The Handmaids Tale By Margaret Atwood - 1375 Words

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood Introduction The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou are both very well-known texts. They explore the characters horrible situations, retell the experiences through a variety of literary features which all link back to my main theme of freedom to, and freedom from. The Handmaids Tale is set in a not so distant future dystopia, the totalitarian Republic of Gilead. It is centred around Offred, a handmaid given to the Commander and his wife, Serena Joy, for reproductive purposes because of the dangerously low fertility. Handmaids are given to elite couples who have trouble conceiving in the hopes they can bear children. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings†¦show more content†¦Similarly, the theme of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is freedom and lack thereof, confinement. The poem talks of a free bird flying through sun rays and how it â€Å"dares to claim the sky†. It also talks of a caged bird with clipped wings and tied feet hoping for freedom and how it â€Å"sings with fearful trill of things unknown and lon ged for still... for the caged bird sings of freedom†. Narration The narration style of both texts are different, but are similar in that the readers have the opportunity to interpret the texts in their own ways and gain understanding of what the characters are going through. The Handmaids Tale is written in first person narrative and we get reflections from Offred’s past before Gilead, accounts from her time in the Red Centre, where woman were taught to be subservient, and insights to her thoughts and experiences at the present. The method of first person narration gets the reader fully immersed into Offred’s story and what she is going through allowing the reader to empathise with her, but is limited by that it does not allow the reader into other characters thoughts and feelings, with this interaction, â€Å"...she (Ofglen) is looking right at me... directly, steadily... unwavering...† reader has to come their own interpretation of what Ofglen means. The narration of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is fairly simple third person narrative, it takes on a somewhat literal interpretation of freedom and lack thereof, â€Å"...wings areShow MoreRelatedThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1249 Words   |  5 PagesDystopian Research Essay: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood In the words of Erika Gottlieb With control of the past comes domination of the future. A dystopia reflects and discusses major tendencies in contemporary society. The Handmaid s Tale is a dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood in 1985. The novel follows its protagonist Offred as she lives in a society focused on physical and spiritual oppression of the female identity. Within The Handmaid s Tale it is evident that through the explorationRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1357 Words   |  6 Pagesdictionary). In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood explores feminism through the themes of women’s bodies as political tools, the dynamics of rape culture and the society of complacency. Margaret Atwood was born in 1939, at the beginning of WWII, growing up in a time of fear. In the autumn of 1984, when she began writing The Handmaid’s Tale, she was living in West Berlin. The Berlin Wall had not yet fallen and in her travels â€Å"behind the Iron Curtain† (Atwood, 2017) she experienced â€Å"the warinessRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1060 Words   |  5 Pagesideologies that select groups of people are to be subjugated. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood plays on this idea dramatically: the novel describes the oppression of women in a totalitarian theocracy. Stripped of rights, fertile women become sex objects for the politically elite. These women, called the Handmaids, are forced to cover themselves and exist for the sole purpose of providing children. The Handmaid’s Tale highlights the issue of sexism while also providing a cruel insight into theRead MoreMargaret Atwood s The Handmaid Tale Essay1318 Words   |   6 Pagesrepresented in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaids Tale. The novel is set in the Republic of Gilead, a dictatorship, formerly known as the United States of America. The government controls all aspects of the lives’ of its citizens, with its harshest regulations directly affecting women. Gileadean women are divided into seven classes based on hierarchy and identified by the color of their clothing. However, â€Å"They are not divided into functions. They have to do everything; if they can† (Atwood 24). The commanders’Read MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1659 Words   |  7 Pagesbook The Handmaid s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the foremost theme is identity, due to the fact that the city where the entire novel takes place in, the city known as the Republic of Gilead, often shortened to Gilead, strips fertile women of their identities. Gilead is a society that demands the women who are able to have offspring be stripped of all the identity and rights. By demeaning these women, they no longer view themselves as an individual, but rather as a group- the group of Handmaids. It isRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1256 Words   |  6 Pageshappened to Jews in Germany, slaves during Christopher Columbus’s days, slaves in the early 1 900s in America, etc. When people systematically oppress one another, it leads to internal oppression of the oppressed. This is evident in Margaret Atwood’s book, The Handmaid’s Tale. This dystopian fiction book is about a young girl, Offred, who lives in Gilead, a dystopian society. Radical feminists complained about their old lifestyles, so in Gilead laws and rules are much different. For example, men cannotRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale, By Margaret Atwood1629 Words   |  7 Pages Atwood s novel, The Handmaid s Tale depicts a not too futuristic society of Gilead, a society that overthrows the U.S. Government and institutes a totalitarian regime that seems to persecute women specifically. Told from the main character s point of view, Offred, explains the Gilead regime and its patriarchal views on some women, known as the handmaids, to a purely procreational function. The story is set the present tense in Gilead but frequently shifts to flashbacks in her time at the RedRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1684 Words   |  7 Pagesensure the safety of all citizens however; women can be forced to face extremities if the laws and the government are patriarchal. The novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood tells the story of a totalitarian government that consists strictly of men who dominate women based on Christian ideologies. The government uses fertile women called â€Å"handmaids† for breeding purposes because of a decrease in bir th rate. The nation of the Republic of Gilead is a dystopian society in which women have limited freedomRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1548 Words   |  7 PagesIn Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, The theme of gender, sexuality, and desire reigns throughout the novel as it follows the life of Offred and other characters. Attwood begins the novel with Offred, a first person narrator who feels as if she is misplaced when she is describing her sleeping scenery at the decaying school gymnasium. The narrator, Offred, explains how for her job she is assigned to a married Commander’s house where she is obligated to have sex with him on a daily basis, so thatRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1237 Words   |  5 Pages The display of a dystopian society is distinctively shown in The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood. Featuring the Republic of Gilead, women are categorized by their differing statuses and readers get an insight into this twisted society through the lenses of the narrator; Offred. Categorized as a handmaid, Offred’s sole purpose in living is to simply and continuously play the role of a child-bearing vessel. That being the case, there is a persistent notion that is relatively brought up by those

Personal Narrative Self Personality Assessment Essay

Personal Narrative: Self Personality Assessment After completing the assessment exercise I have been able to carefully my personality. The exercise consisted of an evaluation of four areas: Locus of Control, Personality Type, Stress Reactions, and Learning Styles. Based on the test results my locus of control is external. According to our text, Individuals who fall into this category do not believe that their future is within their control. They believe that it is more influenced by external forces. I agree somewhat with this assessment of myself. Although I also feel that some portions of our lives can be influenced greatly by our own inner desires and motivations. My interests are also centered on the outside world.†¦show more content†¦They are less competitive, more patient and experience less health problems. I have taken a similar test in the past. At that time my score was very similar to the current test. I definitely agree with the description of my personality. For the most part I am very patient. I like to make the most use of my time. However, I dont mind working at a slower pace. As I mentioned earlier, I am a B+. This means that I scored higher on the Type B scale. This can be attributed to my competitive side. I enjoy competition in many areas of my life including work, home and school. I am constantly challenging myself to even outdo my own experiences. For example, I will attempt to clean the house in a fraction of the time as before. My competitive nature has very early roots in my life. I am the fifth child in a large family of six. Overall, I live a fairly low-stress lifestyle. The majority of the stressful encounters that I experience are self-imposed (e.g. Waiting until the day before to study for a test). In those instances I cant and dont get upset because I could have controlled the situation. I believe in deep breath exercises and meditation. This is especially helpful in a challenging situation. For the most part, I have a very laid back and mild-mannered temperament. I have a Converger learning style. This represents a combination of doing and thinking. Convergers prefer to learn by doing andShow MoreRelatedNostalgia As A Medical Condition1530 Words   |  7 Pagesphilosophical terms, nostalgia may enable one to discover and think about one s sense of the doing good and right. Nostalgia can be extremely valuable in helping us figure out what people want and their personal goals (Wilson, 1999, 7). These days, we think of nostalgia as a cultural phenomenon rather than a personal one. While it began as a phenomenon centered on one s longing for home, it has become more of a public experience due to media in recent years. There are two types of nostalgia: collective andRead MoreAn Attachment Theoretical Framework For Personality Disorders1532 Words   |  7 PagesLiterature Review and Analysis In the article titled An Attachment Theoretical Framework for Personality Disorders explores how John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth’s attachment theory provides a coherent perception of â€Å"intrapsychic and interpersonal† (2013) aspects of personality disorders, such as antisocial personality disorder. Adverse attachment is often at the root of most antisocial personality disorders. This theoretical groundwork pairs breadth and parsimony to the conceptualization of BowlbyRead MoreAttitudes Of Parents Towards Teen Contraceptive Use1390 Words   |  6 PagesRESEARCH OBJECTIVES This project will investigate the differing attitudes of parents towards teen contraceptive use, based on personal beliefs. 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The portfolio of assessment allows students to guide their personal, academic goals by composingRead MoreMajor Categories Of Direct Practice1306 Words   |  6 Pagespractice. The first of the four major categories is psychodynamic theories, which attempts to connect the current problems a client is having to past traumas from an early time in life. The focus of psychodynamic theories is to translate insights into personality changes within the client. The second category is cognitive-behavioral theories, which connects the cognitive processes and their influence on behaviors and focuses on the present with hopes to improve the future. 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In my brief personal and professional experience with the field, I have come to define counseling as a process of engagement between two people, both of whom are bound to change through a collaborative process that involves both the therapist and the client in co-constructing solutions to concerns. Mental and emotional health can have interpersonal, and social impacts; I want to provide evidenced-based

Prosthetic Devices Free Essays

Prosthetic Devices A prosthetic is an artificial body part that replaces a missing or non-functioning body part such as an arm, heart or breast. Humans have been making prosthetic limbs since the Ancient Egyptians to replace limbs lost during battle, work or just by mistake. Evidence has been found of Egyptians trying to replicate toes with copper ones. We will write a custom essay sample on Prosthetic Devices or any similar topic only for you Order Now Although these were very impractical as they were solid and so were mostly for aesthetic purposes. In the 1400s, prosthetics arms made out of iron were available to wealthy Knights and lords. These arms had a relatively useful function as they were made to hold shields, allow them to open their purse and/or sign their name. As well as for function, prosthetic limbs are also developed for aesthetic purposes as people want to look normal and not attract stares or whispers. Prosthetic Arms Modern prosthetic devices have advanced a great deal since ancient times. Now, some very complicated robotic limbs are available that can detect the electrical impulse that would normally move your arm and replicate this movement robotically. Robotics in prosthetic devices is seen mostly in robotic arms because of the nature of the movement of fingers and the thumb. Advancements in the processors used in myoelectric (robotic) arms has allowed for artificial limbs to make fine-tuned movements with the prosthetic. This is extremely significant as previously robotic arms had only one or two movements such as closing the thumb to the hand to hold things. Modern fine-tuned arms can have up to 7 movements and it is likely that they will advance to have even more movements than a human hand. A future advancement that is being researched and developed is the addition of a sense of touch that would be able to detect, and then relay to the brain the amount of pressure being applied. It is currently being experimented to add small pods filled with a highly compressible liquid at the end of each finger. Inside each of these pods would be a pressure sensor that would compress as force is added with the robotic finger. The pressure sensor would then sense the amount of force being applied and relay this to the central processor which would translate this to an impulse to send to the brain. An alternative to relaying it to the brain is to have a small display or other indicator that shows the amount of force being applied by each finger. Although this is easier to develop, most people wouldn’t like the indicator over each finger or on the wrist as it wouldn’t look at all natural. Although there have been many advancements in robotic arms, they are still very much a crude replacement to a real arm. They have to be replaced every 3-4 years, there function is still much slower than real arms and fingers, and the intricacy and delicacy possible by real fingers is currently far superior than the robotic replica. Bionic Eye The Bionic Eye was developed to restore the vision of people that lived in total blindness, or very low vision. The first prototypes are now developed but they are researching ways to improve them as although they are functional and can convey an image to the brain of blind patients they only send an extremely low quality image in greyscale to the brain that is only useful to avoid walking into large objects such as buildings, cars and tables. The reason for this low quality image is because there are 98 electrodes in the chip that connects to the optic nerve. This is a very small amount when you compare it to over 120 million photo-receptor cells. The chip developed has about 1 000 000 wires connecting it and is one of the most complicated neuro-stimulation chips ever designed. Although it seems as though good vision will not be possible with the bionic eye for a long time to come you can have far less receptors than that to have adequate vision to love independently. Researchers are hoping to include about 1000 electrodes in the next generation of the bionic eye and believe that this is enough to allow people to recognise faces and read large print. How to cite Prosthetic Devices, Essay examples

IS Security and Risk Management-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Sinificance of IS Security and Risk Management. Answer: Introduction The information security is significant in organization in the areas such as the record keeping, as well as on the financial uses. The IT security could help organization in solving the requirements of the clients particularly in the management of their personal information, the data as well as the security information (Ali, 2014). These are the challenges which are encountered by the organization particularly in the management of the data so that it does not fall in the hands of the unauthorized individuals or perhaps the hackers. An effective IT security management system help in the reduction of the risk when there are crisis in the organization. The organization should understand the IT security to enable them overcome the challenges (Ali, 2014). Additionally, organization should have policies when it comes to securing of their data so that it could be safe (Ross, 2013). In this research it intends to answer the question on how the information technology security could be enforce d in the organization. Additionally, the essay will look at the main content of the IT security policy, and how it is determined (Bergstrm hlfeldt, 2014). The essay will be focused on the E-Bay organization. Other components that will be looked are the IT model for the organization, the security standards and the control, risk analysis and contingency planning. Lastly, it will focus on the analysis of the IT threats, vulnerabilities and tools. Key Terms Identification Protocols: These are often described in an industry or perhaps the international standard such as the TCP/IP protocols that uses the set rules to exchange the message with the other internet points at the data packet levels. Contingency: This is a plan which is set in place to prevent any shortcoming which may occur in the future. Standards: These are definite rules, principles or perhaps the measures which have been established to guide the organization against the risk that could occur. Overview of E-bay organization This is a multinational e-commerce corporation, which help the online consumer to consumer as well as the business to consumer sales (Chen, 2009). The organization manages eBay.com which is an online shopping portal that helps the people and the businesses to buy and sell goods and services globally (Bergstrm hlfeldt, 2014). In addition to its auction style sales, the website has expanded to Buy It Now shopping. Over the years the company has become one of the best online retail business organization. Discussion of Policy and Auditing features for E-bay The organizations requires protection against the cyber-attack which entails to document the information technology security policy (Ross, 2013). Each and every employee need to understand their obligation in order to protect the organization data (Anton, Anderson Mesic, 2004). The workers should have a clear expectation about their behavior when it comes to interaction with the information of the organization sales (Chen, 2009). There is need to have an IT security policy that should be published, understandable as well as enforceable. The following are the main components of an information technology security policy for E-bay organization; Security definition: the E-bay IT security policy have a well-defined security vision for the organization which is to safeguard on the safety of the clients and that of the business which they operate with (Axelrod, Bayuk Schutzer, 2009). This security definition is meant to make certain there is confidentiality, integrity in addition to the accessibility to the data and the resources through the use of the effective and established information technology security methods and the process. Enforcement: on this part it evidently outlines precisely how the policy could be enforced and also precisely how the security breaches might be handled sales (Chen, 2009). Additionally, the chief data officer in addition to the information system security have the responsibility of implementing on these policy and ensuringtheir compliance (Bergstrm hlfeldt, 2014). In this section it includes the procedures to request short term exception to the policy. Additionally, all the exceptions to the policy needs to be reviewed and also approved or perhaps denied by the security officers concerned. The user access to the computer resources: on their policy it outlines the functions along with the responsibilities of the customers accessing the resources of the business especially to their website (Peltier, 2013). It could include things like the passwords, guidelines for the termination of the accounts, procedure for the threat notification and the security awareness training to the clients. Security profiles: E-bay has an excellent security policy including the data which recognizes precisely how the security profiles might be utilized uniformly throughout the common devices, such as the firewalls, proxy servers and the servers (Peltier, 2013). Passwords: The passwords are very critical aspects especially in protecting the infrastructure of the organization. They have higher passwords so that they do not compromise the organization especially the website to the external threats, and also the insiders (Duncan Whittington, 2014). The passwords such as the user log in details need to be strong not to be compromised through social engineering or the password cracking procedures. Email: in the security policy of the E-bay organization there is an email usage policy which is very important. There are several viruses, malware and the Trojans which could use the email as the vehicle in order to propagate themselves through the internet (Duncan Whittington, 2014). To prevent this there are content filtering email messages. These help to filter out attachments with the extensions of exe, .scr or perhaps .inf, which would help enhance on the prevention efforts. Backup and recovery: E-bay does a comprehensive back-up as well as a recovery plan in order to mitigate any incidents. The backup acts as the key for the past. E-bay has an effective backup as well as recovery plans which are established through the comprehensive risk assessments of all their systems on the networks. Logical map of organisational structure Figure 1: The diagram shows the model for the organization E-bay organization illustrates to how information systems could help the business to compete, and the interdependence of the processes of the business, information systems, and the organization surrounding environment (Bodin, Gordon Loeb, 2008). E-bay organization has been able to take advantage of the opportunities which have been presented by the internet. The company has been able to pioneer in the online auctions where people could sell to the others. E-bay operates in very changing environment where the clients can easily switch to the other online retailers who are providing more value and the convenience (Duncan Whittington, 2014). The company has been able to revise on their IT business model through acquiring other internet businesses, and then de-emphasizing online auctions in the favor of the fixed price sales (Chen, 2009). The above diagram shows the model which has been used by the organization to remain competitive in the market and be the best than the rival organiza tions. Discussion of Models and standards There are various security standards and controls which are observed by E-bay organization (Bodin, Gordon Loeb, 2008). One of the security standards which is implemented in the organization is ISO 17799 which defines the information as an assets which could exist in many forms and has a value to the organization. The goal for the information security would be suitably protect the assets of the organization to ensure that the continuity of the business, minimize on the damage of the business, and maximize on the return of the investments (Bodin, Gordon Loeb, 2008). As defined by the ISO 17799 the information security has been characterized as the preservation of the confidentiality which ensures that the information is accessible only to the individuals who have been authorized to have access. Additionally, to ensure integrity which ensure that safeguarding the accuracy and the completeness of the information and the methods of processing (Lam, 2014). Lastly, it focus on the availab ility, which ensures that the users who are authorized have the access to the data and associated assets when they are required. The ISO 17799 has offered E-bay organization a benchmark against which to build on the organizational information security. Moreover, it provides a mechanism to manage of the processes of the information security. Another security standards that is utilized by the organization is the ISO 27001 which is a security management specification (Bergstrm hlfeldt, 2014). It is a framework which is more often procedures as well as policies that entails the physical, legal as well as the controls in the organization information risk management process (PITAS, N?mec Souek, 2014). This ISO has provided the organization the benefit of proof for the security especially the third parties for the partners, customers and the legal aspects. Moreover, there is a reduced cost through the optimization of the structures and transparency. Some of the security control which have been implemented by the organization is authentication. The staff of the organization are required to pass the multi factor authentication before they gain access to the system (Sadgrove, 2016). This helps keep the data of the organization safe from exploit of any vulnerabilities from internal access or external access (Bergstrm hlfeldt, 2014). Another control is the audit trail. The organization have a server which records the IP addresses as well as the URLs for each of the access and they are able to retain such data for a given period of time as an audit trail (Kranakis, Haroutunian Shahbazian, 2008). There is also the application of cryptography where the data is stored in encrypted on all the devices. Discussion of Risk Analysis for E-bay E-bay organization has a given protocol on how to carry the risk analysis. One thing they highlight is to identify on the hazards. This is achieved through understanding of the various difference between the hazard and the risk. The second thing is to decide on what could have caused it and how (Bodin, Gordon Loeb, 2008). When the organization identifies the risk that have affected them they evaluate them and decide on the control measures. Some of the risk analysis aspect to evaluate on the risks the focus is on security and the networks protocols, which E-bay organization has implemented. One of the network protocol is the secure sockets layer (Bodin, Gordon Loeb, 2008). This is a cryptographic protocol which has been designed in order to secure the communications over the TCP/IP networks. The SSL protocol became the Transport Layer Security which is intended to provide a secure connections between the client and the server through encrypting of the data which is passed between t hem. The E-bay network has been encrypted so that any individual who do not have an accessibility to the network would not sniff the packets, reading the user names, passwords, or maybe the credit card information as well as other confidential data which is sent across the network. The company also observes the document protocol that is accountable for the compression, the encryption in addition to the verification of the data. The data which the business transmit is split into the data. Each of the record consist of the header byte, which is accompanied by protocol version, the length to which the information is to be sent, in addition to the payload itself. Analysis of business processes The contingency plan can be done on the worst case risks which could affect the organization. An example could be on the case when the business is not in a position of supporting itself particularly on their ongoing basis. There could be issues of the security concern for the business (Lam, 2014). On the contingency plan it contains various things such as the vendor readiness plan. Each and every organization relies on the vendors in providing them with equipment, supplies, goods as well as the services. Discussion of Vendors Some of the vendors could be regarded very critical than the others. To minimize on the potential exposure to the disruption by the vendors, there are various steps which the company takes in advance (Lam, 2014). One of the step would be to avoid a single source. The organization has many vendors which provide each of our critical goods as well as the services required to support the business. Example of the vendors for E-bay are WC and the Flipkart. These groups helps the sellers to sell their goods to the shoppers all across the globe. Depth of analysis of threat, vulnerabilities and tools The vulnerabilities in the E-bay organization network security could be summed as the soft spots which are present to every information technology network. The networks could be plugged into three categories; the technology, configuration or the security policy weaknesses. The technology have intrinsic security weaknesses. Some of the vulnerabilities which have affected E-bay organization are TCP/IP protocol weaknesses, the operating and the network equipment. When you look at the TCP protocol the HTTP, ICMP could be insecure. On the operating system the OS could have security issues which needs to be addressed (Lam, 2014). The network equipment weaknesses highlights that the various kind of the networks equipments such as the routers, the firewalls have the security concerns and should be recognized in order to protect against. Some of the threats which the organization has encountered is the social engineering. This has occurred where the attackers have been able to obtain the data from the individuals accounts or the organization to use it for the malicious purpose (Lam, 2014). One kind of the social engineering that has been used by the attacker is phishing. The attackers use the email in an attempt to trick individuals into providing their sensitive data, for example the credit card numbers or perhaps the passwords. One of the tool that has been used for attack to obtain the customer information is the keylogger. This tool enables one to know everything which the user writes through the keyboard, and it can capture on the screens. The organization usually uses the integrated sales as well as the purchases system therefore the staff inputs data into the system which could pose a risk to occur. References Ali, S. M. (2014). Integration of information security essential controls into information technology infrastructure library-A proposed framework. International Journal of Applied, 4(1). Anton, P., Anderson, R., Mesic, R. (2004).Finding and Fixing Vulnerabilities in Information Systems. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation. Axelrod, C., Bayuk, J., Schutzer, D. (2009).Enterprise information security and privacy. Boston: Artech House. Bergstrm, E., hlfeldt, R. M. (2014, October). Information classification issues. In Nordic Conference on Secure IT Systems (pp. 27-41). Springer, Cham. Bodin, L. D., Gordon, L. A., Loeb, M. P. (2008). Information security and risk management.Communications of the ACM, 51(4), 64-68. Chen, T. M. (2009). Information security and risk management. In Encyclopedia of MultimediaTechnology and Networking, Second Edition (pp. 668-674). IGI Global. Duncan, B., Whittington, M. (2014, September). Compliance with standards, assurance and audit: Does this equal security?. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Security of Information and Networks (p. 77). ACM. Kranakis, E., Haroutunian, E., Shahbazian, E. (2008).Aspects of Network and Information Security. Amsterdam: IOS Press. Lam, J. (2014). Enterprise risk management: from incentives to controls. John Wiley Sons. Peltier, T. R. (2013). Information security fundamentals. CRC Press. PITAS, J., N?mec, V., Souek, R. (2014). Mutual Influence of Management Processes of Stakeholders and Risk Management in Cyber Security Environment. In The 18th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics. Orlando, Florida: International Institute of Informatics and Systemics (Vol. 2, pp. 94-97). Ross, R. S. (2013). Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems andOrganizations [includes updates as of 5/7/13]. Special Publication (NIST SP)-800-53 Rev 4. Sadgrove, K. (2016). The complete guide to business risk management. Routledge. Vacca, J. (2014).Network and system security. Waltham, MA: Syngress.

2019 Writing Contests The Ultimate Guide - Freewrite Store

2019 Writing Contests The Ultimate Guide - Freewrite Store 20 Writing Contests in 2019 Finding the right writing contest for you can be a difficult and time-consuming process. I googled the term â€Å"writing contests† and got 126,000,000 results. For that reason, we compiled a comprehensive and up-to-date list of the best writing contests in 2019. You’re here because you’re looking for credible writing contests that offer cash prizes and/or the ability to get your work in front of more people.  Discover the best essay, poetry, novel, and short story writing competitions for fiction and non-fiction writers. Disclaimer:The majority of the descriptions of each contest were taken directly from the most relevant contest website. We did the leg work and we’ll continue to curate and update this list throughout the year. If you want to receive updates when we update this list, sign up for updates! Submit your work to these competitions for a chance to win notoriety, rewards and of course, cash prizes. Related: Struggling to get your piece finished before the competition deadline? UseSprinter, our online, distraction-free writing tool. Produce your best work by staying productive and creative. Did we miss a writing competition? Let us know in the comments or by tweeting at us, @astrohaus. 20 Writing Contests in 2019 1. 2019 fresh.ink Fiction Contest To celebrate the launch of our beta reader platform, we're hosting a fiction writing contest with $7,500 in prizes. Our judging process is unique and very transparent. Instead of editors, we match your work with private beta readers on our fresh.ink platform who rate your story. Highest overall score wins in each of the four categories: short story, novelette, novella, and novel! Deadline:December 1st, 2019  Fee: None  Prize:  $1,000 - $3,000  Ã‚  View Contest 2. Amazing Women's Edition Tell us about an amazing woman. The National Youth Foundation is pleased to announce the 2020 Amazing Women's Edition Contest student book competition. Students are tasked to get to know women in their communities and tell us about the heroines. The contest is open to students in grades K-8. Prizes include $500 for the student(s), $250 for the teacher or parent advisor and the book is published and donated to schools and libraries across the country. Deadline:  January 6, 2019  Fee:  None  Prize:  $500 and Publication of Book  View Contest 3. 2019 Accenti Writing Contest The annual Accenti Writing Contest has an open topic.  Multiple entries are welcome.  The contest is open to prose works of fiction, non-fiction or creative non-fiction with a maximum length of 2000 words.  Winners are chosen by blind judging. Four finalists make the shortlist, from which the judges choose the winner.  The popular vote winner is the submission from among the four finalists that receives the most votes by Accenti readers. Winners' names, bios and submissions will be posted on Accenti in May and reported in the Accenti Newsletter. Top prize: $1000.00 (CDN) and publication in Accenti.  Two runner-up prizes: $100.00 (CDN) each and publication in Accenti.  Popular Vote prize: $100.00 (CDN) and publication in Accenti.Deadline: February 3rd, 2020  Ã‚  Fee: $30  Ã‚  Prize: $100 - $1,000 View Contest 4. The Juniper Literary Prizes The Juniper Literary Prizes showcase distinctive and fresh voices and share their work with a wide array of readers. Every year, faculty-judges from the distinguished  University of Massachusetts MFA program select two  winners in poetry, two in  fiction, and one in creative nonfiction, and the awardees each receive an honorarium of $1,000 and a publication contract with the University of Massachusetts Press. Deadline:September 30, 2019  Fee:  $30  Prize: $1,000 View Contest 5. WOW! Women On Writing Summer 2019 Flash Fiction Contest Seeking short fiction of any genre between 250 - 750 words. The mission of this contest is to inspire creativity, communication, and well-rewarded recognition to contestants. Electronic submissions via e-mail only; reprints are okay; simultaneous submissions okay; reprints okay; multiple submissions are okay as long as they are submitted in their own individual e-mail. Open internationally. Limit: 300 entries. Entry: $10 entry fee; critique option for an additional $10 Deadline:  August 31, 2019  Fee:$10  Prize:  Up to $400 + publication  Ã‚  View Contest 6. 2019 African American Voices in Children’s Literature: Writing Contest Strive Publishing Free Spirit Publishing are partnering to shine a spotlight onMinnesota’s African American authors in the first annual African American Voicesin Children’s Literature Writing Contest. Eligible entries will include original fiction or nonfiction board books for ages 0–4 (50–125 words) and picture books for ages 4–8 (300–800 words) featuring contemporary African American characters and culture and focusing on one or more of the following topics: character development, self-esteem, diversity, getting along with others, engaging with family and community, or other topics related to positive childhood development. Deadline:  June 30, 2019  Fee:  None  Prize:  $1000  View Contest 7.  2019 Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction The Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction was established in 2004 in memory of Liza Nelligan, a writer, editor, and friend of many in Colorado State University’s English Department, where she received her master’s degree in literature in 1992. By giving an award to the author of an outstanding short story each year, we hope to honor Nelligan’s life, her passion for writing, and her love of fiction. The Nelligan Prize is offered annually. The winner receives a $2,000 honorarium and the story is published in the fall/winter issue of  Colorado Review. Deadline:  March 14, 2019  Fee:  $15  Prize:  $2,000 View Contest 8.  SFC Literary Prize The biennial $50,000 Literary Prize is sponsored by St. Francis College to offer its support and encouragement to the literary community and mid-career authors who have recently published their 3rd to 5th work of fiction.   Self-published books and English translations are considered. The next Prize will be for work published between June 2017 and May 2019. Deadline:  May 15, 2019  Fee:  None  Prize: $15,000 View Contest 9.  The Restless Books Prize For New Immigrant  Writing The ethos of the modern world is defined by immigrants. Their stories have always been an essential component of our cultural consciousness, from Isaac Bashevis Singer to Isabel Allende, from Milan Kundera to Maxine Hong Kingston. In novels, short stories, memoirs, and works of journalism, immigrants have shown us what resilience and dedication we’re capable of, and have expanded our sense of what it means to be global citizens. In these times of intense xenophobia, it is more important than ever that these boundary-crossing stories reach the broadest possible audience. With that in mind, we are proud to present The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing. We are looking for extraordinary unpublished submissions from emerging writers of sharp, culture-straddling writing that addresses identity in a global age. Each year, a distinguished panel of judges will select a winning manuscript to be published by Restless Books. We can’t wait to read and share what the new voices of the world have to say. Deadline:  March  31, 2019  Fee:  None  Prize:  $10,000  View Contest 10.  Sarton Women's Book Awards The Sarton Women’s Book Awards are given annually to women authors writing chiefly about women in memoir, nonfiction, contemporary fiction, historical fiction, and young adult. The awards are limited to submissions originally written in English and published by small/independent publishers, university presses, and author-publishers (self-publishing authors).  The award program is named in honor of May Sarton, who is remembered for her outstanding contributions to women's literature as a memoirist, novelist, and poet. Deadline:  July 1, 2019 (Early Bird Entry)  Fee:  $90 (Early Bird Fee)  Ã‚  Prize:  $100 + commemorative medallion and advertising considerations  View Contest 11.  6th Ó Bhà ©al Five Words International Poetry Competition The O Bheal Five Words Poetry Competition is one of the more unique competitions on this list. Instead of opening yearly or even quarterly, this contest is held weekly. Every Tuesday around noon (UTC), from the 16th of April 2019 until the 28th of January 2020, five words are posted on the competitions page. Entrants have one week to compose and submit one or more poems which include all five words given for that week. One winner is selected from all the weekly winners. Deadline:  Weekly, through January 28, 2020  Fee:  Ã¢â€š ¬5  Prize:  Ã¢â€š ¬500  View Contest 12.  L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new writers of science fiction and fantasy to have their work judged by some of the masters in the field and discovered by a wide audience. Deadline:  March 31, 2019  Fee: None  Prize: Up to $5,000 View Contest 13. Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition Writer’s Digest has been shining a spotlight on up and coming writers in all genres through its Annual Writing Competition for more than 80 years. Enter our 88th Annual Writing Competition for your chance to win and have your work be seen by editors and agents! Almost 500 winners will be chosen. The top winning entries of this writing contest will also be on display in the 88th Annual  Writer’s Digest Competition Collection. Deadline:  May 6, 2019  Fee:  $25  Prize:  $5,000 View Contest 14.  Drue Heinz Literature Award The Drue Heinz Literature Prize recognizes and supports writers of short fiction and makes their work available to readers around the world. The award is open to authors who have published a book-length collection of fiction or at least three short stories or novellas in commercial magazines or literary journals. Manuscripts are judged anonymously by nationally known writers. Past judges have included Robert Penn Warren, Joyce Carol Oates, Raymond Carver, Margaret Atwood, Russell Banks, Rick Moody, and Joan Didion. Winners receive a cash prize of $15,000, publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press, and support in the nation-wide promotion of their book. Deadline:  June 30, 2019  Fee:None  Prize:$15,000  View Contest 15.  Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize Established in 1981, the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize is administered by theUniversity of Pittsburgh Press. Named in honor of Agnes Lynch Starrett, the Press’sfirst director, the prize is awarded for a first full-length book of poems. The prize carries a cash award of $5,000 and publication by the University ofPittsburgh Press as part of the Pitt Poetry Series. The series  is edited by Ed Ochester, who also serves as final judge in the Starrett competition. Deadline:  April 30, 2019  Fee: $25  Prize:  $5,000  View Contest 16.  Miami Book Fair/ De Groot Prize The Miami Book Fair, the nation’s finest and largest literary gathering, presented by Miami Dade College, has partnered with The de Groot Foundation to launch the Miami Book Fair/De Groot Prize to be awarded to an author for an unpublished novella. Deadline:  April 30, 2019  Fee:None  Prize:  $6,000 and publication by Melville House   View Contest 17.  Write The World Founded in 2012 by David Weinstein, Write The World is a program dedicated to the development of high school aged writers. They’ve created a global community and a guided interactive process that’s subscribed to by thousands of youth writers and educators. Image via: Write the World Their current competition is a food writing competition. Writers aged 13-18 may submit a 600 - 1,000 word essay about food. Along with cash prizes of up to $100, youth writers will receive recognition from the global Write The World community. Deadline:  Monthly  Fee:  None  Prize:  Up to $100  View Contest 18.  ServiceScape Short Story Award 2019 Calling all short story writers: Are you a short story writer interested in gaining more exposure and a bigger audience for your creative work? Would an extra  $1,000.00 USD  in your pocket be a great thing right now? If so,  the ServiceScape Short Story Award is the perfect way to achieve both. For this award, any genre or theme of short story is accepted. All applicants should submit their original unpublished work of short fiction or nonfiction, 5,000 words or fewer, to be considered. Along with receiving an award for  $1,000.00 USD, the winner will have his or her short story featured within our blog, which reaches thousands of readers per month. Rules and exclusions apply.    Deadline:  November 30, 2019  Fee:  None  Prize:  $1,000  View Contest 19.  Narrative Prize 2019 THE $4,000 NARRATIVE PRIZE  is awarded annually for the best short story, novel excerpt, poem, one-act play, graphic story, or work of literary nonfiction published by a new or emerging writer in  Narrative. The winner is announced each September, and the prize is awarded in October. The award, citing the winner’s name and the title and genre of the winning piece, is widely publicized, and each winner is cited in an ongoing listing in  Narrative. The prize will be given to the best work published each year in  Narrative  by a new or emerging writer, as judged by the magazine’s editors. In some years, the prize may be divided between winners, when more than one work merits the award. Deadline:  June 15, 2019  Fee:None  Prize:  $4,000  View Contest 20.  Architecture of Power: Short Story Contest Welcome to 2019; polarizing political views are an ever-present reality and it doesn't seem to be improving. Whether you live in the US or on the other side of the globe our environments are actors in the theater of influence. What happens when design becomes part of the equation?Write a short story that puts into narrative how architecture and the built-environment affect the lives of the people in power and those on the fringes of society. Deadline:  February 28th, 2019  Ã‚  Fee:  $25  Prize:  $500 + Bonus  View Contest - There are many good reasons to enter writing contests. First and foremost, there is the possibility of winning a cash prize. Secondly, having your name attached to a popular literary magazine or writing organization can help get your work seen. With that said, before taking the plunge, be sure to read the contest guidelines thoroughly. Some writing contests have regional, age, gender, ethnicity, and word count restrictions. If you’ve found what you’re looking for, don’t delay, get writing! Writing competitions are one of the best ways for writers to get their work in front of a broad audience.    Carlton Clark loves to write about business, baseball, and popular culture. A writer, marketer, and entrepreneur. At the age of 14, he founded the media company  ballplayerplus.com. Currently, Carlton helps businesses share their stories through social media and blogging. When he’s not writing or creating content, Carlton coaches youth baseball at his local high school and plays guitar. You can find him online on Instagram @itscarltonclark, and on Twitter @carlton_mukasa

Strike up the band essays

Strike up the band essays A live show is the best thing to see for the fan and to experience for the band. But there is a lot of work that goes into the live show that should not go unnoticed by the band. The band needs to arrive on time. The process of mic-ing the equipment correctly and the artists should never underestimate the value of a good sound check on stage. After that the actual sound check in the venue will occur. If all goes well, it will be an experience to remember for both the supporters and the artists. For the show to begin on time, the band should arrive on time. It is a matter of careful planning. Set an exact time window for the band to arrive. Make sure the band has a correct and clear route description. Inform the band of possible traffic delays and the time they will be traveling. They should be pretty relaxed when they know that when they arrive everything will be ready. When the equipment is set up, the venues sound technician will begin placing the microphones. The kind of microphone depends on the sound the artists prefers, that is why the technician always cross-references with the artists themselves to get the desired monitor and venue sound. In lesser funded and utilized venues the technician will probably use the standard microphones. The inexperienced artists usually underestimate the importance of their amplifier settings. Because every stage has their own accoustics, settings should be changed accordingly. Make sure the amplifier produces the prefered sound. The volume should be adequate to be amplified further by the installation of the house. If the settings of all the amplifiers is good, the sound on the stage and venue will be good as well. As previously stated, the sound on stage and in the venue depends largely on the sound of the equipment on stage. Make sure that the sound of the equipment on stage is well balanced. All amplified instruments, so no drumkit or horns and such, should ...

Media Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Media Management - Essay Example This essay stresses that rdio and television managers must share the same basic principles of responsible journalism as the people they hire in running their newsrooms. Regardless of how enthusiastic, well trained and forward thinking journalists may be, public affairs and news programming stand little chance of growth unless the motivation and expertise of airing something, with the exception of music, is nurtured at the management level. This paper makes a conclusion that inexperienced station managers may view maintenance of news as capital intensive and very risky politically and decide not to venture into it. Such managers must familiarize themselves with the numerous examples from other media houses in recent years where the risks have paid off well in terms of loyal audiences, favorable public perception and increased revenue. Managers should evaluate the skills of their newsroom in order to understand the qualities of good news and public affairs programs and also how to maximize advertisement sales due to the effect of local news programming. Media managers must also familiarize themselves with the basics of journalistic ethics because it is them who will the final arbiters and not journalists whenever there are accusations, disputes or ethical calls to be addressed. Media house management should acquaint themselves with key functions of media management such as ethics and law in broadcasting, technology and e ngineering, station promotion and identification and production and creativity. Others include sales principles, advertising and pricing, structure of a radio or TV station, and broadcast programming. Hierarchy of organizational communications needs Just like Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, there is also a hierarchy of organizational communications. The basic level of communication is the customer service that involves being available to execute communications on a responsive and professional basis, but not ordering anything more. This involves the media personnel just doing their job and has been compared to Maslow's physiological needs for food, shelter and water. From customer service, the level of communication goes up to 'media' where an appropriate range of media resources where the work is well produced and receives a high audience rating. This is a very secure and safe way of meeting the needs of the customers but does not add anything more. It is very much like Maslow's human safety need. Achieving the third level of communication requires a little more effort since media development becomes more goal-oriented because it defines the audience and the message and sets priorities to reach its communication objectives. This is the stage where communications becomes more proactive and the level of the work must be scaled down to the level of the

Construction Best Practice Programme Assignment

Construction Best Practice Programme - Assignment Example Human Resource Evaluation: is the evaluation of current employees to assess suitability to current job and skill requirement in terms of interests, skills, experiences and overall abilities. Job analysis & Design: Involves the restructuring of an organization to optimize its human resource, to best meet the possible forecast requirements for human resources for any project. Analysis of Internal Availability: The organization reviews the availability of its current employees before deployment to a project. Job descriptions & Specifications. Employees with the most suitable skills and capabilities are shortlisted for deployment, with a degree of flexibility to mitigate unforeseeable risks. Training and development. Providing project-specific training to shortlisted employees Impact of Human Resources deployment planning Technical performance: An ability to meet technical requirements of the project. Technological innovativeness: The team on site is able to meet challenges to problems technical in and find solutions that are fast, efficient and cost-effective. Project efficiency in execution: Overall improved adherence to time and cost projections for the project. Team performance: is effective towards reducing risk, streamlining decision making, improved information exchange and a higher level of motivation achieved through teamwork. Possible Difficulties in this process Methods to negate problems / difficulties Ill-trained personnel deployed to site. Deployment only after appropriate training and vetting of skillsets Attrition of personnel during project attrition Project continuity assured through teamwork, where contingencies in terms... Evaluation of the effectiveness of human and material resource control can be done setting up and analyzing KPIs for all the different stakeholders in a project; the clients, contractors, workers, consultants and the suppliers. Benchmarks, both internal and external, assist in evaluating performance of all stakeholders in the project. Criticality of the activity. Monitoring is more extensive and frequent for activities that are an important part of the Project Critical path, to the extent that all activities that lead up to it are also monitored extensively to mitigate any potential risks in the timely execution of these activities. Time frame and sub-components of the activity. An activity that has several components that have to come together over, say, a 36 hr period, shall be monitored at the beginning and end of each component sub-activity. Criticality: Installation is a 36 hour process, and factors like availability of the crane, completion of chiller platforms on terrace, completion of housing nuts, presenc

Plant Exploration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Plant Exploration - Essay Example Forests, rich in plant life, are spread across Kenya. Some plants in Kenya are used to make refreshment drinks. Plants such as tea and coffee undergo manufacturing and the end product is used to prepare drinks that are often taken in the morning hours. About eighty percent of the Kenyan population wakes up to a cup of tea or coffee every morning. This is due to its cheapness and exudes health benefits. Tea and coffee consumers have grown exponentially for the past few years. Tea and coffee drinks preparation is easy and can be done at the comfort of your home. Fruit juices are also consumed in Kenya. Avocados, oranges, mangoes among others are squeezed to produce a very sweet juice. The tree tomato fruits are used in making salad. The types of juices and salads depend on the consumer taste and most of them are readily available. Some alcoholic drinks are made from plants. Fermentation of plant fruits yield a sweet and alcoholic drink that is consumed by the locals. Each tribe in Keny a has its own type of alcoholic drink. In coastal areas, for example, the locals use the coconut plant to make an alcoholic drink. (www.ktda.com) The building and construction industry in Kenya is aided by plants. Timber is common in the building industry. In rural areas they use trees to build their houses while in urban centres they are used as pillars or roofing materials. Trees are also used in construction of makeshift business premises. Hardwood trees are cut and shaped to manufacture beautiful sculptures by the locals. The baobab tree is used to make durable furniture. Kenya harbours various craftsmen who use plants to make beautiful items such as wall frames. In Kenya, however, deforestation is highly controlled by the government in order to protect plant life. Kenyans also use plants to construct transportation means. Carts and wheelbarrows are wooden and are convenient because they can carry all sorts of luggage. Some communities in Kenya use shrines as sacred places. Thes e shrines are built by placing leaves and trees in strategic positions where people go to communicate with their Deity. In a nutshell, the building and construction industry cannot survive in Kenya without plant life.( Daily Nation Newspaper) Plants are also used for medicinal purposes in Kenya. The idea of treating patients using herbal plants was coined from the forefathers. Herbalists exist in Kenya up to this day. Traditional medicine which comprised of specific plants is still considered in treating diseases. Aloe Vera is an example of a plant used for medicinal purpose. In Kenya, manufactured drugs are expensive depending on the ailment and people turn to plants for their recovery. Herbalists grind and crush different types of leaves from specific plants into a concoction. The concoction then is used in treating headaches, stomach aches, heartburn and other pains. Plants such as Khat are also believed to aid in dieting because they suppress hunger pangs. Leaves from specific p lants treat snake bites in the Kikuyu and Kamba community. Rural health planning in Kenya appreciates medicinal plants for they are readily available and cheap. (www.overlandingafrica.com/kenya/?) Kenyans use plants to relieve hunger pangs each and every day. There are common types of foods across the country although some of them originate from specific communities. Kikuyus enjoy a mixture

A Literature Review Regarding Virus Protection

A Literature Review Regarding Virus Protection Although most of the people think that there is nothing to do a research in the area of computer virus protection, there are more and more things to research as everyday more than 200 computer malware are created by the virus creators. In the modern world most of the people are using computers in their day-to-day activities. So it is more important to have knowledge of computer viruses and protecting the computers from those viruses. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Identifying what the computer viruses are, their types, the threat to the computer from computer viruses, the present situation of computer viruses and prevention mechanisms from the computer viruses are the objectives of this literature review. end{abstract} section{Introduction} As the usage of the computers and creation of computer viruses are increasing all over the world, every computer user began to search about the computer viruses. But there are other various kinds of software like worms and Trojans that can do some harm to the activities of the computer other than the viruses. Although they are different from computer viruses, the computer users are used to call those other types of malicious software viruses. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Though there is no any real definition for the computer viruses, they can be considered as special kind of software programs that have the ability of self replicating over executable files reside in the computer and do some interruption to the activities of the computer. As the computer viruses are spreading only when the executable files are executing, the viruses can effect only for the executable files in the infected computer. So most of the time the files with .EXE , .COM , .BAT , .SYS extensions are infected. A computer virus can be written with a few lines of programming codes in any programming language. Any person who has a personal computer can write a computer virus and send it to another computer or system far away from the computer which produced the virus through a network or any disk. These viruses can destroy any massive computer system or network easily within few seconds. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Computer viruses which do less harm to the computers are only spreading over the computers and computer networks. They do not do any dangerous harm to the computers other than just replicating them in the system. The most dangerous type of viruses effect to the computers by changing the content of the files, partially of completely deleting the files reside in the computer. The data stored in the computer can be lost by infecting these kinds of computer viruses. These types of computer viruses cannot be catch by examining the files in the computer. But only the destruction they have done to the computer will remain. So capturing these viruses is the more difficult thing. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Preventing or protecting from computer viruses not only mean installing an anti virus program and scan the files by getting use of the anti virus program but also awareness of the computer viruses or malicious software and practicing best practices when using a computer. But most of the time most of the computer users trust various anti virus programs to protect their systems against computer viruses. Various anti virus programs use various methods or procedures to capture viruses and other types of malicious software. But with any of the computer protection method, they cannot fully protect the computer from computer viruses or malicious software. The next session of this review is considered about what are the types of Malware and how they infected to computer system. cite{1} newpage section{Types of malware} There is no standard method to categorize viruses into various types. But when we consider current situation of computer viruses in the world we can basically declare types of malware as follows, begin{itemize} item Trojan item Worms item Viruses end{itemize} subsection{Trojan} Trojan viruses do not reproduce in the computer but after a Trojan virus enters into the computer they just allow the outside persons to read the files reside in the computer. Usually Trojans steal passwords and send e-mails to hackers. Then the hacker will get the control of the users account. cite{2} subsection{Worms} Worms are kind of computer viruses copy and spread over the computer networks. It does not need a host to spread. Once they multiplied in a computer, the copied viruses scan the network for further multiplying and spreading via the network.cite{2} subsection{Viruses} Computer viruses are a program, a block of executable code which attaches itself to. It overwrites or replaces some code of computer program without knowing of computer user. A virus always needs a host program to reside. The virus is in its idle state till the host program it resides executes. When the host program executes the bock of code of the virus also executes and searches for another location which it can infect. The computer viruses can be categorized into number of categories like Resident Viruses, Direct Action Viruses, Overwrite Viruses, Boot Viruses, Macro Viruses, Directory Viruses, Polymorphic Viruses, File Infectors, Companion Viruses, FAT Viruses. cite{2} begin{itemize} item Resident Viruses Permanent viruses reside in the RAM item Direct Action Viruses This type of virus spreads and does its work when it is executing. item Overwrite Viruses These viruses delete the content of the files reside in the computer. item Boot Viruses This kind of virus infects to a boot sector of the hard drive or floppy. A boot virus can be infected to the boot sector of the computer by booting the computer from an infected floppy disk. item Directory Viruses These viruses change the path of a file. item Polymorphic Viruses These are encrypting their own code with different algorithms every time they enter into a system. item File Infectors Infect programs or executable files. They infect to a file when the program attached to it executes. item Companion Viruses These are working like resident viruses or direct action viruses. item FAT Viruses These infect to the file allocation table. item Macro Viruses This kind of virus infects to the files that have created using programs that contain macros. Currently most of the times they are affecting to Word 6, WordBasic and Excel as macros are created by WordBasic. In the present situation of the computer viruses, 15 percent of the viruses are macro viruses. On daily basis macro viruses are created by the computer users in their machines. New macro viruses are creating due to corruption, mating and conversion. Macro viruses are the most destructive kind of a virus. Most of the traditional anti virus programs are unable to detect those new macro viruses. cite{2} end{itemize} newpage section{How Viruses affect and infect to the system} begin{figure}[h] par includegraphics[bb =0 0 100 325 ]{virus.png} caption{Malware Detected by Year} cite{10} par end{figure} If the virus generation speed is greater than its death rate, a virus can easily spread within a short period of time. Figure1 shows how Malware spread with time. All the computer viruses do not activate at the time they enter into the computer. But sometimes they activate after some period of entering it into the personal computer or computer system. Some of them will never activate and some will activate and do harm to the files in the system or change the content of the files, format the hard disk, show a picture in the background. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} There are lots of ways which a virus can enter into a computer. Most of the time, they spread and enter into a new computer through a computer network. With a removable media, it is possible to spread a virus. By downloading some games or software through a web site, a virus can enter into a new system. In the past there was a guarantee that the web sites do not contain viruses. But in the present situation, there is no guarantee that the web sites do not contain viruses. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Trapdoor is another common way of entering a virus into a system. Trapdoors are sometimes created by the programmers who developed the software to avoid going through the security procedure or avoid entering passwords during the period of time the system or software is developed. As a trapdoor is a way to enter into a system without entering a password, a virus can easily enter into a system through a trapdoor. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} If have the attention to the new computer viruses, the code of some newly created computer viruses are encrypted so that the anti virus software cannot catch them. cite{3} section{Protection from computer viruses} To spread a virus from one computer to another, it should have the permission or ability to execute its code and do some modifications or completely delete the files other than the file the virus currently residing. According to those facts, protection from computer viruses means prevent the computer virus from copying it self to another location, the computer virus does not contain or avoid modifying or deleting the other files the computer virus does not reside. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} If the content of a file has modified or edited without knowledge of the user, the user can suspect that a virus has been infected to the computer. Other than that when a virus has attacked a system, sometimes the performance of the computer can be reduced, various error messages are displayed or use some storage space from disk drives unexpectedly. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Worms normally find addresses to spread and they capture the addresses in three ways. Worms begin{itemize} item Randomly generate addresses item Find addresses in system tables item Find addresses in a program end{itemize} Protection against worms can include, begin{itemize} item Put passwords that cannot easily guess. item Remove some processes which reveal the secured data in the system. item Apply some solutions to the bugs. end{itemize} As worms are rapidly spread over networks and they are trying to overload the networks, protecting from worms include monitoring network activities and do isolation and deactivation of some parts of the network. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} When it comes to protecting computers from viruses, the simplest things the user can do is always backup the data reside in the computer. But it is not a proper solution to deal with the computer viruses. As most of the computer users are now aware of the computer viruses they control write privilege to computer programs. After infecting a virus to a program since it changes the content of the file, there are some kind of software that can be used to check the content for irregular changes in its content. cite{4,12} section{Anti virus software programs} When protecting a computer from computer viruses with the help of an anti virus program, the service providers of those anti virus programs are providing their service to its clients in number of different ways. Some of the vendors or anti virus software are waiting for a request from a user for their product. After the client or the user requests, the service provider provides their service to the user. Another kind of anti virus vendor automatically downloads and installs their product into clients machine without the knowledge of the user. Some of the vendors are sending emails to the computer users mentioning the availability of their product. However some of those above mentioned ways have some ethically not relevant procedures. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Though thousands of anti virus programs, designed by programmers are there to detect computer viruses, they cannot play a perfect role in detecting computer viruses. More viruses are written for a new platform is the reason for that. To detect those new viruses, new detection technologies should be invented. There are number of computer virus detection methods. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Over some years ago, only the known viruses could be detected by anti virus programs. What those anti virus programs did were, selecting a string from known viruses and when a scan for viruses is started, anti virus program searches for files include that string and detect that file as an infected file. This method of detecting computer viruses looked only for static characteristics of known computer viruses. But as thousands of computer viruses are creating within a year, the industry people started to create anti virus programs that are detecting unknown computer viruses too. These methods are called heuristic method. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} As computer virus infection has become a huge threats to who owns a computer and who uses computers. Most of the computer users are today getting the service of an anti virus program to detect malicious software or computer viruses. Getting use of an anti virus software is the most secured and popular way to protect the computers from malicious software. Anti virus programs identify the malicious software in two main approaches. begin{itemize} item They use a string matching approach to identify previously known viruses or malicious software. item The second method the anti virus programs use is capturing abnormal behaviors of any computer program running on the computer. end{itemize} begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} In string matching approach, the anti virus programs are getting use of a virus dictionary which contains the codes of previously known viruses. When an anti virus program starts to scan a file it refers to the virus dictionary and when it finds a block of code in the scanned file which also included in the virus dictionary, it quickly takes an action against the suspicious file. cite{5} begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} If an anti virus program uses capturing abnormal or suspicious behaviors, it monitors the behavior of the file which is scanning and if the file behaves abnormally the anti virus program detect the file as infected file an take an action against that. By using this method, the new viruses can also be detected. cite{5} subsection{The problem in virus dictionary method} As virus creators are now aware of virus detection methods, they are now writing the viruses so that the codes of the virus as encrypted codes when it is in a program. Otherwise they write the virus programs so that the code of itself doesnt look same as the real code of it. Because of those two reasons, the anti virus program cannot detect the infected file by matching the strings using the virus dictionary. The other problem of this method is it cannot detect a new virus which doesnt contain in the virus dictionary. subsection{The problems of detecting a virus by its behavior} As this method is searching for a suspicious behavior of the file that is being scanning, a files that shows abnormal behavior which has not been attacked by a virus or malicious software can also be detected as an infected file by the anti virus program. If the user gets an action against that file sometimes that non infected file can also be deleted. So modern anti virus programs do not use this approach to detect a virus. There are some fake anti virus software which do not clean or protect the computers. These fake anti virus software come with names which are similar to other real anti virus software. When a user sees such a fake anti virus software the user feels that this ant virus software is a real one and then he install than fake anti virus software into the computer. After installing that fake one in the computer, it displays fake messages saying there are some viruses in the computer and to remove it from the computer pay some amount of money. As these kinds of fake anti virus software are there with only the aim of earning money, the computer users must aware of that kind of fake anti virus software too. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Although there are so many anti virus software to detect computer viruses, the latest computer viruses cannot easily be caught by even the latest anti virus software programs as the code of virus is encrypted. What the virus creators do to hide the source code of the virus is encrypting the code of the virus and sends it to the computers. So the anti virus software cannot easily understand the code and they cannot catch that file as a suspicious file. Some virus creators encrypt the code and keep the key to decrypt in another file to make it more difficult for the anti virus software to find the virus. But good anti virus software, which have used good algorithms, should be able to detect those computer viruses too. cite{6,7} subsection{Most trusted anti virus software} cite{11} begin{itemize} item BitDefender Antivirus 2010 BitDefender is using advanced heuristic detection method and provides protection against online viruses, spyware,phishing scams and more. This provides protection by scanning web, IM and emails and this is capable of encrypting the IM s too. One of the new features BitDefender looking for is Active Virus Control which monitor the behavior of a file continuously. cite{13} item Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 Provides protection from viruses, Trojans, bots, worms and spyware. The interfaces and tools used are advanced but this provides agreat protection against most of the real threats. cite{14} item Webroot AntiVirus with SpySweeper 2010 This is a desktop anti virus package and protect the computer from viruses,trojans,worms and other number of malware. This catches the malware before the malware does any harm to the computer. cite{15} item Norton AntiVirus 2010 Uses signature based protection. However provides a new features like the proactive reputation scanning. But uninstalling the software might cause some problems as its partial uninstallation. cite{16} item ESET Nod32 Antivirus 4 Kind of desktop anti virus software. But this doesnt provide a complete security and misses some protection. This is not in the competition with other anti virus software. cite{17} item AVG Anti-Virus 9 Includes antivirus and antispyware protection. provides complette protection from harmful downloads and web cites. cite{18} item F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 Great desktop anti virus. Has one of the most effective scan procedure and test results are shown to prove that. When installing this anti virus software, it has been automatically configured to remove the other anti virus software installed to the computer. cite{19} item G DATA AntiVirus 2011 Uses two distinct antivirus scanning engines, behavioral/heuristic protection, and even self-learning fingerprinting.This provides protection against malware spreading via emails and IM. The types of malware which are detected by this anti virus software are,phishing scams, dialers, adware, malicious scripts, Trojans, rootkits and worms. cite{20} end{itemize} section{Getting use of a firewall} The firewall is a kind of a program design to protect the computer from harmful things that are coming from the internet. Firewalls are divided into two categories as hardware firewall and software firewall. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Hardware firewalls are some kind of small hardware which can control the data coming from multiple computer systems. Software firewalls are kind of software that have the ability to block suspicious data coming to the computer from the internet. So to protect the computer from viruses and other kind of malicious software a software firewall and hardware firewall can be use. cite{5} section{Best practices to protect the computer from computer viruses} Though there are thousands of anti virus software are there, the computer users are also having the responsibility of protecting the computer when using the computer. They have to follow some best practices when they use a computer. begin{itemize} item Although the computer user is the owner of the computer he should not always log into the computer with the administrator privileges. If they log into the computer as a normal user, some kinds of viruses will not be able to enter into the computer. item A computer user should avoid from installing some anti virus software or some other software in some other persons computer. item As some viruses are coming with email attachments, when opening emails it is good to not to open emails from unknown addresses. item When downloading and installing anti virus software, download a recommended anti virus software. end{itemize} newpage section{Conclusion} According to the researchers, each and everyday over 200 computer viruses which can destroy a whole computer system within a few seconds are released by the computer virus creators. The worst thing that result an inflection is loosing data the reside in the computer. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} Most of the time, these kind of destructions happen because of the lack of awareness of the computer users about the computer viruses. To mitigate the risk of infecting a computer virus to a users computer, the main thing we can do is make the computer users aware about the computer viruses, risks of infecting a computer virus and avoiding from computer viruses. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} The people who have an idea about computer viruses most of the time trust anti virus programs. But just installing an anti virus software is not enough to protect the computer from computer viruses. The computer users also have the responsibility to protect the computer from computer viruses. As most of the time the computer viruses can come with the e-mail attachments, the e-mails from unknown addresses should not be opened. When downloading something from a web site the users should use only the trusted web sites and recommended software. But now there are nothing called trusted web sites. Even the software downloaded from Microsofts web site may contain viruses. Some viruses cannot enter into the computer if the user is logging into the computer with user privilege. So it is good to normally log into the computer with the user privilege. As viruses attack only the executable files, the write permission to those files can be restricted. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} After installing an anti virus software program in a computer,to get the best protection from that anti virus, keeping it up to date is more important. But though there is an anti virus program installed in the computer, when plugging external removable devices into the computer, it should be scanned. begin{sloppypar} end{sloppypar} But the final conclusion which can come through this review is that though there are many protection methods,that are available in the world, a computer user cannot be completely safe from the computer viruses. That means any of the computer protection methods is not perfect in protecting computers from computer malware. newpage begin{thebibliography}{widest entry} bibitem{1} Markus Hanhisalo,emph{computer Viruses},Available at:http://www.tml.tkk.fi/Opinnot/Tik-110.501/1997/viruses.html# 1.Introduction% 20to% 20Computer% 20Viruses bibitem{2} Top Bits,2010, {http://www.topbits.com/types-of-computer-viruses.html} bibitem{3} McAfee,emph{An Introduction to Computer Viruses and other Destructive Programs},Available at: http://www.mcafee.com/common/media/vil/pdf/av_white.pdf bibitem{4} Stanley A. Kurzban, emph{Defending against viruses and worms},Available at:http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=68697 bibitem{5} emph{How AntiVirus Works},Available at:http://www.antivirusware.com/articles/how-anti-virus-works.htm bibitem{6} emph{How does anti-virus software work?},Available at:http://www.antivirusworld.com/articles/antivirus.php bibitem{7} emph{How Antivirus Software Detect Computer Viruses},Available at:http://security-antivirus-software.suite101.com/article.cfm/how-antivirus-software-dete bibitem{8} emph{What Is A Computer Virus? An Introduction To Computer Viruses},Available at:http://www.computertipsfree.com/computer-tips/security-tips/what-is-a-computer-virus-an-introduction-to-computer-viruses/ bibitem{9} http://www.washington.edu/itconnect/security/tools/ bibitem{10} Tech Bitz, http://tech-bitz.com/2008/04/05/virus-and-spyware-threat-is-larger-than-ever-before-anti-virus-companies-struggle-to-keep-up-with-flood-of-spyware/ bibitem{11} emph{AntiVirus Software Review },http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ bibitem{12} Charles P. Pfleeger,Shari Lawrence Pfleeger emph{Security in Computing (4th Edition) } bibitem{13} emph{BitDefender AntiVirus Review },http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/bitdefender-review.html bibitem{14} emph{Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 },http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/kaspersky-review.html bibitem{15} emph{Webroot AntiVirus with SpySweeper Review },http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/webroot-antivirus-review.html bibitem{16} emph{Norton AntiVirus 2010 },http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/norton-review.html bibitem{17} emph{Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware },http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/pc-cillin-review.html bibitem{18} emph{AVG Anti-Virus 9 },http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/avg-review.html bibitem{19} emph{F-Secure Anti-Virus Review },http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/f-secure-review.html bibitem{20} emph{G DATA AntiVirus 2011 },http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/antiviruskit-review.html end{thebibliography} end{document}

How are tension and suspense created in The Signalman and The Red Essay

How are tension and suspense created in The Signalman and The Red Room? My aim is to analyse the way which tension suspense is built up in two Victorian stories – ‘The Red Room’ (by H.G Wells) and ‘The Signalman’ (by Charles Dickens). These two successful authors were both well known for using suspense and tension in their stories. Wells has written many classical books, which include â€Å"The Time Machine† and â€Å"War of the Worlds†. Dickens has written other illustrious books, such as â€Å"Christmas Carol†, â€Å"Great Expectations†, and â€Å"Oliver Twist†. Also in my analysis I will be briefly mentioning â€Å"The Clubfooted Grocer† (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), â€Å"The Monkey’s Paw† (by W. Jacobs) and â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart† by (Edgar Allan Poe). All of these celebrated stories, like most Victorian stories, are short and their genre is gothic horror. Short gothic horror stories were the main form of entertainment in this time period, as there was a lack of electricity then. These stories are strongly related to Victorian beliefs, which were mainly superstition. The reason for this is that the Victorians were slightly uneducated, and didn’t know better. Ghosts, witches, supernaturalism and black magic were the main focus of these short stories. ‘The Signalman’ provides a fine example into how Victorian railways differ from those ones today. Victorian railways were extremely dangerous, and a signalman’s job was exceptionally strenuous and demanding. The story is basically about a hard-working signalman, who claims to have seen a spectre, warning him about future events. ‘The Red Room’ is more directly related to superstition. It is about a relatively young and fearless man entering a ‘haunted’ room, which apparently contains... ...the ending of ‘The Signalman’ is too abrupt, although tension was still created by the tragedy of the signalman. However, the main difference is that in ‘The Red Room’, the reader can actually decide what happens, but in ‘The Signalman’ he cannot. However despite all this, I still believe that these short stories still provide the reader with a thrilling encounter of suspense and tension. I believe that to make a story mysterious and full of suspense you need to create mystery because mystery in the present creates suspense in the future. You must not reveal everything to the reader and leave them to figure it out for themselves. It should keep the reader guessing right till the end of the story. Again, I believe that both these stories achieve this remarkably well and cover all of these points to make the stories full of mystery, suspense and tension.

Media influence on modern culture Essay

In the last 50 years or so technology had contributed to the exponential growth of the mass media where what started out with the telegraph was subsequently followed by the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and the new arrival the Internet. The outcome of all these subsequent introductions had made society to be dependant on information and communication for all the major steps they are taking and areas such as work, health care, education, interpersonal relationships, leisure time such as entertainment, travelling etc., doing business, investing, and most of the things people are doing are based on facts, information and recommendations they get from the various mass media. This means that, although while working it is possible that people depend on what they learned and the subsequent experience they gained, when it comes to their daily lives they, for the most part, rely on the media to find out as to what is current in the news and other facts that might affect their lives, the society as a whole and if there are areas that they have to be aware of. Because of that it is possible to extrapolate that society had developed a trust towards the media over time to such an extent that it has become an authority in providing up to the minute news, entertainment, education, information etc. to the point where the influence of mass media on society and culture had become very significant. This study will try to highlight some of the influences affecting culture directly and which one of them have positive outcomes or otherwise. Historical Background Throughout the years people had their own ways of communicating amongst each other and when the mass populous of any given community is involved the crude form of communicating, exchanging information and knowledge had been evolving over the years. The very early form of communication involved one able individual who could have a special training and would be at the service of the king or the religious establishment that mostly used to be the ones who would have some important message that is beneficial to a large mass of people. Whether what is communicated is a message or news that the public will be interested in, using a single individual to address the public at a gathering was the most popular way to relay anything of interest to a gathered public that had been invited to attend such gatherings or it might take place where people gather to do other things such as trading. The most critical announcements of the olden days were news about faraway colonies, if there happened to be a sudden death among the public figures such as kings or queens or if there is an activity such as a war that requires the participation of some of the members of the populous. What replaced this old method of communication was putting the news in some kind of print format where instead of people converging at a given place to receive messages, news, instructions, etc. whatever was to be communicated started to go wherever the people are in a form the earliest news letters. When looking at what is taking place in modern days, the emergence of the modern mass media was the outcome of an advancement in technology where the convergence of various technologies such as print media, electronic media, advertising, public relation and currently the Internet formed what is today’s mass media. The current mass media has various outlets such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines and Internet that are easily accessible by the public and what is communicated through such mediums and how it is communicated had become very complicated. Since the cost of acquiring such mediums had become affordable by the masses, the cost of communication had also gone down making communicating among people or those who have particular messages to the mass easy and can be done at a desired frequency without worrying about a very high cost. When looking at culture it is possible to perceive it as values that follow certain pattern and could have certain goals, beliefs, behaviours coupled by knowledge and experience that a given group will concede to share among themselves. The same could apply to establishments that are out to accomplish certain tasks where they will have certain values or missions that make up their corporate culture and they will have to put to work these values and mission statements in order to meet the expectation of the public and community they are serving. That being as it is modern media has a considerable influence on such cultures to the point where it could dictate what the public as well as institutions should be doing to the point where the media might become authoritative and a force to reckon with. If that is not the case a certain member of society or an institution could get a bad coverage that would affect the image of those involved and since the media had attained an authoritative status it can influence the culture of people, communities, as well as establishments that are out to serve the public. If that public has bad opinion about them because of what the media reports or preaches they will find it difficult to carry out their duty. This demonstrates that there had been interdependence among media and culture that was outcome of the media dictating what the public and others that have various roles to play should do or adhere to. Since the number of media outlets had increased the outcome had been the sources where people are getting their information had also increased. This by itself had forced individuals to identify with some of the information and messages they get from the various media outlets and that had result in influencing how they do things and their overall culture. Media Influence on Culture McQuail (2000) uses the gratification model why the public or a given audience would want to consume what the media avails through a given medium. Society as a whole, groups or individuals want to reinforce their basic behaviour and to accomplish that they start out by identifying themselves with roles or role players, the kind of value they hold or communicate and sometimes their gender and ethnicity might also be taken into consideration. Another reason why whatever the media comes up with is consumed by members of society is there is always a need to interact with other people through what the media avails, whatever medium is used such as television, newspapers, magazines, movies, Internet etc. It is also possible members of a given society as a group or individually would need some kind a security source that will enable them to enhance their knowledge about the world they are living in or they might need information to carry on with their lives or with whatever they are doing. When that is the case there is no better source to resort to other than the media and its various mediums or outlets that include books. It is also possible from a very early age people had been reliant on some form of entertainment so that they can use it to pass time, as an escape or they might need emotional release such as excitement, suspense, laughter etc. Based on such findings it is not difficult to surmise that the influence of the media on culture is at the very high level currently, because the earlier days did not have to deal with such barge of media broadcasting using various mediums on a daily basis. Because of the high level of exposure people are getting to modern media they cannot avoid their culture being heavily influenced by what they consume from the media. This will make it possible to say that the way people behave in modern times is the reflection of the kind of influence they receive from the modern mass media. The modern media deals with daily politics, current affairs, it is the major source of entertainment and the like where people that interact with a certain medium would also pass what they encountered to others that could result in shaping how such individuals interacting with each other would behave. Use of Entertainment to Influence Cultural Practices Entertainment had been one of the effective vehicles the media uses to influence culture. All entertainment programs aired on television, the music played at the home, workplace, in vehicles and at entertainment venues, all the stories written on newspapers, magazines, even books will affect the participating public’s culture to the point where it is possible people could learn new and better things that will force them to drift away from the older values their culture holds that will result in people adopting new behaviour. What had been taking place was that the media had managed to bring together what is taking place around the world on one platform so that people can compare various cultures, outlooks, and way of doing things and adapt to the ones they find to be palatable to their taste and understanding. This is accomplished on the part of the media by employing surveillance on what various groups of people are doing and exposing these activities to others using various mediums to an extent that some groups could be encouraged to showcase their culture to others who could eventually adopt them if they attain a liking for them. How Media Educates People to Handle Their Daily Activities The media could also educate people how to do certain things by showing them how to handle it better or conduct certain activities where it is possible to show people to conform to certain ways of doing things that could result in changing their way of life. This would enable people to adapt to what is taking place in the grater world in stead of being confined in their own culture only that will result in people adopting new cultures because of their being exposed to the modern media. New ideas will not only be limited to those who will only have a firsthand encounter to various happenings, as these people will pass what they saw or learned to others. Such transferring and communicating of information had been made faster because of the coming into the picture of the Internet, mobile telephones, TV that can be accessed from anywhere as long as there is Internet connection, radio that could be broadcast globally and magazines that could find their way into the global marketplace. Conflict Resolution Among the various advantages media avails to communities one of them is conflict resolution. Most world communities are afflicted by various kinds of conflicts that could be the outcome of competition or rivalry among various groups. Such conflicts will result at times in mass killing or unjust practises taking place that would affect innocent civilians. In a situation like this, the media can play an intermediary role by exposing bad practices and by coming up with just solutions where it could possible to implement the introductions to solve conflicts. The media is in a position to use effectively various mediums such as films or stories written on newspapers, magazines, news broadcast etc. to serve a given purpose in curbing violence and bring back normalcy to besieged communities. The media had also been actively influencing the political sphere and can put pressure on various governments, especially in democratic countries such as the US and the UK as to how to implement certain policies they come up with. Whenever there is an election the media also plays a crucial role by allowing the candidates and electorate to interact with each other through interviews, debates or question and answer secessions where the audience participates live. This kind of an exposure is capable of affecting the culture a certain group is practising, including the stand of political parties and their leaders. Furthermore, occasions such as debates, question and answer periods or broadcasting speeches made by prominent individuals for mass consumption will all result in nurturing the thinking, the outlook and the culture of the participating public that will lead in enabling the participants to take certain actions that are mutually beneficial The media also had been playing a crucial role in improving people’s lives, by advocating that the public as a whole has to be responsible about what would happen to the environment. The media had also been intervening in drug abuse, certain immoral behaviours, violence and the like that would result in brining down the occurrences of such incidents and eventually people could make the positive outlooks communicated part of their culture and could refrain from violence or would avoid abusing drugs that will result in enhancing a given community’s long held culture. In all this, there are three highlighted stages through which the interaction and media consumption can take place. The first is direct consumption where the individual will directly be involved in using the medium used such as TV, reading newspapers or surfing the Internet where there is no interference or destruction from any other source. The second type of media consumption is when there is another tool or anything of such nature interfering with the direct consumption of what a given medium communicates such as talking on the phone while watching TV or cleaning utensils while watching TV etc. The third consumption method is when the individual is not directly using the medium because some of the things the individual is doing are interfering directly where the individual cannot pay attention to the point there will not be any new information learned to affect the individual’s culture or behaviour. When looking at various findings there had not been certain indications as to whether the media is beneficial or otherwise in spite of the numerous debates that had been staged to arrive at the reality and there is no certain indication that the escalated media consumption has affected the long standing cultures of communities positively or negatively. However, when looking at some of the mediums that have become largely available for use by the public such as the telephone, Internet, computers, television, radio etc. it possible to say they have positively enriched people’s lives, hence their culture, although there are negative impacts too. In modern days people have a much better means of communication that were not available a few decades ago enabling them to communicate with family members, friends, employers and co-workers in such a way that it had become possible to do so without incurring a high cost. When looking at what is taking place in modern media such as 24-hour access to television and radio broadcasting and programming, or participating in a given medium through talk-shows that are open to the public, or simply writing an article and having it published on newspapers, magazines, newsletters or on the Internet had become much easier and could result in many people communicating their ideas where they can interact on blogs and chat rooms in real time. All new ideas and suggestions communicated using such channels had become useful as they will end up influencing existing cultures. The outcome of such interaction had been seen as a major contribution to modern culture where various programmes such as news, documentaries, interviews, advertisements etc. will all contribute to the modern culture because they can reach a big number of people. They could serve as a catalyst that will create a streamlined outlook that will result in making the world culture more-and-more similar. Peculiar cultures such as circumcising young girls that takes place in cultures such as Kenya could be put in check because people will know it is harmful, as well as affects the normal life of the girls as they grow up. Furthermore, access to a vast amount of media such as TV or affordable Internet access has enabled people to improve their vocabularies and thinking pattern because their chance of being exposed to experts, role models, politicians and the like has become much higher. Accordingly, such exposures will enable them improve their perception as well as their linguistic ability, which is more so to younger students. Interpersonal relationship had also got a boost because individuals could learn more positive manners from the media that improves their behaviours and would enhance the socialising capability of individuals enabling them to meet more people, whose interaction will always enhance one’s culture. Consuming what modern media avails also encourages individuals to be socially responsible, because there are factors such as opinion polls that will shape how people think or see things and the outcome will be they can take better control of their daily life and if they happen to be in a position of authority they will always pay attention to how the media is portraying them. In spite of the benefits the media brings to the fore there are certain areas that have negative impact on society such as violence that could originate from media outlets that are not regulated. The side effect of such exposure could be it will raise the level of violence in a given society since most people, especially younger ones are always prone to imitate those who they consider to be role models. Another area that has a negative impact is the escalated immorality level in modern society that is the outcome of interacting with modern media. It is so because of the assumption that as long as certain acts originate from socially accepted sources such as the media, the fact that a certain act is immoral could be side-stepped. This could lead to certain diseases such as aids and other sexually transmittable diseases, early teen pregnancy and unprotected sex to go unchecked because if the media portrays such incidents as not grave problems there are many that will be victimised (Shaw and McCombs, 1972). The media is also constantly exposing people to fancy outlooks or lifestyles and this will affect the culture of communities because their members could disregard their cultural values and could end up chasing what the media is exposing them to. Modern media had increased the rate of criminal activities in many societies, because most media outlets portray numerous criminal activities as good, acceptable and normal leading some to succumb to committing crimes. There are scenes in the media that show abusing drug as a good act or at least as not a dangerous engagement or using dangerous weapons could be portrayed as a normal thing to do leading the youth of certain communities to be caught imitating these acts. The media also ends up portraying certain races or ethnic groups better than others resulting in discriminatory behaviours. Criticisms to Correct Wrong Outlooks Sources such as Ganutlett (1998) had refused the upheld belief concerning modern media being the source of violence. He had stated that the first task to accomplish is to focus on the so called social violence and examine the causes based on the identity of those who commit such violence, their background, character etc. before blaming all incidents on media. On the other hand, when looking what effects theory has to say it promulgates that commercials, advertising, as well voter campaign and the like influence behaviour and culture. Some examples to cite are trials of celebrities and prominent individuals that had attracted mass attention and had ended up shaping opinions and to an extent behaviours, but it is not possible to say that will always be the case. What the critics of media effects theory had been advocating was that when examining most incidents labelled as copycat murders, suicides or violent acts the contributing factors had been upbringing harbouring that it must have been abnormal for the most part. More than media environments that were violent, emotionally not fulfilling and a prolonged exposure for a prolonged period to aggressive environments are more contributing factors than watching movies, commercials, listening to certain music etc. It is also important to look at mental instability, as it had been a major cause for most violent crimes. This means that findings indicate that any kind of violence or any act deemed immoral such as abnormal sexual interactions are not at all considered as influencing factors, because most people who grew up bombarded with such acts have finished to be normal members of society, although there are few that had been victimised. According to sources such as Baker (2001), the major source of violence is background and upbringing instead of watching movies on various mediums that depict violence or other indecent acts. According to him daily news consumed by many people could also be full of violence, but that does not instigate many people go out and copycat the acts and if that happens the main reason would be the social background of those who commit such acts instead of what they consume from various media outlets. Freedman (2007) was among researchers who had shown evidence by showing what took place in the US and similar countries where crime had increased sharply between 1965-1980 blamed on the violence originating from various media. The same violence act precipitated at around 1992 although the usual media outlets that were releasing violent material were doing it at a much higher level showing that societal violence is not a direct outcome of consuming violent or immoral material availed by various media outlets forcing critics to look elsewhere for the cause. In stead, there are other areas where the media has a major influence on how people behave, act or perceive certain things. One such area is agenda-setting that is the outcome of how news is gathered and dispensed ((Shaw and McCombs, 1972). Good examples cited are the four major news agencies such AP, UPI, Reuters and Agence-France that are responsible at least for around 90% of news consumed through various media outlets. The material such agencies come up with had impeccable reliability over the years to the point where they had gained some public respect and authority. However, critics eye this interaction as a close collaboration of the news agencies and existing establishments, where in tandem they are out to manipulate society, culture, behaviour and thinking so that existing status quo will continue to reign. This means that media could be instrumental rather than being true agents of propaganda. Such a stance will always make them finish as supporters of those who have economic power who in fact are spending money on the media agencies in a form of advertising, airtime etc. so that they will go out and influence the culture on their behalf, altering their habit of doing things such as spending, buying, voting, leisure activities etc. which are part of the components that make up modern cultures. Whatever the cause and drive behind the measure the media takes, at the end of the day the media would end up influencing culture reforming it to serve a certain purpose the media wants that will reflect the desire of those who are responsible for oiling the machine of media such as politicians, big business, government and interest groups showing that there is interrelation in what is taking place and certainly media is impacting culture on a daily basis. There are sources that emphasised how media had become instrument of control. New media such as the Internet is facilitating more than ever such social control because, currently the number of the participants had exploded by the emergence of such new media tools such as blogs that are having impact on culture as society members are not consumers only anymore and they have become participants and have become responsible in affecting their own culture. That does not, however, means they take the place of the mainstream media that always had influential power as witnessed from what took place in geographical locations such as Asia where a rapid social change had taken place that had been attributed to be the effect of media on culture. This shows that wherever the modern media penetrates it will affect the culture of backward communities for the better creating a more or less global village and such outcome had been noted when television had been introduced in Bhutan where the culture had undergone a rapid Westernisation. It does not mean everyone sees such changes positively as Schiller (1976) had called such impact cultural imperialism, where those who have economic and political power could end up imposing their will and culture on weaker societies by manipulating the media effectively. In a situation like this it is possible to see media as a means of social control, in spite of the fact such imposition will also be accompanied with higher standard of living, urbanisation, literacy etc. requiring more fortified exposure to mass media so that what is gained will not be reversed. Because of that if there is going to be some gain attained, there has to be some degree of adaptation to make and that might end up altering a given culture. Whether the introduced change is good or bad it is up to the onlookers to judge, but the reality is willingly or otherwise, modern media could affect culture to the point where those affected could lose control their indigenous culture. However, what puts the fear to rest is governmental intervention at every level is available in any community where there is censorship to weed out offensive material, where there could be licensing laws in place that will take measures for failing to comply with the agreed upon rules showing that all objectionable material could be kept out of the reach of people. However, with the advent of mediums such as the Internet that might not be totally possible, but the responsibility could shift to the participants where they can congregate and critically assess what they are encountering on the new medium that are accessible through an Internet connection, where discussing the merits and demerits of what are made available will be possible. This means that the consuming public had been the sole decision maker when it comes to what to consume or what not to consume on the Internet to such an extent reason, logic and good judgement had become the regulators instead of governmental decrees, although still governmental decrees also dictate what cannot be made available on the Internet and at the end of the day it is what the public and others are doing that will end up influencing behaviour, thinking and culture. It is no longer media alone, for the most part, that would impact culture as it used to be because the media would have to share the prevalent platform with the participants who are gaining more control. In spite of the independence individuals attained to act on their own, when looking at the public sphere, media could still have a stronghold where it can form public opinion which could also be applicable in the public’s consumer behaviour scene where those who claim to be connoisseur could influence how the public reacts to what is directed at it in a form of goods and services. However, when it comes to politics findings indicate that even if there are those who say media simply fixes or confirms what people held as their strong conviction, the reality could be a large number of people could lack political experience and correct perception making them heavily reliant on the trusted and autocratic media and in the long term it will dictate their behaviours, thinking and culture. Yet, there are sources such as Thompson, (1995) who claim one-way communication, which had been the media approach and mainstay does not work effectively when compared to where there is interaction through telephone and currently blogs, chat rooms etc. where live interaction could be involved, including posting photos and videos or using web-cam to directly access someone important such as a politician privately. When examining the effect the media has in a free enterprise society, items such as news, commentaries, documentaries and similar informative programmes could be dealing most of the time with controversial and real world problems and subjects. Whereas, the rest of media is mainly entertainment or it is advancing the cause of sponsors without whom the private broadcasting companies would not exist. Therefore, the second genre of what media represents is the advancing of the interest of the various enterprises that have products or services to the viewing public and their main concern is selling what they are bringing into the marketplace. With the same token, they would want to influence the public to use their products, because most products require getting used to in order to pay money for them. Looking at the prevalence of telephone service in an advanced community is a good example, because starting from the homes, workplaces, public meeting places, various shops, malls and streets all can be fitted with some kind of telephone service that include cars. Amongst all these possibilities there are mobile phone manufacturers that should convince the public to use cell phones in addition to whatever they are using demonstrating that they might not need anything else since the device can go with them everywhere. In order to change people’s view who used to using the traditional telephone system the makers of such phones and service providers have to spend a lot of money on media ads to educate the public whose outlook, habit, usage and culture will be affected both by the ads, as well as the new products showing that whatever way it is looked at and whatever source or interest group uses the mass media to serve it certain purpose, people’s outlook, thinking and culture should go some kind a transformation ascertaining to a good extent mass media, whoever employs it, in the long run it will affect culture. REFERENCE Barker, M. â€Å"the Newson Report: a Case Study in Common Sense III : Effects in the Media /Violence Debate, (second edition), ed. Martin Baker and Julian Petley (London: Routledge, 2001), pp. 27-46. David Gauntlett (1998). â€Å"Ten things wrong with the ‘effects model’†. Approaches to Audiences – A Reader. Available online: http://www. theory. org. uk/effects. htm. Accessed July 23, 2010 Freedman, Jonathan. ‘No Real Evidence for TV Violence Causing Real Violence’ First Amendment Centre, 2007, online, Available: http://www. firstamendmentcenter. org/commentary. aspx? id=18490 Accessed July 23, 2010 McCombs, M & Shaw, D. L. (1972), ‘The Agenda-setting Function of the Mass Media’, Public Opinion Quarterly, 73, pp176–187 Mcquail, Denis (2000) McQuails’s Mass Communication Theory (fourth edition), Sage, London, pp. 16-34. Schiller, Herbert I. (1976). Communication and cultural domination. International Arts and Sciences Press, 901 North Broadway, White Plains, New York 10603. pp. 9–10 Thompson, J. (1995), The Media and Modernity