Molecular Genetics of Cancer

Molecular Genetics of Cancer INTRODUCTION It has been established that cancer is a genetic disease, characterized by interplay of mutant form of the oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes leading to the uncontrolled growth and spread of cancer cells. While some of the mutant genes may be inherited, others occur in the somatic cells of the individuals, which can divide and form tumour. Completion of Human Genome Sequencing Project has generated a wealth of new information about the mutations that trigger a cell to become cancerous. It has now been possible to understand to great extent the relationship between genes and cancer, and how mutations, chromosomal changes, viruses and environmental agents play a role in the development of cancer. In this chapter current understanding of the nature and cause of cancer has been presented. CELL CYCLE AND CANCER During mitotic cell division, in every cell, all chromosomes must duplicate faithfully and a copy of the each has to be distributed to progeny cells. Progression through the cell cycle is controlled by the activities of many genes. At different stages in the cell cycle there exist control points (G1, G2, S, and M stages) at which the cell cycle is arrested if there is damage to the genome or cell-cycle machinery. Such mechanism helps to repair the damage or destroy the cell. Through this process it is possible to prevent the possibility of dividing a defective cell and from becoming cancerous. Proteins and enzymes called cyclines and cycline-dependent kinases (Cdks) respectively are the key components that are involved in the regulation of events in the checkpoints. At the G1-to-S checkpoint, two different G1 cycline/Cdks complex forms, resulting in activation of the kinase. The kinase catalyzes a series of phosphorylations (addition of phosphate group) of cell-cycle control proteins, affecting the functions of those proteins and leading to translation into the S phase. Similarly, at the G2-to-M checkpoint, a G2 cycline binds to a Cdk to form a complex. Phosphorylation of the Cdk by another kinase keeps the Cdk inactive. Removal of a phosphate group from Cdk by a phosphataes enzyme activates the Cdk. Thereafter, the cell moves from S to M phase, due to phosphorylation of proteins by Cdk. Regulation of Cell Division in Normal Cells Division of normal cells is regulated by both extracellular and cellular molecules that operate in a complicated signal system. Steroids and hormones made in other tissues are extracellular molecules, which influence the growth and division of some other tissues. These extracellular molecular are known as growth factors, which bind to specific receptors on their target cells. The receptors are proteins that span the plasma membrane, and the growth factor binds to the part of the receptor which lies outside of the cell. The signal is then transmitted to an intracellular part through the membrane-embedded part of the receptor. Thereafter, the signal is relayed through a series of proteins, which ultimately activate nuclear genes involved in stimulation and division of cells through transcription factors (Fig 13.1a). In the opposite direction, inhibition of cell growth and division is regulated by growth-inhibiting factors (Fig 13.1b). The process which involves either growth-stimulator y or growth-inhibitory signal after binding of the extracellular factor to the receptors is called signal transduction, and the proteins involved in such process are called signal transducers. Cell division in normal cells takes place only when there exist balance between stimulatory and inhibitory signals from outside the cells. Any mutation either in the stimulatory or inhibitory genes or genes encoding cell surface receptors involved in cell cycle control may cause imbalance and loss of control of cell division. CANCERS ARE GENETIC DISEASE Clinically, cancer is defined as a large number of complex diseases that behave differently depending on the cell types from which they originate. However, at the molecular level, all cancers exhibit common characteristics, and thus they can be grouped as a family. All cancer cells share two fundamental properties: unregulated cell proliferation, characterized by abnormal growth and division, and metastasis, a process that allow cancer cells to spread and invade other parts of the body. When a cell loses its genetic control over its growth and division, it may give rise to a benign tumour, a multicellular mass. Such tumours may cause no serious harm and can often be removed by surgery. However, if cells of the tumour also acquire the ability to break loose, enter the blood stream, invade other cells, they may induce formation of secondary tumours elsewhere in the body. Such tumours are called malignant, which are difficult to treat and may become life threatening. A benign tumour may become malignant through multiple steps and genetic mutations. Mutations in three kinds of genes can leads to cancer. These are proto-oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes and mutator genes. Mutant proto-oncogenes are called oncogenes, are usually more active than normal cells. The product of oncogenes stimulates cell proliferation. The normal tumour suppressor genes inhibit cell proliferation, while the mutants found in tumour cells have lost their inhibitory function. The normal mutator genes are required to ensure fidelity of replication and maintenance of genome integrity, while mutant mutator genes in cancer cells make the cells prone to accumulate mutational errors. RETROVIRUS AND ONCOGENES Most cancer causing animal viruses are RNA viruses known as retroviruses, and the oncogenes carried by RNA tumour viruses are altered forms of normal animal host cell genes. Infection with retroviruses can transform normal host cells to the neoplastic state, and such cells proliferate in an uncontrolled manner to produce tumour. Examples of retroviruses include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), mouse mammary tumour virus, felin leukemia virus, and Rous sarcoma virus. A typical retrovirus particle has a protein core, which often is icosahedral in shape, with two copies of plus-sense (means directly translatable) single stranded RNA molecule (7kb and 10 kb). The core is surrounded by an envelope with virus-encoded glycoproteins inserted into it (Fig 13.2). The virus enters the host cell by interacting with the host cell surface receptor through its glycoproteins present in the envelope. To understand how retroviruses cause cancer in animals, it is essential to know their life cycle. Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) is one of the earliest retrovirus studied on induction of cancer. When a retrovirus like RSV infect a cell, the RNA genome is released from the viral particle, and a double stranded DNA copy of the genome is made by reverse transcriptase (Fig 13.3). This is known as proviral DNA. The proviral DNA then enters the nucleus of the infected cell, and integrates into the host chromosome at random locations. The integrated DNA copy is called provirus. At the left end of all retroviral RNA genomes consists of the sequence R and U5, and U3 and R at the right end. Powerful enhancer and promoter elements are located in the U5 and U3 sequences (Fig 13.3). During proviral DNA synthesis by reverse transcriptase, the end sequences are duplicated to produce long terminal repeats of U3-R-U5 (LTRs in Fig 13.3), which contain many of the transcription regulatory signals for the vir al sequence. The two ends of the proviral DNA are ligated to produce a circle, a double stranded molecule in which the two LTRs are next to each other. Staggered nicks are made in both viral and cellular DNAs, and integration of the viral DNA begins. The viral DNA ends joined through recombination. Integration occurs at this point, and single stranded gaps are ligated. The integration of retrovirus proviral DNA results in a duplication of DNA at the target site, producing short, direct repeats in the host cell DNA flanking the provirus. The proviral DNA is transcribed by host RNA polymerase II, after integration into the host DNA. The retroviruses have three protein- coding genes for the virus life cycle: gag, pol, and env (Fig 13.3). The gag gene encodes a precursor protein that is cleaved to produce virus particle protein. The pol gene encodes a precursor protein which produces an enzyme called reverse transcriptase, required for the integration of the proviral DNA into the host chromosome. The env gene encodes the precursor to the envelop glycoprotein. The progeny virus particles are produced when transcription products of the entire integrated viral DNA are packed into new viral particles. The new virus particles are released and can infect new host cells. A retrovirus may induce cancer in the host cells through two different ways. First, the proviral DNA may integrate by chance near one of the cell’s normal proto-oncogenes. The strong enhancers and promoters in the provirus then stimulate transcription of proto-oncogenes present in the host cell at high levels or at inappropriate timing. This leads to stimulation of host-cell proliferation. Second, a retrovirus may pick-up a copy of a host proto-oncogene and integrates it into its genome (Fig 13.4). The integrated oncogene may mutate during the process of transfer into the virus, or it may be expressed at abnormal levels, due to action of the viral promoters. Retroviruses that carry these viral oncogenes can infect and transform normal cells into tumour cells. Different oncogenic retroviruses carry different oncogenes. Most oncogenic retroviruses cannot replicate as they do not have a full set of life-cycle genes. Thus they cannot change growth properties of the host cells. They are called nononcogenic retroviruses. HIV-1 is a nononcogenic retrovirus. On the contrary, RSV is an oncogenic retrovirus as it can replicate its oncogenes and can affect the growth and division of the infected host cells. Viral oncogenes, genetically called v-oncs are responsible for many different cancers. The v-oncs of RSV is called v-src. Unlike RNA tumour viruses, DNA tumour viruses do not carry oncogenes. Their mechanism for transforming cells is completely different. They transform normal cells to cancerous state through the action of genes present in the viral chromosome. DNA tumour viruses are found in five major families of DNA viruses which include: papovaviruses, pox viruses, hepatitis B viruses, herpes viruses and adenoviruses. After infection, the DNA tumour viruses produce a viral protein that activates DNA replication in the host cell. Then, utilizing host proteins, the viral genome is replicated and transformed. After producing large number of progeny viruses, they lyses the host cell and the viruses thus released can infect other cell. Rarely, the viral genome instead of replicating gets integrated into the host genome. Thereafter if the viral protein that activates DNA replication of the host cell is synthesized, this will lead to division and proliferation of the host cell converting normal cell to cancerous state. Basically, the cells move from G0 phase to the S phase of the cell cycle. The DNA viruses which induces cancers are papillomaviruses (HPV 16 and 18), human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-1), hepatitis B virus, human herpesvirus 8, and epstein-barr virus. Some of these viruses cause benign tumours such as skin and venereal warts in humans. Transformation is caused by the key viral genes, E6 and E7, which encode proteins that activate progression through the cell cycle. However, in most of the cases, virus infection alone is not sufficient to trigger human cancers. Other factors like DNA damage, accumulation of mutants in cell’s oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes, are required to induce cancer in multiple pathways. Some transducing retroviruses, their viral oncogenes, viral protein and type of cancer induced is presented in Table 13.1. CANCER AND GENOME STABILITY Cancer cells are characterized by the presence of chromosomal translocations, deletions, aneuploidy, and DNA amplification. Cultured cancer cells also show similar genomic instabilities. Study of the specific chromosomal defects can be used to diagnose the type and stage of the cancer. For example, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) gene C-ABL from chromosome 9 is translocated to the chromosome 22 in the region of gene BCR. The fused ABL-BCR gene encodes for a chimeric ABL-BCR protein, which produces an abnormal signal transduction molecule that stimulates the CML cells to proliferate. The normal ABL protein (protein kinase) acts within signal transduction pathway, transferring growth factor signals from the external environment to the nucleus, thereby control cell division. Defect in the DNA repair genes can also induce cancer. For example, Xenoderma pigmentosum (XP), a disease in which the skin becomes extremely sensitive to UV light and other carcinogens. Patients with XP often develop skin cancer. Cells of XP are defective in nucleotide excision repair, with mutations appearing in any one of the seven genes whose products are required to carry out DNA repair. Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is also caused by mutations in genes controlling DNA repair. Patients affected by HNPCC have an increased risk of developing colon, ovary, uterine, and kidney cancers. At least eight genes are associated with HNPCC, and four of these genes (MSH2, MHS6, MLH1, and MLH3) control DNA mismatch repair. Mutations in any one of these genes can lead to development of cancer. EPIGENETICS AND CANCER Epigenetics includes those factors that affect heritable gene expression but do not alter the nucleotide sequence of DNA. Examples of epigenic modifications are DNA methylation, acetylation and phosphorylation of histones etc. Modifications caused through these processes can be inherited and affect gene expression. X-chromosome inactivation, heterochromatin gene expression are such examples. Cancer cells contain major alterations in DNA methylation. In general, there is much less DNA methylation in cancer cells compared to normal cells. On the other hand promoters of some genes are highly methylated in cancer cells. Apparently these changes lead to the release of transcription repression over the bulk of genes that would otherwise remain silent, while at the same time repressing transcription of genes that would normally regulate functions such as DNA repair, cell cycle, and cellular differentiation. The genes MLH1 and BRCA1, involved in DNA repair mechanism, are transcriptionally si lenced by hypermethylation in many cancer cells. Methylation profiles can be used to diagnose types of tumours and their possible course of development. It has also been observed that histones are also modified in the cancer cells. These modifications are due to mutations in the genes that encode histone acetylases, deacetylases, methyltransferases, and demethylases. Since the epigenetic modifications are reversible, epigenetic- based therapies may be useful for cancer treatments. APOPTOSIS AND CANCER If a normal cell encounters defective processing in DNA replication, DNA repair or chromosome assembly, they do not allowed to continue through the cell cycle, till the conditions are corrected and thereby reduces the chances of accumulation of defective cells. In case the damage of the DNA is irreparable, the cell may go through a second line of defence called programmed cell death or apoptosis. Apoptosis is controlled genetically, and is an inherent process to eliminate certain cells that are not required for by the final adult organism. In this process, the nuclear DNA becomes fragmented, internal cellular structures are disrupted, and cell dissolves into small spherical (apoptotic) bodies. Thereafter, these bodies are engulfed by the phagocytic cells of the immune system. The products of the genes Bcl2 and BAC can trigger or prevent apoptosis. In the cancer cells these genes are mutated, and as a result normal checkpoints in the cell cycle are inactivated. Such cells remain defec tive and cannot undergo apoptosis. TUMOUR SUPRESSOR GENES Henry Harris in late 1960’s observed that some cell lines, derived from the somatic hybrid of normal rodent cells and cancer cells, did not form tumours, instead established a normal growth pattern. He speculated that products of some genes present in the normal cells had the ability to suppress the uncontrolled proliferation of cancer cells. These genes are called tumour suppressor genes. Inactivation of tumour suppressor genes has been linked to the development of a wide variety of human cancer, including colon, lung and breast cancers. With the development of positional cloning technique, it has become possible to isolate tumour suppressor genes. In this technique, variations in the genetic characters present in the cancer cells and/or in cells of patients with inherited cancer predisposition are identified. Existence of variations indicate occurrence of mutations and help to study such mutations through cloning. Through this technique several tumour suppressor genes are identified in humans (Table 13.2). The p53 Tumour-Suppressor Gene In human cancer cells p53 is the most frequently mutated gene. The nuclear protein encodes by the gene p53 acts as a transcription factor. It can stimulate transcription or repress more than 50 different genes. Although the p53 protein is continuously synthesized, it is rapidly degraded and thus is present in low levels. When p53 protein binds to another protein called Mdm2, it induces degradation and sequesters the transcriptional activation domain of p53. It also prevents conversion of inactive p53 protein to active form. In case Mdm2 protein gets dissociated from p53 protein then rapid increase in the activated p53 protein takes place at nuclear level. Such dissociation is induced due to creation of dsDNA breaks, chemical damage in DNA and presence of DNA-repair intermediates. Increase in the level of p53 protein leads to increased protein phosphorylation, acetylation, and other post translational modifications. The products of p53 gene control the movement of the normal cells through different phases of the cell cycle. Activated p53 proteins can: i) stimulate transcription of p21 protein (which arrests progression from G1-S checkpoint of mitotic cycle), ii) regulate gene expression that retard replication of DNA (this helps in repair of the damaged DNA before replication), and iii) block damaged cells (DNA damage occurred during S phase) from progression from G2 to M checkpoint by regulating expression of other genes.

Church management Essay

Abstract My proposal is to provide you with an Integrated Parish Management Solution which will synchronize all management processes including attendance records, church activities records , financial records, membership personal data etc. The need for a customized Integrated Parish Management Solution for the Church cannot be over emphasized because the solution will be tailored in solving your church’s unique needs. The Integrated Solution would deliver a single database containing data for the different software modules to be developed. The modules that would be developed are : ïÆ' ¼Financial Module -Manage Donations, Search Cash Expenses, Manage Offering Types, etc. ïÆ' ¼Church Activity Module-Would provide the functionality of Searching Past Activities, New Church Activity, Testimonies, New testimony, Manage Activity Types etc. ïÆ' ¼Membership and People Management Module – Would provide the functionality of Searching for Parish members, new members, Membership by Type, New Converts, Search for First-Timers, etc. ïÆ' ¼Groups and Department Module – Would Manage Groups, Manage Departments Activities, etc. ïÆ' ¼Report Module -would give Attendance report, Financial Report, Membership Detail Report,  etc. We are aware that your congregation members are your most valuable assets and aim to ensure that you are able to provide them with that personal and intimate care required for deep commitment and loyalty on the part of the parishioners. Our solution aims to aid the church in the following areas: †¢Membership Personal Information Management †¢Church performance analysis and Reporting †¢Easy Access to All Information about Every Individual †¢Reducing Membership Outflow †¢Building Enduring Personal relationship with the Members †¢Solve all Record Keeping Issues †¢Manage All Financial Records †¢Visual and Graphical Illustration of the Church Performance Per Time †¢High Security and Back Up Strategy  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Effective Follow-up system for new Converts and First -timers We propose to deploy a robust Integrated Church management Solution. This solution will focus primarily on integrating all key Church management processes and will result in ultimate member satisfaction with your services by providing a fast and efficient membership follow-up strategy. This is why our Integrated Parish Management Solution is designed to assist you to effectively harness information about your Members, Ministers, Workers, all Department and Group in the church, and other resources which should translate to better Background Today, even with the digital transformation that the world is undergoing, numerous churches still use manual record keeping systems. Every record starting with members’ details all the way to the very delicate financial details are kept manually. A case study conducted at King’ong’o PCEA parish at Nyeri prove that churches are still in the analogue world despite the pursuit of the word to the digital heights. The church is an ever growing entity. More people are converted and more children are born into Christian homes. Gone are the days when pastors, shepherds, priests, bishops and the likes knew each and every member of his church personally. Churches are no  longer just fellowships, degrees are offered, accounts are kept, people are wedded and the welfare of members is attended to. Imagine what a professional football team would be like without a regimen of practice drills? Now take away their playbook and player statistics. What you have in this extreme scenario are highly talented (and perhaps overpaid) individuals participating in organized chaos. They might actually win a game or two, but in the long run, this team is doomed. This illustration is to drive home the point of why any organization needs to examine the existence and effectiveness of its management systems. The world is becoming Information and technologically based. For this reason, Management Systems have been introduced into various industries ranging from the educational to the health sector and even into agriculture amongst other things. A management Information System is a system to convert data from internal and external sources into information, in an appropriate form, to management at all levels in all functions to enable them to make timely and effective decisions for planning, directing and controlling the activities for which they are response. The Church is not excluded from these industries. The Church Management and Information System is a system for churches to manage their operations efficiently and systematically (Wikipedia, 2012). It is also a specialized software that assists churches in organization and automation of daily operations. Current System King’ong’o PCEA uses a fully manual system of keeping all its records. Financial records, which need a lot of transparency and accountability, are kept in hand written documents. A lot of transactions involving money are carried out by the parish. For instance, managing donations from church members and well-wishers, managing offerings and tithes by members,searching and managing cash expenses by the church etc. All the financial details are kept manually which is cumbersome and prone to mistakes. Flaws can easily occur with this system making it not reliable ad calling for a remedy. The church also needs to keep track of activities that take place in the church every day. For instance, searching past activities by the parish, newly integrated church activities, testimonies, new testimonies, managing activity types etc. Other things also need record keeping like managing people and the issue of membership to the church. In this case, records for  new members, new converts, First-timers etc. need to be kept. With the existing system, searching the records is cumbersome and time-consuming. Records of groups and departments relating to the church ought to be maintained for the benefit of the church. Department activities need to be properly recorded and updated accordingly and retrieved as per the church management needs. Retrieval of these records is hard since they are kept in files in written documents. Retrieving a record involves perusing through a huge number of files. A lot of time is wasted retrieving manual records. Reports need to be kept and retrieved as per the needs of church managers. For instance, attendance reports for church members, financial reports after a certain amount of time, membership details report etc. Reports for the existing system involves going through relevant records manually and coming up with the required reports. This is cumbersome and time-wasting. Proposed system A software system is proposed to replace the manual system for keeping records. A financial module is used to automate financial record keeping and retrieval. A database is used to store financial details of the parish. An interface is provided for interacting with the database whereby a user can write into the database and they can query the database as per their needs. Financial data keeping is made easy through this software solution and also searching of financial details made even more easier through the proposed software. Through an Activity module, daily activities in the church are stored in a database which is updated to embrace new activities. A platform for communicating to the database is offered where the user(authorized) interacts with the database(writes into the database and queries the database).With the new system, activities in the church are recorded in database tables and can always be retrieved with their respective dates via queries. A lot of valuable time is saved through the new system. Departments are automated using a department module. This module offers an interface for entering details of interest into the database. Since departmental details are of prime importance in as far as the church is concerned, proper details relating to the Parish ought to be kept and retrieved with ease. The user searches records relating to a department of interest with a lot of ease through the interface provided by the departments’ module. The  cumbersomeness with the manual system would thus be alleviated by the proposed software solution. Report generation with the proposed system is automated (made alarmingly easy)through the Report module .This is done through integrating database SQL capabilities into the software. Financial reports, activity reports etc. can be generated through simply pressing a button which will give prompts to the user on the reports they want. The tire and the boredom associated with perusing through records to draw a report are completely eradicated through the proposed software solution. The various modules defined with different functionalities are integrated to form a harmoniously and effectively working software to attend the manual problem of keeping Parish records. Problem statement Keeping records manually is utterly cumbersome since it involves handwriting or typing every detail of interest. Handling physical records is cumbersome since storage space is needed and they can be affected by natural circumstances such as pests and unfavorable environment. Additionally, compiling reports for physical(manual)records is not an easy task since it involves walking through all records and drawing information of interest. A lot of personnel is needed to keep records for the different church departments and maintain them and this comes with higher costs due to wages for the record keepers. King’ong’o PCEA Parish is one of the victims of the above mentioned problems which the proposed system wishes to provide a remedy for. Scope The resulting Integrated Parish Management Solution will be in English and will include subsystems and functionality to support the following: FINANCIAL MODULE The Financial Module comes with the right tools to aid in the church in management of the following: †¢Contributions and Donations †¢Offerings and tithes †¢Cash Expense and lots  Donations management is a key area in this module as individual donations by members and linked to the major donations which help to answer questions  like (How much has being released from a particular donation announcement)The offering management allows the church to record any kind of offering type, thus not restricting you to any form of predefined structure. GROUPS AND DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT MODULE Grouping system encourages the participation of members in the church, church+ takes special care in the implementation of grouping, the system comes with a flexible system for any form of group to be created by the users and members added to groups. Members of a given group can be managed from this module. CHURCH ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT MODULE Activities in the church provide a building block to almost all the other parts of the church and as such should be well structured and data emerging from it effectively managed. The church activity module provides you with the tools to enable you to manage the various diverse data about church activities, it is built in such a way as to be flexible to accommodate different needed of different churches. MEMBERSHIP MANAGEMENT MODULE This module helps to manage the various information of member of the church. This feature is so flexible and you can work on it according to your specific needs and requirement. Under this module, we have all the personal data of each member. You can search for: †¢People †¢Add new Member/First-Timer. When you add new member, all the data about that particular member is captured †¢View Members by Types: it helps to sort members by types e.g. are they full member? Worker? Minister? Etc. †¢New converts: all new converts are captured here. SECURITY Integrated parish Management Solution will be well integrated, meaning that changes in a module would automatically update another related module. High level authentication will be needed to log into the Integrated Parish Management Solution. Passwords are encrypted, such that it is practically impossible to gain access to someone’s password. Role Management is also implemented making your church users have different access levels, hence making â€Å"users see only what they are supposed to see†. BACK-UPS The importance of creating a backup can never be emphasized enough. The parish’s IT department will be responsible for implementing routines for regular backup of organization’s data. In the event of a possible system crash, it will be time -consuming and difficult to reconstruct the database. For frequent program use I thus recommend that backups are taken daily. Storing backups Backups can be taken to the hard-drive, a shared folder in the network or to external media such as USB pen drives, Zip drives or similar. I recommend that you store at least one complete backup separate from the computer in case of disaster. Provision for external hard drive storage has been integrated in the financials. Justification A software solution for the named problem would be very appropriate compared to the existing system. The following reasons justify the need for the software solution: ïÆ' ¼The tire associated with making records manually and maintaining them would be alleviated. The Integrated Parish Management Solution would offer a lot of ease in recording any details of interest. The software would offer an excellent interface to interact with the Parish database (entering new details and updating existing details to ensure integrity). As a result of the ease of recording and updating data, the problem of tire associated with data maintenance would be eradicated by the proposed Integrated Parish Management solution. ïÆ' ¼Parish personnel cost would go down as a result of implementation of the Proposed Integrated Parish Management Software. With the old system, a lot of personnel is required to keep and maintain Parish records which culminates in higher Parish running costs. The Proposed system would call for reduced personnel due to the resulting ease in keeping and maintain Parish records and consequently, the running costs of the parish would significantly reduce. ïÆ' ¼Accurate and reliable financial records would be kept using the proposed system through the financial module which would provide security to financial details and only allow access only by authorized individuals. This would promote some level of transparency and accountability in the handling of Parish finances compared to the existing manual system which can be easily tampered with. For instance, with the manual system documents reflecting financial details of the Parish can be distorted by water or pests. Malicious individuals can take advantage of such a situation to commit fraud. ïÆ' ¼With the proposed system, departmental management is easy. All Parish departments and the activities that revolve around the departments are well recorded and updated accordingly. Groups in the Parish are as well better managed through the propose Integrated Parish Management solution. This is unlike the old system where a manager or Parish head has to physically interact with departmental heads to get the required information. The proposed solution offers a remedy for the mentioned departmental and group-related issues. ïÆ' ¼Reports, which are of prime importance in as far as running of any organization is concerned, are automatically generated by the Proposed Integrated Parish management Software. For instance, financial transactions by the Parish according to the respective dates, Parish activities according to the date of occurrence etc. can be automatically generated with the proposed Solution. This eradicates the fatigue associated with going for long times through documents and files trying to compile a report that would otherwise be generated within a blink of an eye with the proposed system. ïÆ' ¼Keeping track of members of the Parish would fairly easy with the proposed system. Records of old and new members would kept and made easy to retrieve. New converts would also be part of the data that would be maintained and made easy to access and modify in case of secession of a member from the church. This way, the Parish would manage its members better than using the manual register system. Literature review Time schedule All the components and work packages of this project will take three weeks to accomplish. Following the approval of this proposal, the table below summarizes the different phases and timelines of the various aspects of the project to be executed within time and on budget: – Methodology

The Methods Of Data Collection - 973 Words

Introduction Collecting primary data can be as challenging as a researcher allows it to be. â€Å"Most methods of data collection can be used across studies that are classified as qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. As a matter of fact, the way a specific method is employed for data collection determines the classification of a study to a large extent† (Kumar, 2014, Page 170). The primary data that is collected should be data that a person not only understands, but data that they can clearly analyze. Given the option, the non-experimental methodology seemed to be most comfortable. Lamentations 3:40 states, â€Å"Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord† (KJV). The qualitative method was chosen as the type of data that would be researched. It is important that while collecting data for a research paper, the researcher knows the type of data in which their research paper will consist of. â€Å"Qualitative study designs are not as specific, preci se and well defined as designs in qualitative research. Also, there is degree or overlap between study designs and methods of data collection. Some of the commonly used designs in qualitative research are: case study design, oral history, focus group studies, participant observation, commonly discussion forums and the reflective journal log† (Kumar, 2014, Page 161). While the researcher is in the process of collecting their primary data, they should know the type of data they are searching for, personally observe the dataShow MoreRelatedMethods of Data Collection790 Words   |  3 PagesMethods of Data Collection Authors name Authors institutional affiliation Authors note Methods of Data Collection My supervisor has asked me under what circumstances I would use a questionnaire as opposed to an interview. One circumstance in which I would use a questionnaire instead of an interview would be in a situation where I knew a lot of the background information about my subjects already. For instance, if I were a teacher that knew my students very well, or if I worked for a smallRead MoreMethods Of Data Collection715 Words   |  3 PagesMethods of Data Collection Obtaining fake news data sets can be very challenging due to three reasons. First, deciding whether a news post on social media is fake news or not is highly subjective. 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The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 658 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/08/12 Category People Essay Level High school Tags: Niccolo Machiavelli Essay Did you like this example? The Prince by Machiavelli guides readers through Machiavellis principles and rules to follow when ruling a nation. Judging from the Letter to Lorenzo de Medici and concluding sections it was written and then used to woo Lorenzo of the Medici family to earn Machiavelli a spot in his court, or some position of that level. Machiavelli talks large concepts such as feared vs. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli" essay for you Create order loved, to detailing ideas such as how a king should behave with his ministers. Although he may go to extremes for power, Machiavelli does accurately express what power and ruling requires in his day and age. One of the largely discussed topics of Machiavellis ideas is Fear vs. Love. He claims that a realistic leader would base power on the fear that he can control, not the love that people decide for themselves. When your only goal is to keep power with no doubts, Fear remains your only option, and in that sense he is correct. Alternatively, a Leader must have morality and the nations welfare and its peoples prosperity in mind as his only goal, not power. People trust the nations future in their leaders hands, not that they will lead selfishly for their lifetimes pleasure. However, In Machiavellis case, only Fear would effectively succeed because love is not real in a political situation. Although people may support your ideas or admire/appreciate your career, the bottom line remains to be whether you satisfy their needs on a daily basis. If they find a better leader, or a minute hitch, they will leave you behind. When ruling with fear, their life is in danger, which forces them to compl y. Although Machiavellis perspective is often straightforward, it is occasionally misunderstood by us. In these examples, it will be seen that the confusion is caused by the different types of education we had then and now. For example, He writes that violence should be shown first to be over as soon as possible and generosity shown steadily and rarely. His example here was a newly-acquired nation where people were poorly-governed and stolen from. If a ruler in this situation needs stability in ruling this nation, we would think generosity will make poorly-governed people trust him. Immediate harsh ruling will startle and frighten them, and in this case fright will shake the kings power; as per our logic. This is ultimately because the large majority was uneducated and unable to think for themselves. His logic falters here since education differences alter our perspectives. The most philosophical and abstract ideas Machiavelli expressed through The Prince is the fox and the lion. This is special because Machiavelli bases what he states on experiences, and what he has seen in real life. Therefore, his blunt approach to human nature, known as the fox and the lion must be accurately true. The approach labels the fox as cunning, and the lion as powerful. Machiavellis theory tells us that a nations leader needs to be able to think in all perspectives AND portray himself to be capable of anything and everything. These two natures must be blended together, and triggered in levels whenever needed. Although this combined nature may be effective in succeeding, it will slowly encourage corruption unless used wisely. His concepts can not be blindly followed; they require an intelligence to act on as well. Machiavellis writing is the epitome of precision. His knowledge is years of analyzation of history, experiences, politics and government. The work he produced reflects dedication more than intelligence. The precision of the concepts to follow when leading a nation can not be blindly followed; even following them require thought and effort. Machiavelli has shown the world that power is hard to acquire and sustain. Lastly, I want to thank him for sharing his perspective even though it was very brutal, blunt, and frowned upon. His lack of concern for others thoughts have given us the opportunity to see the lowest, most basic nature of humans.