The Post-Modern Condition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

The Post-Modern Condition - Essay Example By definition, the "Word" cannot be a human artifice. 2. Early modern: Signs modify or screen reality, which is thereby acknowledged to be at least partially artificial or contingent. Observers concede that symbolic forms of mediation do not immediately touch or mirror reality-in-itself. Example: There is a growing recognition among intellectuals that theological disputes are an unavoidable part of deciphering the enigma that is "God." 3. Modern: Signs dissimulate -- that is, they conceal the presence of absence. Example: We begin to understand that God does not exist (absence), that he was always a figment of our too-fertile imaginations. Nevertheless, we concede that religious belief should perhaps be tolerated because it gives people hope and a reason for living. 4. Postmodern: Signs no longer claim to depict, mirror, or even disguise an objective reality. Consequently, symbolic modes of representation become pure "simulacra: copies (or copies of a copy) that have no original (Baudrillard 1983). The simulacrum embodies nothing but a knowingly manufactured and contrived reality. Hence, culture must be faked before it can be recognized. Example: A McDonald's commercial shows a little girl supposedly enjoying a hamburger with her father. Such a commercial is neither "true" nor "false." Both at the point of production and at the time of consumption, it is judged merely in terms of whether it is attention-worthy. (Gary Genosko, 1994). In Jean Baudrillard's (1983) terms, postmodern simulation "is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal." The ad just described is not therefore compromised by viewers' awareness that what they are seeing is perfectly contrived, for postmodern subjects feel quite at home in a world where everything around them is already faked. Indeed, precisely because their lives lack stable or reliable meaning, postmodern subjects are often characterized by a desperate need to be seduced. Note, too, that a clever or successful ad will interest both the simpleton incapable of ironic detachment and the sophisticate cynically enjoying the commercial on its own terms. We must accordingly conclude that neither intelligence nor perspicacity gives us the resources to resist postmodernism. The modern intellectual believed that critical intelligence armored the individual against the seductions of eloquence. By contrast, postmodern subjects fail to achieve critical distance from what they perceive. By successfully collapsing the distinction between what signifies and what is signified, postmodernism makes it increasingly difficult

Cereality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cereality - Essay Example (Cereality). Cereality-The Expansion Program At present the company is making plans to expand its business operations to a European market, Paris. The city of Paris is chosen for the next phase of expansion of the Cereality Company owing to the following reasons. Increased traffic of Tourists Large presence of Fast Food Corners Rendering a Cost Effective Approach favored by many Tourists Firstly, the city of Paris is becoming the home ground for many tourists who come attracted to the city on account of the reason that they would be able to visit a number of historic sites possessing magnificent architectures. These people do not feel the interest in spending their time over large meals. Rather they take to fast food as an option which helps them feel their appetite and at the same time helps saving time. (Naczelnik). Secondly, a visit conducted by us on Paris revealed that the city on account of the above reason has already become the home ground of many fast food corners and joints wherein the tourists relish the different flavors. A number of fast food concepts have cropped up in different parts of the city which include of Stands and Food Courts serving fast food to a large number of people visiting the city. One can easily trace the growth of fast food market in Paris while observing the different options like baked products and other bread food items like pastries and sandwiches composing the fast food sector.

Medication Adherence And Treatment Satisfaction In Patients Nursing Essay

Medication Adherence And Treatment Satisfaction In Patients Nursing Essay Abstract Background and Objective: Medication adherence and treatment satisfaction are important for successful therapeutic outcome. The objectives of this study were to (1) assess antipsychotic medication adherence using 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS), (2) assess treatment satisfaction using Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4), and (3) correlate adherence and satisfaction with psychiatric symptoms measured using 24-item expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E) in patients with schizophrenia. Methodology: This is a cross sectional study Admin2010-12-25T10:07:00 Also, You should mention your design of study inside the textcarried out at governmental out-patient psychiatric unit in Nablus/ Palestine during summer 2010. Two hundred and sixty seven schizophrenic patients were registered at the clinic. Patients included in the study were those whose medications have not been changed in the past six months and those who did not have an acute attack in the past year. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS 16 for windows. Results: One hundred and fifty patients Admin2010-12-25T12:46:00 In cross sectional study, you should calculate the sample size to give a good precision for reliability and validity. These terms increase the quality and acceptance rate of articles.out of 267 registered schizophrenic patients met the inclusion criteria. Nineteen patients refused to participate while 131 patients agreed giving a response rate of 87.3%. The mean  ± SD of MMAS was 6.1  ± 1.7 in which 44 patients (33.6%) had low rate, 58(44.3%) had medium rate 29 (22.1%) had high rate of adherence to their antipsychotic medications. The means of satisfaction with regard to effectiveness, side effects, convenience global satisfaction were 72.6  ± 20.5, 67.9  ± 31.47, 63.2  ± 14.3 63.1  ± 18.8 respectively. The mean BPRS score of the patients was 68.4  ± 24.5 with 14.4  ± 6.7 13.7  ± 6.1 means for positive and negative symptoms scores respectively. Pearson correlation showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between effectiveness (P = 0.002, r = 0.27), side effects (0.006, r =0.24), convenience (P Discussion and Conclusion: conclusions can be summarized as follows: First, the majority of the patients had low to medium rate of adherence. Second, adherence was positively and significantly correlated with satisfaction. Third, adherence was significantly but negatively correlated with most psychiatric symptoms. Fourth, no significant difference in adherence was found among patients receiving various antipsychotic therapeutic regimens. Finally, various antipsychotic regimens significantly differ in side effects satisfaction domain only. Key words: adherence, satisfaction, psychiatric symptoms, antipsychotics Introduction Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric disorder that impairs the quality of patients life and requires pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions (Palmer et al., 2002; Pinikahana et al., 2002; Sharma and Antonova, 2003). Antipsychotic drug therapy is considered as the key element in schizophrenia management and has been reported to minimize the frequency of acute schizophrenic episodes and hospitalization (Awad and Voruganti 2004; Campell et al., 1999). Adherence (compliance) to antipsychotic medications is necessary in order to achieve these therapeutic goals. Furthermore, adherence has been reported to lead to considerable cost savings (Damen et al., 2008). However, non-adherence (non-compliance) to antipsychotic medications is common and is considered as an integral barrier to the successful treatment of schizophrenia (Dolder et. al, 2003; Weiden 2007; Byrne et al., 2006; Kim et al., 2006). There are several factors that can cause treatment non-adherence in schizophreni c patients. Such factors include those derived from schizophrenic disorder itself, patient characteristics, those associated with the health-care system, and the antipsychotic treatment regimen (Svestka Bitter 2007; Misdrahi et al., 2002). Patients related factors contributing to non-adherence include gender, age, socio-economic status, race, and religion (Lowry 1998; Borras et al 2007). Cultural differences might be a potential factor for non-adherence. For example, a review article about psychotropic medications found that rates of non-adherence were higher among Latinos than Euro-Americans and clinical and research interventions to improve adherence should be culturally appropriate and incorporate identified factors (Lanouette et al., 2009). Although patients satisfaction with treatment regimen is crucial for medication adherence (Atkinson et al., 2004; Taira et al. 2006), few studies had examined the relationship between adherence, treatment satisfaction and therapeutic outcome in patients with schizophrenia (Fujikawa et al.; 2004; Freudenreich et al., 2004 Watanabe et al, 2004). Therefore, the objectives of this study were to: (1) Assess the degree of adherence to antipsychotic medications among schizophrenic outpatients using eight-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS), (2) Assess the degree of patients satisfaction with their treatment regimen using Treatment satisfaction Questionnaire for medication (TSQM 1.4), (3) Evaluate patients clinical symptoms, Positive Symptom Score (PSS) Negative Symptom Score (NSS) using Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and finally (4) Investigate relationships and correlations between medication adherence, subjective patients treatment satisfaction and psychiatric symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Methodology 2.1. Patient selection: This study was conducted between July 2010 September 2010 at Al-Makhfya psychiatric Health Center in Nablus, Palestine. Approval to perform the study was obtained from the Palestinian ministry of health and IRBAdmin2010-12-25T10:09:00 Define this abbreviation committee at An-Najah National University. Patients who met the following criteria were invited to participate in this study: 1) their age was between 20 65 years, 2) they were diagnosed with schizophrenia as defined by DSMAdmin2010-12-25T13:29:00 Define this abbrev.-IV, 3) they had not been suffering from an acute attack of illness during the past year, and 4) their drug regimen had not been changed in the past 4 months. 2.2. Assessment and measures The instrument used in this study consisted of three parts: part one collected socio-demographic and medication data from patients medical files; part two was the Arabic version of the validated eight-item Morisky Medication Admin2010-12-25T13:31:00 . The final version of the Arabic questionnaire should be assessed to know if the Arabic version is reliable and valid to be used in your population. This a routine question by high impact journal Also, I suppose you are the first who use this score in Arab country, and this is good for you because you can write new article related to validity and reliability and it is preferred to be published before this article.Adherence Scale (MMAS) (Morisky et al., 2008, Morisky et al., 1986) and part three was the Arabic version of Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM 1.4) which the researchers obtained from Quintiles Strategic Research Services. The English version of the MMAS was translated into Arabic and was approved by professor Morisky through e-mail communication. The translation process was carried out according to the following procedure: 1) A forward translation of the original questionnaire was carried out from English to Arabic language to produce a version that was as close as possible to the original questionnaire in concept and meaning. Translation was carried out by two qualified independent translators; both native speakers of Arabic and proficient i n English. Each translator produced a forward translation of the original questionnaire into Arabic language without any mutual consultation. The corresponding author, who is a native Arabic speaker, reviewed the two primary versions and compared them with the original. (2) A back translation from Arabic language to English was carried out by two different translators after lengthy discussion between the translators and the corresponding author. (3) The back translated questionnaire was approved by Professor Donald Morisky through e-mail. The Arabic version of MMAS is an 8-item questionnaire with 7 yes/no questions while the last question was a 5-point likert question. Based on the scoring system of MMAS, adherence was rated as follows: high adherence (= 8), medium adherence (6 The TSQM 1.4 is a 14-item psychometrically robust and validated instrument consisting of four scales [Bahramal et al., 2009]. The four scales of the TSQM 1.4 include the effectiveness scale (questions 1 to 3), the side effects scale (questions 4 to 8), the convenience scale (questions 9 to 11) and the global satisfaction scale (questions 12 to 14). The TSQM 1.4 domain scores were calculated as recommended by the instruments authors, which is described in detail elsewhere (Atkinson et al., 2004; Atkinson et al., 2005). The TSQM 1.4 domain scores range from 0 to 100 with higher scores representing higher satisfaction on that domain. Psychiatric symptoms, positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms were evaluated by a psychiatrist and well trained psychologists using the expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E) (Overall and Gorham, 1962; Overall 1988; Lukoff et al., 1986; Ventura et al, 1993) at the same visit. The BPRS-E consists of 24 items measuring psychiatric symptoms. It measures four different dimensions: manic excitement/ disorganization, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and depression/ anxiety (Ruggeri et al., 2005). Positive symptoms were the followings: grandiosity, suspiciousness, hallucinations, unusual thought content and conceptual disorganization. Negative symptoms included disorientation, blunted affect, emotional withdrawal, motor retardation, and mannerism and posturing. 2.3. Data analysis Continuous variables like Morisky score, satisfaction domain scores, BPRS, positive and negative symptoms scores were expressed as mean  ± SD. Correlation between continuous variables was carried out using Pearson correlation test. Difference in means was carried out using one-way ANOVA test. All statistical analyses were conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS; version 16.0) for Windows. The conventional 5 percent significance level was used throughout the study. Results Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients One hundred and fifty patients out of 267 registered schizophrenic patients met the inclusion criteria. One hundred and thirty one (131) patients agreed to participate giving a response rate of 87.3%. Of the 131 patients, 40 (30.5%) were female and 91 (69.5%) were male. The mean age of the patients was 42.9  ± 10.3 years (range = 20 65 years). The mean duration of illness was 16.23  ± 9.59 years. Eighteen patients (13.7%) had other non-psychiatric diseases mainly diabetes mellitus (10 patients; 7.6%). Smoker schizophrenic patients represented 55% (72 patients) of the sample. None of the patients were reported to have any type of drug abuse. Details regarding demographic and clinical characteristics of the studied patients are shown in Table 1. Regarding treatment regimens, patients were grouped into 7 categories based on the type of antipsychotic medications they were using: Twenty four patients (18.3%) had been treated with oral typical antipsychotics only, 8 patients (6.1%) were using combination oral typical antipsychotics, 19 (14.5%) had been treated with typical depot injections only, 37 (28.2%) had been treated with typical oral and depot injections, 18 (13.7%) had been treated with oral atypical only, 12 patients (9.2%) had been treated with typical and atypical oral antipsychotics, and finally 13 patients (9.9%) had been treated with atypical oral and typical depot injection combination. The most common oral typical antipsychotic used by the patients was chloropromazine while the most common atypical antipsychotic was clozapine. Based on MMASAdmin2010-12-25T13:34:00 It is preferred to classify the characteristic of patients according to the adherence groups. Also, indicate if there is differences between the 3 groups , 44 (33.6%) of patients were rated as having low adherence, 58 (44.3%) were rated as having medium adherence 29 (22.1%) were rated as having high adherence to their antipsychotic medications. The average adherence score (6.1  ± 1.7) for the patients generally indicates medium rate of adherence. Upon investigation using 8-item Morisky scale (questionnaire ), we found that about 33.6% of patients forgot to take their medications; 15.3% of patients missed taking their medication for reason other than forgetting in the past two weeks before the interview; 13.7% stopped taking their medication without doctor counseling when they felt worse upon taking them; 16.8% forgot to take their medications with them when they leave home for long time; 10.7% didnt take their medication in the day before interview; 26% stopped taking their medica tion when they felt that their health is under control; and 55.7% felt hassled about sticking to their treatment plan. As for remembering to take their medications; 27.5% of the patients faced a difficulty in doing this once in a while; 6.1% of the sample sometimes had difficulties in remembering to take their medications; 6.9% of patients usually found difficulties; while 0.8% of schizophrenic patients faced these difficulties all the times. However 58.8% didnt show any difficulty in remembering to take their medication on time. Response to each question in the modified Morisky questionnaire is shown in Table 2. The average score of satisfaction with regard to effectiveness, side effects, convenience global satisfaction was 72.6  ±20.5; 67.9  ± 31.5; 63.2  ± 14.3; 63.1  ± 18.8 respectively. The mean BPRS score of the patients was 68.4  ± 24.5 with 14.4  ± 6.7 13.7  ± 6.1 means for positive and negative symptoms scores respectively Correlation between adherence scores and other variables There was a significant positive correlation between age and adherence (P = 0.028; r = 0.19Admin2010-12-25T13:35:00 As recommended, when correlation is less than 0.25 this considered as no or week correlation, 0.25-0.50 considered fair correlation. You can take this comments in your consideration. ). However, no such correlation was observed with the duration of illness (P = 0.13). Furthermore, no significant difference in the means of adherence was found between male and female (P = 0.76). Patients having other chronic diseases have significantly higher adherence score compared to those who do not, but the significance was at the borderline (P = 0.049). Pearson correlation showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between all satisfaction domains like effectiveness (P = 0.002, r = 0.27), side effects (P= 0.006, r =0.24), convenience (P Adherence, Treatment Satisfaction and type of antipsychotic regimen Adherence score was not significantly different (P = 0.6) among patients having different antipsychotic therapeutic regimens. Analysis of satisfaction based on the antipsychotic drug regimens showed that there was a significant difference in satisfaction with regard to side effects among different antipsychotic regimens ( P = 0.006, F = 3Admin2010-12-25T13:35:00 When you use one way ANOVA, it is recommended to use the Tukey post-hoc test to test the differences in the means between categories. To determine which group or groups are significant. ). Patients on atypical antipsychotic drug therapy showed the highest satisfaction with side effects (86.5  ± 4.8) compared with (51.3  ± 5.17) to those on typical antipsychotic mono-therapy. No significant difference with regard to other satisfaction domains (effectiveness, convenience and global satisfaction) among patients with different psychiatric regimens. Similarly no significant difference was found in BPRS scores (P = 0.6), positive (P = 0.6) and negative symptoms (P= 0.8) among different antipsychotic drug regimens. Details regarding adherence scores, BPRS, positive and negative symptoms with different antipsychotic drug regimens are shown in Table 4. Discussion This studyAdmin2010-12-25T13:36:00 This study is the first of its type in Palestine and the first study used an Arabic version for Morisky. You can add this points as originality of the article was conducted to assess medication adherence and treatment satisfaction among schizophrenic outpatients. The conclusions of the study can be summarized as follows: First, the majority (78%) of the patients had low to medium adherence rate. Second, adherence was positively and significantly correlated with treatment satisfaction. Third, adherence was significantly correlated with positive but negative psychiatric symptoms. Fourth, no significant difference in rate of adherence was found between patients using typical or atypical antipsychotic therapeutic regimens. Finally, patients on typical or atypical antipsychotic medications had similar scores in all domains of satisfaction except for that of side effects. Regarding rate of adherence, several studies have shown that up to 80% of all schizophrenic patients discontinue antipsychotic medications and that non-adherence rates ranging from 20% to 89%, with an average rate of approximately 50%, have been reported (Fenton et al, 1997; Lacro et al 2002, Young et al, 1986). Differences in rate of adherence among different reports might be attributed to different instrument used to assess adherence, social and cultural differences among different countries and differences in healthcare systems (Breen et al., 2007). In our study, younger patients had significantly lower adherence score than elderly patients. This finding is in agreement with other researchers who reported that younger schizophrenic patients have lesser adherence than older patients (Sajatovic et al 2007; Hui et al reported that younger age is a predictor for discontinuation of antipsychotic therapy (Hui et al.; 2006). However, other researchers reported equal non adherence among m iddle aged and elderly patients (Jeste et al., 2003) . Many factors have been cited as a potential cause for poor adherence. Side effects are key factors influencing compliance with antipsychotic medication (Weiden et al., 2004). (Liu-Seifert et al., 2005; Fleischhacker et al., 2003). There are few reports suggesting that treatment satisfaction is positively associated with antipsychotic medication adherence [Gharbawi et al., 2006,], improved clinical outcomes [Masand and Narasimhan, 2006], and quality of life [Hofer 2004,]. Our results give further support that treatment satisfaction is positively associated with adherence and symptom improvement, particularly psychotic positive symptoms. A study by Maneesakorn 2008 indicated that antipsychotic medication adherence has positive impact on psychiatric symptoms and satisfaction with medication (Maneesakron et al., 2007). Furthermore, Mohamad et al 2009 demonstrated an association between positive attitudes toward medication among schizophrenia patients and lower rates of study discontinuation (Mohamed et al., 2009). Thus, it is important to accurately evaluate patient satisfaction with medication treatment using validated instruments that can be utilized in clinical trials and practice. Medication non-adherence had a significantly negative impact on treatment response, highlighting the importance of adherence to achieve satisfactory treatment outcome (Lindameyr et al., 2009). A study by Liu-Seifert et al 2005 has found that discontinuing of treatment may lead to exacerbation of psychiatric symptoms and undermining therapeutic progress (Liu-Seifert et al., 2005). In these studies, poor response to treatment and worsening of underlying psychiatric symptoms, and to a lesser extent, intolerability to medication were the primary contributors to treatment being discontinued. Fewer extrapyramidal symptoms and tardive dyskinesia of atypical compared to typical antipsychotics led researchers to speculate that patients receiving atypical antipsychotics will show greater adherence, satisfaction and psychiatric improvement compared to patients receiving typical antipsychotics (Kane et al., 1988; Tollefson et al., 1997; Marder et al., 1994; Small et al., 1997 Jeste et al., 1999; Marder SR, 1998). However, our findings regarding adherence, satisfaction and psychiatric symptoms measured by BPRS-E were similar between patients on typical and atypical antipsychotic medications. Rosenheck and colleagues evaluated medication continuation and regimen adherence in 423 patients taking haloperidol or clozapine as part of a double-blind, randomized trial. Although the patients who received clozapine continued their medication significantly longer, the treatment groups did not differ in the proportion of pills returned each week (Rosenheck et al., 200). Olfson and colleagu es examined the effect of antipsychotic type on adherence 3 months after 213 inpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were discharged while receiving typical (84.5% of patients) or atypical (14.5% of patients) antipsychotics. A non-significant trend toward increased adherence was reported among patients with prescriptions for atypical antipsychotics (Olfson et al., 2000). Cabeza and colleagues retrospectively studied the relationship of adherence to antipsychotic type in 60 inpatients with schizophrenia. No significant association was found between adherence and type of antipsychotic (Cabeza et al., 2000). Dolder reported that patients on either typical or atypical had similar low rates of adherence (Dodler et al., 2002). Gianfransessco et al 2006 indicated that none of the atypicals showed treatment durations significantly different from the typical (Gianfransessco et al 2006). A study by Jones et al, 2006 has found that in people with schizophrenia whose medicatio n is changed for clinical reasons, there is no disadvantage across 1 year in terms of quality of life, symptoms, or associated costs of care in using FGAs rather than nonclozapine SGAs (Jones et al., 2006). Schulte et al concluded that, in general, very few or no advantages are to be gained from using SGAS rather than FGAS and the clinical effectiveness is not increased, but the side-effects are different. (Schulte et al 2010). In contrast, Al-Zakawani reported that atypical antipsychotic users were significantly more adherent to therapy, and had lower rates of office, hospital and emergency room utilization (Al-zakawani 2003). Actually, efficacy variations within SGAs and FGAs result in overlaps between the two groups and classification of antipsychotics into the two groups is no longer useful (Volvoka 2009). One might argue that cost of atypical antipschyotics is the barrier for medication adherence (Gibson et al., 2010). However, in our study, all patients had governmental insura nce and therefore cost of medications was not a reason of poor adherence of atypical antipsychotics. Regarding results of depot IM antipsychotic injections, we found no difference between oral and long acting antipsychotics with regard to adherence, satisfaction or psychiatric symptoms. Some researchers reported similar or better adherence, satisfaction and outcome with long acting injection than oral antipsychotics (Olivares et al., 2009; Gutierrez et al., 2010; Kane and Garcia 2009; Haddad et al., 2009). In contrast, vehof reported that patients on depot antipsychotics were less adherent and have more side effects than oral antipsychotics (Vehof et al., 2008). Our study has few limitations. The sample size might be relatively small to draw conclusions for assessing adherence, satisfaction and psychiatric symptoms. Instruments that we used to assess adherence, satisfaction and BPRS are might not be the gold standard for this purpose. A third Admin2010-12-25T13:16:00 Must be preceded by first and secondpotential limitation of our study is that the patients selected were homogenous in that all of them had governmental insurance and tends to use similar medications. Non-adherence among schizophrenic patients might be inherent in the context of the disease itself. Despite these limitations, results of this study were useful in understanding adherence, satisfaction and psychiatric symptoms. ReferencesAdmin2010-12-25T10:45:00 The number of references is too much, after delete the repeating ref. the number still 75 Al-Zakwani IS, Barron JJ, Bullano MF, Arcona S, Drury CJ, Cockerham TR. Analysis of healthcare utilization patterns and adherence in patients receiving typical and atypical antipsychotic medications. Curr Med Res Opin. 2003;19(7):619-26. Arana GW: An overview of side effects caused by typical antipsychotics.J Clin Psychiatry 2000; 61:5-11 Atkinson MJ, Kumar R, Cappelleri JC, Hass SL: Hierarchical construct validity of the treatment satisfaction questionnaire for medication (TSQM version II) among outpatient pharmacy consumers. Value Health 2005, 8(Suppl 1):S9-S24. Atkinson MJ, Sinha A, Hass SL, Colman SS, Kumar RN, Brod M, Rowland CR. Validation of a general measure of treatment satisfaction, the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM), using a national panel study of chronic disease. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2004 Feb 26;2:12 Awad AG, Voruganti LN. Impact of atypical antipsychotics on quality of life in patients with schizophrenia.. CNS Drugs. 2004;18(13):877-93. Review Bharmal M, Payne K, Atkinson MJ, Desrosiers MP, Morisky DE, Gemmen E. Validation of an abbreviated Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM-9) among patients on antihypertensive medications. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2009 Apr 27;7:36 Borras L, Mohr S, Brandt PY, Gillià ©ron C, Eytan A, Huguelet P. Religious beliefs in schizophrenia: their relevance for adherence to treatment. Schizophr Bull. 2007 Sep;33(5):1238-46 Breen A, Swartz L, Joska J, Flisher AJ, Corrigall J. Adherence to treatment in poorer countries: a new research direction? Psychiatr Serv. 2007 Apr;58(4):567-8 Byrne MK, Deane FP, Caputi P. Mental health clinicians beliefs about medicines, attitudes, and expectations of improved medication adherence in patients. Eval Health Prof. 2008 Dec;31(4):390-403 Cabeza IG, Amador MS, Lopez CA, Chavez MG: Subjective response to antipsychotics in schizophrenic patients: clinical implications and related factors. Schizophr Res 2000; 41:349-355 Campbell M, Young PI, Bateman DN, Smith JM, Thomas SH The use of atypical antipsychotics in the management of schizophrenia.. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1999 Jan;47(1):13-22. Review Clinical and resource-use outcomes of risperidone long-acting injection in recent and long-term diagnosed schizophrenia patients: results from a multinational electronic registry. Curr Med Res Opin. 2009 Sep;25(9):2197-206 Cost-sharing effects on adherence and persistence for second-generation antipsychotics in commercially insured patients. Manag Care. 2010 Aug;19(8):40-7 Damen J, Thuresson PO, Heeg B, Lothgren M. A pharmacoeconomic analysis of compliance gains on antipsychotic medications. Appl Health Econ Health Policy. 2008;6(4):189-97. De Hert M, McKenzie K, Peuskens J. Risk factors for suicide in young people suffering from schizophrenia: a long-term follow-up study. Schizophr Res. 2001 Mar 1;47(2-3):127-34 Dingemans PM, Linszen DH, Lenior ME, Smeets RM. Component structure of the expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E). Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1995 Dec;122(3):263-7 Dolder CR, Lacro JP, Dunn LB, Jeste DV. Antipsychotic medication adherence: is there a difference between typical and atypical agents? Am J Psychiatry. 2002 Jan;159(1):103-8. Erratum in: Am J Psychiatry 2002 Mar;159(3):514 Dolder CR, Lacro JP, Jeste DV. Adherence to antipsychotic and nonpsychiatric medications in middle-aged and older patients with psychotic disorders. Psychosom Med. 2003 Jan-Feb;65(1):156-62. Dolder CR, Lacro JP, Leckband S, Jeste DV. Interventions to improve antipsychotic medication adherence: review of recent literature. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2003 Aug;23(4):389-99. Review Fenton WS, Blyler CR, Heinssen RK: Determinants of medication compliance in schizophrenia: empirical and clinical findings. Schizophr Bull 1997; 23:637-651 Fleischhacker WW, Oehl MA, Hummer M. Factors influencing compliance in schizophrenia patients. J Clin Psychiatry. 2003;64 Suppl 16:10-3 Freudenreich O, Cather C, Evins AE, Henderson DC, Goff DC. Attitudes of schizophrenia outpatients toward psychiatric medications: relationship to clinical variables and insight. J Clin Psychiatry. 2004 Oct;65(10):1372-6 Fujikawa M, Togo T, Yoshimi A, Fujita J, Nomoto M, Kamijo A, Amagai T, Uchikado H, Katsuse O, Hosojima H, Sakura Y, Furusho R, Suda A, Yamaguchi T, Hori T, Kamada A, Kondo T, Ito M, Odawara T, Hirayasu Y. Evaluation of subjective treatment satisfaction with antipsychotics in schizophrenia patients. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Gharabawi GM, Greenspan A, Rupnow MF, Kosik-Gonzalez C, Bossie CA, Zhu Y, Kalali AH, Awad AG. Reduction in psychotic symptoms as a predictor of patient satisfaction with antipsychotic medication in schizophrenia: data from a randomized double-blind trial. BMC Psychiatry. 2006 Oct 20;6:45 Gianfrancesco FD, Rajagopalan K, Sajatovic M, Wang RH. Treatment adherence among patients with schizophrenia treated with atypical and typical antipsychotics. Psychiatry Res. 2006 Nov 15;144(2-3):177-89. Epub 2006 Sep 27. Gibson TB, Jing Y, Kim E, Bagalman E, Wang S, Whitehead R, Tran QV, Doshi JA. Gutià ©rrez-Casares JR, Caà ±as F, Rodrà ­guez-Morales A, Hidalgo-Borrajo R, Alonso-Escolano D. Adherence to treatment and therapeutic strategies in schizophrenic patients: the ADHERE study. CNS Spectr. 2010 May;15(5):327-37. Haddad PM, Taylor M, Niaz OS. First-generation antipsychotic long-acting injections v. oral antipsychotics in schizophrenia: systematic review of randomised controlled trials and observational studies. Br J Psychiatry Suppl. 2009 Nov;52:S20-8. Herings RM, Erkens JA. Increased suicide attempt rate among patients interrupting use of atypical antipsychotics. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2003 Jul-Aug;12(5):423-4. Hofer A, Kemmler G, Eder U, Edlinger M, Hummer M, Fleischhacker WW. Quality of life in schizophrenia: the impact of psychopathology, attitude toward medication, and side effects. 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Insider Trading , Jeffery Archer :: essays research papers

Insider Trading Article Q1. What is Jeffery Archer accused of? Jeffery Archer is accused of insider trading with the shares of Anglia TV. Jeffery bought shares for the â€Å"inside information† of the companies dealing account, the day after the last board meeting but before the bid was announced. He should have known that even if he found out insider information from his wife the law makes it clear that he cannot deal or trade with that stock. It would be considered unfair to the rest of the shareholders, because other shareholders would not have the same information like Jeffery. As we know the buying and selling of shares must be based on public information Q2. Who is Mary Archer and which insider trading rule, may she have violated? Mary Archer is the wife of Jeffery Archer, and also she is a director for Anglia TV Company. The insider trading rule that Mary may have violated is that if she did tell her husband about the insider information from board meetings, she should beware that director’s close relatives are not allowed to deal ahead of takeover bids. Also questions arise in the article, that as it is accepted that Mary did not tell her husband about the bid, how much information has found out without her knowledge. If she did share information with her husband than she violate the rule of insider trading which states that:†Insider shouldn’t communicate private information to others who are likely to use it†. Q3. Who is Brooke Saib and which insider trading rule has he violated? Brook Saib was the aide of Jeffery Archer. The article shows that he has access to brokers and invests a lot. What happened was that Jeffery bought shares through a different broker than the usual, with the name of Brook Saib and the profits transferred to Saib’s account. The odd thing is that also a profit of 80,000 pounds has left Saib’s account. And over that, he said that â€Å"dare not say† where the money is.

The Mystery behind the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker

Perhaps the most impossible situation that a person could be into is be imprisoned in a haunted castle housed by weird people and be caught in a situation wherein there is no way out but maybe in the end, believing that you can will be a great help to strengthen your will to survive. Jonathan Harker’s experience in Count Dracula’s castle did not simply end it in escaping from the Count and from his wicked castle. Instead, it was the start of a much more serious talk about the society and about life.Despite being a horror novel, Dracula gave a clear view of a life that a person should have involving transformation, religious beliefs and even sexuality and its boundaries thus, the novel holds a clear issue of several aspects in life pointing in four major topics. The novel Dracula did not simply talked about the horror of being with the vampires but it showed a society in its near transformation, erasing every mark of innocence and purity.The novel Dracula did not support just any myth or legend but, it made a new way to discover and pin point critical issue happening in the society and the every normal day of a human being thus it leads us into analyzing the whole novel and figuring out what is the hidden message behind the horrific story. Thesis Statement: Bram Stoker’s Dracula did not just retell a story of people affected by Count Dracula, instead, he told a story of a changing society and the effects that it will give to the rest of the humanity.With Count Dracula in the story, Stoker told a story of transformation and a battle between the good and the evil. Literature Review: Bram Stoker: The Author of a legendary vampire story On the eight day of November 1847, Bram Stoker was born in Clontarf, Ireland (Miller, n. pag). Son of a civil servant and a charity worker, his mother, also a writer, he enjoyed every story she told her. He was a sickly boy although his childhood but an intelligent one (Douthat and Hopson , n. pag. ).In 1867, he graduated in Trinity College majoring in Mathematics and later on joined the Irish civil service. He also worked as a freelance journalist and wrote drama critics (Miller, n. pag. ). He became a good friend of Henry Irving and he managed the Lyceum Theatre owned by the English Actor until his death in 1906 (Encarta, n. pag. ). Aside from Dracula, Stoker’s first stories were children stories. His stories were not given much appreciation at that time but when he released the novel â€Å"Dracula† in 1897, It became the great hit as time goes by.Bram Stoker, Abraham Stoker (Encarta, n. pag) by birth died in 1912 (Douthat and Hopson , n. pag. ). Dracula: Backgrounder Bram Stoker’s Dracula was not his first novel but it is his greatest literary achievement even if it was not a big hit on its first release (Douthat and Hopson , n. pag. ). The continuous printing of the novel up to the present reveals its success to readers all around the world. Thus, the success of thi s novel showed that the people are really interested with horror stories. It marked the coming of the â€Å"horror† genre in the novels.Although it was focused in telling a horror story, Bram Stoker emphasized some points necessary in our lives thus giving the readers a hint of what it could be if something like in the story happens in real life. The novel was about Count Dracula, the king of the vampires and the group of young noble men who chases him and kills him in the end. It was a horror novel included in the gothic genre written in 1891 to 1897 in London England and was published by Constable in 1897 in an English language (Douthat and Hopson , n.pag. ).. The whole paper is mostly made up of journals written by the characters in the novel. From the first person perspective, the conversation shifts into several people with the tone of melodramatic, righteous and dark. Set in the nineteenth century Eastern Europe and England, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mina, Lucy, Jon athan, Quincey, Arthur, Val and John tried to stop the Evil Count Dracula from transforming people into vampires and killing more and more (Douthat and Hopson , n. pag. ). Dracula: SummaryThe story of the novel â€Å"Dracula† started in a journal entry of Jonathan Harker in one of his business travels in Transylvania for a real state transaction with a person named Count Dracula. On his way to the Eastern European country, he decided to write down his travel in a journal and later share it to his girlfriend and fiancee named Mina. Although he as warned by the people and was even given protection such as crucifixes, he was determined to continue the transaction and did not pay too much attention with the warnings of the local peasants (Stoker, 1-26).When he reached Count Dracula’s castle, his suspicions disappeared when he was welcomed by a man but during his stay in the castle, he was frightened by some circumstances which drew him investigating. When he determined tha t he was already a prisoner in the castle by no other than Count Dracula, he attempted to escape but all he found were locked doors all over the castle (Stoker, 29-51). In his sleep, he removed the crucifix given to him and was somehow â€Å"Attacked† by three voluptuous and seductive women who were also vampires like Count Dracula.Before they were able to have him, Count Dracula came and saved him (Stoker, 68-73). On the other hand, his fiancee was having a continuous exchange of letters with her friend named Lucy who was talking about her marriage proposals from three men named John Seward, a doctor, Arthur Holmwood, a noble man and the one she choose to marry and lastly was from Quincey Morris (Stoker, 98-109). The whole adventure started when Mina visited Lucy in Whitby and was saddened by the fact that her fiancee haven’t arrived yet. In her stay with Lucy, she found out that she was sleep walking mostly at night.To help her, she talked to Dr. Seward and they trie d to help Lucy but in hopelessness, Dr. Seward asked for the help of his mentor Van Helsing who also tried his best to revive Lucy (Stoker, 113-170). Jonathan who already reunited with his fiancee after having brain fever asked Mina to hide his journal and open only if it is needed. Upon knowing the situation of her friend through Steward, she gave him the journal and Jonathan started a new one after knowing that something like his experienced happened to Lucy. In hopelessness, the older doctor tried to save Lucy through Garlic powers.The latter mixed tradition, belief and modern science to save Lucy but in the end, she died and belong to the â€Å"Un-dead† (Stoker, n. pag). Now chasing Count Dracula, Van Helsing created a group to chase the Count in exemption of Mina who will later on become the Count’s next target. Although it was hard for Holmwood to kill his beloved Lucy, they killed her to save her soul now that she is also a vampire killing children. Mina on the other hand was attacked by the Count in her sleep, unaware that she was already a victim of Count Dracula’s goal to turn a person into a vampire (Stoker, n.pag). The band travelled miles over seas and land to capture the Count and when they did, they killed him and Mina became human again while Quincey Morris died of a fatal wound (Stoker, 653-684). Women in the Victorian Society When it comes to the status of women in the society, there is a big debate on their existence. Although they were mostly treated with respect, it is also visible that men do not look at them as equal. There are several stories about the women of the past centuries and how they live up their life being just a second class citizen in the world made only for man.There are also a lot of historical contexts about the women suffrage and the movements which fought hard enough to have a fair and equal treatment between the men and the woman. Now, there is a difference between the women of the past and the Vi ctorian women. Hearing the word Victorian would made one think that it is such a glamorous and social word created for the members of the higher society, the rich and the famous but what is in there with the Victorian women that made them famous? Victorian era lasted for 64 years and there were numerous changes both in the society and the women’s attitudes right before the century ended.Victorian era was a very long year or moment of prosperity thus there were several strict laws or perhaps moral codes (Thomas, n. pag). Victorian women were women of good qualities. At a young age, the Victorian women are being groomed and taught of certain things to prepare them before they enter courtship and get married. They are expected to be weak and incapable of making decisions. She is the man of the house, only in the house. Her major role is to bear children, prepare the food and maintain a smooth atmosphere in the family (Thomas, n. pag).Although the above paragraph states the gener al status of Victorian women in the society, among their race, there are still some differences between the classes. Victorian women or wife of a wealthy man is her husband’s social representative and spends most of her time either writing or reading or sewing and many more while the poor women are not as lucky as the Victorian women (Thomas, n. pag). The greatest detector of differences was the clothes worn by the women. While wealthy wives wear the traditional Victorian clothes made up of high quality materials, the poor women do not share the same luxury (Thomas, n.pag). Social Issues visible in the Novel Although the novel focused more in the story of Count Dracula and his plans to take over humanity and turn each one into vampires, there are slight attachments in the social situation that is visible during those times in the Victorian society. Stoker touched a important aspect of the Victorian society, the Victorian women who were commonly house people thus in his novel, he characterized them as a typical women of the Victorian era, heroines of the novel, Mina and Lucy possessed the attitudes of a typical women of their time but with a twist.The transformation of women of their time is one of the great issues in the novel. With the fast changing prosperity and development of the era, there are also several changes both in the society, the women and the men alike. With just this issue of transformation, it opens the issue of sexual boundaries and sexuality. While men were considered as strong individuals, women are considered as weak people with no power to make decisions except when it comes to daily meals for the family.They are not expected to work outside of the house, especially the rich ones and at the same time, they practice etiquette in the right and proper way. Treated as second class citizens with respect, the women were precious gems of the era (Thomas, n. pag). Thus it matters the most if these women who practiced innocence and purity t urned into someone different perhaps turn into a seductive and sexually starve women, there is a big debate of the idea that these precious gems will turn into a destroyer of innocence. At the same time, the seal boundaries talked more on the gender bias issue that there is in the society.Perhaps, there is no need to explain further why this one is mentioned because while reading the book, one will understand that the women of that time do not have the same rights as the men. Even Van Helsing does not want Mina to join them in their chase with the Count. This one is enough evidence that the women are treated with a different way than the men. While men are heroes, women are damsels in distress. Drawn Conclusion Bram Stoker’s Dracula talked more on vampires and Count Dracula’s evil plans, each part of the novel symbolized the people of the society particularly the Victorian women.The transformation of a Victorian woman to a seductive and sexually active woman is one of the transformations that are very threatening to the humanity. Not that women should remain tame but because it erases innocence that one holds. At the same time, the sexual attraction that a woman can exercise could make a man down for her thus making him just a follower. The novel simply talked transformation in a way that it will not be seen directly except of keen observance in the characters and the flow of the story.Although there is a little bit unclear instances, the mere fact that Count Dracula chooses to victimize women means that there is an on-going transformation with the Victorian women and in order to somehow state the transformation or the changes, Stoker probably thought that using them as characters in the novel, preferably as heroines, Mina and Lucy stood for the Victorian women, an image of class, wit and elegance while the three vampire women who attacked Harker in the first chapter showed the drastic change of the women of the Victorian era being seductive and sexually attractive to the eyes of the men.The battle between the good and the evil is shown by the characters of Count Dracula and the group of Van Helsing. While Count Dracula wanted to changed humanity into vampires and makes the human beings as the primary source of food instead of humans searching for foods, in the Count’s dream, men will be the food and the vampires will be the killers. Although this is such an impossible thing, we must take it into account that the vampires are part of legends and myths which can somehow be considered either true or not.While we are stressing the reality that the novel wants us to see, there are certain issues that must be given more attention. The horror that the book brings to the readers and the chills it gives and the shivers it lets to run down in our body, there is a much more important idea and issue that should be given a tougher concentration. The massacre and the killings that the vampires give us are already present in the s ociety. Although it does not actually look like the vampire killings, the murder that there is in the society is part of the horror.The evil deeds of the evil people who can do crimes are characterized by Dracula’s evil plans for the humanity. We must take it into account that the crimes are evil things and evil deeds to thus we experience horror almost everyday, When it comes to sexual boundaries, this is focused in gender bias because in the Victorian era, there were no justified rights for the women and no one treats them as their equal. As women of the society, they have less rights and equality is out of reach. Although some would consider these women as precious gems, not all will give them the same attention thus this leads to inequality and gender bias.The third issue is the sexuality. In Victorian era and most of the time, men are the only ones who can make indecent proposals or ask for sex, women on the other hand practices innocence when it comes to sex thus they w ere trained to be glamorous and innocent starting from and as they grow up. The actuations of the vampire women do not belong to the women of the Victorian era. Aside from being timid and shy, these women do not need to be sexually attractive because in the first place, they are already beautiful and well trained individuals.The Count Dracula stands for evil while the women vampires stand for the near transformation of the Victorian women because of the development of the society. From being a timid and shy girl, the Victorian women could turn into someone who can lure men and deceive them. The novel did exactly a great job in painting a futuristic image of women and the society thus; Stoker provided an initial statement of the future women. Works Cited â€Å"Bram Stoker,† Microsoft ® Encarta ® Online Encyclopedia 2008 ahttp://encarta. msn. comâ€Å"Count Dracula,† Microsoft ® Encarta ® Online Encyclopedia 2008. http://encarta. msn. com Douthat, Ross and Hopson , David. SparkNote on Dracula. 11 Jul. 2008 . Miller, Elizabeth. â€Å"Dracula’s Homepage†. 2006. http://www. ucs. mun. ca/~emiller/index. html SFReader. â€Å"SFReader Book Review†. 2000-2008. http://sfreader. com/Home/BookReview/tabid/55/Default. aspx? book=463 Stoker, Bram. â€Å"Dracula†. 1897. Constable, England Thomas, P. W. â€Å"A Woman's Place in C19th Victorian History†. 2001-2008. http://www. fashion-era. com/a_womans_place. htmaga

People with Terminal Illnesses Should Have the Right to Doctor

People with terminal illnesses should have the right to doctor assisted suicide Assisted suicide should be allowed as a valid option for anyone who is suffering a terminal illness. People don’t want to live uncomfortably or without use of all the functions that they currently possess. Individuals should be allowed to make the decisions on what is right or wrong for them, and that includes living or dying.Thus, people should be given the right to assisted suicide in order to end their suffering, reduce the damaging financial effects of hospital care on their families, and preserve the individual right and dignity of people to determine their own fate. For many people who with terminal or chronic illnesses that cause them constant severe pain may want to die peacefully instead of suffering until they succumb to their illness. It not only calls on doctors to make an unreliable prediction, but prescribes a pointless time limit: The longer the life expectancy the greater the patien t's suffering.The essential elements for legislation are that the condition is irremediable by medical treatment and the suffering is intolerable to the patient (Eric Gargett). Actually, it should not be up to a doctor or other family members as to whether a person should be forced to continue living. No one wants to be in pain or see their loved ones in pain. This is a very real fear people may have. If someone is suffering so badly that there is no point to his / her life then he / she should be given the choice and ability to end it.It is certain circumstance where assisted suicide should be legalized in the case of LAU 2 someone no longer has any quality of life. Also, there are certain illnesses that are very horrible and painful to live through where even such strong drugs as morphine can do nothing. In this circumstance people should be given the freedom to doctor assisted suicide to ease their pains. It should be the choice of the individual first and foremost and then back ed by their family before carried out.In addition, personal right to a doctor assisted suicide is that we, as humans, should respect other people’s wishes and dignity. The Code of Health and Disability Consumers Rights 1996 Right, it states that every consumer has the right to refuse services and to withdraw consent to services. The right to refuse medical treatment under the Bill of Rights Act and the above Code is limited to people who are competent to refuse consent (James L. Werth and Debra C. Cobia). If someone feels their life is not worth living anymore and has thought carefully about ending their life then we should respect this decision.Everyone has an obligation to relieve the suffering of his / her fellow human beings and to respect his / her dignity. Lying in hospitals today are people afflicted with excruciatingly painful and terminal conditions and diseases that have left them permanently incapable of functioning in any dignified human fashion. They can only loo k forward to lives filled with yet more suffering and deterioration. When such people beg for a merciful end to their pain and indignity, it is cruel and inhumane to refuse their pleas.Besides this, people should have a moral right to choose freely what they will do with their lives as long as they inflict no harm on others. This right of free choice includes the right to end one's life when people choose. LAU 3 Furthermore, patients with terminal illnesses are not willing to be seen as a ‘burden' on their loved ones. In 1991, a survey, conducted by the Boston Globe, showed that the main reason people with an â€Å"incurable illness who suffered a great deal of physical pain† would consider ending their lives was because they â€Å"don't want to be a burden† to their families.They were not primarily concerned with the pain or even the restricted lifestyle (Knox, R. A). With today's rising health costs and the busy lifestyles, many people don't want to leave their families with the financial burden of long hospital stays and enormous medical bills that come with being ill for a long time. While patients realize the longer the life expectancy the greater theirs suffering, they prefer to choose ending their pains with a doctor assisted rather than alive, and that’s the way they want to show their loves of their families.Hence, this should be a decision made by individuals with the help of their doctors and families, and should definitely be a right of all people. Finally, people with terminal illnesses should have the right to doctor assisted suicide. It is one of the most basic personal freedoms of a human being whether to continue living, and it is no one else's right to decide if another person should be forced to live. As long as the person requesting the assisted suicide is well informed and in their right state of mind, there is no reason for someone to tell them they are forced to live.In many cases, the amount of excruciating pa in that a person may be enduring could make life miserable, and should not be forced upon any one. For most people, the right to end one's life is a right they can easily exercise, but there are many who want to die, but whose disease, handicap, or condition renders them unable to end their lives in a dignified manner. When such people ask for assistance in exercising their right to die, their wishes should be respected.

The Vision of the Iranian Females of the Muslim Culture

The Vision of the Iranian Females of the Muslim Culture The interview with the Iranian female can provide the significant information on the Iranian culture, on the particular customs and traditions, and on the woman’s role in the country.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Vision of the Iranian Females of the Muslim Culture specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The answers to the questions on the cultural aspects are helpful to learn specific details about the Iranian culture because they are presented from the perspective of the Muslim woman. Concrete Expressions The dress of Iranian males and females is rather conservative, in spite of the impact of the Western culture. Females still need to have their heads, necks, and arms covered, and males are not expected to come into public in short pants or T- shirts. However, modern Iranian women can wear head scarves and long coats with jeans. The Iranian architecture is characterised by the focus on traditionalism and Wes tern patterns. There are many buildings with mosaics, decorative elements, arches, and columns situated near the contemporary buildings made of steel and glass. The city centre traditionally has the functions of the Eastern bazaar. The functions of the public space differ significantly from the functions of the private space. Modern Iranian women need to struggle for their right to be actively represented in the public space and activities. Those women and men who do not belong to one family cannot interact or hold hands. Recognized Behaviours Only men have the right to greet each other openly, in public. Their physical contacts while greeting are also expected to represent their respect. The members of different families and of opposite gender cannot interact, especially with the focus on the Western tradition of shaking hands. Modern Iranian families can be discussed as Westernized in relation to the family traditions. However, the main attention is still paid to marriage traditio ns.Advertising Looking for report on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Future spouses are expected to develop a formal contract before the marriage because of the necessity to state all the details regarding the household and property. Divorces are not frequent, and they are especially traumatic for the Iranian females who traditionally belong to the males’ households. Explicit Beliefs Gender roles are the matter for discussion in the Iranian culture because modern views differ significantly from the traditions. Modern Iranian women need to prove their right for good education and job positions because their roles are mainly discussed with references to the family. Today, more and more women become represented in different public activities and as supporters of women rights movements. Iranians pay much attention to dividing the public and private life. In public, the leading roles are play ed by men, and in the private settings, the leading roles are often played by women, although they need to follow their husbands’ opinions. Deeply Embedded Beliefs Iranians prefer to have close contacts with relatives, friends, and the persons they respect. If a man from the Western world is respected by the Iranian, he will be polite and sensitive while interacting with this person. Changes are not perceived as good in the Iranian culture that is based on customs and traditions. Therefore, changes are often discussed as predicting negative consequences because the traditional rule is often perceived as almost ideal. The number of children and their successes are traditionally considered as the criteria for the individual success for both Iranian males and females.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Vision of the Iranian Females of the Muslim Culture specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The relationship between humans and nature is close because the changes in the nature influence the life of the Iranians significantly. They respect the nature in form of flowers and animals and prefer the representations of the natural objects on decorative elements in their houses. The information about new things often comes from the advice of elderly or respected persons. Furthermore, families prefer to contact closely and share all the views regarding new products, services, observed situations, or learnt facts.

Too Much Freedom essays

Too Much Freedom essays America was founded on freedom and freedom is what makes our country unique from any other place in the world. Sometimes, however, that freedom is taken to extremes and it can become a danger to the people. The events that took place Tuesday, September 11 were a perfect example of this. First of all everyone knows that pentagon is where all the important decisions involving the United States Army are made making it an easy target for potential enemies. Secondly we are to relaxed about who comes into our country and why they are here, which gives potential enemies easy access. Finally we give our media too much freedom, to the point where it could have obstructed the investigation of suspects. What the Pentagon is and where it is located is pretty much common knowledge for people in this country and for many around the world. The fact that our Army is pretty much run out of the pentagon and that there a many high ranking officials working there on a daily basis makes it a perfect target for an attack. It seems to me that if this building is so important and what goes on in it is so vital to our country and our army, that maybe we wouldn't want the whole world to know exactly where it is. I would move it to a top-secret location where only the people who need to know where it is have access to the information. Another problem with the freedom in our country that was brought to light by last Tuesdays attacks was how easy it is for some people to get into this country. It is terribly ironic and insulting that many of the terrorists involved in the attacks were trained in our very own flight schools. Also one of the terrorists was had already been connected to an attack on Israel, yet was still able to get into the country and board one of our planes. Hopefully this tragedy will make us realize that the time and effort it would take to make sure that these people don't get into our country would be worth it. We need to make higher st ...

Banking services in saudi arabia research proposal

Banking problems in the late 1950s decade resulted in regulatory framework being strengthened in Saudi Arabia during the middle 1960s decade in which broad supervisory capacity was given to SAMA in a legal environment that upheld the concept of a Universal Banking Model allowing banks to make provision of a wide range of financial services â€Å"including banking, investments, securities, etc. through their branches.† (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p.3) There were 12 operating banks by 1979 only three of which, were non-Saudi banks and branches had doubled by that year to 140. II. Lending Institutions in Saudi Arabia Five major lending institutions were introduced in the decade of the 1970s: (1) Saudi Credit Bank; (2) Saudi Agricultural Bank; (3) Public Investment Fund; (4) Saudi Development Fund; and (5) the Real Estate Fund. (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p.3) Restructuring was accomplished arising from encouragement by the Saudi Government and by 1975 there was a reported â€Å"10 international bank†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦including â€Å"29 branches present.† (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p.3) There was a rise and fall in the economy and SAMA faced a critical challenge for supervision in 1982 â€Å"when irregularities appeared in Saudi Cairo Bank’s operations. Two senior managers were involved in unauthorized trading in bullion during the 1979-81 period, and had concealed accumulated losses that exceeded the Bank’s share capital.† (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p.3) It is reported that SAMA required the Bank to issue new shares and double its capital i n 1986. SAMA arranged this increase to be taken up entirely by the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The Bank also benefited from â€Å"low-cost† deposits from the Public Investment Fund. These measures helped the Bank with liquidity and rescued it back to a healthy position.† (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p. 4-5 III. Regulatory Framework of Banking System in Saudi Arabia SAMA in collaboration with Saudi Arabia Ministry of Finance ensured the financial system’s stability and assisted banks in clearing the hurdles of economic downturn. Included in this collaborative initiative were the following actions: (1) Banks were required to seek SAMA’s approval prior to announcing their dividends. The Banking Control Law required all banks to build their statutory reserves equal to their share capital. SAMA further encouraged Saudi banks to build additional reserves to strengthen their capital base. (2) Most foreign shareholders in Saudi banks enjoyed a tax holiday for the first five years of their ownership. To encourage retention of profits, the tax holiday was extended in most cases by another 5 years after which a deferred tax scheme was permitted; (3) In 1986, SAMA obtained a ruling from the Tax Department that permitted the tax deduction of loan loss provisions on an accrual basis. This encouraged banks to increase their loan loss provisions for doubtful accounts; (4) To encourage Saudi banks to increase their inter-bank dealings and to support the development of a riyal inter-bank market, a tax ruling was obtained which exempted foreign banks from withholding taxes when carrying out inter-bank transactions with Saudi banks; (5) Corporate Governance. SAMA recognized the need to encourage banks to take strong steps to improve their risk management and control procedures. Consequently, it took major initiatives in the area of corporate governance. Firstly, it required all banks to develop and strengthen their internal audit departments, and secondly it issued minimum internal control guidelines. In addition, SAMA issued accounting standards for Commercial Banks in Saudi Arabia which were in line with International Accounting Standards; (6) Creation of Banking Disputes Committee. In 1987, Saudi authorities established a Banking Dispute Committee by the order of the Council of Ministers. The creation of this Committee a s the only relevant quasicourt to handle dispute between banks and their customers significantly strengthened the legal system. By law, all banking disputes had to be referred to this Committee and the rulings of this Committee were given the same enforcement support as decisions from any other court; (7) Exchange of Information on Large Borrowers and on Delinquent Loans. In the early 1980’s, SAMA established a credit information service that provided information to Saudi banks on all large exposures of the Banking System. This enabled banks to better assess the credit position and risk of big borrowers. Also in 1986, SAMA permitted banks to exchange information on delinquent borrowers as a means of applying collective pressure on them. These measures have proved quite effective in resolving problems of delinquent loans.† (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p. 5-6) IV. Improvement of Banking Services Banking and financial services were improved during the early decade of the 1980s by technological advances and SAMA had acknowledged a decade earlier that there was not only a potential but as well as need to â€Å"enhance and strengthen the Saudi financial markets through greater investment in modern technology. It is reported that the primary objectives of this strategy were: (1) elimination of duplication of efforts and waste; and (2) development of a national infrastructure. (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p. 7) Technology enhanced business services introduced included: (1) automated Cheque Clearing System (1986); (2) linking of Saudi Arabia with the SWIFT payment network; (3) introduction of a national Automated Teller Machine System enabling customers to access accounts from any machine in Saudi Arabia and from the major financial markets; (4) introduction of debit, credit and charge cards; and (5) introduction of Point-of-Sale terminals that link customers, traders and banks. (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p.7) International Islamic Financial Institutions It is reported that International Islamic Financial Institutions are reported in the work of Memon (2007) entitled â€Å"Islamic Banking: Present and Future Challenges† to be making provision of â€Å"a wide range of services in accordance with the basic principles of Shariah. The products are reported to include: (1) Mudaraba; (2) Murabaha; (3) Musharaka; (4) Ijarah; (5) Isstina; and (6) Salam. (Memon, 2007, p.4) Conventional banks are reported to operate under the concept â€Å"of lender-borrower relationship where interest is considered as the rental income on capital. The depositors are assumed to be capital providers.† (Memon, 2007, p.4) Bank customers are reported to be divided into three broad categories as follows: (1) religiously motivated customers; (2) high profit customers; and (3) customers who are religiously motivated but also expect returns at least similar to conventional banks. (Memon, 2007, p.6) It is reported as follows in regards to the Islamic ec onomic system: â€Å"Islamic economics is a system, which not only fulfils our moral, ethical, and religious obligations but also demonstrates to be economically feasible and financially rewarding. Islamic banking is based on asset-based transactions for the purpose of income generation, and prohibits financing in all forms of economic activities, which are normally and/or socially injurious to the society.† (Memon, 2007, p.6) Additionally stated is that the Islamic field of Banking operations â€Å"is unlimited. It is under continuous process of evolving and Islamic financial modes instruments have been developed to cover nearly all kinds of businesses including consumer financing, project financing, house financing, working capital financing, import and export financing, venture capital, etc.† (Memon, 2007, p.6) A survey conducted in the United States indicates that U.S. banker perception of Islamic Banking includes that 10 out of 20 Islamic Banking practices are vie wed as acceptable. Those ten include: (1) investment accounts; (2) transfer of funds; (3) cost plus finance; (4) profit and loss; (5) sharing, (6) trust financing, (7) leasing, (8) lease purchase, (9) letters of guarantee, and (10) flexible investment of deposit and role as trustees. (Memon, 2007, p.8) VI. Service Quality in Saudi Arabian Banks The work of Al-Fawzan (2005) entitled â€Å"Assessing Service Quality in a Saudi Bank† states that service quality is defined as â€Å"the degree of alignment between customers’ expectations and their perceptions of the service received.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005, p.1) Al-Fawzan (2005) states that the move to â€Å"†¦managed service has increased demands for outcome-based accountability, cost containment, and attention to customer-focused quality in order to remain competitive in a rapidly changing environment. This dual focus on driving down costs while increasing quality has intensified pressures to understand, measure, and manage quality from a customer perspective.† (p.101) While banking systems are stated to provide services that are the same they are differentiated by the quality of services provided. In addition, today’s customers are â€Å"†¦more aware of the alternatives and their expectations of service have increased. Service quality c an, therefore, be used as a strategic tool to build a distinctive advantage over competitors. Banks are striving for zero defection and retaining every customer that the company can profitably serve in order to achieve service excellence.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) Zero defections makes a requirement of ongoing efforts for improving service quality. It is reported that while quality â€Å"can not be improved unless it is measured, it can be defined from several perspectives, e.g., the ability to satisfy the needs and expectations of the customer, or the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) There is a growing acknowledgement of quality importance in banking services although â€Å"its conceptualization and empirical assessment have remained limited.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) Al-Fawzan (2005) reports that the â€Å"central tenet of the quality paradigm is the importance of understand ing and utilizing customer data to drive operational and strategic decisions, defining quality from the outside-in based on customer information is critical. This shift in defining quality often necessitates a fundamental change in the way professionals, managers, staff, and policy makers think about and identify those who â€Å"buy† or â€Å"use† products and service.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) Those who use banking services are not generally refers to as ‘customers’ but instead are referred to as ‘client† suggesting â€Å"†¦a passive voice in the service delivery process, which is reflected by professionals in the field who question the credibility of client evaluation of services. On the other hand, customer carries an image of an active participant with more input in determining choices and decisions. Clients of human service organizations who follow directions from professionals and make few demands on the system are labeled as â€Å"cooperative.† In contrast, customers in the business sector who are loyal to the service, interact with the staff, and are willing to show their preferences are viewed as â€Å"desirable customer.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) Al-Fawzan states that customers have difficulty in the articulation of â€Å"banking service quality† therefore â€Å"the recipient of the service can only really assess it, t hereby making its measurement more subjective than exact. Hence, the measurement of banking service quality has to be based on perceived quality rather than objective quality because services are intangible, heterogeneous and their consumption and production occur simultaneously.† (2005) It is reported that service quality â€Å"†¦ is a measure of how well the service level matches customers’ expectations.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) It is reported that Parasuraman et al. â€Å"†¦defined service quality as perceived by customers and items from a comparison on their expectations of the services they will receive with their perceptions of the performance of the service provider.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) The study reported by Al-Fawzan (2005) summarizes the results stated the following findings: (1) the most important dimension determined by Saudi Bank customers is that of ‘assurance dimension’; (2) a service gap exists in service quality provided b y Saudi Banks with the most notable gap being the accessibility dimension; (3) Saudi Bank customers, on average, rated Saudi Banks service quality to be overall good; (4) the expectations of Saudi Banks by customers are â€Å"highest in reliability dimension; (5) 67.8% of SB customers rated the overall service quality as good and very good; (5) SB employees dress nicely and they are polite when talking to customers; (6) SB has exceeded customers’ expectations in performing the service right from the beginning and in instilling the confidence in customers that their transactions are complete and safe.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) The work of Sohail and Shaikh (2008) entitled â€Å"Internet Banking and Quality of Service: Perspectives from a Developing Nation in the Middle East† reports a study that had as its objective the measurement of the quality of service from the perspective of the customer on internet banking in Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted via a questionnaire survey and an extensive review of literature. Findings in the study report that upon the basis of a factor analysis three factors were found to influence the evaluation of quality of internet banking services by users. Those three factors identified are stated to include: (1) efficiency and security; (2) fulfillment; and (3) responsiveness. (Sohail and Shaikh, 2008) In 2010 Jasimuddin reported in the work entitled â€Å"Saudi Arabian Banks on the Web† reports that commercial transactions via the Internet began in 1995 and that online banking is an application with much promise. However, while many banks in developed countri es have made provision of banking services via the Internet, Saudi Arabia is â€Å"lagging behind.† (Jasimuddin, 2010, p.1) The environment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s environment is very conducive to Internet banking service provision. Jasimuddin reports that as of 2000 there were 11 banks and 1201 branches operating in Saudi Arabia. As of the middle of 2000, there are 11 banks with 1201 branches operating across Saudi Arabia. Eight banks are reported to have established a web site presence which is a rate of 73% of banks with a web site presence although only two of these offer Internet Banking Services. When the Saudi banks web sites are compared there is not major difference noted in the content of the bank web sites. The contents of the websites are stated to be inclusive of information about the bank, the addresses of branches and ATMs, phone and fax numbers, press releases, newsletters, news about the site and welcome letters, hot links, job opportunities, publications, contact and email, feedback, sitemap, site search, online forms and so forth. (Jasimuddin, 2010, paraphrased) Practically all of the banks provide information relating to customer services that â€Å"incorporate financial market, retail and corporate banking, investment treasury service, telephone and PC banking.† (Jasimuddin, 2010) I t is reported that online banking in Saudi Arabia is still a â€Å"very marginal activity† and that internet is presently being used by Saudi banks primarily for â€Å"brand awareness and promotion.† (Jasimuddin, 2010) Saudi banks will be driven by â€Å"the dynamic and imperatives of e-finance†¦to build web site and to start Internet banking.† (Jasimuddin, 2010) In other words, since this is a banking service that is increasingly familiar customers will be requesting these services from banks in the future in Saudi Arabia. VII. Technology Use in Banking Service Provision It was reported in 2007 that the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia was established in Saudi Arabia prior to any other banks being established. This bank has 300 branches throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with some branches stated to be â€Å"dedicated exclusively to Islamic Banking Services. The National Commercial bank reports having implemented use of a digital signage system which is reported to make provision of a â€Å"better platform for NCB to better communicate with its employees, educating them about the banks products and services and enhancing the service they provide to their customers.† (Jasimuddin, 2010) Summary of Literature Reviewed It is clear that banks in Saudi Arabia are faced with a diverse customer-base and this makes a requirement of diversification of banking services offered by banks in the Kingdom. While internet banking services provision is somewhat behind the development in the rest of the world, it is certain that Saudi Arabian banking customers will clearly see the benefits to Internet banking and that the push will soon be on for provision of this banking service by Saudi Arabian banks. Internet banking as well as other technological advanced service possibilities are presently being explored by Saudi Arabian banks including such technologies as a digital signage system among others. While the banking sector is quite developed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia there does appear to be a general mistrust of Internet banking technology and not just on the part of customers but in the view of the banking industry in Saudi Arabia as well. Recommendations Arising from this study is a recommendation for research to be conducted examining the quality of banking service provision by banks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a focus on technology use. References Memon, N.A. (2007) Islamic Banking: Present and Future Challenges. Journal of Management and Social Sciences. Vol. 3, No. 1, (Spring 2007) 01-10. Institute of Business and Technology (BIZTEK). Retrieved from: http://www.biztek.edu.pk/downloads/research/jmss_v3_n1/1-islamic%20banking.pdf A Case Study On Globalization and the Role of Institution Building in the Financial Sector Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. February 2004. Retrieved from: http://www.sama.gov.sa/sites/samaen/OtherReportsLib/SK521-04(CaseStudyonGlobalization-RoleofInstitutionBuildinginSaudiArabia-Final)Dr.Shaukat.pdf Al-Fawzan, MA (2005) Assessing Service Quality in a Saudi Bank. J. King Saud Univ., Vol. 18, Eng. Sci. (1), pp. 101-115, Riyadh (1426H./2005). Sohail, M.S. and Shaikh, N.M. (2008) Internet banking and quality of service: Perspectives from a developing nation in the Middle East. â€Å", Online Information Review, Vol. 32 Iss: 1, pp.58 – 72 Jasimuddin, Sajjad M. (2010) Saudi Arabianu Banks on the Web. Array Development. Retrieved from: http://www.tenso.fr/emarketing/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Aper%C3%A7u-de-%C2%AB%C2%A0Saudi-Arabian-Banks-on-the-Web%C2%A0%C2%BB.pdf Banking services in saudi arabia research proposal Banking problems in the late 1950s decade resulted in regulatory framework being strengthened in Saudi Arabia during the middle 1960s decade in which broad supervisory capacity was given to SAMA in a legal environment that upheld the concept of a Universal Banking Model allowing banks to make provision of a wide range of financial services â€Å"including banking, investments, securities, etc. through their branches.† (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p.3) There were 12 operating banks by 1979 only three of which, were non-Saudi banks and branches had doubled by that year to 140. II. Lending Institutions in Saudi Arabia Five major lending institutions were introduced in the decade of the 1970s: (1) Saudi Credit Bank; (2) Saudi Agricultural Bank; (3) Public Investment Fund; (4) Saudi Development Fund; and (5) the Real Estate Fund. (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p.3) Restructuring was accomplished arising from encouragement by the Saudi Government and by 1975 there was a reported â€Å"10 international bank†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦including â€Å"29 branches present.† (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p.3) There was a rise and fall in the economy and SAMA faced a critical challenge for supervision in 1982 â€Å"when irregularities appeared in Saudi Cairo Bank’s operations. Two senior managers were involved in unauthorized trading in bullion during the 1979-81 period, and had concealed accumulated losses that exceeded the Bank’s share capital.† (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p.3) It is reported that SAMA required the Bank to issue new shares and double its capital i n 1986. SAMA arranged this increase to be taken up entirely by the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The Bank also benefited from â€Å"low-cost† deposits from the Public Investment Fund. These measures helped the Bank with liquidity and rescued it back to a healthy position.† (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p. 4-5 III. Regulatory Framework of Banking System in Saudi Arabia SAMA in collaboration with Saudi Arabia Ministry of Finance ensured the financial system’s stability and assisted banks in clearing the hurdles of economic downturn. Included in this collaborative initiative were the following actions: (1) Banks were required to seek SAMA’s approval prior to announcing their dividends. The Banking Control Law required all banks to build their statutory reserves equal to their share capital. SAMA further encouraged Saudi banks to build additional reserves to strengthen their capital base. (2) Most foreign shareholders in Saudi banks enjoyed a tax holiday for the first five years of their ownership. To encourage retention of profits, the tax holiday was extended in most cases by another 5 years after which a deferred tax scheme was permitted; (3) In 1986, SAMA obtained a ruling from the Tax Department that permitted the tax deduction of loan loss provisions on an accrual basis. This encouraged banks to increase their loan loss provisions for doubtful accounts; (4) To encourage Saudi banks to increase their inter-bank dealings and to support the development of a riyal inter-bank market, a tax ruling was obtained which exempted foreign banks from withholding taxes when carrying out inter-bank transactions with Saudi banks; (5) Corporate Governance. SAMA recognized the need to encourage banks to take strong steps to improve their risk management and control procedures. Consequently, it took major initiatives in the area of corporate governance. Firstly, it required all banks to develop and strengthen their internal audit departments, and secondly it issued minimum internal control guidelines. In addition, SAMA issued accounting standards for Commercial Banks in Saudi Arabia which were in line with International Accounting Standards; (6) Creation of Banking Disputes Committee. In 1987, Saudi authorities established a Banking Dispute Committee by the order of the Council of Ministers. The creation of this Committee a s the only relevant quasicourt to handle dispute between banks and their customers significantly strengthened the legal system. By law, all banking disputes had to be referred to this Committee and the rulings of this Committee were given the same enforcement support as decisions from any other court; (7) Exchange of Information on Large Borrowers and on Delinquent Loans. In the early 1980’s, SAMA established a credit information service that provided information to Saudi banks on all large exposures of the Banking System. This enabled banks to better assess the credit position and risk of big borrowers. Also in 1986, SAMA permitted banks to exchange information on delinquent borrowers as a means of applying collective pressure on them. These measures have proved quite effective in resolving problems of delinquent loans.† (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p. 5-6) IV. Improvement of Banking Services Banking and financial services were improved during the early decade of the 1980s by technological advances and SAMA had acknowledged a decade earlier that there was not only a potential but as well as need to â€Å"enhance and strengthen the Saudi financial markets through greater investment in modern technology. It is reported that the primary objectives of this strategy were: (1) elimination of duplication of efforts and waste; and (2) development of a national infrastructure. (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p. 7) Technology enhanced business services introduced included: (1) automated Cheque Clearing System (1986); (2) linking of Saudi Arabia with the SWIFT payment network; (3) introduction of a national Automated Teller Machine System enabling customers to access accounts from any machine in Saudi Arabia and from the major financial markets; (4) introduction of debit, credit and charge cards; and (5) introduction of Point-of-Sale terminals that link customers, traders and banks. (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, 2004, p.7) International Islamic Financial Institutions It is reported that International Islamic Financial Institutions are reported in the work of Memon (2007) entitled â€Å"Islamic Banking: Present and Future Challenges† to be making provision of â€Å"a wide range of services in accordance with the basic principles of Shariah. The products are reported to include: (1) Mudaraba; (2) Murabaha; (3) Musharaka; (4) Ijarah; (5) Isstina; and (6) Salam. (Memon, 2007, p.4) Conventional banks are reported to operate under the concept â€Å"of lender-borrower relationship where interest is considered as the rental income on capital. The depositors are assumed to be capital providers.† (Memon, 2007, p.4) Bank customers are reported to be divided into three broad categories as follows: (1) religiously motivated customers; (2) high profit customers; and (3) customers who are religiously motivated but also expect returns at least similar to conventional banks. (Memon, 2007, p.6) It is reported as follows in regards to the Islamic ec onomic system: â€Å"Islamic economics is a system, which not only fulfils our moral, ethical, and religious obligations but also demonstrates to be economically feasible and financially rewarding. Islamic banking is based on asset-based transactions for the purpose of income generation, and prohibits financing in all forms of economic activities, which are normally and/or socially injurious to the society.† (Memon, 2007, p.6) Additionally stated is that the Islamic field of Banking operations â€Å"is unlimited. It is under continuous process of evolving and Islamic financial modes instruments have been developed to cover nearly all kinds of businesses including consumer financing, project financing, house financing, working capital financing, import and export financing, venture capital, etc.† (Memon, 2007, p.6) A survey conducted in the United States indicates that U.S. banker perception of Islamic Banking includes that 10 out of 20 Islamic Banking practices are vie wed as acceptable. Those ten include: (1) investment accounts; (2) transfer of funds; (3) cost plus finance; (4) profit and loss; (5) sharing, (6) trust financing, (7) leasing, (8) lease purchase, (9) letters of guarantee, and (10) flexible investment of deposit and role as trustees. (Memon, 2007, p.8) VI. Service Quality in Saudi Arabian Banks The work of Al-Fawzan (2005) entitled â€Å"Assessing Service Quality in a Saudi Bank† states that service quality is defined as â€Å"the degree of alignment between customers’ expectations and their perceptions of the service received.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005, p.1) Al-Fawzan (2005) states that the move to â€Å"†¦managed service has increased demands for outcome-based accountability, cost containment, and attention to customer-focused quality in order to remain competitive in a rapidly changing environment. This dual focus on driving down costs while increasing quality has intensified pressures to understand, measure, and manage quality from a customer perspective.† (p.101) While banking systems are stated to provide services that are the same they are differentiated by the quality of services provided. In addition, today’s customers are â€Å"†¦more aware of the alternatives and their expectations of service have increased. Service quality c an, therefore, be used as a strategic tool to build a distinctive advantage over competitors. Banks are striving for zero defection and retaining every customer that the company can profitably serve in order to achieve service excellence.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) Zero defections makes a requirement of ongoing efforts for improving service quality. It is reported that while quality â€Å"can not be improved unless it is measured, it can be defined from several perspectives, e.g., the ability to satisfy the needs and expectations of the customer, or the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) There is a growing acknowledgement of quality importance in banking services although â€Å"its conceptualization and empirical assessment have remained limited.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) Al-Fawzan (2005) reports that the â€Å"central tenet of the quality paradigm is the importance of understand ing and utilizing customer data to drive operational and strategic decisions, defining quality from the outside-in based on customer information is critical. This shift in defining quality often necessitates a fundamental change in the way professionals, managers, staff, and policy makers think about and identify those who â€Å"buy† or â€Å"use† products and service.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) Those who use banking services are not generally refers to as ‘customers’ but instead are referred to as ‘client† suggesting â€Å"†¦a passive voice in the service delivery process, which is reflected by professionals in the field who question the credibility of client evaluation of services. On the other hand, customer carries an image of an active participant with more input in determining choices and decisions. Clients of human service organizations who follow directions from professionals and make few demands on the system are labeled as â€Å"cooperative.† In contrast, customers in the business sector who are loyal to the service, interact with the staff, and are willing to show their preferences are viewed as â€Å"desirable customer.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) Al-Fawzan states that customers have difficulty in the articulation of â€Å"banking service quality† therefore â€Å"the recipient of the service can only really assess it, t hereby making its measurement more subjective than exact. Hence, the measurement of banking service quality has to be based on perceived quality rather than objective quality because services are intangible, heterogeneous and their consumption and production occur simultaneously.† (2005) It is reported that service quality â€Å"†¦ is a measure of how well the service level matches customers’ expectations.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) It is reported that Parasuraman et al. â€Å"†¦defined service quality as perceived by customers and items from a comparison on their expectations of the services they will receive with their perceptions of the performance of the service provider.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) The study reported by Al-Fawzan (2005) summarizes the results stated the following findings: (1) the most important dimension determined by Saudi Bank customers is that of ‘assurance dimension’; (2) a service gap exists in service quality provided b y Saudi Banks with the most notable gap being the accessibility dimension; (3) Saudi Bank customers, on average, rated Saudi Banks service quality to be overall good; (4) the expectations of Saudi Banks by customers are â€Å"highest in reliability dimension; (5) 67.8% of SB customers rated the overall service quality as good and very good; (5) SB employees dress nicely and they are polite when talking to customers; (6) SB has exceeded customers’ expectations in performing the service right from the beginning and in instilling the confidence in customers that their transactions are complete and safe.† (Al-Fawzan, 2005) The work of Sohail and Shaikh (2008) entitled â€Å"Internet Banking and Quality of Service: Perspectives from a Developing Nation in the Middle East† reports a study that had as its objective the measurement of the quality of service from the perspective of the customer on internet banking in Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted via a questionnaire survey and an extensive review of literature. Findings in the study report that upon the basis of a factor analysis three factors were found to influence the evaluation of quality of internet banking services by users. Those three factors identified are stated to include: (1) efficiency and security; (2) fulfillment; and (3) responsiveness. (Sohail and Shaikh, 2008) In 2010 Jasimuddin reported in the work entitled â€Å"Saudi Arabian Banks on the Web† reports that commercial transactions via the Internet began in 1995 and that online banking is an application with much promise. However, while many banks in developed countri es have made provision of banking services via the Internet, Saudi Arabia is â€Å"lagging behind.† (Jasimuddin, 2010, p.1) The environment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s environment is very conducive to Internet banking service provision. Jasimuddin reports that as of 2000 there were 11 banks and 1201 branches operating in Saudi Arabia. As of the middle of 2000, there are 11 banks with 1201 branches operating across Saudi Arabia. Eight banks are reported to have established a web site presence which is a rate of 73% of banks with a web site presence although only two of these offer Internet Banking Services. When the Saudi banks web sites are compared there is not major difference noted in the content of the bank web sites. The contents of the websites are stated to be inclusive of information about the bank, the addresses of branches and ATMs, phone and fax numbers, press releases, newsletters, news about the site and welcome letters, hot links, job opportunities, publications, contact and email, feedback, sitemap, site search, online forms and so forth. (Jasimuddin, 2010, paraphrased) Practically all of the banks provide information relating to customer services that â€Å"incorporate financial market, retail and corporate banking, investment treasury service, telephone and PC banking.† (Jasimuddin, 2010) I t is reported that online banking in Saudi Arabia is still a â€Å"very marginal activity† and that internet is presently being used by Saudi banks primarily for â€Å"brand awareness and promotion.† (Jasimuddin, 2010) Saudi banks will be driven by â€Å"the dynamic and imperatives of e-finance†¦to build web site and to start Internet banking.† (Jasimuddin, 2010) In other words, since this is a banking service that is increasingly familiar customers will be requesting these services from banks in the future in Saudi Arabia. VII. Technology Use in Banking Service Provision It was reported in 2007 that the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia was established in Saudi Arabia prior to any other banks being established. This bank has 300 branches throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with some branches stated to be â€Å"dedicated exclusively to Islamic Banking Services. The National Commercial bank reports having implemented use of a digital signage system which is reported to make provision of a â€Å"better platform for NCB to better communicate with its employees, educating them about the banks products and services and enhancing the service they provide to their customers.† (Jasimuddin, 2010) Summary of Literature Reviewed It is clear that banks in Saudi Arabia are faced with a diverse customer-base and this makes a requirement of diversification of banking services offered by banks in the Kingdom. While internet banking services provision is somewhat behind the development in the rest of the world, it is certain that Saudi Arabian banking customers will clearly see the benefits to Internet banking and that the push will soon be on for provision of this banking service by Saudi Arabian banks. Internet banking as well as other technological advanced service possibilities are presently being explored by Saudi Arabian banks including such technologies as a digital signage system among others. While the banking sector is quite developed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia there does appear to be a general mistrust of Internet banking technology and not just on the part of customers but in the view of the banking industry in Saudi Arabia as well. Recommendations Arising from this study is a recommendation for research to be conducted examining the quality of banking service provision by banks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a focus on technology use. References Memon, N.A. (2007) Islamic Banking: Present and Future Challenges. Journal of Management and Social Sciences. Vol. 3, No. 1, (Spring 2007) 01-10. Institute of Business and Technology (BIZTEK). Retrieved from: http://www.biztek.edu.pk/downloads/research/jmss_v3_n1/1-islamic%20banking.pdf A Case Study On Globalization and the Role of Institution Building in the Financial Sector Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. February 2004. Retrieved from: http://www.sama.gov.sa/sites/samaen/OtherReportsLib/SK521-04(CaseStudyonGlobalization-RoleofInstitutionBuildinginSaudiArabia-Final)Dr.Shaukat.pdf Al-Fawzan, MA (2005) Assessing Service Quality in a Saudi Bank. J. King Saud Univ., Vol. 18, Eng. Sci. (1), pp. 101-115, Riyadh (1426H./2005). Sohail, M.S. and Shaikh, N.M. (2008) Internet banking and quality of service: Perspectives from a developing nation in the Middle East. â€Å", Online Information Review, Vol. 32 Iss: 1, pp.58 – 72 Jasimuddin, Sajjad M. (2010) Saudi Arabianu Banks on the Web. Array Development. Retrieved from: http://www.tenso.fr/emarketing/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Aper%C3%A7u-de-%C2%AB%C2%A0Saudi-Arabian-Banks-on-the-Web%C2%A0%C2%BB.pdf