Deceptive Accounting Essay

Fraud and corruption are a menace not only in the poverty stricken countries, but also in the developed world. The worldwide menace of malpractice attempts to defeat the value to globalization. In the globalized world of investors of the 21st century with its first transatlantic stock exchange, it is necessary to continue reforms to shake off abuses of power at the level of their roots. So, Daniel Quinn Mills, a professor at the Harvard Business School, writes Wheel, Deal, and Steal (2003) to express his belief that CEOs of imperial nature are continuing their practice of stealing from investors despite the hue and cry over the financial scandals of Worldcom, Tyco, and of course, Enron. The author claims that the rules that have been designed to protect the investors are failing time after time. Hence, Mills details wide-ranging reforms that are possible and should be designed in order to encourage transparency in financial work. Additionally, the author shows how investors should, after perusing his book, try to protect the leftovers from corrupt financial practices. Investors may even be able to use Mills’ advice in recovering their lost moneys. Wheel, Deal, and Steal claims that investors are being cheated at many different levels. The auditors and the CEOs may all be involved in financial fraud for a variety of reasons, the main one being that they all want to pocket greater earnings without sharing them with investors. Moreover, the rules of law and ethics do not seem to be doing a great job in controlling accounting fraud. There is a basic clash of interests between the investors and the corporations that the investors were meant to fundamentally trust for the protection of their particular interests, that is, to create more earnings for themselves through their investments. These conflict of is the concept of alienation put forth by Karl Marx. According to Mills, even the stock market crash had this conflict of interests at its core. It is not about the accounting scandals of recent times alone. Rather, the problem is deep rooted as it is a conflict of power and money. The CEOs try to pocket as much money as possible sometimes at the expense of the investors. Originally, however, shareholders were meant to be the owners of American enterprises, and the executives were to act as the agents of the investors. But now, executives are the only ones making fortunes for themselves and expanding their own power in the corporation. Investors, on the other hand, are left far behind in the process of business. Mills offers plenty of accounting information in his book that investors should want to understand in order to gain mastery over the accounting malpractice techniques that are used to give them losses in stead of the gains of ownership. While power had been shifted from the hands of the investors to the households of the executives, the executives and their auditors had been using â€Å"creative accounting† to defraud the investors. The techniques of â€Å"creative accounting† should be learned by the ordinary investor who may from now want to replace the all-powerful executive in favor of a team of managers that should work on behalf of the investors alone. Mills advises investors to take charge through his book by informing them that only they are the ones that seem to be staying behind. The attorneys, the auditors, and the investment banks are all involved in corporate fraud that is deliberately designed to give less to investors (who are generally greater in number). The parties sharing the greater profits by defrauding investors mainly seem to be the executives of investment banks, law firms, accounting firms, and the corporation itself. The author explains that the executives of big corporations have established compliance in their systems wherewith they do not only defraud their gullible and valuable investors without a sound from the latter; but they have also developed compliant teams of accountants and boards of directors. After devising financial malpractice, the executives â€Å"had to do deals that would look good in their financials and get approval from auditors and boards for misleading financial reports. Finally, they had to cash in their options before the frauds and other misrepresentations were discovered† (8). Mills reminds us that the CFO of WorldCom, Mr. Scot Sullivan; the CFO of Enron, Mr. Andrew Fastow; and the CFO of Tyco, Mark Swartz—all were smooth operators who had been given excellence awards by the CFO Magazine. Furthermore, Fortune Magazine had given awards to Enron for being the most admired company along with Citigroup. In addition, Enron had been lauded every year from 1996-2001 for high achievement in innovation. The executives seem to be fooling everybody. What is more, the author of Wheel, Deal, and Steal blames the Federal Reserve for harnessing Mr. Brooksley Born, the chief executive of the CFTO, by telling him to stay out of the business of derivates. Thus, everybody seems to have been involved in the creation of a financial scandal whenever it has happened. While some may formulate deficient laws and others may unwisely supervise the financial practices of a corporation, the entire system appears to be flawed. A comprehensive effort to eliminate the problem of corporate fraud is therefore needed on the part of the financial system as a whole, including the supervisors. Mills provides good insights into the functioning of both the Commodities Futures Trading Corporation and the Federal Reserve while offering his advice on the reform of the system. This book also is a reminder that the Internet bubble is over and the next bubble might be of hedge funds or the funds of hedge funds. Investors must be prepared for the next bubble with an increase in consciousness with respect to their precious moneys invested for greater earnings. Thus, the book is an essential read for investors who are ready to work for change. Mills advises that the government must be held responsible for punishing corrupt executives of various corporations. Besides, the good work of eliminating fraud must be continued given that democracies also accompany corruption at several levels, mostly having to do with the cream of supervisors or top management at accounting firms as well as regulatory agencies. The latter are responsible for making good regulations to check corporate fraud. However, investors must take charge to get regulatory agencies and the government as a whole involved in the process wherever the regulations and policies appear impotent. To increase the awareness of the investors and hopefully to push them to take action with regards to the regulation of their investments, Mill’s book answers the following question: There are many Americans now in the stock market, and if we are sufficiently upset about our losses, politicians and courts may act. Estimates are that the proportion of U. S. households that owned stocks or mutual funds has grown from 19% in 1983 to 49. 5% in 2002; and the proportion of single individuals who own stocks or mutual funds has grown from 42% in 1983 to 84% in 2002. If investors exert their potential influence, can we create a safer, more reliable, more honest America? (10).

Nehemiah’s Leadership Skills

Nehemiah was the son of Hacaliah and he was also the cupbearer of the Persian king Artaxerxes. He was putting on a sad face and the king did not like that and asked him why he was sad, though afraid he answered that the city in which his fathers had been buried was a ruin so then he asked permission to go and rebuild the it. He played a decisive role in the rebuilding of Judah. In 444 B. C. the king appointed Nehemiah governor of Judah under the Persian Empire and permitted him to go to Jerusalem in order to help his fellow Jews. Upon his arrival Nehemiah secretly inspected the city walls which were still in ruins. This became known to his two arch-enemies, Sanballat and Tobiah, who repeatedly acted to foil his plans for rebuilding the walls (Neh 2:17-20); but despite their active opposition, Nehemiah succeeded in his building project, completing the work in 52 days (Neh chaps. 3-4), and stationed guards at the city gates and also enforced several of the laws, such as the payment due to the Levites, the observance of the Sabbath and the abolition of mixed marriages. He concluded his memoirs with a prayer to God to remember to his credit all of his efforts to strengthen divine law within Jerusalem . In order to repopulate Jerusalem, the number of whose inhabitants had dwindled greatly, he ordered that one out of every ten Jews should take up residence in the capital. He also instituted a series of religious and social reforms including the commitment to avoid intermarriage, the cancellation of debts owed by the poor, the support of the Temple cult, and the payment of tithes drawn up and sealed in a covenant (Neh chap. 10) and he then returned to Persia. After Nehemiah was given the permission to go and rebuild the city we see that he had some leadership qualities which helped him in the rebuilding process. Let us look at some few leadership skills which helped to navigate Nehemiah in the rebuilding of the city. Firstly and foremost, Nehemiah put God first and let Him lead him through prayer: The Book of Nehemiah starts and ends with prayer. And in between, Nehemiah often sends up quick prayers to heaven and asks for God’s help. â€Å"Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers,† said Phillips Brooks. â€Å"Pray for powers equal to your tasks. One mark of true spiritual leaders is their honest acknowledgment of their own inadequacy and their humble trust in the power of God He had courage: We can see that Nehemiah had courage firstly when he courageously told the king why he was sad and the king did not like to see sad faces and also he also took that opportunity to ask the king permission to go and rebuild the city and finally taking on the task of rebuilding the city shows that he had courage. Also . After the Israelites had begun rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, some opposition arose from other occupants within the Palestine area. Nehemiah remained steadfast and courageous and rallied his people to continue the work He was determined: Nehemiah was determined because the work he was doing was a great work and he was serving a great God. He was determined because the city was in great reproach, and he wanted it to bring great glory to God. He was determined because he was part of a great plan that God had for the world as He worked through the Jewish nation. So, the next time you feel like quitting, remember Nehemiah and stay on the job until the work is finished to the glory of God. He had vision and saw the greatness of the work: No matter what God has called you to do, it’s a great work because it’s part of the building of His church; and that’s the greatest work in the world. If you lose the greatness of a vision, you will begin to cut corners in your work, stop making sacrifices, and start looking for something else to challenge you. Nehemiah realized that what he was doing was far bigger than simply repairing gates and rebuilding walls. He was serving the Lord God of heaven and getting the holy city ready for the coming of the Messiah! He submitted to authority: The call of God is not an invitation to become independent and ignore authority. Nehemiah respected the king and submitted his plans to him for his approval before he went to Jerusalem. Even more, Nehemiah submitted to the authority of the Word of God. He invited Ezra to teach the Law to the people so that they too would obey the will of God. It is a basic rule of life that those who exercise authority must themselves be under authority. Nehemiah was a man who was dependable because he was accountable. He was organized in his work: He planned his work and worked his plan, and God blessed him. We can see this when the king asked him how he would do it, he asked the king if he could have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates so that he would be provided for protection. Also, he wanted the kings approval to go to Asaph (the keeper of the king’s forest) so that he would be given timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and the residence he would occupy, this shows that he had planned how he would start the building of the temple. He had passion: An important leadership principle displayed by Nehemiah was a deep passion for his God, his people, and his homeland. He heard of the destruction of the wall in Jerusalem and became overwhelmed with grief for the disgrace of God and his countrymen. This grief ignited a passion within Nehemiah to ask permission from his master to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall of the city. He was evaluative: Another important leadership principle shown by Nehemiah was that an effective leader evaluates a situation before acting. Nehemiah had received permission from his master to return to Jerusalem. When he arrived the first thing he did was to quietly take a private tour around the city wall to assess the damage and formulate a plan for rebuilding it. He enlisted others to work: An aspect of leadership principle displayed by Nehemiah was that effective leaders recruit and delegate responsibility to others. After Nehemiah had assessed the situation and formulated a plan of attack, he shared his plan with others and allowed them to help him with the work. Effective managers realize their need for others and that it takes many hands to accomplish a great task. He knew how to handle bad news: Life is full of bad news. It could be a small disappointment to a catastrophic occurrence, but when bad news comes your way, how do you respond? A strong leader is not only able to take the bad news, but wants to know it. Sticking your head in the sand is a sure sign of immaturity and lack of trust in God. He inspired camaraderie to people: One of the main leadership principles shown by Nehemiah was that effective leaders inspire camaraderie among his people. As mentioned above, Nehemiah led his people in the face of intense opposition; yet, by his leadership, the people did not run away, but continued the work until it was finished. They worked together with one person rebuilding his section of the wall, while his partner stood guard to protect him from attack. He shared what he had: Another leadership tenet displayed by Nehemiah was that top level managers share the rewards of success with their people. Effective leaders are kind and generous. Nehemiah demonstrated this trait by standing up for the poor against extortion and inviting large parties of people to eat at his table each meal. He stood fast on core values: We can see that Nehemiah stood fast in core values in that after the wall had been rebuilt, the Israelite people began to do things that were not pleasing to God. Nehemiah was deeply upset by this and called his people to account. References Henrietta C. Mears, What the bible is all about, Gospel Light Publications, U. S. A, 1998. Holy bible, New Revised Standard, U. S. A, 1989 The Holy Bible, New International Version, The Bible Society in Australia Inc Publishers, 1984. Richard H. Seume, Nehemiah, God’s Builder, Moody Press, Chicago, U. S. A, 1978 HOW I WOULD APPLY NEHEMIAH’S LEADRSHIP SKILLS IN MY OWN LIFE Firstly the most important leadership skill Nehemiah had according to me is that he put God first and let him lead him through prayer so I would use this skill by talking to God before facin g any situation and the reason I say this is an important leadership skill is because it is through this skill that we may get every other skill that follows. This way God will help you to do the task at hand. Also we see that also had something important and that was courage, so this helps me because I know courage is an important quality in a leader so I ask God for courage when tackling my tasks. Another thing is that I have to be determined to complete the task so that incase there as may occur any push back determination will lead you into completing the task and to do it well too. Something else that had was his vision we should also have vision in the work we are doing and we should like Nehemiah notice that the work we are doing has a higher purpose that what we look at directly, we can see that Nehemiah was not only rebuilding the walls but in depth was serving the lord and getting it ready for the messiah Jesus Christ. Another aspect in Nehemiah’s leadership qualities is his submitting to authority this shows we should respect and follow authority and not act like we are above it. We should also look at Nehemiah’s quality of self organization this shows me that in order for me to be a good leader or perform a task at my level best I should plan for my work as this will help you in accomplishing your goal. Another quality that Nehemiah displayed was passion, we should this to make us also have passion and this means we should have heart on what we do and do it with satisfaction. Again we see that Nehemiah was evaluative this means we should also follow this example by evaluating situation before jumping into conclusions and fully assessing them doing this will help you to perform the job effectively. Another thing is that like Nehemiah we should also entrust others with work this is done by delegating jobs to others tis shows that you trust them and this improves relation among workers. In many times there are always bad news so we need to know how to handle the bad news and we should talk to God to help us cope with them. As leaders we should inspire camaraderie among people this will strengthen our bonds and be able to look out for each other. To better ourselves using Nehemiah’s leadership quality of sharing what we have with others makes us better people and we should not look down upon people but treat them equally. In motivating others, we must always present the challenge and the benefit. I find that people really love to be challenged, to push the envelope and do what looks difficult or impossible. Presented in the right way, it will motivate people to join. And lastly as Nehemiah did, we should stand firm on core values and not be swayed to do the wrong things that would not please God but do God’s will.

Marketing the public libraries

This website bases its maps from the surveys conducted by the 2005 American community survey (http://www. nkca. ucla. edu). It explains what the survey is about which is to collect housing, demographic and socioeconomic data. This is done from the US households. The website highlights the fact that the American Community Survey (ACS) replaced the decennial census. It also points out that the ACS is more advantageous than the decennial census because it is conducted every year instead of every ten years (http://www. nkca. ucla. edu).The website also makes known the year that ACS was implemented which is 2005. It goes ahead to name those who were involved in the pilot project that involved special tabulations of geographies. It also notes that the center for neighborhood knowledge ensures that the knowledge is availed to the public. It also highlights the uses of the data gotten by the ACS and this includes developing as well as refining policies and also programs, supplement the data gotten from other sources and also to help in identifying the needs of the community and also prioritizing these needs.ACS has a vision of working with the Bureau of the Census to annually update their information. Albright K. S. May/June 2004 ENVIROMENTAL SCANNING RADAR FOR SUCCESS Information Management Journal Summary In this journal, the writer starts off by noting the importance of success in any organization. Albright goes ahead to explain what environmental scanning is and why it is done. She identifies the relationship that is found among the environment, markets and strategic planning in an organization.Once an organization has looked into its internal environment, it then looks at the external environment. The writer goes ahead and gives the reasons for this environmental scanning which are to â€Å"focus on customers, suppliers and competitors and their intricate relationships†(Albright K. S. 2004). There is an explanation of how environmental scanning works. It co nducts a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. This helps the organization in analyzing the community, which is the environment, and also helps it know how to advertise their services.The writer ends by identifying any barriers to effective environmental scanning. Marketing Plan 1. Kassel, A. 1999. How to Write a Marketing Plan (Vol. 13 no. 5). Retrieved on 13th Sept 2007 from http://infotoday. com/mls/jun99/how-to. htm Summary In this volume, Kassel identifies why the libraries have been forced to go for marketing in the effort to increase their amount of money they make and also their client base. This is because their biggest competitor is the Internet, which is deemed more convenient by students and researchers.The writer goes ahead to identify and outline seven steps that are necessary in the creation of a marketing plan. She outlines them in the following sequence: â€Å"prepare a mission statement, list and describe target or niche markets, descri be your services, spell out marketing and promotional strategies, identify and understand the competition, establish marketing goals that are quantifiable and finally monitor your results carefully†(http://infotoday. com).She goes ahead to give some tips and hints to those who are new to marketing. She urges them to concentrate on getting long-term customers, know why customers come back, to be focused on their targets and not waste their efforts with non-targets, to be persistent and prepared and finally to be never afraid of failure as it is bound to happen and when it does, the strategy used needs to be changed. The writer ends by assuming that this outline is actually a success plan. 2. Summey T.P If You Build it Will They Come? Creating a Marketing Plan for Distance Learning Library Services- 2004. The Haworth Press Inc. In this volume, Summey acknowledges the importance of people especially the distant students and also the â€Å"brand identity† which refers to a lot including services provided by the library in the expansion of library services people’s importance in the success of library services expansion (Summey, 2004). The writer goes ahead to explain what is a marketing plan and how it is created.The writer also identifies the objective of a marketing plan as being identification of marketing issues, development of goals and finally how to measure progress. The budget is also included in the plan; the plan is to consist of â€Å"the mission statement, library or community analysis, goals and objectives, marketing strategy and methods to evaluate results† (Summey, 2004). The plan is to begin with an executive summary, the table of content, a SEDT analysis, a description of the market, mission and vision, goals and objectives, implementation and finally assessment and evaluation.

Health Promotion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Promotion - Research Paper Example Law enforcement, health care, and low labour productivity are estimated to be 9.2 billion yearly in Ontario alone. 10% of mortalities in Ontario arise indirectly or directly from consumption of alcohol. Ontario’s Ministry of health developed the program that targeted 21 communities in the entire Ontario community that have shown interest and commitment in addressing this menace. The key audiences for this program are youth and children, with every project asked to allocate 30 per cent of their budget to reach the target population. The program builds the success of highlighting projects to prevent substance abuse and alcohol at sites in 21 communities. The evaluation of the program found that the project offered a promising future of preventing alcohol and related substance abuse. Based on the finding, the ministry has come up with a FOCUS community program that implements the existing 11 sites and 10 new sites (â€Å"Partners in action: Ontarios substance abuse strategy†, 2004). Every site has a local agency responsible for preventing substance abuse and leading the implementation process of FOCUS. Addiction Research Foundation is a branch of Addiction and Mental Health Services Corporation that participated in developing the FOCUS program and in selecting the sites. The ministry invited the agencies to prepare the applications of FOCUS in conjunction with domestic partners like businesses, health agencies, voluntary groups, and injury prevention coalition. In total, there are 220 groups in partnership with FOCUS Community Program. Funding from the ministry of Health will supports the staff resources and program costs (Weinstein & Hanson, 2005). The communities that are participating in the program have matched the funding of the ministry with domestic in kind resources on a ratio of 1 to 1. Consequently, the domestic program partners have taken part in valuation of resources worth over 2.5 million

Arley Merchandise Corporation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Arley Merchandise Corporation - Case Study Example If the company sought to issue $8 per share in market value of common stock then the earnings per share would be further diluted as if the shares are valued at less than $8 on the stock market at the exercise date. The company does not currently pay dividends and do not expect to pay dividends in the future. It means that shareholders would have to manufacture there own dividends. Selling shares to obtain income (manufacturing dividends) will involve additional costs such as broker fees and therefore does not represent an attractive option for the investors. The ten year note is therefore a more favourable option as it will prevent the company of going outside. The rate of 128% above treasury rate is just 1% higher than the rate of 127% which was offered in January 1983. Although issuing the ten year note increases debt, it does not involve a negotiation of interest rate; neither does it consider the level of debt currently available. Arley Merchandise would only be paying interest o n the notes which is fixed. Interest expense is an allowable deduction for tax purposes. If the company decides to pay divide pay dividend in the future it would be a less advantageous option to investors. Furthermore, the ten year note is a less risky option for investors as they have prior claim over shareholders should the company go into bankruptcy. It would therefore attract more investors to buy the company’s shares. The fact that it pays interest quarterly makes it even better.

What is Relativism History of Relativism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

What is Relativism History of Relativism - Essay Example Relativism therefore essentially argues that different point of views which are argued against and in favor of are equally valid and the difference only arises due to different perceptions and considerations of individuals. Relativism however, comprises of a body of knowledge and different point of views with common theme that some central aspects of our existence are actually relative to some other things. Issues such as moral principles, justifications are considered as relative to other variables such as the language, culture as well as biological make-up. It also suggests that our own cognitive biases towards certain issues actually restrict our ability to view things objectively therefore this bias can be contained towards wherever we use our senses. As such, relativitism suggests that our existence is actually situated into our cultural and linguistic contexts therefore our perceptions about truth can be relative.( Wisman, 1990) Universalism, however, deals with one universal truth and has religious and theological foundations also. Different religions including Christianity and Islam endorse the concept of one universal truth and reality. Universalism therefore can be used to identify the particular doctrines concerning the formation of all people. This paper will focus upon describing and exploring relativitism in details while also arguing whether it is defensible and can be reconciled with universalism or not. History of Relativism It is suggested that there are no significant philosophers who ever can be considered as relativists. However, the history of relativism dates back to Greek era when Protagoras of Abdera believes to have put forward a simple version of relativism in his treatise Truth. Protagoras outlined that all human beings are measure of all things and to things they belong and to things they don’t belong they don’t. Apparently, Protagoras was of the view that human beings are creatures which can be associated with certain things and a person is a measure of how he associates with those things. Protagoras went on to say that to me a wind may seem cold or hot but to you it may be different.( Rorty,1991) It is critical to understand that Greek were aware of the cultural differences since 50 Century BCE and onwards. Herodotus even went on to discuss the cultural differences and biases people of India and Persia held and suggested that if you were to ask them what are the best laws, they would probably mention their own laws as the best. Similar, references are also made in other literature wherein it was critically outlined that no behavior can be shameful if it is not to the person who is practicing it. Further, arguments were also presented regarding different conceptions of God.( Lutz,1991) Protagoras was considered as the first official voice in relativism though very little is known about him. Most of his teachings are presented as reference in the works of Plato. Plato interpreted his most of the work wherein he argued that each thing appear to me so it as to me and each thing appear to you so it is to you. Protagoras also discussed about the truth and how it appears to others. It has been argued that during recent times, four important schools of thoughts emerged in rel ativism which have actually challenged the traditional view about It is suggested that relativistic motives appear almost everywhere in philosophy and that the relativists have been able to keep many thinkers captive of their ideas despite the fact that relativistic arguments often lead to implausible conclusions. Much of 20th century thought on the relativism has been focused upon presenting the issue more coherently rather than further refining its fundamental principles. The initial focus was on the diversity of the

Professional Perspectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Professional Perspectives - Essay Example The main objective of co-educators is to ensure that a group heterogeneous student understands instructions effectively (Perez, 2012). Contrariwise, co-educators differences results to lack of collegial interactions of strategies, which leads to a poor instructional program. Philosophy Statement on Co-Teaching It is hard for co-educators to meet diversified students’ needs with differing professional perspectives, which negatively affect professional interactions in the development of effective strategies to ensure that all student needs are satisfied including those with disabilities. A colleague with a different perspective from mine will be of more disadvantages than advantages in terms of collegial support towards meeting student needs and formulation of effective strategies. I am profound on the professional interactions as well as my co-educator’s characteristics and needs. The concepts of an effective exchange of plans and consultation in implementing a curriculu m that gratifies all student needs are central to my philosophy of co-teaching. Collegial support that offers a different input towards my plans demonstrates the absence of diversity based teamwork towards a long lasting co-teaching (Specialconnections.ku.edu, n.d.). I believe that co-teaching has to involve a number of co-teachings activities such as exploring skills that educators require to collaborate successfully. However, in a case whereby my co-educator differs with every slight perception I have towards a learning environment, it is challenging to implement co-planning in a classroom. I love learning new things, and it would be god of my o-educator to equip me with new instructional techniques. Nonetheless, my co-educator has to assimilate my perspectives and together develop strategies towards effective co-teaching opposed to a situation where none of our professional perspective is common. I believe that adaptability, dedication, collaboration, and positive collegial suppo rt are the key aspects towards effective consultations on issues affecting students because of diversity rather than focusing on the differences that may exist between my co-educator and me. Different professional perspectives should be utilized as a tool of every co-educator self-reflection to realize his/her weakness and strengths concerning the ability to work as teamwork (Perez, 2012). The success of an inclusive classroom depends on the parity portrayed by the partnership of both educators, which must show the presence of a teaching practice based on effective collaboration and support. Viewpoint Description on Co-Teaching The most important aspect for effective consultations in handling students’ needs in co-teaching is the partnership between two co-educators. Each co-educator perspective on co-teaching is a complicated set of actions and intentions with unique criteria for evaluating strategies that are right and wrong. Our roles and the idealized self-image as co-edu cators are determined professional perspectives. Moreover, perspectives provide the basis to which co-educators can reflect on the co-teaching practice (Beninghof, 2012). The moment I consult with a co-educator who believes as I do, an immediacy of communication is established as well as the feeling of being understood. However, a colleague that believes in a truly different way from mine evokes a

BUSINESS ORGANISATION AND POLICY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

BUSINESS ORGANISATION AND POLICY - Essay Example Growth in supermarket retailing is largely a product of this industry moving away from traditional business practices to become more market-oriented. Narver & Slater (1990) define market-oriented firms as those that restructure their operational capabilities and broadcast organisational intelligence in relation to customers and competition. These activities include restructuring distribution channels and improving operational models with a larger focus on advertising and promotion. Market-oriented firms, such as Tesco and Sainsbury (as two examples), have better internal processes to improve product variety and deliver on superior customer value through a variety of marketing practices directly related to consumer behaviour and consumer purchasing needs. In most consumer behaviour models, many different food products are considered latent needs: needs which are not always recognised by the consumer until it has been brought to their attention through advertising (Schultz, Tannenbaum & Allison 1996). Latent products are such things as frozen foods and frozen novelties. Where once these products were left to the consumers’ discretion after they had entered the food retailer, now they are being exposed to multiple marketing messages that provide perceptions of value, price or even convenience through targeted advertising and various internal or external promotions. This shift in advertising presence, either through the grocery outlet or through the product manufacturers themselves has brought considerable growth to names such as Asda and Tesco. Many supermarkets are also extending their corporate social responsibility efforts to make their store brand appear superior to customers in multiple market segments. Some supermarkets are using advertising to promote the importance of reusing different shopping bags for

Resolving personal and organizational conflict Essay

Resolving personal and organizational conflict - Essay Example The application of the conflict triangle can be seen as part of the situation in the way the presence of its three interrelated dimensions is undeniable; substance, procedure and relationship. The substantive dimension is a reflection of the concrete content of the conflict; that is, to be closer to my husband’s family and friends we will have to move to his home country whereas if I want to get my PhD from here. The other dimension is that of the procedural dimension which depicts the process that is used to make the decision. This can be the intense long talks that we have, the number of pros and cons lists which we have made over the course of this entire conflict and the conversations that have taken place; all of which that have been conducted with the intent of solving this problem. The last dimension is that of the relationship which encompasses our reactions, attitudes, power and most of all the intimacy and intensity of the bond we share as husband and wife where the conflict has a great impact on the course our life and relationship takes. The progress that we make on one dimension will have a critical impact the others. This can be seen in the way the procedural dimension, our constant conversations leading to no resolution, having an impact on our relationship.The position of the parties can be seen in the roles which I and my husband occupy in our marriage. We both fulfill the role of providers since the both of us have jobs. My husband is adamant that we move back.... number of pros and cons lists which we have made over the course of this entire conflict and the conversations that have taken place; all of which that have been conducted with the intent of solving this problem. The last dimension is that of the relationship which encompasses our reactions, attitudes, power and most of all the intimacy and intensity of the bond we share as husband and wife where the conflict has a great impact on the course our life and relationship takes. The progress that we make on one dimension will have a critical impact the others. This can be seen in the way the procedural dimension, our constant conversations leading to no resolution, having an impact on our relationship. The position of the parties can be seen in the roles which I and my husband occupy in our marriage. We both fulfill the role of providers since the both of us have jobs. We contribute equally towards the paying of bills and various household necessities. I take classes as well and will cont inue to do so as I want to do my PhD. My husband works full time and our relationship is relatively balanced in the way we both contribute to the completion of the household chores. We have one child so other than our jobs and my studies we devote the rest of the time for each other and have been a happy family for the past years. As far as our interests are concerned we usually manage our disagreements by finding common ground and quarrel infrequently. However our divergent interest as far as the current situation is concerned is a source of great unease for me. My husband is adamant that we move back to his home with his family now that I have completed my masters. We had initially planned to move back once I had graduated however I had always assumed that since we had settled so well and

Answer the three discussion questions Assignment - 1

Answer the three discussion questions - Assignment Example Despite the rising level of crime, there are several impediment that block efforts to reduce crime. First, poverty is a significant force that curtails efforts to reduce crime. in some third world countries, poverty motivates citizens into engaging in crime. Second, corruption is another ill that allows criminals to roam in the open as they bribe police enforcement agencies from arresting them. Lastly, poor reforms and infrastructure are reasons that have contributed to lack of adequate measures to combat crime in many third world countries. Increased crime rates have significant political impact in third world countries. With high crime rates, governments have to build more prisons, increase sentencing structures and execute police reforms (Clear, Cole & Reisig, 2010). These efforts are critical in containing rising crime, but it also draws significant amount of taxpayers’ money. Increased crime is therefore, a force that has a severe political implication in third world countries. Virtual private networks offer organizations with security over public infrastructures that are unsecure. In a virtual private network, organizations use tunneling and security procedures to protect user data from hackers during transport. When organization uses the internet as a medium of connecting their systems, they face security risks such as eavesdropping (Whitman, & Mattord, 2012). However, a virtual private network use unsecured network to provide organizations with encryption that protects their data from hackers. An implementation of VPN, secures data transfers between remote locations. Organization networks play a significant role, but lack of security policies can lead to network breaches. In most cases, some organizations lack appropriate policies that govern how users utilize network infrastructure. As the e-Activity outlines, lack of proper regulations on the use of network infrastructure allowed the attack on the network. In the future, the use of network

The Vigilance Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The Vigilance Project - Essay Example Being in a group, an individual feels as integral part of a team which enhances his or her self-worth. 4. Realistic is conflict â€Å"based on scarce resources†; symbolic conflict is conflict â€Å"based on values and beliefs†. Realist conflicts take place between groups over scarce resources in a competitive environment. Symbolic conflicts occur due to different perspectives regarding values and ideas which give rise to conflicts in goal persuasion. 5. The leadership paradox is best stated as â€Å"The fact that teams usually need leaders, but the very presence of a leader threatens the autonomy of a team†. Instead of making a team more productive, a leader may end up being a hindrance if he overuses his power (Thomson, 2004, p.309). 6. The three types of team coaching include â€Å"ability, coordination, motivation†. Motivation enhances team commitment, coordination helps people to work together, and educational coaching increases skills and abilities of team members (Levi, 2010, p.178). 7. Teams that are underbounded â€Å"Have many external ties, but cannot bring its members together†; in contrast, teams that are overbounded â€Å"have high loyalty but an inability to integrate with others†. Overbounded teams are highly cohesive and so members can work in more coordinated manner than underbounded teams (Hackman, 2011, p.79). 11. According to the empirical research on convergent and divergent thinking, â€Å"Groups are better than individuals at divergent thinking; individuals are better than groups at convergent thinking†. This is because in the former effort is to find single solution to a problem while in the latter effort is to find multiple solutions to a problems which can be more effective in a group (Salkind, 2005, p.309). 12. The key threats to creativity include all of the following, except â€Å"social striving†. Social striving means individuals can exhibit maximum performance when working as part of a group, and this can enhance

Four Diamond Essay Example for Free

Four Diamond Essay Embassy Suites Cleveland in Beachwood, Ohio is a hotel with 216 rooms. The hotel is self proclaimed as beautiful, modern, and spacious. The hotel also claims to be rated as a â€Å"Four Diamond† hotel. The hotel offers some great amenities like, family rooms, room service, free breakfast, a fitness center, a swimming pool, a restaurant, meeting rooms, non-smoking rooms, etc. I stayed at this hotel about two years ago, and the appearance of the hotel is nice but if you look a little harder you will find some major flaws. Although claimed as a great hotel and with abundant amenities, my experience at this hotel was horrible because the hotel has a bug infestation, mechanical problems throughout the building, and the management and service they provided was poor. While visiting at the Embassy Suites in Beachwood, Ohio, with my family and a whole hockey team, I came across some problems. First I was in my hotel room when I discovered a small cockroach, and after bringing this to the manager’s attention, she plead I did not tell the rest of the team member and their families. The management agreed to wash all of our belongings and give us a new room because the surrounding hotels were all booked out. So we agreed, we returned from a hockey game only to find we were not move to a new room yet. The manager apologized and were only able to give us a room two doors down from the original one. When we arrived at our new room we opened the door, clicked the light on and there were two, large cockroaches on the ceiling. We contacted the manager once again, this time she was in tears apologizing and due to the other local hotels being so full we had to stay. The manager moved us again, this time five rooms in the other direction, this room had no cockroaches but the heat didn’t work. We just wanted extra blankets, so we called to the front desk for them and they sent us blankets and somebody to check out our heat, but come to find out he was just the security guard who openly admitted he had no idea how to fix the heater. There are many reasons why I would suggest never to visit the Embassy Suites in Beachwood, Ohio. the first reason is they are infested with cockroaches. Cockroaches were not just spotted once but on several times while I was there. Cockroaches are hard to get rid of and is a sign that this hotel is not clean and has not been clean for a long time. Another reason I would never suggest this establishment, is because the management does not know how to handle problems. The management should be trained to handle problems like the ones I can across while there. Management should not cry when embarrassed of their facility and they should be tentative to unsatisfied guest. The last reason why I would not suggest visiting this hotel would be because there was not only a cleanliness problem with the building but the building had not heat in the middle of February and the main elevator was broken the whole time I was there. The heat was more of a problem than it usually would be because the simple solution would be just get more blankets, but then the cleanliness of the blankets and the cockroach problem come into play again. Some of the other reviews people have left are quite similar to my experience. One of the reviews that struck me was listed on http://www. tripadvisor. com, the review reads as â€Å"from beginning to end, our experience with this hotel was poor. I have found Embassy Suites to be relatively clean, efficient and user-friendly. I will be brief: we found a bedbug in one of our rooms, our car got keyed in the parking lot, there were no towels in the gym or pool area, the functions at the hotel were too loud and went on too late, and the quality of the rooms was poor with many showing obvious water damage. The worst part was the reaction from management. † If you are ever heading to the Cleveland, Ohio area I suggest you never stay at this hotel. After reading many reviews that correlate with my experience, I know my experience was not just an isolated incident. The Embassy Suites has a number of problems and according to the recent reviews I have read, this hotel is not working very hard to correct their awful service.

State Sponsored Terrorist Organization

State Sponsored Terrorist Organization Wesley L. Metcalf According to Taylor Swanson (2016) State, terrorism is defined as Terrorism committed by a national government, inside of its national borders and directed at its citizens and sometimes visitors. The idea behind this type of terrorism is to instill fear into the countrys citizens to coerce them into following a new rule of law. State -sponsored terrorism is where states use terrorist groups as proxies to further their agenda in international affairs. State-enabled terrorism is where states tolerate the presence of terrorists in the country so long as they only attack other states and citizens of other states. The ideologies of the left-wing movement or terrorism are to overthrow the economic, political and social structure of a society and replace it with one developed on Marxist-Leninist principles. They believe in in a single class society where the rich are stripped of their wealth and power and redistributed to the poor. (Taylor Swanson, 2016) The Right-wing movement or terrorist ideologies are very conservative in nature. Their views are varied among different factions within the Right-wing movement in that some discriminate against race and ethnicity, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT), and religious groups such as Muslims. They also share views or beliefs such as politicians, and political parties do not properly represent them, the constitution is being subverted, the government cannot be trusted and is eating away at individual freedoms, and that the government is part of a plot to institute a one world government on US citizens. A country that was designated as a State-sponsor of a terrorist group would be Afghanistan. Afghanistan has given sanctuary and support to the terrorist group Al-Qaida and was listed on the state terrorism list by the United States. Their support has been to give Al-Qaida operatives a place to hide and operate to conduct terrorist acts both in and outside the borders of Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda still operates out of Afghanistan to this day even though the Taliban had been removed from government. According to the website Global policy forum (2017), there have been over 16 different sanctions aimed at Afghanistan and members of Al-Qaida ranging in dates beginning in October 1999 through June 2011. These sanctions were imposed by the United Nations (UN) and fully backed by the United States. Yes, Afghanistan provides a haven for Al-Qaida and the Taliban. I base my answer on the fact that because of the size of the country, its terrain, and its current small size of security forces, there are not enough personnel to monitor the largely unprotected areas where the groups mentioned above can operate and move about undetected. I do not believe Afghanistan has a chance of being taken off the state sponsors of terrorism list. I feel that because of the makeup of its current governing body they will always have sympathizers who believe in the ideologies of the radical groups Al-Qaida and the Taliban. And these sympathizers will do what they can to give haven to the fore mentioned groups above. Afghanistan is considered to be a Failed state. The reason its a failed state is that Afghanistan has a corrupt governing body that lacks the ability to provide basic services to its citizens, it currently depends on support from the US and allied forces to help maintain governing control. Should the US and Allied forces leave the region, it would create a vacuum within the governing body making it susceptible to a coup or governmental overthrow. The state has been in some type and form of conflict continuously since 2001. The size of the country, its mountainous terrain, and the strength of its security forces makes it impossible to protect and secure its borders. Some of the population loyal to the Taliban and Al-Qaida resents the government for allowing US and Allied forces to operate inside Afghanistan borders. The Secretary of State makes the determination of Any country or State that has repeatedly or consistently provided support for or actively Committed acts of international terrorism will be placed on the list of Sponsored nations. The four waves of terrorism are as follows Anarchist wave, the anti-colonial wave, the new left- wave, and the religious wave. The group I have chosen (Al-Qaida) relates in the following ways. As an anarchist wave, Al-Qaida operates as an anti-authoritarian to the current governing body and considers themselves to be a revolutionary force that exists to bring in the rule of Sharia law. As an anti-colonial wave, Al-Qaida has resorted to terrorist types acts to try and overthrow the current governing body and to try to break the will and the spirit of the US and its allies to want to give up and leave Afghanistan. The new left-wave does not apply in my opinion to how Al-Qaida operates. Al-Qaida, in my opinion, is the poster child for the religious wave, their whole desire is to instill the strict laws of the Koran, and ridding the world of those whom the laws of the Koran deem as unworthy or infidels. Bottom line they believe in a religious based extermination that if youre not Muslim, you are to be removed from the face of the earth. References Gunaratna, R. (2002). Inside Al Qaeda. Global Network of Terror. New York: Columbia University Press T Taylor, R.W, Swanson C.R. (2016) Terrorism, Intelligence, and Homeland Security. Boston, Columbus, Global Policy Forum (2017). Retrieved from Global Policy Forum: https://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/index-of-countries-on-the-security-council-agenda/sanctions/49069.html

Effects of multitasking on human physiological

Effects of multitasking on human physiological It is believed by scientists that rather than simultaneous attending to all tasks at once, what really happens during multitasking is a rapid change of focus between tasks. While research supports the fact that highly practiced skills can be easily performed while one is thinking about something else, but the addition of a task that requires decision making switches ones attention to that task. When people perform higher level tasks, they are using the cognitive function called executive control This function is housed in prefrontal cortex. The part of the brain associated with perception and thinking. Executive control is the brains supervisor for most cognitive functioning. It establishes priorities, decides what tasks are the most important, and assigns mental resources to completing the tasks. Executive control has 2 main activities: goal shifting and rule activation. Although these activities take only several tenths of a second, the repeated need to switch between tasks can add extra time for performing both tasks. Management of short term memory is another fundamental aspect of multitasking. C:UsersShreyaDesktopmultitasking flowchart_files2780600401001.png Factors affecting multitasking behaviours and information task switching. Brain: We are learning a lot more each day. Advance of brain imaging and functional brain imaging (what our brain does when we challenge it) has clarified us to what happens when we multitask. Our brains are not very adapted for multiple streams of information at the same time but rather focussing at a paticular direction. When we do things that require a great deal of attention as compared to walking while chewing gum what happens is we switch between two things. And with each switch there is cost of performance that occurs. A surprising discovery tells us that people who multitask most frequently think they are the best at it. But actually thay are the worst at any important task at multitasking. One might question then what are the so called multitaskers good at? A study revealed that when we talk on phone while driving we get better at it with time. What actually happens is that they filter out the road as they are involved in a conversation. As ironically high multitaskers are bad at filtering out the road actually see the road more and drive a little better. Swithching of attention occurs in a region right behind the forehead called Brodmanns Area 10 in the brains anterior prefrontal cortex as seen in MRI. Area 10 is part of the frontal lobes, which are important for maintaining long-term goals and achieving them . The most anterior part allows us to leave something when its incomplete and return to the same place and continue from there.This gives us a form of multitasking, which is actually sequential processing. Because the prefrontal cortex is one of the last regions of the brain to mature and one of the first to decline with aging, young children do not multitask well, and neither do most adults over 60. Addiction: Its our desire and need to be engaged to novelty, its well known that novel stimuli or enviorment arouse the reward system and this is part of what allowed us to be engaged by novelty. Multitasking has a higher novel load and to continiously switch to a new task feels exciting. This sort of interaction with multitasking leads to addictive levels in people. And people crave for this type of stimuli. Research reveals that most high multitaskers believe that new information is better than old information.Where as low multitaskers believe that the information they are working with is more valuable.It is seen that younger people look at information because they feel something thrilling is happening out there, for older people who check their e-mails dont want to get away. Stress and hormonal activity: Whenever demands exceed abilities, stress is bound to follow. Multitasking is espicially stressful when the tasks are important, as they often are on the job. Its said that brain responds to impossible demands by pumping out adrenaline and other stress hormones that put a person on edge. These hormoes provide a quick burst of energy wont make multitasking easier. Just like an old pickup cant go 150 miles per hour no matter how much fuel you put in he tank or how hard you step on the gas. Over time of stress of multitasking may even become dangerous. Results show that a steady flow stress hormones can strain the body and threaten the health. As recently reported by the American National Institute for Occupational Saftey and Health, numerous studies found out that on-the-job stress can cause headache, stomach problems and sleep disorders. Chronic work-related problems can lead to chronic problems includind back pain, hear disease and depression. Studies reveal that our bodies release hormone called cortisol during stress, caused due to multitasking. Cortisol is needed to carry out various functions in the body but incresed levels of cortisol results in high BP, sleep problems, weakness of immune system, imbalances in blood sugar levels etc. Thinking: Deep hard thinking, the type required when we write a paprer or read a complicated news story, has been tremendiously compromised . Multitasking either prevents you to do that or wonderfully allows us to avoid it. Hearing: Broadbents theory of selective attention, is based on his dichotic listening experiments that required his subjects to shadow speech messages in one ear while ignoring the messages in the other ear. Broadbent concluded that little if any content from the non attended ear is remembered. From these observations Broadbent proposed that there is limited porcessing channel that information is filtered through from a sensory porcessing stage on its way to a short-term memory store or buffer. From here information may be processed further before being transmitted into a long-term memory store. When this channel becomes over loaded, such as in dichotic listening experiments, some of the information is filtered out while other information is selected for further processing.The filtering mechanism selects inputs based on different physical cues from the stimulus input, such as location in space, and/or frequency. Vocal music can be distracting while instrumental music can aid in learning as it helps funnel out distractions in few people. Memory: Various experiments are conducted where participants are asked to learn a list of words presented visually while listening for the occurrence of certain digit strings presented through the adiutory channel. They are then tested for memory of the word list. Different variations have been investigated including different modalities, the same modalities, task difficulty, the effects of practice, the effects of eother primary or secondary task on performance, and testing during encoding and reterival. Almost without exception performance on one or both tasks suffers a decrement as a direct result of having to perform the two tasks simultaneously. Beeps in study disrupted declerative memory (eg. When we recall what we did last weekend).For tasks performed with distractions hippocampus of the barin was not involved (necessay for processing, storing and recalling information. But infact the straitum was involved. Straitum is a part of brain system that underlies our ability to mearn new skills. Multitasking makes it more likely to rely on striatum to learn. Thus multitasking changes the way people think. Vision: In an investigation performed by Australian College of Road Saftey interaction between visual impairment and multitasking was performed. It revealed that multitasking (like talking on the phone or using in-vehicle navigational devices) had a significant detrimental impact upon driving performances. Multi-tasking further exacerbated the effects of visual impairment, where the visual dual task had a greater detrimental effect on driving performance than the auditory dual task (p Motor activity: An experiment was performed to find out the effects of multitasking on muscle activity . Muscles of the upper extremity were examined.The thesis inspected concurrent grip and shoulder extensions with additional and simultaneous demands of task precision and mental processing. It concluded that incerased mental loads, when combined with physical work, have the potential to interfere with task performance and likely elicit elevated levels of muscle activity. Some research shows the relationship between stimulation and performance forms a bellcurve: a little stimulationwhether its coffee or a blaring soundtrackcan boostperformance, but too much is stressful and causes a fall-off.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Essay -- To Kill a Mockingbird Essa

It’s interesting to see the ways different authors depict how a character matures. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird we can easily see how she chose to do it. The novel is set in Alabama in the 1930’s, while black vs. white racism was a big issue and problem for many. Atticus is the father of Scout and Jem, young children who witness the discrimination first hand when their father, a white man, defends a black man in court. Lee does a great job developing the characters; especially the narrator, Jean Louise Finch (Scout). Scout’s thoughts, conversations, and actions, illustrate that she’s emotionally maturing from the innocent child that she was. Through Scout’s thoughts, it’s obvious that she is growing up. Readers can see this early in the novel in chapter six. Jem and Scout weren’t as close as they used to be mostly because Jem was maturing suddenly and fast. He and Dill started leaving Scout out because she was too â€Å"girly†. Scout doesn’t like this at first when she says, â€Å"It was then I suppose that Jem and I first began to part company. Sometimes I did not understand him, but my periods of bewilderment were short-lived† (61). The fact that she accepts this, something not many young girls would do, shows that she too is maturing a bit. Thoughts that show Scout is maturing also come near the end of the novel. Although Atticus would always tell her to stand in other’s shoes and see things from their point of view, it never really came through to her. Not until she stands on Boo Radley’s porch after he saves her and Jem from Bob Ewell. She states, â€Å"A tticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough† (297). Standing on the porch lets Scout finally see things from Boo Radley’s point of view. Earlier in the novel, she was terrified every time she passed the house. Now as she stands on his porch, the way that she sees things has changed. The reader must realize that Scout herself has changed as well. As well as thoughts, the conversations and interactions between Scout and other characters show how she is mentally and emotionally aging. Near the end is where it’s more obvious that Scout has matured. After the Finch’s are safe from Bob Ewell, they go back to the house with the s... ... after all this behavior: "I ran along, wondering what had come over her. She had wanted to make up with me, that was it. She had always been too hard on me, she had at last seen the error of her fractious ways, she was sorry and too stubborn to say so." (29). This proves that Scout always thought that Calpurnia never liked her and that she didn't care about her, and that she deserves and accepts Cal's apology which is not what she would’ve done earlier in the beginning of the novel. Through Scout’s relationships, choices and actions, as well as the way she narrated the novel allows the readers to really see what kind of character Scout is and how she matured greatly. It’s surprising that we see it starting as early as page 29, and Lee does a wonderful job weaving it in through the story. When the novel is finished, it’s amazing how readers could glance right over the fact that Scout had matured, however they really have to look at how the author of any book, Harper Lee in this case, analyzes the characters through speech, thoughts, and actions. By the end of the novel Scout had grown up immensely, a very important step in everyone’s life.

Essay on the Dynamic Relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Dynamic Relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth  Ã‚   An important factor in Shakespeare’s tragic play, Macbeth is the changing relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth throughout the play. At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is the dominant character in the relationship. As the play progresses the roles seem to reverse and Macbeth becomes the more dominant of the two. We can gain insight into the changing relationship by looking at the interaction of the couple. The first time in the play where we can make reference about their relationship and their individual personalities in the relationship is in Act 1, Scene 5, where we first meet Lady Macbeth. She is seen alone reading a letter out loud, which Macbeth has written to her. It is telling her of his visit from the witches. The letter told how the weird sisters had come to him and Banquo on their way home after battle and how they also made it appear to him as though they could read his thoughts and how they tormented him with riddles. They showed him that they had the power of prophecy and they said that he would become the Thane of Cawdor and then king. They made him believe that his greatest prize, being king, was near and Macbeth who was already experiencing the desire to be king willingly listened to the witches. Lady Macbeth desperately wanted to become queen and when the king made Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor they both thought the weird sisters must be right and he would become king. When the question was vaguely brought up of killing Duncan to get the throne Lady Macbeth worked on this idea and in her eyes it seemed to be a good idea. Lady Macbeth then went about trying to persuade Macbeth into killing Duncan even though he clearly didn’t want to. ... ...86. Hugget, Richard. Supernatural on Stage: The Curse of Macbeth: Its Origins, Background, and History. New York: Taplinger Publishing Co, 1975. 153-211. Lewis, William Dodge. Shakespeare Said It. Syracuse: Syracuse University, 1961. Quincey, Thomas De essay from Harris, Laurie Lanzen, and Scott, Mark W. ed. "The Tragedy of Macbeth." Shakespearean Criticism, Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1986. Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992. Traversi, D. A. essay from Harris, Laurie Lanzen, and Scott, Mark W. ed. "The Tragedy of Macbeth." Shakespearean Criticism, Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1986. Wells, Stanley, and Taylor Gary. ed. The Oxford Shakespeare, The Complete Works: Macbeth. By William Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. 975-999.   

The arithmetic checks

The arithmetic checks must be done for all leveling calculations When establishing the heights of new Tabs and other important points, only BBS and FSP should be taken and the rise and fall method should be used. The HIP method of calculation can be much quicker when a lot of intermediate sights have been taken and it is a good method to use when mapping or setting out where many readings are often taken room a single instrument position. A disadvantage of the HIP method is that the check on reduced levels calculated from IS can be lengthy and there is a tendency for it to be omitted.Precision of leveling As with all techniques used in engineering surveying it is important to estimate how accuracy of the measurements taken. An assessment of the quality of leveling can be made by calculating the enclosure for a line of levels. This is determined by comparing the reduced level of the closing bench mark with the level obtained for it by calculation from the staff readings. On constructi on sites ND other engineering projects, leveling is usually carried out over short distances and it can involve a lot of instrument positions.The allowable enclosure for a line of levels is given by: Allowable enclosure = ? ± m n Where, m is a constant and n is the number of instrument positions used. The value most often used for m is mm When the enclosure obtained from staff readings is compared to the allowable enclosure, if miniscule is greater than the allowable value the leveling is rejected and must be repeated. If the enclosure is less than the allowable value the leveling s accepted and the leveling is adjusted. The value of m depends on the site conditions.For example if the levels found are to be used for earth work excavations m might be mom. For setting out steel and concrete structures excavations m might be mm. In some cases m is specified in the contract documents. Specifications for leveling are also given in: BOSSES: building setting out and measurement ICE Desig n and Practice Guide: The management of setting out in construction BOSSES: Guide to accuracy in building Sources of error in leveling There are three main groups of errors that can occur when leveling.The most common errors fall into one of the following groups: 1. Errors in the equipment 2. Field or on-site errors 3. The effects of curvature and refraction on leveling Errors in the equipment Collimation error This can be a serious error in leveling if the sight lengths from one instrument position are not types of leveling all types of leveling, sight lengths should be kept equal, particularly back sights and fore sights and before using any level it is advisable to carry out a two-peg test to ensure the collimation error is within acceptable limits.Compensator not working For an automatic or digital level, the compensator is hacked by moving a foot screw slightly off level, by tapping the telescope gently or by pushing the compensator check lever to ensure that a reading remains constant. If any of the checks fail then the compensator is not working properly and needs to be repaired. Parallax This effect must be eliminated before staff readings are taken. Defects of the staff The base of the staff should be checked to see if it has become worn – if this is the case then the staff has a zero error.This does not affect height differences if the same staff is used for all the leveling, but introduces errors if two tiffs are being used for the same series of levels. When using multi-section staff, it is important to ensure that it is properly extended by examining the graduations on the other side of each section as it is extended. If any of the sections become loose the staff should be returned for repair. Tripod defects The stability of tripods should be checked before any fieldwork commences by testing to see if the tripod head is secure and that the base of each leg are secure.Field or on-site errors Staff not vertical As the staff is used to measure a vertical difference between the ground and the plane of collimation, failure to hold he staff vertical will give an incorrect readings. Since the staff is held vertical with the aid of a vertical bubble, this should be checked at frequent intervals and adjusted if necessary. Unstable ground When the instrument is set up on soft ground and bituminous surfaces on hot days, an effect that is often overlooked is that the tripod legs may sink into the ground or rise slightly when the reading is being taken.This then will alter the height of collimation and it is advisable to choose firm ground on which to set up the level and the tripod, and to ensure that the tripod is pushed ell into the ground. Handling the instrument and tripod As well as the vertical displacement, the plane of collimation of a level may be altered for any set-up if the tripod is held or leant against. When leveling, avoid contact with the tripod and only use the level by light contact.Instrument not level For aut omatic and digital levels this source of error is unusual, but for a tilting level in which the tilting screw has to be adjusted for each reading, this is a common mistake. The best procedure here is to ensure that the main bubble is centralized before and after the reading is taken. Reading and cooking errors Many mistakes can be made during the booking of staff readings taken with an automatic or tilting level, and the general rule is that staff readings must be carefully entered into the leveling table or field book immediately after reading.Weather conditions In strong winds, a level can become unusable because the line of sight is always moving and it is also difficult to hold the staff steady. For these reasons, it is not possible to take reliable readings under these conditions which should be avoided when leveling. And other hard surfaces to ensure that the base of the staff remains at the same eight in between a back sight and fore sight. When the tripod is set up in soft g round or on tarmac on hot days it may sink into the ground or rise slightly when readings are taken.This alters the height of collimation and causes errors. Try to set the level up on firm ground and always push the tripod legs well into the ground. The height of collimation may be altered if the tripod is held or pressed down Do not lean on the level, If the tripod is knocked it is necessary to re-level the instrument and repeat all the readings taken from that instrument position. Marking or recording the session of each change point on a long line of levels is advisable. If this is not done and the tripod is knocked all of the leveling will have to be repeated.Curvature and refraction Over long distances level and horizontal lines through an instrument will diverge because level lines follow the curvature of the Earth. This is a possible source of error in leveling since all readings are taken along horizontal lines instead of level lines. The difference between a horizontal and level line is know as curvature and is given by c = 0. 0785 DO Where, c = curvature in meters, D = sighting distance in km The correction for length of sight of mom is less than 1 mm. This correction is ignored for most leveling. The effect of refraction of the line of sight is to bend it towards the Earth.This is also ignored in most leveling. Whatever sight lengths are used, the effects of curvature and refraction will cancel if the sight lengths are equal. How to Reduce the Chance of Errors Occurring Leveling should always start and finish at bench marks so that enclosures can be detected. When only one bench mark is available, leveling lines must be run in loops starting and finishing at the name bench mark Where possible, all sights lengths should be below 50 m. The staff must be held vertically by suitable use of a circular bubble or by rocking the staff and noting the minimum reading.BBS and FSP lengths should be kept equal for each instrument position. For engineering applic ations, many intermediate sights may be taken from each set- up – under these circumstances it is important that the level has no more than a small collimation error. For automatic and tilting levels, staff readings should be booked immediately after they are observed. Use a digital level where possible as it sakes staff readings automatically The rise and fall method of reduction should be used when weighting reference or control points and the HIP method should be used when setting out.Other leveling methods Inverted leveling This is a leveling technique that is used to obtain the heights of points above the line of sight such as ceilings and undersides of bridges. To obtain these, the staff is held upside down in an inverted position with its base on the elevated points. An inverted staff reading is booked in a level table procedure is followed taking into account the minus sign. Never use an inverted staff eating as a change point because it is difficult to keep the staff in the same place for more than one reading.Exam Question: Supplement 2006 SQ A client has asked for an as-constructed drawing of a recently built industrial building. As part of the survey the following series of levels are taken. Prepare a report for the client showing the reduced levels of the manhole inverts and the calculated gradients on the sewer lines, and the soft levels on the building gutters. Example 2 Lets repeat the reduced levels part of the previous exam question assuming we were asked to use the rise and fall method instead

Ethical Dilemma in Hiv Counselling Cases Essay

I have a client whom I know to be HIV positive. I also know that he is sexually active and has not told any of his partners about this. Isn’t it my ethical responsibility to inform someone that he is, in effect, dangerous to others? Even if I am not a counselor, I would not be able to live with the fact that I have such an information and am putting some other life at risk. As a medical doctor, I was also bound by my Hippocrates oath to serve and bring no harm to others, â€Å"I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice. (Edelstein,1967) By law I must abide by the rules set by the act and by the counseling board. There are 4 matters that I may need to breach (ACA , 1995) : 1. homicidal thoughts 2. abuse cases/ minor 3. suicide cases 4. court order What is ethics? Ethics is a process of considering right and wrong, in which a choice of behaviour is shaped. I would also imply it as Moral for a common place term and is sometimes contrasted with ethics which is considered an academic discussion of ideals. (Herlihy & Corey ,1996. But I will avoid the term â€Å"moral† because it carries the connotation of â€Å"moralism† which many people think as an imposition on ones values or one another. I would rather discuss the process of ethical discernment; the choosing of action, consequences of choices the values of he or she ants to embody in the action. I see this big part of my future as a counselor. Will I be able to live up to the ethical choices made which will not disturb me morally yet it will also cause no detrimental actions to my clients? Based on the Malaysian Counselling Code of Ethics, (1994), as a counsellor I m bound by this code to be responsible to my client. Based on this I will be able to deliberate my choices in whether I will disclose the matter or not. Clause 2 Kaunselor hendaklah menghormati privasi klien dan merahsiakan segala maklumat yang diperolehi semasa kaunseling melainkan jikalau maklumat itu akan membahayakan klien atau orang-orang dipersekitarannya. (Counselors shall respect client privacy and confidentiality of all information obtained during counseling except if the information would harm the client or persons in the immediate. Clause 11 Dalam kes di mana jelas terbukti bahawa klien, mengikut pertimbangan kaunselor menunjukkan dengan jelas, diri klien atau orang Iain berada dalarn keadaan bahaya, kaunselor hendaklah menggunakan budi bicaranya mengambil tindakan wajar untuk menjaga kepentingan klien dan orang lain yang terlibat. (In cases where it is evident that the client, at the discretion of the counselor shows clearly, themselves or the people Iain client is in danger, the counselor should exercise its discretion to take appropriate action to protect the interests of clients and other people involved. By the above clauses, I am morally bound to do the right thing. But I will also analyze further the fear or reservations my client has in this matter. My client is my main focus here. Even though he or her behaviour or disease will be hazardous to the public, but I will need to know why this matter is an issue to be brought up by them. Encouraging HIV-positive patients to disclose their status, especially to their sexual partners was an important challenge faced by the participants. They mentioned that despite the improvement in their counselling skills due to the trainings received and from their work experience, they still faced difficulties convincing some patients to voluntarily inform their partners about their HIV status. The major reason cited was fear of marital problems which included blame, verbal or physical assault, and even divorce. (Mueller . R. , 2007). Based on the above statement, I would see the the refusal to notify the sexual partners being common because these clients were more likely to have been promiscuous prior to their diagnosis. They further had experienced that patients who disclosed their status were more likely to engage in safer sex, had better treatment compliance, and outcomes compared to those who concealed their status. In contrast if the patient still insists on not telling the partner on their situation, even though I am going to still make the report but I will also try to make efforts to educate the client to notify the partners. There would be ways to strategies to encourage and ensure the patient to willingly notify their partner. Part of my strategy would be to; i) couple counselling, even if there is some reluctance to continue. , ii) educating them on the benefits of disclosure, iii) seeking consent from the patients to directly inform their partners in the patients’ presence in scenarios where patients lacked the courage to do so personally, and iv) I would try to contact the people involved in this situation that they are in the possibility of exposure to HIV without releasing the identity of my client (Njozing et al. 2011)

Dyspraxia

The term dyspraxia derives from the Greek work praxis, meaning â€Å"movement process† (Dworkin, 2005). It is a disorder that affects motor skill development. People with dyspraxia have trouble planning and completing fine motor tasks. This can vary from simple motor tasks such as waving goodbye to more complex tasks like brushing teeth. Throughout the years, dyspraxia has also been called congenital maladriotness, developmental coordination disorder, clumsy child syndrome and sensory integration disorder (Hamilton, 2011). The first documented research in â€Å"poor muscular coordination in children† was in 1926 by Louisa Lippitt.She developed a manual for corrective gymnastics for women to help correct coordination problems. Lippitt felt that the coordination issues were a condition of the nervous system and was one of the first to want to treat it with therapeutic measures (Cermak & Larkin, 2002). The term Dyspraxia was first documented and given a name in 1937 in the U. K. by Samuel T. Orton, who called it developmental dyspraxia. He was a neurologist and he felt that dyspraxia was caused by lesions in the brain, especially to the dominate hemisphere of the brain.The technology available at the time could not prove or disprove his theories. Most scientists since have discounted his view, and instead believe it to be a problem with neural connections. Even so, his work was important because he was the first to note that dyspraxia caused problems with complex movement and could involve speech as well as body movements (Platt, 2011). In the USA, dyspraxia was first given recognition in 1947, through the work of Strauss and Lehtinen. They published research and were considered pioneers in the observation of behavioral characteristics of what they termed â€Å"the brain injured child†.Lehtinen was actually one of the first to use the term â€Å"learning disabilities† (Kass & Maddux, 2005). In 1975, people began to call it â€Å"Clumsy Child Syndrome† and children who had the disorder were called â€Å"Clumsy Children†. This term is now considered inappropriate, as it describes the child and not the movement and has negative connotations (Hamilton, 2011). There are four categories of dyspraxia. They include ideomotor dyspraxia, ideational dyspraxia, oromotor dyspraxia and constructional dyspraxia. Ideaomotor dyspraxia is the inability to complete single step motor tasks like waving goodbye or brushing one’s hair.Ideational dyspraxia is difficulty with multi-step tasks like making a bed or buttoning and zipping pants. Oromotor dyspraxia has to do with speech in that it presents itself as a difficulty coordinating the muscle movements needed to say words. Lastly, constructional dyspraxia is difficulty with spatial relationships like moving objects from one place to another (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). Dyspraxia also presents itself differently in different age groups. In babies and young childr en, it can be seen as a difficulty learning to walk or jump.It can also show as a difficulty in speaking and being understood. Also, some young children will be slow to establish left or right handedness. Young children with dyspraxia may seem clumsy and frequently bump into things. Babies and children may be easily irritated by touch, like the feeling of some fabrics on their skin (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). In school aged children, dyspraxia looks a bit different. Students will have trouble with fine motor skills and it exhibits itself as difficulty holding a pencil or holding scissors.These students will also have trouble with sports or gym class due to poor coordination. If they have oromotor issues, they may have slow or difficult to understand speech. These issues often cause social withdrawal because these students feel embarrassed and awkward. This is the age in which students begin to have psychological issues in addition to their dyspraxia (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). I n adults, dyspraxia looks similar, with some slight differences. Adults with oromotor issues will still have speech issues, but it is generally problems with volume, articulation and pitch.Some adults with dyspraxia will have difficulty writing. They may not be able to drive and are still very clumsy. It can also become evident when an adult has difficulty with personal grooming due to motor skill issues. They also continue to have texture issues and sensitivity to touch (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). References Cermak, S. A. & Larkin, D. (2002). Developmental Coordination Disorder. Albany, NY. Delmar, a Division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Dworkin, J. (2005). Apraxia. Gale Encyclopedia of Neurological Disorders. Retrieved from http://www. encyclopedia. com/topic/Apraxia. spx. Hamilton, S. S. (2011). Overview of Developmental Coordination Disorder. Retrieved from http://www. uptodate. com/contents/overview-of-developmental-coordination-disorder. Kass, C. E. and Maddux, C. D. (2005) A H uman Development View of Learning Disabilities: From Theory to Practice. Springfield, IL. Charles C Thomas Publisher, LTD. NCLD Editorial Staff. (2010). What is Dyspraxia? Retrieved from http://www. ncld. org/ld-basics/ld-aamp-language/writing/dyspraxia. Platt, G. (2011). Beating Dyspraxia With a Hop, Skip and a Jump. Philadelphia, PA. Jessica Kinglsey Publishers.

Foundations of Online Learning Essay

We are in an age where electronic devices have consumed our lives. You can’t even think of leaving your home or office without some kind of electronic gizmo. Think of how these electronic devices and technology have changed the way we think, computers and portable devices are doing all the thinking for us. Students today rely on these gizmos and have forgotten about the core fundamentals of learning and are not learning the basic skills. As you read through this research paper I will cover electronics in today’s schooling, lack of penmanship, social bearers, and online schooling. Walk into any school classroom today and they are filled with laptops, projectors, smart boards, and other electronic gizmos. Schools are relying more and more on technology to teach our students. There is nothing wrong with technology, but have strayed a way of teaching the basic fundamentals of spelling and writing. Computers today have embraced our classrooms with kids becoming accustomed to them in everyday life. Between September 1984 and September 1997 alone, the number of computers in America’s K-12 schools increased to more than 8 million units. By 2014 it is expected there will be over one billion computers available to students worldwide. In 1994 only 3% of schools had internet access, by 2005 that number had reached 94% and the ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access in public schools was 3.8 to 1. Even with all these high tech gadgets, children still having to go to computer labs or the back of classrooms (Budig 2010). Books are starting to become a thing of the past as schools look to laptops, tablet, and eBook computers. Tablet computers allow a student to digitally write and erase their work, while allowing a student to also use it as a computer to do word processing, view books and search internet. A laptop just allows a student to do word processing, view books and the internet. Over the last couple of years a new device called an eBook has taken over. It is allowing schools to replace classroom books with one device, the average eBook can store over 160 books saving schools millions of dollars. California spends over 350 million annually on schools books and is looking to eBooks which cost only 300.00 (Tran 2009). Today kids are turning in their pencils for keyboards. Penmanship is starting to become a lost art as schools teach less writing and focus more on computer keyboarding. In 1995 adults were resorting to printing instead of cursive to make their correspondence understood. As of 2002 only a quarter of 12th grade students could write a decent essay. Even worse only 2 percent wrote really well (Brush 2011). In Canada children in first grade are expected to compose and edit simple text documents. By the third grade they are expected to type an email. â€Å"If it’s keyboarding vs. penmanship, I think penmanship loses out, just because of the packed curriculum. It’s something that you need time to do,† says Susan Whelehan, an elementary school teacher in Toronto (Schmidt, 2005). Students are relying more on computers today to do the work for them and practicing penmanship less. Social media and video games have taken over our lives and kids are interacting less with each other. Fifteen years ago kids would play outside and use their imaginations, today they sit in front of a TV or computer. On average 2-5 year old spend 32 hours a week in front of TV while 6-11 years old spend 28 hours (Boyse, 2010). According to the â€Å"Kaiser Family Foundation that for more than 7 1/2 hours a day, American children ages 8 to 18 are tethered to computers, plugged into MP3 players, watching TV or playing video, computer or handheld games — and for much of that time, doing several at once† (Healy, 2010). With all that time kids are also turning to sites like Facebook and MySpace. These sites are causing kids to stay in front of a computer which they are losing interaction with children and causing social barriers. Online learning has taken over the classroom with its flexibility to teach students. Schools have come a long way from the slide shows and reel-reel video, today they have turned to Computer Based Training (CBT) and Multi Media. In 2004 it was estimated that 37 percent of school districts had students taking technology-supported distance education courses. Today over a million high school students are enrolled in some kind of distant learning. CBT training has become a standard in training students from reading to math and has been very effective. CBTs give a student a fun way to learn without them knowing it. Flexibility is the key with CBTs. If students are having trouble in one area the program can focus more, if a student is excelling it can push the student harder. CBTs have become a great assessment tool for teachers and allows them more flexibility. Another great tool in the classroom has been slide shows and smart boards. Years ago teachers would print material out on transparencies and project them on screens. Today teachers can build slideshows which provide more detail and flexibility. When you incorporate a smart board this allows the ability of interaction with the slideshow. Over the past 20 years our learning environment has seen a complete over all. We demand information at our fingertips and on a moment’s notice. Electronic devices fill our daily lives from social media, information at our fingertips, and having them do simple tasks. We have become a nation that wants things easy. Our lives are disrupted if we can’t check Facebook every minute of the day. With that technology has done great things for our schools but has hindered some also. Students are relying on computers to do everything for them and we are losing key elements of learning. Penmanship, spelling, and grammar have been lost to word-processing. Teachers are being replaced to Computer Based Training, but with new technology changing everyday you never know what maybe robot teachers is next! References Schmidt, S. (2005, January 22). Keyboard threatens writing skills: For next generation. The art of cursive writing may be a dying one. The Gazette. Retrieved from http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=8422&sr=lni%284F9K-YHB0-TWD3-Y248%29 Budig, G. A. (2010, March 31). Technology an integral part of today’s education system. Retrieved from http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/mar/31/technology-integral-part-todays- education-system/ Tran, M. (2009, June 09). Arnold Schwarzenegger to scrap school textbooks in favour of ebooks. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/09/arnold-schwarzenegger-school-textbooks-ebooks Brush, D. C. (2011, September 06). Penmanship becoming a lost art. Retrieved from http://crossville-chronicle.com/opinion/x601175799/RANDOM-THOUGHTS-Penmanship-becoming-a-lost-art Boyse, K. C. (2010, August). Television and Children. Retrieved from http://crossville- chronicle.com/opinion/x601175799/RANDOM-THOUGHTS-Penmanship-becoming-a-lost-art Healy, M. (2010, August). Teenage social media butterflies may not be such a bad idea. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/18/science/la-sci-socially-connected-kids-20100518

Vpn with Ipsec

1. Abstract The goal of VPNs is to provide a cost-effective and secure way to connect business to one another and remote workers to office networks. Network Security Protocols encompasses the basis for safe & reliable data transfer. These security devices should be able to provide accountability, access control, confidentiality, integrity, while all the time being cost effective. This provides us with different security protocols related to the transfer of data through a network.With a prevalent system of networks the frontier for world data communication, it is absolutely critical to be able to have these protocols provide the most secure service possible. In this report technical review IPSec protocol involved with Network Security. Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) It is a suite of protocol for securing IP communications by authentication and encryption of each IP packet of a communication session. IPSec also includes protocols for establishing mutual authentication between agent s at the beginning of the session and negotiating cryptography keys which is to be used during the session.IPSec is an end to end security scheme operating in the Layer of Internet of the IP suite. It can be used in protecting data flows between a pair of hosts, between a pair of security gateways, or between a security gateway and a host. 2. Introduction to VPN A VPN is a virtual private network, which is built on top of existing physical network that can provide a secure communication mechanism for data and other information transmitted between networks. Because VPN can be used over existing networks, such as the Internet, it can facilitate the secure transfer of sensitive data across public networks.This is often less expensive than alternatives such as dedicated private telecommunications lines between organizations or branch offices. VPNs can also provide flexible solutions, such as securing communications between remote telecommuters and the organization’s servers, rega rdless of where the telecommuters are located. A VPN can even be established within a single network to protect particularly sensitive communications from other parties on the same network. It is important to understand that VPNs do not remove all risk from networking.While VPNs can greatly reduce risk, particularly for communications that occur over public networks, they cannot remove all risk for such communications. One problem is the strength of the implementation. For example, flaws in an encryption algorithm or the software implementing the algorithm could allow attackers to decrypt intercepted traffic; random number generators that do not produce sufficiently random values could provide additional attack possibilities. Another issue is encryption key disclosure; an attacker who discovers a key could not only decrypt traffic but potentially also poses as a legitimate user.Another area of risk involves availability. A common model for information assurance is based on the conce pts of confidential, integrity, and availability. Although VPNs are designed to support confidentiality and integrity, they generally do not improve availability, the ability for authorized users to access systems as needed. In fact, many VPN implementations actually tend to decrease availability somewhat, because they add more components and services to the existing network infrastructure. This is highly dependent upon the chosen VPN architecture model and the details of the implementation. 3. 1 VPN TechnologiesThe Internet is a shared public network of networks with open transmission protocols. Therefore, VPNs must include measures for packet encapsulation (tunneling), encryption, and authentication to ensure that sensitive data reaches its destination without modifying by unauthorized parties. Fig: IP Packet 2. 2 Tunnels The thing that makes a Virtual Private Network â€Å"virtually private† is known as tunnel. Even though you access your network via Internet, you’r e not really â€Å"on† the Internet, you are actually â€Å"on† your company network. Although the term â€Å"tunnel† feels like it’s describing a fixed path through the Internet, this is not the case.As with any Internet traffic, VPN tunnel packets may take different paths between the two endpoints. 2. 3 Encryption Encryption is a technique for scrambling and unscrambling information. The information which is unscrambled is called clear-text, and the information which is scrambled is called cipher-text. At either end of your VPN tunnel sits a VPN gateway in hardware of software form. The gateway at sending location encrypts the information into cipher text before sending the encrypted information through the tunnel over the Internet. The VPN gateway at receiving location decrypts the information back into clear-text. . 4 Keys A key is the secret code that the encryption algorithm uses to create a unique version of cipher-text. To put it in simpler terms, two people might go to the hardware store and buy the same lock off the shelf, but their combinations are different. In VPN encryption, the method may be the same (like the lock), but our keys are different (like the combination). Of course, VPN locks have a lot more than three numbers on the dial combination. As a matter of fact, transmission security strength depends on the length of the keys which you use. Here’s the formula: 8-bit keys = 256 combinations or two to the eighth power (28) †¢ 16-bit keys = 65,536 combinations or two to the 16th power (216) †¢ 56-bit keys = 72,057,594,037,927,900 or two to the 56th power (256) †¢ And so on†¦ In other words, if you used a 16-bit key, a fake attacker might have to make 65,536 attempts at cracking your combination. Obviously, this would be a quick and simple task for computers. That’s why a lot of VPN products on the market today are using 168-bit keys, creating 374,144, 419,156,711,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Possible combinations.There are some enterprises out there going even higher. Even the fastest computers today would need extended time to crack a code that is complex. You might be tempted to make a policy of always using the highest-bit encryption method available, but keep in mind that processing such complicated cipher-text will require significant, dedicated CPU processing power. There are other ways to use keys to the outmost security to fit your needs. For example, it does, indeed, take time to crack the higher-bit keys. If you establish a policy of periodically changing your keys, the trespassers won’t be able to keep up. . 4. 1 Symmetrical Keys Symmetrical keys means the same key is used at each end of the tunnel to encrypt and decrypt information. Because a symmetrical key is being shared by both parties, there must be an understanding between the two to take appropriate steps to keep the key secret, which is why symmetrical keys are oft en referred to as â€Å"shared secrets. † These keys become more difficult to distribute, since they must be kept confidential. A technique called â€Å"key splitting† may be employed to reduce the potential of key disclosure during transit.This allows participants to use public channels such as the Internet. More commonly, however, distribution of symmetrical keys is more of a manual operation using paper, removable media, or hardware docking. 2. 4. 2 Asymmetrical Keys Asymmetrical keys are slightly more complicated, but, logistically, much easier to manage. Asymmetrical keys allow information to be encrypted with one key and decrypted with a different key. The two keys used in this scenario are referred to as private and public keys, or the ones you keep to yourself and the ones you distribute to your remote users.Consider this example: Let’s call our business FQT and HIQT. FQT has a set of two keys, a public key and a private key. His public key has been prog rammed to encrypt data so that only his own private key can decipher it. In order to communicate securely, FQT hands his public key to HIQT and tells him to encrypt anything he sends with that code. Using this asymmetrical keying method, both are assured that only FQT will be able to read those transmissions because he retains the private decoder key. If the communication is to be bi-directional, HIQT would share his public key with FQT in the same manner. . 5 Key Management Configuring pre-shared secrets in smaller VPNs does not necessarily require software automation or large infrastructure investments. However, larger networks might benefit from deploying a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to create, distribute, and track digital certificates on individual-user basis. You can use pre-shared keys or digital signatures if your equipment supports these authentication alternatives. However, if you decide to use certificates, there are options. For example, you may use third-party Cert ificate Authority services.Or, you may build your own Certificate Authority using software from Entrust, Xcert, or Baltimore Technologies. Either option will help you establish a comprehensive PKI, which is especially useful in large organizations needed to extend secure, limited network access beyond their own internal users to business partners and customers. 2. 6 Authentication The last bit of housekeeping involved in VPN transmission is authentication. At this step, recipients of data can determine if the sender is really who he says he is (User/System Authentication) and if the data was redirected or corrupted enroute (Data Authentication). . 6. 1 User/System Authentication Consider, again, our two business named FQT and HIQT. When FQT receives a message signed from HIQT, FQT picks a random number and encrypts it using a key which only HIQT should be able to decode. HIQT then decrypts the random number and re-encrypts it using a key only QT should be able to decode. When FQT ge ts his number back, he can be assured it is really IQT on the other end. 2. 6. 2 Data Authentication In order to verify that data packets have arrived unaltered, VPN systems often use a technique involving â€Å"hash functions. A hash function creates a sort of fingerprint of the original data. It calculates a unique number, called a hash, based on fixed or variable length values of unique bit strings. The sender attaches the number to the data packet before the encryption step. When the recipient receives the data and decrypts it, he can calculate his own hash independently. The output of his calculation is compared to the stored value appended by the sender. If the two hashes do not match, the recipient can be able to assume the data has been altered. 3.VPN Protocols used for tunneling 3. 1 IPSec IPSec is a standard for secure encrypted communication that provides two security methods: Authenticated Headers (AH) and Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP). AH is used to authenticate packets, whereas ESP encrypts the data portion of packets. It can work in two different modes: transport mode and tunnel mode. IPSec is commonly combined with IKE as a means of using public key cryptography to encrypt data between LANs or between a client and a LAN. IKE provides for the exchange of public and private keys. 3. 2 PPPIn networking, the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) is commonly used in establishing a direct connection between two networking nodes. It can provide connection authentication, transmission encryption, and compression. 3. 3 L2TP Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) is an extension of the long protocol used to establish dial-up connections on the Internet, Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). L2TP uses IPSec rather than MPPE to encrypt data sent over PPP. 3. 4 PPTP Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is commonly used by remote users who need to connect to a network using a dial-in connection of modem.PPTP uses Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption (MPPE) to encrypt data that passes between the remote computer and the remote access server. 3 Technical Review of IPSec over VPN 4. 1 IPSec IPSec is the Internet standard protocol for tunneling, encryption, and authentication. It was designed to protect network traffic by addressing basic usage issues including:- †¢ Access control †¢ Connection integrity †¢ Authentication of data origin †¢ Protection against replays †¢ Traffic flow confidentiality The IPSec protocol allows two operational modes.In Transport mode, everything behind the packet and not including the IP header is protected. In Tunnel mode, everything behind and including the header is protected, requiring a new pseudo IP header. While the IPSec protocol was under development, two other protocols — L2TP and PPTP used as temporary solutions. L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) encloses non-Internet protocols such as IPX, SNA, and AppleTalk inside an IP envelope. However, L2TP has to rely on other protocols f or encryption functions. PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) is a proprietary Microsoft encryption and authentication protocol.Although originally developed as a temporary solution, Microsoft continues to deploy L2TP as its tunneling protocol instead of IPSec tunneling. When comparing the three, IPSec is, the most widely used protocol, and the only one that addresses future VPN environments (such as new IP protocols). 4. 1. 2 IPSec Architecture The architecture of the IPSec implementation refers to the selection of device and software to provide IPSec services and the placement of IPSec endpoints within the existing network infrastructure.These two considerations are often closely tied together; For example, a decision could be made to use the existing Internet firewall as the IPSec gateway. This section will explore three particular aspects of IPSec architecture:- gateway placement, IPSec client software for hosts, and host address space management. Fig: Gateway-to-Gateway VPN for Remote Office Connectivity 4. 1. 3 IPSec Functions Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) has emerged as the most commonly used network layer security control for protecting communications. IPSec is a framework of open standards for ensuring private communications over IP networks.Depending on how IPSec is implemented and configured, it can provide any combination of the following types of protection: Confidentiality. IPSec can ensure that data cannot be read by unknown parties. This is accomplished by encrypting data using a cryptographic algorithm and a secret key. A value known only to the two parties exchanging data. The data can only be decrypted by someone who has the secret key. Integrity. IPSec can determine if data has been changed (intentionally or unintentionally) during transit. The integrity of data can be assured by enerating a message authentication code (MAC) value, which is a cryptographic checking sum of the data. If the data is altered and the MAC is recalculated , the old and new MACs will be different. Peer Authentication. Each IPSec endpoint confirms the identity of the other IPSec endpoint with which it wishes to communicate, ensuring that the network traffic and data is being sent from the expected host. Replay Protection. The same data is not delivered multiple times, and data is not delivered grossly out of order. However, IPSec does not ensure that data is delivered in the exact order in which it is sent.Traffic Analysis and Protection. A person monitoring network traffic does not know which parties are communicating, how often communications are occurring, or how much data is being exchanged. However, the number of packets being exchanged can be counted. Access Control. IPSec endpoints can perform filtering to ensure that only authorized IPSec users can access particular network resources. IPSec endpoints can also allow or block certain types of network traffic, such as allowing Web server access but denying file sharing. 4. 1. 4 IP Sec FundamentalsIPSec is a collection of protocols that assist in protecting communications over IP networks. IPSec protocols work together in various combinations to provide protection for communications. The three primary components of the IPSec protocol that provides the protections for the communication are ESP, AH and IKE. Encapsulating security Payload (ESP) ESP is the second core IPSec security protocol. In the initial version of IPSec, ESP provided only encryption for packet payload data. It can perform authentication to provide integrity protection, although not for the outermost IP header.Also, ESP. s encryption can be disabled through the Null ESP Encryption Algorithm. Therefore, in all but the oldest IPSec implementations, ESP can be used to provide only encryption; encryption and integrity protection; or only integrity protection Authentication Header (AH) AH, one of the IPSec security protocols provides integrity protection for packet headers and data, as well as user authentication. It can optionally provide replay protection and access protection. AH cannot encrypt any portion of packets.In the initial version of IPSec, the ESP protocol could provide only encryption, not authentication, so AH and ESP were often used together to provide both confidentiality and integrity protection for communications. Because authentication capabilities were added to ESP in the second version of IPSec AH has become less significant; in fact, some IPSec software no longer supports AH. However, AH is still valuable because AH can authenticate portions of packets that ESP cannot. Internet Key Exchange (IKE) The purpose of the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol is to negotiate, create, and manage security associations.Security association is a generic term for a set of values that define the IPSec features and protections applied to a connection. It can also be manually created, using values agreed upon in advance by both parties, but these security associations c annot be updated; this method does not scale for a real-life large-scale VPNs. In IPSec, IKE is used to provide a secure mechanism for establishing IPSec-protected connections. 4. 1. 5 IPSec Protocol Basics Transport mode is used to provide secure communications between hosts over any range of IP addresses.Tunnel mode is used to create secure links between two private networks. Tunnel mode is the obvious choice for VPNs; however, there are some concerns about using tunnel mode in a client-to-site VPN because the IPSec protocol by itself does not provide for user authentication. However, when combined with an authentication system like Kerberos, IPSec can authenticate users. 4. 1. 6 Cryptography Used in IPSec Sessions Cryptography policy involves choosing encryption and integrity protection algorithms and key lengths. Most IPSec implementations offer the HMAC-MD5 and HMAC-SHA-1 hashing algorithms.Neither of these algorithms is computationally intensive. Although both plain MD5 and pl ain SHA-1 have known weaknesses, both are still considered sufficiently secure in their HMAC versions. In some implementations of IPSec, the cryptography policy settings are not immediately apparent to admin. The default settings for encryption and integrity protection, as well as the details of each setting, are often located down several levels of menus or are split among multiple locations. It is also challenging with some implementations to alter the settings once they have been located. . 1. 7 Authentication Used for Identifying IPSec IPSec implementations typically support two authentication methods: pre-shared keys and digital signatures. To use pre-shared keys, the IPSec admin creates a key or password string, which is then configured in each IPSec device. Pre-shared keys are the simplest authentication method to implement, but key management is challenging. Because of scalability and security concerns, pre-shared key authentication is generally an acceptable solution only f or small-scale implementations with known IP addresses or small IP address ranges.In the digital signature method, a certificate identifies each device, and each device is configured to use certificates. Two IPSec endpoints will trust each other if a Certification Authority (CA) that they both trust has signed their certificates. Many organizations are currently implementing public key infrastructures (PKI) for managing certificates for IPSec VPNs and other applications such as secure e-mail and Web access. 5. Conclusion VPNs allow users or corporations to connect to remote servers, branch offices, or to other companies over internetwork of public, while maintaining secure communications.In all of these cases, the secure connection appears to the user as a private network communication—despite the fact that this communication occurs over internetwork of public. VPN technology is designed to address issues surrounding the current business trend toward increased telecommuting a nd widely distributed global operations, where workers must be able to connect to central resources and communicate with each other. This paper provides an overview of VPN, VPN over IPSec and describes the basic requirements of useful VPN technologies: user authentication, address management, data encryption, key management, nd multiprotocol support. 6. Reference 1. S. Farnkel, K. Kent, R. Lewkowski. (December 2005). Guide to IPSec VPN. Available: http://csrc. nist. gov/publications/nistpubs/800-77/sp800-77. pdf. Last accessed January 20 2011. 2. Tom Olzak. (Jan22, 2007). SSTP: Microsoft VPN. Available: http://www. techrepublic. com/blog/security/sstp-microsofts-vpn/149. Last accessed 25 January 2011. 3. Open VPN. (2011). Open VPN cryptographic layer. Available: http://openvpn. net/index. php/open-source/documentation/security-overview. html. Last accessed 28 January 2011. 4. Erik Rodrigues-Types of VPN [online]. Resources as well as Images) Available from: http://www. skullbox. net /vpn. php[Accessed on: Feb 12 2011] 5. Internet Protocol Security [online]. Available from: http://www. interpeak. com/files/ipsec. pdf[Accessed on: Feb 4 2011] 6. SSL VPN VS. IPSec VPN [online]. Available from: http://www. arraynetworks. net/ufiles/File/SSLVPNvsIPSecWhitePaper021006. pdf[Accessed on: January 29 2011] 7. Available from: http://www. windowsecurity. com/articles/VPN-Options. html[Accessed on: Feb 14 2011 ] 8. Download the Green Bow IPSec VPN client [online]. Available from: www. thegreenbow. com/vpn/vpn_down. html [Accessed on: Feb 2012] . YouTube video of using the Green Bow software Available from: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=m6fu6saaNhQ [Accessed on: Jan 29 2008] 7. Appendix The step by step setup of â€Å"The Green Bow IPSec VPN client† is described below. Running the setup file. Language screen appears and click OK. Fig: Choose language screen. Welcome screen appears and click next. Fig: Setup Welcome screen. License and information regarding license s then click I Agree. Fig: License and information screen. Install location screen appears and click next. Fig: Installation location screen. Choosing start menu folder screen appears and click Install.Fig: start menu folder screen. Installing screen appears. Fig: Installing setup screen. Windows Security screen appears and click install. Fig: Windows Security screen. Setup Complete screen appears and click finish Fig: Completing Setup screen. How to use This Software System Tray Icon VPN Configuration Three step Configuration Wizard Step 1 of 3: Choice of remote equipment You must specify the type of the equipment at the end of the tunnel: VPN gateway. Step 2 of 3: VPN tunnel parameters You must specify the following information: the public (network side) address of the remote gateway he preshared key you will use for this tunnel (this preshared key must be the same as key in the Gateway) the IP address of your company LAN (e. g. specify 192. 168. 1. 0) Step 3 of 3: Summary The thi rd step summaries your new VPN configuration. Other parameters may be further configured directly via the ‘Configuration Panel' (e. g. Certificates, virtual IP address, etc). VPN Tunnel Configuration How to create a VPN Tunnel? To create a VPN tunnel from the Configuration Panel (without using the Configuration Wizard), you must follow the following steps: 1. Right-click on ‘Configuration' in the list window and select ‘New Phase 1' 2.Configure Authentication Phase (Phase 1) 3. Right-click on the ‘new Phase 1' in the tree control and select ‘Add Phase 2' 4. Configure IPSec Phase (Phase 2) 5. Once the parameters are set, click on ‘Save ; Apply' to take into account the new configuration. That way the IKE service will run with the new parameters 6. Click on ‘Open Tunnel' for establishing the IPSec VPN tunnel (only in â€Å"IPSec Configuration† window) VPN Configuration Please refer to Phase 1 and Phase 2 for settings descriptions. Authe ntication or Phase 1 What is Phase 1? ‘Authentication' or ‘Phase 1' window will concern settings for Authentication Phase or Phase 1.It is also called IKE Negotiation Phase. Phase 1's purpose is to negotiate IKE policy sets, authenticate the peers, and set up a secure channel between the peers. As part of Phase 1, each end system must identify and authenticate itself to the other. Interface Network interface IP address of the computer, through which VPN connection is established. Remote Gateway IP address or DNS address of the remote gateway (in our example: gateway. domain. com). This field is necessary. Pre-shared key Password or shared key with the remote gateway. IKE Encryption algorithm used during Authentication phase (DES, 3DES, AES, AES128, AES192, AES256).Authentication algorithm used during Authentication phase (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256). Key group is key length. Phase1 Advanced Settings Description Config-Mode If it is checked, the VPN Client will activate Config-M ode for this tunnel. Config- Mode allows VPN Client to fetch some VPN Configuration information from the VPN gateway. If Config-Mode is enabled, and provided that the remote Gateway supports, the following Parameters will be negotiated between the VPN Client and the remote Gateway during the IKE exchanges (Phase 1): Virtual IP address of the VPN Client DNS server address (optional)WINS server address (optional) Aggressive Mode If checked, the VPN Client will used aggressive mode as negotiation mode with the remote gateway. IPSec Configuration or Phase 2 What is Phase 2? ‘IPSec Configuration' or ‘Phase 2' window will concern settings for Phase 2. The purpose of Phase 2 is to negotiate the IPSec security parameters that are applied to the traffic going through tunnels negotiate during Phase 1. Phase 2 Settings Description VPN Client address Virtual IP address used by the VPN Client inside the remote LAN: The computer will appear in the LAN with this IP address.It is import ant this IP address should not belong to the remote LAN (e. g. , in the example, you should avoid an IP address like 192. 168. 1. 10). Address type The remote endpoint may be a LAN or a single computer, In case the remote endpoint is a LAN, choose â€Å"Subnet address† or â€Å"IP Range†. When choosing â€Å"Subnet address†, the two fields â€Å"Remote LAN address† and â€Å"Subnet mask† become available. When choosing â€Å"IP Range†, the two fields â€Å"Start address† and â€Å"End address† become available, enabling TheGreenBow IPSec VPN Client to establish a tunnel only within a range of a predefined IP addresses.The range of IP addresses can be one IP address. Incase the remote end point is a single computer, choose â€Å"Single Address†. When choosing â€Å"Single address†, only â€Å"Remote host address† is available. Remote address This field is â€Å"Remote LAN address† depending of the add ress type. It is the remote IP address or LAN network address of the gateway that opens the VPN tunnel. Phase2 Advanced Settings Script configuration Scripts or applications can be enabled for each step of a VPN tunnel opening and closing process: Before tunnel is opened Right after the tunnel is opened Before tunnel closes Right after tunnel is closedRemote Sharing Global Parameters Lifetime (sec. ) Default lifetime for IKE rekeying. Minimal lifetime for IKE rekeying. Maximal lifetime for IKE rekeying. Default lifetime for IPSec rekeying. Maximal lifetime for IPSec rekeying. Minimal lifetime for IPSec rekeying. Dead Peer Detection (DPD) Check interval (sec. ) Interval between DPD messages. Max number of retries Number of DPD messages sent. Delay between retries (sec. ) Interval between DPD messages when no reply from remote gateway. Miscellaneous Retransmissions How many times a message should be retransmitted before giving up. USB Mode Step 1 Step2 Step3 Step4