Research primer(hip hop) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Research primer(hip hop) - Assignment Example As mentioned in K. Blow’s composition of â€Å"If I Ruled the World† which initiates with ‘If I ruled the world, was king on the throne I’d make peace in every culture, build the homeless home / I’m not runnin’, for Congress or the President / I’m just here, to tell the world, how my story went’, already the rapper’s aim or how he would manage to proceed from this stage becomes clear. A message of peace or unification upon a diverse culture and race is conveyed, being quite a necessity to express hope of ceasing discrimination and rigid social structure in a society where poor continue to get by a rather low quality of living. Similarly, the song points out well how a huge change or reform must be taken by the government officials for any intended progress to create impact especially upon the social security and impoverished state of economy among mass communities. During this period, the global economic condition occurred to be heading towards an increased level of decline while most public officials kept their corrupt deeds as exclaimed in ‘To fight crime and hunger and poverty / ‘Cause the African baby is dyin’ overseas / While you sucker mission politicians bustin’ out Zs .. ... It is obvious that there were those poor individuals who had liberation sought by personal means, regardless whether such influence would uphold their welfare or not, just so they could overcome poverty, identity crisis, or any other related associated conflicts that seemed beyond imaginable remedy. No significant departure from this idea can be detected in the other piece of â€Å"If I Ruled the World† according to joint performances of Nas and Lauryn Hill. Apart from coincidence, one may find striking semblance between choruses as when Nas sang ‘If I ruled the world / Imagine that / I’d free all my sons, I love ‘em love ‘em baby / Black diamonds and pearls / Could it be, if you could / be mine, we’d both shine / If I ruled the world / Still livin’ for today, in / these last days and times’ in concrete detail which Kurtis shortened to ‘If I ruled the world.. Huh-huh, huh-huh / I’d love all the girls.. I love ‘em love ‘em baby!! Black diamonds and pearls.. ooh yeah / If I ruled the world’. Here, the noticeable intersection with phrases ‘black diamonds and pearls’ and ‘love ‘em’ sounds emphatic in an intention to signify unity between the Blacks and the Whites. While Kurtis Blow did not obtain much success with his musical career after the release of â€Å"The Breaks† and his biggest UK hit single due largely to being independent or labelled as an underground rapper, Nas took on his passion onto a degree that combines his rapping talent with acting. As a son of jazz musician Olu Dara, he was born and raised in the Queensbridge housing projects in New York City. He managed to attain a higher order of literacy which is very much recognizable in most of his lyrics though he actually

Hamlet Act Two Essay Example for Free

Hamlet Act Two Essay Hamlet Act ll An important character in the play Hamlet is Polonius. Polonius is often thought to be foolish, and thoughtless. However, Polonius is anything but foolish, and thoughtless. Polonius is a man who is very intellectual, and he provides guidance to those who need it. For example, his advice to Reynaldo on how to  monitor Laertess wild behavior is magnificent and brilliant. His advice to Ophelia  about Hamlet, love, and affection is very accurate. Polonius is considered a fool to some people, because Hamlet is making it seem that way, he wants to put Polonius down, and make Polonius seem like a fool. Hamlet is rude to Polonius, and constantly making fun of him. At one point Hamlet calls Polonius a â€Å"fishmonger†. Hamlet then makes his insult worse by wishing that Polonius were as honest as a fishmonger, which is to say that Polonius is lower than the lowest. Although, Polonius is nothing of the sort, another example of Polonius providing guidance to those who need it is when Laertes is waiting for his ship to depart, Polonius has a couple of minutes to tell  him how to live well. His brief advice is insightful and parental. He tells Laertes to think before  he acts, listen more than talk,  keep good friends close but dont worry  about drinking buddies. Dont get in fights, watch your money, and take care of your appearance, things like that. Polonius is the kind to seek to discover the truth on his own. He studies Hamlet to link his madness to love and betrayal. He then seeks to trial his theories by testing Hamlets sanity through a slew of inquiring questions. A foolish man does not do this. Perhaps, Polonius was just putting on an act, to make people think that he was foolish and stupid. Regardless of his motives, Polonius cannot be described as a simple character. Polonius has gotten a bad reputation, but further depth into his character reveals that Polonius is indeed a complex character with a great deal of wisdom.

War And Peace By Leo Tolstoy :: essays research papers

Then novel War and Peace was written by a famous Russian author Leo Tolstoy in 1865. The novel describes the war with Napoleon in which many countries were involved such as Russia, Austrian, Prussia, Spain, Sweden, and Britain. The novel mainly focuses on Russia. It reflects the different views and participation in the war of Russian aristocracy and peasants and also shows Tolstoy’s negative viewpoint on the war. Showing the war, Tolstoy describes Napoleon’s attack on Russia, the battle of Borodino, the slow retrieval of the Russian army, the conquest of Moscow by Napoleon, the fire in Moscow, and the retrieval of Napoleon’s army during a deadly winter. Naopleon had to retrieve from Russia under attacks by Russian peasants and horsemen on those who fell behind. His army also sufferes from cold and hunger, since the Russians destroyed all food supplies. The takeover of Moscow by Napoleon proved to be useless, and in the long run, destroyed a large part of his army. Alongside with these historical events, Tolstoy describes the different classes of Russian society in terms of their participation in the war and what kind of an impact war had on their lives. In the beginning of the novel, the Russian aristocratic class, which was in the czar’s circle, wanted Russia to participate in the war. They wanted a quick victory and pride for the Russian nobility. They did not anticipate that the war would destroy homes, agriculture, and take many Russian lives. This class is shown in Anna Pavlova Sharer’s salon, with it’s upper class aristocracy, who talk only in French, viewing the Russian language as uncivilized and useful only for peasants. They adopted French culture and wear French style clothing, and at the same time they want to fight Napoleon. However, the majority of this class doesn’t want to participate themselves in the war, but want to win the war with the hands of the peasants. These aristocrats, despite their high education and power, will do nothing to help win the war. They live like parasites on the body of Russia’s society. This is how Tolstoy describes this class in general, but he also depicts two representatives of this upper class, Andrew Bolkonsky and Pierre Bisuhov, who were the more intellectual ones, and whose lives and views of war and life changed as the result of the war. Andrew was interested in a military career, and wasn’t completely satisfied with the czar, while Pierre wasted his life on alcohol – his everyday activity.

Better Community and Build a Healthier Life Essay

Better Community and Build a Healthier Life,† yesterday. Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit, ecumenical Christian community, has been created to make adequate housing a matter of conscience and action. Since its creation in 1976, it has built and improved more than 300,000 houses, sheltering more than 1,500,000 people in thousands of communities in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Eastern and Western Europe, and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Habitat’s work is made possible by affiliates or people who are dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. As of this writing there are 132 affiliates in the Asia-Pacific region and 2,291 worldwide. Habitat’s work is far greater than the current number of affiliates and supporters nonetheless. Hence as it continually strives to achieve its mission Habitat is likewise constantly calling more volunteers to take their part in re-building the world. Anchoring on a statement made by Dr. Stephen Post, a professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and co-author of the forthcoming book Why Good Things Happen to Good People: The Exciting New Research That Proves the Link Between Doing Good and Living a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life that, â€Å"There is now a convergence of research leading to the conclusion that helping others makes people happier and healthier. So the word is out – its good to be good. Science increasingly says so,† former President and co-founder of Habitat for Humanity, Jimmy –more– relates volunteering to building a healthier life. For more details on how to participate to the Habitat’s action for a cause, please visit http://www. habitat. org/. Contact Name: Phone: Website: E-mail: ###

Sampling

SamplingSamplingis that portion ofstatisticalpractice concerned with the choice of an indifferent orrandomsubset of single observations within a population of persons intended to give some cognition about thepopulationof concern, particularly for the intents of doing anticipations based onstatistical illation. Sampling is an of import facet ofdata collection.AL The three chief advantages of trying are that the cost is lower, informations aggregation is faster, and since the information set is smaller it is possible to guarantee homogeneousness and to better the truth and quality of the informations. Eachobservationmeasures one or more belongingss ( such as weight, location, colour ) of discernible organic structures distinguished as independent objects or persons. Insurvey sampling, study weights can be applied to the informations to set for thesample design. Results fromprobability theoryandstatistical theoryare employed to steer pattern.ProcedureThe sampling procedure comprises several phases: * Specifying the population of concern * Stipulating asampling frame, asetof points or events possible to mensurate * Stipulating asampling methodfor choosing points or events from the frame * Determining the sample size * Implementing the sampling program * Sampling and informations roll uping * Reviewing the sampling procedurePopulation definitionSuccessful statistical pattern is based on focussed job definition. In trying, this includes specifying thepopulationfrom which our sample is drawn. A population can be defined as including all people or points with the characteristic one want to understand. Because there is really seldom adequate clip or money to garner information from everyone or everything in a population, the end becomes happening a representative sample ( or subset ) of that population. Although the population of involvement frequently consists of physical objects, sometimes we need to try over clip, infinite, or some combination of these dimensions. For case, an probe of supermarket staffing could analyze check-out procedure line length at assorted times, or a survey on endangered penguins might take to understand their use of assorted runing evidences over clip. For the clip dimension, the focal point may be on periods or distinct occasions.Sampling frameIn the most straightforward instance, such as the sentencing of a batch of stuff from production ( credence sampling by tonss ) , it is possible to place and mensurate every individual point in the population and to include any one of them in our sample. However, in the more general instance this is non possible. There is no manner to place all rats in the set of all rats. Not all frames explicitly list population elements. For illustration, a street map can be used as a frame for a door-to-door study ; although i t does n't demo single houses, we can choose streets from the map and so see all houses on those streets. The sampling frame must be representative of the population and this is a inquiry outside the range of statistical theory demanding the judgement of experts in the peculiar capable affair being studied. All the above frames omit some people who will vote at the following election and incorporate some people who will non ; some frames will incorporate multiple records for the same individual. Peoples non in the frame have no chance of being sampled. Statistical theory Tells us about the uncertainnesss in generalizing from a sample to the frame. In generalizing from frame to population, its function is motivational and implicative. A frame may besides supply extra ‘auxiliary information ‘ about its elements ; when this information is related to variables or groups of involvement, it may be used to better study design.Probability and non chance tryingAprobability samplingscheme is one in which every unit in the population has a opportunity ( greater than zero ) of being selected in the sample, and this chance can be accurately determined. The combination of these traits makes it possible to bring forth indifferent estimations of population sums, by burdening sampled units harmonizing to their chance of choice. Probability trying includes: Simple Random Sampling, Systematic Sampling, and Stratified Sampling, Probability Proportional to Size Sampling, and Cluster or Multistage Sampling. These assorted ways of chance trying have two things in common: 1. Every component has a known nonzero chance of being sampled and 2. Involves random choice at some point. Nonprobability samplingis any sampling method where some elements of the population havenochance of choice, or where the chance of choice ca n't be accurately determined. It involves the choice of elements based on premises sing the population of involvement, which forms the standard for choice. Hence, because the choice of elements is nonrandom, nonprobability sampling does non let the appraisal of trying mistakes. These conditions place bounds on how much information a sample can supply about the population. Information about the relationship between sample and population is limited, doing it hard to generalize from the sample to the population. Nonprobability Sampling includes: Accidental Sampling, Quota SamplingandPurposive Sampling. In add-on, nonresponse effects may turnanyprobability design into a nonprobability design if the features of nonresponse are non good understood, since nonresponse efficaciously modifies each component ‘s chance of being sampled.Sampling methodsWithin any of the types of frame identified above, a assortment of trying methods can be employed, separately or in combination. Factors normally act uponing the pick between these designs include: * Nature and quality of the frame * Availability of subsidiary information about units on the frame * Accuracy demands, and the demand to mensurate truth * Whether detailed analysis of the sample is expected * Cost/operational concernsSimple random tryingIn asimple random sample ( ‘SRS ‘ ) of a given size, all such subsets of the frame are given an equal chance. Each component of the frame therefore has an equal chance of choice: the frame is non subdivided or partitioned. Furthermore, any givenpairof elements has the same opportunity of choice as any other such brace ( and likewise for three-base hits, and so on ) . This minimises prejudice and simplifies analysis of consequences. In peculiar, the discrepancy between single consequences within the sample is a good index of discrepancy in the overall population, which makes it comparatively easy to gauge the truth of consequences. However, SRS can be vulnerable to trying mistake because the entropy of the choice may ensue in a sample that does n't reflect the make-up of the population. For case, a simple random sample of 10 people from a given state willon averageproduce five work forces and five adult females, but any given test is likely to overrepresent one sex and underrepresent the other. SRS may besides be cumbrous and boring when trying from an remarkably big mark population. In some instances, research workers are interested in research inquiries specific to subgroups of the population. For illustration, research workers might be interested in analyzing whether cognitive ability as a forecaster of occupation public presentation is every bit applicable across racial groups. SRS can non suit the demands of research workers in this state of affairs because it does non supply subsamples of the population.Systematic samplingSystematic samplingrelies on set uping the mark population harmonizing to some telling strategy and so choosing elements at regular intervals through that ordered list. Systematic trying involves a random start and so returns with the choice of everykth component from so onwards. In this instance, k= ( population size/sample size ) . It is of import that the starting point is non automatically the first in the list, but is alternatively indiscriminat ely chosen from within the first to thekth component in the list. Equally long as the get downing point israndomized, systematic sampling is a type ofprobability sampling. It is easy to implement and thestratificationinduced can do it efficient, ifthe variable by which the list is ordered is correlated with the variable of involvement. However, systematic sampling is particularly vulnerable to cyclicities in the list. If cyclicity is present and the period is a multiple or factor of the interval used, the sample is particularly likely to beunrepresentative of the overall population, doing the strategy less accurate than simple random sampling. Another drawback of systematic sampling is that even in scenarios where it is more accurate than SRS, its theoretical belongingss make it hard toquantifythat truth. Systematic sampling is an EPS method, because all elements have the same chance of choice.Stratified samplingWhere the population embraces a figure of distinguishable classs, the frame can be organized by these classs into separate â€Å" strata. † Each stratum is so sampled as an independent sub-population, out of which single elements can be indiscriminately selected. There are several possible benefits to stratified sampling. First, spliting the population into distinguishable, independent strata can enable research workers to pull illations about specific subgroups that may be lost in a more generalised random sample. Second, using a graded sampling method can take to more efficient statistical estimations ( provided that strata are selected based upon relevancy to the standard in inquiry, alternatively of handiness of the samples ) . Even if a graded sampling attack does non take to increased statistical efficiency, such a maneuver will non ensue in less efficiency than would simple random sampling, provided that each stratum is relative to the group ‘s size in the population. Third, it is sometimes the instance that informations are more readily available for single, preexistent strata within a population than for the overall population ; in such instances, utilizing a graded sampling attack may be more convenient than aggregating informations across groups ( though this may potentially be at odds with the antecedently noted importance of using criterion-relevant strata ) . Finally, since each stratum is treated as an independent population, different trying attacks can be applied to different strata, potentially enabling research workers to utilize the attack best suited ( or most cost-efficient ) for each identified subgroup within the population. A graded sampling attack is most effectual when three conditions are met 1. Variability within strata are minimized 2. Variability between strata are maximized 3. The variables upon which the population is stratified are strongly correlated with the coveted dependant variable.Advantages over other trying methods1. Focuss on of import subpopulations and ignores irrelevant 1s. 2. Allows usage of different trying techniques for different subpopulations. 3. Improves the accuracy/efficiency of appraisal. 4. Licenses greater reconciliation of statistical power of trials of differences between strata by trying equal Numberss from strata changing widely in size.Disadvantages1. Requires choice of relevant stratification variables which can be hard. 2. Is non utile when there are no homogenous subgroups. 3. Can be expensive to implement.Probability proportional to size samplingIn some instances the sample interior decorator has entree to an â€Å" subsidiary variable † or â€Å" size step † , believed to be correlated to the variable of involvement, for each component in the population. This information can be used to better truth in sample design. One option is to utilize the subsidiary variable as a footing for stratification, as discussed above. Another option is probability-proportional-to-size ( ‘PPS ‘ ) sampling, in which the choice chance for each component is set to be relative to its size step, up to a upper limit of 1. In a simple PPS design, these choice chances can so be used as the footing forPoisson trying. However, this has the drawbacks of variable sample size, and different parts of the population may still be over- or under-represented due to opportunity fluctuation in choices. To turn to this job, PPS may be combined with a systematic attack. The PPS attack can better truth for a given sample size by concentrating sample on big elements that have the greatest impact on population estimations. PPS sampling is normally used for studies of concerns, where component size varies greatly and subsidiary information is frequently available – for case, a study trying to mensurate the figure of guest-nights spent in hotels might utilize each hotel ‘s figure of suites as an subsidiary variable. In some instances, an older measuring of the variable of involvement can be used as an subsidiary variable when trying to bring forth more current estimations.Bunch tryingSometimes it is cheaper to ‘cluster ‘ the sample in some manner e.g. by choosing respondents from certain countries merely, or certain time-periods merely. ( About all samples are in some sense ‘clustered ‘ in clip – although this is seldom taken into history in the analysis. ) Cluster samplingis an illustration of ‘two-stage trying ‘ or ‘multistage trying ‘ : in the first phase a sample of countries is chosen ; in the 2nd phase a sample of respondentswithinthose countries is selected. This can cut down travel and other administrative costs. It besides means that one does non necessitate asampling framelisting all elements in the mark population. Alternatively, bunchs can be chosen from a cluster-level frame, with an element-level frame created merely for the selected bunchs. Cluster trying by and large increases the variableness of sample estimations above that of simple random sampling, depending on how the bunchs differ between themselves, as compared with the within-cluster fluctuation. However, some of the disadvantages of bunch trying are the trust of sample estimation preciseness on the existent bunchs chosen. If bunchs chosen are biased in a certain manner, illations drawn about population parametric quantities from these sample estimations will be far off from being accurate.Matched random tryingA method of delegating participants to groups in which brace of participants are foremost matched on some characteristic and so separately assigned indiscriminately to groups. The process for matched random sampling can be briefed with the following contexts, * Two samples in which the members are clearly paired, or are matched explicitly by the research worker. For illustration, IQ measurings or braces of indistinguishable twins. * Those samples in which the same property, or variable, is measured twice on each topic, under different fortunes. Normally called perennial steps. Examples include the times of a group of jocks for 1500m before and after a hebdomad of particular preparation ; the milk outputs of cattles before and after being fed a peculiar diet.Quota tryingInquota sampling, the population is foremost segmented intomutually exclusivesub-groups, merely as instratified sampling. Then judgement is used to choose the topics or units from each section based on a specified proportion. For illustration, an interviewer may be told to try 200 females and 300 males between the age of 45 and 60. It is this 2nd measure which makes the technique one of non-probability sampling. In quota trying the choice of the sample is non-random. For illustration interviewers might be tempted to interview those who look most helpful. The job is that these samples may be biased because non everyone gets a opportunity of choice. This random component is its greatest failing and quota versus chance has been a affair of contention for many old agesConvenience samplingConvenience samplingis a type of nonprobability trying which involves the sample being drawn from that portion of the population which is close to manus. That is, a sample population selected because it is readily available and convenient. The research worker utilizing such a sample can non scientifically do generalisations about the entire population from this sample because it would non be representative plenty. For illustration, if the interviewer was to carry on such a study at a shopping centre early in the forenoon on a given twenty-four hours, the people that he/she could interview would be limited to those given there at that given clip, which would non stand for the positions of other members of society in such an country, if the study was to be conducted at different times of twenty-four hours and several times per hebdomad. This type of trying is most utile for pilot proving. Several of import considerations for research workers utilizing convenience samples include: * Are at that place controls within the research design or experiment which can function to decrease the impact of a non-random, convenience sample whereby guaranting the consequences will be more representative of the population? * Is at that place good ground to believe that a peculiar convenience sample would or should react or act otherwise than a random sample from the same population? * Is the inquiry being asked by the research 1 that can adequately be answered utilizing a convenience sample?Panel samplingPanel samplingis the method of first choosing a group of participants through a random trying method and so inquiring that group for the same information once more several times over a period of clip. Therefore, each participant is given the same study or interview at two or more clip points ; each period of informations aggregation is called a â€Å" moving ridge † . This trying methodological analysis is frequently chosen for big graduated table or nation-wide surveies in order to estimate alterations in the population with respect to any figure of variables from chronic unwellness to occupation emphasis to weekly nutrient outgos. Panel sampling can besides be used to inform research workers about within-person wellness alterations due to age or aid explicate alterations in uninterrupted dependent variables such as bridal interaction. There have been se veral proposed methods of analysing panel sample informations, including MANOVA, growing curves, and structural equation patterning with lagged effects.Replacement of selected unitsSampling strategies may bewithout replacementorwith replacing. For illustration, if we catch fish, mensurate them, and instantly return them to the H2O before go oning with the sample, this is a WR design, because we might stop up catching and mensurating the same fish more than one time. However, if we do non return the fish to the H2O ( e.g. if we eat the fish ) , this becomes a WOR design.FormulasWhere the frame and population are indistinguishable, statistical theory outputs exact recommendations onsample size. However, where it is non straightforward to specify a frame representative of the population, it is more of import to understand thecause systemof which the population are results and to guarantee that all beginnings of fluctuation are embraced in the frame. Large Numberss of observations are o f no value if major beginnings of fluctuation are neglected in the survey. In other words, it is taking a sample group that matches the study class and is easy to study. Research Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journalthat provides an account of Cochran ‘s expression. A treatment and illustration of sample size expressions, including the expression for seting the sample size for smaller populations, is included. A tabular array is provided that can be used to choose the sample size for a research job based on three alpha degrees and a set mistake rate.Stairss for utilizing sample size tabular arraies1. Contend the consequence size of involvement, ? , and ? . 2. Check sample size tabular array 1. Choose the tabular array matching to the selected ? 2. Locate the row matching to the coveted power 3. Locate the column matching to the estimated consequence size 4. The intersection of the column and row is the minimal sample size required.Sampling and informations aggregationGood informations aggregation involves:* Following the defined sampling procedure * Keeping the information in clip order * Noting remarks and other contextual events * Recording non-responses Most sampling books and documents written by non-statisticians focused merely in the informations aggregation facet, which is merely a little though of import portion of the sampling procedure.Mistakes in researchThere are ever mistakes in a research. By trying, the entire mistakes can be classified into trying mistakes and non-sampling mistakes.Sampling mistakeSampling mistakes are caused by trying design. It includes: ( 1 ) Choice mistake: Incorrect choice chances are used.( 2 ) Appraisal mistake: Biased parametric quantity estimation because of the elements in these samples.Non-sampling mistakeNon-sampling mistakes are caused by the errors in informations processing. It includes: ( 1 ) Overcoverage: Inclusion of informations from exterior of the population.( 2 ) Undercoverage: Sampling frame does non include elements in the population.( 3 ) Measurement mistake: The respondents misunderstand the inquiry.( 4 ) Processing mistake: Mistakes in informations cryptography. In many state of affairss the sample fraction may be varied by stratum and informations will hold to be weighted to right stand for the population. Thus for illustration, a simple random sample of persons in the United Kingdom might include some in distant Scots islands who would be extraordinarily expensive to try. A cheaper method would be to utilize a graded sample with urban and rural strata. The rural sample could be under-represented in the sample, but weighted up suitably in the analysis to counterbalance. More by and large, informations should normally be weighted if the sample design does non give each person an equal opportunity of being selected. For case, when families have equal choice chances but one individual is interviewed from within each family, this gives people from big families a smaller opportunity of being interviewed. This can be accounted for utilizing study weights. Similarly, families with more than one telephone line have a greater opportunity of being selected in a random figure dialing sample, and weights can set for this.

Malaysia Dairy Industries Private Limited Essays

Malaysia Dairy Industries Private Limited Essays Malaysia Dairy Industries Private Limited Essay Malaysia Dairy Industries Private Limited Essay Malaysia Dairy Industries Private Limited (MDI) began in 1963 as a joint venture between a Singapore entrepreneur, Mr. Thio Keng Poon and the Australian Dairy Produce Board. Five years later, the company became a locally owned entity after Mr. Thio and his family bought over the Australian interest in the company. MDI become the first manufacturer of evaporated milk and cultured milk in Singapore and Malaysia. Besides, it also the first to produce 100% fruit juice in both countries. Later, the company also became the first to install an Alfa-Laval UHT Steritherm plant in Asia. In 1994, MDI received the ISO 9002 certificate for Quality Management System in Production and Installation. Over the last decade, MDI has seen a tremendous growth in demand for its perishable products. Demands for pasteurised products have increased form 50,000 litres per month to more than 1.3 million litres per month today. At the same time, Vitagen has become so popular among peoples especially children, that lead MDI has had to expand production capacity to meet the growing demands. Therefore, a trend of continued growth leading well into the next century is expected. As MDI prepares to this growth, it has already built a 5-storey extension to its headquarters to provide greater capacity and scope for manufacturing in the future. While Malaysia Milk Sdn Bhd, its Malaysian subsidiary has also completed its sophisticated new building to meet the needs of the Malaysian consumers. Today, MDI manufactures as many as 21 various product lines, which under the brand Marigold include sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, cultured milk, full cream milk powder, pasteurised milk, high calcium milk, long-life milk, fruit juices, yoghurts, and dessert etc. (see appendix for the overview of products). Besides, MDIs research and development laboratory has always played an important role in MDI and especially so in the last few years in order to manufacture products that meet its high standards. In todays environment, companies are operating in an uncertain and turbulent environment, especially due to the US war that will be launch soon. The firms will experiences very high uncertainty while external environmental factors change rapidly. This is because the firms do not have sufficient information about environmental factors to understand and predict environmental needs and changes. Moreover, It will reduce the planning horizon because if the firm operates in an uncertain environment, its management is unlikely to develop plans for more than a few years ahead as they accept that will be subject to large margins of error. Thus, MDI must respond by designing its firm to adapt to the external environment and to influence that environment. The external environment for any organisation includes all elements existing outside the boundary of the organisation that have the potential to affect the organisation, which are the Political, Economic, Social cultural and Technological. Political The political dimension that affects MDI includes government regulations at the local, state, and federal levels as well as political activities designed to influence company behaviour. For the entire product, which produce by the MDI shall in all other aspects comply with the requirements of the legislation that currently enforced in Malaysia i.e. The Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985 which set product standards and particular labelling requirements for milk and milk based products. Each product may by arrangement with a recognised certification body, be marked with the certification mark of that body, provided the product conforms to the requirements of this Malaysian Standard. On the other hand, dairy imports such as milk powder, cheese and butter are required to be certified halal by the Malaysian religious authority, for direct consumption and usage as ingredients for further processing. An import license, issued by the Department of Veterinary Services and Ministry of Int ernational Trade and Industry is necessary for consignments of dairy products entering into Malaysia. Economic The economic represent the general economic health of the country or region in which the organization operates. With the uncertainties over the economy in 2001 and 2002 which due to the war on terrorism since last year, there was softness in demand of dairy product in the local dairy market. The environment today became more turbulent as the terrorism happens everywhere such as the explosion that take place in the Bali in Indonesia, and the Philippine city of Zamboanga. (See appendix about more current issue) Besides, US president was declared to launch war with the Iraq. If this situation takes place, it will mainly affect our economic growth, especially in the Asian countries because the economic problems in US have had a significant impact on the Asian countries as well as the stock market. The world dairy raw material prices will increase due to the inflation of the countries. The dairy product price will therefore increase due to the high cost of raw material. The consumer purch asing power also affect here that the demand of the milk product will be reduces. The consumer may go for select the substitute product which was cheaper than the milk product e.g. soya bean. The unemployment may also take place due to the downturn of economic. Social Cultural The social cultural dimension of the general environment represents the demographic characteristics as well as the norms, customs and value of the general population. In order to meet the consumer satisfaction, MDI have to consider needs of the consumer based on their attitude, taste, age, and the family size. For instance, for the milk it self, it should aimed at various sections of the market i.e. pregnant women, breast feeding mothers, toddlers, children, adolescents, slimmers, active adults, pensioners. For example, a fruit yogurt in Thailand emphasizes health and low calories and is targeted at young women; in Europe, a drinking yogurt in a bright container and featuring a cartoon character on the packaging is aimed at children; elsewhere, a drinking yogurt fortified with vitamins is aimed at active women between the ages of 30 and 40. In this respect, it often seems as if a product is available for every age and occasion. On the other hand, the family also one of the factors affects the producing of milk product. For example, standard packaging of milk in litre and half-litre containers, is well adapted to home consumption, but not well adapted to competing with soft drinks sold from vending machines. For this market, the size of the packaging needs to change (often to between 200 and 350 ml) to encourage sales of milk products, such as flavored milk and chilled coffee, which can compete with soft drinks. Technological Technological dimension includes scientific and technological advancements in a specific industry as well as in society at large. This factor will also affect MDI since the company is using new technology equipment to develop their innovative products. With unceasingly introducing of new technology will be able to develop the innovative products with high quality and high standards. Globalisation means an adherence to universal business principles and practices, which are recognized, respected and understood by the regional and global corporate communities. It is regardless of goods and services that flow across international borders and across vast oceans with few impediments. This also a process which tends to increase the interdependence between national economies. Global markets could offer greater opportunity for people to tap into more and larger markets around the world. It means that they can have access to more capital flows, technology, cheaper imports, and larger export markets. It can be seen, as a movement towards the formation of a single market for goods and services, in which there is no discrimination based on the geographical origin of producers and consumers. Rules of business are changing rapidly and if management is not sensitive to change, their business will be severely affected. Therefore, to survive in the market place, management will h ave no choice but to quickly adapt to continuous changes of globalisation to remain competitive. Opportunity and Threat Today the will to constantly upgrade and to stay at the frontier of the industry remain the key to the companys vision. To meet the challenges ahead, MDI is focusing on the vision which will cover every aspect of business, involving every member of its staff and at every level of the company. Thus, such vision and the principles such as ISO, HACCP become the guiding lights that will plot the companys course in the future. The opportunity to take part in the emerging global economy will also comes to the company. The company will not only establish himself in Malaysia and Singapore but also in other Asia countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, and Myanmar etc. However, over recent months, there had been increasing concern over the global economic slowdown, which was most clearly seen in the US and to a lesser extent, in Europe and some countries in Asia. Apparently, the events of Sept 11 had a significant impact on the global business activities. Foreign direct investment worldwide has declined by nearly 50%, indicating a lack of consumer and investor in the light of growing uncertainties in the global business and geo-political environment. This may become one of the threats to MDI in developing its global business. The company also face tough challenge in competitive environment because the competition in the global market is intense, with several major producers vying for the market share. In order to help the company understand their competitive advantage or disadvantage relative to competitors, and to give an informed basis for developing future strategies to sustain or establish advantage over competitors, competitor analysis of the following are necessary here. Competitor Analysis Porter argue that competition in an industry is determined by its basic underlying economic structure, which are the following five force models: * Rivalry among existing competitors The competitor strategic would be one of the main factors to influence the business of MDI. Competitors such as Dutch Lady Milk Industries, Premier Milk/FN Dairies, Nestle Products, New Zealand Milk Products and the Dumex (Malaysia) are constantly coming up with their own market promotional programs by introducing new and improved products and innovative packaging, in order to gain and maintain their market share. These companies often conduct product demonstrations and conduct sampling in shopping complexes and supermarkets. * Threat of new entrants The second model is the barrier to entry the industry. Where barriers to entry are high, the new entrants are likely to be deterred. While the low barriers generally mean that the responses will be slower and offering more opportunity. The barriers to entry the dairy industry are consider medium. The main barrier that the new entrant face would be the creation of strong brands of the competitors such as Nestle and Dutch Lady. * The bargaining power of suppliers This means the behaviour of supplier and their relative power which can squeeze industry profits. This power may affect MDI as most of the raw materials to produce the dairy products are imported from the foreign country such as Australia, Europe and US. Such countries are playing a major player in the world trade of dairy product and they may attempted to dominant the price of the raw material e.g. raises their price to the industry and hence take over part of the profit for themselves. * The bargaining power of buyers Buyers use their power to trade around the industry participant to gain lower prices or improvement to product quality will also affect profitability of MDI. The high standard of milk product that produced by MDI normally offers a lower price compare to other competitors and thus attract more consumer to buy it, for example the low fat of HL milk. * The threat of product substitutes The substitute products which bring the same need to satisfy consumer will bring down the purchases power of the milk product especially when the price move upwards. For example, when the price of the pasteurised milk move up, the customer may look for soya milk which is more cheaper and healthy than the pasteurised milk. In order to tackle the challenges and competitive environment and to expand the company business to the global market, planning consider the main action to MDI to decide where the company to be in the future and how to get it. In fact, the organization such as Shell, IBM, Royal LaPaige, Mazda and United Way have been undertaken a strategic planning exercise each year for reviewing their missions, goals, and plans to meet environment changes or the expectations of important stakeholders. Thus, planning is an important fundamental action for every organization to achieve their goals. There are four main stages in the planning process, which are the following. Establishing Objectives For planning purpose, it is necessary for MDI to define the companys objectives as to provide a sense of direction. The companys objectives are important because company exist for a purpose and such objectives define and state that purpose. Strategic or long-range planning therefore begins with the specification of the objectives towards which future operations should be directed. The attainment of objective also aimed to create the source of motivation and commitment among the employees because the companys goal will facilitate employees identification with the organisation and help motivate them by reducing uncertainty and clarifying what they should accomplish. The first objective that MDI should define is the mission of the company, which describes the broad purpose and its reason for existence, the nature of business and the customers it seek and satisfy. For instance, the business scope of MDI is manufacturing of dairy products. Meanwhile the purpose of the company is to improve the growing demands of the dairy products towards global economy. Another important objective which relate to the organisation as a whole is the corporate objectives. They are normally measurable and are expressed in financial terms such as desired profits or sales levels, return on capital employed, rate of growth or market share. It is important that senior managers of MDI understand clearly where their company is going and why and how their own role contributes to the attainment of corporate objectives. Once the overall objective of the company have been established they must be broken down into subsidiary objectives relating to areas such as product range, market segmentation, customer service etc. Identify Potential Strategies The following stage to the above is to identify a range of possible course of action or strategies that might enable the objectives of MDI to be achieved. Prior to developing strategies, it is necessary to undertake a strategic analysis to better understand the organisations present strategic situation. This involves SWOT analysis of MDI that assess companys strengths and weakness, opportunity and threats in relation to the internal and environmental factors. Once we understand the SWOT of the company, we will be able to identify alternative strategies for the company. The following are some of the strategic that MDI could be use. * Cost leadership This strategy is the aim at being the lowest cost producer in the industry. A firm that bases its competitive strategy on overall cost leadership must construct the most efficient facilities and obtain the largest share market so that its cost per unit is lowest in the industry. It has the ability to lower price in time of severe price competition and provides a cushion to defend profit levels against competitors. Therefore, experience with building the product is very important such as process of production, delivery and service, which lead to further their cost reductions. To bring the cost to the lowest, MDI have to reduce the import of the dairy raw material form foreign country and examining alternatives suppliers who will give the lowest price of ingredients to the company. MDI also can reduce costs through supporting research into new technologies, and using new technology to improve product value, and increasing productivity, and thus bring down the cost. Besides, the company also can use the incentive pay system in order to motivate worker to produce more of the dairy product.

Buonaparte - Relationship of Bonaparte and Buonaparte

Buonaparte - Relationship of Bonaparte and Buonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte was born as Napoleone Buonaparte, the second son of a Corsican family with dual Italian heritage: his father Carlo descended from Francesco Buonaparte, a Florentine who had emigrated in the mid-sixteenth century. Napoleons mother was a Ramolino, a family who arrived in Corsica c. 1500. For a while, Carlo, his wife, and their children were all Buonapartes, but history records the great emperor as being Bonaparte. Why? A growing French influence on both Corsica and the family caused them to adopt the French version of their name: Bonaparte. The future emperor changed his first name too, to just Napoleon. French Influence France gained control of Corsica in 1768, sending an army and a governor who would both play key roles in Napoleons life. Carlo certainly became close friends with the Comte de Marbeuf, the French ruler of Corsica, and fought to send the elder children to be educated in France so they could rise up the ranks of the much larger, richer and more powerful French world; however, their surnames remained almost wholly Buonaparte. It was only in 1793 that the use of Bonaparte begins to grow in frequency, thanks largely to Napoleons failure in Corsican politics and the familys consequent flight to France, where they initially lived in poverty. Napoleon was now a member of the French military, but had managed to a return to Corsica and involved himself in the power struggles of the area. Unlike his later career, things went badly, and the French army (and the French mainland) were soon their new home. Napoleon soon found success, first as an artillery commander in the siege of Toulon and the creation of the ruling Directory, and then in the triumphant Italian Campaign of 1795-6, whereupon he changed almost permanently to Bonaparte. It was clear at this point that the French military was his future, if not the government of France, and a French name would aid this: people could still be suspicious of foreigners (as they still tend to be.) Other members of his family followed as their lives became intertwined with the high-politics of France, and soon the newly named Bonaparte family ruled vast areas of Europe. Political Motivations The changing of the family name from Italian to French seems clearly political in retrospect: as members of an up-and-coming dynasty who ruled France, it made perfect sense to appear French and adopt French affectations. However, theres debate over the scant evidence, and its possible there wasnt a deliberate, family-wide, decision to rename themselves, just the constant and subversive effects of living among French culture working to lead them all to change. Carlos death in 1785, well before the use of Bonaparte became even remotely common, may also have been an enabling factor: they could well have stayed Buonaparte if he had still been alive.​ Readers may wish to note that a similar process happened to the Buonaparte childrens first names: Joseph was born Giuseppe, Napoleon was Napoleone and so on.

Definition and Examples of Irregular Verbs

Definition and Examples of Irregular Verbs In English grammar, an irregular verb is a  verb that does not follow the usual rules for verb forms. Also known as a strong verb. Verbs in English are irregular if they dont have the  conventional -ed ending (such as asked or ended) in the past tense and/or past participle forms. Contrast with Regular Verb. According to the  Longman Student Grammar (2002), the nine most common  lexical verbs  in English are all irregular:  say, get, go, know, think, see, make, come, and  take. Pronunciation i-REG-u-lur verb Exercises Exercise in Using the Correct Forms of Irregular VerbsPractice in Using the Past Forms of Regular and Irregular VerbsProofreading for Tense Errors Examples and Observations The bridge they built brought traffic in both directions.Water slopping from the buckets froze on the feet as it fell.(Sheila Watson, Deep Hollow Creek. McClelland Stewart, 1992)The shoes the slaves bought generally cost between $1.50 and $2.00.(Ted Ownby, American Dreams in Mississippi. University of North Carolina Press, 1999)He said Roadmap Jenkins got the good loops because he knew the yardage and read the break better than anyone else.(Bo Links, Riverbank Tweed and Roadmap Jenkins. Simon Schuster, 2001)Hearts were trumps. I stood, and made three to his nothing. I dealt; he begged; I gave him one, and made three more.(George H. Devol, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, 1887)It was true, thought Miss Taylor, that the young nurses were less jolly since Sister Burstead had taken over the ward.(Muriel Spark, Memento Mori, 1959) 180 Cussed Exceptions At first glance irregular verbs would seem to have no reason to live. Why should language have forms that are just cussed exceptions to a rule?..Irregular forms are just words. If our language faculty has a knack for memorizing words, it should have no inhibitions about memorizing past-tense forms at the same time. These are the verbs we call irregular, and they are a mere 180 additions to a mental lexicon that already numbers in the tens or hundreds of thousands. (Steven Pinker, Words and Rules. Basic, 1999) The Origin of Irregular Verbs [I]rregular verbs . . . derive from the Old English period. At that time they were called strong and weak verbs respectively. Strong verbs formed their past tense and past participle with an ablaut or vowel gradation (a means of marking different functions of a word by varying the vowel sound in its base). Weak verbs formed their past tense and past participle with an inflectional suffix, that is, a {-d} or {-t} suffix. With the loss of inflections during the Middle English period, all new verbs took on the weak verb formation with an {-ed} or {-t} in past forms. This weak formation soon became the norm for what we now refer to as English regular verbs; strong verbs became irregular verbs(Bernard ODwyer, Modern English Structures, 2nd ed. Broadview Press, 2006)modern English there are roughly half that number, in classes which overlap and have deviant internal groups, and in addition, a number of weak verbs have joined the class of irregular verbs. The Comprehensive Grammar of Englis h (1985) presents seven classes of irregular verbs, five of them with subgroups. The total membership of the modern irregular verb system is a question of criteria, depending on whether you include i) verbs which are conjugated both regularly and irregularly ii) verbs which are prefixed or compounded forms of monomorphemic irregular verbs iii) verbs which fall into the category of old-fashioned or archaic English To provide maximum help- and to avoid prejudging such issues- the Comprehensive Grammar (QGLS) presents a list of 267 irregular verbs, but it shrinks to about 150 if you apply all three criteria just mentioned. (Pam Peters, American and British Influence in Australian Verb Morphology. Creating and Using English Language Corpora, ed. by Udo Fries et al. Rodopi, 1994) The Future of Irregular Verbs Do irregular verbs have a future? At first glance, the prospects do not seem good. Old English had more than twice as many irregular verbs as we do today. As some of the verbs became less common, like cleave-clove, abide-abode, and geld-gelt, children failed to memorize their irregular forms and applied the -ed rule instead (just as today children are apt to say winded and speaked). The irregular forms were doomed for these childrens children and for all subsequent generations (though some of the dead irregulars have left souvenirs among the English adjectives, like cloven, cleft, shod, gilt, and pent).Not only is the irregular class losing members by emigration, it is not gaining new ones by immigration. When new verbs enter English via onomatopoeia (to ding, to ping), borrowings from other languages (deride and succumb from Latin), and conversions from nouns (fly out), the regular rule has first dibs on them. The language ends up with dinged, pinged, derided, succumbed, and flied o ut, not dang, pang, derode, succame, or flew out. But many of the irregulars can sleep securely, for they have two things on their side. One is their sheer frequency in the language. The ten commonest verbs in English (be, have, do, say, make, go, take, come, see, and get) are all irregular, and about 70% of the time we use a verb, it is an irregular verb. And children have a wondrous capacity for memorizing words; they pick up a new one every two hours, accumulating 60,000 by high school. Eighty irregulars are common enough that children use them before they learn to read, and I predict they will stay in the language indefinitely. (Steven Pinker, quoted by Lewis Burke Frumkes in Favorite Words of Famous People. Marion Street Press, 2011) A New Strong Verb in English The magazine Ozwords published by the Australian National Dictionary Centre has confirmed something that Ive suspected for some time- snuck as the past tense of sneak is now more usual than sneaked. . . . It is always good news to hear of a successful new strong verb in English!..Fewer than 60 of the original 350 strong verbs remain- and even this very small number includes many rather dodgy ones like glide/glode, beseech/besaught, cleave/cleft/cloven, beget/begat/begotten, chide/chid/chidden, slay/slew/slain and smite/smote/smitten. Hardly part of a Modern English speakers active vocabulary! So you can see that a new strong verb like sneak/snuck is a cause for celebration- that is, if you are worried about the extinction of forms like glide/glode. (Kate Burridge, Gift of the Gob: Morsels of English Language History. HarperCollins Australia, 2011) The Lighter Side of Irregular Verbs A boy who swims may say he swum, But milk is skimmed and seldom skum, And nails you trim; they are not trum.   When words you speak, these words are spoken, But a nose is tweaked and cant be twoken. And what you seek is seldom soken. If we forget, then weve forgotten, But things we wet are never wotten, And houses let cannot be lotten. The things one sells are always sold, But fog dispelled are not dispold, And what you smell is never smold. When young, a top you oft saw spun, But did you see a grin ever grun, Or a potato neatly skun? (anonymous, Variable Verbs or Verbs Is Funny) Also See Introduction to Irregular VerbsPrincipal Parts of Irregular VerbsWhats the Difference Between a Weak Verb and a Strong Verb?

Compare and contrast american pop culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Compare and contrast american pop culture - Essay Example In recent years, their message has changed in America to take out most of the gender references and focus instead on the street culture of the adolescent generation. In its reintroduction to the Saudi Arabian market, the company has taken a similar approach but modified it some to be more in keeping with the attitudes and beliefs of the Saudi culture. By comparing the advertising approaches of the Coca-Cola company in America in the past two decades with that of the Saudi campaign since its reintroduction in 1988, one can get a sense of how these cultures are different and the same. In the 1990s, Coke turned to the adolescent and pop markets for advertising inspiration in America. They didn’t focus on gender types at all, but instead worked to portray a healthy, balanced yet completely in tune and alive product that radiated energy. A television advertisement in the mid-1990s displayed a chalk drawing with several renderings of the circular Coca-Cola logo against a multi-hued background reminiscent of the 60s hippie styles. This even goes as far as to insert psychedelic-type paint styles and the insertion of the word â€Å"Always† in various ways that both serve to highlight the use of the product always, reinforce its place in the iconography of American culture (along with the use of the hippie artistic style) and associates itself with a new and energized pop culture that remains focused on the young. The bottle that becomes the focal point of this image does not have any of the detail Americans were used to seeing, even going so far as to leav e the label off, featuring nothing more than a brown bottle shape. By contrast, the commercials played in Saudi Arabia focused almost exclusively on people as one commercial limits the viewing area to the face of a woman wearing traditional head-covering and to the glass in which she is pouring her Coke. The labeled bottle of

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Good Man Is Hard To Find - Essay Example The grandmother in the book is a central figure in the extended family and most of what happens in the story is a direct result of the grandmother (Bonney, 1990). There is a strong sense of social status in the grandmother’s tone, which is particularly evident when she begs the misfit not to kill her because she is a lady. She also plays the role of mother during the trip and its aftermath. In addition, it is her decision to take the children on a trip to Tennessee that leads to their murder by the misfit. During the trip, the grandmother attempts to show her heroine side by attempting to draw the misfit away from his plan to murder the family. Social status is also apparent in the book as the author makes numerous references about fundamental traditions and values of the South. Flannery O’Connor in her book discusses cultural aspects via the role of the grandmother as the mother of the family, family relationships, and the family’s social status. The author disc usses the cultural role of the grandmother as the family’s mother as a way to understand the manner in which the misfit viewed the family. The grandmother believes herself to be a lady and does things she expects other motherly ladies would do. For example, she asks the misfit to pray in order to make a connection with him and to ensure he understood that she was not only a lady, but a respectful Southern lady who believed in prayer. She mutters â€Å"Jesus, Jesus† (O’Connor, 2011) to him as a way of telling him that it was only Jesus who could save him. Throughout the book, she makes references to her being a motherly lady, even telling him that she was her son as a way to stop him from killing her. According to her, the fact that she was a mother and lady would stop the misfit from killing her (Bonney, 1990). The misfit understood from the beginning that the grandmother wished to be treated as a mother and a lady, which is evidenced by his apology after he app ears shirtless in front of the family. The author discusses the cultural aspects of what it means to be a â€Å"good man† through the social status of the grandmother as a lady, as well as the misfit’s lack of adherence to social principles. While the grandmother expects the misfit and everyone else to treat her as a lady with grace and charm, this is, in fact, the opposite of what she is (Bonney, 1990). For instance, the grandmother evokes conscience at the start of the book, although she is conveniently non-committal when it comes to lying to the children concerning the car’s secret panel, sneaking pitty sing without their knowledge into the car, and opting to stay silent about her mistake with regards to the house’s location (O’Connor, 2011). While the grandmother attempts to appeal to the misfit’s conscience regarding mothers and ladies, she does not behave this way when the misfit begins to kill her family. Rather than beg the misfit to spare the life of her children and grandchildren as a lady would, she begs for her own life. She does not believe that the misfit would kill her since she was a lady and mother, attempting to appease his psych by appealing to what she considered as a male weakness for mothers and ladies. However, it seems that the misfit had already seen through her facade and goes on to kill anyway, contending that she would have been a good lady if â€Å"she had been shot every minute of her life† (O’Connor, 2011). The manner in which the book ends reinforce the book’s title that it is hard to find a good man since the misfit does not respect the grandmother’s social status as a mother or lady. Even though the grandmother makes her best attempts to mold him into a good man, telling him that, â€Å"if you pray, Jesus would help you†

Job Serach E-mail Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Job Serach E-mail - Assignment Example Through my sales executive role, I was aggressive and utilized my energy in implementing sales and marketing strategies. I was able to implement numerous promotional strategies through my everyday tasks Creating cordial and healthy relationship with the clientele and my fellow employees as well as those whom I led has also been my role since at the end of the day, the client has to be treated right. My duties and responsibilities also revolve around keeping a close eye on the target markets, sales and marketing endeavors, identifying gaps in the global markets, which help in maintaining high level of management. As indicated on my resume, I am highly skilled in leadership, sales and marketing, strategy formulation and implementation, policy research and analysis and administrative support to department heads, and managing everyday office tasks. I have a demonstrated ability to prepare reports since this is the best way to monitor what the office needs. I am a team player and thrive in a well-coordinated and dynamic environment. I believe that I would be a perfect fit and it will broaden my

Project Management Scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Project Management Scenario - Essay Example and Down’s staff for the new project, there might be conflict with respect to job responsibilities, particularly, the tasks which will be left unattended by staff movement from Pokorski and Down’s side of the operations to Janet’s new project. The responsibility matrix, together with a resources plan, can help address any potential communication conflicts among Steve Pokorski, Joe Downs and Janet. Meanwhile, an issue management plan will also be handy so that Janet’s team can be prepared to contend with environmental, cultural, technical and project-specific concerns which have already been identified or are being expected to occur in the course of time. This communication tool is very different from a risk management plan in the sense that risks may or may not occur (Pritchard, 2004). Finally, Janet should require each team or group in charge with one or more deliverables to submit status reports at the end of each week so that delays, time gained and other problems which surface in addition to those already identified and expected can be properly addressed, particularly those requiring mobilisation of resources, task redundancies or personnel conflicts. On the other hand, the major risks being considered which may affect the success of the project include: (1) unexpected increase in the price of construction materials during the construction of the manufacturing plant; (2) is fluctuation in the price of raw materials for plastic containers and (3) breakdown of equipment. All three aforementioned risks will definitely affect the scope, cost and schedule of the project. In the case of increase in the price of raw materials for construction, or fluctuation in price of raw materials for manufacturing, including a statistically calculated amount for contingency in the estimation of construction and manufacturing costs can cushion the effect of any price increase. With respect to breakdown of equipment especially in the first four months of operation, weekly

What may be the 'Best Practices' so far as Action Planning is Assignment

What may be the 'Best Practices' so far as Action Planning is concerned - Assignment Example Non-discriminatory policies increase the rate of work commitment (Australian Human Rights Commission 2014). Delivering real value to customers helps them realize that they are valued by the provider of services which increase customer loyalty. The more customer loyalty there is, the higher competitive edge is achieved by an organization over rival companies. This is why making wise investments in this area is highly valuable making it one of the best practices of an action plan (Bradt, Check & Pedraza 2011). Employers and employees should continually strive to enhance their organization’s image. This helps the people realize that focus is not only concentrated on maximizing profit. Rather, the organization is conscientious enough to protect its reputation also (Nagy & Fawcett 2013). Customers have more confidence in those companies which have a very healthy image compared to those which have cracks in their images. Australian Human Rights Commission 2014, Developing an effective Action Plan, viewed, 07 June 2014, Nagy, J & Fawcett, SB 2013, Proclaiming Your Dream: Developing Vision and Mission Statements, viewed, 07 June 2014,

Project Management Scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Project Management Scenario - Essay Example and Down’s staff for the new project, there might be conflict with respect to job responsibilities, particularly, the tasks which will be left unattended by staff movement from Pokorski and Down’s side of the operations to Janet’s new project. The responsibility matrix, together with a resources plan, can help address any potential communication conflicts among Steve Pokorski, Joe Downs and Janet. Meanwhile, an issue management plan will also be handy so that Janet’s team can be prepared to contend with environmental, cultural, technical and project-specific concerns which have already been identified or are being expected to occur in the course of time. This communication tool is very different from a risk management plan in the sense that risks may or may not occur (Pritchard, 2004). Finally, Janet should require each team or group in charge with one or more deliverables to submit status reports at the end of each week so that delays, time gained and other problems which surface in addition to those already identified and expected can be properly addressed, particularly those requiring mobilisation of resources, task redundancies or personnel conflicts. On the other hand, the major risks being considered which may affect the success of the project include: (1) unexpected increase in the price of construction materials during the construction of the manufacturing plant; (2) is fluctuation in the price of raw materials for plastic containers and (3) breakdown of equipment. All three aforementioned risks will definitely affect the scope, cost and schedule of the project. In the case of increase in the price of raw materials for construction, or fluctuation in price of raw materials for manufacturing, including a statistically calculated amount for contingency in the estimation of construction and manufacturing costs can cushion the effect of any price increase. With respect to breakdown of equipment especially in the first four months of operation, weekly

There are two short written assignments for this lesson 2.1 Essay

There are two short written assignments for this lesson 2.1 - Essay Example The documents do not satisfactorily promote social justice according to the authors, an area which they deem as fundamental to the nursing practice. Bekeimeier and Butterfield feel that the documents need to have placed more focus on political action and on ways through which nurses can be able to address all underlying factors in the eradication of emerging health problems. With this, the three documents help in ensuring quality healthcare for individual patients that nurses come into contact with, rather than ensuring the quality health of the entire population. From the arguments presented by the two authors, the three documents bring about various social aspects but only mention this at some instances. The weight given on issues related to social justice cannot be compared to that given to issues related to individual patient care. The phrase social justice is reported to have only been used one time in each of the 3 documents, an indication of the value this has been given as co mpared to aspects related to nurse-patient relationships (Bekeimeier & Butterfield, 2005). Based on the arguments presented by the two authors, I strongly agree with their view and believe that more should have been done to promote the role of nurses as political and social leaders as well as advocates. Though the Scope and Standard for Practice document defines nurses as those who play these two roles of leadership and advocacy and in the promotion of social change and reforms towards the improvement of health, the document, just like the other two documents does not focus on how this can be effectively done (ANA, 2010). Having gone through the three documents by ANA, any one would see the evident focal point for the three documents. The amount of information given as guidelines for the nursing practice and that relate to the care and services provided to a patient is overwhelming. There are parts of the documents that touch on public health and the nurses’ involvement in th e promotion of public health, but have only been briefly stated (ANA, 2013). I am in complete agreement with the authors on the issue of collaboration as brought out in the three guide documents. In most cases, collaboration has always been taken to mean different groups of persons working together with one mission, and where each member makes a contribution towards the group. This is however not the concept brought out in the Code of Ethics, where collaboration during patient care would be taken to mean nurses working with patients and other related parties such as families and the surrounding community to promote quality care and treatment as well as overall promotion of complete health for all. The Code of Ethics, in this case brings out collaboration to mean the involvement of the patient in being part of the decision making process (ANA, 2013). This definition shifts the focus of the document from the social aspect to what most parts of the documents focus on; an individual pat ient. I also concur with the two on their view that the generalization of the term patient to refer to the

Google products Essay Example for Free

Google products Essay In 2011, 96% of Googles revenue was derived from its advertising programs.[116] For the 2006 fiscal year, the company reported $10.492 billion in total advertising revenues and only $112 million in licensing and other revenues.[117] Google has implemented various innovations in the online advertising market that helped make it one of the biggest brokers in the market. Using technology from the company DoubleClick, Google can determine user interests and target advertisements so they are relevant to their context and the user that is viewing them. [118][119] Google Analytics allows website owners to track where and how people use their website, for example by examining click rates for all the links on a page.[120] Google advertisements can be placed on third-party websites in a two-part program. Googles AdWords allows advertisers to display their advertisements in the Google content network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. The sister service, Google AdSense, allows website owners to display these advertisements on their website, and earn money every time ads are clicked.[121] One of the disadvantages and criticisms of this program is Googles inability to combat click fraud, when a person or automated script clicks on advertisements without being interested in the product, which causes that advertiser to pay money to Google unduly. Industry reports in 2006 claim that approximately 14 to 20 percent of clicks were in fact fraudulent or invalid.[122] Furthermore, there has been controversy over Googles search within a search, where a secondary search box enables the user to find what they are looking for within a particular website. It was soon reported that when performing a search within a search for a specific company, advertisements from competing and rival companies often showed up along with those results, drawing users away from the site they were originally searching.[123] Another complaint against Googles advertising is its censorship of  advertisers, though many cases concern compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. For example, in February 2003, Google stopped showing the advertisements of Oceana, a non-profit organization protesting a major cruise ships sewage treatment practices. Google cited its editorial policy at the time, stating Google does not accept advertising if the ad or site advocates against other individuals, groups, or organizations.[124] The policy was later changed.[125] In June 2008, Google reached an advertising agreement with Yahoo!, which would have allowed Yahoo! to feature Google advertisements on its web pages. The alliance between the two companies was never completely realized due to antitrust concerns by the U.S. Department of Justice. As a result, Google pulled out of the deal in November 2008.[126][127] In an attempt to advertise its own products, Google launched a website called Demo Slam, developed to demonstrate technology demos of Google Products.[128] Each week, two teams compete at putting Googles technology into new contexts. Search Engine Journal said Demo Slam is a place where creative and tech-savvy people can create videos to help the rest of the world understand all the newest and greatest technology out there.[129] Search engine Main article: Google Search On February 14, 2012, Google updated its homepage with a minor twist. There are no red lines above the options in the black bar, and there is a tab space before the +You. The sign-in button has also changed, it is no longer in the black bar, instead under it as a button. Google Search, a web search engine, is the companys most popular service. According to market research published by comScore in November 2009, Google is the dominant search engine in the United States market, with a market share of 65.6%.[130] Google indexes billions[131] of web pages, so that users can search for the information they desire, through the use of keywords and operators. Despite its popularity, it has received criticism from a number of  organizations. In 2003, The New York Times complained about Googles indexing, claiming that Googles caching of content on its site infringed its copyright for the content.[132] In this case, the United States District Court of Nevada ruled in favor of Google in Field v. Google and Parker v. Google.[133][134] Furthermore, the publication 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has compiled a list of words that the web giants new instant search feature will not search.[135] Google Watch has also criticized Googles PageRank algorithms, saying that they discriminate against new websites and favor established sites,[136] and has made allegations about connections between Google and the NSA and the CIA.[137] Despite criticism, the basic search engine has spread to specific services as well, including an image search engine, the Google News search site, Google Maps, and more. In early 2006, the company launched Google Video, which allowed users to upload, search, and watch videos from the Internet.[138] In 2009, however, uploads to Google Video were discontinued so that Google could focus more on the search aspect of the service.[139] The company even developed Google Desktop, a desktop search application used to search for files local to ones computer (discontinued in 2011). Googles most recent development in search is its partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to create Google Patents, which enables free access to information about patents and trademarks. One of the more controversial search services Google hosts is Google Books. The company began scanning books and uploading limited previews, and full books where allowed, into its new book search engine. The Authors Guild, a group that represents 8,000 U.S. authors, filed a class action suit in a New York City federal court against Google in 2005 over this new service. Google replied that it is in compliance with all existing and historical applications of copyright laws regarding books.[140] Google eventually reached a revised settlement in 2009 to limit its scans to books from the U.S., the UK, Australia and Canada.[141] Furthermore, the Paris Civil Court ruled against Google in late 2009, asking it to remove the works of La Martinià ¨re (Éditions du Seuil) from its database.[142] In competition with Amazon.com, Google plans to sell digital versions of new books.[143] On July 21, 2010, in response to newcomer Bing, Google updated its image search to display a streaming sequence of thumbnails that enlarge when pointed at. Though web searches still appear in a batch per page format, on July 23, 2010, dictionary definitions for certain English words began appearing above the linked results for web searches.[144] Googles algorithm was changed in March 2011, giving more weight to high-quality content[145] possibly by the use of n-grams to remove spun content.[146] Productivity tools In addition to its standard web search services, Google has released over the years a number of online productivity tools. Gmail, a free webmail service provided by Google, was launched as an invitation-only beta program on April 1, 2004,[147] and became available to the general public on February 7, 2007.[148] The service was upgraded from beta status on July 7, 2009,[149] at which time it had 146 million users monthly.[150] The service would be the first online email service with one gigabyte of storage, and the first to keep emails from the same conversation together in one thread, similar to an Internet forum.[147] The service currently offers over 7600 MB of free storage with additional storage ranging from 20 GB to 16 TB available for US$0.25 per 1 GB per year.[151] Furthermore, software developers know Gmail for its pioneering use of AJAX, a programming technique that allows web pages to be interactive without refreshing the browser.[152] One criticism of Gmail has been the potential for data disclosure, a risk associated with many online web applications. Steve Ballmer (Microsofts CEO),[153] Liz Figueroa,[154] Mark Rasch,[155] and the editors of Google Watch[156] believe the processing of email message content goes beyond proper use, but Google claims that mail sent to or from Gmail is never read by a human being beyond the account holder, and is only used to improve relevance of advertisements.[157] Google Docs, another part of Googles productivity suite, allows users to create, edit, and collaborate on documents in an online environment, not dissimilar to Microsoft Word. The service was originally called Writely, but was obtained by Google on March 9, 2006, where it was released as an invitation-only preview.[158] On June 6 after the acquisition, Google  created an experimental spreadsheet editing program,[159] which would be combined with Google Docs on October 10.[160] A program to edit presentations would complete the set on September 17, 2007,[161] before all three services were taken out of beta along with Gmail, Google Calendar and all products from the Google Apps Suite on July 7, 2009.[149] Enterprise products Googles search appliance Googles search appliance at the 2008 RSA Conference Google entered the enterprise market in February 2002 with the launch of its Google Search Appliance, targeted toward providing search technology for larger organizations.[26] Google launched the Mini three years later, which was targeted at smaller organizations. Late in 2006, Google began to sell Custom Search Business Edition, providing customers with an advertising-free window into Google.coms index. The service was renamed Google Site Search in 2008.[162] Google Apps is another primary Google enterprise service offering. The service allows organizations to bring Googles web application offerings, such as Gmail and Google Docs, into its own domain. The service is available in several editions: a basic free edition (formerly known as Google Apps Standard edition), Google Apps for Business, Google Apps for Education, and Google Apps for Government. Special editions include extras such as more disk space, API access, a service level agreement (SLA), premium support, and additional apps. In the same year Google Apps was launched, Google acquired Postini[163] and proceeded to integrate the companys security technologies into Google Apps[164] under the name Google Postini Services.[165] Additional Google enterprise offerings include geospatial solutions (e.g., Google Earth and Google Maps); security and archival solutions (e.g., Postini); and Chromebooks for business and education (i.e., personal computing run on browser-centric operating systems).

The Data Inscription Standard Computer Science Essay

The Data Inscription Standard Computer Science Essay Whenever data is exchanged electronically many times the privacy of the data is a required. Encryption is used to restrict unintended recipients from viewing the data, which are deemed confidential and potentially dangerous if made known to irresponsible parties. In other word, encryption is the procedure of transforming plain text data that can be read by anyone to cipher text data that can only be read by someone with a secret decryption key.A message before being changed in any way is called plain text. Plain text messages are converted to ciphertext via some encryption method. An enryption method is called a cryptosystem. In 1972, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), a part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, initiated a program to develop standards for the protection of computer data. The Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology (ICST), one of the major operating units of the National Bureau of Standards, had been recently established in response to a 1965 federal law known as the Brooks Act (PL89-306) that required new standards for improving utilization of computers by the federal government. Computer security had been identified by an ICST study as one of the high-priority areas requiring standards if computers were to be effectively used. A set of guidelines and standards were defined by the ICST that were to be developed as resources became available in computer security. The guidelines were to include areas such as physical security, risk management, contingency planning, and security auditing. Guidelines were adequate in areas not requiring interoperability among various computers. St andards were required in areas such as encryption, personal authentication, access control, secure data stor-age, and transmission because they could affect interoperability. Standards can be divided into different sections: basic, interoperability, interface, and implementation. 1. Basic standards (also called 4standards of good practice) are used to specify generic functions (services, methods, results) required to achieve a certain set of common goals. Examples include standards for purity of chemicals, contents of food products, and in the computer field, structured programming practices. 2. Interoperability standards specify functions and formats so that data transmitted from one computer can be properly acted on when received by another computer.The implementation (hardware, firmware, software) or structure (integrated, isolated, interfaced layers) need not be specified in interoperability standards, since there is no intent of replacing one implementation or structure within a system with another. 3. Interface standards specify not only the function and format of data crossing the interface, but also include physical, electrical, and logical specifications sufficient to replace one implementation (device, program, component) on either side of the interface with another. 4. Implementation standards not only specify the interfaces, functions, and formats, but also the structure and the method of implementation. These may be necessary to assure that secondary characteristics such as speed, reliability, physical security, etc. also meet certain needs. Such standards are often used to permit component replacement in an overall system. Services or Applications The basic DES algorithm can be used for both data encryption and data authentication. 1. Data Encryption: It is easy to see how the DES may be used to encrypt a 64-bit plaintext input to a 64-bit cipher text output, but data are seldom limited to 64 bits. In order to use DES in a variety of cryptographic applications, four modes of operation were developed: electronic codebook (ECB); cipher feedback (CFB); cipher block chaining (CBC); and output feedback (OFB) [26] (Figs. 1-4). Each mode has its advantages and disadvantages. ECB is excellent for encrypting keys; CFB is typically used for encrypting individual characters; and OFB is often used for encrypting satellite communications. Both CBC and CFB can be used to authenticate data. These modes of operation permit the use of DES for interactive terminal to host encryption, crypto-graphic key encryption for automated key management applications, file encryption, mail encryption, satellite data encryption, and other applications. In fact, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find a cryptographic application where the DES cannot be applied. Figure 1: Electronic codebook (ECB) mode. Figure2: Cipher block chaining (CBC) mode. History of encryption In its earliest form, people have been attempting to conceal certain information that they wanted to keep to their own possession by substituting parts of the information with symbols, numbers and pictures. Ancient Babylonian merchants used intaglio, a piece of flat stone carved into a collage of images and some writing to identify themselves in trading transactions. Using this mechanism, they are producing what today we know as digital signature. The public knew that a particular signature belonged to this trader, but only he had the intaglio to produce that signature. Of course, technology today has evolved at such rapid pace that the need to protect information grows with the lessening reliability of older encryption techniques. Basic modern encryption is not much different from the ancient civilisations substitution using symbols. Translation table, lends itself very well in making a piece of data generally unreadable. However computers today are much too advanced that translation table is easily broken and thus no longer viable. Instead encryption today has grown into such specialised field that involve mathematical, non-linear cryptosystem that even a relatively powerful computers take months or even years to break the ciphertext. The origins of DES go back to the early 1970s. In 1972, after concluding a study on the US governments computer security needs, the US standards body NBS (National Bureau of Standards) now named NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) identified a need for a government-wide standard for encrypting unclassified, sensitive information.[1] Accordingly, on 15 May 1973, after consulting with the NSA, NBS solicited proposals for a cipher that would meet rigorous design criteria. None of the submissions, however, turned out to be suitable. A second request was issued on 27 August 1974. This time, IBM submitted a candidate which was deemed acceptable a cipher developed during the period 1973-1974 based on an earlier algorithm, Horst Feistels Lucifer cipher. The team at IBM involved in cipher design and analysis included Feistel, Walter Tuchman, Don Coppersmith, Alan Konheim, Carl Meyer, Mike Matyas, Roy Adler, Edna Grossman, Bill Notz, Lynn Smith, and Bryant Tuckerman. NSAs involvement in the design On 17 March 1975, the proposed DES was published in the Federal Register. Public comments were requested, and in the following year two open workshops were held to discuss the proposed standard. There was some criticism from various parties, including from public-key cryptography pioneers Martin Hellman and Whitfield Diffie, citing a shortened key length and the mysterious S-boxes as evidence of improper interference from the NSA. The suspicion was that the algorithm had been covertly weakened by the intelligence agency so that they but no-one else could easily read encrypted messages.[2] Alan Konheim (one of the designers of DES) commented, We sent the S-boxes off to Washington. They came back and were all different.[3] The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence reviewed the NSAs actions to determine whether there had been any improper involvement. In the unclassified summary of their findings, published in 1978, the Committee wrote: In the development of DES, NSA convinced IBM that a reduced key size was sufficient; indirectly assisted in the development of the S-box structures; and certified that the final DES algorithm was, to the best of their knowledge, free from any statistical or mathematical weakness.[4] However, it also found that NSA did not tamper with the design of the algorithm in any way. IBM invented and designed the algorithm, made all pertinent decisions regarding it, and concurred that the agreed upon key size was more than adequate for all commercial applications for which the DES was intended.[5] Another member of the DES team, Walter Tuchman, stated We developed the DES algorithm entirely within IBM using IBMers. The NSA did not dictate a single wire![6] In contrast, a declassified NSA book on cryptologic history states: In 1973 NBS solicited private industry for a data encryption standard (DES). The first offerings were disappointing, so NSA began working on its own algorithm. Then Howard Rosenblum, deputy director for research and engineering, discovered that Walter Tuchman of IBM was working on a modification to Lucifer for general use. NSA gave Tuchman a clearance and brought him in to work jointly with the Agency on his Lucifer modification.[7]and NSA worked closely with IBM to strengthen the algorithm against all except brute force attacks and to strengthen substitution tables, called S-boxes. Conversely, NSA tried to convince IBM to reduce the length of the key from 64 to 48 bits. Ultimately they compromised on a 56-bit key.[8] Some of the suspicions about hidden weaknesses in the S-boxes were allayed in 1990, with the independent discovery and open publication by Eli Biham and Adi Shamir of differential cryptanalysis, a general method for breaking block ciphers. The S-boxes of DES were much more resistant to the attack than if they had been chosen at random, strongly suggesting that IBM knew about the technique in the 1970s. This was indeed the case; in 1994, Don Coppersmith published some of the original design criteria for the S-boxes.[9] According to Steven Levy, IBM Watson researchers discovered differential cryptanalytic attacks in 1974 and were asked by the NSA to keep the technique secret.[10] Coppersmith explains IBMs secrecy decision by saying, that was because [differential cryptanalysis] can be a very powerful tool, used against many schemes, and there was concern that such information in the public domain could adversely affect national security. Levy quotes Walter Tuchman: [t]he asked us to st amp all our documents confidential We actually put a number on each one and locked them up in safes, because they were considered U.S. government classified. They said do it. So I did it. Bruce Schneier observed that It took the academic community two decades to figure out that the NSA tweaks actually improved the security of DES. Encryption Now a Days Industrial espionage among highly competitive businesses often requires that extensive security measures be put into place. And, those who wish to exercise their personal freedom, outside of the oppressive nature of governments, may also wish to encrypt certain information to avoid legalities that entailed possession of such. With respect to the Internet, there are many types of data and messages that people would want to be kept secret. Now that commercial trading on the Net is a reality, one of the main targets of data encryption is credit card numbers. Other information that could otherwise benefit or educate a group or individual can also be used against such groups or individuals. Security Problems That Encryption Does Not Solve While there are many good reasons to encrypt data, there are many reasons not to encrypt data. Encryption does not solve all security problems, and may make some problems worse. The following sections describe some misconceptions about encryption of stored data: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Principle 1: Encryption Does Not Solve Access Control Problems à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Principle 2: Encryption Does Not Protect Against a Malicious Database Administrator à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Principle 3: Encrypting Everything Does Not Make Data Secure Principle 1: Encryption Does Not Solve Access Control Problems Most organizations must limit data access to users who must see this data. For example, a human resources system may limit employees to viewing only their own employment records, while allowing managers of employees to see the employment records of subordinates. Human resource specialists may also need to see employee records for multiple employees. Typically, you can use access control mechanisms to address security policies that limit data access to those with a need to see it. Oracle Database has provided strong, independently evaluated access control mechanisms for many years. It enables access control enforcement to a fine level of granularity through Virtual Private Database. Because human resource records are considered sensitive information, it is tempting to think that all information should be encrypted for better security. However, encryption cannot enforce granular access control, and it may hinder data access. For example, an employee, his manager, and a human resources clerk may all need to access an employee record. If all employee data is encrypted, then all three must be able to access the data in unencrypted form. Therefore, the employee, the manager and the human resources clerk would have to share the same encryption key to decrypt the data. Encryption would, therefore, not provide any additional security in the sense of better access control, and the encryption might hinder the proper or efficient functioning of the application. An additional issue is that it is difficult to securely transmit and share encryption keys among multiple users of a system. A basic principle behind encrypting stored data is that it must not interfere with access control. For example, a user who has the SELECT privilege on emp should not be limited by the encryption mechanism from seeing all the data he is otherwise allowed to see. Similarly, there is little benefit to encrypting part of a table with one key and part of a table with another key if users must see all encrypted data in the table. In this case, encryption adds to the overhead of decrypting the data before users can read it. If access controls are implemented well, then encryption adds little additional security within the database itself. A user who has privileges to access data within the database has no more nor any less privileges as a result of encryption. Therefore, you should never use encryption to solve access control problems. Principle 2: Encryption Does Not Protect Against a Malicious Database Administrator Some organizations, concerned that a malicious user might gain elevated (database administrator) privileges by guessing a password, like the idea of encrypting stored data to protect against this threat. However, the correct solution to this problem is to protect the database administrator account, and to change default passwords for other privileged accounts. The easiest way to break into a database is by using a default password for a privileged account that an administrator allowed to remain unchanged. One example is SYS/CHANGE_ON_INSTALL. While there are many destructive things a malicious user can do to a database after gaining the DBA privilege, encryption will not protect against many of them. Examples include corrupting or deleting data, exporting user data to the file system to e-mail the data back to himself to run a password cracker on it, and so on. Some organizations are concerned that database administrators, typically having all privileges, are able to see all data in the database. These organizations feel that the database administrators should administer the database, but should not be able to see the data that the database contains. Some organizations are also concerned about concentrating so much privilege in one person, and would prefer to partition the DBA function, or enforce two-person access rules. It is tempting to think that encrypting all data (or significant amounts of data) will solve these problems, but there are better ways to protect against these threats. For example, Oracle Database supports limited partitioning of DBA privileges. Oracle Database provides native support for SYSDBA and SYSOPER users. SYSDBA has all privileges, but SYSOPER has a limited privilege set (such as startup and shutdown of the database). Furthermore, you can create smaller roles encompassing several system privileges. A jr_dba role might not include all system privileges, but only those appropriate to a junior database administrator (such as CREATE TABLE, CREATE USER, and so on). Oracle Database also enables auditing the actions taken by SYS (or SYS-privileged users) and storing that audit trail in a secure operating system location. Using this model, a separate auditor who has root privileges on the operating system can audit all actions by SYS, enabling the auditor to hold all database administrators accountable for their actions. See Auditing SYS Administrative Users for information about ways to audit database administrators. You can also fine-tune the access and control that database administrators have by using Oracle Database Vault. See Oracle Database Vault Administrators Guide for more information. The database administrator function is a trusted position. Even organizations with the most sensitive data, such as intelligence agencies, do not typically partition the database administrator function. Instead, they manage their database administrators strongly, because it is a position of trust. Periodic auditing can help to uncover inappropriate activities. Encryption of stored data must not interfere with the administration of the database, because otherwise, larger security issues can result. For example, if by encrypting data you corrupt the data, then you create a security problem, the data itself cannot be interpreted, and it may not be recoverable. You can use encryption to limit the ability of a database administrator or other privileged user to see data in the database. However, it is not a substitute for managing the database administrator privileges properly, or for controlling the use of powerful system privileges. If untrustworthy users have significant privileges, then they can pose multiple threats to an organization, some of them far more significant than viewing unencrypted credit card numbers. Principle 3: Encrypting Everything Does Not Make Data Secure A common error is to think that if encrypting some data strengthens security, then encrypting everything makes all data secure. As the discussion of the previous two principles illustrates, encryption does not address access control issues well, and it is important that encryption not interfere with normal access controls. Furthermore, encrypting an entire production database means that all data must be decrypted to be read, updated, or deleted. Encryption is inherently a performance-intensive operation; encrypting all data will significantly affect performance. Availability is a key aspect of security. If encrypting data makes data unavailable, or adversely affects availability by reducing performance, then encrypting everything will create a new security problem. Availability is also adversely affected by the database being inaccessible when encryption keys are changed, as good security practices require on a regular basis. When the keys are to be changed, the database is inaccessible while data is decrypted and re-encrypted with a new key or keys. There may be advantages to encrypting data stored off-line. For example, an organization may store backups for a period of 6 months to a year off-line, in a remote location. Of course, the first line of protection is to secure the facility storing the data, by establishing physical access controls. Encrypting this data before it is stored may provide additional benefits. Because it is not being accessed on-line, performance need not be a consideration. While an Oracle database does not provide this capability, there are vendors who provide encryption services. Before embarking on large-scale encryption of backup data, organizations considering this approach should thoroughly test the process. It is essential to verify that data encrypted before off-line storage can be decrypted and re-imported successfully. Advantages EFS technology makes it so that files encrypted by one user cannot be opened by another user if the latter does not possess appropriate permissions. After encryption is activated, the file remains encrypted in any storage location on the disk, regardless of where it is moved. Encryption is can be used on any files, including executables. The user with permission to decrypt a file is able to work with the file like with any other, without experiencing any restrictions or difficulties. Meanwhile, other users receive a restricted access notification when they attempt to access the EFS encrypted file. This approach is definitely very convenient. The user gets the opportunity to reliably and quickly (using standard means) limit access to confidential information for other household members or colleagues who also use the computer. EFS seems like an all-around winning tool, but this is not the case. Data encrypted using this technology can be entirely lost, for example during operating system reinstallation. We should remember that the files on disk are encrypted using the FEK (File Encryption Key), which is stored in their attributes. FEK is encrypted using the master key, which in turn is encrypted using the respective keys of the system users with access to the file. The user keys themselves are encrypted with the users password hashes, and the password hashes use the SYSKEY security feature. This chain of encryption, according to EFS developers, should reliably protect data, but in practice, as explained below, the protection can be ultimately reduced to the good old login-pass-word combination. Thanks to this encryption chain, if the password is lost or reset, or if the operating system fails or is reinstalled, it becomes impossible to gain access to the EFS-encrypted files on the drive. In fact, access can be lost irreversibly. Regular users do not fully understand how EFS works and often pay for it when they lose their data. Microsoft has issued EFS documentation that explains how it works and the main issues that may be encountered when encrypting, but these are difficult for regular users to understand, and few read the documentation before starting to work. Data Encryption Challenges In cases where encryption can provide additional security, there are some associated technical challenges, as described in the following sections: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Encrypting Indexed Data à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Generating Encryption Keys à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transmitting Encryption Keys à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Storing Encryption Keys à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Changing Encryption Keys à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Encrypting Binary Large Objects Encrypting Indexed Data Special difficulties arise when encrypted data is indexed. For example, suppose a company uses a national identity number, such as the U.S. Social Security number (SSN), as the employee number for its employees. The company considers employee numbers to be sensitive data, and, therefore, wants to encrypt data in the employee_number column of the employees table. Because employee_number contains unique values, the database designers want to have an index on it for better performance. However, if DBMS_CRYPTO or the DBMS_OBFUSCATION_TOOLKIT (or another mechanism) is used to encrypt data in a column, then an index on that column will also contain encrypted values. Although an index can be used for equality checking (for example, SELECT * FROM emp WHERE employee_number = 987654321), if the index on that column contains encrypted values, then the index is essentially unusable for any other purpose. You should not encrypt indexed data. Oracle recommends that you do not use national identity numbers as unique IDs. Instead, use the CREATE SEQUENCE statement to generate unique identity numbers. Reasons to avoid using national identity numbers are as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ There are privacy issues associated with overuse of national identity numbers (for example, identity theft). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Sometimes national identity numbers can have duplicates, as with U.S. Social Security numbers. Generating Encryption Keys Encrypted data is only as secure as the key used for encrypting it. An encryption key must be securely generated using secure cryptographic key generation. Oracle Database provides support for secure random number generation, with the RANDOMBYTES function of DBMS_CRYPTO. (This function replaces the capabilities provided by the GetKey procedure of the earlier DBMS_OBFUSCATION_TOOLKIT.) DBMS_CRYPTO calls the secure random number generator (RNG) previously certified by RSA Security. Note: Do not use the DBMS_RANDOM package. The DBMS_RANDOM package generates pseudo-random numbers, which, as Randomness Recommendations for Security (RFC-1750) states that using pseudo-random processes to generate secret quantities can result in pseudo-security. Be sure to provide the correct number of bytes when you encrypt a key value. For example, you must provide a 16-byte key for the ENCRYPT_AES128 encryption algorithm. Transmitting Encryption Keys If the encryption key is to be passed by the application to the database, then you must encrypt it. Otherwise, an intruder could get access to the key as it is being transmitted. Network encryption, such as that provided by Oracle Advanced Security, protects all data in transit from modification or interception, including cryptographic keys. Storing Encryption Keys Storing encryption keys is one of the most important, yet difficult, aspects of encryption. To recover data encrypted with a symmetric key, the key must be accessible to an authorized application or user seeking to decrypt the data. At the same time, the key must be inaccessible to someone who is maliciously trying to access encrypted data that he is not supposed to see. The options available to a developer are: Storing the Encryption Keys in the Database Storing the Encryption Keys in the Operating System Users Managing Their Own Encryption Keys Using Transparent Database Encryption and Table space Encryption Storing the Encryption Keys in the Database Storing the keys in the database cannot always provide infallible security if you are trying to protect against the database administrator accessing encrypted data. An all-privileged database administrator could still access tables containing encryption keys. However, it can often provide good security against the casual curious user or against someone compromising the database file on the operating system. As a trivial example, suppose you create a table (EMP) that contains employee data. You want to encrypt the employee Social Security number (SSN) stored in one of the columns. You could encrypt employee SSN using a key that is stored in a separate column. However, anyone with SELECT access on the entire table could retrieve the encryption key and decrypt the matching SSN. While this encryption scheme seems easily defeated, with a little more effort you can create a solution that is much harder to break. For example, you could encrypt the SSN using a technique that performs some additional data transformation on the employee_number before using it to encrypt the SSN. This technique might be as simple as using an XOR operation on the employee_number and the birth date of the employee to determine the validity of the values. As additional protection, PL/SQL source code performing encryption can be wrapped, (using the WRAP utility) which obfuscates (scrambles) the code. The WRAP utility processes an input SQL file and obfuscates the PL/SQL units in it. For example, the following command uses the keymanage.sql file as the input: wrap iname=/mydir/keymanage.sql A developer can subsequently have a function in the package call the DBMS_OBFUSCATION_TOOLKIT with the key contained in the wrapped package. Oracle Database enables you to obfuscate dynamically generated PL/SQL code. The DBMS_DDL package contains two subprograms that allow you to obfuscate dynamically generated PL/SQL program units. For example, the following block uses the DBMS_DDL.CREATE_WRAPPED procedure to wrap dynamically generated PL/SQL code. BEGIN SYS.DBMS_DDL.CREATE_WRAPPED (function_returning_PLSQL_code()); END; While wrapping is not unbreakable, it makes it harder for an intruder to get access to the encryption key. Even in cases where a different key is supplied for each encrypted data value, you should not embed the key value within a package. Instead, wrap the package that performs the key management (that is, data transformation or padding). An alternative to wrapping the data is to have a separate table in which to store the encryption key and to envelope the call to the keys table with a procedure. The key table can be joined to the data table using a primary key to foreign key relationship. For example, employee_number is the primary key in the employees table that stores employee information and the encrypted SSN. The employee_number column is a foreign key to the ssn_keys table that stores the encryption keys for the employee SSN. The key stored in the ssn_keys table can also be transformed before use (by using an XOR operation), so the key itself is not stored unencrypted. If you wrap the procedure, then that can hide the way in which the keys are transformed before use. The strengths of this approach are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Users who have direct table access cannot see the sensitive data unencrypted, nor can they retrieve the keys to decrypt the data. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Access to decrypted data can be controlled through a procedure that selects the encrypted data, retrieves the decryption key from the key table, and transforms it before it can be used to decrypt the data. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The data transformation algorithm is hidden from casual snooping by wrapping the procedure, which obfuscates the procedure code. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ SELECT access to both the data table and the keys table does not guarantee that the user with this access can decrypt the data, because the key is transformed before use. The weakness to this approach is that a user who has SELECT access to both the key table and the data table, and who can derive the key transformation algorithm, can break the encryption scheme. The preceding approach is not infallible, but it is adequate to protect against easy retrieval of sensitive information stored in clear text. Storing the Encryption Keys in the Operating System Storing keys in a flat file in the operating system is another option. Oracle Database enables you to make callouts from PL/SQL, which you could use to retrieve encryption keys. However, if you store keys in the operating system and make callouts to it, then your data is only as secure as the protection on the operating system. If your primary security concern is that the database can be broken into from the operating system, then storing the keys in the operating system makes it easier for an intruder to retrieve encrypted data than storing the keys in the database itself. Users Managing Their Own Encryption Keys Using Transparent Database Encryption and Table space Encryption Transparent database encryption and table space encryption provide secu