An Online MBA †On My List, Part II Essays

An Online MBA – On My List, Part II Essays An Online MBA – On My List, Part II Essay An Online MBA – On My List, Part II Essay In the last post I talked about the truly horrible experience of losing my very best friend to cancer at the age of 40. She was such a lover of life that she was almost our hub of energy and when she passed away it was like a light went out for good. I could have very easily wallowed in my grief for years to come but instead I chose to honor her life by stepping outside my comfort zone and taking some of her lessons to heart. She was never one to sit around waiting for things to happen; if she wanted something she went after it completely and totally. This was what motivated me to change the way in which I saw the world, change my behavior, and go after what I wanted now instead of later. Part of what I did during this time was throwing myself into finding more information about returning to school – something that I had long wanted to do. I had always wanted to go back and get my MBA but I couldn’t figure out a way that I would be able to make it all work. So I took a page from my friend’s book and I committed myself to finding a way no matter what. I didn’t have to do much research before I found the information I was looking for – the online MBA program. An online MBA program would allow me to juggle my job, my family, and the responsibilities of school because I would be able to do all of my school work and attend all of my lessons from home. I was pleasantly surprised to learn how much was available in the online programs out there. The online MBA program was not the only thing available – there was the online IT degree program, nonprofit management program, online business degree program, and much, much more.

Computed Tomography Essays

Computed Tomography Essays Computed Tomography Essay Computed Tomography Essay 1. Introduction One of the most used techniques in the imagiology field is called Computed Tomography ( CT ) , a method to get pieces of the organic structure based on the fading of X raies. This monograph will seek to roll up the most of import information about CT, viz. its history, physical rules, cardinal instrumentality, informations acquisition and processing techniques, every bit good as its applications. First, a brief circuit through the history of the technique will be taken, while some of the most of import accomplishments will be referred. The get downing point will be the find of the X raies, so go throughing through the creative activity of the first CT scanner and the development of informations analysis and processing algorithms. Then, a concise alteration of the development of the scanners will be done, defining the different coevalss of scanners and the cardinal characteristics of each one. In order to understand how an object can be scanned by this technique, a reappraisal of the physical constructs that constitute the footing of CT will be done. More exactly, we will discourse the fading of radiation while go throughing through objects. A short description of how X-rays interact with affair and the construct of additive fading coefficient will be discussed. The instrumentality needed for CT will shortly be referred, in peculiar the most of import constituents of a CT scanner will be briefly explained. As informations acquired by the scanners are non displayed in the manner they are obtained, we will subsequently explicate the most used methods to treat and analyse the great sum of information acquired by the CT sensors. The procedure of making a graduated table to stand for informations the CT Numberss will later be overviewed, in order to understand how images are created and shown to the physicians. A description of how CT allows to separate different anatomical constructions and how it permits to see merely the constructions we want will besides be done. After that, an numbering of some of the many clinical applications of CT will be done, cognizing at the start that it will be impossible to name all the applications, ground why merely a few will be referred. Besides, it is non the chief end of this monograph, although it is indispensable to understand the important importance of CT in the medicine field. Finally, we will seek to speculate about the hereafter of CT, specifically what it can be improved and what are the existent challenges for this technique and how it can be overcame. This monograph is portion of the Hospital and Medical Instrumentation class and pretends to be an overall position of CT, ground why there is non thorough item in each subdivision ( for more item in the approached subjects, please read the mentions ) . three-dimensional Reconstruction techniques will non be discussed because it is the subject of another group. Acute instrumentality will non be exploited because it non exploited in the class every bit good. 2. Historical Background The history of CT started with the find of X raies in 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, which gave him the Physics Nobel Prize in 1901. During 1917, the Austrian mathematician Johann Radon developed a survey in which he demonstrated that doing several projections in different waies of a stuff and animating its associated form, it was possible to obtain a piece where 1 could qualify different densenesss of the stuff. The thought of utilizing these mathematical methods to make images of pieces of the human organic structure in radiographic movies was proposed by the Italian radiotherapist Alessandro Vallebona in 1930. Between 1956 and 1963, the physicist Allan Cormack developed a method to cipher the distribution of captive radiation in the human organic structure based on transmittal measurings, which allowed to observe smaller fluctuations in soaking up. [ 2 ] , [ 3 ] , [ 4 ] In the twelvemonth of 1972, Sir Godfrey Hounsfield ( who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 1979, shared with Cormack ) invented the first CT scanner in United Kingdom when he was working at EMI Company, which, at the clip, was really best known for its connexion to the music universe. The original paradigm, called EMI Scanner , recorded 160 points for each projection in 180 different angles ( with stairss of 1 A ; deg ; ) and each piece took 5 proceedingss to be acquired. A 180160 matrix was so constructed with these informations, which took 2 and half hours to be analyzed until the concluding 2D-images could be visualized. The first types of scanners required the patient s caput to be immerged in a water-filled container in order to cut down the difference of X raies fading between the beams that crossed the skull and the 1s that merely crossed the environment, because the sensor had a little scope of strengths that it could mensurate. [ 5 ] , [ 6 ] During the subsequent old ages, CT scanners increased its complexness, and based on that development, we can separate five coevalss of machines that will be discussed in the following subdivision ( Section 3 ) . Subsequently, in 1989, it was developed a new technique in which information acquisition was done continuously the coiling CT scanning utilizing the motion of the platform where the patient was lying. [ 4 ] Presents, CT machines have evidently superior public presentations than the paradigms of the 70 s. In fact, several rows of sensors have been added which now allows enrollment of multiple pieces at the same clip the multislices scanners. These betterments allowed to stand for informations in 10241024 matrixes, which have a 1 megapixel pel declaration. [ 7 ] , [ 8 ] 3. Development of CT Scanners Over the clip, the basicss of informations acquisition and the cardinal features of the machines changed in many ways. This fact, let us to divide the development of the CT scanners in five coevalss. 3.1 First Generation Parallel Beam The first technique implemented in CT commercial machines consisted of the emanation of a parallel X-ray beam that passed through the patient until it reached a sensor located on the opposite side. Both X-ray and sensor were topographic point in the border of a ring with the patient as the centre. The X-ray beginning, every bit good as the sensor, suffered a additive interlingual rendition gesture to get informations from all mater s waies. Then, the X-ray tubing and the sensor, was rotated about 1 A ; deg ; , holding the patient as isocenter, and a new beam was emitted and the motion of interlingual rendition restarted. This procedure was repeated until it reached 180 A ; deg ; and, for each rhythm of emitted beams, 160 projections of the stuff on analysis were recorded. The extremely collimated beam provided first-class rejection of scattered radiation in the patient. At this point, the most used image Reconstruction technique was the backprojection. Subsequently in this work ( S ection 6 ) we will explicate the techniques used in Reconstruction. The clip needed for informations acquisition was highly long ( 5 proceedingss per piece ) , due to technological restrictions. [ 8 ] 3.2 Second Generation Fan beam In the 2nd coevals, the collimated beam was replaced by a fan X-ray beam and the simple sensor was replaced by a additive array of sensors. This progress resulted in a shorter scan clip, although this technique still continued to utilize a conjugate source-detector interlingual rendition gesture. At the same clip, the algorithms used to retrace the piece images became more complicated. Because of the huge sum of clip needed to get informations, both the first and 2nd coevalss of scanners were limited to caput and appendages scans, because those were the parts of the organic structure that could stay immobilized during the long scan clip. [ 9 ] , [ 2 ] , [ 8 ] 3.3 Third coevals Revolving sensors The 3rd coevals of scanners emerged in 1976. In this coevals, the fan beam was big plenty to wholly incorporate the patient, which made the interlingual rendition motion redundant and the scanner commenced to put to death merely the rotational motion. Such as the fan beam, besides the sensors became large plenty to enter all informations of each piece at a clip. The sensor consisted of a line with 100s of independent sensors that, like as in the 2nd coevals, rotated attached to the X-ray beginning, which required up to 5 seconds to get each piece. The power supply was now made by a faux pas ring system placed on the gauntry, which allowed to continually revolve it without the demand to change by reversal the revolving gesture to untwist the power overseas telegrams used earlier, as it was needed after each rotary motion in first and 2nd coevalss. [ 2 ] , [ 8 ] 3.4 Fourth coevals Fixed sensors This coevals was implemented in the late 70 s and its invention was a stationary ring of sensors that surrounded the patient. In this instance, merely the X-ray beam had motion. The ring consisted of a 600 to 4800 independent sensors that consecutive recorded the projections, so detector and beginning were no longer associated. However, sensors were calibrated twice during each rotary motion of the X-ray beginning, supplying a self-calibrating system. Third coevals systems were calibrated merely one time every few hours. In the 4th coevals systems, two sensors geometries were used. The first one consists of a revolving fan beam inside the fixed ring of sensors and the 2nd 1 has the fan beam outside the ring. These technological progresss provided a decrease of the scan times to 5s per image and piece spacing below 1 millimeter. Both 3rd and 4th coevalss are available in market and both have success in medical activities. [ 8 ] , [ 2 ] 3.5 Fifth Generation Scaning negatron beam The invention of the 5th coevals of CT scanners ( early 80 s ) was a new system of X-ray beginning. While the ring of sensors remains stationary, it was added a new semicircular strip of wolfram and one negatron gun which is placed in the patient alliance. By directing this negatron beam to the anode of the tungsten strip, the release of X-ray radiation is induced. This method consequences in a no traveling parts system, i.e. no mechanical gesture is needed to enter information because the sensors wholly surround the patients and the electronic beam is directed electronically. The four mark rings and the two sensor Bankss allow eight pieces to be acquired at the same clip, which cut down the scan clip and, accordingly, the gesture artifacts. This fact led to the decrease of scan clip to between 33 and 100 MS, which is sufficient to capture images of the bosom during its cardiac rhythm, ground why it is the most used in diagnostic of cardiac disease. For that ground, this is besides c alled Ultrafast CT ( UFCT ) or Cardiovascular CT ( CVCT ) Because of the uninterrupted scan, particular accommodations in the algorithm are needed to cut down image artefacts. [ 2 ] , [ 8 ] , [ 9 ] 3.6 Coiling Scanners The thought of making a coiling CT came with the demand for scans of three-dimensional images. This system to get three-dimensional CT images was born in the early 90 s and consists of a continue interlingual rendition motion of the tabular array which supports the patient. This technique is based on the 3rd coevals of machines and allows scan times of the venters to be reduced from 10 proceedingss to 1 minute, which reduces the gesture artifacts. Besides, a three-dimensional theoretical account of the organ under survey can be reconstructed. The most complex invention of this technique consists of the information processing algorithms, because they must see the coiling way of X-ray beam around the patient. Technically, this was possible merely due to the faux pas ring system implemented on the 3rd coevals of scanner. [ 9 ] , [ 8 ] , [ 10 ] 3.7 Cone beam After the development of new techniques, sensors, methods and algorithms, nowadays the inquiry is: How many pieces can we get at same clip? . The reply to this inquiry lies in the arrangement of several rows of sensors and the transmutation of a fan beam X ray to a three-dimensional cone beam. Nowadays, makers have already placed 64 rows of sensors ( multislice systems ) and the image quality reached high degrees. Furthermore, the wholly scan of a construction takes now about 15 seconds or even less. [ 2 ] 4. Physical Principles The basic rule of CT is mensurating the spacial denseness distribution of a human organ or a portion of the organic structure. It is similar to conventional X-ray, in which an X-ray beginning of unvarying strength is directed to the patient and the image is generated by the projection of the X raies against a movie. The X raies are emitted with a certain strength I0 and they emerge on the other side of the patient with a lower strength I. The strength decreases while traversing the patient, because radiation interacts with affair. More exactly, X raies used in CT are of the order of 120kV and, with that energy ( 120 keV ) , they interact with tissues chiefly by photoelectric ( largely at lower energies ) and Compton effects ( at higher energies ) , although they can besides interact by coherent spread, besides called Rayleigh spread ( 5 % to 10 % of the entire interactions ) . Photoelectric consequence consists of the emanation of an negatron ( photoelectron ) from the irradiated affair caused by the soaking up of the X ray s energy by an interior negatron of the medium. In Compton consequence, a X-ray photon interacts with an outer negatron of affair and deviates its flight, reassigning portion of its energy to the negatron, which is so ejected. In consistent spread, the energy of the X ray is absorbed by the tissue doing the negatrons to derive harmonic gesture and is so reradiated in a random way as a secondary X ray. [ 10 ] , [ 11 ] , [ 12 ] , [ 13 ] , [ 14 ] CT X raies are non monoenergetic, but for now, to simplify the apprehension of this construct, we will see them monoenergetic. When an X ray ( every bit good as other radiation ) passes through a stuff, portion of its strength is absorbed in the medium and, as a effect, the concluding strength is lower than the initial 1. More exactly, the Beer s Law states that strength transmitted through the medium depends on the additive fading coefficient of the stuff  µ if we consider that we are in presence of a homogenous medium and the thickness of the stuff ten harmonizing to the undermentioned look: The job with conventional radiogram is that it merely provides an incorporate value for  µ along the way of the X-ray, which means that we have a two-dimensional projection of a three-dimensional anatomy. As it can be easy understood, all the constructions and variety meats at the same degree will look overlapped in the image. As a effect, some inside informations can non be perceived and some variety meats may non be wholly seen. For illustration, it is really difficult to see the kidneys in a conventional skiagraphy because the bowels appear in forepart of them. [ 15 ] , [ 16 ] , [ 11 ] Furthermore, as there are many values of ( typically one for each point of the scanned portion of the organic structure ) , it is non possible to cipher their values with one scorch step. However, if steps of the same plane by many different waies are made, all the coefficients may be calculated, and that is what CT does. As Figure 4 shows, a narrow X-ray beam that is produced by the beginning in the way of a sensor, which means that merely a narrow piece of the organic structure is imaged and the value of strength recorded by the sensor depends on all the stuff crossed by the X ray in its manner. That is the ground why it is called imaging it derives from the Greek tomos which means to cut or subdivision. Many informations of X-ray transmittal through a plane of an object ( an organ or a party of the organic structure ) from several waies are recorded and are so used to retrace the object by signal processing techniques. These techniques will be discussed subsequently in this monog raph ( Section 6 ) . The tightly collimated X-ray beam ensures that no important spread is present in order to guarantee a low signal/noise ratio ratio ( SNR ) , a necessary premiss to obtain a faithful image of the scanned object. For that ground, unlike conventional imaging, in CT, patient s constructions located outside the country that is being imaged do non interfere. [ 17 ] , [ 9 ] , [ 12 ] 5. Instrumentality The X-ray system is composed by an X-ray beginning, collimators, sensors and a data-acquisition system ( DAS ) . X-ray beginning is doubtless the most of import portion, because it is what determines the quality of the image. [ 10 ] , [ 8 ] 5.1 The X-ray beginning The footing of the X-ray beginning ( called X-ray tubing ) is to speed up a beam of negatrons between two electrodes against a metal mark and is shown in Figure 5. The cathode is a coiled wolfram fibril, which is crossed by a current which causes the fibril to heat up. At high temperatures ( 2220 A ; deg ; C ) , the wolfram releases negatrons, a procedure called thermionic emanation. A 15 to 150 kilovolts possible difference is applied between the cathode and the anode, which forces the released negatrons to speed up towards the anode. [ 10 ] When the negatrons hit the anode, they produce X raies by two ways. On the one manus, when an negatron base on ballss near the wolfram karyon, it is deflected by an attractive electric force ( because the karyon is positively charged and the negatron has a negative charge ) and loses portion of their energy as X raies. As there are an tremendous figure of possible interactions and each one leads to a partial loss of kinetic energy, the produced X raies have a great scope of energies, as Figure 5 shows. This procedure is called bremsstrahlung ( i.e. braking radiation ) . On the other manus, if an negatron from the cathode hits and penetrates an atom of the anode, it can clash with an interior negatron of it, doing the negatron to be ejected and the atom to hold a hole , which is filled by an outer negatron. The difference of adhering energy of these two negatrons is released as an X ray. This procedure is called characteristic radiation, because its energy depends on the adhering en ergy of the negatrons, which is characteristic of a given stuff. [ 10 ] , [ 9 ] , [ 15 ] The tubing current represents the figure of negatrons that pass from the cathode to the anode per unit of clip. Typical values for CT are from 200 up to 1000 ma. The possible difference between the electrodes is by and large of 120 kilovolts, which produces an energy spectrum runing from 30 to 120 keV. The tubing end product is the merchandise between the tubing current and the electromotive force between the electrodes and it is desired to hold high values because that permits a shorter scan clip, which reduces the artefacts due to motion ( such as for bosom scans ) . [ 10 ] , [ 8 ] Production of X raies in these tubings is an inefficient procedure and most of the power supplied to the tubing is converted in warming of the anode. So, a heat money changer is needed to chill the tubing. This heat money changer is placed on the revolving gauntry. Spiral CT in peculiar requires high chilling rates of the X-ray tubing and high heat storage capacity. [ 8 ] 5.2 Collimators The negatron beam released from the beginning is a spread beam, usually larger than the coveted field-of-view ( FOV ) of the image. Normally, the fan beam breadth is set for 1 to 10 millimeters ( although recent CT scanner allow submilimetric preciseness ) , with determines the breadth of the imaged piece. The collimator is placed between the beginning and the patient and is composed by lead sheets to curtail the beam merely to the needed waies. An X-ray beam larger than the FOV leads to a larger figure of X raies emitted than the 1s needed to the scan and that has two jobs: the radiation dose given to the patient is increased unnecessarily ; and the figure of Compton-scattered radiation additions. [ 10 ] , [ 8 ] 5.3 Antiscatter grids An ideal CT system merely with primary radiation ( x-rays emitted from the beginning ) making the sensor does non be and Compton spread is ever present. As this spread is indiscriminately distributed and has no utile information about the distribution of denseness of the scanned object, it merely contributes to the decrease of image contrast and should be minimized to the upper limit. This, because unlike photoelectric consequence, Compton consequence has a low contrast between tissues. As referred above, collimators are utile to restrict the X-ray beam to the FOV. However, even with a collimator, 50 % to 90 % of the radiation that reaches the sensor is secondary radiation. To cut down the Compton spread, antiscatter grids can be placed between the sensor and the patient. [ 10 ] An antiscatter grid consists of strips of sheets oriented parallel to the primary radiation way combined with a support of aluminium, which drastically reduces the spread radiation that has non the way of the primary one, as illustrated in Figure 6. In order to non take down the image quality because of the grid shadiness, the strips should be narrow. There is, nevertheless, a trade-off between the decrease of spread radiation ( that better the image contrast ) and the dosage that must be given to the patient to hold the same figure of detected X raies. [ 10 ] 5.4 Detectors At the beginning, single-slice CT scanners with merely one beginning and one sensor were used. However, these took much clip to get an image, ground why the development brought us single-source, multiple-detector machinery and multislice systems. The 3rd and 4th coevalss added a broad X-ray fan beam and a larger figure of sensors to the gauntry ( typically from 512 to 768 ) , which permitted to get more information in a smaller clip. The sensors used in CT must be extremely efficient to minimise the dosage given to the patient, have a big dynamic scope and be really stable over the clip and over temperature fluctuations inside the gauntry. Three factors contribute to overall efficiency: geometric efficiency ( fraction of the entire country of sensor that is sensitive to radiation ) , quantum efficiency ( the fraction of incident X raies that is absorbed to lend to signal ) and transition efficiency ( the ability to change over the captive X raies into electrical signal ) . These sensors can be of two types ( shown in Figure 7 ) : solid-state sensors or gas ionisation sensors. Solid-state sensors consist of an array of scintillating crystals and photodiodes, while gas ionisation sensors consist of an array of compressed gas Chamberss to which is applied a high electromotive force to garner ions produced by radiation in inside the chamber. The gas is kept under a high force per unit area, to maximise interactions between X raies and gas molecules, which produce electro-ion braces. [ 10 ] , [ 8 ] 5.5 Data-Acquisition System The familial fraction of the incident X-ray strength ( I/I0 in equation 1 ) can be every bit little as 10-4, ground why DAS must be really accurate over a great scope. The function of DAS is to get these informations and so encode it into digital values and convey these to computing machines for Reconstruction to get down. DAS make usage of many electronic constituents, such as preciseness preamplifiers, current-to-voltage convertors, parallel planimeters, multiplexers and analog-to-digital convertors. The logarithmic measure needed in equation 3 to acquire the values of  µi can be performed with an parallel logarithmic amplifier. Data transportation is a important measure to guarantee velocity to the whole procedure and used to be done by direct connexion between DAS and the computing machine. However, with the visual aspect of revolving scanners in 3rd and 4th coevalss, these transportation rate, which is every bit high as 10 Mbytes/s is now accomplished by optical senders placed on the revolving gauntry that send information to repair optical receiving systems. [ 8 ] 5.6 Computer system The information acquisition of the projections, the Reconstruction of the signal, the show of the reconstructed informations and the use of tomographic images is possible by computing machine systems used to command the hardware. Current systems consist of 12 processors which achieve 200 MFLOPS ( million floating-point operations per second ) and can retrace an image of 10241024 pels in less than 5 seconds. [ 8 ] 6. Signal Processing and Analyzing Techniques As informations are acquired in several waies ( e.g. with increases of 1 A ; deg ; or even less ) and each way is split in several distinguishable points ( e.g. 160 or more ) , at least 28 800 points are stored, which means that there must be efficient mathematical and computational techniques to analyse all this information. A square matrix stand foring a two-dimensional map of the fluctuation of X-ray soaking up with the place is so reconstructed. There are four major techniques to analyse these informations, which we will discourse later. [ 12 ] 6.1 Coincident additive equations As it was referred above ( Section 4 ) , there is a step of for each pel, which means that modern CT scanners deal with 1 048 576 points for each piece ( nowadays the matrixes used are 10241024 ) . As a consequence, to bring forth the image of one individual piece, a system of at least 1 048 576 equations must be solved ( one equation for each unknown variable ) , which means that this technique is wholly unserviceable. In fact, imagine that in 1967, Hounsfield built the first CT scanner, which took 9 yearss to get the information of a individual piece and 21 hours to calculate the equations ( and by the clip, the matrix had merely 28 000 entries ) . Besides, nowadays CT scanners get about 50 % more steps than it would be needed in order to cut down noise and artefacts, which would necessitate even more computational resources. [ 16 ] , [ 11 ] , [ 8 ] 6.2 Iterative These techniques try to cipher the concluding image by little accommodations based on the acquired steps. Three major fluctuations of this method can be found: Algebraic Reconstruction Technique ( ART ) , Coincident Iterative Reconstruction Technique ( SIRT ) and Iterative Least-Squares Technique ( ILST ) . These fluctuations differ merely in the manner corrections are made: ray-by-ray, pixel-by-pixel or the full information at the same time, severally. In ART as an illustration, informations of one angular place are divided into every bit separated elements along each beam. Then, these informations are compared with correspondent informations from another angular place and the differences between X-ray fading are added every bit to the fitting elements. Basically, for each step, the system tries to establish out how each pel value can be modified to hold with the peculiar step that is being analyzed. In order to set steps with pel values, if the amount of the entries along one way is lower than the experimental step for that way, all the pels are increased. Otherwise, if the amount of the entries is higher than the mensural fading, pels are decreased in value. By reiterating this iterative rhythm, we will increasingly diminish the mistake in pels, until we get an accurate image. ART was used in the first commercial scanner in 1972, but it is no longer used because iterative methods are normally slow. Besides, this method implies th at all informations must be acquired before the Reconstruction begins. [ 9 ] , [ 16 ] 6.3 Filtered backprojection Backprojection is a formal mathematical technique that reconstructs the image based merely on the projection of the object onto image planes in different waies. Each way is given the same weight and the overall additive fading coefficient is generated by the amount of fading in each X-ray way that intersects the object from different angular places. In a simpler mode, backprojection can be constructed by smearing each object s position back trough the image plane in the way it was registered. When this processed is finished for all the elements of the anatomic subdivision, one obtains a incorporate image of the additive fading coefficients, which is itself a rough Reconstruction of the scanned object. An illustration of this technique is represented in Figure 8. By its analysis, it is besides clear that the concluding image is blurred, which means that this technique needs a small betterment, which is given by filtered backprojection. [ 12 ] , [ 9 ] , [ 16 ] Filtered backprojection is hence used to rectify the blurring end point from simple backprojection. It consists of using a filter meat to each of the 1-Dimensional projections of the object. That is done by convoluting a deblurring map with the X-ray transmittal informations before they are projected. The filter removes from data the frequences of the X-ray responsible for most of the blurring. As we can see in Figure 8, the filter has two important effects. On the one manus, it degrees the top of the pulsation, doing the signal uniform within it. On the other manus, it negatively spikes the sides of the pulsation, so these negative vicinities will neutralize the blurring consequence. As a consequence, the image produced by this technique is consistent with the scanned object, if an infinite figure of positions and an infinite figure of points per position are acquired. [ 16 ] , [ 9 ] Compared with the two old methods this procedure has besides the advantage that Reconstruction can get down at the same clip that informations are being acquired and that is one of the grounds why it is one of the most popular methods presents. [ 9 ] 6.4 Fourier Reconstruction The last signal processing technique that will be discussed in this monograph is the Fourier Reconstruction which consists of analysing informations in the frequence sphere alternatively of the spacial sphere. For this, one takes each angular orientation of the X-ray fading form and decomposes it on its frequence constituents. In the frequence sphere, the scanned image is seen as a two-dimensional grid, over which we place a dark line for the spectrum of each position, as Figure 9 shows. To retrace the image, one has to take the 1-Dimensional Fast Fourier Transform ( FFT ) . Then, harmonizing to the Fourier Slice Theorem, each position s spectrum is indistinguishable to the values of one line ( piece ) through the image spectrum, guaranting that, in the grid, each position has the same angle that was originally acquired. Finally, the reverse FFT of the image spectrum is used to accomplish a Reconstruction of the scanned object. 7. Datas Display As it was said earlier ( Section 6 ) , additive fading coefficients give us a rough image of the object. In fact, they can be expressed in dB/cm, but as they are dependent on the incident radiation energy, CT scanning does non utilize the fading coefficients to stand for the image, but alternatively it uses integer Numberss called CT Numberss. These are on occasion, but on the side, called Hounsfield units and have the undermentioned relation with the additive fading coefficients: where  µ is the additive fading coefficient of each pel and  µw is the additive fading coefficient of H2O. This CT figure depends clearly on the medium. For human applications, we may see that CT figure varies from -1000 for air and 1000 for bone, with CT figure of 0 for H2O, as it is easy seen from equation 5. [ 9 ] , [ 13 ] , [ 4 ] , [ 12 ] The CT Numberss of the scanned object are so presented on the proctor as a gray graduated table. As shown in Figure 10, CT Numberss have a big scope and as human oculus can non separate so many types of greies, it is normally used a window to demo a smaller scope of CT Numberss, depending on what it is desired to see. The Window Width ( WW ) identifies the scope of CT Numberss and accordingly alters the contrast ( as Figures 11 and 12 show ) , whereas Window Level ( W

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GE coursework - Case Study Example Welch created the culture of the company in his own image. His philosophy that good leaders create a vision for the company helped him to motivate the management to put optimum performance in their operations. This culture has been made possible by uniting different cultural forces across the globe. The success of the company can also be attributed to its positive stance towards diversity. Any company that fails to take into account the values and culture of the people in the environment in which it operates is bound to fall. However, GE has managed to take a positive approach towards diversity across the whole globe. It specialises on technology based businesses such as semiconductors and radio stations. These products have high demand across the globe and it can be seen that any company that specialise in technical products is likely to attract many customers Its digitization process such as the use of the internet has also positively contributed to its success. The internet has revolutionised the business landscape during the contemporary period and this has also contributed towards the success of GE in its global and regional

Global studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Global studies - Essay Example on the quality of life in American society reveal that African Americans are the most disadvantaged and continue to lag behind the whites in every aspect in the society. For instance, African Americans tend to have low quality education, have difficulty getting employed and also accessing quality health care among others and this clearly indicates the depth of racial inequality in American society. This paper discusses how different individuals understand the issues of civil tights and racism in American society today and it covers the liberal ideals that assisted in promoting civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was a struggle by the African Americans to achieve equal civil rights as the whites including equal employment opportunities, good housing, quality education, voting rights, equal access to public facilities and most importantly the right to be free of racial discrimination. Therefore, this movement was particularly â€Å"organized to protest the unfair treatment of black Americans† (Wright 4). Basically, this movement aimed at ensuring that African Americans enjoyed the citizenship rights assured by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of the U.S Constitution. These amendments were very important to the civil rights movement as they guaranteed every American citizen equal citizenship (Hasday 8). Generally, the civil rights movement prompted gains for African Americans, women as well as persons with disabilities among others. African Americans’ rights of citizenship had been worn by the segregationist Jim Crow laws in the South because unde r these laws, African Americans were denied the right to vote; they were subjected to segregation; and disadvantaged when it comes to access to education, employment and healthcare among others (Ferrante 190). However, the Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1866 which highlighted numerous civil liberties including the right to make contracts, own and sell property and receive equal treatment under

Nigerian And British Negotiating Styles

Nigerian And British Negotiating Styles It can be argued that cases of successful negotiators in businesses have always kept their vision of success straight. These people are advocated to full understand what they want along with a complete understanding of the negotiation process. The successful people do not only have an understanding of their preferred negotiating style but also fully understand the preferred negotiating style of their counterpart. Hence, this allows the manger to excel in achieving their goals. Recently, few of the academics have undervalued the stance of adopting appropriate negotiation styles. However, on the other hand it can be argued that an approach that works superb for the counterparts style of negotiation has the capability of creating deadlock having a different negotiation style. Prudent people have been advocated the ones who carefully distinguishes and understands these differences and adopt a negotiating style that is best suited according the situation. This briefing paper has highlighted the challenges in terms of varying negotiating styles that can be faced by The Body Shop. These include cultural barriers, communication barriers from the perspective of Hofstede model or time orientation, space orientation, nonverbal communication, power distance and uncertainty avoidance. The next section has briefed about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that the company can face by setting their operations in Nigeria. Finally, the conclusions have focused on the precautionary measures that need to be taken by the manger of The Body Shop Company while carrying successful operations in Nigeria. 2 Terms of Reference This report is written as a part of management consultancy report for The Body Shop company. This report is a short briefing paper that will inform The Body Shop with the ways that can be adopted by the company to set up business operations in Nigeria. This report will provide a brief on the ways and styles of negotiation that can be adopted by The Body Shop. The Body Shop is the worlds second largest cosmetic franchise in the world. The company runs about 2400 shops in a total of 61 countries. The headquarters of The Body Shop is based in West Sussex England. The company has now decided to open their operations in Nigeria. This report is being compiled by ABC consultants, who specialize in providing cultural specific information to help their clients set up their businesses in new environment. The company excels in providing high quality service in facilitating the client help combating their cultural related issues. This particular report is a brief for The Body Shop Company on the ways company should solve their upcoming cultural related problems in opening their business in Nigeria. The Body Shop has asked for the tips and information from the ABC consultants, on the differences in negotiating styles that prevail both in England and Nigeria. This will provide The Body Shop with some idea on what to expect from the business environment when executing operations in Nigeria. 3 Overview of the Situation In considering the cultural differences in both the Nigeria and Europe, it is important to expand on the cultural dimensions presented by Hosftede, Hall, Kluckholn, Strodtbeck and Carbaugh (Orientation, 2008). It is worth mentioning that there exist no right approach to negotiation but rather there are good and bad approaches (LeBaron, 2008). For The Body Shop, to expand their business in a developing country such as Nigeria, will be expected to be exposed to a number of challenges. The challenges that the company can encounter includes: 3.1 Negotiation The literature suggests that managers and officials in Nigeria have very limited exposure to other cultures and hence like to perform their activities the way they want to perform (Katz, 2008). Specifically in Nigeria the culture is such that there exist contingency bargaining (Katz, 2008). The people of Nigeria adopt the cooperative style of negotiation but generally people may avoid compromises unless it is important (Katz, 2008). The preferred approach generally adopted by people is not win/win (Adair, 2001) The habit of Nigerians is that they will try to draw more outcomes out of the entire deal, without having regards for being fair to the other party (Adair, 2001) The Body Shop has to keep in mind that Nigerians have the capability to trick other party into inferior terms and conditions (Katz, 2008). Most importantly, in any situation of conflict the Nigerians are not very prone to compromise situation (Masayuki and M., 1993). Nigerians normally believe in sharing information as a means to develop trust but on the other hand side the other party must beware of the frauds that are a common practice (Graham et al., 1994). Normally the pact with which these negotiations take place is quite slow (Katz, 2008). The act of building relationships with Nigerians, bargaining and decision making takes much longer than expected (Katz, 2008). It is advisable for The Body Shop to be patient and control emotions about this delay because it is a part of their culture (Katz, 2008). It is worthwhile for the Body shop to keep in mind that the Nigerians prefer a polychromic work style (LeBaron, 2008). They normally take up on a number of things at the same time (LeBaron, 2008). At the time of negotiation, the Nigerians keep jumping back and forth on different topics rather than addressing one at a time (LeBaron, 2008). Whereas, the Europeans follow a monochromic style and consider one thing at a time (LeBaron, 2008). This may confuse the personnel of Body Shop. When it comes to bargaining, the Nigerians love haggling and feel offended if not welcomed (LeBaron, 2008). The Body Shop have to keep in mind that they facts can be revisited to their advantage, provided if Nigerians reciprocate on agreed areas (LeBaron, 2008). 3.2 Time Orientations There are two different orientations to time that exist in the world. These are the monochromic and polychromic cultures (Kirkman et al., 2006) 3.2.1 Negotiators from Polychronic culture It should be kept in mind that Nigerians have no fixed timings for meetings (Reisinger and Crotts, 2010) They take more breaks in work (Soares et al., 2007) Are normally comfortable with high level of information Normally overlap talks Consider the start time of anything as flexible and not take lateness 3.2.2 Negotiators from Monochronic cultures The culture in Europe follow specific timings for beginning and ending the task (Taras et al., 2010a) They prefer scheduled breaks (Taras et al., 2010b) Consider one thing at a time (Williams and Zinkin, 2008) They rely on specific and detailed authentic communication Like talking in sequence Consider lateness as devaluing 3.3 Space Orientations These space orientations also vary across different cultures (LeBaron, 2008). This refers to the physical distance that is considered comfortable according to a specific culture (Arrindell, 2003, Baskerville, 2003). The personal space that is preferred in Europe is much more than that in developing countries like Nigeria. This space will also consider the aspect of eye contact. In Europe the eye contact is taken for its reliability whereas in Nigeria it may be seen considered as disrespectful (Eckhardt, 2003, Ford et al., 2003, Peterson, 2003). There are many differences in spatial preferences based on age, gender, generation and class which needs to be taken into account (Lederach, 1995). Therefore, space needs to be considered as a variable in negotiation (Lederach, 1995). 3.4 Nonverbal Communication It can be one of the problems that The Body Shop needs to take into consideration. It can be argued that in intercultural studies, some cultures uses silence as one of the ways to negotiate, whereas some use none at all (Nancy, 1997). Nigerians may consider hugging as a trusting relationship whereas Europeans find it too intimate (Sharma, 2003). 3.5 Power distance Hofstede uses power distance to explain the degree of acceptance of unequal power among people (Tavakoli et al., 2003) Generally, in Nigeria the power distance among people is quite much, where some are considered superior to others due to factors such as social status, age, race, gender and education. Whereas, in Europe the power distance is less and advocates equality among individuals (Williamson, 2002). Generally, Nigerians have hierarchical structures, clear authority figures and consider their right to use their power (Yoo and Donthu, 2002) Whereas, in Europe there are flat organizational structures, shared authority and consider their right to use power only in some circumstances (Yoo and Donthu, 2002) 3.6 Uncertainty Avoidance It related to the national culture that relates to uncertainty and the degree of adapting to change (Ford et al., 2003) It can be argued that Nigeria does not welcome uncertainty and ambiguity. Nigerians normally place high value to risk avoidance and depend on following formal rules and procedures (Ford et al., 2003) It is normally not a common thing to trust a non family member in Nigerian culture (Ford et al., 2003) On the other hand side, the Europeans have high tolerance for risk. They value risk taking, solving problems and have flat organizational structures (Ford et al., 2003) 3.7 Masculinity-Femininity It refers to the extent to which a culture values boldness (Cronje, 2011) It also refers to the role of men and women in organizations (Cronje, 2011) The Europeans are more assertive and task-oriented as opposed to Nigerians. There are rigid gender roles in Nigerian culture as opposed to that in Europe (Cronje, 2011) 3.8 Communication Nigerian follows direct and straight forward communication when it comes to friends and business (Migliore, 2011). They can easily say no in case they do not like something in particular. In early stages of business they may seem non-committed and communicate indirectly. In situations of silence shows anger or displeasure. Nigerians also value eye contact (Migliore, 2011). 4 Analysis of Situation 4.1SWOTof Body Shop The Body Shop has a team of management that has specific expertise on areas such as negotiations. They need to keep in mind the negotiation styles and techniques that are followed by the Nigerian businessmen. The company has the capability to attract the customers due to their high quality body care products. It has an edge over its rivals based on its uniqueness that can be depicted from making products from natural content of the environment (Huang and Xu, 2009). One of its weaknesses is that the image it tries to portray does not parallel reality. The company claims for having natural products but they are seldom fresh. Other negative for them is that there will be hostility by the locals because the people generally dont want outsiders to operate in their country. The company will have to bear the cultural barriers; including language and gestures etc. the Nigerians welcome bribes in many cases, hence making it confusing and difficult for The Body shop to understand what is required by the other party (Hartman and Beck-Dudley, 1999). Greatest opportunity for The Body Shop will be to enter new market and attract new customers. That will allow the company to increase their customer base. The business will also make new contacts and understand the culture properly, making it easy for Body Shop to enter into any other new market having the same culture (Awe, 2000, Kintish, 2002). The major threats that will be posed to The Body Shop will be the local cosmetic providers that already have been serving in the market for decades. The local people living in Nigeria will find it confusing and difficult to make the initial switch due their lack of knowledge on how it is different from any local cosmetic provider. 5 PESTEL Analysis of Body Shop in Both Countries A PESTEL analysis of Body shop in both countries has also been conducted. Body Shop has a number of political issues which would be important for the company (Awe, 2000). In Nigeria, the company would have to deal to deal with uncertainty and political turmoil, as the government is not stable. In UK, the negotiators would be faced with different issues, such as the spending cuts and government bureaucracy. The economic factors which would be considered by the negotiators in Nigeria would involve the aspects of changing currency markets and economic hardship due to the global economic crisis. Similar factors would also be visible in UK. The social factors influencing negotiators in Nigeria would be related to the working conditions of the human force. They would have to ensure that the local culture of male dominance does not come into play, as Body Shop would want to portray a positive international image from the operation. A number of technological factors would also influence the Body Shop operations (Li et al., 2010, Huang and Xu, 2009), which would include online shopping and the availability of a online managed supply chain in Nigeria. The technological factors would also influence the working conditions of the workforce, which would be a key negotiating tactic. Environmental issues such as the making sure of good environmental policy for any future operation, and government regulations governing these must also be taken into consideration. Finally, legal issues are also important for the negotiating for Body Shop (Awe, 2000, Kintish, 2002). All new operations must fulfill international and local legal requirements, and this is carefully considered when starting a new operation and negotiating working conditions with local representatives. 6 Solutions and Recommendations It has been concluded that it is completely difficult to track the starting points that are used by the negotiators belonging from different national settings. The reason for this is that cultures are constantly changing with changing times. From another perspective, it can be argued that cross-cultural negotiation literature is based on the organizational areas and hence it cannot be applied to the area of intractable conflicts. It can also be concluded that The Body Shop will have acquire the know how about the way things are done in different situations in Nigeria. It should be kept in mind by the company that setting operations in Nigeria would mean changing their ways of dealing with businesses. The managers of The Body Shop need to be more vigilant on communication as a means of bridging the cultural gap. It is recommended that Body Shop must study the Nigerian culture carefully so that they can make business deal successful. It is also recommended that before entering in Niger ian market, some research must be carried out to measure the worth of the target market that the company intends to cater to. The space orientation, time orientation must be taken into account while conducting the business dealings with the locals. Since, The Body Shop is a multinational, in order for it to keep up with its reputation, the manager responsible for its operations in Nigeria needs to set the timescales and deadlines well in advance, keeping in mind the laidback attitude of Nigeria. The people of Nigeria are usually use to be being pushed for work, therefore it needs to be kept in mind by the expatriate of Body Shop to keep motivating their workforce every now and then to make their business successful in Nigeria. Moreover, the manager for Body Shop needs to keep motivating team work because it is the most common way of achieving task in Nigeria.

Analysis of Propaganda: First Theories of Decoding and Effects Essay

1) assumptions In this paper I discuss several assigned articles with regard to the assumptions, focus, time and space contexts, stated purpose, and comparison between certain articles. Except for one article, all articles in this weekly reading are assumed to use post-structuralist paradigm. In their article, Lobao & Meyer (2001) encourage the readers to use combination of macro, meso, and micro approach in understanding agricultural transformation rather than only macro approach. For example, they urge the Human Ecology Theory (PEP), which is micro theory about individual’s adaptation to the dynamic of environment like population density, culture and technologies, and bio-physical environment. They criticize the PEP paradigm as heavily oriented in structural approach, neglecting the dynamic of socio-psychological factors of individual and social practices. For Lobao & Meyer, micro level of the household dynamic is crucial to understand the survival mechanism of the smallholder farmers to seek â€Å"strategic business behavior† (p. 112). Moreover, gender division, particularly with regard to the struggle of women in on-farm and off-farm activities is important. The Lobao and Meyer’s article also highlights the regional context of agri-related policies, such as agricultural loans which tend to be biased to certain ethnic groups, a fact that may be overlooked by the PEP. For comparison, Bernstein’s article is also in similar vein, in which he looks at the case of Green Revolution in India as not â€Å"resource neutral† (p. 61), by giving more access to the richer farmers to any program innovation packages (like credits, supply of inputs, and information). Lobao & Meyer’s article’s on famers’ action in politic to defend their interests ... ...le. Similarly, but with different case, Pechllaner and Otero (2008) describe the recent case resistance of the Mexican toward the introduction of biotech foods by international companies via trade liberalization. To sum up, while most of the articles have similar post-structural paradigm --which assume that local and regional factors are crucial factors in understanding agricultural transition— the focus of study, time-space contexts, and purpose of study, are different. The articles provide excellent perspectives and various examples in different time and across geographical boundaries regarding the needs of assessing the complexity of agricultural stakeholders, particularly the struggle of farmers as individual, household, or community (including the food consumers), to adapt with the change of external forces, which influence their livelihoods and interests.