Forward the Foundation Chapter 8

21 In two days Joranum had swept Trantor, partly by himself, mostly through his lieutenants. As Hari muttered to Dors, it was a campaign that had all the marks of military efficiency. â€Å"He was born to be a war admiral in the old days,† he said. â€Å"He's wasted on politics.† And Dors said, â€Å"Wasted? At this rate, he's going to make himself First Minister in a week and, if he wishes, Emperor in two weeks. There are reports that some of the military garrisons are cheering him.† Seldon shook his head. â€Å"It will collapse, Dors.† â€Å"What? Joranum's party or the Empire?† â€Å"Joranum's party. The story of the robot has created an instant stir, especially with the effective use of that flier, but a little thought, a little coolness, and the public will see it for the ridiculous accusation it is.† â€Å"But, Hari,† said Dors tightly, â€Å"you needn't pretend with me. It is not a ridiculous story. How could Joranum possibly have found out that Demerzel is a robot?† â€Å"Oh, that! Why, Raych told him so.† â€Å"Raych!† â€Å"That's right. He did his job perfectly and got back safely with the promise of being made Dahl's sector leader someday. Of course he was believed. I knew he would be.† â€Å"You mean you told Raych that Demerzel was a robot and had him pass on the news to Joranum?† Dors looked utterly horrified. â€Å"No, I couldn't do that. You know I couldn't tell Raych-or anyone-that Demerzel was a robot. I told Raych as firmly as I could that Demerzel was not a robot-and even that much was difficult. But I did ask him to tell Joranum that he was. He is under the firm impression that he lied to Joranum.† â€Å"But why, Hari? Why?† â€Å"It's not psychohistory, I'll tell you that. Don't you join the Emperor in thinking I'm a magician. I just wanted Joranum to believe that Demerzel was a robot. He's a Mycogenian by birth, so he was filled from youth with his culture's tales of robots. Therefore, he was predisposed to believe and he was convinced that the public would believe with him.† â€Å"Well, won't they?† â€Å"Not really. After the initial shock is over, they will realize that it's madcap fiction-or they will think so. I've persuaded Demerzel that he must give a talk on subetheric holovision to be broadcast to key portions of the Empire and to every sector on Trantor. He is to talk about everything but the robot issue. There are enough crises, we all know, to fill such a talk. People will listen and will hear nothing about robots. Then, at the end, he will be asked about the flier and he need not answer a word. He need only laugh.† â€Å"Laugh? I've never known Demerzel to laugh. He almost never smiles.† â€Å"This time, Dors, he'll laugh. It is the one thing that no one ever visualizes a robot doing. You've seen robots in holographic fantasies, haven't you? They're always pictured as literal-minded, unemotional, inhuman-That's what people are sure to expect. So Demerzel need merely laugh. And on top of that-Do you remember Sunmaster Fourteen, the religious leader of Mycogen?† â€Å"Of course I do. Literal-minded, unemotional, inhuman. He's never laughed, either.† â€Å"And he won't this time. I've done a lot of work on this Joranum matter since I had that little set-to at the Field. I know Joranum's real name. I know where he was born, who his parents were, where he had his early training, and all of it, with documentary proof, has gone to Sunmaster Fourteen. I don't think Sunmaster likes Breakaways.† â€Å"But I thought you said you don't wish to spark off bigotry.† â€Å"I don't. If I had given the information to the holovision people, I would have, but I've given it to Sunmaster, where, after all, it belongs.† â€Å"And he'll start off the bigotry.† â€Å"Of course he won't. No one on Trantor would pay any attention to Sunmaster-whatever he might say.† â€Å"Then what's the point?† â€Å"Well, that's what we'll see, Dors. I don't have a psychohistorical analysis of the situation. I don't even know if one is possible. I just hope that my judgment is right.† 22 Eto Demerzel laughed. It was not the first time. He sat there, with Hari Seldon and Dors Venabili in a tap-free room, and, every once in a while, at a signal from Hari, he would laugh. Sometimes he leaned back and laughed uproariously, but Seldon shook his head. â€Å"That would never sound convincing.† So Demerzel smiled and then laughed with dignity and Seldon made a face. â€Å"I'm stumped,† he said. â€Å"It's no use trying to tell you funny stories. You get the point only intellectually. You will simply have to memorize the sound.† Dors said, â€Å"Use a holographic laughtrack.† â€Å"No! That would never be Demerzel. That's a bunch of idiots being paid to yak. It's not what I want. Try again, Demerzel.† Demerzel tried again until Seldon said, â€Å"All right, then, memorize that sound and reproduce it when you're asked the question. You've got to look amused. You can't make the sound of laughing, however proficient, with a grave face. Smile a little, just a little. Pull back the corner of your mouth.† Slowly Demerzel's mouth widened into a grin. â€Å"Not bad. Can you make your eyes twinkle?† â€Å"What do you mean, ‘twinkle,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ said Dors indignantly. â€Å"No one makes their eyes twinkle. That's a metaphorical expression.† â€Å"No, it's not,† said Seldon. â€Å"There's the hint of tears in the eye-sadness, joy, surprise, whatever-and the reflection of light from that hint of fluid is what does it.† â€Å"Well, do you seriously expect Demerzel to produce tears?† And Demerzel said, matter-of-factly, â€Å"My eyes do produce tears for general cleansing-never in excess. Perhaps, though, if I imagine my eyes to be slightly irritated-â€Å" â€Å"Try it,† said Seldon. â€Å"It can't hurt.† And so it was that when the talk on subetheric holovision was over and the words were streaking out to millions of worlds at thousands of times the effective speed of light words that were grave, matter-of-fact, informative, and without rhetorical embellishment-and that discussed everything but robots-Demerzel declared himself ready to answer questions. He did not have to wait long. The very first question was: â€Å"Mr. First Minister, are you a robot?† Demerzel simply stared calmly and let the tension build. Then he smiled, his body shook slightly, and he laughed. It was not a loud uproarious laugh, but it was a rich one, the laugh of someone enjoying a moment of fantasy. It was infectious. The audience tittered and then laughed along with him. Demerzel waited for the laughter to die down and then, eyes twinkling, said, â€Å"Must I really answer that? Is it necessary to do so?† He was still smiling as the screen darkened. 23 â€Å"I'm sure it worked,† said Seldon. â€Å"Naturally we won't have a complete reversal instantly. It takes time. But things are moving in the right direction now. I noticed that when I stopped Namarti's talk at the University Field. The audience was with him until I faced him and showed spunk against odds. The audience began to change sides at once.† â€Å"Do you think this is an analogous situation?† asked Dors dubiously. â€Å"Of course. If I don't have psychohistory, I can use analogy-and the brains I was born with, I suppose. There was the First Minister, beleaguered on all sides with the accusation, and he faced it down with a smile and a laugh, the most nonrobot thing he could have done, so that in itself was an answer to the question. Of course sympathy began to slide to his side. Nothing would stop that. But that's only the beginning. We have to wait for Sunmaster Fourteen and hear what he has to say.† â€Å"Are you confident there, too?† â€Å"Absolutely.† 24 Tennis was one of Hari's favorite sports, but he preferred to play rather than watch others. He watched with impatience, therefore, as the Emperor Cleon, dressed in sports fashion, loped across the court to return the ball. It was Imperial tennis, actually, so-called because it was a favorite of Emperors, a version of the game in which a computerized racket was used that could alter its angle slightly with appropriate pressures on the handle. Hari had tried to develop the technique on several occasions but found that mastering the computerized racket would take a great deal of practice-and Hari Seldon's time was far too precious for what was clearly a trivial pursuit. Cleon placed the ball in a nonreturnable position and won the game. He trotted off the court to the careful applause of the functionaries who were watching and Seldon said to him, â€Å"Congratulations, Sire. You played a marvelous game.† Cleon said indifferently, â€Å"Do you think so, Seldon? They're all so careful to let me win. I get no pleasure out of it.† Seldon said, â€Å"In that case, Sire, you might order your opponents to play harder.† â€Å"It wouldn't help. They'd be careful to lose anyway. And if they did win, I would get even less pleasure out of losing than out of winning meaninglessly. Being an Emperor has its woes, Seldon. Joranum would have found that out-if he had ever succeeded in becoming one.† He disappeared into his private shower facility and emerged in due time, scrubbed and dried and dressed rather more formally. â€Å"And now, Seldon† he said, waving all the others away, â€Å"the tennis court is as private a place as we can find and the weather is glorious, so let us not go indoors. I have read the Mycogenian message of this Sunmaster Fourteen. Will it do?† â€Å"Entirely, Sire. As you have read, Joranum was denounced as a Mycogenian Breakaway and is accused of blasphemy in the strongest terms.† â€Å"And does that finish him?† â€Å"It diminishes his importance fatally, Sire. There are few who accept the mad story of the First Minister's robothood now. Furthermore, Joranum is revealed as a liar and a poseur and, worse, one who was caught at it.† â€Å"Caught at it, yes,† said Cleon thoughtfully. â€Å"You mean that merely to be underhanded is to be sly and that may be admirable, while to be caught is to be stupid and that is never admirable.† â€Å"You put it succinctly, Sire.† â€Å"Then Joranum is no longer a danger.† â€Å"We can't be certain of that, Sire. He may recover, even now. He still has an organization and some of his followers will remain loyal. History yields examples of men and women who have come back after disasters as great as this one-or greater.† â€Å"In that case, let us execute him, Seldon.† Seldon shook his head. â€Å"That would be inadvisable, Sire. You would not want to create a martyr or to make yourself appear to be a despot.† Cleon frowned. â€Å"Now you sound like Demerzel. Whenever I wish to take forceful action, he mutters the word ‘despot.' There have been Emperors before me who have taken forceful action and who have been admired as a result and have been considered strong and decisive.† â€Å"Undoubtedly, Sire, but we live in troubled times. Nor is execution necessary. You can accomplish your purpose in a way that will make you seem enlightened and benevolent.† â€Å"Seem enlightened?† â€Å"Be enlightened, Sire. I misspoke. To execute Joranum would be to take revenge, which might be regarded as ignoble. As Emperor, however, you have a kindly-even paternal-attitude toward the beliefs of all your people. You make no distinctions, for you are the Emperor of all alike.† â€Å"What is it you're saying?† â€Å"I mean, Sire, that Joranum has offended the sensibilities of the Mycogenians and you are horrified at his sacrilege, he having been born one of them. What better can you do but hand Joranum over to the Mycogenians and allow them to take care of him? You will be applauded for your proper Imperial convern.† â€Å"And the Mycogenians will execute him, then?† â€Å"They may, Sire. Their laws against blasphemy are excessively severe. At best, they will imprison him for life at hard labor.† Cleon smiled. â€Å"Very good. I get the credit for humanity and tolerance and they do the dirty work.† â€Å"They would, Sire, if you actually handed Joranum over to them. That would, however, still create a martyr.† â€Å"Now you confuse me. What would you have me do?† â€Å"Give Joranum the choice. Say that your regard for the welfare of all the people in your Empire urges you to hand him over to the Mycogenians for trial but that your humanity fears the Mycogenians may be too severe. Therefore, as an alternative, he may choose to be banished to Nishaya, the small and secluded world from which he claimed to have come, to live the rest of his life in obscurity and peace. You'll see to it that he's kept under guard, of course.† â€Å"And that will take care of things?† â€Å"Certainly. Joranum would be committing virtual suicide if he chose to be returned to Mycogen-and he doesn't strike me as the suicidal type. He will certainly choose Nishaya, and though that is the sensible course of action, it is also an unheroic one. As a refugee in Nishaya, he can scarcely lead any movement designed to take over the Empire. His following is sure to disintegrate. They could follow a martyr with holy zeal, but it would be difficult, indeed, to follow a coward.† â€Å"Astonishing! How did you manage all this, Seldon?† There was a distinct note of admiration in Cleon's voice. Seldon said, â€Å"Well, it seemed reasonable to suppose-â€Å" â€Å"Never mind,† said Cleon abruptly. â€Å"I don't suppose you'll tell me the truth or that I would understand you if you did, but I'll tell you this much. Demerzel is leaving office. This last crisis has proved to be too much for him and I agree with him that it is time for him to retire. But I can't do without a First Minister and, from this moment onward, you are he.† â€Å"Sire!† exclaimed Seldon in mingled astonishment and horror. â€Å"First Minister Hari Seldon.† said Cleon calmly. â€Å"The Emperor wishes it.† 25 â€Å"Don't be alarmed,† said Demerzel. â€Å"It was my suggestion. I've been here too long and the succession of crises has reached the point where the consideration of the Three Laws paralyzes me. You are the logical successor.† â€Å"I am not the logical successor,† said Seldon hotly. â€Å"What do I know about running an Empire? The Emperor is foolish enough to believe that I solved this crisis by psychohistory. Of course I didn't.† â€Å"That doesn't matter, Hari. If he believes you have the psychohistorical answer, he will follow you eagerly and that will make you a Good First Minister.† â€Å"He may follow me straight into destruction.† â€Å"I feel that your good sense-or intuition-will keep you on target†¦ with or without psychohistory.† â€Å"But what will I do without you-Daneel?† â€Å"Thank you for calling me that. I am Demerzel no more, only Daneel. As to what you will do without me – Suppose you try to put into practice some of Joranum's ideas of equality and social justice? He may not have meant them-he may have used them only as ways of capturing allegiance-but they are not bad ideas in themselves. And find ways of having Raych help you in that. He clung to you against his own attraction to Joranum's ideas and he must feel torn and half a traitor. Show him he isn't. In addition, you can work all the harder on psychohistory, for the Emperor will be there with you, heart and soul.† â€Å"But what will you do, Daneel?† â€Å"I have other things in the Galaxy to which I must attend. There is still the Zeroth Law and I must labor for the good of humanity, insofar as I can determine what that might be. And, Hari-â€Å" â€Å"Yes, Daneel.† â€Å"You still, have Dors.† Seldon nodded. â€Å"Yes, I still have Dors.† He paused for a moment before grasping Daneel's firm hand with his own. â€Å"Good-bye, Daneel.† â€Å"Good-bye, Hari,† Daneel replied. And with that, the robot turned, his heavy First Minister's robe rustling as he walked away, head up, back ramrod straight, along the Palace hallway. Seldon stood there for a few minutes after Daneel had gone, lost in thought. Suddenly he began moving in the direction of the First Minister's apartment. Seldon had one more thing to tell Daneel-the most important thing of all. Seldon hesitated in the softly lit hallway before entering. But the room was empty. The dark robe was draped over a chair. The First Minister's chambers echoed Hari's last words to the robot: â€Å"Good-bye, my friend.† Eto Demerzel was gone; R. Daneel Olivaw had vanished. Part II Cleon I CLEON I-†¦ Though often receiving panegyrics for being the last Emperor under whom the First Galactic Empire was reasonably united and reasonably prosperous, the quarter-century reign of Cleon I was one of continuous decline. This cannot be viewed as his direct responsibility, for the Decline of the Empire was based on political and economic factors too strong for anyone to deal with at the time. He was fortunate in his selection of First Ministers-Eto Demerzel and then Hari Seldon, in whose development of psychohistory the Emperor never lost faith. Cleon and Seldon, as the objects of the final Joranumite Conspiracy, with its bizarre climax- Encyclopedia Galactica 1 Mandell Gruber was a happy man. He seemed so to Hari Seldon, certainly. Seldon stopped his morning constitutional to watch him. Gruber, perhaps in his late forties, a few years younger than Seldon, was a bit gnarled from his continuing work in the Imperial Palace grounds, but he had a cheerful, smoothly shaven face, topped by a pink skull, not much of which was hidden by his thin sandy hair. He whistled softly to himself as he inspected the leaves of the bushes for any signs of insect infestation. He was not the Chief Gardener, of course. The Chief Gardener of the Imperial Palace grounds was a high functionary who had a palatial office in one of the buildings of the enormous Imperial complex, with an army of men and women under him. The chances are he did not inspect the Palace grounds more often than once or twice a year. Gruber was but one of that army. His title, Seldon knew, was Gardener First-Class and it had been well earned, with thirty years of faithful service. Seldon called to him as he paused on the perfectly level crushed gravel walk, â€Å"Another marvelous day, Gruber.† Gruber looked up and his eyes twinkled. â€Å"Yes, indeed, First Minister, and it's sorry I am for those who be cooped up indoors.† â€Å"You mean as I am about to be.† â€Å"There's not much about you, First Minister, for people to sorrow over, but if you're disappearing into those buildings on a day like this, it's a bit of sorrow that we fortunate few can feel for you.† â€Å"I thank you for your sympathy, Gruber, but you know we have forty billion Trantorians under the dome. Are you sorry for all of them?† â€Å"Indeed, I am. I am grateful I am not of Trantorian extraction myself so that I could qualify as a gardener. There be few of us on this world that work in the open, but here I be, one of the fortunate few.†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ â€Å"The weather isn't always this ideal.† â€Å"That is true. And I have been out here in the sluicing rains and the whistling winds. Still, as long as you dress fittingly†¦ Look-† And Gruber spread his arms open, wide as his smile, as if to embrace the vast expanse of the Palace grounds. â€Å"I have my friends-the trees and the lawns and all the animal life forms to keep me company-and growth to encourage in geometric form, even in the winter. Have you ever seen the geometry of the grounds, First Minister?† â€Å"I am looking at it right now, am I not?† â€Å"I mean the plans spread out so you can really appreciate it all-and marvelous it is, too. It was planned by Tapper Savand, over a hundred years ago, and it has been little changed since. Tapper was a great horticulturist, the greatest-and he came from my planet.† â€Å"That was Anacreon, wasn't it?† â€Å"Indeed. A far-off world near the edge of the Galaxy, where there is still wilderness and life can be sweet. I came here when I was still an earwet** lad, when the present Chief Gardener took power under the old Emperor. Of course, now they're talking of redesigning the grounds.† Gruber sighed deeply and shook his head. â€Å"That would be a mistake. They are just right as they are now properly proportioned, well balanced, pleasing to the eye and spirit. But it is true that in history, the grounds have occasionally been redesigned. Emperors grow tired of the old and are always seeking the new, as if new is somehow always better. Our present Emperor, may he live long, has been planning the redesign with the Chief Gardener. At least, that is the word that runs from gardener to gardener.† This last he added quickly, as if abashed at spreading Palace gossip. â€Å"It might not happen soon.† â€Å"I hope not, First Minister. Please, if you have the chance to take some time from all the heart-stopping work you must be after doing, study the design of the grounds. It is a rare beauty and, if I have my way, there should not be a leaf moved out of place, nor a flower, nor a rabbit, anywhere in all these hundreds of square kilometers.† Seldon smiled. â€Å"You are a dedicated man, Gruber. I would not be surprised if someday you were Chief Gardener.† â€Å"May Fate protect me from that. The Chief Gardener breathes no fresh air, sees no natural sights, and forgets all he has learned of nature. He lives there†-Gruber pointed scornfully-â€Å"and I think he no longer knows a bush from a stream unless one of his underlings leads him out and places his hand on one or dips it into the other.† For a moment it seemed as though Gruber would expectorate his scorn, but he could not find any place on which he could bear to spit. Seldon laughed quietly. â€Å"Gruber, it's good to talk to you. When I am overcome with the duties of the day, it is pleasant to take a few moments to listen to your philosophy of life.† â€Å"Ah, First Minister, it is no philosopher I am. My schooling was very sketchy.† â€Å"You don't need schooling to be a philosopher. Just an active mind and experience with life. Take care, Gruber. I just might have you promoted.† â€Å"If you but leave me as I am, First Minister, you will have my total gratitude.† Seldon was smiling as he moved on, but the smile faded as his mind turned once more to his current problems. Ten years as First Minister-and if Gruber knew how heartily sick Seldon was of his position, his sympathy would rise to enormous heights. Could Gruber grasp the fact that Seldon's progress in the techniques of psychohistory showed the promise of facing him with an unbearable dilemma? 2 Seldon's thoughtful stroll across the grounds was the epitome of peace. It was hard to believe here, in the midst of the Emperor's immediate domain, that he was on a world that, except for this area, was totally enclosed by a dome. Here, in this spot, he might be on his home world of Helicon or on Gruber's home world of Anacreon. Of course, the sense of peace was an illusion. The grounds were guarded-thick with security. Once, a thousand years ago, the Imperial Palace grounds-much less palatial, much less differentiated from a world only beginning to construct domes over individual regions-had been open to all citizens and the Emperor himself could walk along the paths, unguarded, nodding his head in greeting to his subjects. No more. Now security was in place and no one from Trantor itself could possibly invade the grounds. That did not remove the danger, however, for that, when it came, came from discontented Imperial functionaries and from corrupt and suborned soldiers. It was within the grounds that the Emperor and his staff were most in danger. What would have happened if, on that occasion, nearly ten years before, Seldon had not been accompanied by Dors Venabili? It had been in his first year as First Minister and it was only natural, he supposed (after the fact), that there would be jealous heart-burning over his unexpected choice for the post. Many others, far better qualified in training-in years of service and, most of all, in their own eyes-could view the appointment with anger. They did not know of psychohistory or of the importance the Emperor attached to it and the easiest way to correct the situation was to corrupt one of the sworn protectors of the First Minister. Dors must have been more suspicious than Seldon himself was. Or else, with Demerzel's disappearance from the scene, her instructions to guard Seldon had been strengthened. The truth was that, for the first few years of his First Ministership, she was at his side more often than not. And on the late afternoon of a warm sunny day, Dors noted the glint of the westering sun-a sun never seen under Trantor's dome-on the metal of a blaster. â€Å"Down, Hari!† she cried suddenly and her legs crushed the grass as she raced toward the sergeant. â€Å"Give me that blaster, Sergeant,† she said tightly. The would-be assassin, momentarily immobilized by the unexpected sight of a woman running toward him, now reacted quickly, raising the drawn blaster. But she was already at him, her hand enclosing his right wrist in a steely grip and lifting his arm high. â€Å"Drop it,† she said through clenched teeth. The sergeant's face twisted as he attempted to yank his arm loose. â€Å"Don't try, Sergeant,† said Dors. â€Å"My knee is three inches from your groin and, if you so much as blink, your genitals will be history. So just freeze. That's right. Okay, now open your hand. If you don't drop the blaster right now, I will shatter your arm.† A gardener came running up with a rake. Dors motioned him away. The sergeant dropped the blaster to the ground. Seldon had arrived. â€Å"I'll take over, Dors.† â€Å"You will not. Get in among those trees and take the blaster with you. Others may be involved-and ready to act.† Dors had not loosened her grip on the sergeant. She said, â€Å"Now, Sergeant, I want the name of whoever it was who persuaded you to make an attempt on the First Minister's life-and the name of everyone else who is in this with you.† The sergeant was silent. â€Å"Don't be foolish,† said Dors. â€Å"Speak!† She twisted his arm and he sank down to his knees. She put her shoe on his neck. â€Å"If you think silence becomes you, I can crush your larynx and you will be silent forever. And even before that, I am going to damage you badly-I won't leave one bone unbroken. You had better talk.† The sergeant talked. Later Seldon had said to her, â€Å"How could you do that, Dors? I never believed you capable of such†¦ violence. â€Å" Dors said coolly, â€Å"I did not actually hurt him much, Hari. The threat was sufficient. In any case, your safety was paramount.† â€Å"You should have let me take care of him.† â€Å"Why? To salvage your masculine pride? You wouldn't have been fast enough, for one thing. Secondly, no matter what you would have succeeded in doing, you are a man and it would have been expected. I am a woman and women, in popular thought, are not considered as ferocious its men and most, in general, do not have the strength to do what I did. The story will improve in the telling and everyone will be terrified of me. No one will dare to try to harm you for fear of me.† â€Å"For fear of you and for fear of execution. The sergeant and his cohorts are to be killed, you know.† At this, an anguished look clouded Dors's usually composed visage, as if she could not stand the thought of the traitorous sergeant being put to death, even though he would have cut down her beloved Hari without a second thought. â€Å"But,† she exclaimed, â€Å"there is no need to execute the conspirators. Exile will do the job.† â€Å"No, it won't,† said Seldon. â€Å"It's too late. Cleon will hear of nothing but executions. I can quote him-if you wish.† â€Å"You mean he's already made up his mind?† â€Å"At once. I told him that exile or imprisonment would be all that was necessary, but he said no. He said, `Every time I try to solve a problem by direct and forceful action, first Demerzel and then you talk of â€Å"despotism† and â€Å"tyranny.† But this is my Palace. These are my grounds. These are my guardsmen. My safety depends on the security of this place and the loyalty of my people. Do you think that any deviation from absolute loyalty can be met with anything but instant death? How else would you be safe? How else would I be safe?' â€Å"I said there would have to be a trial. ‘Of course,' he said, ‘a short military trial and I don't expect a single vote for anything but execution. I shall make that quite clear.' â€Å" Dors looked appalled. â€Å"You're taking this very quietly. Do you agree with the Emperor?† Reluctantly Seldon nodded. â€Å"I do.† â€Å"Because there was an attempt on your life. Have you abandoned your principles for mere revenge?† â€Å"Now, Dors, I'm not a vengeful person. However, it was not myself alone at risk or even the Emperor. If there is anything that the recent history of the Empire shows us, it is that Emperors come and go. It is psychohistory that must be protected. Undoubtedly, even if something happens to me, psychohistory will someday be developed, but the Empire is falling fast and we cannot wait-and only I have advanced far enough to obtain the necessary techniques in time.† â€Å"Then you should teach what you know to others,† said Dors gravely. â€Å"I'm doing so. Yugo Amaryl is a reasonable successor and I have gathered a group of technicians who will someday be useful, but they won't be as-† He paused. â€Å"They won't be as good as you-as wise, as capable? Really?† â€Å"I happen to think so,† said Seldon. â€Å"And I happen to be human. Psychohistory is mine and, if I can possibly manage it, I want the credit.† â€Å"Human,† sighed Dors, shaking her head almost sadly. The executions went through. No such purge had been seen in over a century. Two Ministers, five officials of lower ranks, and four soldiers, including the hapless sergeant, met their deaths. Every guardsman who could not withstand the most rigorous investigation was relieved of duty and exiled to the remote Outer Worlds. Since then, there had been no whisper of disloyalty and so notorious had become the care with which the First Minister was guarded, to say nothing of the terrifying woman-called â€Å"The Tiger Woman† by many-who watched over him, that it was no longer necessary for Dors to accompany him everywhere. Her invisible presence was an adequate shield and the Emperor Cleon enjoyed nearly ten years of quiet and absolute security. Now, however, psychohistory was finally reaching the point where predictions, of a sort, could be made and, as Seldon crossed the grounds in his passage from his office (First Minister) to his laboratory (psychohistorian), he was uneasily aware of the likelihood that this era of peace might be coming to an end.

Junk Food and Fast Food in the UAE Essay

In the last 3 or 4 years, many schools in the UAE started selling junk food and fast food to the students. Junk food and fast food is known for causing obesity among people all around the world. As Dubai Health Authority (DHA) public relation agency we will try to raise awareness about the harmful effects of junk food and fast food on people especially the students who still in schools, and why junk food and fast food should should be banned in schools across the UAE. Dubai Health Authority (DHA), was created in June 2007. The DHA aims to provide a valuable, accessible, and integrated health care system to protect the public health. Its mission is to guarantee access to health services, advance and continue the quality of these services, improve the health status of nationals, visitors and residents, professional health sector. According to an article entitled â€Å"A weighty concern: obesity and fast food in Dubai.† The city fast changing lifestyle have accompanied it with the opening of many new restaurants, and especially the fast food restaurants, because the people are choosing to have a nice and delicious meal in a minute and with cheap price, this habit had transformed to their children. And then this also had made some schools in UAE start selling them ignoring the harmful effects of them on the students. (Faust 2012) Furthermore, the first step that will be taken is that we will start planning our organization goals and objectives. Second, we will identify our target audiences and their demographics and know more about their backgrounds. Third, we will start researching about the problem and try to find solutions for it. Fourth, we will start planning the tools and the tactics that we will be using; for example: how many news releases we will be using through the year, the media outreach tactic: trying to promote our organization in many types of media. Fifth, we will start making a case study about the problem; we will use the web, newspapers, books, magazines etc.., and try to know more about the problem. In addition, we will be doing blogs and join social networks to promote our PR organization more. Furthermore, we will start our communication plan with : 1- Explaining the organization to the public by: handling press releases all around the UAE to get the people know about our organization. Additionally we will distribute brochures in the schools and to make our organization more known. Additionally, we will join the social networking sites to communicate with the public widely. Also, we will create a website that contains all the information that we want the people to know about our organization and how does it work. 2- We will identify our target audience: who do we want to send the message to. Our target audiences the Ministry of Education, and the schools around the UAE that sell junk food and fast food. 3- The methods for sending the messages: we will try to have media contacts all around the UAE for example: we will spread our message through the television programs, and also through advertising our message in newspapers, magazines, etc.†¦ . Moreover, we will measure the success of our communication plan by: 1- Count down how many press releases, news releases, articles in magazines, online articles are produced in a given time. 2- Measurements of how much did our message succeeded, did the public respond positively to the organization’s message. 3- Conducting regular surveys to measure the effectiveness of our organization. 4- Monitoring how many people are cooperating with the organization. We will see how many people are communicating with the organization through the social media for example: twitter, Facebook. Post information online about our organization and monitor how many people are visiting our website or blog. And allow the public to make comments about our organization. According to an article entitled â€Å"Crisis Communication Plan: A PR Blue Print.†, There are some steps can be taken if the communication plan fails: 1- Establish a communication crisis team: this team is important to identify what actions should be taken. The job of the team primary is to identify the plan actions and find a spokesperson. 2- Try to know more about what caused the communication plan to fail. List some examples that may contribute to the failing of the communication plan, and try to fix them. Ignoring the situation will only make things worse. 3- One spokesperson will represent the organization, we will try to make official statements and allowing the ask media to ask questions about the situation if possible. (Freeo, 2012) Moreover, this assignment made me learn more about how to make an effective public relation message. Additionally, after writing this report, I feel that makes me an expert in handling public relation plan and how to handle the plan if it fails. Also, it gave me more information about handling any public relation organization messages in general.

Keeping the Family Tradition Alive Essay

I started keeping my family tradition of canning alive last summer. My family has canned for years and there is nothing better than opening up something I have canned on my own and thinking of the people who shared this tradition with me. Traditions are very important to keep going in families around the world. Traditions are very broad anything from what people do on holidays to cooking. My family tradition is very important to me. I knew last year that if I didn’t learn some of my family’s secret recipes while my grandmother and mom are still with us than there would be a chance that my family would never be able to taste the wonderful flavors my family has put together over the years and my family has looked so forward to the taste that we have grown to love. Before I begin canning, I must gather all the materials that I need to get started. The first step is the selection of the tomatoes. I pick all of my tomatoes from my own garden they are so much better than anything from the grocery store. Last year I used better boy tomatoes and roma tomatoes. The roma tomatoes are great to use because they have fewer seeds, thicker, meatier walls and less water. And that means thicker sauce in less cooking time! Also, I don’t want mushy, bruised or rotten tomatoes. Next I remove the tomato skins this is very important. Nothing worse than eating spaghetti and having to chew on a piece of skin left behind. Here’s a trick my grandma taught me: put the tomatoes, a few at a time in a large pot of boiling water for no more than 1 minute. Then I plunge them into a waiting bowl of ice water. This makes the skins slide right off of the tomatoes. If the skins are left on then they become tough and chewy in the sauce, not very pleasant. Now I must remove the seeds and water. After peeling the skins off the tomatoes, I cut the tomatoes in half. I remove the seeds and excess water. I call it the squeeze of the seeds. It is just like it sounds: wash hands then squeeze each tomato and I use my thumb or a spoon to scoop and shake out most of the seeds. I do leave some of the seeds because that is my preference. I toss the squeezed tomatoes into a colander or drainer while I work on the others. By draining the water off now, I end up with a thicker spaghetti sauce in less cooking time. The next step I must do is to get the lids and jars sanitized. The dishwasher is fine for the jars, especially if it has a â€Å"sanitize† cycle. I get that going while I’m preparing everything else, so it’s done by the time I’m ready to fill the jars. While the jars and lids are being sanitized I begin getting that spaghetti sauce going. I take my onions, garlic, basil, oregano, bay leaves, green peppers, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and my burgundy and place them all in the pot first. After I get the onions and pepper a little tender I add all the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cook down the tomatoes until the sauce is my desired thickness. I usually let my sauce cook for about two hours. The last step I call canning time. While my sauce is simmering I get my water bath canner ready. I go ahead and feel the water up and get it boiling. I start a small pot of water boiling to put the lids in so that the lids can sanitize and helps the lids seal. When the sauce is ready I place the jar funnel on the jar and I fill them to within ? inch of the top and set the lid and hand ’tighten the ring on. I place the jars in the water bath and cook for about 20mins. I then use the jar grabber and pull the jars out one at a time and let them cool draft-free place. Once the jars are cool, I check that they are sealed verifying that the lid has been sucked down. I press down in the center gently with my finger. If it pops up and down then it is not sealed. If it don’t seal than I just replace the lid and do the canning time again. Now that all the steps are complete, I listen to all the little pings going on telling me that my hard work has paid off. I am so glad that I have learned the family tradition of canning. My grandmother has gotten older and doesn’t can anymore. Out of all my family it is just my mom, Aunt Susan, and myself left doing the canning. It was a nice reward to my sole a few weeks ago when I had my grandmother over for dinner. I had canned some beets and decided that was the day to open them. When my grandmother tried them she said, â€Å"These taste just like mine. † To hear her say that meant so much to me. I couldn’t image not having the taste of what I grew up with because they don’t sell it in the grocery store. This is why I am keeping my family tradition going and teaching my girls. We never know when our love ones are not going to be here anymore. If I can’t have my family with me I at least want to be able to remember them by creating what they have thought me. If people have something in their family that is done by others and would not want to miss it after that person is gone than learn how that special someone does it. I did that’s why I will always have that special connection with canning and my family.

American Hospital Assciation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

American Hospital Assciation - Research Paper Example lth of individuals and the community as a whole and hence lends support to hospitals and health care systems that work for the betterment of community health. The organization which initially began as an association for hospital superintendents and addressed the concerns of hospital administrators later on provided membership access to executive officers, associates and institutions. These inclusions resulted in a change of the organization’s goal from simple interchange of ideas related to hospital management and economics to promoting efficient economic and hospital management. With the inclusion of institutional membership the objective was later extended to promote the health and welfare of the community at large, along with appropriate management of hospitals and dispensaries and to obtain the support and cooperation of hospitals and health care systems which had similar goals as the AHA. With these new objectives in place, the institution called for the development of outpatient services with emphasis on education and research. The revised mission in 1987 stressed on efficient leadership in public policies, advocacy and other services. Through its advocacy in courts and halls of the Congress the AHA has become the voice of hospitals and health care systems across the country. AHA is strongly advocating for the legal issues associated with healthcare and is laying emphasis on quality and accreditation of health care units keeping in mind the final goal of providing good quality health care to people. The achievements of the organization reflect its dual role in improving both hospital organization and public health. The AHA helped the establishment of the Blue cross and funding for the Commission on Hospital Care which in turn lead to the formation of the Hill-Burton programme. It also laid the foundation for the Medicare legislation which resulted in better access to healthcare facilities for the elderly. The AHA also established the House of Delegates

Decision of Uncertainty Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Decision of Uncertainty Paper - Essay Example In case of any manufacturing defects or the product failing within the period, the company will replace them with fresh ones. Meanwhile the customer service team has recently been receiving complaints from customers that some of the weights are not able to take the load and are developing cracks. This has caused more concern to the marketing department. The marketing team wants to ensure that the campaign will be profitable to the company. As a response to this concern, the quality department has proposed that the testing methodologies have to be made more advanced and the current practices are inadequate. The quality team has proposed a laser testing machine which can replace the current destructive testing. The laser machine can scan all the weights manufactured by the company and can notify defects in an effective manner. The laser testing method involves higher costs in terms of machinery, installation, maintenance and training. The quality has estimated a total investment of about $ 100,000 towards these expenses. The management however feels that the current testing methods are sufficient and the campaign will be profitable. However the decision is still uncertain. In order to reduce the uncertainties in making the decision, a research is designed and carried out. The last 200 batches that were sold by the company were chosen as the sample. Each batch contains 50 weights and hence a total of 1000 products are considered for this research. After collecting data from the customer service department, it has been found that 40 instances were reported where weights have developed cracks, i.e., a total of 40 weights out of 1,000 were reported broken. Hence the probability of a defective weight (impact testing) is 0.04. The quality team has informed that the laser machine will be very accurate and help identify the defective weights and will bring down

Mercantilism as an Economic System and a School of Economic Thought Essay

Mercantilism as an Economic System and a School of Economic Thought - Essay Example While Thomas Mun is considered by the first mercantilist, James Steuart is called as the last major mercantilist. The last important work which was in pace with the mercantilists’ ideology was â€Å"Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy† published in 1767. Both the first and last mercantilists were merchants of England, while many other writers were included in the category of public officials. Beyond understanding mercantilism as an advocacy of the power and wealth of nations, Mun was appreciated for his view points on a wide array of economic thoughts. Mun presented the earlier mercantile policies in his manuscript written in 1630 and published in 1664 by his son. To Mun, England’s treasure (national wealth) could be increased by the way of engaging trade with other countries With this aim of national wealth, many policies were advocated by Mun which include limited consumption for increasing the amount of available goods for export, increased utiliz ation of land and other internal resources to decrease the imports, cutting off the export duties of domestic goods for exports and promotion of goods with inelastic demand so that more benefits would be availed. The skilled industrial population and shipping industry were effectively created by mercantilists in England.  (Mangusson, 2003). It was argued for the historical promotion of mercantilism in Europe by the authors like Athens and Delian League during 15th century by contributing special points of trade policies. They had also made special mention of the control of value of trade in bullion as necessary fro the advancement of Greek. They had also noted the competition of ‘Medieval Monarchs’ for the supremacy of the ‘market towns’ and of the trade of the...This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of mercantilism, as an economic system, that was dominant in Europe during the period from 15th to 18th centuries. Mercantilism is also assessed as an i mportant school of economic thought. It is a common knowledge, that all the theories of classical economics and later schools have got the theoretical roots of mercantilism. The mercantilists limited themselves to analyzing the process of circulation and thus failed to disclose the inner laws of the capitalist mode of production. Mercantilists identified capital with its money form in which it operates in the sphere of circulation and did not regard capital in the form it assumed in the production process. Mercantilism was progressive for its time, since it facilitated the development of the first big capitalist enterprises-manufactories- and encouraged the development of the productive forces and the victory of capitalism over feudalism. Classical economists criticized mercantilists by pointing out that even the successful implementation of mercantilist policies would ultimately lead to the oversupply of money and inflation, hence the imbalance of the economy. Though prominent criticism was that under mercantilism, government focused attention on the development of trade and the accumulation of money instead on the creation of an abundance of the ‘fruits of the earth’, which the physiocrats called , the real wealth of the nation lay, mercantilism was of immense importance as it was the beginning of an political economy.

From an environmental perspective discuss the relationship between Research Paper - 2

From an environmental perspective discuss the relationship between Logistics, Operations and the Environment in International Manufacturing Organisations - Research Paper Example The third bottom line is the planet account which is the measure of how responsible the company has been to the environment. Therefore, the triple bottom line consists of profit, planet and people. This is used to measure the financial, social and environmental accomplishments of the company over a specified period. A company that does this is taking into full account the total cost of the operations. These may also be referred to as the three pillars of business (Avella et al, 2010). The basis of this concept is the fact that what a company measures is what the company is likely to direct its attention towards. When the companies measure their social and environmental impacts, they will pay attention to these effects. This is arguably the only way the community will have socially and environmentally responsible organizations. The three pillars of business include the customers, systems and teamwork. Customers are a core aspect considered in the prosperity of a business. They provide the cash flow that sustains businesses. The organization must aim to succeed with its customers so as to succeed as a whole. The motivation of the organisation is to provide the customer with what they want in order to fulfil their needs and perceptions. A good team is created through synergy that is created through trust and working closely together. The executive team in charge should be able to rely on each person in the team. The team members should know their job specifications and fulfil them as expected. The team members should also receive appropriate training following their employment in the organizations on what is expected of them so as to improve efficacy in their work performance. A business should also create specific set ways of doing things and carrying out certain activities which include computer technology , communication and networks. This reduces the time it takes for procedures to be executed. Set

Globalization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Globalization - Research Paper Example The new globalized economy has become dependently structured on modern and digitized culture (Passaris, 2006). This paper will assess the benefits and detriments of information technology in significant areas of industrial structure, workforce, financial markets, healthcare, education, journalism and media. Moreover, the Digital Divide caused by IT access inequalities will be explained. Globalization: Its Benefits and Demerits Globalization is the process of producing a net of linkages through a stream of information, technology, populace, and goods and services. In economics, globalization creates worldwide free market and capital flows, employs international transactions, encourages foreign direct investments, and aids in fast and extensive dispersal of technology (Smith & Doyle, 2002). Pro-globalists affirm that globalization speeds up economic development, thus providing worldwide quality-living; promotes higher profits and presents larger options for low-cost goods and services; raises employment and salaries and assists in the upgrading of working status and defends workers’ rights; and aids in environmental protection and conservation through national funding of ecological development. Moreover, globalization gives assistance and support to second and third world nations through increased economic expansion; alleviates poverty and hunger in the developing nations; safeguards civil rights; and promotes democratic governance. A century ago, today’s experience of modern quality life brought about by the global digitized economy was beyond imagination. The new globalized world created improved health, longer life span, computer literacy, comfort, and higher living standards (Batterson & Weidenbaum, 2001). From an anti-globalist’s standpoint, globalization brings financial disasters and poverty for the sake of greed and power; amplifies global income gap between the rich and poor nations; affects the cross-border displacement of US jobs t o below minimum salary factories unprotected by workers’ rights; and abuses ecology and environment for financial greed, thus worsening environmental conditions. Additionally, a globalized economy subjects developing nations to unjust trade and extra financial burdens; sustains world commerce in mass oppression and slavery; pressures the independence of nations by weakening their national policies on world trade; and risks the health, economy, and social status of the developing nations (Batterson & Weidenbaum, 2001). The Globalization of Information Technology Information Technology (IT) is a motivating channel in global integration through efficient information flow and distribution. The early expansions in computer and telecommunications technology in the nineties have caused extensive upgrading in information access and economic prospects that improved competence in every economic zone. IT system of communication assists the development of manufactured goods, designs, and reserves among nations and their population despite distance (Information Technology and Globalization, 2006). Today, IT products are common and used in virtually all transactions of business and interactions of mankind. The fast development of IT and its applications have redefined global experience. Three decades ago, prior to the introduction of personal desktop computers, people used the typewriter which allow simple paper documentations devoid of text manipulation and storage. Two decades ago, there was

Reflection Paper #4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Reflection Paper #4 - Assignment Example He asserts that leaders need to inspire action rather than manipulating the people to act. He eludes that the motivation all start with WHY. He then elucidates the WHY concept where the saying that organizations must know what they do. Additionally, he claims that the companies and people know exactly how and what they do. Further, few individuals or corporations articulate the essence of why they do the things they do (Paradiso, 2015). Pertinent to Dan Pink’s conception of motivation, my strategies have experienced significant influence. The leadership approaches need not to follow the carrot-and-stick approach but have foci on the aspects of mastery, autonomy, and purpose. In this regard, it is of profound importance for the methods to motivation to master the content, have independent decisions and aim at achieving particular goals. Based on Simon Sinek’s notion, the leaders and their institutions must know what they want, how to meet the goals it, and should have specific aims to achieve it. The calling of the leader is to influence the followers to attain the set goals and objectives. Leaders have a significant role to change the peoples’ attitude toward the expectations of the society besides their responsibilities. Different individuals have varied mission narratives cognizant to their long-term goals. For instance, I intend to be a renowned motivational speaker and influence both employers and employees toward embracing organization ethics in their organizations. Fundamentally, the ethical issues that the people face in their workplaces help me grow and learn to have a vast understanding of the causes of such challenges. In return, the knowledge amassed will allow the development of working strategies to the identified problems. In most cases, I possess a growth mindset concerning the online test on Dr. Dweck’s mindset test. In reality, mindsets predict the level of motivation and achievement. Contextually, positive or growth

Smoking Health Promotion Essay Example for Free

Smoking Health Promotion Essay During the nights they had to sleep with a machine to help him breath but during the days he would still manage to get outside for a smoke while he was in recovery. Feelings. Obviously this was a bad thing that was happening to this patient as smoking can slow down recovery because it effects how the body works with regards to oxygen intake and oxygen circulation (Thibodeau Patton 2010). As smoker though, I can see how the patient would of benefitted emotionally as smoking can relieve stress and boredom, though these temporary fixes dont outweigh the health problems it was obviously causing the patient. One of the nurses on duty and myself tried talking to the patient about their smoking and the first thing we needed to know is if they ould like help to quit. As this is important because to change, the patient has to want to change (Cocoran N, 2007). The model from Prochaska and diclemente (1984) illustrates this point very well with their trans theoretical model of change. We tried to explain how smoking could effect this patients ability to heal and also problems caused to their breathing during the night. I understood why the nurse was suggesting this and that I should be promoting health also but if the patient needed to smoke for that short term fix, then why shouldnt they be able to. Personally I felt ike a bit of a hypocrite because I smoke myself and to promote it to someone else that they should not smoke did not seem right, but as a nurse, professionally I know we have to do this, and I have to remember that it is the patient in the bed who needs to recover from surgery, not me. What sense I made of this. I brought this up with the nurse later on and asked if it wasnt better for the patient to have some emotional relief from smoking while they were in hospital, rather than saying they cant smoke and the patient becoming stressed out. The nurse said that I wasnt understanding health promotion properly. She explained that if the patient chooses to smoke whilst in hospital it is up to them, but that she was concerned with the long term effects of smoking, so the nurse was thinking about him even when he would be discharged from our ward. I understood what the nurse was doing now and saw logic behind what she was saying the patient and explaining to myself. My understanding as to why smoking effects the bodies healing ability is due to a number of reasons. Smoking destroys the cilia in the throat which helps us fght intections and rids us ot bacteria and micro-organisms (Layman 2 ). Also when eople smoke they intake carbon monoxide and other substances that obstruct and kill alveoli which passes oxygen into the blood (Norris and Siegfied 2012) and for tissue to heal it needs a good blood supply that is richly saturated with oxygen (Chambers and Leaper, 2011). We tried to explain this to the patient in a simple way so that there was not any medical Jargon. What did I do The patient seemed to be up for the idea of stopping smoking but I had feeling it was a little bit of lip service because he was being polite. We told the patient that there are numerous ways to help quit smoking. There was a smoking cessation nurse who would offer advice, tips, and plans to help to quit. We mentioned that there were numerous products help quit smoking such as chewing gum, patches, tablets and sprays. The patient asked about Electronic Cigarettes and I argued that it is a little healthier because all the toxins are not present that you would get in regular tobacco, but its not really an aid to quitting because there is still nicotine in the electric cigarettes and that is what we get addicted to. What could I of done During the time we were explaining to the patient about thinking to stop smoking here wasnt much I feel I could have done or added to what the nurse was already saying. The nurse covered most of the routes that help and support could have been provided. Action Plan If I came across this again I would hope that I know enough now to explain to a patient why they should think about not smoking whilst in recovery and also keeping it going long term so that they can benefit from it after they are discharged. I could give them some leaflets and things and getting them in contact with the smoking cessation nurse. I could empathise why they are smoking whilst they are in hospital ut maybe try and use a diversion tactic to try and get them avoiding smoking whilst they are in recovery on the ward.

Solutions to Rising Healthcare Costs

Solutions to Rising Healthcare Costs Rising cost in health care its solution Contents Executive Summary Reasons for high cost in health care Solutions to the rising cost of health care Implementation of Universal Health care model The Beveridge Model The famous Bismark Model The National Health Insurance Model The Out-of-Pocket Model Procedure to implement Workplace Health Model Conclusion References Executive Summary Undoubtedly, health care costs has emerged as a severe issue these days, especially when the budget is appreciably high. The present financial situation of the world today reveals comparatively high cost in medical and health care. Day by day, the cost of insurance premiums and medical claims for employees is rising at an all-time high and is continuously following an upward trend. In such critical situation, business leaders are being called upon to make changes at workplaces and to implement models which can help in curbing rising costs. Many of them are turning to workplace health programs to help employees so that they can adopt healthier lifestyles. This also will help in lowering the risk of developing costly chronic diseases. A coordinated move toward the workplace’s health promotion results in a planned, prearranged, and comprehensive set of curriculum, policies, benefits, and ecological supports designed to meet the health and safety needs of all employees. Programs r elating to workplace health care tend to be more successful when both occupation and health is considered in the design and execution of the workplace. In fact, a mounting body of evidence indicates that workplace-based interventions that take coordinated,  planned and integrated approaches towards reducing health threats to workers both in and out of work are more effective than traditional isolated programs. (Prevention, 2013) (Figure 1: Health care expenditure) (Source: Forbes, 2013) Reasons for high cost in health care This decade has alarmingly witnessed an appreciable increment in health care costs. Whether it is ever-increasing health indemnity premiums, growing drug costs, or escalating hospital prices, it is an agreeable fact that these costs need to be constrained, or even lowered. For many years and in immeasurable articles, physicians have been the scapegoat for rising healthcare costs in thewhole world. On the other hand, it has been seen that something else is exposed by digging deeper into the key mechanism in healthcare spending as technology and know-how, various administrative expenses, hospital costs, lifestyle substitute and chronic disease conditions have all had superior impacts on rising overall healthcare costs than medical doctors. The bulk of medical payments go to hospitals and device manufactures. It has been suggested by critics that the incomes of physicians is directed by most spending of healthcare. Despite the fact, it is not necessary that the primary beneficiaries of health care spending are physicians. The medical procedure payment in bulk goes in hospitals and in manufacturing the devices. But this does not mean that majority of benefits are gained by physicians and they have caused a rise in the health care settings. This becomes an extremely wrong notion. The five main factors responsible for the increase in health care costs have been discussed below: Unnecessary Care in various occasions Out of many reasons, overuse and needless care, accounts one-third to one-half of all health care expenditure and this equals to hundreds of billions of dollars, in addition to the half-a-trillion spent per year. Preventable Harm to Patients This is one of most common problems of health care. The information is astounding. This is a surprising fact that early elective delivery harms both women and newborns. Children born at 37-39 finished week growth are at much elevated risk of death. They are also at a distant higher risk for evils like respiratory problems and right of entry to theNICU. Wastage of Billions of Dollars A report submitted by the Institute of Medicine  Health  suggests that a third or more of health expenditure are pointless. The cost of these pointless, injurious and early hours elective deliveries account to nearly $1 billion per year as was predicted in a study by the  American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Vicious inducement in how we pay for Care? By tradition, people pay providers for various health plans, Medicare and other Medicaid no matter what services they provide. This is regardless of whether the overhaul truly reimburses the patient or not, as the tremendous new book called The Incentive Cure points out. Deficient in Transparency There must be proper requirement for medical expenditure made. Transparency stimulates change like nothing else. Cases like early elective deliveries demonstrate that, despite of warnings over the years from medical societies and various organizations and highly appreciated national organizations, the rates of these deliveries have been going up for decades.(Forbes, 2013) Solutions to the rising cost of health care Cost in health care all over the world is rising at a rapid rate. The health care spending is increasing faster than the overall economy in US too. As per the National Health Expenditure Accounts data from 2008, it is shown that, people of US spend more than $2 trillion every year on health care which is 16.2 percent of gross domestic product. The amount spent per person comes out to be approximately equal to $7,681. Going up health care costs are inextricably linked to the enlargement in the number of uninsured, making it imperative that the subsequent step in health system improvement include efforts to address growing costs. The American Medical Association (AMA) has recognized four broad policies to maintain the health care expenses and get good benefits for the amount spend after health care: Diminish the burden of avertable disease Make health care delivery more efficient Diminish nonclinical health scheme costs that do not add to patient concern Uphold value-based administration at all levels Here is an elaborate discussion on the above four strategies: Diminish the burden of avertable disease The policy to diminish the risk factors for ailing and preventing the commencement of chronic diseases will definitely improve the patient’s fulfillment with medications and precautionary care recommendations. This policy will also encourage enhanced nutrition and physical movement with prevention in injury due to accidents and violence. This policy will also give enhancement in carrying out more public health campaigns. Formulate health care delivery more efficient The policy of formulating a better health care delivery is always needed to reduce the rising expenses in health care. This will not only improve coordination of care but will also help in reducing unnecessary use of services. This particular strategy is helpful in increasing use of services with optimistic return on investment i.e. in terms of future disease and cost. Here we can get increased accessibility of information on the usefulness of different treatments; advance management of chronic diseases. This will in turn reduce the medical errors and shift care to cost-effective sites of service. Diminish nonclinical health scheme costs that do not add to patient concern This particular strategy will help in eliminating unwarranted spending that does not make an addition to the value of patient concern, such as administrative expenses, profit making, etc. Uphold value-based administration at all levels. This successful strategy tends to improve the processes by which assessment are made so that both cost and benefit can be taken into consideration. Again particularly clinical outcomes are considered in this strategy. Both information and incentives are needed to be improved a lot for host of resolutions. Assessment can be increasingly incorporated into such assessments as physicians and patients decide among medicinal therapies, as insurers plan health chart features, and as legislators settle on budgets or authorization coverage of meticulous benefits. (Association, 2013) The ultimate solution to the ongoing rise in healthcare expenses cannot lie in shifting responsibilities, generating hostility among workers, and contracting the managerial screws on the system. Such solution must lie in dealing with healthcare in a truly fundamental way. Implementation of Universal Health care model Rising costs in Health care is definitely a serious problem. There is a need that every company in the world formulates some strategic and universal plan for appropriate healthcare treatment of its human resources. They must put into practice such plans, which will not only be advantageous to the employees, but also will help that organization to curb the large expenditure in health care. A sound deliberate plan sets the long-term course for a healthcare system in any organization. This will identify the key initiatives and define answerability for results. Various healthcare strategic planning solutions of various organizations in reality guarantee improved presentation through establishing: A fixed accountability for results by human being and date A trouble-free tool to use with which management can manage day-to-day outcomes There must be fast start for one to start on accomplishment of plans Arrangement and promise from all stakeholders An exclusive explanation specific to one’s capability and needs (System, 2005-2013) Health care is the economic black hole of every country. Legislation and rules can only go so far as setting up the system and paving way for new technology but can’t do a great deal on their own. For a genuine combat with health care’s cost challenges, the focal point must budge to disruptive business models as searching innovative ways of delivering accessible treatments at a much lower cost. While new business models are looked-for across the spectrum of healthcare, many impediments put off new ideas from captivating root. There are barriers, which possibly will stem from the fact that health care in various countries do not function like the free market. For example, customers rarely compensate directly for their own care, so there is modest incentive for making trade-offs such as preferring something cheaper that they can get in lesser cost. The regulatory atmosphere often does not allow reasonably priced solutions to make it to marketplace. Finally, there are inco mpatible incentives and hospitals want patients to get that operation, but insurance companies do not want such. (Eyring, 2012) As the expenditure of healthcare has risen, companies have tried to apply many cost-containment stratagems. However, all of which are likely to be only in part effective and only for a little while. More imperative, the new strategy make enemies, cause workers to be disbelieving of the company’s goodwill and intentions, subvert constructive attitudes on the part of the workforce, and harshly degrade the attitude and esprit of retirees with regard to the corporation. The contemporary approaches all amount to cutting benefits and variable costs. The most widespread practice is to push up the workers’ assistance while, at the identical time, reducing the obtainable benefits in the company’s insurance plan. If we take a corporate point of view, we can notice that implementation of a universal health care system is relatively easy and clear-cut. Corporations would make a permanent annual contribution to the national health care system as a percentage of the salary and wages of all workers. For example, it may be only as a talking point, 7.5 percentages of all salary and wages. (Coates, 2004) For implementation of a Universal Health care system, there are four basic models, which can be applied for an appropriate health care system within an organization. Countries all across the globe are following the map of complex legal, economic, and political landscapes to settle on the best path towards worldwide health coverage (UHC). Below we can illustratefour basic models for health care systems. The Beveridge Model In the Beveridge Model, the facility of health care is provided and financed by the government through tax expenditure, comparable to the public library. Many, but not all, hospitals and health centers are owned by the government and some doctors are employees under government, but there are also personal doctors who accumulate their fees from the government. These schemes tend to have low costs per capita, because the government, as the one and only payer, is in charge of what doctors can do and what they can charge. The countries, which are using the Beveridge Model or a variation include: Cuba Great Britain The famous Bismark Model Despite of being most popular in all around the various European countries, this system of providing health care would look comparatively recognizable to Americans. It uses an insurance system and here the insurers are called sickness funds. They are usually financed in cooperation by employers and employees through payroll deduction. Unlike the U.S. indemnity industry, though, Bismarck-type health insurance plans have to wrap everybody, and they do not make a profit. Doctors and hospitals tend to be personal in Bismarck countries. Although this is a multi-payer model and the country, Germany has about 240 different funds but this tight regulation gives government comparable cost-controls as single-payer Beveridge Models. Countries those are familiar in using the Bismarck Model or a variation comprise of; Germany France Belgium the Netherlands Japan Switzerland The National Health Insurance Model These systems have elements in combination of both Beveridge and Bismarck models. It uses private-sector providers, but imbursement comes from a government-run insurance plan that each citizen pays into. Since there is no need for advertising, no financial reason to deny claims and no profit, these universal insurance plans tend to be cheaper and much simpler managerially than American-style for-profit insurance. The single-payer is inclined to have substantial market power to consult for subordinate prices. The classic National Health Insurance system is found in Canada, but some recently industrialized countries like Taiwan and South Korea. These are some newly developed countries, which have also considered the NHI model. (Forward, 2011) The Out-of-Pocket Model Researches state that only some developed, industrialized countries, perhaps 40 of the world’s 200 countries in the world have established health care systems. Most of the countries on the planet are too deprived and too incompetent to provide any kind of mass health checkup facilities and proper medical care. The essential rule in such countries is that the rich get medical care but unfortunately, the people who cannot afford the cost, stay sick, or die. Almost hundreds of millions of people go past their whole lives without ever seeing a doctor in rural regions of Africa, India, China, and South America. They may have right of entry, although, to a village healer using home-brewed medication that may or not be of use against very disease. In the world under poverty, patients can from time to time scratch together enough money to pay a physician bill but if they cannot, then they pay it otherwise like they pay in potatoes or goat’s milk or child care or anything else they may have to provide. If they have nothing, they remain deprived of health checking facility. The above mentioned four models are moderately easy for Americans to understand because the Government and people of the country have all these elements in their fragmented national health care equipment’s (RESOURCES, 2010) (Figure 2: Health care systems) (Source: Resources, 2010) Countries in blue have some type of universal health care. Countries in green are currently attempting to implement some type of universal health care. Orange countries have universal health coverage provided by United States war funding. (Glow, 2007) Procedure to implement Workplace Health Model (Source: (Prevention, 2013) Any organization before implementation must look into the procedure to be followed for implementing an appropriate health care model. There may be four steps to follow: Step 1: Assessment A proper assessment process must be carried on relating to individual, organizational and community. For individual assessment on health risks and use of services needed to be taken. Current practices and infrastructure of the organization must be assessed. Step 2: Planning or Workplace Governance In the next step, planning and workplace governance needed to be considered. This starts with leadership support and management and continues with various workplace health improvement plans and dedicated resources. Step 3: Implementation In the third stage, there require proper implementation of various rules and regulations. There must be proper programs and policies with regard to various health benefits and environmental supports. Step 4: Evaluation After implementation of workplace health care model, evaluation on such polices must be taken. Evaluation is needed on workers’ productivity and health care costs. Management should look into whether implementation of health model helps in cost curbing or not. Assessment also needs to be taken on improved health outcomes and organizational changes (Glow, 2007) Conclusion We all are aware of rising cost of health care and thus, workplaces are suggested to implement such a health care plan that will not only prove to be beneficial to the employees but will also help in curbing the cost within the organization. For having a reasonable health care opportunity, an organization must take into consideration some ideas including of implementing an automated prior authorization program, having a therapeutic consultation programs, transformation of electronic health records and various health information in exchange of e-prescribing. Policies also can be taken on simplification in administration of home and community based services, taking proper information on pharmacy claims, proper review on payment methods etc. (Moeller, 2013) As evident from this report, there is a significant issue with regard to health disparities that exists in the countries. This issue leads to high costs in healthcare. Especially in between 2003 and 2006, it was estimated by Joint center for political and economic studies that health inequity costs that are either total direct or total indirect affect the minority populations (racially or ethnically inclusive of low wage and low productions) In order to achieve truly the costs of savings in the systems of healthcare, it is advised by experts to look at every factor that drives the costs of healthcare over the GDP, growth of population and inflation. Also, analysis of literature and data does not simply point out that physicians are the main cause of rising health care costs. The factors are several as discussed in the report with respect to life style of people and chronic status of individuals (Coates, 2004).

Risks when Installing Hardware Components

Risks when Installing Hardware Components Explain the potential risks when installing hardware components Equipment damage If you are trying to get a piece of equipment out of the computer system you need to make sure you take it out gently and safely as if you do it roughly then you could be at risk of damaging the equipment you are trying to get out. Some of the ways in which equipment might be damaged include: turning a screw too hard and stripping the thread, dropping a component, bending a pin in a plug or socket or loosening the cable in a plug to avoid damaging it you need to ensure you take the equipment out slowly and carefully. Electrostatic discharge Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) is the sudden transfer of electricity from one object to another. Examples of this are: Lightning, the shock you feel when on a trampoline and then touch the pole or the crackling and sparks when you remove your clothes from a dryer. ESD is usually caused when two objects rub, touch, slide or are separated. ESD can damage a component without you even noticing. A tiny charge or electricity that you cant see or hear is a damaging as a bolt of lightning to components. Nowadays components are much smaller and efficient as so they are more delicate and sensitive to ESD than before. You can prevent this by following 3 rules: Assume that all components and assemblies are sensitive to ESD, Handle ESD-sensitive items only when you are properly grounded at a static-safe work area and store and transport ESD-sensitive items in static shielding containers. Damage to components Not responsible treating hardware components can cause physical damage. When ICT professional do not follow the safety rules and endanger hardware components to be broken or damaged, can cause a serious issue and have a big problem with finishing upgrading hardware components. To prevent the physical damage to devices and cabling you should take every care while upgrading computer system and follow all the safety rules. The most important rule is to use proper tools which overcome the risk. Risk to data Data loss corruption This is very common issue while upgrading hardware components (especially Hard Drive). You can lose your data or corrupt it. Data loss can be caused by damaging or formatting hard disc so then the data which was on this hard drive cannot be used any more. It is possible to recover the data but its very expensive and time-consuming so the best way is to prevent data loss. Data corruption is when some of the files are changed or damaged. You can still see these files in the system but you are unable to read them. There is a way to protect your data by backing up your computer system. Back up your computer means that you have saved the copy of your data. The best way is to have 3 copies on 2 different types of storage devices for one back up. This is called 3 2 1 rule. You can use a back-blaze software which backups your computer in the real time and moves it into the cloud. Service loss Service loss is when somebody who provides you service have got some issue for example when you lost your internet connection which was not caused by your mistake or computer system problems. Its impossible to prevent service loss but in companies are costumer services which helps you solve the problem remote or sent the service to your home to fix the problem. Explain how the risks can be avoided Checking health and safety regulations When installing hardware, you need to make sure you are following the health and safety regulations. This means that you need to report any accidents, take reasonable care of your own health and safety when moving heavy components, not cause any electrical hazards, and make sure that workstations meet safety requirements. You always need to make sure you follow these regulations as they can prevent and harm or injury caused to yourself or others around you. ICT professional needs to protect himself and the working are while working witch computer systems. There are some safety rules that must be abided to avoid any accidents: keep your work area clan and tidy always unplug the computer before upgrading use appropriate tools for your work do not keep any drink near to the working always wear an ESD band and anti-static mat while upgrading hardware components Follow your check list to avoid oversight something Secure back up data As a precaution, you should always ask the user about any data on the system and carefully back up the data if there is any possibility that the upgrade might result in this important data being corrupted or lost. Back up your computer means that you have saved the copy of your data. The best way is to have 3 copies on 2 different types of storage devices for one back up. This is called 3 2 1 rule. Use of antistatic equipment You should always use any anti-static equipment that is provided such as: anti-static packaging wrist straps anti-static mats If none of this equipment is available, you should ask why not and whether it can be provided. Anti-static packaging Anti-static packaging protects components when they are delivered. It is a special type of plastic bag which has shielding built into the plastic to keep static electricity away from the contents of the bag. Anti-static wrist strap An anti-static wrist strap is used to discharge static electricity from the wearers body. It is a band that fits around your wrist with a cable that must be connected to earth this is usually a special main plug with a connector for the cable. The cable has a resistor at one end to give you extra protection when using it. If the cable is not connected to earth, the wrist band is not effective. Anti-static mats Anti-static mats are used to protect components that you are working with. They are often found on a work bench you use them to rest components on when you are dismantling a system. The mat needs to be connected to earth or it is not going to do anything useful.

Narrative †My Foolish Faith :: Personal Narrative Essays

Narrative – My Foolish Faith Life without hope in a dull, frustrating world congeals the stuff of human existence...almost. To some, born-lived-died is more than the plot of too many bad novels; it dooms them, chaining their lives to a Maslowian fate. Others drown the raw truth in unrelenting labor, raucous revelry, sunlit spring breezes, cigarettes at noontime, or the bottle. Yet some find hope in this droll, frustrating world, but they will not agree and cannot be sure of that hope. Or can they? Once I could not find hope. I still can't. That's why I leaped for joy when it found me instead. Somehow, by the Grace of God, I find myself with the only, single true hope, a nonsensical faith, a belief I cannot prove with mortal things, a book that turns a hopeless, droll, frustrating world into a beautiful, hopeful, droll, frustrating world where smallest intricacies and biggest setbacks bring joy alike. Did I say my faith makes no sense? I was right. No sane person in his wrong mind would agree to a divine Creator, Revealer, Saviour, Lord, and Friend. Unfortunately, human depravity ensures sane human wrong-mindedness. Once one obtains this hope, the difficulty of Christianity shifts from the foolishness of believing myths to the stupidity of doing what they say. This is my challenge, for God has revealed His will plainly and has promised to help His adopted children understand His Word, the Bible. Once a person agrees to accept the entire Bible as God presents it in the Bible, the test of faith (or mere hope) comes. A mere hoper won't bother (or dare) to keep exactly what God says; a person with true faith will not only try but succeed when he does. Because I have faith in Christ, have escaped the corruption that is in the world, am a partaker of the Divine Nature, and have received many great and precious promises from God Himself, my goal in life is to be diligent in my service of righteousness to God. The society we live in, like any that has seen the noonday sun since the day God spoke it into existence, is utterly depraved, and I am too. It is God himself in my life who works anything in my life that may seem to be faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. Yet there is a war in my life, a war I am very grateful for yet very weary of.

The Internet Does Not Have Everything Essays -- Argumentative Persuasi

The Internet Does Not Have Everything Everyone needs to know that the World Wide Web (a subset of the Internet; see Internet for a definition of "Internet") is a tool, not the be-all and end-all of research. Many students begin their research assignments with the "fact" from their teachers that they'll be able to find, from now on, everything they need on the Web. Not true. Students do need to be made aware that the Web is a great resource when you need some very current information--today's Dow Jones average, currency exchange rates, score in your favorite baseball team's game, news headlines, etc. Furthermore, through libraries there are increasing numbers of indexes that before were available on CD-ROM or in printed books, that are now accessed via the Web (only to authorized users); these are not "on" the Web per se. The term used to differentiate these proprietary and other directly inaccessible sources is the "invisible Web." The invisible Web is much larger than the visible Web. However, some students seem to think that they can find EVERYTHING on the Web. They can't. They probably never will in their lifetimes either. There is simply too much information out there to have it all transferred to an electronic--and widely accessible--format. Other issues that keep things from existing on the Web: Costs can be astronomical--and who is going to pay them? Scanning in images is expensive and time consuming (think of the millions of photographs in archives around the world), Copyright concerns play a major role in keeping things from being widely accessible; companies want to make a profit (there are hundreds of databases that can only be used by au... ...-and help them to identify more readily trustworthy sources. It is doing everyone in society a disfavor to lead citizens (whether young or old) to believe that the Web has every piece of information that one might need. In this increasingly technologically-dependent world, it is critical that the citizens in it are finding reliable information before they start inventing, improving, building, cleaning, renewing, destroying, exploring, etc. They need to be able to critically evaluate their options, and make sure that they aren't ignoring sources that happen not to be available on the Web. The exclusively techno-reliant are, in their own way, as unreliable a source for trustworthy or thorough information as the techno-phobes who won't use the Web at all. Using the best tool for the job or information need is the only way to be certain that you get the best results. The Internet Does Not Have Everything Essays -- Argumentative Persuasi The Internet Does Not Have Everything Everyone needs to know that the World Wide Web (a subset of the Internet; see Internet for a definition of "Internet") is a tool, not the be-all and end-all of research. Many students begin their research assignments with the "fact" from their teachers that they'll be able to find, from now on, everything they need on the Web. Not true. Students do need to be made aware that the Web is a great resource when you need some very current information--today's Dow Jones average, currency exchange rates, score in your favorite baseball team's game, news headlines, etc. Furthermore, through libraries there are increasing numbers of indexes that before were available on CD-ROM or in printed books, that are now accessed via the Web (only to authorized users); these are not "on" the Web per se. The term used to differentiate these proprietary and other directly inaccessible sources is the "invisible Web." The invisible Web is much larger than the visible Web. However, some students seem to think that they can find EVERYTHING on the Web. They can't. They probably never will in their lifetimes either. There is simply too much information out there to have it all transferred to an electronic--and widely accessible--format. Other issues that keep things from existing on the Web: Costs can be astronomical--and who is going to pay them? Scanning in images is expensive and time consuming (think of the millions of photographs in archives around the world), Copyright concerns play a major role in keeping things from being widely accessible; companies want to make a profit (there are hundreds of databases that can only be used by au... ...-and help them to identify more readily trustworthy sources. It is doing everyone in society a disfavor to lead citizens (whether young or old) to believe that the Web has every piece of information that one might need. In this increasingly technologically-dependent world, it is critical that the citizens in it are finding reliable information before they start inventing, improving, building, cleaning, renewing, destroying, exploring, etc. They need to be able to critically evaluate their options, and make sure that they aren't ignoring sources that happen not to be available on the Web. The exclusively techno-reliant are, in their own way, as unreliable a source for trustworthy or thorough information as the techno-phobes who won't use the Web at all. Using the best tool for the job or information need is the only way to be certain that you get the best results.

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. 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