Animal Farm and A Modest Proposal Essay - 2687 Words

Animal Farm and A Modest Proposal Although Animal Farm and A Modest Proposal were written over two hundred years apart, and one is non-fiction and the other is not, there are distinct similarities between the two. Both of the pieces are political, with Animal Farm based on the Russian Revolution, and A Modest Proposal based on the situation of homelessness in Ireland. Also, both of the pieces are satirical. Animal Farm ridicules the ordinary Russian people for being gullible, and A Modest Proposal mocks politicians who ignore sensible suggestions and come up with extreme ones. In the build up to his speech, Old Major first clears his throat, to gain all of the animals attention. The fact that all he has to do is clear his†¦show more content†¦He says Man is the only real enemy we have. In the following two paragraphs, he plays on the animals emotions by scaring them individually. He mainly picks on the animals that are liked by the rest of the farm. He says You, Boxer, the very day those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knackers. This makes the other animals more afraid, as thoughts of their friends dying are being put in their minds, and they want to know what they can do to stop it happening. In the seventh paragraph of his speech, he develops the solution to their problems, by suggesting a rebellion, That is my message to you comrades: Rebellion! It is only when he has the audience on his side, that he mentions the rebellion. He has used persuasive techniques to channel their anger towards man, and told them how to solve this problem. In the next paragraph, he warns the animals to never falter, and never listen to anyone when they tell you that man and the animals have a common interest. By warning the animals, it will seem to them that he knows what is going to happen, and what to look out for. This again will make him seem wise. A fight breaks out in the audience, and we are once reminded of the respect that the animals have for Old Major, as he raises his trotter to silence the barn. This shows us that the animals will do what he says, and believe what he is telling them. In theShow MoreRelatedJonathan Swifts A Modest Proposal949 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"A Modest Proposal† by Jonathan Swift takes place in Dublin Ireland in the 18th century. The narrator is a very ironic character. His â€Å"modest† proposal is anything but modest. This short story takes place during a famine. Since there was a famine, Swift proposes the idea that people sell their one year old children to the rich so they would not be a burden to their family. One important way in which the author engages the audience’s attention and tries to help his readers see deeper politicalRead MoreSatire, The Enlightening Torch Of The Darkness1075 Words   |  5 Pagesthoughts and to morally and socially acceptable standards. Johnathan Swift, a modest proposal, shows us a world of hallucinatory reality. â€Å"Irish children should be bred and butchered for the English dining table, thus providing income for the poor and alleviating the misery of all† (Fiero 129) quote Swift, unfold a sarcasm scenes at that time England and Ireland were at loggerheads, Swift indented to materialized Irish boys as animals that can be â€Å"bred† and even â€Å"butchered† to become English men’s food.Read MoreA Modest Proposal For Preventing The Children Of Poor People1458 Words   |  6 Pagesin his works of literature is Jonathan Swift, whose hard-hitting essay â€Å"A Modest Proposal For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland, from Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick† is one of the most popular and analyzed texts within the world of satire, and truly makes one think about the art. One article that explores Swift’s u se of satire within â€Å"A Modest Proposal† is Paddy Bullord’s â€Å"The Scriblerian Mock-Arts† This essay delves deeplyRead More A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift Essay1480 Words   |  6 PagesA Modest Proposal A Modest Proposal is everything that a satirical story should be. It includes sarcasm and irony as Jonathan Swift takes us through a roller coaster ride to show us how the poor are treated miserably. The narrator begins by leading us down a path. He seems sincere and thinks it is a pity how everywhere you walk in the streets of Dublin you see the poor begging people for hand outs. He is seeking a solution to help the commonwealth. He appears to be a logicalRead MoreJonathan Swift s A Modest Proposal, And Thomas More s Utopia1584 Words   |  7 Pages Jonathan Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal,† and Thomas More’s Utopia both treat the poor, old, or sick similarly. Swift writes a mock proposal to eat the children of poor families, while More writes about an â€Å"ideal,† utopian society where the old and sick are told that they might as well just die. Both exaggerate the similarities between humans and animals in order to reveal to the public how they are treating these types of people in real life. The authors’ ideas are pushing how society deals with peopleRead MoreA Modest Proposal, by Jonathan Swift Essay733 Words   |  3 PagesJonathan Swift in his essay â€Å"A Modest Proposal† uses satire to attack governmental injustices and political abuse. He addresses Irish poverty and contends that the problem can be solved, and the economy saved by eating Irish babies. In the process, he emphasizes the number and extent of Irelands social ills and the indifference and neglect with which they h ave been treated. He talks about the abuses on Irish Catholics by English Protestants who owned farms where the poor Irish men worked and chargedRead MoreEssay about A Swift Change Is Imminent1714 Words   |  7 PagesAt a first glance, a misogynist’s paradise is apparent when perceiving Jonathan Swift’s The Lady’s Dressing Room and a cannibalistic one in A Modest Proposal. However, Swift’s intricate feelings do not depict Ireland’s crude social convention, but rather for Swift’s revolutionary vitriolic satire, which permeates humanity’s blindness through political stand points. By using grotesque metaphors, to open the figurative eyes of the public, Swift’s poetry forced society to analyze the ways of livingRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of A Modest Proposal722 Words   |  3 PagesA Modest Rhetorical Analysis Since its original publishing in 1729, Jonathan Swift’s pamphlet â€Å"A Modest Proposal† has endured for its rhetorical complexity (and sheer satirical absurdities). Through judicious use of ethos (ethical appeal), logos (logical appeal), and pathos (emotional appeal), Swift crafts a sarcastic, insincere, overly embellished argument to address Irelands food shortage and economic crisis meant to simultaneously entice and repulse readers. His audience is explicitly asked toRead MoreUsing Satire in A Modest Proposal† by Jonathan Swift760 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"A Modest Proposal† by Jonathan Swift, is an essay that uses satire. Merriam-Webster defines satire as: a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad, etc.: humor that shows the weaknesses or bad qualities of a person, government, society, etc. â€Å"Satire may make the reader laugh at, or feel disgust for, the person or thing satirized. Impishly or sardonically, it criticizes someone or something, using wit and clever wording—and sometimes makes outrageous assertions orRead MoreThe Problem Of Overpopulation And Overpopulation1102 Words   |  5 PagesMany of these Englishmen felt mistreated and wronged. Ireland was a colony to England. The people of England had more money and power than the people of Ireland because England controlled Ireland. Johnathon Swift, a satirical writer, wrote â€Å"A Modest Proposal† to show the flaws of the current solutions to the overpopulation and poverty crisis in Ireland. He wanted people of Ireland dismiss the current government issued plans and come up with their own solutions. He successfully accomplished his goal

The World s First Idea For A Credit Card - 1420 Words

In the year 1949, a businessman by the name of Frank McNamara, conceived the world’s first idea for a credit card. The idea was intended for when McNamara went out for an important diner. While he was out, he realized he had left his wallet at home and was unable to pay for the dinner so he needed something that could allow him to come back and pay for the balance later. Overtime McNamara’s credit card idea has evolved into an electronic way of making payments, we now use credit cards to purchase groceries at the local market and make payments online since handing cash through the Internet is virtually impossible. This small dinner idea was created for the purpose of basically generating and IOU for a man who forgot his money at home has†¦show more content†¦A centralized financial system is when a government assigns all economic responsibility to a specific entity within its branches of government. Some say the Federal Reserve is the most powerful entity withi n the United States government. Leaders within our government have the ability to manipulate the Dollar’s value in order to try and control the economy’s flow of goods and services. If the economy is seeing a spike in prices at the grocery store that means there is inflation and the Federal Reserve can withhold dollars from entering the system – creating a lower amount of available dollars to spend, ultimately increasing the value of the dollar and lowering the prices at the grocery store back down to normal. The value of the American dollar can be a very powerful tool when it comes to the government trying to balance the American economy, the Federal Reserve could use this same strategy to manipulate the financial system when it comes to the desired amount of goods being imported or exported between the United States and other nations.. This being said, the money in your pocket is susceptible to becoming trivial in the matter of hours, days, weeks, or months. T his has been seen before in the late 1970’s and earlyShow MoreRelatedShould The World Be Today? If There Was No Debt?1281 Words   |  6 Pageswould the world be today if there was no debt? Would things be better in the economy? The answer to this question is yes. Now, debt in the world has become a huge problem for the U.S. In the year of 1946, the first step into a world with debt would begin. This new creation would be the beginning of debt in the world. The invention of the credit card was a blessing, and also a curse for many. This invention would also be a huge breakthrough in how things were paid for. This one simple card would makeRead MoreVarious Types Of Credit Cards1315 Words   |  6 PagesVarious types of credit cards are available in the market. They have evolved from their early days into flexible financial tools for most types of spenders and savers. But with so many types of credit cards on offer it can be somewhat overwhelming. Few examples are Airline c redit card, Balance transfer credit card, cash rebate credit cards etc. How to choose the Right Card? There are literally tens of hundreds of credit cards on offer in the USA, and the list is growing daily. So, which isRead MoreCredit Card Fraud Should Be A Federal Offense1120 Words   |  5 Pages Abstract Credit card fraud is a federal offense and can get an offender up to 20 years in prison depending on the severity of the situation. Should it be a federal offense? Credit card fraud is becoming more and more relevant especially in the United States , matter of fact it increased by 16% in 2016 alone. This is a serious problem in today s society. The hypothesis that s being examined in this paper is that credit card fraud should be a federal offense. This has become a relevantRead MorePersonal Letter : Personal Banker912 Words   |  4 Pageseventually a credit card in my name without any cosigner. With this in mind before my 18th birthday, I research every bank from big banks such as Bank of America to little credit unions like Arizona Federal. I learn about the fees, how to avoid them, the advantages and disadvantages of a big bank and credit unions, credit reports, the different type of credit cards available and what the best way to obtain them is. Then at 18, I opened my first bank account and subsequently a credit card a couple monthsRead MoreAdvantages And Disadvantages Of Credit Card1055 Words   |  5 PagesHaving a credit card has many advantages and disadvantages to them. Some of the advantages might outweigh the disadvantages, or the disadvantages might outweigh the advantages. It’s all about looking out for the hidden fees or charges that some credit card companies that will do that for people. Some advantages of a credit card are: Conveniences, Build positive credit history, instant cash, and also purchase protection. A few disadvantages are Overuse, Paperwork, and deepening people s debt. CreditRead MoreDoes The Internet Make The World A Bigger Or Smaller Place?1688 Words   |  7 Pages Does the internet make the world a bigger or smaller place? Today, we live in a technologically based world in which almost everything we do is done through computer-based technology. Communication, marketing, and even transactions are all done through technology. The danger of having all of your information online is that once something is on the internet, it is permanent. Whether it be your home address, phone number, or simply pictures of you and your family, you can never really removeRead MoreWhy You Should Outlaw Credit And Debit Cards860 Words   |  4 Pagessalads and gym memberships, we tend to forget about our fiscal resolutions. Dieting can be quite an expensive lifestyle change. Luckily there s a diet out there that can kick-start your money resolutions! Why You Should Outlaw Credit and Debit Cards We are lucky to live in a society with easy and secure access to our money through the use of credit and debit cards. We re even given register books to manage the amount of money that goes in and out of our accounts on a daily basis. However, most peopleRead MoreTell Me About Yourself?862 Words   |  4 Pageseventually a credit card in my name without any cosigner. With this in mind before my 18th birthday, I research every bank from big banks such as Bank of America to little credit unions like Arizona Federal. I learn about the fees, how to avoid them, the advantages and disadvantages of a big bank and credit unions, credit reports, the different type of credit cards available and what the best way to obtain them is. Then at 18, I opened my first bank account and subsequently a credit card a couple monthsRead MoreTechnology And The Internet And Personal Smartphone Devices1270 Words   |  6 Pagesinto three types. First and foremost, there are the commonly known devices that a re connected to the open internet like a smartphone or standard PC. Next, there are devices pertaining to the transfer of sensitive information like ATM’s, store transactions, or anything requiring the use of a credit/debit card. Lastly, there are the networks of communication like a standard car radio or GPS device. All of these devices work to â€Å"[connect] about 2.7 billion people around the world† (Goutam 14). Not toRead MoreDebit Card And Debit Cards Fraud Essay1513 Words   |  7 PagesHistory 3. Types of debit cards 4. How do Debit cards work? 5. Advantages of debit cards 6. Disadvantages of debit cards 7. Ways to protect from debit cards fraud 8. Conclusion and future scope 9. Bibliography Introduction According to Wikipedia â€Å"A debit card also known as a bank card or check card is a plastic payment card that can be used instead of cash when making purchases. It is similar to a credit card, but unlike a credit card, the money comes directly from the user s bank account when performing

Real World Free Essays

string(89) " for online booking of airline and railway tickets and for other ecommerce transactions\." Real world cyber crime cases This document is an extract from the book Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective authored by Rohas Nagpal. This book is available as courseware for the Diploma in Cyber Law and PG Program in Cyber Law conducted by Asian School of Cyber Laws www. asianlaws. We will write a custom essay sample on Real World or any similar topic only for you Order Now org Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. Real World Cases This chapter serves as a ready reference guide. First the various scenarios are covered. A detailed discussion on the various cyber crimes, is covered in the ASCL publication titled â€Å"Understanding Hackers and Cyber Criminals†. This is provided as official courseware for the ASCL Certified Cyber Crime Investigator course. Then the applicable law and legal liabilities are covered. Then the modus operandi usually followed by the criminals is discussed. The investigation guidelines for cyber crime investigators are not discussed in this book as they are part of the syllabus of the ASCL Certified Cyber Crime Investigator course only. For real world case studies on investigation of cyber crimes, please refer to the ASCL publication titled â€Å"Case Studies on Cyber Crime Investigation†. This is provided as official courseware for the ASCL Certified Cyber Crime Investigator course. – 130 –  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 1 Orkut Fake Profile cases Orkut. com is a very popular online community and social networking website. Orkut users can search for and interact with people who share the same hobbies and interests. They can create and join a wide variety of online communities. The profiles of Orkut members are publicly viewable. The scenarios 1. A fake profile of a woman is created on Orkut. The profile displays her correct name and contact information (such as address, residential phone number, cell phone number etc). Sometimes it even has her photograph. The problem is that the profile describes her as a prostitute or a woman of â€Å"loose character† who wants to have sexual relations with anyone. Other Orkut members see this profile and start calling her at all hours of the day asking for sexual favours. This leads to a lot of harassment for the victim and also defames her in society. 2. An online hate community is created. This community displays objectionable information against a particular country, religious or ethnic group or even against national leaders and historical figures. 3. A fake profile of a man is created on Orkut. The profile contains defamatory information abut the victim (such as his alleged sexual weakness, alleged immoral character etc) The law Scenario 1: Section 67 of Information Technology Act and section 509 of the Indian Penal Code. Scenario 2: Section 153A and 153B of Indian Penal Code. Scenario 3: Section 500 of Indian Penal Code. Who is liable? Scenario 1: Directors of Orkut as well as all those who create and update the fake profile. Scenario 2: Same as Scenario 1. Scenario 3: Same as Scenario 1.  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. – 131 – Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective The motive Scenario 1: Jealousy or revenge (e. g. the victim may have rejected the advances made by the suspect). Scenario 2: Desire to cause racial hatred (e. g. Pakistani citizens creating an anti-India online community). Scenario 3: Hatred (e. g. a school student who has failed may victimize his teachers). Modus Operandi 1. The suspect would create a free Gmail account using a fictitious name. 2. The email ID chosen by him would be unrelated to his real identity. 3. The suspect would then login to Orkut. com and create the offensive profile. – 132 –  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 2 Email Account Hacking Emails are increasingly being used for social interaction, business communication and online transactions. Most email account holders do not take basic precautions to protect their email account passwords. Cases of theft of email passwords and subsequent misuse of email accounts are becoming very common. The scenarios 1. The victim’s email account password is stolen and the account is then misused for sending out malicious code (virus, worm, Trojan etc) to people in the victim’s address book. The recipients of these viruses believe that the email is coming from a known person and run the attachments. This infects their computers with the malicious code. 2. The victim’s email account password is stolen and the hacker tries to extort money from the victim. The victim is threatened that if he does not pay the money, the information contained in the emails will be misused. 3. The victim’s email account password is stolen and obscene emails are sent to people in the victim’s address book. The law Scenario 1: Sections 43 and 66 of Information Technology Act. Scenario 2: Sections 43 and 66 of Information Technology Act and section 384 of Indian Penal Code. Scenario 3: Sections 43, 66 and 67 of Information Technology Act and section 509 of the Indian Penal Code. Who is liable? Scenario 1: Persons who have stolen the email account password and who are misusing the email account. Scenario 2: Persons who have stolen the email account password and who are threatening to misuse it.  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. – 133 – Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective Scenario 3: Persons who have stolen the email account password and who are misusing the email account. The motive Scenario 1: Corporate Espionage, perverse pleasure in being able to destroy valuable information belonging to strangers etc. Scenario 2: Illegal financial gain. Scenario 3: Revenge, jealousy, hatred. Modus Operandi 1. The suspect would install keyloggers in public computers (such as cyber cafes, airport lounges etc) or the computers of the victim. 2. Unsuspecting victims would login to their email accounts using these infected computers. 3. The passwords of the victim’s email accounts would be emailed to the suspect. – 134 –  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 3 Credit Card Fraud Credit cards are commonly being used for online booking of airline and railway tickets and for other ecommerce transactions. You read "Real World" in category "Papers" Although most of ecommerce websites have implemented strong security measures (such as SSL, secure web servers etc), instances of credit card frauds are increasing. The scenario The victim’s credit card information is stolen and misused for making online purchases (e. g. airline tickets, software, subscription to pornographic websites etc). The law Sections 43 and 66 of Information Technology Act and section 420 of Indian Penal Code. Who is liable? All persons who have stolen the credit card information as well as those who have misused it. The motive Illegal financial gain. Modus Operandi Scenario 1: The suspect would install keyloggers in public computers (such as cyber cafes, airport lounges etc) or the computers of the victim. Unsuspecting victims would use these infected computers to make online transactions. The credit card information of the victim would be emailed to the suspect. Scenario 2: Petrol pump attendants, workers at retail outlets, hotel waiters etc note down information of the credit cards used for making payment at these establishments. This information is sold to criminal gangs that misuse it for online frauds. 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. – 135 – Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 4 Online Share Trading Fraud With the advent of dematerialization of shares in India, it has become mandatory for investors to have demat accounts. In most cases an online banking account is linked with the share trading account. This has led to a high number of online share trading frauds. The scenario S cenario 1: The victim’s account passwords are stolen and his accounts are misused for making fraudulent bank transfers. Scenario 2: The victim’s account passwords are stolen and his share trading accounts are misused for making unauthorised transactions that result in the victim making losses. The law Scenario 1: Sections 43 and 66 of Information Technology Act and section 420 of Indian Penal Code. Scenario 2: Sections 43 and 66 of Information Technology Act and section 426 of Indian Penal Code. Who is liable? Scenario 1: All persons who have stolen the account information as well as those who have misused it. Scenario 2: All persons who have stolen the account information as well as those who have misused it. The motive Scenario 1: Illegal financial gain Scenario 2: Revenge, jealousy, hatred Modus Operandi Scenario 1: The suspect would install keyloggers in public computers (such as cyber cafes, airport lounges etc) or the computers of the victim. Unsuspecting victims would use these infected computers to login to their online banking and share trading accounts. The passwords and other information of the victim would be emailed to the suspect. Scenario 2: Same as scenario 1. – 136  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 3. 5 Tax Evasion and Money Laundering Many unscrupulous businessmen and money launderers (havala operators) are using virtual as well as physical storage media for hiding information and records of their illicit business. The scenario Scenario 1: The suspect uses physical storage media for hiding the information e. g. hard drives, floppies, USB drives, mobile phone memory cards, digital camera memory car ds, CD ROMs, DVD ROMs, iPods etc. Scenario 2: The suspect uses virtual storage media for hiding the information e. g. mail accounts, online briefcases, FTP sites, Gspace etc. The law Scenario 1: Depending upon the case, provisions of the Income Tax Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act will apply. Scenario 2: Depending upon the case, provisions of the Income Tax Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act will apply. Who is liable? Scenario 1: information. The person who hides the Scenario 2: The person who hides the information. If the operators of the virtual storage facility do not cooperate in the investigation, then they also become liable. The motive Scenario 1: Illegal financial gain Scenario 2: Illegal financial gain Modus Operandi Scenario 1: The suspect would purchase small storage devices with large data storage capacities. Scenario 2: The suspect would open free or paid accounts with online storage providers.  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. – 137 – Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 6 Source Code Theft Computer source code is the most important asset of software companies. Simply put, source code is the programming instructions that are compiled into the executable files that are sold by software development companies. As is expected, most source code thefts take place in software companies. Some cases are also reported in banks, manufacturing companies and other organisations who get original software developed for their use. The scenario Scenario 1: The suspect (usually an employee of the victim) steals the source code and sells it to a business rival of the victim. Scenario 2: The suspect (usually an employee of the victim) steals the source code and uses it as a base to make and sell his own version of the software. The law Scenario 1: Sections 43, 65 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, section 63 of the Copyright Act. Scenario 2: Sections 43, 65 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, section 63 of the Copyright Act. Who is liable? Scenario 1: The persons who steal the source code as well as the persons who purchase the stolen source code. Scenario 2: The persons who steal the source code. The motive Scenario 1: Illegal financial gain. Scenario 2: Illegal financial gain. Modus Operandi Scenario 1: If the suspect is an employee of the victim, he would usually have direct or indirect access to the source code. He would steal a copy of the source code and hide it using a virtual or physical storage device. – 138 – 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective If the suspect is not an employee of the victim, he would hack into the victim’s servers to steal the source code. Or he would use social engineering to get unauthorised access to the code. He would then contact potential buyers to make the sale. Scenario 2: If the suspec t is an employee of the victim, he would usually have direct or indirect access to the source code. He would steal a copy of the source code and hide it using a virtual or physical storage device. If the suspect is not an employee of the victim, e would hack into the victim’s servers to steal the source code. Or he would use social engineering to get unauthorised access to the code. He would then modify the source code (either himself or in association with other programmers) and launch his own software.  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. – 139 – Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 7 Theft of Confidential Information Most business organisations store their sensitive information in computer systems. This information is targeted by rivals, criminals and sometimes disgruntled employees. The scenario Scenario 1: A business rival obtains the information (e. g. tender quotations, business plans etc) using hacking or social engineering. He then uses the information for the benefit of his own business (e. g. quoting lower rates for the tender). Scenario 2: A criminal obtains the information by hacking or social engineering and threatens to make the information public unless the victim pays him some money. Scenario 3: A disgruntled employee steals the information and mass mails it to the victim’s rivals and also posts it to numerous websites and newsgroups. The law Scenario 1: Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, section 426 of Indian Penal Code. Scenario 2: Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, section 384 of Indian Penal Code. Scenario 3: Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, section 426 of Indian Penal Code. Who is liable? Scenario 1: The persons who steal the information as well as the persons who misuse the stolen information. Scenario 2: The persons who steal the information as well as the persons who threaten the victim and extort money. Scenario 3: The disgruntled employee as well as the persons who help him in stealing and distributing the information. The motive Scenario 1: Illegal financial gain. Scenario 2: Illegal financial gain. Scenario3: Revenge. – 140  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective Modus Operandi Scenario 1: The suspect could hire a skilled hacker to break into the victim systems. The hacker could also use social engineering techniques. Illustration: A very good looking woman went to meet the system administrator (sysadmin) of a large company. She interviewed the sysadmin for a â€Å"magazine article†. During the interview she flirted a lot with the sysadmin and while leaving she â€Å"accidentally† left her pen drive at the sysadmin’s room. The sysadmin accessed the pen drive and saw that it contained many photographs of the lady. He did not realize that the photographs were Trojanized! Once the Trojan was in place, a lot of sensitive information was stolen very easily. Illustration: The sysadmin of a large manufacturing company received a beautifully packed CD ROM containing â€Å"security updates† from the company that developed the operating system that ran his company’s servers. He installed the â€Å"updates† which in reality were Trojanized software. For 3 years after that a lot of confidential information was stolen from the company’s systems! Scenario 2: Same as scenario 1. Scenario 3: The disgruntled employee would usually have direct or indirect access to the information. He can use his personal computer or a cyber cafe to spread the information.  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. – 141 – Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 8 Software Piracy Many people do not consider software piracy to be theft. They would never steal a rupee from someone but would not think twice before using pirated software. There is a common perception amongst normal computer users to not consider software as â€Å"property†. This has led to software piracy becoming a flourishing business. The scenario Scenario 1: The software pirate sells the pirated software in physical media (usually CD ROMs) through a close network of dealers. Scenario 2: The software pirate sells the pirated software through electronic downloads through websites, bulletin boards, newsgroups, spam emails etc. The law Scenario 1: Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, section 63 of Copyright Act. Scenario 2: Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, section 63 of Copyright Act. Who is liable? Scenario 1: The software pirate as well as the persons who buy the pirated software from him. Scenario 2: The software pirate as well as the persons who buy the pirated software from him. The motive Scenario 1: Illegal financial gain. Scenario 2: Illegal financial gain. Modus Operandi Scenario 1: The suspect uses high speed CD duplication equipment to create multiple copies of the pirated software. This software is sold through a network of computer hardware and software vendors. Scenario 2: The suspect registers a domain name using a fictitious name and then hosts his website using a service provider that is based in a country that does not have cyber laws. Such service providers do not divulge client information to law enforcement officials of other countries. – 142  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 9 Music Piracy Many people do not consider music piracy to be theft. They would never steal a rupee from someone but would not think twice before buying or using pirated music. There is a common perception amongst people users to not consider music as â€Å"property†. There is a huge business in music piracy. Thousands of unscrupulous businessmen sell pirated music at throw away prices. The scenario Scenario 1: The music pirate sells the pirated music in physical media (usually CD ROMs) through a close network of dealers. Scenario 2: The music pirate sells the pirated music through electronic downloads through websites, bulletin boards, newsgroups, spam emails etc. The law Scenario 1: Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, section 63 of Copyright Act. Scenario 2: Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, section 63 of Copyright Act. Who is liable? Scenario 1: The music pirate as well as the persons who buy the pirated software from him. Scenario 2: The music pirate as well as the persons who buy the pirated software from him. The motive Scenario 1: Illegal financial gain. Scenario 2: Illegal financial gain. Modus Operandi Scenario 1: The suspect uses high speed CD duplication equipment to create multiple copies of the pirated music. This music is sold through a network of dealers. Scenario 2: The suspect registers a domain name using a fictitious name and then hosts his website using a service provider that is based in a country that does not have cyber laws. Such service providers do not divulge client information to law enforcement officials of other countries.  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. – 143 – Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 10 Email Scams Emails are fast emerging as one of the most common methods of communication in the modern world. As can be expected, criminals are also using emails extensively for their illicit activities. The scenario In the first step, the suspect convinces the victim that the victim is going to get a lot of money (by way of winning a lottery or from a corrupt African bureaucrat who wants to transfer his ill gotten gains out of his home country). In order to convince the victim, the suspect sends emails (some having official looking documents as attachments). Once the victim believes this story, the suspect asks for a small fee to cover legal expenses or courier charges. If the victim pays up the money, the suspect stops all contact. The law Section 420 of Indian Penal Code Who is liable? The sender of the email. The motive Illegal financial gain. Modus Operandi The suspect creates email accounts in fictitious names and sends out millions of fraudulent emails using powerful spam software. – 144 –  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 11 Phishing With the tremendous increase in the use of online banking, online share trading and ecommerce, there has been a corresponding growth in the ncidents of phishing being used to carry out financial frauds. Phishing involves fraudulently acquiring sensitive information (e. g. passwords, credit card details etc) by masquerading as a trusted entity. The scenario Scenario 1: The victim receives an email that appears to have been sent from his bank. The email urges the victim to click on the link in the email. When the victim does so, he is taken to â€Å"a secure page on the bank’s website†. The victim believes the web page to be authentic and he enters his username, password and other information. In reality, the website is a fake and the victim’s information is stolen and misused. The law Sections 43 and 66 of Information Technology Act and sections 419, 420 and 468 of Indian Penal Code. Who is liable? All persons involved in creating and sending the fraudulent emails and creating and maintaining the fake website. The persons who misuse the stolen or â€Å"phished† information are also liable. The motive Illegal financial gain. Modus Operandi The suspect registers a domain name using fictitious details. The domain name is usually such that can be misused for spoofing e. g. Noodle Bank has its website at www. oodle. com The suspects can target Noodle customers using a domain name like www. noodle-bank-customerlogin. com The suspect then sends spoofed emails to the victims. e. g. the emails may appear to come from info@noodle. com The fake website is designed to look exactly like the original website.  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. – 145 †“ Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 12 Cyber Pornography Cyber pornography is believed to be one of the largest businesses on the Internet today. The millions of pornographic websites that flourish on the Internet are testimony to this. While pornography per se is not illegal in many countries, child pornography is strictly illegal in most nations today. Cyber pornography includes pornographic websites, pornographic magazines produced using computers (to publish and print the material) and the Internet (to download and transmit pornographic pictures, photos, writings etc). The scenario The suspect accepts online payments and allows paying customers to view / download pornographic pictures, videos etc from his website. The law Section 67 of Information Technology Act. Who is liable? The persons who create and maintain the pornographic websites are liable. In some cases cyber cafe owners and managers may also be liable in case they knowingly allow their customers to access the pornographic websites. The motive Illegal financial gain. Modus Operandi The suspect registers a domain name using fictitious details and hosts a website on a server located in a country where cyber pornography is not illegal. The suspect accepts online payments and allows paying customers to view / download pornographic pictures, videos etc from his website. – 146 –  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 3 Online Sale of Illegal Articles It is becoming increasingly common to find cases where sale of narcotics drugs, weapons, wildlife etc. is being facilitated by the Internet. Information about the availability of the products for sale is being posted on auction websites, bulletin boards etc. The scenario The suspect posts information about the illegal sale that he seeks to make. Po tential customers can contact the seller using the email IDs provided. If the buyer and seller trust each other after their email and / or telephonic conversation, the actual transaction can be concluded. In most such cases the buyer and seller will meet face to face at the time of the final transaction. Illustration: In March 2007, the Pune rural police cracked down on an illegal rave party and arrested hundreds of illegal drug users. The social networking site, Orkut. com, is believed to be one of the modes of communication for gathering people for the illegal â€Å"drug† party. The law Depending upon the illegal items being transacted in, provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, Arms Act, Indian Penal Code, Wildlife related laws etc may apply. Who is liable? The persons who buy and sell these items. The motive Illegal financial gain. Modus Operandi The suspect creates an email ID using fictitious details. He then posts messages, about the illegal products, in various chat rooms, bulletin boards, newsgroups etc. Potential customers can contact the seller using the email IDs provided. If the buyer and seller trust each other after their email and / or telephonic conversation, the actual transaction can be concluded. In most such cases the buyer and seller will meet face to face at the time of the final transaction.  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. 147 – Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 14 Use of Internet and Computers by Terrorists Many terrorists are using virtual as well as physical storage media for hiding information and records of their illicit business. They also use emails and chat rooms to communicate with their counterparts around the globe. The scenario The suspects carry laptops wh erein information relating to their activities is stored in encrypted and password protected form. They also create email accounts using fictitious details. In many cases, one email account is shared by many people. E. g. one terrorist composes an email and saves it in the draft folder. Another terrorist logs into the same account from another city / country and reads the saved email. He then composes his reply and saves it in the draft folder. The emails are not actually sent. This makes email tracking and tracing almost impossible. Terrorists also use physical storage media for hiding the information e. g. hard drives, floppies, USB drives, mobile phone memory cards, digital camera memory cards, CD ROMs, DVD ROMs, iPods etc. They also use virtual storage media for hiding the information e. g. mail accounts, online briefcases, FTP sites, Gspace etc. The law Terrorists are covered by conventional laws such as Indian Penal Code and special legislation relating to terrorism. Who is liable? Terrorists as well as those who help them to protect their information are liable. If email service providers do not assist the law enforcement personnel in the investigation then they are also legally liable. T he motive Keeping terrorism related information confidential. Secure communication amongst terrorist group members. Modus Operandi The terrorists purchase small storage devices with large data storage capacities. They also purchase and use encryption software. The terrorists may also use free or paid accounts with online storage providers. – 148  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 23. 15 Virus Attacks Computer viruses are malicious programs that destroy electronic information. As the world is increasingly becoming networked, the threat and damage caused by viruses is growing by leaps and bounds. The scenario Scenario 1: The virus is a general â€Å"in the wild† virus. This means that it is spreading all over the world and is not targeted at any specific organisation. Scenario 2: The virus targets a particular organisation. This type of a virus is not known to anti-virus companies as it is a new virus created specifically to target a particular organisation. The law Scenario 1: Sections 43 and 66 of Information Technology Act and section 426 of Indian Penal Code. Scenario 2: Sections 43 and 66 of Information Technology Act and section 426 of Indian Penal Code. Who is liable? Scenario 1: The creator of the virus. Scenario 2: The creator of the virus as well as the buyer who purchases the virus (usually to target his business rivals). The motive Scenario 1: Thrill and a perverse pleasure in destroying data belonging to strangers. Scenario 2: Illegal business rivalry. financial gain, revenge, Modus Operandi Scenario 1: A highly skilled programmer creates a new type or strain of virus and releases it on the Internet so that it can spread all over the world. Being a new virus, it goes undetected by many anti-virus software and hence is able to spread all over the world and cause a lot of damage. Anti-virus companies are usually able to find a solution within 8 to 48 hours.  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. 149 – Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective Scenario 2: A highly skilled programmer creates a new type or strain of virus. He does not release it on the Internet. Instead he sells it for a huge amount of money. The buyer uses the virus to target his rival company. Being a new virus, it may be undetected by the victim company’s anti-virus software and hence would be able to cause a lot of damage. Anti-virus companies may never get to know about the existence of the virus. – 150 –  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. Cyber Crime Digital Evidence – Indian Perspective 3. 16 Web Defacement Website defacement is usually the substitution of the original home page of a website with another page (usually pornographic or defamatory in nature) by a hacker. Religious and government sites are regularly targeted by hackers in order to display political or religious beliefs. Disturbing images and offensive phrases might be displayed in the process, as well as a signature of sorts, to show who was responsible for the defacement. Websites are not only defaced for political reasons, many defacers do it just for the thrill. The scenario The homepage of a website is replaced with a pornographic or defamatory page. In case of Government websites, this is most commonly done on symbolic days (e. g. the Independence day of the country). The law Sections 43 and 66 of Information Technology Act [In some cases section 67 and 70 may also apply]. Who is liable? The person who defaces the website. The motive Thrill or a perverse pleasure in inciting communal disharmony. Modus Operandi The defacer may exploit the vulnerabilities of the operating system or applications used to host the website. This will allow him to hack into the web server and change the home page and other pages. Alternatively he may launch a brute force or dictionary attack to obtain the administrator passwords for the website. He can then connect to the web server and change the webpages.  © 2008 Rohas Nagpal. All rights reserved. – 151 – www. asianlaws. org Head Office 6th Floor, Pride Senate, Behind Indiabulls Mega Store, Senapati Bapat Road, Pune – 411016. India Contact Numbers +91-20-25667148 +91-20-40033365 +91-20-64000000 +91-20-64006464 Email: info@asianlaws. org URL: www. asianlaws. org How to cite Real World, Papers

A revelation of love Essay Example For Students

A revelation of love Essay This is something typical of Medieval beliefs: we are reminded of Gawains pentangle with its five interlocking virtues, but Julian seems to take this further in that one image does not only exist alongside another, but one follows on from another in a chain of images and associations that traces the path from the physical to the spiritual, from bodily to gostly sight. The vision of the bleeding head prompts a response based in language from Julian: And as long as I saw this sight of the plentious bleding of the hede I might never stinte of these words: Benedicite domine! But it is the connection of the visual images that is so fascinating. She understands vi things from the shewing. The first is the toknys of the blissid passion and the plentious shedding of his pretious blood and having contemplated this moves to the maiden that is derworthy and moder, then the blissful Godhede. The images get progressively less physical moving from the visible mortal body of Christ to his mother who conceived immaculately, to God himself. The next three images dwell on the creations of God, that he hath made althing, that he made althing for love and that God is althing that is good. Julian begins with the physical seeing of the body of Christ, and uses this as a platform from which to meditate on aspects of God and his relationship with his communications that have nothing to do with the bodily or the physical. This is perhaps related to the way in which seeing itself was thought to work in the Middle Ages. Images from the eyes were believed to bombard the front part of the brain, the Common Sense, and then move to the Imagination, which impresses these images on the brain. To apply this to Julians vision, Christs bleeding body is in the Common Sense, and the subsequent connected images derive from the Imagination: the bodily sight leads to ghostly sight. At the same time as worshipping the mortal body of Christ, Julian is starkly aware of the frailty and insubstantiality of the human body. Her own bodily sight even prevents her from seeing the visions clearly enough: This I saw bodily, swemely and derkely, and I desired more bodily sight to have sene more clerely. But first bihoveth me to tellen you as anempt my febilnes, my wretchidnes and blindnes. Julian sees the body as weighing her down, holding her back from achieving true communion with God: we be so borne doun be weyte of our dedly flesh and derkhede of synne that we may not sen our lord God clerly in his faire blissful chere. Perhaps the limitation of the body that Julian feels most keenly is that of blindness, and this is due to the implicit connection in the Middle Ages and indeed today between seeing and knowing. Julian lived at a time when sight was the most important of the senses, and any act of seeing involved entering into a relationship with that which is seen. For Julian, looking at an image of Christ involves in some way letting Christ into her; by viewing his body in the passion she is entering a dialogue, becoming closer to him in a way that transcends words and follows an unbroken path between seeing, understanding and knowing. As well as the suffering body of Christ, Julian also imagines the body of Christ as nourishing and sustaining us in the way a mother suckles her child: The moder may geven hir child soken her mylke, but our pretious moder Iesus, he may feydn us with himselfe The moder may leyn the child tenderly to her brest but our tender moder Iesus, he may homely leden us into his blissid brest be his swete open syde, and shewyn therein partly of the Godhede and ioys of hevyn, with gostly sikernes of endless blisse This image of Christ as a mother with all its female and tender associations is another insight into the way in which the Medieval mind imagined the relationship between Christ and his people. .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd , .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd .postImageUrl , .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd , .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd:hover , .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd:visited , .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd:active { border:0!important; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd:active , .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ub79e12f57850ed5ef617aa197da447dd:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Lonely Characters in Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is set during the 1930s about the time of the American depression EssayChrists bleeding body during the passion was seen as in some way connected to the female body, which was seen as more open than the male body. The dividing and segmenting of Christs wounds isolated the swete open wound in his side as being specifically female, and the language here describes Christ as being almost pregnant in his encompassing of the Godhede and ioys of hevyn. For Julian there is a trinity of types of understanding: I beheld it as one in Gods menyng. All this was shewed by thre: that is to sey, be bodily sight and by word formyd in my understondyng and be gostly sight. Julian repeats this idea later on: All the blissid teching of our lord God was shewid be iii partes: that is to sey, be bodily syte, and by word foryd in myn understondyng, and be gostly syte. For the bodily seyte, I have seid as I saw as trewely as I can; and for the words, I have seid them rith as our lord shewid them to me; and for the gostly syte, I have seid sumdele, but I may never full tellen it, and therefore of this syte I am sterrid to sey more as God will give me grace. In this instance Julian seems to imply a hierarchy, with bodily sight the lowest or first of the levels of understanding, followed by word formed in my understanding and then gostly sight, which is seen as something god-given, perhaps stemming from the Holy Ghost. The relationship of these different kinds of sight to the body comes full circle through the depth of understanding allowed by gostly sight. So intense is the connection it creates, that the body reacts physically to reflect what it sees: for which paynys I saw that all is to litel that I can sey, for it may not be told. The which shewing of Cristes peynys filled me ful of payne. This physicality of communication with God is often described in terms of physical ecstasy, the blissful touching of the Holy Spirit . The experience of some Saints such as Teresa of Avila also reflect this sense of a definite union with God that, although located in the physical, transcends all bodily senses to reach a spiritual climax. Ultimately the writings of Julian of Norwich highlight the complexity of describing, whether through words or through images, the relationship between God and mortals. The body is represented as the word incarnate, as a feeble vessel for Gods love, as the focus and centre of Christs sacrifice for us and as the medium through which we can attempt to express our connection from that which is so far removed from the physical, yet which can affect us in extremely intense and physical ways. Sight can be a direct path from what we look at to what we understand, or it can be involved in a much more complicated system of seeing and not seeing, bodily sight and gostly blindness or vice versa. Julian can only put across these ideas through an imperfect medium, but one which she handles skilfully. Ultimately, the very process by which words are understood may act as a metaphor for the experience to which they relate. 4 1 Marion Glasscoe, Introduction to Julian of Norwich, A Revelation of Love 2 Marion Glasscoe, Introduction to Julian of Norwich, A Revelation of Love 3 Marion Glasscoe, Introduction, Julian of Norwich A Revelation of Love 4 Marion Glasscoe, Introduction to Julian of Norwich, A Revelation of Love.

A Review And Summary Of The First Three Chapters Of Howard Zinns A Peo

A review and summary of the first three chapters of Howard Zinn's A People's History... The Zen of Zinn: A look at the first 3 chapters of A People's History of the US Dr. Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States might be better titled A Proletarian's History of the United States. In the first three chapters Zinn looks at not only the history of the conquerors, rulers, and leaders; but also the history of the enslaved, the oppressed, and the led. Like any American History book covering the time period of 1492 until the early 1760's, A People's History tells the story of the ?discovery? of America, early colonization by European powers, the governing of these colonies, and the rising discontent of the colonists towards their leaders. Zinn, however, stresses the role of a number of groups and ideas that most books neglect or skim over: the plight of the Native Americans that had their numbers reduced by up to 90% by European invasion, the equality of these peoples in m any regards to their European counterparts, the importation of slaves into America and their unspeakable travel conditions and treatment, the callous buildup of the agricultural economy around these slaves, the discontented colonists whose plight was ignored by the ruling bourgeoisie, and most importantly, the rising class and racial struggles in America that Zinn correctly credits as being the root of many of the problems that we as a nation have today. It is refreshing to see a book that spends space based proportionately around the people that lived this history. When Columbus arrived on the Island of Haiti, there were 39 men on board his ships compared to the 250,000 Indians on Haiti. If the white race accounts for less than two hundredths of one percent of the island's population, it is only fair that the natives get more than the two or three sentences that they get in most history books. Zinn cites population figures, first person accounts, and his own interpretation of their effects to create an accurate and fair depiction of the first two and a half centuries of European life on the continent of North America. The core part of any history book is obviously history. In the first three chapters of the book, Zinn presents the major historical facts of the first 250 years of American history starting from when Christopher Columbus's Ni?a, Pinta, and Santa Maria landed in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492. It was there that Europeans and Native Americans first came into contact; the Arawak natives came out to greet the whites, and the whites were only interested in finding the gold. From the Bahamas, Columbus sailed to Cuba and Hispa?ola, the present-day home of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. One-hundred fifteen years later and 1,500 miles to the north, the colony of Jamestown was founded by a group of English settlers led by John Smith; shortly after that the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by a group of Puritans known to us today as the Pilgrim s. Because of uneasy and hostile relations with the nearby Pequot Indians, the Pequot War soon started between the colonists and the natives. Needless to say, the colonists won, but it was at the expense of several dozen of their own and thousands of Pequots. But despite Indian conflict, exposure, starvation, famine, disease, and other hardships, the English kept coming to America. In 1619 they were settled enough that they started bringing African slaves into the middle colonies. Before resorting to Africans, the colonists had tried to subdue the Indians, but that idea failed before it was created. Zinn writes: ?They couldn't force the Indians to work for them, as Columbus had done. They were outnumbered, and while, with superior firearms, they could massacre the Indians, they would face massacre in return. They could not capture them and keep them enslaved; the Indians were tough, resourceful, defiant, and at home in these woods, as the transplanted Englishmen were not. ?W hite servants had not yet been brought over in sufficient quantity.... As for free white settlers, many of them were skilled craftsmen, or even men of leisure back in England, who were so little A Review And Summary Of The First Three Chapters Of Howard Zinns A Peo A review and summary of the first three chapters of Howard Zinn's A People's History... The Zen of Zinn: A look at the first 3 chapters of A People's History of the US Dr. Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States might be better titled A Proletarian's History of the United States. In the first three chapters Zinn looks at not only the history of the conquerors, rulers, and leaders; but also the history of the enslaved, the oppressed, and the led. Like any American History book covering the time period of 1492 until the early 1760's, A People's History tells the story of the ?discovery? of America, early colonization by European powers, the governing of these colonies, and the rising discontent of the colonists towards their leaders. Zinn, however, stresses the role of a number of groups and ideas that most books neglect or skim over: the plight of the Native Americans that had their numbers reduced by up to 90% by European invasion, the equality of these peoples in m any regards to their European counterparts, the importation of slaves into America and their unspeakable travel conditions and treatment, the callous buildup of the agricultural economy around these slaves, the discontented colonists whose plight was ignored by the ruling bourgeoisie, and most importantly, the rising class and racial struggles in America that Zinn correctly credits as being the root of many of the problems that we as a nation have today. It is refreshing to see a book that spends space based proportionately around the people that lived this history. When Columbus arrived on the Island of Haiti, there were 39 men on board his ships compared to the 250,000 Indians on Haiti. If the white race accounts for less than two hundredths of one percent of the island's population, it is only fair that the natives get more than the two or three sentences that they get in most history books. Zinn cites population figures, first person accounts, and his own interpretation of their effects to create an accurate and fair depiction of the first two and a half centuries of European life on the continent of North America. The core part of any history book is obviously history. In the first three chapters of the book, Zinn presents the major historical facts of the first 250 years of American history starting from when Christopher Columbus's Ni?a, Pinta, and Santa Maria landed in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492. It was there that Europeans and Native Americans first came into contact; the Arawak natives came out to greet the whites, and the whites were only interested in finding the gold. From the Bahamas, Columbus sailed to Cuba and Hispa?ola, the present-day home of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. One-hundred fifteen years later and 1,500 miles to the north, the colony of Jamestown was founded by a group of English settlers led by John Smith; shortly after that the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by a group of Puritans known to us today as the Pilgrim s. Because of uneasy and hostile relations with the nearby Pequot Indians, the Pequot War soon started between the colonists and the natives. Needless to say, the colonists won, but it was at the expense of several dozen of their own and thousands of Pequots. But despite Indian conflict, exposure, starvation, famine, disease, and other hardships, the English kept coming to America. In 1619 they were settled enough that they started bringing African slaves into the middle colonies. Before resorting to Africans, the colonists had tried to subdue the Indians, but that idea failed before it was created. Zinn writes: ?They couldn't force the Indians to work for them, as Columbus had done. They were outnumbered, and while, with superior firearms, they could massacre the Indians, they would face massacre in return. They could not capture them and keep them enslaved; the Indians were tough, resourceful, defiant, and at home in these woods, as the transplanted Englishmen were not. ?W hite servants had not yet been brought over in sufficient quantity.... As for free white settlers, many of them were skilled craftsmen, or even men of leisure back in England, who were so little

buy custom America in Vietnam essay

buy custom America in Vietnam essay In the 1950s, America through its domino theory had wanted to turn all the countries around it into communist. This is when its influence up on the domino theory started in Vietnam. However, this actionwas met with high criticism. To be more influential in Vietnam, by 1955 America sent military special advisors to South Vietnam. The numbers of special advisors were increased to 1,500 in the 1961. The number further increased to 16,000 by 1963(Williams, 1989). The main function of these American special advisors was to train the South Vietnamese army in readiness for war. In 1964, some two American destroyers were killed in the international waters by the Vietnamese gunboats. This made the United States senate to give the then president Johnson the power to give arm support to the Americas army in order to help it defend the freedom of American troops in the South Vietnam. In 1965, American troops landed in Vietnam and that marked the beginning of the America- Vietnam war (Williams, 1 989). With the gorilla war tactics deployed by the Vietnam soldiers, it became practically impossible for the young unskilled American soldiers (only with basic) to identify whom among the Vietnamese was a soldier who was a civilian. It worth noting that, the Vietnamese soldiers unlike American soldiers had no official or uniform war cloth and employed crude ways to fight this war (Williams, 1989). This made the American soldiers to consider everybody including the civilians a soldier. The American soldiers considered everybody as a potential threat thus fought every Vietnamese. This led to the death of innocent civilians that was facilitated by both side of the warring armies. On the other hand, The Vietnamese soldiers killed the villagers they believed were in support of American while American troops killed the villagers that they considered friendly to the Vietnam soldiers (Williams, 1989). The death of killings of the large number of civilians was seen as an immoral conduct that was i nitiated America. The America- Vietnam war at some point had been considered a massacre. Among other things, American war to the Vietnam was at some point considered unnecessary (Williams, 1989). Moreover, it had been viewed as an act of genocide as Vietnamese turned against each other, which lead to the murder of numerous civilians and subsequent displacement of millions. The killing that made Vietnameseeach otherwas perpetuated by poor and unethical United States foreign policies. Moreover, the treatments given to the war prisoners were inhuman and undermined human rights. The American soldiers subjected the prisoners (the Vietnam captured soldiers) to maltreatment and torture. This made the Vietnamese soldiers to be frustrated; thus, prompted to fight unforeseen enemies. However, this war may also be considered just in the sense that the war was not initiated with immoral intensions. It was a war to protect the sovereignty of the American people living beyond its borders. Nonetheless, it was out of guilt (Williams, 1989). If the United States of America were to involve itself inWar with Vietnam today, it would take a different course and different effects will be felt. Currently there are international laws and treaties that must be followed before a country wedges a war against another. Moreover, all the countries are protected by United Nation treaty. However, the United States has ever been a victim of not following the treaty, and gets into war with the claims of fighting terrorism. Nonetheless, killing of two Americans in another country (Vietnam) today will not send America into war with Vietnam. Nevertheless, if America forges ahead with such war, it will face international criticism of the highest order. Such war will not take America time to defeat since America has already developed sophisticated war machineries and ideas that makes its war with a country like Vietnam very easy. Buy custom America in Vietnam essay

Benefits of Distance Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Benefits of Distance Learning - Essay Example I. What is Distance Learning? a) Separation by Distance. 1. This is a situation whereby teaching learning takes place while the teacher and the students are separated by distance. b) Delivery of Instructions. 1. This is a situation whereby the instructions are delivered to the student via computer technology, video, print or voice. c) Interactive Communication. 1. In distance learning the teacher received feedback to the students which could be instant or delayed. II. Distance Learning Divisions a) Synchronous Delivery Type. 1. In this type of distance learning, the teacher and the students interact with each other instantly. 2. The instant interaction between the teacher and the student is facilitated by use of videoconferencing, audio conferencing and live internet chats. b) Asynchronous Delivery Type. 1. In this type of distance learning, the interaction between the teacher and the students is not instant. 2. The delayed interaction between the teachers and the students is facilitated by use of video tapes, audio tapes, radio, email and CD-Rom.

Sociology (Social Movements) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sociology (Social Movements) - Essay Example As a strategy for the clarification of the aforementioned, the differences between past and present social movements shall be elucidated with particular focus upon identity movements within the context of the information age. An example which exposes the difference between past and present social movements is the feminist movement. As Melucci explains, the feminist movement was traditionally focused upon equality, as in the attainment of legal and social recognition of gender equality. While the present feminist movement shares much in common with its predecessor, the fact is that they are distinct in one key aspect. Notably, earlier feminist movements demanded equality while the present one calls for equality with a recognition of differentiation. The current feminist movement is new in the sense that it no longer aspires towards equality and same-ness but equality within the parameters of individuation and individuality. The message of the movement is not that the genders are equal but that women are equal to men and reserve both their collective right to maintain their distinctness as females and their individual right to forge their unique identity, define themselves and shape their bodies. Proceeding from the above, it is evident that Melucci partly defines current social movements as new, even if they have their roots in the past, because of the very nature and content of their public message. While the group message, in the present as in the past, is there, it is bound with an individual message which effectively states that, apart from the group identity, there is an individual identity which shall not be subsumed by group affiliation, ideology or culture. Individuation and the right to maintain unique individuality are, therefore, the key distinctions. The determination to maintain individuality, concomitant with the individuation process, invariably leads to conflict. Culture and ideology impose not just behavioral rules upon people but effectively shape their worldview, culminating in the forging of a common, a shared, identity. Within the context of this process, individuality is largely suppressed and the real self is rarely allowed expression. Insofar as contemporary social movements are distinguished by their fortification of the right to individuality and are supportive of the individuation process, conflicts are bound to arise. These conflicts are, as Melucci explains, carried out in the public sphere by a multitude of individuals acting as public, and individual, actors. The conflict here is between the established order, with its determination to impose particularistic definitions of individuality upon people and the determination of individuals to articulate the parameters of their on individuality and to give expression to their real but, previously, silenced, selves. From this perspective, one may even assert that the newness of contemporary social movements also emanates from the newness of the conflicts which they have generated. To a large degree, the identified area of newness has been largely instigated by the very nature of the contemporary information age. Given the proliferation of information channels and the ever-expanding capacities for individual communication on the

Issue brief Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Issue brief - Case Study Example A physician or a director who has an MD degree must supervise the nurses or physicians carrying out laser treatment (Williams, 27). Since Dr. Goyzueta is qualified to be a director and an owner it is wise for him to venture into the spa thus should target a better location. Most of the fatal cases reported in facial surgeries have been associated with New York spas. This claim means that most clients are not willing to risk their lives in plastic surgeries in these spas. This proves as a challenge to generate customers of the best paying services in spas. To ensure that the business becomes successful Dr. Goyzueta, should start his spa in New Haven where there are no such fatal cases reported since he will gain more clients. New York’s population comprises of younger people as compared to that of New Haven. This is against spas services since past researches claim that 92% of spas customers are above 35 years (Williams, 22). According to previous researches that prove women spending almost 70% of their earnings on their appearances, the physical appearance among most of the females in the United States is one of the most important things (Williams, 22). This makes it effective for spa business where the population has more women than men do. Most of these women are working and receive relatively higher wages in comparison to the population in Manhattan, which is low populated and the spa services are not much of a necessity (Merriam-websters Geographical Dictionary, 2007, p. 34). The traffic in the Northeastern part of the United States is heavy, making it effective for people to have massages during the rush hour thus creating business opportunity for the medical spa. The medical spas laws in the Northeastern part of the United States is lenient in the essence that the use of lacer light can be performed by advanced nurses. The

Healthcare Industry: IT Systems

Healthcare Industry: IT Systems Healthcare services have seen several changes throughout the years to respond to changing demands of the population. The present key drivers and issues that stakeholders (patients, healthcare providers, vendors and government) in the healthcare sector face are ageing population, increased burden of chronic conditions, rising public demand/expectation for quality healthcare, fragmented and uncoordinated healthcare services and rapid advances in information technology. At present, information technology is considered a strategic necessity by world class organizations instead of just a supporting tool. To obtain a competitive advantage in an environment with intense competition, it is vital for organisations to use more sophisticated information technology tools to address the challenges of building and deploying system in the short term and the identification, research and design of future system. Information technology (IT) is rapidly becoming integrated with healthcare to improve processes and communications, support decision making, reduce inaccuracies, and improve patient safety. The advancement of medical science through the years has made possible the use of more expensive equipment and the latest technology. This will allow healthcare providers and patients to gain access to health information easily and thus has the potential to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care. As the healthcare industry is information intensive and knowledge intensive, there is also a need to publish health care information and knowledge. Healthcare systems vary from country to country but they all have a common aim that is to meet the healthcare needs of target populations. In this report, I will be focusing on healthcare IT in Singapore context. Healthcare System in Singapore Singapore has a dual health care system where individuals can choose between public and private providers. The government through Ministry of Health (MOH) manages the public healthcare system. MOH plays a major role in formulating national health policies, coordinating the improvement and planning of the public and private healthcare sectors and regulating health standards. MOHs mission is to promote good health and reduce illness, to ensure Singaporeans have access to good and affordable healthcare and to pursue medical excellence (Ministry of Health, 2007). MOHs vision is to develop the worlds most cost-effective healthcare system to keep Singaporeans good health. Delivery Structure Healthcare services in Singapore are provided by different types of providers from primary care to tertiary care and to step-down care. Primary Care Primary care includes primary medical treatment, preventive healthcare and health education (Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore, 2009). In Singapore, primary health care is provided through outpatient polyclinics and private medical practitioners clinics. 80% of the services are provided by private practitioners while the remaining 20% by government polyclinics. Conveniently located in town centres all over the island, polyclinics are one stop health centres which offered services such as outpatient medical care, maternal and child care health. Secondary and Tertiary Care For the secondary and tertiary care, 80% of the hospital care being provided by the public sector and the remaining 20% by the private sector. This public sector is organised into two vertically integrated delivery networks, National Healthcare Group (NHG) and Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) that operate as not-for-profit private companies. Having these two groups enable more integrated and better quality healthcare services through greater cooperation and collaboration among public sector health care providers. Each cluster consists of both general hospitals that provide multi-disciplinary healthcare services and specialised hospitals in various disciplines e.g. obstetrics and gynaecology and ophthalmology. The private sector provides similar specialist disciplines and comparable facilities to the public clusters. The two main providers are Raffles Medical Group and Parkway Group Healthcare (Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore, 2009). Step-Down Care Voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) provide most of the step-down care services. They run nursing homes, inpatient hospices, community hospitals and chronic sick hospitals. Four of the public acute hospitals also provide geriatric units (Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore, 2009). Public Healthcare Delivery Structure One of the objectives of forming the two clusters is to facilitate integration of healthcare services at the various levels. The clusters have begun introducing measures to integrate primary healthcare at the polyclinics and secondary care at the hospitals. A Vision for 21st Century Healthcare Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) is a 10-year masterplan to help Singapore realise the potential of infocomm. The vision of iN2015 is An Intelligent Nation, a Global City, powered by Infocomm. The goal for the Healthcare and Biomedical Sciences sectors is To accelerate sectoral transformation through an infocomm-enabled personalised healthcare delivery system to achieve high quality clinical care, service excellence, cost-effectiveness and strong clinical research. (IDA, 2006) Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix to see how it will look like. Key drivers of change in Singapores healthcare sector were identified and a number of likely shifts and changes to the system were predicted (IDA, 2006). Key Drivers Shifts/Changes Ageing population of chronic conditions Focus on prevention, health promotion and wellness care Rising public expectations of healthcare services Integrated and patient-centred system of delivery Fragmented and relatively uncoordinated healthcare services Consistent widespread application of evidence-based medicine Very rapid advances in infocomm, medical science and technologies and biomedical research Greater role of members of the public in managing their own health Greater facilitation of data flows between healthcare sector and biomedical sciences Strategies and Programmes (IDA, 2006) The targeted outcome is a well-integrated quality healthcare, cost effective healthcare services and greater ability of public to manage their health. To bring about successful business change using IT, healthcare providers should ensure that IT works in performance with meaningful changes in organisational functions and processes (Rothenberg, 1995). How IT can be used? In the healthcare industry, one suite solution is not common because certain user departments will need to have more in-depth functionalities than others. A more common approach in the industry is best of breed where it attempts to give full equal weight in terms of functionalities and features to individual user departments. Some considerations for best of breed approach are: It deals with more than one vendor A need to connect or interface the different applications to provide a fully integrated solution Future upgrades issues. Therefore, there is a need to strike a balance between having too many application platforms and departmental requirements or functionalities (Online Consultant Software). IT Infrastructure for the Healthcare Industry Functional interoperability is needed in order for computers to be able to share clinical data with one another. Computers must have functions to be able to physically communicate, send and receive documents and data files, share data and information. Therefore, there is a need for integration, standards and interface engines to build the healthcare industry infrastructure. MediNet MediNet forms the backbone of medical system in Singapore (IDA, 2006). It is Singapores nationwide computer network for medical and health care community that focuses on five components (Lim, 1990): Central Claim Processing System(CCPS) processing of claims in hospital bills National Patient Master Index (NPMI) consists of patients risk factors, drug allergies and demographic data Procurement Electronic procurement of medical and surgical supplies Notification Transmission of notifications to government agencies Information Services Access to local and foreign databases MediNet links up computer systems of all participants (MOH, Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB), Government Bodies, restructured hospitals, private hospitals, general practice clinics) in the healthcare delivery system so that they will be able to communicate, exchange data and access common applications on the network (ANNEX C: FACTSHEET: Infocomm Milestones, 2006). Health Level 7 A group of healthcare computer systems users who founded the Health Level 7 organization in 1987 started developing the HL7 protocol to create that common language that allows healthcare applications to share clinical data with each another. Over time the HL7 interoperability protocol became a nationally, internationally and globally accredited standard (HL7 Singapore). Health Level Sevens domain is clinical and administrative data. Interface Engine Interface engine is a software program intended to simplify the creation and management of interfaces between separate applications and systems, either within the organization or with other affiliated organisation (McLeod CG, Inc., 2006). It carries out messaging between systems and usually handles any mapping, translation and data modification required to ensure the effective exchange of data. Examples of common interface engines used in the healthcare industry are Cloverleaf, Datagate and Openlink (MDI Solutions, 2009). Imagine in a hospital where there are different departments needing different functionalities and features, different applications might be running. It would be very complex and technically difficult to maintain separate interfaces between them. Healthcare Applications Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) The public healthcare sector uses SAP industry solution for hospital (IS-H) (SAP, 2008). It supports patient management, medical and nursing documentation, and patient accounting, and integrates these with financial accounting, controlling and materials management. The information system contains evaluations of patient and hospital data that can be used both internally and externally. It also contains a communication component that enables data transfer both within the hospital and to external parties. The picture below shows the SAP footprint in Singapore Healthcare Industry. Only Parkway Health (Private Sector) and Republic Polytechnic (for educational purpose) are not under the public healthcare sector. Source: (SAP, 2008) Case Study: Hospital Information System at St Andrews Community Hospital (InfoComm Singapore Portal, 2008) St Andrews Community Hospital was relocated in April 2005 to a larger premise in Simei. The change in hospital and care processes was the drive to upgrade the Hospital Information System (HIS) at St Andrews Community Hospital from its manual administrative system and record stock which require tedious work to a more efficient way to process information by technology. The project team were focused on being user-centric rather than IT-centric in the choice of an HIS. User departments were pro-active and committed during the pre-selection brainstorming and consultancy and during the implementation stages of the new system. The VESALIUS, a complete HIS provided NovaHealth which covers front-end modules such as Appointments, Registrations, ADT and billing and ancillary support modules such as Pharmacy, Medical Records, back-end Inventory and integration to the Financial System. The benefits of the system are: Assisting management to track costs down to the minute details Increasing efficiency as manual and administrative work are being minimised Enabling links to the MOHs Elderly and Continuing Care system for online submission of information to receive government subsidies; and the CCPS for automated submission for Medisave claims Serving as a check and balance for inventory audit and reducing waste. As a result, there is no need for Pharmacy staff to spend time physically checking stock levels when transferring items from the various stores in St Andrews Community Hospital. Having a lean and efficient team complemented by the HIS, paperwork is also minimised. An Integrated Electronic Medical Database Electronic medical record (EMR) stores patients medical information through IT to enable sharing across healthcare institutions (MOH; SingHealth; NHG, 2004). It can be made more secure through appropriate IT access and security safeguards. The MOH holds the vision of One Singaporean, One Family Physician, One Medical Record to improve long term care. EMR provides medical staff involved in patient treatment with quick and accurate access to patients essential medical information (Yong, 2007). The integrated patient database system was thus vital in Singapore as there is a need to get the right information to the right people especially in an industry where a second could mean a difference between a life and death situation. EMR Adoption Model The EMR Adoption Model is devised by HIMSS Analytics to track the progress of hospitals towards creating a paperless patient record system. It is based on an eight-stage scale which starts at zero (HIMSS Analytics). The EMR Adoption Model Structure ensures all application capabilities must be operational before that stage can be achieved as it sets a foundation for subsequent stages. Refer to Figure 2 in Appendix for the EMR Adoption Model. Electronic Medical Record Exchange (EMRX) EMRX is an initiative by MOH and the two public healthcare clusters (SingHealth NHG) to share electronic medical record across all public hospitals and polyclinics in Singapore. The EMRX will have the following information (MOH; SingHealth; NHG, 2004): Discharge summary which summarises recent hospitalization records including the treatment received and clinical course; Operation reports and laboratory results, including radiology images and scanned medical records Medicines prescribed with drug allergy history It was launched in April 2004 to focus on the improvement of patient care outcomes. It is a pragmatic and incremental implementation where SingHealth and NHG first developed the key systems within selected institutions and then replicate in other institution within the cluster and eventually across clusters and where practical with the private sector. The benefits of EMRX are (MOH; SingHealth; NHG, 2004): Better coordinated care for patients moving across different providers and improved levels of healthcare delivery. Better clinical decisions, with access to complete and legible clinical histories, and updated test results at the providers fingertips. Reduce the risks of transcription errors and missing records. Save cost through the avoidance of unnecessary repeat tests and investigations Better distribution of care Facilitation and follow up of other IT based applications such electronic prescriptions and clinical decision support systems Potential for 24 hour access to real-time data for up to date results reporting Provision for data security and audit features to be built into the system. Current EMRX Implementation The aim of the clusters is to implement the EMR in all institutions within each cluster incrementally. SingHealth and NHG manage their clusters EMR independently. SingHealth started using an EMR system in SGH in year 2000. The main application SingHealth has used to develop its EMR system is iSOFTs iClinical Manager Solution (E-HEALTH-MEDIA LTD, 2004). Similarly, the National Healthcare group has also started using EMR systems in Tan Tock Seng Hospital and National University Hospital. EMRX was developed to enable secure cross-cluster exchange of patient information. This is to ensure that a patients record can be retrieved regardless where he or she seeks treatment. EMRX was later extended to healthcare partners, providing a central capability for effortless movement or records across the public healthcare clusters, community hospitals and Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), facilitating care delivery. SAF Electronic Medical Records The SAF healthcare system is centred on the SAF EMR system which is known as Patient Care Enhancement System 2 (PACES 2). It has clinical data repository, administrative function for manpower and logistics and also has the feature for research or analysis (Wong, 2009). The system connects all SAF medical centres across Singapore to allow for online and real time medical info retrieval and simultaneous viewing. Figure 3 in Appendix shows how it is connected. NHG Polyclinic Bukit Batok Polyclinic was the first to adopt the electronic medical records system. With paperless medical records, patients medical records can now be retrieved while diagnoses are entered into the system (Hoe, 2009). This move is part of MOH vision of integrating services between the healthcare providers. Benefits to Patients: Enhanced safety as there is a reduced patient risk through improved legibility of orders. Reduced waiting times due to the improved process Better care coordination and disease management through sharing of medical records Benefits to the polyclinic: Quality: Continuous improvement of quality care and patient service through error monitoring and elimination of unnecessary procedures Productivity: Saving time and effort that would otherwise be spent on correcting lost and illegible orders. Furthermore, there is no longer need to go to the records office, retrieve the physical paper records and bring it up to either the doctors or nurses room which can take up to 20 minutes or half an hour. Access: More readily available information and data of patients for healthcare professionals to make faster critical decisions Future Outlook National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) The next phase of electronic health record is moving towards creating a health record that is in fact personalised and accessible everywhere to be implemented by April 2011 (ChannelNewsAsia, 2010). With NEHR, all key information such as a patients demographics, allergies, clinical diagnoses, medication history, X-rays, laboratory investigations and discharge summaries will be fully exchangeable between various healthcare providers. Due to the costly implementation, only a number of primary and step-down care providers, including GPs, polyclinics and a community hospital will be linked up first (ChannelNewsAsia, 2010). The full implementation of NEHR will take many years as it has to cover the entire healthcare ecosystem and not just the public sector. The decision on whether to implement each phase will have to be justified on cost-benefit analysis. Refer to Appendix for an attached article on What could healthcare in Singapore look like in 2020? (Ministry of Health, 2008). Medical Information Services IT is also widely used as an information tool by both medical professional and the public. Several government and privately initiated websites provide information for health care services and databases for medical related issues. Web portals provide the following services: Searching for medical professionals within Singapore The MOH has a list of online resources to search for healthcare professionals in Singapore (MOH, 2007) Online pharmacies For example, Changi General Hospital myPharmacy is the first online hospital pharmacy in Singapore (Changi General Hospital, 2004). Medical publications One example of medical publications is PubMed (PubMed). Health related publications Some examples of health related publications from SingHealth (SingHealth Academy ). Health service reports Queue watch provide patients with timely information to arrange their visit. The number of patients waiting for registration and consultation, live webcam images showing the waiting areas for registration, consultation and pharmacy/payment and peak non-peak periods are displayed online (Government of Singapore, 2007). Medical schemes such as Medifund, Medisave MediShield Information regarding these schemes can be found in CPF Board website (Central Provident Fund Board, 2009). Competitive Advantages The growth and survival in the healthcare industry depends on how well Singapore is able to compete in this highly and competitive market. With the integration of the healthcare infrastructure, the advanced medical technology and the highly skilled professionals, Singapore has managed to establish a reputation of being a world class healthcare hub, the ability to deliver innovative healthcare solutions, a complete range of services and quality healthcare providers (EDB, 2009). There will be a strong demand from the population for quality healthcare and value added services with rising economic affluence and longer lifespan. Thus, there is a need to ensure that healthcare research and development continues to be supported so that Singapore healthcare services sector can excel and be a source of competitive advantage. To sustain the competitive advantages, Singapore should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and also of their competitors. The approach for the future must be one that focuses on possible improvements, supporting innovations and facilitating changes. The focus will have increasingly to be on openness to new influences, a willingness to recognize different schools of thought and methods of training and a search for the best available expertise from around the world (Desker, 1991). Innovation is needed to overcome the future challenges ahead to maximise Singapores competitive advantage. Healthcare providers should enhance their medical and service offerings, develop new healthcare products, and promote a pioneering spirit that will help in dealing with evolving patients needs, and in creating holistic and flawless experiences for patients (Tan, 2009). Thomson Medical Centre The Business Times reported that Thomson Medical is leading the healthcare sector (Ramchandani, 2010). Focusing on three core areas patient expectations, perceived quality and perceived value to improve patient satisfaction, Thomson Medical Centre has been continuously innovating to provide greater value-added services to its patients. Their redesigned patient-centric workflow had helped them gain a competitive advantage over their rivals: Use of technology and raise in service and product standards has improved patient care and satisfaction Improve in-patient , out-patient and administrative processes by using touch screen billing in place of a key-in method, which has halved the time spent on billing and has resulted in cost savings of $2000 a month. Reduce waiting time for admission and discharges with express check outs, direct admissions and courtesy and in-room discharges. Act on service recovery. When there is an unhappy patient with service, they move fast to resolve the problem. Train front line staff to raise service standards which resulted in an increase in the number of compliments as compared to complaints (4.9:1 to 9.2:1). Create a positive patient experience by having a resort style ambience, offering concierge service, a welcome drink and, in the case of premier rooms, luxurious dà ©cor and relaxing spa music. Introduce value added services such as the interactive website ThomsonBaby.com to help new mothers prepare for the parenthood journey and save them time and money. The hospitals efforts in cultivating lasting relationships have also led to an increase in patient loyalty. 32.2% of its patients were repeat patients in 2009, compared to 26.8% in 2008. Besides that, there was an increase in the number of babies born. Thomson Medical Centres dedication in understanding patient needs and receiving feedback on their stay and their expectations at key hospital touch points has thus improved patient satisfaction level. Challenges The vision for an integrated and continued patient- centric healthcare system requires interoperable IT systems, active engagement of patients and suitably aligned financial framework. In the development of the Singapore healthcare system, there are some issues that hinder the implementation of healthcare integration due to unique specificities. In general, the problems faced by the players involved can be classified into five categories: Clinical and medical practices: Often built around specialization but could be better oriented towards integrated care Financing framework: GPs, Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOCs) and patients does not see the incentive for integration of care Establishment of a new idea mindset towards integration of care for players involved Organizational processes: Enhanced by bridging communication and IT gaps, coordinating across sectors and defining workflows for the smooth move of patients between caregivers IT systems: Better connected across sectors and allow for the transferability of patient records. As shown in Figure 4 in the Appendix, these challenges have over the years led to ingrained mindsets and behavioural practices of parties at multiple levels of the system, further hindering the integration of care (Ministry of Health, 2008). The various challenges and loophole that currently exist are the result of institution-centric and tertiary-centric system of healthcare. As EMRX becomes widely accessible, there are concerns over patient confidentiality and privacy. For instance, legal implications of providing EMRs beyond cluster boundaries were considerable and attaining consent from individual patients would have been burdensome and stalled widespread accessibility of EMRs (MOH; SingHealth; NHG, 2004). This shows that there are vital ethical concerns over the privacy of personal medical records. Furthermore, the infrastructure for data standardisation needed to achieve this integrated healthcare system is getting more intricate and costly due to the vast amount of data involved from different independent systems. Despite SingHealth and NHG adoption of the HL7 v2.3, data exchange could not be easily achieved in spite of HL7 v2.3. This is because the standard was open to variations that hampered direct interoperability. Moreover, modification of systems to enable data interoperability would have been costly, without direct benefits to the clusters (Lee, Lim, Tan). Conclusion Previously, healthcare sector has lagged behind other sectors in the adoption of IT for its key process. Healthcare providers need to review the way businesses are conducted. IT can be a powerful enabler for an information intensive industry like healthcare through automation, knowledge management, business process reengineering, and even artificial intelligence. A pragmatic approach should be adopted to consider the current status and to focus on implementing immediate goals that would bring about meaningful changes in organisational functions and processes within a reasonable time frame. The use of IT to create value in a patient-centric approach to care is likely to contribute significantly to the overall level of care that patients can benefit from. Innovation can help healthcare providers to gain a competitive advantage. The success of some healthcare provider as mention above has shown that IT can help in the healthcare sector to improve healthcare quality, reduce costs and to meet some of todays trends in demographics and disease burden. This quote which is published in NHG annual review 2007-2008 shows the importance of IT, Technology is our enabler. We use technology to record and disseminate information with higher precision, accuracy and safety. More importantly, it allows healthcare to be delivered safer, faster and better. (National Healthcare Group Polyclinics, 2008) In the enthusiasm to adopt and invest in IT, it is important to note that there are some barriers in the move toward an integrated healthcare system as stated in the abovementioned section. Addressing and overcoming these challenges will involve the collaboration and cooperation of players at all levels of the system, across both the public and private sectors. Learning points / Opinions Strategy Technology should be used as a supporting tool not to steer health care reform. To transform Singapores health care system into a modern and responsive 21st-century health care system, a practical IT strategy which is consumer-focused is needed. In particular, it needs to be competitive in terms of price and quality because that is what consumers look for. A tripartite model of health care regulation, involving the active participation of empowered consumers, is Singapores best hope for containing costs and ensuring quality of care. What is done well? A committee to plan for the future development in healthcare iN2015 Healthcare and Sub-Committee came out with strategies and programmes to help address todays challenge and support the developmental opportunities. It aims to achieve high quality clinical care, service excellence, cost-effectiveness and strong clinical research. Improve business process with IT IT has played an important role in the delivery and development of healthcare services in this information age with applications ranging from finance and personnel administration to medical equipment operations. Healthcare service administrations have become more efficient and responsive, reducing patient waiting time and paper work. Medical equipments have become more accurate, laboratory results can be processed more quickly and effective communication among medical staff in Singapore and those overseas has become easier. What more can be done User Involvement IT investment decisions must serve the best interests of the key players involved. It is important to understand the users and their work flow and requirements as a one size or solution may not fit all. Flexibility is needed as each department requires different functionalities. Express clearly the benefits and value for the change Users involved need to understand the strategic goals of the organization and understand how IT, from technical and managerial perspectives, can help to achieve them. The success of IT investments is to ensure users see the benefit and value of IT so that they will be motivated to make the change. Limitations of IT Healthcare providers should be mindful of the limitations of technology and have a deep understanding of the information search behaviours of their target audience. Health care is still a hi Are Consumers Central to Marketing Activities? Are Consumers Central to Marketing Activities? In view of the dynamic nature of the marketing environment, to what extent do you consider consumers to be, in practice, central to marketing activities? Words count: 1621 words Marketing is the analyzing, organizing, planning, and controlling of the firms customer-impinging resources, policies, and activities with a view to satisfying the needs and wants of chosen customer groups at a profit. (Kotler and Keller, 1967) [1] The main purpose of any business is to make profit. To do so, their customers are necessary. The role of marketing is to anticipate and identify consumers needs and wants, in order to satisfy them efficiently and profitably.2 In view of the dynamic nature of the marketing environment, to what extent are consumers, in practice, central to marketing activities? First of all, it is necessary to define what characterizes the marketing environment, and in what way this environment is dynamic. Secondly, we will see how the consumer is central to marketing activities. Finally, we will discuss about the relative importance of the consumers in these activities and the other factors that can also influence them. The marketing environment consists of external factors that affect the companies and their ability to satisfy customers.[2] There are two aspects to this marketing environment: the macro-environment, and the micro-environment. The PESTEL factors are the factors found in the macro-environment: political, environmental, social/cultural, technological, economical and legal.[3] They are societal factors, thus not controllable; and the companies need to adapt to these factors. In the macro-environment is included the demographical factor. The study of the demographic environment can help predict the size of the market of a certain product. For example if the number of elderly people is going to rise, the potential market for retirement homes will grow. The same goes for a change in the number of children, which could impact the number of schools and teachers needed.[4] Companies need to adapt to changes in the micro-environment as well. The factors in the micro-environment are the ones close to the company, making them easier to control: customers, competitors, distributors, suppliers, and other departments within the company.For example, if a company has competitors satisfying the same needs with a similar product but at a lower price, it wont be able to sell its product and make profit out of it. Companies make use of marketing research and marketing intelligence to collect information about the marketing environment in order to adapt their marketing strategies. Marketing takes place in a dynamic environment: these external factors change constantly, and companies need to be aware of these changes taking place in the marketing environment in order to adapt themselves efficiently and effectively, and be able to keep on answering consumers needs and wants.[5] To satisfy their target consumers, marketers need to understand them. They need to study the existing and potential markets. Resources need to be efficiently managed in order to meet the identified needs in these markets.2 Marketing orientation is important because different customers have different needs. In order to meet the specific needs of each customer, firms have to adapt. Answering everyones needs is not a realistic thing, which is why segmentation is used. Segmentation is the method used to separate the population into specific segments, which contains customers with similar needs. Understanding the needs of these segments of population will allow the determination of the marketing strategy that will be used in a specific business plan.[6] The marketing strategy determines the actions that will be taken over time to achieve the objectives of the company. Marketing decisions are based on the 4Ps, also called marketing mix: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. The four components of this marketing mix are determined by the target consumers.[7] As said before, the purpose of any business is to make profit, and it needs to satisfy the consumers for that to happen. The product needs to fulfil the customers need of course, but not only. The product also has to be at an acceptable price in the eyes of the consumers for them to buy it. The price is what makes money for the company, it is determined by the production costs and the competition, as well as by how much the customers are willing to pay for the product. On the one hand, if the price is too high, consumers wont buy, which means the company wont achieve its sales target. On the other hand, if it is too low, the target will be achieved but there will be no profit made out of it. 4 Price has to be chosen accordingly as well as place. Different types of consumers will need the product to be available at specific places. A very expensive product, such as a luxury item, will not necessarily be available at the local supermarket for example, but most certainly in a specific shop or place. Consumers also prefer to buy products when they are located close to their homes and workplaces.[8] In order to answer consumers needs profitably, marketers have to use segmentation to target their market, and match their marketing strategy to their target consumers needs.4 Thus making the consumers central to the companys marketing activities. Lets take Microsoft as an evolutionary example of changes in the marketing environment with the technological factor (macro-environment) and the companys competition (micro-environment).9 Recently, Microsoft has struggled to find its place in a fast changing digital and technological environment. Microsoft was and still is in consumers mind the leader in Personal Computers. They are now lagging behind competitors like Apple or Samsung, and are trying to develop other devices like tablets, smartphones, consoles, etc. They even acquired Nokias smartphone business in order to do so. They developed a new version of their operating system that works on every platform, including their console Xbox; which provides a cloud based connectivity that consumers are looking for. Their change in strategy to provide consumers what they need in this era of technological improvements has paid off: Microsofts sales are trending upward since the past few years.[9] In order to keep his place in the market, Microsoft had to change its strategy to improve its solutions to satisfy todays consumers after being left behind by competitors and technological advances. To this point, we can affirm that consumers are indeed essential and central to marketing activities. Marketing is all about satisfying consumers profitably, and marketing research and marketing strategies are calculated around them. Despite their importance, consumers are only one of the forces in the marketing environment. Changes in the marketing landscape are so fast that it is now more and more difficult for companies to adapt. One of the most influential factors of marketing activities is technology: 40% of the worlds population now has access to the Internet, compared to 1% in 1995.[10] The vast majority owns a smartphone that also has access to the Internet. The Internet and social media are thus also used for marketing purposes as well[11]: websites, adverts, e-mails, videos, etc. Influencers on the Internet are also important for marketing research; they can be people who have blogs and websites for example, and are useful to marketers for them to better understand current trends and interests.[12] Companies can also sponsor people such as bloggers and video makers (YouTube in particular) by making them review products and/or services online.[13] Globalization is another factor that influences marketing activities. Lots of companies now face global competition. Also, when a company decides to sell its products abroad, it has to take into account the tastes and habits of the selected country. For example, for the French market, Nutella is manufactured to be more spreadable, due to the fact that French people mostly eat it on baguettes, making it more difficult to spread.[14] Nowadays, companies also need to take into account the environmental aspect for their marketing activities. They have to be environmentally responsible, to be more sustainable in their practices than in the past. These are a few other examples of factors, apart from the consumers, that can have an influence on the marketing activities of businesses. To conclude, consumers are indeed central to marketing activities, but are only one of the many factors that have an influence on them: notably changes in the marketing environments factors; the technological factor in particular, which is probably the fastest changing factor as of now. References Berthon, P., Pitt, L., Plangger, K. and Shapiro, D. (2012). Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy. Business Horizons, 55(3). Ça mintà ©resse La curiosità © en continu. (2017). Pourquoi le Nutella nest pas le mà ªme en France quen Allemagne ? Ça mintà ©resse. [online] Available at: http://www.caminteresse.fr/economie-societe/pourquoi-ne-mange-t-on-pas-le-meme-nutella-en-france-quen-allemagne-1129354/ [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017]. Corcoran, C. (2017). Marketings New Rage: Brands Sponsoring Influential Bloggers. [online] WWD. Available at: http://wwd.com/business-news/marketing-promotion/marketings-new-rage-brands-sponsor-influential-bloggers-3230386/ [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017]. Goi, C. (2009). A Review of Marketing Mix: 4Ps or More?. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 1(1). Internetlivestats.com. (2017). Number of Internet Users (2016) Internet Live Stats. [online] Available at: http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/ [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017]. Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2016). Principles of marketing. 16th ed. Harlow: Pearson. Kotler, P. and Keller, K. (1967). Marketing management. 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Li, Y., Lai, C. and Chen, C. (2011). Discovering influencers for marketing in the blogosphere. Information Sciences, 181(23). Palmer, A. and Worthington, I. (1992). The business and marketing environment. 1st ed. New York [etc.]: McGraw-Hill Book Co.. Richardson, M. and Evans, C. (2007). Assessing the Environment. British Journal of Administrative Management. Smallbusiness.chron.com. (2017). What Are the Four Types of Utility Marketing?. [online] Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/four-types-utility-marketing-24420.html [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017]. [1] Kotler, P. and Keller, K. (1967). Marketing management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, p.12. [2] Palmer, A. and Worthington, I. (1992). The business and marketing environment. New York [etc.]: McGraw-Hill Book Co., pp.1-6. [3] Richardson, M. and Evans, C. (2007). Assessing the Environment. British Journal of Administrative Management. [4] Palmer, A. and Worthington, I. (1992). The business and marketing environment. New York [etc.]: McGraw-Hill Book Co., p.167. [5] Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2016). Principles of marketing. 16th ed. Harlow: Pearson, pp.94-95. [6] Palmer, A. and Worthington, I. (1992). The business and marketing environment. New York [etc.]: McGraw-Hill Book Co., pp.10-17. [7] Goi, C. (2009). A Review of Marketing Mix: 4Ps or More?. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 1(1). [8] Smallbusiness.chron.com. (2017). What Are the Four Types of Utility Marketing?. [online] Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/four-types-utility-marketing-24420.html [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017]. [9] Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2016). Principles of marketing. 16th ed. Harlow: Pearson, pp.92-94. [10] Internetlivestats.com. (2017). Number of Internet Users (2016) Internet Live Stats. [online] Available at: http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/ [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017]. [11] Berthon, P., Pitt, L., Plangger, K. and Shapiro, D. (2012). Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy. Business Horizons, 55(3), pp.261-271. [12] Li, Y., Lai, C. and Chen, C. (2011). Discovering influencers for marketing in the blogosphere. Information Sciences, 181(23), pp.5143-5157. [13] Corcoran, C. (2017). Marketings New Rage: Brands Sponsoring Influential Bloggers. [online] WWD. Available at: http://wwd.com/business-news/marketing-promotion/marketings-new-rage-brands-sponsor-influential-bloggers-3230386/ [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017]. [14] Ça mintà ©resse La curiosità © en continu. (2017). Pourquoi le Nutella nest pas le mà ªme en France quen Allemagne ? Ça mintà ©resse. [online] Available at: http://www.caminteresse.fr/economie-societe/pourquoi-ne-mange-t-on-pas-le-meme-nutella-en-france-quen-allemagne-1129354/ [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017].