Counseling Couples: The Complexity of Delicate Situations Essay

Abstract Love is patient and love is kind, according to Corinthians 13:4 yet more and more frequently couples find themselves at impasses not knowing which is better to stay together or to separate. Living in a society of our way right away, right away can present conflicts among couples especially when they each have different views on what is best for their relationship. To add more complexity, family units may be non-traditional or other elements such as substance abuse and infidelity are present, which results in the presence of additional stressors. Through careful intervention, respect for the family unit, and proven methodologies, couples counseling is an avenue that provides hope for preparation for those entering marriage or long-term relationships, while also providing redemption and restoration for those who desire to maintain current relationships. Introduction and History For many years psychologist have studied and expounded on the research of pioneers such as John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth who developed attachment theory, as well as, research conducted by Abraham Maslow, who determined that humans have a â€Å"need for belonging.† These pioneers set the foundation for understanding our humanistic desire to have a companion. Prior to these psychologist, the Bible reveals in Genesis 2 that Adam was lonely and for that reason, a â€Å"help mate† was created. Furthermore, according to Sandberg, Busby, Johnson, & Yoshida (2012), research has shown that even in adulthood, the presence of a significant other or partner can produce feelings of â€Å"security, relief, and other positive affects† whereas the absence of this  secure attachment produces avoidant and anxious behaviors. As individuals engage in relationships, spanning from basic acquaintances to commits such as marriage, there are times when communication, confidence, and c ommitment become difficult. Some situations lead couples to seek the intervention and expertise of counselors to assist in reconciling. Despite the troubles that couples encounter, Worthington, Lerner, and Sharp (2005) suggest that by utilizing counseling with the purpose of developing strong emotional bonds, couples have the ability to sustain long, healthy marriages. As unique as each individual is, so is each family unit or couple and it is important that therapist work within the systems that are presented, because on some occasions, the couple or family simply interacting within itself produces focus and accessibility of change (Chambless, Miklowitz, and Shoham, 2012). Counseling that promotes hope, forgiveness, better communication, conflict resolution, and build commitments, especially those encompassing Christ, leads to repair and reconciliation, which why most couples initially seek counseling (Worthington, Lerner, & Sharp, 2005). Major Topics in Couples Counseling Types of Relationships/ Couples As times have changed, so have couples. The family unit is often not the traditional mother, father, and 2.5 children, instead families are now composed of stepparents, stepchildren, and same-sex relationships. As Christian counselors, relationships may present that are not condoned, yet respected. Stark, Kirk, and Bruch (2012) offer that even though marriage his recently become a highly idealized commitment, the rates for cohabitation and the number of single parents continues to increase and become more acceptable. Marriage has become a voluntary institution (Stark, Kirk, & Bruch, 2012). In addition, the composition of marriages has changed as reported by the Williams Institute. In 2006, the institute studied same-sex couples reporting status and determined that â€Å"nationally, the number of same-sex couples who reported their status to the government increased 437 percent† (Swanson, 2007). Along with the increase of reporting same-sex couples, the number of blended families has increased as well. Gonzalez (2009) discusses that the couples that blend families often face more challenges, they are more overwhelmed, and they often feel increased  pressure to resolve issues quickly. Couples that form blended families are challenged with making the relationship with their partner work, while also with helping to shape and mold two separate entities into one family unit (Gonzalez, 2009). Blended families are also a progressively significant family arrangement that produces complex relationships and distinctive pressures for each of the family members (Shalay & Brownlee, 2007). Accordingly, there is an increasing likelihood that family counselor will encounter blended families more frequent who are seek therapeutic assistance (Shalay & Brownlee, 2007). Cultural Sensitivity Counseling couples requires awareness of various cultural belief systems that are important to both individuals, both individually and together. The perceptions of each individual determines their expectations of the relationship, therefore counselors have to be aware of cultures, beliefs, traditions, and even historical references to ensure that elements are being evaluated from the client’s perspective. Couples counseling incorporates cultural intervention that is consistent with the client’s belief system regarding healing and has the potential to effect a specified change (Sperry, 2010). Couples counselors should carefully focusing the treatment process based on the core cultural values of both of the individuals that comprise the couple (Sperry, 2010). Sperry (2010) states that there are three specific steps to cultural sensitivity; recognize the cultural identity, identify the family dynamics, and develop a cultural formation that frames the context of the issue. Parenthood One of the most challenging transitions that couples face is the transition to parenthood (PINQUART AND TEUBERT, 2010). During the expectation of a child, parents often become stressed with the required adjustments and often positive communication among couples decrease (Doss, Rhoades, Stanley, & Markman, 2009). For example, as reported by Pinquart and Teubert (2010, in a study conducted by Miller, Pallant & Negri (2006), 80% of first time mothers expressed mild symptoms of depression within the first weeks postpartum, while 10 to 30% of mothers developed clearly diagnosed clinical depression. Emotional and psychological distress of this magnitude may also have a  significantly negative effect on parenting behavior, such as sensitivity, investment in the child, overall parenting, and cooperation between parents (Foster, Garber, & Durlak, 2008). Couples experiencing such life changes often seek counseling to better understand each other, the stressors, and methods for making the tra nsition less problematic. Pinquart and Teubert (2010) showed that intervention that were solely couple focused, developed stronger efficacy on couple communication than pure prenatal or postnatal interventions, reminded the couple that they are the foundation of the relationship and conduits of change. Intimacy Most couples experience problems that are not understood, therefore couples therapist are often presented complaints that are the results of communication failures and conflicts that are directly related to the couples unfulfilled attachment needs (Solomon, 2009). Couples therapy attends to increase the awareness and recognition between partners of their needs and the relational paths that each partner has encountered (Solomon, 2009). In addition, couples therapy, from an attachment theory approach, attempts to help individual to move beyond what could become an endless cycle of shame and blame, and instead teach and shows them they can choose to stop acting defensively with each other (Solomon, 2009). When couples are experiencing issues, intimacy is most often affected, however through couples therapy, partners are helped to understand their dependence on one another in order to meet their needs for secure attachment through therapeutic process and are encouraged to express emotion s when attachment needs are discontented (Solomon, 2009). Solomon (2009) further concludes that â€Å"if the couple responds by utilizing and giving examples of the ways their past has played out in their current relationship, it becomes possible to accelerate the healing process†. Techniques and Interventions In the past decade, Christian couple therapy has increased and began to develop although slowly (Hook, Ripley, Worthington, & Davis, 2011). Each couple, each situation, and each counselor is unique, so competency of multiple interventions is required to accommodate the needs and goals determined by the couple. Of these techniques, the hope-focused approach (HFA) to couples counseling is encouraged among Christian counselors  (Worthington, Ripley, Hook, & Miller, 2007). The HFA is based on the premise that hope is a core Christian value and since Christ ordained marriage, hope is essential among couples (Worthington et al., 2007). The HFA provides couples with strategies for promoting change, offering mutual submission in love, restoration of faith in God and each other (Worthington, et al., 2007). An alternative counseling technique that is being successful utilized in couples counseling is Marriage Matters (Hook, Worthington, Hook, Miller, & Davis, 2011). Marriage Matters consists of a nine week or 18 hour workshop that is conducted three times per year according to Hook et al (2011). This program is designed to assist couples who desire to invest in their relationship as well as for couples who are experiencing marital difficulties. During each of the nine week workshops, couples learn from trained professionals about topics that are important for couples such as historical background, culture, becoming more empathic during dialogue, conflict resolution, intimacy, forgiveness, and numerous other topics (Hook, et al., 2011). Ethics Involved in Counseling Couples A cautiously compiled confidentiality agreement is essential when therapists agree to treat clients conjointly with their spouse or significant other (Bass & Quimby, 2006). Currently although there are not any ethical codes that directly indicate that conjoint counseling is considered unethical, increasing numbers of many organizations caution their members about the ethical disadvantages characteristic in doing so (Bass & Quimby, 2006). Consequently, counselors working with couples are probable, or perhaps even inevitable, to find themselves struggling with the issue and conflicts of one person’s right to privacy versus a partner or spouse’s right to obtain access to information relevant to their personal well-being (Bass & Quimby, 2006). Furthermore, there are additional concerns when the disclosures are related to illegal activities. According to Bass and Quimby (2006), an example of potential conflicts is when adultery has occurred in a relationship. Adultery is con sidered a crime in some states and as a result of keeping this information confidential, it is possible that a counselor could be accused or even charged with conspiracy or â€Å"alienation of  affection† (Bass & Quimby, 2006). Researchers further state, that although this charge is highly unlikely, some writers have argued that counselors must not condone illegal activity by keeping secrets. Ignorance of the law is not excusable therefore when engaging in such practice, counselors should be familiar with their state laws and ethical standards (Bass & Quimby, 2006). Couples counselors have a unique relationship with their clients due to being responsible developing multiple therapeutic relationships. As outlined in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT, 2012) code of ethics, counselors are responsible for ensuring that each counselee has been properly informed and consents to services, while also ensuring confidentiality is discussed and is understood by each participate. AAMFT Codes of Ethics, specifically outlines the expectations of counselors in regards to professionalism among couples, present and past. As well as safe handling of information and communication among counselees as well as third parties. The AAMFT and the American Counseling Association are very similar due to the nature of counseling. Biblical values Religion can be a significant source of marital and couple conflicts, especially if they do not share the same religious beliefs, however religion also proposes as a source of resolution among couples with common beliefs (Lambert & Dollahite, 2006). Research reveals that couples that participate in congruent religious practices such as public and private prayer as well as religious attendance, couples were more receptive to counseling with less negativity and values that focused on having and maintaining a caring, forgiving relationship (Lambert & Dollahite, 2006). Considering that God’s love abridges all of God’s commands, therefore a fitting appraisal of forgiveness is crucial for one to love in a way that pleases God and to help others in counseling situations (Cheong & DiBlasio, 2007). God’s love and forgiveness are inseparably connected all throughout Scripture and often amidst the pain and conflicts of couples is the need for resolution and forgiveness. The bible clearly defines marriage, the love shared among those married, as well as the sacredness of matrimony, and although as  Christians we cannot impose our thoughts and worldviews, according to the American Counseling Association Code of ethics, it is important that the elements are incorporated in counseling, especially with those who consent to Christian integration in sessions. Personal reflection I personally believe that couples counseling is important, especially premarital counseling. Although my husband and I dated for six years prior to getting married, we both found that premarital counseling, which is a requirement at our church, brought forth so many subjects that we had not discussed. The opportunity to learn God’s will for marriage and our expectations of each other, provided clarity that we can reflect to even now. Years into our marriage, counseling would definitely be a consideration if we even found ourselves in need of reconciliation and restoration. Annually, our church hosts sessions during the month of May that focuses on the family. Although this is not considered counseling for us directly, we have found that each year a new prospective, a new method of communicating, and a renewed relationship results from attendance of the sessions. Reflecting on these marriage building workshops and lessons, reassures me that with the desire to stay focused on Christ, our marriage can sustain, and we may even be models for others who are contemplating commitment. I believe that sometimes in the hustle and bustle of life, we can easily slip into routines and struggle to satisfy deadlines, which result in undue stress on relationships. Committing to reconnecting and taking personal time to show appreciation for each other is ideal and provides the support and recognition that although we may be busy, as a couple we are never too busy for each other. Furthermore, the same goes for our relationship with Christ, it is not enough to just be a c laim a relationship, instead works, devotion, praise, and worship are due to Him as a priority of our lives. While researching couples counseling the most interesting aspect that I discovered was the Hope Focused Approach (HFA). The methodology presented in HFA sparked an interest primarily because of the numerous step-by-step interventions that allow the counselor to be the facilitator, yet offering couples the opportunity and supports to reconnect. The opportunity to be a  conduit, a vessel, of restoration offers not only the couples hope, it also seems that it would provide counselors with the opportunity to see the magnificent power of Christ and his ability to make people, relationships, homes, families, and even churches whole. Christ offers to make all things new, it is up to us to follow him, forward. Incorporating the ethical expectations of a counseling professional presents as challenging. It is evident that when working with a couple, the amount of intervention, developing a relationship and rapport with both individuals, however remaining unbiased, and serving them as a couple seems initially difficult. However, it would be my privilege to be a vessel of Christ to assist couples to complete both premarital and martial counseling, as marriage is ordained by God, however staying rooted and grounded in the Word and maintaining the standards as outlined by the AAMFT and ACA subjects one to continued studying, devotion, and increasing competence as well as wisdom to address each couple genuinely. Conclusion According to Atkins et al. (2005), there have been numerous randomized clinical trials that confirms the effectiveness of couple therapy as well as the increase in relationship satisfaction after attending therapy. The research further outlines that although there are a number of options, methods, intervention, and treatments greater change in marital satisfaction is expressed among couples who attend direct approach therapy together (Atkins, et al., 2005). Despite these promising findings, there still remains a considerable number of couples that are not responsive to treatment and no correlations have been demonstrated that distinguish between those couples who respond to treatment and those who do not (Atkins et al., 2009). Further evaluations of couples therapy is required to guide treatment revisions that will make techniques more powerful and applicable to increase efficacy among couples according to Atkins et al (2009). References American Association of Christian Counselors, AACC Law & Ethics Committee. (2004). AACC Code of ethics: The Y2004 final code. Retrieved from: http://www.aacc.net/about-us/code-ofethics/ American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, AAMFT Ethics Committee. (2012). AAMFT Code of ethics. Retrieved from: http://www.aamft.org/imis15/content/legal_ethics/code_of_ethics.aspx Atkins, D.C, Berns, S.B., George, W. H., Doss, B.G, Gattis, K., Christensen, A. (2005). Prediction of response to treatment in a randomized clinical trial of marital therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73 (5), 893-903. Bass, B.A & Quimby, J.L. (2006). Addressing secrets in couples counseling: An alternative approach to informed consent. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 14, 77-80. Chambless, D.L., Miklowitz, D.J., Shoham, V. (2012) Beyond the patient: Couple and family therapy for individual problems. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 68 (5) 487-489. Cheong, R. K., & DiBlasio, F. A. (2007). Christ-like love and forgiveness: A biblical foundation for counseling practice. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 26(1), 14-25. Retriev ed from http://search.proquest.com/docview/237250982?accountid=12085 Doss, B. D., Rhoades, G. K., Stanley, S. M., & Markman, H. J. (2009). The effect of the transition to parenthood on relationship quality: An 8-year prospective study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 601–619. Gonzales, J. (2009). Prefamily counseling: Working with blended families. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 50 (2), 148-157. Hook, J. N., Ripley, J. S., Worthington, E. L., & Davis, D. E. (2011). Christian approaches for helping couples: Review of empirical research and recommendations for clinicians. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 30(3), 213-222. Hook, J. N., Worthington, E. L., Hook, J. P., Miller, B. T., & Davis, D. E. (2011). Marriage matters: A description and initial examination of a church-based marital education program. Pastoral Psychology, 60(6), 869-875. Lambert, N. & Dollahite, D. (2006). How religiosity helps couples prevent, resolve, and overcome martial conflict. Family Relations. 55 (4) 439-449 Miller, R. L., Pallant, J. F., & Negri, L. M. (2006). Anxiety and stress in the postpartum: Is there more to postnatal distress than depression? BMC Psychiatry, 6, 12. Pinquart, M, & Teubert, D. (2010). A meta-analytic study of couple intervention during the transition to parenthood. Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 59, 221-231 Sandberg, J.G., Busby, D.M., Johnson, S.M., Yoshida, K. (2012). The brief accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement scale: A tool for measuring attachment behavior in couple relationships. Family Process, 51 (4), 512-526. Shalay, N. & Brownlee, K. (2007). Narrative family therapy with blended families. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 18 (2), 17-30. Solomon, M.F. (2009). Attachment repair in couples therapy: A prototype of for treatment of intimate relationships. Clinical Social Work Journal. 37, 214-223. Sperry, L. (2010). Culture, personality, health, and family dynamics: Cultural competence in the selection of culturally sensitive treatments. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families. 18(3) 316-320. Stark, M.D., Kirk, A.M., & Bruhn, R. (2012). Generational differences as a determinant of women’s perspectives on commitment. Adultspan Journal. 11 (2), 112-122. Swanson, P. (2007). Study: More tell U.S. they’re gay partners. The Gazette. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/268288139?accountid=12085 Worthington, E.L., Ripley, J.S., Hook, J.N., Miller, A.J. (2007). The hope-focused approach to couple therapy and enrichment. Journal of Psychology and Christianity. 26 (2), 132-139. Worthington, E.L., Lerner, A.J., Sharp, C.B. (2005). Repairing the emotional bond: Marriage research from 1997 through early 2005. Journal of Psychology and Christianity. 24 (3), 259-262.

Poverty Vis Vis Development Education Essay

This tryst focuses on really intrinsic section in development surveies. Poverty is a immense issue which is literally being manifested around us, as we speak. The affair, is surely one which doesnt have any certainty in Numberss or world, but certainly plenty, we do n't cognize what disposition it could take to, due to the complexness in itself, and the ways in which it is connected in the old ages that follow. Surely, Poverty and Development are by strong belief interrelated constructs, and this could be seen in that fact that states are separated in developing and developed states when poorness is being measured. Besides harmonizing to Alan Thomas, poorness is an â€Å" antique concern † , while development could be most ascertained and associated with the 2nd half of the twentieth century, largely called the â€Å" ‘era of development †[ 1 ]. This period can besides be conceptualized as a post-war period, which gave rise to many factors which contributed chiefly to an enhanced developing procedure around the universe, which in bend affected poorness in legion ways which are unconceivable. One must foremost understand the definition and interrelation to development. When specifying poorness, undertaking the job is chiefly imperative, since it is per se a job for the universe as a whole that must be solved. There is although a general understanding on this, and harmonizing to the World Development 1990 study ; it connects the purpose of development with poorness: ‘Reducing poorness is the cardinal aim of economic development ‘[ 2 ] Alan Thomas in his book lineations that we must understand it as a environing fluctuation, and non merely a simple ameliorating alteration in society, it chiefly follows societal and single degrees, and in a sense it is a originative alteration. There is besides the distinguishable position that development could besides be conceptualized as attempts for betterment by bureaus[ 3 ]; which are chiefly divisible into international organisations and national 1s which chiefly transfer resources to assist these states.[ 4 ]One celebrated organisation is the International Committee of the Red Cross which protects non-combatants and military ground forcess in armed struggles chiefly for human-centered assistance[ 5 ] Poverty is a planetary issue which affects us all somehow or another and therefore one must understand such issue whether or non it involvements him or non. An of import point is that poorness has ever been present in one manner or another in a state, such as in Malta, where in the past decennary we have seen a rise in economic growing, but ahead Malta had high comparative poorness rates, which ranged from 10 % to 15 % of the households, which could be translated to 11,500 households that were hapless[ 6 ]still comparative poorness, carries on as one of the effects of inequality, but Malta has been maintaining comparative poorness at bay[ 7 ]and some argue that this occurred due to spread outing development and unequal distribution of wealth in societies, which characterized the divide between developed and developing states ; The term developing state is used for political rightness to do them sound less inferior to other states. In my sentiment poorness is truly an dismay to us all, since these people are portion of us, portion of one corporate group, that of human sort. It is truly a shame to see that 28 per centum of all kids in developing states are evaluated to be stunted due to the fact that they do non hold sufficient resources to supply for basic demands, that we all take for granted, such as nutrition and instruction ; and as a affair of fact 2.2 million kids die every twelvemonth since immunisation is non chiefly delivered, and over 22,000 kids die every twenty-four hours[ 8 ]mutely with no acknowledgment or attending whatsoever due to this atrociousness ; that is about a decease of a kid every 4 seconds, these are a few illustrations of how poverty manifests in our corrupt globalized society.[ 9 ] Poverty: Definition, Implication and the universe around us In order to give a specific significance to the word poorness, certainly it depends on the model of idea we have in our caputs ; that means, the construct, this can be seen in the fact that many conceptualize poorness in wholly differing ways, and therefore many have typical definitions of the word poorness. This differential conceptualizing of words which is ever go oning in us worlds, leads to the fact that people will finally cipher poorness through methods which are besides different in conformity with that construct at head[ 10 ] Poverty has been said to be conceptualised from the absolute to the relation for whom I am traveling to explicate farther on in this paper. From this sentence one can understand that there is an array of definitions around the universe. The most basic definition that many people acknowledge is the Subsistence poorness definition, where it will by and large set accent on the capacity to last[ 11 ]in the basic sense of it, we understand it as holding the basic necessities and demands that are needed to prolong human life and evidently growing ; these demands are most of the clip natural. This definition harmonizing to the book concerned, says that it will set confidence, on the measuring of poorness that it will give the smallest possible figure. One can besides state that the basic demands definition is a differential theoretical account of the subsistence one. Poverty is besides calculated through the day-to-day thermal consumption, which some argue that it is a bad manner to cipher poorness, because usually except in utmost fortunes, hapless people seldom die of famishment.[ 12 ] A individual needs nutrient non merely to assist him to populate life, but besides to continue a certain norm for himself with respects to nutrition. Particularly due to the fact that many malnutrition jobs accordingly lead to a meagre good health, and besides impacting work-capacity degrees. There were besides attempts in the past, such as the work of Seebohm Rowntree, that have managed to supply a list of all the necessary things a human being demands to prolong himself, subsistence so to talk.[ 13 ]In his book ‘Poverty – A survey of Town Life ‘ which was subsequently known as the sociological study[ 14 ]which was circulated in 1901, it shocked society wholly, by reasoning and explicating about the world of the horrifying characteristics of poorness that many people that at those times were sing. He was the first individual to make the phrase ‘poverty line ‘ , with his decision in his geographic expedition being that half of the working population wer e alive in poorness in some manner or another, although his theory fought many troubles. One of import find he made in those times, was that the shocking consequences reflected that many breadwinners were working, that was alright, but the chilling fact about this is that with the pay the normal breadwinner was entitled, could n't be plenty to care for the demands of the whole household. One really of import component of the whole study is that: â€Å" The belief that a adult male could supply for his household if he was thrifty and hard-working was shown to be false. †[ 15 ] Harmonizing to the article by ‘The Press ‘ , he had shown that hardworking in the Victorian ages, would n't do for the whole household since other sociological effects were impacting poorness in manner or another. Examples highlighted by Seebohm were that a household enjoyed one room on the whole, lesser nutrient quality and besides the fact they had many kids ; these factors affected poorness in those ages. Seebohm contributed a batch to society as a whole since the public assistance province was created later in the undermentioned centuries, many argue due to his work. Harmonizing to Paul Scaffer[ 16 ]in his papers, he outlines a wide construct of poorness, that it has been through a batch of alterations, he argues that there has been a wide displacement from the physiological theoretical account of want, which was chiefly focused on the natural demands of worlds, to pattern more focussed on societal facet of want, which is focused on nucleus societal facets such as ass urance, liberty on oneself, and self-esteem. Scaffer besides concludes that there is a certain nexus or connexion between the construct of exposure and its relationship to poorness, and that inequality places an of import function in set uping poorness deductions, particularly when mensurating poorness, since inequality can impact measurings rather drastically. In his paper he outlines assorted attacks to poverty such as the income attack, human poorness attack and the societal exclusion attack. Income Approach Scaffer argues that a individual is hapless if he is systematically deficient to hold entree to economic resources ; this attack is used a batch in economic sciences which conjugates two necessities – good being which represented in footings of tantamount income, and secondly income poorness line, which represents a demand adequateness degree[ 17 ]The hapless people are those who plummet below a certain standards with respects to this attack. Largely the income attack focuses on non-fulfillment of basic demands which basically of import for the well-being of a normal life individual. On the other manus, it is besides discussed that this income attack is sometimes non good in ciphering poorness, in that some have argued that there are other methods which would turn out better such the Capability-based income steps, in which the concentration is being focused on making an income step of capableness poorness ; capableness bases should be the chief index for income. Kakwani argues that people are merely hapless, if they are being deprived capableness wise, when they do n't hold sufficient income to prolong their simple proficiencies. He argues that societies should be able to care for people particularly by guaranting freedom from any diseases.[ 18 ] Human Poverty Approach Normally poorness manifests itself in the lack of the life styles of the people, and this is why the human poorness attack, approaches poorness from the point of position of defense of chances that can take them to populate a good life. Therefore one can reason that poorness does non merely include deficiency in itself. Poverty is besides calculated through want of communicating, and even values such as self-respect. In this respect I can besides see that the human poorness attack has a socio-psychological characteristic in it. Poverty therefore afflicts the life of people around the universe.[ 19 ]The UNDP has besides discussed this attack in its development studies, which has been designed on the model of Amartya Sen[ 20 ]The focal point of Sen ‘s research, conceptualizes poorness as the absence of some things that a human existences is n't able to work without them. This attack is distinctively close to Sen ‘s thought, that it should hold incorporated in it our capable nesss, non merely what we are able to, but besides what we are n't able to make. Such capablenesss are subjective and depend upon each and every person interpersonally and it must besides incorporate our operations.[ 21 ]In his newest book ‘The Idea of Justice ‘ he counters the thought of an income attack to poverty since he argues it is non exact, the above first attack therefore is faulty harmonizing to Sen: â€Å" Poverty will be much more intense than what can be deduced from the income day of the month †[ 22 ] Social Exclusion Approach The International Institute for Labour Studies has advocated the usage of another typical attack when ciphering scarceness ; this is the societal exclusion attack. This attack is really near to the comparative want construct of poorness which was foremost attributed by Peter Townsend which he defines poorness as â€Å" the absence or insufficiency of those diets, comfortss, criterions, services and activities which are common or customary in society †[ 23 ] With this attack, as the names implies, the focal point is on the deficiency of stuffs or resources, that are usually required to prolong life in certain mode usually socially acceptable, such as a normal life criterion, and the ability to execute activities which one favours. Citizenship is therefore really of import in this respect of attack, since it is a resource demand, such as societal integrating and societal credence ; these are all factors which the societal exclusion attack focuses upon.[ 24 ] Before 1997, the word poorness within the context of societal exclusion, was ever used a term to depict a state of affairs where people did n't hold all of the resources they wanted, particularly chances. The authorities therefore came up with the term societal exclusion which eliminated the fact that poorness can merely be concentrated from a low income point of position ; poverty therefore can be defined as the narrow impression of it including the societal exclusion term appointed by the authorities of the UK. Alienation was to be included in the computation of poorness, since it is a type of exclusion.[ 25 ] Poverty Line and from Absolute to Relative poorness The poorness line as illustrated above is merely a normal mean criterion, so to talk, of how poorness is measured, and it differs from one state to another. The job is that due to different political orientations and political schemes, poorness lines are defined otherwise in each and every state. The inquiry that poses in this respect is, whether the poorness line has helped at all in contending poorness. With the thing is certain, that people with different houses, or different demographics, doubtless have their economic public assistances rather altered, theoretically talking the poorness line must exemplify the prototype for each and every society, or public assistance system. Normally this is regarded as the sum of money ; an single demands to non be labelled as underprivileged.[ 26 ] Economists usually look at the poorness line as a construct which has to make a batch with public-service corporation, and this is reflected through the fact that many welfare-economic philosophies are based the public-service corporation consistent as a poorness index. Basically what it entails is that when measuring public assistance system, the lone appraisal step that should be considered is public-service corporation, and the purpose of appraisal is to look into whether there is n't any lessening in public-service corporation ; therefore the focal point is on the public-service corporation intent[ 27 ]In the instance of India, the term used is ‘Below Poverty line ‘ which is a poorness threshold utilised by the authorities to demo how many people are in demand of any aid, the standards used for the measuring have been concluded from a 2002 analysis. For illustration harmonizing to the International Benchmark, if a individual has less than a lb of net incomes a twenty- four hours with respects to PPP ; that individual is in a province of utmost poorness, and usually these indexs of poorness are used trough parametric quantities such as points.[ 28 ] For illustration, a instance that happened in Malta, was when Mgr. Grech, insisted that there should be a rearrangement of the poorness line here in Malta, and argued that those who at hazard of poorness will do and crumple to existent poorness because of the public-service corporation duties that were being imposed on the people. The address given by him was done during a Forum in the juncture of European twelvemonth against poorness and societal exclusion. From this one can see that with respects to Poverty, Malta has besides its ain jobs that are doing adversity[ 29 ] Decision From this paper one can therefore larn that poorness has a batch to offer than merely the normal construct of poorness, that one normally has in head – that of people deprived, but through analysis I have concluded that poorness has an drawn-out definition, it extends to the kingdom of social norms and besides authoritiess, which play a really of import function in relieving or even go oning to do adversity in societies. In practise, even though we are an mean state, I can reason that Malta has ever been a victim of poorness in the last decennary. The constructs and measurings examined and outlined in this paper have been used in a concise mode, and the subject itself has much more material to offer. The construct itself has undergone through many alterations which are still undergoing, and continues to broaden ; with the focal point being on the societal theoretical account of want. Continuous schemes are being implemented for there to be a decrease in poorness. Still, although there have been legion sum of work for there to be a lessening, inequality and bad policies endure all the attempts, and counter positive consequences.

On Ageing by Maya Angelou Essay

Warning by jenny joseph is a humorous way of looking towards old age. It is written as a monologue within which the poet describes how she will behave when she is an old woman. In The first stanza she talks about herself and lists all the things she will do when she is old. She says she will wear the colours purple and red which are significant in the fact that they are bright garish colours. The two colours clash with each other and would not be put together by someone who cares about keeping up their appearance. One of the main themes to this poem is the idea of rebelling against the way society expects you to behave and the idea of not conforming therefore she decides to deliberately make a statement with her appearance by wearing clashing colours to show rebellion against the idea of everyone looking the same- everyone conforming. This idea of rebellion is further emphasised when she says â€Å"I shall spend my pension on brandy†¦ and say we’ve no money for butter†. She has decided that she is going to be deliberately difficult and irresponsible. She is desperate to rebel against the norms of responsible adulthood and change the way she has always been † escape from the sobriety of my youth† . The acts she chooses are harmless and humorous and she will be likely to get away with them as people will think she is senile. The fact that all of these things are what she wants to do in the future shows that she has never done this before and so she could be saying that old age is the time for freedom and to escape from the rules in society. However this could also show that she is only able to do these things with the excuse of being elderly. She would never feel comfortable to break the rules without having the excuse of being senile etc hence why she is waiting until old age to do these things showing that she is still trapped in the rules of society. This shows the underlying more depressing image behind the humour that society doesn’t allow for freedom and the message of how the pressure there is to conform prevents you from being yourself. All of the lines in the poem run on with a quick pace into each other reflecting the excitement and anticipation for the things she talks about doing. Throughout she repeats â€Å"and† and â€Å"I† which also adds to the pace and energy of the poem. The second stanza itself is one long sentence in which she directly addresses the reader with words of encouragement. She wants other people to feel and be able to do whatever they like without worrying about the social pressures of conformity, she could be thinking that if everyone does this then eventually those pressures will not be a problem anymore.

Innovation in Vodafon Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Innovation in Vodafon - Case Study Example Hendricks & Singhal (1997. pp432-435) conducted a research in relationship between timing of new product introductions and market value of firms to discover that all firms that are late in introducing new products to the market lose market value. These theories indicate the importance of innovations for organization to remain competitive in the markets & the overall industry. As presented by Brown and Kozinets et al (2003. pp30-33), just carrying forward the heritage of the brand will not ensure its survival - old brand need to keep on learning new tricks of survival. In this essay, the author presents a brief introduction of innovations of Vodafone whereby the history, innovation characteristics and most innovative service of Vodafone have been covered in brief. In the end, the author has presented they perspective of his contribution to the innovations of Vodafone. Vodafone has slightly more than two decades of history and hence is relatively younger compared to many competitive firms in the telecommunications industry. It started in 1988 as a 100% owned subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc and was operating in the name of Racal Telecom Plc which first time got listed in 1988 offering 20% of the overall capital to the public. Racal Telecom Plc became independent of Racal Electronics Plc in 1991 and was renamed as Vodafone Group Plc after the de-merging. As on today, the Vodafone Plc executive board is chaired by Sir John Bond and the Group CEO is Vittorio Colao who has taken charge from Arun Sarin very recently after the latter's retirement. Vodafone operates in 20 countries directly or through franchises that are Albania, Australia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Spain, Turkey and the UK. In every country, the local operations are led by the country CEO who acts as the business in-charge of Vodafone in the country. All the country CEOs collectively report to the group CEO. (http://www.vodafone.com/start/about_vodafone/who_we_are.html) Vodafone Group Plc is one of the largest global mobile communications company having the vision to achieve the number one position in this industry. The vision statement of Vodafone states that "Our goal is to be the communications leader in an increasingly connected world". The "Cute Dog" advertisement with the "Happy to Help" message at the end itself is an innovation. Currently, this advertisement is getting close to hearts of the Indians with many variants of it floating in the local markets (http://www.resourcesforlife.com/docs/item1413). Vodafone has largely focussed on the global wireless communications market unlike their nearest global counterparts AT&T Inc. & British Telecom Plc. that are engaged more in wired telecommunications markets across the world. In the statement by the Group Chairman, Sir John Bond, it is emphasized that Vodafone is actively looking at mobile communicat

Progressive era through the great depression Assignment

Progressive era through the great depression - Assignment Example Another major turning point was the Depression and the Unemployment that occurred in the late 1920’s after the Great Depression; this period was characterized by extreme economic crises and high rates of unemployment. At this time several factories were shut down and many workers were laid off. Discussion 2 The two historical turning points discussed above led to several economic, social and political facets whose effects are still faced by the current American Society. To begin with, the rise of the social movements specifically the Labor Movements that were propagated by the Muckrakers who exposed the Corruption, poor working conditions and lack of respect to human rights that were experienced at working places. In this respect, various groups of activist were forced to take several actions geared to towards opposing the poor working conditions and the corruption at the work places. ... ded with proper remunerations and proper working conditions; such labor laws are currently still practiced to promote proper working conditions and promote proper employee-employer relationships. The Second pertinent turning point in the history of the American Society in the progressive era through the Great depression was the unemployment and the depression that led to an extreme economic crises featured by closing of factories, over-production and high levels of unemployment. This also occurred in the early to the late 1920’s; the crash of the stock market in 1929 in the USA which caused a drastic reduction in economic growth of the nation; workers and farmers were also faced with conditions of low income. Several organizations such as the Robert La Follett’s and the Wisconsin made various attempts to formulate strategies to enable the society to enable the society to cope up with the deteriorating economy; however, their efforts were fruitless (Wisconsin University 2008). In the Mid 1930’s the then United States’ President Roosevelt formulated the New Deal policy and the unemployment bill that was developed by the Harold Groves as an economic model succeeded in improving the economic status. These models together with the current economic models have facilitated the relative stability in the current economic status in the American Society. Discussion 3 The late 1980’s through the 1920’s saw the rise of several women empowerment movements and social groups for instance: The Women Suffrage Movement, Women and Peace Movement, Legacy of Women in the Progressive and the Status of Women. All these groups were focused towards empowering women; the American Society during the progressive era was characterized by the perception that women were the Moral Guardian

Implications of Concepts of Organizational Behavior at a Local Essay

Implications of Concepts of Organizational Behavior at a Local Restaurant in London - Essay Example The restaurant is comprised of totaling fifty employees. Most of these employees are foreigner students who work part time at Mr. Smith’s Restaurant. Mr. Smith offers flexible working conditions to these students. He allows them to work full time during holidays as well as part time during exams. Lately, the restaurant underwent a substantial increase in numbers of customers. This increment is mainly due to the popularity of International and European Cuisine offered at Mr. Smith’s Restaurant. Such popularity has encouraged Mr. Smith to open more chains of this restaurant throughout U.K. In this paper, Mr. Smith’s business has been analyzed from the following mentioned perspective. Organizational Culture and Structure Leadership and Management Styles Motivational Theories and their implications Teamwork and Group Behavior In subsequent paragraphs, these aspects of Mr. Smith’s business are discussed in detailed manner. Task 1 - Understand the relationship b etween Organizational Structure and Culture a) Compare and contrast ‘geographical’ and ‘functional’ organizational structure. You should include examples of the application of these organization structures in real businesses. Organizational Structures and Culture Organizational structures are developed to define a framework of command and order through which the tasks and activities of an organization can be organized, planned, directed and controlled in order to achieve the overall organizational goals. Within U.K, most of the restaurants possess geographical, functional and entrepreneurial structures. Functional Structure; this structure refers to organizing the business depending upon what each department does. Geographical Structure; This structure groups activity according to their geographical location. Services are provided after considering ease of management and convenience of customers. Product-based Structures; Companies that possess wide range o f products have this type of organizational structures. Wide range of products is generally categorized in width extension, breadth extension and line extension Multifunctional and Multidivisional Structures; this structure is typically possessed by large corporations whose business operations are expanded globally. This structure possesses multiple hierarchical levels in organization. Matrix Structures; matrix organization requires an employee to report two bosses at same time. For instance, a person might be an employee in sales department but he has to report to finance manager as well about the sales of a certain period. Centralization; in centralization, only one individual or top management has the sole authority of taking decision for the entire company. Decentralization; decentralization disperses the decision making governance in proximity of workers (Heathfield, n.d.). Implication of Organizational Structure in Mr. Smith’s Restaurant Since the business of Mr. Smith is family owned, therefore substantial reliance is upon the owner-manager that is Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith has the sole authority, accountability and responsibility of the entire organization. The relationships between Mr. Smith and other members of organization are developed in informal and personal basis. However, at the same time Mr. Smith plans to expand his business which

'How effective is the legal and regulatory environment for Small and Essay

'How effective is the legal and regulatory environment for Small and Medium Sized Businesses in Saudi Arabia and what needs to be done to improve the environment for their growth' - Essay Example This paper suggests that much headway has been made in Saudi Arabia in terms of providing regulatory systems which aid the funding of SMEs which is highlighted as the greatest challenge these firms face. It is argued that other areas such as regulatory burden and legislating against corruption can be focused on and improved in order to enhance the developmental environment for SMEs. Small and medium sized enterprises (smes) are extremely important for any economy, often being the source of innovation as well as providing a high percentage of employment both directly and indirectly. As firms they are defined as small if they have between 10 and 50 employees and have total assets and total annual sales of $100,000 to $3,000,000. By contrast medium sized enterprises are those with 50- 300 employees and have total assets and total annual sales of between $3,000,000 and $15,000,000.1 In developed economies SMEs account for over 90% of employment and therefore represent a vital part of the economy which much be appropriately supported both in terms of their inception and ongoing growth and development. The benefits of supporting this sector are numerous and include creating a flexible economy, enhancing competition and being a major driver in poverty reduction. This paper looks at the policies and legislation that support the growth of such firms and asks whether the legislation being developed in Saudi Arabia is appropriate and will be effective in developing this crucial area for an economy that has for many years relied heavily on large firms linked to one industry, oil. To develop an environment conducive to the support of SME development a number of areas have to be targeted including finance availability, property rights, and stability and accessibility of the legal framework to small firms with limited resources. This paper will examine the relevance of these areas after providing an

Schleiermachers and Nietzsches Opposition to Immanuel Kant Essay

Schleiermachers and Nietzsches Opposition to Immanuel Kant - Essay Example This essay discusses that Kant assumes that man must possess a certain â€Å"goodwill† and that whatever happens, one must know that he â€Å"ought to do the inexpedient good† (278). However, based on the views of Schleiermacher and Nietzsche, the ideas of Kant somehow imply that all human beings are the same no matter what and that they share the same moral values and systems of morality. Kant’s contemporary, Friedrich Schleiermacher, expressed his opposition to Kant’s categorical imperative by declaring that the imperative cannot presume at all that it should apply uniformly to all human beings because of the â€Å"value of diversity or individuality even in the human sphere† (Forster). Therefore, for Schleiermacher, all humans cannot be subjected under one moral law because individuals are distinct from their societies as societies are distinct from each other. Moreover, although the categorical imperative implies a commitment to all humanity, Schleiermacher believes that it is not the individual but religion that must possess this duty towards humanity. Schleiermacher also rejects Kant’s otherworldly basis of religion and at the same time, the former emphasizes that â€Å"religion can no more be based on morality than on metaphysics or science† (Forster). Therefore, for Schleiermacher, the basis of religion, since it cannot seem to be ascertained, is not as important as its purpose in taking care of humanity. Unlike Kant, Schleiermacher further stressed out the importance of Jesus Christ and his life as a basis for his salvation.

Why do I Believe in Canada Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why do I Believe in Canada - Essay Example The most important safety need for a human being is personal health. Without health, all other needs are of little consequence. Canada offers all its citizens universal health care, regardless of their income. Unlike the American health care system, in Canada one cannot be denied treatment because he or she does not have medical insurance. Figure 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Besides medical support, Canadian immigration rules foster family unity and support. People immigrating to Canada can bring their families with them including their children. 40% of the annual immigration to Canada comes under the family reunion and refugee programs .The country’s economic benefits include social support for people who are unemployed or otherwise struggling. Furthermore, those with children are guaranteed child benefits. What’s more, once an immigrant acquires resident status, he or she can help bring over his or her family by sponsoring parents and siblings. Another impor tant advantage is that within three years of being an immigrant in Canada, the person is granted permanent resident status. Permanent residents are entitled to most of the rights and privileges of Canadian citizens. These include equal treatment and equal protection, equal legal rights, freedom of movement from province to province, etc. While most of these rules also apply to temporary Canadian residents, there are some that are exclusive to citizens and permanent residents. These are Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB), retirement benefits like old age security, guaranteed income supplement and Canada pension (Berez, 2007). Besides the abovementioned privileges that I received in Canada, my positive opinion of Canada has also been shaped by school, family, teachers, and the... To begin with, â€Å"Canada is among the world's foremost refugee resettlement countries and is signatory to international agreements that affirm its commitment to the protection of refugee rights†. Secondly, Canada offers many benefits to its permanent residents. Commenting on the Canadian immigration policy, Kaur says that Canadian government is interested in the country’s growth and development and its point system helps to bring in highly skilled foreign workers. According to the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs, Canada is the fifth most popular country for people to migrate, the first one being the United States of America. Canada has also been shaped by school, family, teachers, and the media, through socialization. Socialization helps people operate successfully and with ease in their social lives. This process takes place via interaction with family members, teachers, schools, and media. When I moved to Canada, my family gave me all-encompassing support. They were my first friends in Canada, which made everything look okay. Before making friends, I would stay back at home and watch the television. This assisted me a lot in seeing how the Canadians lead their lives and in understanding of their culture and norms. The media made it much easier for me as it gave me a rough idea of what I should expect from the Canadians. The internet, newspapers and radio also helped me improve my social norms. The significance of school in socialization cannot be overlooked due to the fact that students spend there about seven hours a day. There, besides studying, the students perform many activities and play games, an d this plays a significant role in their socialization.

Chinese Logistics Companies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Chinese Logistics Companies - Essay Example ........................................................................... 20 How to devise strategy for logistics companies in China to fit in the tough market environment 1. Introduction The subprime crisis has had an enormous effect on the global financial markets. It has also affected the Chinese economy. China's economy has been faced with many difficulties which include global slowdown, the undulation of the oil price, pressure of RMB appreciation and inflation. The subprime crisis has been particularly cruel to the Chinese economy. The logistics industry in China is still at the beginning. Although it is developing fast, it has many problems. The out-dated management styles, obsolete information technology and haphazard planning of capital construction in the national transportation system and so on restrict the development of the logistics industry in China. However foreign competitors pay attention to this potential market due to the fact that their existing operational capabilities elsewhere can be effectively utilized in China. Flynn (2006) argues that foreign logistics companies entering the Chinese market, especially after WTO accession, brought tremendou s pressure to bear on the local companies. This situation forces them to improve their technology and reformulate their strategy. At the same time, the Chinese government recognizes the significance of the logistics industry to China's continuing economic prosperity. Millar (2006), for instance has shown that the Chinese government has seen logistics as a strategic imperative. Gradual deregulation combined with immense investment in the transportation infrastructure to improve the logistics development is an inevitable outcome of this desire. While, depending on the...However foreign competitors pay attention to this potential market due to the fact that their existing operational capabilities elsewhere can be effectively utilized in China. Flynn (2006) argues that foreign logistics companies entering the Chinese market, especially after WTO accession, brought tremendous pressure to bear on the local companies. This situation forces them to improve their technology and reformulate t heir strategy. At the same time, the Chinese government recognizes the significance of the logistics industry to China's continuing economic prosperity. Millar (2006), for instance has shown that the Chinese government has seen logistics as a strategic imperative. Gradual deregulation combined with immense investment in the transportation infrastructure to improve the logistics development is an inevitable outcome of this desire. While, depending on the government's help is not enough. The logistics companies must revise their strategies to promote their competitive advantage to coordinate with the policy. If they cannot they will be left behind. Realizing how to devise strategy for logistics companies in China to fit in the tough market environment is becoming more and more important to the logistics companies. The aim of this research paper is to highlight on logistics op

Terrorism as a Tactic of Warfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7250 words

Terrorism as a Tactic of Warfare - Essay Example The United States Institutes of Peace, in handout number three of its International Terrorism: Definitions, Causes and Responses, tells us that the rationale behind terrorism falls into the categories of â€Å"psychological perspective,† describing that perspective as one in which individuals participate in the act of terrorism for â€Å"[†¦] personal reasons, based on their own psychological state of mind (11).†The second perspective is ideological, the handout advises, â€Å"[†¦] the beliefs, values, and/or principles by which a group identifies its particular aims and goals.   Ideology may encompass religion or political philosophies or programs (11).†A third perspective is that of strategic significance, which the handout defines as â€Å"When people seek redress of their grievances through government, but fail to win government’s attention to their plight, they may resort to violence (11).†Still, a fourth perspective on the use of t errorism is one in which the previously three stated perspectives together serve as the rationale for an act of terrorism (11).   When the rationale constitutes all three of the previously stated rationale, the rationale becomes obscured, or undeterminable.Von Clausewitz’s ArgumentVon Clausewitz’s analysis of war is useful in analyzing terrorism, and are evident in Stewart’s Analyzing Terrorism cited earlier in this discussion.   Von Clausewitz held that it was important to analyze who was conducting the war, or, in this case, the act of terrorism (French).   Identifying who is making the war helps explain the rationale.

The Nature Of Reality Essay Example for Free

The Nature Of Reality Essay What is reality?   Throughout the history of mankind it seems that we have all been searching for the answer to this question.   The nature of reality cannot be explained in a way that will satisfy us all.   I believe that the nature of reality is lies within the mind of each of us.   What is reality for one person is not reality for another.   Reality is based on individual perception, and the evolution of each person.   What I mean by this is that each person goes through a type of evolution in his/her life where the mind begins to develop a higher awareness. Most of us begin to realize that there is more to the process of life than being born, aging, and dying.   Greek philosopher, Thales thought that â€Å"beneath the world of life and death there must be some basic substance which explained and made possible everything else,† (The Ionian School, undated website article). Many of us begin to believe that we are much more than our physical bodies.   And that leaving our bodies through death is not the end of our existence. Our life force, energy, or soul will continue to live on a different level or dimension.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Of course, believing in a sort of ‘life’ after death is a major topic of debate.   Philosophers continue to ponder if this could be reality, Christians structure their lives around this belief, and scientist argue that reality is only that which can be proven. â€Å"Clearly, the mere fact that one believes in and lives by something is not of itself sufficient evidence that that something has real, as distinct from fictional, existence; that, intellectually, it makes sense, as distinct from nonsense,† (Somerville, 1967).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I believe that just because we can’t prove something through science does not mean that something can’t exist.  Ã‚   For example, well-know psychics seem to be able to communicate with the dead, and predict future events often with amazing accuracy.  Ã‚   Even ordinary people who have had near-death experiences insist that there is something more, and often claim to have seen the other side of physical life.   Therefore, I believe that the nature of reality is different for everyone.   And the secret to reality is in our own minds.   I believe that what will be real in our lives, will be that which is real in our minds. References Somerville, J. (1967).   The Nature of Reality: Dialectical Materialism.   In The Philosophy of Marxism: An Exposition (pp.3-32).   Minneapolis: Marxist Educational Press. The Ionian School.   Retrieved February 24, 2007, from http://www.hol.gr/greece/texts/aristo.1txt.

Role of Multi-Detector CT in Paranasal Sinuses

Role of Multi-Detector CT in Paranasal Sinuses SUMMARY OF THESIS Name of speciality : Radio-diagnosis Name of System : Head and Neck Title of Thesis and : Role of Multi-Detector Computed Tomography in Paranasal Sinuses  Pathology, 2015. Lakshmi Kumar Chalamarla Name of Supervisor : Dr. Kavita Kapoor, Consultant Imaging, Batra Hospital and  Medical Research Centre, New Delhi. Hospital/Institute : Batra Hospital and Medical Research  Centre, New Delhi-110062. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To characterize pathologies of paranasal sinuses on MDCT and to delineate their anatomical location, extension and bony involvement. To correlate the multi detector computed tomography findings with clinical/surgical/histopathological/ microbiological findings. MATERIAL AND METHODS STUDY AREA: The study was conducted at the Department of Radio-diagnosis and Imaging in collaboration with the Department of ENT, Department of Pathology, and Department of Microbiology, Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre. Other departments are collaborated for acquiring cases, and follow up of patients to correlate clinically or histopathologically or microbiologically. STUDY POPULATION: 100 patients were included in our study mostly urban population. Patients belonged to both OPD and IPD cases. The study comprised of 65 males and 35 females. The number of male patients were higher than the female patients. There were 15 patients in 0 20 years age group, 36 patients in 21 40 years age group, 37 in 41 60 years age group and 12 were greater than 60 years. The age group of patients ranged from minimum of 9 months to maximum of 81 years. The highest number of patients were in 41 60 years age group. SAMPLE SIZE: 100 patients referred for evaluation of sinus complaints were enrolled in the study after fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria and taking written/verbal informed consent from July 2013 to April 2015. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Patients with complaints like headache/nasal obstruction/discharge/hyposmia /swelling over cheek and with clinically suspected paranasal sinuses lesions referred for MDCT PNS evaluation. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Acute sinonasal inflammatory disease. Previous evidence of sinonasal surgery. All cases of trauma. SAMPLE SIZE CALCULATION: (Ref.: Methods in biostatistics, Dr. B. K. Mahajan, 7th edition, pg. 85) For calculation of sample size Mahajans allowable error formula was applied. N = 4pq/e2 Where p = % of population = Target population/Total populationÃâ€"100 q = 1-p e = 20% of p As per CT room register over last 3 years Minimum no. of MDCT PNS cases at our hospital/month = 20 Maximum no. of MDCT PNS cases coming under exclusion criteria/month = 5 So, Minimum no. of MDCT PNS cases at our hospital/year = 240 Maximum no. of cases coming under exclusion criteria/year = 60 So, p = 180/240Ãâ€"100 = 75 q = 25 e = 20% of p = 15 N = 4Ãâ€"75Ãâ€"25/152 = 33. The minimum sample size thus calculated should be 33. STUDY DESIGN: Observational study. CT PNS of the patients was evaluated for the cause of sinus complaints. Causes deduced from CT PNS were correlated with clinical/histopathological/surgical/ microbiological findings. ETHICAL ISSUES: The study was conducted after necessary approval from the Institutional review board and ethics committee. MDCT is a non-invasive modality. All safety and screening measures were undertaken as per the American College of Radiology practice guidelines for performing Computed Tomography. INSTRUMENTATION: Light VCT 64 slice MDCT of GE radical system with advanced workstation 4.3 GE. Protocol followed for MDCT PNS: 1. Scout : Lateral kV : 120 mA : 10 Scout Plane : 900 2. Axial Images kV : 120 mA : 120 Start/End : 0 to 74.3 Total Exposure Time : 5.4 sec Gantry tilt : 0 Interval : 0.625 mm Slice thickness : 0.625 mm Helical Scan Rotation Time : 0.6 sec Rotation Length : Full Pitch and Speed : 0.531:1 10.62 mm/rotation Detector Coverage : 20 mm PROFORMA Unique ID No: HISTORY: Presenting Complaints: Nasal discharge: Headache: Nasal obstruction: Epistaxis: Swelling over cheek: Hyposmia/Anosmia: Others: H/O Smoking: Occupational exposure: History of Allergy: Any other Systemic Illness: Family History: EXAMINATION: General Examination: Local Examination: Inspection: Probe test: Others: Important Surgical Findings: Investigational Results: MDCT PNS : Histopathology: Microbiological and other important lab tests: Department of Radio-diagnosis and Imaging Batra Hospital and Medical research Centre M.B.Road, New Delhi-110062. INFORMED CONSENT FORM I s/d/w of r/o do hereby declare that I give informed consent to participate in the thesis study titled, ROLE OF MULTI-DETECTOR COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IN PARANASAL SINUSES PATHOLOGY. Dr. Lakshmi Kumar Chalamarla has informed me to my full satisfaction, in the language understand, about the purpose, nature of study and various investigations to be carried out for the study. I have been informed about the duration of the study and the possible benefits and risks. I give full, free and voluntary consent for being enrolled in the above study and reserve the right to withdraw from the study whenever I wish to without any prejudice of my right to undergo further treatment at this hospital and its associated hospitals. I have been given a copy of this form along with the patient information sheet. For illiterates patient information sheet will be shared with the family members. The family members are expected to read out and then get the informed consent. We will try to take written consent, if not we will take verbal consent in front of relatives. (Signature/Thumb (Signature/Thumb Impression of patient) Impression of relative) Name: Name: Date: Relation: Verbal Consent: Date: PATIENT INFORMATION SHEET Title: ROLE OF MULTI-DETECTOR COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IN PARANASAL SINUSES PATHOLOGY. Introduction: This statement describes the purpose, procedures, benefits, risks and discomforts of the study and your right to withdraw from the study at any point of time. Purpose: This study involves MDCT scan evaluation of patients with paranasal sinus complaints. Study Procedure: Your relevant clinical history will be recorded, clinical examination will be conducted and findings noted. MDCT PNS will be performed and the radiological findings will be recorded. These findings are correlated with clinical/surgical/histopathological/microbiological findings. Benefits: No monetary benefits will be given to you. However, any new information that can come to light regarding any new findings in the study will help in further management of the disease and help all other ailing patients suffering from this problem. Confidentiality: Records of your study participation will be kept confidential, under safe custody. Any publication of data will not identify you by name. By signing the consent form you authorise the sharing of your study related medical records to the regulatory authorities and the Institutional Ethical Committee. Information regarding withdrawal: You have the right to withdraw yourself from the study at any time during the course of the study without any prejudice to you or your familys right to undergo future treatment at BATRA HOSPITAL. Contact for additional information: Any time during or after the study, you can obtain further information about the study from Dr. Lakshmi Kumar Chalamarla, Department of Radio-diagnosis, BHMRC, New Delhi. DATA ANALYSIS Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values were calculated, followed by use of Fischer Exact test. Diagnostic accuracy of MDCT for different pathologies were calculated The research hypothesis and statistical methods were formed in consultation with the Biostatistician. SALIENT FINDINGS Key imaging features considered were significant anatomical variations, site of involvement, bony and soft tissue changes, invasion of surrounding structures, pathognomic features and correlation with clinical complaints/surgical/pathological/microbiological findings. The patients were divided into five categories: bacterial sinusitis, fungal sinusitis, benign tumors, malignant tumors, and others. 84 patients presented with sub acute or chronic bacterial sinusitis, 4 patients were of fungal sinusitis, 4 patients presented with benign tumors, 3 patients with malignant tumors and 5 patients with other conditions. Among 84 patients with bacterial sinusitis, 26 patients presented with sporadic pattern, 23 patients with infundibular pattern, 23 patients with ostiomeatal unit pattern, 8 patients with polyposis pattern, and 4 patients with sphenoid recess pattern. The various causative factors which came across in infundibular pattern were Haller cells in 6 cases, giant bulla ethmoidalis in 6 cases, uncinate process pneumatisation in 1 case, and mucoperiosteal thickening in 10 cases. The various causative factors for ostiomeatal pattern which were found during our study were: inferior turbinate hypertrophy in 6 cases, giant bulla ethmoidalis in 6 cases, deviated nasal septum with or without septal spur in 4 cases, concha bullosa in 3 cases, concha lamella in 2 cases, agger nasi cell in 1 case, and paradoxical middle turbinate in 1 case. The various findings which were encountered in bacterial sinusitis in our study were: mucoperiosteal thickening in 84 cases, ostiomeatal unit block in 31 patients, bone thickening in 20 patients, bone thinning in 8 cases, and bone sclerosis in 6 patients. Various anatomical variations were encountered during our study. One or the other anatomic variation was found in 99 cases ( 99% ). Of the structures around ostiomeatal unit, giant bulla ethmoidalis was found in 35 cases, middle turbinate pneumatisation in 33 cases, paradoxical curvature of middle turbinate in 19 cases. Haller cell was found in 15 cases. Type 1 frontal sinus drainage pathway in 78 cases, type 2 frontal sinus drainage pathway in 21 cases. Deviated nasal septum with or without septal spur in 55 cases, inferior turbinate hypertrophy in 30 cases, accessory maxillary ostia in 26 cases, and agger nasi cell in 93 cases. Type 1 optic nerve course was found in 53 cases, type 2 in 14 cases, type 3 in 9 cases, and type 4 optic nerve course along with Onodi cells in 23 cases. Type 1 anterior clinoid process pneumatisation was found in 10 cases, type 2 pneumatisation in 1 case. Sphenoid septum lateral attachment in 7 cases, and sphenoid sinus septum pneumatisation in 14 cases. Among 4 patients with fungal sinusitis, the various findings were: bilateral / multisinus involvement was found in 4 cases, expansion of any involved sinus was found in 4 cases, intrasinus hyperdensity was found in 4 cases. Bony thinning was found in 4 cases, bony erosions and nasal cavity involvement was found in 3 cases. The various findings in 4 cases of benign tumors seen ( 1 inverted papilloma, 1 juvenile angiofibroma and 2 ivory osteomas ) were: bony thinning in 2 cases, bony remodelling in 2 cases, multisinus involvement in 2 cases, intracranial extension in 1 case, and intra orbital extension in 1 case. Bony destruction, bone thickening/sclerosis, and calcification were not seen in any of the cases. Among 3 cases of malignant tumors, various findings were: : Bony destruction in 3 cases, bony thinning in 3 cases, bony remodelling in 0 cases, multisinus involvement in 2 cases, intracranial extension in 2 cases, and intra orbital extension in 3 cases. Bone thickening/sclerosis, and calcification were not seen in any of the cases. In our study we found sensitivity and specificity for bacterial sinusitis as 100% and 94.11% respectively. The fungal sinusitis had sensitivity an specificity of 75% and 100% respectively. Benign, malignant tumors and others had sensitivity and specificity of 100%. The diagnostic accuracy for bacterial sinusitis and fungal sinusitis was 99%, and the diagnostic accuracy of benign, malignant tumors and others was 100%. The p value was obtained after applying Fischer Exact test. The p value obtained was statistically significant for all the disease conditions. Based on the statistical values it can be inferred that multi detector computed tomography is useful to characterize paranasal sinuses lesions with respect to anatomical delineation, extension and bony involvement. There are certain limitations in our study. Our findings cannot be generalised to the whole population because of the limited sample size. However, our findings add value to the research done. The role of contrast cannot be adequately studied. The role of MRI in various paranasal sinus pathologies was not evaluated. CONCLUSIONS Paranasal sinus diseases are very commonly encountered problems in clinical practice. Clinical assessment alone is not sufficient to reach a diagnosis, as the presentation of most of the conditions is nonspecific. Imaging forms the mainstay not only in making correct diagnosis, but also to know the extent of lesion, pre-operative assessment of the sinonasal anatomy and commonly encountered anatomic variations. X ray has low sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values. CT is highly sensitive and specific in determining the presence of paranasal sinus pathology and clearly demonstrates the complex anatomy. The introduction of multi detector CT has transformed the axial imaging modality into a volumetric one and allows the pathology to be displayed in any desired plane. The capability of thin-section acquisition improves visualisation of tiny pathological details, and the isotropic nature of high spatial resolution data sets enables display in multiple planes, obvi ating image acquisition in prone or hyper extended patient position. RECOMMENDATIONS MDCT has proved to be highly sensitive in classifying the lesions into clinically relevant categories, making diagnosis and more so in knowing the extent of involvement with a high diagnostic accuracy. MDCT is an indispensible tool before Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS) to accurately delineate the fine bony details that contribute to disease and also can predispose to complications which can be fatal. MDCT is very useful in predicting the diagnosis of fungal sinusitis by the presence of intrasinus hyperdensity, granulomatous diseases by the presence of nasal septal perforation and intracranial or intraorbital invasion, malignancy by bone destruction and invasion. MDCT can tailor the surgery according to the extent of disease. It helps in determining the prognosis of the malignant tumors depending on the site and extent of the disease. It can also obviate the need for surgery in certain conditions like polyposis. MRI can be problem solving tool in differentiating inflammatory sinonasal diseases from tumors, and also for the presence of intracranial or intraorbital extension. However, MRI alone cannot be performed in the evaluation of paranasal sinus diseases because of the problem of signal voids. It has to be supplemented by CT. MDCT is the preferred modality of all imaging studies available because of its ease, availability, accuracy, precision and low cost.

DSP-OFDM Modulator Project

DSP-OFDM Modulator Project Chapter One Introduction to the DSP-OFDM Modulator Project 1.1 Introduction The Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) digital communication technique has been attracting a great concern of researchers all over the world, due to its unique characteristics. The designers and engineers of mobile wireless communication systems and wireless multimedia broadband are looking forward to exploit the OFDM to be the air interface of these devices and systems. This exploitation has already been done with several systems and standards such as Wireless Local Area Networks 802.11a and Digital Video Broadcast-Terrestrial (DVB-T). The DSP-OFDM Modulator project studies the essential parts of the OFDM modulator and demodulator and implements the OFDM modulator and demodulator on two separate DSP boards. For the OFDM modulator, the project studies the hardware DSP implementation of the OFDM modulators different parts such as the QAM mapper and the IFFT. This applies on the OFDM demodulator too. Additionally, for the OFDM demodulator, the project studies the carrier recovery issue to recover the OFDM information signal from the carrier signal and the OFDM symbol timing recovery issue to correctly pinpoint each OFDM symbols boundaries. The Projects involves several aspects of the digital communications and the theoretical and practical DSP and uses the MATLAB and the Code Composer Studio (CCS) to analyze and simulate the designs to be practically implemented. 1.2 The Aim and the Objectives The aim of the DSP OFDM Modulator project is to implement OFDM modulator and demodulator on two separate DSP boards. The implementation is not tied to any existing OFDM standard such that used in the DVB-T or other standards. The DSP hardware implantation comprises many DSP and digital communication operations to be implemented through writing the C codes that perform these operations i.e. the QAM mapping and de-mapping, the IFFT and FFT, the digital IIR filters and the synchronization. Therefore, the implementation will be first simulated by MATLAB and the Code Composer Studio (CCS) part by part before and with the hardware implementation on the DSP boards. The CCS will be used to simulate not only the modulator and demodulator but also the subparts of the hardware implementation such as the FFT and IFFT C codes. For example, the C code that will be used to perform N-Point IFFT to a complex array containing N complex elements to produce N outputs. These N outputs or discrete values will be compared with those N outputs or discrete values obtained from performing N-Point IFFT to the same N element-complex array in MATLAB in order to check that this C code will work properly in the DSP real time implementation of the OFDM modulator. 1.3 The Research Background and Motivations The good presentation of the theoretical and practical DSP during the taught part of the course encouraged me to tackle this project, as I had not done any practical DSP before I enrolled in the MSc Wireless Communication Systems course. The good understanding of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) allows presenting the Conjugate Symmetric approach. The use of the Conjugate Symmetric distribution of the subcarrier vectors on the IFFT input points makes the IFFT produce a multicarrier signal with a real part (In-phase) (I) only in the time domain, as the imaginary part (Quadrature) (Q) is always set to zero. It is easier to modulate and demodulate the OFDM information signal with a real part only, as the quadrature modulation is no longer required. The Conjugate Symmetric proposal allows applying the FM modulation to transmit and receive the multicarrier OFDM information signal. 1.4 The Thesiss Organization The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter two is considered as a literature survey. Chapter two explains the OFDM spectrum and the principles of the OFDM modulator and demodulator. It illustrates how the OFDM information signal carries or represents the digital data bits and how the IFFT N outputs (discrete values) are actually the samples of the OFDM multicarrier information signal for the current OFDM symbol being generated. It will be shown how the OFDM symbol has longer duration than those of other digital communication modulation techniques without affecting the data rate to be more resilient with dispersive channels and many other aspects of the OFDM modulation technique. This project is not tied to any existing OFDM standard. However, it resembles these standards in terms of the general block diagrams of the OFDM systems and the use of the pilot carriers, hence the employment of the OFDM in the DVB-T and the WLAN 802.11a are described briefly in chapter two. Chapter three shows and simulates by using MATLAB the approaches and ideas that will be used for the hardware DSP implementation. It discusses the (Conjugate Symmetric) proposal that has come out of this project to facilitate the modulation and demodulation of the OFDM information signal and the use of the squared cosine method to recover the OFDM information signal from the modulated carrier signal. The use of the cyclic prefix (CP) to recover the OFDM symbol timing is also discussed in chapter three. Chapter four presents the hardware implementation of the DSP OFDM modulator and demodulator on two separate DSP boards and shows the different results of the hardware implantation on the oscilloscopes screen as well as it shows the results of the CCS simulation of the OFDM modulator and demodulator and compares the OFDM spectrum of the generated OFDM information signal generated by the Conjugate Symmetric approach with that generated from the traditional method. Chapter five is for the conclusion points that have come out of this project and the further work to be implemented in the future. The attached CD contains the real time DSP implantation CCS projects of the OFDM modulator (OFDM-TX project) and OFDM demodulator (OFDM-RX project) and the CCS simulation of the OFDM modulator and demodulator (Simulation project) as well as the MATLAB codes and an electronic copy of the thesis. Chapter Two OFDM Basics 2.1 Introduction In the digital communications, the transmitted signal over a wireless channel is more preferred, when the symbol duration is significantly greater than the delay spread (s) of this channel to avoid the intersymbol interference (ISI) due to the time dispersion of transmitted symbols. But unfortunately, the symbol duration is reversely proportional to the bit rate which means a great constraint when high data rate transmission is required over a wireless channel with a relatively high delay spread due to the multipath environment of that channel [1]. The OFDM technique produces the solution to this problem, as it divides the high rate bit stream into (N) very low rate bit streams that are transmitted simultaneously using (N) orthogonal subcarriers for every OFDM symbol. Each of these low rate bit streams modulates an individual subcarrier. Therefore, the symbol duration is increased as many as (N) times without reducing the actual bit rate. 2.2 The Spectrum of the OFDM Subcarriers Figure (2-1) y(t) (the dotted curve) is the algebraic summation of the 5 sinusoidal waves Figure (2-2) the spectrum of y(t) in the frequency domain (five stems or tones) Figure (2-3) the rectangular function with (?t) duration in the time domain Figure (2-4) the spectrom of the rectangular function in the frequency domain Figure (2-5) the spectrum of the OFDM symbol with five subcarriers Suppose y(t) is a signal consisting of the algebraic summation of five sinusoidal waves (subcarriers) in the time domain with five different frequencies (f1, f2, f3, f4 and f5) respectively figure (2-1). Suppose these subcarriers have the same frequency spacing (?f) between each adjacent subcarriers in the frequency domain. The spectrum of y (t) in the frequency domain in terms of the magnitude has five stems at f1 to f5 respectively. Each stem (single tone) represents one of these five sinusoidal waves or subcarriers figure (2-2). Now, suppose an OFDM symbol (with symbol duration = (?t)) consists of the same five sinusoidal subcarriers mentioned earlier. The spectrum of this OFDM symbol in the frequency domain does not now consist of five stems; instead the spectrum is like that one in figure (2-5). The spectrum in figure (2-5) consists of five overlapped sinc functions each of which represents an individual subcarrier. Actually, our OFDM symbol is not identical to y(t). More precisely, it is a (truncated y(t)) with truncation duration equal to the OFDM symbol duration (?t). When a signal is truncated in the time domain with equal gain over all the truncated points within the period (?t), that means mathematically multiplying this signal with a rectangular function in the time domain with a time duration equal to (?t) figure (2-3). The shape of the spectrum of rectangular function in terms of the magnitude is single sinc wave in the frequency domain cutting the horizontal axis at points equal to the integer multiples of the reciprocal of the time duration (1/?t) figure (2-4). Basically, when any two signals are multiplied in the time domain, the resultant signal of this multiplication has a spectrum in the frequency domain equal to the convolution of the spectrums of the two original signals. Therefore the spectrum in figure (2-5) represents the resultant of the convolution operation between the fiv e stems of y(t) figure (2-2) and the sinc of the rectangular function figure (2-4) in the frequency domain. Looking at figure (2-5) again, it is easy to notice that the peak of each subcarrier sinc occurs at a point where all other four sincs have magnitudes equal to zero at which. This situation is the condition of the orthogonality between the subcarriers as it ensures the least interference between the subcarriers in the frequency domain. The orthogonality between subcarriers is not achieved, unless the frequency spacing between the subcarriers (?f) is equal to the reciprocal of the OFDM symbol duration (1/(?t)) [2]. 2.3 The OFDM Modulator The OFDM Modulator uses the Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) Mapper and the Inverse Fast Fourier Transformer (IFFT) to simultaneously generate and modulate the subcarriers of each OFDM symbol. Figure (2-6) shows a general block diagram of the OFDM modulator. The OFDM modulator builds and transmits each OFDM symbol consisting of a number of subcarriers equal to N as follows. The QAM mapper maps the data bits to (N) QAM vectors. Each of these vectors has real and imaginary components and represents a single subcarrier. The number of data bits that are mapped to each QAM vector (subcarrier) depends on the QAM order (M) as shown in table (2-1). Using QAM mapper with higher order produces higher data rate. However, this will be at the cost of the reception quality as the constellation of higher order QAM allows higher Bit Error Rate (BER) for a given The QAM Mapper stage maps data bits to QAM vectors in accordance with the QAM constellation. The Serial to Parallel (S/P) buffers the QAM vectors of each OFDM symbol to prepare them for the IFFT operation. The IFFT stage converts the buffered QAM vectors (the subcarriers) from the frequency domain to produce an OFDM symbol sequence equivalent to the algebraic summation of these sinusoidal subcarriers in the time domain to be buffered in the next stage. Guard Interval Insertion and Parallel to Serial stages add the guard interval to each buffered OFDM symbol sequence and produces it serially to the next stage. The DSP Low Pass Filter (LPF) and The Digital to Analogue Convertor (DAC) stages are to smooth the signal and convert the digital sequence into analogue signal. The Up Conversion and The Power Amplification stages. Figure (2-6) general block diagram of the OFDM modulator. The 4-QAM constellation, which is identical to Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) constellation, gives the receiver more tolerance to the changes of the amplitude and phase of any received QAM vector and allows the receiver to de-map it to the correct 2-bit-combination, as long as it still lies in the same quadrant from which it was originated at the transmitter, whereas 16 and 64 QAM constellations give less tolerance to the change in the phase and amplitude of the received QAM vector due to the noise and interference. Not all subcarriers of an OFDM symbol are used to carry the data bits, some of which are used as pilot carriers for the synchronization and channel estimation purposes and for providing the receiver with specific information such as the order of QAM being used by the transmitter. The Serial to Parallel (S/P) stage buffers the N vectors from the QAM stage for each OFDM symbol to produce them in parallel way to IFFT stage. The number of IFFT points is always greater than the number of the subcarriers (N), so the (S/P) pads the remaining IFFT points, which have not been assigned QAM vectors, with zeroes. The IFFT stage is the heart of the OFDM modulator. It gives the QAM vectors the mathematical ability to be considered as the OFDM subcarriers in the frequency domain and converts them to the time domain to form the multi-subcarrier information signal. In other words, as all the (N) QAM vectors of each OFDM symbol are the parallel inputs of the IFFT operation, the IFFT stage considers these QAM vectors as tones or stems in the frequency domain and converts them into correspondent subcarriers in the time domain for the given OFDM symbol duration. Each QAM vector has a specific phase and amplitude which corresponds to the bit combination this vector represents in accordance with the QAM constellation. The IFFT coverts each QAM vector into a correspondent sinusoidal subcarrier in the time domain with amplitude and phase directly related to those of that vector and a frequency that is directly proportional with the sequence of IFFT point, to which the vector has been assigned. That means if a QAM vector with sequence (n) (assigned to an IFFT point with sequence n) generates a subcarrier with frequency equal to (f), the vector with sequence (n-1) generates a subcarrier with a frequency equal to (f ?f) and the vector with sequence (n+1) generates a subcarrier with a frequency equal to (f + ?f). The IFFT stage can simultaneously produce all the N-subcarriers for each OFDM symbol as it performs the conversion from the frequency domain to the time domain for N (QAM vectors) in one parallel operation for each OFDM symbol. The OFDM symbol signal in the time domain represents the algebraic summation of all subcarriers of that symbol. Now, it is obvious how the OFDM modulator divides the high rate bit stream into (N) lower rate bit streams which are simultaneously transmitted over (N times higher OFDM symbol duration) without reducing the actual bit rate. The Guard Interval Insertion stage appends a guard period at the beginning of each OFDM. The Guard Interval (GI) (also called the Cyclic Prefix (CP)) makes a separation between the consecutive OFDM symbols to contribute in the ISI reduction and to eliminate the Intercarrier Interference (ICI) between the subcarriers. The guard interval must be greater than the highest path difference duration. As a result, multipath signals with delay smaller than the GI cannot cause ICI [3]. The guard interval is generally equal to or less than the quarter symbol duration [4]. Practically, the guard interval is generated by taking an exact copy of the end part of the OFDM symbol and adding it to the beginning of the symbol. The guard interval (GI) can be used by the receiver to determine the beginning and end of each received OFDM symbol through the cross correlation operation. Now, the sequence of the OFDM symbol is converted into serial sequence. The Guard Interval Insertion and the Parallel to Serial (P/S) stages are shown as one stage in figure (2-6). The DSP LPF smoothes the information signal. The Digital to Analogue Convertor (DAC) converts the incoming digital sequence into analogue signal. Finally, the Up Conversion and Power Amplification stage mixes the information signal with a locally generated carrier and boosts the resulted signal to be transmitted. The input data bits to the OFDM modulator in figure (2-6) may be first scrambled for the security purposes, encoded for the Forward Error Correction (FEC) purposes and interleaved (to randomize the bursts of error [5]). Therefore, scrambler, encoder and interleaver blocks may precede the other stages to provide the OFDM modulator with scrambled, encoded and interleaved coded bits [6]. It is also possible to up convert the signal whilst it is still in the digital signal processing domain before converting it to the analogue form. The Carrier Recovery and the Down Converting stage recovers the information signal from the carrier signal. The Sample and Hold circuit and the Analogue to Digital Convertor (ADC) stage converts the information signal from the analogue form to produce the digital sequence for the DSP processing. The Guard Interval Removal and the Serial to Parallel (S/P) stage removes the cyclic prefix (CP) and produces all the useful samples of the current OFDM symbol being processed to the FFT stage simultaneously. The FFT stage converts the subcarriers of the OFDM symbol from the time domain to the frequency domain and produces them to the QAM De-mapper as vectors through the (P/S) buffer. One tap Equalizer can be used to equalize the vector constellation after the FFT stage. The Parallel to Serial (P/S) stage buffers the vectors of each OFDM symbol to produce them serially to the QAM De-mapper. The QAM De-mapper assigns each vector to the correspondent bit combination to produce the data bits. Figure (2-7) general block diagram of the OFDM demodulator. 2.4 The OFDM Demodulator The OFDM modulation operation is completely reversed in the demodulator. At first, the information signal must be recovered from the carrier. This is done by the carrier recovery and down converting stage. Figure (2-7) shows a general block diagram of the OFDM demodulator. The analogue to digital convertor (ADC) converts the information signal into a digital sequence. The guard interval removal stage removes the inserted guard interval or cyclic prefix from the beginning of each OFDM symbol. The OFDM demodulator could use the cyclic prefix at the beginning of each OFDM symbol to pinpoint the beginning and end of each symbol, as the cyclic prefix at the beginning of each OFDM symbol is identical to the end part of that symbol within a duration equal to the cyclic prefix duration. Now, the digital sequence of each OFDM symbol, which represents the algebraic summation of the subcarriers signals in the time domain, is simultaneously presented to the FFT stage to convert these subcarriers into their correspondent vectors in the frequency domain. The parallel presentation of the symbols digital sequence to the FFT stage involves the idea of serial to parallel conversion of this sequence. The subcarriers may also be equalized before being presented to the QAM de-mapper using a one tap equalizer. The QAM de-mapper assigns each vector in the frequency domain to the correspondent binary bit combination in accordance with the QAM constellation being used in the transmitter and receiver. The serial sequence of the received coded bits must be de-interleaved and then decoded and descrambled, if the scrambling, encoding and the interleaving are applied in the transmission side. The number of data bits per each OFDM symbol can be easily calculated by multiplying the number of subcarriers that are used to carry the data bits (Payload subcarriers) by the number of bits represented by the QAM vector in accordance with the QAM constellation table (2-1). The carrier recovery operation can also be done after the sample and hold stage within the digital signal processing unit. 2.5 Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) The DVB-T employs the OFDM due to its excellent performance in the multipath environments which are common in the terrestrial broadcasting, as the OFDM distributes a high bit stream over a high number of orthogonal subcarriers, each of which carries a low bit rate stream simultaneously, which makes the symbol duration much higher than the delay of the indirect paths [7]. The DVB-T has two modes 2K and 8K. As 2K and 8K modes have the same data rata, selecting which mode should be used depends on the requirements. The 2K mode has about 250 Â µ S symbol duration and 4 KHz spacing between its subcarriers, whereas the 8K mode has about 1 m S symbol duration and 1 KHz spacing between its subcarriers. These characteristics make the 8K mode with its higher symbol duration more resilient with multipath situations and channels with a high delay spread but the 2K mode resists better the shift in the frequency caused by Doppler effects due to the relative mobility between the transmitter and receiver, as it has higher frequency spacing between its subcarriers. The DVB-T has (FEC) similar to that of the DVB-S (Satellite) [8]. It has the following code rates (1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8). Not all subcarriers are used as payload carriers to carry the coded bits (data bits + redundant bits); some subcarriers are used for channel estimation and correction. These subc arriers are the pilot carriers which have vectors lying on the I (In-phase) axis of the QAM constellation with angles equal to either 0 degrees or 180 degrees, hence they have only real components unlike the payload vectors which have real and imaginary components in order to recognize between them. The mapping of the pilot carriers to be delivered as vectors to the IFFT stage in the OFDM modulator is achieved through the BPSK modulation which uses the I (in-phase) axis of the constellation. Figure (2-8) shows the locations of DVB-T subcarriers on the 4-QAM constellation. The locations of the payload carriers The locations of the continual and scatter pilot carriers The locations of the TPS pilot carriers Figure (2-7) general block diagram of the OFDM demodulator. The DVB-T uses 4, 16 or 64 QAM to modulate the coded bits to be represented as payload subcarrier vectors, therefore each payload subcarrier can carry 2, 4 or 6 coded bits every OFDM symbol respectively. The DVB-T uses a guard interval length equal to (1/4, 1/8, 1/16 or 1/32) of the OFDM symbol duration [8]. 2.5.1 The DVB-T OFDM Subcarriers The DVB-T 2K mode has 2048 subcarriers, but it only uses 1705 subcarriers and sets the rest to zero. The 1705 carriers are numbered from 0 to 1704. It uses 1512 subcarriers as payload carriers and the remaining 193 subcarriers as pilot carriers. There are three types of the pilot carriers the continual pilots, scatter pilots and the (Transmission Parameter Signaling) (TPS) pilots. The continual pilots have fixed positions in the OFDM symbol spectrum. For example the sequences 0, 48, 969, 1683 and 1704 in the range (0 1704) are reserved as positions for the continual pilots. The continual pilots are used by the receiver to estimate the amount of phase rotation of the received QAM vectors. Every group of 12 subcarrier vectors has only one scatter pilot. The scatter pilots do not have fixed positions. Among each 12 carriers positions there is one variable position for one scatter pilot. The position of each scatter pilot regularly varies from symbol to symbol by jumping 3 positions for ward with respect to its position in the previous symbol. The scatter pilots are used to estimate the channel too. The TPS pilot carriers have fixed positions and are used by the transmitter to inform the receiver about the transmission parameters such as. The DVB-T mode (2K or 8K) Modulation type of the payload subcarrier vectors (4, 16, or 64) QAM FEC code rate (1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6 or 7/8) Length of the guard interval (1/4, 1/8, 1/16 or 1/32) Like the continual and scatter pilots, the TPS pilot carriers lie on the I (in-phase) axis. Each OFDM symbol in the 2K mode has 17 TPS pilot carriers with fixed positions. Within the same symbol all the 17 TPS pilots are either at 0 degrees or 180 degrees. The receiver determines the state of TPS pilots whether the TPS pilots of the received symbol are at 0 degrees or 180 degree based on the majority voting rule. Through the TPS pilots, the transmitter sends the receiver 67 information bits every OFDM frame. The OFDM frame consists of 68 OFDM symbols. The TPS pilots are Differential Bi-Phase Shift Keying (DBPSK) modulated. That means the receiver considers receiving an information bit = (0), if the state of the TPS pilots change from the previous symbol to the current symbol and considers receiving an information bit = (1), if the phase or state of the TPS pilots does not change from the previous symbol to the current symbol. 68 OFDM symbols are required to transmit the 67 informatio n bits, as the first symbol is used to determine the initializing state of the TPS pilots. The 67 bits inform the receiver about the transmission parameters, for example: Bits 26 and 27 represent the QAM order (00=4, 01=16, 10=64) Bits 31, 32 and 33 represent the code rate (000=1/2, 001=2/3, 010=3/4, 011=5/6, 100=7/8) The DVB-T 8K mode has 6817 subcarrier per each OFDM symbol. The subcarriers of the 8K have the same principles and use of those of 2K with difference in their numbers only. Table (2 2) shows the different subcarriers of both 2K and 8K modes. The scatter pilot carriers have two different numbers of the subcarriers, as the scatter pilot carriers coincide with fixed locations of the continual pilot carriers due to their jumping [8]. 2.6 WLAN 802.11a Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) 802.11a employ OFDM as a digital communication technique for reliable and high data rate transmission. Each OFDM symbol is expressed by 64 subcarriers, but the actual used subcarriers are (52) (64 52 =12 subcarriers are set to zero). There are 48 payload carriers to carry the coded bits (data and redundancy bits) and 4 pilot carriers. The frequency spacing between the subcarriers is (?f = 312.5 KHz). The required channel bandwidth can be calculated by multiplying the total number of subcarriers by the frequency spacing = 312.5 K * 64 = 20 MHz. To achieve the orthogonality between the subcarriers the OFDM symbol duration (?t) must be equal to the reciprocal of (?f) (?t = 1/ ?f), hence ?t = 1/312.5 KHz = 3.2 Â µs. 802.11a appends a guard interval (GI) equal of (1/4) the OFDM symbol duration at the beginning of each OFDM symbol (GI = 0.25 * 3.2 Â µs = 0.8 Â µs), therefore each OFDM symbol occupies (3.2 Â µs + 0.8 Â µs = 4 Â µs) time interval. That means a wireless device transmits 250,000 OFDM symbol per second. 802.11a allows wireless devices to have (8) transmission data rates or modes (6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48 and 54) M bits/sec. 802.11a uses (BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM or 64-QAM) to modulate the payload carriers and uses (1/2, 2/3 or 3/4) code rate for the FEC in accordance with transmission data rate being used. The different (8) modes use different modulation types and different code rates as shown in table (2-3) [6]. 802.11a uses BPSK modulation to modulate the payload carries in modes 1 and 2 unlike the DVB-T which only uses QAM modulation to modulate the payload carriers. For each mode, the OFDM symbol has the same total duration (4 Â µs) (250,000 OFDM symbol/Sec) and the same channel bandwidth (20 MHz), as it has the same number of subcarriers (48 payload carriers and 4 pilot carriers). Looking back at table (2-3) (Mode (8) 54 Mbps), as the 64-QAM modulation is used to modulate the payload carriers, each payload carrier in the OFDM symbol carries (log2 (64) = 6 coded bits). Each OFDM symbol carries (48 payload carriers/OFDM symbol * 6 coded bits/payload carrier = 288 coded bits / OFDM symbol). The number of data bits per each OFDM symbol = 288 * (code rate = 3/4) = 216 data bits / OFDM symbol. There are 250,000 OFDM symbols / Sec, hence the data bit rate = 216 * 250,000 = 54 Mbps. Chapter Three The MATLAB Analyses for the Hardware Implementation Approaches 3.1 Introduction Throughout this chapter the ideas and approaches that will be used for the DSP hardware implementation of the OFDM modulator and demodulator on two separate DSP boards will be discussed and simulated by using the MATLAB. There are mainly three approaches. The use of the (Conjugate Symmetric) with the carrier vectors which are the inputs of the IFFT stage in the OFDM modulator to produce an OFDM information signal in the time domain with a real part only for easier modulation and demodulation, which is the proposal that has come out from this project. The use of the squared cosine to recover the OFDM information signal from the carrier signal in the receiver (the synchronization of the carrier frequency signal). The make use of the guard interval (GI) or the cyclic prefix (CP) for the synchronization of the OFDM symbol (i.e. The Symbol Clock Recovery) to allow the receiver to know the correct boundaries of each received OFDM symbol to set the FFT window at the correct positions of the received OFDM signal. 3.2 The Mathematical Analysis of a Multicarrier Signal To understand the idea of the (Conjugate Symmetric) and the role of the IFFT and FFT in the OFDM system, lets consider y(t) as a continuous multicarrier signal with a real part only in the time domain consisting of the algebraic summation of five sinusoidal waves or subcarriers which have the following frequencies (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) KHz and phase shifts (p4,,3p4, 5p4, 7p2, 9p4) respectively with equal amplitude = (28) for each. For our y(t), each two adjacent subcarriers (in the frequency domain) have 90 degrees phase shift. y(t) can be expressed in the time domain as in Eq. (3-1) It is not necessary for the five subcarriers forming y(t) to have the same magnitude. It is just to simplify this discussion. Now, if y(t) is sampled with sampling frequency (Fs). Fs must be greater than (2 * 5 KHz = 10 KHz), where 5 KHz is the highest frequency of y(t) according to the Nyquist-Shannon theorem. Nyquist-Shannon theorem stipulates that the sampling rate or frequency must be at least two times greater than the highest frequency of the sampled signal to avoid the aliasing which prevents providing the DSP system with a right copy of the sampled signal [9]. When a continuous signal in the time domain is sampled, a sample is taken at every (t = n * Ts). Ts is the sampling interval (Ts = 1 / Fs) and n is zero or positive integer number representing the sequence of the sample. y(t) is no longer continuous. Now, y(t) represents a sequence of discrete values. In Eq. (3-1), y(t) is replaced by y(n) in the left hand side and (t) is replaced by (n * Ts) or (n / Fs) in the right hand side as in Eq. (3-2). If Fs is set to 16 KHz (16 KHz > 10 KHz) and 16-point FFT operation is performed to y(n) to produce y(n)s spectrum in the frequency domain in order to study it. The 16 point FFT operation needs 16 discrete values or samples of y(n) for n = 0, 1, 2,13, 14, 15. The results of 16 point FFT operation are 16 complex vectors in the frequency domain. The 16 discrete values (samples) of y(n) are the inputs of the FFT in the time domain and the outputs are 16 complex vectors of Y(m) which represents y(n)s spectrum in the frequency domain. Table (3-1) lists the 16 discrete values of y(n) in the time domain and table (3-2) lists the 16 vectors