Wednesday, July 31, 2019

The Life of Adam: Heroes Don’t Run

Heroes Don't Run: A Novel of the Pacific War Author: Harry Mazer Brennan Gaspard October 2, 2009 5th hour, Mrs. Reeves Heroes Don't Run: A Novel of the Pacific War written by Harry Mazer. This is a fiction story with a lot of action and history. Reading this story made me feel like I was really there along the side of Adam during the Pacific war. Adam is determined to serve his country in honor of his father, a naval officer, who was killed in Pearl Harbor. Adam enlisted in the Marines hoping that serving his country would be honoring his father’s wishes.It was what his father would have expected of him. Adam felt like he had to do his part by serving in the Pacific war before it ended. What Adam didn’t know was that war was not at all like he expected. In 1944, Adam Pelko, waits for his eighteenth birthday to come so he can sign up with the Marines and serve his country. The story began in Bakersfield, California where Adam lived with his mother and little sister Bea. Adam was only seventeen years old and could not get his mind off of signing up for the Marines.He knew his mother was against him signing up, but he had to follow his dream. Adam finally got the opportunity when he got to visit his grandfather, Osker Pelko, who lived in Watertown, New York. He served in World War I and understood why his grandson wanted to sign up so bad. Adam’s grandfather signed him up even though he too did not want to lose him because he had already lost his son, Adams father to war. Adam is sent to boot camp, then to Okinawa to fight the Japanese and to do his part in the Pacific war.During the war Adam friends Ben and Rosie are killed. Adam has constant memories about his father and witnesses unforgettable experiences. Adam’s leg gets injured by a mortar shell blast that blows fragments of rock, dirt, and even bits of bone into his body. He is sent to the Aiea Naval hospital in Honolulu. Adam had to have several operations and a cast put on his l eg. While in the hospital Adam thinks about his two friends Rosie and Ben being real hero’s because they were killed in battle.In the summer of 1945, Adams was released and able to go home. As soon as he the ship docked he called his mother and grandfather to tell them he was coming home. After being released by the doctors at the San Diego Marine hospital, Adam goes home to California. Once Adam finally gets home he realizes that the whole war isn't about the guns or killing people. He was put in the situation to fight for his life and his opinion about war had changed. He remembered how scared he got and tried to avoid fighting.He did not feel like a hero. Adam also realized what he had put his mother through having her worry if he was alive or dead. He considered giving her the purple heart and saying, â€Å"It’s for you too, mom. † Adam enjoyed being home with his family and did not want to talk about the war. He did not feel like a hero, even though he had fought for his country instead of running. I really liked this story because it showed me what soldiers have to go through to keep our freedom.

How does Hosseini present Baba Essay

Chapter 10 is a transitional chapter, set just after the Soviet invasion, which sees Baba and Amir fleeing Afghanistan for Pakistan. In this chapter Khaled Hosseini presents Baba in more details. We get to see Baba’s behaviour and his attitude towards other people and especially his son – Amir. Hosseini focuses on Baba and he tries to express what this character is like, but is this the same Baba? Is this Baba we have met in previous chapters? The author of â€Å"The Kite Runner† decided to present Baba in this chapter as the hero. When Russian soldier demands â€Å"a half hour with the lady in the back of the truck†. Baba’s response is mechanical. He stands up and he asks Russian officer â€Å"Where his shame is†. We know by this time, that â€Å"Baba saw the world in black and white† and when he decides to protect that woman he risks his life he proves his ideology. He knows that woman deserves a respect and it is natural reaction for him to back up her. Other people, such as Amir, don’t understand his behaviour. Amir is scared of loosing his father and he tries to stop him. Baba is not happy with his son conduct and he says: â€Å"Haven’t I taught you anything? â€Å". It also shows Baba’s disappointed. In chapter 3, Baba says: â€Å"I’d never believe he’s my son†. I think Baba becomes more disappointed with Amir and his performance each chapter. Amir is a coward. He is different to Baba. He proved this in previous chapters when Hassan got raped and Amir did not do anything to defend him. Baba is trying to protect that woman and he also is ready to sacrifice his life. Baba is the hero and Amir admits it too: â€Å"Do you have to always be the hero? Can’t you just let it go for one? But I knew he couldn’t – it wasn’t his nature†. Baba is a person who believes in only one crime, which is stealing. In that case, Russian soldier wanted to steal some woman’s privacy and her right to belong only to one man. When the officer started arguing with Baba and threatening him, Amir’s father became more confident and he was full of anger: â€Å"Tell him he’d better kill me good with that first shot. Because if I don’t go down, I’m tearing him to pieces, goddamn his father! â€Å". Baba doesn’t care about anything just saving Afghan woman’s honour. He is determined and ready to die. Baba knows that he needs to escape from Afghanistan, to save himself and Amir, but the whole journey proves that its not about saving their lives but attesting some values and protecting other people too. When Baba finds out that they have been cheated by Karim, he becomes furious again, but this time he uses more violence towards a liar: â€Å"Kamir slammed against the wall, his sandaled two feet above the floor. Wrapped around his neck were Baba’s hands. â€Å". They all paid a price to get out of Afghanistan but it didn’t matter for smuggler because they excepted to get more. Baba is adamant and stubborn. â€Å"He kept choking him until the young mother (†¦ ) begged him to stop. â€Å". She was the one who knew that if Baba would hurt Karim, there wouldn’t be a way for them to flee from there. Baba forgot about it, and everything that mattered was to teach Karim a lesson, as he was the one who wanted to steal their right to leave the country and live somewhere else, far from a war. â€Å"Baba finally let go†. Even Amir admits that he â€Å"didn’t want to see the murderous look on Baba’s face†. I think that it was the first time when Amir got to that point when he saw Baba being so obstinate and angry. When all men pray for the rescue, Baba is the one who decided not to do so. They ask him why he won’t join them, his answer is being given straight away: â€Å"What’ll save us is eight cylinders and a good carburettor. † As we know that he always â€Å"saw the world in black and white. † He knows that God won’t come from heaven and give them a hand. He is a realist and Khaled Hosseini shows this again, in chapter 10. Baba has been also shown as a person who loves his country no matter what happens and his behaviour proves that he is going to miss Afghanistan as he spent his whole life living there. â€Å"He picked up a handful of dirt from the middle of unpaved road. He kissed the dirt. (†¦ ) Stowed the box in his breast pocket, next to his heart. † This is an example of a person loving their country. We could refer to Pope John Paul II who used to kiss ground of his motherland (Poland) whenever he was coming to visit his beloved country. Baba realises, that he might never come back to Afghanistan so that he chooses to have a piece of his land next to his heart for ever. Finally, the author presents Baba as a father too. When they all are in a truck, and they can’t breath easily, Amir starts to panic. Baba knows his son and he wants to make a journey easier to him. â€Å"Baba tugged at my sleeve and something glowed green in the dark. (†¦ ) Baba’s wristwatch. â€Å". Baba knows that Amir is still frightened therefore he says: â€Å"Think of something good (†¦ ) Something happy. â€Å". He helps his son. Even if he sometimes thinks that Amir is completely different to him, he knows that this is his son and every son needs his father, especially when he didn’t experience motherly tenderness. To recap, Baba has been shown in two different lights in chapter 10. The writer decided to confirm that Baba sees the world in black and white and he also showed that Amir’s father can be quite violent and adamant just to protect norms and values that he sees as a priority. On the other hand, Hosseini showed that Baba can be quite caring towards his son. Personally, I think that this is Baba, we’ve met in pervious chapters but in chapter 10 we get to know him better and he proves that he is not a coward and he can take action in a point of honour. Baba is a role model to me, even if he doesn’t seem to be a good father I think that he is just trying to teach Amir how to live a life and how not to become a coward. Amir might not understand it but Baba is a reasonable and intelligent man who has his own ideology and he never makes any mistakes. Baba is the hero, patriot and a good and wise man.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Legal Implications for Human Resources Management

Human resources are the most important resources in an organization and there is a need for human resource management to consider legal implications for every decision they make in regard to employee benefits. Today, organizations are faced with numerous challenges in sustaining a well-motivated workforce. To ensure that an organization retains the best human resources, several measures are put in place key of which is employee benefits, which is given to the top or executive employees as a motivation to ensure that the organization retains such employees. Employee benefits range from organization to organization but generally, they include short-term benefits, long-term benefits, termination benefits as well as post-retirement benefits. (Armstrong, 2002). Pay gap is one of the greatest issues that companies face with regard to employee benefits. Although the pay gaps can be explained by human capital differences, the travel patterns of different employees, there is also the other dimension of occupational segregation as well as workplace segregation, which has been found to bring disparities in regard to employee benefits. (Lowman, 2002). Pay gap can be a source of demotivation of staff as well as a leading cause of lack of unity of purpose in an organization. Whenever an organization decides to reward men differently from women this can be a source of conflicts in the organization and it is therefore, major challenge organizations are faced with today. Pay gap characterized by gender is a legal problem as it boils down to discrimination in the workplace. This has implications both for the employees involved as well as the organization given the fact that, these differences in employee benefits allotment creates a feeling of discontentment. In situations where the difference in pay is as a result of level of education or work experience, then this is understandable. However, often employee benefits have been found to be abused by human resource managers in designing rewards. (Thrope, 2000). Discrimination especially based on race, gender, nationality and color is a major issue that companies face with regard to employee benefits. It is evident that, the economic security of employees is very much dependent on other variables such as race, color and nationality something which can be seen as a major issue that companies face with regard to employee benefits. The fact that there are very many immigrant workers in the USA, has created an enabling environment whereby employers can abuse the rights of employees in regards to employee benefits without having to worry about legal implications since most immigrant workers do not have valid papers and it is therefore, not possible for such employees to take legal actions against employers even whereby there are cases of discrepancies in awarding of employee benefits. (Lowman, 2002). The other challenge facing companies with regard to employee benefits is the requirements by the law for a minimum wage rate. This is an issue in that, many companies have been forced to disregard employee benefits citing the mandatory minimum wage limit as being burdensome and being non-responsive to changing market situations. For instance, the wage limits fail to bear in mind that times are changing and competition is becoming stiff with globalization and pegging rewards on other factors other than market forces is likely to have a negative impact on employers decisions regarding to employee benefits. As a result, many employers are less willing to award employee benefits solely because they consider the minimum wage limit requirement as burdensome and exorbitant. (Armstrong, 2002). Over emphasis of pay as a form of motivation is a major issue that companies face in regards to employee benefits. Many companies offer employee benefits in terms of monetary value in total disregard of evidence showing that money is not always a motivator to every employee as there are some employees who work for different reasons other than money. The challenge companies face in this regard is to reform their employee scheme to reflect different needs for their employees. (Thrope, 2000). Finally, there is the dilemma of just how effective are employee benefits in increasing performance? Employees’ benefits as administered in many companies are meant to boost the morale of employees as the prospects of employee benefits is thought to have a positive impact on employee loyalty and commitment to duties. However, the issue arising here is the fact that, by just giving post-retirement benefits or long-term benefits as well as travel allowances, this does not automatically guarantee that employees will remain loyal and committed to the organization. To deal with the issues raised above, organizations need to work on programs, which are agreeable to both employers and employees by involving employee unions in designing of employee benefits packages. This will ensure that every interest is taken care of. Another important thing that organizations ought to do to deal with the issues above is to address human capital differences, especially those differences arising from other factors other than level of education or work experience. There is also a need for organizations to put in place strict rules and regulations as well as workplace policies to do away with any form of discrimination in the workplace, which ultimately reflects on the awarding of employee benefits. It is also important that organizations de-emphasize employee benefits as a form of motivation and opt for other types of rewards, which have little monetary connections. If the above is done, the problem of ineffectiveness of employee benefits will be dealt with and organizations will address the challenges of employee benefits. Potential future issues that organizations will encounter regarding employee benefits may include; high demand for tuition reimbursement considering the fact that due to rapid spread of information technology, new knowledge is released into the market at a fast rate, which means employees have to keep updated through employee training. Another area or potential future issue that organizations may encounter in regard to employee benefits is any new legislations especially aimed at either legalizing the immigration status of all immigrant workers or expelling the immigrant workers. (Lowman, 2002). In conclusion, it has emerged from the above discussion that, major issues that companies face with regard to employee benefits include; pay gap, gender discrimination, over emphasis of employee benefits as a form of motivation as well as lack of clarity on the effectiveness of employee benefits to employee performance. It has become evident that organizations need to de-emphasize on employee benefits as a form of motivation and in addition, there is a need for employers to deal with the problem of discrimination as well as the discrepancy in pay gap. Lastly, employers need to reposition themselves in readiness for future legislations, which may have impact on employee benefits such as legislations on immigration and minimum wage limit. References Armstrong, M. 2002. PP.110-120. Employee Reward. 3rd Ed. CIPD. Lowman, R. 2002. PP.104-109. California School of Organizational Studies Handbook of Organizational Consulting Psychology. Jossey-Bass. Thrope, R. & Homan, G. 2000. PP. 89-93. Strategic Reward System. FT. Prentice Hall. Â  

Monday, July 29, 2019

W4-A Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

W4-A - Essay Example departments or units such as HR department, Finance department, Supply chain management etc to coordinate activities by sharing information through this platform. ERP systems help in faster completion of daily routine tasks and with more accuracy. It reduces the overhead costs and enables better strategic planning since the needs can be assessed in a better manner. The team at ERP.com (2009) stated in one of their articles that the term ERP has originated from MRP (Material Requirement Planning) that later became Manufacturing Resource Planning and it also came from CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing). This term was originally used to refer to the extent the organization had planned to use their organization wide resources. Earlier, ERP systems were mainly used in large organization, industrial types of companies. In the late 70’s, the main idea behind MRP originated; it was meant for the management of the raw materials needed to fulfill the order from large companies and enterprises. After some time, the companies moved to a different approach â€Å"just in time† inventory planning. This step proved to cut warehousing and inventory costs because of better production planning. In these times, sales forecast started gaining a prominent name in business and hence began generating at weekly basis instead of monthly. This need evolved into a desire for a new dynamic enterprise system that could be used to manage company wide resources and data. A decade later, the need for a system that would enable the managers to streamline the processes and existing data throughout the organization evolved into Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP are now used in almost every organization, whether large or small. ERP are used to address a diverse range of areas in an organization; manufacturing, supply chain management, finances, project management (PM), customer relationship management (CRM). There are many service providers who offer reliable and efficient ERP systems, some

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Discussion Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Discussion Questions - Assignment Example This is the reason why you find that almost every business has to utilize the services of marketing professionals in one way or another. It is a known fact that the success of any business is directly related with the impact made by its marketers, and this includes analyses of consumers and markets, to the real adverts and sale of products. Successful businesses which are industry leaders in their own right have been found to have all of them dynamic and successful marketing teams. Another reason for studying marketing is that it aids transactions to take place. Products as we know, do not sell themselves. This means that good marketing informs and educates consumers so as to enable them look for the products they require, make better decisions about the same and get the most value out of these products. In so doing, marketing assists in exchanges between sellers and buyers, creating mutual benefit for both parties. Thus apart from basically understanding the role of marketing, in business, there is more to it such as the tremendous impact it has on society. Delivering of value is another very important reason for studying marketing. Marketing does not only deliver value to the customers, but also translates this value into the value of the organization as it creates a customer base that is reliable and leads to an increase in a firm’s sales leading to more profitability. Thus marketing delivers value to both the firm and the customer. 2. Management in marketing involves formulation of an organizational marketing strategy. Thus together with the support of the marketing and sales team, a marketing professional can estimate product demand and identify markets for the firm’s services and products. Thus management in marketing as a discipline involves practical application of techniques of marketing together with the management of an organization’s activities and resources. Management in marketing therefore involves influencing the

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Social Work Mental Health Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Social Work Mental Health - Literature review Example Social workers themselves can, in turn, influence people to raise their own levels of self confidence through the positive work that they do, as well as the quality services that they provide (Gray & Schubert 2010). The degree of expertise that a social worker has, and the skill sets that they come into the position with, largely depends on the quality of the training that they have received. With this in mind, it can be said that social workers need to be trained to take it upon themselves to improve their own effectiveness in work with individuals that have a mental illness, all in an effort to perform the various job functions assigned to them with excellence. To accomplish this objective will require possessing the ability to manage a complex discipline, in addition to the challenging situations that arise on a daily basis, in order to provide maximum benefit to both the individual and to society as a whole. The focus of the following literature review is to provide the reader wi th a cursory overview of the function that social workers play within the treatment of mentally ill individuals, as well as a critical analysis of two health models that more effectively cover this topic in depth (Bogg 2014). Recent trends indicate that social workers can literally transform the lives of people that have a mental health condition. This demonstrates their significance in modern society (Allen 2014). This is accomplished through their ability to improve the quality of services provided to people that have a mental illness and through the dedication exhibited by social workers, as they are the very professionals trained and this field and possess the capability to truly make a difference in this discipline. It should be mentioned, as well, that the field of mental health is a ripe area for the practice of social work, and within this context such individuals are well positioned to impact society in a positive manner. Social workers do provide

Friday, July 26, 2019

Comparative Essay about two short story Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparative about two short story - Essay Example The first story, Prisoner on the hell plant, is based on the character Artie who has a lot to suffer in his life. Artie is a loner in this cruel and harsh world, a person who just lost his mother and considers himself to be a reason for the loss. He has a history of mental illness and when he came out of the asylum, Artie had a clear view of life in his mind. He wanted his life to improve and to be successful. Artie had been trying to improve his living standards, to get a good job and to worsk and support his mother. But, one day he receives the news of his mother committing suicide and the life he had been dreaming of shattered and the sky fell upon him as he realized what he had lost. Since the receiving of this new, Artie had been trying to figure out a way to find why his mother committed suicide. He had been making out reasons to make himself feel a little less guilty but, all he was left behind was the guilt that he made his mother commit suicide. Even though he was not, people around him were telling him that and consoling him. They were there for him and telling him that he was not at all guilty but Artie felt like he was going insane again and now that he has lost his only hope in the world, there is no chance for him to be a successful man he had dreamt of. Similar scenario is face by Marjane in ‘The Veil’. Marjane is a young girl with big dreams. Dreams of a world where all would be equal and no person would see the other with a sense of superiority. Marjane studies in the school at a time when revolutionists had called for different schools for the two sexes and wearing the veil was made necessary for the girls in school. This new law was not accepted by many and protests were going around in the country by groups both favoring and against this. Her class fellows did not like wearing the veil that much and most of them would remove it whenever they get a

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management Assignment

Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management - Assignment Example Vodafone reached this enviable position through a series of alliances, joint ventures and acquisitions. Section 2 of this paper analyzes Vodafone’s value chain and elucidates its capabilities and core competencies. The Porter’s generic strategies have been discussed and an explanation of which type of strategy Vodafone pursued has been detailed in Section 3 of the paper. Section 4 of the paper discusses in depth the acquisition strategies of Vodafone. An in-depth analysis of pre-acquisition rationale and steps involved therein like analysis of strategic fit, valuation methods and due diligence has been done. The post integration efforts have also been detailed in this section. An attempt has been made to apply the Haspeslagh and Jemison Framework in the post integration efforts. The discussion in this section extends to gauging the overall effectiveness of the acquisition strategy. Any organization with a global footprint can pursue a global strategy, a multi-domestic strategy or a transnational strategy. Vodafone’s choice of International strategy has been discussed in Section 5 of this paper. An organization is able to compete successfully in the marketplace if it can deliver superior value to its customer vis-Ã  -vis the rival firms. The creation of this value entails a series of activities which have been referred to as the value chain by Michael Porter. The arrangement and completion of various activities and their linkages determine whether the firm will be able to manufacture a product for which the customer is willing to pay a price that is higher than the cost of producing the product. The activities in the value chain are divided into two broad categories namely primary activities and support activities (Grant, 2010, Pg 111) . The primary activities enable the manufacturing of the product that the organization intends to sell in the market. This offering may be goods (tangible products) like

Socrates' Concepts in Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Socrates' Concepts in Philosophy - Essay Example If, for example, one talks about justice, then it has to be defined according to its own nature and not according to the nature of the person who upholds it, for justice is the ruler of the person. Similarly, in Gorgias, Socrates asks Polus â€Å"if anyone, whether he be a tyrant or a rhetorician, kills another†¦he may be said to do what seems best to him?† and to which the latter answers affirmatively (Plato, Gorgias). The dialectic then develops into the part where Socrates places himself in the position of a criminal but this time Polus refuses and claims that it is not good because there will be punishment. Moreover, when asked by Socrates what principle upon which his definitions of evil and good lie, Polus simply answers, â€Å"I would rather, Socrates, that you should answer as well as ask that question (Plato, Gorgias). Thus, Socrates finally exposes the weakness of the arguments of the Sophists, both moral realism, and relativism. In Phaedo, Socrates successfully emphasized that the psyche is â€Å"the essence of happiness† and a â€Å"combination of what we think of as mind and soul,† which means that the psyche is the seat of both intellectual and moral personhood (â€Å"Socrates†). In Phaedo, Socrates tells Simmias that the philosopher â€Å"would like, as far as he can, to be quit of the body and turn to the soul† and that â€Å"death† is the â€Å"very separation and release of the soul from the body† (Plato, Phaedo). The way Socrates defended the soul and its immortality to Cebes and Simmias in Phaedo somehow convinced them of the validity of the existence.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Definition of educaton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Definition of educaton - Essay Example The first and foremost important requirement for any educated person is knowledge as it is required in order to make any decisions about what to do, say or believe. This knowledge should encompass both fundamental or foundational knowledge as well as non-foundational knowledge. The former includes matters which are basic such as the earth we live in and the matter surrounding us. However this information may not be of any practical value but they will definitely help people to gain an understanding about reality and their surroundings and also will lead to further inquiries. The non-foundational knowledge is more specific, limited and detailed in nature such as knowing the composition of common salt or understanding the functioning of the human system. Individuals should definitely possess the foundational knowledge as it sows the seeds for further reasoning and inquiry. In addition to possessing knowledge educated people should also have the skills and abilities that will help them to apply their knowledge to practical use. This includes skills to do work, speak, listen and think. The right thinking skills will enable a person to make rational and intelligent decisions. The thinking skills include a general and a specific component.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Competition and Business Risk Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Competition and Business Risk - Assignment Example he individual reflective report will act as an overview of the strategies that were implemented by Head Start Footwear through the business strategy game (BSG) that was played from year 11 to year 15 on a period of 5 weeks. The major aim of this reflective report is be to make an evaluation of my knowledge of how to run a business by making use of the business strategy game. The report will also highlight how I used the Belbins typology to analyse my team members and myself, the theories that I have found helpful from other courses that studied on my masters programme, and what I have leant in relation to business strategy. Figures and facts retrieved from business strategy game will be provided to support the report’s arguments in the report such as the image rating and investor expectation as shown in the figure below. The business strategy game (BSG) offers me practice to make business decisions. The game also enables me to learn how to come up with strategies for winning in a highly competitive market. It also enables me to be held answerable for my actions, in comparison to the business managers who are held responsible for their firm’s performance in the real world (Thompson, Stappenbeck, & Reidenbach, 2013:33). The other benefit is that we can learn more of the BSG exercise by taking up a role a business expert attempting to attain the best organizational performance by making use of managerial prudence and responsible business approaches (Thompson, Stappenbeck, & Reidenbach, 2013:34). BSG gives the opportunity to put what I have learnt into action in order to gain some expertise in applying the skill of strategic analysis. I was able to access the most recent industry-wide developments, create a long-term direction for my company H, create and attain strategic financial goals, and lastly, I came up with ways of producing best results and possibly result to gaining some competitive advantage. Consequently, there the results for Head Start Footwear

Monday, July 22, 2019

Different Ethnic Groups Essay Example for Free

Different Ethnic Groups Essay After going through and being asked to react to the following statement, â€Å"Students who dine solely with members of their own ethnic group and participate in ethnic student organizations and activities contribute to a decline of ethnic relations on campus,† I have come to realized that as any other statements there’s always two sides and a lot more to consider before coming to a consent as a whole. In my opinion this is very important and should always view both sides of the story Many types of these ethnic group’s actions could make it easy and lead to a decline of ethnic relations on campus. For instance, let’s say if ethnic students did everything together as a whole and only participated in ethnic student activities, then it would clearly segregate the campus. Unfortunately no a days, this world for the most part is over the whole â€Å"whites and blacks racial dividedness† and no one should be seeking to head back on that path. Now, campus cafeterias could show a sign of being like that again with several different ethnic groups scattered around. If each ethnic group had its individual organization, I fell that the members could get extremely complacent and start to sense a feeling of superiority. This eventually could lead to conflict with other ethnic groups throughout the campus. It is very also important to look at how other students will view these ethnic groups. Other students may not like these groups, which once again could cause conflict. Another scenario, students may feel threatened by these groups, therefore making them not want to attend class or socialize around campus. There could also be a chance that these ethnic groups could try to bring down a disliked professor or even another group. Universities un-affiliated with a religion may deal with groups with strong religious beliefs and could try to implement their religion into the university. Even schools that are represented by a religion are in danger of an ethnic group with other strong religious beliefs. With all of these problems with ethnic groups, could quickly multiply as they also act as networking groups to get more students who share the same background and beliefs to attend the school. Even graduates could carry this on to their future employers, although experts claim that no network group has ever set out to bring a company down, companies are the next things for college students and bring the risk of having their employees become far too separate from each other. The whole idea of diversity in a company is to make the work place and as uniformly supportive to all cultural backgrounds. By allowing these groups to form, the companies are moving further away from supposedly a fair and diverse population of workers. The segregation of ethnic groups from the rest of the student body largely contributes to a decline of ethnic relations on campus. If I were to see the other side of this and disagree, I would believe that if students of the same ethnic background only dined and participated in ethnic student activities, then it would not contribute to a decline of ethnic relations on campus. Instead, it would have students who tend to stay surrounded by people of the same ethnic background could feel more free, comfortable and accepted; thus bringing improvements leading to higher grades in the classroom and a more humble attitude towards life. Also being placed within a group will most likely encourage students to go out socialize, take part in campus activities, and enjoy campus life. This will lead to them interacting with people from different backgrounds. These ethnic groups can also play a vital role in campus activity by hosting fundraisers, parties, or sporting events. Another benefit to being part of an ethnic group is that many voices are better than one. So by having your voice heard out there will help put an end to any discrimination that was happening and will strengthen the campus’ ethnic relations. Future students looking to attend the school in the years to come may visit the campus and see a group of people who share the same ethnicity or interest as themselves and allure them to come to that university. These groups working as a form of networking could be a massive tool in attracting a diverse student body while at the same time strengthening ethnic relationships. Having been asked to support the statement or disagree, I would have to say that I agree with the statement. In order to be diverse, the student body as a whole it needs to be integrated at all times. It is one thing to live and be part of a group with people who share the same background; however, they should also be with people of other ethnicities and backgrounds. One group only interacting with themselves and not acknowledging other groups forms poor ethnic relations habits. I also feel that most ethnic groups will express a religion that will stir up controversy with other groups for one reason or another. By using the groups as a way to persuade new students to attend the school, the groups will quickly grow and possibly cause even more conflict to the university. Ethnic groups will bring nothing more than poor ethnic relations habits to campus and future graduates workplaces causing only a decline in ethnic relations.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Operations Strategy with focus on Growth

Operations Strategy with focus on Growth Briefly describe your understanding of the concept of Operations Strategy, its importance and its min constructs. Huge number of companies asserted that operations strategy is one of the best approaches to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Waller [5] asserted that the strategic which should relate to operations performance object is important of its operations and supply chain. Hill [4] also suggested that strategy include the perspective of both direction and implementation. Operation strategy is a long term plan which is designed to achieve its desired objectives [5]. Chase et al. [3] claimed that operations strategy is to plan a wide and complete guidelines or approaches which is the best support for companies long term goal. Chase et al. [3] also mention four levels of perspective in operations strategy including learning and growth, internal, customer and financial perspective. Slack et al. [2] addressed that operations strategy is the pattern of decisions and actions that shapes the long term vision, objective and capabilities of the operation and its contribution to overall strategy. Slack et al. [6] also point out that operations strategy should concerns four perspectives as following: (1) Top down Operation strategy is a top down reflection of what the business wants to do. (2) Bottom up Operation strategy is a bottom up activity where operations improvements cumulatively build strategy. (3) Market requirements Operations strategy involves translating market requirement into operations decisions. (4) Capabilities of operations resources Operation strategy involves exploiting the capabilities of operations resources in chosen markets. According to above, it can be concluded that operations strategy which is the way in which operations resources are developed over the long term to create sustainable competitive advantage for the business concerns investments and developments to support the order winners and qualifiers (such as on time delivery, quality conformance and price) for which it has both individual and cooperative responsibility. 2. What do you consider to be the main operations performance objectives in the context of Yo!Sushi? How these objectives reflect the structure and expectations of the companys market? How do you assess the relative importance of these objectives? Answer: An operations strategy should define operations performance objectives which will adds value for customers and contributes to competitiveness by being able to satisfy the requirements of its customers. Slack et al. [2] suggested that there are five aspects of operations performance, all of which to a greater or lesser extent will affect customer satisfaction and business competitiveness. (1) Quality: doing things right. (2) Speed: doing things fast. (3) Dependability: doing things on time. (4) Flexibility: changing what you do or how you do it. (5) Cost: doing things cheaply. Chase et al. [3] also claimed that the major competitive dimensions that form the competitive position of a company include the following: (1) Cost: make it cheap. (2) Product quality and Reliability: make it good. (3) Delivery speed: make it fast. (4) Delivery reliability: deliver it when promised. (5) Coping with changes in demand: change its volume. (6) Flexibility and new product introduction speed: change it. (7) Other product specific criteria: support it. According to above, the main operations performance objectives in the context of Yo!Sushi are quality( food and service), speed, flexibility and cost. (1) Quality Quality is very important index or part in the restaurant industry. According to the article, firstly, the quality of food must manage and control vey carefully including food standards and hygiene. Secondly, the quality of service also is a vital fact which not only relates to the person to person interaction, but also to the general cleanliness of the restaurant. In addition, in order to improve service quality, Yo!Sushi use questionnaires to make some communication and feedback from their customers. It not only let them understand their drawbacks but also found a way to make the customer a repeat visitor in the future. (2) Speed With regard to speed, food stock management is a very important part which is related to it. On one hand, if the food has sold off the belt, the same item of food will to be filled in shortly. On the other hand, if the food has not been sold off the belt in two hours, it must be discarded. To achieve the performance objective of speed not only ensure fresh of food, but also improve the restaurants service quality. (3) Flexibility Customers who want to see a variety of dishes displayed need some different and special menus to make them returning. Variety dishes include seasonal menus and meal promotions which can encourage customers expecting. (4) Cost How to make a reasonable rang of price for their food is also a critical object in Yo!Sushi. According to the article, the author mentioned that there are three different level customer groups including symbols of success, urban intelligence and welfare borderline have been eaten in the restaurant. Because of this, how to set price of meals are a vital issue in their business. There are four structure and expectations of companys market. First of all, to achieve the object of quality can create a chance of customers returning. Secondly, to achieve the object of speed not only ensure fresh of food, but also improve the restaurants service quality. Thirdly, to achieve the object of flexibility could encourage customers motivation to taste special and also make them returning. Lastly, to achieve the object of cost could create much business in many different level customers. It can be concluded from above, different operations will have different views of what each of the performance objectives actually means. In other words, the relative importance of four performance objectives above which can provide competitive advantages depends on how the business competes in its market. 3. What do you see to be the most important challenge for the company and its director? Answer: According to the article, the most important challenge for the company is how to motivate the virgin category customers and how to create the best chances of this customer returning. Virgin customers who mean the people who have not been to the restaurant before will not know how the conveyer belt system works and how to order different Japanese dishes. We can also see from the article that the most important challenge for the companys director is how to get right performance measures of the restaurants. In the article, Robin asserted that given the right set of metrics not only encourage managers performance but also servers performance outperform their current roles. There are also two main reasons why the companys director should to get right performance measures. Firstly, it will bring free up cash to invest in new opening. This reason is refer to CEOs objective which is to have over 100 restaurants open at 2011.Secondly, it will keep companys loyal band of lovers coming back for more. This reason is a vital strategy which make company sustainable operations. It can be concluded from above that if the company can motivate the virgin category customers and make them returning, it will bring much benefits for the company; if the companys director could to get right performance measures of the restaurants, it not only bring free up cash to invest in new opening but also keep companys loyal band of lovers coming back for more in the future. 4. How the identified performance objectives would impact the companys resources and processes (quality, capacity and planning)? And what your suggestions would be to the CEO in selecting measures of performance to improve the restaurants position? Compare your answer with what may be the current approach and solutions of the companys management. Answer: According to the figure1 above, Slack et al. [1] claimed that the market requirement and the operations resource perspectives on operations strategy represent two sides of a strategic equation that all operations managers have to reconcile. According to the figure2 above, Slack et al. [2] also asserted that building operations capabilities means understanding the existing resources and processes within the operation. Different product groups require different performance objective which might related to their position. In case of Yo!Sushi, quality and flexibility are the most important performance objective which should be measured more carefully. First of all, food quality and service quality are a vital index related to customers satisfaction which not only improve restaurants position but also create brand loyalty of their customers. In addition, the flexibility of food is also approach to attract customers successful. In order to identify my suggestion of performance measure, I will compare with another food restaurant called Burger king which is also set some performance objective to make their business excellent. (1) Quality Burger king not only proud the quality of its food but also focus more on their service quality [1]. Compare with Yo!Sushi, quality of food and service are an important points of its business. (2) Speed of service This is a main different between Burger king and Yo!Sushi. Burger king is type of fast food which is important in its speed of service, especially take away. Whereas, more customers of Yo!Sushi choose eat in which more focus on enjoy the process of meal than speed. (3) Flexibility Flexibility is another vital index in restaurant industry. Both Burger king and Yo!Sushi are attach importance to it. Variety meals can attract customers more success than unchanged meals. (4) Cost Burger king is not very cheapest in the fast food market [1]. As a result, how to make a reasonable rang of price which can bring more wide rang customer groups for their business is also a critical object in Burger king and Yo!Sushi. Whilst, using raw materials more effectively and avoid excessive wastage are also a method to decrease its operation cost. 5. How do you describe Yo!Sushis position in the market and the state of their operations and performance, and how do you relate it with the operations strategy the company has adopted and implemented? Answer: An operations strategy should identify the broad decisions that will help the operation achieve its objectives [2]. In general, Yo!Sushis position in the market and the state of their operations and performance are good. First of all, Yo!Sushi very care about their quality of food and service because they know it is a critical fact in restaurant industry and service industry. Secondly, in order to make variety dishes, Yo!Sushi create seasonal menus and meal promotions to encourage their customers returning. Thirdly, Yo!Sushi control their food stock management very well which related to services quality. Fourthly, in order to run their business well and improve their brand visibility, Yo!Sushi choose open restaurants in marketplace. Location selection of Yo!Sushi is also a very vital decision in their operation strategy. Fifthly, Yo!Sushi franchise the concept to overseas partners which makes Yo!Sushi from small company to multinational company. Sixthly, Yo!Sushi use questionnaire to measure restaurants performance and communicate with their customers. It not only acquires some advice from their customers, but also let them make a reasonable measure of performance. Lastly, Yo!Sushi create a new dining experience which include informal, edge and self-paced quick service eatery. In summary, it is clear that the operations strategy of Yo!Sushi is very successful. It not only reflects the businesss market requirements, but also achieve companys performance objective.

Money Laundering Control in Nigeria

Money Laundering Control in Nigeria Money laundering INTRODUCTION This dissertation makes a contribution to the worrying issues of money laundering in Nigeria and the control mechanism within the economy. Money laundering is a global problem which warranted a declaration by the United Nations. The declaration strongly condemns money laundering because it aids the use of financial systems for illicit drug trafficking and other serious crimes such as terrorism. For example the work of Okogbule on (Official corruption and the dynamics of money laundering in Nigeria 2007), and the work Chukwumerie on (Nigerias Money Laundering (prohibition) Act, 2004: A tighter noose, 2004), and the work of Chibuike (Ethics in Nigerian Banking, 2004), all these scholars did not give a look at the banking sector in regard to money laundering compliance and if Nigeria, is really regulating according to international practicing. Therefore, that gives the researcher more effort in looking inwards to the banks, since that is where large transaction takes place. THE OVERVIEW OF MONEY LAUNDERING The research project is on Money laundering Control in Nigeria, and how it has been a very serious problem in that country especially in recent times during the civilian administration, (Chukwuemerie, 2006). But it is not only Nigeria, which its affecting, it is a menace in the whole world that even requested the United Nations making a declaration strongly condemning laundering of money through the illicit drug trafficking and other serious crime, as well as the use of the financial systems of the states for that purpose, (UN Resolution S- 20/4 D) Evidence from around the world proves this view. According to Walker, (1999), around $2.85bn is been laundered yearly around the globe. Again, for example the United Kingdom Government recently issue a cheque of One hundred and fifty thousand (150,000) pounds to the Attorney General of Nigeria, as part of the proceeds laundered by a former Governor in Nigeria (Joshua Dariye), also a cheque for $2 million belonging to former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, was also returned to Nigeria by the British government and promised to returned the sum of Fourty Million (40,000,000) pounds recovered from some Nigerian Government Officials; (Oyedele, 2008) THE INTERNATIONAL FIGHT AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING Money laundering has been a global problem since the beginning of the 20th century. Uche (2007) relate that there were 12 multilateral drug treaties between 1912 and 1972. These treaties helped in regulating the manufacturing and trading of drugs worldwide (United Nations, 1987). For instance, Nadelemann (1988) reports the United Nations adoption of the ideals of Vienna Convention on illicit traffic of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The convention emphasises on tracking down the wealth of money launderers. Article 5(2) of the Vienna convention provides that each party must enact domestic laws to enable it to identify, trace, seize, freeze, and forfeit all manner of profit derived from or used in Money laundering offences. Further all member nations are required to assist other member within their territory in the fight against money laundering offences; (Article 5(4b)). In 1990, the Council of Europe convention on Laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime was adopted. And one of the notable differences is that it goes beyond drug related crimes. The wolfsberg, this are group of eleven banks that came together to fight money laundering. The group was formed in the year 2000, at Chateau Wolfsberg in north east of Switzerland; the group released their anti money laundering principles to their correspondence banks, all in order to fight money laundering. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion ofnational and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.The FATF is therefore a policy-making body created in 1989that works to generate the necessary political will to bring aboutlegislative and regulatory reforms in these areas. The FATF has published 40+9Recommendations in order to meet this objective. For example, the case of former Nigerian Head of State (Gen. Sani Abacha), $675.2m; 75.3m GBP; were all recovered by the government of Nigeria, with the assistance of the other countries were the money was laundered; (Shehu, 2004). MONEY LAUNDERING IN NIGERIA Okogbule (2007) argue that money laundering was relatively unknown in Nigeria up to the mid 1980s. Further, he relate that it is now being used as a means of corruption in every segment of Nigerian society. For this reason, the military government enacted a decree (which decree and when was it enacted) . Thereafter, the civilian administration that came in 1999 repealed the decree and came up with the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of 2004 which gave birth to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Pursuant to the Act, the commission is empowered to investigate and prosecute any person or corporate body who commit any act of money laundering. For instance, a former governor in Nigeria was charged with money laundering offence for bringing into the United Kingdom the sum of 3.2 Million Dollars in 2005 (Guardian Newspaper, 2005). Reiterating the laundering issue, the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri mentioned that the Nigerian government lost over 285 Billion Naira in 10 years. These tend support the argument that there is a regulation gap in the regulation of money laundering in Nigeria. It is in context that this research intends to look at money laundering regulations in Nigeria, so as to contribute towards developing the country. THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY The scope of the study will focus on the effectiveness money laundering regulation in the Nigerian Banking sector, and whether the Nigerian authorities have anything to learn from, how Money laundering is dealt with in the world (International Standard)? AIMS OF THE STUDY The main focus of the dissertation is to find out the effectiveness of money-laundering regulations in regards to banks in Nigerian, and compare it with the international standard? The extent of money laundering in Nigeria The effectiveness of money laundering regulations in Nigeria The international standard on Money laundering Control What lessons Nigeria can learn from that Chapter Two: LITERATURE REVIEW CONCEPT OF MONEY LAUNDERING Money laundering can generally be defined as the process of converting or transferring Criminal proceeds with the intention of disguising their illicit origin (UN, 2000: Art. 3(a)(i)). The extent of the problem becomes clear, considering that, in 1996, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated the money laundering business at around 2-5 per cent of the worlds gross domestic product (Camdessus, 1998), which amounts to up to US$1.5 trillion (Financial Action Task Force FATF, 2007). Moreover, it is claimed that the money laundering business is the third biggest industry worldwide following the international oil trade and foreign exchange (Preller, 2007, pp 234). In one of the definitions it says conversion transfer of any property, knowing such property is gotten from drug related offense or even acting in the scheme to conceal the true information of the origin of such property in order to protect such person from facing the legal consequences of his/her action. FATF organization defines money laundering as a concise the processing of criminal proceeds to disguise their illegal origin in order to legitimize the ill gotten gain of crime. Law Dictionary (1990) refers to it as an investment or other transfer of money flowing from racketeering, drug transactions, and other illegal sources into legitimate channels so that its original source cannot be traced. Money laundering has been defined as a way funds obtained from illegal sources, and put into an account that cannot be traced for possible action; Okogbule, (2007). It has also been described as the processing of funds derived from illegal or illegitimate sources, through legal financial channels with a view to legitimizing and concealing or disguising the source of such funds (Osinbajo and Ajayi, 1991, Okogbule, 2007). THE EXTENT OF MONEY LAUNDERING IN NIGERIA Money laundering was not a prominent crime in Nigeria until the late 1980s, during the period of an oil boom with a tremendous increase in the level of revenue and commercial activities in the country (Okogbule, 2007, pp 52). Therefore, the issue of money laundering in Nigeria it is now through the official corruption, which has been exploited by public officers in Nigeria, who incorporate companies and use as a conduit pipe by awarding some phoney contracts and lodge the money through the companies bank accounts, both in Nigeria and abroad, several millions or even billions of naira are transferred from the government treasuries (Okogbule 2007). The former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Nuhu Ribadu), told the BBC in 2006, that $380bn had been stolen or wasted in Nigeria since independence. That $140m had been recovered from one unnamed former Nigerian leader and that nearly $400m of illegally gained assets had been identified in the possession of a former governor of Bayelsa State. Last year, Nigeria recovered $458m found in Swiss bank accounts linked to the countrys late military ruler Sani Abacha. Mr Abacha was in power from 1993 to 1998 and is thought to have embezzled billions of dollars. Last year his son, Abba Sani Abacha, was charged with money laundering and fraud after being extradited to Switzerland. According to Chukwuemerie, (2006), rate of financial crimes in Nigeria project a bad image abroad. And how Nigerians are been treated with disdain in the foreign land, again he talks about the crimes related to opening of account by customers, because in Nigeria, before the Money laundering prohibition act 2004, anyone can go and open account without a proper identification. However, the main issue is corruption that wears many faces, which are nepotism, bribery, treasury looting, and inflation contract prices, money laundering and advance fee frauds and most of these crimes are destroying the economy of the country; (Ajayi and Ososami, 2007). The case of former Head of Sate Gen. Sani Abacha, he was accused with his cronies of embezzling over $5bn and which out of the money $2.3bn were stolen direct from the government treasury and the remaining were received as a bribes for contracts. The money was laundered in various foreign bank accounts in UK, USA, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hong Kong; (Ige, 2002, Shehu, 2004). Investigation by the UK financial services authority (FSA), the London Metropolitan Police confirmed that over $1.3bn of Abacha money passed through London; (Chamberlin, 2002, Shehu, 2004, pp). Furthermore, according to a study conducted by the Nigerian Trade and Investment Center in UK, shows that about two million Nigerians living in United Kingdom have investments worth almost Ninety four Billion (94bn GBP) pounds. And out of these amounts of money 84bn is in real estate, 7bn in vehicles, while the remaining 3bn is in stocks and shares; (Adesina and Madunagu, 2004, Malgwi, 2004). Malgwi, (2004), in his paper gives an example of former Head of State Late Gen. Sani Abacha, fakes daughter who duped an American the sum of Seven Million ($7) dollars, with the pretence that her late father left the sum of $100m in the central bank of Nigeria, and the account is coded. Therefore, she need his assistance with some money to bribe the officials of the apex bank to get the money out and he will get thirty (30%) percent of the money. Quite recently, a serving chief of staff to the governor of Rivers State (Ezebunwo Nyeson Wike), was caught by the Economic and financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), laundering the sum of N4.670 Billion (Four Billion, Six Hundred and Seventy Million Naira), which the commission believes was public money that was diverted into his personal account (Babafemi, 2009). He has since been charged by a court to explain the sources of the money. This is the problem with the country people in position of authority are abusing the trust people repose on them, everyday it is happening even with the money laundering regulation in place. There is no exact statistics of the amount of money been laundered in Nigeria, but below are some of the high profile cases been prosecuted by the economic and financial crimes commission from 2007 to 2009; CHAPTER THREE: THE MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATION IN NIGERIA The phrase money-laundering was not in the Nigerian dictionary, until in the 1980s which was when it was recognised and efforts were made to deal with the problem by the government. Therefore, there were decrees set by the government of Generals Muhammad Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha as heads of state and military president respectively, prohibiting activities related to money-laundering (Exchange Control (Anti Sabotage) Decree No 7 of 1984, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Decree No 48 of 1989, now Caps No 29 Laws of the federation of Nigeria, 2004; Okogbule, 2007). 1995 decree corrected one of the defects of these laws which limited the activities to Drug traffickers in order to avoid loophole which gave way for the accused person to escape justice when the case is not drug trafficking; (Adekunle, 1999; Okogbule, 2007). It was in this recognition of the defect or inadequacy of the previous Decrees to cover all the aspects of money laundering that gave birth to the enactment of the money-laundering (prohibition) Act, 2003 which covers everything relating to the offence. And after One year of its enactment it was amended through the money-laundering prohibition (Amendment) Act 2004, in order to give the agencies more power to institute an investigation and prosecute offenders (Okogbule, 2007). However, the amendment was based on two philosophies. Firstly, it was on the need to control the practice of huge financial transactions in Nigeria, since the country is known as a cash society. In the amended Act, it states that no person or corporate body shall make or accept cash payment of sum exceeding N500, 000 or its equivalent in the case of individuals, while in the case of corporate bodies the amount is N2, 000,000, unless the transaction is done through a financial institution, the provision is design to enhance the monitoring capabilities of the regulatory institutions over huge financial transactions and encourage the use of financial institutions (Okogbule, 2007). However in the second philosophy in the act, it is a directive requiring disclosure of any financial transaction exceeding a certain sum of money. Section 2(1) of the Act, state that: A transfer to or from a foreign country funds or security exceeding the sum of $10,000 or its equivalent shall be reported to the central bank of Nigeria. And it further said that a report should be made pursuant to the above provision to indicate the nature and amount of transfer, the names and addresses of the sender and receiver of the funds or securities (Okogbule, 2007). MONEY LAUNDERING REFULATION IN RELATION TO INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA The money laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004, of Nigeria in section 1 states that no person or corporate body shall, except through transactional institutions, make or accept deposit of a sum exceeding, A, for an individual the sum of N500, 000 or its equivalent in other currency and B, the sum of 2,000,000 for a corporate body, that anything above this should be made through the financial institution likewise for the individual costumer. In section 2 of the prohibition of money laundering act states that any transaction from or to foreign country of funds or securities exceeding the sum of US $10,000 shall be reported to the central bank of Nigeria (in the act refer to Central Bank) or security and exchange commission. Again in section 2 sub section 1, states that the report should indicate the nature and the amount of the transfer, the names and addresses of the sender and receivers of the funds or securities. CUSTOMER DUE DILLIGENCE However, it is provided in section 5(1) of the Act that before opening an account for or issuing passbook or even entering into any business relationship with a potential customer, the financial institution shall verify the customers identity and address. For individual, he is required to provide proof of his identity by presenting to the financial institution a valid original copy of an official document bearing his names and photograph; Secondly, he is to show proof of his address, by presenting to the financial institution the originals of receipts his/her utilities issued within the last three months by public institution (example, electricity or water bill). In the case of a body corporate, its proof of identity shall be provided by the presentation of its certificate of incorporation and other valid official documents attesting to the existence of the body corporate. Where a manager, employee, or assignee is delegated by a body corporate to open or operate an account, such a person shall in addition to the requirements specified for private individuals also show proof of a power of attorney granted to him for that purpose. One important provision in the Act designed to facilitate the detection of money laundering activities is section 6(1). It provides as follows: When a financial institution is requested to carry out a transaction, whether or not it relates to the laundering of the proceeds of a crime or an act, the financial institution shall seek information from the customer as to the origin and the destination of the funds, the aim of the transaction and the identity of the beneficiary. In order to make this surveillance function more effective, financial institutions are required within seven days of the transaction to carry out the following actions: Draw up a written report containing all relevant information about the transaction as well as the identity of the principal and where applicable, those of the beneficiary. Take appropriate action to prevent the laundering of the proceeds of a crime or an illegal Act. Send a copy of the report and action taken to the Central Bank, the Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or such other appropriate regulatory authority, as the case may be. Significantly, any financial institution which fails to comply with the above provisions is guilty of an offence and liable upon conviction to a fine of N1, 000,000 each day for as long as the offence continues. In order to emphasize the importance of records of transactions, it is provided that these records are to be kept and preserved for at least a period of 10 years, and that the records shall be communicated to the Central Bank, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), judicial authorities, Customs Officers, and such other persons as the Central Bank may from time to time specify. However, the mandatory disclosure requirement concerning financial transactions is contained in section 10 of the Act. It is to the effect that a financial institution or casino shall report to the Agency in writing, lodgement or transfer of funds in excess of One million (N1, 000,000) Naira or its equivalent in the case of an individual and Five million (N5, 000,000) Naira or its equivalent in the case of a body corporate. This report is to be submitted within seven days of any single transaction. And even an ordinary citizen other than a financial institution may voluntarily give information on any transaction, lodgement, or transfer of funds involving the amounts set out above. This ensures that even when a financial institution fails to report as required, information about the transaction still gets to the Agency (See Chukuemerie, 2004, Okogbule, 2007b). The intent of the provisions is to enable the Agency ascertain the origin of the funds and determine whether to direct a stoppage of the transaction or not. This it can do when acknowledging receipt of such disclosure, report or information received in furtherance of the provisions. If the Agency is unable to ascertain the origin of the funds within a period of 72 hours, it may make a request to the Federal High Court for an order that the funds, accounts, or securities referred to in the report be blocked, and an order made by the Court in pursuance of this provision shall be enforced forthwith. Section 9(1) of the Act provides that every financial institution shall develop programmes to combat the laundering of proceeds of a crime or other illegal act. These shall include: The designation of compliance officers at management level at its headquarters and at every branch and local office; Regular training programmes for its employees; The centralization of the information collected; The establishment of an internal audit unit to ensure compliance with and ensure the effectiveness of the measures taken to enforce the provisions of the Act In order to ensure compliance with this provision, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is empowered to impose a penalty of not less than one million Naira on any financial institution which fails to comply with the above provisions. And that makes it a very important provision since the threat of immediate sanction which could be suspension of the banks operating license can engender compliance with the statutory provision. THE MONEY LAUNDERING OFFENCE IN NIGERIA The actual money laundering offences are provided for in sections 14 18 of the Act which also specify the penalties for such offences. Thus, section 14(1) provides as follows: Any person who converts or transfers resources or property derived directly or indirectly from illicit traffic c in narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances or any illegal act, with the aim of either concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the resources or property or aiding any person involved in the illicit traffic c in narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances or any other crime or illegal act to evade the legal consequences of his action; or collaborates in concealing or disguising the genuine nature, origin, location disposition, movement or ownership of the resources, property or rights thereto derived directly or indirectly from illicit traffic c in narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances or any other crime or illegal act, commits an offence under this section and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than 2 years or more than 3 years. Significantly, a person who commits an offence under this subsection shall also be subject to the same penalty notwithstanding the fact that the various acts constituting the offence were committed in different countries or places. It is not difficult to ascertain the rationale behind this provision since, very often; money laundering entails the perpetration of some of the acts in one country and the others in other countries. This brings to the fore the transnational nature of money laundering which has given rise to international concern for its regulation. Section 16 of the Act provides that any person who: Whether by concealment, removal from jurisdiction, transfer to nominees or otherwise retains the proceeds of a crime or an illegal act on behalf of another person knowing or suspecting such other person to be engaged in a criminal conduct or has benefited from a criminal conduct; or Knowing that any property either in whole or in part directly or indirectly represents another persons proceeds of a criminal conduct, acquires or uses that property or has possession of it, commits an offence under this Act and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than 5 years or to a fine equivalent to 5 times the value of the proceeds of the criminal conduct or to both such imprisonment and fine. It is difficult to fashion the rationale for this marked variation in the punishment specified under this section and that provided for in section 14 of the Act relating to the actual conversion or transfer of funds from such criminal or illegal activities which is stated to be not more than three years. Although it may be said that the opportunity created by a willing receptacle could have emboldened the suspect and thus facilitated the commission of the offence, it is nevertheless incongruous to have such marked disparity in the punishment for both kinds of offences, when the level of moral reprehensibility is more for the actual converter or transferor of such illegal funds than the receiver. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATION IN NIGERIA The government of former president Obasanjo, of Nigeria was able to start the fight against corruption and money laundering, by presenting the bill Money laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004, before the national assembly which was accented by the government and put into use immediately in order to fight the menace in the country. However, by the year 2006, the EFCC was able to secure the conviction of the former inspector general of police, Mr Tafa Balogun for several offence mostly on money laundering, by showing that ACT that no one is above the law in the country and it shows that it has the political will to tackle the canker worm of money laundering in all its ramifications (Okogbule, 2007, Chukwuemerie, 2006). Furthermore, within the first two years of creating the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria, they proved effective and were able to recovered [sic] more than $1.5bn (N203.5bn) of looted funds and arrested more than 200 people and out of the 200, 50 people were convicted and recovered $37.1M (N5bn) from import malpractices (Malgwi, 2004). Again the EFCC was able to secure a plea bargain with a former governor of Edo State of Nigeria, Mr Lucky Igbinedion, which in the agreement consented in refunding the sum of N500M stolen funds and forfeit some of his properties. It was not only Igbinedion that got the plea bargain, Mr Nwude, Mr DSP Alamieyeseigha former governor of Bayelsa State of Nigeria, also enjoy the gesture (Alli, 2008). However, recently the Chairman of the financial crimes commission in Nigeria, admit that they are not fully enforcing the money laundering regulation in the country while hosting stock broking firms in her office. Waziri said the anti-graft agency would start the immediate enforcement of the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004, and prosecute all stock broking firms that default in their obligation to the suspicious transactions reports and currency transaction reports (Akinsunyi, 2009). Under Section 23 of the Money Laundering Act, firms carry on the business of investment and securities (this includes stock broking firms) are designated as financial institutions and there is an obligation on them to file with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit all suspicious transactions, and file with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit all currency transactions above N500, 000 for individuals and the N2 million for companies. But all that is done by stock broking firms in the country. And up to extent a an investment firm took a loan of N90 Billion from a bank in order to manipulate the market, but that is between Bank and it is customer, but the utilization of the loan is different which is contrary to Section 20 of the BOFIA and the regulations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and carries a jail term of between two and three years. It is also a breach of the Investment and Securities Act (see Thisday Newspaper, August, 2009). However, this bring us to the issue of reporting system adopted by the Financial Action Task Force and was even part of the Nigerian Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004, which is in section 6 sub-section 1(a) that direct financial and non financial institutions to draw up a written report on any illegal transaction and submit within seven days to the relevant authorities. That means the Act, is not been followed by the Banks and stock broking firms. FACTORS FOR AND AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATION IN NIGERIA There is no doubt that with the enactment of the Money Laundering Act 2004 the Nigerian Government has taken a bold step in its efforts to fight against money laundering in the country. However, it is effort and resourcefulness may not bear the required results if the well-known problems of enforcement of law in the country are not adequately addressed in the provisions. It is a common feature in Nigeria that individuals and institutions prefer to subvert laid down rules rather than comply with them, for example the recent banks audit conducted by the new Central Bank Governor, it shows how reckless the banks are operating, given out a loan of N490 Billion without a collateral, which form part of analysis in given out to loan to any customer by a bank and is used to settle out the debt in case the loan goes bad, but they ignore that and give out the money without following the laid down rules. The assurance being that even when they fail to comply, officials from the regulatory institutions will always compromise their positions. This brings to the fore the popularity of corruption in the country as such officers are often settled to overlook noncompliance with statutory provisions (Okogbule, 2007). In such situation, there is usually an unethical alliance between regulatory officers on the hand and the defaulting financial institutions. Therefore, there will be inadequate or ineffective enforcement of the rules, to the detriment of the country. However, recently an upright officer (Barrister Abubakar Abba Umar) with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Nigeria lost his life in the course of his duty. He was involved in making the organisation a very good place that it suppose to be, because to get a company registered in Nigeria, it might take you two to three months, but his coming within a day after full verification you can get your company registered. While in course of investigation of certificate fraud in the organisation, he was forced to hand over some lawyers involve to EFCC for prosecution (see Leadership newspaper, 2009), seeing all this thing happening nobody will like to give himself up in order to do a good job in fighting money laundering in Nigeria. According to Andrew (2004, pp 173), he argues that the Act is faithfully implemented by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the Minister of Commerce, this relevant authorities are the ones in positions to see the implementation of the Act to the later. However, if they did not enforce the implementation concurrently together, there is every chance that the Act, will not be effective as it suppose to be in checkmating the money laundering activities in the country. There is also problem of regular monitoring of the activities of these financial institutions. Inspectorate and Compliance Officers are known to be lax in their monitoring of the operations of these institutions, due to the fact that they are conniving together to subvert the law regulating the institutions (see Okogbule, 2007). <

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Cloud Computing Essay -- Information Technology, Data, Security

INTRODUCTION Cloud computing has boost a large amount of interest in the IT industry. The market research and analysis firm IDC suggests that the market for cloud computing services was $16bn in 2008 and will rise to $42bn/year by 2012 (Chhabra, Verma & Taneja, 2010) .The era of cloud computing introduces a new dimension for Enterprises. The academia and research worlds have developed a keen interest into challenges and issues introduced by this relatively new concept (Sriram & Khajeh-Hosseini, 2009). As experienced by large or small companies while adopting cloud computing technology, the issues can be outlined as security, privacy, data migration as (Hosseini, et al., 2010 ). Adoption of cloud technology by enterprises especially those are using KBE (knowledge based engineering) systems are in risk in terms of migration their data over the cloud. Most enterprises are in a midst of creating, sharing, streaming and storing data in digital formats to allow collaboration , hence there is a need to continuously managed and protect the data to ensure its value and authenticity (Yale & Chow, 2011). Enterprises now acquire increasingly more information about their products, customers and partners- whether it’s stored in a cloud environment or not and failure to protect this data can be damaging. Partners and clients anticipate their information will be constantly protected before conducting business with a company. Within lay the need for complete data governance to manage and protect crucial data, which has become a key issue for the cloud (Yale, 2011). The literature review aims to address the adoption of cloud computing within enterprises those are using KBE systems and how this adoption of cloud will affect their data governan... ... this process, and it can take several months between the decision to procure hardware and the hardware being delivered, setup and ready to use. The use of cloud computing can greatly reduce this time period, but the more significant change relates to the empowerment of users and the diffusion of the IT department’s authority as pointed out by Yanosky [20]. For example, a company’s training coordinator who requires a few servers to run a week-long web-based training course can bypass their IT department and run the training course in the cloud. They could pay their cloud usage-bill using their personal credit card and charge back the amount as expenses to their employee. A similar scenario was recently reported by BP, where a group bypassed the company’s procurement, IT department and security processes by using AWS to host a new customer facing website [10].

Friday, July 19, 2019

Americas Violence Fixation Essay examples -- Media Violent Crime Essa

America's Violence Fixation One of America's biggest problems today is violence. It is happening everywhere, in the households, out on the streets, even in our schools. When we watch the news and see these acts of violence, we hear the blame be put to one thing: entertainment. Movies and video games are supposedly causing young people to behave aggressively in society, and maybe even compelling them to kill. Some even believe that video rental stores should have policies, such as always requiring an ID, and that some TV programs, movies, and games glorify guns and violence, as well as the guns themselves (center4policy.org). True, some films do portray murder and violence as justifiable; films such as Blade, in which the title character killed vampires in an effort to protect the human race, or The Matrix, where the main characters used violence to free humanity from an artificial intelligence. Video games also have a considerable amount of violence in them as well. The main idea of Grand Theft Auto, one of the more popular video games, is to overtake a city, even if it means using violence. Players are allowed a various array of weapons from baseball bats to machine guns to assist them in missions. Ratings are placed on games, this particular one is rated "M" for "Mature". Retail stores are to check ID of customers in order for them to purchase such games. However, that does not stop children from borrowing the games from others, or even having unsuspecting parents buying them. The question, however, is: "Is entertainment really the cause of violence?" I have been affected personally by the media's claim that entertainment causes violence. One morning on the news program Good Morning... ...at some people disagree with some forms and aspects of entertainment is perfectly fine; not everyone will agree with some of it. Trying to overthrow what the masses enjoy is a completely different matter. As a race, we forget freedom of speech; one voice always has to be louder than the other. Personally, in terms of "Grand Theft Auto", "Pokemon", and " Harry Potter", people purchase these because they enjoy them, they are entertained by them, why not just let them do their thing? I suppose those who point the finger at these live such clean, wholesome lives. The bottom line is: there are things that are popular, people will buy them, be entertained, have, fun, and it will pass. Let them enjoy it. Sources http://www.pegmusic.com/violence-in-amer.html http://www.center4policy.org/violencec.html http://www.davekopel.com/Media/Irmassag.htm

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Animal Cruelty :: essays research papers fc

Animal Cruelty The topic of animal cruelty is one of great importance to the wold today. Why we humans have the right reserved to treat animals as lesser individuals is beyond me. Animals are fulfilling their part in the ecosystems and communities of the earth, and to the best extent that they are able. For example, a spider is being the best possible spider that it can be, spinning webs and working diligently at what it knows best, not bothering any creatures of the earth besides the ones which it needs to capture for food. We, as humans, decided that we are a much advanced life form and can basically treat anything else in this world in ways which we cannot imagine being treated. As a result the threads holding our earth together tightly in the balance are being slowly unraveled to lead into ultimate self-destruction. In 1988, 16, 989 animals died in laboratories in the United Kingdom. This was due to such tests as acute and chronic toxicity experiments, where the animals are forced to consume substances such as perfume, make-up and other beauty products and are often literally poisoned, their systems literally overloaded by the substance in question. Another testing method is the Lethal Dose 50 percent test or LD50. In this procedure at least half of the animals must die in order for the government to figure out how much a human can ingest without dying. In one such test some animals were fed 4. lb. of lipstick and one ended up dying of intestinal obstruction. In another, 7 pints of melted eye shadow was fed to rats. In yet another, mice were wrapped in tin foil and grilled in ultraviolet light to test a sun block cream for a total of 96 hours. The results of the test were that the longer the mice stayed in the rays, the more sunburnt they got. But that is not all. A wax product used in many cosmetics was dosed into animals by a stomach tube. The amount that they used is equivalent to feeding 1 Â « lb of the stuff to humans. The animals involved soon began salivating, bleeding from the nose and mouth, and had extreme diarrhoea. As the test progressed some more, the animals became emaciated and unkempt, had congestion in the lungs and kidneys and solid wax in the stomach. The infamous Draize eye test cannot be forgotten either. Chemicals are instilled into the eyes of rabbits in stocks, often for up to seven days. And because their eyes are physiologically different from ours, they cannot produce

Public Key Cryptography

Abstract- Public-key cryptography is a key technology for e-commerce, intranets, extranets and other web-enabled applications. However, to garner the benefits of public-key cryptography, a supporting infrastructure is needed. The Microsoft ® Windows ® 2000 operating system includes a native public-key infrastructure (PKI) that is designed from the ground up to take full advantage of the Windows 2000 security architecture.This paper describes the fundamentals of public-key security systems, including what benefits they offer and what components are required to implement them. It also describes how the Windows 2000 PKI components deliver the needed services while providing interoperability, security, flexibility, and ease of use. I. Overview Public-key cryptography offers significant security benefits when it's properly implemented. Like other enabling technologies, public-key cryptography requires an infrastructure to deliver its benefits.However, the public-key infrastructure, or PKI, isn't a physical object or software process; instead, it's a set of useful services provided by a collection of interconnected components These components work together to provide public-key-based security services to applications and users. This white paper has two goals: to explain public-key technology and its uses, and to describe the features and benefits provided by the native PKI in the Microsoft ® Windows ® 2000 operating system.Understanding both of these topics will help you to decide where you can use PKI technology to improve your business processes and increase your ability to securely handle transactions with others. In this paper, you'll learn what a public key infrastructure is, what desirable benefits it can offer your operations, and how the Windows 2000 PKI delivers interoperability, security, flexibility, and ease of use. II. History During the early history of cryptography, two parties would agree upon a key using a secure, but non-cryptographic, metho d; for example, a face-to-face meeting or an exchange via a trusted courier.This key, which both parties kept absolutely secret, could then be used to exchange encrypted messages. A number of significant practical difficulties arise in this approach to distributing keys. Public-key cryptography addresses these drawbacks so that users can communicate securely over a public channel without having to agree upon a shared key beforehand. In 1874, a book by William Stanley Jevons[1] described the relationship of one-way functions to cryptography and went on to discuss specifically the factorization problem used to create the trapdoor function in theRSA system.Since the 1970s, a large number and variety of encryption, digital signature, key agreement, and other techniques have been developed in the field of public-key cryptography. The ElGamal cryptosystem (invented by Taher ElGamal) relies on the (similar, and related) difficulty of the discrete logarithm problem, as does the closely rela ted DSA developed at the US National Security Agency (NSA) and published by NIST as a proposed standard. The introduction of elliptic curve cryptography by Neal Koblitz and Victor Miller independently and simultaneously in the mid-1980s has yielded new public-key algorithms based on the discrete logarithm problem.Although mathematically more complex, elliptic curves provide smaller key sizes and faster operations for equivalent estimated security. III. What is public key cryptography? When most people hear the words encrypt or cryptography, they immediately think of secret-key cryptography, wherein two parties share a single secret key that's used both to encrypt and decrypt data. Loss or compromise of the secret key makes the data it encrypts vulnerable. By contrast, public-key systems use two keys: a public key, designed to be shared, and a private key, which must be closely held.These keys are complementary: if you encrypt something with the public key, it can only be decrypted w ith the corresponding private key, and vice versa. Public-key systems depend on the mathematical relationship between the public and private keys. It's not feasible to derive one from the other. There are two fundamental operations associated with public key cryptography: encryption and signing. The goal of encryption is to obscure data in such a way that it can only be read by the intended party. In public-key cryptography, if Bob wants to send Alice some private data, he uses her public key to encrypt it, then sends it to her.Upon receiving the encrypted data, Alice uses her private key to decrypt it. The important concept here is that Alice can freely distribute her public key in order to allow anyone in the world to encrypt data that only she can decrypt. If Bob and Chuck both have copies of her public key, and Chuck intercepts an encrypted message from Bob to Alice, he will not be able to decrypt it; only Alice's private key can do that, and she is the only person who holds it. These two operations can be used to provide three capabilities A PrivacyPrivacy is a necessity for businesses of all kinds, but it's of vital importance for ones that use the Internet. The Internet allows anyone in the world to communicate with anyone else, but it doesn't provide security. Even within your company's internal network, if someone can gain physical access to your network media, they can eavesdrop on any data that traverses it. Public-key cryptography provides privacy via data encryption, whether the data is in the form of e-mail messages, credit card numbers sent over the Internet, or network traffic.Because public keys can be posted freely, complete strangers can establish private communications simply by retrieving each other's public keys and encrypting the data. B. Authentication Any transaction involves two parties, whether they're a client and a server or a customer and a vendor. For many transactions, it's desirable for one or both sides to be able to authentic ate, or verify the identity of, the other. For instance, before a customer provides their credit card number to an e-commerce web site, they will want to know that they are not talking to an imposter.One way that a customer can do this is by making the web site prove that it holds the right private key. For example, a web browser might encrypt a piece of information using the site's public key and ask the web server to decrypt it, thereby demonstrating that the server has the right private key, and proving its identity. Authentication can also take the form of assuring your customers that you produced a particular piece of data and that it has not been tampered with. Public-key cryptography enables you to do this by means of a digital signature, a concept which is an extension of the public-key signing operation discussed above.If Bob wants to digitally sign his company's annual report, he first generates a unique fingerprint of the report using an algorithm called a hash algorithm. Hash algorithms are specially designed to guarantee that even a single changed byte in the document will generate a completely different hash. Next, he encrypts the report and the hash using his private key. Alice (or anyone else) can verify the origin and authenticity of the signed report by first decrypting it using Bob's public key, then calculating her own version of the fingerprint and comparing it to the fingerprint she received.If the two match, it proves two things: that the report has not been tampered with, and it came from Bob. C. Non-repudiation Businesses require the ability to enter into binding agreements, whether in the physical world or on the Internet. Suppliers and buyers need the assurance that if they enter into an agreement, the other party will not be able to repudiate the agreement at some later point. Digital signatures on electronic purchase orders, contracts, and other agreements are legally binding in several countries and in many U.S. states, and legal acceptance is rapidly growing. D. infrastructure Manage keys: a PKI makes it easy to issue new keys, review or revoke existing keys, and manage the trust level attached to keys from different issuers. Publish keys: a PKI offers a well-defined way for clients to locate and retrieve public keys and information about whether a specific key is valid or not. Without the ability to retrieve keys and know that they are valid, your users can't make use of public key services.Use keys: a PKI provides an easy-to-use way for users to use keys—not just by moving keys around where they're needed, but also by providing easy-to-use applications that perform public-key cryptographic operations, making it possible to provide security for e-mail, e-commerce, and networks. E. A capability,not a thing A common misperception is that a PKI is a thing. In fact, it's a capability—the capability to easily publish, manage, and use public keys. Think of a PKI like a municipal water system. A wat er system is made up of purification plants, storage towers, pumps, water mains, and so on, as well as the pipes and faucets in your house.All of the disparate service-providing objects work together to provide a capability for users to obtain water on demand. In a similar way, a PKI consists of a group of discrete components that work together to allow you to use public keys, and public-key cryptography, seamlessly and transparently. The best place to implement a PKI is in the operating system. Operating systems already provide a number of other infrastructures, like the printing infrastructure that moves documents to printers and the file service infrastructure that retrieves files from shared storage.In both cases, the operating system provides a capability to transparently and easily use a network service, just as a PKI does. F. Digital certificates:packaging for public key So far, this paper has mentioned public keys when talking about the objects that a PKI uses. While public keys are required for PKI-based security, they're usually packaged as digital certificates. (It's important to stress that only public keys are packaged into certificates. The private key is never shared, so it doesn't require packaging—it's simply stored securely). The certificate contains the public key and a set of attributes, like the key holder's name.These attributes may be related to the holder's identity, what they're allowed to do, or under what conditions the certificate is valid. The binding between attributes and the public key is present because the certificate is digitally signed by the entity that issued it; the issuer's signature on the certificate vouches for its authenticity and correctness. For a real-world analogy, look in your wallet. If you have a drivers' license, you have the equivalent of a digital certificate. Your license contains a unique key (your license number) and some attributes (an expiration date, your name, address, hair color, and so on).I t's issued by a trusted agency and laminated to prevent it from being tampered with. Anyone who trusts the agency that issued your license and verifies that the lamination is intact can rely on its authenticity. At that point, though, the analogy breaks down—in the real world, only the government can issue a driver's license, so everyone knows that a license issued by Joe's Really Good DMV isn't valid. How do you make the same determination with a digital certificate? The answer lies in the concept of a certificate hierarchy.In a hierarchy, as shown in Figure 1, each issuer, or certificate authority, signs (using its own private key) the certificates it issues. The public half of the CA's keypair is itself packaged in a certificate—one that was issued by a higher-level CA. This pattern can continue through as many levels as desired, with each CA certifying the authenticity of the certificates it has issued. Eventually, though, there must be a top-level CA, called a roo t certificate authority. Since there's nobody above the root CA in the hierarchy, there's nobody to vouch for the authenticity and origin of its certificate.Instead, the root CA signs its own certificate—it simply asserts that it is the root. Figure 1: What a certificate hierarchy looks like Clearly, it's not secure to accept a root CA's assertion of its own identity. To verify a root CA's certificate, a trusted copy of its public key is obtained via an out-of-band method-—that is, it's delivered by a third party instead of over the network—and the key is used to verify that the root certificate is bona fide. Microsoft provides the public keys for many popular root CAs in PK-enabled products like Internet Explorer, allowing users to verify those roots transparently.Root CAs can also provide copies of their public keys for downloading from public web sites. Once the root key has been delivered via an out-of-band means, the user can verify the root certificate, an d hence the entire certificate chain. Even better, because each certificate's digital signature protects it from tampering, certificate chains can be freely passed over insecure media like the Internet. G. Public key enabled application Once your PKI can issue, publish, and control certificates, the next step is to deploy applications that can use them.A well-written application that is tightly integrated with the rest of the PKI can make the use of public-key cryptography all but transparent to the user. The user should not need to know how cryptography works, where certificates are stored, or any of the other details—they should simply indicate what they want done, and leave it to the applications and the PKI to make it happen. Applications can use digital certificates to deliver the benefits of public-key cryptography, and they can combine cryptographic functions like signing and encryption to make possible e-commerce, secure network access, or other desirable services.All Microsoft applications that use public-key cryptography are natively public-key enabled. For example, the Microsoft Outlook ® messaging and collaboration client offers built-in signing and encryption support, combined with the ability to use certificate publishers and root certificates from a number of sources. Internet Explorer, Microsoft Money, and Internet Information Server provide the ability to set up encrypted web sessions. PKI-enabled applications can build on industry-standard protocols to speed development and allow easy interoperability with other organizations, too.H. Hardware support The increasing market demand for PKI implementations has spurred hardware vendors to develop cryptographic hardware, including smart cards, PC cards, and PCI cards that offer onboard cryptographic processing. These hardware devices offer a wide range of capabilities. On the low end, smartcards offer limited cryptographic processing combined with secure key storage; on the high end, multi processor crypto-accelerators allow high-volume web services to secure data without suffering from bottlenecks caused by software cryptographic modules.The best thing about PKI hardware devices is that they're optional—if your application requires additional performance or security, you can add hardware to provide it as necessary, but you can still build a completely functional PKI in software. I. Models The standalone CA model The standalone CA model (see Figure 2) is probably familiar to you if you've used SSL-protected web sites. In the standalone model, some third-party entity holds the root key and certificate for your organization, and it issues and revokes all certificates for your users.This third party might be a commercial CA like VeriSign, Thawte, Belsign, or GTE Cybertrust; it could also be a bank, a law firm, a trade association, or any other organization that you trust to issue certificates on your behalf. Figure 2: The standalone CA model This model allows trus t both within and outside your organization, so you can exchange secure e-mail and e-commerce transactions with outsiders. Standalone CAs also free you from the complexities of issuing, revoking, and tracking certificates.However, it requires you to trust some outside entity with your certificate management, and many third-party CAs levy an individual charge for each issued certificate. The enterprise CA model In this model (see Figure 3), your enterprise acts as its own CA, issuing and revoking certificates subject to your business requirements. Because no outsourcing provider is involved, your organization maintains complete control over its PKI. In addition to that control, though, you can guarantee that no one outside the enterprise can obtain a certificate unless you issue it to them.This model works well for controlling access to internal resources, or for generating certificates whose attributes would be meaningless to an outside entity. For example, you could issue certifica tes to managers that would allow them to make electronic travel reservations through the company travel office. Figure 3: The enterprise CA model Enterprise CAs with subordinates You can expand the flexibility of the enterprise CA model by adding subordinate CAs for individual departments, business units, or subdivisions of the organization. Most organizations already delegate some amount of administrative control to their subunits.For example, individual managers at most companies have some level of purchasing authority; higher-ranking managers can write bigger checks. Even though there's a centralized purchasing department that does much of the enterprise-wide buying, individual units still have the ability to perform day-to-day purchasing tasks. Choose your trust model If the choice of a CA model is the most important one you face when implementing a PKI, choosing a trust model comes in a very close second. When you trust a root, you're making an implicit statement that you trust them to be careful about who they issue certificates to.In this case, careful isn't quite the right word; what you're really saying is that you trust them to follow their prescribed policies and procedures to verify the identity of a certificate holder when they issue the certificate. When you choose to trust a root certificate, you're also choosing to trust certificates signed by that root. Depending on the CA model you use, the practical impact of this choice could be large (as when you choose to trust a large, widely used commercial root CA) or small (like deciding to trust your own accounting department).Normally these decisions are made for the enterprise as a whole; however, the Windows 2000 PKI allows individual users (or their administrators) to make their own trust decisions. In addition, administrators may override or augment user trust decisions with group policies. You also have to choose what you trust certificates to be used for. The X. 509 v3 certificate standard all ows you to specify whether certificates can be used for signing, encryption, or both. For example, you might want to give everyone signature certificates but restrict the use of encryption-capable certificates to certain departments or individuals.Microsoft has extended this feature to allow you to specify additional uses, including signing software components, logging on using a smart card, or recovering an encrypted file. When using the Windows 2000 PKI, the issuer has total control over what the certificate can be used for. IV Conclusion Public key cryptography offers critical business advantages, including the ability to conduct e-commerce and normal business operations with increased privacy, security, and assurance. To deliver these benefits, a public-key infrastructure is necessary that makes it easy to manage, publish and use public keys.Windows 2000 offers a PKI that is completely integrated with the operating system and provides flexible, secure, interoperable services tha t are easy to use, easy to deploy, and easy to manage. References N. Ferguson; B. Schneier (2003). Practical Cryptography. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-22357-3. J. Katz; Y. Lindell (2007). Introduction to Modern Cryptography. CRC Press. ISBN 1-58488-551-3. J. Menezes; P. C. van Oorschot; S. A. Vanstone (1997). Handbook of Applied Cryptography. ISBN 0-8493-8523-7. IEEE 1363: Standard Specifications for Public-Key Cryptography Single Sign-On Technology for SAP Enterprises: What does SAP have to say? [1] ^ Ed Gerck, Overview of Certification Systems: x. 509, CA, PGP and SKIP, in The Black Hat Briefings '99, http://www. securitytechnet. com/resource/rsc-center/presentation/black/vegas99/certover. pdf andhttp://mcwg. org/mcg-mirror/cert. htm ^ Stephen Wilson, Dec 2005, â€Å"The importance of PKI today†, China Communications, Retrieved on 2010-12-13 ^ Mark Gasson, Martin Meints, Kevin Warwick (2005), D3. 2: A study on PKI and biometrics, FIDIS deliverable (3)2, July 2005