Monday, September 30, 2019

Cultural Aging

This paper is designed to illustrate a cultural or ethnic group of my choosing and how they feel about the aging process. Also, to give detail of their background, their perspective and how it coordinates with the group, how they feel it effects aging on the older population, the elderly role in this cultural or ethnic group and and historical information in the group perspective if they immigrated in the United States. Within my findings I found out that African American woman (in particular) are concerned with aging but are not as concerned as Caucasian women. Being that African Americans have more melanin in their skin, wrinkles are not as common at the age of 65 as it would be of women who are the same age but of the Caucasian race. For my paper on the perspectives, I chose to research African Americans and take a look in to how they perceive aging, how they feel it effects aging on the older population, their roles and if there are any historical changes in their perspective. Most African Americans are the descendants of captive Africans held in the United States from 1619 to 1865. Blacks from the Caribbean whose ancestors immigrated, or who immigrated to the United States, also traditionally have been considered African American, as they share a common history of predominantly central Africans roots or west African, the middle passage and slavery. In the past, it was these people who were referred to and self-identified collectively as the American Negro, who now generally consider themselves African Americans. The history of African Americans are highlighted and celebrated annually in the United States during February, which is respectfully known as Black History month, and their history is the sole focus that time. Others who some times are Americans who descended from slaves, are referred to as African Americans, and who may self identify as such in United States government censuses, include relatively recent black immigrants from Africa, South America and elsewhere who self-identify as of African descent. A big percentage of African Americans descended from slaves, most of which were sold by African states or kidnapped by African, Arab, European or American slave traders. The existing market for slaves in Africa was exploited and expanded by European powers in search of free free labor for New World plantations. Are African Americans less concerned with the consequences of aging? Let's take the cosmetic world for example to emphasize my points to come. The cosmetic world is filled with all sorts of products designed to keep women (and occasionally men) look (and feeling) young. The products are primarily geared towards skin care and more specified for wrinkles. Let's take a look at cosmetic commercials and ads, you mist find something very interesting: there are few black women. Of course, there are women of different ethnic groups, which by way of sending a message that all women, no matter ethnicity are concerned with aging. For the most part, it seems that Caucasian women (more so than black women) are concerned about the aging process. To aid in my point, I'll use the statistics from the Society of Plastic Surgeons that proves that African Americans are still one of the smaller groups requesting plastic surgery. Whites account for 69% while blacks have only 8%. There is a very popular phrase within the African American community affirming that â€Å"black don't crack†. This phrase is an exact implication that African Americans typically look younger in age versus other ethnic groups, mainly the white ethnic group. A person's physical health, one's lifestyle and health definitely play a role in this. It is usually quite common for people to mistake a black women who may be 65 and be mistaken for 55 and for women in their 40's to be mistaken as being in their 30's (Yeo, 2001). The most common and scientifically proven reason for this is because African Americans typically have more melanin that a person has in their skin, the more complex it is for the skin's harmful rays to penetrate, creating wrinkles, spots, lines and other anomalies. For some reason, it has not been until recently that cosmetic companies begun targeting African-American women for anti-aging products. In a 2006 article in Essence magazine, it purports that the cosmetic industry in general has seen a marked increase in toiletries and cosmetic advertising in general, marketers choosing non-black publications to reach an additional demographic. â€Å"The myth is that women of color don't care about aging,† the president of Essence, Michelle Ebanks has stated. â€Å"We don't wrinkly as early, but we care about it†. That confirms it! That statement is a pure indication that black women are just as concerned about their aging physical appearance as other ethnic groups. However, Ebanks also shed great insight on another important note; women of color are more likely to share information about beauty products by word of mouth, rather than through heavy media commentary. This in and of itself may give the impression that black women are less concerned with aging. The general theory that black women give birth at a younger age than other ethnic groups also might have a little something to do with the perception that they care less about aging (Yeo, 2001). While this may sound stilted and just outrageous, do consider the fact that if a woman gives birth to her first child by the age of 20, by the time that child is able to enter college, the mother is still at her youthful age, barely reaching 40. If this birth cycle (or similar variations of it) continues, then the mother will be able to call herself â€Å"Grandma† before she even reaches the age of 50. Although, black women who become grandmothers rather early very often feel less inclined to be concerned with aging; because they have already completed a life cycle that others take many years to establish. It could be said that as stigma of young motherhood becomes more irrelevant, so do the women's concerns about growing old. The elderly are treated with high regard and respect in the African American community. Those women who enter this â€Å"elder† phase of life early (25 to 38 years old) feel the pressure of role conflict and tension in the social support they receive(Dorthy, 2004). They perceive grand parenthood as a â€Å"tenuous† role. Those who enter grand parenthood â€Å"on time† (42 to 57 years old) have less conflict but can also feel the pressure of integrating family and occupational roles(Ada, 1998). Women in this age usually occupy a traditional family role, that â€Å"lofty† and respected position of a grandmother. She is also the nurturer and disciplinarian of children, the family historian, the hub of the family network in which decisions are made, and the convener of family events.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Medical Genetic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Medical Genetic - Essay Example 4. Giving the allele symbol M (dominant allele), m (recessive allele) the proband genotype is MM and the husband’s genotype is mm. If II: 2 is heterozygous, her genotype will be Mm. III: 1 will be heterozygous or homozygous with equal possibilities. This because the genes cross and combines to produce a child that has a genotype of either Mm, Mm, mm or mm as shown in table 1. 7. It is not possible because II.12 has a possibility 75% possibility of having a healthy girl and 25% of having the one with the trait. The genotypes of the III.12 daughter either are Mm, mm, mm, or mm. 10. Yes, gene mutation leads to ether deletions or insertions caused by the uncertainties during the chromosomal crossover due to meiosis. This causes misalignment of homologous chromosomes leading to a different structure of the DNA. 3. The frequency of homozygous and heterozygous gametes expected from II.2 is computed using Punnett table 3 with the information on the pedigree. Consequently, the two genotypes have equal frequency of occurrence of 50%. 5. Typically, it is a Mendelian inheritance. This is because offspring with a dominant allele from either of the parents has the trait, and dominant allele dominates the recessive allele. The pedigree indicates phenotypic traits that show co-dominance of the dominant allele. vii) Assuming No. of full linkage recombinant in the family, according to the pedigree=3. The no. of total progeny is 9 but one is exceptional hence the no. on non-recombinant offspring is 8. Consequently, probability of observing children of II.2 genotype is given by 0/2=infinity. Parental probability =hence linkage genotype probability (very small), which is the probability of sequence with linkage ()=0 viii) In independent linkage, the probability multiplies for each linkage probability is given by  ¼ (0.25) because all four possible genotypes are equally probable.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Peer To Peer Multimedia Streaming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Peer To Peer Multimedia Streaming - Essay Example However, the increase in the number of viewers, along with the rise in a number of other online applications, has made this architecture ineffective because of bandwidth bottleneck issues. One solution introduced to solve this problem is peer to peer (P2P) technology, wherein peers automatically relay streams to other peers. The P2P network they are connected to performs an algorithm that helps peers ï ¬ nd a relay for a speciï ¬ ed stream to connect to. In multimedia streaming service, the important factors to observe are playing time and network bandwidth utilization. The purpose of this report is to present a solution to these issues. The proposal is to utilize P2P caching service that exploits the proximity of connected clients, i.e. the temporal and spatial locality of cached streams to the clients. In this scheme, connected peer clients not only receive multimedia streams from a server but also send cached streams to peer clients like a proxy server upon request. One P2P technology that can support this architecture is called inter-overlay optimization. Figure 1 shows the different approaches employed in multimedia streaming starting from the centralized client-server topology to decentralized schemes, which includes IP multicast and P2P solutions. P2P can be further sub-divided into mesh-based, tree-based and hybrid overlays. Each peer can accept media data from multiple parents as well as provide services to multiple children (both parent and child are relative terms in place of master-slave relationship). The advantages of this solution are high resource utilization and fast discovery of fresh peers in a single mesh due to gossiping. The disadvantages are: quality of service cannot be guaranteed due to gossiping among peers and large buffer space needed to reduce the impact of autonomy of peers (in a dynamic environment). Example applications are Coolstreaming, Promise, and GNUStream. Each peer communicates only with one parent (per overlay) and provides service to a number of children such that a â€Å"tree† topology is always maintained (in an overlay). The advantages of this solution are: closely resembles original IP multicast ideas and low management overhead.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Social Welfare Issues Reaction Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social Welfare Issues Reaction - Research Paper Example In simple terms, most of the social protection issues occur because of adjustments to the response of the environmental forces and the quality of life. Hence, Social Welfare Issues emerge as those that are related to Child & Family Social Work Issues, Clinical Social Work Issues, Social Work Values & Ethics, Health, education, security and insurance. On a broad front, the Journal of Social Work Values & Ethics and the Journal of the Society for Social Work & Research are the two journals worth critical and creative analysis of the social welfare issues involved under study. Conversely, the Journal of Social Work Values & Ethics evaluates critically and creatively the ethical and values issues that are interwoven and impacting with the theological development, social work practice as well as social research. On a broad aspect, the journal uncovers a full range of ethical and social issues that encounter social workers. Similarly, the journal explains its findings vividly by providing the historical perspectives of the social and ethical development exposing off all the ethical and social values dilemmas developing from a state-of-art. In-depth, the Journal of Social work Values and ethics focuses primarily on the examples of good social and ethical practices that clearly concentrate on the ethical and social values considerations. However, the journal reviews as well as examines the ethical and all values dilemmas that correlate with the genesis or development of new technology that may intend to affect the social and ethical aspects of human life.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Policy Development paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Policy Development - Term Paper Example Domestic Violence is one form of Interpersonal violence which is defined as violence committed by a person or persons inside a home against Elderly, young adult, intimate partner or children by another member of the same family. (Hayes-Bautista, Schink and Chapa, 2005) However, US Criminal Justice Policy only includes criminal murder or attempt of murder, forced or simple physical attack, sexual harassment, and burglary as violent crimes under the criminal codes. Most commonly their own children or children of their children abuse elders of the family. (De- Chesnay, Mary, 2008) Sometimes the poor health of older adults disturbs other members of the family as they become bound to listen to music in a low volume. As older people stay inside all the times so they don’t let others watch television channels of their own choice, which annoys other members of the family. Most of the older members of the family walk and talk slowly that also bothers others. Particularly in the case of violence against the elderly, lots of people agree to include emotional or mental abuse and neglect as a type of violence even if there is no existence of physical force. (Kilpatrick and Acierno, 2003) This is true that that mental or emotional abuse or neglect is ethically wrong and can prove to be extremely harmful to the elderly. Though, the main focus of this paper will be the US Government Policy for Elderly Abuse and Domestic Violence. Since the main objective of this document is to talk about US policy for Domestic Violence against Elderly it will be useful to first define public policy. Public Policy is defined as a group of laws, dictatorial measures, courses of acts, and financial support priorities in relation to a given issue that is publicized by a legislative body or its representatives. (Davidhizar & Shearer, 1999). Any policy is implemented by obeying legislation and regulation. The policy has played a major role in the manner America and other nations o the world d eal with the dilemma of violence against the general public or elderly. US policy has made authorizing laws for Elderly physical or mental health issues, that also deals with the dilemma of violent crime against elderly at domestic or general level. The US Government has fixed the particular amount of funding that is spent in running programs that promotes prevention of elderly from violence at domestic or general level. Accoring to famous American Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, domestic violence is a major causative agent for poor physical or mental health problems in elderly. After his research, considerable efforts have been made to improve the usage of public health approaches and prevent the occurrence of domestic violence in adults. For a number of reasons that include major immigration flows, lower mortality, and longer life expectancy, most of the growth in America's elder population in the recent past has been driven by growth in the numbers of elderly of all nationalitie s and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. The US Government is now showing a special interest in improving policies against Elderly Abuse. (Kilpatrick, 2003) Its main reason is, such types of crime eventually cost a lot to the society.  

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

September 11th Attacks on the United States and How it changed my Personal Statement

September 11th Attacks on the United States and How it changed my outlook on Politics and world events - Personal Statement Example This attack generated hatred, depression, frustration and insecurity among the people. Every individual whether Muslim or non-Muslim has experienced a tough time after the 9/11 attack. Brutality rose to its peak in different countries that lead to discrimination. The political situation in U.S and other countries become worse. People live in fear and hesitate in exchanging their personal views regarding the prevailing political situations worldwide openly with others. U.S imposed a policy war against terrorism with the help of numerous countries in Muslim states. Its been 11 years since the attack took place and nothing has been gained so far except hatred, conflicts among nations and aggression. Inflation rose, which in turn lead to unemployment and poverty. Nations invested millions of dollars for the security of their borders to eliminate the risk of attack. Illegal activities such as drug smuggling, human trafficking, and pornography rose. I suffered a mental trauma that created a negative picture regarding different nations. The U.S economy faced budget deficits as they increased their investments in purchasing modern weapons to fight against terrorism. The Muslim community suffered more after the attack that lead to harassment, conflicts in religious practices and demoralization. This chain of events has changed my life in various ways, it has deeply affected my thinking and damaged my level of trust towards the government. The US government spends millions of dollars every year in upgrading their security systems and still 19 people armed with pocket knives could easily hijack 4 passenger planes and so easily crashed them into the twin towers and inflicted such a long-term tragedy that changed the history of mankind. Peace and harmony among nations has been taken out of peoples lives, and now they are living in fear and incursion. In my opinion the situation has become worse as it

Monday, September 23, 2019

What the main factors of party choice were in the visegrad countries Assignment

What the main factors of party choice were in the visegrad countries - Assignment Example Voters then cast their votes not on the base of political parties but rather on the performance of their leaders that could be categorized as clientelistic and leader centered political culture compared to a majoritarian or consensus-oriented political system. It can be contrasted to Czech Republic where it manifests an extreme party-centric behavior of its voters. This can be attributed to their highly organized political parties as it manifests strongest ideological voting than the Nordic countries or the Netherlands. Unlike in Hungary where voters casts their ballots based on the performance of their leaders, Czech Republic on the other hand vote base on party ideology regardless of its leaders. This can also be partially attributed to the retention of orthodox communist party in the electoral arena making the electorate ideologically conscious. Poland on the other hand is neither of the two and this can be attributed to its highly fragmented political parties and institutional design whereby its institutions are closest to the consensus democracy type. The combination of diaspora among its political centers and consensus base political system among its political parties made it the only European country that is similar to that of the hybrid type constituted by Mexico and United States compared to Scandinavian-Israeli-Czech end-point differentiation. This results to a voting pattern that shows variance from the other countries in Visegrad such as Czech Republic and Hungary (Slovakia is not extensively covered in the study). Slovakia may not have been extensively covered in the study but its political system shares the same attribute with Poland which is also highly fragmented where its numbers are â€Å"excessive†. Thus, one can surmise that Slovakia will tend to be more consensus type in its voting pattern inferring to the factor that

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Technological Aspects to Support Ebusiness Essay Example for Free

Technological Aspects to Support Ebusiness Essay Introduction: For this assignment I am going to compare, contrast and look at the history of two internet giants: Ebay and Amazon. They are two sites that I regularly use, one more so than the other and find both as user friendly as I do interesting. I will look in detail at the history of the two and also the internet as a global network. Finally I will make a brief conclusion and some recommendations. The evolution of e-business: The term e-business or electronic business was first coined by Microsoft’s marketing and internet team in 1996 but businesses started using websites to marketing their products in the early 1990’s shortly after graphic based web-design became available. They quickly shifted from simply using the web for providing customers with information about their products to selling them when the software to encrypt credit card data became widely available in 1994. Netscape developed Secured Socket Layer (SSL) and websites developed the ability to encrypt sessions, making credit card transactions over the Internet safer for all concerned. With an encrypted connection between a companys server and a client computer, credit numbers could be hidden so they could not be intercepted by a third party, which made the theft of card information more difficult. This security led to the birth of e-business and changed the way we shop for ever. After this period the floodgates opened for opportunities in business to trade online but many people still didn’t trust giving out their credit details over the internet and it proved too expensive to trade on line with transactions of under a dollar or its equivalent. These payments were called micro payments and many companies came and went trying to facilitate these transactions. Paypal has been the most successful business to date that operates in this area and made it fast, cheap and most importantly secure for people to pay for goods online. Even with the emergence of these secure payment businesses, popularity with on line sales was still was not hitting the heights as expected and the .com bubble burst in the early 2000’s. The collapse of the bubble took place during 2000-2001. Many companies failed completely. Others lost a large portion of their market capitalization but remained stable and profitable, e.g., Cisco, whose stock declined by 86%. Some later recovered and surpassed their dot-com-bubble peaks, e.g; Amazon.com whose stock went from 107 to 7 dollars per share, but a decade later exceeded 200. After the bubble burst, many dot-coms liquidated or were acquired by other companies; the domain names were snapped up by domain investors or businesses with more traditional business models who had survived the crash. A few of the larger dot-com companies did survive, however: Amazon and Ebay are good examples. According to some sources, about 50% of dot-coms survived. Unfortunately, there were still thousands of technical experts such as programmers and web designers who were laid off and found themselves in a highly competitive job market. The acquisition of YouTube by Google, Skype by Ebay, and others, has led to speculation that there may be a second, similar bubble on the horizon. Consolidation of websites where top ten sites buy up competition or others go bust. Comparison of 2 web sites For this assignment I am going to explain, compare and contrast possibly the two most popular internet shopping sites; Ebay and Amazon. I’ve used both of these sites myself and have had little or no problem with either and find them both very user friendly. Ebay: Like most of the first really big internet sites, Ebay was started by one person and a computer from a bedroom or in this case a living room. Pierre Omidyar first created eBay (originally stood for echo bay technology but that domain name had already been taken) in 1995 to offer a marketplace where unwanted goods or collectables could be sold online with little knowledge of how much a global phenomenon it would become and how many times people would attempt to replicate it. The success of Ebay rose greatly for 3 years in which it amassed revenues of approx $4 miollion by its third year of trading. In March 1998, Pierre and his cofounder Jeff Skoll brought in the now multi billionaire Meg Whitman to sustain the success and take it to the next level. This proved pivotal in the world wide success of Ebay although her 9 year spell as CEO was not without controversy. Meg had studied at the Harvard Business School and had learned the importance of branding at companies such as Hasbro. Within 6 months as CEO of Ebay Whitman turned Ebay from a popular online garage sale to a multi billion dollar empire by splitting the company into 23 different business sections, and 35,000 sub categories. She made the company public and shares went from 7 cents a share to as high as $170 a share. This made Ebay the tech darling of the web and many tried and many failed to replicate their success. Ebay now stands at number 64 on the Forbes most powerful brands with 27,700 employees and annual sales of 11.65 billion. Ebay makes its money from a number of ways: Every time someone puts something up for sale on Ebay they have to pay an insertion fee (fee for starting an auction). Usually in the region of 55 cent for smaller to mid-priced auctions. So even if a product does not sell, Ebay will have made money. From each successful auction Ebay will also take a percentage from each sale. Advertising Companies pay to advertise on their site. Google adsense and various other advertising companies use ebay to advertise company’s products on the site. Paypal. Ebay own Paypal and the majority of buyers and sellers use it when making transactions on Ebay. Paypal in turn gets a cut of each transaction. In October of 2002 eBay acquired Paypal Inc. for 1.5 billion dollars. Paypal is the preferred way of making payments for eBay auctions and is growing in popularity for other Internet uses. Paypal allows a person to send or receive money via an email address. Money in a Paypal account can be spent on the Internet, sent by check to the account owner, or deposited into a bank account. Paypal also offers credit cards, debit cards, and a bill paying function. Amazon Amazon.com like ebay is one of the largest online retail websites in the world. Also like ebay it started up from one man and a computer from home but in this case, a garage, and went from a small operation to an international business employing thousands of people in a short space of time. Much the same as Ebay. People all over the world purchase books, music, movies and products from Amazon and hundreds of partner companies. Amazon.com was started by Jeff Bezos in 1994. At the time, his company was run completely from his garage in Bellevue, Washington. He was able to secure funding from Nick Hanauer. This first investment of $40,000 was joined by a larger, $100,000 investment from Tom Alburg that helped make the new website more user-friendly. Like eBay both men would probably not have turned their brand into a global force without the help of outside parties. During the first month of business, Bezos fulfilled and shipped orders to all 50 states, and to 48 countries. Books were t he only product available at that time. Bezos wanted Amazon.com to be more than just a retail website; he wanted to create an online community. Early on, he added a feature that enabled readers to add their own book reviews for all customers to view. In 1997, Amazon.com added movies and music to its offerings. On May 15, 1997, the company went public. The initial public offering (IPO) was targeted at $18, but by the end of the day, public demand had pushed the share price to more than $24 per share. The company had raised $54 million. Amazon.com is listed on Nasdaq as AMZN. In 1998, Amazon opened its first international sites in the United Kingdom and Germany, where it quickly enjoyed success. In 1999 the company opened four order fulfillment centers in Fernley, Nevada; Coffeyville, Kansas; and Campbellsville and Lexington, Kentucky to handle the large mass of orders. Time Magazine featured Jeffrey Preston Bezos as Person of the Year in 1999, calling him king of cyber commerce. The Look Inside the Book feature, added in 2001, was immediately popular as a tool for consumers to see if the book they were looking at would fit their needs. Later, the Search Inside the Book feature, added in 2003, made it possible for consumers to search key words in the text of the book. Amazon added Marketplace, where sellers of used books could offer products for sale with a small commission collected by Amazon. Amazon also teamed up with many companies to offer their products through the website. In January 2009, Amazon reported $6.7 billion in fourth quarter 2008 sales. The company now has centers in 12 U.S. states and eight countries. Its headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, and the company employs more than 21,000 people worldwide. In 2009 Amazon released the Kindle. The kindle is an ebook viewer that lets users download ebooks to the device and read them without physically every owning the book. Users can now also view films and connect to the internet through it. It was through the kindle that helped amazon sales increase ten fold. By 2011 amazon had recorded sales of $48 billion. There are a lot of similarities between Ebay and Amazon which I will now outline below. Both set up around the same time Both set up from home by one man and a internet connection. Both companies became very popular very quick. Both needed the addition of outside help to take it to worldwide success Both companies went public around the same time and made everyone involved overnight millionaires†¦ Both let users sell their unwanted items online Where they differ is Ebay sells anything and everything, new and used and owns its payment service. Ebay doesn’t sell any of its own products and relies heavily on user input, paypal and advertising to bring in income. Ebay is unique in that it actually doesn’t stock any products and is selling other peoples items which it never comes in contact with. This means they don’t have any overheads like warehousing rental, handling fees, shipping/transporting costs and all the labor costs that are attached with the above. If people stop buying or selling on the site, their business plan fails and will cease to exist, so keeping their brand in the public eye and keeping a positive public image is of more importance than most. Ebay has to spend a whopping $83 million a year on advertising and although this only represents 1% of revenue it’s still the third highest of tech companies in the modern climate. This can be viewed as an extremely proactive move but also highlights how the top brass at Ebay think and what position the company could find itself in if not continuously in the public’s mind. The annual $83 million spent on advertising is roughly double what amazon spends a year. That in itself tells you a lot about the differences between the two company’s business plans. [pic] Amazon sells books, music and film, new and used but only accepts credit card/debt card payment does not own the payment facility. Interestingly it doesn’t accept paypal as a form of payment. Amazon has more arms to its business and potentially better equipped to survive if interest drops in the brand or another dot com bubble burst arises. Amazon is like any retailer that buys and sells a product for profit and has all of the overheads that come along with it including stock management and cost issues. Amazon has its own creation in the kindle that it manufactures wholesales and retails itself which proves very profitable. Similar to Dell computers but without the wholesale part. Security: Ebay Paypal is renowned for its safety aspect of shopping securely online. If your paypal account has been hacked and money is taken out then a refund is provided by paypal. If you purchase something on Ebay trough paypal then you could be covered with buyer protection. Buyer protection can get you a refund including post and packaging costs if the item you purchase isn’t working properly, not as described or simply didn’t arrive. It’s a second to none approach to online buying that keeps the customer coming back. If customers don’t use paypal then it can prove to be a little more difficult in getting a refund and/or returning an item. Detail a few scams people do on Ebay [pic] Amazon Shopping on line with Amazon is by and large safe and secure and users often are usually very happy with it’s A to Z guarantee policy where by users are offered a full refund if item is not as materially described. In disputes Amazon usually sides with the buyer. In September 22, 2010, Amazon published a security advisory regarding a security flaw in its Amazon Payments SDK(software development kit). This flaw allows a malicious shopper to shop for free in web stores using those SDKs. Amazon mandated all web stores to upgrade to its new SDKs before Nov. 1, 2010. Amazon acknowledged security researcher Rui Wang for finding this bug. The detail of the flaw is documented in the paper How to Shop for Free Online Security Analysis of Cashier-as-a-Service Based Web Stores by Rui Wang, Shuo Chen, XiaoFeng Wang, and Shaz Qadeer Payment Metods: Amazon Payments accepts verified U.S. bank accounts. For the rest of the world it accepts credit cards and transfers from your available Amazon Payments account balance. Credit cards currently accepted include Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Diners Club, and JCB. You have to verify your bank account before you can use a bank account as a payment method. There are two methods of verification available: Instant Account Verification and Random Deposits. To verify with Instant Account verification, you use your bank login credentials through Amazons secure website to contact your bank. Verification using this method takes only a few minutes. To verify with Random Deposits, Amazon deposits two small random amounts to the checking account you specify. When the deposits are registered with your bank, you verify the amounts with Amazon. Verification using this method takes from five to seven business days. Ebay on the other hand offers many more methods of payment. Payments options for most sales are: Paypal: (as described above) Propay: When the buyers check out, they enter their credit card information. Payment is processed immediately and sent to your ProPay account. There are fees attached similar to paypal but payment protection applies also similar to paypal. Skrill (Moneybookers): Skrill is a business that allows payments to be made through the web. The Moneybookers payment system offers an online deposit accounts and a low-cost, internet-based alternative to traditional money transfer methods such as cheques, money ordersand wire transfers . To merchants, Moneybookers allows accepting online payments made with major cards or Skrills own online accounts. Skrill also has payment protection available and fees are attached. Paymate: Similar to Paypal but it puts funds directly into the sellers bank account. Only for people in Australia and New Zealand. Payment protection available. Fees attached. All major credit cards: Payment protection available. Payment on collection: payment protection available. Both companies make payment as easy as possible but Ebay are clearly out performing Amazon in this department. They offer more payment options but I think they have to in order to make it easier and appear safer for the customer to shop on their site. Internet as a global market: The internet today has become the largest shopping centre on earth accessible through your computer/tablet/mobile phone at home, work or on the go. The world has gotten smaller thanks to the advancements in technology, trading online has become available to the masses with great ease. Cyber Monday is a great example of this. High street retailers are down 0.2% on last year sales for the month of November. Not a crisis by a long shot but its main competitors, the on line retailers, were up 26% year on year for the same period and the credit card firm Visa expected 6.8 million online transactions with shoppers spending  £320 million on 2012’s Cyber Monday alone. That alone tells you how big a market the internet has become. People can now set up a business from home on the internet and become an entrepreneur over night. They can buy products from China and sell them in Argentina within a matter of days without ever having to touch it all from behind the comfort of their computer. Conclusion: Ebay and Amazon are no doubt two brilliant examples of how to make a success of an e-business and are global internet giants. They are both now and will be household names for years to come but Amazon have the advantage in my opinion in that they are retailers as well as middle men for online sales but more importantly they manufacture, wholesale and retail their own hugely successful product in the Kindle. If another worldwide credit crunch arises or dot com bubble bursts then no doubt Amazon is the better of the two equipped to survive. Ebay is in more danger of becoming last weeks news because the hits can drop on it easier and people can stop trading on it or using another similar web site much quicker than Amazon and it will become extinct. Through researching the two sites I now have a greater understanding of the humble beginnings of the two and how they got to where they are today. I now know and understand how the two operate and the security involved with the two. Most of all I would now feel confident in putting what I have learned into practise. Recommendations: Ebay should try follow Amazon by getting into the production market and expand the business to future proof its self. Amazon should focus on its strengths in the kindle and the future being the download market of movies/tv and books particularly in the market of tablets and phones. Bibliography http://online-auction-sites.toptenreviews.com/ The History of Amazon.com | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5377195_history-amazoncom.html#ixzz2Cl25m6Dd http://www.creatingcustomerevangelists.com/resources/evangelists/meg_whitman.asp http://www.forbes.com/profile/meg-whitman/ http://www.alternet.org/story/148629/how_meg_whitman_failed_her_way_to_the_top_at_ebay,_collecting_billions_while_nearly_destroying_the_company http://www.happynews.com/living/online/history-ebay.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503259.htm http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-ad-spending-for-tech-companies-2010-5 https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=537868 http://askville.amazon.com/eBay-Amazon-place-sell-stuff/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=7778359 http://www.ehow.com/about_5282606_history-ebusiness.html http://www.genuineseller.com/comparison-ebay-amazon http://www.domainmonster.com/editorials/dot_com_bubble/

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Financial Crisis and Brazil Essay Example for Free

Financial Crisis and Brazil Essay The economic crisis that has swept the world since 2008 has wrought havoc in national economies all over the world. As a group, one of the more particularly hard-hit groups of nations has been the Latin American countries of Central and South America. One notable exception to this trend appeared to be the nation of Brazil. The gloomy projections appeared not to apply to Brazil. According to Mauricio Cardenas of the Brooking institute: This doom and gloom has not infected Brazil, however, where President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is showing unprecedented self-assurance. Speaking in Madrid, Lula said somewhat rhetorically that this idea that markets can do everything is over,† and more fundamentally â€Å"The times in which emerging countries depended on the IMF are over. † This is not Hugo Chavez speaking, but the president of Latin America’s largest economy, who enjoys 80 percent popularity in his country. (Cardenas, 2008) Although Brazil weathered the early months of the financial crisis better than its Latin American neighbors, the longer the crisis has continued, the more the Brazilian economy has weakened. One of the factors that prevented an immediate collapse of the Brazilian Economy in the wake of the 2008 Crisis was the relative lack of foreign banks in the country. (Cardenas, 2008) Unlike many Latin American nations that have a high percentage of foreign banks (i. e. Mexico: 80% foreign banks), Brazil has only 30% foreign banks. (Cardenas, 2008) In the short term, this allowed Brazil to assume that a contraction in foreign lending would not have as deep an impact on their economy than that of other nations. Brazilian banks, in times of previous economic prosperity, had built reserves, rather than engaging in profligate loaning, leading to the hopes that these reserves were sufficient against the day that foreign banks severely restricted credit. (Cardenas, 2008) By September of 2008, this theory seemed to erode in the face of certain economic indicators. The Bovespa index, a market indicator similar to the Dow Jones industrial Average, lost half of its value from May to September of 2008. (Cardenas, 2008) 10% of that drop occurred in the second half of September. More strikingly, the value of Brazil’s currency, the Real, fell 32% against other world currencies. (Cardenas, 2008) These factors show that Brazil may still be prone to suffer in the economic crisis. Other analysts, such as John Williamson of the Peterson Institution of international Economics, have been less sanguine about the prospects of Brazil’s economy. Wiliamson stated: Moreover, the markets decided that while many of the emerging economies might no longer have any need for an inflow of loans, many (like Brazil) are still significant net debtors to the rest of the world and therefore still vulnerable to a sudden withdrawal of foreign credit. Compounding this is the fact that one may have a balanced overall position and still be vulnerable because debts are concentrated at short maturities. Hence one read, for example, of the Bovespa index falling by over 10 percent in a day (it has cumulatively halved in value since the peak in May). Likewise, the real has fallen by a cumulative 32 percent in the past month. The markets clearly do not believe that Brazil has been made invulnerable†¦ (Williamson, 2008) The world market contraction has had a significant effect on Brazil’s foreign trade. (Williamson, 2008) The export economy has relied upon raw materials for 50% of exports, and the prices of these materials have dropped dramatically in the face of world-wide declines in demand. (Williamson, 2008) The other half of Brazil’s exports, differentiated manufactured goods have also decreased in the face of reduced demand. Ironically, the weakness of the real against foreign currencies has softened the negative effect of these factors. (Williamson, 2008) The soft real will inspire increased purchase of manufactured goods from Brazil. This will soften, but not eliminate, the negative effects of low demand. The decrease in foreign capital that these commodity price decreases have reflected, will rapidly eat through Brazil’s trade surplus, and put strain on lending institutions in Brazil. (Williamson, 2008) The future of Brazil’s economy has been reported with varying degrees of optimism. The GDP of Brazil is projected to contract anywhere from 1. 5 to 20% in 2009 after growing 5% in 2008. (Williamson, 2008) An increase in the shift of agricultural exports to China has also contributed to the overall positive projections of the Brazilian economy. (Xinhua, 2009) The increase from March of 2008 (8. 5%) to March of 2009 (12. 5%) amounts of agricultural exports to China reflect this phenomenon. (Xinhua, 2009) The president of Brazil claims that the crisis has passed, and that Brazil has weathered the worst part of the economic crisis of 2008. (Xinhua, 2009) The longevity of the world-wide recession will determine if this is in fact a true prediction. (Xinhua, 2009) Brazil weathered the economic crisis of 2008 comparatively well, but suffered great financial repercussions late in the year. The economy seems to be in a stage of recovery, but its continued well being will rely on the recovery of other nations that control lending power and demand for Brazil’s exports. Work Cited Cardenas, M. (2008) â€Å"Global Financial Crisis: Is Brazil a Bystander? † Retrieved June 4th, 2009 from Brookings Institution website: http://www. brookings. edu/opinions/2008/1015_financial_crisis_cardenas. aspx Williamson, J. (2008) â€Å"The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Brazil† Retrieved June 4th, 2009 from Peterson Institution of international Economics website: http://www. iie. com/publications/papers/williamson1008. pdf Xinhua (2009) â€Å"Brazils agricultural exports to China up 52. 5 percent in March† Retrieved June 4th 2009 from China’s people’s Daily website: http://english. people. com. cn/90001/90778/90857/90861/6634356. html

Friday, September 20, 2019

Polygamy and monogamy practices

Polygamy and monogamy practices Since creation, according to bible, God created man and woman as well as animals which were both male and female. In such a situations where there exists animals of different sex, it allows the reproduction and stability of one generation after another generation. Human beings are known social beings, and in most cases need one another to survive, therefore its difficult to exclusively depend on themselves. To produce offspring, they usually marry and have children which in turn, becomes the standard of creation for the human population. Even though we all share the similarity of being human beings, there still exists differences in what we believe in and the values that we attach to various things. One of these things, is the topic of marriage, which by definition, is a reunion of a man and a woman to come together and live together as a husband and wife. Due to the diverse objectives that people have in marriage, some people consider that having one wife (monogamy) is the ideal met hod, whereas others believe in having a number of wives (polygamy) (Family,2009). This paper seeks to have an in-depth look at the two issues; polygamy and monogamy by looking at what the proponents of each thinks about it as well as look at countries that have practiced them. It will also look at pros and cons of each as well, and why people should respect one another despite which side they take. Last but not least, the paper will analyze the cultural beliefs of the two groups and dig deeper on why they hold on their beliefs and reasons they give to support their stand. Monogamy, is one of the most widely used form of marriage and its supporters believe in one man/woman to one wife/husband. Monogamy is derived from the Greek word mono, which means alone, and gamos, meaning re-union or marriage. It is believed that the majority of the human race practice monogamy as opposed to polygamy. One benefit considered of monogamy, is that it increases the chances of offspring survival because the parents collaborate together and raise the child ( Edward,1928). This perception does seem to be changing with time due to complexities of fast paced, modern life though. In the past, it was common for men to go to work while the woman was supposed to maintain the house hold duties, which also included raising the children. The modern world has changed this though, and now there is no distinct roles between men and women. Equally now, both must work hard to cope and deal with the challenges of modern life. Monogamy can be categorized and broken into four groups: soci al monogamy, sexual monogamy, marital monogamy and genetic monogamy. There exists small differences between these groups and that is why this paper all discussion will be centered on the man and woman perspective of monogamy. Many communities have in the past and are currently now practicing monogamy. Monogamy is as old as Adam and Eve, for during creation, God created one woman and one man. It is anticipated by some people that Christianity has a connection with the origin of monogamy ( Edward,1928). Europe just happens to be one of the countries where Christianity took its toll and spread rapidly. Before Christianity, Europe practiced polygamy. The roman culture believed in monogamy to such an extent that those who failed to observe the rules, faced dire consequences. Due to the severe penalties, some people even went to the extent of killing their wives so that they could have an opportunity of marrying another one. Cesar is an example of one who banished and killed his wife in o rder to get the opportunity of marrying another one (William,u.d.). This indicates how strong their culture laws were and how people desperately tried to abide by them. The great conqueror Napoleon, was also forced to divorce his first wife so that he could marry another one order to birth a son. This shows how deep rooted these cultures were by going to the extent of making a laws which were to be observed by all of the population. These cultures main goals were making sure the chances of immorality were reduced, as well as helping couples remain committed to each other. It is evident that no matter how strict a country was, monogamy is hard to uphold as it can be seen in Rome, where although marriage was monogamous, the sexual relationship did not follow the same, and mating was polygamous (Eshleman, 1994). People abided by the rules, and most cultural beliefs were upheld and embraced by the community. One downside to these beliefs, was lack in acceptance by all of its citizens an d some accepted it just because they lacked any alternatives. The communities that practiced monogamy stood a better chance of having families that worked together towards a common goal like raising children, giving them parental love and attention which are very crucial to the development child. As opposed to polygamous family, where most of the time the husband can not afford to be with all wives and his children at the same time. A polygamous father quite simply, cannot afford it. The children from these families are not likely in most cases to fully enjoy the parental love of both parents like those from monogamous family. In the Roman Empire, the consequences of bigamy were severe as death. This means that the citizens had no other option but to abide by them. The Empire saw it as a way to reduce the numbers of unwanted children, lower the levels of immorality, and lessen the amount of single mothers resulting from divorce, due to unfavorable conditions that arise with polygamy . Even though this culture was imitated, it still has its weakness because most its foremost people had children outside marriage as well as concubines on the side. It showed disregard for human rights, because some women were divorced or murdered so that the men could get the opportunity to marry another one. The culture also lacked proportion matching especially in comparison to modern days since the male to female ratio does not compute. This means that a great number of women would turn out to be single since their population is so high. In turn, the women who birth children out of marriage, will raise children that are not able to receive parental love from the father. Those children then do not have much choice but to lean on what they see their mother doing, and in some cases, the traits they acquire, might not be ideal ones. Polygamy is derived from the Greek word, which means the practice of having many women. This practice is very old and was practiced in many countries throughout the world. The practice is predominant in many African countries, where ones wealth is calculated in terms of how many children one has. They believe that when one person is in position to feed many mouths, that it translates to that one person having enough wealth since poor people could not afford to feed numerous children. Other countries have different reasons to why they allowed its citizens to practice polygamy. This discussion will focus on one of the African countries, Kenya, where currently, some of its communities still do practice polygamy (volume 10, 1967). Before colonization, people used to have their own standards of living as well as doctrines and laws that they had to abide by. Kenya happens to have more than 42 tribes where each tribe has its own beliefs and culture to follow. Most of these tribes, acknowledge polygamy and it is suggested by Ngugi (2006) that women once they perceive that they are reaching old age, could suggest that their husband marry another younger woman who to help him with house hold chores as well as marital needs. To many Kenyans, they believed polygamy to be essential in making it possible for the continuation of a generation. This was a time when children used to die in large numbers at extremely tender ages, due to diseases like measles, polio amongst others. It was then considered vital for a man to marry many women and reproduce many children so that even if a majority of them were dying, the hopes and chances that a few of them would survive was increased. The Kenyan culture accepted polygamy and eve n women themselves did not feel cheated nor did they object to it. A good example is the Luo community in Kenya in currently, polygamy is still practiced. Wife inheritance which is also a part of polygamy is being practiced as well (Ngugi, 2008)). According to their culture, this habit is encouraged to discourage the chances of the widowed woman from going out to look for other men, and instead be inherited by one of the brothers of her deceased husband. Another reason that is supported by those who practice polygamy, is to bring about a balance between men and women. Since the womens numbers are many, it is believed by the men practicing it, that more women in turn will be able to get husbands. The African culture means well in practicing polygamy, and has good intentions in doing so. These women and communities as a whole, believe it better to have a co-wife and abolish the need for their men to have hidden relations with other women outside the marriage. Therefore there was no more secret business, and men could inform their wives of their intention to marry another woman as they deemed right (Ngugi,2008). Lately though there has been a decline in the practice of polygamy, resulting from many people embracing Christianity i n Kenya. Many are now abiding by doctrines of the church and because of this immorality and promiscuity is on the rise. Research has shown that both married women and men are having other relationships outside their marriages, contributing to a high HIV infection rate in these groups. Polygamy is associated with such benefits as the impartiality in the distribution of wealth. This is because polygamy in most cases is practiced by men who are financially stable. By them marrying many women, there will be a steady flow of cash, either through gift or even just by merely supporting the women that he marries (William,2009). Immorality and promiscuity rates also decline along with sexually transmitted diseases, for the simple fact that a man will be content with women he has. There are also more morals imposed in such a society, and instead of women resulting to using devices such as sex toys to fulfill their needs, they stand a much better chance of getting men who will satisfy their ne eds sexually instead. Human beings are emotional and require a channel or means of satisfying those feelings. When that opportunity is not presented, they can result to other untraditional means to satisfy their emotions. Polygamy also has its shortcomings which can vary depending on how it is practiced. When it occurs with individuals who are not economically stable, children might suffer and lack basic needs due to the number of children the man will be providing for. It also neglects the children of paternal love since they can not have their father on daily basis. It can also make women feel not fully appreciated and wonder why their man would be looking at other women. In the current times, it can lead to mistrust, and increasing the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (Mirriam, 2006). In looking at both polygamy and monogamy, each one of them seems to have its advantages and disadvantages. Keeping in mind that humans are social beings who like to interact with each other, people should learn to appreciate other peoples cultures since we can perceive things differently and what some may consider as right, may be considered as very wrong in another country. Even though this has always been a controversial topic as to what people recognize as its pertaining issues, but it is really time for people to appreciate the difference that exists between people and the only way to solve this is by learning about the positive things from the given cultural community and disregard what could be perceived to be of less importance (Jenks, 2006). Communities can not exist on their own and they require a collaboration with others to co-exist peacefully. It is important to not only realize but appreciate that there are disparities between these two types of marriages and the childre n brought out of each of them exhibit the differences in the values that they learned from their parents. Research done has indicated that children from polygamous family might have more negative attitudes towards their step siblings and are often lacking in genuine love towards each other. In extreme cases, they sometimes rise against one another and even cause bodily harm to one another. Often lacking in fatherly love, they generally seem to perceive their father in a negative light as well. All that having been said, people will continue behaving differently and that is why laws play a vital role ensuring that people abide by them and operate within those boundaries. Through social interaction, people get to discover other peoples different ways of living and their abilities to interact with each other. References Jencks E N (2009).The History and Philosophy of Marriage: Or, Polygamy and Monogamy Compared: Oxford publishers Ngugi, J. polygamy in Kenya.Nairobi. Oxford publishers. Miriam K. (2006).Polygamy: a cross-cultural analysis. New York: Up. A citizen of Massachusetts (1882).Marriage: monogamy and polygamy on the basis of divine law, of natural law University of Michigan James Campbell An international journal of social, political and legal , Volume 10: 1967: retrieved on 6/12/2009 from: n+monogamy+and+polygamylr=client=firefox-a Edward B. (1928). The Journal of general psychology, Volume 1 retrieved on 6/12/2009 from http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=Kv37YlSy7oICq=journals+on+monogamy+and+polygamydq=journals+on+monogamy+and+polygamylr=client=firefox-a Say NO to monogamy and YES to polygamy.2009. Retrieved on 6/12/2009 from http://www.hipforums.com/modules/Journal/viewentry.php?journalnoteid=13005 William M .The family, society, and the individual: retrieved on 6/12/2009 from: gamydq=journals+on+monogamy+and+polygamylr=client=firefox-a Eshleman, J. (1994). The Family. retrieved on 6/12/2009 from: ygamylr=client=firefox-a

Thursday, September 19, 2019

tribute to the nice guys :: essays research papers

this is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style. This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you. This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she sho uldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Radio B92: Unbiased Civil War Coverage by Serbia’s Own :: Free Essays Online

Radio B92: Unbiased Civil War Coverage by Serbia’s Own Fair and impartial reporting of the Balkan wars in the 1990s was a difficult and lone venture. Almost all of the international media had their own biases due to their countries’ part in the war (through NATO or their proximity to the conflict), their acceptance of parts of Serbian government propaganda, or simply their overly exaggerated partialities against the Serbians because of a common belief that all Serbians were entirely responsible for the war. It is also widely accepted that Bosnia and Serbia’s media, if not influenced or controlled by the government and Milosevic, struggled greatly to remain independent – if that. So, throughout the conflict in the 1990's, Radio B92 was the only independent audio news source. It served as the principal alternative to the government controlled media, especially for the former Yugoslavia, but also to the biased international press. According to Jasminka Udovicki and James Ridgeway, the editors of a book about the fall of Yugoslavia titled Burn This House: The Making and Unmaking of Yugoslavia: It took almost a century, from the emergence of the South Slavic unification movement in the early nineteenth century to the end of World War I, to create Yugoslavia. It took only a few years to destroy it [. . .] Visions of national liberation and modernization brought the South Slavs [. . .] together at last in 1919. Seventy years later, a retrograde, mythical, antimodern vision tore them apart (11). The fall of Yugoslavia was brought about by brutal military force, but the energy needed to utterly dismantle the country was supplied by the political ethno-kitsch (1). An idea emerging here, one expressed by many, is that Yugoslavia may have been alright, or at least far better off and not torn apart if it were not for Milosevic’s means of gaining political power. While these factions did have their differences, they had coexisted for thousands of years before WWI and Tito, the former leader, was able to keep them together. This idea of â€Å"ethno-kitsch† began around 1987, and involved a sort of new taste for an almost vulgar fascination with Serbian nationalism. According to Udovicki and Ridgweway, it, â€Å"was everywhere in Serbia.† At the root of this â€Å"ethno-kitsch† in the late 1980s was a progressively growing perception that Serbian people had been wronged and were hated – completely undeservedly – by other ethnic groups in Yugoslavia.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

The Case Of A Complaining Customer – Executive Summary

The new computer system has been installed to provide easy, convenient and time saving services to customers, however it appears that Presto Cleaners may have caused unnecessary unhappy and complaining customers by imply not following a few simple steps, such as making sure their staff was trained appropriately, had tested the system and provided themselves with a backup plan. As a result of this the company now have a unhappy customer who's demanding compensation and need to take appropriate action in whichever way the operations manager feels appropriate to resolve the situation, and what is most beneficial for their company.Why Is Mr. Shelton upset? What should be done toreadors his complaint? On 28 July Mr. Shelton drops off Hess laundry to Preston cleaners. A new computer yester was introduced to him and he was requested to fill out a card, detailing special requirements or services required. A ID number was also request by presto cleaners and also for the customer to purchase a special bag to drop of Hess laundry. Using the new system, Mr. Shelton would now simply just drop of Hess laundry at the store and return to pay, hassle free apparently. Unfortunately when the customer returned to collect Hess clothes he found them to be missing.He felt the old system was quicker and easier and he wasn't happy with the new service and also very angry that Hess clothes was missing. Mr. Shelton was missing 4 shirts, 2 blouses, 1 suit and 1 skirt. Mr. Shelton complains firstly in the store personally and then contacts the store when he hears no information about Hess clothes. He struggles to communicate with anyone at presto cleaners and leaves several voice mails for the company president compensation in the form of full refund for the cleaning, full refund for 4 shirts that he purchases after the laundry goes missing and a full apology.Mr. Shelton clothes have been given to another customer and the only solution the store have is to wait and hopefully the clothes wi ll be returned. Mr. Shelton is very angry and frustrated. As the mistake has been made by presto cleaners they should take full responsibility. The response the customer should have received is being apologized to but the floor staff upon realization that the store had lost the clothes. An empathetic attitude should be shown to him at all times and he has been inconvenience and let down.The customers calls should have been responded to as ignoring him only aggravates him worse, and communicating with the customer keeping him informed of progress even if none.. The store should be checked for the missing items and customers who dad collections on the same day be contacted if possible. An apology should be made to the customer, and a refund for the cleaning service offered. A comprehensive quality improvement upland for Presto Cleaners. Based on the information presented in this case, a massive improvement on their survive quality is necessary. Presto Cleaners thrives to offer custome rs a competitive privet high quality reliable service. ‘ Goal 1: Set up a continuous improvement program, develop a TTS. Goal 2: Refer to theorists to help develop business plans. Trucker's Theory of Business – in brief Trucker characterizes the assumptions that comprise an organization's Theory of Business by stating:†These assumptions are about markets. They are about identifying customers and competitors, their values and behavior. They are about technology and its dynamics, about a company's strengths and weaknesses. These assumptions are about what a company gets paid for.Management to take refresher course in operations and customer service management Goal 5: Company needs to provide total quality management, At its core, total quality management (TTS) is a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. In a TTS effort, all members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which the y work. The methods for implementing this approach come from the teachings of such quality leaders as Philip B. Crosby, W. Edwards Deeming, Armband V. Figment, Koru Chickasaws, and Joseph M. Curran.Total quality management can be summarized as a management system for a customer-focused organization that involves all employees in continual improvement. It uses strategy, data, and effective communications to integrate the quality discipline onto the culture and activities of the organization. The Primary Elements of TTS are: Customer-focused Total employee involvement Process-centered Integrated system Strategic and systematic approach Continual improvement Fact-based decision making Communications Goal 6: Customer satisfaction and loyalty lead to profit and growth, feedback system to be brought in.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Google Hacking

Google Hacking Abstract: Google hacking is the term used when a hacker tries to find vulnerable targets or sensitive data by using the Google search engine. In Google hacking hackers use search engine commands or complex search queries to locate sensitive data and vulnerable devices on the Internet. Keywords: hacking, hack, Google, Google hack, hacking techniques, attack, ethical hacking, search engines, search engine hacking What is Google Hacking? Google hacking is the term used when a hacker tries to find vulnerable targets or sensitive data by using the Google search engine. In Google hacking hackers use search engine commands or complex search queries to locate sensitive data and vulnerable devices on the Internet. Although Google hacking techniques are against Google terms of service1 and Google blocks wellknown Google hacking queries, nothing can stop hackers from crawling websites and launching Google queries. Google hacking can be used to locate vulnerable web servers and websites which are listed in the Google search engine database. In other words, hackers can locate many thousands of vulnerable websites, web servers and online devices all around the world and select their targets randomly. This kind of attack is most commonly launched by applying Google hacking techniques to satisfy junior hackers. It is obvious that the Google hacking procedure is based on certain keywords, which could be used effectively if they are used by some internal commands of the Google search engine. These commands can be used to help hackers narrow down their search to locate sensitive data or vulnerable devices. Nevertheless, the success of Google hacking techniques depends on the existence of vulnerable sites, servers and devices. However, we should not ignore the power of the search engines in providing information about the targets to the hackers in the reconnaissance phase. Beyond Vulnerability Malicious hackers can use Google hacking techniques to identify vulnerable sites and web servers for known vulnerabilities. In addition, they can look for error pages with the help of technical Page 1 of 8 nformation or retrieve files and directories with sensitive contents such as databases, passwords, log files, login pages or online devices such as IP cameras and network storage. Google Proxy Hackers can use the Google Translate service (http://translate. google. com/translate_t) as a proxy server to visit a website or translate the contents of the website or URLs without leaving any footprints. Figure 1: Google Translate Service. Google Cash Google copies the content of a website in its databa se. This function helps users to access the content of the website if the site is not available. However, a hacker can use this function to access and visit a targeted website without leaving any footprint and in complete anonymity. Figure 2: The red cycle indicates the link to access the Cached page. Page 2 of 8 Directory Listings Web server applications such as Apache and IIS provide facilities that a user can browse and navigate website directories by clicking on the directory name and links such as Parent Directories. The directories and their content can be listed if directory listing or directory browsing are enabled by the administrator. This vulnerability gives an unauthorized access to the files and it may help hackers to gain access to the information which can help them to hack a website or a web server or download its contents. Directory listings make the parent directory links available to browse directories and files. Hackers can locate the sensitive information and files just by simple browsing. In Google it is easy to find websites or web servers with enabled directory listings because the title of the pages start with the â€Å"index of† phrase so we can use index of in the search box to find the directory listings-enabled website. If we want to get better result from our search we can use this combination in the search box intitle:index. of or we can use intitle:index. of â€Å"Parent Directory†. Figure 3: The result of using intitle:index. of â€Å"Parent Directory†. It is obvious that with the first command we used the Google search engine to search in its database for the websites which have been listed with the title of â€Å"Index of†. In the second command we used Google to search for sites with the directory listings and with the keyword which is often found in the directory listings. Specific Directory Hackers can locate specific directories by using the directory name in their search queries. For instance to locate an â€Å"admin† directory in addition to directory listings, the hacker can use these commands: intitle:index. of. admin or intitle:index. of inurl:admin. Page 3 of 8 Figure 4: The result of using intitle:index. of. admin. Specific File It is possible to search for a certain file by directory listings. For instance, to search for the password. mdb file, this search query can be used: intitle:index. of password. mdb . Figure 5: The result of using intitle:index. of. password. mdb. Specific File Extension Google lets users search its database for a specific file extension by using the filetype: command. For instance, if you want to search for pdf files, then you can use the query filetype:pdf in the search box. Server Information It is possible to use Google hacking techniques to determine the version of the web server application along with directory listings. This kind of information is vital to an attacker because it will  © Ali Jahangiri www. alijahangiri. rg Page 4 of 8 help him or her to use the best way to attack the web server. For instance, hackers can use the search query intitle:index. of â€Å"server at† to find the web sites with vulnerable directory listings which are operated by an Apache server. Figure 6: The result of intitle:index. of â€Å"server at†. Different versions of Microsoft IIS servers have wide usage all around the world. It would be easy to find the ser vers which are operated by Microsoft IIS 6. 0 servers, which are listed in the Google database by using the query â€Å"Microsoft IIS/6. server at† on the Google search engine. Error Pages The error pages and warning pages are informative for hackers because these pages could be used to determine the vulnerability of the target. Most of the time hackers use the error messages as keywords or search phrase to find their targets. For instance, if you use â€Å"Syntax error in query expression † –the in the Google search box, you can find the websites which have this error message as an Access error message; this message can display path names, function names and filenames which are helpful for the hackers. Page 5 of 8 Figure 7: The result of â€Å"Syntax error in query expression † –the. Hackers may use Google to locate vulnerable servers by searching for the error pages of web servers such as IIS. The queries intitle:†the page cannot be found†and â€Å"internet information services† can be used to search for IIS servers that present error 404. Default Pages Default pages are major sources of information about targets for hackers. They use Google to find live servers which are on the default page; most of the time, these servers have default configurations with many vulnerabilities. Login Pages The login pages can be use for brute force attacks and gain unauthorized access to the target. In addition, the login pages can be useful to provide information about the target server. For instance, if we use the search query allinurl:†exchange/logon. asp† in the Google search box, we can find the login page of the Microsoft Outlook Web Access. For the typical login page in the web applications or portals which have been programmed by ASP, you can use inurl:login. asp or inurl:/admin/login. asp. Figure 8: The result of allinurl:†exchange/logon. asp†. Locating CGI-BIN Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a standard protocol for interfacing external application software with web servers. Hackers can use Google to locate the CGI-BIN applications or pages to target. For instance, the search query inurl:/cgi-bin/login. cgi locates the login pages base on CGI-BIN. Online Devices It is possible to create special search phrases to locate online devices such as IP cameras, network storage and printers with Google. In this technique hackers use the default pages or the application names which vendors used for hardware and that have been supplied by vendors.  © Ali Jahangiri www. alijahangiri. org Page 6 of 8 For instance, if you want to locate AXIS Network cameras then you can apply the search phrase inurl:indexFrame. shtml Axis to find online AXIS cameras. Here is another example: to locate online Linksys network storage with the GigaDrive Utility, you can use the search phrase intitle:†GigaDrive Utility† in the Google Search box. Figure 9: The result of inurl:indexFrame. html Axis. Google Hacking Database There is an unofficial website (http://johnny. ihackstuff. com/ghdb. php) which acts as a database for hacking of Google. This database has been used since its creation in 2004 by the Google hacking community. You would be able to develop your own Google hacking database by studying the behaviour of the equipment and identifying the pages, page titles and files which can be cal led and accessed by user and which will be listed in Google. Disclaimer: ? This document is to educate, introduce and demonstrate Google hacking. You should not use the information which has been presented in this document for illegal or malicious attacks and you should not use the described techniques in an attempt to compromise any computer system. Ali Jahangiri operates a policy of continuous development. The information which this document contains reflects his understanding at the time when presented. Ali Jahangiri reserves the right to revise this document or withdraw it at any time without prior notice and states no obligation to update the data included in his document. The contents of this document are provided â€Å"as is†. No warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of solutions and instructions for a particular purpose, are made in relation to the accuracy, reliability or contents of this document. Under no circumstances shall Ali Jahangiri be responsible for any loss of data or income or any special, incidental, consequential or indirect damage s howsoever caused.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Bonsai: Japanese Tree Art Essay

Many people in the contemporary society have always expressed their desire to connect with nature especially by cultivating certain plants in their compounds but the urban living conditions cannot allow. These, especially in towns have little space around their houses for growing flowers or trees and this greatly applies to those who live in apartments which are compacted or multistoried (Pilgrim, par 1). Did you know that one can actually grow trees in his or her house? Thanks to a Chinese ancient Art in tree planting where one can afford to have a tree plant in a pot. This art is called Bonsai. This word is pronounced as ‘bone-sigh’ which if directly translated from Japanese it means ‘tree in pot’ (Kenney, par 1). A bonsai tree is just an ordinary tree which has been sculpted and a healthy one can live for 100 years (Curley, par 1). This essay seeks to trail through the events that have characterized this Art from the time of its inception, the art process, its significance in relation to the society and how it has changed overtime. What Is The History Behind Bonsai Art? China is believed to have been the original home or the birth place of this art which began more than a thousand years ago. It was originally called Pun-sai and it involved growing trees in small pots and one pot could only have one tree. The Chinese Bonsai had twisted branches which resembled different animals for example birds or even reptiles like snakes and other imaginary creatures like dragons which were associated with some legends and myths. The shape of the Bonsai depended on the artist’s imagination. The Chinese regarded trees as the best way of expressing nature and for them, the growing of these trees was one way of bringing tranquility to ones mind (Pilgrim, par 5). Later, in the 12th century around a period called Kamakura, the Japanese adopted it. The exact time that this happened cannot be indicated but it is believed to be around 1195 AD. This happened when Zen Buddhism was being spread in Japan and in the process; the Chinese tradition of Bonsai trees was also spread through some monks who established their monasteries in Japan. They are the ones who were actively involved in the Art thus advancing it. Afterwards, the aristocracy picked up the art as a hobby and it became a sign of wealth thus spreading through the upper class (Hubik, par 1). For the Japanese, they regarded Bonsai as a symbol of honor and prestige and by 14th century, the art was regarded as a highly refined form of art. During those times, the Japanese elite used to have those occasions where they could display their Bonsai trees on special shelves (Hubik, par 1). Originally, many Japanese grew the trees outside their houses but when they decided to throw a party, the trees would be taken inside for people to enjoy the sight (Olsen, par 3). The nobility in Japan perceived Bonsai as peace among three things, that is man, spirit and nature (Curley, par 4). Later, in the 19th century, after spending more than 230 years in isolation, Japan opened its doors to the rest of the world and thus the outsiders accessed this art. Travelers from European countries could not believe what they saw: mature tree plants in ceramic pots and this seemed something worth to adopt. From then onwards, they spread the gospel to other western nations and in 1900, in Paris world exhibition, the art was introduced to the whole world. This was followed by subsequent exhibitions in London and Vienna (Hubik, par 7). Myths Associated With Bonsai Art There are various misconceptions about Bonsai trees. Some people have always misconstrued this Bonsai technique as a dwarfing process. Traditional techniques for growing Bonsai should never be termed as dwarfing of trees which employs certain manipulations which are genetic. Genetic manipulation is not involved anywhere in cultivating these trees but natural seeds are used instead. Other techniques are also employed such as grafting, pruning, defoliation, potting and root reduction (Pilgrim, par 3). Some people believe that, the Bonsai trees are kept that short by some cruel techniques. This is actually not true. In fact, if they are watered well and are exposed to enough air, light and also good nutrition, they can live for long, more than full grown trees belonging to the same species. The techniques are just the same as the ones used on other horticultural plants. Some also hold onto believe that a Bonsai tree is just few centimeters tall which is not true however if compared with their full grown brothers, they are small, ranging between 25 centimeters and 1 meter (Bonsai Site, par. 1). The Process of Bonsai Tree Art Typical plants and trees can make up Bonsai but those which have small leaves are regarded as suitable. In Japan, trees like pine, bamboo and plum have been used. Seeds and cuttings from these trees can be used to develop Bonsai trees and also stunted trees which occur naturally that can be grown in containers. One may ask how they come to be that small. Well, these trees are trained to be small by the process of pruning whereby their branches and roots are trimmed. Other methods include repotting which is done periodically, new growth can also be pinched and if one desires the plant to grow in a particular shape, then one will be required to wire the tree into the desired shape (Bonsai site, par 3). The tree has to have a trunk which is well tapered and should also have branches all over; this is to give it a visual depth (Black, par. 5). The container in which the Bonsai tree is grown is independent from the earth. The tree should not be at the centre of the container. It was always believed that in that container, heaven and earth are one and in the centre is where they meet thus nothing is allowed to occupy that space and that’s why the tree is not supposed to be planted at the centre. Triangular pattern is so much encouraged to add to the beauty. Truth, beauty and goodness are three virtues which are believed to be necessary for the creation of a Bonsai tree (Bonsai Site, par 4). These containers are primarily kept outside excluding those ones for trees which are trained to grow indoors. There are no rules regarding the development of Bonsai because they are personalized by individuals and more so if it is for one’s enjoyment. It doesn’t require so much but ones patience and endurance. A person’s commitment will also force him to dedicate much of his time and skill to the Bonsai tree (Bonsai Site, par 7) Watering of Bonsai is considered the most important factor in the process and it is also a skill to be learnt because watering varies with different Bonsai trees, types of soil used and pots. Always ensure that the trees do not dry out and to check this, one can insert a tooth pick in the soil to see if there is any moisture (Squidoo, par. 2). As mentioned earlier, pruning is also involved but it is usually not done on young Bonsai trees but those ones which have grown a bit. Pruning just involves trimming the tree into a desired shape and thus there is no guideline on how to prune correctly. One should also ensure that the tree is exposed to enough light, if not so artificial light should be provided to compensate for the sunlight which is not available for the plant. Fertilization also depends with the type of Bonsai thus it is not a major requirement in the art. One recommendation is that one is not required to fertilize unhealthy dry Bonsai (Squidoo, par. 7). Repotting is another major caring technique for a Bonsai plant. It is usually done after two years which also depends on the pots size and the growth of the plant. Repotting helps the plant to develop good rooting system and also supplying it with fresh soil (Squidoo, par 7). Bonsai wiring is another technique which is required in this process to shape them. It involves wrapping tree branches and trunks with the wire until the tree is in a position to maintain the shape and that is when the wire can be removed. All these tools which are used in this process can be supplied by anyone who specializes in Bonsai tools. One can use plain silver wire, copper or brown Bonsai wires and if one cannot access these, any other can do so long as it is bendable and can be easily removed. Thicker wires are the most appropriate in Bonsai and if one cannot get these ones, he or she must involve double wrapping (Squidoo, par. 12-13). To sum up, there are no specific guidelines which can apply to all Bonsai trees hence different species of Bonsai need to be treated differently, In Japan, the process is considered to have no end as long as the plant is alive. One is supposed to treat the plant with respect and love and the act of caring for the tree is in itself a meditation (Black, par. 6). What is the Significance of Bonsai Art in Relation to the Society? To the Japanese, they associated the plant with their faith in Zen Buddhism where man and nature are one and are thus joined through meditation and expression. In the modern world however, this process is more of a hobby. This is important as it helps to understand nature and being part of it and also enhancing the beauty of the gardens (Bonsai Site, par 1-2). Bonsai trees have also been regarded as symbols of harmony among three things; that is man, nature and soul while the monks associate them with prestige and honor (Curley, par. 4). The act of shaping the tree and viewing it was understood to be one way of uniting nature and spirit. It also signified the Japanese philosophy and refinement in that, by pruning; the unwanted and unnecessary parts were done away with thus refining the tree. This view is still held in Japan and that is why during every New Year, families in Japan display their Bonsai trees which have been decorated. The ornamentation of the Bonsai to decorate it is referred to as Tokoma (Bonsai site, par 10). Once it was associated with the elite but nowadays, it is observed by all; this is because, the art symbolizes their culture and ideals (Curley, par. 4). How Has The Art Changed Overtime? In the modern world, the art has taken an interesting twist in that; most people have taken it up as a profession (Bonsai Site, par. 3). The art has really developed to new forms where the pot and the tree complement each other in various aspects such as shape, texture and also color. The tree has to be shaped and not left to grow the way it would naturally. These changes have been experienced since the art began in China. The Chinese Bonsai still maintains its ancient styles and shapes which are traditional and sometimes these are usually perceived by the Europeans as crude. The Japanese one is much more natural and pleasing to the eyes because they are well taken care off and refined (Sinonewa, par. 4). They are the ones who perfected this art. Nowadays, Bonsai has taken different styles and shapes. Bonsai which can grow indoors are trained in classical styles which include windswept, slanted trunk among others. The Art which was originally by the Japanese and the Chinese is now practiced around the world and thus it is regarded as a way through which the spirit of nature is imitated (Black, par. 9). Lastly, artists started to incorporate other cultural elements into their plantings such as rocks and even small buildings thus displaying diverse possibilities in styles and thus the Art has evolved reflecting changes in time and tastes. Due to demand of this Art all over the world, artists have resulted to grow young plants, training them to appear the same as the Bonsai. Japanese decided to concentrate on this art and they opened nurseries to grow bonsai trees mainly for export. The range of plants used in this art also increased to suit different world climates and thus countries and cultures can pick up the art without any problem. (Bonsai Site, par. 8). Two modern artists who are involved with this art are Morten Albek and Artists from Austin Bonsai society. Source: Oriental Decor Source: Oriental Decor Work Cited Austin Bonsai Society. Modern Bonsai Artists, 21 March, 2010. Web. 1 May, 2010, . Black, Frank. Japanese Bonsai. China Town Connection, 2005. Web May 1, 2010, . Black, Frank. The Art of Bonsai Tree. Ezine Articles, 6 June 2006. Web. 1 May, 2010 . Oriental Decor. Japanese Bonsai Trees. 2010. Web. 1 May, 2010 . Curley. Karen. The Bonsai in Japanese Culture. EHow, 2010. Web. 1 May, 2010, . Hubik, Dan. A Detailed History of Bonsai. Bonsai Site, 2010. Web. 1 May, 2010, . Kenney, Kim. Definition of Bonsai. eHow, 2010. Web. 1 May, 2010 . Mortein, Albek. Modern Bonsai Artist. The Knowledge of Bonsai. Web. May 1 2010 . Olsen, Eric. Bonsai Tree Meaning. Bonsai Gardener, 2008. Web 1 May, 2010, . Pilgrim, Gray. Bonsai Tree History. Hub Pages, 2 March 2010. Web. 1 May 2010 . Sanunewa . Bonsai: Tree, History, Culture, Background. Hub Pages, 2010. Web. 1 May, 2010 . Site Bonsai. An introduction to Bonsai, 2010. Web. 1 May, 2010, . Squidoo. The art of Bonsai: the Bonsai tree care, 2010. Web 1 May, 2010 .

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Paul Kennedys arguments on the rise and fall of great powers Essay

In the world’s history, the face of the earth has witnessed power supremacy between various countries and states. All along from the Spanish rein in their days on the sun, the Britain, France and now the US. All this scenes on the globe have a significant impact on the relative powers on the either side. The outstanding issue is not the power but forces behind that power rise, sustainability and its fall. Therefore this essay shall examine the ways of measuring this power sustainability according to the Paul Kennedy’s perspective in his argument on the rise and fall of major world powers. Introduction  Professor Paul Kennedy argues about how predictable and determinable is the raising and declining of the major powers in his book entitled: The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict From 1500 to 2000. In this book he presents the parameters which are used to measure the prospects and indicators of rising and decline of world’s major power. Furthermore, arguments are presented together with empirical studies of the major world powers, which encompass both political and economical dimensions of the Great Powers. This studies rates and discusses the rise and their fall from 1500 to 1980. Additionally, apart from exclusively discussion their rise and fall, his argument goes beyond the prevalent conditions and projects the future of the US, Japan, China, European Economic Commission and USSR. The core of the Kennedy’s argument is that the strength of a power of a nation or a state can only be measured relative to the other existing powers . In this connection, the fundamental issue that he uses as a scale is the fact that major powers rising, falling and their sustainability entirely depend on the available resources and economic durability and military strength relative to its requirements for prospering. Therefore, the argument for measuring the decline or prosperity of a given world power is through military power and its inputs and the economic and productive power. The two measuring devices employed by Professor Paul Kennedy 20 year earlier are the central base for this essay paper. Through use of military and economic propensity this essay shall examine the major world powers their rise and decline. Also related to the Kennedy’s argument is the prediction of the decline of the USSR and US as a major world power or super power , while prediction of gradual but steady raise of china as a major power. The central thesis of Paul Kennedy is that the power of a state needs to be maintained and sustained. Therefore the more the power of a state increases, the more resources shall be needed to maintain. The maintenance of a power should be balance between both in military and economic power . But when more state resources are devoted towards maintaining military power in long term it weakens the power and directs it to the path of decline. While when productivity economy slightly overweighs military expenditure the power is stable and can be maintained. Therefore the key driver of the power of a state entirely relies on the economic component of the power. Thus the main argument is; power can only be maintained by a prudent balance between the creation of wealth and military expenditure. Therefore the essay shall closely look at this argument that emphasizes on the power measuring parameter using the balance between wealthy creation and military expenditure. In order to do this effectively the essay shall evaluate how reliable and valid is the argument basing on the major historical world powers; especially the Germany, France, US, Moguls of India, Ottoman Empire, USSR, China, Japan and Great Britain. Measures for rise and fall of a great power state The countries in this regard power can only be measured and gauged with each other only when their military mighty sustainability costs balances with their economic production or wealth creation through investments or production of gods and services. 0 years earlier Paul Kennedy researched, wrote and interpreted the major world power how they rose over the years into their day on sun and the dark side of their power into decline. Therefore at this point it is worthy to examine how relevant are the two measuring parameter and how realistic are they to today’s reality on our globe, traced from the past and extrapolated into the future. Economic and productive power The key driver of the power of a state entirely relies on the economic component of the power in terms of its productivity. This is because as the government running, planning and execution of the plans depends on the engine of the economy. Most evident is that, British financial strength was the single most decisive factor in its victories over France during the 19th century. Therefore in this argument Professor Kennedy argues that it is possible to detect the rise and fall of different powers in the world by looking at the economic indices. In this regard economic power dictates the power prosperity. For instance the economic dimension is important to maintain the military mighty. In this connection, economic production should overweigh or balance the expenditure to the military sector. For example Spain, Britain, France and Netherlands military expenditure overweighed their economic production that has lead to their declines since then. Addition to that, we can agree today that during the entire 19th to early 20th century the Great Britain was the fore front in the entire world as a great power. The reason for its being on the fore front was the fact that industrial revolution placed it on that position. This is can be empirically evident that Britain per capita grew from 10, 16, 25, 64, 87 and 100 in 1750, 1800, 1830, 1860, 1880, and 1900 respectively. At this time France which was a relative competitor for this great power had its per capita from 9, 9, 12, 20, 28 and 39 in 1750, 1800, 1830, 1860,1880 and 1900 respectively . Therefore gauging at these two difference in the production of the in terms of industrial per capita, it implies that the UK had an upper hand even in financing its major military operations than France therefore can maintain the slot of being major power on the globe . Another indicator that is used to measure the rising and declining power under the economic and productive power; is the relative share of the worlds manufacturing outputs. In this respect, great power states manufacturing output can really determine the peaks and troughs of power. For example UK’s output is1. 9 percent in 1750, then in 1860 it was at 19. 9 percent, and 22. 9 percent in the year 1880. While china’s starts at an index of 32. 8% in 1750 and declines to19. % in 1860, after the Taiping Rebellion and Opium Wars ; then declines further to 12. 5% in 1880. The two combinations give an insight of the power that is capable financially so that it can be able to run its functions effectively. In this light, statistics of war time indicates that during its reign Britain was capable to maintain its war expenditures effectively. Thus in 1688 to 1815 the total wartime expenses were ? 2,293,483,437 , Britain income was pitched at  Ã‚ £ 1,622,924,377. Thus it only had a balance of  £ 670,559,060. But from 1890s the US economy overtook that of Britain and Germany to become the world super power together with other political factors . Thirdly the measures can be in today’s economic environment through the use of the states share of the total world GDP which is a round $45 to $50 trillion. At this juncture Kennedy’s argument predicts the decline of the US as a world super power. Since the share of the US in the world GDP ever declining since 1945 when it over took from Britain. In fact China is a major threat to the US as a world great power. To this effect the statistics indicates that China’s total GDP will be higher than that of the US by 2025, if the trading systems are not interfered with by natural calamities or human caused activities. Military power Military power is necessary to safeguard the overall power and the economic power of the state. Military power is the symbol of real and hard power. All great powers that rose in the face of the earth had a relatively stronger military power that enabled the m defeat major battles and wars. For instance the Germany, France, Britain, Spain and Soviet Union . But that one does not exempt the central thesis of the discussion; power sustainability can only be achieved through a balance between the wealth creation and the military expenditure that do not over stretch the economy of the state. In this regard at the beginning of the 16th century, Spain was the worlds and European great power with excellent armed forces . This made it powerful. But the argument is the measure for this power sustainability; that makes it relative to either prevail or decline. Therefore fort the Spain’s case, this excellent army required sustenance from economic resources. Which were over spent on a higher scale from Spain’s mismanaged resources, deficit budgeting and inflation. Hence in the long run it declined as a major power. The French also saw the same way as Spain at end of the 17th. Whereby France mismanaged its economic resources that was largely used for supporting an increasingly expensive regular armed forces until the period of the American Revolutionary that led to the French Revolution making this expenditures too huge for the economy top support that ended in a bankruptcy ; hence its decline. Britain on the other hand had to have a loan to finance its military campaigns, making it use more of the resources than what it creates as economical input. On the other hand the on his prediction for decline of the US as a major world power in terms of it’s overstretch on the military expenditures, it is evident that US is spending too much on the military. For instance nuclear full-fleet carrier of the US navy that is 20 storey high, that displaces105, 000 tonnes of water. This total expenditure for construction is about $28 billion , which is greatest budget ever in the world’s history. In general, US defense budget only accounts for just over half of total defense expenditure in the world. This together with other reasons makes US ever crisis as a super power. Conclusion The argument of Kennedy Paul about the rise and fall of the world’s greatest powers over human history is to a great extend valid. However it is not 100% accurate and any where in this universe it can not happen. Basing on his central thesis of the argument that; the power measuring parameter using the balance between wealthy creation and military expenditure. The essay has explored these measuring devises used by professor Paul indeed there is some validity in this claims. For instance, china over currently has concentrated on the wealth creation by production and controlled minimal military expenditure: has seen to pose a threat to US supremacy. Therefore whenever the governance system fails to balance there scorecards between the economic output and inputs to sustain military force activities the decline shall be knocking at the door. Whereas the reverse is true.