Era of Fashion

An Era of Fashion Webster dictionary states that fashion is â€Å"The make or form of something. The prevailing style during a particular time. † Personally, I believe fashion is not Just what you wear but a state of mind. I once read a quote by Coco Channel that read, â€Å"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will â€Å"assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safer, the creatures of the commonplace the slaves of the ordinary. † This to me said it all.Fashion is about showing the true o and the statement that you want to make on that particular day, weather that statement is bold or casual in sweat pants and a white T. Fashion is not Just what we see everyday in magazines. Fashion is what you make it. During the pre ass's through the early to mid-ass's fashion trends such as the mini skirt, maxi skirt, mini dress, the halter neck cat dress, flared trousers, empire dresses, high waist banana sears, bell bottoms, army Jackets and Jumpsuits were all the rage.Two of the more well known people I believed to represent the ass's well was, Affray Facet, who cocked the feathered hairstyle and ass's style well for the ladies and Elvis Presley who was well known for always looking amazing in Jumpsuits showed the boys exactly how to make an outfit look good. In the photos I have chosen to use you will see my Grandparent's, my Uncle, my mother and my father. My Grandparent's and Uncle have always lived in Tucson, Az as for my mother for most of her life has lived in Tucson, except with a two year influence from her time spent in California.As for my father he was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas until his college years when he moved to Tucson. The pictures were not taken for a particular reason other than to remember the time my father went to the Pimp Air Show and the time my mother spent visiting Harbor Island. The trends in both hair style and garments are shown. For instance my mother in the black an d white photograph shows Just how being â€Å"hip† in that time of age would have been represented, which was shown by the mini dress and having hair as big as you could get it to go. The types of clothing shown in my pictures are more on the casual side of everyday life in the U.S. Back in the ass's. Because fashion has always reflected its moment in history one could say that clothes mocked their environment. More designers were finally getting the chance to travel. This gave them a chance to see other nations. Viewing other nations meant new colors, textures, materials and ideas. There was now more to fashion than the same old boring prints. What is special about the ass's clothing to me are the patterns and the colors. The ass's was bold and therefore the colors and shapes of the garments were bigger than life. Personally, it seems to me that living in the ass's meant that one could not be shy!This era in time was such a big influence on the world and trends can still be seen in present day. For example, â€Å"That ass's Show,† puts forth a great understanding of the prints, textures, and all around style of the ass's. Another show that from time to time will represent the ass's is â€Å"The Rachel Zoe Project. † Rachel Zoe is a fashion stylist, who herself every so often will show high wasted pants, big earrings, big hair, patterns, and styles from the ass's. All in all I believe that the seventies was an amazing and inspiring era. QUESTIONS: 1 . The people included in my photos are as followed: My nana, that, UncleGilbert, along with my mother and my father. 2. The time period in the photos are as followed: 1981 3. They lived in Tucson, AZ and the Nassau Bahamas 4. The Time of year these pictures were taken were: Summer (all photos except grandparent's), and winter. 5. Where the photographs taken for a special event: (dad) Pimp Air Show, (mom) Visiting Harbor Island, otherwise the others were not for special events. 6. The clothing w as not related to a particular profession of the time period. 7. The significant historical events happening at the time were: RonaldReagan was Just elected President of the United States, The American hostages was held in Iran, Interest rates was at 14% (very high). 8. The historical events are depicted in the clothing by 9. What is special to me about the clothing are the patterns and the colors, very little black. The clothes do inspire me, the whole 60-70 era inspires me. Yes its fashion. Fashion is not one particular trend or look. Fashion includes person style and the emotion behind the person, It's a statement. 10. The style is Mod and personal. 11. That ass's Show I believe uses this era as inspiration along with â€Å"The Rachel Zoe Project. â€Å"

Issues, concerns, and challenges in environmental adjucation in the philippine court system Essay

Introduction The court system is an integral part of environmental enforcement in the Philippines and has made many important contributions to the field. However, environmental cases do not always progress smoothly through the judicial system. This paper is intended to identify important legal issues in the judicial system that affect or limit environmental adjudication. 2 The issues are divided between access to and competency of justice, and legal procedures. While many of these issues could be analyzed further, this paper will highlight the ones to which attention should be paid in any more comprehensive study of Philippine environmental case law. 3 This paper will also use examples and case studies from the United States to illustrate important legal points, since the U. S. and Philippines have similar legal systems. II. Issues A. Legal Procedure and Rules of the Court Because of their unique and complex nature, environmental cases are sometimes hindered by legal mechanisms and rules of procedure designed for non-environmental cases. These include rules on standing and class action suits that often do not take into account the fact that environmental damage impacts all citizens. Furthermore, the nature and science of environmental violations often means that statutes of limitations, evidentiary rules, and burdens of proof are not suitable. Some of these issues can be handled internally by the judicial system by instructing lower courts to apply rules liberally. The impact of all of these issues, and how many actually present problems for plaintiffs, is crucial. 1. Standing of Plaintiffs and Citizens Suits In environmental cases, a plaintiff may not necessarily be legally injured in the traditional sense by an act of environ-mental destruction to impair his livelihood. For example, plaintiffs cannot recover damages for fish killed by pollution because they lack standing, despite the obvious economic loss they suffered. 4 While the destruction of natural aesthetic beauty is a moral outrage that indirectly harms all citizens, under traditional legal standing person no would have standing to sue. 5 Furthermore, environmental laws are designed to prevent catastrophic harm that is often not imminent or contained to one geographic area, as opposed to the narrow, immediate harms that provide the basis of most standing requirements. 6 Strict rulings on standing could stifle environmental enforcement, especially since the Philippines lacks sufficient enforcement capacity and personnel. The Philippine Supreme Court has held that standing requires: Such personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues upon which the court depends for illumination of difficult constitutional questions. 7 The plaintiff himself must have some cognizable and redressable injury. Litigating for a general public interest, or â€Å"mere invocation†¦ of [plaintiff’s] duty to preserve the rule of law†¦ is not sufficient to clothe it with standing†¦. †8 However, the standing requirement is considered a technicality that courts may waive if the case concerns a â€Å"paramount public interest. †9 In its dictum in Oposa v. Factorum, the Court said that children might even have intergenerational standing to sue to prevent the destruction of forests for future generations. 10 There are questions as to the strength of these to reduce the standing threshold for environmental plaintiffs. While courts may waive technical standing provisions when a case deals with a paramount public interest, it is not required to do so. 11 Furthermore, judges may reasonably differ on what constitutes a â€Å"paramount public interest† since there is no overriding theme o define it. For example, in Kilosbayan, the Court found that determining the legality of an online lottery system fell within this definition, whereas in Integrated Bar, it held that determining whether deploying marines for crime deterrence violates the Constitution does not. 12 The Court did reduce some of this ambiguity in Oposa by declaring that the right to a balanced and healthful ecology â€Å"concerns nothing less than self-preservation and self-perpetuation,† presumably a â€Å"paramount public interest. †13 However, because the Court’s discussion on standing in Oposa was dictum, neither this claim nor the right to intergenerational standing is binding law upon the lower courts. 14 Without further guidance from the Court, it is likely that many lower court judges would be reluctant to act boldly by declaring that a particular issue is a â€Å"paramount public interest† and would deny standing. Congress tried to reduce the standing threshold with citizen suit provisions in environmental statutes, but these have been of limited use thus far. First, only the Philippine Clean Air and Ecological Solid Waste Management Acts contain citizen suit provisions;15 notably, the Philippine Clean Water Act, enacted after these two laws, does not. 16 Second, citizens still bear the risk of paying a winning defendant’s attorney’s fees, which could be costly enough to discourage even valid suits. Most importantly, these suits are still subject to the â€Å"actual controversy† requirement of the Constitution. 17 What this means in the context of citizen suits has not yet been heavily litigated in the Philippines. However, lower court judges often require plaintiffs to show actual injury in the narrow or traditional legal sense. 18 Likewise, when prosecutors deputize citizens to enforce a suit, judges sometimes insist that such deputization is only valid for a single case or even invalid under the Rules of the Court. 19 As a result, citizens suit provisions have been largely unused. 20 Standing under environmental laws is hotly contested in the U. S. 21 The U. S. has put citizens’ suit provisions into almost all of its environmental laws. 22 Plaintiffs are required to show 1) an injury in fact, 2) causation between the injury and the defendant’s actions, and 3) redressability in court. 23 NGOs can sue upon a showing that any of their members would have had standing to sue. 24 The focus is not on the injury to the environment, but rather the injury to the plaintiff or NGO representing him. However, the injury can be economic or non-pecuniary, including aesthetic or recreational value. 25 The Court also held that civil penalties payable to the U. S. Treasury serve as redress as they deter polluters. 26 Causation is often the more difficult element to prove, which will be discussed below in  § 4. In New Zealand, the Environment Court has taken a more radical approach. It has eliminated formal standing provisions, requiring only that a plaintiff have a greater interest than the public generally in a controversy or that he represents a relevant public interest. 27 This makes citizen enforcement very easy. However, one might also be concerned about whether this would overburden the court; granting standing is a fine balance between permitting valid environmental claims and risking frivolous litigation. 2. Class Actions and Large Number of Plaintiffs As the notorious mudslide at Ormoc in 1991 and Marcopper mine tailings in Marinduque show, injuries from environmental damage can be grave, costly, and affect a huge number of persons. 28 Even in less publicized events, the number of injured persons may often make individual litigation burdensome and complex. Furthermore, some members of an injured class may be too poor to prosecute their claims individually. Class action suits can facilitate litigation of such situations by providing for: [T]he protection of the defendant from inconsistent obligations, the protection of the interests of absentees, the provision of a convenient and economical means for disposing of similar lawsuits, and the facilitation of the spreading of litigation costs among numerous litigants with similar claims. 29 Other studies have shown that class action suits can provide important social benefits and encourage citizen enforcement to supplement agency regulation. 30 Class actions may the discourage attorney disloyalty that encourages lawyers to plea bargain for less than the actual injury. As happened in the Chinese poachers case in Palawan, lawyers or prosecutors may not seek full compensation for the damage caused because they have an incentive to expend less time and money on a small case. 31 However, because class actions provide aggregate incentives for lawyers, and fees and settlements undergo higher judicial scrutiny, such â€Å"disloyal† settlements are less likely to occur. 32 While the Philippine Rules of the Court provide for class action suits,33 judges will sometimes be reluctant to certify classes and instead treat the injuries of plaintiffs as separate, despite any common questions of law or fact. In Newsweek, Inc. v. IAC, the Supreme Court ruled that a defamatory remark directed at 8,500 sugar planters do not necessarily apply to every individual in a group, and therefore are not actionable as a class action. 34 Likewise, a judge might refuse to certify a class of pollution victims because they suffer different types of physical injuries, even if the source was the same pollution. In a more litigated legal system, there would be more case law to guide judges on the appropriateness of class actions. However, in the Philippines, this does not yet exist. Add to this the high cost for lawyers, and class actions become even less feasible for most Philippine plaintiffs. 35 In the U. S. , it is much easier to litigate environmental class action suits. The Supreme Court has clearly instructed courts to construe its class action rules liberally and encourage class action suits. 36 This limits judicial discretion in refusing to certify classes to only extreme situations. Furthermore, the rules allow plaintiffs to join by default rather than affirmatively. 37 For environmental cases, the courts will look at the potential number of plaintiffs or the size of the estimated areas that a pollutant has infected to see if plaintiffs have met the numerosity requirement, but they are not required to meet a certain minimum number. 38 For the Philippines, which, unlike the U. S. , has too few environmental class action suits, adopting some of these mechanisms may create a more efficient adjudication process for plaintiffs, defendants, and the courts. 3. Statute of Limitations and Delayed Injuries Unlike a traditional tort or crime, many environmental injuries are not discrete events but only manifest themselves after many years. Pollutants may build up in soils, waters, or human bodies for years without reaching a dangerous level. Cleanup of such sites can take even longer. For example, when the U. S. military left Subic Bay in 1992, it left behind hazardous waste sites with contaminated water that continue to poison the land over a decade later. 39 However, for environmental torts, the statute of limitations is four years, a relatively brief time. This could preclude the litigation of injuries from pollutants with an onset delayed for many years. Thus far statutes of limitation issues have not been a significant factor in environmental litigation. The Philippine Supreme Court addresses similar problems in other fields of law with the discovery rule, allowing the statute of limitations to run when the plaintiff actually or should reasonably have discovered the injury. 40 However, as the courts handle more brown environment cases, it will have to address the tensions between punishing past violators and protecting defendants from time-barred claims. 41 U. S. courts have adopted the due diligence discovery rule, particularly for Clean Water Act and wetlands violations. Because immediate detection of pollution or illegal fill into a wetlands is almost impossible, applying a statute of limitations strictly would defeat the remedial purpose of the act. 42 Courts try to effectuate the Congressional purpose of the statute with the due diligence discovery rule and giving the government a chance to file action against the polluter once the violation is reported to the EPA. 43 Some courts44 realize that a statute of limitation may be inappropriate for cases when pollution continues to cause problems over time. These courts argue that a: Defendant’s unpermitted discharge of dredged or fill materials into wetlands on the site is a continuing violation for as long as the fill remains. Accordingly, the five-year statute of limitations †¦ has not yet begun to run. 45 The statute of limitation will not run for as long as the pollution remains. Many courts will also treat common law tort nuisances as continuing violations. 46 This approach has the added benefit of allowing the government to fine violators for each day the pollution remains, capturing the more of the costs of environmental destruction. 47 Much of U. S. case law regarding the effect of statutes of limitations on environmental issues comes from ambiguities in the statute of limitation for complex processes, particularly the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (â€Å"CERCLA†), or Superfund law. 48 Because Congress anticipated the complexity and long-term nature of site cleanups, it structured the statute of limitations in a flexible manner, allowing the court hear an initial cost recovery action prior to issuing a declaratory judgment to avoid letting the statute run. It also allows the plaintiff to file subsequent cost-recovery actions to recapture further response costs incurred at the site. 49 However, the law’s different statutes of limitation for remedial and removal actions phases of the cleanup has led to confusion over how the phases are defined. Courts often defer to EPA determinations in characterizing the type of action due to its technical expertise, rather than making that judgment itself. 50 4. Meeting the Burden of Proof In environmental cases, there may be no line of direct evidence from the perpetrator to the harm. In pollution cases it is often impossible to prove that the plaintiff’s harm was caused by his exposure to the toxic material. 51 For example, if several factories dump pollution into Manila Bay, it is impossible to determine which caused a particular environmental harm. Furthermore, the courts cannot expect absolute scientific certainty on the effects of a health risk such as electro-magnetic fields from power cables. 52 Given these problems, the traditional burden of proof standards, preponderance for civil cases and beyond a reasonable doubt for criminal,53 may prove to be prohibitively high. Philippine courts employ liability-shifting mechanisms to manage this difficulty in environmental cases. For example, pursuant to the Fisheries Code, courts use reverse burden of proof to place the burden of exculpation on defendants found with high-explosive or cyanide fishing gear. 54 Furthermore, the courts have begun to experiment with the precautionary principle, placing the constitutional rights to health and safety above development. 55 The courts also employs res ipsa loquitor in tort suits,56 although this has not been a prominent feature of environmental litigation. Plaintiffs may also hold multiple defendants jointly and severally liable for an act of environmental destruction that cannot be traced to a single defendant company, such as the pollution in Manila Bay. 57 Until recently, Philippine lawmakers did not see a need to introduce a strict liability58 regime into environmental laws. 59 Strict liability was employed in other fields, but not environ-mental laws. More recent anti-pollution laws such as the Clean Air and Solid Waste Management Acts establish that a violation of the standard is actionable through citizen suits. 60 In U. S. , because of its common law tradition, courts are more willing to employ strict liability. Generally, when a defendant, â€Å"though without fault, has engaged in [a] perilous activity †¦, there is no justification for relieving it of liability. †61 Such â€Å"perilous activities† include operating explosives, nuclear energy, hydropower, fire, high-energy explosives, poisons, and other extremely hazardous materials. 62 For citizens suits under environmental statutes, plaintiffs need only show that the law was violated, not prove fault or any actual or threatened harm, without regard to mens rea. 63 When it is impossible to determine the proportion of fault of a large number of defendants, U. S. courts may approximate fault through other indicators, including market share and production output. For example, in Hymowitz v. Eli Lilly ; Co. , the New York Court of Appeals calculated the size of each defendant drug company’s market share for DES to determine their fault in the injuries caused by the drug. 64 This also allows courts to address injuries sustained in the past by approximating past fault through data available in the present. The Environment Court in New Zealand has adopted an even more radical approach and done away with formal burdens of proof. It focuses instead on obtaining the best possible evidence for a case. This makes it easier for plaintiffs appealing to the court to dislodge an unfavorable opinion from a lower court. 65 While the Philippine Supreme Court may not wish to go this far, the court could more strict liability for hazardous materials and market share liability tools. 5. Damages and Remedies Even if a plaintiff wins damages from a defendant, if the defendant keeps polluting or cutting trees, the damage will continue. 66 In the Philippines, this is particularly problematic as the fines and penalties imposed under law are often not enough to change a company’s behavior. In order to encourage development, Congress prohibited temporary restraining orders against government projects. 67 Since government infrastructure projects can cause massive damage to ecosystems, this prohibition is significant. Some courts try to avoid this loophole by claiming that the prohibition cannot violate a person’s constitutional right to health or safety. 68 The extent of this loophole is unclear. Finally, even if a plaintiff or prosecution wins its case, most of the time the true costs of the defendant’s actions will not be reflected in the award. Damages in civil cases and punishments in criminal cases generally capture the costs of any suffering caused to humans, not animals or plants. While some settlements may include forcing a defendant to install pollution-control equipment or contribute money to conservation programs, this still likely does not recoup the full extent of damage to the environment. It is difficult to regenerate natural forest, coral reefs, or populations of endangered animals. The judicial system does not have much power to remedy this problem. The decision on the purpose of environmental laws and how much plaintiffs recover is for the Congress. However, it is important for judges to understand that environmental cases deal with only a fraction of the true costs of environmental damage. This may convince some judges to be more sympathetic toward environmental cases. While punishments for defendants may seem exorbitant, understanding the unaccounted costs of environmental damage puts these into perspective. B. Access to and Competency of Justice Aside from the legal issues described above, in any country, there are a host of practical and logistical issues that impede the judicial system’s ability to handle environmental cases. This includes the lack of financial resources of plaintiffs, particularly in poorer parts of the Philippines. Plaintiffs and their lawyers must also feel safe from physical and financial harassment while litigating their case. On the other hand, both courts and lawyers are often unfamiliar with environmental laws and science, limiting their ability to adjudicate in the field. Finally, court dockets are often congested, and environmental cases are not given priority. The judicial system’s role in addressing these issues ranges from fairly involved to almost no role. Yet, in attempting to understand environmental adjudication in the Philippines, it is crucial to recognize the role these practical realities play. 1. Financial Costs of Adjudication In any legal system, filing and litigating a case takes an enormous amount of time and money. Philippine courts impose a filing and transcript fee, although these are waived for citizens suits. Reflecting on his experiences, famous environmental attorney Antonio Oposa suggested that these costs were the greatest inhibitions for most plaintiffs. 69 Furthermore, for injunctive remedies, plaintiffs must post a bond to cover the defendant’s potential damages, which may be too large for a poor plaintiff with livestock and property as his only assets. 70 Most Philippine lawyers do not use a contingency fee system, so plaintiffs must be able to pay for legal services up front and over the lengthy litigation process. 71 On top of this, there is the risk of financially crushing harassment suits from defendants, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP). Even the logistics of feeding and housing witnesses, and their lost time from work, poses significant problems for predominantly poorer plaintiffs. In the U. S. , NGOs often receive enough donations to allow them to engage in litigation and have staff lawyers. More importantly, plaintiffs’ attorneys often work on a contingency basis, allowing poorer plaintiffs to avoid large financial risk. Furthermore, NGOs and environmental groups seeking injunctive remedies are often required only to pay a nominal bond or may be exempted completely. 72 While some might worry this makes litigation in the U. S. too easy, it drastically improves poor people’s access to justice. Pursuant to the Constitution’s emphasis on the poor, the Supreme Court of the Philippines has taken some efforts to alleviate this problem. Poorer plaintiffs are exempted from paying docket, transcript, and other fees and are granted free legal counsel. Furthermore, the Court provides an annual grant to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ Free Legal Aid Program. 73 However, not all environmental plaintiffs qualify as poor, particularly NGOs, even though they often have limited financial resources. Furthermore, even though the amount of the bond is under the discretion of the judge, judges are reluctant to do this because they worry about being accused of abusing their discretion. 74 2. Harassment of Plaintiffs and Lawyers Because of the high stakes involved in environmental cases, defendants may go to extraordinary means to intimidate and harass plaintiffs and their lawyers. It is not uncommon for defendants to lodge harassment or SLAPP suits against environmental plaintiffs or DENR prosecutors to attempt to force them to drop their charges. 75 Enforcers who confiscate the equipment of criminals are often sued for robbery. 76 Some defendants take even more extreme means such as physical violence or even murder. 77 Such dangers were recently illustrated by the murder of environmental advocate Elpidio de la Victoria and death threats against attorney Oposa. 78 This makes lawyers unwilling to take on difficult environmental cases. To stifle SLAPP suits, the courts should promptly apply the anti-SLAPP provisions in the Philippine Clean Air and Ecological Solid Waste Management Acts when applicable. 79 This means dismissing any harassment suits as quickly as possible. However, plaintiffs relying on other laws have less protection. 80 Congress must expand the use of anti-SLAPP provisions to other environmental laws. Furthermore, law enforcement must vigorously prosecute any defendants who resort to violence. In short, to facilitate environmental cases, the court must protect the ones bringing the cases. 3. Technical Knowledge Among Judges and Attorneys Judges must decide questions of science as well as law in order to dispose of most environmental cases. This is particularly true for brown issues, which involve uncertain science regarding the exact effects of a pollutant. In the U. S. , scientific understanding of pollutants led to new classes of trespass and tort suits that held emitters liable for their actions. 81 However, both sides in a case will try to use any scientific uncertainty to their advantage, or even create scientific uncertainty even when it does not exist in order to confuse the court. Judges must understand what scientific evidence should be admitted and what is not valid. 82 Judges and lawyers need to understand the science well enough to determine which arguments are unfounded and which are plausible. Because general the courts have general jurisdiction and are not specialized in environmental issues, this problem will have to be addressed by providing judges and lawyers with supplemental training in environmental sciences and law. PHILJA and other organizations are already successfully doing this. 83 Eventually, however, this problem may be resolved through a change in the adjudication system. If the Philippines moves toward environmental courts or administrative adjudication84 (as is being considered), judges would be trained specifically to handle environmental cases. 4. Obtaining and Preserving Evidence For green issues, preserving evidence may be difficult. After an illegal logger or fisher is captured, DENR can confiscate the logs and fish. These goods rot or deteriorate over time. Proper procedure requires taking pictures of the logs and fish for admission into court. Specially trained fish examiners prepare reports on the cause of death of fish. When done correctly, this preserves the evidence for use at court. However, some areas may not have fish examiners on hand or the prosecution may not properly prepare the pictures for admissible evidence. It is not uncommon for custodians of the confiscated items to lose track of them over time. Because cases take so long in the court system, this can be a real problem. 85 It is also difficult for enforcement agents to find and confiscate the equipment and vehicles used in environmental crimes, as the boats and trucks perpetrators use are highly mobile. Despite the inconvenience it may cause defendants, such equipment must be held as evidence and to prevent further environmental damage. The accused, or unindicted conspirators, will often petition for the release of their equipment. 86 Unfortunately, sympathetic lower court judges may sometimes grant these requests, despite the contravening case law. 87 Moreover, prosecutors must have the vehicles stored in a safe area despite the lack of storage space. Finally, it is important for enforcers to determine the location of violators, particularly close to the boundaries of natural parks. Community enforcers may not be trained in determining the exact location of where they apprehended the violators. Wealthier units can use GPS, but often the location of apprehension is disputed. 88 Any doubt in this area can destroy the prosecution’s case. 5. Docket Congestion In many countries, including the Philippines, courts are overburdened with cases. Yet, the Philippines’ forests and animals are already disappearing quickly. Irreversible damage to ecosystems can occur much more quickly than the many years it may take the court system to resolve a case. As Prof. La Vina noted, the environment cannot wait for the court system. 89 According to Justice Nazario, the Philippines needs over 300 trial court judges to fill the vacancies and resolve pending cases. 90 Low pay discourages the few who are qualified. Many of these vacancies are in remote parts of the country, such as Nueva Ecija, Occidental Mindoro, and Surigao Norte, where much of the fishing and forestry violations occur. Furthermore, the Supreme Court is burdened by the large amount of cases granted review each year, including the automatic review for death penalty cases. 91 Given this burdensome congestion, environmental cases are not given any special treatment on their own merits. Criminal environmental cases may be somewhat more expedited because they involve criminal punishments, but most judges and lawyers show no urgency with regard to environmental cases. 92 The Supreme Court attempted to alleviate this problem with Administrative Order No. 150B-93, setting up special courts to handle illegal logging, but these remain underutilized. 93 Until cases can move through the court system more quickly, the enforcement of environmental law will be delayed. III. Conclusion This paper has highlighted important legal and practical issues preventing efficient adjudication of environmental cases in the Philippines. However, due to logistical and budgetary constraints, this paper focused mostly on case law from the Supreme Court and the personal experiences of lawyers. In order to fully understand environmental adjudication throughout the court system, further research should ideally analyze environmental cases from all Municipal and Regional Trial Courts, Courts of Appeal, and the Supreme Court. It is important to see how cases area actually treated, particularly with respect to the issues examined in this paper. Furthermore, there may be important regional variations, particularly between areas with more natural resources and more urban areas. Even before such a study is undertaken, the courts can apply several lessons from this paper in the near future. First, while the courts have already taken commendable steps to waive filing fees and other costs for paupers, as mentioned above the definition of pauper may be under inclusive by not including NGOs. The courts should consider other definitions to reflect the realities of environmental NGOs. 94 Second, the Supreme Court should instruct the courts to dismiss SLAPP suits expeditiously. While the natural resource laws may not have anti-SLAPP provisions, Congress clearly did not intend to encourage such suits and there is nothing legally preventing the courts from dismissing them faster. Finally, the courts can address standing for citizens and class action suits. In particular, it should set out a clear position on standing in environmental cases. Other challenges will require long-term planning for the courts. Reducing the docket congestion is critical to expedite justice, although doing this will likely take years and require more judges. Likewise, the ongoing effort to train judges and lawyers in environmental law and science must continue, particularly as new judges and lawyers enter the judicial system. The courts should also familiarize themselves with the legal mechanisms available to them, particularly in shifting the burden of proof. However, this will be most useful in pollution cases as they become more common in the future. Ultimately, the challenges described above will require multifaceted solutions from various stakeholders in the Philippine legal system. For example, Congress must work to improve standing and citizens suit provisions in other environmental laws. To reduce the financial risk of brining a suit, law firms could move toward a contingency fee system. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of DENR and environmental agencies to ensure that evidence is properly recorded and preserved. Finally, as the Philippine grows and wealth spreads, more plaintiffs will be able to undergo the financial costs of adjudication. Eventually, the best solution to these challenges may come not from within the courts but from a new adjudication system. The U. S. has worked successfully with administrative adjudication for environmental issues in the EPA and Department of Interior. Other countries have set up independent environment courts. Based on the results of further studies and the needs of the country, the Philippines may move to adopt one of these models. This would allow expert adjudicators to handle cases under rules that make sense for environmental issues. Finally, it is important for judges at all levels of the judicial system to understand the severity of environmental degradation in the Philippines. The only redress environmental plaintiffs or prosecutors may have is in their court. Thus, they should not be reluctant to grant standing or award large damages, when appropriate, because doing so will ensure that both humans and the environment have their proper day in court.

How effectively does Parker translate Act 3 Scene 3 on to the Screen? Essay

This is the first time I have read a Shakespeare play, however I have seen the film version of Romeo and Juliet. At first it was hard to understand, the language was difficult but it was a good story. Parker made the film to suit regular filmgoers, and I found it easier to understand. The plot was gripping gut the language was challenging. The costume, the language and the photography all made it a good Shakespeare experience. As the plot of Othello is more relevant to today than Shakespeare’s time, it includes all the elements of modern day films, and is well presented by Parker. I choose to assess how effectively Parker translates the original script of Act 3 Scene 3, the temptation scene. This is the pivotal scene in the play. At the beginning Othello declares his love for Desdemona, but by the end his mind is set on killing her. This scene also shows the power of Iago and the ability to manipulate all the others. The ‘temptation scene’ is the longest and most important scene in the play. Iago, whose ingenuity, inventiveness, cunning, lack and hypocrisy are evident throughout, plays the dominant role in this scene. An analysis of the various crucial stages in Iagos assault on Othello’s peace of mind, and on the reputations of Desdemona and Cassio, will reveal the depth of Iagos evil genius. At the beginning of the scene Othello is happily married by the end he has decided to murder his wife and Cassio. Iago immediately sets to work, using the slender evidence so far to hand against Cassio. He concentrates first on Cassio’s role as a go-between in Othello’s wooing of Desdemona, and allows Othello to recall the circumstances of Cassio’s departure from Desdemona, and his own reservations about it. Othello has not been favourably impressed by the furtive manner of Cassio’s departure, and is not helped by Desdemona’s insistent, repetitions, irritating pleading on Cassio’s behalf. Iago’s main strategy at this point is to throw out dark, mysterious hints of something that he pretends he does not want to bother Othello with. Iago succeeds in giving the impression that there are some disreputable truths behind his insinuations. Othello’s suspicions inevitably grow, as Iago warns him of the dangers of jealousy. Iago tells Othello that Venetian women are notorious for infidelity to their husbands. He reminds Othello that Desdemona’s deception of her father in marrying him, and points the unnaturalness of her choice of Othello in preference to someone of her own race. Othello is now convinced of Iago’s honesty and knowledge of human nature that he searches for reasons for Desdemona’s infidelity. The sight of Desdemona only causes confusion in Othello’s mind. She notices a distressing change in his attitude and behaviour, and, in trying to help him, drops her handkerchief, a gift from Othello, and a token to which he attaches enormous significance. Emila picks up the handkerchief and gives it to her husband. Iago decides to leave the handkerchief at Cassio’s lodgings. This is going to be Othello’s first sign of truth. Iago, of course, cannot offer any proof, but argues that strong circumstantial evidence ought to be enough to satisfy Othello. He mentions to pieces of manufactured testimony, Cassio’s dream and Cassio’s possession of Desdemona’s handkerchief. Iago was played by Northern Ireland born actor Kenneth Branagh who is a famous Shakespearian actor and director. Irene Jacobs plays the part of Desdemona, who is a lesser-known Belgian actress. Lawrence Fishbourne is the first Black actor to play Othello on film. There are a number of foreign actors in this film, which gives a European appeal and creates the feeling of Italy or somewhere foreign; there is also a wide mixture of foreign accents. Lawrence Fishbourne covers up his American accent very well. His vast array of colourful costumes, earrings, scars and shaven head all suggest his exotic character that has travelled the world. Iago on the other hand has only one costume throughout. This highlights his role as a servant, but even with all the wealth and riches of Othello and Desdemona, Iago is still able to wield his authority over them in to doing what he wants Act 3 scene 3 is 478 lines long, which is long for Shakespeare. In the text the whole thing takes place in the citadel, while Parker uses all the techniques at his disposal to attract and maintain the viewers attention. Parker uses music, a variety of different lighting and camera angels to set the mood. Parker also uses flash back and dream sequences very effectively and has a vast variety of different locations throughout the scene. The first scene has a sense of elegance and gracefulness with the 2 men going down the stairs to the courtyard and up the stairs to Desdemona. Although in this scene Iago throws his first blow, everything is good-natured; there is a feeling of friendliness and harmony. The next scene is the pole fighting between Iago and Othello. Iago is the one who is put to the ground but everything is good-natured. It shows Othello has power. After the pole fighting the scene changes again to the two men working down a narrow stairway washing their hands. Even at this point Othello’s costume has changed. This highlights his power. The scene then changes to the dark, brown, dull armoury, which is full of guns and gunpowder. The bareness of the place, the guns, the cold bare metal and the ever-increasing absence of daylight adds to the ominous feeling of the scene. The camera changes and focuses a lot on the facial expression throughout this scene. A line is added from Act one into this scene, â€Å"†¦ I will pour my pestilence in his ear†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Iagos plan is to pour poison into Othello’s ear. His is the first time that you can clearly see the doubt in Othello’s face. The music then changes to a very high pitched note, suggests something very ominous is about to happen, adds tension. But lightens again when Othello shows he is not going to give into Iagos insinuations, then deepens again to show Othello’s mood. The next scene is up in the bedroom and is even darker, with only a very dim candle to light the room. Iago is dressing Othello for the banquet while Othello is daydreaming, he has suspicious thoughts. While Iago remains the servant, he still exercises power over Othello’s thoughts and feelings. As the scene gets even dimmer Othello begins to succumb to Iagos suggestions. The next scene is the handkerchief scene, which is done in silence. Desdemona and Emila come in and find Othello sitting at the end of the bed sweating. Desdemona wipes his head with the handkerchief and accidentally drops it. When the two leave Emila lifts it. Parker use silence as a powerful symbol in the handkerchief scenes. The handkerchief that seems such an insignificant article proves to be very dangerous in the end. The scene then changes to a bedroom scene with Iago and Emilia, which in contrast to other love scenes in the play, is very crude and vulgar. The room is very dark and small and has little furniture compared to Othello’s bedroom. This emphasizes their role as servants. As Emilia enters Iago turns his head away from her, but when she says she has the handkerchief that Othello gave Desdemona he is all over her, suggesting complete indifference and that he only wants her when she has something for her. At the end of the scene Iago says, â€Å"trifles light as air† and throws the handkerchief up into the air. The next time we see the handkerchief is in Cassio’s lodging where he leaves it in Bianca’s hand before he leaves. Iago had planted it there and Cassio had given it onto Bianca as a gift. Parker then brings a scene in from act four where Othello quizzes Desdemona about the whereabouts of the handkerchief; this is to give more evidence. Othello is sure Desdemona is guilty and then when Desdemona ask Othello to give Cassio his job back this only enrages him further. The scene then changes down to the beach. Parker makes the audience very aware that they are on an island and isolated. The ruggedness of the rocks and the waves and the pounding, shows that they are far from Venice. Iago mocks his master, â€Å"†¦nor poppy nor mandragora†¦Ã¢â‚¬  nothing will bring him back his piece of mind. The climax in his scene is the very dramatic attempted drowning of Iago, also the story where Iago complains of his sore tooth has a very damning affect on Othello. This scene does not appear in the original play by Shakespeare but is very effectively done by Parker to highlight the fact that Othello has totally fallen for Iago’s lies. The next scene is up on the ramparts of the citadel; the feeling of stormy weather emphasizes the mix feelings in Othello’s mind about Desdemona’s distrust. Othello then gets down on both knees and makes a vow to the heavens, very dramatic, tension building. He then says, â€Å"Arise black vengeance, from the hollow hell.† Iago then gets down on his knees and they both swear brotherhood to each other in order to kill two people. Parker adds the slitting of the palms and the clasping of the hands, this increases the horror of what they are going to do. Iago then says, â€Å"I am your own forever.† There is a feel of dramatic Irony, where the audience is aware what is about to happen to Othello but the character does not. The main techniques used by Parker are flash back and dream sequences, which allow us to see inside the mind of Othello, whereas Shakespeare used soliloquy. The flash back and dream scenes are done in silence and don’t last very long. They are done in slow motion and are accompanied by music. They are frequently of Desdemona and Cassio in bed or talking to each other. The lovemaking is done very discreetly and delicacy and are done behind a muslin curtain. They are hinted at rather than stated explicitly. There is a hint of red on the bed, which makes Othello think she is a whore. Music is used effectively by Parker to create an ominous atmosphere and highlights a climax or turning point in the scene. The first time music was introduced was when Othello said, â€Å"It were not for your quiet nor high pitched string note.† The music then deepens to a bass note where Iago says, â€Å"Beware my lord of jealousy† and continues on this deep tone until Othello asks, â€Å"Thinkst thou make a life of jealousy.† The music then becomes more melodious and sweet, suggestion of will not fall prey to Iagos insinuations. At the line, â€Å"Get me some poison† the music deepens again. Parker leaves out about half of the 478 lines and yet he doesn’t compromise the meaning of the play. Very many of Desdemona’s lines are omitted, more than anyone else, and yet with the use of flash back and dream sequences we are very aware of her presence throughout the play. Some of the scenes are rearranged, scene 4 into 3, make Othello’s death sentencing more convincing. Parker does not compromise power and integrity of the play, he delivers a different perspective, which is more creative. There are difficulties with the language but with continued reading I found it a gripping story, and I found Parkers version accessible to modern filmgoers. Shakespeare’s play was limited, the language was used to keep the audiences attention but today film makers have different lighting, music, props and many other things, so this allowed parker to leave much of the language out.

GDP Is Not Enough Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

GDP Is Not Enough - Research Paper Example This paper provides an annotated bibliography for the topic GDP is not enough (Adam, 2009). Gross Domestic Product (GDP) refers to the net value of all final production of goods and services in a country. GDP is often measured and calculated in three ways: first, is summing up of all the incomes and profits received from goods and services produced in a country; second is summing up of all expenditures incurred in the production of goods and services i.e. adding up of money earned from exports and deducting all that is used on importation; lastly is summing up all the value added by capital and labor in situations where inputs are procured from other producers and converted into output. GPD accounts only for the flow experienced in an economy thus excluding stocks, wealth and capital investment as this do no account for direct financial transactions, where change of money occurs (Buxton, 2002). Gross Domestic product basically calculates the economic activities with nation’s b orders while Gross National Product (GNP) is concerned with the gross income of the citizens in that country. GNP sums up interests, rates, rents, profits and dividends paid out by outsiders. Policy makers are often much interested with the economic activity level thus making GDP to be more preferred. Although not accurate in an extended period of time, GDP offers a complete snapshot of the economy. It offers a summary of the entire range of economic information into a single number, thus reflecting on comparative weaknesses and strengths of various economic sectors. It is a precise In most cases, an increase in economic growth is often accompanied by equal increase in both income and employment. GDP therefore seeks to estimate such changes in economic and social welfare. However, it can only give a precise figure of certain other contributing factors remain constant. Economic analysts believe that GDP reflects on the general welfare so precise enough to assume it as an equivalent m easure on welfare. However, critics such as think tank Redefining Progress (discussed below) believe that GDP does not reflect concisely the total utility measures (Chien, 2010). Traditionally, economists have been using GDP measure to approximate the economic progress. An increases in GDP value meant the particular country is progressing. Consequently, a fall in GDP meant that the particular nation is rapidly ceding ground. From a strict arithmetical aspect, DGP offers a straight forward indicator to economic wellness. However to a common man, GDP statistics can be deceiving. To counter this ambiguity, Redefining Progress- social think tank came up with the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) in 1995. This idea was nurtures as an alternative to the convectional GDP as a parameter for estimating the economic and social wellbeing of a country. The two indicators are based on a common personal consumption data baseline. However, GPI unlike GDP gives adjustment factors and variables that represent both monetary and non monetary aspects of the country’s economy. The adjustment categories can be grouped into the following categories; Personal consumption: this baseline gives similar data input similar to what is used in GDP measurement. Income Distribution; under this, GPI is scaled upward when a higher percentage of a country’

Entrepreneur - link literature review theories to real life Essay

Entrepreneur - link literature review theories to real life entrepreneur - Essay Example The so called killer phrases are also sometime referred to as one of the real barriers behind the process of creative thinking. However in order to overcome these barriers to the creative thought process, resources are required which might include the right attitude adopted by the entrepreneur. Creativity and innovation are probably the two ways through which entrepreneurs make difference in the world. This assumption of having creative and innovative entrepreneurs is based on the fact that every entrepreneur has certain personal traits and motivations and key element of this is their ability to put their efforts and endeavors behind it. Probably the most innovative and creative endeavor of entrepreneur is his ability to create capital. (Thompson, 1999). By adding value and creating capital, entrepreneurs basically transform their business activities in the larger good of the society. It is largely believed that the success of entrepreneurship therefore base on the personal traits of the entrepreneur which include his ability to be an intuitive thinker and innovator. The notion of creativity and innovation is associated with the process of entrepreneurship because of the fact that creativity is often considered as the personality trait of the entrepreneur. (Thompson, 2004) . This approach tends to focus on the role of people in developing creative and innovative enterprises. Many researches have suggested that the competitive advantages which entrepreneurs enjoy over their competitors are based on their internal resources. These internal resources are often linked with knowledge based resources which are ultimately linked with the innovation and creativity of the entrepreneurs. (Mosakowski, 1998). These knowledge based intangible resources flourish creativity and innovation in entrepreneurs. However these knowledge based intangible resources

Performing Flamenco Dance at a Wedding Assignment

Performing Flamenco Dance at a Wedding - Assignment Example Therefore, this dance is an all-inclusive activity (Pohren 67). It involves numerous dance movements. One of the common ones is a rhythmic expression whereby I exhibit rapid movements of the heels and feet. Moreover, I engage in an activity of slapping both the chest and clapping of hands. I alternate this with steps made with the feet. Flamenco dance also involves lower body movements which begin from the waist downwards. These include hip rolls, juts of the hips, lifting of the legs, which is usually done with the kneels down as well as making circles with the legs (Pohren 88). Notably, I also include numerous movements of the upper body. Some of the common ones include twisting of the arms as well as making circular movements using my arms. The most intriguing movement that I like most in the flamenco performance includes making the spine a spiral. This movement serves to produce a counter line reflected on my back (Scheff, Sprague and McGreevy-Nichols 140). There are also circula r movements whereby I involve my wrists and fingers. In other occasions, dancing extends to fanning using my fingers. On other occasions, I combine different movements to exhibit an expression that involves the entire body. These are enhanced by shrugging shoulders, jumping, hopping, different facial expressions and gestures. In every single performance where I am invited, I combine all these different movements (Ruiz 71). The flamenco dance originated from Spain and is common amongst Spanish dancers. However, flamenco classes are available in different countries. I was intrigued by the dance from an early age a factor that motivated me to register for dancing classes. Although in my initial days in the dancing class, I focused on general dancing, I later specialized in flamenco. In an American society, where the dance is not common, I took a lot of time to monitor the steps.  

Early Civilizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Early Civilizations - Essay Example The example of China and Mesopotamia vividly portray that geographical location and climate in different parts of the world 'caused' similar traditions, economic, social and political development. Geographical location and environment determined the nature of both societies and their activities. In China (during the Shang and Han Dynasties) and Mesopotamia (Sumerian period) agriculture was the main activity and the core of economy. This issue remained a central one in both civilizations: for some, it remained crucial to the maintenance of an 'enduring' national home: and for others, it represented a fundamental obstacle to the creation of more accommodating and cosmopolitan cultural order. China and the Mesopotamia had similar climate and soil conditions, but lacked water resources and irrigation systems. Irrigation was also associated with urbanization, which, in its turn, led to development of crafts and trade (Ebrey 34). Both civilizations developed unique rural culture and values, traditions and art based on the cults of Sun and farming. For instance, the remarkable features of the Shang Dynasty (began about 1600 BC- 1046 BC) and the Sumerian period (5th to 3rd millennia BC), were cultural identity, self-centeredness, unique philosophy and literary traditions explained by the fact that both civilizations were separated from the rest of the world. The civilizations competed effectively against the culture and values of outside world as an organizing principle in the unique identity. During the Han Dynasty and the Hammurabi period, both civilizations culturally and mythically were also deeply centered (Oppenheim and Reiner 34). The historical continuities which composed the culture of the Han Dynasty were pronounced, especially compared to their European states. Not only has the Han Dynasty (within its own borders) largely escaped the worst catastrophes of modernity, at the same time relations between the Asian nations and the overarching state have been relatively stable. Similar processes were typical for the Hammurabi period (Ebrey 27; (Oppenheim and Reiner 38). It is possible to say that environment influenced the development of similar laws and regulations accepted by these civilizations (the Code of Hammurabi and the Code of the Han dynasty which gained the recognition of Confucianism). During the Hammurabi period and the Han Dynasty these civilization expanded their geographical territories with military campaigns. The Han Dynasty established the Silk Road while Hammurabi established trade relations with neighboring states. Environment influenced the quality of life and city developments, architecture and art; they built sophisticated buildings and established written forms of communication (Oppenheim and Reiner 39). In China and the Mesopotamia people had similar views about the world and nature, state organization and philosophy. As the most important, a religion had a highly complex subject which had an impact on culture in three different ways: socialization, influences which shape behavior in a particular social setting and individu al orientations to life (Ebrey 87). In sum, environment had a crucial impact on the development of early civilizations and caused the development of similar economic activities and world views. Unique views and art were nothing more than a response to the environment and climate. Religion played an important role in lives of

Housing and regeneration in developing countries (housing study) Essay

Housing and regeneration in developing countries (housing study) - Essay Example Housing is a main concern especially to human beings. Regeneration is the process by which the housing conditions are improved through economical, social and environmental measures. According to Ademiluyi (2010), houses are permanent structures that are built in order to cater for human needs especially habitation. House regeneration leads to the achievement of sustainable development. The reason as to why housing regeneration is done is to improve the concerned area which is to be regenerated, and thus bring in a positive impact to the people who live in the place. Regeneration has positive as well as negative impacts to the areas that are being regenerated and the people who live in the areas as well. The developmental interventions on housing require the participation of partners who are the actors involved in the development of these houses. Therefore, there is need for housing development in these areas due to increased population of people who are moving. There is therefore need for involving people who can participate in the development of these houses. The participants in the process of development are controlled by the initiatives that affect the decisions made to ensure that development is enhanced. The participants involve themselves in the local, national and international decision making which makes it possible for the housing development. The participants involved in the housing development first have to receive information about what is to be done and also what has already been done. This means that the research has to be done in order to get information about the approaches needed to be taken into account in order to find out how the housing can be developed. Once the participants have been informed, they are consulted in order to give opinions that are needed to help in the development, and this will also i nclude the aspects of defining the

Critical Evaluation of Ipad Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Critical Evaluation of Ipad - Assignment Example This is evident as the design of the Ipad software is very elementary and user-friendly. With the touch screen technology, users can use their fingers to access programs and files that they wish to access, just like a child playing with toys. In terms of niche, Apple Computers, Inc (Apple) wishes to introduce a product which lies between iPhone and Macbook in terms of function. Therefore Ipad is expected to be substantially better than both in terms of the following: web browsing, E-Mail, viewing and watching of images and videos, listening to music, Reading electronic media (Apple Inc). In terms of convenience Ipad is indeed better than Macbook, but less convenient than the Iphone as the latter is much lighter. The aim of situating a product between the Iphone and Macbook is an excellent idea indeed as some corporate needs cannot be met by a simple Iphone, especially when we talk about large data, applications and software. On the other hand, Macbook is now relatively heavy especially with the introduction of netbooks by HP, Acer and Asus. Its appropriately occupies a product niche which does not compete with the existing Apple products, yet more innovative and improved than the competitors netbooks. It is an innovative product as it is the first that introduces sole touch screen technology but this may also be a disadvantage as the market that it tries to reach - the non-computer experts will probably take time to appreciate touch screen technology. The Ipad project has the following objectives: a. Sell 1 million of the new device internationally within 2010 and so making a profit b. Increase the product range by developing and producing a new tablet device by Q1 2010 c. Ensure a basic model is available for distribution to US customers on April 3rd and internationally by 23rd April 2010 d. Ensure premium model is available for distribution to US customers by the 26th April and internationally by 11th June 2010 e. Establish data plans with international mobile communications suppliers by June 2010 f. Gain a return on investment by 2011 g. Launch the new product on 27th January 2010 h. Sell the product for under $850 i. Maintain the Apple quality throughout the project Source: (Apple, Inc). There are a variety of reviews and expectation on the would-be performance of Ipad. "Apple change management has proved successful over the years as the company has adapted to the changing market by constantly redefining the design and purpose of digital technology" (Edward de Bono, 2006). Over-all, its corporate culture has showsn both "optimism and belief" which led to continuous "funding and investment in new products and innovation even against the backdrop of a challenging economic climate" (Edward de Bono, 2006). It is this optimism and belief that brought us the Ipad. Reviews however criticize the launching of Ipad especially on the aspect of functionality and getting things done (Enderle, 2010). This is the very question that comes to mind when I saw the project. Will Ipad achieve the 1 million sales in 2010 In the first place, will the tablet be patronized It gets popular in America, will it also be popular in other countries The objectives of Ipad management team is understandable as we examine the culture of the company.

How could HMV survive in digital word Literature review

How could HMV survive in digital word - Literature review Example At the same time, presence of a large population of suppliers has their bargaining power related to packaging materials and recording disks (Watson and Spence, 2007). The bargaining power of retail music customers have increased substantially. Customers in the UK music sector can be divided as corporate and individual. With evolution of download services and legal streaming, the e-shops and streaming services, such as, iTunes, have become popular among consumers. As a result of rise in illegal streaming, people are currently buying lesser number of records (Wikstro, 2005). Corporate consumers in this industry include offline and online retailers involved in bulk purchases of albums from the music labels. These entities include stores like, Game and HMV, as well as online stores like, AmazonMP3, iTunes and Zune. Stringent contracts, along with increasing sources where consumers can download songs and videos illegally, have lowered the bargaining power of corporate customers (Rust, Kannan and Peng, 2002). Established and branded music labels are spending millions in test marketing, recording as well as image-development campaigns so as to ensure competency and quality of the artist, before making a public launch. These areas need implementation of special skills as well as huge access to money. Furthermore, these campaigns are supported by exhaustive distribution network and wide reach in terms of online distributing partners (Michel, 2006). These online partners are also helpful for immediate album distribution to exact locations. Also, the bigger brands can easily use their industry contacts during concert organisation, album promotion shows or for creating buzz for different artists. As these facilities are not available to newer brands, initial risks as well as capital expenditures are higher compared to that of the established brands. Then again,

Topic is to be an emerging or new technology of some kind Research Paper

Topic is to be an emerging or new technology of some kind - Research Paper Example However, in the topical times when all over the world there is rapid change of technologies, it is vital to adapt to newer technologies. New technology must meet the need of customers and it must be easy to implement (Souder and Sherman, 1994, p.45). One such technology is mobile banking facility. In earlier days banks used to keep customers’ money in vaults and would only meet financial needs of the customers. Then financial data networks were create to facilitate electronic method of transfer of funds through interconnected banking system. Even then the customers had to be personally present in the bank to deposit or retrieve funds. Next ATMs provided the customers to do their banking in various locations. Now, more recently online banking through the internet has become a common occurrence. The latest technology in the line of banking facilities is mobile banking. This technology helps the customers to do activities like transferring funds, checking balances, paying bills f rom their cell phones. Now customers rarely need to go to the bank to do their banking (Stair and Reynolds, 2009, p.17). ... (Krugel, 2007, p.3) Insecure edge of mobile banking technology Today customers do most of their banking either through personal computers or mobile phones. Mobile phones are in these days internet-enabled and private data either stay on a single device or float in the cyberspace and thus can be vulnerable to misuse (Mukherjee, 2008, p. 61). Mobile phones were primarily built for voice communications and as such have certain limitations that increase the risk factor in mobile banking. One major risk factor includes concern of confidentiality and integrity of data during transfer of information from and to bank’s wired core processing system and to wireless environment. There are many other limitations in mobile phone like small screen space, short battery life and lower processing speeds. There is also the problem of various data entry formats and also data storage capacity is limited. Attempts are being taken to reduce the risk factors through wireless markup language and wire less application protocol. The mobile manufacturers are also trying to improve the devices. But other risks which include security threat and authentication are still major issues of concern and unless measures are taken to resolve the security issues, mobile banking can never become the dominant channel for banking. Mobile technology of today can provide wide range options for mobile banking services. While some options can ensure high level of security there are other options which cannot promise the same security level. There is possibility to minimize the risk factors by introducing operational controls. In developing countries mobile handset technology is not of the highest level. In these countries risks of mobile

Use Of Literary Devices In Julius Caesar Essay Example for Free

Use Of Literary Devices In Julius Caesar Essay Authors use literary devices in their works for a variety of reasons. The same holds true in Shakespeares Julius Caesar. The use of these devices has an effect on the plots development. Several literary devices can be seen in Julius Caesar, and they all have an effect on the plot. Foreshadowing is a key literary device in the play. We see foreshadowing from the beginning of the play, when the Soothsayer tells Caesar to Beware the Ides of March in Act I, Scene I, which happens to be the day that Caesar is killed. Calpurnia later dreams of Caesars death, but he does not heed her warning. this not only tells us what is going to happen, but it also shows us how Caesars status and ego are getting to his head. Foreshadowing gives us a hint of what is to come, and can also reflect upon a character or characters. A second literary device used in the play is the use of puns. A pun is another element noted early on in Julius Caesar. When Marullus addresses the Cobbler, the pun begins. Cobbler is meant to have two meanings in this dialog: 1 a shoemaker and 2 a bungler. The Cobbler refers to himself as a mender of bad soles, playing with the word soles. Marullus interprets the Cobbler as a mender of souls. The usage of puns adds some light humor to the play as well as reflecting on the characters of the play. This also shows that the so-called upper class can still be fooled by the commoners. The usage of puns adds to the story of Julius Caesar. During Antonys funeral speech, which is the climax of the play, several literary devices are used, including rhetorical questioning, sarcasm, and repetition. Antony frequently uses the question of Brutuss honor in killing Caesar to win over the people of Rome. His repetition of But Brutus is an honorable man is used to persuade the people that Brutus has done wrong. His entire speech makes the people think: Has Brutus really done a good deed? It is this use of literary elements which earns Antony the respect and loyalty of the people. This, in turn, shapes the plot later in the play. This is one of the best examples of how literary devices have an effect on the plot of a piece of literature. It is easy to see that literary devices not only make a story more interesting and colorful, but also have a direct effect on the plot of the piece. Shakespeare, like any writer, uses these devices in his works. The use of literary devices in literature is a necessity, and it is clear that Julius Caesar. is an excellent example of these techniques being used.

Tone And Diction In Poetry

Tone And Diction In Poetry Analyzing poetry begins with carefully weighing the words and considering every nuance. Tone and diction are two poetic devices to take into account. Tone refers to the attitude or mood conveyed by the poem, while diction refers to word choice and word order. When you read a poem on the page, grasping the tone can be tricky-after all, you cant actually hear the poets voice. So, you need to pay attention to context and connotation. Identifying loaded words can help you decipher the tone. Diction can also help you understand the poems tone. Word choice affects meaning and also determines the sound of the poem. Sound, in turn, contributes its emotional effect. SCREEN 2: Tone in Poetry A poems tone can be defined as the attitude expressed toward its subject. Tone isnt stated directly: you have to analyze the language carefully to grasp it. You can decipher tone in several ways. Youll need to read the poem more than once. First, read the poem to understand its content. Is the poem about an event? Or does it describe a feeling? Does it consider a social problem? Identifying the basic content will help you determine the tone. A poem about discrimination, for example, might be expected to have a dejected or angry tone, while a poem about childhood may have a happy, carefree tone. But those simple assumptions arent always the case. The poet might be using tone to convey more complex meaning. So, reread the poem and ask yourself, Who is speaking in this poem? and Who is the speaker talking to? Your answers will give you a sense of the relationship between the speaker and the reader, and between the speaker and the subject. Is the speaker very close to the action, even immersed in it? Or sitting back and contemplating it? These different positions could give the poem a very different tone. SCREEN 3: After youve identified the poems subject and the speaker, consider how the poems word choice and structure relates to its subject matter. Meter (rhythm), imagery, metaphor, allusion, and diction all contribute to the tone. For example, a quick beat and steady rhyme pattern usually conveys a happy, or lively, tone. Remember, poems about the same subject can have different tones. For example, a poem about graduating high school might have a joyous tone when written by someone who cant wait to get to college, be independent, and experience the world. A person who didnt get accepted into the college that shed aspired to for years might write a poem with an angry or sarcastic tone, expressing a sense of being cheated. Closely considering the language and form of the poem will help you catch the nuances of tone in poems that might otherwise seem similar. SCREEN 4 After youve identified the poems subject and the speaker, consider how the poems word choice and structure relates to its subject matter. Meter (rhythm), imagery, metaphor, allusion, and diction all contribute to the tone. For example, a quick beat and steady rhyme pattern usually conveys a happy, or lively, tone. Remember, poems about the same subject can have different tones. For example, a poem about graduating high school might have a joyous tone when written by someone who cant wait to get to college, be independent, and experience the world. A person who didnt get accepted into the college that shed aspired to for years might write a poem with an angry or sarcastic tone, expressing a sense of being cheated. Closely considering the language and form of the poem will help you catch the nuances of tone in poems that might otherwise seem similar. SCREEN 5 Funeral Blues W. H. Auden wrote Funeral Blues in 1938, but this poem about a loved ones death became famous in 1994 when actor John Hannah recited it in the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. Watch Hannahs performance, and then read Funeral Blues closely. Auden used tone to enrich this poems meaning. The first stanzas tone is one of sorrowful anger. The speaker uses commands, such as stop, prevent, and silence. He angrily demands that the noise of everyday life cease, so that he can reflect on his loss. Only the low sound of a muffled drum at the funeral is tolerable. The tone shifts from anger to despair as the speaker moves into more effusive sentences. He insists that the whole world, machines and nature, grieve with him: airplanes should moan, and white doves should wear black. SCREEN 6 The third stanza of Funeral Blues has a more reflective and melancholy tone. The speaker shares what the man he lost meant to him. He repeats the word my nine times, emphasizing the fact that this man was everything to him-his compass in life and the inspiration for his work. This stanza ends with a key line in the poem: I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong. The single-syllable words plod steadily to the concluding word, wrong, that devastates the speaker. In the final stanza, the speakers tone is bitter. If he has lost this man forever, then all life in the universe should end too. Once again, the speaker uses curt commands, this time to tear apart those elements that sustain life: Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. The tone Auden creates in Funeral Blues-whether it is interpreted as sorrow, anger, bitterness, or love-is effective because it creates a powerful emotion in the audience. We grieve along with the speaker, even though we dont know the unnamed man who meant so much to him. SCREEN 7 The American poet Marge Piercys poem Barbie Doll also seems to be about death, but the poems main subject is something else: societys devaluation of girls and women. Read Piercys Barbie Doll and think about its tone. In the first stanza, the tone is dismissive and infantilizing. The girl is called a girl-child, an indistinguishable female member of a species, not a person with a name. She is born as usual, as if there were nothing to be celebrated in the birth of a baby girl. The phrase did pee-pee is baby-talk, suggesting girls are forever babies. In the next stanza, notice how the speaker describes the girls positive traits in a direct, objective list. The speaker doesnt inject emotion into the description, rather just states the actual facts, implying that they were clear for all to see. But society could care less, and ignores her positive attributes because she wasnt pretty. The tone is one of icy objectivity, even perhaps, cold fury. SCREEN 8 Probably the most dominant tone is one of sarcasm, however. Sarcasm threads through the poem, first appearing in the phrase the magic of puberty in the first stanza. Puberty is typically a hard transition, not a time of wondrous transformation as the word magic suggests. And for this girl, cruelly told she is ugly-well, some magic! In the final stanza, the same girl who was told she was flawed with a big nose and fat legs, is called pretty as she lays cold and still in her coffin, with the undertakers cosmetics on her lifeless face. The line Consummation at last continues the heavy sarcasm and also lends the poem a tone of anger. The word consummation evokes societys ultimate goal for women, to find a husband, and ironically equates it with death. Lesson Activity Self-Checked Read Piercys Whats That Smell in the Kitchen. Then compare this poem to Barbie Doll in 150-200 words, answering the questions in the Tone in Poetry section of the Lesson Activities. SCREEN9 For the American poet Robert Frost, tone was very important. He said, Its tone Im in love with; thats what poetry is, tone. Frost believed that tone conveyed the art in poetry. He called himself an ear reader, not an eye reader. He interpreted the meaning of what he read by how it sounded to him. This is reflected in his own poems, which come to life in the readers auditory imagination. Frost used tone to make his poems interesting, or as he said himself, Youve got to get dramatic. Read the poem A Patch of Old Snow to see how he shifts tone to create a sense of drama. The first six lines describe a patch of old, melting snow. The tone is one of nonchalance: this bit of snow is barely worth noticing, just a blown away scrap in a corner. Once a symbol of winters beauty, the snow is now as unimportant as yesterdays discarded newspaper. In the last two lines, however, theres a shift in tone. The speaker catches himself short with a dash: The news of a day Ive forgotten/If I ever read it. His attention is suddenly captured by the irony of old news. The voice might even drop when reading If I ever read it. While people may read the newspaper diligently every day, even todays seemingly stunning news is as temporal and unimportant as a patch of melting snow. This sudden shift in the tone in the last two lines mocks how transient a persons interest is. Lesson Activity Teacher-Graded Read Frosts poem The Pasture, and then answer the questions under Tone in Poetry in the Teacher-Graded section of the activities sheet. SCREEN 10 Diction in Poetry In the poems you just analyzed, did you notice how tone can be determined by the word choice and word order? This is diction, or the vocabulary that a poet uses-basically the poets linguistic style. Compare these ways of describing a confused state of mind: He knew not what to do, and he had no clue what to do. While the first is formal and perhaps pretentious, the other is plainspoken. A poems tone is also affected by altering the word order; for example, a poet might change She went down to the riverside in her dark mood, to Down to the riverside, dark in mood, she went to give the line a more dramatic and foreboding tone. The diction a poet chooses can also depend on the poems context. For example, when describing the death of a heroic warrior, a poet might use the dramatic He breathed his last in the arms of his beloved, over the straightforward He died in his lovers arms. SCREEN 11 Now take a look at some examples of how poets vary diction in their poems to convey their thoughts and feelings. Read the English poet Andrew Marvells To His Coy Mistress and note the kind of diction the speaker uses to address his beloved. By describing his love in terms of world geography (by the Ganges side) and Biblical history (ten years before the Flood), the speaker attempts to impress her with the vastness and depth of his devotion. The mention of the Ganges River in India also suggests that her beauty is exotic. The words should and would, repeated many times and indicating action that might happen, convey a sense of languor in the first stanza. But in the third stanza, the speaker urgently tries to persuade her to give in to his advances, using active verbs such as sport, devour, and tear.The diction creates a tone of ardent entreaty. Lesson Activity Self-Checked Go to the Diction in Poetry activity in the Self-Checked section and experiment with diction as directed. SCREEN 12 Lets look at a very different example of the role of diction in poetry. With just a few well-chosen words, the twentieth century African-American poet Gwendolyn Brooks powerfully conveys the bravado of a group of young boys. Listen to or read Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool, which is about a group of kids skipping school. In this poem, Brooks uses the slang we real cool, instead of the grammatically correct we are really cool to convey the teenagers attitude. Brooks uses the collective we, instead of the singular I, to communicate that the speakers of the poem are a group of teenagers. The word we is also used to show their solidarity to each other. This word depicts their reliance on their group identity, since these teenagers havent developed their own individual identities yet and are overly influenced by their peers. SCREEN 13 In the poem, Gwendolyn Brooks uses the precise diction to mimic unrefined teenagers, and successfully conveys their seeming toughness while in truth they are insecure and defensive. She keeps the poem short to indicate their limited vocabulary and limited self-awareness. These teenagers are rebels without a cause. The poet herself said that the we of We real cool, is to be said softly to show their uncertainty. Listen to what Brooks says about the poem just before she recites it to understand how the poems diction helps establish the desired tone. Did you also notice how the diction of this poem seems to echo jazz sounds? The repetitive alliterations in the lines (We lurk late, We strike straight, We sing sin, We Jazz June) give it a musical quality, and the shortness of the words and lines have a percussive effect, like when cymbals in a jazz band crash. Lesson Activity Not Assessed Read more about how to use diction effectively in poetry. Then go to your Lesson Activities and write a short poem of your own in the Not Assessed section. SCREEN 14 Tone, Diction, and Meaning Youve seen how analyzing diction helps you identify a poems tone and understand its meaning. Now, read John Keatss poem This Living Hand, and think about how the tone is conveyed through its diction. This Living Hand has a mournful, realistic tone. If you analyze the poem closely, youll notice that certain words such as cold,tomb, and icy evoke death and create a strong tone of dread. When Keats wrote this poem, he knew he was dying. This poem was, in fact, the last poem Keats ever wrote. He died when he was just 26. The speaker is accepting death as inevitable, but is unhappy about a life not completely lived and is resentful of those who will live full lives, as is obvious from the lines, So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights, That thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood, So in my veins red life might stream again. The speaker faces death, and makes readers face it too, with his outstretched hand. SCREEN 15 Just as its possible to identify a poems tone and understand its meaning from the diction, its also possible to alter the poems tone and meaning by changing the diction. Read Robert Brownings Pippas Song. This poem has a peppy tone, which comes through words like morn and spring, and particularly the last lines Gods in His heaven,/ Alls right with the world! If you were to change certain words in this poem, though, you would invert the poems tone and meaning. For example, changing spring to winter, or at the morn to at dusk could help create a dark, gloomy tone. Lesson Activity Teacher-Graded Read Edgar Allan Poes poem A Dream Within a Dream and write a 250- to 300-word essay as instructed in the Tone, Diction, and Meaning section of the Teacher-Graded Activities. Lesson Activity Self-Checked Listen to or read Brookss We Real Cool again. Go to the Tone, Diction, and Meaning section of the Self-Checked Activities and rewrite this poem as directed. SCREEN 16 Summary The French poet, playwright, and filmmaker Jean Cocteau once said, The poet doesnt invent. He listens. And thats what you, as a reader, need to do when analyzing a poems tone and diction. If tone conveys the mood and attitude of a poem, diction helps create the tone. To analyze tone, you need to understand diction. You also need to figure out who the poems speaker is, to whom is it addressed, and what the poems central concern and context is. For example, you may miss the irony in Robert Frosts A Patch of Old Snow and the bravado in Gwendolyn Brookss We Real Cool if you dont read the poems closely.

Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases

Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases 1. Introduction 1.1. Present Scenario Internet is the latest and the most powerful innovation of mankind. In present era of internet we used computer technology to solve our many problems. Today in every field we use computer technology from education, business, social networking to order a dinner or health check-up. Nobody knows from when human are start using medicine for cure themselves from illness. Many years ago when uncivilized human are lives in cave, deep forest they used various tree, plants leaves as medicine. They give their knowledge to the next generation. There is no MBBS doctors are available at that time. The anytime anywhere availability of Internet has made a great impact specially in-terms of reaching customers and making themselves aware of ones products base and services. (Roche, 2010) Going back 15 or more years, when hardly anyone had access to the internet; you would have had to go out to find a doctor for solving your health problems. But now, that the internet is available to many people, so people can visit a virtual doctor clinic. In todays modern society we have MBBS doctors, thousands of medicine for thousands of diseases. If we feel sick, we go to the doctors clinic and doctor diagnosis us, then prescribed some medicine and after taking medicine will fine within few days. But if you went out from your city or you go someplace, where you get sick and you dont have any doctor nearby. What you do then? In Africa there is only 1 doctor among 5000 people. Presently, Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. There are many places where people are dying because of some common diseases. Just some common medicine can help them. Now if I asked you What if you could visit a doctor, any time of day or night, without leaving your home and that doctor could review your history, diagnose your problem and also give you prescription? Now you are thinking how is it possible? Ok you need just an internet connection and computer and Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases onlinesoftware will do it for you. 1.2. Topic of the Project The Project is titled â€Å"Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases†. It will be a generic software package for a medical clinic. The system will be able to act as a web-based solution for medical symptom checker. It will prove to be asset for both the doctor as well as their patient. 1.3. Targeted Audience Target audience or user is one of the main concerns on how and why a system is been developed, who is going to use this system. The target users of Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine have been categorized into three types. 1.4. Problem Context Internet enthusiastic people want to use internet to solve their medical problems. But there is no good local site that can provide this kind of facility. This kind of website is perfect for them who dont have time to visit a doctors clinic for minor Where doctor is unable, we used this kind of technology to help people. Presently, There are only 54 doctors per 100,000 peoples in Africa. Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. In this country this kind of system will help people if it can be implemented. . 1.5. Rationale behind the System The following has highlighted some of the most common benefits of the â€Å"Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine† Because of the existence of the identified problems, there is a need for such project. This project consists of some on-line web application which provides guides to the patient. The system will be using advanced algorithm to design a virtual medical agent. The benefits gained from this project are: User can contact with doctor easily from their home or office. Doctor can easily manage their patient. Patient can gain medical knowledge from using this system. Smart Symptom checker can help patient anytime. 1.5.1. Proposed Solution Ø Patient who have some knowledge of using internet doesnt need to visit to doctor for common diseases life fiver, Pain, stomatitis etc. Ø It also helps community and skilled health workers, supported by automated assessment and treatment protocols, can rapidly expand the delivery of health care in developing countries Ø The spread of mobile phones and web services makes new models of healthcare delivery possible at everyones hand. Ø Proven technology will allow developing countries to leapfrog the knowledge gap between doctors and patients Ø User can learn about healthcare tasks from this system. Ø Doctor doesnt need to remember all the name of medicine and their purpose. Doctor can find details of a medicine just a click of a search button. Ø Ground-breaking but proven technology allows rapid development, review, and updating of complex automated guidelines by medical professionals without it intervention. 1.6. Benefits of the System Development and Implementation of such a system will bring in a lot of benefits for the business, its employees and its customers (both current and potential). These benefits can be classified into Tangible and Intangible which are discussed in details below:- Ø The system help doctor to make faster diagnosis. Ø Using medicine search engine doctor can get any medicine information with in a second. Ø Various medical tools like BMI calculator, symptom checker etc. will help doctor as well as patient to solve their problems easily. Ø System administrator can easily manage the system using content management system. Ø The system will use roles and permission levels, to maintain confidentiality of private data of administrator, doctor and patient. Ø Patient can use chat services to chat with doctor. Ø The presence of certain services offered by the system on the mobile web will also ensure that the system can be accessed from anywhere anytime. 1.7. Challenges Involved Developing a system such as this will involve a host of challenges for the developer. The major challenges can be classified under:- 1.7.1. Domain Challenges: Ø Data Gathering and Domain Analysis: Due to the developers unfamiliarity with the work-flow and the processes followed in the online Symptom Checker it will become a challenging task to develop awareness about the medical service domain. Ø Implementation of Customizability: The biggest challenge of developing a system like this is its implementation itself. There is high percentage of risk involved in development and implementation of a system like this. The main challenge is to understand the base concepts involved in designing and developing Smart Medical Diagnosis. The developer will also need to follow a modular and object oriented approach in developing this system for enhancing reusability, abstraction, encapsulation and polymorphism. Ø Content Management System (CMS): Understanding and Implementing a CMS integrated with a system like this will require the developer to design the complex architecture of the system in prior so that his/her concepts are clear regarding the control flow of the system and no module infringes each other. This will also require him/her to study existing CMS such as Joomla and Drupal and understand their architecture and working. Ø Database Designing and Normalization: Designing a database for a generic customizable system like this is challenge in itself. The fields and data types of the table along with the tables itself are not fixed or pre-defined. The developer needs to code keeping in mind user customization may need to create these database objects dynamically and hence needs to keep a scope for their creation and modification. Apart from this, there needs to be a big centralized database, which is capable of storing large amount of data and about a large number of entities. The relation between these large numbers of entities will be needed to be figure out and a complex normalization has to be implemented in designing a database like this. Ø Implementation of 3-Tier Architecture: In order to enhance scalability, performance, reliability and robustness of this system, the developer will need to implement 3-Tier architecture for developing this system which is a challenging task keeping in mind the size and complexity of the systems database. Ø Algorithm for Customizing the site and Symptom Checker: The developer will require to showcase solid understanding for logics and algorithms in order to develop the module where the administrative users can add or edit new pages, new symptom option where he/she will be able to add its name description along with the algorithm that will be followed for generating a definite result. 1.7.2. Technical Challenges: PHP: The system will require the developer to use advanced PHP functionalities like Personalization, Forum, Blog and Emailing which will be used in various modules of this system. Develop a PHP base application is harder as compare to develop same application in ASP.NET using visual studio. Visual studio generates code for you debug for you and its also save time. But PHP is challenge as compare to asp.net. Cause PHP doesnt have any IDE and very code you need to write it down in a text editor. Finding an error is also a head ace. But for learning purpose PHP is great. Thats the reason I chose PHP as main web development language. Web Based system: Making an interactive web based system is difficult. Implement a dynamic web site is harder than making a desktop application. We need to take care of network, client server, band width to make project successful. AJAX and JavaScript / jQuery: For designing an intuitive and dynamic interface so that users have a rich experience availing features like data entry assistance, error prevention, etc. The developer needs to have in depth knowledge of AJAX as well as JavaScript or jQuery. Implementation of AJAX is not easy task for a developer who is new to web development. I just know little PHP and HTML. It will be a challenge for me to implement Ajax in this project. AJAX makes web application fell like a desktop application. CSS: Most people who are new in web development cant able to understand how to lay out a page. They just try to drug and drop div, table using Dreamweaver or any HTML design tools with underrating the advanced concept of CSS. And ended up with Advanced Database Concepts with MYSQL: For designing such a complex database that the system requires the developer needs to have a concrete understanding of database concepts like Normalization, Query Optimization, Views, and Permissions. He/she should also require familiarity with MYSQL. MOBILE OPTIMIZATING : For optimizing the web application for mobile phones and handheld devices the developer needs to have extensive skills in WML, mobile web as well as an understanding of how to integrate WML with server side scripting technologies 1.8. Goals behind developing the System 1.8.1. Project goal â€Å"When people are sick, they must make critical decisions about when and where they should receive healthcare. Unfortunately, most people lack the medical knowledge needed to make these decisions safely. Online smart diagnosis is powered by a computer program that performs symptom triage. The goal of symptom triage is to decide when, and where, you should seek care when you have symptoms. Symptom triage does not replace a physician evaluation or make a diagnosis.† 1.8.2. Academic Goal Ø To recall and analyse and implement the understanding and concepts learnt in the complete course curriculum through various modules as well as on individual level and implement all of it in order to come out with a complete computing project of industry standard Ø To document and publish the deliverables professionally following the standards followed in industry. 1.9. Objectives of the System 1.9.1. Project Objectives Ø To come up with a complete automation solution for online symptom diagnosis. Ø To keep the design, architecture, implementation flexible so as to allow customization by the system administrator. Ø Optimize information presentation and service interface according to the capability of the device requesting it. Ø To use communication channels apart from HTTP like Email, SMS and WAP for supplying quality information and services to customers and company employees. Ø To ensure that the web is bug free and that it runs equally and efficiently on all browsers and platforms 1.9.2. Academic Objectives Ø The prime objective is to learn nitty-gritties of project management and project development lifecycle, implementing it in developing the system and gaining experience in it. Ø Learn Content Management System (CMS) Ø To learn and apply the various Web Development Methodology and Human Computer Interaction Design Principles to the system design. Ø Web accessibility Ø To learn and master the advance features of PHP, MYSQL and associated technologies. Ø To learn the internal work-flow and procedures that is followed medical diagnosis. 1.10. Success Criteria To determine whether the project is a success or a failure parameters such as the quality of application developed as well as the quality of project documentation will be analysed. The quality of application will include the degree to which requirement was fulfilled, the degree of user-friendliness of the system as well as the ability to run swiftly, consistently and error-freely on multiple browsers. 1.11 Scope and Functionalities of the System Scope limits the project. It defines where in the project the developer should call it stop. It determines to what extent the system will support functionalities and beyond what the system facilitates no feature or functionalities. 1.11.1. Functionalities to be implemented The functionalities to be incorporated into the system which in turn will decide the scope of the system have been classified into 3 categories on the basis of their complexity and exclusiveness. They are:- 1.11.1.1. Core Functionalities:. Ø Symptom checker is an automatic smart software agent that can ask question to patient about their problem and it analysis the problems and diagnosis the debases of the patient Ø Chat Services Patients can text chat with doctor. Ø Forum User can create, post delete thread in forum Ø Messaging User can send message to each other Ø CMS(Content management System) Admin can create update and delete pages. Ø Medicine search engine Doctor can use medicine search engine to know about works of a particular medicine Ø Registration of Doctor And Patient . Ø Patient Can upload his/her medical history. Ø Secure and configurable user access through individual user logins and passwords. Ø Users can change their password. 1.11.1.2. Enhanced Functionalities: Ø Design the virtual doctor using artificial intelligent Ø Video chat service Ø Create user blog Ø Full Mobile based services Ø Full customizing user profiling. 1.11.1.3. Special Functionalities Ø Various tool boxes for doctor BMI Calculator, BRM calculator, Body fat calculator. Ø Voice chat and VoIP 1.11.2. Scope of the Project This projects main aim is to give perfect medical information to the user through internet. It will save time and money of both doctor and patient. The patient who dont have the time to visit the clinic of the doctor for some common issue they can use this system. This kind of system already in market like virtual doctor, WEB MD, Online health, but none of them works on mobile platform. As Smart Medical Diagnosis also works on mobile platform, anyone with wap enable mobile with GPRS, EGDE or 3G can access his web services and get information about medicine and diseases. 1.11.2.1 Scope Limitation Ø Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases is an online application. Without internet this system doesnt work Ø WAP Based mobile not able to display the webpage Ø chat required high speed internet connection Ø Symptom checker may be diagnosis wrong if patient give wrong input Ø Serious medical problems cant be solved using this system Ø Only some common diseases can be diagnosis 1.12. Feasibility Study By the means of feasibility study one can find out if an information system project can be done, and if so, how. A feasibility study should answers the following question: Ø Whether the project can be done; Ø What are alternative solutions? Ø What are the criteria for choosing among them? Ø Is there a preferred alternative? After a feasibility study, a decision is taken on the go ahead/no go of the project. There are a many types of feasibility study that are used for analysis of Information System. In this project the developer has restricted the feasibility study to Technological Feasibility Study and Schedule Feasibility. 1.12.1. Technical Feasibility Study The technical feasibility study compares the level of technology available in the software development firm and the level of technology required for the development of the product. Here the level of technology consists of the programming language, the hardware resources, Other software tools etc. (All About Information Technology) In this project the hardware and software required as the application will be deployed on a apache server, PHP 5.3 With ZEND Framework and mysql 5 Server will not be big ask at present scene. On the Client End the application just requires any current java script enable web browser. 1.12.3. Operational Feasibility Study Operational feasibility study tests the operational scope of the software to be developed. The proposed software must have high operational feasibility. The usability will be high. It is basically used to analyse whether the system will be used if it is developed and implemented. Whether there will be resistance from users that will affect the possible application benefits? Data gathering methods such as questionnaire and interviews have been incorporated in the development plan to ensure all user requirements are collected well in hand to develop the system. We also provide help manual to better understand the tystem. 1.12.3. Schedule Feasibility Study Schedule Feasibility is an assessment whether the project will be able to complete on time. Since the project deadline is fixed i.e. 32 weeks. Each project phase time-line has been established with certain milestones also including some form of deliverables like PPF, PSF and Mid-Point the project-schedule is realistic and well within reach if the established schedule is followed precisely. 1.13. Major Project Deliverables Final Year Project Documentation Page | 18 Draft Proposal PPF Ethical Form PSF log sheet Hard copy Soft copy Final Year Project Documentation Page | 18 Start date: 27th July 2010 Duration: 31 Weeks End date: 20th March 2 Planning (total 18 days) Work Breakdown Structure Schedule and Time Estimation Critical Path Method Interviews Gantt Chart Project Proposal Form Weeks -2.5 3 Analysis (total 49 days) Identify project specifications Project Background Resources required Techniques to be learnt Goals and Objectives Determine System Functionalities Identify scope of research Project Specification Form Investigation ad Research Programming Human Computer Interaction Multimedia Design Principles User requirements Drifting Analysis User Profiling Domain analysis System analysis Risk analysis Weeks -7 4 System Design (Total 49 days) Tasks: Navigational Design Story Boarding Process Diagram Abstract Interface Design Screen layout Content Design Interactivity Design Functionality Design Midpoint Interview Weeks -7 5 Implementation (Total 28 days) Code generation Module Integration Weeks -4 6 Testing and Evaluation (Total 35days) Test Plans Unit Testing Integration Testing System Testing Critical Evaluation Weeks -5 7 Project Ending (Total 35days) Submission of the finished product Presentation Weeks -5 2. Problem Description When people are sick, they must make critical decisions about when and where they should receive healthcare. Unfortunately, most people lack the medical knowledge needed to make these decisions safely. Online Smart Diagnosis is powered by a computer program that performs symptom triage. The goal of symptom triage is to decide when, and where, you should seek care when you have symptoms. Symptom triage does not replace a physician evaluation or make a diagnosis. Over the past 12 years, healthcare professionals in the U.S. government and major managed care organizations have used the program extensively, proving its effectiveness. Like FreeMD.com improves medical outcomes by helping consumers determine the most appropriate time and place to receive care from a healthcare professional. (How it Works) With so many options for care today, its becoming more important for you to know where you should get care when you develop symptoms. Choices include: Emergency Room Urgent Care Center Physician Office Physician eVisit (via the web, e-mail, or phone) Dentist Office Nurse Retail Clinic Your choice on where to get care is important because not all of these locations are equipped to treat all health problems. If you make the wrong choice, you risk delaying your diagnosis and treatment. A wrong choice could also lead you to over-pay for the same care you could have received in a less expensive setting. Online Smart Diagnosis was created to safely direct you to the right location: where you get the care you need, without paying more than you need to. Online Smart Diagnosis performs a medical interview, just like a real doctor. During the interview, you answer questions about your symptoms and past medical history. Online Smart Diagnosis is designed to be fast (average encounter time is less than 2 minutes), so you get help fast! At the end of the process, FreeMD.com generates a report that provides the following information: What might be causing your symptoms? When should you see a doctor? Where should you seek care? What kind of doctor should you see? What should you do to care for yourself? There are many palaces in the world where you cant find a single doctor. There are only 54 doctors per 100,000 peoples in Africa. Presently, Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. In many parts of the world, far too many children and adults are dying unnecessarily from easily treatable diseases. In a world where many of us take basic healthcare for granted, one in six children in Zambia will still not reach the age of five. Too often this problem is simply due to the lack of access to effective primary healthcare. Whether it is the huge distances to health centres and lack of transport, the lack of doctors in many regions, or the simple shortage of resources such as medications, very often easily treatable conditions are left until it is too late. From above information we can say, there is a desperate lack of primary healthcare available to rural communities in many parts of the world due to their geographical isolation, shortage of doctors, and lack of resources. The Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases Project is an innovative new venture that aims to use mobile clinics and internet to save lives. 3. Literature Review Development of successful project starts with a solid and deep Research. Thus, Research will be an on-going process throughout the project. Researches need in every phase let it be planning, user interface designing or anything and especially when you are in process of building comprehensible website. The research area will also consist of the development process model which will be used for the project. Getting good hands on programming languages and mastering back-ends will also be a challenge and research work. For developing this project I am going to flow Web Engineering model. I think this is the best model to make web based project. 3.1. Web Engineering and WebE Process model: As Web-based systems play increasingly important roles in a number of applications, the demands placed on these systems and their complexity have also increased significantly. Also, there is growing need for improved quality, performance and availability of Web-based systems as we are now more dependent on Web-based systems than ever before. But, most Web-based systems are poorly developed in ad hoc manner and hence they exhibit poor performance and are susceptible for major failures. Web-based system development, in most cases, lacks rigour, systematic approach to design, disciplined development process and quality control and assurance procedures. Hence, there is growing concern about the performance, quality, integrity, maintainability and scalability of complex Web based systems. Web engineering advocates a process and a systematic approach to development of high quality Web-based systems and aims to bring the potential chaos in Web-based system development under control and enha nce scalability, maintainability and quality. It is a rapidly emerging as a new discipline for successful development and deployment of large Web-based systems in a range of applications. Web Engineering is an evolving development methodology dedicated to the development of superior Internet and Web Applications. It advocates a standardized process and follows a systematic approach. (S. Murugesan, Y. Deshpande, S. Hansen and A. Ginig, 1999) Web engineering principles and approaches can fix the issues related to web development methodology gaining complete control over the process, minimizing risk and improving the quality and maintainability (Ginige Murugesan, 2000) Web Engineering Activities Successful Web-based system development and deployment is a process, not just an event as currently perceived and practiced by many developers and academics. Web engineering is a holistic approach and deals with all aspects of web-based development, starting from concerting and development to implementation, performance evaluation, and continual maintenance. (Suh, 2005) (Suh, 2005) Web Engineering Development Process: Reasons behind choosing the WebE process model Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases :going to be a web based project and as developer have chosen web engineering model, it would be easy and profitable to follow the process model suggested under the web engineering. The WebE process model is deliberately developed for the web applications and it addresses the specific needs of a web application which differs from the traditional software and is not addressed by the traditional software methodologies, too. Developers system is a web based system and would have a feature that can be looked after only by a dedicated web process model and thats why I found WebE useful. Take time to understand the business needs and product objectives, even if WebApp details are vague. Describe how users will interact with the WebApp using a scenario-based approach Develop a brief project plan. Spend time modeling what you are going to build 3.2 Academic Research Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine is a project where research is going to be very crucial. I have contact with doctor for gathering information. Some of friends who are medical student are going to help in making the database. There are already some system are on the market. From this kind of system I can learn, how I can make this kind of system. Academic Research means extracting information from others hard earned experiences like going through books, journals, paper presentations and other published materials. My project has multidirectional requirements Medical Since this project deals with Medical, patient and so I will need to go through various Medical books so that at least I should have an idea how can I make a virtual medical agent. Patient I have to understand what a patient want from a doctor. What kind of patient should able to use this kind of system? Software Engineering Techniques Web engineering , Mobile WEB technologies Network and Internet Databases there will be a huge use and requirements for databases, since everything will be stored at backend. So I will need a secure, big database Reports generation Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases 1. Introduction 1.1. Present Scenario Internet is the latest and the most powerful innovation of mankind. In present era of internet we used computer technology to solve our many problems. Today in every field we use computer technology from education, business, social networking to order a dinner or health check-up. Nobody knows from when human are start using medicine for cure themselves from illness. Many years ago when uncivilized human are lives in cave, deep forest they used various tree, plants leaves as medicine. They give their knowledge to the next generation. There is no MBBS doctors are available at that time. The anytime anywhere availability of Internet has made a great impact specially in-terms of reaching customers and making themselves aware of ones products base and services. (Roche, 2010) Going back 15 or more years, when hardly anyone had access to the internet; you would have had to go out to find a doctor for solving your health problems. But now, that the internet is available to many people, so people can visit a virtual doctor clinic. In todays modern society we have MBBS doctors, thousands of medicine for thousands of diseases. If we feel sick, we go to the doctors clinic and doctor diagnosis us, then prescribed some medicine and after taking medicine will fine within few days. But if you went out from your city or you go someplace, where you get sick and you dont have any doctor nearby. What you do then? In Africa there is only 1 doctor among 5000 people. Presently, Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. There are many places where people are dying because of some common diseases. Just some common medicine can help them. Now if I asked you What if you could visit a doctor, any time of day or night, without leaving your home and that doctor could review your history, diagnose your problem and also give you prescription? Now you are thinking how is it possible? Ok you need just an internet connection and computer and Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases onlinesoftware will do it for you. 1.2. Topic of the Project The Project is titled â€Å"Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases†. It will be a generic software package for a medical clinic. The system will be able to act as a web-based solution for medical symptom checker. It will prove to be asset for both the doctor as well as their patient. 1.3. Targeted Audience Target audience or user is one of the main concerns on how and why a system is been developed, who is going to use this system. The target users of Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine have been categorized into three types. 1.4. Problem Context Internet enthusiastic people want to use internet to solve their medical problems. But there is no good local site that can provide this kind of facility. This kind of website is perfect for them who dont have time to visit a doctors clinic for minor Where doctor is unable, we used this kind of technology to help people. Presently, There are only 54 doctors per 100,000 peoples in Africa. Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. In this country this kind of system will help people if it can be implemented. . 1.5. Rationale behind the System The following has highlighted some of the most common benefits of the â€Å"Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine† Because of the existence of the identified problems, there is a need for such project. This project consists of some on-line web application which provides guides to the patient. The system will be using advanced algorithm to design a virtual medical agent. The benefits gained from this project are: User can contact with doctor easily from their home or office. Doctor can easily manage their patient. Patient can gain medical knowledge from using this system. Smart Symptom checker can help patient anytime. 1.5.1. Proposed Solution Ø Patient who have some knowledge of using internet doesnt need to visit to doctor for common diseases life fiver, Pain, stomatitis etc. Ø It also helps community and skilled health workers, supported by automated assessment and treatment protocols, can rapidly expand the delivery of health care in developing countries Ø The spread of mobile phones and web services makes new models of healthcare delivery possible at everyones hand. Ø Proven technology will allow developing countries to leapfrog the knowledge gap between doctors and patients Ø User can learn about healthcare tasks from this system. Ø Doctor doesnt need to remember all the name of medicine and their purpose. Doctor can find details of a medicine just a click of a search button. Ø Ground-breaking but proven technology allows rapid development, review, and updating of complex automated guidelines by medical professionals without it intervention. 1.6. Benefits of the System Development and Implementation of such a system will bring in a lot of benefits for the business, its employees and its customers (both current and potential). These benefits can be classified into Tangible and Intangible which are discussed in details below:- Ø The system help doctor to make faster diagnosis. Ø Using medicine search engine doctor can get any medicine information with in a second. Ø Various medical tools like BMI calculator, symptom checker etc. will help doctor as well as patient to solve their problems easily. Ø System administrator can easily manage the system using content management system. Ø The system will use roles and permission levels, to maintain confidentiality of private data of administrator, doctor and patient. Ø Patient can use chat services to chat with doctor. Ø The presence of certain services offered by the system on the mobile web will also ensure that the system can be accessed from anywhere anytime. 1.7. Challenges Involved Developing a system such as this will involve a host of challenges for the developer. The major challenges can be classified under:- 1.7.1. Domain Challenges: Ø Data Gathering and Domain Analysis: Due to the developers unfamiliarity with the work-flow and the processes followed in the online Symptom Checker it will become a challenging task to develop awareness about the medical service domain. Ø Implementation of Customizability: The biggest challenge of developing a system like this is its implementation itself. There is high percentage of risk involved in development and implementation of a system like this. The main challenge is to understand the base concepts involved in designing and developing Smart Medical Diagnosis. The developer will also need to follow a modular and object oriented approach in developing this system for enhancing reusability, abstraction, encapsulation and polymorphism. Ø Content Management System (CMS): Understanding and Implementing a CMS integrated with a system like this will require the developer to design the complex architecture of the system in prior so that his/her concepts are clear regarding the control flow of the system and no module infringes each other. This will also require him/her to study existing CMS such as Joomla and Drupal and understand their architecture and working. Ø Database Designing and Normalization: Designing a database for a generic customizable system like this is challenge in itself. The fields and data types of the table along with the tables itself are not fixed or pre-defined. The developer needs to code keeping in mind user customization may need to create these database objects dynamically and hence needs to keep a scope for their creation and modification. Apart from this, there needs to be a big centralized database, which is capable of storing large amount of data and about a large number of entities. The relation between these large numbers of entities will be needed to be figure out and a complex normalization has to be implemented in designing a database like this. Ø Implementation of 3-Tier Architecture: In order to enhance scalability, performance, reliability and robustness of this system, the developer will need to implement 3-Tier architecture for developing this system which is a challenging task keeping in mind the size and complexity of the systems database. Ø Algorithm for Customizing the site and Symptom Checker: The developer will require to showcase solid understanding for logics and algorithms in order to develop the module where the administrative users can add or edit new pages, new symptom option where he/she will be able to add its name description along with the algorithm that will be followed for generating a definite result. 1.7.2. Technical Challenges: PHP: The system will require the developer to use advanced PHP functionalities like Personalization, Forum, Blog and Emailing which will be used in various modules of this system. Develop a PHP base application is harder as compare to develop same application in ASP.NET using visual studio. Visual studio generates code for you debug for you and its also save time. But PHP is challenge as compare to asp.net. Cause PHP doesnt have any IDE and very code you need to write it down in a text editor. Finding an error is also a head ace. But for learning purpose PHP is great. Thats the reason I chose PHP as main web development language. Web Based system: Making an interactive web based system is difficult. Implement a dynamic web site is harder than making a desktop application. We need to take care of network, client server, band width to make project successful. AJAX and JavaScript / jQuery: For designing an intuitive and dynamic interface so that users have a rich experience availing features like data entry assistance, error prevention, etc. The developer needs to have in depth knowledge of AJAX as well as JavaScript or jQuery. Implementation of AJAX is not easy task for a developer who is new to web development. I just know little PHP and HTML. It will be a challenge for me to implement Ajax in this project. AJAX makes web application fell like a desktop application. CSS: Most people who are new in web development cant able to understand how to lay out a page. They just try to drug and drop div, table using Dreamweaver or any HTML design tools with underrating the advanced concept of CSS. And ended up with Advanced Database Concepts with MYSQL: For designing such a complex database that the system requires the developer needs to have a concrete understanding of database concepts like Normalization, Query Optimization, Views, and Permissions. He/she should also require familiarity with MYSQL. MOBILE OPTIMIZATING : For optimizing the web application for mobile phones and handheld devices the developer needs to have extensive skills in WML, mobile web as well as an understanding of how to integrate WML with server side scripting technologies 1.8. Goals behind developing the System 1.8.1. Project goal â€Å"When people are sick, they must make critical decisions about when and where they should receive healthcare. Unfortunately, most people lack the medical knowledge needed to make these decisions safely. Online smart diagnosis is powered by a computer program that performs symptom triage. The goal of symptom triage is to decide when, and where, you should seek care when you have symptoms. Symptom triage does not replace a physician evaluation or make a diagnosis.† 1.8.2. Academic Goal Ø To recall and analyse and implement the understanding and concepts learnt in the complete course curriculum through various modules as well as on individual level and implement all of it in order to come out with a complete computing project of industry standard Ø To document and publish the deliverables professionally following the standards followed in industry. 1.9. Objectives of the System 1.9.1. Project Objectives Ø To come up with a complete automation solution for online symptom diagnosis. Ø To keep the design, architecture, implementation flexible so as to allow customization by the system administrator. Ø Optimize information presentation and service interface according to the capability of the device requesting it. Ø To use communication channels apart from HTTP like Email, SMS and WAP for supplying quality information and services to customers and company employees. Ø To ensure that the web is bug free and that it runs equally and efficiently on all browsers and platforms 1.9.2. Academic Objectives Ø The prime objective is to learn nitty-gritties of project management and project development lifecycle, implementing it in developing the system and gaining experience in it. Ø Learn Content Management System (CMS) Ø To learn and apply the various Web Development Methodology and Human Computer Interaction Design Principles to the system design. Ø Web accessibility Ø To learn and master the advance features of PHP, MYSQL and associated technologies. Ø To learn the internal work-flow and procedures that is followed medical diagnosis. 1.10. Success Criteria To determine whether the project is a success or a failure parameters such as the quality of application developed as well as the quality of project documentation will be analysed. The quality of application will include the degree to which requirement was fulfilled, the degree of user-friendliness of the system as well as the ability to run swiftly, consistently and error-freely on multiple browsers. 1.11 Scope and Functionalities of the System Scope limits the project. It defines where in the project the developer should call it stop. It determines to what extent the system will support functionalities and beyond what the system facilitates no feature or functionalities. 1.11.1. Functionalities to be implemented The functionalities to be incorporated into the system which in turn will decide the scope of the system have been classified into 3 categories on the basis of their complexity and exclusiveness. They are:- 1.11.1.1. Core Functionalities:. Ø Symptom checker is an automatic smart software agent that can ask question to patient about their problem and it analysis the problems and diagnosis the debases of the patient Ø Chat Services Patients can text chat with doctor. Ø Forum User can create, post delete thread in forum Ø Messaging User can send message to each other Ø CMS(Content management System) Admin can create update and delete pages. Ø Medicine search engine Doctor can use medicine search engine to know about works of a particular medicine Ø Registration of Doctor And Patient . Ø Patient Can upload his/her medical history. Ø Secure and configurable user access through individual user logins and passwords. Ø Users can change their password. 1.11.1.2. Enhanced Functionalities: Ø Design the virtual doctor using artificial intelligent Ø Video chat service Ø Create user blog Ø Full Mobile based services Ø Full customizing user profiling. 1.11.1.3. Special Functionalities Ø Various tool boxes for doctor BMI Calculator, BRM calculator, Body fat calculator. Ø Voice chat and VoIP 1.11.2. Scope of the Project This projects main aim is to give perfect medical information to the user through internet. It will save time and money of both doctor and patient. The patient who dont have the time to visit the clinic of the doctor for some common issue they can use this system. This kind of system already in market like virtual doctor, WEB MD, Online health, but none of them works on mobile platform. As Smart Medical Diagnosis also works on mobile platform, anyone with wap enable mobile with GPRS, EGDE or 3G can access his web services and get information about medicine and diseases. 1.11.2.1 Scope Limitation Ø Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases is an online application. Without internet this system doesnt work Ø WAP Based mobile not able to display the webpage Ø chat required high speed internet connection Ø Symptom checker may be diagnosis wrong if patient give wrong input Ø Serious medical problems cant be solved using this system Ø Only some common diseases can be diagnosis 1.12. Feasibility Study By the means of feasibility study one can find out if an information system project can be done, and if so, how. A feasibility study should answers the following question: Ø Whether the project can be done; Ø What are alternative solutions? Ø What are the criteria for choosing among them? Ø Is there a preferred alternative? After a feasibility study, a decision is taken on the go ahead/no go of the project. There are a many types of feasibility study that are used for analysis of Information System. In this project the developer has restricted the feasibility study to Technological Feasibility Study and Schedule Feasibility. 1.12.1. Technical Feasibility Study The technical feasibility study compares the level of technology available in the software development firm and the level of technology required for the development of the product. Here the level of technology consists of the programming language, the hardware resources, Other software tools etc. (All About Information Technology) In this project the hardware and software required as the application will be deployed on a apache server, PHP 5.3 With ZEND Framework and mysql 5 Server will not be big ask at present scene. On the Client End the application just requires any current java script enable web browser. 1.12.3. Operational Feasibility Study Operational feasibility study tests the operational scope of the software to be developed. The proposed software must have high operational feasibility. The usability will be high. It is basically used to analyse whether the system will be used if it is developed and implemented. Whether there will be resistance from users that will affect the possible application benefits? Data gathering methods such as questionnaire and interviews have been incorporated in the development plan to ensure all user requirements are collected well in hand to develop the system. We also provide help manual to better understand the tystem. 1.12.3. Schedule Feasibility Study Schedule Feasibility is an assessment whether the project will be able to complete on time. Since the project deadline is fixed i.e. 32 weeks. Each project phase time-line has been established with certain milestones also including some form of deliverables like PPF, PSF and Mid-Point the project-schedule is realistic and well within reach if the established schedule is followed precisely. 1.13. Major Project Deliverables Final Year Project Documentation Page | 18 Draft Proposal PPF Ethical Form PSF log sheet Hard copy Soft copy Final Year Project Documentation Page | 18 Start date: 27th July 2010 Duration: 31 Weeks End date: 20th March 2 Planning (total 18 days) Work Breakdown Structure Schedule and Time Estimation Critical Path Method Interviews Gantt Chart Project Proposal Form Weeks -2.5 3 Analysis (total 49 days) Identify project specifications Project Background Resources required Techniques to be learnt Goals and Objectives Determine System Functionalities Identify scope of research Project Specification Form Investigation ad Research Programming Human Computer Interaction Multimedia Design Principles User requirements Drifting Analysis User Profiling Domain analysis System analysis Risk analysis Weeks -7 4 System Design (Total 49 days) Tasks: Navigational Design Story Boarding Process Diagram Abstract Interface Design Screen layout Content Design Interactivity Design Functionality Design Midpoint Interview Weeks -7 5 Implementation (Total 28 days) Code generation Module Integration Weeks -4 6 Testing and Evaluation (Total 35days) Test Plans Unit Testing Integration Testing System Testing Critical Evaluation Weeks -5 7 Project Ending (Total 35days) Submission of the finished product Presentation Weeks -5 2. Problem Description When people are sick, they must make critical decisions about when and where they should receive healthcare. Unfortunately, most people lack the medical knowledge needed to make these decisions safely. Online Smart Diagnosis is powered by a computer program that performs symptom triage. The goal of symptom triage is to decide when, and where, you should seek care when you have symptoms. Symptom triage does not replace a physician evaluation or make a diagnosis. Over the past 12 years, healthcare professionals in the U.S. government and major managed care organizations have used the program extensively, proving its effectiveness. Like FreeMD.com improves medical outcomes by helping consumers determine the most appropriate time and place to receive care from a healthcare professional. (How it Works) With so many options for care today, its becoming more important for you to know where you should get care when you develop symptoms. Choices include: Emergency Room Urgent Care Center Physician Office Physician eVisit (via the web, e-mail, or phone) Dentist Office Nurse Retail Clinic Your choice on where to get care is important because not all of these locations are equipped to treat all health problems. If you make the wrong choice, you risk delaying your diagnosis and treatment. A wrong choice could also lead you to over-pay for the same care you could have received in a less expensive setting. Online Smart Diagnosis was created to safely direct you to the right location: where you get the care you need, without paying more than you need to. Online Smart Diagnosis performs a medical interview, just like a real doctor. During the interview, you answer questions about your symptoms and past medical history. Online Smart Diagnosis is designed to be fast (average encounter time is less than 2 minutes), so you get help fast! At the end of the process, FreeMD.com generates a report that provides the following information: What might be causing your symptoms? When should you see a doctor? Where should you seek care? What kind of doctor should you see? What should you do to care for yourself? There are many palaces in the world where you cant find a single doctor. There are only 54 doctors per 100,000 peoples in Africa. Presently, Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. In many parts of the world, far too many children and adults are dying unnecessarily from easily treatable diseases. In a world where many of us take basic healthcare for granted, one in six children in Zambia will still not reach the age of five. Too often this problem is simply due to the lack of access to effective primary healthcare. Whether it is the huge distances to health centres and lack of transport, the lack of doctors in many regions, or the simple shortage of resources such as medications, very often easily treatable conditions are left until it is too late. From above information we can say, there is a desperate lack of primary healthcare available to rural communities in many parts of the world due to their geographical isolation, shortage of doctors, and lack of resources. The Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases Project is an innovative new venture that aims to use mobile clinics and internet to save lives. 3. Literature Review Development of successful project starts with a solid and deep Research. Thus, Research will be an on-going process throughout the project. Researches need in every phase let it be planning, user interface designing or anything and especially when you are in process of building comprehensible website. The research area will also consist of the development process model which will be used for the project. Getting good hands on programming languages and mastering back-ends will also be a challenge and research work. For developing this project I am going to flow Web Engineering model. I think this is the best model to make web based project. 3.1. Web Engineering and WebE Process model: As Web-based systems play increasingly important roles in a number of applications, the demands placed on these systems and their complexity have also increased significantly. Also, there is growing need for improved quality, performance and availability of Web-based systems as we are now more dependent on Web-based systems than ever before. But, most Web-based systems are poorly developed in ad hoc manner and hence they exhibit poor performance and are susceptible for major failures. Web-based system development, in most cases, lacks rigour, systematic approach to design, disciplined development process and quality control and assurance procedures. Hence, there is growing concern about the performance, quality, integrity, maintainability and scalability of complex Web based systems. Web engineering advocates a process and a systematic approach to development of high quality Web-based systems and aims to bring the potential chaos in Web-based system development under control and enha nce scalability, maintainability and quality. It is a rapidly emerging as a new discipline for successful development and deployment of large Web-based systems in a range of applications. Web Engineering is an evolving development methodology dedicated to the development of superior Internet and Web Applications. It advocates a standardized process and follows a systematic approach. (S. Murugesan, Y. Deshpande, S. Hansen and A. Ginig, 1999) Web engineering principles and approaches can fix the issues related to web development methodology gaining complete control over the process, minimizing risk and improving the quality and maintainability (Ginige Murugesan, 2000) Web Engineering Activities Successful Web-based system development and deployment is a process, not just an event as currently perceived and practiced by many developers and academics. Web engineering is a holistic approach and deals with all aspects of web-based development, starting from concerting and development to implementation, performance evaluation, and continual maintenance. (Suh, 2005) (Suh, 2005) Web Engineering Development Process: Reasons behind choosing the WebE process model Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases :going to be a web based project and as developer have chosen web engineering model, it would be easy and profitable to follow the process model suggested under the web engineering. The WebE process model is deliberately developed for the web applications and it addresses the specific needs of a web application which differs from the traditional software and is not addressed by the traditional software methodologies, too. Developers system is a web based system and would have a feature that can be looked after only by a dedicated web process model and thats why I found WebE useful. Take time to understand the business needs and product objectives, even if WebApp details are vague. Describe how users will interact with the WebApp using a scenario-based approach Develop a brief project plan. Spend time modeling what you are going to build 3.2 Academic Research Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine is a project where research is going to be very crucial. I have contact with doctor for gathering information. Some of friends who are medical student are going to help in making the database. There are already some system are on the market. From this kind of system I can learn, how I can make this kind of system. Academic Research means extracting information from others hard earned experiences like going through books, journals, paper presentations and other published materials. My project has multidirectional requirements Medical Since this project deals with Medical, patient and so I will need to go through various Medical books so that at least I should have an idea how can I make a virtual medical agent. Patient I have to understand what a patient want from a doctor. What kind of patient should able to use this kind of system? Software Engineering Techniques Web engineering , Mobile WEB technologies Network and Internet Databases there will be a huge use and requirements for databases, since everything will be stored at backend. So I will need a secure, big database Reports generation