Americans In Civil War Essays - Slavery In The United States

Americans In Civil War The foundation for black participation in the Civil War began more than a hundred years before the outbreak of the war. Blacks in America had been in bondage since early colonial times. In 1776, when Jefferson proclaimed mankind's inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the institution of slavery had become firmly established in America. Blacks worked in the tobacco fields of Virginia, in the rice fields of South Carolina, and toiled in small farms and shops in the North. Foner and Mahoney report in A House Divided, America in the Age of Lincoln that, "In 1776, slaves composed forty percent of the population of the colonies from Maryland south to Georgia, but well below ten percent in the colonies to the North." The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 provided a demand for cotton thus increasing the demand for slaves. By the 1800's slavery was an institution throughout the South, an institution in which slaves had few rights, and could be sold or leased by their owners. They lacked any voice in the government and lived a life of hardship. Considering these circumstances, the slave population never abandoned the desire for freedom or the determination to resist control by the slave owners. The slave's reaction to this desire and determination resulted in outright rebellion and individual acts of defiance. However, historians place the strongest reaction in the enlisting of blacks in the war itself. Batty in The Divided Union: The Story of the Great American War, 1861-65, concur with Foner and Mahoney about the importance of outright rebellion in their analysis of the Nat Turner Rebellion, which took place in 1831. This revolt demonstrated that not all slaves were willing to accept this "institution of slavery" passively. Foner and Mahoney note that the significance of this uprising is found in its aftermath because of the numerous reports of "insubordinate" behavior by slaves. 8 Individual acts of defiance ranged from the use of the Underground Railroad - a secret, organized network of people who helped fugitive slaves reach the Northern states and Canada - to the daily resistance or silent sabotage found on the plantations. Stokesbury acknowledges in, A Short History of the Civil War, the existence of the Underground Railroad but disagrees with other historians as to its importance. He notes that it never became as well organized or as successful as the South believed. Even with the groundwork having been laid for resistance, the prevalent racial climate in America in 1860 found it unthinkable that blacks would bear arms against white Americans. However, by 1865 these black soldiers had proven their value. Wilson writes in great detail describing the struggles and achievements of the black soldiers in his book The Black Phalanx. McPherson discusses in The Negro's Civil War that widespread opposition to the use of blacks as soldiers prevailed among northern whites. Whereas McPherson relates the events cumulating in the passage of two laws that aided black enlistment, Wilson focuses on the actual enlistment. He notes that the first regiment of free blacks came into service at New Orleans in September 1862 through the efforts of Butler. Wilson credits Butler's three regiments of blacks as the first officially mustered into Union ranks. North Carolina and Kansas also organized additional black units where minor skirmishes proved to be successful. Wilson also notes that "Kansas has ... the honor of being the first State in the Union to begin the organization of Negroes as soldiers for the Federal army." McPherson believes that up to this point President Lincoln had opposed the idea of blacks fighting for the Union but after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that slaves in states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, "shall be then, thence forward, and forever free," he reversed his 8 thinking. At the end of the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln announced that the freed blacks "would be received into the armed service of the United States...." Lincoln planned to tap into a new source of fighting individuals, "...the great available and as yet unavailed of, force for the restoration of the Union.". Lincoln thought this would both weaken the enemy and strengthen the Union. The recruitment of the blacks took laborers from the South and placed "these men in the Union army in places which otherwise must be filled with so many white men." Lincoln also felt that seeing the blacks fighting against the Confederacy would have a psychological effect upon the South. With the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1,

A Beautiful Mind - A film review essays

A Beautiful Mind - A film review essays The director Ron Howard's latest film, A Beautiful Mind, is a entertaining, enlightening and compassionate drama witch tackles the trials and tribulations of a genius suffering from schizophrenia. The film is a the true story of a mathematician named John Forbes Nash Jr. who is played by Russell Crowe whom won a Academy Oscar for his portrait as Maximus in The Gladiator. We first meet John Nash at Princeton University in 1947 as a mathematician with social problems due to paranoid schizophrenia. Hes brilliant and doesnt hold back on expressing the capacity and merits of his brain to his peers. As a matter of fact he is already so above the institutional standards that he chooses to skip classes. He doesnt have much luck with women either and found himself being slapped in the face all too often with his blunt, "why don't we skip to the sex" line. Still, he understand his personal condition, so he has as little contact with people as possible, and spends most of his time in his dorm room searching for a discovery of a new theory. He is basically a smart, shy jerk with a wry sense of humour. Shortly after receiving recognition for his theories at Princeton, he becomes a professor at the prestigious school of MIT and begins teaching. He attracts the attention of one of his physic students, Alicia Larde, (played by Jennifer Connelly) and she finds Nash's eccentricities charming and asks him out to dinner. By 1957 the two were married. But at about the same time he meets his future wife, he also meets the compelling government agent (Ed Harris) who recruits the professor to break codes for the Department of Defence. It is only a few years later that Nash's schizophrenia is diagnosed. He becomes paranoid and delusional and at times violent. His world comes crashing down around him. People and things he believes are real are only in his head. Nash can no longer be convinced about who is real and who is in his h...

Genetically modified food Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Genetically modified food - Essay Example As per the current scientific situation, most foods that are as a result of genetic modifications come from plants, but as time goes by, attempts are being made in order to come with foods from plants or animals that contain microbial genes and improved characteristics (Kim, 2009). Most of the genetically modified food crops are produced so as maximize on their yield while at the same time allowing for introduction of resistance genes that help in surviving during infection with diseases. Other genes may also be introduced so as to increase tolerance of the plant to herbicides while at the same time having high yields. It is prospected that this genetic modification at some point will be aimed at making changes on the nutrient content of the genetically altered foods and at least minimizing the potential of some foods to cause allergic reactions. It is however important to perform assessments of all genetically modified foods before they are brought into the market for human consumption since any mistakes done during the process of generating the GMOs may have a fatal effect on huge numbers of people (Kawata, Murakami & Ishikawa, 2009). The first step in the process of manufacture of genetically modified foods involves isolation of the specific genes of interest from heir well-known sources. It is therefore essential that prior knowledge on the structure, role and positional location of the particular gene required for the unique traits is available. Such a trait or genetic characteristic for example may be the trait of drought resistance or resistance to attack by insects. This step is followed by insertion of the isolated gene of interest into a selected vector and in most cases the vector used is the bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The gene insert that contains the gene of interest is inserted into the plasmid of the vector by use of an alternative in the various

Oliver Stone films representing the war Research Paper

Oliver Stone films representing the war - Research Paper Example 1. JFK: This film portrays the events leading to the unfortunate assassination of President Kennedy. It is assumed that this film is based on two books from other authors exploring the same issue. But while the books attracted acclaim, Stone’s JFK instantly got slathered with harsh criticism. Furious historians and critics argued that Stone’s carefree attitude with important historical facts contributed to creation of a highly twisted picture. However, the way JFK later gained confidence and amassed many Academy nominations raises embarrassing questions about the angry criticism published in American newspapers upon the movie’s release. The way Jim Garrison in JFK investigates the assassination from a completely different perspective implying an infamous scheme within the government responsible for Kennedy’s death actually ended up interesting people far more than any book ever did written on the same subject. In fact, the magnitude of excitement felt by people who read books is dwarfed by the magnitude of thrilling suspense experienced by people who viewed the movie, in reference to how the picture reveals different ways by which powerful people use authority to manipulate events (Rendall). The fact that movies can speak louder than words is made emphatic by the way historical events are intelligently portrayed in JFK.

Development of database security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Development of database security - Essay Example The database security is concerned with the unauthorized access or misuse of the authorized user which leads to the leakage of personal or potential information. A database is said to be a reliable data storage source if it does not compromise on confidentiality (data security), integrity (the correctness of data) and availability. The integrity of data is dependent on the data gathering and storing process, moreover, if the database could be accessed by unauthorized users can influence the correctness of data. Therefore, it can be stated that the database security is one of the critical factors to be achieved in developing a dependable database. There are many techniques could be utilized for developing a secured database (Kayarkar, n.d) includes the access control (implementing data access rights to the users), database monitoring (to review the actions performed on the database), authentication (identifying the accurate user) and encryption (data encoding). Moreover, the data can be made secure by the application security and database integrity controls. The Elmasri and Navathe in 2004 a methodology have been introduced for developing a database design. The database designing methodology has following three (3) main phases include the Conceptual database design, Logical database design, and Physical database design. As the objective of this document s to present a review of the database security concerns for avoiding illegal access, therefore, the document limits the discussion to the logical database design phase.

Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance

Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance Introduction In the first chapter of this research study, an introduction on insurance will be presented. While, on the other hand, there will be a highlight on the differences between conventional and Islamic insurance. Following this, will be the problem discussion and the objectives of this study. Finally, there will be the justification and significance, following by organization of the study. What Exactly Is Insurance Means Buying insurance has become a trend in this twentieth century. According to The Star daily(2007), in the first half of year 2007, the combined premium income for insurance industry increase 9.8 percent compared to the same period for year 2006. The industry is further expanded in line with the favorable economics performance. People bought the insurance for their car, family, and business. People spend a lot of money on paying the insurance premium annually. While, do they actually clear on what kind of plan they had bought and what had they insured for their life, property and so on? Do they really distinct on the concept of the insurance that they had disbursed so much? According to Bank Negara Malaysia, insurance is the transfer of risk by an individual, such as yourself or an organization, such as your business to an insurance company. You or your organization will then be known as policy holder or insured while the insurance company is the insurer. The insurance company receives the payment in the form of premium. Then the insurance company utilized the premium collect from their policy holder to make some investment for their company. They will compensate their policy holder in the event of losses or damages which is sustained by the premium paid. In other word, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss by paying an amount of premium. It is an effective risk transfer mechanism for insured to exchange their uncertainty financial loss with the certain amount of premium (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). This kind of insurance we titled as conventional insurance which is the ordinary type of insurance that accepted by the society in general. While, other than the conventional insurance which we normally approached to, there are another type of insurance which we called as Islamic insurance. The Islamic insurance was step into Malaysia insurance market since November of year 1984 (Renat Bekkin, 2008). The first Islamic insurance company established in Malaysia was Takaful Malaysia Berhad. Early than that, Islamic insurance has stepping into the market of Sudan and Arab. What is Islamic insurance Islamic insurance is a mode of financial management which compliance to Shariah law. Islamic insurance is provided under a principle called Takaful. According to Islamic Banking, the term Takaful is derived from the Arabic word Kafaala meaning guaranteeing. Takaful means guaranteeing each other and refer to the concept of permissible Islamic insurance or Halal insurance. While by referring to Takaful Act 1984, Article 2, Takaful means a scheme based on brotherhood, solidarity and mutual assistance which provides for mutual financial aid and assistance to the participants in case of need whereby the participants mutually agree to contribute for that purpose. Literally, Takaful defines responsibility, shared guarantee, collective assurance and mutual undertakings. (Masum Billah, 2007) Some Muslims believe insurance is unnecessary, as society should helps its victims. Muslims can no longer ignore the fact that they live, they trade and communicate with open global systems, and they can no longer ignore the need for banking and insurance (Dr Aly Khorshid, 2004). In the eyes of Muslims, the concepts used by conventional insurance are against the law of Shariah. This is because conventional insurance is based on a contract of exchange (sale) between the insurance company and the covered person. This contract is void because it has the elements which are not permissible from Shariahs perspective. The elements are Gharar which means uncertainty. Conventional insurance has an element of Gharar due to the promise to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of unsuspected events. The other elements are Maysir which refer to gambling. Existence of Gharar (uncertainties) leads to Maysir (gambling) in conventional insurance. The insured may either lose the entire premium he has paid or be compensated for the losses he incurs for the insured event. Riba was also one of the not permissible elements in the law of Shariah. Riba means interest. The investment of insurance funds in interest bearing securities such bonds and stocks, which do not comply with the Shariah principles, pose a major Muslims who purchase the conventional insurance (Alburn Mountain, 2008). In conventional insurance, vendors, the insurance company, sells their insurance plans to their clients, which we called as policy holder in the other way and invest the premium paid for the profit of its shareholder. Then, the policy holders do enjoy the risk transference that they are receiving the compensation if they face the financial loss on the events they insured. According to Islamic Banking, Takaful was grant as Islamic insurance because of the apparent similarity between the contract of kafaala and insurance. Takaful is an Islamic concept which grounded in Islamic Mualamat which define as banking transaction (SP Media, 2009). This concept already practices in diverse form over 1400 years long (Salam, 2008). Generally, Takaful is an insurance plan which based on Shariah principles. The members are to contribute a certain amount of money to a common pool which is Takaful fund in the form of participative contribution that also called as Tabarru. Tabarru means a donation, charity or gift which cannot be taken back (Dr Qaradawi, 2002). In general Takaful, a percentage of the participants contribution is considered as Tabarru, thus it cannot be taken back by the participants as it is the joint guarantee principle to help other participants. A portion of a participants contribution will be allocate through Tabarru principle to help participants from a sudden but defined risks. After contributing the money into Takaful mutual fund, they will undertake a contract which called as Aqad in Islam, to become one of the participants by agreeing to mutually help each other, should any of the participants suffer a defined loss (Arshad Shaikh, 2007). In Islamic insurance, participants (policyholders) are co-operating among themselves for their common goods. Every participants are to pay a part of the contribution (premium) as a donation to help those need assistance. Other than that, in Takaful system, losses are divided and liabilities spread according to the community pooling system. In order to eliminate the element of uncertainty in Takaful contract, the concept of Tabarru is incorporated. This is to enable the participant to fulfill his obligation of mutual help and joint guarantee should any of his fellow participants suffer a defined loss. In conventional insurance, policy holder can buy more than one policy or plan to hedge the particular risk in the event of loss or damage. By this, the policy holders are lessening the claims of the insurance company because the same amount of compensation has now burden by two companies. This is called reinsurance which an insurance company can transfer to another insurer, the reinsurer all or part of its liabilities in respect of claims arising under the contracts of insurance. This is to protect itself against the risk that its total claims costs in any year may wiping out of its profits and cause it to insolvent. As same in Islamic insurance, participants can buy more than one plan from other licensed Takaful operator. This is called as Retakaful in Islamic insurance (Bahrain, 2005). Why Takaful Insurance instead of Conventional Insurance In Islamic view, the concept used in conventional insurance is in conflict with the injunction of Islam (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). The conflicts were not against the concepts used by conventional insurance that trades and contracts were appeared in the concept. While the struggling are the weaknesses and the imperfect phrase which existed in the insurance contract. The objections are actually against the phrase of Gharar which means uncertainty, Maisir refers to gambling and the word Riba which point to the interest. The criticism was the word of Gharar is happened in the contract of insurance. Other than that, the phrase of gambling is presenting in its extreme form. Whats more is the element of interest is existed in the contract. These three phrases were the points appeared in the contract of conventional insurance that prohibited in Islamic view. Thus, they lead to the contradiction between conventional insurance and Islamic view (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). While, there are the person who does not agree the above matters. According to Dr Yusof al-Qaradawi (2002), he does not think that the concept used in conventional insurance is conflict with Islamic law, but he agrees that the conventional insurance is in need of some improvement to move in line with Islamic teachings. Problem Statement People are following the track of buying insurance nowadays. People buy insurance when there is a new born baby. They buy insurance during their travelling. Insurance also bought when people purchase a residential property. People also buy insurance for the sake of retiring. People buy insurance whenever they think there was an unseen risk hidden, but do they really know what is about insurance and what type of insurance is available in the market? Throughout a number of searching by using the Google search engine and the library in campus, which was found that there are the surveys doing on Islamic Banking which may mentioned in various perspectives for instances the growth of Islamic banking in the world. Like what mentioning by Radio Australia, Islamic banking was one of the fastest growing sectors in the finance world which reveals by the value of the industry which worth of USD 1 Trillion in the year 2008. An addition, according to the bankers Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution survey, assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than that, what was found is there are quite a number of researches which study on the topic related to insurance. There are talked about the insurance expansion in the industry, growth of the insurance industry, the rate of market penetration. According to KCLAU (2007), the market penetration of life insurance as measured in terms of the total number of policies in force to total population, grew to 39.3 percent as at end of June 2007. While, besides the conventional which is generally accepted by the society, there are another type of risk transfer mechanism which is Islamic insurance was emerged in the other part of the globe. Islamic insurance was first widely spread over the Islamic country like Sudan, Arabic, India, South East Asia, and some other place in the world. The Islamic insurance also practiced in the region which is non Islamic country like European country and United of State. Since the growing of Islamic insurance throughout the world is in such a fast track, while, the doubt appeared was, it was hard to find the study on Islamic insurance rather than the conventional insurance. Another doubt was appeared that what is the reason to separate insurance into Islamic and conventional? What is the different perspective between Islamic insurance and conventional insurance? While, the most is, do people aware of the existence of Islamic insurance in the insurance industry which they approached ordinarily? Following by this, is the discussion on conventional and Islamic insurance. Research Objectives The general objective of this study is to clarify the different perspectives between conventional and Islamic insurance. While the other specific objectives as stated below which I am to study in this research. The specific objectives: To investigate the different perception of Muslim and Non Muslim towards conventional and Islamic insurance To investigate the determinants of demand for insurance in Malaysians To determine the level of awareness on Islamic insurance in the region of Malaysia Significance of Study This study may help the Malaysian Islamic Finance market to move a step up due to the hike up of the level of awareness on the conventional and Islamic insurance. Other than that, the study also provides the Muslim and Non Muslim within Malaysia to walk out of the religious teachings and some other factors in order to know more about the issues of insurance. Therefrom, Malaysias Islamic finance market may improve follow by the fast track in other country like what happened to the Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution, that assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than impacts on the country income and economic condition, this study also might helpful to the family or person who thinks of purchase insurance. By gone through this study, they are able to better analyze the product available in the market whether from the conventional insurance company or the Takaful operator which offer the Shariah compliance products and services. Then they are able to choose the best product which suit to them in terms of their needs, budget and also the religious teachings. Other than this, the study also may help the insurance company or the operators to determine the consumers intention of buying on their product. They may use the useful information to improve their products in order to enhance or even develop a better market position for their company. The growing in the insurance market plays an important role in the economic growth of the country. The growing may bring the country to a higher position in the world financial sector. Thus, Malaysia will stand still on the top of the world in the financial sector which playing the role of developing the conventional and Islamic insurance to the various country on the globe. Organization of Study This research report comprises of five chapters. The first chapter serves the introduction on insurance. It consists of the detail for conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. Problem statement and research objective is also discussed. Following the significance of study is presented. Lastly, the chapter one will end by the organization of study which show the flow out of the whole research project. Basically, chapter two will present the literature review which forms the foundation of this study. It consists of the related empirical study which done by other researchers previously. There are few factors which impact on the demand of insurance and influential to customers perception are included in this chapter. In chapter three, the research methodology of the study will be discussed. The research framework will be shown together with the hypothesis developed link together the variables in the study. Other than that, the sample planning, sources of data and data collection will also be carried out. Questionnaire design will also be laid out in this chapter following by the data analysis method which is the last part of this chapter. Following by this is chapter four which describe the results and discussion. Hence, the graph and table will be widely used to better interpret the findings and result of the study. Finally, chapter five will be the conclusion and the recommendation of this research. The level of awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will finally be presented and end this study. Chapter Two Literature Review INTRODUCTION Continue with the first chapter presented previously, this study is to observe the perception of Malaysia towards conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. For the sake of gaining a clearer view on this, exploring to the related literature is a must. Following, the overview of insurance and takaful will be presented. In 2.2, the discussion about the determinants impact on demand for insurance will be presented. Then, the study will indicate the perception of consumers towards conventional and Islamic methods of finance in few factors like the service quality, accessibility, convenience and status of the organizations. Lastly in 2.4, the awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will be discussed. Overview of Insurance and Islamic Insurance Insurance is a form of risk-management which transfer the possible risks like accident, theft, natural disaster and illness of ones or a group to the more financially sound entity, insurers in exchange with a small amount of payment which we called as premium. The meaning of insurance is essentially to understand for everybody who is considering of purchase an insurance policy or to understand the basics of what if finance. This instrument is used in hedging risk precautionary against the future contingent losses (Stanley St Labs, n.d). While, according to Insurance Info, insurance is being categorized two main categories which are life insurance and general insurance. The risks that covered by life insurance including premature death, income during retirement and illness. While the main products in life insurance are Whole life, Endowment, Term, Investment-linked, Life annuity plan, Medical and health. For general insurance, it is basically a policy that protects you from losses and damages which other than those covered by life insurance, for instance, property loss like stolen car and burnt house. Other than that, liability arising from damage caused by oneself to a third party, accidental death or injury also covered by the general insurance. The products offered under general insurance are Motor insurance, Fire/House owner/Householder insurance, Personal accident insurance, Medical and health insurance and Travel insurance. While for Islamic insurance, takaful, is a protection plan based on Shariah principles compliance. By contributing a sum of money to a common takaful fund in the form of participative contribution (tabarru), the person is undertaking a contract (aqad) to become one of the participants which agree to mutually help each other if any of the participants suffer a defined loss. Both takaul and insurance have similar basic principles where the insured must have a legitimate financial interest in the risk you are insuring, which means the insured must suffer a financial loss when the insured event occurred. In takaful, the life insurance is granted as family takaful. The products offered under family takaful are Family Takaful, Investment linked takaful, Child education takaful, Medical and health takaful. While for general takaful, there are Home takaful, Motor takaful and Personal accidents takaful. Perception towards Conventional and Islamic Insurance Perception, as defined by Stephen P. Robbins (2005) is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Perception is important in decision making process. An individual must fully understand the decision must make along with all of the facts and information involved. If an individual has a bad perception of the situation and do not consider all of the facts that are involved like the external factors which anyone else have no control over the individual may lead to a wrong decision. In turn, this will cause negative consequences for the organization and the individual. In order to have a good perception on any given situation, an individual must analyze all of the significant information involved in a timely manner, without making a hasty decision (Wally Sparks, 2007). Service Quality According to Shahril Bin Shafie (2003), quality is sought by all organizations, especially in the service sector. Service quality is commonly noted as a critical prerequisite for establishing and sustaining satisfying relationships between organization and the customers (Lassar et al., 2000). According to Yap, S.F., and Kew, M.L., there are many researchers who have defined service quality in different ways. Among them, Bitner, Booms and Mohr (1994) define service quality as the consumers overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and its services. While, other researchers like Cronin and Taylor (1994), view service quality as a form of attitude representing a long run overall evaluation. Service quality has determining the repeated purchase and customer loyalty to an organization. When a customer choose a provider that provides service quality that meets or exceeds his or her expectations, then the customer is more likely to choose the same pro vider again. According to Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. By referring to a study conduct by Erdener Kaynak and Talha D. Harcar (2005) is found that, the service quality provide by conventional banking system is excellent than the others. The study indicated that the customer maintain a higher level of confidence in conventional bank rather than Islamic bank. In this study, the service being tested including the swiftness in correcting errors, fast and efficient service, and consumer complains handling and the courtesy personnel. While according to Hendrik, L., Hirun, A., Razli, C.R., Halim, M.L., Khairul, A. A., and Darwina, A.A. (n.d), indicate that customer satisfaction on Islamic banking products and services is different across the cities. The service quality is satisfied within Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur and Penang because these cities are bigger which also contains more populations, and are more economically developed. Due to these reasons, the service provided is more satisfactory because of the customers characteristics which different from income level, gender and also educational level.Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. The emergence of the Internet provides an opportunity for organizations to conduct business in cyberspace. Steven et al (2002), Soliman (2003), Wirtz (2001), Coltman (2001) had studied that Internet adoption and factors influencing the propensity and pattern of adoption among different sectors and sizes of organizations worldwide and in Malaysia, empirical data on online insurance has been limited (Fatimah et al, 2000; Yusserie at el, 2002). One of the reasons may be because the insurance industry has been slow to respond to the usage of Internet for business,, as compared to the other financial service (Esters, 1997). In 1999, recognizing the potential of the Internet, Bank Negara Malaysia allowed a group of insurers to establish the industry first interactive insurance website, which enabled policy owners to transact on the line for renewal of policy and also premium payment(BNM 2000). Internet via individual companys website allows customers to gain more information about the product and services offered by the companies (Ruquet, 2001). While, not all the business organizations are adopting Internet in their business due to various reasons like customer readiness, cost and the risks involved. Zinkewicz (2000) said that business do not use the Internet for business because customers do not trust the process involved, instead, they prefer human interactions (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Accessibility Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product or service is accessible by as many people as possible. It also viewed as the ability to access the functionality and possible benefits of some system or entity like information of the particular products and services (Wikipedia, 2009). In Malaysia, there are total up 1,752 numbers of registered insurance agencies distributed throughout the thirteen states and two federal territories. Among of all, there are agencies which offer both life insurance and also general insurance business like American International Assurance Bhd, Etiqa Insurance Berhad, Hong Leong Assurance Berhad and so on (BNM, 2008). Other than that, there are only eight licensed Takaful operator in Malaysia which are CIMB Aviva Takaful Berhad, Etiqa Takaful Berhad, Hong Leong Tokio Marine Takaful Berhad, HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, MAA Takaful Berhad, Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad,Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad and also Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd (BNM, 2008). Convenience Convenience is composed of number factors including the availability of parking space, location of branches, long operation hours. (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Customers will always prefer the products and services are available near to their working place or house area for the convenience of visiting. The sufficient parking space and long operation hours is for the convenience when visiting to the branch. Internet adoption is a type of convenience which offered by the insurance companies to their consumers, where consumers can get the products and services information through the website (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Other than that, interior comfort and external design also included affect the consumers perception on the convenience of selecting financial products. Status Status of an organization show measured through the strength of financial position, reputation and also the risk. As Islamic finance continue to expand. Islamic principles strong emphasis on the economic, ethical, moral and social dimensions, to enhance equality and fairness for the good of society as a whole should also have appeal for the ethnically minded (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Study which conducted by Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki (2009) also revealed that banks name and reputation is a strong effect on selecting a bank. In order to penetrate the youth market, Takaful Malaysia announced on 11th November, that RM 15 million has been pumped into the companys rebranding exercise. After twenty-five years of leading in Islamic insurance company in the country, Takaful Malaysia is setting on conquering the insurance industry by transforming itself into a more youthful outfit. Reflective of its tagline of modern, young and energetic, the company will unveils its new fresh-looking logo, a color fusion of apple green and olive green, described by Takaful Malaysia group director Datuk Hassan Kamil as vibrant and energetic. Takaful Malaysia believes that its latest approach will enhance its image and make it more appealing to the younger age-group which Hassan deems as a highly potential market segment (Joseph Kaos JR, 2009). Others Other than the above criteria, according to a study conducted in Jordan indicated that profit motivated criteria was an important factor to choose a bank service. However, other findings are that peer group influence plays an important role in selecting Islamic banks as depository institution. Other than that, politeness and friendliness of the personnel will also impact on the customers perception towards the financial institutions (Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki, 2009). Determinants of demand for insurance Insurance has become an important part of a financial sector over the past forty years. It provides a range of investments product for consumers. It also becomes the major source of investment in the capital market. Yet, the reasons for consumption of insurance are various across the countries. Demographic factors were amongst (Thorsten Beck, 2003; Ian Webb, 2003, Yvette Reisinger, 2009). While according to the study conducted by Truett et al. (1990), the consumption of insurance is depend on the price of insurance, income level of individual, and also the demographic factors such as age of individual insured and also the educational level. Gender The majority women of American have health insurance through either employer or through a public program. There are 66.67 percents of all women aged from 18 to 64 owned insurance through their employer, while another 16 percents through public program in year 2007. In contrast, there is 7 percents of nonelderly women in year 2007 purchase health coverage directly from insurance companies which we known as the individual market. Yet, the National Womens Law Centre (NWLC) investigated two phenomena, the gender gap which refers to the difference in premium charged to female and male applicants of the same age and health status. Another phenomenon is the availability and affordability of coverage for maternity care across the country. Based on the research, NWLC (2008) found that the individual market is a place which is very hard for women to purchase the health coverage. This is because insurance companies can refuse to sell women coverage due to the historic data that women have a higher percentage compared to men in suffering from a chronic condition which requiring ongoing treatment for instances asthma or arthritis. In addition, if the insurers discovered that an applicant underwent a Caesarean Section (C-Section) during the medical underwriting process, the company may charge a higher premium, or impose an exclusionary period which it refuses to cover another C-Section or pregnancy. New reports also revealed that women are more likely than men in taking prescription medication on a regular basis. In these conditions, the insurance company may reject the applications. On the other hand, it is difficult and costly for women to find health insurance that cover maternity care. A limited number of insurers offered this in separately for an additional fees which known as rider. Yet, this supplemental coverage is often far higher than ordinary plan. So typically, women have no other choice to select more or less comprehensive rider policy (NWLC, 2008). Educational Level According to Tienyu Hwang (2003) and Simon Gao (2003), the level of education plays a very important role in affecting the demand of insurance. It has been shown that the increasing of the educated population in a country, the recognition of the availability of insurance products will also be increased. Thus, the demand for insurance will also be growing in the country. Despite the education level in China is relatively low (Truett and monitor, 1996; World Bank, 1998), the increase in the education level will lead to a large number of people being realizing and able to recognize the essentiality of insurance. Therefore, it is likely to create a demand to purchase insurance. On the other hand, although the level of education in China remains low, china has made a great progress in improving the education system since the economic reform. This has increase the education level which leads to a greater awareness and understanding on the role of insurance. Hence, the level of education and demand for insurance is positively correlated. However, Szpiro and Outreville (198) proved that higher education leads to lower risk aversion, and that, in turn, leads to more risk taking by skilled and well educated people. While accor Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance Introduction In the first chapter of this research study, an introduction on insurance will be presented. While, on the other hand, there will be a highlight on the differences between conventional and Islamic insurance. Following this, will be the problem discussion and the objectives of this study. Finally, there will be the justification and significance, following by organization of the study. What Exactly Is Insurance Means Buying insurance has become a trend in this twentieth century. According to The Star daily(2007), in the first half of year 2007, the combined premium income for insurance industry increase 9.8 percent compared to the same period for year 2006. The industry is further expanded in line with the favorable economics performance. People bought the insurance for their car, family, and business. People spend a lot of money on paying the insurance premium annually. While, do they actually clear on what kind of plan they had bought and what had they insured for their life, property and so on? Do they really distinct on the concept of the insurance that they had disbursed so much? According to Bank Negara Malaysia, insurance is the transfer of risk by an individual, such as yourself or an organization, such as your business to an insurance company. You or your organization will then be known as policy holder or insured while the insurance company is the insurer. The insurance company receives the payment in the form of premium. Then the insurance company utilized the premium collect from their policy holder to make some investment for their company. They will compensate their policy holder in the event of losses or damages which is sustained by the premium paid. In other word, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss by paying an amount of premium. It is an effective risk transfer mechanism for insured to exchange their uncertainty financial loss with the certain amount of premium (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). This kind of insurance we titled as conventional insurance which is the ordinary type of insurance that accepted by the society in general. While, other than the conventional insurance which we normally approached to, there are another type of insurance which we called as Islamic insurance. The Islamic insurance was step into Malaysia insurance market since November of year 1984 (Renat Bekkin, 2008). The first Islamic insurance company established in Malaysia was Takaful Malaysia Berhad. Early than that, Islamic insurance has stepping into the market of Sudan and Arab. What is Islamic insurance Islamic insurance is a mode of financial management which compliance to Shariah law. Islamic insurance is provided under a principle called Takaful. According to Islamic Banking, the term Takaful is derived from the Arabic word Kafaala meaning guaranteeing. Takaful means guaranteeing each other and refer to the concept of permissible Islamic insurance or Halal insurance. While by referring to Takaful Act 1984, Article 2, Takaful means a scheme based on brotherhood, solidarity and mutual assistance which provides for mutual financial aid and assistance to the participants in case of need whereby the participants mutually agree to contribute for that purpose. Literally, Takaful defines responsibility, shared guarantee, collective assurance and mutual undertakings. (Masum Billah, 2007) Some Muslims believe insurance is unnecessary, as society should helps its victims. Muslims can no longer ignore the fact that they live, they trade and communicate with open global systems, and they can no longer ignore the need for banking and insurance (Dr Aly Khorshid, 2004). In the eyes of Muslims, the concepts used by conventional insurance are against the law of Shariah. This is because conventional insurance is based on a contract of exchange (sale) between the insurance company and the covered person. This contract is void because it has the elements which are not permissible from Shariahs perspective. The elements are Gharar which means uncertainty. Conventional insurance has an element of Gharar due to the promise to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of unsuspected events. The other elements are Maysir which refer to gambling. Existence of Gharar (uncertainties) leads to Maysir (gambling) in conventional insurance. The insured may either lose the entire premium he has paid or be compensated for the losses he incurs for the insured event. Riba was also one of the not permissible elements in the law of Shariah. Riba means interest. The investment of insurance funds in interest bearing securities such bonds and stocks, which do not comply with the Shariah principles, pose a major Muslims who purchase the conventional insurance (Alburn Mountain, 2008). In conventional insurance, vendors, the insurance company, sells their insurance plans to their clients, which we called as policy holder in the other way and invest the premium paid for the profit of its shareholder. Then, the policy holders do enjoy the risk transference that they are receiving the compensation if they face the financial loss on the events they insured. According to Islamic Banking, Takaful was grant as Islamic insurance because of the apparent similarity between the contract of kafaala and insurance. Takaful is an Islamic concept which grounded in Islamic Mualamat which define as banking transaction (SP Media, 2009). This concept already practices in diverse form over 1400 years long (Salam, 2008). Generally, Takaful is an insurance plan which based on Shariah principles. The members are to contribute a certain amount of money to a common pool which is Takaful fund in the form of participative contribution that also called as Tabarru. Tabarru means a donation, charity or gift which cannot be taken back (Dr Qaradawi, 2002). In general Takaful, a percentage of the participants contribution is considered as Tabarru, thus it cannot be taken back by the participants as it is the joint guarantee principle to help other participants. A portion of a participants contribution will be allocate through Tabarru principle to help participants from a sudden but defined risks. After contributing the money into Takaful mutual fund, they will undertake a contract which called as Aqad in Islam, to become one of the participants by agreeing to mutually help each other, should any of the participants suffer a defined loss (Arshad Shaikh, 2007). In Islamic insurance, participants (policyholders) are co-operating among themselves for their common goods. Every participants are to pay a part of the contribution (premium) as a donation to help those need assistance. Other than that, in Takaful system, losses are divided and liabilities spread according to the community pooling system. In order to eliminate the element of uncertainty in Takaful contract, the concept of Tabarru is incorporated. This is to enable the participant to fulfill his obligation of mutual help and joint guarantee should any of his fellow participants suffer a defined loss. In conventional insurance, policy holder can buy more than one policy or plan to hedge the particular risk in the event of loss or damage. By this, the policy holders are lessening the claims of the insurance company because the same amount of compensation has now burden by two companies. This is called reinsurance which an insurance company can transfer to another insurer, the reinsurer all or part of its liabilities in respect of claims arising under the contracts of insurance. This is to protect itself against the risk that its total claims costs in any year may wiping out of its profits and cause it to insolvent. As same in Islamic insurance, participants can buy more than one plan from other licensed Takaful operator. This is called as Retakaful in Islamic insurance (Bahrain, 2005). Why Takaful Insurance instead of Conventional Insurance In Islamic view, the concept used in conventional insurance is in conflict with the injunction of Islam (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). The conflicts were not against the concepts used by conventional insurance that trades and contracts were appeared in the concept. While the struggling are the weaknesses and the imperfect phrase which existed in the insurance contract. The objections are actually against the phrase of Gharar which means uncertainty, Maisir refers to gambling and the word Riba which point to the interest. The criticism was the word of Gharar is happened in the contract of insurance. Other than that, the phrase of gambling is presenting in its extreme form. Whats more is the element of interest is existed in the contract. These three phrases were the points appeared in the contract of conventional insurance that prohibited in Islamic view. Thus, they lead to the contradiction between conventional insurance and Islamic view (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). While, there are the person who does not agree the above matters. According to Dr Yusof al-Qaradawi (2002), he does not think that the concept used in conventional insurance is conflict with Islamic law, but he agrees that the conventional insurance is in need of some improvement to move in line with Islamic teachings. Problem Statement People are following the track of buying insurance nowadays. People buy insurance when there is a new born baby. They buy insurance during their travelling. Insurance also bought when people purchase a residential property. People also buy insurance for the sake of retiring. People buy insurance whenever they think there was an unseen risk hidden, but do they really know what is about insurance and what type of insurance is available in the market? Throughout a number of searching by using the Google search engine and the library in campus, which was found that there are the surveys doing on Islamic Banking which may mentioned in various perspectives for instances the growth of Islamic banking in the world. Like what mentioning by Radio Australia, Islamic banking was one of the fastest growing sectors in the finance world which reveals by the value of the industry which worth of USD 1 Trillion in the year 2008. An addition, according to the bankers Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution survey, assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than that, what was found is there are quite a number of researches which study on the topic related to insurance. There are talked about the insurance expansion in the industry, growth of the insurance industry, the rate of market penetration. According to KCLAU (2007), the market penetration of life insurance as measured in terms of the total number of policies in force to total population, grew to 39.3 percent as at end of June 2007. While, besides the conventional which is generally accepted by the society, there are another type of risk transfer mechanism which is Islamic insurance was emerged in the other part of the globe. Islamic insurance was first widely spread over the Islamic country like Sudan, Arabic, India, South East Asia, and some other place in the world. The Islamic insurance also practiced in the region which is non Islamic country like European country and United of State. Since the growing of Islamic insurance throughout the world is in such a fast track, while, the doubt appeared was, it was hard to find the study on Islamic insurance rather than the conventional insurance. Another doubt was appeared that what is the reason to separate insurance into Islamic and conventional? What is the different perspective between Islamic insurance and conventional insurance? While, the most is, do people aware of the existence of Islamic insurance in the insurance industry which they approached ordinarily? Following by this, is the discussion on conventional and Islamic insurance. Research Objectives The general objective of this study is to clarify the different perspectives between conventional and Islamic insurance. While the other specific objectives as stated below which I am to study in this research. The specific objectives: To investigate the different perception of Muslim and Non Muslim towards conventional and Islamic insurance To investigate the determinants of demand for insurance in Malaysians To determine the level of awareness on Islamic insurance in the region of Malaysia Significance of Study This study may help the Malaysian Islamic Finance market to move a step up due to the hike up of the level of awareness on the conventional and Islamic insurance. Other than that, the study also provides the Muslim and Non Muslim within Malaysia to walk out of the religious teachings and some other factors in order to know more about the issues of insurance. Therefrom, Malaysias Islamic finance market may improve follow by the fast track in other country like what happened to the Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution, that assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than impacts on the country income and economic condition, this study also might helpful to the family or person who thinks of purchase insurance. By gone through this study, they are able to better analyze the product available in the market whether from the conventional insurance company or the Takaful operator which offer the Shariah compliance products and services. Then they are able to choose the best product which suit to them in terms of their needs, budget and also the religious teachings. Other than this, the study also may help the insurance company or the operators to determine the consumers intention of buying on their product. They may use the useful information to improve their products in order to enhance or even develop a better market position for their company. The growing in the insurance market plays an important role in the economic growth of the country. The growing may bring the country to a higher position in the world financial sector. Thus, Malaysia will stand still on the top of the world in the financial sector which playing the role of developing the conventional and Islamic insurance to the various country on the globe. Organization of Study This research report comprises of five chapters. The first chapter serves the introduction on insurance. It consists of the detail for conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. Problem statement and research objective is also discussed. Following the significance of study is presented. Lastly, the chapter one will end by the organization of study which show the flow out of the whole research project. Basically, chapter two will present the literature review which forms the foundation of this study. It consists of the related empirical study which done by other researchers previously. There are few factors which impact on the demand of insurance and influential to customers perception are included in this chapter. In chapter three, the research methodology of the study will be discussed. The research framework will be shown together with the hypothesis developed link together the variables in the study. Other than that, the sample planning, sources of data and data collection will also be carried out. Questionnaire design will also be laid out in this chapter following by the data analysis method which is the last part of this chapter. Following by this is chapter four which describe the results and discussion. Hence, the graph and table will be widely used to better interpret the findings and result of the study. Finally, chapter five will be the conclusion and the recommendation of this research. The level of awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will finally be presented and end this study. Chapter Two Literature Review INTRODUCTION Continue with the first chapter presented previously, this study is to observe the perception of Malaysia towards conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. For the sake of gaining a clearer view on this, exploring to the related literature is a must. Following, the overview of insurance and takaful will be presented. In 2.2, the discussion about the determinants impact on demand for insurance will be presented. Then, the study will indicate the perception of consumers towards conventional and Islamic methods of finance in few factors like the service quality, accessibility, convenience and status of the organizations. Lastly in 2.4, the awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will be discussed. Overview of Insurance and Islamic Insurance Insurance is a form of risk-management which transfer the possible risks like accident, theft, natural disaster and illness of ones or a group to the more financially sound entity, insurers in exchange with a small amount of payment which we called as premium. The meaning of insurance is essentially to understand for everybody who is considering of purchase an insurance policy or to understand the basics of what if finance. This instrument is used in hedging risk precautionary against the future contingent losses (Stanley St Labs, n.d). While, according to Insurance Info, insurance is being categorized two main categories which are life insurance and general insurance. The risks that covered by life insurance including premature death, income during retirement and illness. While the main products in life insurance are Whole life, Endowment, Term, Investment-linked, Life annuity plan, Medical and health. For general insurance, it is basically a policy that protects you from losses and damages which other than those covered by life insurance, for instance, property loss like stolen car and burnt house. Other than that, liability arising from damage caused by oneself to a third party, accidental death or injury also covered by the general insurance. The products offered under general insurance are Motor insurance, Fire/House owner/Householder insurance, Personal accident insurance, Medical and health insurance and Travel insurance. While for Islamic insurance, takaful, is a protection plan based on Shariah principles compliance. By contributing a sum of money to a common takaful fund in the form of participative contribution (tabarru), the person is undertaking a contract (aqad) to become one of the participants which agree to mutually help each other if any of the participants suffer a defined loss. Both takaul and insurance have similar basic principles where the insured must have a legitimate financial interest in the risk you are insuring, which means the insured must suffer a financial loss when the insured event occurred. In takaful, the life insurance is granted as family takaful. The products offered under family takaful are Family Takaful, Investment linked takaful, Child education takaful, Medical and health takaful. While for general takaful, there are Home takaful, Motor takaful and Personal accidents takaful. Perception towards Conventional and Islamic Insurance Perception, as defined by Stephen P. Robbins (2005) is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Perception is important in decision making process. An individual must fully understand the decision must make along with all of the facts and information involved. If an individual has a bad perception of the situation and do not consider all of the facts that are involved like the external factors which anyone else have no control over the individual may lead to a wrong decision. In turn, this will cause negative consequences for the organization and the individual. In order to have a good perception on any given situation, an individual must analyze all of the significant information involved in a timely manner, without making a hasty decision (Wally Sparks, 2007). Service Quality According to Shahril Bin Shafie (2003), quality is sought by all organizations, especially in the service sector. Service quality is commonly noted as a critical prerequisite for establishing and sustaining satisfying relationships between organization and the customers (Lassar et al., 2000). According to Yap, S.F., and Kew, M.L., there are many researchers who have defined service quality in different ways. Among them, Bitner, Booms and Mohr (1994) define service quality as the consumers overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and its services. While, other researchers like Cronin and Taylor (1994), view service quality as a form of attitude representing a long run overall evaluation. Service quality has determining the repeated purchase and customer loyalty to an organization. When a customer choose a provider that provides service quality that meets or exceeds his or her expectations, then the customer is more likely to choose the same pro vider again. According to Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. By referring to a study conduct by Erdener Kaynak and Talha D. Harcar (2005) is found that, the service quality provide by conventional banking system is excellent than the others. The study indicated that the customer maintain a higher level of confidence in conventional bank rather than Islamic bank. In this study, the service being tested including the swiftness in correcting errors, fast and efficient service, and consumer complains handling and the courtesy personnel. While according to Hendrik, L., Hirun, A., Razli, C.R., Halim, M.L., Khairul, A. A., and Darwina, A.A. (n.d), indicate that customer satisfaction on Islamic banking products and services is different across the cities. The service quality is satisfied within Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur and Penang because these cities are bigger which also contains more populations, and are more economically developed. Due to these reasons, the service provided is more satisfactory because of the customers characteristics which different from income level, gender and also educational level.Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. The emergence of the Internet provides an opportunity for organizations to conduct business in cyberspace. Steven et al (2002), Soliman (2003), Wirtz (2001), Coltman (2001) had studied that Internet adoption and factors influencing the propensity and pattern of adoption among different sectors and sizes of organizations worldwide and in Malaysia, empirical data on online insurance has been limited (Fatimah et al, 2000; Yusserie at el, 2002). One of the reasons may be because the insurance industry has been slow to respond to the usage of Internet for business,, as compared to the other financial service (Esters, 1997). In 1999, recognizing the potential of the Internet, Bank Negara Malaysia allowed a group of insurers to establish the industry first interactive insurance website, which enabled policy owners to transact on the line for renewal of policy and also premium payment(BNM 2000). Internet via individual companys website allows customers to gain more information about the product and services offered by the companies (Ruquet, 2001). While, not all the business organizations are adopting Internet in their business due to various reasons like customer readiness, cost and the risks involved. Zinkewicz (2000) said that business do not use the Internet for business because customers do not trust the process involved, instead, they prefer human interactions (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Accessibility Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product or service is accessible by as many people as possible. It also viewed as the ability to access the functionality and possible benefits of some system or entity like information of the particular products and services (Wikipedia, 2009). In Malaysia, there are total up 1,752 numbers of registered insurance agencies distributed throughout the thirteen states and two federal territories. Among of all, there are agencies which offer both life insurance and also general insurance business like American International Assurance Bhd, Etiqa Insurance Berhad, Hong Leong Assurance Berhad and so on (BNM, 2008). Other than that, there are only eight licensed Takaful operator in Malaysia which are CIMB Aviva Takaful Berhad, Etiqa Takaful Berhad, Hong Leong Tokio Marine Takaful Berhad, HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, MAA Takaful Berhad, Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad,Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad and also Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd (BNM, 2008). Convenience Convenience is composed of number factors including the availability of parking space, location of branches, long operation hours. (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Customers will always prefer the products and services are available near to their working place or house area for the convenience of visiting. The sufficient parking space and long operation hours is for the convenience when visiting to the branch. Internet adoption is a type of convenience which offered by the insurance companies to their consumers, where consumers can get the products and services information through the website (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Other than that, interior comfort and external design also included affect the consumers perception on the convenience of selecting financial products. Status Status of an organization show measured through the strength of financial position, reputation and also the risk. As Islamic finance continue to expand. Islamic principles strong emphasis on the economic, ethical, moral and social dimensions, to enhance equality and fairness for the good of society as a whole should also have appeal for the ethnically minded (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Study which conducted by Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki (2009) also revealed that banks name and reputation is a strong effect on selecting a bank. In order to penetrate the youth market, Takaful Malaysia announced on 11th November, that RM 15 million has been pumped into the companys rebranding exercise. After twenty-five years of leading in Islamic insurance company in the country, Takaful Malaysia is setting on conquering the insurance industry by transforming itself into a more youthful outfit. Reflective of its tagline of modern, young and energetic, the company will unveils its new fresh-looking logo, a color fusion of apple green and olive green, described by Takaful Malaysia group director Datuk Hassan Kamil as vibrant and energetic. Takaful Malaysia believes that its latest approach will enhance its image and make it more appealing to the younger age-group which Hassan deems as a highly potential market segment (Joseph Kaos JR, 2009). Others Other than the above criteria, according to a study conducted in Jordan indicated that profit motivated criteria was an important factor to choose a bank service. However, other findings are that peer group influence plays an important role in selecting Islamic banks as depository institution. Other than that, politeness and friendliness of the personnel will also impact on the customers perception towards the financial institutions (Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki, 2009). Determinants of demand for insurance Insurance has become an important part of a financial sector over the past forty years. It provides a range of investments product for consumers. It also becomes the major source of investment in the capital market. Yet, the reasons for consumption of insurance are various across the countries. Demographic factors were amongst (Thorsten Beck, 2003; Ian Webb, 2003, Yvette Reisinger, 2009). While according to the study conducted by Truett et al. (1990), the consumption of insurance is depend on the price of insurance, income level of individual, and also the demographic factors such as age of individual insured and also the educational level. Gender The majority women of American have health insurance through either employer or through a public program. There are 66.67 percents of all women aged from 18 to 64 owned insurance through their employer, while another 16 percents through public program in year 2007. In contrast, there is 7 percents of nonelderly women in year 2007 purchase health coverage directly from insurance companies which we known as the individual market. Yet, the National Womens Law Centre (NWLC) investigated two phenomena, the gender gap which refers to the difference in premium charged to female and male applicants of the same age and health status. Another phenomenon is the availability and affordability of coverage for maternity care across the country. Based on the research, NWLC (2008) found that the individual market is a place which is very hard for women to purchase the health coverage. This is because insurance companies can refuse to sell women coverage due to the historic data that women have a higher percentage compared to men in suffering from a chronic condition which requiring ongoing treatment for instances asthma or arthritis. In addition, if the insurers discovered that an applicant underwent a Caesarean Section (C-Section) during the medical underwriting process, the company may charge a higher premium, or impose an exclusionary period which it refuses to cover another C-Section or pregnancy. New reports also revealed that women are more likely than men in taking prescription medication on a regular basis. In these conditions, the insurance company may reject the applications. On the other hand, it is difficult and costly for women to find health insurance that cover maternity care. A limited number of insurers offered this in separately for an additional fees which known as rider. Yet, this supplemental coverage is often far higher than ordinary plan. So typically, women have no other choice to select more or less comprehensive rider policy (NWLC, 2008). Educational Level According to Tienyu Hwang (2003) and Simon Gao (2003), the level of education plays a very important role in affecting the demand of insurance. It has been shown that the increasing of the educated population in a country, the recognition of the availability of insurance products will also be increased. Thus, the demand for insurance will also be growing in the country. Despite the education level in China is relatively low (Truett and monitor, 1996; World Bank, 1998), the increase in the education level will lead to a large number of people being realizing and able to recognize the essentiality of insurance. Therefore, it is likely to create a demand to purchase insurance. On the other hand, although the level of education in China remains low, china has made a great progress in improving the education system since the economic reform. This has increase the education level which leads to a greater awareness and understanding on the role of insurance. Hence, the level of education and demand for insurance is positively correlated. However, Szpiro and Outreville (198) proved that higher education leads to lower risk aversion, and that, in turn, leads to more risk taking by skilled and well educated people. While accor

The Divine Comedy and the Human Experience :: Divine Comedy Inferno Essays

The Divine Comedy: The Depth of Human Experience Religious, structured, and orderly. Although this book is religious through and through, it is also very earthly. You seem to never leave the earth. In fact, there seems to be no difference between earth and the heavenly sphere. It is a solid world, no distinction between mind and matter, everything is touchable. The physical expresses the spiritual, the spirit of God is physical and pervades the physical universe--it's all one place. There is no heaven and hell, it is just all here. For this reason, this book answers all of those questions you had as a kid in Sunday school and nobody could give you a satisfying answer, for instance, where do people go when they die, what does hell look like, what does heaven look like, what is purgatory, and how does one get from purgatory to heaven. Sunday school teachers should just read Dante to the kids--it is the end-all encyclopedia of heaven, hell, and purgatory. The symbolism of the beginning is nice, that he is in a forest being chased by various animals. I can imagine that each of the animals represents some kind of vice and that the part in the woods symbolizes the sinful, confused life full of temptations. It was interesting that Virgil was his guide. I was expecting a more religious character, for instance, Moses--but it later turned out that he was sitting in hell himself! That was an eye-opener. It makes you realize the difference between the old and the new testaments. Even Noah was in hell.(!) But at least they weren't very deep in hell. "All hope abandon ye who enter here." I liked how Hell is an interactive place for Dante. He isn't afraid to "touch the merchandise." Then seizing on his hinder scalp, I cried: "Name thee, or not a hair shall tarry here." He is human, he takes part and overreacts. And he keeps fainting. It's not a Universal Studios ride through hell, but you can actually grab ahold of the props, talk to old friends and acquaintences, and the guide will patiently wait for you when you faint. Another aspect of hell that surprised me was that the devil was standing on a frozen lake. This isn't the picture of Larson's Far Side hell scenes, nor is the devil the cool, rebellious bad boy of Milton's Paradise Lost.

Islamic Unit Study Guide Essay

In Arabic, the word â€Å"Islam† means submission or surrender, it is derived from the root word â€Å"salam† in which you can also derive the root words peace and safety. 2. What is Zamzam? The name of the holy well located in Mecca believed to be revealed when Abraham’s infant son Ishmael kicked the ground desperate for water. Millions of Muslims today drink from the well while performing their pilgrimage to Mecca 3. What is the Ka’bah? One of the most sacred sites in Islam, it is a large marble structure located in the middle of al Masjid al Haram (Sacred Mosque). It’s said to be built by Abraham and his son Ishmael to dedicate to Allah, and also houses the sacred Black Stone. No matter where you are, Muslims supposed to be facing the direction of Kaaba when in prayer. 4. Fully describe the role Abraham played in Islam. Ibrahim is considered to be the father of both Arabs and of Jews according to Muslims. It’s also believed that he is neither a Jew nor a Muslim, but somebody who is a hernif – somebody who essentially and intrinsically knows that there is really only one God. Much of what Islamic tradition is about, along with rituals such as the Hajj – stem from the pre-Islamic era and are translated into Islamic rituals through Ibrahim. The Kaaba was built because God spoke to Ibrahim about constructing a sacred house for God. 5. When was Muhammad born? 570 AD, Mecca 6. What did Muhammad dislike about his birthplace, Mecca? It was filled with idol worship and when he was assigned by God to call people to Islam per God revelation of Quran to him, the disbelievers disliked his views against discrimination. The people of Mecca were steeped in their ways and opposed Muhammad and his small group of followers in every way. 7. Describe the â€Å"Night of Power† and how Muhammad became the Messenger of God. The Lailat ul-Qadr or â€Å"Night of Power† is the night in which the Holy Quran is revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. At the age of 40, while engaged in a meditative retreat, Muhammad received his first revelation from God through the Archangel Gabriel. Muhammad began to recite the words he heard from Gabriel and to preach the truth which God had revealed to him. . What is the â€Å"Night Journey? † Be sure to include in your answer a discussion of Isra and Miraj. The Night Journey starts out with the Isra, where Gabriel presents to Muhammad the heavenly winged steed called the Buraq. With the Buraq, he then journeys to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem where he met and prayed with Prophets Moses, Abraham, Jesus, and John. Gabriel then gives Muhammad the decision to dri nk the wine or milk, Muhammad chooses the milk which fulfills the prophecy. After this, is the Miraj, where Muhammad is ascended into heaven and passes the seven heavenly realms, where he meets God. 9. What is the significance of Medina? It’s considered the first Islamic Republic and is the location of the first Mosque built 10. Describe in detail the Five Pillars of Islam:  · Shahada : It is the declaration of belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Muhammad as God’s prophet.  · Salat : The practice of formal worship to Allah  · Zawat :  · Sawm : Arabic word for fasting regulated by Islamic jurisprudence. In the terminology of Islamic law, the observance of sawm during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.  · Hajj : the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim is required to make at least once in his life, provided he has enough money and the health to do so 11. Briefly describe the conflict between the Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims. The schism occurred when the Islamic prophet Muhammad died in the year 632, leading to a dispute over succession to Muhammad as a caliph of the Islamic community spread across various parts of the world which led to the Battle of Siffin. Sectarian violence persists to this day from Pakistan to Yemen and is a major element of friction throughout the Middle East. 12. What does â€Å"caliph† mean? The chief Muslim civil and religious ruler, regarded as the successor of Muhammad. 13. What is an â€Å"Imam? † The title of a Muslim leader or chief 14. Describe in detail the holy writings of Islam:  · Qur’an : the sacred text of Islam, divided into 114 chapters, or suras: revered as the word of God, dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel, and accepted as the foundation of Islamic law, religion, culture, and politics. Hadith : Hadith is the collection of the Prophet Muhammad’s statements and actions coupled with the statements and actions of his companions believed to have been collected 150 years after Muhammad’s death, and it is the basis of jurisprudence for Islamic or Sharia law. Muslims classify hadith in four different categories. The first three categories refer specifically to Muhammad. Awl are the transmissions of Muhammad’s statements, fi’liare the transmission of Muhammad’s deeds or actions, and taqrir are the actions or deeds of the Prophet’s companions or others that Muhammad has approved of. The fourth category of classification is qudsi, which are the Prophet’s words, inspired by Allah, that are not recorded in the Qur’an.  · Sharia : the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia deals with many topics addressed by secular law, including crime, politics, and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexual intercourse, hygiene, diet, prayer, and fasting. Though interpretations of sharia vary between cultures, in its strictest definition it is considered the infallible law of God—as opposed to the human interpretation of the laws 15. Describe in detail the Aqida. Be sure to include the six articles of the faith. 16. Explain the concept of Jihad. Be sure to include the meaning of the word â€Å"Jihad,† and the distinction between â€Å"Lesser Jihad† and â€Å"Greater Jihad. † 17. What is the meaning of the Star and Crescent Moon, the symbol of Islam? The crescent moon and star symbol pre-dates Islam by several thousand years when polytheism was the majority in the Middle East. The crescent and star are often said to be Islamic symbols, but historians say that they were the insignia of the Ottoman Empire, not of Islam as a whole. 8. What is the Aqiqa? Islamic practice of shaving the head of the newborn male and contributing the weight in silver for charity as well as 2 lambs. One lamb is slaughtered for a baby girl. 19. Briefly define the following groups:  · Nation of Islam : an organization composed chiefly of American blacks, advocating the teachings of Islam and originally favoring the se paration of races: members are known as Black Muslims.  · Wahabi : a follower of ? Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), who stringently opposed all practices not sanctioned by the Koran. The Wahhabis, founded in the 18th century, are the most conservative Muslim group and are today found mainly in Saudi Arabia.   The Twelvers : the largest branch of Shi’ite Islam. Adherents of Twelver Shi’ism are commonly referred to as Twelvers, which is derived from their belief in twelve divinely ordained leaders, known as the Twelve Imams, and their belief that the Mahdi will be none other than the returned Twelfth Imam who disappeared and is believed by Twelvers to be in occultation. 20. Define the following terms:  · Arabia Peninsula of southwest Asia between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Politically, it includes Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Arabia has an estimated one third of the world’s oil reserves.  · Allah Islamic word for God  · Ishmael Son of Abraham  · Muslim A believer and follower of the teachings by the Prophet Muhammad  · Mecca City is Saudi Arabia, the religious centre for one of the five pillars of pilgrimage (hajj)  · Abu Bakr One of the close companions of Prophet Muhammad and the first caliph  · Khailifahs Muslim religion leaders or chiefs Mosque Muslim house of worship  · Ramadan The ninth month of the year in the Islamic calendar, a time of fasting.  · Hajj The religious pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five pillars of Islam  · Sufism Islamic mysticism  · Ali Cousin and son in law of Prophet Muhammad, a caliph  ·  · Hidden Imam Twelver Shii doctrine holds that the twelfth imam did not die but went into a spiritual form of existence known as occultation, and will retur n at the end of time as a messianic Mahdi to restore justice and equity on earth. The sacred dress of Muslim pilgrims, consisting of two lengths of white cotton, one wrapped around the loins, the other thrown over the left shoulder.  · Kafir Infidel or pagan  · Id Al-Fitr A festival that ends the fast of Ramadan  · Id Al-Adha Commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael  · Sunnah The way of life prescribed by the normative of Islam  · Tawhid Asserting and maintaining the divine unity, Islam’s central doctrine.  · Ummah Means â€Å"the people† in Arabic, it refers to collective community of Islam peoples

Overview of the Nika Revolt

Overview of the Nika Revolt The Nika Revolt was a devastating riot that took place in early medieval Constantinople, in the Eastern Roman Empire. It threatened the life and reign of Emperor Justinian. The Nika Revolt was also known as: the Nika Rebellion, the Nika Uprising, the Nika Riot, the Nike Revolt, the Nike Rebellion, the Nike Uprising, the Nike Riot The Nika Revolt took place in: January, 532 C.E., in Constantinople The Hippodrome The Hippodrome was the site in Constantinople where enormous crowds gathered to watch exciting chariot races and similar spectacles. Several other sports had been outlawed over the preceding decades, so chariot races were particularly welcome occasions. But events in the Hippodrome sometimes led to violence among the spectators, and more than one riot had begun there in the past. The Nika Revolt would begin and, several days later, end in the Hippodrome. Nika! Fans in the Hippodrome would cheer on their favorite charioteers and chariot teams with the cry, Nika!, which has been variously translated as Conquer!, Win! and Victory! In the Nika Revolt, this was the cry the rioters took up. The Blues and the Greens The charioteers and their teams were garbed in specific colors (as were their horses and the chariots themselves); the fans who followed these teams identified with their colors. There had been reds and whites, but by the time of Justinians reign, the most popular by far were the Blues and the Greens. The fans that followed the chariot teams retained their identity beyond the Hippodrome, and at times they wielded considerable cultural influence. Scholars once thought that the Blues and the Greens each associated with particular political movements, but there is little evidence to support this. It is now believed that the primary interest of the Blues and the Greens was their racing teams, and that occasional violence sometimes spilled over from the Hippodrome into other aspects of Byzantine society without any real direction from fan leaders. For several decades, it had been traditional for the emperor to choose either the Blues or the Greens to support, which virtually guaranteed the two most powerful teams would not be able to join together against the imperial government. But Justinian was a different breed of emperor. Once, years before he took the throne, he had been believed to favor the Blues; but now, because he wanted to remain above partisan politics even of the most superficial kind, he did not throw his support behind any charioteer. This would prove to be a serious mistake. The New Reign of Emperor Justinian Justinian had become co-emperor with his uncle, Justin, in April of 527, and he became sole emperor when Justin died four months later. Justin had risen from humble beginnings; Justinian was also considered by many senators to be of low birth, and not truly worthy of their respect. Most scholars agree that Justinian had a sincere wish to improve the empire, the capital city of Constantinople, and the lives of the people who lived there. Unfortunately, the measures he took to accomplish this proved disruptive. Justinians ambitious plans to reconquer Roman territory, his extensive building projects, and his ongoing war with Persia all required funding, which meant more and more taxes; and his wish to end corruption in the government led him to appoint some overzealous officials whose severe measures caused resentment in several levels of society. Things looked very bad when a riot broke out over the extreme strictures employed by one of Justinians most unpopular officials, John of Cappadocia. The riot was put down with brutal force, many participants were jailed, and those ringleaders that were captured were sentenced to death. This engendered further unrest among the citizenry. It was in this heightened state of tension that Constantinople was suspended in the early days of January, 532. The Botched Execution When the ringleaders of the riot were supposed to be executed, the job was botched, and two of them escaped. One was a fan of the Blues, the other a fan of the Greens. Both were hidden away safely in a monastery. Their supporters decided to ask the emperor for leniency for these two men at the next chariot race. The Riot Breaks Out On January 13, 532, when the chariot races were scheduled to begin, members of both the Blues and the Greens loudly pleaded with the emperor to show mercy to the two men that Fortune had rescued from the gallows. When no response was forthcoming, both factions began to cry out, Nika! Nika! The chant, so often heard in the Hippodrome in support of one charioteer or another, was now directed against Justinian. The Hippodrome erupted in violence, and soon the mob took to the streets. Their first objective was the  praetorian,  which was, essentially, the headquarters of Constantinoples police department and the municipal jail. The rioters released the prisoners and set the building on fire. Before long a substantial portion of the city was in flames, including the  Hagia Sophia  and several other great buildings. From Riot to Rebellion It is not clear how soon members of the aristocracy became involved, but by the time the city was on fire, there were signs that forces were attempting to use the incident to overthrow an unpopular emperor. Justinian recognized the danger and tried to appease his opposition by agreeing to remove from office those responsible for conceiving of and carrying out the most unpopular policies. But this gesture of conciliation was rebuffed, and rioting continued. Then Justinian ordered  General Belisarius  to squelch the riot; but in this, the estimable soldier and the emperors troops failed. Justinian and his closest supporters stayed holed up in the palace while the riot raged and the city burned. Then, on January 18, the emperor tried once more to find a compromise. But when he appeared in the Hippodrome, all of his offers were rejected out of hand. It was at this point that rioters proposed another candidate for the emperor: Hypatius, nephew of the late Emperor Anastasius I. A political coup was at hand. Hypatius Though related to a former emperor, Hypatius had never been a serious candidate for the throne. Hed led an  undistinguished  career first as a military officer, and now as a senator and was probably content to remain out of the limelight. According to  Procopius, Hypatius and his brother Pompeius had stayed with Justinian in the palace during the riot, until the emperor grew suspicious of them and their vague connection to the purple, and threw them out. The brothers did not want to leave, fearing they would be used by the rioters and the anti-Justinian faction. This, of course, is exactly what happened. Procopius relates that his wife, Mary, took hold of Hypatius and wouldnt let  go  until the crowd overwhelmed her, and her husband was carried to the throne against his will. The Moment of Truth When Hypatius was  borne  to the throne, Justinian and his entourage left the Hippodrome once more. The revolt was now too far out of hand, and there seemed no way to take control. The emperor and his associates began to discuss fleeing the city. It was Justinians wife,  Empress Theodora, who convinced them to stand firm. According to Procopius, she told her husband, ... the present time, above all others, is inopportune for flight, even though it bring safety ... For one who has been an  emperor, it is unendurable to be a fugitive ... consider whether it will not come about after you have been saved that you would gladly exchange that safety for death. For as for myself, I approve a certain ancient saying that royalty is a good burial-shroud. Shamed by her words, and buoyed by her courage, Justinian rose to the occasion. The Nika Revolt is Crushed Once more Emperor Justinian sent General Belisarius to attack the rebels with Imperial troops. With most of the rioters confined to the Hippodrome, the results were far different than the generals first attempt: Scholars estimate that between 30,000 and 35,000 people were slaughtered. Many of the ringleaders were captured and executed, including the unfortunate Hypatius. In the face of such a massacre, the rebellion crumpled. The Aftermath of the Nika Revolt The death toll and the extensive destruction of Constantinople were horrific, and it would take years for the city and its people to recover. Arrests were ongoing after the revolt, and many families lost everything due to their connection to the rebellion. The Hippodrome was shut down, and races were suspended for five years. But for Justinian, the results of the riots were very much to his advantage. Not only was the emperor able to confiscate a number of wealthy estates, but he also returned to their offices the officials hed agreed to remove, including John of Cappadocia although, to his credit, he did keep them from going to the extremes theyd employed in the past. And his victory over the rebels garnered him new respect, if not true admiration. No one was willing to move against Justinian, and he was now able to go forward with all his ambitious plans rebuilding the city, reconquering territory in Italy, completing his law codes, among others. He also began instituting laws that curbed the powers of the senatorial class that had so looked down on him and his family. The Nika Revolt had backfired. Though Justinian had been brought to the brink of destruction, he had overcome his  enemies and would enjoy a long and fruitful reign. The text of this document is copyright  ©2012 Melissa Snell. You may download or print this document for personal or school use, as long as the URL below is included. Permission is  not  granted to reproduce this document on another website.

Program vs. Programme

Program vs. Programme Program vs. Programme Program vs. Programme By Ali Hale One of our readers wrote to ask if we could clarify the difference between program and programme. The Noun: Program or Programme? The basic difference is between different languages: American English always uses program British English uses programme unless referring to computers Australian English recommends program for official usage, but programme is still in common use. The word program was predominant in the UK until the 19th century, when the spelling programme became more common largely as a result of influence from French, which has the same word programme. So, if youre writing in British English (either as part of an examination, if youre studying English, or for a British publication), heres some examples of how to use programme and program correctly: Were still drawing up the programme for the concert. This computer program wont run on my PC. I missed my favourite television programme last night. The Verb: To Program, Programmed, Programming The word program is also a verb, as in Ill program the computer today. In this case, both American and British English use to program. These forms are also valid in American English: programed programing But the Oxford English Dictionary recommends the double-m instead, which is in far more widespread usage: programmed programming If in doubt, and writing for a publication, check whether or not they have a style guide or a rule on which form of the verb to use. When youre writing for yourself, just make sure youre consistent. Program and Programme on Newspapers It is a commercial obligation of all 72 Football League teams to have a printed programme for every home game but clubs will vote on whether this will continue (www.theguardian.com) National Citizen Service, which was launched in 2011, brings together young people from different backgrounds for a programme of personal and social development. It offers a three- to four-week part-residential programme where 15- to 1 (www.theguardian.com) New York Times sponsor a subscription program allows you to make a contribution that provides Times digital subscriptions to public schools and student (www.nytimes.com) said Wednesday that members of its rewards program will be able to see up to three movies a week for $19.95 a month as part of its Stubs A-List tier. The movie (www.usatoday.com) Video Recap Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Coordinating vs. Subordinating ConjunctionsExcited ABOUT, not "for" Starting a Business Letter with Dear Mr.