Persuasive Essay On Gun Control - 1788 Words

October, 1st 2017 has marked the latest in a now all too familiar trend of tragedies; a mass killing of civilians by a sick individual. In the wake of this tragedy, there is a mass of human emotion, grief, anger, sadness, and a demand for justice to right what has been wronged. In looking for justice, one needs an antagonist to blame, in this case an object, the gun. While it is true that firearms are the weapon of choice for many violent tragedies across the United States, will a ban on firearms truly solve the problem of violence for the country? Although a firearm ban may seem like a preventative for violence in the United States, a comparison of violent crime in other countries with varying levels of gun control, the lack of†¦show more content†¦The Czech Republic has the second highest concealed carry and personal defense gun ownership per capita behind the U.S. and Switzerland has the 4th highest gun ownership per house hold (Ordonnance), yet both have amongst the lowest violent crime rates with the Czech Republic having roughly half the murder rate of the U.S. with 2.7 murders compared to 5.3 murders per 100,000 people (Preidt). As for mass shootings, much of the European world has had far less experience with this form of attack, however, that is not to say they have had less experience with mass killings. Terrorist attacks have become an unfortunate frequency for much of the world, and in places such as many west European countries where guns are of little supply, they improvise. Vehicular homicide and attacks such as those in Munich and Barcelona have killed dozens of people plowing into crowds. Other attacks include bombings, chemical attacks, and mass stabbings. These horrific attacks can be just as effective as seen with mass stabbings like the 2014 Kunming attack which left 35 dead and over 140 injured by just 8 people using knives (Kunming). Additional problems with containing mass murder is the use of illegal firearms. Examples of this can be seen with the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris 2015, where the assailants used bombs and ak-47s to gun down a dozen people in Paris a near gun free zone due to strict French laws on the matter (BBC). In other countries, justShow MoreRelatedPersuasive Essay : Gun Control798 Words   |  4 PagesPersuasive Essay Did you know that in the United States almost 100,000 people are shot or killed with a gun in one year? 10,527 people die a year in handgun related incidents in the United States. This number, by far, outweighs the number of gun related deaths in countries such as Sweden, Great Britain, and Japan, which number 13, 22, and 87, respectively. What is the reason for such drastic differences in numbers? Sweden, Great Britain, and Japan are all countries that have stricter gun controlRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gun Control1753 Words   |  8 PagesPersuasive Essay Rough Draft The United States of America has a problem that is growing worse every day. American laws are not protecting its citizens from injury or death. You may think the mass shootings in America the guns used were bought illegally, but â€Å"since 1982, there have been at least 62 mass shooter carried out with firearms across the country, with the killings unfolding in 30 states from Massachusetts to Hawaii. Of the 139 guns possessed by the killers, more than three quarters wereRead More Persuasive Articles on Gun Control Essays607 Words   |  3 PagesPersuasive Articles on Gun Control Persuading an audience can be done in several different fashions, one of which is Hugh Rank’s Model of Persuasion. Rank’s model states that two major strategies are used to achieve the particular goal of persuasion. These strategies are nicely set into two main schemas; the first method is to exaggerate an aspect of something, known as â€Å"intensify.† While the second is to discredit it, which is referred to as â€Å"downplay.† Al Franken, Jeffrey SnyderRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gun Control1018 Words   |  5 PagesImagine, an America where no citizen, law abiding or not, has the legal ability to own guns. Three gunmen with fully automatic rifles walk into a crowded city and begin firing. No law abiding citizen can defend themselves. It’s hopeless. This future can only be prevented if Americans continue to keep the second amendment. We should keep the current gun control laws, but revise them to make them even better. Most gun own ers are responsible under the current laws, however, I think some laws need to beRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gun Control1245 Words   |  5 Pagesand time again. Due to recent tragedies involving firearms, the view of guns and peoples rights to own and operate firearms have been frowned upon and viewed in a bad light due to Media. News sources have cherrypicked pictures of tragedies and stories about bad instances of gun usage in order to fight for Gun Control and the suppression of Americans rights. Due to the recent Vegas shooting, the argument for Gun Control has never been more intense, and Media outlets are having a field day onRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gun Control915 Words   |  4 PagesHistorically guns haven’t been a national issue. It is not until relatively recently that an overwhelming amount of people have been in favor of placing stricter laws on the owning of a fire arm. The call for gun control has become more prevalent in the eyes of the government and the people; the gun laws that are also often proposed are irrational and ineffective. One could not simply ban guns, it is comparable to banning a certain genre of music; it’s unachievable and would be a fruitless pursuitRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gun Control1745 Words   |  7 Pagescruelty to animals, and yet he was able to buy four guns legally (Rosenberg). That is the most recent example of why Americans need more gun control laws. Guns are not cool or makes you look good, they are a da ngerous piece of machinery that Americans take advantage of. The average American in the right mindset should not want to own anything more than one handgun or rifle for hunting or protecting their household. Gun control reform that limits gun ownership, enforces mandatory background checks, andRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gun Control1439 Words   |  6 Pagesreason why Americans own so many guns is because of the Second Amendment, which states, â€Å"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.† (Rauch) This amendment guarantees U.S. citizens the right to have firearms. Since this amendment is relatively vague, it is up for interpretation, and is often used by gun advocates to argue for lenient gun laws. Hence, gun control is a frequently discussed controversialRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gun Control967 Words   |  4 Pagessaid gun violence has gotten out of hand. This do esn’t mean that the second amendment is the cause of it. Gun Violence has become such a big part of the Second Amendment since they both play a major part of the gun industry. Guns have become such a powerful source to many individuals. With the second amendment placed, this means we have gun control, which are rules that regulate, the manufacture, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. There should be a stricter law on gun controlRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gun Control1634 Words   |  7 PagesOver the recents years, there have been many arguments about the issue of gun control at the state and national level. In California, there have been a variety of enacted laws within recent years to address the issue of growing gun violence around the country and ways to prevent terrorist attacks. California s new enacted laws about gun control in the state range from abolishing certain features on weapons to restricting certain handguns or other firearms a person might buy. The legislative branch

Human Resource Management System - 1940 Words

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Synopsis [pic] Date of Submission : 18.5.2010 Submitted by: Group No: SARITA MCA/07/131 Faculty Comments Name of Faculty : Signature of Faculty : Date of Checking : Status : Approved Rejected Date to submit new synopsis (applicable only†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Development: Education, honors, awards, publications, performance reviews. †¢ Employee self-service: direct-deposit, W-4 tax information, personal information such as home address. †¢ Faculty Events †¢ Manager self-service †¢ Recruitment: On-line job listings and job application, managing the recruitment process. †¢ Regulatory Reporting. PROCESS DESCRIPTION Currently Human Resource Management Systems encompass: 1. Administration 2. HR management Information system 3. Recruiting 4. Appraisal 5. Performance Record 6. Employee Self-Service †¢ The administration module provides a system for organizations to administer and track employee participation in benefits programs. These typically encompass insurance, compensation, profit sharing and retirement. †¢ The HR management module is a component covering many other HR aspects from application to retirement. The system records basic demographic and address data, selection, training and development, capabilities and skills management, compensation planning records and other related activities. Leading edge systems provide the ability to read applications and enter relevant data to applicable database fields, notify employers and provide position management and position control not in use. Human resource management function involves theShow MoreRelatedHuman Resource Management Systems : Management1080 Words   |  5 Pages Human Resource Management Systems: Management Through Software Auriel S. Brown Dr. Jack Huddleston HRM520004VA016-1148-001: Hr Information Systems Strayer University 10/26/14 Human Resource Management Systems Human Resource Information Systems or HRSI are systems used to combine task related to the human resource management field. These task include but are not limited to payroll, benefits management, and employment recruitment. Many businesses both large and small haveRead MoreThe Human Resource Management System1234 Words   |  5 Pagesthe main functions of the human resource management system Recruitment and selection are two critical functions of human resource management. Taking into consideration both the capacities the recruitment process goes before the selection capacity. These functions form is basically the core fundamental that engulf the human resource management and includes that of talent acquisition and training and development and even rewards for the employees. For a human resource manager, it’s an importantRead MoreThe Human Resource Management System Essay1392 Words   |  6 Pages which is also known as a human resource information system or human resource management system (HRMS), is basically an intersection of human resources and information technology through HR software. This allows HR activities and processes to occur electronically. To put it another way, a HRIS may be viewed as a way, through software, for businesses big and small to take care of a number of activities, including those related to human resources, accounting, management, and payroll. A HRIS allowsRead MoreA Human Resource Management System Essay1905 Words   |  8 PagesINTRODUCTION A Human Resources Management System (HRMS) or Human Resources Information System (HRIS) is defined as the computer based systems and processes at the intersection between human resource management (HRM) and information technology. In the article in the World Heritage Encyclopedia noted that â€Å"it merges HRM as a discipline and in particular its basic HR activities and processes with the information technology field, whereas the programming of data processing systems evolved into standardizedRead MoreHuman Resources Information System in Management of Human Resources2435 Words   |  10 PagesHuman Resources Information System in Management of Human Resources Contents 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 Case studies one 2 2.1 Description 2 2.2 Advantages 3 2.3 Challenges 4 2.4 Organizational advantage 4 3.0 Case studies two 5 3.1 Description 5 3.2 Advantages 5 3.3 Challenges 6 3.4 Organizational advantage 7 4.0 Conclusion 7 5.0 References 8 1.0 Introduction In today s corporate world information system has come to play a very criticalRead MoreHuman Resource Management System Implementation947 Words   |  4 PagesUniversity Human Resource Management System Implementation Human Resource Information system (HRIMS), also referred to as Human Resources Management System (HRMS), is a series of integrated systems that is utilized to gather, organize, and analyze information regarding human resources in an organization. This assists in the automation and simplification of an organization’s tasks, but most fundamentally, it aids in the laying down of a framework on which the management of human resource policies canRead MoreHuman Resource Management Information System1731 Words   |  7 PagesStudent Number: 4494931 American Public University System Professor Emilia Butu Human Resource Management Information Systems- HRMT 415 Session D, Summer 2014 3 October 2014â€Æ' Introduction As times change so does the way organizations handle business. As organizations change practices HRM must change to remain an inaugural part of the organization. As a HR Director of a large corporation it is a must to understand Human Resource Information Systems or HRIS. With many HRIS functions such as e-recruitingRead MoreHuman Resource Information System And Human Resources Management System1399 Words   |  6 PagesHRIS, which is also known as a human resource information system or human resource management system (HRMS), is basically an intersection of human resources and information technology through HR software. This allows HR activities and processes to occur electronically. To put it another way, a HRIS may be viewed as a way, through software, for businesses big and small to take care of a number of activities, including those related to human resources, accounting, management, and payroll. A HRIS allowsRead MoreHuman Resources Information System ( Hrms ) Human Resource Management System2230 Words   |  9 PagesHRIS, which is also known as Human Resources Information System or (HRMS) Human Resource Management System, is actually a hybrid of human resources and information technology by HR software. This allows HR activities and processes to be carried out electronically. Human Resources Information System is a system that can keep track of all your employees and information to keep. It is, as a rule in a database or, more generally carried out in a series of connected databases. These include the name andRead MoreIntroduction To Human Resource Management Systems1646 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Human Resource Management Systems is the word increasingly used refers to policies, practices and procedures that are related to the management of the people within an organization. In simple words Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) is software that allows or connects human resources and information technology using processes or systems. The human resources management mainly deals with management and staffing effective work force for the organization. The main functions of HRMS

Death of a Salesmen Literary Analysis Free Essays

Maria Medina AP Literature 2nd Hour February 14th, 2012 Being Boxed In As humans, at some point in our life we may feel the sense of being boxed-in. In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller shows the different factors that make for the frustrations of long time salesman Willy Loman. Being â€Å"boxed in† is a symbol of Willy’s serious desperation with his life in the city, his career, and his family that eventually led to his death. We will write a custom essay sample on Death of a Salesmen Literary Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Willy is living in the crammed state of New York. He feels as though the city has turned into a box for the inhabitants: â€Å"The way they boxed us in here. Bricks and windows, windows and bricks. †(1301). Willy feels trapped about the innovating of cities and rapidly growing population: â€Å"There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. The competition is maddening! Smell the stink from that apartment house-! † (1301) He’s afraid of change, and can’t accept it.. Willy makes himself feel boxed in by not accepting the new city life along with his new family life. The city changing reminds Willy that he now also has a failed relationship with his sons, and this attributes to his sense of feeling boxed in. Willy refers back to the past many times and longs for life to be like it used to be. While talking about the changing city he remembers his old relationship with one of his sons: â€Å"Remember those two beautiful elm trees out there? When I and Biff hung the swing between them? † Willy wishes to go back to the old days when his sons and he got along. He’s very nostalgic and remembers old times to give him some comfort. Unfortunately, having flashback of the good times affects him horribly and not being able to go back in time makes him feel trapped. Willy’s career has also taken a huge toll on him. At the beginning of the play he tries to give his wife and himself hope that they eventually won’t feel physically trapped and things will get better: â€Å"Before it’s all over we’re gonna get a little place in the country and I’ll raise some vegetables and a couple of chickens. † This shows that Willy longs for a different life where routine isn’t always necessary. He wants freedom and hopes someday it will come. Willy admits that he feels physically trapped due to the city he’s living in, but never admits that he is trapped in the sense that he tries to appeal to everyone. He tries to keep an image that does not truly reflect him: â€Å"We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house! †(1362) After being confronted by Biff, Willy still doesn’t realize his failure in his career and success. He tries making things better by helping out Biff’s success; he commits suicide to have Biff keep his insurance money and start his own life: â€Å"Imagine? When the mail comes he’ll be ahead of Bernard again! †(1364) This suicide makes for Willy to literally box himself. All of his frustrations make for Willy not think straight and making irrational decisions. showed the factors that led to Willy’s feeling â€Å"boxed in†. His city life, his failed relationship with his family, and his having to keep up an appearance led Willy to frustration. Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman showed that being â€Å"boxed in† occurs when many problems come up, and when not coped with correctly, can lead to tragic extremes. How to cite Death of a Salesmen Literary Analysis, Essay examples

Side Channel Attack

Question: Discuss about the report for Side Channel Attack? Answer: Introduction Side channel attack is based on side information and which are retrieved from encryption devices where information is coded in an abstract manner (Benger et al.). In computer and communication system, security is a major concern. In the past, encryption devices receive plain text as input and generate ciphertext as output (Carlet et al.). At that stage, attacks occurred either knowing the plaintext or knowing the ciphertext or both. Now a day, these encryption devices have additional input with additional output, and those are not in the form of plain text or ciphertext. These encrypted devices also produce timing information, power consumption statistics, and many more things. Side channel attacks use these data and information with other cryptanalytic techniques (Braunstein, Samuel and Stefano Pirandola). A cryptographic algorithm with public key ciphers, hash functions, and symmetric chippers form building block to construct and implement security mechanism in the network channels. However, some side channel attacks sometimes also called physical attack tries to modify the secret parameters involved in the cryptographic devices. In order to keep these devices secure, some major countermeasures will be discussed in the following sections. Side Channel Attack Side channel attack is considered as a form of reverse engineering, where changes in the processing behavior are monitored and examined, on a regular basis during the execution and operations of the cryptographic algorithm (Carlet et al.). The Cryptographic primitive is viewed as an abstract object that is transferred some input to some outputs by using a parameterized key. On the other hand, this cryptographic primitive sometimes implemented inside a program this will run on a processor to present some specific characteristics (Chen et al.). First consideration is viewed as classical cryptanalysis and the second one is called physical security. Physical attacks or side channel attacks are numerous and considered by the cryptographic device manufacturers very seriously (Coron et al.). Some of these side channel attack types are described in the following sections NonInvasive vs. Invasive: Noninvasive attack damages the information which is externally available such as power consumptions and running time (Crane et al.). On the other hand, invasive attacks depackage the chip and tries to access the internal information and data of the inside components (Dabosville et al.). An example of this attack is to see the occurrences of data transfers; wire can be connected to a data bus. Passive vs. Active: Active attacks modify the devices functioning like fault indication attack tries to add errors in the computation programs and processes (Guo et al.). Conversely, passive attacks is not so harmful, it just observes the behaviors of the cryptographic devices while their processing, but do not change them. The above side channel attacks are trying to damage and steal the physical leakage information such as electromagnetic radiation, timing information, and power consumption. As they are passive, non invasive and can be performed by cheap devices, lead to greater security threats for most of the cryptographic hardware devices (Hund et al.). These devices are ranged from smart cards to small computers, and radio frequency identification devices. Side Channel Attacks- Models While assessing the security of cryptographic module in the traditional cryptanalysis model, it has been assumed that the opponent party almost has all the knowledge about the protocol and all its public keys (Kotipalli et al.). Moreover that, the adversary may also have some intercepted data which can be engaged with valid participants and have the control over the nature of the data. Then the adversary will try to exploit the designs in the network protocol. In this case, mathematical abstraction tool cam is used as a cryptographic primitive to evaluate the security of the devices by considering them as mathematical functions (Kumar, Pardeep and Jagdeep Kaur). Secure cryptographic algorithm offers security against the unauthorized users who only have the access to the confidential information of the authorized users. However, this is not sufficient and adequate to protect cryptographic devices from these kinds of side channel attacks (Liu et al.). By monitoring the current scenario of physical attacks or side channel attacks, researchers have discovered that these kinds of attacks exploit the properties of the devices, modify the characteristics of the network and operating system. Therefore, it becomes so easy to utilize the leaked information for unauthorized activities (Braunstein, Samuel and Stefano Pirandola). In a recent case, it has been seen that adversary of the traditional security model can see the electromagnetic radiation or power consumed by smart card while it performs signature generation and decryption operation with public keys (Mohamed et al.). Te opponent party also can measure the operation time of the cryptographic operation and analyze its behaviors whenever errors are occurred (Prouff, Emmanuel and Matthieu Rivain). Therefore, side channel information can be easily gathered, so that proper security model must be used. Classic Side Channel Attacks Timing Attack: This attack is defined as the total time required for the performance of cryptographic operations. As these execution operations have conditional branching statements and unnecessary statements, operation time varies with inputs of the cryptographic devices (Veyrat-Charvillon et al.). Side channel attackers use these differences to make exact and proper identification of the encryption key. Time sample is gathered with inputs, and those samples are applied into the statistical model. This model helps to obtain the behaviors of the devices and keys used inside it (Yarom, Yuval and Katrina Falkner). By measuring the total required time, attackers easily find out and guess the behaviors of the fixed components and damage and modify other components and cryptosystems. Electromagnetic Attack: Electric current always carried out an electromagnetic field with it. This carried electromagnetic field includes some crucial and additional information such as time, the amount of consumed power, etc. If all these information and data can be collected and measured out; a side-channel attacker easily enters into the system and exploits the whole security system to find out the secret key (Yarom, Yuval and Naomi Benger). Electromagnetic attackers use this confidential information as side channel data and leads to EM attack inside the system. Radiations from these electromagnetic fields can be of two kinds; one is intentional, and other one is unintentional (Zhang et al.). Side channel attack explores and occurs due to unintentional radiations which help to find out and guess the secret encryption key of the cryptographic device. Fault Analysis Attack: It is dependent on the errors and faults cretaed by the cryptographic modules and devices either naturally or intentionally. The faulty outputs which are generated from these devices are the side channel information of faulty analysis attack (Zhao et. al.). The main two reasons behind these kinds of faults are computational faults while the operation of cryptographic computation and when the corrupted input is applied into the module or device to generate false outputs. Side channel attackers can achieve these successfully by two steps. In the first step, faults are injected into the device, where the time of injection is the primary concern (Naomi et al.). In the second step, attackers exploit these faults and analyze them to find out the secret private key. Through these stages, attackers can almost break each and every cryptographic algorithm of the system. Power Analysis Attack: Almost every cryptographic device needs external and additional power to process and operate. This kind of power analysis attack damages the relationship between consumed power and ecrypted data to find out the device operations and combine them with other analysis techniques to guess the secret encrypted key (Claude et al.). In order to measure the consumed power, a small resistor of 50 ohms is connected in series to ground or power. Voltage differences by the resistor will give the current as an output. Power analysis can be done with two analysis techniques; one is DPA (differential power analysis technique) and other is SPA (simple power analysis technique). Simple power analysis technique directly analyzes and measures the consumed power and can be gained from simple virtual representations (Rakesh et al.). This SPA technique can provide additional information about the operations of the encrypted devices and also can give the information of the secret key . Attackers with the SPA analysis technique uses trace method to measure the consumed power in the operation of cryptographic devices (Jean-Sebastien et al.). As simple power analysis, the technique provides the detail description of each and every stage encrypted operations, side channel attackers can easily break down the system for their unauthorized purposes. On the other hand, differential power analysis technique analyzes and evaluates the values of the system with a statistical model. Sometimes it becomes difficult to find out the private key, due to slight variations of power (Stephen et al.). Then a large number of the sample have to be collected and have to feed into the device, which is a quite time-consuming process. If the key, find out and guessed by the attackers are right, computed values will be generated as the probability 1 (Guillaume et al.). However, if the identified key is wrong, the function will differ. Current Side Channel Attacks In spite of the classic side channel attacks, some current side channel attacks have been identified which are discussed below and shown in the following figure Online Application Leakage: In this growing technology world, all the activities and operations are operated on software platforms, a huge number of applications and programs are offered by this software over the web. Theses software applications are loaded with lots of information and data for its users. As these data and information flows through a network, these work as channel side information and create a paradigm of new side channel attack (Carsten et al.). If proper security applications such as firewall web application, intrusion detection system are not deployed inside it, attackers can easily steal those confidential data and information from the system. Message Error Attack: While the operations of communication platforms and methodologies, the receiver has to send an acknowledgment to check and verify whether the message is received or not. These acknowledgment sent by the receiver from the receiver side to destination can be used by the attackers as side channel data and information to obtain these kind of attacks (Kotipalli et al.). In the case of Chipper block chaining (to offer information in an authentic manner), acknowledgement message needs to be in block form. During decryption technique, if such blocking results, then some error message will be returned and the attacker will use those errors by finding out the error status. Cache Based Attack: Cache memory is used to update and upgrade the operation speed of the network system. Data and information is stored in the cache memory; in order to fetch and extract them for operational purposes, cache memory does it by itself. But whenever, data and information are not stored inside the cache memory, it can be extracted and gained from primary memory (Fangfei et al.). It leads to unwanted delay and used as channel side information by the attackers to find out and guess the secret key. These kinds of attacks are adamant, as they are not dependent on the cipher text or plain text. Countermeasures Each of the above mentioned attacks is quite difficult to mitigate. But some classical mitigation techniques will be proposed in this section to resist these kinds of attacks from the system to some extent (Lange et al.). Name of the Side Channel Attack: Timing Attack Countermeasures: Masking Technique Main reason of the rising timing attack inside the network is the difference of time in the operation of encryption and decryption techniques. This time has to be made constant by exponentiation and multiplication operations with the addition of delays (Nicolas et al.). However, this technique can slow down the speed of the whole processing system. The masking technique combines the input value with a random value to make actual output at the receiver side (Pratiba et al.). In this case two kinds of algorithms can be adopted to proceed with the masking operations, one is algorithmic level countermeasures, and other is level architecture countermeasures (Park, Young-Ho and Nam Su Chang). Algorithmic level countermeasures help to transform the C programs inside the device so that that side channel information leakage can be avoided (Carlet et al.). On the other hand, architecture level countermeasure algorithm will help to smaller the size of the signal by creating better components with special but simple circuit techniques. Name of the Side Channel Attack: Electromagnetic Attack Countermeasures: Signal Information Reduction and Signal Strength Reduction. Electromagnetic attack and power attacks can be reduced by the same technique of timing attacks. Operational data has to make independent, and the clock cycles must be saturated for all the operations of the system so that power attack and electromagnetic radiation attack can be reduced to a larger extent. Branch and conditional statements must be avoided to resist the simple power analysis attack and timing attacks (Yinqian et al.). Noise addition can create a major impact on mitigating the power attacks or electromagnetic radiation attacks. As these power and electromagnetic radiations are generated from electronic circuitry such as transistors, resistors and they have an algorithmic level and program level to operate (Xinjie et al.). Therefore, at the transistor level, circuits and logic gates has to be built in such a way that dedicated hardware for the cryptographic operations can operate with a large area and with dedicated industrialization process. Name of the Side Channel Attack: Fault Analysis Attack Countermeasures: The entire system should be restarted again. Name of the Side Channel Attack: Power Analysis Attack Countermeasures: Reducing signal size, designing of the cryptosystem according to the hardware specifications. In order to mitigate the differential power analysis attack (DPA), the masking technique is very useful. Masking or blinding is the most useful countermeasure against the protection of DPA attack (Benger et al.). Architecture level algorithms present in the cryptographic system should be configured with high security mechanisms to overcome the side channel attacks. Therefore, theses cryptographic algorithms are set on the 8-bit chips with core design and customized frequency operations. This chip can check the credentials (PIN code) of the users with cryptographic hardware blocks (Cong et al.). A computing device called Hardware security model must be implemented inside cryptographic module that can provide strong authentication and integrity. The current side channels attacks that are described in Section 3, no such solution, has been proposed yet. Those areas are used for volatile research and researchers will propose some solutions very soon. Conclusion From the above study, it can be concluded that side channel attacks are the major class of cryptanalytic technique. Side channel attacks can generate from various sources and significantly affect the whole operation system and exploits their confidentiality and security. Some classical side-channel attacks like power analysis attack, timing attack, electromagnetic attack, fault message attack which steals the sensitive information of the cryptographic modules and devices. Some recent side channel attacks such as online application leakage, cache based attack, message error attack destroy the inside components of the system and tamper the confidential information present in it. These kinds of attacks target a specifically implemented system, which is very powerful and cannot mitigate easily. Therefore, these attacks which are almost present in every circuit technologies raised a greater security threats and must be considered by the adoption of proper countermeasures. From the operati onal perspectives, countermeasures of side-channel attacks can be achieved through some sound combination of countermeasures such as masking technique with the engagement of architecture level countermeasures and algorithmic level countermeasures can offer greater security over against these side channel attacks. Significant attention must be paid to fair analysis and evaluation of these security solutions, to assess properly the cryptographic devices' security with proper implementation efficiencies. Work Cited Benger, Naomi, et al. "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit: A small amount of side channel can go a long way."Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded SystemsCHES 2014. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2014. 75-92. Braunstein, Samuel L., and Stefano Pirandola. "Side-channel-free quantum key distribution."Physical review letters108.13 (2012): 130502. Carlet, Claude, et al. "Analysis of the algebraic side channel attack."Journal of Cryptographic Engineering2.1 (2012): 45-62. Chen, Chien-Ying, Rakesh B. Bobba, and Sibin Mohan. "Schedule-Based Side-Channel Attack in Fixed-Priority Real-time Systems." (2015). Chen, Cong et al. "Horizontal And Vertical Side Channel Analysis Of A Mceliece Cryptosystem".IEEE Trans.Inform.Forensic Secur.(2015): 1-1. Web. Coron, Jean-Sbastien, et al. "Higher-order side channel security and mask refreshing."Fast Software Encryption. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013. Crane, Stephen, et al. "Thwarting Cache Side-Channel Attacks Through Dynamic Software Diversity."NDSS. 2015. Dabosville, Guillaume, Julien Doget, and Emmanuel Prouff. "A new second-order side channel attack based on linear regression."Computers, IEEE Transactions on62.8 (2013): 1629-1640. Guo, Shize, et al. "Exploiting the incomplete diffusion feature: A specialized analytical side-channel attack against the AES and its application to microcontroller implementations."Information Forensics and Security, IEEE Transactions on9.6 (2014): 999-1014. Hund, Ralf, Carsten Willems, and Thorsten Holz. "Practical timing side channel attacks against kernel space ASLR."Security and Privacy (SP), 2013 IEEE Symposium on. IEEE, 2013. Kotipalli, Siva, Yong-Bin Kim, and Minsu Choi. "Asynchronous advanced encryption standard hardware with random noise injection for improved side-channel attack resistance."Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering2014 (2014): 19. Kumar, Pardeep, and Jagdeep Kaur. "To Propose A Novel Technique to Isolate and Detect Virtual Side Channel Attack in Cloud Computing." (2015). Lange, Tanja, Kristin E Lauter, and Petr Lisoneek.Selected Areas In Cryptography - SAC 2013. Heidelberg: Springer, 2014. Print. Liu, Fangfei, et al. "Last-level cache side-channel attacks are practical."IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. 2015. Mohamed, Mohamed Saied Emam, et al. "Improved algebraic side-channel attack on AES."Hardware-Oriented Security and Trust (HOST), 2012 IEEE International Symposium on. IEEE, 2012. Park, Young-Ho, and Nam Su Chang. "An Efficient Exponentiation Method Against Side Channel Attacks In Torus-Based-Cryptosystem".Journal of the Korea Institute of Information Security and Cryptology23.3 (2013): 561-566. Web. Pratiba, D. et al. "Cache Based Side Channel Attack on AES in Cloud Computing Environment".International Journal of Computer Applications119.13 (2015): 14-17. Web. Prouff, Emmanuel, and Matthieu Rivain. "Masking against side-channel attacks: A formal security proof."Advances in CryptologyEUROCRYPT 2013. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013. 142-159. Thillard, Adrian, Emmanuel Prouff, and Thomas Roche. "Success through confidence: evaluating the effectiveness of a side-channel attack."Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems-CHES 2013. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013. 21-36. Veyrat-Charvillon, Nicolas, et al. "An optimal key enumeration algorithm and its application to side-channel attacks."Selected Areas in Cryptography. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2012. Yarom, Yuval, and Katrina Falkner. "Flush+ reload: a high resolution, low noise, L3 cache side-channel attack."23rd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 14). 2014. Yarom, Yuval, and Naomi Benger. "Recovering OpenSSL ECDSA Nonces Using the FLUSH+ RELOAD Cache Side-channel Attack."IACR Cryptology ePrint Archive2014 (2014): 140. Zhang, Yinqian, et al. "Cross-tenant side-channel attacks in paas clouds."Proceedings of the 2014 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security. ACM, 2014. Zhao, Xinjie, et al. "MDASCA: an enhanced algebraic side-channel attack for error tolerance and new leakage model exploitation."Constructive Side-Channel Analysis and Secure Design. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2012. 231-248. Bibliography Chari, Suresh, Josyula R. Rao, and Pankaj Rohatgi. "Template attacks."Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems-CHES 2002. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2002. 13-28. Dabosville, Guillaume, Julien Doget, and Emmanuel Prouff. "A new second-order side channel attack based on linear regression."Computers, IEEE Transactions on62.8 (2013): 1629-1640. Fei, Yunsi, et al. "A Statistics-based Fundamental Model for Side-channel Attack Analysis."IACR Cryptology ePrint Archive2014 (2014): 152. Izu, Tetsuya, and Tsuyoshi Takagi. "A fast parallel elliptic curve multiplication resistant against side channel attacks."Public Key Cryptography. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2002. Joye, Marc, and Sung-Ming Yen. "The Montgomery powering ladder."Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems-CHES 2002. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2002. 291-302. Page, Dan. "Theoretical use of cache memory as a cryptanalytic side-channel."IACR Cryptology ePrint Archive2002 (2002): 169. Zhao, Yi, et al. "Quantum hacking: Experimental demonstration of time-shift attack against practical quantum-key-distribution systems."Physical Review A78.4 (2008): 042333.

The citizens of a small rural community near Canad Essay Example For Students

The citizens of a small rural community near Canad Essay as Wonderland are marching up and down the road with signs and noble voices: Down with Grier!, Say no to Proposition 36!, Childrens Futures!, 36 makes us Sick! What are these people yelling about? Raising taxes? Higher Unemployment? No, these peoples pleas are about a simpler, yet harder to combat problem. Garbage. Ruth Grier wants to put a dump here, and the people wont stand for it. And with good cause! Living near a dump makes thing infinitely more difficult, or at least unpleasant. But what else can the government do? There arent any more acceptable ways to get rid of access garbage. Also, people are creating more garbage than at any point in all of history! This essay will prove that people are creating garbage faster than we can dispose of it. We will write a custom essay on The citizens of a small rural community near Canad specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Years ago garbage wasnt anyones concern. There was plenty of land to ship trash to, and if somehow you ran out of places to put it, you could burn it, or put it in the sewers, or put it in closed mines, or many other ways. No longer. The governments of the world are quickly running out of environmentally sound ways to dispose of trash, and no one is coming up with usable new ideas. In Canada it seems like it would be easy to dump garbage. Canada has low population density and lots of land ripe for dumping. But what town is going to stand for being next to a dump? No one wants to live near one, and with good cause. In a 1988-1992 study of one small town right next to a new dump, one a mile from the same dump, and one far away from any dump, research found a number of things. A)The population, while the same at the beginning of the survey, reduced to almost nothing in town #1, reduced very little in town #2, and increased in town #3. B)The drinking water was very un!healthy in town #1, just as bad in town #2, and normal in town #3. C)There was a huge infestation problem in town #1, but none in any other town. D)The land values in town #1 were so bad many people simply left without selling their homes, turning it into a virtual ghost town. Again there was no problem in the other towns. And finally E)Towns #1 and #2 tended to have more sick people than the control, #3 (Wenton 2-4).As one can see by this survey, living in a town near a dump is a major problem. But the more serious repercussions are part B and E. While people are very careful to try to contain dumps from the bottom so that toxins dont escape, the chemicals were proven to have gotten into the ground water, and then into peoples homes as far as a mile away. The government thought they had found the perfect plan for dumping in Kirkland Lake, but even that idea fell through. People just cant dump garbage anymore it seems. But what else to do with it? The governmen!t cant ship it to other countries, they all have the same problem no matter what the country. They cant burn it, it causes more pollution problems in the air than in dumps! If they put it in the sewage system it will contaminate, and if they put it underground, it has serious geological reverberations. As the famous comedian George Carlin said, You just cant throw way garbage in this town no more. Getting rid of garbage is even more complex and difficult when it is recognized that people are creating more garbage nowadays than ever before. In the past, people threw out very little. People would have a small pile of garbage that would fit in a paper bag for the entire family for a whole month (IWRP 1), unlike our piles of garbage weekly. People arent reusing our garbage enough, even with programs like recycling. Of Canadian garbage, 20.1% is yard wastes, and 8.9% is food wastes, both of which can be composted, reducing our garbage by almost 30%! Then theres the 8.4% of glass, 8.9% of metals and 7.3% of plastic, all of which is recyclable, for another 25%. And finally theres paper or paperboard, which takes up a phenomenal 35.6% of garbage, all recyclable. Thats a total of 90% of our garbage thats reusable, but is thrown out!!! Also, the remaining 10%, aside from the chemicals and the like, consists of wood, leather, rubber and textiles, which is often reus!able by other people (Glad). One mans garbage is another mans gold indeed. The benefits of this recycling would be huge. For each ton of newspaper recycles, 19 whole trees are saved (Robinson 20B)! Recycling an aluminum can will save enough energy to run a television for three hours (Pigg A3)! One ton of waste material recycled saves three cubic yards of landfill space (Pittaway C2). But people continue to throw out this material despite the benefits, and at a sky-high rate! Each person in Canada throws out an average of 1.7 kg of garbage per day. The annual garbage created by two average families, if squeezed into garbage cans, would be almost as high as the CN tower, 554 meters tall (Ministry of the Environment 2). Of course, a large part of the problem is that a lot of the products people bring into their home are, quite simply, garbage. Think about all those little Snickers bars O.D.S.S. sold. There was a large box, inside of which there were twenty medium b!oxes, each of which was filled with about twenty individually wrapped chocolates. Most of what people buy is packaged like this, for one reason, as quoted by the ex-buyer for Boots: Shelf Space. Thats the reason. If our product is bigger from more packaging then we no one else gets the space we take up. Plus theres the bonus that people see the product and assume theyre getting more for their buck by buying this bigger product (Wright). Consumers become so used to seeing items over-wrapped that they start to assume its necessary. Many other products have similar problems. It all boils down to that we are making and tossing far to much garbage. .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 , .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 .postImageUrl , .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 , .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208:hover , .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208:visited , .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208:active { border:0!important; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208:active , .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208 .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u8409adb2a4140fff9a9f2967d061b208:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Peking Opera EssayGarbage. It seems its hard to get rid of it, and people are throwing it out like theres no tomorrow (which there might not be if we keep throwing this much out). So does this mean garbage is going to be the death of Earth? That its a problem that wont go away? That the next generation will all live in garbage filled towns, that they will have to wear gas masks and use water purifiers? Maybe not. What people need to do is keep coming up with ideas for garbage disposal until they find one that works. People also need to watch our garbage flow, but with some creativity they can reduce our garbage dramatically. But for now, people are creating garbage faster than we can dispose of it.

The Gaia Hypothesis A Living Planetary Organism essays

The Gaia Hypothesis A Living Planetary Organism essays The notion of a living Earth is hardly a "new" perspective; ancient human history and archeological evidence suggests that most primitive incorporated at least some general beliefs in a conscious "Mother Earth". paying homage to or praying to this entity is a theme central to many Both the ancient Greeks and early Christians believed in a conscious St. Thomas Aquinas, to a lesser degree (Sagan). In fact, the etiology of based on the word Ge (or Gaia), the name of the Earth goddess of the (OceansOn-line). Likewise, interpreting weather phenomena as a purported communication between man and his gods and the practice of sacrificial triggered by weather or seasonal changes is evident, in myriad variations, early theistic philosophical perspectives. Even the more modern or scientific notion that the Earth is, in many living organism rather than an inanimate biosphere merely supporting biological life is not entirely new. Renowned eighteenth century geologist considered the Earth to be a super organism of some sort almost two hundred before James Lovejoy and the biologist Lynn Margulis reintroduced the more scientific form in the 1960's and 70's. Writing shortly before James description of a living planet, Lewis Thomas, a physician and contemporary wrote The Lives of a Cell, a series of essays in which he expressed the "Viewed from the distance of the moon, the astonishing thing the earth, catching the breath, is that it is alive. The photographs the dry, pounded surface of the moon in the foreground, dry as an old bone. Aloft, floating free beneath the moist, gleaming, membrane of blue sky, is the rising earth, the only exuberant thing in this part cosmos. If you could look long enough, you would see the swirling of great drifts of white cloud, covering and uncovering the half-hidden masses of land. If you had b...

How the human race has become dependent on technology and how this Research Paper

How the human race has become dependent on technology and how this negatively influences the human race individually and as a w - Research Paper Example The introduction of nuclear weapons, luxury items, television, computer and daily used appliances has become a target of these opponents. These opponents argue that technology is making things difficult for mankind and these problems would be felt in the latter years of life. On the other hand the proponents of technology argue that it is a blessing for the whole mankind as it is making things a lot easier for people. The question then remains â€Å"Is technology really affecting us adversely or not?† This essay would further address this question by revolving around the negative influence of technology on our daily lives. The introduction of internet and computers in our life has turned out to be joyful for many as individuals enjoy surfing and chatting on the internet. Internet not only helps one to surf and chat but also helps to find out useful information about different topics. But the opponents argue that internet has turned out to be a disaster for many. Experts on tec hnology believe that excess usage of computers and internet makes one impulsive and forgetful in his daily life. Excessive usage of internet has been termed to be fall under the category of addiction. Different types of self assessment tests have been designed to check if one falls under the category of internet addiction or not. ... In other words internet is causing people to be distracted from education and family both at the same time. Cell phones also fall in the category of the internet as they seem to be causing dependence amongst the people too (Parker 2010). The introduction of nuclear power and nuclear weapons has also turned different aspects of the world. Nuclear power has helped countries to increase their capacity to generate energy so that the scarce resources can be preserved. However on the other hand the negative aspects of nuclear power are not being considered over its advantages. One of the most potential disadvantages of nuclear power is that it creates waste which can be harmful to the environment. Although the nuclear plants have a refining plant through which they reduce their waste but this refinery is not successfully able to contain the radioactive material inside the waste. The chance of accidents in these nuclear plants is also high and certainly causes high risk to the life of a hum an being. Similarly these nuclear power plants are also capable of producing enough plutonium every year so that nuclear warheads can be built (Swain 2007). Nuclear warheads are of serious concern to the whole society as they may be harming the society as a whole. In the World War II it was seen that the atom bomb was able to destroy a large area of Japan which harmed the integrity of the human race. These nuclear weapons have been a cause of concern for the whole world as they may fall in the hands of the wrong people. Nowadays even some of the third world countries like India and Pakistan possess these nuclear warheads. A study showed that the nuclear warheads in Pakistan are susceptible to being stolen by the terrorists. This clearly shows that the invention of nuclear weapons in

Net-a-Porter Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Net-a-Porter - Case Study Example Since its launch in the year 2000, the company Net-A-Porter have been able to successfully establish itself as a premium luxury brand selling online designer fashion clothing for women. Net-A-Porter with its innovation strategy along with highly developed offering have been able to achieve huge success and had also won award for the best shop at â€Å"British Fashion Week† and the best e-retailer in â€Å"UK Fashion Export Awards.† The online fashion retailer sells more than 150 top luxury fashionable brands and offers express delivery throughout the globe and delivery the items on the same day in Manhattan and London (Net-A-Porter, â€Å"About Us†). The paper aims to discuss the case study on Net-A-Porter and answer to some of its question in relation to the brand and its strategy. Therefore below are the answers to the questions asked for in the case study â€Å"Net-a-Porter.† What are the considerations that need to underpin decisions on the pricing str ategy? Pricing is one of the 4ps that a marketer needs to take into consideration before deciding on the strategy. It is an important aspect of marketing and also for branding strategy as it tends to be one of the first indicators of brand positioning for the consumers and also regarded as the most flexible Ps. It has been seen that prestige and luxury brands adopts the premium pricing strategy in order to emphasise the strength of the brand, high quality associated with luxury goods which also helps them to differentiate from mass fashion brands. The target audience for the luxury brand are comparatively less price sensitive and actually expects that luxury products to be highly priced rather than to be priced economically. Pricing tends to form branding process as the consumer tends to judge the position of the respective brand and its value through the adopted pricing strategy. In addition, luxury brands are those brands whose ratio of functionality towards price is low and the r atio towards situational utility and intangibility with respect to price seems to be high. This indicates that price of premium products is relatively higher as compared to the price of products having similar kind of tangible features but with high intangible quality along with associated benefits of premium products teds to justify the high price (Okonkwo 140). In addition to the above consideration while deciding on the pricing strategy, Net-A-Porter is an online luxury brand and thus online pricing premium strategy is also a consideration for the brand. The premium pricing strategy involves setting a higher price as compared to similar products. The premium pricing strategy also referred to as skimming pricing strategy as it is an attempt to â€Å"skim the cream† from the market. Based on the above definition Net-A-Porter premium pricing strategy will help it to maximise profit in areas where the customers are willing to pay more for the desired product. In the process of adopting the premium pricing strategy, price quality signaling is also an important and essential factor. With the premium pricing strategy Net-A-Porter can use to improve its brand identity in the specific given market. The higher price the brand demands signifies highest quality product and thus it will be convenient for the brand to charge high price. The next consideration is the level of competition among the brands in the same product segment. Premium pricing is a short term strategy; the longer

The Global internet backbone industry analysis paper Essay

The Global internet backbone industry analysis paper - Essay Example This essay will examine the global internet backbone industry and how it is organized. Internet is an open worldwide network that helps to interconnect computer networks using a number of standardized protocols in order to allow the exchange of data among them. Internet backbone is used to designate the core physical infrastructure that carries Internet Protocol traffic. The leading players in global internet industry include some big companies, governments, network center internet exchange points and network access points. Internet is both a point-to-point and point-to- multipoint medium: it connects individuals but also speaks to and interacts with vast numbers of people simultaneously (Dwyer, 2010). Internet is provided at first hand by tier 1 which consists of very large network service providers that own their own fiber optic or satellite links across nations and around the world. Many of these tier one companies operate a number of internet service providers that sell services to final users, others focus mostly on the wholesale market, selling bandwidth to tier 2 and tier 3 providers (Castells, 2011). Tier 1 providers have access to the global Internet routing table but do not purchase transit from anyone. Tier 2 Internet service providers buy capacity from tier 1 providers for resale. Tier 2 have networks with a more limited geographical coverage. Most of Tier 2 have their own PoPs and backbone nodes. The customers of Tier 2 internet service providers tend to be final users and they include businesses and households. On the other hand Tier 3 operators that include small internet service providers provide services exclusively to end users and normally they cover a small geographical area. Tier 3 Internet service providers should connect to either Tier 2 or tier 1 provider in order to access the Internet through the latter’s backbones: they may also have to lease their PoP facilities. The industry

Benefits of Organizational Reflection

Benefits of Organizational Reflection A successful organization can be described as thinking and seeing organization. Such organizations are characterized by high levels of information flow and awareness among all its members. The availability of information improves the awareness and understanding of organizational weaknesses, strengths, threats and opportunities (Reynolds and Vince 2004). The organization members are also able to understand the history and strategic future plans for their organization as well as full awareness of the resources within the organization and the changing competitor environment. On the other hand, a thinking organization is an understanding organization that has a well stipulated vision, mission, objectives and the business environment that are well understood by all the stakeholders. Many organizational businesses collapse because they lack both foresight and hind sight necessary for understanding the current position of the organization. In ensuring an organization adopts the thinking and seeing style, reflection must become a part of the organizational practices and culture. Reflection must be integrated in all the organizational activities because generation of organizational knowledge can be done by any member of the organization irrespective of the level or the location in which s/he operates. Reflection is therefore a process that involves spending critical time away from the normal work routine in which individuals or groups think and interpret both personal or organization issues with the aim of getting previous experiences and lessons that may benefit a present situation (Boud, Cressey and Docherty 2006). At the corporate level, organizations set retreat days for its staff as well as reflection sessions so that staff can reflect on what their have achieved, the way they have performed, their compliance with the organization strategies, the challenges and threats they have faced as well as the experiences weaknesses and registered strengths. Reflection allows organization present ideas and previous experiences into usable knowledge and actions. Reflection can be necessitated by personal experiences as well as organizational performance especially if the organization isnt meeting its set goals and objectives. Reflection process is very dependent on knowledge management because it deals with intangible assets that need to be created and shared both inside and outside the organization to create a database of important information and knowledge that can be utilized later to handle challenges in the organization. Reflection starts with raw experiences which are analyzed to information then associated with relevant skills and values to become knowledge which is main focus of many organizations. Just like knowledge management, reflection involves capture and identification of ideas, information or knowledge then distributing it to appropriate individual within the organization leading to its application in a particular situation in the organization. The sole purpose of reflection is to create important knowledge that any organization will need in its present or future performance. Reflection is also part of organizational learning that is a knowledge management facet intended to equip staff wit h important knowledge and skills that will improve the operations and performance of the organization. Greenwood (2000), notes that the success and growth of organizations is highly depended on learning and knowledge generation (p. 126). Learning in an organizational setting is not only limited to individual knowledge acquisition but also involves the combined learning abilities of all staff in that organization. Notably, individual learning is a subset and component of organization and without it, organizational learning wont exist. Organizational learning is a result of challenges that face employees in their working activities thus initiation of learning and advancement in knowledge to solve such challenges. Though, challenges do not guarantee learning to occur, they combine with experiences to provide data and information which form the basis for learning. Generation of actions and problem solving are the key components of reflection at the workplace. Organizational reflection has presented required environment for self directed learning, action learning, problem and challenge based learning and to a greater extend the organizational learning (Reynolds and Vince 2004). Managers have noticed the necessity of reflection in their organization and they acknowledge that failure to reflect in the organization is equal to inviting the collapse of the operation of the organization. However, organizations have failed in implementing reflection strategies such that execution processes that go beyond individual mandate and involve groups of members or the whole organization are not usually implemented thus compromising the use of organizational experience and limit implementation of expected actions. The application of reflection in organizational operations has received considerable attention in the last few decades. Organizations have created independent departments with adequate resources to enable reflection process to occur and to work on the results of the reflection processes. The increased attention to reflection has been triggered by recognition of learning and generation of knowledge as components of organizational productivity and performance. Though learning and generation of knowledge may not be the only factors that can contribute to organizational change and performance, they play an all-round function in ensuring that all other resources in the organization are well coordinated to realize organizational goals. Reflection is therefore an important human process that involves reviewing and understanding past experiences then drawing lessons from them. Reflection is less known in work places and managers have little knowledge concerning its role and importance in the organization of activities and improving performance (Boud, Cressey and Docherty 2006). There have been fewer opportunities for the practice of reflection at work particularly because many organizations have not yet established the role that can be played by real and guided reflection. However, the 21st century has witnessed increasing concern and appreciation of the role that organizational reflection can play in fostering work results as well as improving employee learning. The recognition of reflection as an integral part of organizational management has triggered different kind of organizational learning and education that are in line with the traditional processes of organizational learning. Boud, Cressey and Docherty (2006) point out that productive organizational reflection is an adoption of the general individual reflection that is focused much on the use of past experience to generate important solution to present and future problems as well as promoting organizational training and learning (p. 12). Productive organizational reflection has several important elements that combine to provide a structured system to guide generation and analysis of actions from experiences. Organizational intent and collective orientation element tries to create a distinction and a point of convergence between individual and organizational reflection. While previous reflections have focused on individual experience and generation of knowledge, productive organizational reflection is focused on collaborative review of experiences that lead to taking appropriate actions with and for other participants with an aim of benefiting the organization as well as the whole group involved in the ref lective activity. Such reflection is done in a situation of the organization and must be incorporated and address the target of the organization. Collective reflection may be done at different levels of the organization depending on the organization management structure. Reflection may take place at the top management, middle management level, and low level or at the small working groups and this may happen internal or external to the organization. However, collective reflection always starts at individual level after which separate reflections are combined and actions drawn from them. This element of organizational reflection ensures the interests of the individual members, the workgroup and the organization are taken into consideration. The other element of organizational reflection is its importance in integrating knowledge, learning and work. Productive organizational reflection can occur in any location, but its always confined to the working activities and any reflections outside it wont be considered a practice of organizational reflection. Reflection is therefore triggered by work activities though there might be selected cases where importance and valuable reflection occur outside the context of working environment. Organizational reflection operates in the space that is created between the connections of work activities, the process of learning and generating knowledge. It therefore provides the link between knowledge acquisition and its production. Therefore, a productive organizational reflection will always seek to strike a balance between learning from past experiences to generate appropriate knowledge that will help in improving the work activities. The relationship between the individual and organizational development is another controversial element of productive organizational reflection. Reflection in organization fosters both organizational and individual development. Organizational reflection has a developmental value to the organization and the staff because it has become part of the main organizational practices that are relied upon in designing solutions to present and future organizational problems while placing the staff at better positions to deal with organizational and individual challenges that may pose a thereat in future. Thus distinguishing individual from organizational reflection may be a challenge in cases where staff does not get special time to reflect on the organizational operations. Furthermore, organizational reflection is open, dynamic but unpredictable process because it can happen at anytime when organizations do not have procedures to guide the process of reflection. Just like other form of reflect ion, results of organizational reflection cannot be wholly predicated. In many instances, it doesnt yield the expected results but unintended consequences which may be used to address another organizational issue. This type of reflection is very dynamic in that a present successful refection may create an organizational barrier in future. Therefore, organizations rely on past experience to modify the future thinking and behavior of the organization through the ability to reflect on its previous operations by identifying past performances and activities (Kazi 2005). Organizational reflection is manifested though inquiry and evaluation that involves establishing problems, determining their meaning and developing appropriate solutions. According to (Kazi 2005) organization reflection is a wide process that involves conversion of explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge that produces interpretive knowledge necessary for enhancement of individual knowledge through revisiting common issues and problems (p. 121). Reflective practice isnt an individual process but an organizational procedure that requires individual members of an organization to learn and modify their actions that are vital for organizational progress and performance. Reflection in organization is very important because of its contribution to individual learning which translates to organizational learning. Combination and sharing of individual learning is crucial to realization of organizational learning because individual learning may not present enough experience needed to tackle identified challenges facing an organization. However, some organization do not have appropriate standards that can facilitate sharing of knowledge and experiences especially when mechanisms for such sharing dont exist or the regulation of the organizations do not allow sharing or possibly if the staff do not know how to share such knowledge and experiences. Organizational management and particularly, the reflective manager must device and develop appropriate methods that can facilitate acquisition and sharing of organizational knowledge and experiences. The reflective manager in an organization is responsible for all processes and procedures involved in integrating and transfer of new knowledge, experiences, behavior and skills within and outside the organization. As such, the manager must prove to the employees that reflection is an important activity that is all round and should involve every member of the organization. The manager must ensure that employees learn from previous mistakes, that they know what they think and feel as well as device procedures that will ensure that the employees understand and manage the barriers and challenges that face the organization and then develop strategies for future use through applying learned knowledge and skills. Reflective manager therefore provides appropriate environment for employees to focus on their past experiences as well as current activities that may help in generating required knowledge for use in the current organizational situation. As such, a reflective manager in an organiza tion plays an important role in ensuring generation of knowledge and ideas from past experiences, repackaging of such experiences and ideas for the future use by the organization. Though many organizations have realized the value of reflection in their operations and the many stimuli that encourage reflection, there are equal detractors that hinder reflective practice. The most common challenge that faces organization in trying to use reflection in the management of their operation is the little time allocated for reflection and analysis. The lack of importance that may accrue from informed reflection is the main reason why many managers dont allocate sufficient time for employees to reflect on their experiences and establishes their failures. Organizations allocate very little or no time for their employees to reflect on their accomplishments and performance through individual thinking or group thinking. Many organizations spend most of the time making decisions, building strategies, training and orientations. Such activities must be accompanied by required information and knowledge so that expected results may be achieved. Reflection will therefore help in p rior understanding of a particular task before such task is accomplished so that preparations can be made for anticipated challenges and problems. Organizational reflection as opposed to individual reflection is a very expensive process not only on time allocation but also physical resources. For reflections to be productive, reflecting members must be in an appropriate environment that is free from the normal activities. Creating such an environment is quite expensive and organizations dont usually agree to organize staff retreats to quiet and conducive places that can ensure good results from reflection process. However, managers who have realized the real importance of reflection in their business operations create time and allocate adequate resources for the process of reflection as well as following out the results of such reflection sessions Another significant challenge that face application of reflection in an organization include poor communication systems that an organization uses especially if an organizations uses top-down communication system. The relationship among the individuals with the organizations, the relationships among different workgroups as well as the relationship between the organization and others hinders the creation of openness that is needed in the reflection process. The power of fear for uncertainty may also derail the process of reflection. Additionally, the style of management that an organization uses may affect reflection especially if the organization uses authoritarian style of management where control, leadership and power is centralized to a single individual or group in the organization. Conclusion Reflection is a complex and new organizational process that involves contemplation of tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge and experiences to create new information, knowledge and ideas that can be used to address a challenge within the organization. Through the reflection of the experiences and knowledge, learning capabilities of the staff are enhanced thus dealing with challenges and threats becomes easy for the organization because it has well informed and knowledgeable staff. Therefore, reflection improves the organizational visualization of unexpected realities and results and how to react to them. Organizational reflection is currently gaining attention in many organizations as opposed to ancient times when it was considered to be of no value to the operations and performance of the organizations. Though there are more challenges facing application and implementation of reflection strategies in organizations, positive progress in available which is indicated by the value that or ganizations attach to information and knowledge in accomplishing business activities and solving organizational challenges and problems.

Utopian Society :: essays research papers

Virtually every culture has strived to achieve a Utopian society. A Utopian society is basically a society, which has surpassed aggression, war, hate, and crime while establishing â€Å"peaceful† and orderly communities. A Utopian society could not exist with the individuality that nature has bestowed on the human race. So long as humans remain unique in their state of mind, utopia is a mere fantasy. To work around this problem a society must adapt itself to achieve a utopian-like state. This can be achieved by one of two ways. One way could be known as a â€Å"hostile transfer.† This way is shown in the novel â€Å"farenheight 451† by ray Bradbury. Bradbury shows how the society creates a career of burning books (specifically historical books). The semi communistic semi utopian government then fills in their own twisted version of the past to maintain a stable state of control by keeping their citizens oblivious to their true rights and privileges. This achieves a semi utopian society in the scene that any resistance, crime, aggression is either insignificant to the â€Å"big picture† or easily overcome. Utopia is dismissed in this case because of the extreme force used to maintain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second way to achiever a semi utopia could be called a â€Å"Manipulative utopia†. A strong example would be the utopia created for the novel â€Å"1984† by George Orwell. Within this utopia the society is manipulated by the leading organizations/ government to take pleasure in what would be most profitable to the organizer of the event/product, or be intimidated yet assured with protection by the government. This type of utopia-communistic government dismisses the true utopia factor when the ability to show signs of individuality is disabled through manipulation. The two utopia-like societies have their similarities as well. They both operate independent of other state/country/ or province; both seem to strongly oppose the democratic systems. Both central governments are very cryptic when the issue of past societies is brought up. The commanding organizations also controlled one other aspect of civilization... the media. Newspapers revolving around a â€Å"one sided† political, or military event. The media seems to be very controlled by the governments or leading parties in both cases.

Project Scope Statement

Scope Statement Section headings listed in gray font appear in both the Project Charter and the Scope Statement. Project Title: Web Site Enhancement Project Project Manager: Xin Tao Project Description (see Project Charter) Business Objectives †¢ A new company web site is proposed to best support the company’s mission to provide a complete recreational experience to the guests, including elegant meals, relaxing living quarters, and extensive recreational options such as golf, tennis, spas, gyms, night clubs, and excursions to local towns and areas of interest. Increase market share by 50% within two years of launch by providing on-line queries and reservations of rooms, on-line booking of guest services. †¢ Increase revenue by 25% within three quarters post-launch by tapping into a larger customer base accessible through internet sales. †¢ Avoid risk that some of the hotels will have to be closed within two to three years as pressured by other larger hotel chain s. †¢ Increase customer satisfaction by 25% among the existing customer base by becoming more technology-oriented, as measured via customer satisfaction surveys taken over the two-year period following the new web site launch.Project Objectives †¢ Allow technology team gain more experience in more sophisticated web technology, which is expected to reduce web site maintenance cost by 20%. †¢ Use effective project management techniques consistent with the company standards. †¢ Integrate the new company web site well with existed systems: the Reservation system and the Guest-Services System. Project Scope Description Q The new web site has a user friendly graphical interface, which shall allow user to do queries, reservations, browsing and booking easily.The new web site is enhanced to interact with existed systems: a Reservation System and a Guest-Services System. It has the capabilities to read data from and save data to those systems. The new web site shall displ ay results according to users’ requests. Requirements †¢ The new web site shall be accessed by popular web browsers, including Microsoft IE, Firefox, Mozilla and Netscape. †¢ The new web site shall run on a Linux based server. †¢ The web server software, which the new web site uses, shall be Apache. The new web site shall be a secure Internet site. †¢ All major credit cards will be accepted by the new web site. †¢ VeriSign will be the credit card processing vendor. Project Boundaries Out-of-Scope features discussed but not implemented at this time:†¢ Users can have additional payment methods besides credit cards, for example, Paypal and Google Checkout. †¢ Users can get invoice in a PDF format. †¢ Users have the capability to cancel a transaction even after it is done. †¢ Users have the capability to remove particular service even after it is booked. Users can ask for refund if booked price is higher than the current price. Project Deliverables (see Project Charter) Project Acceptance Criteria †¢ Delivery of the web site by the end of August, 2006 †¢ The new web site shall provide on-line queries and reservations of rooms, on-line booking of guest services †¢ The new web site shall operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. †¢ Expenditures on the project not exceeding $900,000 †¢ Reduce web site maintenance cost by 20%.†¢ Increase revenue by 25% within three quarters post-launch Increase customer satisfaction by 25% among the existing customer Project Constraints (see Project Charter) Project Assumptions (see Project Charter) Project Roles and Responsibilities (see Project Charter) Initial Defined Risks †¢ Because the management team is still somehow hesitant to embark on the project, the project could be canceled. †¢ Because funds for this project are coming from marketing budget of the marketing team, funds may be reduced if marketing team cannot control its budget wisely . Because the project requires more technical resources to be hired, which are scarce due to the red hot technology market, the new web site may not be launched on time. †¢ Because the project has a cost constraint of $900,000, an inferior web site may be developed, resulting in a poor quality that fails to realize its sales targets. †¢ Because the project has a time constraint of 10 months, the web site may not be tested thoroughly, leading to an unstable web site. †¢ Because the project requires the deployment of new hardware, shipment delay of the new hardware would lead to the project behind schedule.Schedule Milestones (see Project Charter) Cost Estimate (see Project Charter) Project Parameter Ranking |Parameter |Ranking (1,2,3,4) |Comments | |Time |1 |The sponsors hope that the new web site can be up and running, accepting | | | |online reservations and queries within 10 months before the start of the | | | |new peak season.Missing the target launching time mean s that the | | | |strategic objectives can not be meet to increase revenue by booking to | | | |capacity at peak times and by expanding peak seasons by marketing year | | | |round points of interest. | |Cost |2 |The budget for the project is fixed at $900,000. |Scope |4 |The sponsors are willing to sacrifice some of the web site’s features in | | | |order to reach the quality, cost, and time goals. | |Quality |3 |Since the company web site would bring significant revenue opportunity | | | |for the company, a stable site is much needed.A buggy web site leads to | | | |low customer satisfaction, which would adversely impact company’s | | | |revenue. | Approval Requirements Tom Ender and Susan Ryan, Co-presidents Mike Muller, Head of the Marketing Team Helen Hui, Head of the Travel & Tourism Susan Gill, Head of the Technology Team ———————– Query Reserve Browse Book Reservation System Interact New web site Users Inter act Display Results Guest-Services System Project Scope Statement Scope Statement Section headings listed in gray font appear in both the Project Charter and the Scope Statement. Project Title: Web Site Enhancement Project Project Manager: Xin Tao Project Description (see Project Charter) Business Objectives †¢ A new company web site is proposed to best support the company’s mission to provide a complete recreational experience to the guests, including elegant meals, relaxing living quarters, and extensive recreational options such as golf, tennis, spas, gyms, night clubs, and excursions to local towns and areas of interest. Increase market share by 50% within two years of launch by providing on-line queries and reservations of rooms, on-line booking of guest services. †¢ Increase revenue by 25% within three quarters post-launch by tapping into a larger customer base accessible through internet sales. †¢ Avoid risk that some of the hotels will have to be closed within two to three years as pressured by other larger hotel chain s. †¢ Increase customer satisfaction by 25% among the existing customer base by becoming more technology-oriented, as measured via customer satisfaction surveys taken over the two-year period following the new web site launch.Project Objectives †¢ Allow technology team gain more experience in more sophisticated web technology, which is expected to reduce web site maintenance cost by 20%. †¢ Use effective project management techniques consistent with the company standards. †¢ Integrate the new company web site well with existed systems: the Reservation system and the Guest-Services System. Project Scope Description Q The new web site has a user friendly graphical interface, which shall allow user to do queries, reservations, browsing and booking easily.The new web site is enhanced to interact with existed systems: a Reservation System and a Guest-Services System. It has the capabilities to read data from and save data to those systems. The new web site shall displ ay results according to users’ requests. Requirements †¢ The new web site shall be accessed by popular web browsers, including Microsoft IE, Firefox, Mozilla and Netscape. †¢ The new web site shall run on a Linux based server. †¢ The web server software, which the new web site uses, shall be Apache. The new web site shall be a secure Internet site. †¢ All major credit cards will be accepted by the new web site. †¢ VeriSign will be the credit card processing vendor. Project Boundaries Out-of-Scope features discussed but not implemented at this time:†¢ Users can have additional payment methods besides credit cards, for example, Paypal and Google Checkout. †¢ Users can get invoice in a PDF format. †¢ Users have the capability to cancel a transaction even after it is done. †¢ Users have the capability to remove particular service even after it is booked. Users can ask for refund if booked price is higher than the current price. Project Deliverables (see Project Charter) Project Acceptance Criteria †¢ Delivery of the web site by the end of August, 2006 †¢ The new web site shall provide on-line queries and reservations of rooms, on-line booking of guest services †¢ The new web site shall operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. †¢ Expenditures on the project not exceeding $900,000 †¢ Reduce web site maintenance cost by 20%.†¢ Increase revenue by 25% within three quarters post-launch Increase customer satisfaction by 25% among the existing customer Project Constraints (see Project Charter) Project Assumptions (see Project Charter) Project Roles and Responsibilities (see Project Charter) Initial Defined Risks †¢ Because the management team is still somehow hesitant to embark on the project, the project could be canceled. †¢ Because funds for this project are coming from marketing budget of the marketing team, funds may be reduced if marketing team cannot control its budget wisely . Because the project requires more technical resources to be hired, which are scarce due to the red hot technology market, the new web site may not be launched on time. †¢ Because the project has a cost constraint of $900,000, an inferior web site may be developed, resulting in a poor quality that fails to realize its sales targets. †¢ Because the project has a time constraint of 10 months, the web site may not be tested thoroughly, leading to an unstable web site. †¢ Because the project requires the deployment of new hardware, shipment delay of the new hardware would lead to the project behind schedule.Schedule Milestones (see Project Charter) Cost Estimate (see Project Charter) Project Parameter Ranking |Parameter |Ranking (1,2,3,4) |Comments | |Time |1 |The sponsors hope that the new web site can be up and running, accepting | | | |online reservations and queries within 10 months before the start of the | | | |new peak season.Missing the target launching time mean s that the | | | |strategic objectives can not be meet to increase revenue by booking to | | | |capacity at peak times and by expanding peak seasons by marketing year | | | |round points of interest. | |Cost |2 |The budget for the project is fixed at $900,000. |Scope |4 |The sponsors are willing to sacrifice some of the web site’s features in | | | |order to reach the quality, cost, and time goals. | |Quality |3 |Since the company web site would bring significant revenue opportunity | | | |for the company, a stable site is much needed.A buggy web site leads to | | | |low customer satisfaction, which would adversely impact company’s | | | |revenue. | Approval Requirements Tom Ender and Susan Ryan, Co-presidents Mike Muller, Head of the Marketing Team Helen Hui, Head of the Travel & Tourism Susan Gill, Head of the Technology Team ———————– Query Reserve Browse Book Reservation System Interact New web site Users Inter act Display Results Guest-Services System

To Live Essays - To Live, The Doctor, Magic Boy Kitchener

To Live Essays - To Live, The Doctor, Magic Boy Kitchener To Live All the time people face problems during there life. Most of the time the problems that people come across are very minimal and can be dealt with very easily and quickly. People do not appreciate what they have. When your parent packs your lunch and you are disappointed with what you receive, think about the people in other countries where they would eat anything that is edible. Constantly people all over the world die of famine but we are trapped in a fantasy world where none of this happens. Think twice when you throw away your food. One country where peoples problems are a lot more serious is in China. Until the Civil War the Chinese were very rich. They lived in mansions and had servants. They were so rich that when they wanted to go somewhere they could hope on a persons back and they would carry them there. The main character in the movie, Fugui Xu, a young Chinese man gambled very frequently. He gambled a lot and had no luck winning. He lost so much gambling he was forced to h and over his mansion. He was then force to live like a common folk. They were very used to living the high life and because of that it was very difficult for them to survive living as a common folk. They had to get new jobs that were a lot less paying. Fuguis new job was to play shadow puppets and his wifes job was providing water for the community. Fortunately Fuguis family did perfectly fine with the money they earned. I will show you how Fugui and his family went from having a privileged past to having to affiliate with the communists to stay alive. Later on Fugui was forced to join the Nationalist army and once again he was forced to leave everything behind. He had to live through the frigid Chinese winter. Much of the army froze to death but fortunately Fugui and his friends survived by recovering the frozen peoples coats. He was one of the lucky ones. He fought in many harsh conditions such as the Civil War. He was still able to stay alive by scavenging off the dead peoples body to get adequate clothing, which was a very smart thing to do. He had to be very creative to not be drafted into the communist army. Most likely who would have been sent into prison, but to get out of that situation he entertained the communist army by performing shadow puppets. When he returned he was reunited with his family which he did not see for much time. The Great Leap Forward was also occurring at the same time. Fuguis family was barely holding on with their very low paying job, which was delivering water to the community. It was very hard for his family to survive without him and his money but they did it. Fugui daughter learned to help and contribute to the family by delivering water. When Fugui returned he learned that his daughter had an accident and became mute and partially deaf. Living in a community was hard for them because they had to deal with there surrounding neighbors. One day Youqing, Fuguis son, defended his sister by defending her from bullies shooting rocks at her. The whole family learned to trust and respect eachother. Part of the Great Leap was making steal and because of this everybody needed to hand over anything that was made of metal. Fuguis family needed to give away there pots and pans which now made it even harder to give the water to the community. Another tough time for Fuguis family was the Cultural Revolution. The community, in which Fugui and his family lived in, smelted steel around the clock. They needed to work extra hard because the district chief was coming in. The community wanted to make a good impression on the district chief so they made the kids word at school. Everybody was very tired from working long hours including Youqing. This small child slept behind a wall in deep sleep not aware of what was going around him. The district chief finally came in. He was also very

Free Essays on Desertification

Desertification has its greatest impact in Africa. Two thirds of the continent is desert or drylands. There are extensive agricultural drylands, almost three quarters of which are already degraded to some degree. The region is afflicted by frequent and severe droughts. Many African countries are landlocked, have widespread poverty, need external assistance, and depend heavily on natural resources for subsistence. They have difficult socio-economic conditions, insufficient institutional and legal frameworks, incomplete infrastructure, and weak scientific, technical, and educational capacities. These difficult circumstances explain why African countries have put so much effort into convincing the international community of the need for a "Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa". Africa's desertification is strongly linked to poverty, migration, and food security. In many African countries, combating desertification and promoting development are virtually one and the same due to the social and economic importance of natural resources and agriculture. When people live in poverty, they have little choice but to over-exploit the land. When the land eventually becomes uneconomic to farm, these people are often forced into internal and cross-border migrations, which in turn can further strain the environment and cause social and political tensions and conflicts. (The link with migration was important to the international community's recognition of desertification as a truly global problem, like climate change or biodiversity loss.) Food security can ultimately be put at risk when people already living on the edge face severe droughts and other calamities. Desertification is defined as soil degradation in arid regions, often to such an extent that it is impossible to make the soil productive again. It is the result of complex interactions between unp... Free Essays on Desertification Free Essays on Desertification Desertification has its greatest impact in Africa. Two thirds of the continent is desert or drylands. There are extensive agricultural drylands, almost three quarters of which are already degraded to some degree. The region is afflicted by frequent and severe droughts. Many African countries are landlocked, have widespread poverty, need external assistance, and depend heavily on natural resources for subsistence. They have difficult socio-economic conditions, insufficient institutional and legal frameworks, incomplete infrastructure, and weak scientific, technical, and educational capacities. These difficult circumstances explain why African countries have put so much effort into convincing the international community of the need for a "Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa". Africa's desertification is strongly linked to poverty, migration, and food security. In many African countries, combating desertification and promoting development are virtually one and the same due to the social and economic importance of natural resources and agriculture. When people live in poverty, they have little choice but to over-exploit the land. When the land eventually becomes uneconomic to farm, these people are often forced into internal and cross-border migrations, which in turn can further strain the environment and cause social and political tensions and conflicts. (The link with migration was important to the international community's recognition of desertification as a truly global problem, like climate change or biodiversity loss.) Food security can ultimately be put at risk when people already living on the edge face severe droughts and other calamities. Desertification is defined as soil degradation in arid regions, often to such an extent that it is impossible to make the soil productive again. It is the result of complex interactions between unp...