A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

Life has always been filled with different challenges. Sometimes, these challenges were enough to change the way we deal with life in general. There were people who get disappointed and depressed, making their lives more miserable.And there were others, who despite of their hardships and challenges, manage to live them most of their lives striving to be the best person they can be.The novel, â€Å"A Walk to Remember†, tells the story of a seventeen year-old teenager, Landon Carter. He was one of the popular students, armed with charm and good looks, and adored by many. He lived his life by playing pranks on others, bullying them and taking people for granted. He was aimless, and was contented with the kind of life his parents could provide him with. Everything changed when he met Jamie Sullivan.Jamie was the daughter of a Baptist minister in Beaufort. She was the complete opposite of Landon. People often had a notion that Jamie was weird, for she was always quiet , holding a B ible wherever she went. Her father was strict, and never allowed her to mingle much with the people around her. Unknown to many, Jamie had cancer.The time came when Jamie and Landon had to work together in the annual Christmas play written by Jamie's father, Hegbert Sullivan. At first, both were uncomfortable working together, primarily because they had different views in life. Jamie's life was simple, and filled with dreams she wished she could accomplish someday. Landon, on the other hand, was just contented with the kind of life that he had, and aimless in life.The two were always together, making them learn more about life. Their differences have somehow bridged the gap that was placed long before they had the chance to exchange ideas. Soon after, they were in love.Landon was left in awe upon learning that Jamie was dying of Leukemia. He was desolated at first, but faced the life changing trial by fulfilling Jamie's wish list. He made Jamie feel loved and special, making her hap py all the time.In the end, Landon and Jamie were married in the church where Jamie's deceased mother was married. Jamie was initially on a wheel chair, for she was very weak. She stood up and walked towards the altar to meet Landon, and his father Hegbert, who was to officiate the wedding.The story of the novel was astounding. It made viewers feel that regardless of life's challenges, one can still find that blissful ending. The novel also showed us that regardless of our statures in life, love will prevail. In Landon and Jamie's case, both were from the opposite ends of the social strata.Landon was part of the popular kids, who played pranks on others for fun, aimless, and cared less for their education. Jamie, on the other hand,   was branded to be one of those who cared much for her academics, career driven, and timid towards others.I particular admire the part wherein Jamie told Landon not to fall in love with her. It was an awkward statement to be given by Jamie, knowing her status in school. Landon, on the other hand, took it effortlessly, knowing that he would not fall in love with a girl like Jamie. He was surprised in the end, knowing that he had done the things that he did not normally do in life. Jamie was an influential force in Landon's sudden maturity.The story itself had a typical story set for a novel-†the boy meets girl then falls in love, despising the belief of others† type. But the novel goes further than that.   With the simple plot, the author was able to incorporate to the novel the magic and lessons in life that may be learned by teenagers. He was able to take into consideration the differences in perceptions, and how people, from all walks of life can come together for one purpose.In this case, those who used to despise Jamie helped give her the best summer she can have in her lifetime. They made her feel that regardless of her illness, she can still fulfill her dreams. At the same time, she was able to live her life l ike a normal teenager, not being given the special treatment given to dying patients.

Cultural Tourism Essay

This book seeks to provide the reader or tourist with insights on how the two worlds, tourism and cultural heritage management intersect, but also how they conflict in that they represent opposite sides of cultural tourism itself. The book outlines for the reader that while tourism professionals evaluate the potential for profit, cultural management professionals evaluate the same assets for their value. Tourism represents the consumption of experiences and products. Cultural tourists want to consume a variety of cultural experiences and assets must be converted into something that tourists can utilize and enjoy, which is important to developing a successful and sustainable management of the cultural tourism product itself. This book attempts to highlight the problems associated with the merging of both as well as offer suggestions or ways that the two can work together effectively and efficiently without causing damage to the asset itself due to environmental factors that tourism brings. Tourism has extensive sociological, economic and political aspects to it everywhere in the world. Greater attention is now being given to tourisms overall social impact, which depending on the circumstances can be positive or negative depending on how tourism is both planned and/or managed. Education and knowledge are tantamount to the approach in attempting to avoid the problems associated with the negative impacts of tourism. A long-term commitment to the planning and management of heritage assets should anticipate the adverse impacts of tourism and develops guidelines that minimize problems that can affect the host communities or can be offensive to the culture. Not all tourists are alike. Some seek very specific indulgences as it is not always about touring the local landmarks, or visiting attractions like theme parks. Some seek, sun, partying, relaxation or a combination of those activities. Depending on what the country or city offers in terms of enjoyment, to encourage tourism they must have the accommodations, amenities, transportation, knowledge based workers and effective cultural management that also preserves the ecological environments because without that, some of the world’s most ancient and precious relics, artwork, artifacts that are at risk and face possible extinction thus, robbing future generations of civilizations treasures. The challenges that tangible materials referred to in the book face should welcome the study by another generation which can offer new ways to present and preserve it without causing further damage. Respect for cultural heritages by tourists, are vitally important to the experience for other generations to come. The book lists five guidelines that the tourism products must provide for it to be successful: 1,A story must be told or associated with that product; 2.It must be able to be brought to life for the visitor; 3.Allow the visitor to participate in some way; 4.Relevant to the tourist; and 5.The product must be of quality and authentic. Overall, the book represents in a comprehensive way that tourism is a double-edged sword. Cultural tourism is the fastest growing segment of the industry and as more travelers can afford to visit global locales and seek to immerse themselves in many different cultures, the more problems it can bring. The tourism industry also attempts to foster increased awareness of other cultural differences by promoting greater understanding and cooperation amongst all cultures. Tourism can also act as a bridge for largely neglected developing countries to generate employment opportunities for the poor, growth and a more viable economy on terms that do not run counter to its long-term interests. The book illustrates the mutual dependence that exists between tourism and cultural heritage that has become more apparent. While cultural heritage creates a foundation for the growth of tourism, tourism itself has the power to generate funds that make the conservation efforts possible. Cultural heritage loses its meaning without an audience and a society participating in and benefitting from it. Ultimately, the success of how well the tourism and cultural heritage management work together is what will bring success to achieve the common goal of fostering better understanding and sustainable growth and the book has attempted to break down some barriers that have previously repressed partnership information. The authors note in the Epilogue that their hope is that by fostering a better understanding of the legitimate interests of cultural heritage management within the tourism industry and of the legitimate interests of tourism within the cultural management sector, more professionals from both sectors will begin to appreciate the benefits of partnership.

A Turning Point

Walking past the corridor, I saw a student being punished, and I couldn't help but be filled with nostalgia, bad memories. I too was once caught up in such an embarrassing situation, being punished and disgraced in front of my entire class just because of my â€Å"brilliant† idea which went wrong. While I was in high school Year 10, like everyone else, I was in a celebrative mood jumping for joy, as it was the last week of school before the long school break. However, our laughter and happiness came to an abrupt halt as the form teacher of our class Mr Mann entered the classroom. The entire class groaned and became tense on seeing the stack of red report cards he was carrying. My stomach churned as I already knew that I did not excel in my exam, having failed most of my science subjects as I really detest being in a science stream class instead of arts. Reluctantly, I dragged my heavy feet to the front and took my report card when my name was called out. † I knew it,† I said and gave out a loud sigh when I saw my far from impressive results. Mostly were inked in red. Old fashion type of school but yes, my teacher insisted on our parent's signature on the report card for every exam and I could smell the trouble burning awaiting me at home. I knew I would be punished therefore, overwhelmed with fear, I came out with this â€Å"brilliant† idea which is to forge out my parent's signature. â€Å"Everything should be fine if I play my cards right,† I said to myself. Next day came D-day, trying to stop trembling like a leaf while handing up my report card, Mr Mann glared at me. Everything was over when he twitched his eyebrows and questioned me, I was caught red handed. He firmly admonished me in front of my whole class. Drama was unfolding before me just like in TV shows. He was hell bent on making a lesson to be learnt to the entire class out of me. â€Å"Well, do you have anything to say?† asked Mr Mann, in his mild and calm manner. I blushed and stood sheepishly as my classmates roared in laughter merciless. Helplessly I stared at the floor fully embarrassed, with eyes filled with tears hoping it to end as soon as possible. Yet that wasn't the end of the horror, my parents were called and now it is a total game over for me. Well, I had to face the music. My parents are loving and kind but once in a blue moon, like a volcano, they erupt! â€Å"You are grounded for a month!† said mother. â€Å"Your allowance is also going to be deducted!† added father. I'm sorry, that's all I could afford to say while tearing up. Looking back at this though it is just two years back, I saw how much this incident had taught me. It taught me that honesty is always the best policy no matter what happens. Putting aside my studies just because it is not something which I prefer over sports do not benefit me in anyway. Cheating does not bring nor benefit me but only brings out more trouble. I also realized that my parents always wanted what's best for me. Giving me loads of education in terms of academic, sports, music and even computer lessons, I never knew it could be that useful in building up a strong character and confidence in me. Most importantly my future, in who I want to be and what would make them proud. The lessons I learned from this incident has enriched my life and made it much more meaningful in which I promise to strive in studies and also sports. As saying goes, it's always never too late.

What do you do as a student to be successful in your coursework How Essay

What do you do as a student to be successful in your coursework How would you help a struggling student make his or her learning experiences better and more meaningful - Essay Example I am proud of what I have done thus far and it essentially puts me in a league of my own. As a student, I have always played my part at helping other students so that they can become active participants of the society. If they excel within their respective educational realms, they will be able to contribute in an able manner, which will suggest how well I have played my role. Even though this is something difficult to achieve, my mission in life is to give my best shot in order to facilitate learning for the sake of others. Success within coursework and studies is therefore the end result that I seek to attain, not only for myself but also for others. I hope to be transferred to the university so that I can complete my Masters degree with flying colors. This remains priority number one in my

Musculoskeletal and neurological diseases and healing in Veterinary Essay

Musculoskeletal and neurological diseases and healing in Veterinary Physiotherapy - Essay Example In addition, they include diseases such as encephalopathy, myelopathy and neuropathy. The techniques used to diagnose neurological diseases include laboratory test screening, radiography and electromyography, which research indicates can be used to confirm the location of a spinal pathology produced by tumours. The canine Wobbler syndrome is a neurological syndrome, which has different names depending on the variance in the neurological dysfunction. The syndrome is caused by abnormalities in the caudal cervical vertebrae and affects dogs. Even after a long period of research about the syndrome, there has been no medical or surgical regime, which was deemed appropriate for all the dogs affected with the syndrome. This neurological dysfunction is due to spinal cord compression from various malformations and this result to the deformity of the vertebral canal. This syndrome is caused by over nutrition because one of its symptoms is rapid growth. In the treatment of this disease, rationa l, medical, surgical and medical therapies have evolved from the recent studies of this syndrome. Musculoskeletal disease is a degenerative disease that brings inflammatory conditions causing pain and impairment of normal activities. Musculoskeletal disease affects different parts of the body, including the neck, shoulders, arms, feet, legs and the upper and lower back. The disease is caused by awkward sitting postures and doing repetitive straining activities. Musculoskeletal diseases involve soft tissues and therefore there are no visible signs of injury to the animals who have these conditions. The prevention of this condition is controlled from the places where the animals do high rates of strains activities and it’s in the same place where the animals are exposed to unsafe conditions. The animals subject to those risks are identified and the correct physical and psychosocial control measures taken. The control measures include

Leadership--Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leadership--Decision Making - Essay Example Their effectiveness is impeded by what a number of scholars see as an avoidance of risk encouraged in the initial period of their profession. Moreover, military leaders usually fail to completely or appropriately recognize the global or diplomatic consequences of their decisions. Military leaders could have influential memories of pleasures, anxieties, failures, or triumphs that they experienced. In most instances, these emotions were beneficial to them. They have their own interests at risk in the decisions they make and the actions they take. If these judgments influence only them, their emotions will aid them in arriving at the appropriate solution. However, when their own interests go against their duties, their decision can be lopsided. Introduction The negative ramifications of taking risks or committing errors alongside lack of awareness about military and political circumstances usually results in wrong decisions. Incorrect decisions can imply strategic failure. Wrong decisio ns by military leaders are not only caused by risk aversion or fear of mistakes, but also by emotional factors. ... This paper will discuss how risk aversion and emotion negatively affect military leaders’ judgment or decision making process. Strategic Decision Making The mission of ambitious strategic military leader at present will be to gain the skill of integrating productively, maybe even combine, the function of strategic diplomatic decision maker with the function of strategic military decision maker (Flowers, 2004). According to Friedman, â€Å"connectivity is productivity†¦ connection enables, disconnection enables† (Granger, 2002, 38); strategic leaders should build settings of regional security by facilitating the formation of democratic mechanisms of the relationship between the military and civilians (Granger, 2002). Hence, as the bound between the military leader and the policymaker becomes more and more intricate, strategic leaders should concentrate on building matching capabilities and an awareness of both their independent and collective duties in the process o f making decisions (Taylor & Rosenbach, 2000) for national security. Risk Evaluation, Assumption, and Aversion Groups of US military leaders are burgeoning without being empowered and with inadequate knowledge of how to evaluate and afterwards be equipped to assume risks for the realization of a military goal (Flowers, 2004). Hence, there is a weakening of the important principle which strengthens every military unit, that is, the audacity to take risks. Risk is defined by FM 100-14 as â€Å"the probability and severity of a potential loss that may result from hazards due to the presence of an enemy, an adversary, or some other hazardous condition† (Granger, 2002, 38). Risk assessment, assumption, and aversion,

Product Reliability Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Product Reliability - Research Paper Example s, 2008). They are long lasting i.e. almost up to a decade (8 times the incandescent ones) and are friendly to the environment. in this case, the technological expediency has solved the problem of outrageous power consumption by the former incandescent bulbs to the newly energy saving and efficient plumen ones. Description of the problem All over the world, there is a concerted effort to mitigate on unnecessary power wastage and this is a concern that has attracted the international attention. The law of energy unequivocally states that it is only transformation that can be done to energy but cannot be destroyed nor be created. In the definition, one comes to understand the reason behind being stringent with energy to the extent that all options are being explored to ensure the loss is highly mitigated. One sure way of achieving the above stated objective is designing and use of proper manufacturing materials that put into accounts the goals and targets of saving energy. In pursuit o f the above, Hulger tech company has designed a new bulb that will save enormous energy as compared to the ancient type. The technology is envisaged to be rapidly embraced in the United Kingdom and the US (Murthy, Rausand, & Ostera?s, 2008). ... They have continued to boomerang on the daily basis. Just to mention but a few; the consumers have been compelled to contend with the ever escalating power tariffs which are not economically viable due to the energy that is lost by the use of facilities that are not energy mindful. Power rationing has characterized a number of nations leading to closer of the lifeline industrial activities in most parts of the developing countries thereby leading to massive retrenchment of the employees (Murthy, Rausand, & Ostera?s, 2008). Industrial growth has to stagnate in this situation and this is resulting into unrepeatable dent in the overall country economic growth. At times, a country may be forced to spend excessively on power importation and this may equally affect a country’s balance of trade. Generally, energy efficient bulbs should be embraced in a country totally, as it is a recipe for horizontal economic growth. Relevance Statement It is certain that conservation of energy is a n important issue that does not put into account the social and cultural backgrounds. The research is more of professional and not that is hinged on the social and cultural background of the diverse human nature. Energy conservation is irrelevant of the social and cultural background of any individual and in the research, there is no possible area where there could be a clash of the two areas of interest. The only relevance is that it can be used to find a solution to cultural and social practices that are endangering conservation of energy. In this case, they will embrace the technology and participate in the conservation process. Scope of inquiry In the endeavors to solve

Hospital Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Hospital Management - Essay Example This hospital is isolated from the public during the rainy seasons since the roads are impassible. It receives funds for running its affairs from various organizations. The bed management system is a system that involves crucial issues that improve on the rate of efficiency at the hospitals projects. The problems within the hospital can be solved though implementing the bed management system. With the introduction of the bed management system, an auditor may be in a position to audit the transactions taking place in the right way in the institution. The value of this system is to provide the organization with proper management techniques through determining the hospitals capacity and having a current and forecasted program that indicates the number of beds that are demanded by the source and the status of the pending discharges. The incorporation of sophisticated workflow system and rules that are tailored towards improving the status of the organization should also be incorporated within the organization. It has been observed that the hospital looses their patients due to diversion, delay, cancellations and isolations during the rainy seasons but the problem can be solved through optimally utilizing the beds turns, eliminating the hidden costs and unnecessary holds as well as accelerating the rate of the discharges within the hospital. ... The implementation of the management or the patient in ternary module can be used to reduce the unnecessary delays through having a central expediting care process and also help in the discharge of the tasks of the hospital in the right way. The patient management system can be used to ensure that tasks are completed at the right time through making proper coordination programs, real-time communications, task queuing and the escalation of the notifications in the appropriate way (Wolper, 2004: 866). Electronic management system would ensure that the hospital is in a position to cut the cost of operations and ensure that the affairs of the organization are undertaken in the right manner. The operation would ensure that the response time required to process the patient's information is indeed the right one and therefore the process of collating, collecting and retrieving of information would be undertaken in the right way. The system helps in the provision of the process management tools such as the modeling, analysis and simulation of information within an organization. The usefulness of implementing the above systems is that it would provide proper delivery of services to the patients, improve the health status of the patients, increase the rate of productivity of the nurses and the doctors and it reduces the time spent when filling in the patients details in the forms. The patients may also be given proper care at the hospital and this would enable it to reduce its costs of operation. The auditor would be in a better position to understand the way the transactions take place to reduce time spent while tracking hospitals activities. The

International Business Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Business Management - Essay Example   The main reason for the choice of Samsung as a global business is that it offers a wide range of products fitting different budgets, sizes, and shapes for each consumer. These products range from Galaxy S5 to Samsung Galaxy K zoom that has an optical zooming lens, the only Smartphone in the market with the feature and other products for every consumer to choice from depending on their need and abilities. The firm aims at meeting all the needs of the consumers through a wide range of product offerings for the consumers.    The main limitation of the global strategy is that there is high standardization of products limiting the ability to meet the needs of people who have differing tastes and preferences as tastes, preferenc3es, economic status, and the social condition cannot be equal global.  The company chosen for the discussion on international strategy is Starbucks with the reason being the high growth rate it expanded to different areas to have operations in over 60 count ries, 170,000 stores and revenues were 13.29 billion, 1.38 billion in profits and employed 149,000 employees in 2012. This rate of expansion and success shows a successful company in the international market, giving the need for an understanding of the international strategy employed in the company.  The reason for the choice of Starbucks as an international business is that the company in its early stages had plans for cross border stage overcoming the fear of international business by use of cross border integration.

QRisk 2 - to use or not to use - that is the question Essay

QRisk 2 - to use or not to use - that is the question - Essay Example 2008)). Previously few other criterias like Framingham’s criteria to assess cardiovascular risk factors and QRISK1 are used so this new model is a point of discussion that either it has some significance in the developing era or not.(Brindle, 2011). This requires collection of data from several studies which have been conducted in the recent past to compare between these models.(Hippisley-Cox, Coupland, et all. 2008). Generally, they all pointed out that using QRISk 2 is not have similar effectiveness like the traditional previous criteria as the risk factors described in this score are not single most important risk factors for development of cardiovascular diseases but they have utmost importance.(Vogel, Bernitez, 2000). RATIONALE: Cardiovascular risk factors predict 5-10 year risk of development of cardiovascular disease as well as resulting mortality and morbidity from that. (Koenig, 2003). There are few cardiac risk factors which have been defined previously like increase age, male gender, smoking status, presence of Hypertension, Hyperlipidemias, Type 2 diabetes etc. presence of all or one of these factors leads to increase tendency towards development of cardiovascular disease.(Mola, Lloyd, 2002). There are few other factors which are recently developed. These include ethnicity of the patient, presence of rheumatoid arthritis, atrial fibrillation, chronic kidney disease and treated hypertension. Data shows that they also influence future prediction of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. (Collins, Altman, 2010). CONS OF QRISK2: By using QRISK 2, we can find out some high risk persons who are at risk of developing disease(Hayman, Kamau, 2009) It also provides benefit by treating the patients who are labeled as low risk by traditional framinghom’s criteria.(Mayor, 2010) Advantage of this system is that traditionally larger numbers of data can be included in the database. (Hippisley, Coupland, 2008) It is also the first study which uses so many factors as a risk of cardiovascular disease.(Parkes, 2010) Inclusion of ethnicity is also found to be important by some people as few diseases are more popular in a specific population (Giampaoli, Palmieri, 2004) Stroke is more common in older ones and poor countries. (Scott, 2010). QRISK system also addresses the problem of different effects on risk factors of increasing age(Vanuzzu, Pilotto, 2008) so they have introduced interaction variables between age and other risk factors to overcome this problem. (Cooney, Dudina, Graham,2009) PROS OF QRISK2: It results in superior age estimation in older age group. (Weirzbicki, 2009) QRISK over predicted the patients in only 0.4% of cases but it under predicted in 12% of cases.(Dalton, Soljak, 2011). It measures blood pressure and BMI accurately but cholesterol measurement is poor. A study shows that it measured cholesterol of only 30% people who are at risk of developing disease.(Thomas, 2011). Also there is no validation of events and everything is based on computer records. Patients are included at different times in this system. Most of the patients do not follow ten years data. This score is not validated in population other than British.(Chia, 2011). It also has another disadvantage. As it is using age as a factor for cardiovascular disease risk, it is unable to identify those who are at risk but younger. As compare to some other trials

The Importance of Maintaining a Valid Physical Therapy License Essay

The Importance of Maintaining a Valid Physical Therapy License - Essay Example The license renewal process thus ensures that the physical therapist has completed the required continuing education and, as a result, has access to the most current information and techniques available. Moreover, it is crucial that physical therapists maintain valid licenses so that the state can ensure that its physical therapy professionals are obliged to adhere to the ethical standards of the industry. Additionally, it is essential that physical therapists maintain their licenses for a variety of legal reasons. Physical therapy patients rely on their physical therapist to provide them with a certain standard of care. Often, physical therapy can provide a patient with the means to achieve a better quality of life. A patient needs to be able to trust in the qualifications of their physical therapist not only to help them reach the goals but also to make sure he does not further damage himself in the process. The physical therapy license provides this security for the patient, giving him the knowledge that this physical therapist is qualified to advise him. If a physical therapist allows his license to lapse, he is no longer certified to provide physical therapy services to patients and is accordingly not deserving of the patient's trust.

Basic Practices Essay Example for Free

Basic Practices Essay Their basic practices consist of what they call the Five Pillars and the Jihad. The Five Pillars of Islam are: Beliefs and witness; Daily prayers; Zakat; Fasting; and Hajj. Beliefs and witness Every Muslim, without resorting to the use of force or intimidation, are obliged to spread the words of Islam so that other people may know about it, understand it, and use the knowledge to guide them in choosing their faith. They are convinced that once non-Muslims acquire enough knowledge, they would voluntarily embrace Islam (Fisher, 2005). Daily Prayers Prayers should be recited five times a day while facing the direction of Mecca. It is believed that requiring every Muslim to face Mecca symbolizes unity among the devotees of Islam around the world, while the daily prayer emphasizes Islam’s teaching that every Muslim should remember God everyday of his or her life (Fisher, 2005). Their daily prayer is called salat and consists of the Fajr, or the morning prayer; the Zuhr, or the noon prayer; the ‘Asr, or the afternoon prayer; the Maghrib which is the sunset prayer; and the Isha, or the night prayer which is said at night just before going to bed (Robinson, 2007). Zakat Zakat, the third pillar, means â€Å"spiritual tithing and almsgiving. † Muslims are enjoined to help the poor by donating part of their annual income to charities of their choice at the end of each year. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for example, channels its contribution through the Islamic Relief Organization which aids people around the world regardless of their religion. Other Muslims could give their contribution to their local mosques (Fisher, 2005). Fasting Every year, the first Qur’anic revelation is celebrated with a month-long fasting called Ramadan. All able Muslims are required to abstain from â€Å"food, drink, sexual intercourse, and smoking† from dawn to dusk. Although fasting during Ramadan is an obligation, fasting, per se, is advised from time to time because it provides an individual with â€Å"a Transparent Soul to Transcend, a Clear Mind to think and a Light Body to move and act† (Fisher, 2005). Ramadan is considered as their holiest period which every Muslim who is over 12 years old is expected to observe. However, a Muslim could be excused from observing Ramadan because of reasons of health. This was expressly provided for in chapter 2, verses 183 and 185 of the Qur’an, viz: O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down the Quran, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting (Robinson, 2007). Hajj The last Pillar – the Hajj – is a pilgrimage which every Muslim is expected make provided that he or she is financially and physically capable. It should be done even only once during his or her lifetime to honor Allah. Their pilgrimage destination is Mecca, where their holiest sanctuary, the Ka’bah, was built by Abraham with the help of his son Isaiah (Fisher, 2005). The Hajj was described by the Council of Islamic Education as consisting of several ceremonies, meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of prophet Abraham and his family Prophet Muhammad had said that a person who performs Hajj properly will return as a newly born baby [free of all sins]. The pilgrimage also enables Muslims from all around the world, of different colors, languages, races, and ethnicities, to come together in a spirit of universal brotherhood and sisterhood to worship the One God together (Robinson, 2007). Jihad Jihad means struggle. It is often misinterpreted by non-Muslims because it has often been portrayed by the media in the west as another term for a â€Å"holy war† which is waged by Muslims against non-Muslims. However, for Muslims, Jihad is actually a personal struggle to excel in one’s work or achieve a noble objective. It also means a Muslim’s struggle for â€Å"self-purification† (Robinson, 2007). Impact of Muhammad’s life on Islam The birth, life, and death of Muhammad impacted the world of Islam differently. His birth in 570 CE signaled the resurgence of the religion which had already sank into obscurity for centuries because the people of Meca rejected the monotheistic religion preached by Abraham. His life as a preacher which began three years after the start of the revelations resulted to a rejuvenated Muslim world. The flight of the Muslims to Medina (or the hijrah) which he orchestrated in order for them to escape persecution from the hands of the Qurayshites of Mecca was what strengthened Islam as soon as they had settled in Medina. Their newfound strength later enabled them to raise a strong army to recapture Mecca from the hands of the Qurayshites. However, while he re-established Mecca as the holy sanctuary of Islam, Muhammad himself chose to live in Medina (Fisher, 2005). While his birth signaled the rebirth of Islam and his life rejuvenated their religion, his death in 632 CE in Medina rocked the Muslim world. It caused a serious split among the followers of Islam. The Shi’a and Sunni Muslims became irreconcilably separated because of the issue of succession after Muhammad died. Most of the surviving Muslims believed that although Muhammad was able to leave explicit instructions telling his followers what to do after his death, they contended that he failed to anoint his successor. Thus, for the said majority, the issue of who should succeed Muhammad became an issue which should be settled satisfactorily in order to prevent dissension among the Muslims. After only discussing the problem briefly, they decided to settle the issue of succession by election. Unfortunately, the minority group insisted that it was not true that Muhammad failed to name his successor. They declared that several weeks before he died, Muhammad held the hand of his son-in-law, Ali, and uttered the following words: â€Å"Whoever I protect, ‘Ali is also his protector. O God, be a friend to whoever is his friend and an enemy to whoever is his enemy† (Fisher. 2005). The issue of succession was ultimately decided according to the wishes of the majority – by election – but the two factions have never reconciled up to this day. The Shi’a Muslims now form the majority faction in Iran, while the Sunnis are the majority in â€Å"Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, northern African countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union, and Indonesia† (Fisher, 2005). The minority, the Shi’a Muslims or the Shi’ites, interprets the Qur’an strictly and adheres rather closely to the teachings embodies in the Qur’an. The Sunnis, or the majority, constitutes almost 90% of all Muslims who are considered traditionalists and secular. Because of their secularity, they are more adaptable than the Shi’ites (Robinson, 2007).

Estimation of Tramadol Hydrochloride and Diclofenac Sodium

Estimation of Tramadol Hydrochloride and Diclofenac Sodium Derivative Spectrophotometric Method for Estimation of Tramadol Hydrochloride and Diclofenac Sodium in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form Pekamwar S. S., Kalyankar T. M, Lokhande M. V. ABSTRACT Purpose: Tramadol is opioid analgesic and diclofenac is NSAID and are used in severe to moderate pain management. Combination of Tramadol and Diclofenac drugs were approved by FDA to market in India with a dose of 50 mg for TRA and 75 mg DIC respectively. Method: The employed method is based on first order derivative spectrophotometry. Wavelengths 278.7 nm and 281.7 nm were selected for the estimation of the Tramadol and Diclofenac respectively by taking the first order derivative spectra. The concentrations of both drugs were determined by proposed method. The results of analysis have been validated statistically and by recovery studies as per ICH guidelines. Result: Both the drugs obey Beer’s law in the concentration range of 5-30 ÃŽ ¼g mL-1 and 5-45 ÃŽ ¼g mL-1 with regression 0.9997 and 0.9990, intercept- 0.0008 and 0.0062 and slope- 0.004 and 0.0316 for TRA and DIC respectively. The accuracy and reproducibility results are close to 100% with 2% RSD. Conclusion: A simple, a ccurate, precise, sensitive and economical procedures for simultaneous estimation of Tramadol and Diclofenac in tablet dosage form have been developed Key words: Tramadol, Diclofenac, First order derivative spectrophotometry, ICH guidelines, Validation, FDA Introduction Tramadol Hydrochloride (TRA) is a synthetic 4-phenylpiperidine analogue of codeine. Chemically it is cis -2-[(dimethylamino) methyl]-1-(3 methoxyphenyl) cyclohexanol hydrochloride (Figure-1), is a centrally acting opioid analgesic, indicated in the treatment of moderate to severe pain. TRA is used to treat postoperative (dental, cancer etc.) pain, treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, restless legs syndrome, motor neuron disease and fibromyalgia and as an adjuvant to NSAID therapy 1-8. Chemically Diclofenac Sodium (DIC) is 2-{2-[(2, 6- dichlorophenyl) amino] phenyl} acetic acid (Figure -2), is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drug. DIC gives anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, and analgesic action thought the inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis by inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX). DIC is used in acute to chronic treatment of signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis 9-19. Tramadol (50 mg) and Diclofenac (75 mg) combination, resulting central and peripheral analgesia a â€Å"balanced analgesia† used in wider spectrum of pain management. In the literature survey it was found that various analytical methods involving spectrophotometry 1-4, HPLC (High-performance liquid chromatography) 5-7, stability-indicating RP-HPLC (Reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography) 8, and GC/MS (Gas chromatography- mass spectrophotometry) 7 have been reported for TRA in single form and in combination with other drugs. Several analytical methods have been reported for DIC in single form and in combination with other drugs including spectrophotometry 9-12, HPLC 13-16, RP-HPLC 17,18, and LC-MS (Liquid chromatography-mass spectrophotometry) 19. Extensive literature survey reveals that derivative spectrophotometric method is yet not reported for simultaneous determination of TRA and DIC in tablet dosage form. In the present work an attempt is being made to develop simple, precise, accurate and reproducible first-order derivative UV- spectrophotometric method for simultaneous estimation of TRA and DIC in combined dosage form. Materials and Methods Apparatus and Instruments The instrument used in the present study was UV- spectrophotometer UV-1800 (Shimadzu, Japan) with spectral bandwidth of 2 nm and 10 mm a matched quartz cell was used. All weighing was done on Digital balance (Anamed). Chemicals and Reagents Analytically pure drug sample of TRA and DIC was kindly provided by Supriya Lifescience Ltd. (Mumbai, India) and J.B. Chemicals Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Gujarat, India) respectively. The pharmaceutical dosage form used in this study was unavailable in market but has been approved by the FDA to market in India. So this bilayer (Core) tablets manufactured in School of Pharmacy, S.R.T.M. University, Nanded, labeled to contain 50 mg of TRA and 75 mg of DIC. All chemicals (AR grade) were purchased from RANKEM, Delhi, India. Preparation of standard stock solutions Accurately weighed 10 mg of TRA and DIC transferred to two separate 100 mL volumetric flasks. Added sufficient methanol and sonicated for 5 min. and volume was made upto 100 mL with methanol. 1 mL of the stock solution was further diluted to 10 mL with methanol to get a working standard solution of concentration 10 ÃŽ ¼g mL-1 of both TRA and DIC and scanned in the wavelength range of 200-400 nm. First-Order Derivative Spectroscopic Method 20, 21 Working standard solution of concentration 10 ÃŽ ¼g mL-1 of both TRA and DIC were scanned in spectrum mode between 400-200 nm using methanol as a blank. Then zero order spectrums of both the drugs were transformed mathematically into their individual first order derivative spectrum and first derivative overlain of both the drugs were obtained in 400-200 nm which is shown in figure 3, figure 4 and figure 5. It was observed that wavelengths selected for quantification of both the drugs were 281.7 nm for TRA and 271.7 nm for DIC in such a way that at zero crossing of one drug another drug shows substantial absorbance (Zero crossing method). Therefore these two wavelengths were employed for the estimation of TRA and DIC without any interference. The calibration curves were plotted at these two wavelengths. Preparation of Sample Stock Solution Contents of twenty tablets were weighed accurately and powdered. Powder equivalent to 50 mg of TRA and 75 mg of DIC was weighed and dissolved in 50 mL of methanol with the aid of ultrasonication for 5 min. The solution was filtered through Whatman filter paper no. 41 to a 100 mL volumetric flask. Filter paper was washed with methanol, adding washings to the volumetric flask and volume was made up to the mark with methanol to get sample stock solution which was further diluted with methanol to get final concentration of solution (TRA 10 ÃŽ ¼g mL-1 and DIC 15 ÃŽ ¼g mL-1 ) in the linearity range. Results and Discussions Linearity and range A standard stock solution was prepared for both TRA and DIC; they were serially diluted to yield six for TRA and nine for DIC standard solutions. For UV spectrophotometric method, linearity was obtained in concentration range of 5-30 ÃŽ ¼g mL-1 and 5-45 ÃŽ ¼g mL-1; with regression 0.9997 and 0.9990, intercept- 0.0008 and 0.0062 and slope 0.004 and 0.0316 for TRA and DIC respectively. The results are depicted in table1. Accuracy and precision To ascertain the accuracy of the proposed methods, recovery studies were carried out by standard addition method at three different levels (80%, 100% and 120%) as per ICH guidelines. Known amount of pure TRA and DIC were added in preanalyzed powder of tablet formulation and analysis was carried out by proposed method for recovery at each level and % recovery, SD, % RSD was calculated. Results of recovery studies are shown in Table 2. The accuracy and reproducibility is evident from the data as results are close to 100 % and the value of standard deviation and % R.S.D. were found to be Specificity The proposed method was found to be specific as there is no interference from other excipients. Results of analysis of tablet formulation Analysis of formulated tablet was carried out and the amounts recovered were expressed as percentage amount of tablet claim. The percentage recovery for TRA is 100.52 ±1.486 and DIC is 99.57 ±0.555 respectively. The proposed methods was evaluated by the assay (n = 6) of formulated tablets containing TRA and DIC. The results of assay are presented in Table 3. LOD and LOQ LOD was found to be 0.0686  µg mL-1and 0.155  µg mL-1 for TRA and DIC respectively. LOQ was found to be 0.2081  µg mL-1 and 0.4719  µg mL-1 for TRA and DIC respectively. The results of LOD and LOQ are shown in table 4. Conclusion The first-order derivative spectrophotometric method has been developed for simultaneous determination of TRA and DIC in combined dosage form. The developed and validated first order derivative spectrophotometric method is simple, economic, accurate and reproducible. The method was validated as per ICH guidelines in terms of linearity, specificity, accuracy, precision, limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ). The proposed validated method can be utilized for routine analysis and quality control assay of TRA and DIC in combined dosage form. Acknowledgments The authors are very thankful to Supriya Lifescience Ltd., Mumbai and J.B. Chemicals Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Gujarat, India for providing Tramadol Hydrochloride and Diclofenac sodium respectively as gift samples of pure drugs. Authors are also very thankful to School of Pharmacy, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded, Maharashtra, India for providing all the necessary facilities to complete research work very successfully. Conflict of interest The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Smart Transport System Based Upon Autonomous Road Vehicles

Smart Transport System Based Upon Autonomous Road Vehicles INTRODUCTION People have a high reliance on car for their daily travel to work, shopping, tour and many other places [1]. More than 50% of worlds population lives in cities and more vehicles are on the road causing congestion problems and accidents. Therefore, there is a need for more safe and efficient means of transportation. The new technologies are replacing decade old transportation frameworks and operators with computerization and automation. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is an innovative method that utilizes sensors movements, artificial intelligence, and human management together which will help the autonomous vehicle to drive without human intervention [2]. Autonomous vehicles will be seen soon on our roads communicating with nearby vehicles and warn each other by understanding the conditions ahead. Many cars, for example, the Tesla Model S and the Volvo XC90 has already started including propelled self-driving capacities, and this is expected to increase in coming years [3]. In this paper two use case scenarios of autonomous vehicles are discussed. The first use case discusses about an autonomous vehicle valet parking. Parking a vehicle is considered as one of the difficult task in driving. This includes finding the parking slot and park without collision. The proposed system will allow the driver to leave the vehicle when he/she reaches the destination and the vehicle will park itself in a parking slot. The second use case discusses an autonomous vehicle that can drive without human intervention in an unknown environment. The use cases included are obstacle avoidance, backward moving and overtaking. 2.USE CASE SCENARIOS 2.1 AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE VALET PARKING The number of vehicles on road is increasing rapidly causing congestion problems and pollutions. One of the main reasons for this is lack of car parking and time consumed to find the parking slots. This paper discusses the driving and parking of an autonomous vehicle to a car parking slot without human intervention. An autonomous valet parking will allow the driver to leave the vehicle when he/she reaches the destination and will park the vehicle in a parking slot. The sensors will sense obstacles in its way and will steer around them to avoid collision. It will also notify the driver after parking and locking the door automatically through an app. The proposed system will help the driver who is in a hurry to attend a meeting or watch movie, who doesnt want his/her time to waste checking for parking area and to drive and park there. There are three systems in the vehicle for the autonomous vehicle valet parking [6]. (i) Server System The server system will generate the different driving path to the nearest parking slot and will provide it to the driver through the mobile application. The driver can select the preferred path and vehicle will drive through that path. (ii) Mobile System The driver will be able to monitor the vehicle and check whether it is finding any difficulty to reach the parking slot. The vehicle will also notify the driver once when it has reached the parking slot. (iii) Vehicle Control System The control system will generate the control signals such as steering control, gear change, brakes and speed control required for the movement of the vehicle through the provided path. It should also generate control signals to help the car park in the provided slot. Figure 1: Autonomous vehicle parking system 2.1.1 DESIGN ANALYSIS AND ALGORITHM 2.1.1.a. PARKING SLOT SELECTION Once the driver has reached the destination the driver should request for the nearest parking and reserve the parking slot. The algorithm for this is shown in figure 1.1 [6]. Step 1: Driver request for the parking guidance. The parking slot availability in the parking garage should be updated every time in the data base. The parking slot can detect whether it is occupied with vehicle or not by using an IR sensor in the parking slot. The IR sensors will be connected to micro-controllers. The microcontrollers will communicate to the central server system using ESP8266 which contains the data base of the parking slot availability. ESP8266 is a low-cost Wi-Fi chip which will give micro-controller access to communicate with the Wi-Fi network. Along with the number of free parking lots, parking cost in different parking garage will also be stored in the database. The parking guidance is requested by the driver using the navigation system which will be embedded with sim cards inside the vehicle. BMW already have sim card embedded cars [8]. There will be GPS module inside the navigation system which will give the current location of the car. This location of the vehicle, will help to find the nearest parking fa cilities near it. The distance and time to reach each parking garage are calculated by the already programmed navigation device. It will also provide the parking fare for each parking garage. The driver can then select the appropriate parking slot based on his convenience. Step 2: Reserve the parking slot Once the parking slot has been selected by the driver, it should be reserved otherwise there are chances for the parking slot to be occupied by some other car before the vehicle reaches the selected slot. The central server system should be updated once the driver has reserved parking slot. The reservation should be done using the number plate of the vehicle. Sometimes, there might be more than one reservation request for the same parking slot at the same. So, there are chances to get the reservation declined for other customers. In that case the driver can select another parking slot. The vehicle can also go to the parking slot without reservation as well. But there will be a risk of the parking slot to be occupied before the vehicle arrives the parking slot. Step 3: Start the navigation to the parking slot. Once the parking slot has been selected by the driver, he/she can leave the car and the car will navigate to the selected parking slot. Figure 1.1. Algorithm for parking slot selection 2.1.1.b. PARKING PATH FOLLOWING Once the parking slot has been selected the next step is to guide the vehicle to the parking slot. In this paper [6], a graph data structure is used, which will generate driving path using 4D kinematics (i, j, ÃŽÂ ¸, R). The i and j represents the centre co-ordinates of the vehicle and ÃŽÂ ¸ is the heading angle value of the vehicle. To avoid the obstacles while following the path to the parking slot laser scanner sensors (LMS15) are used. These sensors can see the obstacles within 40 m distance and an angular range of 0-1900. The sensors are fitted on both sides in the front and rear side of the vehicle. The obstacle avoidance path is generated by the server system. The figure 1.3. [6] shows the obstacle detecting and avoiding path. Figure 1.3. Obstacle detecting and avoiding path [6] The path generated by the server system consists of location of the vehicle and its heading angle value (ÃŽÂ ¸). The vehicle control system will generate signals to control the steering of the vehicle depending on the heading angle value and location of the vehicle. The steering angle should be calculated for this. The formula for steering angle is shown below [6]. ÃŽÂ ¸s = ÃŽÂ ¸3 ÃŽÂ ¸2  ­- ÃŽÂ ¸1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2 ÃŽÂ ¸s = Steering angleÃŽÂ ¸3 = lateral error angle of vehicle location  Ã‚  Ã‚   ÃŽÂ ¸2 = look-ahead way point heading angle  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ÃŽÂ ¸1 = vehicle heading angle Figure 1.4. [6] shows the driving path followed by the vehicle and the location of the vehicle. Figure 1.4. Driving path followed by the vehicle [6] The speed will also be controlled by the control system. The speed will be reduced to 8 km/hr once the car has entered the parking garage. The car will be notified when it reaches the parking garage by the GPS module installed in the navigation system. The laser scanner sensors can detect the moving obstacles as well. When the vehicle has detected the moving object (e.g. pedestrian) it will stop and wait until it has crossed the road. 2.1.1.c. PARKING AT THE SELECTED PARKING SLOT The next step after reaching the parking slot is the parking at the selected slot. The vehicle control systems consist of two levels [7]. 1. Low level control Low level control is the control of motion which includes steering wheels control, speed control and moving in a proposed distance. 2. High level control High level control is computer vision based control. A trajectory path is formed showing the vehicle direction to park it in the selected slot. To describe the car parking, bi-cycle model is used [7]. This model is commonly used to describe four wheeled vehicles. Rear drive wheel of this model cannot be rotated. To control the vehicle movement the front wheel will be rotated about the vertical axis following the trajectory path. It is assumed that the vehicle is moving on a horizontal and flat surface. Figure 1.5. Bi-cycle model of four wheeled vehicles The figure 1.5. shows the bi-cycle model of four wheeled vehicles [7]. The co ordinate system is represented as V, where x and y represent the co-ordinate points in that system. L= distance between the front and rear wheels ÃŽÂ ³ = steering angle ÃŽÂ ¸ = angle between xv and x v = velocity of the vehicle ICR instantaneous centre of rotation of the vehicle Parking of the car can be done in two ways. [7] 1.Parallel parking method. 2.Perpendicular parking method. Parallel parking method A precise path should be generated to minimize the parking area. The vehicle should move along two arcs created by the high level control without straight-line section between them. A maximum rotational angle of the steering wheels is required to achieve this. The figure 1.6. shows the parallel parking method [7]. Figure 1.6. Parallel parking method [7] The circle radius is calculated using the steering angle (ÃŽÂ ³). Circle radius (R1) = L2tgÃŽÂ ³ Ls1 and Ls2 are the safety boundaries, so the vehicle will not hit the front and back corner of the vehicle while parking. L1, L2, L3 and L4 are the boundary dimensions. The trajectory parking length (S)can be calculated to park the vehicle in the parking slot without colliding on the obstacles. The formula to obtain the trajectory parking length is given below. S = Ls1 + L1 + L2 + L3 + L4 + Ls2 Perpendicular parking method Perpendicular parking method is almost like the parallel parking method. This method reduces the parking area required for parking. The figure 1.7. shows the perpendicular parking method. Figure 1.7. Perpendicular parking method [7] The centre axel wheel should steer along the arc with the radius (R2) value given below to park in a safe condition. R2 = When vehicle reaches point A,for successful completion of parking, the steering wheels should be controlled by the steering. The gear should be in reverse gear and continue until the safe region. There are safety zones LS as in the parallel parking method. The trajectory parking length (S)can be calculated to park the vehicle in the parking slot without colliding on the obstacles. The formula to obtain the trajectory parking length is given below. S = R1 + L2 + LS + 2.1.1.d. NOTIFYING THE DRIVER AFTER PARKING After the car, has been parked in the parking slot, the driver should be notified that the car is safely parked. The sim card embedded in the system will help to notify the driver through SMS or mobile app that it has arrived the parking slot safely. This will help the driver to track the vehicle and ensure that it has reached the parking slot safely. 2.1.2 CHALLENGES AND DESIGN ISSUES IN THE PROPOSED SYSTEM Challenges (i) One of the main challenges in the proposed system is that the driver can only access the parking garages which has been saved in the central server system. (ii) In the proposed system, the vehicle will not come to pick the driver. He/she should go to the parking slot to find the car. This can be included in the future development. Design Issues (i) Sometimes GPS might fail to work in that case the autonomous car might fail to find its direction. (ii) Infrared sensors are expensive and sometimes fail to work due to temperature change. 2.1.3. VEHICLES THAT HAS BEEN USING AUTOMATED VEHICLE VALET PARKING Using digital mapping technology, BMW i3 is about to launch their new car [9] that can park in multi-storey parking garages. This fully autonomous vehicle will drive until it detects a free parking space. Their new Remote Valet Parking Assistant will parks the i3 without any driver assistance. The new car can also detect the moving obstacles and falsely parked car using its LiDAR sensors and drive accordingly without colliding with the obstacles. The car will not notify the driver it has reached the parking slot is one of the drawback in their features. 2.2 AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE NAVIGATION IN UNKNOWN ENVIRONMENT. A fully automatic vehicle should be able to drive by itself and for that it should sense, control, observe and react to its environment. This paper describes an autonomous vehicle that can drive without human intervention in an unknown environment. The use cases included are obstacle avoidance, backward moving and overtaking. The car will reach its destination by avoiding obstacles and following the path lane. A fuzzy logic control technology is used in this paper which will receive the required information from the sensors which will sense the obstacles in its way and the environmental changes. A GPS module is also used to track the position of the vehicle. The system will also control the speed, brake and steering effectively. 2.2.1 DESIGN ANALYSIS AND ALGORITHM The proposed system is divided into two units [5] Fuzzy logic control unit Computer vision unit. The block diagram of the proposed unit is shown in the figure 2.1. [5]. Figure 2.1. Block diagram of the proposed system [5] 2.2.1.a. FUZZY LOGIC CONTROL UNIT Autonomous cars are very complex to design. In this system, fuzzy logic is used to generate logical control signals from the input analog signals. Fuzzy logic is widely used in artificial intelligence. There are many alternative approaches such as genetic algorithm and neural network, but fuzzy logic has the merit that, it can be easily understood by the human operators. The block diagram of the fuzzy logic control unit is shown in figure 2.2. Figure 2.2. Fuzzy Logic Control Unit [4] The proposed system consists of two ultrasonic sensors for recognising the obstacles and measuring the distance between the obstacle and vehicle. Ultrasonic sensors produce ultrasonic waves, which will not produce any sound pollution/environmental pollution. Its also inexpensive. A H-Bridge is used to control the steering motor and the back motor. Webcam is used to see and follow the road lane path. The steering angle is measured and controlled by a potentiometer. The GPS receiver senses the position of the vehicle and is given to the microcontroller. This will help the micro-controller to know whether the vehicle has reached its destination or not. The steering and speed commands are combined and based on this the vehicle will move through the lane. The speed of the vehicle is the most important part while driving. The speed of the vehicle depends on many external factors such as environmental condition, road condition and car condition. For a normal autonomous car, it should have an auto-braking system, auto-speed control system and auto-steering system. These systems depend on different factors like environmental condition, car condition, road condition and so on. The fuzzy logic control unit will control the speed, brake, and steering based on these factors. The figure 2.3. [4] below shows the fuzzy logic controller controlling the systems based on the environmental condition and car condition. Figure 2.3. Fuzzy Logic Controller [4] Auto-braking System The auto-braking system is provided in autonomous car to avoid collision. The ultrasonic sensors will sense the distance between the obstacle and the car and if it is not in a safe distance the car will either stop or reduce the speed. The normal speed limit is set as 0 60 km/hr and the minimum distance between the car and the obstacle is maintained at 5 10 m. This is selected as per the traffic safety authorities. Auto- speed System Speed of the car is controlled on various factors such as environmental condition and car condition. Environmental condition and car condition will be between the range shown below and the car should choose the speed accordingly. Environmental Conditions: Rains falling: (0 200) mm. Winds Speed: (0 150) km/h. Rain sensors are used to sense the rain. The sensors can tell when it is raining depending on the rain drops falling on the wind shield depending on the light reflected. If there are more rain drops on the wind shield less light will be reflected to the rain sensor. Car Condition: Weight (including passengers): (1600 1900) kg. Engine Heat: (-25 65) à ; c. A weight sensor can be used in the seats so that it will sense how many passengers are there in the seat and the vehicle can control the speed. All these factors are given a rating between 0 and 10 [4]. If the conditions are bad, the rating will be between 0-3 and if the conditions are good, then the rating will be between 7-10. The micro-controller will be pre-programmed in such a way that it will be indicated when its raining, or when the air content in the tire is less and the speed of the car will be controlled according to that. Auto-Steering control The steering control is the main part of the autonomous car. The steering is controlled in such a way that; it will follow the trajectory or path to the destination generated by the computer vision unit. Obstacle Avoidance The main feature that should be incorporated in an autonomous vehicle is obstacle avoidance to avoid collision. There are two type of obstacles static and moving obstacles. The obstacles are sensed by the ultrasonic sensors which are connected at the right and left side of the vehicle at an angle of +45o and -45o. The distance is measured using fuzzification. The fuzzy sets used are adjacent, medium and far. The range is set between 25 m and 85 m and is determined by the sensor and the dimension of vehicle [4]. Any measured value by the sensor that is below 25 m is set as minimum value and any measured value exceeding 85 m is set as maximum value. To determine in which fuzzy set (near, medium or far) the measured sensor value belong to is determined using triangular membership function. The equation for that is given below [4]. The speed control and steering control signals are got as an output from the controller which are then given to the steering motor and back motor. The steering is controlled by the steering motor. The steering will be turned according to the steering control signals. The steering angle is controlled by the potentiometer. The digitized value of steering angle decision is shown below. Large Left 120 Small Left 145 Straight 170 Small Right 195 Large Right 220 Figure 2.4. [4] shows the graphical representation of the steering angle decision. Figure 2.4. Graphical representation of the steering angle decision [4] Similarly, the speed is controlled by the back motor and three commands are used for this Slow, Medium and Fast. The values for this is shown below and is decided by the back motors duty cycle values for pulse width modulated signal. Slow 20 Medium 50 Fast 80 Figure 2.5. [4] shows the graphical representation of speed control decision Figure 2.5. Graphical representation of speed control decision[4] Destination Arrived A GPS receiver is attached to the controller to know whether the autonomous car has arrived its destination. The destination will be already decided and entered by the user to the micro controller by using a mobile app. The car and the user can communicate to each other using the 4G network. A SIM card will be already embedded inside the car. Once the car has arrived the destination the car will notify the user. 2.2.1.b COMPUTER VISION UNIT Computer vision unit does the decision-making process in the system. In this paper, overtaking and backward process are discussed. Computer vision unit extracts information from the images taken from multiple cameras and makes decision when to overtake other vehicles and when to reverse the car. Backward direction The figure 2.6. [5] shows the algorithm for backward process of the vehicle. Figure 2.6. Algorithm for backward process [5] Step 1: Decide whether the car should take backward direction or not. Step 2: If yes, the car should select the speed of the vehicle to move in backward direction. If not, then the car continues to move in forward direction. Step 3: After selecting the speed of the backward movement, the next step is to select the direction of the backward movement. If the car wants to move left, then steering should be turned to right and if the car wants to move right then the steering should be turned left. If the wants to move backward in a straight direction then the steering should be kept straight i.e., no change for the steering. Step 4: After the step 3 the car will check the backward process has been completed and the process comes to an end. Overtaking Overtaking is a difficult process normally done by human drivers. To overtake another car the vehicle should maintain a certain speed limit and distance between the two cars should be in a safe distance so that it will not collide. The algorithm for a safe overtaking is given in the figure 2.7. [5]. Figure 2.7. Algorithm for overtaking [5] Step 1: The autonomous car will decide whether to overtake the other car in front of it which will be moving slower than it. If yes, then it should select the overtaking speed. If not, then the car should continue the previous speed. Step 2: The autonomous car should change to the left lane after deciding the speed to overtake. It should check through the rear camera that no other vehicles are trying to overtake it in the left lane, otherwise the two cars will collide with each other. Step 3: After changing to the left lane the autonomous car should continue to move in straight direction. It should check whether it has overtaken the slow vehicle. If yes, then it should change to the right lane maintaining a safe distance. If not, it should continue to move in straight direction and keep on monitoring whether it has overtaken the slow vehicle. Step 4: After the change of lane the autonomous car should check whether it has completed the lane changing. If yes, then the process comes to an end. 2.2.2 CHALLENGES AND DESIGN ISSUES IN THE PROPOSED SYSTEM Challenges (i) In the proposed system, only the algorithm for overtaking and backward movement has discussed. Artificial intelligence algorithm has not been discussed. (ii) In the proposed system, there is detection of traffic signals which can be incorporated in the future development Design Issues (i) Sometimes GPS might fail to work in that case the autonomous car might fail to find its direction. (ii) Ultrasonic sensors can produce some errors when sensing objects which might result in collision. 2.2.3 AUTONOMOUS CARS ALREADY IN MARKET Fully autonomous car will be on our road by 2021. Many car companies like tesla, google, BMW has already started developing such cars. Googles self-driving car has completed 1,500,000 miles in full automated mode on mar 2016 [10]. This car has no steering and brake pedal. It has laser and radar sensors to sense the obstacles and also have a back-up steering, braking, and computing system if any of these fails. 3. CONCLUSION To conclude, we will be able to see self-driving cars on our roads soon, addressing all the road problems like congestions, parking problem, accidents and so on. In this paper two use cases have been discussed. In the first use case, a server system, mobile system and vehicle control system are used for autonomous vehicle valet parking. The proposed system will drop the diver/user at his/her destination and will park the vehicle in the parking slot selected by the user. The future development of the system can be made by making the car to go and pick the user from the parking slot, when he/she is ready to leave. The second use case describes an autonomous vehicle that can drive without human intervention in an unknown environment using fuzzy logic. The use cases included were obstacle avoidance, backward moving and overtaking. The block diagram and algorithm of the proposed system are described in the paper. REFFERENCES [1] C. F. Lin, J. C. Juang and K. R. Li, Active collision avoidance system for steering control of autonomous vehicles, in IET Intelligent Transport Systems, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 550-557, Sept. 2014. [2] Mohammad Abdul Qayum, Nafiul Alam Siddique, Mohammad Abtiqul Haque and A. S. M. Tayeen, Control of autonomous cars for intelligent transportation system, 2012 International Conference on Informatics, Electronics Vision (ICIEV), Dhaka, 2012, pp. 377-382. [3] B. Brown, The Social Life of Autonomous Cars, in Computer, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 92-96, Feb. 2017. [4] U. Farooq, K. M. Hasan, M. Amar and M. U. Asad, Design and implementation of fuzzy logic based autonomous car for navigation in unknown environments, 2013 International Conference on Informatics, Electronics and Vision (ICIEV), Dhaka, 2013, pp. 1-7. [5] A. H. A. Widaa and W. A. Talha, Design of Fuzzy-based autonomous car control system, 2017 International Conference on Communication, Control, Computing and Electronics Engineering (ICCCCEE), Khartoum, Sudan, 2017, pp. 1-7. [6] K. W. Min and J. D. Choi, Design and implementation of an intelligent vehicle system for autonomous valet parking service, 2015 10th Asian Control Conference (ASCC), Kota Kinabalu, 2015, pp. 1-6. [7] D. M. Filatov, E. V. Serykh, M. M. Kopichev and A. V. Weinmeister, Autonomous parking control system of four-wheeled vehicle, 2016 IEEE V Forum Strategic Partnership of Universities and Enterprises of Hi-Tech Branches (Science. Education. Innovations), St. Petersburg, 2016, pp. 102-107. [8] The Economist (2014). The connected car smartphones on wheels Available: http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21615060-way-cars-are-made-bought-and-driven-changing-mobile-communications [Accessed 27/02/2017] [9] Autocar (2014). BMW reveals new self-parking autonomous technology. Available:http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/bmw-reveals-new-self-parking-autonomous-technology. [Accessed 01/03/2017] [10] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2017). Autonomous car Available:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car [Accessed 04/03/2017]

LBJ and the Vietnam War :: Vietnam War Essays

Thus far the Vietnam War has shown to be a highly complex situation. Many of times, I have found myself agreeing with Lyndon B. John’s decisions to escalate the war. First and foremost, the United States had made a promise of freedom and tranquility to the people (whom were not part of Viet-Cong) of Vietnam. As an American, it is my opinion that the United States had to uphold its word, essentially its credibility. Secondly, withdrawing troops from Vietnam when the situation was really out of control would make the United States appear weak. In midst of the Cold War, the one thing that was not going to prove true was that the United States was weak. Although these reasons were and are valid, the anti-war movement in conjunction with the Tet offensive required President Johnson to make a decision that changed the perception of the war; he chose to call a halt on the bombardment in Vietnam. The purpose of this essay is to further analyze how the continuing anti-war movement and the Tet Offensive were the reasons that â€Å"America’s fate was effectively sealed by mid-1968.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The antiwarriors that have been described in Melvin Small’s book have shown to be relentless. They were fighting for a just cause, or at least it was a just cause in their opinion. They were able to organize and rally others to join in their quest to end the violence that was occurring in Vietnam. Between 1967 and 1968, however, a new phenomenon was occurring, the age of the â€Å"hippies.† Small mentions, â€Å"For many Americans by 1967, antiwar demonstrators were not only unruly and potentially violent but hippies†¦serious politically oriented activists became easily conflated with hippies to the detriment of their cause.† (Small, 81) This unexpected result of the antiwar movement definitely did put a damper on the cause because hippies were perceived as these pot-smoking, disrespectful, unappreciative bunch of kids who had no idea what they were talking about because they were high all the time. This proved to be untrue. The hippies w ere just as much as a centrifugal as the other activists, and this was evident in the rally held at the Pentagon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although only 75,000 or less activists were there, the event that occurred at the Pentagon was one of the underlying reasons LBJ had decided to end the bombing in Vietnam. What made this event stand out from the rest is that is was one of the largest, and nonetheless, it occurred â€Å"at the center of [American citizens] center of their war-making machine [which] presented a powerful image of a nation in turmoil.

Essay --

1) Short Introduction The wine sector has a long history that dates back to early human history, when fruit juices accidentally fermented, leaving behind a pleasant drink for people to enjoy to the present. Wine is a mark of cultural heritage; it is an ancient and celebrated drink; it is an international symbol of festivity. About 6000 BC, the first trade took place between the Ancient Armenia and Babylon. With the social and technology development, wine sector not only develop more precise control of the brewing process, but also develop a variety of new brewing methods. In the modern era, wine spread from Europe to the New World along with the conquistadores and colonists of the 16th and 17thcenturies, so they are divided into the Old World and the New World, the New World stands for the US, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina, the Old World represents France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal and other countries. The Old World stands for traditional and history, while the New World implies tec hnology and marketing. The New World has very few restrictions, producers are free to plant whatever grape varieties they want and make the wine however they deem appropriate. On the contrary, the Old World has to follow a detailed set of rules that govern what can be planted, density of planting, training and pruning methods, and so on. With the increase of competitive, there is a need for it to adapt to new conditions and market demands to stay profitable and continue its success. As far as regional origins are concerned, the French vineyard can be classified into 14 main wine- producing regions, which are, as ranked in terms of quantitative and qualitative importance: the Bordeaux, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Champagne, Alsace, Jura... ...gional wine producers were traditionally specialized in table wine, characterized by a relatively low quality and brand power, which created additional barriers to successful strategic differentiation and market re-positioning. 6. Languedoc Roussillon is not well known like Bordeaux and Burgundy, so it needs to let world to be familiar with it and improve promotion. 7. Lack of knowledge and skills. Many small wine producers were organized as traditional family firms, with exclusive agricultural and production expertise passed down from one generation to the next. In the past, the relatively constant level of demand did not require specific commercial or marketing skills to sell the produced wine. Therefore, many producers lacked the necessary expertise to understand the long-term consequences of the market failure, and the capacity to take decisive strategic action.

Alcohol And Brine Shrimps

Abstract Alcohol catches the interest of many scientists because of its different effects on human, especially during pregnancy. These effects can also be seen in lower forms of organisms, such as that of the crustacean brine shrimp. By studying these, the scientists can get a better understanding on the mechanisms underlying the alcohol’s effects. When other conditions are held constant, a very high amount of alcohol should inhibit the growth or hatching of these brine shrimp eggs.By growing brine shrimp eggs exposed to different concentrations of alcohol and observing the larvae afterwards, the effects of alcohol on these organisms can be revealed in a quantified manner. To do so, volumes of 0. 0 mL. 0. 1 mL, 0. 25 mL and 0. 5 mL of a 100% alcohol were placed in different Petri dishes containing 10 mL of brine solution each. Brine shrimp eggs were then placed and left for a week before the eggs and larvae were obtained and counted. Results show that there are more eggs hatch ed on the system with no alcohol in it.Though the plate with higher alcohol content showed a relatively large number of hatched eggs, it has a higher amount of dead larvae compared to the dishes having lower alcohol content. This shows that alcohol works in two ways, preventing the hatching of brine shrimp eggs and causing deaths to the larvae. I. Introduction Brine shrimps (Artemia) are small crustaceans, and not closely related to the common shrimp. They are usually termed as â€Å"sea-monkeys† and sold in pet stores as fish food.They are very resistant in adverse conditions, and their eggs are able to stay dormant until the right environment induces their birth. Many of these are seen in large bodies of water, for they serve as food for the larger fish and other organisms present in the ecosystem. One interesting fact of these crustaceans is the ability of their eggs to undergo cryptobiosis, a characteristic where they exhibit a â€Å"hidden life† by maintaining a m etabolically inactive state. This happens during adverse conditions that inhibit the growth of the organism.In this case, brine shrimp eggs stay dormant as long as there are large fluctuations in the environment caused by factors such as temperature, oxygen content, and acidity. Because of this, brine shrimps are excellent to be test subjects for this experiment regarding the effects of alcohol on early development. Brine shrimp eggs can also hatch at a short span of time, and grow into larvae capable of swimming by themselves in just a matter of days. Furthermore, there are no known ethical issues regarding the use of these organisms. In fact, a number of studies using this genus have been performed throughout history.One of these is the research of Antonio Marquez’s group, where they tested the effects of bacteria on Artemia franciscana. They cultivated the organism in 10 different strains of bacteria together with some major feeds. The treatment resulted to the Artemis sur vivors having a longer length. The bacteria added played an important role in providing direct feed for the Artemia. They provided essential proteins, vitamins, amino acids, and inorganic nutrients (Marques, 2005). These results can be taken into consideration when designing this experiment.Since the experiment aims to determine the effects of alcohol only, the medium on which the brine shrimp are to be grown must be free of other substances, especially bacteria that might contribute additional nutrients for the organism to grow. The experiment by Marquez also shows the versatility of these brine shrimps in data gathering experiments done on the lab. They are easy to cultivate and grow. Another research, which can complement the purpose of this experiment, is the one tackling about the toxicity of the chemical diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) when exposed to Aremtia salina The group of S.Sanchez-Fortun and M. V. Barahona found out that on high concentrations of DFP, a longer develo pment time is evident on Artemia larvae. A more concentrated solution even showed death on some of the larvae. Several treatments were tested, including addition of the compounds atropine, physostigmine pyridostignime. But only the compound 2-pyridine aldoxime methoiodide (2-PAM) proved to be effective in preventing intoxication due to DFP (Sanchez-Fortum, 2007). These results show the lethal effects of some chemicals to the larvae of some organisms.Aside from DFP, alcohol is another substance that is believed to have bad effects on organisms during their pre-birth stage. In higher animals, such as humans, alcohol is usually blamed for miscarriages, prematurity, and many other defects on birth. This alarming substance caught the attention of many, and efforts have been made to make the public aware of the dangers posed by alcohol. Such effects of alcohol are made notice by Brimacombre and his team. Sometime before the year 2007 ended, they conducted a study to asses the knowledge of health professionals regarding fetal alcohol spectrum disorders or FASD.They conducted several presentations, lectures and demos to health professionals across New Jersey over a four-month period. The groups were then asked to answer a series of 20 questions to determine the depth of their understanding regarding FASD. The results showed that though they are well versed with the basics of FASD, these health group professionals reveal weaknesses in some important areas. One of these is the lack of knowledge on some core diagnosis and treatment of FASD. It was then concluded that more efforts must be done to further increase the awareness of the public to the facts of alcoholism (Brimacombe, 2008).If alcohol has a severe effect on humans, then it is safe to assume that it would also have a devastating impact on lower creatures such as the brine shrimps. This experiment is designed to illustrate the possible threats of varying concentration of alcohol to Artemia. The alcohol’s effects will be determined by adding varying amounts of it to the culture of unhatched brine shrimp eggs. The eggs and possible young hatchlings from the different treatments will then be manually counted and compared with each other.Taking into consideration prior knowledge and previous studies made, high alcohol content would not be optimum for the brine shrimps to live. The treatment containing the most alcohol would then probably have less or no brine shrimp larvae present compared to those cultures with little or no alcohol in it. II. Methodology Prior to the experiment, the solutions and equipments to be used were prepared. Four Petri dishes, brine solution, 100% alcohol, some toothpicks and a brine shrimp egg solution were placed close by for easy access.The Petri dishes were then marked with numbers â€Å"1†, â€Å"2†, â€Å"3† and â€Å"4†. A volume of 10 mL of brine solution was then added to each Petri dish. In the Petri dish labeled â€Å"1â € , 0. 1 mL of alcohol was added and mixed. In the same manner, 0. 25 mL of alcohol was added to Petri dish â€Å"2† and 0. 5 mL of it to Petri dish â€Å"3†. No alcohol was added to Petri dish â€Å"4†, as this is be used as the control system. A clean toothpick was then taken, wetting it by dipping it in a brine solution first, and then in the container with brine shrimp eggs.The eggs were then transferred to Petri dish â€Å"1† by slowly stirring the toothpick in the brine solution contained in the Petri dish until all eggs are dislodged from the toothpick. A new toothpick is then used to transfer eggs in the same manner to Petri dishes â€Å"2†, â€Å"3† and â€Å"4†, using a fresh toothpick for each Petri dish. The eggs were allowed to sit for a week and then they were observed. The eggs and larvae were counted using a toothpick and viewed with a microscope. The data were then recorded and compared.

Associates Degree vs Bachelors Degree Essay

nurse teaching method has progressed byout history from hotshot of uneducated lay persons to the current standards we inhabit immediately. As the c arer has progressed it has develop patent that there is a need for a skilled labor forced adroit to bulk with the sick and dying, the provision of interest for vex by Ameri crumb women exhibit the effectiveness of skilled nurse on improving outcomes for sick and injured soldiers (Creasia & Friberg, 2011, p. 4). However, as the helper progresses so does the need for much specialized training amongst nurses to help them deal with the changing atmosphere of long-suffering care.The upcoming of breast feeding is trending towards care that involves not that treating the signs and symptoms, but enhancing the patients wellness through ginmill and education. In companionship to meet these new demands the nurse of today needs to be skilled to worry these changes. Bachelors grade nurse programs encompass all of the course graze taught in fellow traveller degree and lambskin programs, plus a more in-depth discourse of the physical and social science, nursing research, reality and community wellness, nursing management, and the humanities (Baccalaureate Degree, 2001).This extra training prepares the nurse to slang a break in understanding of the outside influences that cleverness affect their patient, along with providing them with a eye socket of go for that is typically broader than that of their associate counterparts (Baccalaureate Degree, 2001). These skills become important for the nurse, they can range the gamut from existence able to make split cooperate decisions in critical patient features to evidently designing a comprehensive blueprint of care for the patient.Many hospitals are presently recognizing the significance of the bachelors active nurse and are affording these nurses more responsibilities in providing patient care that highlight the complexity of the their skill s over that of associate degree practised nurses (Baccalaureate Degree, 2001). Throughout the give-up the ghost decade, policymakers and fare leading digest accept that education makes a difference (Impact of Education, n. d. ). Hospitals are also trending towards preferred hiring of bachelors wide-awake nurses for their work force. tied(p) national organizations are jumping on the bandwagon requiring all nurse managers and nurse leaders to hold a baccalaureate or graduate degree in nursing by 2013 (Impact of Education, n. d. ), likewise the Institute of medicate has also recommended that all hospitals have at least 80% of their nursing provide with a BSN or high by the year 2020 (Impact of Education, n. d. ). Recent research has shown that hospitals and health care organizations that mesh a higher number of bachelors prompt nurses see better patient outcomes as a expiration of the nurse having a greater capacity to employment (Impact of Education, n.d. ).Studies have shown that bachelors prepared nurses practice more confidently and as a result can react hot to patient situations resulting in better outcomes (Impact of Education, n. d. ). to a fault a bachelors prepared nurse is clever more extensively in clinical, scientific, decision making, and humanistic skills, including stemwork in community health, patient education, and nursing management and leadership (Baccalaureate Degree, 2001) The education that patients pee in how to care for themselves after leaving the hospital leads to better outcomes once they are gone and little recurrence of illness.The bachelors prepared nurse is better trained to manage this as their skills are essential for practice in other community sites, much(prenominal) as health maintenance organizations, home health services, community clinics, and managed care firms (Baccalaureate Degree, 2001). excessively multiple studies form a flesh of healthcare facilities have shown a affaire between a decrease in patient mortality rate at facilities that employ a higher percentage of bachelors trained nurses. In some cases the incidence of mortality has decreased by as much as 5% with an increase in bachelors prepared nurses at the bedside (Baccalaureate Degree, 2001).The definition of nursing according to the American Nurses Association is the undermentioned treat is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and protagonism in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations (2012). Nurses first and best treat patients through education. In the situation where a patient is admitted to the hospital, teaching beings at admission but therole of the bachelors trained nurses and the associates trained nurse differs in the roles that they play.In hospitals baccalaureate-prepared nurses are utilized in ways that recognize their different education formulation and competency from other entry-level RNs (Baccalaureate Degree, 2001). These nurses are being afforded the ability to take on more tasks including preparing a final cause that incorporates all aspects of the patients care from before they are admitted, encompassing their complete stay and ending with preparing a plan of care for the patient to follow at home.They also keep the lines of discourse control surface between all of the different disciplines convolute and coordinate care between them. This is because studies have also found that nurses prepared at the baccalaureate level have stronger communication and problem solving skills (Johnson, 1988, as cited by Boren 2012) and a higher proficiency in their ability to make nursing diagnoses and try nursing interventions (Giger & Davidhizar, 1990, as cited by Boren 2012), (Impact of Education, n.d. ).In the same situation an associate degree nurse would still provide education but they would participate by providing care at the bedside and teaching on less complex situations such as how to fight with their conditions and to maintain their care upon discharge (Baccalaureate Degree, 2001). treat is a constantly evolving career and as nurses the best way to be prepared for these changes is to be educated and to constantly progress to to improve and continue our education.The bachelors degree program prepares the nurse to be better prepared to handle the workforce through several aspects. Bachelors prepared nurses have a wider knowledge base which can result in improved patient safety, lower mortality rates, and better patient education which in the end results in better patient outcomes. References American breast feeding Association (2012), What is Nursing, retrieved 28 August 2012 from http//www. nursingworld. org/EspeciallyForYou/What-is-Nursing Creasia, J. L. , & Friberg, E. (2011).conceptual Foundations The Bridge to professional nursing practice (5th ed. ). Philadelphia, PA Elsevier Saunders Publishing. The Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing as Minimal training for Professional Practice. (2001). American Association of College of Nursing. Retrieved from http//www. aacn. nche. edu/publications/ blot/bacc-degree-prep The Impact of Education on Nursing Practice. (n. d. ). American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Retrieved from http//www. aacn. nche. edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/impact-of-education.

Factors Affect Supply and Demand of Acuvue Essay

This reports focus is on analyzing the components that be active the furnish and inquire of the intersections. There atomic number 18 several variables that can affect the deliver and hold of a produce, including consumers income, costs of substitute harvest-times, costs of inputs and so on. The carrefour discussed for this report is Acuvue, I forget analysis how the factors affect the provide and enquire of Acuvue. Acuvue is Johnson & Johnsons batch wish Product. It is one of the most popular look interlocutor lenses products for short correction and center color alteration.Acuvue has a serial of products that depend on different stand-in schedule, such as cursory disposable, dickens weeks disposable, color and so on. All ranges of the lenses of Johnson & Johnsons atomic number 18 regarded as comfortable, convenient and good pump health product. (Johnson & Johnson, 2008 )1 In 2007, as a leader and pioneer of kernel refer lens producer, thither was a sale s ontogeny by 17. 6% prior to 2006.The gradebook expense for normal glaze is $200 dollars just the Acuvue daily disposable is virtually $480. Take mainland China for example, the GDP of 2007 increased 11. 4% (Wiki, 2008)1, muckle get to a greater extent than before. When muckles income increased, those who could not return to pervert the Acuvue in the past can had sufficient money to afford it. Moreover, as income increased, large number prevail to replace their encounter lenses a good deal to a greater extent ofttimes than before, and the demand of Acuvue increased accordingly.Also, nearsighted tribe may have some(prenominal) higher requirement for their purport quality so, for those who be tired of corroding specs or who seek convenience by wearing inwardness shocks may try to throw to utilisation oculus tint lenses, therefore, demand for the eye linkup lenses entrust increase. Consumer Preferences Consumer orientation is a significant factor whic h affects the demand of the Acuvue. People have different preference for lenses for nearsightedness correction, such as replacement schedule, cloth (hard/ muted), and asylum.Some people prefer Acuvue day-after-day for its convenience, and it has no daily maintenance like early(a) types of assemble the pulmonary tuberculosisr can just throw it onward after one day. (Bausch & Lomb, 2008) For many people, they prefer soft see lenses to hard lenses. In addition, some(prenominal) people cargon around the safety of eye contact lenses, and daily contact lenses atomic number 18 regarded as the safest and healthiest appearance, so those people may choose the Acuvue Daily, and thus, the demand of the Acuvue increases. On the contrary, people who are afraid of acquire keratitis (wiki, 2008)2 by wearing contacts go forth grease ones palms the glass, and then the demand of the Acuvue pull up stakes decrease.Moreover, if the nearsightedness preference is much genial to Acuvue, which probably means they have more than than committedness to the products, so the existing consumers will seldom change to alternatives and more and more people will buy Acuvue. Price of Substitutes The Substitutes of Acuvue eye contact lenses are glasses and surgery. As compared before, wearing glasses is a more economical way to correct nearsightedness, and there will be lower risk of being gnarly in keratitis(wiki,2008)2 or another(prenominal) eye problems. Moreover, in the recent years, correcting nearsightedness by taking an eye operation became more popular in many countries.The costs for the surgery are high, and the average for getting the LASIK nearsightedness correction surgery is $2105 in 2008. (All some Vision, 2008) If the damage of the surgery decreases, there will be more people choosing eye surgery or else of wearing inconvenient glasses or eye contact lenses so, there will be little demand of Acuvue. Price of Complementary Goods If the complementary goo ds of Acuvue increase, the price of the Acuvue will increase accordingly. Complementary goods for Acuvue are the consequence of the eye contact lenses or drops for eyes.For the past two years, with the rapid economic growth in China, people have more money to purchase eye contact lens, but if the average prices of the solutions increased dramatically, people who could afford to buy the lenses felt burdened to buy the solution. Advertising Promotion Advertising is a way of communication, Johnson & Johnson get more advertising is to try to post authorisation customers and consumer to purchase more Acuvue(wiki, 2008)3. Johnson & Johnson has released a serial of advisements and promotions for Acuvue.They provide free trial pairs of eye contact lens for the potential consumers who can just gormandise a Free Trial Pair authentication (Vision Care Inc. , 2008) from the Acuvue official website. In addition, when the Acuvue 2 color entered the mainland China market, they chose an unkno wn model to perform the advert first, and the sales for the Acuvue 2 was unfavourable. However, then the Johnson & Johnson invite Chinese pop singer Angela Zhang for promotion on TV, then, this product became familiar with lots of youth in China, and more and more people known about the Acuvue and bought it.Consumer Expectations Johnson & Johnson is a well known and trusted company by millions of consumers all around the manhood. It pays much attention to the safety of their products. So consumers are confident with the Acuvue and more and more people buy it. When the AMO Complete Moisture prescribed Muti-Purpose Solution (Anapol Schwartz, 2008) was recalled in May, 2007, people were concerned about the eye safety. From that time, people tented to buy slight and use less eye contact lens in order to avoid infection.Number of Buyers If there are more and more potential consumers of Acuvue, demand for Acuvue will increase. For recent years, more and more people in the world have a ccess the computer, and they use computers much more frequently and longer than the past. People are more prone to get nearsightedness. From Johnson & Johnsons research, there are about 3 million reinvigorated eye contact wearers in the US each year (Vision Care Inc. )2, so the number of potential buyers is increasing for consuming eye contact lenses year by year.In addition, with the development of engine room, the corporal of contact lenses is getting better and safer, so more people will be confident with the eye-contact lenses so more potential buyers will buy the Acuvue, then the demand for buyers will increase. But if there is new technology that can take place of eye contacts lenses, the nearsighted may give up wearing contacts, so the number of potential buyers decrease which indicates the demand of Acuvue will decrease. Variables of Supply Costs of InputsThe world economy was actually unstable since last year, and the price of raw materials unploughed on rising. Fortu nately, there is no news about the raw material price fluctuation for eye contact lenses. If the price of storing contact lenses increases, the Acuvues producer Johnson & Johnson must find ways to control the drudgery costs. The company may choose to reduce the fruit volume of the product and wait for producing that good when the price goes down, therefore the tag on of Acuvue will decrease.However when the materials for devising the eye contact lenses decreases, Johnson & Johnson will have more capacity to produce more eye contact lenses to increase its supply. Number of competitors The more competitors there are, the less the supply. Due to the property of the vision care industry, the requirement for entering this business flying field is fairly high. For the real market, there are four main producers and other several smaller producers which produce eye contact lenses. Johnson & Johnson is the largest eye contact lens producer in the world, making sales of $2. billion arou nd the world (Johnson & Johnson, 2008) 3. In China, eye contact lens manufactures are increasing in the market, competition became fierce, raw material for making the contact lenses increased, and the market share became dilute, so although sales of Acuvue increase in China very year, the growth is not as large as expected. New Technology As we know Johnson & Johnson Vision Care first introduced the soft disposable eye contact lens for the world (Wiki, 2008), and this revolutionary product helped the Johnson & Johnson opened a new product field and access to expand their market to over 50 countries in the world.If there is new cheaper material for producing Acuvue, Johnson and Johnson will be capable of producing more Acuvue by the corresponding investment as in the past, which means the supply of the Acuvue will increase. However, in the future, with the development in technology, some existing materials for making eye contact lensse may have potential risks for our eyes. When th e Johnson & Johnson found that potential risks authentically do exist, in order to guarantee the product safety, they had to pay more for pr razeting the risks harmful to contacts wearer, or even reduce the supply of those products.Suppliers Expect that Future sales Prices In recently years, there is a trim that more and more reports show that wearing daily disposable eye contact lens is much more comfortable, healthier and safer, because daily replacement lenses are healthier than other replacement schedule. With the expectation, the market for the Acuvue Daily disposable has much more potential than other Acuvue disposable lenses, and Johnson & Johnson will decide to produce more Acuvue Daily in according with the potential increase of the demand for Acuvue.Conclusion To sum up, those variables discussed above with the supply and demand of Acuvue finally affect the price of the Acuvue. As we know, the market price is the equivalent of the supply and demand. It is refractory by an invisible hand of both supply and demand. Therefore, it is impossible for those factors discussed before to singly handedly affect the supply and demand, because the market is complex, all those variables together contributed to our market price.