Future Career Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Future Career - Essay Example I have always had a way with children. Their curiosity and complete lack of inhibition has fascinated me and I have enjoyed hours of fun and frolic with kids. I am a good listener and am patient and tactful. I enjoy an excellent rapport with kids due to my sense of humor and storytelling skills. I can be perceptive, and time spent with children never tires me - in fact I find it a refreshing change from work or study. I believe this attachment to children has been a major factor in my chosen career options of either Early Childhood Teacher or Children’s psychologist. Early childhood teaching is a specialized field; hence I shall have to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education. I shall also have to look up the requirements of the state where I shall want to work to attain further teaching credentials. This will enable me to get a job as an early childhood educator. I may have to begin as an assistant in order to gain some experience before I can be hired as a teacher. I shall also have to learn special skills to be able to descend to the level of my young charges and view life from their perspective in order to hold their interest and make learning a rewarding and enriching experience for them. Besides, I shall need to improve my arts and crafts skills so as to increase their creativity and learn to think on my feet in order to be able to handle sticky situations. The first years of a child’s life are crucial because here the foundations of their social skills, sense of self, moral values as well as perception of the ir surroundings and cognitive skills are laid. This is also the time when the human brain grows at its fastest pace. Therefore these first few years are critical to nurture healthy development of a child’s physical and mental abilities. At this point in their lives, when they will probably be interacting with people outside their immediate family for the first time; I shall have to adapt to the emotional needs

Laundered Clothes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Laundered Clothes - Essay Example Sometimes I feel that, even doing this is quite a chore! Well can you imagine how it must have been a hundred-and-fifty years' back, when there were no washing machines, no detergent powder (only cakes of soap) and no electric irons Well, let's cut back to 1858 Monday used to be weekly washing day. The washing process being a long one, it was necessary to allot a full day to it. Most homes tried to keep enough linen to keep them going through the week. (Old and Interesting) The coloured and the whites are separated the previous night, and the whites are soaked in water to loosen the dirt. On washing day, the clothes-both coloured and whites-are sorted out again. Those which are really dirty, oily or sweat-stained, including those whites which have been soaked the previous night, are soaked again in a large tub of a solution of soda bicarbonate (washing soda) and water. (WiseGEEK). Hot water was used if the clothes/ household linen were really dirty. Soda bi-carb was available in a powder form (it is a white powder) from the local grocery store. Alternately, some housewives boiled the clothes in a large metal pot, in water containing soda-bicarb. The pot was stirred with a long stick, and a large fork used to be used to handle the boiled clothes. Next, the clothes were individually washed with cakes of lye soap, by being beaten onto a serrated washboard, by hand, or sometimes a flat wooden bat was used to beat the clothes. (Old and Interesting) Homes which didn't have a washboard, just used a flat, wooden board or a hard, flat stone. Collars, cuffs and hems (dresses were long then) needed special attention to get dirt out; likewise delicate clothes with lace had to be handled gently. After this, the clothes were rinsed out in clean water. Several rinses had to be done in tubs of water kept alongside in a row, till the water ran clean from the clothes. Then the whites had to be 'whitened'. For this, washing blue (made of indigo) (Old and Interesting) was used. Washing blue was bought from the corner store, in little blue chunks. A chunk was tied in a linen cloth and dipped into a clean bucket of water. The water turned blue from this. To this was added starch and mixed well. Whites dipped into this came out starched and sparkling. As more and more clothes were dipped into the starch-blue solution, the solution itself had to be strengthened by adding more starch and blue. Care had to be taken to mix the starch well into the water so that the solution was not lumpy. Starch was not always available in the market, a hundred years back. It could be prepared at home by cooking corn flour in water, which yielded a sticky, viscous liquid, which was added to the water to p repare the starch water. The coloured clothes received the same starching as the whites did, except that the starch solution did not contain the blue. Personal linen (underwear) did not need starching, of course. After the starching, the clothes were wrung out (if too heavily wrung, they would lose all starch) and hung out on clothes-lines to dry. Wooden clothes-pegs were used to ensure that the clothes did not fly off the lines. While hanging them out, care had to be taken to see that they were sufficiently 'spread out', for one layer of wet starched cloth could get stuck to another. White clothes could be hung out in the sun, but not the coloureds, at least not in strong sunshine. Warm weather helped in drying out the clothes

Game Mechanics in Racing Game: Research

Game Mechanics in Racing Game: Research Introduction The very first racing game built by KONAMI was Road Fighter (Konami, 1984). The goal of the game was to reach the finish line without running out of fuel. The interesting part was each time the player gets close to finish line without getting crashed; a superman flies by and the player gets extra 1000 points. If you havent noticed before, the superman has K marked on his dress, which probably stands for Konami. But, if you see from a developers point of view, the superman bonus is the result of reward and feedback game mechanics. This point bonus encourages players to play better. It makes the game more interesting and players concentrate more in order to get the bonus Superman points. Game mechanics is a huge subject. It has been used in many fields today, other than video games. Game mechanics have been used for growing the players interest and involvement in gameplay, but as the area of game mechanics became largely successful, it started being used in other fields for other purposes. With the research on game mechanics, I try to study and understand the vast game mechanics subject and its application in various fields. I have also tried to form up a definition and apply it to study gameplay in various games. At last, a thorough study of game mechanics in racing games is attempted, and I introduce a new mechanics for racing games. Research Context The example above explains the game mechanics at quite brief extent. Here, I present some definitions by various researchers as well as own thoughts, experience and some examples. Game Mechanics Definitions Different researchers provide different game mechanics definitions, most likely related to their research. Here are some of the definitions given by some authors. Miguel Sicart defines game mechanics as: Methods invoked by agents for interacting with the game world. (Sicart, 2008) Here, Sicart offered a formal definition for game mechanics as he exercises this definition with a comparative analysis of Shadow of Colossus (Team Ico, 2005), Rez (United Game Artist, 2002) and Every Extend Extra (Q Entertainment, 2006) to research game context and user experience. One of the game mechanics definitions that Sicart has mentioned in his research is by Lundgren and BjÃÆ' ¶rk (2003) as: any part of the rule system of a game that covers one, and only one, possible kind of interaction that takes place during the game, be it general or specific. The definition given by Lundgren and BjÃÆ' ¶rk covers traditional board games and puzzle games, rather than video games. However, they mention that most of the mechanics identified in their research can easily be brewed into video games played on PCs and consoles. It would have been easy to describe these game mechanics without starting from traditional games, but, starting from traditional games also opens up a way that allows easy comparison between computer-based games and non-computerized games. Mike stout (2010) explains how to come up with a better game mechanics when the gameplay is repetitive and boring. Stout describes game mechanics as A major chunk of gameplay. He gives an example of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo, 1991) and the game mechanics used in the game like: sword combat, block pushing, boomerang throwing, swimming, button based puzzles, Hazard-avoidance, etc. (Stout, 2010) Amy Jo Kim explains game mechanics applied in functional softwares and social media as The system and features that makes games fun, compelling and addictive. Kim also explains how game mechanics is brewed into social media like eBay, Facebook, YouTube etc, (Kim, 2009). Game mechanics is a subject that is used in many fields other than video games like, social media, social games and entertainment, consumer products and services etc. Game Mechanics in Social Media Social media sites like facebook.com, eBay.com, youtube.com etc. Implements game mechanics at a very large scale. Amy Jo Kim (2009) explains how collection, points, exchange, feedback and customization mechanics is implemented in social media. For example, ebay.com gives rating and feedback score to the sellers based on the feedback received from customers or buyers. The feedback is accessible through sellers profile page where any user can check the ratings and score. This mechanics improves the seller services. Tesco PLC has implemented point mechanics to attract more customers. The customer gets certain points for purchases made at Tesco shops through Tesco Clubcard. Later, they can redeem points for other offers of items. Tesco makes various offers available through Clubcard points which drive customers to purchase more products. (Tesco, 2010) Jesse Schell (2010) presented multiple examples of game mechanics used in non-game media in his presentation Design outside the Box at DICE Summit 2010. Schell mentions new Ford Fusion hybrid car that comes with an EcoGuide facility, which is basically an implementation of feedback mechanics. Its a virtual plant in techno meter; the plant sprouts more leaves as your miles-per gallon go up, indicating how green your motoring is. (Goodwin, 2009) Here, feedback mechanics is used in such a way that might affect the way people drive their car and possibly encourage them to drive in an eco-friendly way. MouseHunt (HitGrab, 2008) and other facebook games are mainly based on points, feedback, collection, and customization mechanics and MouseHunt can be the best example of it. The player is required to build a mouse trap to catch mice and when a mouse is caught, the player is awarded with points and gold. The game keeps a track of points and gold on leaderboard. The mice caught by the player are added in his collection. Game Mechanics in Mainstream Games Quake (id Software, 1996) popularized rocket jumping mechanics. Rocket jumping is the technique of firing a rocket launcher or similar explosive pointing at the ground or at wall and jumping at the same time. The explosion propels and accelerates the players jump to large distance. Rocket jumping mechanics was introduced in Marathon (Bungie, 1994) and Rise of the Triad (Apogee, 1994), adapted in Team Fortress 2 (Valve, 2007) Unreal Tournament (Epic Games, 1999) and others. (Wikipedia, 2010) Another popular game mechanics is slow motion. The gameplay of Max Payne (Rockstar, 2001) involves bullet time-based action sequences. Bullet time slows the passage of time down to a certain level and enables the player to perform special moves. Time based mechanics is also one of the main features in later versions of Prince of Persia series (Ubisoft, 2003). This mechanics makes the prince able to slow down or rewind the time and perform special combat moves. Portal (Valve, 2007) is a single player Puzzle-Platformer game that consists primarily of a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the players character and simple objects using the portal gun, a unit that can create inter-spatial portal between flat planes. The game received praise for its unique gameplay and darkly humorous story. Portal seems a perfect combination of Challenge and Skills, though its gameplay consist teleportation based puzzles only. The gameplay contains no combat sequence or rocket jumping or slow motion. Kill.switch (Namco, 2003) introduced cover and shoot mechanics which was adapted into Gears of War (Epic Games, 2006). As described by Miguel Sicart (2008) Gears of War introduced an effective combat tactic where the player takes cover behind a block or a pillar and patiently shoots enemies. This third-person combat design also influenced Grand Theft Auto IV (RockStar North, 2008) and became highly popular. But Grand Theft Auto series is more popular for its variety of gameplay which consist of action, adventure, driving, racing, and stealth elements. The GTA series is also a good example of open world type of video game level design concept where a player can roam the virtual world at any point in the game. It also contains sandbox style nonlinear gameplay where the player can complete challenges in any sequence. The Game sold 2.5 million units in the America on the first day. (Mazel, 2008) The roots of open-world game concept go back to space simulator Elite (Acornsoft, 1984). However, we get to see open-world gameplay implementations in Midtown Madness (Microsoft, 1999), Need for Speed Underground 2 (EA Games, 2005) and Burnout Paradise (EA, 2008) as well. Game Mechanics in Racing Games The main gameplay in racing game is driving the car. However, many racing games offer various gameplay that are unique to the game itself. Need for speed: Underground (EA Games, 2003) has a unique win condition. The player has to finish the race at first place only in order to win the race, even if there are more than two players playing. This finish-first only mechanics deliberately increased the challenge level in the game. Underground emphasis heavily on import racing scene and featured vehicles associated with it. Cars can be customized to increase performance and visuals. Underground also featured EA Trax (EA Games) which is a collection of soundtracks. Overall, Need for Speed Underground contains multiple game mechanics that appealed many racing game lovers. According to VGChartz.com, the game sold 6.49 million units of PS2 version of the game till date. (VGChartz, 2010) Trials HD (RedLynx, 2009) is a combination of puzzle and stunt bike driving. It doesnt have any competitive race, as in the player has to get through a number of obstacles with as few crashes as possible. The challenge in the game is to balance and control the speed so that the player can pass through obstacles successfully. The game uses 3D graphics but the player can only more forward and backwards. However, the player can lean front or back to perform special moves or stunts. With such limited movement, the controls are also made simple. Trials HD also has a leaderboard feature, and when connected to Xbox Live, the player can compare his progress with his friends. Split Second (Disney, 2010) introduced destructive environment, which, when triggered by player it creates obstacles for other players. As a player performs stunts like drafting, drifting or precision driving, the powerplay meter builds up which allows the player to trigger special events like creating obstacles, enabling shortcuts or altering the race track entirely. High speed racing, imported cars, customization, stunts, crashes and motion blur can be noted as features of a racing game required to make it best selling. Burnout (Acclaim Entertainment, 2002) is noted as the initial in a series of high-speed racing games which also includes high risk gameplay mechanics. Burnout paradise (EA, 2008), the recent release in burnout series, features an open world environment called Paradise City, with day-night cycle. Game Mechanics include stunts, car crashes, and motorcycles. A very player favourite and famous gameplay is Crash Mode in which players can cause car crashes. However, in burnout paradise, the Crash Mode is called Showtime and records are kept for players biggest crash. The game contains best time for every street in the game which encourages the player to keep on driving to get the best time. Recently released blur (Activision, 2010) incorporates real world cars with arcade style handling and vehicular combat. It introduces a completely new type of gameplay to the current racing genre. However, it is brewed with the power ups mechanics that has been used in many games. It also uses the ranking and perk system. The race starts without a count-down timer which is currently popular; we can see such game mechanics in Split second and need for speed series. Results and Contribution The Definition I would like to give a brief explanation rather than a definition. It is possible that this has been mentioned some or other way in many articles. Game mechanics is a set of rules that builds a specific gameplay which makes the game more challenging, interesting and player-involving. Game mechanics can also introduce new ideas or variety within a game, which ultimately makes a game fun. Game mechanics can be used to build up such a gameplay that motivates or manipulates human behaviour. The definition explained here has been used to study and understand the game mechanics and gameplay in a variety of games mentioned in the research. Game Mechanics In Racing Genre When it comes to racing games, speed is everything. The faster the gameplay is, the more the excitement, interest and challenge will be. In a racing game, the player is not given a high performance car at the beginning of the game, but as he levels up in the game, faster cars or performance upgrades that can boost up the speed are unlocked. This mechanism creates a need of high performance car, and as the player progresses further, the game feels more rewarding. Free roam mode or open world environment plays a crucial part in racing games. Player gets a chance to explore the environment and start the race whenever he wants to, which gives a realistic feeling to the game. Players usually get attracted towards imported cars. Car customization has become an important feature of racing games. Models of original cars are highly praised by players and. They have a tendency to customize their cars and show off as well. Leaderboards allow players to compare their best times, high score and achievements, which also keeps a player engaged in game. Challenge is not the only element a player is looking for in racing games. A number of games provides stunts and car crash based gameplay. Trials HD (RedLynx, 2009) and Burnout series (Criterion Games) are good examples of it. Player can drive through a signboard or perform a stunt in burnout paradise to gain extra boost, where Trials HD is all about passing through obstacles by performing stunt moves. Such game mechanics inserts the element of fun in games. A few arcade style racing games have been avoiding the use of start up countdown. The round starts with ongoing race and the player gains control of the car after a cut scene. This type of mechanics is seen in triple-A titles like Blur and Split second. However, Simulation style racing games, where the realism is more persistent, follows the traditional countdown start-up of a race. Need for speed underground featured finish-first only mechanics. In order to win the round, the player has to finish at first place and first place only. This increases the challenge at a high degree, but it also seemed to be improving the player skills. Other notable game mechanics or gameplay features includes motion blur, car pursuit, allowing player to create tracks etc. Music and soundtracks also play an important part in making the game more interesting. Who wouldnt listen to hip hop or rock music while driving ones favourite car at top speed? It is believed that EA Trax has played an important part in the success of Need for Speed series. Gameplay is designed by brewing multiple game mechanics together. There is no specific recipe to make a best-selling racing game, but a game with various gameplay is more likely get popular. Developing a new Game Mechanic for Racing Games Whether a player is performing stunts, chasing a car, trying to make a huge crash score, or just playing a normal race, the core element is speed. Wouldnt it be great if a car never lose speed unless it is commanded to? Here, I have attempted to come up with such a game mechanic. During a race, if a player hits an obstacle, the car will lose health points but not the speed; the car will continue running throughout the track without losing its speed. However, massive loss in health points will ultimately result the player lose the round. The game presented here demonstrates the game mechanics with some other features as well. The demo consists of a single straight track. Instead of solid obstacles, the player will face white ghosts on track. On colliding with a ghost, the car will go through it but will lose health points. The race does not start with a countdown; instead it begins with the player car running at minimum speed; which increases the challenge from the beginning. On the other hand, if the player runs out of health, or fails to finish the race at first place, he loses the round. But, if the player finishes at first place without losing any health points, he wins a perfect finish. The demo also features some power ups. If the player picks up a health pack, the car health is restored. Slow motion slows down the game, allowing player to easily move through ghosts. Once activated, the game runs in slow motion for 10 seconds. Another power up is a shield which protects player from getting hurt by ghosts or opponent cars. The shield, once activated, stays active for 5 seconds. Shield provides a great advantage. When activated, the car will run 2 points slower than the real speed. Opponents do not collide or influence the players game; however, if collided with opponent cars, the player car will lose health. Evaluation Game Mechanics The following racing mechanics have been implemented into the demo, speed mechanics, power ups, random obstacle mechanics, competition mechanics, countdown less start up and finish first only. The gameplay was changed regularly as the demo was forming up in order to get the optimum effect of the mechanics. Multiple values were changed to improve the difficulty and challenge. However, it was also ensured that the difficulty is not far above the ground. Besides game mechanics, the gameplay can be improved with better feedback, graphical and visual effects, music and sound, more rewards or other bells and whistles. The Gameplay A game demo or a beta version of a game is made for testing purposes. The developers would test the graphics, frame rate or overall performance. Here, the game demo was made for an identical aim. The game demo was given to a group of game enthusiasts. Afterwards the reaction of the players towards the game mechanics was observed. The demo has a look and feel of classic road fighter (Konami, 1984) and the players did miss the superman bonus point. Random obstacles increased the challenge; it made the demo interesting as well. The demo has proved to be an ideal combination of challenge and skill. The players had to concentrate more in order to achieve the perfect finish; several players attempted more tactical approach to win the race. When asked about each feature of the game separately, the replies were encouraging and prove the success of the demo. User Comments Here are some comments given by players who tried the game demo. The game is quiet good; the ghosts were terrible as they ate up all my health in the first round. I rate it 4 out of 5. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Pratik Solanki The concept was different from other games, though the difficulty level was maintained throughout the demo. It seemed easy to win the game, but it was tough to achieve the perfect finish. 3.5 out of 5 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Kushal Joshi The game gets addictive as soon as you start playing   Dirk Fortmeier The Research Game development is not quite possible without understanding game mechanics. Gameplay is an important factor that attracts a player. The research on game mechanics helped to understand why a particular gameplay is more interesting and player involving.

Summary of A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer :: essays research papers

A Child Called 'It' 'You are a nobody! An It!?(Pelzer 140). These were the raw, disheartened remarks that came from the disgusting coldhearted mother's mouth. These painful hurting remarks at her son was how the book got its title and that's what interested me in reading this book. A Child Called 'It', by Dave Pelzer, is a life-changing story about, a young boy who is starved, beat, and tortured by his mother and her cruel games, yet he manages to turn his life around when he grows up. This young boy uses his faith, self-discipline, and will power to overrule his mother's destruction and life damaging obstacles. David was a young boy who got beaten everyday. He was very skinny, bony, and was beaten everyday. David wore threadbare clothing, he looked as if he hadn't changed or washed his clothes in months. This was the truth, his mother starved him and abused him. She never washed his clothes to embarrass him. This worked at first when people started making fun of him, but David got used to it. Bullies started beating the scrawny boy up everyday, it became a routine, but he was so frail and weak from being starved he couldn?t fight back. David looked muddled, he had a very terrible physical journey that made him mentally stronger. Loving God and hating his own mother kept David strong. David loved God, he prayed every night to God. He hated his mother so much he wanted to outthink her tricks, he did. He used different tactics like over exaggerating his pain when he got beat, putting a wet cloth over his mouth when his mother put cleaning products in a room with him. David kept counting time in his head in order to make the time pass faster.

Three Essays

Equal pay and rights for women Women constitute about 50% of global population. Without equal pay and rights for women, they lag behind and that means entire human kind is losing about 50% growth potential. Bring child mortality rate to near zero Mortality rate for under 5-year old children in some under developed countries could run as high as 162 per 1000 according to World Bank data. This rate is quite alarming and shocking in twenty first century. UN should work with NAGS, WHO, UNESCO, respective governments to bring down this rate.UN should take strict measures against countries that discourages proper immunization such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Sadly, all here of these countries recently reported outbreak of polio. Ensure proper access to and preservation of Every living human being needs to drink safe pure drinking water and pure drinking water. There is no doubt among experts that water would become priciest mineral 20 to 30 years down the road. According to LINE reports, 783 million people don't have access to safe drinking water. Also, there are reports that indicate drinking water storage is shrinking due to climate change.UN should work with all member states, Nags to educate the importance of pure drinking water to general public and take proper measures to ensure everyone's access to pure drinking water. Stop wars and genocide One of the founding charters of GIN is to stop wars. Unfortunately, UN has very limited success here. Recent annexation of Crimea to Russia is a stellar example of how UN failed to do its job in this regard. Genocides in CAR and Syria also remind us how complicated today's political world is, and limited authority GIN has over its member states.UN should be working harder to stop wars and genocides. Ensure democratic free and fair elections in all There are plenty of examples when many member states dictators win over 99% of votes in national elections. Those elections are never held in free and fair manner and w ithout any international election monitoring. These dictators repress against its own citizens, violate basic human rights, and engage wars with neighbors. UN should be strengthening its election monitoring capabilities and sections against states that don't hold free and fair elections.Conclusion: As a global citizen, I think each of the six demands have profound impact on today's world, and world population. UN has some level of successes in many sectors, however, there is more needs to be done for this planet earth and its residents. C. Describe a time when you took a great risk. What was the outcome? Time to take a great risk: I strongly believe life is all about taking calculated risks, insightful planning, smart execution and reaping benefits at the end. Many of my family members have settled in various western countries in pursuit of higher post graduate studies.There is no way I could wait that long to go overseas for higher studies. Since I was 4 or 5 year old, I used to li sten to BBC Bengali service which intrigued me about other cultures, different life styles, languages, and politics. It wasn't matter of if but when. When I was in 9th grade, I decided it was the time to this take this risk and start proper planning. Knew it would be a big sacrifice -living without parents, siblings, relatives, living in an unknown territory and not to mention forking over large sum of tuition fees.Per plan, I applied and got admitted into Notre Dame College (for 10 through 1 2 grade studies), attended few courses at a private university modeled after US colleges etc. It was August 1 998 when I finally got university acceptance letter and visa to go abroad. Sweet outcome: Outcome has been great In a nutshell, to get here had to work hard. I knew how to adapt to a country and culture as I was born and bought up in a Hindu family but Muslim majority county Bangladesh.I have consistently taken double fulfillment course load to lower tuition fee/course, have taken inter nships, on/off campus jobs to earn extra $ to provide for schooling and living expenses. Now I have over ten years of professional experience now in US and have been dealing with world renowned clients like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Apple, British telecoms, Swiss railways in my daily routine, and working and selling solutions access the globe. Most of the mimes, can do all these things from my home office. Sometimes, I feel like I have gained more than I bargained for!And theses when I tend to raise the bar and work smarter to reach new goals. Conclusion: In summary, when risky decisions are taken, we would need to make sure we have proper plans [plan A, plan B, even plan C] in place, we need to be flexible and pour our heart and soul to be successful. Have already made my mind to take next risk- to set up boutique IT consulting firms' across the globe in socially and financially challenged parts of the world. I strongly believe entrepreneurial spirit of II global program, vent ure lube and classmates would be extremely helpful in achieving my next big goal!F. You have just participated in an important meeting with your superior. How will you ensure that every part of the instructions you received will properly reach all subordinates, suppliers and clients, located in different parts of the world? During my meeting with my supervisor Mr. â€Å"X†, he informed me that our product license reinitialize rate year over year has gone down by 10% during last fiscal year. He instructed me following: ; Work with account managers to identify clients where license renewal could be at risk

Information Assurance Essay

Information Assurance (IA) can be referred to as the process that involves in the management of perils that are closely related to the usage, processing, storage and electronic transfers of information. This field has been birthed by information security, a field in computer security. Information Assurance is aimed at availability, authentication, non-repudiation, integrity and confidentiality of information and information systems thus serving as a defense and protection turf for electronic information. The process of Information Assurance commences with the act of specifying and classifying the assets of the information to be protected. This process of information specification and classification is done objectively taking into contemplation the nature, source and the purpose of the information in focus. This is followed by risk assessment that is done by Information Assurance practitioner who has to put into consideration the likelihood and the impact of the undesired actions that may negatively affect the disclosure of the information in storage to unauthorized individuals. It is at this stage that the both qualitative and the quantitative value of the risk in relation to the current situation and predictable hazard is determined. Moreover, the IA practitioner develops a risk management plan that puts forward the countermeasures that can probably mitigate, accept, eliminate or transfer the risks. The plans also puts into consideration the detection, prevention and response towards the emergent or prospective perils (Qian, Tipper, Krishnamurthy, 2008). During the plan development, various frame works can be employed such as ISO 17799, PCIDSS, ISO/IEC 27002 or CobiT. Procedures and policies such as frequent data and information backups and configuration hardening, installation of anti-virus programs and firewalls are among the countermeasures that can be used. Other activities included as countermeasures are trainings and the restructuring of the computer network systems which put in place computer emergence response team (CERT) or computer security incident response team (CSIRT). These countermeasures aim at managing, extenuating or totally eliminating the forthcoming risks in the most cost-effective manner. Later, implementation, testing and evaluation of the plan are undertaken through various designed methodologies such as formal audits. An overhaul, known as the service integrity service is put in place to protect the resources of the system from accidental unwarranted change, destruction or loss (Rogers, 2004). The system’s authenticator, also referred to as the system administrator, bears the entire authorization mandate and it is only through his certification and accreditation that a third party or any other person can access the information in store. In addition, liaison of the authenticator with the user representative and the program manager grants equal access rights to the protected information. The above three officials also have to decide agreeably on the most appropriate approaches to be instituted in an attempt to meet all the information security prerequisites. Once they have identified these methodologies, they also highlight on the security remedies that are satisfying. The authenticator’s leadership, these information system officials are bestowed with the obligation to oversee the activities of the information system security. So as to be able to access the information in the system, the authenticator has to issue a declaration indicating that approval has been granted to the any alleged declaration holder to operate the automated information system (AIS). Included in this declaration are the sets of standardized rules and regulations that must be adhered to the latter by all users having the right of access to the stored information. These prescriptions are aimed at safeguarding the information in store and the Automated Information System at large. Besides this declaration, data security can be ensured by the use of logins, passwords and digital certificates which are specifically issued to those users who are sanctioned (May, et al, 2004). The former is not so much campaigned for but instead, the latter and the use of biometric techniques such as voice and fingerprints as regarded as more secluded methods. Computer information attackers have devised ways to overwrite and also override these login passwords and as a result, this safety methodology is rarely relied upon. Once authentication has been granted, encryption of the sensitive data is done to avert it from eavesdropping and other related computer information crimes. During the process of authentication personal information is gathered and entered into the automated system which aids in the person’s identification. As a result, the party is issued with a credential. This credential validates the user identity claim when he/she is accessing the controlled and protected assets or information. In pursuit to ensure more safety over the stored information, multi-factor authentication has been employed. The multi-factor authentication process is subject to various environments and other technological rudiments and varies depending on these two aspects (Department of the Army, 2007). These techniques may include network architecture controls, remote network access, network sniffers and securing network ports. Failure to conform to or adopt any of the above mentioned authentication methodologies will expose the stored data to computer information systems defaulters who can craftily bypass weak technical controls. Consequently, they distort the information. This distortion may vary from mere acts such as modifying the main memory’s information after having read it to causing notable and probably irreversible behavior of the schedulers which are finally associated with the crashing of the entire information systems with large volumes data loss. In addition the can disable the firewall module packet filtering by transforming the image such that the agent’s in-memory store code starts working inappropriately (Larry, 2009). This may render the agent disabled from accessing the system. Once automated information attacker gains this unauthorized opportunity to access to the clients’ information he has the freedom to perform dynamic data modifications. Besides, he can access the system management memory (SMM) handler. The end result of this will be a system management random access memory (SMRAM) cache-based attack. Computer information criminals also alter the information system’s operating codes. Moreover, they can access client’s personal and confidential details such personal identification numbers and probably financial institution’s information thus ending up in a big loss in their finances. National and scientific databases have been prepared and managed by the governments of various states. Moreover, academic organizations and research institutions are also reliable. However, these stakeholders have to take keen attention during the auditing of the information, especially those received from partnerships with other organizations to avoid errors that may be disastrous in the future. In information assurance, the information flowing in the associated institutions should be confidential as earlier said and also the information’s integrity should be well safeguarded. In ensuring that the information meets these prerequisites, the British standards well implemented. Information assurance standards are also published a template in the IA website. Moreover, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) site contains these standards which are also coordinated with the MCNOSC. Therefore in conclusion, information assurance can be basically taken to mean the information operations (IO) aimed at information and information systems (IS) protection. This is achieved through the information assurance standards that see the achievement of information availability, its integrity, confidentiality, authentication and non-repudiation. The realization of these standards ensure the refurbishment of IS through the amalgamation of restoration, detection, fortification and reaction competences

Lenin essays

Lenin essays How far was Stalinism the outcome of Leninist political practice? The political system which existed in the Soviet Union under Stalin was a system of terror. The purges of the 1930s sent millions of Russians to their deaths or to the Gulags, the population was scared of the secret police, the NKVD, the forced collectivization of agriculture had wiped out a part of Russian society, the Kulaks. The show trials of the thirties had firmly established Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union. What requires investigation is how far was this regime of terror a new entity in the Soviet Union or how far it was a continuation the state set up by Lenin after the Russian revolution in 1917. The regime set up by Lenin did have a secret police, the Cheka and it was authoritarian, especially in the the years after the revolution and the civil war. There was forced grain requisitioning during the period of War Communism and political enemies were exiled. That is by no means in question. The difference is that during the Leninist years there was not the wholesale slaughter of millions of Soviet citizens as there was under Stalin in the 1930s. It can be argued therefore, that Stalinism was partly the outcome of Leninist political practice because there were many similarities between the two regimes. However, the Stalinist system was by no means the inevitable outcome of Leninist political practice when one considers the differences between the two regimes and Stalin's personality compared to that of Lenin. One must also remember that Stalin's path to power was not a simple accession to power when Lenin died and there were other candidates for leader. Stalin had to out manoeu vre figures such as Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev to get power. Therefore Stalin was not, by any means, ultimately destined to become the leader of the Soviet Union. This may go some way to explaining why he felt the need to be so repressive to any potential political enemies. ...