Monday, September 30, 2019

An admission essay Essay

â€Å"Finance is like art† you have to analyse every aspect before making just a decision. I believe that if someone is good at art, he would be good at finance because you need logic; everything has a set order and method. Each piece is placed carefully and has a high significance amongst its environment. You need analytical skills to take apart every piece of information and use it to make your own decisions. After three years studying at University of Tirana- Finance Department I am once again seeking career advancement and this is the reason why I applied to this program. Taking into consideration my foundation and my interests, graduating from this studying program is the next logical step. I have got ambition to climb the career ladder, but in my opinion to reach the highest positions you must be motivated to keep your skills updated and motivation is one of my greatest skills. Motivated from the above sentence my goal is to work in a reputable investment bank or the treasury departments of an international bank. But also I would like to work as a financial advisor, which is my short term goal. My education has provided me with an excellent introduction to business, and they have sparked my interest in finance. I have the ability to pick up skills and knowledge quickly and am independent enough to conduct my own study and research. I have become more flexible in identifying what concepts need to be used and when, thus, helping me achieve the greatest results possible are the studies of this program. This is the way my education contributed to my decision to enter the program. At this point in my life, I consider the studies of the program necessary since I need to gain a broader understanding of finance and to sharpen my analytical skills in order to be successful in corporate finance. This program will assist me achieving my future career goals because it will allow me to concentrate in finance, strengthen my global business perspective, and provide me with the opportunity to study with and learn from people with varied backgrounds. It will also help me to develop my self-confidence and will give me greater powers of resilience. Upon graduation from the program, I will seek a position as an associate within the corporate finance department of a large, Wall Street, investment-banking firm. In three to five years, once I have become adept in financial analyses, drafting prospectuses, preparing business presentations and other financial advisory work, I will move into a senior associate position. Here I will develop my abilities to anticipate client needs and to engineer solutions that address these needs. In approximately 10 years, I will have the experience necessary to take on upper-level management.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Interoffice Memorandum

With the tight budget restraints to employ six IT employees, including myself; I have broken up the IT department into teams that have good growth potential for the future of the many. CIO – The CIO will oversee all IT operations for the company and will report directly to the CEO. ;Network Team – The network team will be In charge of all communications related to Inter-office and external communication for the company.This includes but is not limited to Demark, Switches, Firewalls, Proxies, Voice, Remote Access, and all cabling of phone and data for the office. ; Platform Team – This team will be in charge of development of applications and server / desktop hardware for the company. This includes but is not limited to applications, server and desktop reward, maintaining licensing and support contracts, as well as researching new software that can aid the company In success. Database Team – This team will be In charge of the Integrity of the data that is s tored Internally for the company and If the demand rises external access to data to customers. They will be in charge of maintaining these databases, data retention, backup and archival procedures. ; Security Team – This team holds a very important role, although all the teams are important this team ensures that the other teams designs and implementations to he network, platforms, as well as the applications are not imposing security vulnerabilities In the companies Infrastructure.They also are In charge of but are not limited to the following security vulnerability prevention, so, ISO, and application security patching, regular security scans of the network, auditing and logging, company security awareness, and daily review of the logs. ;Help Desk Team – This team is in charge of fielding the employee trouble calls and aid the users in there questions and problems they may be having. They are also in charge of training the sickest and forwarding to the prospected tea ms when needed..

Saturday, September 28, 2019

The effectiveness of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in the treatment of Literature review

The effectiveness of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in the treatment of Bulimia Nervosa - Literature review Example This research aims to evaluate and present the effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy in the treatment of Bulimia Nervosa. Illnesses have been around since the world started. They plagued the lives of all organisms throughout history. Plants, animals and humans can acquire different illnesses at certain points of their lives in one way or another. As knowledge takes on its advancement, the solutions or cure to these illnesses diseases have been developed and are constantly being studied to create better cures. With the availability of those cures, the lives of organisms are prolonged allowing them to survive longer. Even though cures are being developed and improved, the existence of different illnesses is continuously considered as one of the main concerns in medical profession. Some older drugs and therapies may not be effective for illnesses today which mean consistent research must be done to ensure the survival of humans and other organisms. In that case, illnesses capture the attention of scientists and medical practitioners alike as those illnesses are big threats to the lives of many. Also there are diseases that are not yet curable as there are no stable solutions for those problems yet. In response to that topic, it would help to focus on the very meaning of disease and how it affects the lives of all living beings. The very existence being searched for by scientists is the disease which is defined together with health. The World Health Organization defined health in 1948 as â€Å"a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity,† (Bonita, Beaglehole, and Kjellstrom, 2006, p. 15). That definition of health is very much ideal as it would be difficult to measure the well-being or to create the exact criteria. Making standards for the well-being was close to impossible with that statement or definition that made it bombarded with criticisms. Others may say that health is the absence of disease, so in order to define disease and clearly separate it from health, the following can specifically

Friday, September 27, 2019

Financial Reporting For Users Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Financial Reporting For Users - Essay Example Burberry was founded in 1856 in the United Kingdom and since its inception they dedicated themselves to providing the clothing needs of the British citizens. The company is very success and during the 2006 fiscal year the company had revenues of 850.3 million pounds with a net profit margin of 12.96% (Burberry Annual Report, 2006). The enterprise has a solid business strategy with a trading operation with multiple strategic objectives and goals. The company core strengths are multiple product offerings, global reach, a solid management team and channel expertise in retail, wholesale and licensing (Burberry Annual Report, 2006). Their strategic plan for the near future is flexible and targets opportunities within the apparel and non-apparel industry. The leveraging the franchise means improving its products, marketing imagery and stores. The company has a competitive advantage in the United Kingdom luxury market which they will continue to exploit. Burberry plans to expand its overall product offerings of apparels while concentrating in its cash dog which is casual outerwear products. The company seeks to streamline its business processes and restructure its supply chain to better meet global requirements. The company seeks to strengthen its non-apparel business segment. The segment accounts for about a quarter of overall revenues and there is room to grow due to the fact that this segment is a growing market within the industry. The company is investing in R&D, marketing and its supply chain to increase sales of handbags, small leather goods and shoes (Burberry Annual Report, 2006). The company also expanded its non-apparel product line to include eyeglasses for the first time in the company’s history. Expanding the retail presence is a top priority for the company. The company wants to open new stores, but their main focus is to increase the overall sales

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Fundamentals of Information and Information Systems Essay

Fundamentals of Information and Information Systems - Essay Example This report pertains to the current position of Hewlett Packard (HP) Information Systems, its current business problems and the way ahead for this business organization. My first impression at the outset of the ESS Information System (E-Services Solution)group is to point out that this venture may be successful at the outset given the period 1999 until 2000 but it has all the ingredients of becoming a victim of its own success and potentially damaging the work culture of HP with the so called aim of "infecting" the entire spirit.(see Case Study 2000).I would reach such a bleak conclusion for many reasons which I will discuss below but the pith and substance of my analysis as a management consultant is that "small is beautiful" but once it gets large it becomes ugly. And this is true for HP's future if the ESS information system which is under discussion here is allowed to grown into its organizational management and Information System culture. ... And this is true for HP's future if the ESS information system which is under discussion here is allowed to grown into its organizational management and Information System culture. It can be seen that in 1999 alone through the efforts of the ESS Information System,HP has achieved the status as a leading manufacturer of computer products, including printers, servers, workstations, and personal computers and is generating a revenue of $42.4 billion and net income of $3.1 billion.It has over 80,000 employees worldwide and a strong local presence in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. The problems of HP and the role of ESS.The case study has given us a bird's eyes view of the historical problems with the management strategy of HP as follows. 1. In 1939 Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, found HP and were an instant success with their venture and wanted to pursue their own unique way of doing business: "The HP Way." The evolution of the HP Way began early. Even though their decentralized management information system style was a success in the earlier dealing and by 1957 Hewlett and Packard had their own corporate objectives, underling the "The HP Way" through management strategies like Management By Wandering Around, Management By Objectives, and the Open Door Policy inspired later additions, including Open Communication and Total Quality Control .These practices cannot be seen anywhere today and later on the conservative attitude of the HP information system management with in a decentralized company was more product oriented than customer oriented.(refer to Case Study 2000) 2. At this point HP's corporate software and support division and corporate systems

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Dyson Crafting a Deployment Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dyson Crafting a Deployment Strategy - Essay Example Education, knowledge, culture, supporting high tech start-ups and financing high tech start ups were his proposals. He laid emphasis on exploiting knowledge, challenging the government to consider investing in university or industry research, where there are possibilities of making specializations and excellence in certain fields. There is a general acceptance among leaders in public and private sectors that UK has a strong scientific base, which lays a good foundation for making innovation a reality. Support should continue to be given to local institutions of learning and research with emphasis on those which utilize innovative approaches to provide sustainable solutions to the problems or needs of people in the country or globally. Research and development is nowadays a common feature of any institution which needs to grow and remain relevant to the demands and needs of relevant consumers. It is especially essential that R & D be not a totally separate department where innovation exists, whereas the other areas in an organization remain stagnant. R & D should be incorporated into the general structure of the company and everybody should view it as part of the means to achieve an organization’s purposes. This paper aims to obtain experiences from clients who use Dyson products in their homes and offices. Specifically, clients will be asked to explain why they prefer Dyson products or generally how the products differ from others they have used before. To get the right and helpful answers from the clients, it’s critical to design the questions in such a way that they are not confusing to the customers, and that they are convenient and comfortable for the clients to give comprehensive and correct answers or responses. The questions should be straight to the point or direct. Methodology This study employs a cross sectional strategy whereby information will be collected from clients of the company once, without any follow up except for clarification . Questionnaires will be used to collect information and they will be self administered unless there is request for questions to be read. This data will be analyzed quantitatively to obtain measures of central tendency and variation, and a final report will be written to inform the company on what customers expect from them. There shall be feedback where the information obtained from clients will be presented before senior management of the company so that any clarifications can be made to enable the company make informed decisions regarding the design and manufacture of their products (Dyson, 2012). Obtaining of information from clients or customers is very critical for any organization, because it helps the organization to be able to know the feelings or attitudes of the customers and potential clients regarding their products or what they sell. This specifically helps companies in coming up with decisions which can greatly help the company to move forward. Basically, asking for c ustomer response helps in efficient decision making, and many companies capitalize on this when making critical decisions regarding the running of the companies. These responses may be collected using questionnaires or interviews, both physical and telephone interviews, where customers are

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Midterm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Midterm - Essay Example It also presents that people tend to believe in things that they do not really understand. In the movie, Chance seems to give out gardening metaphors relating to economic situation and forecasts. Gardening and television is the only world that Chance knows and so he makes remarks referring to the garden but what he means is really about the garden not economics but the people interpreted it in a different way finding him queer. The movie presents American politics as devious and devoid of credibility to lead the country. This clearly shows how Ashby believes that American politics and the government, at that, is not real but something that is created by the rich and famous people manipulating and dominating our society. 2. In William Golding’s novel "The Lord of the Flies", is the Problem of Evil due primarily to a flaw in human nature or to cultural forces that have shaped the boys’ attitudes and behavior? Support your opinion with specific details from the book. Golding presents evil as an intrinsic nature of human beings that even innocent boys living in an uninhibited island are stained by it. Cruelty is shown as an indication of this evil and this is presented in the scene wherein the boys started hunting pigs. The desire of man for power is overpowering that it even the children, seen in the event of Jack’s jealousy with Ralph’s leadership. Golding also presents evil as something alive in each human being seeking to come out and be recognized and utilized. This can be seen in the urge that the children in the story feel to inflict pain. This can be particularly seen during the time that Roger threw rocks at the kids reasoning out that he is not really aiming at them. This can also be seen when the biguns were bullying the lilluns, kicking their sandcastle. And after the pain comes the rush of joy. Like at the time when they were hunting and killing the pig, the choirboys were overjoyed that they even had a ritual dance.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Perception of mathematics of first year students Literature review

Perception of mathematics of first year students - Literature review Example Most first year students will perceive mathematics as a difficult subject and preserved for the bright and interested students. These negative perceptions make most first year students, in most cases girls approach the subject with a negative attitude, and this undermines their performance. The study of mathematics in schools has not been distinctively defined, and it is not a culture or value free field (Ernest, 2000). This means that mathematics in schools is not viewed as being the same as mathematics in other academic fields or research areas. Appreciating mathematics among first year students is usually expressed in their ability of comprehending the major branches and notions of mathematics. It is also viewed as the ability of students to establish the interconnections or interdependencies that exist in the field. The study of mathematics usually compels its communal applications in the fields of governance, commerce, education along with industry. Traditionally, mathematics wa s viewed as compulsory for all students who had ambitions of venturing into various academic fields (Ernest, 2000). However, this has changed with most students in the modern times not viewing it as vital for every member of their population. This is because of the revolution going on across many academic fields (Ducksworth, 2008). Students across many schools perceive mathematics as a study reserved for a few people who are left in charge of controlling the major systems in their economies (Ernest, 2000). This is because they view it is a hard subject and this negative perception undermines performance. Success achieved in the field of mathematics is not perceived by the students to be the main determinant of economic success within a country (Clements, Sarama & DiBiase, 2004). The students perceive mathematics as not being the most important element of the revolution of information. They view the other subjects taught in the school curriculums and skills acquired through every day practice as being the most vital determinants of the revolution in information (Ernest, 2000). Students in their first year of school perceive the study of mathematics as a study of doing things (Marshall, 2007). Very few students are involved in reading mathematical textbooks and are instead involved in the act of solving problems through doing actual things (Clements, Sarama & DiBiase, 2004). The language that is used in studying mathematics in schools is composed of imperatives that command students to perform certain tasks in specific ways. This implies that the capabilities of studying mathematics are perceived by students as being dominant and covering their overall studies in different fields (Ducksworth, 2008). Additionally, students perceive mathematics as a field that requires their understanding and abilities to work out problems (Marshall, 2007). This looks like a task for many students, and they will approach mathematics with a bad attitude, which challenges their perf ormance. Many first year students also believe that one cannot develop an appreciation for the field of mathematics without him or her having the capability of working out solutions (Ernest, 2000). According to Popham (2005), some of the students fail to achieve a high performance in schools due to the overvaluing or undervaluing of the field’

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Summary and strong respond Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Summary and strong respond - Essay Example Several states have been on the move to completely do away with the use of the death penalty while in other states actions have been taken to limit its use. For example, The United States is one country where use of the death penalty has been highly controversial and greatly debated (Walker 10). Capital punishment has no confirmable preventive effect but in real sense, it has caused loss of life, and this may contribute to a cycle of violence that raises murder rates. This loss is brought about when a person kills another, the convicted person is killed, and this shows how the death penalty is costly more than keeping convicted murderers in prison for life. There has been a number of cases where innocent people have been condemned wrongfully due to lack of enough evidence. This has led to several innocent people being executed because there has been no standard guidelines regarding which criminal would receive a death sentence. Defendants who were poor, a member of a minority group, uneducated, or mentally ill received the death penalty more often than those who did not fit these characteristics (Walker 12). In the past, some states allowed the capital punishment for crimes such as rape, criminal assault, kidnapping, forgery, concealing the death or birth of an infant, and arson. Each state has the death penalty that is used in cases of the first murder degree. This system of capital punishment entrenches different states to be obsessed with killing people. It teaches the lesson that some people may kill others willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation as long as they are the right people doing it for the right reasons in the rig ht manner ( Bedau 10). It is true that such killings as a punishment are not necessary, since there are several well established alternative methods of punishment including long-term imprisonment that is used by most states worldwide. Those who argue for the capital

Saturday, September 21, 2019

History, Settlement Essay Example for Free

History, Settlement Essay As a city, Anchorage did not develop until relatively recently in American history. In fact, it was not incorporated until 1923. People had been living in Anchorage for many years before this, however. Like most of America, the area around Anchorage, Alaska was first populated as a trading post, due to the coastal waterways surrounding Anchorage. It was first populated as Captain Cook in 1778 was looking for the elusive Northwest Passage. The land upon which Anchorage stands was discovered on Captain Cook’s third attempt to find the Northwest Passage, and one of the arms of the inlet he mistook as a river, which he named River Turnagain. Later, George Vancouver renamed the inlet Turnagain Arm (Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, 2005). The Russians also heavily explored the area and setup trading posts throughout the area. The second factor for the location of Anchorage is the discovery of gold. In 1888, gold was discovered in the region, causing the Alaskan Gold Rush and bringing thousands of Americans to the area to find their fame and fortune. One of the most famous gold rush settlements was James Girdwood’s stake 40 miles south of Anchorage at the Crow Creek Mine. In 1912, Alaska became an official territory of the United States. The third reason for the present day location of Anchorage was the construction of the Alaskan Railroad. Anchorage was founded when the United States Congress commissioned the first railroad funded by the government and constructed across the Alaskan lands. In 1915 the route was established, and 2000 Americans flooded to the Ship Creek Valley to begin work on the railroad. On July 9, 1915 president Woodrow Wilson initiated the â€Å"Great Anchorage Lot Sale† where the first 600 plots of land in Anchorage were sold. Businesses spread along 4th avenue, and a school was built, thus creating the first metropolitan area of Anchorage (Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, 2005). In 1923, the Alaskan railway was finished, from Seward to Fairbanks, passing through Anchorage. The fourth reason Anchorage stands where it does today is because of the event of WWII and the threat of the Japanese and Russians. Anchorage and Alaska are strategically located close to Russia and Japan. In 1947 the government begins development of the Fort Richardson Army Post and the Elmendorf Air Force Base. During WWII, Alaska experienced a sharp growth in infrastructure and population during those years. Finally, the discovery of oil in Alaska in 1968 caused the most recent boom in Anchorage’s growth. In 1974 construction began on the trans-Alaska pipeline system, resulting in a modern day boom as the construction and engineering companies setup headquarters in Anchorage. Regional Context Anchorage is located in Southeast Alaska (see map below). It is bordered by the Chugach Mountains and glaciers to the east, the west and northwest by branches of Cook’s Inlet (the farthest north the Pacific Ocean reaches), Mount McKinley to the North, and the Kenai Peninsula to the south. There are over 40 active volcanoes to the Southwest of Anchorage, and the entire area is mountainous. In fact, in 1990, Mount Redoubt erupted, covering Anchorage in a 2 inch layer of volcanic ash (Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, 2005). Overall, the area of Anchorage is larger than Rhode Island.

Friday, September 20, 2019

The Characteristics And Applications Of Manets Computer Science Essay

The Characteristics And Applications Of Manets Computer Science Essay Chapter 1 The advent of ubiquitous computing and the creation of new, powerful, efficient, portable computing devices have focused the importance of mobile and wireless networking. Mobile wireless communications and networking is an emerging technology that allows users to access information and services electronically at any time, regardless of their geographic positions. There are two types of wireless networks: infrastructure based wireless networks and infrastructure-less wireless networks (ad hoc networks). The infrastructure based wireless networks have routers and gateways as stationary components to which mobile nodes within the network connect. Mobile nodes connect to the nearest base station whose communication radius covers the area that the nodes are in. When a mobile node moves out of the coverage area of a base station, it is handed off to a new base station that covers the area that the node is now in. Cellular phone technology is a typical example of an infrastructure network. The second type of wireless network is the ad hoc network. The term ad hoc tends to different forms and can be mobile, stand alone, or networked[1]. A Mobile Ad hoc NETwork (MANET) is a self-organized wireless communication short lived network that contains collection of mobile nodes. The mobile nodes communicate with one another by wireless radio links without the use of any pre-established fixed communication network infrastructure or centralized administration, such as base stations or access points, and with no human intervention [2, 3, 5, 6, 7]. Self-organizing means that MANETs have the ability to spontaneously form a network of mobile nodes or hosts, merged together or partitioned into separate networks on-the-fly depending on the networking needs and dynamically handle the joining or leaving of nodes in the network. The major objectives of self organized MANET are: scalability, reliability, and availability. Mobile nodes are low capacity autonomous computing devices that are capable of roaming independently. Because of the fact that nodes are mobile, the network topology changes rapidly and unpredictably over time. Each mobile node acts as both a host and a specialized router to relay information (forward packets) to other mobile nodes. The success of the communication highly depends on the other nodes cooperation. The nodes themselves are responsible for dynamically discovering other nodes to communicate in radio range. Figure 1.1: Heterogeneous Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) Typical MANET nodes are Laptops, PDAs, Pocket PCs, Cellular Phones, Internet Mobil Phones, Palmtops or any other mobile wireless devices. These devices are typically lightweight and battery operated. Figure 1.1 illustrates an example of a heterogeneous MANET and its communication technology which contains one PDA, one pocket PC, one laptop, one mobile phone and one mobile device. Since mobile phone is outside pocket PCs transmission range, the data from pocket PC to mobile phone must be retransmitted by laptop. 1.1.1 Characteristics of MANETs The main characteristics of MANETs are: the complete lack of centralized control, lack of association among nodes, rapid mobility of hosts, frequent dynamically varying network topology, shared broadcast radio channel, insecure operating environment, physical vulnerability and limited availability of resources, such as CPU processing capacity, memory power, battery power, and bandwidth [2, 6, 7, 8]. Dynamic Network Topologies: The nodes in MANETs are free to move independently in any direction. The networks wireless topology may change frequently and randomly at unpredictable times and primarily consists of bidirectional links. Low Bandwidth: These networks have lower capacity and shorter transmission range than fixed infrastructure networks. The throughput of wireless communication is lesser than wired communication because of the effect of the multiple access, fading, noise, and interference conditions. Limited Battery Power: The nodes or hosts operate on small batteries and other exhaustible means of energy. So, energy conservation is the most important design optimization criteria. Decentralized Control: Due to unreliable links, the working of MANET depends upon cooperation of participating nodes. Thus, implementation of any protocol that involves a centralized authority or administrator becomes difficult. Unreliable Communications: The shared-medium nature and unstable channel quality of wireless links may result in high packet-loss rate and re-routing instability, which is a common phenomenon that leads to throughput drops in multi-hop networks. This implies that the security solution in wireless ad hoc networks cannot rely on reliable communication. Weak Physical Protection: MANETs are more prone to physical security threats than fixed-cable nets. Mobile nodes are usually compact, soft and hand-held in nature. Today, portable devices are getting smaller and smaller. They could get damaged or lost or stolen easily and misused by an adversary. The increased possibility of different types of attacks should be carefully considered. Scalability: Due to the limited memory and processing power on mobile devices, the scalability is a key problem when we consider a large network size. Networks of 10,000 or even 100,000 nodes are envisioned, and scalability is one of the major design concerns. 1.1.2 Applications of MANETs There are many applications of MANETs. The domain of applications for MANETs is diverse, ranging from small, static networks that are constrained by power sources to large-scale, mobile, highly dynamic networks. Significant examples include establishing survivable, efficient, dynamic communication for: network-centric military/battlefield environments, emergency/rescue operations, disaster relief operations, intelligent transportation systems, conferences, fault-tolerant mobile sensor grids, smart homes, patient monitoring, environment control, and other security sensitive applications. Most of these applications demand a specific security guarantees and reliable communication [2, 5, 7, 9]. Some well known applications are: Military Tactical Operations: For fast and possibly short term establishment of military communications and troop deployments in hostile and/or unknown environments. Search and Rescue Operations: For communication in areas with little or no wireless infrastructure support. Disaster Relief Operations: For communication in environments where the existing infrastructure is destroyed or left inoperable. Law Enforcement: For secure and fast communication during law enforcement operations. Commercial Use: For enabling communications in exhibitions, conferences and large gatherings. For some business scenarios, the need for collaborative computing might be more important outside office environments than inside a building. After all, it is often the case where people do need to have outside meetings to cooperate and exchange information on a given project. 1.1.3 Routing in MANETs Node mobility has a large impact on the behavior of ad hoc networks. The nodes in the network are free to move independently in any direction to change the routes. Every node in MANET acts as a router that discovers and maintains routes in the network. The nodes themselves are responsible for dynamically discovering other nodes to communicate. When a node wants to communicate with a node outside its transmission range, a multi-hop routing strategy is used which involves some intermediate nodes. The networks wireless topology changes frequently and randomly at unpredictable times. In order to allow truly spontaneous, infrastructure-less networking and efficient end-to-end communication with the network of nodes, a routing protocol is used to discover the optimal routes between the nodes. Hence, the primary challenge is to establish a correct and efficient route between a pair of nodes and to ensure the correct and timely delivery of packets. The routing protocols meant for wired networks cannot be used for MANETs because routing in MANETs is nontrivial due to the highly dynamic nature of the mobile nodes. Route construction should be done with a minimum of overhead and bandwidth consumption. An extensive number of research works on designing the various routing protocols proactive, reactive, and hybrid have been proposed in the literature and widely evaluated for efficient routing of packets [3]. However, they do not address possible threats aiming at the disruption of the protocol itself and often are vulnerable to node misbehavior. A node dropping all the packets is considered as malicious node or selfish nodes. A malicious node misbehaves because it intends to damage network functioning. A selfish node does so because it wants to save battery life for its own communication by simply not participating in the routing protocol or by not executing the packet forwarding. A malicious node could falsely advertise very attractive routes and thereby convince other nodes to route their messages via that malicious node. With the lack of a priori trust between nodes, current ad hoc routing protocols are completely insecure and optimized only to spread routing information quickly as the network changes [4]. 1.1.4 Security in MANETs Security is an essential service for MANET because all network services are configured on-the-fly. When the security of a given MANET architecture is not properly designed from the beginning, it is difficult to achieve the security goals in practical networks during the network deployment [12, 13]. To secure a MANET, one usually considers the objectives confidentiality (privacy), availability, integrity, authenticity and non-repudiation. Confidentiality ensures that secret information in the network is never revealed to unauthorized nodes. i.e. the assurance that data is not disclosed to unauthorized parties. Availability ensures that the requested network services, such as bandwidth and connectivity, are available in a timely manner and service is not denied to authorize users. i.e. the assurance that data is readily accessible. Integrity ensures that message or packet being transferred between nodes is not altered or corrupted. i.e. the assurance that data is genuine. Authentication ensures the correct identity of the peer node it is communicating with. Non-repudiation ensures that the originator of a message cannot falsely deny having sent the message. i.e. the assurance that a node cannot later deny the data was sent by it. Node mobility in a MANET poses many security problems and vulnerable to different types of security attacks than conventional wired and wireless networks due to their open medium, dynamic network topology, absence of central administration, distributed cooperation, constrained capability, and lack of clear line of defense. The unconstrained nature of a wireless medium of MANETs allows the attackers for interception, injection, and interference of communication. Without proper security, mobile hosts are easily captured, compromised and hijacked by malicious nodes. Malicious nodes behavior may deliberately disrupt the network so that the whole network will be suffering from packet losses. Damages include leaking secret information, message contamination and node impersonation. Before MANETs are successfully deployed, security issues must be addressed. Usually, cryptographic techniques are used for secure communications in wired and wireless networks. The method of using security solutions of traditional wired networks is not suitable for providing security in MANETs. The main problem of any public-key based security system is to make each users public key available to others in such a way that its authenticity is verifiable. Conventional security solutions to provide public key management is implemented with public key infrastructure (PKI), in which a trusted third party (TTP) holds the public key certificates of all participating entities and acts as an online certification authority (CA) to provide a public key verification service. MANETs do not provide on-line access to trusted authorities or to centralized servers. Implementing public key management and certificate distribution is more challenging due to the problematic key exchange, session handling , absence of any infrastructure and centralized services, frequent node mobility, wireless link instability, possible network partitions, and configuration of all network services on-the-fly. For these reasons, traditional security solutions that require on-line trusted authorities or certificate repositories are not well suited for securing MANETs. Use of public key cryptography and certificates is one of the effective ways of securing a MANET. The main security problems that need to be dealt with in MANETs are: the secure storage of key/data in the devices; the authentication of devices that wish to communicate to each other; the secure key establishment of a session key among authenticated devices; and the secure routing in multi-hop networks [4]. 1.1.5 Security Attacks in MANETs Security means protecting the privacy (confidentiality), availability, integrity and non-repudiation. Security implies the identification of potential attacks, threats and vulnerability of a certain system from unauthorized access, use, modification or destruction. A security attack is any action that compromises or bypasses the security of information illegally or in an unauthorized way. The attack may alter, release, or deny data [10, 11, 14]. The attacks on the MANETs can be broadly classified into two categories: passive attacks and active attacks as shown in Figure 1.2. Both passive and active attacks can be made on any layer of the network protocol stack [3]. Figure 1.2: Types of security attacks Passive Attacks: A passive attack attempts to retrieve valuable information by listening to traffic channel without proper authorization, but does not affect system resources and the normal functioning of the network. Figure 1.3 shows a schematic description of a passive attacker C, eavesdropping on the communication channel between A and B. Figure 1.3: A passive attack The different types of passive attacks are eavesdropping (information leakage), traffic monitoring, and analysis. Passive attacks are very difficult to detect because they do not involve any alteration of the data. The emphasis in dealing with passive attacks is on prevention rather than detection. One of the solutions to the problem is to use powerful encryption mechanism to encrypt the data being transmitted, thereby making it impossible for the attacker to get useful information from the data overheard. Eavesdropping (information leakage) is a very easy passive attack in the radio transmission environment, where malicious nodes capture all traffic, including routing traffic, and thus obtain routing information. When one sends a message over the wireless medium, an attacker equipped with a suitable transceiver in the radio range of the transmission can intercept and capture all traffic including the sensitive routing information. The sender or the intended receiver has no means of detecting if the transmission has been eavesdropping in the radio transmission by the adversary who do not physically connect to the medium. Traffic monitoring collects information of network nodes such as the identities and locations of nodes and the amount of data transmitted among them. Traffic analysis means that a malicious node analyses all captured/received traffic in order to extract information about the characteristics of transmission, such as, which nodes are communicating frequently or exchange huge amounts of data. This information could be exploited to launch further attacks. Active Attacks: An active attack attempts to alter or destroy system resources and the data being exchanged in the network by injecting or modifying arbitrary packets, thus gain authentication and tries to affect or disrupt the normal functioning of the network services. An active attack involves information interruption, modification, or fabrication. Figure 1.4: An active attack As shown in Figure 1.4, an active attacker C can listen, modify, and inject messages into the communication channel between A and B. Active attacks can be either internal or external [5]. External attacks are carried out by nodes that do not belong to the network. These attacks are launched by adversaries who are not initially authorized to participate in the network operations and access the resources without authorization. External attacks usually aim to cause network congestion, denying access to specific network function or to disrupt the whole network operations. Bogus packets injection, denial of service, and impersonation are some of the attacks that are usually initiated by the external attackers. Internal attacks are from compromised nodes that are part of the network. Compared with external attacks, internal attacks are more serious and hard to detect because the attackers know valuable and secret information from compromised or hijacked nodes and possess privileged access rights to the network resources. Active attacks, whether carried out by an external adversary or an internal compromised node, involves actions such as impersonation (masquerading or spoofing), modification, fabrication and replication. The active attacks are classified into different types: MAC Layer attacks, Network Layer attacks, Transportation Layer attacks, Application Layer attacks and Multi Layer attacks as shown in Figure 1.5. MAC Layer Attacks: Jamming Attack In this form of attack, the adversary initially keeps monitoring the wireless medium in order to determine the frequency at which the receiver node is receiving signals from the sender. It then transmits signals on that frequency so that error free reception at the receiver is hindered [3]. Figure 1.5: Classification of security attacks Network Layer Attacks: Wormhole Attack In this attack, two compromised nodes can communicate with each other by a private network connection. A malicious node captures packets from one location in the network and tunnels these packets to the other malicious node at another location. The second malicious node is then expected to replay the tunneled packets locally. The tunnel between two colluding attackers is referred to as a wormhole. The wormhole can drop packets by short-circuiting the normal flow of routing packets or it can selectively forward packets to avoid detection [15, 16, 17]. Black Hole Attack A black hole attack is a kind of denial of service where a malicious node attracts all packets by falsely claiming (advertising) a shortest path to the destination node whose packets it wants to intercept and then absorb them without forwarding to the destination [15]. i.e. a malicious node falsely advertise itself as having the shortest path to the destination node whose packets it wants to intercept causing all nodes around it to route packets towards it. Sinkhole Attack In a sinkhole attack, the adversarys goal is to attract nearly all the traffic from a particular area through a compromised node, creating a metaphorical sinkhole with the adversary at the center. Because nodes on or near the path that packets follow have many opportunities to tamper with application data [18, 19]. One motivation for mounting a sinkhole attack is that it makes selective forwarding trivial by ensuring that all traffic in the targeted area flows through a compromised node, an adversary can selectively suppress or modify packets originating from any node in the area. Gray Hole Attack A gray hole attack is a variation of the black hole attack, where the malicious node is not initially malicious, it turns malicious sometime later. In this attack, an attacker drops all data packets but it lets control messages to route through it [20, 21]. This selective dropping makes gray hole attacks much more difficult to detect than black hole attack. Byzantine Attack In this attack, a compromised intermediate node or a set of compromised intermediate nodes works in collusion and collectively carries out attacks such as creating routing loops, routing packets on non-optimal paths, and selectively dropping packets. Byzantine failures are hard to detect because throughput of attacker nodes as same as other nodes [22]. Information Disclosure Attack In this, a compromised node attempts to reveal confidential or important information regarding the network topology (the structure of the network), geographic locations of nodes, or optimal routes to unauthorized nodes in the network [7][23]. Resource Consumption Attack In this attack, a malicious node deliberately tries to consume/waste away the resources of other nodes present in the network by requesting excessive route discovery (unnecessary route request control messages), very frequent generation of beacon packets, or by forwarding unnecessary packets (stale information) to that node. The resources that are targeted are battery power, bandwidth, and computational power, which are only limitedly available in MANETs [24, 25]. Man-In-The-Middle Attack In this, the attacker exists as a neighbor to any one node in the routing path and alters data that is being transmitted and injects modified packet into network. i.e. a malicious node impersonates the receiver with respect to the sender, and the sender with respect to the receiver, without having either of them realize that they have been attacked with an intension to read or modify the messages between two parties [12]. Neighbor Attack In this attack, upon receiving a packet, an intermediate node records its ID in the packet before forwarding the packet to the next node. An attacker, however, simply forwards the packet without recording its ID in the packet to make two nodes that are not within the communication range of each other believe that they are neighbors (i.e., one-hop away from each other), resulting in a disrupted route. The goal of neighbor attackers is to disrupt multicast routes by making two nodes that are in fact out of each others communication range believe that they can communicate directly with each other [15]. Routing Attacks In this attack, attackers try to alter the routing information and data in the routing control packet. There are several types of routing attacks, such as routing table overflow attack, routing table poisoning attack, packet replication attack, route cache poisoning attack, and rushing attack, mounted on the routing protocol which are aimed at disrupting the operation of the network [3]. Ã ¢-Â ºRouting Table Overflow Attack In this attack, an adversary node advertises routes to non-existing authorized nodes present in the network. The main objective of such an attack is to cause an overflow of the routing tables, which would, in turn, prevent the creation of entries corresponding to new routes to authorized nodes. Proactive routing protocols are more vulnerable to this attack compared to reactive routing protocols. Ã ¢-Â ºRouting Table Poisoning Attack In this attack, a malicious node sends false routing updates to other uncompromised nodes. Such an attack may result in suboptimal routing, network congestion or even make some part of the network inaccessible. Ã ¢-Â ºPacket Replication Attack In this attack, an adversary node replicates stale packets. This consumes additional bandwidth and battery power resources available to the nodes and also causes unnecessary confusion in the routing process. Ã ¢-Â ºRoute Cache Poisoning Attack This attack occurs when nodes are in the updating mode of their tables route. Information stored in the routing tables deleted, changed, and injected with false information. Ã ¢-Â ºRushing Attack In this case, an adversary can rush some routing packets towards the destination, leading to problems with routing. i.e. an adversary node which receives a route request packet from the source node floods the packet quickly throughout the network before other nodes which also receive the same route request packet can react. On demand routing protocols that use route discovery process are vulnerable to this type of attack [26]. Stealth Attacks Stealth attacks are classified into two classes. The first class of attacks attempts to hi-jack or perform traffic analysis on filtered traffic to and from victim nodes. These attacks are mounted, for example, by the modification of routing information. An attacker can divert traffic by using authentic routing messages to fool honest nodes into disrupting their routing tables. The second class partitions the network and reduces good put by disconnecting victim nodes in several ways. For example, the attacker can route a large amount of data through the victim node. This may totally consume the nodes energy resources or create a perception of unavailability due the large quantities of messages being dropped by the victim. Consequently the node under attack will not be used by neighboring routers and becomes isolated. The methods are referred to as stealth attacks since they minimize the cost of launching the attacks and reduce the visibility of the attacker [27]. Transportation Layer Attacks: Session Hijacking Attack Session hijacking is the major transport layer attack. Here, an adversary takes control over a session between two nodes. Since most authentication processes are carried out only at the start of a session, once the session between two nodes gets established, the adversary node masquerades as one of the end nodes of the session and hijacks the session. Session hijacking occurs on two levels: the network level and application level. Application Layer Attacks: Repudiation Attack Repudiation attack is the main application layer level attack. Repudiation refers to the denial or attempted denial by a node involved in a communication of having participated in all or part of the communication [3]. Non-repudiation is one of the important requirements for a security protocol in any communication network and assures that a node cannot later deny the data was sent by it. Multi Layer Attacks: Multi-layer attacks are those that could occur in any layer of the network protocol stack. Denial of service, impersonation or sybil attack, manipulation of network traffic, device tampering, jellifish attack and eclipse attack are some of the common multi-layer attacks. Denial of Service Attack In this attack, an adversary always attempts to prevent legitimate and authorized users of network services from accessing those services, where legitimate traffic cannot reach the target nodes. Denial of Service (DoS) attacks are against CPU power, battery power and transmission bandwidth. A malicious node may launch a DoS attack against another node by requesting routes from that node, or by forwarding unnecessary packets to that node in an attempt to wear down (draining) the other nodes batteries. A DoS attack can be carried out in many ways and against any layer in the network protocol stack, namely, physical layer, link layer, and network layer [4, 12, 31]. Sybil Attack This attack is also known as masquerade or impersonation or spoofing attack. In this attack, a single malicious node attempts to take out the identity of other nodes in the network by advertising false/fake routes. i.e. an attacker pretends to have multiple identities obtained either by impersonating (forges) other nodes or by making use of false identities. It then attempts to send packets over network with identity of other nodes making the destination believe that the packet is from original source [28]. Sybil attacks are classified into three categories: direct/indirect communication, fabricated/stolen identity, and simultaneity. In the direct communication, Sybil nodes communicate directly with legitimate nodes, whereas in the indirect communication, messages sent to Sybil nodes are routed through malicious nodes. An attacker can fabricate a new identity or it can simply steal it after destroying or temporarily disabling the impersonated node. All Sybil identities can participate simultaneously in the network or they may be cycled through [29]. Misrouting Attack This attack is also known as manipulation of network traffic attack. This is a very simple way for a node to disturb the protocol operation by announcing that it has better route than the existing one. In the misrouting attack, a non-legitimate node redirects the routing message and sends data packet to the wrong destination. This type of attack is carried out by modifying metric value of a route or by altering control message fields of a route or modifying the final destination address of the data packet or by forwarding a data packet to the wrong next hop in the route to the destination [30]. Device Tampering Attack (Weak Physical Protection) Unlike nodes in a wired network, nodes in MANETs are usually compact, soft, and hand-held in nature. They could get damaged or lost or stolen easily and misused by an adversary. In military applications, mobile nodes are subject to capturing, compromising and hijacking. In such hostile environments, it is almost impossible to provide perfect physical protection [3]. Jellyfish Attack A jellyfish attacker first needs to intrude into the multicast forwarding group. It then delays data packets unnecessarily for some amount of time before forwarding them. This result in significantly high end-to-end delays and, thus, degrades the performance of real-time applications [31]. Eclipse Attack A pattern of misbehavior called an eclipse attack, which consists of the gradual poisoning of good (uncompromised) nodes routing tables with links to a conspiracy of adversarial nodes (compromised nodes) [12, 15, 18]. 1.1.6 Security Solutions in MANET Various kinds of security attacks are possible on ad hoc routing. Due to inherent characteristics, MANETs are highly susceptible to malicious attacks. To overcome these attacks, available security solutions are used. Attack prevention measures can be used as the first line of defense to reduce the possibilities of attacks. There are two types of security solutions: preventive and detective to overcome these attacks. Preventive solutions are typically based on message encryption techniques, while detective solutions include the application of digital signature and cryptographic hash functions. The prevention schemes proposed for external attacks are key and trust management, whereas the countermeasures for internal attacks are secure routing protocols [5, 7]. 1.2 Motivation of the Work Providing security for MANETs is a difficult problem. The method of using security solutions of a traditional wired network is not suitable. All those methods require online trusted authority. In contrast with conventional networks, MANETs do not provide on-line access to trusted authorities or to centralized servers. For this reason, key management is particularly difficult to implement in such networks. However, key management is deemed as the fundamental essential part of any secure communication. There are two ways to introduce security in MANETs: 1. through a single authority domain, where certification and keys are issued by a single authority, and 2. through full self-organization, where security does not rely on any trusted authority or fixed server. Conventional public key management is implemented with public key infrastructure, in which a trusted third party (TTP) holds the public key certificates of all participating entities and acts as an online

Thursday, September 19, 2019

AMERICAN VALUES Essay -- essays research papers

R.E.M. ....Religious, educational and moral values. These are the three values that affect society today the most, I think. Society may look down on people if they do not live by what society thinks is correct. For example if a persons values are corrupt then society will look down on that person, but if a person has real high morals then society will think that they are fake of just a â€Å"goodie†. In society today you will be looked down anyway your moral beliefs are.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first value that I think has a big part in society today is religion. This is a value that nobody likes to talk about in the world today. In the public eye, the people as a nation believe in a god that society comes to understand. Many different people have different god’s but society will only socialize with the word god in a crisis or a time of need. A good example is what happened on 9/11/01. You would never turn the television and see the president asking for god’s grace to bless that nation, but in the time of need society turned to a god of their understanding to relieve some of their pain and fear. Personally I am religious and I have always known the god that is in my life, but as society can shape anyone i never talk about him for the fear that society look down on me as an individual. I believe that I should not have to fear society and should express my religious beliefs to my fullest capability.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I feel that education is the second most im...

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Essay --

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE I am very thankful for providing me this opportunity and it is with sincere sense of gratification that I do pen my brief statement of purpose. I completed under graduation in Computer Science Engineering from VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology affiliated by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad. Being an undergraduate student, I stand at a point where I have to decide my future so as to enhance my knowledge and skills. At this point I have to take right choice of university to pursue a graduate degree. Graduate study helps me in sharpening my skills and quest professional exposure. Undergraduate program is a broad based structured course with strong fundamentals but offers limited scope of specialization. Thus, I feel that the graduate course would pave way to acquire specialization in my field of interest. In the following paragraphs I shall explain my interest in pursuing a graduate program in Computer Science. Through under graduate studies I have learnt many concepts and it gave me a firm grounding in number of Computer Science Engineering related concepts. During my schooling, I was introduced to computer basics and I also feel that one should have proficiency in more than one field. I found this computer knowledge coupled with my under-graduation background would be advantageous to pursue a career in Computer Science During my under-graduation, I was introduced to various subjects like Computer Organization, Computer Networks, and Operating Systems and programming languages like C,C++,JAVA. I am acquainted with operating systems like MS-DOS, WINDOWS. I developed interest in the field of networking from the time I started to learn about LAN and I... ...spirations I wish to pursue my education at a school renowned for its good research facilities, eminent faculty and good quality of student life. I feel that advanced graduate study at your university is best kind of education with the environment to achieve my goals because of flexibility in learning systems and sophisticated infrastructure available and the nature of research going on. Attending your prestigious institution would give me an opportunity to receive high-level education under the guidance of prominent professors. I would regard my admission to UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL MISSOURI not only as a great honor but also as a great responsibility and challenge to prove myself. Hence, I request that my application be considered for admission with possible financial aid and assistantship. Thank you for your time and consideration. High Regards, VAMSHI NENAVATH.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Internship in Public Relations Department of an Advertising Agency Essay

Section I Introduction 1.1 Background Internship is one of the essential parts required for the completion of MBA program. It is to provide first hand exposure to the students about the real work scenarios in business organizations. It allows students to imply their theoretical knowledge in the real workplace by enhancing their ability and confidence level in the dynamic business world. Besides, one of the objectives of this program is to enhance student’s interpersonal, communication, report writing skills as well as presentation skills and to understand different viewpoint of the staff and the customer of the organization. 1.2 Objective of the internship The objectives of my internship at Prisma Advertising agency are: To fulfill the requirement of MBA program of Pokhara University. To understand importance Public Relations in corporate world. To understand how public relations enhances brand image. To comprehend successful events. 1.3 Placement For the purpose of internship, the trainee was allowed to perform internship in the organization where she was actively working for past two years. The organization is an advertising agency named Prisma Advertising located in Kalikastha, Kathmandu. The internee had been working in Public Relations Department (PR) as an Executive. 1.4 Expected Learning Experiencing the real life working environment Expand the boundaries of theoretical learning Develop better public relation skills with media as well as in corporate sector Section II Industry and Organization Profile 2.1 Industry Profile There are no records of any kind that tell us about the origin and history of Nepali advertisements. The earliest form of advertising may thus be taken as the trumpet blowing tradition of kings and maharajas to disperse royal messages. The advent of Mass Communication in Nepal can be said to have been through such official proclamations, which were usually accompanied by the use of musical instruments like drums or trumpets. The age-old oral tradition of promotion by vendors selling their wares in the market can also be taken as another early form of advertising. With the national daily  Gorkhapatra churning out advertisements on a regular basis, the advertising sector caught momentum, and the next major development came in the form of an advertising agency, Laxman Upadhaya’s Nepal Advertisers. The main objective of the agency was to publish flashy and attractive advertisements in the print media. Three years later, following in the footsteps of Upadhaya, Keshav Lamichane started Nepal Printing and Advertising Agency owned by Keshav Lamichane. This agency held the accounts of prime clients like Janakpur Cigarette Factory, Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation and Nepal Bank Limited. 2.2 Prisma Advertising Profile Prisma Advertising is the franchisee of Mathew and Ogilvy in Nepal. It is one of the most creative agencies which established in 1991. It is a full service office with team of 47 people which has been growing as creative leader and 360 degree brand stewardship. It provides wide range of services from media, branding, and sales promotion to advertisement. They continuously thrive to provide creative products by giving a consumer touch to what they deliver, also offer fully integrated marketing communication solutions as well as focus on building brand relationship with the consumers. It has been awarded as The Best Agency of the Year 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 & 2007-2008 (four years in a row). In addition to it also has won the only international advertising award for Nepal – â€Å"Bell Ringer 2000† from Johnson &Johnson, USA. Prisma approach to communication: These activities are part of the prisma advertisement agency which is provided to the clients according to the promotion they required for their products and services. 2.3 Importance of Public Relation Department Why does Brand or an Organization need a Public Relation Department? Unless one is a celebrity, good public relation just does not happen on its own. It takes lots of skill and consistent hard work, over a period of time. It’s part art, part science and when practiced correctly the results can be very rewarding. Here are few reasons why Public Relations is important: Media coverage increases credibility Paid advertising increases name recognition; media relations increases credibility. When people read a story about the excellence of a particular organization in a newspaper or see a story praising the company on television, they are much more likely to have a favorable opinion of that particular organization. Media coverage helps to attract â€Å"quality† prospects  Because a public relations increases credibility, it helps to attract those who want the best. When people have heard of the organization or brand and have a favorable impression of it, it is easier to attract and hold their attention while the organization or the brand tell their story. Media coverage makes you a player  Coverage in important publications or on TV can make the organization or brand look much larger than it is. Public relations help to avoid price competition  If people believe that the particular brand is the best, they will understand why it is worth paying the price. A public relations program stretches the marketing budget  Because the media does not charge for news coverage, the relative cost of a good program is a lot less than for paid media or a direct mail campaign. Best way to launch a brand  Public relations are also considered by many as the best way to launch a brand or new product. When something is new the media often will write about it because of its news value. Section III Critical Analysis of Job Performed 3.1 Function of Public Relation Department PR Department functions to maintain and enhance mutual understanding/relationship between its clients and public. The core responsibility of the PR Department is to build and protect the brand. PR communicates client’s views, objectives and purposes to the general mass and at the same time monitors feedback and correcting the public attitudes/ reactions. For this, department focuses on major areas: Crisis Management: To avoid any crisis and its adverse effects to its clients, the PR Department prepares press releases and makes them public through media vehicle. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Also known as corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, responsible business and corporate social performance that forms of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. To fulfill these responsibilities the company’s want to conduct events, and any such social events are organized for the client by this department. For example: charity program. Further, they also create social awareness for NGOs and INGOs and other organizations working for the welfare of the society at discount rates. Event Management: Various events such as press conference, product launching events etc. are organized either to provide new information or introduce a new product. In such events, various media houses, guests are invited and are provide with the press release which gives details about the event. Monitoring and tracking current scenario: Either it be country’s current happenings or competitor’s activities, PR Department tracks the entire essential data with the help of media and reports to the internal staff members as well as the client in daily basis as well as a monthly reports. 3.2 Activities Performed The internee was part of a PR Team and there were five members in this team. Public Relation Head, Senior Public Relation Supervisor, Copy Writer and PR Executives are the designations of this team. The internee was working under direct assistance of Senior Public Relation Supervisor. Each team members  had their specific task that they were assigned to and those were mentioned in their job description. Following were the job assigned to the intern. 1. Everyday internee had to make a daily update on country’s news update regarding political, business and social happenings and send it to the clients. 2. Track on competitor’s activities like press ad, news and send it to respective clients. 3. Make Share of Expense (SOE) respective to the competitor’s and send it to clients on monthly basis. 4. Make regular interactions with media as well as clients to enhance better public relation. 5. Make press releases, news articles on client’s activities and send it to media for the coverage. 6. Organized events like Press Conferences, Formal meetings with government bodies, and Cocktail parties as per the clients need. 7. Crisis management of the clients. Bajaj Pulsar 200 NS Launch, Coca-Cola Inter-School National Football Tournament, Coca-Cola ‘Live Positively ‘and Western Union’s collaboration with Mercy Corps to empower 1200 women to be financially literate were some of the major events organized as an internee under PR Department. The major task of the PR Department during these events was to highlight the program as much as possible with the help of media as well as word of mouth publicity. Few of the coverage of these events are attached below. Coverage of the Events Bajaj Pulsar 200 NS launch Coca-Cola Inter-School National Football Tournament Coca-Cola ‘Live Positively’ Western Union’s collaboration with Mercy Corps Activities Performed Working as an intern in PR Department, internee had to face several crisis situations where various brand reputation damaging news were covered by  newspapers and television. To tackle with those situations, crisis management was done. Few examples of Crisis Management are as follows: Nepal Samachar Patra and Sagarmatha Television were continuously showcasing various news regarding faulty products of Bottler’s Nepal Limited. To surpass those negative news, internee with the PR team had undergone the crisis management by flowing the positive news of the company in The Kathmandu Post. This is a technique where PR people do not counter the negative news directly but highlights the positive aspect of the company, person or the brand to put the positive news in the top of the publics mind. Negative News covered by Nepal Samachar Patra Positive News published in The Kathmandu Post 3.3 Public Relation Department Analysis As an internee under PR Department of an advertising agency, 3.4 Problem Identification and Solution Alternatives As every best effort does have a loop hole, PR Department also has to face certain problems at times.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Fall of the Gas Giant

Fall of the gas giant Name:Source of article: the NEW YORK TIMES Publication date: 10th April 2018 The ripples effects of the tariff imposed on steel and aluminum from china has been felt all over the country since the beginning of their implantation late last year. Many steel companies based the United States have decried the move as it has adversely affected their businesses. The question that lingers in their thoughts is, ‘how long will we survive the turmoil?'. It was passed that a 25% tariff be imposed. One company that has clearly showed its disgust in this status quo is CP industries; it is one of the largest companies that manufacture steel products with its raw materials sourced from china. CP industries make steel gas cylinders and sell them to government parastatals like NASA and the public. Its manager claims that since the tariff came into place they had to raise the price on its products and they have ended up losing customers to competitor companies from china.From the managers cry rose another creepy question, ‘who will pay for the taxes?'. A discussion by economics professionals claimed the American companies will have to bear that burden stoically if they intend in retaining their supplier. A Competitor that the popular industry faces is the Enric Gas Equipment Company from china. Goods from the company are not subjected to the tariff yet they meet the same customer. That is unfavorable competition.I strongly stand with the economists that claim that the tariff should be toned down if not removed completely. In all goods that the government could put tariffs on; aluminum and steel were to be excluded. This is for the simple reason that the country does not produce cheap high quality steel like china. Many critics have rallied against the tariffs as the economy is predicted to see a dive in the coming years. PWhat will happen to the CP industry and all other small companies that import Chinese steel if the tariff is to be upheld for 3 more years?Protectionism as a policy under economics field should be clearly defined by states that want to adopt it. The laws around it must be custom made to ensure that its intended aim of boosting market for domestic companies is met. If not, we will see a collapse of many giant companies and the loss will be immeasurable and irreversible. ReferenceOnline article by the NEW YORK TIMEShttps://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/business

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Descriptive Essay Example

Descriptive Essay Example We all know college is hard; if it were easy, everyone would have a degree and no one would ever ask for help. But here at Crafton Hills College, tutors are available to help out students in any way, so that those who struggle can do well and be successful. These mentors don’t just lecture, they take the time to make sure students understand and comprehend what is being taught. Tutors are at hand for a variety of subjects, some have appointments for one on one time and others are for use at one’s convenience.The best part is, students don’t have to search for a tutor, or post flyers saying â€Å"HELP NEEDED. † CHC has a Tutoring Center, completely free, which is easy to find and a perfect environment to learn and study. Although Crafton is a large campus, finding classes and certain buildings isn’t so hard with a few directions. In order to find the Tutoring Center, it is necessary to know and understand the layout of the c ollege. The most prominent building on campus is the LRC, Learning Resource Center, where the Tutoring Center, Lecture Hall, Library, Teaching Center and other services are obtainable.The campus is shaped like a long chain, and the LRC is located behind the chain closest to Student Services offices. It is the newest edition on campus, and its appearance is very up to date and modern. The LRC has replaced the old library in an outstanding way. This center is 3 stories tall, with large glass paneled walls on all sides. Entranceways are at use on opposing sides of the building, depending which direction you are coming from. But the main entry is through the large glass double doors on the eastern side of the LRC.Once inside, one will be standing in a grand hallway, with cream marble floors and tall neutral colored walls. There are two doors on the left which lead to an auditorium, and two doors on the right which are bathrooms. Keep walking forward and in view will be a large opening o n the right hand side; this is the library. The library can be of great use to students, so let’s take a few moments to look over this area. Besides the Tutoring Center, the library is also very resourceful and entirely useful.It’s filled with computers, private rooms, a small auditorium, a copy room and thousands of books (which are found on the top floor of the LRC). Writing tutors will encourage students to visit the library, especially when it comes to research papers. Now, continuing on to the Tutoring Center, a few more steps and you have reached a set of stairs that lead downward. Down these twenty or so steps is the Tutoring Center. After reaching the bottom, there is a small doorway to the left and a sign that says â€Å"Welcome to the Tutoring Center! †, as a confirmation that one is indeed in the right place.The Tutoring Center is a large rectangle shaped room, with small separate glass enclosed rooms around the edges. The rooms on the left and right are offices of some professors an instructors, while the back wall has some small rooms for study groups and private tutoring lessons, with one very large room painted bright yellow. A front desk is located to the immediate right once entered. Here is where anyone can receive information about the Tutoring Center and view waiting lists for certain subject tutors; flyers and booklets are also free to take.The center of the room has two long tables with twenty computers on both sides for student use, and on each side of those tables are four small square tables with four chairs each for groups or alone work. These separate tables also have power outlets so students can bring laptops or tablets. A student doesn’t have to make an appointment to see a tutor, they can put their name on the waiting list, or just ask a tutor who is not busy at that moment. Help is always available here. Learning specialists are available for english, math, writing and other specific classes; some tut ors are multi subject oriented.Student workshops are also optional for use. This includes MLA/APA format information, note-taking tips, conducting research, study skills, and test-taking strategies. DLA, directed learning activities, can be done as well. These help in strengthening particular english skills and some teachers even accept them as extra credit. Helpful coordinators can be found in the TC who plan summer programs, such as the bridge program, which helps students who are enrolled in pre-req english and math classes; and this helps the tutoring center by bringing in more students.The library is not the only section of the LRC that holds books, the TC has a textbook for every english, math and science class as a reference for CHC students. On busy days, one can find the TC completely filled with students, and still there is available help. Groups of students help others and the tutors are still around for support and confirmation of ideas. People who aren’t proficie nt in a general field learn through others and eventually can help others with the same problems that they once had. Many students have found the Tutoring Center to be of great use, for many reasons besides tutoring.It’s located right on campus, and is open for most of the school day, which means anyone can stop by before class, after class and in between classes. Despite it’s name, students don’t have to go to the Tutoring Center for tutor help. It’s a great place to study, work on homework, and a few tutors are available for immediate help if there is no time to wait. The center is a student-oriented environment with people dedicated to helping any student with a problems or questions. If some spare time is in hand, stop by the Tutoring Center, so it’s features and helpfulness will be fresh in mind.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Huhuhu

Chapter 7: Review Question : 3 3Q) How do the Internet and Internet technology work, and how do they support communication and e-business? Ans) The Internet is a worldwide network of networks that uses the client/server model of computing and the TCP/IP network reference model. Every computer on the Internet is assigned a unique numeric IP address. The Domain Name System (DNS) converts IP addresses to more user-friendly domain names. Worldwide Internet policies are established by organizations and government bodies, such as the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Define the Internet, describe how it works, and explain how it provides business value. The Internet has become the world’s most extensive, public communication system that now rivals the global telephone system in reach and range. Most homes and small businesses connect to the Internet by subscribing to an Internet service e provider. An Internet service provider (ISP) is a comm ercial organization with a permanent connection to the Internet that sells temporary connections to retail subscribers. †¢Explain how the Domain Name System (DNS) and IP addressing system work.It would be incredibly difficult for Internet users to remember strings of 12 numbers; the Domain Name System (DNS) converts domain names to IP addresses. The domain name is the English-like name that corresponds to the unique 32-bit numeric IP address for each computer connected to the Internet. DNS servers maintain a database containing IP addresses mapped to their corresponding domain names. To access a computer on the Internet, users need only specify its domain name. DNS has a hierarchical structure. At the top of the DNS hierarchy is the root domain.The child domain of the root is called a top-level domain, and the child domain of a top-level domain is called is a second-level domain. The Internet is based on the TCP/IP networking protocol suite. Every computer on the Internet is as signed a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address, which currently is a 32-bit number represented by four strings of numbers ranging from 0 to 255 separated by periods. When a user sends a message to another user on the Internet, the message is first decomposed into packets using the TCP protocol. Each packet contains its destination address.The packets are then sent from the client to the network server and from there on to as many other servers as necessary to arrive at a specific computer with a known address. At the destination address, the packets are reassembled into the original message. †¢List and describe the principal Internet services. A client computer connecting to the Internet has access to a variety of services. These services include e-mail, electronic discussion groups, chatting and instant messaging, Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and the Web.E-mail: E-mail enables messages to be exchanged from computer to computer, with capabilities for routing messages t o multiple recipients, forwarding messages, and attaching text documents or multimedia files to messages. Although some organizations operate their own internal electronic mail systems, most e-mail today is sent through the Internet. The costs of e-mail is far lower than equivalent voice, postal, or overnight delivery costs, making the Internet a very inexpensive and rapid communications medium. Chatting:Many workplaces have employees communicating interactively using chat or instant messaging tools. Chatting enables two or more people who are simultaneously connected to the Internet to hold live, interactive conversations. Chat systems now support voice and video chat as well as written conversations. Many online retail businesses offer chat services on their Web sites to attract visitors, to encourage repeat purchases, and to improve customer service. Instant Messaging: Instant messaging is a type of chat service that enables participants to create their own private chat channels. The instant messaging system alerts the user whenever someone on his or her private list is online so that the user can initiate a chat session with other individuals. Instant messaging systems for consumers include Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, and Windows Live Messenger. Companies concerned with security use proprietary instant messaging systems such as Lotus Sametime. News Groups: Newsgroups are worldwide discussion groups posted on Internet electronic bulletin boards on which people share information and ideas on a defined topic, such as radiology or rock bands.Anyone can post messages on these bulletin boards for others to read. Many thousands of groups exist that discuss almost all conceivable topics. File Transfer Protocol(FTP): Transferring files from one computer to another computer. These files can be transferred through internet by using communication software’s like chatting, instant messaging and many. Web: The Web is the most popular Internet service. Itâ€℠¢s a system with universally accepted standards for storing, retrieving, formatting, and displaying information using client/server architecture.Web pages are formatted using hypertext with embedded links that connect documents to one another and that also link pages to other objects, such as sound, video, or animation files. When you click a graphic and a video clip plays, you have clicked a hyperlink. †¢Define and describe VoIP and virtual private networks, and explain how they provide value to businesses. The Internet has also become a popular platform for voice transmission and corporate networking. Voice over IP (VoIP) technology delivers voice information in digital form using packet switching, avoiding the tolls charged by local and long-distance telephone networks.Calls that would ordinarily be transmitted over public telephone networks travel over the corporate network based on the Internet Protocol, or the public Internet. Voice calls can be made and received with a c omputer equipped with a microphone and speakers or with a VoIP-enabled telephone. Although there are up-front investments required for an IP phone system, VoIP can reduce communication and network management costs by 20 to 30 percent. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a secure, encrypted, private network that has been configured within a public network to take advantage of the economies of cale and management facilities of large networks, such as the Internet). A VPN provides your firm with secure, encrypted communications at a much lower cost than the same capabilities offered by traditional non-Internet providers who use their private networks to secure communications. VPNs also provide a network infrastructure for combining voice and data networks. Several competing protocols are used to protect data transmitted over the public Internet, including Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP). †¢List and describe alternative ways of locating information on the Web.The various al ternative ways of locating information on the Web are namely: Search Engines: Search engines attempt to solve the problem of finding useful information on the Web nearly instantly, and, arguably, they are the â€Å"killer app† of the Internet era. Today’s search engines can sift through HTML files, files of Microsoft Office applications, PDF files, as well as audio, video, and image files. There are hundreds of different search engines in the world, but the vast majority of search results are supplied by three top providers: Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft’s Bing search engine. Intelligent Agent Shopping Bots : Shopping bots use intelligent agent software for searching the Internet for shopping information. Shopping bots such as MySimon or Google Product Search can help people interested in making a purchase filter and retrieve information about products of interest, evaluate competing products according to criteria the users have established, and negotiate with ve ndors for price and delivery terms.Many of these shopping agents search the Web for pricing and availability of products specified by the user and returns a list of sites that sell the item along with pricing information and a purchase link. Web-Blogs: A blog, the popular term for a Weblog, is a personal Web site that typically contains a series of chronological entries (newest to oldest) by its author, and links to related Web pages. The blog may include a blog roll (a collection of links to other blogs) and trackbacks (a list of entries in other blogs that refer to a post on the first blog Wiki’s:Wikis, in contrast, are collaborative Web sites where visitors can add, delete, or modify content on the site, including the work of previous authors. Wiki software typically provides a template that defines layout and elements common to all pages, displays user-editable software program code, and then renders the content into an HTML-based page for display in a Web browser. Social Networking: Social networking sites enable users to build communities of friends and professional colleagues.Members each typically create a â€Å"profile,† a Web page for posting photos, videos, MP3 files, and text, and then share these profiles with others on the service identified as their â€Å"friends† or contacts. Social networking sites are highly interactive, offer real-time user control, rely on user-generated content, and are broadly based on social participation and sharing of content and opinions. †¢Compare Web 2. 0 and Web 3. 0. Web 2. 0 facilitates interaction between web users and sites, so it allows users to interact more freely with each other.Web 2. 0 encourages participation, collaboration, and information sharing. This web 2. 0 is also called as â€Å"Second generation World Wide Web. † Examples of Web 2. 0 applications are Youtube, Wiki, Flickr, Facebook, and so on. This is also termed as ‘ read-write web ‘. Web 3. 0 is als o called as â€Å"Semantic web† which means web for the future. In Web 3. 0, computers can interpret information like humans and intelligently generate and distribute useful content tailored to the needs of users. Web 3. 0 is known as the â€Å"Third generation of World Wide Web†.With the help of Web 3. 0, web content was easily carried in the form of natural language. It also consist of micro formats, natural language search, recommendation agents which are commonly known as AI i. e. Artificial Intelligence. One example of Web 3. 0 is Tivo, a digital video recorder. Its recording program can search the web and read what it finds to you based on your preferences. Reference: Kenneth C. Laudon , Jane P. Laudon — Management Information System: managing the digital firm 12th Edition. [Page numbers: 251 – 274]

Maintaining a Healthy Home Holistically

Martina Westcott Hsoc 259 April 21, 2010 Maintaining a Healthy Home Holistically: Natural Household Products as Safe Alternatives to Conventional Products â€Å"If you want to learn about the health of a population, look at the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the places where they live. † -Hippocrates, Father of Medicine, 5th Century BC Natural household products are an important part of maintaining health holistically. From day to day, what is ingested, inhaled, and introduced into our bodies has effects on levels of function and the state of our health.We spend up to 57 percent of our lives indoors, so it is beneficial to make sure that indoor environments are safe havens to raise healthy children. [1] High levels of exposure to harmful fumes and aromas produced by conventional cleaning products play a role in increasing rates of asthma, especially in young children. Conventional cleaning products contain harsh chemicals that are irritating to both the skin and b ody. Asthma cannot be cured, but by removing triggers in the home, this condition can be treated and patients can rely less on biomedicine to control symptoms.Two main symptom aggravators for asthmatic patients are bioallergens and chemical irritants. [2] Natural cleaning products can be helpful in removing both from the home. By removing allergens and synthetic chemicals from the home environment, good health is maintained. Perspectives taken from current consumers of natural cleaning products reveal an understanding of the environment as a point of access to a wealth of resources that can serve to alleviate symptoms and enhance one’s quality of life. The efficacy of these products is revealed in personal accounts.Moreso today than ever before, it is crucial to regard the body as a precious vessel and treat it as such. In doing so, some are beginning to relate to the environment in a new way, valuing responsibility to the environment as much as responsibility for their own b odies. By engaging in a reciprocal relationship with the environment, humans live in harmony with their surroundings and preserve nature’s healing powers. Melaleuca, Inc, the Shaklee Corporation, and the Rainbow Company are three institutions that pledge to protect the health of consumers and our environment through increasing accessibility to natural cleaning products.What are Natural Household Products? Natural cleaning products contain components from the earth as primary constituents, such as oils, herbs, or naturally- occurring chemical compounds. These products do not harm the environment and do not introduce foreign chemicals into the body. Therefore, natural cleaning products are typically non- irritating to the skin and eyes and far more gentle than harsh chemical cleansers. In the context of this paper, just because something is ‘natural’ doesn’t mean it is less toxic, or non- irritating all the time.Even cleaners that are safe enough to eat, lik e lemon juice, can be irritating to the eyes or skin. Consumers should make decisions based on reading the ingredient list for themselves, identifying any ingredients that may be toxic, and then deciding whether to use that product in the home. There are several labels approved by the FDA that one can use to identify whether or not a product is organic, or in other words, natural. If a product is labeled â€Å"100% organic† all of the ingredients used must be natural.If a product is labeled simply â€Å"organic,† it at least 95 percent of its ingredients are organically produced. Finally, if a product is labeled â€Å"made with organic ingredients,† it must contain at least 70 percent organic contents. The first ingredient on any label is found in the product in greatest quantity, therefore it may be convenient to simply identify this ingredient. Many products are mostly water. Therefore, the first ingredient can provide a clue to the potency of the natural ingr edient within the product of your choice. 3] Not all natural cleaning products are equal. Like all products used in the home, especially around children, it is necessary to research ingredients or subscribe to a company that pledges to provide pure products. For instance, the Melaleuca Company adheres to the established Australian standard that requires marketed Melaleuca oil to have a minimum of thirty- five percent Terpinen and a maximum of ten- percent Cineole, the two main chemical components of the natural oil, which ensures that the product is as pure as possible. [4] The Shaklee Corporation, another ompany that promotes natural products, maintains a Scientific Advisory Board of medical professionals and scientists who regularly check the purity of products and make sure EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) standards are met. [5] These are features of companies that have created transparency for consumers to identify exactly where their products are coming from and can be tru sted to provide pure products for the home. Why Worry About the Environment? Do you know what impacts the quality of your health? [pic] www. ahha. org We are our environment.Health does not end at the skin. Everything we do, from the food we eat to the air we breathe, affects our health. In this diagram produced by the American Holistic Health Association, the environment is shown to impact health in an even stronger capacity than medical care. While one may visit the doctor’s office once or twice annually, we spend countless hours indoors in the course of our lives. Therefore the quality of the environment cannot be separated from one’s state of health. Natural household products holistically maintain health because they do not harm the environment.Unnatural, genetically engineered chemicals used in the environment have been shown to harm the body. In a study conducted at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, evidence was found linking organochlorine exposure and thyroid disease in women. Organochlorine is an insecticide used in planting. The study compared female farmers in Iowa and North Carolina who had been exposed to the compound on a regular basis to those who were not in regular contact with the chemical. Analysis of results showed that â€Å"there was an increased odds of hypothyroidism with use of organochlorine insecticides of 12. %†[6] This study reveals the bodily harm that can be incurred just by touching chemically altered compounds and using them on a daily basis. This is not to mention the potential dangers of ingesting these chemicals in food products. As we keep the environment pure, we also keep our bodies pure. In indigenous cultures, all products used in the home came directly from the earth itself. Indigenous Perspectives of Holism Using natural cleaning products parallels the use of holistic healthcare. Indigenous peoples believed that human beings are one with the earth, and this assertion is found in all form s of Shamanistic practice.Each of us is deeply connected with the Earth’s ecosystems. In a book entitled Ecological Medicine: Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves the author writes, â€Å"By restoring the earth, we restore ourselves†[7] Biologically, the human body is composed of the same elements that constitute the land like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. When we die, our bodies return to the earth and begin the cycle of life anew. The Bible reads, â€Å"Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. †[8] Human life comprises just one small portion of the cycle of life.Cultures that participated in Shamanistic traditions like the Native Americans, for instance, understood this cycle of life. The notion of using the most valuable herbs the earth has to offer in personal care regimens is not one of recent invention. Native Americans have used plants and herbs grown by hand for anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 years. [9] The spiritual understanding of a life cy cle that the earth is intimately connected to human beings is the underlying basis for providing optimal care and respect for the land, which will ultimately offer up a harvest to care for the individual in turn.Such an understanding â€Å"is awareness that life in any environment is viable only when humans view the life that surrounds them as kin. †[10] This phenomenon, which professor of Anthropology Enrique Salmon calls â€Å"ecological kinship† is a unique feature of Native American culture and other Shamanistic belief systems that has produced a deep appreciation for the land, one that the Melaleuca Company echoes in promotion of natural products that do not harm the earth upon disposal as some harsh chemicals may.Native Americans have traditionally â€Å"viewed human beings not as some higher intellectual being above lower animal and inanimate beings but as a kindred partner in the universe, reliant on the other beings in creation for life itself. †[11] Th is fundamental interdependence is necessary to an understanding of holistic healthcare as more than care for the body, but also care for the environment, which can be considered the temple that houses our bodies. Other Native American groups have similar understandings of the cyclic nature of life and death as it relates to the environment.In Cherokee culture, the medicine wheel, which symbolizes the â€Å"wheel of life†[12] represents a series of stages through which living beings pass associated with seasons and the alignment of the cosmos. The wheel does not have to be tangible; it can be spiritually understood as present during ceremonial rituals. The term â€Å"medicine† wheel may be understood in American culture if biomedicine is the immediate connection one identifies because the concept is quite spiritual in Native culture. The medicine wheel is a healing cycle that includes the environment as a source of healing and strength. As Dr.Tieraona Low Dog puts it el oquently, â€Å"plants aren’t pills, they’re seeds. †[13] In indigenous cultures, plants have intrinsic healing properties simply from being alive. These healing powers are all- natural and unaltered by man, preserved only in the purity of nature. This is true in all indigenous belief systems. For Native Americans and other indigenous groups, health is a balance between human outputs and inputs and those of the physical body of land. It is an alignment that is achieved through respect for the earth, an absence of exploitation in terms of resource extraction, and an embracing of nature.In a physical sense, balance is achieved by respecting the land. In a spiritual sense, balance is achieved by using the wheel symbolically in ceremonial practices and rituals to align oneself with climate patterns, deities, etc. For instance, in certain Cherokee ceremonies, tribes march around a central fire in a counter- clockwise direction because this is believed to be pleasing to the divine. According to Jutlia Atli, a member of the Cherokee tribe, â€Å"We are created by, balanced between, and destroyed by the primary forces represented on the Wheel. [14] The wheel includes seven sacred directions which correspond to environmental elements and seasons as well as colors and times of day. The seven directions are also representative of various characters, such as humility, change, death, and impermanence. These examples demonstrate the creation and existence of the human being as only a small part of an extensive universal system of life that is all inclusive, a substratum of physical and spiritual interconnection that strings together all beings as one. This holistic view of life is one that we can reclaim today.Like a flickering flame, human life is only a brief glimpse of the extensive life present on the earth at any given point in time, a humbling acceptance that can truly change one’s perspective. Natural Medicine Indigenous peoples used what was available to them in their immediate environments, typically herbs, roots, or seeds that grew from the soil, in healing. These natural elements were the body’s first medicines. Modern pharmaceuticals introduce chemicals that have often been genetically engineered in the laboratory into our bodies.When the body does not recognize a drug, the immune system is designed to combat that foreign substance. Prescriptions cannot simply target one symptom because the body is a set of extensive systems that work in harmony to maintain homeostasis. Any pill ingested must travel through the entire system and could potentially harm organs or tissues that were not the intended target of the treatment. Therefore, it is better to use natural treatments that are not so unfamiliar to the body to maintain good health.Holistic practitioners like those who practice homeopathy utilize naturally occurring remedies to restore health such as herbs. A homeopathic physician, Dr. Linda Baker utilize s natural herbs every day in her practice and also maintains an allergen- free, chemical- free environment in her office for patients. [15] Her concern for creating a natural setting for her homeopathic practice speaks to recreating the natural environment indoors to maintain health holistically. She subscribes to the Shaklee Corporation, a company that produces natural products for the home and office.Natural Household Products Today: Drawing on the Past to Protect Our Future Three major companies involved in producing natural cleaning products for sale presently are the Shaklee Corporation, the Rainbow Company, and Melaleuca Inc. A brief overview of the services offered by these companies will provide insight into the transforming views of how to maintain a healthy home environment. All companies promoting natural cleaning products share the same basic goal, and that is promoting health holistically by offering alternatives to harsh chemicals that can harm the body and the environ ment.These companies look to indigenous cultures for philosophy and ingredients. The Shaklee Corporation has been operating since 1960. It is one of the pioneer companies to promote natural cleaning products and biodegradable containers for household products. Their mission statement nicely sums some of the ideas presented in this paper. This is the Shaklee pledge: â€Å"We make products from the purest natural ingredients. And we take stringent measures to keep out pesticides, contaminants, and other unnatural things that simply don't belong there.But just as important as what we take from nature is what we don't take. †[16] Shaklee set the standard for many similar companies that would follow. Melaleuca, Inc. was founded by Frank VanderSloot in 1995. The overarching goals of the company are to provide consumers with natural alternatives to chemically based cleaning products, healing supplements, medications, and even beauty products. By working in concert with the environme nt, the Melaleuca Company has brought to the forefront natural remedies that have been used for centuries in other cultures.For instance, the pioneer product and namesake of this innovative company was melaleuca oil, also known as tea tree oil. This oil is a natural compound taken from an Australian plant which is considered â€Å"a useful dermatological with antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. †[17] Tea tree oil is used in a wide range of products sold by the company, including toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, as well as its most basic form as pure oil. Tea tree oil was used among Australian aborigines who realized the healing power of the extract upon experimentation.Within that culture, â€Å"freshly crushed leaves were applied directly to an injury, and then held in place with a mud pack†[18] and healing was accelerated. They named the herb bungawalbyn, which means â€Å"healing ground† in the native language. [19] Today, tea tree oil is used to treat conditions like acne, eczema, psoriasis, dandruff, and athlete’s foot. It is found within a whole host of natural cleaning products, from teas to acne medications. This company is one of many that have successfully brought this ancient herb back to the forefront of health consciousness and natural remedies for common ailments.The Melaleuca Company functions through word- of- mouth dissemination of consumer based advice and success with products. One of the company’s slogans, â€Å"We’re telling about Melaleuca, not selling it†[20] speaks to this feature of promoting the products. Customers are exposed to Melaleuca through informational sessions held within the homes of current users who are given instructional materials to conduct the sessions themselves with other friends. As a wellness company, the Melaleuca brand promotes a holistic focus on the entire individual’s overall wellbeing and daily satisfaction with bodily function.Testimonies shared during informational sessions are typically centered on personal experience with the product, from health improvements seen after using natural cleaning products as in the case of Ms. Hensen, to the practical efficacy of maintaining a healthy lifestyle without harming the environment. While Melaleuca promotes a whole host of natural products, from lotions to cleaners, other companies focus on improving the efficacy and the environmentally- friendly standard of a particular household appliance such as the vacuum.The Rainbow Cleaning System line produces vacuum cleaners that use a water filtration system to collect dirt and allergens picked up instead of traditional bags that can harbor a host of dust mites and other bacteria lifted from carpets during vacuuming. The idea of cleaning one’s home is the goal to remove dirt, but some conventional vacuum cleaners only spread dirt and dust mites as one empties filters and bags. Rainbow technology uses a water basin to trap al lergens in a fluid that can be easily disposed in the proper receptacle, either bagged and thrown in the trash or flushed down the toilet.The innovative system also allows customers to add natural components to the water basin prior to vacuuming, such as lemon or orange peels, to fragrance the home naturally as you vacuum. This pragmatic system can be helpful for those who are sensitive to dust and other irritants, especially asthmatic children and adults. Conventional Household Products Pollute the Body Asthma is a condition that affects a large portion of the U. S. population and it is especially prevalent among young children. An average of one out of every 13 school-aged children or nine million US children under age 18 have been diagnosed with asthma. It’s the most common chronic childhood disease in the developed world and has become even more commonplace in the last three decades. †[21] Furthermore, in the US, the prevalence of asthma increased 75% from 1980-1994 . [22] An increasingly toxic home environment may play a key role in the development of asthma and the severity of symptoms.A 2004 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed the harmful effects of environmental irritants in amplifying asthma- related symptoms. The study, which followed 937 children living in high- risk homes in seven major cities, found that a reduction of irritants within the home served to decrease asthma- related morbidity rates. [23] Children who were exposed to fewer allergens within the home through stringent cleaning practices experienced less symptoms of asthma including wheezing and coughing. They could also play for more extended periods of time because their symptoms were alleviated.This study reveals the fundamental connection between health and environment, one that companies promoting natural cleaning products hope to make prominent in American consumer culture. The Melaleuca Company promotes maintaining a healthy home. In a chapte r of the Melaleuca Wellness Guide entitled â€Å"Is Your Home a Healthy Home? † John K. Beaulieu exposes the harms that can be unwittingly imposed on one’s family through the use of toxic chemicals in household products. Some alarming statistics are presented as evidence of these harms.For instance, â€Å"a product that kills 50% of lab animals through ingestion or inhalation can still receive the federal regulatory designation ‘non-toxic’†[24] Throughout the article, a number of products used in almost every household in the United States are listed as containing cancer-causing agents and chemicals that can irritate respiratory pathways or skin. One chemical that is common in many household products, formaldehyde, which is also used to preserve human and animal bodies for dissection, is described as capable of causing â€Å"spasms, edema of the larynx and bronchi, and chemical pneumonitis†[25] upon inhalation.Formaldehyde is found in common brands of bubble bath, baby shampoo, hair spray, and other personal care products and, like dust and allergens, has also been linked to childhood asthma. In an article published in the Environmental Health Perspectives Journal entitled â€Å"Formaldehyde Exposure and Asthma in Children: A Systematic Review,† literature reviews of recently published studies provided quantitative evidence of a strong association between formaldehyde in the home environment and increasing rates of asthma among children.Specifically, â€Å"when compared with individuals with no formaldehyde exposure, those with the highest levels of exposure reported in the seven studies (i. e. , 80  µg/m3) would have 3. 5-times higher odds of asthma. †[26] One study examined in this report focused on formaldehyde exposure among infants from birth to two years of age, a critical window where exposure to formaldehyde can have long- lasting effects due to the â€Å"small caliber of their airways†[27 ] and found an even stronger positive association with asthma for these children later in life.Therefore, it is imperative that families keep their homes pure in terms of products used to clean furniture and floors, especially in children’s rooms. Some links to chemical and asthma remain unclear. For instance, a study in Sweden identified yet another harmful agent found in many household items, phthalate compounds. Phthalates are compounds that are used in conventional tupper- ware plastic containers as well as moisturizers, nail polish, and vinyl flooring. These compounds are ubiquitous in most American homes as well and leach out of products into the air. â€Å"Global phthalate production is 3. million tons per year†[28] and this figure is rising every year. The Swedish study concluded that â€Å"house dust containing [phthalates]†¦is associated with higher rates of asthma. †[29] The study included Swedish children who were exposed to phthalate- containin g products in the home. However, a reverse causation factor has been considered by the American Chemistry Council, which suggests that it is yet to be determined whether the presence of the phthalate compounds ultimately leads to asthma or if the phthalate-containing products brought into the home to combat asthma only further aggravate symptoms.Both situations may be contributing factors to worsening symptoms. The example used is the practice of replacing carpets with vinyl flooring to reduce allergens, which is often a response to asthma because parents are aware of the dust mites carpeting can harbor within the home. Perhaps the Rainbow Cleaning System would work well for these families! Although this particular connection remains unclear, other chemical compounds like formaldehyde have been linked to asthma with high levels of certainty.The preventive benefits of using natural cleaning systems in the home prevail. Evidence suggests that conventional cleaning products cause illne ss; this is especially important for children. During the interview, Ms. Hensen discussed the health benefits of using natural household products within her own family in depth. With regard to the benefits of using Melaleuca products, she asserted wholeheartedly that her â€Å"family’s health had improved greatly since the introduction of Melaleuca cleaning products and supplements to the household. Her teenage son has suffered with severe asthma since birth and his condition was often aggravated by strongly scented detergents and other harsh chemical products, including household bleach and ammonia- based cleaners. She revealed that he had missed almost two months of school over the course of his freshman year of high school due to asthma complications despite her best efforts to keep the house clear of irritants like dust and pesticides. When a friend suggested Melaleuca, Ms. Hensen was eager to explore the option.Her first product was MelaPower ©, a melaleuca oil- based detergent. Within weeks, she found that her son was not experiencing the same sense of airway irritation as he had with other brands of detergent. She then added Sol-U-Mel ©, a multi-use cleaning solution that she uses throughout the home in cleaning floors, appliances, and large areas such as kitchen and living room floors. These products are part of the EcoSense line of natural cleaning products. Because Sol-U-Mel © solution is sold in concentrated form, it is long- lasting through several uses.She especially enjoys the versatility of uses for one product she has encountered using Melaleuca. Sol- U- Mel © is just one example of such products that can be used almost anywhere in the home. Her son has not had an asthma attack since she switched to Melaleuca products eight years ago. Now a law school student at Temple University, he uses the products in his own home. When asked how he feels since his mom first introduced him to Melaleuca products, he responds that â€Å"Melale uca changed his life. † He attributes his renewed ease of breathing to Melaleuca in large part. Ms.Hensen’s personal testimony does not suggest that Melaleuca products are â€Å"miracle solutions† to a whole host of health problems, but it does reveal the efficacy that consumers seek when deciding on a purchase. Her experience reveals a vital tenet of natural, holistic healthcare methods, which is, â€Å"In the wisdom of nature lies the solutions† to all of the ailments faced by humankind today. [30] We are not at a loss for natural cures because the environment has just as many rich resources for promoting health as it always has. It is simply our responsibility to take advantage of those resources.Using natural cleaning products is the first step for many families, especially among those who are aware of the potential dangers of conventional products. One example is antiperspirant, a widely used product in almost every American home. Many antiperspirants contain aluminum, a chemical element that has been linked to breast cancer in several studies. While there is no general consensus on the long- term effects of antiperspirant use, several studies have shown a positive association between regular application and tumors in the breast.One such study was conducted in 2002, entitled â€Å"Aluminum, Antiperspirants, and Breast Cancer. † The study reveals the toxicity of the element and its possible interactions with breast tissue over long- term exposure: â€Å"Aluminium is known to have a genotoxic profile, capable of causing both DNA alterations and epigenetic effects, and this would be consistent with a potential role in breast cancer if such effects occurred in breast cells†[31] While the connection between aluminum and breast cancer remains highly debated and continues to draw researchers, there are several chemicals that have been notably proven harmful to the body.The long- term effects of using chemical elements lik e aluminum, phthalates, and formaldehyde have been well- documented. However, a recent study by Ramon et al. identifies the short- term effects of constant exposure to conventional cleaning products in the hospitality industry among female housekeepers. [32] In the study, a control group of 43 domestic workers who had been diagnosed with either asthma or obstructive lung disease were instructed to keep diaries of symptoms associated with their conditions, from difficulty breathing to asthma attacks at different points during the day.The workers recorded the severity of seven symptoms that had been selected by the panel of researchers at different points during the day. The study concluded that exposure to traditional cleaning products, among them bleach- containing products, aggravates lower respiratory tract symptoms among domestic workers. Although this study was conducted in Spain where the pool of participants was localized, these results indicate that conventional cleaning prod ucts are not only damaging to the health of children but also to adults. Harsh irritants found in traditional cleaning products like bleach are dangerous to both the body and the environment.Conventional Household Products Pollute the Environment Humans are only as healthy as their habitats. Therefore, by polluting the environment, we poison ourselves. Conventional cleaning products pollute the environment and our bodies. By poisoning the environment, we poison ourselves. Environmental security, which can be understood as the capacity of humans to live harmoniously with nature or to maintain a sustainable environment is inextricably linked with human security. This is why it is crucial to make careful decisions about the purity of household products.In an interview with Jim Quigley, founder of Healthy Spaces, a company that aims to help local Philadelphia and Bucks County families create healthier homes and workplaces, the interconnection between environmental health and bodily func tion was made clear. He described an incident in which a man with severe allergies called in to have an evaluation of his work space hoping to identify a major environmental trigger that could be removed to ease his symptoms. He had been taking Claritin every day, three times per day on his worst days, and was very distracted by his allergy symptoms.Jim went into evaluate the office and made shocking observations as he engaged in conversation with the man and completed the formal checklist he uses in every evaluation. The first visual observation was an easy one. He immediately identified wall-to-wall carpeting in the office that had not been vacuumed in a number of months, a rich source of dust mites and bacteria. The second was the wall paper, which he determined contained volatile organic compounds (VOCs) upon taking a sample and evaluating it in the laboratory. Both formaldehyde, the dangers of which have been discussed, and xylene were found in the wallpaper.The man was functio ning from day to day in a very hazardous environment, and Jim advised him to remove the carpet, remove the wallpaper, and use paint with a natural base to see if his health improved. In a matter of days, the man’s symptoms were alleviated to the point of no longer needing even one dose of Claritin in the course of a day. By returning the office environment to a more natural state, he was able to return his body to a more natural state of functioning as well by coming off of his pharmaceutical medication.Several companies are making a healthy environment a priority in their marketing strategies. [33] Melaleuca Inc. is an example of one company that is making strides to protect the environment. The biodegradable nature of most Melaleuca products and containers ensures that the environment will not be harmed through proper disposal. This is one of the extra steps the brand makes to protect the natural habitat in which we all must live, which adds sustainable value to the product s.Because the products in Melaleuca’s cleaning line Eco Sense are concentrated, they can be diluted with water instead of packed with chemical fillers to enhance performance. Also, the concentrated nature of the products allows packaging in smaller containers, which allows for less waste. This is a feature that customers like Ms. Hensen truly appreciate. She asserts that she is personally committed to preserving the environment and this was one of the main features that first drew her to the company. In her own words, she is â€Å"really concerned with protecting the environment in any way [she] can. [34] The commitment to preserving the environment is a part of the Melaleuca promise because the founders understand that the earth provides benefits that require a sense of respect for the environment, a mutually beneficial partnership between consumers and this universal habitat. All companies providing natural household products make a similar pledge to protecting the environ ment. Natural Household Products: The Best Choice for Your Home and Health Natural cleaning products provide safe alternatives to harmful chemicals found in many traditional products, from bleach to furniture polish.Considering that we spend up to 57 percent of our lives indoors, it is beneficial to make sure that indoor environments are safe havens to raise healthy children. At present, many environmental factors are responsible for the increase in the number of allergic and autoimmune diseases, and evidence provided supports the hypothesis that this increase may be caused by the widespread chemical contamination of the environment. Several chemicals, like formaldehyde and phthalates in the home have been linked to rising rates of asthma among young people, but consumers are not left hopeless. The goal is not to live in fear of the world around us.Rather, it is to embrace the fruits of the earth and bring nature into the home environment. Bacteria and dust mites were some of the fi rst organisms to appear on the planet, and these tiny organisms will not be disappearing anytime soon. All companies promoting natural cleaning products share the same basic goal, and that is promoting health holistically by offering alternatives to harsh chemicals that can harm the body and the environment. Perhaps the reemergence of indigenous practices is evidence that we are beginning to remember that we are just one part of an unending cycle of life- we are nature.Therefore, the environments we occupy are inseparable from our own holistic wellbeing. Just as some are choosing natural products for healing rather than pharmaceuticals to stimulate the body’s own innate ability to heal, people are looking for more natural products to surround themselves in the home. If the body is a temple of the soul, then the home is the temple of the body, and the environment encapsulates it all. There are no divisions among these components. The earth’s natural elements have worked synergistically with our own bodily systems for thousands of years. Isn’t that the best seal of approval?