The Impact of COVID 19 on Education

There is an apparent impact of COVID 19 pandemic on educational systems and learning processes worldwide. The virus has affected schools, universities and colleges and caused many of them to near-total closing. Governments all over the world have decided to apply the system of temporary closed educational institutes in a way for containing COVID 19 prevailing. Statistics state that there are about1.725 billion learners around the world have been affected by the virus and school closing and the UNICEF confirms that there are 106 countries are currently implementing school closure.  This was aligned with having substitution school systems that depend all on virtual learning and semi-virtual education. Online learning and distant education depend on the internet and its online applications that make teachers able to communicate with the students online and provide them with explanations and discussions for different subjects as well as making tests online. These procedures have been made to confirm the social distant and at the same time this helped in making economic and societal results as many schools and universities have applied online education systems that enabled them to make good profits and continue the learning process. The impact yet was more severe on learners themselves and children in particular and families because distant learning programs were not applied as required in many educational institutions especially those in the developing countries. Distant learning needs many important things to be perfect such as strong internet line, good quality of voice and camera, available e-books and adequate timing for teaching the lessons, these conditions are not all supported by many developing countries and this affected students and their families as learning process was not being done effectively as usual. Many students are not able to communicate well online such as children in primary schools as they need face-to-face learning while families couldn't be able to provide them with the needed methods for teaching and studying. The impact of COVID 19 on education included cheating processes that prevailed among many students in developing countries where privacy and accuracy of testing is not effective and this led to fake results of many students and reduced the quality of the learning process as a result. The UNESCO made some recommendations for online learning that include examining the readiness for online learning and choosing the most effective and relevant tools such as technology solutions and local power supplies, ensuring inclusion of the programs distant learning depends on, protecting data privacy and ensuring high level of secrecy for information, addressing psychological challenges solutions and planning a study schedule for programs of distant learning. There are other conditions that should be available to ensure effective distant learning such as supporting teachers and families with applications that enable them to communicate effectively and providing applicable digital approaches that can monitor students' learning and testing processes. The impact of distant learning on education will last after the finishing of COVID 19 epidemic issue and this will be clear in mixing different online and distant learning methods within the educational programs everywhere.  

Four Types of Market Segmentation

It is important to use different types of market segmentation. There are four types of market segmentation and it is important to target customers using unique characteristics for each segment as this raises competitiveness and create better marketing campaigns and make market opportunities better for the business organization. Market segmentation is necessary because it makes it easy to focus on the market through dividing it into segments and focus on the resources that enable the company to reach the most valuable scales of audience and this helps achieving the business targets. The four types of market segmentation include the demographic segmentation, psychographic segmentation, behavioral segmentation and geographic segmentation. Each type of the four types requires different work from the business organization that is going to penetrate the market. Demographic market segmentation depends on addressing certain ages, gender, income, family situation, location, annual income and education of customers and making deep analysis on these issues and collecting data related to them. This technique can help the company understand the audience it is addressing and can target the audience it can make good sales from, for example, car companies that sell expensive cars should focus on people whose income is high enough to purchase such products while companies that sell candies and gum should focus on families that have children and no matter their income is because the product is not expensive. Demographic segmentation provides accurate data and information. Psychographic segmentation yet depends on categorizing the audiences and the customers according to the factors that are relevant to their personalities and features. The psychographic segmentation depends on studying values, personality traits, lifestyles, interests, motivations, priorities, psychological influences and attitudes of customers. These factors are difficult for the organization to identify than others but they are very important because they can shed the light on the needs of customers and how to meet them. The company that sells cars for example can here focus on values and interests of customers rather than their incomes in order to develop products that match these values and interests. Behavioral market segmentation depends on the purchasing habits and behaviors of customers and how they spend their money as well as the status of customers who buy the items. Geographic segmentation depends on segmenting customers based on the geographic borders they belong to and where they live. This should include collecting information about the country where the company is going to penetrate and market products, the ZIP codes of customers, the climate of the place, the status of urban and rural areas in the country and the city where the product is to be sold. This is very necessary when the company is going to penetrate a new market with new products as innovation can help the company develop its products to suit the people of that area in particular based on geographic issues. An example is when to market new types of wine in countries that religiously don't support drinking wine such as Islamic countries as this may not be easy to market such products and there should be innovative ideas for doing this.     

The Impact of COVID 19 on using interviews in qualitative Researches

There is a great and strong impact of COVID 19 left on many areas of life such as the way business organizations and educational institutes get their resources for qualitative researches such as surveys and interviews. Making qualitative research about COVID 19 is a process that requires making interviews that include many questions that ask for information. This is difficult today because COVID 19 reduced social meetings between people and led business organizations make their meetings and interviews online and this also raised the need for questionnaires and surveys in spite of the shortage they may have. Interviews can be considered kinds of researches that depend on training because they usually depend on questions and answers that relate to certain issues. Focus groups can have interviews too not only individuals as interviewers here present the questions to the group as a whole and follow the discussions and surveys can be made too when the identity of the respondents shouldn't be clear and the surveys are made with known number that includes a group of people only. Interviews that are made with children are necessary too as ethnographic and phenomenological research depend on interviews to discover the way they consider life in their own perspectives.  

Interviews are completed based on interviewees' answers. The interviews are personal to a great extent when they are compared to the surveys and the questionnaires and among the important domains they have is the economic industry and electronics in particular. Interviewers usually work directly in making interviews as they have to meet the interviewees while surveys and questionnaires can be easily made online, by e-mails or on sites such as Google. Yet interviews are different because they can let the interviewer realize feelings and impressions of the interviewees and they take more time and need more resources. Interviews are made face-to-face as meetings and this can reduce any conflicts and make them less difficult than surveys. Interviews enable the organization to surprise the interviewers and measure the reaction of the surprise on them and this can lead them to present different answers than those they would present if they answered the same questions through surveys or questionnaires. COVID 19 has made researchers and business organizations that depend on researches turn to online surveys and questionnaires instead of interviews and others tend to make online interviews that are made through means for video conferencing online using different applications and social media sites that enable making easy and effective meetings and interviews online where all things can be made online and measured impressions too.  This shows how far the impact of COVID 19 has been left on many areas of life, business and education. This makes it important to consider the effectiveness of online meetings by having a strong internet streamline and broadcast and make the needed preparations for holding these online meetings.  

 

 

 

The likelihood that India would enjoy a comparative advantage of some products.

India has competitiveness in international trade as the country The Indian auto industry is one of the most competitive industries in the world, India was considered the fourth largest passenger car exporter after Japan, Thailand and South Korea in 2009 and it maintained the third position in the year 2010. The industry then grew in next years to have a growth rate of 17% in 2015 and maintain sales estimated with 4 million Dollars but in next years after 2015 growth stopped and the country stopped maintain competitive advantage over the world. (Singh, 2020) Oil and gas industry is one of the main six industries in India as it is a factor for the country's growth and economy development. The country depends on oil and gas manufacturing and marketing which represents 15% of the country's GDP. In relation to the foreign currency, exports from gas and oil industry represent a7% of the country's total exports. India has also different investment opportunities in the oil industry field that are in refinery as India is ranked the fifth in this category, retail as the country connects its success in automobile market to oil industry and gas that total used gas in India is consumed highly there but there is still continuous demand for it and it is suggested that natural gas share increase in India in 2025 to represent 205 from its current 8%. (Investindia, 2020)

India has growing level in computer industry which is internationally prevailing and facing great competition from China. India has comparative advantage in the field of telecommunication, information services and computer trade that has increased recently but in comparison to China, it is decreasing. The commerce ministry shows that the country is developing according to an analysis of comparative advantage in different service segments related to computer and technology such as software and information technology. Yet India is scoring over China in computer and information services. India has been so strong in areas of telecommunication, information services and computer but its comparative advantage in this field was 1.62 and dropped to 1.5 through 2016 in front of China which represents a threat to it in that industry. India made total of 162 $ billion in front of China that made 209 billion 4 IN 2016 AS China has strong position in areas connected to computer such as transportation and physical inputs as well as maintenance and repair services. This makes the comparative advantage of India is in need to grow more in the field of computer. (Pattanayak, 2018)     

India has a strong comparative advantage in pharmaceuticals export to the whole world as a result of its ability for producing brand name drugs that is of low-cost and that has an important position in the Indian economy. The pharmaceuticals industry in India has grown up at 7.2 % with a contribution to the Indian gross domestic market that is 1.3% in 2004 that increased in next years to grow after that and master world market. The country depends on pharmaceutical firms and Indian companies focus on price advantage to maintain low-cost production. The Food and Drug Administration has helped Indian firms to grow in the pharmaceuticals industry and market its products mainly in developing countries and to spread after that in many destinations. India now has developed its industry to export drug intermediates too and its export amount is about 10% of the world production and about 40-50% of the industry total turnover.  The country's exports in the field of pharmaceuticals have developed to exceed the country's exports in all other fields and industries with a growth rate that is supposed to continue growing. The growth rate shows that the country  has developed its comparative advantage in that field throughout a time period that recorded erratic growth although there were areas of stabilization. The country's exports in pharmaceuticals include many segments such as cardiac, gastrointestinal, respiratory and anti-infectives. (Singh et al, 2015)

India has succeeded in the sector of gold and jewelry with a growing market size that is supposed to reach 103.06 US$ in 2023. Its demand for gold in 2018 was 760.4 tons and in 2019 was 496.11 tons which contribute to the Indian economy greatly with about 7% of its GDP and 15% of its total exports. The country depends on the industry of gold manufacturing to employ about 4.64 million workers and in 2022, this rate is supposed to raise to reach 8.32 million workers. This growth depends on its comparative advantage and the government supports the industry with measures for investment promotion in gold industry in addition to adding technology to the industry to market products in international markets under very common and attractive brand names. Brand India depends on high skilled labor and unique styling in polished gold that is supported with diamonds too. Indian market size in the gold and jewelry field is a great one that contributes for 29% of the world gold consumption and is supposed to grow more in 2023. (Ibef, 2020)

India is one of the most important trading partners with Oman, it has a bilateral trade that estimated with 5 billion Dollars in 2018-19 as India was the second larger importer from Oman to oil crude and Oman is a country that hosts more than 780.000 citizen from India working in different fields to express the second largest country with expatriates in Oman. Oman and India have made a Maritime Transport Agreement that supports India to expand its trade in Oman and the Persian Gulf. This supported them in many industries including petroleum industry as India is exporting oil from Oman to manufacture and refine it. Oman has allowed India to use its ports such as Duqm port for having joint-ventures in many fields such as integrated tourism, software and gold industries. Oman has licensed the State Bank of India to support marketing the different products related to computer industry such as software and hardware. (Chaudhury, 2019) India-Oman bilateral remains strong in many fields and industries such as automotive and pharmaceuticals products as India has a high and strong priority in making bilateral trade with Oman to support the countries' economic relations and grow them, the bilateral trade between them witnessed a decline in 2014 to increase again in 2017 from US $ 3.8 billion to 4 $ billion. Products of exports of India to Oman include mineral oils, fuels, machinery, iron, steel items and chemicals and the main items of the imports of India from Oman include mineral oils, fertilizers, organic chemicals from earth and sea and plastering materials. (Indemb, 2020)  

In conclusion, India has comparative advantage in many different fields and industries and the country is having trade deals with Oman in products such as oil, automotive industry and computer. 

Michael Jackson's Global Cultural Impact-The Smooth Criminal!!

Karema Alsherif

How Michael Jackson captured people's attention 

Michael Jackson, the smooth criminal, when you hear the name, you might have specific memories if you were born in the 1980s or even before, memories that are connected to feelings and images that can remind you of certain situations and attitudes you used to have in your early youth. Michael used to have main signs including his twirls, moonwalks, crotch-grab and songs that left great cultural impact on the whole world. He was that legend that left marks on the whole music industry worldwide. His works changed music forever but he himself changed people too. His character shed light on many world issues such as humanity, ethnicity and climate change.

How he shared in charity? 

 His charity works such as donation for AIDS help organizations supported many sick people as well as his help to people having cancer. He used to support many groups such as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. He used to have a major impact on people everywhere in the world through his songs and dancing styles, he used to choose unique innovative styles of music and dance choosing specific topics that singers never focused on such as horror, crime, nature and human love. Many people all over the world were blown by his style of clothes, dances and songs as he was one of the main influencers on fashion and music styles.

Movie-like music videos 

 He was one of the first artists who used movie-like music videos aligned with dance to present songs that can act as a short thrill movie. Lyrics he used to choose were also unique as well as the sound and the dancers worked with him. With his unique hair style, hats, make up and clothes he made a fashion style that can't be repeated till today and this affected the fashion industry to the extent that great brands used to make fashion lines for Michael Jackson everywhere in the world. Many artists who came after him such as Justin Bieber and Kanaye West have adopted many facets that were inspired from Michael Jackson's iconic style but with the tastes of their own.

Global cultural impact 

 Michael Jackson tried to use his fame for the good as he raised the public's awareness towards issues such as humanity, nature and love. He was apparent as a character on social media and an influencer too as being a humanitarian whom people see as an inspirer and influencer. His support in issues such as refugees' rights and UNICEF issues and children problems made him more than a mere pop star.     He impacted a global culture too through global culture adoption as he wasn't only famous in the USA and Europe but in all the world with his skin that made great controversy impact as people discussed this issues many times but he was the one to exist in all cultures and belong to all races. 

 

The relationship between infrastructure and business climate in Oman

1.     Introduction

1.1  Overview

Oman is a country of the Gulf that is located in the south-eastern quarter of the Arabian Peninsula and it tends to leverage its strategic location by many was such as investing in its infrastructure aiming at being a global logistics center. The country is trying to have a future plan that depends on privatization, Omanization and diversification. Its future economic diversity depends on mining, logistics, tourism and fisheries as basic drivers for future development, vision 2040 focuses on supporting the country's infrastructure in order to support the business climate that is always changing and developing. The plan of the Sultanate to develop its infrastructure covers many areas and production sectors such as water infrastructure, airports, physical improvements, logistics and other services including communication, information technology and telecommunications. Oman's drive to growth includes many areas such as its social development, economic diversification and the best utilization for its natural resources. This also considers the business climate and the business needs locally and internationally and the relationship between them and how this may affect the Omani growth plan. (Yarahamdi and Magd, 2016)

1.2  Problem statement

There is a relationship between infrastructure and business climate and it depends on many factors related to the country's economic growth and national and global competitiveness. Infrastructure has a great influence on economy and national competitiveness in the country. When there is effective infrastructure management in the country, this can improve the industrial policy and in return improve the national competitiveness. (Palei, 2014) Infrastructure according to O’Fallon, (2003) is referred to by economists as infrastructure capital or physical infrastructure that has a role in providing services and assets including transport, energy, telecommunications, water services, sanitation, waste safe disposal and other services that can support economic production and different society activities.  

Oman is a country that has strong infrastructure that can support different activities and business fields in the private and public sectors as the country has many developing projects in its infrastructure including communication, electrical system, road construction, telecommunication and other areas and this makes the country maintain suitable business climate for investors. Oman airport system has been completely modernized and developed to boast areas of duty-free shopping and include great transit areas and lounges as a main infrastructure that can support different business activities such as exporting and importing and other logistic services. Oman also supports its infrastructure including the improvements made in the harbors, telecommunication system and other institutional and environmental infrastructure. ()

1.3  Statement of Purpose

Infrastructure has a great influence on economy and national competitiveness in the country. When there is effective infrastructure management in the country, this can improve the industrial policy and in return improve the national competitiveness. The current paper is evaluating the relationship between infrastructure and business climate in Oman in each of the public and private sectors and discussing the different business opportunities related to this relationship through discussing and analyzing the impact of infrastructure on the business climate on the public sector and private sector companies in Oman and how these companies need infrastructure to be like in order to reach competitiveness on both local and international levels.

This study is chosen by the author for many reasons such as investigating how far infrastructure is related to the business climate in Oman and if the public and private sectors can make use of the level of infrastructure development in Oman in order to improve their business in a supportive business climate. It is also chosen to analyze the relationship between infrastructure and business climate and the impact of this relationship on economic and business development in Oman's companies in both public and private sectors.

1.1  Statement of Objectives

The following are the research objectives

-To discuss the relationship between infrastructure and business climate and its impact on the public sector in Oman.

-To discuss the relationship between infrastructure and business climate and its impact on the private sector in Oman.

-To investigate the different impacts of infrastructure development on the business climate and how business organizations are affected by them.

1.5 Scope and limitations of the study

This study focuses on discussing and analyzing the relationship between infrastructure and business climate referring to the different scopes of infrastructure and how governments develop their infrastructure in order to have strong economy. The study sheds light on the business environment in Oman and how business organizations can make use of the improvements that countries make in their infrastructure and how such developments can support economy and business. The study uses a survey questionnaire with 100 employees from public and private business organizations in Oman.

The study has some specific weaknesses and limitations such as it is made in Muscat business organizations which may make the assessment of the relationship between infrastructure and business climate depends on limited views from Muscat. Results are also depending on the answers and opinions of the participants which limits the study to some extent.

1.2  Significance of the study

The study is relevant to the infrastructure and its relationship with business climate in Oman and in the whole globe as well because competitive advantage depends on coping with the local and global competitiveness and discussing several factors that have effect on the effectiveness of the economy growth and the Omani national competitiveness too that can include infrastructure and the business environment with other factors.

This study is necessary to business owners and business organizations in Oman and the world and it is also important for governments and their economy that can be developed according to the nature and growth of their infrastructure that is directly related to the business climate where business can develop and grow.

2.     Literature Review

a.      Infrastructure profile in Oman

Oman is a country that is investing in its infrastructure based upon its strategic location locally and globally in order to be a global logistics center, this investment includes focusing on mining, tourism, manufacturing, fisheries and other economic drivers that can provide improvements to the country's economy in its next plan for 2040 vision. Oman is a fast growing country that puts much in its infrastructure investments as a result of its flourishing construction and oil industries. The country has set 3.7 RO as allocation for its infrastructure development in order to give a fillip to the country's infrastructure sector, the Sultanate has allocated RO 3.7 bn for developing its infrastructure, services projects and industries in the year 2019 from its budget with total spent amount estimated with RO 3.7 bn in the year 2019 that includes RO 1.2 bn for being allocated to the infrastructure projects that can be regarded clearly in the different services and units of the government as well as another amount of RO 2.5 bn for being used by public entities owned for the government for implementing projects in different service and industrial sectors. The country's development plan of 2016-2020 puts much interest and importance on the construction development in the country through the utmost utilization of the country's resources and opportunities for investment in the different governorates of the Sultanate. The country has also private investment that includes services activities (37%), commodities production activities (32.6%) and infrastructure (29%). The construction industry in Oman accounts for 9% of its GDP and it is a great employer in the Sultanate. The construction market in Oman is supposed to register a CAGR of 6% over the 2019-2024 forecast period.  The government has stated that development projects will be spent on for ensuring the ongoing projects completion without any delaying plans. (businessliveme, 2019)

b.      The relationship between infrastructure and business climate

Infrastructure includes the different facilities that are capital-intensive and not of public interest. Most of the infrastructure in a country is used by the public and they are referred to as infrastructure capital or physical infrastructure. Infrastructure has a role that can be evaluated by the services provided through it and the assets it includes. Infrastructure is a long term asset and it has a long life cycle and return on investment period that may face a market failure time or even efficiency of the economy. Infrastructure includes different types such as social, environment and institutional infrastructure. Infrastructure refers to the different services' institutions and logistics people need including water infrastructure, transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure and telecommunication infrastructure and other services' infrastructure such as schools, prisons, hospital and others. Such public infrastructure provides service for a great number of people who can make benefits from using them according to the level of development they have. In Oman, there is a network of infrastructure channels and facilities in urban and rural areas as well and the country is trying to develop them more in order to support its economy and provide a suitable business climate for investors to work in and achieve success. This is included within the country's development strategy and this includes some infrastructural projects focusing on basics as water, power, transportation and telecommunication. Infrastructure is very necessary for any country that is developing its growth as services can make different investment projects easier and more effective. Business development mainly depends on having better infrastructure as this can improve the type of service business owners can make benefit of and make transporting goods easier and cheaper which raises the ability of mobilization and reduce any limitations to the business.              

EA300B Compare ‘family’ in Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and in Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park.

Outline

Research question

Compare ‘family’ in Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and in Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park.

Thesis Statement

There are differences and similarities in the representation of family in Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and in Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park differs in many ways that depend on different elements and conditions.

Topic sentence

There is a difference between the traditional representation of family (The Tale of Peter Rabbit) and the postmodern one (Voices in the Park).

Topic sentence

There is diversity in the representation of family in the two picture books and in the way they are portrayed.

Topic sentence

They comprise a mom, a dad, and children differently and they share different social class and different ethnic background.

Topic sentence

There are similarities in the presentation of family in both works.

Introduction

The representation of family in (The Tale of Peter Rabbit) is traditional while in (Voices in the Park) it is different as it is a postmodern work that includes different elements. The current paper is critically discussing the family representation in both works through a comparison that studies certain elements such as the social class, ethnic background and the members of the family in each work referring to literature and discussing if there are any similarities in the two works.