The Physics of Volleyball Essay -- Sports Athletics Essays

The Physics of o Volleyball From six thirty one morning to three O’ clock the next morning was my longest volleyball day ever. Fourteen and a half hours of play with only 3 breaks for food, makes for an exhausting event. So what makes volleyball worth such a sacrifice? It is the endless possibilities and outcomes that can occur by playing this magnificent sport and challenging the basic laws of physics. In the sport of volleyball the same thing never happens twice. Things may seem similar but there are always slight differences. The differences are caused by trying to manipulate those ever so important laws of physics. Volleyball is the constant confirmation of Newton’s first Law. Every object remains at rest or in motion in a strait line at a constant speed unless acted on by an unbalanced force(P.31). The unbalanced forces that the team members try to manipulate are what make volleyball so interesting. The goal in volleyball is to keep a ball in legally in motion for your team, while trying to force the opponent to fail at keeping the ball in motion. There a few basic possible ways of legally contacting the ball: serving, passing, setting, hitting, and blocking. Each is unique and yet similar. The contact between the player and ball forces a â€Å"collision† and different laws of physics explain the actions or reactions of these collisions. This is what makes volleyball so exciting. One type of contact is a serve. To serve a player must be standing behind the end line and hit the ball over the net. The player tosses the ball into the air with one hand, and forces the ball over the net by hitting it with the other hand. A serve is required to start the game and is repeated after each play. So, after the ball... ...ts collide into each other and make the total kinetic energy decrease where the objects move in separate directions. In the game of volleyball the laws of physics are evident in most of these different types of collisions. Trying to manipulate objects to challenge these laws is what brings the spice and flavor into the game. Physics might be a hard subject but it can explain what makes this sport worthwhile. Works Cited Farnsworth, Debbie. Century High School volleyball coach. Personal interview. April 30, 2003. Gozansky, Sue . Volleyball Coach's Survival Guide. Paramus, NJ Parker Publishing Company, 2001. Kirkpatrick,Larry D. & Wheeler,Gerald F. A world view. Physics textbook. Copyright 2001,1998,1995,1992 by Harcourt Inc. Tingey, Allison . The Physics of Volleyball. Online. Goggle.1995. Nov. 2002. http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/staff/trobinso/

Tourette Syndrome :: essays research papers

Tourette Syndrome   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tourette Syndrome was named for Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who first described the syndrome in 1885. Although the disease was identified in 1885, today in 1996, there still is a mystery surrounding Tourette Syndrome, its causes and possible cures. Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder that researchers believe is caused by and abnormal metabolism of the neurotransmitters dopamire and serotonin. It is genetically transmitted from parent to child. There is a fifty percent chance of passing the gene on from parent to child (Gaffy,Ottinger). Those most at risk are sons of mothers with Tourette Syndrome. About three-quarters of Tourette Syndrome patients are male. Males with the disorder have a ninety-nine percent chance of displaying symptoms. Females, have a seventy percent chance of displaying symptoms. This ration of 3-4:1 for males and females may be accounted for by referral bias. Also, there is a frequent number of reported cases within the Mennonite religious isolate population in Canada. The specific genetic transmission however, has not been established. Some researchers believe that the mar is on an autosomal dominant trait. Some cases however are sporadic, and there may not be a link to family history involved. These cases are mild however, and not full blown. The onset of Tourette Syndrome must be before the age of fifteen, and usually occurs after the age of two. The mean age onset of motor tics is seven. The mean age onset for vocal tics is nine. In order for a person to be classified as having Tourette Syndrome they must have both multiple motor tics and vocal tics. These tics however do not have to occur everyday. In fact, affected individuals may rarely exhibit all of the symptoms, or all of the tics. The vocal and motor tics must also occur within the same year, for a person to be classified as having Tourette Syndrome. Symptoms can disappear for weeks or months at a time. However if people afflicted with the syndrome try and suppress their tics, they will re occur with increased ferver. Tics increase as a result of tension or stress, and decrease with relaxation or concentration on absorbing a task.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tics are classified into two groups: complex and simple tics. Simple tics are movements or vocalizations which are completely uncomprehendable and meaningless to those not suffering from the disorder (Peiss). Complex tics are movements or vocalizations which make use of more than one muscle group to appear to be meaningful (Peiss). Simple motor tics are: eye blinking, head jerking, shoulder shrugging or facial grimacing. Simple vocal tics are: throat clearing, coughing, snorting, baiting, yelping.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER FIFTEEN

State your name for the record.' ‘Michael Noonan.' ‘Your address?' ‘Derry is my permanent address, 14 Benton Street, but I also maintain a home in TR-90, on Dark Score Lake. The mailing address is Box 832. The actual house is on Lane Forty-two, off Route 68.' Elmer Durgin, Kyra Devore's guardian ad litem, waved a pudgy hand in front of his face, either to shoo away some troublesome insect or to tell me that was enough. I agreed that it was. I felt rather like the little girl in Our Town, who gave her address as Grover's Corner, New Hampshire, America, the Northern Hemisphere, the World, the Solar System, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Mind of God. Mostly I was nervous. I'd reached the age of forty still a virgin in the area of court proceedings, and although we were in the conference room of Durgin, Peters, and Jarrette on Bridge Street in Castle Rock, this was still a court proceeding. There was one mentionably odd detail to these festivities. The stenographer wasn't using one of those keyboards-on-a-post that look like adding machines, but a Stenomask, a gadget which fit over the lower half of his face. I had seen them before, but only in old black-and-white crime movies, the ones where Dan Duryea or John Payne is always driving around in a Buick with portholes on the sides, looking grim and smoking a Camel. Glancing over into the corner and seeing a guy who looked like the world's oldest fighter-pilot was weird enough, but hearing everything you said immediately repeated in a muffled monotone was even weirder. ‘Thank you, Mr. Noonan. My wife has read all your books and says you are her favorite author. I just wanted to get that on the record.' Durgin chuckled fatly. Why not? He was a fat guy. Most fat people I like they have expansive natures to go with their expansive waistlines. But there is a subgroup which I think of as the Evil Little Fat Folks. You don't want to fuck with the ELFFS if you can help it; they will burn your house and rape your dog if you give them half an excuse and a quarter of an opportunity. Few of them stand over five-foot-two (Durgin's height, I estimated), and many are under five feet. They smile a lot, but their eyes don't smile. The Evil Little Fat Folks hate the whole world. Mostly they hate folks who can look down the length of their bodies and still see their own feet. This included me, although just barely. ‘Please thank your wife for me, Mr. Durgin. I'm sure she could recommend one for you to start on.' Durgin chuckled. On his right, Durgin's assistant a pretty young woman who looked approximately seventeen minutes out of law school chuckled. On my left, Romeo Bissonette chuckled. In the corner, the world's oldest F- 111 pilot only went on muttering into his Stenomask. ‘I'll wait for the big-screen version,' he said. His eyes gave an ugly little gleam, as if he knew a feature film had never been made from one of my books only a made-for-TV movie of Being Two that pulled ratings roughly equal to the National Sofa Refinishing Championships. I hoped that we'd completed this chubby little fuck's idea of the pleasantries. ‘I am Kyra Devore's guardian ad litem,' he said. ‘Do you know what that means, Mr. Noonan?' ‘I believe I do.' ‘It means,' Durgin rolled on, ‘that I've been appointed by Judge Rancourt to decide if I can where Kyra Devore's best interests lie, should a custody judgment become necessary. Judge Rancourt would not, in such an event, be required to base his decision on my conclusions, but in many cases that is what happens.' He looked at me with his hands folded on a blank legal pad. The pretty assistant, on the other hand, was scribbling madly. Perhaps she didn't trust the fighter-pilot. Durgin looked as if he expected a round of applause. ‘Was that a question, Mr. Durgin?' I asked and Romeo Bissonette delivered a light, practiced chip to my ankle. I didn't need to look at him to know it wasn't an accident. Durgin pursed lips so smooth and damp that he looked as if he were wearing a clear gloss on them. On his shining pate, roughly two dozen strands of hair were combed in smooth little arcs. He gave me a patient, measuring look. Behind it was all the intransigent ugliness of an Evil Little Fat Folk. The pleasantries were over, all right. I was sure of it. ‘No, Mr. Noonan, that was not a question. I simply thought you might like to know why we've had to ask you to come away from your lovely lake on such a pleasant morning. Perhaps I was wrong. Now, if ‘ There was a peremptory knock on the door, followed by your friend and his, George Footman. Today Cleveland Casual had been replaced by a khaki Deputy Sheriff's uniform, complete with Sam Browne belt and sidearm. He helped himself to a good look at the assistant's bustline, displayed in a blue silk blouse, then handed her a folder and a cassette tape recorder. He gave me one brief gander before leaving. I remember you, buddy, that glance said. The smartass writer, the cheap date. Romeo Bissonette tipped his head toward me. He used the side of his hand to bridge the gap between his mouth and my ear. ‘Devore's tape,' he said. I nodded to show I understood, then turned to Durgin again. ‘Mr. Noonan, you've met Kyra Devore and her mother, Mary Devore, haven't you?' How did you get Mattie out of Mary, I wondered . . . and then knew, just as I had known about the white shorts and halter top. Mattie was how Ki had first tried to say Mary. ‘Mr. Noonan, are we keeping you up?' ‘There's no need to be sarcastic, is there?' Bissonette asked. His tone was mild, but Elmer Durgin gave him a look which suggested that, should the ELFFS succeed in their goal of world domination, Bissonette would be aboard the first gulag-bound boxcar. ‘I'm sorry,' I said before Durgin could reply. ‘I just got derailed there for a second or two.' ‘New story idea?' Durgin asked, smiling his glossy smile. He looked like a swamp-toad in a sportcoat. He turned to the old jet pilot, told him to strike that last, then repeated his question about Kyra and Mattie. Yes, I said, I had met them. ‘Once or more than once?' ‘More than once.' ‘How many times have you met them?' ‘Twice.' ‘Have you also spoken to Mary Devore on the phone?' Already these questions were moving in a direction that made me uncomfortable. ‘Yes.' ‘How many times?' ‘Three times.' The third had come the day before, when she had asked if I would join her and John Storrow for a picnic lunch on the town common after my deposition. Lunch right there in the middle of town before God and everybody . . . although, with a New York lawyer to play chaperone, what harm in that? ‘Have you spoken to Kyra Devore on the telephone?' What an odd question! Not one anybody had prepared me for, either. I supposed that was at least partly why he had asked it. ‘Mr. Noonan?' ‘Yes, I've spoken to her once.' ‘Can you tell us the nature of that conversation?' ‘Well . . . ‘ I looked doubtfully at Bissonette, but there was no help there. He obviously didn't know, either. ‘Mattie ‘ ‘Pardon me?' Durgin leaned forward as much as he could. His eyes were intent in their pink pockets of flesh. ‘Mattie?' ‘Mattie Devore. Mary Devore.' ‘You call her Mattie?' ‘Yes,' I said, and had a wild impulse to add: In bed! In bed I call her that! ‘Oh Mattie, don't stop, don't stop,' I cry!' ‘It's the name she gave me when she introduced herself. I met her ‘ ‘We may get to that, but right now I'm interested in your telephone conversation with Kyra Devore. When was that?' ‘It was yesterday.' ‘July ninth, 1998.' ‘Yes.' ‘Who placed that call?' ‘Ma . . . Mary Devore.' Now he'll ask why she called, I thought, and I'll say she wanted to have yet another sex marathon, foreplay to consist of feeding each other chocolate-dipped strawberries while we look at pictures of naked malformed dwarves. ‘How did Kyra Devore happen to speak to you?' ‘She asked if she could. I heard her saying to her mother that she had to tell me something.' ‘What was it she had to tell you?' ‘That she had her first bubble bath.' ‘Did she also say she coughed?' I was quiet, looking at him. In that moment I understood why people hate lawyers, especially when they've been dusted over by one who's good at the job. ‘Mr. Noonan, would you like me to repeat the question?' ‘No,' I said, wondering where he'd gotten his information. Had these bastards tapped Mattie's phone? My phone? Both? Perhaps for the first time I understood on a gut level what it must be like to have half a billion dollars. With that much dough you could tap a lot of telephones. ‘She said her mother pushed bubbles in her face and she coughed. But she was ‘ ‘Thank you, Mr. Noonan, now let's turn to ‘ ‘Let him finish,' Bissonette said. I had an idea he had already taken a bigger part in the proceedings than he had expected to, but he didn't seem to mind. He was a sleepy-looking man with a bloodhound's mournful, trustworthy face. ‘This isn't a courtroom, and you're not cross-examining him.' ‘I have the little girl's welfare to think of,' Durgin said. He sounded both pompous and humble at the same time, a combination that went together like chocolate sauce on creamed corn. ‘It's a responsibility I take very seriously. If I seemed to be badgering you, Mr. Noonan, I apologize.' I didn't bother accepting his apology that would have made us both phonies. ‘All I was going to say is that Ki was laughing when she said it. She said she and her mother had a bubble-fight. When her mother came back on, she was laughing, too.' Durgin had opened the folder Footman had brought him and was paging rapidly through it while I spoke, as if he weren't hearing a word. ‘Her mother . . . Mattie, as you call her.' ‘Yes. Mattie as I call her. How do you know about our private telephone conversation in the first place?' ‘That's none of your business, Mr. Noonan.' He selected a single sheet of paper, then closed the folder. He held the paper up briefly, like a doctor studying an X-ray, and I could see it was covered with single-spaced typing. ‘Let's turn to your initial meeting with Mary and Kyra Devore. That was on the Fourth of July, wasn't it?' ‘Yes.' Durgin was nodding. ‘The morning of the Fourth. And you met Kyra Devore first.' ‘Yes.' ‘You met her first because her mother wasn't with her at that time, was she?' ‘That's a badly phrased question, Mr. Durgin, but I guess the answer is yes.' ‘I'm flattered to have my grammar corrected by a man who's been on the bestseller lists,' Durgin said, smiling. The smile suggested that he'd like to see me sitting next to Romeo Bissonette in that first gulag-bound boxcar. ‘Tell us about your meeting, first with Kyra Devore and then with Mary Devore. Or Mattie, if you like that better.' I told the story. When I was finished, Durgin centered the tape player in front of him. The nails of his pudgy fingers looked as glossy as his lips. ‘Mr. Noonan, you could have run Kyra over, isn't that true?' ‘Absolutely not. I was going thirty-five that's the speed limit there by the store. I saw her in plenty of time to stop.' ‘Suppose you had been coming the other way, though heading north instead of south. Would you still have seen her in plenty of time?' That was a fairer question than some of his others, actually. Someone coming the other way would have had a far shorter time to react. Still . . . ‘Yes,' I said. Durgin went up with the eyebrows. ‘You're sure of that?' ‘Yes, Mr. Durgin. I might have had to come down a little harder on the brakes, but ‘ ‘At thirty-five.' ‘Yes, at thirty-five. I told you, that's the speed limit ‘ ‘ -on that particular stretch of Route 68. Yes, you told me that. You did. Is it your experience that most people obey the speed limit on that part of the road?' ‘I haven't spent much time on the TR since 1993, so I can't ‘ ‘Come on, Mr. Noonan this isn't a scene from one of your books. Just answer my questions, or we'll be here all morning.' ‘I'm doing my best, Mr. Durgin.' He sighed, put-upon. ‘You've owned your place on Dark Score Lake since the eighties, haven't you? And the speed limit around the Lakeview General Store, the post office, and Dick Brooks's All-Purpose Garage what's called The North Village hasn't changed since then, has it?' ‘No,' I admitted. ‘Returning to my original question, then in your observation, do most people on that stretch of road obey the thirty-five-mile-an-hour limit?' ‘I can't say if it's most, because I've never done a traffic survey, but I guess a lot don't.' ‘Would you like to hear Castle County Sheriffs Deputy Footman testify on where the greatest number of speeding tickets are given out in TR-90, Mr. Noonan?' ‘No,' I said, quite honestly. ‘Did other vehicles pass you while you were speaking first with Kyra Devore and then with Mary Devore?' ‘Yes.' ‘How many?' ‘I don't know exactly. A couple.' ‘Could it have been three?' ‘I guess.' ‘Five?' ‘No, probably not so many.' ‘But you don't know, exactly, do you?' ‘Because Kyra Devore was upset.' ‘Actually she had it together pretty well for a ‘ ‘Did she cry in your presence?' ‘Well . . . yes.' ‘Did her mother make her cry?' ‘That's unfair.' ‘As unfair as allowing a three-year-old to go strolling down the middle of a busy highway on a holiday morning, in your opinion, or perhaps not quite as unfair as that?' ‘Jeepers, lay off,' Mr. Bissonette said mildly. There was distress on his bloodhound's face. ‘I withdraw the question,' Durgin said. ‘Which one?' I asked. He looked at me tiredly, as if to say he had to put up with assholes like me all the time and he was used to how we behaved. ‘How many cars went by from the time you picked the child up and carried her to safety to the time when you and the Devores parted company?' I hated that ‘carried her to safety' bit, but even as I formulated my answer, the old guy was muttering the question into his Stenomask. And it was in fact what I had done. There was no getting around it. ‘I told you, I don't know for sure.' ‘Well, give me a guesstimate.' Guesstimate. One of my all-time least favorite words. A Paul Harvey word. ‘There might have been three.' ‘Including Mary Devore herself?. Driving a ‘ He consulted the paper he'd taken from the folder. ‘ a 1982 Jeep Scout?' I thought of Ki saying Mattie go fast and understood where Durgin was heading now. And there was nothing I could do about it. ‘Yes, it was her and it was a Scout. I don't know what year.' ‘Was she driving below the posted speed limit, at the posted speed limit, or above the posted speed limit when she passed the place where you were standing with Kyra in your arms?' She'd been doing at least fifty, but I told Durgin I couldn't say for sure. He urged me to try I know you are unfamiliar with the hangman's knot, Mr. Noonan, but I'm sure you can make one if you really work at it and I declined as politely as I could. He picked up the paper again. ‘Mr. Noonan, would it surprise you to know that two witnesses Richard Brooks, Junior, the owner of Dick's All-Purpose Garage, and Royce Merrill, a retired carpenter claim that Mrs. Devore was doing well over thirty-five when she passed your location?' ‘I don't know,' I said. ‘I was concerned with the little girl.' ‘Would it surprise you to know that Royce Merrill estimated her speed at sixty miles an hour?' ‘That's ridiculous. When she hit the brakes she would have skidded sideways and landed upside down in the ditch.' ‘The skid-marks measured by Deputy Footman indicate a speed of at least fifty miles an hour,' Durgin said. It wasn't a question, but he looked at me almost roguishly, as if inviting me to struggle a little more and sink a little deeper into this nasty pit. I said nothing. Durgin folded his pudgy little hands and leaned over them toward me. The roguish look was gone. ‘Mr. Noonan, if you hadn't carried Kyra Devore to the side of the road if you hadn't rescued her mightn't her own mother have run her over?' Here was the really loaded question, and how should I answer it? Bissonette was certainly not flashing any helpful signals; he seemed to be trying to make meaningful eye-contact with the pretty assistant. I thought of the book Mattie was reading in tandem with ‘Bartleby' Silent Witness, by Richard North Patterson. Unlike the Grisham brand, Patterson's lawyers almost always seemed to know what they were doing. Objection, Your honor, calls for speculation on the part of the witness. I shrugged. ‘Sorry, counsellor, can't say left my crystal ball home.' Again I saw the ugly flash in Durgin's eyes. ‘Mr. Noonan, I can assure you that if you don't answer that question here, you are apt to be called back from Malibu or Fire Island or wherever it is you're going to write your next opus to answer it later on.' I shrugged. ‘I've already told you I was concerned with the child. I can't tell you how fast the mother was going, or how good Royce Merrill's vision is, or if Deputy Footman even measured the right set of skid-marks. There's a whole bunch of rubber on that part of the road, I can tell you. Suppose she was going fifty? Even fifty-five, let's say that. She's twenty-one years old, Durgin. At the age of twenty-one, a person's driving skills are at their peak. She probably would have swerved around the child, and easily.' ‘I think that's quite enough.' ‘Why? Because you're not getting what you wanted?' Bissonette's shoe clipped my ankle again, but I ignored it. ‘If you're on Kyra's side, why do you sound as though you're on her grandfather's?' A baleful little smile touched Durgin's lips. The kind that says Okay, smart guy, you want to play? He pulled the tape-recorder a little closer to him. ‘Since you have mentioned Kyra's grandfather, Mr. Maxwell Devore of Palm Springs, let's talk about him a little, shall we?' ‘It's your show.' ‘Have you ever spoken with Maxwell Devore?' ‘Yes.' ‘In person or on the phone?' ‘Phone.' I thought about adding that he had somehow gotten hold of my unlisted number, then remembered that Mattie had, too, and decided to keep my mouth shut on that subject. ‘When was this?' ‘Last Saturday night. The night of the Fourth. He called while I was watching the fireworks.' ‘And was the subject of your conversation that morning's little adventure?' As he asked, Durgin reached into his pocket and brought out a cassette tape. There was an ostentatious quality to this gesture; in that moment he looked like a parlor magician showing you both sides of a silk handkerchief. And he was bluffing. I couldn't be sure of that . . . and yet I was. Devore had taped our conversation, all right that underhum really had been too loud, and on some level I'd been aware of that fact even while I was talking to him and I thought it really was on the cassette Durgin was now slotting into the cassette player . . . but it was a bluff. ‘I don't recall,' I said. Durgin's hand froze in the act of snapping the cassette's transparent loading panel shut. He looked at me with frank disbelief . . . and something else. I thought the something else was surprised anger. ‘You don't recall? Come now, Mr. Noonan. Surely writers train themselves to recall conversations, and this one was only a week ago. Tell me what you talked about.' ‘I really can't say,' I told him in a stolid, colorless voice. For a moment Durgin looked almost panicky. Then his features smoothed. One polished fingernail slipped back and forth over keys marked REW, FF, PLAY, and REC. ‘How did Mr. Devore begin the conversation?' he asked. ‘He said hello,' I said mildly, and there was a short muffled sound from behind the Stenomask. It could have been the old guy clearing his throat; it could have been a suppressed laugh. Spots of color were blooming in Durgin's cheeks. ‘After hello? What then?' ‘I don't recall.' ‘Did he ask you about that morning?' ‘I don't recall.' ‘Didn't you tell him that Mary Devore and her daughter were together, Mr. Noonan? That they were together picking flowers? Isn't that what you told this worried grandfather when he inquired about the incident which was the talk of the township that Fourth of July?' ‘Oh boy,' Bissonette said. He raised one hand over the table, then touched the palm with the fingers of the other, making a ref's T. ‘Time out.' Durgin looked at him. The flush in his cheeks was more pronounced now, and his lips had pulled back enough to show the tips of small, neatly capped teeth. ‘What do you want?' he almost snarled, as if Bissonette had just dropped by to tell him about the Mormon Way or perhaps the Rosicrucians. ‘I want you to stop leading this guy, and I want that whole thing about picking flowers stricken from the record,' Bissonette said. ‘Why?' Durgin snapped. ‘Because you're trying to get stuff on the record that this witness won't say. If you want to break here for awhile so we can make a conference call to Judge Rancourt, get his opinion ‘ ‘I withdraw the question,' Durgin said. He looked at me with a kind of helpless, surly rage. ‘Mr. Noonan, do you want to help me do my job?' ‘I want to help Kyra Devore if I can,' I said. ‘Very well.' He nodded as if no distinction had been made. ‘Then please tell me what you and Maxwell Devore talked about.' ‘I can't recall.' I caught his eyes and held them. ‘Perhaps,' I said, ‘you can refresh my recollection.' There was a moment of silence, like that which sometimes strikes a high-stakes poker game just after the last of the bets have been made and just before the players show their hands. Even the old fighter-pilot was quiet, his eyes unblinking above the mask. Then Durgin pushed the cassette player aside with the heel of his hand (the set of his mouth said he felt about it just then as I often felt about the telephone) and went back to the morning of July Fourth. He never asked about my dinner with Mattie and Ki on Tuesday night, and never returned to my telephone conversation with Devore the one where I had said all those awkward and easily disprovable things. I went on answering questions until eleven-thirty, but the interview really ended when Durgin pushed the tape-player away with the heel of his hand. I knew it, and I'm pretty sure he did, too. ‘Mike! Mike, over here!' Mattie was waving from one of the tables in the picnic area behind the town common's bandstand. She looked vibrant and happy. I waved back and made my way in that direction, weaving between little kids playing tag, skirting a couple of teenagers making out on the grass, and ducking a Frisbee which a leaping German shepherd caught smartly. There was a tall, skinny redhead with her, but I barely got a chance to notice him. Mattie met me while I was still on the gravel path, put her arms around me, hugged me it was no prudey little ass-poking-out hug, either and then kissed me on the mouth hard enough to push my lips against my teeth. There was a hearty smack when she disengaged. She pulled back and looked at me with undisguised delight. ‘Was it the biggest kiss you've ever had?' ‘The biggest in at least four years,' I said. ‘Will you settle for that?' And if she didn't step away from me in the next few seconds, she was going to have physical proof of how much I had enjoyed it. ‘I guess I'll have to.' She turned to the redheaded guy with a funny kind of defiance. ‘Was that all right?' ‘Probably not,' he said, ‘but at least you're not currently in view of those old boys at the All-Purpose Garage. Mike, I'm John Storrow. Nice to meet you in person.' I liked him at once, maybe because I'd come upon him dressed in his three-piece New York suit and primly setting out paper plates on a picnic table while his curly red hair blew around his head like kelp. His skin was fair and freckled, the kind which would never tan, only burn and then peel in great eczema-like patches. When we shook, his hand seemed to be all knuckles. He had to be at least thirty, but he looked Mattie's age, and I guessed it would be another five years before he was able to get a drink without showing his driver's license. ‘Sit down,' he said. ‘We've got a five-course lunch, courtesy of Castle Rock Variety grinders, which are for some strange reason called ‘Italian sandwiches' up here . . . mozzarella sticks . . . garlic fries . . . Twinkies.' ‘That's only four,' I said. ‘I forgot the soft-drink course,' he said, and pulled three long-neck bottles of S'OK birch beer out of a brown bag. ‘Let's eat. Mattie runs the library from two to eight on Fridays and Saturdays, and this would be a bad time for her to be missing work.' ‘How did the readers' circle go last night?' I asked. ‘Lindy Briggs didn't eat you alive, I see.' She laughed, clasped her hands, and shook them over her head. ‘I was a hit! An absolute smashola! I didn't dare tell them I got all my best insights from you ‘ ‘Thank God for small favors,' Storrow said. He was freeing his own sandwich from its string and butcher-paper wrapping, doing it carefully and a little dubiously, using just the tips of his fingers. ‘ so I said I looked in a couple of books and found some leads there. It was sort of wonderful. I felt like a college kid.' ‘Good.' ‘Bissonette?' John Storrow asked. ‘Where's he? I never met a guy named Romeo before.' ‘Said he had to go right back to Lewiston. Sorry.' ‘Actually it's best we stay small, at least to begin with.' He bit into his sandwich they come tucked into long sub rolls and looked at me, surprised. ‘This isn't bad.' ‘Eat more than three and you're hooked for life,' Mattie said, and chomped heartily into her own. ‘Tell us about the depo,' John said, and while they ate, I talked. When I finished, I picked up my own sandwich and played a little catch-up. I'd forgotten how good an Italian can be sweet, sour, and oily all at the same time. Of course nothing that tastes that good can be healthy; that's a given. I suppose one could formulate a similar postulate about full-body hugs from young girls in legal trouble. ‘Very interesting,' John said. ‘Very interesting indeed.' He took a mozzarella stick from its grease-stained bag, broke it open, and looked with a kind of fascinated horror at the clotted white gunk inside. ‘People up here eat this?' he asked. ‘People in New York eat fish-bladders,' I said. ‘Raw.' ‘Touch? ¦' He dipped a piece into the plastic container of spaghetti sauce (in this context it is called ‘cheese-dip' in western Maine), then ate it. ‘Well?' I asked. ‘Not bad. They ought to be a lot hotter, though.' Yes, he was right about that. Eating cold mozzarella sticks is a little like eating cold snot, an observation I thought I would keep to myself on this beautiful midsummer Friday. ‘If Durgin had the tape, why wouldn't he play it?' Mattie asked. ‘I don't understand.' John stretched his arms out, cracked his knuckles, and looked at her benignly. ‘We'll probably never know for sure,' he said. He thought Devore was going to drop the suit it was in every line of his body-language and every inflection of his voice. That was hopeful, but it would be good if Mattie didn't allow herself to become too hopeful. John Storrow wasn't as young as he looked, and probably not as guileless, either (or so I fervently hoped), but he was young. And neither he nor Mattie knew the story of Scooter Larribee's sled. Or had seen Bill Dean's face when he told it. ‘Want to hear some possibilities?' ‘Sure,' I said. John put down his sandwich, wiped his fingers, and then began to tick off points. ‘First, he made the call. Taped conversations have a highly dubious value under those circumstances. Second, he didn't exactly come off like Captain Kangaroo, did he?' ‘No.' ‘Third, your fabrication impugns you, Mike, but not really very much, and it doesn't impugn Mattie at all. And by the way, that thing about Mattie pushing bubbles in Kyra's face, I love that. If that's the best they can do, they better give it up right now. Last and this is where the truth probably lies I think Devore's got Nixon's Disease.' ‘Nixon's Disease?' Mattie asked. ‘The tape Durgin had isn't the only tape. Can't be. And your father-in-law is afraid that if he introduces one tape made by whatever system he's got in Warrington's, we might subpoena all of them. And I'd damn well try.' She looked bewildered. ‘What could be on them? And if it's bad, why not just destroy them?' ‘Maybe he can't,' I said. ‘Maybe he needs them for other reasons.' ‘It doesn't really matter,' John said. ‘Durgin was bluffing, and that's what matters.' He hit the heel of his hand lightly against the picnic table. ‘I think he's going to drop it. I really do.' ‘It's too early to start thinking like that,' I said at once, but I could tell by Mattie's face shining more brightly than ever that the damage was done. ‘Fill him in on what else you've been doing,' Mattie told John. ‘Then I've got to get to the library.' ‘Where do you send Kyra on your workdays?' I asked. ‘Mrs. Cullum's. She lives two miles up the Wasp Hill Road. Also in July there's VBS from ten until three. That's Vacation Bible School. Ki loves it, especially the singing and the flannel-board stories about Noah and Moses. The bus drops her off at Arlene's, and I pick her up around quarter of nine.' She smiled a little wistfully. ‘By then she's usually fast asleep on the couch.' John held forth for the next ten minutes or so. He hadn't been on the case long, but had already started a lot of balls rolling. A fellow in California was gathering facts about Roger Devore and Morris Ridding (‘gathering facts' sounded so much better than ‘snooping'). John was particularly interested in learning about the quality of Roger Devore's relations with his father, and if Roger was on record concerning his little niece from Maine. John had also mapped out a campaign to learn as much as possible about Max Devore's movements and activities since he'd come back to TR-90. To that end he had the name of a private investigator, one recommended by Romeo Bissonette, my rent-a-lawyer. As he spoke, paging rapidly through a little notebook he drew from the inside pocket of his suitcoat, I remembered what he'd said about Lady Justice during our telephone conversation: Slap some handcuffs on that broad's wrists and some tape over her mouth to go along with the blindfold, rape her and roll her in the mud. That was maybe a bit too strong for what we were doing, but I thought at the very least we were shoving her around a little. I imagined poor Roger Devore up on the stand, having flown three thousand miles in order to be questioned about his sexual preferences. I had to keep reminding myself that his father had put him in that position, not Mattie or me or John Storrow. ‘Have you gotten any closer to a meeting with Devore and his chief legal advisor?' I asked. ‘Don't know for sure. The line is in the water, the offer is on the table, the puck's on the ice, pick your favorite metaphor, mix em and match em if you desire.' ‘Got your irons in the fire,' Mattie said. ‘Your checkers on the board,' I added. We looked at each other and laughed. John regarded us sadly, then sighed, picked up his sandwich, and began to eat again. ‘You really have to meet him with his lawyer more or less dancing attendance?' I asked. ‘Would you like to win this thing, then discover Devore can do it all again based on unethical behavior by Mary Devore's legal resource?' John returned. ‘Don't even joke about it!' Mattie cried. ‘I wasn't joking,' John said. ‘It has to be with his lawyer, yes. I don't think it's going to happen, not on this trip. I haven't even got a look at the old cockuh, and I have to tell you my curiosity is killing me.' ‘If that's all it takes to make you happy, show up behind the backstop at the softball field next Tuesday evening,' Mattie said. ‘He'll be there in his fancy wheelchair, laughing and clapping and sucking his damned old oxygen every fifteen minutes or so.' ‘Not a bad idea,' John said. ‘I have to go back to New York for the weekend I'm leaving aprs Osgood but maybe I'll show up on Tuesday. I might even bring my glove.' He began clearing up our litter, and once again I thought he looked both prissy and endearing at the same time, like Stan Laurel wearing an apron. Mattie eased him aside and took over. ‘No one ate any Twinkles,' she said, a little sadly. ‘Take them home to your daughter,' John said. ‘No way. I don't let her eat stuff like this. What kind of mother do you think I am?' She saw our expressions, replayed what she'd just said, then burst out laughing. We joined her. Mattie's old Scout was parked in one of the slant spaces behind the war memorial, which in Castle Rock is a World War I soldier with a generous helping of birdshit on his pie-dish helmet. A brand-new Taurus with a Hertz decal above the inspection sticker was parked next to it. John tossed his briefcase reassuringly thin and not very ostentatious into the back seat. ‘If I can make it back on Tuesday, I'll call you,' he told Mattie. ‘If I'm able to get an appointment with your father-in-law through this man Osgood, I will also call you.' ‘I'll buy the Italian sandwiches,' Mattie said. He smiled, then grasped her arm in one hand and mine in the other. He looked like a newly ordained minister getting ready to marry his first couple. ‘You two talk on the telephone if you need to,' he said, ‘always remembering that one or both lines may be tapped. Meet in the market if you happen to. Mike, you might feel a need to drop by the local library and check out a book.' ‘Not until you renew your card, though,' Mattie said, giving me a demure glance. ‘But no more visits to Mattie's trailer. Is that understood?' I said yes; she said yes; John Storrow looked unconvinced. It made me wonder if he was seeing something in our faces or bodies that shouldn't be there. ‘They are committed to a line of attack which probably isn't going to work,' he said. ‘We can't risk giving them the chance to change course. That means innuendos about the two of you; it also means innuendos about Mike and Kyra.' Mattie's shocked expression made her look twelve again. ‘Mike and Kyra! What are you talking about?' ‘Allegations of child molestation thrown up by people so desperate they'll try anything.' ‘That's ridiculous,' she said. ‘And if my father-in-law wanted to sling that kind of mud ‘ John nodded. ‘Yes, we'd be obligated to sling it right back. Newspaper coverage from coast to coast would follow, maybe even Court TV, God bless and save us. We want none of that if we can avoid it. It's not good for the grownups, and it's not good for the child. Now or later.' He bent and kissed Mattie's cheek. ‘I'm sorry about all this,' he said, and he did sound genuinely sorry. ‘Custody's just this way.' ‘I think you warned me. It's just that . . . the idea someone might make a thing like that up just because there was no other way for them to win . . . ‘ ‘Let me warn you again,' he said. His face came as close to grim as its young and good-natured features would probably allow. ‘What we have is a very rich man with a very shaky case. The combination could be like working with old dynamite.' I turned to Mattie. ‘Are you still worried about Ki? Still feel she's in danger?' I saw her think about hedging her response out of plain old Yankee reserve, quite likely and then deciding not to. Deciding, perhaps, that hedging was a luxury she couldn't afford. ‘Yes. But it's just a feeling, you know.' John was frowning. I supposed the idea that Devore might resort to extralegal means of obtaining what he wanted had occurred to him, as well. ‘Keep your eye on her as much as you can,' he said. ‘I respect intuition. Is yours based on anything concrete?' ‘No,' Mattie answered, and her quick glance in my direction asked me to keep my mouth shut. ‘Not really.' She opened the Scout's door and tossed in the little brown bag with the Twinkies in it she had decided to keep them after all. Then she turned to John and me with an expression that was close to anger. ‘I'm not sure how to follow that advice, anyway. I work five days a week, and in August, when we do the microfiche update, it'll be six. Right now Ki gets her lunch at Vacation Bible School and her dinner from Arlene Cullum. I see her in the mornings. The rest of the time . . . ‘ I knew what she was going to say before she said it; the expression was an old one. ‘ . . . she's on the TR.' ‘I could help you find an au pair,' I said, thinking it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than John Storrow. ‘No,' they said in such perfect unison that they glanced at each other and laughed. But even while she was laughing, Mattie looked tense and unhappy. ‘We're not going to leave a paper trail for Durgin or Devore's custody team to exploit,' John said. ‘Who pays me is one thing. Who pays Mattie's child-care help is another.' ‘Besides, I've taken enough from you,' Mattie said. ‘More than I can sleep easy on. I'm not going to get in any deeper just because I've been having megrims.' She climbed into the Scout and closed the door. I rested my hands on her open window. Now we were on the same level, and the eye-contact was so strong it was disconcerting. ‘Mattie, I don't have anything else to spend it on. Really.' ‘When it comes to John's fee, I accept that. Because John's fee is about Ki.' She put her hand over mine and squeezed briefly. ‘This other is about me. All right?' ‘Yeah. But you need to tell your babysitter and the people who run this Bible thing that you've got a custody case on your hands, a potentially bitter one, and Kyra's not to go anywhere with anyone, even someone they know, without your say-so.' She smiled. ‘It's already been done. On John's advice. Stay in touch, Mike.' She lifted my hand, gave it a hearty smack, and drove away. ‘What do you think?' I asked John as we watched the Scout blow oil on its way to the new Prouty Bridge, which spans Castle Street and spills outbound traffic onto Highway 68. ‘I think it's grand she has a well-heeled benefactor and a smart lawyer,' John said. He paused, then added: ‘But I'll tell you some-thing she somehow doesn't feel lucky to me at all. There's a feeling I get . . . I don't know . . . ‘ ‘That there's a cloud around her you can't quite see.' ‘Maybe. Maybe that's it.' He raked his hands through the restless mass of his red hair. ‘I just know it's something sad.' I knew exactly what he meant . . . except for me there was more. I wanted to be in bed with her, sad or not, right or not. I wanted to feel her hands on me, tugging and pressing, patting and stroking. I wanted to be able to smell her skin and taste her hair. I wanted to have her lips against my ear, her breath tickling the fine hairs within its cup as she told me to do what I wanted, whatever I wanted. I got back to Sara Laughs shortly before two o'clock and let myself in, thinking about nothing but my study and the IBM with the Courier ball. I was writing again writing. I could still hardly believe it. I'd work (not that it felt much like work after a four-year layoff) until maybe six o'clock, swim, then go down to the Village Cafe for one of Buddy's cholesterol-rich specialties. The moment I stepped through the door, Bunter's bell began to ring stridently. I stopped in the foyer, my hand frozen on the knob. The house was hot and bright, not a shadow anywhere, but the gooseflesh forming on my arms felt like midnight. ‘Who's here?' I called. The bell stopped ringing. There was a moment of silence, and then a woman shrieked. It came from everywhere, pouring out of the sunny, mote-laden air like sweat out of hot skin. It was a scream of outrage, anger, grief . . . but mostly, I think, of horror. And I screamed in response. I couldn't help it. I had been frightened standing in the dark cellar stairwell, listening to the unseen fist thump on the insulation, but this was far worse. It never stopped, that scream. It faded, as the child's sobs had faded; faded as if the person screaming was being carried rapidly down a long corridor and away from me. At last it was gone. I leaned against the bookcase, my palm pressed against my tee-shirt, my heart galloping beneath it. I was gasping for breath, and my muscles had that queer exploded feel they get after you've had a bad scare. A minute passed. My heartbeat gradually slowed, and my breathing slowed with it. I straightened up, took a tottery step, and when my legs held me, took two more. I stood in the kitchen doorway, looking across to the living room. Above the fireplace, Bunter the moose looked glassily back at me. The bell around his neck hung still and chimeless. A hot sunpoint glowed on its side. The only sound was that stupid Felix the Cat clock in the kitchen. The thought nagging at me, even then, was that the screaming woman had been Jo, that Sara Laughs was being haunted by my wife, and that she was in pain. Dead or not, she was in pain. ‘Jo?' I asked quietly. ‘Jo, are you ‘ The sobbing began again the sound of a terrified child. At the same moment my mouth and nose once more filled with the iron taste of the lake. I put one hand to my throat, gagging and frightened, then leaned over the sink and spat. It was as it had been before instead of voiding a gush of water, nothing came out but a little spit. The waterlogged feeling was gone as if it had never been there. I stayed where I was, grasping the counter and bent over the sink, probably looking like a drunk who has finished the party by upchucking most of the night's bottled cheer. I felt like that, too stunned and bleary, too overloaded to really understand what was going on. At last I straightened up again, took the towel folded over the dishwasher's handle, and wiped my face with it. There was tea in the fridge, and I wanted a tall, ice-choked glass of it in the worst way. I reached for the doorhandle and froze. The fruit and vegetable magnets were drawn into a circle again. In the center was this: help im drown That's it, I thought. I'm getting out of here. Right now. Today. Yet an hour later I was up in my stifling study with a glass of tea on the desk beside me (the cubes in it long since melted), dressed only in my bathing trunks and lost in the world I was making the one where a private detective named Andy Drake was trying to prove that John Shackleford was not the serial killer nicknamed Baseball Cap. This is how we go on: one day at a time, one meal at a time, one pain at a time, one breath at a time. Dentists go on one root-canal at a time; boat-builders go on one hull at a time. If you write books, you go on one page at a time. We turn from all we know and all we fear. We study catalogues, watch football games, choose Sprint over AT. We count the birds in the sky and will not turn from the window when we hear the footsteps behind us as something comes up the hall; we say yes, I agree that clouds often look like other things fish and unicorns and men on horseback but they are really only clouds. Even when the lightning flashes inside them we say they are only clouds and turn our attention to the next meal, the next pain, the next breath, the next page. This is how we go on.

Ict and Banking Industry

A PROJECT REPORT ON THE EFFECT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY ON THE EFFECIENCY OF BANKING INDUSTRY (IN UDAIPUR CITY) IN THE PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA) 2007-2009 PACIFIC INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, UDAIPUR Post Box No. 12, Pratap Nagar Extension, Airport road Udaipur-313003 Ph: 0294-2491340 E mail: [email  protected] om,[email  protected] com Submitted by: Submitted to: Chanda Joshi Mr. Dhiraj Jain MBA Part-2 Asstt. Professor, PIM ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Industrialists in professional life are likely and keenly aware of their sense of indebtness to many people who have stimulated & influenced their intellectual development in ordinarily.The feeling is formally expressed in customary gestures of acknowledgement therefore it seems only right to acknowledgement my gratitude with sense of veneration to the almighty & various people helped me to work in systematic & smoother manner. I would like to express my profound thanks to all the respondents who were co-operative enough and spared their valuable time in filling up the questionnaire. Words are not in lexicon to express my sincere sense of gratitude for my mentor, elite guide and path Mr. Dhiraj Jain and, Prof. B.P SHARMA (Director, pacific institute of Management) whose valuable guidance instigating encouragement creative thoughts & constructive criticism had helped me to accomplish this research work successfully. CHANDA JOSHI PREFACE The explosive growth of information and communication technology (ICT) is swiftly changing the banking industry and stern competition between the increasing numbers of banks has resulted in high investment on ICT. This report discusses the effect of ICT on banking industry (service) in Udaipur city with reference to public and private banks.Two Questionnaires were used to collect data from diverse customers and bank employees separately; the customers and bank employees accept as true that ICT has an effect on bankin g industry in India. The results of study undoubtedly show the massive impact of ICT on the performance of the banking industry in India. INDEX PARTICULARS DESCRIPTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 2. PREFACE 3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4. INTRODUCTION 5. INDUSTRY PROFILE 6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 7. DATA INTERPRETATION 8. FINDINGS,CONCLUSIONS . RECOMMENDATIONS 10. QUESTIONNAIRE 11. BIBLIOGRAPHY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Advances in the banking sector have ushered in an era of multi – product and multi – service being delivered using multiple yet integrated channels. The use of information and communication technology (ICT) is on the increase and encompasses nearly the entire gamut of banking operations. Rising competition and customer expectations have compelled top management implement, and continuously upgrade, agile scalable ICT practices and solutions.The enormity and range of banking services combined with the complexity of integrated and ICT – enabled delivery mechanisms require com prehensive partnerships to be forged between banks and providers of ICT solutions. ICT has a crucial role to play in the financial sector in at least three main areas: improving the range and efficiency of banking services available to customers, lowering costs increasing the efficiency of capital markets, and allowing for more effective regulations of all types of financial markets and related transactions.The use of ICT enables a better delivery of banking services to both depositors and borrowers within a country and between countries. ICT has a central role in the operation of various capital markets such as stock markets, bond markets and foreign exchange markets, and it is intensively used by market organizers, market professionals and investors in this markets. ICT is also an essential tool for supervisory or regulatory bodies of these markets at both national and international levels.This research presents the preliminary findings of a research study to identify the effect o f implementation of ICT on the efficiency of banks in Udaipur. The methodology includes the collection of data by the questionnaire survey. Two types of questionnaires are to be prepared for the data collection- One questionnaire has been distributed among the customers to know the efficiency of the banking services by using ICT. The second questionnaire is to be filled by the officials of the banks, which will provide information about the need, & importance of the ICT for the efficiency of the bank.Chapter 1 INDUSTRY PROFILE INDUSTRY PROFILE What is banking? Bank may be defined as a financial institution which is engaged in the business of keeping money for savings and checking accounts or for exchange or for issuing loans and credit etc. A set of services intended for private customers and characterized by a higher quality than the services offered to retail customers. Based on the notion of tailor-made services, it aims to offer advice on investment, inheritance plans and provid e active support for general transactions and the resolution of asset-related problems.The essential function of a bank is to provide services related to the storing of deposits and the extending of credit. Basic function may include Credit collection, Issuer of banking notes, Depositor of money and lending loans. Now a days banking is  not in its  traditional way, with the advancement of technology its focusing  on more  comfort of customer  providing services such as: †¢Online Banking †¢ Investment Banking †¢ Electronic Banking †¢ Internet Banking †¢ PC Banking /Mobile Banking †¢ E-Banking The importance of banking sector is immense in the progress and prosperity of any State or country.INDIAN BANKING INDUSTRY The growth in the Indian Banking Industry has been more qualitative than quantitative and it is expected to remain the same in the coming years. Based on the projections made in the â€Å"India Vision 2020† prepared by the Plann ing Commission and the Draft 10th Plan, the report forecasts that the pace of expansion in the balance-sheets of banks is likely to decelerate. The total assets of all scheduled commercial banks by end-March 2010 are estimated at Rs 40, 90,000 crores. That will comprise about 65 per cent of GDP at current market prices as compared to 67 per cent in 2002-03.Bank assets are expected to grow at an annual composite rate of 13. 4 per cent during the rest of the decade as against the growth rate of 16. 7 per cent that existed between 1994-95 and 2002-03. It is expected that there will be large additions to the capital base and reserves on the liability side. Banks in India can be categorized into non-scheduled banks and scheduled banks. Scheduled banks constitute of commercial banks and co-operative banks. There are about 67,000 branches of Scheduled banks spread across India. During the first phase of financial reforms, there was a nationalization of 14 major banks in 1969.This crucial s tep led to a shift from Class banking to Mass banking. Since then the growth of the banking industry in India has been a continuous process. The Public Sector Banks (PSBs), which are the base of the Banking sector in India account for more than 78 per cent of the total banking industry assets. Unfortunately they are burdened with excessive Non Performing assets (NPAs), massive manpower and lack of modern technology. On the other hand the Private Sector Banks are making tremendous progress. They are leaders in Internet banking, mobile banking, phone banking, ATMs.As far as foreign banks are concerned they are likely to succeed in the Indian Banking Industry. Indus land Bank was the first private bank to be set up in India. In the Indian Banking Industry some of the Private Sector Banks operating are IDBI Bank, ING Vyasa Bank, SBI Commercial and International Bank Ltd, Dhanalakshmi Bank Ltd,Karur Vysya Bank Ltd, Bank of Rajasthan Ltd etc are some private sector banks. Banks from the P ublic Sector include Punjab National bank, Vijaya Bank, UCO Bank, Oriental Bank, Allahabad Bank , Andhra Bank etc.ANZ Grindlays Bank, ABN-AMRO Bank, American Express Bank Ltd, Citibank are some of the foreign banks operating in the Indian Banking Industry . CHAPTER-2 INTRODUCTION ————————————————- Meaning of ICT The term â€Å"ICT† describes the use of computer – based technology and the internet to make information and communication service available to a wide rang of users. The term is used broadly to address a range of technologies, including telephones. Central to these is the Internet, which provides the mechanism for transporting data in a number of formats including text, images, sound, and video.Additionally, ICT deals with the application layer, the systems that enable information to be collected and distributed, analyzed, and processed. However, whi le ICT is generally adaptable to different information. Needs and circumstances, its effectiveness in solving development issues still depends on the content it carries. ————————————————- The New Era The 21st century will bring about an all – embracing convergence of computing, communication, information and knowledge. This will radically change the way we live work and think.The growth of high – speed networks, coupled with the falling cost of computing power, is making possible application under dream of in the past. Voice, data, images, and video may now be transferred around the world in microseconds. This explosion of technology is changing the banking industry from paper and branch banks to’ digitized and networked banking services. It has already changed the internal accounting and management systems of banks. It is now fundamentally changing th e delivery systems banks use to interact with their customers.All over the world, banks are still struggling to find a technological solution to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing environment. It is clear that this new technology is changing the banking industry forever. Banks with the ability to invest and integrate information technology will become dominate in the highly competitive global market. Bankers are convinced that investing in IT is critical. Its potential and consequences on the banking industry future is enormous. ————————————————- Technology and Banks Transformation ————————————————-Computers are getting more sophisticated. They have given banks a potential they could only dream about and have given bank customers high expectations. The cha nges that new technologies have brought to banking are enormous in their impact on officers, employees, and customers of banks. Advances in technology are allowing for delivery of banking products and services more conveniently and effectively then ever before- thus creating new based of competition. Rapid access to critical information and the ability to act quickly and effectively will distinguish the successful banks of the future.The bank gains a vital competitive advantage by having a direct marketing and accountable customer service environment and new, streamlined business processes. Consistent management decision support system provides the bank that competitive edge to forge ahead in the banking market place. ————————————————- ————————————————- Major app lication: – The advantage accruing from computerization are three-directional – to the customer, to the bank, and to the employee. ————————————————- ———————————————— For the customer ————————————————- ————————————————- Banks are aware of customer’s need for new services and plan to make them available. It has increased the level of competition and forced them to integrate the new technologies in order to satisfy there customers. They have already developed and implemented a certain number of solutions among them: —à ¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- * ————————————————-Self – inquiry Facility: ————————————————- Facility for logging into specified self – inquiry terminals at the branch to inquire and view the transaction in the account * ————————————————- Remote banking: ————————————————- Remote terminals at the customer site connected to the respective branch through a modem, enabling the customer to make inquires regarding his accounts, on-line, without ha ving to move from is office. * ————————————————-Anytime banking- Anywhere banking : ————————————————- Installation of ATMs which offer non-stop cash withdrawal, remittances inquiry facilities. Networking of computerized branches inter-city and intra-city, will permit customers of these branches, when interconnected, to transact from any of these branches. * ————————————————- Telebanking: ————————————————- 24- Hour service through which enquiries regarding balances and transactions in the account can be made over the phone. ——â₠¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- Electronic banking : ————————————————- This enables the bank to provide corporate or high value customers with graphical user interface (GUI) software on a PC, to inquire about their. Financial transaction and accounts, cash transfers, chequebook issue and inquiry on rates without visiting the bank: Moreover, the customer can send LC text and details on bills, and the bank can download the same. The technology used to provide this service is called electronic data interchange (EDI).It used to transmit business transaction in computer – readable from between organization and individuals in a standard format. * ————————————————- As information is cen tralized and updates are available simultaneously at all places, single – window service become possible, leaving to effective reduction in waiting time. For the bank:- During the last decade, banks applied IT to a wide range of back and front office tasks in addition to a great number of new products. The major advantages for the bank to implement IT are: Availability of a wide range of inquiry facilities, assisting the bank in business development and follow – up. * Immediate replies to customers queries without reference to ledger-keeper as terminals are provide to mangers and chief mangers * Generation of various MIS reports & periodical returns on due dates.. * Automatic and prompt carrying out of standing instructions on due date and generation of reports. * Fast and up-to-date information transfer enabling speedier decisions by interconnecting computerized branches and controlling offices.For the employees – IT has increased this productivity through the followings: * Accurate computing of cumbersome and time – consuming jobs such as balancing and interest calculation on due dates. * Automatic printing of covering schedules, deposit receipts, passbook / pass sheet, freeing the staff from performing these time – consuming jobs, and enabling them to give more attention to the needs of customers. * Signature retrieval facility, assisting in verification of transactions, seating at their on terminal. * Avoidance of duplication of entries due to existence of single – point data entry.A search of the banking literature reveals that banks are moving rapidly to take advantage of recent and new customer service and cost reduction opportunities that new technologies offer. IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY The internet is rapidly becoming the information superhighway of a global electronic marketplace. The rising commercial interests in the internet are especially evident in â€Å"front-end† appl ication such as electronic catalogs, yellow pages, storefronts, malls, and customer support centers.All this application are based on the world wide Web (WWW) – the fastest growing segment of the Internet. Although â€Å"back-end† applications such as electronic data interchange (EDI) are equally important, their adoption has not been as rapid. One major concern is security:: the Internet is generally perceived as not secure enough for transmitting sensitive data such as payments. Upon a closer look, however, this view is not warranted, since technologies such as public key encryption and firewalls address essential security concerns.Moreover, such technologies are already available. The only remaining barrier is the lack of real world users of those technologies. Investing in technology According to a survey conducted by the American Bankers Association, US banks expenditure on information technology grew from $ 16. 3 billion in 1994 to $ 18. 7 billion in 1995  œ an increase of 14. 7%, and $ 1 billion more than the same bankers forecasted they would spend in last year’s survey. By 1998, the banks expect to spend $ 21. 2 billion (an increase of 7. 1%) The New Delivery Systems.The increasing cost of building brick-and-mortar branches, decreasing cost of computers, high delivery costs and slow revenue growth force a relook at the conventional delivery systems. Moreover, growing comfort of technology usage by the customer is rapidly fostering usage of non – branch channels for routine transactions. The new strategy changes the focus of the branch from being a high cost transaction center to a provider of a wide range of services like telebanking, customer service kiosks, ATM’s, and remote electronic banking.New Marketing Opportunities As the new technology is so expensive banks need to use the new systems to do more than deliver information and basic services. Banks need the ability to also sell insurance and investment pr oducts to get a better return on this investment. Telephone banking can bring financial services to the home or office, especially if they are affordable screen phones. By noticing how much interest the customer expresses, the bank can market stock quotes and insurance quotes.Interactive videos are new technology that banks can make available to the customers to maintain personal contact while still lowering the expenses of delivery service. With an interactive video an expert employee is not needed in each branch. Complex life insurance products, open brokerage accounts, customized product illustrations can be widely available where needed. The interactive videos will be cost effective expertise. The internet is a medium to allow banks to offer products to customers outside the normal customer base of a branch.Banks are aware of the customer’s need for these services and plan to make them available before other sources do. THE EFFECT OF ICT ON BANKS Banks is an unusual firm because it does not produce any object or tangible product, like a farmer producing rice or Cement Companies producing bags of cement. On any business day, a bank receives information, stores information, processed information, and distributes information. A saving deposit is recorded, an entry is made in someone’s account, at the right time interest is added, and the customer is periodically provided with a ummary statement. A loan application is received, a file is started, the application is assessed by a loan officer, and the client is either rejected or provided with a credit. Each of these functions can be handled by hand with ledger and pens or, today, they can be handled entirely by data entry, computers, and information systems. What ICT does for a bank is to make a dramatic reduction in the costs of handling information and in the transaction costs to the bank and customer of handling a deposit or loan.Clearly, this reduction benefits both the bank and its customers . The impact of high transaction costs is even more acute in rural areas and gravely Inhibits access even to basic financial services. Out on-going field work shows that a formal lending rate for a farm loan of, say, 15 percent is not sufficient to switch business away from informal lenders who charge a rate of 40 percent or higher. ICT not only increase the efficiency of bank operations but permits banks to offer a wider array of services such as ATMs, telephonic banking, and computer banking.ICT facilities the deeper penetration of credit card services, thereby expediting business transaction. Behind the scenes an ICT system would permit banks to speed up inter bank check clearing and engage in electronic funds transfer such as direct debiting or salary deposits. A credit bureau would enable banks to obtain accurate and immediate information about a customer’s credit history and rating, thus lowering risks, costs, and interest rates. What is perhaps less well – known , is that ICT dose not merely lower information and transactions costs and improve bank efficiency and services.With the development or proper accounting and reporting standards, an ICT system also improves the ability of bank and capital market regulators to track the information they need to regulate financial markets . ICT can help takes and customs authorities to expedite revenue collections and if properly handled it can greatly reduce the potential for unwarranted side payments. Role of information technology in banking industry I. T. in Banking: 1). Technology has opened up new markets, new products, new services and efficient delivery channels for the banking industry.Online electronics banking, mobile banking and internet banking are just a few examples. 2). Information Technology has also provided banking industry with the wherewithal to deal with the challenges the new economy poses. Information technology has been the cornerstone of recent financial sector reforms aimed at increasing the speed and reliability of financial operations and of initiatives to strengthen the banking sector. 3). The IT revolution has set the stage for unprecedented increase in financial activity across the globe.The progress of technology and the development of world wide networks have significantly reduced the cost of global funds transfer. 4). It is information technology which enables banks in meeting such high expectations of the customers who are more demanding and are also more techno-savvy compared to their counterparts of the yester years. They demand instant, anytime and anywhere banking facilities. 5). IT has been providing solutions to banks to take care of their accounting and back office requirements. This has, however, now given way to large scale usage in services aimed at the customer of the banks.IT also facilitates the introduction of new delivery channels–in the form of Automated Teller Machines, Net Banking, Mobile Banking and the like. Further, IT deployment has assumed such high levels that it is no longer possible for banks to manage their IT implementations on a stand alone basis with IT revolution, banks are increasingly interconnecting their computer systems not only across branches in a city but also to other geographic locations with high-speed network infrastructure, and setting up local area and wide area networks and connecting them to the Internet.As a result, information systems and networks are now exposed to a growing number. Technology Products: (1). Net Banking (2). Credit Card Online (3). One View (4). InstaAlerts (5). Mobile Banking (6). NetSafe (7). e-Monies Electronic Fund Transfer (8). Online Payment of Excise & Service Tax (9). Phone Banking (10). Bill Payment (11). Shopping (12). Ticket Booking (13). Railway Ticket Booking through SMS (14). Prepaid Mobile Recharge (15). Smart Money Order (16). Card to Card Funds Transfer (17). Funds Transfer (ECheques) (18). Anywhere Banking (19). Internet Banking ( 20). Mobile Banking (21). [email  protected] (i) Express Delivery 22). Cash on Tap: (ii) Normal Delivery Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research in common parlance refers to the search for knowledge. It can also be define as scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on specific topic. In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation research is a voyage of discovery . it is also said to be the pursuit of truth with the help of study , observation , comparison and experiment. The rule of research in several fields of applied economics weather related to business or to economy as a whole, has greatly influenced in modern times.The increasing complex nature of business and government has focused on the use of research in solving problem. According to Kiplinger â€Å"research is a systematic, controlled, empirical and critical investigation of hypothetical propositions about the presumed relation among natural phenomenon. Characteristic of Research : ? Research is a systematic and critical investigation into a Phenomenon ? Research is not a mere compilation, but a purposive investigation. ? It aims at describing, interpreting and explaining a phenomenon. ? It adopts scientific method. ? It is objective and logical. It is based upon the observable experience and empirical evidence. ? It is directed towards finding answers to pertinent question and Solution. Stage in Research Process : ? formulating the research problem ? Choice of research design ? Determining sources of data ? Designing data collection forms ? Determining sampling design and sampling size ? Organizing and conducting the field survey ? Processing and analyzing the collected data ? Preparing the research report RESEARCH OBJECTIVES : Objectives of the proposed study are as under:- 1) To study the effectiveness of ICT in banks of Udaipur city. (2) To study the effect of the ICT on service delivery of banks. RESEARCH DESIGN :- A Research Design specifies the methods and procedures for conducting a particular study. The researcher should specify the approach he intends to use with respect to the proposed study. Broadly speaking Research Designs can be groped in to 3 categories: 1. Exploratory research 2. Descriptive research 3. Casual Research For achieving the research objectives which are already stated clearly, The Descriptive Research method was adopted. SAMPLE SIZE :-It describes how many employees and customers of the bank should be surveyed 25 employees and 25 customers of private as well public banks were surveyed. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE:- Respondents were selected on the basis of convenience sampling in the certain private As well as public banks of Udaipur city SAMPLE UNIT :- For the study two types of samples are to be selected – (a) Customers of the banks (b) Bank Employees TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION :- The following tools were used for the data collection: 1. Structured questionnaire: By asking the structured questions to the employees and customers by interviewing. . Review of written document: some part of this study was collected from the journals and books. CHAPTER-4 DATA INTERPRETATION Various banks in which these employees are working Various banks in which customers are having their accounts A. FOR THE CUSTOMERS Q. 1 TYPES OF ACCOUNTS? Interpretation: The above graph shows about the types of accounts of the customers in the bank. In it 76% have saving account ,12%of customers are having current & 12% 0f customers are having both type of account in the banks. Q. 2 Awareness of the changes due to ICT? Interpretation:The above graph shows the 98% of the customers are aware of the changes due to ICT, but very less ( 2% ) of customers were unaware of it. Q. 4 For last how many years is your bank using ICT? Interpretation: The76% customers respondents their bank using ICT for last 5 & above years and 24% of customer said that their bank is using ICT for the 0-5 years. Q. 5 is every department com puterized? Interpretation: 92% customers respond that every department is computerized in their bank but very few customers i. e. 8% said that every department is not computerized Q. Do you find any problem while using ICT? Interpretation: The above graph shows that 60% of customers find no difficulty while using ICT, 32% said it is very difficult to understand and 8%% find it difficult to operate. Q . 7 Do you find bank staff co-operating ? Interpretation: 97% of customers said that there bank staff is co-operating but 3% respond negatively. Q. 8 Do you think ICT has improved the service delivery of the bank? Interpretation: Above graph shows that the 82% of customers were strongly agreed and 18% were agreed that ICT has improved the service delivery of the bank. Q. Are you satisfied with the banking services providing you after using ICT? Interpretation: Above graph shows that the 82% of customers were strongly satisfied, 16% were agreed satisfied but only 2% were dissatisfied wit h the services providing to them after using ICT. Q. 10 Is any improvement required in this type of services? Interpretation: Above graph shows that the 84% of customers needed improvement in ICT, 16% said that no improvement is required. B. FOR BANK EMPLOYEES Q. 1 Awareness of the changes due to I. C. T. ? Interpretation: The above graph shows that awareness level of the respondents due to the hanges of I. C. T. 100% are aware with the changes due to the I. C. T. in the banks. Q. 2 Is your bank using I. C. T.? Interpretation: The all respondents said that their bank is using information and communication technology. Q. 3 For how long I. C. T. is used in this bank? Interpretation: The Above graph shows about the year of ICT using being used in banks . In it78% of the banks are using ICT from past 0-5 years. After that 22% of the banks are using I. C. T. from past 6-10 year. And no bank has experience to use the I. C. T . more than 11 years. Q. 4 Do you think that implementation of I . C.T. in banks is essential and effective in banks? Interpretation: The above graph shows that the implementation of I. C. T. in banks is very much essential and effective . 66% of employees are strongly agree with it & 34% of employees were agree. Q. 5 Has I. C. T. brought positive changes in your way of working? Interpretation: The above graph shows that the information and communication technology has brought very positive changes in the working way of doing job 68% respondents were strongly agree with it but the very least i. e. 2%of respondents were strongly disagree with the statement.Q. 6 Has I. C. T. brought the positive changes in this bank? Interpretation: 68% of employees accepted that I. C. T. has brought positive changes in their bank ,28% were agree with it but 4% of respondents were disagree with fact. Q. 7 Do you face any problem while using I. C. T.? Interpretation: 82% of the employees do not find any difficulty in using the new system. 10% of the employees find t he new system difficult to understand . 8% of the employees find difficulty in operating the new system. Q. 8 Has training been provided to the employees to use the new system tech. ?Interpretation: The above graph shows that 42% 0f employees were strongly agree that they got the training to use the new system technology, 36% were agree but 20% were disagree & 2% were strongly disagree about the getting of training for using the technology. Q. 9 Has I. C. T. improved the performance of the bank employees ? Interpretation: 66% of respondents were strongly agree that the I. C. T. has improved the performance in their bank, 30% were agree but the rest were disagree with this. Q. 10 Has I. C. T. lead to loss of jobs in banking sector? Interpretation:The above graph shows that 64%0f employees were strongly agree that I. C. T has lead to loss of jobs in banking sector,16% of employees were disagree with the statement. Q. 11 Has I. C. T. affected efficiency in banking services? Interpretat ion: The above graph shows that 68% 0f employees were strongly agree that I. C. T. has affected the banking services,30% were also agree & 2% were disagree with it. CHAPTER- 5 FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS Findings : 1. 66% of the customers respond that they are getting better services after using Information & communication technology. 2.It was found that 98% of customers & 100% of employees a were of the Changes due to new system technology. 3. It was found that 82% of customers strongly agreed that ICT has improved the Service delivery of the bank. 4. 98% of employees of employees accepted that the information & Communication technology has affected the banking service in positive Manner. 5. This was found that because of ICT has lead to the loss of jobs in banking sector. 6. During the study it was found that because of lower network connectivity Employees as well as customers were getting problem in service. . 100% of Employees as well as customers said that the imple mentation of I. C. T. is essential & effective in banks. Conclusion * Banks offering internet-based products and services should have reliable and secure methods to authenticate their customers. * The level of authentication used by the financial institution should be appropriate to the risk associated with those products and services. * Financial institution should conduct a risk assessment to identify the types and levels of risk associated with their internet banking application.Where risk assessments indicate that the use of single-factor authentication is inadequate, financial institutions should implement multifactor authentication, layered security, or other controls reasonably calculated to mitigate those risks, the agencies consider single-factor authentication, as the only control mechanism, to be inadequate in the case of high risk transaction involving access to customer information or the movement of funds to other parties. * Most of the customers are satisfied with the services provided by banks. The objective of the study was to find out the effect of information & communication Technology on the efficiency of banking sector in certain private as well as public banks, It was to find out how service delivery is effected after using the ICT in banks. * The study concludes that information & communication technology plays more significant role in the increasing of the banking efficiency in both, private as well as public sector banks. RECOMMENDATIONS:- ? Raise awareness and promote the concept of information &Communication technology among the customers as well as bank Employees. The method of authentication used in a specific internet application Should be appropriate and reasonable, from a business perspective, In light of the reasonably foreseeable risks in that application. ? Conduct training programme once in the month. ? Encourage the use of E-Commerce by providing the better & fast Services. ? An effective authentication method should have c ustomer acceptance, Reliable performance, scalability to accommodate growth, and Interoperability with existing systems and future plan . With the growth in electronic banking and commerce, financial Institutions should use reliable methods of originating new customer accounts online. ? Financial institutions should rely on multiple layers of controls to prevent fraud and safeguard customer’s information. ? Recognize the needs of employees while using the ICT. ? should provide the fast & regular ICT services so that employees can deliver the fast services & customers can gat the better services. ? The daily updating & awareness of new changes in ICT must be in Practice.LIMITATIONS ?The research conducted was limited to Udaipur City only. ?Findings of the study are based on the assumption that respondents have Divulged the correct information. ?The study is confined to selected groups of employees & customers in banks of Udaipur city. ? Few respondents were so much occupied wi th their work that they could not Spare time to fill the questionnaire. ?Due to unwillingness of providing any information, the respondents Filled the questionnaire casually which might have affected the conclusion.BIBLIOGRAPHY www. google. com www. rediff. com Kothari. C. R Research methodology; methods & techniques Questionnaire – 1 FOR BANK EMPLOYEES Contact Person________________________________________________ Age______ Gender_____ Designation_______ Phone No. _____________ Official Address_______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Q. 1Are you a were of the changes due to information and communication Technology in banking system? Yes [ ] No [ ]Q. 2 Is your Bank using I. C. T.? Yes [ ] No [ ] Q. 3If yes, for how long I. C. T. is used in this bank? 0 – 5 [ ] 6 – 10 [ ] 11 and above [ ] Q. 4Do you think that implementation of ITC is essential and effective for Banking sector? A) Agree [ ] B) D isagree [ ] C) Strongly Agree [ ] D) Strongly disagree [ ] E) neutral Q. 5Has ICT Brought Positive changes in your working way of doing job?A) Agree [ ] B) Disagree [ ] C) Strongly Agree [ ] D) Strongly disagree [ ] E) neutral [ ] Q. 6Do you think that ICT has brought Positive changes in this bank? A) Agree [ ] B) Disagree [ ] C) Strongly Agree [ ] D) Strongly disagree [ ] E) neutral [ ] Q. 7What problem do you face while using this new system technology? A) Difficult to operate [ ] B) Difficult to Understand [ ] C) Easy [ ] Q. 8Did you get training to use the new system technology?A) Agree [ ] B) Disagree [ ] C) Strongly Agree [ ] D) Strongly disagree [ ] E) neutral [ ] Q. 9Do you think ICT has improved the performance of employees in this bank? A) Agree [ ] B) Disagree [ ] C) Strongly Agree [ ] D) Strongly disagree [ ] E) neutral [ ] Q10Do you think ICT has lead to loss of jobs in banking sector? A) Agree [ ] B) Disagree [ ] C) Strongly Agree [ ] D) Strongly disagree [ ] E) neutra l [ ]Q. 11Has ICT affected the productivity / efficiency in Banking services? A) Agree [ ] B) Disagree [ ] C) Strongly Agree [ ] D) Strongly disagree [ ] E) neutral [ ] Q. 12Is any improvement required? Yes [ ] No [ ] Questionnaire – 2 FOR CUSTOMERS Contact person_________________ Age ____________ Gender__________________ Educational Qualification: Under Graduate Graduate Post Graduate Other specify Q1. What type of Account do you operate?A) Saving [ ] B) Current [ ] C) other specify [ ] Q. 2For how long have you been using this bank? A) 0 – 5 [ ] B) 5 – 10 [ ] C) 10 – 15[ ] 15 and above Q. 3Are you aware of the changes due to information and communication Technology in banking system? A) Yes [ ] B) No [ ] Q. 4For last how many years your bank is using I. C. T.? A) 0 – 5 [ ] B) 5 and Above [ ] Q. 5Is every Department is computerized? A) Yes [ ] B) NO [ ] Q. Do you find any problem while using this new system technology? A) Difficult to operate [ ] B) Difficult to understand [ ] C) Easy [ ] Q. 7Do you find Bank staff co-operating? A) Yes [ ] B) NO [ ] SQ. 8Did you get any help services to use new system technology? A) Agree [ ] B) Disagree [ ] C) Strongly Agree [ ] D) Strongly disagree [ ] D) Neutral [ ] Q. 9 Do you think ICT has improved the service delivery of the bank ?A) Agree [ ] B) Disagree [ ] C) Strongly Agree [ ] D) Strongly disagree [ ] D) Neutral [ ] Q. 10Are you satisfied with the Banking services providing you after using I. C. T.? A) Agree [ ] B) Disagree [ ] C) Strongly Agree [ ] D) Strongly disagree [ ] D) Neutral [ ] Q. 11Do you have account in both public sectors Bank as well as in private sector Bank? A) Yes [ ] B) No [ ] Q. 12if any improvement required? A) Yes [ ] B) No [ ]

The Dome of the Rock

After the prophesier Muhammad fled to Medina, the great urban metropoliss of Jerusalem and Damascus were captured by the Islam. Between the old ages 687 B.C. and 691 B.C. , the Dome of the Rock was built by the Umayyad calif Abd al-Malik in the metropolis of Jerusalem, to hold the religious plane of the book stand out in the signifier of an Islamic temple. Muslim tradition recounts that it was erected in award of Ala, due to its location in one of the most sacred sites of the metropolis, where one time Salomon ‘s ain temple had been raised. Its architectural design is representative of the Islam ; a mixture of Byzantine and Persian art with breathtaking mosaics and colourss. Crowning its dramatic construction is the aureate dome that can be distinguished even at a far sight. But the Dome of the Rock is more than a sight to be seen ; the really construction and geographics narrate the narrative of two metropoliss in everlasting struggle. When Caliph Muawiya decided to reassign the Islam to Damascus, the Byzantine and Classical influence was noted, in peculiar with architectural construction. The building of the Dome of the Rock obeys the martyrium tardorromano expression of the ambulatory that allows those sing to execute the rite of circumvallation. The building has an octangular platform, and in its inside, over the stone, circles the dome, at about 36 metres. The dome was constructed between two wooden formations that are affixed one inside the other, in aureate bronze. In the Dome of the Rock, the Byzantine construct of volume can be perceived, every bit good as the signifier that allows the base on balls from the square to the circle, as if it were â€Å" a transition from Earth to Heaven † , as Henri Stierlin statements. This belief of the symbolism of the octagon leads to the strong belief that the Falco peregrinus can see the brotherhood of organic structure and psyche through the ceremonial circumvall ation. Today, after 13 centuries, the Dome of the Rock continues to stand still and brilliant, as one of the most valued architecture hoarded wealths in the universe, and has become an of import symbol of the metropolis of Jerusalem because of its architectural significance every bit good as the phenomenon that at that place occurred. Judaic tradition and faith shows that it was in the location where the Dome of the Rock was built that the Lord of Israel held Abraham back from giving his boy Isaac. They thought that the stone was the one Abraham had prepared for the forfeit. The Muslims, nevertheless, placed this site in the Mecca. They had built the shrine for pilgrims, to mark the belief that it was here where Muhammad ascended to Heaven. It is in the Islamic belief that Caliph Abd al-Malik erected the edifice, to vie with Christendom, being rather near to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, among other sanctum sites, exposing the difference between both peoples. In fact, harmonizing to historical records, it was on political motive that Caliph Abd al-Malik begun the building of the sanctuary. It was to be an of import centre for pilgrim's journey and cult that would deviate the people ‘s involvement in the Mecca and Medina. The Caliph was in struggle with the governments in both metropoliss, which put his n aming as calif into uncertainty. A great figure of Muslims did non accept that the Caliphate be rendered from his male parent, Muawiya, as the dynastic sequence Torahs determined. The Caliph even came to forbid pilgrim's journey to the Mecca to some of the people, even though it was understood that it was mandatory to all Muslims, with the alibi that they should non abandon the topographic points where the Islam should be defended. For this ground, the Dome of the Rock became the alternate topographic point for pilgrim's journey to the Syrians. It is dry that a topographic point that should reflect the shared belief between both faiths became such a figure of discord among them, sullying its inviolability. Comparative faith shows that the Islam and Judaism are really similar religions, with both of their sanctum texts holding set forth common Torahs with similar patterns of unity and kindness, and a intimacy in linguistic communications that is reasonably noted. Even so, more of the difference has been exhibited throughout the old ages, from the devastation of the Second Temple in the twelvemonth 70, the Crusades, and even today, with Camp David in current times. In the past one hundred old ages, the strife over the Holy Land has caused opposing nationalisms and the breach of human rights declared sacred by the Islam and Judaism, every bit good as Christianity today, depressing the brotherhood of these civilisations. This is the troublesome issue that has been brought about with fanatism in faith. Each faith understands that it entirely holds ultimate truth. The Islam ‘s philosophy, for illustration, sustains that leting other faiths opportunity of look at the al-Sharif, which is the country that surrounds the stone, is a evildoing. It is due to the secular attack of the Western civilisation that the struggle has been deemed more a spiritual than a politic 1. In general, neither people want the perceptual experience to be that they are in resistance of the other ‘s beliefs. That is the base of the job, and the motivation for such disinclination to face it. Furthermore, supplying that the Islam continues in a overzealous attitude, there will ne'er be Concord. The word Islam in itself is now known as the very definition of entry, so it is with minor control if any with the radical partisans of Islam about utilizing coercion, force, belligerencies and intriguing to accomplish this intent. Was there hope for the Jews one time the Islam had gained power over them? If the people of Judea had made war against the Muslims in an act of despair and fury, the Israelis would torture themselves for holding permitted such slaughter. However, there would be no car animadversion for slaughter such as this against the Jews, or any other people, from the Muslim. Alternatively, they will commend their terrorists as brave sick persons of their cause, who will be rewarded with liquors and sex in Eden. Therein lays the disparity that the Middle East is facing, and it will so prolong until the parts are willing to cover with the tyrant and ghastly world of the Islam. Harmonizing to the Qur'an, this will ne'er go on. In the book of Surah, Gabriel lets Muhammad cognize that â€Å" They will non contend you together, except in bastioned townships, or from behind walls † ( 2005 ) , giving prophetic sight that the Jewish would ne'er travel against the Muslim. The anticipation has been ascertained in the old ages â€Å" 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 † ( 2005 ) , and from the 90 ‘s to the current state of affairs in the Middle East. The combination of two people ‘s spiritual strong beliefs and xenophobia is a unsafe affair. Sanely talking, two states in wrangle over one land should be able to collaborate and apportion the part. But where faith is called upon to do one or the other claim absolute, grants become blasphemy and radicalism produces autocratic rules, which bring about loss and desolation, with no terminal in sight.BibliographyStierlin, H. ; Stierlin, A. ( December 15, 1997 ) .Lusters of an Islamic Universe: The Art and Architecture of the Mamluks. I. B. Tarius. London, UK.Zachary, J. ( February 22, 2005 ) .Gabriel ‘s Faces: Voice of the Archangel. Harvard House. England, UK.Muhajabah, A. ( N. d. ) .The History of the Jews Under Islamic Rule. Retrieved on January 17th 2009 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.muhajabah.com/jewsofislam.htmGascoigne, B. ( 2001 ) .History of Architecture, Dome of the Rock: AD 691. Retrieved from the History World web site on January 17, 2010 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp? gtrack=pthc & A ; ParagraphI=ebbHoppe, L. ( 1999 ) .The Dome of the Rock: Jerusalem ‘s Landmark. Retrieved from The Holy Land web site at hypertext transfer protocol: //198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mag/MAen9910.htmlEisen, R. ( May 9, 2006 ) .Moslems and Hebrews: Common Ground. The Washington Post Company. Retrieved from the Washington Post web site at hypertext transfer protocol: //www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/05/08/AR2006050801 88.html