Essay, Langston Hughes, And The Road Not Taken - 1107 Words

â€Å"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.†- Muhammad Ali. The authors Rick Reilly, Langston Hughes, and Robert frost all have something in common. They wrote about characters finding the courage to do the right thing. These commentaries, short stories, and poems are all trying to send a message. Try to do the right thing when called upon. After reading the texts Doing the Right Thing, Thank You Ma’am, and The Road Not Taken, it is evident that all the main characters found their courage from someone they looked up to/ a role model, something they didn’t want to lose, or something bad that they didn’t want to happen. Sometimes doing the right thing takes a little motivation. Sometimes that†¦show more content†¦In this way, he didnt want to disappoint himself by following the crowd. In the texts, Doing the Right Thing, Thank You Maam, and The Road Not Taken, all of the main characters found the courage to d o the right thing so they wouldnt disappoint someone they cared about. Sometimes, when we remember what we have, it reminds us of all that we don’t want to lose. In Doing the Right Thing, Thank You Ma’am, and The Road Not Taken, the main characters got their courage from something that they didn’t want to lose. In Doing the Right Thing, the football players decided to make a more difficult decision than to steal, but instead paying for what they needed and alerting someone that the store was open. They didn’t want to lose their football career, after all. In paragraph 6, it is stated that they played at, â€Å"...nearby William Paterson University†¦Ã¢â‚¬  They have something to lose- their football career. In Thank You Ma’am, Roger could’ve ran away, but he didn’t want to lose Mrs. Jones’ trust. The author states in paragraph 36 that, â€Å"He did not trust her not to trust him, and he did not want to be mistrusted now. † He was afraid of losing Mrs. Jones’ trust. In The Road Not Taken, the traveler says that,†And be one traveler long I stood/And looked down one as far I could,†(3-4). According to this piece of text, the traveler found their courage from not wanting to waste the dayShow MoreRelatedEssay on Langston Hughes? Influence on American Literature1422 Words   |  6 Pages Langston Hughes was one of the great writers of his time. He was named the â€Å"most renowned African American poet of the 20th century† (McLaren). Through his writing he made many contributions to following generations by writing about African American issues in creative ways including the use of blues and jazz. Langston Hughes captured the scene of Harlem life in the early 20th century significantly influencing American Literature. He once explained that his writing was an attempt to â€Å"explain andRead MoreAnalysis Of On The Road By Langston Hughes1570 Words   |  7 Pages†Å"On the Road† Analysis â€Å"On the Road† is a short story written by Langston Hughes whose major themes are of race, religion, and subjective nature of fiction. An influential African-American writer, Hughes was born in 1902 and primarily raised by his maternal grandmother (Meyer 1032). Over the course of his illustrious career he would go on to write poems, novels, short stories, essays, plays, opera librettos, histories, documentaries, anthologies, autobiographies, biographies, children’s booksRead MoreLangston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance1909 Words   |  8 PagesUnited States. Langston Hughes, a prominent poet during the 1920s, helped pave a road for literary innovation. Langston possessed an ability to portray black heritage and pride in a perceptive and vivid manner. His humble upbringings and contributions are what makes his story outstanding, making Langston one of the most influential figures during the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1,1902. His actual birth name was James Mercer Langston Hughes. He had anRead MoreThe Poem ‘Mother To Son’ By Langston Hughes First Published1198 Words   |  5 PagesThe poem ‘Mother to Son’ by Langston Hughes first published in 1922 and ‘The Road not Taken’ by Robert Frost have a number of similarities. These poems are parables in which experienced people give advice about life choices. In both poems, the personas were initially in some trouble in life but they currently have no remorse for the way they made choices and lived. Also, both poems have a moral lesson that life may not always be easy but at the end, the choices that people make will determine theirRead MoreRobert Frost and Langston Hughes576 Words   |  2 PagesRobert Frost and Langston Hughes Basic Information: Author: Robert Frost Poem: The Road Not Taken Publishing Date: 1916 Summary: Frost wrote this poem about how a person took a walk and had to choose one path or the other. Both paths seemed equally worn and leafy. However when looking back later the narrator begins to think that maybe he chose the path less traveled. Rhyme Scheme and Lines: This poem has Iambic tetrameter. It has nine syllables per line. Poetic Devices: Read MoreFear Essay1615 Words   |  7 PagesWhat is fear? Is fear just a protective mechanism our brain creates when we encounter a problem? Would an example of fear be that I am afraid my essay is going to be exactly like everybody elses? â€Å"Fear is the brains way of saying that their is something for you to overcome.(Rachel Huber)† I believe in this quote Ms.Huber is trying to explain that when we encounter a problem we become so worried that we are not going to do well at the task at hand that we begin to fear the obstacle. Though at timesRead MoreComparison Of Langston Hughes And I Are Different From Our Peers Essay1309 Words   |  6 Pagesshows as my peers, celebrated the same holidays, etc. I seemed to fit in on the outside that which makes me different was unnoticeable. Both Langston Hughes and I are different from our peers, we are considered outsiders. Hughes is considered an outsider because of his race. I was an outsider because of my legal status and lack of social security number. Hughes’ status as an outsider is made evident through his daily route to from school. My status as an outsider was evident through the process ofRead MoreLangston Hughes Research Paper25309 Words   |  102 PagesIn 1919, when Langston Hughes was seventeen years old, he spent the summer with his father, Jim Hughes, in Toluca, Mexico. Langston had not seen his father since he was a small child, and he was excited about making the trip. However, during this visit, no affectionate bond would develop between Langston and Jim. Jim Hughes was a cold, difficult man, who was driven by ambition to make money and achieve respect. He had moved to Mexico to avoid segregation and racial injustice in the United StatesRead MoreThe, The Veil, By Langston Hughes, Marjane Satrapi And Karen Armstrong1380 Words   |  6 PagesGod Got to Do with It† respectively written by Langston Hughes, Marjane Satrapi and Karen Armstrong, revealed an interes ting experience during a time of their life on religion. Those authors by their writings expressed how somebody should lead his road through God beside the handiness of judgment that people and society have about it. Politics and the action of people in society are the main issues encountered regarding religion in the different essays. By relating the same idea through their writingRead MoreEssay about The Development of Black Playwright3240 Words   |  13 PagesAfrican tribes and mark the beginning of African literary tradition (Freeman.) But when does the development of black playwright actually take off? The first black playwright in history is Terence Afer, who was born around 159 BC (Arnott). He was taken to Rome as a slave, and because he impressed his master, was given a liberal education and as much freedom as a slave could have. Terence managed to produce six plays in his life which were the base for modern comedy of manners (Arnott). Terence’s

War And Peace Story The Unjust Fate - 1638 Words

War and Peace Story: The Unjust Fate Jessica Lui October, 1939 â€Å"Right turn!† the commander shouted. The whole flank turned simultaneously to the right. â€Å"Salute!† he ordered once again. â€Å"Heil Hitler!† they chorused, as their hands sharply rose in a two finger salute. â€Å"At 22:20, we will meet at central tent to discuss operations Fall Gelb and Fall Rot. Understood?† â€Å"Understood sir!† the flank shouted. â€Å"You are dismissed.† The sea of obedient soldiers, including myself, dispersed and went back to the dormitories to change. It had been seven months since I had received a letter in the mail, informing me that I had been mobilized into the Wehrmacht army. Hitler had introduced compulsory enlistment into military service just a while†¦show more content†¦What I saw was immoral, heinous, and simply not right. I hated everything about it: the death, the fear, the screams of innocent civilians, and the ambience of pure terror. I came back one month and five days later, feeling sinful and stripped of emotion. Did I ever want to do that again? No. Could I do anything about it? Absolutely not. This was just a taste of what was to come in the next few years of my life as an involuntary German soldier. I looked at the time. It was already 22:10. Not wanting to be late, I hurriedly changed into clean clothes and made my way to the central tent. Tobias! Hey, wait up Robert called as he ran to catch up to me. I stopped and waited for him. Robert had been drafted into the army-- like most of us had been-- only at the young age of seventeen, making him the youngest in our division. Despite our six year age difference, we got along well, and I had befriended him immediately. I couldn t believe that such innocent youth were being taken from their families and forced to fight in the war. It just wasn t right. Hey Robert I replied, smiling. Do you have any idea what the new operations are about? he asked No, but- I was cut off by the a fellow soldier silencing us. We were in the central tent, and tables with papers and diagrams were strewn on top of them. The commander was already talking, so we quickly found an empty table and sat down. Over the past few weeks, you’ve

Psa Evaluation of Aquino Administration Free Essays

string(79) " Assessments is a socio-economic organization that specializes in Asian risks\." PSA’S EVALUATION OF THE AQUINO ADMINISTRATION FROM THE RESEARCHERS’ PERSPECTIVE Table of Contents Abstract†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3 Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 Methodology and Research Design†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 6 Findings†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. We will write a custom essay sample on Psa Evaluation of Aquino Administration or any similar topic only for you Order Now †¦ 8 Authors’ Stand on the Assessment Presented†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 17 Conclusions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 29 Recommendations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 31 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 Appendix†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 36 Abstract The paper PSA’s Evaluation of the Aquino Administration from the Researchers’ Perspective was conducted to inform the readers how the Aquino administration handled the crises that had occurred since its start in June 2010. The group utilized the historical research technique and content analysis strategy in collecting relevant information for the study. The data collected from various sources like newspapers and websites were then written in note cards. There were various disasters that have occurred in the Philippines, and based on the group’s analysis, the researchers have found out that the Aquino administration, in its first few months, was not able to properly handle the different adversities that have plagued the Philippines. With these, the group has concluded that the country had been inflicted with much damage by the man-made and natural disasters that took place in the Philippines. PSA’s Evaluation of the Aquino Administration from the Researchers’ Perspective It has been six months since Benigno Simeon Aquino III has taken the position as the 15th president of the Philippines. Over the course of those months, numerous catastrophes and issues have since occurred. The Pacific Strategies and Assessments (PSA) is an organization that released an assessment of how the Aquino administration performed in its first few months, wherein they criticized the Philippines as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia† and that the president, along with his cabinet members and set of government officials, has not done any significant change to improve the situation of the Philippines. With its completion, this paper aims to express the group’s reaction on the said assessment and determine whether the PSA was righteous in its claims about the Aquino administration and of the Philippines as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia†. For the first few months, the Aquino administration has been struggling to cope with the demands of the Filipino masses. In reality, the Philippines has been plagued by malicious controversies, threatening disasters, and various crises. Based on the evaluation of the PSA, the administration was not able to handle the said adversities proficiently. Based on this, the researchers believe that it is righteous for the PSA to dub the Philippines as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia†. At the rise of a new administration under President Aquino, innumerable disasters and calamities have occurred. The Pacific Strategies and Assessments, with various bases, has concluded that the Philippines is one of Asia’s most unsafe destinations. Due to this assessment, concerned Filipinos desire to be further informed by the country’s setbacks and incorporate their views and opinions regarding these. In addition to the objectives presented, through extensive research and the critical analysis of the information gathered, the researchers wanted to provide their detailed criticism of the assessment of PSA on the Aquino administration. The group then aims to shed light on the following questions: 1) What is the Pacific Strategies and Assessments? What is its function? As a socio-economic organization, what are its objectives? 2) What are its bases in dubbing the country as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia†? 3) According to PSA, has the Aquino administration performed proficiently during its first few months? 4) With these bases, is it right for PSA to label the Philippines as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia†? 5) Do the researchers agree with the assessment presented by PSA? This study will focus on four main parts: the Pacific Strategies and Assessments, five of the worst disasters and crimes—the Maguindanao massacre, the Quirino Grandstand hostage-taking crisis, Typhoon Juan, the terrorist attack threats and the various kidnapping crises—that have plagued the country, the steps the Aquino administration has taken to solve these issues, and the researchers’ reaction on the PSA’s assessment that the Philippines is the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia†. On the other hand, this study does not discuss other catastrophes that have troubled the country during the Aquino administration. Although there are other disasters that have occurred during the governance of Pres. Noynoy Aquino, the researchers deem that this paper should only focus on the worst disasters that have troubled the country since these are the bases of PSA in its assessment. Moreover, from the title itself, this paper is limited to the researchers’ point of view alone because there were no interviews nor surveys conducted to determine the various reactions of the other Filipinos affected by the crises that have occurred in the country. The significance of this study is to inform the Filipino people and the people from all over the world as well, of how the other nations view the Philippines because of the disasters in the country. This study also exposes how the present administration handles the different disasters that have plagued the country. With these, this research paper will benefit the Filipino masses, for they will be informed of the adversities that are ruining their nation, and they will be educated on handling catastrophes to avoid having their country criticized as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia†. This paper is also timely because it tackles the worst disasters that have devastated, and some that still wreak havoc in the Philippines up to present. With the completion of this paper, the researchers have been able to provide the Filipinos a justification of the righteousness of the assessment of the PSA to their home country. Findings This part of the paper includes the related readings that have aided the group in their research. It is comprised of the background of the PSA, its functions and objectives, and its assessment of the Aquino Administration based on five of the worst disasters that have occurred in the Philippines. These serve as reference materials, from which various information were lifted to support the analysis and interpretation of the data. Pacific Strategies and Assessments (PSA), is a socio-economic organization based in Asia and the United States of America; it has offices in Manila, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok and Milwaukee. Its Manila office is the oldest and largest branch and is currently under the management of the Executive Director Graeme Campbell (â€Å"Pacific Strategies and Assessments†, n. d. ). PSA specializes in Asian risks. At the same time, it provides discreet and confidential security and crisis management services which help different associations protect their assets, prevent security violations, respond to emergencies and facilitate business flow in times of crisis. It also assists its clients in making reliable decisions in the field of business in Asia. PSA helps reduce risks associated with various crimes through its investigation services and provides background screening of its clients. Furthermore, it prepares intelligence briefs regarding political and economic situations to its clients, in this case, the Philippines. PSA aims to maximize the advantages and minimize the risks of facilitating business in places often jeopardized by political and economic instabilities, security threats, terrorism and lax rule of law (â€Å"What PSA does†, 2010). With these readings, the researchers were informed of the functions and objectives of PSA as a socio-economic organization. This knowledge has aided the group in deciphering the right of the said organization to dub the country as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia. Moreover, these have helped the researchers know whether the PSA has efficiently performed its functions to its member countries, particularly, the Philippines. In PSA’s (2010) assessment on the Aquino administration, it criticized the Philippines as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia† because of the multiple risks like coups, rebel extorti ons, and terrorist threats that regularly occur in the country, and the particular crimes that have haunted the Filipinos and the rest of the world during the Aquino administration. It has indicated that hese fiascos could throw some daunting challenges at the different businesses in the country, therefore, affecting the Philippine economy and the performance of the present government headed by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, or more commonly known as PNoy to the Filipino people. The following are the disasters and crimes that have influenced PSA to assess the Philippines as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia†. The Ampatuans have been in charge of Maguindanao since 2001. Their reign started after former Pres. Corazon Aquino replaced every locally-elected official because she came into power by means of a revolution. Andal Ampatuan Sr. was appointed by former President Aquino as the officer-in-charge in Shariff Aguak in 1986 after the successful People Power Revolution. Andal Ampatuan Sr. won the 1988 local elections and served for ten years; he was then elected as governor in 1998. He has been elected as provincial governor three times, unopposed, but with his inability to run for a third term, he prepares his son Andal Jr. to govern in his place (â€Å"Cory gave Ampatuan his break†, 2009). Authorities claimed that there were at least 161 suspects involved in the execution of the Maguindanao massacre. Director General Jesus Verzosa stated that the majority of the suspects were policemen, soldiers, and government officials under the control of the Ampatuan clan. Verzosa said that the mayor of Datu Unsay town, Andal Ampatuan Jr. , was tagged as the mastermind of these killings (â€Å"Police chief names suspects†, 2009). The Maguindanao massacre is one of the deadliest events that has happened in the Philippine history which led to the death of 58 people including journalists, lawyers, government officials, tourists, some relatives of Esmael Mangundadatu, and his wife Genalyn Tiamson-Mangudadatu (David, 2009). Alcuin Papa (2009) noted that in the morning of November 23, 2009 in the Maguindanao province, the victims were kidnapped and killed while they were on their way to file the certificate of candidacy of Esmael Mangudadatu. The victims were shot in their heads and chests at close range, and those who were still alive were finished off by Andal Ampatuan Jr. himself. The victims were buried under the mass grave which was prepared two days before the said slaying. Before the mass murder happened, Mangudadatu received a threat from the opposing clan saying that they would kill him if he pursues the filing of his COC. Mangudadatu decided to let the media cover his filing of COC to stop or hinder the said assault, but was still unable to prevent the hideous incident. These readings have helped the researchers by supporting the idea that the Ampatuans committed the horrendous crime as a means of instituting and preserving their power over Maguindanao. These readings have proven that the generations of Ampatuans have held offices in the area for a relatively long period, yet they refuse to let go of their vast influence in the region. Furthermore, these readings have also proven that the said massacre is one of the most devastating crimes that have occurred in the country’s history, and has become an essential part of PSA’s assessment, which, in turn, has greatly contributed to the group’s evaluation. On the other hand, on the 23rd of August 2010, a hostage taking took place at the Quirino Grandstand which resulted in nine deaths including Hong Kong nationals and the perpetrator Rolando Mendoza himself, a disgruntled former senior inspector. At the peak of his career, Mendoza was ranked one of the Ten Outstanding Policemen of the Philippines and was famously known for leading a group of policemen tracking down a van filled with crates of money believed to be smuggled by former President Ferdinand Marcos out of the country. In 2008, he was dismissed from his position after misconduct and drug abuse charges. At around 7 in the evening of August 23, the SWAT team began to enclose on the bus and tried to enter it by breaking its windows using sledgehammers. However, they were forced back by gunfire coming from the bus. The police’s endeavor to break into the bus lasted for an hour. Tear gas canisters were catapulted into the bus as the police tried to pry open the door by tying a rope attached to a police car, which unfortunately ended with the rope snapping. Later, police marksmen in positions gunned Mendoza in the head (â€Å"Manila Hostage Taking Crisis†, 2010). Pia Lee-Brago (2010) wrote that the August 23 crisis which resulted in 8 Hong Kong tourist deaths negatively affected the Philippines’ relations with China. Hong Kong calls on Filipino witnesses to help determine the real cause of death of the eight tourists and proclaimed that its government is disappointed in Malacanan legal team’s order to reduce investigations and reviews against those involved in the rescue. 19 injured Hong Kong nationals including children and elderly were among those injured in the hostage taking. In addition, the 8 deceased victims’ bodies have already been sent back to their families in Hong Kong. President Aquino has ordered a rigorous investigation headed by Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima (Avendano, 2010). On August 31, preliminary results of the official investigation were released and showed that a high calibre weapon fired within the bus caused the hostages’ wounds. 58 of the 65 M16 rifle cartridges recovered from the coach were from Mendoza’s gun. The investigation team spokesperson stated that it was certain that Mendoza killed the eight hostages who died in the incident (Wong, 2010). On September 3, however, De Lima admitted that some of the hostages may have been shot by the police (â€Å"Philippines admits police†, 2010). These served as evidences that the Filipino policemen lack the know-how of handling crimes like the hostage taking, putting the lives of not only Filipinos but also other nationalities who are residing or visiting the country, in great danger. Moreover, these readings have further proven that the Aquino administration has not efficiently done its part on the investigation of the incident causing a large gap between the China-Hong Kong-Philippine relations. With the evidences presented, the group has remained firm on their stand that the government has not yet done any significant action to solve these problems. Typhoon â€Å"Juan†, with â€Å"Megi† as its international name, is the strongest typhoon to hit the country last 2010. It had a wind speed of 250 kph putting 20 provinces on storm alert. Residents of 35 towns in Cagayan were forced to evacuate due to the danger brought about by the typhoon, according to Flores (2010). Cagayan and Isabela were placed on the highest storm signal and experienced strong winds. Some residents living in low-lying areas of Cagayan valley voluntarily evacuated while equipment in preparation for the typhoon were positioned in Northern Luzon (De Leon, Reyes, Hachero, Bengco ; Naval, 2010). Juan dumped heavy rains over Manila after leaving at least 11 people dead and 32 million pesos worth of damage to road network and other infrastructures. Data from National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) (as cited in â€Å"‘Super Juan’ leaves 11 dead†, 2010) showed 10, 434 people from 57 barangays in 27 municipalities and one city in Northern and Central Luzon were drastically affected by the typhoon. After this unpleasant incident, relief operations were provided to residents of the affected regions. Vice President Binay offered the typhoon victims PAG-IBIG financial assistance. The PAG-IBIG fund was directed to allot 200 million pesos under its calamity loan program for the victims of typhoon â€Å"Juan† (Barcelo, 2010). Cauayan, Isabela, one of the worst-hit areas of the typhoon, (as cited in â€Å"DSWD secretary flies to Isabela†, 2010) was personally visited by the DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman and DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo to assess the damage caused by typhoon â€Å"Juan† and to provide the victims of 11. 96 million pesos worth of relief goods. These relief goods consist of 5,000 food packs, tents, noodles, and 1,000 boxes of high-energy protein biscuits. In Cagayan Region alone, 3. 2 million pesos worth of relief assistance was provided by the DSWD. These information from readings have greatly helped the group be informed of the devastating effects that Typhoon Juan has inflicted on the different areas of Luzon, the innumerable injuries and deaths the typhoon has caused, and the programs and operations that the government has implemented in order to aid the victims of the said typhoon. Moreover, these readings have proven that the Philippines lack preparedness with regards to handling the wrath of natural calamities. At the height of the terrorist attacks threatening the Philippines, the Filipinos themselves turned out to be ignorant of the terrifying assaults intended for the country. Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta even said that â€Å"there is no imminent threat, there is no information which says that there is an impending attack† (as cited in â€Å"Terror Incognito†, 2010, p. A12). The nation also appeared to have no access to the information disseminated by the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and eventually France, when these countries advised their respective citizens to stop travelling to the Philippines because of a possible terrorist strike (â€Å"Terror Incognito†, 2010 ; Yap, Zamora, Papa, Bordadora ; Fernandez, 2010). The Australian Embassy even noted that â€Å"reliable reports indicate that the terrorist attacks might be imminent in Metro Manila, including places frequented by foreigners† (as cited by Brago, 2010, para 3). British and US authorities likewise declared that these menacing terrorist threats could happen anytime in Manila. Speaker Sonny Belmonte then explained via phone interview, â€Å"We are calling to our allies, especially their intelligence agencies, to share with us what they know, what this is all about† (as cited in Ubac, 2010, p. A8). Even though six countries have already warned their residents of the forthcoming attacks, Pazzibugan, Papa and Esplanada (2010) stated that â€Å"Filipino security officials downplayed the alerts. These related materials have proven that the Philippine government, along with the Filipino citizens, were ignorant of the threatening terrorist attacks, when other nations deem that the Philippines itself is the cause of chaos. Upon discovery of the root of this problem, the Philippine police and the other security groups in the country have not exercised their duties to protect and serve the Filipinos. With these, the group’s stand concerni ng the performance of the Aquino administration, particularly the police and military, has been further strengthened. Aside from these, due to the numerous incidents of kidnapping in the Philippines, the country has earned the title â€Å"Kidnap Capital of Asia. † The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism describes kidnapping in the country as â€Å"†¦ a virtual cottage industry in which little capital and apparently equally little risk can mean millions of pesos in profits† (as cited by Clayton, n. d. ). For years, this problem has been a major hindrance to the growth and development of the country. With this, many Filipino citizens requested that Republic Act 9372 or Human Security Act of 2007 should be fully supported and implemented because this is one way of preventing the surge of kidnaps in the country (Samonte, 2010). In remote places in the Philippines, there are rampant kidnapping incidents involving wealthy and powerful political families. In Cotabato, two people were killed when gunmen abducted the wife of the prominent local trader, Lucio Tan. At the age of 50, Conchita Tan was riding their car, and was about 30 meters away from their home when she was seized by about six car-riding suspects. It was said that Conchita’s bodyguard tried to prevent the kidnapping and even traded fire with the suspects, but Conchita ended up dead together with her driver (Fernandez, Senase ; Alipala, 2010). In Valenzuela City, on October 17, 2010, a criminal gang released eight kidnap victims of which seven are schoolchildren. At around 6:30 in the morning of October 14, the father of the three children and their four cousins were snatched in the said city. The victims were said to be Chinese-Filipinos or Tsinoys. According to Felipe (2010), it was the fifth kidnap-for-ransom case since President Aquino has assumed office last June 30. Meanwhile, the charred body of Venson Evangelista was discovered by a farmer in the remote barangay of Buliran, Cabanatuan City on January 14, 2010. The body has been burned with the use of kerosene and rubber tire. It was found out that a 9 mm pistol was used to kill Evangelista. The same situation also happened to another car dealer, Emerson Lozano and his driver, Ernane Sensil, whose bodies were found in Porac, Pampanga and La Paz, Tarlac, respectively. Central Luzon police director, Chief Supt. Alan Purisima said, â€Å"Probably, only one group did it. It’s positive that the body found in Cabanatuan was Venson Evangelista’s† (as cited by Galang ; Pazzibugan, 2011, p. A18). Using these information, the researchers have found out that the crime of kidnapping is one of the most devastating setbacks of the country’s security concerns. Through the years, it has remained as one of the most frequently committed crimes in the Philippines. Even though the government has plans to alleviate the various crimes in the country, it is evident that their efforts to stop kidnapping incidents in the country are futile. This part of the paper, in summary, tackles the various topics concerning the specific subjects of the study. It includes the presentation of the Pacific Strategies and Assessments (PSA) as a socio-economic organization, and the enumeration and investigation of some of the worst man-made and natural disasters that plagued the Philippines under the Aquino administration. In addition, it also discusses PSA’s appraisal that the Philippines is the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia†. Based on the timely data and information gathered through broad research, the group has formulated their analysis and interpretation of the most dangerous disasters that have occurred in the Philippines. In addition, the group’s views regarding the Philippines as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia† are discussed in this part of the paper. Authors’ Stand on the Assessment Presented The following are the worst disasters that have occurred in the Philippines that served as the bases of PSA in its assessment of the Philippines as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia†. On November 23, 2009, an estimate of 100 gunmen associated to Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. allegedly abducted in broad daylight a convoy of aides and relatives of a rival politician, Esmael Mangudadatu, and a group of journalists, as they headed for the local Commission on Elections office to formally file Mangudadatu’s certificate of candidacy (COC) for the position occupied by Ampatuan Sr. then. Hours later, news broke out that the convoy had been massacred, with 58 people dead because of senseless slaughter and mutilation. This incident has left many people speechless as words failed to convey the outrage felt by those who were horrified by the said tragedy. Families who lost their loved ones on the said mishap continuously grieve and fervently pray that justice be served to them accordingly. What happened to their kin, especially to the female victims, who were said to be sexually-abused before getting killed, was so barbaric that the group, as well as the Filipinos all over the country, could almost feel their pain and anguish. The Ampatuans, long before the incident, were already suspected of being involved in unsolved killings in particular areas and regions in Maguindanao. Many were also affected by their acquisitiveness and their desire for power. Unfortunately, the people in Maguindanao were afraid to testify or file cases to the Ampatuans as they believe that the Philippine government will not be able to protect them from reprisal. The government takes a part of the blame for the brutal killing of several people, all of which were innocent. The past administration headed by former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was still not able to dismantle the ruthlessness in Mindanao. The government has failed to solve the cruel cases that take place in Mindanao almost everyday. Their handling of the situation weakened the people’s already fragile trust in supposedly democratic institutions as the government gave a disorganized response to the circumstances. However, as Pres. Noynoy Aquino took oath as the President of the Philippines, the Philippine government was still not able to pursue more critical investigations of the said massacre. As a result, the families of those who were killed last November 23, 2009 still continue to grieve as no justice is given to them. Although Ampatuan Jr. , with the other people involved in the crime, remains in jail because of his inhumane act, the victims’ mourning families still firmly desire to punish him more severely for putting an end to 58 innocent lives. The group believes that the frightening incident should spark meticulous going reforms not only in the region, but in the whole Philippines as well, more than merely disarming the private armies the national government truly needs to foster authentic participation by the marginalized sectors in governance. Additionally, the government needs to initiate programs and policies to give power to the poor by establishing anti-poverty measures such as asset reforms so that the poor would no longer be dependent on politicians, local warlords or traditional political families or more commonly known as trapos. More importantly, the Aquino government needs to restore and strengthen rural democratic institutions because these are considered to be the weakest links of governance in the rural areas. These institutions include the people’s organizations which remain unprotected by the government. Also, the private sector and civil society also have roles to take part in the development of these regions especially because multi-sectoral development initiatives that involve the beneficiaries have proven to be successful. If the government pursues genuine development and peace initiatives in these regions, the indigenous peoples would finally be able to pursue economic and governance activities without fearing for their lives. These are among the steps that the group suggests the present administration is expected to carry out to develop the current investigations of this atrocious massacre. Aside from the massacre, the hostage-taking incident that has taken place at the Quirino Grandstand has greatly influenced PSA’s assessment. Twenty-seven Hong Kong nationals who were on their last day of vacation in the Philippines were taken as hostages by ex-SPO2 Rolando Mendoza last August 23, 2010. The police, soldiers, bystanders, and the Filipino people, through the live coverage of the media, altogether witnessed one of the most heinous crimes to be ever committed in the country last 2010. With this incident, nine people died; eight out of the 27 tourists were killed, and the hostage-taker himself was shot, and was later declared dead by the police. Who is to be blamed for this tragedy? Whose fault was it that what should have been a joyful trip for these foreigners resulted to the loss of some of their lives? Were sound judgment and careful planning exercised by the security groups of our country in dealing with the situation then? Certainly, the service provided by the Filipino policemen and soldiers that tragic night was not to the full extent by which they could have prevented the crime or even just lessened the tension brought about by the situation. It is not that they have not done their jobs of protecting the people, but their efforts were clearly not enough to impede the crisis. The media also had the responsibility to be sensible to the people involved in the tragedy, but with what had happened, they appeared to be on the wrong track—they even covered the whole event; even the most sensitive parts of the incident were shown to the public through various media like the internet, radio and television. This crime has created a wide gap between Hong Kong-China and the Philippines as the former believes that the latter does not deserve its trust again because of what has happened. Not only that, but news about the hostage-taking did not only distress the Filipinos; it was even aired in international news channels like the CNN and BBC. This alarmed even the other nations, and with this, they were disturbed and were eventually convinced that the Philippines is an ill-fated nation, that the country is not a good place to visit at all. Worse, various photos and videos of meddlers in the crime scene, some college students and police officers themselves, were posted online for the world to see. This even triggered an angrier crowd from all over the world. Due to this, other people from the different races deemed that all Filipinos are not hospitable nor peace-loving; nevertheless, they do not pay respect to the victims of the tragedy. The current investigations of the Philippines regarding the hostage-incident are slow-paced as the country is negotiating with the Hong Kong government. Both parties could still not agree with how they will investigate and with how they will push through with the operations regarding this crime. The group sees that the cause of this delay is the ruined relationships of the two parties involved. The Philippines, under the present administration of PNoy, has been trying to offer many benefits for the families of the eight Hong Kong nationals who were killed. However, the Hong Kong government demands more than what the Philippine administration could offer. Because of this, both the Philippines and Hong Kong conduct their own investigations without the help of each other, making the examination of the Quirino Grandstand hostage incident stagnant. As of now, the Philippines is facing the challenge of rebuilding its reputation which was destroyed in just a snap of a finger. It is truly difficult to regain the trust of other nations, especially Hong Kong and China, after what has occurred. Moreover, it is hard to revive the glorious days of the nation after this disgrace. Although the Filipino citizens are in the verge of being torn apart by malice and controversy, all of them can still contribute to uplift the Philippines’ image. Each Filipino, regardless of age, gender and social status can take part in the mission of changing the way the rest of the world sees the country. Even in the simplest ways, the researchers can help their motherland recover from this misery; they can make others realize that what one man did doesn’t necessarily reflect what a whole nation of Filipinos is. On the other hand, Typhoon â€Å"Juan† (international name Megi), being the strongest and most destructive typhoon to ever hit the Philippines in 2010, has caused devastating damages to several provinces in Luzon, especially to Cagayan and Isabela where the typhoon’s wrath was felt the strongest. The typhoon caused 11 deaths, millions of pesos worth of damages, and many people homeless just a few months before the Christmas season. Could these damages have been prevented or just even lessened? What would then happen to those people who lost their loved ones and their homes? What more could the government do to help these people get back on their feet? Indeed, the government has been there to offer donations to those victims of the natural disaster as it has always been the first one being seen or heard in news, yet does their work stop there? Quite disappointing as it is, their jobs do not stop there, unlike what they believe so. The government is divided into many departments and branches that are interrelated well enough, so devastation this massive is not expected. In the Philippines, it is widely known that the months of September to early November fall under the rainy season, so the government could have been more prepared for the expected typhoon that would hit the country. The government could have started programs that would educate and prepare people on what to do in situations like this because prevention of these catastrophes is always better than alleviating the problems it causes and entails. The government could also have built concrete roads and stable infrastructures in the calamity-prone areas of the country so that rescue and relief operations could reach disaster-struck areas quicker and these services could be provided more efficiently. After the massive destruction of the typhoon, the government could help the people live normally again by providing them livelihood projects and â€Å"payment† for the damages so that people can get by and grant scholarship and health benefits as well. Instead, what the government does is give short-term relief to the people greatly devastated. After a week, when the relief goods have been consumed, what will the people do? In the end, what they need more is a greater â€Å"push†Ã¢â‚¬â€a push that combined with their own efforts, will result in greater and long-term benefits that will get them their lives back on track. In contrast to this natural calamity, the Philippines has also been threatened by terrorist attacks which caused chaos not only among the citizens of the country but among the people of the world as well. Despite all the actions taken by six countries—Great Britain, United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and France—the Philippine government continued to ignore the imminent terror attack on the Philippine territory. With this, how can the Philippine government protect its citizens from danger if they, themselves take no notice of the threat? In an interview, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III unfortunately uttered out loud two distinct possibilities behind the Philippine government’s unclenched reaction. The first probability is that, maybe, the information is unreliable and is therefore wrong. The Aquino administration is conveying an almost cavalier attitude toward it. It isn’t true—that is the government’s story, and they’re sticking to it despite the urgency with which the six countries are dealing with the information. The other was that those alarmed countries had the information, and did not share it with the Philippines. â€Å"There were several countries that discussed this among themselves, and we are the targets and lots of these people are our allies. I think we should have been informed† the President said (as cited in â€Å"Terror Incognito†, 2010, p. A12). It transpires that the Philippine allies failed to let the Philippines know about the danger, and the government took it personally. With the said possibilities, the nation cannot afford to let down its guard, but what did the Aquino administration do? Instead of providing security to the country, they chose to turn their back on the issue. For the Philippine government to put pride before the safety of its people, that scenario would be the most threatening of all. Whether this rumor turns out to be real or not, it is still essential to deal with this threat as the real thing. In a generation where small pieces of information can be as potent a destroyer as the explosives themselves, it is the government’s first duty to ensure that its citizens are safe, even if it looks like jumping the gun, even if it looks like they are erring on the side of caution. It is the correct response, no matter what. It is the welfare of the citizens that should be first taken care of by the government, and not the interest of the economy. Besides, the Philippines is not in such a precarious situation, that it cannot afford to protect the people before the businesses at stake. These terror threats may be real or ot, but it only in knowing the truth about this crucial issue can the security of the country and its people be truly served. Another basis of PSA in labeling the Philippines as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia† is the high rates of kidnappings in the country. The Philippines, being plagued by frequent kidnapping incidents, does not only mark a scar on the country’s face to the whole world. This even creates a barrier that prevents foreign trade, foreign investments, and tourism of the country with the rest of the world. Because of this, the growth and development of the country slows down and is feared to come to a complete halt someday. Any person, regardless of age or gender, may be a victim of this crime. Based on the data gathered, the kidnapping of various people including politicians, local traders, schoolchildren, Filipino-Chinese people, and car dealers defines that no one is exempted from being kidnapped. Kidnapping for ransom forces one to choose between his/her life and his/her money or properties, but in some unfortunate cases, both his/her life and his/her possessions were lost. A concrete example was Venson Evangelista and Emerson Lozano’s case: they were shot dead and burned, giving up not only their cars but also their precious lives. The government should strictly implement more laws regarding the crime of kidnapping so that it could be prevented. Also, intensive investigations should be prioritized to solve the alarming rates of kidnapping cases not only in the densely-populated areas of the country, but even in the rural places in the Philippines. The increasing number of kidnappings defines that the police are not executing their duties proficiently. The police evidently outnumber the kidnappers, but if they don’t act immediately, the situation will be turned and there would be more kidnappers than policemen. Scars cannot be healed hastily; they need time to be restored. Likewise, the Philippines needs a strong medication to repair all the scars gashed by the blades of kidnapping. With these catastrophes, issues and controversies, the PSA has dubbed the country as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia† since the country has evidently remained incapable of handling the wrath both natural and man-made disasters bring. The Philippine government and the Filipinos themselves have been struggling to face the aftermath of the misfortunes faced by the country at present. With the various proofs that emerged from this research, the group has agreed with the Pacific Strategies and Assessment’s assertion of the Philippines as the most disaster-prone area in Asia, therefore labeling the country as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia†. Furthermore, the group deemed that the Aquino administration was not able to handle all the said adversities effectively since the effects brought about by most of the disasters are still not resolved even after months, and even after many years. The slow progress of trials and cases that are still not brought up to court and the temporary and insufficient relief that is offered to the victims of natural calamities have proven that the administration has failed to meet the expected standard of the performance of their duties and responsibilities to the people. The administration may have helped several victims who suffered the complications brought about by the natural calamities in some short-term ways, but it was clearly not enough to sustain the lives of the many people who mainly rely on the aid the government provides. Moreover, it has not been able to help the victims of the crimes and their families find justice for the prejudice they suffered. Aside from these, the Philippines continues to be a country unaware of the impending danger in their environment causing the Filipinos to risk their lives every single second they spend in the unsecured country. More importantly, the Philippine government has the obligation to serve the Filipino masses by protecting them by all means. Simply, the government should be prepared of every forthcoming disaster since the lives of many of the citizens are on their hands. Disappointing as it is, the government has their own strategies; they wait for the disaster, and after it has already destroyed properties and has claimed lives, they plan what to do. It seems like the Philippine government has never learned from the past administrations; the officials of the country continue to ignore the consequences of their obliviousness. The Philippines has actually gone through many ills: from the typhoons that struck and flooded the country to terrorist threats that alarmed other nations not to visit the Philippines. This leaves no excuse for the Philippine government to be unprepared for these disasters. The government should have at least prepared a certain plan of action in case more disasters loom in the Philippines. Based on these findings, the researchers came up with the following important points: 1. After more than a year since the Maguindanao massacre, the families of the victims still continue to grieve as no recent investigation has been pursued to solve the said case. 2. The Quirino-Grandstand hostage-taking incident clearly did not only ruin the relations between the Philippines and Hong Kong; it also embarrassed the Philippines all over the world. Because of this, investigations of the said crime have been interrupted and delayed. 3. Typhoon Juan has greatly devastated the country, and even after months since it pummelled the Philippines, the Filipinos greatly affected still cannot cope and recover. 4. The terrorist threats in the country were not handled accordingly since the Filipinos, particularly the government itself, were not aware of the situation. . Kidnapping in the Philippines has been rampant for the past few years, and still, the government has not given any concrete explanation with regards to this. 6. The Aquino administration has not been able to present any significant development in the investigations of the said crimes and in its operations during calamities. Conclusions After the thorough analysis and interpretation of the subjec ts of the research and supporting them with the various facts and data gathered, the group has arrived at the following conclusions: 1. The Pacific Strategies and Assessments is a socio-economic organization that specializes in Asian risks. You read "Psa Evaluation of Aquino Administration" in category "Papers" At the same time, it also assists its clients in making reliable business decisions in Asia. Most importantly, it prepares intelligence briefs regarding political and economic situations to its clients like the Philippines. The PSA aims to maximize the advantages and minimize the risks of doing business in places that are often plagued by political, economic and socio-cultural ills. 2. Numerous disasters and catastrophes have indeed wreaked havoc in the Philippines. These include man-made disasters such as the Maguindanao massacre, the Quirino Grandstand hostage-taking incident, the terrorist threats that made some countries exercise a high degree of caution in travelling to the Philippines, and the high and alarming rates of kidnapping cases in the different areas in the country. Natural disasters like the Typhoon â€Å"Juan† also inflicted vast damage in the country. These five disasters have been the bases of PSA in dubbing the Philippines as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia. † 3. At its rise, the present administration has not performed proficiently. The Aquino administration, in its first few months, has not presented any significant development on the current investigations of the Philippines’ most abhorrent crimes and improvement on its operations in times of disasters like natural catastrophes. Investigations of the Maguindanao massacre, the Quirino Grandstand hostage-taking incident and the different kidnapping occurrences have remained stagnant, while the government’s plan of action regarding the terrorist threats in the country and Typhoon Juan has not been sustained at all. 4. Because the Aquino administration has failed to fulfill its duties and responsibilities to the Filipino citizens in times of disasters and other catastrophes, and the effects of the lack of political will in the Philippines were experienced by many Filipinos, it is therefore righteous for PSA to label the country as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia. † 5. The group has agreed with PSA’s assessment on the Philippines under the Aquino government as the â€Å"Disaster Capital of Asia† since the country has been troubled by spiteful disasters and the administration has not been capable of alleviating the subsequent situations of these problems. Recommendations After an in-depth analysis of the data gathered, the following recommendations are hereby made: 1. Provide a more compelling argument of the reasons behind the PSA’s evaluation of the Philippines. In line with this, the group also recommends further research on the different disasters that have created a devastating mess in the country. 2. Look beyond the Aquino administration’s shortcomings, but also point out the weaknesses of the other people and other organizations involved in the different catastrophes that wrecked the Philippines. References Avendano, C. (August 30, 2010). DOJ chief the only spokesperson on hostage crisis probe – Palace. Retrieved 20 January 2011, from http://newsinfo. inquirer. net/breakingnews/ nation/view/20100830-289571/DOJ-chief-the-only-spokesperson-on-hostage-crisis-probe—Palace Barcelo, J. M. (October 26, 2010). Typhoon victims can avail of PAG-IBIG financial assistance, says Binay. The Daily Tribune, 10, p. 3. Brago, P. (November 3, 2010). Australia, UK: high terror threat in Manila. The Philippine Star. Retrieved January 6, 2011, from http://www. philstar. com/ Article. aspx? articled=626624publicationSubCategoryId=63 Clayton, T. A. (n. d. ). The Philippines: â€Å"Kidnap Capital of Asia†. Retrieved January 20, 2011, from http://www. claytonconsultants. com/download/PDF/ Security-Assessment-Philippines. pdf Cory gave Ampatuan his patriarch break. (November 26, 2009). Newsbreak Online, Retrieved January 20, 2011 fromhttp://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Maguindanao_massacre#cite_note-4 David, R. (November 24, 2009). Understanding the unbelievable. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Retrieved January 20, 2011 fromhttp://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/ Maguindanao_massacre#cite_note-4 De Leon, A. L. , Reyes, V. , Hachero, A. , Bengco, R. Naval, G. (October 18, 2010). Cagayan Valley braces for ‘Juan’. Malaya, p. B1. DSWD secretary flies to Isabela to assist victims of typhoon â€Å"Juan†. (October 21, 2010). Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved January 20, 2010, fromhttp://dromic. dswd. gov. ph/index. php? option=com_contentview=articleid=76:dswdsecretary-flies-to-isabela-to-assist-victims-of-typhoon-juan-c atid=1:latest-newsItemid=55 Felipe, C. (October 19, 2010). Kidnappers free 7 Tsinoy schoolchildren. The Philippine Star, XXV, p. 2. Fernandez, E. , Senase C. , Alipala, J. (October 9, 2010). Cotabato trader’s wife kidnapped; 2 bodyguards shot dead in shootout. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Retreived January 20, 2011, from http://newsinfo. inquirer. net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20101009-296770/ Cotabato-traders-wife-kidnapped-2-bodyguards-shot-dead-in-shootout Flores, H. (October 19, 2010). ‘Juan’ pummels Luzon. The Philippine Star, 25, p. 1. France-Presse. (August 24, 2010). Manila hostage taking crisis. Retrieved January 20, 2011, from http://newsinfo. inquirer. net/breakingnews/nation/view/ 20100824-288510/Manila-hostage-taking-crisis Galang, A. , Pazzibugan, D. (January 19, 2011). Car traders’ murders: ‘even Satan will be horrified’  . Philippine Daily Inquirer, 26, p. A1 p. A18. Lee-Brago, P. (December 13, 2010). Hostage crisis hurt Hong Kong – Philippine relations. The Philippine Star, 25, p. 1. Manila Bulletin news team. (October 19, 2010). ‘Super Juan’ leaves 11 dead. Manila Bulletin. Retrieved November 25, 2010, from http://www. mb. com. ph/node/283048/ Navales, M. (n. d. ). Introduction to Research Paper, p. 3. Papa, A. (November 26, 2009). Maguindanao massacre worst-ever for journalists. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Retrieved January 20, 2011 from http://en. ikipedia. org/wiki/Maguindanao_massacre#cite_note-4 Pazzibugan D. , Papa, A. , Esplanada, J. (November 4, 2010). Imminent danger: US warns of terror attack in Manila. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, 25, p. A1. Philippines admits police may have shot some hostages in bus standoff. (September 9, 2010). Retrieved January 20, 2011,from http://edition. cnn. com/201 0/WORLD/asiapcf/09/09/ philippines. bus. hostage/index. html? hpt=T1#fbid=KI9W1Oknxyp Police chief names 161 suspects in Maguindanao massacre. (December 9, 2009). The Manila Times, Retrieved January 20, 2011 fromhttp://www. anilatimes. net/index. php/ top-stories/7516-police-chief-names-161-suspects-in-maguindanao-massacre Samonte, A. (October 17, 2010). Stop kidnappers and terrorists. The Philippine Star, 25, p. 18. The Pacific Strategies and Assessments. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://www. psagroup. com/contact/ContactPhilippines. php Terror Incognito. (November 7, 2010). Philippine Daily Inquirer, 25, p. A12. Ubac, M. (November 6, 2010). Solons urge sharing of info on terror threats. Philippine Daily Inquirer, 25, p. A8. What Pacific Strategies and Assessments does. (November 4, 2010). Philippine How to cite Psa Evaluation of Aquino Administration, Papers

Global Strategy for Westfield- MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theGlobal Strategy for Westfield. Answer: Introduction The current report elucidates in detail the international business strategy and leadership with special reference to the operations of Westfield, an Australian shopping centre. This current report expounds illustratively the strategies indicates towards the plans that can guide commercial transactions that are taking place between different business entities in different nations. The first section of the study identifies the business strategy selected by the firm Westfield from among different schemes of the Porters generic strategies. In addition to this, the current segment also carries out a detailed analysis of the business environment of the firm using SWOT analysis and thereafter detects the opportunities that the corporation might perhaps pursue for enhancement of business potential. Moving further, the second section of the study identifies the leaders of the firm Westfield and the leadership capabilities as well as styles that have helped in transforming passion into particu lar action. Subsequently, the study also incorporates feedback from peers as well as instructors that are both specific as well as general on the subject matter under consideration. Strategy Porters Generic Strategies: Westfield Company Westfield adopts differentiation strategy of the Porters Generic Strategies as the company sets out to gain advantage over the rivals through their uniqueness. In case if a corporation can attain as well as maintain leadership, then the company can perform above average in the industry, given it can direct prices and set the industry average (Bharadwaj et al., 2013). The management of the firm Westfield observed the alterations in the businesses of the mall with the introduction of high volume large malls, effects of the worldwide financial crisis as well as development of online platform of businesses alongside physical stores. The management of the firm was aware of the fact that demand is the highest in flagship stores as well as flagship assets. Therefore, the company intends to adopt the differentiation strategy and seek to be exclusive in the current industry along certain dimensions that are extensively valued by different buyers (Rothaermel, 2015). Evaluation of the Organization using SWOT Strength - Strong presence in the market and good brand reputation in the nation Australia - Diversified business portfolio along with labour force of roughly 4000 worldwide - Capability to raise fund swiftly, as both debt as well as equity (Peng, 2016). - The company has a wide geographical presence throughout Australia, United Kingdom, United States, Italy and Croatia - Westfield also has investment portfolios in above 120 shopping centres Weakness - More emphasis on retail properties - The company is not having presence in different developing nations as well as emerging economies (Ferraro Briody, 2017). Threat - Competition from different current players in the industry - Fluctuations in pricesp - Decrease in lease rates of store (Goerzen et al., 2014). Identification of the Opportunities that Westfield can Pursue The opportunities that the corporation Westfield can pursue include acquirement of benefits from joint ventures that can help in establishing market position further. In addition to this, the other opportunities that the company Westfield can pursue include derivation of advantages from acquisitions that in turn can enhance presence in the market (Motohashi, 2015). Furthermore, emerging markets such as Asian nation also prove to be an opportunity that can be utilized for further development of the company as this helps in expansion of the base of the market. The streamlined portfolio of Westfield and the focus of the company on particularly inventiveness can help it to attain better future performance. As such, transformation is deep-seated into the group and has a track record of more than 50-years of responding to different challenges and acclimatizing to specific opportunities. The innovative business operations have helped the company to split up the continents. This in turn led to the expansion of the business to the United States during 1970s, thereafter to New Zealand in 1990s and the United Kingdom during the period 2000 after the companys initial investment in Australia (Westfield.com.au, 2017). The analysis of the business environment of the corporation Westfield also helped in understanding the opportunity enjoyed by the business by bifurcation of the companys mall business. The bifurcation of the mall business helped the company to particularly identifying the assets with high demand and making profound investments in the same. SWOT analysis helps in identifying the fact that the company enhanced the quality of the portfolio of the firm by emphasizing on flagship properties and eliminating different weaker performing assets of the firm. This is why the company reduced the number of malls in the US from 69 during 2007 down to around 38 malls and operates in two high end centre of retail in particularly London. In addition to this, the company has als o embraced different technologically advanced mechanisms and incorporated social, mobile as well as digital services for their customers, WiFi and GPS-controlled parking along with online or else mobile website for enhancement of scheduled system of pick-upand delivery (Westfield.com.au, 2017). Leadership Identification of Leaders of Project Organization The stability as well as experience of the business corporation Westfield Corporation can be considered to be one of the major reasons behind the success of the corporation. Essentially, a core team of senior executives have served the corporation over the last two decades and have worked towards introduction of new executives as well as Board Directors for meeting the challenges of expansion to different new markets, rise of specifically digital technology and the alterations in retail environment. The chairman of the company Westfield is Mr. Frank P Lowy AC and deputy chairman is Mr Brian M Schwartz Am. The non-executive directors of the company include Mr Roy L Furman, Ms Ilana R Atlas and Jeffrey Goldstein. Michael Gutman is recognized as the Executive Director of the Westfield Corporation (Westfield.com.au, 2017). Assessment of Leadership Capabilities The leadership capabilities that can be identified among the leadership of the firm Westfield include the sense making skills, skills of relating, visioning and inventing. The leaders of the firm essentially know what to do and where to go. They can understand the situation around them, in the firm, in the country as well as in the world and make sense and undertake actions accordingly. The leadership capabilities that can be identified among the leaders include the competence of relating. The leaders relate properly and operate with other individuals in the firm. Again, visioning can be considered to be another leadership capability that can be seen among the leaders of the firm. This is why the leaders such as Frank Lowy predicted the future of the retail in particularly retail malls that in turn led to the development of Westfield Group (Westfield.com.au, 2017). This refers to the capacity of the leaders to produce, depict an image of what it can be and what is essentially possibl e. In addition to this, the leadership capabilities of the leaders also include the capability to invent. For instance, the leader Don Kingborough (executive director) pioneered particularly the gift card market. The leaders in this firm produce structures as well as processes, transform the ways individuals function together in order to move ahead towards the companys vision (Kurt Zehir, 2016). This is why the leaders of the firm developed strategy to enhance the overall portfolio quality over a specific period of time by specifically concentrating on flagship properties and alleviating different weaker performing assets (Hill et al., 2013). Description of the Leadership Style The leaders of the firm Westfield essentially follow the transformational leadership style. The leaders of the firm necessarily operates with different sub ordinates of the firm in order to identify the required changes, generating a vision that can help in guiding the alterations by means of inspiration and execution of the transformation in tandem with the dedicated members of the business team (Verbeke, 2013). Furthermore, transformational leadership also serves to augment the motivation, morale as well as performance of the followers by means of varied mechanisms. The transformation style of leadership of the firm helped the company to become a vertically integrated framework and stay at the forefront of embracing new technology. This style of the leadership helped in integration of social, mobile along with digital services for different customers into particularly the shopping experience (Cavusgil et al., 2014). The transformational style of leadership also help in undertaking different innovative pilot programs for instance Dine on Time, bike delivery, mobile website for pre determined time for pick up and many others established at different centres of the firm (Westfield.com.au, 2017). The management of the firm under the supervision of the leaders streamlined diverse portfolio and provided attention to inventiveness for potential performance. The transformational leadership style also demonstrated a capability to maximize the value with specific strategies customized to the respective companys portfolio, strengthen the portfolio of malls as well as pilot innovative use of technology to augment experience of the shoppers (Westfield.com.au, 2017). Feedback Based on the standpoint of peers as well as instructors, it can be said that in general the competitive strategies explains the schemes that a business can adopt for attainment of the organizational objectives. Thereafter, this feedback from different market analysts helps in gaining overview regarding the fact that the company focuses on the differentiation strategy adopted by Westfield that is in line with the objective of the firm to emphasize on flagship stores in essentially flagship assets. Moving further, this study presents a SWOT analysis for evaluation of business environment in which Westfield operates. Each of four components of the SWOT analysis that is the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat helps in detecting and analysing the internal as well as external factors that can have an influence on the overall feasibility of projects, different products/services, places or else person (Motohashi, 2015). The SWOT analysis thereby helps in developing the strategic plan for the firm and identification of opportunities that the management of the corporation might take into account and provide a justification for the strategic choices. Thereafter, the study detects the leaders of the organization Westfield and their leadership capabilities that have helped the corporation to achieve its objectives. Analysis of the leadership of the firm Westfield reveals the fact that the transformational style of leadership is practised that help in undertaking different innovative pilot programs, splitting up of business in different continents, bifurcation in particularly the mall operation and implementation of technologically advanced systems (Behn, 2014). In addition to this, the leadership capabilities of the firm have also assisted to firm to acquire adaptability that in turn has permitted the company to yield profit despite several challenges/difficulties to retailers. Conclusion The above mentioned study helps in gaining comprehensive understanding as regards international business strategy with special orientation to the operations of Westfield. This study helps in gaining deep insight regarding the plans as well as actions that are undertaken by the firm for transnational commercial transactions. In addition to this,, this study also assists in gaining an overview regarding the leadership capabilities and styles in the corporation Westfield that has helped the firm to guide their efforts towards potential development. References Behn, R. D. (2014).The PerformanceStat potential: A leadership strategy for producing results. Brookings Institution Press. Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O. A., Pavlou, P. A., Venkatraman, N. V. (2013). Digital business strategy: toward a next generation of insights. Cavusgil, S. T., Knight, G., Riesenberger, J. R., Rammal, H. G., Rose, E. L. (2014).International business. Pearson Australia. Ferraro, G. P., Briody, E. K. (2017).The cultural dimension of global business. Routledge. Goerzen, A., Asmussen, C. G., Nielsen, B. B. (2014). Global cities and multinational enterprise location strategy. InLocation of International Business Activities(pp. 137-180). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Hill, C. W., Cronk, T., Wickramasekera, R. (2013).Global business today. McGraw-Hill Education (Australia). Kurt, A., Zehir, C. (2016). The relationship between cost leadership strategy, total quality management applications and financial performance. Motohashi, K. (2015). Alliance-Based Global Strategy. InGlobal Business Strategy(pp. 107-119). Springer Japan. Motohashi, K. (2015). New Business Model as Response to Competition from Emerging Economies. InGlobal Business Strategy(pp. 77-92). Springer Japan. Peng, M. W. (2016).Global business. Cengage learning. Rothaermel, F. T. (2015).Strategic management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Verbeke, A. (2013).International business strategy. Cambridge University Press. Westfield.com.au (2017). Retrieved 31 May 2017, from https:///www.westfield.com.au/

Strategic Purchasing free essay sample

Sustainable business growth and practices are taking a forward leap in to the globe. Almost every business now is planning to have a value chain through out their business. Strategic Purchasing is the key element to a sustainable growth of the business along the competitive edge. This study shows the importance of the Kraljic portfolio model that is to be put in to the actual usage, which would yield benefits of purchasing sophistication in terms of positioning and professionalism. Results showed that both positioning and professionalism are positively related to the greater usage of the model. Based on the analysis of a Dutch chemical company, the immense use of the portfolio model has been described and explored in strategic purchasing. The results have proved that when the model is tailored and elaborated it brings about an effective guidance in purchasing and supplier strategies. The case study also lists out the supplier strategies that are feasible. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Purchasing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Thus it supports the fact by using the kraljic model that purchasing function does play a vital role and enable organizations to gain competitive advantage The Initial objective of strategic purchasing to procure materials amp; equipment’s, from the right origin, with the right quantity and of the right quality, through right time and cost (peter 1993). Strategic purchasing does play a vital role in an organization. To have a successful business venture purchasing has to be the core element responsible for a product’s quality, acceptability, price and reliability. Procurement system solely depends on the choice of suppliers, to ensure the delivery under any circumstances (John, Marton 2006). In few cases, DSM is locked in the partnering relationship due to necessity, might be cause of situations like monopolistic market. The only solution to this would be finding alternative suppliers through proper new development of suppliers. This solution will not be obtainable when the scenario is due to patents, another situation would be when the supplier does not want to involve really in co – development (Van Weele 2006). There is more likely for the partnership to change into the indolent and chances of being more relaxed in the relationship. Strategic partners should always be a supplier of world class. World-class suppliers are high performing, alert at all times and technically sound through sense of economy. This clearly depicts that strategic patterns will meet the benchmark externally with more satisfactory performance of price (Van Weele 2006). Decomplexing strategy and supplier development (2) must be pursed when the situation turns vice versa, that is when the partnerships show under achieving performance or patterns. Less complexity products when made, leads to alternative solutions within reach. Effectively, DSM wants itself always to be less dependent on non dependable and under achieving suppliers (Van Weele 2006). Importance of kraljic portfolio model is clearly understood when it is actually put into use and customizing of the same would enhance the solving capability of the strategic issues that are at hand. The portfolio model provides guidelines for a better supplier and purchasing strategies. This case study clearly suggests us the importance of placing commodities at different quadrants of the matrix to help in development of the purchasing strategies (Van Weele 2006).

Iron Cage - Max Webers Theory of Rationality

Iron Cage - Max Webers Theory of Rationality One of the theoretical concepts that Max Weber, founding sociologist, is most well known for is the iron cage. Weber first presented this theory in his important and widely taught work,  The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, however, he  wrote in German, so never actually used the phrase himself. It was American sociologist Talcott Parsons who coined it, in his original translation of Webers book, published in 1930. In the original work, Weber referred to a  stahlhartes Gehuse, which literally translated means housing hard as steel. Parsons translation into iron cage, though, is largely accepted as an accurate rendering of the metaphor offered by Weber. Understanding Webers Iron Cage In  The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber presented a carefully researched historical account of how a strong Protestant work ethic and belief in living frugally helped foster the development of the capitalist economic system in the Western world. Weber explained that as the force of Protestantism decreased in social life over time, the system of capitalism remained, as did the social structure and principles of bureaucracy that had evolved along with it. This bureaucratic social structure, and the values, beliefs, and worldviews that supported and sustained it, became central to shaping social life. It was this very phenomenon that Weber conceived of as an iron cage. The reference to this concept comes on page 181 of Parsons translation. It reads: The Puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do so. For when asceticism was carried out of monastic cells into everyday life, and began to dominant worldly morality, it did its part in building the tremendous cosmos of the modern economic order. Simply put, Weber suggests that the technological and economic relationships that organized and grew out of capitalist production became themselves fundamental forces in society. Thus, if you are born into a society organized this way, with the division of labor and hierarchical social structure that comes with it, you cant help but live within this system. As such, ones life and worldview are shaped by it to such an extent that one probably cant even imagine what an alternative way of life would look like. So, those born into the cage live out its dictates, and in doing so, reproduce the cage in perpetuity. For this reason, Weber considered the iron cage a massive hindrance to freedom. Why Sociologists Embrace Webers Iron Cage This concept proved very useful to social theorists and researchers who followed Weber. Most notably, the  critical theorists associated with the Frankfurt School  in Germany, who were active during the middle of the twentieth century, elaborated on this concept. They witnessed further technological developments and their impact on capitalist production and culture  and saw that these only intensified the ability of the iron cage to shape and constrain our behavior and thought. Webers concept remains important to sociologists today because the iron cage of techno-rational thought, practices, relations, and capitalism   now a global system   shows no signs of disintegrating anytime soon. The influence of this iron cage leads to some very serious problems that social scientists and others are now working to solve. For example, how can we overcome the force of the iron cage to address the threats of climate change, produced by the very cage itself? And, how can we convince people that the system within the cage is  not  working in their best interest, evidenced by the shocking wealth inequality that divides many Western nations?

Explain the relevance of marketing concept to the 21st century Essay - 2

Explain the relevance of marketing concept to the 21st century business of Boots - Essay Example Marketing develops an important link between the material requirements of a society and economic models of response. Marketing generally satisfies the wants and needs through significant long term relationship and exchange process. Leading organizations are implementing several effective marketing tools in order to increase their core competencies and market share (Masterson and Pickton, 2010, p.499). The organization achieves financial success based on their core marketing ability. Effective marketing strategy creates demand for the product. Marketing concept is the key ingredient of marketing. The essay will explain the significance of marketing concept to the boots’ business in this 21st century. Marketing Concept It is important for the organizations to understand the facts and significance of marketing concepts before implementing any marketing strategy. Effective understanding of marketing concept helps the organizations to develop effective marketing strategy based on t he current market demand and customer preferences. Marketing concept is an important management philosophy that helps an organization to achieve organizational goals and objectives through the stated customer recognition and satisfaction and intangible needs and wants of customers (Drummond and Ensor, 2005, p.51). Marketing concept can be classified into two different approaches, such as earlier approaches and contemporary approaches. The marketing orientation developed from traditional marketing orientations like product orientation, production orientation, selling orientation. On the other hand, contemporary marketing concept approaches majorly focuses on relationship management or relationship marketing that includes industrial marketing, customer approaches and business marketing (Shanker, 2002, p.268). The leading organizations in this 21st century are trying to implement social marketing strategy in order to focus on the society benefits. Earlier the marketers used to follow t raditional marketing concepts namely product marketing, production marketing and selling marketing. In 20th century the organizations implemented traditional marketing strategy due to low competitive market and lack of diverse market demand. After the Second World War several organizations tried to expand their business operations in various global market places due to globalization. On the other hand, the market demand and customer’s preference significantly increased due to diversified business practices of several organizations (Wheelen and Hunger, 2011, p.121). Now-a-days, various organizations are competing with each other for their products of a similar segment to secure effective market share. Therefore, people are consuming products of different brands based on the quality and prices of products and services. In 21st century, the organizations are trying to implement several unique marketing strategies based on the market demand and customer preference to attract the customers towards their products and services. In this modern era, the organizations are trying to implement holistic marketing concept in order to achieve significant competitive advantages (Pride and Ferrell, 2004, p.78). This marketing concept is based on design, development and implementation of several marketing programmes, activities

Websites search Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Websites search - Essay Example It is very helpful in the provision of details concerning family and community involvement in children programs. Fine: Family Involvement Network of Educators provided at Harvard Family Research Project (http://www.hfrp.org/) has a lot of resources and publications concerning family involvement that can be employed in classrooms for instructing. The site is very supportive as it provides a lot of publications collectively at one place. National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (http://www.ncpie.org/) is an informative site that contains a lot of information regarding family and development, family-community organizations, family-education organizations and parents and families. This can be used for teaching in classrooms by reading and facilitating parents with the reading material. National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools (http://www.sedl.org/connections/) contains family and community based researches and practical works informing about how students at schools can be supported by families and communities. It will be helpful in classroom instructions because it contains a huge collection of resources concerning family and community connections with schools. LDonline (http://www.ldonline.org/educators) is a website that gives detailed data related to disability and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). The site is very useful in terms of its informative material. The site is rich with information concerning learning about disabilities and ADHD. Information can be retrieved from this site in order to help out students in terms of instruction concerning disabilities. BC Ministry of Education: Special Education (http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/) contains resource documents and policies concerning education of special children. Hence, this site contains a huge amount of data of resource documents concerning students with disabilities. The information provided at this site can be

Cause And Effect Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cause And Effect Paper - Essay Example Before the internet revolution era, available lines for communication were not only expensive but also slow and cumbersome; these lines were also subject to physical damages and other interference hampering their applications. However, revolutionized internet allows million users to share costs of high-performing circuits, reduce the number of lines and provide automatic re-routing of information in case of any interference. Internet has significantly contributed to effective and timely communication across the globe. Some of its significant contributions include timely sharing of information. Sharing information and occurrences across the world is an undemanding experience. Access to global news is easy using internet connectivity. Social networking renders it easy to access news through platforms such as Google+, Twitter and Facebook. Besides easy sharing of information, obtaining relevant and educational literature from online scholarly databases is easier and efficient for its users to access than before internet invention. Nearly all forms of literature are now easily retrievable from the internet. Easier retrieval of information from the internet is a cause of revolution in the education sector (Livingstone, 2009). Learners can do online research using information from Google books, academic database and other scholarly sites. Communications within cities, across borders and overseas is now easier and faster with internet than before the invention of internet. E-mail services render sending of information easier, faster and cheaper compared to conventional methods. The internet is a platform that provides convenience undertaking online transactions. Online business transactions improve lives; business partners need not to physically acquire goods and services after invent of online transactions. In some insta nces, people need no to be physically present at

High Performance Wireless Telecommunications Modulation

High Performance Wireless Telecommunications Modulation Introduction The primary goal of the project is to analyze of OFDM system and to assess the suitability of OFDM as a modulation technique for wireless communications. In the part of project is covered two leading successfully implementation of OFDM based technologies are Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T and DVB-H) and Long Term Evolution (LTE advanced for 4G). Wireless communications is an emerging field, which has seen enormous growth in the last several years. The huge uptake rate of mobile phone technology, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) and the exponential growth of the Internet have resulted in an increased demand for new methods of obtaining high capacity wireless networks. For cellular mobile applications, we will see in the near future a complete convergence of mobile phone technology, computing, Internet access, and potentially many multimedia applications such as video and high quality audio. In fact, some may argue that this convergence has already largely occurred, with the advent of being able to send and receive data using a notebook computer and a mobile phone. The goal of third and fourth generation mobile networks is to provide users with a high data rate, and to provide a wider range of services, such as voice communications, videophones, and high speed Internet access. The higher data rate of future mobile networks will be achieved by increasing the amount of spectrum allocated to the service and by improvements in the spectral efficiency. OFDM is a potential candidate for the physical layer of fourth generation mobile systems. Basic Principles of OFDM OFDM overview The Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a modulation technique where multiple low data rate carriers are combined by a transmitter to form a composite high data rate transmission. The first commercial use of OFDM in the communication field was in the 1980s, and it was later widely used in the broadcast audio and video field in the 1990s in such areas as, ADSL, VHDSL, ETSI standard digital audio broadcast (DAB), digital video broadcast (DVB), and high-definition digital TV (HDTV). Digital signal processing makes OFDM possible. To implement the multiple carrier scheme using a bank of parallel modulators would not be very efficient in analog hardware. However, in the digital domain, multi-carrier modulation can be done efficiently with currently available DSP hardware and software. Not only can it be done, but it can also be made very flexible and programmable. This allows OFDM to make maximum use of available bandwidth and to be able to adapt to changing system requirements. Figure 1 is illustrated, Instead of separate modulators; the outgoing waveform is created by executing a high-speed inverse DFT on a set of time-samples of the transmitted data (post modulation). The output of the DFT can be directly modulated onto the outgoing carrier, without requiring any other components. Each carrier in an OFDM system is a sinusoid with a frequency that is an integer multiple of a base or fundamental sinusoid frequency. Therefore, each carrier is like a Fourier series component of the composite signal. In fact, it will be shown later that an OFDM signal is created in the frequency domain, and then transformed into the time domain via the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). Two periodic signals are orthogonal when the integral of their product, over one period, is equal to zero. This is true of certain sinusoids as illustrated in Equation 1. Definition of Orthogonal The carriers of an OFDM system are sinusoids that meet this requirement because each one is a multiple of a fundamental frequency. Each one has an integer number of cycles in the fundamental period. [2, 145-153; 6] The importantance of being orthogonal The main concept in OFDM is orthogonality of the sub-carriers.Since the carriers are all sine/cosine wave, we know that area under one period of a sine or a cosine wave is zero. Lets take a sine wave of frequency m and multiply it by a sinusoid (sine or a cosine) of a frequency n, where both m and n are integers. The integral or the area under this product is given by These two components are each a sinusoid, so the integral is equal to zero over one period. When we multiply a sinusoid of frequency n by a sinusoid of frequency m/n the area under the product is zero. In general for all integers n and m , sin(mx), cos(mx), cos(nx) , sin(nx) are all orthogonal to each other. These frequencies are called harmonics. Making the subcarriers mathematically orthogonal was a breakthrough for OFDM because it enables OFDM receivers to separate the subcarriers via an FFT and eliminate the guard bands. As figure 3 shows, OFDM subcarriers can overlap to make full use of the spectrum, but at the peak of each subcarrier spectrum, the power in all the other subcarriers is zero. OFDM therefore offers higher data capacity in a given spectrum while allowing a simpler system design. Creating orthogonal subcarriers in the transmitter is easy using an inverse FFT. To ensure that this orthogonality is maintained at the receiver (so that the subcarriers are not misaligned), the system must keep the transmitter and receiver clocks closely synchronizedwithin 2 parts per million in 802.11a systems. The 802.11a standard therefore dedicates four of its 52 subcarriers as pilots that enable phase-lock loops in the receiver to track the phase and frequency of the incoming signal. The 802.11a standard therefore dedicates four of its 52 subcarriers as pilots that enable phase-lock loops in the receiver to track the phase and frequency of the incoming signal. This method also eliminates low-frequency phase noise.Separating the subcarriers via an FFT require about an order of magnitude fewer multiply-accumulate operations than individually filtering each carrier. In general, an FFT implementation is much simpler than the RAKE receivers used for CDMA and the decision-feedback equalizers for TDMA.This idea are key to understanding OFDM. The orthogonality allows simultaneously transmission on a lot of sub- carriers in a tight frequency space without interference form each other. In essence this is similar to CDMA, where codes are used to make data sequences independent (also orthogonal) which allows many independent users to transmitin same space successfully.[2, 153-154; 6 ; 7] OFDM Operation Preliminary Concepts When the DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) of a time signal is taken, the frequency domain results are a function of the time sampling period and the number of samples as shown in Figure 4. The fundamental frequency of the DFT is equal to 1/NT (1/total sample time). Each frequency represented in the DFT is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency. Parameter Mapping from Time to Frequency for the DFT The maximum frequency that can be represented by a time signal sampled at rate 1/T is fmax = 1/2T as given by the Nyquist sampling theorem. This frequency is located in the center of the DFT points. All frequencies beyond that point are images of the representative frequencies. The maximum frequency bin of the DFT is equal to the sampling frequency (1/T) minus one fundamental (1/NT).The IDFT (Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform) performs the opposite operation to the DFT. It takes a signal defined by frequency components and converts them to a time signal. The parameter mapping is the same as for the DFT. The time duration of the IDFT time signal is equal to the number of DFT bins (N) times the sampling period (T).It is perfectly valid to generate a signal in the frequency domain, and convert it to a time domain equivalent for practical use (The frequency domain is a mathematical tool used for analysis. Anything usable by the real world must be converted into a real, time domain signal). This is how modulation is applied in OFDM. In practice the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and IFFT are used in place of the DFT and IDFT, so all further references will be to FFT and IFFT.[1 ,118 ; 4] Definition of Carriers The maximum number of carriers used by OFDM is limited by the size of the IFFT. This is determined as follows in Equation 2. OFDM Carrier Count In order to generate a real-valued time signal, OFDM (frequency) carriers must be defined in complex conjugate pairs, which are symmetric about the Nyquist frequency (fmax). This puts the number of potential carriers equal to the IFFT size/2. The Nyquist frequency is the symmetry point, so it cannot be part of a complex conjugate pair. The DC component also has no complex conjugate. These two points cannot be used as carriers so they are subtracted from the total available. If the carriers are not defined in conjugate pairs, then the IFFT will result in a time domain signal that has imaginary components. This must be a viable option as there are OFDM systems defined with carrier counts that exceed the limit for real-valued time signals given in Equation 2.In general, a system with IFFT size 256 and carrier count 216. This design must result in a complex time waveform. Further processing would require some sort of quadrature technique (use of parallel sine and cosine processing paths). In this report, only real-value time signals will be treated, but in order to obtain maximum bandwidth efficiency from OFDM, the complex time signal may be preferred (possibly an analogous situation to QPSK vs. BPSK). Equation 2, for the complex time waveform, has all IFFT bins available as carriers except the DC bin. Both IFFT size and assignment (selection) of carriers can be dynamic. The transmitter and receiver just have to use the same parameters. This is one of the advantages of OFDM. Its bandwidth usage (and bit rate) can be varied according to varying user requirements. A simple control message from a base station can change a mobile units IFFT size and carrier selection.[2,199-206; 4] Modulation Binary data from a memory device or from a digital processing stream is used as the modulating (baseband) signal. The following steps may be carried out in order to apply modulation to the carriers in OFDM: combine the binary data into symbols according to the number of bits/symbol selected convert the serial symbol stream into parallel segments according to the number of carriers, and form carrier symbol sequences apply differential coding to each carrier symbol sequence convert each symbol into a complex phase representation assign each carrier sequence to the appropriate IFFT bin, including the complex conjugates take the IFFT of the result OFDM modulation is applied in the frequency domain. Figure 5 and Figure 6 give an example of modulated OFDM carriers for one symbol period, prior to IFFT. OFDM Carrier Magnitude prior to IFFT For this example, there are 4 carriers, the IFFT bin size is 64, and there is only 1 bit per symbol. The magnitude of each carrier is 1, but it could be scaled to any value. The phase for each carrier is either 0 or 180 degrees, according to the symbol being sent. The phase determines the value of the symbol (binary in this case, either a 1 or a 0). In the example, the first 3 bits (the first 3 carriers) are 0, and the 4th bit (4th carrier) is a 1. OFDM Carrier Phase prior to IFFT Note that the modulated OFDM signal is nothing more than a group of delta (impulse) functions, each with a phase determined by the modulating symbol. In addition, note that the frequency separation between each delta is proportional to 1/N where N is the number of IFFT bins. The frequency domain representation of the OFDM is described in Equation 3. OFDM Frequency Domain Representation (one symbol period) After the modulation is applied, an IFFT is performed to generate one symbol period in the time domain. The IFFT result is shown in 7. It is clear that the OFDM signal has varying amplitude. It is very important that the amplitude variations be kept intact as they define the content of the signal. If the amplitude is clipped or modified, then an FFT of the signal would no longer result in the original frequency characteristics, and the modulation may be lost. This is one of the drawbacks of OFDM, the fact that it requires linear amplification. In addition, very large amplitude peaks may occur depending on how the sinusoids line up, so the peak-to-average power ratio is high. This means that the linear amplifier has to have a large dynamic range to avoid distorting the peaks. The result is a linear amplifier with a constant, high bias current resulting in very poor power efficiency. OFDM Signal, 1 Symbol Period Figure 8 is provided to illustrate the time components of the OFDM signal. The IFFT transforms each complex conjugate pair of delta functions (each carrier) into a real-valued, pure sinusoid. Figure 8 shows the separate sinusoids that make up the composite OFDM waveform given in Figure 7. The one sinusoid with 180 phase shift is clearly visible as is the frequency difference between each of the 4 sinusoids. Transmission The key to the uniqueness and desirability of OFDM is the relationship between the carrier frequencies and the symbol rate. Each carrier frequency is separated by a multiple of 1/NT (Hz). The symbol rate (R) for each carrier is 1/NT (symbols/sec). The effect of the symbol rate on each OFDM carrier is to add a sin(x)/x shape to each carriers spectrum. The nulls of the sin(x)/x (for each carrier) are at integer multiples of 1/NT. The peak (for each carrier) is at the carrier frequency k/NT. Therefore, each carrier frequency is located at the nulls for all the other carriers. This means that none of the carriers will interfere with each other during transmission, although their spectrums overlap. The ability to space carriers so closely together is very bandwidth efficient. OFDM Time Waveform Figure 9 shows the OFDM time waveform for the same signal. There are 100 symbol periods in the signal. Each symbol period is 64 samples long (100 x 64 = 6400 total samples). Each symbol period contains 4 carriers each of which carries 1 symbol. Each symbol carries 1 bit. Note that Figure 9 again illustrates the large dynamic range of the OFDM waveform envelope. OFDM Spectrum Figure 10 shows the spectrum for of an OFDM signal with the following characteristics: 1 bit / symbol 100 symbols / carrier (i.e. a sequence of 100 symbol periods) 4 carriers 64 IFFT bins spectrum averaged for every 20 symbols (100/20 = 5 averages) Red diamonds mark all of the available carrier frequencies. Note that the nulls of the spectrums line up with the unused frequencies. The four active carriers each have peaks at carrier frequencies. It is clear that the active carriers have nulls in their spectrums at each of the unused frequencies (otherwise, the nulls would not exist). Although it cannot be seen in the figure, the active frequencies also have spectral nulls at the adjacent active frequencies. It is not currently practical to generate the OFDM signal directly at RF rates, so it must be up converted for transmission. To remain in the discrete domain, the OFDM could be upsampled and added to a discrete carrier frequency. This carrier could be an intermediate frequency whose sample rate is handled by current technology. It could then be converted to analog and increased to the final transmit frequency using analog frequency conversion methods. Alternatively, the OFDM modulation could be immediately converted to analog and directly increased to the desired RF transmits frequency. Either way, the selected technique would have to involve some form of linear AM (possibly implemented with a mixer). [1, 122-125; 6] Reception and Demodulation The received OFDM signal is down converted (in frequency) and taken from analog to digital. Demodulation is done in the frequency domain (just as modulation was). The following steps may be taken to demodulate the OFDM: partition the input stream into vectors representing each symbol period take the FFT of each symbol period vector extract the carrier FFT bins and calculate the phase of each calculate the phase difference, from one symbol period to the next, for each carrier decode each phase into binary data sort the data into the appropriate order OFDM Carrier Magnitude following FFT Figure 11 and Figure 12 show the magnitude and spectrum of the FFT for one received OFDM symbol period. For this example, there are 4 carriers, the IFFT bin size is 64, there is 1 bit per symbol, and the signal was sent through a channel with AWGN having an SNR of 8 dB. The figures show that, under these conditions, the modulated symbols are very easy to recover. OFDM Carrier Phase following FFT In Figure 12 that the unused frequency bins contain widely varying phase values. These bins are not decoded, so it does not matter, but the result is of interest. Even if the noise is removed from the channel, these phase variations still occur. It must be a result of the IFFT/FFT operations generating very small complex values (very close to 0) for the unused carriers. The phases are a result of these values. [1, 125 -128; 3] OFDM transceiver OFDM signals are typically generated digitally due to the difficulty in creating large banks of phase lock oscillators and receivers in the analog domain. Figure 13 shows the block diagram of a typical OFDM transceiver. The transmitter section converts digital data to be transmitted, into a mapping of subcarrier amplitude and phase. It then transforms this spectral representation of the data into the time domain using an Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT). The Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) performs the same operations as an IDFT, except that it is much more computationally efficiency, and so is used in all practical systems. In order to transmit the OFDM signal the calculated time domain signal is then mixed up to the required frequency. Block diagram showing a basic OFDM transceiver [3] The receiver performs the reverse operation of the transmitter, mixing the RF signal to base band for processing, then using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to analyze the signal in the frequency domain. The amplitude and phase of the subcarriers is then picked out and converted back to digital data. The IFFT and the FFT are complementary function and the most appropriate term depends on whether the signal is being received or generated. In cases where the Signal is independent of this distinction then the term FFT and IFFT is used interchangeably. [1, 125 -128, 3] Analysis of OFDM characteristics Guard Period OFDM demodulation must be synchronized with the start and end of the transmitted symbol period. If it is not, then ISI will occur (since information will be decoded and combined for 2 adjacent symbol periods). ICI will also occur because orthogonality will be lost (integrals of the carrier products will no longer be zero over the integration period), To help solve this problem, a guard interval is added to each OFDM symbol period. The first thought of how to do this might be to simply make the symbol period longer, so that the demodulator does not have to be so precise in picking the period beginning and end, and decoding is always done inside a single period. This would fix the ISI problem, but not the ICI problem. If a complete period is not integrated (via FFT), orthogonality will be lost. The effect of ISI on an OFDM signal can be further improved by the addition of a guard period to the start of each symbol. This guard period is a cyclic copy that extends the length of the symbol waveform. Each subcarrier, in the data section of the symbol, (i.e. the OFDM symbol with no guard period added, which is equal to the length of the IFFT size used to generate the signal) has an integer number of cycles. Because of this, placing copies of the symbol end-to-end results in a continuous signal, with no discontinuities at the joins. Thus by copying the end of a symbol and appending this to the start results in a longer symbol time. Addition of a guard period to an OFDM signal [3] In Figure 14, The total length of the symbol is Ts=TG + TFFT, where Ts is the total length of the symbol in samples, TG is the length of the guard period in samples, and TFFT is the size of the IFFT used to generate the OFDM signal. In addition to protecting the OFDM from ISI, the guard period also provides protection against time-offset errors in the receiver. For an OFDM system that has the same sample rate for both the transmitter and receiver, it must use the same FFT size at both the receiver and transmitted signal in order to maintain subcarrier orthogonality. Each received symbol has TG + TFFT samples due to the added guard period. The receiver only needs TFFT samples of the received symbol to decode the signal. The remaining TG samples are redundant and are not needed. For an ideal channel with no delay spread the receiver can pick any time offset, up to the length of the guard period, and still get the correct number of samples, without crossing a symbol boundary. Function of the guard period for protecting against ISI [3] Figure 15 shows this effect. Adding a guard period allows time for the transient part of the signal to decay, so that the FFT is taken from a steady state portion of the symbol. This eliminates the effect of ISI provided that the guard period is longer than the delay spread of the radio channel. The remaining effects caused by the multipath, such as amplitude scaling and phase rotation are corrected for by channel equalization. In order to avoid ISI and ICI, the guard period must be formed by a cyclic extension of the symbol period. This is done by taking symbol period samples from the end of the period and appending them to the front of the period. The concept of being able to do this, and what it means, comes from the nature of the IFFT/FFT process. When the IFFT is taken for a symbol period (during OFDM modulation), the resulting time sample sequence is technically periodic. This is because the IFFT/FFT is an extension of the Fourier Transform which is an extension of the Fourier Series for periodic waveforms. All of these transforms operate on signals with either real or manufactured periodicity. For the IFFT/FFT, the period is the number of samples used. Guard Period via Cyclic Extension With the cyclic extension, the symbol period is longer, but it represents the exact same frequency spectrum. As long as the correct number of samples are taken for the decode, they may be taken anywhere within the extended symbol. Since a complete period is integrated, orthogonality is maintained. Therefore, both ISI and ICI are eliminated. Note that some bandwidth efficiency is lost with the addition of the guard period (symbol period is increased and symbol rate is decreased) [2,154-160, 3] Windowing The OFDM signal is made up of a series of IFFTs that are concatenated to each other. At each symbol period boundary, there is a signal discontinuity due to the differences between the end of one period and the start of the next. These discontinuities can cause high frequency spectral noise to be generated (because they look like very fast transitions of the time waveform). To avoid this, a window function (Hamming, Hanning, Blackman, ) may be applied to each symbol period. The window function would attenuate the time waveform at the start and the end of each period, so that the discontinuities are smaller, and the high frequency noise is reduced. However, this attenuation distorts the signal and some of the desired frequency content is lost.[1, 121;2 154] Multipath Characteristics OFDM avoids frequency selective fading and ISI by providing relatively long symbol periods for a given data rate. This is illustrated in Figure 17. For a given transmission channel and a given source data rate, OFDM can provide better multipath characteristics than a single carrier. OFDM vs. Single Carrier, Multipath Characteristic Comparison However, since the OFDM carriers are spread over a frequency range, there still may be some frequency selective attenuation on a time-varying basis. A deep fade on a particular frequency may cause the loss of data on that frequency for a given time, but the use of Forward Error Coding can fix it. If a single carrier experienced a deep fade, too many consecutive symbols may be lost and correction coding may be ineffective. [8] Bandwidth A comparison of RF transmits bandwidth between OFDM and a single carrier is shown in Figure 18 (using the same example parameters as in Figure 17). OFDM Bandwidth Efficiency In Figure 18, the calculations show that OFDM is more bandwidth efficient than a single carrier. Note that another efficient aspect of OFDM is that a single transmitters bandwidth can be increased incrementally by addition of more adjacent carriers. In addition, no bandwidth buffers are needed between transmit bandwidths of separate transmitters as long as orthogonality can be maintained between all the carriers.[2, 161-163; 8; 9] Physical Implementation Since OFDM is carried out in the digital domain, there are many ways it can be implemented. Some options are provided in the following list. Each of these options should be viable given current technology: ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) ASICs are the fastest, smallest, and lowest power way to implement OFDM Cannot change the ASIC after it is built without designing a new chip General-purpose Microprocessor or MicroController PowerPC 7400 or other processor capable of fast vector operations Highly programmable Needs memory and other peripheral chips Uses the most power and space, and would be the slowest Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) An FPGA combines the speed, power, and density attributes of an ASIC with the programmability of a general purpose processor. An FPGA could be reprogrammed for new functions by a base station to meet future (currently unknown requirements).This should be the best choice.[9] OFDM uses in DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) DVB (Digital Video Broadcast) is a set of standards for the digital transmission of video and audio streams, and also data transmission. The DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, which is an industry-led consortium of over 260 broadcasters, manufacturers, network operators, software developers, regulatory bodies and others in over 35 countries. DVB has been implemented over satellite (DVB-S, DVB-S2), cable (DVB-C), terrestrial broadcasting (DVB-T), and handheld terminals (DVB-H). the DVB standard following the logical progression of signal processing steps, as well as source and channel coding, COFDM modulation, MPEG compression and multiplexing methods, conditional access and set-top box Technology. In this project is presented an investigation of two OFDM based DVB standards, DVB-T and DVB-H. DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial) The first Terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting pilot transmissions were started in the late 90s, and the first commercial system was established in Great Britain. In the next few years the digital broadcasting system has been set up in many countries, and the boom of the digital terrestrial transmission is estimated in the next few years, while the analogue transmission will be cancelled within about 15 years. The greatest advantage of the digital system is the effective use of the frequency spectrum and its lower radiated power in comparison with the analogue transmission, while the covered area remains the same. Another key feature is the possibility of designing a so-called Single Frequency Network (SFN), which means that the neighboring broadcast stations use the same frequency and the adjacent signals dont get interfered. The digital system transmits a data stream, which means that not only television signals but data communication (e.g. Internet service) may be used according to the demands. The data stream consists of an MPEG-2 bit stream, which means a compression is used, enabling the transfer of even 4 or 5 television via the standard 8 MHz wide TV channel. For the viewer, the main advantages are the perfect, noise-free picture, CD quality sound, and easier handling, as well as services like Super Teletext, Electronic Programme Guide, interactivity and mobility.[11, 251-253] Modulation technique in DVB-T The DVB-T Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation system uses multi-carrier transmission. There are 2 modes, the so-called 2k and 8k modes, using 1705 and 6817 carriers respectively, with each carrier modulated separately and transmitted in the 8 MHz TV channel. The common modulation for the carriers is typically QPSK, 16-QAM or 64-QAM. Each signal can be divided into two, so-called „In Phase (I) and „Quadrature Phase components, being a 90Â ° phase shift between them. The constellation diagram and the bit allocation is shown in bellow 16-QAM constellation diagram and bit allocation [6] This modulation can be demonstrated in the constellation diagram, where the 2 axes represent the 2 components (I and Q). In case of using 16-QAM modulation, the number of states is 16, so 1 symbol represents 4 bits. [11, 255; 6; 14] Bir errors If we simulate all the carriers in the constellation diagram we get not just 1 discrete point, but many points, forming a „cloud and representing each state. In case of additive noise the „cloud gets bigger and the receiver may decide incorrectly, resulting in bit errors. Figure 2 shows the measured constellation diagram without and with additive noise. Measured 16-QAM constellation diagram a) without additive noise b) with additive noise [6] To ensure perfect picture quality, the DVB-T system uses a 2 level error correction (Reed-Solomon and Viterbi). This corrects the bad bits at an even 10-4 Bit Error Rate (BER) and enables error-free data transmission. [13, 32-36] The multi-carrier structure The structure of carriers can be illustrated also in the function of time (Figure 20). The horizontal axis is the frequency and the vertical axis is the time. The 8 MHz channel consists of many carriers, placed 4462 Hz or 1116 Hz far from each other according to the modulation mode (2k or 8k). Structure of OFDM carriers [13] There are some reserved, so-called Transmission Parameter Signalling (TPS) carriers that do not transfer payload, just provide transmission mode information for the receiver, so the total number of useful carriers is 1512 and 6048 respectively in the two transmission modes, and the resultant bit rate is between 4,97 and 31,66 Mbit/s, depending on the modulation (QPSK, 16-QAM or 64-QAM), the transmission mode (2k or 8k), the Code Rate (CR) used for error correction and the selected Guard Interval (GI). This guard interval means that there is a small time gap between each symbol, so the transmission is not continuous. This guarding time enables perfect reception by eliminating the errors caused by multipath propagation.[4, 79-90; 13] Frequency spectrum In 2k mode, 1705 carriers are modulated in the 8 MHz TV channel, so each carrier is 4462 Hz far from its neighbor, while in 8k mode this distance is 1116 Hz. In digital broadcasting, there are no vision and sound carriers, so the power for each carrier is the same. This mean High Performance Wireless Telecommunications Modulation High Performance Wireless Telecommunications Modulation Introduction The primary goal of the project is to analyze of OFDM system and to assess the suitability of OFDM as a modulation technique for wireless communications. In the part of project is covered two leading successfully implementation of OFDM based technologies are Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T and DVB-H) and Long Term Evolution (LTE advanced for 4G). Wireless communications is an emerging field, which has seen enormous growth in the last several years. The huge uptake rate of mobile phone technology, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) and the exponential growth of the Internet have resulted in an increased demand for new methods of obtaining high capacity wireless networks. For cellular mobile applications, we will see in the near future a complete convergence of mobile phone technology, computing, Internet access, and potentially many multimedia applications such as video and high quality audio. In fact, some may argue that this convergence has already largely occurred, with the advent of being able to send and receive data using a notebook computer and a mobile phone. The goal of third and fourth generation mobile networks is to provide users with a high data rate, and to provide a wider range of services, such as voice communications, videophones, and high speed Internet access. The higher data rate of future mobile networks will be achieved by increasing the amount of spectrum allocated to the service and by improvements in the spectral efficiency. OFDM is a potential candidate for the physical layer of fourth generation mobile systems. Basic Principles of OFDM OFDM overview The Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a modulation technique where multiple low data rate carriers are combined by a transmitter to form a composite high data rate transmission. The first commercial use of OFDM in the communication field was in the 1980s, and it was later widely used in the broadcast audio and video field in the 1990s in such areas as, ADSL, VHDSL, ETSI standard digital audio broadcast (DAB), digital video broadcast (DVB), and high-definition digital TV (HDTV). Digital signal processing makes OFDM possible. To implement the multiple carrier scheme using a bank of parallel modulators would not be very efficient in analog hardware. However, in the digital domain, multi-carrier modulation can be done efficiently with currently available DSP hardware and software. Not only can it be done, but it can also be made very flexible and programmable. This allows OFDM to make maximum use of available bandwidth and to be able to adapt to changing system requirements. Figure 1 is illustrated, Instead of separate modulators; the outgoing waveform is created by executing a high-speed inverse DFT on a set of time-samples of the transmitted data (post modulation). The output of the DFT can be directly modulated onto the outgoing carrier, without requiring any other components. Each carrier in an OFDM system is a sinusoid with a frequency that is an integer multiple of a base or fundamental sinusoid frequency. Therefore, each carrier is like a Fourier series component of the composite signal. In fact, it will be shown later that an OFDM signal is created in the frequency domain, and then transformed into the time domain via the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). Two periodic signals are orthogonal when the integral of their product, over one period, is equal to zero. This is true of certain sinusoids as illustrated in Equation 1. Definition of Orthogonal The carriers of an OFDM system are sinusoids that meet this requirement because each one is a multiple of a fundamental frequency. Each one has an integer number of cycles in the fundamental period. [2, 145-153; 6] The importantance of being orthogonal The main concept in OFDM is orthogonality of the sub-carriers.Since the carriers are all sine/cosine wave, we know that area under one period of a sine or a cosine wave is zero. Lets take a sine wave of frequency m and multiply it by a sinusoid (sine or a cosine) of a frequency n, where both m and n are integers. The integral or the area under this product is given by These two components are each a sinusoid, so the integral is equal to zero over one period. When we multiply a sinusoid of frequency n by a sinusoid of frequency m/n the area under the product is zero. In general for all integers n and m , sin(mx), cos(mx), cos(nx) , sin(nx) are all orthogonal to each other. These frequencies are called harmonics. Making the subcarriers mathematically orthogonal was a breakthrough for OFDM because it enables OFDM receivers to separate the subcarriers via an FFT and eliminate the guard bands. As figure 3 shows, OFDM subcarriers can overlap to make full use of the spectrum, but at the peak of each subcarrier spectrum, the power in all the other subcarriers is zero. OFDM therefore offers higher data capacity in a given spectrum while allowing a simpler system design. Creating orthogonal subcarriers in the transmitter is easy using an inverse FFT. To ensure that this orthogonality is maintained at the receiver (so that the subcarriers are not misaligned), the system must keep the transmitter and receiver clocks closely synchronizedwithin 2 parts per million in 802.11a systems. The 802.11a standard therefore dedicates four of its 52 subcarriers as pilots that enable phase-lock loops in the receiver to track the phase and frequency of the incoming signal. The 802.11a standard therefore dedicates four of its 52 subcarriers as pilots that enable phase-lock loops in the receiver to track the phase and frequency of the incoming signal. This method also eliminates low-frequency phase noise.Separating the subcarriers via an FFT require about an order of magnitude fewer multiply-accumulate operations than individually filtering each carrier. In general, an FFT implementation is much simpler than the RAKE receivers used for CDMA and the decision-feedback equalizers for TDMA.This idea are key to understanding OFDM. The orthogonality allows simultaneously transmission on a lot of sub- carriers in a tight frequency space without interference form each other. In essence this is similar to CDMA, where codes are used to make data sequences independent (also orthogonal) which allows many independent users to transmitin same space successfully.[2, 153-154; 6 ; 7] OFDM Operation Preliminary Concepts When the DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) of a time signal is taken, the frequency domain results are a function of the time sampling period and the number of samples as shown in Figure 4. The fundamental frequency of the DFT is equal to 1/NT (1/total sample time). Each frequency represented in the DFT is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency. Parameter Mapping from Time to Frequency for the DFT The maximum frequency that can be represented by a time signal sampled at rate 1/T is fmax = 1/2T as given by the Nyquist sampling theorem. This frequency is located in the center of the DFT points. All frequencies beyond that point are images of the representative frequencies. The maximum frequency bin of the DFT is equal to the sampling frequency (1/T) minus one fundamental (1/NT).The IDFT (Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform) performs the opposite operation to the DFT. It takes a signal defined by frequency components and converts them to a time signal. The parameter mapping is the same as for the DFT. The time duration of the IDFT time signal is equal to the number of DFT bins (N) times the sampling period (T).It is perfectly valid to generate a signal in the frequency domain, and convert it to a time domain equivalent for practical use (The frequency domain is a mathematical tool used for analysis. Anything usable by the real world must be converted into a real, time domain signal). This is how modulation is applied in OFDM. In practice the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and IFFT are used in place of the DFT and IDFT, so all further references will be to FFT and IFFT.[1 ,118 ; 4] Definition of Carriers The maximum number of carriers used by OFDM is limited by the size of the IFFT. This is determined as follows in Equation 2. OFDM Carrier Count In order to generate a real-valued time signal, OFDM (frequency) carriers must be defined in complex conjugate pairs, which are symmetric about the Nyquist frequency (fmax). This puts the number of potential carriers equal to the IFFT size/2. The Nyquist frequency is the symmetry point, so it cannot be part of a complex conjugate pair. The DC component also has no complex conjugate. These two points cannot be used as carriers so they are subtracted from the total available. If the carriers are not defined in conjugate pairs, then the IFFT will result in a time domain signal that has imaginary components. This must be a viable option as there are OFDM systems defined with carrier counts that exceed the limit for real-valued time signals given in Equation 2.In general, a system with IFFT size 256 and carrier count 216. This design must result in a complex time waveform. Further processing would require some sort of quadrature technique (use of parallel sine and cosine processing paths). In this report, only real-value time signals will be treated, but in order to obtain maximum bandwidth efficiency from OFDM, the complex time signal may be preferred (possibly an analogous situation to QPSK vs. BPSK). Equation 2, for the complex time waveform, has all IFFT bins available as carriers except the DC bin. Both IFFT size and assignment (selection) of carriers can be dynamic. The transmitter and receiver just have to use the same parameters. This is one of the advantages of OFDM. Its bandwidth usage (and bit rate) can be varied according to varying user requirements. A simple control message from a base station can change a mobile units IFFT size and carrier selection.[2,199-206; 4] Modulation Binary data from a memory device or from a digital processing stream is used as the modulating (baseband) signal. The following steps may be carried out in order to apply modulation to the carriers in OFDM: combine the binary data into symbols according to the number of bits/symbol selected convert the serial symbol stream into parallel segments according to the number of carriers, and form carrier symbol sequences apply differential coding to each carrier symbol sequence convert each symbol into a complex phase representation assign each carrier sequence to the appropriate IFFT bin, including the complex conjugates take the IFFT of the result OFDM modulation is applied in the frequency domain. Figure 5 and Figure 6 give an example of modulated OFDM carriers for one symbol period, prior to IFFT. OFDM Carrier Magnitude prior to IFFT For this example, there are 4 carriers, the IFFT bin size is 64, and there is only 1 bit per symbol. The magnitude of each carrier is 1, but it could be scaled to any value. The phase for each carrier is either 0 or 180 degrees, according to the symbol being sent. The phase determines the value of the symbol (binary in this case, either a 1 or a 0). In the example, the first 3 bits (the first 3 carriers) are 0, and the 4th bit (4th carrier) is a 1. OFDM Carrier Phase prior to IFFT Note that the modulated OFDM signal is nothing more than a group of delta (impulse) functions, each with a phase determined by the modulating symbol. In addition, note that the frequency separation between each delta is proportional to 1/N where N is the number of IFFT bins. The frequency domain representation of the OFDM is described in Equation 3. OFDM Frequency Domain Representation (one symbol period) After the modulation is applied, an IFFT is performed to generate one symbol period in the time domain. The IFFT result is shown in 7. It is clear that the OFDM signal has varying amplitude. It is very important that the amplitude variations be kept intact as they define the content of the signal. If the amplitude is clipped or modified, then an FFT of the signal would no longer result in the original frequency characteristics, and the modulation may be lost. This is one of the drawbacks of OFDM, the fact that it requires linear amplification. In addition, very large amplitude peaks may occur depending on how the sinusoids line up, so the peak-to-average power ratio is high. This means that the linear amplifier has to have a large dynamic range to avoid distorting the peaks. The result is a linear amplifier with a constant, high bias current resulting in very poor power efficiency. OFDM Signal, 1 Symbol Period Figure 8 is provided to illustrate the time components of the OFDM signal. The IFFT transforms each complex conjugate pair of delta functions (each carrier) into a real-valued, pure sinusoid. Figure 8 shows the separate sinusoids that make up the composite OFDM waveform given in Figure 7. The one sinusoid with 180 phase shift is clearly visible as is the frequency difference between each of the 4 sinusoids. Transmission The key to the uniqueness and desirability of OFDM is the relationship between the carrier frequencies and the symbol rate. Each carrier frequency is separated by a multiple of 1/NT (Hz). The symbol rate (R) for each carrier is 1/NT (symbols/sec). The effect of the symbol rate on each OFDM carrier is to add a sin(x)/x shape to each carriers spectrum. The nulls of the sin(x)/x (for each carrier) are at integer multiples of 1/NT. The peak (for each carrier) is at the carrier frequency k/NT. Therefore, each carrier frequency is located at the nulls for all the other carriers. This means that none of the carriers will interfere with each other during transmission, although their spectrums overlap. The ability to space carriers so closely together is very bandwidth efficient. OFDM Time Waveform Figure 9 shows the OFDM time waveform for the same signal. There are 100 symbol periods in the signal. Each symbol period is 64 samples long (100 x 64 = 6400 total samples). Each symbol period contains 4 carriers each of which carries 1 symbol. Each symbol carries 1 bit. Note that Figure 9 again illustrates the large dynamic range of the OFDM waveform envelope. OFDM Spectrum Figure 10 shows the spectrum for of an OFDM signal with the following characteristics: 1 bit / symbol 100 symbols / carrier (i.e. a sequence of 100 symbol periods) 4 carriers 64 IFFT bins spectrum averaged for every 20 symbols (100/20 = 5 averages) Red diamonds mark all of the available carrier frequencies. Note that the nulls of the spectrums line up with the unused frequencies. The four active carriers each have peaks at carrier frequencies. It is clear that the active carriers have nulls in their spectrums at each of the unused frequencies (otherwise, the nulls would not exist). Although it cannot be seen in the figure, the active frequencies also have spectral nulls at the adjacent active frequencies. It is not currently practical to generate the OFDM signal directly at RF rates, so it must be up converted for transmission. To remain in the discrete domain, the OFDM could be upsampled and added to a discrete carrier frequency. This carrier could be an intermediate frequency whose sample rate is handled by current technology. It could then be converted to analog and increased to the final transmit frequency using analog frequency conversion methods. Alternatively, the OFDM modulation could be immediately converted to analog and directly increased to the desired RF transmits frequency. Either way, the selected technique would have to involve some form of linear AM (possibly implemented with a mixer). [1, 122-125; 6] Reception and Demodulation The received OFDM signal is down converted (in frequency) and taken from analog to digital. Demodulation is done in the frequency domain (just as modulation was). The following steps may be taken to demodulate the OFDM: partition the input stream into vectors representing each symbol period take the FFT of each symbol period vector extract the carrier FFT bins and calculate the phase of each calculate the phase difference, from one symbol period to the next, for each carrier decode each phase into binary data sort the data into the appropriate order OFDM Carrier Magnitude following FFT Figure 11 and Figure 12 show the magnitude and spectrum of the FFT for one received OFDM symbol period. For this example, there are 4 carriers, the IFFT bin size is 64, there is 1 bit per symbol, and the signal was sent through a channel with AWGN having an SNR of 8 dB. The figures show that, under these conditions, the modulated symbols are very easy to recover. OFDM Carrier Phase following FFT In Figure 12 that the unused frequency bins contain widely varying phase values. These bins are not decoded, so it does not matter, but the result is of interest. Even if the noise is removed from the channel, these phase variations still occur. It must be a result of the IFFT/FFT operations generating very small complex values (very close to 0) for the unused carriers. The phases are a result of these values. [1, 125 -128; 3] OFDM transceiver OFDM signals are typically generated digitally due to the difficulty in creating large banks of phase lock oscillators and receivers in the analog domain. Figure 13 shows the block diagram of a typical OFDM transceiver. The transmitter section converts digital data to be transmitted, into a mapping of subcarrier amplitude and phase. It then transforms this spectral representation of the data into the time domain using an Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT). The Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) performs the same operations as an IDFT, except that it is much more computationally efficiency, and so is used in all practical systems. In order to transmit the OFDM signal the calculated time domain signal is then mixed up to the required frequency. Block diagram showing a basic OFDM transceiver [3] The receiver performs the reverse operation of the transmitter, mixing the RF signal to base band for processing, then using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to analyze the signal in the frequency domain. The amplitude and phase of the subcarriers is then picked out and converted back to digital data. The IFFT and the FFT are complementary function and the most appropriate term depends on whether the signal is being received or generated. In cases where the Signal is independent of this distinction then the term FFT and IFFT is used interchangeably. [1, 125 -128, 3] Analysis of OFDM characteristics Guard Period OFDM demodulation must be synchronized with the start and end of the transmitted symbol period. If it is not, then ISI will occur (since information will be decoded and combined for 2 adjacent symbol periods). ICI will also occur because orthogonality will be lost (integrals of the carrier products will no longer be zero over the integration period), To help solve this problem, a guard interval is added to each OFDM symbol period. The first thought of how to do this might be to simply make the symbol period longer, so that the demodulator does not have to be so precise in picking the period beginning and end, and decoding is always done inside a single period. This would fix the ISI problem, but not the ICI problem. If a complete period is not integrated (via FFT), orthogonality will be lost. The effect of ISI on an OFDM signal can be further improved by the addition of a guard period to the start of each symbol. This guard period is a cyclic copy that extends the length of the symbol waveform. Each subcarrier, in the data section of the symbol, (i.e. the OFDM symbol with no guard period added, which is equal to the length of the IFFT size used to generate the signal) has an integer number of cycles. Because of this, placing copies of the symbol end-to-end results in a continuous signal, with no discontinuities at the joins. Thus by copying the end of a symbol and appending this to the start results in a longer symbol time. Addition of a guard period to an OFDM signal [3] In Figure 14, The total length of the symbol is Ts=TG + TFFT, where Ts is the total length of the symbol in samples, TG is the length of the guard period in samples, and TFFT is the size of the IFFT used to generate the OFDM signal. In addition to protecting the OFDM from ISI, the guard period also provides protection against time-offset errors in the receiver. For an OFDM system that has the same sample rate for both the transmitter and receiver, it must use the same FFT size at both the receiver and transmitted signal in order to maintain subcarrier orthogonality. Each received symbol has TG + TFFT samples due to the added guard period. The receiver only needs TFFT samples of the received symbol to decode the signal. The remaining TG samples are redundant and are not needed. For an ideal channel with no delay spread the receiver can pick any time offset, up to the length of the guard period, and still get the correct number of samples, without crossing a symbol boundary. Function of the guard period for protecting against ISI [3] Figure 15 shows this effect. Adding a guard period allows time for the transient part of the signal to decay, so that the FFT is taken from a steady state portion of the symbol. This eliminates the effect of ISI provided that the guard period is longer than the delay spread of the radio channel. The remaining effects caused by the multipath, such as amplitude scaling and phase rotation are corrected for by channel equalization. In order to avoid ISI and ICI, the guard period must be formed by a cyclic extension of the symbol period. This is done by taking symbol period samples from the end of the period and appending them to the front of the period. The concept of being able to do this, and what it means, comes from the nature of the IFFT/FFT process. When the IFFT is taken for a symbol period (during OFDM modulation), the resulting time sample sequence is technically periodic. This is because the IFFT/FFT is an extension of the Fourier Transform which is an extension of the Fourier Series for periodic waveforms. All of these transforms operate on signals with either real or manufactured periodicity. For the IFFT/FFT, the period is the number of samples used. Guard Period via Cyclic Extension With the cyclic extension, the symbol period is longer, but it represents the exact same frequency spectrum. As long as the correct number of samples are taken for the decode, they may be taken anywhere within the extended symbol. Since a complete period is integrated, orthogonality is maintained. Therefore, both ISI and ICI are eliminated. Note that some bandwidth efficiency is lost with the addition of the guard period (symbol period is increased and symbol rate is decreased) [2,154-160, 3] Windowing The OFDM signal is made up of a series of IFFTs that are concatenated to each other. At each symbol period boundary, there is a signal discontinuity due to the differences between the end of one period and the start of the next. These discontinuities can cause high frequency spectral noise to be generated (because they look like very fast transitions of the time waveform). To avoid this, a window function (Hamming, Hanning, Blackman, ) may be applied to each symbol period. The window function would attenuate the time waveform at the start and the end of each period, so that the discontinuities are smaller, and the high frequency noise is reduced. However, this attenuation distorts the signal and some of the desired frequency content is lost.[1, 121;2 154] Multipath Characteristics OFDM avoids frequency selective fading and ISI by providing relatively long symbol periods for a given data rate. This is illustrated in Figure 17. For a given transmission channel and a given source data rate, OFDM can provide better multipath characteristics than a single carrier. OFDM vs. Single Carrier, Multipath Characteristic Comparison However, since the OFDM carriers are spread over a frequency range, there still may be some frequency selective attenuation on a time-varying basis. A deep fade on a particular frequency may cause the loss of data on that frequency for a given time, but the use of Forward Error Coding can fix it. If a single carrier experienced a deep fade, too many consecutive symbols may be lost and correction coding may be ineffective. [8] Bandwidth A comparison of RF transmits bandwidth between OFDM and a single carrier is shown in Figure 18 (using the same example parameters as in Figure 17). OFDM Bandwidth Efficiency In Figure 18, the calculations show that OFDM is more bandwidth efficient than a single carrier. Note that another efficient aspect of OFDM is that a single transmitters bandwidth can be increased incrementally by addition of more adjacent carriers. In addition, no bandwidth buffers are needed between transmit bandwidths of separate transmitters as long as orthogonality can be maintained between all the carriers.[2, 161-163; 8; 9] Physical Implementation Since OFDM is carried out in the digital domain, there are many ways it can be implemented. Some options are provided in the following list. Each of these options should be viable given current technology: ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) ASICs are the fastest, smallest, and lowest power way to implement OFDM Cannot change the ASIC after it is built without designing a new chip General-purpose Microprocessor or MicroController PowerPC 7400 or other processor capable of fast vector operations Highly programmable Needs memory and other peripheral chips Uses the most power and space, and would be the slowest Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) An FPGA combines the speed, power, and density attributes of an ASIC with the programmability of a general purpose processor. An FPGA could be reprogrammed for new functions by a base station to meet future (currently unknown requirements).This should be the best choice.[9] OFDM uses in DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) DVB (Digital Video Broadcast) is a set of standards for the digital transmission of video and audio streams, and also data transmission. The DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, which is an industry-led consortium of over 260 broadcasters, manufacturers, network operators, software developers, regulatory bodies and others in over 35 countries. DVB has been implemented over satellite (DVB-S, DVB-S2), cable (DVB-C), terrestrial broadcasting (DVB-T), and handheld terminals (DVB-H). the DVB standard following the logical progression of signal processing steps, as well as source and channel coding, COFDM modulation, MPEG compression and multiplexing methods, conditional access and set-top box Technology. In this project is presented an investigation of two OFDM based DVB standards, DVB-T and DVB-H. DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial) The first Terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting pilot transmissions were started in the late 90s, and the first commercial system was established in Great Britain. In the next few years the digital broadcasting system has been set up in many countries, and the boom of the digital terrestrial transmission is estimated in the next few years, while the analogue transmission will be cancelled within about 15 years. The greatest advantage of the digital system is the effective use of the frequency spectrum and its lower radiated power in comparison with the analogue transmission, while the covered area remains the same. Another key feature is the possibility of designing a so-called Single Frequency Network (SFN), which means that the neighboring broadcast stations use the same frequency and the adjacent signals dont get interfered. The digital system transmits a data stream, which means that not only television signals but data communication (e.g. Internet service) may be used according to the demands. The data stream consists of an MPEG-2 bit stream, which means a compression is used, enabling the transfer of even 4 or 5 television via the standard 8 MHz wide TV channel. For the viewer, the main advantages are the perfect, noise-free picture, CD quality sound, and easier handling, as well as services like Super Teletext, Electronic Programme Guide, interactivity and mobility.[11, 251-253] Modulation technique in DVB-T The DVB-T Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation system uses multi-carrier transmission. There are 2 modes, the so-called 2k and 8k modes, using 1705 and 6817 carriers respectively, with each carrier modulated separately and transmitted in the 8 MHz TV channel. The common modulation for the carriers is typically QPSK, 16-QAM or 64-QAM. Each signal can be divided into two, so-called „In Phase (I) and „Quadrature Phase components, being a 90Â ° phase shift between them. The constellation diagram and the bit allocation is shown in bellow 16-QAM constellation diagram and bit allocation [6] This modulation can be demonstrated in the constellation diagram, where the 2 axes represent the 2 components (I and Q). In case of using 16-QAM modulation, the number of states is 16, so 1 symbol represents 4 bits. [11, 255; 6; 14] Bir errors If we simulate all the carriers in the constellation diagram we get not just 1 discrete point, but many points, forming a „cloud and representing each state. In case of additive noise the „cloud gets bigger and the receiver may decide incorrectly, resulting in bit errors. Figure 2 shows the measured constellation diagram without and with additive noise. Measured 16-QAM constellation diagram a) without additive noise b) with additive noise [6] To ensure perfect picture quality, the DVB-T system uses a 2 level error correction (Reed-Solomon and Viterbi). This corrects the bad bits at an even 10-4 Bit Error Rate (BER) and enables error-free data transmission. [13, 32-36] The multi-carrier structure The structure of carriers can be illustrated also in the function of time (Figure 20). The horizontal axis is the frequency and the vertical axis is the time. The 8 MHz channel consists of many carriers, placed 4462 Hz or 1116 Hz far from each other according to the modulation mode (2k or 8k). Structure of OFDM carriers [13] There are some reserved, so-called Transmission Parameter Signalling (TPS) carriers that do not transfer payload, just provide transmission mode information for the receiver, so the total number of useful carriers is 1512 and 6048 respectively in the two transmission modes, and the resultant bit rate is between 4,97 and 31,66 Mbit/s, depending on the modulation (QPSK, 16-QAM or 64-QAM), the transmission mode (2k or 8k), the Code Rate (CR) used for error correction and the selected Guard Interval (GI). This guard interval means that there is a small time gap between each symbol, so the transmission is not continuous. This guarding time enables perfect reception by eliminating the errors caused by multipath propagation.[4, 79-90; 13] Frequency spectrum In 2k mode, 1705 carriers are modulated in the 8 MHz TV channel, so each carrier is 4462 Hz far from its neighbor, while in 8k mode this distance is 1116 Hz. In digital broadcasting, there are no vision and sound carriers, so the power for each carrier is the same. This mean