Pop Music

The themes of pop music also help to characterize this genre of USIA. Typically, pop music centers on themes such as love and relationships. For example, â€Å"Am I Wrong† by â€Å"Nice & Vine† is a pop song that explains a longing for a relationship he thought was more than it was. This theme is so popular because everyone can relate to it. At a point in every persons life, they will experience love; those who have not experienced it, long for it, and thus relate to the theme of love as well. 3. What is disco? What are the characteristics of this music? I.Developed in 1 970, disco began outside of mainstream America, but t ended up crossing over into mainstream pop music. Mixing â€Å"soaring† vocals with a beat that encouraged dancing, disco became the dance music of the decade. The music often had 100 to 130 beats per minute (a relatively fast tempo) and the pulse of the rhythm was often emphasized. 4. What was the British Invasion? Which famous group was a pa rt of this movement? What impact did the group have on pop music? In the 1 9605, some of these British groups became influential in North America as well.The biggest group of the British Invasion was, of course, the Beetles. While the Beetles sometimes sang about social issues, they also had songs with catchy lyrics and melodies. This would be the centerpiece of pop music through the next several decades. 5. What is a boy band? What are some characteristics off boy band? I. Boy bands, such as New Kids on the Block, Boozy II Men, Backstreet Boys, and ‘N Sync, featured between three and six young adult males who typically sang, but did not play instruments. Critical Thinking Questions 1 .Some of the music in the 1 sass was used to protest social and political issues. Is music still used as a form of protest? Why or why not? I. Music is used, and will always be used, as a form of speech. It gets ideas and concepts out to the public in an appealing, and passionate way. However, it is less politically influenced nowadays. I believe this is because the public shows much more interest in love songs rather than politics; therefore, music composers aim to please the public. 2. One of the changes in the music industry during the twentieth century was the increasing centralization of music.Has music become too commercial? Why or why not? Do you think that artists are creating music for money or for other reasons today? I. Although big stars make a significant amount of money, all pantomimic artists are financially struggling. It is such a rough patch to make it to fame that if that artist is in it for the money, they will never make it in order to endure the hard times, they must really love what they do. Music has become highly commercialese, but will continue to evolve just like everything else. 3. How has technology impacted pop music?Describe at least three genealogical changes that impacted and shaped pop music today or in the past. I. The Beat Machine elimina tes the need for a real drummer. The internet allows for promotion and exposure that was not possible before. Finally, music videos are now a â€Å"must† when it comes to pop music. It increases the need for â€Å"the look† of the artist. 4. Pop music has often been seen as youth music. Why do you think pop music appeals to younger individuals? How has the industry promoted this idea? I. Pop music appeals to you anger generations because it is upbeat and easy to dance to. Pop Music ? The Center for Popular Music For information on specific research collections: Sheet music and Broadsides Rare books Sound recordings Periodicals Reading room collection Archives Music Trade Catalogs Posters Playbills and Programs Photographs Background: The Center's collection documents the diversity of American music. We take as our starting point the European and African origins of American culture, selecting items which document the music of our national vernacular culture. From the 18th to early 20th century music was disseminated largely in printed form: sheet music, songsters, broadsides, instrumental instruction books and song anthologies. After 1920 recorded sound gained dominance. The Center's collection reflects this change in the commodification of music. The Center recognizes the interplay between musical styles in American culture by providing study-level collections in all genres. Rather than duplicating the collection depth in specialized archives, the Center strives to support local research needs in all genres while providing research-level collections in specific areas: rock & roll and its roots, the various forms of vernacular religious music, and music of Tennessee and the Southeast. The key element supporting the study of rock is a sound recordings collection strong in blues, rhythm and blues, early rock, mainstream rock from the 1960s to the present, and alternative rock. The Center also has extensive holdings of rock periodicals as well as biographical, historical and critical books. Research in vernacular religious music is supported through a collection of approximately 2600 scores, including southern gospel songbooks, 19th century oblong songbooks, New England hymnody, shape note music, Sunday school songs, Negro spirituals, African-American gospel and denominational hymnals. Our collection of southern gospel songbooks is thought to be the largest institutional collection held by a non-religious repository. The Center's sound recording collections is also deep in various African-American traditions, contemporary Christian music and southern gospel. In addition to commercial issues, the Center has approximately 100 hours of original field recordings of African-American religious music. The Center's collection of Tennessee and southeastern materials recognizes that Tennessee provides a marvelous laboratory in which to study popular music. Ragtime, jazz, blues, Anglo- and African-American folk music, country, gospel and rock have all flourished within Tennessee. The music business of Tennessee has long been an important segment of Tennessee's economy. In addition to Nashville, the cities of Memphis, Knoxville, Bristol, Chattanooga, Cleveland and Lawrenceburg have played significant roles in music publishing, broadcasting and recording. The Center's collection documents these business activities as well as musical ones.

Crime-free Children Today Essay

Open a newspaper or switch on the radio for news and you will no doubt see a number of horrifying crimes reported there – murder, rape and robberies are no longer surprising or shocking news to the Indian citizens. But what can shock us is the fact that most, at least a third, of the crimes committed in a year are by youngsters below the age of 18. Juvenile delinquency is increasing rapidly. A large part of the world’s children are in India. Children are often perceived as the epitome of innocence and naivetà © by most people. But the phrase â€Å"child-like innocence† can no longer be used, because the adolescents are one of the most violent age categories in the world. There are many incidences of crimes committed by the adolescents these days. The number of juvenile court cases are increasing and the crimes become more horrifying by the minute. There are increasing evidences of road rages, crimes against women, violence in school etc. all committed by teenage rs. Parents and others involved in a child’s life are equally responsible for the child’s hostile behavior. The amount of violence in the adolescent’s day-to-day life plays a large role in this issue, too. The child’s guardians have to take time to understand this complex problem and try to solve it; but what most of the Indian parents do is say to themselves, â€Å"He/she will grow out of it,† and simply avoid the issue, hoping it is just a phase. But this ignorant way of treating the problem is the start of a life-long trouble that will not only affect the family, but also the society, because in most of the cases of aggressive juvenile violence, the adolescent grows to be a criminal, thus delaying the development and progress of the nation.  The family does not bother to think of what may be the cause of the child’s behavior. Violent mannerisms in children can include a wide range of behaviors: explosive temper tantrums, physical aggression, fighting, bullying, homicidal thoughts, use of weaponry, cruelty towards animals, destruction of property etc. Most of this is caused by the problematic upbringing of the child – parents who pamper and spoil their children or agree to the child’s tantrums are endangering the child’s future. The television and the media can also increase a child’s violent tendencies. A child tends to imitate what he observes and this is a huge problem in India, because Indian cinema often has its heroes resort to violence to bring down their opponents. This makes the child think that using assault and bloodshed to achieve one’s needs is fine. Video games lessen the child’s value for a human life, as most of them involve killing animated characters. Being a victim of sexual abuse, presence of firearms in the house and even head injuries during childhood can cause adolescent violence. Remember, violence always leads to violence. Now that most of the people and the Government of India are starting to recognize and address this issue, solutions have to be found and made accessible to the citizens. Parents have to look out for signs of intense anger, impulsiveness, irritability and cruelty in children and look for the reason. Feelings of revenge and vengeance should be discouraged; tell them what the Father of our Nation once said, â€Å"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.† Make it clear to them that violence does not solve anything. Only clearheaded thinking can lead to good results. The amount of violence that the child is exposed to through media has to be restricted, but the media can also help by raising awareness and to show the children the adverse affects of violence. Developing a reading habit is also highly helpful in curbing a child’s hostility. Family conflicts, problems in school, discrimination by other children etc. should be found out and solved. Parents should not hesitate to consult a psychiatrist if necessary. Making the adolescent part of the Indian population is necessary because only calm and responsible children can grow into stable, responsible, patriotic citizens in the future. We should remember that it is the youth that will shape our country’s future. Every child is bright in his or her own way and it is the duty of the adults to keep the light burning, for the next generation will fulfill the dreams of our great leaders and lead our  nation to its victorious destiny only if our society is united, strong and nonviolent. Teach the children to follow the Mahatma’s policy, the motto that toppled the British, the strongest invading force of the past century: nonviolence.

Product Design Process

Product design process There are various product design processes and they are all focused on different aspects. The process shown below is â€Å"The Seven Universal Stages of Creative Problem-Solving,† outlined by Don Koberg and Jim Bagnell. It helps designers formulate their product from ideas. This process is usually completed by a group of people, designers or field experts in the product they are creating, or specialists for a specific component of the product, such as engineers. The process focuses on figuring out what is required, brainstorming possible ideas, creating mock prototypes, and then generating the product.However, that is not the end of the process. At this point, product designers would still need to execute the idea, making it into an actual product and then evaluate its success by seeing if any improvements are necessary. The product design process has experienced huge leaps in evolution over the last few years with the rise and adoption of 3D printing. N ew consumer-friendly 3D printers can product dimensional objects and print upwards with a plastic like substance opposed to traditional printers that spread ink across a page.The design process follows a guideline involving three main sections:[4] Analysis Concept Synthesis The latter two sections are often revisited, depending on how often the design needs touch-ups, to improve or to better fit the criteria. This is a continuous loop, where feedback is the main component. [4] To break it down even more, the seven stages specify how the process works. Analysis consists of two stages, concept is only one stage, and synthesis encompasses the other four. [edit]Analysis

Leadership Theories In Nursing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Leadership Theories In Nursing - Research Paper Example The researcher states that transformational leadership is so called because it presupposes that a transformational leader change, for the better, the working environment around her or him. Specifically, the transformation occurs in the balance of the tension between production and efficiency, the creation and sustenance of trust in the workplace, the management of the process of change and engaging the followers to participate in decision-making. This is because a transformational leader is someone who inspires others, is a visionary who knows how to motivate others and is energetic and radiates these characteristics to his followers. Authentic leadership, on the other hand, seems to be leaning towards the opposite direction as its main focus is the relationship between him and his followers. The authentic leader deliberately develops a closer bond with his followers so he can inspire them to do their jobs better. Evidently, no one leadership theory is superior to others at all times . The main argument against situational theories, for example, is that they are focused on attempting to define relationships between leaders and their followers. Nonetheless, situational leadership theories have an edge over the style leadership theories in that they aspire to adapt themselves to the circumstances at hand. In the field of healthcare particularly, situations are hardly set and fixed. Healthcare leaders deal with varied situations on a daily basis and must be prepared to deal with contingencies at all times.

Product Market Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Product Market Development - Essay Example Profits generally continue to increase throughout the life cycle caused by industry expertise, economies of scale providing scope to reduce unit costs over time. At growth stage the characteristics are different. After all the market exercises having been done product is recognised by the consumers and demanded at a rapid speed resulting in reduction in cost. Economies of scale are achieved by this time. Sales volume increases quiet high at this stage. When cost is reduced due to economies of scale and sales revenues increases the profitability increases too. Demand factors remaining higher the business tends to increase product prices higher. Once the product is well accepted and becomes a favourite consumer pays the price asked for by the seller. The product acquires a quality image in the minds of consumers and they feel to enjoy a consumer's surplus even at higher price. Simple promotional efforts and advertising help consumers to retain the product in mind that promote the product selling easily. The competition gradually becomes aware of the product and its revenue yielding capacity. They start venturing into the business to get a mark et share and earn profits. The increase in competition exerts pressure in the market thereby reducing the market prices. The product gradually enters into maturity phase. Maturity phase: the business gets a lot of experience in the growth phase. Production volume increases very high. Many competitions enter in to the market arena and put thrust on the product prices and market outlets. The market gradually gets saturated. Extra efforts are employed to retain the sales volume. Prices to lower because of so many products fighting for the same market size. Market share drops that creates pressure on the entire business. Extra marketing efforts, brand differentiation and product diversification with new features have to be introduced costing more to the company. Profit volume tends to lower. Company and its business being old invite demands for higher wages and bonus from workers that put pressure on the profitability of the business. Curtailment in production leading to closure of some departments deprives the company of the benefits of economies of scale. Overall profitability is down and makes the business unsustainable. In course of the growth phase adolescent phase comes which is characterised with high growth and sales volume accompanied by increase in performance and product variance. The product is placed in the star corners of the BCG matrix with high growing sales revenue with offensive product prices. The product is powerful to be offensive and adopts aggressive pricing with a view to create a premium positing in the market to make customers view it as a superior product that can not be matched by the competition. Market growth is accompanied by market fragmentation. This in turn causes competition. But competition in market growth is not less intense compared to the intensity in market maturity. In the growth phase, almost every organization remains in profits because of the growing and greater demand, whereas in maturity, organizations have to struggle for

The Maryknoll Missioners Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Maryknoll Missioners - Research Paper Example His mission on earth was full of love and compassion for people. He dedicated his life to protect the weak and stand for the truth. From this, one can articulate that, mission work began with Jesus Christ. Since then, Jesus followers received a mission of spreading love and compassion to all people as a vital aspect of making disciples of all nations. To this point, it stands out that, the work of a missioner entails a lot such as, teaching and preaching the word of God, protecting the weak, leading the captives free, and giving gifts to men among others. In a way, missionary work is referred to as the great commission described in Matthew 28:18-20 of going forth and making men disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them the word of God. Throughout history, Maryknoll has emphasized missionary and ministry work particularly in Korea, China, Africa, East Asia, and Latin America. Up-to-date, these missioners have played a significant role in the Catholic Church, in allev iating poverty, and enhancing constructive changes to many lives. With this regard, the following paper seeks to discuss the Maryknoll missioners as well as their impact on people’s lives. MARYKNOLL MISSIONARIES A brief history As mentioned earlier, Maryknoll was founded as a Catholic mission society. It was established in 1911 with most men being skilled tradesmen. The group was led by bishops from the United States, and its development fell into two diocesan priests namely Father Thomas Fredrick and James Anthony of Boston. Just like Jesus, the two individuals had the commission, to encourage U.S missioners to set their lives apart for helping the community. Studies outline that, one year after its founding, three men joined who were fully dedicated to the mission work (Gollock, 2010). During this time, the number of brothers increased in that, by 1921, the community comprised of twenty priests, dozen brothers, and almost sixty five seminaries students. Men played a vital r ole at Maryknoll to the extent that they formed a movement of the â€Å"Fields A far Staff â€Å". In 1920, the church recognized Maryknoll sisters who led the community into service as they recognize the needs in the community. In essence, the Maryknoll missionaries have served all over the world, as they become influential in regards to missionary activities. As of 2009, there were over 560 Maryknoll brothers and priests serving all over the world, mainly in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. In the 20th Century, they played a vital role in the Catholic Church of East Asia, and also extended into Latin American countries. Their aspect of mission For years, the Maryknoll Missioners have imposed love and compassion for people, as they work diligently to protect the weak and poor. For instance, they have had extensive connections with Latin American countries whereby, they have worked hard to eradicate poverty and improve lives of many Latin American. Poverty is a core issue affectin g Latin Americans in the sense that, some live below the poverty line. With this in mind, Maryknoll Missioners have worked to help the needy in such communities as they renewed call to their membership in campaigning for justice for the poor. These efforts have been supported by donations from U.S as many unite to help the needy in the community. With no doubt; this has helped to alleviate poverty as they bring constructive changes to the Latin Americans. Typically,

The impact of advertisement on female customers in Doha Research Paper

The impact of advertisement on female customers in Doha - Research Paper Example This "The impact of advertisement on female customers in Doha" essay outlines the effect of an ad on the society. According to Brooks (2008), recent trends in Doha’s advertisement content suggest that 70% of people seen in food advertisements belong to the female gender. These advertisement figures are usually of lean and slender body shapes. This creates perceptions that slender and lean figure represents the ideal body weight of women in modern societies. Relevant psychological studies indicated that portrayal of idealized thinness in the advert media falls contrary to actual average body weight of female consumers around Doha. In this case, women tends to develop negative moods and personal perceptions whenever their actual body weights fall short of the idealized body figures seen in advertisements. The worst part is that these adverts largely communicate messages on fast food. As a result, female population usually tries to emulate the celebrities in advertisement by consuming the advertised fast food products. In this context, social studies indicate that teenage girls in Doha are unhappy about their actual body weights. Brooks (2008) emphasize that they are striving to consume fast food in an effort to attain idealized body weights seen women within commercial adverts. Importance of this research comes in on the effect of fast food consumption among the teenage population. It is undeniable that fast food presents negative health results like obesity and high cholesterol level in the body. In this case, the research seeks to ascertain the role of advertisements in influencing current nutritional trends witnessed among the female population in Doha. In the essay, we acknowledged earlier that this research paper

Economic Indicator Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economic Indicator Paper - Essay Example For instance, the prevailing value of the American Real GDP, when calculated in relation to the year 2000 is approximately 12,000 billion dollars. GDP is a leading economic indicator and it usually rises before an upturn in real GDP and falls before a downturn in real GDP. Real GDP is also quite handy when it comes to predicting changes in the housing industry in the immediate future. Alongside such indicators as stock prices, average weekly hours worked in industries and housing starts, the trends set by real GDP can have a bearing on the overall health of the housing industry. Housing starts are defined as the number of residential units on which construction is started every month. Housing starts are a key economic indicator that determines the health and future direction of the Housing industry. Usually though, an increase in housing starts indicates an increase in economic growth. The following chart published by the U.S.Bureau of the Census gives a historical perspective of housing starts. According to a credible industry expert, â€Å"housing starts fell to six percent in August of 2007 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.665 million, while permits fell 2.3 percent from July and for the seventh consecutive month to a 1.722 million level. The August 2006 permit level was the lowest in 4 years. The month-over-month August starts decline occurred in both the single-family (-5.9%) and multifamily (-6.7%) sectors and in three out of the 4 Census regions, the exception being the Northeast†. These statistics mean that the housing industry is slated for a slowdown in the near future. Furthermore, with fears of an impending recession of the general economy, housing industry is also set to suffer to the extent. Mortgage is a loan given to an individual or a corporation on the basis of the value of a house, building or any other

Discuss how the learning of organisation theories can be of help for Essay

Discuss how the learning of organisation theories can be of help for practitioners, in particular Human Resource Management professionals, based on leadership and organisational culture - Essay Example HRM has materialized to become and grown as one of the most significant aspects of business practice and science. It has not been created in seclusion but quite in the perspective of economic growth and industrial change (Cascio, 2006). The distinctiveness of human resource methods requires a totally separate type of focus from business managers. Human Resource has aspects that offer the greatest challenge together with chances. An organizations HR is delicate with fragile relationship, coupled with unforeseen contributions and permanency is unsure. The important inputs among other elements to a business are its labor resource; individuals bring their skill diversity, expectations, goals and needs. They become mixed into an organization through recruitment with and constant performance in the organizations operations. The perception that organizations possess culture has been recognized through research in developing social environments. Environment and cultures are essential elements of an organization. Organizational culture can be defined as the framework of shared importance carried by people that sets apart one organization from the other. Organizational culture offers workers with a clear meaning of the manner in which business is done in an organization (Ravasi and Schultz, 2006). The idea of culture is viewed as a kind of gap between the business and the individual. Culture creates differences between organizations; it portrays senses of uniqueness for current roles. Culture also improves the creation of loyalty and improves stability of societies. Most importantly culture acts as a control process and a meaningful making. Research into the relationship between organizational culture and its efficiency is narrow by lack of concurrence about the suitable indicators of effectiveness. Researcher’s Peters and Waterman noted that organizations with

Peer Violence Essay Example for Free

Peer Violence Essay Peer violence/abuse is something that takes place in the everyday life of some people and their families. Peer violence/abuse is when a person undergoes improper or unfair physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, unjust practices, wrongful practice or custom, offense, and crime. There are many different types of peer violence such as verbal, physical, cyber bullying, and social alienation. As you continue to read you will better understand the effect, consequences (in school and out of school), and examples of peer violence. Youth violence has played a big part of everyday life for some; youth violence includes bullying, punching, slapping, verbal abuse and using weapons, towards another. These violent acts are a disruption to people’s lively-hoods and to the learning process. The most serious effect that youth violence has on people is death and injury; most students are victims of homicides in the schools and suicides at home. Most of these deaths occur before, after, or during lunchtime. Other victims can be examples of nonfatal injuries like cuts, broken bones, bruises and even gunshot wounds. Some can even have a long-term effect on a person emotionally/mentally, a person can suffer depression, fear other people, anxiety and even post-traumatic stress which does not just effect the person but it also effects the persons immediate family and close friends. Peer violence can affect the way a child lives and their lives, they will feel shame for being a victim and won’t tell anybody what’s going on and could be afraid that the problem might escalate if they do tell a trusted adult. In recent news, in Southern Las Vegas two brothers were sentenced to jail and correctional facilities for the bullying of a disabled boy who attended their school. The boys had one of their friends record the attacking of the boy and posted it on YouTube. One of the boys was sentenced to 12 months of probation and 40 hours of community service while the other was sentenced to serve time at Spring Mountain Youth Camp with supervision until released. Consequences are one of the things many people do not think about before they began bullying each other or began attacking one another. In most schools a punishment is 3 to 6 days of suspension and even a court date with the victim. In Las Vegas depending on your age you can get anything from probation to 30 days in a juvenile correction center or a correctional center such as boy’s town or Spring Mountain Youth Camp. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre#Medication\ http://www.modernmom.com/article/the-effects-of-school-violence-on-victims http://www.modernmom.com/article/the-effects-of-school-violence-on-victims

Development of College Announcement Notification System

Development of College Announcement Notification System Chapter 1: Introduction Introduction This project proposal is created to propose an IT solution to the student of Sunway University. The main point that the author want to highlight is regarding the efficiencies for student in Sunway University. An example, inefficiencies that occur in posting the announcement that is post on the website or in the notice board, it is hard to inform to the student and also the staff may also forget to post the announcement that will inconvenient for the student itself. In order to solve those problems, the author proposed to create a website as a third party for the staff to post the announcement. The author feel that only a website is very simple and common nowadays, so to improve the effectiveness and give more efficiency, a SMS (Short Messaging Service) feature is added to the system. Every announcement is posted by the SCT Staffs in the website, a SMS notification will be sent to the student that already registered to the website. The content of the SMS just a brief notification abou t the title of the event, venue and time, for more brief detail the students can refer to the website. Other way to notify the students is used Email as an instant notifier, but consider using email as an instant notifier is not really effective because students didnt open their email every day but using the SMS as the instant notifier to notify the students are more effective because most of the student is own and bring their own cell phone, therefore the MS as an instant notifier is more appropriate. Since the advancement of the technology nowadays, using this system will help in reduce the paper usage. Project Objective To give efficiencies for staff of Sunway University who want to post announcement. To use SMS as an instant notifier, for example every announcement post on the website the student will receive a SMS about the annoncement. In long term of view, this system will help in notify student about things that happen in college. Project Scope To become the most useful media for announcement notification. When the system is run it involves the Sunway University students and staffs that want to use the service. The user of the system should be students of Sunway University and staffs. All users that want to use the system have to become member. Methodology Methodology is a formalized approach to implement the SDLC (System Development Life Cycle). There are many different systems development methodologies, and each one is unique based on the order and focus it places on each SDLC phase. Some methodologies are formal standards used y government agencies, while others have been developed by consulting firms to sell to client. Many organizations have internal methodologies that have been honed over the years, and they explain exactly how each phase of the SDLC is to be performed in that company. There are many ways to categorize methodologies. One way is looking at whether they focus on business process or the data that support the business. There are three types of system development methodologies, it is called Structured Design, RAD (Rapid Application Development), and Agile Development. Types of Software Development Methodologies Structured Design This is the first type of system development, it is introduced in 1980s. This methodology adopts the formal step by step approach to the SDLC, it moves logically from one phase to another phase. Waterfall Model This is the original structured design of methodology, with this methodology, the analyst and users proceed in sequence from one phase to the next phase. The key deliverables for each phase are typically very long and are presented to the project sponsor for approval as the project moves from phase to phase. This methodology is referred to as waterfall development because it moves forward from phase to phase in the same manner as a waterfall. Advantages of using waterfall model: It identifies system requirements long before programming begins It minimizes changes to the requirements as the project proceeds. Disadvantages of using waterfall model: The design must be completely specified before programming begins This model required significant rework, if there is a changes in the business environment, in order to going back to the initial phase need to go through each of the subsequent phase in return. Parallel Development This model of methodology attempts to address the problem of long delay between analysis phase and the delivery of the system. Instead of doing design and implementation in sequence, it performs a general design for the whole system and then divides the project into a series of distinct subprojects that can be designed and implemented in parallel. Once all subprojects are complete, there is a final integration of the separate pieces, and the system is delivered. Advantage of using parallel model: It can reduce the schedule time to deliver a system There is less chance of changes in the business environment causing rework Disadvantage of using parallel model: The approach still suffers from problem caused by paper documents It adds new problem, sometimes subprojects arent completely independent; design decisions made in one subproject may affect another subprojects Phased Development In this model, the overall system is divided into a series of version that are developed sequentially. The analysis phase identifies the overall system concept, and the project team, users and system sponsors then categorize the requirement into a series of version. Advantage of using phased model: Quickly getting a useful system into the hands of the users While the system does not perform all the functions the users need at first, it does begin to provide business value sooner than if the system were delivered after completion, as is the case with waterfall or parallel methodology. Disadvantage of using phased model: The users begin to work with the systems that are intentionally incomplete, it is critical to identify the most important and useful feature and include them in the first version, while managing users expectation along the way. Prototyping In this model, it performs the analysis, design and implementation phases concurrently, and all the three phases are performed repeatedly in a cycle until the system is completed. In this methodology, the basics of analysis and design are performed, and work immediately begins on a system prototype, a â€Å"quick and dirty† program that provides a minimal amount of features. Advantage of using prototyping model: It is very quickly provides a system for the users to interact with, even it is not ready for widespread organizational use at first. Reassure the users that the project team is working on the system Helps to more quickly refine real requirements rather than attempting to understand a system specification on paper, the user can interact with the prototype to better understand what it can do and cannot do. Disadvantage of using prototyping model: Its fast paced system releases challenge attempts to conduct careful, methodical analysis. This can cause problems in the development of complex systems because fundamental issues and problems are not recognized until well into the development process. Software Development Methodology Comparison After do research about the types of methodology that is appropriate to be used into the project. The author compared the 4 types of methodology that is compatible with the current development. The following table is the result of using the described methodology to the project. System Characteristic Waterfall Parallel Phased Prototyping Unclear User Requirement Poor Poor Good Excellent Unfamiliar Technology Poor Poor Good Poor Complexity of the System Good Good Good Poor Reliability of the System Good Good Good Poor Short Time Schedule Poor Good Excellent Excellent Schedule Visibility Poor Poor Excellent Excellent Table 1 Methodology Comparison Selecting the appropriate Methodology According to the project objective that the author proposed, author analyze each methodology that is already been researched. The author decides to use the Phased Methodology. The main reason on why the author uses this methodology is because the author would develop this system all by himself and the project will be easier to be built phase by phase. Other considerations in choosing this model are: User Requirement: the requirement of the system is clear, which is to address the problem of inefficiency and ineffectiveness of conventional way in notify the student for announcement. Familiarity with Technology: for designing the website, PHP, VB.Net language technology is going to be used, since it is still in area of the author expertise. System Complexity: the complexity of this project is at medium level, since the author familiar with the technology used in the project so it is not really difficult. However the author still need to do research on certain area of technology, for this case the knowledge of SMS gateway, and how to integrate the web based system with the SMS gateway. Duration: the duration of developing the project is approximately 4 months in order to fully complete the project. Development Method: it is a web based application that is built using the PHP, and VB.NET as the programming language. Area of Research Certain areas that we research for this project are: How to create easy and manageable database system? What is SMS (Short Message Service) portal and SMS (Short Message Service) gateway? How to integrate web based system with SMS portal? How to create easy and manageable database system? This part is one of the crucial parts in order to make a good web based application system. Therefore, creating an easy and manageable database system is really important. The database system that the author used to manage the College Announcement System web based application is MySQL. Several reasons become the consideration of choosing the MySQL software are, first reason is because the main programming language system that the author built is using the PHP technology, and PHP language has an integrated connector that able to connect it to SQL. Second reason, MySQL is open source software so it is free for download, it is will help in determining the project cost development. There is other software which is better than MySQL but looked back at the scope of the project; this is just an undergraduate project, then the author decides that using MySQL software is a wiser choice. The third reason, the author already took the MySQL subject during the study in Sunway University College, which is still in the author expertise. However, if this system wants to be implemented into the real organization, further study to create easy and manageable design is needed. When the project is already on the run, this would be very beneficial in doing maintenance of the application system. How to integrate the Web based System with SMS portal? As most people known that SMS is the most famous service that a mobile phone give. It is a service where the users able to send short text message from a mobile phone to another mobile phone. Basically the SMS would not work with just the mobile phone itself, it I because the Mobile Phone Network Operator that give the service so the SMS can be delivered to the recipient by the help of the mobile phone device as the medium to type the message. The SMS can travel all the way from the sender device to the recipient device must go through a pathway through a network called SMSC (Short Message Service Centre). SMSC works as a hardware that stores the SMS that is sent from a mobile phone then forward it again to the recipient. From the early of 1990s, the era when the first SMS is sent through the network using the mobile phone device. Nowadays with the advancement of the technology, SMS not only can be done through using mobile phone but can be integrated in other application such as web based application system, using the SMS gateway technology. However, the SMS that is sent still have to go through SMSC, which is still needed to use the SIM Card that is given by the mobile network operator. SMS gateway act as a bridge the platform that cannot use the mobile phone SIM Card to use the mobile service by using the GSM modem, in this case the mobile service is to send the SMS. The mobile SIM Card will be inserted into the GSM modem. GSM modem will act as the third party to connect to the SMSC. The web based application store the message that will be sent into the database, and the GSM will retrieve the data from the database and ready to send the SMS to the destination number. The basic function of SMS and e mail is the same, for email the sender need to enter the destination email and for SMS the sender need to enter the destination phone number. The difference is why SMS is more popular than email is because it is mobile and user can send and receive SMS wherever they are. The mobile advantage of using SMS is the reason that makes the author choose the SMS application system to be added into the College Announcement Notification system instead of using email. Another reason the author choose to use SMS is because most of the students in Sunway didnt have mobile phone that can handles in receiving and sending email, but most of the students have mobile phone that enable them to send and receive SMS. Therefore, using the SMS as additional software into College Announcement Notification system is the best choice, and the author also learn to use the GSM modem and the implementation of it into the system. Software / Hardware Requirements In order to make this project successful there are some hardware and software which is required to use in order to complete the project are: Software and Hardware requirement to develop the system. Software: SQL YOG: is the database software that the author chose to be implemented inside the College Announcement Notification system. SQL Yog had the user friendly interface and it is open source software. XAMPP: this software is applied as the localhost to compile the web based application. Adobe Dreamweaver: is the software that makes it easier to edit the coding for PHP, JAVA. Hardware: PC (with mouse, keyboard, monitor) / laptop with minimum specification: Intel Core Duo processor(1.66Hz), 1GB RAM, 60GB 5400 RPM HDD Software and Hardware Requirement to run the system. User Side Hardware Requirement: PC (with mouse, keyboard, monitor) / laptop with minimum specification: Intel Core Duo processor(1.66Hz), 1GB RAM, 60GB 5400 RPM HDD User Side Software Requirement: Web browser: Mozilla Firefox, IE, Google Chrome, etc Server Side Hardware Requirement: PC (with mouse, keyboard, monitor) / laptop with minimum specification: Intel Core Duo processor(1.66Hz), 1GB RAM, 60GB 5400 RPM HDD GSM Modem Server Side Software Requirement: Adobe Dreamweaver SQL Yog Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox, IE, Google Chrome, etc XAMPP Server side software requirement is needed to do the regular maintenance on the system. The development software might be needed to fix error that might be occurred when the system on the run. Chapter 2: Literature Review Literature Review Literature Review is a critical look at the existing research that is significant to the work that is currently undergo. The author currently did a project; College Announcement Notification System is the project. College Announcement Notification System is a web based application system, which is proposed as a solution to Sunway University College regarding the poor information flow in Sunway University College especially School of Computer Technology. The author chose to propose the solution only to School of Computer Technology because of the course that currently taken is under it. College Announcement Notification System is a web based application, it is hoped the system would work perfectly and increasing the information flow within School of Computer Technology (SCT). The users of the system able to access the College Announcement Notification System via laptop or PC, as long there is an internet connection. The author think if it just a normal website, there is no uniqueness that makes my project different than the others. After doing research, the author decided to add the SMS feature as the instant notification system. Integrate the system with SMS feature; means need to deal with SMS gateway. The author aware that using the SMS feature is almost the same like adding the Email as the instant notification where the system is able to send automatically the posted announcement that is already posted in the website. Email is an electronic mail that worked same like a normal mail, where the users need to write the content of the letter, after that the address of the recipient is a must for the users to add. Email enables users to send and receive electronically over the internet. SMS and Email basically is the same, it contains text and to send it need to know the exact recipient email address for email and phone number for SMS. There are many email server company that is give services for the users to send and receive email such as Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Go ogle Mail, etc. There is also an application that handles email such as Microsoft Outlook. Some advantages that email could give are emails is free for users to use like send and receive mail, it can contains richer message contents than the conventional mail did. However from the advantages that an email, there are also a few disadvantages of emails. With the advancement of the technology nowadays, the previous email only can sent the words but nowadays, users can sent not only words but can attach richer media such as picture, video, file, etc. This advantages of email were misused by some people, it enable them to send virus, malicious software, spam that can harm the recipients PC or laptop. In order to overcome this security issue, the email provider companies try many ways to increase the security but the spammer can overcome the security and still sent the spam email that may contain virus and malicious software. Using the email as an instant notification to the College Announcement Notification System is a good choice but users may not open their own email daily, usually users open their email whenever the feel like to open it. Therefore, the author proposed to use the SMS system as the instant notification. There are few reasons that become the considerations of choosing SMS to be implemented. First reason, the project is a notification system so SMS is the best choice because after the sender sent it then the recipients received it in instant. Second reason, if using email the recipients of the email need to open their own laptop or PC, and then open the email service web page, it will takes time and not instant. Most of the students nowadays had their own mobile phone and they carry their mobile phone everywhere they go, so it is one of the reason why the author choose to use SMS as an instant notification. Mobile phone user aware that open a SMS is faster than open an Email. Nowadays, ma ny mobile phone producers now produced a new mobile phone that can handles in send or receive an email. However mobile phone that can handles send and receive email is still too expensive for the most of the mobile phone users only a few that can afford that. But if the SMS only, most of the mobile phone users able to send and receive that because it is the basic function that the mobile phone offer. SMS (Short Messaging Service) As most people known, SMS is a protocol used in communication that gives way to exchange of short message from one mobile phone to another mobile phone (tech-faq.com, 2009). Nowadays mobile phone takes an important part because it provides connections to the others that in the past impossible to do. The main usage of the mobile phone is to enable users to make a phone call wherever and whenever they are, beside used to call others; other main function of mobile phone that is growing rapidly is the usage of SMS service. SMS stands for Short Message Service. It is a technology that enables the sending and receiving of messages between mobile phones. SMS first appeared in Europe in 1992. It was included in the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standards right at the beginning. Later it was ported to wireless technologies like CDMA and TDMA. The GSM and SMS standards were originally developed by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) is responsible for the development and maintenance of the GSM and SMS standards. As suggested by the name Short Message Service, the data that can be held by an SMS message is very limited. One SMS message can contain at most 140 bytes (1120 bits) of data, so one SMS message can contain up to: 160 characters if 7-bit character encoding is used. (7-bit character encoding is suitable for encoding Latin characters like English alphabets.) 70 characters if 16-bit Unicode UCS2 character encoding is used. (SMS text messages containing non-Latin characters like Chinese characters should use 16-bit character encoding.) SMS text messaging supports languages internationally. It works fine with all languages supported by Unicode, including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Besides text, SMS messages can also carry binary data. It is possible to send ringtones, pictures, operator logos, wallpapers, animations, business cards (e.g. VCards) and WAP configurations to a mobile phone with SMS messages. One major advantage of SMS is that it is supported by 100% GSM mobile phones. Almost all subscription plans provided by wireless carriers include inexpensive SMS messaging service. Unlike SMS, mobile technologies such as WAP and mobile Java are not supported on many old mobile phone models. (developershome.com, 2008) Usage of SMS As the mobile voice communication market approaches saturation, carriers are focusing on messaging as crucial value -added service to garner more mobile subscribers and generate greater market revenue. Specifically, SMS (Short Messaging Service) is emerging as one of the most important asynchronous communication that carriers provide. It is projected that in 2009 U.S subscribers will send over 126 billion messages via their mobile phone device, generating $8.6 billion revenues (Deng, Sun, Turner, Prince, 2008). Nowadays, people are presented with a wide variety of communication media such as email, instant messaging (IM), etc. To date, most researchers have focused on the use of SMS by teenager and young adult. Recently as SMS become the needs in our daily lives, older people also recognized the convenience of using SMS. It has been reported that over 74% of the mobile phone users worldwide is using SMS text messaging (Deng, Sun, Turner, Prince, 2008). How does the SMS works? Even if you are not talking on your cell phone, your phone is constantly sending and receiving information. It is talking to its cell phone tower over a pathway called acontrol channel. The reason for this chatter is so that the cell phone system knows which cell your phone is in, and so that your phone can change cells as you move around. Every so often, your phone and the tower will exchange a packetof data that lets both of them know that everything is OK. Your phone also uses the control channel for call setup. When someone tries to call you, the tower sends your phone a message over the control channel that tells your phone to play itsringtone. The tower also gives your phone a pair of voice channel frequencies to use for the call. The control channel also provides the pathway for SMS messages. When a friend sends you an SMS message, the message flows through the SMSC, then to the tower, and the tower sends the message to your phone as a little packet of data on the control channel. In the same way, when you send a message, your phone sends it to the tower on the control channel and it goes from the tower to the SMSC and from there to its destination. (howstuffworks.com, 2005) The SME (Short Message Entity), which is typically a mobile phone or a GSM modem, can be located in the fixed network or a mobile station, receives and sends short messages. The SME was sent to the SMSC.TheSMSC (Short Message Service Center)is the entity which does the job of store and forward of messages to and from the mobile station. After receiving the SME, then SMSC sent the SME to the SMS GMSC. TheSMS GMSC(SMS gateway MSC (Mobile Switching Center)) is a gateway so that MSC that can also receive short messages. The gateway MSC is a mobile networks point of contact with other networks. On receiving the short message from the short message center, GMSC uses the SS7 network to interrogate the current position of the mobile station form the HLR, the home location register. HLRis the main database in a mobile network. It holds information of the subscription profile of the mobile and also about the routing information for the subscriber, i.e. the area (covered by a MSC) where the mobile is currently situated. The GMSC is thus able to pass on the message to the correct MSC. MSC(Mobile Switching Center) is the entity in a GSM network which does the job of switching connections between mobile stations or between mobile stations and the fixed network. AVLR(Visitor Location Register) corresponds to each MSC and contains temporary information about the mobile, information like mobile identification and the cell (or a group of cells) where the mobile is currently situated. Using information from the VLR the MSC is able to switch the information (short message) to the corresponding BSS (Base Station System, BSC + BTSs), which transmits the short message to the mobile. The BSS consists of transceivers, which send and receive information over the air interface, to and from the mobile station. This information is passed over the signaling channels so the mobile can receive messages even if a voice or data call is going on. (logixmobile.com) How to send SMS using a computer? After done some research about how the SMS works, there are several ways in sending SMS using computer, they are (developershome.com, 2008): Connect a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to a computer / PC. Then use the computer / PC and VB commands to instruct the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to send SMS message. Connect the computer / PC to the SMS center (SMSC) or SMS gateway of a wireless carrier or SMS service provider. Then send SMS messages using a protocol / interface supported by the SMSC or SMS gateway. Connection between mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to computer using VB command for sent SMS A GSM/GPRS modem is a wireless modem that works with GSM/GPRS wireless networks. A wireless modem is similar to a dial-up modem. The main difference is that a wireless modem transmits data through a wireless network whereas a dial-up modem transmits data through a copper telephone line. To send SMS messages, first place a valid SIM card from a wireless carrier into a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem, which is then connected to a computer. There are several ways to connect a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to a computer. For example, they can be connected through a serial cable, a USB cable, a Bluetooth link or an infrared link. The actual way to use depends on the capability of the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem. After connecting a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to a computer, you can control the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem by sending instructions to it. The instructions used for controlling the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem are called by using VB commands. The above figure showed the process of sending SMS using the VB application. In this case, the system that the author developed is using PHP that act as the third party to store the announcement data inside the database. After finish with the stored announcement, VB application is used to instruct the GSM modem to send SMS. As shown in the figure above, VB application will retrieve the stored data that will be sent as SMS. Then after retrieving the data, it will be sent to through SMS gateway until it arrived in the hand of the recipient. One of the benefits from using the VB application to send SMS is users will have a very reliable notification system, because before sending SMS intended recipient can be configured so it is received at the intended recipient. Using a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to send SMS messages has a major drawback, which is the SMS sending rate is too low. Only 6-10 SMS messages can be sent per minute (when the SMS over GSM mode is used). The performance is not affected by the connection between the computer and the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem (i.e. the SMS sending rate is about the same no matter the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem is connected to the computer through a serial cable, USB cable, Bluetooth link or infrared link) and does not depend on whether a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem is used (i.e. the SMS sending rate is about the same no matter a mobile phone or a GSM/GPRS modem is used). The determining factor for the SMS sending rate is the wireless network. (developershome.com, 2008) Send SMS from Computer through SMS Gateway The way for sending SMS messages from a computer through a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem has a major limitation, which is the SMS sending rate is too low. If you need a high SMS sending rate, obtaining a direct connection to the SMS center (SMSC) or SMS gateway of a wireless carrier is necessary. It can be difficult for small businesses or individual application developers to obtain a direct connection to the SMSC or SMS gateway of a wireless carrier since a wireless carrier may only provide such service to those who have huge SMS traffic. Buying SMS messages in bulk means the total fee will be very high (although the fee per SMS message will be low). (deve Development of College Announcement Notification System Development of College Announcement Notification System Chapter 1: Introduction Introduction This project proposal is created to propose an IT solution to the student of Sunway University. The main point that the author want to highlight is regarding the efficiencies for student in Sunway University. An example, inefficiencies that occur in posting the announcement that is post on the website or in the notice board, it is hard to inform to the student and also the staff may also forget to post the announcement that will inconvenient for the student itself. In order to solve those problems, the author proposed to create a website as a third party for the staff to post the announcement. The author feel that only a website is very simple and common nowadays, so to improve the effectiveness and give more efficiency, a SMS (Short Messaging Service) feature is added to the system. Every announcement is posted by the SCT Staffs in the website, a SMS notification will be sent to the student that already registered to the website. The content of the SMS just a brief notification abou t the title of the event, venue and time, for more brief detail the students can refer to the website. Other way to notify the students is used Email as an instant notifier, but consider using email as an instant notifier is not really effective because students didnt open their email every day but using the SMS as the instant notifier to notify the students are more effective because most of the student is own and bring their own cell phone, therefore the MS as an instant notifier is more appropriate. Since the advancement of the technology nowadays, using this system will help in reduce the paper usage. Project Objective To give efficiencies for staff of Sunway University who want to post announcement. To use SMS as an instant notifier, for example every announcement post on the website the student will receive a SMS about the annoncement. In long term of view, this system will help in notify student about things that happen in college. Project Scope To become the most useful media for announcement notification. When the system is run it involves the Sunway University students and staffs that want to use the service. The user of the system should be students of Sunway University and staffs. All users that want to use the system have to become member. Methodology Methodology is a formalized approach to implement the SDLC (System Development Life Cycle). There are many different systems development methodologies, and each one is unique based on the order and focus it places on each SDLC phase. Some methodologies are formal standards used y government agencies, while others have been developed by consulting firms to sell to client. Many organizations have internal methodologies that have been honed over the years, and they explain exactly how each phase of the SDLC is to be performed in that company. There are many ways to categorize methodologies. One way is looking at whether they focus on business process or the data that support the business. There are three types of system development methodologies, it is called Structured Design, RAD (Rapid Application Development), and Agile Development. Types of Software Development Methodologies Structured Design This is the first type of system development, it is introduced in 1980s. This methodology adopts the formal step by step approach to the SDLC, it moves logically from one phase to another phase. Waterfall Model This is the original structured design of methodology, with this methodology, the analyst and users proceed in sequence from one phase to the next phase. The key deliverables for each phase are typically very long and are presented to the project sponsor for approval as the project moves from phase to phase. This methodology is referred to as waterfall development because it moves forward from phase to phase in the same manner as a waterfall. Advantages of using waterfall model: It identifies system requirements long before programming begins It minimizes changes to the requirements as the project proceeds. Disadvantages of using waterfall model: The design must be completely specified before programming begins This model required significant rework, if there is a changes in the business environment, in order to going back to the initial phase need to go through each of the subsequent phase in return. Parallel Development This model of methodology attempts to address the problem of long delay between analysis phase and the delivery of the system. Instead of doing design and implementation in sequence, it performs a general design for the whole system and then divides the project into a series of distinct subprojects that can be designed and implemented in parallel. Once all subprojects are complete, there is a final integration of the separate pieces, and the system is delivered. Advantage of using parallel model: It can reduce the schedule time to deliver a system There is less chance of changes in the business environment causing rework Disadvantage of using parallel model: The approach still suffers from problem caused by paper documents It adds new problem, sometimes subprojects arent completely independent; design decisions made in one subproject may affect another subprojects Phased Development In this model, the overall system is divided into a series of version that are developed sequentially. The analysis phase identifies the overall system concept, and the project team, users and system sponsors then categorize the requirement into a series of version. Advantage of using phased model: Quickly getting a useful system into the hands of the users While the system does not perform all the functions the users need at first, it does begin to provide business value sooner than if the system were delivered after completion, as is the case with waterfall or parallel methodology. Disadvantage of using phased model: The users begin to work with the systems that are intentionally incomplete, it is critical to identify the most important and useful feature and include them in the first version, while managing users expectation along the way. Prototyping In this model, it performs the analysis, design and implementation phases concurrently, and all the three phases are performed repeatedly in a cycle until the system is completed. In this methodology, the basics of analysis and design are performed, and work immediately begins on a system prototype, a â€Å"quick and dirty† program that provides a minimal amount of features. Advantage of using prototyping model: It is very quickly provides a system for the users to interact with, even it is not ready for widespread organizational use at first. Reassure the users that the project team is working on the system Helps to more quickly refine real requirements rather than attempting to understand a system specification on paper, the user can interact with the prototype to better understand what it can do and cannot do. Disadvantage of using prototyping model: Its fast paced system releases challenge attempts to conduct careful, methodical analysis. This can cause problems in the development of complex systems because fundamental issues and problems are not recognized until well into the development process. Software Development Methodology Comparison After do research about the types of methodology that is appropriate to be used into the project. The author compared the 4 types of methodology that is compatible with the current development. The following table is the result of using the described methodology to the project. System Characteristic Waterfall Parallel Phased Prototyping Unclear User Requirement Poor Poor Good Excellent Unfamiliar Technology Poor Poor Good Poor Complexity of the System Good Good Good Poor Reliability of the System Good Good Good Poor Short Time Schedule Poor Good Excellent Excellent Schedule Visibility Poor Poor Excellent Excellent Table 1 Methodology Comparison Selecting the appropriate Methodology According to the project objective that the author proposed, author analyze each methodology that is already been researched. The author decides to use the Phased Methodology. The main reason on why the author uses this methodology is because the author would develop this system all by himself and the project will be easier to be built phase by phase. Other considerations in choosing this model are: User Requirement: the requirement of the system is clear, which is to address the problem of inefficiency and ineffectiveness of conventional way in notify the student for announcement. Familiarity with Technology: for designing the website, PHP, VB.Net language technology is going to be used, since it is still in area of the author expertise. System Complexity: the complexity of this project is at medium level, since the author familiar with the technology used in the project so it is not really difficult. However the author still need to do research on certain area of technology, for this case the knowledge of SMS gateway, and how to integrate the web based system with the SMS gateway. Duration: the duration of developing the project is approximately 4 months in order to fully complete the project. Development Method: it is a web based application that is built using the PHP, and VB.NET as the programming language. Area of Research Certain areas that we research for this project are: How to create easy and manageable database system? What is SMS (Short Message Service) portal and SMS (Short Message Service) gateway? How to integrate web based system with SMS portal? How to create easy and manageable database system? This part is one of the crucial parts in order to make a good web based application system. Therefore, creating an easy and manageable database system is really important. The database system that the author used to manage the College Announcement System web based application is MySQL. Several reasons become the consideration of choosing the MySQL software are, first reason is because the main programming language system that the author built is using the PHP technology, and PHP language has an integrated connector that able to connect it to SQL. Second reason, MySQL is open source software so it is free for download, it is will help in determining the project cost development. There is other software which is better than MySQL but looked back at the scope of the project; this is just an undergraduate project, then the author decides that using MySQL software is a wiser choice. The third reason, the author already took the MySQL subject during the study in Sunway University College, which is still in the author expertise. However, if this system wants to be implemented into the real organization, further study to create easy and manageable design is needed. When the project is already on the run, this would be very beneficial in doing maintenance of the application system. How to integrate the Web based System with SMS portal? As most people known that SMS is the most famous service that a mobile phone give. It is a service where the users able to send short text message from a mobile phone to another mobile phone. Basically the SMS would not work with just the mobile phone itself, it I because the Mobile Phone Network Operator that give the service so the SMS can be delivered to the recipient by the help of the mobile phone device as the medium to type the message. The SMS can travel all the way from the sender device to the recipient device must go through a pathway through a network called SMSC (Short Message Service Centre). SMSC works as a hardware that stores the SMS that is sent from a mobile phone then forward it again to the recipient. From the early of 1990s, the era when the first SMS is sent through the network using the mobile phone device. Nowadays with the advancement of the technology, SMS not only can be done through using mobile phone but can be integrated in other application such as web based application system, using the SMS gateway technology. However, the SMS that is sent still have to go through SMSC, which is still needed to use the SIM Card that is given by the mobile network operator. SMS gateway act as a bridge the platform that cannot use the mobile phone SIM Card to use the mobile service by using the GSM modem, in this case the mobile service is to send the SMS. The mobile SIM Card will be inserted into the GSM modem. GSM modem will act as the third party to connect to the SMSC. The web based application store the message that will be sent into the database, and the GSM will retrieve the data from the database and ready to send the SMS to the destination number. The basic function of SMS and e mail is the same, for email the sender need to enter the destination email and for SMS the sender need to enter the destination phone number. The difference is why SMS is more popular than email is because it is mobile and user can send and receive SMS wherever they are. The mobile advantage of using SMS is the reason that makes the author choose the SMS application system to be added into the College Announcement Notification system instead of using email. Another reason the author choose to use SMS is because most of the students in Sunway didnt have mobile phone that can handles in receiving and sending email, but most of the students have mobile phone that enable them to send and receive SMS. Therefore, using the SMS as additional software into College Announcement Notification system is the best choice, and the author also learn to use the GSM modem and the implementation of it into the system. Software / Hardware Requirements In order to make this project successful there are some hardware and software which is required to use in order to complete the project are: Software and Hardware requirement to develop the system. Software: SQL YOG: is the database software that the author chose to be implemented inside the College Announcement Notification system. SQL Yog had the user friendly interface and it is open source software. XAMPP: this software is applied as the localhost to compile the web based application. Adobe Dreamweaver: is the software that makes it easier to edit the coding for PHP, JAVA. Hardware: PC (with mouse, keyboard, monitor) / laptop with minimum specification: Intel Core Duo processor(1.66Hz), 1GB RAM, 60GB 5400 RPM HDD Software and Hardware Requirement to run the system. User Side Hardware Requirement: PC (with mouse, keyboard, monitor) / laptop with minimum specification: Intel Core Duo processor(1.66Hz), 1GB RAM, 60GB 5400 RPM HDD User Side Software Requirement: Web browser: Mozilla Firefox, IE, Google Chrome, etc Server Side Hardware Requirement: PC (with mouse, keyboard, monitor) / laptop with minimum specification: Intel Core Duo processor(1.66Hz), 1GB RAM, 60GB 5400 RPM HDD GSM Modem Server Side Software Requirement: Adobe Dreamweaver SQL Yog Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox, IE, Google Chrome, etc XAMPP Server side software requirement is needed to do the regular maintenance on the system. The development software might be needed to fix error that might be occurred when the system on the run. Chapter 2: Literature Review Literature Review Literature Review is a critical look at the existing research that is significant to the work that is currently undergo. The author currently did a project; College Announcement Notification System is the project. College Announcement Notification System is a web based application system, which is proposed as a solution to Sunway University College regarding the poor information flow in Sunway University College especially School of Computer Technology. The author chose to propose the solution only to School of Computer Technology because of the course that currently taken is under it. College Announcement Notification System is a web based application, it is hoped the system would work perfectly and increasing the information flow within School of Computer Technology (SCT). The users of the system able to access the College Announcement Notification System via laptop or PC, as long there is an internet connection. The author think if it just a normal website, there is no uniqueness that makes my project different than the others. After doing research, the author decided to add the SMS feature as the instant notification system. Integrate the system with SMS feature; means need to deal with SMS gateway. The author aware that using the SMS feature is almost the same like adding the Email as the instant notification where the system is able to send automatically the posted announcement that is already posted in the website. Email is an electronic mail that worked same like a normal mail, where the users need to write the content of the letter, after that the address of the recipient is a must for the users to add. Email enables users to send and receive electronically over the internet. SMS and Email basically is the same, it contains text and to send it need to know the exact recipient email address for email and phone number for SMS. There are many email server company that is give services for the users to send and receive email such as Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Go ogle Mail, etc. There is also an application that handles email such as Microsoft Outlook. Some advantages that email could give are emails is free for users to use like send and receive mail, it can contains richer message contents than the conventional mail did. However from the advantages that an email, there are also a few disadvantages of emails. With the advancement of the technology nowadays, the previous email only can sent the words but nowadays, users can sent not only words but can attach richer media such as picture, video, file, etc. This advantages of email were misused by some people, it enable them to send virus, malicious software, spam that can harm the recipients PC or laptop. In order to overcome this security issue, the email provider companies try many ways to increase the security but the spammer can overcome the security and still sent the spam email that may contain virus and malicious software. Using the email as an instant notification to the College Announcement Notification System is a good choice but users may not open their own email daily, usually users open their email whenever the feel like to open it. Therefore, the author proposed to use the SMS system as the instant notification. There are few reasons that become the considerations of choosing SMS to be implemented. First reason, the project is a notification system so SMS is the best choice because after the sender sent it then the recipients received it in instant. Second reason, if using email the recipients of the email need to open their own laptop or PC, and then open the email service web page, it will takes time and not instant. Most of the students nowadays had their own mobile phone and they carry their mobile phone everywhere they go, so it is one of the reason why the author choose to use SMS as an instant notification. Mobile phone user aware that open a SMS is faster than open an Email. Nowadays, ma ny mobile phone producers now produced a new mobile phone that can handles in send or receive an email. However mobile phone that can handles send and receive email is still too expensive for the most of the mobile phone users only a few that can afford that. But if the SMS only, most of the mobile phone users able to send and receive that because it is the basic function that the mobile phone offer. SMS (Short Messaging Service) As most people known, SMS is a protocol used in communication that gives way to exchange of short message from one mobile phone to another mobile phone (tech-faq.com, 2009). Nowadays mobile phone takes an important part because it provides connections to the others that in the past impossible to do. The main usage of the mobile phone is to enable users to make a phone call wherever and whenever they are, beside used to call others; other main function of mobile phone that is growing rapidly is the usage of SMS service. SMS stands for Short Message Service. It is a technology that enables the sending and receiving of messages between mobile phones. SMS first appeared in Europe in 1992. It was included in the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standards right at the beginning. Later it was ported to wireless technologies like CDMA and TDMA. The GSM and SMS standards were originally developed by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) is responsible for the development and maintenance of the GSM and SMS standards. As suggested by the name Short Message Service, the data that can be held by an SMS message is very limited. One SMS message can contain at most 140 bytes (1120 bits) of data, so one SMS message can contain up to: 160 characters if 7-bit character encoding is used. (7-bit character encoding is suitable for encoding Latin characters like English alphabets.) 70 characters if 16-bit Unicode UCS2 character encoding is used. (SMS text messages containing non-Latin characters like Chinese characters should use 16-bit character encoding.) SMS text messaging supports languages internationally. It works fine with all languages supported by Unicode, including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Besides text, SMS messages can also carry binary data. It is possible to send ringtones, pictures, operator logos, wallpapers, animations, business cards (e.g. VCards) and WAP configurations to a mobile phone with SMS messages. One major advantage of SMS is that it is supported by 100% GSM mobile phones. Almost all subscription plans provided by wireless carriers include inexpensive SMS messaging service. Unlike SMS, mobile technologies such as WAP and mobile Java are not supported on many old mobile phone models. (developershome.com, 2008) Usage of SMS As the mobile voice communication market approaches saturation, carriers are focusing on messaging as crucial value -added service to garner more mobile subscribers and generate greater market revenue. Specifically, SMS (Short Messaging Service) is emerging as one of the most important asynchronous communication that carriers provide. It is projected that in 2009 U.S subscribers will send over 126 billion messages via their mobile phone device, generating $8.6 billion revenues (Deng, Sun, Turner, Prince, 2008). Nowadays, people are presented with a wide variety of communication media such as email, instant messaging (IM), etc. To date, most researchers have focused on the use of SMS by teenager and young adult. Recently as SMS become the needs in our daily lives, older people also recognized the convenience of using SMS. It has been reported that over 74% of the mobile phone users worldwide is using SMS text messaging (Deng, Sun, Turner, Prince, 2008). How does the SMS works? Even if you are not talking on your cell phone, your phone is constantly sending and receiving information. It is talking to its cell phone tower over a pathway called acontrol channel. The reason for this chatter is so that the cell phone system knows which cell your phone is in, and so that your phone can change cells as you move around. Every so often, your phone and the tower will exchange a packetof data that lets both of them know that everything is OK. Your phone also uses the control channel for call setup. When someone tries to call you, the tower sends your phone a message over the control channel that tells your phone to play itsringtone. The tower also gives your phone a pair of voice channel frequencies to use for the call. The control channel also provides the pathway for SMS messages. When a friend sends you an SMS message, the message flows through the SMSC, then to the tower, and the tower sends the message to your phone as a little packet of data on the control channel. In the same way, when you send a message, your phone sends it to the tower on the control channel and it goes from the tower to the SMSC and from there to its destination. (howstuffworks.com, 2005) The SME (Short Message Entity), which is typically a mobile phone or a GSM modem, can be located in the fixed network or a mobile station, receives and sends short messages. The SME was sent to the SMSC.TheSMSC (Short Message Service Center)is the entity which does the job of store and forward of messages to and from the mobile station. After receiving the SME, then SMSC sent the SME to the SMS GMSC. TheSMS GMSC(SMS gateway MSC (Mobile Switching Center)) is a gateway so that MSC that can also receive short messages. The gateway MSC is a mobile networks point of contact with other networks. On receiving the short message from the short message center, GMSC uses the SS7 network to interrogate the current position of the mobile station form the HLR, the home location register. HLRis the main database in a mobile network. It holds information of the subscription profile of the mobile and also about the routing information for the subscriber, i.e. the area (covered by a MSC) where the mobile is currently situated. The GMSC is thus able to pass on the message to the correct MSC. MSC(Mobile Switching Center) is the entity in a GSM network which does the job of switching connections between mobile stations or between mobile stations and the fixed network. AVLR(Visitor Location Register) corresponds to each MSC and contains temporary information about the mobile, information like mobile identification and the cell (or a group of cells) where the mobile is currently situated. Using information from the VLR the MSC is able to switch the information (short message) to the corresponding BSS (Base Station System, BSC + BTSs), which transmits the short message to the mobile. The BSS consists of transceivers, which send and receive information over the air interface, to and from the mobile station. This information is passed over the signaling channels so the mobile can receive messages even if a voice or data call is going on. (logixmobile.com) How to send SMS using a computer? After done some research about how the SMS works, there are several ways in sending SMS using computer, they are (developershome.com, 2008): Connect a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to a computer / PC. Then use the computer / PC and VB commands to instruct the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to send SMS message. Connect the computer / PC to the SMS center (SMSC) or SMS gateway of a wireless carrier or SMS service provider. Then send SMS messages using a protocol / interface supported by the SMSC or SMS gateway. Connection between mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to computer using VB command for sent SMS A GSM/GPRS modem is a wireless modem that works with GSM/GPRS wireless networks. A wireless modem is similar to a dial-up modem. The main difference is that a wireless modem transmits data through a wireless network whereas a dial-up modem transmits data through a copper telephone line. To send SMS messages, first place a valid SIM card from a wireless carrier into a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem, which is then connected to a computer. There are several ways to connect a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to a computer. For example, they can be connected through a serial cable, a USB cable, a Bluetooth link or an infrared link. The actual way to use depends on the capability of the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem. After connecting a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to a computer, you can control the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem by sending instructions to it. The instructions used for controlling the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem are called by using VB commands. The above figure showed the process of sending SMS using the VB application. In this case, the system that the author developed is using PHP that act as the third party to store the announcement data inside the database. After finish with the stored announcement, VB application is used to instruct the GSM modem to send SMS. As shown in the figure above, VB application will retrieve the stored data that will be sent as SMS. Then after retrieving the data, it will be sent to through SMS gateway until it arrived in the hand of the recipient. One of the benefits from using the VB application to send SMS is users will have a very reliable notification system, because before sending SMS intended recipient can be configured so it is received at the intended recipient. Using a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem to send SMS messages has a major drawback, which is the SMS sending rate is too low. Only 6-10 SMS messages can be sent per minute (when the SMS over GSM mode is used). The performance is not affected by the connection between the computer and the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem (i.e. the SMS sending rate is about the same no matter the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem is connected to the computer through a serial cable, USB cable, Bluetooth link or infrared link) and does not depend on whether a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem is used (i.e. the SMS sending rate is about the same no matter a mobile phone or a GSM/GPRS modem is used). The determining factor for the SMS sending rate is the wireless network. (developershome.com, 2008) Send SMS from Computer through SMS Gateway The way for sending SMS messages from a computer through a mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem has a major limitation, which is the SMS sending rate is too low. If you need a high SMS sending rate, obtaining a direct connection to the SMS center (SMSC) or SMS gateway of a wireless carrier is necessary. It can be difficult for small businesses or individual application developers to obtain a direct connection to the SMSC or SMS gateway of a wireless carrier since a wireless carrier may only provide such service to those who have huge SMS traffic. Buying SMS messages in bulk means the total fee will be very high (although the fee per SMS message will be low). (deve

Ascension Of Jesus Christ Theology Religion Essay

Ascension Of Jesus Christ Theology Religion Essay The resurrection and ascension of Jesus has remained a mystery to my belief. There has never been a reoccurrence in my life time and throughout history. People tend to wonder how a man who was really dead and was buried can come back to life. The burials that take place in our communities result in the decomposition of the body. In areas, like Malawi villages, where technology is not advanced burials are immediate. A delay in burial for about two to three days in a village set up without the cooling system makes the body starts to decay. Therefore, it is a hard thing to believe that a person came back to life on a third day. The idea is even complicated when it is said that the resurrected person went up to heaven. In secondary school we learn the laws of gravity. If you throw something up it falls back. It is a fact that people do not fly because they have no wings. This paper wishes to establish why Christians believe in the physical resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Establishin g the reality of resurrection and ascension of Jesus will strength believe and resolve the mystery. Summary of Grudems Views Grudem (2000) asserted that when Jesus came back to life from the dead his body was in physical form. He stated that Jesus experience was different from that of Lazarus as it is recorded in the book of John. He affirmed that Lazarus resurrection was subject of physical developments which lead to aging and death. According to him Jesus resurrection is not subject of biological development, (Grudem, 2000). Contrary to Harris views (as cited by Grudem 2000) Grudem (2000) refuted the fact that Jesus resurrected body had spiritual aspects which enabled him not to observe physical laws. Harris argued that Jesus spiritual body enabled him to pass through the wall and perform instant appearances and disappearances. Grudem affirmed that the New Testament does not seem to assert that. He argued that when Jesus resurrected his body was physical because he could eat, prepare breakfast and be seen. He quoted Jesus himself in Luke 24:39 confirming his physical being by telling his disciples, see my hands and my feet that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have,(Grudem, 2000, p. 613). Grudem (2000) insisted that Jesus could not have deceived the disciples. He stated that if Jesus had wanted to prove that he had a spiritual body he could have clearly demonstrated it to his followers. In line with this, he stated that the disciples could have clearly recorded it to give evidence for his spiritual body. He also argued that when Jesus ascended to heaven the angels confirmed about his physical state by telling those who witnessed his departure that he will come back in the same physical state he went to heaven. He stated that Jesus resurrected body set precedence to the kind of state which people would acquire in the next life, (Grudem, 2000). Grudem (2000) stated that the resurrection empowered the believers of Jesus. He pointed out that Jesus promised his followers the power of the Holy Spirit only after the resurrection. He argued that the believers were given the ability to overcome sin in their lives and effectively serve him. He made reference to Pauls message that God made us right with him through the resurrection, (2000). In regard to the ascension of Jesus Grudem (2000) affirmed that it is an indication that he went somewhere to a place. He argued that there should be a place called heaven where Jesus went in his physical body. He stated that even though we do not see where he went it does not nullify the fact that there is heaven. He said that just as angels are invisible although they are around us so too is heaven. He cites an example of Elisha as recorded in the Old Testament that when God sent him the chariots of soldiers his servant could not see them. He said that our eyes cannot locate heaven but Jesus went up and Elijah too went there. He considers Jesus ascension vital because it is a sign that we too shall ascend to heaven. He confirmed this with Jesuss promise that there is a lot of place in heaven and we too shall go where he has gone, (Grudem, 2000). Leading Views In his book The Case for Christ: A Journalists Personal Investigation of the Evidence to Jesus, Strobel (1998) supported the reality of Jesus death and resurrection based on interviews with experts in medicine and history. He established that Jesus really died according to the doctor. The doctor said that Jesus could not have survived the trauma and the harsh treatment. He argued that the high degree of stress that Jesus experienced made his body tender. He added that in this state when he was subjected to severe Roman whipping his body had severe tears and loss of blood. He stated that this disapproved those who claim that the resurrection was just resuscitation. In his interview the historian argued that there was no way the soldiers could have walked free without punishment. He argued that considering the kind of punishment which was in practice for such an office what the high priests and the Roman officials did revealed a foul play. He confirmed it with reliable documentary that Jesus resurrected. He stated that Jesus showed himself too at different times to many people and the largest group was 5000 people, (Strobel, 1998). Mcdowell (1981) and Lutzer (1994) supported the historical resurrection of Jesus. They argued that historical evidence like the Dead Sea scrolls and history from historians like Josephus proved that Jesus really resurrected. They said these validate the historical reliability of the New Testament which also has the shortest gap between its copies and the originals. They highlighted the reluctance showed by the high priests and the Roman officials to punish the tomb guards. They said that the guards action to have supposedly allowed the escape of criminal or robbery of the body was a serious case punishable by death. (Mcdowell, 1981 and Lutzer, 1994). Interestingly enough, Mcdowell (1981) in agreement with Grudem, reported that Jesus resurrection was physical not spiritual. He refuted the claim that Jesus body decayed and came back to life a spiritual being. He argued that Jesus physically appeared before many people both hostile and friendly. He affirmed that these could have refuted the reports as they were written while most of them were still alive. He stated that both hostile and supporting community validated the accuracy of the New Testament report, (Mcdowell, 1981). Alternative Views Humel (1975) and Kaufman (1968) argued that Jesus did not resurrect but the disciples had visions and hallucinations. Hemel stated that the disciples experienced the aftermaths of the dilemma of losing Jesus. He argued that they resolved the dilemma by the imagination of a ghost so they hallucinated due to their memories of Jesus. While Kaufman argued that the disciples experienced public visions about Jesus in his Jesus came back to life in a spiritual body. They both argued that the resurrection was the explanation of the believers experiences not the reality of events, (Humel, 1975 and Kaufman, 1968). Harris (1990) partially agreed with them as he argued that Jesus rose into a spiritual body that could materialize for some time to be seen. He stated that Jesus body did not observe the physical barriers like walls for a building. He concluded that the fact that Jesus could be found standing instantly amidst the people it indicated that he was a spirit (Harris, 1990). Crossam (as recorded by Boyd, 1984) asserted that as Jesus was killed like a criminal he was buried in a shallow mass grave according to the custom of the day. He argued that wild dogs usually ate the bodies so Jesus body was also eaten. He stated that Jesus followers had no idea where he was buried and what came of his body. He concluded that since Jesus was their hero they decided to portray a victorious end of his life by inventing characters life Joseph of Arimathea and the resurrection, (Boyd, 1984). Personal Views Jesus really resurrected into a physical body as verified by scriptures. I agree with the views of physical resurrection because of the reliability of scripture. The scripture recorded Jesus himself in Luke 24:39 saying see my hands and my feet that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have. Therefore, if Jesus himself confirmed his physical resurrection and the scripture recorded it then it is historically validated that he had physical resurrection. The fact that Jesus appeared to a large numbers of people verifies his physical body. I disagree with Humel (1975) and Kaufman (1968) who argues that the followers of Jesus either saw visions or hallucinated respectively. It is difficult to believe if visions or hallucinations can be experienced by a group at the same time about the same thing. This is impossible. Spiritual experiences are personal. As a result there was no way for instance, the 11 disciples or the 5000 people could see the vision or hallucinate about Jesus at the same time. The gospels recorded that the ascension took place in the presence of his disciples and other people. In line with this, it can be argued that Jesus was physically present with them on the day of the ascension. Acts 1:11recorded the two angels message to those who witnessed the ascension. They said that Jesus will come back from heaven the way he has gone. I agree with Strobel (1998) who is a journalist by profession. His interview with the medical personnel revealed how impossible it was for Jesus to fake his death as some claim. The spear through his heart could definitely finish him if he had faked it or just fainted. Strobel gives us a scientific explanation of the reality about the death of Jesus. For those who rely on history he also verified Jesus death, resurrection and ascension based on the historical events. Therefore, even if one does not believe in the bible he can base his trust on the evidence of the medical and historical information available. These experts help us to clear the doubt whether Jesus died and resurrected or he just fainted and was resuscitated. It has to be noted that the community in which Jesus lived not everyone agreed or supported him. There were other people who wanted his down fall. These people could have really tried to refute the substantial claims made by his followers. The silence of the then hostile community reveals the validity of the claims of the believers. In support of Mcdowells (1981) and Lutzers (1994) suspicion I agree with them. If a very serious crime is committed no one is willing to cover it unless there is some benefit in doing so. Therefore, it puzzles me too to hear that in such a serious and sensitive mistake made by the guards the high priests who were the interested party never reacted. The Roman officials too decided to overlook their laws. It is surprising that somebody would chose to cover up an enemy. This clearly shows that Jesus was raised. They could not disprove it by producing a body. I understand that they could afford to fabricate a lie. Conclusion The resurrection of Jesus is the essence of the Christian faith while ascension gives us hope. If there would have been no resurrection there would have been no basis for Christianity. In line with this those who are hostile to Christianity will always try to find something to fault Christianity. Opposition will always be there but a Christian should have a reason for his or her belief. If someone tells you that Jesus body was rotten or eaten by wild dogs there should be an explanation to your stand. As our teacher Professor Stauffcher always say that we should have a reason why we believe what we believe so that we can answer when critics confront us. Ascension gives us hope for the promised heaven. In John 14:1-4 Jesus said that there are many rooms in heaven. He tells us that if there was no place he would not have bothered to tell us. Therefore, ascension gives us hope that one day we will also ascend to heaven and be with Jesus and the Father.