Comparison of the Japanese and American Cultures

Comparison of Japanese and American Culture Abstract There are some interesting issues engaging gender and cultural diversity in non-verbal communication. It begins by looking over gender variations in body language and the different uses of gestures and posture in comparing the Japanese and American cultures. Nonverbal communication is used in all social settings. Many times nonverbal communication is not seen for its real definition. In this period of internationalization the American education method is unequipped to handle successfully with the latest realism of a mutually dependent national country. American education is lagging at the end of the charts of Japans developed nation. America’s education needs to be retransformed to suit the needs of a rising nationalized financial system. Nowadays, humanitarians have inspirations of achieving the maximum level of schooling and they know it is vitally important for them to be successful. The steady declining of the American instructional method; the expectation for a victorious outlook for many appear desolate. The idea behind educational curriculums within schools must not only position onward the capability to master reading and comprehension skills, writing skills and mathematical and statistical problem solving, but also get each student ready from the primary, middle, and high school levels with skills in understanding the highly skilled requirements in the everyday working world. Comparison of Japanese and American Culture All societies differ among different cultures. Their cultures differ through customs, and education. A comparison of Japanese and American culture reveals a wide range of societal differences. Japanese culture is not always simple to comprehend, assessing it from an external point of view. The Japanese are a uniquely homogenous country. Japan has been secluded by natural features and by preference of their own, that moderately hardly any outsiders reside in Japan. A culture distinction that the Japanese discover in America is their greeting traditions. Although the greeting is one of the easiest ways for man-kind to communicate, both countries include diverse ways of addressing one another. Three differences include arrival, self-introduction, and leaving. The focal rationale for the diversity is that Americans exercise spoken gestures and the Japanese use unspoken gestures. Cultural beliefs offer implication to individual awareness of â€Å"who does what to whom wherever. † Nonetheless, the outcome of the various actions intended at oneself has been scientifically analyzed. Cross-cultural differentiations in generating a signification of self-fulfillment or self-actualization are communicated through feeling, labeling and characteristic attribution. The process of self-introduction varies between America and Japan. Americans are quick to have a discussion regarding their private matters. Americans usually converse about their relatives, spouses, or themselves. The Japanese prefer a more low key method. Japanese people are akin to chat about where they belong. For example, what school or university they attend, what there major is, or what type of club they have joined. Leaving a place or being in the American and the Japanese cultures depend on whether people are close in proximity or far away. Americans seem to say â€Å"bye† for either situation. Some Americans give a hug or a kiss when they leave one another. Unlike Americans, who immediately say â€Å"goodbye,† commonly Japanese build a trivial bow and glance back several times while waving their hand. Amongst the varied farewells, every Japanese individual who resides in America is shocked when they receive a embrace from an American, and they believe Americans are sappy. Japanese sense meaninglessness when Americans say â€Å"bye† and immediately leave. The variations in greetings are that the Americans prefer to be verbal and the Japanese prefer to be nonverbal. Americans are quick to exercise the verbal, so Americans say â€Å"Hi† or â€Å"How are you? Even people who are strangers say â€Å"How is it going? † Japanese people who arrive in America are puzzled whether they should react or be quiet. Japanese believe Americans are friendly and rejuvenating. Japanese people are likely to communicate a nonverbal language. Many Japanese just make a bow with a smile indicating respect. Usually, young people have to make a deep bow for their superiors. Not only gesture but also voice and countenance are very significant. Every American who is in Japan feels uncomfortable at first because they are not used to Japanese customs. Normally, we anticipate conversing face to face than when conversing obliquely, for example through letters. Nonverbal communication, such as one’s appearance, quality of voice, facial appearance, and body language all present additional information that enhances ones understanding. Nevertheless, when cultural diversity is engaged, this extra information can root added misunderstanding. Body languages are an essential part of greetings. Japanese usually bow as they articulate their greetings and Americans extend their arms for handshakes in the form of a greeting. Mainly Japanese who are accustomed with the global view are familiar to handshakes, but when it comes to embracing hugs and extending kisses very little Japanese identify the acts and manners implicated. Even with handshake greetings it can be uncomfortable since a lot of them are not capable of withholding bows while they extend shake hands. Bowing is an essential way of greeting and politeness for the Japanese. It allows them to acknowledge one another without invading each other's personal space; Americans do not take that into consideration when they are greeting each other. It also allows them to greet each other at a distance, whenever a verbal greeting is not practical. It foreshadows words in the vivid expressions of emotions. The Japanese feel that if they lose it, it would be like losing part of their courteousness. Making eye contact can be culture dependent. Americans might become uncomfortable when talking to their Japanese associates, who often do not control and maintain good eye contact during conservation. For example, Japanese would become angry if an American that was driving looked away from the traffic to make conversation with their passenger. Even and continuous communication is more than understanding words and etiquette. The tempo of communication seems to fluctuate amongst America and Japan. Regularly, Americans talk relentlessly. But Japanese continue gentler, pausing from time to time to evaluate the circumstances or to let the quietness speak for itself. Whenever English is the preferred language, the American's have a tendency to speak without having to pause and can simply devastate the Japanese, whose English aptitude is probably not elevated sufficiently enough to listen in and at the same time think of what to say next. Often the Japanese businessmen use an interpreter to avoid those types of situations. In contrast, Americans seem to get nervous when Japanese pause in conservation and their break in conversation seem like eternity before they continue speaking. To many Japanese, Americans seem to rely a lot on drawn out verbal dialogue where a simple chart or table is adequate. Conventionally, the Japanese rather brief verbal expressions. In fact, telling one they are skillful with words could be can be seen as a bad compliment, and referred to as being underhanded. Voice pitch plays a significant sociocultural role in the expression of emotion and politeness in conversational speech. (Yuasa 2008) The theory that the entire Japanese communal connection is modeled after the mother and child bond sets a tone for their country. The outcomes of affect and power models imply a multifaceted picture where juvenile American boys are taught to be self-sufficient, but juvenile American girls are pushed to exhibit dependence. Mothers that raise children in America try to validate their character through most favorable actions with kids who operate beyond a normal child's character produce boys that fight back and girls who are passive if they follow the Japanese rules of character development. The mother of an American child conforms her character as a mother by teaching her youngster to be independent. The mother of a Japanese child has the nurturing spirit to carry and hug their child as a way of showing their love. The Japanese model imitates the over controlling and overly understanding approach of native Japanese mothers. The Japanese mother who oversees or observes her child is given an incentive with distinctive characteristics validating reactions like hanging on to and supplying conduct from the youngster not expected for mothers and kids in the United States. Japan and the United States are eagerly focused on education. Both homelands focus on education as a shared accountability of the nation. Even though there are many comparisons, there are also differences among American and Japanese missions and visions of education, and there positions are aimed in different paths of transformation in both homelands. Schooling is also obligatory for both countries. In the United States most children begin primary education with kindergarten and depending on the district prerequisites; they complete their education in their senior year of high school. Since Americans are actively creating universal goals and targets, increasing and utilizing additional standardized tests for all scholars, and shifting in the direction of traditional based school improvement; the Japanese appear to want the reverse unassembled standardized standards, shifting away from the anxiety of nationalized examinations, and centering more attention on the creativeness and possibilities of each scholar. This is an objective that has frequently been disregarded in Japanese culture and the education reflections. Japan's education method allows teachers to inspire students learning throughout their well organized programs of study, securely joined together through all subject matters, that connects students and fabricates well-built classroom affiliations. Complete course group teaching aids Japanese schools to encourage their students by highlighting exertion over aptitude, connecting students, constructing well-built classroom associations, and uniting students under a common objective. Customary functions focused on the gender separation of hard work among a male wage earner and a female head of household have become defying in several current industrialized homelands by transforming women’s communal outlooks. A convergence of trends, including increasing female wages and employment rates, decreasing fertility and family size, rising divorce rates and numbers of female-headed households, and increasing education and participation in women’s movements, have undermined many of the incentives and requirements of a traditional family arrangement (Mason and Lu 1988). References 1. â€Å"What Japan Thinks of Us: a Nation of Crybabies? Newsweek April 2, 1990 2. Doi, T. (1996) â€Å"Foreward† Pp. Xv-xvii in D. W. Shwalb and B. J. Shwalb (editors), Japanese childrearing: Two generations of scholarship, New York: The Guilford Press. 3. Mason, Karen O. and Yu-Hsia Lu. 1988. â€Å"Attitudes Toward Women's Familial Roles: Changes in the United States, 197 7- 1985. † 4. Osgood, C. E. , W. H. May, and M. S. Miron. 1975. Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 5. Yuasa, I. 2008. Culture and gender of voice pitch; a sociophonetic comparison of the Japanese and Americans, 2009. Equinox Publishing Limited; Questia. com `

Gender Socialization and Consumer Culture

An article â€Å"A ‘Real Man's Ring': Gender and the Invention Tradition† by Vicki Howard (2003) published in the Journal of Social History defined the role of gender stereotypes, their development and changes in forming consumer culture through describing the invention and adoption of double ring ceremony in twentieth century America.Howard tells the history of grooms’ wedding bands and double ring ceremony, explaining the bonds between economical, cultural and social aspects of the first sixty years of the twentieth century.The author explained that the double ring ceremony emerged because of the cultural tendency in family life Howard called â€Å"masculine domesticity†, when, in the middle of twentieth century, spending time with wife and kids, performing household chores became â€Å"synonymous with prosperity, capitalism, and national stability†. In fiftieth the new type of family became widespread,   a so called â€Å"companionate marriageà ¢â‚¬ , where both spouses shared responsibility for psychological and emotional well-being of their family, and a double ring ceremony reflected these new type of relationship.Howard adds that World War Two made double rings wedding custom even more popular, as than it had to do with â€Å"wartime sentiments†. Wedding ring symbolized ties a soldier had with his wife, with his family and kids; it was a sign for him that someone was waiting for him at home, a symbol of everything he defended.   And, according to Howard’s writing, while in 1940 two rings wedding hadn’t been a custom,   in yet in late fortieth-early fiftieth it appeared in the wedding ceremonies held by Catholic, Unitarian, Baptist, and Methodist churches, the most influential ones.Getting man used to the thought that grooms wedding ring was a good idea took lots of time and efforts from the sellers. Howard described some of the techniques that were used by U.S jewelry stores, like establishing a separate â€Å"groom room† for men not to feel embarrassed when shopping for wedding rings; the other idea was to hide grooms rings in slide drawers beneath the feminine rings, and showing them only after bride’s rings had been already purchased. Meantime, years passed, and social apprehension of man wedding rings changed due to numerous advertising campaigns, Hollywood productions, marriages of public persons etc.Of course there were other factors that played their role in popularization of double ring ceremony. One of the crucial ones was the â€Å"teenage marriage boom†, which began in fortieth, when the average age of marrying has lowered dramatically.Howard supposed that having a double ring ceremony was important for young couples to differentiate them from their parents. Wearing a ring helped young girl to feel herself protected, not being afraid to become an old maid, while for man wedding ring was the proof of maturity, masculinity, ability to suppor t his wife, and, what was also important, heterosexuality.Howard noted that one more factor to conduce the popularity of double ring ceremony was emergence of middle class in the U.S. People moved to suburbs, where they could allow purchasing a house. As economy grew more, more people earned enough money to provide their families with all the middle-class attributes.This period was characterized by â€Å"physical and psychological separation of public and private†, of work and family, and double ring ceremony became a symbol of the new family, built in that environment. The situation was different for working class. Men often were dissatisfied with the idea to wear a ring, as it symbolized the obligations they took, while for women grooms ring was a sign of claim bride has for her husband.

Why Gun Control Is Bad

Gun Control Argumentative Essay All guns have the potential to be dangerous and should be handled with care. Guns have been part of American life for as long as people can remember. For most people guns are perceived as very dangerous and harmful. However, that is not true; guns can be dangerous, but only if they are in the wrong hands. Owning a gun is right that every American should be able to take pride in having. Guns are used for self-defense, hunting, law enforcement and other uses. The right to own a gun is protected in the 2nd constitutional amendment.Therefore, banning guns from being owned or purchased is wrong and unconstitutional. Gun control in the United States should be abolished. It is true that almost 100,000 people are injured or killed by guns in the United States every year (Scalia). However, 3. 5 million people in the United States have conceal-to-carry and owners permits for their guns (Stearns). These injuries are mostly accidental and only about 17 percent of those are criminal (Scalia). Clearly, most of the guns owned in America are used for self defense and are not meant for harm. Over 100 million people in the United States own guns solely for self-defense (Stearns).Cliff Stearns said in Laws Permitting Concealed Guns Ensure Public Safety, â€Å"Found in a study by the U. S. Department of Justice, 64 percent of convicted felons said they had been scared off or â€Å"shot off† by a victim carrying a concealed gun† (Stearns). This clearly proves that allowing concealed weapons decreases crime and helps protect people. Therefore, the pros of concealed weapons outweigh it’s cons. One argument is that thousands of illegal firearms are sold and distributed throughout the United States every year; this is a reason why some suggest banning guns completely.On the contrary, over $100 million in United States government revenue is generated by legal gun and ammunition sales every year (Weir 156). Although there are many guns sold illegally, the almost all of gun and ammunition sales are legal (Weir 128). Also, if total gun control was allowed, it would prohibit Americans from hunting. Some Americans hunt solely to feed their families. As William Weir said in A Well Regulated Militia, â€Å"The sales of gun and ammunition help stimulate the economy† (Weir 203). Clearly the matter of illegal gun sales would only increase and create more problems if total gun control was allowed.Also, the United States government would lose an important source of revenue by banning guns. Finally, sieges of illegal gun and ammunition stashes by law enforcement are sold legally for a beneficial profit. The right to bear arms is protected by the 2nd Constitutional amendment. Having said this, all gun bans should be constitutional, however they are not. Somehow lawmakers find a way to work around the 2nd amendment and enforce gun bans. For example, the District of Columbia has a rather strict gun ban (Scalia).This is e specially ironic because it is the nation’s capital, where freedom should be at its highest. However, in D. C. it is illegal to possess a handgun in your home (Scalia). Antonin Scalia wrote this about D. C. ’s gun ban in The Right to Own a Gun Is Guaranteed by the Constitution, â€Å"The District’s total ban on handgun possession in the home amounts to a prohibition of an entire class of â€Å"arms† that Americans choose for lawful self-defense† (Scalia). This ban, like other gun bans, directly defies the 2nd amendment to the Constitution.There is also a trigger lock policy in D. C. which is also partially prohibiting guns (Scalia). This trigger lock policy is unconstitutional also. The policy prohibits the gun to be used for self defense. This ban and trigger lock policy, along with others, are unconstitutional and wrong. Gun control in the United States should be abolished. Some people in the United States believe that gun control is necessary. H owever, it is clear that gun control is wrong and unconstitutional. Gun control directly violates the 2nd constitutionally amendment and should not be allowed.Allowing concealed guns not only brings in revenue for the government, but, it also keeps the public safe. Over 100 million people in the United States own guns solely for the purpose of self-defense. Those people deserve to be able to have and keep that right as a citizen of the United States. It is the right of the American people to make the choice on whether to own a gun or not. The positive effects that guns have on people outweigh the negative effects. However it should be noted that, all guns have the potential to be dangerous and should be handled with care.

Uderstand the source of finance avlible to a business Research Paper

Uderstand the source of finance avlible to a business - Research Paper Example The finance requirements for meeting such type of expenses are generally long term in nature. A company can rely upon both its internal and external sources for meeting financing requirements (Beck, Levine and Loayza, 2000). In external sources of financing, a third party gets involved in meeting monetary requirements of a company. External sources of financing accrue cost to the business in respect of their obtainment. The external sources can be of long, short or medium term. Short-term sources of external financing are generally of less than a year’s duration, before it becomes accrued for repayment. Some of the short-term sources of finance are discussed as follows (Beck and Demirguc-Kunt, 2006). Trade creditors are the most common type of short-term finance option, which is available for small, medium and large organizations. Trade creditors refer to the purchase of different items on credit. In this type of a transaction, suppliers allow the business a certain period of lag in payment for the goods purchased. Business can take advantage of the extra time period and invest money elsewhere for generating higher revenue. Factoring is another method of short-term financing whereby a company can receive funds earlier than the due date of its debts. A company may have a large number of debtors, who have purchased goods on credit. As a result, revenue from sales is earned only after a considerable period of time. Fund, therefore, gets trapped for a longer period, harming firm’s liquidity position. Factoring helps a company to procure the finance trapped in credit by way of providing value of debts as security to the factor agent (Goldstein, Ju and Leland, 2001). Discounting of invoice is another very popular means of obtaining short-term credit facilities. In this type of a financing arrangement, a company exchanges its receivable invoices with a finance house, which provides the business with immediate cash. The cash provided is

Politics in Portugal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Politics in Portugal - Essay Example In 1974, a left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The following year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC (now the EU) in 1986† (CIA – World Fact Book) During the past 3 000 years, Portugal has witnessed a constant ebb and flow of civilisations. Phoenician, Greek, Celt, Carthaginian, Roman and Arabic cultures have all left their imprint.(Europa) This paper details the politically relevant history, economy, culture and political situations of Portugal. Julius Caesar and Augustus conquered the province of Lusitania which was occupied by the early tribal people of Portugal. The territory adopted Roman ways of living and the language of Portuguese took its root from Latin. The invasion by Romans happened in the period of 1000 B.C. In the early 8th century Moors conquered the Iberian Peninsula in which the early territory of Portugal was situated from Visigoths – the Germanic invaders. Muslim culture had its own impact and resulted in a large minority getting converted into Muslims. (Encyclopedia) Portuguese nation was created by the re-conquest of the territory by the Christians. The Moors were driven out of the territory by the King of Asturias during the 8th century. Alfonso VI of Castile is a key person in the Portuguese history and with the aid of France he won the war against the Moors to retain control over the Portuguese land. The dynasty descended with Henry of Burgundy and his son Alfonso Henriques who styled himself Alfonso I, King of Portugal. The country was recognized by Spain in the year 1143 and by Pope in the year 1179. The rule of A great task of recapturing other regions of Portugal from Moors was placed on the successors of Alfonso. The country of Portugal witnessed continuous strife ridden days because of the conflicts between

Strategic Management functions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic Management functions - Essay Example Gee and his wife" stay. Vanderbilt University funding is also believed to be used for "Gees' frequent parties and personal chef". It is estimated that "annual tab exceeds $700,000". Trustees of the board at Vanderbilt University had established a committee to monitor the Gee's spending. However, this was not sufficient to strategically control Vanderbilt University finance being spent in the wrong direction. With trustees holding a big stake, they seek accountability for finance sent, and they do not want to handover blank cheques to university leaders. This is particularly the case since it is known that university leaders have been known to misuse university budgets. With or without strategic management implementation, American University expelled President Benjamin Ladner after auditors exposed expenditures by him and his wife that exceeded $500,000. In California, a state audit revealed $334 million was used in unreported pay and perks for University of California staffers. With the most recent Vanderbilt University budget spending being questioned, there is need for better and more effective management. The Wall Street Journal reviewed a committee report about the Vanderbilt University spending. It has advised trustees to "take a more active role in university affairs, including strategic planning, capital spending and management compensation". These are the tools to prevent fraud in future with Vanderbilt University budget. Following some 'spirited board debate'. However, the recommendations to strategically handle the university's spending were implemented. Among some of the strategic recommendations was the creation of a special panel. This panel's job is to "monitor Mr. Gee's budget and outlays for entertainment, travel, food, staff and upkeep of Braeburn". The panel is to report annually to the full board. Although strategic planning implemented is to correct any discrepancies in spending, there is some concern over the board itself. It is thought that individuals who lend support to Mr. Gee are of concern. Individuals who have undertaken contracting with a parking company for instance have not sought out competitor companies. A consultant has advised the board to seek competitors in order to attain more competitive rates for parking. Though the current contract with the parking company is within the market rates, it is believed that more competitive rates could fit the university budget better. With the adoption of strategic management for better oversight and accountability, Vanderbilt University has apparently changed its course as compared to the way things were running not so long ago. With consultants advising the board with better strategies, procedures are more transparent and more democratic. One aspect of this is observed in the fact that the board announced that it was seeking parking bids this July. Other changes observed since the development of strategic management, capital spending and management compensation are observed in new employment compensation. Aside from finance being saved through hiring the most competitive services for the university, funds that are saved can be used for upgrading staff salaries. With Mr. Gee asserting that he is in favor of

Sustainable Corporate Development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sustainable Corporate Development - Assignment Example It is the basic goal of every business to grow in the respective industry. This many also involve launching new products and services for the consumers. The company must not only focus on growth but profitable growth. Without profits the growth of the business becomes unsustainable. The profitability of most of the organizations is based on two important factors i.e. cutting cost and growth (Anon., 2013). Quality of working life is based on the job related experience of the employees. The needs that should be addressed by the employees to achieve high quality of work life include skill variety, task identity, autonomy, task significance and feedback. Other aspects that should also be addressed include individual power, fairness and equity, participation of employees in the management of the firm, self –development and extra work activities. Business ethics are the moral principles which underpin the behavior of the firms. Moral principles are concerned with what is right and wrong for the business. The ethical business is considered to be the one which is based on the set of moral principles. Being ethical means that a business complies with the laws and regulations and make choices about what it is allowed to do and what it is not allowed to do. An organization sets ethical objectives of the firm by applying ethical values to the actions and targets of the firm (Anon., 2014). The concept of business continuity is based on the fact that a company continues to operate in the business even in the adverse environmental conditions such as in case of natural disaster, fire, etc. The continuity plan of the business may include moving the operations of the business to another location if any kind of disaster occurs on the worksite. Learning organization is considered to be an organization that facilitates learning and transforms itself according to the changing trends of the environment. Learning organizations emerge as a result of the pressure faced by modern

The Strategic Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Strategic Management - Case Study Example A variety of tools and techniques for strategic management analysis and identification of the mission and vision of an entity were applied by the Power Consulting Group Inc. to the environmental and organizational situation of University of Northern British Columbia. Amongst the tools and techniques used, the stakeholder analysis and the macro power techniques yielded the strongest recommendations as to the strategy that the University should adopt in order to align its mission, vision and objectives with a corresponding strategy. It is possible for us to use the tools and techniques to propose a suitable recommendation - this is possible because of the nature of the analysis. The methodologies applied have been developed over the years by strategists and analysts having great experience in strategic management and the designing of strategic solutions for a wider variety of organizations than the average manager. Thus, keeping into view the factors in the University and its alliances, the Macro branch of the power school can be used as the primary analysis factor in proposing two broad strategies that the University can adopt. The current alliances of the University with governments, alumni endowments and exchange programs with international universities leads to the proposition that the University could work its strategy in two directions: The two strategies have mer... A consolidation strategy aimed at no expansion, but improvement of the quality of the students. The two strategies have merits and demerits of their own. The first strategy warrants newer alliances with local high schools, downtown restaurants, cellular phone companies and even to the extent of replacing Aramack by Starbucks at the campus. This strategy is entirely focused on growth and extension of the name of the University in all four directions - there is also the possibility of an MBA program institutionalized. The second strategy is geared towards improving the quality of the student life and ensuring that the alliances made for this strategy are purely helping the operational strategy of the University. By this it means that having scholarship alliances, environmental friendly food campaigns and clubs apart from alliances with local farmers and Canadian universities, the UNBC will be aiming to consolidate its existing position in order to trade its expansion strategies with a better exchange program for its students. Students would be benefiting from the University's alliances in many ways. The expansion strategy would mean that strategic alliances and partnerships would yields benefits for students in the form of discounted meals from restaurants, discounted computers and new packages and offers from cellular companies targeted especially towards the students of the University. The aim here would be to enroll as many students as possible at the University so that the alliance partners would be able to benefit by the quantity of sales and revenues. On the other hand, the consolidation strategy would mean that students would be open to more exchange programs in more countries and that there will be newer horizons for students to explore with

Is Randle McMurphy a hero in the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Essay

Is Randle McMurphy a hero in the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Essay Example He does not debate medical decision since he finds being in the hospital better than being in the farm. This creates an opportunity for him to be the hero of the movie. Bromden is the first character to be presented to the viewer, and one expects that he might be a star in the book due to him noticeable height. He has been a patient for over ten years at the Oregon Psychiatric, and he experiences frequent hallucinations and delusions. He however pretends to be deaf and dumb and tries to go un-noticed. At the hospital, the patients are divided into two groups; Chronic and those who can be cured. McMurphy arrives into the hospital and is taken into acute of the non-chronic. Bromden finds McMurphy quite different and it sets the start of their relationship. The patients are under the care of Ratched, and she constantly encourages them to fight one another. McMurphy is not pleased with the situation of the patients at the hospital. His introduction as a gamble and a man of women and cards is eminent, and everyone gets to know him. At this point, the attention of the reader is on Mainly on McMurphy since his character is comical and attractive. McMurphy is not pleased with the actions of the nurse, and he makes a decision to insight the patents against the actions of nurse Ratched. In his first meeting with the other patients, he says, â€Å"Ratched is a ball-cutter.†(Kesey 98) The patients have developed an attitude that nurse Ratched is all powerful, and hence they do not support McMurphy. McMurphy vows to confront Ratchet since he considers her actions as inhuman. Murphy says that â€Å"Except the sun, on these three strangers, is all of a sudden way the hell brighter than usual and I can see the...† (Kesey 108). This statement shows that he is determined to bring change to the place McMurphy finally confronts Nurse Ratched and at first the other patients

Electronic Road Pricing for traffic congestion Essay Example for Free

Electronic Road Pricing for traffic congestion Essay Introduction One of the most problems today is the traffic congestion that we experience in the large city. We feel that it is a headache during our journey and it gave us a lot of negative effects. Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queuing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction between vehicles slows the speed of the traffic stream, this results in some congestion. As demand approaches the capacity of a road (or of the intersections along the road), extreme traffic congestion sets in. When vehicles are fully stopped for periods of time, this is colloquially known as a traffic jam or traffic snarl-up. Traffic congestion can lead to drivers becoming frustrated and engaging in road rage. If you live in a large city or any area where there are lots of commuters on the road, then you are probably familiar with the effects of traffic congestion. What you may not realize is the extent of the effects heavy traffic congestion can have. This gridlock can have a tremendous impact on your personal life, career, your future and even your safety. Finding a solution to traffic congestion could mean a vast improvement in the quality of life in your area. One example of a large city is the city of Manila, this city listed in the journal as the 75th most densely population urban center with 14,400 people per square kilometer in a total land area of 1,437 square kilometers. If the population increase also the number of cars increases. The city is notorious for its traffic mess, especially since traffic laws are all but ignored, and a clean driving record is a bribe away. Getting stuck on Manila’s roads is one very unpleasant experience. During rush hour, traffic in the main thoroughfares in Manila slows to a crawl, and an accident can cause gridlock for hours. Because of this traffic the drivers, commuters and other people that is belong to the traffic experiencing a negative effect and there are the following: Traffi c congestion has a number of negative effects: Wasting time of motorists and passengers (opportunity cost). As a non-productive activity for most people, congestion reduces regional economic health. Delays, which may result in late arrival for employment,  meetings, and education, resulting in lost business, disciplinary action or other personal losses. Wasted fuel increasing air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions owing to increased idling, acceleration and braking. Wear and tear on vehicles as a result of idling in traffic and frequent acceleration and braking, leading to more frequent repairs and replacements. Emergencies: blocked traffic may interfere with the passage of emergency vehicles traveling to their destinations where they are urgently needed. Manual paying of toll is also a cause of traffic and wasting time for the motorist and passengers. . The following is the negative effect of manual paying of roads toll 1. Wasting time for the motorist It is wasting time because the motorist stops to pay their toll manually at the toll booth. 2. Cause of traffic Sometimes the number of vehicles increases that’s why it will be the cause of traffic. 3. Errors because of the toll collector The collector experiences some error in accepting the toll from the motorists. One good example is when they paid with the big amount of money then the collectors do not have enough money to change it. IDEA Because of the traffic, motorist and passengers suffer their times and the air is polluted, the solution now is here, it can help to minimize traffic. Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) is an electronic system of road pricing. It uses a dedicated short-range radio communication system to deduct ERP charges from smart-cards inserted in the in-vehicle units of vehicles each time they pass a pricing point when the system is in operation. The pay-when-you-use principle helps make motorist more aware of the true cost of driving. This way, road usage can be optimized. The ERP system has three major groups of components. The first centered on the IU and the stored-value smart-card. While the IU was produced specifically for the ERP system, the smart-cards were marketed by a consortium of local banks for multiple uses. Different IUs were produced for different classes of vehicles, with each type distinguished by different colors. The second group of components comprises those installed at the on-site ERP gantries. These include the antennae, the vehicle detectors and the enforcement camera system. All these are linked to a controller at each of the site. Data collected is transmitted back to the Control Centre continuously through leased telephone lines. The third group of components is at the Control Centre, and includes various servers, monitoring systems as well as a master-clock to ensure that the timing at all the ERP gantries is synchronized. All the financial transactions are processed here, before being sent to the banks for settlement. In addition, violation images are processed at the Control Centre, and letters are printed and sent out from here to all the offenders. What are the purposes of Electronic Road Pricing? Aim is to charge vehicles for the use of the road at times and at places of congestion For congestion management Not for raising revenue Every entry or pass under a control point is automatically charged a fee The implementation of electronic road pricing system will be one of the solutions to motorist who had to deal with the inconvenience of slowing down vehicle and winding down windows when paying tolls. It is so convenient and efficient motorist is not required to slowdown when the passing the ERP gantries. The Electronic road pricing system to be installed for the congested area can reduce the traffic and thus easing overall traffic congestion. Replacing the existing toll collection system to more advance technology, the ERP system, is another way to advancement of a country. What is Electronic road pricing? Electronic road pricing system (ERP) is simply an electronic system of road pricing. It is designed to automate our current road pricing system with no more paper coupons or enforcement officer at gantries. The system is a dedicated short – range radio communication system. The ERP consist of four main components: 1. The In Vehicle Unit (IU) 2. The Cash card 3. ERP gantries or control points 4 .The central computer system The IU is an electronic device installed in the vehicle that communicates with the gantry point equipment and accepts a cash card for payment of ERP charges. Each unique number is tied to the registration number of the vehicle to which it is attached. The cash card is a stored value of ERP payment. It is called the smart card is reusable and can topped up. It is easy and convenient to use. The scheme consists of ERP gantries located at all roads. They are also located along the expressways and arterial roads with heavy traffic to discourage usage during peak hours. The gantry system is actually a system of sensors on 2 gantries, one in front of the other. Cameras are also attached to the gantries to capture the rear license plate numbers of vehicles. There are different IUs for different classes of vehicles i.e. for cars, taxis, light good vehicles, heavy good vehicles, buses, motorcycles and exempted vehicles such as fire engines, ambulances and police cars. This is essential because the ERP charges are different for classes. The IUs are color coded so that illegal switching of IUs between different classes of vehicles will e discourage. Data is transferred from the local controller to central computer. The central computer system is the control room monitors the traffic network and equipment. There it records all ERP transactions, faults in the equipment and digital image of violating vehicles. The functional requirements of electronic road pricing system are: 1. It should be multi – lane system with no booths 2. There would be no manual payment. 3. There would be no need to slowdown at ERP gantry points. 4. There is a possibility that more than one vehicle passing simultaneously under the entry point. 5. Vehicle could travel at speed of more than limited speed. The ERP system is designed to be simple and easy to understand. The IU is capable of doing self – diagnostics on itself and on the cash card when the card is first inserted. There are a number of icons that appear on the LCD display to show errors. When the cash card balance is low, there will be a low balance indicator icon on the LCD display. Furthermore, when the IU with a low cash card goes under an ERP point, there would be continuous long beep  to remind the driver to top up his card before the next journey. Violations of the ERP system A massive campaign needs to be implemented prior to the implementation of ERP to teach motorists how to use the system and avoid violations. There are three types of violations; 1. There is mainly no IU 2. No cash card 3. Insufficient balance in the cash card To ensure the system can run smoothly and efficiently, service and information must be provided to the public in the beginning. In addition to the ERP hotlines, brochures, exhibitions, radio and television talk show. Strong marketing campaign is essential to explain the benefits and costs, the financial, efficiency equity effects of ERP. Achievement of ERP The ERP rates are to be such that there is neither congestion nor underutilization of the roads. Hence, we are aiming to operate the roads within arrange of speeds at the upper end of the traffic level of services. In addition, ERP would be an effective mean to mange future congestion and maintain average road speed during peak hours by diverting private vehicles trips to public transportation or non – peak travel time under various pricing and traffic growth scenarios. Main Objective of ERP Toll is collected before entering the zone. Charges will be levied on a per–pass basis and can vary according to time and congestion levels. With ERP, motorists will be aware of the true cost of driving. With this system of charging, a motorist will be encouraged to choose whether to drive, when and where to drive. He may choose a different route, destination, time of travel or decide to use public transport. By doing this, it will reduced traffic congestions. Benefits of ERP The transport operation benefits relate to reduced vehicular traffic, particularly during congested periods, reduced travel times, and increased public transport use and higher car and taxi occupancy. The environmental benefits involve reduced vehicle emissions and reduced exposure to traffic  noise inside the charging zone. However, the environmental conditions of other areas may witness some deterioration due to the overall redistribution of traffic. ERP therefore can assist in the overall improvement to the environment, but is not the sole solution to the complex issue of air quality and noise abatement. If ERP is to be used to meet environmental objectives, further studies will need to be conducted to define the parameters, benchmarks and related implementation details. Implementation How does ERP works? 1. When the motorist inserts a cash card into the IU, it checks the health of the IU and cash card. If everything is in order, there will be a short beeping sound and the cash balance of the cash card will be shown on the backlit LCD display of the IU for few seconds. A green light emitting diode (LED) will light up on the IU and remain lit until the cash card is removed. If the system is not working when the cash card is inserted into the IU. An â€Å"err† message appears on the IU display with a long beeping sound and a red LED lights up on the IU. In such cases, one or more of the small icons may also be shown on the display; to indicate the type of e.g. Cash card error, and low Cash card balance. Another indication of faulty system is a blank display. 2. At the ERP control point, the first gantry recognizes the presence of an IU and its class and instructs it to debit the cash card with appropriate amount. This amount is determined from table of prevailing charges for the various classes of vehicle loaded into the outstation by the central computer. Between the first and second from gantries, the IU debits this amount from the cash card. If the debiting is successful, the second gantry queries the IU and then gets such confirmation. The driver hears a short beat and sees the new cash card balance on the IU display. 3. If the IU is unable to deduct because of an error in the system or there is no cash card (or n invalid card) or insufficient balance in the cash card to meet the amount, the driver hears a long beep sees a red LED on the IU and â€Å"err† appears on the IU display with an error, the driver may also hear the long beep and see a blank display on the IU. 4. Meanwhile, the vehicle presents detector detects the passage of a vehicle. The antenna at the gantries, the vehicle presents detector and the IU together with the logic in the local  controller decide whether a complete successful transaction has been made. 5. If not, there has been a violation or an error. The cameras are instructed to take a photograph of the rear license plate of the offending vehicle. 6. Violations are committed by vehicles that have no IU, no cash card or an insufficient balance in the cash card to meet the cost of the passing under the ERP gantry. Errors occur when there is a faulty IU, no power to the IU from the vehicle battery, faulty cash card and partial communications between the IU and the antenna. 7. When a photograph is taken, attaches information on why it was taken so that technical errors and violations are differentiated. Errors do not result in prosecution of the motorist. 8. The information from the outstation on successful transaction, violation and error records and the photograph are sent periodically by telephone lines to the control center. Another control center monitors the state of all outstation equipment. Publication of Electronic Road Pricing Implementation of ERP will not be possible without a general public consensus on the objectives and principles of the proposal. There will likely be public resistance to ERP arising from suspicion about the governments motive, the reluctance to accept new initiatives and road users resentment about the imposition of new charges. A well-planned and executed public consultation programmed to demonstrate how ERP works and to allow public input into the development of system objectives can promote awareness of the ERP system as a measure to relieve traffic congestion and develop understanding in the community for its possible introduction. It is recommended that a public consultation programmed be initiated to increase public understanding of the traffic congestion problem and to encourage public discussion of possible use of restraint measures and alternative solutions including ERP. The public should be consulted specifically on the acceptable traffic speeds. IU Fitting Program There were two major program launched prior to the start of the ERP. The first was the installation of IUs on the 680,000 eligible vehicles while the  second was on publicity, to get motorists and motorcyclists aware and ready for the ERP system. The IU fitting program took 10 months, starting from September 1997. The 680,000 vehicles that were potential users of the ERP system were grouped into batches, and owners of each batch were invited to have IUs fitted at one of the 200 authorized IU fitting centers. This was spread out over the 10-month period, so that there will be no last-minute rush to fit IUs. To encourage vehicle owners to keep to the schedule, the IUs were given away at no cost to them if they had their IU fitted during the allocated time period. Otherwise, a charge of S$150 was payable. The fitting of IUs onto vehicles was not compulsory – it was left very much to the individual to decide. Nevertheless, at the end of the IU fitting program, about 98% of the registered vehicles were fitted with IUs. Publicity Program Publicity was another important aspect and this started even before the start of the IU fitting program and was in place for more than a year, all the way up to and beyond the launch date of the ERP system. All vehicle owners were sent brochures, detailing the ERP system, how it works and the differences between that and the then working ALS/RPS. Advertisements were also placed in the print media as well as on television to drum up awareness of the new road pricing system. An important awareness and confidence building program was the test phase – all the ERP gantries were switched on and working. The only differences were that the message on the ERP gantries read â€Å"On Test† instead of â€Å"In Operation†, and that the ERP charge was set to zero. This allowed motorists to test their IUs and to experience the ERP charging process. One of the differences between the ERP and the then ALS/RPS pointed out in the publicity program was that, unlike the latter, the ERP system imposes a charge each time a vehicles passes through the control point. In the ALS/RPS schemes, the fee payable was a daily charge that allowed the vehicle to make unlimited number of passing for that day. Conclusion (Electronic) Toll Collection may become an increasing important instrument within the big bundle of measures for regional demand and traffic management. The ERP system provides a targeted solution for congestion  pricing by allowing the authorities to pin-point specific congested spots and vary the congestion charge according to prevailing traffic conditions. Therefore, the charges can either increase or decrease according to the demand of usage of the priced-road or expressway, which is reviewed quarterly. By pricing congested stretches, ERP system helps to moderate and spread out vehicle usage for optimal usage of the road network by encouraging motorists to consider alternatives. These would include using other routes to arrive at their destinations, travelling during the off-peak periods, switching to public transport or car-pooling. The ERP system has been effective in managing traffic congestion and resulted in traffic speeds remaining within the optimal speed range. However, the ERP system cannot operate in silo and has to work in tandem with vehicle ownership control measures, increasing and optimizing road capacity, as well as encouraging motorists to shift to public transport to maintain a smooth-flowing road network. As congestion becomes increasingly pervasive, it would not be practical to continue erecting physical gantries to address the congestion problem. In addition, the ERP charges imposed at discrete gantry points also lead to undesirable consequences e.g. congestion spills over to nearby minor roads in residential areas, thus leading to localized congestion. This would be a more equitable and economically efficient system than the current point charging system where motorists are charged based on the number of gantries they drive through rather than distance travelled on a congested road. Furthermore, motorists who join a congested road after the gantry points are not charged even though they also contribute to the congestion of the road. It can help to minimize traffic, this is the way to help motorist to avoid wasting time. They can arrive on time on their business and the other things. It can also help to reduce air pollution to avoid the negative effects of human health and also in our environment. Electronic Road Pricing

Optimization of Benchmark Functions using VTS-ABC Algorithm

Optimization of Benchmark Functions using VTS-ABC Algorithm Performance Optimization of Benchmark Functions using VTS-ABC Algorithm Twinkle Gupta  and Dharmender Kumar Abstract  A new variant based on tournament selection called VTS-ABC algorithm is provided in this paper. Its performance is compared with standard ABC algorithm with different size of data on several Benchmark functions and results show that VTS-ABC provides better quality of solution than original ABC algorithm in every case. Keywords— Artificial Bee Colony Algorithms, Nature-Inspired Meta-heuristics,Optimizations, Swarm Intelligence Algorithms, Tournament selection. NOMENCLATURE ABC – Artificial Bee Colony ACO – Ant Colony Optimization BFS – Blocking Flow-Shop Scheduling DE – Differential Evolution EA – Evolutionary Algorithm GA – Genetic Algorithm MCN – Maximum Cycle Number PSO – Particle Swarm Optimization TS – Tournament size TSP – Travelling Salesman Problem 1.INTRODUCTION For optimization problems, various algorithms havebeendesigned which are basedonnature-inspiredconcepts [1].Evolutionary algorithms(EA) and swarmoptimizationalgorithmsare two different classes in which nature inspired algorithms are classified.Evolutionary algorithms like Geneticalgorithms (GA)andDifferentialevolution (DE) attempt to carry out the phenomenon ofnaturalevolution [2]. However, a swarm like ant colony, a flock of birds can be described as collection of interacting agents and their intelligence lieintheir way of interactions with other individuals andtheenvironment [3]. Swarm optimization includes Particle swarm optimization (PSO) modelon socialbehaviorofbirdflocking [4], Antcolony optimization (ACO) model on swarmofants and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) model on the intelligent foraging behaviour of honey bees [5]. Some important characteristics of ABC algorithm which makesitmoreattractivethanotheroptimizationalgorithms are: Employs only three control parameters (population size, maximum cycle number and limit) [6]. Fastconvergencespeed. Quite simple, flexible and robust [7] [8]. Easyintegrationwithotheroptimizationalgorithms. Therefore, ABC algorithm is a very popular nature inspired meta-heuristic algorithm used to solve various kinds of optimization problems. In recent years, ABC has earned so much popularity and used widely in various application such as: Constrained optimization, Image processing, Clustering, Engineering Design, Blocking flow shop scheduling (BFS), TSP, Bioinformatics, Scheduling and many others [9]-[18].Similar to other stochastic population-based approaches like GA, Ant Colony etc. ABC algorithm also applied Roulette Wheel selection mechanism which chooses best solution always with high selection pressure and leads the algorithm into premature convergence. With ever-growing size of dataset, optimization of algorithm has become a big concern. This calls for a need of better algorithm. The aim of this paper is to create such an algorithm named VTS-ABC algorithm. This new variant is based on tournament selection mechanism and selects variable tournament size each time in order to select the employed bees sharing their information with onlooker bees. Onlooker bees select solution from selected tournament size of solutions with less selection pressure so that high fitness solutions can’t dominate and give better quality of solutions with large data set as well. A worst solution is also replaced by better solution generated randomly in each cycle. Rest of the paper is divided in different sections as follows: Introduction to standard ABC algorithm is described in section 2. Section 3 describes the proposed VTS-ABC algorithm. Experiments and its simulation results to show performance on several Benchmark functions are described in section 4 and in the last; Conclusion of the paper is discussed. 2.ARTIFICIAL BEE COLONY ALGORITHM In 2005, Karaboga firstly proposed Artificial Bee Colony algorithm for optimizing numerical problems [19] which includes employed bees, onlooker bees and scouts. The bee carrying out search randomly is known as a scout. The bee going to the food source visited by it before and sharing its information with onlooker bees is known as employed bee and the bee waiting on the dance area called onlooker bee. ABC algorithm as a collective intelligence searching model has three essential components: Employed bees, Unemployed bees (onlooker and scout bees) and Food sources. In the view of optimization problem, a food source represents a possible solution. The position of a good food source indicates the solution providing better results to the given optimization problem. The quality of nectar of a food source represents the fitness value of the associated solution. Initially, a randomly distributed food source position of SNsize, the size of employed bees or onlooker bees is generated. Each solution xi is a D-dimensional vector that represents the number of optimized parameters and produced usingthe equation 1: where,xmaxandxminare the upper and lower bound of the parameterxi,respectively and j denotes the dimension. The fitness of food sources to find the global optimal is calculated by the following formula: where, fm(xm)is the objective function value of xm. Then the employed bee phase starts. In this phase, each employed bee xi finds a new food source viin its neighborhood using the equation 3: where, t: Cycle number; : Randomly chosen employed bee and k is not equal to i ; ( ): A series of random variable in the range [-1, 1]. The fitness of new solution produced is compared with that of current solution and memorizes the better one by means of a greedy selection mechanism. Employed bees share their information about food sources with onlooker bees waiting in the hive and onlooker bees probabilistically choose their food sources using fitness based selection technique such as roulette wheel selection shown in equation 4: where, Pi: Probability of selecting the ith employed bee, S: Size of employed bees, ÃŽ ¸i: Position of the ith employed bee and F : Fitness value. Afterthatonlookerbeescarried outrandomly searchintheirneighborhood similar to employed bees and memorize the better one. Employed bees whose solutions can’t be improved through a predetermined number of cycles, called limit, become scouts and their solutions are abandoned. Then, they find a new random food source position using the following equation 5: Where, r: A random number between 0 and 1 and these steps are repeated through a predetermined number of cycles called Maximum Cycle Number (MCN). 3.PROPOSED WORK: VTS-ABC ALGORITHM In every meta-heuristic algorithm mainly two factors need to be balanced for global optimization outcome i.e. Exploration and Exploitation but ABC is a poor balance of these two factors. Various variants of ABC have been modelled for its improvement in different phases by number of researchers like Sharma and Pant have proposed a variant of ABC called RABC for solving the numerical optimization problem [20] and Tsai et al. have presented an interactive ABC optimization algorithm to solve combinational optimization problem [21] in which the concept of universal gravitational force for the movement of onlooker bees is introduced to enhance the exploration ability of the ABC algorithm. D. Kumar and B. Kumar also reviewed various papers on ABC and give a modified RABC algorithm based on topology for optimization of benchmark functions [22] [23]. Intelligence of ABC algorithm mainly depends upon the communication between individual agents. Employed beesshare their information with onlooker bees waiting in the hive and flow of this information from one individual to another depends on the selection mechanism used. Different selection schemes select different individuals to share the information which affect the communication ability of individuals and primarily the outcome of the algorithm. ABC algorithm uses Roulette wheel selection mechanism in which each onlooker bee selects the food source based on certain probability. Each onlooker bee selects the best food source with high selection pressure and lead to premature convergence. To overcome this problem, its new variant is proposed in which Tournament Selection method is applied based on Cycle number and number of employed bees. In Tournament selection, a tournament size (TS) is chosen to select the number of employed bees sharing the information with onlooker bees. For better exploration, TS=2 i.e. Binary Tournament is applied in early stages and for better exploitation, variable tournament size is applied based on the current cycle number (CYL) and size of employed bee in middle stages. As the stages grow, this method works similar to Roulette wheel method in the end. Hence, the selection pressure is less in early stages and more in final stages which provide us better quality of solution. As variable size of tournament is used at different stages of the algorithm, hence the algorithm named VTS-ABC (Variable Tournament Size Artificial Bee Colony) algorithm. Method used for calculating TS is shown in equation 6 and equation 7: If SN >= 20 If SN Where Here, two equations are shown for calculating tournament size of tournament selection method. The purpose of using these two equations is to increase the speed of algorithm. When the size of employed bee i.e. given population of food source positions is small like 10, a solution can be easily found by changing the tournament size by 1 but as the size grows i.e. when best food source position is to be found in large set of population for example when SN=40 or more than 40, increasing size of tournament by 1 and 2 only is a very tedious task as it will take more time to run the algorithm. Hence, in order to increase speed of algorithm, the tournament size based on current cycle and size of population is increased. One more concept is applied to increase its convergence speed. At each iteration or cycle, a new solution is generated randomly similar to scout and its fitness value is calculated. Greedy selection mechanism is applied between new solution and worst one and the better solution is memorized. Hence, it helps in finding good quality of solution as well as improving the convergence speed and provides better balance between exploration and exploitation. 4.experiments and simulation results 4.1 Benchmark Functions The Benchmark Functions used to compare the performance of VTS-ABC algorithm with original ABC algorithm are illustrated below: Sphere Function: Schwefel Function: Griewank Function: Where Ackley Function: Here, ObjVal is the function value calculated for each food source position. A food source is represented by X and population size is taken of n*p matrix where n is the no. of possible food source positions and p represents the dimension of each position. 4.2 Performance Measures Simulation Result The experimental results of VTS-ABC and ABC algorithm in MATLAB are taken under the parameter of size of food source positions (n*p) i.e. different size of population with different dimensions are taken to run and compare both algorithms. MCN is set as 2000 and each algorithm is run for 3 iteration i.e. Runtime=3. Limit for scouts is set equals to 300. In order to provide the quantitative assessment of the performance of an optimization algorithm, Mean of Global Minimum i.e. mean of minimum objective function value at each cycle of all iterations are taken as performance measure whose values are shown in table1and figure 1-4. Table1: Mean of Global minimum on different size of data Fig. 1: Mean of Sphere function values on different size of data Fig. 2: Mean of Schwefel function values on different size of data Fig. 3: Mean of Griewank function values on different size of data Fig. 4: Mean of Ackley function values on different size of data Figure 1 to 4 show simulation results of ABC and VTS-ABC algorithm with different size of data on Sphere, Schwefel, Griewank, Ackley respectively and reveal that VTS-ABC algorithm provides us better quality of solution than original ABC algorithm by minimizing objective function value or producing higher fitness solutions. 5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION In this paper, a new algorithm VTS-ABC is presented. In this algorithm, firstly variable tournament size (TS) is applied to select the food source position for onlooker bees which helps to achieve diversity in solution. Then to increase convergence speed, a new solution is generated in each cycle which replaced the worst one. In order to demonstrate the performance of proposed algorithm, it is applied on several Benchmark functions with different size of data set as input. Simulation results show that it provides better quality of solution than original ABC algorithm in every case. Therefore, it can be applied in different fields of optimization with large and higher dimensions data set efficiently. References Yugal Kumar and Dharmender Kumar, â€Å"Parametric Analysis of Nature Inspired Optimization Techniques†International Journal of Computer Applications, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 42-49, Oct. 2011. P. J. Angeline, J. B. Pollack and G.M. Saunders, â€Å"An evolutionary algorithm that constructs recurrent neural networks,† Neural Networks in IEEE Transactions on, vol. 5, no. 1, 1994, pp. 54-65. J. Kennedy and R. Eberhart, â€Å"Particle swarm optimization,† in Proceedings of IEEE international conference on neural networks, 1995, vol. 4, pp. 1942–1948. E. Bonabeau, M. Dorgio, and G. Theraulaz, â€Å"Swarm intelligence: from neural network to artificial intelligence,† NY: oxford university press, New York, 1999. D. Karaboga, â€Å"An idea based on honey bee swarm for numerical optimization,† Techn.Rep. TR06, Erciyes Univ. Press, Erciyes, 2005. D. Karaboga and B. Akay, â€Å"A comparative study of artificial bee colony algorithm,† Applied Mathematics and Computation, vol. 214, no. 1, pp. 108–132, 2009. R. S. Rao, S. V. L. Narasimham, and M. Ramalingaraju, â€Å"Optimization of distribution network configuration for loss reduction using artificial bee colony algorithm,† International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems Engineering, vol. 1, no.2, pp. 116–122, 2008. A. Singh, â€Å"An artificial bee colony algorithm for the leaf-constrained minimum spanning tree problem,† Applied Soft Computing, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 625–631, Mar. 2009. D. Karaboga and B. Basturk, â€Å"Artificial bee colony (ABC) optimization algorithm for solving constrained optimization problems,† in Foundations of Fuzzy Logic and Soft Computing, Springer, 2007, pp. 789–798. C. Chidambaram and H. S. Lopes, â€Å"A new approach for template matching in digital images using an Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm,† in World Congress on Nature Biologically Inspired Computing, 2009. NaBIC 2009, IEEE, 2009, pp. 146–151. N. K. Kaur Mann, â€Å"Review Paper on Clustering Techniques,† Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology, vol. 13, no. 5, 2013. S. Okdem, D. Karaboga, and C. Ozturk, â€Å"An application of Wireless Sensor Network routing based on Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm,† in 2011 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), 2011, pp. 326–330. T. K. Sharma, M. Pant, and J. C. Bansal, â€Å"Some modifications to enhance the performance of Artificial Bee Colony,† in 2012 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), 2012, pp. 1–8. L. Bao and J. Zeng, â€Å"Comparison and analysis of the selection mechanism in the artificial bee colony algorithm,† in Hybrid Intelligent Systems, 2009. HIS’09. Ninth International Conference on, 2009, vol. 1, pp. 411–41. C. M. V. Benà ­tez and H. S. Lopes, â€Å"Parallel Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm Approaches for Protein Structure Prediction Using the 3DHP-SC Model,† in Intelligent Distributed Computing IV, M. Essaaidi, M. Malgeri, and C. Badica, Eds. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2010, pp. 255–264. D. L. Gonzà ¡lez-à lvarez, M. A. Vega-Rodrà ­guez, J. A. Gà ³mez-Pulido, and J. M. Sà ¡nchez-Pà ©rez, â€Å"Finding Motifs in DNA Sequences Applying a Multiobjective Artificial Bee Colony (MOABC) Algorithm,† in Evolutionary Computation, Machine Learning and Data Mining in Bioinformatics, C. Pizzuti, M. D. Ritchie, and M. Giacobini, Eds. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2011, pp. 89–100. L. Wang, G. Zhou, Y. Xu, S. Wang, and M. Liu, â€Å"An effective artificial bee colony algorithm for the flexible job-shop scheduling problem,† Int J Adv Manuf Technol, vol. 60, no. 1–4, pp. 303–315, Apr. 2012. S.-W. Lin and K.-C. Ying, â€Å"Increasing the total net revenue for single machine order acceptance and scheduling problems using an artificial bee colony algorithm,† J Oper Res Soc, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 293–311, Feb. 2013. D. Karaboga, â€Å"An idea based on honey bee swarm for numerical optimization,† Techn.Rep. TR06, Erciyes Univ. Press, Erciyes, 2005. T. K. Sharma, M. Pant, and J. C. Bansal, â€Å"Some modifications to enhance the performance of Artificial Bee Colony,† in 2012 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), 2012, pp. 1–8. TSai, Pei-Wei, et al. , Enhanced artificial bee colony optimization.International Journal of Innovative Computing, Information and Control,vol. 5, no. 12, 2009, pp.5081-5092. B. K. Verma and D. Kumar, â€Å"A review on Artificial Bee Colony algorithm,† International Journal of Engineering Technology, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 175–186, 2013. D. Kumar and B. Kumar, â€Å"Optimization of Benchmark Functions Using Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) Algorithm,† IOSR Journal of Engineering, vol. 3, no. 10, pp. 09-14, October 2013.

Educational Goals and Philosophy Essay -- Education Teaching Teachers

Educational Goals and Philosophy Teaching has always been an honorable and valued profession. With teaching you instill the knowledge and values that the student will take with them throughout life. I have volunteered at the elementary school with my children and have enjoyed watching the encouragement and nurturing of these teachers towards their students. I felt that I have the ability to nurture and share in the wonderment of the knowledge that prevails around us. To achieve this goal I will strive to give these students the understanding, love, and confidence that they need to prepare them for their journey in life. I plan to teach special education. I believe that these children need more patience and understanding towards their academic goals. I have always had a warm spot in my heart for these children. Many of these children do not receive the positive attitude at home that they can succeed and meet challenges in their life. I want them to recognize their challenges and to raise their self-esteem, so that they can achieve every goal in life. I feel that these students have the potential and ability to gain the knowledge and to make a valuable impact on today’s society. It will be my job, as a teacher; to make sure that the correct technique is being demonstrated to ensure that these students reach their full potential. The main goal to any teaching technique is to give confidence to that student that he/she can do anything. There is no obstacl...

School Uniforms and Their Effect on Education Essay -- Argumentative P

School Uniforms and Their Effect on Education   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Going to public schools all my life, I heard the gossip of "fashion" and "whose wearing what,"pretty much everyday; at least in the four years of high school where it seemed that looks mattered the most. As people grow up, the way they present themselves becomes more and more important. Leaving a good mark in high school means a lot to some people, and some are ready to do whatever it takes to make that mark, whether it be putting someone down for their clothing or being an individual and not caring what others think of you or what your wearing. Having friends from middle school that branched out and went the alternative route; private schools, one of the first things that came back to me from them was how much easier it was to having a uniform to wear to school. Going to a school where uniforms are strictly enforced can help to create a better learning environment. Having uniforms would call for a lot less distraction in the classroom, there would be much more ti me for homework and there would not be as many problems concerning the wear of inappropriate clothing to take away from school time. A quote from the essay, â€Å"The Achievement of Desire,† by Richard Rodriguez fits particularly well in this essay. â€Å"Get all the education you can, with an education you can do anything.† This just doesn’t seem like the main idea to many kids anymore and I think that uniforms would help to bring that thought back into a lot of our heads. I know that the idea of wearing a uniform repulses many people, but when broken down, school uniforms really do seem like the way to go.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If it was a requirement to wear a uniform to school, there would be many more kids paying attention in classes. Looking around the classroom at what other kids are wearing is a great way to make time fly by. If everyone was wearing the same things, then the distraction of different clothing would be eliminated. Many people worry that uniforms would take away the opportunity for kids to be who they are or who they want to be, but I feel as though wearing uniforms would simply force kids to show their individualism in ways outside of fashion and appearance. When looking at an Opinion Board on the internet I came across the idea that visually uniforms result in a more equal and adult treatment of students, eliminating any idea that one student i... ...yles and be up on fashion, does it really seem worth it to risk getting simply an "ok" education? Where are those priorities of school work and studying for a test when you are out shopping at the mall? In the end it really does make the most sense to simply suck up the idea of wearing the same thing as every other girl or boy at your school and leave with a better education, and a better sense of seeing people for what and who they really are; not what they are or aren’t wearing. Imagining the idea of a school that one does not have to worry about what kids will say about their outfits, about whether or not what they are wearing is appropriate for school grounds or getting to the mall after school to buy that new sweater they saw in the A&F catalogue (which means blowing off that tutoring secession they had to help raise their math grade), seems so far from reality and all that I knew in high school, yet at the same time seems like the ideal way to spend those four import ant years of high school, those four years in which all of your hard work pays off and gets you accepted into the number one college of your choice. That sounds like the perfect four years of high school to me.

Plagiarism and the Internet :: Cheating Education Essays

Plagiarism and the Internet It appears that plagiarism is a problem that has very unclear guidelines according to most. People seem to be struggling with the concept of it in regards to the internet because others do realize the vastness of information on the internet is very difficult to regulate in plagiarism. The realization is that in many institutions instructors simply overlook the crime because they themselves find it too tedious to check all the information on the websites to verify their originality. This seems shocking because of all the warnings students receive about plagiarism. The largest concern it seems is finding ways to sift through all the information that is turned in for a paper. One of the websites used to aide in this process is turnitin.com. It is a place where students can send their papers to be checked. It searches the internet and finds anything that is plagiarized in the entire paper. This then also rids the instructor from having to check all the sources the student used because that is what the website does. "Who wants to sit around looking for websites trying to find out if a paper is plagiarized or not... pretty soon you're a private investigator." -- a Stanford University professor, from an article in TechWeb News. (http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism_stats.html) While the internet is so huge and many ideas circulate throughout it at all times, there are proper ways to do a research paper without having a problem with plagiarism. There are several websites that list the proper way to cite several types of information on the web. There are plenty of resources available giving out information and warnings about plagiarism. One website offers information about the situations instructor face when dealing with students who plagiarize. The website commented that it is something that can be  ¡Ãƒ a painful, time-consuming experience for faculty. ¡ÃƒÅ" Because there are different levels of plagiarism sometimes faculty feel that the punishments that universities give are too much and need to vary with the level of plagiarism.

Maturational, Environmental and the Constructivist theories Essay

Theories of development are much more specific than paradigms or worldviews (Miller, 1993). A theory of development deals with change over time and is usually concerned with three things. First, it should describe changes over time within an area or several areas of development. Second, it should describe changes among areas of development. Third, it should explain these changes. No one theory has proved adequate to describe and explain learning or development. Numerous theories of development have influenced educational practices during the 20th century (Aldridge, Kuby, & Strevy, 1992), and currently a shift is affecting theories of child development and education. Some of the historical and current theories that have influenced education include Gesell’s (1925) maturational theory, Skinner’s (1974) behaviorist approach, Freud’s (1935) psychoanalytic theory, Piaget’s (1952) constructivist theory, Vygotsky’s (1978) socio-historical approach, Bronfen brenner’s (1989) ecological systems theory, and Gardner’s (1983) multiple intelligences theory. More recently, critical theory (see Kessler & Swadener, 1992) has influenced education and child development practices, even though critical theory is not a theory of development. Finally, postmodern conceptions have changed the way we think of children and how to educate them (Elkind, 1995, 2000/2001). There are several theories of a child development but three of them have a profound impact on kindergarten readiness practices. These three theories include maturational, environmental and constructivist perceptions of development. We will take a look to each one individually, and then we will compare them against each other. The maturational theory was highly developed by Arnold Gesell and continues to affect what goes on schools, mainly in early childhood classrooms. Arnold Gesell (1880-1961) followed the works of Darwin and other evolutionists, eventually developing the Gesell Maturational Theory. His theory contends that development in childhood and adolescence is primarily biological, or genetic, in origin. Biology and genetics inheritances determine predictable patterns of biological behavior that Gesell termed norms. He felt that children’s development patterns opened automatically by biology, as the unfolding of a flower does because it is genetically programmed to do so in the right environment. As the flower requires proper soil and rain, children require a nurturing, stable environment, and little else to mature both biologically and psychologically. In the company of renowned author and physician Benjamin Spock, who wrote Spock’s Baby and Child Care, Gesell was among the first professionals to compile developmental stage information with which parents could learn to understand their children. Because childhood and adolescent development is the product of millions of years of evolution, he mainly advocated sensitivity and understanding as parental approaches to development. Biology has already given children what they need to understand their own development. Gesell worked in a lab at Yale University, studying children and their developmental stages. He cataloged children’s behavior at various ages and described the norms in their collective development. As such, his theory is often grouped with normative-descriptive approaches, because it uses norms of development to describe the process of maturation. Gesell’s theory was groundbreaking because it implied that learning, illness; injury and life experiences were secondary, if at all influential, to biology and the evolution of the genetics that program a child’s development. Unless the child’s environment were so distorted as to be harmful, he felt that children were born with all the information their bodies needed for development and maturation. Genetics determine the developmental process and the timing of maturation, and parents could affect very little of this, except by being sensitive to cues learned from the descriptive norms. Maturational theory believers, think that development is a natural process that occurs automatically in conventional, chronological stages over time. This perspective leads many teachers and families to assume that young children will gain knowledge naturally and automatically as they mature. According to maturational theory, school readiness is a condition at which all healthy young children can perform tasks such as reciting the alphabet and counting. If a child is developmentally unready for school, maturationists might suggest referrals to transitional kindergartens, retention, or holding children out of school f or an additional year (DeCos, 1997). These practices are sometimes used by schools, educators, and parents when a young child developmentally lags behind his or her peers. The young child’s underperformance is interpreted as the child needing more time to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to perform at the level of his or her peer. Today, maturational theory is partially responsible for the existence of prekindergarten and pre first grades aimed at children who supposedly need the† gift of time,† because of immaturity or a late birthday. These classrooms tend to have a ratio of boys to girls of anywhere from 7:1 to 10:1 (Aldridge, Eddowes, & Kuby, 1998). These practitioners of maturational theory consider that any difficulty that a child is experience is found within the child. Another problem of the maturational theory is the late birthday. This means that children in the classrooms, who are the youngest, are being labeled as â€Å"late birthday† and are often branded by the teachers as being slower and less ready for instruction. Maturational theory strongly influenced the teaching of reading in the mid 1900s (Morphett & Washburne, 1931). Children were not thought to be ripe for reading until they had a mental age of six and a half years. Consequently, readiness activities were developed for children who were not yet ready to read. Some of this nonsense still occurs in preschool, kindergarten, and even primary-level classrooms. Today, maturational theory is partially responsible for the existence of prekindergarten and pre first grades aimed at children who supposedly need the† gift of time,† because of immaturity or a late birthday. These classrooms tend to have a ratio of boys to girls of anywhere from 7:1 to 10:1 (Aldridge, Eddowes, & Kuby, 1998). The environmental theory has at its development theorists such as J. Watson, B.F. Skinner and Albers Brandura, who contributed greatly to the theory perspective. Environmentalists believe the child’s environment shapes learning and behavior. The environmental theory emphasizes the role of the environment on an individual’s development. This environmental point of view leads many families to believe that young children develop and gain new information by reacting to their surroundings. Kindergarten readiness, according to the environmentalists, is the age or stage when young children can respond appropriately to the environment of the school and the classroom (e.g., rules and regulations, curriculum activities, positive behavior in group settings, and directions and instructions from teachers and other adults in the school). Teachers who are followers of this theory, believes that the ability to respond appropriately to this environment is necessary for young children to participate in teacher initiated learning activities, and that the child success depends on following the teacher instruction. Many environmentalist-influenced educators and parents believe that young children learn best by rote activities, such as reciting the alphabet over and over, copying letters, and tracing numbers. These viewpoints are evident in kindergarten classrooms where young children are expected to sit at desks arranged in rows and listen attentively to their teachers. While at home children are provided with workbooks containing activities such as coloring or tracing numbers and letters. Also this theory proposed that children are influenced by the multiple systems in which they reside, either directly or peripherally. These systems include the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, and the macrosystem. Applications of this contextual theory focus on the seemingly endless variables within the child, and between the child and the numerous contexts affecting her. Although few people would quarrel with the importance of these influences, trying to account for all the endless interactions and variables affecting a child is exhausting and impractical. How would we ever have enough information about children’s temperament, activity levels, attentional states, or learning capaciti es as they relate to the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem? The next theory is the constructivist. Its perspective was advanced by theorists such as Piaget, Montessori and Vygotsky. It can be described as a theory that deals with the way people create meaning of the world through a series of individual constructs. Constructs are the different types of filters we choose to place over our realities to change our reality from chaos to order. Von Glasersfeld describes constructivism as, â€Å"a theory of knowledge with roots in philosophy, psychology, and cybernetics†. Simply stated, it is a learning process which allows a student to experience an environment first-hand, thereby, giving the student reliable, trust-worthy knowledge. The student is required to act upon the environment to both acquire and test new knowledge. This theory relies heavily on logical-mathematical knowledge and universal invariant stages of development to the neglect of other forms of knowledge and the importance of context in a child’s development. Even though knowledge is constructed from the â€Å"inside out† through interaction with the environment, the focus is more on the individual’s coordination of relationships rather than on socially constructed knowledge. Constructivists view young children as dynamic members in learning process, and are consistent in their belief that learning and development take place when young children interact with the environment and people around them. Because active interaction with the environment and people are necessary for learning and development, constructivists believe that children are ready for school when they can initiate many of the interactions they have with the environment and people around them. During kindergarten, classrooms are separated into different learning centers, and are prepared with developmentally materials for young children to play and manipulate. During home parents engage their young children in reading and storytelling activities and encourage children to participate in daily household activities, in a way that introduces concepts as counting and language use. In addition, parents may provide young children with picture books containing very large print, and toys that stimulate interaction (such as building blocks and large puzzles). When a young child encounters difficulties in the learning process, the constructivist approach is neither to label the child nor to retain him or her; instead, constructivists give the child some individualized attention and customize the classroom curriculum to help the child address his or her difficulties. Autonomy is the aim of education in constructivism (Kamii, 2000). Constructivist theory, however, has not adequately addressed either individual differences or cultural and contextual contributions to development and education (Delpit, 1988; Kessler & Swadener, 1992; Mallory & New, 1994). Thus, the needs of children who are different often are not met in constructivist classrooms. Today, most researchers have come to understand child development and learning process as expressed by the constructivist. However many parents and teachers still believes that children who cannot recite the alphabet or count are not ready for school. References Buchwald J (1987), â€Å"A comparison of plasticity in sensory and cognitive processing systems†, in Gunzenhauser N, Infant Stimulation, Skillman NJ: Johnson & Johnson Mind in Society: The development of higher psychological processes (Translation by Michael Cole), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978 (Published originally in Russian in 1930) Mossler, R.A. (2011). Child and adolescent development. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Powell, D.R. (1991, July). Strengthening parental contributions to school readiness and early school learning (Paper commissioned by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Vygotsky, L.S. (1998). Child psychology. The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky: Vol. 5. Problems of the theory and history of psychology. New York: Plenum. White, S.H.(1968). The learning maturation controversy: Hall to Hull. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

Raymond’s Run Essay

Raymond's Run Essay This is a story by the writer Toni Cade Bambara who describes the events that take place in the life of a skinny girl named Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, a little African-American girl with a squeaky voice that has passion to run. However the tale begins describing the members of her family, the author writes more about Hazel and her brother Raymond. Raymond is not quite right; apparently he suffers a metal disease. He’s bigger and older than Hazel, but a lot of people call him Hazel's little brother because he needs to be looking after. Squeaky† often takes strolls down Broadway so she can practice her breathing exercises while she keeps an eye on her brother all the time. She makes Raymond walk on the inside because he always makes fantasies so he starts thinking he's a circus performer and that the curb is a tightrope strung high in the air. Hazel is known as Mercury because she is the swiftest thing in the neighborhood, only her father can beat her to Amsterdam Avenue with Hazel having a two hydrant head start and him running with his hands in his pockets and whistling. Hazel is loyal to her brother, always ready to protect him. She’s a person, who doesn't tolerate standing and listening talks from somebody else, she likes to get right over things quickly. She doesn’t like much a girl named Gretchen and her friends Mary Louise Williams from Baltimore and Rosie because Gretchen’s a potential rival for the fifty-yard dash. She believes she’s tough, not a strawberry or someone who enjoys dancing on her toes, she likes to run and this passion had made her to win many trophies, ribbons and it’s because of her velocity. Every time just before she takes off in a race, she feels like she is in a dream, the kind you have when you've fever and feel hot and weightless. She usually dreams she flies over a sandy beach in the early morning sun, touching the leaves of the trees. She also perceives the smell of apples just like in the country when she used to think she was a choo-choo train. Near the end Hazel competes against Gretchen P. Lewis at the May Day races, she wins and Gretchen comes in second. This result makes her realize that she is not the only working person who tries hard to get things done, so she started to look her rival in a very different way with a big smile of respect between them. So there she was, thinking about all the prices she’s have got and that she could retire by the time, it occurred to her that she could train her brother to become a champion as the tradition of the family is. Other characters: * Her family: The mother, father and George. * Cynthia Procter * Mr. Pearson (Jack the Beanstalk)

Assessment Tool Analysis Essay

The purpose of this paper is to examine the tools that evaluate on-physical measures while applying Watson’s Theory of Human caring that integrates the mind-body-spirit dimensions to the three assessment tools chosen. In this paper, I will describe each tool and the population for which it might be useful, assessment tool data such as cost, length and each in using the tool. I will also discuss the population at which it is best designed, and the validity of information gained. In addition, how this tool could enhance the assessment phase of the nursing process and how it impact quality of health care delivered by the nurse will be discussed. These assessment tools will be applied to adolescent and teenage pregnancy chosen in Week Two in the Vulnerable Population and Self- Awareness assignment. Definition of Assessment Tools Assessment is the deliberate and systematic collection of data to determine the client’s current and past health status and functional status and to determine the client’s present and past coping patterns. Nursing assessment include two steps. The first step involves collection and verification of data from a primary source (the client) and secondary sources (e.g., family, health professionals, and medical record) (Potter & Perry, 2005). Assessment tools are the materials needed to establish data collection. Data collected may be subjective (client’s perception) or objective (data measured by collector). Example of objective data includes client’s body language, facial expression, vital signs e.t.c. The three assessment tools chosen for this paper are: Beck Depression Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale and Well-Being Picture Scale. Beck Depression Inventory There are many assessment and diagnostic tools that either measure  intelligence, aptitudes, achievements, and behaviors so it was no surprise when Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was created in 1961 by Aaron T. Beck, a pioneer in cognitive therapy, with the sole purpose of determining the severity and intensity level of the symptoms of depression. Depression Inventory is defined as a validated measure that has been instrumental in leading to numerous diagnoses due to its most recent revisions that more closely resemble the diagnostic criteria for depression (Farinde, 2013). The Beck Depression Inventory is a widely utilized 21-item self-report scale in both clinical and research studies. The most recent version; The Beck Depression Inventory-11 which is a completely self-administered format, is a depression rating that can be used in individuals that are ages 13 years and older, and rates symptoms of depression in terms of severity on a scale from 0 to 3 based on the 21 specific i tems. Patients that endorse multiple items on the questionnaire (i.e. sadness, pessimism, past failures, loss of pleasure, guilty feelings, punishment fears, self-dislike, and so forth) typically have higher scores with a maximum score of 63 compared to others. For the general population, score of 21 or greater is associated with depression but for individuals who have been clinically diagnosed, scores from 0-9 represent minimal depressive symptoms, scores of 17 to 29 indicate moderate depression, and scores of 30 to 63 indicate severe depression (Farinde, 2013). Perceived Stress Scale Stress has long been a major research concept in health science since it is linked to various health outcomes and illnesses, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis (Lee, 2012). The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is one of the more popular tools for measuring psychological stress. It is a self-reported questionnaire that was designed to measure â€Å"the degree to which individuals appraise situations in their lives are stressful.† The Perceived Stress Scale items evaluate the degree to which individuals believe their life has been unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded during the previous month. The assessment items are general in nature rather than focusing on specific events or experiences (Lee, 2012). According to Lee (2012), the original instrument is a 14-item scale (PSS-14) that was developed in English, with 7  positive items and 7 negative items rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Five years after the introduction of PSS-14, it was shortened to 10 items (PSS-10). A four-item PSS (PSS-4) was also introduced as a brief version for situations requiring a very short scale of telephone interviews and the PSS is currently translated into 25 languages other than English. The criterion validity of the PSS was evaluated only in a few studies; the criteria used were all questionnaires that showed a weak to moderate association, demonstrating unsatisfactory criterion validity (Lee, 2012). Well-Being Picture Scale The theoretical framework that has guided the investigation of well-being from a Rogerian perspective is based upon the observation and measurement of health-related variables that are unique to the Science of Unitary Human Beings. Rogerian-science derived principles and the concepts of well-being. The term well-being, as a measure of health, is compatible with the concepts and variables that are unique to the development of knowledge (Reis and Alligood, 2008). The Well-Being Picture Scale is a 10-item non-language based pictorial scale that measures general well-being within the unique human environment field process. Each item on the scale has a numeric value of I to 7, with 70 being the maximum score possible and 10 being the lowest score possible. Higher scores indicate higher well-being. Conceptually, the instrument appraises the energy field in regard to frequency and intensity of movement, awareness of oneself as energy, action emanating from the energy field, and power as kno wing participation in change within the mutual human and environmental energy field process. The WPS was reported by all participants to be easily understood (Reis and Alligood, 2008). This scale can be used by all individuals regardless of their ethnic groups. How these tools enhance the assessment phase and quality of health care Using the Beck Depression Inventory in the assessment phase of the nursing process will facilitate and aid the treatment of depression in all ages. This assessment tool will aid the early diagnosis of depression and reduce further complications of depression. Depression is common in Adolescents who are undergoing stress as a result of pregnancy, low self-esteem and diseases. The nurse can affect the quality of health care delivered to patients by reassuring them and referring them to  appropriate health care providers. Using Perceived Stress Scale in the assessment phase of the nursing process, the nurse is better able to identify patients at higher risk for stress, help these patients to identify and implement coping skills during difficult times. This process improves the quality of patient care and outcome. Pregnant adolescent undergoes a significant amount of stress and challenges as a vulnerable population. Using the Well Being Picture Scale in the assessment phase of the nursing process, the nurse is better able to detect a patient’s well-being and health. The nurse is able to detect if the patient is healthy or not. This is more of a primary prevention for patients of all ages. This assessment tool is mostly recommended for pregnant women. Health care providers are able to follow up with patients to monitor their wellness or impact of diagnosis on their general health. Application of tools to Adolescent pregnancy Adolescent girls face pressures that are unique to their population and make them especially vulnerable. Girls carry disproportionate domestic world burden and are denied leadership opportunities and active community affairs (Bailey, 2012). These factors made the life of adolescent girls stressful and complicated which could cause depression. Beck Depression Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale and Well-Being Scale are tools that can be used during the assessment phase of the nursing process in adolescents. Adolescent girls who become pregnant may develop depression while trying to balance school, child, work and relationships, thereby, making all three tools helpful to the nurse during initialInventory, Perceived Stress Scale and Well-Being Scale as assessment tools help facilitate better nurse-patient relationship and better care for our patients References Alligood, M. R., (2010). Nursing Theory: Utilization and Application. (4th ed.). Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook database Collection. Bailey, L. D., (2012). Adolescent Girls: A Vulnerable Population. Journal of Advances in Neonatal Care, 12(2), 102-106. Retrieved from http://search.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/?ctx_ver†¦.. Farinde, A., (2013). The Beck Depression Inventory. The Pharma Innovation Journal, 2(1), 56-58. ISSN: 2277-7695. Retrieved from http://www.thepharmajournal.com Lee, E. H., (2012). Review of the Psychometric Evidence of the Perceived Stress Scale. Journal of Asian Nursing Research, 6(4), 121-127. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/1507280852?pq-origsite=simmon Potter, P. A. & Perry, A. G. (2005). Fundamentals of Nursing. (6th ed.). MO: Elservier Mosby Reis, P.J., and Alligood , M. R. (2008). Well-Being in Pregnancy: a plot study using the Well-being Picture Scale. Journal of Rogerian Nursing Science, 15(1), 8-17. Retrieved from http://av4kc7fg4g.search.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/?ctx_ver†¦.