Medical Office Management Final Project Kaplan University Essay

Research and describe the three types of bookkeeping systems. Which of the three systems do you think would be the easiest to work with in the medical office? (Peg Board, Single Entry, Double Entry) Why? Single entry is similar to a checkbook register. It only has one line entered in the journal for each transaction. Each transaction is recorded in the one column of the account. It is either a positive or a negative amount in the order to represent the receipt or disbursement. Single entry is extremely simple and easy to use. The concept of double entry is in every transaction there are two effects. These two effects are known as Debit (Dr) and Credit (Cr). â€Å"Accounting system is based on the principal that for every Debit entry, there will always be an equal Credit entry. This is known as the Duality Principal† (Accounting-Simplified). Debit entries include, increase in assets, Increase in expense, decrease in liability, decrease in equity, and decrease in income. Credit entries include, decrease in assets, decrease in expense, increase in liability, increase in equity, and increase in income. Double entry is recorded in every manner that the account equation is always balanced out evenly. One-Write System or Pegboard provides convenience in check writing that is not available in computer systems. Checks can be written instantly, when needed, either inside or outside the office. â€Å"The One-Write System Check Register provides an accurate copy of every check written for posting to the computer â€Å"after the fact†Ã¢â‚¬  (inkoneverything). Pegboard is very useful in the heathcare/medical world. It is a single form that assures the collect charges and payments are recorded correctly on all other forms. In my opinion, I would like to work with the pegboard system. It may be a little harder to learn but I think it would be worth it. It has everything you need to keep an office or clinic running smoothly financially wise. Everything will be i n the system and it will be easy to look it up. References Accounting-Simplified. Concept of Double Entry. Retrieved from http://accounting-simplified.com/double-entry-accounting.html Southern California. One-Write Systems (Pegboard). Retrieved from http://www.inkoneverything.com/pegboardaccountingsystem.html QuickMBA. Accounting. Single Entry Bookkeeping. Retrieved from http://www.quickmba.com/accounting/fin/single-entry/

HUM History and Methods of Science Essay

Social views and culture denoted scientist, in general, as individuals who exist different from the common society. This idea is mainly because scientists live with a strong conviction to their field and their reasoning is widely based on the empirical side of the environment they lived in. Because of this, scientist’ cultures and lifestyles are significantly affected with their governing philosophies and scientific principles. The aspect of communication is also included in the human cultures and philosophies that are affected by the conviction in the scientific world. In this idea, scientists do tend to communicate with their colleagues in a manner, which is significant based on their scientific principles. There communication is widely empirical in nature that they tend to express themselves and reason out through proving the validity of their statement in an empirical nature. Scientist’s opinions and ideas are always supported with factual and scientific proofs whenever they share it with their colleagues. Through this manner, scientist can and are ready to defend the validity of their statements whenever they communicate with their fellow scientist as they are all governed by their scientific principles and philosophies. Another common trend in the communication aspects of the scientist is that they tend to relate each of their opinions and ideas to other scientific concepts or factual events and phenomenon. This is probably habitual in nature, as their profession requires them to be open-minded and critical in their field. Their communication aspect is often critical and analytic in nature whenever they state something or dispute an idea. Hus, from this concepts and ideas, one can actually see that profession indeed such as the field of science can affect the human culture and personal behavior of an individual as with the case of the society of scientist. In this concept, the behavior of scientist towards their profession becomes habitual in nature thus affecting their innate and personal communication aspect in general.

Hope vs Hope

Jovon Abriam American Literature Mr. Taube March 6, 2013 Hope Vs. Hope It’s a plane! It’s a bird! Yes, it actually is a bird. The poem â€Å"Hope† is the thing with feathers, is a 19th century poem written by Emily Dickinson and the movie The Shawshank Redemption, written and directed by Frank Durabont, both use a bird as a major symbol to hope. The Shawshank Redemption use the characters Jack, Andy and Red to make connections to hope, while â€Å"Hope† is the thing with feathers really has no characters that make connections to hope. Hope† is the thing with feathers is a poem about how hope never dies and will get you through rough times. The Shawshank Redemption is a movie based in the 1940’s how hope can either be corrupt or the best thing in life. The Shawshank Redemption and â€Å"Hope† is the thing with feathers are similar because of the symbolism and the central theme in both works, but what makes them different is the connectio ns the characters has to hope and the different type of media used.When juxtaposing the two works, you will find that there are a few similarities between the two. In, â€Å"Hope† is the thing with feathers (which is the first line in the poem) and The Shawshank Redemption, they both use birds as the symbol of hope. Saying that â€Å"Hope† is the thing with feathers is basically referring to a bird and in The Shawshank Redemption, the bird symbolizes hope because when Jake gives up his bird, he loses hope and ends up killing himself. Hope does not only play as the symbol in both works, but also as the central theme in the two.In the poem, Emily Dickinson is saying that if you have hope, it can get you through hard times and she uses a gale and a storm to symbolize the hard times. In The Shawshank Redemption, having hope will lead to you accomplishing your greatest desires. On the other hand, there are a few differences between The Shawshank Redemption and â€Å"Hopeâ €  is the thing with feathers. One of the differences between the two is that obviously one is a movie and the other is a poem.Another thing different between the two is the way the characters have a connection to hope. In â€Å"Hope† is the thing with feathers, there is no character that really makes a connection to hope, unlike The Shawshank Redemption which uses Andy, Red and Jack to make connections to hope. While, â€Å"Hope† is the thing with feathers says that the bird is the one that produces music, the bird in The Shawshank Redemption does not make music, instead it is Andy that plays the music on the prison speakers.The Shawshank Redemption and â€Å"Hope† is the thing with feathers are both so similar, but so different at the same time. These two works share many things in common like using the bird as the symbol of hope, as well as hope being the central theme. However, they are different because the type of media and the characters’ connec tion that the have to hope. Even though a 19th century poem and a 20th century movie may seem like they may have many differences, they actually can share a few things in common.

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

Annotated Bibliography - Essay Example Research conducted by Rashad shows that changes in the rate of fertility has occurred in all Arab nations and this change was accepted by Arab nations at a delay as compared to other nations, but the decline has been experienced at a much faster rate as compared to other nations. Rashad asserts that there have been several causes that have contributed heavily towards the slow acceptance of decline in fertility rate among Arab nations and this conforms to the belief that Arab nation and their populations are resistant towards accepting change. In certain nations and people of these fortunate nations experienced fertility decline due to backing of high aspirations and increased opportunities. On the other end, there have been Arab nations that have experienced decline in economic conditions along with issues in creating families have even led to decline in fertility. Socio-economic status of individuals in certain areas has played a motivational role in the acceptance of decline in fer tility at much earlier times as compared to other nations. Acceptance was even driven due to interpretation of Islam which was liberal in nature. People living in certain nations, especially those in the Gulf region experienced slow acceptance of decline because of rational decision making supported with child support programs. Arab nations overall have not been resistant to change, they have experienced differences in accepting change. The researcher asserts that differences in the way change is accepted and adopted in Arab nations and the conditions that drive the changes in the level of fertility in Arab nation is similar and consistent with the changes experienced throughout the world and these findings are dissimilar to the earlier findings of other researchers. This even shows that researchers previously have exaggerated the issue of conformity to culture. The differences in these trends even show that the theories of change that are already in existence have failed to explain the Arab nations case of fertility. On one hand theories are consistent with changes that are developmental and societal in nature, but on the other hand the experience of Arab nations of decline in fertility has taken place under different circumstances. Theories of change of fertility pay emphasis to fertility which is marital in nature, but the case of Arab nation has shown that reduction in the rate of fertility has occurred due to alterations in changes in the frequency of marriages taking place. The researcher further asserts that changes that have already taken place and are continuing to take place as result of changes in the frequency of marriages in Arab nations clearly show that females in the Arab nations are preferring to stay unmarried for a longer period of time and a major percentage of the women population in these regions even accept to stay unmarried throughout their lives. Nations that have experienced highest changes in the timeline of the event of marriage inc lude Libya, Algeria, Syria, Morocco and others. Women in these regions accept to remain unmarried till they reach the age of 30+ and these women account for 10 to 20% of the population of these regions. This has occurred at the same time when the fertility rates of Arab nations are declining, which shows that as marriage rates are delayed and decreased, women are decreasing their involvement in the act of childrearing. This has resulted in

Evaluating 360-degree Feedback System Assignment

Evaluating 360-degree Feedback System - Assignment Example Besides the normal appraisal to determine employees’ effectiveness, the 360- degree feedback approach may serve other important purposes such as â€Å"professional development and succession planning† as it allows the management a comprehensive knowledge over its employee’s capacities. It is also applicable in determining rewards to employees, determining human resource development needs, and managing performance. Further, the approach’s implementation process is simple and only requires normal managerial skills and resources. It, for example, involves the establishment of goals, determination of participants, development of performance criteria and selection of data collection and analysis methods. These are then followed by implementation of appraisal and communication of results (Pravin, 2010). The appraisal strategy, however, has both strengths and weaknesses that must be considered before its implementation. One of its strengths is the wide information sources on whose basis employees are appraised. This increases the probability of reliable and valid results for informed decisions. It also promotes knowledge of an organization’s human resource base towards interpersonal understanding and relations. This facilitates teamwork that is the core of Creative Minds Inc. Its wide scope also reduces chances of discriminative appraisals and it facilitates identification of employees’ needs towards efficient productivity (Prakashan, 2007). The management should however not have very high expectations from the system whose design may be challenging due to its research skills needs. The approach may also be ineffective if it is not aligned with the organization’s objectives, and may have more attention on employees’ weaknesses than strengths.

Organizational Structure of XYZ Department Store Term Paper

Organizational Structure of XYZ Department Store - Term Paper Example Marketing deals with the promotional activities, visual or audio displays, and public relations. As for the department of merchandising, there are tasks which deal which the monthly or yearly plan of stock along with the supervision, control, and budget for the stock. There are also financial responsibilities for dealing with the store accounts, debts, or credits. Lastly, there is an IT (Information Technology) department, which manages and looks after the necessary equipment and technology needed for the store (NAICCS). In a firm, the agent might have incentives for increasing their wellbeing at the expense of the principle, for which they might engage in activities like shirking or parking competition, which would go unnoticeable by the principals. When the incentives of principals and the agents are not aligned, there are agency problems, as in a firm, the principals engage an agent for the performance of some services (Zimmerman, 2009). However, this amount of behavior can be limited by the principals by giving the agent, through contracts, the appropriate incentives, and by incurring monitoring cost. It can also be guaranteed to avoid such problems by agents if they incur the bonding costs. If such actions occur, the principals will not be compensated. This may include purchasing insurance policies that they will have to pay to the principals. To increase the amount paid to them, the agents will be willing to incur these expenses. If the contract problems are too costly, they generally would not be sufficient for both the parties as the cost would not be sufficient to retain the agent from performing such activities (Zimmerman, 2009). Store Operations: There is management, which deals with all aspects including community engagement, hiring, and top talent development, along with delivering strong financial results and an exceptional customer experience.

Old is gold, let us not neglect it Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Old is gold, let us not neglect it - Essay Example Gradually, I developed an attachment with them. The affection between the old couple and me was such that I was off and on discussing their matters with my wife during night times. Indians worldwide normally celebrate their Diwali festival (festival of lights) with unlimited enthusiasm and on one such occasion, my wife and I spent our day with them on their request. "Don't feel shy, have a satisfied lunch," said the old woman to my wife when we together addressed the dining table. Her husband spoke his mind with a silent smile, "we proudly consider you as our children. One day I will take you to my hometown in India .It is a beautiful place." All of a sudden, I was overcome with a feeling of new affections entering my life. 'From here afterwards, this must be my world,' my inner self silently but unknowingly declared. Then, the discussion extended to this and that over lunch. When we got up for washing, it was clear that the old couple were neglected by their son who stayed in the same city with his wife. My wife sat with the old lady in the main hall while we settled down on a sofa in the drawing room. I shot a casual question to the old man, "shall I request your son to take care of you" My enquiry made him furious but the very next moment, his face turned as gloomy and pale as the waning Moon. "No," he said curtly. I apologized but he said instantly, "No.

Frankenstein Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Frankenstein - Essay Example Viktor is a young man with a lovely family that does not seem to satisfy him. Viktor’s main problem is a passion for science. Since his parents have the little scientific knowledge, Viktor chooses to learn by himself. Eventually, he leaves home to join the university, an opportunity that gives him the time to focus on his scientific interests. At the University, Viktor spends most of the time in the laboratory working on his newly found project (Shelley 52). He has few friends and does not bother about his social life. Worse still, he keeps no contact with his family and rarely has time to think about his family members. His obsession with creating a living thing transforms him into an individual who prefers complete solitude. Viktor’s alienation does not end with the success of his project. He continues to isolate himself from the world in an effort to keep his secret that he created the monster that kills his brother, best friend, and the bride. Viktor is the epitome of alienation throughout Shelley’s novel (38). Shelley makes alienation evident through the creature that Viktor created. Evidently, Viktor used the organs of dead bodies to create a strange living thing whose appearance was extremely different from that of humans. Therefore, the creature’s appearance explains why human families are not willing to accept him. He ventures into villages seeking to find some love and acceptance. However, the creature highlights that, â€Å"I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me† (101). The creature does not find any form of love or acceptance from humans. The only person willing to listen to his story was an old blind man. The creature’s alienation becomes unbearable a factor that compels him to become violent. Since he can no longer bear the alienation, he

Excerpts from Natural History of Sonoran Desert Assignment

Excerpts from Natural History of Sonoran Desert - Assignment Example Sonoran Desert is different and unique from other North American deserts in many ways. It has an extremely hot weather as well as compared with any North American desert; Sonoran Desert has the greatest biodiversity. It enjoys rainfall twice a year which makes it an ideal region for animal and plant life. However, the rainfall received is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the living beings on the desert and it evaporates due to high temperatures (Roger Dunbier). The Sonoran Desert has the greatest number of habitats and species living in the region as compare to any other desert. As it is located on the western side of the North America within the horse latitudes; it has the rich biotic communities which include all of the world’s biomes. Typically, spring is the main flowering season in the Sonoran Desert. The season starts from mid February to mid June. Peak flowering season is observed from mid March to the late April. Peak flowering season is dependent on the temperature and rainfall (Steven Buchmann and Nabhan

Consumer Behavior Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Consumer Behavior - Research Paper Example It was primarily responsible for introducing smartphones to the public. This product made consumers realise that they could browse the web, communicate and do several other things on their mobile phones. It was after the Apple iPhone that the mobile app market rose to its current status. Apple was not the engineer or pioneer of mobile applications or smart phones; however, they were responsible for introducing it to the mass market. Through their elegant presentation, gracious store atmosphere, and well planned innovations, the company has garnered a loyal following from electronic and mobile enthusiasts alike (Sass 2). Every time Apple launches a new version of the IPhone, hoards of consumers will be waiting in line at any of their stores for the purchase of its products. Sometimes, buyers may camp outside their branches overnight. The organisation may get pre-orders for about 2 million iphones within the first hour of release. For the past five years, the same hype has been created around Apple’s products, and it looks like this trend will continue in the foreseeable future. As explained earlier, clanning is a phenomenon that takes place among consumers who share similar values and interests. Part of the reason why Apple products create a lot of excitement is the fact that they bring together persons with similar interests. When one consumer was asked why they would wait for hours in line in order to buy an iPhone, the person replied that it is an opportunity to meet people who have the same passion. The company has a community of enthusiasts who simply enjoy being part of something new and exciting. They thrive in the anticipation and suspense created around a new product launch. Apple is well aware of this consumer behaviour, thus explaining why it always creates a lot of secrecy around its launches (Vuong 6). The organisation never tells buyers how many phones it has stocked in order to create suspense.

Introduction to britich politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Introduction to britich politics - Essay Example The beginning of conservatism dated back in the Great War in Britain. During this time, powerful debates about the soul and the thoughts of conservatism were widely spread. The participants were mainly the prominent historians who were the great thinkers in the society. The historians had many arguments in common about the nature of the human beings. However, their areas of specialization differed in terms of the interpretation of issues. They were always aligned to particular political classes. The prominent historians often had chances to address huge multitudes that eventually purchased their works thereby promoting their doctrines further. Many people also read their works in print media as well as in television and radio. They were a great inspiration to the people. The conservatism that exists in the current day in Britain can be traced back in the mid 1750s to early 1800. This came as a reaction to the swift changes and a series of prospects that faced the nation as well as other neighboring European nations. During this period, the Torry party was transformed in to the conservative party. This mainly came as a result of the electoral reforms in 1832 that was aimed at educating the conservatives on ways in which they could become productive and self reliant in the society. This came as a result of the common believe that personal initiatives are usually more effective in bringing the desired results than those that are done communally. Conservatism in the Britain is somehow interrelated with that of other Western Nations (Daunton 1995 pp.27-31). However, it is unique in a way that distinguishes it from the others. Conservatism in Britain established in under the patronage of renowned historians. The torry party was the first to establish the original characteristics of conservatism. It was later transformed in to the conservative party. The

Sarah Palin Essay Example for Free

Sarah Palin Essay John McCain, the Republican Presidential candidate, recently announced his choice for running mate as Sarah Palin, little-known Governor of Alaska, Since this announcement, dialogue in the media, between aisles in the supermarket, and around the dinner table has been abuzz. â€Å"How can she do it? † they ask. Palin is a mother of five beautiful children, including her youngest who was born with Down syndrome. It was recently announced that Palin’s oldest daughter Bristol, 17, is five months pregnant herself. Many people in the public believe Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy casts a negative light on this candidate’s skills as a mother. Others argue that her child’s actions or disabilities have nothing to do with her ability to serve our country well. Sarah Palin’s entry into this already crazed election brings back the long debated question of whether or not it’s truly possible to â€Å"have it all. † I’ve been surprised that women are so drastically divided on this topic. My expectations were that women would support a female candidate and communicate empathy for her challenges and ability to balance motherhood and a career. Instead, Sarah Palin has been the target of numerous harsh, and even abusive, media reports and expressions of public opinion. As a mother and another female professional working to further my career, I can relate to Sarah Palin’s struggle and the stigma she faces in our society. It may seem as though the United States has adopted a mindset of gender equality, but even a self-labeled feminist was quoted by the Boston Globe to say, â€Å"I dont really understand how she can be governor  with all those kids to deal with, never mind Vice President of the country! My research revealed Sarah Palin’s husband works part-time and is able to dedicate much of his time to raising the children. If we don’t believe a politician can be an effective leader and a good parent, then why don’t we question the family roles of all the men that have occupied these offices for centuries? Sarah Palin has already proven her ability to balance remarkable responsibilities during her role as Governor. An article titled â€Å"Questions for a Superhuman Mom† claims Palin breastfeeds her son during meetings and has even fired a chef appointed to the Governor’s mansion so she could cook her family’s food. I consider these actions evidence that Palin has already shown creativity and dedication to meet the challenging demands of both her family and her job. The criticism Palin and her family have received following the announcement that her daughter is pregnant is both unfair and wrong. While Bristol will undoubtedly need the support of her family to raise her child as a young mother, isn’t that an ideal circumstance for any young parent? Even if Bristol’s teenage pregnancy is viewed as a mistake, I don’t believe that reflects on the leadership potential of her mother. The fact that her mother has apparently accepted this reality and chose to announce it with dignity, surely anticipating harsh criticism, indicates this candidate is honest, straightforward, and willing to stand behind what she believes in despite potential backlash. It should also be noted that we do not know this young woman or any of the circumstances that surround her pregnancy. According to many of the same media reports that unfairly portray Sarah Palin, Bristol plans to marry her unborn baby’s father and the two have been dating for nearly a year. Teenage love might be peak our interest as news consumers, but what does it really have to do with the role of a leader? Like other women, I can relate to Sarah Palin. None of our families are perfect, but she loves and accepts each of her children with pride. During the Republican National Convention, Palin addressed the nation and introduced her family. After a captivating speech, she was joined by all of her children and her husband. Many political figures might have opted to leave their children or entire family out of the spotlight in light of that day’s controversial media coverage on Bristol’s pregnancy. Critics have a point that little is known about Palin’s stance on several noteworthy issues, but she should be given time to communicate her plans and provide evidence of her performance. So many of Palin’s personal decisions have been picked apart by the media, but few people have taken the leap to extrapolate her parental decisions as a positive sign for her appointment to Vice President. Palin is willing to send her own son off to war. She made the unusual decision to continue a pregnancy knowing her child would have a disability because she believed she and her husband could meet the challenge. She’s been a member of her children’s school’s PTA for longer than she’s been in office and she’s dedicated her scarce time and energy to improving schools. If it’s acceptable to criticize Sarah Palin for her personal life, I think it’s only fair to consider her strength as a well-organized and dedicated mother as a sign that she should also be given a chance to continue proving herself as a leader. Whether or not I choose to vote for McCain and Palin has nothing to do with my admiration her acceptance as this country’s first female Vice-Presidential candidate. She’s already proven there are many different kinds of feminists, mothers, and leaders. Before the media latched onto the finding that Bristol Palin is pregnant, much discussion swirled around the fact Sarah Palin’s youngest son, Trig, has Down syndrome. Sarah Palin and her husband have graciously shared their personal reaction to their son’s prenatal diagnosis and provided their pro-life beliefs as explanation for why they made a different decision than 80% of parents given the same news. Trig’s cognitive disability will offer new challenges for the Palin family, but by all accounts they have the financial resources and willingness to meet his needs and nourish his development into a happy, healthy young citizen. Mothers of children with Down syndrome are divided in their support of Sarah Palin, but many are eager for a public official to so closely understand their struggles with education, housing, healthcare, and equal rights for people with disabilities. I agree with mothers of other children with Down syndrome who feel like many in the media are being unfair to label their children as burdens making it impossible for one to parent and lead a balanced life. One mother of a five year old child with Down syndrome has been quoted in the Boston Globe to say, â€Å"If she has support, the sky is the limit. While I disagree that Palin can’t be or shouldn’t be a political leader because she’s a mother, my life experience tells me she will need support. If elected, any and all additional supports she and her husband might need would be available in Washington DC. She’s been able to manage four children for several years in a number of leadership positions, but perhaps the harsh critics are right. Maybe with the addition of a child with Down syndrome and the pregnancy of her young daughter, Sarah Palin will need reinforcements to provide what her family needs. Is that such a horrible possibility? It seems odd that many members of the Democratic party profess whole-hearted agreement with the quote, â€Å"It takes a village to raise a child. † Yet if Sarah Palin suggested she or her family might benefit from support, it would be viewed as an utter failure of her ability to â€Å"have it all. † I hope Americans realize that there’s no harm in supporting each other and accepting the fact that there are many different ways to lovingly raise children. Many single mothers expect to be treated as equal professionals. It’s a dangerous accusation to make that even with support a woman can’t simultaneously function well as a leader and a parent. I’m still educating myself about the views of Palin and all the candidates, but our shared experiences make her a political and public figure that I can relate to in several ways. If anything, her addition to this election makes it more interesting to me and perhaps a more important turning point for our country.

Innovation in E-commerce: Operation and Logistics

Innovation in E-commerce: Operation and Logistics Innovation in E-commerce with New Trial Service Rohit Meena Introduction An e-commerce is the facility or service, which provide customers the service to buy products online on the Internet. Today In India and other countries e-commerce is being used for getting products online easier and faster. In the 21th century e-commerce comes with the new revolutionary concept-people can get their products online from many brands. Purchasing and selling of products has become very easier due to e-commerce. Communication from one seller to other seller provides different product and varieties in the market. One of the biggest challenges faced by the e-commerce industry is that most of the people are often unsure of their sizes and how their online purchase clothes will fit in real life. I’m trying to solve this problem by providing actual physical trial service for people trying to buy apparel online. This service helps customers to make purchasing decisions. Many people can get confused about their sizes or color choice and they prefer to buy products in the store. Trial Concept is a strategy of marketing which increases consumer satisfaction for online shopping. When consumer orders their product from the online site and gets size problem or other product visualization problem, this type of problem decreases the online sales because people do not want to buy again those stuff which comes with size problems. Trial Concept will make high demand in the market because it comes with the market demand calculation according to the trial demand. Basically, it will also help to consumer for getting their product to be available in the store. High demand of products in the market creates unavailability of products. Product quality and sizing problems will be solved by the trial option. In the future this feature will increase retail sales. The trial system will encourage people who have never shopped online before to try out online shopping by removing the restriction of size and fit confusion. Secondary Literature In the 21th Century People more and more are shopping online. Studies have shown that e-commerce sales grew 15 percent in 2012, which is several times more than average retail industrys spending growth. 80 percent of the sales in this industry are still taking place within the four walls. Even though a majority of apparel shoppers visit the retailers website, research the product online, or read reviews before making purchase, only a few actually buy the product online. Most people who do buy clothes online are likely to buy an item only after they have already tried it on in a store or seen someone else wear it before. This is especially true among women. Not knowing the quality of the product and having to wait for the product to arrive may affect the shoppers decision to buy clothes online, but the biggest problem I see preventing a shopper from buying clothes online is not being able to visualize how the product will look on her/him body. If the retailers can address this issue, the concerns like the quality of the product and the shipping time can easily be fixed. I agree that people want to feel, see, and try the product before they buy; and e-commerce sites can not provide that real experience of touching the product, but with improved technology and larger, better quality pictures, shoppers can get a pretty good idea of the quality. Plus the free shipping and free returns already being offered by many e-commerce retailers will give shoppers the option to experience the products without leaving their house. Retailers could not be able to solve fit issues on the Internet. Fit issues are the main reasons of customers that create d o not feel excited about buying clothes online. E-commerce retailers can attract people if they can address their practical issues that are keeping many probable customers from shopping for clothes. Advanced digital technologies like the virtual fitting room software that provide the shopper better fit experience than the two dimensional pictures. But not every retailer can afford those expensive technology and not every shopper is willing to spend the time it takes for them to upload the picture (or whatever else is required to let the software know their bodys dimensions or size) and drag/select each product they want to try on and wait for the results. It is easier and time saving for the shopper to just clicks the size she/he wants to see on picture and get done. It may not give her/him the enhanced experience of three-dimensional virtual fitting, but it will give her/him a pretty good idea of how she/he can expect to look on those products. But a virtual fitting room is the lack of uniformity in apparel sizing. It is the biggest problem of the apparel industry right now. Each manufacturer has its own sizing standard. And, within each manufacturer, there are size variation d epending on the fabric, style, and so many other factors. It is simply impossible for those software to accommodate all manufacturers sizing standards, which means majority of new and smaller brands can not be represented. To conclude, with help of general sizing guides posted by the retailers on their e-commerce site, the shopper may know what size of any particular item she/he should buy; but she/he can not visualize the product on her/him body if the model is not representative of her/him size. Fabrics behave differently depending on how they are woven, knitted, treated and finished. That means the products stretch ability; molding and yielding property varies depending on many factors. The same shirt can look totally different on women or men of different sizes. Women or men want to see if the product is going to fir or not. Therefore, many people prefer to try the item on their body before they buy it. Working of the concept The process of trial service includes all shops of specific brand. This trial feature distributes the goods from one place to other place according to the consumer demand or request when a consumer browses his/her product online. It will work faster compare to taking trial or finding shops of product. Trial service modifies the design of transportation for better service. When consumer rejects their product on the store, the retailer will sell the product; but in many situations consumers demand are different so trial service has to connect with all stores or warehouses. Cost factor for the transfer of goods matter a lot for the product cost. I am not sure that this idea will be accepted by every industry because many times it will not be possible to deliver every goods on the location, but my concept connects store to store. If consumer bought some product and he won’t be able to get this product within the deliver time, my service will deliver goods to the nearest the store. Consumers time will be saved by this feature: the consumer will get his/her product from the nearest store. Explanation of the concept Trial Concept clears many issues for the online shopping. Some times retailers complain that customers come in their shop for only trying clothes and retailers cannot charge for trying clothes in their shops so the idea of trial shopping solved the retailer’s problem. My concept for the online shopping related to customer satisfaction secures more online shopping. This idea will work with the official site of brands and chains. Users can easily go online and shop for items. If people want to see or check that product will fit or not, trial option works as a feature. This option takes four sizes and color of the product or consumer can order multiple choices at the one time but the multiple choice products will be limited. A consumer will be able to give five products for the trial at the one time. Some time retailers may not have stock all collection in the store so consumer faces problem for their choice product so the trial option will only provide the product available in t he store. If consumer wants that product to get home delivered because at the trial time consumer wasn’t able to purchase that product, he can do so. Consumer will get only one-day time period for the trial and trial-purchase. Trial date and time will be sent by the customer care department to customers cell or email. Basically this idea gives opportunity to customer if he/she is not getting product on store in some areas. Communication of the one store to other store from the storage warehouse makes transfer of goods easier but the trial facility create some changes in the transfer of goods because suppose in one area there are two-three shops which do not have stock of high demand goods. Trial system will calculate the product demand from the consumers according to the same product’s trial demand. So the trial system will help to the company for the area’s product demand. Example: in Lucknow, winter season is going on so people definitely buy cold clothes in t he winter weather. If there are five shops of Tommy Hilfiger in the city and they have limited stock of sweaters. But the city people demand of Tommy products is high so the trial system will calculate the demand and provide stocks to these city shops. Trial system maintains the transportation cost because every week stores get their products from the warehouse anyway, so the trial will send by the warehouse. Conclusion E-commerce platform has increased every year with new techniques of customer service. It’s necessary to catch consumer attraction for online shopping. In this competitive market every company should provide the latest techniques for high sales growth. The supply chain system should cover high demand or supply facility in minimum time. Customer survey for e-commerce can show that how online shopping can recover the unsatisfied customer with the newer services. Online issues related to payment, product specification, unavailability of the product, etc. create many unsatisfied customers. Trial service will be able to get more satisfaction and give advantage to online shoppers with regard to ordering high price products with the secure belief.

How Firewalls Mitigate Attacks

How Firewalls Mitigate Attacks Network Security is the process by which digital information assets are protected. If the network security is compromise, severe consequences could occur such as loss of confidential information [6]. To protect the networks the goal of security should be maintain integrity, protect confidentiality and ensure availability [5]. To begin the network security process, you have to first develop security policy and access rules. This policy must identify clearly the network security objectives of the organization. Network Security includes security management, computer system security, data security, and network devices security [1]. Due to the tremendous growth of E-business and the internet all small or large organizations finding it very important to have web presence to compete in todays market. But connecting to the internet means that companys private network will be connected to the outside world [8]. This makes the private network vulnerable to attacks from the internet. As in the case of E-business Companys web server must connect to the internet to provide WebPages to customers. This makes the web or file server susceptible to attacks. The network engineering must defend the network against threats such as viruses, worm, Trojan horse, theft of information, misuse of resources, access control. Now a days access to the Internet without the firewall is same as leaving your house door open to let anyone come inside. As the information theft or identify theft is all time high, computers networks need protection. To provide defence from the intruders or hackers a special device was needed. That is why the device called Firewall was introduced in back in 1988 [17]. Currently there are many different kinds of firewalls in the market. These firewalls not only different in cost but their functionalities are different as well. For an organization it is hard to pick up one firewall and considered protected against attacks. This report explain you different types of firewalls and their functionality. The following figure displays the firewall is placed between the Internet and the private network to provide network security and protecting from attacks. Network Security Policy: As everyone want to protect their network and the information in the network so we should have some kind of rules to define that what is acceptable or what is not acceptable on the network [1]. To apply these rules or procedures we first need to have a security policy. Having a good and detailed security is the excellent start of network security. After the creation of policy we need implement this security policy to provide the technical control. Because if this hardware or software devices is needed to provide the protection. A firewall is used to apply this security policy on the network Securing Network with Firewall: Technical controls are the most important part of the network security program because it provides a protection against the attacks and keeps network safe. Firewall is one of the main types of device to provide technically or physically control the network traffic. What is a firewall: The term firewall originally comes from firewalls which protect the fire from spreading to the other part of the building[4]. A firewall is a device in the network which divide or separate the trusted network (Private network) form the untrusted network (outside network). The firewall can be special devices such as hardware firewall or may be computer runing firewall software. The main aim of the firewall implementation is to protect the network from countless threats and only allow authoried traffic going in or out of the networks. Firewall can be used as standalone devices or can be configure on gateway router on the network such as Cisco PIX firewall [5]. The following figure display the firewall filter traffic by letting only authorized traffic in the network and rejecting unauthorized traffic at the network boundary. How Firewalls mitigate attacks? The main aim of the firewall technology is to protect the sensitive information moving between the two networks [4]. In a real world scenario firewall is placed between a private network and internet to prevent attacks. Firewall is one of the most essential barriers that can defend computer networks from many threats. The firewall at the perimeter of the network is the first line of defence against external attacks. To mitigate the attacks the firewall divides the network into two zones: Trusted Zone: authorized users in the private network or a private network. Least trusted Zone: users from the Internet trying to access the private network. The simple firewall job is to either permit or deny the traffic based on the access rules [4]. Permit: the authorized traffic is allowed in the network according to the predefined access rules. Deny: the unauthorized traffic stop at the firewall and information is sent to network administrator or discarded. The above figure displays that hoe firewall filter the traffic according to the specified criteria. Protecting network with Firewall: Firewalls filter the traffic transfers between two or more than two networks. It can divide the network into protected or unprotected areas. The firewall consider as good firewall if it can protect network from following vulnerabilities: Firewall should provide protection against attacks from outside the network. E.g. internet. Firewall should protect the network from any type of internal attacks. Firewall should grant access to the users according to the access privilege level users posses [4]. Firewall should stop unauthorised users to access the resources. Hardware and Software Firewalls: There are two main categories of firewalls: Hardware firewall and Software firewall [5]. Depending on the network requirements different firewall is used. Each of these firewalls has its own benefits. Both of these firewalls have the same aim of providing the secure communication. In the organization you can you either hardware or software or for better results combination of hardware and software firewall can be used. Hardware Firewalls: As the name hardware explain itself that it is a hardware firewall device. The hardware firewall is a special device which is normally placed near the gateway router of the network or between two networks to control the traffic flow. Before placing it on the network it is configure with the access policy or security rules on the firewall. When it activated on the network it controls of the network traffic going in or out of the network. The hardware firewall examine the incoming packet and compare with the access rules to decide either allow or discard the packet [11]. It is mostly used in large businesses and best suit for multinational companies. The following figure displays the hardware firewall providing network security form the Internet. Advantages: Hardware firewall has different operating system which is the independent of normal system such as Microsoft OS. Microsoft windows operating systems and other common OS have much vulnerability [11]. But hardware firewalls dont use common OS so it is hard for attacker to have successful attack. The other benefit of this is it faster than the other types of firewalls and easy to implement on the network [11]. Disadvantages: The main disadvantage of the hardware firewall is that it is one point of failure. If the hardware firewalls fail than all the traffic on the network will stop. No traffic can go in or out of the network. The other disadvantage is that if attacker hack the firewall he can control the traffic going in or out of the network. The most hardware firewalls cost more than the software firewall and specially trained staff is required to manage the device make the overall cost higher. Also most of these hardware firewalls are designed by different companies so that each of these needs different configuration and maintenance. The network administrative needs to learn about that specific firewall before placing it into the network and must have knowledge of how to administer the firewall deceive [11]. Software Firewalls: Software firewall is a special software firewall program that can be install on the devices such as router, server or PC. Once it is installed and configure properly it works that same way as hardware firewall. It examines the traffic and allows or denies access according to the predefined access rules to determine whether the packet has permission to access the network or not. The consideration must be taken when installing the software firewall on the existing devices because software firewall going to use the CPU and other resources on the devices [11]. Make sure the device have sufficient hardware resources to provide excellent performance in this environment. If there are not enough resources available for software firewall to operate, this can impact the network performance. Also as the attacks and vulnerabilities changes because attacks try different or new methods to attacks on the network so that the software firewall need to upgraded to provide the complete protection against new threats on the networks. It is best suitable for small businesses and home networks. Because it is easy to implement and no special hardware is required. The following figure displays the computer or router running the software firewall providing network security. Advantages: As the software firewall can be installed on the existing network devices so it normally cost less than the hardware firewall. There are many free software firewall programs on the internet which can be downloaded on the PC for free. Disadvantages: Software firewalls share the system resources with other applications running on the computer. It can impact the performance of the computer if there are no enough resources. Most of the times software firewall companies give free firewall application provide basic network protection only. To get the full protection against all attacks you have to pay for the advance services. The other disadvantage of the software firewall is run on existing operation system, so it can be very vulnerable to have same king of attacks as on operating systems [11]. Different Types of Firewalls: After defining the two major categories of firewall, now the next part of the report explain the types of firewall based upon how firewall filter packets and its behaviour in the network security. In this report TCP/IP model is used to define the process of how packets are treated and filter by different types of firewalls. Packet-filtering Firewall: This was the first type of firewall to protect the networks. Packet filtering firewall check the source and destination IP address of the packet and let the packets in or out according to the security policy of the organization [8]. Normally gateway router on the network edge is used to filter these packets. Access control list (ACL) can be configured on the router to act like packet filtering firewall. Based on the access rules router can allow or deny access into the network. The following figure displays the incoming coming packet can be filter based on the specified rules such as IP address, packet types and port number. Advantages: It the simplest form of the firewall and easy to implement on the network. When Packet filtering firewall is placed in the network it will not slow the network down and users of the network will not feel the difference in network performance. Disadvantages: This was the first type of firewall introduced for the networks. As it check the layer 3 address in the packet and let the packet in or denied access according to the security policy. IP spoofing is technique to spoof the IP address to any IP address you like to change. Hackers can use IP spoofing software to get the access through the packet filtering firewall. The other problem with packet filtering firewall is that it does not know who is using the service. Recommended Usage: Packet filtering firewall is used in low security environment or when the cost is an issue. It can be implemented on the router to save money but this kind of firewall should not be used in high security environment. Good for small businesses or filter traffic within the organization. Stateful Inspection Firewall The stateful firewall checks and monitors the state of the connections between source and destination [4]. It is the most complex type of firewall. This type of firewall can monitor all kinds of connections e.g. connection initiation, connection termination and information transfer [4]. It can perform the multilayer inspection. In multilayer inspection the packets first checked at the Internet Protocol layer (Layer 3 of the TCP/IP model) if the packet is granted access than it can also perform the second check at the application layer (Layer 5 of the TCP/IP model). It can inspect the TCP or UDP sessions and keep monitor these session between the source and destination. When the packet first arrived at the firewall it inspects the protocols in the packet and authorized or denied the packet according to the network security policy. If the packet is authorized than it keeps the information about the sources, destination, port number and TCP sequence number in the record table. E.g. Cisco Pix firewall The following figure displays the incoming coming packet can be filter based on the specified application rules. Advantages: It is more secure than the packet filtering because it can not only do the deep inspection of the packets but also keeps records of each session. Disadvantages: It can slow the network down because all traffic goes through firewall and this kind of firewall is expensive. The other disadvantage is the when packet inside the network go outside the hackers can capture the packet and examines the internal IP address in the packet header. This can give hacker some information about the IP address scheme used in the network. This information leads towards the some sort of attack on the network. But NAT can be used to resolve this problem with stateful firewall. Recommended Usage: This kind of firewall is good for networks that required high level of security. Mostly used by the medium and large size organization where audit of each session is required. Application-level Gateway Application level firewall was design to provide more security to the network by checking all layers of the TCP/IP model. As the packet switching firewall only examine the incoming packet up to Internet protocol layer of but application layer firewall provide security checking up to application layer. The application firewall is a dedicated computer also known as proxy server. Proxy server proxy for external services request for internal services and proxy exchange information with internal network [1]. The main advantage is that it hides the internal network from the outsiders. A proxy service has two important components: proxy server and proxy client [3] The job of the proxy server is to accept connection from one side of the network and connect to the other side of the network. Proxy Server first checks if the connection or host is allowed or not, if host is allowed than the proxy server makes the second connection to the destination host on the other side of the network. In this way the source host is connected indirectly to destination host via proxy server. This indirect connection between source and destination hide the valuable information about the internal network to pass on to external network. Advantage: As Application layer firewall filter up to application later, it can understand variety of different application so that checks can be perform on the content of the different application traffic for effect results. Disadvantages: If there are too many users in the network proxy services may slow the network down. The following figure displays the incoming coming packet can be filter based on the specified application rules. For example you can stop the HTTP traffic and allow all other protocol. With the application firewall you have more control to filter traffic based on the protocols. Recommended Usage: This kind of firewall is good for networks that required high level of security such as Banking. Mostly used by the medium and large size organization. It cost more than the packet filtering firewall. Circuit-Level Gateway Circuit level firewall is more advance form of packet filtering firewall because it can examine the incoming packet in more detail. It also provides more protection against attacks as compare with packet filtering firewall. Circuit level firewall not only checks the IP address, port number but it also checks the TCP handshake status between source and destination hosts and keep record of the TCP handshake [12]. This type of firewall checks TCP handshake connection status before authorizing the access. The circuit level firewall works at the TCP layer (Layer 4 of TCP/IP model). Because it need to examines the TCP handshake between hosts and open the session between hosts. The source host start the connection, when the packet arrived at the gateway; the gateway examines the connection information in the IP packet. The gateway find the match of the packet with the in security policy predefined on the gateway. If the packet gets permission to enter in the network the gateway makes the 2nd connection to the destination host. When the IP packet arrives at the destination it has the source address as the address of the gateway [12]. The following figure displays the traffic is only allowed if the session is initiated by the authorized host on the network otherwise all other traffic will be denied. Advantages: The circuit level gateway provides better protection against some attacks such as IP spoofing which packet filtering firewall cannot detect. It checks each TCP session and open the port manage all the incoming and outgoing connection. Because of that no unauthorized traffic allowed in the network it is considers protected network. The other main circuit level gateway benefit is that it hides the IP address of the trusted network from the un-trusted networks because outside host only get the source IP as the gateway address. E.g. Network Address Translation (NAT) Disadvantages: The main problem with this kind of firewall is that it does not check the content of the packet. This means that the in the packet the content may be some kind of virus or worm. Because of this reason authorized host mistake can bring virus in the network. Recommended Usage: This kind of firewall is good for networks that required high level of security. Mostly used by the medium and large size organization. Network router can be used to act as a firewall but for large organizations separate firewall devices is recommended. Comparison between different firewalls: Firewall type or cost vary depends on the size of the organization and type or access required. My investigation is based upon for medium size company. Now a day firewalls are very advance piece of equipment that has most the function in one device. E.g. IDS, IPS Hardware firewall So many different types are available in market, depend on the type can filter based upon IP address Yes it can Depends upon the security policy the firewall can filter incoming or outgoing traffic. These are mostly proprietor devices so the network administrator must learn to manage. Cisco ACE 4710 HARDWARE-0.5GBPS-100  £1083 Expensive because it comes with the special hardware device. Software firewall YES Yes it can filter Yes it is easy to operate. Cisco PIX Firewall Software  £248 Relatively cheaper that hardware firewall Packet filtering firewall YES NO Basic firewall cannot filter ports. If configure to filter it can check either incoming or outgoing or both traffic. Yes it is easy to operate. Netgear SRX5308-100EUS ProSafe Quad WAN Gigabit SSL VPN Firewall  £347 One of the basic type, you can find this firewall cheaper. Stateful firewall YES YES YES YES Cisco ASA 5505 Security appliance Unlimited Firewall Edition Bundle  £441.36 Expensive but provide good level of protection Application level firewall YES YES Easy to manage GUI based interface which makes it to configure SonicWALL NSA 220  £644.00 Expensive but provide good level of protection Circuit level firewall YES YES YES Easy to manage GUI based interface which makes it to configure Cisco ASA 5505 Firewall Edition Bundle security appliance  £566.15 Expensive but provide good level of protection Recommendation and Implementation: Firewall design principles: The first thing to remember that firewall is good only if it is configured properly but before buying and placing the firewall in the network you should know the answer of the following questions. What type of network it is and what are the network requirements? What is kind of information you have in the network? What level of protection is required? Where to place the firewall in the network? Firewall Basing: There are many choices to place the firewall in the network. The following part of the report explains the best placement of the firewall. Bastion Host The bastion host is a computer system that is used on the network especially on the local area network. It is normally installed after the first firewall. This system is designed in such a way that all the traffic has to go through it. As all communication of the private LAN go through it is designed to harden against attacks from outside. It runs the secure version of operating system and record of the audit information [18]. The following figure displays the bastion host in the network. All traffic in or out of the private LAN is going through the bastion host. Figure 11 Bastion host example [Ref: 13] Host-Based Firewalls The host based firewall is designed to protect the individual host in the network [4]. This kind of firewall mostly used for the servers [18] or other important host in the network to provide another layer to defense against the attacks. Host based firewall normally comes with the operating system or because it is software based so you can also buy and install on the host. This is the most effect solution to prevent the individual host in the network. Because most of the attacks now a days comes from the inside of the organization network. So the firewall at the boundary cannot protect from these internal attacks. By installing the host based firewall on host can defend host against security violation and control the traffic according to the access rules. As it is on the host itself it can protect host from both inside and external attacks. The other benefit of host based firewall is that it can be designed and configure according to the host requirement. The reason is that as some host on the network has different operating system or different needs e.g. servers. The disadvantage to have host based firewall on host is that host processes each packet which is CPU intensive. This traffic checking process can slow the performance of the individual host. The following figure display each host in the network has host-based firewall to gives extra protection to the individual host according to their needs. Figure 12 Host based Firewall [Ref: 14] Personal Firewall It is application software that can be installed on the computer or host. Once activated on the computer it examines the traffic going in or out of the computer. User control this firewall through GUI based application and configures the required level of security. It can allow or deny the traffic as defined by the user. There are many free personal firewalls available on the internet which can be downloaded from the internet. E.g. AVG antivirus is free and comes with basic personal firewall. The other thing you must remember that it is design to protect one host, this means that personal firewall need to install on every host on the network. This is not very scalable in the large network that is why it is mostly use for personal computers in homes or for small office. The following figure display the example of the Norton personal firewall. Figure 13 Personal Firewall Example [Ref: 15] Firewalls in network design: There are many solutions available here are some of the important ones: Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) design: The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is the special area which is designed between two networks. DMZ provides protection against outside and inside attacks. The external firewall is used to protect the network and the internal firewall is used protect the network from inside attacks; the secure area is created between the two firewalls. In the large organizations this area is used to keep the servers such as web server or file servers so that the authorized outside users can access the network. In really you are creating three zones: Outside zone (Internet) Intermediate zone (DMZ) Inside zone (Private network) You can see from the figure below that two firewalls are use to create DMZ. Figure 14 Firewall Implementation in DMZ design [Ref: 17] Fault tolerant firewall design: The following design can be used to provide fault tolerant solution. In the following design two firewalls are used. One of the firewall is in active mode (main firewall) and the other one is passive mode (standby firewall). If the active firewall fails the passive firewall takes control. This is best solution to provide the network security and redundancy. Figure 15 Example of fault tolerant firewall implementation [Ref: 16] Test the firewall: After firewall is installed in the network, you should always test that how effect it is and what are the vulnerabilities of this firewall. Testing the firewall can be done by using the network testing tools such as network penetration tools or Port scanning tools. These tools are available in the BackTrack software version 5 for network testing. If you able to hack you own network and bypass the firewall, its means that firewall is effective. In this way you can able to find the vulnerabilities of the firewall and work on these weaknesses to resolve the network security issue. Overall benefits and limitations of firewalls: Benefits of using firewall in the Network: Prevent unauthorized personals in the network. Prevent sensitive information exposure to unauthorized hosts. The flow of data between two networks or between two hosts can be controlled. By the deep examination of the data packet certain protocols can allowed or deny in the network. Security policy rules can be configuring to provide technical control. As all the network traffic goes through firewall, placing the firewall at the edge of the network gives one point of entry for all data. It makes easy to manage one point control connection to outside world. Limitations of Firewalls: As firewall is the single point of entry for all traffic, failure of firewall can cause the disconnection from the internet or other connected networks. Some of the new attacks may not be detected by the firewalls. Hackers try different ways to bypass the firewalls by checking the weakness or vulnerabilities of the specific firewall and attack according to the type of firewall. By placing the firewall on the network edge can slow down the network performance because firewall has to check each packet going in to out of the network. If the firewall configuration is not right it may not stop the attacks. If the packet is encrypted firewall cannot understand Conclusion There is no one firewall which can be placed on the network and network will be 100% secure. So do not rely on just one firewall to provide all kind of protection. In the network use multiple protection devices such as IPS or IDS with the firewall to defence against other attacks. The most important to have network security policy and all users must agree to follow this policy. The firewall devices must be configured according to the security policy of the organization. The network administer should continually review the firewall as the level of the threats changes frequently. The best firewall should reduce the risk of attacks and easier to manage setting. The cost is another important point when selecting the firewall. Lastly when selecting the firewall network requirements, quality of service and performance should be the main consideration because it is the focal point for the traffic going in or out of the network. Too many users and extra load on the firewall can degrade the p erformance of the whole network. So during selection of the firewall consideration of network requirements is the most important stage.

Belief in a God is necessary for a moral society Essay -- essays resea

Belief in a God is necessary for a moral society Religion in the world has always been considered a rather important aspect of society. Although this is true, there are still people that question the existence of God. A survey done among 1000 people showed that 65 percent of Americans believe that religion is losing its influence on American life (Sheler, 8). Even so, Belief in a God is necessary for a moral society because since the beginning of history man has always made up some sort of role model to explain events and situations that seem inexplicable, God gives people a sense of comfort and hope to know they aren’t alone, and when a society believes in a God, there is a religion behind it that gives ethics and values that they must comply to. Historically, the world has always used a higher being for a reason for the events that occur in their lives. They would look upon the bible to find answers from God or they would just use prayer to find them. The bible has always been used for the purpose of spreading the word of God. However, it is looked at in many different ways. Technically it is said to be the actual word of God to be taken literally, word for word. Historically, the bible was a book written by the existing disciples of Jesus Christ, the son of God who is said to be the Savior (Sheler, 8). For the most part the bible isn’t interpreted that way anymore. People consider the bible to be a book that is full of the inspired of word of God, but something not to b...

Ecommerce Industry Analysis :: essays research papers

Industry Analysis: On-Line Higher Education Industry Today’s industries of Higher Education are witnessing a burgeoning interest in the use of the Internet. The rise of the Internet, by information technologies and business application, represents a large base of potential customers for e-commerce activities. Generally, it can be said that e-commerce is a highly significant way of conducting business. For that very reason, a widespread of universities and colleges actively exploit opportunities created by the growth of e-commerce by initiating on line courses and degrees to accommodate this demand. This industry analysis will capture the principal effects that e-commerce, i.e. on line courses, may have, as compared to those of conventional Higher Education Industries, as well as explore the barriers and opportunities that may face each. These issues are examined using market research, newspaper articles, and annual industry reports. Higher Education Firms are undertaking growing numbers of e-commerce initiatives and increasingly offering on-line incentives required to participate in the growing online market. A range of on-line incentives includes expedited degrees, decreased tuition fees and minimal face-to-face time with instructors. However, to realize these gains of on-line courses and the associated incentives requires fundamental Internet knowledge and a high degree of competency with on-line universities in offering adequate resources. Higher Education institutions are producers of information concentrated products, and may face a raft of challenges when instilling these new competencies. The Gartner Group estimates that firms creating e-commerce sites spend $1 million in the first five months, and $20 million for a place in cyberspace that sets them apart from the competition. These costs are projected to increase at a rate of over 25% per year over the next two years. An examination of the annual reports of Online Higher Education companies reflects the magnitude of these costs. South University’s annual report for 2003 reveals that the firm spent $152 million on advertisement, equipment, and software, amounting to 9% of their annual revenues for the year. This figure for Capella.edu is $34 million (16% of revenue). Once these investments are in place, the costs of entry into virtual universities mainly include considerable marketing expenses. Activities such as the placement of banner ads in portal sites are $12 million (12% of revenue). Transaction and organizational costs affect every educational institution. The potential of Virtual Universities to reduce these costs is most important, because the cost affect the consumers. Comparisons to campus education also create economic challenges to online institutions.

Cognitive Development of an Infant and Toddler Essay

Piaget based the sensorimotor stage on his observations of his own children The Circular Reaction: a. Circular reactions are the means by which infants explore the environment and build schemes by trying to repeat chance events caused by their own motor activity. b. These reactions are first centered on the infant’s own body. Subsequently, they change to manipulating objects and then to producing novel effects in the environment. Substage 1: Reflexive Schemes – a. Piaget regarded newborn reflexes as the building blocks of sensorimotor intelligence. b. At first, babies suck, grasp, and look in much the same way, no matter what the circumstances. Substage 2: Primary Circular Reactions-The First Learned Adaptations – a. Infants develop simple motor skills and change their behavior in response to environmental demands. b. The first circular reactions are primary in that they are oriented towards the infants’ own bodies and motivated by basic needs. Substage 3: Secondary Circular Reactions-Making Interesting Sights Last – a. Circular reactions of this substage are secondary in that the infants repeat actions that affect the environment. b. Infants can imitate actions that they have practiced many times. Substage 4: Coordination of Secondary Circular Reaction – a. Intentional, or goal directed, behavior is the combination of schemes to solve problems. b. Piaget regarded meansend action sequences as the first sign that babies appreciate physical causality. c. Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight; it is not yet complete in this substage. d. AB search errors are committed by infants in this substage. Infants 8- to 12-months-old only look for an object in hiding place A after the object is moved from A to hiding place B. Substage 5: Tertiary Circular Reactions-Discovering New Means through Active Experimentation – a. Circular reactions in this substage are tertiary in that the infant repeats actions with variation-exploring the environment and bringing about new outcomes. b. Experimentation leads to a more advanced understanding of object permanence. Toddlers no longer make the AB search error. Substage 6: Mental Representation-Inventing New Means Through Mental Combinations – a. mental representations are internal images of absent objects and past events. b. The toddler can now solve problems through symbolic means instead of trial-and-error. c. Representation allows deferred imitation-the ability to copy the behavior of models that are not immediately present. d. Functional play is motor activity with or without objects during the first year and a half in which sensorimotor schemes are practiced. e. At the end of the second year, representation permits toddlers to engage in make-believe play.

Human Behavior in Organization in Global Perspective Essay

Organizational behavior is a study that investigates the effect that individuals, groups and structures have on behavior within an organization for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organization’s effectiveness. Human behavior in organization defines also on how the employees work in certain organization, on how we build the interpersonal relationship towards to the superior and co-workers, according to the Maslow’s theory the people get motivated by the five categories of maslow’s, this would be help the employee to more productive in his work and contribute to the organization, basically, when we speak human behavior in organization, it is the behavior of the employees inside the organization, on now they act in their perspectives work and on how they do their duties inside the organization. How-ever in some cases people get motivated in money, with this they develop their skills in order to get some incentives, money is also one of the factors that people are motivated but there is a negative side on this, sometimes this are this factors that we are always depend in. Human behavior in organization in global perspective defines that on how the employees work in different company and also the relationship on organization to another organization, it is also the motivating factor of the bout company and the employee on how they interact inside and outside the organization, in order them to build the relationship inside and outside of the organization, it is also make the organization be more effectiveness. One of those motivating factors is the ethics, basically ethics in organization is important to make the employees be more productive to their work, and ethics defines as the character of one person. In human behavior in organization in global perspective is the relationship of one people to another, it is also the relationship of one country to another in order to build a trust, for example the manager of one organization will go in other country to for some proposal of business in order to get the heart of the one country the leader must build a trust to his company first, with this global perspective defines as on how we deal to another. In management global perspective one of the keys to successful management is the ability to understand andapply modern management principles and techniques effectively. Managersmust develop an in-depth knowledge of past and present models, theories andprocesses in order to manage effectively and intelligently. Contemporarymanagement practice is pervasive in every aspect of human life within all typesof organizations

Effects Single Parents Families

Task1 Research question What is the impact of being raised in a single parent family on students of the Corinth Secondary School? Rationale I chose to research this topic because it hurts me to see my friends from single parent families fall by the way side. I believe that they fall by the way side because the absent parent is inconsiderate. He (she) never took the time to think of the many difficulties and challenges the single parent would have in raising that child, not only in disciplining, but also by not having sufficient money to feed the child and not being able to provide that child with basic school materials.To me, it is very disturbing to hear some of the stories from children of my age group who come from single parent families, for instance, having to miss school because his/her parent was not able to provide for hi/her because of a huge financial strain. Time after time, I see some of my friends with their uniforms unkempt and their stomach crying out for food. It does not make me feel any better when I hear and see those things happening around me in society and particularly at my school. Objectives This School Based assessment seeks to: Identify the effects on children who are raised in a single parent family. * Identify the effect of single parent families on the academics of children within those households. * Suggest solutions to help teenagers of single parent families cope with the effects of being raised in a single parent family. Task2 Method of investigation In order to collect data for my School Based Assessment, I have decided to use the printed questionnaire because: 1. The method is inexpensive 2. The data collected is easy to analyze 3. The identity of respondents remains confidential Task 3QUESTIONNAIRE Instructions: please place a tick in the brackets ( ) next to the response you wish to select. 1. Sex Male ( ) Female ( ) 2. Age Group 12- 14 ( ) 15-18 ( ) 18-20 ( ) 3. Do you have any younger siblings? Yes ( ) No ( ) 4. If yes how many? 1 ( ) 2 ( ) 3( ) other ( ) 5. Who do you live with? Mother ( ) Father ( ) other ( ) please state†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 6. How often do you see your other parent? Often ( ) Occasionally ( ) Seldom ( ) Never ( ) 7. I have a good relationship with my other parent.To what extent do you agree with this statement? Strongly Agree ( ) Agree ( ) Disagree ( ) Strongly Disagree ( ) 8. How often does your other parent spend quality time with you? Always ( ) Often ( ) Sometimes ( ) Rarely ( ) 9. Does your other parent provide you with your basic needs? Always ( ) Occasionally ( ) Seldom ( ) Never ( ) 10. If you selected â€Å"occasionally†, â€Å"seldom† or â€Å"never† in the previous question, why is this so? Small income from one parent ( ) Parent just does not care ( ) 11.Does your other parent provide you with love? Always ( ) Occasional ( ) Seldom ( ) Never ( ) 12. Do you believe that yo u live in a stable home environment? Agree ( ) Disagree ( ) 13. How do you rate your performance at school? Excellent ( ) Very Good ( ) Good ( ) Poor ( ) 14. Do you believe that being raised in a single parent family affects your academic performance? Strongly Agree ( ) Agree ( ) Disagree ( ) Strongly Disagree ( ) 15. Do you believe that living with one parent leads to children becoming delinquents?Agree ( ) Disagree ( ) Strongly Agree ( ) Strongly Disagree ( ) 16. Are you able to balance your responsibilities at home with your time to do school assignments? Always ( ) Often ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( ) 17. Are you regularly in trouble at school? Very often ( ) Often ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( ) 18. Do you think that the Government should develop and implement more policies to assist single parent families? Strongly Agree ( ) Agree ( ) Disagree ( ) Strongly Disagree ( )

Prejudice †Montan 1948 & Snow Falling on Cedars Essay

The conventions of the concept, ‘prejudice and hatred are never right in a just society’ are explored in Larry Watson’s 1993 fictional novel, ‘Montana 1948’ and also in the film, ‘Snow Falling on Cedars’, directed by Scott Hicks. Specifically, the two compositions delve into this notion by mainly focusing on the prejudices that are placed on those who are not of the Caucasian race. For example, in ‘Montana 1948’ the Indians are discriminated against and American-Japanese citizens are victimized in ‘Snow Falling on Cedars’. These prejudices are similarly portrayed in both texts; however there are also some contrasting features. Varying techniques such as changing from present to past text to emphasise the continuous use of memory, various panning shots and most importantly, dialogue, are all used to convey that prejudice and hatred are never right in a just society. In ‘Montana 1948’, written by Larry Watson, we are instantly introduced to David, the narrator of the story. David immediately reveals that the story will be told as a memory; he establishes this in the first sentence of the prologue, â€Å"From the summer of my twelfth year I carry a series of images more vivid and lasting than any others of my boyhood and indelible beyond all attempts the years make to erase or fade them†. This is written in past tense which instantly shows the audience that story is a memory of David’s. The sentence also creates an element of mystery as David mentions he has attempted to forget the summer of his twelfth year. After instantaneously establishing the importance of memory in this novel, Watson then begins to weave racial prejudices which are the other key feature in the composition. â€Å"A young Sioux woman lies on a bed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is the second sentence of the prologue and by using the word ‘Sioux’ makes the audience aware of the underlying racial issues about to become apparent. As the story continues, we are made aware. We find that the story is set in a small community, Bedrock, which has a nearby reservation filled with Sioux Native Americans. The story is set in 1948 and is told from David’s perspective; however this constantly changes from present to past tense, which emphasises that the composition is a memory. With this fluid, constant conversion, the story is given more depth and the audience is provided with more information to truly understand every aspect of the focal story. Language used in the text; mainly colloquial within the characters’ dialogue portray the issues of prejudice. We are given the impression that David likes the Indians and thinks of them as equals; especially since David talks of his love for Marie and his fondness of Ollie. However, not everybody feels this way. **We are also made aware of the Indians status within society due to the language and dialogue used throughout the text. â€Å"My father did not like Indians†, â€Å"We want them white† and â€Å"little squaw† highlight such language conventions.

Comparison: State Income Tax, Oregon vs. Florida

Income Tax, Oregon vs Florida, Comparison and Analysis Income tax, as defined by thefreedictionary. com, is â€Å"A charge imposed by government on the annual gains of a person, corporation, or other taxable unit derived through work, business pursuits, investments, property dealings, and other sources determined in accordance with the Internal Revenue Code or state law. † In layman's terms, Income tax is money taken out of someone's pay and given to the government, state, federal, or in some cases both.Some special exceptions apply, but in the states being covered in this essay, being Florida and Oregon, those exceptions will not bother us as of right now, although we will look at them later as a point of comparison. Today we are asking ourselves why Florida has no income tax, but Oregon does. We will look over some things such as basic tax laws, other tax laws and regulations in the state regarding similar matters. We will also mozy on over to some population and citizen fac ts and trends, and relate them to why the government in each state has set up taxes the way they have.In the end we will come to a conclusion on why states do what they do, and whether that is a good thing or not. Let’s first delve into the origins of income tax and the origination in the United States. One of the first income taxes was passed in late 18th century Britain. It was a very small tax at . 08% of income for those making ? 60 and up and it moved up to 10% for anyone lucky enough to make a living of over ? 200. This was the inspiration for the tax proposal during the War of 1812 to provide the government with extra income. The war ended less than a year after the tax was proposed so it was never appointed.During the Civil War, another tax was proposed and implemented, in 1961, being 3% of incomes over 800 dollars. Later, in 1894 another tax law overcame it and was made to 2% on incomes over 4,000 dollars, meaning less than one out of ten households even paid the tax . Now let’s just say it, of course the majority of the working class dislikes income tax, or any sort of tax for that matter, especially income though, because you pick up your paycheck and right there you almost always look and see, deduction, deduction, etc. Let’s take that first part into consideration though, working class.Working class as defined by thefreedictionary. com is â€Å"The socioeconomic class consisting of people who work for wages, especially low wages, including unskilled and semiskilled laborers and their families. † This is generally referred to if you were to turn into political debates or discussions, on how things will affect the working class, and how the candidates will want to please the working class, blue collar Americans. Generally working class Americans work at basic or low level jobs, i. e. ones you wouldn’t need to take college or any paid training to do.Some examples would be Cashier, Warehouse worker, Criminal Henchmanà ¢â‚¬ ¦ okay maybe not that last one. Anyways, if you happen to be one of these people and found your current residence in the beautiful state of Oregon, you may find a not so beautiful state level income tax on each paycheck, coming out at 9. 0%, given you are making somewhere in-between 7,750 and 125,000 dollars per year. 9 Cents to the dollar of your earned wages goes to the state government, not to mention a federal rate of 10-28% depending where you fall on that same scale.Although that is a large percentage, we are looking solely at state income tax. Corporations have also had an income tax since 1955. Florida, comparably, has a slightly smaller number, being 0% state income tax, although federal is the same across the board. Although Florida does has corporate income tax, being 5%, instituted in 1971. Florida also had a ‘intangible property tax’ but that has been revoked since 2007. Immediately when you are presented with this information, you will think: â€Å"W hat is different about Oregon and Florida, and will affect decision making about state income tax? First off, let me congratulate you on your ability to think the exact same way my essay coheres to. Secondly, what is an answer? Population! Income tax is only collected on officially recorded income, so what does that have to do with individuals? Whether they work or not. Florida has a population with higher-than-average retirement rate. About 17. 3% of Florida’s 18+ million residents are retired, which is 65 years or older, which is generally considered to be the age one quits ‘working’ or employment. This is compared to Oregon with only 13. 9% of its 3. million citizens being retired. Along with that, the average age of a Floridian is around 2 and a half years older (38. 7) than that of an Oregonian (36. 3). These states, presented in percentages, may seem insignificant in difference, but presented with raw numbers, they seem much more intimidating. Florida, at 1 7. 3% or 18 million is estimated at being filled with 3. 11 million retirees. That’s nearly the population of Oregon. Let’s be glad not everyone in oregon is 65 or older, although it’d be quite a good investment opportunity for retirement centers.Anyways, with nearly 2 in 10 people being retired, and therefore not bringing in income, Florida is already sounding like one smart cookie of a state. Let’s further it buy bringing up some other facts. Florida has an unemployment rate of 11. 5%, or around 2. 1 million people. Between the unemployed and retirees, Florida has over 5. 2 million of its 18 million not bringing in any wages, and therefore not giving the state any income tax. Although Florida has more retired people, the average wage of an Oregonian, being 35,500 dollars, is lower than Florida, at 39,000 dollars.Over 2. 5 million people in Florida are also on food stamps, which is a state funded program that allows unfortunate people and families to pur chase food to prepare. This is another good sign Florida isn’t instating an income tax because the taxes collected would surely be directly sent back through programs such as these. This brings forward another point, Florida has a sales tax, or a tax which is imposed on purchasable and rentable goods and physical property, as well as special services.Medications requiring a prescription are also not taxed. Tax is only made on retail sales, for example if you bought something at a store, then sold it to a neighbor, you would not collect sales tax and send it to the government. If you were however, to purchase an item, then sell it back to a retailer, they would sell it and charge sales tax for a second time. Pawn shops and Used car dealerships are great examples a multiple taxed item. The general rate is 6%. As with many states, Florida also has Sales Tax Holidays.What this means is during certain times of the year, particular items are priced with discounted tax or no tax at all, although the latter is more rare. Such holidays and items would include things similar to school supplies in the days before school starts. With so many people on food stamps, it would be smart to have a sales tax when food stamps are used to purchase food, because usually basic foods such as milk, bread and other groceries aren’t taxed or are taxed less because they are considered ‘necessities’ compared to prepared food such as McDonalds or food repared at a restaurant. If they had sales tax, not to mention they were being paid for by food stamps, the government would be ‘recycling’ money, or basically handing it to the person, which they would then spend and be taxed on, and that is ineffective compared to just taxing goods where people would spend their own income and the government would collect on that rather. This is different than say Oregon, who has no sales tax, except in special cases, such as Ashland which charges 5% prepared food tax . This works for Oregon because they have a instituted income tax, and no sales tax.This way, as long as you make wages, Oregon doesn’t care how you spend them, because they have already collected your money! Collective tax revenue forwards these arguments. All forms of taxes resulted in a gross revenue of 5. 76% of a person's income from Oregon. Florida had 5. 03%. Although Florida is lower, given the fact that the population is much larger, much more money was made. Again referencing the income of a Floridian being around 3,500 more dollars, with the added fact of a larger population group, the money could be considered evened out. 5. 03% of a Floridians income would amount to about 1,960 dollars, where Oregon's 5. 6% amounts to 2,072 Dollars. So while being different by . 7%, which is a big difference when you’re talking about the millions of people and even more money, the total difference only being around 100 dollars total tax revenue per capita is pretty signifi cant considering the stats we’ve been shown. With this, we briefly observe labor laws. Until 2004, Florida had no minimum wage law. This means it would have been very hard to implement an income tax. Also could be considered unjust, given the fact that the government could decide how much you must pay of your earned wages whilst not making mandatory to earn a minimum wage of any sort.Once the law was established, however, it was also done so with a notice that it would be adjusted annually based on inflation. Potentially we could see an income tax initiated in the Sunshine State, but it is unlikely with the current working taxes as they are. Next we can look at a bit of history with the states and taxes. Oregon instituted its first tax in 1844, being a property tax. In 1929, Oregon implemented an income tax, for two main reasons, to spread taxes more equally over residents, and to give some relief to those paying heavy property taxes. On average, Oregon receives over 70% of i ts tax revenue from income tax.Property tax is still around, and makes about the same amount of money as income tax, but around half of it is given to school systems and public education. Corporate income tax often makes small fractions of what regular does, being in the low hundred millions, compared to a couple billion in income tax. Florida, on the other hand, does not have income tax, rather sales tax as we have talked about. In 1949, Florida implemented its first sales tax. It had a base rate of 3%. This lasted until 1968, when it was bumped up to 4%. This rate remained until 1982, when it was increased again to 5%.And as of February first, 1988, the tax base rate has been 6% of total sale. Farm equipment, however, has held another rate, being 2% from 1963-68, and then being put up to 3% from 1968 to 2001, when it was decreased to 2. 5%, but four years later in 2005 it was decreased to 0% and stands that way today. Florida also has different tax rates based on counties surcharg e tax, for things such as living costs, tourists development, and local administration costs. These differ in time ranges, rates, and longevity. So, is it necessarily a good or bad thing for these different states to have separate tax systems and rates in place?Well the answer is, there is no real answer. Different systems work for different people and places, and surely there are always optimizations that could be made, but in reality there is not and will likely never be a ‘perfect’ tax system. Money needs to come from somewhere and taxes are a way to do it, but like I said earlier most people don’t enjoy seeing a tax rise, even though it could rationally be deemed necessary. Oregon works with its income tax because it was implemented to counter high property taxes, and sales tax was never made because these two tax systems were already in existence and serving the state well.Income tax again brings in over 70% or the annual tax revenue for the state of Oregon. Florida finds different success given a different population spread giving them more advantages earning taxes from everyone who spends money compared to everyone who earns money. Given the fact that Florida is often a hot spot for tourists or even international travelers, sales tax proves effective because it earns money from people even just visiting from other states, whereas the extra products sold would result in no additional income otherwise.This makes sense for Florida compared to Oregon, because Oregon would not really considered a tourism state that states like Florida or California may be seen as. Also we take into consideration professional sports teams. Oregon has the Portland Trailblazers, NBA, the Portland Timbers, MLS, and that’s about it. Florida however have a multitude of teams, being the NFL trio of Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the NBA teams consisting of the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat, the MLB with Miami Marlins an d Tampa Bay Rays, and lastly NHL Hockey teams being Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.Given the fact Florida has 9 major league sports teams, you can imagine the sales in tickets, hotels, restaurants, merchandise, and other sports related events. One game sporting 20,000+ attendees depending on the venue can generate millions overnight in the economy in and around the sporting venue. Granted both Portland teams can do the same but even assuming each franchise can bring in that type of money, Florida is up 9-to-2 and has a sales tax that can apply to many, many things being purchased around game time.In conclusion, although you cannot say which state is necessarily ‘better’ in regard to taxes and tax systems, you can easily see that each state has the system it best sees fit to support the government and economy. â€Å"Department of Revenue: Newsroom History & Statistics about Oregon Taxes. † Department of Revenue: Newsroom History & Statistics about Or egon Taxes. Web. 08 June 2012. . â€Å"Florida Department of Revenue. † Welcome to the Web Site. Web. 08 June 2012. . History of State and Local Taxes. † Revenuelaw. state. fl. us. Fl. gov. Web. 7 June 2012. . â€Å"Florida Department of Revenue. † FL Dept Rev. 02 Jan. 2007. Web. 05 June 2012. Sapia, Jason, and Joseph Henchman. â€Å"Local Income Taxes: City- and County-Level Income and Wage Taxes Continue to Wane. † Tax Foundation. Taxfoundation. org, 31 Aug. 2011. Web. 05 June 2012. â€Å"Income Tax. † TheFreeDictionary. com. Web. 07 June 2012. â€Å"State Individual Income Tax Rates, 2000-2012. † Tax Foundation. Web. 07 June 2012. . â€Å"2012 State Tax Rates & Exemptions. † Oregon Income Tax Rates and Tax Brackets, 2011-2012. Web. 07 June 2012. .