Causes and Effects of the Computer Essay

The twenty- first century is already turning out to be the century of the computer. The computer revolution that started after the Second World War is now developing exponentially and computers are beginning to influence and take over nearly every aspect of our lives. Computers are clearly changing and affecting society in many ways. The two main areas which computers have brought about a profound change in our lives are in the economic field an in the field of communication. The computer has led to immense changes in economic and business life. First, business now have to be computerized or they risk failure. Every big corporation bases it’s operations on computing, regardless of which sector they are in. For example, coco-cola and Levi’s market and sell different products and services, yet they all share on basic property without computers their operations would collapse. Second, computing is an economic dynamo. Many other countries have large IT sectors which drive their economies upwards. Furthermore the developed world is moving from an industrial- based economy to a computer and IT-based one. It is not just in business that computers have affected us so profoundly; communication has been revolutionized totally. Firstly, whereas before, people speak on the phone, which was expensive, now they e-mail. For instance, instead of waiting weeks for a letter now we can read it instantly, seconds after its been written. Secondly, many people use computers to communicate with people all around the world using chat rooms and chat programs, this was impossible before the computer became widespread. As a result, now people who live thousands of miles away from each other can communicate and share information and ideas easily and quickly. In conclusion computers have a profound effect on our lives in many ways and it is in business and communication that they have had the greatest influence. In the future if the computer continues evolving at such speed, our business practice and methods of communication will undergo even more radical changes.

Fashion: Color and Type Your Response

Components of Fashion The Lesson Activity will help you meet these educational goals: Content Knowledge? You will define the key components of fashion: the elements of design and the principles of design. Inquiry? You will conduct online research, in which you will collect information and communicate your results in written form. 21st Century Skills ? You will apply creativity and innovation. Directions You will evaluate these activities yourself.Please save this document before ginning the lesson and keep the document open for reference during the lesson. Type your answers directly in this document for all activities. Self-checked Activities Read the instructions for the following activities and type in your responses. At the end of the lesson, click the link to open the Student Answer Sheet. Use the answers or sample responses to evaluate your own work. Color Wheel a. Use watercolors or water-based gels for this activity.First, take the three primary lord and mix them to make the s econdary colors. Then, mix the primary and the secondary colors to get the tertiary colors. From among the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, list four warm colors and four cool colors. Apply a few strokes of the mixed colors on paper and scan the paper for submission. Type your response here: On back b. Choose one of the primary colors and use it to make shades and tints. C.Using the shades and tints created in part b, submit sketches or images of two armaments with the shades for bottom wear and the tints for top wear. The garments should have a focal point, vertical lines, and curved lines. Also, name the silhouettes used in each garment. How did you do? Check a box below. Nailed included all of the same ideas as the model response on the Student Answer Sheet. Halfway There?I included most of the ideas in the model response on the Student Not Great?I did not include any of the ideas in the model response on the Student

Bank strategy & performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bank strategy & performance - Essay Example nd communication technologies by the banking sector are – â€Å"cost-reduction, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, competition, globalization, operational risks, cost reduction, time to market, surging volumes, e-commerce, enhancing flexibility, business diversification such as non-financial services and becoming ‘‘service aggregators’’, etc† (Centeno, 295). Holding a desirable market share, enhancement of cost efficiency and expanding the reach to customers are the main reasons why banks use the Internet banking facility. On an overall basis, IT investment in banks especially in hardware, software and IT related services are assumed to bring about improvement in bank performance. However a research shows that despite the banks being one of the key investors in IT, there is little association between IT related investment and the efficiency of bank operations. This gives rise to a contradiction in profitability. However the impact is mixed for different products. For instance, investment in IT services seems to bear a positive impact on accounting profits and profitability. On the other hand, investment in hardware and software related products tend to reduce the performance of banks. There might be certain factors working behind it. For instance, there could be lowering of entry barriers, which lead to loss in market power. (Beccalli, 2007, p.2229) Technology of Internet banking is changing pretty fast. Essentially the technologies in rural markets have been lagging behind and therefore community ban ks are slow in taking on this technology. For such banks cost of adoption of Internet banking itself might be expensive. Internet banking helps the banks to compete across a large spread of demography and facilitates the access of modern technology by the customers. Therefore community banks need to adopt such technologies in order to be at a competitive advantageous position. (Sullivan, 2000, pp.12-13) Internet has brought in a new wave of

John. F. Kennedy and Woman's rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

John. F. Kennedy and Woman's rights - Essay Example What followed will be argued to be two-fold: first, the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women [Woloch 504], and second, it will be argued that that commission along with the Civil Rights Act had a direct impact on the creation of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 [Maclean 175]. While Kennedy did not live to see the practical and legal impact of both, his mandate or vision is nonetheless captured in his successor's words. Commenting on the passing of the Equal Pay Act, Kennedy's former Vice-President, Lyndon Johnson asserted: â€Å"not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result† [Katznelson 542]. In the long term, the influence or onset of legislation in the Kennedy era can be seen the establishment and operation at the Federal level of government, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [Wolach 560] and as the precedent for all kinds of the affirmative action claims and challenges. And, Wolach points to specific cases where †Å"employers might sometimes favor women and minorities over better qualified men and whites to correct a conspicuous imbalance† [Wolach 560] While the right to vote, or the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919 was unquestionably one of the most important landmarks in Twentieth-century Woman's rights history, it can be said that the back-drop necessary for the Kennedy era legislation was a shift or transformation in attitudes or public sentiment. In particular, the following will argue that the transformation of the role of women in the labor force by during the First World War, the Great Depression and the Second World War, significantly and indelibly stamped a change that has ever since been only an impact measured in terms of progress. As Wolach writes: â€Å"The Great Depression and World War II were disruptive emergencies that changed women's roles at home, at work, and in public life† [Wolach 438]. Wolach points to the trans-formative impact of this period r esulting from the direct participation of women in the work-place. The emergencies were defined in terms of labor shortages in the case of both wars. And, the transformation that being referred to in the present context, is basically the increase of women participating in all forms of menial labor and other areas that had an impact in two important senses. That is, important in terms of the impact on public sentiment. First, the patriarchal order that had a systemically constructed prejudice against women's abilities, was challenged. The basic perception of women were capable of doing or accomplishing changed. As Wolach stresses, the spectrum of it's impact had to do with â€Å"public life† [Wolach 560] as well. For instance, one of the changes that occurred in both Wars but in a more influential sense, during the First World War, was the admission in greater numbers of women in post-secondary institutions or colleges and universities. With great access to education, there wa s likewise a greater advancement of women in the professions or those fields that required post-secondary education. Greater participation in every facet of the labor force, and in the advanced education system meant that a change for the positive occurred in regard to the patriarchal order's perception of women and their capabilities. At the very same time, it can be said that they also viewed women as a form of opportunity as well. No one would challenge that greater labor

DRAMA ; Play review Movie Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

DRAMA ; Play - Movie Review Example There are flower vases in the room, a few paintings on the wall and a beautiful rag on the floor. Reverend Al Sharpton playing himself will wear a white color and an all black suit. Letty Cottin as herself is in an ordinary skirt and blouse attire depicting a modern day American lady. The attire is not Jewish in any way but depicts self preservation. Many audiences view Carmel Cato as a victim. Cato’s costume is but the music in the background angry and the lighting dull and gloomy. Joe Mantegna will play Camel Cato because I think he can express pain with persuasion (Smith 33). The play will derive its theme from the second section where Aaron M. Bernstein distortion both in literature and science in view of the mirror effect. Bernstein’s costume is one of a typical American professor. The costume will encompass a mismatched suit, graying hair, and spectacles for emphasis. Jesse Merz will play Bernstein because of his theatre background and natural ability to act like a learned person. The characters will perform at the center of the stage, surrounded by three mirrors. As the characters frustration and anger rises, the mirrors should close in making them seem restricted. As for lighting, darkness with little illumination on the face will portray frustration, red with shades of green will portray anger, and a hue of grey and beige will portray indifference (Smith 67). Characters that are at peace with themselves and the situation they live in will be under blue and lavender lighting. The mirrors in these scenes will close in slowly with no sound. For angry characters, the mirrors will close in with a lot of angry, loud sounds in the background. For the character Rivkah Siegal, there will be irony of classical white music playing in the background as she talks about how unreal she feels when she wears wigs. Setting the play in an abandoned building creates a sense of timelessness. It also gives the

Methodology rationale of a lesson plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Methodology rationale of a lesson plan - Essay Example This is followed by detailed analysis or the lesson plan and peculiarities of students’ perception of material and attitude to learning, their interests and cooperation during the lesson. Also there will be suggested an action plan for my self-improvement and advance in my future teaching skills. Final point of my paper includes brief conclusion on done work. Primarily, I want to pay attention that my lesson is designed for young students. They are Libyan and their appropriate age is from 16 to 19. The topic of the lesson is Life Stories. The lesson contain the story about doctor who leave his son burial to save life of unknown boy, precisely listening a rude and angry perturbation of his father. Hence, the story is totally edifying and provides a great example of execution of duty no matter what. Moreover, given text teaches respect and politeness even in stressed situations. These are serious and important moral categories, discussing which will be useful affair for young generation. Their age induces them to think over some eternal notions together with sense of life and people’s behaviour. This is the age of self-identification in the world and understanding of who you are. So topic Life Stories with a big moral purport I consider to be highly appropriate for these learners. It more or less matches with their interests and pre tends to be interesting for students. The learners are 10 in number. It is a suitable amount what gives an opportunity to tell your own opinion for everybody, and to discuss the main important points of the topic in pairs and with the full class. Learners study language at their private school for ten years. English is a part of their syllabus so they study General English. Level of knowledge of these Libyan students is intermediate. As there was no verbal part in the exam process for them, they mostly concentrated on the structural form of the language avoiding the meaning and use of them as a result; they are good at writing and

Customer Service Operations in the telecomunication in the UK Essay

Customer Service Operations in the telecomunication in the UK - Essay Example With the increase in the market for phones, several companies both retailing handsets and providing mobile phone services have cropped up, each struggling to gain a significant segment of the market. This mostly leads to mobile wars, especially among the service providers, as each of the companies fight to provide the latest, affordable and most valued services to their customers. There is also stiff competition among handset providers, who spend millions of dollars on research and development to provide latest features to their handsets to attract different segments of the market. Hence, it is not hard to find features such as mobile TV, GPRS, e-mail and internet features on most mobile phones. UK Mobile phone industry The mobile phone industry, like most corporate industries have brought both advantages and disadvantages to the modern society. Advantages brought by the advent of mobile phones includes easy communication which has led to expansion of businesses, the creation of diff erent kinds of jobs, sharing of knowledge among people of different regions of the world, it has helped in expansion of the academic world by making research and sharing of such knowledge easy and making it easier for business transactions to be carried out among other benefits. Disadvantages of mobile phones include increase in thefts connected with handsets and identities, mobile phones distract workers and students from carrying out their duties on time, especially due to social network services on internet-enabled phones, they cause distractions leading to accidents especially on the road and mobile phones have led to deterioration of personal communication which has been reduced to short message services, calls and e-mails among other disadvantages. It is however up to individual mobile phone users to determine whether mobile phones add value to their lives or they could do better without them. Being one of the biggest and fastest-growing industries in the world, the UK not exc luded, the mobile phone industry has had to be regulated and the fierce competition among stakeholders have given rise to codes of conduct which all the players have to adhere with. Service provision is an area in this industry that the companies in the industry overlook at their own detriment. Most consumers of the mobile phone industry usually look for specific services from their providers (Ericsson 2009). These may include low call and data rates, wide coverage and polite and helpful customer care representatives. Many companies have gone miles ahead and have come up with more creative ways to attract and retain customers. Methods used in increasing client bases for companies include offering corporate packages for companies, advertising, promotions and handset and service providers coming together to offer unique products to consumers. Service delivery however remains the biggest determinant of market share for companies operating in the mobile phone industry. Service Products Developing Service Products is one of the areas explored by players in the mobile phone industry to gain significant market share. This area involves coming up with new and useful products to attract consumers in the market (Blueflag 2010). For instance, at the beginning of the mobile phone era, most phones had very few features that basically included calling and texting features, digital and alarm clocks, calculators and calendars. However with time, mobile phones have

Quiz II The Crusades Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Quiz II The Crusades - Essay Example For example, the First Crusade occurred between 1095 and 1099 with its origins being France. However, it was not an official Papal Crusade but was organized by individuals such as Robert Curthose, Baldwin of Bouilon, Hugh of Vermandois and Tancred de Hauteville among others (Runciman 1987, p.182). The First Crusade had several goals such as the need to battle the Turks and also persecute the Jews. Additionally, the group murdered Muslim inhabitants and captured Antioch to restore Christianity in those areas. Contrastingly, defense came from Muslims and Jews who engaged the aggressors in defending Jerusalem. A majority of the participants came from backgrounds that opposed the rise of other religions (Galgano et al 1993, p.123). Consequently, this increased the hatred for Muslims and Jews with participants of the First Crusade such Raymond of Toulouse and Bohemond of Taranto insisting on restoring lost territories taken by religious competitors. Notable personalities of the First Crus ade included Robert Curthose and Baldwin of Bouilon who came from Italy and France respectively with armies to reclaim the lost cities now dominated by the Jews and Muslims. They also led a crusade army that fought the Muslims and took control of all cities. First Crusade leaders and their followers gained significantly in the raids that persecuted the Jews and Muslims. They equally gained by capturing lost cities such as Antioch and Jerusalem and later established the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa. Conversely, the losers entailed the Turks who lost Antioch and the Jews who initially had defended Jerusalem. In terms of influences, the First Crusade had a lot for others that followed. Though negative, it resulted to revenge by Turks against the crusades under the name Crusade of 1101 (Kidner et al 2007, p.145). It was followed by the Second Crusade that equally failed to secure major cities under the leader of Bernard of Clairvaux. Therefore, the lasting historical legacies of the Crusade include a disharmony between Christians and Muslims that continues to affect humanity through acts of terrorism and religious intolerance from both sides. Northern crusades A political crusade, the Northern crusades happened between 1193 and 1290. In this crusade, revenge was organized against pagans found in Northern Europe led by Pope Celestine III. Another leader killed in battle was Bishop Berthold of Hanover who led the crusaders against pagans. The stated goals of the Northern crusades encompassed the pacification of pagans and also converting the remaining ones to Christianity (Runciman 1987, p.189). Similarly, the group protected Germany’s trade and commerce from external threats. Northern crusade’s participants came from various backgrounds. Pope Celestine III, for example, was the leader of the Catholic Church and felt the urge to convert all pagans into Christianity. On the other hand, Bishop Berthold of Hanover who died in the war a gainst Livonian Pagans came from Germany and believed in the power of Christianity in the entire Northern Europe (Runciman 1987, p.213). The pagans, however, came from Livonia while others from Prussia where another crusade was led by Pope Honorius III. The notable personalities in this crusade were Bishop Berthold of Hanover and Pope Celestine III who led a campaign to kill or convert all pagans. They also ensured that

Annual reporting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Annual reporting - Assignment Example The company is actively involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Members of TELLUS, both current and retired in unison with friends and family members are giving back to the community by volunteering their time (4.2 million hours), donating money ($ 46 million) and participating (more than 5000 team members) in charitable events and to the non-profitable organizations. This social responsibility improves the company’s image creating goodwill as the surrounding community view the company as an institution concerned with the development of the community. Identify the major components provided in the five- or ten-year summary. Summarize the insight provided by each. Look for trends, increases or decreases. Consistent performance signals management has control of the business. Inconsistent performance signals management does not have control of the business. The company’s employees who are members of board of directors is one, that is the chief executive, whereas the non-company directors are 12 in numbers. This implies that there are more outside than inside directors in the

OPERATION MANAGEMENT (specialize in comparative operation management Essay

OPERATION MANAGEMENT (specialize in comparative operation management - Essay Example The nature of offerings of KFC is different from McDonald's in the sense that majority of KFC's ingredients include deep fried wholesome chicken pieces and fries. Immediately behind the counter, there is a temporary storage of ready to serve chicken pieces, in temperature controlled glass environment. This serves the purpose of Work in Progress Inventory. Step 2: the first person in the production line reads order and passes the raw, materials to the next level. For example if it is chicken pieces, then he passes the full pieces, if its hot shots he passes the right amount to the net level. It can be seen that the operations of KFC are almost similar to the operations of Mc Donald's. As mentioned earlier, the primary difference between KF and Mc Donalds' offering is that all KFC offerings contain chicken. As per quality policy the chicken has to be fresh. Due to this the role of Temporary Storage (behind counter)is very crucial for KFC. It has to satisfy the following requirements: Mc Donald's has and advantage on KFC in the sense that it does not require too much movement of workers as the sandwich is processed along a line of processing.

The Past, Present, and Future of Automated Scoring Essay Example for Free

The Past, Present, and Future of Automated Scoring Essay â€Å"No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be †¦Ã¢â‚¬  – Isaac Asimov (5) Introduction Although some realities of the classroom remain constant –they wouldn’t exist without the presence, whether actual or virtual, of students and teachers –the technology age is changing not only the way that we teach, but also how students learn. While the implications of this affect all disciplines, it is acutely evident in the teaching of writing. In the last twenty years, we have seen a rapid change in how we read, write, and process text. Compositionist Carl Whithaus maintains that â€Å"†¦ writing is becoming an increasingly multimodal and multimedia activity† (xxvi). It is no surprise then, that there are currently 100 million blogs in existence worldwide and 171 billion email messages sent daily (Olson 23), and the trend toward digitally-based writing is also moving into the classroom. The typical student today writes â€Å"almost exclusively on a computer, typically one equipped with automated tools to help them spell, check grammar, and even choose the right words† (Cavanaugh 10). Furthermore, CCC notes that â€Å"[i]ncreasingly, classes and programs in writing require that students compose digitally† (785). Given the effect of technology on writing and the current culture of high stakes testing ushered in by the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a seemingly natural product of the combination of the two is computer-based assessment of writing. An idea still in its infancy, the process of technological change in combination with federal testing mandates has resulted in several states incorporating â€Å"computer-based testing into their writing assessments, †¦ not only because of students’ widespread familiarity with computers, but also because of the demands of college and the workplace, where word-processing skills are a must† (Cavanaugh 10). Although it makes sense to have students accustomed to composing on computer write in the same mode for high-stakes tests, does it make sense to score their writing by computer as well? This is a controversial question that has both supporters and detractors. Supporters like Stan Jones, Indiana’s Commissioner of Higher Education, believe that computerized essay grading is inevitable (Hurwitz n.p.), while detractors, primarily pedagogues, assert that such assessment defies what we know about writing and its assessment, because â€Å"[r]egardless of the medium †¦ all writing is social; accordingly, response to and evaluation of writing are human activities† (CCC 786). Even so, the reality is that the law requires testing nationwide, and in all probability that mandate is not going to change anytime soon. With NCLB up for revision this year, even politicians like Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts agree that standards are a good idea and that testing is one way to ensure that they are met. At some point, we need to pull away from all-or-none polarization and create a new paradigm. The sooner we realize that â€Å"†¦ computer technology will subsume assessment technology in some way† (Penrod 157), the sooner we will be able to address how we, as teachers of writing, can use technology effectively for assessment. In the past, Brian Huot notes that teachers’ responses have been reactionary, â€Å"cobbled together at the last minute in response to an outside call †¦ † (150). Teachers need to be proactive in addressing â€Å"†¦ technological convergence in the composition classroom, [because if we dont], others can will impose certain technologies on our teaching† (Penrod 156). Instead of passively leaving the development of assessment software solely to programmers, teachers need to be actively involved with the process in order to ensure the application of sound pedagogy in its creation and application. This essay will argue that automated essay scoring (AES) is an inevitability that provides many more positive possibilities than negative ones. While the research presented here spans K-16 education, this essay will primarily address its application in secondary environments, primarily focusing on high school juniors, a group currently consisting of approximately 4 million students in the United States, because this group represents the targeted population for secondary school high stakes testing in this country (U.S. Census Bureau). It will first present a brief history of AES, then explore the current state of AES, and finally consider the implications of AES for writing instruction and assessment in the future. A Brief History of Computers and Assessment The first time standardized objective testing in writing occurred was in 1916 at the University of Missouri as part of a Carnegie Foundation sponsored study (Savage 284). As the 20th century continued, these tests began to grow in popularity because of their efficiency and perceived reliability, and are the cornerstone of what Kathleen Blake Yancey describes as the â€Å"first wave† of writing assessment (484). To articulate the progression of composition assessment, Kathleen Blake Yancey identifies three distinct, yet overlapping, waves (483). The first wave, occurring approximately from 1950-1970, primarily focused on using objective (multiple choice) tests to assess writing simply because, as she quotes Michael Williams, they were the best response that could be â€Å"†¦ tied to testing theory, to institutional need, to cost, and ultimately to efficiency† (Yancey 489). During Yancey’s first wave of composition assessment, another wave was forming in the parallel universe of computer software design, where developers began to address the possibilities of not only programming computers to mimic the process of human reading, but † †¦ to emulate the value judgments that human readers make when they read student writing in the context of large scale assessment† (Herrington and Moran 482). Herrington and Moran identify The Analysis of Essays by Computer, a 1968 book by Ellis Page and Dieter Paulus, as one of the first composition studies books to address AES. Their goal was to â€Å"evaluate student writing as reliably as human readers, †¦ [and] they attempted to identify computer-measurable text features that would correlate with the kinds of intrinsic features †¦that are the basis for human judgments †¦, [settling on] thirty quantifiable features, †¦ [which included] essay length in words, average word length, amount and kind of punctuation, number of common words, and number of spelling errors† (Herrington and Moran 482). In their study, they found a high enough statistical correlation, .71, to support the use of the computer to score student writing. The authors note that the response of the composition community in 1968 to Page and Paulus’s book was one of indignation and uproar. In 2007, not much has changed in terms of the composition community’s position regarding computer-based assessment of student writing. To many, it is something that is an unknown, mystifying Orwellian entity waiting in the shadows for the perfect moment to jump out and usurp teachers’ autonomy in the classroom. Nancy Patterson describes computerized writing assessment as â€Å"a horror story that may come sooner than we realize† (56). Furthermore, P.L. Thomas offers the following question and response: â€Å"How can a computer determine accuracy, originality, valuable elaboration, empty language, language maturity, and a long list of similar qualities that are central to assessing writing? Computers can’t. WE must ensure that the human element remains the dominant factor in the assessing of student writing† (29). Herrington and Moran make the issue a central one in the teaching of writing and have â€Å"†¦ serious concerns about the potential effects of machine reading of student writing on our teaching, on our students’ learning, and therefore on the profession of English† (495). Finally, CCC definitively writes, â€Å"We oppose the use of machine-scored writing in the assessment of writing† (789). While the argument against AES is clear here, the responses appear to be based on a lack of understanding of the technology and an unwillingness to change. Instead of taking a reactionary position, it might be more constructive for teachers to assume the inevitability of computerized assessment technology – it is not going away — and to use that assumption as the basis for taking a proactive role in its implementation. The Current Culture of High-Stakes Testing At any given time in the United States, there are approximately 16 million 15-18 year-olds, the majority of whom receive a high school education (U.S. Census). Even when factoring in a maximum of 10 percent (1.6 million) who may drop out or otherwise not receive a diploma, there is a significant amount of students, 14-15 million, who are attending high school. The majority of these students are members of the public school system and as such must be tested annually according to NCLB, though the most significant focus group for high-stakes testing is 11th grade students. Currently in Michigan, 95% of any given public high school’s junior population must sit for the MME, Michigan Merit Exam, in order for the school to qualify for AYP, Adequate Yearly Progress[1]. Interestingly, those students do not all have to pass currently, though by 2014 the government mandates a 100% passing rate, a number that most admit is an impossibility and will probably be addressed as the NCLB Act is up for review this year. In the past, as part of the previous 11th grade examination, the MEAP, Michigan Educational Assessment Program, required students to complete an essay response, which was assessed by a variety of people, mostly college students and retired teachers, for a minimal amount of money, usually in the $7.50 – $10.00 per hour range. As a side note, neighboring Ohio sends its writing test to North Carolina to be scored by workers receiving $9.50 per hour (Patterson 57), a wage that fast food employees make in some states. Because of this, it was consistently difficult for the state to assess these writings in a short period of time, causing huge delays in distributing the results of the exams back to the school districts, posing a huge problem as schools could not use the testing information in order to address educational shortfalls of their students or programs in a timely manner, one of the purposes behind getting prompt feedback. This year (2007), as a result of increased graduation requirements and testing mandates driven by NCLB, the Michigan Department of Education began administering a new examination to 11th graders, the MME, an ACT fueled assessment, as ACT was awarded the testing contract. The MME is comprised of several sections and required most high schools to administer it over a period of 2-3 days. Day one consists of the ACT + Writing, a 3.5 hour test that includes an argumentative essay. Days two/three (depending on district implementation), consist of the ACT WorkKeys, a basic work skills test of math and English, further mathematics testing (to address curricular content not covered by the ACT + Writing), and a social studies test, which incorporates another essay that the state combines with the argumentative essay in the ACT + Writing in order to determine an overall writing score. Miraculously, under the auspices of ACT, students received their ACT + Writing scores in the mail approximately three weeks after testing, unlike the MEAP, where some schools did not receive test scores for six months. In 2005, a MEAP official admitted that the cost of scoring the writing assessment was forcing the state to go another route (Patterson 57), and now it has. So how is this related to automated essay scoring? My hypothesis is that as states are required to test writing as part of NCLB, there is going to be a lack of qualified people to be able to read and assess student essays and determine results within a reasonable amount of time to purposefully inform necessary curricular and instructional change, which is supposed to be the point of testing in the first place. Four million plus essays to evaluate each year (sometimes more if more writing is required, like Michigan requiring two essays) on a national level is a huge amount. Michigan Virtual University’s Jamey Fitzpatrick says, â€Å"Let’s face it. It’s a very labor-intensive task to sit down and read essays† (Stover n.p.). Furthermore, it only makes sense that instead of states working on their own test management, they will contract state-wide testing to larger testing agencies, like Michigan and Illinois have with ACT, to reduce costs and improve efficien cy. Because of the move to contract ACT, my guess is that we are moving in the direction of having all of these writings scored by computer. In email correspondence that I had with Harry Barfoot at Vantage Learning in early 2007, a company that creates and markets AES software, said, â€Å"Ed Roeber has been to visit us and he is the high stakes assessment guru in Michigan, and who was part of the MEAP 11th grade becoming an ACT test, which [Vantage] will end up being part of under the covers of ACT.† This indicates the inevitability of AES as part of high-stakes testing. In spite of the fact that there are no states that rely on computer assessment of writing yet, â€Å"†¦ state education officials are looking at the potential of this technology to limit the need for costly human scorers – and reduce the time needed to grade tests and get them back in the hands of classroom teachers† (Stover n.p.). Because we live in an age where the budget axe frequently cuts funding to public education, it is in the interest of states to save money any way they can, and â€Å"[s]tates stand to save millions o f dollars by adopting computerized writing assessment† (Patterson 56). Although AES is not a reality yet, every indication is that we are moving toward it as a solution to the cost and efficiency issues of standardized testing. Herrington and Moran observe that â€Å"[p]ressures for common assessments across state public K-12 systems and higher education – both for placement and for proficiency testing – make attractive a machine that promises to assess the writing of large numbers of students in a fast and reliable way† (481). To date, one of the two readers (the other is still human) for the GMAT is e-Rater, an AES software program, and some universities are using Vantage’s WritePlacerPlus software in order to place first year university students (Herrington and Moran 480). However, one of the largest obstacles in bringing AES to K-12 is one of access. In order for students’ writing to be assessed electronically, it must be inputted electronically, meaning that every student will have to compose their essays via comp uter. Sean Cavanagh’s article of two months ago maintains that ACT has already suggested delivering computers to districts who do not have sufficient technology in order to accommodate technology differences (10). As of last month, March 2007, Indiana is the only state that relies on computer scoring of 11th grade essays for the state-mandated English examination (Stover n.p.) for 80 percent of their 60,000 11th graders (Associated Press), though their Assistant Superintendent for Assessment, Research, and Information, West Bruce, says that the state’s computer software assigns a confidence rating to each essay, where low confidence essays are referred to a human scorer (Stover n.p.). In addition, in 2005 West Virginia began using an AES program to grade 44,000 middle and high school writing samples from the state’s writing assessment (Stover n.p.). At present, only ten percent of states â€Å"†¦currently incorporate computers into their writing assessments, and two more [are] piloting such exams† (Cavanagh 10). As technology becomes more accessible for all public education students, the possibilities for not only computer-based assessment but also AES become very real. Automated Essay Scoring Weighing the technological possibilities against logistical considerations, however, when might we expect to see full-scale implementation of AES? Semire Dikli, a Ph.D. candidate from Florida State University, writes that â€Å"†¦for practical reasons the transition of large-scale writing assessment from paper to computer delivery will be a gradual one† (2). Similarly, Russell and Haney â€Å"†¦ suspect that it will be some years before schools generally †¦ develop the capacity to administer wide-ranging assessments via computer† (16 of 20). The natural extension of this, then, is that AES cannot happen on a large-scale until we are able to provide conditions that allow each student to compose essays via computer with Internet access to upload files. At issue as well is the reliability of the company contracted to do the assessing. A March 24, 2007 Steven Carter article in The Oregonian reports that access issues resulted in the state of Oregon canceling its contract with Vantage and signing a long-term contract with American Institutes for Research, the long-standing company that does NAEP testing. Even though the state tests only reading, science, and math this way (not writing), it nevertheless indicates that reliable access is an ongoing issue that must be resolved. Presently, there are four commercially available AES systems: Project Essay Grade (Measurement, Inc.), Intelligent Essay Assessor (Pearson), Intellimetric (Vantage), and e-Rater (ETS) (Dikli 5). All of these incorporate the same process in the software, where â€Å"First, the developers identify relevant text features that can be extracted by computer (e.g., the similarity of the words used in an essay to the words used in high-scoring essays, the average word length, the frequency of grammatical errors, the number of words in the response). Next, they create a program to extract those features. Third, they combine the extracted features to form a score. And finally, they evaluate the machine scores empirically,†(Dikli 5). At issue with the programming, however, is that â€Å"[t]he weighting of text features derived by an automated scoring system may not be the same as the one that would result from the judgments of writing experts† (Dikli 6). There is still a significant difference between â€Å"statistically optimal approaches† to measurement and scientific or educational approaches to measurement, where the aspects of writing that students need to focus on to improve their scores â€Å"are not the ones that writing experts most value† (Dikli 6). This is the tension that Diane Penrod addresses in Composition in Convergence that was mentioned earlier, in which she recommends that teachers and compositionists become proactive by getting involved in the creation of the software instead of leaving it exclusively to programmers. And this makes sense. Currently, there are 50-60 features of writing that can be extracted from text, but current programs only use about 8-12 of the most predictive features of writing to determine scores (Powers et. al. 413). Moreover, Thomas writes that â€Å"[c]omposition experts must determine what students learn about writing; if that is left to the programmers and the testing experts, we have failed† (29). If compositionists and teachers can enmesh themselves in the creation of software, working with programmers, then the product would likely be one that is more palatable and suitable based on what we know good writing is. While the aura of mystery behind the creation of AES software is of concern to educators, it could be easily addressed by education and involvement. CCC reasons that â€Å"†¦ since we can not know the criteria by which the computer scores the writing, we can not know whether particular kinds of bias may have been built into the scoring† (4 89). It stands to reason, then, that if we take an active role in the development of the software, we will have more control over issues such as bias. Another point of contention with moving toward computer-based writing and assessment is the concern that high-stakes testing will result in students having a narrow view of good writing, particularly those moving to the college level, where writing skill is expected to be more comprehensive than a prompt-based five-paragraph essay written in 30 minutes. Grand Valley State University’s Nancy Patterson opposes computer scoring of high stakes testing, saying that no computer can evaluate subtle or creative styles of writing nor can they judge the quality of an essay’s intellectual content (Stover n.p.). She also writes that â€Å"†¦standardized writing assessment is already having an adverse effect on the teaching of writing, luring many teachers into more formulaic approaches and an over-emphasis on surface features† (Patterson 57). Again, education is key here, specifically teacher education. Yes, we live in a culture of high-stakes testing, and students must be prepared to write successfully for this genre. But, test-writing is just that, a genre, and should be taught as such – just not to the detriment of the rest of a writing program – something that the authors of Writing of Demand assert when they write: â€Å"We believe it is possible to integrate writing on demand into a plan for teaching based on best practices† (5). AES is not an attack on best practices, but a tool for cost-effective and efficient scoring. Even though Thomas warns against â€Å"the demands of standards and high stakes testing† becoming the entire writing program, we still must realize that computers for composition and assessment can have positive results, and â€Å"[m]any of the roadblocks to more effective writing instruction – the paper load, the time involved in writing instruction and assessmen t, the need to address surface features individually – can be lessened by using computer programs† (29). In addition to pedagogical concerns, skeptics of AES are leery of the companies themselves, particularly the aggressive marketing tactics that are used, particularly those that teachers perceive to be threats not only to their autonomy, but their jobs. To begin, companies aggressively market because we live in a capitalist society and they are out to make money. But, to cite Penrod, â€Å"both computers and assessment are by-products of capitalist thinking applied to education, in that the two reflect speed and efficiency in textual production† (157). This is no different than the first standardized testing experiments by the Carnegie Foundation at the beginning of the 20th Century, and it is definitely nothing new. Furthermore, Herrington and Moran admit that â€Å"computer power has increased exponentially, text- and content- analysis programs have become more plausible as replacements for human readers, and our administrators are now the targets of heavy marketing from com panies that offer to read and evaluate student writing quickly and cheaply† (480). In addition they see a threat in companies marketing programs that â€Å"define the task of reading, evaluating, and responding to student writing not as a complex, demanding, and rewarding aspect of our teaching, but as a ‘burden’ that should be lifted from our shoulders† (480). In response to their first concern, teachers becoming involved in the process of creating assessment software will help to define the task the computers perform. Also, teachers will always read, evaluate, and respond, but probably differently. Not all writing is for high-stakes testing. Secondly, and maybe I’m alone in this (but I think not), but I’d love to have the tedious task of assessing student writing lifted from my plate, especially on sunny weekends when I’m stuck inside for most of the daylight hours assessing student work. To be a dedicated writing teacher does not necessarily involve martyrdom, and if some of the tedious work is removed, it can give us mor e time to actually teach writing. Imagine that! The Future of Automated Essay Scoring On March 14th, 2007, an article appeared in Education Week that says that beginning in 2011, the National Association for Educational Progress will begin conducting the testing of writing for 8th and 12th grade students by having the students compose on computers, a decision unanimously approved as part of their new writing assessment framework. This new assessment will require students to write two 30-minute essays and evaluate students’ ability to write to persuade, to explain, and to convey experience, typically tasks deemed necessary both in school and in the workplace (Olson 23). Currently, NAEP testing is assessed by AIR (mentioned above), and will no doubt incorporate AES for assessing these writings. In response, Kathleen Blake Yancey, Florida State University professor and president-elect of NCTE, said the framework â€Å"Provides for a more rhetorical view of writing, where purpose and audience are at the center of writing tasks,† while also requiring students to write at the keyboard, providing â€Å"a direct link to the kind of composing writers do in college and in the workplace, thus bringing assessment in line with lifelong composing practices† (Olson 23). We are on the cusp of a new era. With the excitement of new possibilities, though, we must remember, as P.L. Thomas reminds us, that while â€Å"technology can be a wonderful thing, it has never been and never will be a panacea† (29). At the same time, we must also discard our tendency to avoid change and embrace the overwhelming possibilities of incorporating computers and technology with writing instruction. Thomas also says that â€Å"[w]riting teachers need to see the inevitability of computer-assisted writing instruction and assessment as a great opportunity. We should work to see that this influx of technology can help increase the time students spend actually composing in our classrooms and increase the amount of writing students produce† (29). Moreover, we must consider that the methods used to program AES software are not very different than the rubrics that classroom teachers use in holistic scoring, something Penrod identifies as having â€Å"numerous subsets and criteria that do indeed divide the students’ work into pieces† (93). I argue that our time is better spent working within the system to ensure that its inevitable changes reflect sound pedagogy, because the trend that we’re seeing is not substantially differently from previous ones. The issue is in how we choose to address it. Instead of eschewing change, we should embrace it and make the most of its possibilities.

Concepts and Applications of Deep Learning

Concepts and Applications of Deep Learning Abstract: Since 2006, Deep Learning, also known as Hierarchal Leaning has been evolved as a new field of Machine Learning Research. The deep learning model deals with problems on which shallow architectures (e.g. Regression) are affected by the curse of dimensionality. As part of a two-stage learning scheme involving multiple layers of nonlinear processing a set of statistically robust features is automatically extracted from the data. The present tutorial introducing the deep learning special session details the state-of-the-art models and summarizes the current understanding of this learning approach which is a reference for many difficult classification tasks. Deep Learning is a new area of Machine Learning research, which has been introduced with the objective of moving Machine Learning closer to one of its original goals: Artificial Intelligence. Deep Learning is about learning multiple levels of representation and abstraction that help to make sense of data such as images, sound, and tex t. Introduction: Just consider we have to identify someone’s handwriting. The people have different ways of writing, for example, the numbers-Whether they write a ‘7’ or a ‘9’. We know that if there is a close loop on the top of the vertical line then we named it as ‘9’ and if it contains a horizontal line instead of loop then we think it is ‘7’. The thing we used for exact recognition of digit is a smart display of setting smaller features together to make the whole detecting distinguished edges to make lines, observing a horizontal vs. vertical line, seeing the positioning of the vertical section under the horizontal section, detecting a loop in the horizontal section, etc. The idea of the deep learning is the same: find out multiple levels of features that work jointly to define increasingly more abstract aspects of the data. So, Deep Learning is defined as follows: â€Å"A sub-field of machine learning that is based on learning several levels of representations, corresponding to a hierarchy of features or factors or concepts, where higher-level concepts are defined from lower-level ones, and the same lower-level concepts can help to define many higher-level concepts. Deep learning is part of a broader family of machine learning methods based on learning representations. An observation (e.g., an image) can be represented in many ways (e.g., a vector of pixels), but some representations make it easier to learn tasks of interest (e.g., is this the image of a human face?) from examples, and research in this area attempts to define what makes better representations and how to learn them.† see Wikipedia on â€Å"Deep Learning† as of this writing in February 2013; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_learning. The performance of recent machine learning algorithms relies greatly on the particular features of the input data. As for example marking emails as spam or not spam, can be performed by breaking down the input document intowords. Selecting the exact feature representation of input data, or feature engineering, is a technique that people can recall previous knowledge of an area to enhance an algorithms computational performance and accuracy. Moving towards general artificial intelligence, algorithms need to be less dependent on this feature engineering and better learn to classify the descriptive factors of input data on their own. Deep learning approaches is useful among many domains: it has had great commercial success powering most of Google and Microsofts current speech recognition, digital image processing, natural language processing, object recognition, etc. Facebook is also planning on using deep learning approaches to understand its users. How to build a deep representation of input data? The main idea is to learn a hierarchy of features one level at a time where the input to one computational level is the output of the previous level for an arbitrary number of levels. Otherwise, shallow representations (most current algorithms like regression) go directly from input data to output classification. Inspirations for Deep Architectures The main inspirations for studying learning algorithms for deep architectures are the following: The brain has a deep architecture The visual cortex is considered and demonstrates an order of regions all of them have a representation of the input, and signals move from one to the next. In case there are also miss connections and at some level parallel paths, so the picture is more complicated). Each level of this feature hierarchy represents the input at a different level of concept, with more abstract features further up in the hierarchy, defined in terms of the lower-level ones. Note that representations in the brain are in between dense distributed and purely local: they arelight: about 1% of neurons are active concurrently in the brain. Given the vast number of neurons, this is still a very efficient (exponentially efficient) representation. Cognitive processes seem deep Humans organize their ideas and concepts hierarchically. Humans first learn simpler concepts and then compose them to represent more abstract ones. Engineers break-up solutions into multiple levels of abstraction and processing. Introspection of linguistically expressible concepts also suggests alightrepresentation: only a small fraction of all possible words/concepts are applicable to a particular input (say a visual scene). One good analogue for deep representations is neurons in the brain (a motivation for ANN) the output of a group of neurons is given as the input to more neurons to form a hierarchical layer structure. Each layerNis composed ofh computational nodes that connect to each computational node in layerN+1. See the image below for an example: Related Work: Historically, the concept of deep learning was originated from artificial neural network research. (Hence, one may occasionally hear the discussion of â€Å"new-generation neural networks†.) Feed-forward neural networks or MLPs with many hidden layers, which are often referred to as deep neural networks (DNNs), are good examples of the models with a deep architecture. Back-propagation (BP), popularized in 1980’s, has been a well-known algorithm for learning the parameters of these networks. Unfortunately back-propagation alone did not work well in practice then for learning networks with more than a small number of hidden layers (see a review and analysis in (Bengio, 2009; Glorot and Bengio, 2010). The pervasive presence of local optima in the non-convex objective function of the deep networks is the main source of difficulties in the learning. Back-propagation is based on local gradient descent, and starts usually at some random initial points. It often gets trapped in poor local optima when the batch-mode BP algorithm is used, and the severity increases significantly as the depth of the networks increases. This difficulty is partially responsible for steering away most of the machine learning and signal processing research from neural networks to shallow models that have convex loss functions (e.g., SVMs, CRFs, and MaxEnt models), for which global optimum can be efficiently obtained at the cost of less modeling power. The applicative domains for deep learning: In natural language processing, a very interesting approach gives a proof that deep architectures can perform multi-task learning, giving state-of-the-art results on difficult tasks like semantic role labeling. Deep architectures can also be applied to regression with Gaussian processes [37] and time series prediction. Another interesting application area is highly nonlinear data compression. To reduce the dimensionality of an input instance, it is sufficient for a deep architecture that the number of units in its last layer is smaller than its input dimensionality. Moreover, adding layers to a neural network can lead to learning more abstract features, from which input instances can be coded with high accuracy in a more compact form. Reducing the dimensionality of data has been presented as one of the first application of deep learning. This approach is very efficient to perform semantic hashing on text documents, where the codes generated by the deepest layer are used to build a hash table from a set of documents. A similar approach for a large scale image database is presented in this special session. Conclusion: Deep learning is about creating an abstract hierarchical representation of the input data to create useful features for traditional machine learning algorithms. Each layer in the hierarchy learns a more abstract and complex feature of the data, such as edges to eyes to faces. This representation gets its power of abstraction by stacking nonlinear functions, where the output of one layer becomes the input to the next. The two main schools of thought for analyzing deep architectures areprobabilisticvs.direct encoding. The probabilistic interpretation means that each layer defines a distribution of hidden units given the observed input,P(h|x). The direct encoding interpretation learns two separate functions theencoderanddecoder- to transform the observed input to the feature space and then back to the observed space. These architectures have had great commercial success so far, powering many natural language processing and image recognition tasks at companies like Google and Microsoft.

OPM System Potential Threats and Vulnerabilities

OPM System Potential Threats and Vulnerabilities Risk Assessment Report Purpose The purpose of conducting this risk assessment was to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities related to OPM System. The risk assessment will be used to identify possible risk mitigation plans related to Agency. The network was identified to have a potential high-risk during security assessment. Therefore, risk assessment is needed to be conducted to measure the impact of any breach that can result from the vulnerabilities discovered. Scope The companys system comprises several infrastructural components. The external interface is a series interactive web page that allows users to input data and receive the required information from the application. The system is built using Internet Information Server that uses Active Server Pages. The network infrastructure helps in the management of information transaction in the entire system. The web application, database and operating systems that support these components are all included in the scope. Making sure that the servers require several firewalls which are set up in almost all the network interconnection boundaries. Threats Cybercrime have been a major source of leak of personal, corporation and governmental leak. The OPM operates without a proper risk governance structure. The OPM does not have a structured and standardized monitoring system for security controls. The OPM failed to maintain accurate IT inventory that undermines all attempts at securing their information systems. Insider threats to information systems may be the biggest threats that any organization might face. The reason why they are said to be the biggest is that it becomes very difficult to determine who would betray your organization among the trusted employees. It is always very easy to ignore the threat within on the assumption that there is always that loyalty within only to realize that the root cause of the threats is from within. The common insider threats are: Theft of unsecured personal device is a very big threat as the mobile devices use in organizations are out of control. These devices can be used to access vital information about the organization not limited to Intellectual Property and Defense plan theft. External threats Some of the examples of external security threats to the information system of the organization are: Phishing attacks is an external attack where a hacker uses the scam to trick an employee into giving them their login details. They send emails that are embedded with a link that captures the details when entered by the employee. Denial of Service attack where the attacker gains access to the network of the organization and keeps users from having access to certain services. The hackers achieve this by disrupting how the host system functions. When the attacker floods all the computer ports instead of only certain port is called Direct denial of service attack. Spoofing occurs when an attacker masquerades as a legit host and steals the IP address, spoofs a website or hijacks a network system and by that means inject malicious codes that are developed to create damage to the system operations. They include Trojan horses, viruses, key-loggers, spyware and many others. Once they are planted in the system, they interrupt the functionality of the system by disabling the firewalls and giving access to the hackers (Catteddu Hogben, 2013). Impact Very Low Low Medium High Very High Likehood Very Likely Known Unpatched Exploit Digital Ransom Hackers / DDoS/ Malicious Codes Somewhat Likely Insiders / Phishing Attacks Partners / Competitors /Terrorists / Spoofing Likely Theft of IT equipment Man in the middle Not Likely Above is the risk matrix of threats that exist in many organizations. This includes their likeliness of occurrence and their level of impact of the attack. Vulnerabilities The OPM allows information systems to operate indefinitely without been subjected to a strict security controls assessment. The FISMA requirements, OMB policies and applicable NIST guidelines have not been followed through appropriately such as dated system inventory which includes the organization and contractor-operated systems. The Risk Assessment Matrix below shows the threat source, threat action likelihood of occurrence and the impact of the vulnerabilities involved. Vulnerability Threat Source Threat action Likelihood of occurrence Impact/s OPM applications do not require PIV authentication Unauthorized users and terminated employees Dialing into the companys database and access of critical information. Very high Loss of crucial data, loss of revenues through litigation expenses in case this information is misused. Unsupported software Terminated employees, Hackers and computer criminals Getting into the system using the unsupported software or any other software Very high This may lead to loss of sensitive files from the system of the company. Lack of annual assessment of its systems Unauthorized users, hackers and computer criminals Accessing the database of the company through hacking or any other way such as getting used to the pattern Very high Remote access of the data which may lead to the access of the data. Impact assessments for exploitation of security weaknesses The weakness of security makes the OPM exposed to data loss. The evaluation shows that OPM does not have a process to record or track security status making the process vulnerable. This also showed the need for OCIO to centrally track the current status of security weakness. Remediation On performance standards, systems owners had to be modified to fit the FISMA compliance systems. These were few remediation forwarded among others. OIG recommends that the OCIO develop and maintain a comprehensive inventory of all servers, databases, and network devices that reside on the OPM network. All active systems in OPMs inventory must have a complete and current Authorization. OPM must ensure that an annual test of security controls has been completed for all systems. Use of Access control is very important in making sure that access to information in the system is controlled. The use of passwords and usernames help the organization protect private data from landing the hands of authorized personnel. This technique is important in protection against threats like spoofing, packet hijacking, malicious codes and many others. RDBMS help in making the transactions within the systems quite efficient and effective because they provide the ACID tests that provide security to the transactions. The use of transaction logs also helps in tracking the changes that are made to the database. Firewall log files help in protecting the transaction within the system secure from attacks. Cryptography also applies complex mathematics and logic to design high-end encryption methods that allows system administrators to maintain confidence of the clients in the organizations operations. People are assured that their data is kept private using cryptography and very important in making sure that the database transactions are kept secured and lock out the attackers (Filipek Hudec, 2015). Cost/benefit analyses of remediation The OPM is working to improve their comprehensive security control system that will, later on, need periodic system authorization. Even though it may cost the organization high to have this work, it will be a win due to the security threats and vulnerabilities they face. Proper governance is needed to proactively implement cost-effective controls to protect critical information systems that support the mission and changing the risk management. High-level plan of action with interim milestones (POAM) The action was done through auditing standards accepted by the government. The standards requirement includes the systems that allows efficient auditing in order to extract sufficient informations and conclusion on any activities in the network. Considering OPM, internal controls were examined for various systems which had varying degrees of computer generated data. Summary This is a report on OPM Authorization program have concluded that OPM has not substantially defined the roles and responsibilities of all positions of the IT management structure. With the existent threats and vulnerabilities, there have been significant improvements to the monitoring program. REFERENCES Catteddu, D., Hogben, G. (2013). Cloud computing risk assessment: benefits, risks and recommendations for information security, ENISA report. Filipek, J., Hudec, L. (2015, June). Distributed firewall and cryptography using PKI in mobile Ad Hoc networks. In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies (pp. 292-298). ACM.

Experiencing Four Major World Religions First Hand Essay -- Islam, B

The nine-sided building and the surrounding gardens give the impression of the world view of the Baha’i faith. A component of the Baha’i world view is that all religions come from a common source. The site conveyed that unity among all religions and people is an additional view of the Baha’i. The arrangement of the house of worship, and the gardens conveyed the idea of unity. The nine sides of the house of worship, and the surrounding gardens represent that all people no matter their religion, race, or gender are welcome at this site to practice their religion. Furthermore, it also gave the impression of the view of all religions having a common source, God. Specifically, the house of worship could represent God, and the nine sides, may represent the nine major world religions, or the idea that all people are united through God. In addition, the house of worship contains symbols on the pillars of the structure. These symbols are of the nine major world religions, for example; symbols include the Christian cross, Judaism Star of David, and the nine-pointed star, which is the symbol of the Baha’i faith. These symbols on the pillars represent unity among all religions, and the idea that all the religions come from a common source, God. Information provided in the handout, video, and by the representative was quite similar to the impression given by the site itself. The representative of the Baha’i faith specifically talked about how all religions have a common source. The video, handout, and the representative explained that God revealed himself in different manifestations in different time periods. God gave the teachings for a certain time period, and then when a new time period came God revealed himself as a different manifestat... ...gion. One thing that I did not know about was the artifact with a staircase and raised platform. According to Gardner’s Art through the Ages Non-Western Perspective by Fred Kleiner, this structure is called a minbar, and it serves as a pulpit for the imam to stand on, and this is where he would speak. An imam is the leader of prayer according to Living Religions by Mary Pat Fisher. Having the opportunity to visit four different religious sights resulted in gaining new insight. However, some of the information presented was similar to my previous understandings of the religions. It was interesting to hear followers of the different religions speak about their beliefs. Overall, visiting the Buddhist temple, Sikh Religious Society, Turkish Society of Chicago, and The Baha’i House of Worship made me reconsider my previous thoughts about each of the religions.

The Holocaust :: essays research papers

Hitler had a plan to ?purify? Germany in order to fulfill his vision of a perfect nation.In Mein Kampf, a book written by Adolf Hitler which explains his ambitions and explains how he wants to cleanse Germany of all Jews, communists, gypsies, homosexuals, and disabled people. Hitler had targeted specifically the Jewish population because of his hatred towards them. In World War Two, around 6 million Jews were persecuted by the Nazis. Firstly, in 1935, the Nazi Party passed the Nuremberg Laws, which were designed to stop Jews and Germans from marrying, to make sure that German blood was not tainted by mixing with other races, and produced pictures warning people about what could happen. People were ?warned? about which shop belonged to the Jews and were discouraged to buy any goods from Jewish stores. It was conspicuous that this racist law passed by Hitler was very degradingly towards the Jews. Despite that most people were not ignorant and knew this was wrong, no one dared to oppose the Nazis due to fear. Anyone that opposed the Nazis was to be shot. Hitler realized that this was not effective enough in order to achieve his goal. The Nazis had a meeting to discuss more efficient ways to eradicate the Jews. In 1938, the situation took a more serious turn for the worst. Called the night of Broken Glass, the Nazis started to use violence against the Jews. Jewish shops, churches, and other buildings were openly attacked. People became subjected to violence. It would lead to the start of more systematic violence. The violence escalated to the pinicle of the tragedy that the Jews experienced, the Holocaust. From 1939 onwards, Jews were rounded up. They were forced to move out of their homes. Jews started getting sent t o areas in cities designed only for them.

Appearances do not mean everything :: Literary Analysis, Pride and Prejudice

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen satirizes the roles and ideas of women. Taking place in the Victorian age, men saw women as stoic beings that would always agree with them, and they saw women through their eyes. Men were only interested in how a woman looked, then realized after their marriage that there was more than looks to a woman. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet did not have a perfect marriage. Since their marriage was not such an optimal marriage, their daughters lacked many qualities women should have. Mr. Bennet’s belief in appearances being the only important thing in a marriage differs from Elizabeth’s opinion on marriage because she understands the burden of being a woman who must get married. Mr. Bennet acts like every person did in the Victorian age: He acted through his eyes, only looking at appearances, instead of his heart. â€Å"Captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (202). He did not fully know Mrs. Bennet until after they were married. â€Å"†¦whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her† (202). Because of his mistake of not fully getting to know Mrs. Bennet before their marriage they do not connect anymore because of her lack of knowledge compared to Mr. Bennet. â€Å"Respect, esteem, and confidence had vanished forever, and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown† (202). Proving his point of lack of affection towards Mrs. Bennet, he also losses respect for her and it results in the lack happiness in their marriage. Mr. Bennet’s love of reading a nd the country he spends the majority of his time dedicated to them. Since he is so fond of his hobbies, Mrs. Bennet regards him as â€Å"very little otherwise indebted than as her ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement,† which is not the greatest gift a man can give a woman (202). She knows that she is not too smart and very cultured as Mr. Bennet thinks himself to be and comments on his lack of attention to her. Elizabeth, unknowing of her father’s behavior as a husband, saw her parent’s marriage â€Å"with pain† (202). Her repression of her father’s behavior cloaks her feelings because of â€Å"his affectionate treatment to herself† (202). Appearances do not mean everything :: Literary Analysis, Pride and Prejudice In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen satirizes the roles and ideas of women. Taking place in the Victorian age, men saw women as stoic beings that would always agree with them, and they saw women through their eyes. Men were only interested in how a woman looked, then realized after their marriage that there was more than looks to a woman. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet did not have a perfect marriage. Since their marriage was not such an optimal marriage, their daughters lacked many qualities women should have. Mr. Bennet’s belief in appearances being the only important thing in a marriage differs from Elizabeth’s opinion on marriage because she understands the burden of being a woman who must get married. Mr. Bennet acts like every person did in the Victorian age: He acted through his eyes, only looking at appearances, instead of his heart. â€Å"Captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (202). He did not fully know Mrs. Bennet until after they were married. â€Å"†¦whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her† (202). Because of his mistake of not fully getting to know Mrs. Bennet before their marriage they do not connect anymore because of her lack of knowledge compared to Mr. Bennet. â€Å"Respect, esteem, and confidence had vanished forever, and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown† (202). Proving his point of lack of affection towards Mrs. Bennet, he also losses respect for her and it results in the lack happiness in their marriage. Mr. Bennet’s love of reading a nd the country he spends the majority of his time dedicated to them. Since he is so fond of his hobbies, Mrs. Bennet regards him as â€Å"very little otherwise indebted than as her ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement,† which is not the greatest gift a man can give a woman (202). She knows that she is not too smart and very cultured as Mr. Bennet thinks himself to be and comments on his lack of attention to her. Elizabeth, unknowing of her father’s behavior as a husband, saw her parent’s marriage â€Å"with pain† (202). Her repression of her father’s behavior cloaks her feelings because of â€Å"his affectionate treatment to herself† (202).

School of Athens by Raphael Analization

The School Of Athens by Raphael Nii Teiko Tagoe 9/11/12 LBTS 1105 The School of Athens by Raphael is a painting that really relates to classical philosophy and humanism. It is one of the greatest paintings in the high Renaissance, and it was painted in one of the greatest most extraordinarily decorated rooms in the Vatican, the name of the room was the Stanza della Segnatura. † The school of Athens† was painted by Raphael between 1508 and 1511, and it was right around the time Michelangelo was painting the 16th chapel.One of the things that makes this painting so special is that â€Å"The School of Athens† represents all the greatest mathematicians, philosophers and scientists from classical antiquity gathered together sharing their ideas and learning from each other. These figures all lived at different times, but here they are gathered together under one roof. The painting consists of generic and geometric shapes there is a good balance of both in the painting.On e of the first things that stand out to me is all the decoration that is surrounding the fresco in the painting and also the monochromatic sculptures at the base that are supporting the fresco. When you look close to the painting you can see that it was done in a one point perspective, the vanishing point and the horizon line run right through the center of the picture and sort of terminate behind the two central figures heads, and those two are Plato and Aristotle. The vanishing point almost divides the painting into two as its right in the middle of those two figures.The only place that I see a two point perspective being used in this painting is the block of stone on the floor that Michelangelo is leaning on. I also see some illusionism giving a sense of space going on as pertaining to the use of one point perspective, through the floors and the coffers and the celling. The use of simulated and actual texture and repetition in these areas also help create some of these illusions. There are different elements used, such as line, texture and repetition that helps strengthen Raphael’s painting.Overall Raphael’s use of warm colors in most areas of the painting could be looked at symbolically, such as the use of red demonstrating wisdom and power as it is used on the main figures in the painting. The colors in general are light but not too bight to keep a sense of seriousness in the painting. The warm light is focused more on the people in the back, and shadow is slightly casted upon the figures towards the front. Raphael used chiaroscuro to show underlying body structure in each of the figures and to also show and create depth and shape in the painting. he painting overall has a lot of analogous color schemes going on, with the characters, and the same analogous color scheme going on with the walls, the windows the floors and the back ground in general. But the color scheme in the characters pertaining to the background is complimentary when it co mes to certain figures. Overall this is a wonderful piece of art and Raphael did a great job over all of depicting each individual character and brings life into them in the painting.

A Haunted House

â€Å"Here we left it,† she said. And he added, â€Å"Oh, but here tool† â€Å"It's upstairs,† she murmured. â€Å"And in the garden,† he whispered. â€Å"Quietly,† they said, â€Å"or we shall wake them.† But it wasn't that you woke us. Oh, no. â€Å"They're looking for it; they're drawing the curtain,† one might say, and so read on a page or two. â€Å"Now they've found it,' one would be certain, stopping the pencil on the margin. And then, tired of reading, one might rise and see for oneself, the house all empty, the doors standing open, only the wood pigeons bubbling with content and the hum of the threshing machine sounding from the farm. â€Å"What did I come in here for? What did I want to find?† My hands were empty. â€Å"Perhaps its upstairs then?† The apples were in the loft. And so down again, the garden still as ever, only the book had slipped into the grass. But they had found it in the drawing room. Not that one could ever see them. The windowpanes reflected apples, reflected roses; all the leaves were green in the glass. If they moved in the drawing room, the apple only turned its yellow side. Yet, the moment after, if the door was opened, spread about the floor, hung upon the walls, pendant from the ceiling–what? My hands were empty. The shadow of a thrush crossed the carpet; from the deepest wells of silence the wood pigeon drew its bubble of sound. â€Å"Safe, safe, safe† the pulse of the house beat softly. â€Å"The treasure buried; the room . . .† the pulse stopped short. Oh, was that the buried treasure? A moment later the light had faded. Out in the garden then? But the trees spun darkness for a wandering beam of sun. So fine, so rare, coolly sunk beneath the surface the beam I sought always burned behind the glass. Death was the glass; death was between us, coming to the woman first, hundreds of years ago, leaving the house, sealing all the windows; the rooms were darkened. He left it, left her, went North, went East, saw the stars turned in the Southern sky; sought the house, found it dropped beneath the Downs. â€Å"Safe, safe, safe,† the pulse of the house beat gladly. ‘The Treasure yours.† The wind roars up the avenue. Trees stoop and bend this way and that. Moonbeams splash and spill wildly in the rain. But the beam of the lamp falls straight from the window. The candle burns stiff and still. Wandering through the house, opening the windows, whispering not to wake us, the ghostly couple seek their joy. â€Å"Here we slept,† she says. And he adds, â€Å"Kisses without number.† â€Å"Waking in the morning–† â€Å"Silver between the trees–† â€Å"Upstairs–† ‘In the garden–† â€Å"When summer came–† ‘In winter snowtime–† â€Å"The doors go shutting far in the distance, gently knocking like the pulse of a heart. Nearer they come, cease at the doorway. The wind falls, the rain slides silver down the glass. Our eyes darken, we hear no steps beside us; we see no lady spread her ghostly cloak. His hands shield the lantern. â€Å"Look,† he breathes. â€Å"Sound asleep. Love upon their lips.† Stooping, holding their silver lamp above us, long they look and deeply. Long they pause. The wind drives straightly; the flame stoops slightly. Wild beams of moonlight cross both floor and wall, and, meeting, stain the faces bent; the faces pondering; the faces that search the sleepers and seek their hidden joy. â€Å"Safe, safe, safe,† the heart of the house beats proudly. â€Å"Long years–† he sighs. â€Å"Again you found me.† â€Å"Here,† she murmurs, â€Å"sleeping; in the garden reading; laughing, rolling apples in the loft. Here we left our treasure–† Stooping, their light lifts the lids upon my eyes. â€Å"Safe! safe! safe!† the pulse of the house beats wildly. Waking, I cry â€Å"Oh, is this your buried treasure? The light in the heart.†

Kant Ethics Essay

Introduction Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher born in 1724 and died in 1804. He is considered one of the most influential people on modern philosophy for his intensive research in the subject. This paper will discuss various articles written by Kant and analyze his thoughts on deeds that are right and deeds that are morally wrong. It will finally discuss importance of motives and duty of morality as illustrated by Kant’s work. Discussion Kant believed that there is no good that can emerge from the world apart from a good will (Kant, 1998). He said that without good will, qualities that are good and desirable become useless. This is because the person yielding these qualities may at times lack the fundamental will to implement and portray them. He called this lack of good will as bad character. He continued to say that when good will is not present, then Power, honor, health and the overall welfare, contentment and happiness will usually mess with the mind of the person and they will start pretending and believing lies created in their mind. Good will, according to Kant, can be facilitated by application of various qualities. However, these qualities may have no inherent absolute value, but constantly presume a good will, which succeeds the esteem that we simply have for them, not permitting us to consider them as extremely good. He attempted to identify the primary maxims of motives, which people are required to achieve. Kant did not base his opinions on claims about any subjective perception of the good, preferences, moral beliefs or regularly shared desires that people may have. Kant also recognized good will as the only absolute good; he refused to accept that the notion of good will could be established by referring to a tangible good. He believed that nothing could be a moral principle, if it was not initially a principle for everyone. According to Kant, morality starts with the denial of non-globalized principles. This idea was devised as a demand, which Kant termed as the Moral Law. He grouped the maxims in a manner that mediators could refer as â€Å"acting on the only adage that one can, and likewise will, just like an international law†. To clarify the point, Kant gave an example of an agent who gives false promises. He adds to this by saying that the agent’s action in this case does not fit to be termed as an international law. He explains that if the agent was hypothetical, then he would take part in the final outcome and this would make him stop his behavior of giving false promises (Kant, 2009). It is therefore clear that the principle of giving false promises cannot be categorized under universally shared principles. According to Kant, the principle of repudiating false promises is vital and the maxim of giving false morally forbidden. Kant is different from many utilitarian’s who regard false promises as wrong due to their adverse effects. He considers this principle as wrong since it cannot be used internationally. Kant identified two ethical modes of assessment, one of them being the fact that human beings have a high probability of evaluating the maxims adopted by agents. He asserted that if human beings had the capacity of evaluating such maxims, then principles with moral worth would come into being, since humans could decline immoral principles. He stated, â€Å"Those who accept principles that are not universal, have principles that are morally unworthy†. He considered those holding morally worth policies as working out of duty and said that human beings lack knowledge concerning the maxims of one another. Kant added to this by saying that people usually deduce the underlying principles or maxims of agents from the pattern of their actions, though no pattern identifies a unique principle. He gave the example of a genuinely honest shopkeeper by saying that his actions are not different from those of a shopkeeper who is reluctantly honest. Kant said that both shopkeepers deal justly out of an aspiration for a good reputation in business and would cheat if given the opportunity. Thus for common reasons, human beings usually do more than is of their concern with outer compliance to principles of duty, instead of paying attention to claims that an action was done out of such a principle. Kant discussed the relationship between principles of morality and people’s real inclinations and desires (Mac Intyre, 1981). He built the political insinuations of Categorical Imperative, which consists of constitution of the republic and value for freedom, particularly of speech and religion. He linked this with individual happiness which according to him can indirectly be viewed as an obligation. This is because one’s dissatisfaction with the wants of another might turn out to be a great lure to the wrongdoing of duty (O’Neill, 1991). He viewed this from another perspective and claimed that most men possess the strongest tendency to happiness. At this point, Kant gave the example of a gouty patient, who can make a choice of what he likes, and endure whatever suffering that comes with it. If he does this, he does not forego enjoying the present time to a probably wrong expectation of happiness believed to be experienced in good health (Kant, 1994). Kant states that, â€Å"an action from duty has its moral worth not in the aim that is supposed to be attained by it, but rather in the maxim in accordance with which it is resolved upon; thus that worth depends not on the actuality of the object of the action but merely on the principle of the volition† (O’Neill, 1991). The moral worth of a deed does not lie in the result anticipated from it, nor in the action or maxim which needs to make use of its intention from the expected result. In relation to the discussed effects, the endorsement of other people’s happiness could be caused by other reasons (Beck, 1960). Conclusion Significance of motives and the role of duty in morality Motives can either be of good or bad intentions. They often influence one’s roles of duty. The morality of duty is relative to the law and is therefore compared to the morality of religion. It, therefore, does not criticize man for not making full use of his life or by not doing good. He states that, â€Å"There is nothing possible to think of anywhere in the world, or indeed anything at all outside it, that can be held to be good without limitation, excepting only a good will† (O’Neill, 1991). Instead, it criticizes man for not respecting the fundamental principles and necessities required in life. A good example is the moral rule that man should not kill, since this does not have much to do with aspiration but the recognition that if one kills, he has not realized his duty of morality. I do not agree with Kant on the importance of motives and the role of duty in morality. This is because Kant only points out principles of ethics, but the same principles are so abstract that they can’t guide motives. Thus, his theory of the role of duty in morality is not motivating. He does not also give a full set of instructions to be followed. Kant lays emphasis on the appliance of maxims to cases that involve deliberation and judgment. He does insist that maxims must be abstract which can only guide individual decisions. The moral life is all about finding ways of good motives that meet all the obligations and breach no moral prohibitions. There is no procedure for identifying any motives. However, the role of duty in morality begins by ensuring that the precise acts that people bear in mind are not in line with deeds on principles of duty. References Beck, L. W. (1960). A Commentary on Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kant, I. (1998). Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kant, I. (2009). Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals. London: Thomas Kings mill Abbot. Kant, I. (1994). On a Supposed Right to Lie from Altruistic Motives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. O’Neill, O. (1991). Kantian Ethics. In A Companion to Ethics. Blackwell: Oxford. MacIntyre, A. (1981). After Virtue. London: Duckworth.

Facebook: Friend or Foe? Essay

On September 7, 2012, Amanda Todd posted a 9-minute YouTube video entitled â€Å"My Story: Struggling, Bullying, Suicide and Self Harm,† which showed her using flash cards to reveal her experiences of being bullied. During the video, Amanda writes that when she was in seventh grade, she once used video chat to meet new people over the Internet and soon began receiving compliments on her looks. A stranger convinced Amanda to flash her breasts on camera. The stranger later blackmailed her with threats to expose the topless photo to her friends unless she gave a â€Å"show†. She refused. She would never make that mistake again. Amanda Todd wrote that during the next Christmas break, police informed her at four am that the photo was circulating the Internet. Amanda wrote that she experienced anxiety, depression, and panic disorder because of this. Her family moved to a new home, where she later stated that she began using drugs and alcohol. A year later, the stranger had reappeared, creating a Facebook profile which used the topless photograph as the profile image, and contacting classmates at her new school. Once again she was being bullied, eventually causing her to change schools for the second time. With more bullying and an actual attack, she attempted suicide by drinking bleach, but was rushed to hospital to have her stomach pumped. After returning home, Amanda discovered abusive messages about her failed suicide attempt posted to Facebook. Once again, her family moved to another city to start fresh, but Todd was unable to escape Facebook and her first unfortunate error. Six months later further messages and abuse were still being posted to social networking sites. She started to get worse, and began cutting herself. Despite taking anti-depressants and receiving counseling, she overdosed and spent two days in the hospital. She was teased by other students at her school for her low grades, and the time she spent in the hospital to treat her severe depression. On October 10, 2012 at about six PM, Amanda Todd hung herself at home. So is Facebook a friend or a foe? Teens often don’t realize that bullying over the computer is the same as bullying in person. The harmless â€Å"joke† can be taken much, much worse because of the huge audience and the unclear tone of Facebook posts. Although Facebook can be a good source for meeting friends, spreading information, and changing peoples opinions, it can also be very harmful. Facebook can encourage cyber-bullying, make people become anti-social, and distract people from finishing other tasks. On the positive side, Facebook is another way for people to connect with new friends, old friends, and family. According to the pro and cons website on social networking, seventy percent of adult social networking users visit the site to connect with friends and family. Fifty-two percent of teens say that using social media has helped improve their relationships with friends and eighty-eight percent believe that social media have helped them stay connected with friends they can not see regularly. Despite the fact that Facebook and social media sites have many positive sides, it has its bad sides as well. Facebook users are starting to get more and more addicted each day. According to an article from WebMD, in a 2009 survey of 1,030 parents, Rosen and colleagues found out that children and teens had spent more time engaged in media (online and offline) had more anxiety, more stomachaches, and more sick days from school. In teens, the time spent playing video games also led to poorer health. In another ongoing survey of teens and adults, Rosen found that spending more time than average on Facebook was associated with signs of narcissism, anxiety, and bipolar disorder on a standard psychological test. In another 2011 study, 279 middle school, high school, and university students lost focus for an average of three minutes for every fifteen minutes spent studying or doing another task. Checking Facebook just once during the fifteen minute period was associated with lower grades. Not only does Facebook cause lower grades, it also can ruin someones self-esteem. Facebook users feel as if they need to know if something important is happening, and by doing their work, they feel like they might miss out on something big. The New York Times released an article in April of 2011 that talked about FOMO, which stands for â€Å"the fear of missing out.† This mostly occurs when seeing Facebook statuses and photos posted by friends, questioning the event, wondering â€Å"Why wasn’t I there?† or â€Å"How come I didn’t know this was happening?† Sometimes it’s not just a specific event that throws us off, but just scrolling through a friends profile and noticing how much â€Å"better† his or her life appears. Facebook adds negative social comparisons and FOMO, which puts a sense of regret and a heavy weight on self-esteem. As social networking sites become more and more popular, its users have expanded from teens to young adults, to even people over fifty. As you can see with Amanda Todd’s story, many people use social networking sites for the wrong reasons. People can be whoever they want to be, but some do use it for the right reasons, as for example connecting with family they haven’t seen in a while, or catching up with long-distance friends. Is Facebook a place where people can connect and have conversations about things that truly matter to them? Is it a place where you can express yourself without fear of judgement? Or is it a place for status updates that aren’t true, photoshopped profile pictures, and cyber-bullying disguised as humor? So what do you think? Is Facebook a friend or a foe?