Monday, September 30, 2019

Castration Solution to Abandoned Babies

CASTRATION SOLUTION TO ABANDONED BABIES KUALA LUMPUR: Men who do not want to take responsibility after having made girls pregnant out of wedlock should be castrated. Venting his anger and frustration over the rising number of abandoned babies, Senator Ahmad Husin said only this could teach men to be more responsible in their actions. â€Å"In cases like these, those involved always disappear without a trace. We should just castrate them,† he said after asking a supplementary question to Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, on cases of abandoned babies yesterday.Shahrizat said although the suggestion was radical yet creative and innovative, studies had to be done first as not all men were irresponsible. â€Å"Besides, we are not living in the past. We need to tackle the problem the 21st-century way, beginning from a strong family institution and awareness programmes,† she told the house. Shahrizat said most cases of abandone d babies were due to weak family institution and where the responsibility of bringing up a child was left to other parties. â€Å"Parents are all too busy to pay attention to their children.The family institution has become individualistic where parents `franchise' their kids for other quarters to bring them up. † Earlier, to a question by Senator Empiang Jabu, Shahrizat said four strategies – advocacy, prevention, support and research – would be used to tackle related issues. She said the ministry provided counselling and interactive workshops to give the public, especially young girls, deeper understanding on intimate relationships and its consequences. | New Straits Times, Apr 30, 2010 | by Ili Liyana Mokhtar

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Effective Hr Training

EFFECTIVE HR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY. EVALUATION OF TRAINING MCQ'S. 1. DISNEY UNIVERSITY IS NOT A CAMPUS BUT A †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. PROCESS FOR TRAINING ALL EMPLOYEES OF THIS ENTERPRISE ? a. PROCESS. b. EXAMPLE c. PROGRAMME d. ALL OF THE ABOVE. 2. PROFESSIONAL FACILITORS LEAD ONLY. a. CONTENT, PRESENTATION. SESSIONb. HIGH LEVEL SESSION c. TECHNICAL ; EXECUTIVE SESSIONd. NONE OF THE ABOVE. 3. THE ATRITION RATE AT DISNEY IS ONLY †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. PERCENT COMPARED WITH 60 PERCENT. a. 15b. 20 c. 25 d. 10 4. Related article: KFC – Training and Development Problems Encountered by HRM StudentsTHE FIRST PART OF RPOGRAMME INVOLVES TRAINING OR RETRAINING IN QUALITY FINANCE, AND OTHER AREAS. a. TRUE b. FALSE 5. ONCE THE TRAINING IS COMPLETED THE TEAMS BECOME RESPOSIBLE FOR THEIR †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. a. OWN DEVELOPEMENTb. ORGANISATIONS DEVELOPEMENT c. TRAINEES DEVELOPEMENTd. ALL OF THE ABOVE. 6. EACH EMPLOYEE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING HIS OR HER OWN TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN a. TURE b. FALSE. 7. THE PERFORMANCE OF EMPLOYEES THAT ARE MANAGED BY INDIVIDUALS THAT WENT THROUGH THE APPRAISAL a. TURE b. FALSE 8. REACTION IS DEFINE AS. a. WHAT THE TRAINEES THOUGHT ABOUT PRAGRAM. . TARINERS TEACHING SKILL. c. NON OF THE ABOVE 9. MOST TRAINERS BELIVES THAT INITIAL RECEPTIVITY PROVIDES A GOOD ATMOSPHERE FOR LEARNING THE MATERIAL IN THE INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM BUTDOES NOT NECESSERILY CAUSE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. a. MANAGEMENT OF STRESSb. INNOVATION, MANAGEMEN T OF STRESS c. HIGH LEVEL OF TRAININGd. NONE OF THE AOVE 10. THE LEARNING OF †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. SHOULD BE USED SO THAT QUANTITIVE RESULT CAN BE DETERMINED . a. ALL PARTICIPANT b. TWO PARTICIPANTS c. EACH PARTICIPANT d. ALL OF THE ABOVE 11. AS FAR AS POSSIBLE THE LEARNING SHOULD BE MEASURED ON AN SUBJECTIVE BASIS a.TURE b. FALSE 12. WHERE PRINCIPLES AND FACT ARE TAUGHT RATHER THAN SKILLS, IT IS MORE DIFFICULT TO EVALUATE LEARNING. a. TURE b. FALSE 13. THE MOST COMMON TECHNIQUES IS THE †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦TEST a. PROJECTORb. PEN AND PENCIL c. CLASSROOMd. NONE OF THE ABOVE. 14. IT IS DIFFICULT TO DO AND HARD TO PROVE THAT TRAINING WAS THE ‘CAUSE’ OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT. a. TURE b. FALSE 15. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ IS THE CONCEPT THAT MEANS THE DEGREE TO WHICH AN EVALUATION TECHNIQUE OR INSTRUMENT MEASURES WHAT IT WAS INTENDED TO MEASURE. a. RELIABILITYb. LEARNING c. VALIDITYd. NONE OF THE ABOVE

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Role of the US Government in the Acceleration of the Advancement of Essay

Role of the US Government in the Acceleration of the Advancement of Computers - Essay Example The electronic computr has been approximately for over a half-century, but its intimates have been approximately for 2000 years. However, only in the last 4 decades has it changed the American society which resulted from U.S government policies towards the advancements of computrs. From the 1st wooden "abacus" to the latest high-speed "microprocessor chip", the computr has altred nearly every aspect of people's lives for the bettr. The outburst of "World War II" twisted a desperate need for computing capability, particularly for the military. New weapons' systems were created which required trajectory tables and other indispensable data. In 1942, John P. Eckert, John W. Meauchley, and their associates at the "University of Pennsylvania" detrmined to build a high-speed electronic computr to do the job. This machine became recognized as "ENIAC", for "Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator". It may well multiply two numbers at the tempo of 300 products per second, by finding the value of each product from a multiplication table stored in its memory. ""ENIAC"" was consequently about 1,000 times quicker than the preceding generation of computrs (Dolotta, 47). "ENIAC" used 18,000 standard vacuum tubes, engaged 1800 square feet of floor space, and used about 180,000 watts of electricity. (Ceruzzi, 36) The input and output was done by punched-card. The "ENIAC" was very complicated to program because one had to fundamentally re-wire it to execute whatever task he required the computr to do. It was, though, well-organized in handling the particular programs for which it had been planned. "ENIAC" is normally accepted as the 1st victorious high-speed electronic digital computr and was used in various applications from 1946 to 1955 (Dolotta, 50). Mathematician John von Neumann was very fascinated in the "ENIAC". In 1945 he undertook a hypothetical study of computation that confirmed that a computr could have a very straightforward and yet be able to perform any kind of computation effectively by means of appropriate programmed control devoid of the need for any changes in hardware. Von Neumann came up with incredible ideas for methods of building and organizing practical, fast computrs. These ideas, which came to be referred to as the stored-program technique, became essential for future generations of high-speed digital computrs and were across the world adopted. The 1st gesture of modern programmed electronic computrs to take benefit of these improvements appeared in 1947. This group incorporated computrs using random access memory (RAM), which is a memory designed to give almost steady access to any particular portion of information. This equipment used punched-card or punched-tape input and output devices and RAM's of thousand-word capability. Physically, they were much more compact than "ENIAC": some were regarding the size of a grand piano and required two thousand five hundred small electron tubes. This was fairly a development over the earlier machines. The 1st generation stored-program computrs required considerable maintenance, usually attained 70% to 80% reliable operation, and were used for 8 to 12 years. Typically, they were programmed directly in machine language, although by the mid-1950s progress had been made in several aspects of advanced programming. This group of machines included "EDVAC "and "UNIVAC ", the 1st

Friday, September 27, 2019

Race and Genetics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Race and Genetics - Essay Example Since then it has been a subject of debate whether these differences have a genetic basis. 'The high habitability of intelligence and the difficulties of formulating credible environmentalist explanations' have been pointed to explain the difference. Jensen, A. Robert. Intelligence, Race and Genetics. (1999). West View. The arguments by Jensen that intelligence is largely due to hereditary, including racial heritage raised a lot of discussion. Some of the explanations given by the environmentalists include, bias in the tests, the adverse social and economic living conditions of the blacks, discrimination and prejudice and the historical legacy of the slavery, which has demoralized blacks. (Flynn, 1980) Flynn, J.R., Race, IQ and Jensen. (1980). Routledge & Kegan, P. Sarich (2004) made cogent arguments that white race and racial differences are real. He said that the race as a concept is older than the Colonial Europe. Differences in intelligence correlate to the concept of race. Sarich, V. The Reality of Human Differences. (2004). West View Press. Rushton has divided the population in three groups. Africans and Negroes in one group are referred as blacks, Europeans as whites and East Asians and Mongolians in one group as Orientals. He believes that the race differences start in the womb. The blacks are born earlier and grow quicker. They also achieve a faster sexual maturity, family stability and population growth.Rushton, J. Phillip. Race, Evolution and Behavior. A Life History Prospective. (1997).Transaction Publishers. Rushton describes studies that show a consistent pattern of human racial...Since then it has been a subject of debate whether these differences have a genetic basis. 'The high habitability of intelligence and the difficulties of formulating credible environmentalist explanations' have been pointed to explain the difference. Some of the explanations given by the environmentalists include, bias in the tests, the adverse social and economic living conditions of the blacks, discrimination and prejudice and the historical legacy of the slavery, which has demoralized blacks. (Flynn, 1980) Sarich (2004) made cogent arguments that white race and racial differences are real. He said that the race as a concept is older than the Colonial Europe. Differences in intelligence correlate to the concept of race. Rushton has divided the population in three groups. Africans and Negroes in one group are referred as blacks, Europeans as whites and East Asians and Mongolians in one group as Orientals. He believes that the race differences start in the womb. The blacks are born earlier and grow quicker. They also achieve a faster sexual maturity, family stability and population growth. The Orientals on the other hand have the largest brains and IQ. The difference in the race is both due to genes and environment.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

A Perspective on Information and Communication Technologies Dissertation

A Perspective on Information and Communication Technologies - Dissertation Example Increasing complexities, combined with the availability of technology to tackle them, are the milestones of technological progress requiring all sections of society to keep pace. The academic world is no exception. Information society has been defined as ‘a society in which the creation, distribution, and manipulation of information has become the most significant economic and cultural activity’ (UK National Inventory Project, 2000). To meet demands of the information society a number of initiatives have to be taken to ensure that the new generations are prepared to meet its challenges. The associated changes in the way in which knowledge is produced and used are of key relevance to higher education in the twenty-first century (Gibbons, 1998). Â  Through an appreciation of historical and contemporary literature key impact areas are identified in relation to their effect on students, their teachers and the quality of education imparted. These key areas are then evaluated to determine the relative importance of each. Using the reported experience of two schools that have incorporated ICT into their education systems, assessment of the actual experience and impacts felt is made and compared with the impact areas identified. This is done with the objective of giving substance to the recommended steps for deriving maximum benefit from the positive impacts of ICT in education. Â  The term ICT is quite broadly used and covers all aspects of computers, networks (including the Internet) and other devices the important thing is to understand what the technology can do, not how it works. Making a distinction between devices on the basis of technology employed is futile as digital technology pervades more and more areas of our lives every day (TTA, 1998).

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Composition and Inverse Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Composition and Inverse - Speech or Presentation Example about a store in their place which sells different kinds of pizzas according to the topped components where each pizza contains three different toppings. Besides the cheese and the pepper which is optionally put on crust, the three toppings of one pizza are completely distinct from those of the other, so that every time a customer orders a number of pizzas, the total number of toppings T added may be obtained as 3P where P stands for the number of pizzas bought. The storeowner allows a customer to have two separate toppings of choice for the first pizza in addition to the three originally present. Moreover, functions create a great deal of advantage in business problems which involve making investments where two variables are assigned to refer to separate amounts or two kinds of investment at different rates of interest. Function may be used as well in relating costs to number of units purchased and fixed cost as in C(x) = 5x + 7 in dollars, where 7 is the fixed value and 5 is the rate at which cost changes per unit depending on ‘x’. This way, it would be conducive for one to keep track of sales and profits generated since there exists a cost function that is associated to revenue (Waner, 2006). Mixture and rate problems can be worked out once details are set up as function or system of functions in linear and non-linear forms. It also becomes significant to understand how temperature conversion works such as between Celsius and Fahrenheit through  °F = 1.8 °C + 32 where temperature in  °C appears to be a function of temperature in

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Sports and Entertainment Law Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sports and Entertainment Law - Term Paper Example In the sports and entertainment industry there are numerous personalities who have gained international fame and therefore, any news on them is likely to receive wide viewership all across the world. Besides, the traditional journalists, the news or stories about famous personalities in the sports and entertainment industry is able to reach the mainstream media through paparazzi whom according to O’Shaughnessy, are photographers who take pictures of famous without their approval as they conduct themselves in their normal life (36). The approach with which paparazzi conduct their work has been the subject of many debates in regards to invasion of privacy by the paparazzi and the fact there is freedom of speech and right to free press that protects paparazzi. This present term paper intends to explore the issue of invasion of privacy by the paparazzi and in particular, it will discuss this issue in relation to Tiger Woods’ experience with paparazzi. ... highly unregulated and therefore, they would do anything to get a picture that will sell highly in the market including invading the privacy of individuals. Nordhaus stated that the term ‘paparazzi’ was coined from the surname of a photographer in a 1959 film produced by Federico Fellini called La Dolce Vita. However, there are various connotations that are linked with the term include persistent and annoying photographers who the nature of their work requires them to stalk famous people and go to any extent as long as they get a perfect picture (284). Nordhaus further added that paparazzi mainly target individuals who fascinate the public and the driving force for the paparazzi is the public obsession about these particular individuals, which encourages them to do their invasive acts (284). The paparazzi have received wide criticism more so in situation whereby their invasive acts cause harm or threat of harm as they go about taking photos and videos of celebrities. In such situations, paparazzi are regarded as nuisance and this has led to some countries more so in Europe to restrict the activities of paparazzi by enacting policies and curfews that restrict the invasion by the paparazzi. Nordhaus in his writings stated that the paparazzi have been accused of striping celebrities off their right to privacy. Moreover, the paparazzi were widely criticized after the death of Princess Diana since her death was partly caused by paparazzi that were chasing her; thereby contributing to a car accident that caused her death. Additionally, there have been numerous case filed against paparazzi and among the first such cases was in 1972 whereby Jacqueline Kennedy who was a First Lady of the United States sued paparazzi Ron Galella for harassment with his photo taking

Monday, September 23, 2019

United States industrial relations Research Paper

United States industrial relations - Research Paper Example The government ensures a peaceful coexistence of employers and employees and their representatives for a peaceful society. The management on the other hand, ensures business prosperity by managing labor costs, company profitability as well as productivity. In maintaining such goals, employers often conflict with employees regarding work conditions and it is the duty of worker representatives or trade unions to ensure the rights of workers are not infringed. They therefore fight for; safe work conditions, wages and benefits and against unfair labor practices. Industrial relations have a long history which is the basis of the current labor environment in the United States. Several labor movements or trade unions have developed over time from craftsmen associations to amalgamated unions and international unions and continue to fight for workers rights to date as work environment changes due to globalization. Change in government leadership also affects industrial relations. Various presidents and congressmen have different views regarding labor issues; some are sympathetic to workers plight while others are less concerned hence numerous legislations have been passed which dictate the nature of relationship between employers and employees and their representatives. These legislations have a bearing on the current labor environment in the United States. ... They deal with employees of a certain locality or region. The national unions on the other hand, handle labor issues at a national level. The local unions serve as branches of the national union. The national unions are broader in nature in that they incorporate workers of all regions. The local and national unions fall under the labor federations; they incorporate all the unions. They control the activities of all unions hence give the labor movement direction. Sometimes unions cross the boundaries and unite with unions worldwide due to globalization to deal with international labor issues (Budd, 2006). Fuller (2011) also notes that the number of unionized staff has been declining over the years. He attributes this to; management attitudes towards unions move from manufacturing to service jobs which don’t require skills as well as increase in part-time jobs which make organization of labor difficult. Budd (2006) attributes the decline of union membership to the introduction o f management friendly practices such as the human resource management which emphasize on worker empowerment through participation and involvement in management practices such as decision making and workplace flexibility which is achieved through team work instead of job designations. Unions are also encouraged to work in partnership with management so as to achieve efficiency. The government also restricts union growth by passing labor laws which protect the rights of workers hence reducing the importance of unions. Workers need not to join trade unions to achieve their rights. Labor in early America was characterized by the existence of European immigrants, African slaves, long working days, low wages, control of the industry by craftsmen and journeymen. Skilled

Sunday, September 22, 2019

International marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 3

International marketing - Essay Example Macy’s financial statements reveal that its sales in the United States have gone down in the last 5 years. Macy’s can use this opportunity to expand into a new country’s market. Secondly, over the past few years western media has played a significant role in influencing the culture and trends in the region. The demand for western goods has increased and consumers are looking more and more branded products. Customers now present a market which is willing to spend more on high quality goods. The number of department stores in Pakistan is very limited and competition is local. A department store will be welcomed by the consumers. This will give Macy’s a chance to ground itself before new competition enters the market. Macy’s is very well established in its home country and can explore opportunities in the foreign market. The management over 800 stores across the nation has significant expertise in marketing medium to high range products in a new country. Lastly, despite some challenging environmental factors, barriers to entry in Pakistan are low. Expanding into a newer region may also open doors to further expand within the country as well as the region of South Asia. Before a new market can be entered it is important for Macy’s to develop an international marketing plan to study the market and situation in the host country and determine the most suitable actions to take. International marketing plan provides market entry and targeting strategies and prospers the actions that are necessary for a business to get its product or service into the target market. Economic situation in the country is similar to that in the rest of the world, under the effects of the current recession. Over the last ten years, the employment rate increased giving rise to purchasing power. On a socio-cultural level the country has greatly fallen under western influence due to the proliferation of

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Becoming an Early Childhood Educator Essay Example for Free

Becoming an Early Childhood Educator Essay U. S. President Barack Obama emphasized on the importance of education in a country for not only one time. He believe that education provide the opportunities to every single citizen to work on their strengths and ability to fulfill their responsibilities to the country by contribution on specific career in order to build up a strong country. I strongly agree with his point of view as education is not an individual responsibility but to all. Education is the basis of a country in order to strengthen the economic status and development. Thus, it’s our responsible toward the society and nation to educate our next generation by provide a positive social and physical environment to instill wholesome character building in young children. Society now day faces variety of problem especially family issue that commonly happens include child abuse, divorce cases, youngster tend to run away from home, abandoned baby and etc. One of the factors that caused these issues is lack of realization on importance of education. There is a quote stated: If we would amend the world, we should mend our selves; and teach our children to be, not what we are, but what they should be. Quote by: WILLIAM PENN, Some Fruits of Solitude) Most of the parent didn’t realize their responsibility to their child as a role model in the growth of their children during childhood period. They might lack of exposure on the importance of early childhood education, or they unconsciously neglected their children’s need due to financial pressure in order to provide and maintaining the living standard of family. Thus, it’s our responsible as an educator to assist the parent on educating our next generation. It is my pleasure to meet a truly dedicated teacher in my life, although she was only teaching me as my class teacher for 1 year but her contribution and the bonding between me and she has brought the greater impact to my life. Compare to the teachers of old time with today, sadly to say, there are not much improvement among the quality of educator. Most of the educator are work for survive, they are lack of the passion and realization on their role and responsibilities, perhaps they do not know how to apply their knowledge on teaching method skillfully. In fact, it is the greater satisfaction as an educator to witness the growth of a child from innocence young age to a mature child. This is a most important period to instill a positive personality in a child as the behavior he practicing now will bring toward to adulthood and became his characteristic. The greater success of an educator is not the quantity of reward, but the recognition of the effort by the parent, student and society. The most precious and valuable achievement is to witness the success of wholesome character building on a child when they turned to an adult and continue influence the people around them with positive attitude. It is hard to achieve the objective of education with single contribution. Therefore it is important to bring together all the educators who having same ideology to work together as a role model to influence people around include the parent, children and colleagues to understand the importance of education. The main responsible of an early childhood educator is to instill the positive character to a child to develop wholesome character include sense of belonging, sense of responsibility, positive moral value, lifelong interest on learning, curiosity to the world and mentally and physically healthy and wealthy. Teacher as the second person after the parent as the role model to a child should practicing good behavior and attitude. Besides, a good teacher knows how to apply the knowledge skillfully to help children adapt to the knowledge on their level of understanding without killing their curiosity to the world. On the other hand, educator also played an important role to the parent because society in Malaysia now day is improving along with the realization on the importance of education. However, although the parent understands the importance of education, they are still lack of information in term of knowledge and skill to apply on their children. They are keen to seek for professional advancer and services as the agent of education to their children. In fact, this is a big step for the society; educator should always work closely and collaboratively with parent to encourage them involve in their child’s learning process to create love and caring environment for the children. The philosophy of a preschool setting that believed and practiced by the entire organization included administrator and teachers determine the process of achieving the goal of an organization. Same goes to personal philosophy held by a teacher, it is important to work collaboratively on behalf of children’s interest regardless personal identity and background. Teachers should be always ready to lend their hand to each other and strive for improvement together by sharing information and joining workshop, seminar or training together. Whenever there is dilemma, teacher should ask for the comment and suggestion without hesitate from senior colleague who willing to share their experiences and solve the problem together. Beside, teacher also played a role on providing a safe, healthy, loving and caring environment to young learner to develop sense of belonging and bonding among the children by always staying alert on potential danger and awareness on child’s behavior, health, physical and mental needs. Teacher should be always practicing 3R which is responsive, respect and reciprocal. Consistently interaction with the children is needed to understand child’s unique character and develop trust and respect relationship among children. However, teacher should allow necessary independent learning and respect child’s right in order to foster the development of children to prepare the children to be ready for the future challenges in their life. Knowledge on young children development is very important for educator. Therefore educator should be always seeking for improvement to provide highest quality service to the children. A knowledgeable teacher is always stay well informed on the latest update on government decision on education such as changing school syllabus and assessment for the student. Beside, by participate in variety of workshop, seminar and training; teacher will learn different teaching method to adapt children’s development milestone. Same goes to courses that offer in colleges and local university; it will improve the qualification and knowledge of teacher. By joining professional association, teacher will be always staying informed on the latest teaching approach and able to seek for professional comment from others. On the other hand, teaching should be stay adventurous when applying new skill to the children, learn from trial and error by observation and self reflection consistently. Teacher should be sensitive on child’s development to evaluate and improving the teaching method creatively in practical way. By understanding different learning pattern of the children, teacher should apply knowledge and skills in plenty ways for children to adapt to the knowledge. In conclusion, a professional early childhood educator should be having mental and physical readily with positive and optimistic attitude, be ready to takes up responsible and handle every dilemma and always strive for improvement. It is very important for an educator understand his/her role on the position held and to be flexible to adapt every changes and different situation. Lastly, enjoyment for the satisfaction of teaching will lead the educator to longer journey as time goes by because You never know how much it’s worth until its gone.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Anopheles Stephensi Tissue-restricted Expression

Anopheles Stephensi Tissue-restricted Expression Tissue-restricted expression and alternative splicing revealed by transcriptome profiling of Anopheles stephensi Sreelakshmi K. Sreenivasamurthy1,2, Anil Madugundu1,3, Arun Kumar Patil1,4,5, Gourav Dey1,2, Ajeet Kumar Mohanty6, Manish Kumar1,2, Krishna Patel1, Charles Wang7, Ashwani Kumar6, Akhilesh Pandey1,8,9,10,11, T. S. Keshava Prasad1,2,4,* Abstract The sequencing of Anopheles stephensi, a major malaria vector in Asia has led to increased research activity to understand the vectorial ability of this mosquito species. However, tissue-based gene expression profiles of the annotated genes remain to be understood. In this study, we summarize the transcriptomic profile of four important organs of a female imago Midgut, Malpighian tubules, Fat body and Ovary. We identified over 21,000 transcripts in total, from all the four tissues corresponding to about 12,000 gene loci. This study provides an account of the tissue-based expression profiles of majority of annotated transcripts in An. stephensi genome and alternative splicing in these tissues. Understanding of the transcript expression and gene function at the tissue level would immensely help in enhancing our knowledge of this important vector and decipher the putative role of these mosquito tissues, providing the basis of selection of candidates for future studies on vectorial abil ity. Keywords: Mosquito, RNA-seq, differential expression, lncRNAs Introduction Malaria remains as one of the most debilitating mosquito-borne diseases till date. According to WHO World Malaria Report in 2016, there were ~212 million malaria cases in the year 2015, resulting in an estimated death of about 429,000 individuals globally. Most of these cases (90%) is in the African region with about 7% incidence in South East Asia. About 50% of the Asian malaria incidence and deaths has been in India1. The number of deaths attributed to malaria in India has been reported to be higher than the WHO estimates2. However, the latest updates on the cases and deaths reported in India has been limited to the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), according to which there has been about a million cases of malaria reported in the year 2014 [http://www.nvbdcp.gov.in/malaria3.html]. Out of the 41 different Anopheline species reported as significant vectors for transmission of human malaria, An. stephensi is an important vector in India and South Asia3,4. Bein g the major urban vector, it is second most prevalent in India. It has been reported all over the country except the north-eastern states of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura5. Sequencing of the Anopheles mosquito genomes have resulted in a spurt of activity in the study of Anopheles mosquitoes. PubMed search with the keyword Anopheles resulted in 14,576 publications, majority of which have been after the year 2000 as shown in the Figure 1A. Majority of the studies post-genome sequencing has been focussed towards understanding the role of various genes and development of numerous methods to regulate their expression.   The overall aim of the community is to embark on a feasible means to control the spread of infectious organisms either by controlling the vector/mosquito population or by curbing or reducing their vectorial ability. In this regards, numerous studies have already been performed on the recently sequenced malarial vectors6-9. However, most of the studies are focussed on previously studied molecules with very few studies focussing on new target molecules. This could probably be due to the lack of reliable data owing to incomplete genome as semblies and annotations in the identification of such targets. We have tried to bridge this gap with a huge effort of supplementing the current efforts using an integrated approach of utilizing proteomic and transcriptomic data in the genome annotation and assembly in an array of organisms through our previous studies10-12. Although transcriptomic data played a major role in refining the annotations and assembly of the genomes in the previous study, the tissue-based expression profiles were not focussed on. The tissue-based expression profiles of the identified transcripts are the focus of this study. Tissue-based expression profiling in An. stephensi has been limited to salivary glands13, ovaries14,15, testes16 and hemocytes17 with most the studies being done on whole mosquitoes14,18,19. However, even with the availability of transcriptome data from ovaries, there are several issues. The study was mainly focused on identification of transcripts expressed in developmental stages and is of low throughput14. The other tissue-based expression studies published including one cDNA-based study of the salivary glands and another being cDNA sequencing of the transcripts from hemocytes, both tissues that were not included in our study. The focus of our study is on the Midgut, ovary, Malpighian tubule and fat body of a female An. stephensi imago. These tissues, along with the salivary glands play a very important role in the blood meal digestion and thus important for the life cycle of the mosquito vector and plasmodium species. However, we restrict ourselves to understand the molecular dif ference between these mosquito tissues in the uninfected sugar-fed state of the mosquito which we believe will provide the much-needed basic understanding of the role played by these tissues. To this extent, we performed comparative and deep transcriptomic analysis of these four tissues. Materials and Methods RNA isolation and sequencing Adult female An. stephensi mosquitoes grown at the NIMR field station, Goa, were dissected to obtain midgut, Malpighian tubules, ovaries and fat body. These dissected tissues were stored in RNAlater to preserve the RNA quality till RNA extraction. The RNA isolation and sequencing was performed as described earlier10,11. Briefly, the RNA isolated using Qiagen miRNeasy kit was used for the preparation of indexed RNA-seq libraries using TruSeq RNA Sample Preparation Kit v3. The indexed and pooled libraries were sequenced on two lanes (as technical replicates) of Illumina HiScan SQ platform. Read alignment and transcript assembly The raw reads were processed for quality filtration to remove ambiguous bases present due to the sequencing errors at the 3 end of the reads. Base quality filter of >20 was considered as good. FastQC (Version 0.10.1) tool was used to determine the quality of the raw data and poor quality calls with Phred score An. stephensi genome build (ASTEI2) downloaded from VectorBase (https://www.vectorbase.org/) using HISAT (Version 2.1.0)20 aligner with the default parameters. HiSAT2 was supplied with known annotations and Gene Transfer File (GTF), AsteI2.2 from VectorBase. The alignment of reads from each lane for each tissue was carried out individually against the reference genome resulting in eight different Binary Alignment Map (BAM) files. The .bam files for each tissue were then merged to obtain merged .bam files, one for each tissue. The aligned reads were assembled against the AsteI2.2 gene annotations, as reference, using the StringTie (version 1.2.1) assembler21. Assembled transcrip ts were further quantified and annotated into known and novel categories using the gffcompare in StringTie package as described earlier22. To determine novel transcripts as a transcript GTF file and all the StringTie assemblies were merged using StringTie-merge option. Novel isoforms and intergenic transcripts were obtained by comparing the merged StringTie assemblies of all the four tissues to the annotated transcripts from VectorBase using gffcompare. Coding potential of the identified transcripts was predicted by the use of the Coding Potential Assessment Tool (CPAT)23. Transcripts which were >200 bp in length with a CPAT score threshold of Identification of differentially expressed genes across four tissues Merged GTF file from StringTie was annotated in to different classes of transcripts using gffcompare with respect to the VectorBase annotations. Expression levels of transcripts as determined by the StringTie assembler were compared across tissues. The expression information from individual lanes were used as technical replicates for each tissue. Differential expression was computed using Cuffdiff after normalizing the data across samples by calculating Fragments per Kilobase of exon per Million Fragments Mapped (FPKM)24. The R-package version 2.16.0 of cummeRbund was used for visualization, analysis of RNA-seq data and cluster generation25. An overview of the analysis pipeline is provided in Figure 1B. To identify tissue specific transcripts, we initially filtered transcripts with FPKM value à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 1.0 in at least one among the four tissue types. We then applied the right-tailed t-test to identify the transcripts which are relatively high in abundance in one tissue as again st other tissues. Results and Discussion Transcriptome sequencing of four An. stephensi tissues Midgut, Malpighian tubules, Fat body and Ovary was performed to create a tissue-based expression profile. In total, about 500 million paired-end reads of 100bp were generated from all the four tissues, with about 55 million read pairs per tissue sample from two lanes. The expression levels of transcripts between the replicates and among the tissues were comparable. Figure 2A represents the inter-tissue and intra tissue transcript expression variations in the form of a distance-based heatmap. The variations are minimal between the replicates as expected and increases between the tissues with Ovary and Malpighian tubules being the most different. By following the standard alignment and assembly pipeline using the HiSAT2 and StringTie assembler, we identified a total of about 25,000 transcripts. However, after the initial filtering for the FPKM values (à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 0.1) only 21,500 transcripts were retained. The expression of th ese transcripts was comparable across tissues with the median FPKM value ranging about 2 to 3 in all the tissues as represented by the box plot in Figure 2B. Figure 2C and 2D provides the general distribution of the length and the FPKM values of the transcript assemblies across the four tissues. About 60% of the transcript assemblies were found to have FPKM value of 1 and above, while the average length of majority of the transcripts tend to be in the range of 1000 to 3000 bp. This shows an expected trend of a reliable depth and absence of any skewing. The Transcript assemblies were classified into different classes using gffcompare. However, in order to avoid over interpretation of the data we have only focused our findings on the known =, alternate j and intergenic unknown u class of the transcript assemblies for our analysis. In our analysis, we noticed that almost equivalent number of transcript assemblies were classified under the known (=) and the alternate (j) categories. In fact, the transcript assemblies in the j category exceeded the number of known transcript assemblies. A deeper look in to this matter showed us that due to the poorly annotated gene models (which is mostly based on the prediction program) for this strain, the untranslated regions (UTRs) of the predicted transcript models in the current annotation is missed. As a result, the transcript assemblies with the extension of the exonic regions supported by the reads, probably into the UTRs were classified as alternate transcripts. We are working closely with the VectorBase to improve the annotations of these predicted gene and transcript models for the An. stephensi Indian strain. Tissue restricted transcripts Majority of the transcripts identified (about 87%) were expressed largely at similar levels in all the four tissues, the remaining 15% of the transcripts identified seemed to have more of a tissue restricted expression. Figure 3 details the distribution of the transcript expression (expressed with FPKM values à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ 0.1) among the previously annotated transcripts (Figure 3A), alternative isoforms (Figure 3B) and novel previously unannotated intergenic transcripts (Figure 3C). The majority of the transcripts in each of these groups are expressed in all the four tissues with only about 3 4% of the transcripts showing tissue restricted expression. Among the known/annotated transcripts identified, 241 were found to be exclusive to Midgut, 221 exclusive to Malpighian tubules, 479 transcripts in Ovary and 436 in Fat body. The distribution of tissue specific transcripts was similar in the alternative isoforms and novel intergenic transcripts of these four tissues with 61, 67, 146 and 77 isoforms exclusively identified in Midgut, Malpighian tubules, Ovary and Fat body. In general, there was a clear bias in the number of transcripts and transcript isoforms that were common between midgut and Malpighian tubules and similarly between fat body and ovary than amongst the others. The diversity of the transcripts identified was found to be maximal in Ovary with most the transcripts being identified in this tissue, followed by fat body. Midgut had the minimal number of transcripts identified, however, the expression levels of these transcripts, in terms of FPKM, were higher than that of other tissues. Novel splice variants and their expression Apart from the known/annotated transcripts, we identified a plethora of spliced (exon-exon) reads that were not previously annotated. Assembly of such reads along with the intra exonic reads led to the identification of >8500 transcripts that were spliced differently. These alternatively spliced isoforms represent the complexity of the transcript forms and their expression in the four tissues. A summary of the differential expression of these alternate isoforms is provided in Figure 3B. As in the case of annotated transcripts, most of the alternatively spliced forms were also expressed in all the four tissues. Only about 1-2% of the total alternate transcripts isoforms were found to have tissue restricted expression. Transcript isoforms were enriched maximally in Ovaries compared to any other tissue. With 146 isoforms restricted to ovaries, it showed the highest variation in the spliced forms among the four tissues although the FPKM values for these were comparatively lower than that of other tissues. Fat body had the least representation of the alternate isoforms. The splice variants identified included examples of intron retention, alternative 3 or 5 donor and acceptor sites, exon skipping and others. Different spliced forms were expressed in different tissues. An example of transcript expressed in different tissues is provided in Figure 4. The annotated gene ASTEI04270 belongs to the Gelsolin/Vilin/fragmin superfamily, coding for a single transcript isoform according to the VectorBase annotation. However, we identified six different isoforms for the gene. The original protein coded by the annotated transcript with a signal peptide and nine gelsolin-like domains that was highly expressed in Fat body followed by Malpighian tubules. The alternative isoforms included a shorter transcript encoded by the first 3 exons (ANSTF.3986.4), which retained only three of the nine gelsolin-like domains along with the signal peptide sequence that was highly expressed in fat body and least expression in ovaries. The other 4 isoforms encoding the exons from fo urth exon consists of 4 gelsolin-like domains. Isoforms ANSTF.3986.1 and ANSTF.3986.2 were highly expressed in midgut followed by Malpighian tubules but not identified in fat body and ovaries. Whereas, isoforms ANSTF.3986.5 and ANSTF.3986.6 were significantly expressed only in midgut. Proteins encoded by this superfamily typically consists of three to six gelsolin-like domains (GEL), with each domain playing a critical role in actin filament remodeling26,27. Novel intergenic transcripts In addition to annotated and alternate spliced forms of the transcripts in the known/annotated gene loci, we found additional loci in the genome of An. stephensi Indian strain. The reads mapping to these unannotated regions were processed to assemble putative transcripts that were categorized as novel/unannotated transcripts. We identified about 2700 transcripts with FPKM values above 0.1 in the intergenic regions of the genome that were previously considered to be non-transcribed. The expression of most of these intergenic transcripts were found to be similar in all the four tissues. However, Expression-based clustering and functional correlation Since An. stephensi genome was recently sequenced and is relatively less worked upon, there is limited information on the function of these genes and transcripts. However, Gene Ontology analysis based on their translated protein and the domain structures (Interpro domains) showed that most of the differentially expressed transcripts were found to have expected domains as per the perceived function of these respective tissues. The identified transcripts were segregated into clusters based on their expression levels in the four mosquito tissues. Among the various clusters generated using the cummerbund package, few of the clusters showed clear trends of expression. One of the clusters with about 950 transcripts showed similar expression in all the four tissues. Gene level ontology mapping of these transcripts showed that majority of the transcripts possessed generic domains such as protein, nucleotide and ion binding domains, transmembrane transport, proteolysis, oxidoreductase activity and signal transduction (Figure 5A). Transcripts found to be enriched in the Midgut (170) compared to other tissues were found to have proteolytic, protein binding, hydrolase and peptidase activity. Some of the midgut enriched transcripts were found to be involved in chitin and carbohydrate metabolism (Figure 5B). Transcripts enriched in Malpighian tubules (116) were found to be associated largely with transmembrane transpor tation, oxidation-reduction process, protein and ion binding events. Few of the transcripts were associated with transferase, ligase and lyase activities among other catalytic activities (Figure 5C). Ovary enriched transcripts (241) were associated more with the protein binding, nucleic acid and ATP binding, in addition to those having signaling domains and transport domains associated with intracellular signal transduction processes such as GPCR activity, protein phosphorylation and dimerization. As expected, these transcripts seem to be involved highly in cell cycle processes including DNA replication, microtubule organization, DNA repair and growth factor activities, which are crucial mechanisms for vitellogenesis (Figure 5D). Fat body enriched transcripts (170) were consistent with the role of fat body akin to the vertebrate liver. The transcripts enriched in fat body are associated majorly with transmembrane transportation, oxidation-reduction process, chitin binding and metabo lism, heme-binding and transport, in addition to oxidoreductase activities (Figure 5E). Identification and expression of long non-coding RNAs We compared the list of transcripts identified in our study to the list of transcripts that are annotated as non-coding RNAs in VectorBase. However, we failed to identify any of the annotated non-coding RNAs in our study since the annotated ones are largely rRNAs and other small ncRNAs. Due to the ribosomal RNA depletion employed in our study, we expected no rRNAs to be identified. However, in order to investigate the presence and expression of the long non-coding RNAs in An. stephensi, we assessed the coding potential of all the identified transcripts using the CPAT tool. From this, we identified 4,071 transcripts that satisfied the criteria for the long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) (Supplementary Table 2). That is, they were longer than 200 bases in length and were predicted to have a coding potential of Tissues considered in this study play an important role in the life cycle of the female mosquito. They are critical in blood meal digestion, metabolism, vitellogenesis, excretion, immunogenesis, Plasmodium sporogony and reproduction, which are associated with vector physiology, progression and malaria transmission. Mosquito midgut is involved in the initial storage and digestion of the ingested blood. The gut epithelium also provides site for development of oocysts and sporozoites (Sporogony). Blood meal induces pathways such as TOR, which ultimately leads to synthesis of proteins required for egg development. Fat body and ovary are known to be involved in the utilization of the nutrients from blood to enable vitellogenesis. Malpighian tubules are known to play an important role in the mosquito xenobiotics. Fat body cells (trophoblasts) and recently, Malpighian tubules have also been shown to be involved in the immune responses28-31 and is now being considered as targets for mosquito control28,31. Towards this end, we further evaluated the expression of genes previously reported to be involved in the vector-pathogen interactions32 across the four tissues (Table 2). The affordability and accessibility of sequencing-based techniques have resulted in numerous transcriptome-based studies even in An. stephensi14,15,17,19. However, due to the low depth of the other existing studies, no significant comparison could be performed between the transcript expression from our study to that of the other studies. We deciphered the genes reported to be involved in immunity14 and evaluated the expression information for the annotated transcripts and the novel alternate isoforms across the tissues (Supplementary Table 4). Although, there has been a recent study of the cDNAs from hemocytes, we could not compare the genes expressed in their study since hemocytes were not part of our study. Another reason for non-comparison was normalization issues caused by 36bp single end reads in their study, with only 49% of it mapping to the VectorBase assembly. We provide the deepest tissue-based transcriptome profiling for these four organs of An. stephensi (Indian strain), so far. Studies such as ours depicting the transcript variations amongst tissues in its physiological states provide important baseline information. In light of such information, analysis of gene expression data in the context of changes due to blood meal, infection of insecticide resistance might lead to new perspectives and insights. This, in turn, will facilitate the choice of novel targets for vector control and transmission blocking studies and other experiments as evidenced in An. gambiae33. Data Availability The RNA-sequencing data has been submitted to the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) from NCBI and can be accessed using the project accession number SRP043489. Supplementary data Supplementary data are available at www.dnaresearch.oxfordjournal.org. Funding This paper is funded by the joint research project to NIMR and IOB entitled Characterization of Malaria Vector Anopheles stephensi Proteome and Transcriptome (EMR/2014/000444) from the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India. SKS and GD has been supported by the Senior Research Fellowship by University Grants Commission (UGC) and MK was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India during the study. Table 1. Transcript distribution number of transcripts in total, class code-based classification of transcripts in all four tissues and in individual tissues      Ã‚   All 4 tissues Midgut Malpighian tubule Ovary Fat body Total number of transcripts identified 21,500 17,461 18,812 18,616 18,685 Corresponding gene location identified 12,256 10,357 11,107 10,973 11,371 Total number of known/annotated transcripts = 9,722 7,508 7,883 8,001 8,015 Number of alternate isoforms/transcripts j 8,820 7,603 8,232 7,992 8,037 Number of novel transcripts (intergenic) u 2,694 2,136 2,458 2,396 2,398 Figure Legends: Figure 1. A. Graphical representation of the remarkable increase in the number of studies on Anopheles mosquitoes post genomic era. B. Workflow representation of the study pipeline followed. Figure 2. Overall representation of transcript expression. A. HeatMap representation of the Jensen-Shannon (JS) divergence between the different tissues and their technical replicates. B. Bar-chart representation of the tissue-based transcripts and their median expression in the log10(FPKM), showing normalized distribution. C. FPKM distribution curve of the transcripts identified in the four tissues. D. Distribution of transcript length across the four tissues. Figure 3. Venn diagram representation depicting the overlap and the tissue specific expression of the transcripts across the four tissues A. For VectorBase annotated transcripts. B. Distribution of alternate isoforms of transcripts. C. Distribution of novel intergenic transcripts. Figure 4. An example representing the novel spliced forms of the VectorBase annotated gene ASTEI04270. Isoforms identified due various splicing events and their expression across the four tissues. Figure 5. Expression-based transcript clusters and the functional enrichment of the classes of transcripts based on domain and Gene Ontology-based functional annotation. A. Transcripts having similar expression in all four tissues B. Midgut-enriched transcripts C. Transcripts overexpressed in Malpighian tubules D. Transcripts highly expressed in Ovary E. Fat body-enriched transcripts.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Propaganda And Its Uses By Countries, Especially During War Essay

Propaganda and Its Uses By Countries, Especially During War In order to gain the support of the public, countries use propaganda. During the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein and George Bush used propaganda to gain the support of their respective public. Propaganda was everywhere. It was on the radio and television and it brought the war into millions of homes. Propaganda was a vital part of the Gulf War because it provided the US and Iraq with the support of their public. Propaganda is always geared towards the populace claiming that the other country is the oppressor. The truth is often stretched or even fabricated to garner a public outcry for justice. The real truth, however, is very difficult to distinguish from fiction.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The blame is often pushed to towards the other country. Iraq claimed that they were the victims and that the United States was the aggressor. Hussein declared that they had been victimized by Kuwait. According to Iraq, they had to pay back money that they did not have and Kuwait was responsible for the cutback on healthcare and other vital services. Since Kuwait voted against raising the price of oil, Iraq was unable to receive any revenue. It was because of this that Iraq invaded Kuwait. The United States claimed that Iraq was the aggressor. In the American media, Iraqi tanks were shown to enter a defenseless Kuwait amidst destroyed buildings. The American public was convinced that their troops were only there to protect and that...

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Guide Dogs Essay examples -- Blindness Dog Training Papers

Guide Dogs What Exactly is a Guide Dog? As I look around, it seems as though it is raining puppies and dogs. Can you guess where I am? No, it is not the humane society. Give up? I am at a training facility for guide dogs, where everywhere, including the office, there are dogs being played with, spoiled with love, and working hard with their trainers. Now that I have given you a mental picture of what a guide dog training facility looks like, you might like to know what they actually do there. At least that is what I wanted to know. I was amazed after seeing a student at Florida State University with his guide dog, and watching the two interact together. I stared as the dog helped his master avoid people and stopped at the bottom of each series of steps leading up to the Love Building. I had never seen anything like this before. I believed this showed people how smart dogs are and how humans and dogs can intelligently interact together. This incident is what intrigued me to want to know more about dogs as guides. I wanted to know how guide dogs are chosen and trained. Is there a particular breed that is easier to train? These are the questions we will find the answers to. I began my search on the Internet. I was very surprised to see how many guide dog training schools have their own websites. Some only talked about how to volunteer or make contributions to their program, but others were very helpful in my search for information. One of the very first sites I visited gave me a great definition of tasks a guide dog is trained to do. According to the Assistance Dogs International website, guide dogs are provided to assist blind and visually impaired people in avoiding obstacles, stopping at curbs and ste... ... well behaved guide dog you may have seen in the grocery store or somewhere else. Works Cited Assistance Dogs International. n.page. Online. Internet. 27 Sept. 1998. Available WWW: <http://www.assistance-dogs-intl.org/service.html> Green, Kathleen. "You're What? Dog Guide Instructor." Occupational Outlook Quarterly. (Winter 1996): 47-49. Guide Dog Association of N.S.Wales and A.C.T. page. Online. Internet. 28 Sept. 1998. Available WWW: <http://www.guidedogs.com.au/> Harrington, Paula. Guide Dogs for the Blind: Looking Ahead. San Rafael: Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc. 1990. Southeastern Guide Dogs. Online. Internet. 27 Sept. 1998. Available WWW: <http://www.guidedogs.org/segd-home.htm> Ulrich, Katherine. E-mail interview. 22 October, 1998. Witchel, Alex. "Teaching Man's Best Eyes to See." New York Times. 6 Mar.1996: Cl, C9.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Samuel Gander

Samuel Gander Mr. Dunham English 102 April 25, 2012 Farming On a Whole New Level Although people have worked in agriculture for more than 10,000 years, advance in technology assisted with maintaining and protecting land, crops, and animals. The demand to keep food affordable encourages those working in the agriculture industry to operate as efficiently as possible (Newman & Ruiz, pp. 33-47). Almost all people and companies in the industry have many acres of land they must maintain, and it is not always feasible for farmers to take frequent trips around the property to perform basic tasks such as watering soil in the absence of rain.The number of people-hours required to water soil manually on several thousand acres of land might result in businesses spending thousands of dollars in labor and utility costs. If the irrigation process is automated, sensors detect how much rain has fallen recently, as well as whether the soil is in need of watering. The sensors then send this data to a c omputer that processes it and decides when and how much to water. In addition to keeping the soil moist and reducing maintenance costs, computer also can utilize sensor to analyze the condition of crops in the field and determine whether pests or diseases are affecting the crops.If sensor detects pests and/or diseases, computers send a notification to the appropriate individual to take corrective action. In some cases, according to Brewster, the discovery of pests might trigger a pesticide to discharge in the affected area automatically (Agriculture: Expanding and Growing). Many farmers use technology in a daily basis to regulate soil moisture and to keep their crop pest free. With technology, farming can be much more convenient and efficient. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Barton states the many automated home irrigation system also are programmable and use rain sensor (pp. 67-73)

Monday, September 16, 2019

Enrollment forecasting methodology

Virtually, forecasting plays everywhere a major role in human life, especially in making future decisions such as weather forecasting, university enrollment, production, sales and finance, etc. Based on these forecasting results, we can prevent damages to occur or get benefits from the forecasting activities.Up to now, many qualitative and quantitative forecasting models were proposed. However, these models are unable to deal with problems in which historical data take form of linguistic constructs instead of numerical values. In recent years, many methods have been proposed to deal with forecasting problems using fuzzy time series. In this paper, we present a new method to predict the calendar day for average Arabian Gulf Oil Company using fuzzy time series approach based on average lengths of intervals. A visual-based programming is used in the implementation of the proposed model.Results obtained demonstrate that the proposed forecasting model can forecast the data effectively and efficiently Keywords: Fuzzy time series, Forecasting, Fuzzy sets, Average-based lengthl . Forecasting the size of any phenomenon in future is important and helpful for understanding behavior of phenomenon along time. It is impossible to make future plans to face the phenomenon without defining its future dimensions and identifying shape and modes of complicated process, especially when it is related to future forecasting. Making decisions depends completely on accuracy of forecasting.It is evident that forecasting plays major role in our daily life. The accurate and the most efficient forecasting may support making correct decisions to raise accuracy of our expectations up to 100%. This may be impossible, yet we try to reduce forecasting errors. In order to solve forecasting problems, many researchers proposed several methods and different models. One of these models is traditional time series analysis, uni-variant and multi-variant. However, traditional time series has wide applic ations, but it must satisfy proper conditions to be successful.For example, 50 up to 100 bservations at least are needed to achieve Autoregressive and Integrated Moving Average Models (ARIMA) and average zero is needed to achieve autoregressive. Traditional time series has been applied in many fields such as pollution monitoring, blood pressure estimation, etc. This problem has been studied widely in statistics areas and neural networks. However, in practical life, there are regression models in which the uncertainty accompanied to the model is because of vagueness, not because of neither randomness nor both of them.In these models, probability theory cannot be pplied and fuzzy sets theory is applied, where variables are foggy i. e. declarative variables are not fixed and scaling of these variables is not expressed by a point, but by an interval or linguistic variables [1, 3]. 2. FUZZY LOGIC Fuzzy logic [1 1], is a form of logic which has used in some expert systems and artificial i ntelligence applications. It was first proposed in 1965 by the Iranian scientist Lutfi Zadeh, at University of California, where he developed it as a better method of data processing.However, his theory didn't find a wide interest until 1974, where fuzzy logic was used to control a steam engine. Since then, applications of fuzzy logic kept developing until the manufacturing of fuzzy logic chip which have been used in many products such this science. There are many reasons for scientists to improve fuzzy logic. For example, development of computers and software founded the need to invent or program systems that are capable of dealing with ambiguous information to mimic human thinking.However, this created a problem since computers can only deal with exact and accurate data. This problem caused occurrence of expert systems and artificial intelligence. Fuzzy logic is a theory for building such systems. Fuzzy set theory has many useful achievements in different fields and it aims at app roximation of professional knowledge that contains vagueness in human thinking. Figure 1 illustrates the difference between traditional and fuzzy set theories. Fuzzy logic simply reflects how do people think and try to represent our feelings by words, decisions making and our common sense.So, fuzzy logic models are being increasingly used in time series analysis, where they are important for dealing with linguistic values and other models in order to yield better forecasting results. Time Series is defined as a sequence of events easured in successive times at definite intervals. It was widely used in economic systems such as stock index and interest. Also, it was used in metrology, especially in wind speed, temperature, pressure, Figure 1: Traditional and fuzzy sets 3.FUZZY TIME SERIES Fuzzy time series is another concept to solve forecasting problems in which the historical data are linguistic values. Fuzzy time series based on Zadeh's works [1 1], Song and Chissom [7], first prop osed a forecasting model called Fuzzy Time Series, which provided a theoretic framework to model a special dynamic process hose observations are linguistic values. The main difference between the traditional time series and fuzzy time series is that the observed values of the former are real numbers while the observed values of the latter are fuzzy sets or linguistic values.In the following, some basic concepts of fuzzy time series are briefly reviewed Definition 1: Let U ,u2 un } be a universe of discourse (universal set); a fuzzy set A of U is defined fA (u ) / u fA (u ) / un ,where fA is a membership function of a given set A , fA [0,1]. Definition 2 If there exists a fuzzy relationship R(t – 1, t), such that F(t) =F(t ), where is an arithmetic operator, then F(t) is said to be caused by F(t – 1). The relationship between F(t) and – 1) can be denoted by – 1) Definition 3 Suppose F(t) is calculated by F(t – 1) only, and – 1) R(t,t-l).For a ny t, if R(t – 1, t) is independent of t, then F(t) is considered a timeinvariant fuzzy time series. Otherwise, F(t) is timevariant. Definition 4 Suppose – 1) and F(t)= A], a fuzzy logical relationship can be defined as Ai AJ where Ai and AJ are called the left-hand side and the right-hand side of the fuzzy logical relationship, respectively. 4. REVIEW OF RELATED WORKS Many studies have interested in fuzzy time series and have been applied in various fields including university enrollment.Fuzzy time series had proved its efficiency in forecasting as a good new method for predicting linguistic values. Song and Chisson [9, 10] first introduced the method of fuzzy time series, humidity and rainfall. In addition, time series was used in geophysical records including indexed measurements, times of earthquake, radiological activities, industrial production, rates of idleness, etc. therefore, they are considered as founders of fuzzy time series science. Also, in 1994, they in troduced a eries.Chen [1] presented a new method for forecasting university enrollment using fuzzy time series historical data enrollments of the university of Alabama from 1971 to 1992, the proposed method is more efficient than the proposed method by Song and Chissom, due to the fact that the proposed method uses simplified arithmetic operation rather than the complicated MaxMin composition operation. Hwang [8] proposed a new method on fuzzification to revise Song and Chissom's method. He used a different triangle fuzzification method to Fuzzify crisp values.His method involved determining an interval of xtension from both sides of crisp value in triangle membership function to get a variant degree of membership. The result got a better average forecasting error, in addition, the influences of factors and variables in a fuzzy time series model such as definition area, number and length of intervals and the interval of extension in triangle membership function were discussed in det ailsStep 2: Define the universe of discourse U. Find the maximum Dmax and the minimum Dmin among all Dh. For easy partitioning of U, choose two small numbers Dl and D2 as two proper positive numbers. The purpose of Dl and D2 is to make the lower and upper bounds of U become multiple of hundreds, thousands, etc. The universe of discourse U is then defined by: U = Dt-ntn -Dl , Drnax+D2 Step 3: Determine the appropriate length of interval L. Here, the average-based length method (Huarng, 2001 b) can be applied to determine the appropriate L.The length of interval L is computed according to the Table 1: Base mapping table Range Base 0. 1-1. 0 0. 1 1. -10 11-100 10 101-1000 a) Calculate all the absolute differences between the values Dh-l and Dh as the first differences, and then compute the average of the first differences. b) Take one-half of the average as the length. c) Find the located range of the length and determine the base from Table 1 d) According to the assigned base, round t he length as the appropriate L.Then the number of intervals m, is computed by: D max+D2-D Then U can be partitioned into equal-length intervals Assume that the m intervals are Step4: Define fuzzy sets from the universe of discourse: f(un)(3) Ai=A11+A22+†¦.. +Ai l Then fuzzify the time series. First determine some linguistic values A1, A2, †¦ , An. Second, defined fuzzy sets on U. The fuzzy sets Ai are expressed as follows: 10. 500 0. 510 . 50 00. 51 0. 5 Step 5: fuzzify the historical data. If the value of Dh is located in the range of ui, then it belongs to fuzzy sets A'.All Dh must be classified into the corresponding fuzzy sets. However, fuzzify the historical data and give fuzzy set to each year's historical data. If the historical data belongs to Ai at year t, the historical data of that year can be written by A'. But usually one historical data to ifferent A1, the need to find out maximum degree of each year's historical data belonging to each A1. Step 6: Establish f uzzy logical relationships (FLRs) for all fuzzified data, derive the fuzzy logical relationships based on Definition (3).The fuzzy logical relationship which have the same left-hand sides is like Ai Ak, which denotes that if the Dh-lvalue of time t-1 is AJ then that of time t is Ak Table 2: Fuzzy relationship Ak Ar A1 Am 0. 5 um -2 um -1 um Where ui n) is the element and the number below ‘/'is the membership of ui to Then follow the rules for determining the degree of the membership of the istorical data Yi belonging to interval u'. The general triangular membership function is expressed as below: Step 7: establish the fuzzy logic relationship groups (FLRG).The derived fuzzy logical relationships can be arranged into fuzzy logical relationship groups based on the same fuzzy numbers on the left-hand sides of the fuzzy logical relationships. The fuzzy logical relationship groups are like the following: AJI Step 8: The forecasting of the historical data is based on heuristic rule s proposed by chen (1996) and outlined as follows.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Tattoos: the Beauty Within

Tattoos: The Beauty Within Throughout history tattoos have been used for many different purposes. They have also been criticized for being placed on the human body. People throughout history have been assigning their own beliefs to tattoos. Some beliefs, even when strange to others, have a substantial value to the person whose choice it is to have admiration for a symbol. History shows that tattoos represent diversity in significance and opinions; this diversity is reflected through a person’s values, culture and judgment. John Barker said, â€Å"There are different motivations in different locations at different times. I believe he has the best description of the reasoning behind tattoos. Who ever came up with the thought of placing ink under the skin to signify a moment in time, special event in their life, or whichever the reason was, was thinking outside the box. There have been many different phases of personal expression throughout history and woven throughout cultures like fabrics in an eccentric Turkish rug. The only constant that tattoos have had threw out the thousands of years, is that it is forever evolving different meanings for different people. Someone, somewhere, in some point in time has had an opinion or use of a tattoo. The first proof of tattooing on a human dates back between 3350 and 3100 B. C. That is 5,000 years ago. Discovered in the Alps in South Tyrol, Italy in September of 1991, Otzi â€Å"the ice man† had over 50 tattoos placed in different areas of his body. Some were along his wrist and ankles. Others were placed along his back. Form the unique placing of his tattoos, anthropologist think his tattoos were used for therapeutic treatment and not symbolic like most tribal tattoos. Otzi tattoos were made by fine incisions into which charcoal was rubbed (Demetz). There is very little chance of ever knowing the true reason behind the how or the why of Neanderthal tattooing. It is still very interesting to know their culture felt it an important practice. The remains of an Egyptian priestess named Amunet were discovered by Archaeologists near Thebes in Egypt. Her 4,000 year-old mummified body was tattooed with several lines and dots across her abdomen, thighs, and breasts- similar to those found on Otzi but in different locations. Researchers believe these tattoos were associated with ritualistic religious practices. When tattooing was adopted by Roman soldiers in their foreign fields of battle it again became something different. What started as a mark of camaraderie and identification was later banned by Roman Emperor Constantine around Anno Domini 325. He declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and according to Christian dogma at the time, tattoos were a disfigurement of that made in God's image – similar to present day Islamic belief. The purity of the human body became an integral part of Roman belief and even the use of tattoos as brands for criminals or the condemned became unpopular and vulgar. A description of tattoo techniques and a formula for tattoo ink was found in an ancient transcript named Medicae Artis Principles. The text was written by the sixth century Roman physician Aetius Amidenus and there are some that believe that Aetius copied it from the lost Library of Alexandria. This and other evidence suggests that tattooing existed far earlier in the area than popular belief. M. W. Thomson, a Biblical scholar, suggests that Moses barrowed tattooing from the Arabs and introduced it as a way to memorialize the liberation of Jewish slaves in Egypt. Religious extremism is commonly affiliated with symbolic tattoos and the Crusades were no exception. Crusaders who reached the Holy Land in the 11th and 12th centuries had crosses tattooed on their arms. Some believe the mark of the Jerusalem cross was tattooed simply as a souvenir of their travels. Others believe it was the thought of receiving a Christian burial in the event they died in battle, which led many to mark their bodies permanently. In Anno Domini 787, Pope Hadrian the First forbade the marking of skin. This became a tradition for the popes that followed and the Church continued to prohibit tattooing until the 19th century. Tattooing is almost nonexistent in Christian History because of this and researchers have only speculation and small amounts of evidence to draw conclusions. Despite the efforts of Constantine and the Church, some evidence of the many uses of the tattoo by Christianity still exists today and many present day Christians use tattoos to symbolize their faith. Captain James Cook landed in the Polynesian islands in 1769 and encountered inhabitants with an entirely different view of tattooing. The Polynesian peoples had colonized most of the habitable islands east of Samoa by Anno Domini 1,000 and tattoo styles based on separate unique cultures evolved on each of the island groups. Some of the inhabitants believed that a person's manna, their spiritual power or life force, is displayed through their tattoo. Others such as the warrior class in Hawaii and the Marquesas Islands used the tattoo as a form of camouflage. Traditional Hawaiian tattoo art, known as ‘kakau’, was used to guard ones health and spiritual well-being. Intricate patterns of natural forms were tattooed across the arms, legs, torso and face. Some of them were worn for decoration and merit. The traditional island tattoos of today are symbolic of this heritage and embellishment. Captain Cook’s encounter birthed the rise of naval tattoos. Members of Cook’s crew were the first European sailors to acquire Polynesian tattoos and soon the British Navy had sailors returning home with permanent souvenirs of their travels to distant lands. Unlike the Romans, sailors and eventually every branch of the military embraced this soon to be tradition. Soon tattoo parlors were present in every European port city. The tattoos ranged from unit identification and shared camaraderie to lucky charms meant to save them from alcohol and complex relationships. Modern day military tattoos are a traditional form of pride for members of the armed services. Tattoos are controversial, symbolic and significant. Tattoos have been used throughout history by many different cultures. They have maintained a status in present day history for many different people for many different reasons. A variety of people view a tattoo as a sin, disgrace, or just plain tacky to have on the human body. Churches throughout history and cultures have used tattoos as scapegoats, for sinner’s actions. The churches have also used them in certain religious practices. Cultures throughout the world, in past and present times, have had multiple meaning associated with the various types of tattoo designs. Depending on the tattoos location on the body, pattern, and/or sex of the person, can signify different skills, Statius, and or the titles held in certain tribes around the world. In modern day western cultures, many people have decided to get a tattoo to signify a specific memory, as tribute to a love one who has passed, and/or just because they like the design of the tattoo. It’s a person’s own perspective to look inside one’s self and choose to see the beauty within the art of a tattoo. Whether people see tattoos as a sin or a work of art, Tattoos have earned their place in history. Works Cited â€Å"Tattoo. † Word Histories and Mysteries. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. Credo Reference. Web. 20 February 2011. â€Å"The Ancient and Mysterious History. History & Archaeology. Cate Lineberry. Smithsonian, 01 January 2007. Web. 20 February 2011. â€Å"Painted Past: Borneo’s Traditional Tattoos. † National Geographic Channel. Sharon Guynup. June 18, 2004. Web. 21 February 2011. â€Å"Tattoos-From Taboo to Mainstream. † National Geographic News. Brian Handwerk. October 11, 2002. Web. 25 February 2011. â€Å"The G uide. † Stefan Demetz, The South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, 1998. â€Å"History of Tattoos – Tribal Tattoos – Tattoos Today. † Freetattoodesigns. org. Web. 20 February 2011. â€Å"Tattoo History – India. † Tattoojoy. com. Web. 20 February 2011.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Variable Costs

Assignment: Fixed cost Dora McKinney Hsm/260 Week 4 Instructor: Greg O’Donnell Fixed Costs, Variable Costs, and Break-Even Point Exercise 10. 1 Month Meals Served Total Costs July 3,500 $20,500Low August 4,000 22,600 September 4,200 23,350 October 4,600 24,500 November 4,700 25,000 December 4,900 26,000High In dealing with step 1-The difference in service volume between high-low periods is (4,900-3,500) 1,400 meals. In dealing with step 2-The difference in costs between the high-low period is ($26,000-20,500) $5,500. In dealing with step 3-The variable cost is now computed.The cost difference $5,500 is divided by the service volume of 1,400. The variable cost per unit of service is $3. 93. In dealing with step 4-Total variable costs are now computed. In the low time period the number of meals provided is 3,500. The service volume is then multiplied by the cost per unit of $3. 93. The total variable cost for the low month is $13,755. The same is done to figure the total variabl e costs for the high month 4,900 ? $3. 93 = $19,257. In dealing with step 5-Total fixed costs for the low period are now computed. The total program cost for the low month is $20,500.If the variable costs ($13,755) are subtracted from the total costs ($20,500) the remaining amount is the fixed cost at $6,745. If the same is done for the high month ($26,000 – 19,257) the fixed cost is $6,743. In dealing with step 6-The break-even point is ready to be inputed using the BEP formula and steps 1-5. The contracted service price with the City of Westchester for 45,000 meals is $5. 77. The variable costs per meal is $3. 93 per meal, but will earn $5. 77. The difference between the variable cost per meal and the revenue per meal is 5. 7X = 6745 + 3. 93X is $1. 84 per meal. This leaves 3,666 which is the monthly BEP. Then 3,666 ? 12 = 43,992 is the fiscal year BEP. The WHDM needs to provide 43,992 meals during the fiscal year to reach the BEP. The difference between the contracted meal s 45,000 and the BEP 43,992 is 1,008. The potential profit is 1,008 meals ? $1. 84 a total profit of $1,855. Exercise 10. 2 The newsletter yearly salary coordinator is $6,000 and the assistant total is $3,900 for both of $9,900 a fixed cost. The unit cost of preparing, printing and the mailing is $4. 0 for the period of six bimonthly issues is $4. 50 this is a variable cost. This newsletter is now $20 per annual yearly subscription. This information plus the BEP formula is used to add and complete the BEP. 20X = 9,900 + 4. 50X 15. 50X = 9,900 X = 639 In dealing with the BEP, I believe it will be 639. The new BEP is a acceptable solution because joined with the newsletter coordinator and with the corporation of handling up to the amount of 650 subscriber’s. There also is an amount of 11 subscribers that is able to subtracting the BEP Dora mckinney [email  protected] com

In the Early Hours by Khurram Murad

In the Early Hours: Reflections on Spiritual and Self Development (Khurram Murad) Preface THE title of this book, In the Early Hours, has been carefully and specifically chosen to highlight that precious but often neglected time during the night that Allah is closest and most receptive to His servants. The Messenger of God said: Our Lord descends each night to the nearest Heaven when only the last third of the night remains, and says: `Is anyone praying that I may answer him? Is anyone seeking forgiveness, that I may forgive him? Is anyone asking, that I may give to him? ‘, and this continues until dawn. (Tirmidhi. The later part of each night is the most conducive period for reflection and self development. It is the occasion with the most potential for the heart to be present, alert and free of worldly concerns as the Quran declares: Lo! The vigil of the night is [a time] when impression is more keen and speech more certain. [al-Muzzammil 73:6. ] This book is a collection of inspirational advice by a dear and beloved teacher, Ustadh Khurram Murad on the subject of spiritual and self development. In it he sets out the goal of the Believer- the single-minded desire to seek the good pleasure of Allah and Paradise.He then outlines the methods and instruments which must be used in the attainment of that ultimate goal. These spiritual exhortations that follow were originally delivered in those early hours of Summer 1993 just after Salat al-Fajr as part of a course entitled Self Development for Islamic Workers at The Islamic Foundation, Leicester. That course represented one of many similar courses Ustadh Khurram conducted for young Muslims, both male and female. He recognised that it was in the young generation's eagerness, strength and enthusiasm that the future of the Muslim Umma lay.Each of the seven sections in this book represents one Nasiha or Advice. Each Nasiha was delivered in a presentation of approximately 45 minutes. This time allotment was not, o f course, sufficient for Ustadh Khurram to discuss the subjects in detail. I have therefore drawn material from several of his other speeches and works for `thoroughness', coherence and to provide clarity on the topics discussed. I have also added Quran and hadith references wherever I felt they were relevant and added to the richness of the text.Only Allah knows how close I have come to making clear the Message of the Quran and the Sunna as expressed by Ustadh Khurram. Let me emphasise that this book merely represents an introduction to spiritual and self development. I hope that each of the topics exposed here will lead you to further study so that you can continue to grow and progress along the path of attaining closeness to Allah, our Lord and Master. A selection of suggested readings is given at the end of this text to assist in further study. The task of preparing this text has certainly been a challenge for me, but one, which I have enjoyed and benefited from immensely.I am g rateful to Muhammad Abdul Aziz, Alyasa Abdullah, Asim Abdullah, Sharifa Abdullah, Fazeela Mollick, Wajid Mollick, Hashim Mohammed and Lucy Bushill-Matthews who all read the manuscript and offered valuable comments and advice during the initial phase of this text's preparation. My deepest appreciation, however, goes to Abdul Wahid Hamid, whose literary skills, advice and motivation were instrumental in finalising this work Ultimately, though, any mistakes this book contains are my own – may Allah forgive me and have mercy on me.Whatever good is derived from it, all praise is due to Him, for without His help and guidance, nothing is possible. I would like to end with a dua or supplication of the Prophet which epitomises the sole objective of this work and our goal in life: O Allah, You change hearts, so change our hearts to be obedient to You. (Muslim. ) Riza Mohammed Leicester, October 1999 CHAPTER ONE: The Process of Self Development THE path to God is only illuminated when a person recognises the central place of God in his life and strives to develop his self accordingly.The Messenger of God said: If someone wants to know what position he enjoys in the eyes of God, he has only to look at what place he gives to God (in his heart and life. (Hakim) The term nearest in meaning to self development in the Quranic vocabulary is tazkiya. Tazkiya means purification and refers to the cleansing of the human self from all that is unwholesome, undesirable and unwelcome. It also refers to the nurturing and strengthening of all the qualities within the human self that are essential for growth and development, for blossoming and flowering. THE GOAL IN LIFESuccess and happiness in this world and the Hereafter depend on tazkiya, the purification and nurturing of our personality. The Quran states that true success is only reserved for those who seek to purify themselves: Successful indeed is the one who purifies his whole self [ash-Shams 91:9] Our personality comprises not only the physical body but also the mind and the heart, feelings and attitudes, character and behaviour. Proper nurturing and development of these elements of the personality will achieve desirable goals. When goals are desirable, the process of aspiring to, working towards and achieving them also become desirable.This is part of human nature. It is critical, therefore, that we recognise and understand the true nature of our ultimate goal in life. For the Believer, the most coveted goal in life is to seek the good pleasure of Allah and Janna or Paradise. Our Creator has set this goal for us: And surely Paradise – it is the goal [an-Naziat 79: 41]; Indeed the Next abode – it is truly the life! [al-Ankabut 29: 64]; The companions of Paradise – they are the triumphant ones [al-Hashr 59: 20]. Know, however, that attaining the pleasure of Allah takes precedence over seeking Janna but the two are closely connected.Paradise can only be attained through seeking Alla h's pleasure, and when Allah's pleasure is gained, we will indeed be granted Paradise. Reflect upon the following two verses in the Quran: And there is a kind of person who would willingly give up personal interests, seeking Allah's pleasure; and God is Most Compassionate towards His servants. [al-Baqara 2: 207. ] Indeed Allah has purchased from the Believers their lives and their possessions, promising them Paradise, in return. [at-Tawba 9: 111. ] The alternative to attaining Paradise in the Hereafter is to be placed in Jahannam or Hellfire and to receive its punishments.The Quran states: But in the life to come: [it is either] severe suffering, or God's forgiveness and His goodly acceptance. [al-Hadid 57: 20. ] What is it that makes a person deserving of such a suffering? The answer is to be found in the second part of the same verse: for the life of this world is nothing but an enjoyment of self-delusion [al-Hadid 57: 20. ] Jahannam therefore, is for those who seek as their ultim ate goal in life, not the pleasure of Allah or Paradise, but the enjoyment of worldly gains. The pursuit of worldly gain is but a mirage. All worldly gains are left behind when you die.All that is on earth is bound to perish while Allah and His good favour will remain forever. It is for this reason that the Queen advises: Vie with one another in seeking to attain to your Sustainer's forgiveness; and to a Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, which has been readied for those who have attained to faith in God and His messengers: such is the bounty of Allah which He grants unto whomever He wills -for Allah is limitless in His great bounty. [al-Hadid 57: 21. ] All your efforts in this world should therefore be focused only on seeking Paradise. It is the Promise of the Almighty that:You will only be rewarded fully for all your good deeds on the Day of Resurrection, and [on that Day] whoever will be drawn away from Hellfire, and admitted into Paradise, will indeed have triumphed [Ali Imran 3:185. ] THE FIRST STEP TO PARADISE The first step in self development, then, is to concentrate single-mindedly on Paradise. Indeed, the one who is unsure of his destiny in life, torn between this world and the Next, like one standing with his feet in two separate boats – will be thrown off balance. Many of the difficulties that we face are due to this lack of commitment and inability to focus on the real and ultimate goal.If you can keep your focus on Janna, then everything else will be possible. The selection of the ultimate goal of Paradise must be made consciously and may involve an absolute break with the past. To choose this new goal as the ultimate goal in one's life is in fact to choose a new life, to begin a new journey. Embark on this new journey by refreshing your wudu (ablution) and offering two rakas (units) of Salat or Prayer reminding yourself of all the punishment of Hellfire you have just resolved to avoid at all costs and all the rewards of Paradi se that you will strive to achieve.Remind yourself also of the important stations and landmarks on the journey; imagine death as near; imagine the moment when the Angel of Death will declare, `your time is over, now you must follow me'; imagine that moment when you will be made to stand in the presence of Allah, Most High, so that the final judgment of life may be passed on you and imagine the consequences of that judgment. When you have completed the two rakas then resolve once more that all efforts will be directed towards achieving Paradise, beseech Allah and pray with humility: O Allah, I ask for Your mercy and whatever brings me closer to it, in word and deed.O Allah, I ask for a faith that will never vanish, a blessing that will never diminish, a pleasure that will never abate, and the most elevated position in Paradise distinguished by the companionship of Your Messenger, Muhammad. While improvement in your habits and actions is a life-long process, the desire to achieve it c an thus be sparked in a moment. This desire will provide the momentum for attaining your goal – the good pleasure of Allah and Paradise. YOUR MISSION Having taken the fast step and resolved to attain Paradise, you may ask yourself, what does Allah require from me in order for me to succeed?What Allah requires of you, in Quranic vocabulary, is for you to be a mumin and mujahid. A mumin is one who is true and firm in his faith in God. A mujahid is one who strives his utmost, with all the means at his disposal, to gain God's pleasure. If you are a mumin and a mujahid, Allah, the Most Exalted in Power and yet the Most Compassionate, will assist you to rise to higher stations both in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah has promised this to those who possess the qualities of iman or faith and the active resolve for jihad or struggle.The Quran states: The believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Apostle then they doubt not and struggle hard with their wealth and thei r lives in the way of Allah; they are the truthful ones. [al-Hujurat 49:15] You now have a mission: to become a mumin and mujahid. As you embark upon this mission you may come to feel that your knowledge of Islam is somewhat limited or perhaps that you are unable to attain those heights of submission and purification that you desire or others expect of you. This is only natural. You must not, however, allow these feelings of personal shortcomings to undermine your efforts to practise Islam.Remember that Islam is a state of becoming not a state of being. Each day you must strive to improve and better yourself – and you will improve. Tazkiya or this new programme for self-improvement that you now find yourself in, is a process that unfolds itself step by step. You cannot expect to change all at once. This is against the laws of nature. The Prophet was always aware of this when he was dealing with his Companions. Whenever someone embraced Islam, the Prophet would not ask that pe rson to do everything immediately.Instead, he would teach and expect that person to start fulfilling his obligations only as much as he could bear at a time. This gradual process of change is also clearly reflected in the manner in which the Quran was revealed over a period of 23 years. In all your efforts towards becoming a better Believer, you must bear in mind this principle of gradualism, otherwise you may try to attain the impossible, and when you do not achieve it, you may become frustrated. At this stage, what matters most is that your bargain with Allah, iman, remains sound and firm.This definition of iman is perhaps a little different from the definition you usually hear. It is, however, a definition that we find in the Quran [at-Tawba 9: 111]. Furthermore, attainment of such iman, allows you to be counted among the true and sincere servants in the eyes of your Lord. The Quran states: Behold, God has bought of the Believers their lives and their possessions, promising them Paradise in return, they fight in God's cause, and slay, and are slain: a promise which in truth He has willed upon Himself in the Tawra, and the Injil, and the Quran.And who could be more faithful to his covenant than God? [at-Tawba 9: 111] Once you have committed yourself to Allah, all that you have must be spent in His way. This is the ideal. Ideals, however, are always difficult to achieve – and this you must understand and accept. Ideals are always to be pursued; if they are easily and always achievable, they can hardly remain as ideals. Keeping to your side of the bargain then, is an ideal that you must always seek to maintain. It is this seeking and this striving to spend all that we have in the way of Allah that is known as jihad nd alternatively, in this instance, as tazkiya. PREREQUISITES OF TAZKIYA As you proceed on your journey along the new path, in quest of the ultimate goal of Paradise, you will encounter difficulties and hardships. These may often seem insurmo untable. Overcoming them may be made easier by a good early grasp of the prerequisites of tazkiya. These are as follows: 1. Tazkiya -Your Personal Responsibility You must accept that tazkiya is a highly personal process and that it demands taking personal responsibility for carrying it forward.You can only see the results of tazkiya through your own realisation, your own personal efforts and your own exertions. No one else can perform tazkiya for you. No organisation, no leader and no teacher can replace your own responsibility. God says: And no bearer of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden; and if one weighed down by his load calls upon [another] to help bear carry it nothing thereof may be carried [by that other], even if it be one's near of kin. [al-Fatir;5:18 ] This sense of personal responsibility is basic to the whole purpose and approach of Islam.Ultimately, we are judged individually for discharging our own responsibilities. If someone else fulfils your obligation s, then it should be he that is rewarded, not you. To be rewarded you must do what is expected of you by Allah by yourself: Whoever strives hard in God's cause does so only for his own good: for, verily, God does not stand in need of anything in all the worlds! And as for those who attain to faith and do righteous deeds, We shall most certainly efface their bad deeds, and shall most certainly reward them in accordance with the best that they ever did. al-Ankabut 29: 6-7. ] Some people allow themselves to be dictated by others. The Quran states that the weak will say on the Day of judgment that they were coerced into following the dictates of others, but that Allah will reply that the excuse is not legitimate for the decision to deviate from the Straight Path was their own. [Qaf 50: 26-28]. Even Shaytan will stand up on the Day of Judgment saying: ‘I invited you and you responded to me, so don't blame me, blame yourselves. [Ibrahim 14: 22] Ultimately, then, the blame and the re ward will be yours, because the responsibility was yours: On that Day all people will come forward, cut off from one another, to be shown their deeds. And so, he who shall have done an atom's weight of good, shall behold it; and he who shall have done an atom's weight of evil, shall behold it. [az-Zalzala 99: 6-8. ] Taking charge of your own affairs may certainly seem a daunting task, but one which you will accomplish with distinction if you appreciate and take advantage of the tremendous human potential that Allah has blessed you with.Allah says in the Quran: Verily, We created man in the best conformation, and thereafter We reduced him to the lowest of the low – excepting only such as attain to faith and do good works: and theirs shall be a reward unending! [at Tin 95: 4-6. ] Tazkiya does not consist simply of ideas, but of life, behaviour and conduct. The key to success, according to the Quran, lies in having true faith. To inculcate true faith you must start by acquiring a sound knowledge of Islam through a dedicated study of the Quran and Sunna.You must then translate your knowledge into practice. For this to occur, you need to have firm resolve and determination. This, in turn, will produce amal salih or righteous conduct. To aid you in your task, you must seek the company of those who are also striving to please Allah. They will encourage you towards righteousness and correct you when you deviate from the true Path. Your company also includes your mental and psychological company- the ideas you entertain, the ambitions you nurture, the sensitivities and sensibilities you develop and the books you read.All of these represent a form of company because they are your companions in solitude. 2. Genuine Effort In order to succeed, you must have a deep desire to make a genuine effort to fulfill your obligations as a Muslim: But as for those who strive hard in Our cause – We shall most certainly guide them onto paths that lead unto Us: for, behold God is indeed with the doers of good. [al-Ankabut 29: 69. ] With desire, of course, come actions. But know that it is not solely the results of your endeavours that count; what matters most is that you made your best effort.This is a very important point to appreciate because without genuine effort nothing can happen. Those who think that Prayer alone can work miracles are not living in a realistic world. Prayers are part of the effort, but Prayers are not the whole answer. If you pray, `Allah! Guide me and make me good', it is not going to bring you any benefit unless you are also determined to become good and make an effort towards becoming good. Once you have done the latter two things, then, of course, Prayer will be a source of baraka or Divine grace that will further inspire and strengthen your efforts.The initial desire and the ensuing effort to do and become good, is part of the continuing process of self development, a process that may begin at any point in life that you c hoose and continue till your last breath: O you who have attained to faith! Be conscious of Allah with all the consciousness that is due to Him, and do not allow, death to overtake you until you have surrendered yourselves unto Him. [Ali Imran 3: 102. ] There will never be a point when you will be able to say that you are now a perfect person or that you have achieved your full potential.If at any point you feel so, then be sure that is the starting point of your downfall, On the other hand, you may find that the greater your desire to fulfill your obligations as a Muslim, the more you feel beset or plagued by frustration, despondency and despair in your heart and mind. All of us, whether young or old, have experienced these diseases, and often just give up. What we should try to remember at such times is that it is the intention and effort that matters, not the result. This effort must be a continuing process: Be not, then, faint of heart, and grieve not: for you are bound to rise high if you are believers. Ali Imran 3: 139] 3. Sustaining Willpower To achieve the ultimate goal in life requires a sustained determination to do so, a willpower that is forever responsive and strong. In Quranic terminology this is called irada. Irada is basic to all our efforts. Without willing to do something you cannot do anything. Irada is very different from desire. You always hear people reflecting upon unfulfilled aspirations. One of the main reasons why aspirations and dreams remain unfulfilled is that they are no more than desires which faded to assume the status of irada.The Quran explains that one of the basic weaknesses in human nature which impedes self development is the weakness of will. While narrating the story of Adam, Allah informs: And, indeed, long ago We made Our covenant with Adam; but he forgot and We found no firmness of purpose in him. [Ta Ha 20:115] Irada requires strength and consistency and is indeed the antithesis of doubt, hesitation or lethargy. Once irada is firmly in place, then you must have no doubts and you must not hesitate. Now, what purpose should irada serve?The Quran makes it clear that this will power must be a firm resolve to seek the pleasure of Allah because this is the part of the bargain that you must deliver: And whoever desires [arada] the Life to Come, and strive for it as it ought to be striven for, and are [true] Believers withal-they are the ones whose striving finds favour [with God]. [al-Isra 17: 19] 4. Reliance on Allah Self-confidence is borne from the Believer's intimate knowledge and understanding that Allah is ever ready to assist those who strive and struggle in His way.Self-confidence comes from depending upon Allah and knowing that He is there to help you, protect you and shower His mercies upon you: So he who gives [in charity] and fears [Allah] and [in all sincerity] testifies to the best- We will indeed make smooth for him the path to Bliss. [al-Layl 92: 5-7. ] Self-confidence also emanates fr om knowing that Allah in His infinite mercy has equipped you with all that you require to undertake the tasks set before you. It is not characteristic of the One that is Most Just and Most Merciful to prepare you for a duel without equipping you with the necessary tools.Self-confidence is thus borne of total reliance and trust in Allah. It is knowing that at every step of your journey Allah is there assisting you. If you constantly hold yourself back believing that you are weak and incapable and blame your incompetence on minor inadequacies, then you are bound to fail. You must never allow yourself to believe or feel that Allah has treated you unfairly or that He has placed upon you a burden you cannot shoulder for on no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. [al-Baqara 2:286. ] Likewise, hope is central to your efforts and your success.You must sincerely hope and believe that everything you do to earn the pleasure of Allah will lead you to fulfillment. A superiori ty complex negates the task of self development. An inferiority complex is derived from a lack of confidence in Allah and oneself. You should never allow yourself to believe that you cannot fulfill your obligations nor should you despair of the mercy of Allah. Confidence, hope and determination are all important ingredients for your success: Those unto whom men said: Lo! the people have gathered against you, therefore fear them. But it only increased them in faith and they cried..Allah is sufficient for us! Most Excellent is He in Whom we trust! [Ali Imran 3: 173-174] You must be wary, however, of the kind of self-confidence that causes a person to proclaim himself self-sufficient. Modern concepts of self sufficiency are indeed an evil form of shirk or polytheism. To ascribe self-sufficiency to one's self is to assume for oneself an attribute reserved only for Allah. For the Muslim, self-confidence is wholly dependent upon the trust one places in Allah; it is not an arrogant proclam ation of complete independence from Allah. Allah alone is self-Sufficient.All else is reliant upon Him for existence. 5. The Best Use of Time Time is not money or gold; it is life and it is limited. You must begin to appreciate every moment of your life and always strive to make the best use of it. With all the demands of worldly life on your time, you will yet need to find time for self-development and maximise its potential. The better route towards self-development is, of course, to integrate all your efforts into a structured daily life. Imam al-Ghazali, may God have mercy on him, in his great work, Ihya Ulum ad Din, gives the following dvice: You should structure your time, arrange your regular devotions and assign to each function a set period of time during which it is given first priority but which it does not overstep. For if you abandon yourself to neglect and purposelessness, as cattle do, and just do anything that may occur to you at any time it happens to occur to you, most of your time will be wasted. Your time is your life, and your life is your capital; it is the basis of your transactions [with God], and the means to attain to everlasting felicity, in the proximity of God the Exalted.Each of your breaths is a priceless jewel, and when it passes away it never returns. Remember also that `the deeds most loved by Allah [are those] done regularly, even if they are few. ‘ (Bukhari, Muslim. ) While you must always strive to make the best use of your time, you must always aim for excellence in everything you undertake, whether at school, at home, at work or at play. Indeed, the Prophet has said, `Verily Allah has prescribed ihsan (proficiency and excellence) in all things. (Muslim. ) 6. Tazkiya -All-embracing Process.Islam does not subscribe to the type of asceticism where we purify our hearts and yet remain immersed in political, economic or social corruption. Tazkiya must encompass our entire life – the privacy of our thoughts as well as their social manifestations in our daily life. Everything must be in conformity with Allah's will. This will of God also requires you to seek and maintain a delicate balance between the various obligations that demand your attention; between your obligations to Allah, your obligations towards others and your obligations towards yourself The Prophet advised us against extremism of any kind.It is reported that he said to Abdullah ibn Amr: `Have I heard right that you fast everyday and stand in prayer all night? ‘ Abdullah replied, `Yes, O Messenger of God. ‘ The Prophet said, `Do not do that. Fast, as well as eat and drink. Stand in prayer, as well as sleep. For your body has a right upon you, your eyes have a right upon you, your wife has a right upon you, and your guest has a right upon you. ‘ (Bukhari, Muslim. ) Unless you approach tazkiya as an all-embracing process, you will find that your life is compartmentalized, certain parts impeding the development of o thers.This can only result in a life of disharmony and unhappiness. Approached as a comprehensive and all-embracing process, however, you will find that each part of your life will complement some other part. This should, God willing, make your struggle on the path to God and Janna, easier and full of grace. As you struggle to make headway on the path to God, always remember that you have an excellent example before you. This is the example of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace.Often we would like to emulate our sports heroes, our parents, our teachers, our friends or others who attract our attention. For your spiritual development, however, the most beautiful example is that of the Prophet. Allah says in the Quran: You have, indeed, in the Messenger of God an excellent exemplar, whoever places his hopes in God and the Final Days and who remembers Allah much. [al-Ahzab 33: 21] BLESSINGS AND BENEFITS The decision to purify and develop yourself requires that y ou clearly define the path and consider the ways and means to achieve Paradise.This whole process will not only purify your heart, but also affect your entire life and the will of Allah will become so much easier for you to follow. Following the Divine Will is, of course, tazkiya itself, Soon, all your efforts will be directed towards the ultimate goal – the pleasure of Allah and Paradise. Know that every sin can be effaced through forgiveness, and forgiveness is a sure way to Paradise. As you strive to better yourself, then, simultaneously and continuously pray for forgiveness for all your shortcomings.God says: And whoever repents and believes and works righteous deeds, God changes evil deeds into good ones, and God is Ever-Forgiving, Merciful. [al-Furqan 25:70] It is a misconception to believe that simply by setting up Paradise as the ultimate goal, one can get there without any further effort. It is also a misconception that Paradise can solely be achieved by concentratin g only on certain aspects of life, the `religious and the spiritual'. The very fact that Paradise is the ultimate objective means that tazkiya must be pursued in all aspects of life, and in life as a whole.Consider, for example, the following: -Is not honesty a means to enter Paradise? -Will not a sense of responsibility enable me to enter Paradise? -Will not striving to fulfill the needs of fellow human beings make me deserve Paradise? -Will not abstaining from vain talk and aimless actions, bring me closer to Paradise? -Is not consciousness of the best use of my time a key to Paradise? -Will not keeping promises and offering Salat on time, which are distinguishing traits of the righteous, put me on the highway to Paradise? -Must not all of the above be sought to attain Paradise?Every effort that is legitimate and is aimed at attaining Paradise is also an integral part of the process of tazkiya Insha Allah (God-willing), if you take heed of all the prerequisites, blessings and bene fits of tazkiya, you will surely find the right environment, the true companionship and brotherhood and the most appropriate training programmes to make the task of self development easier and more rewarding. So give the good news to My servants who listen to the word [of God], then follow the beauty in it. Such are they whom God has guided And such are they who are endowed with understanding. azZumar 39: 17-18. ] SUMMARY The most comprehensive goal for a Muslim is the single-minded desire to attain Paradise. This desire to seek Paradise is a life-long process which can be sparked in a moment- and this desire will provide the means and the momentum to reach the goal. Your model for self-development is that of the Prophet Muhammad. In your quest for Paradise, you must personally take charge of your responsibilities, develop the willpower to perform and make a genuine effort to fulfill your obligations, ensure that you make the best use of your time and adopt a balanced approach to li fe.Remember that every effort that is legitimate and is aimed at attaining Paradise is also an integral part of the process of tazkiya and that every sin can be effaced through forgii&H §ss – and that forgiveness is the sure way to Paradise. And as for the one who fears to stand before his Lord and who restrains himself from base desires, the Garden is surely the abode. [an-Naziat 79: 40-41] May Allah enable us to be among those who purify themselves for it is God Who causes whomever He wills to grow in purity; and none shall be wronged by as much as a hair's breath [an-Nisa 4: 49].Were it not for God's favour upon you and His grace, not one of you would ever have remained pure. For it is God who causes whomever He wills to grow in purity: for God is all-Hearing all-Knowing [anNur 24: 21. ] CHAPTER TWO: A Life of Remembrance IN a verse of the Quran that I love very much, Allah, Most Gracious and Loving, commends: Remember Me and I shall remember you. Be grateful unto Me and deny Me not. [al-Baqara 2:152. ] Can you imagine a more gratifying state than this, where, when you remember Allah, the Creator, Sustainer and Lord of the Universe, He remembers you in return?The same exhortation has been beautifully conveyed in a hadith qudsi: I treat My servant as he hopes that I would treat him. I am with him whenever he remembers Me: if he remembers Me in his heart, I remember him in My `heart'; if he remembers Me in a gathering, I remember him in a gathering far better than that gathering; if he draws near to Me a hand's span, I draw near to him an arm's length; if he draws near to Me an arm's length, I draw near to him a fathom's length; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running. Bukhari, Muslim) Those who remember Allah standing, sitting and reclining and who reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth are highly commended in the Noble Quran. They are wise in that they fill their hearts with the remembrance of God in every, moment, in every circumstance and in every posture of their lives. [Ali Imran 3: 191] The exhortation to remember Allah at all times is a reflection of Allah's all-embracing and overwhelming love for us. The door to Allah is always open to us: Remember Me and 1 will remember you.We need only find our way to and through that door. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DHIKR Regarding the significance of dhikrullah or the remembrance of God, Allah says in the Quran, itself the ultimate reminder (dhikr) to all the worlds [Sad 38: 87], the following: Remember Allah. for He has guided you. [al-Baqara 2:198. ] O you who believe! Remember Allah often with much remembrance. And glorify Him morning and evening. [Luqman 31: 41-42. ] And men who remember God much and women who remember – God has prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward. [al-Ahzab 33: 35 ]Hadith literature is similarly replete with references to the remembrance of Allah: The servant cannot perform a better deed which will save him from God's punis hment than the remembrance of God. (Malik. ) Whoever wishes to feast in the gardens of Paradise, let him remember God often. (Tirmidhi. ) Indeed, with regard to dhikr, the Quran concludes: And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest deed without doubt. [al-Ankabut 29:45] The significance of dhikr lies in the fact that it is God's own chosen and recommended mode by which the muminun or Believers show gratitude for having been shown the straight path.In addition, it is indeed the surest way of attaining God's forgiveness and achieving the ultimate reward of Paradise. The importance of dhikr then is not difficult to understand. It is dhikr that purifies your qalb or heart and makes it sound. And you can only attain salvation and true success by having a pure and sound heart. The qalb or `heart' referred to here is not the pump in your breast that pushes blood around your body but rather the centre or locus of your personality which pumps out your desires and motivations and which make s you conduct yourself as you do.It is this qalb that lies at your centre and dictates your actions which is the key to your ultimate success. Thus, with reference to the Day of Judgment, the Quran declares: [It will be a Day) when neither wealth nor children shall profit [and when] only he [will be saved] who comes before God with a sound heart [free of evil]. [ash-Shuara 26:88-89. ] This point is more elaborately made in a hadith in which the Prophet says: Listen [to me] carefully. There is a lump of flesh in the body – if it is set right and made good, the entire body becomes good and healthy; but if it becomes diseased, the entire body becomes diseased.Remember well – it is the Heart. (Bukhari. ) If the heart is the key to ultimate salvation and success, it may, likewise, be the seat of much corruption and open doors to many evils. It may facilitate the corruption of political and economic activities and ultimately the social institutions of a society. Where such a state prevails, the Quran suggests that it is because people, individually, have become diseased in their hearts. [al-Baqara 2:10. ] In this state, people stop seeing and doing what is right. The Quran explains that this is not because they have become blind in their eyes but because their hearts have become blind. al-Hajj 22: 46. ] This blindness only draws them nearer to the ultimate chastisement. It is the heart, as the decider of our ultimate fate, that must then be the starting point of any tazkiya programme, to purify this heart and then summon it to the service of mankind. Ibn al-Qayyim, one of the great scholars of Islam, states in his Kitab al Adhkar (The Book of Remembrance), that ‘the heart which is devoid of the remembrance of Allah is a heart that is dead'; it is dead even and long before the body carrying the heart reaches its grave. Indeed, this living body that carries the heart is the heart's grave.Ibn al-Qayyim's statement is reminiscent of the hadith of tir e Prophet which states: `The difference between someone who remembers His Lord and someone who does not is like the difference between the living and the dead. ‘ (Bukhari. ) The statement is also reminiscent of the following verse of the Quran: Do not become like those who forget Allah and Allah makes them forget themselves. It is they who are truly deprived. [al-Hashr 59:19. ] The purpose of tazkiya is to ensure that the heart never falls into a sorry state of being and that it is always alive with the remembrance of God.Prosperous indeed is one who purifies himself and remembers the name of His Guardian-Lord, and prays [unto Him]. [al-Ala 87: 14-15. ] The Prophet further emphasised the importance of dhikr when he said to his Companions: ‘Shall I not inform you of the best of your actions, the purest in the sight of your Lord, which raises your rank to the highest, which is better for you than spending gold and silver, better than meeting your enemy so that you strike a t their necks and they strike at yours? ‘ They replied: ‘Yes, indeed,' and he said: ‘It is the remembrance of Allah. ‘ (Tirmidhi. )Strive then, to fill all your moments, all your thoughts and all your actions with His remembrance. Recite tasbih or words of glorification and praise to punctuate all your actions and achievements. THE MEANING OF DHIKR What is the precise meaning of ‘dhikr'? What is its scope and what does it entail? Does it simply involve certain utterances of the tongue, like Subhanallah (I glorify Allah's absolute perfection), Alhamdu lillah (All praise be to Allah), Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest), La ilaha illallah (There is no god but Allah) and the recitation of some other selected verses of the Quran, or is there more to it?Of course, such utterances of the tongue and recitation of verses of the Quran are important. In fact they are very important forms of dhikr for, indeed, the best forms of remembrance are those that involve both the heart and the tongue. You must understand, however, that the scope of dhikr is considerably wider. Dhikr must not only be felt by the heart and uttered with the tongue, but must also affect and effect amal salih, or good deeds.Significantly, Ibn al-Qayyim suggests that dhikr encompasses `any and every particular moment when you are thinking, saying or doing things which Allah likes: Hence, if your conversation is filled with the words of God, this is dhikr and if all your actions are in accordance with His will, this is dhikr. Indeed Allah commends that we remember Him while standing, sitting and even while reclining. This is only possible if dhikr embraces every single aspect of life. Consider for example the following verse of the Quran where dhikr is emphasised in both Prayer and business activity:O Believers, when the call to Payer is sounded on the Day of Congregation, hasten to Allah's remembrance and leave all worldly commerce. This a for your own good, if you but kn ew . And when the Prayer it finished then disperse through the land, and seek of the bounty of Allah; and remember Allah frequently that you may prosper. [al-Jumua 62:9-10] Attending the Salat al-jumua, listening to the khutba or sermon and performing the congregational Prayer are all well known as forms of dhikr. But in our worldly pursuits as well we are urged to remember Allah even more often.We may thus conclude, that attending to your personal needs, earning a livelihood and spending on your family are all forms of dhikr. But of course, they can only be dhikr if, alongside with the relevant adhkar or supplications in the heart and on the tongue, they are done in obedience to Allah, for His pleasure, to attain Janna. Otherwise, as the Quran warns us, far from being dhikr, they may have the opposite effect: Let not your worldly possessions and your children make you neglectful of Allah's remembrance. But spend in the way of Allah. [al-Munafiqun 63:9-10. THE METHODS OF DHIKR We ha ve thus far discussed the significance, meaning and scope of dhikr. Let us now turn to the various forms and methods of dhikr. How do we remember Allah in the morning and evening, during the day and at night and while standing, sitting or reclining. ‘ There are basically two forms of dhikr. The first involves continuous and sustained inner awareness of Allah in all that we say and do in our daily lives. The second involves mechanisms, whether performed individually or collectively, that help to develop the first. 1.Sustained Awareness of Allah Let us begin with a discussion of the first form and its methods. How can you remember Allah throughout the normal course of your day without withdrawing from the routine of your daily worldly life? How can you ensure that your personal life, family life, professional life and other activities all continue in full swing, and yet, at the same time, ensure that your life as a whole – every moment of it – is permeated with rem embrance of Allah? Such an all-pervading dhikr can be an onerous task, but one you can accomplish – with some ease.Let me remind you of four states of consciousness that you must strive to develop by remembering certain things, absorbing them and reminding yourself of them often. ONE: Say to yourself: I am in Allah's presence; He is watching me. : Say to yourself: I am in Allah's presence; He is watching me. If ever you are alone, He is the second and that if you are two, He is the third. He is with you wherever you are. [al-Mujadala 58: 7. ] He is nearer to you than your-jugular vein. [Qaf 50: 16-18. ] He is watching everything that you do and hearing everything that you say. He is ever present and His knowledge is all encompassing.Remind yourself of this as often as you can, and throughout the day- every time you begin a new task, and every time you speak. Indeed, your aim should be to impress this on your heart in such a way that it ultimately becomes your very breath. Whe n the Prophet was asked by a Companion about the best method of purifying himself, he replied: `You should always remember that Allah is with you wherever you are. ‘ (Tirmidhi. ) TWO: Say to yourself: Everything I have has been given to me by Allah. All that there is – surrounding you, on you and in you – comes from Allah alone.There is none that creates or gives anything but Allah. [an-Nahl 16:78; Ya Sin 36:33-35. ] Therefore, reflect upon all the baraka or blessing that He has created you with and be thankful to Him. In all the adhkar that the Prophet has taught us, hamd or gratefulness to Allah is a constant theme. Many of these adhkar are simple to learn, and indeed, it was the most simple of his adhkar that he used most frequently. When the Prophet rose in the morning, he would say Alhamdu lillah; whenever he ate or drank he would say Alhamdu lillah; and even when he relieved himself he would give thanks to Allah.Learn as many of the adhkar as you can, and t hroughout the day, as you witness all that Allah has blessed you with, punctuate your day with these adhkar. If ever you appear to be short of things to be thankful for, recall the hadith of the Prophet: `There are 360 joints in the body and for each joint you must give a sadaqa [thanks or charity] each day. ‘ (Bukhari. ) You must give a sadaqa for each one of them because without any one of them you will be incomplete and handicapped. You must do this on a daily basis for should any one of them become damaged one day, you will similarly become incapacitated.Additionally, you may remind yourself that, as we now know from our knowledge of human physiology, your heart beats 72 times a minute. Every time it beats, it does so with the permission of Allah. The moment He withdraws that permission, the heart will stop beating and your life will certainly come to an end. If you feel that there is nothing else to thank Allah for, then thank him for the life that He has given you â€⠀œ for, so long as there is life, there is hope. THREE: Say to yourself: Nothing in this world can happen without His permission. Everything lies in the hands of Allah.No harm can befall you and no benefit can reach you except as Allah ordains. It is as the Quran informs us: If God should touch you with misfortune, none can remove it but He, and if He should touch you with good fortune, He has power over all things. He alone holds sway over His creatures; He is the All-wise, the All-aware. [al-Anam 6: 17-18. ] The Prophet Muhammad would supplicate to Allah after each Prayer: O Allah, whatever You want to give me, no one can stop it from coming to me and whatever You want to prevent from coming to me, nobody can give to me.Prayer after Prayer, you should recite these beautiful words. And beyond that, remind yourself as much as you can and throughout the day, especially as you expect something to happen, or not to happen, that everything happens only as He commands, and by His permiss ion. FOUR: Say to yourself: I am going to return to Allah one day and that day could be today. You do not know when you will leave this world. It may be that the coming morning is your last morning, or perhaps the coming evening is your last evening. Indeed, it may be that this hour is your last hour, or even, that this moment is your last moment.Such an uncertainty does not, of course, justify a complete withdrawal from this life so as to prepare for the Next in some monastic fashion. It is important, however, that you are always conscious of this uncertainty, to the extent that it motivates you to spend every moment of your remaining life seriously, considering it as a gift from Allah and spending the resources He has blessed you with – time, ability and energy – as He has advised. Then, and only then, will your life have achieved what is required of it, and your return will achieve what is required of it.To help you attain this state of consciousness, recall and ref lect upon the following Quranic verse as much as you can and throughout the day: from Allah we came and to Him we shall return. [al-Baqara 2:156] These are the four states of consciousness that can help us achieve a life completely devoted to the remembrance of Allah. To try to reach these four states simultaneously, and with sincerity, can only purify you. To try in a determined fashion to reach these four states will lead you inevitably to Paradise. 2. Specific Methods of Dhikr For us to achieve a continuous and sustained awareness of Him, Allah, in His Wisdom and Mercy, has aught us some very specific mechanisms of dhikr. These include: the formal ibada-Salat, Sawm, Zakat and Hajj; tilawa of the Quran, dua, istighfar and tawba, seeking the company of the righteous and dawa. Together these mechanisms or methods constitute what we have classified above as the second form of dhikr, but here we may sub-divide them into two groups: those that can be performed individually and those th at are performed collectively. 3. Methods of Individual Dhikr The foremost of the specific methods pertaining to individual dhikr include the fard or obligatory ibada. Allah has said in a hadith qudsi:My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more loved by Me than what I have made obligatory. (Bukhari. ) Each specific formal ibada or act of servitude to God, has been ordained as an instrument of self development. When we observe our Salat regularly at the proper times, together in congregation whenever possible, with clear intentions and sincerity; when we fast in the month of Ramadan with awareness and resolve; when we give Zakat as soon as it falls due with a generous heart; and when we fulfill the obligations of Hajj as soon as we have the means, we will gain that special closeness to Allah that He has promised.Indeed, we may get even closer to God through additional observance of these specific formal acts of servitude, for Allah continues in the hadith qudsi: My servant continues to draw nearer to Me with additional devotions until I love him. When I love him, I become the hearing with which he hears, the sight with which he sees, the hand with which he strikes and the foot with which he walks. Were he to ask for something I would surely give it, and were he to ask for refuge, I would surely grant him refuge. (Bukhari. ) For each specific fard ibada, there is an additional nafl or superogatory equivalent.These are as follows: -The Sunna Salat – these include the additional Prayers before and after the five obligatory ones, but just as importantly the Tahajjud Prayer. -The Sunna Fasts – as recommended by the Prophet and to be practised on Mondays and Thursdays of each week, the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth day of each lunar calendar month, and other recommended days in the Islamic year. -Sadaqa fi Sabilillah – the giving of voluntary charity, however much and whenever one can afford, for the pleasure of Allah. -The Umra – performance of the voluntary short pilgrimage.In addition to the fard and their related nafl ibada, there are two further specific methods of individual dhikr: the first is the daily recitation of the Quran, and the second, frequent dua or supplications to Allah for forgiveness, guidance and fulfillment of needs. Let us explore each of these specific methods pertaining to individual dhikr in more detail, particularly as instruments of tazkiya and dhikr A. Salat Salat is the foremost form of ibada that Allah Himself has prescribed for us. In His own words He commands: Establish regular Prayer that you may rememberMe. [Ta Ha 20:14. ] The whole purpose of Salat is to be ever conscious of Allah, the Creator, Lord and Sustainer of all things. When we perform Salat we involve our tongue, our heart, our mind and indeed our whole body. In this sense, Salat is indeed, one of the most comprehensive forms of dhikr. It is perhaps for this reason that Allah states in a hadith qudsi: `O ut of all the ways through which My servant gets closer to Me, Salat is the dearest to Me. ‘ (Bukhari. ) It is unfortunate, therefore, that we do not always take full advantage of this gift.We may pray five times each day but few of us remain conscious for long that in Prayer we have the best means to develop a strong connection with Allah. We may compare the obligatory Salat to bathing five times a day. If after such frequent bathing, your body remains dirty, then we may question the usefulness and efficacy of such bathing. Similarly, if after regular observance of Prayer your heart remains unmoved, your morals remain corrupt and your conduct remains unaffected, we may question the usefulness and efficacy of your Prayer?If you enter into Salat and come out of it the same person, then you have missed something, and you may have missed a golden opportunity to achieve something great. Remember, though, Salat is an obligation. Whether your heart is attentive or not, it must be pe rformed. You cannot give up Prayer because to you it appears useless. Don't give up the obligation but try to infuse it with the purpose it seeks to serve – remembrance of Allah. How can you improve the quality of your Salat?Remember, first and foremost, that as soon as you commence your Salat, Shaytan makes it his duty to fill your mind with anything and everything but thoughts of Allah. [al-Araf 7: 16-17. ] For, Shaytan is aware that your remembrance of Allah will draw you closer to Him, so he tries ceaselessly to disengage your mind and heart from such remembrance, so that you may never achieve that closeness. The most important hurdle to overcome from the outset, therefore, is absentmindedness. It is this that destroys the quality of your Prayer, for Allah does not accept the Prayers of a wandering mind.The Prophet Muhammad said: God does not accept the Prayers of an individual until his heart achieves in it what his body has achieved. [Al-Ghazali in Ihya. See Inner Dimen sions of Islamic Worship, Islamic Foundation, Leicester, p. 29. ] The ability to concentrate in Prayer may be improved by undertaking adequate psychological, mental and physical preparation before the Prayer and by utilising certain techniques whilst performing the Prayer. Below we discuss some of them. i. Psychological and Mental Preparation -The planning of your daily activities should revolve around the five daily Salat. al-Ma'arij 70: 22-23. ] Do not plan everything else and then try to fit Prayer into your busy schedule. -Ensure that you are conversant with all the rules and regulations governing your Prayer. Research in depth the Quranic verses and ahadith relating to the virtues of Salat. -Be punctual with your Prayer. [an-Nisa 4:103] Get into the habit of praying at the earliest hour. Do not procrastinate. The Prophet said, `the deed most loved by Allah is Prayer performed on time. ‘ (Muslim. ) -Pray as much of your fard Salat in jama'a or congregation as is possible. al-Baqara 2: 43. ] -Avoid praying in a state in which you are mentally and physically fatigued. [an-Nisa 4: 43] -Rid your mind of all evil thoughts and ideas. [al-Maun 107: 4-6. ] -Keep your mind free of worldly worries and engagements. -Plan what ayat / duas you are going to recite. -If you do not understand Arabic learn the meaning of what you recite in your Prayer. -Remind yourself that engaging in Prayer offers you an opportunity to release yourself from the pressures and tensions of this world. The Prophet has said that in Prayer was placed the comfort of his eyes.Therefore cherish the opportunity to remove the shackles and burdens of this world from your shoulders. [al-Baqara 2: 45. ] -Use your Prayer to remain focused on your mission in life to bring your entire being to serve only Allah. -Use your Prayer as a source of strength, inspiration and enthusiasm for your life and activities. ii. Physical Preparation -Fulfill all your personal needs before you commence your Prayer, for example, thirst, hunger and calls of nature. -Pray in a pure physical state. Perform your wudu with care and perfection. [al-Maida 5: 6. -Although the whole earth is a masjid or a place of worship, choose a place that is clean. -Pray in an environment free of noise and one where there is no distraction. -Adorn yourself with clean and respectable clothes for Allah has said: O Children of Adam, wear your best clothes at every place of worship. [al-Araf 7:31. ] iii. Performing Your Prayer -Assess your mental readiness for Prayer before its commencement, during the various postures with its attendant recitations, after each raka and ultimately at the end- Try to make improvements at each stage Pray with humility both in your mental state and in your physical manner. Pray with hope and awe, asking Allah for His mercy and forgiveness. -Remind yourself continually that you are talking to the most important `Being' in your life – your Creator and Sustainer. He is in front of you. You are facing Him and you are involved in a dialogue with Him. [al-Alaq 96: 19. ] -Commence your Prayer by seeking Allah's help and protection from the influences of Shaytan. [an-Nahl 16: 98. ] -Lower your gaze while praying and do not allow the physical environment to distract you.Anas related that the Prophet said: `My dear son, be sure to avoid being distracted during Prayer, for, to become distracted while praying is a disaster. ‘ (Tabarani. ) -Use a variety of Quranic verses and duas in your Prayer to achieve greater concentration and awareness. -Adopt a whispering technique in your recitation. This will increase your ability to remain focused on what you are saying. [alIsra 17:110. ] -As you recite the Quran, translate it into your own language so that your attention is held. As you concentrate upon the meaning and implications of the words, insha Allah, all thoughts of worldly ideas will disappear. On each occasion that you recite the Sifat or attributes of Allah in r uku and sajda, consider how indebted you are and how grateful you should be to Allah and express your true emotions. -Utilise the occasion of sajda to make additional dua to Allah. The Prophet said: ‘ A servant is nearest to his Lord when he is in sajda, so increase your supplication when in sajda. ‘ (Muslim. ) -Make your Prayer of moderate duration so that you do not become physically and mentally tired but be aware that while in Prayer you must take your time praying. -Give due regard to the proper performance of all the physical postures. Pray as if it is your last Prayer. The Messenger of God said: `When you stand up to pray, perform your prayer as if it were your last, do not say anything you will have to make excuses for tomorrow, and resolve to place no hope in what is in the hands of men. ‘ (Ahmad. ) Performing your prayer in a satisfactory manner should lead to a radical change in the way you lead your daily life. Salat must be as the Quran states: Surely, Salat prevents indecency and evil [alAnkabut 29: 45. ] Your improved and more disciplined life will in turn help the quality of your Prayer to increase even more.The two should feed one another and continuously reinforce each other. Note that there is punishment for a Prayer not performed satisfactorily. It will be a witness against you rather than a witness for you on the Day of Judgment. However, the reward for a Prayer well performed is immeasurable. The Prophet said: `If a man performs two rakas of Salat without the distraction of any worldly thought, all his previous sins will be forgiven. ‘ (Bukhari. ) iv. Tahajjud Salat Even though it is not obligatory, try to establish Tahajjud Salat as part of our nightly activities. The Prophet said: `The best Prayer after the fard Prayer is the night Prayer. ‘ (Muslim. ) One of the characteristics of the Ibadur Rahman or Servants of the Most Merciful, is that they get up at night and perform Tahajjud Salat. [al-Furqan 25: 64] Qiyam al-layl or night vigil is a source of great spiritual energy. The Prophet has said: Keep up qiyam al-layl. It was the way of the virtuous who came before you, it draws you nearer to your Lord, atones for your sins, forbids you from evil and protects the body from sickness. (Tirmidhi. )When a man wakes up his wife at night and they pray two rakas (units) together, they are written down among the men and women who remember Allah. (Abu Dawud) The Quran also commends the one who utilizes the early hours of each day to engage in remembrance of Allah: Is one who worships devoutly during the hours of night prostrating himself or standing [in adoration] and who places his hope in the mercy of His Lord – [like one who does not]? Say: ‘Are those equal – those who know and those who do not know? ’ It is those who are endowed with understanding that receive admonition. [Az-Zumar 39:9]B. Sawm Sawm or fasting is another important instrument of tazkiya. It holds a unique status among all other forms of ibada. In a hadith qudsi we are told: Every good deed of a man is granted manifold increase, ten to seven hundred times. But Allah says: Fasting is an exception; it is exclusively for Me, and I will give reward for it as much as I wish. (Bukhari, Muslim. ) The fruit of fasting ought to be that rich inner quality which the Quran calls taqwa: O Believers! Fasting is ordained for you, even as it was ordained for those before you, that you might attain taqwa. [al-Baqara 2:183]Taqwa is the most basic prerequisite for being guided by Allah. It entails God-consciousness, a sense of responsibility, accountability, dedication and awe. It is that which prompts and inspires us to fulfill our responsibilities towards the Creator. Taqwa is the main criterion by which Allah values the deeds of a Muslim. The Quran states: Surely the noblest among you in the sight of God is the most Godfearing of you. Verily God is all-Knowing and all-Wise. [al-Hujurat 49: 13 . ] We must strive to the utmost to inculcate taqwa in our lives as Allah has ordained: Take provisions with you, but the best of provisions is taqwa.So remain conscious of Me, O you who are endowed with insight. [al-Baqara 2:197] Fasting teaches us to remember Allah. It helps to instill in us certain attributes and qualities which develop our taqwa. We discuss some of these below. i. Fulfilling Allah's Wishes While fasting, the most basic physical needs – Food, water and sleep – are readily and joyfully sacrificed. Hunger and thirst are no longer harmful; Allah's displeasure is harmful. Physical pleasures no longer hold any lure; Allah's rewards do. The scale of values is turned upside down. The measures of comfort and pain, success and failure are radically changed.However, whatever the physical discomfort, the mortification of the flesh is certainly not the desired object. The gifts of Allah are there to be enjoyed but limits by Him must also be strictly observed. O nce the sun has set, the fast must be broken and the sooner the better. All that was forbidden during the fasting hours, at His command, becomes permissible again, at His command. Similarly, eating before dawn is strongly encouraged even though the hour is early for it provides the necessary strength for the rigours of the day ahead. Fasting and praying are obvious acts of worship but eating also constitutes a form of worship. i. Willpower Fasting strengthens our willpower. The Prophet has said: ‘Sawm is a shield [or a screen or a shelter from the Hell-fire]. ‘ (Bukhari. ) The regime of dawn-to-sunset abstinence from food, drink and sex, for the sake of Allah alone, internalises the lesson that we must never en