Case management concepts to care for patients with high-risk complex Essay

Case management concepts to care for patients with high-risk complex needs - Essay Example Existing literature on the subject of case management has often found that it is successful and beneficial to the patient, their families and their caregivers (Bergen 1992; Pugh et al. 2001; Riegel, Carlson, Kopp, LePetri, Glaser & Unger 2002). Case management can be especially beneficial for patients that have high-risk complex needs, such as elderly patients with congestive heart failure and diabetes, and it appears to be cost effective and improve patients’ quality of life (Pugh et al. 2001). An example of using case management for patients with congestive heart failure is described in an article by Riegel et al. (2002). The study aimed to determine if a standardized telephonic case-management intervention had any effect on reducing the number of resources utilized by patients (Riegel et al. 2002). Participants in the study received standardized calls from a case manager on a regular basis over the six months of the study. Results of this study indicated that the phone call s did significantly decrease the resources required by patients (Id.). The telephonic case-management intervention also resulted in significantly lower costs for patient care. Basically, the study results found that the telephonic case management resulted in significant decreases in physician office visits, hospital days, emergency department visits, and rates of rehospitalization (Id.). Interestingly, the study also found that some of the telephonic case management interventions were more effective than others. However, it is not clear which factors of the intervention actually influence the effectiveness of the results and further research is needed in this area (Id.). Other studies assessing the effectiveness of case management in patients with congestive heart failure also found that case management intervention was beneficial to the patients (Laramee, Levinsky, Sargent, Ross & Callas 2003; Pugh et al. 2001). In fact, nearly all of the research on the subject of using case manag ement strategies with congestive heart failure patients found the intervention could be linked to decreased hospital readmission, cost savings and improved functional health status (Laramee et al. 2003). Another population which can benefit from case management intervention is the population of older people living in the community (Bergen 1992; Bernabei et al. 1998). Existing literature on the subject seems to indicate that integrated community care that includes case management strategies has positive effects on the elderly population that is living in the community (Bernabei et al. 1998).In fact, Bernabei et al. (1998) found the intervention led to reduced risk of hospitalization and reduced length of stay in the hospital or nursing home, less physical decline among patients, and reduced health care costs. Case management strategies have also been beneficial to elderly diabetic patients, especially those living alone (Huang, Wu, Jeng & Lin 2004). Elderly diabetes patients that liv e alone face a number of challenges and often cannot perform self-care independently (Huang et al. 2004). Through home-based case management intervention patients can be educated in diabetes self-management (Funnell et al. 2007). Results of the study indicated that a home-based nursing case management strategy improved quality of life for elderly diabetics living alone, although much more research is needed so that more strategies may be developed to treat these populations in our society Case

Engage In Personal Development Essay Example for Free

Engage In Personal Development Essay 1.1 Describe the duties and responsibilities of own work role Job description 1.2 And 3.1 Explain expectations about own work role as expressed in relevant standards. Evaluate own knowledge, performance and understanding against relevant standards. A day in the life at my setting. Arriving at my setting each day I am required to sign in and note down the time. I put my bag in a safe and secure place so children cannot access. I check the message board and liaise with other staff members for any important updates. We have a child with a food intolerance so I informed the cook to make them aware the child was catered for at all meals during the day. My 1st hour was spent upstairs with the toddlers aged between 2 and 3 years. I then checked the planner to see what activities we had for that day. Today I set up the drawing table ensuring there was enough paper, crayons and chairs available for all the children present. I sat with the children whilst they joined in with the activity. Talking to the children about what they were doing and describing all the different colours, sizes, shapes etc. This was promoting their speech and language development and using creative skills too. Whilst supervising this activity I decided to complete a short observation on one of the children as she began to count and sing. I was interacting with all of the children trying to maintain interest. After a short while it was then time to tidy away all the equipment from the actives in which we encourage the children to help too. Once the room was tidy we decided to take the children outside in to the garden. Most of our toddlers are able to collect and put on their coats which we also encourage to do but some children are unable to achieve this at the moment. I helped to escort the children safely down the stairs ensuring they hold on to the rail and do a head count to make sure all children were present. I performed the outdoor risk assessment using the  daily check list. The children then are supervised using the toilet and washing their hands ready for lunch. I seat the children down at the tables ensuring they have cleaned their hands and they have adequate space to eat. I supply them all with a drink and we sing songs whilst the food is being dished out. I have prepared the child’s food separately who has the food intolerance ensuring they receive the correct meal . The child is also supervised eating to ensure they do not mix foods with the other children. Some children have not developed the skills to cut their own food so I will assist with helping them to do that. Ensuring the meals are cool enough I then give each child a meal and always remind them of good manners by saying â€Å"please† and â€Å"thank you†. If children do not like the meal or try to refuse it I will always encourage them to try it. If I am working alongside the babies the above applies except some of the babies are too young to feed themselves and have not yet developed those skills. Babies will also need help with bottle feeding. I would also prepare the bottle feeds following the nursery policy. Ensuring correct formula is mixed and all bottles have been sterilised. Back in the toddler room, a child was struggling with their food and looked like they was choking. I immediately helped the child by taking the food out of their mouth with my little finger. The child became distressed so I comforted them until they were able to return to their meal. Meal times are always supervised by all members of staff to help with any incidents like this. All meal times are recorded in the daily chart. This is where we write down what the child has eaten so we can relay this back to the parents/carers. When the children have finished their meal I help to clean the children up and get them ready for their afternoon sleep. I assist with the toileting and other members of staff will go through the nappy change routine. The children in the toddler room go to find their own sleep mats with the aid of their name and picture tag. Most children will remove their own footwear but again some have not yet developed those skills, so I will help. Some children have their own comforters which I put out for them and I help to get them off to sleep with gentle patting. Once the children are asleep, I ensure the room monitors are on and working, make sure the room temperature is ok and all the children have their own blankets and they are safe. I then record each child in the daily sleep chart. This chart is for ours and parents benefits. We record when they sleep and when they wake up. As some children are only allowed a certain amount of sleep, this will help us to know when we have to wake them up. I then check on the children in the sleep room every 10 minutes with the aid of a timer. When children wake from their afternoon sleep they are always asked to use the toilet. Some children are upset when they awake so I will always comfort them. The afternoon usually consists of taking the children outside for free play. I get all their coats bags etc together and help to put their coats on. On this occasion it was a nice sunny day so I applied their own sun cream following the nursery sun cream policy. I ensure they have sun hats and the sun cream is applied liberally. Before we go outside I take 4 children at a time down the stair and reiterate the importance of holding the hand rail. A head count is once again recorded and an outdoor check is done following the outdoor risk assessment. The toddlers are escorted outsi de counting each child as they go. They are shortly followed by the children/babies from the tiny room downstairs and they all play in the same garden. The children are supervised with in ratio. As its free play time, I leave the children to play but some children like me to join in with what they are playing with. Child A is playing with a dolls pram and child B is trying to take that away from them. I intervene and explain to child B â€Å"we do not take toys from our friends when they are playing with them, it’s not very kind†. Child B is upset so I took the child away and provided them with another toy to distract them from child A. This works very well and child B goes off playing happily alone with the other toy. Child A is also happy and also continues to play. Shortly after another incident happened where a child has fallen and bumped their head. As I comfort the child I asked another staff member to get a cold compress. This is applied to the child for 10 minutes whilst still trying to comfort the child. The head bump is not too bad and the child soon calms down and returns playing. I then completed an accident form following nursery policy. This is then signed by the parent when the child is collected. During the afternoon, parents/carers come to collect their children. I greet the parents and explain what their child has been doing throughout the day, taking the information off the daily record sheet. We usually have a short chat with the parents/carers about the child’s day and will also take interest in their day too. We have a good  relationship with our parents/carers and this also helps us to get to know the parents/carers and children too. After all the children have gone home, we tidy round and ensure the nursery is ready for the next day ahead. 2.1 Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving the quality of service provided. The nursery setting is always changing is so many different ways. We have new children being welcomed in to the setting and then we have children going through different types of transitions. The service we provide must reflect the needs of the children and by constantly improving our services we can better meet the need of the children and support their development. By constantly reflecting on out practice we can assess where we may be lacking in skills or knowledge and we can update these regularly to keep our services up to date and as supportive to the children as possible. A good example on reflective practice is, we have a child that has developed an intolerance to milk, dairy products etc. We have briefed all staff members with information regarding lactose free diet for this child. We have a couple of children who have turned 2 years and have completed the transition u pstairs to the toddler room. This meant we have more babies downstairs in our tiny room and the room has been slightly equipped with more age relevant toys and equipment. If we did not reflect on this, it could hinder the development of the younger babies. Everyone makes mistakes – they are one way of learning. It is important not to waste your mistakes, so if something has gone wrong, make sure you learn from it. Discuss problems and mistakes with your supervisor, and work out how to do things differently next time. You can use reflective skills in order to learn from situations that have not worked out the way you planned. It is important that you consider carefully why things turned out the way they did and think about how you will ensure that they go according to plan next time. Talking to colleagues and supervisors is equally useful when things work out really well, as it is important to reflect on success as well as failure. If you reflect on why something worked, this will make it more likely that you can repeat it. Information taken from http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/ 2.3 Describe how own values, belief systems and experiences may affect  working practices What we believe in, what we see as important and what we see as acceptable or desirable is an essential part of who we are. The way in which we respond to people is linked to what we believe in, what we consider important and what interests us. We may find we react positively to people who share our values and less warmly to people who have different priorities. As a professionals, we are required to provide the same quality of support for all, not just for those who share our views and beliefs. The key term here is Diversity – being different; people are unique according to their own background, culture, personality, race, any disability, gender, religion/belief, sexual orientation and age. 4.1 Identify sources of support for planning and reviewing own development. Personal development is to do with developing the personal qualities and skills that everyone needs in order to live and work with others, such as understanding, empathy, patience, communication and relationship-building. It is also to do with the development of self-confidence, self-esteem and self-respect. In my setting there is always support for planning and reviewing my own development. I have already opted to improve my skills and development with a couple of course due to start in December 2014. You need to have these goals in mind; †¢ What you are trying to achieve? †¢ How you are you going to achieve it? †¢ How you will be able to tell when you have achieved it? It’s also helpful to further your development by asking other team members, duty manager and managers. We have a fantastic team who are very helpful and are ready to give any help and advice to anyone who needs it. At my setting there are many text books, magazines and brochures with vital information I can look through if I feel need some extra information in a certain topic of interest to further my development. We also have regular appraisals to guide and encourage further development and to also discuss current work practice. I feel this is extremely important. This not only boosts self-esteem but also gives management a chance to reflect on your work practice and if there is any further development training needed. Ref: http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk

Wireless Sensor Networks: Applications and Forms

Wireless Sensor Networks: Applications and Forms 1 Wireless Sensor Network In this chapter, wireless sensor network (WSN) principles are being shortly introduced and discussed. In order to increase the level of understanding for analyzing Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) systems it is useful to study the technology behind them the technologies which are presented in this section. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are distributed and independent sensors that are connected and worked together to measure quantities such as temperature, humidity, pressure, noise levels or vibrations [5]. WSNs can measure vehicular movement (velocity, location, etc.) and monitor conditions such as lightning condition, soil makeup and motion [5]. Nowadays, WSNs are utilized in many common applications such as vehicle applications. Some of vehicle applications are: vehicle tracking and detection, tire pressure monitoring, vehicle speed detection, vehicle direction indicator, traffic control, reversing aid sensors etc. Such applications can be divided in major categories such as safety, security, environment and logistics. To implement WSN in an application and have an efficient system, first we need to consider about WSN technology, components and communication topology and protocols. Therefore, first, in this chapter, basic information about WSN components, the communication devices and process unit of WSN will be described. Then, the chapter will be followed by a description of the WSN topologies and protocols emphasizing on mesh WSN technology with ZigBee Protocol. 1.1 Wireless Sensor Network component To provide comprehensive view of WSN hardware, understanding of WSN components structure is required. Wireless sensors are small microcontrollers equipped with wireless communication device and an energy supplier. The architecture of WSNs is illustrated in Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1 . As Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1 shows the components of WSNs are sensing unit, processing unit, power supplier and communication device. The sensing unit consists of sensors and Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs). ADCs are responsible for gathering the signals and converting them into digital signals data and transfer them through each other using network topology to the processor unit. In the sensing unit, each sensor is called an ‘end node and varies in size and cost. The mission of these multifunction sensor nodes are to sense, process data and collaborate with other nodes [8]. Wireless sensor network can be positioned in two ways, either using a complex technique with the large sensors far from the object or using several sensors with an engineered design on position and topology [5]. In addition, each node provided with a wireless communication transceiver as a communication component. In the process unit, the controller and small memory storage are responsible for managing the collaboration within the sensors to achieve the assigning task. In addition, the communication device with a transceiver makes the network connection. Above all, the essential component of WSN is the power unit, which supports the power for all units [5]. One of the unique characteristics of sensor networks is that they are equipped with an on-board processor. This feature enables them to locally process some simple computations and broadcast only necessary processed data [5]. Network communication is really complicated and needs years of study [8], but to be able to implement WSN, we need to know some basic primary concepts of communication technology such as; network topologies, network protocol and their standards and specifications. 1.2 Communication technology To cover technical aspects of WSN, network topology and network protocol studying is needed. This study will help to provide information about reliability, robustness, security and stability and of WSNs software aspect to answer the research questions RQ. 1 ,RQ. 2 and RQ. 3 . 1.2.1 Topologies in WSN Communication In network communication, the big issue is how data transfers through nodes and nodes interconnect with each other. Several basic network topologies may be used for transmitting to and receiving from a node. The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) the standards organization of telecommunication industry explained the network topology as â€Å"The physical, real, logical or virtual arrangement of the nods/elements of a network† [9]. The topology shows the diameter and the number of nodes between any two nodes. Moreover how a data process and the data routing complexities are relied on the chosen topology. Consequently, some characteristics of a sensor networks such as latency, robustness and capacity are changed by their topology [10]. Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ2 is a graphic mapping of networks topology which shows the links of one or more nodes and explains the physical topology of the network. Despite having the same topology, two networks can differ in transmission rates because of their physical interaction, signal types and distance between nodes [9]. Table 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1 describes the different types of network topology. Table 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1 Topology TYPES [9]. Since Mesh topology is a main topic in the thesis, it is studied more in-depth in this section 1.2.1.1 Mesh Wireless Network Wireless mesh network is a term used when all wireless nodes are connected to each other within an ad-hoc multi-hob and mesh topology. In this network, any pair of nodes is able to communicate between each other within more than one path. In this network each node is used as a router to forward packets to the neighbor nodes which they have linked to. That means all nodes communicate directly or through other midway nodes without any manual configuration. Therefore, this network also called a self-configuration and self-organized network [11; 12]. As described in Table 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1, there are two types of mesh topology ‘Partially connected and ‘Fully connected (See Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ3). In a fully connected topology each node has the ability to communicate with all other nodes in the network and creates an interconnection links. By increasing the number of nodes in a mesh network, the number of links increases as well. On the other hand, in a partially connected topology, instead of direct interconnection between nodes, each node has two or more links to others to provide alternate routing and traffic balancing. Due to more links and indirect connections between nodes, traffic can flow through one or more router nodes to the destination [7] and create more reliable interconnections between nodes. Moreover, in partial network, the nodes are connected to either the node with higher rate of data transaction or the nearest neighbor node while in fully connected network all nodes have a direct links with each other. This multiple link path conducts a reliable communication. Therefore, whenever a connection fails or a node breaks down, the packages can automatically change their path by ‘jumping from a disconnected node. This is often called the self-healing of the network. This means that the networks connection stability and reliability are not essentially affected by node failures [11]. Due to the characteristics of wireless sensor network mesh, this network is self-configuring and self-organizing network in which each end-node is also used as a router (dual role- data originator /data router) to forward the signal packages all the way back of the main gateway. Therefore, due to the characteristics of mesh networks, this network is becoming one of the most implemented networks which able to have the flexible architecture for the network, easy self-configuration and robust fault tolerance connectivity [11; 12]. Additionally, the self-configuring characteristic of mesh WSN, bring the ability for the network to connect or disconnect nodes from the network. This brings the ability to grow/decrease the network by adding/removing nodes of a system. Mesh WSN has reliable self-healing and robust fault tolerance. This means if ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­ a node fails or breaks down the signal packages jump from the disconnected node and automatically conducts a new path through the nearest node. However, the new path imposes re-routing and re-organizing to the network [5], which consumes too much power from the system. Therefore, having a power-aware protocol and algorithm is necessary for mesh network. ZigBee protocol is one of the protocols which provides this ability for WSN. 1.2.2 Protocols in WSN Communication WSN systems include variety of protocols for communication. Protocols need to program in different architectural layers. One of these architectural standard is OSI (Open System Interconnection) framework. In this session a brief introduction of each protocol and OSI are delineated. Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ4 shows the graphic overview of all wireless network technologies. This figure illustrated IEEE PAN/LAN/MAN technologies and clearly shows how these standards and protocols can be used in different conditions. For instance, 3G protocol is used to cover a long range of audio information in a wide area network (WAN) while for the same information in a short range and personal area network (PAN), Bluetooth is better. The standard conceptual rules set for data representation, data communication and error detection across two ends in telecommunication, are called communication protocols. These abstract rules represent in different layers of communication. There are different protocol stacks introducing different architectures for these layers such as AppleTalk, Distributed Systems Architecture (DSA), Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) and Open Systems Interconnect (ISO/OSI). Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ5 (a) illustrates the different layers of an OSI Model and their functionalities. The OSI model has seven layers and each layer provides services for the upper layer and requests services from the lower layer. Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ5 (b) shows the typical communication protocols layers. Each of these layers has to deal with different issues regarding the communication procedure. As the typical protocol stack model shows in Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ5 the communication protocols should implement all layers from bottom to top. In addition, a management protocol needs to be applied in each layer to manage power efficiency, robust connectivity and connection reliability (see: Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ5 b). Below, rules and functionality for each layer are described: * Physical layer: is responsible for signal processing and physical interface connectivity between a device and physical medium and used bit stream in its data unit. It acted as communication channel for sensing and actuation in cost-efficient and reliable manner. Some examples of this layer are: IEEE 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, IEEE 802.15.1 Bluetooth, IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee, etc. [7] * Data link layer: provides functionality toward channel sharing, Medium Access Control (MAC-Layer), timing (e.g. data time arrival), local link and capacity. It is responsible for detecting and correcting the data errors in physical layer and control the locality data comparison. It follows the protocols such as point-to-point protocol (PPP) and IEEE 802 Local Link Control (LLC). [7] * Network layer: is responsible for network routing functionality, network security, energy and power efficiency and reliability of the communication. It includes the network topology management and manages the information and detects errors in data transfer from router to router. A number of protocols is address in this layer such as: Internet protocol (IP), Threshold Sensitive Energy Efficient Sensor Network Protocol and etc. [7]. * Transport layer: provides end-to-end transportation (distributing and gathering) of data between end users. It includes storage and responds for caching and controlling the data to recover them back to the initial message that has been sent. Best-known protocols for this layer are Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) [7]. * Upper layers: The Upper Layers are responsible for application processing, external query processing and etc. Upper layers include presentation layer session layer and application layer [7]. The summary of these standards and protocols are shown in Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ6 Among all the standard and protocols, IEEE PAN/LAN/MAN technologies are the ones applied in the majority of commercialWSNs to support physical layer and link-data layer signal transmission. As SOHRABY and ZNATI (2007) mentioned, the most common best-known protocols are:† (1) the IEEE 802.15.1 (also known as Bluetooth); (2) the IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n series of wireless LANs; (3) the IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee); (4) the MAN-scope IEEE 802.16 (also known as WiMax); and (5) radio-frequency identification (RFID) tagging† [7]. Each of these protocols has their own benefits and constraints. The comparisons between IEEE technologies are mentioned in Table 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ2. As Table 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ2 shows the IEEE 802.15.4 standard provides data rate of 20 to 250 kbps and operates in the 2.4-GHz ISM band. This standard covers signals in range of 10 m and requires the lowest power among other IEEE class. While IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n transmits the data in the rate of 54 Mbps ideal for wi reless internet connections and operates in the 2.4-GHz ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) radio band as well as the 5-GHz ISM / 5-GHz U-NII (Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure) radio band. However, it requires much higher power consumption than IEEE 802.15 [7]. Recently, researchers put much effort to develop â€Å"a cost-effective standards-based wireless networking solution that supports low-to medium data rates, has low power consumption, and guarantees security and reliability† [7]. ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies which aims to provide such a standard for WSN consumers. Their mission is to have a simple, reliable, low-cost, low-power and standards-based wireless platform 1.2.2.1 ZigBee standard The ZigBee standard builds on IEEE 802.15.4 and is suitable for remote monitoring and controlling applications. Although it has lower-data-rates than the other standards, its reliability, security, long life battery with less complexity mechanism make it ideal for building automation in industrial network applications. The architecture of the ZigBee stack is established on the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model. The IEEE 802.15.4 defines the physical layer (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) sub-layer and In addition, ZigBee Alliance defines other functionalities for upper layers [7]. Figure 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ7 is a graphic overview of ZigBee protocol stack and shows the responsibility areas of IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee Alliance platform and users applications [7]. This picture also shows the basic functionality of each layer. The data transmission service is provided by PHY layer and the protocol in this layer enables the connection between data units and the physical radio channel. ZigBee provides three different frequency band options for PHY layer. First, the transmission data-rate of 250kbps in 16 channels at 2.45GHz (Global) frequency. Second, with 40Kbps in 10 channels at 915MHz (Americas). And the last one, with 20kbps in 1 channel at 868MHz (Europe). The higher data-rate causes a higher order in modulation design and the lower frequency cause a larger cover area and better sensitivity. Depending on the power output, the transmission distance rate can change from 1 to 100 meters. (For more detail information see: Table 7à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1 in Appendix A) ZigBee WSN has the ability to have static or dynamic network/component with either star or mesh topology and it has three types of nodes: a ZigBee Coordinator (ZC), ZigBee Routers (ZR), and ZigBee End-Devices (ZED). In order to have a communication protocol and physical connection both PHY layer and MAC sub-layers of the architecture should be defined upon agreement between server and clients. These layers require manual administrative procedures setting for server/client gateway. The next three levels namely: the network layer, security protocol and transport layer are defined by ZigBee alliance platform automatically. The last layer, application layer, has to interact with the user-interface and other applications; it ought to be programmed with high-level language so that integration with any existing devices applications becomes more conveniently practical. The ZigBee stack in gateway is responsible for all the network functionality such as network process management, authentication of the joined nodes, binding nodes and routing the messages throughout the network. ZigBee stack as a standard protocol, has clusters and libraries for improving the implementation process, therefore, using ZigBee compare to other protocols makes the system (including both hardware and software) development process much faster and easier. On the other hand, such standardisation provides easiness of adopt with third party sensors regardless of manufacturer, which might be attached to the network later. 2 Software Aspects To address the research question regarding the reliability, robustness, and security of any WSN application, it is essential to investigate the software architecture of that network. For convenience in description of the architecture of a WSN application, it is divided into three segments: Physical devices (such as lamps, sensors, nodes), Communication Protocol (terminals and servers, bridge, switch, network topology and standard) and Carried Information (application, functions, etc.). Any attempts to retain a precise design on software architecture for each part will cause an effective data transmission, which ensures reliability and security of the system [7]. Hence achieving any desired data transmission precision level in a WSN, network management (NM) techniques are applicable. Such techniques assist in network status monitoring, reliability and security amendment, and cooperation supervision between components [7]. NM techniques could also detect and resolve network faults in addition to restoring the system respectively [7]. In practice, designing WSN application necessitates tailoring NM techniques for each architectural segment. Various NM techniques regarding each segment are summarized as follows [7; 12; 5]: a) Physical architecture: Sensing and processing management, operation and administration, fault tolerance, maintenance, energy efficiency management, configuration management, performance management, security management, network element management. b) Communication architecture: Network management, networking protocols, network topology, function management, monitoring functions, fault management, performance management, security management, service management and communication, maintenance management, network configuration and organization, network behavior, data delivery model, sensor mobility, naming and localization, sensing coverage area, communication coverage area energy efficiency management c) Information architecture: Real-time information management, mapping management, service management, analyze information, control application, business application management report management, sending and receiving commands or response, naming, localization, maintenance, fault tolerance Aforementioned NM techniques enhance quality of the system. According to ISO 9126-1 software quality model Table 4à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1 [13; 14; 15], the quality characteristics of a system could be divided into six fundamental properties: functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability, and portability. According to the same documentation, these characteristics are broken to sub-characteristics such as suitability, security, maturity, fault tolerance, adaptability, analyzability, stability, testability and so on [13]. However, focusing on all subcategories collectively exceeds the time horizon of this research, from this stance three dimensions namely reliability, robustness and security are brought into attention. This section will be divided to two subsections describing the architecture issues and NM techniques for (1) Reliability and Robustness, (2) Security, of WSN and other characteristics is relegated to future studies. 2.1 Reliability and Robustness In WSNs context, the probability that a network functions properly and aggregates trustworthy data without any interruption continuously, is usually referred to as reliability characteristic of the network [23; 20]. According to ISO 9126-1 software quality documentation, reliability characteristic shows the capability of a network to maintain or re-built (re-start) the service in certain period of time [13]. So, it is important that during long sensing, the network has to service up continuously. Reliable service of a network includes precise and proper sensing, delivering and sending acceptable data to the base station. In other words as Taherkordi et al. (2006) put: â€Å"The less loss of interested data, leads us to higher reliability of a system†. Systematic approach perceives reliability as probability of data delivery to the base station rather than point-to-point reliability [16]. Robustness defined by Sohraby et al. (2007) as: â€Å"a combination of reliability, availability, and dependability requirements†, reflects the degree of the protocol insensitivity to errors and misinformation†. Achieving system robustness in WSN, necessitates system capability to detect, tolerate and confine errors as well as reconfigure and restart the network respectively [7]. According to the given definition by Sohraby et al. (2007), it is apprehensible that reliability and robustness share commonalities with each other; this is the main rational behind discussing these two attributes together in this section [7]. Considering the nature of communication in WSN, a network is unpredictable and prone to fail caused by any physical damages in hardware devices, energy depletion, communication link error, information collapses in packages and etc. [17; 16]. Therefore, one of the critical issues in design phase of WSN is applying fault tolerance techniques to optimize the network so that reliability and robustness attained [17]. These techniques enable the network to withstand and recover any upcoming failure and restart operation [13]. Liu et al. (2009) categorized fault tolerance techniques into: node placement, topology control, target and event detection, data gathering and aggregation, and sensor surveillance. Reminding from the beginning of this chapter architecture design divided into three segments. Table 4à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ2 depicted a summary of the plausible related faults and their solutions in each segment. In the following, each aforementioned fault tolerance techniques are being discussed in each design segment. Table 4à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ2 The most probable fault and their fault tolerance solutions in WSN [17; 7; 18] 2.1.1 Reliability and Robustness of Physical Architecture: Fault: any physical interruption in sensor surveillance Solution: Node placement management and signal-effect management First item that should be considered in designing physical components architecture for reliability and Robustness is: physical placement and signal-effect management. As it is mentioned in section 3, although the mesh network communication is self-organize topology and does not need any manual configuration to bind the network for mobile sensors, the physical architecture and the location schema of the hardware components, sensors and gateways need to be designed carefully [7]. As a characteristic of mesh WSN, the sensors in network are free of any installation restrictions, even though, the placement should be far from any physical destruction or hostile locations. Inappropriate physical placement of sensor transmitters and gateway antenna can cause noise or significant lost in signals [7]. In addition, the signal coverage is decayed by surrounding objects and materials such as metal wall and the like. (E.g. exterior wooden, concrete, brick or gypsum frame, block or wall). Especially in the case of vehicles, the main body can impose such problem and henceforth installation of the sensors in this manner would be delicate. Moreover, the signal waves might be faded and affected during the transmission, due to various physical phenomena such as reflection, diffraction or scattering [7]. These effects would cause significant interruption in sensor surveillance. Therefore, it is important to manage these signal-effects in early stage of WSN physical architecture design. Reflection occurs when electromagnetic wave of signals is duplicated due to impinge of the wave on large object or surface such as walls, buildings and the Earth [7]. Therefore, all the reflection of the walls and also the Earth should be acknowledged in physical architecture design. Diffraction refers to any defection and obstruction in waves caused by irregular sharp edges during the data transmission between the transmitter and receiver [7]. In this case, designers have to be prudent in sensors placements in the proximity of sharp edges and corner angels. Scattering refers to any deviation from straight line. Environmental obstacles in the propagation path affect passing waves from their original structure. Even small irregular object such as street signs, and lampposts might encounter and scatter the wave. Hence WSN should be design to face with any irregular scattering during the wave transmission. Above all, the mobility of sensors and surrounding objects might fade the signals and add noises that should be considered in architecture design [7]. These issues are the basic physical factors, which cause major fault in data aggregation of WSN and cut down reliability and robustness. These destructive signals need to be subtracted from the received signal paths [7] before sending the data to gateway. Therefore, reflection, diffraction and scattering should be considered not only by designers in the physical components placements, but also by programmers in network development. Fault: Sensors failure Solution: Hardware replacement The next issue that needs to be considered in designing the physical architecture of a WSN is hardware failure. Sensors energy suppliers or any damages to the sensors and/or their transmitters are the sources of hardware failure. Regardless of source of failure, the WSN must be capable of functioning as well as replacing and switching sensors when necessary. Additionally, any changes in the physical components, on one hand, needs an explicit and well-defied consideration on security issue to prevent any potential threats, and on the other hand, needs an adaptable and configurable communication connection network [18]. 2.1.2 Reliability and Robustness of Communication Architecture Fault: communication link errors Solution:Topology control and event detection , Replicated services in communication model, Communication link error is an important concern in dealing with reliability and robustness of a network in communication architecture. The sensors in WSN are prone to fail and make link errors in point-to-point reliability of communication protocol. Therefore, it is the network topology responsibility to detect the errors and guarantee the overall reliability of the syste

The American Dream in The Great Gatsby :: The Great Gatsby

The American dream is sought after and imagined by everyone who comes to America. It is the main reason that people come to America; they come for freedom as well as to one day attain the idea of a perfect American dream. It theoretically symbolizes what you have accomplished in life and what you wish to one day have. In my personal opinion if any person wants come to America to live a life of happiness, be released of religious persecution and the freedom to say what you feel, then it can be accomplished. This is the first thing you get as soon as you become an American. That for me is considered a dream for the persecuted. Now beyond this lies desire, which is what society thrives from because it is what our economy is based off of. It is said that you only need food, shelter, and clothing. Dreaming is what America is all about; the beautiful houses, the wealth, the power to control things at your fingertips. Anything you can dream of you can obtain. Although, obtaining a wealthy d ream can be a life of hard work and poverty—depending on what you want— it will eventually pay off to finally accomplish what is desired. â€Å"My own house was an eye-sore, but it was a small eye-sore and it had been over look, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn and the consoling proximity of millionaires—all for eighty dollars a month.† (10) The Great Gatsby   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Essentially, the â€Å"dream† is in my view a state of mind in which you feel comfortable and content in. It is a reassurance that you have begun and finished what you set out to offer to yourself. I do not base my dream upon materialistic items such as a big house or cars or all the wealth I can imagine. Rather I want set out to fall in love, have a family and teach my children and support them. No matter at what cost this would be. I would really like to home school and teach them but I cannot deprive them of friends, fun, and experiences that I had and will have.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I want to support them in whatever they are interested in, whether it be science, art, engineering, anything that makes them as happy as I am with my dream. Finding a woman that I can put up with and her I will be one of the harder things to obtain.

Factors behind the development and Internationalization of Capital Markets Essay

Financial markets especially the stock market has considerably developed in the past few decades. Several factors have been seen to have aided in their growth and development globally. It has also increased cross-border capital movement, tight links amongst the financial market. The most important element of global market has been increased stock exchange. This paper is therefore aimed at finding the factors which have led to the development and Internationalization of stock exchange facility. Questions to be investigated Objectively, the paper is to disclose the possible factors affecting the Development and internationalization of the capital markets. It is therefore worth notice that these questions has to be addressed: What are the factors that favor the development of international markets?, What are the hindrances in the achievement of fast development of international capital markets? And how do these factors that affect the development of international capital markets affect the domestic markets? Factors influencing the Stock market development and internationalization A least two possible views exists on how economic fundamentals may influence domestic stock market and internationalization.   One of the views is that better institutional and macroeconomic environments spur more developed domestic stock markets hence reduces the need to of the use of international markets. The second part of it is behind a number of recent papers on internationalization, this has no longer been an international finance research topic. With regard to this view, it has been found that poor domestic environments prompt firms and investors to use international markets more intensively. In this, the poor domestic environment has been is considered as one of the main reasons for capital flight and greater use by domestic residents of all types of financial services offered internationally (Collier et al, 1999). This also applies to the services offered by the stock markets, where firms may want to escape a poor domestic system with weak institutions. The recent papers done on where international marketers are considered to be more attractive to the firms from poor institutional environments, this is because they offer better protection to investors. As a result, according to this view poor domestic markets lead to worse domestic development. What comes out clearly in this view is the assumption that even firms from poor domestic environments can choose to go international and will wan to internationalize even more especially if they are located in a country with poor institutional environment and weak capital markets. A second view is based on the fact that a better domestic environment in creases the attractiveness of assets to investors. The markets offer larger amounts of external financing, higher liquidity and lower cost of capital when the firm’s host country improves. Under this view, macroeconomics and institutional factors determine the relative willingness of domestic and international investors to supply financing to firms. Investors in international markets may however reward a better environment more than investors in domestic markets do. If thee be an access to the international markets, then better fundamentals will also be available hence it leas to more use of capital markets. Moreover, with liquidity agglomerating in one market, a process of improved fundamentals and increased internalization may have negative effects on the domestic markets, providing international markets with greater advantage. For this reason, there are arguments for both the positive and negative impact on internationalization in those fundamentals that help to develop the local markets. References Collier, Hoeffler, and Pattilo, (1999); Determinants of Capital flight

Does the End Justify the Means? Essay

The ‘end justify the means’ is a philosophical maxim popularized by Niccolo Machiavelli during the renaissance era. This maxim is supposed to justify the actions of a leader or what Machiavelli calls ‘the Prince’, to do whatever is in his power in so far as the ‘end/s’ justifies the ‘means’ of attaining it. Machiavelli highlighted that the ‘end’ that a ‘Prince’ or a leader should focus on is the maintenance of his regime, authority or power. This theory is often mistaken as a standard principle usually by a few who rules a group of people, a community or a nation. They always believe that what they are doing redounds to the benefit of the majority. This few will not accept that what they have done is evil even if it produced good results for many people. History will tell us that many events in the past have gained favorable comments from some individuals but different from the point of view of the majority. Take the case of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing by the American forces during the war to weaken the morale of the invading Japanese forces in the Far East, which resulted to a lifetime tragic memory for thousands of Japanese victims (Walzer, 2004). If we are part of that era, perhaps we would simply say that it was the only way to stop the Japanese aggressors. For the Japanese and its allies, it was an evil act for the Americans to involve innocent Japanese civilians in the war. Leaping forward to the present era where people have become broad-minded and peace-oriented, many Americans have condemned the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a number of big organizations have initiated moves to restore America’s image to the world especially to the Japanese people. But there are also sectors including the military who believe that the war would not have ended if the bombing was not done. Does the end justify the means in this case? Certainly not; according to Christine Smith in her article entitled, The End does not justify the Means, committing any acts of evil, regardless of any given circumstances, is always considered wrong. This writer may be right in saying this except that she fails to manifest the exact definition of evil in her statement. When the national interest is at risk to preserve democracy, the military is given a free-hand by the government to thwart rebellion. After a series of democratic process with maximum tolerance and the rebels adhere to their hard-line principle of a â€Å"coup d‘etat,† the military has the ultimate option to use arms. On the side of the relatives and advocates of the aggressive movement this could be evil, but on the side of the government and those against undemocratic process of government take-over, this could be reasonable. Let’s analyze another case, the downing of Korean Airlines Flight 007 in Russia way back 1983 which carried 269 passengers including the crew where most of the victims were Americans and Koreans. It was argued by Russia that the plane violated its airspace, with a hint that it was a spy plane, which led to its ultimate decision to shoot it down, while the U. S. quickly denounced the brutal act of Russia, justifying the cause of air space violation as an aeronautical miscalculation of the pilot. As far as the Russians are concerned, the end justified the means, but on the side of the Americans and Koreans, that was an act of terrorism. In this particular case, the element of ideology has to be refuted. While the brutal act was considered by the Russians as a way to suppress any threat to their ideology, they did it in any way possible even if the world would condemn it as an evil act. Russians believed that the tragic end has justified the means involving the interest of the Soviet Union. Given that it was an aeronautical error to violate airspace, Russia should have instructed the pilot of the ill-fated airplane to follow an emergency landing for investigation concerning the alleged espionage instead of downing it, considering that it was a passenger aircraft and not a military one. Even assuming that it was a language barrier between pilots that could have been the cause of the immediate military response, still it can never be justified. On the part of the victims’ relatives, the incident was intentionally done and Russians must be stiffly penalized. For a few who ruled the military, it was part of an exercise. For communist allies, it was the right thing to do, but for the rest of the world, it would be remembered as a massacre in the sky. Same is true for any kind of religion which has a great concern for human life; the act was inspired by the devil. In cases of tortures, human rights abuses, military actions and capital punishments, the end may not justify the means. Even if the ultimate result is good for the majority or even to a nation, if the means was done in a vicious way, then, that could never be justified. But for soldiers who are engaged in war, it is entirely a different philosophy. A soldier has to follow orders from his superiors to protect the sovereignty of a nation, that’s his duty. When he goes to the jungle in search for the enemies, he carries with him a mandate from his superiors. But when he is out there to engage in combat, a different scenario occurs. He becomes primarily concerned about his own life and to return to his family alive, the mandate becomes secondary. Very few want to be a hero and much lesser to be friendly with the enemies. A soldier is a military machine, that’s how he was honed and oriented; he has to kill the enemy before the enemy kills him. He has to execute a rapid action if his life is endangered. That’s the game of war, that’s the game of chance if he wants to survive. But if a soldier is engaged in killing innocent people just because he could not identify the enemy exactly, then, his action does not justify his motive. If he tortures an enemy or a group of people in search for truth, it can be held unjust. If he is trigger-happy and involved in mass execution because he fails to identify the enemies exactly, he must be condemned and be subject to a court-martial. There can never be an excuse for killing people at an instant without concrete evidence backed up by reliable logistics, and in so doing, his conscience must be directly involved. But how do we gauge and monitor his professionalism in the battlefield? A soldier is dispatched with a troop and a leader who keeps track of all his moves. There is a saying that â€Å"foul odor will always come out in the open,† especially when the victim’s relatives submit a complaint with corresponding evidence. Let’s take a look at Teresa M. Hudock’s article entitled, ‘The End Does Not Justify The Means’. She said that the best example of a credible perfectionist is one who does not use military force and violence in any given circumstances, even in self-defense, and he must be an advocate of human rights. This might be an ideal scenario. War or no war, when life is at stake magnanimity will be a subject for legal arguments especially when self-defense is in question. No person will allow others to take his life without doing anything except for born-heroes. Therefore, justifying the end by the course of action taken depends on how people look at it and it varies on the standpoint of different sectors of the society. In essence, the end does not always justify the means. Nonetheless, there are extreme instances or ‘supreme emergencies’ wherein the ends bring about the greater good which justifies the means of attaining it. References: Hudock, T. M. The End does not Jusifies the Means. Retrieved on January 26, 2009, from http://www. usc. edu/dept/LAS/ir/calis/pdfs/171w. PDF Machiavelli, N. (1515). The Prince. http://www. constitution. org/mac/prince00. htm Smith, C. (2008). The End does not Justify the Means. Retrieved on January 25, 2009, from http://www. nolanchart. Com/ article4573. html Walzer, M. (2004). Emergency Ethics. New Haven and London. Yale University Press. P. 33-55