Saturday, August 31, 2019

Effects of globalization on Indian society Essay

In simple terms globalization Is the process of growing interconnectedness between various parts of the world. It is a process through which diverse world is unified into a single society. Globalization touches almost all spheres of human life; social, economic, political, cultural, environmental. Economic impact: Positive Impact: 1. Trade with other countries tremendously increased. Exports and imports boomed due to opening up of trade markets. 2. Global food chain / restaurants 3. Liberalization of Indian markets for foreign players. This has increased the inflow of men, money, material, labour, technology etc from foreign countries to India. 4. Markets expanded. Many of the Indian industries have global markets and India serves as a market for many foreign companies 5. Globalization is responsible for the growth of many industries in India and especially software industry. 6. Growth of MNC’s 7. Globalization has given nations greater access to global markets, technology, financial resources and quality services and skilled human resources. 8. Improvement in and greater access to quality goods and services and an exponential increase in the volume of trade. 9. Access to global capital resources via the stock market and international debt depending on the economic potential of nations and their markets. 10. Access to technologies depending on the nations responsiveness to respect to protection of IPR and the responsible usage of technologies. 11. Access to the world markets to the skilled human resources from nations with inherent intellectual and technical capabilities (the outsourcing of IT, Pharma, BPO and KPO work). 12. Increase in exports of goods and services in which nations have their respective competencies. 13. Increased the purchasing capability of the nation through the creation of a sizeable middle class which is hungry for quality goods and services while there coexists a large poor class whose time is yet to come. 14. Shifting of labour force from agricultural sector to industrial sector and thus reducing disguised employment in agricultural sector 15. High quality and low cost products  flooded Indian markets increasing consumers’ choices. 16. Growth of organized retail chain. 17. Just few years back in India land phone was a prestige symbol but now mobiles can be seen in the hands of many rich and poor people. 18. In agricultural sector new varieties of farm equipment, new agricultural practices, applications of biotechnology like drought resistant, pest resistant varieties etc are indirectly due to globalization. 19. Indian companies adopting international standards in the areas of accounting, inventory management, Human resource, marketing, customer relationship management practices etc. 20. Increase in flow of investments from developed countries to developing countries, which can be used for economic reconstruction. 21. India gained highly from the LPG model as its GDP increased to 9.7% in 2007-2008. 22. The free flow of Information both general and commercial. Negative impact: 1. Rich poor divide increased due to unequal distribution of wealth 2. Ethical responsibility of business diminished 3. Tribes are unable to integrate in the era of globalization and they are facing many problems due to industrial expansion like land alienation, loss of livelihood, displacement etc 4. High growth but problem of unemployment 5. Price hike and inflation of every daily usable commodities 6. Native traditional industries in India got badly affected as they are unable to compete with foreign players. 7. Government driven public sector units are in sale due to increased privatization 8. Growth in different sectors became uneven. 9. More inflow of money has aggravated the problem of corruption. Cultural impact: 1. Language: Positive impact: a. Many people in India became bilingual or multilingual than before. b. Prominence of English as a language increased and importance of many regional languages decreased. Negative impact: a. Some languages got extinct. b. Traditional knowledge that is expressed in the languages that are becoming extinct is getting unutilized. Many patents are filed internationally which is already mentioned in our traditional literature. 2. Music, dance, entertainment: Positive impact: a. Many foreign musical instruments flooded Indian market. b. Foreign movies became widely available in Indian markets. c. Indian classical music has gained worldwide recognition d. Fusing western music with Indian traditional music is encouraged among musicians. e. Many foreigners are learning Indian dance forms like Bharatanatyam while many Indians are getting attracted to foreign dance forms like salsa, hip-hop etc. Negative impact: a. The penetration of global pop music has marginalized the traditional Indian music. b. There is an increase in tendency of playing western songs and pop music during marriage functions, birthday celebrations, engagements etc. c. Folk and tribal music is nearly extinct. Government is taking steps to preserve it. d. One can see in India that inhibitions have been diluted because of the advent of media and the medium of entertainment. This has also naturally had some affect on the old cultural values with the focus now being on consumerism and success. 3. Food and Dress: Positive impact: a. Many dresses of foreign brands are available in Indian local markets. Dressing style, costumes, etc of Indians changed due to globalization b. Male and female dresses distinction is getting blurred. c. Food and dress habits are internationalized d. Pizzas, burgers, Chinese foods, and other western foods have become quite popular. e. Fusion of Indo western clothing is the latest trend. Ex: wearing western jeans and Indian pyjama or kurtha. f. A distinct change in life-styles with rapid adaptation to worldwide trends Negative impact: a. Our traditional food and dress habits are getting changed generation after generation b. Due to intake of western and fast foods there is a threat of non communicable diseases like obesity, hyper tension, cardio vascular diseases etc. 4. Religion: Positive impact: a. India is birth place of different religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism etc. Due to globalization new religions like Christianity entered India and have multi dimensional impact on the culture of India. Negative impact: a. Conversions to Christianity increased by the financial and institutional support of western players. 5. Festivals: Positive impact: a. Western festivals like valantines day, friendship day etc are spreading across India. Negative impact: a. Importance of our traditional native festivals getting decreased. b. Sacred component in our religious festivals is getting decreased and there is increase of secular component in the form of social gatherings during festivals. 6. There is increase in interaction between people of different countries leading to admixture of cultures. 7. Nations have built greater awareness of themselves and the other countries and cultures of the world. India is not an exception Social impact: 1. Marriage: Positive impact: a. Love marriages increased and thus parents preference for children wishes increased. b. Inter religious and inter caste marriages increased and thus caste rigidities and inequalities getting reduced. Negative impact: a. Divorce rate increased b. Marriage changed from religious sacrament to civil contract. c. Unmarried boys and girls are sharing same apartment and staying away from their parents. Thus without marriage live-in relationships are happening in India 2. Family: Positive impact: a. Previously all the members of the family did the same type of work but after globalization the same family has adapted different types of work depending upon availability and their economic benefits. b. As husband and wife are employed in most of the cases the child care is taken by day care centers or crà ¨ches. c. Family controls on children are getting weekend and children wishes are seldom ignored d. Social gatherings are getting increased than religious gatherings. Negative impact: a. Nuclear families increased at the expense of joint families b. Family ceased to be a unit of production. c. The voice and decision of elders in the family matters decreased. 3. Education: Positive impact: a. Foreign universities tie up with Indian universities increased. b. Literacy rate increased c. Scientific and technological innovations have made life comfortable, pleasant and enjoyable. d. Extension of internet facilities to rural areas and thus increasing awareness in rural youth. e. Increased access to better and qualitative education. f. The choices for the children increased as there are many streams in education to pursue. g. Extensive use of information communication technology. Negative impact: a. Education became commercialized b. Pressure on children increased by parents, teachers, peers to get succeed in education which is essential to compete in this globalized world c. Education is measured in the number of degrees a person holds rather than the useful knowledge he gained. 4. Society: Positive impact: a. People shifting from unorganized sector to organized sector b. Distinction between polluting and non polluting castes getting weakened. c. Social taboos are getting weakened d. Caste based occupations are getting converted to merit based occupations. Negative impact: a. Rural, urban divide increased b. Migration of people from rural areas to urban areas due to urbanization c. Due to extreme mechanization demand for manual labour is decreasing day by day. This leads to increase in unemployment Political impact: Positive impact: a. Awareness about the right to vote increased b. Opinion forming in many political issues increased with the help of ICT. c. International obligations creating pressures on domestic political system. d. India say in international matters increased e. Financial support from international organizations to India became possible due to globalization Negative impact: a. Politico-bureaucracy-industrial nexus increased which is affecting badly the common man b. Criminalization of politics and politicization of criminals increased c. Organized crime with political support increased Environmental impact: Positive impact: a. Awareness and concern about environmental problems increased b. Technology and financial support from international organizations to combat climate change Negative impact: a. Excessive emission of green house gases which leads to climate change and global warming b. Land degradation due to excessive use of chemical fertilizers c. Degradation of ozone layer due to release of ozone depleting substances like chloro floro carbons (CFCs) d. Excessive mining and deforestation caused displacement of millions of people without proper rehabilitation and resettlement provisions. References: 1. www.daldrup.org/University 2. www.cpim.org/content/globalisation-impact-indian-society‎ 3. http://www.academia.edu/964379/GLOBALISATION_AND_ITS_POSITIVE_IMPACT_ON_INDIAN_AGRICULTURE V.V.N Pavan Kumar

Friday, August 30, 2019

Declaration of Principles and Policies Essay

Some of us here in Congress may have heard of the cancellation of CLOAs in Hacienda Looc, Batangas, Sumilao, Bukidnon and Hacienda Maria, Agusan del Sur. These are only some of the 2,555 cases involving cancellation of EPs and CLOAs which covers 29,682 hectares of land. To be specific, the case of Hacienda Maria in Agusan del Sur involves ninety-four (94) farmers that were already in possession of the land with titles issued more than ten years ago. These titles are now facing cancellation, apparently on the ground that the former Ministry of Agrarian Reform has erroneously covered that piece of land under Presidential Decree No. 27. One of the grounds for cancellation under DAR Administrative Order No. 2, series of 1994 is when â€Å"the land is found to be exempted/excluded from P.D. No. 27/E.O. No. 266 or CARP coverage or to be part of the landowner’s retained areas as determined by the Secretary or his authorized representative.† Or the lands voluntarily offered under section 19 of Republic Act No. 6657 but which are found to be outside the coverage of CARP. While the grounds for cancellation of EPs and CLOAs under DAR AO No. 2, series of 1994 are generally valid, setting a prescriptive period for the cancellation of EPs and CLOAs is in order. Truly, it is the height of callousness to cancel EPs or CLOAs of farmer beneficiaries who have been, for years, diligently amortizing payments to their lands. With regard to DAR AO No. 3, series of 1996, it would also be unjust that farmer beneficiaries be made to suffer in a fault they did not have any part of. In awarding parcels of land to farmer beneficiaries, it is the DAR that negotiates with the landowners and farmer beneficiaries. The latter two parties do not have direct negotiation with each other except if the land will be under the direct payment scheme. In addition, it is the government and not the farmer beneficiaries that determines which lands would be c overed by land reform. The farmer’s participation only starts after the DAR has finished negotiations with the landowners and EPs or CLOAs are awarded to them. As such, the farmer beneficiaries should be regarded as â€Å"innocent purchasers for value.† This bill has six objectives. First, this legislation reaffirms that EPs and CLOAs are land titles under Presidential Decree No. 1529; second, it provides for prescriptive periods for the filing of petitions for the cancellation of EPs and CLOAs; third, it provides for compensation to landowners, whose lands were erroneously covered by land reform programs; fourth, it ensures that the farmer beneficiaries do not bear the consequences of the DAR’s errors in distributing lands that should have been exempted from coverage of our agrarian laws; Fifth, this legislation limits the effect of the Department of Justice Opinion No. 44, series of 1990 that excludes lands that have been reclassified or even without the concurrence of the Department of Agrarian Reform. The DOJ Opinion, though not a law, has been continuously cited as a ground for cancellation of EPs and CLOAs. Finally, it prevents the cancellation of EPs and CLOAs through the enactment of laws that further exempt lands from the coverage of agrarian reform laws. An example of this is the cancellation of EPs and CLOAs on the ground that the landowners were not paid just compensation. Truly, farmer beneficiaries should not be deprived of the lands awarded to them if the government is unable to fulfill its duties under the laws. Passage of this bill is, earnestly sought.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Social Influences on Behavior Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Social Influences on Behavior Paper - Essay Example According to Zajonc, people perform better on dominant tasks, i.e., simple, familiar or well learned tasks, when others are around than when others are not around (as cited in D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007). On the contrary, on non-dominant tasks, i.e., complex, unfamiliar or novel tasks, the presence of others causes social interference or inhibition, thus impairing the performance. An instance where social facilitation can be seen in effect is in the sports scenario. The differences in performance levels of teams on the home ground and away can be explained by the concept of social facilitation. David Dryden Henningsen, Mary Lynn Henningsen and Mary Braz, through their study on a college basketball team, have very effectively supported this view. For their experiment, data was gathered for "78 NCAA division I men's teams from the 2000-2001 college basketball season" (D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007). Statistics were collected for each game te ams played over the season where a home team could be clearly designated. Home and away totals were recorded for shots attempted and made with regard to free throws, field goals and three point shots. The results showed that teams performed better for shooting tasks at home than on the road. Significant home performance advantage was noted for the easier task of field goal shooting while this was not noted for the more difficult three point shooting. This is very much consistent with social facilitation. Interestingly, home performance advantage was not observed for the easiest task which was free throw shooting. The authors conclude that it is possible that free throw shooting is a dominant task and that "anytime a college basketball player shoots a free throw before a crowd, social facilitation occurs and that the benefits of being at home or being a better shooting team are bounded by a ceiling effect" (D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007). According to Silva and A ndrew (as cited in D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007), the home advantage is "created more by impaired performance by visiting teams than by improved performance by home teams." According to them, free throw shooting levels were overall the same for home and visiting teams while home performance advantage was not seen for field goal shooting. This, according to them, was because free throw shooting is a simpler task than field goal shooting, so social inhibition occurs for field goals and not for free throws when teams are on the road. While Robert Zajonc put forward the drive theory, where he used the term, "dominant response," Cortrell's theory of social facilitation, which uses the term "evaluation apprehension," states that "rather than the mere presence of others, it is the worry of being adjudged that affects performance" (as cited in "Social Faciliation," 2006). Another major theory of social facilitation as put forward by Saunders et al. (as cited in "Social Faciliation," 2006), uses the term "distraction conflict," according to which participants in high distraction condition performed better on simple tasks but worse on complex ones. From the above theories, it is clear that social facilitati

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Stock Market Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stock Market Paper - Essay Example History of the Company After the success of Walt Disney Land in California, Walt Disney had the idea of creating an even bigger resort which would include all different kinds of fantasy worlds in which people could lose themselves. When it opened, just outside of Orlando, Florida it covered approximately 107 acres; the theme park portion of the resort was referred to as The Magic Kingdom. It featured Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Tomorrowland, Main Street USA, and about 5,500 cast members (#2). Resort planners intentionally scheduled the opening in October, as opposed to the summer months because they wanted the opening numbers to be small, having learned their lesson from the issues that arose with the opening of Walt Disney Land. Walt Disney World was to be so much larger than Walt Disney Land, and the planners wanted to ensure that Walt’s dream was realized without a hitch; if issues arose due to the increased size and cast, they would be easier to deal with and identify with a smaller amount of guests. They had 10,000 guests on opening day. In addition to The Magic Kingdom, there were two hotels that were included in the resort itself, the Contemporary and the Polynesian Village (#2). Product Lines Walt Disney World has several different product lines that are all incorporated around the resort and theme park itself, having expanded to include three additional theme parks, and two water parks, as well as numerous hotels; the theme parks now include The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The water parks now present are Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and Disney’s Blizzard Beach. This does not include the other branches of entertainment that Disney has added, like the Disney Cruise Lines (#3). Walt Disney World’s customer base includes â€Å"children of all ages;† they work to be geared towards all ages of clientele (though if you look too much lik e a Disney character, you may be kicked out of the park (#4).) Marketing Strategy There are many different marketing strategies employed by Walt Disney World, from the computer generated image of the park that is now present at the beginning of each and every Walt Disney film, to the commercials advertising Walt Disney World, all the way down to references to the theme park that are included in movies of all genres, but the marketing strategies of the park do not stop there. With a steep price tag to get into the park itself (over $80 (#5) per person, per day), there are many people who feel like though they may want a souvenier to commemorate their trip, but that the additional price tag is too expensive. Disney’s got the customer covered there too. They introduced three inch tall Vinylmation figurines for $10 each, everything from the characters themselves, to the attractions that are present in the park. The catch behind these souvenirs is that they come in unmarked boxes – consumers never know which one they will get (sort of like a souvenir grab bag); the nice thing about this marketing ploy is that if the consumer does not like the one they get, there are three opened figurines placed by the register, and the buyer may choose to swap out the one they got for one of the three present at the register itself (#5); this ensures that additional items are purchased, as people love the mystery, and offers them a semi-guarantee that they will

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Forensic DNA Testing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Forensic DNA Testing - Essay Example The DNA Identification Act of 1994 formalized the FBI's authority to establish a National DNA Index System (NDIS). The CODIS is different from the NDIS in that NDIS is the national database whereas CODIS is used today by more than 40 law enforcement laboratories in over 25 countries.( FBI, 2009) The CODIS system requires > 4 RFLP markers and/or 13 core STR markers. Now, what are STR's Most of the DNA is identical to the DNA of others in the human genome. However, there are inherited regions of our DNA that may not necessarily code for proteins termed as introns, which can vary from person to person. A variation in the DNA sequence between individuals is termed as "polymorphism". Sequences which display the highest degree of polymorphism are very useful for DNA analysis in forensics cases and paternity testing. Forensic DNA testing is based on analyzing the inheritance of a class of DNA polymorphisms known as "Short Tandem Repeats "or STRs. STRs are short sequences of DNA, normally of length 2-5 base pairs, that are repeated numerous times in a head-tail manner, for example the sequence GATA occurs anywhere between 5-16 repeats at the locus D7S820. The number of repeats within an STR is referred to as an allele. Thus there are 12 different alleles possible for the D7S820 STR. Because there 12 different alleles for this STR, there are therefore 78 different possibl e genotypes, or pairs of alleles. Specifically, there are 12 homozygote's, in which the same allele is received from each parent, as well as 66 heterozygote's, in which the two alleles are different. Norrgard,K.(2008) After an extensive validation study, 13 STR loci were selected to form the core (i.e., required) genetic markers for CODIS. The methodology involved in the STR analysis is as follows. The DNA is isolated from the sample. The STR region in the DNA is amplified using PCR and suitable primers. The various companies manufacturing STR kits typically vary in the primer they employ. PCR enables even nanogram amounts of sample to be sufficient for evaluation. Only when all the 13 markers match in the source and the felon sample is the convict included in the source of crime. Even after all the 13STR's are matched a statistical test is carried out to analyze the overall STR frequency. It is assumed that the STR's follow law of independent assortment which implies that each member of a pair of homologous chromosomes separates independently of the members of other pairs so the result is random and that the population mates randomly by the FBI in analyzing the STR profiles. The Hardy Weinberg l aw was used to calculate gene frequency which states that the gene frequencies remain conserved from generation to generation. It is important to understand that this number is the probability of seeing this DNA profile if the crime scene evidence did not come from the suspect but from some other person. If all the STR's from the sample are not retrievable due to damaged or an extremely old source of DNA, then the STR profiling cannot be used as the sole evidence and other proof's have to be collected. Though the STR profiling is rapid the CODIS database is currently facing a backlog of >600,000 samples to be keyed in.In addition to

Monday, August 26, 2019

Managing People in Hospitals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing People in Hospitals - Essay Example The experience is about how I managed a sudden accident that took place in the hospital without disturbing the normal routine. It was a sunny Wednesday morning, when I was walking in the corridor of the hospital to attend one of my patients while walking I realized I ‘d a stiff back that day and my job demanded a lot of mechanical work so it wasn’t any good for me. But my happy go lucky nature and my attitude of taking problems light helped me again that day and I made my entry in the intensive care unit almost completely forgetting my pain. In the ICU when I reached to a patient REHMAAN, a nice man though but very disappointed with his health, I gave him a routine check-up and then guided the ward boy to do the needful so as the treatment is well in place. And after analyzing few more patients I headed towards my cabin to take a small rest bout. While resting I heard a sharp voice as if someone dropped the medicine tray and all the bottles broke down, being a senior in that wing it becomes my responsibility to keep track of such incidents and reach out for any kind of help. As soon as I came out of cabin I saw Ryan lying down on the ground holding his left arm with right hand and the medicine tray was near his right shoulder. All bottles were broken and drug stains were all over. Ryan was crying in pain and was breathing very heavily as he has this problem of anxiety at times, I tried to help him to sit against the wall but he being a healthy guy it was a difficult task for me alone to do it. I tried to calm him down a bit but his breath was really going very abnormal, I got him a glass of water from he merely had a sip as he was not feeling comfortable at all. At the same time I required to make sure that calling any wad boys for help should not result in attention degrade for patients, so after making Ryan sit against the wall I went into the adjacent the wall I went into the adjacent ICU and quickly analyzed the current scenario like who all patients need extra care and who are almost recovered so that some guys can attend to 3-4 patients so that I get some helping hands.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Care of the highly dependent postoperative patient Essay

Care of the highly dependent postoperative patient - Essay Example He had a bloc resection of rectal cancer and had been treated with sigmoid colectomy. Right hemicolectomy fallowed by HIPES (treated intra peritoney chemotherapy) solitary liver metastasis. The patient came into recovery room breathing spontaneously. His blood pressure was110/60. His pulse 82, resps 9, SpO2 with oxygen 40% via face mask. Right Jugular CVP line left hand arterial line, intercostals x2, bupivacain 0.25%. Silicon drain and abovac plasma lite 1000. I.V. continued. CVP and arterial line has been attached to monitor. First 1/2 hour patient observation was done every 5 min.-ABCDE was administered. After 15 min. BP-high, puls-100, RR-normal. On question are u in pain, patient answer severe pain. Morphine PCA attached and explained how to use, continued with boluses of 2.5mg, morphine via PCA pump. After 1/2 hour arterial blood gas sample done, showing respiratory acidosis. Patient is with urinal catheter, urine output monitoring hourly. Fluids maintenance done, fluid balance monitoring hourly for 24 hours. This paper explores the post operative care of this patient. Variables such as the level of debility before surgery, operate complexity and severity of underlying cirrhosis appear to significantly influence the rapidity at which a patient progresses through his or her early postoperative recovery stage (Leaper, & Whitaker, 2010). Most of the key liver resections are attributed to the liver’s regenerative capacity. They are well tolerated by patients and it is rare for patients to experience biochemical abnormalities. Patients having compensated liver cirrhosis and the complications that come with it are more susceptible to intraoperative blood losses that make the organ functions to deteriorate and lead to the loss of its reserve capacity to withstand stress causing life-threatening complications (Leaper, & Whitaker, 2010).

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Examine the relationship between the designer and the art director Essay

Examine the relationship between the designer and the art director - Essay Example That design shall be used throughout the editorial and advertising pages. Each of the magazine issues "had headlines, text columns and the same kind of illustration" (Hollis, yr of book publication, p. 97). The increasing importance of images, then, as an art element in journalism and advertising also raised the degree of participation of an art director because their reproduction and the layout as a whole became his/her responsibility (Hollis, yr of publication). Raizman (year of publication, p.98) characterized the work of an artist/designer as something that had to embody the magazine's content, while the work of an art director, which is the "artifice behind the elegance of the image, the attention to every detail so that it contributed to the total effect" has to be concealed. An art director during those times himself even added that directors plan, co-ordinates and rehearses but does not perform in public. Public performances are left to designers to create cover illustrations in traditional methods. This was exemplified in the works of designer Norman Rockwell for the Saturday Evening Post from the time of the First World War to the 1960's (Hollis, yr of publication). As an antidote to the hardships of the World War years and the impersonal modernity of factory and city, Rockwell created colored illustrations that presented a variety of familiar themes drawn from common middle-class experience, frequently related to seasonal activities and holidays. His idea is to create a sense of community and comfort provided by the family and neighborhood by using common experiences and techniques of naturalistic illustrations to communicate those values (Raizman, year of publication). One of the best examples is the Post's cover in November of 1933 where a young mother is seen spanking a child in his belly on a chair. The story is clearly and simply told. The child broke a piece of decorative chinaware which led the mother to resort to a traditional form of punishment but only while holding a psychology book that has guided her actions. In his attempt to experiment with more expressionistic approach to painting, he created illustrations of a festive family m eal, which is one of four from a series entitled "The Four Freedoms" (Raizman, year of publication, p.226). The illustrations make the reader more comfortable with some of the discomforting information that threatens our confidence in dealing with everyday existence. The Great Economic Crash in 1929 led businesses to formulate designs in order to sell their products. Many advertising executives believed that the purpose of advertisements is to gun for sales and "that the reference to individual artists or works of art focused attention upon the ad as an 'object' rather than the vehicle of promoting a product" (Raizman, year of publication, p.225). Art directors and consultants Art directors and consultants from the advertising industry recognized the importance of images in selling the products, but limited the images to be illustrated to familiar and recognizable images that could be easily grasped by the public rather than abstract ones. Art directors let illustrators and designers accomplish this task with the idea of creating images with which the buyers can easily identify and directly connect to the products. However, because of this imposition by the art directors,

Operations and supply chain management Research Paper

Operations and supply chain management - Research Paper Example In a bank, personnel use systems and computers to manage the flow of money among the respective accounts along with providing customers efficient service through statements and further banking facilities. No matter what the operations are, decisions have to be taken to set up work schedules for the employees, improve & maintain quality, forecast demand for the products along with services, ascertain adequate inventory and maintain transport activities & store materials (Pamplin College of Business, â€Å"Course Descriptions†). The efficient operations and supply chain management of the United States (US) has initiated the ultimate revolution and transformation in the area of trade and commerce in the US. In this regard, Public Broadcasting Service series America Revealed has drawn certain ideal examples of a few of the US companies with efficient OSM. This study deals with a few of these examples which illustrate three most significant concepts or ideas concerning efficient OS M. The 21st century is an era of continuous change and ruthless competition. Till the year 2013, the US has shown the globe its power of efficiency by touching certain historical milestones in the business of silicon chips, arms, logistics and fastest cars (Lion Television, â€Å"Episode 4: Made in the USA†). ... Their operations mostly are concerned with the rolls and rolls of paper apart from exporting flat screen television and certain other items. The main concept in this regard is the idea incorporated by the authority of importing low cost raw materials of paper from the land of China and exporting them to rest of the world. Georgia Ports Authority is a strategic partnership with Resolute Forest Products, formerly known as Abitibi Bowater Inc., which is a pulp and paper manufacturer headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Ships of Georgia Ports Authority are filled with the large paper containers along with being filled with televisions and computers (Lion Television, â€Å"Episode 4: Made in the USA†). It is generally known that paper is generated by low value raw materials. Georgia Ports Authority’s unique strategy to process them to finished goods along with exporting them to the rest of the globe as well as the relentless 24*7 operations can be stated as among the m ost significant concepts in the area of OSM. CONCEPT/IDEA/REVELEATION 2 Second most significant idea or concepts of OSM has been introduced by one of the auto manufacturing leader Volkswagen. It has been creating high value manufactured offerings through its game based training programs. Its billion dollar projects and state-of-the-art facility have made them one of the finest leaders in the US. It produces 12 million cars a year. It also needs to assemble 20,000 mechanical parts a day. This requires huge assistance of highly technical, efficient and skilled manpower. In this regard, it has created a factory based revolution by introducing robot into its manufacturing operations. Time is one of the most important components in the operations sector. By

Friday, August 23, 2019

FOIA and Privatization of Government Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

FOIA and Privatization of Government - Article Example There should a difference in the way of privatizing the traditional governmental services and the private corporation using public funding for non-traditional services because the two are very distinct in the manner of disseminating their duties. The traditional government needs more strict rules in guiding against the events of FWAC because their services affect the entire public and a small flaw in them could lead to the collapse of the whole institution. On the other hand, the private corporations require observance as well but to a smaller extent based on the nature of the population they serve. The examples of FWAC in private corporations and nonprofit corporations that were not subjected to FOIA, but may have been prevented by FOIA include misappropriation of funds by the management, tax evasion, stealing the properties of the firms. Also, giving and taking of bribes, the incorrect use of resources by wasting them and offering favors to the friend and family members. All these FWAC have been prevented by the availability of checks by the FOIA board that has scared those in charge of practicing such vices. The incapacity of the FOIA legislation to force the private corporation to provide information when needed the contracting government agency can mitigate this by setting in the contract the terms that the information regarding the use of public funds should be disclosed to the public. The condition will enable the provision of data concerning the use of the public funds. The private corporations need the support of the government and, therefore, they will be forced to comply and provide the information otherwise they will not have such chances. The issue of concern based on the experience is the style of the provision of the information needed by the public by the FOIA. The fee charged should be reviewed from the set minimum of 15 dollars to as low as 7 dollars.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Adventure of the Speckled Band Essay Example for Free

Adventure of the Speckled Band Essay Compare how James Watson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Create Fear and Tension in Talking in Whispers and The Adventure of the Speckled Band  In the novel Talking in Whispers and the short story The Adventure of the Speckled Band both Watson and Doyle use fear and tension within their stories to get the attention of the reader. Both authors create fear and tension but they create it in different ways and they use different writing techniques to create fear and tension one reason for this could be that the stories were written at different periods of time. The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was written towards the end of the 19th century and is set in Victorian England, whereas Talking in Whispers by James Watson was written towards the end of the 20th century and is set in Chile. Both Stories however contain elements of fear and tension. In the course of my essay I shall examine the different ways that both authors use fear and tension to their advantage. James Watson creates fear and tension in the novel Talking in Whispers by using many different writing techniques. These techniques are very effective in creating fear and tension. Watson uses techniques such as juxtapositioning, identifying the reader with the characters, chapter endings, direct speech and inter-chapters. These all, when used correctly create fear and tension.  The fear and tension created by James Watson when he uses juxtapositioning is very effective as it gives you one scene and in the next paragraph you get a total contrast of it. This surprises the reader, which builds up suspense and a feel of uncertainty. An example of juxtapositioning from Watsons novel would be. The crowd thundered its joy.  From tomorrow all will be different.  Andres knew for certain his friend Horacio was dead  From this example you can see that the crowd thunders with joy is a scene of hope, promise and joy but then immediately afterwards you get a scene of violence, horror and despair Andres knew for certain his friend Horacio was dead. This all helps to build up tension and fear.  Watson makes you feel sorry and sad and angry for characters if anything happens to them. Watson does this by identifying the reader with Andres. What Watson does is he lets you into Andres mind he lets you see his feelings he lets you feel his pain he lets you know his sorrow. An example of this technique would be near to the end of page 12. Jordan Clement GCSE English Coursework 4/27/2007  I should have let myself be taken theres no honour in this, skulking in brambles with only a scratch to show for my bravery.  From this example you can see Watson lets you know what Andres is feeling and thinking. From the sentence I should have let myself be taken we know that Andres is not a coward and will not back down to the CNI (Chiles secret police) we also know from this that Andres is going to try to avenge his family and friends. This starts to build up the fear and tension within the novel. Another main way James Watson builds up a lot of tension and fear within Talking In Whispers is by using chapter endings. What James Watson does is he leaves you at a pinnacle at the end of most chapters which makes the reader want to read on and see what will happen to Andres or Isa and or Don Chailey this is a very effective way to build up tension within a novel a works very well in this particular novel. A good example of chapter endings would be the end of chapter three. All youll be needing is a cool head, lots of luck and he leaned forwards with exaggerated secrecy. And a porters uniform  This creates tension because you want to know what will happen next, you want to know what the importance of the porters uniform is, and you want to know will Andres get caught. This makes you want to read on and it makes you think what will happen to Andres. This technique builds up fear and tension throughout the novel.  In Talking in Whispers Watson uses other common techniques of writing which all helps in building up fear and tension, he uses techniques such as similes, imagery and metaphors. His mind stayed where it was, unmolested, a little black box inside something nothing could get at. Resting like a mouse in hole.  The simile like a mouse in a hole portrays Andres mind when he was being tortured. They could hurt his body but they couldnt touch his mind it was resting like a mouse in a hole. The sentence resting like a mouse in hole also uses imagery as well as using a simile the simile creates the image of his mind being a mouse resting in hole unaware of what is happening to Andres body. In the torture scene on pages 105 106 Andres calls his torturers not by their names but by names that reflect their personality he calls his torturers snake and the hog the names are metaphors, which lets you know the personality of the characters. Snake for example is a cunning and devious animal and extremely deadly. This again is another type of imagery it lets you see pictures from words. This way of writing is very effective when it comes to creating fear and tension. Jordan Clement GCSE English Coursework 4/27/2007  Another way fear and tension is created in Talking in Whispers is by telling you what is happening in Chile at the time. This does not move the story any further forward with Andres it just tells you the evilness of the Junta. This technique is called  Inter-chapters and is very effective in causing the reader to perhaps fear the Junta.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Speaker Independent Speech Recognizer Development

Speaker Independent Speech Recognizer Development Chapter 4 Methodology and Implementation This chapter describes the methodology and implementation of the speaker independent speech recognizer for the Sinhala language and the Android mobile application for voice dialing. Mainly there are two phases of the research. First one is to build the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer to recognize the digits spoken in Sinhala language. The second phase is to build an android application by integrating the trained speech recognizer. This chapter covers the tools, algorithms, theoretical aspects, the models and the file structures used for the entire research process. 4.1Research phase 1: Build the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer for recognizing the digits. In this section the development of the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer is described, step by step. It includes the phonetic dictionary, language model, grammar file, acoustic speech database and the trained acoustic model creation. 4.1.1 Data preparation This system is a Sinhala speech recognition voice dial and since there is no such speech database which is done earlier was available, the speech has to be taken from the scratch to develop the system. Data collection The first stage of any speech recognizer is the collection of sound signals. Database should contain a variety of enough speakers recording. The size of the database is compared to the task we handle. For this application only little number of words was considered. This research aims only the written Sinhala vocabulary that can be applied for voice dialing. Altogether twelve words were considered with the ten numbers including two initial calling words â€Å"amatanna† and â€Å"katakaranna†. Here the Database has two parts, the training part and the testing part. Usually about 1/10th of the full speech data is used to the testing part. In this research 3000 speech samples were used for training and 150 speech samples were used for testing. Speech database Before collecting data, a speech database was created. The database was included with the Sinhala speech samples taken from variety of people who were in different age levels. Since there was no such database published anywhere for Sinhala language relevant for voice dialing, speech had to be collected from Sinhala native speakers. Prompt sheet To create the speech database, the first step was to prepare the prompt sheet having a list of sentences for all the recordings. Here it used 100 sentences that are different from each other by generating the numbers randomly. 50 sentences are starting with the word â€Å"amatanna† while the other half is starting with the word â€Å"katakaranna†. The prompt sheet used for this research is given in the Appendix A. Recording The prepared sentences in the prompt sheet were recorded by using thirty (30) native speakers since this is speaker independent application. The speakers were selected according to the age limits and divided them into eight age groups. Four people were selected from each group except one age group. Two females and two males were included into each age group. One group only contained two people with one female and one male. Each speaker was given 100 sentences to speak and altogether 3000 speech samples were recorded for training. The description of speakers such as gender and age can be found in Appendix A. If there was an error in the recording due to the background noise and filler sounds, the speaker was asked to repeat it and got the correct sound signal. Since the proposed system is a discrete system, the speakers have to make a short pause at the start and end of the recording and also between the words when they were uttered. Speech was recorded in a quiet room and the recordi ngs were done at nights by using a condenser recorder microphone. The sounds were recorded under the sampling rate of 44.1 kHz using mono channel and they were saved under *.wav format. Sampling frequency and format of speech audio files Speech recording files were saved in the file format of MS WAV. The â€Å"Praatâ€Å" software was used to convert the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency signals to 16 kHz frequency signals since the frequency should be 16kHz of the training samples. Audio files were recorded in a medium length of 11 seconds. Since there should be a silence in the beginning and the end of the utterance and it should not be exceeded 0.2 seconds, the â€Å"Praat† software was used to edit all 3000 sound signals. 4.1.2 Pronunciation dictionary The pronunciation dictionary was implemented by hand since the number of words used for the voice dialing system is very few. It is used only 12 words from the Sinhala vocabulary. To create the dictionary, the International Phonetic Alphabet for Sinhala Language and the previously created dictionaries by CMU Sphinx were used. But the acoustic phones were taken mostly by studying the different types of databases given by the Carnegie Mellon University’s Sphinx Forum (CMU Sphinx Forum). Two dictionaries were implemented for this system. One is for the speech utterances and the other one is for filler sounds. The filler sounds contain the silences in the beginning, middle and at the end of the speech utterances. The attachment of the two types of dictionaries can be found on the Appendix A. They are referred to as the languagedictionaryand thefiller dictionary. 4.1.3 Creating the grammar file The grammar file also created by hand since the number of words used for the system is very few. The JSGF (JSpeech Grammar Format) format was used to implement the grammar file. The grammar file can be found in Appendix A. 4.1.4 Building the language model Word search is restricted by a language model. It identifies the matching words by comparing the previously recognized words by the model and restricts the matching process by taking off the words that are not possible to be. N-gram language model is the most common language models used nowadays. It is a finite state language model and it contains statistics of word sequences. In search space where restriction is applied, a good accuracy rate can be obtained if the language model is a very successful one. The result is the language model can predict the next word properly. It usually restricts the word search which are included the vocabulary. The language model was built using the cmuclmtk software. First of all the reference text was created and that text (svd.text) can be found in Appendix A. It was written in a specific format. The speech sentences were delimited byandtags. Then the vocabulary file was generated by giving the following command. text2wfreq svd.vocab Then the generated vocabulary file was edited to remove words (numbers and misspellings). When finding misspellings, they were fixed in the input reference text. The generated vocabulary file (svd.vocab) can be found in the Appendix A. Then the ARPA format language model was generated using these commands. text2idngram -vocab svd.vocab -idngram svd.idngram idngram2lm -vocab_type 0 -idngram svd.idngram -vocab svd.vocab –arpa svd.arpa Finally the CMU binary of language model (DMP file) was generated using the command sphinx_lm_convert -i svd.arpa -o svd.lm.DMP The final output containing the language model needed for the training process is svd.lm.dmp file. This is a binary file. 4.1.5Acoustic model Before starting the acoustic model creation, the following file structure was arranged as described by the CMU Sphinx tool kit guide. The name of the speech database is â€Å"svd† (Sinhala Voice Dial). The content of these files is given in Appendix A. svd.dic -Phonetic dictionary svd.phone -Phoneset file svd.lm.DMP -Language model svd.filler -List of fillers svd _train.fileids -List of files for training svd _train.transcription -Transcription for training svd _test.fileids -List of files for testing svd _test.transcription -Transcription for testing All these files were included in to one directory and it was named as â€Å"etc†. The speech samples of wav files were included in to another directory and named it as â€Å"wav†. These two directories were included in to another directory and named it using the name of the database (svd). Before starting the training process, there should be another directory that contains the â€Å"svd† and the required compilation package â€Å"pocketsphinx†, â€Å"sphinxbase† and â€Å"sphinxtrain† directories. All the packages and the â€Å"svd† directory were put into another directory and started the training process. Setting up the training scripts The command prompt terminal is used to run the scripts of the training process. Before starting the process, terminal was changed to the database â€Å"svd† directory and then the following command was run. python ../sphinxtrain/scripts/sphinxtrain –t svd setup This command copied all the required configuration files into etc sub directory of the database directory and prepared the database for training. The two configuration files created were feat.params and sphinx_train.cfg. These two are given in Appendix A. Set up the database These values were filled in at configuration time. The Experiment name, will be used to name model files and log files in the database. $CFG_DB_NAME = svd; $CFG_EXPTNAME = $CFG_DB_NAME; Set up the format of database audio Since the database contains speech utterances with the ‘wav’ format and they were recorded using MSWav, the extension and the type were given accordingly as â€Å"wav† and â€Å"mswav†. $CFG_WAVFILES_DIR = $CFG_BASE_DIR/wav; $CFG_WAVFILE_EXTENSION = wav; $CFG_WAVFILE_TYPE = mswav; # one of nist, mswav, raw Configure Path to files This process was done automatically when having the right file structure in the running directory. The naming of the files must be very accurate. The paths were assigned to the variables used in main training of models. $CFG_DICTIONARY = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.dic; $CFG_RAWPHONEFILE = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.phone; $CFG_FILLERDICT = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.filler; $CFG_LISTOFFILES = $CFG_LIST_DIR/${CFG_DB_NAME}_train.fileids; $CFG_TRANSCRIPTFILE = $CFG_LIST_DIR/${CFG_DB_NAME}_train.transcription; $CFG_FEATPARAMS = $CFG_LIST_DIR/feat.params; Configure model type and model parameters The model type continuous and semi continuous can be used in pocket sphinx. Continuous type is used for continuous speech recognition. Semi continuous is used for discrete speech recognition process. Since this application use discrete speech the semi continuous model training was used. #$CFG_HMM_TYPE = .cont.; # Sphinx 4, Pocketsphinx $CFG_HMM_TYPE = .semi.; # PocketSphinx $CFG_FINAL_NUM_DENSITIES = 8; # Number of tied states (senones) to create in decision-tree clustering $CFG_N_TIED_STATES = 1000; The number of senones used to train the model is indicated in this value. The sound can be chosen accurately if the number of senones is higher. But if we use too much senones, then it may not be able to recognize the unseen sounds. So the Word Error Rate can be very much higher on unseen sounds. The approximate number of senones and number of densities is provided in the table below. Configure sound feature parameters The default parameter used for sound files in Sphinx is a rate of 16 thousand samples per second (16KHz). If this is the case, then the etc/feat.params file will be automatically generated with the recommended values. The Recommended values are: # Feature extraction parameters $CFG_WAVFILE_SRATE = 16000.0; $CFG_NUM_FILT = 40; # For wideband speech its 40, for telephone 8khz reasonable value is 31 $CFG_LO_FILT = 133.3334; # For telephone 8kHz speech value is 200 $CFG_HI_FILT = 6855.4976; # For telephone 8kHz speech value is 3500 Configure decoding parameters The following were properly configured in theetc/sphinx_train.cfg. $DEC_CFG_DICTIONARY = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/$DEC_CFG_DB_NAME.dic; $DEC_CFG_FILLERDICT = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/$DEC_CFG_DB_NAME.filler; $DEC_CFG_LISTOFFILES = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/${DEC_CFG_DB_NAME}_test.fileids; $DEC_CFG_TRANSCRIPTFILE = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/${DEC_CFG_DB_NAME}_test.transcription; $DEC_CFG_RESULT_DIR = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/result; # These variables, used by the decoder, have to be user defined, and # may affect the decoder output $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL_DIR = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc; $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL = $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL_DIR/ ${CFG_DB_NAME}.lm.DMP; Training After setting all these paths and parameters in the configuration file as described above, the training was proceeded. To start the training process the following command was run. python ../sphinxtrain/scripts/sphinxtrain run Scripts launched jobs on the machine, and it took few minutes to run. Acoustic Model After the training process, the acoustic model was located in the following path in the directory. Only this folder is needed for the speech recognition tasks. model_parameters/svd.cd_semi_200 We need only that folder for the speech recognition tasks we have to perform. 4.1.6Testing Results 150 speech samples were used as testing data. The aligning results could be obtained after the training process. It was located in the following path in the database directory. results/svd.align 4.1.7Parameters to be optimized Word error rate WER was given as a percentage value. It was calculated according to the following equation Accuracy Accuracy was also given as a percentage. That is the opposite value of the WER. It was calculated using the following equation To obtain an optimal recognition system, the WER should be minimized and the accuracy should be maximized. The parameters of the configuration file were changed time to time and obtained an optimal recognition system where the WER was the minimum with a high accuracy rate. 4.2Research phase 2: Build the voice dialing mobile application. In this section, the implementation of voice dialer for android mobile application is described. The application was developed using the programming language JAVA and it was done using the Eclipse IDE. It was tested in both the emulator and the actual device. The application is able to recognize the spoken digits by any speaker and dial the recognized number. To do this process the trained acoustic model, the pronunciation dictionary, the language model and the grammar files were needed. The speech recognition was performed by using these models in the mobile device itself by using the pocketsphinx library. It is a library written in C language to use for embedded speech recognition devices in Android platform. The step by step implementation and integration of the necessary components were discussed in detail in this section. Resource Files When inputting the resource files to the Android application, they were added in to theassets/directory of the project. Then the physical path was given to make them available for pocketsphinx. After adding them, the Assets directory contained the following resource files. Dictionary svd.dic svd.dic.md5 Grammar digits.gram digits.gram.md5 menu.gram menu.gram.md5 Language model svd.lm.DMP svd.lm.DMP.md5 Acoustic Model feat.params feat.params.md5 mdef mdef.md5 means means.md5 mixture_weights mixture_weights.md5 noisedict noisedict.md5 transition_matrices transition_matrices.md5 variances variances.md5 Assets.lst models/dict/svd.dic models/grammar/digits.gram models/grammar/menu.gram models/hmm/en-us-semi/feat.params models/hmm/en-us-semi/mdef models/hmm/en-us-semi/means models/hmm/en-us-semi/mixture_weights models/hmm/en-us-semi/noisedict models/hmm/en-us-semi/sendump models/hmm/en-us-semi/transition_matrices models/hmm/en-us-semi/variances models/lm/svd.lm.DMP Setup the Recognizer First of all the recognizer should be set up by adding the resource files. The model parameters taken after the training process were added as the HMM in the application. The recognition process was depended mainly on this resource files. Since the grammar files and the language model were added as assets, these two can be used for the recognition process of the application as well as the HMM. The utterances can be recognized from either the grammar files or language model. The whole process is coded using the Java programing language. 4.3Architecture of the developed Speech Recognition System

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Ruamahanga River Analysis: Abiotic and Biotic Factors

Ruamahanga River Analysis: Abiotic and Biotic Factors 1. Introduction A brief description, including an aim of your investigation, details of your chosen area(s), sampling technique and the scientific names of the organisms investigated. Our investigation took place in the Ruamahanga river our aim was to find what abiotic factors and biotic factors were at the Ruamahanga river. We discovered a high number of organisms such as Ephemeroptera (Mayfly) and Trichoptera (caddisfly) and also a very small number of Plecoptera (stoneflies) from the Trinotoperla species 2. Biology of the Ecological Community Information about the organisms in the community you investigated. Describe the ecological niche and adaptations of at least two species, and relevant interrelationships between these organisms. Mayfly: Soft, elongate bodies, The aquatic mayfly nymphs have distinctive, leaf-shaped appendages on the sides of their abdomen that serve as gills for the exchange of respiratory gases.Three Life Stages: egg-aquatic nymph, and adult cycle which includes two phases: (subimago) dun and (imago stage) spinner Caddisflies: Caddisflies are related to Lepidoptera and resemble small hairy moths, but their wings are covered in dense hairs rather than scales and they lack the typical curled proboscis of most moths and butterflies. They are mostly dull-coloured and range in size from 2-40 millimetres in body length. Caddisflies are recognisable by the following features: Elongate body 2 pairs of membranous wings that are of differing size Wings covered in fine hairs. Wings form a roof over the abdomen when at rest Reduced mouthparts Larvae are all born and found in the water since their aquatic and the adults are predominantly found on land. Adults are nocturnal and found on tree trunks resting 3. Abiotic Environment Description of the abiotic factors found in the area you investigated. At the place of our investigation we had a look at the abiotic factors in the area there were tall trees blocking sunlight from hitting all of the river which creates an increase in oxygen because its colder but in the sunny spots the water temperature increases which causes the solubility of oxygen to decrease. We tested The speed of flow with a tape measurer, a stopwatch, and a ball and timed how long it took to travel 10m from point A to B.       Slow flow: Fast flow: Test 1: 34 m/s Test 2: 42 m/s Test 3: 29 m/s Average: 35 m/s Test 1: 13 m/s Test 2: 13 m/s Test 3: 13 m/s Average: 13 m/s The PH using a ph measurer. PH in slow flow was 7.61 PH in fast flow was 7.51 Temperature using a thermometer. In the sunlight the temperature was 17.8 and 19.8   in the slow flow area In the sunlight the temperature was 17.6 and 18.1 in the fast flow area Water clarity using a transparency tube. Slow flow Fast flow Test 1: 82 cm Test 2: 88 cm Test 3: 85 cm Average: 85 cm Test 1: 81 cm Test 2: 85 cm Test 3: 85 cm Average: 83.66 cm Conductivity reading: Slow flow read at: 140   ÃŽ ¼s/cm Fast flow read at: 140   ÃŽ ¼s/cm 4. Biotic Environment Note any interrelationships you may consider of the organisms to be studied. Consider predators, herbivores, competition and mutualism. During our investigation on biotic factors we noticed that we were catching a high number of Caddisflies and mayflies in both slow and fast flow, which showed us Slow flowing river point: Name of organism found: Number found: Pollution score of organism Flat Mayfly 6 8 Free-living caddisfly 2 6 Name of organism found: Number found: Pollution score of organism Flat Mayfly 4 8 Free-living caddisfly 3 6 Name of organism found: Number found: Pollution score of organism Flat Mayfly 8 8 Free-living caddisfly 1 6 Name of organism found: Number found: Pollution score of organism Flat Mayfly 7 8 Free-living caddisfly 1 3 worm 1 6 Name of organism found: Number found: Pollution score of organism Flat Mayfly 5 8 Free-living caddisfly 0 6 Name of organism found: Number found: Pollution score of organism Flat Mayfly 4 8 Free-living caddisfly 1 6 Fast Flowing point: Name of organism Number found Pollution score Flat Mayfly 7 8 Woody case caddisfly 0 5 Free-living caddisfly 2 6 Spotty Stonefly 1 5 Name of organism Number found Pollution score Flat Mayfly 9 8 Woody case caddisfly 2 5 Free-living caddisfly 4 6 Name of organism Number found Pollution score Flat Mayfly 11 8 Woody case caddisfly 1 5 Free-living caddisfly 3 6 worm 1 6 Name of organism Number found Pollution score Flat Mayfly 8 8 Woody case caddisfly 2 5 Free-living caddisfly 2 6 Name of organism Number found Pollution score Flat Mayfly 10 8 Free-living caddisfly 2 6 Spotty Stonefly 2 5 Name of organism Number found Pollution score Flat Mayfly 12 8 Woody case caddisfly 1 5 Free-living caddisfly 1 6 Beetle 1 6 5. Diagrams/pictures of your sampling site. Photo of the fast flow part of the river where we took our fast flow samples A picture of our fast flow area where we did all of our test for fast flow. A picture of how slow flow area where we did all of our test for slow flow.   6. Processed field data Presented in a table and graph which is appropriate and enables you to clearly show and the distribution pattern of your chosen organisms in the ecological community. 7. Discussion Explain why the population distribution pattern you have observed and described occurs.   Relate the pattern in the community to the biology and adaptations (structural, behavioural or physiological) of the two organisms studied.   Discuss how environmental factors (abiotic and biotic) might affect the organisms in the community, and how this relates to the observed distribution pattern, or absence of a pattern. This could involve elaborating, applying, justifying, relating, evaluating, comparing and contrasting, and/or analysing.   In your discussion, include interrelationships between organisms in your ecological community. With Caddisflies and Mayflies we saw that they didnt bother each other when we had them in the sampling container but they do compete for the same food because the both species eat algae and there would be a competition for the food. One thing we did notice was a larger population of Mayflies compared to what we caught in the way of Caddisflies. Due to the significant amount of Mayflies we suspect that because of the pollution score being up at 8 that its a bit too much for the Caddisflies to be able to live in with a higher population number. Another thing is a big predator to a Mayfly is a stonefly and we didnt see a lot of Stoneflies in the stream so the Mayflies are either dominant or the stoneflies just cant survive in that particular area because of their pollution level being down at 5. In conclusion I have realised that the higher the pollution number in an area i.e Mayflies being up at 8, they would then have a higher population were as if its a low pollution score i.e stone fly being down at 5 then there isnt such a big population. A small sample of a food chain in a stream: Algae→Mayflies→Stoneflies. A couple of biotic factors are: other organisms, competitors, predators herbivores and prey. 8. Bibliography A list of the information sources you used to help you write your report, written in a format that allows other people to find the information sources. These are the sources used to find most of my research. http://www.ento.csiro.au/education/insects/trichoptera.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddisfly#Ecology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfly http://www.encyclopedia.com/plants-and-animals/animals/zoology-invertebrates/mayflies Biology level 2 book Biology scipad level 2 Wat is feit en fictie? Wat is feit en fictie? Inleiding Wij kregen een voorlichting van ons profielwerkstuk, tijdens die voorlichting kwamen wij eigenlijk gelijk op het idee om ons werkstuk over de Zeven Wereldwonderen te gaan doen. Helaas kwamen wij er later achter dat dit onderwerp al was gekozen. We moesten dus een nieuw onderwerp gaan zoeken. Wij vonden het lastig om dit nieuwe onderwerp te verzinnen. We hebben veel op internet gezocht en aan andere oud leerlingen gevraagd wat hun onderwerpen waren, maar we kwamen er niet uit. Uiteindelijk besloten we om de hulp te vragen aan onze begeleider, mevrouw van Bronswijk. Vorig jaar hebben wij tijdens maatschappijleer met een klein gedeelte van de klas The da Vinci Code gekeken bij mevrouw van Bronswijk. Zo kwam mevrouw van Bronswijk met het idee om daar ons profielwerkstuk over te gaan doen. Dit leek ons ook een leuk idee, want we vonden het een leuke film en het interesseerde ons ook. Er zijn veel verschillende theorieà «n over de Da Vinci Code en met dit profielwerkstuk kunnen wij onze eigen visie geven. Eerst hebben wij de hoofdvraag samen met mevrouw van Bronswijk geformuleerd. Samen met haar hebben wij besloten om eerst de film te gaan kijken en daarna de deelvragen te formuleren. Uit de film en het boek kunnen wij ideeà «n opdoen, om te onderzoeken of het vooral uit fictie of uit feiten bestaat. Ook kunnen wij op internet zoeken naar verdere informatie. Wij hebben ongeveer vijf maanden om ons profielwerkstuk af te maken. We hopen dat we ruim op tijd zijn, zodat we ons goed kunnen voorbereiden op onze eindpresentatie. Als we geen PTA-weken hebben willen we goed werken aan het profielwerkstuk, zodat we al onze aandacht erop kunnen richten. We willen de eindpresentie laten zien met behulp van een powerpoint. Het verhaal De aan Harvard afgestudeerde symbologist Robert Langdon is in Parijs voor zaken. Op een avond krijgt hij een laat telefoontje. De oude conservator van het Louvre is vermoord in het museum. Dichtbij het lichaam, heeft de politie raadselachtige cijfers gevonden. Langdon wordt gevraagd om het raadsel op te lossen. Langdon ontdekt stomverbaasd dat de cijfers leiden tot een spoor van aanwijzingen verborgen in de werken van Da Vinci. De aanknopingspunten zijn zichtbaar voor iedereen te zien en toch ingenieus verborgen door de schilder. De cijfers leiden naar Het Laatste Avondmaal. Het blijkt codes te bevatten rondom het mysterie tussen Maria Magdalena en Jezus. Langdon bundelt zijn krachten met een begaafde Franse cryptologe, Sophie Neveu. Hij komt te weten dat Saunià ¨re betrokken was bij de Priorij van Sion, een geheim genootschap, met onder andere leden als Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo en da Vinci. Saunià ¨re heeft zijn leven opgeofferd voor de bescherming van een groot geheim van de Priorij: de locatie van een enorm belangrijke religieus overblijfsel, dat al eeuwen verborgen ligt. In een reis door Parijs en Londen vinden Langdon en Neveu een albino monnik die lijkt te werken voor het Opus Dei. De albino monnik krijgt een opdracht van de kerkleiding om moorden te plegen. Langdon en Neveu komen erachter dat ze op zoek moeten gaan naar de Heilige graal. Ze komen erachter dat de Heilige Graal niet de kelk is waarin het bloed van Jezus Christus is opgevangen tijdens de kruisiging, maar wat het wel moet zijn weten zij nog niet. Langdon wordt door het hele verhaal heen achtervolgd door de politie omdat ze hem verdenken van de moord op Saunià ¨re, de conservator van het Louvre en tevens de opa van Sophie Neveu. Er wordt gestreden tussen het geheime genootschap Priorij van Sion, die de heilige graal beschermen, en de kerkelijke organisatie Opus Dei. Verschillende theorieà «n Dan Brown vertelt in het begin van zijn boek een aantal feiten. Hij vertelt dat de Priorij van Sion, een geheim genootschap dat in 1099 is opgericht, een werkelijk bestaande organisatie is. In 1975 ontdekte de Nationale Bibliotheek van Parijs een aantal perkamenten, Les dossiers secrets, waarin talrijke leden van de Priorij worden benoemd. Onder wie sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo en Leonardo da Vinci. Over de Opus Dei vertelt Dan Brown dat het een katholieke sekte is. Hij heeft geprobeerd een evenwichtige beschrijving van de Opus weer te geven. Het is voor veel mensen een positieve kracht in hun leven, maar er zijn ook mensen die negatieve ervaringen hebben. Het portret van de Opus Dei in de Da Vinci Code is gebaseerd op verschillende boeken en zijn eigen interviews met huidige en voormalige leden ervan. De feitenpagina beweert niets over de klassieke theorieà «n die de fictieve personen in het boek bespreken. Hij verteld in een interview dat de Da Vinci Code een roman is en dus fictie. De karakters en handelingen zijn verzonnen, maar volgens Dan Brown alle beschrijvingen van kunstwerken, architectuur, documenten en geheime rituelen in dit boek waarheidsgetrouw. Deze echte elementen worden door de karakters verklaard en besproken. Hij gelooft zelf dat sommige theorieà «n die door de karakters worden besproken veel waarde hebben, maar dat elke lezer voor zichzelf deze waarde moet beoordelen en er zijn eigen interpretatie aan moet geven. Hij openbaart dus het feit dat de Priorij van Sion en de Opus Dei echt hebben bestaan. Hij beweert dat de heilige graal geen voorwerp is, maar dat het Maria Magdalena is. Is deze theorie nieuw of al veel eerder bedacht? De ideologieà «n in het boek zijn al eeuwen oud en het zijn niet Dan Browns eigen geloofsovertuigingen. Het is de eerste keer dat deze ideologieà «n in een populaire thriller zijn verschenen, maar de informatie is alles behalve nieuw. Dan Brown hoopte dat de lezers hun eigen zoektocht begonnen naar de Da Vinci Code en hun interesse in het geloof aanwakkerden. Sommige mensen beweren dat de Priorij van Sion een verzonnen geheim genootschap is. Volgens de Fransman Pierre Plantard bestond de priorij al sinds de Middeleeuwen. Baigent, Leigh en Lincoln beweren dat Godfried van Bouillon in 1099 de opdracht gaf om in Jeruzalem op de berg Sion een abdij te bouwen. Hier ontstond de Priorij van Sion. De theorie van Dan Brown is dus niet vernieuwend, andere mensen hebben er al over gespeculeerd en Dan Brown heeft een theorie overgenomen. Tempeliers Wie waren de tempeliers en wat waren hun taken? De tempeliers waren een orde die het Heilige land ten tijden van de Heilige oorlog tegen de moslims wilden beschermen. Zij kwamen in actie in de periode van de kruistochten. De orde van tempeliers is omstreeks 1129/1130 opgericht. De tempeliers waren erg rijk, de mensen zeggen dat de tempeliers zo rijk zijn geworden doordat zij een schat hebben gevonden met belangrijke documenten, de heilige graal en gigantische geldschatten. Dit is volgens de geleerden niet waar want zij zeggen dat de tempeliers aan hun geld kwamen doordat zij de grootste bankier waren geworden. Zij hebben het internationale banksysteem uitgevonden. Ridders en landheren vertrouwden het grootste deel van hun vermogen aan de veilige handen van de tempeliers toe. Die vroegen daar uiteraard een vergoeding voor. Na verloop van tijd bezaten de tempeliers grote stukken land in Europa en het Midden-Oosten. De orde van de tempeliers begon officieel met 9 ridders; Hugo de Payens, Godfried van St. Omaars, Andrà © de Montbard, Fulk Comte dAnjou, Archaumbaud de Saint Amand, Rosal, Godfried Bisol, Gondemar en Godefroi. Na 9 jaar later stelden zij zich open voor anderen waardoor zij een grote macht werden in de wereld niet alleen in het Midden-Oosten maar ook in Europa. De eerste 9 jaar van de orde van de tempeliers hebben zij vooral op zichzelf geleefd. Het is altijd onduidelijk geweest van de 9 ridders de eerste negen jaren hebben gedaan. Er wordt gezegd dat zij zich hebben bezig gehouden met opgravingen in en onder de tempel van Salomon in Jeruzalem. Er zijn veel verschillende theorieà «n over geweest. Zij zouden daar hebben gezocht naar een materià «le en spirituele schat. De tempeliers hadden als plan om de pelgrims te beschermen naar het heilige land omdat zij onderweg vaak het slachtoffer waren van georganiseerde bendes. De tempeliers waren militair ingesteld. De tempeliers zorgden voor de bescherming van de pelgrims, de beveiliging van de pelgrimsroutes, de heilige plaatsen en de bevrijding van het heilige land. Ze zagen zichzelf als de militie van Christus. Het was toegestaan om moslims te doden maar wie een christen doodde, werd de orde uitgezet. De tempeliers waren berucht voor hun religieus fanatisme en militair karakter. De tempeliers gebruikten veel geweld tegen de vijanden van hun geloof en de vijanden werden gelijk gestraft. Maar steeds meer mensen geloven dat de tempeliers hier helemaal niet mee bezig waren. Zij geloven dat de tempeliers bezig waren om de SANGREAL te beschermen. San Greal = De heilige graal Sang Real = Koninklijk bloed Door het verschuiven van 1 letter veranderd de betekenis van het woord. Bij de uitvoering van hun taken waren zij bezig om dit geheim te beschermen. Zij zijn er wellicht achter gekomen dat de heilige graal iets volkomen anders is dan zij hadden verwacht. Men denkt dat de heilige graal de beker is waaruit Jezus tijdens zijn laatste avondmaal heeft gedronken maar er bestaat helemaal geen heilige graal op het laatste avondmaal ( hier komen wij later op terug ). Dit was het waar de katholieke kerk zo bang voor was en kan de katholieke kerk ten onder laten gaan. De tempeliers en de priorij van Sion deelde hetzelfde doel; het beschermen en laten voortbestaan van het geslacht der Merovingers en het waken over het geheim van de Heilige graal. In 1307 zijn de tempeliers massaal vervolgd en vermoord, dit had te maken met het rijkdom wat de tempeliers hadden. Geld betekent macht en de tempeliers kregen steeds meer macht. De franse koning Filips en paus Clemens V beraamde samen een plan om de tempeliers uit te schakelen. Zij gaven alle soldaten in heel Europa orders op om op 13 oktober 1307 de tempeliers op te pakken. Deze 13 oktober viel op een vrijdag, zo is de uitdrukking vrijdag de 13e ontstaan. De geruchten die overal rond gaan over de tempeliers en de heilige graal doen ook denken dat de kerk de tempeliers niet alleen heeft uitgeroeid om het geld maar misschien ook wel om het grote geheim. Wat is de Opus Dei en bestaan ze nog? Het Opus Dei is een organisatie van de Rooms-katholieke kerk. Ze willen dat mensen zich ervan bewust zijn dat ze met het geloof moeten leven en dat ze dat aan de ongelovigen van de maatschappij moeten overbrengen. Op 2 oktober 1928 is het Opus Dei opgericht door de Spaanse geestelijke Mgr. Josefmarà ­a Escrivà ¡ de Balaguer. Opus Dei betekent letterlijk ‘Werk van God. Als je over het Opus Dei leest, lees je altijd wel dat het een geheimzinnig genootschap is. Maar de Opus Dei leden zelf ontkennen dat. Volgens hen is het geen geheim, maar het is besloten en dat is een groot verschil. Ze omschrijven het als een privà © kwestie, een persoonlijke relatie met God. De oprichter van het Opus Dei, vatte de doelstelling van het Opus Dei zo samen: Het enige doel van het Opus Dei is eraan bij te dragen dat er mannen en vrouwen van alle rassen en sociale klassen zijn die, te midden van de aardse gebeurtenissen en bezigheden, God en hun medemensen in en door hun dagelijkse arbeid willen beminnen en dienen. Door De Da Vinci Code is er de laatste jaren meer belangstelling voor het Opus Dei. Het Opus Dei heeft in een interview gereageerd op De Da Vinci Code. Zij vinden dat de Da Vinci Code het Opus Dei ten onrechte beschrijft als een katholieke sekte. Een sekte is een godsdienstige beweging die zich heeft afgesplitst van de organisatie, er ontstaan dan dus twee verschillende kampen. Het Opus Dei heeft altijd volledig deel uitgemaakt van de katholieke kerk. Alle overtuigingen, praktijken en gewoonten van het Opus Dei stemmen overeen met die van de kerk. Het Opus Dei een sekte noemen is dus onjuist. De leden van het Opus Dei worden in De Da Vinci Code afgebeeld als monniken. Monniken leven voornamelijk in kloosters en trekken zich terug uit de wereld. Leden van het Opus Dei leven juist in de maatschappij en beleven daar het christelijk geloof, het zijn dus geen monniken. Zelfkastijding komt vaak voor uit religieuze overtuiging. De Cilice is een band van metalen ringen met haakjes aan de binnen kant. In The Da Vinci Code wordt de band door een volger van het Opus Dei om het bovenbeen gedaan als boetedoening voor de kruisiging van Jezus. De vormen van zelfkastijding die bij het Opus Dei aan de orde komen ligt de nadruk meet op de in het dagelijks leven gebrachte offers dan op grotere offers. Ze zeggen ook dat de verwrongen en overdreven schilderingen die in De Da Vinci Code voorkomen niets te maken hebben met het Opus Dei. Het Opus Dei bestaat nog steeds. Ze hebben ook een officià «le website: www.opusdei.org. Het hoofdkantoor van het Opus Dei staat in Rome. Het kent ongeveer 85.000 leden over de hele wereld. In 1959 is het Opus Dei in Nederland gekomen door Hermann Steinkamp. Hij vestigde zich in Amsterdam. In de jaren die volgden werden ook in Utrecht en Maastricht Opus Dei verenigingen opgericht. Opus Dei leden wonen op verschillende plaatsen in Nederland. Het hoofdkantoor van Nederland staat in Amsterdam. Dr. C.G.E. van der Ploeg is sinds 2008 het hoofd van het Opus Dei in Nederland. Nederland kent ongeveer 150 leden en 300 medewerkers. Priorij van Sion Wat is de priorij van Sion en hebben zij echt bestaan? De priorij van Sion is een geheim genootschap, zij hadden als belangrijkste opdracht om de bloedlijn van Jezus te beschermen. Er word beweerd dat de Priorij van Sion machtige geheimen bewaakt over de oorsprong van het Christendom. De priorij van Sion zou in 1090 zijn opgericht door een kruisridder genaamd; Godfried van Bouillon. In deze tijd waren de tempeliers verbonden met de Priorij van Sion maar door het incident in Gisor gingen beide organisaties een eigen kant op. De priorij van Sion zou vanaf toen meer in anonimiteit leven en de tempeliers speelden zich juist steeds meer in de kijker. De priorij zou onder leiding staan van een aantal grootmeesters; Sir Isaac Newton, Sandro Filipepi (botticelli) en Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo zou de laatste negen jaar van zijn leven de leiding hebben gehad over de Priorij. Echt bestaan of niet? De ideeà «n over de Priorij van Sion in de Da Vinci Code zijn gebaseerd op de verhalen van het boek; Het heilige bloed en de Heilige graal uit 1982. De onderzoekers; Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh en Henry Lincoln die dit verhaal hebben geschreven zijn aan de informatie gekomen van Pierre Plantard. Deze man beweerde dat hij ‘Dossier secrets bezat en dat hij de leider was van de Priorij van Sion. De officià «le oprichting van de Priorij van Sion zou zijn geweest door Pierre Plantard op 7 mei 1956. Nadat het boek â€Å"Het heilige bloed en de Heilige graal† uit was gekomen is er onderzoek gedaan naar alle gegevens in het boek. Uit deze onderzoeken is gebleken dat de documenten ‘Dossier secrets vervalsingen zijn en dat Pierre Plantard de Priorij van Sion heeft verzonnen. Plantard bedacht deze geschiedenis dat de Priorij van Sion al in de Middeleeuwen bestond en hij beweerde zelfs dat hij een afstammeling was van de merovingen. Pierre Plantard heeft in 1953 al 6 maan den vastgezeten vanwege het frauderen van documenten, dit helpt niet bepaald het geloven van zijn Priorij verhalen. Veel onderzoekers uit deze periode denken dat de Priorij van Sion helemaal niet bestaan heeft en dat het allemaal onzin is. Als de Priorij van Sion al heeft bestaan, bestond deze uit verschillende lagen. De Priorij van Sion is opgebouwd uit 9 lagen: 6561 Novices 2187 Croices 729 Preux 243 Ecuyers 81 Chevaliers 27 Commandeurs 9 Connetables 3 Senechaux 1 Nautonier ( Roerganger, Grand Master) Heilige graal Wat is de heilige graal nou precies? De heilige graal, wat is het nou precies? Het is altijd onduidelijk geweest wat de heilige graal precies is. Er gaan namelijk vele theorieà «n over de wereld die beweren wat het inhoudt. Elk mens, of het nu een professor, onderzoeker of gewoon een burger is, gelooft weer iets anders. De heilige graal is een beker. Uit deze beker heeft Jezus gedronken tijdens het laatste avondmaal. Deze beker zou ook het bloede hebben opgevangen tijdens de kruisiging van Jezus christus. Volgens de overlevering heeft Jozef van Arimathea de graal in veiligheid gebracht. Alleen niemand weet waar hij de graal heeft opgeborgen. Dit is een van de meest bekende en voorkomende theorie. Het is alleen niet de enige, er zijn er meerdere: De heilige graal zou niet in de tijd van Jezus christus zijn ontstaan. De heilige graal zou pas in de 12e eeuw voor het eerst zijn opgedoken in de tijd van koning Arthur. Koning Arthur en de ridders van de ronde tafel zouden samen op zoek zijn gegaan naar de heilige graal. Dit ging pas rond nadat een franse monnik hier een roman over schreef. Echter lang voor deze tijd ging er al een mondelinge traditie rond waarin over de heilige graal werd verteld. De theorie waar Dan Brown vanuit is gegaan is dat de heilige graal een aantal documenten waren waarin stond dat Jezus christus en Maria Magdalena getrouwd zijn geweest en zelfs voor nakomelingen hebben gezorgd. Deze gedachte heeft hij niet zelf verzonnen. Deze theorie is al eerder bedacht door anderen. Dan Brown heeft zijn theorieà «n gebaseerd op het boek ‘Het Heilige Bloed en de Heilige Graal, de schrijvers van dit boek waren de eerste die met deze theorie kwamen aanzetten. Dit gebeurde in 1982. De heilige graal zou niets anders zijn dan de bloedlijn van Jezus christus en Maria Magdalena. In het oud Frans betekent heilige graal: San Greal. Maar door 1 letterverschuiving krijgt het woord een hele andere betekenis namelijk: Sang real. Dit betekent koninklijk bloed. Maria Magdalena was de heilige graal. De bloedlijn van Maria Magdalena zou hebben gezorgd voor de eerste Koninklijke dynastie van Frankrijk, de meroveringen. Zij, Maria Magdalena, zou de bloedlijn naar Frankrijk hebben gebracht. ‘Het Heilige Bloed en de Heilige Graal is geschreven door de 3 schrijvers. Deze schrijvers kregen hulp van Pierre Plantard. Deze meneer, Pierre Plantard, beweerde dat hij heel veel wist over het verleden van de geschiedenis over de ‘da Vinci code. Later is gebleken dat deze meneer Plantard een oplichter was. Hij had al 6 maanden in de gevangenis gezeten omdat hij documenten had vervalst. Dit werkt natuurlijk niet mee in het verduidelijken van de geschiedenis. Dus wat er bekent is gemaakt in het boek daarvan weten we dus niet of het echt waar is of niet. Maar er is wel een nieuwe theorie bij gebracht. Er is dus nog steeds geen duidelijkheid over wat de heilige graal precies zou moeten zijn. Bloedlijn Is er nog een levende bloedlijn met Jezus of heeft deze nooit echt bestaan? Was Jezus echt getrouwd met Maria? In het boek van Dan Brown wordt er beweerd dat er een bloedlijn is van Jezus christus. Jezus christus zou een kind hebben verwekt bij Maria Magdalena. Maria zou zwanger zijn tijdens de kruisiging van Jezus Christus. Er gaan verschillende verhalen rond over de verhouding tussen Maria en Jezus. Jezus en Maria zouden getrouwd zijn en hebben samen 1 of 2 kinderen. Na de kruisiging ging Maria Magdalena samen met haar dochter Sarah naar Frankrijk. Sarah zou niet het enige kind zijn geweest, er word ook gespeculeerd dat Jezus en Maria een zoon zouden hebben, Jakobus. Het is onduidelijk of dit nu echt waar is of niet. De verhalen die rond gaan zijn dat Maria samen met Jakobus en Sarah naar Frankrijk zijn gegaan. Samen met haar zus Martha en de oom van Jezus hebben zij deze reis gemaakt. Het schijnt dat de oom van Jezus, een rijk man was. Hij zou de reis volledig bekostigt hebben. Nadat zij in Frankrijk waren aangekomen, zijn Maria en Sarah verder doorgereisd Frankrijk in. Jakobus zou naar Sp anje zijn gekeerd en begraven liggen onder Compostella. Het is altijd nog onduidelijk of er echt kinderen zijn voortgekomen uit de relatie van Maria Magdalena en Jezus christus. Als dit wel het geval was, is het heel goed mogelijk dat er een bloedlijn bestaat die nu nog steeds voortduurt. Het nageslacht van Jezus en Maria zouden dus de eerste merovingen zijn geweest, de eerste Koninklijke dynastie van Frankrijk. Jezus en Maria zouden een relatie hebben met elkaar en zelfs getrouwd zijn. Het is nooit echt bevestigd of dit waar is of niet. In het nieuwe testament word niet gesproken over Jezus en Maria die een relatie hebben. Maar Maria was wel bij belangrijke momenten in zijn leven. Uit het testament blijkt dat Maria aanwezig was bij de kruisiging en de graflegging van Jezus. Maria was ook de eerste die hem zag na zijn opstanding. Uit deze belangrijke momenten kan je toch wel zeggen dat Maria Magdalena een belangrijk persoon was in het leven van Jezus christus. Maria word in het Nieuwe Testament vooral als prostituee gezien. In 1969 heeft het Vaticaan toegegeven dat Maria Magdalena ten onrechte is beschuldigd als prostituee en dat voor 1400 jaar lang. Veel bijbel geleerde gaan er vanuit dat Jezus christus met Maria Magdalena was getrouwd. Zo zegt historicus Jacob Slavenburg, medevertaler van de Nag Hammadigeschriften: â€Å"Maria Magdalena was geen hoer die door Jezus in genade was aangenomen. In werkelijkheid was ze Jezus geliefde vrouw. In de eerste eeuwen stond Maria Magdalena bekend als de Apostola apostolorum, de apostel boven de apostelen.† Als Maria en Jezus al getrouwd zouden zijn dan was de kerk hier niet blij mee. Maria zou dan de gene zijn geweest die de lijn van Jezus zou voortzetten. Maria zou heel veel macht hebben, vooral als vrouw zijnde. De kerk vind dat vrouwen niet de macht horen te hebben. Als Maria Magdalena en Jezus Christus dan al samen een dochter, Sarah, zouden hebben dan was het voor de kerk een probleem. De kerk zag niets in een kerkleer waarin vrouwen een belangrijke rol spelen. Maria Magdalena Is Maria Magdalena echt begraven onder het Louvre? Is het Maria Magdalena of Johannes op hat ‘Laatste Avondmaal? Het Laatste Avondmaal is gemaakt door Leonardo Da Vinci. Hij is begonnen met het schilderij in 1495 en voltooide het in 1498. In de Bijbel is beschreven dat Jezus hier aankondigt dat à ©Ãƒ ©n van zijn twaalf volgelingen hem zal verraden. Er wordt beweerd dat van links naar rechts de volgende personen zijn: Bartholomeà ¼s, Jakobus de Mindere, Andreas, Judas Iskariot, Petrus, Johannes, Jezus Christus, Thomas, Jacobus de Meerdere, Filippus, Mattheà ¼s, Judas Taddeà ¼s en Simon. De twaalf apostelen hebben allemaal andere reacties op de aankondiging van Jezus. Bartholomeà ¼s, Jakobus de Mindere en Andreas kijken verrast. Andreas houd zijn handen omhoog, dit is een soort â€Å" dit is het einde gebaar†. Judas Iskariot, Petrus en Johannes vormen ook een groepje. Judas heeft een goudzakje in zijn handen, die hij heeft gekregen voor het verraden van Jezus. Petrus heeft een mes in zijn handen. Hij wenkt Johannes om te vragen wie Jezus bedoelt. Sommige mensen beweren dat dit niet Johannes, maar Maria Magdalena is. Het derde groepje bestaat uit Thomas, Jacobus de Meerdere en Filippus. Zij kijken alle drie vragend en geschokt, Thomas lijkt een verklaring te zoeken. Mattheà ¼s, Judas Taddeà ¼s en Simon praten er met zn drieà «n over. Over de vraag of het Maria Magdalena of Johannes is op het schilderij zijn de meningen flink verdeelt. Vroeger was het gebruikelijk om Johannes zonder baard af te beelden. Sommige mensen beweren dat de persoon vrouwelijke vormen heeft. In de Da Vinci Code hebben ze een gedetailleerde kijk op het schilderij. Hier wordt gezegd dat het Maria Magdalena moet zijn. De gewaden die Jezus en Maria aan hebben zijn bij zowel Maria als Jezus rood en blauw. Als je Maria uit deze afbeelding knipt en aan de linkerkant van Jezus plakt, ligt zij precies op zijn schouder. Het lijkt alsof dit Da Vinci zijn bedoeling was. Dan Brown laat dus zien dat er verschillende aanwijzingen verborgen liggen in dit schilderij. Wat doet het mes op het ‘Laatste Avondmaal? Op het laatste avondmaal is te zien dat Petrus een mes in zijn handen heeft. Deze houdt hij in tegenovergestelde richting van Jezus. In de Da Vinci Code laat Dan Brown zien dat dit niet de hand van Petrus is, maar dit is niet waar. In de gerestaureerde versies van het schilderij is duidelijk te zien dat dit wel de hand van Petrus is. Het is merkwaardig dat Petrus een mes in zijn handen heeft als Jezus net verteld dat à ©Ãƒ ©n van zijn leerlingen hem zal gaan verraden. Waarom het mes naar achter is gedraaid is niet duidelijk. Bronnenlijst http://www.danbrown.nl/Interviews/Interview-De-Da-Vinci-Code.pdf http://www.opusdei.nl/sec.php?s=607 http://www.seti2.nl/index_bestanden/Vinci.htm (het laatste avondmaal) bronnen van de letterlijk overgenomen stukken tekst. HDFC Bank: Securing Online Banking HDFC Bank: Securing Online Banking James Rapp Managing Information Security in Information Systems Summary The importance of banking online has grown enormously in the past decade. Making for more profit and better convenience it is not likely to fade away anytime soon. This also presents some new hurdles for the online banking community. As the number of banking online customers increases the amount of criminal attacker will also increase. The bank recognizes this trend and therefore to maintain and even grow customer confidence and trust they develop ways to keep the customer data and money safe. The bank has to take on an enormous feet which is to protect customers and staff from the attacker and themselves. The banking security is only as strong as the end user of the terminal machine or the end user/customer using a credit/debit card. Throughout this paper I will present key facts and issues of this case then I will go through these issues giving alternative solutions and engaging in the pros and cons of those solutions. Key Facts Operations for HDFC bank had first got up and running during the year 1995 of the month of January HDFC bank was one of the first banks to set up online banking. HDFC is a trusted name in banking, 2,544 branches, 9,333 ATMs, 1,399 towns cities. HDFC Bank is one of the leading private banks in India HDFC identifies public key infrastructure, during PKI’s infancy, as a suitable technology to address security. In the Indian sector of banking there are basically 5 types of banks: private sector banks, regional rural banks, foreign banks, Co-operative banks, and public sector banks. Once RBI had published the guidelines on internet banking HDFC started its online services. For internal risk management HDFC bank used technology-intensive models. The data center and backup systems where held at two different geographical locations in Mumbai. RBI guidelines report banks should utilize the outside experts known as ethical hackers to penetrate systems, inspect infrastructure, and test physical access controls HDFC has made the commitment to bring new products and attract new customers while signing with RSA security, the US based provider of IS solutions. Key Issues 1) Improving banks services to attract and keep new customers. 2) Throughout the banking authority maintain information security. 3) Continuity in business is essential, how to maintain it? 4) What are the security challenges in online banking? 5) What are the challenges faced by Salvi? 6) Compulsions at HDFC Bank. 7) Roadmap the chief information officer (CIO) can implement. Key Issue 1: Improving banks services to attract and keep new customers. Alternative Course Solution: a) Making the banking experience as fast and efficient as possible. Bringing up-to-date technologies to the front doors of the customer. State of the art website, phone applications and ATM’s will bring the banking experience to new levels. Pros: By utilizing these channels of communication between the bank and the customer a very nice freeway of information exchange begins to take shape. This is a very effective way to monitor customer transactions and to weed out the unauthorized user. Cons: At the same time tracking customers can be an issue. Unless an efficient, effective protocol is established to track customers through these various channels it could become a headache and very difficult to manage. To achieve a protocol that makes exchanging data over numerous channels work will endure cost. The adding of such protocol’s and policies will likely put the price tag higher. b) Taking an effective promotional stand will attract new customer and help boost the banks reputation helping to keep those customers. Pros: Setting the stage with an effective promotional scheme will certainly attract and secure new customers When the customer numbers increase so shall the banks revenue stream. Bringing a happy bank and happy employees. Cons: To develop and implement such a promotional scheme the bank will have to put out the money. Cost is always an issue when trying to improve you business. Reaching out to people and trying to attract new customers can back fire. If the promotion offends people, annoys people or if it is just done poorly then it could actually have the opposite effect and could eventually hurt the bank. c) By making use of website, phone app’s, ATM etc. . . . the bank can connect with the customer in a personal, effective way. Pros: Pulling off this venture will build the relationship between bank and customer. The banks rep will grow and that is a very positive thing. Having all of these channels through which the bank customer can use will provide a sense of anytime banking. Online, no problem, on the phone, no problem, on the road, no problem. Cons: If everything is not perfectly setup than the customer satisfaction rate will definitely suffer in which the bank will suffer. Ultimately by receiving a bad banking experience the bank could lose customers. Key Issue 2: Through the banking authority how to maintain information security? Alternative Course Solution: a) Keeping the personal data, confidential data out of the hands of non-authorized personal. Pros: Keeping sensitive information such as home addresses, telephone numbers, social-security numbers out of unauthorized hands will prevent fraud in credit, debit and account information. By maintaining the personal data in-house it will also make for a more informed staff making for a better service and more complete work force. Con: This security measure could hurt relationships. The sharing of information if done correctly could actually build a relationship and by taking this out of the equation it could actually prevent a great binding. The fact that an employee may use the information for a sinister purpose will always be a concern. The bank has to do the best they can with this type of in-house problem. b) Using a strategy that employ’s ethical hackers to attempt penetration on systems and network infrastructure. Pros: Will give the bank an awareness on which system programs are vulnerable to attack. Maintaining all personal info: home addresses, social security numbers and credit card numbers. Cons: By using ethical hackers the bank put its sensitive information out there. It gives up very sensitive information, its secrets so to speak. When bringing in outside help the bank also brings in additional expenses. To hire an ethical hacker the price tag could be very large. A salary for an ethical hacker shows the story. c) Maintaining software by way of updating and personal training. Pros: By testing and keeping watch of your systems the bank will achieve the ultimate efficiency. System programs, web applications, data servers etc. . . . all will be extremely enhanced. Cons: As we found with employing ethical hackers the price tag will no doubt go up. It is also possible that by taking this route the deliberate modification of some admin tools could take place. Key Issue 3: Continuity in business is essential, how to maintain it? Alternative Course Solutions: a) Backing up data, being able to recover if the need should ever arise. Pros: By backing up data the bank ensures itself in times of natural disaster, robbery, and any other type of event that could otherwise cause the bank to lose precious personal data. The fact the banking organizations have such a spread of devices and applications, channels of communication between the public having data backed up can make for a well programmed system in which real time information is received in a more-timely manner. Cons: Having information especially sensitive information always bring the possibility of the misuse of such data. The data will be stored on databases and SQL injections and other database driven attacks will be a real threat. The cost to ensure the correct safety measures and data systems will go up. b) Making use of geographically locations, having more than one location. Pros: Like other pro’s the bank can attract more and a new variety of customers by utilizing numerous bank locations. The range of people the bank will reach will increase thus bringing in new customers. By having more locations than the banking organization can spread. In doing this the bank will bring in better network connections and new and long lasting customers. Cons: If the bank does decide to invest in new locations that is exactly what they will have to do, invest. Putting out more money to open new locations, staff, devices, new protocols all add up. Deciding where to put these new branches could also be time consuming and costly. If a bank location go through and does not work out it would be like a money pit for the bank. Key Issues 4: What are the security challenges in online banking? Alternative Course Solutions: a) Making sure the customers data is stored safe and soundly. Pros: If this is done correctly the bank will gain a respectable reputation and with this will develop more customers. Having this much data and the type of data that it is can make for some pretty exciting and state-of-the-art systems. Cons: This is a task that is a lot easier said than done. If the security systems that are put into place to hold this data is not completely secure data theft could be a real possibility. Holding this much data will bring with it the cost factor. The more data and the more complex the system gets the more money will be needed to develop and implement a secure database system. b) Keeping a close relationship with the customer, not relying too much on automated systems. Pros: Making the effort to still provide a personal experience for the customer brings a sense that the bank cares and that they understand in a personal way. By keeping the personal connection with the banking customer the bank itself can tell what the vibe is on the back, hear what is trending, and basically have a view that is from the other side, the customer side. Cons: It is possible that by building such close bonds between bank staff and open public banking customer the bank opens up the door to insider attack. Employees that might have a negative view on the bank could reveal trade secrets, banking data, or sabotage. Key Issues 5: What are the challenges faced by Salvi? Alternative Solution Course: a) Making HDFC a â€Å"World class Indian bank†. Pros: This is a respectable ambition and it definitely sets the bar. Under the watch of Salvi the customer should know that customer care and satisfaction will be at the highest priority. Cons: Putting this type of standard in the mix could affect decisions, in turn the customer could suffer. To become a World class bank HDFC must transform the offline user to the online user. This is obvious but it is also a costly and very cumbersome project. b) Securing Online Banking. Pros: Without question making the hard transition from offline banking to online banking will create a more efficient better class of bank. If Salvi can make online banking secure than growing into the world class bank should follow. Cons: Online banking brings new security risks: authentication, authorization, privacy, integrity, and non-repudiation. The higher the banks reputation might actually make it a target for criminal trying to make a name for themselves. c) Reducing false positives Pros: This would help to not bother the law abiding, everyday banker. Over time the false positives should work themselves out and the banking system will be greater for it. Key Issues 6: Compulsions at HDFC Bank. Alternative Solution Course: a) Keeping customers in the automated channel. ATMS, online banking, mobile devices etc. . . Pros: This will provide customers with better services. By keeping up-to-date with the state-of-the-art technologies the bank keeps efficiency at an all-time high. This can attract new customers they like the fact that they can do banking business from the safety of their homes. Cons: The one-to-one bank teller to customer relationship gets forgotten about. Most Indian Bankers are familiar with the one-to-one banking, they like the personal service. b) Increasing customers Pros: The more customers the more money/revenue the bank will receive. Growth, gain, and prosperity are some key virtues of a bank and with this in mind HDFC should always be on top of their game. Cons: Always promoting, reaching out to increase the customer rate the bank could lose focus on what their really there for. The more customers the more problems. Key Issues 7: Roadmap the chief information officer (CIO) can implement. Alternative Solution Course: a) Secure the customer transition from offline to online banker. Pros: This will grow the banks revenue, increase customers, making for a very efficient banking system. This has to be accomplish if Salvi will reach the ultimate goal of World Class Bank. Cons: As is apparent phishing scams will come to light. With the online banking operation comes more security issues. Lose the personal relationship between customer and staff. b) Secure online banking. Pros: The online banker will feel more comfortable when doing business online. This is a step in the direction to become a world class bank. Will bring more with it a better reputation and more customers. Cons: The cost will always be a negative aspect of any progress. With the online banking even if it is considered secure the criminal element will be more of an issue. c) Evolve into the world class bank Pros: This is the goal that Salvi wishes to reach and it is a prestige’s accomplishment. With this comes the attention to detail, finer service a World Class elegance. Cons: With this with also bring the increasing of hardware and software maintenance, upkeep of websites, management of data centers. References Bose, Indranil. The University Of Honk Kong. â€Å"HDFC Bank: Securing Online Banking† Retrieved From: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/access/35744031. April 4, 2015 PayScale, Inc. 2015. â€Å"Average Salary for Certification: Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)† Retrieved From: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Certification=Certified_Ethical_Hacker_%28CEH%29/Salary Rajpreet, Jassel. Ravinder, Sehgal. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering. â€Å"Online Banking Security Flaws: A study† Retrieved From: http://www.ijarcsse.com/docs/papers/Volume_3/8_August2013/V3I2-0257.pdf Odyssey Technologies. â€Å"Implementing Transaction Security For HDFC Bank† Retrieved From: http://www.odysseytec.com/Documents/CaseStudies/HDFC_SnorkelTX_CaseStudy.pdf 1