Saturday, August 31, 2019

“Judgements about dialects are often essentially judgements about the speakers of those dialects

Language is primarily considered to perform two major functions in society. It is designed to convey information to those around us as well as establish and maintain relationships. However, linguistically (albeit from social stereotypes) certain paradigms relating to class, social and financial status are attributed to dialects – a consensus that has been perpetuated in recent times due to the diversity of today's society and the integration of many differing dialects and languages in cities and countryside alike. Indeed, a stereotype regarding a dialect usually derives from the views held on the characteristics of its speakers. Although a direct correlation between the aforemented stereotypes and linguistic fact has little scientific basis in reality it has not served to reduce the almost established dialect prejudice rife in the media, judiciary and education systems. In the early 20th Century, the ‘Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis' advanced the theory that the derivative of language we use is respective of our social, cultural and ideological background, and ever since various linguists and sociolinguists have studied dialectal differences and correlation between dialect and social judgments therein to determine the extent and implications of prevalent dialect prejudice. The size of the British Isles often leads people to discern that the languages predominant in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are homogenous and that one dialect (‘British English') is the most prevalent throughout, but even within a nation the size of England there is a great diversity of dialect both regionally and socially. Though these respective dialects can be categorised in vague groups such as ‘north' and ‘south' they do not adhere to any sharp boundaries or coincide with county/city lines. Instead, dialects are said to form a â€Å"dialect continuum†1 as they merge and alter near other cities or counties (i.e.: other dialects) so therefore one cannot define dialectal boundaries as they would be based on social fact, not linguistic. The most ubiquitous dialects within society (‘Geordie', ‘Cockney', Jock', etc.) often receive the most scrutiny for their variation to standardised English, and it is because of this that the speakers of r espective dialects are stereotyped with traits common to their culture. However, while it is true that some dialects represent certain social and political variants, this is predominantly due to geographical reasons and not because a dialect accurately represents one cohesive body of social genre. Also, the extent of Dialect Continuum means that dialects are often bandied together into broad categories (Geordie, Scot, etc.) meaning that certain dialects are often misinterpreted as others and therefore leads to people being attributed characteristics of a similar dialect. This reiterates the irrational social judgments by which dialects are often quantified as its speakers can be attributed to a dialectal collective that, while phonetically similar, may be wholly unrelated. An active example of this is in one particular study which showed â€Å"attitudinal responses were statistically significant between speakers of different dialectal groups in Great Britain in spite of the fact that respondents were inaccurate in the identification of the area from which the speakers came†. Indeed, the hypothesis that dialect is representative of one's background (which is linked intrinsically to social preconceptions) is accepted by the majority of sociolingustical commentators, the established view being that â€Å"accents and dialects have come to act as indicators not only of one's relationship to a locality but also of one's social class position† 3. The fundamental consensus of the ‘Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis' (formulated in the early 20th Century by prominent linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf) highlighting the striking difference between both languages themselves and their subsequent dialect derivatives, and that the surroundings and ideologies of a community are prominent in its form of speech. Therefore, one could discern that, if dialectal content necessitates the input of social background, judgments of dialects could be verified as the respective social traits of the speaker are evident in what they say and how it is said. In Britain, â€Å"people are often able to make instant and unconscious judgements about someone's class affiliation on the basis of their accent†4. Indeed, phonetic factors assume a primary role in highlighting ones social background. A 1972 survey undertaken by National Opinion Polls in England provides an example of how significant speech differences are associated with social class variety. Subjects, randomly chosen from the British public, were asked which factor (from eleven provided) was most indicative of a person's class. The most popular answer was ‘the way they speak' followed by ‘where they live'. This evidence highlights, albeit only to a certain degree, that speech mannerisms (governed primarily by one's dialect) are considered to be more indicative of one's social class than education, occupation or income5. This is highlighted primarily through the paradigms of ‘Subjective Inequality', which details the origins of linguistic prejudice in the public domain. Societies throughout the world credit characteristics such as intelligence, friendliness and status according to the traits of respective dialects, though these views are based not on linguistic merit – rather its emulation of the ‘received' or ‘standardised' variety of the language (the most revered British dialect utilised by various official establishments such as Government and the BBC). Thus, language is shown to proliferate social stereotypes, as it is one of the qualities (albeit highly unreliable) by which one is initially judged by those in the public domain. Despite the judgements of dialects categorizing the speaker with various socio-political elements, one should note that, from a purely linguistical standpoint, no regional dialect displays any signs of deficiency in its ability to convey information – social predispositions are therefore centred wholly on the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities of each respective dialect. This is a consensus supported by the majority of linguistic research (â€Å"there is nothing at all inherent in non-standard variety dialects that make them linguistically inferior†6). People will invariably draw conclusions upon one's persona regarding the characteristics of speech, not on its content. Indeed, due to the lack of linguistic discrepancy between the respective British dialects it is discernable that, aside from social factors, they are arbitrarily stigmatised. However, many maintain that this linguistic superficiality is perpetuated by the media; characters on television or radio that repr esent non-standardised dialects are often simply manifestations of traits commonly associated with their respective culture. Furthermore, some Sociolinguists have propagated the theory that perceived linguistic inequality (namely those dialects that do not conform to standardised forms of pronunciation and syntax) is a consequence of social inequality as â€Å"language is one of the most important means by which social inequality is perpetuated from generation to generation†7.The language and style utilised within a society has an innate relationship with the geography, occupation and ideologies prevalent in the community – making dialectal prejudice easier to circulate as the social traits of a speaker are evident in his diction and style of conversation. This is again based upon the ‘Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis', maintaining that language (and thus dialect) structure is, to some extent, influenced by a society's surroundings which in turn affects the way the community perceives the world around it. In reality, dialect prejudice is apparent in every sector of society, from education to business, highlighted through the ‘matched-guise' experiments conducted by Strongman and Woozley in 1969. These experiments served to highlight the extent to which people are quantified on the basis of their dialect and consisted of groups of subjects listening to people reciting a passage to assess the perceived traits of prevalent ‘RP English', Yorkshire, Northern and Scottish dialects. The subjects were then asked to gauge certain attributes regarding each speaker (friendliness, intelligence, success, etc.). The results showed that several of the dialects emerged with stereotypical traits – despite the fact that linguistically, none of the speakers had recited the passage any better or worse than the others as each speaker had been the same person adopting a series of dialects. Table 1 – Results from W.P. Robinson ‘Language and Social Behaviour' (1972). RP English Intelligent, successful, not friendly. Yorkshire Dialects Perceived as†¦ Serious, kind-hearted, not intelligent. Scottish Dialects Friendly, good-natured. Northern Dialects Industrious, reliable, lower class. It is clear from this that society assumes characteristic inferences upon others based primarily on their dialects. In short, speech characteristics of a social stereotype inherit the stereotypes evaluation. Further evidence of this is seen from an experiment conducted in America to highlight the prejudice between public reception of prominent ethnic and native dialects. A single speaker was recorded and played to listening subjects saying the word ‘hello' in three dialects: Standard American English (SAE), Chicano English (ChE), and African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Variation in the tenseness of the vowel and pitch prominence on the first syllable of ‘hello' was enough to elicit a significantly accurate identification of the dialects by listeners. When the stimulus was expanded to include ‘Hello, I'm calling about the apartment you have advertised in the paper', in actual calls to landlords (who were obviously unaware of the experiment), the SAE speaker guise was given an appointment to see housing at roughly the seventy percent level. Both the AAVE and ChE guises were given appointments only about thirty percent of the time8. This underlines the universal presence of dialect prejudice, the latter dialects are shown be regarded in certain sectors as less prestigious than the former. There is a great deal of evidence to underline lack of knowledge that institutes these social judgements of dialectal variety. Firstly, the prominent linguist Edward Sapir maintained that dialect and culture are not always intrinsically associated and that many unrelated cultures can share very similar dialectal derivatives of the same language. An active example of this was prevalent in aboriginal America – the Athabaskan varieties are clearly unified despite the wide distribution of its people, from the hunting communities of Western Canada to the ritualised Southwest. The illogical stigmatisation of dialects highlighted in the stigma towards the employment of double negatives in certain dialects (an action that is derided as a sign of low social standing or poor intelligence). Whilst being both widely considered a standard linguistical construction in other languages (e.g.: French and Arabic) and prevalent in such classical literary works as Shakespeare and Chaucer, modern English encourages the marginalisation of its usage. Thus, it is evident yet again that perceptions regarding dialects are not founded upon established linguistic principles, the case in point highlighting that syntactical and grammatical constructs are more figurative in a dialects perception. This has in turn lead sociolinguists to conclude that dialects cannot be adversely regarded on account of grammatical inconsistencies, as â€Å"these features have no intrinsic consequences for our capacity to communicate or restrict the range of meanings we can express†9. Furthermore, the illogical parameters by which dialects are linguistically quantified are reiterated in the cultural paradox of ‘American' and ‘British' English. In England, dialects without a non-prevolic /r/ are given prestige and constitute an integral part of the ‘RP' dialect; those that do not share this trait are stigmatised and portrayed as belonging to a rural and/or uneducated populace. Conversely, in New York those containing a non-prevolic /r/ are socially marginalized whilst non-prevolic /r/ usage is commonplace in upper class society. In English towns such as Reading and Bristol this pattern is again reversed – serving to reiterate that value judgements regarding dialect are completely random (at least from a linguistic standpoint). As well as this, another example of social perception strongly influencing the respective status' of dialects was conducted in New York by Labov, who examined shop assistant speech patterns in three differing department stores of high, medium and low repute. The procedure was then to ask several clerks a question regarding the department (e.g.: ‘where are the woman's shoes?') with two possible occurrences of non-prevolic /r/, to test the hypothesis that non-prevolic /r/ usage correlates with social class. Table 2 – Results of the Labov's Survey, taken from P. Trudgill (1983). High-ranking Store 38% used no non-prevolic /r/. Medium-ranking Store 49% used no non-prevolic /r/. Low-ranking Store 83% used no non-prevolic /r/. Thus Labov discerned that, to a certain extent, his hypothesis was verified: those dialects that do not frequently use non-prevolic /r/ are usually of a lower class. Also, this experiment demonstrated the paradigm that dialects are socially affected; the fact that this dialectal trait is marginalized is due to its affiliation with lower classes, reinforcing the fact that views on dialect are socially governed10. The communal view of certain dialects is not determined arbitrarily; they have as much to do with personal opinions regarding the dialect as the social and cultural values of the respective community. Certain dialects are given more prestige and status than others, which leads to some being more favourably evaluated than others (some are considered ‘good' or ‘attractive' whilst others are regarded as ‘slovenly' or ‘bad' in comparison). Dialects judgements are again propagated through the media, the frequent usage of ‘RP' English in official reports and programs responsible for the high level prestige attributed to those that utilise it. Judgements about dialects are therefore based on social connotations as opposed to any inherent linguistic properties. In short, it is the speaker that is judged, rather than the speech. This consensus is reiterated by Giles and Sassoon11, who cite consistent findings of subjects evaluating anonymous speakers with more standardised dialects more favourably for such characteristics as intelligence, success and confidence. In Britain the middle class is associated with not only its widespread representation of the standard dialect (‘RP' or ‘Estuary English') but also speaking with in a formal, articulate style than more common or marginal dialects (‘Cockney' and ‘Indian English' respectively). However, whilst many linguists conclude that social judgments are the parameter that separates dialects, the linguist Brown12 proposed the notion that perhaps there was a linguistic discrepancy between the standardised and stigmatised dialects in society. Brown contrasted the speech characteristics of upper and lower social class French Canadian speakers of varying dialects reading a pre-set passage and discovered, relative to the lower class dialects, the upper class subjects were considered as more articulate and had a better range of intonation and diction. From this, one could discern that there is an argument to support the idea that dialects are not wholly based on social judgment and that dialects utilised by the upper classes are generally more articulate and a more accurate representation of standardised diction (widely considered the quintessential form of a language). Nevertheless, there is a great deal that negates the validity of this information; firstly, as the subjects were reading prepared material and not speaking freely they could have been judged partly on their reading ability – not their dialectal traits. Secondly, it is difficult for subjects to not be affected by their personal views with respect to certain dialects, as neutrality can be hard to maintain in the artificial environment in which the is experiment was set (which could also be considered an adverse factor in itself). Though some experiments have shown that dialects are, in certain respects, revered on a purely phonetic level, analysis of large amounts of data seemed to group together paired opposites which pointed to competence, personal integrity, and social attractiveness constructs in the evaluation of speaker voices. A great deal of subsequent research in this field confirmed that these constructs were regularly at work, and, more interestingly, that standardised (or â€Å"RP English†) speakers were most often judged highest on the competence dimension while nonstandard (or regionally and/or ethically distinct speakers) were rated higher for the integrity and attractiveness dimensions13. Irrespective of social background, we can see that dialects can be judged (albeit very rarely) solely upon the speaker's representation of a particular dialect. In summary, the views surrounding many of today's modern dialects are primarily based upon out-moded stereotypes of the culture that said dialects represent. Though linguists have proved that language is influenced by predominant factors within a community (surroundings, ideologies, etc.) it does not justify dialectal prejudice as the information upon which these are founded are often erroneous and generalised. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that no dialect is linguistically inferior to any other as they all possess the capacity to convey information effectively (if they did not, they would have been discarded or adapted by its community, making their very presence today confirmation enough of their abilities). Limiting the social and occupational possibilities of a certain group of people through dialect prejudice (albeit for many a machiavellian-esque social stigma), simply preserves social asymmetries and propagates tension between differing cultural factions.

Observation Sheets Essay

1. Old fire extinguisher in office area. (Fire regs.) 2. no fire alarm system in office and ware house 3. Heaps of PPE on the ground obstructive entrance to fire extinguishers and moreover fire exit. (Fire regs.) 4. Remove rods of steel being used as doorstops in office area (Tripping hazards). 5. Various tools and equipment of outdoor work put away nearby office zone and beneath counters. (PUWER). 6. No correct dispenser placement and no hand wash area near office. 7. Old printer and cartons of printer paper left on floor and right next to fixed electric heater, (Fire and manual handling regs). 8. A number of mobile chargers under office chair with tangled cables. Also connected to the power supply with no batteries charging. (Electricity and fire regs.) 9. Carton of vaporized cans put away beneath office desk nearby electrical plugs. (PUWER) 10. Outdoor Waste paper bins overflowing. (Welfare issue). 11. Various tools of outdoor work equipment being stored around office area and under desks. (PUWER). 12. Wall attached first aid kit absent, support cracked. First aid kit not in its correct placed. (MHSWR). 13. Old work walking boot and gloves in poor state lying nearby shelves. (PPE regs.) 14. Cleaning chemicals nearby the electric supply socket afterward to 6 volt batteries. (MHSWR). 15. Various swab buckets and vacuum cleaner sitting just inside store room door, not properly stored. Tripping hazards. 16. Drinking water dispenser in adjoining area is out of order, only tap water available for drinking. Welfare and PUWER issue 17. Heavy material stacked up outdoor the store at ground level.. (Manual handling regs.) 18. Shelving in the warehouse not being used appropriately with a number of  tools and equipment stacked up on the floor obstructive entrance to the shelves. (MHSWR). 19. At the entrance to the building stairs railing has turn out to be un-attached at the base. (Tripping hazard). GOOD POINTS/PRACTICES Noticeably observable fire exit signs and glow in the dark signs to walls showing sites of fire extinguishers. Safety warning sign board demonstrating HSE poster, firms’ certificate of legal responsibility insurance and all related safety notices Well lit and ventilated office area, good appropriate temperature. Wall attached hand cleaners, all kept clean and tidy. Ample shelving for accurate P.P.E. storage. Install new fire extinguisher/s in office. Assessment fire risk valuations. Install proper alarm system in office to reduce the risk of damages Remove all PPE from the floor and keep fire exit clear. Monitor the area to ensure fire exit remains free from obstructions at all times. Remove rods of steel from the office block Keep all entrances shut wherever possible and must installed proper door stops. Observe the situation to make sure no more rods of steel are carried hooked on the office block. Keep hand cleaners installed. Install correct hand wash dispenser Change old printers on top of its desk and put printer paper into paper closet. Old printers repaired or detached and properly disposed of. Remove chargers from power supply as soon as not in usage and have cables free from twisting. Similarly not to be port under chairs. Appropriate placement of chargers to be put in storage Remove spray cans from office area and into store room. Passing staff on the significance of protection vaporizers (spray can) away from electrical plugs. Empty the bins and clean the floors. Ensure bins are emptied on a regular basis. Spring-cleaning duties between supervise to make sure outdoor adjoining area remain clean and tidy. Remove outdoor work equipment from office and into the correct store. Ensure foot areas under desks remain free from obstructions. Ensure first aid kit is accessible for usage by all employees Change the support so first aid kit can be give back to its accurate location. Organize of any old idle P.P.E. Ensure all P.P.E. is kept clean and changed as and when necessary. Properly place the chemicals not near to electric supply must have a specific storing area; Batteries are not stored near any cleaning products. Arrange for a clear out and tidy of store room, removing and obstructions from the door area. Assign a cleaning schedule to staff to ensure store room  remains in good order. Arrange for water dispenser to be repaired or replaced and ensure fresh drinking water is available. Arrange for the water dispenser to be serviced by a professional to prevent future problems. Move heavy tools and material onto appropriate shelving inside warehouse and store at abdomen level to avoid labour-intensive handling injuries from bending. Make sure work tools is kept properly place at all times and not left outdoor somewhere it might reason damages. Tidying the warehouse and organize of any non-waste materials. Use the shelving for suitable storing of tools and supplies to have ground space clear. Make momentary reparation while waiting for to hire for a skilled welder to make a long-lasting renovation of the railing. No action required, very good practise for emergencies with power outage. Good put into practise. Conceivably elect a member of supervise to be in responsibility of bring up-to-date notices. Monitor temperatures and regulate timers accordingly as average temperature changes throughout the year. Re-fill all skin care slot machine as and when required. Good chosen room for P.P.E. storage, P.P.E in good condition.

Friday, August 30, 2019

How Does Williams Present the Themes of Illusion and Fantasy in a Streetcar Named Desire?

How does Williams present the themes of illusion and fantasy in A Streetcar Named Desire? The theme of reality vs. fantasy is one that the play centres around. Blanche dwells in illusion; fantasy is her primary means of self-defence, both against outside threats and against her own demons. Throughout the play, Blanche's dependence on illusion is contrasted with Stanley's steadfast realism, and in the end it is Stanley and his worldview that win. To survive, Stella must also resort to a kind of illusion, forcing herself to believe that Blanche's accusations against Stanley are false so that she can continue living with her husband. One of the main ways Williams dramatises fantasy’s inability to overcome reality is through an exploration of the boundary between exterior and interior. The set includes the two-room Kowalski apartment and the surrounding street. Williams’ use of a flexible set that allows the street to be seen at the same time as the interior of the home expresses the idea that the home is not a place of safety. The characters leave and enter the apartment throughout the play, often bringing with them the problems they encounter outside. For example, Blanche refuses to leave her prejudices against the working class behind her at the door. The most notable instance of this effect occurs just before Stanley rapes Blanche, when the back wall of the apartment becomes transparent to show the struggles occurring on the street, foreshadowing the violation that is about to take place in the Kowalski’s’ home. Blanche is the most fascinating character in A Streetcar Named Desire. One reason for this is that she has an absolutely brilliant way of making reality seem like fantasy, and making fantasy seem like reality. This element of Blanche's personality is what makes her character interest the audience and contribute to the excellence of the work. Returning to the beginning of the play, Blanche, shocked with the  dirtiness  and gloominess of Stella and Stanley's home in New Orleans, looks out the  window and says ‘Out there I suppose is the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir! ‘, to which Stella replies ‘No honey, those are the L and N tracks. ‘ Blanche would assume that something so common and simple as noisy, dark railroad tracks might as well be ‘ghoul-haunted woodlands. Further evidence of Blanche's warped view of reality and fantasy is shown throughout the entire play. She seems to hint to Stella and Stanley, and therefore the audience, that she is actually much more than she seems. In scene  seven, Blanche soaks in a tub, singing: ‘Say, it's only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea -But it wouldn't be make-believe If you believed in me! It's a Barnum and Bailey world, Just as phony as it can be -But it wouldn't be make-believe If you believed in me! ‘ As she sings this song, telling the story of her tendency to believe a more pleasant, warped view of reality over the actual reality, Stanley is telling Stella the horrifying truth about Blanche's scandalous past. These lyrics sum up Blanche’s approach to life. She believes that her lying is only her means of enjoying a better way of life and is therefore essentially harmless. In scene nine, Blanche is confronted by Mitch, who has learned the truth about her past. Mitch tells Blanche that he has never seen her in the light. He tears Blanche's paper lantern off of the plain, bright light bulb, and tries to see her as she really is, and not in a view warped by Blanche's efforts to make herself seem more innocent, young, and  beautiful  than she is. Blanche responds to this by saying ‘I don't want realism. I want magic!†¦ I try to give that to people. I misinterpret things to them. I don't tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth†¦ Don't turn the light on! ‘ This intense, frightening scene reveals to the audience the way Blanche views the world. Tennessee Williams' use of this kind of dual view of the world to develop Blanche's character is a perfect example of the way A Streetcar Named Desire makes the audience react to the characters in the play. The use of light and dark links to the key theme of fantasy and reality. The light is the truth, and this is what Blanche always tries to cover up. Stanley wants the truth so rips away any protection Blanche hides behind, for example the paper lantern over the naked bulb. The Streetcar light that always shines through the window, is trying to uncover the truth so Blanche ides away whenever it drives by, ‘A locomotive is heard approaching outside. She claps her hands to her ears and crouches over. ’ In conclusion, the reader of A Streetcar Named Desire is not only entertained by an interesting story when they read the play. They are also thrust into a reality which is not their own, yet somehow seems familiar. This realistic fantasy Williams creates with his brilliant use of symbolism, intriguing characters, and involving action in the play causes the reader to connect fully with the setting, characters, conflicts, and emotions within it.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Food Supply and Environmental Issues Research Paper

Food Supply and Environmental Issues - Research Paper Example According to past trends, there have been plans of increasing food production in order to counter the increasing consumption rates. Despite the existence of such plans, the consumption rates have often surpassed the production rates (World Centric, 2013). This explains why there are people succumbing to hunger in the developing world. Moreover, the globe lives under the threat of food insecurity because of the changes in climate and diminishing resources. It is a fact that the population will increase immensely in the next thirty years if population growth rates persist. The current seven billion people are likely to increase to about 9 billion in three decades (Diouf, 2010). The world faces challenges in feeding the current population, but must exhibit preparedness to feed an extra two billion people. Such increase will likely cause more strain in the agricultural and fishing sector in order to cater for the rising need. Moreover, with people adopting different lifestyles, the world will likely need more fish and animal livestock (Diouf, 2010). These animals and fish will require feed and this only increases the need. Food is not the only need because population will present a higher energy need for the globe. In order to ensure a level of security in the future, application of new techniques in agriculture to increase yield and combat climate change has been the way for most of the nations. The new techniques include the adoption of new farming methods, search for better seed varieties and improved animal breeds. For some time, conventional breeding seemed to offer a promise for the future but not anymore. There are new problems that challenge the new techniques adopted. Pesticides and insecticides that were once effective are no longer efficient with the increasing resistance from pests (Vidal, 2012). Moreover, stretching the agricultural sector presents its limits because of the potential environmental effects. Therefore, the discovery of better biotechnological methods has been the focus of many scientists in the recent past. Although genetically modified organisms (GMOs) present a glimpse of hope for the future, the politics and criticisms behind them only serve to prove that the worl d needs a better solution. Although the use of GMOs can assure the globe of food security to a certain level, they present new challenges as well, and scientists are still figuring out what they can do to ensure safety (Vidal, 2012). However, these still provide the world with fortified foods presenting a new capacity for agriculture to provide a balanced diet to its ever growing and needy population. Many have urged that green technology will present a better solution (Woody, 2012). The technology comes with handy benefits because it can provide good yields while conserving the environment as well. Although it comes with multiple benefits, it is expensive for the local farmer doing it at small scale. Moreover, the adverse climatic changes that have resulted because of over-exploitation of the

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Law - Restitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6750 words

Law - Restitution - Essay Example ges now recognize that there is an important subject called restitution and that in general terms, it concerns the removal of benefits that would otherwise unjustly enrich the defendant. It is not difficult to imagine that jurisprudence surrounding the much more limited principle of free acceptance is even narrower. To aspire for universality or even, less ambitiously, coherence, would be a futile exercise. The only discernible trend is, as Hedley somewhat cynically puts it, â€Å"the willingness to make quite spectacular changes in the law when the judge’s moral feelings are sufficiently outraged.†2 What this paper will attempt to do is to present a comparative overview of free acceptance, and to some extent, unjust enrichment, as it is applied in common law jurisdictions. By way of providing some form of context, it will also explore how the common law countries perceive these two principles, as opposed to civil law countries. The jury is still out on the question of what the future holds for these two intertwined doctrines, dependent as it largely is on the vagaries of the legal system and the constantly-shifting winds of judicial discernment and discretion. To quote Birks, â€Å"a free acceptance occurs where a recipient knows that a benefit is being offered to him non-gratuitiously and where he, having the opportunity to reject, elects to accept.†3 It is an alternative to incontrovertible benefit that cannot be disputed by the defendants, as in benefits that have accrued due to a clear and unmistakeable meeting of the minds. Birks proceeds from Goff and Jones4 who first propounded the idea of subjectively-determined benefit. The most famous example of free acceptance is of a window cleaner who cleaned the windows of a homeowner, the homeowner being fully aware that the window cleaner believed that he was performing the service for valuable consideration and yet doing nothing to stop the cleaner from cleaning the windows. Per the argument of Goff and Jones

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Injection attacks Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Injection attacks - Research Paper Example This SQL injection would fool the database to be a regular user query and then easily access the system. The attacker spoofs identity; become the database server’s administrator; and exposes, makes unavailable or destroys existing data. a. SQL manipulation - This involves the modification of the SQL query through the alteration of the WHERE clause (Patel et al., 2011). This modification would cause an amendment of the statement’s WHERE clause so that it constantly returns TRUE. b. Code injection – New SQL statements, instead of valid input, would be introduced into the input fields. The classic statement or code would then append a SQL Server command, making SQL statement vulnerable. Patel et al. (2011) argues that code injection only works through the support of request of various SQL statements per database or support of keywords like OR and AND by the database. c. Function call injection involves user defined functions or database functions being added into vulnerable SQL queries. Patel et al. (2011) observe that these function calls could be applied in the making of internal calls or modification of data in the database that could be harmful to users. Certain characters should be the only ones accepted in the input areas. The length of these fields should be limited (Patel et al., 2011). For example, for usernames and passwords, only numbers and alphabets should be accepted and the field limited to 15 characters. This involves the alteration of application flow through overwriting of memory parts (Cowan, Wagle & Pu, 2000). This aims at subverting the operation of a privileged program for the attacker to take control of the program so as to control the host. In this case, the attacker exploits websites so as to inject data into the given application so as to execute XPath queries (Shanmughaneethi, Ravichandran & Swamynathan, 2011). XPath refers to a query language which describes the way of locating

Monday, August 26, 2019

Corporate Governance and Ethical Responsibility Essay

Corporate Governance and Ethical Responsibility - Essay Example Internal stakeholders in a hospital include the patients, the medical staff and management of the hospital and the board of governors or trustees. External stakeholders are those parties that have minimal often indirect influence on the management of the hospital. External stakeholders may include the relatives of the patients and other potential patients to the hospital. Other external stakeholders include the federal government and other hospital of the same class and category (Lebeer, 2002). The most basic function a medical executive should perform in regard to satisfying al stakeholders is controlling, directing staffing and organizing. For the patients, however, Doctor DoRight has the role of democratizing medical services so that all the patients get equal treatment. Equal treatment encompasses equitable distribution of the hospitals resources. For instance, in the case of organ transplant, hospitals can device methods such as receiving an organ in regard to the severity of th e situation. The board of trustees expects that the medical executive prevents the occurrence of law suits, which may tarnish the name of the hospital and cost it a lot of money, that result from the action of hospital employees. Trustees also expect that the president maintains low labor turnover and an excellent cooperate image is paramount. The staff of the hospital expects respect from patients and fellow staff despite their position. Also, the staff expects fairness in remunerated, and adequate timely pay and a safe, conducive working environment (Lebeer, 2002). Potential customers need to feel welcomed to the hospital hence the need for an operational call centre and an efficient customer service. Recently hospitals have also taken on the craze of advertising their products to potential customers. Though an external stakeholder, the federal government, has a strong influence on the running of hospitals. The governments influence is greater when it comes to the legal obligation s of the hospital. For instance, the government may insist that a hospital only use FDA approved drugs. The government, in America, may also specify the types of procedures that a hospital cannot carry out for instance euthanasia is illegal in most states. Competition between rival hospitals is inevitable, with their current status as potential business entities. However, there are certain procedures that must remain intact so as to maintain peaceful coexistence. For instance, a hospital can seek transfer of a patient to another hospital even if they are competing. Doctor DoRight should ensure that there is no slandering of another hospital by his staff through words or actions (Lebeer, 2002). There are six guiding principles that doctor should adhere to in their disbursement of services. These principles include a) Honesty and truthfulness b) Respect for persons c) Justice d) Autonomy e) Beneficence and f) Non-maleficence. These principles mostly guide doctor patient relationships but can also act as a basis for the actions of medical executives. In trying to satisfy the various stakeholders, the manager of the hospital, may experience conflict of interest when the needs of the two stakeholders clash. A good example of a clash of interest is on the issue of euthanasia. The reality of the effects of diseases such as Alzheimer’s is real and devastating. Most patients and families prefer

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Save Our Children by Saving Their Music - Case Study of Glynn Co Research Proposal

Save Our Children by Saving Their Music - Case Study of Glynn Co School - Research Proposal Example As I am sure most board members are aware, extensive research has been done on the effects music programs and the fine arts in general have on our children’s success; especially children in low economic households where parents toil to cater for their necessities. I wish to share some of these findings with those who do not have an insight on the essence of the Fine Arts in schools, and offer a few ideas to alleviate some of the budget burdens that may have been overlooked. At the very least let’s start a meaningful conversation. It is essential that a music department be equipped with the proper elements in public relations and music education advocacy in order to gain support from administrators, parents, and the general public. The field of education requires massive support from the community, especially in the arts. Glynn Co Schools house students, teachers, and administrators, being a microcosm of the surrounding community. These schools represent the members of t he community and often give an accurate depiction of the characteristics of the area therefore if it is not an issue important enough for our administrators to get involve why should the public. Public relations are a key area in gaining the support of the general public yet when our band directors worked so diligently to secure a spot in the Cherry Blossom parade in Washington D.C., which only a few in the ENTIRE country were invited, there was barely a mention in the papers and not a word on our radio stations (Costes 52). I wonder if our young athletes worked hard enough to make the state playoffs if that would generate some buzz? Brunswick News heralding the wonders of our coaches as it called for every business to put on their signs â€Å"GO PIRATES†. Yes Pirates, go while our young musicians, who have worked so hard, stay home because no one wants to fund the bus to carry them to perform that which has so tirelessly been taught to them. Let our chorus teacher’s s pend their own money taking students home so those children, whose parents work, can stay after school to practice but let’s not give them the means to showcase the commendable job they have accomplished with these students. How about our Theater Arts teachers? How long has it been since we gave a standing ovation at a rendition of Death of Salesmen or Little Women performed by our children? I am not suggesting that our athletic departments need to be cut or imply that they are less important, only consider and weigh how many children are affected by cuts to the fine arts program verses those that are affected by cuts to the athletics department and adjust the budget accordingly. I am not just talking about the band and chorus, because it follows that I’ve got a horse in the race, I mean all of the fine arts departments. We should all be passionate about this. Think about how many of the great thinkers were and are performers in either Theater or music. Right now there are studies being done on the ill effects football has on NFL players not to mention the law suites. There are exactly ZERO studies being done on the ill effects of band, Theater, or chorus. When looking at gaining public funding and support from our businesses, the Glynn Co Board of Education must understand and indicate to the public important talent building among students and how we must ensure the survival and the success of the fine arts pro

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Out of town Brown Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Out of town Brown - Essay Example Furthermore, she should explain to the reporter that when the Chief Probation Officer designated her as officer-in-charge, he did not give her authority to discuss the officers recommendations on any case under their watch. In the event where the reporter press Joan to make comments on the probably sentence of the offender, Joan should refrain from making any comments on this matter and ask the reporter to just wait for the official proclamation of the sentence of the offender on the scheduled date. Joan should never attempt to discuss her officers recommendations regarding the sentence of the "kiddie killer" until such time when such sentence has already been made final. Making any premature comments at this point will only raise speculations from the media and may put the Collier County Probation Department in a bad light. In the event where Joan elects to discuss the sentence of the "kiddie killer" with the reporter, she should make it clear to the reporter the reasons behind the sentence. First, she should be able to explain to the reporter that the present mental condition of the boy. Second, she should be able to make the reporter understand that the boy committed the crime after he was subjected to abuse by the victim for several years. Joan should make the reporter understand that the crime committed by the offender is not just one of those random acts of violence but rather it is a result of long years of mental and physical abuse. Third, Joan should make it clear to the reporter that based on expert evaluation; the boy is a low risk for recidivism which makes him relatively harmless to the people around him. Since he is as much a victim of the offense as was his stepfather, he should be given due considerations. A community-based sentence which will allow the boy to slowly reintegrate into soc iety and live a normal life is the most humane way to deal with

Friday, August 23, 2019

Facts about input output Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Facts about input output - Essay Example Key board, mouse, pen drive, CD, joystick, scanner, camera, microphone, monitor, printer, speakers etc are some of the commonly used peripheral devices for inputting data and getting output from a computer system. This paper briefly analyses various aspects of inputs and outputs as far as a computer system is concerned. A computer cannot take decisions as its own. In other words, without inputs a computer cannot function properly. Inputs are necessary for a computer to act in a particular manner. It should be noted that system software helps a computer system to boot properly and open the desktop menu in front of the user. However, after booting computer needs some specific instructions to carry out different types of works. Mouse and keyboard are commonly used for inputting instructions to the computer. For example, if the user wants to prepare a document or make some calculations, he should input the data either through the keyboard or through the mouse. CPU recognizes these input data properly and process it properly. The processed data will be delivered as output either on the screen or through printers. Different serial and parallel ports are available on a computer system for connecting input and output devices. â€Å"Keyboards typically connect through a PS/2 or USB port. Many keyboards include special function keys that simplify playing music or browsing the Web. Some keyboards include a built-in USB port that can be used to connect other peripheral devices†(Computer Tips and Trix). Same way, mouse is also connected to a computer through a PS/2 or USB port. Printers, pen drives and scanners are mostly connected to the serial ports of a computer. Even though monitors were used primarily for displaying outputs in the past, at present they are used as input devices also. The arrival of touchscreens helped users to use the screens

Benefit from reading newspapers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Benefit from reading newspapers - Essay Example Knowledge plays a key role everywhere. The world has transformed into a global village through knowledge-based system and processes. Needless to say that knowledge has become a center point of all activities whether in office, manufacturing, services, research and development or even for household functions. And it is equally important to note that newspapers and magazines are a good source of knowledge for any individual to grow, develop and survive. School syllabus or curriculum just cannot suffice the purpose. Importance of newspaper reading can be gauged from the phrase of Emerson when he referred newspaper reading as the â€Å"second breakfast† of Americans (Lehuu, 134). In the following paragraphs, several benefits of reading newspapers and magazines are described; however, the list is not exhaustive. Newspapers provide a variety of information that ranges from current political events to economic affairs, from social to educational issues, from sporting activities to cu ltural events, from business to commerce, from fad to fashions, from weather reports to climate changes due to increased emissions and pollution impact. The list is unending as far as information and knowledge is concerned. Magazines and newspapers provide information on varied subjects much in detail presenting all pros and cons in black and white. Reading all of this, and that of our interest, boosts our knowledge enormously. Newspaper reading has other major benefits in improving our language. Newspapers help us not only in enhancing our vocabulary but also it informs how to use them correctly. Everyday reading of newspapers and magazines can increase our word power manifold related to a variety of subjects in a short period of time; that is a big task indeed! Expressing ourselves effectively, verbally and in writing, is certainly a daunting task. It is an undeniable fact that language skill is one the most useful and needed skill in one’s life regardless of position and n ature of work (Garrett, 2013). All good speakers such as Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King were voracious readers. It is true that they were natural speakers but much of the speaking skill was acquired by them over time through widespread reading. One who wants to become a leader needs to have a powerful and impressive oratory to communicate and put their point across effectively. Newspaper reading certainly sharpens the skill, if tried diligently. Regular newspaper reading improves one’s language comprehension skills because the reader comes across a variety of writing style, expressions, word usage, arguments; this makes the reader familiar with several ways of expressions. At times, it could be a plain and simple language on a given topic and at some other times, the piece of writing could be full of sarcasm with implied meanings. Satirical writing, full of humor is more directed towards the politicians and bureaucrats. A detective p iece of writing leaves a space for readers to make out what author wants to convey. In the beginning, a novice has to read again and again to understand the real meaning of what has been said but more we read more we increase our ability to comprehend (Garrett, 2013). Those who want to build their careers in the fields such as journalism, politics, report analyst, or a teaching profession; they need to cultivate the habit of reading newspapers and reputed

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Granting Finance and Non-Fund Based Limits Essay Example for Free

Granting Finance and Non-Fund Based Limits Essay For the purpose of granting finance, banks are lending by way of fund based limits as well as non fund based limits. The following are treated as fund based limits: a) Lock and key type – against of pledge of goods; b) Open factory type pledge or open key advance – against hypothecation of goods; c) Advance against hypothecation of goods; d) Advance against book debts; e) Advance against bills. The following are considered as non fund based limits granted by the banks to the public: Letter of credit and bank guarantees: Banks normally undertake a proper appraisal of the financial standing and requirement of the customer for non fund based facilities as in the case of fund based ones. This is because though the bank in the case of non funded facility, commits itself to pay only in the event of non-payment by or non performance of the customer, the possibility of the given non-funded credit facility resolving into real or funded credit facility on the customers default or non performance cannot be ruled out. Letter of credit: A letter of credit is a written undertaking given by a bank on behalf of its customer who is a buyer, to the supplied, promising to pay a certain sum of money provided the supplier complies with the terms and conditions embodied in the letter of credit. A letter of credit is required where the supplier of goods and services deals with unknown parties or otherwise feels the need to safeguard his interest. In such circumstances he stipulates in his sales contract with the buyer that the goods will be supplied and payment made only under a banks letter of credit. Under a banks letter of credit a conditional commitment to make the payment is made by the bank which gives an assurance to the supplier that he will receive the necessary payment provided he does what the buyer requires him to do, within the time period specified in that regard. Whereas in the case of fund based limits, the banks deal with goods, in the case of letter of credits, they deal with documents and not in goods and the transactions are executed only on the basis of the documents. The letter of credit is an autonomous transaction quite distinct from the sale and purchase on which it may be based. The bank issuing the letter of credit has to make up its mind within a reasonable time on receipt of the documents whether to accept or reject them. Normally the letter of credits issued the banks are governed by the Uniform customs and practice for documentary credits of the International Chamber of Commerce situated at Paris. Reference: http://classof1.com/homework-help/finance-homework-help/

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Distributed Denial Of Service DDOS Attack Computer Science Essay

Distributed Denial Of Service DDOS Attack Computer Science Essay Information technology is an exciting and emerging day by day technology which requires communication systems for data and services exchange. As nowadays every services and products uses computer and internet as a medium to interchange data or money in an open internet, hence prone to vulnerabilities. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is an attack to the availability of the resources available, so that authenticated users do not use those resources. This paper intended to explore the existing threats and vulnerabilities of DDoS with possible solutions and recommendations plus overview and architecture methodology of this kind of attack. Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability are the three main features of the any computer network communication systems. DDoS which is a subset of Denial of service (DoS) attack, which result in overwhelming the victim machine and deny the services to its legitimate users results in Unavailability of the resources and services for concern clients. Some examples are smurf attack, SYN UDP floods and ping of death. DDoS is a type of DoS attack but uses distributed computers from different location to attack on a particular victim may be a server or client which results into the stopping of its functionality to provide services, hence unavailability of the server ultimately results loss in monetary plus status of the organization. It works by flooding all the network of the given organization with unwanted traffic, the first well known DDoS was identified in 2000 on yahoo.com which goes down to around two hours. The DDoS is a result of weakness of internet which prone to several vulne rabilities as internet was designed only for functionality but not concern about any security. As internet is an open network everything is open and is shared among authenticated users. Another big problem is that it is not centralized network different organization, different countries have their own rules and regulation regarding internet. DDoS Layer Involved The DDoS attack mainly occurs in three layers of the OSI model which are layer 3 (Network) layer 4 (transport) and layer 7 (application). In transport layer what exactly happens is that attacker uses a forged IP address to request for connection so in typical connection, 3 way TCP handshake is done but in this attack it does not complete 3 way handshake but send connection request over and over server reserves resources for each attempt and results in out of connection requires for the legitimate users. In network layer it includes ping of death and ICMP requests, where as in application layer is kind of effective DDoS attack and hard to detect because it passes the 3 way handshake and treated as authenticated user to the concern server, so attacker requests a large amount of data continuously through HTTP and results in avoiding its legitimate users as got busy with those false requests. In DDoS attack a combination of those three layers results in an effective attack that results i n some really drastic effects. Application Layer Presentation Layer Session Layer Transport Layer Network Layer Data link Layer Physical Layer Fig: 1-Layers Involved in DDoS DDoS Architecture The main purpose of DDoS attack is to overwhelm the related server and makes it down, it can be for benefit or for fun only but in both case legitimate clients suffered as bandwidth, resources, memory and CPU got wasted. DDoS attack architecture consists of hierarchy pattern to attack; the four main components of DDoS are as follows: Attacker Master Machines/Handler Zombie Machines Victim First of all attacker scans thousands of computers on the internet independent of the origin of the systems for known vulnerabilities that is which have minimum security aspect on the computer and makes Master machines or handlers, its consists of more than two systems to many depends upon how sophisticated is attack, after making handlers rest scans for the vulnerable systems is done by these handlers, which results in thousands of zombies across the globe without knowledge of concern users and when these zombies are ready attacker can execute for attack and makes the victim down. Attacker Master Machines/Handlers Zombie Machines Victim Fig: 2- DDoS Architecture As seen from the above figure attacker takes control of one or more than one masters which then take control over thousands zombies and when triggered at a specific time these zombies flood the victim. These attack results with the use of some tools (software or malware) which to be install on the masters and zombies so that attacker can take controls through these tools and monopoly the systems. Here above the communication between attacker and master machines is done through TCP protocol whereas between master machines to zombie and zombie machines to victim use UDP protocol for communication, as UDP is unreliable protocol so does not hold any state and results in no trace back, it uses TCP for initial communication because it needs to organize other subordinates with master machines. DDoS Tools The tools used by DDoS attack are very sophisticated as it runs in background or in foreground with the systems program name and is not visible or very hard to detect by administrators. Trin00, tribal flood network, stacheldraht, tribal flood network 2000, trinity, wintrin00, MStream and etc are the examples of such kind of tools used in DDoS attack, by this tools attacker installed and executes accordingly. It also helps him to facilitates co ordination between masters and zombie, and execute timer also to bombards at a fixed time, so that all zombies attacks the victim. Trin00 scans for buffer overflows in systems and install attack shell daemon through remote shell, it communicate through unencrypted UDP. In tribal flood network, it installs the daemon which carries out the multiple attacks like ICMP flood, UDP flood, SYN flood, communication done through ICMP ECHO and REPLY. List of zombies daemon IP address is encrypted in later version of TFN. Stacheldraht uses the combination of trin00 and TFN. Encryption takes place between attacker and masterà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s communication and attacks are similar to TFN. Trinity floods through UDP, SYN, and ACK through Internet Relay Chat (IRC) has a backdoor program which monitors TCP port. MStream uses forged TCP packets with ACK flag set, it uses TCP and UDP floods with no encryption in between but master machines are kept password protected. Beside these tools various other program and tools are readily available for such kind of attack which leaves no residue to trace back. DDoS Types DDoS are acts differently but mainly classified in two main categories according to their attack pattern which are as follows: Bandwidth Depletion attack Resource Depletion attack In bandwidth depletion attack the main targeted area is the bandwidth of the concern victim by overwhelming with unwanted traffic more than 10 Gbps (It depends) and prevents the legitimate users from gaining access for the services. Some examples of such attacks are UDP flood, ping flood, Smurf and reflection attacks which bombards with unwanted traffic to make unavailability of the services. Whereas in resource depletion attack, the main concern area are the resources available. This attack leads to the out of resource available for the concern users by TCP SYN attack, PUSH ACK attack, Teardrop attack. These attacks through the requests like SYN to the concern server which in return reserves resources for this request, but attacker bombards the same again and again and hence server goes out resources. DDoS Detection The very first question about this attack is that, how to know if DDoS attack happened in any organization or in any machine. So following are some ways to know if it occurs: Performance of CPU, Memory and bandwidth degrades abnormally. Services become unavailable or partially available. Cannot access given resources properly. These above are preliminary steps to know the DDoS attack. It can be monitor through the continuously analyzing of the systems. DDoS Defense Practically speaking it is impossible to prevent DDoS attack but what we can do is to reduce its effect or tries to make security strong as much as possible. The following are very basic defense mechanism against DDoS attacks are: Prevention Detection Classification Justifying Tracing back The first phase called prevention which means to prevent from DDoS attack as much as possible that is to prevent itself to be part of the attack architecture, so not to become handler. It is done through the continuous monitor of the systems but every user is not aware of the security issues. The second phase describes to know that if the systems are under attack by verifying abnormal activities like CPU or bandwidth uses, it can done through firewalls or routers. The third phase is classification of the detected attack according to its prototypes like IP Addresses, protocol used and packet type used; it can be done through the use of Intrusion Detection System for future countermeasure. The fourth mechanism is justifying the detected attack that is how to deal with the known or detected attack one way is to block the whole traffic from those addresses by using access control list on gateways or react accordingly another approach is to trace back the detected packet so that source ca n be identified. The final part of our defense mechanism is trace back which will be covered in later section of this paper. DDoS trace back DDoS trace back is possible to zombies only but may be if done in proper way can leads to the attacker, chances are very rare as it is independent of the location. Some of the methods are as follows: Link Testing Controlled Flooding ICMP Trace back IP Trace back In link testing, when attack is in progress routers can co ordinates with each other to determines which router originated the attack traffic and can trace to the upstream but requires inter ISP co operations as different connections are maintained by different ISP. Whereas in controlled flooding it floods each incoming links of the router to determines the source but needs router co operation and better network map, similarly in ICMP and IP trace back a reverse path is generated to identify the source but path can be long and packet format space is limited to cope. DDoS Security measures As currently various research are going on to stop DDoS attack and it may takes time but DDoS becoming deadly day by day and is considered second in financial losses due to attack after viruses but comparison to virus it is very new and have vast effect with no remedy. So only option we got is to make it harder for attacker to penetrate into the systems, and following are some security precaution we should follow: Install and update continuously antivirus and spyware software from trusted authority and run regularly. Patches the security components of the systems continuously and be always ready for up gradation of systems. A well set network infrastructure with proper installation of firewalls and routers with appropriate policies, so that unwanted traffic and organization traffic can be separated clearly. Filters incoming traffic on routers or rate-limit certain types of traffic like ICMP and SYN packets. Monitors continuously incoming and outgoing packets and if some abnormality seen then react accordingly. Use Network Address Translation (NAT) to hide internal IP addresses. Use Intrusion detection systems (IDS) implement host based IDS plus network based IDS in a mix pattern to filter and detect abnormalities in the network. Egress and Ingress filtering, these are filtering mechanism implement on IP traffic. Egress sets the ranges of IPs leaving the organizationà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s network whereas in ingress a set of IP address ranges are allowed to move into the network. Using of SYN and RST cookies to verifies both communication parties with the help of cookies, so that legitimate clients can access the resources. Use a proxy server in between the network so that a request goes via proxy to server and proxy filters it according the rules implemented on it. Implement Honeypots systems, these are the systems in an organization with open security and are separated with internal network to know the attack pattern. At last but not least literate the users or clients about the security concerns. Conclusion DDoS Attack is an attack on availability of the resources and services which results in financial losses, loss of organization reputation, and disturbance in work flow environment. The bitter truth is that the security technologies like firewall, routers and IDS are very week to prevent DDoS as it cannot differentiate between original and fake traffic. Another factor is that it uses IP spoofing, difficult to verify with original packets plus the routing involved is stateless. Hence results in very strong attack. In this paper we have gone through the DDoS overview with its architecture layouts plus types and tools involved in DDoS attack. We have highlighted the DDoS detection part and visualize the security aspects and implementation to safeguard the assets against such attack plus a brief summary to how to trace back. To compete with DDoS one way effort cannot prevent or defeat it, it needs all round support to tackle with it like among different internet communities, different countries to enforce such laws and regulation strictly to cope with it. suggestions DDoS is a newer and disastrous attack, so to prevent it I would suggest that very carefully implement DDoS security measures which are defined above. Beside these IPSec and SSL/TLS protocols implementation can helps a lot to prevent. VPNs can be added for secure channel communications. Use Mozilla Firefox as browser instead of others.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Chinas Recent Economic Progress Economics Essay

Chinas Recent Economic Progress Economics Essay A transition economy or transitional economy is an economy which is changing from a centrally planned economy to a free market. Transition economies undergo economic liberalization, where market forces set prices rather than a central planning organization. In addition to this trade barriers are removed, there is a push to privatize state-owned businesses and resources, and a financial sector is created to facilitate macroeconomic stabilization and the movement of private capital. The process has been applied in China, the former Soviet Union and Communist bloc countries of Europe, and many third world countries and detailed work has been undertaken on its economic and social effects. The transition process is usually characterized by the changing and creating of institutions, particularly private enterprises; changes in the role of the state, thereby, the creation of fundamentally different governmental institutions and the promotion of private-owned enterprises, markets and independent financial institutions. In essence, one transition mode is the functional restructuring of state institutions from being a provider of growth to an enabler, with the private sector its engine. Another transition mode is change the way that economy grows and practice mode. The relationships between these two transition modes are micro and macro, partial and whole. Chinas Economic Transition, a Great Success During the process of economic transition over the past two decades, China has been pursuing a path of development in line with the reality of the country. As a result, Chinas GDP, on average, advanced by 9.3 percent each year from 1978 to 2000. Some Background The growth of the Chinese economy in the past few decades since economic reform in 1979 has been one of the wonders of modern economic development. China has experienced unprecedented growth in the past thirty years, with GDP rising on average of about 9.7% per year, with exceptionally strong growth between 2003-2007 averaging about 11% per year.. Indeed, China currently has the fourth largest GDP, measured in nominal US dollars, with the 2006 figure standing at US$2.68 trillion. Since the late 1970s China has moved from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one that plays a major global role in 2010 China became the worlds largest exporter. Under the rule of Deng Xiaoping in 1979, China began the long process of transformation from a Soviet-style planned economy, where production decisions were made by the state, to one where market mechanisms would be the main driving force behind economic decisions. The National Party Congress cited a lack of economic growth and an increasing economic divide with the West and other Asian countries as the reason for the change. The changes were not to be a total abandonment of communist principles but to combine capitalist ideologies with Chinese characteristics. Reform of Economy An initial process of reform was proposed to ease the economy gently into its new guise, whereby any significant disparities between an open economy and the Chinese one would be ironed out. Key to this was expansion and liberalisation of the export program, development of major infrastructure, generation of power, and utilisation of raw materials. The significant problem of food shortages for the sizeable and ever increasing population was one of the first to be addressed. Farmers were given incentives to increase production levels whilst at the same time lowering the costs of production, a scheme which had the effect of greatly increasing food supplies. The authorities believed that the success of this initial trial period in isolated areas warranted a nationwide implementation and so it became; almost the entirety of the countrys farm system was governed by this method come the mid-1980s. The free market mechanism was deepened and led to further increases in production and demand, fuelling farm incomes. One particularly important development was the new freedom given to company leaders. Although inherent production and decision making differences between agriculture and industry prevented a similar success story to that in agriculture taking place, there were significant gains to be made. Rather than being put in a proverbial managerial straightjacket, business managers were given more freedom to set production targets as well as experimenting with incentive techniques to boost productivity amongst workers. The source of funds for investment was also shifted from zero interest government loans, which did not have to be repaid thus giving no incentives to generate profit. In addition, to make use of the countrys considerable workforce the government proposed the idea of creating firms which would be collectively owned by workers so that their income would be based on how well the firm performed, again providing an incentive to raise productivity. This also had the knock-on effect of boosting certain sectors the government wished to promote, by allocating these workers to the appropriate areas. The creation of more independent and market oriented firms meant the appearance of a burgeoning domestic consumer market, with citizens being given a consumption choice that they had never had before. The central government actively encouraged the delegation of production decisions to the market, in spite of underhand measures by local authorities to disproportionately tax private sellers, and the private system expanded to levels where they rivalled their state owned counterparts by the mid-1980s. Chinas Recent Economic Progress China has started her economic reforms for about 20 yrs and is progressing so well that not unsurprisingly it draws the envy of many countries Chinas economy developed at an unprecedented rate, and that momentum has been held steady into the 21st century. It was only after the liberalization reforms and a cultural counter-revolution in the late 1970s (under Deng Xiaoping initially), that China made appreciable progress. Massive external (manufacturing) investment was first attracted based on education and cheap skilled labour, while equally massive internal investment has more recently been mobilized in modern infrastructure and urban (including consumer) facilities especially in major cities. Despite Chinas intense population pressure, there was no shortage of land as traditional uses were simply demolished to make way and existing residents apparently compensated with an apartment and better job prospects. A key feature of Chinas rapid growth is seen to have been its ability to reform its economy very quickly to become more efficient . Techniques that encourage and support policy initiative within hierarchies have been developed. In Chinas recent progress it is possible to see lessons learned from (a) Singapores experience in building a modern Chinese city with foreign investment (b) Japans neo-Confucian industry policy methods and disregard of Western financial disciplines (c) the Nationalist Partys preferred cultural alternative to Maos version of Communism and (d) Taiwans adoption of some US techniques.   China seems to be attempting to implement a system of socio-political economy that has been little studied and probably cant be understood in terms of Western analogies or cultural assumptions (for reasons like those outlined in Structural Obstacles). The short-term result has been an unprecedented and impressive rate and magnitude of gains in Chinas real economy and a perception that it has excellent future prospects even recognizing that it suffers structural defects. Moreover some analysts have recently seen China as a safe haven for investors concerns about a US asset bubble, and the structural problems facing Japan and Europe . It is also argued that that China is playing, and will continue to play, a key role in promoting regional and global collaboration .   It is seen to be challenging Japans status in Asia, and to be the only country able to sustain a view of the world which is different to that of the US. China has also been seen as a rising power that will force others to adjust because of factors such as: its huge human resources and markets; the emergence of a high class education system; and the external resources of Greater China which will provide the skills to allow its structural problems to be overcome. China-led Asia has been seen to be returning to its historical role at the centre of affairs which has had a huge impact on the global economic system similar to the long rise of Europe (and its American offshoot) to pre-eminence 500 years ago. Its emergence has (as also in the case of India) been suggested to be simply a restoration of the position which had existed for most of recorded human history . China has shifted from a unilateral stance in opposition to global institutions to working (often with great effectiveness) within those institutions. A Chinese consensus has been suggested to be a better alternative to the (so called) Washington consensus (free societies and free markets) for developing economies.  Ã‚   Some have even argued that China is the future of the world undergoing a rapid developmental process, building infrastructure and industrial capabilities that will put it into a position of immense power in 20 years and replace the US as the worlds dominant power by 2050.   China is seen to have features which are quite different to earlier challenges to the USs 20th century global dominance (eg Soviet Union, Japan) and to have the potential to create a future Asia-centred economic regime which others including the US can either be part of, or be excluded from. A popular image now seems to be presented within China  of a trendy, super-modern consumer society that will eventually be able to satisfy every material desire. Chinas Economy will flourish According to me Chinas Economy will definitely Flourish for the next coming years. Year in and year out, China has defied the naysayers and stayed the course, perpetuating the most spectacular development miracle of modern times. That seems likely to continue. The following point goes on to itemize the whys and wherefores: STRATEGY, and specifically the latest 5-year plan that shifts from the highly successful producer model of the past 30 years to a flourishing consumer society. COMMITMENT. That Chinese leadership emphasizes stability, and does so with a vengeance. WHEREWITHAL TO DELIVER. More than 30 years of reform have unlocked its economic dynamismand many more reforms are coming. SAVING. A rate of 50% funded the investment imperatives of economic development.China now stands ready to absorb some of that surplus saving to promote a shift toward internal demand. RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION will continue for 20 years, creating huge demand for Chinas massive construction boom. LOW-HANGING FRUIT: CONSUMPTION. Theres enormous room for domestic economic expansion. LOW-HANGING FRUIT: SERVICES. The Chinese service sector is just waiting to be developed. FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT continues, and shows no sign of letting up. EDUCATION: China is catching up to the rest of the word fast. INNOVATION: Education China has huge human resources and potential markets. It has a high class education system, and can draw on external resources (Greater China) for the skills to allow its structural problems to be overcome; Past obstacles have been successfully navigated, and this process is continuing; Chinas response to indications of over-heating in 2004 were satisfactory because the problem was addressed by administrative controls rather than raising interest rates and despite the bad debts of its banking system, China has large international reserves, a more-or-less balanced current account / a modest fiscal deficit and a closed capital account which prevents capital outflows. 14the 2007 credit crisis illustrates Chinas strength. A $1.3tr cash reserve has been built up in the 10 years since the Asian financial crisis and the Peoples Bank of China believes that this provides insulation against crises elsewhere. Entrepreneurs have flourished in China, and the stock market has risen rapidly. There has been a flight of capital to Asia because of the credit crunch. The US / UK economies are heavily dependent on financial services and these are in doubt Problems However, as with all economic miracles there has also been a negative side to this development, and such huge growth has had an impact upon many areas of society and the environment. There became a huge gap between the urban rich and the rural poor, due to the massive incentive and investment programmes targeted in the cities, and to this day the divide remains the one of the largest in the world. Choking levels of pollution affect a great number of Chinese cities to the extent that China can boast the unenviable accolade of being home 7 of the worlds 10 most polluted cities. Other environmental concerns include the loss of substantial amounts of arable land, soil erosion and a drop in the level of the water table. Unemployment has been difficult to contain with huge lay-offs from the previously inefficient state-owned enterprises. These and other problems show only minor sign of receding in the near future so China faces a struggle to balance its unrelenting modernization with countering domestic imbalances and global environmental concerns. To overcome these Issues Chinas Government can take the following Measures for Improvement :- Emphasizes should continue economic reforms and the need to increase domestic consumption in order to make the economy Less dependent on exports in the future Maintaining stable and fast economic growth, with a  focus on price stabilization, more job creation, improved balance of payment, and higher quality of growth. Achieving major progress in economic restructuring, with higher share of household consumption and the service sector, further urbanization, more balanced rural-urban development, lower energy intensity and carbon emissions, and better environment. Increasing peoples incomes, reducing poverty and improving the living standards and quality of life. Expanding access to basic public services, increasing the educational level of the population, developing a sound legal system, and ensuring a stable and harmonious society. Deepening the reforms in the fiscal, financial, pricing and other key sectors, changing the role of the state, improving governance and efficiency, and further integrating into the world economy. Conclusion Although China occupies a unique niche in the worlds political economyits vast populace and large physical size alone mark it as a powerful global presenceit is still possible to look at the Chinese experience and draw some general lessons for other developing countries. Most important, while capital investment is crucial to growth, it becomes even more potent when accompanied by market-oriented reforms that introduce profit incentives to rural enterprises and small private businesses. That combination can unleash a productivity boom that will propel aggregate growth. For countries with a large segment of the population underemployed in agriculture, the Chinese example may be particularly instructive. By encouraging the growth of rural enterprises and not focusing exclusively on the urban industrial sector, China has successfully moved millions of workers off farms and into factories without creating an urban crisis. Finally, Chinas open-door policy has spurred foreign direct investm ent in the country, creating still more jobs and linking the Chinese economy with international markets.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Poe and Morrison Transformed Jalopies into Hot Rods Essay -- Poetry A

The subconscious is said to control various aspects of the life of a human to include major and minor decisions alike; whether to follow the path carved out so cautiously by others or to forge a unique path and travel it fiercely with reckless abandon and ambition guided by extreme individuality. What is this perplexing, intangible thing we call the subconscious? And what role does it play in the writing process of a poet? In general, when given the task of defining the subconscious, the initial impulse is to provide an ordinary idea such as, â€Å"one’s natural instinct that lies beneath the actively aware mind and its intentional thoughts†; however, what if the subconscious is something more? What if the subconscious is actually the culmination of all life experiences up to a specific point in time and this culmination is the true vehicle of the poet’s thoughts? This culmination is the vehicle that drives these thoughts from the subconscious to the conscious, from the pen to the paper and to their final destination that is termed poetry. If the latter is accepted then it is certainly safe to say that both Edgar Allan Poe and Jim Morrison’s vehicles had a few dents and dings, maybe even a crack in the windshield, but they managed to turn these beaters into high performance sleepers. Both Poe and Morrison faced premature emotional distress, gaunt paternal connections, and parallel views on the process of writing poetry; all of which became the catalysts of recurring dark, shocking and unconventional themes in their poetry. Edgar Allan Poe and Jim Morrison experienced traumatic events involving death at a young age. Poe was orphaned twice, once at the tender age of two when his mother Eliza Poe fell ill and passed away, and again wh... ... rigors of prudish societies, to push reputation aside in hopes of revealing unpopular perspectives on the realities of life. Whatever the case may be the truth of the matter is that both Morrison and Poe were able to harness the magnificent talent of turning not so favorable life experiences into brilliant, unforgettable and timeless poetry. Works Cited Ackroyd, Peter. Poe: A Life Cut Short. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2008. Print. Hopkins, Jerry. The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992. Print. Hutchisson, James M. Poe. Jackson: University of Mississippi, 2005. Print. Poe, Edgar Allan, and Thomas Ollive Mabbott. Complete Poems. Urbana: University of Illinois, 2000. Print. Riordan, James, and Jerry Prochnicky. Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison. New York: Morrow, 1991. Print.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Difficulties Attending College :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Difficulties Attending College Today everyone thinks in order to succeed financially in life they need to have a college education, or at least most of the time this is true. I personally think that despite the many difficulties that a person is faced with they can overcome their troubles somehow, even though sometimes they can not help but think otherwise. I, myself have three different reasons why people find it difficult to stay in college. For one sometimes they still have to keep on working while going to school. Two, they have children. Lastly, there's just not enough time for anything in their life, like they can't mentally or physically handle school and their lifestyle. Take me for example, a college student and a mother of one. I find it hard to successfully attend college and keep a job at the same time. My family and myself, right now, are at the bottom of the barrel. When we moved back from Tennessee, we had to use all the money we had saved. After paying one month and a halt of rent, both phone bills, and the electricity bill, we had to turn around scrape for food and the following months rent, not including our other bills. At first it was too hard. We felt like ends were not meeting, so I had to find a job. So now the way it works at my house is we both split the bills. My fiancà ©e has the really big bills like the rent and the insurance payment while I have the light bill, both phone bills, cable, and the internet bill. We both share the food bill, household items, and clothing. It is essential for me to work to help make ends meet. This is an example of one of the ways some households work. Even though I sometimes have a tough time with s chool I still manage to stay in school. This is one family that needs to have two incomes to make ends meet. The second reason why I think people find it difficult to succeed in college is because of children. For example, children need to go to the doctor's office, or to get shots, or your children are on vacation and you're not. Even when your children get out of school for the day and they are too little to take care of themselves, this is a common problem.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Acupuncture essay

Acupuncture Acupuncture is a traditional Eastern therapeutic technique that uses fine needles, inserted into specific points on the body along the meridians in proper speed to achieve a specific therapeutic goal. Acupuncture originated in prehistoric China, and it is based on such theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine as treating blockages of Qi, yin-yang balancing, five elements theory and pulse diagnosis. The functional system of channels and organs uses concepts of yin-yang balancing. Nowadays, acupuncture has become commonly used in many Western countries as well. Around 200 B. C. the Yellow Emperor’s textbook of physical medicine called Huang Di Nei Jing described the essential metaphysics of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The ancient Chinese doctors saw man as an integral part of nature and all things both in Yin and Yang around him were related to him, and things in Yin and Yang should be in balance. The original meaning of Yin is the shady side of the hill, and Yang is the sunny side of the hill. The opposites complement each other in a dynamic process. Thus, Yin and Yang cannot exist without the other, and the two forces always combine to make up the whole. This polar system of Yin and Yang has an important role in medicine and in the description of life processes in the human body and of their pathologic disturbances. † (Gabriel Stux, Brian Berman and Bruce Plmeranz, 2003, p88) Qi is the vital energy or life force, and it is omnipresent in nature and is apparent in all life in the form of change and movement. The action and movement of Qi expresses in every life process and every organic function. â€Å"In the body, Qi accumulates in the organs and flows in channels or meridians that are called Jing and Luo in Chinese. (Gabriel Stux, Brian Berman and Bruce Plmeranz, 2003, p. 88) The general theory of acupuncture is based on the premise that there are Qi. The fluent flow of Qi throughout the body is essential for optimal health. Blockag e of this energy is thought to cause disease. The aim of the treatment in Chinese acupuncture is to harmonize the flow of Qi by dissolving blockages and stagnation in the organs and channels. If the Qi of an organ is weakened, the function of this organ will be incomplete or faulty, but if Qi of an organ is present in xcess, the function of this organ will be excessive. Acupuncture can balance the conditions of excess or deficiency in the organs, and thus achieve an undisturbed function. The system of â€Å"five element†, like yin-yang balancing, is a philosophy concept and is a way of recognizing and analyzing things. The five elements are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. This system is used to explain the reasons of interaction relationship between all things in the nature through the interlinked relationship between the five elements.These basic elements are intimately interlinked. Each element is controlled by another, while itself simultaneously controlling a third ph ase. According to Chinese medicine, Qi flows through meridians, and there are11 organs interact intimately with the channels. The 11 organs are described as functional systems and subdivided into six Yang organs and five Yin organs. Large intestine, small intestine, stomach, urinary bladder, gallbladder and â€Å"Sanjiao† are the six Yang organs, and lung, heart, spleen, kidney and liver are the five Yin organs. Pericardium (a double-walled sac that contains the  heart  and the roots of the great vessels) is not considered as a Yin organ, but as part of the heart, having a channel. † (Gabriel Stux, Brian Berman and Bruce Plmeranz, 2003, p122) The 12 main channels form a system of three courses of channels at the body surface. Each course of channel consists of two pair Yin-Yang channels. One pair runs in parallel along the arm, and the other along the leg. This three courses flow in similar form. One Yin and one Yang organ form a functional unit, which involves a pa rticular tissue and the corresponding channels.Acupuncture points are located on those channels. By the application of needles, heat, or massage on acupuncture points, acupuncturists can make some damaged organs function better. A pair of channels consists of a Yin and a Yang channel. â€Å"Yang channels run laterally or on the dorsal side of the body, while Yin channels run medially or on the ventral side. † (Gabriel Stux, Brian Berman and Bruce Plmeranz, 2003, p125) There are 12 main channels, like the months of the Chinese zodiac, each representing a major organ system of the body. In addition, there are two extraordinary channels named Ren Mai and Du Mai.Ren Mai is the conceptional vessel, which counts as a Yin channel, while Du Mai is the governing vessel, which counts as a Yang channel. These two extraordinary channels and the 12 main channels together make up the system of 14 channels on which the 361 classic acupuncture points are situated. The 12 main channels form a system of three courses or cycles of channels at the body surface. Each course of channel consists four main channels, two Yin and two Yang channels. â€Å"One Yin-Yang pair runs in parallel course along the arm, and the other along the leg.An internal branch of the channel derives from the main channel running to the corresponding Yin or Yang organ. † (Gabriel Stux, Brian Berman and Bruce Plmeranz, 2003, p125) The first course is located on the ventral side of the body. It is made up of the lung, large intestine, stomach, and spleen channels. The lung channel starts at the chest wall and runs along the volar side of the arm to the corner of the thumbnail, and it belongs to the Yin polarity. The large intestine channel starts from the index finger and runs on the dorsal side of the arm to the face, and it belongs to the Yang polarity.The stomach channel starts from the face and runs ventrally down the body to the second toe, and it belongs to the Yang polarity. The spleen ch annel runs from the foot along the inside of the leg back to the chest wall, and thus it belongs to the Yin polarity. The second course is located on the dorsal side of the body. It is made up of the heart, small intestine, urinary bladder and kidney channels. The third course is located on the lateral side of the body. It is made up of the pericardium, Sanjiao, gallbladder and liver channels. These courses flow similar to the first course.A Yin or Yang channel axis is made up of two adjacent Yang channels or two adjacent Yin channels in the same course of channels. The Yang channel axes pass downwards from the arm to the leg through the head and body. The Yin channel axes pass upwards from the feet to arms through the body. The channel axes are important for diagnosis as well as for treatment. Acupuncture are very useful in treating some disorders, such as respiratory disorders, mental disturbances and illness, neurological disorders, skin disorders and disorders of the sense organ s, etc.. Many respiratory disorders are successfully treated by acupuncture.Especially in chronic conditions, such as chronic sinusitis, bronchitis, or bronchial asthma, acupuncture is more effective than other forms of treatment. External climatic influences such as cold, wind, dryness, and occasionally heat are sometimes the causes of a weakened lung Qi. Thus, acupuncture can dissolving the blockage and can strengthen the Qi. Acupuncture treatment is very effective in a large number of psychosomatic disorders, such as agitation or exhaustion conditions, insomnia, depression, sexual disturbances, drug addictions, obesity, and headache. Acupuncture has a harmonizing, sedative, or tonifying effect. Many points of the Du Mail, heart, pericardium, and gallbladder channels have strong psychological effects. † (Gabriel Stux, Brian Berman and Bruce Plmeranz, 2003, p287) Also, organs that are affected in mental disturbances can be treated by stimulation of the points of the correspon ding channels. Acupuncture also shows a good effect in migraine, chronic headache and trigeminal neuralgia. According to traditional ideas, chronic headache and migraine are attributed to a blockage of Qi in the Yang channels of the head.The pain in chronic headache is mostly caused by an internal disturbance of organs. The location of pain is very important in planning for an individual acupuncture treatment. However, trigeminal neuralgia is attributed to a blockage of Qi caused by wind, cold, or heat, together with pronounced internal disturbances of the liver or stomach. â€Å"In the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, a large number of points in the face are needled on the contra-lateral side; they should be manually stimulated over and over again, for dispersing stimulation. (Gabriel Stux, Brian Berman and Bruce Plmeranz, 2003, p296) Acupuncture treatment is also effective in many skin disorders, such as neurodermatitis, acne, herpes zoster, psoriasis, and eczema. According to traditional ideas, the skin is related to the lung and the large intestine, and skin disorders are therefore treated with points on the channels relating to the lung and the large intestine. What worth mentioning is that points surrounding the disordered skin area should not be needled especially ulcerated regions.Acupuncture treatment is highly effective in disorders of the sense organs, deafness, tinnitus, vertigo, conjunctivitis and visual deficiency. According to traditional concepts, the ear is related to the functional system of the kidney and urinary bladder, while the eye corresponds to the liver and gallbladder. In addition, the ear is closely connected to the Sanjiao channels, which circles round the ear. Stimulation of the distal points of the Sanjiao is higyly effective in ear disorders. Negative effects of acupuncture were rarely reported, however, they do exist and special attention should be paid to. The most frequent complication of acupuncture treatment is the vasov agal episode. More serious complications reported include rare pneumothoraces, lacerations of viscera, compression of nerve trucks due to local hematomas, sepsis, transverse myelopathy, eschars and scarring, endocarditis, and broken needles. † (Ceniceros, Salvador and Geroge R. Brown, 1998) The first needles were sharp flints, and later metal needles had replaced sharp flints. Different acupuncture needles have different length and diameter. Usually, the length varies from 1. 5 to 15 cm, and the diameter varies from 26 to 36 gauge (0. 2 to 0. 5mm). Disposable needles are usually made of stainless steel with handles wrapped in copper wire. Today, most used needles are filiform steel needles because the steel is flexible and unbreakable. Filiform needles consist of a tip, a body and a handle. In most cases, 0. 3mm thick needles are used in acupuncture. When insert acupuncture needles, acupuncturist should hold them vertically use three fingers, the thumb on one side of the needl e and the index and middle finger on the other side.The needles should be held perpendicular to the three fingers and 1-2cm from the tip of the needles should not be held, especially with long needles, which are more liable to bend. There are two methods of insertion. One is fast method, and the other is low method. Fast method causes less pain, while low method may be painful. The insertion can be perpendicular (90 °), oblique (30 °-60 °), or occasionally tangential (10 °). The depth of insertion and the direction are given with the specific acupuncture point, but they can vary depending on the constitution of the patient.In China in the 1960s, electro-acupuncture (EA) was introduced into clinical practice, especially for treatment of chronic pain and neurological diseases. â€Å"Electro-acupuncture is aimed at stimulate the points electrically by attaching flexible wires (via small alligator clips) to the needles. † (Gabriel Stux, Brian Berman and Bruce Plmeranz, 20 03, p315) Electro-acupuncture uses one pair of needles which are attached flexible wires (via small alligator clips) to stimulate the points electrically, instead of twirling the acupuncture needles by hand.Pulses of electricity with the pulse width from 0. 1 to 1. 0 ms in duration are applied to the needles in order to stimulate nerves. One major advantage of Electro-acupuncture is that it is more convenient than manual therapy, and requires less skills and accurate needle placement. Acupuncture was first introduced to Europe in the 17th century. However, at that time, it was not widely accepted by Europeans. Most Western skeptics claimed that the traditional Chinese theory of acupuncture was merely anecdotal; therefore cannot be reliable.This situation has dramatically changed in the past 20 years. Lots of publications who went to China and saw the use of acupuncture have revealed the reductionism, causal mechanisms for many of the acupuncture effects in many leading Western journ als. It is estimated that over 300,000 physicians of over one million practitioners outside China use acupuncture treatment for chronic pain. About 90% of the physicians that were found in a recent study of German pain clinics used acupuncture. Also, there are over 11,000 physicians were interested in acupuncture in the USA.In Canada, more than 2000 physicians have taken courses given by the Acupuncture Foundation of Canada. In North America, besides physicians, veterinarians, chiropractors, and naturopaths also use acupuncture. In conclusion, acupuncture based on the Tradition Chinese theory of Yin-Yang balancing, five elements theory to dissolve any blockages in the vital energy Qi. Acupuncture treatments are very useful in variable areas of disorders; despite there may few adverse effects. Nowadays, acupuncture is more familiar to Westerns, and it is accepted by growing number of people in the world.