Blue Remembered Hills Essay Example

Blue Remembered Hills Essay In our last drama piece we performed a section of Dennis Potters Blue Remembered Hills. This play is mainly based around seven, seven-year-old children living in the second world war, these children are played by adults to show the small amount that adults are aware of in the child mind. I will be comparing thins to the script of Bugsy Malone written by Alan Parker, this play is the reverse of Blue Remembered Hills, it is set as children playing an adult role and so seeing in to the life of an adult and being involved in adults situations.I will be comparing these two scripts because I feel that they contrast well with each other because of the actors playing different ages. I will also be talking about my performance of Blue Remembered Hills My performance piece and Blue Remembered Hills In my performance piece me and four others (Sophie, Boe, Holly and Fraser) performed selected scenes from the play Blue remembered Hills.I played the part of peter in the scenes, peter thinks of himself as leader in this play until scene 11 when he gets into a fight with another character, john and loses and then john becomes the leader of the seven. Peter becomes second in charge; the children use a very obvious state of hierarchy with their activities. We chose scenes 8 to 20, we did not perform scenes 13 and 14 because these scenes contained the character Donald, and we did not have anyone in our group who could play this part because we did not have enough people.In the first scene, the two girls in the play (Angela and Audrey) played by Holly and Sophie walked across the stage talking very enthusiastically about themselves and other people, a sense of hierarchy is shown here because Audrey is very desperate to be Angelas best friend but Angela, being the more popular and pretty for the two, boasts about her many friends. I felt this part was well played and the enthusiasm bought across made the fact that they were playing young children more believable. We will write a custom essay sample on Blue Remembered Hills specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Blue Remembered Hills specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Blue Remembered Hills specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Blue Remembered Hills Essay Example Blue Remembered Hills Paper Blue Remembered Hills revolves around a summers afternoon in a remote country setting and is about seven children and the tasks they go through in a day. The play includes many forms of cruelty for example; physical bullying, animal cruelty, child abuse and emotional bullying. Blue Remembered Hills was set in 1943. The play contributes to the theme cruelty in a number of ways for example Peter shows physical bullying when he says I will! Ill spit! Right in the middle of your face I think the reason why there was so much bullying taking place is because the boys want to show theyre the alpha male. As the play was set in 1943 it relates to World War 2 you can tell this because the children play war games. I think this also adds to the cruelty because its the children have grown up around war and violence and its all they know. At one point in the play it shows how the children poison apples to try and kill the Germans, this shows they have been bought up thinking they should be trying to kill people. I think this shows that their parents may have said something about poisoning things to kill the Germans because why else would a seven year old want to poison things? We will write a custom essay sample on Blue Remembered Hills specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Blue Remembered Hills specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Blue Remembered Hills specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Another point which shows bullying and being bought up in war times is when Peter finds Donald crying. He taunts him for behaving like a baby but then relents when he remembers that Donalds father has been captured by the Japanese. They also thought the Italian army were after capturing them because the siren from the nearby Prisoner of War camp sounds. The boys and girls in the forest hear the siren and hide in a ditch, afraid that the escaped Italian prisoner will find them. This shows that all they thought about was war and fighting. They lived in poor socio economic area where they have to find their own entertainment which they have found by bullying each other. They also found entertainment by killing animals. The children remarkably kill a squirrel as they knock it from a tree they then throw a stone they viciously stamp and stamp and stamp with great ferrocity. Peter then gets angry when Raymond refuses to lend his knife so that they can cut off its tail. Raymond was clearly upset about it as he says to Peter Is- is him d-dud dead? and Peter replys Oy. Course him is. Deader than dead. I think that from what Peter said it shows hes pleased that the squirrel is dead, I also think that its slightly worrying that a seven year old child wants to cut a squirrels tail off. I also think the reason why he wants to cut the tail off is because the play is set in rural area therefore the children have lots of freedom and because of the area they lived in no-one stopped them. Potter displays cruelty in other aspects during the play, another is war cruelty. War cruelty is dealt with in a number of ways; the first is the way the children react to the Italians. As shown on the T.V and in the book as soon as they hear the sirens they automatically think the Italians are after them as nobody has told them any different. They are also constantly worried someone is after them as shown in the text and T.V a number of times for example they poison an apple and give them to the Germans so they die and cant come and get them. Physical bullying is prominent in the play Blue Remembered Hills, it is shown a number of times one of them is when Peter asks if he can have some apple Willie says You can have the core. Then Peter replies You can have my fist. I think this shows that Peter may have experience violence during some path of his life as his instant reaction was to answer with violence. In the play everyone bullies each other in the group which shows how they were bought up with bulling surrounding them for example the boy with a stutter bullies a girl with glasses. The play highlights the way children act and behave when unsupervised by adults. Emotional bullying is very prominent. The children emotionally bully to feel powerful and to get what they what, for example Audrey is crying, which she is obviously doing for effect and to get her own way and not because she is hurt by the childrens actions, the group then felt sorry for her and let her be the nurse in the game they were playing. This shows how manipulative a child can be and how even at this young age she has learnt to use her emotions to get what she wants. I think there are so many examples of emotional bullying because Dennis Potter wanted to show how even seven year old children can be very manipulative to get what they want. Dennis Potter uses adult actors in his play for a number of reasons because he wants us to judge and criticise the children in new eyes. The reasoning behind this is that he wants us to see them in a new light. That they are not always innocent and sweet, and by having adults play them this would take away the Ahh factor. This is a side of a seven year old that I have never imagined before. The playwright considered by using children the audience would perceive them as being cute. This was not the message that he wished to portray. I think the poem which concludes the film and book is used to tell the audience that if you grow up a bully you will always be a bully. I Also think that the line from the poem saying The happy highways where I went And cannot come again. is trying to say how the place where the barn burnt down, which the children shared many happy memories, will never be the same and they will never be able to visit with out thinking of the tragic things they did that day the poem goes; Into my heart, an air that kills From yon far country blows What are those blue remembered hills? What spires, what farms are those? That is the land of lost content, I see it shinning plain. The happy highways where I went And cannot come again. The essence of the conclusion is to suggest that childhood does not always bring about happy memories, in fact the opposite is often true, and the experience of childhood is often taken into the adult world. Dennis Potter was being ironic at this point, he claimed that if children were bullies at that tender point in their lives then it was plausible to believe that they would be bullies in adulthood. The part of the play which affected me the most, was to see the character of Donald when he was rocking and isolated from the others, showing the state of a disturbed mind. I would recommend this play for the viewing of all ages.

mans obsession with objects essays

mans obsession with objects essays According to Carl Marx man produces inanimate objects in order to feel fulfilled. Man produces not by necessity but chooses to produce as a means of self-expression. In Marxs theory of estranged labor he stresses the impact that the capitalist mode of production has upon the subsistence worker. The impact being that through the modern organization of labor man becomes separated through the modern organization of labor, he becomes alienated from his natural self. An individual believes that the products consumed reflect their personality. We see are selves as what we own. The industrial revolution brought about American s drive to gain more through expansion. Expansion comes through production. Before the industrial revolution, the more factor was still present. People wanted more then what they already owned. Americans believed there was opportunity to do what ever they wanted. Americans lived with the frontier mentality that there was always more to obtain. To obtain this more, people had to rely on their own talents since a persons rewards were taken to be quite strictly proportionate to his labors. (Shames pg.57) Expression of ones personality was determined by an individuals ability. This mentality does not hold true in modern industrialized society. Most people do not make everything they own. Not only do we buy impersonal crafts made by a company; people are no longer making their own products. Rather, an individual has only a small part in the creation of a product. A car for example, is made by numerous people all doing a different job for that one car. The nuts and bolts might come from one company, the furnishing from another. People are constantly feeding off one another to create a product. One man alone does not build an entire car from scratch. Therefore, nothing we make is our own. This fact has created a problem w...

Do you agree with Hedley Bulls comment the 'International society has Essay

Do you agree with Hedley Bulls comment the 'International society has always been present' in the world political system - Essay Example Especially claim that the basic component of politics is the element of mutual actions and regulations shouldn’t be underestimated. Modern world politics can be considered to have international society if we refer to statement by Bull, who underlines that if there are institutions that propagate and support states’ cooperation, such as international affairs, international organizations, and weight force regulationi. As far as we know, modern politics have such kind of institutions. Therefore it is possible to claim that statement by Bull on international society existence in modern politics works though it should be taken into account that there are a lot of debates on international society existence in world politics due to numerous global international problemsii. Nevertheless practical adaptation of this statement has met a lot of obstacles and will hardly be used in the future. Methodology of Bull can unite states in their common goals and values though international society in accordance with Bull can be determined on two main concepts: pluralism and solidarism. If to follow Bull we can conclude that all the states are united in states system united by community of interests, values, rules and institutions. The difference is as follows: a solidarist international society is striving for progress, development and propagation of international law. Further on we’ll ground our discussion on a solidarist international society. This approach of Bull is more relevant for modern politics. Developing this idea, force can be justified and legitimate if it protects and enforces international law. As far as we can see, Bull tends to generalization and unification. He supports systematization. But where is the boundary between ‘system†™ and ‘society’? Does it exist? Or do these concepts are transformed in one another and blurred to such an extent that they are justified to be considered

How does the specific geographical location of this particular country Essay

How does the specific geographical location of this particular country influence and inform its foreign policy aims and objectiv - Essay Example Curling away from the mainland China to neighboring Japan, Korea has been the area across which invading armies have coursed back and forth. At the same time, the invasions did not prevent Korea from retaining a high degree of homogeneity in ethnic sense. This â€Å"Koreanness†, as Feffer calls it, makes the division in two states painful for citizens in either part (Feffer, 2011: 22). For South Korea, its geographic location close to North Korea is the major factor that shapes its foreign policy. At the same time, surrounded by water, this country is located around 200 kilometers from two Japanese islands of Kyushu and Honshu. Closeness to Japan and China has its own impact on the foreign policy of South Korea. As for the geographical identity of South Korea, it is conditioned by South Korea’s location on one half of the Korean Peninsula, the one that is southern and has a land border with the only state - North Korea. This paper investigates how geography of South Kor ea shapes and informs its foreign policy aims and impacts its geographical identity. First, let us explore the geographical location of Republic of South Korea in detail. While South Korea hosts more than 45 million people, its size is slightly bigger than that of Indiana in the United States and is similar to the size of Hungary (about 93.000 square kilometers) and Jordan (around 97.700) (AsiaInfo, 2013: no page). Its territory is 99.391 square kilometers (Davis, 1999: 7). This accounts for 45% of the overall territory of the peninsula. The capital is Seoul. The land of the country covers the southern part of the Korean Peninsula; it is surrounded by water on its three sides. The Korean Peninsula stretches to the South from the east coast of Asia. Its second half is occupied by North Korea. The territory of South Korea encompasses nearly 3.000 islands which are located predominantly around the sea known as the Yellow Sea. Few islands lie of the East Sea. The largest and most import ant islands in South Korea are: Ullungdo (in the East Sea, serves a key fishery base), Tokdo (hosts a major fishery base, too), and Chejudo (the biggest island in size, is located off the southwest corner of the Korean Peninsula). Historically, the two countries on the Korean Peninsula used to be a single country under the name Korea. Yet, for political reasons, Korea got divided and became two countries. Specifically, with the end of World War 2, the overall territory got divided in two zones: the northern one got occupied by the military forces of the USSR; the southern part, in its turn, got occupied by the American army. The boundary between the two military zones was fixed at the 38th parallel. Back in 1953, the boundary was more or less fixed by the marked DMZ, which is 4-kilometer wide land strip running along the cease-fire lines from one coast to another (from the eastern part to the western part). That strip is around 241 kilometers east to west; it was fixed on a semi-per manent basis (AsianInfo, 2013: no page). The territory of South Korea is covered mostly with mountains and forests. Along its southern and western coasts, there stretch low and flat lands. South Korean climate is largely shaped by monsoons, which bring wet weather in summer season and dry weather in winter (Davis, 1999: 7).

Environment analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Environment analysis - Essay Example There are certain external factors that have exerted immense pressure on the company and internal factors that have propelled it to its current position. This paper will discuss both the internal and external factors that affect the HTC Company. The internal environment of an organization comprises of resources, capabilities, and the core competencies. Some of the company’s resources include valuable partnerships, especially with companies such as Microsoft. Moreover, HTC Company has exemplary, innovative design skills exhibited by the employees. This means that the HTC Company prides itself with employees who are committed to innovation. They are always willing to try out creative ideas and participate in collaborations forming teams that have served to bring new products on board. In addition, the employees have an exemplary talent and skill in hardware design and manufacturing. These aspects define some of the resources that HTC Company has. The highly innovative employees define a rare resource for HTC Company giving it a competitive advantage over other companies (Segan 57). The HTC Company has some outstanding capabilities such as research and development, manufacturing, and marketing. These capabilities have contributed to the company’s success in the past and are also likely to propel HTC to further success in the future. In addition, HTC has a strong value chain analysis with primary activities that have propelled it to success. For example, the company’s product design, manufacturing, and value chain in marketing research are some of the leading primary activities. Core competencies define HTC’s basis for competitive advantage. One of the leading core competencies is research and development (Flannery 37). The company excels in this aspect and invests 5% of its revenue to foster research in an effort to create new products. HTC;s product design also qualifies to be an additional core competency. This

Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases

Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases 1. Introduction 1.1. Present Scenario Internet is the latest and the most powerful innovation of mankind. In present era of internet we used computer technology to solve our many problems. Today in every field we use computer technology from education, business, social networking to order a dinner or health check-up. Nobody knows from when human are start using medicine for cure themselves from illness. Many years ago when uncivilized human are lives in cave, deep forest they used various tree, plants leaves as medicine. They give their knowledge to the next generation. There is no MBBS doctors are available at that time. The anytime anywhere availability of Internet has made a great impact specially in-terms of reaching customers and making themselves aware of ones products base and services. (Roche, 2010) Going back 15 or more years, when hardly anyone had access to the internet; you would have had to go out to find a doctor for solving your health problems. But now, that the internet is available to many people, so people can visit a virtual doctor clinic. In todays modern society we have MBBS doctors, thousands of medicine for thousands of diseases. If we feel sick, we go to the doctors clinic and doctor diagnosis us, then prescribed some medicine and after taking medicine will fine within few days. But if you went out from your city or you go someplace, where you get sick and you dont have any doctor nearby. What you do then? In Africa there is only 1 doctor among 5000 people. Presently, Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. There are many places where people are dying because of some common diseases. Just some common medicine can help them. Now if I asked you What if you could visit a doctor, any time of day or night, without leaving your home and that doctor could review your history, diagnose your problem and also give you prescription? Now you are thinking how is it possible? Ok you need just an internet connection and computer and Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases onlinesoftware will do it for you. 1.2. Topic of the Project The Project is titled â€Å"Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases†. It will be a generic software package for a medical clinic. The system will be able to act as a web-based solution for medical symptom checker. It will prove to be asset for both the doctor as well as their patient. 1.3. Targeted Audience Target audience or user is one of the main concerns on how and why a system is been developed, who is going to use this system. The target users of Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine have been categorized into three types. 1.4. Problem Context Internet enthusiastic people want to use internet to solve their medical problems. But there is no good local site that can provide this kind of facility. This kind of website is perfect for them who dont have time to visit a doctors clinic for minor Where doctor is unable, we used this kind of technology to help people. Presently, There are only 54 doctors per 100,000 peoples in Africa. Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. In this country this kind of system will help people if it can be implemented. . 1.5. Rationale behind the System The following has highlighted some of the most common benefits of the â€Å"Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine† Because of the existence of the identified problems, there is a need for such project. This project consists of some on-line web application which provides guides to the patient. The system will be using advanced algorithm to design a virtual medical agent. The benefits gained from this project are: User can contact with doctor easily from their home or office. Doctor can easily manage their patient. Patient can gain medical knowledge from using this system. Smart Symptom checker can help patient anytime. 1.5.1. Proposed Solution Ø Patient who have some knowledge of using internet doesnt need to visit to doctor for common diseases life fiver, Pain, stomatitis etc. Ø It also helps community and skilled health workers, supported by automated assessment and treatment protocols, can rapidly expand the delivery of health care in developing countries Ø The spread of mobile phones and web services makes new models of healthcare delivery possible at everyones hand. Ø Proven technology will allow developing countries to leapfrog the knowledge gap between doctors and patients Ø User can learn about healthcare tasks from this system. Ø Doctor doesnt need to remember all the name of medicine and their purpose. Doctor can find details of a medicine just a click of a search button. Ø Ground-breaking but proven technology allows rapid development, review, and updating of complex automated guidelines by medical professionals without it intervention. 1.6. Benefits of the System Development and Implementation of such a system will bring in a lot of benefits for the business, its employees and its customers (both current and potential). These benefits can be classified into Tangible and Intangible which are discussed in details below:- Ø The system help doctor to make faster diagnosis. Ø Using medicine search engine doctor can get any medicine information with in a second. Ø Various medical tools like BMI calculator, symptom checker etc. will help doctor as well as patient to solve their problems easily. Ø System administrator can easily manage the system using content management system. Ø The system will use roles and permission levels, to maintain confidentiality of private data of administrator, doctor and patient. Ø Patient can use chat services to chat with doctor. Ø The presence of certain services offered by the system on the mobile web will also ensure that the system can be accessed from anywhere anytime. 1.7. Challenges Involved Developing a system such as this will involve a host of challenges for the developer. The major challenges can be classified under:- 1.7.1. Domain Challenges: Ø Data Gathering and Domain Analysis: Due to the developers unfamiliarity with the work-flow and the processes followed in the online Symptom Checker it will become a challenging task to develop awareness about the medical service domain. Ø Implementation of Customizability: The biggest challenge of developing a system like this is its implementation itself. There is high percentage of risk involved in development and implementation of a system like this. The main challenge is to understand the base concepts involved in designing and developing Smart Medical Diagnosis. The developer will also need to follow a modular and object oriented approach in developing this system for enhancing reusability, abstraction, encapsulation and polymorphism. Ø Content Management System (CMS): Understanding and Implementing a CMS integrated with a system like this will require the developer to design the complex architecture of the system in prior so that his/her concepts are clear regarding the control flow of the system and no module infringes each other. This will also require him/her to study existing CMS such as Joomla and Drupal and understand their architecture and working. Ø Database Designing and Normalization: Designing a database for a generic customizable system like this is challenge in itself. The fields and data types of the table along with the tables itself are not fixed or pre-defined. The developer needs to code keeping in mind user customization may need to create these database objects dynamically and hence needs to keep a scope for their creation and modification. Apart from this, there needs to be a big centralized database, which is capable of storing large amount of data and about a large number of entities. The relation between these large numbers of entities will be needed to be figure out and a complex normalization has to be implemented in designing a database like this. Ø Implementation of 3-Tier Architecture: In order to enhance scalability, performance, reliability and robustness of this system, the developer will need to implement 3-Tier architecture for developing this system which is a challenging task keeping in mind the size and complexity of the systems database. Ø Algorithm for Customizing the site and Symptom Checker: The developer will require to showcase solid understanding for logics and algorithms in order to develop the module where the administrative users can add or edit new pages, new symptom option where he/she will be able to add its name description along with the algorithm that will be followed for generating a definite result. 1.7.2. Technical Challenges: PHP: The system will require the developer to use advanced PHP functionalities like Personalization, Forum, Blog and Emailing which will be used in various modules of this system. Develop a PHP base application is harder as compare to develop same application in ASP.NET using visual studio. Visual studio generates code for you debug for you and its also save time. But PHP is challenge as compare to asp.net. Cause PHP doesnt have any IDE and very code you need to write it down in a text editor. Finding an error is also a head ace. But for learning purpose PHP is great. Thats the reason I chose PHP as main web development language. Web Based system: Making an interactive web based system is difficult. Implement a dynamic web site is harder than making a desktop application. We need to take care of network, client server, band width to make project successful. AJAX and JavaScript / jQuery: For designing an intuitive and dynamic interface so that users have a rich experience availing features like data entry assistance, error prevention, etc. The developer needs to have in depth knowledge of AJAX as well as JavaScript or jQuery. Implementation of AJAX is not easy task for a developer who is new to web development. I just know little PHP and HTML. It will be a challenge for me to implement Ajax in this project. AJAX makes web application fell like a desktop application. CSS: Most people who are new in web development cant able to understand how to lay out a page. They just try to drug and drop div, table using Dreamweaver or any HTML design tools with underrating the advanced concept of CSS. And ended up with Advanced Database Concepts with MYSQL: For designing such a complex database that the system requires the developer needs to have a concrete understanding of database concepts like Normalization, Query Optimization, Views, and Permissions. He/she should also require familiarity with MYSQL. MOBILE OPTIMIZATING : For optimizing the web application for mobile phones and handheld devices the developer needs to have extensive skills in WML, mobile web as well as an understanding of how to integrate WML with server side scripting technologies 1.8. Goals behind developing the System 1.8.1. Project goal â€Å"When people are sick, they must make critical decisions about when and where they should receive healthcare. Unfortunately, most people lack the medical knowledge needed to make these decisions safely. Online smart diagnosis is powered by a computer program that performs symptom triage. The goal of symptom triage is to decide when, and where, you should seek care when you have symptoms. Symptom triage does not replace a physician evaluation or make a diagnosis.† 1.8.2. Academic Goal Ø To recall and analyse and implement the understanding and concepts learnt in the complete course curriculum through various modules as well as on individual level and implement all of it in order to come out with a complete computing project of industry standard Ø To document and publish the deliverables professionally following the standards followed in industry. 1.9. Objectives of the System 1.9.1. Project Objectives Ø To come up with a complete automation solution for online symptom diagnosis. Ø To keep the design, architecture, implementation flexible so as to allow customization by the system administrator. Ø Optimize information presentation and service interface according to the capability of the device requesting it. Ø To use communication channels apart from HTTP like Email, SMS and WAP for supplying quality information and services to customers and company employees. Ø To ensure that the web is bug free and that it runs equally and efficiently on all browsers and platforms 1.9.2. Academic Objectives Ø The prime objective is to learn nitty-gritties of project management and project development lifecycle, implementing it in developing the system and gaining experience in it. Ø Learn Content Management System (CMS) Ø To learn and apply the various Web Development Methodology and Human Computer Interaction Design Principles to the system design. Ø Web accessibility Ø To learn and master the advance features of PHP, MYSQL and associated technologies. Ø To learn the internal work-flow and procedures that is followed medical diagnosis. 1.10. Success Criteria To determine whether the project is a success or a failure parameters such as the quality of application developed as well as the quality of project documentation will be analysed. The quality of application will include the degree to which requirement was fulfilled, the degree of user-friendliness of the system as well as the ability to run swiftly, consistently and error-freely on multiple browsers. 1.11 Scope and Functionalities of the System Scope limits the project. It defines where in the project the developer should call it stop. It determines to what extent the system will support functionalities and beyond what the system facilitates no feature or functionalities. 1.11.1. Functionalities to be implemented The functionalities to be incorporated into the system which in turn will decide the scope of the system have been classified into 3 categories on the basis of their complexity and exclusiveness. They are:- 1.11.1.1. Core Functionalities:. Ø Symptom checker is an automatic smart software agent that can ask question to patient about their problem and it analysis the problems and diagnosis the debases of the patient Ø Chat Services Patients can text chat with doctor. Ø Forum User can create, post delete thread in forum Ø Messaging User can send message to each other Ø CMS(Content management System) Admin can create update and delete pages. Ø Medicine search engine Doctor can use medicine search engine to know about works of a particular medicine Ø Registration of Doctor And Patient . Ø Patient Can upload his/her medical history. Ø Secure and configurable user access through individual user logins and passwords. Ø Users can change their password. 1.11.1.2. Enhanced Functionalities: Ø Design the virtual doctor using artificial intelligent Ø Video chat service Ø Create user blog Ø Full Mobile based services Ø Full customizing user profiling. 1.11.1.3. Special Functionalities Ø Various tool boxes for doctor BMI Calculator, BRM calculator, Body fat calculator. Ø Voice chat and VoIP 1.11.2. Scope of the Project This projects main aim is to give perfect medical information to the user through internet. It will save time and money of both doctor and patient. The patient who dont have the time to visit the clinic of the doctor for some common issue they can use this system. This kind of system already in market like virtual doctor, WEB MD, Online health, but none of them works on mobile platform. As Smart Medical Diagnosis also works on mobile platform, anyone with wap enable mobile with GPRS, EGDE or 3G can access his web services and get information about medicine and diseases. 1.11.2.1 Scope Limitation Ø Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases is an online application. Without internet this system doesnt work Ø WAP Based mobile not able to display the webpage Ø chat required high speed internet connection Ø Symptom checker may be diagnosis wrong if patient give wrong input Ø Serious medical problems cant be solved using this system Ø Only some common diseases can be diagnosis 1.12. Feasibility Study By the means of feasibility study one can find out if an information system project can be done, and if so, how. A feasibility study should answers the following question: Ø Whether the project can be done; Ø What are alternative solutions? Ø What are the criteria for choosing among them? Ø Is there a preferred alternative? After a feasibility study, a decision is taken on the go ahead/no go of the project. There are a many types of feasibility study that are used for analysis of Information System. In this project the developer has restricted the feasibility study to Technological Feasibility Study and Schedule Feasibility. 1.12.1. Technical Feasibility Study The technical feasibility study compares the level of technology available in the software development firm and the level of technology required for the development of the product. Here the level of technology consists of the programming language, the hardware resources, Other software tools etc. (All About Information Technology) In this project the hardware and software required as the application will be deployed on a apache server, PHP 5.3 With ZEND Framework and mysql 5 Server will not be big ask at present scene. On the Client End the application just requires any current java script enable web browser. 1.12.3. Operational Feasibility Study Operational feasibility study tests the operational scope of the software to be developed. The proposed software must have high operational feasibility. The usability will be high. It is basically used to analyse whether the system will be used if it is developed and implemented. Whether there will be resistance from users that will affect the possible application benefits? Data gathering methods such as questionnaire and interviews have been incorporated in the development plan to ensure all user requirements are collected well in hand to develop the system. We also provide help manual to better understand the tystem. 1.12.3. Schedule Feasibility Study Schedule Feasibility is an assessment whether the project will be able to complete on time. Since the project deadline is fixed i.e. 32 weeks. Each project phase time-line has been established with certain milestones also including some form of deliverables like PPF, PSF and Mid-Point the project-schedule is realistic and well within reach if the established schedule is followed precisely. 1.13. Major Project Deliverables Final Year Project Documentation Page | 18 Draft Proposal PPF Ethical Form PSF log sheet Hard copy Soft copy Final Year Project Documentation Page | 18 Start date: 27th July 2010 Duration: 31 Weeks End date: 20th March 2 Planning (total 18 days) Work Breakdown Structure Schedule and Time Estimation Critical Path Method Interviews Gantt Chart Project Proposal Form Weeks -2.5 3 Analysis (total 49 days) Identify project specifications Project Background Resources required Techniques to be learnt Goals and Objectives Determine System Functionalities Identify scope of research Project Specification Form Investigation ad Research Programming Human Computer Interaction Multimedia Design Principles User requirements Drifting Analysis User Profiling Domain analysis System analysis Risk analysis Weeks -7 4 System Design (Total 49 days) Tasks: Navigational Design Story Boarding Process Diagram Abstract Interface Design Screen layout Content Design Interactivity Design Functionality Design Midpoint Interview Weeks -7 5 Implementation (Total 28 days) Code generation Module Integration Weeks -4 6 Testing and Evaluation (Total 35days) Test Plans Unit Testing Integration Testing System Testing Critical Evaluation Weeks -5 7 Project Ending (Total 35days) Submission of the finished product Presentation Weeks -5 2. Problem Description When people are sick, they must make critical decisions about when and where they should receive healthcare. Unfortunately, most people lack the medical knowledge needed to make these decisions safely. Online Smart Diagnosis is powered by a computer program that performs symptom triage. The goal of symptom triage is to decide when, and where, you should seek care when you have symptoms. Symptom triage does not replace a physician evaluation or make a diagnosis. Over the past 12 years, healthcare professionals in the U.S. government and major managed care organizations have used the program extensively, proving its effectiveness. Like FreeMD.com improves medical outcomes by helping consumers determine the most appropriate time and place to receive care from a healthcare professional. (How it Works) With so many options for care today, its becoming more important for you to know where you should get care when you develop symptoms. Choices include: Emergency Room Urgent Care Center Physician Office Physician eVisit (via the web, e-mail, or phone) Dentist Office Nurse Retail Clinic Your choice on where to get care is important because not all of these locations are equipped to treat all health problems. If you make the wrong choice, you risk delaying your diagnosis and treatment. A wrong choice could also lead you to over-pay for the same care you could have received in a less expensive setting. Online Smart Diagnosis was created to safely direct you to the right location: where you get the care you need, without paying more than you need to. Online Smart Diagnosis performs a medical interview, just like a real doctor. During the interview, you answer questions about your symptoms and past medical history. Online Smart Diagnosis is designed to be fast (average encounter time is less than 2 minutes), so you get help fast! At the end of the process, FreeMD.com generates a report that provides the following information: What might be causing your symptoms? When should you see a doctor? Where should you seek care? What kind of doctor should you see? What should you do to care for yourself? There are many palaces in the world where you cant find a single doctor. There are only 54 doctors per 100,000 peoples in Africa. Presently, Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. In many parts of the world, far too many children and adults are dying unnecessarily from easily treatable diseases. In a world where many of us take basic healthcare for granted, one in six children in Zambia will still not reach the age of five. Too often this problem is simply due to the lack of access to effective primary healthcare. Whether it is the huge distances to health centres and lack of transport, the lack of doctors in many regions, or the simple shortage of resources such as medications, very often easily treatable conditions are left until it is too late. From above information we can say, there is a desperate lack of primary healthcare available to rural communities in many parts of the world due to their geographical isolation, shortage of doctors, and lack of resources. The Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases Project is an innovative new venture that aims to use mobile clinics and internet to save lives. 3. Literature Review Development of successful project starts with a solid and deep Research. Thus, Research will be an on-going process throughout the project. Researches need in every phase let it be planning, user interface designing or anything and especially when you are in process of building comprehensible website. The research area will also consist of the development process model which will be used for the project. Getting good hands on programming languages and mastering back-ends will also be a challenge and research work. For developing this project I am going to flow Web Engineering model. I think this is the best model to make web based project. 3.1. Web Engineering and WebE Process model: As Web-based systems play increasingly important roles in a number of applications, the demands placed on these systems and their complexity have also increased significantly. Also, there is growing need for improved quality, performance and availability of Web-based systems as we are now more dependent on Web-based systems than ever before. But, most Web-based systems are poorly developed in ad hoc manner and hence they exhibit poor performance and are susceptible for major failures. Web-based system development, in most cases, lacks rigour, systematic approach to design, disciplined development process and quality control and assurance procedures. Hence, there is growing concern about the performance, quality, integrity, maintainability and scalability of complex Web based systems. Web engineering advocates a process and a systematic approach to development of high quality Web-based systems and aims to bring the potential chaos in Web-based system development under control and enha nce scalability, maintainability and quality. It is a rapidly emerging as a new discipline for successful development and deployment of large Web-based systems in a range of applications. Web Engineering is an evolving development methodology dedicated to the development of superior Internet and Web Applications. It advocates a standardized process and follows a systematic approach. (S. Murugesan, Y. Deshpande, S. Hansen and A. Ginig, 1999) Web engineering principles and approaches can fix the issues related to web development methodology gaining complete control over the process, minimizing risk and improving the quality and maintainability (Ginige Murugesan, 2000) Web Engineering Activities Successful Web-based system development and deployment is a process, not just an event as currently perceived and practiced by many developers and academics. Web engineering is a holistic approach and deals with all aspects of web-based development, starting from concerting and development to implementation, performance evaluation, and continual maintenance. (Suh, 2005) (Suh, 2005) Web Engineering Development Process: Reasons behind choosing the WebE process model Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases :going to be a web based project and as developer have chosen web engineering model, it would be easy and profitable to follow the process model suggested under the web engineering. The WebE process model is deliberately developed for the web applications and it addresses the specific needs of a web application which differs from the traditional software and is not addressed by the traditional software methodologies, too. Developers system is a web based system and would have a feature that can be looked after only by a dedicated web process model and thats why I found WebE useful. Take time to understand the business needs and product objectives, even if WebApp details are vague. Describe how users will interact with the WebApp using a scenario-based approach Develop a brief project plan. Spend time modeling what you are going to build 3.2 Academic Research Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine is a project where research is going to be very crucial. I have contact with doctor for gathering information. Some of friends who are medical student are going to help in making the database. There are already some system are on the market. From this kind of system I can learn, how I can make this kind of system. Academic Research means extracting information from others hard earned experiences like going through books, journals, paper presentations and other published materials. My project has multidirectional requirements Medical Since this project deals with Medical, patient and so I will need to go through various Medical books so that at least I should have an idea how can I make a virtual medical agent. Patient I have to understand what a patient want from a doctor. What kind of patient should able to use this kind of system? Software Engineering Techniques Web engineering , Mobile WEB technologies Network and Internet Databases there will be a huge use and requirements for databases, since everything will be stored at backend. So I will need a secure, big database Reports generation Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases 1. Introduction 1.1. Present Scenario Internet is the latest and the most powerful innovation of mankind. In present era of internet we used computer technology to solve our many problems. Today in every field we use computer technology from education, business, social networking to order a dinner or health check-up. Nobody knows from when human are start using medicine for cure themselves from illness. Many years ago when uncivilized human are lives in cave, deep forest they used various tree, plants leaves as medicine. They give their knowledge to the next generation. There is no MBBS doctors are available at that time. The anytime anywhere availability of Internet has made a great impact specially in-terms of reaching customers and making themselves aware of ones products base and services. (Roche, 2010) Going back 15 or more years, when hardly anyone had access to the internet; you would have had to go out to find a doctor for solving your health problems. But now, that the internet is available to many people, so people can visit a virtual doctor clinic. In todays modern society we have MBBS doctors, thousands of medicine for thousands of diseases. If we feel sick, we go to the doctors clinic and doctor diagnosis us, then prescribed some medicine and after taking medicine will fine within few days. But if you went out from your city or you go someplace, where you get sick and you dont have any doctor nearby. What you do then? In Africa there is only 1 doctor among 5000 people. Presently, Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. There are many places where people are dying because of some common diseases. Just some common medicine can help them. Now if I asked you What if you could visit a doctor, any time of day or night, without leaving your home and that doctor could review your history, diagnose your problem and also give you prescription? Now you are thinking how is it possible? Ok you need just an internet connection and computer and Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases onlinesoftware will do it for you. 1.2. Topic of the Project The Project is titled â€Å"Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases†. It will be a generic software package for a medical clinic. The system will be able to act as a web-based solution for medical symptom checker. It will prove to be asset for both the doctor as well as their patient. 1.3. Targeted Audience Target audience or user is one of the main concerns on how and why a system is been developed, who is going to use this system. The target users of Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine have been categorized into three types. 1.4. Problem Context Internet enthusiastic people want to use internet to solve their medical problems. But there is no good local site that can provide this kind of facility. This kind of website is perfect for them who dont have time to visit a doctors clinic for minor Where doctor is unable, we used this kind of technology to help people. Presently, There are only 54 doctors per 100,000 peoples in Africa. Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. In this country this kind of system will help people if it can be implemented. . 1.5. Rationale behind the System The following has highlighted some of the most common benefits of the â€Å"Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine† Because of the existence of the identified problems, there is a need for such project. This project consists of some on-line web application which provides guides to the patient. The system will be using advanced algorithm to design a virtual medical agent. The benefits gained from this project are: User can contact with doctor easily from their home or office. Doctor can easily manage their patient. Patient can gain medical knowledge from using this system. Smart Symptom checker can help patient anytime. 1.5.1. Proposed Solution Ø Patient who have some knowledge of using internet doesnt need to visit to doctor for common diseases life fiver, Pain, stomatitis etc. Ø It also helps community and skilled health workers, supported by automated assessment and treatment protocols, can rapidly expand the delivery of health care in developing countries Ø The spread of mobile phones and web services makes new models of healthcare delivery possible at everyones hand. Ø Proven technology will allow developing countries to leapfrog the knowledge gap between doctors and patients Ø User can learn about healthcare tasks from this system. Ø Doctor doesnt need to remember all the name of medicine and their purpose. Doctor can find details of a medicine just a click of a search button. Ø Ground-breaking but proven technology allows rapid development, review, and updating of complex automated guidelines by medical professionals without it intervention. 1.6. Benefits of the System Development and Implementation of such a system will bring in a lot of benefits for the business, its employees and its customers (both current and potential). These benefits can be classified into Tangible and Intangible which are discussed in details below:- Ø The system help doctor to make faster diagnosis. Ø Using medicine search engine doctor can get any medicine information with in a second. Ø Various medical tools like BMI calculator, symptom checker etc. will help doctor as well as patient to solve their problems easily. Ø System administrator can easily manage the system using content management system. Ø The system will use roles and permission levels, to maintain confidentiality of private data of administrator, doctor and patient. Ø Patient can use chat services to chat with doctor. Ø The presence of certain services offered by the system on the mobile web will also ensure that the system can be accessed from anywhere anytime. 1.7. Challenges Involved Developing a system such as this will involve a host of challenges for the developer. The major challenges can be classified under:- 1.7.1. Domain Challenges: Ø Data Gathering and Domain Analysis: Due to the developers unfamiliarity with the work-flow and the processes followed in the online Symptom Checker it will become a challenging task to develop awareness about the medical service domain. Ø Implementation of Customizability: The biggest challenge of developing a system like this is its implementation itself. There is high percentage of risk involved in development and implementation of a system like this. The main challenge is to understand the base concepts involved in designing and developing Smart Medical Diagnosis. The developer will also need to follow a modular and object oriented approach in developing this system for enhancing reusability, abstraction, encapsulation and polymorphism. Ø Content Management System (CMS): Understanding and Implementing a CMS integrated with a system like this will require the developer to design the complex architecture of the system in prior so that his/her concepts are clear regarding the control flow of the system and no module infringes each other. This will also require him/her to study existing CMS such as Joomla and Drupal and understand their architecture and working. Ø Database Designing and Normalization: Designing a database for a generic customizable system like this is challenge in itself. The fields and data types of the table along with the tables itself are not fixed or pre-defined. The developer needs to code keeping in mind user customization may need to create these database objects dynamically and hence needs to keep a scope for their creation and modification. Apart from this, there needs to be a big centralized database, which is capable of storing large amount of data and about a large number of entities. The relation between these large numbers of entities will be needed to be figure out and a complex normalization has to be implemented in designing a database like this. Ø Implementation of 3-Tier Architecture: In order to enhance scalability, performance, reliability and robustness of this system, the developer will need to implement 3-Tier architecture for developing this system which is a challenging task keeping in mind the size and complexity of the systems database. Ø Algorithm for Customizing the site and Symptom Checker: The developer will require to showcase solid understanding for logics and algorithms in order to develop the module where the administrative users can add or edit new pages, new symptom option where he/she will be able to add its name description along with the algorithm that will be followed for generating a definite result. 1.7.2. Technical Challenges: PHP: The system will require the developer to use advanced PHP functionalities like Personalization, Forum, Blog and Emailing which will be used in various modules of this system. Develop a PHP base application is harder as compare to develop same application in ASP.NET using visual studio. Visual studio generates code for you debug for you and its also save time. But PHP is challenge as compare to asp.net. Cause PHP doesnt have any IDE and very code you need to write it down in a text editor. Finding an error is also a head ace. But for learning purpose PHP is great. Thats the reason I chose PHP as main web development language. Web Based system: Making an interactive web based system is difficult. Implement a dynamic web site is harder than making a desktop application. We need to take care of network, client server, band width to make project successful. AJAX and JavaScript / jQuery: For designing an intuitive and dynamic interface so that users have a rich experience availing features like data entry assistance, error prevention, etc. The developer needs to have in depth knowledge of AJAX as well as JavaScript or jQuery. Implementation of AJAX is not easy task for a developer who is new to web development. I just know little PHP and HTML. It will be a challenge for me to implement Ajax in this project. AJAX makes web application fell like a desktop application. CSS: Most people who are new in web development cant able to understand how to lay out a page. They just try to drug and drop div, table using Dreamweaver or any HTML design tools with underrating the advanced concept of CSS. And ended up with Advanced Database Concepts with MYSQL: For designing such a complex database that the system requires the developer needs to have a concrete understanding of database concepts like Normalization, Query Optimization, Views, and Permissions. He/she should also require familiarity with MYSQL. MOBILE OPTIMIZATING : For optimizing the web application for mobile phones and handheld devices the developer needs to have extensive skills in WML, mobile web as well as an understanding of how to integrate WML with server side scripting technologies 1.8. Goals behind developing the System 1.8.1. Project goal â€Å"When people are sick, they must make critical decisions about when and where they should receive healthcare. Unfortunately, most people lack the medical knowledge needed to make these decisions safely. Online smart diagnosis is powered by a computer program that performs symptom triage. The goal of symptom triage is to decide when, and where, you should seek care when you have symptoms. Symptom triage does not replace a physician evaluation or make a diagnosis.† 1.8.2. Academic Goal Ø To recall and analyse and implement the understanding and concepts learnt in the complete course curriculum through various modules as well as on individual level and implement all of it in order to come out with a complete computing project of industry standard Ø To document and publish the deliverables professionally following the standards followed in industry. 1.9. Objectives of the System 1.9.1. Project Objectives Ø To come up with a complete automation solution for online symptom diagnosis. Ø To keep the design, architecture, implementation flexible so as to allow customization by the system administrator. Ø Optimize information presentation and service interface according to the capability of the device requesting it. Ø To use communication channels apart from HTTP like Email, SMS and WAP for supplying quality information and services to customers and company employees. Ø To ensure that the web is bug free and that it runs equally and efficiently on all browsers and platforms 1.9.2. Academic Objectives Ø The prime objective is to learn nitty-gritties of project management and project development lifecycle, implementing it in developing the system and gaining experience in it. Ø Learn Content Management System (CMS) Ø To learn and apply the various Web Development Methodology and Human Computer Interaction Design Principles to the system design. Ø Web accessibility Ø To learn and master the advance features of PHP, MYSQL and associated technologies. Ø To learn the internal work-flow and procedures that is followed medical diagnosis. 1.10. Success Criteria To determine whether the project is a success or a failure parameters such as the quality of application developed as well as the quality of project documentation will be analysed. The quality of application will include the degree to which requirement was fulfilled, the degree of user-friendliness of the system as well as the ability to run swiftly, consistently and error-freely on multiple browsers. 1.11 Scope and Functionalities of the System Scope limits the project. It defines where in the project the developer should call it stop. It determines to what extent the system will support functionalities and beyond what the system facilitates no feature or functionalities. 1.11.1. Functionalities to be implemented The functionalities to be incorporated into the system which in turn will decide the scope of the system have been classified into 3 categories on the basis of their complexity and exclusiveness. They are:- 1.11.1.1. Core Functionalities:. Ø Symptom checker is an automatic smart software agent that can ask question to patient about their problem and it analysis the problems and diagnosis the debases of the patient Ø Chat Services Patients can text chat with doctor. Ø Forum User can create, post delete thread in forum Ø Messaging User can send message to each other Ø CMS(Content management System) Admin can create update and delete pages. Ø Medicine search engine Doctor can use medicine search engine to know about works of a particular medicine Ø Registration of Doctor And Patient . Ø Patient Can upload his/her medical history. Ø Secure and configurable user access through individual user logins and passwords. Ø Users can change their password. 1.11.1.2. Enhanced Functionalities: Ø Design the virtual doctor using artificial intelligent Ø Video chat service Ø Create user blog Ø Full Mobile based services Ø Full customizing user profiling. 1.11.1.3. Special Functionalities Ø Various tool boxes for doctor BMI Calculator, BRM calculator, Body fat calculator. Ø Voice chat and VoIP 1.11.2. Scope of the Project This projects main aim is to give perfect medical information to the user through internet. It will save time and money of both doctor and patient. The patient who dont have the time to visit the clinic of the doctor for some common issue they can use this system. This kind of system already in market like virtual doctor, WEB MD, Online health, but none of them works on mobile platform. As Smart Medical Diagnosis also works on mobile platform, anyone with wap enable mobile with GPRS, EGDE or 3G can access his web services and get information about medicine and diseases. 1.11.2.1 Scope Limitation Ø Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases is an online application. Without internet this system doesnt work Ø WAP Based mobile not able to display the webpage Ø chat required high speed internet connection Ø Symptom checker may be diagnosis wrong if patient give wrong input Ø Serious medical problems cant be solved using this system Ø Only some common diseases can be diagnosis 1.12. Feasibility Study By the means of feasibility study one can find out if an information system project can be done, and if so, how. A feasibility study should answers the following question: Ø Whether the project can be done; Ø What are alternative solutions? Ø What are the criteria for choosing among them? Ø Is there a preferred alternative? After a feasibility study, a decision is taken on the go ahead/no go of the project. There are a many types of feasibility study that are used for analysis of Information System. In this project the developer has restricted the feasibility study to Technological Feasibility Study and Schedule Feasibility. 1.12.1. Technical Feasibility Study The technical feasibility study compares the level of technology available in the software development firm and the level of technology required for the development of the product. Here the level of technology consists of the programming language, the hardware resources, Other software tools etc. (All About Information Technology) In this project the hardware and software required as the application will be deployed on a apache server, PHP 5.3 With ZEND Framework and mysql 5 Server will not be big ask at present scene. On the Client End the application just requires any current java script enable web browser. 1.12.3. Operational Feasibility Study Operational feasibility study tests the operational scope of the software to be developed. The proposed software must have high operational feasibility. The usability will be high. It is basically used to analyse whether the system will be used if it is developed and implemented. Whether there will be resistance from users that will affect the possible application benefits? Data gathering methods such as questionnaire and interviews have been incorporated in the development plan to ensure all user requirements are collected well in hand to develop the system. We also provide help manual to better understand the tystem. 1.12.3. Schedule Feasibility Study Schedule Feasibility is an assessment whether the project will be able to complete on time. Since the project deadline is fixed i.e. 32 weeks. Each project phase time-line has been established with certain milestones also including some form of deliverables like PPF, PSF and Mid-Point the project-schedule is realistic and well within reach if the established schedule is followed precisely. 1.13. Major Project Deliverables Final Year Project Documentation Page | 18 Draft Proposal PPF Ethical Form PSF log sheet Hard copy Soft copy Final Year Project Documentation Page | 18 Start date: 27th July 2010 Duration: 31 Weeks End date: 20th March 2 Planning (total 18 days) Work Breakdown Structure Schedule and Time Estimation Critical Path Method Interviews Gantt Chart Project Proposal Form Weeks -2.5 3 Analysis (total 49 days) Identify project specifications Project Background Resources required Techniques to be learnt Goals and Objectives Determine System Functionalities Identify scope of research Project Specification Form Investigation ad Research Programming Human Computer Interaction Multimedia Design Principles User requirements Drifting Analysis User Profiling Domain analysis System analysis Risk analysis Weeks -7 4 System Design (Total 49 days) Tasks: Navigational Design Story Boarding Process Diagram Abstract Interface Design Screen layout Content Design Interactivity Design Functionality Design Midpoint Interview Weeks -7 5 Implementation (Total 28 days) Code generation Module Integration Weeks -4 6 Testing and Evaluation (Total 35days) Test Plans Unit Testing Integration Testing System Testing Critical Evaluation Weeks -5 7 Project Ending (Total 35days) Submission of the finished product Presentation Weeks -5 2. Problem Description When people are sick, they must make critical decisions about when and where they should receive healthcare. Unfortunately, most people lack the medical knowledge needed to make these decisions safely. Online Smart Diagnosis is powered by a computer program that performs symptom triage. The goal of symptom triage is to decide when, and where, you should seek care when you have symptoms. Symptom triage does not replace a physician evaluation or make a diagnosis. Over the past 12 years, healthcare professionals in the U.S. government and major managed care organizations have used the program extensively, proving its effectiveness. Like FreeMD.com improves medical outcomes by helping consumers determine the most appropriate time and place to receive care from a healthcare professional. (How it Works) With so many options for care today, its becoming more important for you to know where you should get care when you develop symptoms. Choices include: Emergency Room Urgent Care Center Physician Office Physician eVisit (via the web, e-mail, or phone) Dentist Office Nurse Retail Clinic Your choice on where to get care is important because not all of these locations are equipped to treat all health problems. If you make the wrong choice, you risk delaying your diagnosis and treatment. A wrong choice could also lead you to over-pay for the same care you could have received in a less expensive setting. Online Smart Diagnosis was created to safely direct you to the right location: where you get the care you need, without paying more than you need to. Online Smart Diagnosis performs a medical interview, just like a real doctor. During the interview, you answer questions about your symptoms and past medical history. Online Smart Diagnosis is designed to be fast (average encounter time is less than 2 minutes), so you get help fast! At the end of the process, FreeMD.com generates a report that provides the following information: What might be causing your symptoms? When should you see a doctor? Where should you seek care? What kind of doctor should you see? What should you do to care for yourself? There are many palaces in the world where you cant find a single doctor. There are only 54 doctors per 100,000 peoples in Africa. Presently, Kenya has slightly more than 5,000 doctors. In many parts of the world, far too many children and adults are dying unnecessarily from easily treatable diseases. In a world where many of us take basic healthcare for granted, one in six children in Zambia will still not reach the age of five. Too often this problem is simply due to the lack of access to effective primary healthcare. Whether it is the huge distances to health centres and lack of transport, the lack of doctors in many regions, or the simple shortage of resources such as medications, very often easily treatable conditions are left until it is too late. From above information we can say, there is a desperate lack of primary healthcare available to rural communities in many parts of the world due to their geographical isolation, shortage of doctors, and lack of resources. The Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases Project is an innovative new venture that aims to use mobile clinics and internet to save lives. 3. Literature Review Development of successful project starts with a solid and deep Research. Thus, Research will be an on-going process throughout the project. Researches need in every phase let it be planning, user interface designing or anything and especially when you are in process of building comprehensible website. The research area will also consist of the development process model which will be used for the project. Getting good hands on programming languages and mastering back-ends will also be a challenge and research work. For developing this project I am going to flow Web Engineering model. I think this is the best model to make web based project. 3.1. Web Engineering and WebE Process model: As Web-based systems play increasingly important roles in a number of applications, the demands placed on these systems and their complexity have also increased significantly. Also, there is growing need for improved quality, performance and availability of Web-based systems as we are now more dependent on Web-based systems than ever before. But, most Web-based systems are poorly developed in ad hoc manner and hence they exhibit poor performance and are susceptible for major failures. Web-based system development, in most cases, lacks rigour, systematic approach to design, disciplined development process and quality control and assurance procedures. Hence, there is growing concern about the performance, quality, integrity, maintainability and scalability of complex Web based systems. Web engineering advocates a process and a systematic approach to development of high quality Web-based systems and aims to bring the potential chaos in Web-based system development under control and enha nce scalability, maintainability and quality. It is a rapidly emerging as a new discipline for successful development and deployment of large Web-based systems in a range of applications. Web Engineering is an evolving development methodology dedicated to the development of superior Internet and Web Applications. It advocates a standardized process and follows a systematic approach. (S. Murugesan, Y. Deshpande, S. Hansen and A. Ginig, 1999) Web engineering principles and approaches can fix the issues related to web development methodology gaining complete control over the process, minimizing risk and improving the quality and maintainability (Ginige Murugesan, 2000) Web Engineering Activities Successful Web-based system development and deployment is a process, not just an event as currently perceived and practiced by many developers and academics. Web engineering is a holistic approach and deals with all aspects of web-based development, starting from concerting and development to implementation, performance evaluation, and continual maintenance. (Suh, 2005) (Suh, 2005) Web Engineering Development Process: Reasons behind choosing the WebE process model Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases :going to be a web based project and as developer have chosen web engineering model, it would be easy and profitable to follow the process model suggested under the web engineering. The WebE process model is deliberately developed for the web applications and it addresses the specific needs of a web application which differs from the traditional software and is not addressed by the traditional software methodologies, too. Developers system is a web based system and would have a feature that can be looked after only by a dedicated web process model and thats why I found WebE useful. Take time to understand the business needs and product objectives, even if WebApp details are vague. Describe how users will interact with the WebApp using a scenario-based approach Develop a brief project plan. Spend time modeling what you are going to build 3.2 Academic Research Smart Medical Diagnosis for Common Diseases with Medicine Search Engine is a project where research is going to be very crucial. I have contact with doctor for gathering information. Some of friends who are medical student are going to help in making the database. There are already some system are on the market. From this kind of system I can learn, how I can make this kind of system. Academic Research means extracting information from others hard earned experiences like going through books, journals, paper presentations and other published materials. My project has multidirectional requirements Medical Since this project deals with Medical, patient and so I will need to go through various Medical books so that at least I should have an idea how can I make a virtual medical agent. Patient I have to understand what a patient want from a doctor. What kind of patient should able to use this kind of system? Software Engineering Techniques Web engineering , Mobile WEB technologies Network and Internet Databases there will be a huge use and requirements for databases, since everything will be stored at backend. So I will need a secure, big database Reports generation

Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition

Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition There are three main reasons why we have or need our Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. First, the 1st Amendment gives us our independence. Second, it also gives us the right to express ourselves. Last but not least, it allows people to express themselves without constraint by the government. The 1st Amendment is a very essential freedom that everyone should be entitled to. Our independence is the most important essential need of humans. It lets us be and act how we are and want to be. The reason why the Europeans immigrated to America was to find their freedom of religion. After the colonists worked their hardest to find what they were looking for they finally achieved it. I think today some people over estimate what they did for us. We have our independence for the suffering of many men. We eventually gained our freedom of religion, which allows us to express our Independence. When we got our freedom of religion we also got the freedom of speech, press, assembly, and petition. All of those just come together, not separate. I say again, our independence is the most important thing we need because it lets us be and act how we are and want to be. Another really important aspect in life is being about to express ourselves. Every human needs to express themselves. If we didn't have that freedom we would be all walking zombies controlled by the government! We can choose which party we want to be with republic or democratic. We can write anything we please. (That would be a big bummer for authors if we didn't have this right.) Hamilton: "What ... ...tution. It allows us simple and yet vital rights. They allow us to have freedom of religion, speech, the press, the freedom to assemble, and to petition the government. Not to mention it gives us our independence. It says in the book American History: "The First Amendment is probably the best known and most cherished part of the Bill of Rights. It protects five basic freedoms that are essential to the American way of life: freedom of religion, speech, the press, assembly, and to petition the government." It is very important to have the 1st amendment because it lets us first; have our independence, second, the right to express ourselves, and last the government lets people express themselves without constraint. I just hope that you remember that the 1st Amendment is what we should be very grateful for in our lives.

Factors Contributing to Disproportionate Minority Representation in Special Education

The disproportionate representation of minority students in special education has been a constant and consistent concern for nearly four decades (Klingner et al. , 2005). Currently, there are disproportionate numbers of minority students who are referred, assessed, identified, classified, and placed in programs for students with disabilities. The issue of disproportionate representation for minority students has been and continues to be an incessant dilemma that has detrimental effects on the educational opportunities and outcomes for this specific group of students.Concerns about disproportionate representation are focused on the â€Å"judgmental† categories of special education (learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, and mental retardation), those disabilities usually identified after the child starts school and by school personnel rather than a medical professional. Children identified with these disabilities usually do not exhibit any obvious discernible features, y et they are still considered to have internal deficits that affect their learning and/ or behavior (Klingner, et al. , 2005).One of the earlier discussions on disproportionality (Heller, Holtzman, & Messick, 1982) noted that it cannot be assumed that ethnic disproportionality in special education is a problem, since it could be that certain groups of students require special education services in greater amounts than those from other ethnic categories. The panel declared that â€Å"the adequacy and appropriateness† of all phases of the special education process as well as the outcome had to be determined before recognizing disproportionality as a problem.The existence of bias or inappropriate practice at any phase of the process was the feature that would determine that disproportionality was indeed problematic. In its 26th Annual Report to Congress, the U. S. Department of Education (2005) presented the percentage of students ages 6 through 21 who were served under IDEA by d isability and race/ethnicity. Specific learning disability was the largest disability category for all racial/ethnic groups.Hispanic/Latino children represented the largest racial/ethnic group (58. 3%) diagnosed with a specific learning disability. American Indian/Alaskan Native students were the next highest group (55. 3%) identified with a specific learning disability. The highest percentage of minority students served under IDEA for mental retardation was African American/Black (16. 8%). Mental retardation can be defined as sub-average intellectual functioning that concurrently exists with deficits in adaptive behavior.Similarly, African American/Black students also represented the highest percentage of children served under the category of emotionally disturbed students (11. 3%) (U. S. Department of Education, 2005). It is critical to note that the existence of this problem has been repeatedly documented by the U. S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), in th at it has confirmed the overrepresentation of minority students in special education programs with data for the past thirty years.In addition, the issue of determining whether students of different racial or ethnic groups are disproportionately identified for special education has been a longstanding public and professional concern; however, the causes of disproportionality and factors contributing to this problem are not clearly understood (Donovan & Cross, 2002). Thus, this paper aims to examine factors contributing to disproportionality of minority in special education. Firstly, the paper examines historical background of disproportionality problem. Finally, some conclusive remarks are presented.History of the Disproportionality Problem The problem of overrepresentation of minority students in special education is not a new phenomenon and has been a serious concern for the last 40 years. Dunn (1968) cited statistics from the U. S. Office of Education and concluded â€Å"about 60 % to 80% of students in mild mental retardation classes were from low status backgrounds, including African Americans, American Indians, Mexicans, and Puerto Rican Americans; those from nonstandard English speaking, disorganized and inadequate homes; and children from nonmiddle class environments† (p.6). Mercer (1973) documented disproportionate representation of minority students in special education classes in Riverside, California. She concluded that the percentage of African Americans placed in special classes for students diagnosed with mental retardation was three times their percentage in the population. In a similar manner, the percentage of Mexican American students placed in classes for mentally retarded children was four times their percentage in the population (Mercer, 1973). The overrepresentation problem has also been documented over time through court cases.Two notable cases, Diana v. State Board of Education (1970) and Larry P. v. Riles (1971) dealt with issues related to assessment bias, disproportionate placement, and the long-term consequences of special education placement (Donovan & Cross, 2002). Larry P. v. Riles (1979) was a class action suit on behalf of African American/Black students in the San Francisco Public School System who were placed in mildly mentally retarded education programs. At that time African American/Black students represented 28.5% of the district's student enrollment, but 67% of the students in mildly mentally retarded programs were African American/Black. The plaintiffs argued that intelligence tests were culturally biased. The court ruled that intelligence tests were culturally biased against African American/Black students and that reliance on biased instruments was related to the overrepresentation problem. Overrepresentation of certain ethnic minority groups, such as African Americans/Blacks or Hispanics/Latinos, in certain special education environments is a serious problem for a number of reasons.Heller , Holtzman, and Messick (1982) stated that disproportionality is a problem if children are invalidly placed in programs for mentally retarded children, if they are unduly exposed to the likelihood of such placement by virtue of having received poor regular education, or if the quality and academic relevance of the special instruction blocks students' educational progress, including decreasing the likelihood of their return to the regular education classroom. In their review of the literature, Hosp and Reschly (2003) discussed three main reasons why disproportionate representation in special education is problematic.Such reasons include negative effects of labeling, segregation of placement, and presumed ineffectiveness of special education (Hosp & Reschly, 2003). For example, labeling a child handicapped has been found to reduce teachers' expectancy for the child to succeed (Dunn, 1968). Furthermore, removing a child from regular education to special education may contribute signifi cantly to feelings of inferiority and problems with acceptance by peers (Dunn, 1968). Factors Contributing to Disproportionate RepresentationSeveral variables related to the disproportionate representation of some students in special education have been documented in the literature. Specifically, research has examined possible reasons that might explain the overrepresentation of minorities in special education including bias in the referral process, bias in assessment tools, English Language Proficiency of a child, poverty, gender, race, and poor academic achievement (Hosp & Reschly, 2004). Referral process One factor that may contribute to disproportionality involves the referral process for special education.Referral for assessment has been cited as an important predictor of subsequent special education placement (Ysseldyke, Vanderwood, & Shriner, 1997). Ysseldyke et al. (1997) found that 90% to 92% of referred students are tested and 70% to 74% of tested students were then declar ed eligible for special education placement. Thus, if a child is referred to a multidisciplinary team for special education eligibility consideration, there is a high probability that the student will be identified with a disability and be placed in a special education program.One possible explanation for overidentification of students for special education may be due to the information processing strategies of multidisciplinary team decision makers, which can cause the presence of a confirmatory bias (O'Reilly et al. , 1989). Confirmatory bias can occur when the multidisciplinary team decision makers have a tendency to gather information that confirms a hypothesis that is being tested and ignores contradictory information. This can result in special education decisions that are not based on objective evidence and lead to inappropriate placements.Thus, if teachers are biased in their referral decisions, psychologists may confirm already flawed judgments (Podwell & Soodak, 1993). In terms of demographics, research has shown that teachers over refer African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaskan Native males to programs for students with learning disabilities, emotional/behavioral problems, speech and language disorders, and mild cognitive disorders in comparison to female and White middle class students (Grossman, 1995).The majority of teachers nationwide are White; therefore cultural misunderstanding of expectations may affect referral rates of non-White students (Hosp & Reschly, 2003). For example, differences between students and teachers in learning style, verbal style, social style, and cultural information has been suggested to account for some proportion of minority students poor school performance which may lead to referral and subsequent placement in special education (Harry, 1994). Assessment procedures Overrepresentation could also be a result of bias in the assessment procedures used to identify students for special education.Assessm ent procedures that are not suited to the diverse characteristics of the students evaluated may result in misleading and biased information about their academic abilities (Grossman, 1995). For example, unfamiliarity with the assessment process may invalidate results. Grossman (1995) cited research that African American/Black and Hispanic/Latino children may be more anxious during assessments to the point that the anxiety interferes with performance because they are not familiar with the assessment process.Today, more minority children continue to be placed into special education on the basis of intelligence tests, even though it has been suggested that intelligence instruments as a basis for placement are imperfect and unfair (Agbenyega & Jiggetts, 1999). The validity and reliability of intelligence tests has been discussed when such measures are used with minority students (Reschly & Grimes, 2002). Intelligence tests are valid only if they measure a student's ability to learn and t o predict how the student will function in specific learning situations (Grossman, 1995).Furthermore, since the reliability of many assessments is established by studying their use with White students, they may be unreliable when used with non-White students (Grossman, 1995). It has been asserted that intelligence tests reflect the cultural knowledge base and cognitive and linguistic orientations of their creators (Harry, Klinger, Sturges, & Moore, 2002). Intelligence tests have been criticized as being culturally, socially, and racially biased because they reflect White, middle class values and experiences and therefore, are not applicable to minority children (Agbenyega & Jiggetts, 1999).It has been suggested that traditional measures of intelligence are not biased if certain standards are met. For example, standards should require a rigorous implementation of procedural safeguards in the referral, classification, and placement process; implementation of multifactored assessments designed to identify specific educational needs by a group of professionals; and programming and placement decisions made by a team that included professionals and parents (Reschly & Grimes, 2002).Nevertheless, there are concerns about using intelligence measures like the Wechsler scales in making identification decisions. Such concerns include that different environments provide different preparation for the test, the narrow item content of the test, and negative outcomes associated with the use of intelligence tests (Reschly & Grimes, 2002). Therefore, the use of more culturally fair measures of cognitive processing, such as the CAS, may be an important step in addressing the disproportionality problem in special education.English Language Proficiency Since most standardized tests are administered in English and normed on proficient English speakers, a linguistic bias may also invalidate the results of an evaluation if the assessment is conducted in a language that the student is not proficient in. For example, English Language Learners have been found to perform lower than proficient English speakers on standardized assessments in reading, science, and mathematics (Abedi, 2002).However, the performance gap between English Language Learners and proficient English speakers was greatest in content areas that required a higher language demand (i. e. , reading) and less or almost non-existent in content areas that required less language demand (i. e. , mathematic computation). The linguistic complexity of the actual test items, unrelated to the content being assessed, may be a reason for poorer performance for English Language Learners on standardized tests.Thus, these tests may function more as an English proficiency test than a test of ability or achievement (Abedi, 2002). This problem can impact special education identification and placement because there are very few school psychologists who are bilingual and are able to provide linguistically appropriate as sessment services in the school (Grossman, 1995). The consideration of English Language Proficiency is important since it is estimated that more than 3. 5 million children in U. S. schools have Limited English Proficiency (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). However, there has been limited research on the representation of English Language Learners in special education programs since state departments of education often do not gather data about language proficiency of students in special education. Artiles et al. (2005) assessed the magnitude of disproportionate representation of English Language Learners in 11 urban California school districts. Placement patterns at the elementary level indicated an absence of overrepresentation in special education.However, overrepresentation of English Language Learners was detected at the end of elementary school (4th grade) and continued through the high school years. Children who demonstrated limited proficiency in their native language as well as in E nglish had the highest rate of identification in high incidence special education categories (i. e. , learning disability). Impact of gender Other variables have also been examined to evaluate their influence on the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education.For example, recent research has looked at gender as a predictor of special education placement (Coutinho & Oswald, 2005; Coutinho et al. , 2002). In general, gender disproportionality has been found to exist in special education with male students more likely to be overrepresented in special education. Boys are about twice as likely as girls to be identified with a learning disability and almost three and half times more likely to be identified with a serious emotional disturbance (Coutinho & Oswald, 2005). Coutinho et al.(2002) investigated the extent of disproportionality among students with a learning disability and described the relationship between ethnicity, gender, and socio-demographic var iables (i. e. , poverty indicators, Limited English Proficiency status, parent education, etc. ). The findings showed an association between ethnicity, gender and the odds of being identified as a student with a learning disability. White, African American/Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Hispanic/Latino males were all at least twice as likely as White females to receive special education.African American/Black and Hispanic/Latino females were essentially as likely as White females to receive special education. American Indian/Alaskan Native females were more likely than White females to receive special education. Asian males and females were both less likely than White females to receive special education services (Coutinho et al. , 2002). In addition to student characteristics, results indicated that socio-demographic characteristics were important in determining the likelihood of being identified as learning disabled.However, the impact of the socio-demographic characte ristics was found to be different for each gender-ethnicity group. For example, increased poverty was associated with increased identification of a learning disability for African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and male Asian students. For White and American Indian/Alaskan Native students, increased poverty was associated with lower identification rates (Coutinho et al. , 2002). Economic, demographic, and achievement factors Oswald et al.(1999) examined the influence of economic and demographic variables on the identification of minority students for special education. The study examined the extent U. S. school districts displayed patterns of disproportionate presentation in the identification of minority students as mildly mentally retarded (MMR) and serious emotional disturbance (SED). It also analyzed the extent disproportionate representation at the district level is predicted by other district characteristics including school characteristics and demographic and economic facto rs (Oswald et al. , 1999).Oswald et al. (1999) used predictor variables that included median housing value, median income, percentage of children below the poverty level, percentage of adults in the community with a 12th grade education or less, percentage of children enrolled in school who are considered â€Å"at risk† (i. e. , from a single parent home, below the poverty level, and where the mother does not have a high school diploma or GED); and percentage of children who were Limited English Proficient. Race of the student was classified as African American/Black or non-African American/non-Black.Results indicated that African American/Black students were 2. 4 times more likely to be identified as MMR and approximately 1. 5 times more likely to be identified as SED than non-African American/Black students. Additionally, environmental and demographic variables were found to be significant predictors of identification of students as MMR or SED. For example, as poverty and d rop-out levels increased, more African Americans/Blacks were identified as MMR, but less were classified as SED.Furthermore, there was a disproportionate number of African American/Black students classified as SED in wealthier communities. It was suggested that these results may indicate that wealthier communities are more tolerant of cognitive impairments and less tolerant of emotionally challenging behaviors of African Americans/Blacks (Oswald et al. , 1999). Poor academic achievement is often a reason for referral and eventual placement in special education.Hosp and Reschly (2004) hypothesized that differences in academic achievement between racial and ethnic groups may lead to differences in referral and subsequent placement rates for special education. These researchers expanded on findings of Oswald et al. (1999) and included achievement variables with demographic and economic predictor variables of White, African American, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/A laskan Native ethnic/racial groups in an effort to better understand disproportionate representation of minorities in special education.In their study, demographic predictors included the base rates of various ethnic backgrounds (base rate of White students, base rate of African American/Black students, base rate of Hispanic/Latino students, base rate of Asian/Pacific Islander students, base rate of American Indian/Alaskan Native students) in the district, percentage of students in the community who were Limited English Proficient, and base rate of students in the district identified who had a disability.Economic predictors included median house value of the community, median household income, percentage of adults in community who have a 12th grade education or less, and percentage of children who are considered at risk. Academic predictors included percentage of each ethnic group who achieved mastery in criterion reading and criterion math. Results indicated that economic, demograp hic and academic blocks of variables contributed to the prediction of disproportionate representation.Specifically, Hosp and Reschly (2004) found that the block of economic variables was the strongest predictor for mental retardation diagnosis, the demographic block of variables was the strongest predictor for emotional disturbance, and the academic block of variables was a strong predictor for a learning disability diagnosis. For African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaskan Native students, the demographic variables were the strongest predictors for emotional disturbance and learning disability.It is not possible to comment on the influence of each individual variable in its ability to predict special education eligibility since related variables were grouped together as broader blocks of variables. An ecological framework How bias in the referral process, bias in assessment techniques, English Language Proficiency, gender, socioeconomic status, and demograp hics contribute to the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education may be better understood by considering an ecological developmental framework.According to Bronfenbrenner (1992), understanding human development requires a consideration of the interaction of diverse characteristics of a child and of the environment in which the child is embedded. Bronfenbrenner (1992) suggests a hierarchy of ecological contexts that effect human development that move from the most proximal to the most remote. The first of these contexts is the microsystem, which has the most power to influence the course of development for the child (Bronfenbrenner & Crouter, 1983).Bronfenbrenner (1992) defined a microsystem as â€Å"a pattern of activities, roles, and interpersonal relations experienced by the developing person in a given setting with particular physical and material features, and containing other persons with distinctive characteristics of temperament, personality, and systems of belief' (p. 227). Such settings include the home, school, or peer group. The microsystem considers the immediate environment a child develops in, as well as the characteristics of all other people (i. e. , parents, teachers, siblings, etc. ) also in that environment.The characteristics of other people in the child's environment might include demographic features (age, race/ethnicity, and sex), cognitive abilities and skills, or temperaments/personalities. For example, a child whose parents only speak a language other than English may have difficulty acquiring English, which may put them at risk for lower achievement scores and a higher probability of being referred for special education services. Children interact with their teachers daily. Personalities and belief systems of the teacher may impact how he/she views the child and therefore, influences how the teacher interacts with the child.A teacher who lacks cultural awareness may inappropriately refer a child to th e multidisciplinary team. Thus, the microsystem may be the most important ecological level to consider when analyzing factors that relate to the overrepresentation of specific racial/ethnic groups because it considers not only the characteristics of the environment a child develops in, but the characteristics of those who interact with that child. The most distal ecological system is the macrosystem. The macrosystem is the largest ecological level and is typically defined by region, societies, cultural values, and governmental and economic institutions.The macrosystem involves the belief systems prevailing in the world. At this level, the individual has little control over the factors related to disproportionality, but it is important to understand the intent of the laws governing special education programs and the national goal to decrease the overrepresentation of minority groups in special education. Conclusion Disproportionate representation is a complex phenomenon without a def inite etiology or solution. As a result of this complexity, consensus has yet to be reached regarding the actual causes of this persistent dilemma.What is clear is that a variety of educational, sociocultural, socioeconomic, and teacher and school-related factors appear to contribute to the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education programs. Current literature on overrepresentation of certain students in special education focuses more on the general patterns of disproportionality rather than examining if there are specific variables related to special education representation (Donovan & Cross, 2002). Thus, the causes of the disproportionate representation of minorities in special education are not clearly understood.Therefore, it is important to consider structural and community level variables to provide a framework for analyzing the problem. Indirectly these variables affect the prescribed evaluation procedures, parental involvement in the special e ducation process, and the availability of alternative programs (Turnbull & Turabull, 2001). Bronfenbrenner's (1992) expanded ecological paradigm provides a conceptual framework for examining and understanding the factors that influence disproportionate representation of minorities in special education.An ecological approach considers the context within which individuals function and that influence individuals. In using Bronfenbrenner's framework, the larger issue of disproportionality should consider the combined influences of various contexts a child is a member, including the locality (type of neighborhood and resources), the organization (school factors such as performance, racial/ethnicity composition, teacher:student ratios, or discipline), the microsystem (family characteristics such as size, socioeconomic status, and education level), and the individual (unique characteristics of the child)