American Democracy Is It Unhealthy And Who Is Blame

American Democracy: Is it Unhealthy and Who is to Blame? Despite being one of the oldest and most consistently stable democracies in the Western world, the American government, and American democracy as a whole, has frequently come under fire in recent years. Whether it is political parties, pundits, bloggers or citizens, Americans and non-Americans are all lining up to take shots at what they diagnose as a storied democracy crumbling before their eyes. Two of Robert Dahl’s criteria for a healthy democracy are enlightened understanding: are citizens able to acquire the political information necessary to participate in their own democracy, and control of the agenda: do the American senators and members of congress have exclusive and†¦show more content†¦In terms of how informed American citizens are about their government, it has been well documented that the majority of the American populace are not well informed about political goings-on, and have not been for a lengthy period of time. In a 2012 survey issued to 1010 Ameri can adults, Pew Research Center found that out of a 12 question survey covering the American presidential election of that year, American voters were only able to answer 58.2% of the questions. Only 85% could correctly identify Joe Biden as the current vice president, and only 40% knew that the Republicans had a majority in Congress (Pew Research Center, 2012, p 1). Even more alarming was that among the citizens surveyed who were not registered voters, the percentages of people able to correctly answer these questions fell to 60%, and 22% respectively. While unregistered voters being unable to vote would certainly mean a drop off between the two groups ability to answer the question, drop off as large as a quarter of respondents being unable to identify the vice president is still cause for alarm. In another study conducted by Pew Research Center comparing American citizens’ ability to answer political questions in 1989 and 2007, they concluded that American ignorance of curr ent events is a systemic problem rather than an emerging one. When asked to identify the vice president, only 74% of

The Turtle Jean Lafitte Adventures of a Pet Psychic Free Essays

string(37) " got sucked into Gordon’s act\." Gordon 1 Stephanie Gordon College Writing 112. 005 Guyant 10/11/11 Psychics reading the gullible Gordon 2 The world today is filled with psychics claiming they can perform tasks involving extrasensory projections. There are people who say they can speak with the dead, read minds, feel energies, and see into the future. We will write a custom essay sample on The Turtle Jean Lafitte: Adventures of a Pet Psychic or any similar topic only for you Order Now It is very easy, when vulnerable and gullible enough, to fall into what these psychics are saying. Most will say what you want to hear in order to gain credibility for themselves, or even to just earn a living. It is a complicated thing to argue, however, because this science cannot be proven true. It has undoubtedly been proven a hoax time and time again, but there are two sides to every story. Those who believe and buy into what these psychics are saying are the ones who keep this business alive. I think that people will believe what they want to believe, which is why psychics can continue putting on a show to make believers out of the gullible. There is a term used in Psychology to represent when it is actually the subjects who make a reading succeed. It is called the â€Å"fallacy of personal validation. This means that when someone is being read by a psychic, the way they interpret the reading to match their own character is what makes them believe in what the psychic is saying (Gordon 48). This is most often true with horoscopes. We usually only read the horoscope that matches up with our own birthday, but when reading ones that are for other months, they can be matched up to anyone. Horoscopes can be very general, such as, â€Å"Good things are coming your way†, or â€Å"You will meet someone with potential for a relationship next month†. These things could be interpreted in a different way for every person who reads them. Almost anyone could find a way to fit the readings into their own lives. Most of the time the horoscope â€Å"predicts† things that would have happened to a person anyways. Chances are whoever reads it will have something good happen to them or meet someone new any period of time after they have read it. It is the fallacy of personal validation that makes astronomical readings seem so accurate for each individual. Psychics themselves have a lot of confidence in what they do. Though there are some who know they are putting on an act, there are others who truly believe they have a gift. One psychic who Gordon 3 makes a living off of being a reader, DeAna, lives in the United Kingdom. She explains in an interview that ever since she was a young girl, her family and friends were baffled when DeAna knew information that she was never directly told. She constantly knew information that she not only should not, but could not have possibly known. Using her skill as a career measure did not come until much later in life. When asked â€Å"How have you become a psychic reader? † DeAna replies, â€Å"A lady I worked with was dreadfully distraught about a relative who had gone AWOL. One day she handed me a coffee and I found information about the person flooding in – as she touched me. I gave her the info and the person was located. She was shocked at first and then thrilled and told an awful lot of people! Before I knew it, after a 12 hour shift – 6 days a week, I would arrive home to find people waiting on my doorstep needing a reading. † (DeAna) She continues to explain how she helped people before and after her shift at her regular job, for no pay. One day a woman came along who was offended when DeAna would not accept payment. She scolded the psychic and said that she was offering a service and should expect payment for her skills. DeAna decided to make her readings a full time job, after the woman put things into perspective for her. She thought she should use her gift to help whenever she could, whenever she could. DeAna soon realized this was her calling, and chose to start charging all of her clients and turn her talent into a career. DeAna helps people who are looking for answers. Her clients who now pay her for reading sessions in person and over the phone, come to her because they need help with something in their lives. DeAna even helps corporate businesses in finding the correct applicant for a job. She states that she wrote out a paragraph for each applicant on their character traits and strengths as she saw it. Perhaps the person in charge of hiring had poor skills in his job area to begin with, which is why other people he had hired did not end up working out for their company. The fact of the matter is, every person DeAna has picked out for the company has worked extremely well in their position. One man, who admits to being a fake, is Henry Gordon. He calls himself a mentalist-magician, Gordon 4 because his tricks are what he calls slight of mind. His career has been based on debunking those who claim to have magical or psychic powers. In 1977 (Gordon 3), he put on a magic show in his hometown, but performed under the stage name Elchonen and wore a mask so his identity would stay hidden. After performing several amazing tricks, the audience was completely hooked and bought into his entire performance. When it came time for the second act, Gordon walked out on stage without his mask and was instantly recognized by his community. He told people they had been duped, and proceeded to explain why it is so easy for them to believe his tricks. People in the audience had every reason to be upset. They had put themselves in a vulnerable position and got sucked into Gordon’s act. You read "The Turtle Jean Lafitte: Adventures of a Pet Psychic" in category "Papers" This is also part of the reason people believe so strongly in psychics and their readings. Those who are curious are the ones who are easily pulled into the hoax. After an atmosphere is created with a crystal ball, one or two correct guesses, and just a hint of belief, a psychic can pull a client in and the rest is history. It is very easy for a mentalist magician like Gordon to pull simple tricks and attract a following. Some members of the audience in Gordon’s show were so upset they demanded their money back. Gordon told them they would receive a full refund for their ticket if they asked for it at the ticket office. He later found out most of the people who received their refund came back to find out the tricks of his trade. He calls himself a mentalist magician, because he uses slight of mind tricks, as opposed to sleight of hand. His tricks test a person’s mind, rather than how well they were paying attention. Gordon makes a living off of debunking psychics and anyone who claims they have extra sensory projection. He says that he could make a much better living off of being a magician, but there is something standing between him and a life full of riches. His conscience. Psychics make general assumptions that lead to specific answers, based on the responses of the person they are reading. (75) This is what makes the person believe they are taking part in something outside our natural world. It is what pulls them in and makes them a believer in this phenomenon. Some people tend to believe when they need an answer that they cannot seem to find on their Gordon 5 own. Local law enforcement has been known to use a psychic when they have hit a dead end during a case. This happens rarely. Often times the psychic is brought in by the family of the victim, and not law enforcement directly. Law enforcement will comply with the psychic if they feel they have no other options and need help taking a step in a new direction. The psychics, however, can be more of a problem than a help. Police may be looking for a step in the right direction, but what if the psychic sets them on a completely wrong path? Time is of the essence in the majority of these cases and a psychic may throw off the entire investigation. If a psychic chooses to help in a search, officials may decide to ignore their claims. One man, Mr. Earl Curley, is extremely confident in his psychic abilities. He brags to his followers about how his help led to an arrest in a murder investigation. Curley states that he gave a composite drawing of the alleged killer in the investigation of the Atlanta Child Murders. He then claims that because of his help, a criminal named Wayne Williams was apprehended four and a half days later. Since Curley seemed to be so confident in his help, Henry Gordon went to investigate how much he had really helped the investigators on the outcome of this case. When Gordon contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigations about Curley’s help with the case, he received a direct quote from the Press Information Office. â€Å"Mr. Earl Curley contacted our Atlanta office (voluntarily) in 1980 and 1981. He sent in some kind of write-up of what he thought the subject would look like, and he sent in some sort of a drawing. However, there was no impact on the case as a result of what he sent in. (Gordon 88) This goes to show that psychics can brag about using their abilities, but unless someone digs deeper in the matter, they will not know how much the psychic really helped. Psychics may have helped law enforcement with their two cents worth, but it does not mean that they led to any kind of conclusion in a case. Suppose the FBI had used Curley’s drawings. They might have arres ted a man who matched the picture, but who was not the criminal who committed the murders. Any set of circumstances resulting from Curley’s voluntary help could have sent the entire investigation in a completely wrong direction. Luckily the Bureau was smart enough to ignore this psychic and stick with their own set of techniques. Gordon 6 Having confidence in their work is part of what makes them so believable. If they believe in it themselves, others are sure to follow in the hype. Psychics use all sort of ways to show their skills. Whether it is using a reading to predict an outcome, predict the future, communicate with the afterlife, they all have their own set of ways to create believers. A popular method some psychics use when attempting to contact someone who has passed on, is the Ouija board. It is a board with numbers from zero to nine and all of the letters of the alphabet on it. A game piece in the shape of a triangle with a plastic center is used to spell out the answers to questions asked. When the piece goes over a letter or number, it is supposed to spell out a word of phrase that is from a spirit. This board was considered a game in the United States. It sold extremely well, mostly to people who had lost a loved one in World War I. The woes of someone dying, going missing, or simply being affected by the tragedies of war, drove some people to turn to magic. These were people who needed answers from their loved ones and had no way of getting them elsewhere. The man who created the Ouija board, Isaac Fuld, was a toymaker. He attempted to say the game was a scientific instrument, so that he would not have to pay a ten percent tax on toy sales. This was even argued all the way to the Supreme Court. There is no way to test that connecting with those in the afterlife is a scientific measure, so the board was ruled a toy. How surprising. To make a point as to how the toy could not possibly be magic, Henry Gordon, once again was there to help us out. He taught a class on the paranormal at McGill University. He brought in a woman who claimed to be a psychic and used the Ouija board as a tool to contact spirits from the afterlife. Since Gordon made his living off of proving psychics to be fakes, she was one of his star guest speakers. She wore a long green dress and a turban, which made her appear as someone who you would see behind a crystal ball in a dimly lit room. This was obviously a part of her performance. She demonstrated how the board worked, and allowed Gordon to ask a few questions to someone he knew who had passed. After receiving a few answers from the â€Å"spirits† (Who knows if they were right? ), Gordon tested the woman’s skills. To Gordon 7 prove the board, and the woman, who truly believed in her gift of communicating with spirits, were both fake, he placed a piece of brown paper wrapping over the board. The game piece moved around over the paper, so the numbers and letters were hidden. This way the woman could not see what characters her hands were moving over. He asked a few more questions, but the game piece only spelled out gibberish for answers. Gordon 110) If the spirits really were speaking to Gordon and the class through the Ouija board, would it matter if there was paper covering it? This throws the Ouija board in with the crystal balls, tarot cards, astrological charts, and any other tricks a psychic may use to convince the world of their talent. Another way the public is pulled into psychic hysteria is with animals. Some pet owners claim that their horse or dog o r pig have psychic powers. The most well-known psychic animal came around in the 1920s. (Milbourne 40) She was a benign mare named Lady who performed in a red barn near Richmond, Virginia. Mrs. Claudia Fonda, Lady’s owner claimed she could spell, add, subtract, multiply, divide, tell time, and answer questions. Reporters who visited Lady to see the Wonder Horse with their own eyes wrote that she could predict the future and read minds. Mrs. Fonda charged a fee of fifty cents for children and one dollar for adults for admission to see Lady and her talents. People would ask the horse a wide range of questions. Lady was asked anything from â€Å"When will I marry? † to â€Å"How should I invest my money? † (41) Lady even took part in helping find the body of a missing boy in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. She also knew a lot about baseball, and even had a more success in picking winners than most professional sportswriters. Everything in Lady’s career left everyone astonished, and in 1956 (43), Mrs. Fonda shortened Lady’s time with the public to afternoons only. A man named John Kobler was being sent to write an article on Lady for the Saturday Evening Post. He asked Christopher Melbourne if he was available to come along as a consultant, because he was one who was familiar with the techniques of deception. Since Melbourne had written articles on the horse before, he introduced himself to Mrs. Fonda as John Banks, so that she would not be upset by his Gordon 8 presence. Banks carried a camera, so that he would be accepted as a photographer associate to Kobler. When they arrived at Lady’s Barn, Mrs. Fonda assumed her position to the left of Lady. Lady communicated through a giant typewriter-like machine. When she pushed down a plank with her nose, a letter popped up. Mrs. Fonda instructed the men to ask Lady whatever they wanted. Banks asked the horse â€Å"What is my name? † Lady spelled out B-A-N-K-S on her typewriter, but his name was not really Banks. He also asked when his brother would return from Europe, and Lady answered â€Å"S-U-M-M-E-R†. Banks did not have a brother. After Kobler asked several questions of his own, Mrs. Fonda handed each of the men a long, skinny pad of paper, and a long pencil. She instructed them to write down a number, and Lady would read their minds and know the number. Kobler did as he was told, and Lady guessed everytime. Banks, however, would write the number one, but act as though he was writing the number 9. He would only push the pencil to paper as the spine of the 9 came down. He used this technique for almost every number, and Lady guessed wrong every time. It was obvious that a technique called pencil reading was being used. Mrs. Fonda had given the men skinny pads, so that the stroke of the pencils could easily be seen. This is the same reason for giving them longer pencils. Had a large pad of paper and short, stubby pencils been used, pencil reading could not have occurred. At the end of the visit, Melbourne had come to the conclusion that Lady had indeed been trained very well by Mrs. Fonda, but Lady was no psychic. Mrs. Fonda stood on Lady’s left side. Horses cannot see what is in front of them, only what is on the side. Therefore the only thing in Lady’s sight was Mrs. Fonda, and the stick she held in her hand. The stick is what Fonda used to direct Lady for which plank she should push. This means that Lady was simply doing as her master instructed, and that Fonda was really answering everyone’s questions. Although it has been proved that Lady was not a psychic animal, it leaves us with the question as to how Mrs. Fonda knew all of those answers? One way researchers attempted to discover just how many people believed in Psychical Phenomena, was with a survey called the Sheep-Goat scale. In the late 1970s (Haraldsson, Journal of Gordon 9 American Society for Psychical Research 2), a group of researchers set out to discover how belief in psychical phenomena may be related to attitudes, experiences, and activities in the domain of religion and politics. The survey asked questions about belief in the existence of telepathy, ability to know the future, spiritual experiences or dreams, and whether the person read books or articles on psychic phenomena. (2-3) Subjects were scored on their answers and only taken into account if they had answered every question. This scale was used in four different to obtain information on the public’s knowledge on psychical phenomena. The first study was done in Iceland on persons ranging from 30-70 years old, selected at random. About 80% of the original sample size returned the survey, which was enough to use the results as a representative of the Icelandic population in that age range. (3) The other three studies were done at the University of Iceland. All of the studies concluded that belief in the psychic and religious beliefs have common facts to some extent. 9) This positive correlation may be due to the fact that the respondents read often. Belief in one item may lead to a belief in the other. As a result of this research, I feel it is clear that psychics can absolutely be proven to be fakes. They cannot, however, be proven to be real. Their profession relies solely on belief, most of which is from vulnerable, gullible people. Psychics use their props, tricks, and performances to pull in peo ple and turn them into believers. Depending on the type of hoax they use to attract a clientele, they can make an entire living off of other people’s gullibility. I feel it is wrong to be able to do this, but am happy there are people such as Henry Gordon who continue to work on proving them wrong. There are still some questions left unanswered, like how Claudia Fonda, knew all of the answers to everybody’s questions. The fact of the matter is that there will always be questions left unanswered, because there is no science developed to prove or disprove a psychic’s abilities. Gullible people will continue to be fed on by psychics. Only a look into the crystal ball will tell when the hoaxes will all come to an end. Gordon 10 Christopher, Milbourne. ESP, Seers Psychics. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1970. Print. DeAna. Interview. Jacob. Parapsychology articles and blog. 3 May. 2007. Web. Gordon, Henry. Extra Sensory Deception. Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1987. Print. Haraldsson, Erlendur. â€Å"Representative national surveys of psychic phenomena: Iceland, great Britain, Sweden, USA, and Gallup’s multinational survey. † Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 53(1985) pg. 1-14. Web. Haraldsson, Erlendur. â€Å"Some Determinants of Belief in Psychical Phenomena. † The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 75(1981): pg 1-10. Web. How to cite The Turtle Jean Lafitte: Adventures of a Pet Psychic, Papers

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom Thesis Essay free essay sample

This job was at an amusement park, Ruby Pier, just doing maintenance, and making sure the park ran smoothly. It was a very tedious job, doing the same things every day, every week, every year, unchanging except for the types of rides he had to maintain. Eddie worked as carnival maintenance from the time he got out of the military and his father died, right up until his own death. (His death was actually on the job. ) Patience was a great trait for him to possess; when he arrived in heaven, Eddie had the time of forever on his hands. The protagonist of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Eddie, was very kind-hearted on the inside, too. After high school, Eddie went into the military. During combat he and four others became prisoners of war, where they stayed captured for several months. When they broke out, they burned everything down because of the memories and stifled hatred against their captors. We will write a custom essay sample on The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom Thesis Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But while Eddie was burning down a barn, he thought he saw a child; he had then run inside the burning barn looking for the child. Eddie risked his own life trying to save that child; so much so that the only way his comrades could get him to come out was to shoot him in the knee, then to drag him out. Another instance of Eddie’s kind-heartedness was his death. One day on the job at the carnival, Eddie received a frantic radio call about a broken and dangling carnival ride. He rushed on the scene and saved the people in the cart that was hanging. Tragically, a little girl was standing underneath the cart, calling for her mom, when the wire holding it snapped. Running with all his might, Eddie shoved the little girl out of the way just in time, although it caused his own death. Through these events, Eddie showed his kind heart and worked hard at having one, whether consciously or unconsciously. Hard work was another of Eddie’s values, and that personality trait showed in a couple of scenes from the book. He, as I’ve said before, went to war overseas. While there, Eddie fought hard against his enemies, protecting his comrades, himself, and the USA. Once he became captured, he struggled against his oppressors. The whole time his was in captivity, he was very much against them; he ended up killing two of them himself, and was responsible for the death of the others. But when the captors were still alive, they put Eddie and his four compatriots in a coal mine to mine ore, and there Eddie definitely pulled his own weight. He eventually worked hard enough to free himself and his three remaining fellow soldiers. Back at Ruby Pier, he took the amusement park job up for his father, who left it unoccupied after his death. Eddie spent many long years there working that job; greasing tracks, fixing machines, and repairing broken parts was what most of his time was spent on. Although he spent so much energy and time at his job on Ruby Pier, he always put his best foot forward. Hard work was one of the primary traits Eddie had, and it was very prominent in his actions. Eddie â€Å"Maintenance† (as the little kids on the pier called him) was also a very accepting character. He had big dreams of the future while in high school, and was dead set against working the same job as his father. His father, too, had hit him as punishment when he was mad; Eddie just accepted it for a while as how it was supposed to be. When Eddie’s father left the head maintenance job open on account of his death, Eddie just took the job. He had felt it was his responsibility. His acceptance had cost him his big dreams; although in heaven, those dreams didn’t really matter anymore (he was dead, and couldn’t do anything with those dreams). In heaven Eddie tried to understand his life, and the people he met helped him do that, but they also helped him to accept it. He did, eventually; he came to terms with everything in his life, even all the grudges he’d held. He learned to accept everything, and was at peace. Eddie â€Å"Maintenance† had so much patience, kind-heartedness, hard-working attitude, and acceptance that they are what made him such a great and interesting character and the book so enjoyable to read.

Mcdonalization Essays - McDonalds, George Ritzer,

Mcdonalization Is Mcdonaldization Inevitable? George Ritzer's, Mcdonaldization of Society, is a critical analysis of the impact on social structural change on human interaction and identity. According to Ritzer, Mcdonaldization ?is the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as rest of the world? (Ritzer, 1). Ritzer focuses on four foundations of Mcdonaldization: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. These are the commandments of any rationalized corporation. However, they are not carried out from the point of view of the consumer. Efficiency, for example, may entail the placing of great inconveniences upon a consumer for the sake of efficient management. Calculability may involve hiding certain information from the consumer. Predictability and control may involve a company's ability to predict and control consumer behavior, not the consumer's ability to predict what kind of product or control what kind of service he gets. Ritzer calls such breakdowns the irrationality of rationalization. Ritzer points out the irrationality of rationality, as all of the supposed benefits of Mcdonaldized systems backfire: waiting in long lines, suspect quality, little or no customer service, little or no customer service, the illusion of large quantities for low prices, and severely limited selection of choice. Throughout Mcdonaldization of Society, Ritzer describes Mcdonaldization as largely negative and often destructive. While Mcdonaldization is rapidly taking over American society and spreading to the rest of the globe, it is not something unjustly imposed on the American people. The consumerist culture of America has groomed the public to seek efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. These principles grow in importance and value in contemporary America. Even when given the choice to avoid a Mcdonaldized establishment or product, people will flock to it. I agree with Ritzer's analysis of a Mcdonaldized society, but I feel that Ritzer has failed to provide any real solutions to the Mcdonaldization process. I will support Ritzer's analysis of the Mcdonaldization process, but also show that it is inevitable and essential in the American society to have a rationalized system. Ritzer stresses that ?Mcdonaldization? does not just refer to robotlike assembly of food. Rather, this process, occurring throughout society, is transforming our lives. ?In the 1980s and 1990s Mcdonaldization has extended its reach into more and more regions of society, and those areas are increasingly remote from the heart of the fast-food business? (Ritzer, 137). Shopping malls are controlled environments of approved design, logo, colors, and opening and closing hours. ?For those people who wish to see Europe, a package tour rationalizes the package. People can efficiently see, in a rigidly controlled manner, many sights while traveling in conveyances, staying in hotels, and eating in fast-food restaurants just like those at home? (Ritzer, 21). ?USA Today? produces the same bland, instant news- in short, unanalytic pieces that can be read between gulps of the Mcshake or the Mcburger. Is this all bad? Not necessarily. Efficiency does bring reduced prices. But at a cost, a loss of something difficult to define or quantify, a quality of life washed away by rationalization. When I travel, for example, had I taken a packaged tour, I never would have had the opportunity to have all the unique experiences that I've had. However, the costs may be even simpler than that. For example, just recently I was ordering food through the drive-thru during lunch hour. The employee at the window was already stressed from trying to work too fast, gave me large cokes in a flimsy cardboard container. The coke went from the window onto to my car seat. Later it was established that the lids weren't even properly placed on the glasses. This is also and example of the irrationality of rational systems. The lines at the fast-food restaurants can be very long, and waiting to get through the drive-thru can even take longer than going inside. In addition, Ritzer explains that in Mcdonaldization establishes control through the substitution of nonhuman for human technology. He explains that ?...these two elements are closely linked. Specifically, replacement of human by nonhuman technology is often oriented towards greater control. The great source of uncertainty and unpredictability in a rationalizing system are people-either the people who work within those systems or the people who are served by them? (Ritzer, 148). For example, in my telemarketing job, individuality is frowned upon. The idea is to read the screen and deviate as little as possible. The human employee is not required to think, just follow the instructions and push

Literary Wit and Wisdom

Literary Wit and Wisdom Chinua Achebe (1930-2013, Nigeria): â€Å"We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own. The Igbo, always practical, put it concretely in their proverb Onye ji onye nani ji onwe ya: He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down,† The Education of a British-Protected Child. Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986, Argentina): â€Å"You cant measure time by days, the way you measure money by dollars and cents, because dollars are all the same while every day is different and maybe every hour as well.† Willa Cather (1873-1947, United States): â€Å"In great misfortunes, people want to be alone. They have a right to be. And the misfortunes that occur within one are the greatest. Surely the saddest thing in the world is falling out of loveif once one has ever fallen in,† The Professor’s House. Kate Chopin (1850-1904, United States): â€Å"Some people are born with a vital and responsive energy. It not only enables them to keep abreast of the times; it qualifies them to furnish in their own personality a good bit of the motive power to the mad pace. They are fortunate beings. They do not need to apprehend the significance of things. They do not grow weary nor miss step, nor do they fall out of rank and sink by the wayside to be left contemplating the moving procession, The Awakening.    Victor Hugo (1802-1885, France) â€Å"What Is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784, England): â€Å"A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.† George Orwell (1903-1950, England) â€Å"A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it, 1984. Natsume SÃ… seki (1867-1916, Japan) â€Å"Approach everything rationally, and you become harsh. Pole along in the stream of emotions, and you will be swept away by the current. Give free rein to your desires, and you become uncomfortably confined. It is not a very agreeable place to live, this world of ours, The Three-Cornered World. John Steinbeck (1902-1968, United States) â€Å"Its so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone, The Winter of Our Discontent. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745, Ireland) â€Å"You should never be ashamed to admit you have been wrong. It only proves you are wiser today than yesterday. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910, Russia) â€Å"If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you, Essays, Letters and Miscellanies. Edith Wharton (1862-1937, United States) â€Å"A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never heard). It is classic because of a certain eternal and irrepressible freshness.† Émile Zola (1840-1902, France) â€Å"If people can just love each other a little bit, they can be so happy,† Germinal.

Should You Be a Communications Major

Should You Be a Communications Major SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Most colleges offer a communications major. In fact, you probably know at least a few people who plan to major or are currently majoring in the field. What exactly does a communications major entail in terms of coursework and skills? And what kinds of jobs and salaries can you expect with a communications degree? Read on to learn what a communications major is, what the most popular jobs for communications majors are, and what the job outlook is for each major job option. We’ll also provide you with some tips on how to determine whether a communications major is the right path for you. What Is a Communications Major? A communications major (also called a communication major or a communication studies major) is the study of how to effectively communicate different types of information in various fields such as journalism/media, business, politics, and law. As a communications major, you’ll learn how to research and analyze information and how to clearly and cogently communicate topics through writing and speaking. You will take courses in research strategies, theory, rhetoric, public speaking, writing, and journalism/media. According to the website Communication Studies, undergraduate communications courses can be grouped into two categories: theory-based courses and skills-based courses. Whereas theory-based classes deal with different types of communication (e.g., political vs virtual communication), skills-based courses emphasize the application and mastery of key skills, including public speaking, group communication, and public relations. For most undergraduate communications programs, you’ll be required to take a handful of core communications courses. These are typically taken during the first two years of undergrad in order to provide you with a basic foundation for your communications major. The exact core courses your communications major will require depends on the school you attend. For example, communication majors at Stanford must take an introductory comm course in addition to classes on research methods, media processes, and writing. Similarly, comm majors at UCLA must take intro comm courses as well as area courses centering on mass communication, interpersonal communication, communication technology, and political and legal communication. Because communications is such a broad field, many colleges offer specific concentrations to communications majors. This allows comm students to specialize in a particular area. At UMass Amherst, for instance, possible comm subfields include interpersonal communication and culture, media and popular culture studies, and film studies. Meanwhile, comm majors can specialize in one of three subfields at The Ohio State University: Communication Analysis and Practice, New Media and Communication Technology, and Strategic Communication. What Can You Do With a Communications Degree? Now that you know exactly what a communications degree entails, what can you do with it once you graduate college and enter the workforce? What are popular communications major jobs? As I mentioned, communications is a pretty broad field- meaning there’s actually a lot you can do with your major, depending on what your concentration is, what kind of job/career you want, and whether you plan to get an advanced degree. Here are some common fields communications majors often work in: Advertising Business Corporate management Customer service Education Film production Government/politics Graphic design Healthcare Human resources (HR) International relations (IR) Journalism Law Marketing Public relations (PR) Sales Social media Social work Writing/editing Below is a list of potential communications major jobs you could get. Note that for some jobs, such as lawyers, you must have further education in the form of advanced degrees, training, etc.: Announcer Author Brand manager Communications director Creative director Educational administrator Event planner/manager Foreign correspondent Graphic designer HR specialist/manager/coordinator Journalist/reporter Labor relations specialist/manager Lawyer Lobbyist Market researcher Marketing director Media planner/coordinator Media relations manager Newscaster Political scientist Politician Producer Professor PR specialist Sales representative Social media manager Translator/interpreter Writer/editor (including copywriter, scriptwriter, speechwriter, and technical writer) Communications Major: Salary and Job Outlook As we saw above, there’s a big number of jobs and careers you can have with a communications major. Consequently, your job outlook and salary potential as a communications major will depend mostly on the field you enter. Here is an overview of the (median) salaries for various communications major jobs and their job outlooks in terms of projected employment growth rates. Note that any number in the negatives means that decline in employment is expected instead of growth. All information is from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Currently, the average employment growth rate in the US is 7%. Any rate that is more than 1% higher than this average signifies growth, while any rate more than 1% lower indicates a decline. All jobs in the chart below are arranged from highest to lowest (median) salary: Job Title Median Salary (2017) Employment Growth Rate (2016-2026) Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers $129,380 10% Sales Managers $121,060 7% Lawyers* $119,250 8% Political Scientists* $115,110 3% Public Relations and Fundraising Managers $111,280 10% Human Resources Managers $110,120 9% Training and Development Managers $108,250 10% Art Directors $92,500 5% Postsecondary Education Administrators* $92,360 10% Postsecondary Teachers* $76,000 15% Technical Writers $70,930 11% Purchasing Managers, Buyers, and Purchasing Agents $66,610 -3% Social and Community Service Managers $64,100 18% Market Research Analysts $63,230 23% Labor Relations Specialists $63,200 -8% Writers and Authors $61,820 8% Human Resources Specialists $60,350 7% Public Relations Specialist $59,300 9% Editors $58,770 -1% Insurance Sales Agents $49,710 10% Advertising Sales Agents $49,680 -4% Graphic Designers $48,700 4% Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners $48,290 11% Interpreters and Translators $47,190 18% Reporters, Correspondents, and Broadcast News Analysts $40,910 -9% Announcers $31,500 -9% *Master’s and/or doctoral degree typically required. As you can see from this chart, there is a big array of salaries and employment growth rates for communications majors depending on what job you get. The highest-grossing jobs are typically managerial positions and jobs that require advanced degrees, such as lawyers, political scientists, and college professors. Know, however, that it’ll likely take a lot of time and experience before you can reach this salary level (or higher). In other words, don't expect to be getting this salary straight out of undergrad. By contrast, jobs with the lowest salaries are usually those that require a high amount of independent work and little leadership skill, from designers and translators to announcers. Many of these positions can be considered entry-level jobs, as they're more likely to be open to those with minimal work experience. By looking at the employment growth rates for all the jobs listed above, we can see that there are clear differences between the communications jobs that are in high demand and those that are gradually falling in importance. Jobs with faster-than-average growth rates include market research analysts (23%), interpreters and translators (18%), and social and community service managers (18%). These are excellent jobs for communications majors to get, as there is a growing demand for them. Meanwhile, jobs that can expect declines include reporters and correspondents (-9%), announcers (-9%), and labor relations specialists (-8%). As a result, communications majors will be better off avoiding these types of jobs, since they're not in demand right now. Is a Communications Degree Right for You? So far, we’ve taken a look at what a communications major is, what kinds of jobs you can get with a communications degree, and what salaries and employment growth rates you can expect. With all this information in mind, you’re probably wondering: is a communications degree right for you? Here are three questions to ask yourself to help you decide whether you should go for a communications major or not: #1: Do You Have a Passion for Communicating With Others? First things first, are you absolutely passionate about communicating with others? Do you enjoy facilitating and improving communication, be it in written or spoken form (or both)? If so, then a communications major sounds like a great fit for your skills and career goals. Remember, communications is ultimately about, well, communicating. So if you love writing, connecting with audiences, and giving presentations, you'll most certainly enjoy this major- and be more likely to utilize it in a career you love. #2: Do You Have a Specific Field or Concentration in Mind? Although you don’t need to have everything decided before you declare a communications major, it’s a good idea to take some time to think about what types of subfields or concentrations within the communications field interest you most. For example, if you’re a great writer, you might want to explore a concentration in journalism or media. A fan of politics? Look into political communication. Hoping to break into graphic design? Consider an emphasis in visual communication. It's your choice and yours alone. (Note that the communications concentrations available to you will ultimately depend on what’s offered at your particular college.) Being able to narrow your focus early on can help you eventually look for (and land) jobs that target your specific area of expertise, since you’ll know exactly what kind of field you're hoping to work in and will have all the applicable skills and knowledge necessary to do well in it. It’ll also help you figure out ahead of time whether your field will be easier or harder to break into (i.e., whether it has a high employment growth rate or a low/negative growth rate). If you don’t have a specific concentration in mind, you might find it harder to figure out what it is you want to do with your communications degree once you graduate college. Ultimately, it’s better to spend your time as a communications major developing specific skills that’ll serve you well in a particular field rather than overly general skills that won’t make you stand apart from other job applicants. #3: Are You OK With Getting an Advanced Degree If Necessary? As we discussed above, some communications majors go on to enter specialized professions in fields such as law, politics, or education. If your interest lies in a specialized field, be sure to ask yourself whether you’d be OK with having to get a master’s degree or doctorate after receiving a bachelor’s degree in communications. This isn’t just about time but also money. Do you have enough funds to get yourself through multiple years of grad school? If not, are you open to taking out loans? Do you have a particular career in mind that you believe is worth going to grad school for? That being said, having an advanced degree and meeting all prerequisites for a job doesn’t guarantee that you'll get hired. This is especially true for college professors. If your goal is to become a full-time professor, you can bet that it’ll take far more than a doctorate to actually get you there. Why is this? The reality is that many jobs that require applicants to have an advanced degree also expect them to have ample experience (e.g., internships) and/or a prominent professional presence (e.g., academic publications). These high expectations for candidates are mainly due to how competitive certain jobs have become in recent years. In short, be sure to weigh the pros and cons of attending grad school for the communications career you’re considering pursuing. Should You Be a Communications Major? Key Takeaways Communications is one of the broadest majors out there, letting students study tons of skills and pursue an array of careers. In general, a communications major is the study of communicating, interpreting, and analyzing different types of information. Most colleges that have a communications major offer specific concentrations or subfields for students to select from as part of their communications degree; these often include themes such as visual communication, political communication, and media. Communications majors can choose from many career paths and fields, from public relations and advertising to graphic design and translation. Job outlooks can vary significantly depending on the field, so it’s important to keep this factor into consideration as you decide which concentration you want to do for your communications major. Finally, in order to determine whether a communications degree is right for you, ask yourself the following three questions: Do you have a passion for communicating with others? Do you have a specific field or concentration in mind? Are you OK with getting an advanced degree if necessary? No matter what you decide to major in, know that a communications major is a great choice for many students- and you might just be one of them! What’s Next? Considering studying journalism or graphic design in college? Then take a look at our lists of the best journalism schools and the best graphic design schools in the US! Struggling to figure out what you should major in? Check out our five expert tips to help you select the best college major based on your interests and goals. If you're looking for a low-key major, we also have a guide to the easiest majors for your bachelor's degree here. Do you love to communicate in foreign languages, or hope to be able to do so one day? Then you'll definitely want to read my guide on why you should consider majoring in a foreign language. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Article response about architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Article response about architecture - Essay Example ansion and growth of American commercial life encouraged broader spectrum of American people to relocate into suburban cities or communities after the bloody world war. From 1949 to 19955, the American suburban societies grew by forty percent in contrast to general population growth of 10%. At an amazing pace, the futuristic mass built and highways and well-equipped home appliances that had been dreamt of during the New York Global Fair in 1940 had become a real (Cohen 1055). The topic focused on the transformation and reconstruction of American suburban life after the war from 1947 to 19991. In addition, it presents a clear picture of how American suburban population grew after some families opted to move out of town and start new life in suburban communities. The restructuring and reconfiguration of consumer marketplace led to transformation of suburban residential places. The article asserts that during the 1920, merchandisers and business people in America had desired to live in a motorized and developed society. After the war, this dream was changing into realty in the sense that as consumers became autonomous, they encountered new problems that one had predicted. For instance, every American used to drive a situation that caused traffic snarl up since developing towns had little pace to accommodate the increasing population (Cohen 1059). 20. Most Interesting Passage (single quotation of 100-300 words, plus page citation—or series of up to three shorter quotations, same aggregate word-count, plus page citation) plus a brief comment as to why this passage(s) is interesting to you It was interesting to learn that when planner and town developers dreamt to construct a consumer oriented center in 19950, they aimed to perfect the idea of downtown despite the fact that their project challenged the feasibility of existing commercial towns such as Hackensack in Bergen County (Cohen 1061). I found it interesting because it is not easy to imagine that during the

Enterprise and Entrepreneurial Management Assignment

Enterprise and Entrepreneurial Management - Assignment Example It is very important that linkages between strategic planning and performance are addressed. The business planning process should take into account the organizational performance. Also planning should not be rigid and formal. The business planning process should not be idealistically rational, rigid, bureaucratic and a dysfunctional exercise. The planning process should be drawn in such a way that management are actively involved in the actual decision making process. The strategic plans and objectives formulated should be flexible. Hence, there is an element of intuition in the business planning process. In order to attain strategic competence, it is very necessary that the intuitive judgment taken in the plan is successful (Hodgkinson et al. 2009). They may change in the course of time in order to meet the final goal. An ideal business plan consists of long term and short term goals which needs to be attained. These strategic objectives should be flexible and accordingly the strate gic plans may change to meet requirements (Shrader et al. 1984). Market analysis and research – Most organizations draw up a marketing plan in order to attain the formal goal. Unfortunately, only few strive to develop a comprehensive plan which entails to research and analyze the product and service market before implementing it. Most organizations shy away from developing a comprehensive marketing plan as they may face a lot of hurdles which may be in the form of procedural, cognitive, research, cultural, informational, environmental and organizational aspects (Wilson & McDonald 1994). One of the procedural benefits of planning is that it helps in attaining realistic and attainable goals. However, in... From this paper, it is clear that modern researchers assert that sole emphasis on entrepreneurial characteristics does not completely attribute to entrepreneurial success. Researchers are more interested in evaluating and researching on the thinking doing nexus of entrepreneurial behavior. Managers interact with the environment and make decisions with reference to success factors. Most of the times, entrepreneurs have to make decisions with limited or ambiguous data. Hence they have to possess the knowledge to assess, judge and decide depending on the creation of ventures, opportunities, and growth. Hence, action and thought are important components of the behavior of an entrepreneur and play an important role in determining successful decision making.All in all, a successful entrepreneur have a diverse set of qualities which includes personality traits.According to me, an entrepreneur needs to manage certain important areas like risk management, planning for new ventures, networking , learning, financial management and human resource management. In order to handle all these aspects in a successful manager, the entrepreneur must take the right decision at the right time. Hence, in order to be a successful manager, an individual needs to have the skills, experience and personality traits to manage a venture successfully. This includes problem-solving and decision-making skills, strategic thinking, capacity to close deals successfully, time and project management, selling, negotiation, persuasion, and motivation.

To Kill a Mockingbird Moral Essay Example for Free

To Kill a Mockingbird Moral Essay The depth behind this novel is too see how Scout has progressed throughout the course of two years. Slowly but surely, she realizes the life lessons that have been waiting for her all along. She does this with the help of her family and her community. One man importantly sticks out the most, and his name is Arthur Radley, but Scout and the children like to call him Boo. Lee incorporated Mr. Radley to really show Scout the important lessons of life through the experiences and the encounters she faces with him, while also helping her grow into maturity. In the beginning, Atticus says â€Å"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view –until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.† (Lee 30). Boo Radley helps Scout realize the lesson her father is trying to teach her in a copious amount of ways. First off, the children believe that Boo Radley is the child-eating monster, when in reality he is not. He turns out to be quite the opposite to Scouts suprise. Boo does this by leaving the pennies and bubblegum in the hollow of the tree for Scout and Jem as a gift, yet not revealing that it was him. Also, when Scout, Jem, and Dill all try to peep into the Radley house, Jem gets his pants stuck on the fence and Boo sews them back up for him. Surprised, yet still weary of Boo, Scout still hasnt completely walked around in Boos skin for her to see what a good person he is yet. When Miss Maudies house catches on fire that cold night, Boo comes up behind Scout and puts a blanket on her. Scout in fear pays no attention to the blanket and runs away. Even though Scout doesnt recognize the kind acts that Boo is paying her, all these things help her realize the lessons of the novel at the end. If it werent for Boo and his encounters with Scout, she wouldnt understand the meaning of stepping into someone else shoes, and seeing things from their point of view. The second lesson that Boo helps teach Scout is the meaning of a mockingbird, and how a mockingbird can be the personality and heart of a person. Mockingbirds are the only birds that Jem and Scout arent allowed to shoot with the rifle by Atticuss words because it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Miss Maudie explains this later by saying Mockingbirds dont do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They dont eat up peoples gardens, dont nest in corncribs, they dont do but one thing but sing their hearts out for us. Thats why its a sin to kill a mockingbird. (Lee 10). This correlates to when Bob Ewell tries to murder Jem and Scout, until Boo saves them and winds up killing Mr. Ewell himself. Later, the Sheiff explains that he does not want to make Boo out to be a hero or publicize him, so they use a cover story instead. The Sheriff knew this would be a bad idea because he is such a recluse, and doesnt want him to have to justify himself to the public and face ridicule. Atticus explains this to Scout, and she says she understands because it would be like shooting a mockingbird. At this point the maturity is shown and she has just applied one of the lessons, thanks to Boo Radley. She realizes that Boo has never actually harmed someone (opposite to the rumors) and has done nothing but looked out for her. She now realizes that people can be mockingbirds too. At the very end of the novel, when Scout walks Boo home across the street, she is standing on his porch. She remembers what her father said about standing in someone elses shoes and she says Just standing on the Radley porch was enough. (Lee 31). From his perspective she can see the town and her house right across the street from it. She realizes how he protected them and watched out for them. If it wasnt for Boo, she wouldve never started looking through the grown-up perspective. The lessons that Atticus was trying to teach her wouldnt have been applied, and Scout wouldnt know how a person could symbolize a mockingbird. She says to Atticus he was real nice and Atticus replies Most people are, Scout, once you finally see them. (Lee 31). Works Cited Page: To Kill a Mockingbird. Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2013. To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide Essays. To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide Literature Essays. N.p., 1999. Web. 06 Feb. 2013. To Kill a Mockingbird. Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2013

The Coyote: Taking Illegal Immigrants Across the Border Essay -- Illeg

The Coyote: Taking Illegal Immigrants Across the Border I would like the critics of immigration to think of the coyotes while you read this paper. The coyote has the easiest job pertaining to illegal immigration. They are paid well and once they have done there job, they can go on there way with a fat wallet and no worries. The immigrants who pay these people their loot of cash that they most likely saved for who knows how long, are now the new victims of these coyotes. These illegal immigrants now must find shelter and jobs to start their new lives in the United States. I would like to show both stories of these two types of people on different paths. The coyote that transports the immigrants across the border and the immigrant who now has to start a new life from scratch. I chose this topic because I found it most interesting to me and the fact that I have known both illegal immigrants and coyotes. This topic relates to migration and culture because it is one of the biggest businesses along the bordering states of the United States. This is one of the biggest population increases into our country. Along with these new immigrants will be their culture, just because their new home is in United States does not mean they will live like Americans. Their culture will flourish through their homes, clothes and food. Immigrants will flow to the neighborhoods and areas of the city that host most of their people. Hispanics will likely find pro-Latino neighborhoods just like Asians will migrate to china towns or similar Asian neighborhoods. This is where their culture will be ultimately displayed. For Latino’s west and south Phoenix in Arizona have become havens for these new immigrants. The majority of the areas h... ... on these people and most of them would not arrive here safely without them. Who should the people of America have sour feelings towards, fellow humans trying to find a better life for their children or coyotes who are taking advantage of laws and innocent people? Maybe heavier laws and fines for coyotes would slow the immigration flow into the United States. The immigrants have nothing to lose if they get caught. They will not stop coming into the country as long as there is a job that no one else wants to occupy. Maybe we should look at these businesses that welcome the illegal work force. Immigrants will not stop flowing into the United States, the business is too big, and the money is too large. There is too much help available for the immigrants to get from there to here. Coyotes are available for the right price on both sides of the borders.

Comparitive/Contrast Assessment on Fast Food Nation and the Jungle

*Comparative/Contrast Assessment*: Fast Food Nation **and The Jungle Similar to the many real-life stories told by Schlosser in his written depiction of the fast food industry, The Jungleby Upton Sinclair is a notable relation of the same type of horrors. Unlike Schlosser, though, Sinclair writes his book in a fictional story line, in which he included great models of figurative language and imagery that strategically capture the reader in a world full of sympathy and belief. In this manner, he uses the journey of Jurgis Rudkis to depict the conditions in the meat packing industry in the United States. Jurgis, being the main character, was not used only to reveal the harsh and hidden lives of those working and living in Packingtown, however. Sinclair also used Jurgis to portray his personal belief of capitalism being corrosive. The following quote has been taken from a review found at AssociatedContent. com. â€Å"The Jungle shows the effects of economic hardship on an immigrant family in the early 1900's. That is all it is reliably accountable for. This story is a downright attack on capitalism that the author tries to conceal behind a fictional story of a sympathy deriving family of Lithuanian Immigrants† (A Review of The Jungle, 2007). Sinclair’s attacks on the United States’ economic and governmental system immediately point out the radical side of his personality, and from there the doubt that his ideas and story are not radical in and of themselves as well begins to grow. It is with this part of his writing that Sinclair loses his rhetoric flair and ability to produce quality muckraking journalism. In order for me to be able to effectively explain how both Fast Food Nation and The Jungleare poor examples of muckraking journalism, I must first enlighten you with the definition of the actual term â€Å"muckraking†. According to Webster's New World College Dictionary 2009, muckraking is searching for and publicizing, as in newspapers, any real or alleged corruption by public officials, business executives, or other important persons (Muckraking Definition, YourDictionary. com). Muckraking journalism is then defined as the literature that displays these corruptions of society, whether effectively or not. The role of journalism in a democratic society is to report the truth, with minimal harm, and no outside interest. It should also be held accountable to its readers. Journalists are not filling this role by reporting half-truths that send people into a anic, like Fast Food Nation and even The Jungle. Starting with Fast Food Nation, I found by researching that many published book reviews had at least one major commonality: the book covers too many different aspects of the fast food industry that it came to a point where there were too many things to comprehend and analyze all at once while reading . That’s not even everything he talked about either! Throw in a plethora of statistics and facts, and you have some highly confused readers! In his work, Schlosser writes, â€Å"This is a book about fast food, the values it embodies, and the world it has made. However, it is much more than that. It is everything that anybody could ever imagine that somehow, in some unbelievably slight way, has to do with fast food. Eric Schlosser tries to associate everything from armed robbery to political bombings to the spread of a particular strain of Escherichia Coli, all with fast food companies. Schlosser discusses how and why the industry developed, current labor practices in fast food establishments, how the taste of food can now be manipulated, federal regulations (and lack thereof), television and school advertising, health issues, and the spread of fast food abroad. This book is cleverly disguised as being about fast food. It is not about fast food. It is about how evil conservat ives are and how capitalism is the cause of all that is bad in America. It is about how armed robbery has drastically increased. Fast food just happens to be mentioned quite a bit. The author constantly inserts little comments here and there that try to make even very debatable topics out to be unequivocally bad things. In my opinion, this book should come with a warning label and include a free copy of The Communist Manifesto† (Jayson D. White, Socialist Propaganda in Fast Food). Jayson D. White’s perspective here describes what many others were saying as well, telling of how Schlosser strays far and wide, devoting chapters to various aspects of the industry and then referencing other random aspects in unrelated chapters. They do not all fit neatly together, and even the jumbled picture is a frightening one. Schlosser closes Fast Food Nationby saying that â€Å"you can still have it your way† and that consumers have the choice to just say no to fast food. His hope is apparently that, armed with the information he provides, consumers will make the obvious choice and run as fast as they can from any and every fast food joint. Unfortunately, he never really addresses the question of why consumers would (and so often do) choose to purchase the products of these establishments in the first place. He never mentions the opposing argument to his own personal viewpoint, and his credibility drops with that lack of information. Instead, Schlosser inputs more and more seemingly random statistics to show his own views have â€Å"support† behind them, when in all reality, they don’t at all. Schlosser was determined to make a point, and he does so with the uncontrollable urge to exaggerate details, add in supposed â€Å"facts† and numbers, and altogether disregard the opposing viewpoint, something which is of high importance in a persuasive and informative piece of muckraking literature. This shows how Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation is a poor example to use when describing muckraking journalism. Now we can move on to The Jungle and the different viewpoints that have been written regarding the book’s contents and set-up. From the muckraking standpoint, the way Sinclair writes his fictional story is actually quite interesting and as a result a lot more persuasive and believable than Schlosser’s book which is only jam packed with statistics. The following quote is one that I feel really stands out strong from the book in regards to how imaginative and mind-painted creation Sinclair’s writing is as a whole. . The Jungle, on the other hand, is written directly form Sinclair’s personal experience of being in Packingtown for even just a week, and he already was able to smell the horrible scent, even taste the horrible scent! Sinclair’s use of figurative language really appeals to the reader, and that strengthens the reader’s opinion to side with the author. â€Å"Elzbieta sees how the sausage is doctored when she works filling casings in the sausage room. She sees how any random mix of animal parts is ground into â€Å"sausage. † Anything that is spoiled is simply dyed with chemicals like borax and packaged for sale. In addition, she watches as leftovers that have fallen on the floor of the room are scooped up, along with dead rats and other filth, and put into the grinding machine for sausage† (_The Jungle_– Upton Sinclair, Chapter 7). Not only does this quote give the reader a very nice detailed image to let them think over in the back of their minds, it also gets its point across, which is that the meatpacking plants use absolutely anything in their batches of sausages that end up being sold at the super market. As a result, this is a great muckraking example included in the book. Upon reading The Jungle and various critical analyses, I would say that the novel is actually quite nice in its overall appeal to me as a reader. With this novel, being of journalistic muckraking character, I was surprisingly persuaded for the most part with what Upton Sinclair was telling me. . In addition, unlike Fast Food Nation, I felt like the pieces of information and statistics in The Junglewere relevant to the current topic at hand in the novel, rather than just being thrown at the reader in hopes of persuading them that this statistic pertains to the aspect being discussed. Like many of these reviews, I too feel that The Jungle is not perfect; however, I do agree with many critics that the manner in which the story was written was quite appealing. I was particularly attracted to and persuaded with the story line and its continuous rising and falling actions that were filled with suspense, to the point where I actually wanted to read each and every next page so that I could find out what would happenAs a reader, I felt highly pressured to believe what was being told to me while I read Eric Schlosser’s piece of literature, and that if I don’t believe his words then I would be assisting in and attributing towards the awful-sounding statistics that were abundant in Fast Food Nation. While reading Sinclair’s novel, on the other hand, I felt relatively at ease in making my own decision, knowing that there were facts and stories laying out there for me to grasp and believe if I so chose. As a result, I was more directed to believe Sinclair’s words than the numerous statistics and â€Å"facts† trying to be shoved down my throat by Schlosser. Another aspect of The Jungle that helped capture my overall opinion, and presumably many other readers’ as well, was that of the emotional attachment with the portrayed characters and the events they were going through. Sinclair did an excellent job at creating a real life experience for the reader, as if they were the â€Å"Jurgis† in the book, creating distinct emotional reactions to the horrible reality of the meatpacking industry, which in turn establishes his pathos. However, like Schlosser, Sinclair’s downfall was his inclusion of personal political and economic system goals. Upton Sinclair's â€Å"sudden stray from the story and straightforward praise of socialism at the end of the novel reveals his narrow-minded opinion of the economy of the United States and labels him as a radical believer in socialism, just like that of Schlosser in Fast Food Nation. Sinclair’s book also hinders the reader’s knowledge of socialism because it does not reveal its negative effects. Socialism puts complete control of the economy in the hands of the government. It places a barrier on production and decreases the influence to create new products. Socialism is a less severe definition for an economy that supports communism. While Upton Sinclair wrote this novel to ‘find righteousness’ and benefit the American people he fails to foresee the negative effects of his ideas. Sinclair's novel makes it evident that many immigrants and workingmen unjustifiably suffered under capitalism, but an economy influenced by his views would not necessarily be better. † (Associated Content, 2007). By hiding the other side’s opposition, just like what Schlosser did in Fast Food Nation, author Upton Sinclair hushes his audiences’ questions by not answering them whatsoever. As you can see, although each author wrote with a different style, the authors were still not nearly as effective muckraking journalism examples as they would have been. Bibliography Fast Food Nation – by Eric Schlosser The Jungle – by Upton Sinclair http://www. yourdictionary. com/muckraking http://www. amazon. com/Fast-Food-Nation-Eric-Schlosser/product-reviews/0395977894/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1? e=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar http://www. complete-review. com/reviews/food/schlosse. htm http://www. amazon. com/Fast-Food-Nation-Eric-Schlosser/product-reviews/0395977894/ref=cm_cr_pr_link_next_5? ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar&pageNumber=5 http://www. bookrags. com/notes/jun/TOP1. htm http://www. enotes. com/history/q-and-a/how-did-muckraking-journalism-change-u -s-44633 http://mandatorychaos. blogspot. com/2007/11/role-of-journalism-in-democracy. html

Cultural Values Essay

The world is changing politically, economically, technically, and collectively at a previously unthinkable rate. Both new and skilled multinational firms are stumbling and committing mistakes as they confront these recently emerging environmental forces. What is desired now is a new way of viewing both the global and foreign operations of multinational firms. To be as thriving as possible, these firms should be as culturally attuned to the world and to every foreign society in which they seek to work as they are to their own home society. The Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1980) defines culture as â€Å"the incorporated pattern of human behavior that includes thought, speech, action, and artifacts and depends on man’s competence for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations† and â€Å"the customary beliefs, social forms, and material behavior of a racial, religious, or social group.† These definitions point to numerous important aspects of culture. First, culture permeates all human behaviors and interactions. Second, culture is shared by members of a group. And third, it is handed down to newcomers and from one generation to the next. This description of culture is not aimed at organizations but is very appropriate to them (AAhad M. Osman-Gani & Zidan, S.S. 2001, pp.452-460). The prevailing trend in the international business environment in current decades has been greater directness in trade, investment, finance and technology resultant in increased international integration and interdependence in business and between states. What is also obvious is that large swathes of the world’s population are efficiently marginalized or barred from these trends. This segregation has been a major factor in modern anti-globalization campaigns and is often used to justify proposals to reform or even abolish international institutions and to invalidate policies that have contributed to international integration. Morrison (2006) characterized a global industry as having intense levels of international competition, competitors marketing a standardized product worldwide, industry competitors that have a presence in all key international markets and high levels of international trade. These definitions have the common thread of the need and opportunity to integrate strategy across countries. Though aspects of globalization and the guiding principles of the IMF and the World Bank have not always been affirmative for developing countries, it is a generalization to place all or most of the blame for the marginalization of developing countries onto these factors. Development is a multifaceted process but some countries have managed it successfully. Considerably, it is those countries that have affianced most intensively with the outside world (that is, in East Asia), that have been most successful in their development endeavors. Equally considerable has been the keenness of each state to take a central role in the development process, a role that assorted from country to country depending on its culture and early circumstances.

Ofdm-Based Cooperative Communications in a Single Path Relay Network and a Multiple Path Relay Network Essays

Ofdm-Based Cooperative Communications in a Single Path Relay Network and a Multiple Path Relay Network Essays Ofdm-Based Cooperative Communications in a Single Path Relay Network and a Multiple Path Relay Network Essay Ofdm-Based Cooperative Communications in a Single Path Relay Network and a Multiple Path Relay Network Essay In this thesis, we investigate cooperation by applying OFDM signals to cooperative relay networks. We consider the single path relay network and the multiple path relay network. Using the amplify-and-forward relay algorithm, we derive the input-output relations and mutual informations of both networks. Using a power constraint at each relay, we consider two relay power allocation schemes.The ? rst is constant gain allocation, where the amplifying gain used in the amplify-and-forward algorithm is constant for all subcarriers. The second is equal power allocation, where each subcarrier transmits the same power. The former scheme does not require CSI (channel state information), while the latter one does. We simulate the mutual informations using the two relay power allocation schemes. Results indicate that equal power allocation gives a slightly higher mutual information for the single path relay network. For the multiple path network, the mutual information is practically the same for both schemes.Using the decode-and-forward relay algorithm, we derive the inputoutput relations for both networks. The transmitter and each relay are assumed to have uniform power distributions in this case. We simulate the BER (bit error rate) and WER (word error rate) performance for the two networks using both the amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward relay algorithms. For the single path relay network, amplify-andforward gives very poor performance, because as we increase the distance between the transmitter and receiver (and thus, add more relays), more noise and channel distortion enter the system. Decode-and-forward gives signi? antly better performance because noise and channel distortion are eliminated at each relay. For the multiple path relay network, decode-and-forward again gives better performance than amplify-and-forward. However, the performance gains are small compared to the single path relay network case.Therefore, amplify-and-forward may be a more attractive choice due to its lower complexity. ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Wireless communication systems inherently su? er from multipath propagation and channel fading. Time diversity, space diversity, frequency diversity [8], and combinations of the three are traditionally used to combat these e? cts. More recently, relays situated between the transmitter and receiver are also being exploited to improve information transfer. The relays are a network of transceiver nodes between the transmitter and receiver that facilitate the transfer of information. Thus, the relay network as a whole is an equivalent channel between the transmitter and receiver. This type of scheme is known as cooperation or cooperative communications in the literature because the relay network is cooperating with the transmitter and receiver to improve performance.In this thesis, we consider cooperation in the context of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. 1. 1 Motivation The motivation for cooperati ve communications is obvious. Cellular phones, laptops and personal digital assistants (PDAs) are just three examples of wireless devices that are very prevalent today. These transceiver devices usually communicate independently from each other. As the authors in [6] note, this is wasting the broadcast nature of the wireless medium.For example, if a base station is communicating with a user’s cellular phone, his/her nearby laptop has the capability to receive the base station’s signals and relay them to the phone, improving the end-to-end performance of the base station-phone link. Unfortunately, laptops and cellular phones today are not designed this way. This illustration is an example of an ad-hoc network, where nodes spontaneously recognize each other and cooperate. In this thesis, we investigate structured networks, where each node knows the existence of all the other nodes a priori.Whether the nodes discover each other through an ad-hoc algorithm or they are pre- programmed to have this knowledge is beyond the scope 1 of this thesis. 1. 2 Related Literature The authors in [10], [11] have considered cooperation between intra-cell users in a code division multiple access (CDMA) cellular network. In this case, cooperation results in higher data rates and leads to lower power requirements for users. As well, the system is less sensitive to channel variations. Relaying of signals, as viewed from the physical layer, is not a trivial issue. The authors in [5], [6], [7] have provided several physical layer relay algorithms.These include amplifyand-forward, decode-and-forward and selection relaying. In amplify-and-forward, a node ampli? es its receive symbol, subject to a power constraint, before re-transmitting to the next node. This algorithm is obviously with low complexity. In decode-and-forward, a node fully decodes a symbol, re-encodes it and then re-transmits it. In other words, this scheme attempts to eliminate channel distortion and noise at each node. In selection relaying, a node only re-transmits a symbol if the measured receiving channel gain is above a certain threshold.If the threshold is not reached, the relay requests a re-transmission from the sender. In networking terminology, this is a type of automatic repeat request (ARQ) scheme. The authors in [6], [7] have investigated cooperation for the classical relay channel introduced in [1], [7]. Outage probability is used to characterize performance. Outage probability is the probability that the mutual information between the transmitter and receiver does not reach a certain throughput threshold. Without cooperation, the outage probability decays proportionally with 1/SNR, where SNR is the signal-to-noise ratio of the channel.Using cooperation and the amplify-and-forward scheme, the outage probability decays proportionally with 1/SNR2 , achieving full diversity. This results in large power savings for the transmitter. The authors in [3], [4] have investigated coo peration for a single path of relays connected in series. The motivation for this network structure is that broader wireless coverage can be achieved, while still maintaining a low power constraint at the transmitter. The authors consider analog relaying and digital relaying as two possible relay algorithms. These are 2 equivalent to the amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward algorithms, respectively.A power budget is considered where each packet travelling through the network is only allowed to consume a total ? xed amount of power. As well, each node has a certain transmit power limit. The outage probability is then minimized by allocating power among the relay network under these power constraints. This power allocation accounts for the channel conditions in the network in order to achieve the optimal outage probability. Simulations indicate that 2 dB of total power can be saved for 5 relays by using optimal power allocation instead of uniform power allocation. This is for th e decode-and-forward case.However, at high SNR values, the decode-and-forward case approximates the amplify-and-forward case. The authors in [13] have investigated cooperation for multiple paths of relays connected in parallel. In the conventional scheme, all relays participate using amplify-and-forward. This is called all-participate amplify-and-forward (AP-AF). The authors also consider an algorithm where only one relay is selected in the transmission to maximize the mutual information. This is called selection amplify-and-forward (S-AF). S-AF selects the relay which results in the maximum mutual information between transmitter and receiver.Simulations of outage probability indicate that 5 dB of SNR can be saved for 3 relays by using S-AF instead of AP-AF. The authors in [9] derive symbol error probabilities for multiple paths of relays. 1. 3 OFDM in Cooperative Communications In this thesis, we continue to investigate cooperation by applying OFDM signals to cooperative relay netw orks. We consider a single path relay network and a multiple path relay network. Using the amplify-and-forward relay algorithm, we derive the input-output relations and the mutual informations of both networks. Using a power constraint at each relay, we consider two relay power allocation schemes.The ? rst is constant gain allocation, where the amplifying gain used in the amplify-and-forward algorithm is constant for all subcarriers. The second is equal power allocation, where each subcarrier transmits the same power. We simulate the mutual informations using these two relay power allocations. Using the decode-and-forward relay algorithm, we derive input-output relations for both 3 networks. We simulate bit error rates (BERs) and word error rates (WERs) for the two networks using both the amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward relay algorithms. 1. 4Organization of Thesis The thesis is organized as follows. In Chapter 2, we consider the single path relay network in [3], [4]. In C hapter 3, we consider a modi? ed version of the multiple path relay network in [13] where the transmitter-receiver direct link is removed. Notice that these latter two relay con? gurations are series and parallel analogs of each other. As well, they do not involve a direct link between the transmitter and receiver. Finally, Chapter 4 concludes the thesis and provides future research directions. 4 CHAPTER II SINGLE PATH RELAY NETWORK 2. 1 2. . 1 Amplify-and-Forward System Model Figure 1 shows the single path relay network. In the ? gure, r0 is the transmitter, rm+1 is the receiver, and r1 , . . . , rm are m relay nodes connected in series forming a single path link between the transmitter and receiver. The relays perform amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying. We assume that OFDM with N subcarriers is used in the system. hk , . . . , hk (0) (m) (0) are the complex subchannel gains at the kth subcarrier in the link, for (m) k = 1 to N . nk , . . . , nk are the corresponding noises, which a re assumed to be mutually ndependent, zero-mean, circular symmetric complex Gaussians all with variance N0 B/N , where N0 is the power spectral density of the underlying continuous time noise process and B is the OFDM bandwidth of the system. Let pk = Ptot /N be the transmitter power on (l) the kth subcarrier, where Ptot is the net transmitter power. Let pk be the amplifying gain used in the amplify-and-forward algorithm at the lth relay, for l = 1 to m. The kth (0) receive symbol at rl is ampli? ed by pk before it is forwarded to the next node. (l) Let xk be the kth transmit symbol with zero mean and unit variance.Let yk be the kth receive symbol at the receiver. Using Figure 1, the input-output relation is (0) nk r1 nk hk (1) (m? 1) nk (m) rm+1 r0 hk (0) hk (m? 1) rm hk (m) Receiver Transmitter Figure 1: Single Path Relay Network 5 m yk = i=0 (i) hk (i) pk m xk + j=0 ? ? m (i) hk i=j+1 where we assume r i=q a(i) = 1 for q gt; r and any a(i) . We use this assumption throughout (i) (j) pk ? n k , ? (1) the rest of this paper. If we de? ne m hk = i=0 hk (i) pk , ? k = i=j+1 (i) (j) m hk (i) pk , (i) (2) ?k = and ?k (0)  ·  ·  · ? k (m) , nk = nk (0)  ·  ·  · nk (m) T , (3) wk = ? k nk , then (1) can be written as yk = hk xk + wk .Now, consider the variance of wk . Using (2), (3), and (4), we have Rw k w k ? = E [wk wk ] (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (i) (i) bk p k ? , = E ? k nk nH ? H k k = ? k E nk nH ? H k k = N0 B N m j=0 ? m where E [ ·] is the expectation operator, ( ·)? is the complex conjugate operator for a scalar, ( ·)H is the Hermitian (complex transpose) operator for a vector or matrix, and bk = hk (i) (i) 2 ? i=j+1 ? (9) , for i = 0 to m. Rwk wk is positive for a nonzero N0 . We de? ne a transformed version of the system in (5) ? yk = hk xk + wk , ? ? (10) 6 ? where yk = yk / Rwk wk , hk = hk / Rwk wk , and wk = wk / Rwk wk .The variances of wk ? ? ? and yk are ? E [wk wk ] = E ? = wk Rwk wk ? wk Rw k w k (11) (12) (13) Rw k w k Rw k w k = 1 and E [? k yk ] = E y ? hk xk + wk ? ? hk xk + wk ? ? (14) (15) ? ? = hk h? + 1 k = 1 Rw k w k m i=0 bk p k (i) (i) + 1, (16) ? ? respectively. The cross terms do not appear in (16) because hk , wk , and xk are mutually independent. Note that the transformed system has unit variance noise. 2. 1. 2 Mutual Information To derive the mutual information, note that the di? erential entropy of a circular symmetric complex Gaussian vector, v, with covariance matrix, K, is h (v) = log2 det (? eK) [2].When the circular symmetric complex Gaussian is a scalar, v, the di? erential entropy is 2 2 h (v) = log2 ? e? v , where ? v is the variance of v. Let Ik be the mutual information between the transmitter and receiver on the kth subcarrier Ik = h (? k ) ? h (wk ) y ? = log2 ? e = log2 1 Rwk wk 1 Rw k w k m i=0 m i=0 (17) bk p k bk p k (i) (i) (i) (i) +1 ? log2 (? e) (18) (19) +1 , where the ? rst equality comes from basic mutual information calculations [1]. The total mutual information betwe en the transmitter and receiver, I, is the sum of all Ik divided by N . That is, after substituting (9) into (19), we have I = 1 N NIk k=1 (20) 7 = 1 N N k=1 log2 ? 1 + SNR ? T ? ? bk (0) (i) (i) m i=1 bk pk (i) (i) m i=j+1 bk pk m j=0 , (21) where SNR = Ptot /N0 B. If we denote b(i) = for i = 0 to m and T b1 (i)  ·  ·  · bN (i) and p(i) = p1 (i)  ·  ·  · pN (i) T , (22) eN = 1  ·Ã‚ ·Ã‚ · 1 N ones , (23) then (21) can be written in matrix form. First, let m zsingle = b(0) ? ? i=1 b(i) ? p(i) where the ? and ? operators both represent element-wise matrix multiplication and the ? /? ? m j=0 ? m i=j+1 b(i) ? p(i) , (24) ?/ operator represents element-wise matrix division. Then, (21) in matrix form is I= 1 T e log2 eN + SNR zsingle , N N (25) here log2 ( ·) of a vector is the vector of the logarithms of the vector’s entries. 2. 1. 3 Relay Power Allocation We assume that the net transmit power at the transmitter and at each each relay is Ptot . At the transmit ter, we assume a uniform power distribution, that is, pk (0) = Ptot /N . To (l) derive the power constraint at each relay and thus, possible power allocations, consider vk , the kth transmit symbol of rl vk = (l) (l) pk ? ? l? 1 i=0 N hk (i) pk (l) 2 (i) l? 1 xk + j=0 ? ? l? 1 i=j+1 hk (i) (i) (j) pk ? n k ? . ? ? (26) The constraint is Ptot = k=1 N E ? vk . Thus, l? 1 j=0 (l) (0) P Ptot = pk ? k tot N k=1 l? 1 i=1 bk p k (i) (i) N0 B + N ? ? l? 1 i=j+1 (i) (i) bk pk (27) 8 or pk ? (0) bk N k=1 N (l) ? l? 1 i=1 (i) (i) bk p k Note that (28) is de? ned recursively. The power constraint for pk depends on pk , . . . , pk pk is the base case in the recursion, which follows from (28), when l = 1. (1) 1 l? 1 ? l? 1 (i) (i) b p = 1. + SNR j=0 i=j+1 k k (l) ? (28) (1) (l? 1) . (l) One power allocation at the lth relay is to set pk constant for all subcarriers. This results in moving pk in (28) out of the summation because it is no longer a function of k pk,ct = pct = (l) (l) (l) N SNRN k=1 ? We call this constant gain allocation (CT). Note that this power allocation does not require each relay to have any CSI (channel state information). The lth relay only has to multiply its entire OFDM receive symbol by a constant, pct , such that the total transmit power is (l) ?SNRb(0) k l? 1 i=1 (i) (i) bk pct l? 1 + j=0 ? ? l? 1 i=j+1 (i) (i) bk pct . (29) Ptot . We call constant gain capacity, Cct , as the mutual information in (25) resulting from this power allocation. A second power allocation is to choose pk such that every subcarrier transmits the same power at the lth relay.The transmit power on the kth subcarrier is the kth summand on the right hand side of (27). Since they are all equal to Ptot /N , we have Ptot (l) (0) P = pk,eq ? bk tot N N pk,eq = SNRbk (0) (l) (l) ? l? 1 i=1 (i) (i) bk pk,eq N0 B + N l? 1 j=0 ? ? l? 1 i=j+1 or (i) (i) bk pk,eq (30) SNR l? 1 i=1 bk pk,eq (i) (i) l? 1 + j=0 ? ? l? 1 i=j+1 We call this equal power allocation (EQ). Note that this power allocation does require each relay to have the CSI of its upstream channels. We call equal power capacity, Ceq , as the mutual information in (25) resulting from this power allocation. 2. 1. 4 Capacity Simulations k pk,eq ? (i) (i) ?. (31) We simulate Cct and Ceq assuming that all distances between any two adjacent transceiver nodes are the same. Therefore, all path loss e? ects are normalized to 0 dB. Shadowing 9 between nodes is assumed to be log-normally distributed. That is, the received power gain due to shadowing in dB is a zero-mean Gaussian with variance of 8 dB, which is typical for cellular land mobile applications [12]. We model frequency selective fading e? ects as Typical Urban (TU) channels and Hilly Terrain (HT) channels [12]. We use an OFDM bandwidth of 800 kHz divided into N = 128 equal blocks.Maintaining OFDM orthogonality, this translates into an OFDM symbol period of Ts = 160  µs. Results are shown in Figures 2 and 3. The plots exhibit the familiar monot onically increasing shape for mutual information in the case of direct transmission between a transmitter and receiver. This is expected if we look at the mutual information in (25). We can think of this con? guration as still being direct transmission where the channel is the single path relay network, characterized by zsingle . Note that zsingle also determines the power allocations in the relays.In other words, (25) is a system level representation of the mutual information. As we increase the distance between the transmitter and receiver (and thus, add more relays), more noise and channel distortion enter the system. Consequently, the mutual information decreases. Equal power allocation results in a slightly higher mutual information than that of constant gain allocation. TU channels and HT channels give very similar results. 2. 2 2. 2. 1 Decode-and-Forward System Model In decode-and-forward (DF), each relay fully recovers the information bits (with possible errors) after receiv ing an OFDM symbol.It then converts the information bits back into an OFDM symbol and then transmits it. The transmitter and all the relays transmit with the same uniform power distribution. That is, pk = pk = for k = 1 to N and for l = 1 to m. (l) (0) Let xk be the kth transmit symbol from the transmitter and xk be the kth transmit (m+1) be the symbol from the lth relay, all with with zero mean and unit variance. Let yk (0) (l) Ptot , N (32) 10 8 7 8 Cct Ceq 7 Cct Ceq Capacity (bits/s/Hz) 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Capacity (bits/s/Hz) 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (a) m=1 8 7 8 SNR (dB) (b) m=2 Cct CeqCct Ceq 7 Capacity (bits/s/Hz) 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Capacity (bits/s/Hz) 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (c) m=3 SNR (dB) (d) m=4 Figure 2: Capacity in a single path relay network with TU channels using AF. N = 128, m = 1, 2, 3, and 4. 11 8 7 8 Cct Ceq 7 Cct Ceq Capacity (bits/s/Hz) 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Capacity (bits/s/Hz) 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (a) m=1 8 7 8 SNR (dB) (b) m=2 Cct Ceq Cct Ceq 7 Capacity (bits/s/Hz) 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Capacity (bits/s/Hz) 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (c) m=3 SNR (dB) (d) m=4Figure 3: Capacity in a single path relay network with HT channels using AF. N = 128, m = 1, 2, 3, and 4. 12 output 1 input output 2 output 3 Figure 4: Convolutional encoder. kth receive symbol at the receiver and yk be the kth receive symbol at the lth relay. Using (l) Figure 1, the input-ouput relation at the lth relay is yk = hk (l) (l? 1) Ptot (l? 1) (l? 1) + nk . x N k (33) The input-output relation at the receiver is yk (m+1) = hk (m) Ptot (m) (m) + nk . x N k (34) 2. 3 BER and WER Simulations We simulate bit error rates (BERs) and word error rates (WERs) for both the amplify-andforward and decode-and-forward cases.At the transmitter (and at the transmitter structure of a relay using decode-and-forward), each information word contains 83 bits. Using the convolutional encoder shown in Figure 4, the information word is encoded into a 255 bit codeword. A zero bit is padded at the end to make 256 bits. The bits are then interleaved and modulated onto N = 128 QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying) subcarriers to form one OFDM symbol. At the receiver (and at the receiver structure of a relay using decodeand-forward), the codeword is recovered (with possible errors) using a matched ? lter and 13 deinterleaving.A Viterbi decoder is used to decode the codeword. Both hard decisions and soft decisions are used. We assume that all distances between any two adjacent transceiver nodes are the same. Therefore, all path loss e? ects are normalized to 0 dB. Shadowing is assumed to be lognormally distributed. That is, the received power gain due to shadowing in dB is a zero-mean Gaussian with variance of 8 dB, which is typical for cellular land mobile applications [12]. We model frequency selective fading as Typical Urban (TU) channels and Hilly Terrain (HT) channels [12]. We use an OFDM bandwidth of 800 kHz divided into N = 128 equal blocks.Maintaining OFDM orthogonality, this translates into an OFDM symbol period of Ts = 160  µs. 2. 3. 1 Amplify-and-Forward The BER versus SNR and WER versus SNR plots for a single path relay network with TU channels using amplify-and-forward are shown in Figures 5 and 6, respectively. The corresponding plots for HT channels are shown in Figures 7 and 8, respectively. As expected, soft decisions in Viterbi decoding give better performance than hard decisions. In particular, there is up to 4 dB of SNR gain for the constant gain allocation and m = 1 case, as shown in Figures 5(a), 6(a), 7(a), and 8(a).In general, using hard decisions with constant gain allocation results in the worst performance. Soft decisions with equal power allocation gives the best performance, except for the m = 1 case, where soft decisions with constant gain allocation is slightly better. As w e increase the distance between the transmitter and receiver (and thus, add more relays), more noise and channel distortion enter the system. Consequently, the error rate (BER and WER) performance becomes worse and as a result, all four curves are very close together at low to medium SNR values. TU channels and HT channels give very similar results. . 3. 2 Decode-and-Forward The BER versus SNR and WER versus SNR plots for a single path relay network with TU channels using decode-and-forward are shown in Figures 9 and 10, respectively. The 14 10 0 10 0 10 ?1 10 ?1 BER 10 ?2 BER hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 ?2 10 ?3 10 ?3 10 ?4 10 ?4 hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (a) m=1 10 0 SNR (dB) (b) m=2 10 0 10 ?1 10 ?1 BER 10 ?2 BER ard, constant gain allocati on hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 ?2 10 ?3 10 ?3 10 ?4 10 ?4 hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (c) m=3 SNR (dB) (d) m=4 Figure 5: BER in a single path relay network with TU channels using AF. N = 128, m = 1, 2, 3, and 4. 15 10 0 10 0 WER 10 ?1 WER hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 1 10 ?2 10 ?2 hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (a) m=1 10 0 SNR (dB) (b) m=2 10 0 WER 10 ?1 WER hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 ?1 10 ?2 10 ?2 hard, constant gain alloc ation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (c) m=3 SNR (dB) (d) m=4 Figure 6: WER in a single path relay network with TU channels using AF.N = 128, m = 1, 2, 3, and 4. 16 10 0 10 0 10 ?1 10 ?1 BER 10 ?2 BER hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 ?2 10 ?3 10 ?3 10 ?4 10 ?4 hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (a) m=1 10 0 SNR (dB) (b) m=2 10 0 10 ?1 10 ?1 BER 10 ?2 BER hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 ?2 10 ?3 10 ?3 10 4 10 ?4 hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR ( dB) (c) m=3 SNR (dB) (d) m=4 Figure 7: BER in a single path relay network with HT channels using AF. N = 128, m = 1, 2, 3, and 4. 17 10 0 10 0 WER 10 ?1 WER hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 ?1 10 ?2 10 ?2 hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24SNR (dB) (a) m=1 10 0 SNR (dB) (b) m=2 10 0 WER 10 ?1 WER hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 ?1 10 ?2 10 ?2 hard, constant gain allocation hard, equal power allocation soft, constant gain allocation soft, equal power allocation 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (c) m=3 SNR (dB) (d) m=4 Figure 8: WER in a single path relay network with HT channels using AF. N = 128, m = 1, 2, 3, and 4. 18 10 0 10 0 hard soft ?1 ? 1 hard soft 10 10 BER 10 ?2 BER 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 ?2 10 ?3 0 ?3 10 ?4 10 ?4 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (a) m=1 10 0 SNR (dB) (b) m=2 10 0 hard soft ?1 ? 1 hard soft 10 10 BER 10 ?2 BER 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 ?2 10 ?3 10 ?3 10 ?4 10 ?4 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 SNR (dB) (c) m=3 SNR (dB) (d) m=4 Figure 9: BER in a single path relay network with TU channels using DF. N = 128, m = 1, 2, 3, and 4. corresponding plots for HT channels are shown in Figures 11 and 12, respectively. As expected, soft decisions in Viterbi decoding give better performance than hard decisions. In particular, there is up to 5 dB of SNR gain, as shown in the plots.As we increase the distance between the transmitter and receiver (and thus, add more relays), more noise and channel distortion enter the system. However, the error rate (BER and WER) performance su? ers only slightly as m increases. TU channels and HT channels give very similar results. 2. 3. 3 Comparison The BER versus SNR and WER versus SNR plots for a single path relay network with TU channels using amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward are shown in Figures 13 and 19 10 0 10 0 hard soft hard soft WER 10 ?1 WER 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 10 ?1 10 ?2 10 ?2