Starting a Business: Musical Instrument Dealership

The Opportunity Music has power to attract almost all the people. In a country like Bangladesh historically people have practiced music for a long time. That implies that musical industry can get only bigger and bigger in the future which should increase the demand of the musical instruments. And with only a few competitors the opportunity in musical instrument dealership and selling musical instrument can be really huge. In our research we have observed that now day’s people are very brand conscious. Keeping that in mind we are introducing ESP Guitar for the first time in Bangladesh which is a very much renowned brand in the whole world. It is a Japanese brand who makes electronic guitars and basses. It is a very popular brand in many countries right now. ESP is well known for their stylist guitars and basses. Many popular rock and metal bands are using ESP recently and we believe it will be very popular in our country as well because there are number of rock and metal bands in our country now. We are introducing this new brand because according to our analysis it will give us a competitive advantage over our competitors and it will also differentiate our company from all the major players of the industry. Apart from launching ESP in Bangladesh we are also offering installment system which should attract more students who are the main target customers of our company. With the help of the technical and management team of EBS we are also offering free servicing of the musical instruments. Overall we can say that the opportunity in the music industry is huge. We believe we can capitalize this for our benefit. We intend to do that by our creative idea and meeting all the customers’ needs. Products and Services Tune and Play will sell new and used musical instruments and accessories. Our primary items will be electric and acoustic guitars, amplifiers and electronic keyboards, drams and some local instruments like harmonium, tobla and flute. In addition we will have a full service, on-site repair and customization department (band instruments, guitars and electronics). Tune and Play will offer several name brand instruments such as: †¢ Electric and acoustic guitars by ESP. †¢ Bass Guitar †¢ Keyboards †¢ Pianos †¢ Drums †¢ Amps †¢ Mixer †¢ Microphone †¢ Processor †¢ Sound-Card †¢ Foot-Pedal †¢ Violin †¢ Saxophone A very well stocked accessory department to support the above items. In addition to complete repair services for  our products, we will emphasize upgrades and customization items to develop other income streams our competitors have not considered. When carrying a brand name item conflicts with giving the customer the best all-around value, we will always pursue the product that best suits o ur client's interest. Marketing Analysis Target Market Our main target customers are musicians who are ready to pay anything for their desired instrument. However within that musician customer,  there are  different segments, ranging from professionals, to semi-professionals, to hobbyists and novices. We intend to target musical novices, hobbyists, and semi-professionals. These groups  include the largest percentage of musicians,  with the greatest amount of disposable income. These  market segments  can generally be approached with the same marketing techniques, and can be very loyal when treated properly. We are also targeting the students of those schools where ‘Music’ is offered as a mandatory course to them. Moreover there are many music school are present at Dhaka, and the numbers are in rise. Reasons for Buying our Product We are the only store in Dhaka who will offer ESP brand instruments for which musicians have a high demand. We will also offer the novice to semi-professional musician, the convenience of a wide selection, unique offers, experienced and reliable staff, and an educationally-focused community center; all in one location Again most musicians need support and service. The instruments that we sell can be difficult or impossible for end users to service. Potential clients tend to seek stores that can fulfill these services through word of mouth referrals or by using direct shopping experiences. These musicians come back time after time if they feel they are getting a fair deal. Therefore, we will ensure enough numbers of technicians for them always, so that they can find solution of their instrument’s problems any time. We will also provide one year warranty for the brand items. Analysis of Marketing Data: To know about the customer preferences and needs towards musical instrument, we conducted a market survey. After successfully completing the survey analysis, we had a more clear idea of what a potential buyer or musician desires from a music store. For our survey, we targeted people whose who are above 15 years old. We found that 53% people prefer rock music, 27% people prefer heavy metal and rest of the people like classical and pop music. 47% people like to buy Guitars from a music store, 27% 1ike to buy Keyboards, 13% like to buy Drums and others prefer to buy some local instruments like Harmonium, Flute etc. We found that people want both cash and installment payment available in the store. We found out, almost 40% people usually buy instruments for their learning purpose, 35% people buy because they are in band, and rest of the people buy by following their favorite artist. 80% people want lifetime free servicing if the instrument is not broken and rest of the people prefer stores should give year-end sales with 10%-15% discount. For people, Dhanmondi, Panthapath and Uttara as the most convenient place fir shopping. Industry Analysis Since the inception of Bangladesh, basic musical instruments were being manufactured by some local manufacturer. The department was being run by some minor players and import for marketing for international brands didn't exist at all. The market of musical instrument grew massively during late 70s and early 80s when many artists & bands were emerging. Demand of many international instruments like guitar, drums started to increase along with those regional instruments. From that time the need of importing instruments of various brand had became a lucrative opportunity for entrepreneurs. Further, with the technological advancement and immensely growing demand, more and more instrument seller were becoming available but there was not enough legal and economic support to install any authorized dealership or franchising for the provision of brand demand. Though 40 years back from now Melody & Co. , one of the musical instrument dealers, started their business in Old Town of Dhaka during the Pakistan era, they were just a dealer of regional instruments like harmonium, Tablas etc. Industry situation: Although enough growth has taken place in the musical instrument sector but most of it can be attributed to the random brand growth. Similarly Value Added Services have grown but are still a drop in the bucket. Now that the competition has been introduced in the instrument sector some very positive impact have been observed on the growth of the sector in a short span of time which is expected to continue to grow for at least next couple of years. Key Success Factors: †¢ Potentiality of music industry: As the music scenario in Bangladesh is improving and getting the touch of western influence, people are also getting interested in western instruments like electric guitars, drums etc. Emerging brand consciousness: Now days, musicians and artists are being more conscious about the brand. They now prefer brand over cost, as brand represent their image, style and quality. †¢ Globalization: Due to globalization the market in Bangladesh is also getting the attention of the rest of the world. MNC's from different side of the world also want to access this new market before any of their competitors. So internatio nal instruments brands will eagerly enter this market to diversify their risk. †¢ Economic stability: Though being a developing country, economic condition in Bangladesh is now days pretty much stable. So the buying power of Bangladeshi people is also healthy enough for these instrument businesses. Trends: Technological: Technologically Bangladesh is about a couple of years back dated from the developed countries. As a result of that technological advancement in musical instrument is not that significant for last few years. Due to lack of proper knowledge and equipments there is no authorized manufacturing sector for instruments, except those handmade instruments. Political: Politically Bangladesh is a very unstable country. But this specific business has no connection with politics at all. But considering the international DFI or Franchising, political assessment is necessary. Due to political corruptions and instability, Bangladesh is sometimes favorable or unfavorable country for MNCs depending on the situation. Considering the political aspect, this instrument business does not have much to care about. Societal: As this is related with culture and art, societal influence has tremendous impact over our business. Most societies of Bangladesh are conservative and they are attached with traditional Bangladeshi culture. These influence traditional Bangladeshi musical instruments like Harmonium, Tablas etc. But guitars & drums are more likely considered as western influence which is sometimes considered as a negative aspect by them. So to certain extent societal factors drive the industry. Assessment of Industry: By considering the five forces of an industry, we can assess our musical instrument industry from five different sides. Bargaining Power of Supplier: In this specific business sector, suppliers have enough power to dominate over instrument dealership business in country like ours. Because of the economic sloth advancement, the suppliers (the brands) do not usually that much care about authorizing dealership in our country. †¢ Also the brands that are more popular in Bangladesh will have a higher demand, any musical store will want to be a licensed dealer of them. †¢ Cost of selecting and switching suppliers is quite high. All these factors determine the supplier’s dominance over the industry. Bargaining Power of Buyers: †¢ Presence of a few numbers of stores and dealers. †¢ Cost of buying brand products from abroad is quite high and heavily taxable. These factors determine the buyer’s low power over the industry. Threat of new Entrant: †¢ High opportunity of profitable venture. †¢ The market is not saturated yet. †¢ Low burden of government rules and regulations So, the threats from new entrants are high in this industry. Threats of Substitute: †¢ Substitute products are limited and weak. †¢ Substitute products like other recreational products are not completely substitutable. So, threat of substitute products is quite low even do not exist at all. Rivalry among Competitors: †¢ A very few established stores and dealers are present. Most of the other stores are discrete and unstable, which usually sell those regional instruments like Harmoniums, Tablas. †¢ The cost of production is quite high. †¢ Products are rated at fixed price. †¢ Switching between products is costly. So rivalry among the existing competitors is moderate. It is not extreme because of less switching power of customers and fixed price, and also not much less because of the low number of dealers. Competition Analysis After doing some research we have come with some direct, indirect and also some future competitors of our music store. major ones are identified. 1. Existing huge music stores : In Dhaka city, there are 4-5 huge music stores which are OMNI, World music, Golden music and Music melody. They all have an approximate monthly sale of 10-15 lacs. Among our main competitor OMNI is our main concern. OMNI is the dealer of YAMAHA guitars and Pearl drums, which cost them a huge amount. Their initial investment was 2-3 crore, they business is mainly equity based, they didn’t take any loan because OMNI music store is a part of the huge business group. They reached their break even 4. 5 years. Demand for their music instrument is stable but on some special occasions their sales increase like on valentines day, pahela baishakh, independence day etc. Key success factor are commitment, honesty, right price quality and loyal customer. The other huge music stores mentioned earlier like golden music, music melody, world music whose business share is almost similar. They have a monthly sale of 10-12 lacs. They also bought many different brands that differentiate their music store. Music melody produce some local instruments but in a small scale. [pic] Competitors Position based on Sales 1. Existing small music stores: There are some small competitors in this market. They mainly get their product from the big competitors because investment costs need a huge amount of money to bring instruments. They also sale regionally produced instruments like harmonium, bahala etc. This kind of stores is also our concern because some of them may have the potential to grow as a huge competitor. 2. Future opening of music store: Music appeals everyone in the world. Music industry in Bangladesh is growing at a steady rate. Because now days Nokia, Benson & hedges etc are coming up with competition to bring out the talents from our country. This gives even small time musicians grow in confidence to buy some heavy instruments. Also music TV programs in all channels and music schools are establishing in Dhaka this also demand music instruments. So as demand for music instruments are growing, the more there will be openings of music store. Competitive advantage: In order to sustain and expand in this competitive marketplace we will take effective decision and implement them. Our store is providing the product of ESP. We will provide brand uniqueness. Also we will offer some after sale service to our customers who will buy expensive instruments costing more than 50,000tk. We are also providing some different service like: an exchange offer of your instrument with similar instrument but this would not be similar for everyone like we will check the instrument first that decide whether it will be profitable to exchange so that after repairing we can sell it again a good price also sometimes we may require some money with the instrument depending on the product. We will also repair different instruments in our store with a minimum charge of starting tk. 1000. Also we will provide customers with the service of customizing the instruments like color requirements, putting a tattoo or art, band logo on their guitar or other instruments charging differently depending on instrument. These services make our stores different from others. Marketing Plan Pricing Policy: For pricing, we divided our products in two segments. For ESP brand items, we are going to follow cost based pricing policy and for other products, we are going to follow competitor based pricing policy. These pricing strategies will help us sustain in the market, as well as make profit. Cost Based Pricing Policy: In this policy, we would consider all our expenses. These include transportation cost, utility cost, rental cost, promotional cost, storage cost etc. Once we find out all our expenses, we would divide it by the number of instruments kept in our store. This will give us expense per unit. After that, we would add the cost of the instrument itself with the expenses per unit. Then we will add 30% profit margin. An example is shown below: Selling price = Total Cost / ((100-margin) / 100) If Total Cost of a guitar is TK 70,000, then by applying this formula, we get: Selling price = 70, 000 / ((100 – 30) / 100) = TK 100,000 Competitor based pricing policy: This is a method where we will use prices of the competing products as a benchmark instead of considering own costs or the customer demand. This will be applicable for products that my competitors are offering as well. For example guitar accessories, amps, keyboard, piano, drums etc. The reason for selecting this strategy is because it would be really difficult to survive in price wars with my competitors. They have more experience and they are also in this business for a longer time. As a result they have already covered a lot of their investment. This means they can offer products at a lower price than us. Place: Our store will be located in Panthopath, Dhaka. It will be situated near Bashundhara City. Reasons for selecting this place are as follows: -some of my competitors are located here. This means customers will prefer this place, since they have many options. since our store will be outside Bashundhara City, we can operate at a comparatively lower rent. -Panthopath is lucrative place for conducting business. -as there is sufficient transportation facility, people can easily visit our store. -Since there are some jamming pads located near our store, people are likely to pay us a visit. After some years, we are planning to expand our business to some other locations. One of our priorities will be Uttara. This is because looking at the current market scenario, there are no musical stores in Uttara till now. Product: Our main focus is ESP guitars because ESP guitars are unique and are preferred by a lot of the younger generation. They like its exceptional designs. Some of the designs available are X-shaped, V-shaped etc. Besides that, the sound of ESP guitars is good for both riffs and lead guitar. For other guitars, it is tough to match the price of ESP, providing the same quality. Promotion Strategy Our  critical marketing program will be the grand opening, so we will place our initial advertising to give the greatest coverage. Our specific goal for the event is to create a big buzz for the local music community has ever seen regarding a new store. We will target our desired customer base using radio, newspapers, hand leaflet, banners and word of mouth. At present, radio is the easiest way to reach musicians for the simple reason that the love of music is what drives us to become musicians. Newsprint reaches a large portion of the public, letting them see what  we have to  offer before making a trip to the store. Large billboard and banners in different areas and hand leaflets are also very useful way to inform the people about our promotional activities. We will also have regular advertisement in different youth oriented magazines. Another promotional plan is to telecast our advertisements in different area based local cable channels. This is also a useful tool to inform people in economic way. Word of mouth is the one area we really hope to see develop, as a personal endorsement by a customer is worth more to us than what any advertisement can achieve. Distribution: We will follow the following strategies: 1. Direct purchases from manufacturers – generally the best price, but higher minimum orders. 2. Purchases from national distributors – large selections, good prices. 3. Purchases from regional distributors – small selection, average pricing. Management team We believe an efficient management team can increase the productivity of company. And a productive workforce can be an asset for a company and it can provide the company with a competitive advantage over the major players of the industry. We have started this business on the basis of partnership rules and regulation. There are seven partners and we all are the students of North South University. We know each other for a long period of time and we believe with our co operative effort we can make this company a very successful one. As we all are partners of the company and have contributed equally to the initial investment so all of us will be included in the decision making process. But for instant decision making we have prepared an organ gram. |Chairman |M. Riaz Mahmud | |CFO |M. Nahian Morshed | |Board of Directors |M. Faizur Rahman | |Board of Directors |Mustafa Waki Chodhury | |Board of Directors |Mohona Khan | |Board of Directors |M. Shahriar Firoz | |Board of Directors |Rizon Minhazur Rahman | We are hiring 5 sales executives, who will run our store. Our requirement is H. S. C. passed, fluent in English and have basic computer literacy knowledge. We will hire persons who are with good interpersonal skill and can convince the customers easily to buy instrument and behave well with the customer so that they remain loyal and happy with our service. Delivering Process Our business is an import oriented business. So, we’ll have to wholly depend on shipping for the delivery process and also container trucks will also be involved to deliver the instruments as the port is situated in Chittagong and we’ll have to transport the items to Dhaka. Customers will have the responsibility to transport their bought product to their favored destination. For payment to the parent company we will follow the Letter Of Credit (LC) system. In this system, we will get affiliated with an international bank which have subsidiary in Bangladesh. The international bank will have to be selected as the parent company might have trust issues and the international renowned bank will help us gain reliability. As soon as we receive the products, we will issue an LC. As our chosen company ESP is an established brand worldwide, they will take responsibility for the shipments. We had to get a license of ESP to get their permission of selling their product. The licensing took a great toll of our investment as we had to pay BDT. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ to ESP. According to the license, we need to achieve some requirements which are their benchmarks. †¢ We had to show projected sales and their requirement was to achieve an average of BDT. 50 lakh mark yearly within 5 years. †¢ We had to show them our work on balance sheet, income statement and break even analysis as they were looking into our business’ feasibility. †¢ Also they checked the location of the store to find out if enough demand will be generated from the â€Å"place† factor of four P’s. We reached an agreement that we will to train our servicing employees according to their training methods to create the same environment and to comply with their customer service. †¢ We also had to show them an overview of the demand of their brand ESP in Bangladesh. Financial Projections Income Statement Our income statement is initiated with finding out the sales of first month and it is utterly based on our surveys. We first found out the total market value in terms of BDT. We went through our surveys and found out the competitors’ yearly sales and the total represents the presumable market size. As we are in the initiation stage we are assuming to get a hold of no more than three percent (3%) of the market size. We did a sales forecast for every month. For starters, we assumed a growth rate of 0. 5 percent for the first three months which gradually increased to 1 percent and later we ended the first year with a growth rate of 2% in the last three months. The increasing growth rate will be as a consequence of our extensive marketing policies. The first year’s growth rate being only 12. 65% percent, we had to incur losses in every month. The econd year, the yearly growth rate we have assumed will be 12. 68% owing to the steady growth rate every month. And third year we expect a growth rate of 16% approximately. For our cost of goods sold, we presumed forty percent (40%) of our sales and we counted our sales discount to be 2. 5%. Another variable cost is sales commission of one percent (1%) of sales which is categorized as selling expenses. Fixed costs include both selli ng and administrative expenses. Selling expenses include store salaries of BDT. 20,000 per month, rent of BDT. 50,000 per month, advertising expenses of BDT. 5,000 per month, utility of BDT. 5,000 per month and depreciation expenses of BDT. 250 per month. The administrative fixed costs consist of salaries which is monthly BDT. 10,000, utility monthly 2,000, insurance monthly BDT. 2,000 and depreciation expenses of BDT. 200 per month. We expect to reach the break even in 6. 62 years and we have shown income statements for 10 years just for getting an idea of the net income in following years. Sensitivity: We have shown sensitivity analysis changing the sales revenue by five percent in both directions. For worst case scenario with 5% downfall in sales, our net loss in first year will rise by more than BDT. 70,000. In the most likely case, we also incur a loss of BDT. 105,000 approximately and best case scenarios with 5% sales increment, net profit will be almost BDT. 33,000. For 2nd year, most likely case scenario will produce a profit of BDT. 342,566 and worst case scenario will produce profit of BDT. 155,858. But, the best case scenario will generate less net income than most likely case because of tax rules. The 3rd year most likely case will see us earn a net income of BDT. 04,398. We have also assumed the worst case and best cases and if that happens we will have net income of BDT 508,314 and BDT 700,483 respectively. Cash-Flow Statement Cash flow statement is the way of constructing the cash inflows and outflows according to type of activities such as operating, investing and financing activities. It gives us the idea about if the company will be profitable over the years by generating sufficient cash and if it will be able to pay off its debt. We have done cash flow statements for 8 years and those will be included in the appendices. For our cash flows, we followed direct method starting with the operating activities which includes inflow from sales revenue and outflows from different expenses like cash paid to suppliers, salaries expenses, rent expenses, sales commission, advertising expenses etc. in investing activities, outflows includes BDT. 10,000,000 of purchasing of assets, other investment of BDT. 1,000,000 and purchasing of contract of rent BDT. 1,000,000 and there are no inflows. Financing activities has inflows form loan and owners investment worth BDT. 8,000,000 and BDT. 7,000,000 respectively. Cash outflows from financing includes loan payment of BDT. 171,438 per month. The payment of installment continues till year 7 when we paid off our debt. Our total cash flow will be negative till year 4, first quarter and since then its uprising. But we maintained a cash balance from the beginning generated from loan which will see us through these periods. From first year, our cash balance is reduced to BDT. 2,004,607 from BDT. 2,910,411 which is the starting balance of the first month. Second year it is reduce to BDT. 1,398,301 and by the end of year three the cash balance will be BDT. 20,853. Sensitivity: The sensitivity analysis of every year attached to appendices will show how much the expected cash flows can differ when we consider worst possible and best possible cases. The first year’s best case is likely to reduce the outflows by about BDT. 120,000 but the worst scenario will increase outflows by about BDT. 117,000. the second and third years’ sensitivity anal ysis shows the same effect reducing or increasing the cash outflows in best and worst cases respectively. Balance Sheet Our balance sheet shows how much the venture capitalist can depend on our business. In the balance sheet we tried to figure out the total asset each year as the first objective of a business is to maximize the value of its assets. We also showed if the assets matched the liabilities. Our total assets included cash, inventories, receivables, other current assets categorized as current assets and long term assets consists of non current assets, accumulated depreciation etc. Current liabilities are payables, short term debt and others while non current liabilities are long term debt and others and these two makes up the liabilities part. Equity has only common equity invested by the owners. For most of these items, we tried to maintain a specific percentage of sales such as for inventories, we maintained 20. 69% of sales, 40. 14% of sales as short term debt etc because we know these items are vulnerable to the change of sales and move in the same direction. Our first year’s total assets are BDT. 17,350,008 while the next two years it went down to BDT. 16,912,962 and BDT. 16,623,039. This can be associated with the increment in negative cash flows or increase in outflows. But it’s uprising from then as we expect it to rise as high as BDT. 5,481,609 in eight years. A significant change occurs in year seven as we reach break even; our total assets rises from about 20 million to above 24. 5 million. This is because of the rise in cash balance that year after recuperating the total investment. Sensitivity: By changing the sales by 5% positively and negatively, we found out the best and worst case scenarios which can contribute to the change of our total assets. Again, as we are looking to maximize the value of our assets, we have to be conscious about what the best and worst situations can do to our business. For the first two years, the worst case scenario doesn’t do much damage as the reductions in total assets are by about BDT. 50,000 from the most likely scenarios; BDT. 17,292,408 in first year and BDT. 16,846,620 in second year. While the best case scenarios in the first two years see our total assets to rise to BDT. 17,407,482 and BDT. 16,979,158. The third year the change about BDT. 75,000 in both cases as the best case scenario puts our total assets to BDT. 16,698,871 and the worst case to BDT. 16,547,041. For al these time, the increases and decreases in total assets are backed by the retained earnings portion of owner’s equity. Breakeven: |Pay Back | | | | | | | |Initial Investment | -15,000,000. 00 | | |Year 1 | 1,061,866. 91 | -13,938,133. 09 | |Year 2 | 1,450,954. 8 | -12,487,178. 20 | |Year 3 | 1,739,046. 20 | -10,748,132. 00 | |Year 4 | 2,119,043. 11 | -8,629,088. 89 | |Year 5 | 2,667,444. 37 | -5,961,644. 52 | |Year 6 | 3,328,314. 32 | -2,633,330. 20 | |Year 7 | 4,203,767. 76 | ,570,437. 55 | |Year 8 | 4,366,613. 47 | 5,937,051. 02 | | | | | | | 11,517. 17 | | | |228. 6438216 | | | |0. 26421429 | | |Pay back in years |6. 626421429 | | Exit Strategy: Our ongoing business is Musical instrument dealership. Our exit strategy is a mixture of liquidation and our own strategy. First we will liquidate some percentage of our assets. We are planning to sell those underperforming assets at a lower price and we will also invest some additional capital to establish a diversified service line. This will be actually a recording studio as we are planning to seize the opportunity created by lack of recording studio in Bangladesh. We are planning to open a recording studio which will contribute to the uprising music scenario in Bangladesh. Due to lack of quality music studios, we believe our exit plan from musical instrument dealership to recording studio will shift our position from decay to a growing stage in company life cycle. It will be our long term plan because we do not want to loose the face value of the product. Initial Investment: Rent (4 months)= Tk. 200,000 Equipments (Estimated Average per unit) Electric Guitar(5*30,000) |150,000 | |Bass Guitar(5*30,000) |150,000 | |Acoustic Guitar(20*3000) |60,000 | |Piano(2*100,000) |200,000 | |Keyboard(10*20,000) |200,000 | |Drums(5*30,000) |150,000 | |Mixer(3*50,000) |150,000 | |Microphone(5*10,000) 50,000 | |Processor(5*20,000) |100,000 | |Accessories(Strings, Cables, Tuners etc) |90,0000 | |Other Equipments |100, 000 | |Total |1,400,000 | Estimated Initial Marketing Cost=300,000 Furniture=100,000 Reserve For Cash Requirements=3,000,000 Dealership Cost=10,000,000 Total Initial Investment=15,000,000 Conclusion We have worked on this business plan for the last three months and gathered all the related information about the music industry. After analyzing all the data we have came up with the idea investing in this business can be really challenging but profitable. If we can survive through the initial trouble we can diversify our business by investing in different regions of Bangladesh. In the era of communication people are very fond of the creative ideas and we believe our business is creative and unique enough to attract the potential customers. Reference: www. google. com www. yahoo. com acct. tamu. edu/smith/acctwebs. htm Haque, Akkas & Ashif (2008) ‘Three taxes of Bangladesh’

A Narrative Report on the Mass Training for Grade Essay

The K-12 Curriculum for the Grade 3 teachers was indeed a very successful one. The training was started with smiling faces shown by each participant. This is a manifestation that the Grade 3 teachers are willing and ever ready to embrace the mission tasked by God; and that is to implement fully the K-12 Curriculum with your minds, hearts, and souls. The Mass Training for GRADE 3 teachers on the Basic Education Curriculum started on May 18, 2014 in the afternoon. Delegates from the different schools in the Division of Tuguegarao City were made to register before the start of the sessions. After which, an opening program was started with a prayer led by Mrs. Juliet B. Alan, Master Teacher 1, followed by the singing of the national anthem with Mrs. Liezel Santos, Master Teacher 1, conducting. An opening program started the one-week long training. see more:narrative report on homeroom pta meeting Dr. Benito Alipio, the Asst. Schools Division Superintendent of the division gave his opening remarks and he emphasized that a twenty -first century teachers must learn, unlearn and relearn the skills needed to produce a twenty-first century learners who are equipped with 21st century skills such as information media and technology skills, learning an innovation skills, communication skills and life career skills. Dr. Gilbert N. Tong, the Schools Division Superintendent, CESO VI, gave also his inspirational message. He really inspired us, teachers, to do our share in developing a 21st century learners who are developed with adequate knowledge and skills that readily translate into performance. Dr. Rommel Costales, the Education Program Supervisor in Filipino, discussed about the K to 12 Curriculum. He introduced the Secretary’s message on K to 12 Updates and he further emphasized on some important issues regarding the curriculum. Mrs. Vilma Darisan, Principal II, of Tagga-Dadda Elementary Schools, was the last speaker and she talked about the â€Å"Assessment†. She discussed comprehensively her topic. We ended the Day 0 full of enthusiasm. Day 1 started with a simple program led by Northeast District. It was started with a prayer then followed by the singing of the national anthem. The delegates in every district introduced themselves with their own creative way of presentation that made the session enjoyable. Dr. Janette M. Dulin, Principal IV of Linao Elementary Schools, lectured on the â€Å"Grade Three Learners.† She gave us informative lecture which made us clearer understanding on the characteristics of grade III 21st. century learners. The participants performed different activities during her lecture. After her lecture, she sub-divided the whole group into 2. Each group went on their respective assignments. Class A started their session on â€Å"Leveling of Expectations† done by Mrs. Lou Marie Miguel, Principal II of Larion Alto. She gave emphasis on the expected attitudes that each participants must possess. On the other group, Class B, was led by Mrs. Liezel Santos and disused the same topic. Mrs. Juliet B. Alan, Master Teacher I of Annafunan Elementary School, lectured comprehensively about the Araling Panlipunan subject. The participants actively participated on the different activities during her session with them. Mrs. Eleanor Cacacho and Mrs. Zenaida Rivamora, EPS I in Science and Social Studies, with Dr. Rommel Costales, EPS II in Filipino witnessed her lecture. Mrs. Lou Marie Miguel, Principal II of Larion Alto, lectured the Science subject. She really gave us a substantial lecture. Mrs. Analyn Quilang, Principal II of Pengue Ruyu, tackled on the â€Å"Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao.† She delivered also her lecture with enthusiasm. On Day 2, Class A had their MTB with Dr. Janette Dulin as the first speaker while on Class B, Mrs. Catalon, lectured on Music. Both speakers delivered their topic energetically and substantially. On the same day, Mrs. Evangeline Palejo, tackled about the English subject in Class A while Mrs. Analyn Quilang lectured on ESP in Class B with the presence of Dr. Norma Guillermo, Chief Education Program Supervisor in Elementary Division. Dr. Guillermo felt happy with the positive feedbacks she received on the performances of the trainers as well as the participants. Day 3 (May 21, 2014), the session was chaired by the participants of the West District. Same preliminary activities were made to start the day’s session. The first lecturer was Dr. Janette Dulin. She continued her topic regarding the MTB in Class A intelligently as manifested with the active participation of the trainees. On the same time,  Mrs. Vilma Darisan presented her topic in Math. She discussed her topic enthusiastically in Class B. The trainees listened and focused themselves intently during her discussion. After which, Mrs. Catalon, and Mrs Vilma Darisan lectured on Music and Mathematics in Class A and b respectively. With their expertise in presenting their subjects, they and the trainees enjoyed together their sessions. Liezel Trumata, the trainer in Health, then followed by Mrs. Juliet Alan who tackled about the Araling Panlipunan in Class B also discussed their topics intelligently. On the fourth day ( May 22, 2014), the first lecturers are Mrs. Liezel Trumata and Mr. J. Attaban who taught Health and P.E. respectively in Class A and B. Luckily, Mrs. Santos, was observed by Dr. Venturada Durian and Mr. Gayagoy both DepEd officials in the division while Mrs. Evangeline Palejo discussed her topic in English in Class B. Demonstration teaching was done right after the last trainers had done their lectures and it was done in the afternoon and continued on the fifth day. The following demonstration teachers were; Mrs. Emily Guiquing, MTB, Mrs. Emma Calimag, Math, Mrs. Norolaine Cabalos, Araling Panlipunan, Mrs. Salvacion Cabalza, Science, and Mrs. Jane Carino, P. E. All the demonstration teachers performed well and showed their own creative way in teaching their subject matters. The pupils were responsive and actively participated in the different activities tasked by the teachers. After the demo-teaching, a critiquing was made to the teachers with their respective trainers. The training was completed when Dr. Rommel Costales, Education Supervisor II in Filipino, the last lecturer, presented his topic about the ‘Commitment Building.’ He elaborated further his topic by asking the trainees to note down four key words about their leanings on the k to 12 Curriculum with the use of a paper airplane. Everyone enjoyed much the activity. He further strengthened the leanings of the participants through a video clips about a teacher-learner relationships which touched the hearts of each participants. As we went through day by day with this training, we were enriched and enlightened with the new insights and concepts that were needed to achieve the Goal of the K-12 Curriculum and that is to become the 21st Century teachers producing multitude 21st Century learners – the hope of the future generation that could help our department, the Department of Education, be the topmost agency in our country and make  our country progressive, globally competitive and at par with other countries. The training ended with a simple closing program but with full baggage of learning on the part of the trainees as well as the trainers .

Evaluating a Hiring and Variable Pay Plan

Evaluating a Hiring and Variable Pay Plan Include a brief summary of the situation. Effective Management Solutions (EMS) a small management consulting company divided into four areas: management systems, business process improvement, human resources, and quality improvement that are rapidly growing. The growth has expanded so quickly that, EMS has developed and is planning to execute an aggressive revenue growth plan. The goal is to obtain a 25% revenue increase each year for the next five years, in each of the four departments. A main element of this plan is growth in the staff. The reason for this is that the majority of the entry level associates are currently working at the maximum load of hours and clients. To accomplish this plan EMS predicts it will have to hire 100 associates of which 40 will be for replacements do to promotions, and associates who leave and go to other consulting firms. The additional 60 will cover growth with the new revenue increase plan. Knowing this will be a challenge and that the current hiring package needs to be updated to attract and keep good quality associates, EMS has tasked Manuel Rodriquez who is the one-man HR department to develop a job offer proposal, that will increase the offer rate, decrease the turnover rate of current associates and not create issues among the associates who are currently employed. Assess the attractiveness of the HVP program for both applicants and those who receive offers, deciding for whom it would be the most attractive. The hiring variable plan will be very attractive to both pools of people. And for applicants it would more then likely increase of even applying. And for those who receive offers it would at least bring the company on par with its top competitors and increase the number of accepted job offers. More than likely it will be most attractive to those receiving offers because if all other factors are equal with the company’s competitor’s candidates will be more likely to accept the offer and have a feeling of more ownership of their career path. Predict and justify if the HVP program will likely increase the job offer acceptance rate. The introduction of the HVP program will produce a significant increase in the job offer acceptance rate. The increased market competitiveness, applicant desirability and employees satisfaction would all not only increase the applicant pool but would also slow the outflow of employees. In addition the program would have a double benefit of an increased applicant pool as well as more accepted job offers that would drastically increase the acceptance rate. Predict and justify if the HVP program will likely reduce turnover. The adoption will also reduce turnover. The new found ownership over their career path as well as increased earning potential will significantly boost employee job satisfaction. In addition the variable pay plan will make the companies competitors look less attractive to unsatisfied employees. Give your opinion about how current associates will react to the HVP program. Current associates will mostly respond positively to the new variable pay plan. They will be pleased with option to join the new plan in addition to keeping their current salary. This may put them in a position to earn considerably more than their new peers and employees with their competitors. In addition they have even more earning potential because they may already train for the hot skills premium that is offered for rare skills sets. To the contrary there could be small levels of un-happiness if it seems that new employees have higher earning potential or if the security of the wages previously earned is put at risk. Suggest what issues and problems the HVP plan will create for Human Resources and for the hiring manager. The HVP plan will present several problems and challenges for Human Resources personnel and the hiring mangers. Some of those problems include re-training/ lack of knowledge to explain the program to new and current employees, lack of resources required to implement this new complex pay schedule and meet the new strategic hiring goals, the burden of developing a consistent way for the hiring manger to evaluate hot skills premiums as well as salaries. And whose responsibility it is to update and maintain employees pay plans preferences and lastly human resources receive and resolve complaints for plan participants who chose the high risk path. Human Resources personnel would need be re-trained, given appropriate tools or significantly revamped to handle such a substantial policy change. The may been seen as owners or experts of the new process. In addition a new method will have to be found to input, track, change, and calculate bonuses and weekly pay checks. This could include hiring additional staff, buying or over hauling existing software or out sourcing the process completely. The hiring may have issues determining what hot skills the company is looking for and which new hires possess them. Further more additional staff will be required to screen applicants, interview candidates, conduct background checks, completely develop or revamp the employees orientation, re-structure of each individual area will be needed. In addition protocols and processes will be created and put in place to insure that hot skills premium is fairly evaluated as well as the salary offer aligns with market average. Propose and justify changes in the HVP program. While the HVP program is still in its infancy, at later stage a process could be created to standardize market components of employee’s salaries. For one the hot skills premium and starting salary may be set to market standards or by upper management. This change would provide clarity consistency and fairness to this new compensation scheme. In addition the high risk plan could be mad less drastic so as to not cause a burden to employees in low peak times. The high risk plan as it stands may cause financial burdens to employees which could affect their productivity. References Heneman, H. G. , & Judge, T. A. (2009). BUS 335: Staffing organizations: 2009 custom edition (6th ed. ). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Theory and Practice in Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Theory and Practice in Management - Essay Example The levels of authority given to different individuals in an organisation are mainly determined by the structure of the organisation and the type of power used in any given organisation often determines the overall performance of the employees as well as its productivity levels. There are mainly six types of power that are popular and these include: coercion, position, reward, support, knowledge and interpersonal (Krausz 1986). Coercion is based on fear or punishment where the responsible authorities would seek to ensure that all the members comply with the given instructions while position is related to the status of a person in the hierarchy of the organisation. Reward is based on the capacity to offer incentives on good performance while support is concerned with influencing the involvement of peers or workmates. Knowledge is based on the skills possessed by an individual and interpersonal is mainly concerned with communication skills by a particular individual. Adaptive organisations which emphasize the flexibility to adapt to change can enhance creativity while bureaucratic, mechanistic or rigid structures will inhibit creativity Woodman (1995). An organisation which has a flat structure often promotes creativity and it helps promote easier communication and information sharing. In some cases, the appropriate reward system is essential for motivating employees to become innovative. When the employees have freedom and authority to participate in decision making process, they will have a positive attitude towards creativity and innovation. Open systems that promote participation and interaction also allow the free flow of information which in turn promotes mutual understanding among the employees. For instance, a case study of Ernest and Young showed that the organisation managed to increase employee retention level by about 9 % after the company began introducing open systems that gave autonomy to the workers while at the same time offerin g rewards

The UAW and It's Effects on the City of Detroit Term Paper

The UAW and It's Effects on the City of Detroit - Term Paper Example A popular third party representation for almost any labor or industry type is referred to as the labor unions. These unions are comprised of workers from within the company and industry; their collective function is to bridge the gap between the employees and employer through communication and serve as an organized voice for all employees. A labor union’s main objective varies and depends on the employees’ needs or grievances. However, majority of these objectives are geared towards the well-being of employees -- health care benefits, good or improved working conditions, increased salary to accommodate rising costs of living, skills enhancement, contract longevity, and so on. Employers, on the other hand, establish the relationship with labor unions through certain access to facts (e.g., profit, loss, operation costs, labor costs, et cetera) to which negotiation and a coordinated decision-making is firmly grounded. This access and hearing out of employer’s side e nables the labor union to observe impartiality. On a labor union’s perspective, this may also permit them to come up with demands that are realistically feasible for employers to meet. However, this does not work all the time. There are times when labor unions inadvertently choke up the business and industry with their demands. This challenge calls for a more diverse and flexible approach from labor unions. One such labor union, alleged of choking up the auto-making industry in Detroit, Michigan, is the United Auto Workers Union or UAW. This paper attempts to explore the effects of this labor union to the core industry of Detroit City. The UAW Founded in 1935 and is considered to be â€Å"one of the largest in North America,† the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) accomplished its pioneering work of â€Å"expanding the nation’s labor movement† as well as establishing the standards of labor conditions through â€Å"generous pension, health care, and job secu rity provisions† (â€Å"United Automobile Workers,† 2011, para. 1). Evidently, the UAW was successful in bringing about improvement in the working conditions of auto-laborers in vast coverage and was expected to continue growing and carrying out its mission. However, the year 1970 had marked the start of UAW’s turbulent years ahead; the â€Å"shrinking of the North American auto industry† and â€Å"the crisis that engulfed† Detroit’s Big Three (i.e., General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) had set the â€Å"downward path† for the labor union (â€Å"United Automobile Workers,† 2011, para. 2). This series of crises had not just hurt the industry but also hurts the employees, as well. Inevitably, industries have to lower overall costs and the pressure of lowering these costs weigh down on the laborers’ wage and benefits. Consequently, companies cannot afford anymore the costs of benefits demanded by laborers and the UAW. Compani es and employees are torn between retrenchment and retaining but in the expense of lower wages and/or lesser benefits. Most laborers chose the latter and around December 2008, UAW membership among the Big Three’s, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, declined -- from 305, 000 to 139, 000 workers (â€Å"United Automobile Workers,† 2011). The Automakers’ fall Looking close, particular advancements in the auto industry had paved the way for Detroit’s demise. Price (2000) collectively called these advancements the â€Å"

Accounting Course Assignment ACCT205 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Accounting Course Assignment ACCT205 - Essay Example Users of financial information can look at a balance sheet at the end of each accounting period and know if the business has more or less value if the debts are higher or lower, and if the working capital is higher or lower. This can be easy if the balance sheet is properly prepared. By analyzing the balance sheet, users such as investors, creditors, taxation departments and shareholders can assess the ability of the organization to meet short-term obligations and solvency, as well as the ability of the organization to pay all current and long-term debts as they fall due. L. Jensen, (1997) indicates that the balance sheet also shows the relative proportions of debt and equity financing, the composition of assets and liabilities, and the amount of earnings that the company has had to retain as retained earnings. This information will be used by external parties such as investors, the government, creditors, debtors and others to help assess the company’s financial status in a specific financial year, which is required by both lending institutions and investors before they will allot any money toward business whether for lending or for investing.   A corporation is a business entity that is wholly owned by its  shareholders.  It often raises  equity capital  by selling shares of stock to investors. Equity is the main source of funds of a corporation. Equity capital is an ownership interest in the corporation and each share of stock represents a fractional interest in the issuing firm. Shareholders in a corporation make vital decisions such as electing directors, investment decisions and other major decisions. The management acts as stewards of the shareholders’ funds. It is of importance to note that equity capital is not a liability to be repaid at a future date but is usually added to the liabilities in the balance sheet. Business accounting guides.com

Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Plan - Essay Example Also, it is a sports drink which hydrates human body as well gives guaranteed additional 6 hours of energy for performing the daily activities. This marketing plan is meant to be effective only in the United States and as of now the company does not have any plans to operate in the overseas market. The study carried out a detailed analysis of the energy drink market of USA in order to get an idea of the business environment. The study revealed that the industry is fiercely competitive due to the presence of a large number of established players. However, Coca Cola being an established firm will get certain advantages in the market such as the brand identity and trust of consumers. The short term objective of the company is to create awareness of the product and achieve 2-5% of the market share by the end of the 1st year. In order to achieve it, the company has been strongly recommended to use a variety of promotional techniques and pursue a competitive pricing strategy. In addition, intensive distribution and entering into a treaty with sports companies has also been recommended. Situation Analysis Before the launch of a new product in the market, it is essential to perform a thorough analysis of the external business environment of a country. In addition, the industry in which the business will operate also needs to be assessed. Apart from that it is also essential to assess the competitors and customers. The sections below will try to examine the aforementioned factors and draw a conclusion based on which the marketing strategy for the energy drink will be designed. Description of the Product The product which will be marketed is an energy drink named as Hydra-Energy Shot. The product generally falls into the category of sports beverage product and is meant for providing additional energy to the consumers. The product can be described as smooth in taste, contains added electrolyte, Vitamin B12 (for energy), assorted fruit flavors and low in calorie. The produ ct promises to provide an additional 6 hours of energy to the consumers for performing their routine activities. Customer Analysis A business cannot operate in vacant and requires a base of customers for continuing operation and sustaining in the marketplace over a long period of time. The analysis of the customer is the recording and evaluating the data associated with the needs of consumers as well as market trends. Hydra-Energy Shot will principally target sportspersons. In addition, the product is also targeted for office goers and individuals who work out at different fitness centers. Energy drinks generally falls into the group of functional beverages and encompasses ‘nutraceutical’ and sports drinks. The share of the same is presented in the figure below: - Figure 1 – Market Share breakdown of Functional Beverages (Source: Heckman, Sherry & De Mejia, 2010) Sports drinks are essentially designed to consume before or during the process of action so as to pre vent any kind of dehydration and supply carbohydrate and electrolytes for maintaining proper metabolism in the system (Coombes & Hamilton 2000). Smith Kline Beecham Energy & Sports Drinks Report suggests that in the USA, around 53% of the people who consumes energy or sports drinks are within the age group of 14-34 years. Initially, athletes are the sole consumers of energy drinks, but the course of time and increased awareness the market grew tremendously and expanded to other niche segments. A study by Mintel (2009) made

Discuss in detail the components of the Balance of payments account Essay

Discuss in detail the components of the Balance of payments account - Essay Example The BOP is the country’s way of monitoring the international trading of its product and service offerings, and financial assets (Melvin and Norrbin, 2013, p.59; Cool and Goddard, 2006, p.92, Stovel, 1959, p.21). When a country receives money, it is automatically credited to its account, and it is debited from its account once it has paid or given money. BOP is therefore the inflows and outflows of cash. Inflows are credit and outflows are debit. The work at hand establishes the discussion of the three essential components of the BOP and the issues pertaining to its equilibrium. The current account consists of merchandise exports and imports and invisible exports and imports (OECD, 2000, p.151; Rana and Alburo, 1987, p.50). It is technically the flow of product and service offerings into a country. This also includes revenue on investments done publicly or privately. Generally, the current account consists of three essential components too. The first component is the net export. This is the biggest part of the current account, because it is around 80 to 90 percent. The next component is the net foreign income. This may be the income payment on stocks and bonds. Thus, at some point the net foreign income may be the interest payment on the bond or the dividend payment. Aside from the two components mentioned so far, the other part of current account is the foreign aid (Gaspar et al., 2013, p.93; Eicher et al., 2009, p.352; Clarida, 2007, p.38). Foreign aids are amount of money that the other economies may have directly transferred to a certain economy for the purpose of providing aid. This can also take place when a worker sends money home. Financial account is the next relevant component of BOP. It is the International transfer of capital, and attainment and clearance of assets that are non-financial and non-produced (OECD, 2005, p.45; International Monetary Fund, 2000, p.50). The financial account consists of real assets and financial assets. The real asset

Witness Tells of Escaping Kidnapping by Defendant Article

Witness Tells of Escaping Kidnapping by Defendant - Article Example The accused was on trial for the murder of a 24 year old Imette St. Guillen, who was found dumped in Brooklyn in 2006. Therefore, by kidnapping Ms. Woodward, the accused could have the same intentions. Importantly, there were no any other reasons adduced to explain the motive behind he kidnap, and the two had not met before. The accused also had hand cuffs, a gun, boots, and a jacket, all which point to a police officer, an image he used to dupe the victim. The two police handcuffs and the gun were illegally in the accused hands; here was no other explanation behind such possession of such items other than to cause malice and harm. Therefore, by the mere position of the police assortment, the accused had intent to commit a crime, which could mostly likely be explained to be a kidnap. Moreover, the cruel treatment of the victim at the hands of the defendant could be reliable evidence to portray the accused to have had no other intention other than to kill Ms. Woodward. Wallace (2013) explains that circumstantial evidence does not need to prove anything by itself, but has the power to point to the right direction, by proving something related to the question at hand. Consequently, the ill treatment of Ms. Woodward in the case points to the direction of intention to commit murder or grievous harm to the victim. The accused had handcuffed the victim, placed her at the back of the vehicle in an inhuman treatment. Moreover, when the victim inquired the intention behind the defendant’s actions after realizing he was not a police and tried to escape, the accused rained blows on her head several times, and covered her face. The victim was dizzy from the received blows. After opening the door finally, the defendant did not stop driving, but continued while the victim tumbled on the ground heavily. This could have caused death or fatal injuries. Therefore, these incidents lead to the conclusion that the defendant was indeed preparing to commit murder or grievous ha rm, similar to the case of the 24 year old Imette st. Guillen. To this extent, there was considerable ground to believe the defendant indeed murdered the victim. There are several pieces of evidence to incriminate the defendant in this case. The defendant tried to kidnap Ms. Woodward by pretending to be a policeman and even had hand cuffs that are part of police assortment. Moreover, the defendant had a gun. The gun, the kidnap, and the cruel treatment of Ms. Woodward may all be taken as credible evidence on the intention to commit murder. Ms. Woodward’s DNA was found in the defendant’s van, which proves beyond any reasonable doubt that indeed the defendant kidnaped the victim. Moreover, the victim positively identified the van that she was kidnapped with at a news report on Ms. St Guillen’s murder. This means the victim directly and positively identified the defendant as the one who had kidnapped, and had caused grievous harm to her. These form part of reliable evidence for the prosecution to relate the two cases, one which led to murder of Ms. St Guillen, and one that the Ms. Woodward luckily managed to escape from the defendant. The evidence adduced before the court was purely circumstantial evidence. Direct evidence has the capacity to prove a question alone without any collaboration with other pieces of evidence. For example, if one enters a room from outside and says it is raining outside; such direct evidence from a trustworthy individual is enough to prove a question on what is happening outside without any more evidence. However, in the case at hand, the victim does not directly incriminate the defendant for the murder of Ms. St Guillen, but the evidence from Ms. Woodward needs more collaborating evidence to prove the defendant guilty of the murder. Wallace (2013) argues that

Visual Arts Essay Example for Free

Visual Arts Essay Every human being has a significant innate characteristic of being artistic in nature originating from his or her humanistic aspect. In this concept, every single individual has the ability to express him or herself through any form of artistic manifestations and on the other hand, also has the ability to view and recognize different forms of artistic expression. This idea is mainly because the very essence of existing as a human being is fully realizing their innate human behaviors of emotional manifestations and expression. Thus, the concept of humanistic art form as a means of expressions and communication of expression is born. In the general course of humanistic art form, the aspect of visual arts commonly roused much enthusiasm and recognition. The aspect of visual art expression usually manifest in the style of appealing to the basic humanistic senses of the human society particularly the sense of sight wherein one uses a concrete way of expressing him or herself to the society. In this form of artistic expression, the visual artist contemplate and transform his or her personal abstract emotions into a concrete form to captivate the interest and emotions of the public enabling them to realize the humanistic and artistic beauty in any chosen specific events. This concept commonly expressed in different fields such as through painting, music, theater, dance and others. In each of the mentioned visual art discipline, each one of them has their own mode of expression significantly characterized by the general theme of their respective discipline. For the field of painting, visual artists use expression mediums such as the most common namely the oil painting wherein the artist use oil-based ink or dye to create an art piece. Another is through using watercolor, which is basically similar to the oil-based medium but only cheaper and more accessible. Other uses spray painting medium employing either or both of the previously mentioned mediums. In addition, another style that is common is using charcoal, which produces sketches of monochromatic color. In this discipline, different mediums of expression are used to bearing similar elements of the said discipline namely color, shade, perspective, hue, contrast, texture, and others, which are all important in emphasizing the thematic aspect of the artwork. For the discipline of music, several styles are commonly used such as the classical that is in relation to the socio-cultural aspect. Another is the ballad or romantic theme, which is more focused on the emotional aspect of the art. In addition, there is the discipline of the jazz and blues manifesting more on the emotional and smooth music for relaxation. In the modern discipline comes the rock music employing contemporary musical instruments and some traditional. In this field, the artistic impression is basically based on three general elements namely the pitch, rhythm, and quality. Pitch which is through melody and harmony, rhythm through meter and tempo, and sound quality through texture, dynamics, articulation, and timbre. For the drama or the theatrical visual art is presented in different styles or genre. One of which is the musical theatre employing musical and dance elements in the presentation. Another is pantomime, which manifest in different forms and characteristic namely puppetry, slapstick and melodrama. Another is the tragedy, which presents the sorrowful and terrible events in a social icon’s life wherein the moral value of the experience is highlighted in the one. In addition, the drama also comes in the form of the opera, which is generally presented through singing. In this discipline, different important elements are used to create a thematic artistic presentation. Some of these elements are the character, plot, theme, dialogue, convention, genre, audience, design, and the stagecraft or the props. The discipline of dance also has its own mediums of artistic expression namely the interpretative employing visual presentation with relative musical attributes. The folk dance which is related to traditional dance methods. The ballet dance, which is focused on the gracefulness of the expression to symbolize its theme. In addition, the modern dance which represents the present society and their contemporary culture. In this discipline, artists employ several elements in their artistic expression namely the tempo or speed of the dance, the gracefulness or the texture of the movements, choreography, and the uniformity for group presentation. Thus, visual art is generally expression of humanistic emotions manifested through using different forms of disciplines. In each of these disciplines, the visual artists employ a particular style of mode of expression to emphasize the main theme or the particular idea of their artistic visual presentation thus capturing better the enthusiasm and emotional interest of their general audience. In employing a particular mode of expression style, the target audience can also better understand and realize the main theme of the presented visual art through relating it to the discipline used and the particular expression style that is applied. Through applying the mentioned visual art elements, the aspect of communication between the artist and the general audience can be bridged significantly promoting the thematic expression between the two. Bibliography Levi, Albert Smith, Ralph (1991). Art Education: Disciplines of Art Education, Context of Understanding. University of Illinois, USA. ISBN-10: 0252061853.

Development of Parallel Parking System

Development of Parallel Parking System Executive Summary Introduction/Background Traditionally development of microprocessor based control systems involved the following steps. The control algorithm was designed by a systems or a control engineer. The algorithm would then be coded in programming languages like assembly, C or C++ which would be implemented on a microprocessor based hardware the controller. The problem with this method was the verification of the algorithm would be possible only once the whole system was developed. Any errors in design would prove extremely costly. Also in converting control logic specification into software there is a high probability of translation errors that would lead to erroneous results. mModel Based Design is a software methodology which addresses these issues and is gaining a lot of popularity currently in the industry. The scope of this project is to apply the Model Based Design methodology to develop a control algorithm that eases the parallel parking of a car problem for a novice driver. Aims and Objectives The aim of this project is to develop a parallel parking system using Model Based Design. The objectives are to understand the parallel parking problem and methods to solve it, steps involved in Model Based Design and explore the possibility of implementation of a parallel parking algorithm on a Lego Mindstorms Robotics Kit. Acheivements A fuzzy logic based parallel parking algorithm was successfully simulated. Model Based Design concepts were explored and implemented in the design. Programs developed in Simulink were successfully tested on the Lego Mindstorms KIT using Real Time Workshop Embedded Coder, EC Robot Toolbox, nxtOSEK and other associated tools. Conclusions/Recommendations The parallel parking strategy implemented did show good results. However, real life scenarios may be different than the one discussed. For example, the controller depends on wall following. This implies there has to be 3 sides closed in a gap for the parking controller to work. The development of the algorithm was with the intent of being able to execute it on a Lego Mindstorms Kit. However, there were some issues regarding this. The main being lack of a floating point unit on the NXT Brick. Though it is possible to execute floating point programs on the NXT, it causes severe performance issues. The controller developed used the fuzzy logic blockset which inherently uses a lot of floating point variables. One method to overcome this draw back could be developing a fixed point version of the fuzzy logic blockset. Other parking strategies involving classical control could be experimented with Lego Mindstorms. Complex tasks like path planning could be executed on a computer communicating with the NXT via Bluetooth and the control tasks could be implemented on the NXT using fixed point math. Introduction Problem Description The parallel parking manoeuvre of a car has been a topic of academic and industry interest. The car or a car-like mobile robot hence referred to as CLMR has inherently a constraint known as a nonholonomic constraint. This is problem can be summarised as follows (Pushkin Kachroo and Patricia Mellodge, 2004.). If a system has restrictions on its velocity, but those restrictions does not cause restrictions in its positioning the systems is said to be nonholonomically constrained. Viewed in another way, the systems local movement is restricted, but its global movement is not. Mathematically, this means that the velocity constraints cannot be integrated. For e.g. during a parallel parking manoeuvre, when a driver arrives next to a parking space, he cannot simply slide his car sideways into the spot. The car is not capable of sliding sideways and this is the velocity restriction. However by moving the car backward and forward and turning the wheels the car can be moved into the parking space. Ignoring the restrictions caused by the external objects the car can be located at any position with any orientation, despite the lack of sideways movement (Pushkin Kachroo and Patricia Mellodge, 2004.). The challenge in this project is to not only address the parallel parking problem but also to develop it using advanced software design techniques involving Model Based Design Literature Survey The parallel parking problem can be viewed as a subtask of robot motion planning and control. There is has been considerable research in this area. De Luca et al (1998) classifies all robot motion tasks into 3 subtasks as follows. Point-to-point motion: The robot must reach a desired goal configuration starting from a given initial configuration. Path following: The robot must reach and follow a geometric path in the Cartesian space starting from a given initial configuration (on or off the path). Trajectory tracking: The robot must reach and follow a trajectory in the Cartesian space (i.e., a geometric path with an associated timing law) starting from a given initial configuration (on or off the trajectory) A parallel parking problem can then considered as a point to point motion task or a path following task and a feedback control law if proposed for the same. (Dongbing and Huosheng 2000) have developed more advanced control strategies involving Generalized Predictive Control and Neural Networks based predictive control. Fuzzy Logic based controllers have also been used to solve the parallel parking problem. Shih-Jie and Tzuu-Hseng (2002) proposes a rule base based on the distance of the CLMR edges to the parking spot. Kuang-Yow et al (1999) proposes a fuzzy sliding mode controller to solve the parallel parking problem. Holve and Protzel (1996) suggest another fuzzy logic based controller and a parking algorithm based on human experience. It involves finding an appropriate space for parking, stopping at the right place, executing the parking procedure and to do so without colliding with any obstacles. Summary The classical control methods discussed above are generally more complex compared to other ones. Most of them rely on trajectory generation and then a control algorithm for trajectory tracking or path following. The success of the algorithm in a real time implementation also depends upon the accuracy of the positioning systems which increases the complexity and the hardware cost of this method. While the fuzzy logic based controllers are more intuitive and easier to design the performance is suboptimal compared to the classical controllers. But they are more robust to sensor uncertainties (Holve, R. Protzel, P. 1996). The goal of this project is to develop a parallel parking algorithm suitable for implementation on a Lego Mindstorms robotics kit. Being able to solve the parallel parking problem and take this design rapidly from concept to implementation is the motivation behind this project. Parallel Parking of a Car like Mobile Robot (CLMR) Introduction The following chapter discusses the kinematics model of a CLMR and investigates a feasible parking strategy using a fuzzy logic based controller. Kinematic Model of a CLMR The kinematic model of a CLMR is as shown (Shih-Jie and Tzuu-Hseng 2002).The model assumes that the car wheels are in contact with the ground at all time i.e. no slip exists. : is a mid point on the rear axle of the car : is mid point on the line joining the front wheels : is the angle between the X axis with respect to the vehicle frame : is the steering angle with respect to the vehicle frame : is the distance between the front and rear axle The non-holonomic constraint equation is given by (2.1) The equation of the rear wheel is given by (2.2) (2.3) (2.4) The relationship between the rear and the front wheels are given by And (2.5) (2.6) The above equations are useful while finding the future positions of the CLMR. The physical layout of the CLMR is a three wheeled one. A three wheel robot and a four wheeled one have the same non- holonomic constraint. A three wheeled robot is chosen here for simplicity. The sensor positions are chosen with the assumption that the parking position is always going to be to the right of the vehicle. 4 ultrasonic sensors are used. 2 sensors (s2 and s1) are placed on the right front and rear edge and the other 2 (s3 and s0) are placed at the front and rear sides of the car as shown in the Fig 2.2. The position of sensors s1 and s2 with respect toand described by the following equations. S1 (2.7) S2 (2.8) The position of the sensors is used to determine the distance of the CLMR from an obstacle during simulation. Parking Strategy The parking strategy is developed intuitively as a human driver would do. The assumption is that a parking spot is somewhere to the right side of the vehicle to be parked (Holve and Protzel,1996). The vehicle would be moving parallel to the line of cars. The algorithm is as follows. Search for an obstacle free area on the right side of the car. The distance should be greater than the minimum distance required to park the car. This could be set at twice the length of the car. Once a sufficiently large parking spot is found, the car is reversed into the gap using a wall following algorithm. This algorithm aligns the car as parallel as possible in the gap without colliding with the rear wall. The car is then driven forward to align itself in the centre of the gap. Steps 2 and 3 can be repeated until the desired position is reached Wall Following Controller (Shih-Jie and Tzuu-Hseng , 2002) The heart of the parking strategy is a wall following controller. Shih-Jie and Tzuu-Hseng (2002) proposes a fuzzy logic scheme as follows. The variables shown in the figure represents the following d1 distance between the rear end of the CLMR and the wall d2 distance between the front end of the CLMR and the wall Dist is the desired distance between the wall and the CLMR The objective of the controller is get d1 equal to d2 which is the desired distance from the wall Dist . The scheme suggested is a 2 input one output scheme which controls the steering angle of the CLMR. Since the CLMR in this project is a three wheeled one the turning is done by varying the speeds of each wheel. The input variables to this control scheme are as follows if the CLMR is moving forward . Input1 = d2 Dist (2.9) Input 2 = d2 d1 (2.10) and if the CLMR is moving backward Input1 = d1 Dist (2.11) Input 2 = d1 d2 The output of the controller is the amount by which the CLMR needs to turn in a given direction. The fuzzy membership functions for Input1, Input2 and Steer are shown below The membership functions are equally divided triangular membership functions. The Rule Base for the wall following is shown in the table below. It is based on sliding mode control (Li et al, 2000) The rules can be an represented linguistically as If (Input1 is Positive Big) and (Input2 is Negative Big) then (steer is Zero) If (Input1 is Positive Big) and (Input2 is Negative Small) then (steer is Positive Small) and so on 25. If (Input1 is Negative Big) and (Input2 is Positive Big) then (steer is Zero) The defuzzication method used here is centre of gravity which is good for fine control The final fuzzy logic entire controller can be summarized as follows Summary With the kinematic equations of the CLMR and the equations describing the sensor positions, a model can be constructed. With the parking strategies and a fuzzy logic controller now developed we shall discuss an efficient methodology in taking these designs into implementation. Model Based Design Methodology Overview The advances in microprocessor technology in the early 70s brought about a change in the way control systems were developed. From electrical relays built into ladder like networks and programmable logic controllers , controllers were being developed around a computer built with adequate hardware and software. Traditionally most of these control software development was based on paper designs and manual programming followed by verification activities such as code inspections and a unit/integration test (Guido Sandmann and Richard Thompson 2008). Many of these activities lack tool automation, and are very time consuming. Thus they are error prone and time consuming. Lack of tool chain integration provides another opportunity for errors to be injected into the software that are often detected late and at high costs to the development process and so involve manual interaction. Model Based Design is software design methodology used to address these issues. The steps involved are in MBD ,some of the commercially available tools and the tool chain choices for this project are discussed below Model Based Design Process The Model Based Design process can be divided into the following steps (NI Developer Zone, 2006). System Definition System definition involves the design process of a particular problem in consideration. It is mostly a conceptual design where in the problem and solutions are analyzed. Modelling Simulation The step implies that the analyzed design is simulated using a graphical based simulation tool. MATLAB-SIMULINK, ASCET-MD etc are some examples of modelling tools. Designs here can be easily changed verified and re designed if necessary. Rapid Prototyping If the hardware of production controller is not available during the design phase a generalized hardware controller maybe used to test some of the simulations. This is the rapid prototyping phase. Targeting Targeting refers to getting the software code executing on the production hardware. This stage involves the use of auto coders tools that generate C code directly of graphical models, cross compilers and other tool chains that facilitate this. Hardware in the loop Testing Hardware in the Loop testing is used while developing control strategies for plant models like engines. It provides real time simulation of a real world plant model. System Testing This is the last step in the design process wherein the controller is tested on the real plant. Summary Of the stages in Model Based Design discussed above, only the most relevant one will be applied to this project. Beginning with system definition, modelling simulation proceeding to targeting and finally onto system testing will be the stages followed in this project. MATLAB/SIMULINK, Stateflow, Virtual Reality Toolbox, Fuzzy Logic Blockset would be the tools used for modelling and simulation while Real Time Workshop Embedded Coder would be used during targeting. A detailed list of other tools will be dealt in the next chapter. Introduction Lego Mindstorms NXT is a robotics kit which consists of mechanical building blocks and electronic sensors. The highlight of this kit is the programmable brick called the NXT. The NXT is a 32bit ARM7 based microcontroller which allows motors and electronic sensors to be easily interfaced .Users can also run custom programs written via a GUI based programming language. The language provided by Lego, though very simple and intuitive to use does not exploit the true potential of NXT. Over the years, advanced users of the Lego Mindstorms have been successful in creating custom tools that apply every imaginable concept of embedded systems. The following chapter discuss some of these software tools and hardware details relevant to this project. The most important part of this is to be able to design , simulate and test the robot using MATLAB Simulink. Ultrasonic Sensor The Lego Ultrasonic Sensor is shown below. It is mainly used for distance measurement. It has a range of 255 cm and is accurate to about +/- 3cm One of the tasks of Model Based Design is to be able to program the NXT from Matlab Simulink environment. The tools required to automate this process are discussed below John Hansens Enhanced Firmware Firmware in embedded systems term is referred to the basic software that is initially run on a hardware device. It performs basics factions like initialization of devices , integrity checks on memory and so on similar to BIOS on a standard PC. The NXT brick , out of the box , has a standard firmware installed. This is designed to be used with the software provided. In order to write programs in C and realize the true potential of the NXT, a custom firmware has been written by John Hansen. This allows the NXT to be programmed by either using the provided software or by programming in C and using other tools which will be explained later. The NeXTTool The NeXTTool is a program that allows communication between the host PC and the NXT brick. It can do various tasks, but most importantly it is used to download custom programs onto the NXT. The nxtOSEK nxtOSEK (previously known as LEJOS OSEK) is an open source real time operating system for LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. It contains device drivers from leJOS NXJ, an open source program that allows users to write Java programs on the NXT and a real time operating system source know as a TOPPERS OSEK. C or C++ can be used to write custom programs and compiled with the nxtOSEK using the GCC tool chain (Takashi Chikamasa, 2008) The Embedded Coder Robot NXT Blockset is one of the key elements in applying Model Based Design Techniques to the Lego Mindstorms NXT. These blocks are custom Simulink blocks used in the controller side and serve as inputs and outputs to the real world. A word of caution. Custom blocks especially hardware related blocks behave different behaviour in simulation and code generation . For e.g. an ultrasonic sensor block will not directly give sensor readings. The behaviour of the ultrasonic sensor will have to be separately emulated. During code generation process, a function call to the ultrasonic device is placed where the block is used. This ensures the program using the block gets the value directly from the sensor. The details of the blocks used for this project are discussed below There are two blocks that have to be for an ultrasonic sensor blocks consist of two blocks. The Ultrasonic Sensor Interface block and the Ultrasonic Sensor Read block. Servo Motor Blocks Fig 4.5 Servo Motor Blocks The working of the Servo Motor is similar to the ultrasonic block as explained above. The details of the block are given below. Data Type int32 Dimension [1 1] Data Range 0 to 255 [cm], -1 (the sensor is not ready for measurement) Port ID S1/S2/S3/S4 Summary Tools concerning with the implementation of a Matlab Simulink design on a Lego Mindstorms NXT were explored here. However the most important of all is to simulate a working design. The next chapter discusses the implementation of the parallel parking strategy and the simulation results. Parallel Parking Simulation An integral part of Model Based Design is being able to simulate and get the desired results before implementation. The following chapter discusses the results of the controller developed in Chapter 2. For verification of the controller a Simulink model developed by Takashi Chikamasa, (2006) was used. The model was of a 3 wheeled robot with the motor dynamics included. A 3-D environment was provided using the Virtual Reality Toolbox. The environment however has been changed to suit the parallel parking problem. Parallel Parking Strategy The controller algorithm was developed in Simulink using Stateflow and the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox. A 2-D plot of the trajectory path traversed by the CLMR is shown below. Conclusion and Recommendations The parallel parking strategy implemented did show good results. However, real life scenarios may be very different. For example, the controller depends on wall following. This implies there has to be 3 sides closed in a gap for the parking controller to work. The development of the algorithm was with the intent of being able to execute it on a Lego Mindstorms Kit. However, there were some issues regarding this. The main being lack of a floating point unit on the NXT Brick. Though it is possible to execute floating point programs on the NXT, it causes severe performance issues. The controller developed used the fuzzy logic blockset which inherently uses a lot of floating point variables. One method to overcome this draw back could be developing a fixed point version of the fuzzy logic blockset. Other parking strategies involving classical control could be experimented with Lego Mindstorms. Complex tasks like path planning could be executed on a computer communicating with the NXT via Bluetooth and the control tasks could be implemented on the NXT using fixed point math. However, with Model Based Design, being able to write programs in Simulink, simulate it and be able to execute this on the Lego Mindstorms opens a whole new dimension of what can be done ; limited only by our creativity! Bibliography C., Ho, C., Lin, S. Li, T. (2005). Omni-Directional Vision-Based Parallel-Parking Control Design for Car-Like Mobile Robot. Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics, 562-567. De Luca, A., Oriolo, G., and Samson, C. 1998. Feedback control of a nonholonomic car-like robot. In Robot Motion Planning and Control, ed. J.-P. Laumond, 171-253. Berlin: Springer-Verlag Dongbing, G. and H. Huosheng (2000). Wavelet neural network based predictive control for mobile robots. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 2000 IEEE International Conference on. Galijasevic, A. M. a. Z. (2006). Model-Based Design Shortens Development Time of Motor Control Applications. Embedded Technology Journal. Guido Sandmann and Richard Thompson (2008). Development of AUTOSAR Software Components within Model-Based Design. The Math Works, Inc. Holve, R. Protzel, P. (1996). Reverse Parking of a Model Car with Fuzzy Control. Proceedings of the 4th European Congress on Intelligent Techniques and Soft Computing EUFIT96, 2171-2175 Kuang-Yow, L., C. Chian-Song, et al. (1999). Parallel parking a car-like robot using fuzzy gain scheduling. Control Applications, 1999. Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE International Conference on. Li, T.-H. S. and Shieh, M.-Y. (2000). Switching-type fuzzy sliding mode control of a cart-pole system, Mechatronics 10, 91-101. NI Developer Zone (2006). Shortening the Embedded Design Cycle with Model-Based Design, Sep 6, 2006. Available from World Wide Web: http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4074 Pushkin Kachroo and Patricia Mellodge (2004). Mobile Robotic Car Design, McGraw-Hill, Shih-Jie, C. and S. L. Tzuu-Hseng (2002). Design and Implementation of Fuzzy Parallel-Parking Control for a Car-Type Mobile Robot, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 34: 175-194. Takashi Chikamasa, (2006). Embedded Coder Robot NXT Demo. Dec 2006. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=13399 Takashi Chikamasa, (2008). What is nxtOSEK? June 2008. Available from World Wide Web: http://lejos-osek.sourceforge.net/whatislejososek.htm Yanan, Z., E. G. Collins, et al. (2003). Design of genetic fuzzy parallel parking control systems. American Control Conference, 2003. Proceedings of the 2003.

Development of the Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale

Development of the Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale (PHQ) is an eighty-two items measure, divided into five clinical components (Kroenke, Spitzer Williams, 2001). PHQ is used to assess mood, anxiety, somatoform inclination, alcoholism and disorders related to eating habits. PHQ is found to be beneficial in primary care settings because of the early screening and detection the disorder. Responses ranging from â€Å"not at all to nearly every day† and score from 0 to 3 points. Respondents asked to mark his/her feelings they gone through by the past two weeks. PHQ has three shorter versions; one with nine items derived from the original version called Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale-9 (PHQ-9), eight items and two item versions are called PHQ-8 (Kroenke, Strine, Spitzer, Williams, Berry Mokdad, 2008)and PHQ-2 respectively. Zung Depression Inventory (Zung, 1965) is a 20 items self-rating depression inventory for diagnosis depression in psychiatric settings. Where, 20 items divided into 10 negative statements and 10 positive statements, included affective, somatic and psychological symptoms of depression. The response format ranged from 1 (a little of the time) to 4 (most of the time) points scale and the diagnostic scores divide into category of four. Scores ranging between 20-80 points, where, less than50 regarded normal, less than 60 as having mild depression, less than 70 as having major depression, while 70 and above regarded as severe major depression. Besides the adolescents and adult depression measures, there was a need to have measures for assessing depression in geriatric people. There is not much work done on this issue. Depression is not a process of aging, though somewhat people affected by it in their late life. The reason could be retirement from jobs, impairment in daily routine, cognitive functioning, and decreased quality of life (Blazer, 2009). Among other measure of depression available, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is uses commonly in hospitals and by other health care professionals (Yesavage, Brink, Rose, Lum, Huang, Adey Leirer, 1983). GDS is developed by Yesavage (1982) in a dichotomous yes/no format, has two measures one is long form consisting 30-item questionnaire, while other is short form consisting 15-item questionnaire. GDS assessed the intensity of depression, participant felt in the preceding week (Greenberg, 2007). Children depression scales are significant components of assessing depression and their mental health. Children’s self-report measures of depression are relatively newer addition although fastest emerging in clinical psychology because of the importance of the issue. Weinberg Depression Scale for Children and Adolescents (WDSCA) is a 56 items, dichotomous response format measure developed for assessing depression in children and adolescent aged 5-21 years. Another commonly used questionnaire is Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale Modified for Children (CES-DC) is a derivation of adult CES-D. CES-DC is a 20 items measure with the same statements although the wordings related to children’s level of comprehension (Faulstich, Carey Ruggiero, Enyart Gresham, 1986). One more measure for addressing depressive symptoms in terms of behavior and feelings in childrens is Childrens Depression Scale (CDS)-3rd Ed. CDS is a 50 item scale developed for the childrens 7 to 18 years of age. CDS has two depression and pleasure scales with separate forms for boys and girls (Poznannski, Cook Carroll, 1979). Multi-score Depression Inventory for Children (MDI-C) is developed for childrens age ranging between 8-12years. MDI-C is 79-items original scale and 47-items short version with true/false response format. MDI-C addressed children’s mood, affect, behavior, self-esteem, social interaction, defiance, and learned helplessness. Moreover there is another children inventory developed named Child Depression Inventory (CDI). CDI is an extension of BDI, with 27 items and 10 items scale for children and adolescents. The age is ranged between 7-17 years. CDI covers broad spectrum of child’s behavior, emotional problems in home and school living for preceding 2 weeks. Likewise, Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) developed by Angold Costello (1987) assess the child’s recent feelings and affect. MFQ is a 33-items long form and 13-items short form, and score ranging between 0 (not true) to 2 (true) points. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY Use of self administered diagnostic tool for depression has been increased these days as a quick and reliable step in measuring depression for accurate treatment regimen in patients with chronic illnesses. An analytical approach employed in the development of the Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale (DCIS) i.e. the item selection and the method of assessing the individual’s level of Depression was based on a theory. In the case of present scale the theory was that of Beck’s (1967). The theory holds that cognitive distortions, dysfunctional beliefs and negative thoughts about an experience are responsible for having depression (Compass Gotlib, 2002). Mental and behavioral problems interlinked and begin because of the negatively twisted thinking processes. Furthermore, depression has four major components that are affective, cognitive, behavioral and biological. The present study carried out in two phases, where the first phase involved in development of the DCIS scale whilst second phase in validation of the newly developed scale. Phase I Development of the Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale The development of scale involved following steps: Step 1: In-depth interview with chronically ill patients from various hospitals, view-points of health professionals and people from different community settings. Participants: Three different samples were taken for this step in which 30 participants (20 females and 10 males) of health professionals, 30 people (15 females and 15 males) from different community settings and 30 chronically ill patients (13 females and 17 males) from various hospitals of Karachi were recruited as respondents. Procedure: Health care professionals: 30 (20 females and 10 males) health care professionals (e.g. doctors, psychologists nurses) were approached. Their age ranged between 25-40 years. Initially a brief verbal presentation was given them about purpose of the study. Then they were requested to provide their view points for depression that could be their observation or experience in their lives (Annexure A, English) and (Annexure B, Urdu). Following instruction was given along with two sheets of paper. â€Å"Depression isa mental state described by one’s feeling of sadness, loneliness, hopelessness, low self-esteem, and self-reproach†. They were allowed to express their views easily in any language i-e English or Urdu. People from community settings: 30 participants (15 females and 15 males) from different community settings i.e house wives, office workers, teachers and students from colleges and universities of Karachi were approached. Their age ranged from 18-45 years. Initially the reason of the study was extensively explained to them. Then they were requested to provide their view points about depression that could be their observation or experience in their lives (Annexure A, English) and (Annexure B, Urdu). Following instruction was given along with two sheets of paper. â€Å"Depression isa mental state described by one’s feeling of sadness, loneliness, hopelessness, low self-esteem, and self-reproach†. They were allowed to express their views easily in any language i-e English or Urdu. Chronically ill patients: 30 chronically ill patients (13females and 17 males) were approached from different hospitals of Karachi. Their age ranged between 28-48 years. They were extensively and clearly explained the purpose of study and the reason for interview to put them in ease. They were further explained about confidentiality. A semi-structured in-depth interview was done on each chronically ill patient individually that explored their perspective, cognitions, feelings and behaviors about their illness in general and specific situations of life. They were asked open-ended questions (Annexure C), such as â€Å"how are you feeling today?† Their responses were recorded for further analysis. Results: The information explored during semi-structured in-depth interview with patients was summarized and analyzed. The point of views provided by health professionals and people from different community settings used for content analysis. The data from patients, heath care professionals and people from different community settings was qualitatively analyzed and common and relevant content was retained and uncommon content discarded. Step 2: item writing and selection Initially pool of the items were generated through quantitative analysis by using the definitions provided by the chronically ill patients, health professionals and people from different community settings (step 1) Few items from established measures of depression such as Beck depression inventory (1967) were selected and those selected items were culturally relevant items as well. Primarily the selected items were translated in Urdu then included in the item pool (step 2). Before given the item pool to the experts for rating, the content of the items was closely scrutinized by the researcher and supervisor to find out major weaknesses. Omissions and inclusions according to their relevance in each component were made and repetitive items and ambiguous items were deleted. Then, to determine the construct validity of the final scale the panels of judges/psychologists were asked to scrutinize items of the scale keeping in focus the Beck model of Depression. Psychologists were given printed material on the theoretical model of Depression as proposed by Beck (1967), that explained briefly and precisely the three aspects of depression, along with few sample items from already developed scale of Beck depression Inventory. After giving the material on Beck’s (1967) theory they were requested to rate each item on a 1 to 5 rating scale according to its relevance in each of the three components (Annexure D). They were asked to give an item a score of 1 if it is not at all related to the component/concept in question and give a rating of 4 or 5 if the item seems to be highly related to the component/concept in question. The items that had an average rating of 4 and above were selected and the items that had rating below 4 were discarded. Psychologists were replied back with their expert perspective in an objective manner to rate the formulated items for each component of the scale. Finally selected items were reduced to 28 total items (Annexure E). Step 3: Pilot Study Sample: A pilot study carried out by using the judge’s and psychologist’s rated scale and with the purpose of to evaluate the adequacy of scale and to make needed alterations accordingly. The sample of 60 (31 males 29 females) chronically ill patients and they were conveniently selected from various hospitals of Karachi. The age ranges of participants were between 18 to 50 years. Procedure: A 28 itemed scale was administered (Annexure F) on the participants with a demographic form in which they asked to write their name, age, education and illness. Those participants selected for pilot study who can comprehend Urdu easily. Further they were required to identify vague, repetitive, and difficult to understand items. Result: Finally selected scale after pilot study reduced to 18 items (Annexure G). Item those were difficult to understand, and vague for majority of the participants were excluded. Step 4: factor analysis and item total correlation Sample: To find out factor analysis and item total correlation, final Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale (18 items) was administered on 270 (154 males, 116 females) chronically ill patients from various hospitals of Karachi. Their age ranged between 18- 50 years and they were conveniently selected. Procedure: Later than taking the written permission from hospital’s authorities, participants were explained about the details and purpose of the study along with a short demographic form, consent form (Annexure I) and final Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale. Only those participants were included who volunteer to participate thus they could self-report the questionnaire. They were then requested to choose the one option of all eighteen items on DCIS, about which they think most related to their feelings during past six months. The choice of options was from strongly agree, agree and disagree to strongly disagree. Phase II: Validation of Chronic Illnesses Scale The second phase involved in determining the newly developed scale’s psychometric properties. Item total correlation, alpha internal consistency, split half reliability and convergent validity was calculated Reliability Analysis Sample and procedure: For test re-tests reliability a sample consisted of 60 chronically ill patients (26 females, 34 males), age ranging from 18-50 years, recruited from various hospital of Karachi and for internal consistency analysis sample consisted of 270 chronically ill patients (103 males, 90 females) with the age range of 18-50 years from different hospitals of Karachi. The Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale was administered twice on participants at an interval of one week. Test re-tests reliability found out by computing Pearson r by using SPSS IBM version 22. Those participants comprehend easily the language of the scale were selected. For calculating internal consistency (item-total correlation inter-items correlation) Cronbach’s alpha was computed and for split half reliability all items were divided randomly into two equal sets, then split-half reliability estimated by the proportion between these two total scores. Validity Analysis To assess the convergent validity the two scales were administered along with DCIS on 100 chronically ill patients selected from various hospitals of Karachi, age ranging between 18 to 50 years. Only those participants were selected who were bilingual or easily comprehend English language. The two scales used for assessing convergent validity were, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD; Hamilton, 1960) Procedure: Participants were asked to complete the Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale with Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression was used by the administrator. Measures: The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) is a 20-item self-report rating scale that assesses mood, somatic complaints, interactions with others, and motor functioning. It’s a 4-point rating scale, scores ranges from 0-3 (rarely or none of the time=0, some or little of the time=1, occasionally or a moderate amount of time=2 and most or all of the time=3). The final score spans from 0 to 60, with a higher score indicating high intensity of depression. People with a final score of 16 or lower are identified as non-depressed; however, the higher are typically identified as a depressive ‘case’ (Annexure I). Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD; Hamilton, 1960) is a 17-item, multiple choice clinician/health professional’s observation rating scale, design to assess the severity of depression in terms of mood, somatic complains, work and activity, sleep and insight. It’s a type of semi structured interview. Score ranging from 0-52, where score more than 23 indicative of very high intensity of depression, 19-22 high intensity, 14-18 moderate intensity, 8-13 mild and lower than 8 indicative of no depression (Annexure J). Cut off Scores In order to find out classificatory indices of DCIS, quartile 1, quartile 3 and intra-quartile had been calculated of eighteen items of the scale i.e. mild, moderate and severe level of depression in patients with chronic illnesses. Result: After computing the eighteen items of DCIS, the classificatory indices of the scores are, 0-16.25 indicates minimal depression, 17-25 indicates mild depression, 25-33 indicates moderate depression and more than 33 points indicates severe level of depression. Operational Definitions: Depression: Depression generally a state of mood characterize by a pessimistic sense of inadequacy dejection and a despondent lack of activity. Depression causes changes in view, emotion, behavior, and physical well-being. It is a widespread, intricate and complicated disorder, (Horwath, 2004). Reliability: Reliability of a test is referring to the consistency of a test.A test is reliable when it produces consistent and steady results over time (Phelan, Wren, 2005). There are different types of reliability in which, test re-test reliability is a correlation between the scores of same group test at two different times on same test. This type of reliability uses to evaluate consistency of a test over time. Inter-rater reliability achieved by given a test to more than one judges for rating. The ratings then compare to establish the consistency of a test. Internal consistency reliability is correlation between items of the same test. Split half reliability is correlation between two halves of one test to assess the internal consistency of a test. Parallel-forms reliability is measured by comparing the correlation of scores of two different tests used for assessing same construct. These two tests administered at same time on same sample Validity: Validity is one of the basic attributes of a test. Validity is a degree to which a test is measure what claims to measure (Cronbach, 1971). A test would be considered valid when it efficiently measures the specific characteristic that it means to be measure. There are four common types of estimation validity. Predictive validity is referring to the accuracy that how well a test guesses the future performance. The usual method is use to measure the approach to predict the future behavior solely on the basis of obtained scores. Criterion related validity used to predict future or current performance on a test. Content validity is referring to the extent to which how much a test represents every single item of the same construct. Construct validity refer to the extent to which a test measure a theoretical construct or attribute. Convergent and discriminant validity are two type of construct validity in which construct validity refers to which a test positively correlate with other measu re of same construct while discriminant validity refer to a test does not correlate with other measure of different construct (Campbell Fisk, 1959a).