial Capital? StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| Disagree| StronglyDisagree| | | | | | 6 . Partners are Beneficial for women enterprise? StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| Disagree| StronglyDisagree| | | | | | 7. Sole Proprietors are Beneficial for women enterprise? StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| Disagree| StronglyDisagree| | | | | | 8. Which types of Fund is Cost effective for women enterprise ? | StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| Disagree| StronglyDisagree | Personal Savings. | | | | | Gift from Family and Friends| | | | | | Loan from Family and Friends| | | | | | Loan from previous owner. | | | | | | Credit card/personal loan. | | | | | | Bank Loan| | | | | | Partners| | | | | | 9. What are the Remarkable Problems you face in your business (from the list below)? | StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| Disagree| StronglyDisagree| Toomuch competition| | | | | | State and federal regulations| | | | | | Not enough business knowledge| | | | | | Cash flow problems| | | | | | Rising costs of business| | | | | | Too much paperwork| | | | | | Too many factors out of my control| | | | | | 10.Reasons for becoming a business owner? | StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| StronglyDisagree| Disagree| To be my own boss| | | | | | Always wanted to start my own business| | | | | | Family responsibilities| | | | | | Good way to find employment| | | | | | To make more money| | | | | | Dissatisfied with my work| | | | | | Thought I could do better job than others| * | * | * | * | * | 11. How much of each of the following kinds of experiences did you have before you became a business owner? | StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| StronglyDisagree| Disagree| Job in the same field as the business | | | | | |School education directly related to business | | | | | | Seminars, programs relevant to business | | | | | | Hobby, personal experience i n same field| | | | | | Supervisory/management experience | | | | | | Accounting experience| | | | | | 12. What is the type of your current business? ____________________ 13. Is it your first business? * Yes * No 14. Why you come tobusiness? _________________________________ 15. What is the reason behind the business? ______________________ 16. Have you get any help from other in this start up your business? * Yes * No 17. Do you have trade license? Yes * No 18. Have you get support from your family? * Yes * No 19. What is the current amount of your investment? _________________ 20. How to invest it? ____________________________________________ 21. What is your occupational background? ________________________ 22. What is your father/husband’s occupational background? _________ 23. Have you face any problem? StronglyAgree| Agree| Neutral| Disagree| StronglyDisagree| | | | | | 24. Have you ever taken loan? * Yes * No 25. If yes then from whom? _________________________________ ____ 26. do you maintain accounts and book keeping? Yes * No 27. Do you have TIN? * Yes * No 28. Are you informed about tax and VAT? * Yes * No 29. Are you informed about tax facility? * Yes * No 30. Did you get any training facility? * Yes * No 31. Do you have any future plane? * Yes * No 32. What is your future plane? __________________________________ 33. What types of help is required to expand your business.? 34. What step should be taken to improve situation of the women entrepreneur in Bangladesh? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________