A Comparison of Nursing Education Essay

A career in nursing has many possibilities and depending on where one is employed there may be different educational requirements. There are many nurses in the workforce with only their associate’s degree in nursing, but as time passes it seems that the baccalaureate degree is becoming more of an expectation. This brings up the question- is there a difference in the competency of the associate-level nurse from the baccalaureate-level nurse? Studies are showing that there is a difference and patient outcomes are affected by this difference. Differences between the Associate Degree in Nursing and the Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing In order to compare the competencies between nurses prepared at the associate-degree level versus the baccalaureate-degree level, one must first compare the requirements to obtain these degrees. The Associate’s Degree in Nursing, abbreviated ADN, is a two-year degree usually earned through a community college. It requires 60 credit hours to complete and upon completion the graduate can apply for licensure through the state in which they will practice. The Bachelors of Science in Nursing, also called BSN, is a four-year degree obtained at a university. It includes the same areas of study and has the same license upon completion of the NCLEX as the ADN nurse, but delves further into nursing theory as well as pathophysiology and technical skills. Many employers require the bachelor’s degree for higher positions in nursing such as clinical managers and nurse specialists. Differences in competencies between nurses prepared at the associate-degree level versus the baccalaureate-degree level As explained above the bachelor’s degree in nursing requires two more years of education and a much deeper study of nursing theory and pathophysiology than the associate’s degree. The question is does this extra education and focus on nursing theory make a BSN nurse more competent than an ADN nurse. Research suggests there is a significant effect of nurse experience and a significant effect of the percentage of BSN nurses in each hospital (Kendall-Gallagher, Aiken, Sloane &Cimiotti, 2011) in regards to better patient outcomes. To understand the difference one must look at the basic nursing process and how knowledge of nursing theory and pathophysiology affects it. The basic process taught in nursing school in providing patient care is assessment, plan, intervention and evaluation. Assessment is one the first things a nursing student learns. The associate-level and bachelor-level nurse will both have learned this skill in the very first days of nursing school. Both nurses will also be competent with the last step, evaluation of the interventions. The advantage a BSN nurse will have lies in the middle two steps- plan and intervention. The plan and interventions a nurse provides is affected by their decision-making skills and this is based on their education. Plan and Intervention To determine a patient’s plan of care, one looks at the abnormal assessments and then uses their knowledge of pathophysiology to determine the plan of care. While the BSN nurse will not necessarily have more clinical hours in assessing the patient, they will have taken more classes in pathophysiology than the ADN nurse and therefore may notice a disease process more readily than the ADN nurse. This is where the interventions will occur. Interventions are determined by the nurse based on their decision-making skills. Decision-Making Skills Nursing is a field in which one is given a great amount of autonomy. Therefore much of a patient’s care is affected by a nurse’s decision-making skills. One’s ability to make decisions is affected by many things including past experiences, environment and education. The focus here is education and how the additional study for the BSN affects nurses’ decision-making skills. The BSN nurse will have studied pathophysiology and nursing theory in greater depth than the ADN nurse. This extra knowledge is then applied to the decisions a nurse makes for their patient. These decisions have a great impact on patient outcomes and recent studies have indicated that there is decreased morbidity, mortality, and failure-to-rescue rates in hospitals that employ larger percentages of baccalaureate prepared nurses (Altman, 2011). Effect of baccalaureate-degree level nurses on patient outcomes In the acute situation the BSN nurse can use their knowledge of pathophysiology in addition to their decision-making skills to decrease morbidity and mortality. Taking into account the greater picture, a more holistic approach based on the BSN nurse’s familiarity with nursing theory, will improve patient outcomes. For example let’s look at a hospital admission for a congestive heart failure exacerbation. Both the ADN and BSN nurse will assess the patient and notice classic signs like shortness of breath and edema. Both nurses will plan on diuresis and paying close attention to respiratory status. The difference will come with the holistic approach that a BSN nurse is more likely to take. The emphasis on the nursing theories that a BSN nurse has studied will allow them to look at the patient as a whole, rather than dealing with only stabilization of symptoms. The knowledge of nursing theory the BSN nurse has will allow them to delve further into why this patient admitted and what they can do to prevent a readmission. The BSN nurse asks questions as to what caused the exacerbation. It may be that the patient needs more teaching on diet and medication compliance. They will ask the patient about their home situation. It’s possible the patient is having financial burdens that have kept them from filling their prescriptions. The BSN nurse is more likely to look at the home situation. The patient may have depression with the diagnosis and need some resources for social support. In regards to King’s theory, nursing’s central goal is to help individuals maintain their health so that they can function in their roles (Creasia, 180). By helping the patient function in their role, the nurse empowers the patient to lead a healthier life. The patient is sent home educated with the resources needed to lead a healthy life and therefore reduces unnecessary hospital admissions. This in turn allows the space available for hospital admissions that are necessary and leads to a healthier community . REFERENCES Altmann, Tanya K. (2011). Registered nurses returning to school for a bachelors degree in nursing: Issues emerging from a meta-analysis of the research. Contemporary Nurse: A Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession, 39, (2): 256-72. Creasia, J; Friberg, E. (2011). Conceptual Foundations: The Bridge to Professional Nursing Practice. (5th Edition). St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby, Inc., an affiliate of Elsevier Inc. Kendall-Gallagher, Deborah; Aiken, Linda H.; Sloane, Douglas M.; Cimiotti, Jeannie P. (2011). Nurse Specialty Certification, Inpatient Mortality, and Failure to Rescue. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 43, 188-94.

The Importance of Media

Media has become almost as necessary as food and clothing in the twenty-first century. The meritorious role that a media plays in regenerating the society is undeniable. Various media are prevailing. Media has the duty to inform, educate and entertain human being. News channels and some newspapers are mouthpieces of some social issues, which help us to estimate the realities of lives. They also put their lives in danger during natural disasters and wars just to apprise people of the situation. Information and awareness are spread in the society partly because of the media.The media has shaped and completed people’s lives in this century. Media’s primary task is to inform people, which is related to the form of the government. For example, in a democratic society, one should be aware of the circumstance that is going on around the world. A modern society cannot work without the media, which acts as an agent between public and state. Information as a main task of media so unds basic; however, it is not as simple as it sounds. Information is always balancing between subjectivity and objectivity. On the one hand, media has to warn about all events and keep information neutral.On the other hand, media should also be a podium for groups and organizations that are not predominant. Lastly, media should regulate and criticize not only political parties but also society. Concerning these functions, a variety of media is essential for the correspondence of the world. The role of media in education is evident today by the numbers of computer labs, television sets and libraries that have become part of curriculum in schools. Media comes in different forms and each affects the way students interpret and learn information.Media has brought globalization; as a result, students from different universities and countries are associated through manageable internet connection. As technology become less expensive over the last couple of decades, media has found its way into homes and businesses throughout the world for means such as gathering information, communication, distance learning, etc. Most students do not know what life was like without media because schools are preparing students for efficacious participation in a technological society. Entertainment has a forceful influence on people.This influence of the entertainment industry has grown excessively over the past decades due to the advancement of technology. Entertainment is mostly available through the media which includes: the television, magazines, newspaper, radio, and internet. The influence of entertainment on young generation affects the way they behave, dress, and talk because the current generation depends on entertainment as a form of communication and information. People, therefore, turn to entertainment for daily activities. The media are the place where most people get the latest facts and news on remarkable concerns.The entertainment industry has affected the upcoming gene ration views and expression of culture. Mass media have tremendous effects on our daily life, whether one wants it or not. The media affects people’s perspective not only through television, but also through newspaper and magazines. Consequently, information about the world and the current century come to mind from diverse destiny of media. They can even be turned to benefit by provoking the understanding and articulation of what one believes. Media is among the wonders of the twenty-first century as it interprets coordinated reports repeatedly to millions of audiences.

The Stupidest Angel Chapter 1

This book is dedicated to MIKE SPRADLIN who said: â€Å"You know, you oughtta write a Christmas book.† To which I replied: â€Å"What kind of Christmas book?† To which he replied: â€Å"I don't know. Maybe Christmas in Pine Cove or something.† To which I replied: † ‘Kay.† Acknowledgments The author wishes to acknowledge those who helped: as always, Nicholas Ellison, my intrepid agent; Jennifer Brehl, my brilliant editor; Lisa Gallagher and Michael Morrison for continued confidence in my ability to tell stories; Jack Womack and Leslie Cohen for getting me in front of my readers and the press; the Huffmans, for preparing a landing pad and a warm welcome; Charlee Rodgers, for the careful reads, thoughtful comments, and just putting up with the process; and finally, Taco Bob, from whom I joyfully (and with permission, which almost ruins it) swiped the idea for chapter 16. Author's Warning If you're buying this book as a gift for your grandma or a kid, you should be aware that it contains cusswords as well as tasteful depictions of cannibalism and people in their forties having sex. Don't blame me. I told you. Chapter 1 CHRISTMAS CREEPS Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing: dragging garland, ribbon, and sleigh bells, oozing eggnog, reeking of pine, and threatening festive doom like a cold sore under the mistletoe. Pine Cove, her pseudo-Tudor architecture all tarted up in holiday quaintage – twinkle lights in all the trees along Cypress Street, fake snow blown into the corner of every shop's windows, miniature Santas and giant candles hovering illuminated beneath every streetlight – opened to the droves of tourists from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Central Valley searching for a truly meaningful moment of Christmas commerce. Pine Cove, sleepy California coastal village – a toy town, really, with more art galleries than gas stations, more wine-tasting rooms than hardware stores – lay there, as inviting as a drunken prom queen, as Christmas loomed, only five days away. Christmas was coming, and with Christmas this year, would come the Child. Both were vast and irresistible, and miraculous. Pine Cove was expecting only one of the two. Which is not to say that the locals didn't get into the Christmas spirit. The two weeks before and after Christmas provided a welcome wave of cash into the town's coffers, tourist-starved since summer. Every waitress dusted off her Santa hat and clip-on reindeer antlers and checked to make sure that there were four good pens in her apron. Hotel clerks steeled themselves for the rage of last-minute overbookings, while housekeepers switched from their normal putrid baby-powder air fresheners to a more festive putrid pine and cinnamon. Down at the Pine Cove Boutique they put a â€Å"Holiday Special† sign on the hideous reindeer sweater and marked it up for the tenth consecutive year. The Elks, Moose, Masons, and VFWs, who were basically the same bunch of drunk old guys, planned furiously for their annual Christmas parade down Cypress Street, the theme of which this year would be Patriotism in the Bed of a Pickup (mainly because that had been the theme of their Fourth of July para de and everyone still had the decorations). Many Pine Covers even volunteered to man the Salvation Army kettles down in front of the post office and the Thrifty-Mart in two-hour shifts, sixteen hours a day. Dressed in their red suits and fake beards, they rang their bells like they were going for dog-spit gold at the Pavlov Olympics. â€Å"Give up the cash, you cheap son of a bitch,† said Lena Marquez, who was working the kettle that Monday, five days before Christmas. Lena was following Dale Pearson, Pine Cove's evil developer, through the parking lot, ringing the bejeezus out of him as he headed for his truck. On his way into the Thrifty-Mart, he'd nodded to her and said, â€Å"Catch you on the way out,† but when he emerged eight minutes later, carrying a sack of groceries and a bag of ice, he blew by her kettle like she was using it to render tallow from building inspectors' butts and he needed to escape the stench. â€Å"It's not like you can't afford a couple of bucks for the less fortunate.† She rang her bell especially hard right by his ear and he spun around, swinging the bag of ice at her about hip level. Lena jumped back. She was thirty-eight, lean, dark-skinned, with the delicate neck and finely set jawline of a flamenco dancer; her long black hair was coiled into two Princess Leia cinnabuns on either side of her Santa hat. â€Å"You can't take a swing at Santa! That's wrong in so many ways that I don't have time to enumerate them.† â€Å"You mean to count them,† Dale said, the soft winter sunlight glinting off a new set of veneers he'd just had installed on his front teeth. He was fifty-two, almost completely bald, and had strong carpenter's shoulders that were still wide and square, despite the beer gut hanging below. â€Å"I mean it's wrong – you're wrong – and you're cheap,† and with that Lena put the bell next to his ear again and shook it like a red-suited terrier shaking the life out of a screaming brass rat. Dale cringed at the sound and swung the ten-pound bag of ice in a great underhanded arc that caught Lena in the solar plexus and sent her backpedaling across the parking lot, gasping for breath. That's when the ladies at BULGES called the cops – well, cop. BULGES was a women's fitness center located just above the parking lot of the Thrifty-Mart, and from their treadmills and stair-climbing machines, the BULGES members could watch the ins and outs of the local market without feeling as if they were actively spying. So what had started as a moment of sheer glee and a mild adrenaline surge for the six of them who were watching as Lena chased Dale through the parking lot, turned quickly to shock as the evil developer thwacked the Latin Santa-ette in the breadbasket with a satchel of minicubes. Five of the six merely missed a step or gasped, but Georgia Bauman – who had her treadmill cranked up to eight miles per hour at that very moment, because she was trying to lose fifteen pounds by Christmas and fit into a red-sequined sheath cocktail dress her husband had bought for her in a fit of sexual idealism – bowled backward off her treadmill and landed in a colorful spandex tangle of yoga students who had been practicing on the mats behind her. â€Å"Ow, my ass chakra!† â€Å"That's you're root chakra.† â€Å"Feels like my ass.† â€Å"Did you see that? He nearly knocked her off her feet. Poor thing.† â€Å"Should we see if she's all right?† â€Å"Someone should call Theo.† The exercisers opened their cell phones in unison, like the Jets flicking switchblades as they gaily danced into a West Side Story gang-fight to the death. â€Å"Why did she ever marry that guy, anyway?† â€Å"He's such an asshole.† â€Å"She used to drink.† â€Å"Georgia, are you all right, honey?† â€Å"Can you get Theo by calling 911?† â€Å"That bastard is just going to drive off and leave her there » â€Å"We should go help.† â€Å"I've got twelve more minutes on this thing.† â€Å"The cell reception in this town is horrible.† â€Å"I have Theo's number on speed dial, for the kids. Let me call.† â€Å"Look at Georgia and the girls. It looks like they were playing Twister and fell.† â€Å"Hello, Theo. This is Jane down at BULGES. Yes, well, I just glanced out the window here and I noticed that there might be a problem over at the Thrifty-Mart. Well, I don't want to meddle, but let's just say that a certain contractor just hit one of the Salvation Army Santas with a bag of ice. Well, I'll look for your car, then.† She flipped the phone shut. â€Å"He's on his way.† Theophilus Crowe's mobile phone played eight bars of â€Å"Tangled Up in Blue† in an irritating electronic voice that sounded like a choir of suffering houseflies, or Jiminy Cricket huffing helium, or, well, you know, Bob Dylan – anyway, by the time he got the device open, five people in the produce section of the Thrifty-Mart were giving him the hairy eyeball hard enough to wilt the arugula right there in his cart. He grinned as if to say, Sorry, I hate these things, too, but what aw you gonna do? then he answered, â€Å"Constable Crowe,† just to remind everyone that he wasn't dickmg around here, he was THE LAW. â€Å"In the parking lot of the Thrifty-Mart? Okay, I'll be right there » Wow, this was convenient. One thing about being the resident lawman in a town of only five thousand people – you were never far from the trouble. Theo parked his cart on the end of the aisle and loped by the registers and out the automatic doors to the parking lot (He was a denim- and flannel-clad praying mantis of a man, six-six, one-eighty, and he only had three speeds, amble, lope, and still). Outside he found Lena Marquez doubled over and gasping for breath. Her ex-husband, Dale Pearson, was stepping into his four-wheel-drive pickup. â€Å"Right there, Dale. Wait,† Theo said Theo ascertained that Lena had only had the wind knocked out of her and was going to be okay, then addressed the stocky contractor, who had paused with one boot on the running board, as if he'd be on his way as soon as the hot air cleared out of the truck. â€Å"What happened here?† â€Å"The crazy bitch hit me with that bell of hers.† â€Å"Did not,† gasped Lena â€Å"I got a report you hit her with a bag of ice, Dale. That's assault.† Dale Pearson looked around quickly and spotted the crowd of women gathered by the window over at the gym. They all looked away, heading for the various machines they had been on when the debacle unfolded. â€Å"Ask them. They'll tell you she had that bell right upside my head. I just reacted out of self-defense.† â€Å"He said he'd donate when he came out of the store, then he didn't,† Lena said, her breath coming back. â€Å"There's an implied contract there. He violated it. And I didn't hit him.† â€Å"She's a fucking nutcase.† Dale said it like he was declaring water wet – like it was just understood. Theo looked from one of them to the other. He'd dealt with these two before, but thought it had all come to rest when they'd divorced five years ago. (He'd been constable of Pine Cove for fourteen years – he'd seen the wrong side of a lot of couples.) First rule in a domestic situation was separate the parties, but that appeared to have already been accomplished. You weren't supposed to take sides, but since Theo had a soft spot for nutcases – he'd married one himself – he decided to make a judgment call and focus his attention on Dale. Besides, the guy was an asshole. Theo patted Lena's back and loped over to Dale's truck. â€Å"Don't waste your time, hippie,† Dale said. â€Å"I'm done.† He climbed into his truck and closed the door. Hippie? Theo thought. Hippie? He'd cut his ponytail years ago. He'd stopped wearing Birkenstocks. He'd even stopped smoking pot. Where did this guy get off calling him a hippie? Hippie? he said to himself, then: â€Å"Hey!† Dale started his truck and put it into gear. Theo stepped up on the running board, leaned over the windshield, and started tapping on it with a quarter he'd fished from his jeans pocket. â€Å"Don't leave, Dale.† Tap, tap, tap. â€Å"You leave now, I'll put a warrant out for your arrest.† Tap, tap, tap. Theo was pissed now – he was sure of it. Yes, this was definitely anger now. Dale threw the truck into park and hit the electric window button. â€Å"What? What do you want?† â€Å"Lena wants to press charges for assault – maybe assault with a deadly weapon. I think you'd better rethink leaving right now.† â€Å"Deadly weapon? It was a bag of ice.† Theo shook his head, affected a whimsical storyteller's tone: â€Å"A ten-pound bag of ice. Listen, Dale, as I drop a ten-pound block of ice on the courtroom floor in front of the jury. Can you hear it? Can't you just see the jury cringe as I smash a honeydew melon on the defense attorney's table with a ten-pound block of ice? Not a deadly weapon? ‘Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this man, this reprobate, this redneck, this – if I may – clump-filled-cat-box-of-a-man, struck a defenseless woman – a woman who out of the kindness of her heart was collecting for the poor, a woman who was only – ; â€Å"But it's not a block of ice, it's –  » Theo raised a finger in the air. â€Å"Not another word, Dale, not until I read you your rights.† Theo could tell he was getting to Dale – veins were starting to pulse in the contractor's temples and his bald head was turning bright pink. Hippie, huh? â€Å"Lena is definitely pressing charges, aren't you, Lena?† Lena had made her way to the side of the truck. â€Å"No,† Lena said. â€Å"Bitch!† Theo said – it slipped out before he could stop himself. He'd been on such a roll. â€Å"See how she is,† said Dale. â€Å"Wish you had a bag of ice now, don't you, hippie?† â€Å"I'm an officer of the law,† Theo said, wishing he had a gun or something. He pulled his badge wallet out of his back pocket but decided that was a little late for ID, since he'd known Dale for nearly twenty years. â€Å"Yeah, and I'm a Caribou,† Dale said, with more pride than he really should have had about that. â€Å"I'll forget all about it if he puts a hundred bucks in the kettle,† Lena said. â€Å"You're nuts, woman.† â€Å"It's Christmas, Dale.† â€Å"Fuck Christmas and fuck you.† â€Å"Hey, there's no need for that kind of talk, Dale,† Theo said, going for the peace in peace officer. â€Å"You can just step out of the truck.† â€Å"Fifty bucks in the kettle and he can go,† Lena said. â€Å"It's for the needy.† Theo whipped around and looked at her. â€Å"You can't plea-bargain in the parking lot of the Thrifty-Mart. I had him on the ropes.† â€Å"Shut up, hippie,† Dale said. Then to Lena, â€Å"You'll take twenty and the needy can get bent. They can get a job like the rest of us.† Theo was sure he had handcuffs in the Volvo – or were they still on the bedpost at home? â€Å"That is not the way we –  » â€Å"Forty!† Lena shouted. â€Å"Done!† Dale said. He pulled two twenties from his wallet, wadded them up, and threw them out the window so they bounced off of Theo Crowe's chest. He threw the truck in gear and backed out. â€Å"Stop right there!† Theo commanded. Dale righted the truck and took off. As the big red pickup passed Theo's Volvo station wagon, parked twenty yards up the lot, a bag of ice came flying out the window and exploded against the Volvo's tailgate, showering the parking lot with cubes but otherwise doing no damage whatsoever. â€Å"Merry Christmas, you psycho bitch!† Dale shouted out the window as he turned onto the street. â€Å"And to all a good night! Hippie!† Lena had tucked the wadded bills into her Santa suit and was squeezing Theo's shoulder as the red truck roared out of sight. â€Å"Thanks for coming to my rescue, Theo.† â€Å"Not much of a rescue. You should press charges.† â€Å"I'm okay. He'd have gotten out of it anyway, he has great lawyers. Trust me, I know. Besides, forty bucks'† â€Å"That's the Christmas spirit,† Theo said, not able to keep from smiling. â€Å"You sure you're okay?† â€Å"I'm fine. It's not the first time he's lost it with me.† She patted the pocket of her Santa suit. â€Å"At least something came of this.† She started back to her kettle and Theo followed. â€Å"You have a week to file charges if you change your mind,† Theo said. â€Å"You know what, Theo? I really don't want to spend another Christmas obsessing on what a complete waste of humanity Dale Pearson is. I'd rather let it go. Maybe if we're lucky he'll be one of those holiday fatalities we're always hearing about† â€Å"That would be nice,† said Theo. â€Å"Now who's in the Christmas spirit?† In another Christmas story, Dale Pearson, evil developer, self-absorbed woman hater, and seemingly unredeemable curmudgeon, might be visited in the night by a series of ghosts who, by showing him bleak visions of Christmas future, past, and present, would bring about in him a change to generosity, kindness, and a general warmth toward his fellow man But this is not that kind of Christmas story, so here, in not too many pages, someone is going to dispatch the miserable son of a bitch with a shovel. That's the spirit of Christmas yet to come in these parts. Ho, ho, ho.

Obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Obesity - Essay Example The success of obesity-reducing strategies is highly unlikely without the utilization of research as a foundational tool in the design process. A 2012 study by Epstein and colleagues examines two different approaches to childhood obesity intervention designs. The researchers conducted this research with the goal of illuminating differences in several outcome measures between groups based on the focus of the intervention being either a reduction in high energy-dense food consumption, or an increase in dietary components with low energy density. A multitude of additional variables were also included in the analysis, and are described below. This study primarily relies on the use of inferential statistics, though a number baseline descriptive measurements (age, gender, height, weight, percent overweight, body mass index, and diet trends) are appropriately added to the report. The primary dependent variable in this experiment is the change in standardized body mass index (zBMI) associated with each group, as measured at three different time periods following the implementation of an intervention program (0-6 months, 0-12 months, and 0-24 months). Secondary dependent variables were also evaluated at these intervals, including changes in eating behaviors like food choices, and the results of questionnaires related to parenting changes. The independent factor in this study was the dietary focus on either reducing high energy-dense food consumption, or increasing low energy-density ingestion. The population of focus for this study was composed only of children between the ages of eight and twelve who are able to read above a grade three level, are in a percentile higher than the 85th of the BMI average, are not currently on other weight loss treatments including pharmaceuticals, have parents who are not in weight loss programs, have at least one parent willing to participate in the study, and dont have any physical or psychological

Fund Transfer Pricing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Fund Transfer Pricing - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that commercial banks have two divisions: deposit and lending. The deposit segment accumulates funds from customers. These funds are lent to other customers as loans through the lending division. The interest that banks earn on loans is interest income while interest on deposits is interest expense. The difference between interest income and interest expense is net interest income and is reported on the income statement. It is not a guarantee that all loans are profitable neither do all deposits cause losses. Different deposits have varying values as sources of loans and in the same way, different loans have a varying cost of funding. The main purpose of finance transfer pricing is to measure independently how different sources of funding contribute towards the profitability of banks. Assume a two-year loan financed by a three-month deposit. Assume also that the deposit segment acquires $1,000,000 worth of funds from the customer at a cost of 4%. These funds are passed to the treasury at a funds transfer-pricing rate. Assuming that the rate is 6%, the bank would earn a deposit spread of 2%. The treasury would then pass the funds to the loans department at a funds transfer-pricing rate of 8%. The loans department would then extend the loan to customers at an interest rate of 11%, earning a deposit spread of 3%. On the other side, the treasury would earn a 2% spread for managing the interest rate risk that arises from the mismatch in the maturity of funds. Assigning the funds transfer rate for treasury, the loans and the deposit divisions of the bank decomposes the spread earnings across the three divisions as illustrated in the paper.

ISMG Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

ISMG - Essay Example ody but it has its own way of ensuring development of the organization and this way is by putting in place good management policies to control the crisis. There are several forms of organizational crisis but with the case of ABS Canada, the kind of organizational crisis being experienced could be said to be organizational conflict because it involves a lot of agitations among the rank and file of the organization. A critical study of the case at hand at ABS Canada would be related to the Mind Frame Consulting (2000) explanation of why organizational conflicts arise as they note that organizational conflicts often result because â€Å"divisions and departments often have different objectives. If their members cannot find common values and goals, they will not cooperate.† Lack of cooperation would also worsen any form of organizational conflict. Identifying the causes and giving out appropriate solutions may however become the best remedy at hand. To this effect, a lot is tasked on Mr. Roberge to look into the causes of the conflict and appropriately devise workable solutions that will be welcomed by all stakeholders in the organization. There are three major parties that could be linked to the cause of the present organizational conflict and for that matter organizational crisis at ABS Canada. These parties are the recruiters of the project manager, out of whom Mr. Roberge may be singled out, the project manager himself and finally, the departmental leaders who team members who should have worked with the project manager. Clearly before the coming of the project manager, there was perfect peace and harmony in the organization. By organizational standards, the organization accepted to run the affairs and future of the company in a more collaborative means that involved all departments and sectors of the organization. This was evident in the meeting that agreed on the long term strategic plan for the company. Indeed, to have started implementing the strategic plan,

Developmental Influences in the Prenatal Eveironment Essay

Developmental Influences in the Prenatal Eveironment - Essay Example Regardless of the conditions, it is a well-known fact among health care professionals that those women bearing a child are always exposed to factors may it be genetic predispositions, teratogenic agents or even stresses levels. Throughout the course of the gestational period, the woman as well as her partner and family support must be sufficiently equipped with the appropriate knowledge and latest information regarding childbirth. With a huge number of factors to consider, the only weapon that will effectively combat any hazards is knowledge. It is imperative that people have the correct understanding of the determined elements that greatly influence this miraculous bearing of a life inside one’s womb. Developmental Influences in Prenatal Environment Fortunately, in a specialized study and field of medicine, there have been already extensive researches and study about the most significant determinants whether for the worse or better effects on the process. Among the vast array of agents that bear bad effects, prescription drugs, caffeine, use of tobacco and alcohol are the worst because it is associated with a person’s lifestyle. Furthermore, some pregnant women are skeptical about the accuracy of such advices as these habits do not really cause harm to the health of the mother. However, once the baby is born, the effects become more apparent on the neonate and it might already be too late. First and foremost, prescription drugs, particularly thalidomide which was the earliest detected harmful drug, have been proven to cause congenital defects such as absence of limbs. This caused such an alarm and elicited immediate and subsequent researches on other drugs that would otherwise be therapeutic in normal conditions. The results conclude the detrimental effects that anticoagulants, anticonvulsants, selected antibiotics and artificial hormones bear on the fetus. Moreover, drinking caffeinated beverages are declared to be harmful despite the lack of em pirical basis. While it is still unclear of the possible outcomes of coffee or tea as well as some carbonated soda intake, it would be wise to stay away from them or at least limit the amount. The expecting mother should stay on the safe side and not risk the spontaneous abortion or low birth weight infant that often results with caffeine. Smoking and alcoholism are considerations that have tremendous significance. Even when not pregnant, these two lifestyle choices already have a questionable effect on the health of an individual; what more with pregnant women who have heightened sensitivity to a number of environmental factors? Based on the previous cases, there are many possible ill outcomes on the smoking mother’s developing fetus. Neonates with low birth weight or congenital defects are the most prevalent reactions but the worst possibility is death of the infant. The nicotine’s degree of effect is also dependent on the dosage. Alcoholism during pregnancy is carri es along with it the serious, ill consequences. They have even established the fetal alcohol syndrome which equals a group of anomalies and malformations in the brain, eyes, hearts, head, joints and face. The connection between the amount of alcohol allowable to the detrimental effect is still a blur. Therefore, to guarantee the absence of such physical and cognitive deformities, it will be wise to maintain sobriety as well as stay away from the occasional drinking throughout the whole gestational period.

Physiological principle for health and social care Essay

Physiological principle for health and social care - Essay Example ysis, deamination, fatty acid oxidations which enters the Tricarboxylic acid cycle or TCA cycle where it combines with oxaloacetic acid to form citrate and this is recycled back to oxaloacetate which continues the cycle again. There can be other intermediates of the TCA cycle which is derived from the breakdown products of carbohydrate , fats and proteins and thus it is not necessarily be acetyl CoA. In the TCA cycle, dehydrogenation takes place in the various molecules and carbon dioxide is liberated(which we finally breathe out). The removed hydrogen is taken up by NAD or FAD to form NADH and FADH2 . These molecules transfer the hydrogen atoms and the respected electrons through the electron transport chain which comprises of enzymatic complexes, that helps to transfer the electrons to the oxygen molecule ( which is inhaled and thus utilized un this fashion) with the formation of water. The hydrogen ions are pumped out of the inner mitochondrial matrix to the external space. This causes the hydrogen ion concentration to be more in external matrix than in the inner matrix. The hydrogen ions are pulled into the inner matrix due to passive diffusion through the half channels in the ATP synthase molecule that has a rotor-stator function. This means when the outside hydrogen atoms are pulled inside the ATP synthase causes a conformational change that puts the free ADP and Pi to its catalytic domain and thus ATP synthesis takes place.(Ganong, 2005)(Das,2009) 2. Whenever metabolism occurs in the body, there can be a change in the pH of the body which can hamper the action of various enzymes needed for completing other metabolic reactions therefore it is necessary to maintain an optimum pH or the acid base balance of the body to maintain homeostasis (keeping the internal environment of the body constant). This can be achieved by the compensatory mechanism which corrects alkalosis or acidosis under the changed conditions. The lungs help to correct acidosis by

A Research On Earthquake Resistant Building Construction Term Paper

A Research On Earthquake Resistant Building Construction - Term Paper Example The big question that remains begging for answers, therefore, is as to why Haiti had so many casualties as compared to San Francisco. Joyce (2010) of NPR news agency observed that â€Å"most buildings hardly met engineering standards and were significantly fragile to withstand an earthquake of such a magnitude.† Then why did the Haitians, and more so their government, allowed such buildings to be constructed? The answer is simple; most Haitian and low-income earners and can barely afford to build similar to those found in San Francisco or New York, for instance. Effective architectural design, proper choice of structural components, and adherence to construction code of ethics guarantee the development of affordable earthquake resistant buildings that are less affected by earthquakes.Earthquakes refer to sudden movements or shaking of the earth surface. It could be man-made, for instance, those caused by heavy machinery, or natural that are often caused by geological process o ccurring from within the earth surface. When it occurs, weak structures end up being destroyed. There are several reasons that cause building to fail in the event of an earthquake. For example, at the instance that an earthquake strikes, the vertical and horizontal movements cause the building to shift from its position of rest. However, due to forces of inertia, the building's weight somehow changes and, hence, causing failure of the building. Also, the material used in the construction of the building contributes to this failure.

Legal Brief Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Legal Brief - Essay Example (US Constitution, 1st Amendment) Art 1 of the New Jersey Constitution 1947 likewise forbids the â€Å"establishment of one religious sect in preference to another.† (New Jersey Constitution 1947, Article 1) Article 1 also forbids requiring a â€Å"religious or racial test†¦as a qualification for any office or public trust.† (New Jersey Constitution 1947, Article 1) The main issue with respect to these provisions was whether or not the New Jersey public school district’s educational policy as practiced with the display of secular and non-secular holidays on its school calenders offended these Establishment Clauses. Preliminary issues resolved before proceeding with the main issue included standing and ripeness. In other words the defendant School Board challenged the various defendant’s rights to pursue the action and whether or not the action contained a triable issue under the Constitutional clauses it was brought under. On the preliminary issues the court ruled that the since the educational policy had already been instituted the Constitutional issue was triable and therefore the action contained the necessary ripeness for adjudication. (Clever v Cherry Hill Board of Education, 1993) As for the issue of standing the court ruled that parents of children who were students in the school district had perhaps the greatest interests in the adjudication of the issues than anyone else. The parents would therefore remain parties to the aciton. (Clever v Cherry Hill Board of Education, 1993) The plaintiff Clever would also survive the challenge to standing since the court found that he had property in the area and was a taxpayer. Clever’s tax money was used to fund the school district thereby giving him an interest in the educational policy currently before the court. (Clever v Cherry Hill Board of Education, 1993) â€Å"Christmas and Chanukah are celebrated as cultural and national holidays

No topc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

No topc - Essay Example Sometimes women are the suppressed gender in our society. Conflict arises relating to what are the socially accepted roles for women. What are the typical gender issues in our society today? Why do gender issues focus on women? Historical accounts about women’s societal roles can be traced back during the time of Abraham and Jesus. We can see how women were treated during those times based on the Bible. Men’s societal roles during this time were outside the home, as dictated by the traditional society. They work mostly in the plantation, work as carpenters, palace guards, while women nurse their children and always stay at home to do household chores. During the early colonial period where galleon trade started conquering the world, women remained domesticated. Education was only given to men who will be part of this trade. During the 19th century, different types of government began to emerge, yet these governments were not aware of gender inequality because they only continue the same norm and culture of men dominating women. The establishment of these governments was created through elections. However, women were not given the right to suffrage / vote until 1920s. Suffrage issues began to alarm some women who can’t bear the unequal rights given to women. They believe that they are also part of the success of the society and can decide whom to vote. Because of some uprisings of these women in the 19th century, women were persecuted for fighting for their rights. Men believed that women are not yet ready to take on responsibilities outside their home. Still, more women fought against these socially constructed norms about them. Some women were not fully recognized for their contributions in the society. Mostly men were given credits and privileges. We can call this kind of society as patriarchal, for believing men are more sufficient and rational as women. Economies of European countries before were ruled by men

Difference and Soccer Essay Example for Free

Difference and Soccer Essay Basketball and Soccer In modern life, most people enjoy amazing sports. Two of most exciting and common sports to participate and appreciate are basketball and soccer. People can not only watch both of them on television, but they can also play them for recreation and health. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the differences and similarities between these two sports. There are three aspects of these two sports: athletes, popularity, and equipment. The most noticeable difference between these two kinds of sports is their requirement of players. In conclusion, soccer and basketball use different equipments for athletes to compete. These are the three basic similarities and differences between basketball and soccer. As we can see, through the comparison above, people love these two kinds of sports because they contain good competitiveness based on fair principles. These two sports motivate people to keep fit and to be stronger. Thereby, basketball and football better annotate the proverb Life lies in the movement.

Thoreaus Where Lived And What Lived For Philosophy Essay

Thoreaus Where Lived And What Lived For Philosophy Essay Take a moment and think for a few seconds, what you have done for your typical day. The majority of us would says, we normally rush through our typical daily tasks, or what not, trying to get those accomplished one by one, as much as we could, in a given time. Tasks may differ in each person of different ages, positions, classes or even lifestyles. But those things give us one common thing, a nature of what we called, the chaotic . Then, at the end of the day, we are exhausted with stress from chaos and routines of the day. Very often, we dont have time, or perhaps with lack of willingness, to spend time with our love ones and do things we are passionate about. In the essay Where I lived and what I lived for, Henry David Thoreaus [1817-1862] expression appeals me of the importance and value of living the simple life nature affords, that I believe, it is as necessary now as it was back in his time. I support Thoreaus philosophy and idea of living a simpler life, where one can enjoy ea ch and every activity, where one is content rather than rushing to finish his or her daily chaos. I found Thoreaus writing style is complex and hard to understand throughout in that essay. It has at least 3 to 4 commas in each sentence, which makes me harder to follow all the way though. It seems like Thoreau put his sentences with as much information and words as he could till, as if, they were overflowing from the page. But after a few times repeat reading that, I think I was able to take hold of the basic argument he is trying to make. I discovered Thoreaus Where I lived and what I lived for made a very compelling argument for his going to live in the woods. Many examples have supported his beliefs in that essay. The essay opens with Thoreau seemly stating his purpose for moving to a cabin on Walden Pond. He is claiming the woods to be a supercilious place to live close to life. Throughout his essay, he simplified life to as small possible form as he could. I consent with his argument about simplifying life and cut off those are not essential and the routines that we having in our daily life. Thoreau moves to the woods so as to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and the fact that he wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, (Natural acts 33). Perhaps, even in this recession period, some point every year isolate ourselves and relieve from all the stress we have been carried throughout the year and make our life simpler surrounded by nature. But it might only works for those w ho make the time and have the time, for others, they might not be able to dream about it. His respect to the nature and desire of living simplicity as nature is almost religious and glorify God and enjoy him forever (Natural acts 33). Although disagreed as to whether the world as made by God or the devil, Thoreau has uncertainty about it, he wants to live his life as intensely as possible. Let us spend one day as deliberately as Natureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Thoreaus interpretation toward nature is with admiration, adoration and value (33). But it is only the way he sees the nature, not everyone could agree with him, not even the writers who compose about the nature could. Joyce Carol Oatess [b. 1938] expression, in her essay Against Nature(Natural Acts 42), toward the nature the subject is there only by the grace of the authors language makes suggests that we do not need to rely on our senses but we only rely on language for our understanding of our surroundings (45). If on all sides of her was random, wayward, nameless motion, she would not even know herself that: We all are the product of the Mother Nature. Meaninglessness cannot produce the meaning itself. Her belief that Nature is mouth, or may be a single mouth ignores the privileges of birth and the existence of the death (46). The two authors has the same vision on that, Thoreau also state that when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. None the less, I found that they both have a deep philosophical concern about the meaning of life in their essays. Thoreau is pretty much correct in the sense that he makes us out to be robotic go about our day in a tedious way. Mostly, we all have our own routines that we have been followed through big part of our life that we hate to change. Throughout the reading on his essay, the only one thing I dont completely understand was about the train, sleepers and people that line the track, or buried under the track if some have the pleasure of riding on a rail, others have the misfortune to be ridden upon. My best knowledge to understand that is, at the time period he was written this(1854), he means the people who were wealthy enough to ride on the new trains on the new tracks that are traveling all over the country, and the people who cant afford it, had to build the rail tracks for their living. But I dont know the relationship between this and the simplifying our lives, so maybe I still dont understand what he is trying to say. In conclusion, the description of Thoreaus search for eternal truth is perhaps his finest poetry. Life means not just a physical functioning but also eternal fulfillment inside. Where I lived and what I lived for portray nature as the simple way of life. Henry David Thoreau has a main goal, to reverse the blindness of humanity to nature. People day to day strive for obtaining the most wealth, the most foods, the most of everything. Many of us found that, as we grew older, it is not essentially more money or the fame, or the power that make our lives happier. Oftentimes it is the simple things we can do in our lives that lead to achieve the great happiness in life.

The History Of International Cybersecurity Politics Essay

The History Of International Cybersecurity Politics Essay The United States, England, and Continental Europe have very different approaches to cybersecurity. The United States and United Kingdom conceive of cyber primarily as a national security problem to be handled by the military- which in turn sees the Internet as a fifth domain of war to be dominated. The rest of the European Union, however, sees cyber threats mostly as an irritant for commerce and individual privacy that should be dealt with by civilian authorities working in combination with private enterprise. Additionally, while the United States can have a single policy, even though its one implemented by many different federal departments, the European Union is made up of twenty-seven nations with their own laws, notions, and philosophical differences over how to approach cyber issues. Finally, there is NATO, where a unified transatlantic cyber vision must be reconciled and arranged in a coherent manner among twenty-eight allies through a cumbersome bureaucratic process. To make sense of these conflicting visions, this essay reviews cyber attacks against NATO members, attempts to outline the challenges of developing a transatlantic vision for cyber policy, and highlights some of the fundamental differences among NATO members. It is helpful to remember that although the Internet is so ensconced in most of our lives that it is hard to envision living without it, the first modern Web browser didnt debut until 1993 and broadband access has only become widespread over the last decade. As a result, senior government and military leaders did not grow up with the Internet and are gradually having to adapt to emerging cyber realities. Franklin Kramer, who worked as assistant secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton, draws a comparison with the Great Fire of London, he notes that it nearly destroyed the city in 1666 because an advance in living conditions- wooden houses for many- was not matched by security measures. There were no firefighting technologies, no firefighting processes, and no resources devoted to fire fighting. This was still true more than two centuries later with the Great Chicago Fire. Despite our slow learning curve, in the modern world, while fire may strike, it is not the city-devourin g scourge that it once was. Through government regulations that established building codes and through volunteer and government-run fire departments, a protective-response was established over the centuries.  [1]   Former Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III uses a more aggressive analogy: The first military aircraft was bought, I think, in 1908, somewhere around there. So were in about 1928, he said. Weve kind of seen some à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ biplanes shoot at each other over France, he added. But we havent really seen kind of what a true cyberconflict is going to look like.  [2]   Currently, European policymakers seem to treat cybersecurity more along fire-prevention lines rather than as biplanes over France. And framing is critical when thinking about cyber issues. As Kramer observes, Ask the wrong question, and you generally will get the wrong answer. And cyber- and what to do about cyber conflict- is an arena where there is generally no agreement on what is the question, certainly no agreement on what are the answers, and evolving so fast that questions are transmuted and affect and change the validity of answers that have been given. He argues that the lack of agreement over the nature of the problem, lack of coherent regulation and authority mechanisms, and conflict between connectivity and security together make cyber a wicked problem not easily susceptible to resolution.  [3]   Lynn manages to frame the issue in military and security terms but fully acknowledges that the reality is quite blurred and that no clear lines exist in this new domain. I mean, clearly if you take down significant portions of our economy we would probably consider that an attack. But an intrusion stealing data, on the other hand, probably isnt an attack. And there are [an] enormous number of steps in between those two.  [4]   Lynn goes on to say, one of the challenges facing Pentagon strategists is deciding at what threshold do you consider something an attackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I think the policy community both inside and outside the government is wrestling with that, and I dont think weve wrestled it to the ground yet. In other words, it is difficult to know whether the house is on fire or biplanes are shooting at each other.  [5]   Correspondingly tricky, defense officials say, is how to pinpoint who is doing the attacking. This raises further complications that are clearly at the heart of the Pentagons mission. At the Council on Foreign Relations Lynn summarized the issue If you dont know who to attribute an attack to, you cant retaliate against that attack, As a result, you cant deter through punishment, you cant deter by retaliating against the attack. He discussed the complexities that make cyberwar so different from, say, nuclear missiles, which of course come with a return address.  [6]   The cyber threat is very much a part of our current reality. Over the last several years several NATO members and partners, including the United States, have been targeted by severe cyber attacks. Estonia What is commonly believed to be the first known case of one state targeting another by cyber-warfare began on April 27, 2007, when a massive denial-of-service attack was launched by Russia against Estonia over a dispute involving a statue. The attack crippled websites of government ministries, political parties, newspapers, banks, and companies.  [7]  The attack was nicknamed Web War One and it caused a resonation within transatlantic national security circles.  [8]   The German newspaper Deutsche Welle wrote that Estonia is particularly vulnerable to cyber attacks because it is one of the most wired countries in the world. Nearly everyone in Estonia conducts banking and other daily activities on line. So when the cyber attack occurred, it nearly shut Estonia down.  [9]  Then-EU Information Society and Media commissioner Viviane Reding called the attacks a wakeup call, commenting that if people do not understand the urgency now, they never will. Her reaction was to incorporate a response into an EU-wide law on identity theft over the Internet.  [10]  Additionally, NATO did establish a Cyber Center of Excellence in Tallinn, which will be discussed later in the essay. Georgia While not a NATO member, Georgia is a NATO partner, and the April 2008 Bucharest Summit declared that it will become a member at some unspecified time in the future, a promise reiterated at the November 2010 Lisbon Summit.  [11]  Weeks before the August 2008 Russian land invasion and air attack, Georgia was subject to an extensive, coordinated cyber attack. American experts estimated that the attacks against Georgias Internet infrastructure began as early as July 20, with coordinated barrages of millions of requests- known as distributed denial of service, or DDOS, attacks- that overloaded and effectively shut down Georgian servers.  [12]  The pressure was intensified during the early days of the war, effectively shutting down critical communications in Georgia. After defacing Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvilis web site and integrating a slideshow portraying Saakashvili as Hitler, coming up with identical images of both Saakashvili and Hitlers public appearances, the site remained under a sustained DDoS attack. Writing as the attacks were under way, security consultant Dancho Danchev believed it smells like a three letter intelligence agencys propaganda arm has managed to somehow supply the creative for the defacement of Georgia Presidents official web site, thereby forgetting a simple rule of engagement in such a conflict- risk forwarding the responsibility of the attack to each and every Russian or Russian supporter that ever attacked Georgian sites using publicly obtainable DDOS attack tools in a coordinated fashion.  [13]  Bill Woodcock, the research director at Packet Clearing House, a California-based nonprofit group that tracks Internet security trends, noted that the attacks represented a landmark: the first use of a cyber a ttack in conjunction with an armed military invasion.  [14]   The nature of cyber attacks is such that, two and a half years later, there is still no definitive answer on who caused the attack. They certainly emanated from Russia, but the precise role of Moscows military and intelligence services remains unclear. Given that the cyber attacks preceded and accompanied conventional military attacks, there appears to be a link to the Russian government. A March 2009 report by Greylogic concluded Russias Foreign Military Intelligence agency (the GRU) and Federal Security Service (the FSB), rather than patriotic hackers, were likely to have played a key role in coordinating and organizing the attacks. They added, The available evidence supports a strong likelihood of GRU/ FSB planning and direction at a high level while relying on Nashi intermediaries and the phenomenon of crowd-sourcing to obfuscate their involvement and implement their strategy.  [15]   United States In a 2010 essay for Foreign Affairs, Lynn revealed that in 2008, the US Department of Defense suffered a significant compromise of its classified military computer networks. It began when an infected flash drive was inserted into a US military laptop at a base in the Middle East. The flash drives malicious computer code, placed there by a foreign intelligence agency, uploaded itself onto a network run by the US Central Command. That code spread undetected on both classified and unclassified systems, establishing what amounted to a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control.  [16]   The upshot is that adversaries have acquired thousands of files from US networks and from the networks of US allies and industry partners, including weapons blueprints, operational plans, and surveillance data.  [17]   Lynn classified this attack as the most significant breach of US military computers ever and stated that it served as an important wake-up call.  [18]  He acknowledged that to that point, we did not think our classified networks could be penetrated.  [19]  The result of this new awareness was Operation Buckshot Yankee, a fourteen-month program that rid US systems of the agent.btz worm and helped lead to a major reorganization of the armed forces information defenses, including the creation of the militarys new Cyber Command.  [20]   United Kingdom In a speech at the 2011 Munich Security Conference, British foreign secretary William Hague revealed that a series of cyber attacks on his country took place the previous year. He noted that in late December a spoofed email purporting to be from the White House was sent to a large number of international recipients who were directed to click on a link that then downloaded a variant of ZEUS. The UK Government was targeted in this attack and a large number of emails bypassed some of our filters.  [21]   Additionally, sometime in 2010 the national security interests of the UK were targeted in a deliberate attack on our defense industry. A malicious file posing as a report on a nuclear Trident missile was sent to a defense contractor by someone masquerading as an employee of another defense contractor. Good protective security meant that the email was detected and blocked, but its purpose was undoubtedly to steal information relating to our most sensitive defense projects.  [22]   Finally, in February 2011, three of my staff were sent an email, apparently from a British colleague outside the FCO, working on their region. The email claimed to be about a forthcoming visit to the region and looked quite innocent. In fact it was from a hostile state intelligence agency and contained computer code embedded in the attached document that would have attacked their machine. Luckily, our systems identified it and stopped it from ever reaching my staff.  [23]  Still, the prevalence and sophistication of these attacks are a principal reason why cybersecurity and cyber-crime were listed as two of the top five priorities in the UKs National Security Strategy.  [24]   Given the interconnectivity of the Internet, Hague argued that more comprehensive international collaboration is vital, noting that, while cyber security is on the agendas of some 30 multilateral organizations, from the UN to the OSCE and the G8, the problem is that much of this debate is fragmented and lacks focus. He continued, We believe there is a need for a more comprehensive, structured dialogue to begin to build consensus among like-minded countries and to lay the basis for agreement on a set of standards on how countries should act in cyberspace.  [25]   US- European Attitudinal Differences We begin to be able to discern a pattern: The United States and the United Kingdom take cyber security very seriously and view it primarily through the lens of national security. The EU and most Western European members of NATO see it primarily as a national infrastructure problem. In the run-up to the November 2010 Lisbon NATO Summit, Pentagon officials were pressing very firmly to incorporate a concept of active cyber defense into the revised NATO Strategic Concept. Lynn argued that the Cold War concepts of shared warning apply in the 21st century to cyber security. Just as our air defenses, our missile defenses have been linked so too do our cyber defenses need to be linked as well. However, this notion was firmly rejected by the Europeans, with the French particularly adamant.  [26]   USCYBERCOM A July 2010 Economist story proclaimed: After land, sea, air and space, warfare has entered the fifth domain: cyberspace.  [27]  It noted that President Obama had declared the digital infrastructure a strategic national asset and had appointed Howard Schmidt, the former head of security at Microsoft, as the first cybersecurity tsar. Peter Coates notes that the air force had actually anticipated this move in December 2005, declaring cyber a fifth domain when it changed its mission statement to To fly and fight in air, space, and cyberspace. In November of the following year, it redesignated the 8th Air Force to become Air Force Cyberspace Command.  [28]   In May 2010 the Defense Department launched a new subunified command, United States Cyber Command, with Gen. Keith Alexander dual-hatted as its chief while continuing on as director of the National Security Agency. CYBERCOM is charged with the responsibility to direct the operations and defense of specified Department of Defense information networks and prepare to, and when directed, conduct full spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains, ensure US/ Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to our adversaries.  [29]   As the scale of cyberwarfares threat to US national security and the US economy has come into view, the Pentagon has built layered and robust defenses around military networks and inaugurated the new US Cyber Command to integrate cyber-defense operations across the military. The Pentagon is now working with the Department of Homeland Security to protect government networks and critical infrastructure and with the United States closest allies to expand these defenses internationally. An enormous amount of foundational work remains, but the US government has begun putting in place various initiatives to defend the United States in the digital age.  [30]  Even with stepped-up vigilance and resources, Lynn admits, adversaries have acquired thousands of files from US networks and from the networks of US allies and industry partners, including weapons blueprints, operational plans, and surveillance data.  [31]   The cyber policy of the United States is rapidly evolving, with major developments under way even as I write this essay. The White House issued a new International Strategy for Cyberspace in May 2011. While not by any means moving away from a defense-oriented posture- indeed, it generated breathless commentary by declaring the right to meet cyber attacks with a kinetic response- it sought to bring commercial, individual, diplomatic, and other interests into the equation. This was followed by a new Department of Defense cyber strategy in July 2011, which built on Lynns Foreign Affairs essay. European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) While CYBERCOM is the most powerful and well-funded US cyber agency, the lead EU cyber agency is ENISA, the European Network and Information Security Agency. Whereas CYBERCOM is run by a general with an intelligence background, ENISA is run by a physics professor with long experience in the IT sector, including the energy industry, insurance company engineering, aviation, defense, and space industry.  [32]  The agencys mission is to develop a culture of Network and Information Security for the benefit of citizens, consumers, business and public sector organizations in the European Union.  [33]   In December 2010 ENISA released a report identifying what it sees as the top security risks and opportunities of smartphone use and gives security advice for businesses, consumers and governments. The agency considers spyware, poor data cleansing when recycling phones, accidental data leakage, and unauthorized premium-rate phone calls and SMSs as the top risks.  [34]  New regulations are proposed that would see the perpetrators of cyber attacks and the producers of related and malicious software prosecuted, and criminal sanctions increased to a maximum two-year sentence. European countries would also be obliged to respond quickly to requests for help when cyber attacks are perpetrated, and new pan-European criminal offences will be created for the illegal interception of information systems. Home affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrà ¶m added that criminalizing the creation and selling of malicious software and improving European police cooperation would help Europe step up our efforts against cybercrime. ENISAs new mandate will let the agency organize pan-European cybersecurity exercises, public- private network resilience partnerships, and risk assessment and awareness campaigns. ENISAs funding will also be boosted, and its management board will get a stronger supervisory role. ENISAs mandate is also to be extended by five years to 2017. The new directive will also supersede a 2005 council framework decision on cybercrime because that previous regulation did not focus sufficiently on evolving threats- in particular, large-scale simultaneous attacks against information systems, such as Stuxnet, and the increasing criminal use of botnets. Stuxnet was recently used to attack Irans nuclear power infrastructure, and a single botnet, Rustock, is estimated to be responsible for two-fifths of the worlds spam.  [35]   Additionally, EU states are constrained by Directive 95/ 46/ EC, better known as the Data Protection Directive, which provides enormous protection for any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. Compare this to the USA Patriot Act, which gives enormous leeway to US law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access electronic data held by US companies in order to investigate and deter terrorist activities. In June 2011 Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft UK, set off a firestorm when he declared that European customer data stored on cloud computing services by companies with a US presence cannot be guaranteed the protections afforded under the Data Protection Directive, setting off a demand from some EU lawmakers to resolve this issue.  [36]   Germany In late February 2011 Germanys outgoing minister of the interior, Thomas de Maizià ¨re, unveiled the countrys Nationale Cyber-Sicherheitsstrategie (National Cyber Security Strategy).  [37]  To American eyes, the fact that it was the interior ministry, not the defense ministry, issuing the strategy is striking. It was no accident: this is by no means a defense document. The documents introduction notes that in Germany all players of social and economic life use the possibilities provided by cyberspace. As part of an increasingly interconnected world, the state, critical infrastructures, businesses and citizens in Germany depend on the reliable functioning of information and communication technology and the Internet. Among the threats listed: Malfunctioning IT products and components, the break-down of information infrastructures or serious cyber attacks may have a considerable negative impact on the performance of technology, businesses and the administration and hence on Germanys social lifelines. Contrast this with Lynns analogy of biplanes over France, and his pondering at what threshold do you consider something an attack? German security scholar Thomas Rid laments that the strategy is coming a bit late and that Germanys thinking lags that of the United States and the United Kingdom. Beyond that, he notes that the two agencies created to manage cyber issues are woefully understaffed and tasked with myriad responsibilities related tangentially at best to cyber security. And, according to a cyber kodex established in the new strategy, German interests in data security à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ would be pursued in international organizations such as the UN, the OSCE, the European Council, the OECD, and NATO- in that order.  [38]   United Kingdom as Outlier As is frequently the case on matters of international security, the United Kingdom is much more in line with its American cousin than its neighbors on the Continent. In an October 12, 2010, speech at Londons International Institute for Strategic Studies, Iain Lobban, director of GCHQ (the UKs National Security Agency analogue, responsible for signals intelligence) noted that his country combines the intelligence and information assurance missions in a single agency, an arrangement shared by only a few other countries, most notably the US. It gives us a richer view of vulnerabilities and threats than those who consider them purely from the point of view of defense.  [39]   He confessed to constant barrages of spam, worms, theft of intellectual property on a massive scale, some of it not just sensitive to the commercial enterprises in question but of national security concern too, and all manner of other attacks that have caused significant disruption to Government systems. Consequently, his government was looking to significantly increase its investment in the cyber realm even at a time when the global recession was forcing significant austerity in other departments, including in more traditional military assets.  [40]   Thomas Rid notes the sheer breadth of Lobbans focus: Cyber encompasses, for instance, more and more online government services (read: steadily increasing vulnerability); critical national infrastructure, publicly or privately run; online crime in all its facets; espionage (both industrial and governmental), and such things as the proper norms of behavior for responsible states.  [41]   The implications are vast, as Lobban hints and Rid explicates: partnerships of a new kind are needed to deal with cyber threats and risks. International partnerships, with like-minded countries that need to establish and maintain appropriate norms of behavior in crisis situations- and intersectoral partnerships, between government agencies and industry, especially the high-tech sector.  [42]   In his Munich Security Conference speech, Hague noted that we rely on computer networks for the water in our taps, the electricity in our kitchens, the sat navs in our cars, the running of trains, the storing of our medical records, the availability of food in our supermarkets and the flow of money into high street cash machines. Further, Many government services are now delivered via the internet, as is education in many classrooms. In the UK, 70 percent of younger internet users bank online and two thirds of all adults shop on the internet.  [43]   Given the new awareness of vulnerabilities and the degree of dependence, then, the United Kingdoms new National Security Strategy ranks cyber attack and cyber crime in our top five highest priority risks. This is not lip service. At the same time that the British military is suffering such severe cutbacks that the Royal Navy is reduced to sharing a single aircraft carrier with France, the current budget provided  £ 650 million of new funding for a national cyber-security program, which will improve our capabilities in cyber-space and pull together government efforts. As part of that effort, Hague said, We have established a new Ministerial Group on cyber security which I chair. And we have boosted the UKs cyber capabilities with the establishment of a new Defense Cyber Operations Group, incorporating cyber security into the mainstream of our defense planning and operation.  [44]   NATO Responses After months of study and debate the 2010 NATO Summit in Lisbon issued a new strategic concept on November 19, 2010. In it, cyber issues were officially recognized for the first time as a core alliance mission. Recognizing that cyber attacks are becoming more frequent, more organized and more costly in the damage that they inflict, NATO pledged to develop further our ability to prevent, detect, defend against and recover from cyber-attacks, including by using the NATO planning process to enhance and coordinate national cyber-defense capabilities, bringing all NATO bodies under centralized cyber protection, and better integrating NATO cyber awareness, warning and response with member nations.  [45]   This was followed in June 2011 by a revised NATO policy on cyber defense and a parallel cyber defense action plan. Combined, they offer a coordinated approach to cyber defense across the Alliance with a focus on preventing cyber threats and building resilience. Additionally, all NATO structures will be brought under centralized protection.  [46]   What practical actions will flow from these policy statements remains unclear, especially in an era of radically declining budgets. But they give an overview of what it terms NATOs principle cyber defense activities.  [47]   Coordinating and Advising on Cyber Defense The cyber-defense policy was implemented by NATOs political, military, and technical

Cedric Jennings in A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind Essay -- Hope i

Cedric Jennings in A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind Throughout the novel, A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind, Cedric Jennings is a minority student in a poor, inner city school, trying to fight his way up to the top. He has a greater hope for himself than the overwhelming majority of the other students at Ballou High. Cedric faces many challenges to eventually make his way to Brown University. According to Labaree, Cedric is exercising the goal of social mobility, meaning that he works against the competition to get into a high-ranking college and hopefully a well-paying job. Although personally Cedric is trying to obtain this goal, I am having difficulty placing what purpose of education that Ballou High is trying to fulfill. Cedric is an unusual student to walk the halls of Ballou High. Unlike most of his peers, he actually wants to make something of himself; he does his homework, he studies and he works on extra credit projects. The majority of the kids at Ballou barely come to class, much less make any attempt at learning. Since this is the overall attitude of the school, Cedric must exercise social mobility and do whatever he can to better himself as an individual. He is not necessarily competing against the students at Ballou (because he by far surpasses them), but he is in competition with all the other students from better schools throughout the area. During the summer that Cedric spends at MIT, he is truly awakened to the fact that he was extremely far behind the other students from urban areas. The director of the program expresses his frustration with the MIT program- "When he first arrived... He had grand plans to find poor black and Hispanic kids from urban America-... He saw that he had been drea... ...uality. In fact there is a severe inequality in only preparing the top few students for society. Therefore, it is hard to decide what goal of Labaree's that Ballou High embodies. The bottom line is that some students value social mobility and the rest of the school values nothing. In conclusion, although Cedric is able to exercise social mobility, his school does not prepare him for the outside world at all. It is only through his own resolve that he is able to make it in the competitive, academic world. The only good that Ballou probably brought to Cedric was the notion to work even harder so that he did not end up like his fellow peers, with no goals, going nowhere, and valuing nothing. It is this value of nothing that severely hinders our nation's public school systems. Works Cited Suskind, Ron. A Hope in the Unseen. Broadway Books, New York. 1998. Cedric Jennings in A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind Essay -- Hope i Cedric Jennings in A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind Throughout the novel, A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind, Cedric Jennings is a minority student in a poor, inner city school, trying to fight his way up to the top. He has a greater hope for himself than the overwhelming majority of the other students at Ballou High. Cedric faces many challenges to eventually make his way to Brown University. According to Labaree, Cedric is exercising the goal of social mobility, meaning that he works against the competition to get into a high-ranking college and hopefully a well-paying job. Although personally Cedric is trying to obtain this goal, I am having difficulty placing what purpose of education that Ballou High is trying to fulfill. Cedric is an unusual student to walk the halls of Ballou High. Unlike most of his peers, he actually wants to make something of himself; he does his homework, he studies and he works on extra credit projects. The majority of the kids at Ballou barely come to class, much less make any attempt at learning. Since this is the overall attitude of the school, Cedric must exercise social mobility and do whatever he can to better himself as an individual. He is not necessarily competing against the students at Ballou (because he by far surpasses them), but he is in competition with all the other students from better schools throughout the area. During the summer that Cedric spends at MIT, he is truly awakened to the fact that he was extremely far behind the other students from urban areas. The director of the program expresses his frustration with the MIT program- "When he first arrived... He had grand plans to find poor black and Hispanic kids from urban America-... He saw that he had been drea... ...uality. In fact there is a severe inequality in only preparing the top few students for society. Therefore, it is hard to decide what goal of Labaree's that Ballou High embodies. The bottom line is that some students value social mobility and the rest of the school values nothing. In conclusion, although Cedric is able to exercise social mobility, his school does not prepare him for the outside world at all. It is only through his own resolve that he is able to make it in the competitive, academic world. The only good that Ballou probably brought to Cedric was the notion to work even harder so that he did not end up like his fellow peers, with no goals, going nowhere, and valuing nothing. It is this value of nothing that severely hinders our nation's public school systems. Works Cited Suskind, Ron. A Hope in the Unseen. Broadway Books, New York. 1998.

Creating Tension in An Inspector Calls Essay -- An Inspector Calls J,B

Creating Tension in An Inspector Calls An inspector calls is a play written by the author J.B. Priestley. The play is set in the industrial city of Brumley in the North Midlands, in the year of 1912. Act one begins in the family home of the Birling's, at the celebration of the engagement of Mr Birling's daughter. The Birling family at first impression are seen to the audience as a wonderful, prosperous family who live in luxury life style in a big lavish home with a high social status. Arthur Birling is the father of the family; he is a heavy looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties, with fairly easy manners. He is shown to be self-centred, arrogant and someone who believes that he is always right, he also has a lot to say - thought by many as too much. He is portrayed to the audience as being a selfish man, this is shown in many ways through out the play, but the main factor shown is that he was Lord Mayor of the town a few years back and takes this as an advantage to gain self respect from others by using his former community stature to increase his present stature of the manufacturer of the Birling family business. His wife Sybil is about fifty, she is a rather cold woman and her husband's social superior. She has been for the past few years and currently still is the chairwoman, for the town's unemployment charity, it is she who decides which women will receive the unemployment benefit and if their reasons are applicable. She takes this job very seriously and believes it gives her a warrant to be a superior of the town, a woman who classes herself as a very high class in the hierarchy above anyone else. The daughter of the family is the very attractive and pretty Sheila, .. ... challenges the characters in the play. The big question from the author is are we morally blind to the suffering of the poor and are we aware that much of the pleasure we get from life comes from the exploitation of the poor. At the end of the play things turn out to become very eerie as of the call to Mr Birling, which confuses absolutely all of the characters. J.B. Priestley uses inspector Goole as a catalyst towards the Birling family, he is meant as a dramatic device deliberately used by the author to explore his ideas. This is meant to make the family come to a realisation of that poorer people than themselves are actually people with true feelings, and the telephone call at the end warning them that a inspector is about to arrive with questions as to a suicide will reveal weather they have learnt anything about the poorer than themselves.

Summary Details on Information Management

The report aims to address the issue of information management within Lanway. Information, may feel is the most important resource any firm has, yet many firms have no appreciation of the cost, value or importance of the information they hold. By first outlining the steps and findings of an information audit carried out within the firm, conclusions are then drawn as to what measures should be taken in order to increase the effectiveness of Lanways information usage. The measures suggested are outlined in detail, with recommendations of both hardware and software. The report also establishes the need for information and for a company information strategy – highlighting the importance of aligning such a strategy with the overall business plan. Lanway Corporate Business Systems began trading in 1985 from a small market stall on Burnley market. Selling games only for the Spectrum range of computers (the most popular at that time) it began to build up a regular customer base. The firm continued in this way, until 1991 where the introduction of the personal computer led to a change in product and business activity. With the introduction of both new hardware and software, Lanway was now in a position to manufacture and sell its own PC†s. By moving into its own premises, the firm was now able to make substantial profit margins by building and pre-configuring a small range of machines. Lanway began to trade with other firms in 1994, at which point they were forced to expand both their existing premises and staff. They also began to diversify, moving into new areas such as networking technologies, the internet and more specialised hardware and software. Lanway currently has a turnover of approximately 5 million and over 40 staff, both of which are expected to continue in growth. They manufacture around 200 PC†s per week, each different in model, make and specification. The company classes itself in the batch manufacturing bracket. At present, the firm can be split into 5 departments. Sales, Accounts, Networking, Repairs and finally Production or Workshop. The firm is completely networked using a mixture of Microsoftâ„ ¢ and Novellâ„ ¢ technologies. Individual internet access and email is available to all employees. All hardware and software configuration work is carried out in-house. Because the firm has grown in the manner that it has, many of the systems and functions in use have grown from a bottom up fashion, as opposed to a more strategic top level approach. Initial observations would suggest that information management within the firm does not differ from this. An information audit is the assessment of the information held by an agency and of its information activities. (Australian Audit Commission 1999). The purpose of an information audit is to assess, not only what types and levels of information a firm may hold, but how well it meets the needs of the company. Different components of information may already be controlled, such as naming conventions or security passwords, but in most cases firms have little understanding of the relevance, cost or value of the information they hold. Therefore in order to ensure that all relevant areas were covered, a formal plan was first drawn up. To ensure that useful conclusions could be drawn, the objectives and scope of the audit were assessed. These included What types of information sources exist Formal documentation was then designed, in order to maintain a consistent theme by all involved. This too added to usefulness of the findings. Finally an assessment of the overall findings was carried out, to ensure that all anomalies and incoherent data could be accounted for. Only then, based upon the findings were recommendations produced. After analysis of Lanways current operating environment and business activities, the following information sources were identified: Stock and Accounts database – maintained by the same system Data stored within the emails ranged from price lists, customer account details, recent price quotes and specific product enquires. These were also combined with a range of personal emails, both from internal and external sources. Each employee, upon starting work was given a secure email box, from which they are able to send messages to both internal and external sources. Each email box requires user authentication, however network administrators are granted rights to open any mailbox within the system. Here we immediately see problems with regards to both information availability and security. Because only that user has access to the mailbox, no other employee is able to access, what may be at times critical information. Security and data integrity is also compromised, as the email server also acts as the firewall server, and as such is open to internet attacks. It is also at the employees discretion whether they wish to delete messages stored within their inbox, messages which may prove later to hold important or even critical information. Once an email has been deleted, it is almost impossible to retrieve it. Lanway rely heavily on the internet and the features it delivers. This includes company product specifications, product support sites, private business partner resources, online databases and current news information. Lanway also have direct links to suppliers via the World Wide Web, thereby creating multiple extranets. Every departmental manager within Lanway classed the internet within their three most important resources. This in itself shows the importance of the role it plays in today†s business market. For firms such as Lanway, it is the fastest and most efficient way of obtaining up to the date and accurate (in the most part) information and offers the best cost/benefit trade off. However the internet brings with it, from an informational view point, a host of inherent problems and issues. Lanway, like many other firms suffers from this. In most cases, staff were unaware of many of these, and as such the quality of information suffered. The accuracy of the information received is on the most part never checked, and in some cases was then stored to be used for future reference. No guidelines exist as to whether only official websites were to be used, nor had any training be given on effectively using the internet itself. No one information store was available, in which staff could save data collected, such as URL†s or product catalogue†s, and in some cases, staff were not aware extranet facilities existed. As such, each individual employee held their own specific ideas and information on using the internet and in many cases time was wasted performing repetitive tasks and retrieving duplicate information. Once again, because the sharing of information was minimal, the speed and accuracy of the data received was greatly reduced. Both of the above databases are stored on the SAGE system and as such are integrated. The stock system contains records not only of items currently in stock, but also previous purchases, dates and times with regards to stock control and trend analysis data. The accounts system contains all data concerned with maintaining and running the company accounts, combined with company payroll and sales transactions. Unlike the previous stores, information held within these systems is not designed to be shared. To access each area the user must have the required level of authority. This is simply for security and privacy reasons – ie. Only certain members of staff can be given access to payroll. Information held within both systems is critical to the running of the business, without it is impossible for any business activity to take place. All the data held within the system maintains it validity and integrity because it is the main transactional system within the firm. The database is currently accessed using a Bespoke application built in house called COSMOS, using access database tables as its base. The program requires user authentication, however all user names and passwords are stored in an access database table which can be opened directly from the network drive. As such security within the system is minimal. The system has been in use for over 8 years and once again suffers from a bottom up approach design. The accuracy of the data is compromised because no formal checks or guidelines exist as to what may be entered in to the system. The security aspect also aids to increase this problem. Duplicate records and anomalies are common place. The age of the system also hinders its accessibility. Although every employee is granted access, many find the system prone to crashes or incorrect record retrieval, again a time wasting activity. Some sales executives said they used their individual Outlook address book to keep their account information, the main reasons being increased speed, reliability and security. All employees of Lanway are given individual folders on the main Novellâ„ ¢ server. Using an advanced system of authentication, only that employee may access their folder. Other users folders are hidden from view accept to system administrators. All word tender documents are stored on in this folder, technical staff store product information and essential applications here. Employees are â€Å"advised† to store all other important documents here as the system is backed up on a regular basis. The accuracy of the data stored within here is not of real consequence to the firm, more to the individual employee, who in themselves are responsible for the task. However, once again the issue of information availability becomes a problem. For technical staff, important information and applications are hidden away from other members, whereas sales staff are unable to gain access to colleagues quotes if required without the assistance of an administrator. All network administrators are regularly out of the office on customer callouts. Product catalogues written documents Due to the nature of Lanways business activity, the range of products sold goes beyond vast and continues to increase by the day. Because of this the firm receives numerous literature on a daily basis. No formal filing system exists, all booklets are â€Å"thrown† onto double desks, or kept by the employee whom it was addressed to. Again issues regarding the availability and relevance of the information are brought into question. Important reference material or current news articles and magazines therefore become unavailable, simply because most employees do not know they exist. It is clear from the above findings, that although Lanway holds and has access to a vast amount of data and information, its overall management of the resource is poor. As such these issues must be addressed when deciding on an information policy and the successful implementation of a Information Service. In order to address these issues, Lanway must first define its information policy. Many of the problems identified earlier stem from a lack of strategic planning, thereby creating inappropriate systems and methods. As such this policy must be aligned with the overall business one and all new systems must serve only to strengthen this. From the findings of the audit, it can be observed that the sharing of information is a critical issue. Much of data stored is only available to certain employees and it is at that employees discretion how the information should be stored. The recommendation is to introduce a controlled information environment where the main aim is information sharing throughout the company. This includes not only ensuring all information is freely available, but employees are specifically informed about policy changes and new developments. Hickie argues that â€Å"an information rich organisation is a successful organisation.† This may be true in part, however it is the management of this information which enables the firms success. Therefore in order to ensure each employee has access to relevant information, such needs should be broken down on a departmental basis. However a significant overlap appears and as such information that is suitable for one department may certainly aid other departments needs;  · Internal company information – this can range from employee guidelines, holiday availability, new company policy or even company car arrangements.  · Latest news and technology stories – information on current market trends, predicted advancements and current vendors strategies  · Product specifications – this includes lists of available types of both hardware and software, the features they possess and the situations they best suit.  · Current pricing catalogues – the IT industry is perhaps the most dynamic of all. As such, products and components prices can change on a daily basis. In order to offer competitive prices, sales executives must be aware of this.  · Competitor information – this may include current pricing or product strategies, financial information and company background.  · New accounting product releases – only accounts staff will be able to judge the effectiveness of new accounts software. As such it is vital that they are able to make an informed decision.  · Current accounting news and new practices – vital for any accounting department wishing to maintain a competitive edge. Such sources also provide help and advice on new practices  · Technical support information – this may be product specific or general tips and usage information  · Product updates essential applications – vital for current systems. As new releases and service packs are issued, this department is responsible for customer receive the right components.  · Product driver banks – due to the large number of products sold, networking employees need access to all drivers concerned with these in order to provide and effective service.  · Past problems customer specific – many problems encountered and repetitive  · Hardware specific manuals – the repairs department are concerned for with hardware failure than software. As such different hardware and configuration manuals are required. As can be seen from the above findings, many of the information sources required by departments overlap with others. This benefits the company from a cost point of view as departments may then share these resources. Implementing the information service Within Lanway, two main types of information exist, electronic and paper. Therefore in order to effectively use these resources, they must be managed in a way that best allows them to be accessed. All brochure documents received are to be immediately filed in new filing cabinets situated on the sales floor – simply because space exists there for them. Each publication is to be filed in alphabetical order under the company heading, with a â€Å"post it note† stapled onto it, giving details of the date it was first entered and which employee was responsible for it. The filing cabinets should be reviewed on a 3 month basis and any duplicate/old data should be removed and shredded. Two types of electronic information exist within Lanway – internal and external sources. However in order to provide a consistent theme, employees should be able to interface both in the same way. The simplest and most effective method of achieving this is by using web technologies. The internet has evolved over the last 5 years as one of the most important factors for successful business and is continuing to do so. A whole range of resources can be obtained via the internet, including searchable online databases, intelligent problem solving systems and other business tools. It would therefore be unwise to attempt to find alternative means of accessing the required data, when the technology already exists and is free for any firm to use. The current network at Lanway – all 100mb – will remain intact, as this is currently the latest and most cost effective technology available for firms of this size. The internet connection will be upgraded to ASDL from ISDN, therefore lowering operating costs and improving speed. The first step for Lanway will be introduction of an intranet. This will be hosted on a new Microsoft Webâ„ ¢ server It will be via this that all electronic information will be accessed, including the internet itself. The online news stories will taken from Silicon.comâ„ ¢, a free online news resource specifically designed for IT firms. Each user will be given a specific user name and password, so that their entrance page may be tailored to their individual needs. The accounts department will gain their current news and information from Accounting.netâ„ ¢, a leading American accounting resource. Once again, the service is free and can be tailored to individuals needs. Both will be accessed via the intranet through absolute URL†s created via Active Scripting when users first log on to the Lanway system. All internal company information will be posted on the website, and employees should be made aware of new data through the use of email. An internal mailing list will serve this purpose. Technical support information will be obtained via vendors own websites and subscriptions to Microsoft Technetâ„ ¢ Novell Support Connection â„ ¢, Symantec Supportâ„ ¢ and 3COM Utilities. The latter sources are comprised of CD-ROM†s which arrive on a monthly basis. As such it is recommended that Virtual Driveâ„ ¢ is purchased, thereby eliminating the need from a CD-ROM network server. Instead, all contents can be copied to the hard drives, creating multiple virtual CD-ROM drives. This improves performance and network reliability. Three new databases are to be set up using SQL server as the base. They will be accessed using web browsers. The first will contain all necessary links to internal applications storage required by technical employees and will also include a brief description of the uses for each application. The second will contain detailed hardware manuals, which if necessary will be scanned in from paper or written by departmental heads. The third will contain past problems related to customer accounts – including hardware, software and individual configuration issues. All of the above systems will be fully searchable using CGI scripting via the web browser on all fields contained within the database – offering a choice of title, topic of keyword to search on. All employees will be given full access to the databases, however only technical staff will be given rights to add to the system. Again checks on the information stored on to be carried out on a three monthly basis. Information is of key importance to any firm, and that is especially true of Lanway. Because of the nature of the business and the products sold, it is vital that the information stored within the internal systems is accurate, relevant and accessible by all employees. By implementing the steps outlined above, many of these issues should be addressed. However it is up-to the company as how successfully they are implemented. Employees will need to be made aware how important the new systems and the new policies that have been introduced are. Only then will the firm begin to see benefits. The costs incurred in this project are minimal, simply because all work can be carried out in house and all products purchased at almost cost, although formal training is certainly recommended – something which will need to be outsourced. The new intranet should help to increase the distribution of information and the consistent manner in which employees are able to access the information should in the long term help the new systems to be used effectively. In order to ensure that Lanway obtains the required results, an information audit should be carried out on a yearly basis – thereby identifying any problems that have risen from implementation of were overlooked on previous audits.