Examine The Sociological Views

There have been many changes in society that have affected children over the last 50 years, however there are several different sociological views on whether these changes have been beneficial to children or not. Functionalist sociologists have the ‘march of progress’ view, as they believe that the experience of childhood has massively improved over the last 50 years. They believe that society is more child-centred today than ever before.The introduction of contraception has led to couples having smaller families, therefore meaning that children now tend to receive more attention from their parents. Similarly, parents are also able to care for their children better due to the introduction of the welfare state and child benefits. Climbie’s case and ‘Every Child Matters’ has led to the improvement of social services and child protection, meaning childhood is much safer now than it was 50 years ago.Children are also in better health due to the NHS, meani ng more children survive childhood now than ever before. All children can now receive state education up until the age of 18, meaning they are better educated and can achieve much higher in adulthood, whilst experiencing a longer period of youth. All of these changes have improved the experience of childhood and cause Functionalists to believe that things are getting better. However, Marxist and Feminist sociologists disagree, claiming that the march of progress view is too positive.They believe that a child’s experience of childhood depends on their class, ethnicity and gender, and that Functionalists overlook the inequalities between these factors. This is called the ‘conflict’ view. Class has an effect on childhood as generally if a family is poor, the children are more likely to have a poor upbringing. Ethnicity is found to have an effect as Asian parents have been found to be much stricter on their kids.

Business for the Glory of God Essay

Abstract It is not a secret to anyone that the USA has adopted western European business ethic model. Considering the dominance of Judeo-Christian culture in that region, it is of small wonder that quite a few moral principles from the Bible have entered the field of international affairs. I suggest that we compare the two sets of morals: the one hidden beneath the texts of the Bible and the one widely applied in business. The work in the world of negotiation has been traditionally seen as something that cannot possibly contribute anything to God worship. Ambitions and wealth, property owning and exploitation of human labor (however slight and well rewarded) are considered sinful in the opinion of representatives of the traditional branches of Christianity, such as the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Yet Wayne Grudem claims that an effective work of any businessman can be a proper way to glorify the Holy Father. I suggest that we investigate some of the ideas provided by the author in his boo k â€Å"Business for the glory of God: the Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business†. They will be criticized from a few points of view, and certain remarks will be included based on the ideas of Karl Marx and John Kaynes. John Kaynes made a curious comment concerning the discussed subject: â€Å"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the wickedest of men will do the wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone†. These words cannot be disregarded (for the concept of private business is a tribute to capitalism), because Kaynes is one of the â€Å"developers† of modern economic theory, yet, this remark contradicts with the main idea of Grudem. Can it be simply because Kaynes’s point of view is a realistic one and the author of the mentioned book makes assumptions about what the state of things could be like in perfect conditions? Wayne Grudem does not deny the fact that the current perception of business is based on just observations and the experience of the past, yet he claims that none of the elements of business and negotiation has be en initially evil. Four chapters of Grudem’s book (ownership, money, inequality  of possession, borrowing and lending) concern material possessions and their management. The traditional interpretation of the Bible states that any type of possession is sinful; therefore the disciples who take the veil make a vow of poverty. Obviously, poverty cannot keep the business running. Such misinterpretation of the Bible (for I agree with the author, there is no allusion to the virtue of poverty in the Bible) among the Orthodox and Catholics is a result of the traditional hierarchical structure of the society originated in the Dark Ages (early Middle Ages), where the top figure on the scale would collect almost all the earned money (collected crops, livestock, produced goods) and manage it in the way he (back in those days women were prosecuted even for seeing dreams, it was virtually impossible for one of them to gain a high post) would find it appropriate. Both Grudem and Marx agree on the ultimate importance of money (as an equivalent of possession or its measure) in the modern society. At some point, I do agree with the author of the book: barter used to slow down the development of the commerce; therefore, money as an equivalent, a measure for all products and services was initially a good idea and it still remains a useful and practical invention. Also, it was a sensible idea for the author to draw a fine line between the money as an object and â€Å"love of money, as a root of all evil†. At this point, the opinions of Grudem and Marx coincide (at least somewhat), because Karl Marx also chose to differentiate the concept of money and the concept of capital (which here we can interpret as â€Å"wealth†). Therefore, I do not share the author’s opinion about the money as fundamentally good thing, but I can easily agree with it being a neutral but very useful invention. As a basic concept seems now rather clear, I suggest that we move further, to the complex issue of possession. In the book â€Å"Business for the glory of God† a thirst for possession is seen as a positive phenomenon, the wish to expand one’s care and responsibility, but Marx attributes this desire to the realm of capitalism and the need for an increasing surplus value for major manufacturers, which only results in spreading of poverty on the other â€Å"pole† (considering that the surplus value is the value of the produced goods with the laborer’s salary subtracted from it). One could argue that uneven distribution of wealth has been there forever since the simplest hierarchies appeared within savage human communities. Yet the profound  studies of the civilizations of the past uncover one curious fact: there has always been poverty, but the person’s â€Å"income† never depended solely on the products of his or her labor, the person would a lso receive a fraction of common wealth, appropriate for his or her (mostly â€Å"his†) social status. There was hardly such thing as â€Å"you get only as much as you give†. The mentioned phenomenon can be attributed to the origination of capitalism in the Middle Ages. Again, Grudem sees this inequality of possession as an inherent element of the human society and Marx finds it a drawback of the current economic system. However, it cannot go unnoticed that the first author addresses the concept, and the second author explains the peculiarities of its performance in the given situation. But here they are, the opinion of a theologian against the opinion of the father of the modern economy. Owning private property calls for responsibility, but possession is much more likely to corrupt a person than to organize him or her. I might even agree with Karl Marx on the subject of capitalism being a transitional state of the development of the world economy, and a highly unbalanced one. It also might be that time will show that Grudem was wrong, and any type of possession is initially evil and corrupting for the human society; but I am absolutely convinced that hum ankind will not be willing to part with this particular â€Å"sin† anytime soon. Yet in his book Wayne Grudem raises the subject of voluntary contribution of some part of possessions to the needs of the others; the issue that could be the answer to balancing the world discrepancy of what one needs and what one gets. In general, improvement of moralities of all people could be a good way to address many global issues, but the idea of founding a new, perfect society based solely on high morals is nothing but Utopia. Grudem also discusses the question of productivity. On the one hand, I cannot gather why the subject entered the list of ambiguous issues, for hard as I’ve tried to find a single relevant work that would count this aspect as a negative one, I failed. On the other hand, it pleased me to discover the point that had arisen no discussion, the quintessence of everyone’s agreement: all Christian churches find high productivity of any activity a blessing from God, Karl Marx and John Kaynes consider high productivity a result of effective utilization of sources and optimization of processes of manufacturing (of course, these two authors also pay attention to the possible drawbacks of this phenomenon, such as  overproduction, but Grudem only addresses the general positive concept of productivity, therefore, I suggest that we set aside its probable side effects for now). Karl Marx even commented once on the subject of manufacturing, production and productivity, saying that human labor is what makes a difference between the initial and the final product and the difference in their cost; apart from that, a man can do nothing above what nature (in the context of my work â€Å"nature† could be substituted with†God†) is capable of, which is changing only form of things. It is still a question open for discussion whether the joy of creating something new is an attribute to the godly origins of the human body and soul, but it definitely lifts one’s spirits to see a new high-quality and beautiful thing created with her or his own hands. The last controversial point on which I’d like to cast light is employment. Karl Marx sees this aspect as one of the first signs of a working capital: an employer has obtained a big enough capital to free himself from physical labor and allows money to work for him (the exchange of parts of capital for employees’ labor). The Orthodox and Catholic churches see employment as a neutral thing. Yet, considering the aspect of the â€Å"sinful origins of any possession†, the appropriate reward for work is seen as food, shelter and a good attitude, but hardly ever any money. Basically, the traditional approach of Church to paying with conveniences for labor, a kind of barter, seems to have much in common with the ideology of the communist system (the hierarchical scales of both seem quite similar as well). The approach has proven itself to be inapplicable in the current capitalistic world. Therefore, given a just attitude of an employer towards the employees, fair wages and good work conditions, the phenomenon of employment does not seem to bear any initially evil origin. As for the perversions that have invaded the original neutral-good model of employment, I can only add that even a fork could be used for poking eyes instead of picking food. The book â€Å"â€Å"Business for the glory of God: the Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business† by Wayne Grudem does have a seed of truth in it, because none of the discussed concepts has been developed for harm; on the contrary, most of them were designed to make the commerce and cooperation easier for everyone. And in the perfect conditions, in the world, where morality possesses the ultimate value and no perversions are ever implemented into the elaborate structures of cooperation, the  functioning of the designed processes would go smoothly, provoking no discontent from any of the parties. The love of money seems to have corrupted the society and the developed tools are used for increasing the income rather than for harmonizing the relationships between people and providing high-quality products for everyone. Indeed, now business is seen as something that lacks morals and ethics, but with a bit of effort and a major change of attitude it could be aimed at achieving a global welfare. References Grudem, W. (2003). Business for the glory of god: the bible’s teaching on the moral goodness of business. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books. Keynes, J. M. (1936). The general theory of employment, interest and money. United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. Marx, K. H. (1867). Capital. (4 ed., Vol. 1). Chicago: Charles H. Kerr and Co.

Phishing Attack

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In the field of computer security, Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Phishing is a fraudulent e-mail that attempts to get you to divulge personal data that can then be used for illegitimate purposes. There are many variations on this scheme. It is possible to Phish for other information in additions to usernames and passwords such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, social security numbers and mothers’ maiden names. Phishing presents direct risks through the use of stolen credentials and indirect risk to institutions that conduct business on line through erosion of customer confidence. The damage caused by Phishing ranges from denial of access to e-mail to substantial financial loss. [pic] Fig 1. 1 the simplified flow of information in a Phishing attack 1. A deceptive message is sent from the Phishers to the user. 2. A user provides confidential information to a Phishing server (normally after some interaction with the server). 3. The Phishers obtains the confidential information from the server. 4. The confidential information is used to impersonate the user. 5. The Phishers obtains illicit monetary gain. Steps 3 and 5 are of interest primarily to law enforcement personnel to identify and prosecute Phishers. The discussion of technology countermeasures will center on ways to disrupt steps 1, 2 and 4, as well as related technologies outside the information flow proper. CHAPTER 2 PHISHING TECHNIQUES Phishers use a wide variety of techniques, with one common thread. LINK MANIPULATION Most methods of Phishing use some form of technical deception designed to make a link in an e-mail appear to belong to the spoofed organization. Misspelled URLs or the use of sub domains are common tricks used by Phishers. In the following example, http://www. yourbank. example. com/, it appears as though the URL will take you to the example section of the yourbank website; actually this URL points to the â€Å"yourbank† (i. e. Phishing) section of the example website. An old method of spoofing used links containing the ‘@' symbol, originally intended as a way to include a username and password. For example, http://www. oogle. [email  protected] tripod. com/ might deceive a casual observer into believing that it will open a page on www. google. com, whereas it actually directs the browser to a page on members. tripod. com, using a username of www. google. com: the page opens normally, regardless of the username supplied. 1 2 FILTER EVASION Phishers have used images ins tead of text to make it harder for anti-Phishing filters to detect text commonly used in Phishing e-mails. WEBSITE FORGERY Once a victim visits the Phishing website the deception is not over. Some Phishing scams use JavaScript commands in order to alter the address bar. This is done either by placing a picture of a legitimate URL over the address bar, or by closing the original address bar and opening a new one with the legitimate URL. [pic] Fig 2. 1 An website which does not shows real address bar PHONE PHISHING Messages that claimed to be from a bank told users to dial a phone number regarding problems with their bank accounts. Once the phone number (owned by the Phishers) was dialed, prompts told users to enter their account numbers and PIN. Vishing (voice Phishing) sometimes uses fake caller-ID data to give the appearance that calls come from a trusted organization. pic] Fig 2. 2 How Phishing Attack can take place CHAPTER 3 REASONS OF PHISHING Let's consider some of the reasons people fall victim to Phishing scams. TRUST OF AUTHORITY When a Phishing email arrives marked as â€Å"High Priority† that threatens to close our bank account unless we update our data immediately, it engages the same authority response mechanisms that we've obeyed for millennia. In our modern culture, the old markers of authority – physical strength, aggressiveness, ruthlessness – have largely given way to signs of economic power. â€Å"He's richer than I am, so he must be a better man†. If you equate market capitalization with GDP then Bank of America is the 28th most powerful country in the world. If you receive a personal email purported to come from BOA questioning the validity of your account data, you will have a strong compulsion to respond, and respond quickly. TEXTUAL AND GRAPHIC PRESENTATION LACKS TRADITIONAL CLUES OF VALIDITY Most people feel that they can tell an honest man by looking him in the eye. You can spot a â€Å"professional† panhandler before he gets to the fourth word in his spiel. Without clues from the verbal and physical realms, our ability to determine the validity of business transactions is diminished. This is a cornerstone of the direct mail advertising business. If a piece of mail resembles some type of official correspondence, you are much more likely to open it. Car dealers send sales flyers in manila envelopes stamped â€Å"Official Business† that look like the envelopes tax refund checks are mailed in. Banks send credit card offers in large cardboard envelopes that are almost indistinguishable from FedEx overnight packages. Political advertisements are adorned with all manner of patriotic symbols to help us link the candidate with our nationalistic feelings. E-MAIL AND WEB PAGES CAN LOOK REAL The use of symbols laden with familiarity and repute lends legitimacy (or the illusion of legitimacy) to information—whether accurate or fraudulent—that is placed on the imitating page. Deception is possible because the symbols that represent a trusted company are no more ‘real' than the symbols that are reproduced for a fictitious company. Certain elements of dynamic web content can be difficult to copy directly but are often easy enough to fake, especially when 100% accuracy is not required. Email messages are usually easier to replicate than web pages since their elements are predominately text or static HTML and associated images. Hyperlinks are easily subverted since the visible tag does not have to match the URL that your click will actually redirect your browser to. The link can look like http://bankofamerica. com/login but the URL could actually link to http://bankofcrime. com/got_your_login CHAPTER 4 ANTI PHISHING TECHNIQUES To counter the phishing threat, a number of anti-phishing solutions have been proposed, both by industry and academic world. The anti phishing techniques can in general be divided into three categories. 1. Spam Filters 2. Anti-phishing tool bars and 3. Password protection mechanism Spam Filters A class of anti-phishing approaches aims to solve the phishing problem at the email level. The key idea is that when a phishing email does not reach its victims, they cannot fall for the scam. Hence, filters and content analysis techniques are often used to attempt to identify phishing emails before these emails are delivered to users. Clearly, this line of research is closely related to anti-spam research [10]. By continuously training filters (e. g. , Bayesian filters), a large number of phishing emails can be blocked. This is because such emails often contain words that may be identified as suspicious tokens that do not frequently occur in legitimate emails (e. g. , ? update? , ? login? , etc. ). The main disadvantage of anti-spam techniques is that their success depends on the availability of these filters and their proper training. That is, when the user does not actively help in training the filter, the filter typically does not perform as expected. Furthermore, even when filters are trained well and a user rarely receives any spam or phishing emails, once a phishing email bypasses the filter, the user’s belief of the legitimacy of this mail is strengthened. Anti-Phishing Toolbars To identify a page as a phishing site, there are a variety of methods that can be used, such as white lists (lists of known safe sites), blacklists (lists of known fraudulent sites), various heuristics to see if a URL is similar to a well-known URL, and community ratings. The toolbars examined here employ different combinations of these methods. By using publicly available information provided on the toolbar download web sites as well as observations from using each toolbar we get a basic understanding of how each toolbar functions. Some of the toolbars that are used for anti-phishing are 1) eBay Toolbar The eBay Toolbar uses a combination of heuristics and blacklists. The toolbar also gives users the ability to report phishing sites, which will then be verified before being blacklisted. 2) GeoTrust TrustWatch Toolbar GeoTrust’s web site provides no information about how TrustWatch determines if a site is fraudulent; however, it is suspect that the company ompiles a blacklist that includes sites reported by users through a button provided on the toolbar. 3) Google Safe Browsing Google provides the source code for the Safe Browsing feature and says that it checks URLs against a blacklist 4) McAfee SiteAdvisor SiteAdvisor claims to detect not just phishing websites, but any sites that send spam, offer downloads containi ng spyware, or engage in other similar bad practices. The determination is made by a combination of automated heuristics and manual verification. 5) Microsoft Phishing Filter in Windows Internet Explorer This toolbar largely relies on a blacklist hosted by Microsoft. However, it also uses some heuristics when it encounters a site that is not in the blacklist. Users also have the option of using this feature to report suspected phishing sites 6) Netcraft Anti-Phishing Toolbar The Netcraft toolbar also uses a blacklist, which consists of fraudulent sites identified by Netcraft as well as sites submitted by users and verified by the company. The toolbar also displays a risk rating between one and ten as well as the hosting location of the site. [pic] Fig 4. 1 Netcraft Anti-Phishing Toolbar ) Netscape Browser 8. 1 It appears that the functionality of Netscape Browser relies solely on a blacklist, which is maintained by AOL and updated frequently. When a suspected phishing site is encountered, the user is redirected to a built-in warning page. Users are shown the original URL and are asked whether or not they would like to proceed. 8) Spoofguard Spoofguard does not use white lists or blac klists. Instead, the toolbar employs a series of heuristics to identify phishing pages. 9) AntiPhish AntiPhish is an academic solution which keeps track of where sensitive information is being submitted to. 0) Dynamic security skins Dynamic security skins is also an academis solution which allow a remote server to prove its identity in a way that is easy for humans to verify. Most of the tools that were tested used blacklists, but only half of them were able to identify the majority of phishing web sites. We don’t know the size of the blacklists used by each toolbar, nor do we know what heuristics are used by any of the toolbars other than Spoofguard. We suspect that the toolbars that performed best use larger and more frequently updated black lists. They may also use heuristics that allow them to detect phishing sites that haven’t yet been put on the blacklist. The only toolbar known to make no use of blacklists was Spoofguard. While it was able to identify the majority of phishing sites using only heuristics, it still missed some phishing sites and it had a very high false positive rate. Spoofguard could potentially be improved through the use of a whitelist, which would prevent the problems that occurred when phishing sites were visited before their corresponding legitimate sites. The whitelist would not necessarily need to be extremely large or updated frequently to be effective. Password Protection Mechanism A password is a secret word or string of characters that is used for authentication, to prove identity or gain access to a resource. The password should be kept secret from those who are not allowed for access. So, the major concern for any user is to safeguard his/her password. The password can be cracked with the attacks such as Guessing attack, Brute-force attack, Dictionary attack, Phishing attack etc. ,. Another problem regarding password is single password problem where the user uses a single password for both vulnerable sites and financial sites. The hackers can break into the vulnerable sites that simply stores username and password and apply those retrieved combination of username and password on high security sites such as banking sites. All these problems at a single stroke can be solved by hashing the master password using domain name as key on client side. Some of the applications/tools that use this powerful technique are 1) Password Composer This extension [25] puts a tiny red icon to the left of a password entry field. If one clicks on this icon, the password field is overlaid with a replacement input, where one can supply a single, secure password (Master Password). 2) Magic Password Generator This extension combines master password and the domain name of the site to make another unique password for that site. For advanced users, with a catchall address at a domain, just put â€Å"@example. com† (whatever one’s domain is) for the address, and MPWGen will make a different email for every site too. Alternately, use â€Å"[email  protected]†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and the value will be inserted after the + sign, for email accounts that support this feature, like gmail. ) Password generator Password Generator gets the hostname from the page's URL and mixes it together with one’s personal master password using a little cryptographic magic MD5. It always gets the same result if given that hostname and master password, but will never get that result if either changes. 4) Hassapass Hasspass automatically generates strong passwords from a master password and a parameter like domain name. The password generation is performed inside this very browser window in JavaScript 5) Genpass GenPass is a JavaScript/MD5 bookmarklet-based password generator. GenPass is no longer being updated. Presently consider using SuperGenPass; however, note that SuperGenPass is not compatible with GenPass—given the same input, they generate different passwords. 6) Password Hasher When the master key is given to Password Hasher and it enters the hash word into the site's password field. A hash word is the result of scrambling the master key with a site tag. Click on a # marker next to a password field or press the Control-F6 key combination when in a password field or choose Password Hasher from either the Tools menu or the right-click popup menu on a password field to enter the master key. ) Pwdhash Pwdhash is a browser extension that transparently converts a user's password into a domain-specific password. The user can activate this hashing by choosing passwords that start with a special prefix (@@) or by pressing a special password key (F2). Pwdhash automatically replaces the contents of these password fields with a one-way hash of the pair (password, domain-name). Based on t he features like application type, hashing algorithm, security, password strength, spoof proof, visibility to webpage, visibility to user etc. Pwdhash is the best among the above mentioned applications. But some of its disadvantages are as follows a) Invisible to user – Password hashing done by Pwdhash is invisible to user. If this extension stops working, user will not know about this, i. e. , passwords will not be hashed. b) Visibility of activation to webpage – Webpage gets the intimation about the activation of Pwdhash. This made Pwdhash vulnerable for JavaScript attacks. So webpage can put some efforts to know the original master password. ) Password availability as plain text – The master password is directly filled in password field given by webpage. i. e. , password is available in plain text. d) Easily spoof-able – As activation is visible to webpage and by using Alex’s corner method it is very easy to know the master password of user by f ake webpage. e) Affect on others / Affecting webpage – Pwdhash have some side-effects on websites. Any JavaScript attached with password fields will not work properly. For ex. keyPress event will not work properly. f) Not secure – Finally, Pwdhash is not looking so secured. CHAPTER 5 ANTI-PHISHING There are several different techniques to combat Phishing, including legislation and technology created specifically to protect against Phishing. SOCIAL RESPONSES One strategy for combating Phishing is to train people to recognize Phishing attempts, and to deal with them. Education can be effective, especially where training provides direct feedback. One newer Phishing tactic, which uses Phishing e-mails targeted at a specific company, known as Spear Phishing, has been harnessed to train individuals at various locations. People can take steps to avoid Phishing attempts by slightly modifying their browsing habits. When contacted about an account needing to be â€Å"verified† (or any other topic used by Phishers), it is a sensible precaution to contact the company from which the e-mail apparently originates to check that the e-mail is legitimate. Alternatively, the address that the individual knows is the company's genuine website can be typed into the address bar of the browser, rather than trusting any hyperlinks in the suspected Phishing message. Nearly all legitimate e-mail messages from companies to their customers contain an item of information that is not readily available to Phishers. Some companies, for example PayPal, always address their customers by their username in e-mails, so if an e-mail addresses the recipient in a generic fashion (â€Å"Dear PayPal customer†) it is likely to be an attempt at Phishing. E-mails from banks and credit card companies often include partial account numbers. However, recent research has shown that the public do not typically distinguish between the first few digits and the last few digits of an account number—a significant problem since the first few digits are often the same for all clients of a financial institution. People can be trained to have their suspicion aroused if the message does not contain any specific personal information. Phishing attempts in early 2006, however, used personalized information, which makes it unsafe to assume that the presence of personal information alone guarantees that a message is legitimate. Furthermore, another recent study concluded in part that the presence of personal information does not significantly affect the success rate of Phishing attacks, which suggests that most people do not pay attention to such details. The Anti-Phishing Working Group, an industry and law enforcement association has suggested that conventional Phishing techniques could become obsolete in the future as people are increasingly aware of the social engineering techniques used by Phishers. They predict that Pharming and other uses of malware will become more common tools for stealing information. TECHNICAL RESPONSES Anti-Phishing measures have been implemented as features embedded in browsers, as extensions or toolbars for browsers, and as part of website login procedures. The following are some of the main approaches to the problem. Helping to identify legitimate sites Most Phishing websites are secure websites, meaning that SSL with strong cryptography is used for server authentication, where the website's URL is used as identifier. The problem is that users often do not know or recognize the URL of the legitimate sites they intend to connect to, so that the authentication becomes meaningless. A condition for meaningful server authentication is to have a server identifier that is meaningful to the user. Simply displaying the domain name for the visited website as some some anti-Phishing toolbars do is not sufficient. A better approach is the pet name extension for Firefox which lets users type in their own labels for websites, so they can later recognize when they have returned to the site. If the site is not recognized, then the software may either warn the user or block the site outright. This represents user-centric identity management of server identities. Some suggest that a graphical image selected by the user is better than a pet name Browsers alerting users to fraudulent websites Another popular approach to fighting Phishing is to maintain a list of known Phishing sites and to check websites against the list. Microsoft's IE7 browser, Mozilla Firefox 2. 0, and Opera all contain this type of anti-Phishing measure. Firefox 2 uses Google anti-Phishing software. Some implementations of this approach send the visited URLs to a central service to be checked, which has raised concerns about privacy. To mitigate the problem of Phishing sites impersonating a victim site by embedding its images (such as logos), several site owners have altered the images to send a message to the visitor that a site may be fraudulent. The image may be moved to a new filename and the original permanently replaced, or a server can detect that the image was not requested as part of normal browsing, and instead send a warning image. Augmenting password logins The Bank of America's website is one of several that ask users to select a personal image, and display this user-selected image with any forms that request a password. Users of the bank's online services are instructed to enter a password only when they see the image they selected. However, a recent study suggests few users refrain from entering their password when images are absent. In addition, this feature (like other forms of two-factor authentication) is susceptible to other attacks. Security skins are a related technique that involves overlaying a user-selected image onto the login form as a visual cue that the form is legitimate. Unlike the website-based image schemes, however, the image itself is shared only between the user and the browser, and not between the user and the website. The scheme also relies on a mutual authentication protocol, which makes it less vulnerable to attacks that affect user-only authentication schemes. 1 Eliminating Phishing mail Specialized spam filters can reduce the number of Phishing e-mails that reach their addressees' inboxes. These approaches rely on machine learning and natural language processing approaches to classify Phishing e-mails. 2 Monitoring and takedown Several companies offer banks and other organizations likely to suffer from Phishing scams round-the-clock services to monitor, analyze and assist in shutting down Phishing websites. Individuals can contribute by reporting Phishing to both volunteer and industry groups, such as PhishTank. LEGAL RESPONSES On January 26, 2004, the U. S. Federal Trade Commission filed the first lawsuit against a suspected Phisher. The defendant, a Californian teenager, allegedly created a webpage designed to look like the America Online website, and used it to steal credit card information. In the United States, Senator Patrick Leahy introduced the Anti-Phishing Act of 2005. Companies have also joined the effort to crack down on Phishing. CHAPTER 6 HOW ANTI-PHISHING SOFTWARE WORKS Anti-phishing software consists of computer programs that attempt to identify phishing content contained in websites and e-mail. It is often integrated with web browsers and email clients as a toolbar that displays the real domain name for the website the viewer is visiting, in an attempt to prevent fraudulent websites from masquerading as other legitimate web sites. Anti-phishing functionality may also be included as a built-in capability of some web browsers Common phishing tactics take advantage of a visitor by requesting them to link out to another site, asking that the enter personal information and passwords, or redirecting them to another site completely for registration. The process usually begins by sending out a forged e-mail that looks like it was sent from the company. Some tactics include saying an account has expired and needs to be updated, or has experienced unauthorized use and needs to be verified. Many banking and financial institutions become targets for these types of scams, and they can be a considerable threat to millions of account holders and users. Many leading web browsers and software programs have realized the impact of this trend, and have created programs that can limit the frequency of these types of scams. Micirosoft Windows Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2. 0, Google Safe Browsing, and Earthlink ScamBlocker are just a few programs that have reduced the risks involved. In Firefox 2. 0, Phishing Protection is always turned on and checks the sites automatically for any potential risks or hazards. The list is reviewed on a regular basis, and can be configured to Firefox Security settings for maximum control. When Phishing Protection in enabled, the sites are downloaded into a list and checked for any anti-phishing services. A warning sign will appear if any suspicious activity is detected. The Netcraft toolbar makes use of a risk rating system, allowing you the option of entering a password (or not). TrustWatch makes the Internet Explorer toolbar, and can help validate a Web site and provide a site report when needed. This option also allows you to review all suspected sites and find out which ones use SSL technology. Earthlink Toolbar with ScamBlocker will verify any popup messages that you may encounter as you visit a site, and can help you find out all the details on current phishing scams. Anti-phishing software is designed to track websites and monitor activity; any suspicious behaviour can be automatically reported, and even reviewed as a report after a period of time. Anti-phishing toolbars can help protect your privacy and reduce the risk of landing at a false or insecure URL. Although some people have concerns over how valuabe anti-phishing software and toolbars may be, security threats can be reduced considerably when they are managed by the browser program. Other companies that are trained in computer security are investigating other ways to report phishing issues; programs are being designed that can analyze web addresses for fraudulent behavior through new tactics, and cross-checking domain names for validity. The best and in most using Anti-Phishing Software is Netcraft Anti-Phishing Toolbar Netcraft is an Internet Services Company located in the United Kingdom and is devoted to tracking online technology. Additionally, Netcraft has actively taken up the sole of patrolling the cyberspace to sniff out phishing emails. The antiphising toolbar from Netcraft not only protects you and your savings from phishing attacks but also lets you check the hosting location and Risk Rating of every site you visit. Once you download and install the toolbar, you join a giant neighbourhood watch scheme whose most alert and most expert members defend everyone in the community against phishing frauds. This antiphishing group working to protect you is one of the finest ways to fight phishing. This could be downloaded through internet [pic] [pic] Fig 6. 1 Downloading Netcraft anti-phishing tool bar CHAPTER 7 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING ANTI-PHISHING Advantages †¢ Protect your savings from Phishing attacks. †¢ When a Phishing website or phishing email appears it will informs to the user. †¢ Some Anti-Phishing software's also allows seeing the hosting location and Risk Rating of every site you visit. †¢ Anti-phishing software is designed to track websites and monitor activity; any suspicious behavior can be automatically reported and even reviewed as a report after a period of time Disadvantages †¢ No single technology will completely stop phishing. So Phishing attacks can not be completely stopped †¢ Even Anti-Phishing software's should be upgraded with respect to the Phishing attacks. CHAPTER 8 FEW SNAPSHOTS OF PHISHING WEBSITES [pic] Fig 8. 1 Phishing Peoples Bank Web site [pic] [pic] Fig 8. 2 Phishing US Bank Web site CONCLUSION No single technology will completely stop phishing. However, a combination of good organization and practice, proper application of current technologies, and improvements in security technology has the potential to drastically reduce the prevalence of phishing and the losses suffered from it. In particular: High-value targets should follow best practices and keep in touch with continuing evolution of them. Phishing attacks can be detected rapidly through a combination of customer reportage, bounce monitoring, image use monitoring, honeypots and other techniques. Email authentication technologies such as Sender-ID and cryptographic signing, when widely deployed, have the potential to prevent phishing emails from reaching users. Analysis of imagery is a promising area of future research to identify phishing emails. Personally identifiable information should be included in all email communications. Systems allowing the user to enter or select customized text and/or imagery are particularly promising. Browser security upgrades, such as distinctive display of potentially deceptive content and providing a warning when a potentially unsafe link is selected, could substantially reduce the efficacy of phishing attacks. Anti-phishing toolbars are promising tools for identifying phishing sites and heightening security when a potential phishing site is detected. Detection of outgoing confidential information, including password hashing, is a promising area of future work, with some technical challenges. BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] http://en. wikipedia. org/ [2] http://webopedia. com/ [3] http://computerworld. com/ [4] http://www. anti-phishing. info/ [5] http://lorrie. cranor. org/ ———————– Not the real address bar Not the proper domain for peoples. com

Six Features of an Effective Total Rewards Program Essay

Six Features of an Effective Total Rewards Program - Essay Example The best way to gain profits and achieve commercial success is through employee compensation both in cash and kind. The cash benefits include wages and salary, while benefits in kind include fringe benefits and perquisites. The employee rewarding programs are critical to success of the organizations in recent times. Tesco PLC, the British multinational (MNC) grocery and merchandise retailer, is well-known for the compensation plan offered to its sales force (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The company provides simple, competitive and sustainable rewards to the staff, which help to build loyalty and trust amongst the employees and ensure their retention. The staff is paid quite high and the amount is around 7% more than three largest food retailers present in the market. Total reward program is a part of the sales force compensation plan. Many companies effectively conduct these programs so as to build loyalty and trust amongst employees. Six features of an effective total rewards program can be described as follows: Strong Compensation structure- The sales force can be motivated through premium and variable pay, besides the base salary. Premium pays can be in the form of on-call, shift differential, call-in, hazard, bi-lingual and skill based pay (Tetrick & Haimann, 2014). Variable pay, on the other hand, can be offered as commission, team based pay, bonus programs and incentive pay. Incentives increase the feeling of self-actualization among employees. Top IT companies such as, IBM, offers employees undifferentiated variable and team based pay, thereby accelerating their level of morale and encouraging them to work for the organizational welfare (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Availability of Perquisites – These have the capacity to elevate the motivation level of sales force.

Practical Arbitration Issues - UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Practical Arbitration Issues - UK - Essay Example Preliminary Preparations Before the disputing parties appoint an arbitrator, one party has to provide a written request for arbitration to the respondent through an arbitration notice3. The arbitration process is assumed to begin at the point where a third party is appointed as arbitrator by agreement of the disputing parties. Having received a letter signed by two disputing parties appointing an arbitrator, it must be noted by the two parties that the arbitration process has formally begun. The parties to the dispute should be aware that the purpose of arbitration is to find a fair resolution of the contention without unnecessary expense or delay4. The parties should further be aware that they have the freedom to agree on how resolutions will be arrived at subject to the legal demands of public interest. Yet again, the parties must be aware that any court of law will not intervene in the arbitration process unless in the case of special appeal5. The arbitration process will begin by the summoning of the parties in dispute for the purpose of confirming their identity and status in relation to the matter in dispute. In order for the arbitrator to be adequately acquainted with the matter or terms of the development contract, the parties will have to submit a copy of the notice of arbitration and confirm that the process of appointing the arbitrator was valid. Furthermore, the parties will have to serve the arbitrator with the original (development) contract for inspection6. It is important that the jurisdiction of the arbitrator is clearly outlined in the early stages of the process. In this case, the arbitrator should reserve the right to rule substantively on their personal jurisdiction. Any objections that arise in respect of the arbitrator’s jurisdiction should be dealt with in line with the law as set out by the Arbitration Act7. In order for the process of arbitration to be effective, the parties must be able to hold meetings and make presentations. The parties in dispute will have to agree on the venue or seat of the arbitration8. The arbitrator, on their own judgement, may choose a seat in the event that the parties fail to agree on a particular seat9. Furthermore, it should be made clear that the statutory laws that will apply during the arbitration. In the case of residents in the UK, the Law of England and Wales may apply. Once the seat has been decided, a date should be set for the commencement of the arbitration, subject to the agreement of the relevant parties. While there are laws that will apply during the arbitration, it is important for the arbitrator to set out specific rules, in writing, that will apply in the process10. These terms and conditions will include elements related to the arbitrator’s independence, compensation, fines, and prohibition of ex parte communications of the parties with the arbitrator on the matter being arbitrated except for administrative purposes. These terms and conditions will be consented to and signed by the parties. The items in dispute will then be identified with both parties presenting their cases. At this point, any important issues related to the matter should be raised by the parties. In addition, arbitrator will identify and record the main contentious issues as well as issues that are contested to by both

Metaphors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Metaphors - Essay Example In the first case study, there is an issue that is being faced by the managers is the need to hold dowen the line against the senior managers who are aggressive. This is a great problem because it seriously impacts on their relationship with their subordinates and hence their attitudes and performances in their work. In this sense, it is one of the hindrances towards productivity as most of the employees are expected to work as machines. Using the Morgan’s use of metaphors to understand the organization is well applied in this scenario. The manager is able to note down a few of the Morgan’s metaphors in his work. They include the art of blowing up in order to defend his people. In this context, he drills the individual and then attacks. In essence, he has identified work as a battle whereby there is a great need to fight in order to ensure that the rights of all the employees are not violated. It is caused by the element of being in the heat of the battle to enable an i ndividual to defend their territories hence the need to understand how the organization works. It is with the notion that the work place is a battle field that the manager in this case has devised the proper ways of dealing with his colleagues in such a way that enhances the productivity of all the other employees. The main problem in this case is the need to come up with a new product. It is the principle issue that is causing worries to the director in this organization. It is mainly because the product is required in high degree autonomy. It was also supposed to appear to be an integral part of the existing company. In this sense, the metaphor is created through the use of the symbolic modeling. Ultimately, there is the launch of a central launch pad from which the hot air balloon can rise and ascend. Although this balloon was always navigated by the captain, it was always tied to the launch pad. This defined its safety and scope

Navigation app for iOS Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Navigation app for iOS - Literature review Example This framework is designed to work with the newly introduced M7 coprocessor that is dedicated to handle motion sensors without reducing the battery performance of the device. It gives the developers accurate data about the users, which they can later make use of in their applications. For example, a developer can find out whether the device is currently with an individual who is in the act of walking, or with someone who is travelling in an automobile etc, without actually processing the accelerometer’s data. Core Motion Framework provides answers to such questions through constants defined by the classes of framework. â€Å"Now Core Motion has been around since iOS 4.0, but the iOS 7 includes the new classes needed to access data from the M7. The two main classes used here are CM Motion Activity Manager and CM Motion Activity. These two classes work hand in hand to make work the motion activity updates† (Graves 2014: 1). Most iPhones contain an accelerometer and 3 axes Gyroscope built into them, which provide the device with 6 operational axes when used together. This axis data and motion data populated by the M7 co processor could be used along with Map kit or any other third party Map API to create great navigation apps. The gyroscope data as well as gravity sensor data are also used for building motion sensitive gaming-applications. Various class references of Core Motion framework include â€Å"CMAttitude, CMAccelerometerData, CMDeviceMotion, CMGyroData, CMLogItem, CMMagnetometerData, and CMMotionManager† (Aguinaga 2013: 9). The Map Kit framework is used for embedding custom maps into iOS application windows. The 5.1 version and the previous ones basically made use of Google Maps API for displaying the maps through the MapKit framework. â€Å"This framework also provides support for annotating the map, adding overlays, and performing reverse-geocoding lookups to determine placemark information for a given map

Occupational Health And Safety Management Essay

Occupational Health And Safety Management - Essay Example In the above context the present study observes the Hazards management of a building construction work site in a residential area. The study identifies the work process of the construction work site, types of hazards during the work process and controlling measures adopted for the identified hazards. Not only that the findings observed in the study are to be correlated and analyzed in the context of south Australian government statutes and existing implications on Occupational safety hazard management system for the effective utilization of the resources. As a relevant place to the purpose of the study, the building construction in the area XYZ was identified as a potential source for the information as it uses modern ways of construction techniques and has relevant working patterns for the observation. The study was carried by direct visit to the XYZ work site. The information on the types of hazards is being analyzed through the discussions with the workers and site inspectors. The information on techniques and safety measures adopted are taken from the site inspectors, Health and safety officer, Building contractors and higher authorities of local government. Findings of the direct visit to the work site: The direct visit to the XYZ has designed in such a way to extract the very key information in regard to the OSHMS practice, and the observed findings are as follows: Working process: The XYZ construction is a multi storied building site, with work in progress to observe the process and to discuss the essentials with the worksite workers. In the work area the workers are involved in the occupations like, masonry works with load carrying, working from heights, plumbing, carpentry works, electrical works, etc., Masonry work: The work process of masonry involves construction of walls, ceiling and floor including 3 or 4 workers working at a same time. Workers are observed to carry the loads of bricks and cement mixture in wheelbarrows to the worker who actually works on the wall construction. The person who is working on the construction of wall is found to be on ladder with all daagjga Types of Hazards observed in work site area: The main types of probable hazards are occurring at the site are observed under 2 categories: 1. Physical Hazards 2. Chemical Hazards. I. The physical hazards: These are the one, which are visible as well as have visible and instant effect on the victims. The following types of hazards are observed in this category. a. Slip/Trip/Fall: There is a high degree of risk observed to occur through these types of hazards, as the work associated with these is carried in a time constraints depending on the machinery and unpredictable weather Falling of workers from High places Accidents in Moving of loads Falling of tools & construction supplies Slipping on watery surface Tripping down of heavy machinery Slipping of ladders from supported wall to floor b. Stuck by: Usually the driver has to

Nutrition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nutrition - Essay Example These enzymes hydrolyze the long peptides of the chyme to short peptides containing only 2 or 3 amino acids. Any unaffected protein particles that have escaped the gastric juice are digested. The ability of the intestine to digest, not only gastric peptides, but also intact proteins, makes possible the nutrition of people with achylia gastrica and even of persons who have had the stomach completely removed. The soluble digestive products then diffuse into the bacterial cell and are used. Protozoa usually sweep food particles and water into their bodies, at a fixed or a changed position; and these food vacuoles constitute temporary "stomachs" in which the digestion proceeds. Metazoa have permanent digestive organs, most elaborate in the mammals. Man's digestive system, or alimentary canal, is a continuous passage through the body, from mouth to anus, with special extensions into accessory secreting organs (glands) (Lipski, 2004). 2. Whenever an organism consumes food in the solid state, this must be brought into solution before it can be utilized. It is necessary, therefore, that such solid food be digested. In some organisms digestion may occur outside of the body, and this may constitute an important adaptation for those animals which are in the habit of eating animals larger than themselves (Lipski, 2004). Ordinarily, however, food is taken into the body and digested there. Digestion may occur in cavities of special organs such as the stomach or intestine, or it may occur within the protoplasm of cells. The latter type of digestion obviously takes place in protozoa. In organisms such as paramecium or ameba the ingested food is enclosed in a food vacuole, which serves the same purpose as the stomach or intestine of a complicated metazoan. Within the food vacuole the solid food particle is brought into solution. It must not be thought, however, that intracellular digestion is confined to protozoa. Moreover, in some animals rather higher in the evolutionary scale, there is also a certain amount of intracellular digestion (Holford 2005). These phagocytic cells even enter into the lumen of the stomach or intestine, ingest particles of food there and then carry these food particles back into the tissues and digest them there. Such intracellular digestion, however, is a primitive character and it does not occur to any extent in higher animals such as the insects and vertebrates. In the conversion of solid food to a state of solution, enzymes play the leading role. It will be necessary, therefore, to consider the subject of enzymes and the nature of enzyme action. It should be strongly emphasized, however, that enzymes are not concerned only with digestion, but that they are essential factors in all of the chemical activities of the organism (Lipski, 2004). The living organism is essentially a chemical engine, dependent for its growth, maintenance and energy on chemical reactions. These reactions are controlled by catalysts. One of the most striking achievements of modern biology and biological chemistry is the isolation of more and more of these catalysts so important for the vital process. Once isolated, it is possible to study their behavior in test tubes or other suitable containers. In other words, one can detach from the living material certain non-living substances capable of causing or promoting the complex chemical transformations which constitute a major part of the mystery of protoplasm. The substance

Investigating the Properties of Oils Coursework

Investigating the Properties of Oils - Coursework Example The cup viscometer measures the kinematic velocity of a fluid and the unit of viscosity measured by such a viscometer is centistokes (Viswanath). Purpose: To determine the viscosity of a given sample of lubricating oil of unknown viscosity, with the help of a Cup Viscometer and different commercially available oils of known viscosity. It can be hypothesized that as the viscosity increases, the flow decreases and thus the efflux time increases, i.e. substances with a higher viscosity would take more time to efflux from the cup viscometer to the beaker. Methodology: In this experiment a cup viscometer will be used to determine the viscosity of a sample of lubricating oil of unknown viscosity. The cup viscometer will first be constructed by using disposable Styrofoam cups and subsequently be used to measure the viscosity. The following equipment will be required to conduct the experiment: Three different types of commonly available oils with known viscosities, viz. Olive Oil Soyabean Oi l Kerosene Oil A sample of the oil whose viscosity is to be determined, viz. lubricating oil Four disposable Styrofoam cups Burette Clamp or stand Four 100 ml graduated Cylinders Four beakers A skewer of uniform diameter to punch holes Scotch Tape An accurate Stopwatch The first part of the experiment is to construct a cup viscometer using disposable Styrofoam cups and calibrating it using oils of known viscosities. Four disposable Styrofoam cups are taken and holes are punched in their bottoms using a skewer of uniform diameter. One should be extremely careful while punching holes in order to ensure that all four holes are of the same diameter. Once the holes have been punched, scotch tape has to be applied at the bottom of all the cups in order to prevent the oil from leaking once it has been poured in to the cups. The cups are then marked as A, B or C, one for each different oil of known viscosity. The next step is the calibration of the cup viscometers prepared. This is achieved via pouring measured quantities (i.e. 60 ml) of the three different oils of known viscosities in to three different cup viscometers. Olive Oil is placed in Cup A, Soyabean Oil in Cup B and Kerosene Oil in Cup C. This can be achieved by using a graduated measuring cylinder to measure out 60 ml of each oil into the respective cups. While filling the graduated cylinders, it should be ensured that the cylinder is placed in a flat horizontal surface, in order to avoid any errors in measurements. Moreover, it is important to remember that most solutions would form a concave meniscus. Thus, while reading a meniscus, the bottom of the meniscus should be read and the meniscus should be kept at eye level in order to avoid parallax errors. Moreover, the meniscus should be read against a uniform background, which can be achieved by placing a white sheet of paper behind the level of the liquid. Once all the cups have been filled, one of the cups (i.e. Cup A) is suspended in a burette clamp and a beaker is placed underneath. The scotch tape is then carefully removed and the stopwatch started in order to time the experiment. The time required for 60 ml of Olive Oil to flow from the cup in to the beaker is recorded. The timing should start immediately after the removal of the scotch tape and should

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston Essay Example for Free

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston Essay A proficient U S journalist and author of the 1994 bestseller The Hot Zone, A Terrifying True Story, Richard Preston’s creative capabilities revolve around alarming disease epidemics and bio- terrorism. The research by Preston for his 1992 New Yorker article, â€Å"Crisis in the Hot Zone† forms the basis of this non-fiction bio-thriller. The Hot Zone delineates a dramatic, chilling and realistic tale of an Ebola virus outbreak, which occurs in a monkey storage warehouse in a suburban Washington D. C. laboratory in 1989. In this laboratory, monkeys being used in scientific experiments quickly sicken and die due to a filovirus. It tells about an explosive chain of lethal transmissions begins far from Washington, D.C. laboratory and allows the lab to become a ‘hot zone’. Preston goes on meticulously about how these viruses work and the symptoms that appear in human beings. He traces the history of these viruses from their discovery and examines their first known index cases in detail. He also delves deeply into tales of previous lethal outbreaks in Africa out of these filoviruses. The Hot Zone employs a four fold structure. The first section of this non- fiction, â€Å"The Shadow of Mount Elgon† acts as the exposition of the story. It zeroes- in on the history of the infective agents and speculation about the origin of AIDS. The reader is introduced to the Marburg Virus, via people who have contracted it. This section narrates the story of Charles Monet who caught Marburg from Kitum Cave in Central Africa. It analyses in detail the progress of the disease, from the initial headache and backache, to the last stage in which Monet’s internal organs bleed out and fail in Nairobi hospital. The second part of the book entitled â€Å"The Monkey House† portrays the discovery of Ebola Reston Virus among imported monkeys in Reston, Virginia. This also includes tidbits on what steps have been taken to decontaminate the infected beings. The third section, â€Å"Smashdown† serves as the climax of the story. Here, the major characters like Major Nancy Jaax, Colonel Jerry Jaax, Dan Dalgard, Gene Johnson, and Colonel C J Peters etc must encounter the virus face- to-face in the monkey house. Some hair- raising events are there during the destruction of animals, like an escape of one monkey and failures in the protective suits worn by personnel. The fourth section, entitled â€Å"Kitum Cave†, signals the denouement of the story. Here Preston reflects on the origin and spread of AIDS. The Hot Zone highlights the impact of lethal viruses on human and animal population. The stars of the hot zone are these two viruses, Marburg and Ebola. These are considered to be ancient and their potential to eradicate huge masses is really high, as more and more humans encroach on the rain forest. There are well- establish cases in which Ebola and Marburg have been transmitted from captive monkeys to humans. Preston points out in The Hot Zone that these viruses have ‘jumped species’ from monkeys to humans at the time human activity is upsetting the habitat and survival of her primates. His first case history of Charles Monet exemplifies this. Charles Monet, a French expatriate working in a sugar plantation in Kenya, becomes mysteriously ill after visiting Kitum Cave. He experiences head aches and back aches for several days before spiking a fever and vomits huge amounts of blood with black specks. Finally the virus, Marburg completely devours him. In 1989, Ebola traveled to Reston, Virginia in a shipment of a hundred crab eating monkeys from the Philippines, imported by Hazleton Research products for medical and pharmaceutical research. The final irony is that one version of Ebola turned out not to be toxic in humans. The author also creates an effectual atmosphere of fear by showing that doctors, who are almost always viewed as being heroic, can so easily contract this virus. The Hot Zone is a Jurassic park with germs, not of dinosaurs. Here Preston constantly reminds of how tiny and how hazardous a virus is. The impact of Ebola or Marburg could destroy the entire planet if it got a grip. Within 24 hours, a virus could make its way out of Africa on a plane and into such places like London, Paris, or New York and then spread out to the rest of the world. The tiny HIV virus has already spread destruction throughout the human population of the globe, and this is a point the author drives home again and again. A very minute amount of contaminated blood is enough to infect a human with the Ebola virus, so those working in the Hot Zone must constantly be careful for the smallest little tear that might allow it into their space suits. Preston makes an effort to draw attention to the AIDS epidemic in this bio –thriller. The HIV virus was in reality just making its way into the human population about the time that Charles Monet contracted Marburg. It appears that the origins of Marburg and HIV are almost similar. Both seem to have originated in African monkeys, and they undergo genetic change and ‘jump’ into human beings. C.J. Peters spends some time comparing AIDS and Ebola, as well. In the last section of the novel, the author explains the idea that as humans capture and destroy more and more of the rain forests, they may discharge many more unidentified viruses. It is as if the viruses act as the forests immune system, which is truly ironic since HIV and AIDS destroy the human immune system. In the book, Preston emphasizes the potential of such a little beasts, that are only microns in size, to wipe out the human population of the planet. In fact, the strength and appeal of this book come from the fear evoked in the reader. The gruesome, horrific deaths of Charles Monet, Nurse Mayinga, and Peter Cardinal set the reader in tension and dread of what will happen if the virus at Reston jumps into the human population. The majority of The Hot Zone is written from the third-person omniscient point of view. The author is not simply composing characters thoughts and emotions. This book recounts a true story, and Richard Preston interviewed many people to learn directly from those involved. Therefore, the reason the author is able to be omniscient is because he has taken great pains to be accurate in his telling of the tale. If he describes someones internal reaction to an event, he is relating what that person told him. He is also careful to give credibility to everyones viewpoints in the cases where people have conflicting recollections of a sequence of events. There are a few places in which the point of view switches to first person. This is a result of the authors reporting on his interviews with the various people engaged in the crisis at Reston, as well as those involved in earlier Ebola outbreaks. This serves to remind the reader that the story is not a piece of fiction, and it also allows the author to tell portions of the story in the participants own words. There are multiple settings in the book because it spans a long period of time (1980 to 1993) and follows viruses all over the world. Much of the African portion of the story takes place in Kenya and Sudan, and the real centerpiece is Kitum Cave in Western Kenya. The story starts and ends there though under very different circumstances. On the international level, there are also references to the Marburg virus stint in Germany, and a monkey farm in the Philippines. Aside from these brief mentions, the true settings of the story are Africa and the United States. The fact that the potential Ebola outbreak is happening so near the capital of one of the most powerful nations on earth definitely adds to the tension of the story. The language used in The Hot Zone is very explanatory. The novel could easily have been a litany of medical terms and acronyms. It is a factual story involving science, medicine, government, and military. The author is concerned with drawing the reader into the story. He wants to generate such a vivid picture that it is sporadically quite upsetting. Richard Prestons capacity to write literature is also obvious. His use of imagery is very successful. By the time there is an outbreak in the monkey house, the reader has been thoroughly apprised of the terribly agonizing, fierce death that awaits anyone infected by the virus. Throughout the entire story, Preston amalgamates scientific perception with fictional writing. Works Cited Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. New York: Anchor, 1995. Litsum.com Hot Zone Stuff. 2007. http://acaclassof2010studyguides.blogspot.com  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  \2007\09\litsumcom-hot-zone-stuff.html

The biases in testing Essay Example for Free

The biases in testing Essay Many examples can be given for the biases in testing based on culture. Cultural biases have been in testing as long as testing has been around, whether intentional or not. With each passing year, however, it seems that cultural bias is more examined and those who create the tests are using stricter guidelines to insure that the tests they create are not biased towards one student more than another. For example, in New York City, students were given a question asking, â€Å"what were ways the British improved the lives of Africans? † it was prefaced with a passage from 1922 stating â€Å"We are endeavoring [trying] to teach the native races to conduct their own affairs with justice and humanity, and to educate them alike in letters and in industry†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This testing question has a clear cultural bias and shows â€Å"outright racism† according to one parents group (Rammohan, 2007). It’s ridiculous that questions like this are still showing up in standardized testing at all. Although, imperialism should be taught, it could have been presented in a less biased way. Jay Rosner in On White Preference from The Nation states another example of bias towards white students over others, â€Å"On the October 1998 SAT, for example, every single on of the 138 questions (sixty math and seventy-eight verbal) favored whites over blacks. By favoring whites, I mean that a higher percentage of white than black students answered correctly every question pre-screened and chosen to appear on that SAT†¦SAT forms are designed to very strongly correlate with one another. And the pattern I’ve identified is a predictable result of the way the tests are constructed. Latino test-takers are similarly affected, faring only a bit better than blacks. † Obviously, test takers are being gypped when it comes to standardized testing, and the tests are being biased towards white students. This example of white students performing better on all 138 pre-screened questions gives the indication that the system that is used to screen questions is in and of itself, biased, and therefore, in need of examination. Rosner goes on to give another example of the biases of test creators. On a pre-testing question where minority students actually performed better than white students, the question was thrown out, an obvious example of bias towards white students. Interestingly enough, Rosner’s entire reason for looking into the SAT and other standardized testing questions formulated by the ETS, the Educational Testing Service, was due to the fact that white students had filed a suit against the University of Michigan because they were allowing black students into the college with a lower SAT score and not accepting white students who may have a higher score. While it does not show test bias, it’s an interesting example of how the colleges may be cognizant of testing bias and how they are trying to rectify the discrepancies, i. e. allowing minority students who may have a lower SAT score into the college. As stated by Rosner, there is in fact, a twenty percent gap in performance on standardized testing between white students and minority students, displaying bias on the part of the ETS as their company formulates and screens questions before putting them onto the tests (Rosner, 2003). If they were, in fact, unbiased, why did they not allow the question where black students performed better than white? If they had allowed the question, then maybe we could state that they were at least making an effort towards being unbiased regarding test formulation and administration, unfortunately, all actions point to the contrary. As long as those formulating the tests are using biased criteria, our tests will continue to be biased and white students will continue to perform better than minority students. References Rammohan, Yasmin Tara. (9 May 2007). Advocates say standardized tests often flunk cultural bias scrutiny. Medill Reports Chicago. Retrieved from http://news. medill. northwestern. edu/chicago/news. aspx? id=35935. Rosner, Jay. (27 March 2003). On white preferences. The Nation. Retrieved from http://www. thenation. com/doc/20030414/rosner.

Communicating with Customers

Communicating with Customers COMMUNICATING WITH CUSTOMERS PO 3 Customer Service Message Photograph of an organisation/business exterior. Negative:   The front of this shop is not very inviting because the windows dont have much clothing/products in them, it does not tell the customer what they are selling.  Ã‚   In fact, you cant really tell whats being sold. The entrance is very dark. The upper story window is messy and disorganised. Recommendations I would recommend putting more lighting on the outside, at the entrance, plus more lighting on the windows, so the customer can see exactly what is for sale. Put mannequins on the bottom and top windows, showing the customer what clothing is on sale inside, and some of the other products they sell, e.g. curtains and childrens clothing. http://guineys.ie/ Customer Service Message Photograph of an organisation/business exterior Positive:   This photograph shows the Woodstock Hotel which is a beautiful hotel close to the centre of Ennis and yet has a country feel to it.  Ã‚   The entrance is warm and inviting, with lovely lighting and stained glass.   The cut stone gives this hotel character.   The entrance also caters for the disabled with wheelchair access.There are large flower pots that have evergreen shrubs planted, which breaks up the grey of the stone. http://www.hotelwoodstock.ie/ Customer Service Message A screen shot of an organisations website. Positive:   Guineys have a very good website, showing all the departments that you can browse through.   It shows you whats best value at the moment and weekly deals that are in store at present.   It tells you that they accept the One4all vouchers from An post.  Ã‚   The customer can phone in their order between certain times.   The customer can sign up for their newsletter and its all private.   This site is very user friendly. http://guineys.ie/ Customer Service Message A Screen shot of an organisations website Negative: I was looking to purchase a glass house in Ireland and came across this website. I felt frustrated trying to navigate around it as I could not find anything close to what I wanted, in fact they said they had certain sizes of glass houses but they were impossible to find on this page, which to me is false advertising. It also said there was a price list but there wasnt one.   There were very few pages of information compared to what the page said.   I rang the number on the page several times for help, but nobody answered. Recommendation:I would recommend they hire a web designer, it doesnt cost a lot, but it would bring in money to the company.   The company should then keep the website updated on a regular basis.   I would recommend then that the company hire a person to answer the phone at all times, again this would obviously make money for them, because I as a customer gave up wanting to buy anything because I couldnt speak to anyone in this company. http://www.polydome.ie/glasshouses_search.php?maincatid=3 Customer Service Message Printed Material from and Organisation (flyer, leaflet, brochure) Positive: The Irish Cancer Society is a wonderful organisation, who do a lot of work for people and their families suffering from cancer. Daffidol Day is held every year in March, this year its the 24the March, and the money raised goes to the County you are collecting in.   You can donate at any time online. This charitable organisation uses the money also for patients travel to and from hospital. Counselling services for patients and families. Information and services on Pallative care and end of life care. There is a freephone number, for people to contact a nurse for confidential advice and information. See Appendix A at the back https://www.cancer.ie/?gclid=CMKB1ua97NICFa-97QodHIUEcw https://www.cancer.ie/support/coping-with-cancer/palliative-care#sthash.xYq8CER1.dpbs Printed material from an Organisation Negative:   When you look at this flyer it doesnt jump out at me, to tell me what its exactly about, in fact there is very little information on it about the food/meals its serving.   The background is a dark colour and takes away from the writing underneath. Recommendations:   I would recommend that they would include visuals of what food they serve.   They should change the background colour, something brighter and the print then would contrast better against it.   The font actually should all be in bold. See Appendix B Customer Service Message News Report/Clipping regarding employment conditions, corporate ethics, environmental ethics, sponsorship, etc. Positive:   Aldi have a great initiative in tackling food waste, by distributing left over food from the shops, to families who are in need and charitable organisations like St. Vincents de Paul who look after poor people, for example those living on the streets and in shelter in the cities. https://www.aldi.ie/love-ireland Customer Service Message News report/clipping regarding employment conditions, corporate ethics, environmental ethics, sponsorship, etc. Negative:   Tesco are in an ongoing battle with about 3,000 of their employees over their pre-1996 contracts for work.   Tesco wants these employees to take lower rates of pay and conditions, just like their new employees.   During the strike periods Tesco stores all over Ireland have lost millions of euros, because customers did not want to pass the picket line.   At the moment a mediator has been appointed to try to come to some agreement with both parties over this row. Recommendations:   I would recommend Tesco come up with a fair package for all their employeesas they work hard and have long hours of work.   This country is doing well again and these companies are making plenty of money, so why not give a fair package like Lidl and Aldi who have set a precedent here. See Appendix C at the back.

raising cattle :: essays research papers

Raising Cattle across America Cattle are being produced all across the United States. From Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and from California to the Atlantic Ocean there are several thousand head of cattle being raised. However these cattle are all being raised the some way or under the same conditions. Ranchers in the north have to deal with snow and ice while the southern ranchers are dealing with mud, water, and, mosquitoes. The people raising cattle in the Midwest are faced with droughts and having to keep their crops and cattle watered. Raising cattle in the northern part of the United States is more than just raising cattle and being cold while you do it. Keeping your cattle with fresh water, feed, and, hay is sometimes a task anywhere in the country much less when you have to deal with temperatures that are twenty degrees below zero. When it is this cold outside your cattle do not have fresh water until you go and break the five to ten inches of ice on top of their water trough. Feeding your herd also creates problems. When you get the hay for your herd to make it through the winter it can not be just any hay. You have to send your hay to a laboratory to get it tested. By having your hay tested this tells you if your hay has enough protein for your cattle to make it through the harsh winters. â€Å"We’ve had cattle starve to death with full bellies† says Paul Walker, extension livestock agent of Alamance County, North Carolina. â€Å"They received plenty of hay but it was not enough to meet the ir nutritional needs.† The hay you feed needs to be at least nine to fourteen percent protein. The higher the protein the better the hay is and the better the hay you feed the better your cows will be. Just below the extreme northern part of the country is where droughts are a

Analysis of The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden Essay -- The Unknown Cit

Analysis of The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden â€Å"The Unknown Citizen†, written by W.H. Auden during 1940, is a poem where the speaker, a representative of the state or government, directs a speech to the audience about a monument being erected for a citizen. Written in free verse, although using many couplets, this poem is a poem that describes the life of a certain person through his records and documents. This citizen is portrayed as a normal and average human being who is being honoured for being normal. Auden, however, uses the fact that the state is honouring someone for being normal to criticise his society. By emphasizing certain grammatical conventions and the structure the author explains the true meaning of this poem, and the unidentified citizen. â€Å"The Unknown Citizen† is a poem that directs an epitaph to a common man in the country. In honour of the monument for the citizen, a speech is given as a tribute to his doings. This man is depicted as a man who obeyed the law and never did anything incorrect, and he was known for taking part in many government handled activities. He served his duty in War, worked in Fudge Motors Inc., had a Health-card, and never caused any sort of rebellion towards the state. This citizen had an overall average life, where he was married and had five children. Auden is writing about the state erecting a monument in honour of this citizen’s doings as a great citizen in the community whom represented many other people in the country. This poem might seem to be very direct and clear; however, the author does not literally mean what he wrote. The title, â€Å"The Unknown Citizen†, is a reference to countries that erect a monument for the â€Å"Unknown Soldier†; this is an honou... ...aditionally sound according to the government, and since the Union is â€Å"sound† it is not really a Union. The sense of this poem depends greatly upon the tone, because literally the poem has a completely different connotation than it does if u considers the tone. The poet has a critical attitude towards this subject and it is clearly demonstrates once the reader analysis the poem. W. H. Auden is a poet who portrays his emotions and feelings through his poetry, and in this certain poem, â€Å"The Unknown Citizen†, Auden criticises the state. He uses allusions and capitalization to make the reader understand the actual meaning of the poem and by adding the final couplet in the poem, Auden reaches tries to get the reader to think. Auden leaves the reader hanging and makes them think; is our society and government really totalitarian? Or is this how our government will be?

The Cost of Higher Education Essay -- Education College Graduate Schoo

Introduction The increasing cost of higher education in the United States has been a continuing topic for debate in recent decades. American society emphasizes the importance of education after high school, yet the cost of undergraduate and advanced degrees continually rises at a greater rate than inflation. According to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, cost factors prevent 48% of college-qualified high school graduates from pursuing further education (McKeon, 2004, p. 45). The current system requires the majority of students to accumulate extensive debt with the expectation that they gain lucrative post-graduate employment to repay their loans. The cost of higher education raises several ethical issues. Among these are the perpetuation of the cycle of debt in American commercial society, the hierarchy of differing higher education institutions and cost, and the resulting socioeconomic and racial inequities in college demographics. Both an examination of the current trends and figures and a closer look at a real life example show the troublesome state of higher education and its effect on our commercial society. The Facts about Cost, Financial Assistance, and Loans Research indicates a steep upward trend in the cost of higher education throughout the 20th century. In recent decades, America has witnessed a widening gap between inflation and tuition. An incoming freshman at a typical college incurs charges for tuition, university fees, books, room and board, and other miscellaneous items. During the 1999-2000 academic year the total cost of attendance for full time undergraduates at a 2-year institution averaged $9,083, a 4-year public institution equaled $12,601, and a 4-year private... ...costs? USA Today, 123, 66-67. Retrieved November 29, 2004 from Academic Search Premier Database. Laurence, D. (2003, winter). Notes on the English major. ADE Bulletin 133, 3-5. Malveaux, J. (2004, July). Will tuition become a campaign issue? Black Issues in Higher Education, 21. Retrieved November 30, 2004 from Academic Search Premier Database. McKeon, H. P. (2004, January). Intervention is needed. USA Today, 1/5/04. Reiland, R. (1996, September) Deconstructing the ivory tower. National Review, 48, 36. Retrieved November 29, 2004, from Academic Search Premier Database. Through a different lens: A new angle on the price spiral in higher education. (2000, January/February). The National Center for Postsecondary Improvement. University of Minnesota. (2004). Retrieved December 12, 2004 from http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/01_about.php

How Islam responds to issues about Equality Essay

Introduction Throughout this project, the intention of the information is to answer the question: How does the religion of Islam respond to issues on equality? All through this Booklet, I have kept in mind to focus on the ideas of Islamic equality and what this means to a Muslim, in the Islamic definition. In Islam a definition of equality means evenness, uniformity, impartiality, parity etc. Therefore, if applied to Islam in liaison to the now modern everyday life this would involve issues such as * Racism * Sexism * Forgiveness * Religious attitude Which are the subjects I will be talking about and looking over at the Islamic perspective on these topics of concern. To portray the view Islam has over these issues I will be using: * The genuine teachings from the word of our God `Allah` himself, doing this through the Qur’an. * Referring to important hadiths (lessons) and quotes from the prophet Mohammed (pbuh) * The message given out today by the most knowledgeable top scholars. These should give a clear message of what, the view on these issues used to be like, how they have progressed and possibly altered over the years, the differences on these matters from today in contrast to when the religion began, and how it is today, right now in Muslim houses and nations across the world. Racism Constantly throughout the world today and especially in the history of humans since the beginning of civilisation. There has a been a power struggle between those trying to gain power and have authority over others whether it is because of their skin colour, lineage, education, origin or physical disabilities. Islam has extinguished the discrimination which subsisted in the land of Arabia, the roots of the religion and the main reason it was created was to give equality among men and women of all races. It punished those who lowered women to the level of slaves and transferable goods. It also punished those who took advantage of their privileges. Being the 1st kind of religion to truly do this won the hearts of nations and the admiration and respect of its enemies. In the Qur’an Allah even shames those who cannot understand the purpose of the variation in skin, colour and language. `And among those His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the Earth, and the variations in your languages and your colours; verily in that are Signs for those with sound knowledge` In some societies those who are poor and live a life in poverty are considered lower class, with less intelligence and the worst company. But it is these people who the prophet of Allah was asked to seek for their company. At this the idol worshippers (Quraish) began to make mockery of how the majority of the people following Islam were poor, lower class people. Allah then sends down this verse to the prophet: `And keep yourself (O Mohammed) patiently with those who call their Lord morning and afternoon, seeking his face, and let not your eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp and glitter of life of the world; and obey not him whose heart we have made heedless of our remembrance, one who follows his own lusts nd whose affair (deeds) have been lost` The verse meant that a new society would be built with no racism and equality at its base such as justice and equal opportunity. No one is Islam should ever be judged by his skin, colour or any part of his physical appearance or origin whatsoever. Also no man should be bale to judge another only Allah is the judge. `Allah does not look at your appearance, or wealth, rather he looks at you hearts and deeds. ` Sexism It is disputed by some non-Muslims that in Islam, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the image of women is one of sexism and lower class and it is quite clear that Islam has become very male dominant and women are shown to be inferior and of less-importance. Or possibly as Muslims are allowed to have more than one wife it’s thought they are mis-treated. In fact, this is not how Islam has placed the role of women. In Islam there are very precise guidelines relating to the equality of men and women. They are both looked upon as being equal in soul and in mind and in religious responsibilities. Of course, they are not looked upon as the same but merely different. The importance of the mother has the same importance of the father. Although they play a different role. But one cannot say that one is inferior to the other. As regards the care of children, the mother cares for a child a lot more than the father does and this sort of motherly love is held in the highest regard in Islam. The father is expected to supply the family with care, food and money and can only have more than 1 wife under the condition that he has the wealth to pay for them. The Prophet Mohammed one day was questioned by a follower whom should he treat with more affection, he asked the prophet 4 times one after the other who are the most important. The prophet answered; ` Your mother, ` then `Your mother, ` then `Your mother, ` at the forth time `Your father,` he went onto say `Paradise lies at the feet of your mother.` Such is the treatment and respect given to women in Islam, from my own personal experience when I am in Jordan and I am with my grandmother; everywhere she goes, people call her grandma/mother and treat her with the utmost respect and courtesy. When anyone comes to visit, they immediately enter the room and kiss her hand three times, such is the respect men in Islam have towards women. Violence against women is extremely wrong and is not allowed. A women’s honour is held in high regard and no verbal or physical abuse is permitted at all, to the extend where our prophet said; `Those whom so ever beat their wives, in the eyes of Allah are no Muslim` Any crime against women especially rape etc. is treated very seriously and in the Islamic Shari’ah court the punishment for such a crime is severe. During the month of Ramadan, women are given leave from having to fast, if their menstruation cycle is kicking in, this also applies to their praying. Men whoever always have to fast unless they are ill and are incapable. However women do still have to pray, have to perform Hajj, they must render Zakat; all Muslims must perform these duties; there are no differences between them, and both shall be held accountable by God in the life of the here and after. `Whoever does deeds of righteousness, be they male or female, and have faith, they will enter paradise and not the least injustice will be done to them` Attitudes towards other Religions Muslims have a very open view to other religions, and they are the only religion that have kept strict to the instruction of their holy book. Muslims are given a duty to lead other people into their faith, and making people revert (Every human is born Muslim) back to Islam is very important and held in high regard, so much so that in one of the hadiths (lessons from the prophet) he says; `One who changes the faith of another towards Islam and helps him unto the righteous path, will be rewarded in heaven most greatly` Allah also said `Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews and the Pagans; and nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say, We are Christian`: because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world and they are not arrogant.` Islam also teaches that all people have the natural instinct to be Muslims- the term for this in Arabic (as mentioned before) is `fitrah`. People may be born into another religion, but this is due to the way they are brought up and the will of Allah, as he tests your strength and willpower (a.k.a as one’s `iman` in Arabic) If someone does convert back to Islam, they are reverting back to the religion into which they were born as. Allah also rewards those who turn back to Islam tremendously. Also to try and avoid any kind of conflict between Islam and those who follower other faiths, Allah did send down a message to Mohammed, clearly showing there is no wilful approach to any other religion for trouble or arguments. `Follow your path, let me follow mine and there shall be no conflict between us` Islam does not bring out clashes with other religions but only wishes for there to be peace. From the above quote it clearly states, the Muslim intention not to have any fight/conflict with those of any other religion. However should any Muslim be attacked by one of another religion they are permitted to fight back and to stand up for themselves as long as they are in the right. Forgiveness/Reconciliation Allah has granted human beings with intelligence, this intelligence demands responsibility. Therefore, the more intelligent a person is the more he/she is responsible. When the intelligence is missing, the responsibility is neither there. This also means that little children are not held responsible for their actions or words, because their intelligence has not developed. The insane are not responsible, because they have lost the rational capacity. However, part of us being Human, is also that we make mistakes, nobody’s perfect. Sometimes we make mistakes without thought and intention. But sometime we knowingly and deliberately commit sins and do wrong to others. It is said that `To err is human and to forgive is divine`. Both parts of this statement are very true. As human beings we are responsible, but we do also make mistakes and we are constantly in need of forgiveness. Two Types of forgiveness: * Forgiveness from Allah * Forgiveness from other people Both are important as we do wrong to both our God and towards other people. Allah’s Forgiveness Allah is the most forgiving, of all. There is a hadith recited by the prophet that talks about the mercy of Allah. `Allah has written down the good deeds and the bad ones. Then he explained it {by saying that} he who has intended a good deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended and has done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds to seven hundred times, or many times over. But if he has intended a bad deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down as one bad deed.` There are many names given to Allah in the Qur’an, some of these names are related to His mercy and forgiveness. Here are some of them, with their meanings. Al-Ghafoor: The most forgiving. This name appears in the Qur’an more than seventy times. There are other names from the same root, such as Ghafir and Ghaffar. The meaning of the `ghafara` is to cover, to hide and from it comes the meaning `to excuse`, `to pardon`, `to remit` and `to forgive`. Allah does all these things. In the Qur’an it is mentioned that Allah does not forgive however without `Shirk` repentance but he may forgive every other sin for whomsoever he wills. Al-Thawwab: The Acceptor of repentance. This name of Allah is mentioned in the Qur’an about eleven times. Allah accepts repentance of those who truthfully and whole- heartedly repent and turn to him. The word `thawwab` gives the sense of `often returning` which means that Allah again and again accepts out repentance and forgives us. We commit sins and mistakes then we repent and he forgives us, then we go and commit more sins and repent and accepts our repentance again and gives us another chance. The Qur’an teaches that Allah is a Judge and He also punishes but Allah is not bound to punish. The justice of Allah, according to Qur’an is that Allah does not and will not inflict undue punishment on any person. He will not ignore the good of any person, but if He wishes to forgive any sinner, He has the full freedom to do so, His mercy is unlimited as shown in the hadith above and his love infinite. Human Forgiveness in Islam: It is very important to believe in the mercy and forgiveness of Allah but it is also necessary to base relationships on forgiveness. We cannot expect Allah’s forgiveness unless we also forgive those who do wrong to us. Forgiving each other, even forgiving one’s enemies is one of the most important Islamic teachings. In the Qur’an Allah has described the believers as: `Those who avoid major sins and acts of indecencies are those who when they are angry they forgive. ` `The reward of the evil is the evil thereof, but whosoever forgives and makes amends, his reward is upon Allah. ` Even in another Hadith, the Prophet once said that Allah had commanded him nine things, one of which he mentioned was: `That I forgive those who do wrong to me` The Prophet of Islam was the most known truthful and especially forgiving man. He was always ready to forgive his enemies even the very worse ones. When he went to the town of Ta’if to preach the message of God with his adopted son Mahmood, its people mistreated him, they abused him and hit him with stones. He left the city upset and wounded, then when he took shelter under a tree; the angel of Allah visited him and told him that Allah sent him to destroy the people of Ta’if because of their sin of mistreating the prophet. The prophet [rayed to Allah to save the people of Ta’if, because what they did was out of their ignorance. He said, `Oh Allah, guide these people, because they did no know what they were doing. ` When he entered the city of Mecca after the victory, the Prophet had in front of him some his most terrible, hateful enemies. Those who had fought ruthlessly against him, plotted to kill him for many years, persecuted his followers and killed many of them. Now he had full power to do whatever he wanted, to punish them for their crimes. It is then described that the prophet asked them: `What do you think I shall do to you now? ` They pleaded for mercy The Prophet returned `Today I shall say to you what Prophet Yusuf (Joseph and his 11 brothers) said to his brothers, `No blame on you today. Go, you are all free. ` Such was his immense mercy that they all came to finally realise the greatness of Islam and accept it with their hearts. He even forgave the previous rulers wife Hind who had caused the murder of his uncle Hamza. After killing him she had his body cut open wide and chewed on his lever leaving him to bleed. Despite this atrocious crime, when she accepted Islam and submitted herself to Allah, the prophet still forgave her. Conclusion Overall, all in all in my total truthful opinion, I do believe that Islam the true words from Allah does promote equality among society. `O Mankind! I have created you from a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one from another. Verily, the most honourable of you in the sight of Allah is he who has the most taqwa among of you. Verily, Allah is All-knowing, All-Aware. ` With this verse, Islam declares its equality among people, that is because Islam respects a human for being a human not for any other reason; Islam does not distinguish between two races or two groups of people or between two colours and the Prophet Muhammad spoke to the people signifying that concept during his last pilgrimage, saying: `O People! Your God is one; your father is one; no preference of an Arab neither over non-Arab nor of a non-Arab over an Arab or red over black or black over red except for the most righteous. Verily the most honoured of you is the most righteous. ` Despite the teachings of our Lord and Prophet, these are all empty words if people do not listen to them and use them as their guides, and unfortunately when conflict does arise it is not because Muslims are fighting for their freedom in Jihad, No it is an extremely small minority of people who using Islam as a cover, go against the word of Allah and commit crimes. However, the majority of Muslims emphasize the equality in their religion, practically and theoretically. When all are praying whoever comes to the mosque 1st, can sit down in the front row regardless of his financial state or position and whoever comes last takes his place in the last row regardless of his position or importance. If you look along each row, one can see a diversity of people all kneeling down together sitting on the floor, the rich and poor, the knowledgeable and the unknowledgeable. There are no differences among these people as they are all the same in the sight of Allah, their direction during prayer, as well s their holy book, as their Lord is one and also their movements during the prayer follow one imam. Especially in Mecca and Medina, when hajj or umrah is performed, equality there is at its highest, everyone side by side all wearing the same clothes all bowing to the same God, only thing differing among them is the strength of their belief and the good they have done. An example of such was when some of the companions talked to Osama Bin Zaid, the favourite of Prophet Muhammad, to intervene for the sake of the well reputed woman from the Quraish tribe who deserved punishment for stealing (that is having her hand cut) Osama talked to the prophet, the prophet got angry and said: ` Those before you were districted, that is because the renowned is untouched when he steals, and the poor is punished, verily if Fatima (daughter of Muhammed) stole, I would have her hand cut. ` Islam is emphasizing the equality and applying it into the society since 1400 years ago, when during that time mankind used to suffer the worst distinction among people and individuals in culture and prepared the enslaving o humans. This is where the secret to Islam’s great real power, strength and past triumph lie. One is mistaken to think that Islam prevailed only because Muslims like dying in battles as others like to live, no!. Islam did not win through battles only, but because Islam is a complete unique guidance for life, unique in its rituals, beliefs, dealings and ethics and from all in all that is the religion of Allah. Â   Bibliography The holy qur’an the companions of the prophet book2 al-nawawi’s 40 hadiths Religion & equality booklet www.islamonline.net www.islam101.com www.bbc.co.uk/gcse/bitesize www.islamicforums.com