EVM and Project Procurement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

EVM and Project Procurement - Research Paper Example This management system provides trends of cost, value and risk. EVM uses a uniform unit of measure of project performance which may either be dollars or work hours but for different tasks it may require different measure of performance. Functional Difference Procurement is often required in every project; therefore procurement management is a crucial step in the execution of a project plan. Procurement means the use of external vendors and service providers for a particular facility. Procurement management itself involves extensive planning. Procurement process can be broken down into various steps which are widely used in the following order: Planning and requirement, requisition, vendor selection, contract administration, delivery and contract closure. Procurement process starts with the analysis of the goods and services required for the execution of a project. The management has to take a make or buy decision which ultimately decides whether there is a need for outsourcing or not . This is done through cost benefit analysis. For example leasing a piece of equipment costs $800/day and making it costs $12000; in this case the use of that equipment in terms of time would allow the management to compare the two costs and ultimately allow them to take an informed decision. Difference in Cost Variance and Measurement In order for the successful completion of a project the management needs to answer certain questions repeatedly. These questions are mostly related to cost variance, risks, over or under expenditure, schedule and project performance in terms of value, cost and schedule. In a research study has proven the link between project success and earned value management. The study treats the principles of EVM and project procurement as two different variables. The third variable is the project success itself. The results of their study and surveys supported their hypothesis with exception which is â€Å"There will be no significant difference between fixed-pri ce and cost-plus contracts on the use of EVM’s performance metrics during contract administration† (Marshall, 2007). Fixed-price contracts and cost plus contracts are two prevalent contract types which are undertaken during the contract administration step of procurement management. So the study has proven that contract type does not significantly affect the performance metrics of EVM. Earned value minus actual cost gives the cost variance and earned value minus planned value gives the schedule variance in earned value management. These variances are dependent upon the accuracy of estimates, time required for the project and life-cycle phase. All of these factors may fall under the category of procurement process so procurement management may affect the performance metrics of earned value management. Procurement involves market knowledge on the basis of which estimates are driven. So if for example the management provides unreliable estimates then it would greatly affec t the EVM measures such as planned costs. Secondly the length of the procurement project and total approved budget effect the capacity of EVM to accurately predict the trends of cost and

Diplomatic History Essay Example for Free

Diplomatic History Essay Operation Rolling Thunder refers to an intense onslaught carried out by the United States against the North Vietnamese in the period between 1965-1968. The rationale behind this attack was not clear, as even its chief architects believe it was not clear-cut. No one had put into consideration the political costs and loss of lives. President Johnson hoped that with this onslaught, he would boost the dying morale of the southern Vietnamese by impressing upon them the Americans might. This however achieved the opposite by diminishing his political standing at home and did not help to bring the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table as was hoped. The Six-Day War is a war that pitted Israel on one side against Jordan, Egypt and Syria. These countries had vowed not to recognize the legitimacy of Israel and wanted it destroyed, however Israel victory dealt these countries a huge blow and they retreated after it became apparent that Israel would reach their capital. This war brought a near clash between two superpowers then, the United States and the Soviet Union, with the U. S behind Israel and USSR behind the Arab states. This war had put the U. S in a tight spot as it did not want to sour its relations with the Arabs or its diplomatic ties with Israel. This is seen as the reason why the U. S exercised restrain and only aided Israel with weapons but no direct intervention. The Iran Contra Scandal occurred in 1987 and refers to a deal entered into by president Reagan’s administration and Iran. The United States was to supply Iran with weapons so that it would facilitate and press for the release of American hostages held by the Hezbollah. This scandal tarnished the U. S stand abroad of not negotiating with terrorists and also led to the plummeting of Reagan’s popularity. It would also see the conviction of some high-ranking officials. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev of Russia was the last president of the United Soviet Socialist Republic before it collapsed in 1991. He is hailed for having initiated the move that led to the end of cold war. He introduced reforms in Russia and tightened the relations with President Ronald Regan, ending the cold war and consequently the breaking up the USSR. It is during this tenure that the relations between the USSR and the U. S were improved. Core to his reforms was re-introduction of ties with the west. Kosovo, Yugoslavia, had been rocked by fighting between Albania guerillas and Serb forces. The United States and NATO forces stepped in to help quell the fighting resulting to what came to be known as Operation Allied Forces that initiated an onslaught against Serbia till Slobodan Milosevic withdrew from Kosovo. The United States over the years was actively involved in the process meant to restore peace although the congress did not expressly authorize the air strikes nor block them. To date The UN Resolution 1244 has failed to establish the status of Kosovo. The United States has been supporting what is referred to as the Ahtisaari plan that seeks to have Kosovo supervised. Russia is opposing the plan and vows to use the Veto power should the situation demand. The Dayton Accords refer to the peace agreements that saw the end of the Bosnia war in 1995. This agreement was the culmination of a series of negotiations that had before been unfruitful. The United States and Russia had been mounting pressure for the warring sides to accept negotiations. These negotiations held in Ohio brought together a cross section of leaders from the region. This was done under the tutelage of the U. S secretary of state Warren Christopher together with the representatives of European Union. The Official peace pact was to be signed in France by Clinton, John Major, and Jacques Chirac amongst others. This pact was to see the international community lead the implementation of the treaty backed by the NATO forces. Ngo Dinh Diem was born in 1901. He went to the United States due to political turmoil at home. In the US he would meet the then influential leaders where he reiterated his opposition to colonialism and communism in his bid to gain their approval. He succeeded and the United States installed him as the president hoping he would become a U. S puppet. This however did not happen and he was oppressive of the Southern Vietnamese. He rigged the elections that were to follow and imprisoned opposition leaders and critics. The United States was torn between a rock and a hard place, it risked being stuck with an unpopular leader who was unable to unite Vietnam and in turn lose the country to the communists. This is what led CIA to sanction a plot to have Diem assassinated by failing to offer the protection they were giving him before. Consequently he was assassinated in 1963 and his place taken by Nguyen Van Thieu. The relationship between the United States and PLO can only be described as that of perpetual hostility towards each other. To the United States, PLO represented a major threat to its interests and ally in Middle East. PLO also saw the U. S as a threat and that is why it aligned itself with the USSR and took a strong anti-American stance. In spite of this standoff, the United States initiated a dialogue between the two in 1988. PLO accepted the status of Israel and agreed to denounce terrorism hence triggering the dialogue. All along there had been a long stand-off between the two as PLO had refused to acknowledge the existence of Israel while in turn the U. S had not recognized PLO as the voice of the Palestine people. By accepting to negotiate with the PLO, PLO saw this as a form of recognition and it felt that it had won against the U. S’ hard stance. The U. S stand against PLO and the initiation of the talks has always been a defining moment in Middle East because it gave an international recognition, in line with the UN resolutions, a nation it considered a terrorist movement. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) fronted by President Reagan, aimed at developing a system that would use ground and space systems to defend the United States in case of a nuclear ballistic missiles attack. This system did not succeed as it was intended to, but it is hailed as being the basis under which the current anti-ballistic missiles were made. All these efforts and research was put under the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization that was brought together in 1984 to oversee all matters relating to missile defense. The Taliban are a Sunni Islamic movement that was at the helm of leadership in Afghanistan for a period of five years up to 2001 when they were removed from power by a coalition of forces led by the united states. It has a rather interesting history as in its early days it was supported by the United States to fight off the communists who wanted to take over Afghanistan. After taking over power in 1998, the Taliban hard stance, Sharia law, suppression and persecutions did not endear it to many countries including the United States which saw it as harboring terrorists such as the Al Qaeda. It was ousted from power by a coalition of forces and the Northern alliance in what came to be known as war on terror. Part 2 President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger remain the two of the most important figures in the United States as far as foreign policy is concerned. No doubt that Nixon’s administration was riddled with a scandal that would lead to his resignation. Critics agree however that his tenure was not without some important accomplishments. Appropriately President Nixon came into power when the cold war had intensified and the world was at the brink of war with the United States and the Soviet Union rocked into a perpetual duel that was threatening a peaceful co-existence between the West and East. President Nixon was elected on a platform of ending American forces engagement in Vietnam. This, he achieved although his withdrawal was rather slow much to the consternation of many Americans. It had seemed that Nixon rather believed that he could correct the mess he had inherited in Vietnam, snatch victory and withdraw the troops honorably. This however did not happen and the events that followed remain his lowest moments in leadership. Nixon and Kissinger were advocating a foreign policy that would see the United States pursue an effort to limit the expansion of the Soviet bloc influence, support militarily and economically any governments that would aid their course whether or not such governments were repressive or had poor ratings as far as civil rights are concerned. This would explain why this tenure was characterized by overthrowal from power popularly elected regimes and supplanting them with dictatorial leaderships. Iran and Chile serves as good attestation to this. The key objective of Nixon administration was to keep communism in check at whatever cost even if it meant trampling on the civil rights of the citizens and dropping hundreds of bombs. The Vietnam War still remains the biggest to both Kissinger and Nixon’s profiles. Faced with growing opposition and plummeting opinion ratings, Nixon remained aloof and initiated attacks in Vietnam while hoodwinking the American public by withdrawing the forces bits by bits. To his administration ‘place with honor’ remained the key strategy. It is Detente that remains the hallmark of his achievements, on top of his ability to limit and finally withdraw American forces from Vietnam. In Detente he promised to ease relations with the former archrivals of America. It was a new type of diplomacy that would see a permanent relaxation of relations between the superpowers, even the nations that were perceived as enemies before. This, he accomplished by improving the relations between the United States and China. Kissinger was Nixon’s key operative. He was highly secretive to the extent that his meeting with Chinese officials was unknown to the ambassador of the U. S to China, George Bush snr. However he was able to improve the sour relation that existed. This was in the Nixon’s bid to woo China after it had fallen out with the Soviet bloc and consequently tilt the balance to his advantage. Aided by the Kissinger, Nixon introduced what was referred to as the Nixon Doctrine; this is what formed the basis of his foreign policy. The United States, to maintain its influence would provide military support to its allies but not in any way provide troops. In wooing China, Nixon and Kissinger who were realists, had reconciled that China was far much important to be ignored in the international scene being the most populous. This also gave impetus to his re-election bid especially as the Ping Pong diplomacy had drawn a perception that he identified with the common voter. Through the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty of 1972 (SALT), the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to curtail further production of high range ballistic missiles as well as their defense systems. This ‘strategic parity’, as many scholars refer to it, was to be a substitute to the arms race. The Soviet bloc agreed to this immediately probably fearing the improved relations between China and the United States. To wrap up Nixon achievements in foreign policy was his visit to China, where he became the first president to do so; this had privately been arranged by Kissinger. He also went to Moscow where he and Brezhner signed the SALT and trade agreements. The shuttle diplomacy also said off relatively where Henry Kissinger was able to broker a peace deal with Israel an Arab in the Yom Kippur war. In this war the U. S had been torn between a rock and a hard place. It sought to protect Israel and did not want to scuttle its friendship with the Arab states. Although Nixon had the above achievements, his mistakes or miscalculations further outweighed the accomplishments. Many people in U. S and internationally remember him for his misdeeds more that these achievements. His administration single handedly put the image of the United States as a champion of civil rights and peace into disrepute. To start with was his handling of the Vietnam War. He was unable to come to terms with the fact that the United States could lose the war and was willing to put the lives of American soldiers on the line to drive this point home, but to no avail. Despite cutting his stature in the international limelight as a statesman by establishing ties with china, the question of Vietnam is still very troublesome to both Nixon and Kissinger. Nixon had vowed to win peace. Vietnamization or the concerted attack in Laos and Cambodia put a permanent dent on his reputation. He hoped that these would paint an image of a ‘madman’ and compel Hanoi to reach a favorable agreement. These attacks prompted Americans to take to the streets in protest especially as it became apparent that he had dropped all pretext of diplomacy. Although Kissinger was able to bring the warring parties into negotiations, the terms were not any different from the ones that north Vietnam had brought to the table in 1969, an indication that all those years of attack and loss of lives had not borne fruits especially to the United States. It is the Watergate scandal however that broke the camels back and forced Nixon out of office. The Watergate scandal remains the greatest evidence of the atrocities committed by the United States where both Kissinger and Nixon undermined democracy in the third world and brought bloodshed. It is these atrocities that led to calls by civil and human rights activists to have Kissinger investigated for crimes against humanity. After the scandal, the United States was not credible in its self-proclaimed international role. Oil crises would loom in the U. S as the Middle East placed embargoes. There was also a political re-alignment with disillusionment characterizing the Republican Party. Kissinger however was left unscathed and went on to serve as the secretary of state in Ford and Carters administration. Nixon’s presidency is a tenure that many Americans would wish to put behind.

Terra-Cotta Girl :: essays research papers

Terra Cotta Girl   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The poem has clear, wide-open drama while managing ambiguity and open-endedness. A sort of modern local color piece tinted with Southern elements, it nevertheless makes its characters real and sympathetic, treats important themes that are both topical and general, and offers an apt objective relationship with universal implications. Technically a lyric, the poem filled with narrative and drama: an off-the-farm college girl, a Southerner, and perhaps a Georgian like Sellers herself, has fallen in love with a â€Å"quiet girl down the hall† (9). The girl’s conservative mother â€Å"has seen to† (10) having her daughter seek for an expert help. Ungraceful, conflicted inwardly, and beset outwardly by parental pressure, the girl now waits to see a counselor. No character speaks, but the role of each is well defined. At least five characters, perhaps six, come into play: two girls, their two mothers, and one or maybe two counselors. Onstage is the â€Å"terra cotta girl† (1)--and maybe her mother as well. The other, â€Å"quiet† (9) daughter and her mother, along with a counselor (perhaps the same one), running a parallel to the scene we are witnessing. Although the poem shows us the girls as living â€Å"down the hall† (9) from each other in their college dormitory, it also suggests another indirect possibility that, at the very moment of the present action, this other girl, the quiet one, is just â€Å"down the hall† waiting to see another counselor during two parallel sessions that the mothers have â€Å"seen to† (10). Perhaps, the other girl’s mother is with her, too. The other girl may be â€Å"quiet† precisely because the narrator chooses not to give her a separate story. If this is the case, her â€Å"terra cotta† lover stands in as her delegate. The phrase â€Å"quiet girl† draws the image of a shy character, who may be less able to handle her current torture, and not as strong as â€Å"terra cotta girl†. Formally, the poem has thirteen short lines with different numbers of syllables and accents. The poem is unrhymed but engages such alliterations as â€Å"flat farm feet† (2) / â€Å"furrows† (3), â€Å"soil has seen† (10), and â€Å"weep for the waste† (12). All of the alliterated sounds are voiceless, which projects the current situation of the girls. The thirteen breath units of the poem divide into two clear sentences. With no stanza break in the poem, these sentences establish the language of the drama.

Morality and Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay -- Young Goodman Br

"Young Goodman Brown" was published in 1835, when Nathaniel Hawthorne was 31 years old. Hawthorne was born and reared in Salem, Massachusetts, a village still permeated by its 17th century Puritanism. When he was four, Hawthorne's father   died, and from that point on he was surrounded mostly by females: two sisters, a maiden aunt, and a retiring mother who was not close to her children. He had little contact with his deceased father's family, but his maternal relatives were supportive and saw to it that he attended college, the first in his family to do so (Turner 33). During four years at college, despite his reclusive nature, he established close friendships with his male classmates, several of which he maintained for life. These four years of shared human companionship were contrasted by the following twelve years of self-imposed isolation spent in the upper floor of his mother's home in Salem, trying to master the art of writing. It was during those twelve years of isolation, while researching local New England history for background use in his fiction, that Hawthorne made a startling discovery. His 17th century paternal ancestors, whom he had assumed to have been yeoman farmers or seafaring men, had been illustrious founders as well as political and religious Puritan leaders of Salem. "Young Goodman Brown" was influenced by this Puritan heritage; by Hawthorne's personality which had acquired a skeptical, dual-outlook on life; and by Hawthorne's mental and moral beliefs thathe revealed. Hawthorne struggles with his own morality within his own biographical framework in "Young Goodman Brown." Hawthorne viewed his Puritan ancestors with a mixture of pride and guilt. He felt pride in seeing the history of his own family inter... ...: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971. Canby, Henry Seidel. Classic Americans: A Study of Eminent American Writers from Irving to Whitman. New York: Russell and Russell, 1939. Donaldson, Scott and Ann Massa. American Literature: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century. New York: Harper and Row, 1978. Fogle, Richard Harter. Hawthorne's Fiction: The Light and the Dark. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1952. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." 1835. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Lexington: Heath, 1944. 2129-38. Johnson, Claudia D. The Productive Tension of Hawthorne's Art. University: U of Alabama P, 1981. Turner, Arlin. Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Biography. New York: Oxford UP, 1980. Ziff, Larzer. Literary Democracy: The Declaration of Cultural Independence in America. New York: Viking Press, 1981.

Culture and Health Promotion Essay

Madeline Leininger is the nurse and anthropologist who first developed the theory of addressing the needs of the whole person within their culture, heritage and traditions. Her book, Transcultural Nursing: Concepts, Theories, and Practice (1978), gave rise to an area of nursing practice that has become known as transcultural care. Nurses continue to develop tools to assess the nature of an individual’s culture, traditions and heritage. The Heritage Assessment Tool, developed by Rachel Spector (2000, figure 6-1), identifies language preference, family dynamic, religious practices, educational background, and social standing. The information gathered from the heritage assessment combined with further dialog will allow the nurse to implement an indivualized, culturally competent plan of care. The heritage assessment tool was utilized as part of a series of interviews comparing the health traditions of subjects from three different cultures. The focus of the interview was health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration. Subject one is a 46 year old Hispanic female. Her paternal great-grandmother was born in a small village in Spain. Her maternal great-grand father’s was born in Mexico. It is interesting to note that while she has both Mexican and Spanish lineage, she most strongly identified with the Spanish side of her heritage. She clearly indicated she and her family spoke Castilian Spanish, not Mexican Spanish. Both sets of her grandparents and parents were born in the United States of America (U.S.A.). Her father and grandparents are bilingual, and come from a large family of 16 children. Her grandparents had very little formal education; her father attended school. Her mother was from a family of 4 children and speaks  Spanish as a second language. She received formal education and was a college graduate. Twenty years ago, both sides of this family lived in rural areas and in close proximity but have since dispersed across the country for employment opportunities. This subject’s family has a strong tradition of beliefs and non-traditional methods for health protection. They did not routinely seek out a physician but rather relied on herbalists and folk remedies. There was a strong spiritual component to this family’s traditions. Prayers, lighting candles during church services and saying novenas or the rosary were all considered to be important to health protection .With regards to health restoration; the subject’s paternal grandmother had a firm belief in â€Å"mal ojo† or the evil eye. When sickness occurred, it was due to â€Å"mal ojo† transmitting sickness through jealousy either consciously or unconsciously. Her grandmother believed many illnesses were the result of â€Å"mal ojo† and could be reversed through prayer and placing a bowl of hard boiled eggs near the sick person to â€Å"pull out the mal ojo†. In addition to prayer, teas were consumed for nausea or upset stomach; eucalyptus salve was applied to the chest for colds or respiratory infections, and mercurochrome was applied to any scrapes, b ruises, insect bites or reddened areas on the skin. Food was an important part of health maintenance for this family. The subject’s mother and grandmother both provided all the family meals which consisted primarily of fish, wild game and steamed vegetables. Food was never fried, and wheat germ was added to most foods, including desserts. The subject relayed that in recent years her family has moved into a suburban setting. Her grandparents now seek regular care from a physician. They also have mostly abandoned the folk remedies previously preferred and now use pharmaceuticals for health restoration. Prayer remains a large part of this family culture (P. Sanchez, personal communication, January 28, 2012). Subject two is a 46 year old Asian-American female of Chinese heritage. She has no knowledge of her grandparents who are deceased. The entire family migrated to the USA when the subject was three years of age. She is the youngest of three siblings, all of whom live within the same city. It is of interest that all the girls in this family have traded their Chinese names for western names and have married outside their race to men of Caucasian, non-Hispanic origin. In spite of this, the family maintains a strong culture of family unity and  respect for their ancestors. Neither her mother nor father read or write English; therefore, Chinese is the language spoken when communicating at home. All the children and grandchildren are bilingual. The subject shares caretaking responsibility for her parents with her sisters. To protect health, they practice healthy eating habits and engage in regular exercise. The subject’s parents walk daily, and practice tai chi. They drink warm water after each meal to ensure good digestion. In the event of illness, several cures are used to restore health. To reduce a fever, drinking cool water is believed to be effective. To alleviate a sore throat or cough, a vinegar and warm water gargle; for headache, cold compresses on the forehead and back of neck with massage; for body aches or pain, rest with meditation is the preferred remedy. To maintain health, this family again relies on exercise, meditation, and the use of herbal supplements and teas. Mint is used for digestion, ginger is used for energy. The subject shares that her parents are now receiving Medicare benefits and they engage in primary health prevention by receiving the influenza vaccine and yearly physical examinations (C. C. Lu, personal communication, January 31, 2012). This student was the third subject. She is a 55 year old Caucasian of Scottish heritage. Her mother’s side of the family is of German Descent and her father’s side is of Scottish descent. She is strongly identified with her heritage and culture as all of her family on both sides were born and lived in West Virginia. Her mother was one of six siblings; her father an only child. This subject was the oldest of three siblings. The extended family unit was active in the same church and participated in many of the same social activities. They took family vacations and were together for most holidays and birthdays. Her father and grandfather were both professionals; her grandfather worked as a teacher, her father as an engineer. Both her grandmother and mother were homemakers. English is the only language spoken in this family. To protect health, this family used a combination of folk remedies and primary physician care. Both she and her siblings were immunized as babies and r eceived yearly physical and dental exams. However, prior to seeking medical care for health restoration, her grandmother and mother would utilize herbal and folk remedies to include warm salt water gargle for sore throat, cool compresses to reduce fever, or eucalyptus salve combined with inhaling steam for upper respiratory infections. Mineral oil  was used to relieve ear aches and baking soda was dissolved mixed with warm water and then drank to cure indigestion. Hot chicken soup was a cure all for any type of sickness. Food was also an important part of health maintenance for this family. Her grandmother maintained a large garden and several fruit trees. She preserved every variety of vegetable and fruit and taught this skill to the subject. The family also would join together to purchase a whole cow and have it butchered. Meals were simple and wholesome. Exercise in this family was not structured but every member participated in some type of physical activity through school, work or church. In conclusion, all three families interviewed have similar health traditions. Two of the three have strong religious traditions. All three use herbal and folk remedies in much the same way. The interviews revealed a pattern of change in tradition that appears to be based on education, and access to western based medicine. As the family units evolved through marriage, immigration, or education, their reliance on western medicine increased. However, the use of folk remedies were not completely abandoned and continued to be viewed as an important component in achieving and maintaining wellness. By including the health traditions in the nursing plan of care and teaching, the needs of the whole person can be addressed: Culturally competent nursing is achieved. References Leininger, M. (1978). Transcultural nursing: Concepts, theories and practice. New York: Wiley. Spector, R. E. (2000). CultureCare: Guide to heritage assessment and health traditions (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education/PH College.

Bio-Based Propylene Glycol Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast, 2013 2019 Essay Example

Bio Bio-Based Propylene Glycol Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast, 2013 2019 Essay Bio-Based Propylene Glycol Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast, 2013 2019 Essay Bio-Based Propylene Glycol Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast, 2013 2019 Propylene glycol or 1, 2-propane-diol is one of the universal product that is used in modern life and is practically everywhere. It is derived industrially by processing petroleum products and has a very high demand due to which the global consumption of petroleum has increased by thousand metric tons per year. Propylene Glycol (PG) is used in a broad range of products; it can be found in fiberglass resins, antifreezes, foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Visit Complete Report Here: marketresearchreports.biz/analysis-details/bio-based-propylene-glycol-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2013-2019 Propylene glycol has been prepared by petroleum stocks but now days it is derived from corn starch and a special carbohydrate which is processed to make glycols. This processed and green derived propylene glycol is having a very high quality. T he synthetic ingredient is derived from a renewable source which meets the requirement of the consumers and it also offers additional advantage of a pleasant and fruity odor. The chemical industry is highly dependent on fossil fuel for making variety of petrochemical products. As there are many benefits of renewable chemistry so the entire industry is shifting towards it, companies are demanding bio-based chemicals to achieve sustainability by commercializing bio-based chemicals. One of the elements which are in high demand and attracting attention to be generated from renewable source is propylene glycol.The bio-based propylene glycol is in high demand due to its effective quality. These products have same area of applications as that of propylene glycol. Moreover it is a renewably derived product and helps in reducing the green house gas emissions. These products meet the standards of bio-preferred purchasing programs and also the specifications

Hurricane Katrina Survivor Journal Entry †Creative Writing

Hurricane Katrina Survivor Journal Entry – Creative Writing Free Online Research Papers Hurricane Katrina Survivor Journal Entry Creative Writing How does hurricane Katrina affect me personally? Katrina affects me in so many ways that words can not be described. It brought many devastated situation to my life. Like others, my family returned to our home under a damage condition. After the day I left to evacuate for hurricane Katrina, my life started to change from one way to another. Within one month I have traveled to 5 different cities. I started my journey out from New Orleans going to Houston then Lake Charles, from Lake Charles we traveled to Pensacola. Leaving Pensacola to go back to New Orleans in three days then from there we went to Houma and from Houma we went to Houston again, then we traveled from Houston to Austin within one week; after that we went back to Houma for two days then happily being back in New Orleans. During this long everlasting journey, my family and I faced many critical times. Can anyone imagine that within six nights we stayed at five different places? It seems hard to believe but it’s true. During these days, everyone in my family seems to be very worried and unhappy. Every time we turned on the news from our hotel room, everyone started to get quiet and have different thoughts running through our minds. One big concern to my parent was our house, not because it cost a lot but because that’s the only thing we accomplished within 7 years living in United States. No feelings can be worst than knowing everything you own is being taken away from you. Just thinking of the fact that the house may be flooded to the roof no one was on the mood of doing anything. One main similarity from people evacuated for hurricane Katrina is that no one suspected we would go for a one month trip. Therefore, I believed that every family I know of only packed for a 2 or 3 days trip. My family was no different; we only packed two outfits for everyone. I remembered every time we arrived at a new city we have to go find a Laundromat to wash our clothes. As days past by and things are still the same, I started to think of negative thoughts and begin to realize that my life may never be the same due to the fact that I have to attend new school and make new friends. I have never thought of the things I have until I loose it. For example, my friend, I never knew how important they are to me until I see other people with their friends and I have no friends. In conclusion, I feel very blessed for what I have today. Although I went through many tough times but compare to other people I think that my family and I are very lucky that we still have a place to live and a life to start over. Unlike other people who return home and see their house being wash away by water and have lost everything they own. After this enormous tragedy, I have seen myself in a different perspective. Research Papers on Hurricane Katrina Survivor Journal Entry - Creative WritingHip-Hop is ArtNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XThe Spring and AutumnTrailblazing by Eric AndersonThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsCapital Punishment19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Essay

Saudi Arabia essays

Saudi Arabia essays The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula, is located in the southwestern corner of Asia. It covers an area about one-fourth the size of the United States. More than half of its total area is desert terrain. The capital of Saudi is Riyadh, which is located in the central region of the country. Saudi Arabia's official language is Arabic, although English is also spoken in the Kingdom, most commonly in the business community. The official religion of Saudi is Islam. Two of the holiest Islamic cities, Makkah and Madinah, are located within its borders. Makkah is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and is the focal point of the Islamic Pilgrimage. Madinah is where the Prophet Muhammad lived. Also, The Kingdom's Judicial System stems from Islamic Law and the Holy Qur'an, which still bases its beliefs on the "eye for an eye" form of punishment. Hence, many wrongdoers swiftly lose their limbs and, in some cases, their lives to a well place axe in the infamous "Chop-Chop" square. There are approximately 21 million people in the Kingdom. Although most are Saudi Nationals, many outsiders from the U.S. and surrounding Arabic nations come to Saudi Arabia for various employment opportunities. In fact, a large percentage of Saudi nationals do not work because of the lucrative returns from oil revenues. For those less fortunate, the Saudi work week is from Saturday through Wednesday with the weekend being Thursday and Friday because the Muslim holy day of the week is Friday. Businesses are usually closed during the heat of the day, for prayer and resting. Business hours are generally 8:00am-noon and 4:00pm-6:00pm. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is obviously a monarchy headed by King Fahd Bin Adbul Aziz. The government is made up of the King, the Crown Prince, and, similar to the U.S. cabinet, the ...

Critical Thinking Essay #2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical Thinking #2 - Essay Example Although the industry does not own provide a very huge share of the nation’s national product, it is greatly contributes to the budget of the government, and besides, it is the factor behind the huge economic growth of Iran (Karl, 1997). The export of oil is the main source of direct revenue for the Middle East nations governments taking into account their lands are desert. Moreover, it also provides indirect revenue through the taxes that are levied on imports as well as several other activities that are financed by the money from oil and besides, foreign exchange be also earned. All these are beneficial as they maintain other sectors within the economy of the Middle East countries (Karl, 1997). In addition, agriculture is also dependent on imports that are financed by oil; hence, Middle East nations’ food supply is alleged to rely on imports. However, food supply also depends on the annual rainfall as well as several other conditions. Despite the number of benefits brought about by oil, in Iran, for instance, the nationals of the country have lived to be haunted by its discovery. Thus, the presence of oil reserves in the Middle East affects the states economically, politically, as well as socio-culturally but the sector, which is highly affected, is the nations’ political economy. Insecurity is also brought about by the presence of oil; similarly, oil has made Middle East to be vulnerable to interferences from the foreign nations, leading to the damage of the historical development of the nations in Middle East (Henry & Springborg, 2001). Monetary resources within the region have greatly been increased by the discovery of oil in the nation. Because the region is endowed with numerous resources, the problem of allocating the fund also comes up. Foreign Super-powers always intervened in Middle East nations that have too much oil and tend to manipulate their governments. Moreover, international oil firms always aim exploit oil

112 mind paper Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

112 mind paper - Article Example Geographical locations have influenced people’s habits, beliefs, and customs because they define the norms. Therefore, the degree of influence of cultural factors to consumer behavior varies in accordance to age, gender, marital status, religion, and location. People are increasingly adapting to the electronic environment and thus the increasing urge to own electronic gadgets. Apple iPhone is arguably the best electronic gadget in the current world and thus people across all age groups consider it worth possessing one. Since the new culture has been developed in accordance to owning expensive items, I bought the Apple iPhone because it was appealing and it did not in any way interfere with my cultural beliefs and wanted to fit in a social class that is associated with expensive and cool gadgets. Social factor stem from cultural factors because they involve family, reference groups, and role and status (Solomon et al, 2009). Family molds perception and influence of future buying behavior because it prepares people into understanding what is good and bad, what is necessary and leisure, and what preferences to consider. Reference groups include friends, and the rest of the world, which provide insightful information about new products and their efficiency thus influencing behavior. Everybody is talking about Apple iPhone and due to it, I was influenced to try out and see how it looks like to make sure I get first hand information for myself. Role and status is in relation with roles played by people in society. Currently, I am a student, meaning my role in society is to research and learn new things. This is a major factor in my decision of purchasing the Apple iPhone because I need to research wherever I go, take pictures which can be used as evidence in my assignment submiss ion, and interact with friends and family even when am away from them. Age and life style, occupation, life style,

ECONOMICS 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ECONOMICS 2 - Essay Example An example of an oligopoly is the airline industry. The airline industry is regulated by several agencies. There regulations that protect consumers against noise pollution. The prices of the fuel that the airlines utilized are regulated. The type of goods that a person can carry into an airplane is regulated. Aircrafts must comply with safety regulations. Oligopolies are market structure in which there are limited numbers of participants, while monopolies have only one player. The reason regulations are so important in these two market structures is because the general public must be protected from collusion and unfair practices from these firms. In monopolies regulations become more critical due to the power that the monopolist holds. Without regulation a monopolist could abuse his power and charge super high prices since competition is non-exist. Industrial regulations protect the customers, but its implementation raises costs. Companies at times have to invest money in new equipme nt to comply with regulations. Regulations that increase labor costs affect the profitability of companies. These costs are passed on the customer in the final price of the service or product. Regulations affect the cost structure of firm in an adverse way.

Legal Aspects of Health Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Legal Aspects of Health Administration - Essay Example Health care fraud deals with stating falsehoods related to health care to someone who can offer financial benefit. There are false and fraudulent claims to medicinal billing, vehicle expenditure, construction expenditure and much more (Jesilow, et.al, 1995). The health care fraud can be seen at various places associated to the health care division and in all those places, there are chances of health care fraud. The various categories of health care fraud are associated to the health care places as there are hospital frauds, pharmaceutical frauds, nursing home frauds, medical equipment frauds, ambulance services frauds, frauds in terms of provision of not provided services and many more (Jesilow, et.al, 1995). Health care fraud is categorized as misstating the factual data, stroppy amounts for services, needless health treatment, addition of amounts for private usage and inducement (Jesilow, et.al, 1995). It has been reported in ‘The Punishment of "Health Care Fraud"’ by Mastin that AHM (American Healthcare Management) submitted false claims regarding billing related to health care division for which, they paid charges of 1.25 million dollars to resolve the issue (McGuire and Schneider, 2007). It was reported that in spite of taking funds for wrong information related to the health care needs such as improvement of quality of health care, betterment of cleaning and bathing facilities and buying of medicines and other health related things (McGuire and Schneider, 2007). As a punishment, AHM was fined to pay an amount of 1.25 million dollars to the government. The punishment also included the exclusion of nearly three nursing homes and the proprietor has to suffer an exclusion of twenty years because of the fraudulent activity concerning finance (McGuire and Schneider, 2007). Another example related to fraudulent act done by some persons on behalf of health care is related to recreational motor vehicle that used to hang

Reader response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Reader response - Essay Example For someone like me, who has worked for hours to narrow down on objective and summary statements, it is disappointing to know that my hard work can go unnoticed! Contrary to Rands screening technique, Mulligan in his article mentions that some hiring managers look at the education of the candidate first focusing on their degree, major, graduation date and GPA. Now this, I am willing to live with! One thing that I found very useful in these readings is the information that a resume should be simple and should provide a glimpse into the most recent years of professional career focusing on the key accomplishments and skills. It should also have a hook – which would leave hiring managers with a question to know more about the candidate. After reading the different perspectives of hiring managers, I feel encouraged because I now know how to write my resume - focusing more on the professional experience, skills and extracurricular activities and less on objective and summary statement – since some managers find it

Legal Aspects of Health Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Legal Aspects of Health Administration - Essay Example Health care fraud deals with stating falsehoods related to health care to someone who can offer financial benefit. There are false and fraudulent claims to medicinal billing, vehicle expenditure, construction expenditure and much more (Jesilow, et.al, 1995). The health care fraud can be seen at various places associated to the health care division and in all those places, there are chances of health care fraud. The various categories of health care fraud are associated to the health care places as there are hospital frauds, pharmaceutical frauds, nursing home frauds, medical equipment frauds, ambulance services frauds, frauds in terms of provision of not provided services and many more (Jesilow, et.al, 1995). Health care fraud is categorized as misstating the factual data, stroppy amounts for services, needless health treatment, addition of amounts for private usage and inducement (Jesilow, et.al, 1995). It has been reported in ‘The Punishment of "Health Care Fraud"’ by Mastin that AHM (American Healthcare Management) submitted false claims regarding billing related to health care division for which, they paid charges of 1.25 million dollars to resolve the issue (McGuire and Schneider, 2007). It was reported that in spite of taking funds for wrong information related to the health care needs such as improvement of quality of health care, betterment of cleaning and bathing facilities and buying of medicines and other health related things (McGuire and Schneider, 2007). As a punishment, AHM was fined to pay an amount of 1.25 million dollars to the government. The punishment also included the exclusion of nearly three nursing homes and the proprietor has to suffer an exclusion of twenty years because of the fraudulent activity concerning finance (McGuire and Schneider, 2007). Another example related to fraudulent act done by some persons on behalf of health care is related to recreational motor vehicle that used to hang

Four things you should do before you join the real world Essay

Four things you should do before you join the real world - Essay Example This step refers to talking to other people, listening what they have to say, and then repeating the process. Specifically, this is referring to the importance of continually investigating the types of professions other people are involve in and being inquisitive about discovering information. I performed this step by discussing career prospects with my classmates. In this way I asked where they work, where they plan on working, and if they have participated in any specific forms of internships. Through performing this step I learned a significant amount about the career goals of the people around me, as well as their strategies for pursuing these goals. Additionally I came to discover that a career fair would be held in my area of professional interest. The next step was being able to introduce myself. I recognize this did not merely entail saying hello to someone. Instead it requires me to introduce myself in a way that gives a strong impression and aids me in my quest for a job. For a period I considered what would make a good impression and then practiced these skills with classmates. Specifically I worked on maintaining eye contact and presenting a confident disposition. The next step was to network with my neighbors. While I regularly talk with my neighbors and classmates I have not always made a concerted effort to ‘network’ with them. With my increased focus on networking, however, I set about changing this. In these regards I made an effort to add all of my neighbors to my Facebook page. Additionally I started a LinkedIn page and added my neighbors. I came to recognize the importance of developing a professional presence through these networking efforts; subsequently I changed my Facebook profile and worked to find more professional pictures. The final step I participated in was to ‘make the most of informal interviews’. I got a good chance to practice this skill at the career fair for my major. During this

Community Health and Population Essay Example for Free

Community Health and Population Essay McKinney, Texas is â€Å"unique by nature†. As one of the fastest growing cities in the US, McKinney has a current population of more than 149,000, located 30 miles north of Dallas and is the seat of Collin County. McKinney offers rolling hills, lush trees, a historic downtown square and unique neighborhoods and developments. The city ranks number 2 in the CNN’s Money Magazine Best Places to Live in America’s list (Live Edit, n.d.). According to the US Census Bureau (2010), McKinney was one of the most populous places to live with a census of 54,369 in 2000 and 131,117 in 2010 (QuickFacts, para 1). The 141.7% increase over ten years signifies why it was rated number one on the list of Top 10 fastest growing cities with a population of 50,000 or greater (Live Edit, n.d.). In this 100% urban city, there is more than 2300 acres of open space containing 47 parks, 50 miles of hike and bike trails, neighborhood centers and sports complexes. As of the 2012 census, McKinney had a population of 143,223 (49% males and 51% females) with a median age of 32.7. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 64.5% non-Hispanic white, 10.2% non-Hispanic black, 0.7% Native American, 1.0% Indian (from India), 3.1% other Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.1% non-Hispanic reporting some other race, 3.1% reporting two or more races and 18.6% Hispanic or Latino of any race. The median income for the household in the city was $81,894 and $92,868 median family income with only 9% of local residents living in poverty. Considering that 67.9% of McKinney’s residents are employed, the percentage of population with a bachelor’s degree or higher is significantly above the state’s average is explicable. Falling marginally below average at 94.6 (US average is 100) is the cost of living index in McKinney (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012).

Rowhammer and Microarchitectural Attacks

Rowhammer and Microarchitectural Attacks Problem 1: Hardware Oriented Security and Trust Problem 2: Wireless Networking Problem 1 Introduction The analyzed paper deals with Side-Channel attacks on mobile devices, providing a thorough categorization based on several factors. Side-channel attacks aims to extract sensitive information taking advantage of apparently harmless information leakage of computing devices, both from the SW and HW point of view. Side-channel attacks are initially categorized as active or passive, depending on the level of influence and involvement the attack has on the system. The concept of Software and Hardware attacks are identified to separate attacks that exploit, respectively, logical and physical properties of a device. Also the distance of an attacker is a relevant element in the analysis of Side-channel attacks. The authors distinguish among Local, Vicinity and Remote Side Channel Attacks, depending on how close is the attacker to the attacked device. A comprehensive list of examples for every type of attacks is given, along with a constructive discussion on possible countermeasures. In this report, we will focus on the Rowhammer and Microarchitectural attacks that will be discussed in the following paragraphs. a) Rowhammer Attack As miniaturization of hardware architectures is pushed more and more, the density of memory cells of the DRAM drives the size of these cells to a dramatic reduction in dimensions. For the intrinsic properties of DRAMs, this leads to a decreases in the charge of single cells and could cause electromagnetic coupling effects between cells. Rowhammer attack takes advantage of this Hardware vulnerability. a.i) Principle The Rowhammer glitch takes place in a densely-populated cell hardware environment allowing an attacker to modify memory cells without directly accessing it. The aforementioned vulnerability in DRAM cells can be exploited by repeatedly accessing a certain physical memory location until a bit flips in an adjacent cell. A well-orchestrated Rowhammer attack could have devastating power, even getting to have root privileges. Rowhammer base its strength on a principle called Flip Feng Shui [2] where the attacker abuses the physical memory allocator to strike precise hardware locations and cause bits to flip in attacker-chosen sensitive data. Rowhammer can be either probabilistic [3] or deterministic [4]. The latter shows a greater impact as the lack of control of the first one could corrupt unintended data. The most effective Rowhammer attack is the double-sided Rowhammer [5], capable of having more flips in less time than other approaches. a.ii) Architecture The objective of Rowhammer attack is the DRAM. DRAM usually stores electric charges in an array of cells, typically implemented through a capacitor and an access transistor. Cells are then organized in rows. Thus memory cells inherently have a limited retention time and they have to be refreshed regularly in order to keep their data. From an OS point of view, a page frame is the smallest fixed-length adjacent block of physical memory that maps an OS memory page. From a DRAM point of view, a page frame is just a contiguous collection of memory cells with a fixed page size (usually 4KB). With this in mind, triggering bit flips through Rowhammer is basically a race against the DRAM internal memory refresh scheme to have enough memory accesses and cause sufficient disturbance to adjacent rows. a.iii) Instruction Set Architecture The Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) is a functional specification of a processor programming interface. It is used to abstract over microarchitecture implementation details (e.g. pipelines, issue slots and caches) that are functionally irrelevant to a programmer. Even though it is practically transparent, the microarchitecture incorporates a hidden state, which can be observed in several ways. To test whether Rowhammer can be exploited, a precise knowledge of memory cells dimension is crucial. In mobile devices, ARM processor represents the most widespread and used microprocessor. In [4] the authors determine the minimum memory access time that still results in bit flips by hammering 5MB of physical memory while increasing the time between two read operations by means of inserting NOP instructions. The rows are all initialized to a certain value, therefore all the changes are due to Rowhammer. Results show that up to 150 bit flips happen per minutes with around 150 ns read time. a.iv) Procedure The Rowhammer attack procedure is a combination of three main system primitives: P1. Fast Uncached Memory Access: Enable attackers to activate alternating rows in each bank fast enough to trigger the Rowhammer bug; P2. Physical Memory Massaging: The attacker tricks the victim component into storing security-sensitive data (e.g., a page table) in an attacker-chosen, vulnerable physical memory page. P3. Physical Memory Addressing: To perform double-sided Rowhammer, an attacker needs to repeatedly access specific physical memory pages. Mobile devices have Direct Memory Access (DMA) mechanisms that facilitates the implementation of P1 and P3. In particular, Android devices run ION, a DMA that allows user unprivileged apps to access uncached physically contiguous memory. To enforce P2 the attacker tricks the physical memory allocator built in Linux (buddy allocator) so as to partition the memory in a predictable way. Accurately selecting the dimensions of memory chunks to allocate, memory cells can be exhausted through Phys Feng Shui. Once the position of Page Table Pages (PTPs) and Page Table Entries (PTEs) is indirectly known, double-sided Rowhammer is performed. Once the desired flip triggered, write access is gained to the page table by mapping into the attacker address space. Modifying one of the attacker PTPs, any page in physical memory can be accessed, including kernel memory. b) Microarchitectural attack  ­The evolution of hardware architecture lead to a wide use of cache memories. Having several levels of cache between a CPU and the main memory, helps optimizing the memory access time with respect to the clock frequency. Microarchitectural attacks take advantage of the timing behavior of caches (e.g. execution times, memory accesses) to read into sensitive information. In [6] a comprehensive survey that presents microarchitectural attacks is given. b.i) Principle Microarchitectural attacks are based on different cache exploitations. Among them, three main methods are identified: Prime + Probe: The attacker fills one or more sets of the cache with its own lines. Once the victim has executed, the attacker accesses its previously-loaded lines, to probe if any were evicted showing the victim have modified an address mapping the same set. Flush + Reload: Its the inverse of Prime+Probe where the attacker first flushes a shared line of interest. Once the victim has executed, the attacker then reloads the evicted line by touching it, measuring the time taken. A fast reload indicates that the victim touched this line (reloading it), while a slow reload indicates that it didnt. Evict + Time: The attacker first tricks the victim to run, through the preload of its working set, and establish a baseline execution time. In a second step the attacker then eliminates a line and runs the victim again. The difference in execution time indicates that the analyzed line was accessed. All microarchitectural attacks are a combination of those previously explained principles. Another noteworthy approach is causing Denial of Service (DoS) saturating the lower-level cache bus [7]. .b.ii) Architecture As mentioned before, microarchitectural attacks objective is the cache. Caches are organized into lines. A cache line holds a block of adjacent bytes that are taken from memory. Cache are further organized in levels. Each level has a different size and is carefully selected to balance service time to the next highest (smaller in dimension therefore faster) level. Caches can enforce either Virtual or Physical addressing. In Virtual addressing, L1 cache level stores the index of virtual-to-physical addresses. .b.iii) Instruction Set Architecture The inference process of the internal state of the cache is a key parameter to perform devastating microarchitectural attacks. Analyzing the ISA of a cache can provide an attacker with useful information about the hardware structure. Several different states can be exploited and are briefly summarized here: Thread-shared State: cache stores information that are shared between threads. Accessing them could lead to performance degradation of the involved threads. Core-shared state: Analyzing L1 and L2 cache contention usage between competing threads, it is possible to infer the encryption keys for algorithm used in internal communication (e.g. RSA, AES). Package-shared State: Running a program concurrently in different cores residing in the same package, could lead to the saturation of that packages last-level cache (LLC). The saturation affects all the lower levels, exposing sensitive data. Numa-shared State: Memory controllers memory in multi-core systems are exploited to enforce DoS attacks. .b.iv) Procedure A plethora of attacks are presented in [6], therefore the procedure of the Flush + Reload for Android systems using ARM processors [8] is discussed. The most powerful methods to perform Flush + Reload is to use the Linux System Call clflush. However it is provided by the OS on x86 systems, on mobile devices using ARM this function is not available. A less powerful version of it is clearcache and is used in [8]. When the attack starts, the service component inside the attacker app creates a new thread, which calls into its native component to conduct Flush-Reload operations in the background: Flush: The attacker invokes clearcache to flush a function in the code section of this shared line. Flush-Reload interval: The attacker waits for a fixed time for the victim to execute the function. Reload: The attacker executes the function and measures the time of execution. With a small execution time, the function has been executed (from L2 cache) by some other apps (possibly the victims). In [8] the authors show that this method is capable of detecting hardware events (touchscreen interrupts, credit card scanning) and also tracing software executions paths. c) Rowhammer vs Microarchitectural attack Following the categorization used in [1], both Rowhammer and Microarchitectural attacks are active software attacks that exploits physical properties of the victim device. In particular Rowhammer uses the coupling effect of DRAM cells while Microarchitectural attacks gather sensitive information through the analysis of cache timing. The two attacks act at two different levels: while Rowhammer needs to work fast on an uncached DRAM, Microarchitectural attack objective are cache memories that are usually SRAM. Both of them can be applied to desktop and to mobile OS [4][8], as well as cloud environments. c) Mobile vs Desktop attacks Mobile devices are inherently more vulnerable than Desktop computers. Their portability and close integration with everyday life make them more available to attackers. Moreover, apps are way more easy to install on mobile devices and general carelessness helps hackers in installing malicious software. Also, with respect to desktop computers, mobile phones have several sensors that can be exploited to gather information about users behavior. But from a OS point of view, mobile OS are way more limited than Desktop OS. Specifically, Rowhammer suffers from the limited subset of features available in desktop environments (e.g. no support for huge pages, memory deduplication, MMU paravirtualization). Same limitations happens in Microarchitectural attacks for ARM , where clflush function to perform Flush + Reload is not supported. 2) NAND Mirroring NAND mirroring is categorized in [1] as an active local Side Channel attack that exploits physical properties out of a device chip. In particular, in [13] a NAND mirroring attack is performed on an iPhone 5c. The security of Apple iPhone 5c became an objective of study after FBI recovered such mobile device from a terrorist suspect in December 2015. As FBI was unable to retrieve data, NAND mirroring was suggested by Apple technology specialists as an optimal way to gain unlimited passcode attempts so as to bruteforce it. As the encryption key is not accessible from runtime code and its hardcoded in the CPU, it is impossible to brute-force the Passcode key without the getting at the hardware level. In iPhones such memory is a NAND flash memory. In NAND memories the cells are connected in series which reduces the cell size, but increases the number of faulty cells. For this reason, external error correction strategies are required. To help with that, NAND memory allocates additional sp ace for error correction data. In [13] the authors desoldered the NAND memory and mirrored it on a backup file. Although this method seems promising, several challenges were encountered by the authors, who had to balance some electrical anomalies with additional circuitry and also mechanically plug in a PCB at every attempt of bruteforcing the iPhone code. Such method could be applied to Desktop Computers, but the complexity of NAND memories would be way higher and it may unfeasible, in terms of time and complexity, to perform such attack. Countermeasures Side-channel attacks are discovered and presented to the scientific world on a daily basis and suitable defense mechanisms are often not yet implemented or cannot be simply deployed. Even though countermeasures are being studied, it looks like a race between attackers and system engineers trying to make systems more secure and reliable. 3.a) Rowhammer Attack Countermeasures against Rowhammer have already been thoroughly explored, but not many are actually applicable in the mobile context. Powerful functions as CLFLUSH [9] and pagemap [10] have been disabled for users apps, but Rowhammer can still be performed through JavaScript. Furthermore, analyzing the cache hits and miss could raise a flag of alarm, but methods such as [4] dont cause any miss. Error correcting codes arent even that efficient in correcting bit flips. Most hardware vendors doubled the DRAM refresh rate, but results in [11] show that refresh rate would need to be improved by 8 times. Moreover, the power consumption would increase, making this solution not suitable for mobile devices. In Android devices Rowhammer attacks, the biggest threat is still user apps being able to access ION. Google is developing mechanisms so as to avoid it to happen in a malicious way. One solution could be to isolate ION regions controlled by user apps from kernel memory, in order to avoid ad jacent regions. But even in the absence of ION an attacker could force the buddy allocator to reserve memory in kernel memory zones by occupying all the memory available for users apps. Prevention of memory exhaustion need to be considered to avoid Rowhammer countermeasures workarounds. 3.b) Microarchitectural Attack As the final goal of microarchitectural attack is deciphering cryptographic codes (e.g. AES), a straightforward approach to protect them would be to avoid having tight data-dependencies (e.g sequence of cache line accesses or branches must not depend on data). If they depend on private data, the sequence, the program is destined to leak information through the cache. The constant-time implementation of modular exponentiation approach [12] represents a good way to fight data dependency. These are more general rules to follow, whether to combat specific attacks such as Flush + Reload in mobile devices with ARM [8]. Disabling the system interfaces to flush the instruction caches, the Flush-Reload side channels can be removed entirely from ARM- based devices, but feasibility and security of this method havent been studied yet. Also, by removing system calls to have accurate time from Android could mitigate all timing side channels. Another way to fight Flush + Reload would be by preventing physical memory sharing between apps, but that would cause the memory footprint to expand and therefore exposing the system to other Sidechannel attacks. Problem 2 Protocol Design The proposed solution for Problem 1 is represented in Figure 1. To solve this problem, four moments in which the Path-centric channel assignment algorithm from [14] are identified: : B receives a packet on its Channel 1 and, as an interferer is acting on Channel 1 on node A, B cant transmit. B1 is the active subnode, B2 and B3 are inactive subnodes. : B switches from Channel 1 to Channel 2 (total cost: 3), and forward the packet to A through Channel 2 (total cost: 3+6=9). B2 is the active subnode, B1 and B3 are inactive subnodes. A2 is the active subnode, A1 and A3 are inactive subnodes. : A can either transmit on Channel 2 and Channel 3, but transmitting on Channel 2 is more expensive, so it switches to Channel 3 (total cost: 9+3=12). A3 is the active subnode, A1 and A2 are inactive subnodes; : A send the packet at C through Channel 3 (total cost: 12+2=14). Network Applications In our K-out-of-N system we are interested in understanding how much is a probability of getting errors in sensing from N sensor, where K represent a threshold for accepting a reliable measurement. This reasoning follows the binomial distribution: In our case at each node, errors can be induced by a false measurement (with probability ) or by channel flipping a bit during the over-the-air time (with probability ). Therefore for our N-out-of-K nodes system we have: Assuming that and are independent, the final probability of having an erroneous detection is a linear combination of the two: For completion, the probability of a successful measurement and transmission is . Network Standards Spectrum scarcity is a widely known problem in the world of wireless communications. The explosive wireless traffic growth pushes academia and industry to research novel solutions to this problem. Deploying LTE in unlicensed spectrum brings up the conflict problem of LTE-WiFi coexistence. This conflict can be analyzed with a close look at 802.11 MAC level. In Figure 2, a comparison between WLAN MAC layer and what is casually called MAC in LTE is depicted [19]. WiFi 802.11 uses CSMA/CA to regulate accesses in MAC layer. In CSMA, a node senses the traffic before transmitting over the channel. If a carrier signal is sensed in the channel, the node waits until its free. In particular, in CSMA/CA the backoff time of a node is exponential. In LTE, multiple access is handled through TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) meaning that all accesses to the channel are scheduled. Historically LTE has been developed for environments with little interference, while WiFi combats interference in ISM with CSMA. Using them in the same spectrum would see LTE dominating over WiFi, causing sever performance degradation in both the cases. Several solutions has been proposed and implemented in the past years. Qualcomm [15] and Huawei [16] proposed a separation in time and frequency domain. In [17] a Technology Independent Multiple-Output antenna approach is presented so as to clean interfered 802.11 signals. This method was made more robust in [18] but still they relied on the fact that at least one signal from the two technologies had a clear reference. Traffic demands analysis could help mitigate the performance drop due to interference, but even with an accurate demand estimation, only one can be active at a certain time and frequency, limiting the overall throughput. When interference is high, packet transmission is corrupted and error correction strategies are needed. In WiFi, standard Forward Error Correction (FEC) is used. In FEC, a redundancy is added to the transmitted packet, so as a receiver can detect and eventually correct the wrong received bits. On the other hand, LTE uses HARQ (Hybrid-Automated Repeat reQuest) which is a combination of FEC and ARQ. In the standard implementation of ARQ, redundancy bits are embedded in the packets for error detection. When a corrupted packet is received, the receiver request a new packet to the transmitter. In HARQ, FEC codes are encoded in the packet, so as the receiver can directly correct wrong bits, when a known subset of errors is detected. If an uncorrectable error happens, the ARQ method is used to request a new packet. Hybrid ARQ performs better than ARQ in low signal conditions, but leads to an unfavorable throughput when the signal is good. To better see this interference behavior, a small simulation has been performed using ns3, in particular the LAA-WiFi-coexistence library [20]. The scenario was built using two cells whose radio coverage overlaps. The technologies used are LTE Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) operating on EARFCN 255444 (5.180 GHz), and Wi-Fi 802.11n operating on channel 36 (5.180 GHz). Two base station positioned at 20 mt distance from another, and they both have one user connected to them at a distance of 10 mt. Both BS are connected to a backhaul client node that originates UDP in the downlink direction from client to UE(s). In Figure 3(a) and Figure 3(b), we see how the throughput and the number of packets received by the WiFi BS varies when the two BSs coverage area overlaps and when they are isolated (e.g. their distance is 10 Km). Other scenarios were tested: Figure 4 (a) represent the scenario of two WiFi BSs and Figure 4(b) two LTE BSs. It is possible to see the behavior of the two technologies . Table 1 Throughput A Throughput B Packet loss A Packet loss B Distant BSs Figure 3(a) 73.78 Mbps 77.55 Mbps 4.6% 0% Interfering BSs Figure 3(b) 73.62 Mbps 4.95 Mbps 4.8% 93% Two WiFi BSsFigure 4(a) 53.45 Mbps 54.41 Mbps 27% 25% Two LTE BSsFigure 4 (b) 30.88 Mbps 30.4 Mbps 60% 61% In Figure 4(a) we can see how the channel is split between the two BSs and the Carrier Sensing Multiple Access keeps a high throughput and a low packet loss. In Figure 4(b) we can see how the interference between the two LTE cells affects the throughput and gives a high packetloss. In Table 1 results from simulations are summarized. References [1] R. Spreitzer, V. Moonsamy, T. Korak, S. Mangard. Systematic Classification of Side-Channel Attacks on Mobile Devices ArXiv2016 [2] K. Razavi, B. Gras, E. Bosman, B. Preneel, C. Giurida, and H. Bos. Flip Feng Shui: Hammering a Needle in the Software Stack. In Proceedings of the 25th USENIX Security Symposium, 2016. [3] D. Gruss, C. Maurice, and S. Mangard. Rowhammer.js: A Remote Software-Induced Fault Attack in JavaScript. In Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Detection of Intrusions and Malware Vulnerability Assessment (DIMVA), 2016. [4] V. van der Veen, Y. Fratantonio, M. Lindorfer, D. Gruss, C. Maurice, G. Vigna, H. Bos, K. Razavi, and C. Giuffrida, Drammer: Deterministic Rowhammer Attacks on Mobile Platforms, in Conference on Computer and Communications Security CCS 2016. ACM, 2016, pp. 1675-1689. [5] Z. B. Aweke, S. F. Yitbarek, R. Qiao, R. Das, M. Hicks, Y. Oren, and T. Austin. ANVIL: Software-Based Protection Against Next-Generation Rowhammer Attacks. In Proceedings of the 21st ACM International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS), 2016. [6] Ge, Q., Yarom, Y., Cock, D., Heiser, G. (2016).A survey of microarchitectural timing attacks and countermeasures on contemporary hardware. Journal of Cryptographic Engineering [7] Dong HyukWoo and Hsien-Hsin S. Lee. Analyzing performance vulnerability due to resource denial of service attack on chip multiprocessors. In Workshop on Chip Multiprocessor Memory Systems and Interconnects, Phoenix, AZ, US, 2007. [8] X. Zhang, Y. Xiao, and Y. Zhang, Return-Oriented Flush-Reload Side Channels on ARM and Their Implications for Android Devices in Conference on Computer and Communications Security CCS 2016. ACM, 2016, pp. 858-870. [9] M. Seaborn and T. Dullien. Exploiting the DRAM Rowhammer Bug to Gain Kernel Privileges. In Black Hat USA (BH-US), 2015. [10] M. Salyzyn. AOSP Commit 0549ddb9: UPSTREAM: pagemap: do not leak physical addresses to non-privileged userspace. http://goo.gl/Qye2MN,November 2015. [11] Y. Kim, R. Daly, J. Kim, C. Fallin, J. H. Lee, D. Lee, C. Wilkerson, K. Lai, and O. Mutlu. Flipping Bits in Memory Without Accessing Them: An Experimental Study of DRAM Disturbance Errors. In Proceedings of the 41st International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA), 2014. [12] Ernie Brickell. Technologies to improve platform security. Workshop on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems11 Invited Talk, September 2011. [13] S. Skorobogatov, The Bumpy Road Towards iPhone 5c NAND Mirroring, arXiv ePrint Archive, Report 1609.04327, 2016. [14] Xin, Chunsheng, Liangping Ma, and Chien-Chung Shen. A path-centric channel assignment framework for cognitive radio wireless networks Mobile Networks and Applications 13.5 (2008): 463-476. [15] Qualcomm wants LTE deployed in unlicensed spectrum. http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/qualcomm-wants-lte-deployed-unlicen% sed-spectrum/2013-11-21 [16] Huawei U-LTE solution creates new market opportunities for mobile operators. http://www.huawei.com/ilink/en/about-huawei/newsroom/ press-release/HW 3%27768. [17] S. Gollakota, F. Adib, D. Katabi, and S. Seshan. Clearing the RF smog: making 802.11 robust to cross-technology interference. In Proc. of ACM SIGCOMM, 2011. [18] Y. Yubo, Y. Panlong, L. Xiangyang, T. Yue, Z. Lan, and Y. Lizhao. ZIMO: building cross-technology MIMO to harmonize Zigbee smog with WiFi flash without intervention. In Proc. of MobiCom, 2013. [19] Long-Term Evolution Protocol: How the Standard Impacts Media Access Control Tim Godfrey WMSG Advanced Technology, http://www.nxp.com/files-static/training_presentation/TP_LTE_PHY_MAC.pdf [20] https://www.nsnam.org/wiki/LAA-WiFi-Coexistence

The Great Gatsby :: The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Great Gatsby" is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald which takes place in the early 1900's. This book consists of five main characters, Nick Carraway, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and Jordan Baker. When I completed this novel, I came to a conclusion that this is a well - written book. The two main reasons that makes this novel so superior is that Fitzgerald writes from his personal experience and makes good use of his literary elements. Throughout this novel, Fitzgerald's life plays a major part in the scenes and in the story. For example, the conflict in this novel is that Gatsby is trying to get Daisy from Tom, after Daisy turned him down because he wasn't wealthy. Similarly, Fitzgerald and Zelda liked each other, but before they could get married, Fitzgerald needed to earn some money. Obviously, his money came from writing great novels. Another example that portrays Fitzgerald's life in this novel is the vast use of alcohol. In the novel, alcohol is mentioned so often that it changes character's lives. Firstly, Dan Cody, Gatsby's mentor was an alcoholic who died from alcoholism. And secondly, during Gatsby's parties, people were getting drunk (the man in the library saying the books are real!). In Fitzgerald's life, partying and getting drunk was a frequent routine. Coincidentally, Fitzgerald was also an alcoholic who suffered from alcoholism. Not only does Fitzgerald write from his personal experience to enhance his writing, but he also uses good literary elements. Fitzgerald's use of irony and foreshadowing makes his writing so highly - rated. One scene when foreshadowing kicks is when Fitzgerald describes the scene outside the room where Gatsby and Daisy are sitting together. Fitzgerald describes, "Outside the wind was loud and there was a faint flow of thunder along the sound." Thunder is added on purpose; to foreshadow the unstable relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. He uses irony in describing his characters. For example, when Nick goes to Tom's house for the first time and Daisy describes her husband, Tom as being smart and profound. Later on in this novel, we find out how unintelligent Tom is and it takes him great amount of time to figure out that Gatsby and Daisy have something going on.

How Kurt Vonneguts Life Efected his Work :: essays papers

How Kurt Vonneguts Life Efected his Work Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born in Indianapolis in 1922. His father was an architect, his mother a noted beauty. Both spoke German, but wouldn’t teach Kurt the language because of all the anti-German sentiment following the first World War. While in high school, Vonnegut edited the school's daily newspaper. He attended Cornell for a little over two years and wrote for the Cornell Daily Sun. In 1942, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. In 1944, his mother committed suicide and he was taken prisoner following the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, Vonnegut entered a Masters program in anthropology at the University of Chicago. His thesis, titled Fluctuations Between Good and Evil in Simple Tales, was not accepted, but eventually he was awarded his MA for his writings in Cat’s Cradle. Throughout the 1950s Vonnegut published numerous short stories in national magazines. Player Piano, his first novel, appeared in 1952. This was followed by Sirens of Titan in 1959, Mother Night (1962), Cat's Cradle (1963), God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965), and his most highly-praised book, Slaughterhouse Five in 1969. Vonnegut has been prolific in the subsequent years, too. His most recent novel Timequake was published in 1997. On February 13, 1945, while Vonnegut was still a POW in Dresden, the city was bombed killing 135,000 citizens. Vonnegut and other Allied POW’s took shelter in an underground meat locker. This was the basis for one of Vonnegut’s most famous works, Slaughterhouse-Five. "All of this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true."1 So begins Slaughterhouse-Five. In the book an American POW named Billy Pilgrim witnesses and survives the firebombing of Dresden. Later, after he makes it home from the war, Pilgrim is kidnapped by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. They explain to him their concept of time and space and that we exist solely for them. Vonnegut has said that he always intended to write about his experience, but was unable to do so for more than twenty years. He wanted to simply describe what happened through a narrative, but it never worked. The novel is a response to war. "It is so short and jumbled and jangled," says Vonnegut, "because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre." It’s easy to see how Vonnegut’s war time experience had an influence on Slaughterhouse-Five but, his knowledge of war also had some influence on Cat’s Cradle.

The History of Affirmative Action

The history of affirmative action has its roots in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act provided the initial legal basis for affirmative action for women in the workplace. Affirmative action is a policy to encourage equal opportunity and to level the playing field for groups of people who have been and are discriminated against. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, affirmative action, â€Å"Is considered essential to assuring that jobs are genuinely and equally accessible to qualified persons, without regard to their sex, racial, or ethnic characteristics. Over the past few decades† roles for women in the workplace have increased. Many of the predominately male occupations have increasingly become more diverse. Affirmative action helps to promote diversity in employment and equality between genders. The effectiveness of affirmative action and Equal Employment Opportunity legislation has been vigorously debated for years, with advocates citing gains made by women and people of color in pay, organizational representation, and organizational status. Women, in general, have been the main beneficiaries of affirmative action and will be the biggest losers if it is overturned. The number of women entering the professions, including medicine, law and accounting, has increased substantially in 30 years. Women of all races have increased their share of professional positions in corporations. However, women have yet to achieve equality in the workplace as the gap in wages continues. Nationally, women earn 74 cents for every dollar earned by men. A National Academy of Science Report found that a significant proportion of these wage gaps could not be explained by factors such as education or work experience. Affirmative Action promotes the hiring of qualified people. It does not mean people should be hired just because they are minorities. It helps to broaden the range of people to be considered for employment in hopes of creating a more diverse applicant pool from which to choose. Groups of people are often stereotyped. In the case of sex stereotypes, these are attributes that are imparted to individual men and women simply by virtue of their sex. The impact of affirmative action on women may cause them to suffer the stigma of second-class citizenship as a result of preferential treatment, because they will be subjected to the presumption that they were hired not because of their qualifications but because of their gender. Affirmative action may therefore lead to the conclusion that the women hired under affirmative action are incompetent. If someone is thought to be hired or placed as a result of affirmative action efforts, then that supplies onlookers with a plausible and compelling explanation for the selection decision ndependent of the job incumbent†s qualifications for the position. Then the individual may be assumed to have been hired only because of her sex, with qualifications irrelevant to the selection process. Sex bias also has been demonstrated in decisions about pay raises, promotions, and employee utilization and training opportunities. Although sex may only be taken into consideration after hiring a person for their qualifications, it may only be assumed that they received their position because of affirmative action. Sometimes, affirmative action may create rather than alleviate problems for women by causing people to perceive them as possessing fewer of the characteristics deemed necessary for success in a traditionally male work context. If affirmative action promotes these negative conceptions, then there is a distinct possibility that rather than being a remedy for sex discrimination, it can be yet another contributor to the problem. Often, sex discrimination can be viewed through the â€Å"Glass Ceiling†. The Glass Ceiling refers to invisible, artificial barriers that prevent qualified individuals from advancing within their organization and reaching full potential. The term describes the point beyond which women managers and executives are not promoted. Although the barriers exist, it is hard to imagine how anyone can believe that treating people differently, or not promoting someone based on their sex is morally acceptable or financially responsible. Affirmative action policies are instrumental in providing women and minorities with the tools to help break through the glass ceiling, and create a more diverse workforce. Affirmative action policies provide equal opportunity to those groups who have been systematically denied it. Affirmative action is not the source of discrimination, but the vehicle for removing the effects of discrimination. Affirmative Action plans do not discriminate against anyone competing for any position. They actually increase the pool of qualified applicants by using aggressive recruitment and outreach techniques. The policies developed from the Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action legislation do make a difference and are still necessary to assure a more equitable workforce. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Title VII is presumed to promote the hiring it is designed to protect. The logic underlying this presumption is simple: by making employers liable for failures to hire based on gender, the law raises the price of such discriminatory activity and produces less of it than would occur if employers were left completely free to hire whomever they wished. Women are more likely to be promoted in organizations with human resource programs that have affirmative action policies that consider the demographics of employees. Affirmative action in employment encompasses a broad range of actions and programs intended to ensure a fair chance at job opportunities for all Americans. Although it is suppose to eliminate discrimination, affirmative action is sometimes thought to be a source of reverse discrimination. When affirmative action was first implemented it was designed to be temporary, and now more than 30 years later it is still being used. The definition of it has grown and become far more intrusive than its designers could have imagined. Opponents of affirmative action believe no government law, program, or policy that makes distinctions based on race or gender can be beneficial. Government mandated reverse discrimination, under the politically correct guise of â€Å"affirmative action,† has failed to help minorities in a positive manner and has succeeded in continuing the trend of racially divisive policy. The majority group in an organization may sometimes feel threatened by diversity, because it means sharing their space with people who are different from them. Many people, both men and women, are opposed to affirmative action standards. Often, men do not like it because they think it will take away from their opportunities for employment or advancement within the organization. Some men also feel that they are being discriminated against just because they are men. Although affirmative action has been successful in helping women, they may still be opposed to the stigma attached to it if they are thought to be promoted due to the affirmative action standards, regardless of their qualifications. Some critics believe that affirmative action overcrowds the workforce with minorities or women with substantially lower qualifications. In the last several years cynical forces have tried to use race and ethnicity to divide America by claiming that affirmative action is detrimental and unfair to the majority because the programs contain â€Å"quotas† and â€Å"preferences† for people of color and women. After all, it is often assumed that if women were as qualified, as men were, they would not need help from affirmative action. This is a very negative connotation describing the women†s work ethic and the reason women have the need for affirmative action policies in the first place. Affirmative action is only in place to allow the opportunity for a more diverse applicant pool; the qualifications needed to perform the jobs remain the same. Both men and women can be equally qualified for a job, but the one that receives the offer should have an edge over the other candidate. Although some people view affirmative action as a form of reverse discrimination, it was originally conceived with good intentions. It has helped society to create a more diverse workforce. Affirmative action strengthens the nation by helping to provide equal opportunities to those who have been excluded unfairly. Affirmative action programs were never intended to last forever, however they are expected to remain in place so long as discrimination continues to deny equal opportunity to women and people of color. Affirmative action in employment encompasses a broad range of actions and programs intended to ensure a fair chance at job opportunities for all Americans. Affirmative action programs seek to remedy past discrimination against women, minorities, and others by increasing the recruitment, promotion, retention, and on-the-job training opportunities in employment and by removing barriers to admission to educational institutions. Because of the long history of discrimination based on sex and race, most affirmative action programs have been directed towards improving employment and education opportunities for women and minorities. Race, ethnicity, or gender may be but one factor considered among many others in evaluating qualified candidates. Discrimination continues to permeate American society and results in too many lost opportunities for everyone. The simple reality is that we have not reached the day where an individual†s gender, race or ethnicity is no more important than the color of their eyes or hair. As General Colin Powell noted when speaking about the current state of discrimination, â€Å"We†re not where we want to be- We are where we gotta be. † Reducing the nation†s commitment to equal opportunity by eliminating affirmative action programs for women and other minorities does not move us in the right direction. Until everyone is truly considered equal, affirmative action policies are needed to help ensure equality among genders. Affirmative action has been successful in promoting the advancements of minorities in the workplace. When affirmative action is used correctly, it is helpful by promoting equality for all. When it is abused, it has bad effects on society. Affirmative action may stigmatize or call into question the credentials of the qualified minorities. I believe that affirmative action was necessary to get where we are today in terms of equality. We have come a long way since the 1960†³s. Although, I think that if we were to do away with affirmative action, we would still continue to become a more diverse society. With women and minorities in the management positions of companies it is more likely that this diversification would continue even if we didn†t have affirmative action policies in place. This would probably eliminate some of the doubt people have when it comes to women being hired or promoted just because of affirmative action. It would totally be based on her qualifications. As of now, we cannot dismantle affirmative action and other organizational initiatives aimed at promoting equality in the workplace, and assume that sex discrimination will not occur. Sex discrimination has a long history and has proved highly resistant to efforts to eliminate it. But it is equally clear that Affirmative action as it is currently constructed, creates its own set of problems for those it intends to help. I believe that affirmative action policies will soon not exist, and everyone will be considered equal regardless of race, origin, or gender. Perhaps more than any other sentence in our rich written political heritage, these words from the Declaration of Independence embody the highest ideals of American democracy. We should remember these words and realize they are meant for every person in society. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Using Play Activities to Increase Comprehension

For my undertaking I wanted to concentrate on an country that involved some kind of pupil play/interaction. I teach Pre-K so most of what my pupils do is through geographic expedition utilizing haptic procedures. My pupils truly bask books and I can state when I ‘m reading that they are wholly engaged in what ‘s to come. Through observation of my pupils I besides know that they enjoy moving out assorted things while they are at centres. Since some of my childs seem to hold problem with comprehension and retrieving cardinal information from the book I thought that conveying the book to life might be helpful for those fighting.Background/Class Information:I teach at SGA Elementary School in Sardis, GA which is located in Burke County. This school has grades Pre-K through 5th. There is 1 principal, 1 frailty principal, 1 instructional coordinator, 1 counsellor, 1 medical helper, 1 office director and 2 office forces. The school is comprised of 33 schoolrooms, including the r esources: art, physical instruction, and music. Grades Pre-K through 3rd all have a paraprofessional in each room and 4th and 5th portion a drifting paraprofessional between the grades/classes. This school is in a really rural portion of the county. Income degrees are really low and most parents suffer from high unemployment. If parents do work it is for a low paying/minimum pay occupation. Because of this factor all pupils are served a free breakfast and tiffin everyday at school. Pre-k besides receives a bite at the terminal of the twenty-four hours that is provided by our lunchroom. At this school there are 401 entire pupils. There are a sum of 186 females with the cultural dislocation including: 3 Hispanic, 4 multi-racial, 71 White, and 108 Black. For the males, there are a sum of 215 including: 4 Hispanic, 4 Multi-racial, 77 White, and 130 Black. Since we do hold several households in our school that are Latino the school recognizes that there is a linguistic communication barrier. We have a transcriber who can be used in order to assist do communicating easier for them every bit good as ourselves. Most households have household members who can assist and they will come to events in order to help them. In my schoolroom I have 1 Latino pupil. She began the twelvemonth talking broken English and has now progressed, but still gets hung up on a few thoughts. Her male parent speaks really small English with a strong speech pattern and her female parent speaks no English at all. When he needs to talk to me or I need to talk to him about his kid they prefer to utiliz e their girl to assist with interlingual rendition. The parents said that made them more comfy to utilize her so I have ne'er had to use the services of our transcriber, but the linguistic communication barrier truly has n't been excessively large of an issue. In my schoolroom I have 20 pupils. It consists of 11 misss and 9 male childs. For the misss I have 3 White, 7 Black, and 1 Hispanic. I have 6 White male childs and 3 Black male childs. In my schoolroom it is myself and a paraprofessional. She has been in a Pre-K schoolroom for 5 old ages. We reasonably much have an equal distribution as to what we do, how we do it, and how things get accomplished. I teach the bulk of the clip, but there are times in which she will learn calendar. She ever assists when we are in a big group puting and making an activity during that clip. We portion a joint function in carry oning little group. I have created groups based on degree. We decide what needs the pupils have and seek to come up with activities to assist them pattern so they can get down acquiring better at them. This is the country in which I can see the pupils profiting from the most because they are able to acquire our one-on-one attending and we, in bend, are able to truly concentrate on them and assist them where they struggle. Or if we see that they can make a undertaking with easiness we give them something to dispute them. Needs are tweaked harmonizing to the groups .Action Research Question:The focal point of my undertaking was based on the inquiry: if after reading narratives aloud to my pupils I give them different avenues to research the narratives during centre clip will this assist them develop a better apprehension for what is read? As I mentioned earlier, I knew this was the country I needed to concentrate on since some of my pupils had problem with comprehension. I do n't cognize really many childs who do n't bask playing either so integrating it with something active seemed best. Even while carry oning my research I did n't hold any countries of my inquiry that needed to be changed.Supporting Datas:Description:Students ‘ chief exposure to books in a pre-k schoolroom is to nursery rimes and authoritative narratives. Nursery rhymes present the footing for a narrative: a character, an event and an stoping ( GSU, 2008 ) . Students besides gain understanding through the beat and repeat. With authoritative narratives, pupils are able to larn the difference between fact and phantasy every bit good as understanding the construction of a book ( GSU, 2008 ) . This manner, there is a clear beginning, center and terminal for the pupils. A instructor should learn one rime a hebdomad, highlight one a month, integrate a rime into a unit and promote kids to move out the narrative or rime by supplying chances at big group and/or centre clip ( GSU, 2008 ) . To advance narrative comprehension and enjoyment, pulling and treatment are widely practiced and accepted in simple schools, but a 3rd less frequently adept manner to follow up reading to kids is dramatic drama ( Galda, 1982 ) . Children connect books to play by actively seeking for book-related playthings and props in order to back up comprehension through set uping a more concrete appreciation on thoughts. Book-related make-believe drama represents a richer method of supervising pupils ‘ apprehension of narratives, traveling beyond the typical inquiries and simpl e retellings ( Welsch, 2008 ) . A focal point on drama around familiar narratives and literature capitalizes on the plot lines that define pretend strategies ( Welsch, 2008 ) . Literacy related activities allow kids to polish their turning constructs of the maps of written linguistic communication and supply valuable, extremely meaningful pattern with emergent reading and authorship ( Christie, 1991 ) . Within an early childhood schoolroom, book-related make-believe drama could be considered an equal chance experience, in which every pupil can set on the chapeau, pick up the fork, travel in the house, and enter the universe of the narrative ( Welsch, 2008 ) . Recognizing that a kid acquires linguistic communication through active engagement and that literature provides rich linguistic communication theoretical accounts, storytelling and retellings is an first-class technique for furthering growing in linguistic communication and increasing comprehension ( Biegler, 1998 ) .Implementa tion Ideas:â€Å" Preschool and kindergarten schoolrooms, even those specifically designed as intercessions for kids at hazard of reading troubles, must be designed to back up cognitive, linguistic communication, and societal development, including exciting verbal interaction and enriching kids ‘s vocabularies. Play affords kids chances to develop physical, societal, and cognitive abilities that will function them subsequently in non-play state of affairss † ( Christensen and Kelly, 2003 ) . There are a figure of things that can be done in a schoolroom to increase a pupil ‘s comprehension. The chief manner is through dramatic drama. Using props and other stuffs makes the narratives come to life. Teachers can first supply a assortment of rereading experiences: spouse reading, Readers Theatre, echo reading, choral reading, shared reading, single reading ( Hicks, 2009-2010 ) . All of these things help with eloquence and increase comprehension. Play activities are the centre of immature pupils ‘ zones of proximal development, where new cognition is gained through societal interactions with more competent participants and, while feigning, pupils translate their perceptual experiences of the existent universe into the actions that create and define the universe of drama ( Welsch, 2008 ) . On their ain and by their ain choosing, pupils may utilize this type of drama to research the most cardinal intent of literacy, the building of significance ( Welsch, 2008 ) . High-level drama is widely recognized as an instructional scheme that builds linguistic communication, vocabulary, and underlying cognitive accomplishments necessary for kids to go successful readers and authors ( Christensen and Kelly, 2003 ) . Children pattern verbal and narrative accomplishments that are of import to the development of reading comprehension and instructors can help the linguistic communication and literacy development through high-ranking drama in the undermentione d ways: 1. ) triping or developing kids ‘s background cognition for the drama scene, 2. ) scaffolding the building of scenarios and retellings, 3. ) going involved in drama scenes to steer the kids ‘s attending and larning through mold and interaction, 4. ) supplying the appropriate sum of unequivocal and narrative props, and 5. ) supplying clip and infinite for high-ranking drama ( Christensen and Kelly, 2003 ) . Research has demonstrated that use of the schoolroom drama environment through physical agreement of drama centres, inclusion of literacy-related stuffs ( pencils, paper, typewriter, etc. ) , and dramatic drama props can impact the quality and assortment of a kid ‘s unwritten linguistic communication usage, battle in literacy behaviours, and narrative comprehension ( Monson and Nielsen, 1996 ) . Some narratives lend themselves to the usage of marionettes, felt-boards and still others can be developed as prop narratives which make storytelling semen alive, exciting the imaginativeness and affecting the hearer ( Biegler, 1998 ) .Research Findingss:Assorted surveies have been done as to whether or non these signifiers of active engagement work. Analysiss of cases where drama was related to the significances of the books the kids had read indicated that each case of book-related dramatic drama could be described in footings of six belongingss including ( a ) the range of drama, ( B ) the type of connexion constructed between books and drama books, ( degree Celsius ) kids ‘s intents for drama, ( vitamin D ) the position or point of position explored, ( vitamin E ) the mark systems used and their relation to book reading events, and ( degree Fahrenheit ) the sorts of societal interaction involved ( Rowe, 1998 ) . Rowe ( 1998 ) besides noted that analyses demonstrated that the kids created direct linkages between their book and drama experiences. Children ‘s book-to-play connexions involved: linking books to the universe of obj ects by turn uping and keeping book-related playthings and props, personal response to books through dramatic passages of feelings and actions, take parting in book-reading events through the character of a make-believe character, aesthetic reenactments of book events, screening out the writer ‘s significances through drama, character surveies and utilizing book subjects and characters as springboards for personal enquiries about the universe ( Roskos and Christie, 2000 ) . Authors Pellegrini and Galda noted the importance of the equal interaction and the good facets of make-believe as lending to pupils ‘ increased ability to understand the narrative ( Welsch, 2008 ) . The Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children clearly saw high-ranking drama as an instructional scheme that Fosters literacy development and future reading success in which kids reflect on state of affairss through dramatisation ( Christensen and Kelly, 2003 ) . In a survey don e by Deborah Rowe she suggested that there are a figure of features of the drama observed in her survey that may hold provided both motive and chance for the immature kids ‘s literacy acquisition: connexion, ownership, flexibleness, openness, multiple mark systems, transmediation and community ( Rowe, 1998 ) . The consequences from Bieglers ‘ survey was that kids exhibited greater comprehension and narrative memory by utilizing dramatic narrative reenactment than those who reconstructed narratives in instructor led direction and art activities and narrative related comprehension was most efficaciously facilitated by prosecuting in fantasy drama and retellings ( Biegler, 1998 ) . Jodi Welsch wrote an article in 2008 entitled, Playing within and beyond the narrative: encouraging book-related make-believe drama. In this article there are many good points covering with pupils playing and groking information. Welsch ( 2008 ) stated that kids connect books to play by actively seeking for book-related playthings and props in order to back up comprehension through set uping a more concrete appreciation on thoughts. Book-related make-believe drama represents a richer method of supervising pupils ‘ apprehension of narratives, traveling beyond the typical inquiries and simple retellings because a focal point on drama around familiar narratives and literature capitalizes on the plot lines that define pretend strategies ( Welsch, 2008 ) . Two writers, Pellegrini and Galda are quoted in Welsch ( 2008 ) observing the importance of the equal interaction and the good facets of make-believe drama as lending to pupils ‘ increased ability to understand the narrative . Play activities are the centre of immature pupils ‘ zones of proximal development, where new cognition is gained through societal interactions with more competent participants and, while feigning, pupils translate their perceptual experiences of the existent universe into the actions that create and define the universe of drama ( Welsch, 2008 ) . On their ain and by their ain choosing, pupils may utilize this type of drama to research the most cardinal intent of literacy, the building of significance ( Welsch, 2008 ) .Plan and Timeline:Execution of this scheme took topographic point over a 10 twenty-four hours span in my schoolroom from February 1st through the 12th. I taught a unit on nursery rimes one hebdomad and faery tales/tall narratives during the other hebdomad. I eased my category into the alterations during our unit clip as we discussed the narratives. The manner it was introduced to my pupils and carried out is as follows: -Monday ( 2/1 ) : The unit for the hebdomad is Nursery Rhymes. I introduced what a baby's room rime was, elements that it contained, and talked about riming words. -Tuesday ( 2/2 ) : I read â€Å" Humpty Dumpty † to my category. We talked about all the words that sounded likewise in the verse form. They so did an activity where they drew what Humpty Dumpty might ‘ve been if he had n't fallen off of the wall. I added this felt board narrative to our marionette centre in the loft. -Wednesday ( 2/3 ) : Today we talked about â€Å" Mary had a Small Lamb. † I foremost played the vocal and most of the childs recognized it and sang along. I so read it to them and added the book and music to the hearing centre. -Thursday ( 2/4 ) : I talked about the baby's room rime, â€Å" Jack be Agile. † I had a little taper holder with a taper in it and I had my childs take bends stating the rime and jumping over the candle stick. After the lesson was over I put the candle holder in our dramatic drama country. -Friday ( 2.5 ) : The concluding baby's room rime we covered was â€Å" 5 Small Ducks. † We discussed how this utilised math and numbering backwards/down. As we read the narrative I had 5 pupils keeping a duck and each clip one went off I had the pupil sit down. I besides played this on a Cadmium and the pupils took turns moving it out with the ducks. The Cadmium was added to the music centre. Five ducks were placed in music as props and the other ducks were placed in math as manipulatives. -Monday ( 2/8 ) : This started the hebdomad in which I introduced fairy narratives and tall narratives. I started out by giving different scenarios and the pupils had to assist me calculate out if it was the truth or a story. I so explained the elements of these types of narratives and had the pupils create one of their ain through a drawing. My paraprofessional and myself dictated their responses. -Tuesday ( 2/9 ) : I started by reading Cinderella. I wanted pupils to assist me foretell what would go on following since I figured this was a familiar narrative to them. I added a Cinderella costume and a suit coat to the dramatic drama country. -Wednesday ( 2/10 ) : Today I read â€Å" The Elvess and the Shoemaker. † After discoursing the book I had pupils pull what they would make to assist people if they were charming elves. My paraprofessional and myself dictated their responses. -Thursday ( 2/11 ) : â€Å" Small Red Riding Hood † was discussed today. I talked about aliens and asked pupils if they thought this could truly go on. The book and tape for this narrative was placed in the hearing centre. -Friday ( 2/12 ) : To stop the hebdomad I read â€Å" The 3 Small Pigs. † I had the pupils help me foretell what would go on to each house and each hog as we went through the book. I added gum elastic hog noses to the dramatic drama country every bit good as the felt board narrative to the marionette centre in the loft. -*All books from both hebdomads were kept out on my bookcase so pupils could utilize them during independent clip or if they chose the reading centre.Consequences:During this procedure I monitored pupils as I read and as they chose centres. While watching them as I read I looked to see if they were reacting to voices, certain parts of the book and if they were replying the inquiries I asked at different points throughout reading. This helped me cognize right off the chiropteran if they were groking or non. This besides helped me do note of who I could watch during centres to see if they utilized any of the points I placed around the room after reading the books. I was surprised because the bulk of those that seemed lost during me reading the book frequently selected reading or hearing and selected those books we had talked about. I could hear them reading out loud and utilizing the images in the book to assist steer them so they could state what was go oning. They would acquire excit ed when they would acknowledge that was something I had shared with them and it seemed to intend more to them than merely picking a book at random. It was amusing to watch pupils at the hearing centre excessively because they would hold their earphones on and be in the quiet zone, but all of a sudden you would hear them get down stating the narrative out loud. In the dramatic drama country all of the props and costumes were the first things anyone grabbed. There were a few who would set on the Cinderella costume and say that she was a princess and drama in it, but there were others who would have on it and truly acquire into moving out the narrative. I do n't hold many male childs that go to the dramatic drama country because aside from dress-up apparels it is largely used by the misss as the housekeeping country. There was one male child that struggles to grok narratives and he selected dramatic drama everyday after we read Cinderella and he would travel over at that place and set on the suit and feign to be Prince Charming. He did a great occupation at reciting assorted things that happened so he truly benefited from the excess support. The last country I added things in was our marionette centre in the loft. The pupils truly enjoyed the felt board narratives. I have had felt board stories up at that place all twelvemonth and I can merely remember two times in which they have been used. After reading the narratives and adding them to that centre everyone that went up at that place used the pieces to recite the narratives. It was incredible to me since it had seldom been used in the yesteryear that they would utilize it every bit much as they did and every bit efficaciously as they did. One thing that truly stood out to me was pupils who would choose the authorship and art centres. While in these centres about all of the pupils over the two hebdomad span brought me something they had created and told me it was a certain portion from one of the books we had di scussed. I thought that was neat because even though I had n't added anything new for them to utilize they still utilized the stuffs they had to demo their enjoyment and comprehension of the narratives.Artifacts:Throughout this procedure I did several things in order to roll up informations and do observations. As I mentioned in the subdivision above, I foremost watched the pupils as I read/introduced the book and made a mental note of who I was most funny to watch during halfway clip. Then during centre clip I circulated the room and listened to student treatments as they played. The bulk of them, at least for a part of the clip exhausted playing, related in some manner to the books we had discussed. If I saw pupils dressed up as a character, stating a felt board narrative or listening/reading one of the books we had talked about I would acquire my camera and snarl some images. I video recorded several pupils reciting nursery rhymes on the felt board every bit good as a group in dr amatic drama re-enacting the ball from â€Å" Cinderella. †Decision:I feel that this procedure was an utmost success and thoroughly replies a resonant yes to my research inquiry. I was really pleased at the overpowering response by my pupils to the props that were accessible to them. The chief intent of my end was to see if this helped more with comprehension and I can state that it truly did. I have several pupils who ca n't state me anything about a narrative after it is read and those are some of the 1s I focused on watching. They all, at some point or another, chose a centre and selected an activity within that centre entirely because they recognized it from our readings. All of them were able to state at least a portion of the narrative, if non all of a narrative, when utilizing the props. This is decidedly something that I will go on to make every bit much as possible in order to go on to assist those pupils who struggle to grok. For those that can grok good it will go on to function as added support for their content cognition.