Domestic Crime Rate and the Right to Bear Arms Research Paper

Domestic Crime Rate and the Right to Bear Arms - Research Paper Example Furthermore, in Unites States v Cruikshank and Presser v Illinois, the court held that the Second Amendment restricted only the federal government. Several of the state laws relating to the ownership of guns have been upheld on the basis of these decisions (Vernick , Rutkow , Webster , & Teret , 2011, p. 2022). Main Body The Gun Control Act of 1968, provides that no convicted felon should possess firearms. This has been amended by the Lautenberg Amendment, which extends the preclusion of firearms possession to individuals convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. This amendment was aimed at preventing the convicted perpetrators of domestic violence from carrying firearms (Guns and domestic violence, 2008, p. B4). In addition, armed domestic abusers pose a very great risk. In fact, around 67% of the females who are killed by firearms have been shot by their intimate partner. The weapon of choice in intimate partner homicide is the firearm. There is a five – fold inc rease of risk of homicide for females, when firearms are present in the home. These are indeed disquieting figures, and such data induced Congress to amend the Gun Control Act on several occasions. For instance, in 1994, an amendment was made to this Act, which precluded any individual subject to a domestic violence protective order, from possessing a firearm. This was followed, in the year 1996, by the Lautenberg Amendment, which prohibited any individual convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from possessing a firearm (Wilkinson & Meisner, 2011). However, in the absence of the necessary level of regulation and supervision over entities that could make substantial profits by evading the laws, an effective gun control mechanism cannot be implemented. To its discredit, Congress... The Second Amendment Rights to bear firearms is not an exclusive right granted by the constitution. It does have limitations to provide a restraint on bearing firearms under certain circumstances. The federal law and the laws of many states do not permit an individual who has been convicted of a misdemeanor of domestic violence or who is under a restraining order to possess a firearm. However, there are several shortcomings, when it comes to implementing these laws. There is considerable scope for improving the situation, and there should be proactive initiatives to confiscate weapons from the prohibited intimate partner violence offenders. All the same, laws that preclude the possession of firearms by such individuals, actually bring down instances of domestic homicide. Reckless act of violence could be significantly reduced by having tougher gun control law in place. It would indeed be very helpful, if a license had to be obtained by every purchaser of a handgun. In addition, the l icense should be provided only after the purchaser had completed a course on the responsible use of firearms.

Medical Image Fusion Based on Joint Sparse Method

Medical Image Fusion Based on Joint Sparse Method I. INTRODUCTION From the identical scene number of images can be obtained concurrently by utilizing dissimilar sensors. Using the many sensors to identify the picture complete of scene from the obtained images is highly impossible. For this here using image fusion algorithm it will accept the mixing of multiple obtained images to produce number of useful complex image integrating the opposite information from the many sensors, yet, they are out of boundary and of dissimilar declaration. In medical diagnosis we will find the medical imaging. After completing the diagnosis the imaging movements are like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) it will gives dissimilar view in the same scene, which can be delay clinical decision making and the diagnostic process. For example MRI gives the perspectives of soft materials, while CT for bone structures evaluation. For accurate diagnosis this inspires the necessary for image fusion by combining the reciprocal information. Three problems to be notified while fusing the images [1] are: 1) the fused image should preserve all the important information needed for further processing. 2) Artifacts should not be introduced in fused image. 3) Noise and unimportant information should be suppressed. Several dissimilar Greedy approaches using the sparse representation of the signal this signal is presently possible [3], Sparse representation of signals is now possible utilizing many different Greedy approaches [3], including: 1. Matching Pursuit (MP) [3] 2. Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) [3], and 3.Stage wise Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (St OMP) [4]. These techniques are used to represent signals with the fewest number of non-zero coefficients. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) [5] is one of the powerful state-of-the-art image fusion approaches in terms of visual inspection and quantitative evaluation metrics. This fusion is carried out by integrating the principal components of images to be fused. Both PCA and Sparse fusion have specific advantages and disadvantages. PCA fusion will enhance the spatial quality but have dense nonzero entries that might represent uninformative features. Sparse fusion preserves important information but high spatial resolution is lacking. This paper proposes a new algorithm inspired by [6], which employs different fusion rules for common and innovative sparse comp onents of the source images. The proposed algorithm utilizes the advantages of both PCA and Sparse representation for fusing common and innovative features of the captured images. This algorithm also overcomes the disadvantages of both PCA and Sparse representation. In this paper, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method by comparing its results with PCA and Sparse Fusion. II. SYSTEM DESIGN As discussed in the previous section, sparsest approximation is achieved through Greedy methods. In this section, we briefly explore the Orthogonal Matching Pursuit algorithm to achieve sparsest representation. These sparse coding algorithms are constructed based on the premise that Dictionary D of size nÃâ€"k is already known. For effective results, we use phase included DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) dictionary [7] for our experiment. In this paper, we have customized OMP sparse coding algorithm for fusion purposes. The ultimate aim of OMP algorithm is to achieve best approximation. The mathematical formula for solving this constraint problem is given by: (1) (2) Where N is the number of non-zero coefficients. Equation 2 represents the definition for solving error constrained problem. Next atom to be added in this iterative framework is the atom which has highest correlation to the residual at each stage. Iteration is performed until it meets the stopping criterion. OMP is due to orthogonalization between atoms in the dictionary D and residual r. Pseudo Algorithm of OMP Given: Dictionary D, signal S, and error threshold à Ã‚ µ Initialize residual r0=S-Ds0, index set I0={} and main iteration is k = k+1 (initial k=0). Using the ideal solution à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ §Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ- = à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ËœÃƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ ¡Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ… ¸Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‹Å"−1/, Calculate the error (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-) = for all i. Update stage: Augmenting the index set à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‹Å" = à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‹Å"−1 ∠ª {à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-0} (find i0 of (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-): ∀1 ≠¤ à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ- ≠¤ à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ… ¡ and (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-0) ≠¤ (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-). Update the solution (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-0)+= à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ §Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ- and residual. If stopping criterion is met, à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚   = à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚  Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‹Å"; else, apply another iteration. III. PROPOSED SCHEME This work proposes a fusion method that employs PCA transformation and sparse transformation. An attempt is made to efficiently utilize the advantages of PCA and Sparse fusion scheme. The proposed fusion framework has been illustrated in Fig.1. Firstly, the common and innovative components are extracted from geometrically aligned multiple images of the same scene. Secondly, different fusion rules are adopted to fuse these coefficients. The algorithm is summarized as follows: 1) Registered multiple images in an ensemble have one common component and multiple innovative components. Innovative components contain the complementary information from different images of same scene 2) Innovative components of different images i are decomposed into sparse vectors s1,s2,s3,†¦si via orthogonal matching pursuit method described in Figure.1. Fig.1. Flow of Sparse PCA joint fusion algorithm 3) Combine the sparse coefficients of innovative components using PCA fusion rule, for which the covariance matrix s C of innovative images is calculated as follows, (3) Where s1,s2 are the sparse vectors of the innovative components. Find the Eigen sparse and normalized Eigen sparse vector of maximum Eigen value. Eigen vector will be used as weightings for innovative sparse vectors to be fused. 4) Fused PCA result Ip is reshaped into a block of 8Ãâ€"8 and each pixel position is the sum of several block values. Reconstructed image is obtained by dividing each pixel by number of addition operations performed at each pixel. 5) For fusing common component and fused innovative component, the fuse rule of weighted average scheme proposed by Burt et al. [2] is adopted. IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS In order to test the performance of the proposed joint fusion algorithm, we compared the quantitative and qualitative results with two state the of art methods. Qualitative measurement is done through visual inspection that considers sharpness and noise suppression. Since the proposed joint fusion uses both PCA and sparse domain, we use PCA, Sparse OMP fusion methods for comparison. For the evaluation, we adopted proposed joint strategy for Multi resolution, Multi focus and Multimode images and compared the results with existing algorithms. Our experiment is carried out with the assumption that the source images are registered already. Fig. 2, shows results of fusion for the case of multi focus images. Based on visual inspection, The Joint PCA Sparse algorithm performs the best since the resultant image contain more geometric structures while sparse fusion comes the second. Result of proposed method seems to contain sharp edges. Fig.3, illustrates results of fusion of mutli dosage image results based on three different fusion algorithms. Low dose image seems to suffer from patchiness. As it can be observed, visually, Joint Sparse result shows the details clearly than the Low dose image. Visually, joint fusion resultant seems to be better than other 2 methods. Increasing the dosage might reduce the noise but harm patients. Low dose images are prone to noise. Fusing low dose and medium dose image should suppress the noise and enhance the informative details for precise diagnosis. Fig.4, illustrates the results of applying two multi modal medical images to three image fusion algorithms. The medical images are MRI and CT image of same scene which have been registered already. CT image provides the information on bone structures and MRI image contains tissue information. Medical image fusion needs great accuracy as it’s used for diagnosis. Hence, multimodal image fusion would give sufficient details necessary for diagnosis. Based on the visual inspection, the Joint Sparse results contain more detail information. Results of PCA seem to have high spatial resolution but they are disappointing in terms of detailed information. Bone details are not visible in PCA resultant image. Sparse result is better but some artifacts are easily observed Reconstructing fused image through joint fusion algorithms seems to be more precise comparatively. In order to analyze the quality of the algorithms quantitatively, we consider 5 metrics: Mutual Information (MI), PSNR, Correlation, Entropy and Structural Similarity (SSIM) index. Mutual Information shows how much information has been transferred from source images to the resultant images. Entropy shows the amount of important details available in the image. PSNR is Peak Signal to Noise Ration which is used to measure the reconstruction quality of fused image. PSNR of the fused image If is calculated using the standard formula: (4) Where M is the maximum possible pixel value of the image and MSE is the Mean Square error. The SSIM [8] provides structural information of objects and measures the similarity between the two images. Experiment results are shown in Table.1. Tabulated result demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm over existing methods in terms of Qualitative and Quantitative methodologies. We can observe that the results of multimodal image fusion and multi focus image fusion utilizing our proposed fusion strategy outperforms PCA and Sparse fusion. The PCA by itself performs poorer results for all cases. Table 1 Performance Of Fusion Methods By The Quality Evaluation Metrics Image Type Fusion Stratergy PSNR(db) Mutual Information Entropy Correlation SSIM Multi focus Joint PCA Sparse 34.1742 2.1733 7.3656 0.9990 1.000 PCA 31.6321 2.0177 7.2607 0.9981 0.9999 OMP fusion 32.3392 2.0606 7.3654 0.9981 1.000 Multi dose Joint PCA Sparse 25.2115 0.7887 4.8643 0.9997 1 PCA 22.6994 0.7638 4.7905 0.9991 0.9997 OMP fusion 24.4680 0.7794 4.7937 0.9995 0.9998 Multimodal(MRICT) Joint PCA Sparse 26.4111 0.9634 6.7409 0.9403 .9977 PCA 20.8380 0.8096 6.5502 0.8690 .9919 OMP fusion 24.8056 0.9940 6.7376 0.8985 .9975 V. CONCLUSION Medical Image fusion plays an important role in clinical diagnosis. In this paper, a joint fusion modal is proposed based on sparse representation theory and PCA for multimodal and multi dose medical images. Visually and quantitatively, the experimental results show that the proposed method has effectively expressed the geometric structures and edges and has proved to perform better than PCA and OMP fusion. This modal can also be extended to fuse multiple source images from multi resolution, multiple spectral frequencies and multiple modalities. REFERENCES [1] S.G. Nikolov., P.R. Hill., D.R. Bull., C.N. Canagarajah.Wavelets for image fusion, A. Petrosian, F. Meyer (Eds.), Wavelets in Signal and Image Analysis, Computational Imaging and Vision Series, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands (2001). pp. 213–244. [2]P. Burt, R. Kolczynski, Enhanced image capture through fusion, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer Vision, 1993, pp. 173-182. [3] L. Rebolloà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Neira and D. Lowe, Optimized orthogonal matching pursuit approach, IEEE Signal Processing Letters, pp.137–140, 2002. [4] D. Donoho and Y. Tsaig, Sparse solutions of underdetermined linear equations by stagewise orthogonal matching pursuit, Stanford University, Tech. report 2006. [5] M. R.Metwalli, A. H. Nasr, O. S. Farag Allah, and S. El-Rabaie†Image fusion based on Principal Component Analysis and High-pass Filter†, Proceedings of the IEEE/ ICCES 2009 international Conference, DEC. 14-16, 2009, pp. 63-70. [6] H. Yin, S. Li,†Multimodal image fusion with joint sparsity model†, Opt Eng., 50(6), (2011). [7] Z. Sadeghipour, M. Babaie-Zadeh, and C. Jutten, An adaptive thresholding approach for image denoising using redundant representations, IEEE international workshop on Machine Learning for Signal Processing, 2009, pp. 1-6. [8] Zhou Wang, Alan C. Bovik, Hamid R. Sheikh and Eero P. Simoncelli, â€Å"Image Quality Assessment: From Error Visibility to Structural Similarity†, IEEE transactions on Image Processing, vol. 13, no. 4, April 2004.

Funds: Hedge and Mutual- Who and What They Are Essay -- Finance Financ

Funds: Hedge and Mutual- Who and What They Are Ever since their creation in 1949 by A. W. Jones, hedge funds have been widely regarded as a unique and luring alternative to investing ones money. Some have seen them as a replacement to the well-known mutual fund- while others believe that they are an entirely new domain. Besides defining both the hedge fund and mutual fund, this paper aims to expose the answer to a deeper question: Are hedge funds REALLY different than a mutual fund, and if so, how and why? By comparing both financial intermediaries in the areas of structure, strategy, and their respective environments, it is my hope that I can unmask any uncertainties that may reside within these financial institutions. The most basic question that must first be answered in this type of paper is the most obvious: what is a hedge fund, and how or what is it made up of? Mishkin describes a hedge fund as a special type of mutual fund - which on a very basic level is correct. But here we must be careful, while mutual funds are referred to as â€Å"public† hedge funds are referred to as â€Å"private.† This opens a portal of regulatory issues between the mutual fund and hedge fund entities. Mutual funds, and there thousands of them in the United States alone, are among the most highly regulated financial intermediaries. Thus they are subject to a very large number or requirements that insure that they act in the best of interests of their â€Å"public† shareholders. To digress only briefly, it is important to mention the importance of regulatory enactments since the early twentieth century because they have an enormous impact on today’s companies. Four of the most influential acts include the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities ... ...r risk factors, but take bets on relative price movements utilizing strategies such as long–short equity, stock index arbitrage, convertible bond arbitrage, and fixed income arbitrage. Long–short equity funds use the classic A.W. Jones model of hedge funds, taking long and short positions in equities to limit their exposures to the stock market. Stock index arbitrage funds trade the spread between index futures contracts and the underlying basket of equities. Convertible bond arbitrage funds typically trade the embedded option in these bonds by purchasing them and shorting the equities. Fixed income arbitrage generally refers to the trading of price or yield along the yield curve, between corporate bonds and government bonds of comparable characteristics, or more generally between two baskets of similar bonds that trade at a price spread.† [Fung and Hsteh, p. 319-320]

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street is one of the most famous short stories written by world renowned author Herman Melville. John Self in his article in The Asylum describes the book as a keystone of modern literature. Published anonymously in November and December of 1853, it was again reprinted in The Piazza Tales in 1856.Much as it is a classic, it still baffles a lot of critics and have been subjected to various interpretations by many. The story of Bartleby continues to live on and tells of a story that is honest and profound.The best interpretation of the story which is deeply rooted in the cultural and actual economic makings of the United States is the theme that exploits the rise of capitalism during the time prior to the writing of the story. This makes the story something that is relevant and makes it a faithful account of the realities of the society during that development in the US economy. The economic transformation that happened did not only modernize the country but also affected the psyche of the working class as well as the personal relationship between employers and employees.The Wall Street being a major element of the story and considering the fact that it is currently one of the financial hubs of the US, one can assume that the author has a good eye for future financial potential. Allan Moore Emery, in his article â€Å"The Alternatives of Melville's Bartleby†, praises Herman Melville in his scholarly use of philosophy, theology and actual sources as he injected them with subtlety into his work. To have a thorough grasp of the the theme, one has to dissect the different elements in the story to see a clearer picture of how it relates to capitalism.The story is narrated by a lawyer who has a business of taking care of mortagages, bonds, and title deeds of wealthy men. This alone showcases the proliferation of real estates and high rise buildings during that time in New York creating a financial market that involves the employment of lawyers by men to protect their assets and properties. This further emphasizes that capitalists have acquired capital and required proper documentation for ease of business transactions. In the story, the lawyer already employs 2 scriveners, Nippers and Turkey, who copy legal documents by hand.He also has Ginger Nut who works as the office errand boy. The author in a way does not give specific details into his personal description of his characters making them all the more interesting and intriguing. However, it is notable how the author refers to his staff using nicknames and not by their formal given names. One can assume of the impersonal relationship of the lawyers with his workers. Here, the dominance felt by the upper classes is accentuated because of the actuations of the lawyer being the top person in the ladder.He feels that because he is the one paying the salary of his employees, he has power over them inside the office. He describes them in a manner that is not very flattering. He comments that though Turkey works well in the morning, his output deteriorates in the afternoon. Opposite is the case for Nipper, who because of his indigestion, works better in the afternoon than in the morning. Ginger Nut was given the nickname because he was always asked to fetch Ginger Nut cakes for the two scriveners. Here, Melville has a stab at humor to hide the sarcasm that is evident in the descriptions.The lawyer though pointing out the quality of his men's work always has a critique for their work attitude. He points out their malfunctions but never even admitting any shortcomings from his side. The different characters of the employees are a representation of the structure in a capitalist environment. The staff embodies a work force that have little room for advancement and working on monotonous tasks that takes a lot of patience in the long run. To cope with the intellectual dead end, one can be physically affected or find short means of escape to fathom the same work everyday.Thus, the break in the output of the lawyer's staff is their way of coping with the stress of monotony. The story then further unfolds in the introduction of Bartleby who was hired by the lawyer to act as a third scrivener because of his growing business. Bartleby's disposition can be described as eccentric and forlorn. A lot of the critics cannot help themselves to compare the attitude of Bartleby to Herman Melville. When Melville wrote this, it was a time in his life that he was also experiencing depression because of the failure of his work â€Å"Moby Dick†.A lot of the readers assumed that he probably patterned the character of Bartleby to his own (SparkNotes Editors). Bartleby appeared to be a satisactory worker with quality output as is characteristic of new hired employees in an industrial setting. The day came when he said the famous line that was the turning point of the whole story. When asked to proofread a copied document Bartleby said, â€Å"I would prefer not to† (Melville 18). This astounded the lawyer but made him more curious of the personality of Bartleby.In the normal business world of today, one only has to finish the sentence before being escorted out by security. In the story, Bartleby was not fired right away because the lawyer entertained the throught of compassion and considered Bartleby as a charity case. He further mentions how he found out that his stubborn scrivener lives and eats in his office. This may be interpreted as showing that the employer's feel that their employees are dependent on them for their immediate needs. This clearly shows the capitalist idea that the working class are being fed by their hands.Bartleby's outright refusal is symbolic of his impertinence to be a slave to capitalism. Melville skillfully outlined how Bartleby gave up his work entirely and chose to do nothing. This is suggestive of his rejection to conform to the exploitative nature of capitalists. The co nflict that arised between Bartleby and his collegues is imminent in the actual workplace. It shows of the struggles between individuals who have different views. It separates those who are management underdogs from those who are courageous enough to effect change.Turkey and Nippers' agitation at Bartleby is evident of their clear imprisonment to their dependency on their work and their inability to do something about it because of their age and probably their destroyed morale. Eventually, because of the exhaustion felt by the lawyer to the antics of Bartleby, he decided to leave his office. Bartleby created a ruckus in the old office because of his refusal to move out and was eventually taken by the police and imprisoned. This shows how property rights were strongly enforced during that time.Furthermore, Bartleby's act of sleeping on the corridors gives more emphasis on the gap between the capitalist and the working class. Though the lawyer tried to offer his house to Bartleby, one cannot be sure of the sincerity of it. One can interpret this as a way of pacification to alleviate the current condition of Bartleby. The capitalists often sugar coat their intentions to bribe and make the working class feel that there is something good that they can offer back. If Bartleby agreed on the lawyer's terms, he knew that it would be for a fee.He recognized this outright which made him refuse the offer. The lawyer's additional act of compassion despite Bartleby's indifference was to make sure that Bartleby was well fed in the prison. It seems that because of the growing capitalist power, they were able to form laws and punishments that will inhibit the obstinate acts of the workers but making it still appear moral by finding means of appeasing them as what is shown by the act of the lawyer. It is a way of paying for their conscience rather than a genuine act of compassion.The death of Bartleby is an abrupt end that provided yet another open interpretation from the reade rs. His refusal to eat the food offered him is an act of self-preservation wherein until his last breath, he never allowed to get swallowed by the capitalist power and died with his principles intact. The story ends with the lawyer's uncovering of Bartleby's past. Bartleby used to work in a Dead Letter Office and the lawyer assumed that this was the cause of Bartleby's absurd behavior. It is arrogant of the lawyer to assume this without further knowledge of the real story behind Bartleby's life.It may be that his depression was not caused by the nature of his former work but the mere closing of it. The change of administration that was the alleged cause of the Dead Letter Office's closing is symbolic of the capitalist's rise in power paving the way for a structure that is discriminate of the working class. In closing, Bartleby's sruggle is reminiscent of an era that shaped the current working environment and tells of a story that is not aimed for confusion but for intellectual furth erance. Works Cited Emery, Allan Moore.â€Å"The Alternatives of Melville's Bartleby†. California: The University of California Press, 1976. Melville, Herman. â€Å"Bartleby the Scrivener†. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University, 2002. Self, John. â€Å"Herman Melville: Bartleby the Scrivener†. The Asylum. 7 June 2010 < http://theasylum. wordpress. com/2009/05/21/herman-melville-bartleby-the-scrivener/ SparkNotes Editors. â€Å"SparkNote on Melville Stories. † SparkNotes. com. SparkNotes LLC. n. d. 7 Jun. 2010.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Vegetarians Essay

One advantage that cannot be disputed is that vegetarian’s conscience can be at peace in the sense that he does not cause the death of animals grown for meat and fat such as rabbits, poultry or pigs. This idea alone persuades many people, especially women to start embracing vegetarianism as their way of life. Another undisputable advantage of vegetarianism is that long-term vegetarians are rarely overweight thus people can make losing weight easier by becoming vegetarians. Of course, they will still need to compose their diet very carefully since many of the high-calorie (with low nutritional value) foods contain no meat at all. Actually, meat is not high on calories unless it is a fatty meat. Less clear and more arguable is the claim that vegetarianism is healthier and better for one’s longevity. All advocates of vegetarianism play this card and support their claims with many arguments. The basic idea is that our body can get everything it needs from plants or animal by-products such as eggs or milk. Of course, there are extreme groups who refuse to eat animal by-products, but I’ll stick with the less extreme idea. Anyway, this is true, at least as long as you eat fish – some people who consider themselves vegetarians eat fish, some don’t. Anyway, no one can say with absolute certainty (you can believe it, but cannot prove it indisputably) that avoiding all meat is beneficial for human body. However, it is certain that limiting certain types of meat is good for us. And vegetarians benefit from avoiding those kinds of meat (after all they do not eat any meat).

AEL Lesson Plan Essays

AEL Lesson Plan Essays AEL Lesson Plan Essay AEL Lesson Plan Essay Concentration- the child will control the movement of his/hers dominant hand In order to achieve the goal. The mind and body will be working in harmony. Importance of coordination of dominate hand. Possibilities of control of error. Social aspects and skills- Child will be able to share the activity and respect of taking turns of other children in activity. Order- child will develop cognitive structure for building and being perceptive towards various colors and sizes. The activity will help develop creative thinking. Combination of Indirect objectives will encourage the childs self discipline. Vocabulary The colors of the domino blocks can be discussed and different height of plain bridge blocks can be Introduced. Stage This activity can be adjusted according to childs age and capability. It can be introduced in early age by using only colorful identical domino. Also it can be upgraded to advance activity by adding bridge blocks with different height. This activity is adjustable towards needs and interest of child. Presentation The teacher invites the child to accompany him to the shelf. Name the activity Tumbling bridge of domino and ask the child to carry the tray to the table. The teacher might show to child how to hold the tray correctly with both hands. The teacher asks a child where does s/he want to perform the task. Child can choose table or mat that I has to be placed on the floor. The teacher sits next to the child and place tray between them. The tray with activity has to be on childs dominant side because It Is hers/ his workplace. The teacher presents the activity with slow clear movements. Teachers dominant hand will start setting up plain bridge blocks. Before staring the activity the teacher can separate blocks into two groups. First group would De Dredge Deadlocks palmer Into gradual inelegant second group would De colorful dominoes that would be placed on the top of the bridge in the end. Teachers nominate hand will start set up bridge blocks from the lower block. Then gradually second highest block, third and forth-highest block. It this point teacher might ask the child to perform take initiative if he/she is willing. The pair of the highest block will be placed within some space and blocks will be set up gradually into the lowest point. The teacher will be able to put plain block on top of two highest blocks in order to crate bridge. The main part is done. The second part of the activity consists of placing colorful domino on the bridge. The child can be fully involved into pacing part or all of the dominoes. This progress depends on the childs interest. The child can choose the color order. The dominant hand will place domino on the top of each bridge block. On the top centre child has to put two dominoes in the same row. This activity requires great concentration, and eye-hand coordination. After the activity is successfully completed, the child can knock down all dominoes. This is the most interesting part of the activity when child has visual contact how dominoes are falling one by one by touching each other. After activity is over, the child can be encourage to take apart the bridge by replacing each bridge block and domino back o the tray. It is necessary to remind the child that s/he can perform the activity again if s/he wishes so. After completing the activity the child is expected to put the activity back on the shelf. Also child will tuck his chair back or remove floor mat back to the place. This building bridge blocks with dominoes is complex activity that might need to be presented a few more times by teacher. Activity The child should be encouraged to build the bridge from the various height blocks and be advised to place colorful domino on top. This activity will help to differ the colors of domino and height of bridge blocks. The concentration is essential. Point of interest The idea of building bridge will fascinate a child and enhanced placement of colorful dominoes that can be knocked down in the end of the activity will attract childs interest. Exploration In addition, more blocks can be inserted into the activity in order to create extra complex activity. Uses in daily life It is stimulated activity that has benefit in cognitive development. It encourages intelligent thinking in spatial skills. Moreover, building block is strongly linked with math skills in the future development as comparison between height and width. RISK Assessment There is no potential risk in the building domino bridge activity. It is only for childs benefit. Links to EYES Communication and language development Child will gain new vocabulary regarding to new activity. By building bridge and setting up domino will enhance childs vocabulary of color, size and shape terminology. It refers to age 40 to 60 months old children, when they can sit quietly and concentrate and being able speaking, listening and understanding the activity. Physical development Children develop their coordination and they have developed full control of their movement. Personal, Social, and Emotional development Child will experience feeling of confidence by repeating the building blocks with domino activity. Child can build a tower by combining of wooden bridge blocks with wooden colored domino. This activity can be split into another possible game variation. This activity is creative and it encourages creative thinking. The activity could be break into two separated activities. First activity would consist of plain wooden blocks with different height. In this activity the child would be able to control the act of building the bridge and be able to realize how gradually the bridge is set up. Second activity would consist of building domino in the row. This activity would enhance childs thinking in sense of colors, movement and concentration. The child will learn colors and then the child will need to perform precise slow movement to place domino in the row without being able to destroy the row. This activity will encourage the idea of childs concentration. These different strategies could be applied in order to support child with special abilities and characteristics. How the activity can contribute to a childs overall well-being This activity will help the hill to become patient in order to practice when the goal has to be reached. It will build child self discipline because s/he will experience many control of errors while reaching the goal of building bridge of blocks with set up colorful domino. Managing Risk in Activities of Everyday Living Each child need to be acknowledge with safety rules while performing their activities in Interiors settings. Children need to develop self-awareness how to manage risk and encourage feeling of responsibility. The main point of each activity due to risk is prevention. Preventing accident has to be accomplished by evaluating and analyzing ACH activity that goes on the self for Interiors settings. Risk statement has to be established and developed in the details. Maintaining hygiene is crucial point in Interiors settings. Healthy environment can be created by teaching children how to keep hands clean and how to take care of settings items by cleaning and washing them. Another vital point in health and safety is to keep up to date with legislation. Staff and all practitioners have to be trained in safeguarding and give a first aid. These points are a must in each setting in order to maintain safe environment.

New Media Technologies

New Media Technologies Introduction The way consumers access information, news and communicate has been greatly changed by the emergence of web 2.0 technologies which incorporate user-generated content and streamlined web design. New media technologies have enhanced users’ active role in communication and information and changed people’s perception of the internet.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on New Media Technologies and Its Role in the Perception of the Internet specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The new media involve the convergence of media and technology; it is the replacement of analogue technology with the digital one. New media encompass the internet, new video and audio recording, the mobile media and computer gaming (USAID, 2008). Primarily, the functions of the new media were only restricted to entertainment and communication sector but with the advent of new media technology there has been a widespread impact on so cial, economic and political spheres of human life (Berger, 2007). New media technology is defined as any kind of application that is used to transfer information through digital technology. It is interactive and can be transferred by placing it in a compressed data that can be accessed in several markets. The conclusion expounds on digital divide which is a common phenomenon in the digital technology age and seeks to analyze why does the difference occurs, its causes and its effects, whether long-term or short-term. Digital divide is understood as the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic regions concerning their opportunities to access to information and communication technologies (Hassan Thomas, 2006). The thesis argument is based on this quote, â€Å"with the convergence of the telecommunication, media, and computer industries we are now entering a new phase of media development† (USAID, 2008. P.10). This thesis seeks to explain the idea that dig ital technologies have in the past and succeeding years transformed our world; it explains how new media have informationalised the society. The thesis seeks to justify the fact that the world is undergoing through a technological, cultural, political and economic phase of change that is brought about by the new media. Socioeconomic Impact within our Society A good innovation must be beneficial to the society; it should create room for the following: facilitate change, allow for adaptability, have connection to realization of personal goals, fulfilling of individual activities and careers and it should enhance lifelong learning. The new media technology has both social and economic impact on the contemporary society.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The invention of the World Wide Web (WWW) is considered the turning point of new media technology revolution. World Wide Web is used to transmit information over the computer and it has emerged as a very important tool of communication used in schools, by governments, by companies and almost in every social institution. The new media technology has revolutionized communication since people use the web to communicate, that is, the web is used to distribute information; it is also used as a basis of interaction (Bucy, 2005). New media technology is a key component of business. The web for example is used by the banking industry to serve their customers online. The virtual cash which is a creation of modern media has enhanced the promotional market and hence an actual market for trade. New media have also revolutionized education. The academic achievements of the students have improved due to the use of technology. New media has led to the death of distance. Distance has been eliminated as a factor in communication. The bonding between people working in different parts of the world has been strength ened by enhanced communication brought about by new media. Through the new media, new information and ideas travel faster to all parts of the world. People have access to knowledge and it also enables people to acquire new skills. The convergence of media into internet devices like mobile phones and computers is an indication that people are consuming information and interacting with the news, broadcasts and the entertainment media. New media have united people of all walks of life through social networking sites, wikis and blogs. These have altered the way people interact in the society. The younger generation has for example adopted different various ways of learning and sharing information. Consequently, new media have revolutionized the political sphere of the society. People can share information and ideas through the new media with anonymity. Freedom of expression has been expanded by the new media. This is whereby people have had their rights in criticizing political, educati onal and religious sectors (Berger, 2007).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on New Media Technologies and Its Role in the Perception of the Internet specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Negatively the media has led to the invasion of societal and individual privacy. Pictures and statements which are online can be copied for redistribution. This requires the consumers to take precautions when using digital technology by making their secret codes confidential. There is increase in the population of people with access to internet. This has enabled them to acquire new skills that are needed in order to participate in online based activities which are an indication of increasing social and political involvement. Consequently, the intensification of internet-oriented activism by the use of digital technology has strengthened the role of civil society hence underpinning the potentiality of new media being used as a democratic inst rument. Video games have also been used to influence the social attitudes of the people. It has been used as a popular tool by social activists to raise awareness about social issues facing the society (Larabie, 2011). Consequences of New Media on the Global Economy Location and distance is no longer considered a factor in business decisions. Various business and companies, with the advent of new media are able to organize their shifts based on specific time zones. Companies, through the internet can locate any screen-based activity in any place around the world; they may also get the best skills and productivity around the world. By utilizing the new media technology, companies can transact and perform their duties, for instance, monitoring of stock exchange rate, monitoring the security systems online and the running of call centers which is done online. Through the new media, small companies have managed to provide services and goods or to perform business operations which were t he preserve of big companies. Consequently, companies and consumers can have access to accurate information about prices in international market. This is necessary to curb inflation and to enhance competition on the international market (Bucy, 2005). New media technologies have influenced the way firms are managed and firm’s organizational strategy. This has prompted the adoption of new models. The global economy has been particularly affected by internet, intranet and video conferencing. With the advent of new media, several companies use websites to sell their products.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Importance of Understanding the Impact of New Media Technology The impacts of new media technology is relevant in the sense that it affects the economic, social, political, and cultural spheres of human life. New media technology is dynamic and people may not have all instruments of new media or they may have them but may not have the capacity to use them. Digital divide is a term used to describe the difference between people who use the new media and those who do not access the new media technologies. Understanding new media technology is necessary since there are various aspects of new media and there exists several contentious issues in the new media debate like matters of policy (Bucy, 2005). This argument is reinforced by the associational mode theory of communication. This is a situation where parties in a communication state are attached to a particular group and a specific media based on their shared beliefs (Anon., 2011). Conclusion Digital divide is a common phenomenon in the digital technology era. Digital divide can exist between individuals, countries or cities. It may depend on factors like economic class, education level and the industrial capacity in case of states. Digital divide is a reflection of existing difference between countries. The gap between accessibility and use of latest information and communication technologies is increasingly and alarmingly widening. This is due to the desire of human beings to fully satisfy their basic needs, limited or lack of computer knowledge by some people and also unavailability of funds. In five to 25 years, the narrowing of the digital divide will not have been realized fully. It is acknowledgeable that the gap keeps narrowing with increasing years; this is because the factors responsible for widening the divide are being met at a slower rate. These factors include: the continued expansion of internet access, limited income, age, geographical location and the type of the household. Various governments ’ believe that information is power and hence they are motivated to increase access to information and communication technology for their citizens. There is for governments to invest more in the new media technologies because as the wave of globalization intensifies new media technology are absolutely taking over the interaction of everyday activities. References Anon. (2011). Media theory and theorists. Web. Berger, A.A. (2007). Media and society: a critical perspective (2nd ed). New York, NY: Rowman Littlefield. Bucy, E. (2005). Living in the information age: A new media reader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. Hassan, R Thomas, J. (2006). The new media theory reader. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill International. Larabie, C. (2011). Editorial: A Reflection on the role of new media: From Peer-to-Peer to Protest. The McMaster Journal of Communication, 7(1), pp. 1-10. Web. USAID. (2008). New media and international media development. Pustaka. Web.

Perl String lc() Function

Perl String lc() Function Starting out with a new programming language can be challenging. Learning the functions is one way to go about it. The Perl string lc() function and uc() function are two basic functions that are easy to understand- they convert a string to all lowercase or all uppercase respectively. Perl  String lc() Function The  Perl  lc()  function takes a string, makes the entire thing lowercase and then returns the new string. For example: #!/usr/bin/perl $orig_string This Test Is Capitalized; $changed_string lc(  $orig_string ); print The Resulting String is: $changed_string\n; When executed, this code yields: The Resulting String is: this test is capitalized First, $orig_string is set to a value- in this case, This Test Is Capitalized. Then the lc() function is run on $orig_string. The lc() function takes the entire string $orig_string and converts it to its lowercase equivalent  and prints it out as instructed. Perl  String uc() Function As you might expect, Perls uc() function converts a string to all uppercase characters in the same manner. Just substitute uc for lc in the example above, as shown: #!/usr/bin/perl $orig_string This Test Is Capitalized; $changed_string uc(  $orig_string ); print The  Resulting String is: $changed_string\n; When executed, this code yields: The Resulting String is: THIS TEST IS CAPITALIZED About Perl Perl is a feature-rich programming language that was originally developed for use with text. It is cross-platform and runs on more than 100 platforms. Perl works with HTML and other markup languages, so it is frequently used in web development.

Scholarship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Scholarship - Essay Example Nurses often work with patients on one-on-one basis and assist the patients in recovery and rehabilitation. Nursing also provides growth opportunities. With the rise in population, a lot more nurses are needed in USA and hence nursing provides opportunity for high level of growth. The baby boomer generation of USA is also getting old and hence the demand of our knowledge, values and idealism is likely to increase. Nursing is also an exciting and fast paced career. The nurses usually do not go through repetitive jobs and the job offers something new each and every day. Nursing career also offer flexible schedules. If someone wants to work from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M then nursing provides that opportunity too. If someone wants to work on rotational shifts or part time contract basis, there is room for that too. Knowledge is the core reason for the success in career. As a nurse one must know that diseases and symptoms of the diseases. One must be able apply the classroom knowledge along with the skills in the workplace to become a successful nurse. Another most important factor is the personal value and the belief to be a caring and compassionate person. This is something that is usually installed in a person from the family upbringing. A nurse is not only providing care to the health of the patient but also serves the emotional needs. Apart from this there are also ethical and human rights issues. Showing respect to the patients and the profession as well carrying out all the tasks with full dedication and honesty is extremely important for a nurse (Daly 10). This scholarship would make the students eligible to receive funding for the tuition fees along with other educational costs. The scholarship is a selective program that would help the students to get rid of the financial burden. In this way the students would also be able stay a lot more on the career objectives. Here it needs to be mentioned that

Hammurabi's Code Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hammurabi's Code - Essay Example Subjects of Hammurabi’s code of laws would thus, benefit from the justice and fairness provided by the code. The Phrase â€Å"an eye for an eye† represented Hammurabi code of laws. The phrase may sound harsh, but it means more than its literal meaning. The code differentiates punishments for wealthy persons, commoners and even slaves. It outlines the terms and conditions for purchasing and selling slaves (Jarus, 2013). Hammurabi’s code deals many important topics that concern the Babylonians. The code provides rules for witnesses and persons making accusations of crimes. It also highlights processes to handle thefts and destruction of property and offers guidelines for trading and solving business problems. Subject of the Hammurabi’s codes would benefit so much from the justice and fairness the code details. In most cases, the rules are reasonable and clear to give Babylonians a framework to live with order. Justice and order among people is the basis for the formulation of the Hammurabi’s code. The code would also benefit Babylonians when comes to solving family matters such as marriage, divorce, and issues of adoption. Surprisingly, the code also outlines payment layouts for doctors and other professionals. Other important components covered in the Hammurabi’s code that would benefit its subjects are those related to farming and keeping of animals. Agriculture was the main human activity in Mesopotamia. Developing laws that ensured justice and fairness for farming activities would greatly benefit people in Babylon. The code also benefited women. The code gave women certain rights including the right to buy or sell property as well as the right to seek a divorce. In addition to justice and fairness, Hammurabi’s code emphasized honest for all parties in a trial or court (Jarus, 2013). A codified set of laws are well organized and written in a logical manner. Codified laws e.g. the Hammurabi’s code is easier to locate and follow.

General Awareness about the New Packaging for Beverage Company Assignment - 1

General Awareness about the New Packaging for Beverage Company - Assignment Example Consequently, the project management plan should be used as a reference for any decision made on the project and whenever clarifications are required in areas that are unclear. To this regards, the PMP should be used as a reference throughout the project implementation so as to ensure that the management of the project is carried out consistently and in line with the laid down policy and procedures. This, therefore, makes the PMP part and parcel of the project making it evolve with the progress of the project hence periodic updates with relevant information. The marketing project is aimed at replacing the existing packing which is plastic and metal packaging and is biohazard hence not safe to use with their disposal in the waters being capable of contaminating the entire system and posing a threat to both aquatic and human life. The packaging is not only environmentally friendly but also utilizes low carbon and free from ozone oxidants. To this regard, the plan involves creating general awareness about the new packaging for a beverage company by employing various strategic policies at different levels of publicity which can be defined as marketing. The assumptions made in the charter is that the whole organization is a unit that works first for internal solidarity and then utilize the unit by the standards of a division of labour to spread out and work for community-based agenda and that the entire human population is considered as a family. This leads to the assumption that the target market is a free market with free flow of information. As regards the constraints, the global recession will be considered especially with respect to the monetary issues. The purpose of the project is to create general awareness about the new packaging for Beverage Company by employing various strategic policies at different levels by making careful observations about different market circles both globally and internally, different groundbreaking analysis and strategic formulation aimed at powering the growth process more substantially.  Ã‚  

Open Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Open - Essay Example An objective and critical look at the main arguments advanced in favour of death penalty shows that the arguments are flawed and not based on facts. For the purposes of objectivity, let us critically analyse the two main arguments advanced in favour of death penalty. To begin with, let us critically look at the argument that death penalty deters crime. This argument is actually one of the main arguments advanced by the proponents of death penalty in support of their view that death penalty is an effective form of punishment. The proponents of capital punishment contend that, by killing criminals through capital punishment, we deny the criminals any other opportunity to commit crime, hence reducing crime in the society; also, the proponents of capital punishment argue that through subjecting criminals guilty of grave crimes to capital punishment, we scare other potential criminals from committing such crimes in future. A critical view at this position, however, shows that capital punishment does not deter crime. This is because there is absolutely no scientific proof that capital punishment deters crime. On the contrary, studies in social sciences have shown that there is actually no correlation between death penalty and crime; studies in social sciences have actually shown that death penalty does not deter crime (Goel, web). For this reason, therefore, death penalty is an ineffective form of punishment because it does not deter crime. The second argument advanced by the proponents of capital punishment is the argument that death penalty is an effective form of punishment because it ensures that justice is done to both the offended party and the offender. The main argument here is that heinous crimes are extraordinary forms of injustice to the victims of the crimes; for that reason, it is only an extra-ordinarily grave form of punishment that can compensate for the grave

Oreos and Milk, Chinese Style Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Oreos and Milk, Chinese Style - Assignment Example The profit of Kraft in European Union and the developing countries grew outpacing the U.S. profit growth. China, being the fourth largest country, and has the highest population estimated to 1,330,141,295 (as of July 2010) gave Kraft Foods an opportunity in introducing Oreo cookies. Although Kraft introduced the top-selling U.S. style Oreo cookies in 1996, it was only in 2006 that Oreo cookies was totally accepted all over the parts of China. The original Oreo cookies presented was too sweet and too expensive for the Chinese consumers. Kraft however, was not discourage to continue introducing and selling the Oreo cookies in China. This made them think that reinventing the Oreo cookies is the only way that the populous country of China would accept Oreo cookies. Several marketing strategies were made to make their product more acceptable to Chinese consumers. In the event of their study, they found out that, first, the Chinese are not accustomed to sweet foods particularly chocolates (most of the Chinese’ food pattern is more on rice-based products, spices, low calorie diet, soy products, and fruits and vegetables), secondly, China is big which is also divided in two regions, the North and the South, wherein, the two regions has two extreme climate condition (Northern part is extremely cold, while the Southern part is tropical), and third, the Chinese are born thrifty (they find Oreo cookies too expensive). Kraft considered other alternatives to make Chinese consumers patronize Oreo cookies. In 1996, Kraft Foods introduced Oreo cookies in China in the form of the original top-selling Oreo cookies of the U.S. However, even a lot of marketing effort has been done, the sales of the Oreo cookies in China remained flat. This statement is supported with my aforementioned discussion in the research. The study is limited to Kraft Food and its marketing strategy in selling Oreo cookies in China. Kraft’s

Problems with Cosmetic Surgery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Problems with Cosmetic Surgery - Essay Example The main conclusion of the work will be made through the definition of the major backgrounds for such situation.The aim of this work is to perform a clear research on the problems, which now exist in the cosmetic surgery but are often made invisible for usual consumers with the aim of getting higher profits and not loosing the face of the cosmetic surgery industry as it is. The main conclusion of the work is that cosmetic surgery hides vast amount of problems, which should be understood by those who considers the possibility of going through such operation. Cosmetic surgery at present has become a huge industry with enormous turnovers and fantastic profits. It is not a secret that famous people and movie stars got used to create numerous sensations with each cosmetic surgery performed. However, the problems which cosmetic surgery creates should not be underestimated, because the amount of those, who are openly satisfied with the results is lower than of those who are secretly dissatisfied with the results of the surgery and see no need in addressing the public for the solution of these problems. Thus, it is necessary to underline the present state of cosmetic surgery and to distinguish the main problems which it presents. Cosmetic surgery has now acquired the scales of the real commercial industry, and a certain portion of works and studies was devoted to the description of the problems which cosmetic surgery presents. However, not much has been said about commercialization and the background reasons for such cosmetic surgeries' popula rity. Why women strive so much for making cosmetic surgeries, and why even teenage girls undergo such operations The reasons are to be defined in this paper. The more money the person is able to earn, the more seducing challenges this person desires to meet. Cosmetic surgery has become the challenge, which many aging women want to meet as soon as they have enough money for that. They often make it the brightest event in their life, though not understanding that such surgery may present serious consequences. Cosmetic surgery nowadays gives more questions, than answers, and more problems, than solutions. Of course, many celebrities have gone through such surgeries, but very often it is seen at a glance that surgery had been done unsuccessfully - their faces sometimes look as if they constantly smiled or were constantly surprised. These are the consequences of the low-quality cosmetic surgeries, and far not all people understand, that they won't be more perfect than they are in their present state. One of the main problems of cosmetic surgery is that for the aims of acquiring extra profits, the industry does not provide consumers and patien ts with the fullest information about the possible negative consequences and obstacles. Cosmetic surgery is taken by most women as a casual daily routine action, without any serious attitudes and deep understanding of the issue. However, it is still surgery, similar to many others. The number of the operation per year constantly increase - it is stated that for example, in the UK the number of cosmetic surgeries is equal to 75,000 per year which is huge number for such small country, while the number of cosmetic surgeries in the US was more than 11.5 million in 2005. (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery) However, as many operations are carried out by highly qualified specialists, there

Oreos and Milk, Chinese Style Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Oreos and Milk, Chinese Style - Assignment Example The profit of Kraft in European Union and the developing countries grew outpacing the U.S. profit growth. China, being the fourth largest country, and has the highest population estimated to 1,330,141,295 (as of July 2010) gave Kraft Foods an opportunity in introducing Oreo cookies. Although Kraft introduced the top-selling U.S. style Oreo cookies in 1996, it was only in 2006 that Oreo cookies was totally accepted all over the parts of China. The original Oreo cookies presented was too sweet and too expensive for the Chinese consumers. Kraft however, was not discourage to continue introducing and selling the Oreo cookies in China. This made them think that reinventing the Oreo cookies is the only way that the populous country of China would accept Oreo cookies. Several marketing strategies were made to make their product more acceptable to Chinese consumers. In the event of their study, they found out that, first, the Chinese are not accustomed to sweet foods particularly chocolates (most of the Chinese’ food pattern is more on rice-based products, spices, low calorie diet, soy products, and fruits and vegetables), secondly, China is big which is also divided in two regions, the North and the South, wherein, the two regions has two extreme climate condition (Northern part is extremely cold, while the Southern part is tropical), and third, the Chinese are born thrifty (they find Oreo cookies too expensive). Kraft considered other alternatives to make Chinese consumers patronize Oreo cookies. In 1996, Kraft Foods introduced Oreo cookies in China in the form of the original top-selling Oreo cookies of the U.S. However, even a lot of marketing effort has been done, the sales of the Oreo cookies in China remained flat. This statement is supported with my aforementioned discussion in the research. The study is limited to Kraft Food and its marketing strategy in selling Oreo cookies in China. Kraft’s

Vancomycin and Preventing Infections Dissertation

Vancomycin and Preventing Infections - Dissertation Example Fig. 1: Tricyclic glycopeptide structure of vancomycin (Ouelette & Joyce, 2010, p. 207) The three-dimensional structure of vancomycin forms a cleft that allows it to bind to late stage PG intermediates that have a D-alanyl-D-alanine terminus (Corey et al., 2012). Vancomycin is selectively toxic since the sequences L-aa-D-aa-D-aa of the peptide PG intermediates are only found in the cell walls of bacteria. Fig. 2: Figure showing the PG intermediates and vancomycin with its cleft where it binds to the D-Ala-D-Ala terminus (Corey et al., 2012, p. 138) Hydrogen bonding between the vancomycin glycopeptide molecule and the peptides of PG intermediates results in the formation of stable complexes (Reynolds, 1989). This in turn leads to the inhibition of transglycosylation and transpeptidation reactions by two important enzymes as they fail to bind to the terminus due to steric hindrance. Because of this, the elongation of the glycan chain is inhibited. The mechanism of action of vancomycin thus involves the binding of a â€Å"bulky inhibitor† (vancomycin) to the substrate (D-alanyl-D-alanine terminus) outside the cell membrane because of which the active site of two bacterial enzymes (transglycosylase and transpeptidase) cannot align and bind to the substrate. This unique mechanism of action of vancomycin renders drug resistance by most bacteria difficult, unlike most other antibiotics (Reynolds, 1989). Vancomycin Usage Vancomycin is used to treat severe infections such as pneumonia, endocarditis, abscesses, and empyema caused by MRSA, and also for the treatment of patients allergic to cephalosporins and penicillins (Ouelette &... Significant information exists for vancomycin use in the hospital setting, but not so much for outpatient and use in the community setting. Challenges to proper usage of vancomycin may be caused due to lack of patient education, minimal studies in relation to patient education and improper compliance with best practice guidelines. Healthcare workers can sometimes lack proper understanding on correct dosage for patients. After extensive literature review, it is clear that improper preventive application or incorrect utilization of vancomycin may lead to the increased incidence of vancomycin resistant bacteria. It is thus imperative for healthcare institutions, healthcare workers and patients to comply with best practices regarding treatment with vancomycin as it is one of the few remaining antibiotics that can be used for the treatment of infections with multiple drug resistant bacteria or in patients with allergies to other common antibacterial agents.

Moduation Techniques | An Overview

Moduation Techniques | An Overview The evolution of wireless cellular technology from 1G to 4G has a similar aim that is capable to deliver high data rate signal so that it can transmit high bit rate multimedia content in cellular mobile communication. Thus, it has driven many researches into the application of higher order modulations. One of the focuses of this project is to study and compare the different types of Digital Modulation technique that widely being used in the LTE systems. Hence, before being able to design and evaluate this in computer simulation. A study is carried out on digital modulation and drilled down further on QPSK modulation schemes, and followed by the QAM modulation schemes. What is modulation? There are several definitions on modulation taken from several references as follows: Modulation is defined as the process by which a carrier wave is able to carry the message or digital signal (series of ones and zeroes). Modulation is the process of facilitating the transfer of information over a medium. Voice cannot be sent very far by screaming. To extend the range of sound, we need to transmit it through a medium other than air, such as a phone line or radio. The process of converting information (voice in this case) so that it can be successfully sent through a medium (wire or radio waves) is called modulation. Modulation is the process of varying a carrier signal, typically a sinusoidal signal, in order to use that signal to convey information. One of the three key characteristics of a signal is usually modulated: its phase, frequency or amplitude. There are 2 types of modulations: Analog modulation and digital modulation. In analog modulation, an information-bearing analog waveform is impressed on the carrier signal for transmission whereas in digital modulation, an information-bearing discrete-time symbol sequence (digital signal) is converted or impressed onto a continuous-time carrier waveform for transmission. 2G wireless systems are realized using digital modulation schemes. Why Digital Modulation? The move to digital modulation provides more information capacity, compatibility with digital data services, higher data security, better quality communications, and quicker system availability. Developers of communications systems face these constraints: available bandwidth permissible power inherent noise level of the system The RF spectrum must be shared, yet every day there are more users for that spectrum as demand for communications services increases. Digital modulation schemes have greater capacity to convey large amounts of information than analog modulation schemes. Different types of Digital Modulation As mentioned in the previous chapter, there are three major classes of digital modulation techniques used for transmission of digitally represented data: Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) Phase Shift Keying (PSK) All convey data by changing some aspect of a base signal, the carrier wave (usually a sinusoid) in response to a data signal. For ASK, FSK, and PSK the amplitude, frequency and phase are changed respectively. Bit rate and symbol rate To understand and compare different PSK and QAM modulation format efficiencies, it is important to first understand the difference between bit rate and symbol rate. The signal bandwidth for the communications channel needed depends on the symbol rate, not on the bit rate. Bit rate is the frequency of a system bit stream. Take, for example, a radio with an 8 bit sampler, sampling at 10 kHz for voice. The bit rate, the basic bit stream rate in the radio, would be eight bits multiplied by 10K samples per second or 80 Kbits per second. (For the moment we will ignore the extra bits required for synchronization, error correction, etc.). A Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) signal. The states can be mapped to zeros and ones. This is a common mapping, but it is not the only one. Any mapping can be used. The symbol rate is the bit rate divided by the number of bits that can be transmitted with each symbol. If one bit is transmitted per symbol, as with BPSK, then the symbol rate would be the same as the bit rate of 80 Kbits per second. If two bits are transmitted per symbol, as in QPSK, then the symbol rate would be half of the bit rate or 40 Kbits per second. Symbol rate is sometimes called baud rate. Note that baud rate is not the same as bit rate. These terms are often confused. If more bits can be sent with each symbol, then the same amount of data can be sent in a narrower spectrum. This is why modulation formats that are more complex and use a higher number of states can send the same information over a narrower piece of the RF spectrum. Phase Shift Keying (PSK) PSK is a modulation scheme that conveys data by changing, or modulating, the phase of a reference signal (i.e. the phase of the carrier wave is changed to represent the data signal). A finite number of phases are used to represent digital data. Each of these phases is assigned a unique pattern of binary bits; usually each phase encodes an equal number of bits. Each pattern of bits forms the symbol that is represented by the particular phase. There are two fundamental ways of utilizing the phase of a signal in this way: By viewing the phase itself as conveying the information, in which case the demodulator must have a reference signal to compare the received signals phase against; (PSK) or By viewing the change in the phase as conveying information differential schemes, some of which do not need a reference carrier (to a certain extent) (DPSK). A convenient way to represent PSK schemes is on a constellation diagram. This shows the points in the Argand plane where, in this context, the real and imaginary axes are termed the in-phase and quadrature axes respectively due to their 90 ° separation. Such a representation on perpendicular axes lends itself to straightforward implementation. The amplitude of each point along the in-phase axis is used to modulate a cosine (or sine) wave and the amplitude along the quadrature axis to modulate a sine (or cosine) wave. In PSK, the constellation points chosen are usually positioned with uniform angular spacing around a circle. This gives maximum phase-separation between adjacent points and thus the best immunity to corruption. They are positioned on a circle so that they can all be transmitted with the same energy. In this way, the moduli of the complex numbers they represent will be the same and thus so will the amplitudes needed for the cosine and sine waves. Two common examples are binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) which uses two phases, and quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) which uses four phases, although any number of phases may be used. Since the data to be conveyed are usually binary, the PSK scheme is usually designed with the number of constellation points being a power of 2. Applications of PSK and QAM Owing to PSKs simplicity, particularly when compared with its competitor quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), it is widely used in existing technologies. The most popular wireless LAN standard, IEEE 802.11b, uses a variety of different PSKs depending on the data-rate required. At the basic-rate of 1 Mbit/s, it uses DBPSK. To provide the extended-rate of 2 Mbit/s, DQPSK is used. In reaching 5.5 Mbit/s and the full-rate of 11 Mbit/s, QPSK is employed, but has to be coupled with complementary code keying. The higher-speed wireless LAN standard, IEEE 802.11g has eight data rates: 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48 and 54 Mbit/s. The 6 and 9 Mbit/s modes use BPSK. The 12 and 18 Mbit/s modes use QPSK. The fastest four modes use forms of quadrature amplitude modulation. The recently-standardised Bluetooth will use p / 4-DQPSK at its lower rate (2 Mbit/s) and 8-DPSK at its higher rate (3 Mbit/s) when the link between the two devices is sufficiently robust. Bluetooth 1 modulates with Gaussian minimum shift keying, a binary scheme, so either modulation choice in version 2 will yield a higher data-rate. A similar technology, ZigBee (also known as IEEE 802.15.4) also relies on PSK. ZigBee operates in two frequency bands: 868-915MHz where it employs BPSK and at 2.4GHz where it uses OQPSK. Notably absent from these various schemes is 8-PSK. This is because its error-rate performance is close to that of 16-QAM it is only about 0.5dB better but its data rate is only three-quarters that of 16-QAM. Thus 8-PSK is often omitted from standards and, as seen above, schemes tend to jump from QPSK to 16-QAM (8-QAM is possible but difficult to implement). QPSK QPSK is a multilevel modulation techniques, it uses 2 bits per symbol to represent each phase. Compared to BPSK, it is more spectrally efficient but requires more complex receiver. Constellation Diagram for QPSK The constellation diagram for QPSK with Gray coding. Each adjacent symbol only differs by one bit. Sometimes known as quaternary or quadriphase PSK or 4-PSK, QPSK uses four points on the constellation diagram, equispaced around a circle. With four phases, QPSK can encode two bits per symbol, shown in the diagram with Gray coding to minimize the BER twice the rate of BPSK. Figure 2.5 depicts the 4 symbols used to represent the four phases in QPSK. Analysis shows that this may be used either to double the data rate compared to a BPSK system while maintaining the bandwidth of the signal or to maintain the data-rate of BPSK but halve the bandwidth needed. Four symbols that represents the four phases in QPSK Although QPSK can be viewed as a quaternary modulation, it is easier to see it as two independently modulated quadrature carriers. With this interpretation, the even (or odd) bits are used to modulate the in-phase component of the carrier, while the odd (or even) bits are used to modulate the quadrature-phase component of the carrier. BPSK is used on both carriers and they can be independently demodulated. As a result, the probability of bit-error for QPSK is the same as for BPSK: However, with two bits per symbol, the symbol error rate is increased: If the signal-to-noise ratio is high (as is necessary for practical QPSK systems) the probability of symbol error may be approximated: As with BPSK, there are phase ambiguity problems at the receiver and differentially encoded QPSK is more normally used in practice. As written above, QPSK, are often used in preference to BPSK when improved spectral efficiency is required. QPSK utilizes four constellation points, each representing two bits of data. Again as with BPSK the use of trajectory shaping (raised cosine, root raised cosine etc) will yield an improved spectral efficiency, although one of the principle disadvantages of QPSK, as with BPSK, is the potential to cross the origin, that will generate 100% AM. QPSK is also known as a method for transmitting digital information across an analog channel. Data bits are grouped into pairs, and each pair is represented by a particular waveform, called a symbol, to be sent across the channel after modulating the carrier. QPSK is also the most commonly used modulation scheme for wireless and cellular systems. Its because it does not suffer from BER degradation while the bandwidth efficiency is increased. The QPSK signals are mathematically defined as: Implementation of QPSK QPSK signal can be implemented by using the equation stated below. The symbols in the constellation diagram in terms of the sine and cosine waves used to transmit them is being written below: This yields the four phases p/4, 3p/4, 5p/4 and 7p/4 as needed. As a result, a two-dimensional signal space with unit basis functions The first basis function is used as the in-phase component of the signal and the second as the quadrature component of the signal. Therefore, the signal constellation consists of the signal-space 4 points The factors of 1/2 show that the total power is divide evenly among the two carriers. QPSK systems can be implemented in a few ways. First, the dual data stream is divided into the in-phase and quadrature-phase components. These are then independently modulated onto two orthogonal basis functions. In this implementation, two sinusoids are used. Next, the two signals are superimposed, and the resulting signal is the QPSK signal. Polar non-return-to-zero encoding is also being used. These encoders can be located before for binary data source, but have been located after to illustrate the theoretical dissimilarity between digital and analog signals concerned with digital modulation. The matched filters can be substituted with correlators. Each detection device uses a reference threshold value to conclude whether a 1 or 0 is detected. Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is both an analog and a digital modulation scheme. It is a modulation scheme in which two sinusoidal carriers, one exactly 90degrees out of phase with respect to the other, which are used to transmit data over a given physical channel. Because the orthogonal carriers occupy the same frequency band and differ by a 90degree phase shift, each can be modulated independently, transmitted over the same frequency band, and separated by demodulation at the receiver. For a given available bandwidth, QAM enables data transmission at twice the rate of standard pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) without any degradation in the bit error rate (BER). QAM and its derivatives are used in both mobile radio and satellite communication systems. The modulated waves are summed, and the resulting waveform is a combination of both phase-shift keying (PSK) and amplitude-shift keying, or in the analog case of phase modulation (PM) and amplitude modulation. In the digital QAM case, a finite number of at least two phases and at least two amplitudes are used. PSK modulators are often designed using the QAM principle, but are not considered as QAM since the amplitude of the modulated carrier signal is constant. In 16 QAM 4 different phases and 4 different amplitudes are used for a total of 16 different symbols. This means such a coding is able to transmit 4bit per second. 64-QAM yields 64 possible signal combinations, with each symbol representing six bits (2^6 = 64). The yield of this complex modulation scheme is that the transmission rate is six times the signaling rate. This modulation format produces a more spectrally efficient transmission. It is more efficient than BPSK, QPSK or 8PSK while QPSK is the same as 4QAM. Another variation is 32QAM. In this case there are six I values and six Q values resulting in a total of 36 possible states (66=36). This is too many states for a power of two (the closest power of two is 32). So the four corner symbol states, which take the most power to transmit, are omitted. This reduces the amount of peak power the transmitter has to generate. Since 25 = 32, there are five bits per symbol and the symbol rate is one fifth of the bit rate. The current practical limits are approximately 256QAM, though work is underway to extend the limits to 512 or 1024 QAM. A 256QAM system uses 16 I-values and 16 Q-values giving 256 possible states. Since 2^8 = 256, each symbol can represent eight bits. A 256QAM signal that can send eight bits per symbol is very spectrally efficient. However, there is some drawbacks, the symbols are very close together and are thus more subject to errors due to noise and distortion. Such a signal may have to be transmitted with extra power (to effectively spread the symbols out more) and this reduces power efficiency as compared to simpler schemes. BPSK uses 80 K symbols-per-second sending 1 bit per symbol. A system using 256QAM sends eight bits per symbol so the symbol rate would be 10 K symbols per second. A 256QAM system enables the same amount of information to be sent as BPSK using only one eighth of the bandwidth. It is eight times more bandwidth efficient. However, there is a drawback too. The radio becomes more complex and is more susceptible to errors caused by noise and distortion. Error rates of higher-order QAM systems such as this degrade more rapidly than QPSK as noise or interference is introduced. A measure of this degradation would be a higher Bit Error Rate (BER). In any digital modulation system, if the input signal is distorted or severely attenuated the receiver will eventually lose symbol clock completely. If the receiver can no longer recover the symbol clock, it cannot demodulate the signal or recover any information. With less degradation, the symbol clock can be recovered, but it is noisy, and the symbol locations themselves are noisy. In some cases, a symbol will fall far enough away from its intended position that it will cross over to an adjacent position. The I and Q level detectors used in the demodulator would misinterpret such a symbol as being in the wrong location, causing bit errors. In the case of QPSK, it is not as efficient, but the states are much farther apart and the system can tolerate a lot more noise before suffering symbol errors. QPSK has no intermediate states between the four corner-symbol locations so there is less opportunity for the demodulator to misinterpret symbols. As a result, QPSK requires less transmitt er power than QAM to achieve the same bit error rate. Implementation of QAM First, the incoming bits are encoded into complex valued symbols. Then, the sequence of symbols is mapped into a complex baseband waveform. For implementation purposes, each complex multiplication above corresponds to 4 real multiplications. Besides, and will be the real and imaginary parts of = + iand assume that the symbols are generated as real and imaginary parts (as opposed to magnitude and phase, for example). After being derived, we will get and. From (1), x (t) becomes. This can be understand as two parallel PAM systems, followed by double-sideband modulation by quadrature carriers and. This realization of QAM is called double-sideband quadrature-carrier (DSB-QC) modulation. A QAM receiver must first demodulate the received waveform y(t). Assuming the scaling and receiver time reference discussed before, this received waveform is assumed to be simply y(t) = x(t) + n(t). Here, it is being understood that there is no noise, so that y(t) is simply the transmitted waveform x(t). The first task of the receiver is to demodulate x(t) back to baseband. This is done by multiplying the received waveform by both and. The two resulting waveforms are each filtered by a filter with impulse response q(t) and then sampled at T spaced intervals. The multiplication by at the receiver moves the positive frequency part of x(t) both up and down in frequency by, and does the same with the negative frequency part. It is assumed throughout that both the transmit pulse p(t) and the receive pulse q(t) are in fact baseband waveforms relative to the carrier frequency (specifically, that and for). Thus the result of multiplying the modulated waveform x(t) by yields a response at baseband and also yields responses around and. The receive filter q(t) then eliminates the double frequency terms. The effect of the multiplication can be seen by both at transmitter and receiver from the following trigonometric identity: Thus the receive filter q(t) in the upper (cosine) part of the demodulator filters the real part of the original baseband waveform, resulting in the output Assuming that the cascade g(t) of the filters p(t) and q(t) is ideal Nyquist, the sampled output retrieves the real part of the original symbols without intersymbol interference. The filter q(t) also rejects the double frequency terms. The multiplication by similarly moves the received waveform to a baseband component plus double carrier frequency terms. The effect of multiplying by at both transmitter and receiver is given by Again, (assuming that p(t) * q(t) is ideal Nyquist) the filter q(t) in the lower (sine) part of the receiver retrieves the imaginary components of the original symbols without intersymbol interference. Finally, from the identity, there is no crosstalk at baseband between the real and imaginary parts of the original symbols. It is important to go through the above argument to realize that the earlier approach of multiplying u(t) by for modulation and then by for demodulation is just a notationally more convenient way of doing the same thing. Working with sines and cosines is much more concrete, but is messier and makes it harder to see the whole picture. Modulation and transmission of QAM In general, the modulated signal can be represented by Where the carrier cos(wct) is said to be amplitude modulated if its amplitude is adjusted in accordance with the modulating signal, and is said to be phase modulated if (t) is varied in accordance with the modulating signal. In QAM the amplitude of the baseband modulating signal is determined by a(t) and the phase by (t). The in phase component I is then given by This signal is then corrupted by the channel. In this case is the AWGN channel. The received signal is then given by Where n(t) represents the AWGN, which has both the in phase and the quadrature component. It is this received signal which will be attempted to demodulate. Reference Fundamentals of Communication SystemsDescription: http://i.cmpnet.com/dspdesignline/2008/07/image046.gif, by John G. Proakis, Masoud Salehi Description: http://i.cmpnet.com/dspdesignline/2008/07/image046.gif Cross-layer resource allocation in wireless communications: techniques and Models from PHY and MAC Layer Interactionby Ana I. Pà ©rez-Niera, Marc Realp Campalans Digital Communication: Third Edition, by John R. Barry, Edward A. Lee, David G. Messerschmit OFDM for wireless multimedia communications by Richard Van Nee, Ramjee Prasad Modern Quadrature Amplitude Modulation by W.T Webb and L.Hanzo Digital Signal Processing in Communication Systems by Marvin E.Frerking COPD: a Clinical Case Study COPD: a Clinical Case Study Jerry Corners Introduction Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the fifth leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the UK and fourth in the world (Hurd 2000; Soriano 2000). Though other causes exist, like genetics and environmental pollution, tobacco smoke is by far the leading etiology of this disease (Pride 2002). It may seem axiomatic that if cigarette smoking is the cause of COPD, cessation (or avoidance) of smoking is the prevention. However, despite extensive public education, smoking is still common among men and women in the UK and even when people do quit, relapse within the first year is common (Lancaster et al. 2006). Therefore our attention as caregivers needs to be focused upon methods of cessation that produce lasting results. To illustrate the diagnosis, management, both short- and long-term, and what Mike can expect from treatment as reflected in the medical literature, we present the following case. Pathophysiology of COPD COPD is a chronic disease in which decreased airflow is related to airway smooth muscle hypereactivity due to an abnormal inflammatory reaction. Inhalation of tobacco products causes airway remodeling, resulting ultimately in emphysema and chronic bronchitis (Srivastava, Dastidar, Ray 2007). COPD is a complex inflammatory disease that affects both lung airways and lung parenchyma. The modern focus of the pathophysiology of COPD is centered around this inflammation and it is now recognized that systemic inflammation is responsible for many of the extrapulmonary effects of cigarette smoke inhalation (Heaney, Lindsay, McGarvey 2007). The Clinical Case Study Diagnosis Mike is a 54 year old, self-employed grandfather who smokes 40 cigarettes daily. He was recently diagnosed with COPD based on an FEV1 of 66% of predicted (Halpin 2004). According to Halpin (2004), â€Å"There are still no validated severity assessment tools that encompass the multidimensional nature of the disease, and we therefore continue to recommend using FEV1 as a percentage of the predicted as a marker of the severity of airflow obstruction, but acknowledge that this may not reflect the impact of the disease in that individual. We have changed the FEV1 cut off points and these now match those in the updated GOLD and new ATS/ERS guidelines, although the terminology is slightly different: an FEV1 of 50–80% predicted constitutes mild airflow obstruction, 30–49% moderate airflow obstruction, and According to these criteria, Mike has mild airflow obstruction and will be treated accordingly. But no matter what stage he is at or what pharmacologic interventions are prescribed, we are nevertheless obliged to offer this patient access to an effective nicotine cessation program while in hospital. Treatment Acutely, the mainstays of treatment for Mike’s level of disease are inhalation and possibly oral therapy along with pulmonary rehabilitation (Cote Celli 2005;Paz-Diaz et al. 2007). Of course underlying bronchpulmonary infection is treated with appropriate anitmicrobial therapy. Inhalation and Oral Therapy Bronchodilators Of the three classes of bronchodilator therapy, ÃŽ ²-agonists, anticholinergic drugs and methylxanthines, all appear to work by relaxation of the airway smooth muscles, which allows emptying of the lung and increased tidal volume, with an increase in FEV1 with increase in the total lung volume and dyspnea, subjective air-hunger, significantly improved, especially during exercise (Celli Macnee 2004c). Combining short- and long-acting bronchodilators appears to improve lung function better than either alone, and so Mike will be treated with a combination of salbutamol and (albuterol)/ipratropium. There are many other agents that could be used that have shown to be effective in mild disease, such as Mike’s (Celli Macnee 2004b). Corticosteroids Inflammation is often part of the acute phase of COPD exacerbations and therefore part of Mike’s therapy will be inhaled corticosteroids. Many studies have shown that inhaled corticosteroids produce at least some improvement in FEV1 and ventilatory capacity. It is often necessary for a trial of medication to confirm that a given patient will respond to inhaled corticosteroid treatment (Celli Macnee 2004a). Ries ( 2007) claims that inhaled corticosteroids have become the standard of care for patients with COPD, in all phases of severity (Salman et al. 2003). Mike will be offered inhaled corticosteroids. Pulmonary Rehabilitation According to a statement of the American Thoracic Society, â€Å"[Pulmonary rehabilitation is] a multidisciplinary programme of care for patients with chronic respiratory impairment that is individually tailored and designed to optimise physical and social performance and autonomy†. The Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program Exercise Garrod ( 2007) has shown convincing evidence that exercise significantly modifies systemic inflammation, as measured by CRP and IL-6 levels, that plays such an important role in the pathogenesis of COPD. But rather than target just the pulmonary musculature, Sin et al. ( 2007) have suggested that the skeletal muscle dysfunction and reduced exercise tolerance, which are important extrapulmonary manifestations of COPD, could in fact be due to the systemic inflammation that is important in COPD. Therefore, Mike will be placed on a regimen of weight training designed to improve his over all muscle strength. In addition he will be offered aerobic exercise treadmill sessions to improve his exercise tolerance, similar to cardiac rehabilitation (Leon et al. 2005). Nutritional Support General nutritional status is related to COPD severity (Budweiser et al. 2007;Ischaki et al. 2007) and mortality (Felbinger Suchner 2003). The cachexia of COPD is a common sign of end-stage pulmonary disease. Mike has mild disease and would not be expected to be suffering from malnutrition. However, an evaluation by a nutritionist and possible early correction of any deficits are part of his pulmonary rehabilitation. Psychological Support Depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms are valid indicators of psychological distress in COPD (Hynninen et al. 2005) and quality of life (Arnold et al. 2006), two very important nursing issues. Much of the psychological distress is related to a sense of personal control because the illness, especially in its late stages, is so often accompanied by a feeling of loss of control in one’s life. Mike is still self-employed and with his mild impairment, he is not likely to be feeling these issues, yet. However caregivers need to be acutely aware that his quality of life may depend upon recognition and early intervention in the future (Gudmundsson et al. 2006;Oga et al. 2007). To that end he will have a psychological evaluation while in hospital to screen for depression or anxiety symptoms. Educational Support There are many areas that are very important to Mike as he goes through his pulmonary rehabilitation. In an initial interview, he needs to know what he can and cannot expect from treatment. He needs a person to explain that the damage done so far is not reversible but that there are many treatments available that will allow him to live a good life, if he stops further cigarette use. Issues of promoting a healthy lifestyle, muscle wasting and psychological adjustment are all treatable with information, when it is presented in a sympathetic, firm, supportive atmosphere. Mike needs to know what to expect in the future, if he is able to quit smoking, and if he does not quit smoking. He may not like to hear the truth, but his quality of life will benefit in the years to come from a clear, honest educational program. In addition Mike needs to understand that he may have exacerbations from time to time and that early intervention by his generalist or pulmonologist are mandatory to avoid more serious consequences. Education that stresses the value of a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise according to the regimen established in hospital, is very important. Also, education can help considerably in preventing the wasting that, though probably not present now, may become important in the future. Smoking Cessation No subject in the COPD literature is more clear than the need for immediate cessation of exposure to all cigarette smoke; and, no subject is more frustrating to caregiver and patient alike, at least in those instances where there is poor compliance with the cigarette smoke proscription. We will explore with Mike some of the recommended strategies to accomplish this sometimes elusive, if vitally necessary goal. Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) A recent article by West, et al. ( 2007) reported a prospective study of NRT that was large (2009 smokers), multicultural, involving smokers from the US, UK, Canada, France, and Spain, and of sufficient duration to render generalizable (â€Å"real world†) results. They concluded that NRT helps smokers’ cessation attempts and long-term abstinence rates. However, the 6% improvement rate was not large and this form of cessation therapy should be reserved for those who have tried and failed other methods or programmes. There are many forms of NRT, including nasal and oral nicotine sprays, gum, and patches of varying dosages, currently on the market, but whether they have significant one-year success rates over counselling is an arguable point in the literature. Since Mike now smokes 40 cigarettes daily, he will be offered the 15mg nicotine patch to help for the initial 20 weeks of cessation. Bupropion Therapy Buproprion is a dopamine agonist that has antidepressant effects but is also marketed as a smoking cessation agent. In a study comparing the nicotine patch with buproprion and controls (counselling only) by Uyar, et al. (Uyar et al. 2007), reported success of 26 % for the nicotine patch, 26% for buproprion, and 16% for counselling-only at the end of 24 weeks. As an interesting aside, they reported that those who had a Beck depression inventory above 13, i.e. were depressed at the onset of the study, were unsuccessful regardless of treatment or control group. However, because of the small numbers of smokers involved, there was no statistically significant difference between these groups. The authors conclude that counselling is as effective for cessation attempts as these pharmacologic treatments, and there are no known side effects of being in a control group. However, other studies (Tonnesen et al. 2003) have shown a significant effect of bupropion over placebo. Internet-Based Assistance Various groups have tried using an interactive website to help smokers stop smoking. Unfortunately they have yet to show significant positive findings. All that can be said about them is that the more often the smoker logs on to the site, the better his chances are that he will be successful (Japuntich et al. 2006;Mermelstein Turner 2006;Pike et al. 2007). Nurse-Conducted Behavioral Intervention In the UK Tonnesen et al. (Tonnesen, Mikkelsen, Bremann 2006) found that a combination of nurse-based counselling in conjunction with NRT in patients with COPD was more effective than placebo at 6 and 12 months. As one can readily imagine, there are a plethora of cessation strategies available to assist people in smoking cessation. However, there is no â€Å"silver bullet†, i.e. one method that fits everybody. It comes down to proper motivation, which we believe is related to education and perhaps other factors. All we can really be sure of is of that those who try, many will be successful, and try, try, again seems to be the best advice we can offer. But the most important lesson we can learn is to prevent use of this harmful and addictive substance in the first place. Teenage smoking prevalence is around 15% in developing countries and around 26% in the UK and US. Studies have shown that those who make it past 20 years of age are much less likely to succumb to this addiction (Grimshaw Stanton 2006). Conclusion Assuming Mike ceases to smoke cigarettes, and given a regimen of exercise appropriate to his physical functioning, and with a detailed and robust COPD rehabilitation programme, his prognosis is excellent. By far the most challenging days are yet to come as Mike begins to feel better and the educational materiel fades from his mind. Many smokers return to their fatal habit within a year. Many, though perhaps not all, could benefit from periodic follow-up sessions with a motivational nurse-counselor. 1902 words not counting references References Arnold, R., Ranchor, A. V., Koeter, G. H., de Jongste, M. J., Wempe, J. 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Medication versus motivation, Saudi.Med.J., vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 922-926. West, R. Zhou, X. 2007, Is nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation effective in the real world? Findings from a prospective multinational cohort study, Thorax. Page 1 of 11 Is Power the Same as Violence? Is Power the Same as Violence? Huang Li Introduction For a long time in history, the coercive side that power involves and the destructive results that power rivalry brings have all along depicted power as horrible and deterrent. It has been viewed as closely related to force and violence, or to a large extent very similar. It is only until the time of modern democratic societies that the meaning of power is gradually enriched with the increasing role of rational recognition in power relations. This essay intends to show that power is not the same as violence; it is more than that because of the most fundamental difference: rational recognition. Power is not only composed of coercive force that resembles violence, more importantly it involves the force of social recognition which violence is short of. Power is a mutually regulated communicative process rather than simply exercised by the powerful over the powerless. After identifying some basic differences between power and violence, this essay will focus on the discussion of power and power relations, to explore the major difference between power and violence rational recognition and why it is so. On one hand, it will show that power can create violence and it consists of coercive elements by demonstrating why power is not a one-way event; on the other hand, this essay will proof why power is more of mutual constraint that rational recognition and willingness of acceptance from others can identify power from violence. Scholars like Weber views power as means than ends, backed by violence, threat or inducement; Mann illustrates power as resources that can be occupied; Parsons and Foucault both intend to reconstruct power but still proceed in the realm of violence theory. This essay mostly follows the ideas of Honneth, Arendt, and Habermas, but attempts to avoid another extreme of equalizing power to purely power of rationality or power of consensus through communicative process. It sees power as a combination shaped by both coercive and rational forces, avoiding placing power in the opposite of violence since in history power has been devastating too and violence could be â€Å"an attempt to achieve justice† (Gilligan, 2000, 11). Basic Differences: Power Dependent on Numbers and Violence on Implements Arendt defines power in the context of groups of individuals, as â€Å"the human ability not just to act but to act in concert† (1972, 143). One individual alone does not generate power; power is the aggregate strength of all the individuals in a group. So the exercise of power is preconditioned with numbers. Unlike power, violence does not require numbers or groups in order to be violence. Rather, it depends on implements to â€Å"multiply strength, to a point at which they can replace it† (Arendt, 1972, 145), instead of becoming power. Violence is designed and applied for expanding one’s physical strength that it is totally instrumental and always a means for certain purpose; but power in itself can serve as an end. There is categorical distinction in this sense. Is Power a One-way Event? If violence is not the end, it is a â€Å"blinding rage that speaks through the body† (Gilligan, 2000, 55) and the hope of those who do not possess power. So violence could start from the powerless against the powerful, such as slaves against slave owners, or the ruled against the ruling. Such power relations see those in power as subjects and those under the power objects, to be controlled and manipulated. Power in such a one-way model is pillared by certain condition which is understood as its source. Mann identifies four sources of power: ideology, economy, military and politics (1970, 35) that people who occupy these resources will own power. A society is thus divided into two kinds of people in a one-way power structure. If the will of those in power is not executed, the ruled will be punished, possibly by violence, and they stand up to resist, with violence, for power. It is not difficult to reach the conclusion that in a binary opposition, power and violence can be cause and effect of each other and they are actually two sides of one coin. Derived from the Hobbesian proposition, it should be admitted that power do contain certain aspects of violence, historically or theoretically, when it is understood as something can be possessed like resources. However, what can be relied upon by the ruled class for their struggle if they don’t have any resources at all? In the case of ideology, any interpretation by the powerless will be meaningless and invalid, why would those in power necessitate oppressing and controlling them? Will there be any struggle inside the powerful and the powerless? Power is Mutually Agreed: Rational Recognition of Imbalance Clearly such violence-illustrated power is not the whole picture. Power is more than something can be owned and preserved; it only exists when is â€Å"exercised by some on others† (Foucault, 2003, 126) and will be â€Å"dispersed once the group ceases to exist† (Arendt, 1972, 143). Power is the â€Å"structural feature of human relations† (Elias, 1998, 188). Slaves have power over the slave owner too as long as they are valuable to him; their power depends on the degree to which their owner relies on them; so is the case between parents and children, and teachers and students. In reality, if an individual or group acquires the power to implement self will, such power is not fully discovered if the ruled do not acknowledge it; they do not just accept power, they make certain responses to it based on their own will. So power is not necessarily a unilateral process where one is dominated and controlled by the other; it exists in interdependence and mutual constraint among people with differentiated level of resources; it is both â€Å"pervasive and negotiated† (Gosling, 2007, 3). Not only will power be regulated and negotiated between the ruling and the ruled, but also within themselves. The former power relations are coercive because the power is legitimized by laws, regimes or organizations. The latter may be absent from these elements but power relations and interactions still takes place because some individuals will still tend to persuade and influence others in exchange for recognition of authoritative positions, through knowledge, money and pers onal network, in order to implement one’s own will and better response to such power relations at the â€Å" most micro levels† (michel-foucault.com). In fact, power relations at the micro level are where those power relations between hierarchies originate. At the very micro level, it is to a larger extent the power of rational recognition rather than the power of force that leads to certain power relations. Since interdependence always exists among people regardless of their power positions, power relation is a dynamicequilibrium and mutual power regulation is always there, even in the extreme case of slaves and slave owner. However if the power relations regulated by rational recognition are neglected, those based on them at the macro levels will be shaken. Although power relations are mutually regulated and communicative rational, the degrees of interdependence are different, which lead to unbalanced relationships among the players. In fact, power to some extend is just demonstrated by such imbalance; violence too is demonstrated in kind of imbalance; but power goes further if it is identified different as it means others’ recognition of such imbalance. When the imbalance is maintained in the form of pure coercive force, it is violence; when rational force is included, it starts to turn into power. Under any circumstance, power is the combination of both. Bifacial Nature of Power When examined under Habermas’s context, in the terms of â€Å"facts and norms†, power includes two dimensions as well, described as â€Å"facticity and validity†. The facticity dimension reveals the coercive nature of power that power, in any kind of form, potentially contains coercive forces in realizing goals and excluding all impediments. Such aspect of power is underpinned by violence or the threat of violence which exist as real and concrete facts. The other dimension is validity that refers to power’s tendency of gaining rational recognition from the others. Though the two dimensions coexist in power and so does the tensions between them, they are not always equally demonstrated. In a tyrannic society, power shows more coercive side of its nature whereas the power of rational recognition is more compelling in a democratic society. Violence Does Not Create Power but Destroys It As discussed so far, power involves elements of coercion and it can generate violence. But is it the case the other way around that violence can also produce power? In many scholars’ understanding, violence is viewed as a resource that â€Å"can be mobilized to enforce the compliance of others† (Ray, 2011, 13). Usually exercised by those in power, it creates the ability of an individual or group to achieve their own goals or aims even if others are trying to prevent them from realizing them. Thus violence is naturally seen as a source of power. However, is what one has gained by using violence, or what violence has created, truly power? When a government turns into violence against its own people or a foreign country, or an individual uses violence to acquire what is wanted, it is generally because power in their hand is running out and violence is the last resort. While such a government or individual does not lack means of violence, they are in fact in short of power; to be more accurate, they are lack of recognition of their wills by others. When violence as a resource is utilized against another, it not only consumes the resource itself but also diminishes what little power is left over. Violence is always the choice of the impotent, not the powerful. Viewed in this sense, violence only equals to coercive means regardless of other’s recognitions. It emerges when â€Å"social ensembles are incoherent, fragmented and decadent† (Wieviorka, 2009, 165). Therefore, as violence â€Å"inevitably destroys power, it can never generate power† (Arendt 1972, 152). There is no â€Å"continuity between obedience to command (the enactment of power) and obedience to law (as legitimate authority)† (Ray, 2011, 13). A government that solely relies on violence has no power and â€Å"tyranny is both the least powerful and the most violent form of government† (Arendt, 1972, 140). Reproduction of Power and Violence In the past, power is largely associated with gains of interests, or occupation of social resources like those identified by Michael Mann. In Honneth’s Struggle for Recognition, he reveals the â€Å"force of recognition† behind power. Once this point is taken into consideration, the reproduction of power will no longer be just about violent competition, or rivalry for social resources, rather, the willingness of others to acknowledge and accept. Arendt insists that violence does not give rise to power because she believes that social recognition is missed in violence. When power is taken as a combination of coercive and rational forces, it may be understood as a relationship of mutual recognition among a group of people backed by the potential threats each have for others. Therefore, the reproduction of power naturally includes attempts of occupying as much resources as possible for greater coercive capability; it is indispensible and more important to gain recognition from others. If authoritative coercion is a source of power, it is not the only source. Rational recognition also generates power. So political power is not the potential capability to implement one’s own goals or realize one’s own interests, it relies on those over whom the power is exercised to define what power truly is. The power of a government is conferred through people’s recognition, or in another word, the coercive force of the government is agreed by the people. When applied at the micro level, it can also be stated that the power between individuals does not only arise in the lure of interests or in the constraint of violence, it rests in the one’s recognition of others’ will and authority over oneself. Only when such recognition exists, the will can be implemented without enforcement and power becomes power rather than violence. Right to the contrary, what violence concerned is how one’s own goals are reached through forceful means. Violence is always destructive but never constructive. Terrorist attacks do not increase the power of the terrorists, it grows intimidation and controls; meanwhile it gives the government power to do what it cannot do in the past and to expand its sphere of influence. Violence reinforces state power and makes more violence necessary in order to maintain and reproduce violence. Conclusion When power is perceived under violence theory, man is to be controlled and manipulated, instrumentalized in a subject-object relationship which is all about one trying to dominate the other in struggles for power resources, in order to preserve power and oppress others from grabbing it. Power in that sense equals to violence, which is observed throughout history. While power will fail should it be not supported by forceful and compulsory means, it is not sufficient to have these only. What cannot be overlooked is an â€Å"infinitely complex network of ‘micropowers’, of power relations that permeate every aspect of social life† (Sheridan 1980: 139). Where rational recognition also creates power, power can be compellent but not violent simultaneously. Thus, viewed in a rational context, man becomes a dialogue partner with the coexistence of competition, compromise and cooperation. Mutual regulation and interdependence is the one of the features of such power relationship and mutual understanding and respect is part of the foundation of power reproduction. Recognition of imbalance between people, particularly from those over whom power is exercised, legitimizes power and differentiates it from violence. Power and violence are not the same; the former is more than the latter. Power â€Å"cannot be overthrown and acquired once and for all by the destruction of institutions and the seizure of state apparatuses† (Sheridan 1980: 139). Unlike violence, power is not unitary and its exercise binary; it is interactive; a very important part of power struggle is the rivalry for recognition. In modern democratic societies, the violence aspect of power is decreasing and increasingly giving way to the role of rational recognition in shaping power. The major resources of power is no longer just about military or economy of one’s own capability, it is more about how convincing it is for others to accept, and in the end, how well one’s power is recognized and received by others. Bibliography: Arendt, Hannah, (1972), â€Å"On Violence† inCrises of the Republic, New York: Harcourt Brace Company, pp. 103-184. Elias, Norbert, (1998), â€Å"On Civilization, Power, and Knowledge†, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, chapter 7. 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Ray, Larry, (2011), â€Å"Violence and Society†, London: Sage, pp. 6-23. Shabani, A. Payrow, (2004), â€Å"Habermas’Between Facts and Norms: Legitimizing Power?† available at: https://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/PoliShab.htm, last accessed on 6 Dec. 2014. Wieviorka, Michel, (2009), â€Å"Violence: A New Approach†, London: Sage, pp. 165.