Road Safety Speech Essay

A very good morning to the Principal of SM Sri Mayang, teachers and fellow friends. As the chairperson of the school’s organizing committee for the ‘Road Safety Week’, I would like to give a talk on some safety tips for the students. As we know, there has been an increase in the accidents reported involving students of this school. I hope this talk will raise your awareness to be more responsible and careful when using the road. I would like to identify some of the reasons why road accidents occur. First, speeding beyond the prescribed limits is the main cause.Some drivers not only speed but also drive recklessly, breaking road rules and beating the traffic lights. Moreover, drivers who are tired after long distance driving or after a long day work, may not be able to concentrate on the road, thus causing accidents. Youngsters using the road as their racing track is another cause too. Drivers who do not check and maintain their vehicles often may be involved in ac cidents because their vehicle is faulty. Many potholes and uneven roads which contribute to the poor condition of the road too can cause accidents.However, these problems can be overcome with strict enforcement of traffic rules to those who flaunt the law. The offenders should be caught and fines should be increased. Only road-worthy vehicles, which have been maintained well, should be permitted on the roads. Awareness campaigns on safe driving should be carried out everywhere. Since young drivers are high on the accident list, their age limit should be increased. If the drivers are involved in any accidents, their licence should be suspended. I hope the short talk that I have delivered have given you some ideas of how to use the road safely. Thank you for listening.

Precarious Employment Essay

This essay will discuss why young people are two to three times more likely than adults to find themselves unemployed and why the problem is rapidly growing in almost every region of the world. Although young people today are the most educated generation ever, both industrialised and developing countries are failing to increase employment opportunities for them. The lack of opportunities is of course linked to the general state of the economy and employment situation but it is also a result of the mismatches between the skills young people possess and the skills required by the labour market. All of these factors can lead to long periods of unemployment, job seeking or low skilled and precarious work, which are not only detrimental to young people but impact heavily on economies and society in general. (ILO tackling youth unemployment) Globalisation Globalisation and technological advances have been changing labour markets around the world. Young workers are facing new challenges in making the transition from school to work (Elizabeth Morris 2003). Globalisation is changing the distribution of power and gains and has raised questions about legitimacy and sustainability. Inadequate attention to the human side of globalisation has created a gap in understanding its impact on life and work (International Labour Office). Economics The 1980s and 1990s saw the most profound transformation of Australian public policy since World War II and in that it fundamentally reworked a framework in place since Federation (Castles et al 1996; Kelly 1994). This transformation was underwritten by two principles: liberalism – the view that citizens are autonomous individual actors whose interests are best served when they are free from coercive government interventions into individual action (Yeatman 2000); and marketisation – the belief that free markets are arenas which best enable individual autonomy and produce efficient outcomes (Marginson 1997). These principles define ‘neoliberalism’ or ‘hard liberalism’ (Argy 2003). How have these policy changes affected Australia? An advocate would say it created improved economic outcomes greater market efficiencies, less public expenditure less reliance on social welfare and more individual choice. For a critic it increases inequality, corrodes quality of life and produces an atomised society in which individuals are culturally disconnected from one another and fundamental social institutions (Pusey 2003; Saunders 2002:8-12, ch 2). The primary arguments for neoliberalism are economic, mostly that a free market is necessary for economic, employment and income growth (Kenworthy 2004). However, with the structural changes that have occurred the nature of work has changed with greater casualisation, more part-time work at the cost of full-time employment along with changes in working conditions such as irregular working hours. Income inequality has increased (Saunders 2003). The government has encouraged individuals to be responsible for their own welfare. The market was seen as a more efficient distributor of resources than the state. Skills and Knowledge In an increasingly globalised, competitive and rapidly changing economy the skills and knowledge of young people are becoming more and more important to existing businesses, and are necessary to those wishing to set up their own successful business. It is crucial that young people get a decent basic education and have the skills and qualities needed for work. Numeracy and literacy skills are key to a well-functioning business environment, with information and communication technology (ICT) and enterprise skills (such as business administration, sales and marketing, and so on) not to be underestimated. In particular the teaching of entrepreneurial skills and attributes and behaviours is often not properly integrated into school curricula or not adequately taught on different educational levels. Most education systems still teach only traditional values rather than independent thinking and acting, risk-taking and self-reliance. Moreover, an academic approach to education nurtures skills that are appropriate to working in the public sector or large organizations and companies, are not the key skills needed to start an entrepreneurial career. Youth regardless of their origin have dreams, hopes and aspirations. They carry with them many qualities: â€Å"relevant and recent education and training; enthusiasm, hope and new ideas; willingness to learn and be taught; openness to new skills and technology; realistic expectations on entry into the labour market; mobility and adaptability; and represent a new generation to meet the challenge in countries with an ageing workforce. † (Resolution concerning youth employment, 2005). Yet youth throughout the world encounter barriers in making transitions from school to work. Frequently their full potential is not realised because they do not have access to appropriate jobs (United Nations General Assembly, 2000). Work and Employment Previously factories, offices and shops employed a large part of the working population. Now, computer based technology produces more goods, processes more office work and oversees more sales than ever before, while utilising fewer and fewer people especially teenagers (Stevenson). Traditionally young people with little working experience have filled unskilled jobs and due to technical and organisational changes in the workforce these positions have disappeared. There have been substantial declines in the construction, manufacturing and transport industries over the last decade. The total proportion of the workforce employed in the three industry divisions has declined from 28. 7 per cent to 24. 8 per cent in the ten years (Stevenson). Despite initiatives by government to tackle the problem, youth unemployment has remained at a high level. The teenage labour market has been in long term decline since 1965 when teenage unemployment stood at 2. 6 per cent. By 1975 teenage unemployment has risen almost fivefold to 12. 9 per cent, and, although volatile, it has risen ever since(Stevenson, Brian). Given the differences young people have they still face common barriers – lack of experience, disparity between their skills and the demands of labour markets and insufficient information and advice. Youth experience business barriers because they usually have less access to resources and credit. It can also be typical to experience some level of discrimination in regard to age, sex, ethnicity, race, culture, health, family status and other factors (Global Employment Trends BRIEF, 2006). Difficulties such as this can make it take a lot longer for young people to find employment. It is not unusual for those entering the workforce for the first time to expect a delay. However, if an extended period of unemployment occurs it can have serious consequences for young people including a loss in production and an increase in poverty. It is easy to become discouraged and frustrated leading to the young person giving up in their search for employment. Others continue in the education system for longer than they intended. Therefore, giving young people a chance to achieve decent employment early in their working life would help avoid a vicious circle of unemployment or underemployment, poor working conditions and social exclusion (Morris, Elizabeth 2003). In a weak labour market where jobs are scarce and competition among job seekers is savage it is difficult for anyone to cope with job loss. For disadvantaged youth without basic education, failure to find a first job or keep it for long can have negative long-term consequences on their career prospects that some experts refer to as â€Å"scarring†. Looking past the negative effects on future wages and employability, long spells of unemployment for the young person can often create permanent scars through the harmful effects on a number of other outcomes, including happiness, job satisfaction and health, many years later (ACCI Leading Australian Business, 2010). Precarious Work Young people are continually finding, employment is precarious and may not provide an income sufficient to cover basic necessities. Even if young people are employed, they often find themselves in low-paying temporary jobs with not many protections. Demands for a flexible workforce and the increased use of casual, part-time and temporary employment contracts have heightened the sense of insecurity and risk. More and more young people are working in an informal economy, where they earn low wages and are often experience poor or even exploitative working conditions. The increased use of short-term contracts is another indicator of deteriorating conditions in the youth labour market, as young workers are more likely than older workers to receive and accept this type of offer (World Labour Report, 2000). High levels of youth unemployment are always a source of concern because of the profound impact unemployment has on young people’s lives. Studies of young people show that unemployment leads to a reduction in self-esteem and diminished levels of well-being. Youth unemployment turns problematic when it becomes long-term and when it leaves young people without the means to provide for their basic needs. Around the world, the boundaries between the formal and informal economy are becoming increasingly blurred, and much of the economic activity of young people is taking place in the intermediary zone. The informalisation of work is a global phenonomen, with an increasing number of new jobs being created in the informal economy. The proliferation of informal sector employment is problematic in that these jobs tend to be characterised by lower wages and productivity as well as unsafe working conditions. The forms of precarity seem to be ever expanding, as employers constantly uncover new ways to circumvent regulations or find loopholes in regulations to increase the profitability of their business at the expense of their employees. In the most general sense, precarious work is a means for employers to shift risks and responsibilities on to workers. It is work performed in the formal and informal economy and is characterised by variable levels and degrees of objective (legal status) and subjective (feeling) characteristics of uncertainty and insecurity. Although a precarious job can have many faces, it is usually defined by uncertainty as to the duration of employment, multiple possible employers or a disguised or ambiguous employment relationship, a lack of access to social protection and benefits usually associated with employment, low pay, and substantial legal and practical obstacles to joining a trade union and bargaining collectively. The result is a condition in which workers cannot plan for their future, and lack the security of certain forms of social protection. Precarious work is also characterised by insufficient or even a total absence of trade union rights. Precarious work has a deep impact on individuals and societies. Over the past years, economic crises and turbulences on the financial markets have lead to wide spread anxiety among workers. Increasing rates of unemployment and precarious work arrangements deteriorate the quality of working and living conditions. The normalisation of precarious work is already showing its deeply damaging impacts on society at large. In general, it leaves workers and communities in unstable and insecure situations, disrupting their life planning options. More concretely, precarious workers are found to suffer a higher rate of occupational safety and health issues. Precarious work deprives people of the stability required to take long-term decisions and plans in their lives. Unemployment and precarious jobs have left a young generation hard pressed to see a bright future. The risk of losing financial independence and having to rely on lower social welfare payouts can lead to further social exclusion. It is not surprising therefore that youth are also more likely to fear losing their jobs. Characteristics of precarious work such as anxiety and income and employment insecurity limit long-term planning especially among the young. Young workers very often accept bad working conditions and salaries on a subsistence level. Many of them do not even have working contracts, placing them beyond the reach of social security systems. Consequently the population under 25 runs the risk of falling into poverty and social exclusion. At the same time, according to the flexibility ideology, they need to ensure their â€Å"employability† and have to constantly develop new skills. It is obvious in this context that privileges of the young from ‘higher classes’ lead to the fortification of the class divide. Hardest hit by social exclusion are the young people from the lower classes. Unemployment and material hardship in the family make insecurity part of their everyday life. For low skilled workers†McJobs† without training lead to an inevitable dead end. The lack of prospects, apathy, and resignation become normal. The precarious nature of the employment relationship itself can cause precarious workers to experience poor emotional and mental health. It creates conditions of deprivation and a lack of social cohesion that often lead to social unrest and resentment. Society needs to create a pathway to a world where decent work is no longer a goal, but a reality. Conclusion In conclusion, the causes of youth unemployment can be analysed at different levels, but it is certain that globalisation and technological advances have had a profound impact on labour markets throughout the world; and young people, as new workers, have faced a number of challenges and difficulties associated with these developments. However, it must be remembered that access to productive and decent work is the best way young people can realise their aspirations, improve their living conditions and actively participate in society. Decent work for young people means not only significant benefits in terms of increased wealth, but is also commonly associated with a commitment to democracy, security and political stability. Decent work can thus strengthen both the economy and wider civil society.

Identity Theft: Exaggerated Risk or Real Threat? Essay

Introduction â€Å"You have $92.13c left in your Chase bank account, contact us today with your details to switch from telephone banking to online banking† – I was in the country barely 72 hours and I was already subject to someone attempting to steal my Identity! I am referring to the past summer that I spent in America working under a student visa. After registering my mobile phone and opening my first American bank account, I started getting texts like the one above. This my was my first personal exposure to the problem of Identity theft, and after a quick Google search to enquire what I was dealing with, I found that it was a very common occurrence in America; More than 57 million American adults receive â€Å"phishing† attack emails & texts every year – from hackers or cyber thieves who pretend to be trusted service providers to steal consumer account information, and more than half of those who responded become victims of Identity Theft (Gartner Research, Phishin g Attack Victims Likely Victims for Identity Theft). Lucky I didn’t respond to that text then, aren’t I? That was just my small run in with what has become a global problem over the last decade. And, the more I delved into the reading for this topic, the more I became aware of the vast amounts of literature available to me. I felt none of the other topics for this assignment had such in depth reading, which was mostly available online to me. There was online e-books, some of which I purchased; â€Å"Identity Theft Secrets: Exposing The Tricks of The Trade† – By Dale Penn, and â€Å"Double Trouble† – by Neal O’Farrell. Research websites were also helpful, like the Gartner Research website. I found some very interesting websites online, one of which I’ll give a mention; â€Å"Publications USA† – an American government run website, it had a section to provide American consumers with information on Identity Theft. Sites like these helped me understand the impact of Identity Theft on the consumer, how the consumer battles it – and ultimately this showed me how business must deal with it, in their every day transaction s with consumers. There was a vast amount of Scholar articles I found online, through Google scholar of course, they took very interesting views on the problem, and posed some very good questions. These articles included; â€Å"Did Privacy issues cause identity theft?† to articles such as â€Å"Identity theft: Myths, Methods and the New Law†. Also, simply with a quick look at the papers every Sunday for the past few weeks, I found plenty of material in them – Papers such as the Sunday Business Post, The Financial Times, The Guardian & The Irish Times. They always provided me with something to read that was related to identity theft. After reading all this material, I saw both sides of the argument. Most do believe Identity theft is a Real Threat to business and consumers alike. I will quickly look at how much of a problem this has become, and I will then point to some of the major cases, and the impact of these cases on business. However, there are the those that believe Identity theft is over exaggerated, I will look closely at how researchers collect their data for research, and I will also look at the impact of this over-exaggeration within business, how it has sparked some companies within the protection business to come under scrutiny for over-exaggerating the risk of Identity Theft. Why and how do Identity Thieves do it? â€Å"Cybercrime has surpassed illegal drug trafficking as a crime enterprise† – [Symantec Corporation, 2009] Identity thieves use the Internet as a weapon against individual consumers by taking personal and financial information, such as credit card numbers and social security numbers, and then using that information to, purchase products or launder money (Identity thieves have been known to purchase cars and homes or even create criminal records under another individual’s identity) [Overseas Digest, When Bad Things Happen To your Good Name]. Such a scheme can be devastating for an identity theft victim and can create financial costs for credit card companies and other commercial entities. According to Columbus state university research, computer fraud in general, within the U.S. alone, exceeds $3 billion each year, and in the U.K. exceeds  £2.5 billion each year [Columbus State University, 2011]. These statistics alone show the huge impact of computer fraud and identity theft on the economy and businesses in the world we live in today. It shows what a lucrative business Identity Theft has become today. Cases of Identity Theft Causing a â€Å"Real Threat† in Business Arguably the most famous case of Identity Theft is that of Frank Abagnale, who was depicted in the 2002 Hollywood blockbuster movie â€Å"Catch Me if You Can† [DreamWorks (film), 2002]. In the 1960’s, Abagnale eluded authorities by posing as characters such as an airline pilot, doctor, assistant Attorney General, and history professor, all the while racking up $4 million in bad cheques [Posing Facts, 10 bizarre cases of Identity Theft]. This bizarre case of Identity theft is portrayed in a comical sense in the film, with Tom Hanks left chasing shadows. But for businesses in today’s society it is far from comical, as the protection of consumers’ information poses major issues within business today. The best way to see the affects of Identity Theft on business is to actually take a look at some of the major cases within the last few years. This will show the business issues and the impli cations it is having on business on a daily basis. The headlines within the last few years have highlighted the threat that Identity Theft poses. In what was dubbed at the time the largest ever case of identity theft to be prosecuted by the American Department of Justice [CBS News, 23rd Feb 2010], the â€Å"Miami Hack Pack† (dubbed that by [Miami New Times, May 20th 2010]) stole over 100 million credit Card details over the course of 4 years. The credit card details, which they hacked, were stored by a number of companies; one of which was T.J. Maxx, a British retailer (they would be known here in Ireland for their chain of stores called â€Å"T.K. Maxx†). The hackers gained access to the company systems of T.J. Maxx and stole personal information of over 45 million credit card and debit cards in July 2005. These cards belonged to the company’s customers who purchased items from January 2003 to November 23, 2003, however the company did not discover the theft until much later in 2007 [Identity Theft Awareness, 2011]. Deepak Taneja, chief executive of Aveska, a firm that advised the company on information security commented at the time; â€Å"It’s not clear when information was deleted, it’s not clear who had access to what, and it’s not clear whether the data kept in all these files was encrypted, so it’s very hard to know how big this was,† [St. Petersberg Times, 30th March 2007] – This quote shows the issues TJ Maxx faced at the time. They simply didn’t know how large this was, added to this was the fact that it took nearly 2 years to find the breach. A combination of the above led to huge consumer outrage at the way T.J. Maxx handled their customers’ information, and left consumers baffled as to why T.J. Maxx held onto the details for 2 years after the transactions had taken place. Many experts speculated that TJ Maxx would pay dearly for the incident. Customers would abandon the brand for fear their personal information would be exposed, and investors would avoid the brand because of crippling fines and costs faced by the company. However, in the 12 months that followed the announcement of the breach, TJ Maxx never looked better. Revenues increased Profits increased, and share price increased [Neal O’Farrell, Double Trouble; 12 Reasons why we’re Losing the Battle against Identity Theft]. But what does this mean? Could this have been contrived as a clear message to TJ Maxx and other businesses that not only is a data breach no big deal any more, but it may just be another acceptable cost of doing business? Perhaps. But there is still no doubting the potential impact of a company’s consumer information being breached. And, in the case of TJ Maxx, if the right procedures were followed, this kind of occurrence may have been preventable. Despite the fact their Brand and profits didn’t suffer, TJ Maxx realised this was a major wake up call. And it was still a learning curve for any business looking in. Lessons must be learnt: 1) Collect only the minimum personal customer information needed to complete a business transaction. 2) Retain the collected personal information for only as long as needed per business and legal requirements. 3) Monitor systems to detect unauthorized software and suspicious network traffic such as unusual data download in terms of size and time. [Identity Theft Awareness, 2011]. Businesses must constantly consider their risks and assess their internal controls to prevent costly incidents and their unintended consequences. As far as TJ Maxx, the company spent over $130 million to deal with the consequences of this international identity theft case. Even though their Brand didn’t seem to suffer, and profits rose and investment wasn’t hindered, TJ Maxx couldn’t afford to take this risk again. [Neal O’Farrell, Double trouble] The second case I’ll look at is that of Sony’s PlayStation Network hack earlier this year. The details of 77 million of Sony’s online PlayStation Network customers were breached. This most recent major intrusion has shown that Identity Theft is still a major issue for large corporations. This case again raised major questions about online transactions [The Guardian, April 2011]. Confidence in E-Commerce has always been a major problem for business [OECD; Reinforcing consumer confidence- Key to Boosting e-commerce], it has been for years, after all, it’s the reason that most think twice before making an online purchase, it’s that lingering feeling that overshadows an online purchase. It is an obstacle that is being slowly removed, but set backs like this do not help, as Steve Curran, creative director at the Brighton-based studio Zoe Mode, told Develop Magazine; â€Å"From my perspective, the bigger issue is not about the PlayStation Network, but confidence in digital distribution generally. For every story like this that breaks in the mainstream press, consumer confidence about their details being safe is eroded. Confidence [in online transactions] has been building up, and I think will continue to, but this is a blip. It could be a little step back† [Develop Magazine, †Digital distrust could follow†, 2011]. This hack was a major set back for the company’s on going battle for control of the gaming market with Microsoft’s Xbox. And it was up to Sony to rebuild confidence in their brand after the major breach [The Guardian, April, 2011]. Is it an â€Å"Exaggerated Risk†? One thing I did notice when I was doing my research was that, most of the information we have on cyber crime losses is derived from surveys. But can one form an accurate estimate by survey alone? J. Ryan & T. Jefferson claim in their book â€Å"The Use, Misuse, and Abuse of Statistics in Information Technology†, that losses are extremely concentrated, so that representative sampling of the population does not give representative sampling of the losses as a whole. They also argue that losses are based on unverified self-reported numbers. Not only is it possible for a single outlier to distort the result, we find evidence that most surveys are dominated by a minority of responses in the upper tail [J. Ryan and T. I. Jefferson; The Use, Misuse, and Abuse of Statistics in Information Security Research]. In the 1983 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances an incorrectly recorded answer from a single individual erroneously in inflated the estimate of US household wealth by $1 tr illion. This single error added 10% to the total estimate of US household wealth [Dinei Florencio & Cormac Herley, Microsoft research; Sex, Lies and Cyber-Crime Surveys]. In the 2006 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) survey of Identity Theft the answers of two respondents were discarded as â€Å"not being identity theft† and â€Å"inconsistent with the record†. Inclusion of both answers would have increased the estimate by $37.3 billion, in other words it would have changed the estimate 3 fold [Federal Trade Commission, 2007]. In surveys of sexual behaviour men consistently report having had more female sex partners than women report having had male sex partners (which is impossible). The difference ranges from a factor of 3 to 9. It is pointed out that a tiny portion of men who claim, e.g., 100 or 200 lifetime partners account for most of the difference. Removing the outliers all but eliminates the discrepancy [Florencio & Herley, Microsoft Research]. These seem like simple mistakes, which could be avoided, however safeguards against producing these erroneous results seem largely ignored when it comes to Cyber-Crime surveys [Florencio & Herley]. So, what does this potential over exaggeration mean for business? This over exaggeration and bad estimates can have huge consequences on both resource allocation and in policy issues within business and government alike. Imagine this, in a simple scenario; a research company comes out with staggering new figures about the rise in Identity theft, online fraud, and the number of companies being sued by customers who were affected by their bad data protection protocols. This type of scenario has happened before; take for example the research conducted by the ITRC (Identity Theft Resource Center) in 2008. They reported that Data Breaches soared by 47% over 2007 [ITRC, 2008 Data Breach Totals Soars]. These kind of estimates can cause alarm bells to ring for some businesses, they in turn may pump more funds into the data protection systems in their own firm to prevent what they believed were â€Å"Real Threats†. Yet, as highlighted above there could be major issues with these statistics, and Florencio & Herley even mention the discrepancies of the ITRC yearly surveys in their book. Again, imagine the implications of such research on policy issues, especially government policy issues. If the government take the results of a certain survey on Identity Theft as a perceived â€Å"Real Threat†, and adopt major measures to tackle it, it could have major implications on business. For starters, it could damage consumer confidence in E-Commerce. Like I mentioned before, it’s the reason we all think twice before making a purchase online and isn’t it the reason for the introduction of Prepaid Credit Cards? People who have never experienced Identity Theft take measures to avoid it. And this could be all down to policy measures. Exaggerated Risk on business in the industry On 29th March 2011, CPP Group PLC, a British based company selling life assistance products, announced that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) would be launching an investigation into the sale of one of its products to U.K. customers. The product included services such as credit-score monitoring, an Internet search facility alerting the user of inappropriate use of their data and a caseworker to help the person reinstate their identity [The York Press, 30th March 2011]. The financial services Authority’s investigation centres around allegations that CPP overstated the risk of identity theft when selling insurance for that purpose. As a result in the investigation, CPP had to suspend all sales of its identity theft protection product with immediate effect. The product includes services such as credit-score monitoring, an Internet search facility alerting the user of inappropriate use of their data and a caseworker to help the person reinstate their identity. And, after announcing the news to the London stock exchange, shares in CPP fell a staggering 46% from  £2.35 to  £1.50, within one day of trading [Financial Times, March 2011]. The reason for this dramatic fall was, as Chief Executive Eric Woolley stated, â€Å"Card and identity protection products in the U.K. accounted for more than 60 per cent of CPP’s business† [Eric Woolley, March 2011]. This shows how exaggerating the risk of Identity theft within this type of organisation can cause massive losses for a business. In one fowl swoop CPP Croup PLC lost almost half its market capitalisation, just because they were â€Å"under investigation† for over stating (A.K.A Exaggerating) the risk of Identity theft through calls to potential customers. This example shows that some can, and do, overstate the risk of Identity theft, and they reap the rewards as a result, as they can sell the technology to tackle it. Conclusion In the introduction I provided an overview of some of the literature and then within the assignment I took a look at both sides of the argument. Through the major cases above I have shown how Identity Theft is a Real Threat to business. However it is also a threat to small businesses, small businesses must follow the same guidelines as highlighted in the TJ Maxx instance. Failure to could possibly lead to the damaging effects of major fines, lawsuits and the damaging of the brand image of a company, as well as deterring investors. Don’t forget the wider implications for business, with the growing trend towards e-commerce, many companies want to take advantage of this, however major data breaches as seen above can hamper the consumer confidence and set back this industry. Again this is a threat to business in this area. Is Identity theft over-exaggerated? You may think I strayed from the point a little here, but I felt it was important to look at this side of the argument, and what drives it. What mainly drives it is that backing of the argument that the surveys conducted are unreliable. I am personally not over awed by this argument, however the people who make the argument point to some interesting evidence of the inaccuracy of surveys from some top researchers in Identity Theft. A look into the CPP Group case gives another side to the exaggerated risk argument. Do people/corporations over-exaggerate the risk for their own benefit? Perhaps. But that is where regulation steps in, and in the case of CPP they had to change their marketing strategy within a few weeks once the FSA began an investigation. Overall, this was a very interesting topic to research, and it opened my eyes to some new areas of IT within business and some of the problems it must tackle. Bibliography 1.Gartner Research, Phishing Attack Victims Likely Targets for Identity Theft, 4th May 2004; (http://www.social-engineer.org/wiki/archives/IdTheif/IdTheif-phishing_attack.pdf) 2.Symantec Corporation; â€Å"Cyber Crime has Surpassed Illegal Drug Trafficking as a Criminal Money-maker; 1 in 5 will become a Victim† – Sept 10th 2009; (http://www.symantec.com/about/news/release/article.jsp?prid=20090910_01) 3.Overseas Digest; â€Å"Identity Theft: When Bad things Happen to your Good Name†. – February 2001; (http://www.overseasdigest.com/odarticles/idtheives.htm) 4.Columbus State University;â€Å"Is There a Security Problem in Computing?† -17 February 2011; (http://csc.columbusstate.edu/summers/notes/security.htm) 5.DreamWorks (film); â€Å"Catch me if you Can† – December 25th 2002; (http://www.angelfire.com/biz7/netmeeting/catchme.html) 6.Stefan Nagtegaal; â€Å"Data Theft: 100 million Records stolen† – 13th August 2008; (http://whereismydata.wordpress.com/tag/tjx/) 7.CBS News; â€Å"11 Indicted in Largest ID Theft Case Ever† – Feb 23rd 2010; (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/05/tech/main4323211.shtml) 8.Miami New Times; â€Å"The Biggest Identity case ever. Right here in Miami† – May 20th 2010; (http://www.miaminewtimes.com/content/printVersion/2270696/) 9.Identity Theft Awareness; â€Å"TJ Maxx Identity Theft† – 2011; (http://www.identity-theft-awareness.com/tj-maxx.html) 10.St. Petersberg Times; â€Å"TJX Hacker Theft May be Largest Security Breach. Data from 45.7-million Cards illegally Obtained† – March 30th 2007; (http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/30/Business/TJX_hacker_theft_may_.shtml) 11.Neal O’Farrell; E-BOOK: â€Å"Double Trouble; 12 Reasons why we’re Losing the Battle against Identity Theft† – 2011; (http://www.identityguard.com/downloads/ebook-double-trouble.pdf) 12.The Guardian; â€Å"PlayStation Network Hack: Industry Reactions and Theories† – 29th April 2011; (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/apr/29/psn-hack-industry-reactions?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487) 13.OECD; â€Å"Reinforcing consumer confidence- Key to Boosting e-commerce† – 16TH November 2009; (http://www.oecd.org/document/20/0,3746,en_21571361_43348316_44078356_1_1_1_1,00.html) 14.Develop Magazine; â€Å"Dvs on PSN hack; digital distrust could follow† – 27th April 2011; (http://www.develop-online.net/news/37568/Devs-on-PSN-hack-Digital-distrust-could-follow) 15.J. Ryan and T. I. Jefferson; â€Å"The Use, Misuse, and Abuse of Statistics in Information Security Research† – 2003. (http://www.belt.es/expertos/HOME2_experto.asp?id=5752) 16.Dinei Florencio & Cormac Herley, (Microsoft Research) â€Å"Sex, Lies and Cyber-Crime Surveys†. (http://www.belt.es/expertos/HOME2_experto.asp?id=5752) 17.Federal Trade Commission; â€Å"2006 Identity Theft Survey Report† – November 2007. [http://www.ftc.gov/os/2007/11/SynovateFinalReportIDTheft2006.pdf] 18.ITRC; â€Å"2008 Data Breach Total Soars† – June 15th 2009; (http://www.idtheftcenter.org/artman2/publish/m_press/2008_Data_Breach_Totals_Soar.shtml) 19.The Financial Times; â€Å"CPP in free fall amid FSA worries† – March 29th 2011; (http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/89a516dc-5a38-11e0-86d3-00144feab49a.html#axzz1eB8FvcKU) 20.The York Press; â€Å"FSA’s concerns contested as CPP Claims ‘highest level of integrity’ â€Å"- March 30th 2011; (http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/business/news/8941469.Watchdog___s_concerns_contested_as_CPP_claims____highest_levels_of_integrity___/)

Methods Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Methods - Research Paper Example The design also involves administration of pre and post examination test to measure the fluid levels among the participants (Nationaltechcenter.org, 2013). For this study, a non-equivalent control-group design will be used to allow the researcher to compare the measurements of treatment group with the measurements recorded by the control group. This is intended to determine if there is a variance in in the level of dehydration that can be associated with the administration of diuretics. The control group in this study will be a group of 40 patients suffering from hypertension, who will not be allowed to use diuretics for a controlled period of time within the acceptable medical standards. A pretest will be done on them to measure the level of hydration before the experiment is done and a posttest carried out later. Treatment group in this case will involve another group of 40 hypertension patients who will undergo pretest to measure their level of hydration, then issued with diuretic tablets. A posttest examination will then be carried out on the treatment group to determine level of dehydration. ... Sample and Setting This study will involve a sample size of 80 patients suffering from high blood pressure and are between age 40 and 55. The sample size will be divided into two groups, one being a control group and the other being treatment group. This group of people was chosen because of their health condition and the fact that people with hypertension conditions are medically allowed to use diuretics under prescription of the doctors to help them lose fluids that are retained as a result of their conditions. The study will be carried out at Agha Khan Hospital during clinics schedules in collaboration with the hospital’s administration and the doctors’ guidance. The choice of this setting is influenced by the high turnover number of the blood pressure patients who visit the hospital on a daily basis and the availability of doctors to monitor the control group in case of any effect as a result of the planned temporary deprivation of diuretics. Description of the Powe r Analysis This study used G Power software for the power analysis. This helps to avoid trial-and-error method of finding a sufficient sample size, G Power allowed imputing the desired power of 0.8 as directed together with the given alpha value, which is 0.5 and expected effect size of 0.3 to generate the minimum sample size needed. The power analyzed here gives the probability of whether to accept or reject the null hypothesis. It should be noted that effect size is of 0.3 indicates that there was a small effect. The alpha of 0.5 shows the error or 95% confidence level in the data used or that the researcher is willing to accept a possibility of a 5% chance in the results. Quasi experiments control the intervening variables, since there is a controlled administration of the diuretics to

Qatar Leadership Centre's programme Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Qatar Leadership Centre's programme - Essay Example The researcher states that with the diverse backgrounds and competencies of the trainers and institutions involved in the Qatar Leadership Centre's programme, the researcher is very confident that by participating in the programme, he will get the opportunity to learn and build the competencies of a great financial leader not only for my employers but also for Qatar as an emerging international economic power. After attaining an international Masters' degree and working as a Senior Auditor for several years now, the researcher has built the basic skills and experience necessary to launch into an international accounting and finance career. The researcher however recognises that he will be more equipped for future challenges if he acquires leadership skills and competencies. These traits and abilities will enable me to get the best results for my organisation and the numerous stakeholders that my organisation will interact with. The Qatar Leadership Centre programme offers the necessa ry training and activities that will enable me to attain these core competencies that the researcher needs to succeed in his international career. The next five years, the researcher desires to acquire more experience in financial management and lecturing, further his education in finance and accounting and also build a socially responsible career. He hopes to do this by working in a world-class university that will enable him to work as an Accountant/Finance expert and also contribute his quota to the society by lecturing and nurturing the next generation of financial leaders. I therefore need some more leadership skills and abilities to influence the young up and coming in the best possible way to become responsible finance leaders in the future. I have also made preparations to complete the Certified Public Accountants (CPA) program in the next five years. This will enable me to gain more technical knowledge about accounting and finance on an international level. This will give m e the necessary qualification to learn about comparative international systems and structures and use that to support in the modelling of a good accounting system in Qatar. In practice, I would want to use my power as a financial manager/auditor to promote corporate social responsibility in my organisation and the wider society. I therefore plan to get some competencies in Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance matters to ensure this. I am strongly considering a postgraduate course in Corporate Social Responsibility to attain this end. Basically, I want to influence my work environment with best practices and effective decisions. I also seek to impart the knowledge I have accrued over the years to the next generation of finance leaders in Qatar and around the world. I also want to promote the institutionalisation of social responsibility in the corporate sector in Qatar. In my practice in the university environment, I once experienced a religious sectarian conflict that invo lved the top-ranked academics of the university and administrators. The issue was related to a policy that could adversely affect a certain social group in the university in terms of

The Eighth Wonder of The World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Eighth Wonder of The World - Essay Example The architecture style of the building is Art Deco (Tauranac, 1975). In 1986 The Empire State Building entered the list of National Historical Monuments and in 2007 the building became the head of the list of the best American Architectural Solutions according to the American Architectural Institute. W&H Properties Company is the owner and the manager of the building. The Tower is situated on the Fifth Avenue, between the  33rd and 34th Street (Tauranac, 1975). As the Skyscraper is surrounded by many offices, it can’t be viewed in full from below. It is accomplished  in modest but very elegant Art Deco style. In contrast to many modern skyscrapers, the front of the tower is fulfilled in classical style. On the grey stone front, there are strips of stainless steel and the upper stores look like three projections. The hall is 30 meters in length. It is decorated with the picture representing Seven Wonders of the World with the eighth added to them – The Empire State B uilding itself. In 1964 the system of floodlights was set on the top of the towel to illuminate the top in different colors. It is interesting that the colors are chosen depending on the season of the year, holiday or event (Tauranac, 1975). In the Empire State Building there is a hall of Guinness  Records there is the information about outstanding records and record-holders. The tower was first shown in the film King Kong in 1933. After that, it was represented in many other famous films such as Love Affair and Empire. The building plays an important role in the sport life of the world because race competitions are held there annually.

Public Health and Health Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Public Health and Health Policy - Essay Example Lack of shelter is regarded as homelessness state. Vostanis, Grattan & Cumella (1998) highlight that many times, homelessness is interchangeably used with the term rooflessness. It is an example of social exclusion that can be incorporated in the equalities in terms of health agendas. Individuals without shelter are often termed as homeless. Baggott (2011) explains that homelessness is not an entity but multiple entities that encompass housing needs. It entails the need for individuals to have short term or temporary accommodation. Sometimes living on the short term or temporary accommodation presents the uncertainty of the future. Wilson & Mabhala (2009) elaborate further by highlighting that the temporary accommodation includes the rough sleepers; individuals sleeping at their friends’ or relatives’ houses; and homeless shelters. Some of them live in accommodations that are supported such as temporary accommodation (bread and breakfast) or in the hostels. It is elaborated in Homeless Link (2010) that that homeless individuals who seek accommodation from friends or relatives are sometimes compelled to either stay on the relatives’ sofas or squat. Moreover, individuals who are driven out of their homes due to factors such as disasters or violence are also faceted as homeless. This is inclusive of the immigrants. Despite the fact that they are the widely known group as illuminated by Baggott, Allsop & Jones (2005), the majority of culprits are of homelessness state are single individuals who live in either insecure or temporary (short term) accommodation. Carr, Unwin & Pless-Mulloli (2007) illuminate that homeless is not a homogeneous group and individuals faceted to be homeless are in most cases families that are young and headed by females who are lonely. They tend to experience general health problems, as well as mental health. However, Douglas (2010).reveals that those who are not officially homeless are

Different Views of Paintings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Different Views of Paintings - Essay Example The essay "Different Views of Paintings" analyzes different paintings by considering narrative moment chosen by the artist, the scope, and scale of the scene depicted, and the context of its production. Artemisia was a feminist who focused on serious subjects and addressed challenging themes. The painting Susanna and the Elders by Artemisia Gentileschi represents an opposition against such a tradition. Indeed, only Artemisia Gentileschi used the female gaze to paint. The artist used oil on canvas to prepare the painting Susanna and the Elders, 1610 that measures 1.70m by 1.21m. Many artists hold the view that the seventeen-year-old Artemisia received immense help from her father. Nevertheless, Artemisia presents a popular and acceptable painting in Susanna and the Elders, 1610. The inclusion of anatomical accuracy and advanced color and construction made Susanna and the Elders, 1610 a successful piece of art (Brash 1). Unlike other artists who were indifferent to the original languag e, Susanna and the Elders, 1610, Artemisia adopted the realism of Caravaggio unlike other major artists. This was Artemisia’s first piece of art.The painting Susanna and the Elders by Artemisia Gentileschi presents a Biblical story where a virtuous Jewish wife sexually harassed by the elders of her community . Artemisia shows how lust overcame the two men as they spied on Susanna as she took a bath. The two men cornered her and black mailed her into either sleeping with them or they would level false claims against her.

Starbucks Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Starbucks - Case Study Example It still had to face criticism as people believed that it was not an actual size reduction but just a fad on the part of the company. Due to this they started producing the snickers mini and phased out the giant. The environmental aspects that have positively impacted the company include demography of the area of operation which is within cosmopolitan regions. This also has been amounted to by the technological advancements within these regions especially that their products are furnished brands to the existing products. Lastly, the cultural trends of the regions of operations have been characterized by fashionable products which basically triggered the entry of Snickers into the market space. Moreover, the success of starting the company was amounted to the level of education of the management; this accorded the management technical as well as managerial skills, having studied a bachelor’s degree in business management. By extension, prior experience in a sugar processing far m came in handy as regards the stages of production and general processing. In addition to this there was adequate savings to initiate the company as initial capital. Product Description and Segmentation The Starbuck Company produces products made up of Nougat, caramel and covered with chocolate. They have a range of products, the original snickers, the dark snickers, the almond snickers and the ice cream. The ice cream comes in three forms, a cone, a brownie and a bar. Current Market Target Starbucks Company has enjoyed a whopping 30% market share owing to its quick establishment as regards to the core products which long before never existed to satisfy the consumers’ needs, but if they did then were of poor quality. The main area addressed by Starbuck coming in handy as a cutting edge was their technological inclusion in the venture. This furnished the brand of the product. In addition to their quality products the government was quite impressed and considered funding the e xpansion in the production of this new brand of products. In addition to the aforementioned market share, Starbucks Company’s considerations come along with the knowledge of the customers of probable benefits accruing from the entry of the new product, their willingness and capability to pay higher prices for the new products, their likelihood to adopt the new brand based on their attitude and their criticisms about the product which they would wish to be addressed; especially the health concerns. Proposed Promotion Mix The current advertisement that Starbuck Company has been running is the â€Å"when you are hungry, you are not you†. It is this concept that has received recognition and they have made some really interesting advertisements that have earned them acclaim. This advertisement focuses on the fact that the company products give you energy and makes you young and energetic. Other than this the company has also used various promotion strategies like Push strat egy as well as the pull Strategy which has ensured the maximal exploration of all available channels of distributing the product to the market. In these methods of advertising the company has employed various stratagems like Product comparison advertising; whereby it has enjoyed the benefit of an outstanding product. Other equally competitive marketing

Modern times Essay Example for Free

Modern times Essay Janie Crawford, a free spirited individual, is the main character in the book â€Å"Their Eye’s Were Watching God† which was written by Zora Neale Hurston. It should also be noted that Hurston was an anthropologist because of the book’s historically accurate perception of the expectations black women lived up to during that time. The story unfolds around Janie’s life and how she fought against the male oppression she endured in her two marriages all the while trying to define herself as her own person. This oppression she endured with her marriages shows the influences and ideas that men had over women during that time period. If someone was to look at this novel in the perspective of an anthropologist you would have to say that it is a fictional novel with historical merit of how life was for women in the South during the 1920’s. The story scenes centers on a town and its citizens that was created as a black community. Not only was there oppression but also exploitation that Janie had to endure. In her first marriage to Killicks this was shown when he intended to put his wife in the field working the plows. Janie is powerless and without free will. â€Å"Ain’t got no particular place. It’s wherever† (31), Killicks claims. Killicks always was able to shut her up when he felt she was trying to assert herself. A good example was when he used derogatory threats against her family when she tried to talk about their marriage while shoveling manure. Then when the scorn wasn’t enough to keep her quiet the threat of physical violence began to be used. â€Å"Don’t you change too many words wid me dis mawnin’, Janie, do Ah’ll take and change ends wid yuh†¦Ah’ll take holt uh dat ax and come in dere and kill yuh! † (31). Joe Starks, her second husband, also exploited Janie by working her in his store. He seemed to silence her voice all too often. There were many times he would point out that she was just a trophy wife of someone in authority. Janie seems to be bothered by the high stool that Joe insists she sit on and when I first read that part I envisioned a child being punished. For this marriage silence is golden, on the part of the wife. The first time Joe quieted her, Janie said it left her feeling cold. When he refused to allow her to speak at his election for mayor she felt that it took, â€Å"the bloom off of things†. At the elections Tony Taylor wanted Janie to speak, â€Å"uh few words uh encouragement from Mrs. Mayor Starks,† that is when Joe takes the floor and says, â€Å"mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s un woman and her place is in de home† (42). A belief that held true for sometime even in today’s world. It was interesting that Stark used verbal cues to make Janie shut up and be obedience using her looks or intelligence as tools for his oppression. If you were to ask any battered woman today they too would say how insults and put downs helped in breaking their self esteem in order for their oppressor to gain control. In Janie’s first marriage violence was always just a threat; in her marriage to Stark it became real. Stark beat her over a poorly cooked dinner once (68) and for insulting his sexual abilities he struck â€Å"Janie with all his might† driving â€Å"her from the store† (77). Killicks on his last day with Janie threatens to kill her, Stark when bedridden and helpless wishes â€Å"thunder and lightnin’ would kill her! † (83). Violence goes hand and hand with oppression and exploitation. The threat of violence physical or verbal has consequences that follow the victim throughout their lives. Janie was basically just property in the eyes of her men. To do whatever their bidding and was often thought of as no better than a mule. There was one part of the book where it talked of a man that did not like to beat his wife because he felt it was just like stepping on baby chicks. He used empathy instead of moral rights as to why men shouldn’t beat their women. Are women thought of as just baby chicks or mules? The answer is yes and still can be applied in modern times.

Psychological Operations Analysis

Psychological Operations Analysis ANALYSIS PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATION IN PANAMA According to the types of psychological operation general can be classified into three types, which were Strategic Psychological Operation, Tactical Psychological Operation and Consolidation Psychological Operation. During the psychological operation in Panama, there are two main types of psychological operation that been use which were loudspeaker and leaflets. The psychological operation that used in Panama can be classified as types of Strategic Psychological Operation. Strategic Psychological Operation were activities that by using the political, economic, military, sociological and psychological against any group in the country either friendly, neutral or hostile group.[1] The aim of Strategic Psychological Operation was must be related to the support of civil population. The operation can increase the morale of friendly groups and at the same time can gain the support from the neutrals side. The America has using the loudspeaker operation in intervene of Panama. Before the America troop attack the enemy the loudspeaker of America will carry out messages as below[2]: Message 1. Phase 1. Attention, attention, attention. Everyone clear the building. Lay down your weapons. Come out one at a time with your hands on your head and you wont get hurt. The building is surrounded. Message 1. Phase 2. Attention, attention, attention. Everyone in the building. You have 5 minutes to lay down your weapons and come out with your hands on your head. We intend to destroy the entire building and kill all of you in it unless you do as you are told. You cant escape. The building is surrounded. Dont die when you dont have to. Your five minutes has started. Why the America always have to give this two message before the troop start to attack the enemy? This is because America wanted to create a good image for them. Through the message carried out by the loudspeaker not even can hear by the enemy but by the population too. The messages can stressed the legitimacy of the America action because the population of Panama will think that America troop has given chance for the enemy to surrender before they take action. The America also had taken over of the TV2, which was the most population TV station in Panama.[3] By taken over the TV station the America can easily to take control of the media or news among the population. The TV station use by the Pennsylvania National Guard, serving to calm down the population in Panama which in fears or rumors.[4] The America has using the loudspeaker and TV station to achieve the aim of this Strategy PSYOPs, the America always give a message that their aim was the Noriega and his violent underlings but not the people of Panama. If against the enemy, the Strategy PSYOPs can undermine the morale of enemy even can promote or encourage disagreement among the enemy’s organization.[5] The operation leaflet has been use by the America against the enemy to encourage them to surrender. A few of the leaflets was the theme of reward for weapons, the text of the leaflets has been carry out easily to understand with the amounts of rewards and the types of weapons with different amount of rewards, the leaflets not even ask the enemy to surrender their weapons but also ask the population the pointed the location of the enemy which hidden weapon. Besides that, America also have a poster which show that the Panamanians how to turn in their weapons. The application of the Strategic PSYOPs was to destroy the image and organization of the enemy. The psychological operation in Panama has aim to destroy the image of the Noriega, which force the population to accept him as a winner in the election. From one of application that use by the America was dissension and dissatisfaction between enemy leaders and the people.[6] The America has aim on this application to intervene on Panama and at the same time America can gain the support from the population that against the Noriega. From the operation of loudspeaker that carries out a message that America was take action because of justice of democracy. The Cartoon Propaganda in Newspaper also used to against Noriega. The America has using the Cartoon to create black propaganda against the Noriega. One of the cartoon with the title â€Å"Church?† has showed that the Noriega as the Devil hiding behind a Christian Cross.[7] This can be seen as a propaganda that creates by the America a gainst the population to believe that the Noriega was not a good leader. The America has influence the hearts and minds of the population either friendly, neutrals and the supporter of Noriega. The Strategy Psychological Operation was a long term of operation, so the effect of the Strategy was difficult to evaluate. The Operation Just Cause has been ended with the surrender of the Noriega which defeat by the PSYOPs of loud speaker with Rock Music. The America also win the hearts and mind of the population of Panama, if not they would not success in the operation. PSYOPs CAPABILITIES They are some capabilities of psychological operation that involve in the Panama. The capabilities that have in the Panama were create or destroy images, morale, keep public informed and undermine the enemy morale.[8] First create or destroy images, the image or moral of the person can be destroy by create some plan to exploiting the good or bad of the personnel. In the PSYOPs Panama the America has using the black propaganda against the Noriega, cartoon in the newspaper has destroy the images of the Noriega. Even the cartoon has been drew the Noriega as devil. Second morale of the people, the PSYOPs can use to change or improve the morale of the civilians by using the credible propaganda. There was a leaflet that use in the population was the tittle â€Å"Law†. The leaflet had asked the support for the democracy, respect the law and report the criminal act. This leaflet was tried to influence the people which may in the side of neutral, to make their attention on the democracy in Panama. At the same time it also can increase the morale of the anti-Noriega which they can gains more supportive of the population. Third keep public informed, the population must be keeping inform by the government about their objective or goals so can prove that they are carried the interest of the people and the nation. The loudspeaker and TV station has been use by the America to create their good image among the panama population. The America has told the population that because of the Noriega was not followed the democracy law, so he must be taken down. The America using the loudspeaker to act as they were the justice of democracy in Panama. Some of the leaflets also use to create a good image of America such as the leaflets with the title of â€Å"Christmas†, the text was much happiness and was for all the children of Panama. America has very active in create a good image among the population, may be this was some lesson learn from them during in the Vietnam War. The forth was undermined the morale of the enemy, by pointing out the weaknesses of the enemy, a PSYOPs can easily to undermined the morale of the enemy. During the PSYOPs in Panama, in the final stage of Operation Just Cause there was a group of PYSOP troop played a rock music surrounded the Vatican Embassy which the Noriega taken refuge.[9] The music has been played 24 hour a day without stopping until Noriega cannot taken it anymore surrendered him selves. The PSYOPs that using the rock music to bombard has been successful to undermined the will of Noriega to continue the fight with America. The fifth was encourage the defections and surrenders, the enemy can be encourage to surrender if they are been subjected to PSYOPs for a long time. The leaflets with rewards for weapons were PSYOPs that use to encourage the enemy to surrender their weapons. With the high rewards for the surrender the weapons, it will be the interest for the enemy. The loudspeaker also been use to encourage the enemy surrender themselves before they been attack. [1] Reader Pack [2] http://www.psywarrior.com/PanamaHerb.html [3] http://www.psywarrior.com/PanamaHerb.html [4] http://www.psywarrior.com/PanamaHerb.html [5] Reader Pack [6] Reader Pack [7] http://www.psywarrior.com/PanamaHerb.html [8] Reader Pack [9] http://www.psywarrior.com/panama.html

Sid Meier’s Civilization (CIV) :: Personal Narrative Writing

Sid Meier’s Civilization (CIV) Sid Meier’s original Civilization, commonly abbreviated as CIV I or just simply CIV, is well known as the turn based strategy game. CIV was published by MicroProse in 1991, and in the decade since it has turned into a phenomenon complete with sequel games, expansion packs, spinoffs, and a cult following that rivals that of any other game one could care to name. The basic concept is deceptively simple and yet dangerously addictive. You begin the game with one Settler unit, and from there you go on to build a worldwide civilization with the ultimate aim of conquering the planet and/or building and launching a spaceship to Alpha Centauri. One of the many sequel games entails settling Alpha Centauri once you’ve gotten there. As good as the sequel games are, though, CIV I will always have a special place in my heart. My first introduction to the game came at my father’s knee. Dad was a computer gamer since before PCs even existed, having even written a few of his own. I was only six or seven at the time and I would watch as he and my brother, three years my elder, spent a lot of time in front of the computer staring at this pretty blue and green map with blinking pictures that did things which were largely incomprehensible to me. Naturally, I was rather jealous of the attention my brother was getting and I quickly decided I was going to play, too. No matter that I had no idea what I was doing. Over the years, with my father’s help, I eventually came to understand the game and I haven’t looked back since. In the years since then, though I’ve on occasion tried some of the sequels, I’ve always come back to CIV I. It seems like an awfully outdated, charming little DOS game nowadays, but it has an addictive quality that allows one to play it over and over and never h ave the same experience twice. Starting from scratch, the player has the chance to build an entire civilization. You construct cities, military units, and city improvements like granaries, libraries, and even Wonders of the World. You can build roads to connect your cities, and ships to move your settlers to other continents. Along the way your civilization gains knowledge which allows you to build better technology and city improvements. There are anywhere from two to six computer controlled civilizations that start with the same resources but in different regions of the map.

Dancing With Wolves Essay -- essays research papers

1. The film Dancing with Wolves takes place in South Dakota in 1863. John Dunbar is the main character who hurts his leg in battle and is sent to the frontier on a new mission as a Lieutenant. When Dunbar arrives in South Dakota he is there alone, no one else had made their way their yet. Dunbar gradually starts to live with the Indians and become one of them getting the name Dancing with Wolves. Another main character is Standing with a Fist, who marries Dancing with Wolves. Standing with a Fist is an American who was captured but the Indians when was very young. She was used as an interrupted, but gradually fell in love with Dancing with Wolves. Another main character is Wind in his Hair. Wind in his Hair makes Dancing with Wolves comfortable in their tribe. He is Dancing with Wolves friend and the one who took care of Standing with a Fist. The Sioux Indians were the Indians who were more friendly that did not have a spirit in them always wanting war unlike the Pawnee Indians who were the Sioux enemies. 2. The beggars and thieves in the story of Dancing with Wolves were the white people. Dancing with Wolves looked on the whites as this. The Indians used everything they possibly could. For example the totanca (buffalo) was used in every way possible for it to be used. They used all the buffalo’s organs and hides of fur possible. Nothing was wasting. In the movie when Dancing with Wolves sees the stampede of buffalo he goes and tells the Sioux Indians of this. The day he an...

History of Psychology Time Line Essay examples -- essays research pap

Time Line The history of psychology just might be the greatest type of history to explore. From 387 B.C Plato?s Academy of Athens, where his metaphysics, epistemology, and social philosophy found expression and came to pervade Western thought. Plato was a dualist, separating the physical world from the world of true form. His assertion that reality is known through reason was not challenged until the rise of empiricism, to the Supreme Courts ruling on April 30, 1979. In Addinton v. Texas, ruled that a person may not be civilly committed to a mental institution unless the state presents ?clear and convincing? evidence they require hospitalization. This standard of evidence is greater than the ?preponderance of evidence? rule for civil cases but not strong as the ?beyond reasonable doubt? rule for criminal cases. These two examples are to show the wide range of history Psychology has to offer. In my project I chose to focus on Industrial Organizational Psychology. (I/O Psychology) This area of Psychology interests me the most and I feel by concentrating on I/O Psychology I can learn more and keep my idea?s organized to one field of Psychology. ? *February 24, 1409 the founding of the world?s first mental hospital was inspired. One this day in Valencia, Spain, Father Juan Gilabert Joffre came upon a crowd harassing a ?madman. ? Wealthy citizens responded to a sermon calling for a hospital for the insane. The hospital de Nuestra Dona Santa Maria de los Inocentes was founded later in the year and is still in operation. ? 1690 John Locke outlined the philosophical justification. Later manifested in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which in effect, advocates participatory management in his argument that ... ...f psychiatric hospitals to employee placement at the average fast food restaurant, Industrial Psychology holds an important place in history. ? Not I/O Psychology, but I felt these dates were important to note. Work Cite Kane, J. N. (1981). Famous first facts: A record of first happenings, discoveries and Inventions in American History (4th ed.). New York: H. W. Wilson. Ridenour, N. A. (1961). Mental health in the United States: A fifty-year history. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Street, R.W. (1994). A Chronology of Noteworthy Events in American psychology: Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. Riggio, R. E. (2000). Introduction to industrial/organizational psychology (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Marketing Galaxy Essay

The company that I have chosen for the basis for my report is Mars Incorporated. They have been placed the 5th largest privately held company in the United States and had a $30 billion annual sales in 2010. The majority of people think of chocolate when they hear of Mars; however their confectionary products are not the only thing they focus on. They cater for six business segments:- †¢ Petcare †¢ Wrigley †¢ Food †¢ Drink †¢ Symbioscience †¢ Chocolate They are a privately owned company with more than 65,000 Associates who are committed to delivering the best quality in the segments above. Out of the six segments I will be focusing on one ‘Chocolate’. Mars have 4 billion dollar global brands which includes ‘M&Ms’; ‘Snickers’ and also ‘Milky Way’. Chocolate confectionery is very much a part of everyday life in the United Kingdom. The UK is the largest chocolate consumer in the world with an annual average per capita consumption of 11.5 kg followed by Liechtenstein with 10.9 kg. The reason why I have chosen this company is because they have a strong background when it comes to chocolate and three of their products ‘Galaxy, Mars Bar and also Bounty’ have been listed in the Top Ten Chocolate bar of all time. One of the products that Mars Incorporated that interest me is ‘Galaxy’ which is extremely popular in the United Kingdom; Middle East and in Africa. Galaxy is also known as Dove in many parts of the world such as United States; Germany; Malaysia and Greece. Nevertheless, the chocolate used in Dove products is a different taste from the chocolate used in Galaxy. Galaxy has 11 different products such as Galaxy Ripple; Galaxy Cookie Crumble; Galaxy Counters. As we know Galaxy has many different spin offs, which gave me an idea for a new product. â€Å"Galaxy Smooth White†. Galaxy believes that the indulgence about chocolate is about the whole experience. It has a luxury yet sensual feel towards it. The majority of white chocolate products is mainly aim at the children market, providing products such Milky Way and Kinder Bueno. There are a few white chocolate products for adults however are on the upper scale such as Divine; Fair-trade and Green & Blacks. When looking into the needs and wants of a ‘Galaxy’ chocolate, customers still want that luxury feel when they take that first bite. (Galaxy calls it ‘Love at first bite’). Customers want a warm feeling inside and for that moment, they don’t want to worry about how many calories they are going to add. Galaxy Smooth white delivers exactly this and more. It provides adults with a white chocolate that is not deemed to be immature or just any chocolate that you would have daily in your lunch box. This chocolate is for lovers of white chocolate or chocolate in general; who enjoy indulging themselves with an experience that allows them to be in their own world where everything is perfect for that moment. 70% of the whole UK confectionery market is accounted for by chocolate, with annual sales of  £3.75bn. White chocolate only accounts for just 1 to 2% of UK chocolate consumption (milk chocolate accounts for 92%). Tony Bilsborough, Head of UK Media Relations (Cadbury) believes that there is a massive growth potential with white chocolate. â€Å"We’ve seen the figures and our competitors have, too,† he says. â€Å"I think you could say that white is the new brown.† According to market research it has shown that white chocolate is famous among the female segment of the United Kingdom population. Women in return have rewarded Galaxy with sales figures that have totalled companies such as Ferrero, Green and Black’s, and Lindt combined. (According to UNS Worldpanel data.) Galaxy’s target market is women between the ages of 25 and 45 however for Galaxy smooth White, I would want to lower the age to 21, as I believe in this generation, women from the age of 21 are deemed to be more mature than they were 10 years ago as they are more independent and becoming more career focused. When looking at segmentation criteria for Galaxy Smooth white, I looked at ‘Demographic’. This segmentation involves dividing the market into different groups based on variables that relate to age, gender, family size, income, occupation, education, lifecycle and generation. This is known to be one of the most popular bases for segmenting consumers groups, mainly as consumers wants are closely linked to such variables as income and age; and there is more data available to assist with Demographic segmentation process. Below are the main demographic segmentation variables for ‘Galaxy Smooth White’: Age/gender As explained above Galaxy Smooth White will be aimed at 21-45 year old women. As facts show that women in the United Kingdom find white chocolate very popular. There are many white chocolate available for children so breaking into that market will be a massive risk, whereas white chocolate aimed at women is a quite small market waiting to be broken. Galaxy is also known to be a chocolate that is soft; sensual and even romantic. So aiming this product towards men will be a big fail. Income When looking at this product, its shows it’s a luxury good. However compared to products such as Green & Black and Divine it is not at that end of the scale. Galaxy Smooth White appeals to consumers of all types of income which makes it different from competitors such as Divine who are aimed at those with a medium to high income. Lifestyle When looking at Galaxy Smooth White the type of women it is aimed at, is those with a hectic lifestyle; so whether it be someone who works all through the week; a mother of four or even a student who constantly in their books. The aim of the chocolate is that when a women needs a moment for herself, Galaxy Smooth White allows her to calm down; allows her to focus on herself; her needs and for that moment nothing else matters. The reason why I chose women between the age of 21 and 45 for the target market is that apart from children they are the main consumers for white chocolate. There is also room for a luxury, sensuous affordable chocolate in the confectionery market. I still want to keep Galaxy’s consumers as a target market as the company has been influencing it consumers to fall in love with Galaxy’s silky taste while also endorsing itself as a symbol of indulgence, femininity, and sensuousness. It is important that Galaxy’s traditional image is reserved as there are many benefits for Galaxy Smooth White to be associated with Galaxy. One brand that may be seemed as competition is Cadbury’s Dream, which is portrayed by them as a ‘white chocolate made with real smooth, melt in your mouth chocolate’. I know that Galaxy Smooth White will be positioned at a higher rank compared to Cadbury’s Dream as I have a more solid knowledge of my target market and Dream did not have a clear clarification of what their target market was. Galaxy has been linked to female-friendly activities such as book and films such as The Devil Wears Prada and Sex and The City. All this relates to Galaxy Smooth White Brand. When marketing Galaxy Smooth White, I need to make sure that I create a successful mix of: †¢ Being the ‘right’ product †¢ Sold at the ‘right’ price †¢ Sold in the ‘right’ place †¢ Using the ‘right’ promotion †¢ Product Galaxy is already a household name and is known for being a chocolate that caters for women. One of their branded names is ‘Why have cotton when you can have silk?’ When looking at what the customers wants from the Galaxy Smooth White, they still want that feeling of having a soft, smooth silk like feeling of white chocolate. Not only does it have to taste right, it has to look perfect. The packaging should be similar to the current Galaxy Smooth Milk however have white/sliver silky foil covers with the same colour background, however the words ‘Galaxy’ written in white. The Galaxy Smooth White should be written in white. We still want to keep the packaging simple as the product is our main focus. Comparing this product to others such as dream, I think the Brand name does put Galaxy Smooth White at an advantage as what we are selling relates to the brand; has been backed up by the brand. So we are in a position where the consumers know what to expect. Price Galaxy bars are now (46g) sold at a retail price of 57p. The larger ones (125g) are sold at  £1.26. When looking at pricing the ‘Price must be right’. In regards to Galaxy Smooth white I will use, Penetration Pricing. The aim of this is to increase the market share of a product. Galaxy Smooth White could you the â€Å"Special Introductory Offer†. Here I am able to set a relatively low initial entry price, lower than the established price to attract new customers. This strategy aims to encourage consumers to switch to the new product because of the lower price which will be  £1 for 125g and 45p for 46g. Although this type of pricing is mostly associated with a marketing objective of increasing market share or sales volume, in the short term profits will result in being lower than if the price was set higher. However long term, there would be profitability of higher market share, so the pricing strategy can often be justified. Place We have to make sure that the Galaxy Smooth White is obtainable in supermarket, online and even local shops. Galaxy Smooth White should be available for consumers as other confectionaries are. So even a vending machine at work should have ‘Galaxy Smooth White’ waiting for the consumer to buy it. Our distribution channel will be Suppliers –wholesalers/companies-Consumers. I also would want to send samples to catalogue companies as a way of introducing the new Galaxy Smooth White. The type of Catalogues I would like to send samples to be â€Å"More† and â€Å"Cosmopolitan as they are magazine that are aimed at women aged 21-45. Promotion The target market does need to be aware of the existence and availability of the product through promotion. To promote Galaxy Smooth White there needs to be a broad range of advertising, through magazine; television and billboards. The best time to promote and launch Galaxy Smooth White would be Christmas as it can relate to the ‘White’ Christmas theme. It also related back to the brand, as many people will be busy buying Christmas presents; students will be busy trying to get all their Christmas assignments done in time and they can relax with a bar of Galaxy Smooth White. The marketing mix should be more than a checklist of the 4P’s as we mist blend together all the elements. The pricing, promotional and distribution strategy of ‘Galaxy Smooth White; must be consistent with the product and target market. Booms and Bitner (1981) suggested another extra 3P’s that are: †¢ People †¢ Physical evidence †¢ Process People looks at all the people whether they be directly or indirectly involved with the product. Process analyses the procedure in which the flow of the activities of which the product is consumed. Lastly, physical evidence is related to the environment in which the product is delivered. People The impact that people have within the market should never be underestimated. This is most obvious when looking at front line sales to customer service staff which will have a direct impact on how your product is perceived. Galaxy as a whole makes sure that the customer services staff are provide high quality services to our consumers. This is why ‘Galaxy Smooth White’ will be distributed in well names supermarket known for their excellent customer service such as ASDA and Tesco. All the elements of the marketing mix will have an impact in regards to Galaxy Smooth White but ‘People’ carries an importance of regarding marketing as an integral part of the way I would do business is clear. Process This part of the mix is about being ‘easy to do business with’. We have all been in situation where we have either become frustrated at call centres that are not able to answer our questions; irritated when you are unable to purchase something in the shop because it is not recognise on their computer and you clearly see it on the shelf. Situations like this make this element important. This element will make sure ‘Galaxy Smooth White’ looks at this from its consumer’s side. We will make sure that the process right and easy. Physical Evidence With tangible goods such as ‘Galaxy Smooth White’ we can offer our consumers the chance to ‘try before you buy’, or at least see, touch or smell the good. This is why in out promotion element I explained by sampling the chocolate in magazine, aimed towards our target market. Through this we will be able to build trust and then a relationship with the consumer and to do this we must provide evidence of the quality that we will be providing as possible. Physical evidence refers to all the tangible, visible touch points that our consumer will come across before they buy. Overall, I do believe that this product will sell well because its new product made from an existing product and Galaxy has a strong name on its own and the products that have been made from Galaxy have all been a success and are still marketable. References New year, new Galaxy – Rainforest Alliance Certifiedâ„ ¢ Cocoa . 2011. New year, new Galaxy – Rainforest Alliance Certifiedâ„ ¢ Cocoa . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.galaxychocolate.co.uk/. [Accessed 29 November 2011]. About Mars | World Famous Company | Mars . 2011. About Mars | World Famous Company | Mars . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mars.com/global/about.aspx. [Accessed 29 November 2011] 7-Ps – Extended Marketing Mix – Booms and Bitner. 2011. 7-Ps – Extended Marketing Mix – Booms and Bitner. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_booms_bitner_7Ps.html. [Accessed 12 December 2011 Nestle Marketing Mix and SWOT . 2011. Nestle Marketing Mix and SWOT . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/12163694/Nestle-Marketing-Mix-and-SWOT. [Accessed 12 December 2011]. Health, Beauty, Fashion, Love, Careers and more – MORE Magazine. 2011. Health, Beauty, Fashion, Love, Careers and more – MORE Magazine. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.more.com/. [Accessed 12 December 2011]. How to Develop Your Distribution Channels | Marketing M.O.. 2011. How to Develop Your Distribution Channels | Marketing M.O.. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.marketingmo.com/strategic-planning/how-to-develop-your-distribution-channels/. [Accessed 12 December 2011].

General Management †George David Essay

George David has been CEO of United Technologies Corporation (UTC) for more than a decade. During that time he has received numerous accolades and awards for his performance as a CEO. Under his leadership UTC, a $343 billion conglomerate whose operating units include manufacturers of elevators (Otis Elevator), aerospace products (including Pratt & Whitney jet engines and Sikorsky helicopters), air conditioning systems, and fire and security systems, has seen earnings grow at 10–14 percent annually—impressive numbers for any company but particularly for a manufacturing enterprise. According to David, a key to United Technologies’ success has been sustained improvements in productivity and product quality. The story goes back to the 1980s when David was running the international operations of Otis Elevator. There he encountered a Japanese engineer, Yuzuru Ito, who had been brought in to determine why a new elevator product was performing poorly. David was impressed with Ito’s methods for identifying quality problems and improving performance. When he was promoted to CEO, David realized that he had to lower the costs and improve the quality of UTC’s products. One of the first things he did was persuade Ito to work for him at UTC. Under David, Ito developed a program for improving product quality and productivity, known as Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE), which was subsequently rolled out across UTC. The ACE program has been one of drivers of productivity improvements at UTC ever since. Early in his tenure as CEO, David also radically reorganized UTC. He dramatically cut the size of the head office and decentralized decision making to business divisions. He also directed his accounting staff to develop a new financial reporting system that would give him good information about how well each division was doing and make it easier to hold divisional general managers accountable for the performance of the units under them. He then gave them demanding goals for earnings and sales growth and pushed them to improve processes within their units by implementing the ACE program. At the same time David has always stressed that management is about more than goal setting and holding people accountable. Values are also important. David has insisted that UTC employees adhere to the highest ethical standards, that the company produce that have minimal environmental impact, and that employee safety remain the top consideration in the work-place. When asked what his greatest achievement as a manager has been, David refers to UTC’s worldwide employee scholarship program. Implemented in 1996 and considered the hall-mark of UTC’s commitment to employee development, the program pays the entire cost of an employee’s college or graduate school education, allows employees to pursue any subject at an accredited school, provides paid study time, and awards UTC stock (up to $10,000 worth in the United States) for completing degrees. Explaining the program, David states, â€Å"One of the obligations that an employer has is to give employees opportunities to better themselves. And we feel it’s also very good business for us because it generates a better workforce that stays longer. † David states that one of his central tasks has been to build a management team that functions smoothly over the long term. â€Å"People come to rely upon each other,† he says. â€Å"You have the same trusting relationships. You know people; they know you. You can predict them; they can predict you. All of that kind of begins to work, and it accelerates over the tenure of a CEO. If you have people bouncing in and out every two to three years, that’s not good. According to Sandy Weill, former chairman of Citicorp and a UTC board member, David has the right mix of toughness and sensitivity. â€Å"When somebody can’t do the job he’ll try to help; but if that person is not going to make it work, that person won’t be on the job forever. † At the same time Weill says, â€Å"He does a lot of things that employees respect him for, I think he is a very good manager. Even though David is demanding, he can also listen—he has a receive mode as well as a send mode. †

Psy 240 – Lesson 2 Essay

Identify the teratogens covered in this chapter and birth defects/disorders they can cause. Format your response as though you were giving a brief prevention lecture to young married couples. Your answer should be no fewer than 400 words in length. We are all aware of genetic and hereditary factors that may impact the health of the newborn baby. However, our ability to prevent genetic disorders is limited to genetic testing of parents and prenatal diagnostic methods that can reveal early warning signs of genetic defects before birth.Another group of factors that can greatly influence the health and the development of a baby are environmental agents. These agents are commonly referred to as teratogens and include any environmental agent that can cause damage during the prenatal period. Unlike genetic factors, the damaging effects of the teratogens during the prenatal period and after birth are almost completely preventible by the parents. Most common teratogens that can impact pregnan cy and child development are: prescription and non-prescription drugs, illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco, infectious disease, radiation and environmental pollutants.Many prescription and non-prescription drugs exert side-effects that may be harmful during the prenatal period. Even when these side-effects are not noticeable or are not affecting the mother they may be interfering with the normal prenatal development of the baby during early and later stages of the pregnancy. For this reason all newly-expecting women or those planning to become pregnant need to consult with a doctor about any prescription drugs they may have been taking and certainly before starting therapy with any new medications.Many people consider non-prescription or â€Å"over-the-counter† drugs to be safe because no physicians prescription is required for their purchase. This is a common and often a dangerous mistake. Many â€Å"over-the-counter† drugs and products are not classified as drugs but rat her as nutritional supplements and as such don't require FDA licensing and control. In general these products can be dangerous to health since their contents and action mechanism have not be adequately or scientifically tested. Their consumption by pregnant or planning -to-become pregnant women can be particularly dangerous.New mothers need to consult a medical professional before using any over-the-counter products including vitamin and mineral supplements. Another category of common products that often get overlooked but can be dangerous to prenatal development and infant health are cosmetics. Many cosmetic products contain chemicals that can be harmful to the mother and the baby. For instance, many anti-acne products and â€Å"blemish-removal† products contain retinol and retinoic acid which can affect the baby during the first trimester.The retinol based â€Å"over-the-counter† products, such as Retine-A cream, are similar to the prescription drug Accutane which is prohibited for use by pregnant women as it causes damage to baby's eyes, brain, immune system, ears and skull. Other commonly used beauty products can be dangerous as well. Some examples are lipsticks that may contain lead, lotions and creams containing paraben, hair colors, tanning products and many more. The best prevention is to avoid use of pharmaceuticals, supplements and cosmetics before and during pregnancy without consulting a doctor first.The use of illegal drugs prior to and during pregnancy and while breast feeding is extremely damaging to the baby. Commonly used â€Å"street drugs† such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamines and their derivatives cause a multitude of prenatal development abnormalities and can cause a lasting damage to the child's physical and mental health. Some of these abnormalities include: low birth weight, respiratory and cardiac difficulties, vision and hearing problems, metabolic abnormalities, premature birth and can cause death during or shortly after birth.Damage to the nervous system is particularly evident among illicit-drugs affected newborns and they are usually irritable, exhibit neurotic crying and often have lasting cognitive and social development difficulties and behavioral problems. The use of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and other so called â€Å"heavy drugs†, pre- and, during pregnancy and while breast feeding is especially dangerous as it causes the drug addiction of the newborn.The maternal use of marijuana causes a multitude of physical and psychological problems to the newborn including low birth weight, brain development abnormalities, depression and learning difficulties. Though it can not be linked to the inherited drug-addiction of the newborn, the use of â€Å"street drugs† by a father has been linked to a multitude of genetic diseases transferred to the off-spring. Though the exact modalities have not yet been determined for every drug, it is certain that use of dr ugs by a father causes mutations of the paternal DNA and therefore impacts the genotype of the baby.Persons with drug addiction problems planning to start a family should consult a medical professional well ahead of becoming pregnant to plan a course of action to cease the drug abuse and limit its damaging effects on the baby as well as parents. Already pregnant women with drug abuse problems need to contact the doctor as soon as possible to assess the risk and plan the best course of action needed. Alcohol consumption is one of the most damaging factors to a healthy pregnancy and birth. Mistakenly, most people consider â€Å"social drinking†, a consumption of one to two drinks daily or few time per week, to not be damaging to health.Though some evidence exists that a low or moderate consumption of alcohol can be beneficial to cardiovascular health, it is well established that even small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can be detrimental to the prenatal development of the child. Alcohol causes a variety of prenatal development abnormalities jointly referred to as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The FAS manifests itself in recognizable cranio-facial morphological deformities such as widely spaced eyes, a thin upper lip, small upward pointing nose, short eye-lid openings and a small head.The overall growth of the child is slowed. Furthermore, FAS causes a multitude of mental abnormalities such as attention, memory and language deficits, hyperactivity and abnormal motor skills and coordination. It has been established that these abnormalities result from the damaging effects of alcohol on neuron development in the early phases of pregnancy. Due to the overexpendature of oxygen by mother's body during alcohol metabolism, the fetus is often oxygen deprived which further contributes to development of the above mentioned health problems.Though the amount of alcohol consumed during pregnancy determines the extent of the damage caused, even small amounts of al cohol consumed can cause some of the symptoms listed. This milder form of FAS is referred to as fetal alcohol effects (FAE) and is equally concerning. Similarly to illegal drugs use, a link had been established between consumption of alcohol by a father and the mutations it causes to the paternal DNA which leads to multiple genetic defects of the offspring. All couples planning to bear children should stop all alcohol consumption well ahead of the time of pregnancy.Those with alcohol dependency should seek professional help in quitting drinking as alcoholism is a disease and requires a complex approach to physical and psychological issues that are causing it. The damaging effects of smoking on human health are well known but large number of child-bearing aged women still use tobacco regularly. The use of tobacco before, during and after the pregnancy has been linked to a multitude of infant health problems during the prenatal period and childhood. The tobacco using women are at a hi gher risk of miscarriage during pregnancy.It is a well known fact that nicotine, which is a vasoconstrictor, prevents an adequate blood flow to the uterus and causes defects to the placenta. In turn, the exchange of the nutrients between a mother and the baby is disturbed resulting in fetal malnutrition and low birth weight. As we know, low birth weight is a main predictor of the physical and mental developmental difficulties of the child. Nicotine affected babies are often born prematurely and exhibit cardiac and respiratory problems such as arrhythmia, asthma, sleep apnea, and are at a higher risk of developing cancer during childhood.The rate of infant death is also higher among this population of newborns. Even if physical health problems are not obvious, many nicotine-exposed babies display a certain degree of behavioral problems during their development. These can range from diminished sensory response, such as that to a sound, through over stimulation by touch and vision to a multitude of learning impairments. The best prevention to the nicotine-exposure health related issues is quitting smoking well before becoming pregnant.Even quitting smoking during pregnancy will greatly reduce the health risks to the baby. Joint quitting of smoking by both parents is usually the most successful approach as partners are able to support each other during this difficult endeavor. Exposure to the second hand smoke during pregnancy is equally as damaging to both mother and the baby. Again, quitting smoking and avoiding exposure to the second hand smoke will not only protect the child but also improve the health of the parents in the long run.All sexually active persons need to regularly undergo testing for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Prevention of, and regular testing for, STDs shows not only a concern about personal health but also a responsible approach to protecting the health of the partner and especially the health of the children the relationship may re sult in. Many STDs and infectious diseases are easily transferred during conception and from the mother to the embryo during this critical period of prenatal development. Many of these infections can cause serious and long-term defects to the fetus as well.Common birth defects caused by infection transmission during pregnancy include mental retardation, cardiac, respiratory and digestive system problems, vision and hearing damage and multitude of other conditions. One of the most dangerous STDs transferred from an infected mother to a baby is human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes AIDS. The HIV-infected babies develop symptoms of AIDS much faster than adults. The disease progression can be as rapid as a few months after birth with most ill babies dying within first 5-8 months after birth.Women aware of their HIV positive status should consult with the specialist if planning on becoming pregnant to asses risk and discuss possible prophylactic methods that can be employed to prevent transmission. Couples and individuals planning on pregnancy should test for infectious diseases before conception and address any concerns they may have with a health care professional. In the case of HIV, many newly-developed anti-retro viral therapies can prevent the risk of transmission onto baby by as much as 95%.Other infectious diseases that should be of concern when planning pregnancy or when pregnant are herpes, hepatitis, rubella, toxoplasmosis, syphilis, etc. Exhaustive testing for infectious diseases by both parents performed by a specialist is the best prevention of pregnancy complications and transmission to the newborn. Another teratogen that is of concern when evaluating the prenatal health is radiation. Though not as commonly encountered as other teratogens, radiation can be as devastating to the prenatal and postnatal development of the child.Exposure to radiation during pregnancy often leads to a miscarriage or birth defects such as physical deformities, ce ntral nervous system abnormalities, slow growth as well as a multitude of learning and emotional problems. Pregnant women and those planning on becoming pregnant should avoid exposure to radiation such as occupational exposure, for example radiology technicians, or medical exposure such as during exams with x-rays and other radioactive agents. Men should avoid exposure to radiation as well, as radioactive agents can cause mutations of the paternal DNA which can lead to birth defects of the offspring.Any concerns about possible radiation exposure need to be addressed with a medical professional as many methods are available to prevent and limit the damaging effects of radiation. Environmental pollution is probably a teratogen that is the hardest to avoid or prevent. As we know our ecosystem, be it the air, the land or the water, is heavily polluted with many agents and has lead to an increase of cancers, respiratory, neurological, hereditary and many other diseases in human populatio n. Unfortunately, environmental pollutants affect humans from our early days of prenatal development.One of the main ways babies get exposed to this teratogen is through the nutrient exchange during the prenatal development. The pollutants transferred through these means include mercury and other heavy metals found in contaminated food and water. The exposure to heavy metals during the prenatal development has been implicated with causing a multitude of abnormalities of the nervous system and psychological disorders. Many toxins commonly found in the products for everyday use cause many metabolic, immunity and respiratory disorders that have a long lasting effects on the health of the newborn.Environmental pollution is directly linked with childhood cancers as well as hereditary predisposition for cancer development. Some of the measures that can be taken during pregnancy to minimize the damaging effects of this teratogen include limiting the consumption of large predatory fish, suc h as salmon and tuna, which are often high in their mercury content, avoiding antibiotics and steroids contaminated meats as well as pesticide treated fruits and vegetables.Staying indoors and using air-filtration systems during high air-pollution days can prevent exposure to carbon monoxide and combustion byproduct gases. The use of industrial and chemical cleaning agents and chemicals should be avoided or limited to a minimum. As we can see there are many teratogens we are exposed to daily and though they damage our health it is especially frightening to think of the effects they have on the health of our unborn babies.Though these concerns are valid they should not stand in the way of enjoying the pregnancy, child birth and child rearing as the most pleasant and enriching experience of the lifetime. As we have learned most of the damaging effects of teratogens can be avoided and prevented through education, being aware of the risk factors and being proactive in taking steps to av oid the exposure and damage by practicing healthy living habits and seeking help when needed.