The Presentation of Isolation in Jane Eyre

Isolation in Jane Eyre and the Wide Sargasso Sea. The theme of isolation is explored in Bronte’s novel; Jane Eyre. This theme is also developed in The Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys. Both pieces present different types of isolation, such as isolation due to location and the isolation of a character due to their social status, such as Jane’s status as a governess. The various ways in which isolation is present in each of the texts show how inescapable and unavoidable isolation is for the characters in both Jane Eyre and The Wide Sargasso, with it being present in such a large way in their lives.Physical isolation is present in both texts, with Jane in Jane Eyre and Antoinette in the Wide Sargasso Sea experiencing absolute isolation from society due to their location. In Jane Eyre, Jane experiences such isolation in chapter II when her outburst toward her cousin and patriarch of Gateshead Hall, John Reed, results in her being confined to ‘the red room’. Bron te writes ‘it was silent, because remote from the nursery; solemn, because it was know to be so seldom entered’.This description highlights the extent of the physical separation Jane faces whilst in the room. She is far away from any other beings, being unable to even hear other people, and with little possibility of the room being visited; it suggests there is little hope of escape from the separation from society she is presented with. By saying the room was ‘silent’, it reiterates the idea that Jane was isolated from all things and this highlights its severity and alienates Jane as she is out of touch with her surroundings, and the world.It is clear that this isolation is effective enough to have a negative impact on an individual, as Mrs Reed knowingly uses it as a punishment; this suggests that the isolation is severe. Separation for those who had committed atrocities was seen as apt in this period of 19th century Britain, as it was during this decade that ‘The Separate System’ was being introduced. John Howard proposed that in prisons, criminals must be isolated and alone, as it was felt that they must have time alone to ‘stew in their thoughts’, and to be separated from others to avoid influencing innocent people.The system, although having been used before, was taken up in many households as a punishment. This suggests that the separation from the Reed children, as Mrs Reed had ensured, was due to her fear that Jane would have a negative influence on her children, for fear that they too would learn her ‘ways of the devil’. A review of Jane Eyre, claimed ‘There is a low tone of behaviour (rather than of morality) in the book’, reiterating the point that Jane’s isolation was used to correct her behaviour.Jane’s desperation to escape is shown when she screams ‘Take me out! Let me go into the nursery! ’, and her desire to end her isolation is resultant in her hysteria, attempting to use methods such as violence and pleading to escape her separation. In The Wide Sargasso Sea, Annette and her family inhabit an isolated residence, and subsequently, due to their location, also face separation from society, much like in Jane Eyre.The house owned by Antoinette’s mother is rarely visited, Antoinette is aware of this blatant lack of interaction with other individuals as she asked ‘why so few people came to see us’, suggesting their isolation was severe enough to indicate, even to a child, that their isolation was not common. As Annette responds, it becomes clear that this is due to their geographical location, with the roads leading from Spanish town to their Coulibri estate in need of repair, they limit the accessibility of the residence to visitors and therefore , social interaction.When Annette’s horse, which she uses to attempt to escape the isolated area, dies, she claims ‘we are marooned’. The hyperbole used demonstrates her exasperation and desperation as she is confined to such an isolated area. The term ‘Marooned’ paints a picture of an island, again a piece of land geographical separate from society. This term also demonstrates how helpless she feels in the situation, and suggests she is unable to see a means of escape. It also presents the idea that the separation her family experiences is potentially dangerous.Evidence of isolation due to a characters place, or position, in society can be found in both novels. Bronte demonstrates the isolation Jane inflicts upon herself, coming as a result of her awareness of her place in society, in the Chapter 17 of Jane Eyre, which tells of Mr Rochester’s return from his unexpected departure to Gateshead hall, accompanied by numerous guests enjoying a social stay, comprising mainly of games and dinners. Jane intentionally separates herself from Mr Rochester’s prestigious guests as they gather in the st udy after dinner.After firstly declining her master’s request for her company, anticipating the isolation she will face, stemming from her inferiority in her class, she then goes on to separate herself. Bronte uses the first person narrative to reveal Jane’s feelings, such as in the narrative â€Å"I sit in the shade-if any shade there be in this brilliantly-lit apartments; the window-curtain half hides me†. This demonstrates Jane’s need to physically isolate herself from the party, attempting to not only isolate herself from their conversation with a book, but furthermore their presence, trying to hide.This also indicates her vulnerability, which contrasting with the confidence of the other women. This isolates her further. By saying ‘half hides me’ her reservations are highlighted, shown in the word ‘half’. This demonstrates how unsure she is about her position in society and the level of isolation she should therefore inflict upon herself, which reflects the confusion surrounding the matter in society in 19th century Britain. As a governess, Jane holds a position in society which, during this period, was unclear, as governesses were of the same class as their masters and their peers, but did not hold the same level of wealth.As a result, people serving as governesses would often suffer separation and alienation from those in higher and lower classes as they struggled to determine how to act toward beings in such occupations, Miss Ingram’s mother stating â€Å"don't mention governesses; the word makes me nervous†. Bronte was fully aware of such struggles faced by governesses at this time and wrote in a letter to a friend that his daughter ‘would be very unhappy as a governess’.This suggests Bronte’s knowledge of governesses’ were genuine, as she exerts this knowledge in her personal life. The idea of a struggle to be included is reiterated when the wealthy characte rs talk about Jane as though she isn’t there, which is unusual social behaviour to exert toward those of the same class; â€Å"I noticed her; I am a judge of physiognomy, and in hers I see all the faults of her class. This only furthers Jane’s isolation and separation from the party. Resulting from this place in society and her inferiority in wealth, Jane’s ‘plain grey dress’ contrasts with the extravagant and expensive attires of the other females â€Å"Her black satin dress, her scarf of rich foreign lace, and her pearl ornaments†, furthering her blatant separation and isolation from such a group of people through even her clothing. The Wide Sargasso Sea also presents the theme of isolation due to place in society.Antoinette’s mother, Annette and her spouse were previously slave owners. As a result of this, they are the only white people in the almost solely black community of Coulibri. Slaves in the 19th century were common and wer e often subject to harsh treatment and laborious tasks set by their owners. This would subsequently result in bitterness toward those who had enslaved them, bitterness which drives one man to suicide in The Wide Sargasso Sea.In chapter one of The Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette talks about the late man’s house, ‘soon the black people said it was haunted, they wouldn’t go near it. And no one came near us’, groups the family with a house the black community think of as haunted. This suggests that Antoinette feels the black community also believe her family to be alienated and viewed as though from a different world, something to be feared and avoided. By saying ‘near us’, the severity of the isolation they faced is highlighted, with people refusing to even get remotely close to them.This is more severe that Jane’s isolation in chapter 17, in the sense that she is still in the company of others, with Antoinette and Annette rarely experiencin g this, furthermore Jane’s isolation is partly self-inflicted, whereas in The Wide Sargasso Sea, the two desperately wish to escape the isolation they faced, eventually seeking an escape in marriage, however, some could argue Jane’s isolation is consistent throughout her life, having no family, this type of isolation, unlike that faced in her situation in chapter 17, is not self inflicted.Isolation is a theme explored in both Jane Eyre and The Wide Sargasso Sea, with both texts sharing many similarities, in the severity of the isolation faced by characters in each piece for example, and many differences, such as the way in which characters of both novels escaped such loneliness.

Oreo market research Essay

Nabisco is a company that has been in existence since 1898. During their 109 years in existence, they have grown through natural growth, mergers, and acquisitions. This has allowed Nabisco to be the leading snack maker in the world. The Oreo chocolate sandwich cookie was first introduced in Hoboken, N. J. in 1911. Oreos today are far and away the world’s most popular cookie. The Oreo family accounts for approximately 10 percent of all store cookie sales–a $3 billion market. However in recent years Nabisco has been reluctant to adapt to current market trends. The company was focusing on producing new versions of existing products to make them more convenient. Situation Analysis In 1898, the New York Biscuit Company and the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company merged over 100 bakeries into the National Biscuit Company, later called Nabisco. Founders Adolphus Green and William Moore, orchestrated the merger and the company quickly rose to first place in the manufacturing and marketing of cookies and crackers in America. To expand their global presence and to strengthen their position in the fast-growing consumer snacks sector, Philip Morris Co. Inc. acquired Nabisco Holdings in December 2000. Philip Morris purchased Nabisco for $14. 9 billion in cash plus assumed $4 million in debt. Eventually, Philip Morris integrated the Nabisco brands with its Kraft Food operations. And now it includes brands such as Chips Ahoy, Fig Newtons, Mallomars, Oreos, Premium Crackers, Ritz Crackers, etc†¦.. Nabisco Arabia Company Ltd. (NAARCO) was formed in 1995 as a joint venture between Nabisco International and The Olayan Group of Saudi Arabia. In 2000, NAARCO made a major investment in a new plant to produce OREO, the world’s most popular cookie. OREO cookies were launched in the Saudi market in March 2001 with a major TV campaign. Internal Analysis The $3 million plant upgrade included a whole new production line, new offices, additional warehousing, and new mess rooms for the increased work force. Equipment from Spain, Italy, India, France, and Austria went into the world-class facility, under the supervision of Nabisco Technical Director Frank Willemsen and the Technical Services Manager Anselmo Codina. The people of Kraft have recognized that the business has an important role in society- a responsibility that included understanding and meeting the public’s expectations, helping to address important social, environmental and economic issues and making a difference in local communities and the world. They firmly believe that â€Å"Our success will depend importantly on our willingness and ability to listen, get feedback on what we’re doing from those both inside and outside Kraft and act responsibly on issues of important concern. † 1 Stargate Institute Market Analysis Target Market: The current target market for the original vanilla filling Oreo is children. The original Oreo cookies have previously focused on and promoted the new colors for the creme filling and change the round shaped cookies into rolls, which would generate new interest amongst children, who would in turn convince their parents to buy the new cookie. Geographic Factor: This project is done and carried on in Riyadh, the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. Riyadh belongs to the historical regions of Nejd and Al-Yamama. The population of the city is 4,700,000 of which 60% are Saudis and 40 % are foreigners. And the density is 3,024 km square. Demographic Factor: As Riyadh is known for its restrictions and being an Islamic country, the family life cycles followed here are usually all family members. Young single people can not live separately and independently, fearing for them young mature boys/girls will live under their families until its time for them to start up their own families. And generally Saudi people are well known by their family sizes. Most of the family sizes are more then 6 or even far more than that. This is what makes the youth population really high in the kingdom. And it is something obvious and general that Saudi people are known for their wealth and considered as rich people and in return earn high incomes. Behavioral Factor: As Riyadh is developing, people now are becoming aware of various new brands which are attracting them to explore and investigate things. Women here are obsessed about shopping and show a favorable attitude and interest towards the different brands. They are also considered as heavy users when it comes to brand loyalty. 2 Stargate Institute Marketing Need As Oreo is a biscuit, and biscuits are food, so the most important need the Oreo biscuits satisfy is Hunger. But if we further narrow down the needs, Oreo can be satisfying more than just the drive (hunger). *Oreo satisfies the nurturing need example, a mother having difficulties in feeding her 4 to 6 years old child with some nutrition food, can consider Oreo to feed her child with a sip of milk. *Oreo satisfies the imitation need example, kids watching the Oreo ad on TVs while the other kids are enjoying twisting, licking and dunking the cookie into a glass of milk. This forces the kids to want that cookie right away and imitate the same steps. *Oreo also satisfies the fun need, and in this case not only kids will want to have fun and enjoy Oreo even adults like to have fun once in a while individually or even with their kids. Market Trends Various on-going and changing trends in the consumer market affect the business of an organization. Some of those having an impact on Oreo chocolate sandwich biscuits are: A 2004 TNS study amongst Saudis has found a trend towards smaller families. It revealed that Saudis – realize the need for smaller families to provide a better quality of life for their children. Females have been given permission by the government to work which resulted in the increase of purchasing power. Driven by changing lifestyles and population growth the impact on the food market has been positive. The market therefore witnessed rapid growth over the review period. The consumers in Saudi market are seen as active switchers with a medium brand loyalty level. Lastly, a study was conducted by TNS in 2007 which showed that 99 per cent of Saudi respondents in the study consumed chocolate â€Å"food† (chocolates, chocolate milk, biscuits, etc. ) in the last seven days, an increase from 95 per cent in 2004. 3 Stargate Institute Market Growth Growth in the Saudi Arabian biscuit market is being driven mainly by two factors – firstly, the marked increase in advertising spend by multinationals such as Nabisco, Master Foods and Danone. Secondly, the popularity of emerging products such as chocolate-coated biscuits and bread substitutes, which have recently been launched in the market. Researches have shown that biscuits, particularly sweet biscuits, are generally sold at low prices, averaging between SR0. 25 and SR2 (US $0. 06 – US $0. 53), for a single-serve pack and enjoy excellent distribution in all outlets. The biscuits sector is highly developed owing to the strength of the local industry in Saudi Arabia, represented by large manufacturers such as United Food Industries. Oreo sales showed a fluctuating result during the past 13 years. When Oreo initially was launched into the market, sales increased to a high extent for about 3 years but then sales decreased for a long period during 1997 to 2002. Oreo marketing managers became aware of their loses and immediately went back to action and changed their marketing mix and started to introduce several different new products. This effort resulted with high sales in 2008. Sales were amounted to $4 billion and market share 41%.

Report on Primary School Essay

Drop-out problem is not caused by any single reason, in fact, a whole lot of different factors work behind it. These factors are also inter-related to each other and therefore one factor influences many other factors. For example, poverty has inter-linkages with many other factors that influences drop-out like quality of education, parental attitude etc. Poverty also has intra linkages with facts like direct cost, indirect cost and opportunity cost of schooling, early pressure for marriage. As poverty is one of the major reasons behind drop-out, it has various linkages with most of the other problems. Although primary education is declared as tuition-free, there are many direct costs like exam fees, enrollment fee; certain amount from the stipend money is also taken for various reasons. These expenses become a big problem for the poor households and it influences dropping out because when survival is the issue, things like education is less important. Another problem was the hidden costs of schooling that are clothes, pen and paper, etc. all of the 12 samples and their parents said that buying clothes, pen and papers was a huge problem for them. All of the parents said that as they are poor people, these extra costs of schooling are unbearable to them. Almost all of 12 dropouts have missed school frequently due to failure in obtaining these articles. They feared that they will be punished if they go to school without pen or paper. Teachers said that children who come to school without pen or paper cause a lot of trouble because they are unable to do any class work and disturb the other students. So they are given punishment. The opportunity costs of schooling include chore time, sibling care and foregone earnings of children. The opportunity costs of educating children are higher in poor families because these families rely more on each member to contribute to the family’s economic survival. Girls and women are the unpaid household labourers. All of the 6 female samples’ labour in the household is an economic necessity because it frees others to earn outside. All of them had to do important works like collecting water and firewood, washing utensils, helping in cooking and taking care of siblings. Dropouts who belonged to large families, less earning members and unstable income due to illness of earning members had to do wage work for  cash. All of the female samples told that they had worked in rich households as domestic helps when their family needed cash or could not afford a satisfactory meal. It is difficult for poor families to afford the opportunity cost of schooling because the contribution of their child’s labour at household work or earning is essential at certain times for the survival of their families. All of these direct, hidden and opportunity costs are intra-linked with poverty, which causes poor attendance rate. This encourages dropping-out as the school terms clash with the agricultural cycle and those who miss school over several weeks drop behind, teachers withdraw their books and they are disqualified for stipend, as a result, they ultimately abandon school. Poverty is interlinked with quality of education as poor families cannot afford private tuitions for their children. Apart from a few parents most of them were illiterate and they could not give any effective help to their children in their studies. Hence these parents have regarded the need of going to private tuitions as a very urgent one. All the samples agreed that students who took private tuitions performs in the class and does well in exams. All the parents agreed that if the teachers had taught the students well in the class, then the parents would not have to spend extra money to send their children for private tuitions. The parents even said that the teachers do this deliberately to earn money. The students who receive private coaching get promoted to the next class regardless of their results, so they do not get dropped from the PESP receiver’s list. As a result, only the children from solvent families are able to continue their studies. Dropping out due to disqualifying for PESP have been observed in this research amongst those households who sent their children to school after hearing about the PESP. During harvest period, there are many works to be done, so a lot of the children do not go to school. Consequently, many of them fail in the exams as they fail to catch up with the class due to absence. As a result, they get dropped from the PESP receiver’s list. So again the economic factors affect the situation because it can be seen that only the children of the well to do families can receive stipend. This is because since the children of solvent people do not have to work at home, they can attend school regularly and on the other hand, they can attain private lessons by using the money they get from stipend, so they can pass in the exams. Poverty is interlinked to students’ eagerness to learn. As the drop-out children belonged to the poor households they all suffered from certain extent of malnutrition. The samples told that usually they went to school after eating rice, rice crisps, banana, molasses etc and 7 of the children said that very often they had to take insufficient food and so they felt hungry in the class. Some of the children had to do household works and they felt tired and sleepy in the class. All of these children said they found it hard to concentrate in the study. So the eagerness and motivation of the children of the poor households are affected by their economic condition. The irregular and low salary of teachers influences their motivation to teach and forces them to depend on alternative income sources like private tuition. As a result they are obligated to favour their private students which create frustration amongst the other students. These children found school unfriendly and unfair. They become reluctant to attend school and as a result they miss classes and this causes poor performance in exams. All of these factors contributes to disqualifying from stipend program and finally leads to drop-out. Societal reasons are also found to be affecting drop-out of children, especially girls. The people of this village are very pious and they think that school education is the trend of the new age. They think that receiving religious lessons is more important since it will help them in the afterlife. Maximum people think that it is foolish for children of poor people to receive higher education because there are no such job opportunities for them, and the people who have no certainty of their day meal will obviously send their children to work and earn money to run the family, this is reality. Pressure for early marriage is also present as most of the community members agreed that this the safest option for the parents. Incidents of eve teasing were seen and sadly the societal pressure was on the girl as she will earn a bad reputation and her prospect of marriage will be ruined. These types of societal pressures are interlinked with unsupportive parental attitudes, because all parents and especially the poor parents do not have much of a say in the society and they are the most vulnerable ones. So the parents of a girl child prefer marriage over education as that is safest option and also this is what the society expects them to do. So all of these different factors are interlinked with each other which affects dropping out of children. CHAPTER 7: IMPACTS OF PESP 7. 1 BACKGROUND OF PESP. The most notable among the incentive programs undertaken by the government at the primary level were the Food for Education Program (FFE) and the Primary Educational Stipend Program (PESP). The FFE Program was launched in 1993 to increase the enrollment, persistence, and attendance rates of children from landless and very poor families. Forty percent of the children enrolled in primary schools in the targeted poor areas received a monthly allocation of wheat or rice for their family if they attended primary school regularly. To be eligible for receiving the food, the children were to be present at school for 85 percent of classes each month. A sliding scale increased the amount if more than one child per family attended school. Ultimately, the FFE was implemented in 1255 unions, covering 27 percent of the country. The World Bank’s 1998 Poverty Assessment found that the FFE did raise enrollment and attendance rates, and by 2000, the FFE program had covered about 27 percent of all primary schools in Bangladesh. Out of 5. 2 million students enrolled in schools with FFE, about 40 percent received food grains (mostly wheat) through the program. About two million families benefited from the FFE program. But there negative issues related to the FFE program as well. It suffered from high levels of leakage (it cost 1. 59 taka to transfer 1 taka in benefits) and was poorly targeted (50 percent of the beneficiaries came from households above the lower poverty line). Increases in the price of the food commodities in 2001-2002 caused the government of Bangladesh to reduce the amount of food assistance, until the program was discontinued in June 2002. However, universal primary education was still far from achieving. So, a new program, the PESP was introduced. The new Primary Education Stipend Project was designed to provide cash assistance through a stipend program to poor primary school pupils and their families throughout rural Bangladesh. The targeted beneficiaries of the PESP were an estimated 5. 5 million pupils from the poorest households who were enrolled in eligible primary schools in all rural areas of Bangladesh (469 upazillas). In order to qualify for the stipend, selected pupils were to maintain 85 percent monthly attendance and attain a minimum of 50 percent marks on the annual exam administered for each grade. To continue to participate in the program, a school must demonstrate at least 60 percent pupil attendance, and 10 percent of its grade 5 pupils must sit for the Primary School Scholarship Exam. Households of qualifying pupils would receive 100 taka (about $1. 76) per month for one pupil (not to exceed 1200 taka annually) and 125 taka per month for more than one pupil (not to exceed 1500 taka annually). Six designated national banks would disburse the stipends on a quarterly basis to authorized parents/guardians on a pre-determined date at the local bank branch or at a temporary distribution post (â€Å"camp’) established at a convenient location within 5 kilometres of the school site. Stipends would be disbursed to pupils’ parents or legal guardians who present the proper PESP bank-issued identity card. Preferences were to be given to issuing cards to the mothers of the selected pupil. The new features of the PESP were: †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Subsidies provided in cash, rather than in kind (as in the FFE Program) would ease transfer to poor recipients and would limit the involvement of school personnel in distribution (FFE required teachers to dole out the wheat and rice). †¢Cost-effectiveness would increase as the government of Bangladesh can offer stipends to more families for the same cost and not be vulnerable to increases in food prices (as with the FFE Program that necessitated decreasing the amount of food provided). †¢The stipend amount is fixed at a level that will significantly offset household poverty (unlike the 25 taka offered through the PES Project). †¢The cash stipend is more flexible, so the family can determine its best use according to their needs—whether it is used for food purchase, school expenses or financing income generating activities (unlike the FFE Program where households often sold the food at less than market value to obtain cash). †¢Disbursing the stipend funds to the mother will increase her power within the household and she will be more likely to spend the money to improve the children’s welfare (earlier programs disbursed to fathers or male household heads). †¢Leakage will be reduced because (i) commodities (such as the FFE Program’s wheat and rice rations) are more liable to misappropriation and (ii) bank-mediated distribution eliminates scope for underpayment or kick-backs. †¢Provision of stipends on a nation-wide basis (rather than in selected areas) will reach the poor families throughout rural Bangladesh who must restrict their children’s participation in primary school. 7. 2 ProgramME Performance. The Primary Education Stipend Project (PESP) aims to increase the educational participation—enrollment, attendance, persistence, and performance–of primary school-aged children from poor families throughout Bangladesh by providing cash payments to targeted households. The new Primary Education Stipend Project is designed to provide cash assistance through a stipend program to poor primary school pupils and their families throughout rural Bangladesh. The impacts of PESP in the research area are described below according to the official objectives of the PESP: †¢ Increase the enrolment rate among primary school-aged children from poor families. The researcher found this objective successful to some extent because the statistics provided by the teachers show that enrolment rate has increased after the PESP have been introduced. The school enrolled the new students in only class one. The numbers of enrolment of last five years has been shown in the table below. YearNumber of students enrolled in class 1Total students of the school 200084270 200195280 2002102288 2003108295 2004116309 Table 6: The number of students enrolled in class 1. †¢ Increase the attendance rate of primary school pupils. The PESP rationale is that regular attendance will improve pupils learning outcomes and contribute to good grades on exams. Attaining 40 percent marks will motivate the pupil to study and the pupil’s family to support his/her studies, by ensuing school attendance (not withdrawing for labour) and providing the necessary supplies and inputs. Combined these conditions are expected to lead to reduced repetition and drop-out and increased completion. Meeting the attendance requirement on a monthly basis will  determine the amount of the quarterly stipend disbursement. If a pupil does not meet the condition, the stipend will not be paid for that month. Classroom teachers record attendance daily, checked by head teachers. The 85 percent target is relatively high, compared with average primary school attendance rates that are reported to be 61 percent or below and even with the FSSAP which has a target of 75 percent. This objective was not very successful as the attendance rate was very poor in the primary school were this research have been done. Teachers said that in general attendance rate is well below 85 percent. Students from the poor households are the most irregular ones. The reason for absenteeism is primarily due to the inability to pay for school expenses and/or the need to work either at home or outside the home. However, in some of the cases, reasons behind absenteeism were temporary or chronic illness, disinclination for schooling, bad weather, flooding, etc. During the rainy season the attendance was low as the roads were muddy and slippery and transportation was unavailable. During the bad whether some of them stayed absent as they didn’t want to damage their clothes. Two of the samples said that they had only two clothes, of which one was torn so they wore it in the house and the other one they wore in the school. They remained absent if the better cloth was wet as they couldn’t were the other one. The direct and opportunity costs of schooling, cultural constraints and prejudices, and special needs of vulnerable children—prevent these children from going to school. Although primary education is declared as tuition-free, there are many direct costs like exam fees, enrolment fee etc and with this there are many indirect costs like pen, papers, clothes etc. Though the stipend money was a help to some extent to the poor families, it was distributed after 3 months and during that time whenever the family couldn’t afford the necessary equipments, the children remained absent. Although the stipend receivers said that they bought pen, papers, clothes etc, they also said they still missed school whenever they couldn’t manage them as they were given punishments. Another reason for low attendance of the students was the opportunity cost of the child. Students frequently remained absent during different times of agricultural cycles as their labour was needed by their family. In the rainy seasons some of the boys helped their father in boat rowing so they stayed absent and because of this, they were dropped from the stipend receivers list. †¢ Reduce the drop out rate of primary school pupils and increase the cycle completion rate of primary school pupil. Unlike enrollment, persistence in primary school requires an ongoing household commitment that, especially among the vulnerable poor, is easily assailed by family circumstances (e.g. illness, death), the economy, and a host of other factors. The continuous payment of a stipend for the pupil’s entire primary school career—does provide both motivation and a monetary cushion for the family by helping to offset the opportunity costs associated with economic hardship that could pull a child from school. However, as a child ages both the direct and opportunity costs (for boys in the labour market and girls in the marriage market) increase, and the stipend is not sufficient to meet these costs. In addition, considerations other than monetary—such as lack of interest in schooling, dissatisfaction with the quality of schooling, cultural imperatives to marry, etc. –may come into play that are not amenable to financial incentives. Although primary education is declared as tuition-free, there are many direct costs like exam fees, enrolment fee; certain amount from the stipend money is also taken for various reasons. These expenses become a big problem for the poor households and it influences dropping out. The number of drop-out children in last five years is given below. Table 7: Number of dropouts in the last 5 years provided by the school YearNumber of drop-out childrenNumber of children completed class fiveTotal students in class five 1999104555 2000124254 2001114455 2002114960 2003124759 Chart: The number of dropouts and completions during last five years Although the dropout numbers provided by the school shows that dropout from school in class five is around 10 to 12, the researcher found that in reality the number was more than that as certain amount of underwriting is done so that the school remains in the PESP allotting list. The PESP stipend does not appear to meaningfully offset the opportunity costs of child labour, averaging less than 5 taka per day or $2 per month. But, its ability to attract children from the labour market to school clearly depends on the situation of the family. It is unlikely that a desperately poor family would be able to forego the income or even the food earned by a regularly-employed child. However, in some cases the child may continue to earn a sufficient amount outside of school hours and during school absences tolerated by the PESP (15 percent). The additional 25 taka per month for any subsequent children enrolled in primary school represents a much smaller contribution towards meeting the opportunity cost of schooling, and acts more as a reward to those households who have already made the decision to send their children to school than to encourage households to send non-attending children to school. Since opportunity costs must also be added to direct costs of schooling to assess the real cost, families of working children may not be able to cover both the sacrifice of a child’s income or labour and the cash outlays for the direct costs discussed above. Both the direct and opportunity costs of schooling increases as the child ages and progresses in primary school, increasing the burden for very poor families. Consequently, the PESP stipend may not be sufficient to overcome the financial barriers to primary schooling in families where children must work constantly to increase household production or income or to feed themselves. †¢ Enhance the quality of primary education. The PESP is least likely to be successful in improving the quality of education (as defined by learning outcomes and completion rates), because it places the entire burden of quality improvement on the child (maintaining high attendance) and household (purchasing educational inputs to ensure good grades), rather than on the teacher or school. First, failure to achieve is more often the result of poor instruction than of incapable students. Second, families targeted for support are poor, and it is far more likely that the stipend will be used to provide additional food and clothing for the family than purchase educational materials or tutoring for a primary school child. And while it would not be reasonable to expect a stipend program to also be a quality improvement program, the PESP may have negative consequences for educational quality of the 75-85 percent of primary school-age children already in school by diverting resources away from  needed supply-side improvements. The impact of PESP in the research area seemed to favour access over quality. The teachers said as the most of the parents who enrolled their children for stipend, they don’t worry about the quality of education; instead they want to receive the stipend money anyhow. This attitude can never help to improve quality of education. †¢ Ensure equity in the provision of financial assistance to primary school-age children and alleviate poverty. Bangladesh ranks as one of the poorest countries in the world, with a GDP per capita of $350. The poor account for about 50 percent of Bangladesh’s total population, and 37 percent are counted among the â€Å"hard-core† poor, who live in the direst circumstances (Bangladesh Human Development Report 2000, BIDS). That fifty-three percent of pupils in the primary education system come from poor households reflects the high demand for primary education among Bangladeshi parents. Ultimately, much of the success of the PESP in combating poverty and helping families deal with the direct and opportunity costs of sending their children to primary school will depend on the validity of the targeting mechanism and on the real value of the stipend in offsetting those costs. Primary school-age children become eligible for stipend benefits if their families meet at least one of the following five targeting criteria: ? Children from a landless or near-landless household that owns less than half an acre of land; ? Children of day labourers; ?Children from female-headed households (i. e. , a household headed by a female who is widowed, separated from husband, divorced, or having a disabled husband); ? Children from households that earn their living from low-income professions (such as, fishing, pottery, weaving, blacksmithing, and cobbling); and ? Children of sharecroppers. At present, the targeting methodology does not appear sufficiently well-defined to ensure that the poorest families in Bangladesh benefit, but rather the poorer families relative to their specific locale (which may not be terribly poor). With no clear-cut guidelines or empirical methods for identifying the poorest students, it is not clear how poor children can be identified. More over, a lot of community members and parents of the dropout children blamed the teachers and SMC members of deliberate biases and distortions. Almost universally, those interviewed said that SMC members and teachers complicit in giving favour to local elites and the non-poor in school admission and enrollment in the PESP or extracting some form of payment for consideration. Because the SMC members are generally members of the local elite, it has been told by the parents of the drop-outs and community member that they have a tendency to favour their own friends and relatives. The stipend amount appears sufficient to cover the education costs of one child, but the PESP often employs a rationale that double- and triple-counts the stipend, by stating that it will offset direct costs, eliminate opportunity costs, and increase household income. It is unlikely that the stipend is adequate to address all three at the same time. It does not appear to fully recognize that the PESP will also cause the families—especially those with working children—to incur significant costs that may not represent a net gain for the household (at least in the short-term). The PESP may be too expensive for very poor households whose children are not already enrolled, as the stipend amount is not sufficient to pay for education, compensate for lost wages/production and increase household income as well. Poverty impedes households’ ability to pay for school fees and/or other direct (e. g. textbooks) and indirect (e. g. â€Å"donations† for school authorities) costs that may be required for school admission or full participation in primary school. Poor households are more likely to need children’s labour for income-producing or cost-saving activities, and be less able to sacrifice the child’s time to schooling, resulting in frequent absenteeism and/or early withdrawal from school. The poor are more prone to disease and malnutrition than the non-poor. Poor health and nutritional status among young and school-aged children can result in illness and/or physical and cognitive impairment or delays, causing late enrollment, drop-out, absenteeism and poor learning outcomes. Additional objectives (mentioned by MOPME officials): Eradication of child labour and empowerment of women were the additional objectives. PESP could not eradicate child labour as it was seen that the samples often missed classes because of various household works. All of the 6 male samples helped their fathers in the field at different times of agricultural cycles. The boys who worked in the agricultural field worked in two phases. For working in the morning from 8AM to 1PM, they received 1 meal and 50 to 70 taka and for working from 2PM to 5PM, they are given 30 taka. In the rainy season a some of the male samples helped their fathers in boat rowing. Girls and women are the unpaid household labourers. All of the 6 female samples’ labour in the household is an economic necessity because it frees others to earn outside. All of them had to do important works like collecting water and firewood, washing utensils, helping in cooking and taking care of siblings. Because of these reasons, parents were reluctant to spare their daughters for schooling. There is no evidence of gender disparity in enrollment rates among the poor, but it is likely that girls who belonged to poor families are less likely to persist and perform in school than boys. But as there is a stipend programme for the secondary female students, girls are now getting the opportunity for higher studies. Social Impact of PESP: Irrespective of the PESP’s impact on primary education or its reaching the poorest 40 percent of families, the prevalence of poverty in Bangladesh is such that the PESP must be regarded as a positive move in improving social welfare, in that it represents a substantial redistribution or transfer of income from the wealthier sections of society to the poorer ones. Given the rural focus, it is seen that these cash transfers has some positive impact on the economies of small rural communities. As households spend the PESP stipend on commodities (books, food, clothing, etc) and services (tutoring, medical, etc. ), the effects are rippling through the community, generating additional income for merchants and suppliers. Insofar as mothers are the stipend recipients, it is expected that they will have decision-making authority over its use and their economic prestige will be enhanced somewhat. The political and social impact is also positive as beneficiary poor families and community members appreciate the recognition of need and the benefits offered by the PESP. But the major negative impact of this program is that those parents who sent their children to school after hearing about the stipend money, many of them withdrew their children when they were dropped from the stipend receivers list. These parents were unaware of the rules for achieving the stipend and they became angry and  annoyed by the rules. They also claimed that rules are strictly followed in the cases of poor students and teachers showed biasness while distributing stipends. According to them, the students who take private tuitions from the teachers and the children of the rich and powerful people receive stipend even if they are irregular or have failed in exams. Many of the parents said with anger that the strictness of rules happens only for the poor. Thus even though the stipend programme has increased the enrolment rate it has also became a reason for dropping out of children. The people who have two or more children enrolled in school do not support the rule of Tk. 125 for two children. They feel that all of their children should receive Tk. 100 each. Some of the parents of the dropouts were very annoyed with this rule. Few dropout children had their siblings reading in the same schools as well, so the amount of money received from PESP due to this rule made the parents take different strategy. Although both children received stipend, many of these parents withdrew their eldest child from school and engaged them in work, while the other children continued studying as long as they receive stipend. It is difficult for a poor family to afford the opportunity cost of more then one child. Matrix 1—Knowledge, attitude and perception towards the primary education stipend project Key issues Students ParentsTeachersCommunity 1. Knowledge regarding the project. Selection criteriaFor poor and regular students, in primary school are eligible for stipendFor poor and regular students85% attendance and at least 45% pass marks in each subjects in all examsGiven to all poor and good students schools Retention CriteriaRegular attendance and at least pass marks in all examsRegular attendance and good result85% attendance and at least 50% pass marks in each subjects in all examsRegular attendance in school and good result Disbursement ProcessDistributed by bank officials or teachers to the students in school/nearby camps arranged for disbursement. Distributed from school and received by studentsDistributed from school or camps arranged by UPO in the presence of headmaster, class teacher, and SMC members Distributed by school among students 2. Attitude towards the projectBeneficial for all especially the poor. Helpful for allHighly beneficial particularly to the poor studentsHelpful for children Adequacy of stipend amount Disbursement processNot sufficient and should be increased ReasonableInadequate for expenses of direct and hidden costs but still helpful. ReasonableThough inadequate but helpful for the very poor students Though reasonable but takes a whole working day Key issuesStudentsParentsTeachersCommunity 3. Impact of the project Enrollment Attendance Increased, particularly for the poor students Increased a little Increased Increased a little Increased for all, and especially increased for poor students Attendance is still the same amongst poor students but in general increased a little Increased Probably more regular than before Dropout Completion rate Incidence of early marriage. Support towards female education Family pressure for marriage Social pressure for marriageDecreased High Still the same Same as before Still the same Still the sameLess than before Higher than before Still the same Increased a little Decreased a little Still the sameDecreased a little Higher than before Still the same Increased a little Still the same Still the sameDecreased a little Higher than before Still the same Increased Decreased a little Still the same Key issues Students ParentsTeachersCommunity 4. Problems regarding the project. Inadequate stipend amount Late distribution of text books Late disbursement of stipend Extortion of stipend money in forms of school fees and private tuitionInadequate stipend amount, Indirect cost of schooling (fees, uniform, cost of education aids), Late distribution of stipend Extortion of stipend money in forms of school fees and private tuitionInadequate stipend amount for the very poor students, Lack of training opportunities for teachers in the project Late disbursement of stipend money by the government Inadequate stipend amount 7. 3 IMPACTS ON BENEF.

Is torture ever Acceptable Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Is torture ever Acceptable - Essay Example The paper tells that the idea of torturing someone takes one to guess the account of investigative authorities. Torture is mostly done for the purpose of getting useful information which might be involved with a crime. Avid investigation through the aid of torture can lead to help saving lives and property. But at the same time, torturing someone who is not aware of the desired information will be an illegal attempt as it will violate rights of the individual. Proponents of torture being accepted as a legal way claim that torture is the only way to get the information from the criminals. It should be noted that criminals can be very dangerous as they plan brutal attacks on the innocent just for their interest. In such cases, investigative teams have no other options but to torture the suspected so that they can get the information regarding any mishap (Ball and Gready). This will not just save the private property but also save lives of people. If criminals will be aware of the fact that they can be brutally tortured then they are most likely to avoid their wrongdoings. This could be a threat to the criminal gangs who will have clear idea as to being charged for death penalty as a result of information being released by gang members for being tortured. The opponents on the other hand consider torture to be a morally incorrect approach to get the information from the suspects. It has been argument that at times the suspect can be someone who is not aware of the issue.... It should be noted that the proponents of the torture being acceptable have made use of the word intensity in the debate many times. This means that the investigative teams have been using a certain degree of torture to get the information necessary for the execution of the case. Most notably, it has been stated that criminals are not killed for the need of information but they are rather beaten to some intensity (Huggins). This intensity of torture can vary from one case to another. The proponents believe that by such a claim, it becomes easy to understand that torture is a way to threaten a criminal to surrender to the police and help them in defusing any criminal plan which may affect people and property (DesAutels and Walker). Thus, from the above debate it can be said that the use of torture as a tool by the investigative is effective in getting necessary information for any terrorist’s attacks or some other criminal planning that will affect the humans and property. But on the other hand, many people have debated that usage of torture as a tool can be unfair in terms of morals and ethics. It is thus suggested that a certain degree of torture should be done. It is very important to get information from the criminals in case of saving lives of innocent people. It is thus understandable that one life at stake is better than putting many other innocent lives on stakes. It is also suggested that the intensity of the torture is confined to certain degree. The mental threat is considered effective in changing the minds of the criminals. Another most important postulate that needs understanding and attention of the investigative teams is that suspects must not be innocent people. Torturing an innocent

Final paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Final - Research Paper Example In order to grasp a clear understanding regarding the subject matter, a thorough yet simultaneous discussion will be conducted in the paper. It will show views of different historians about the reconstruction being a very imperative subject in the lives of African Americans. The significance of discussing this topic is because this was an era when major changes in the lives of African Americans took place. As a matter of fact, some of the white Americans were not able to agree with the fact that African Americans were going to gain equality by taking up jobs in the government, etc. It is imperative to understand reconstruction era before assessing the possible impact that it had on the lives of African Americans. A number of Acts were passed while this era as a number of cases was files regarding rights of African Americans and the liabilities of the white Americans to bring equality and stability within the society. Famous African American leaders were able to put forward their mandate or agenda in front of the American government to prove their mindsets and approaches towards bringing stability in the American societies. Herein, it should also be noted that the research conducted so far on the subject of reconstruction remains debated. There seems to be a lot of consensuses when it comes to the success of reconstruction (Gao). It should be noted that despite the fact reconstruction era was commissioned in order to provide a new way of living for America, it continued to spread tensions between the whites and blacks. It was noticed that during the reconstruction era, difference of social class remained high where the entitlement to natives and immigrants was also marked as a root of discord. The improvements that were more likely to take place for African Americans were in the governmental sector. For instance, African Americans were given a head start to work in the politics within the Southern region. However, many writers and historians claim

Difference between Liberalism and Socialism Essay

Difference between Liberalism and Socialism - Essay Example Socialism advocates for total control of resources that contribute to political and economic development. Only through such control, can the state achieve true success and economic prosperity of its people (Hinnfors, 2006). Introduction History and Political Science What is the difference between liberalism and socialism? Through socialism, most of the individuals in a nation are highly likely to be provided for in terms of basic resources. The government in a socialist system is also highly likely to ensure that the people of the nation have all needed social amenities. Socialism is likely to ensure that all the available wealth in a nation has been equally distributed regardless of economic state held by the country’s nationals. However, some of the socialist systems that have been observed in most countries have not been as efficient as they were originally meant to be. If the individuals in the government happen to be corrupt, it is the innocent nationals of a country that suffer since the wealth in the nation does not get distributed as it should be (Mcdonald, 2008). There are different forms of liberalism that are used in the learning fields. This paper will focus on the classical form of liberalism and its views. Liberalism dictates that the governing power should only be in charge of institutions in the country if there is no recorded progress. Individuals that support liberalism feel that the people of a nation are likely to have more freedom if the government is only involved in the control of some institutions (Tamanaha, 2004). What are the basic components and goals of a liberalist government? (Based on the ideas of J.S. Mill, Adam Smith and John Locke) Liberalist governments view the needs and wants of their people as being the most important. The government encourages a system whereby individuals are made to feel free in their environment. There is freedom of speech and other constitutional rights to encourage harmony in the society (Tamana ha, 2004). Liberalist governments are based on the ideals of liberty and equality. The main components of liberalist governments include the freedoms of speech, free elections and right to life and own property. According to John Locke, each individual should have the right to life, own property and liberty. Another component is the rejection of absolute monarchies, state religion and the divine right of kings. J.S Mill asserts that an individual should have the right to do harm on himself or herself as long as he is not harming other people. ((Mcdonald, 2008). Adam Smith, in his work on wealth of nations, he asserted that governments should ensure economic liberalism by not interfering with the markets. He opposed restrictive trade practices, subsidies to government monopolies and trade unions. According to liberalist goals, the selfish interests of individuals will make the economic markets self-regulate. However, Adam Smith argued that the government had limited role in the provi sion of public goods like schools and roads that cannot be provided adequately by the private sector. Adam Smith maintained such costs should be charged to citizens proportionately according to their consumption through tolls ((Mcdonald, 2008). Individuals such as John Locke were on the front in encouraging the adoption of liberalism in governing systems. Liberalism supports the giving of power to the people in communities. Individuals are ideally free to communicate their satisfaction/ dissatisfaction with a government and demand for a democratic way of governing. According to Locke, individuals are entitled to ownership of any form of rights, rights or freedom. A

Initial Public Offering (IPO) Research Proposal

Initial Public Offering (IPO) - Research Proposal Example The present research study is a detailed examination of the under pricing and long term performance of 20 IPOs in Indian market listed on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) or National Stock Exchange (NSE)or both. The paper attempts to investigate both under pricing and under performance of IPOs in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) for a period of one year. Initial Public Offering under pricing and long run poor performance of common stock has been an unresolved puzzle in the financial literature for many years. Researchers and practitioners have attempted many times to explore a theoretical base to explain the behaviour of IPO market in the history of capital market. But, after each study the findings seem to be totally different from that of the previous ones. No single study could explore all the issues connected with IPOs. The present study is an attempt to investigate into the under pricing phenomenon and the long-run performance of IPOs in Indian capital market during the period beginning from August 1st 2007 to August 11th 2008. The study takes only those IPOs which have been priced using book building procedure and listed on Bombay Stock Exchange or National Stock Exchange or both. This paper developed by Randolph P. Beatty & Jay R. Ritter involves two propositions. ... ng and the uncertainty of investors regarding its value are monotonously related and investment bankers enforce the resulting under pricing equilibrium. The empirical evidence support that when the investors lose on account of non receipt of initial return (no under pricing) and issuers will lose when there is too much of under pricing and thus forfeit the value of its reputation capital. Anatomy of Initial Public Offerings of Common Stock- Tinic, Seha M In this paper, Tinic and Seha M demonstrate the anatomy of IPOs. The paper revolves around the hypothesis that under pricing serves as a form of insurance against legal liability and the associated damages to the reputations of investment bankers. The authors, after their empirical study reveal observe that there are implicit support after t he Securities Act of 1933, for the implicit insurance hypothesis. They have located a relationship between gross under pricing and market segmentation among prestigious and fringe investment bankers in the post-1933 period. The Under pricing of Initial Public Offerings and the Partial Adjustment Phenomenon- Kathleen Weiss Hanley In this research paper, the authors demonstrate the relationship between the final offer price disclosed in the preliminary prospectus and the range of anticipated offer prices. They observe that these prices are a good predictor of initial returns. The authors conclude that "issues that have final offer prices which exceed the limits of the offer range have greater under pricing than all other initial public offerings, and are also more likely to increase the number of shares issued" (Hanley, 1993). The Opening Price Performance of Initial Public Offerings of Common Stock, by Christopher B. Barry and Robert H. Jennings In this article, the authors

Feasibility study for Creating my own business where I buy and sell Research Paper

Feasibility study for Creating my own business where I buy and sell homes, I will hire employees and need the funding - Research Paper Example Currently the concept of entrepreneurship is widely accepted and is judged as a vital part of the contemporary world and a well established erudite discipline (Thompson 35-50). Moreover, government of a number of countries also judge entrepreneurship as a mantra for success and development of the economy. The present study aims to evaluate feasibility of a new business venture. it will include buying and selling of homes and will come under real estate sector. Also, employees will be recruited for the business and funding will be provided with government institutions such as banks. The study will evaluate the various factors influencing a real estate business. These include operations, economical, marketing, financial etc. Also support services required for overall establishment of the business will be discussed. The target market for the business will be discussed and a systematic analysis of business strategies will be done. Target market One of the foundations of building a good b usiness is finding out clients. As it is commonly said, until we know whom to sell, it is almost impossible to know how to sell. Choosing a target market not only helps to focus on a niche segment, but also helps in fine tuning the support services to suit the target market needs. In order to define a niche target market, two broad categories can be established. Income levels and life stage The first target groups in this category are first time sellers or buyers. The probable home they seek will be of basic design and construction and afterwards working their way up in the property ladder as their income, family and needs grow. The next target group will be customers purchasing a second home who either are looking to downside or upsize. Other target group will be high end expensive and luxury seller or buyer. Doing business with these clients will mean higher commission, high amount of hand-holding and personal involvement, monetary risk and expensive collaterals (Beri 46-69). Apar t from the above, there are recreational buyers who need highly specialized and unique areas of focus. Demographics According to age demographics, clients can be divided into seniors, gen X and gen Y. accordingly, different business tactics can be made in order to attract these demographics into the business. While it is clear that seniors will look for a more traditional and ethnic style, gen X will be contemporary and evolving while gen Y will be technologically oriented (Croft 35-50). Each of the groups discussed above have their collective individuality, cultural icons, memories that can be worked with. Another criterion which can be added is through philosophy and lifestyle which may include country or city, a detached or fully integrated lifestyle, an eco-friendly environment or a home with full amenities (Hoagland and Williamson 57-75). Apart from that, business can also consider factors such as current location of the clients, real estate as well as educational levels of cli ents. In order to facilitate the process of acquiring right target market, the business can also

Earthcare PKG Final Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Earthcare PKG Final - Research Paper Example Eventually, people started using ways that were more elaborate when dealing with their trash. Although recycling has numerous benefits on the environment, it is not always a good thing. This paper will first discuss the positive effects that recycling has before discussing some of the negative effects that the process has (McKinney, 2007). Recycling involves processing waste material so that they can become reusable. This is important in energy conservation and reduction of natural resources consumption. When it comes to saving the environment, recycling used products is considered one of the best ways. In order to avoid environmental harm, recycling is very important. Used newspapers, glass and plastic bottles can be recycled effectively to make items that are useful (Ohlman, 2009). First, recycling protects the environment. For example, it is common knowledge that paper comes from trees. When the demand for paper goes up, it would be necessary for more trees to be cut so that more paper can be produced. Recycling paper, therefore, means that destruction of more trees can be prevented (Warner, 2011). Currently, many forests are being cleared so that the demand of paper, which is ever increasing, can be met. By recycling those products that are made from raw materials, natural resources can be saved. When a ton of newspaper or mixed paper is recycled, that translates to saving around 12 trees. A lot of raw material is saved when people recycle things. It reduces the necessity for raw materials like oil, forests and metals, and this reduces the impact of humans on the environment. Recycling also reduces the impact of humans on climate change. Although energy is used in the process of recycling, it greatly reduces climate emissions (Watson, 2009). Recycling also creates jobs. From reprocessing of recyclables, sorting, kerbside collection and composting, recycling

Cleveland Apollo Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cleveland Apollo - Assignment Example This rampant concern about the ethical acquisition of antiquities has been the outcome of the widespread demands being made by the varied governments for the return of antiquities acquired by museums and collectors through unethical and illegal means and procedures, and the associated high profile trials. In that context the Cleveland Museum of Art’s acquisition of the statue of Apollo attributed to Praxiteles has attracted much controversy owing to the intriguing nature of its acquisition (Litt, 2010). Keeping in mind the existent ethics and international laws pertaining to the acquisitions of antiquities, it will certainly be apt to say that for the time the Cleveland Museum of Art must desist from displaying this statue of Apollo. The Cleveland Museum of Art acquired the controversial statue in 2004. Since then this statue has attracted much controversy. The museum is believed to have paid approximately $5 million to acquire this statue from Phoenix Ancient Art. This statut e is noted to be seen on an estate in Germany in the 30s and was noted to have stayed there before it was purchased by a Dutch antique collector in 1994 (Litt, 2010). After that the statute remained unseen for quite some time till it was traced to the Phoenix Ancient Art in 2002 (Cultural Heritage Resource, 2013). ... Thereby, the much plausible premise that ensues from the statement made by the Phoenix Ancient Art is that the firm was well aware of the statute’s past ownership history till it acquired it in 2002. This brings the acquisition of the Apollo statute by the Cleveland Museum of Art in direct confrontation with the established authorities and bodies of specialty, which have promulgated well specified ethical guidelines and ethical codes pertaining to the acquisition of antiquities. It will be academically quite insightful to delve into the guidelines published by these bodies of concern. The things is that any ethical museum or organization needs to stick to the guidelines ensuing from the UNESCO Convention aimed at prohibiting the unethical and illegal import and export of the cultural antiquities. As per the 1970 UNESCO Convention, the cultural antiquities need to be acquired in consonance with the international laws and the domestic laws imminent on the sale and purchase of su ch works of art (UNESCO, 2012)). Thereby, in a legal context this Convention debars the import of any antiquity into the United States of America that did not get out of the jurisdiction of its country of origin at a time that was not prior to the date when the restrictions were imposed, or any artifact that is not accompanied by an export license issued by its country of origin (Archaeological Institute of America (a), 2013). Now when one takes the UNESCO guidelines into consideration it does need to be mentioned that as per EC Regulation 3911/92, the export of any cultural antiquity that was traced in the jurisdiction of any EU member state in 1994 needs to be accompanied by an export license (Cultural Heritage Resource, 2013). This stands to be

Wine production and tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Wine production and tourism - Essay Example Focusing on wine tourism as a growing area of business, the researcher laid the background on the premise that, the key to the continued growth and success of wineries in the world's wine producing region is in meeting customer's expectations and wine products attributes.Using an importance performance analysis, the study revealed how well an operation performs with respect to the attributes most important to guests. The study focused on 353 visitors to wineries and used modified SERVQUAL methodology; The study also offers a chance for the Tourists to taste wineries premium products.In recent years, the growth in tourism in the world's wine producing regions has grown rapidly. This has not only attracted the attention of researchers with increasing attention on various aspects of wine tourism, but has attracted the flow of international capital towards this direction. Wine tourism today is widely acknowledged as a growing area of special interest as agued by the researcher.The main p roblem statement of the research is defined within three folds. Firstly the study focused on visitors' perceptions of the service received at the cellar door-that is, at the winery-and the effect of that service on consumer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and long-term behavioral intention. The study addressed further, the issue of customer service in the emerging wine-tourism sector. Thus an important objective of the study is the definition of the concept of wine tourism as it analysed the linkages between wine quality and brand values, as well as the role of a visit to the cellar door in reinforcing these linkages. Another objective of this paper is the identification of the attributes of service quality as they apply to visits to wineries. 1.2 Research Methods and Design In the study, the researcher adopted a largely quantitative approach to identify significant trends among current visitors to wineries. The researcher however, criticized the method as not well suited to exploring the underlying symbolism or meaning of a visit to a winery34 or to gaining a deep understanding of the needs and motivations that lead individuals to visit a winery. Such an approach would form a future avenue of inquiry, and our quantitative survey may indicate questions that could usefully be explored with deeper qualitative research. 1.3 Findings of Research The researcher ran a series of T-tests and evaluated where mean performance scores differed significantly from the mean importance scores. The findings revealed a high degree of colinearity within the results for both the perception and the importance measures. According to the researcher, the result presented true accurate reflections of Visitor's perception when recorded. Results of the study also showed operators in the wineries are marginally underperforming as visitors proofed to be unhappy with the quality of wine offered for tasting, as most premium wines were out of stock and the wine tasting fees were high. The study came out with many exciting findings. The study first of all found out that Operators do seem to be experiencing some difficulty, though, with respect to the relational aspects of the cellar-door experience. This interesting finding reinforced the importance of

Audre Lorde Essay Example for Free

Audre Lorde Essay On page 388 of the class’s anthology there is a work by Audre Lorde entitled â€Å"Power. † What interests me about this work is how Lorde expressed her poem(s) with a meaningful purpose; she expresses and explores pride, love anger, fear, racial and sexual oppression, urban neglect and personal survival. In connection, the question that I want to research is, where does Audre Lorde get her inspiration to write? Audre Lorde a self-styled black, lesbian, warrior, poet; dedicated her life to addressing the injustices of racism, sexism and homophobia. She had a creative talent of confronting these issues through her writing. Audre writes poetry, essays and autobiographies, she has a great impact on American and African-American literature, feminist theory, and gender studies. Audre, whose original name was Audrey Geraldine Lorde; at the age of four she learned how to talk while she learned to read. Audre’s mother taught her to write and during that time Audre dislike the way her name was spelled, she didn’t like the tail of the â€Å"Y’ hanging down below the line, so she would omit it; she loved the evenness of Audre Lorde. This inspired Audre to write a part autobiography and part revisionary myth called Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. I loved the way she opens with a beautiful question of spiritual and intellectual indebtedness, â€Å"To whom do I owe the power behind my voice, what strength I have become, yeasting up like sudden blood from under the bruised skin’s blister? † Zami tells the story of- as Audre said it â€Å"coming out blackened and whole,† in the story she expresses her identity as a fierce black lesbian woman, she talks about becoming a loving woman, a poet, a creator of self-authored words and perceptions. In Lodre’s words â€Å"Zami† is a â€Å"biomythography† which is combining history, biography, and myth. She also focuses on her developing lesbian identity and her response to racism in the white feminist and gay communities, and to sexism and homophobia in the African American community. The elements that make the book so good are its personal honesty and lack of cockiness, characteristics that shine through her writing. When reading about her experiences and her life story she shows an exquisite imagery, she talks about her West Indian heritage and its shows in her pictures and use of words. In Lorde’s poem â€Å"Power† she uses her poetic prose to express her feelings of anger and fury over an unfortunate incident that happened in New York City in the late 1970’s. She expresses her outrage and disgust at a racist society that allowed a child’s death to be buried with no true justice. Growing up in Harlem Lorde understood the difficulties that people encountered when race was involved. In â€Å"Power† it seems like she is trying to use her poetic gift to stand up for these racial injustices and try to make a difference. She wanted to be heard, instead of just using rhetoric and the use of effective writing, it was like she was searching for the â€Å"power† she has as an African-American woman poet, to make people hear and really think about racial injustices. â€Å"Power† is a poem that has two different levels of meanings, literal and nonliteral. Literal because the narrative poem is literally about Clifford Glover, a ten year old African- American boy from Queens who was shot by a Caucasian police officer that was acquitted by a jury. Nonliteral, because it has a more poetic intent; Audre’s reaction and feelings of fury and disgust over that incident. She mixes this racial injustice with her own furious and unsatisfied feelings in this piece. When reading this poem I had to reread it a few times so I could really understand the emotions and meanings in each stanza. The first two stanzas are about Lorde’s feelings and images she sees due to this violent tragedy; she expresses her natural woman instinct that children must come first in a blunt and short poetic verse. The third stanza tells the story of Clifford Glover’s death and the proof of the racial insensitivity displayed by the police officer. The fourth stanza talks about the trial of the officer and the jury that granted him an acquittal. It was a jury made of mostly white men and one African- American woman. The last stanza goes back to Lorde’s feelings about the injustice that the boy received and her fury over it. She shares her thoughts of what awful acts she might perform if she doesn’t use her own power as an African- American woman with a poetic gift to find the difference in poetry and rhetoric. When Lorde heard the verdict she was so furious about the incident she thought she was going to drive her car into a wall, so she had to pull over and jot down her thoughts, which inspired her to write this poem. In conclusion the answer to my question is that Audre Lorde gets her inspiration to write from her personal life experiences, the wrongs that are being done around the world and the injusticeness that occurs till this day in our society. She feels the need to express her thoughts so that other people around can actually open their eyes to see what’s really going on in the world. I like that Lorde wasn’t afraid of what people may have thought about her writing as long as she expressed what she felt was right and honest. Anatol, Gisele Liza. Border Crossings in Audre Lordes Zami: Triangular Linkage of Identity and Desire. MaComere: Journal of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars 4 (2001): 130-41. Landy, Alice. The Heath Introduction to Literature sixth Ed. Boston, New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print The Lorde Compendium: Essay, Speeches, and Journals, introduction by Alice Walker, Pandora (London), 1996.

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and CDMA Advantages

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and CDMA Advantages INTRODUCTION ANALOG AND DIGITAL SIGNALS The signal is initially generated is in the form of an analog electrical voltage or current, produced for example by a microphone or some other type of transducer. The output from the readout system of a CD (compact disc) player, the data is already in digital form. An analog signal must be converted into digital form before DSP techniques can be applied. An analog electrical voltage signal, for example, can be digitized using an electronic circuit called an analog-to-digital converter or ADC. This generates a digital output as a stream of binary numbers whose values represent the electrical voltage input to the device at each sampling instant. Digital signal processing (DSP)-digital representation of signals and the use of digital processors to analyze, modify, or extract information from signals. Many signals in DSP are derived from analogue signals which have been sampled at regular intervals and converted into digital form. The key advantages of DSP over analogue processing are Guaranteed accuracy (determined by the number of bits used) Perfect reproducibility No drift in performance due to temperature or age Takes advantage of advances in semiconductor technology Greater flexibility (can be reprogrammed without modifying hardware) Superior performance (linear phase response possible, and filtering algorithms can be made adaptive) Sometimes information may already be in digital form. There are however (still) some disadvantages Speed and cost (DSP design and hardware may be expensive, especially with high bandwidth signals) Finite word length problems (limited number of bits may cause degradation). Application areas of DSP are considerable: Image processing (pattern recognition, robotic vision, image enhancement, facsimile, satellite weather map, animation) Instrumentation and control (spectrum analysis, position and rate control, noise reduction, data compression) Speech and audio (speech recognition, speech synthesis, text to speech, digital audio, equalisation) Military (secure communication, radar processing, sonar processing, missile guidance) Telecommunications (echo cancellation, adaptive equalisation, spread spectrum, video conferencing, data communication) Biomedical (patient monitoring, scanners, EEG brain mappers, ECG analysis, X-ray storage and enhancement). INTRODUCTION TO CDMA Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a radically new concept in wireless communications. It has gained widespread international acceptance by cellular radio system operators as an upgrade that will dramatically increase both their system capacity and the service quality. It has likewise been chosen for deployment by the majority of the winners of the United States Personal Communications System spectrum auctions. It may seem, however, mysterious for those who arent familiar with it. CDMA is a form of spread-spectrum, a family of digital communication techniques that have been used in military applications for many years. The core principle of spread spectrum is the use of noise-like carrier waves, and, as the name implies, bandwidths much wider than that required for simple point-to-point communication at the same data rate. Originally there were two motivations: either to resist enemy efforts to jam the communications (anti-jam, or AJ), or to hide the fact that communication was even taking place, sometimes called low probability of intercept (LPI). It has a history that goes back to the early days of World War II. The use of CDMA for civilian mobile radio applications is novel. It was proposed theoretically in the late 1940s, but the practical application in the civilian marketplace did not take place until 40 years later. Commercial applications became possible because of two evolutionary developments. One was the availability of very low cost, high density digital integrated circuits, which reduce the size, weight, and cost of the subscriber stations to an acceptably low level. The other was the realization that optimal multiple access communication requires that all user stations regulate their transmitter powers to the lowest that will achieve adequate signal quality. CDMA changes the nature of the subscriber station from a predominately analog device to a predominately digital device. Old-fashioned radio receivers separate stations or channels by filtering in the frequency domain. CDMA receivers do not eliminate analog processing entirely, but they separate communication channels by means of a pseudorandom modulation that is applied and removed in the digital domain, not on the basis of frequency. Multiple users occupy the same frequency band. This universal frequency reuse is not fortuitous. On the contrary, it is crucial to the very high spectral efficiency that is the hallmark of CDMA. Other discussions in these pages show why this is true. CDMA is altering the face of cellular and PCS communication by: Dramatically improving the telephone traffic capacity Dramatically improving the voice quality and eliminating the audible effects of multipath fading Reducing the incidence of dropped calls due to handoff failures Providing reliable transport mechanism for data communications, such as facsimile and internet traffic Reducing the number of sites needed to support any given amount of traffic Simplifying site selection Reducing deployment and operating costs because fewer cell sites are needed Reducing average transmitted power Reducing interference to other electronic devices Reducing potential health risks Commercially introduced in 1995, CDMA quickly became one of the worlds fastest growing wireless technologies. In 1999, the International Telecommunications Union selected CDMA as the industry standard for new third-generation (3G) wireless systems. Many leading wireless carriers are now building or upgrading to 3G CDMA networks in order to provide more capacity for voice traffic, along with high-speed data capabilities. DS_CDMA Multiple access systems based on DS CDMA have achieved increasing significance for mobile communications applications. A promising concept is based on DS_CDMA applying MRC at the receiver. MRC takes advantage of the channel diversity to combat the multipath fading. However the capacity of a DS_CDMA system is limited by both multi-user interference and inter symbol interference ISI in high data rate applications. OFDM is applied to combat the frequency selectivity of the channel using a simple one tap equalizer Further more OFDM prevents the ISI and inter carrier interference ICI by inserting a guard interval between adjacent OFDM symbols OFDM is typically used for audio TV and HDTV transmission over terrestrial channels and achieves high spectral efficiency. The CMDA Technology overview FDMA In Frequency Division Multiple Access, the frequency band is divided in slots. Each user gets one frequency slot assigned that is used at will. It could be compared to AM or FM broadcasting radio where each station has a frequency assigned. FDMA demands good filtering. TDMA In Time Division Multiple Access, the frequency band is not partitioned but users are allowed to use it only in predefined intervals of time, one at a time. Thus, TDMA demands synchronization among the users. CDMA CDMA, for Code Division Multiple Access, is different from its traditional ways in which it does not allocate frequency or time in user slots but gives the right to use both to all users simultaneously. To do this, it uses a technique known as Spread Spectrum . In effect, each user is assigned a code,which spreads its signal bandwidth in such a way that only the same code can recover it at the receiver end. This method has the property that the unwanted signals with different codes get spread even more by the process, making them like noise to the receiver . Spread Spectrum Spread Spectrum is a mean of transmission where the data occupies a larger bandwidth than necessary. Bandwidth spreading is accomplished before the transmission through the use of a code, which is independent of the transmitted data. The same code is used to demodulate the data at the receiving end. The following figure illustrate the spreading done on the data signal x(t) by the spreading signal c(t) resulting in the message signal to be transmitted, m(t). Originally for military use to avoid jamming (interference created on purpose to make a communication channel unusable), spread spectrum modulation is now used in personal communication systems for its superior performance in an interference dominated environment . Definition of Spread Spectrum: A transmission technique in which a pseudo-noise code, independent of the information data, is employed as a modulation waveform to â€Å"spread† the signal energy over a bandwidth much greater than the signal information bandwidth. At the receiver the signal is â€Å"despread† using a synchronized replica of the pseudo-noise code. Basic Principle of Spread Spectrum System: The Principal types of Spread Spectrum are Direct Sequence (DS), and Frequency Hopping (FH). An over view of these systems is hereby given: Pseudo shift of the phase pseudo shift of the frequency Coherent demodulation noncoherent Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) A pseudo-noise sequence pnt generated at the modulator, is used in conjunction with an M-ary PSK modulation to shift the phase of the PSK signal pseudo randomly, at the chipping rate Rc (=1/Tc) a rate that is integer multiple of the symbol rate Rs (=1/Ts). The transmitted bandwidth is determined by the chip rate and by the base band filtering. The implementation limits the maximum chip rate Rc (clock rate) and thus the maximum spreading. The PSK modulation scheme requires a coherent demodulation. PN code length that is much longer than a data symbol, so that a different chip pattern is associated with each symbol. Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum A Pseudo-noise sequence pnt generated at the modulator is used in conjuction with an M-ary FSK modulation to shift the carrier frequency of the FSK signal pseudurandomly, at the hopping rate Rh. The transmitted signal occupies a number of frequencies in time, each for a period of time Th (= 1/Rh), referred as dwell time. FHSS divides the available bandwidth into N channels and hops between these channels according to the PN sequence. At each frequency hop time the PN generator feeds the frequency synthesizer a frequency word FW (a sequence of n chips) which dictates one of 2n frequency position fhl . Transmitter and receiver follows the same frequency hop pattern. The transmitted bandwidth is determined by the lowest and highest hop position by the bandwidth per hop position (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  fch). For a given hop, instantaneous occupied bandwidth is the conventional M-FSK, which is typically much smaller than Wss. So the FHSS signal is a narrowband signal, all transmission power is concentrated on one channel. Averaged over many hops, the FH/M-FSK spectrum occupies the entire spread spectrum bandwidth. Because the bandwidth of an FHSS system only depends on the tuning range, it can be hopped over a much wider bandwidth than an DSSS system. Since the hops generally result in phase discontinuity (depending on the particular implementation) a noncoherent demodulation is done at receiver. With slow hopping there are multiple data symbol per hop and with fast hopping there are multiple hops per data symbol. 3.3 Basic principle of Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum For BPSK modulation the building blocks of a DSSS system are: Input: Binary data dt with symbol rate Rs = 1/Ts (=bitrate Rb for BPSK) Pseudo-noise code pnt with chip rate Rc = 1/Tc (an integer of Rs) Spreading: In the transmitter, the binary data dt (for BPSK, I and Q for QPSK) is ‘directly multiplied with the PN sequence pnt , which is independent of the binary data, to produce the transmitted baseband signal txb: txb = dt . pnt The effect of multiplication of dt with a PN sequence is to spread the baseband bandwidth Rs of dt to a baseband bandwidth of Rc. Despreading: The spread spectrum signal cannot be detected by a conventional narrowband receiver. In the receiver, the baseband signal rxb is multiplied with the PN sequence pnr . If pnr = pnt and synchronized to the PN sequence in the received data, than the recovered binary data is produced on dr. The effect of multiplication of the spread spectrum signal rxb with the PN sequence pnt used in the transmitter is to despread the bandwidth of rxb to Rs . If pnr ≠  pnt , than there is no dispreading action. The signal dr has a spread spectrum. A receiver not knowing the PN sequence of the transmitter can not reproduce the transmitted data. Performance in the presence of interference: To simplify the presence of interference, the spread spectrum system is considered for baseband BPSK communication (without filtering). The received signal rxb of the transmitted signal txb plus an additive inteferance i (noise, other users, jammer,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦): rxb = t xb + i = dt . pnt + i To recover the original data dt the received signal rx0 is multiplied with a locally generated PN sequence pnr that is an exact replica of that used in the transmitter (that is pnr = pnt and synchronized) The multiplier output is therefore given by: dr = rxb . pnt = dt . pnt . pnt + i . pnt The data signal dt is multiplied twice by the PN sequence pnt , where as the unwanted inteferance i is multiplied only once. Due to the property of the PN sequence: pnt + pnt = +1 for all t The multiplier output becomes: dr = dt + i . pnt The data signal dr is reproduced at the multiplier output in the receiver, except for the inteferance represented by the additive term i . pnt . Multiplication of the inteferance by the locally generated PN sequence, means that the spreading code will affect the inteferance just as it did with the information bearing signal at the transmitter. Noise and inteferance, being uncorrelated with the PN sequence, becomes noise-like, increase in bandwidth and decrease in power density after the multiplier. After dispreading, the data component dt is narrow band (Rb) whereas the inteferance component is wideband (Rc). By applying the dr signal to a baseband (low-pass) filter with a band width just large enough to accommodate the recovery of the data signal, most of the inteferance component i is filtered out. The effect of inteferance is reduced by processing gain (Gp). Narrowband inteferance: The narrowband noise is spread by the multiplication with the PN sequence pnr of the receiver. The power density of the noise is reduced with respect to the despread data signal. Only 1/Gp of the original noise power is left in the information baseband (Rs). Spreading and dispreading enables a bandwidth trade for processing gain against narrow band interfering signals. Narrow band inteferance would disable conventional narrow band receivers. The essence behind the inteferance rejection capability of a spread spectrum system: the useful signal (data) gets multiplied twice by the PN sequence, but the inteferance signal get multiplied only once. Wideband interference: Multiplication of the received signal with the PN sequence of the receiver gets a selective despread of the data signal (smaller bandwidth, higher power density). The inteferance signal is uncorrelated with the PN sequence and is spread. Origin of wideband noise: Multiple Spread Spectrum user: multiple access mechanism. Gaussian Noise: There is no increase in SNR with spread spectrum: The large channel bandwidth (Rc instead of Rs) increase the received noise power with Gp: Ninfo = N0 . BWinfo à   Nss = N0 . BWss = Ninfo .Gp The spread spectrum signal has a lower power density than the directly transmitted signal. Code division multiple access (CDMA) is a methode of multiplexing (wireless) users distinct (orthogonal) codes. All users can transmit at the same time, and each is allocated the entire available frequency spectrum for transmission. CDMA is also known as Spread-Spectrum multiple access (SSMA). CDMA dose not require the bandwidth allocation of FDMA, nor the time synchronization of the individual users needed in TDMA. A CDMA user has full time and full bandwidth available, but the quality of the communication decreases with an increasing number of users (BER ). In CDMA each user: Has its own PN code Uses the same RF bandwidth Transmits simultaneously (asynchronous or synchronous) Correlation of the received baseband spread spectrum signal rxb with the PN sequence of user 1 only despreads the signal of user 1. The other user produces noise Nu for user 1. ACCESS SCHEMES For radio systems there are two resources, frequency and time. Division by frequency, so that each pair of communicators is allocated part of the spectrum for all of the time, results in Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). Division by time, so that each pair of communicators is allocated all (or at least a large part) of the spectrum for part of the time results in Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). In Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), every communicator will be allocated the entire spectrum all of the time. CDMA uses codes to identify connections. MULTIPATH AND RAKE RECEIVERS One of the main advantages of CDMA systems is the capability of using signals that arrive in the receivers with different time delays. This phenomenon is called multipath. FDMA and TDMA, which are narrow band systems, cannot discriminate between the multipath arrivals, and resort to equalization to mitigate the negative effects of multipath. Due to its wide bandwidth and rake receivers, CDMA uses the multipath signals and combines them to make an even stronger signal at the receivers. CDMA subscriber units use rake receivers. This is essentially a set of several receivers. One of the receivers (fingers) constantly searches for different multipaths and feeds the information to the other three fingers. Each finger then demodulates the signal corresponding to a strong multipath. The results are then combined together to make the signal stronger. Difference between TDMA vs CDMA. TDMA is Time Division Multiple Access, while CDMA is Code Division Multiple Access. Both technologies achieve the same goal of better utilization of the radio spectrum by allowing multiple users to share the same physical channel, but by using different methods and that is why the three of the four words in each acronym are identical. Both allow more than one person to carry out a conversation on the same frequency without causing interference. The two technologies differ in the way in which users share the common resource. In TDMA the channel is chopped up into sequential time slices. The data of each user is put on the channel in a round-robin fashion. In reality, only one user actually uses the channel at any given point of time, but he uses it only for short bursts. He then gives up the channel for a short duration to allow the other users to have their turn. This is similar to how a computer with just one processor runs multiple applications simultaneously. CDMA on the other hand allows everyone to transmit at the same time. With conventional methods of modulation techniques it would hav been simply not possible. What makes CDMA to allow all users to transmit simultaneously is a special type of digital modulation called Spread Spectrum. In this modulation technique users stream of bits is taken and splattered them across a very wide channel in a pseudo-random fashion. The pseudo part is very important here as at the receiver end the randomization must be undone in order to collect the bits together in a coherent order. For example consider a room full of couples, and each couple trying to carry on one-on-one conversations. In TDMA each couple takes their turn for talking and they keep their turns short by speaking only one sentence at a time. As there is always more one person speaking in the room at any given point of time, no one has to worry about being heard over the background din. In CDMA assume each couple talks simultaneously, but they all use different languages. The background din doesnt cause any real problem as none of the listeners understand any language other than that of the individual to whom they are listening. Voice Encoding At this point many people confuse two distinctly different issues involved in the transmission of digital audio. The first is the WAY in which the stream of bits is delivered from one end to the other. This part of the air interface is what makes one technology different from another. The second is the compression algorithm used to squeeze the audio into as small a stream of bits as possible. This latter component is known at the Voice Coder, or Vocoder for short. Another term commonly used is CODEC, which is a similar word to modem. It combines the terms COder and DECoder. Although each technology has chosen their own unique CODECs, there is no rule saying that one transmission method needs to use a specific CODEC. People often lump a technologys transmission method with its CODEC as though they were single entities. Voice encoding schemes differ slightly in their approach to the problem. Because of this, certain types of human voice work better with some CODECs than they do with others. The point to remember is that all PCS CODECs are compromises of some sort. Since human voices have such a fantastic range of pitch and tonal depth, one cannot expect any single compromise to handle each one equally well. This inability to cope with all types of voice at the same level does lead some people to choose one technology over another. All of the PCS technologies try to minimize battery consumption during calls by keeping the transmission of unnecessary data to a minimum. The phone decides whether or not you are presently speaking, or if the sound it hears is just background noise. If the phone determines that there is no intelligent data to transmit it blanks the audio and it reduces the transmitter duty cycle (in the case of TDMA) or the number of transmitted bits (in the case of CDMA). When the audio is blanked your caller would suddenly find themselves listening to dead air, and this may cause them to think the call has dropped. To avoid this psychological problem many service providers insert what is known as Comfort Noise during the blanked periods. Comfort Noise is synthesized white noise that tries to mimic the volume and structure of the real background noise. This fake background noise assures the caller that the connection is alive and well. However, in newer CODECs such as EVRC (used exclusively on CDMA systems) the background noise is generally suppressed even while the user is talking. This piece of magic makes it sound as though the cell phone user is not in a noisy environment at all. Under these conditions, Comfort Noise is neither necessary, nor desirable. DS-CDMA-INTRODUCTION While multiple access interference (MAI) by other users has been recognized as the capacity-limiting factor in direct sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA)-based cellular communication systems, multiuser approaches have largely alleviated the problem when the noise process is additive Gaussian. With the availability of multiuser detectors, inaccurate or inappropriate noise modelling assumptions seem to have become the issue again. Whereas multiuser detection has much to offer in the mobile- to-base station uplink, it does not at present appear to be feasible for the downlink due to the complexity involved and the lack of resistance against adjacent cell interference. Moreover, the few multiuser proposals for the downlink require the knowledge of all spreading codes, which is not possible in the tactical military environment, for instance. Enhanced single-user receivers equipped with adaptive filter banks deliver promising performance with reasonable complexity, especially in slowly varying channels. Thus, the performance of single-user detectors is still of interest, particularly in the presence of non-Gaussian noise. In both urban outdoor and indoor mobile radio environments, electromagnetic interference generated by man-made sources such as factories or power lines causes the noise to be of non-Gaussian nature. Large noise magnitudes are deemed very improbable by linear receivers, and consequently performance deterioration is experienced. It is therefore desirable to build systems that can maintain respectable functionality under a broad class of noise distributions, rather than strictly optimizing for the unrealistic Gaussian assumption. Such is the goal of robust detection and estimation theory, which aims to design systems that are suboptimal under nominal channel conditions (e.g., Gaussian channel) and yet do not face catastrophy when the noise distribution is not nominal (e.g., unlike linear schemes). Note that suboptimality here refers to very good performance that is slightly worse than that of the nominal-optimal detector/estimator. The direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) technique has been favourably considered for application in digital mobile cellular networks due to its potential to provide higher system capacity over conventional multiple access techniques. Unlike FDMA and TDMA capacities which are mostly limited by the bandwidth, the capacity of a CDMA system is mainly restricted by its interference level. Any reduction in interference produces a direct and linear increase in system capacity. Multiple access interference (MAI) caused by non-zero cross-correlation between different spreading sequences is the major type of interference limiting the CDMA system capacity. Much work has been done to characterize MAI, and to analyze and evaluate the CDMA system performance in the presence of MAI. Since the cross-correlation properties of most sets of spreading codes are either too complex to analyze or very difficult to compute when different transmissions are not synchronized, a random seque nce model. In the case of moderate to large processing gains, Gaussian distribution with variable variance is a good approximation for the MAI distribution. One of the approaches to reduce MAI is to employ orthogonal spreading sequences, and try to synchronize the transmissions at the chip level (quasi-synchronization). However, this is generally difficult to achieve in multipoint-to-point systems, such as the reverse link (mobile-to-base) of a cellular system, due to a lack of synchronization of the various mobile terminals, and the variable transmission delays. In this paper, a multi-carrier DS-CDMA (MCDS-CDMA) scheme is employed to facilitate the synchronization process, and thus reduce MAI. SYSTEM MODEL A model of the MS-DS-CDMA system for the kth user of a CDMA system is shown in the figure 1. TRANMSITTER MODEL At the transmitter the user‘s data stream dk(t) is divided into M interleaved sub streams and spread by a spreading sequence ck(t) to a fraction 1/M of the entire transmission bandwidth W. The resultant chip sequences are then used to modulate M carrier. The carrier frequencies ωm,m=1,2,M are equally spaced by the chip rate so that they are mutually orthogonal over one channel symbol interval T. Let R be the information rate and Rc be the carrier control code rate then the channel symbol interval is BER PERFORMANCE: MC-DS-CDMA system performance measured by bit error rate through analysis and simulation. Analysis: The BER is analysed based on the following: Ortoganal spreading sequences with rectangular pulse shape are applied. ÃŽ ¶k,k=1†¦K are independent of random variables distributd in (-ÃŽ ¶D,ÃŽ ¶D) WHERE ÃŽ ¶D=ÃŽ µD+Ï‚D.Given W and ÃŽ ¶D,M is chosen so that ÃŽ ¶D It is assumed that the fading parameters of the desired user . It is perfectly estimated so that the coherent detection and optimum soft decision decoding could be carried out at the receiver to make the problem analytically tractable. The fading amplitudes as independent Rayleigh random variables with equal second moments. The model is MATLAB INTRODUCTION: Matlab is a commercial Matrix Laboratory package which operates as an interactive programming environment. It is a mainstay of the Mathematics Department software lineup and is also available for PCs and Macintoshes and may be found on the CIRCA VAXes. Matlab is well adapted to numerical experiments since the underlying algorithms for Matlabs builtin functions and supplied m-files are based on the standard libraries LINPACK and EISPACK. Matlab program and script files always have filenames ending with .m; the programming language is exceptionally straightforward since almost every data object is assumed to be an array. Graphical output is available to supplement numerical results. IMREAD Read image from graphics file. A = IMREAD(FILENAME,FMT) reads a grayscale or color image from the file specified by the string FILENAME. If the file is not in the current directory, or in a directory on the MATLAB path, specify the full pathname. The text string FMT specifies the format of the file by its standard file extension. For example, specify gif Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and CDMA Advantages Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and CDMA Advantages INTRODUCTION ANALOG AND DIGITAL SIGNALS The signal is initially generated is in the form of an analog electrical voltage or current, produced for example by a microphone or some other type of transducer. The output from the readout system of a CD (compact disc) player, the data is already in digital form. An analog signal must be converted into digital form before DSP techniques can be applied. An analog electrical voltage signal, for example, can be digitized using an electronic circuit called an analog-to-digital converter or ADC. This generates a digital output as a stream of binary numbers whose values represent the electrical voltage input to the device at each sampling instant. Digital signal processing (DSP)-digital representation of signals and the use of digital processors to analyze, modify, or extract information from signals. Many signals in DSP are derived from analogue signals which have been sampled at regular intervals and converted into digital form. The key advantages of DSP over analogue processing are Guaranteed accuracy (determined by the number of bits used) Perfect reproducibility No drift in performance due to temperature or age Takes advantage of advances in semiconductor technology Greater flexibility (can be reprogrammed without modifying hardware) Superior performance (linear phase response possible, and filtering algorithms can be made adaptive) Sometimes information may already be in digital form. There are however (still) some disadvantages Speed and cost (DSP design and hardware may be expensive, especially with high bandwidth signals) Finite word length problems (limited number of bits may cause degradation). Application areas of DSP are considerable: Image processing (pattern recognition, robotic vision, image enhancement, facsimile, satellite weather map, animation) Instrumentation and control (spectrum analysis, position and rate control, noise reduction, data compression) Speech and audio (speech recognition, speech synthesis, text to speech, digital audio, equalisation) Military (secure communication, radar processing, sonar processing, missile guidance) Telecommunications (echo cancellation, adaptive equalisation, spread spectrum, video conferencing, data communication) Biomedical (patient monitoring, scanners, EEG brain mappers, ECG analysis, X-ray storage and enhancement). INTRODUCTION TO CDMA Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a radically new concept in wireless communications. It has gained widespread international acceptance by cellular radio system operators as an upgrade that will dramatically increase both their system capacity and the service quality. It has likewise been chosen for deployment by the majority of the winners of the United States Personal Communications System spectrum auctions. It may seem, however, mysterious for those who arent familiar with it. CDMA is a form of spread-spectrum, a family of digital communication techniques that have been used in military applications for many years. The core principle of spread spectrum is the use of noise-like carrier waves, and, as the name implies, bandwidths much wider than that required for simple point-to-point communication at the same data rate. Originally there were two motivations: either to resist enemy efforts to jam the communications (anti-jam, or AJ), or to hide the fact that communication was even taking place, sometimes called low probability of intercept (LPI). It has a history that goes back to the early days of World War II. The use of CDMA for civilian mobile radio applications is novel. It was proposed theoretically in the late 1940s, but the practical application in the civilian marketplace did not take place until 40 years later. Commercial applications became possible because of two evolutionary developments. One was the availability of very low cost, high density digital integrated circuits, which reduce the size, weight, and cost of the subscriber stations to an acceptably low level. The other was the realization that optimal multiple access communication requires that all user stations regulate their transmitter powers to the lowest that will achieve adequate signal quality. CDMA changes the nature of the subscriber station from a predominately analog device to a predominately digital device. Old-fashioned radio receivers separate stations or channels by filtering in the frequency domain. CDMA receivers do not eliminate analog processing entirely, but they separate communication channels by means of a pseudorandom modulation that is applied and removed in the digital domain, not on the basis of frequency. Multiple users occupy the same frequency band. This universal frequency reuse is not fortuitous. On the contrary, it is crucial to the very high spectral efficiency that is the hallmark of CDMA. Other discussions in these pages show why this is true. CDMA is altering the face of cellular and PCS communication by: Dramatically improving the telephone traffic capacity Dramatically improving the voice quality and eliminating the audible effects of multipath fading Reducing the incidence of dropped calls due to handoff failures Providing reliable transport mechanism for data communications, such as facsimile and internet traffic Reducing the number of sites needed to support any given amount of traffic Simplifying site selection Reducing deployment and operating costs because fewer cell sites are needed Reducing average transmitted power Reducing interference to other electronic devices Reducing potential health risks Commercially introduced in 1995, CDMA quickly became one of the worlds fastest growing wireless technologies. In 1999, the International Telecommunications Union selected CDMA as the industry standard for new third-generation (3G) wireless systems. Many leading wireless carriers are now building or upgrading to 3G CDMA networks in order to provide more capacity for voice traffic, along with high-speed data capabilities. DS_CDMA Multiple access systems based on DS CDMA have achieved increasing significance for mobile communications applications. A promising concept is based on DS_CDMA applying MRC at the receiver. MRC takes advantage of the channel diversity to combat the multipath fading. However the capacity of a DS_CDMA system is limited by both multi-user interference and inter symbol interference ISI in high data rate applications. OFDM is applied to combat the frequency selectivity of the channel using a simple one tap equalizer Further more OFDM prevents the ISI and inter carrier interference ICI by inserting a guard interval between adjacent OFDM symbols OFDM is typically used for audio TV and HDTV transmission over terrestrial channels and achieves high spectral efficiency. The CMDA Technology overview FDMA In Frequency Division Multiple Access, the frequency band is divided in slots. Each user gets one frequency slot assigned that is used at will. It could be compared to AM or FM broadcasting radio where each station has a frequency assigned. FDMA demands good filtering. TDMA In Time Division Multiple Access, the frequency band is not partitioned but users are allowed to use it only in predefined intervals of time, one at a time. Thus, TDMA demands synchronization among the users. CDMA CDMA, for Code Division Multiple Access, is different from its traditional ways in which it does not allocate frequency or time in user slots but gives the right to use both to all users simultaneously. To do this, it uses a technique known as Spread Spectrum . In effect, each user is assigned a code,which spreads its signal bandwidth in such a way that only the same code can recover it at the receiver end. This method has the property that the unwanted signals with different codes get spread even more by the process, making them like noise to the receiver . Spread Spectrum Spread Spectrum is a mean of transmission where the data occupies a larger bandwidth than necessary. Bandwidth spreading is accomplished before the transmission through the use of a code, which is independent of the transmitted data. The same code is used to demodulate the data at the receiving end. The following figure illustrate the spreading done on the data signal x(t) by the spreading signal c(t) resulting in the message signal to be transmitted, m(t). Originally for military use to avoid jamming (interference created on purpose to make a communication channel unusable), spread spectrum modulation is now used in personal communication systems for its superior performance in an interference dominated environment . Definition of Spread Spectrum: A transmission technique in which a pseudo-noise code, independent of the information data, is employed as a modulation waveform to â€Å"spread† the signal energy over a bandwidth much greater than the signal information bandwidth. At the receiver the signal is â€Å"despread† using a synchronized replica of the pseudo-noise code. Basic Principle of Spread Spectrum System: The Principal types of Spread Spectrum are Direct Sequence (DS), and Frequency Hopping (FH). An over view of these systems is hereby given: Pseudo shift of the phase pseudo shift of the frequency Coherent demodulation noncoherent Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) A pseudo-noise sequence pnt generated at the modulator, is used in conjunction with an M-ary PSK modulation to shift the phase of the PSK signal pseudo randomly, at the chipping rate Rc (=1/Tc) a rate that is integer multiple of the symbol rate Rs (=1/Ts). The transmitted bandwidth is determined by the chip rate and by the base band filtering. The implementation limits the maximum chip rate Rc (clock rate) and thus the maximum spreading. The PSK modulation scheme requires a coherent demodulation. PN code length that is much longer than a data symbol, so that a different chip pattern is associated with each symbol. Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum A Pseudo-noise sequence pnt generated at the modulator is used in conjuction with an M-ary FSK modulation to shift the carrier frequency of the FSK signal pseudurandomly, at the hopping rate Rh. The transmitted signal occupies a number of frequencies in time, each for a period of time Th (= 1/Rh), referred as dwell time. FHSS divides the available bandwidth into N channels and hops between these channels according to the PN sequence. At each frequency hop time the PN generator feeds the frequency synthesizer a frequency word FW (a sequence of n chips) which dictates one of 2n frequency position fhl . Transmitter and receiver follows the same frequency hop pattern. The transmitted bandwidth is determined by the lowest and highest hop position by the bandwidth per hop position (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  fch). For a given hop, instantaneous occupied bandwidth is the conventional M-FSK, which is typically much smaller than Wss. So the FHSS signal is a narrowband signal, all transmission power is concentrated on one channel. Averaged over many hops, the FH/M-FSK spectrum occupies the entire spread spectrum bandwidth. Because the bandwidth of an FHSS system only depends on the tuning range, it can be hopped over a much wider bandwidth than an DSSS system. Since the hops generally result in phase discontinuity (depending on the particular implementation) a noncoherent demodulation is done at receiver. With slow hopping there are multiple data symbol per hop and with fast hopping there are multiple hops per data symbol. 3.3 Basic principle of Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum For BPSK modulation the building blocks of a DSSS system are: Input: Binary data dt with symbol rate Rs = 1/Ts (=bitrate Rb for BPSK) Pseudo-noise code pnt with chip rate Rc = 1/Tc (an integer of Rs) Spreading: In the transmitter, the binary data dt (for BPSK, I and Q for QPSK) is ‘directly multiplied with the PN sequence pnt , which is independent of the binary data, to produce the transmitted baseband signal txb: txb = dt . pnt The effect of multiplication of dt with a PN sequence is to spread the baseband bandwidth Rs of dt to a baseband bandwidth of Rc. Despreading: The spread spectrum signal cannot be detected by a conventional narrowband receiver. In the receiver, the baseband signal rxb is multiplied with the PN sequence pnr . If pnr = pnt and synchronized to the PN sequence in the received data, than the recovered binary data is produced on dr. The effect of multiplication of the spread spectrum signal rxb with the PN sequence pnt used in the transmitter is to despread the bandwidth of rxb to Rs . If pnr ≠  pnt , than there is no dispreading action. The signal dr has a spread spectrum. A receiver not knowing the PN sequence of the transmitter can not reproduce the transmitted data. Performance in the presence of interference: To simplify the presence of interference, the spread spectrum system is considered for baseband BPSK communication (without filtering). The received signal rxb of the transmitted signal txb plus an additive inteferance i (noise, other users, jammer,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦): rxb = t xb + i = dt . pnt + i To recover the original data dt the received signal rx0 is multiplied with a locally generated PN sequence pnr that is an exact replica of that used in the transmitter (that is pnr = pnt and synchronized) The multiplier output is therefore given by: dr = rxb . pnt = dt . pnt . pnt + i . pnt The data signal dt is multiplied twice by the PN sequence pnt , where as the unwanted inteferance i is multiplied only once. Due to the property of the PN sequence: pnt + pnt = +1 for all t The multiplier output becomes: dr = dt + i . pnt The data signal dr is reproduced at the multiplier output in the receiver, except for the inteferance represented by the additive term i . pnt . Multiplication of the inteferance by the locally generated PN sequence, means that the spreading code will affect the inteferance just as it did with the information bearing signal at the transmitter. Noise and inteferance, being uncorrelated with the PN sequence, becomes noise-like, increase in bandwidth and decrease in power density after the multiplier. After dispreading, the data component dt is narrow band (Rb) whereas the inteferance component is wideband (Rc). By applying the dr signal to a baseband (low-pass) filter with a band width just large enough to accommodate the recovery of the data signal, most of the inteferance component i is filtered out. The effect of inteferance is reduced by processing gain (Gp). Narrowband inteferance: The narrowband noise is spread by the multiplication with the PN sequence pnr of the receiver. The power density of the noise is reduced with respect to the despread data signal. Only 1/Gp of the original noise power is left in the information baseband (Rs). Spreading and dispreading enables a bandwidth trade for processing gain against narrow band interfering signals. Narrow band inteferance would disable conventional narrow band receivers. The essence behind the inteferance rejection capability of a spread spectrum system: the useful signal (data) gets multiplied twice by the PN sequence, but the inteferance signal get multiplied only once. Wideband interference: Multiplication of the received signal with the PN sequence of the receiver gets a selective despread of the data signal (smaller bandwidth, higher power density). The inteferance signal is uncorrelated with the PN sequence and is spread. Origin of wideband noise: Multiple Spread Spectrum user: multiple access mechanism. Gaussian Noise: There is no increase in SNR with spread spectrum: The large channel bandwidth (Rc instead of Rs) increase the received noise power with Gp: Ninfo = N0 . BWinfo à   Nss = N0 . BWss = Ninfo .Gp The spread spectrum signal has a lower power density than the directly transmitted signal. Code division multiple access (CDMA) is a methode of multiplexing (wireless) users distinct (orthogonal) codes. All users can transmit at the same time, and each is allocated the entire available frequency spectrum for transmission. CDMA is also known as Spread-Spectrum multiple access (SSMA). CDMA dose not require the bandwidth allocation of FDMA, nor the time synchronization of the individual users needed in TDMA. A CDMA user has full time and full bandwidth available, but the quality of the communication decreases with an increasing number of users (BER ). In CDMA each user: Has its own PN code Uses the same RF bandwidth Transmits simultaneously (asynchronous or synchronous) Correlation of the received baseband spread spectrum signal rxb with the PN sequence of user 1 only despreads the signal of user 1. The other user produces noise Nu for user 1. ACCESS SCHEMES For radio systems there are two resources, frequency and time. Division by frequency, so that each pair of communicators is allocated part of the spectrum for all of the time, results in Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). Division by time, so that each pair of communicators is allocated all (or at least a large part) of the spectrum for part of the time results in Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). In Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), every communicator will be allocated the entire spectrum all of the time. CDMA uses codes to identify connections. MULTIPATH AND RAKE RECEIVERS One of the main advantages of CDMA systems is the capability of using signals that arrive in the receivers with different time delays. This phenomenon is called multipath. FDMA and TDMA, which are narrow band systems, cannot discriminate between the multipath arrivals, and resort to equalization to mitigate the negative effects of multipath. Due to its wide bandwidth and rake receivers, CDMA uses the multipath signals and combines them to make an even stronger signal at the receivers. CDMA subscriber units use rake receivers. This is essentially a set of several receivers. One of the receivers (fingers) constantly searches for different multipaths and feeds the information to the other three fingers. Each finger then demodulates the signal corresponding to a strong multipath. The results are then combined together to make the signal stronger. Difference between TDMA vs CDMA. TDMA is Time Division Multiple Access, while CDMA is Code Division Multiple Access. Both technologies achieve the same goal of better utilization of the radio spectrum by allowing multiple users to share the same physical channel, but by using different methods and that is why the three of the four words in each acronym are identical. Both allow more than one person to carry out a conversation on the same frequency without causing interference. The two technologies differ in the way in which users share the common resource. In TDMA the channel is chopped up into sequential time slices. The data of each user is put on the channel in a round-robin fashion. In reality, only one user actually uses the channel at any given point of time, but he uses it only for short bursts. He then gives up the channel for a short duration to allow the other users to have their turn. This is similar to how a computer with just one processor runs multiple applications simultaneously. CDMA on the other hand allows everyone to transmit at the same time. With conventional methods of modulation techniques it would hav been simply not possible. What makes CDMA to allow all users to transmit simultaneously is a special type of digital modulation called Spread Spectrum. In this modulation technique users stream of bits is taken and splattered them across a very wide channel in a pseudo-random fashion. The pseudo part is very important here as at the receiver end the randomization must be undone in order to collect the bits together in a coherent order. For example consider a room full of couples, and each couple trying to carry on one-on-one conversations. In TDMA each couple takes their turn for talking and they keep their turns short by speaking only one sentence at a time. As there is always more one person speaking in the room at any given point of time, no one has to worry about being heard over the background din. In CDMA assume each couple talks simultaneously, but they all use different languages. The background din doesnt cause any real problem as none of the listeners understand any language other than that of the individual to whom they are listening. Voice Encoding At this point many people confuse two distinctly different issues involved in the transmission of digital audio. The first is the WAY in which the stream of bits is delivered from one end to the other. This part of the air interface is what makes one technology different from another. The second is the compression algorithm used to squeeze the audio into as small a stream of bits as possible. This latter component is known at the Voice Coder, or Vocoder for short. Another term commonly used is CODEC, which is a similar word to modem. It combines the terms COder and DECoder. Although each technology has chosen their own unique CODECs, there is no rule saying that one transmission method needs to use a specific CODEC. People often lump a technologys transmission method with its CODEC as though they were single entities. Voice encoding schemes differ slightly in their approach to the problem. Because of this, certain types of human voice work better with some CODECs than they do with others. The point to remember is that all PCS CODECs are compromises of some sort. Since human voices have such a fantastic range of pitch and tonal depth, one cannot expect any single compromise to handle each one equally well. This inability to cope with all types of voice at the same level does lead some people to choose one technology over another. All of the PCS technologies try to minimize battery consumption during calls by keeping the transmission of unnecessary data to a minimum. The phone decides whether or not you are presently speaking, or if the sound it hears is just background noise. If the phone determines that there is no intelligent data to transmit it blanks the audio and it reduces the transmitter duty cycle (in the case of TDMA) or the number of transmitted bits (in the case of CDMA). When the audio is blanked your caller would suddenly find themselves listening to dead air, and this may cause them to think the call has dropped. To avoid this psychological problem many service providers insert what is known as Comfort Noise during the blanked periods. Comfort Noise is synthesized white noise that tries to mimic the volume and structure of the real background noise. This fake background noise assures the caller that the connection is alive and well. However, in newer CODECs such as EVRC (used exclusively on CDMA systems) the background noise is generally suppressed even while the user is talking. This piece of magic makes it sound as though the cell phone user is not in a noisy environment at all. Under these conditions, Comfort Noise is neither necessary, nor desirable. DS-CDMA-INTRODUCTION While multiple access interference (MAI) by other users has been recognized as the capacity-limiting factor in direct sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA)-based cellular communication systems, multiuser approaches have largely alleviated the problem when the noise process is additive Gaussian. With the availability of multiuser detectors, inaccurate or inappropriate noise modelling assumptions seem to have become the issue again. Whereas multiuser detection has much to offer in the mobile- to-base station uplink, it does not at present appear to be feasible for the downlink due to the complexity involved and the lack of resistance against adjacent cell interference. Moreover, the few multiuser proposals for the downlink require the knowledge of all spreading codes, which is not possible in the tactical military environment, for instance. Enhanced single-user receivers equipped with adaptive filter banks deliver promising performance with reasonable complexity, especially in slowly varying channels. Thus, the performance of single-user detectors is still of interest, particularly in the presence of non-Gaussian noise. In both urban outdoor and indoor mobile radio environments, electromagnetic interference generated by man-made sources such as factories or power lines causes the noise to be of non-Gaussian nature. Large noise magnitudes are deemed very improbable by linear receivers, and consequently performance deterioration is experienced. It is therefore desirable to build systems that can maintain respectable functionality under a broad class of noise distributions, rather than strictly optimizing for the unrealistic Gaussian assumption. Such is the goal of robust detection and estimation theory, which aims to design systems that are suboptimal under nominal channel conditions (e.g., Gaussian channel) and yet do not face catastrophy when the noise distribution is not nominal (e.g., unlike linear schemes). Note that suboptimality here refers to very good performance that is slightly worse than that of the nominal-optimal detector/estimator. The direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) technique has been favourably considered for application in digital mobile cellular networks due to its potential to provide higher system capacity over conventional multiple access techniques. Unlike FDMA and TDMA capacities which are mostly limited by the bandwidth, the capacity of a CDMA system is mainly restricted by its interference level. Any reduction in interference produces a direct and linear increase in system capacity. Multiple access interference (MAI) caused by non-zero cross-correlation between different spreading sequences is the major type of interference limiting the CDMA system capacity. Much work has been done to characterize MAI, and to analyze and evaluate the CDMA system performance in the presence of MAI. Since the cross-correlation properties of most sets of spreading codes are either too complex to analyze or very difficult to compute when different transmissions are not synchronized, a random seque nce model. In the case of moderate to large processing gains, Gaussian distribution with variable variance is a good approximation for the MAI distribution. One of the approaches to reduce MAI is to employ orthogonal spreading sequences, and try to synchronize the transmissions at the chip level (quasi-synchronization). However, this is generally difficult to achieve in multipoint-to-point systems, such as the reverse link (mobile-to-base) of a cellular system, due to a lack of synchronization of the various mobile terminals, and the variable transmission delays. In this paper, a multi-carrier DS-CDMA (MCDS-CDMA) scheme is employed to facilitate the synchronization process, and thus reduce MAI. SYSTEM MODEL A model of the MS-DS-CDMA system for the kth user of a CDMA system is shown in the figure 1. TRANMSITTER MODEL At the transmitter the user‘s data stream dk(t) is divided into M interleaved sub streams and spread by a spreading sequence ck(t) to a fraction 1/M of the entire transmission bandwidth W. The resultant chip sequences are then used to modulate M carrier. The carrier frequencies ωm,m=1,2,M are equally spaced by the chip rate so that they are mutually orthogonal over one channel symbol interval T. Let R be the information rate and Rc be the carrier control code rate then the channel symbol interval is BER PERFORMANCE: MC-DS-CDMA system performance measured by bit error rate through analysis and simulation. Analysis: The BER is analysed based on the following: Ortoganal spreading sequences with rectangular pulse shape are applied. ÃŽ ¶k,k=1†¦K are independent of random variables distributd in (-ÃŽ ¶D,ÃŽ ¶D) WHERE ÃŽ ¶D=ÃŽ µD+Ï‚D.Given W and ÃŽ ¶D,M is chosen so that ÃŽ ¶D It is assumed that the fading parameters of the desired user . It is perfectly estimated so that the coherent detection and optimum soft decision decoding could be carried out at the receiver to make the problem analytically tractable. The fading amplitudes as independent Rayleigh random variables with equal second moments. The model is MATLAB INTRODUCTION: Matlab is a commercial Matrix Laboratory package which operates as an interactive programming environment. It is a mainstay of the Mathematics Department software lineup and is also available for PCs and Macintoshes and may be found on the CIRCA VAXes. Matlab is well adapted to numerical experiments since the underlying algorithms for Matlabs builtin functions and supplied m-files are based on the standard libraries LINPACK and EISPACK. Matlab program and script files always have filenames ending with .m; the programming language is exceptionally straightforward since almost every data object is assumed to be an array. Graphical output is available to supplement numerical results. IMREAD Read image from graphics file. A = IMREAD(FILENAME,FMT) reads a grayscale or color image from the file specified by the string FILENAME. If the file is not in the current directory, or in a directory on the MATLAB path, specify the full pathname. The text string FMT specifies the format of the file by its standard file extension. For example, specify gif