Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems by C. E. Shanon - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 2962 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/09/15 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? https://www. socialresearchmethods. net/kb/sampaper. php Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems? By C. E. SHANNON 1 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY The problems of cryptography and secrecy systems furnish an interesting application of communication theory1. In this paper a theory of secrecy systems is developed. The approach is on a theoretical level and is intended to complement the treatment found in standard works on cryptography2. There, a detailed study is made of the many standard types of codes and ciphers, and of the ways of breaking them. We will be more concerned with the general mathematical structure and properties of secrecy systems. The treatment is limited in certain ways. First, there are three general types of secrecy system: (1) concealment systems, including such methods as invisible ink, concealing a message in an innocent text, or in a fake covering cryptogram, or other methods in which the existence of the message is concealed from the enemy; (2) privacy systems, for example speech inversion, in which special equipment is required to recover the message; (3) â€Å"true† secrecy systems where the meaning of the message is concealed by cipher, code, etc. although its existence is not hidden, and the enemy is assumed to have any special equipment necessary to intercept and record the transmitted signal. We consider only the third type—concealment system are primarily a psychological problem and privacy systems a technological one. Secondly, the treatment is limited to the case of discrete infor mation where the message to be enciphered consists of a sequence of discrete symbols, each chosen from a finite set. These symbols may be letters in a language, words of a language, amplitude levels of a â€Å"quantized† speech or video signal, etc. but the main emphasis and thinking has been concerned with the case of letters. The paper is divided into three parts. The main results will now be briefly summarized. The first part deals with the basic mathematical structure of secrecy systems. As in communication theory a language is considered to be represented by a stochastic process which produces a discrete sequence of ? The material in this paper appeared in a confidential report â€Å"A Mathematical Theory of Cryptography† dated Sept. 1, 1946, which has now been declassified. 1 Shannon, C. E. â€Å"A Mathematical Theory of Communication,† Bell System Technical Journal, July 1948, p. 623. 2 See, for example, H. F. Gaines, â€Å"Elementary Cryptanalysis,† or M. Givierge, â€Å"Cours de Cryptographie. † symbols in accordance with some system of probabilities. Associated with a language there is a certain parameter D which we call the redundancy of the language. D measures, in a sense, how much a text in the language can be reduced in length without losing any information. As a simple example, since u always follows q in English words, the u may be omitted without loss. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems by C. E. Shanon" essay for you Create order Considerable reductions are possible in English due to the statistical structure of the language, the high frequencies of certain letters or words, etc. Redundancy is of central importance in the study of secrecy systems. A secrecy system is defined abstractly as a set of transformations of one space (the set of possible messages) into a second space (the set of possible cryptograms). Each particular transformation of the set corresponds to enciphering with a particular key. The transformations are supposed reversible (non-singular) so that unique deciphering is possible when the key is known. Each key and therefore each transformation is assumed to have an a priori probability associated with it—the probability of choosing that key. Similarly each possible message is assumed to have an associated a priori probability, determined by the underlying stochastic process. These probabilities for the various keys and messages are actually the enemy cryptanalyst’s a priori probabilities for the choices in question, and represent his a priori knowledge of the situation. To use the system a key is first selected and sent to the receiving point. The choice of a key determines a particular transformation in the set forming the system. Then a message is selected and the particular transformation corresponding to the selected key applied to this message to produce a cryptogram. This cryptogram is transmitted to the receiving point by a channel and may be intercepted by the â€Å"enemy? † At the receiving end the inverse of the particular transformation is applied to the cryptogram to recover the original message. If the enemy intercepts the cryptogram he can calculate from it the a posteriori probabilities of the various possible messages and keys which might have produced this cryptogram. This set of a posteriori probabilities constitutes his knowledge of the key and message after the interception. â€Å"Knowledge† is thus identified with a set of propositions having associated probabilities. The calculation of the a posteriori probabilities is the generalized problem of cryptanalysis. As an example of these notions, in a simple substitution cipher with random key there are 26! transformations, corresponding to the 26! ways we can substitute for 26 different letters. These are all equally likely and each therefore has an a priori probability 1 26! . If this is applied to â€Å"normal English† The word â€Å"enemy,† stemming from military applications, is commonly used in cryptographic work to denote anyone who may intercept a cryptogram. 657 the cryptanalyst being assumed to have no knowledge of the message source other than that it is producing English text, the a priori probabilities of various messages of N letters are merely their relative fre quencies in normal English text. If the enemy intercepts N letters of cryptograms in this system his probabilities change. If N is large enough (say 50 letters) there is usually a single message of a posteriori probability nearly unity, while all others ave a total probability nearly zero. Thus there is an essentially unique â€Å"solution† to the cryptogram. For N smaller (say N = 15) there will usually be many messages and keys of comparable probability, with no single one nearly unity. In this case there are multiple â€Å"solutions† to the cryptogram. Considering a secrecy system to be represented in this way, as a set of transformations of one set of elements into another, there are two natural combining operations which produce a third system from two given systems. The first combining operation is called the product operation and corresponds to enciphering the message with the first secrecy system R and enciphering the resulting cryptogram with the second system S, the keys for R and S being chosen independently. This total operation is a secrecy system whose transformations consist of all the products (in the usual sense of products of transformations) of transformations in S with transformations in R. The probabilities are the products of the probabilities for the two transformations. The second combining operation is â€Å"weighted addition. † T = pR + qS p + q = 1 It corresponds to making a preliminary choice as to whether system R or S is to be used with probabilities p and q, respectively. When this is done R or S is used as originally defined. It is shown that secrecy systems with these two combining operations form essentially a â€Å"linear associative algebra† with a unit element, an algebraic variety that has been extensively studied by mathematicians. Among the many possible secrecy systems there is one type with many special properties. This type we call a â€Å"pure† system. A system is pure if all keys are equally likely and if for any three transformations Ti; Tj; Tk in the set the product TiT 1 j Tk is also a transformation in the set. That is, enciphering, deciphering, and enciphering with any three keys must be equivalent to enciphering with some key. With a pure cipher it is shown that all keys are essentially equivalent— they all lead to the same set of a posteriori probabilities. Furthermore, when 658 a given cryptogram is intercepted there is a set of messages that might have produced this cryptogram (a â€Å"residue class†) and the a posteriori probabilities of message in this class are proportional to the a priori probabilities. All the information the enemy has obtained by intercepting the cryptogram is a specification of the residue class. Many of the common ciphers are pure systems, including simple substitution with random key. In this case the residue class consists of all messages with the same pattern of letter repetitions as the intercepted cryptogram. Two systems R and S are defined to be â€Å"similar† if there exists a fixed transformation A with an inverse, A 1, such that R = AS: If R and S are similar, a one-to-one correspondence between the resulting cryptograms can be set up leading to the same a posteriori probabilities. The two systems are cryptanalytically the same. The second part of the paper deals with the problem of â€Å"theoretical secrecy†. How secure is a system against cryptanalysis when the enemy has unlimited time and manpower available for the analysis of intercepted cryptograms? The problem is closely related to questions of communication in the presence of noise, and the concepts of entropy and equivocation developed for the communication problem find a direct application in this part of cryptography. â€Å"Perfect Secrecy† is defined by requiring of a system that after a cryptogram is intercepted by the enemy the a posteriori probabilities of this cryptogram representing various messages be identically the same as the a priori probabilities of the same messages before the interception. It is shown that perfect secrecy is possible but requires, if the number of messages is finite, the same number of possible keys. If the message is thought of as being constantly generated at a given â€Å"rate† R (to be defined later), key must be generated at the same or a greater rate. If a secrecy system with a finite key is used, and N letters of cryptogram intercepted, there will be, for the enemy, a certain set of messages with certain probabilities that this cryptogram could represent. As N increases the field usually narrows down until eventually there is a unique â€Å"solution† to the cryptogram; one message with probability essentially unity while all others are practically zero. A quantity H(N) is defined, called the equivocation, which measures in a statistical way how near the average cryptogram of N letters is to a unique solution; that is, how uncertain the enemy is of the original message after intercepting a cryptogram of N letters. Various properties of the equivocation are deduced—for example, the equivocation of the key never increases with increasing N. This equivocation is a theoretical secrecy 659 index—theoretical in that it allows the enemy unlimited time to analyse the cryptogram. The function H(N) for a certain idealized type of cipher called the random cipher is determined. With certain modifications this function can be applied to many cases of practical interest. This gives a way of calculating approximately how much intercepted material is required to obtain a solution to a secrecy system. It appears from this analysis that with ordinary languages and the usual types of ciphers (not codes) this â€Å"unicity distance† is approximately H(K) D . Here H(K) is a number measuring the â€Å"size† of the key space. If all keys are a priori equally likely H(K) is the logarithm of the number of possible keys. D is the redundancy of the language and measures the amount of â€Å"statistical constraint† imposed by the language. In simple substitution with random key H(K) is log 1026! or about 20 and D (in decimal digits per letter) is about :7 for English. Thus unicity occurs at about 30 letters. It is possible to construct secrecy systems with a finite key for certain â€Å"languages† in which the equivocation does not approach zero as N! 1. In this case, no matter how much material is intercepted, the enemy still does not obtain a unique solution to the cipher but is left with many alternatives, all of reasonable probability. Such systems we call ideal systems. It is possible in any language to approximate such behavior—i. e. , to make the approach to zero of H(N) recede out to arbitrarily large N. However, such systems have a number of drawbacks, such as complexity and sensitivity to errors in transmission of the cryptogram. The third part of the paper is concerned with â€Å"practical secrecy†. Two systems with the same key size may both be uniquely solvable when N letters have been intercepted, but differ greatly in the amount of labor required to effect this solution. An analysis of the basic weaknesses of secrecy systems is made. This leads to methods for constructing systems which will require a large amount of work to solve. Finally, a certain incompatibility among the various desirable qualities of secrecy systems is discussed. Inquiring Thinking Abstract This paper has three main objectives. First, it examines five inquiring systems drawn from the western philosophical perspective which can be used in the design professions, such as architecture, engineering and urban planning. Second, it illustrates through hypothetical examples, how to use inquiring systems for decision-making using statistical analysis and/or the Delphi Method, based on the inquiry systems derived from the philosophies of Leibniz, Locke, Kant, Hegel, and Singer. And third, it demonstrates and discusses the appropriateness of using each of these systems of inquiry. It is concluded that designers can effectively utilize these systems of inquiry for decision making while dealing with projects ranging from the most benign to the highly complex. Key words : Decision Making; Delphi Method; Engineering Management; Expert Knowledge; Inquiring Systems Stress In The Workplace Abstract This paper will address the subject of stress in todays workplace and the resulting adverse health affects by identifying the health problems associated with untreated stress, indicators of stress, the sources of stress within organizations, the stress involved with organizational change, and interventions available to combat the adverse affects of stress. Unhealthy or unproductive stress levels must be addressed in any organization in order for businesses to survive and grow while simultaneously maintaining an acceptable level of employee satisfaction. Long-Term Contracts For Natural Gas Abstract In this paper, we analyze the determinants of contract duration in a large number of natural gas contracts. We test the impact of different institutional and structural variables on the duration of contracts. We find that in general, contract duration decreases as the market structure of the industry develops from monopolistic to more competitive regimes. Our main finding is that contracts that are linked to an asset-specific investment are on average 7 years longer than the others; however, their duration decreases with liberalization as well. Keywords: long-term contracts, asset-specificity, natural gas Anger and emotion ABSTRACT: A series of surveys on the everyday experience of anger is described, and a sample of data from these surveys is used to address a number of issues related to the social bases of anger. These issues include the connection between anger and aggression; he targets, instigations, and consequences of typical episodes of anger; the differences between anger and annoyance; and possible sex differences in the experience and/or expression of anger. In a larger sense, however, the primary focus of the paper is not on anger and aggression. Rather, anger is used as a paradigm case to explore a number of issues in the study of emotion, including the advantages and limitations of laboratory research, the use of self-re ports, the proper unit of analysis for the study of emotion, the relationship between human and animal emotion, and he authenticity of socially constituted emotional responses. The Effects of a Supported Employment Program on Psychosocial Indicators for Persons with Severe Mental Illness William M. K. Trochim Cornell University Abstract This paper describes the psychosocial effects of a program of supported employment (SE) for persons with severe mental illness. The SE program involves extended individualized supported employment for clients through a Mobile Job Support Worker (MJSW) who maintains contact with the client after job placement and supports the client in a variety of ways. A 50% simple random sample was taken of all persons who entered the Thresholds Agency between 3/1/93 and 2/28/95 and who met study criteria. The resulting 484 cases were randomly assigned to either the SE condition (treatment group) or the usual protocol (control group) which consisted of life skills training and employment in an in-house sheltered workshop setting. All participants were measured at intake and at 3 months after beginning employment, on two measures of psychological functioning (the BPRS and GAS) and two measures of self esteem (RSE and ESE). Significant treatment effects were found on all four measures, but they were in the opposite direction from what was hypothesized. Instead of functioning better and having more self esteem, persons in SE had lower functioning levels and lower self esteem. The most likely explanation is that people who work in low-paying service jobs in real world settings generally do not like them and experience significant job stress, whether they have severe mental illness or not. The implications for theory in psychosocial rehabilitation are considered. Abstract Example Tan, A. , Fujioka, Y. and Tan G. 2000). Television use, stereotypes of African Americans and opinions on Affirmative Action: An affective model of policy reasoning. Communication Monographs, 67 (4) 362-371. Policy reasoning has been a source of research for many years, because the political arena is such a strong determinant of the way our society functions. Many works have emerged on why people take the sides they do when decidin g on political issues. However, Tan, Fujioka Tan believed political reasoning has not been explored as effectively as possible because of the heuristic models utilized to analyze this behavior. They believed that the most heuristic models dont incorporate media as a variable in affecting policy reasoning. In order to explore this further, they looked at the power of the model to explain how citizens make up their minds regarding government policies on affirmative action, with stereotypes of African Americans as the second stage, affective variable (p. 362). This abstract outlines the findings of their research by analyzing, section by section, the process they used to conduct their research and results.

Cutting The Common Core Standards - 885 Words

Cutting to the Common Core In the summer of 2010 the United States issued a new Common core curriculum for its youngest Americans, and since, forty-three states have implemented the new standards. According to the Common Core Standards Initiative, the principles are simply, â€Å"a set of clear college- and career-ready standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts/literacy and mathematics,† (â€Å"About the Standards†). Why would the American people want their children to be common? Supporters claim that treating all students equally will level the playing field, allowing more opportunities for students. Because the curriculum is universal, students’ parents could theoretically pick up and move anywhere in the US and be confident in the fact that their children are not confused or falling behind in school. However, it is just the opposite. The Common Core standards have confused students and their parents through the new methods of compu tation, writing, and reading. With the percentage of students who move out of state being less than 2%, it is irrational to bind the United’s State’s education system to benefit such a small number of students. Common Core is hard to understand by students and parents alike and only benefits â€Å"philanthrocapitalists† (Toscano). David Coleman and Jason Zimba wanted the standards to be based on actual learning rather than just memorization and thus, Common Core was born. The pair created education standards that were less inShow MoreRelatedCourse Integration Is Another Solution1478 Words   |  6 Pages Course integration is another solution. Within the Common Core spectrum, new curriculums can be laid down to weave Common Core and the fine arts together to create a beautiful product of different fine arts disciplines and Common Core standards (Adams, Pederson, and Narboni). 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About My Carrer on Being A Lawyer free essay sample

Becoming a lawyer usually takes 7 years of full-time study after high school—4 years of undergraduate study, followed by 3 years of law school. Most states and jurisdictions require lawyers to complete a juris doctor (J. D. ) degree from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA). ABA accreditation signifies that the law school—particularly its curricula and faculty—meets certain standards. A bachelor’s degree is required for entry into most law schools, and courses in English, public speaking, government, history, economics, and mathematics are useful. Almost all law schools, particularly those approved by the ABA, require applicants to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). This test measures applicants’ aptitude for the study of law. As of August 2013, ABA had approved 203 law schools; others were approved by state authorities only. A J. D. degree program includes courses, such as constitutional law, contracts, property law, civil procedure, and legal writing. Law students may choose specialized courses in areas such as tax, labor, and corporate law. Becoming licensed as a lawyer is called being admitted to the bar and licensing exams are called bar exams. To practice law in any state, a person must be admitted to its bar under rules established by the jurisdiction’s highest court. The requirements vary by individual states and jurisdictions. For more details on individual state and jurisdiction requirements, visit the National Conference of Bar Examiners. Most states require that applicants graduate from an ABA-accredited law school, pass one or more written bar exams, and be found by an admitting board to have the character to represent and advise others. Lawyers who want to practice in more than one state often must take separate bar exams in each state. After graduation, lawyers must keep informed about legal developments that affect their practices. Almost all states require lawyers to participate in continuing legal education either every year or every 3 years. Many law schools and state and local bar associations provide continuing legal education courses that help lawyers stay current with recent developments. Courses vary by state and generally are related to the practice of law, such as legal ethics, taxes and tax fraud, and Newly hired attorneys usually start as associates and work with more experienced lawyers and judges. After several years, some lawyers may be admitted to partnership and become partial owners of the firm they work for. Some lawyers go into practice for themselves or move to the legal department of a large corporation. A small number of experienced lawyers are nominated or elected to judgeships. Other lawyers may become full-time law school faculty and administrators. For more information about judges and law school faculty, see the profile on judges and hearing officers, and the profile on postsecondary teachers. healthcare. Some states allow lawyers to take their continuing education credits through online courses. Law students often gain practical experience by participating in school-sponsored legal clinics, in a school’s moot court competitions, in practice trials under the supervision of experienced lawyers and judges, and through research and writing on legal issues for a school’s law journals. Part-time or summer jobs in law firms, government agencies, and corporate legal departments also provide valuable experience. These experiences can help law students decide what kind of legal work they want to focus on in their careers. These experiences may also lead directly to a job after graduation Important Qualities Analytical skills. Lawyers help their clients resolve problems and issues. As a result, they must be able to analyze large amounts of information, determine relevant facts, and propose viable solutions. Interpersonal skills. Lawyers must win the respect and confidence of their clients by building a trusting relationship, so that clients feel comfortable and share personal information related to their case. Problem-solving skills. Lawyers must separate their emotions and prejudice from their clients’ problems and objectively evaluate the matter. Therefore, good problem-solving skills are important for lawyers, to prepare the best defense and recommendation. Research skills. Preparing legal advice or representation for a client commonly requires substantial research. All lawyers need to be able to find what applicable laws and regulations apply to a specific matter. Speaking skills. Lawyers are hired by their clients to speak on their behalf. Lawyers must be able to clearly present and explain evidence to a judge and jury. Writing skills. Lawyers need to be precise and specific when preparing documents, such as wills, trusts, and powers of attorney. The median annual wage for lawyers was $113,530 in May 2012. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $54,310, and the top 10 percent earned more than $187,200. In May 2012, the median annual wages for lawyers in the top five industries in which these lawyers worked were as follows: Finance and insurance $134,940 Federal government, excluding postal service 134,690 Legal services 116,630 Local government, excluding education and hospitals 87,140 State government, excluding education and hospitals 79,220 Salaries of experienced lawyers vary widely according to the type, size, and location of their employer. Lawyers who own their own practices usually earn less than those who are partners in law firms. The majority of lawyers work full time and many work long hours. Lawyers who are in private practice or those who work in large firms often work long hours conducting research and preparing and reviewing documents. Employment of lawyers is projected to grow 10 percent from 2012 to 2022, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Demand for legal work will continue as individuals, businesses, and all levels of government require legal services in many areas. Despite this need for legal services, more price competition over the next decade may lead law firms to rethink their project staffing, to reduce costs to clients. As clients cut back on legal expenses, demand less expensive rates, and scrutinize invoices, work that was previously assigned to lawyers, such as document review, may now be given to paralegals and legal assistants. Some routine legal work may also be outsourced to other lower-cost legal providers located overseas. While law firms will continue to be the largest employers of lawyers, many large corporations are increasing their in-house legal departments to cut costs. For many companies, the high cost of hiring outside counsel lawyers and their support staff makes it more economical to shift work to their in-house legal department. This will lead to an increase in the demand of lawyers in a variety of settings, such as financial and insurance firms, consulting firms, and healthcare providers. Lawyers will continue to be needed in the federal government to prosecute or defend civil cases on behalf of the United States, prosecute criminal cases brought by the federal government, and collect money owed to the federal government. However, budgetary constraints at all levels of government, especially federal, will moderate employment growth. Demand is typically affected by cyclical swings in the economy. During recessions, demand declines for some discretionary legal services, such as planning estates, drafting wills, and handling real estate transactions. Also, corporations are less likely to litigate cases, when declining sales and profits restrict their budgets. Some corporations and law firms may cut staff to contain costs until business improves. Competition should continue to be strong, because more students are graduating from law school each year than there are jobs available. Some recent law school graduates who have been unable to find permanent positions are turning to the growing number of temporary staffing firms that place attorneys in short-term jobs. This service allows companies to hire lawyers â€Å"as-needed† and permits beginning lawyers to develop practical skills. Because of the strong competition, a law graduate’s willingness to relocate and his or her work experience are becoming more important. However, to be licensed in another state, a lawyer may have to take an additional state bar examination.

Coping mechanisms free essay sample

Coping  mechanisms  can be described as the sum total of ways in which we deal with minor to major  stress  and  trauma. Some of these processes are unconscious ones, others are learned behavior, and still others are skills we consciously master in order to reduce  stress, or other intense emotions like depression. Not all  coping  mechanisms  are equally beneficial, and some can actually be very detrimental. The body has an interior set of  coping  mechanisms  for encountering  stress. This includes the fight/flight reaction to high  stress  or trauma. A person perceiving  stress  has an automatic boost in  adrenaline, prompting either action, or inaction. People have a variable level of physical reaction to different levels of  stress. For some, merely getting interrupted from a task can cause an inappropriate fight/flight reaction. This can translate to â€Å"fight†Ã‚  mechanisms, where a person gets very angry with others for interrupting him. Alternately, flight may include physically leaving, or simply being unable to regain focus and get back on task. Other unconscious  coping  strategies can include the way our minds deal with a constant barrage of  stress. People in the psychiatric field suggest that mental illnesses tend to be coping  mechanisms  that evolve from certain stressors. For example, multiple personality disorder may result in children who are severely abused. Panic disorder  may be the body’s coping  mechanisms  for inappropriate fight/flight reactions to minor stressors. Some mental illnesses also have a genetic basis, but  stress  certainly often plays a role in making these illnesses more severe. Coping is thus expending conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to master, minimize or tolerate  stress  or  conflict. Psychological coping mechanisms are commonly termed coping strategies or coping skills. Unconscious or non conscious strategies (e. g. ,  defense mechanisms) are generally excluded. The term coping generally refers to adaptive or constructive coping strategies, i. e. the strategies reduce stress levels. However, some coping strategies can be considered maladaptive, i. e. , stress levels increase. Maladaptive coping can thus be described, in effect, as non-coping. Furthermore, the term coping generally refers to reactive coping, i. e. , the coping response follows the stressor. This contrasts with proactive coping, in which a coping response aims to head off a future stressor. Coping responses are partly controlled by personality (habitual traits), but also partly by the social context, particularly the nature of the stressful environment. The effect of stress is directly linked to coping. The study of coping has evolved to encompass large variety of disciplines beginning with all areas of psychology such as health psychology, environmental psychology, neuro psychology and developmental psychology to areas of medicine spreading into the area of anthropology and sociology. Dissecting coping strategies into three broad components, (biological/physiological, cognitive, and learned) will provide a better understanding of what the seemingly immense area is about. Significance of the Study This study is deemed significant to the following: Primarily to the Students, this study will enable them to determine level of stress and develop personal strategies to reduce stress which may post threat to their sense of well being and disrupt their normal functioning in etherealized learning experience. For clinical instructors, results of this study could serve as a guide in planning for activities or strategies that would help the students exercise control over the stressful situations in the Related Learning Experience. For the Administrators, this study will serve as a basis to encourage them to support and approve school activities which will benefit the student’s well-being. Primarily to the Students, this study will enable them to determine level of stress and develop personal strategies to reduce stress which may post threat to their sense of well being and disrupt their normal functioning in etherealized learning experience. For the different School Organizations and Student Council, this study will aid them to develop different organizational activities or programs that will help the student members to release their tension and manage stress. For the Future Researchers, this study will serve as a reference and baseline information to further develop on studies that enhance the stress and coping mechanisms. Scope and Delimitation of the Study This study will focus on the stress and coping mechanisms of individual preferences of the selected Third Year Medical Technology students of University of Perpetual Help System Laguna. A research – made questionnaire was used as a research instrument. Furthermore, the result of the study holds true for the stress and coping mechanisms of different students. Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter presents the literatures reviewed, which may be utilized in defining the methodology and/or interpretation of data. Literature reviewed includes local and foreign books, local and foreign researches, articles, and internet materials. Related Literature The effect of stress is directly linked to coping. The study of coping has evolved to encompass large variety of disciplines beginning with all areas of psychology such as health psychology, environmental psychology, neuro psychology and developmental psychology to areas of medicine spreading into the area of anthropology and sociology. Dissecting coping strategies into three broad components, (biological/physiological, cognitive, and learned) will provide a better understanding of what the seemingly immense area is about. The body has its own way of coping with stress. Any threat or challenge that an individual perceives in the environment triggers a chain of neuroendocrine events. These events can be conceptualized as two separate responses, that being of sympathetic/adrenal response, with the secretion of catecholamines (epinephrine, norepinephrine) and the pituitary/adrenal response, with the secretion of corticosteroids (Frankanhauser, 1986). The sympathetic/adrenal response takes the message from the brain to the adrenal medulla via the sympathetic nervous system, which secretes epinephrine and norepinephrine. This is the basic fight or flight response (Cannon, 1929), where the heart rate quickens and the blood pressure rises. In the pituitary/adrenal response, the hypothalamus is stimulated and produces the corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) to the pituitary gland through the blood veins, then the adrenal corticotropic hormone (ACTH) is released from the pituitary gland to the adrenal cortex. The adrenal cortex in turn secretes cortisol, a hormone that will report back to the original brain centers together with other body organs to tell it to stop the whole cycle. But since cortisol is a potent hormone, the prolonged secretion of it will lead to health problems such as the break down of cardiovascular system, digestive system, musculoskeletal system, and the recently established immune system. Also when the organism does not have a chance for recovery, it will lead to both catecholamine and corisol depletion and result in the third stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome of exhaustion (Seyle, 1956). Social support has also been established by studies to be linked to stress (Bolger Eckenrole, 1991; House, et. al, 1988). This can be seen as a dimension of the biological component since it is closely linked to the biological environment of that individual. There are many aspects to social support; the major categories would be of emotional, tangible, and informational. Personality types as so called Type A Personality have been defined to have such characteristics as competitive, impatient and hostile. Hostility has been linked to coronary heart disease which is thought be caused by stress (Rosenman, 1978). Eysenck (1988) has coined the term Type C Personality for those who are known to be repressors and are prone to cancer. Hardiness also is a personality that seems to have much to do with how an individual handles stress. Hardiness is defined as having a sense of control, commitment, and challenge towards life in general. Kobasa (1979) has studied subjects who were laid off in large numbers by ATT when the federal deregulation took place, and found that the people who were categorized as having hardy personalities were mentally and emotionally better off than the others. Although it may be possible o modifying ones personality, research has shown it to be heritable (Rahe, Herrig, Rosenman, 1978; Parker, Barret, 1992). The cognitive approach to coping is based on a mental process of how the individual appraises the situation. Where the level of appraisal determines the level of stress and the unique coping strategies that the individual partakes. (Lazarus Folkman, 1984). There are two types of appraisals, the primary and the secondary. A primary appraisal is made when the individual makes a conscious evaluation of the matter at hand of whether it is harm or a loss, a threat or a challenge. Then secondary appraisal takes place when the individual asks him/herself What can I do? by evaluating the coping resources around him/her. These resources include, physical resources, such as how healthy one is, or how much energy one has, social resources, such as the family or friends one has to depend on for support in his/her immediate surroundings, psychological resources, such as self-esteem and self-efficacy, and also material resources such as how much money you have or what kind of equipment you might be able to use. How much personal control one perceives to have is another factor to consider when looking at coping from the cognitive perspective. Usually an individual will find themselves feeling more stressful in uncontrollable situations. Also, since personal control is a cognitive process, the more one has a sense of personal control, better sense of coping ability one will have. The category of the attribution theory gives a good picture of the extreme ends of the in control/lack of control continuum. An individual will perceive to have the most control where the situations fit the categories of internal, transient, and specific. At the opposite end of the scale is the category of external, stable, and global where the person will perceive lack of control. There are other ways of to approach coping from a cognitive perspective such as that of constructive and destructive thinking as conceptualized by Epstien and Meier (1989) a similar concept to that of optimistic versus pessimistic (Taylor, 1991), the perceived level of self-efficacy and self-esteem and so on. Many researchers who have studied subjects at midterms or finals and have found that coping is clearly a complex process, influenced by both personality characteristics (Bolger, 1990; Friedman et al. 1992; Long Sangster, 1993), situational demands (Folkman Lazarus, 1986; Heim et al. , 1993), and even the social and physical characteristics of the setting (Mechanic, 1978). As we have seen in the various theoretical paradigms of coping, every factor from physiological, psychological, social, to cultural, both affect and are affected by the coping strategies. Just as there is said to be an optimal level of stress for an individual to function most effectively, I propose that there is an optimal level of coping which minimizes cost and maximizes benefits on all levels of the various factors combined. A coping strategy that may work to improve a romantic relationship may have its negative social, cultural, or even psychological consequences. If you choose not to see your friends so that you have more time to spend with your romantic partner, or you choose to move in with that person when it is considered a cultural taboo, or you are so psychologically dominated by that person that you dont have a mind of your own. In such cases, the individual has the illusion that they are effectively coping with a particular stress, while what they are really doing is creating many others. Also, since each factor has the power to influence the others, the true form of the transaction theory can only be captured when time is included as one of the variables. Longitudinal studies are crucial in order to truly reflect the long term effects and processes that take place within the whole coping mechanism. Think about  what many  college students go through. Leaving the family  home, feeling intense pressure to  obtain high grades  in connection with  career  aspirations, taking final exams,  trying to establish a romantic/social life, dealing with  (often very high)  costs of college and possibly working at a job during the school year.