Computerized System Essay

7.1 Architectural Design 7.1.1 Entity-Relationship Diagram Fig. 7.1.1 Database model On the figure above, the table â€Å"item_description† contains information about the items in the inventory. This is where the data for new items will be stored and updating of information of existing items takes place. Notice that, the table â€Å"critical_items† has only two attribute which is â€Å"status† that identifies the critical item if it is low or not. The â€Å"transaction† table is where the system stores data regarding individual transaction while â€Å"item_trans† table focuses on list of items and its total price. 7.2 System Function 7.2.1 Physical Data Flow Diagram Fig. 7.2.1 Physical DFD The system mainly consists of functions for sales and inventory management. A customer orders an item and the system checks the inventory by accessing the master item table. New items can be added by the management and the master item record is updated as such. A process computes the total price for the items ordered by using the input from the customer and data(prices) from the inventory master table. After the transaction, receipt will be given to the customer and both the inventory record and sales record are updated. If the system detects any item to be at critical level, a notification will be sent to the management. 7.2.2 User Interface Fig. 7.2.2.1 Main Menu This is the interface where the user has access to all function of the system (Fig. 7.2.2.1). The first thing that will show up when the user runs the system is the button with a text of â€Å"V†. When the user clicks the â€Å"V† button the five buttons and upon clicking the inventory and report button their sub items will also appear and when the user clicks one of these buttons (Point of Sale, View Inventory, Update Inventory, Add Inventory, Critical Items, View Sales Report, and View Inventory report) the visibility of all buttons will be disabled and then the desired form of the user will appear on the gray space. The sub buttons of Inventory is where the user viewing of inventory and critical items ( if there’s any ), update, and adding of inventory. The sub buttons of reports is where the user views the sales and inventory report of the system, the help button mainly focuses on how to use it or what we call â€Å"user manual† and about the system. Fig. 7.2.2.2 Point of Sale Lastly, this form is where the transaction between the manager and the customer takes place. First thing that the user will do is choose an item code and then the quantity for the item and it will automatically compute for the price after that, he will have to click the add item button then the item will appear on the white space on the right side and then a message will prompt if he want to add another or not if he doesn’t want to add another item the uwser will require to input the customer’s payment and clicking the complete transaction button will prompt another message if the user is sure about the transaction. And then if the user is sure, the system will prompt another message if he want to print the receipt or not.

Functionalism in Family Essay

It wasn’t until I was eight years old that I was finally adopted. My adopted family, who I consider to be my real family, taught me a lot. They help shape and mold me into the person that I am today. According to our class textbook, â€Å"the family, in its many varying forms, is present in all human cultures† (Schaefer, pg. 306). The family is impacted by all three sociological theories. In my paper I will discuss the impact that all three of the theories. Functionalism, Conflict and Interactionism, have on the social institution of family. I believe that the social institution of family is what makes us who we are. It helps to form our personality and our lives when we become adults. My family taught me how to make moral decisions in my life, how to become an independent individual in society and how to manage a family of my own. I pretty much do not follow one exact theory. I agree with many of the different aspects of all three theories. The first theory I will discuss will be the Functionalist theory. As outlined by William F. Ogburn, the family is meant to perform six paramount functions as follows:* ReproductionProtection * Socialization * Regulation of sexual behavior * Affection and Companionship * Provision of Social Status I agree with Ogburn on many of these functions. I think that the family teaches you companionship and how to form an affectionate relationship with someone. I also agree tone of the main functions of a family is Reproduction. God says in the Bible that we are to be fruitful. It is our duty t o reproduce to make more beings on earth. My family also serves as a security blanket for me. I know when all else fails my family will always be there for me and take me back with no questions asked. The functionalist theory affects the views of an individual in a family in many ways. To me it makes them a more stable person, with more traditional views. Functionalism does not leave too much room for social change within a family. Usually units of a family have a set of beliefs that they were raised on and consider the norm for them. TO stray from this would be abnormal and not right. Functionalism was a strong belief years ago when things were more traditional. This was just the way of life. This theory to me would be one of the main reasons why many people are against things such as gay marriage, unmarried couples having babies and shacking up and unwed mothers. On the other side of the spectrum we have the Conflict theorists. â€Å"Conflict theorists view the family not as a contributor to social stability, but as a reflection of the inequality in wealth and power that is found within the larger society† (Schaefer, pg. 292). Although I do agree with many of the aspects of the Functionalist theory, I agree with some of the points that the Conflict theory makes as well. I know for a fact when I was a child, my brother got away with murder. There were things that I couldn’t do that my brother could do because he was a boy. I had a friend who parents wouldn’t allow her to go anywhere, she had to go to High School down the block from her home, she couldn’t go to the mall until she was 18, and she was forced to go to college near home. Going away to college was a no- no for her as far as her parents were concerned. However, her younger brother went to a High School way across town from their house, he was hanging out at the age of 13, and he went away to college hours from their house. Many families in many cultures tend to be male chauvinistic, and bring out about inequality between the sexes. This was the way of life in the United States at a time. The man was the one who went out and worked and brought home the bacon. There were things that a man could do that woman couldn’t. The man was the sole provider and the authoritarian. Nowadays, women have just as much say so as men do. I have much power and authority in my family. My kids consider me and their stepdad to be equals. We make decisions and compromises on many things such as the bills, household needs and the children. Although there has been great change in this shift of power from man to woman in a family, there are still some situations where things have not change as much. Studies have shown that â€Å"for every stay-at-home dad there are 38 stay at home moms† (Schaefer, pg. 292). The conflict theory affects the views of individuals in a family because the man a sense of power and authority. It makes the women out to be subservient to her husband or to man period. It lends to situations such as Domestic Violence. I came across an article by Kathryn Yount and LiLi, it discusses Egyptian women’s justification of Domestic Violence. In a study done, â€Å"5,450 women in Egypt, they found that one half justified wife hitting or beating for some reason† (Yount, 2009). It is the conflict theory that leads many women to believe and justify Domestic Violence. There is little change for social change with the conflict theory. As described in our textbook, â€Å"conflict theorists al so view the family as an economic unit that contributes to social injustice† (Schaefer, pg. 292). Society view women as subservient and believe their role to be that of a woman in the kitchen cooking, barefoot and pregnant. Last but not least we have the Interactionalist theory. Unlike the conflict and the functional theory, this theory observes the relationship between individuals in the family and how they interact with one another. â€Å"In a study of both black and white two=parent households, researchers found that when fathers are more involved with their children (reading to them, helping them with their homework, or restricting their television viewing), the children have fewer behavior problems, get along better with others and are more responsible (Schaefer, pg. 293) The relationship between family members can determine the outcome of one’s behavior. This theory provides a lot of knowledge on fixing problems in a family. My son was acting up in school and I could not figure what his problem was. When my fiancee and I became more involved with him and his work, having join Boy Scouts, and talking to him one on one, his behavior changed. I received less and less calls from his teacher about him acting up in school. In family matters: the importance of mattering to a family in adolescence, Gregory Elliott, â€Å"demonstrated that the lack of mattering in one’s family contributes to the degree of connectedness one feels to the social order (Churchill, 2010). Relationships between family members matter a lot. I have a friend who had a horrible relationship with her mother. In turns she had a bad relationship with her daughter, and her daughter has a bad relationship with her daughter. Tough love was a major problem in their situation. The Interactionist has the greatest affect on family member’s views. It makes one more open-minded and understanding. It leaves plenty of room for social change within a family. By studying the relationships between family members we will be able to substantiate behaviors and why certain things happen. Society will in turn change their views on family life and accept change and different forms of families. Many people find it strange that it doesn’t matter to me that my kids biological farther refuses to pay child support and I still want him to see his kids as much as possible. I came across a study done by Yoshi Sano, Leslie Richards and Anisa Z’vonkovis in the Journal of Family Issues. I found that â€Å"Contrary to some father’s claims that mothers gate keep their access to children, the majority of mothers in the study just wanted increased father involvement. The mother’s desire for active father child interaction was not dampened by their frustration at the lack or irregularity of child support payment, which mothers tended to accept given the lack of economic opportunities in rural communities† (Sano, Richards, et. al, 2008). I believe that out of all three theories interactionism teaches one the most and has the greatest impact on family. We can learn from our interactions with one another and others as well. Functionalism is different from all three because it just basically believes that the family has basic functions. It doesn’t go on any evidence or studies. The Conflict theory believes that family brings about conflict. Its sole purpose is to cause inequality between the sexes. The social institution of family is affected by all three of the theories. I feel that and truly believe that it would benefit best form the interactionist theory. This can be backed up by studies and research. It will help to make society more understanding. References Churchill, C. (2010, February). Family matters: the importance to family in adolescence. Choice, 47(6), 1168.

Discretion in the Criminal Justice System

Making executive decisions in the criminal justice system is the underlying power of legal authority. Police, correctional officers, judges and so on hold the ability to make discretionary decisions based on the situation they are involved in. There are a variety of ways that authority use discretion but it may be different when involving different situations or even different people, i. e. , juveniles or adults. I strongly believe that the discretion used in today’s society is distributed in an appropriate manner.Shifting the amount of discretion within our justice system could be for better or worse, but why fix something that's not broken? Although most police officers use discretion, â€Å"Many police officers (and whole departments) prefer to focus on the justice aspects of police work: getting offenders off the streets, responding to emergencies, scoring big drug busts, and generally ‘catching the bad guys. ‘† (Fuller, J. R. Pg. 6. ) No matter how much discretion you give an officer, it's ultimately their choice to use it.Although it is common throughout the criminal justice system, some authoritative figures don’t use discretion in a way to guide punishments; they stay in accordance with established guidelines. In my opinion, depending on the severity of the crime discretion should or should not be used. For example, discretion should be used for a first time offender for speeding but should not be used for a first time offender of rape. â€Å"The police are typically the first contact that young victims and delinquents have with the juvenile justice system. As with adults, law enforcement serves as the gatekeeper to the justice system. † (Fuller, J.R. Pg 17. ) It is extremely important for a police officer to make the decision of introducing a juvenile to the justice system. The responsibility for authorities to use discretion is crucial for a juvenile's future. With adults, less discretion could be used because t hey have a greater sense of morals. In today's society I have personally seen adults expect leniency just because, for example, they have a police organization bumper sticker. Enforcing the law for adults who are habitual offenders is necessary to uphold order. One can only push society and the law so far; at some point you must face the consequences.As we talked about in class, the 3-strike rule is a fair method of deciding who should be held accountable. â€Å"Three major studies were commissioned to examine police practices in detail and to update the 1931 Wickersham commission report (National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, 1971). These include the report of the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (1967) entitled The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society (1967), a report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968), and a report of the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals ( 1973).Each of these commissions was a major undertaking by a large number of scholars and practitioners who focused on solving some of the problems in both policing and the criminal justice system as a whole. The commission reports include multiple proposals to tighten the controls over police discretion, including the use and abuse of force. † (Alpert, Dunham. Pg. 11. ) Whether for good or bad; laws shape citizen's views of beliefs, actions and character.Unfortunately not all systems of morality and discretion are used properly. Discretion should be used in moderation and to preserve order in society, not used in excessive amounts to threaten the law's purpose. In summary, I feel discretion is a necessity. With our overcrowded jails, police and judges need to use their training, insight and experience to keep the public safe from individuals that have no regard for the law. Bibliography * Alpert, Geoffrey P. ; Dunham, Roger G†¦Understanding Police Use of Force: Officers, Suspects, and Reciprocity. West Nyack, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2004. p 11. * Hagan, F. (2011). Ch 1. Essentials of Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology (pp. 1-45). New York, New York: Prentice Hall, 3rd Edition. * Fuller, J. R. (2008). Juvenile Delinquency – Mainstream and Crosscurrents. New York, New York: Prentice Hall, 1st edition. * Owen, S. S. (2012). Foundations of criminal justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Social Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Social Psychology - Essay Example As an amalgamation of what has historically been two disparate and distinct fields of inquiry, social psychology blends the two scholarly realms and provides a new perspective on such issues as social cognition, the individual within society as well as the role that individuals plays in shaping their wider environment. The perception of individuals is very important from a social psychological standpoint and this field allows scholars and researchers to undertake their inquiry from an interdisciplinary approach. Thus, from a social psychological perspective, the perception of individuals can be shaped by both internal psychological factors as well as the social environment. Sociology is a field which has traditionally focused group dynamics and behaviors. Psychology, on the other hand, is a field which is primarily concerned with the individual and the mental motivating factors in explaining thoughts and behaviors. From the perspective of social psychology then, the formation of soci al identity is the result of both social and psychological factors. Individual cognitive behavior influences social identity as does the environment one is raised in, the people he/she grows up with and social identity can be seen as a mixture of these forces (Baron 3-44). Social psychology, as a field of inquiry, has much to say about perceiving groups, norms and behaviors. Accordingly, social psychology looks at these concepts and sheds light onto both the social and psychological features of these issues. Accordingly, Discrimination is described as the prejudicial treatment of others based upon certain real or perceived characteristics. It is generally done on the basis of race, colour, sex, age, language, sexual orientation, religion and/or disability. Discrimination is often based upon pre-held beliefs, judgments and stereotypes about people and

Madagascar Rainforest of Atsinanana Research Paper - 1

Madagascar Rainforest of Atsinanana - Research Paper Example The Madagascar Rainforest of Atsinanana is â€Å"critically important for maintaining the ecological processes which have resulted in Madagascar’s unique biodiversity† (African Natural Heritage, 2009). There is a high degree of endemism, that is 97% of the species of animals existing in these moist forests are found only in Madagascar, including 25 species of lemur. The national parks protect two-thirds of the island’s mammals. According to Ferguson (p.135), â€Å"80% of the fauna and 90% of the flora on the island are found nowhere else on earth†. Thus Madagascar’s label as a ‘biodiversity hotspot’ indicates its importance for conservation.    Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate Madagascar’s Rainforest of Atsinanana, assess its ecological value, identify the ecological uniqueness of the plant and animal life, examine the rainforest’s biodiversity, the human intrusions threatening the area, identify the existing safeguards and further conservation and preservation efforts, determine how individuals can help preserve the diversity of the area, and the losses that would be incurred if intrusion were to go unchecked. Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island. The Rainforests of the Atsinanana are mainly related to the steeper terrain along the eastern escarpment and mountains of Madagascar. The relict Rainforests constitute a protected serial property composed of the six national parks distributed along the eastern side of the island. This property is composed of a representative selection of the most important habitats of the unique rainforest biota of Madagascar. These include several of the endangered and endemic plant and animal species (UNESCO, 2011). The region also has a distinctive cultural history and beautiful beaches (Ward, 2010). The relict rainforests are significant ecologically, maintaining biological process which are vital for the survival of Madagascar’s unique biodiversity. The country’s

Electronic Banking Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Electronic Banking - Case Study Example According to New Dawn Magazine (1995, pg. 1), "Money - in the traditional sense no longer exists. It died two decades ago when Richard Nixon forever abolished the gold standard. Since then, money as we once knew it has been replaced by an unstable new global medium of exchange that is called 'megabyte money'... megabyte money is a threat not only to our country's long-term growth and prosperity, but to the individual as well." The public now has quite a few electronic money counterparts available at their disposal. The United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing still prints greenbacks in sheets of 32. "In fiscal 2007, the government will print about 9.1 billion individual bills. But 95 percent is to replace worn currency, not to expand the supply. THE BUCK STARTS HERE, say signs on some printing presses. In reality, today's buck usually begins (and ends) as a mere data entry" (Samuelson, 2007, pg. 1). * U.S. currency (dollar bills of all amounts) totaled $784 billion in 2006, but probably half or more is held outside the United States by foreigners who prize dollars--especially $100 bills--as a store of value. That suggests that less than $400 billion in currency supports a $13 trillion economy. In 1970, the economy's relative need for cash was almost twice as high. * In 2005, Americans held 1.7 billion credit and debit cards (about seven for everyone over 15), says The Nilson Report, an industry newsletter, and in the past decade, debit-card use has soared. In 1996, checks and cash represented almost 80 percent of consumer payments, estimates Nilson; they're now less than half. (The latest firm figures for 2005 show all paper payments at 50.3 percent of the total, with cash at 20.7 percent; by 2010, Nilson expects electronic payments to exceed 70 percent of the total.) * From a peak of almost 50 billion in 1995, the number of checks written in the United States fell to 36.6 billion in 2003, while the number of electronic payments rose from 15 billion to 44 billion, estimates the Federal Reserve. (The Fed survey doesn't directly measure cash use.) Companies are even marketing products to kids that are supposed to help get them used to the cashless society that supposedly lies ahead. For instance, Mastercard came out with a credit card made just for children. One of the biggest dangers of this card is that it can allow children to go into debt by purchasing and consuming large amounts of products without using cash. "Supporters regard the cards, which are issued by Bluecorner, as the natural step in an increasingly cashless society. They argue that the prepayment cards will familiarise children with plastic without spending too much. The cards are designed to get children used to the fact that cash is obsolete and their money, and the amount they are allowed to spend is controlled by someone else who also profits from their spending" (Watson, 2006, pg. 1). The Role of Information Systems According to New Dawn Magazine (1995, pg. 1), "Certainly there are jumps in technology that have facilitated this. For instance, a product that we market at Norwest is a debit card. It is a Visa Card (credit) but it's a debit card, so the money comes out of your checking account. This year [1994] across the country, Visa's volume (the number of times that the Visa Card is used) is up massively. Check

Comprehensive Doctoral Review Examination Question #1 Theory with the Term Paper

Comprehensive Doctoral Review Examination Question #1 Theory with the concept (when contractors preform inherently governmental functions it puts the U.S. Government at risk) - Term Paper Example Additionally, the research conducted on the based on the different available evidences enhances the relevance of the research and further develops their acceptability. Similarly, the different theories that are available in the specific fields enhance the approach towards the present research question (Houser & Oman, 2011). In this regards the issue related with the inherent operations of the management that puts the governmental functioning at risk. The performances of the contractors are majorly involved with the performances of the government as the performances of the individual contractors affect the overall performances of the federal government. Several technical complexities affect the different operational motives of the government and hinder the ability of the government to perform effectively. Furthermore, the contractors performs the functions that are intimately related with public interest hence if the contractors fails to meet with the different needs of the public it is most likely to affect the overall government functions. With this regard, the paper elaborates on the functioning of the contractors that in turn puts the government operations at risk. Theories have been authentic evidences that support the research and enhance the relevance of the same. The different theories that are available in the specific fields provide a guideline for conducting the research and enhance the acceptability of the study. The word theory has a several number of meanings and is interpreted by the different theorist in several manners. Furthermore, the different theorists have elaborated on the different concepts that are appropriate for the different situations and different problems. The following sections project the different concepts that are most important for developing a generalisabilty of the research and develop the relevance of the

International trade and payments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International trade and payments - Essay Example It illustrates on the point of China’s growth on the rest of the world economy. It is assumed that France is importing grapes from the world market. The supply and demand curve of the country and the world market are given by the lines D and S respectively. The world trade price is set at PW and PA is the equilibrium price of the importing price, i.e. France in this case. At price level Pw, the demand for grapes is OQ1 and the supply of grapes is OQ2. Q1Q2 accounts for the amount of shortage of grapes in the domestic market. The amount of imports is also the same for France. As the world price of grapes is lower than the French price, this implies a better off effect for the consumers as lower priced goods are available to them now. But there is a negative effect for the domestic producers. Now, they would have to produce at a lower price in order to compete with the global price. Some of them would be even compelled to leave the market. The above figure depicts how imposition of tariff affects the economy. The French government imposes tariff on imports of grapes. The world price of grapes is at Pw and on implementing tariff the price rises to Pw+t. Initially, Q1 and Q2 were the supply and demand for grapes in the world market, respectively. After tariff, Q3 and Q4 becomes the supply and demand respectively. Thus, imports shrink from Q1Q2 to Q3Q4. Imposing tariff has two beneficial effects. Firstly it adds to the revenue of the government. Secondly, it acts as a protection for the domestic producers, so that they can produce more. Effect on Consumers: Consumers in the importing country, in this case France, suffer a reduction in well being as a result of the tariff. Increase in the domestic prices of goods and services imported reduce the amount of consumer surplus in the market. Effect on Producers: Producers in France experience in well being as a result of the tariff. Increase in prices of their product in the domestic market increase their

Should liberalist states promote their policies abroad Is force a Essay

Should liberalist states promote their policies abroad Is force a legitimate instrument in securing these goals - Essay Example The questions asked are; is liberalism really a bad ideology that it has to be forced on other nations and how can the citizens of various nations benefit from liberalism? This paper supports the notion that liberalist states should promote their policies abroad but force should not be used as a legitimate instrument in securing these goals. Policy making was largely influenced by liberalists in the twentieth century. The liberalists influenced Public opinion and their liberal views were embraced as they gave the people hope for having free elections, religious freedom, free press, free markets, associational pluralism, free movement and many other associated benefits. However, with the First World War, liberal views subsided but after the Second World War, there was revival of liberal views marked by the establishment of United Nations. The cold war power politics extinguished liberalism again but in the 1990s; there was a beacon of hope as the Western countries announced the establ ishment of a new world order (Dunne 1). The leaders who came up with the new world order gave their justifications why the world should embrace liberalism over other ideologies but after the World Trade Centre was destroyed by a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, America seemed to abandon liberalism and embraced realism. The United States of America and its counterparts have attempted to solidify power around them and decided to seek vengeance among their perceived enemies and the nations that sympathize with them. The paper expounds on the matter, showing liberalism to be founded on temperateness, compromise, moderation, and peace while realists strive to introduce a common power in order to achieve progress, justice and law (Dunne 2). For a long period, liberalism has been utilized to depict abroad range of practices, ideas, movements, and parties in various societies. It was mainly used to oppose the systems of governance that were oppressive and denied the citizens some pri vileges. Liberalism was used as a force of liberation for the people to obtain free initiatives from existing governments. When used as a political philosophy, liberalism can either refer to individual rights shared by liberals or basic principles of constitutional authorities. Classical liberals advocated for liberty, the segmentation of political powers, economic freedom, rights to own property, freedom of speech and thoughts, independent civil societies and religious liberty. Egalitarian aspects have influenced modern democratic liberalism in addition to the other aspects that classical liberalists advocated for, thus social equality serving as the foundation of modern-day liberal politics (Starr 34). Liberalism can be defined in four dimensions, which look into its different aspects. Firstly, when relating to the law, all the citizens are equal, meaning that they are equally bound by the law and bear basic rights to religious toleration, education, and free press among other rig hts. Secondly, the legislative body of a nation can only exercise authority vested in it by the citizens and is not permitted to abuse their rights. Thirdly, an individual has the right to property ownership and productive forces. Fourthly, liberalism identifies the free, market driven economic exchange system as the most effective and disparages market systems that are controlled and regulated bureaucratically. When one considers these four

Environmental Impacts of Aviation Essay Example for Free

Environmental Impacts of Aviation Essay Noise is said to have a variety of definitions. For people who are inclined towards acoustics, noise is identified as a complex form of sound waves that have irregular vibrations and has no known pitch. In the field of engineering, noise is considered as a signal that interferes with the detection and quality identification of another signal. However, for psychoacoustic studies which are focused on the study of human response to sound, noise is deemed as an unwanted form of sound (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association [ASHA], 2008). According to K. D. Kryter (1996), noise is an enhanced form of sound signals that post a negative effect in the physiological and psychological aspect of an individual (Kryter, 1996 cited in ASHA, 2008). For the most part, noise is something that could be identified as an unwanted sound which is a pollutant and a hazard to the health of human beings (ASHA, 2008). Noise can be derived from a variety of contributors, and such noises have their own levels that are detrimental to the hearing of an individual. Noise levels are measured in decibels. Sounds that are louder than 80 decibels are considered to be hazardous. One of the leading sources of potentially hazardous noise is the airport. Noises from airports could come from constructions and operating machines. However, the major contributor for airport noise is caused by the aircrafts. There are two ways on how aircraft noises are generated. First, airframe noise appears whenever air passes through the fuselage or body and wings of the plane. The activity causes friction and turbulence which often result in the production of unwanted sound. Gliders which are planes without engines produce noise during its flights. Second, engine noise is derived from the action of the moving parts of the aircraft’s engine. Such noise is also produced whenever the sound of air passes through the engines during high speed. Engine noise mainly comes from the plane’s exhaust or the jet situated behind the engine whenever the air sound from the engine combines with the air surrounding it (Wellington Airport, 2008). Based from the study carried out by Daniel Nunez (1998), airplane noise poses disturbance in the human sleep more than any other forms of noises. It was also indicated that more than 50% of the people residing near airports are awakened by airplane noise (Holland-Wegman, 1967 cited in Nunez, 1998). The onset of aircraft noise as a major problem began during the time when there is an upsurge in the need of air transportation after World War Two. By the end of 1950’s, the introduction of jet planes became widely known which later on catapulted the â€Å"aviation revolution† where commercial air passengers were also introduced (Nunez, 1998). The augmentation in the aircraft use also resulted in the increase in the noise level produced by air transportations. Because of the outstanding length of service and success of aircraft operations, airports gradually become larger and noisier. The attractive activities of airports also began to grab the attention of people, wherein surrounding communities started to spread all throughout the nearby areas. The more airports become bigger and nosier, the more residential structures, churches, and schools come closer to the area. Eventually, conflicting issues arise. Aside from the land expansion of airports which often cause nearby residents to act defensively, noise is also regarded as an issue that is very much integrated with airport operations (Bachman, 2003). As such, the painful sound from aircraft take offs and landings were viewed as the primary reasons of annoyance by the residents living near the area. From then on, airport noise has become a complex psychophysiological and economic issue (Nunez, 1998). The issues regarding aircraft noise are said to be complicated because of the aviation industry’s significance in the economy of developing countries. Without the presence of the aviation industry various economic industries would be gravely affected, some of which include the tourism business and mail transportation (Nunez, 1998). Many airports have spent large amounts of money in order to provide sound insulation for residential buildings and community owned structures to reduce aircraft noise (Bachman, 2003). One of the airports that have reached an agreement regarding their noise issue with the people in the surrounding community is the Wellington International Airport Limited (WIAL) situated in New Zealand. WIAL was constituted as a legal corporation on October 16, 1990. The aviation company is partly owned by the Wellington City Council which shares 34% of the total stocks, while the other 66% are owned by Infratil Limited. Wellington International Airport is known as the third largest airport in New Zealand and is classified as a regional hub that extends its international flight service not only in New Zealand but also to the Eastern part of Australia and the neighboring island countries in the south-west Pacific. Almost 90% of the passengers of WIAL travel domestically and majority of whom are business people (Ministry of Economic Development [MED], 2005). As it was said, no other cities in the world have an airport location that could be compared to Wellington International Airport. WIAL is situated on a narrow strip of land in the center of the residential areas. The airport is just minutes away towards the capital’s centre. It is also accessible through a short coastal scenic drive or passing through the tunnel at Mount Victoria. Although the location of the airport is said to be unique, the airport is faced with substantial challenges in terms of its environmental impact, specifically the aircraft noise. The location of Wellington International Airport which is close to the residential area became a ground for the residents to organize the Residents Airport Noise Action Group, the noise abatement requirement, as well as different actions from the internal operations of the airport in order to decrease the noise pollution (Wellington Airport, 2008). Residents Airport Noise Action Group In 1963, Maxine Harris first moved into her home at Strathmore which is near Wellington International Airport. Five years after, Harris reported that the jet noise began. According to documents, Harris and her neighbors were not at all bothered by the jet noise. However by 1980’s, Harris and her neighbors started hearing the night-time acceleration of the airplane engines of National Airways. Harris even noted that they heard the revving of the airplane engines that sounded like a high-pitched whining that would wake her up in the middle of the night and would not allow her to get back to sleep. Harris complained about the noise issue, but an airport official told her that no other individual complained about the noise. Harris talked to her other neighbor about the issue and her neighbor told her that he had also complained, yet the airport official also told him that no other person called the airport to complain. Both Harris and her neighbor responded to the issue by putting leaflets in the mailboxes of their neighbors. The leaflet called for the other residents to phone the airport whenever they were disturbed by the aircraft noise (Samson, 1997a). Because of this, the neighbors responded well, and in 1986, the Residents Airport Noise Action Group was established. The group was focused on performing two tasks: to halt the engine testing at night and to lessen the noise produced by the 737’s. It was in 1986 when the group had their first meeting with the city council. During that time, they have voiced their complaints regarding the noise issue. Their first attempt became successful after the city passed the first by-law which is focused on the engine-testing. The by-law limits the testing times of the National Airways Friendship fleet. However, subsequent efforts of the group were not as successful as their first attempt. The noise problem of the Boeing 737’s still remains (Samson, 1997a). In 1987, the Ansett Airlines became a part of the internal air service market. In return, Air New Zealand has to expand their operations. It was stated that the residents regarded 1987 as the year of â€Å"big explosion† because of the noise produced by the aircrafts. In response to the growing issue of the airport noise, the residents put forward a proposal, stating that all the 737’s should be phased out in 1997. Three months after the proposal was passed, Ansett acknowledged the residents’ plea by replacing the fleets with whisper jets that are much quieter compared to the 737’s. On the other hand, the city council framed a proposed by-law that would have ordered the Air New Zealand to reduce its fleet on a stage by stage process. However, the propose by-law did not take in effect (Samson, 1997a). By 1992, Air New Zealand promised that by the following year seven of their Boeing 737-200’s would have devices that would reduce noise known as hush kits and other fleets would be phased out and will be replaced by 737-300’s. However, the residents did not agree with this. Arguments were once again raised that have even reached the select committees of the parliament, yet the resolutions were unidentifiable (Samson, 1997, p. 19a). As a response to the noise issue that has been gaining public interest, the city council put forth a proposed district plan, but the residents opposed to it. However, in order to resolve the issue, environment court judge Shonagh Kenderdine ruled out in August of 1997 that the airport and the airlines should adhere to the strict rules as proposed by the district plan regarding the air noise boundary wherein a specific maximum noise level will be set. Furthermore, the noise boundary would later on be dissolved if there is an improvement with the airport and airlines noise management. Other regulations that were included in the ruling involve the night curfew, engine-testing, ground noise control, and land-use. The first three issues being disputed were already progressive after the issues were ruled out. The last dispute which was focused on the land use was not settled until November of 1997 (Samson, 1997a). As a follow up to the court ruling done on August of 1997, in order to end the ten-year fight regarding the acceptable noise level in Wellington area, and to finally conclude the last remaining area of dispute which was focused on the land use, Judge Shonagh Kenderdine ended the noise issue on November 20, 1997. The major players during the court case involved the Residents airport noise action group, the board of airline representatives, the Wellington city council, and the Wellington international airport. It was stipulated in the ruling that: â€Å"All new housing developments within the airport’s air-noise boundary would be deemed unrestricted discretionary activity† (Samson, 1997b, p. 3). Under the said ruling, any individuals who are interested to build residential structures within the surrounding airport area and all the application permits have to be approved by the Wellington City Council. Therefore, the council has the right to refuse or consent the details of the application depending on the criteria that are still to be set by the district plan (Samson, 1997b). Despite the criteria being on the process of completion, the interested party should be governed by the assessments set in the ruling wherein new homes that will be built within the airports air-noise boundary should use construction materials that could pass the standards of noise reductions. Such materials include: thicker gib boarding, double or thicker window glazing, and the installation of noise insulations. The ruling also required the city council to implement stricter rules regarding the development of new housings compared to the original proposition of the district plan (Samson, 1997b).

P300-based Brain-Computer Interface Performance Enhancement

P300-based Brain-Computer Interface Performance Enhancement Enhancing Performance and Bitrates in a P300-based Brain-Computer Interface for Disabled Subjects by Phase-to-Amplitude Cross-Frequency Coupling Stavros I.Dimitriadis1,2*, Avraam D. Marimpis3 1Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, UK 2Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Center, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK 3Brain Innovation B.V., Netherlands Abstract A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a communication system that transforms brain-activity into specific commands for managing a computer or other home or electrical devices. In other words, a BCI is an alternative way of interacting with the environment by using brain-activity instead of muscles and nerves. For that reason, BCI systems are of high clinical value for targeted populations suffering from neurological disorders. In this paper, we present a new processing approach of a well-known P300-BCI system for disabled subjects. Estimating cross-frequency coupling (CFC) and namely ÃŽÂ ´-ÃŽÂ ¸ phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC) within sensor, we succeeded high classification accuracy and high bitrates for both disabled and able-bodied subjects. The system is tested with four severely disabled and four able-bodied subjects. The bitrates obtained for both the disabled and able-bodied subjects reached the fastest reported level of 10 bits/sec. The new preprocessing approach based o n recordings from the single-sensor Pz while the classification accuracy is tested also for others electrodes. Keywords: Brain-computer interface; P300; Disabled subjects; cross-frequency coupling; accuracy *Corresponding author: Dr.Dimitriadis Stavros Research Fellow School of Medicine, Cardiff University, UK CUBRIC Neuroimaging Center, Cardiff,UK Introduction From the very first work of Farwell and Donchin [1] the majority of P300-based Brain Computer Interface (BCI) systems focused on developing new application scenarios [2,3], and on developing and testing new algorithms for the reliable detection of the P300 waveform from noisy datasets [4-8]. For a review of P300, an interested can read the [9-10]. Ten years ago, two pioneer studies have been first published presenting a P300 BCI system on disabled subjects. Piccione et al. (2006) [11] design a 2D cursor BCI control system where subjects had to concentrate on four arrows flashing every 2.5 sec in random order occupied the peripheral area of a computer screen. Five disabled and seven able-bodied subjects were participated on this experiment. For controlling this cursor, this four-choice P300 flashing arrow cursor was used. EEG signals were recorded using four EEG sensors and electro-oculogram. Using independent component analysis and neural networks, Piccione et al. [11] demonstrated that P300 can be a valuable control signal for disabled subjects. However, the communication system was too low compared to state of the art systems [5,8]. Sellers and Donchin (2006) [12] designed a four choice BCI experiment with four stimuli (YES, NO, PASS, END) that were presented every 1.4 s in random order, in two different modalities either visual or auditory or in a combined mode. Three subjects suffering with ALS and three able-bodied subjects performed the experiment. EEG recordings from three sensors were classified using a stepwise linear discriminant algorithm (LDA). They demonstrated that communication via a P300 system is possible for subjects suffering from ALS. Additionally, they demonstrated that communication is possible in different modalities like the visual, auditory, and also in a combined auditory-visual mode. However, both the classification accuracy and the communication rate were low compared to the state of the art results. One of possible explanations of low accuracy and communication rate could be the low number of EEG sensors, the long inter-stimulus intervals and the low number of trials. McCane et al., demonstrated a BCI system where both accuracy and communication rate did not differ significantly between ALS users and HVs. Although ERP morphology was similar for the two groups, the target ERPs differed significantly in the location and amplitude of the late positivity (P300), the amplitude of the early negativity (N200), and the latency of the late negativity (LN) [13]. Hoffmann et al.,, demonstrated a six-choice P300 paradigm which was tested in a population of five disabled and four able-bodied subjects. Six different images were flashed in random order with an ISI of 400 ms [7]. They tested how the electrode configuration can influence the accuracy in order to detect the best channel selection. For four out of five disabled subjects and for all the able-bodied subjects both the communication rates and the classification accuracies were higher compared to the aforementioned studies [11,12]. The datasets in Hoffmann et al., study can be freely downloaded from the website of the EPFL BCI group (http://bci.epfl.ch/p300). In the present study, we used the dataset from Hoffmann et al., study to demonstrate an alternative algorithmic approach with main scope to improve the bitrates up to the limits. For that occasion, we adopted a cross-frequency coupling (CFC) estimator namely phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC) to quantify how the phase of the lower frequency brain rhythms modulates the amplitude of the higher oscillations. The whole approach was followed in a trial basis and within sensors located over parieto-occipital brain areas. PAC proved to be a valuable estimator in many applications like the design of a biomarker: for amnestic mild cognitive impairment subjects during an auditory oddball paradigm [14], for dyslexia [15], for mild traumatic brain injury [16]. The layout of the paper is as follows. In Section 2, we described the subject population, the experiments that were performed, and the methods used for data pre-processing steps of the proposed pipeline and the classification procedure. Results are presented in Section 3. Discussion is devoted in Section 4. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Experimental setup Users were facing a laptop screen on which six images were displayed (see Fig. 1). The images showed a television, a telephone, a lamp, a door, a window and a radio. The images were selected according to an application scenario in which users can control electrical appliances via a BCI system. The application scenario served however only as an example and was not pursued in further detail. The images were flashed in random sequences, one image at a time. Each flash of an image lasted for 100 ms and during the following 300 ms none of the images was flashed, i.e. the inter-stimulus-interval was 400 ms. The EEG was recorded at 2048 Hz sampling rate from 32 electrodes placed at the standard positions of the 10-20 international system. A Biosemi Active Two amplifier was used for amplification and analog to digital conversion of the EEG signals. [Figure 1 around here] 2.2. Subjects The proposed methodology was applied to P300 BCI-oriented recordings derived from five disabled and four healthy subjects. The demographics of the four disabled are presented in (Table 1). Disabled subject 5 as excluded from further analysis. Subjects 6-9 were Ph.D. students that were recruited from EPFL BCI groups laboratory (all males, age 30 ±2.3). None of subjects 6-9 had known neurological deficits. For more information regarding the subjects, an interested reader should refer to the original paper [7]. Table 1. Subjects from which data was recorded in the study of the environment control system S1 S2 S3 S4 Diagnosis Cerebral palsy Multiple sclerosis Late-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Traumatic brain and spinal-cord injury, C4 level Age 56 51 47 33 Age at illness onset 0 (perinatal) 37 39 27 sSex M M M F Speech production Mild dysarthria Mild dysarthria Severe dysarthria Mild dysarthria Limb muscle control Weak Weak Very Weak Weak Respiration control Normal Normal Weak Normal Voluntary eye movement Normal Mild nystagmus Normal Normal 2.3. Experimental schedule Each subject completed four recording sessions. The first two sessions were performed on one day and the last two sessions on another day. All subjects were recruited within maximum two weeks between the first and the last session. Each of the sessions consisted of six runs, one run for each of the six images. For further details about the protocol followed on this experiment see the original paper related to this dataset [7]. The following protocol was used in each of the runs. (i) Subjects were asked to count silently how often a prescribed image was flashed (for example: Now please count how often the image with the television is flashed). (ii) The six images were displayed on the screen and a warning tone was issued. (iii) Four seconds after the warning tone, a random sequence of flashes was started and the EEG was recorded. The sequence of flashes was block-randomized, this means that after six flashes each image was flashed once, after twelve flashes each image was flashed twice, etc. The number of blocks was chosen randomly between 20 and 25. On average 22.5 blocks of six flashes were displayed in one run, i.e. one run consisted on average of 22.5 target (P300) trials and 22.5ÃÆ'-5 = 112.5 non-target (non-P300) trials. (iv) In the second, third, and fourth session the target image was inferred from the EEG with a simple classifier. At the end of each run the image inferred by the classification algorithm was flashed five times to give feedback to the user. (v) After each run subjects were asked what their counting result was. This was done in order to monitor performance of the subjects. The duration of one run was approximately one minute and the duration of one session including setup of electrodes and short breaks between runs was approximately 30 min. One session comprised on average 810 trials, and the whole data for one subject consisted on average of 3240 trials. 2.4 Offline Analysis The impact of different single-sensor recordings on classification accuracy was tested in an offline procedure. For each subject four-fold cross-validation was used to estimate average classification accuracy. More specifically, the data from three recording sessions were used to train a classifier and the data from the left-out session was used for validation. This procedure was repeated four times so each session served once for validation. 2.4.1. Preprocessing Before learning a classification function and before validation, several preprocessing operations were applied to the data. The preprocessing operations were applied in the order stated below. Referencing. The average signal from the two mastoid electrodes was used for referencing. Filtering. A third order forward-backward Butterworth bandpass filter was used to filter the data.. The MATLAB function butter was used to compute the filter coefficients and the function filtfilt was used for filtering. The predefined frequencies were : ÃŽÂ ´ {0.5-4 Hz},ÃŽÂ ¸ {4-8 Hz},ÃŽÂ ±1 {8-10 Hz}, ÃŽÂ ±2 {10-13 Hz},ÃŽÂ ²1 {13-20 Hz},ÃŽÂ ²2 {20-30 Hz} and ÃŽÂ ³1 {30 45 Hz}. (iii) Downsampling. The EEG was down-sampled from 2048 Hz to 512 Hz by selecting each 4th sample from the bandpass-filtered data. (iv) Single trial extraction. Single trials of duration 1000 ms were extracted from the data. Single trials started at stimulus onset, i.e. at the beginning of the intensification of an image, and ended 1000 ms after stimulus onset. Due to the ISI of 400 ms, the last 600 ms of each trial were overlapping with the first 600 ms of the following trial. (v) Electrode selection. We applied our analysis to recordings from single-sensor activity and mainly, PZ,OZ,P3,P4,P7 and P8. (vi) Feature vector construction. As appropriate feature for each trial, we used the phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC) which already has been shown its potentiality in building reliable biomarkers (Dimitriadis et al., 2015,2016). PAC was estimated for each frequency pair (see ii)). The description of PAC is given in the next section. As a complementary feature that can separate the counted stimuli from the non counted stimuli, alpha relative signal powers have been estimated. Alpha power level can give us a valuable and objective criterion when a subject attends or not attends to the stimulus. Our idea is to create an initial binary classifier that will cut-off the attended from the non-attended stimuli for each subject prior entering the main multi-class classifier. CFC metric computation CFC estimates the strength of pairwise interactions and identifies the prominent interacting pair of frequencies, both between and within sensors [17-19]. Among available CFC descriptors, phase-amplitude coupling (PAC), which relies on phase coherence, is the one most commonly encountered in research [20]. The PAC algorithm as adapted to continuous MEG multichannel recordings is described below. ÃŽÂ ¤he within-sensor CFC version is described. Let x(isensor, t), be the EEG activity recorder at the isensor-th site, and t=1, 2,. T the successive time points. Given a frequency-limited signals x(isensor,t) , cross-frequency coupling is estimated by allowing the phase of the lower frequency (LF) oscillations to modulate the amplitude of the higher frequency (HF) oscillations. The complex analytic representations of each signal zLF(t) and zHF(t) are derived via the Hilbert transform (HT[.]). Next, the envelope of the higher-frequency oscillations AHF(t) is bandpass-filtered within the range of LF oscillations and the resulting signal is submitted to an additional Hilbert transform to derive its phase dynamics component à Ã¢â‚¬  '(t) which expresses the modulation of the amplitude of HF-oscillations by the phase of the LF-oscillations. Phase consistency between the two time-series was measured by means of both the original definition [21] and the imaginary portion of PLV, as synchronization indexes to quantify the strength of PAC. The original PLV is defined as follows: and the imaginary part of PLV as follows: The imaginary portion of PLV is considered to be less susceptible to volume conduction effects in assessing CFC interactions. While the imaginary part of PLV is not affected by volume conduction effects, it could be sensitive to changes in the angle between two signals, which not necessarily imply a PLV change. In general, the imaginary portion of PLV is only sensitive to non-zero-phase lags and is thus resistant to instantaneous self-interactions associated with volume conductance [22]. For further details and applications, an interested reader can read our previous work [14,15]. In the present study, as was already mentioned we used 8 frequency bands which means that PAC is estimated for 7*6/2=21 cross-frequency pairs e.g. ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A ,ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ±1Awhere à Ã¢â‚¬   and A denote the phase and amplitude of each frequency band. Figure 2 demonstrates the pre-processing steps of the PAC estimator for a trial of subject 6 at target image 6. [Figure 2 around here] Signal Power We estimated the relative power of each band-pass frequency signal segment with the following equations: The first equation quantifies the signal power (SP) of each frequency as the sum of the filtered signal squared per sample (3) while equation (4) divides the SP by the sum of the SP from all the frequencies which gives the relative signal power (RSP). The whole approach was repeated for every trial, sessions and subject. 2.4.4. Machine learning and classification Training data sets contained 405 target trials and 2025 non-target trials and validation data sets consisted of 135 target and 675 non-target trials (these are average values cf. Section 2.3). Adopting sequential feature selection algorithm, we detected the characteristic cross-frequency pair via PAC value that gives the highest discrimination of each target images compared to the rest based on the training data set. Additionally, we used the same feature extraction algorithm to detect the relative signal power that separate the counted flashing images from the non-counted images. We trained a multi-class SVM classifier based on the selected PAC estimate from specific cross-frequency pairs and then we tested the classifier to the validation data to get the response tailored to each target image [23]. The training test consisted of the first session while the rest three sessions were used for validating the whole analytic scheme. A k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) classifier was applied to differentiate the attended from the non-attended flashing images prior to multi-class SVM classifier. 2.4.5 Performance Evaluation Classification accuracy and ITR were calculated for the offline experiments separately. The method for calculating ITR (in bits per second) was as follows (5): Where N is the number of classes (i.e., 6 in this study), P is the accuracy of target identification, and T (seconds per selection) is the average time for a selection. Results ÃŽÂ ´-ÃŽÂ ¸ Phase-to-Amplitude Coupling as a Valuable Feature for the BCI-P300 System We estimated both PAC and relative signal power (RSP) for the first 32 samples (60 ms) increasing the window up to 500 ms (256 samples) with a step of 12 samples (5 ms) . The sequential feature selection algorithm detected only one PAC feature from the 21 possible cross-frequency pairs as the unique candidate feature to separate the six classes of images-stimuli. ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A was the selected feature for both disabled and able-bodied subjects. The group-averaged classification performance was for each sensor location using the first 100 ms for both able-bodied and disabled subjects. The errors were detected on the trials where the subject missed the flashing image. The classification performance with the use of a kNN-classifier prior to the multi-class SVM was 100 % for every subject and for all the pre-selected sensors namely PZ,OZ,P3,P4,P7,P8 EEG sensors. Figure 3 and Figure 4 illustrates the trial-related (grand-averaged) PAC-connectivity patterns (comodulograms) for subject 6 (able-bodied) and subject 1 (disabled) correspondingly from target and non-target trials for each flashing image. Comodulograms differed by contrasting target vs non-target within each subject and target image but also between the two images. ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A was the unique feature for both disabled and able-bodied subjects that can clearly predict the target image for both groups. [Figures 3 and 4 around here] Attention and Alpha Power Prior to multi-class SVM, we applied a kNN-classifier based on ÃŽÂ ±1 signal power which was selected as the feature that can discriminate counted from non-counted flashing images. The kNN-classifier performed 100 % clear filtration of attended from non-attended trials for each subject and further improved the performance of multi-class SVM to 100 %. We achieved this performance using ÃŽÂ ±1 signal relative power estimated from the first 100 ms for both able-bodied and disabled subjects. The classification performance with the kNN-classifier was 100 % for every subject and for all the pre-selected sensors namely PZ,OZ,P3,P4,P7,P8 EEG sensors. Table 2 summarizes the group-averaged relative signal power (RSP) of ÃŽÂ ±1 frequency band for attended versus non-attended images. Table 2. Group-averaged ÃŽÂ ±1 signal relative power for attended and non-attended images. Attended Non-Attended Able Bodied Disabled Performance Evaluation In the present study, we succeeded bitrates of 10 bits/sec for both disabled and able-bodied subjects correspondingly for all the sensor locations used on the whole analysis. The time for estimation of PAC and testing the trial was 0.00001 sec on a Windows 7 -Intel 7 8-core machine. Discussion A novel approach of how to analyse single-trials in a BCI system was introduced based on the estimation of cross-frequency coupling (CFC) and namely phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC). PAC was estimated within EEG sensors from single-trials recorded during a visual evoked experimental paradigm. The proposed analytic scheme based on the extraction of unique features from the CFC patterns on a single-trial basis and namely the ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A coupling, as a unique feature for both able-bodied and disabled subjects. Our experimentations showed a high classification rate (99.7%) based on the proposed PAC feature. Additionally, the superiority of our approach compared to alternative popular methodologies like the use of the original recordings was evident from the succeeded bitrates (10 bits/sec) and also of the response time of the classification system (0.00001 sec). Complementary, using a binary classifier trained with ÃŽÂ ±1 relative signal power prior to the multi-cl ass SVM, we differentiated the attended from the non-attended stimuli which further improved the classification performance up to 100% in both groups. Compared to many other P300-based BCI systems designed for disabled users, we succeeded the highest classification accuracy and bitrates higher than the original presented dataset [7]. In previous studies like the one of Sellers and Donchin (2006) [12], the best classification accuracy for the able-bodied and ALS subjects was on average 85% and 72% correspondingly [12]. Hoffmann et al., succeeded absolute classification accuracy for both disabled and able bodied subjects for the first demonstration of the current dataset. However, he used longer time series of over 15-20 secs by concatenating trials in order to train better the classifier. Additionally, he used one classifier per image per each of the twenty block and the final outcome derived as the majority voting of the twenty classifiers. Here, using phase-to-amplitude coupling as the appropriate descriptor of the evoked response in the parietal brain areas and a multi-class SVM classifier, we performed almost absolute accuracy ( 99.97) on a trial basis. Using an additional binary k-NN classifier and ÃŽÂ ±1 relative signal power prior to multi-class SVM, we separated the attended (counted) from the non-attended (not counted) trials leading to zeroing the misclassified trials from the multi-class SVM classifier for every subject. This procedure further improved the classification performance from 99.97 to 100% for each subject. We succeeded bitrates faster (10 bits/sec) than any other BCI system including the fastest spelling system presented recently (5.32 bits/sec ; [24]). In a previous study of Piccione et al. (2006) [11] average bitrates of about 8 bits/min were reported for both disabled and able-bodied subjects. Hoffman et al., 2008 [7] reported average bitrates obtained with electrode configuration (II) (8 electrodes) 12.5 bits/min for the disabled subjects and 10 bits/min for the able-bodied subjects. According to Klimeschs ÃŽÂ ± theory, on the early stages of perception, ÃŽÂ ± directs the information flow towards to neural substrates that represent information relevant for the encoding system (e.g. visual stimulus to visual system, voice/sound to auditory system). The physiological main function of ÃŽÂ ± is linked to inhibition. Klimeschs ÃŽÂ ± theory hypothesizes that ÃŽÂ ± enables to have access to stored information by inhibiting task-irrelevant neuronal substrates and by timing/synchronizing the cortical activity in task-relevant neuronal systems. A lot of research findings showed that both evoked ÃŽÂ ± and phase locking are evidence of a successful encoding of global stimulus features in an early post-stimulus interval of about 0-150à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ °ms [25]. Besides the cross low-frequency/high-frequency coupling (e.g.,ÃŽÂ ¸-ÃŽÂ ³; 26,27), there are many evidences [28-31] that CFC exists also between the low-frequency bands (e.g., delta-theta, delta-alpha, and theta-alpha). Lakatos et al. (2005) [29] introduced a hypothesis about the hierarchical organization of EEG oscillations suggesting that the amplitude of the brain oscillations at a characteristic frequency band can be modulated by the oscillatory phase at lower frequency. In particular, they found that ÃŽÂ ´ (1-4 Hz) phase modulates ÃŽÂ ¸ (4-10 Hz) amplitude, and ÃŽÂ ¸ modulates ÃŽÂ ³ (30-50 Hz) amplitude in primary auditory cortex of awake macaque monkeys [29]. This multiplex coupling or nesting of brain rhythms might reflect a general brain organizational principle, as evidence of coupling (mainly ÃŽÂ ¸-ÃŽÂ ³) has also been observed in animals (e.g. rats,cats) and humans [32]. For instance, in auditory cortex, ÃŽÂ ´-band modulates the amplitude of ÃŽÂ ¸-band ICMs, whose phase in turn modulates the amplitude of ÃŽÂ ³-band ICMs [33]. This indirect enhancement effect uses the ongoing activity of local neural activity in the primary auditory cortex. Their hypothesis supports the notion that neural oscillations reflect rhythmic shifting of excitability states of neural substrates between high and low levels. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that oscillations can be predicted by visual input such as the auditory input arrives during a high excitability phase and is amplified. In the present study, we demonstrated that ÃŽÂ ´ (0.5-4 Hz) phase modulates ÃŽÂ ¸ (4-8 Hz) amplitude over visual brain areas due to flashing images, their content and mainly was observed on parietal EEG recording sites. We should also mention that the reason why ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A coupling discriminates the six flashing images can be directly linked to the content of the images. Visual attention samples image stimuli rhythmically demonstrating a peak of phase at 2 Hz [34] while flashing images induced rhythmic fluctuation at higher frequencies (6-10 Hz) [35] here within ÃŽÂ ¸ frequency range [4-8 Hz].Finally, the work of Karakas et al., ([36]) showed that the ERP represents interplay between the oscillations that are mainly in the ÃŽÂ ´ and ÃŽÂ ¸ frequencies and directly linked to P300 [37]. Conclussion In this work, an efficient algorithmic approach was presented to a P300-based BCI system for disabled subjects. We have shown that absolute classification accuracies and the highest reported bitrates can be obtained for severely disabled subjects under the notion of cross-frequency coupling and namely phase-to-amplitude coupling. Specifically, ÃŽÂ ´ (0.5-4 Hz) phase modulates ÃŽÂ ¸ (4-8 Hz) amplitude proved to be the candidate feature from PAC estimates that supported the highest classification accuracy, the fast bitrates and the fast response time of the multi-class system. Due to the use of the P300, only a small amount of training (trials from 1st session as a training set and 100ms per trial) was required to achieve good classification accuracy. Future improvements to the work presented could be the design of useful BCI applications adapted to the needs of disabled users. Also it might be useful to perform exploratory analysis on larger populations and on real-time to further validate the results found in the present work. Acknowledgements SID was supported by MRC grant MR/K004360/1 (Behavioural and Neurophysiological Effects of Schizophrenia Risk Genes: A Multi-locus, Pathway Based Approach) References Farwell LA, Donchin E. Talking off the top of your head: toward a mental prosthesis utilizing event-related brain potentials. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 1988;70:510-23. Polikoff J, Bunnell H, Borkowski W. Toward a P300-based computer interface. In: Proceedings of the RESNA95 Annual Conference; 1995. Bayliss JD. Use of the evoked P3 component for control in a virtual apartment. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehab Eng 2003;11(2):113-6. Xu N, Gao X, Hong B, Miao X, Gao S, Yang F. BCI competition 2003 Data Set IIb: Enhancing P300 wave detection using ICA-based subspace projections for BCI applications. IEEE Trans B

A Study On Data Protection Act Social Policy Essay

A Study On Data Protection Act Social Policy Essay For the sake of this unit, I must undertake an activity which will be to the benefit to one of our service participants. I must discuss the processes of this activity at every stage with this individual. Throughout this paper I shall also refer to our service participant as Dan and our service as â€Å"the Group†.   This is not the real name of our client or our group. By doing this I am complying with our organisations policy of confidentiality. This policy was designed to conform to the (ref 1) Data Protection Act of 1998. This Act ensures client confidentiality and any information written about a client is accurate, truthful and any opinions are objective, substantiated by factual evidence. The Act also allows the individual to make a formal application to see the information held on them by the Group. To identify a task which would benefit one of our service participants I had numerous thorough discussions with the manager of the Group. This was to ensure that any task u ndertaken complied with our organisations constitution which concentrates on social inclusion of adults with learning disabilities and the activity is risk assessed. We then went on to identify an individual who would enjoy and benefit from this activity. The activity I have decided upon is to support Dan to make a piece of African art that can be exhibited at our Malawi Awareness fund raising evening with others from the art group. I will give him choice in deciding what type of art he would like to make, through supplying a choice of materials and source materials. Giving Dan choices and the right to free expression complies with the (Ref A) Human Rights Act 1998. There is no widely accepted definition of a learning disability and there is an ongoing debate of the definition. However, there are certain factors that are agreed upon. Those with a learning disability have difficulties with educational success and growth. An uneven pattern of their human development is noticeable   i.e. physical, perceptual, educational and language developments.(Ref 2)[i] The NHS and Community Care Act of 1990(Ref B), implemented in 1993 saw the closure of institutions. This saw the movement of adults with learning disabilities to being cared for in the community, either by their own families or in small supported housing being cared for by the voluntary sector or social work department. (Ref 3)[ii] â€Å"The Same as You† strategy of 2000 by the Scottish executive is committed to providing fairness, equality and social inclusion for adults with learning disabilities. As a result of this strategy the local community set up the â€Å"Group† to provide socialisation to help with social inclusion of adults with learning disabilities through one to one befriending and group activities. Dan lived within a nuclear family unit where he was given the basic human requirements of food, shelter, clothing, love and socialisation to live until the age of 6. He then moved into a local institution until 1995.   With the help of his family, until the age of 6 he was able to meet the bottom three stages as seen in Maslow`s hierarchy of needs pyramid.(Ref4) Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was a humanist psychologist who developed this model between the 1940s and 1950`s in the USA. This model consisted of five stages. He stated that we are all motivated by need. He stated that we must satisfy these needs in turn, starting with the first. The first stage is the biological and,the second need is that of security, the third need is belonging and love, the fourth need is esteem and the fifth need is self actualisation which is realising personal potential. Within his family unit Dan, as sociologist Talcott Parsons(1923-1979) as cited in (Ref5[iii]) will have gained his primary socialisation and emotional stability. After the death of his elderly mother Dan relied totally on his elderly father for any continued socialisation out with the institution. Dan`s development was affected by being institutionalised he now has no social skills, no road work skills and has had no form of education. After 1995, when the government strategies of closing large institutions were implemented, Dan was given a home within supported accommodation as his father had become disabled. These strategies of closing large institutions came about as a result of the implementation of the NHS and Community Care Act of 1990 and the Human Rights Act of 1998. After being institutionalised Dan did not like to go out unless his father was with him and tended not to interact with anyone when introduced. He suffers from anxiety attacks and gets agitated when his routine changes and when in a large group situation. When with more than two people he must be able to sit on his own or at the end of a row. He does not like feeling hemmed in. He is unable to read or write and has difficulty making a decision; therefore, he can only be given limited choices. Dan`s behaviour may be explained by the theories of (Ref 6) J.B. Watson (1878-1958) who created   the term behaviourism and believed that all behaviour is learned, that it happened by association and is also determined by the surroundings. Watson showed this in the Little Albert experiment. His anxiety attacks, behaviourists claim, is a consequence of negative reinforcement, when Dan comes across a situation which makes him anxious, Dan is liable to become nervous and steer clear of the particular circumstances.  Ã‚   The avoidance behavior is negatively reinforced and the anxiety is maintained. Suddenly having his environment changed from a loving home to an impersonal institution may well have contributed to his current behavioural problems. Lev Vygotsky and Russian cognitive psychologist believed that development was guided by culture and interpersonal communication with significant adults. Being institutionalised will have reduced Dan`s chances of having regular important co mmunication with a significant adult. Vygotsky stated that to learn a range of tasks that are too difficult on their own, a child must be shown or guided by someone who is more knowledgeable. This became known as the â€Å"Zone of proximal development†. In the care setting where Dan spent his life, the chances of a child being challenged to learn new skills would have been diminished or non-existent. Vygotsky was the first to observe that social isolation caused a delay in both social and cognitive development. While(Ref 7) Martin E.P. Seligman an American psychologist in 1965 accidentally discovered learned helplessness, a behaviour resulting from an person`s apparent hopelessness over life events. Learned helplessness is common amongst those who have been institutionalised and behaviourists believe that it can also be unlearned. Dan was introduced to join the â€Å"Group† by his father in an attempt to increase his social circle and confidence by one to one befriending. Dan would have been assessed at his initial assessment by a member of the Group staff. He would have been asked a number of questions using PIES to establish what his Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social needs were.   This information would have been put into his activity plan which we use instead of a Care Plan. As under the NHS and Community Care (Scotland) Act 1990 everyone is entitled to a care plan. Dan will have such a plan set up by the social work department. To increase his social circle as requested by his father, we included him in a number of activities which has expanded his scope of social activity and made him less isolated. Dan was rather introverted and shy but through one to one befriending I found that the activity he was most interested in was painting. I mentor at the art group which helps adults with le arning disabilities gain new skills, gain confidence, improve self esteem, socialisation and self actualisation through creativity. By doing the proposed activity I hope to help Dan improve the fourth stage of Maslow`s hierarchy of needs, of esteem.(Ref 8)Carl Rogers (1902-1987) the Humanist psychologiststressed the importance of creativity in making us able to attain our full potential. Creativity and producing art is healing, rehabilitating, life enhancing as well as satisfying. Although this will be a group activity I shall be concentrating on Dan for this unit. I have used and will continue to use the task-centred model in planning this exercise; this is a short-term problem solving approach. This had five phases- Problem Identification (assessment), Agreement, Planning goals, Achieving Tasks and Evaluation. Here, the client takes concrete action to solve the problem. The Initial interview or phase allowed Dan to express his need to have more confidence when in a room with more people in order to be able to enjoy more activities. He wants to complete a painting and to be present at its exhibition. To achieve these goals, we will agree on the steps and tasks that will allow Dan to attain his goal. We will emphasise the tasks that will be required to be completed to allow Dan to exhibit his work of art and agree on timescales for the tasks. Other interviews will take place to ensure that we are on track and that Dan still feels safe and confident doing the a greed tasks, if not we will look at other options available to us. After discussing and getting the agreement of my manager I spoke to Dan in comfortable and quiet surroundings, to discuss my proposals.   I asked Dan to sit down where I used the SOLER techniques to aid in communication. Using the SOLER theory I used the five basic components used in communication. I sat squarely on at the table turned towards one another. I adopted an open posture. I sat so that we had regular but varied eye contact and that Dan could see my facial expressions and gestures to aid in communication. This also let him know that I was involved in the situation. I leaned forward slightly to convey to him that I was interested and committed to actively listen to him. For this activity my aims and objectives are to: To ensure Dan is included in the process of planning this activity. To help Dan increase his confidence and show his creativity. To ensure that he feels safe, secure and comfortable during the production and exhibition of his art work. To have him exhibit a piece of art work, along with other art group participants, influenced by Africa and or Malawi. He has never exhibited his work before in an organised exhibition. Agree timescales for what we want to achieve. Planning: I will ensure that enough art materials, resource materials and paper are available for Dan to use. These will be available from the art cupboard. . Dan and I shall discuss how to mount his art work, which colour and type of mount board to use. We shall discuss where to position his art work on the selected wall. His art work will be completed within an art group setting over a 2hr period one week prior to our evening. I will ask staff members and volunteers to become part of art sessions with Dan and give each person a time and date to come along to the sessions prior to the exhibition as a slow introduction to an increase in group numbers. All of these activities will take place at â€Å"the Group† premises where I am confident that I am able to keep Dan safe. He is familiar with this space and feels secure here. Under the (Ref 9) Regulation of care Act (Scotland) 2001Dan has a right to feel safe and secure. I will do Risk Assessments at all activities as this complies with the(Ref C) Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The exhibition will take place on May 20th2010. REFERENCES. Reference 1 : Data Protection Act 1998. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/Acts1998/ukpga_19980029_en_1 Reference 2 : http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/learning_disabilities.shtml#What is a learning disability? [ii] Reference3: The Same as You† strategy of 2000.http://www.scotland.gov.uk/ldsr/docs/tsay-01.asp [iii]Reference 4: Elizabeth Bingham +. (2009). Sociology of Family. In: Heinemann HNC in Social Care. Edinburgh: Heinemann. 88-89. Reference 5: Elizabeth Bingham +. (2009). Sociology of Family. In: Heinemann HNC in Social Care. Edinburgh: Heinemann. 124 -125. Reference 6: Elizabeth Bingham +. (2009). Sociology of Family. In: Heinemann HNC in Social Care. Edinburgh: Heinemann. 84. Reference 7: Elizabeth Bingham +. (2009)Working with People who have Learning Disabilities. In: Heinemann HNC in Social Care. Edinburgh: Heinemann. 266. Reference 8: Cathy A. Malchiodi. (2007). Creativity- Drawing on Process. In: McGraw-Hill Art therapy Sourcebook. 2nd Ed. New York USA: McGraw-Hill. 65. Reference 9:Regulation of care Act(Scotland) 2001http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/acts2001/asp_20010008_en_1 Reference A:The Human Rights Act 1998:http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/ukpga_19980042_en_1: Reference B : NHS and Community Care Act 1990 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts1990/ukpga_19900019_en_1 Reference e C: Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 :http://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/hswa.htm Reference e D:Biza Stenfert Kroese+. (1997) Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy for People with Learning Disabilities: Routeledge.

diary of anne frank :: essays research papers

*New Buddy* The book I read is called The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank The book is a true story about a thirteen year old girl who receives a diary on her thirteenth birthday. The book is a short autobiography In her diary Anne tells Kitty (her pretend friend) everything that happens in her life. The interesting factor in the book is that the time of Anne’s preteen years is the time of the rise of Hitler who oppressed the Jews. Anne’s family is forced into hiding into a secret apartment on top of a factory store in which one of the Frank’s friends works. Meep, the friend brings food up to the Franks. Anne and her family stay in hiding for four years. Just when the Franks are almost ready to leave a man working in the factory rats the Franks out to the Nazis. Anne’s diary begins on her thirteenth birthday and ends shortly after her fifteenth .In the book she writes of her friendships with other girls and her performance in school. The school Anne goes to is called the Lycelium for Jews. Anne also has a sister. Her name is Margot. Margot is 17 years old and very mature. Anne gets along well with her sister. Her father comes from a wealthy family. Anne gets along nicely with him. Anne’s mother is not spoken of too much in the book., mostly because she does not have a good relationship with her. When Hitler was first taking power the Jews were forced into all Jewish schools. It was there that Anne met a good friend. Her name was Joy. Anne and Joy became friends but only for a short while before Anne was forced into hiding. Anne and her family hid from the Nazi’s for two and a half years. The Franks stayed with three other people. They had a woman named Meep bring food to them. The rise of Hitler grew worse as the years passed. The Nazis were then taking Jews to camps where they would kill them. The Franks got into many arguments with the people in the house and Anne was between it all. During this time Anne was beginning to like one of the boys she was staying with in the house.

Galactosemia Essay -- Genetics Disorders Essays

Galactosemia missing works cited Galactosemia is a potentially fatal genetic defect that prevents the body from metabolizing milk. It is fatal because an infant's early diet consists mostly of milk. The disease does not usually hinder the development of children in North America or Europe; it is a not-uncommon cause of death, however, in third-world nations, where lactose-free milk is not readily available. So, what impacts people afflicted with galactosemia more, the fact that they have the disease, or the question of whether or not it can be treated? A child who is not lactose intolerant would not die from shock, whether or not treatment was available, and so nature determined the fate of the child. A child with galactosemia would only survive where treatment was available, so the environment determined the child's fate. The notion of nature versus nurture is one of the most debated topics of modern sociology, and is very apparent in the theories presented by Laura Mulvey and Mimi White. They contend that mass media perpetuates sexism because media is ubiquitous, and the environment impacts human development. There is another side to this: that our environment does not completely define us. Just like a lactose-intolerant baby that would die in the absence of an environment that treated the natural disease, the media helps shape who we are, but does not completely define us. Mulvey says matter-of-factly "the fascination of film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of fascination already at work within the individual subject and the social formations that have moulded him" (Mulvey 519). She goes on to say that those pre-existing patterns boil down to the "phallocentric order" that is present in society. The fasci... ... responded to the situation because it was brought to them by mass media. People did not watch the Simpson trial because Simpson murdered two people, people watched the trial because it was simulcast to every home, twenty-four by seven, for almost a year. Just like there is middle ground in the nature versus nurture argument, there is middle ground between Mulvey and White's positions and Gramsci, Foucault and Butler. We should keep in mind that the goal of television stations, production studios, newspapers and books is to make money, and not to uphold the legacy of Edward R. Murrow. Unfortunately, in a capitalist society, there is no pure media, only infotainment. This obstacle is going to occupy the minds of communication-theorists for as long as there are commercials on network television, ads in newspapers, and for as long as authors need to earn a living.

Martinez Construction Company in Germany

MARTINEZ CONSTRUCTION COMPANY IN GERMANY 1. General presentation of the case study (Summary) Martinez Construction is a well-established construction company in Eastern Spain. Because of a recent decline in contracts in the Spain society, Martinez Construction Company needed to expand to international market in order to survive (expand and grow). After a survey in the international market, the newly formed Democratic Germany seemed the perfect place. Furthermore, the best solution was to acquire an existing firm with the help of Treuhandanstalt (privatization agency).This was a result of the lack of liquidity of the Martinez Company. Therefore, an alliance with another German company would not allow it to establish itself as a serious competitor on the international market. The intermediary for Martinez Construction was THA (Treuhandanstalt), a company created in the former German Democratic Republic, whose main purpose was to find private buyers for some 13 500 business and 15 000 p arcels of real estate that had been owned by the former German Democratic Republic.Their primary job was to sell the companies and match existing companies with buyers. That’s why Martinez Construction used THA’s services to find a new German company to acquire. From the time of his arrival in Germany, Juan felt that he was having a difficult time just getting acquainted with the Germans. . They didn’t seem to have time to get to know Juan personally: rush and urgency to complete the sale was the focus of their approach. Thus, THA found Konstruktion Dreizehn, based in Leipzig.Juan Sanchez was sent to handle the negotiations part of the acquisition in Germany. Juan was accompanied by Diego’s nephew and projected manager of the new German acquisition, Miguel Martinez. His background includes a business degree from a university in the United States, as well as years of employment in the family business, although lacking in practical managerial experience. Du ring the negotiations, there were noticed strong discrepancies between the business styles of the two representatives of the companies, the cultural barrier between the two being noticeable.However, they managed to arrive at a common point by modifying the initial contract, after Juan insisted. The final contract stated that the original price would be reviewed in two years, and the contracted parties would recalculate it based on new and presumably more reliable data concerning the true value of the firm. The company had employed approximately 350 workers inside the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The THA had reduced the workforce to 100. Miguel and his team estimated that 50 employees would be sufficient.Miguel was frustrated by the unwillingness of some employees to actively participate in the formulation of ideas and implementation of new procedures and policies. Six months after Miguel’s triumphant arrival, his optimism was fading fast. He had just received the latest report concerning the company’s financial position, and it was clear that the figures were far from what Martinez Construction had been led to believe. Cash flow problems were beginning to arise, and this threatened the very existence of the company. . Identification of the problem(s), causes and negative effects: 2. 1. Identification of the problem(s): The main problem of The Spanish Company consists of the fact that they were not prepared for the acquisition of a foreign company and further more for the negotiations with the German THA. Companies which operate only in one country are not familiar with all the economic, cultural and political differences between societies because they are not confronted with them on daily basis.In order to do successful business, it is of major importance to acknowledge this differences and to take it into consideration when doing business. A second problem will be that the manager of Martinez Construction Company choose the wrong people in order to complete the negotiations and after words to develop the new business in East Germany. 2. 2. Identification of the causes that led to the appearance of this/these problem(s): The problems arise mainly because the CEO of the Spanish company made his decisions of expansion in Germany on a blue-eyed approach.The idea occur to him when meeting German tourists in Spain that were relax and happy without taking into account that the East Germans were not allowed to travel so far and there are important differences between the mentality of Western and Eastern Germany. Another cause is represented by the Manager’s idea that he can develop a well-established business in the Eastern German because of cheap labor and raw materials. His choice to expand on German marketplace was not based on rational facts or clear developed objectives.Despite the fact that the management of Martinez Company conduct a series of research regarding the different market entry strategies into German markets which ended with the solution of acquiring a company from THA, a market selection can not rely only on information based on secondary sources. There are always certain information that can only be found when visiting the potential marketplace (distributors, suppliers, the existing management and employees). 2. 3. Identification of the potential negative effects that will appear if the problem(s) is/are not going to be solved:Negative effects on the short-run: * Lack of experience in managing a portfolio of business in another market than Spain as well as the lack of knowledge about the personality of German employees and the already existing procedures and policies * Different developed management information systems, governance structures, managerial skills and corporate processes * Lack of initiative coming from the employees because of fear and distrust of management due to the cultural differences between Spanish and German business practices. Exposure to unfamiliar busi ness practices such as strict environmental and employee protection regulations that forced unexpected large investments in plant modifications. * Other costly projects that have not been foreseen during the negotiations process that would have required attention. * Cash flow problems The negative effects in the long run: * Cash flow problems that finally may threaten the existence of the German company or even of the whole company’s * Closing the German enterprise would mean losing the whole investment (money invested in research, development, implementation, the price itself paid to THA and other costs hat incurred over the time). * Inability to achieve the forecasted figures 3. Identification of alternative solutions for identified problems Solution 1: Joint – Venture with a company from Western Germany Joint ventures are the most common method of entering the market, especially in Europe, because it allows companies to gain competitive advantage through access to a partner’s resources, including markets, technologies, capital and people.International Joint Ventures are viewed as a practical vehicle for direct investment along with knowledge transfer, such as technology transfer, from multinational expertise to local companies, and such knowledge transfer can contribute to the performance improvement of local companies. Advantages: * Access to local know-how which will help the company to evolve faster * Sharing development costs and risks, along with   technology and complementary IP assets for the production and delivery of innovative goods and services * Cheaper than acquisition   Reduce political friction and improve local/national acceptability of the company. Disadvantages: * A joint venture would not allow the company to establish itself as a serious competitor * Lack of control over technology * Many joint ventures fail because of a conflict in tax interests between the partners. Solution 2: Licensing Another solution to the above identified problem would be a method whereby Martinez Constructions would agree to permit a company in another country to use the manufacturing, processing, trademark, know-how or some other skill provided by the company.This method may also be used to gain access to new markets that otherwise are inaccessible. Advantages: *   Good way to start in foreign operations and open the door to low risk manufacturing relationships * Provides additional profitability with little initial investment * Low costs to implement * It has an attractive return on investment * A license agreement allows the licensor to retain ownership of the IP and at the same time to receive royalty income from it, in addition to the income from its own exploitation of it in products and services that it sells. Enables a business to reach customers that it normally wouldn’t be able to do on its own. Disadvantages: * A licensee can become the licensor’s competitor. The licensee may â€Å"canni balize† sales of the licensor, causing the latter to gain less from royalties than it loses from sales that go to its new competitor. * The licensee may suddenly ask for contribution, such as technical assistance, training of personnel, additional technical data etc. All this may prove too expensive for the licensor. * Limited participation * Requires considerable fact finding, planning, investigation and interpretation. 4.Selection of the optimal solution: 4. 1. Identify and choose the optimal solution among those presented above We have decided that the optimal solution for Martinez Construction Company to enter the German market would be to form a joint venture with a company from West Germany. 4. 2 Demonstration that the chosen solution is the optimum one. A joint venture is considered to be one of the easiest and safest methods a company could adopt in order to enter on a foreign market. In our case, we consider that the optimal solution would be for Martinez Construction Company to form a joint venture with a company rom the Western part of Germany because this part of the country was not under the communist regime, it is more developed and receptive to changes. In what concerns solution no 2, it suggests that licensing would be the best way for Martinez Construction to expand its business in Germany. Sometimes there are cases where licensing and joint venture methods are similar. They both allow companies to reach customers that it couldn’t reach otherwise; they save market research spending and present an attractive return on investment.By following licensing model, Martinez company can easily and quickly penetrate the German market, using fewer financial resources. But if we take into account the other problems encountered in this case, namely cultural differences between German and Spanish, and lack of knowledge of international management, such a purchase would be a disadvantage. Nevertheless, the licensee can become the licensorâ€℠¢s competitor and the license agreement doesn’t always guarantee the necessary know-how for the licensee who might need technical assistance provided by the licensor. . Implementation of the solution When trying to expand globally through a joint venture strategy, Martinez Corporation must take into consideration three important elements: choice of partner, establishment of a strategic fit and the design of the joint venture organization. As prior mentioned, Martinez Company should choose a partner from the Western Germany as they are more accustomed to the Western style of doing business than the former German Democratic Republic. Thus, the negotiation could be more transparent and easier for the firm.Furthermore, the most important thing that has to be taken into consideration is the field in which the firm with which the joint venture is going to be performing activates. This is because a classic joint venture is the merger of two companies which usually have complementary products or services in order to cover a larger part of the market share. As a result, Martinez Corporation should apply the joint venture strategy by making a partnership with an architecture firm. By joining these two kinds of companies two business segments will be covered.This is a very good strategy because the future clients will have to sign only one contract and not waste time between two or more similar companies. Concerning the strategic fit and the joint venture organization, both the Spanish and the German companies will have to share the same vision in order to make the newly formed company to be profitable. The companies have the major advantage that they can complete each other in the sense of the business environment. This means that the German company will have the experience of working in the German business environment.Furthermore, it could find cheaper and more qualified personnel (as the labor force in Western Germany is more expensive than that in GDR). The jo int venture should be staffed by a full-time joint venture coordinator and other staff – designated by the 2 companies, as may be necessary to carry out the mission of the joint venture. On the other hand, Martinez Corporation comes with the know- how of production and the actual construction knowledge. This way, the structure of the new company shall follow that of the Martinez Company and similar technical prerequisites will be required for hiring of employees.The capital for the new joint venture shall be provided by the two companies in equal shares, as to ensure limited risk exposure and possibilities for further investments. This is also due to the fact that Martinez should vote for an equity joint venture in order to be equal partners and share the same amount of risk. Concerning the organizational structures, this should be a mix between the two companies because, being two companies in two separate business areas, new departments shall arise. In addition, for the com mon departments they should choose the best people after a careful analysis of their skills.