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Bethune-Cookman AD speaks on their move to SWAC.

In his interview, the vice president of athletics at Bethune-Cookman University Lynn Thomson was excited about the new move. He expressed his satisfaction that they had done enough at the Mid-Eastern conference, and they were ready for a new challenge at the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Thompson indicated that the decision to move to SWAC was not an overnight decision. Still, it was a progressive decision that was backed by research that they had conducted to establish if they were suited to switch from Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference to Southwestern Athletic Conference. According to Lynn Thompson, many factors informed their decision to move to SWAC. He mentions that student welfare was one of the most critical factors that they had to consider. Most student-athletes had challenges copying with the sports and academics in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference because of various factors. Because Bethune-Cookman University is a Christian University that prides itself on academics, it has to take into account the welfare of its students. Equally, it was a season when schools were admitting students. The institution was affected especially during this period where there are restrictions of movements in various states in the United States. The institution was also undergoing some significant leadership changes which played a role in their progress to SWAC.

According to Lynn Thompson, Southwestern Athletics Conference is an ideal conference for Bethune-Cookman University because it is one of the best conferences with strong leadership. He intimates that the conference will help them continue fostering their vision of improving their athletes in sports and school. Still, he had a lot of positive attribution to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. He posits that after working at the conference for a long time, it was a bittersweet moment for him when it was time to leave. He says he has had a long relationship with the leadership of the conference, and he spoke with them in detail about the departure of Bethune-Cookman University.

Regarding what the team will bring into Southwestern Athletics Conference, Thompson was categorical that the team will deliver consistency and that they expected to continue doing well. He attributed the team’steam’s excellent performance by getting the right players who have the team’steam’s spirit at heart. Further, he indicated that the team would perform well if backed up by support staff who have the right attitude.

The introduction of Bethune-Cookman University in the Southwestern Athletic Conference will bring in a new rivalry in the competition. The team has a loyal fan base who are critical in the success of the group. This new set of the fan base will equally make the Southwestern Athletics Conference more competitive and exciting to watch. The students will also have a chance to interact and share their different academic knowledge with students from other universities. With SWAC attracting new teams, the media focus will now shift to the conference to establish how the newly admitted teams perform. It is also an opportunity for the participating teams to improve on their revenue. As Thompson mentioned, the team’s movement to SWAC will give the institution a chance to continue fostering its objectives with like-minded institutions. Southwestern Athletics Conference will also get stronger to compete with its rivals.

All the stakeholders in the SWAC will benefit from the Bethune-Cookman University move. The welfare of the students who had issues at the Mid-Eastern Athletics conference will be addressed. They will also have an opportunity to share their academic knowledge with students from other universities. The institutions involved will also be able to improve their revenues. Southwestern Athletics Conference will become an Athletic body that will attract new partners.

A PMESII Analysis on Hamas

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Introduction (BLUF)

Hamas is a military and political group based in the Gaza Strip. Its interest lies in annihilating Israel, which is a strategic ally to the United States, thus explaining the need to intervene. The group is a highly organized and secretive organization with a global network of assistance. Infiltration will thus require a deep cover operation not less than two years. The covert operation should target its supply chains and money distribution channels, including in Iran and Damascus. I would suggest a highly cyber-based security system to monitor the operation. The mission’s urgency should be alpha, given the growing insurgency of the group and the recent change in power in Israel.

Political

Hamas is a military and governmental organization based in the Gaza strip. It inherited a deep governmental and political organization from the Egyptian Islamic Brotherhood. The nature of its political structure and its intricacy is not clearly known in the public domain. However, it is organized into Consultative councils. The consultative councils are the major governing bodies of Hamas and are called Majlis al-Shura (Hroub, 2010). The council is the major embodiment of democracy in the Hamas political ranks as it is elected by members of the local council. Representatives to the council come from Gaza, Israel prison, West Bank, and leaders in Exile. The organization also has a service wing that provides a coordinated charity in the Gaza Strip and Palestine. Hamas has adopted a contrary approach to its recruitment, and unlike Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), it is involved in Charity works through the social service wing. Through the Dawah infrastructure, the group has established a charitable provision from which its militant activities are carried out (Hannase, 2020).

The group is, however, faced with constant opposition and bickering from the Fatah party and has won the majority seats in the Palestinian Legislative Authority. The organization is also under critical watch by other nations, such as the United States, whose Assembly’s decision was nullified in call Hamas, a terrorist organization to reduce its funding. However, among the countries that have referred to the organization as terrorists include Japan and Australia. Iran, however, has strategic ties to the organization and has been a strong supporter of its cause against the European Union and the United Nations. Israel has a major interest in Hamas due to the allegations by the Hamas’ political ranks that Israel took over Palestinian land. Among the major Human rights organizations that have had a great interest in Hamas is the Human rights watch, which has often blamed Israeli and Hamas over civilian deaths.

Analyst Comment. The fact that Hamas’ political structure is highly localized yet democratic in nature makes its decision-making slow. However, the democratic nature of the organization enables negotiations such as hostage and ceasefire possible. Hamas’s political structure, however, comes from various fronts worldwide. Its ties to its predecessor, the Muslim Brotherhood, coupled with its secrecy in its political structure, make power concentration hard to determine. As such, therefore, fighting against the group may be difficult unless with the help of seasoned agents of which, the MOSSAD plays a critical role. The hiddenness of recruitment in charity makes infiltration of the organization easy; thus, any operation should start as covert before full-scale tactics are employed.

Military

Hamas has a separate wing called The Executive Force (The Brigades). It was formed in 1992 to provide Hamas with an armed option to achieve its objectives. The wing is divided into independent cells. The cells are highly specialized while remaining attached to the rest of the organization. While the Brigades are an independent part of Hamas, it is also a part of the political structure of Hamas. In 2005, Hamas was blamed for using its charity work to service selfish interests (Cohen, 2009). It is notable that these interests were majorly military and terrorist in nature. The Hamas Military wing is under both internal leaderships based within the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The external leadership is split between Gaza, led by Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, and Kuwait under Khaled Mashal. However, the internal strings of the military organization are highly secretive due to Mossad Infiltration and assassination. The Brigades recruits its members from its social service activities. It uses churches, sporting services, student unions, and mosque services to recruit its members. In 2014, Hamas had an estimated 20000 fighters. An additional 20000 men and women in the police force fill its army as ground roots attach. According to the Senior IDF Commander says, Hamas has 30,000 men, 7,000 rockets, dozens of drones (2021), and an extra 25000 work in Gaza security agencies. Israeli intelligence hints that within its manpower, Hamas has about 700 highly skilled personnel trained in Iran.

Hamas boasts of a highly skilled army. Israeli estimates that the army has about 7000 rockets and approximately 300 antitank missiles. The army also wields 100 anti-aircraft missiles. However, according to The Times of Israel, these are estimates from the commander of Hamas. The army may have less or more.

Analyst Comment. The Hamas military wing is highly organized and armed. Its secretive nature, independence, and specialization make its infiltration difficult. It is thus difficult to infiltrate it through the political cluster of Hamas. However, the political cluster of Hamas is important in infiltrating the Military wing, especially through its social services. However, its clustered nature in cells means that it may be difficult to pinpoint its sources of strength and leadership without large-scale compromise of operations. As such, therefore, to cripple the army, highly covert operations employing insiders with better affiliations to both military and political structures of Hamas are important. Of importance is to understand the source of its military funding. An infiltration from above and below is the best method to cripple the organization. It is noteworthy that any flawed operation may endanger not only military personnel but also civilians and lead to large-scale vengeful wars.

Economic

Hamas has established a wide network of resources in and outside the Middle East. Since the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Hamas has grown to control large territories, including Palestine and Gaza. Gaza’s economy is secret due to low information leakage. However, the international monetary fund (IMF) estimated that by 2010, Gaza and the West bank had a cumulative GDP of seven billion dollars (Gaza’s economy: How Hamas stays in power, n.d). The money is generated from Hamas’s extra-Palestinian sympathizers and friends through the Palestinian banking system. The Strip receives up to two billion dollars per year through these banks. However, there are allegations that some resources are shipped through robust tunnel systems that Hamas has created. The information has less credibility except for the extensive Israeli discovery of tunnels in Israel and Gaza. Most of these funds are, however, channeled by Hamas to pay salaries and charity works. The funds are also used to acquire fuel, water, and electricity. The United Nations also provides relief contributions to Gaza amounting to 200 million dollars with 250 million dollars worth of goods annually to Gaza. Attributively, Hamas, while controlling the Palestinian legislature, has a heavy hand on these resources.

Additionally, the group receives a cumulative of about 200 million from Iran annually (Flanigan, 2012). Hamas also raises funds through taxes in Gaza strips. The group imposes heavy taxes on consumer goods such as cigarettes. It has also instituted business regulatory policies that raise revenue on its behalf. The group, besides controlling all security agencies in Gaza, has resolved to purchase major businesses such as insurance, banks, including the Islamic Bank, shopping malls, and agricultural farms. Therefore, the group is economically multifaceted. Discretionally, the group, registers its businesses in the name of straw owners and Hamas Cadre individuals.

Analyst Comment. From an analytical point of view, Hamas’s major funding is charities and Iranian contributions. Without these contributions, Hamas may not survive comfortably. It is noteworthy that despite heavy sanctions from countries such as Israel, the group has survived. Its survival is attributable to its economic diversity. Its economic structure is thus both easy and hard to infiltrate. It is easy to infiltrate due to its single channel target of funds. The group mostly channels its funds to Damascus. However, infiltration may be difficult due to the diversity that makes it difficult to cripple, especially when civilians are in the picture.

Social

Hamas has a tight social structure based on its Hamas Charter. The charter stipulates the position of each gender in religious and nationalistic projects. It stipulates that women are important for manufacturing males and raring for adulthood. The charter that allows them to participate in liberation wars explains the regularity of female suicide missionaries. Hamas does not allow women without Hijab, card playing, or any immodest dressing. However, Hamas has committed forceful actions against women, not allowing their autonomy. On the other hand, men are fighters, organizers, and liberators. Hamas is thus an organized social group guided by only Islamic law. Past conflicts include the Palestinian Fatah on the view of women’s roles.

Analyst Comment. Playing a culture card could be an easy way to earn the trust of Hamas. Hamas is highly organized around gender roles and responsibilities that could be used against them.

Infrastructure

Hamas has invested in a heavy tunnel system. According to Terrorist group: Hamas (n.d), the tunnel network. The tunnels are constructed under the sandy soils of Gaza, and some describe them as cities. According to Watkins & James,2016), the tunnel system built by Hamas in 2016 was double the size that the Vietnamese Liberation Front had built. The tunnels, according to Watkins & James (2016), were invented to counter the Israeli defense force’s heavy fire on Gaza. The tunnels serve as a defense and attack front for Hamas. They have rendered various victories over the Israelis. The tunnels also serve as a front for launching mine field traps and explosives against the IDF. Israel also claims that Hamas has built a tunnel through the Gaza border to Israel. The extent of tunnels into Israel remains an estimate. However, some have been recently destroyed by the Israeli Defence Forces.

As tunnel warfare is growing, the general infrastructure in Gaza has rendered the Strip unliveable. The unliveable status was declared by the world bank. Hamas has lost its attention on the Strips water system and sewerage. Roads are in disarray and impassable. According to the Times of Israel, Gaza faces electric blackouts 12 hours a day which may extend to twenty in some instances (Gaza’s infrastructure on the Verge of collapse, report warns, 2017). The cooking gas and fuel industry are in a disarray, and the country is facing severe fuel and gas shortages.

Analyst Comment. Apparently, Gaza under Hamas is not conventionally structured. Even though infiltration of Hamas by the United States army would require on-land and air tactics, the tunnel system places a paradigm shift in the military approach. To begin with, the tunnel system offers

Information

Hamas maintains a lethal information system propelled by the advancement of its enemies. The group has developed technologies that could use dating applications to get information from Israeli soldiers. The applications are infiltrated using malicious malware controlled by Hamas that relays information back to the group’s operation base. Hamas has also been able to hack Israeli soldier forces and obtain video forms of information without the knowledge of the victims. Hams has invested in recent years in cyber hacking and information collection. In 2019, Israel responded to Hamas cyber hacking y destroying its headquarters.

Analyst Comment. Hamas is a group that is highly organized in its information system. Coupled with their proper knowledge of their terrain, which is hidden, and their high secrecy, the group, may be difficult to deal with. It is thus important to use one-use cells and encrypted radio signals to communicate. Any intelligence carried out should be stored in highly encrypted servers with no officer allowed to carry their personal phones to the operation or strategy rooms. In case covert operations are necessary, handlers should adopt covert means such as codes to communicate with their inside persons.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Hamas is a highly organized and secretive organization. The organization is shown to be highly driven, given its ability to build a network of tunnels. Its seasoned experience with the fighting tactics of Israel is a key point in facing them. To defeat Hamas, the United States will need to analyze what Hamas knows about Israeli tactics, which would be a predictor of what combat tactics Hamas would predict the US will use. Thus a joint covert operation recommendable using its supply chains should precede a full-scale attack.

References

Borghard, E. D., & Schneider, J. (2019). Israel responded to a Hamas cyberattack with an airstrike. That’s not such a big deal. The Washington Post, 9.

Cohen, Y. (2009). Hamas in combat: the military performance of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement. Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Flanigan, S. T. (2012). Terrorists next door? A comparison of Mexican drug cartels and Middle Eastern terrorist organizations. Terrorism and Political Violence, 24(2), 279-294.

Gaza’s infrastructure on the Verge of collapse, report warns. (2017, January 29). Retrieved from https://www.timesofisrael.com/gazas-infrastructure-on-the-verge-of-collapse-report-warns/

Gaza’s economy: How Hamas stays in power. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/gazas-economy-how-hamas-stays-power

Hannase, M. (2020). The Dilemma Between Religious Doctrine and Political Pragmatism: Study of Hamas in Palestine. Religió: Jurnal Studi Agama-agama, 10(1), 54-70.

Hroub, K. (2010). Hamas. The Other Press.

Senior IDF Commander says Hamas has 30,000 men, 7,000 rockets, and dozens of drones. (2021, February 11). Retrieved from https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-idf-commander-says-hamas-has-7000-rockets-dozens-of-drones/

Terrorist group: Hamas. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://counterterrorismethics.tudelft.nl/hamas/

Watkins, N. J., & James, A. M. (2016). Digging into Israel: The sophisticated tunneling network of Hamas. Journal of Strategic Security, 9(1), 84-103.

Between the World and Me

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Between the World and Me

Excerpt 1

Coates sits with Samori however doesn’t attempt to comfort him, rather disclosing to him the truth. This is his nation, he is in a dark body, and he needs to sort out some way to live with it. Anytime, an individual of color’s body can be annihilated or attacked in any way, shape, or form, and the liable gatherings are infrequently considered dependable.

Coates sets that Americans consider “race” as one’s intrinsic element, given to them by Mother Nature. “Prejudice” is the need to dole out this component (shading) to individuals and afterward use it to mortify or pulverize them. Like this, Americans broadly accept that prejudice follows the race. Yet, individuals can see bigotry as an unfortunate outside outcome of Mother Nature—like a catastrophic event—rather than man’s handicraft if the race is characteristic. Coates contends that bigotry precedes the race. Choosing who considers an individual doesn’t rely upon qualities of actual highlights yet on the conviction that these highlights can demonstrate a chain of command inside society.

Coates contends that racism comes before the race. Choosing who considers an individual doesn’t rely upon qualities of actual highlights, however, on the conviction that these highlights can show a chain of importance inside society. People have consistently had diverse hair and eye tones. However, it is a fresher conviction that these distinctions can demonstrate how to accurately put together a general public or choose who has more and less worth. This groundbreaking thought is at the core of a gathering of individuals raised to accept that they are white. Yet, “white” as a race in America doesn’t generally mean anything. All white individuals were named something different before they were named white, for example, Catholic or Welsh.

Coates’s constant battle to grasp his nation’s brutality and his absence of control over his own body has freed him from his biggest fear disembodiment. in this way, the questioning and struggling are worthwhile, though he knows there is no cure.

Excerpt 2

All white individuals were named something different before they were named white, for example, Catholic or Welsh. The individuals who accept they are white are the individuals who experienced childhood in a country established on the conviction that it reserved a privilege to pick which natural attributes demonstrated society’s right. Coates says that dissimilar to “dark,” the expression “white” is attached to criminal force. The “rise of the conviction of being white”— white advancement—has nothing to do with white individuals’ socially connected things in America.

Coates fear the streets, as well. Youngsters’ folks beat them, so they fear their folks just as terrified of the police, and the messes with themselves are savage with one another. Learning the way of life of the roads is a day-by-day exertion to dodge savagery and secure Coates’ own body. The non-verbal communication, expressions, developments, and group connections that Coates must retain generally rule out a blunder to ensure brutality and wrongdoing. The posses in his local dress in garments that propose authority and battle in the city as indicated by complex codes and ordinances. Their loose garments, puffy coats, and anchors are intended to state control so no one can contact them. The equivalent is valid for noisy music and boisterous, forceful ladies. Coates would now see through these activities and realize that attempting to show up incredible is only a shield from the savagery’s dread against their past ages.

Coates sees an alternate world on TV. There, white young men don’t continually fear for their bodies, and life appears to comprise rural areas, picnics, and football cards. He perceives even as a kid that his everyday routine is a world away from the experiences on TV and that there is a brutal contrast between dark dread and white opportunity. However, he doesn’t have the foggiest idea of why this is the situation. He needs to get away from the anxiety of his reality.

Excerpt 3

This part speaks to the giant blossom of Coates’ scholarly examination. At long last, he makes it off the roads, out of youth, and away from the schools that couldn’t care less about his interest. Howard University is where he can always commit he needs to learning and satisfying his inquiries. He begins the portrayal of the college by calling Howard his Mecca. He expects that the peruser knows Mecca’s significance, which is a sport that attracts individuals to itself. When promoted, he alludes to the origination of Muhammed, the holiest city for Muslims. Realizing this definition explains what Howard intends to Coates. Coates has just expressed he doesn’t have faith in God, yet he trusts in continually seeking information and comprehension about himself as an individual of color in America. In this manner, Howard is his own Mecca, the holiest spot, as he continued looking for answers. In “the dark diaspora,” he sees individuals from his legacy who have scattered and populated various pieces of the world. After seeing groups in the undertakings and learning just about white pioneers, he, at long last, meets dark people who seek after a wide range of academic subjects and originate from various states and nations. He likewise strolls in the strides, in a real sense and allegorically, of his dark saints.

Coates develops to characterize himself as a searcher and a struggler. His days in the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center are essential to his development as an individual. He breathes in thoughts and assessments from bunch creators and afterward breaks down his contemplations about them. When he portrays seeing the variety of individuals on the grounds, he encounters an impression of what he has perused in the library. Indeed, even as they are, for the most part, dark in his eyes, they have various foundations and suppositions. At the point when he starts composing verse, it isn’t for execution yet for examination. Through every one of nowadays spent in the library, he perceives that writing is the best type of individual test; composing demands that you sort out what you truly mean and why you would not joke about this. Composing manages Coates’ cost the occasion to meet different writers, every one of who are, similar to him, looking for where they fit on the planet. These writers and his instructors challenge him and lead him to pursue considerably more. They constrain him to be explicit and raw about his work and considerations.

Excerpt 4

All through the part how the devastation of the dark body is as yet predominant today. While this devastation is promptly apparent to an individual of color, it is regularly substantially more subtle to a white individual, particularly the “Visionaries” who are not encountering persevering prejudice. Coates depicts childhood in Baltimore’s ghettos and how such neighborhoods the nation over are intended to be loaded up with individuals of color. Isolation isn’t lawful; however, government strategy guarantees it happens at any rate. Coates’ area was extremely vicious, and he (and every other person) was in steady dread for his body since it very well may be taken from him whenever. He first genuinely comprehends this when a kid pulls out a weapon on him for reasons unknown. He never had genuine security over his body. Another away from the devastation of the dark body is police severity consistency and how regularly it closes in murder, with no ramification for the cop capable.

So long after slaves were “liberated” and did not adapt anymore, the “right” of white Americans to take care of dark Americans through brutality and murder persevered unchecked and energized. Indeed, even still, the cruelty proceeds in the roads of lodging ventures and through police killings. Indeed, even where there isn’t savagery, frameworks that classify individuals of color as lower citizenry proliferates through mass detainment, the use of defamatory terms, and underrepresentation in advanced education, general sets of laws, and legislative issues. Coates attempts to disclose to Samori the heaviness of living as an individual of color in America. Indeed, even as a little youngster watching white America on TV, Coates felt the hole between his reality and theirs and the weight from that acknowledgment of that partition. This is no place more apparent than on Civil War combat zone grounds. America has lauded its Civil War as contention between states wherein the two sides were honorable and courageous, ignoring the truth that Confederates were battling to keep dark bodies subjugated. Coates takes Samori to these memorable spots with the expectation that Samori doesn’t fall into his fantasy yet turns into a conscious resident of the beautiful and awful world.

Coates guarantees Samori that being dark doesn’t make one insusceptible to doing terrible things and cautions him to be mindful so as not to get sucked into any country’s fantasy. In the Prince George area, dark police who have been sucked into the white Dream transform into similar bandits who sustain brutality under the law’s appearance. Coates’ set of experiences instructors challenge him to reconsider dark respectability and not mistake purposeful political publicity for challenging investigation. He reevaluates his belief regarding having a dark “prize case” of exclusively dark intelligent people, as though they are better since they have not fallen prey to the Dream and are in charge of their bodies.

Coates perceives how “white” Irish individuals are treated along these lines to the individuals who lose their bodies to servitude after taking a class about Europe. He contemplates whether being “dark” really has nothing to do with losing his body, yet whether the term just methods his race is at the lower part of the chain of command.

Coates urges Samori to recall slaves as people, not just as a mass of individuals. Each slave has his or her character, dreams, and family. Coates advises Samori to remember that individuals of color in America were oppressed longer than they have been free, and ages of people realized only chains. In conclusion, he stresses that regardless of how improved the dark race’s current circumstance is, it isn’t recovery for the subjugation of ages that preceded. It isn’t Samori’s duty to change the world. While it is a perfect world, he will, at present, need to battle with how to exist in his dark body.

Excerpt 5Coates calls attention to that, in his experience, individuals who accept they are white are fixated on absolving themselves from any doubt of prejudice. No one will concede that they are a bigot or know any bigots, even while acting bigoted. It is far simpler for Americans to think it is their diligent effort to acquire them the American Dream. While recognizing the past terrible days, the individuals who accept they are white are raised to assume that those sad days are over regardless of the proof of the jail frameworks, ghettos, and police brutality.

He turned to the dread enlivened brutality of his childhood to secure his child’s body. Had Coates been captured, one of Samori’s first recollections would have been his dad being attacked by similar police who had attacked so numerous other dark bodies. Coates realizes that he committed an error, and the mix-ups of individuals of color consistently cost them two-fold.

He motivates the peruser by expressing that individuals who accept they are white appear to be primarily worried about persuading themselves regarding their blamelessness or possibly ensuring they seem guiltless to other people. As a human, it is hard to understand that something you were raised accepting is genuinely imperfect. Everybody finds out about slaves in history books. Yet, numerous individuals stay willfully ignorant that bigotry exists, particularly the individuals who take the mantra that America is consistently number one. Coates admits that Americans spring naturally to pride and making themselves look great.

Coates trusts he has handed-off a similar message to Samori and admits that he is as yet apprehensive. Be that as it may, the constant danger of immateriality modifies all that he knows, from the savagery of young men in the city to being twice as acceptable, needing ideal habits out in the open so as not to raise doubt.

References

Coates, T. (2020). Letter to My Son. The Atlantic. Retrieved 12 November 2020, from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/tanehisi-coates-between-the-world-and-me/397619/.

Introduction

In present-day name-driven market place, ensuring a photo or film deal involving a celebrity has turned out to be an important step towards the acquisition of the celebrity’s photo or filming. As such, whether one is an agent, a lawyer, a producer or a sale executive, attaining a photo or a filming deal involving a star is probably among the most critical negotiations. According to Tulchin (1998), this is probably. However, once he or she accepts to take the particular role, then a delicate as well as an intricate balancing act commences. In view of this therefore, this particular paper intends to provide an assessment involving an image making negotiation process involving a famous Australian musician.

According to Tulchin (1998), the primary point in the negotiation other than the issue of money is normally, the star’s availability. Coordinating their availability is important though many times a significantly complex balancing act. In majority cases, Tulchin (1998) argues that the star’s representatives will more often than not want the availability date to be locked down. In my case, however, it was not that complicated as we contacted the musician’s agents who surprisingly heeded quickly to our request. Assured of the star’s availability, we set a determined date in advance such that there was a time for not only pre-production but financing and flexibility in any case production is late.

Even though, Tulchin (1998) highlights that the pre-existing commitments are often an issue especially where a star’s previous commitment to another project taking precedent to ours, this was not the case. Since the star’s deal and our deal were the key components in as far as getting studios, distributors as well as the project financiers to commit themselves to the production, all the parties expected the outcome to significantly weigh on whether the particular project will go on or not. Nonetheless, the star deal was made after an agreement on how the star’s pictures will be marketed, publicized as well as promoted bearing the fact that there are normally restrictions placed on the usage of celebrities’ images.

Once a deal has been accomplished, the next step is often the refining of ideas and the preparation for a shoot. The preparation for a shoot is usually by creating a shoot planner document that covers the various logistics of the talent facility requirements, transport, equipments, permits and timings and costs. In this case, the agreement was that should the location be more than 60 miles away from the star’s residence, then a per diem of $ 65,000 including a first-class transportation paid. Other than these, there were additional perks that were negotiated including publicity expenses.

The next process is the execution of the project whereby the shooting process begins. This begins with a pre-production process that entails generally rehearsals including wardrobe fittings, photo recording tests, make-up tests, hairdressing tests, publicity stills and may more. According to Leslie (2011), often there are issues of the celebrity’s agents wanting to resist the pre-production stage for free. However, in our case; we had no issues as everything was cleared in the negotiation process.

Once this is done, the process now moves on to real production where the process of carrying out principal photography starts. These normally include the photographer taking various photo shoots including trick shots, stunts and publicity stills. Other than photography, there is the making of interviews with the star. Once the process of production is completed, then the following stage is usually the post-production stage. As highlighted by Tulchin (1998), the post production process entails activities including the recording of sound tracks, looping, dubbing, additional publicity and finally the promotional services (Tulchin, 1998). The major issues with the production process are normally issues dealing with how much time the post-production process is taking. For instance, if a star is paid $ 200,000 for four weeks of principal photography, then questions regarding whether this amount integrated rehearsal and the pre-production or whether an extra amount should be paid. In our case, we did not face such issues probably due to the fact that thorough negotiations were made and a well-defined deal struck before the initiation of the project with the star.

Figure

Figure 1: An illustration of caption editing

Figure1: An illustration of one of the finished artworks from the images

In any independent image negotiation process, the scrappy nature with regards to lower budget and the apparently unrelenting mechanic relating to negotiations can, if not appropriately coordinated, lead to a production that does not make sense not only financially but also artistically. However, in the case of our star, the feedback was excellent with the star and the deal fitting into the arrangements. According to Leslie (2011), this is often a challenge and only few producers when dealing with many projects of this kind involving celebrities. On the other hand, the continuous consultations made between us and the stars’ management was essential in as far as avoiding many pitfalls or roadblocks that are prominent with many projects of a kind involving celebrities or stars.

Generally, this particular project has been an eye opener in as far as dealing with celebrity regarding their rights over their images. The experiences gained have undoubtedly been helpful in as far as going through the give-and-take process of negotiation towards the closing up of a deal. Of significant importance has also been the recognition of the various restrictions the agents put on the usage of the various footages as well as other pictures of the star, a factor that significantly highlights the complexity of having to deal with stars on matters relating to their images.

Conclusion

From the above, it is evidently clear that landing a celebrity has turned out to be more significant than it has ever been over the past several years. As highlighted above, this is probably due to the celebrity’s commitment with all the accompanying hype, promotional and the global market value that sets the production process in motion. However, as the paper highlights, there are various set guidelines that ought to be useful in terms of the inexorable give-and-take evident with negotiation processes involving any celebrity.

References

Leslie, L, 2011, Celebrity in the 21st Century: A Reference Handbook of Contemporary world issues, ABC-CLIO

Tulchin, H, 1998, Smooth Negotiating: Making the Star Deal

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A Poem on the Properties of Water

Water exists in more than one state;

And is also a special compound

That acts as a universal solvent,

Found in the oceans, glaciers, and the ground.

Water has some special properties.

Uneven distribution of electron density

That results in polarity

Allowing for covalence and strong cohesion forces.

However, water acts anomalously.

By expanding from degrees four to zero.

This unusual act should be taken seriously

As it protects life; Water’s a hero.

We cannot undermine the benefits of Aitch. Two. Oh.

It sustains every form of life on Mother Earth.

But Pollution has affected water’s natural flow.

We are only waiting on the dreadful aftermath.

Literature Review On The Effects Of Music While Studying

Introduction

For a long time, there has been a connection between society and music. There is no culture on earth, which does not know anything, that concerns music. Furthermore, human beings sometimes base their actions according to music. It is a known fact that music helps improve one’s brain, when it comes to matters that concern learning and studying. Einstein Albert is an exceptional man, who became renowned in academic matters, due to the music he listening to. When Einstein was young, people thought he was stupid, and after learning to play the violin, he improved. He often listened and played music by Bach and Mozart, and in turn, became extremely smart. Currently, the iPod is popular among many students, and they use it without thinking of the consequences it may have in the long run.

Research has been conducted, and it has been found out that studying improves as a result of listening to music. Also, it should be known that extreme users of IPods are at risk of suffering from hearing health problems. Even more, they might lose their hearing, while they are still young, and this will affect their life’s quality in the future. Researchers have identified healthy options, which students can keep in mind, when studying and listening to music.

This paper seeks to provide a literature review concerning research done on matters concerning studying and music.

Literature Review

An article by Jones Dianne, Bacon Marlene and William –Schultz Lashwan (2010) provides information concerning ‘Music as Pedagogy’. According to the authors, there are various learning environments, which students are often subjected to. The focus of this research is on nursing students whereby, the environment is highly technological. The IPod is a popular gadget among nurses, and they constantly plug it into their ears. The author’s believe that only limited research has been done concerning music, as well as its pedagogy. The authors have used a sample population of nursing students in their first year of associate degree programs. Permission was obtained from the Institutional Review Board before conducting the study. The article sort to find out the perceptions and attitudes, which student nurses have, concerning studying and listening to music, at the same time. It also provided evidence regarding the impact of studying while listening to music. The authors wanted to found out if learning is enhanced by music, as well as to find out the nurses music attitudes and habits. There are various research questions in the article and an example is “What is the benefit to recall when the content to be learned is delivered through music” (Jones, & Bacon & Williams-Schltz, 2010). Quantitative and Qualitative methods were used by the researchers. In the article, it has been mentioned that emotional and cognitive factors affect the perception, which people have, concerning music they listen to. Nursing students study well when they are listening to music, as it helps them to reduce levels of stress. Lastly, they researchers found out that perception influences if the student will learn better when there is music, which they are listening to.

The article by Danhauer Jeffrey et al (2009) concerns matters on hearing health and iPod use. The article focuses on research carried out on college students as the sample population. The article acknowledges that IPods use has increased, and the latter are known as personal listening devices. There is a risk that the users of the PLD’s may end up becoming deaf in the long run. The authors believe that there is not enough research done on college students, as they are the ones who own most PLD’s. The researchers wanted to find out what preferences, practices, attitudes and experiences exist, concerning iPod use and hearing health. Furthermore, the article has given recommendations concerning ways college students can use IPods safely. The researched methodology used is a questionnaire, which had 83 items. The questionnaire addressed issues such as ‘Attitudes toward iPod use’ and ‘IPod user’s practices and preferences’. The authors found out that college students need to have more information regarding hearing health. Also, the students listened to moderate volumes on their iPod, thus reduced risks of hearing loss. Furthermore, the method people choose to listen to an iPod and the type of iPods affects the users differently. This means that the more features that exist in an iPod, the more they students will listen to it. The article concludes that students should not listen to high volumes on their IPods. Moreover, some of the iPod users may not know that they have hearing loss (Danhauer et al, 2009).

The authors Hallam Susan and Kotsopoulou Anastatia (2010) have come up with an article that focuses on studying while listening to music. They conducted research in order to find out if differences in culture and age have an impact on studying while listening to music. They used questionnaires, which are based on a rating scale, and used a sample size of 600 students. The age groups of the students were 20-21, 15-16 and 12-13, and they were from America, Greece and the United Kingdom. They wanted to find out various factors, which are associated with music, and how they affect the sample population. Some of the factors include; perceived effects and music listened to when studying, as well as tasks one can perform when listening to music. The researchers found out that culture and age are variables, which are related, and they have an impact on studying while listening to music. Also, there are certain tasks, which need to be accompanied by music more frequently than others. In some cultures, children are provided with an atmosphere that has music, as it is believed that it enhances learning. Contrary, in other cultures, this might not be allowed, as it is viewed in a negative manner. Furthermore, the researchers found out that classical music is least listened to and pop music is most listened. They conclude that educators should control the noise, which students are subjected to, especially the younger students. Lastly, there is information regarding educational implications of the findings of the research (Kotsopoulou & Hallam, 2010).

North Adrian and Lonsdale Adam (2011) came up with an article that discusses an analysis on gratification and uses analysis. They wanted to find out the reason that makes people listen to music. They investigated the reasons, which make people feel the urge to listen to music. Furthermore, they wanted to find out, which leisure activities, are related with listening to music. The research design they chose was qualitative, and it focused on questions, which are open ended. Moreover, a design, which is cross sectional, was used to investigate the different reasons why people listen to music while focusing on their ages. The researchers found out that most times people listen to music in order to regulate and manage their moods. Also, after a comparison with other leisure activities, they found out that people prefer listening to music. The latter was based on the needs of the different individuals. According to the article, people place a lot of importance on music. Several reasons have been provided by the authors as to why they people like listening to various categories of music. The article concludes by claiming that when people grow older, they have varying opinions concerning why they opt to listen to music. In this article versatility is the reason for choosing to listen to music (Lonsdale, & North, 2011).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the various researchers have provided qualitative and quantitative research based on studying, while listening to music. Students should be informed of the dangers that exist when they are constantly using their iPods. They are likely to have problems, which concerns hearing. On the other hand, there are those who believe that by listening to music while studying, they are likely to comprehend a lot. The latter depends on the individual as the literature review seems to conclude. Another aspect, which the researchers seem to concur with, is that music plays a vital role when one is studying. Indeed, the articles have provided vital information regarding impacts of studying while listening to music.

References

Danhauer, Jeffrey. Et al. (2009). Survey of College Students on IPod use and Hearing Health. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology. 20, 1, 5-27.

Jones, Dianne. & Bacon, Marlene, & Williams-Schltz, LaShawn. (2010). Music as Pedagogy. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. 5, 2, 1833-1882.

Kotsopoulou, Anastasia. & Hallam, Susan. (2010). The perceived impact of playing music while studying : age and cultural differences. Educational Studies. 36, 4, 431-440.

Lonsdale, Adam. & North, Adrian. (2011). Why do we listen to music? A uses and gratification analysis. British Journal of Psychology. 102, 108-134.

GERALD MUNDERU MIGWI

KCA/05/14640

KCA UNIVERSITY

MSC. DATA COMMUNICATIONS

LITERATURE REVIEW

SECURING MOBILE MONEY TRANSFER SERVICES

INTRODUCTION

Definition:

Mobile Money: Electronic money – being essentially digital – has attributes related to mobility and portability. It can be differentiated from other means of electronic payment (such as credit cards, debit cards, smart cards, etc.) because of its ability to replicate the essential attributes of traditional money, such as: liquidity, acceptability and anonymity. Mobile money may be related to mobile wallet, which refers to a digital repository of electronic money developed and implemented on mobile devices, allowing peer-to-peer transactions (P2P) between mobile devices (M2M) from users of the same service. It is similar to a normal physical wallet and is able to store money and credit and debit cards (Eduardo 2011).

Mobile money transfer services are expected to become one of the most important applications in mobile commerce (Varshney & Vetter 2002). Since companies are not going to invest in the development of innovative mobile applications or services unless they can be charged for appropriately, the existence of standardized and widely accepted mobile payment (MP) procedures is crucial for the development of mobile commerce (Pousttchi & Selk & Turowski 2002, Dahlberg & Mallat & Öörni 2003).

Whereas in electronic commerce we still see an important role of traditional payment systems (Krueger & Leibold & Smasal 2006), a payment system for mobile commerce will be typically not adequate until it shares fundamental characteristics of the mobile offer it is to bill for, in particular its ubiquity (Pousttchi & Selk & Turowski 2002, Coursaris & Hassanein 2002, Mallat 2004). As a result a Mobile money transfer service is crucial for, but not limited to the mobile commerce scenario. Pousttchi and Wiedemann (2005) show how customers benefit from Mobile money transfer services procedure: The most important relative advantages over conventional payment systems are ubiquity (the accessibility of a procedure and the reachability of payees at any time from any location), the ability to handle micropayments (smaller than 10 EUR /USD), the avoidance of cash at vending machines, and faster conduction of payments.

Mobile phones should have firm establishments as payment terminals in the most diverse fields. However, whereas merchants and Mobile Payment Service Providers (MPSP) made a multitude of attempts to offer respective services, absence of wide customer acceptance of the offered procedures prevented a market breakthrough in most markets up to now. In addition to the lack of standardization and universality of the procedures, security concerns of customers are one of the main inhibitors (Pousttchi 2005, Ketterer & Stroborn 2002, Ehrhardt 2002, Zieschang 2002).

Definitions of related terms:

Mobile Transactions: This refers to transactions carried out through mobile technologies and devices. In addition to mobile payments, it includes every kind of mobile transaction offered by technology, whether it involves financial values or not.

Mobile payments : Mobile payments include payments made or enabled through digital mobility technologies, via handheld devices, with or without the use of mobile telecommunications networks. These payments are digital financial transactions, although not necessarily linked to financial institutions or banks. There are several models of mobile payments that are currently employed worldwide.

Mobile banking: Mobile banking can be understood as a set of mobile banking services, involving the use of portable devices connected to telecommunications networks that provide users with access to mobile payments, transactions and other banking and financial services linked to customer accounts, with or without the direct participation of traditional banking institutions. This concept can also be regarded as the banking channel through which the digital mobile services are provided by the institutions to their clients, i.e. by integrating the concepts of service and channel.

Analysis Of Securing Mobile Money Transfer Services

Although the issue of security has emerged as a major inhibitor of mobile payment acceptance especially from the viewpoint of customers.

Improving positive security and privacy perceptions are most important for sustained activity in Mobile money transfer services. Security issues in electronic payment procedure have already had a significant amount of discussion in the literature (e.g. Ketterer & Stroborn 2002, Strube 2002, Zieschang 2002). In order to evaluate possible risks related with electronic payment procedures, Reichenbach (2001) uses criteria of multilateral security (Rannenberg 1989) and refines them. Also Jakubowicz, Hanssens and Henriksen (2003) develop a framework for analyzing the risks involved in electronic payments. They include the scenarios in which there may be a loss of money or privacy, the probability of these scenarios and the major possible negative consequences. Both approaches are based on the individual and therefore subjective viewpoints of the researchers. This entails the risk that relevant issues are not included and might lead to a loss of information, or that irrelevant issues are taken into account without any information gain.

Chari et al (2000) argue that mobile commerce solutions differ from electronic commerce solutions because the underlying technology has basic differences which create a range of new security exposures. For instance, the portability of mobile devices makes theft, loss, and damage of client devices much more likely. Therefore they assume that also the perception of security in mobile commerce may differ from that one in electronic commerce.

Examining barriers to adoption of MP, Khodawandi, Pousttchi and Wiedemann (2003) indicate that the lack of perceived security (later defined as subjective security) is the most frequently called reason for a refusal. Rogger and Celia (2004) found similar results.

Finally, Users are usually asked to provide their personal information to a third party service provider in order for them to be able to register and get the service. Therefore they are asked to place immediate trust of their money and personal data on a previously unknown party (Stamatis et al 2004).

Technologies supporting mobile payment transfers

There are two primary technical protocols for conducting mobile money transfers, including short messaging service (SMS) and wireless application protocol (WAP), a basic form of Internet web-browsing similar to PC-based online banking. Recently, new downloadable applications for smart phones have been introduced for mobile (Person to person) P2P transfers, which may leverage SMS or WAP technologies, to facilitate consumer payments. While both protocols have been used in various pilots, SMS is emerging as the most common method for small-value P2P transfers because of its simplicity and compatibility for usage in a variety of mobile phones, including low-end handsets (Cynthia 2010).

Existing approaches in mobile payment procedures have done little to fully address these three requirements. Most MP procedures today use SMS or IVR (interactive voice response) as a method to verify user’s identity, methods that have been proven to be insecure (Stamatis et al 2004).

While the use of SMS is on the rise, it may not be widely adopted for retail payments (Crowe et al. 2010) because of security limitations due to the fact that messages travel and are stored on the handset in plain text without encryption (Mahmoud et al. 2009).

The device manufacturers continue to bring on the market mobile phone models that have advanced capabilities (we are heading towards smartphone domination) and host their own execution environment. It is a matter of time for cryptographic services to be integrated in the devices that will make possible secure communication on voice and data. Furthermore the privacy is at high risk, since interception of data can be done from distance and without physical access (Stamatis et al 2004).

BACKGROUND

Mobile Money Transfer Services

Mobile Money transfer services have differentiated two basic functions of: payments inside and outside mobile commerce (Pousttchi 2005). Inside mobile commerce Mobile money transfer services is used for payments of mobile offers and is ideally system inherent. In the area of charging mobile services we distinguish two basic terms: mobile billing and mobile payment. We refer to mobile billing as billing of telecommunication services by a mobile network operator or a mobile virtual network operator within an existing billing relationship (Turowski & Pousttchi 2004). We define mobile payment as that type of payment transaction processing in the course of which – within an electronic procedure – (at least) the payer employs mobile communication techniques in conjunction with mobile devices for initiation, authorization or realization of a payment (Pousttchi 2003). Outside mobile commerce, Mobile money transfer services procedure can be understood as a mobile commerce application to complete payments in different situations.

Mobile money risk environment

Money Laundering

All activities to disguise or conceal the nature, source of, or entitlement to money or property, or rights to either, when the money or property or rights are acquired from serious crime, as well as all activities to disguise or conceal money or property that is intended to be used in committing or facilitating the commission of serious crime (George 2003).

Challenges in combating Money laundering:

As telecom firms engage in financial services across shared networks in cross-border jurisdictions, the benefits of mobile payments, ubiquity, and rapid settlement may also increase the risk of money laundering in mobile transfer services (Cynthia 2010).

With potential gaps in regulatory oversight, rogue actors may find it possible to evade detection by dividing a large transfer of funds into small ones using multiple mobile phones and accounts. This new landscape may require a service-based risk analysis by regulators to determine new approaches to the oversight of money laundering risk (Chatain, Hernandez, Borowik, and Zerzan 2008).

Since mobile technology-enabled payments do not require the face-to-face interaction that takes place with traditional banking, a more opaque and anonymous experience is created that may permit the opportunity for criminal activity. This is increasingly important as mobile retail payments can occur rapidly and in cross-border environments (Cynthia 2010).

In some countries, anti-money laundering efforts have focused traditionally on high-value transfers, but in this brave new world, criminals may use mobile technology to evade detection by sending multiple small transfers, using multiple phones and accounts (GSMA 2009).

The use of cellular phones makes it possible for the proceeds of crime or terrorist financing to be transmitted over airwaves (INL 2008). These opaque mobile transfers may move rapidly around the world in a digital format, immune to traditional regulatory oversight. Since there is limited expertise in identifying electronic payments crime in the communication systems, the potential for abuse should be considered.

Solution:

Money-laundering and terrorism-financing mitigation programs require service providers to institute a meaningful KYC process that is trusted by all parties to the mobile payment transaction.

Reporting of suspicious transaction through risk controls.

Another issue is the implementation of money laundering risk controls and suspicious transaction reporting for telecom firms. Compliance with these anti-crime laws is a challenging proposition for telecoms because it represents unfamiliar territory to the telecom industry (GSMA 2008c). Similarly, because telecom regulatory oversight has not included financial services, knowledge of suspicious activity reporting may be limited. Compliance can be complicated further by the fact that in many countries nonbanks may not conduct customer due diligence and “know your customer” procedures because of regulatory restrictions (GSMA 2008d). In the United States, many mobile payment service providers are classified as money transmitters or money service businesses, requiring registration in

individual states where they do business, as well as with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN);

Privacy and security

The concerns for securing the mobile channel mirror the risks seen in the online environment, including authenticating the consumer’s identity and protecting transmission of data from interception enabled by viruses, malware, and phishing attacks. Anecdotally, the mobile environment to date has been relatively secure compared to the online channel where privacy and security of personal and business data is frequently compromised through the use of malicious computer viruses, identity theft, and phishing schemes (Cynthia 2010).

The diversity of platforms and wide range of operating systems make mobile phones less vulnerable to attack than personal computers (GSMA 2010).

Challenges:

The recent surge in smart phone applications may introduce vulnerabilities to malware attacks, which may increase payments risk going forward as bad actors gain access to personal information stored in the handset or accessed through a phone application (Linck et al. 2006).

The growing use of SMS as a common technology for sending a payments message may demand further examination of the need to strengthen data encryption technology (Pousttchi 2005).

Solution:

Creating transparency is a key consideration in addressing security issues—when consumers have the ready ability to view transaction histories on their handsets, the risk of account fraud and other risks can be avoided or mitigated (Cynthia 2010).

Consumer protections

Telecom-specific consumer protections in most countries,were not created with the need for financial services regulation in mind.

Challenge:

The limitations of traditional financial regulation for emerging mobile commerce may result in gaps in legal governance and ambiguity with respect to the responsibilities and liability among parties involved in the payment service.

The mobile commerce environment will demand that financial regulations be adapted to provide oversight for the proliferation of new services, business models, and nonbank service providers.

New regulatory policy will require a comprehensive understanding of the new risks that mobile transactions introduce to consumers, including lost payments through faulty transmissions, fraudulent transactions, identity theft, or criminal activity on the part of the mobile operator, agent, or other payment service provider. In the United States, for example, the applicability of payment law to mobile payments is unclear since MNOs may not be required to provide consumer protections equivalent to those of the banking industry.

For example, Regulation E governing electronic fund transfers includes any entity that holds consumer accounts or issues a payment access device and provides electronic fund transfer services. While mobile money service providers in the United States typically comply voluntarily with Regulation E and other consumer protection laws, actual enforcement authority is fragmented, according to the state authorities where they are licensed. In the absence of Regulation E protections, it is unclear who will assume responsibility or liability for dispute resolution for billing errors, misdirected payment messages, fraudulent charges stemming from identity theft, or compromised mobile accounts resulting from lost handsets when authentication controls are intercepted. Some of these issues may fall within the scope of the Federal Communications Commission’s Truth in Billing Requirements, but enforcement at this nascent stage will lag product and service deployment.

The GSMA provides general guidance for establishing regulatory environments for MMT that underscores the need to coordinate the consumer protection efforts of both the telecom and financial services industry. The cellular telecommunications trade association has also published best practices for telecoms in financial services as a proactive measure, in order to guide the offering of safe and trusted mobile payments and maintain public confidence.

Roaming fraud

Recent successes in global-standards setting to promote interoperability among carriers have simplified the ability for mobile users to roam across geographic markets. The roaming agreements used by international operators to facilitate voice transfers can now be used to send data in the form of cross-border payments. However, wireless data transmissions may be vulnerable to access by unauthorized parties who identify some means to intercept the communication between mobile devices. The growth in wireless telecom services has led to an increasing number of roaming agreements between telecommunications companies in different countries, enabling the transmission of international remittances via mobile phones. Roaming fraud represents a potential threat to the security of cross-border mobile payments. GSMA has recommended that near-real-time roaming data exchange technology be implemented for all GSMA members in order to reduce the occurrence of roaming fraud. The technology involves faster roaming-activity reporting and requires operators to send roaming data to partners within a prescribed time limit. The data includes key call information that can be analyzed if it is received quickly, in sufficient time to detect and mitigate roaming fraud.

Credit risk

Credit risk may emerge in a postpaid scheme whereby the transaction is applied to the user’s phone bill to be paid later. Possibly because of their lack of experience in managing credit risk associated with financial services, telecoms in global markets have largely focused on providing prepaid services in order to manage liquidity and mitigate risk, particularly in telecom-led models that do not rely on a bank partnership. In most countries, nonbank payment service providers are prohibited from accepting consumer deposits or using funds in financing payment activities, which serves to protect the consumer and limits financial system risk (GSMA 2009). For example, Safaricom’s M-PESA mitigates credit risk by collecting prepaid funds from agents. Safaricom deposits into a trust account managed by a leading Kenyan commercial bank, which provides the legal protection for consumers.

In the United States, new P2P services typically involve an established payment vehicle such as a depository account at a financial institution or a credit card to fund the mobile payment. Programs in which the carrier posts charges to the consumer’s phone bill to be postpaid have been largely limited to micropayments for charitable donations, as in the Haiti relief effort discussed earlier, and for small purchases for ring tones and virtual goods in online games. There is no current evidence to suggest that carriers have an appetite for managing credit risk in MMT.

Mitigating risk in mobile money transfer systems

The risk of anonymity in mobile payments may require new authentication technologies such as voice recognition and fingerprinting to verify identification and to employ appropriate know-your-customer programs, particularly at vulnerable points of a transaction when cash withdrawals may be conducted. The use of more sophisticated control systems to flag unusual account activity, based on a customer’s user profile, will be needed to detect increasingly complex money laundering schemes (Cynthia2010).

Since mobile financial transactions occur rapidly, with funds being sent and received in fractions of a second, payment service providers may not detect suspicious activity in time to suspend a transaction (Pousttchi 2005).

The diversity of platforms and wide range of operating systems make mobile phones less vulnerable to attack than personal computers. The recent surge in smart phone applications may introduce vulnerabilities to malware attacks, which may increase payments risk going forward as bad actors gain access to personal information stored in the handset or accessed through a phone application. Finally, the growing use of SMS as a common technology for sending a payments message may demand further examination of the need to strengthen data encryption technology (Cynthia 2010).

Since the success of any payment system is predicated on ubiquity, convenience, and trust, it is necessary to address emerging risk issues in order to maintain public confidence in mobile money. The risk of anonymity in mobile payments may require new authentication technologies such as voice recognition and fingerprinting to verify identification and to employ appropriate know-your-customer programs, particularly at vulnerable points of a transaction when cash withdrawals may be conducted. The use of more sophisticated control systems to flag unusual account activity, based on a customer’s user profile, will be needed to detect increasingly complex money laundering schemes. Since mobile financial transactions occur rapidly, with funds being sent and received in fractions of a second, payment service providers may not detect suspicious activity in time to suspend a transaction. As mobile commerce advances, it will be necessary for mobile payment service providers to establish integrated systems of internal controls that respond quickly to suspicious activity.

The risk of inadequate regulatory oversight stemming from a lack of understanding about the risk exposure inherent in new mobile payment innovations- results in payment system vulnerabilities. Education and collaboration across organizational jurisdictions and the telecom and financial services industries will be necessary to detect and mitigate criminal activity, fraud, and other payment system risks.

Certain aspects of mobile handset technology may be leveraged to provide more secure transactions—by using identification tools to authenticate the user, for example, thereby reducing the risk associated with anonymous transactions. Digital wallets contained in the mobile handset that are provisioned with a secure element and empowered with multifactor authentication may also provide a more secure payment environment in the future. Location-based services available in smart phone applications may also help payment service providers to authenticate the credentials of mobile users engaging in payments transactions. Finally, transaction limits imposed by carriers and financial institutions based on the customer profile and historical usage can mitigate the risk of unauthorized payments.

23

The security issues in m-payments are confidentiality, authentication, integrity, authorization, and

non-repudiation.

• Confidentiality: In m-payments no-one-else should find out what was purchased and how it was paid.

• Authentication: Merchants and mobile customers must be able to trust the identity claimed.

• Integrity: the value of transactions should not be modified by others, knowingly or unknowingly.

• Authorization: parties involved must be able to verify if everyone involved in a transactions is allowed to make payments.

• Non-repudiation: No one should be able to claim that the financial transaction on his/her behalf was made without their knowledge.

Other, non-security issues include accessibility, convenience, speed, ease-of-use, and standardization.

In addition to security and privacy risks, new vulnerabilities arise in mobile financial applications

because wireless devices are used. These transactions may involve multiple wireless networks

with different levels of security. These networks could lead to possible change/deletion of

information, and denial of service. In such an environment, tracing hackers is a difficult job as

devices move in and out of multiple wireless networks and many United States wireless networks

do not authenticate a particular user to a particular device.

Some support for security is provided by mobile middleware. For example, WAP provides security

using Wireless Transport Security Layer (WTSL), but it does not result in the end-to-end security

(only between device and the WAP gateway). The translation between Secure Sockets Layer

(SSL) and WTSL occurs at the WAP gateway. These gateways are vulnerable to Denial of

Service (DoS) attacks because malicious WML Script may run on a device, thereby making other

existing security techniques (signing, authentication and encryption) less effective. Several United

States-based financial companies and associated vendors in the Financial Services Technology

Corporation (FSTC)2 are working on implementing end-to-end transaction support for financial

applications involving mobile devices, wireless networks, and financial institutions. One of the

major hurdles at present is that end-to-end encryption that is not widely available; however, such

encryption will become possible with widespread deployment and use of WAP 2.0.

It is possible to add some security features for financial services. GSM supports both user (PIN)

and device authentication (SSL). Finnish wireless provider Sonera is offering PKI on a SIM card.

Another possibility is wireless PKI, a system to manage keys and certificates and requires the

user to enter 2 PINs (authentication and digital signature). The WPKI is used in WTSL to support

2-way authentication (anonymous: class 1, server: class 2, user: class 3).

Financial services are supported in I-appli service for iMode phones using a version of Java

designed for small devices. I-appli service provided by DoCoMO in Japan using iMode phones

supports few financial services. To provide security for these services, Secure Socket Layer

(SSL) protocol is used at either 40 or 128 bit versions.

Security will dominate any discussions of m-payments, especially, macro payments. Certainly

more work is needed in addressing specific security requirements of m-payments and new ways

to support m-payment security. It is also possible to introduce location as a constraint in deciding

the limit on the monetary value of m-payments, in addition to other traditional constraints such as

type of user, past history of payments, and credit availability. The wireless network that is

currently being used to make m-payment could also be a factor in limiting the amount of money

that can be transferred by its permanently registered users and roaming users.

2 The Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) is a consortium of North American-based financial

institutions, technology vendors, independent research organizations, and government agencies. Its aim is

to bring forward interoperable, open-standard technologies that provide critical infrastructures for the

financial services industry.

Sub security Definition Enabling Concept/technique

Confidentiality

Property that ensures that transaction

information cannot be viewed by

unauthorized persons. Encryption

Authentication

Property that the transaction information actually originates from the presumed transaction partner. Possession (e.g. of a mobile phone),

knowledge (e.g. of a PIN) und property

(e.g. biometric property)

Integrity

Property that the transaction Information remains intact during transmission and cannot be altered. Digital signatures

Authorization

Property that parties involved must be able to verify if everyone involved in a

transaction is allowed to make the transaction. Digital certificates

Non-repudiation

Property that no one should be able to claim that the transaction on his/her behalf was made without their knowledge.

Digital signatures

Table 1. Sub-goals of objective security according to Merz (2002)

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Maturation processes within developmental stages in the foetus

After birth, the foetus is required to adapt to the environmental changes by establishing and maintaining physiological homeostasis, without the assistance of the placenta. Therefore, the survival of the foetus after birth is dependent upon maturation of structures and organs that interface with the new environment. Examples of essential organs and structures are lungs, immune system, gut, liver, pancreases and kidney (Strauss & ‎Barbieri, 2013). Various studies have shown that maturation processes during foetal development are induced by glucocorticoids (Strauss & ‎Barbieri, 2013). Critical maturation processes that occur during foetal development include deposition of glycogen in the liver; activity of enzyme systems in the foetal brain, thyroid gland, pancreases, retina, and gut; and production of surfactant by foetal lungs. Maturation of the foetal lungs is particularly important since inability to breathe due pulmonary immaturity has been found to be a leading cause of mortality among preterm infants as well as neonatal morbidity (Norris & Lopez, 2010). However, the key functions of glucocorticoids in the process of maturation are not yet clear. As Norris and Lopez (2010) highlight, some studies have shown that glucocorticoids do not initiate maturation of cells; they simply accelerate the process of maturation.

Table of Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u 1. Introduction PAGEREF _Toc86414272 h 22. Occurrence of Risks in Relation to Economic and Legal Implications PAGEREF _Toc86414273 h 22.1 Definition of Risk PAGEREF _Toc86414274 h 22.2 Difference between Risk and Uncertainties PAGEREF _Toc86414275 h 22.3 Origins and Nature of Risks PAGEREF _Toc86414276 h 22.5 Identification of Risks in the Context of Economic and Legal Implications PAGEREF _Toc86414277 h 32.5.1 Compliance Risk PAGEREF _Toc86414278 h 32.5.2 Hazard Risks PAGEREF _Toc86414279 h 42.5.3 Control Risk PAGEREF _Toc86414280 h 42.5.4 Opportunity Risk PAGEREF _Toc86414281 h 53. Risk Management Plan PAGEREF _Toc86414282 h 53.1 Control Measures PAGEREF _Toc86414283 h 63.2 Corrective Measures PAGEREF _Toc86414284 h 73.3 Record Keeping and Review Frequencies PAGEREF _Toc86414285 h 84. Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc86414286 h 8References PAGEREF _Toc86414287 h 9

1. IntroductionChina Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC)principally engaged in the design and construction of transportation infrastructure, dredging and heavy machinery manufacturing business. The company operates in China，a fairly stable economy that uses a mixed controlled and open approach to regulation. This is a report covering a deep insight of the China Communication and Construction Company to uncover the major and minor risks that are associated with the company in its operations within China.

2. Occurrence of Risks in Relation to Economic and Legal Implications2.1 Definition of RiskRisk refers to the likelihood that someone or something will suffer harm or loss from a particular event or occurrence (Kuznetsova, 2019). It may also come out as the probability that a certain situation will lead to damage. According to Shad et al. (2019), a risk can is bound by measurable probabilities that are used in speculation or basic calculation and determination the possible likelihood of the event occurring and the amount of harm or loss that can be expected in case it happened.

2.2 Difference between Risk and UncertaintiesThe major and distinctive difference between a risk and uncertainty is within their possible outcomes and the possible occurrence of these outcomes. A risk represents a situation in which both the outcomes to the situation and the possibility of these occurrences are known to the investigator and they can be measured to ensure effective decision making (Kundzewicz et al., 2018). Whereas for the uncertainty, both the outcomes of the situation and their possibility of occurrence are not known and cannot be obtained by the investigator.

2.3 Origins and Nature of RisksThe nature of risk is interpreted according to the expected harm from the risks (Adeleke et al., 2018). Pascal well illustrates the nature of risk, he offers a positive expected value, laid the foundation of modern risk management, refer to traffic construction companies in China compared with the research on risk, the risk in the following aspects: the nature of market, legal aspects, material and financial aspects. Hopkin (2017) put these four aspects into four major categories to represent the whole nature of risks. These categories include; compliance risks, control risks, opportunity risks and hazard risks.

2.4 Business and Societal Setting

The China Communication and Construction Company is a multinational publicly traded company with its headquarters situated in Beijing, China. The company has the majority owner as the State to which the company anchors. The company is set in the Engineering and Construction industry offering major design and construction services all over the world. Standing at an approximate revenue of 70 billion dollars (China Communications Construction Company n.d.), the company possesses the capacity to offer construction activities such as Highways and Bridges design and construction, Port Construction, Airports design and construction, Railway construction, Oil mining platforms design and construction among many other developmental and high end infrastructural design and construction (Huang et al., 2020).

The multinational basis of the China Communication and Construction Company makes the company interact and impact a number of societies with different diversified composition of people. The basic society associated with the company is Chinese with a majority of the population consisting of the Chinese ethnicity however this changes when the company is contracted to work in other nations. With different nations the company interacts with different population of people with different languages and different practices. China Communication and Construction Company is exposed to as many cultural backgrounds and societal belief as the number of nation the world due to its worldwide operation nature.

2.5 Identification of Risks in the Context of Economic and Legal ImplicationsAccording to Polinkevych et al. (2021), four major aspects within which the nature of risk could be analyzed are brought out. This happens to be the major aspects within which the risk concept can be linked with the economic and the legal perspective. The China Communications and Construction Company also fall within these analytical suggestions of risk impact to the company and the link of the risk aspects to the economic and the legal parameters.2.5.1 Compliance RiskAt present, CCCC has carried out substantial business in 135 countries and regions (CCCCLTD, 2021). Different political, economic and cultural environments in different countries make CCCC face various compliance risks.

A Chinese enterprise once completed 90% of an overseas construction project with both quality and quantity guaranteed, but was identified by the World Bank as having violated the rules and terminated the project process, resulting in a loss of hundreds of millions of yuan, and was unable to participate in any Projects funded by the World Bank for eight years (Gong Lefan,2021). As a result, those who violate the rules may face not only huge fines but also be blacklisted and restricted from overseas operations. According to the World Bank’s statistics on sanctions cases from 2007 to 2017, fraud was the most common at 81%, followed by corruption at 20%, conspiracy at 10%, obstruction of investigation at 5%, and coercion at 1% (Nan Jinlin&Yuan Wenqi,2020). Due to the lack of understanding of the local political and economic system, the operation results in violations, and may be identified as fraud.

2.5.2 Hazard RisksAs a large infrastructure company, CCCC faces risks of earthquake, flood and other hazards.

On July 20, 2021, Zhengzhou, China, suffered a rare heavy rain. The construction enterprise Jianye Group suffered heavy losses in a large number of projects under construction, resulting in direct economic losses of 550 million yuan (Xu Qian, 2021). This risk category is related to the loss of physical property (Aziz, 2020). It is said that the risk of flooding in China will increase within a decade, The final increase range was determined to be from 4.04% to 12.34%, indicating that the higher chance of flooding in China means that the company will slightly predict the occurrence of floods often not only because of the percentage increase in the probability of occurrence but also because of the expected increase in flood cases over several decades (Schulte & Hallstedt, 2018). The expected impact is high because the hazard risk affects structural damage to working equipment and projects, resulting in financial losses.

2.5.3 Control RiskConstruction of infrastructure projects requires a lot of manpower and mechanical equipment. Negligence or improper operation will bring serious consequences. The control risk of CCCC is safety accidents.

In 2017, tower cranes collapsed at the construction site of guangzhou Headquarters Base B Project, causing 7 deaths, 2 serious injuries and a direct economic loss of 8.47 million yuan. The company was ordered to suspend operations for 90 days and not undertake new projects during the period. (Li Ying,2020). Control risk is generally related to management, which brings serious economic losses and negative image to enterprises. This risk requires organizations and companies, like internal governments, to adjust to changes in the external environment.

2.5.4 Opportunity RiskOpportunity risk is the failure rate attached to an organization in case it takes upon a new venture. This may be in terms of branching to other areas or diversification of the business to introduce a new product of or service (Sum & Abdul, 2020). The size of the China Communication and Construction Company served as the cushion or mitigation measure for the occurrences attached to this risk. The size of the organization offers more resources to conduct research and investigation for relevant market data so that any decision or step there henceforth is statistical to avoid guesses and avoidable risk ventures (Panjehfouladgaran & Lim, 2020). The probability of the opportunity risk occurring is low however the impact of the same is high which may cost the company an entire branch or financial losses on initial investment costs on new product or services.

3. Risk Management PlanIn the preceding sections, China Communication and Construction Company has been investigated on the risks that are in direct and indirect effect to the company and the impacts these risks may carry. The section has shown that a risk is associated with a number of outcomes whose individual magnitude can be measured. The risks have been investigated with their relation to the economy surrounding China Communication and Construction Company both inland (within Chinese borders), and overseas in other branches of the company located in different countries and different economies subsequently. The section has also shown that in the case of an uncertainty situation the investigator can never have a specific strategy in dealing with the situation rather anything can be expected that no one is ready and prepared to tackle. The risks occurrences are also investigated in their compliance to the legal setting of the company’s locations. Having identified the major risks that are linked to the China Communication and Construction Company, this section presents the available mitigation strategies that are available useful in curbing the risks to protect the company from suffering the impact of occurrences from the risks noted.

3.1 Control MeasuresFrom the risks discussed above, it can be noted from the context that some of the occurrences have the power of impacting the company to cause a major loss of survival-threatening damage. To ensure thriving of the business, there has to be measures to be taken in ensuring the position of the company is protected from the environmental, legal, social and Economical perspective.

The principle framework of a risk control initiative include: identification of the possibility of risk in the organization; identification of the most likely employees or groups of employees to be impacted; educating employees on the probability of risks; train employees on what to do in the event of emergencies, reporting the incidence, and making decisions; perform periodic evaluations of the workplace including the knowledge of employees on risk and risk control expectations and measures; and to reprimand employees and procedures that are not aligned to the risk control measures.

Specifically, China Communication and Construction Company is required to ensure effective risk control measures. These include: performing good and best-practice housekeeping actions and responses in the workplace including work evaluation in every major area for risk issues; establishing a stable structure to handle legal risk issues; auditing; redesigning tasks that have high probability and risk; and implement policies for people to follow in order to reduce risk.

For example, the legal department of the company ensures that the operations within and around the company are in the total compliance with the respective laws. This is by ensuring that the products and services offered by the company are in accordance with the standardization regulation for customer protection and the environmental protection. For protection of the companies and the general public, the company, which is publicly traded, is expected to act under compliance of the company Law, The Law of Enterprise Income Tax, Basic Rules for the Enterprise Internal Control, Anti-Unfair Competition Law, Labor Contract Law and the Interim Regulations on Prohibition of Commercial Bribery. These laws are incorporated to serve the regulation purpose and enhance general compliance. For the China Communication and Construction Company, the possibility of the occurrence is generally low from the strict observation from the management and the legal department set to ensure compliance (CCCCLTD,2021). The company is also publicly traded and most of the ownership left to the state which ensures the compliance of the whole organization is at per for the interests of the government and the public at large.

The pricing of the products and services should all go hand in hand with the pricing act of the law (Gokmenoglu et al., 2019). And the general sustainability of the acquisition process and should be systematic in a way it ensures sustainability in the entire process. The Human Resource department should ensure compliance with the labor law as stated in the company law of the country. For every contract assigned, the labor acquisition should be checked in way that it respects and adheres to the labor law of the country. The company interaction in the market should be controlled to ensure protection of the company from Anti-Fair competition in tender winning and other multi-company involvement activities. The legal team should also study and understand the relevant laws of other countries in which the company works with or is starting to work with to avoid inconveniences when the company’s operations unintentionally assumes some regulations.

Project managers within the company should ensure that the safety measures are put in place I every project to avoid injuries and subsequent disasters from mistakes in safety measures ignorance. Proper fire-fighting equipment should be installed within the buildings of the company and other related buildings including the project sites. The company employees should also undergo necessary fire drills and other training first aid and other short medical care procedure in case of disaster. Projects in foreign countries should be thoroughly planned to accommodate any disaster expectation in the foreign land for example the case of tornadoes in The American Countries. This fore investigation ensures earlier preparations for the expected disasters which would help avoid injuries and at most save lives.

The marketing department and the data handling department together with the management should be in constant check of the statistics within the company operations and compare the current statistics with the previous ones to know and understand the position of the company against that of the prevailing economic climate. These should also use the data obtained for future planning to cope with the constantly changing market. This strategy ensures that the steps of the company are informed for thriving and progress and most of all adaptation to the prevailing market flow to maintain the current market share and even expand under right conditions. The management team and the data handling department should take proper steps in the investigation and projection of any major step in the company’s operations such as expansion or diversification to prevent unnecessary blunders

3.2 Corrective MeasuresThe management should always ensure harmonious working of the different departments to ensure effective information passage in the moments of updates and sensitive changes (Vekasi, 2019). The legal department should ensure they are always updated on the latest updates on the relevant laws and pass the information effectively to the relevant departments and personnel. This includes foreign laws, in countries that are in constant operations with the company and those starting their operation with company. Innovation within the design team should always be high to ensure the company maintains its market share for quality in the services offered (Han et al., 2018). Structural changes should also be undertaken within the working environment to accommodate relevant drills and ensure the health acts is strictly followed. Structural changes are also necessary when trying to curb any disaster such as fire outbreaks in working environment. Previous mistakes within the company should be noted and studied to help avoid the same mistake in future or any related mistake henceforth. The management should also consider foreign assessment or auditing from known companies to ensure the company is in the same position and direction as the internal auditing states.

3.3 Record Keeping and Review FrequenciesFor efficiency, the company must ensure proper record keeping which means the system and mode of keeping records should be such that the retrieval and access of the stored information is not interrupted and should not lose information (Chang et al., 2018). For China Communication and Construction Company, all incidents on law infringement within the company operation should be recorded in proper details and the number of occurrences to be used in decision making and for addressing the entire company personnel together with the public during the annual meetings.

One of the most effective ways to respond to risk is through proper record keeping. Record keeping enables Risk managers to act based on available knowledge and information. Record keeping entails the information collected from: business expenses, tax documents, accounts payables and receivables, employee information, sales records, vendors, and customer lists. This information is necessary in informing the direction of management in regard to policy formulation and decision making.

Records are an essential element to the management of risk. For China Communication and Construction Company, records are used as proof of compliance and aids in the avoidance of legal issues including fees and penalties. The company also uses proper records to make decisions. Risks in the organization are related to management decision making. For example, failure to properly record employee information on an important management matter such as diversity could lead to poor decision making at an organization level. To ensure that proper and useful information is recorded, China Communication and Construction Company also conducts frequent reviews on a monthly, quarterly, and annually basis to ensure that the position of the company on various elements are kept at par with organizational and management goals. Such methods also aid in the management of risk.

4. ConclusionThe China Communication and Construction Company being a very large organisation, should invest effectively on the risk study and mitigation. The organization with its size and value may be highly prone to assume proper running and production efficiency since it is difficult to identify any problem embedded in the large sections and department. Therefore to curb disaster the company should ensure proper check and study of various sectors in the internal and external environment both macro and micro to uncover risks and mitigate them for survival and thriving.

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Maturity

Maturity is often seen to be a person’s development of their emotional intellectual spiritual as well as volitional capacity. After a certain age, often from eighteen when one enters adulthood, no one wants to be labelled as a child and we all refer to ourselves or rather want people to refer to us as mature. While most people mature early others may take time. We leave in a period where the young people have a lot of information at their disposal because of technology. This has made them earn so much which could be deemed as not fit for a certain age for example sexual relation. Most people will liken maturity with age which is actually wrong, however, contrary to most thinking I believe maturity is not a matter of age but rather comes with experience.

Experience is the best teacher, a popular saying actually sums up most things about maturity. Through experiences that we go through we are able to learn new things, identify better ways to counter problems and take up lessons that will be vital in the future (Dowden). You can actually meet a 13-year-old girl who is more mature in their thinking as well as action than a 22-year-old young lady. Some people have been brought up in situations that had to make them mature fast enough than their age, an example would be a child whose parents pass away at age 14 and is left to care for two younger siblings. Most often, the firstborn will take up the role and become a parent to this younger sibling. The child is likely to even take up jobs or offer the guidance to the siblings that other children receive from their parents. It’s because of the circumstances presented in our life that we eventually understand how to reason which eventually affects our maturity.

Science has often pointed out an association between age and maturity. This why often people are considered mature at the age of eighteen. Although this is partially true because with age we are exposed to certain things that also affect our maturity, eventually it will narrow down to experience. For example, when one is of age and they are taken to school the experiences they will encounter at school will shape their reasoning which translates to maturity. Maturity is associated with both accountability and responsibility (Dowden). When you have a four year old who can take care of her belongings including books and stationery and another of the same age who seems to be misplacing her books or stationery all the time, one can eventually conclude that the later can be said to be more mature. You will find a young person who knows how to save and account for their money while at the same time you will find a grown man who cannot do the same simply because they may have never been in a position where they had to live according to their means.

I hope to reach out to the society to bring an understanding of what maturity really means as we seem to be misguided. We can never equate maturity with age, it all narrows down to a person accountability and responsibility which are often influenced by experiences. As a society we need to stop basing a person’s reasoning with their age. It is because of this we are often not keen to listen to an advice from a younger person on the basis he is still young. A person may be young but the experiences they have gone through may have shaped them. The source that I except to consult is an Article on the Medium “Age vs Experience: Maturity Obscurity by Regina Dowden.

Works Cited

Dowden, Regina-Lee. “AGE vs EXPERIENCE: Maturity Obscurity.” Medium, The Post-Grad Survival Guide, 24 Apr. 2019, https://medium.com/the-post-grad-survival-guide/age-vs-experience-maturity-obscurity-a0de07e957c4.