Recruiting, Hiring, Evaluating, and Compensating Essay Example for Free

Recruiting, Hiring, Evaluating, and Compensating Essay Conducting my research for this class project, I have learned that conducting a thorough job analysis is an important step in filling a job opening as well as contributing to the successful growth of an organization in terms of finances and talented workers. A job analysis should be conducted to gather information about the responsibilities, duties, skills of a particular job. In addition, it can include information about the work environment and desired education and experience. There are several ways to conduct a job analysis including using the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), using an analysis questionnaire, observation and interviewing. While doing my research there are other informal ways to conduct a job analysis and it depends on the amount of time and resources allowed and the type of job position. Conducting a job analysis is important because it makes sure that the job description is accurate while being in compliance with legal and professional guidelines. It also helps the selection process be more smooth and makes sure that the right candidate(s) is selected (David, 2011). High performers should be included as well as senior level managers and direct supervisors and anyone with critical knowledge about the job. The analysis can take anywhere from a few weeks to three months if you use a systematic process to make the analysis run quickly and efficiently (Chao, 2012). HR professionals have a responsibility to make sure that they hire productive, talented workers because this adds value to their organization and will help to make the organization prosper in the future (Chao, 2012). For this project I used the observation method as well as researching current Human Resource Receptionist and Human Resource Assistant job openings. I found that the two titles had a lot of the same tasks, skills and requirements, however, from the job openings that included the salary the Human Resource Assistant position was more ($13.00) than the Human Resource Receptionist position ($11.00). My explanation for the difference in pay is that the assistant position seemed to focus more on the administrative function of an HR department, whereas the receptionist position seemed to focus more on front office skills such as copying, faxing, answering phone lines, etc. I also found it interesting that most of the job openings required that the candidate have a college degree, but the pay is about the same as similar jobs that only required a high school diploma or some college coursework. Because of the economy and its effect on the job market, it seems as though  a lot of companies in the Nashville, TN are not really competitive when it comes to pay. Employers know that their is an abundance of highly qualified workers and HR should consider hiring new workers as well as developing their current staff (Chao, 2012), however since pay is a determining factor in job satisfaction, companies should make sure that the pay is competitive. After you have chosen candidates to interview for the open position, it is important that you stay compliant. Being unfamiliar with your policies and procedures can come off as being uncaring and negligent. In addition, it is important to document not only who you hired but who you did not hire; documenting why you did not hire someone can be an important step if your organization is ever accused of not being compliant (10 HR mistakes your employees lawyer will try to exploit, 2012).

Skills Of A Manager Three Essential Skills Or Competencies Business Essay

Skills Of A Manager Three Essential Skills Or Competencies Business Essay A managers job is varied and complex. Managers need certain skills to perform the duties and activities associated with being a manager A mark of a good leader is to be able to provide consistent motivation to his team encouraging them to attain excellence and quality in their performance. A good leader is always looking for ways to improve production and standards. Here are six management skills you can develop as a leader in working to create a quality effective team The three essential skills or competencies are: 1. Technical skills involve process or technique knowledge and proficiency in a certain specialized field, such as engineering, computers, accounting, or manufacturing. These skills are more important at lower levels of management since these managers are dealing with employees doing the organizations work. The technical skill involves the managers understanding of the nature of job that people under him have to perform. It refers to a persons knowledge and proficiency in any type of process or technique. In a production department, this would mean an understanding of the technicalities of the process of production. Whereas this type of skill and competence seems to be more important at the lower levels of management, its relative importance as a part of the managerial role diminishes as the manager moves to higher positions. In higher functional positions, such as the position of a marketing manager or production manager, the conceptual component, related to these functional areas becomes more important and the technical component becomes less important and the technical component becomes less important. 2. Human Skills involve the ability to interact effectively with people. Managers interact and cooperate with employees. Because managers deal directly with people, this skill is crucial. Managers with good human skills re bale to get best out of their people. They know how to communicate, motivate, lead, and inspire enthusiasm and trust. These skills are equally important at all levels of management. Human skills are also the ability to interact effectively with people at all levels. This skill develops in the manager sufficient ability. a) To recognize the feelings and sentiments of others b) To judge the possible reactions to, and outcomes of various courses of action he may undertake and c) To examine his own concepts and values this may enable him to develop more useful attitudes about himself. 3. Conceptual Skills- involve the formulation of ideas, conceptualization about abstract and complex situations. Managers understand abstract relationships, develop ideas and solve problems creatively. Using these skills, managers must be able to see the organization as a whole. They have to understand the relationships among various subunits, and visualize how organization fits into its border environment. These skills are most important at the top management levels. Conceptual skills refer to the ability of a manager to take a broad and farsighted view of the organization and its future, his ability to think in abstract, his ability to analyze the forces working in a situation, his creative and innovative ability and his ability to assess the environment and the changes taking place in it. In short, it is his ability to conceptualize the environment, the organization, and his won job, so that he can set appropriate goals for his organization, for himself and for his team. This skill seems to increase in importance as a manager move up to higher positions of responsibility in the organization. Thus, technical skill deals with things, human skills concerns people, and conceptual-skill has to do with ideas. A manager is responsible for the successful implementation of management skills. A good manager needs to adhere to the basic management principles and exhibit the basic management skills in his/her personality. Basic Management Skills 1. Leadership: This is one of the most important management skills. Leadership comprises of the efficient organization of the resources in achieving a company goal. Leadership involves the management of human resources with an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each member of the team. It is about leading the people and guiding them towards the accomplishment of a common goal. Leadership includes a just allocation of work to the resources, planning of the implementation of tasks assigned and helping the team with task completion. 2. Team Building: This is another basic management skill that includes dealing with people, the most important asset of an organization. Encouraging the team members to speak up, come up with ideas and allowing them to make mistakes and learn from them can be described as a team building skill. To build a team, one needs to foster the team spirit in all of the team members. For the team to feel motivated to work, it is important for a manager to cater to their expectations, recognize their strengths and understand where they lack. The building of a team is about building the team spirit in members and maintaining it. The skill lies in knowing the team and encouraging them to take initiative and enthusiastically participate in every venture of the company. 3. Communication and Presentation Skills: After having achieved the knowledge of a certain domain and on having imbibed the technical skills and more importantly self-confidence needed to be a manager, what one may lack are the soft skills, which are equally important in management. The soft skills encompass the communication and presentation skills. A manager should be open to his/her team. A manager should be able to accept constructive criticism. It is important for the manager to communicate his/her plans to the team and accept the team members inputs on the plan of action. Communication is a two-way activity and for it to remain so, a manager needs to possess listening skills. They help a manager understand his/her team members, invite their participation and earn their regard. Good presentation skills help a manager impressively communicate with the team. How you communicate? is as important as what you communicate? So, the presentation skills definitely matter. 4. Decision-making Skill: Many a time, quick decisions have to be made. In such cases it becomes necessary for a manager to grasp the situation, think about what can be done and thoughtfully analyze the consequences of the decision to be made. A problem-solving approach is also considered as one of the basic management skills. To look at a situation analytically, one needs to bear a problem-solving approach. One needs to reason every consequence and come up with the pros and cons of the decision. A manager needs to be a quick thinker. For taking the right decision, one cannot afford to panic. One has to keep his/her cool, be aware of the results of the decisions and be prepared for them. A manager can get opportunities to celebrate a business success. But it is equally probable that a manager is forced to handle the consequences of a wrong decision. Hence while it is necessary to distinguish between the right and the wrong, it is also necessary to be ready to accept the wrongs and deal with them. In short management skills are about making the right decisions and getting them executed by the right people. Thus, management skills are indeed all those things that effective management professionals do! Management Skills A Manager must utilize skills to effectively organize the team, to achieve a successful goal, in the least amount of time, and cost. Management skills are learned in school, by experience, and information gathered from   employees that worked with managers. A manager knows how to lead the team, but never be a dictator Listed below are management skills: Recruit and Interview: Managers recruit and interview the best candidates for the organization. Matching the education, experience, and knowledge, for a specific job. Letting each candidate know, what are the expectations, and receiving any suggestions. Organization: Organizing the team to achieve a specific goal. Delegating each team member, to an assigned task. Remembering, never to over extend responsibilities to one person. Always, having the confidence and giving respect to each member. Budget: Managing a budget is critically important for the financial integrity of any project. Under budgeting a project, may undermine the ability to get the project done on time or failure. Managing a project that is under budget, certainly is most desirable for the cost savings. Motivation: Managers can motivate their staff by praise and incentives, to create a friendly working environment, and having diligent employees, that are less likely to resign. Ethics: Managers should uphold business ethics. Disregarding ethical standards can ruin the reputation of a manager and the loss of respect earned from his employees, and clients. Ethics can be learned, but honesty comes from the heart 8 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR MANAGERIAL SKILLS Each year, thousands of people make the switch from staff engineer or scientist to manager. And, although many of us look forward to the change, we find it frustrating once we get there. When we were engineers, we were rewarded for our technical skills and labors in direct proportion to what we accomplished. But now, as a manager, our success is measured not by our own output hut by the output and productivity of the people we supervise. And that sense of not being in direct control can be a frustrating feeling. Fortunately, working with others and getting them to give you their best can be just as rewarding as technical accomplishments . . . once you get the hang of it. Here are eight tips that will help you to manage and to guide your people more effectively. The Human Touch The most valuable qualities you can develop within yourself are patience, kindness, and consideration for other people. Although machines and chemicals dont care whether you scream and curse at them, people do. Your subordinates are not just engineers, scientists, administrators, clerks, and programmers theyre people, first and foremost. People with families and friends, likes and dislikes. People with feelings. Respect them as people and youll get their respect and loyalty in return. But treat them coldly and impersonally and they will lose motivation to perform for you. Corny as it sounds, the Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have others do unto you à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœis a sound, proven management principle. The next time youre about to discipline a worker or voice your displeasure, ask yourself, Would I like to be spoken to the way Im thinking of speaking to him or her? Give your people the same kindness and consideration that you would want to receive if you were in their place. Dont Be Overly Critical As a manager, its part of your job to keep your people on the right track. And that involves pointing out errors and telling them where theyve gone wrong. But some managers are overly critical. Theyre not happy unless they are criticizing. They rarely accomplish much or take on anything new themselves, but they are only too happy to tell others where they went wrong, why theyre doing it incorrectly, and why they could do the job better. Dont be this type of person. Chances are, you have more knowledge and experience in your field than a good many of the people you supervise. But thats why the company made you the boss! Your job is to guide and teach these people not to yell or nit-pick or show them how dumb they are compared to you. Mary Kay Ash, founder and director of Mary Kay Cosmetics, says that successful managers encourage their people instead of criticizing them. Forget their mistakes, she advises, and zero in on one small thing they do right. Praise them and theyll do more things right and discover talents and abilities they never realized they had. Let Them Fail Of course, to follow through on Mary Kays advice, youve got to let your people make some mistakes. Does this shock you? Im not surprised. Most workers expect to be punished for every mistake. Most managers think its a black eye on their record when an employee goofs. But successful managers know that the best way for their people to learn and grow is through experience and that means taking chances and making errors. Give your people the chance to try new skills or tasks without a supervisor looking over their shoulders but only on smaller, less crucial projects. That way, mistakes wont hurt the company and can quickly and easily be corrected. On major projects, where performance is critical, youll want to give as much supervision as is needed to ensure successful completion of the task. Be Available Have you ever been enthusiastic about a project, only to find yourself stuck, unable to continue, while you waited for someone higher up to check your work before giving the go ahead for the next phase? Few things dampen employee motivation more than management inattention. As a manager, you have a million things to worry about besides the report sitting in your mailbox, waiting for your approval. But to the person who wrote that report, each days delay causes frustration, anger, worry, and insecurity. So, although youve got a lot to do, give your first attention to approving, reviewing, and okaying projects in progress. If employees stop by to ask a question or discuss a project, invite them to sit down for a few minutes. If youre pressed for time, set up an appointment for later that day, and keep it. This will let your people know you are genuinely interested in them. And thats something theyll really appreciate. Improve the Workplace People are most productive when they have the right tools and work in pleasant, comfortable surroundings. According to a study by the Buffalo Organization, a comfortable office environment creates an extra $1600 of productivity annually for professionals and managers. Having the right equipment is equally important. One of my clients recently hired a full-time technical writer at a salary of $25,000, but was reluctant to invest $2500 in a word processor for him to use. I explained that, in my experience, a word processor can easily double the productivity of a writer. Therefore, if the writer was expected to produce $25,000 worth of work with a typewriter, he could produce $50,000 with a word processor an extra $25,000 a year in productivity for a $2500 investment! The client bought the computer. Both the company and the writer were delighted with the results. Be aware that you may not be the best judge of what your employees need to do their jobs effectively. Even if youve done the job yourself, someone else may work best with a different set of tools, or in a different setup because each person is different. If your people complain about work conditions, listen. These complaints are usually not made for selfgain, but stem from each workers desire to do the best job possible. And by providing the right equipment or work space, you can achieve enormous increases in output . . . open with a minimal investment. A Personal Interest in People When is the last time you asked your secretary how her son was doing in Little League or how she enjoyed her vacation? Good salespeople know that relating to the customer on a person-to-person level is the fastest way to win friends and sales. Yet many technical managers remain aloof and avoid conversation that does not relate directly to business. Why? Perhaps its because engineers are more comfortable with equations and inanimate objects than with people, and feel uncomfortable in social situations. But just as a salesperson wants to get to know his customer, you can benefit by showing a little personal interest in your people their problems, family life, health, and hobbies. This doesnt have to be insincere or overdone just the type of routine conversation that should naturally pass between people who work closely. If youve been ignoring your employees, get into the habit of taking a few minutes every week (or every day) to say hello and chat for a minute or two If an employee has a personal problem affecting his mood or performance, try to find out what it is and how you might help. Send a card or small gift on important occasions and holidays, such as a 10th anniversary with the firm or a birthday. Often, it is the little things we do for people (such as letting workers with long commutes leave early on a snowy day, or springing for dinner when overtime is required) that determine their loyally to you. Be Open to Ideas You may think the sign of a good manager is to have a department where everybody is busy at work on their assigned tasks. But if your people are merely doing their jobs, theyre only working at about half their potential. A truly productive department is one in which every employee is actively thinking of better, more efficient methods of working ways in which to produce a higher quality product. in less time, at lower cost. To get this kind of innovation from your people, you have to be receptive to new ideas; whats more, you have to encourage your people to produce new ideas. Incentives are one way you can offer a cash bonus, time off, a gift. But a more po ­tent form of motivation is simply the employees knowing that management does listen and does put employee suggestions and ideas to work. Quality Circles, used by Westinghouse and other major firms, are one way of putting this into action The old standby, the suggestion box. is another time tested method. And when you listen to new ideas, be open minded. Dont shoot down a suggestion before youve heard it in full. Many of us are too quick, too eager, to show off our own experience and knowledge and say that something wont work because weve tried it before or we dont do it that way. Well, maybe you did try it before, but that doesnt mean it wont work now. And having done things a certain way in the past doesnt mean youve necessarily been doing them the best way. A good manager is open-minded and receptive to new ideas. Give Your People a Place to Go If a worker doesnt have a place to go a position to aspire to, a promotion to work toward then his job is a dead end. And dead-end workers are usually bored, unhappy, and unproductive. Organize your department so that everyone has opportunity for advancement, so that there is a logical progression up the ladder in terms of title, responsibility, status, and pay. If this isnt possible because your department is too small, perhaps that progression must inevitably lead to jobs outside the department. If so, dont hold people back; instead, encourage them to aim for these goals so that they will put forth their best efforts during all the years they are with you. Planning and Controlling Planning The process of setting goals, developing strategies, and outlining tasks and schedules to accomplish the goals. Controlling Management control describes the means by which the actions of individuals or groups within an organization are constrained to perform certain actions while avoiding other actions in an effort to achieve organizational goals. Management control falls into two broad categories-regulative and normative controls-but within these categories are several types. Planning and controlling are two separate fuctions of management, yet they are closely related. The scope of activities if both are overlapping to each other. Without the basis of planning, controlling activities becomes baseless and without controlling, planning becomes a meaningless exercise. In absense of controlling, no purpose can be served by. Therefore, planning and controlling reinforce each other. According to Billy Goetz, Relationship between the two can be summarized in the following points Planning preceeds controlling and controlling succeeds planning. Planning and controlling are inseperable functions of management. Activities are put on rails by planning and they are kept at right place through controlling. The process of planning and controlling works on Systems Approach which is as follows : Planning  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Results  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Corrective Action Planning and controlling are integral parts of an organization as both are important for smooth running of an enterprise. Planning and controlling reinforce each other. Each drives the other function of management. In the present dynamic environment which affects the organization, the strong relationship between the two is very critical and important. In the present day environment, it is quite likely that planning fails due to some unforeseen events. There controlling comes to the rescue. Once controlling is done effectively, it give us stimulus to make better plans. Therefore, planning and controlling are in separate functions of a business enterprise. Types of Plan A business plan is basically a road map to success for your business. Many individuals have great ideas for businesses, but can never get that business off of the ground. A business plan details all of the facets of a business and explains how it will be successful. If you are thinking of beginning a business, start with a business plan. There a few different types of business plans; as a business owner, you should use these as a guide to thinking about how to make your business work Feasibility Plan A feasibility plan should be the first thing you complete. This outlines the chances that a start-up venture will be successful. It should detail the money needed for the start-up, regular expenses and the price of offered goods and services. Essentially, it examines whether the venture is worth pursuing. Start-Up Plan This is the most common type of business plan. A start-up plan details all of the things you need to do to begin the business. It should cover many details, including the products or services that youll be providing, the marketing strategies you plan to employ, the team or employees that you will be using and a financial analysishow you plan to pay for all of it. Answering these questions can help you think more in-depth about your business venture and put a plan in action. Strategic Plan A strategic plan deals with the strategy you plan to employ for a certain project. Perhaps you plan to launch a new product or offer a new service. Perhaps you want to lower your marketing budget, or restructure the company. This can all be done with a strategy plan, where you brainstorm how a project can be done. Growth Plan A growth plan is necessary for those who own businesses that are moderately successful, and who are ready for the next level: growth. A growth plan details how the business will grow. It gives a target date or a basic itinerary for the projected growth period, and details how that growth will take place: perhaps through aggressive marketing, more investors or better production. Operations Plan An operations plan is an internal plan that is usually not meant for investors or clients, but for the owner and employees only. This should detail how the business is meant to run. It can include upcoming projects, events and milestones for the business. It can also detail different employees responsibilities. Long Term Plan A long-term planning for MIS is essential as its focus is strategic in nature, and are long term in nature and hence its development and budgeting has to be planeed for if MIS is to be used and expanded but some parts are also medium term as in tactical, and short term as in operational. Without a long term plan integrating MIS of all three levels is difficult. Since business plan are by nature long term, its integration with MIS and its support to strategic nature is also long term. MIS is very much part of a business operation as it is like any long term assets, such as building and equipment. Without infomation or MIS, a transaction, plans required to managed becomes very difficult to compete in todays world without information. Short Term Plan In real world business terms, short term plans are plan made to last anywhere between 3 and 12 months. Medium term plans can be between 1 and 3 to 5 years. In general, a plan with a planning horizon of five years or less. Also called short range plan. Single-Use Plans Single-use plans   are   essentially   one-time   use   plans having a specific goal or objective. They may run for a few days or last several years. Projects, programs, and budgets are commonly thought of as single-use plans. Planning is looking ahead and controlling is looking back Standing Plans Standing plans consist of policies,   procedures,   and regulations. They exist to guide you in the absence of higher authority. They enable you to make rational, informed, consistent decisions and plans   without constantly   Ã‚  consulting   Ã‚  higher   Ã‚  levels   Ã‚  of   Ã‚  command. Standing plans exist until canceled or changed by higher authority Planning is looking ahesd and controlling os looking back Planning is Looking Ahead is true because it contributes heavily to success and gives us some control over the future. By, planning we set aside our tasks and deadlines so we can enlarge our mental focus and seeing the bigger picture. By, planning we can set our Personal or organizational goals and for this defiantly we have to look ahead. But, Planning is not ending with such strategies or guidelines. It has relation with Implementation and controls. Because plans are not always proceed as conceived. The control process measures progress towards goal attainment and indicate corrective action if too much deviation is detected. Controlling investigates whether planning was successful. Controlling referred to as terminal management function, takes place after the other functions have been completed. And for this process we have to look back and have to analyze the performance of our planning, organizing and leading. And therefore we have to look back also. So, yes we can say Control is looking back for Investigation, Analysis, and Understandings and for checking our effectiveness and efficiency. Types of Control Regulative Controls Normative Controls Bureaucratic Controls Team Norms Financial Controls Organizational Cultural Norms Quality Controls The following section addresses regulative controls including bureaucratic controls, financial controls, and quality controls. The second section addresses normative controls including team norms and organization cultural norms. REGULATIVE CONTROLS Regulative controls stem from standing policies and standard operating procedures, leading some to criticize regulative controls as outdated and counter-productive. As organizations have become more flexible in recent years by flattening organizational hierarchies, expanding organizational boundaries to include suppliers in inventory management and customers in new product development, forging cooperative alliances with competitors, and developing virtual organizations in which employees are geographically dispersed and may meet only a few time each year, critics point out that regulative controls may prevent rather promote goal attainment. There is some truth to this. Customer service representatives at Holiday Inn are limited in the extent to which they can correct mistakes involving guests. They can move guests to a different room if there is excessive noise in the room next to the guests room. In some instances, guests may get a gift certificate for an additional night at another Holiday Inn if they have had a particularly bad experience. In contrast, customer service representatives at Tokyos Marriott Inn have the latitude to take up to $500 off a customers bill to solve complaints. The actions of customer service representatives at both Holiday Inn and Marriott Inn must follow policies and procedures, yet those at Marriott are likely to feel less constrained and more empowered by Marriotts policies and procedures compared to Holiday Inn customer service representatives. The key in terms of management control is matching regulative controls such as policies and procedures with organizational goals such as customer satisfaction. Each of the three types of regulative controls discussed in the next few paragraphs has the potential to align or misalign organizational goals with regulative controls. The challenge for managers is striking the right balance between too much control and too little. BUREAUCRATIC CONTROLS Bureaucratic controls stem from lines of authority and this authority comes with ones position in the organizational hierarchy. The higher up the chain of command, the more an individual will have authority to dictate policies and procedures. Bureaucratic controls have gotten a bad name and often rightfully so. Organizations placing too much reliance on chain of command authority relationships inhibit flexibility to deal with unexpected events. However, there are ways managers can build flexibility into policies and procedures that make bureaucracies as flexible and able to quickly respond to customer problems as any other form of organizational control. Consider how hospitals, for example, are structured along hierarchical lines of authority. Table 2 Definition and Examples of Regulative Controls Type of Regulative Control Definition Example Bureaucratic Controls Policies and operating procedures Employee handbook Financial Controls Key financial targets Return on investment Quality Controls Acceptable levels of product or process variation Defects per million The Board of Directors is at the top, followed by the CEO and then the Medical Director. Below these top executives are vice presidents with responsibility for overseeing various hospital functions such as human resources, medical records, surgery, and intensive care units. The chain of command in hospitals is clear; a nurse, for example, would not dare increase the dosage of a heart medication to a patient in an intensive care unit without a physicians order. Clearly, this has the potential to slow reaction times-physicians sometimes spread their time across hospital rounds for two or three hospitals and also their individual office practice. Yet, it is the nurses and other direct care providers who have the most contact with patients and are in the best position to rapidly respond to changes in a patients condition. The question bureaucratic controls must address is: How can the chain of command be preserved while also building flexibility and quick response times into the system? One way is through standard operating procedures that delegate responsibility downward. Some hospital respiratory therapy departments, for example, have developed standard operating procedures (in health care terms, therapist-driven protocols or TDPs) with input fro

The Importance of Male Characters to Kate Chopin Essay -- Kate Chopin

The Importance of Male Characters to Kate Chopin Why and how does she use them? Kate Chopin is an author who examines the position of women in 19th century Louisiana. She describes their plight, living in a society designed by men, one that confines women’s behavior. It was imperative for Kate Chopin to highlight her male characters, as they ultimately are responsible for her heroines’ actions. The â€Å"Awakening† and â€Å"Desiree’s Baby† are two examples that deal with the issues resulting from a male dominant society, though the stories vary in their approach. Men and marriage are however the common factors that symbolize the obstacles that Kate Chopin’s women face. In â€Å"The Awakening† Edna, the main character enjoys being married at first but later she finds it to be very limiting and oppressive. A free spirit by nature, she rebels against her husband and the life that he stands for. She hates the implications that women in her society â€Å"belong† to men, and that their place is at home doing domestic chores and raising children. This impression is reinforced when Kate Chopin lets the reader view the situation through Edna’s eyes, saying that women are regarded â€Å"as one looks at a valuable piece of property†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p.11) Furthermore, men decide women’s role in life declaring that â€Å"if it is not a (woman’s) place to look after children, who on earth was it?† (p.15) This role is so precisely defined, ensuring that women will stay within the walls of the house with their families. Marriage was the process by which men gained total control over women. The author indicates that a marriage at that period of time was not always carefully planned but was rather a spontaneous and passionate act. For example, Edna’s â€Å"ma... ... was arrogant and overconfident of himself and his heritage, and was sure that the fault was Desiree’s never questioning his own ancestry. By jumping to conclusions he never gave her a chance to explain herself to him. At the end, Desiree who had been overwhelmed and desperate drowned herself and her baby. Kate Chopin developed her female characters as reaction to male attitudes. She used men, marriage and the rules by which women were confined to demonstrate her point. She described men as the ones who placed obstacles in women’s way, created social rules and put restrictions that confined their lives. These boundaries were at times physical but almost always emotional, and eliciting defiant behavior and reactions from the women involved. Placed by men, these limitations helped in shaping the female character of Kate Chopin’s heroines in her stories.

History of Pablo Picasso and his Art Essay -- Pablo Picasso Artists Pa

History of Pablo Picasso and his Art Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter and sculptor, generally considered the greatest artist of the 20th century. He was unique as an inventor of forms, as an innovator of styles and techniques, as a master of various media, and as one of the most prolific artists in history. He created more than 20,000 works. Picasso's genius manifested itself early: at the age of 10 he made his first paintings, and at 15 he performed brilliantly on the entrance examinations to Barcelona's School of Fine Arts. Family life. Born in Mà ¡laga on October 25, 1881, Picasso was the son of Josà © Ruiz Blasco, an art teacher, and Marà ­a Picasso y Lopez. Until 1898 he always used his father's name, Ruiz, and his mother's maiden name, Picasso, to sign his pictures. After about 1901 he dropped "Ruiz" and used his mother's maiden name to sign his pictures. His large academic canvas Science and Charity, depicting a doctor, a nun, and a child at a sick woman's bedside, won a gold medal. Blue Period Between 1900 and 1902, Picasso made three trips to Paris, finally settling there in 1904. He found the city's bohemian street life fascinating, and his pictures of people in dance halls and cafà ©s show how he assimilated the postimpressionism of Paul Gauguin and the symbolist painters called the Nabis. The themes of Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as the style of the latter, exerted the strongest influence. Picasso's Blue Room reflects the work of both these painters and, at the same time, shows his evolution toward the Blue Period, so called because various shades of blue dominated his work for the next few years. Expressing human misery, the paintings portray blind figures, beggars, alcoholics, and prostitutes, their somewhat elongated bodies reminiscent of works by the Spanish artist El Greco. Rose Period in Paris, Picasso met Fernande Shortly after settling Olivier, the first of many companions to influence the theme, style, and mood of his work. With this happy relationship, Picasso changed his palette to pinks and reds; the years 1904 and 1905 are thus called the Rose Period. Many of his subjects were drawn from the circus, which he visited several times a week; one such painting is Family of Saltimbanques. In the figure of the harlequin, Picasso represented his alter ego, a practice he repeated in later works as well. Dating... ...new liaison during the 1940s with the painter Franà §oise Gilot who bore him two children, Claude and Paloma; they appear in many works that recapitulate his earlier styles. The last of Picasso's companions to be portrayed was Jacqueline Roque, whom he met in 1953 and married in 1961. He then spent much of his time in southern France. Late Works: Recapitulation Many of Picasso's later pictures were based on works by great masters of the past?Diego Velazquez, Gustave Courbet, Eugene Delacroix, and Edouard Manet. In addition to painting, Picasso worked in various media, making hundreds of lithographs in the renowned Paris graphics workshop, Atelier Mourlot. Ceramics also engaged his interest, and in 1947, in Vallauris, he produced nearly 2000 pieces. summary Throughout Picasso's lifetime, his work was exhibited on countless occasions. Most unusual, however, was the 1971 exhibition at the Louvre, in Paris, honoring him on his 90th birthday; until then, living artists had not been shown there. In 1980 a major retrospective showing of his work was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Picasso died in his villa Notre-Dame-de-Vie near Mougins on April 8, 1973.

The Ages Of Poetry Essay -- essays research papers

The English Romantic poets of the 19th Century had a conception about nature that, over a century later, appears in the poetry of today. These poets have had a significant influence on the attitude and vocabulary a contemporary poet uses. Among the contemporary poets, Dana Gioia, in his two poems, "Becoming a Redwood," and "Rough Country," has drawn on the idea of the innocence and untainted part of nature that parallels the Romantic poetry of William Wordsworth and William Blake in their poems "Nutting," and "The Tyger." Also, Gioia has captured the wild-like and untamable demeanor of nature that many English Romantics have similarly captured. Finally, Gioia uses the concept of the sublime in his poetry to the extent that nature becomes dangerous to humans. Many English Romantic poets have written about the innocent and purity that can be found in nature. In Wordsworth's "Nutting," he comments on the beauty of the innocence of an "unvisited" nook his character discovers. Wordsworth writes, "Unvisited, where not a broken bough / Drooped with its withered leaves, ungracious sign / Of devastation; but the hazels rose / tall and erect, with tempting clusters hung, / A virgin scene!" (Ln17-31) Wordsworth is commenting on the innocence and beauty of nature without human intrusion. This Romantic conception of innocence parallels Gioia in his poem "Rough Country." He writes, " a spot so hard to reach that no one comes-- / a hiding place, a shrine for dragonflies / and nesting jays, a sign that there is still / one piece of property that won't be owned." (17-20) This last line implies that this part of nature will remain untouched, this part of nature will remain pure and innocent, and a Rom antic conception of nature that even Gioia has adopted in his poetry. Another conception that the English Romantics held about nature was that nature is wild and untamable. This wild-like aspect of nature is described in William Blake's "The Tyger." Blake writes, "Tyger, Tyger / Burning bright / In the forests of the night / What immortal hand or eye / Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?" (1-4) Blake creates this image of the Tyger as a wild beast, an untamable creature of the for... ... no silence but when danger comes." (25-27) This English Romantic concept of sublime that Gioia uses, makes humans to not only fear nature such as the Tyger or the mountains, but also to hold high respect for its beauty and magnificence. It is interesting to see how much of our history actually does repeat itself. It is amazing that even today, we are asking the same questions about nature and coming to similar conclusions as people did in the 19th century. Its not that nature hasn't changed, but the attitudes toward nature still build on many general English Romantic ideas. Dana Gioia, in particular, has taken some of the same attitudes toward nature as the Romantics have; he has developed the untamable and wildness of nature, the innocent and virgin, as well as the sublime in his two poems, "Becoming a Redwood," and "Rough Country." English Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and William Blake influence each of his poems. Because of their strong influence on contemporary poets today, it would not be surprising to see their influence carry on in yet another century, and have the influence on poets for years to come.

The Future of Iptv and Ip-Video

ECE 6613: Broadband Access Networks The Future of IPTV and IP-Video Ji Hwan Kim Georgia Institute of Technology 325050 Georgia Tech Station Atlanta, GA 30332 Abstract— This paper describes the various IPTV architectures and components, which enables large-scale integration of current and future IPTV network. IPTV technologies are transforming how we perceive TV services today and global television industry as whole. However, there is pressing need for improvement on IPTV side to meet the Quality of Experience that is equal to or better than traditional TV services.In recent years, we have seen tremendous growth in Information Technology industry with the emergence of smart phone. Various new technologies are in its development to meet the demand of higher data rate, reliable data transfer, and readily available resources with distributed cloud servers to improve quality of service to the customers. With growing number of smart phone users, IPTV service has become ever more pop ular in telecommunication companies to provide streaming videos through the different new infrastructures.The biggest competitors in IPTV service in the U. S. are Verizon FioS (FTTP) and AT&T U-verse (FTTN) providing triple-play bundle service to the customer. In this paper, we are going to discuss IPTV service architecture difference of Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse, Cable Company, and Netflix as well as current IPTV research and development to increase quality of experience through multicast and cloud computing. Also we will analyze some of the emerging IPTV application in the future. Key Words — Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse, MulticastIntroduction Today’s IPTV services IPTV technologies are transforming how we perceive TV services today and global television industry as whole. It is a collection of modern technologies in computing, networking, and storage combined to deliver high quality television contents through IP network. It is be coming a platform which changing how we access information and entertainment. In recent years, we have seen tremendous growth in video and networking technologies with the emergence of smart phone.Various new technologies are in its development to meet the demand of higher data rate, reliable data transfer, and readily available resources, distributed cloud servers, to improve quality of service to the customers. The figure below [1] is an example of IPTV broadband network inside a home. [pic] Fig. 1. Diagram of IPTV Broadband Network Inside Home. With IPTV service, video contents are not only limited to the TV but can utilize in multiple platforms to enjoy video content anywhere, anytime, and anydevice.IPTV alter the way the customer consume video content like personal video recorders have done and lets customer have complete control of their entertainment experience to a next level. [pic] Fig. 2. U. S. Multichannel Video Subscriber Census Above is a figure of U. S. Multichannel Vi deo Subscriber Census by SNL Kagan [2]. In 2011, the cable industry lost 1. 8 million video subscribers whereas IPTV providers gained 1. 6 million. This shows that IPTV industry is gaining market share on video content provider and it is expected to grow even more.Cable TV delivers entire line-up of broadcast content channels all the time which requires huge amount of bandwidth being delivered all the time into the home and cable companies are moving toward IPTV delivery services to reduce bandwidth on their infrastructure. IPTV architecture is very different in that it only delivers the single channel that is requested by the consumer’s individual TV. Therefore, IPTV architecture can greatly reduce bandwidth by only providing specific request from the consumer at any given time [4]. [pic] Fig. 3.Expected Growth in IPTV subscribers. However, there is pressing need for improvement on IPTV side to meet the Quality of Experience that is equal to or better than traditional TV ser vices. To provide great quality of experience in IPTV requires almost no packet loss, delay variation of 200ms, and delivery of no more than one perceivable error during a two-hour movie. This constrains and requirements puts heavy burden on service provider to provide reliable and lossless IPTV to customers and requires video admission control. The paper is outlined as follows.In Section II, we overview the different IPTV system and architecture exist today and how service providers are planning to improve their IPTV infrastructure. In Section III we will discuss the multicast protocol in depth and current research from Cisco to deliver IPTV service with multicast protocol. In Section V, we will discuss some of the potential future application that can be seen in near future with IPTV service. IPTV System and architecture IPTV networks generate their video contents for transmission using many clustered components collectively called headends.There are three common types of IPTV hea dends to meet national, regional and local content distribution requirements. Super Headends (SHE) receives and digests content on the national level typically from satellites. After processing and encoding, the SHEs distribute the national content to video hub offices (VHO) over a core IP/MPLS network. VHOs aggregate national, regional, and local content with the on-demand services, and serve metropolitan areas with a population of between 100,000 to 500,000 homes.VHOs are connected to video switching offices (VSO) over metro aggregation networks. VSOs distributed the IPTV streams to the customer premises over access network. The IPTV architecture is shown in Figure. 4. [pic] Fig. 4. End-to-End IPTV Network Architecture. The most conventional transport technique for IPTV is to multicast UDP/IP packets with MPEG-2 video compression scheme. The newer standard video architectures use RTP protocol which can provide error repair and stream monitoring unlike UDP protocol.IPTV service hav e slower channel change time compare to CATV service provider since all the TV channels are broadcasted simultaneously whereas IPTV needs to request certain channel from the provider. IPTV zapping time is affected by several factors such as Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) signaling delay of leaving and joining multicast group, MPEG decoding delay, program specific information (PSI) including program association table (PAT) and program map table (PMT) acquisition delay, random access point (RAP) delay, conditional access system (CAS) key acquisition delay, and de-jittering buffer delay in the STB [4].More detail of video admission control in IPTV multicast protocol will be discussed in Section III. IPTV service over a packet-switched network demands near zero packet loss and limited jitter. Thus, it is often necessary to enforce traffic management and admission control in IPTV network by sufficient provisioning and resource allocation [4]. More detail on resource allocation through retransmission server to improve IPTV will be discussed in Section III. Telco companies are embracing the IPTV technology since this will open up huge market share with Cable TV companies.Telco companies have been delivering packet-based IP traffic over their xDSL technology for many years and utilizing their existing technology to move to IPTV is a natural choice for them. However, there are great roadblocks to deploy IPTV over DSL which primarily concerned with quality of experience that is equal or better than traditional CATV. Below is the figure of IPTV infrastructure for Telco companies [1]. [pic] Fig. 5. Telco End-to-End IPTV Network Architecture. The primary difference in Telco companies’ architecture can be seen in red cloud shown in Fig. 5.Digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) is located in environmentally controlled vaults or huts. It is also called video ready access devices (VRAD), which is placed on lawns or easements or a common space in a partment building. DSLAM often serves 100 to 200 residential gateways (RGs) that are attached to the outside of a residence and various techniques are used to transport signal between DSLAM and RG. Very high-bit-rate DSL (VDSL) for copper and broadband passive optical network (BPON) and gigabit PON (GPON) for giber transport. This metro access segment uses a hub-and-spoke architecture [5].Cable companies have been utilizing Hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC), combine optical fibers and coaxial cables, network since early 1990s to provide broadband internet access over existing cable TV system and its been employed this protocol globally and Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) is the international standard for developing equipment for HFC networks. Cable IPTV architecture is able to evolve from the traditional CATV with simple changes by adding few more components: cable modem (CM), cable modem termination system (CMTS), and a PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM).The cable comp anies’ architecture is shown in the figure below. [pic] Fig. 6. Cable Company Network Architecture. The CMTS and CM can provide a bidirectional IP over DOCSIS transport in the HFC network. CMTS can provide media access control (MAC) and physical protocol layer (PHY) in a single device by integrate with DOCSIS however, cable industry is moving toward a modular CMTS (M-CMTS). M-CMTS separates MAC and PHY layers to improve the scalability of DOCSIS transport.The CMTS manages DOCSIS QAM switching and provides QoS over the DOCSIS channel as well as manages residential CMs by dynamically load-balancing CMs among DOCSIS downstream channels to optimize traffic flow. PCMM policy server in DOCSIS networks defines admission control QoS policies by using session managers to request and reserve bandwidth for CMTS to enforce these QoS policies. A. Verizon Fios In 2004, Verizon began deployment of its Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) access network. The initial deployment used the ITU-T G. 983 BPON standard and in 2007, Verizon began using equipment with the ITU-T G. 84 G-PON standard. Fig. 6 below is Verizon’s BPON FTTP architecture diagram describing the connection between Optical Line Terminal (OLT) and Optical Network Terminal (ONT). OLT provides interface between Core network with voice, data, and video signals and Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) boosts the [pic] Fig. 6. Verizon BPON FTTP architecture optical video signal. ONT performs the optical to electrical signal conversion and provide the data, voice, and video service to the subscriber. Wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) combines the three wavelengths onto a single fiber for transmission to the premises. 310nm wavelength is used for upstream traffic and for downstream, 1550nm (broadcast video) and 1490nm (data and voice) are being utilized. Fiber Distribution Hub (FDH) cabinet contains 1Ãâ€"32 passive optical splitters. Each subscriber is connected to a dedicated fiber between FHD and the premis es. BPON delivers 622 Mbps downstream and 155 Mbps upstream per PON for voice and data through ATM. FiOS provide over 600 channels between 50 to 870 MHz RF signal transmitted over the 1550nm wavelength. [pic] Fig. 7. Verizon FiOS RF spectrumGPON physical architecture is same as BPON however it provides significant improvements over BPON in bandwidth. GPON can provide 2. 5 Gbps downstream and 1. 2 Gbps upstream for data and voice and in addition, GPON have different transport by implementing Ethernet based protocol to transfer data instead of ATM. The comparison of BPON and GPON is shown in Table 1 below. [pic] Verizon uses Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) technology to provide data communication inside the resident. MoCA is installed in the ONT, Broadband Home Router, and set-top boxes and permits two-way IP data transmission over coax.By using MoCA, Verizon can reduce installation cost by using existing coax cable instead providing Ethernet cables to connect devices in the resi dent. [pic] Fig. 7. Verizon FiOS MoCA Verizon is using two main FTTP deployment schemes, the FTTP Overlay architecture and the FTTP Full Build. The [pic] Fig. 8. FTTP Overlay and Full Build Deployment Choice between two deployment scenarios is dependent on the specific deployment area and the likely take rates. In the FullBuild architecture, the fiber is deployed to each house and each subscriber gets an ONT together.In Overlay architecture, fiber is available to pass all homes and business in a distributed area but only a small percentage of homes and businesses are connected to and served with FTTP [7]. B. AT&T U-Verse In 2006, AT&T launched its U-Verse IPTV service (project lightspeed), comprising a national head-end and regional video-serving offices. AT&T offered over 300 channels in 11 cities through FTTN technology. AT&T utilizes copper pair to connect VRAD to Residential Gateway (RG) using xDSL technology. With U-verse, it can provide 25Mbps to home approximately 2500~4000 f eet away.By using MPEG-4 H. 264 compression technique, U-verse can provide 4 simultaneous TV stream (2HD and 2 SD TV), 2 VoIP and POTS service to the resident. Figure below is U-verse architecture. [pic] Fig. 9. U-verse FTTN Architecture The DSL technology at its beginning stages could only deliver 6 Mbps but now with ADSL2+ and VDSL, it can provide much higher bandwidth over a single copper pair. [pic] Fig. 10. xDSL technology. The various techniques are being implemented to improve the bandwidth and physical loop length capabilities of different DSL technologies.Bonding copper cable pairs can provide higher bandwidth by terminating 2 copper cable pairs together to act as 1 larger copper pair. ADSL2+ and VDSL is bonded together to provide higher bandwidth. VDSL can provide higher throughput than ADSL2+ however, it can only support short loop length. There is newest xDSL technology standard VHDSL2, which approved in February 2006, can provide bandwidth of 200 Mbit/s but maximum dist ance of 300 meters. xDSL technology goal is to provide VDSL speed with longer loop length [4]. The various different xDSL technology characteristics are shown in table below. TABLE 2. xDSL SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS. pic] AT&T typically uses mix of xDSL technologies to deliver broadband service to subscribers. Mainly ADSL2+ from the central office and VDSL2 from the VRAD through FTTN fiber based technology. C) Cable TV to IPTV Transition Cable companies are the largest subscription television service provider in the world and can easily integrate IPTV services to their existing infrastructure. In cable TV infrastructure, there are two main categories of digital video services: broadcast and on-demand Broadcast service defined as a service in which one copy of a program is sent to all subscriber in a broadcast manner.Broadcast services include : – Digital broadcast- Encoded/compressed programs are sent to a subscriber’s STB, where they are decoded/uncompressed for playbac k on a TV. All programs are transmitted regardless of which programs are currently watched by the customer – Switched digital video (SDV) – SDV is similar to digital broadcast but only requested programs are sent to a subscriber group. This group typically consists of all the subscribers served by HFC node which can serve range o 125 to 2000 subscribers. SDV is first two-way communication with subscriber for program selection.The digital broadcast architecture begins with the polling the content in the headend from satellite and terrestrial sources. The acquired content is generally forward to a multifunction media processing device performing following three functions: – Statmux – performs statistical time-devision multiplexing of real-time video content from various sources. – Groomer – adjust rates of content into a maximum bandwidth and limiting the rate of video burst – Splicer – inserts ads into programming breaks as need ed for a regional market. [pic]Fig. 11. CATV Architecture. The content is then forwarded across IP transport network to an IP-enabled quadrature amplitude modulator (QAM), where video content is encrypted and forward to STB for the customer. An out-of-band (OOB) channel provides the STB with basic tuning information, basic tuning information, decryption keys, software upgrade, and other communications. Switched Digital Video (SDV) was designed as a cost-effective method to expand bandwidth capacity in a way different than plant upgrades or better video compression method.Traditional digital broadcast sends all the channels into the HFC network but with SDV, programming terminates at the headend (VHO) or hub (VSO) and does not send channel unless it’s requested. When an SDV program is selected, tuning software in the receiver sends an upstream message and SDV session manager receives the quest and maps the program to a frequency within the allocated pool. If the program is alr eady being viewed within the same subscriber group, the task is as simple as reusing the existing session frequency information. On-Demand service is an interactive service where a requested video program is streamed to one subscriber.All on-demand content is encoded/compressed and stored on server to be received by individual subscriber’s request. On-demand services include following: – Video on demand- Content is stored on a server and subscriber views a list of titles and requests to view a specific title. The VOD system authorizes and streams the requested content to the requested user. – Network-based personal video record (nPVR) – this service is like home PVR except the content is on the service provider network. A subscriber uses the STB to record specific content to record and watches content at a user-chosen time which is same manner as VOD. pic] Fig. 12. Integrated Cable Video Service Architecture Cable IPTV architecture needs three newly added components to enable IPTV to their customers: Cable modem (CM), Cable Modem Termination system (CMTS), and a PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM). [pic] Fig. 13. Cable IPTV Architecture The CMTS and CM provide a two-way IP over DOCSIS transport in the HFC network. Cable Companies are moving toward M-CMTS technology, which can separate, MAC and PHY layer to improve scalability of DOCSIS transport unlike traditional CMTS where both MAC and PHY layer in a single device.In order to utilize IPTV in Cable company network, IP STBs or other IPTV capable devices must be able to receive video over IP transport and remove network delay variation. Major Cable companies are finding hybrid STBs as attractive solution for IPTV. The Hybrid STB with an embedded cable modem can receive video from either IP path or traditional QAM/RF transport path, which is good strategy to migrate from traditional cable architecture to IPTV. Admission control in Cable IPTV can be applied to both the IP network from the vi deo source to the CMTS, and the HFC network between the QAM and the CM through PCMM policy server.Policy server in DOCSIS networks defines QoS policies for CMTS to enforce them. Admission control signaling can be categorized as off-path and on-path. Off-path is when the control path is different from the data path and on-path signaling traverses the data path for bandwidth requests that use the commonly selected Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP). In order to provide better IPTV services to the customers, Cable industry must improve bandwidth efficiency in the last mile. The biggest recent innovation to optimize available bandwidth is SDV but additional solutions are becoming more important as cable company transition to IPTV service.QAM sharing holds great promise of improving bandwidth efficiency without the need of major change in their current infrastructure. However, there are several factors contribute to the bandwidth efficiency of QAM sharing: †¢ Even if SDV and VOD h ave the same peak hours, a viewer is likely to receive only one service at a time. †¢ The gain of QAM sharing comes from the statistical advantage of a bigger QAM pool, shared by two or more services. †¢ Differing peak hours of DOCSIS and video service contribute additional gains.For instance, the spectrum allocated for DOCSIS commercial services during the day may by reallocated for video services in the evening. Dynamic QAM sharing is being realized through new technologies and standards for the following reasons: †¢ The DOCSIS M-CMTS architecture, which separates the DOCSIS MAC and PHY protocol layers. This allows the PHY layer (specifically the QAMs) to be dynamically allocated and de-allocated. †¢ The recent emergence of universal QAMs, which can function as either MPEG video QAMs or DOCSIS QAMs. †¢ Standardization in edge QAM resource management. pic] Fig. 14. Dynamic QAM Sharing with M-CMTS Architecture ERMI specifies several interfaces to an edge res ource manager (ERM). The ERM is a plat- form that manages and leases QAM channel bandwidth for all applications: †¢ ERMI-1 is an interface for edge devices to register QAM channels to the ERM and notify the ERM of any QAM failures or state changes. †¢ ERMI-2 is an interface for the ERM to bind the QAM resources from an edge device to the resource allocation request. †¢ ERMI-3 is an interface for the M-CMTS core to allocate QAM-channel andwidth from the ERM. Variable bit rate (VBR) video provides considerable bit saving compared to constant bit rate (CBR) video. WITH VBR statistical multiplexing, Cable Company can save as much as 30 percent of bandwidth by just varying the output data per time segment. Recently, DOCSIS 3. 0 was release to compete with Telco companies FTTx deployment and it is redefined the communication between cable modem (CM) located at subscriber premises and cable modem termination system (CMTS) at cable service provider’s network headend. D OCSIS 3. are design to allow channel bonding to boost up network throughput and number of bonded channel is usually 4 or 8. With DOCSIS 3. 0 standard, it can provide 300 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload [8]. TABLE 3. DOCSIS 3. 0 Standards and Characteristics [pic] D) Netflix OTT IPTV System and Architecture Netflix is the leading provider of OTT on-demand internet video streaming in the US and Canada with more than 23 million subscribers. Netflix can stream out HD quality video with average bitrate of 3. 6 Mbps and it is single largest source of Internet traffic in the US by consuming 29. % of peak download traffic. [pic] Fig. 15. Netflix Architecture Designing large-scale network infrastructure to support fast growing video streaming platform with high availability and scalability is technically challenging. The Majority Netflix infrastructure used to be hosted in its own datacenter but recently resorted to the use of cloud services, Content Distribution Networks (CDNs), and other public computing services. Amazon AWS cloud is being utilized by replacing its in house IT infrastructure along with SimpleDB, S3 and Cassandra for file storage.Video streaming is distributed out of multiple content distributed networks (CDNs), UltraDNS, and a public DNS service is used as its authoritative DNS servers. Microsoft Silverlight is employed as the video playback platform for Netflix desktop users and Netflix manages to build its IPTV with little infrastructure of its own. †¢ Netflix data centers – Netflix uses its own IP address space for the host name www. netflix. com. This server primarily handles registration of new user accounts and captures payment information and redirect users to movies. etflix. com or signup. netflix. com. This server does not interact with the client when handling movie request and playback. †¢ Amazon Cloud service – Most of the Netflix servers are served from various Amazon cloud services and key functions are content ingestion, log recording/analysis, DRM, CDN routing, user sign-in, and mobile device support †¢ Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) – Netflix utilize multiple CDNs to deliver the video content to the subscriber. The encoded and DRM protected videos are stored in Amazon cloud and copied to CDNs.The three main CDNS are Akamai, LimeLight, and Level-3. These three servers provide same quality level content to all the subscribers. †¢ Player – Netflix employ Silver light to download, decode and play Netflix movies on desktop web browser. There are different players for mobile phones and other devices such as Wii, PS3, Xbox, Roku, etc. Netflix utilize Dynamic Streaming over HTTP (DASH) protocol for streaming. In DASH, each video is encoded at several different quality levels and is divided into small chunks. The client requests one video chunk at a time via HTTP.With each download, it measures the received bandwidth and runs a rate determination algorithm to deter mine the quality of the next chunk request. It allows the player to freely switch between different quality levels depending on the bandwidth of subscriber. TABLE 4. KEY NETFLIX HOSTNAME [pic] Netflix Client player have many functions to improve its performance and quality of experience (QOE). Netflix video streaming is controlled by instruction in a manifest file, which Silverlight client downloads. This metafile provides the DASH player metadata to conduct the adaptive video streaming capability.It is client-specific and generated according to each client’s playback and bandwidth capability. It is in XML format and contains several key pieces of information including list of the CDNs, location of trickplay data, video/audio chunk URLs for multiple quality level, and timing parameters such as time-out interval, polling interval and other data to provide QoE to users. Manifest files ranks CDNs to indicate which CDNS are preferred for content delivery. Trickplay is achieved by downloading a set of thumbnail images for periodic snapshot during network congestion [15]. IPTV multicasting protocolIn early IP networks, a packet could be sent either in unicast (single device) or broadcast (all devices). With multicast, single transmission for a group of devices is possible. Multicast transmissions enable efficient communication between groups of devices by allowing Data to be transmitted to a single multicast IP address and received by the group of interest. Multicast over IPTV network presents many challenges related to reservation of resource and maintaining quality of experience (QoE). Backbone can be built based on IP/MPLS and the routers can be enabled for multicast using IGMP protocols.Before going into detail of multicast protocol in IPTV, we will discuss multicast protocol in detail and how it can help IPTV through multicast mechanism. TABLE 5. IGMPV2 AND IGMPV3 MAJOR DIFFERENCE [pic] The IGMP was defined to allow a host computer to select a stream fro m a group of multicast streams a user request. Following is the basic functions IGMP protocol: †¢ Join: an IGMP host indicates that it wants to receive information from a multicast group to become a member. †¢ Leave: An IGMP host indicates that it no longer wishes to receive information from a multicast group. Query: An IGMP router can ask the hosts which groups they are member of. This is done to verify a JOIN/LEAVE request or to look for error conditions. Queries maybe be: o Specific Query: Asks whether the host is a member of a specific multicast group o General Query: Asks the host to indicate all groups that it belongs to †¢ Membership Report: an IGMP host tells the IGMP host what group it belongs to. This report can be either: o Solicit Membership Report: Sent in response to a QUERY o Unsolicited Membership Report: initiated by the client.In the IPTV network, each broadcast TV channel is an IP multicast group. The subscriber changes the channel by leaving one gr oup and joining a different group. IGMPv1 is not suitable for IPTV because it does not include an explicit â€Å"Leave† capability. The client will continue to receive all requested stream until the multicast router issues next query. The standard for IGMPv2 and IGMPv3 major difference is shown in Table 5. IGMPv2 supports Any Source Multicast (ASM) networks and which allows host to specify which multicast group it wishes to join.Most deployed IPTV clients supports IGMPv2. The Major enhancement in IGMPv3 is that it allows Support Specific Multicast (SSM). Host can specify the source address it wants to listen to. Here’s basic IGMP operation involving two devices: †¢ IGMP host (client or STB) – issues messages to join or leave a multicast group. The client also responds to queries from the multicast router. †¢ IGMP router – responds to the join and leave messages to determine if multicast groups should be forward out an interface. Periodic queries are used to discover from error conditions and verify requests.The IGMP router receives multicast groups either through the use of a multicast protocol such as PIM or static flooding. It is the termination point for IGMP messages and does not send any IGMP information to its upstream neighbors. [pic] Fig. 16. DSL Access Network IPTV Service In xDSL IPTV architecture, the subscriber initiates channel change requests and responds to status inquiries. The Routing Gateway (RG) at the subscriber’s site and DSLAM aggregate traffic from multiple subscribers in order to act on request from the STB.However, IGMP networks were not originally designed to have networking equipment between IGMP client and the IGMP routers. This creates some challenges to the multicast implementation: – Excessive multicast traffic: When delivering high bandwidth IPTV over broadband network, it is important to ensure that IPTV channels are forward only to those subscriber currently viewing them sinc e bandwidth is scarce. If the intermediate devices are unaware of IGMP flows then all multicast traffic is broadcast out all ports – Excessive IGMP traffic: Extra bandwidth is consumed as IGMP flows are broadcast to across the network.A single STB IGMP request can result in responses from thousands of IGMP peer clients. – Excessive time to Leave a group: With small spare bandwidth in broadband networks, Leave request often must be processed before additional join request can be served. To mitigate above challenges, several techniques are proposed and developed in intermediary devices: Local Replication, Proxy routing, Proxy Reporting, and Immediate Leave. Local replication, IGMP snooping from DSLAM, allows DSLAM to inspect incoming IGMP Join and Leave request and take appropriate action.If the channel being requested to view is already being received at the DSLAM, it will replicate the stream and forward to the subscriber. The DSLAM builds a table to track which channe l are being forwarded to each port. [pic] Fig. 17. DSLAM with IGMP Snooping Proxy routing works by allowing intermediate device (DSLAM) takes active role of terminating all IGMP flows. This makes DSLAM to act as IGMP host and responds to all incoming requests. DSLAM will recreate the IGMP request and use its own IP address as source.The major benefit of proxy routing is scaling since router is not aware of individual subscribers. [pic] Fig. 18. IGMP Proxy Routing Proxy Reporting reduces the number of IGMP packets flowing across the network by selectively dropping IGMP packets that are not need to be forwarded. The Proxy Reporting can be subdivided to two categories: Query Suppression and Report Suppression. Query Suppression reduces traffic between the DSLAM and the subscriber premises by having the DSLAM intercept and respond to IGMP queries sent by the router.DSLAM will never send a specific query to any clients and forward general queries only to those client receiving at least o ne multicast group. [pic] Fig. 19. Query Suppression. Report Suppression reduces traffic from DSLAM to the router by having DSLAM aggregate the response. The DSLAM can intercept IGMP reports coming from STB and forwards a summarized version to the IGMP router only when it is necessary. There are two categories of reports. Unsolicited membership reports are forward when first subscriber joins a multicast group or last subscriber leaves a multicast group.This tells router to begin or stop sending channel to this DSLAM. Solicited membership reports are forward once per multicast group. The DSLAM will aggregate multiple responses together into a single membership report to save bandwidth. [pic] Fig. 20. Report Suppression Immediate leave alleviate IPTV challenge to change channel rapidly. The standard IGMP Leave operation for channel change is as follow: – The STB sends a request to leave one multicast group – Router responds by issuing Membership Query to confirm the requ est. The STB responds with a Membership Report which does not include the multicast group By implementing immediate leave, STB can leave the multicast group by just simply sending a request to leave one multicast group [16]. [pic] Fig. 21. Standard IGMP Leave and Immediate Leave. The emerging IPTV deployments utilize Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) in order to deliver media content. Unlike UDP, RTP protocol can provide sequence numbers to maintain packet ordering and detect losses, and timing information to determine network delay and synchronize timing between senders and receivers.RTP control protocol maintains session state between senders and receivers and report sender and receiver statistics bi-directionally [17]. The rapid acquisition is illustrated in the Fig 22 flow diagram below. [pic] Fig. 22. Rapid Acquisition Flow Diagram 1) The RTP receiver sends a Multicast Leave message to its upstream multicast router to leave the current multicast session and end the currently v iewed channel. 2) The RTP receiver sends a feedback message to the feedback target asking for rapid acquisition for the session it wants to join. In this feedback message, the RTP receiver can specify its specific requirements. ) The retransmission server receives the feedback message and decides whether or not to accept the request. If the retransmission server accepts the request, it sends a message to the RTP receiver that describes the burst that the retransmission server will generate and send, including the indication when the RTP receiver should join the new multicast session. The unicast burst stream consists of retransmission of a specific block of packets which will allow the RTP receiver to begin displaying video without waiting for a certain random access point to arrive in the multicast flow.If the retransmission server denies the request, it informs the RTP receiver immediately. 4) If the retransmission server accepts the request, it transmits the unicast burst data an d any additional message(s) needed to carry the key information about the new channel. The key information is used to prime the decoder inside the IPTV STB so that it can start decoding sooner. The unicast burst continues at a higher than natural rate until the unicast burst catches up with the real-time multicast flow. The sustainable burst rate depends on the access network link characteristics. ) At the appropriate moment (as indicated or computed from the burst parameters), the RTP receiver joins the new multicast session by sending a Multicast Join message to its upstream multicast router. 6) The RTP receiver starts receiving the multicast flow and completes the rapid acquisition. The STB will not join multicast session immediately with rapid acquisition since there would not be enough available left over on the access link. By utilizing unicast burst sent from the retransmission server o catch up with the multicast flow in a reasonable amount of time before joining to multicas t group allows faster channel switching capability rather than joining multicast group immediately [18]. Cloud Computing service in IPTV IPTV videos can be delivered to subscribers through various different network structures. For many years, Proxy servers have been utilized to decrease network traffic and delays through high speed and robust connection. Telco companies are looking for ways to keep service calls rejections to minimum through cloud service for on-demand IPTV service. Figure below shows on-demand IPTV service for cloud architecture. pic] Fig. 23. On-demand IPTV cloud services Video can be streamed from any of the virtual servers by load balancing among server and handle peak loads by avoid overload to achieve continuous, high utilization levels of servers. Virtual servers can provide low cost computing resources. The Virtual server acts like a dedicated server but it co-reside on a single physical machines acting as multiple physical dedicated server. However, if too many virtual servers reside on the single physical machine, services may face problem due to scarce computing resource per virtual server.Virtual storage through cloud computing allow easy share of resources among themselves. Physical storage is virtualized into virtual disk, which allows storage consolidation across heterogeneous vendors and protocols, enabled by dynamically growing and shrinking of storage through live migration, in the enterprise storage area network to be used by applications [22]. F uture application of IPTV The key to differentiating IPTV from traditional TV service of VOD and Network-based personal video record (nPVR) is the real-time interactive application and social TV.With FTTx or Gigabit Ethernet providing more bandwidth in broadband network allows new killer application to maximize the value of the IPTV service. A) SayUTV SayUTV service allows users’ participation into TV sports, discussion, variety show, and so on. SayUTV allow mixing their vide o and sources into provider’s content to allow maximum interactive and customize IPTV content. The subscriber can click participation button on SayUTV GUI. After service provider or host of the content allows his/her participation, the subscriber’s audio and video content is mixed into program’s content.All the viewer of the content can view the participant’s image and voice. [pic] Fig. 26. SayUTV Service System Architecture SayUTV service divides the role of users into three major roles: †¢ Controller – who creates a service session and has a control over that session. †¢ Participants – who joins the session and contributes his/her own multimedia content. †¢ Simple Viewer – who enjoys this service in a passive way [pic] Fig. 27. SayUTV Implementation. SayUTV is an advanced IPTV service, which combined with bidirectional multimedia communication technologies allowing interactive user-participation [20].B) IPTV Interacti ve Online Shopping In order for IPTV service provider to maximize the profit from IPTV service require smart ad insertion based on customers’ preference. TV series and sports media are well known for effective product advertisement aid. Apparels worn by a main actress of TV series or MVP sports athletes have greater potential for larger sales than conventional display by online shopping website. In order to provide customer’s shopping craving while watching TV series or sports event is to add additional information to the product description field such as TV series name, and character or athletes name.This will allow customers place some tags on that particular product through watching particular TV series or service provider can collect customers’ preference based on content and insert smart ad targeting each subscriber. [pic] Fig. 28. Shopperama Service Screen in Korea Shopperama is OTT provider in Korea providing series, which have broadcasted through a TV st ation, online along with smart ad insertion. The apparels worn by main actors and products inside the episode are displayed in a synchronized manner with video content as shown in Fig 25.This allows customer to shop for products very easily while watching TV series and reduce customer’s burden of trying to find particular product [21]. To improve interactive online shopping with IPTV service still needs many enhancements to fully flourish in E-business model. Behavior targeting content to users is estimate to be 20 billion dollar industry and in order for IPTV interactive online shopping to gain market share requires smart integration of cross layer platforms. C) Final Remarks With IPTV service deployment, Cable Company is afraid of cord-cutting case.The IPTV service is gaining popularity amongst consumer and there are many opportunities for new killer application to integrate with IPTV service. In this paper, we described current IPTV architecture in the market and presented recent efforts to improve IPTV technology. Emerging IPTV mobile systems are also gaining a lot of attention and consumer trends demonstrate that IPTV will continue to be in demand. Acknowledgment I would like to thank Prof. G K Chang for giving me an opportunity to work on this topic and learn more about multicast protocol to provide IPTV service.I was able to learn more about IPTV architecture and current trend in network research in video streaming protocol. References 1] â€Å"IPTV and the Future of Video Services† [online] Available: http://www. employees. org/~acbegen/files/IPTV_Tutorial_CCNC_2010_abegen. pdf 2] â€Å"U. S. Multichannel Subscriber Update and Geographic Analysis,† white paper, SNL Kagan, Dec. 2012. 3] Ali C. Begen, â€Å"Error control for IPTV over xDSL networks,† in Proc. IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conf. (CCNC), Special Session on IPTV Technologies and Applications, Las Vegas, NV, Jan. 008 4] A. Yarali and A. Cherry, †Å"Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). † In TELCON 2005 2005 IEEE Region 10, 2005, pp. 1-6. 5] Doverspike, R. ; Guangzhi Li; Oikonomou, K. N. ; Ramakrishnan, K. K. ; Sinha, R. K. ; Dongmei Wang; Chase, C. ; , â€Å"Designing a Reliable IPTV Network,† Internet Computing, IEEE , vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 15-22, May-June 2009 6] Finn, J. ; , â€Å"PON Technology in the Verizon Network,† Global Telecommunications Conference, 2008. IEEE GLOBECOM 2008. IEEE , vol. , no. , pp. 1-5, Nov. 30 2008-Dec. 4 2008 doi: 10. 1109/GLOCOM. 008. ECP. 1076 7] M. Abrams, P. C. Becker, Y. Fujimoto, V. O’Byrne, and D. Piehler,â€Å"FTTP deployments in the United States and Japan—Equipment choices and service provider imperatives,† J. Lightw. Technol. , vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 236–246, Jan. 2005. 8] CableLabs, â€Å"Modular CMTS Interfaces,† http://www. cablemodem. com/specifications/m-cmts. html 9] CableLabs, â€Å"Data Over Cable Service Interface Specificatio n,† http://cablemodem. com/ 10] CableLabs PacketCable, â€Å"PacketCable Multimedia Specification,†2005. 11] CableLabs, â€Å"Modular CMTS Interfaces,† ttp://www. cablemodem. com/specifications/m-cmts. html 12] CableLabs, â€Å"DOCSIS 3. 0 Interface Specification,† 2007. 13] CableLabs, â€Å"DOCSIS M-CMTS Downstream External PHYInterface Specification,† 2007. 14] Vasudevan, S. V. ; Xiaomei Liu; Kollmansberger, K. ; , â€Å"IPTV Systems, Standards and Architectures: Part II – IPTV Architectures for Cable Systems: An Evolutionary Approach,† Communications Magazine, IEEE , vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 102-109, May 2008 15] Adhikari, V. K. ; Yang Guo; Fang Hao; Varvello, M. ; Hilt, V. ; Steiner, M. Zhi-Li Zhang; , â€Å"Unreeling netflix: Understanding and improving multi-CDN movie delivery,† INFOCOM, 2012 Proceedings IEEE , vol. , no. , pp. 1620-1628, 25-30 March 2012 16] â€Å"Introduction to IGMP for IPTV Networks,† White Paper, Ju niper Network. , 2007 17] RFC 3550, â€Å"RTP: A transport protocol for real-time applications. † [Online]. Available: http://www. ietf. org/rfc/rfc3550. tx 18] Mignon, M. ; Bouckhout, K. ; Gahm, J. ; Begen, A. C. ; , â€Å"Scaling server-based channel-change acceleration to millions of IPTV subscribers,† Packet Video Workshop (PV), 2012 19th International , vol. no. , pp. 107-112, 10-11 May 2012 doi: 10. 1109/PV. 2012. 6229721 19] Phooi Yee Lau; Sungkwon Park; Joonhee Yoon; Joohan Lee; , â€Å"Pay-as-you-use on-demand cloud service: An IPTV case,† Electronics and Information Engineering (ICEIE), 2010 International Conference On , vol. 1, no. , pp. V1-272-V1-276, 1-3 Aug. 2010 20] Park, I. K. ; Seung Hun Oh; Sim Kwon Yoon; Ho Young Song; , â€Å"An implementation of user-participated interactive IPTV service system,† Consumer Electronics, 2008. ISCE 2008. IEEE International Symposium on , vol. no. , pp. 1-3, 14-16 April 2008 21] Jonghoon Chun; , â€Å"In teracitve Online Shopping Innovation,† Computers, Networks, Systems and Industrial Engineering (CNSI), 2011 First ACIS/JNU International Conference on , vol. , no. , pp. 104, 23-25 May 2011 22] Phooi Yee Lau; Sungkwon Park; Joonhee Yoon; Joohan Lee; , â€Å"Pay-as-you-use on-demand cloud service: An IPTV case,† Electronics and Information Engineering (ICEIE), 2010 International Conference On , vol. 1, no. , pp. V1-272-V1-276, 1-3 Aug. 2010

Jerry Character Analysis from Chocolate War

Jerry's perseverance keeps him from selling the chocolates every day and giving up. First, when Jerry finds everything in his locker in shreds and does not give up and sell the chocolates, he shows his perseverance by not giving in and selling the chocolates. Instead of giving up instantly and going along with everyone else is doing, Jerry stays with it and does not give up, showing perseverance. Second, when Jerry was beat up by the school bully, Emile Janza, because Jerry is not selling chocolates, he also shows his perseverance by continuing to refuse the chocolates.Jerry shows his perseverance again because he does not sell the chocolate even though everyone in school wants him to. Third, when Jerry is at football practice and is brought to the ground again and again but continues to â€Å"rise to his feet† (1) again, Jerry proves his perseverance by getting up again and giving it another go instead of. With perseverance, Jerry does not give up and gives it another go inst ead of giving up right then. Similarly, Jerry's defiance also keeps him from selling the chocolates and defying authorities.First, when all of the strange things like prank phone calls and people outside his house happen to Jerry, his reactions are defiant. Jerry shows defiance because he feels that he does not need anyone's help and can get all of the chocolate business out of the way himself with no one's assistance. Second, when Jerry would say, â€Å"‘Because I don't want to'† (163), whenever asked why he does not sell chocolates, Jerry shows his defiance by not telling anyone the reason why he does not sell the chocolates no matter what anyone tells him.Instead of giving everyone a real, straight answer, he would defy anyone who asked that question. In the end, Jerry is defeated by the entire school in many different ways. First, when Jerry boxes against Emile Janza and gets completely beat down, Jerry shows that he has been defeated. Jerry is defeated because he i s beaten in a boxing match and he has gotten beat up. Second, after the boxing match and when Jerry starts to think â€Å"sell whatever [the school] wants you to sell† (248), Jerry feels defeated because everything he has done against the chocolate sale has led to nothing.He is defeated because he goes through everything that he went through without a reward or even a significant remembrance of that year's chocolate sale. In conclusion, Jerry Renault's defiance and perseverance help resist the chocolates until the end when he is overcome by the students and finally becomes convinced to sell the chocolates. Work Cited Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. 1974. New York: Random House, 1997.