Friday, November 29, 2019

To What Extent Does the Success of E

Introduction In the contemporary demanding world, the information-based ability of workers is an imperative prerequisite for companies to possess competitive advantage. The typical learning is unable to meet the objectives described for the learning necessities of employees. This aspect demands that organizations integrate e-learning for the employees to enhance the performance of the individuals that translates to organizational performance.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on To What Extent Does the Success of E-learning Depend on a Change in Organizational Culture? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The accomplishment of the e-learning program largely depends on the technology used. More importantly, the employees and the organizational culture significantly affect the success of such initiatives. The readiness of the workforce to adopt and utilize e-learning is a critical aspect that determines the success of the i nitiative irrespective of the costs that ought to be saved and the technology used. In fact, e-learning requires the availability of equipment that allows the electronic transfer of knowledge. E-learning defines the capability to control, support and administer learning and training material (Seal and Sivan 335). These capabilities are also impacted by the organizational culture that may limit the extent at which an organization may go to ensure it remains competitive. This study explores the extent at which the e-learning depends on changes in the organizational culture in order to be successful. Main Body E-learning entails a wide range of applications and procedures including computer-dependent learning, digital cooperation, internet-based learning and virtual classrooms. The aspect involves the dissemination of information through the internet, extranet or intranet (WAN or LAN), video- and audiotape, interactive television, and CDs. From literature, e-learning appears as a tacti c and technology that enables learning. In the majority of companies, an e-learning program is typically the execution of training and cooperation that is availed to workers through the organization’s LAN hence readily accessible to individuals at their expediency. Whereas it may partly stand-in for classroom learning, it is essentially designed to augment learning and broaden it to a wider audience while saving on the expenses (McIntosh 2). Hosseini, Salimifard and Yadollahi demonstrated that e-learning is an appropriate solution for companies to deal with the shifting environment of business-connected information needed for the organizations to attain and retain competitiveness and diminish the training costs (p.42). However, it is closely related to the human resources function of an organization as a tactical means towards developing knowledge workers. In essence, it leads to enhanced employee satisfaction, improved chances of career development, supple learning for worke rs, enhanced innovation, as well as improved operational effectiveness (Liu, Huang and Lin 2012).  Majority companies use e-learning technologies to gain from such initiatives. However, due to the extensive investments initially needed and the elevated rate of failure, most of the organizations are hesitant to initiate such programs.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Hence, it is imperative for the human resource function of a company willing to implement such initiatives to evaluate the readiness of the company to accept the program. Besides, it is essential for the evaluation to be done from diverse perspectives including the people, novelty, attitudes, infrastructure and organizational culture. The willingness to espouse e-learning is a critical factor that significantly impacts on the triumphant adaptation of e-learning programs. The organizational culture also affects t he success of e-learning programs. In view of organizational learning, organizational culture can ease or harden the learning process. The process can also be reversed where e-learning can be a means to the changes in organizational culture. According to Masie assertions, it is imperative for the corporate management to develop an organizational culture that supports e-learning (p.3). The tendency by workers to resist the use of technology often arises from the established organizational culture that may not encourage workers to embrace diverse changes that will eventually be necessitated by the changing business environment (Venkatesh et al. 428). This is essential for the human resources function since changes are inevitable.  Inherently, employees prefer face-to-face learning to any other learning modes. However, considering that organizations are expanding rapidly, this may not be rational. For example, it will be almost impossible for a multinational company’s human re source function to train employees around the world individually. A human resource manager based in the U.S. will be able to facilitate the dissemination of information to any part of the world so long as the infrastructure is in place. This is cost-effective as the company can hold regular video conferences at the convenience of every employee. The trainer does not need to travel around the world to train employees. From this illustration, it is essential for companies to establish organizational cultures that are flexible to adopt changes aimed at building competitiveness and profitability of the organization (Normark and Cetindamar 325).  Rigid organizational cultures hinder the implementation of diverse initiatives. Typically, most of such changes could not be readily accepted in an organization. Workers often view changes as a threat to the security of jobs. This is especially the case where technology is involved. Given that technology makes operations efficient, workers who lack confidence in their performance will resist any changes aimed at streamlining operations. Employees with such perceptions often incite others into resisting the changes irrespective of the benefits to the individuals and consequently to the organization.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on To What Extent Does the Success of E-learning Depend on a Change in Organizational Culture? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is essential for the human resource function to be in regular communication with employees whenever imminent changes are foreseen.  The right organizational culture is essential for overcoming heritage of prior incident and previous values and norms. Organizational cultures are developed over a long time. While they are not policies that are immediately implemented, they develop naturally according to the corporate environment. The management and the employees play a role in developing the organiz ational culture. As the organization grows, certain norms are developed and eventually become partly evident in many areas of the organization. The cultural factors are observed in areas such as corporate arrangement, assistance by the administration, the climate for novelty and transformation, the situation of the human capital, the managerial processes, guidance and learning, as well as the connection with information technology. E-learning is likely to be successful in situations where the aforementioned factors allow the organization to support changes in different areas. The corporate arrangement is one of the essential areas of organizational culture that significantly impact on the success of e-learning. Thus, it is important for companies to have an elaborate organizational structure. However, these structures should be flexible to allow innovations and improvements. Executives are aware that innovations are inevitable. Actually, innovations are encouraged in leading compani es as they introduce new energy and synergize these structures (Govindasamy 288).  Cisco is one of the most cited examples of how culture influences the success of e-learning. Prior to inventing the phrase â€Å"e-learning†, a member of staff at the corporation recorded a film production and placed the tape-recorded on the company’s intranet. When the employee alerted a vice president, he was thrilled by the innovation. He sent messages around the company, suggesting that they watch the video. Everyone was so eager to watch that the Cisco system almost stalled. This led to the innovation of placing videos on the company LAN instead of the company’s extranet. The interest in technology by the company led the staff to research further on the innovation leading to e-learning (McIntosh 2). The corporate arrangement was restructured to create a department that would specifically deal with e-learning. The company has ever since utilized video extensively to train th e workforce. The orientation of new employees is done through video interactions and this ensured saving the money on the costs of training as new employees could learn on their own. Such an organizational culture in terms of organizational structure flexibility is important for the success of e-learning.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The change in situation of human capital is another aspect that influences the success of e-learning. There are organizational cultures where the management hierarchy is bureaucratic to the extent that the top management will not allow the lower cadre any level of autonomy. In such situations, such cultures hinder the implementation and consequently the success of e-learning. The top management fears that it will lose control of what the employees are engaging in terms of training. For example, in a unionized organization, an executive of training conferred with the labor affairs faction regarding e-learning. He was informed that this could not be done. The grounds behind it were that corporate directors could have whined on the subject raised. In fact, one might question the reasons that could make the executives to whine concerning the extra education prospects granted to company employees. Upon investigation, it became apparent that the trouble was the immediate character of e-le arning. Workers would be capable of signing in and take the guidance devoid of the executive’s approval. The executive would lose control of what the worker would learn. A number of the situations were made available to people working here. One of them was administrative processes. Whenever an employee enrolled for an e-learning course, the executive was sent a letter. Often, the executive would advise the worker not to take the course. McIntosh claims that to a large degree, it was a control problem. Executives wanted workers to take classes that were part of the executive’s plan, especially when the classes were during company time. The other issue in the equation was a perception issue on the labor affairs faction part. They were scared of the potential predicament. After the implementation of the e-learning program, there was no problem as predicted. This is an illustration of how the situation of the people as a culture of an organization may influence the success of the e-learning programs. Prior to the implementation of an e-learning program, it is astute to confer widely with the stakeholders. The human resources division might prove to be the principal test. This is despite the training division being part of the human resource function. The motive behind this is that the human resource function and the personnel anticipate all types of labor affairs troubles (McIntosh 3).  The other aspect of organizational culture that impacts on the successful implementation of e-learning is the group attitude of the employees. Prior to the introduction of the e-learning concept, most companies trained the employees through trainer-led classrooms that were typically social. Most companies that were established more than a decade ago face the challenge of changing the organizational culture in terms of training to introduce the e-learning aspect. The employees accustomed to the trainer-directed collective classrooms could find it challenging to compr ehend the idea of acquiring knowledge without help, whereas sited facing a supercomputer. The training method adopted by most companies is entrenched in the organizational culture of the organization. Most organizations typically use one method of disseminating the training information making it part of the organizational culture.  When new employees are given training through instructor-led environment, they are accustomed all through the work experience to be trained through one system. Hence, such workers believe that it is the only way that they can learn (McIntosh 3). If there is a powerful culture of trainer-led learning in the company, it will hinder the success of the e-learning initiative. Changing the attitude of the employees demands the interception of the human resources function. The department requires preparing the employees for the changes in learning methods so that the employees are ready to embrace it before it is launched. Initially, the training can be introd uced to the employees through social environment classrooms, and then the employees complete the rest of the lessons on their own. The trainer should also be prepared to assist employees who find it difficult to learn on their own until they are fully accustomed to the new learning method.  In companies with powerful in-house training departments, the instructors themselves may observe e-learning as a risk to the job security (McIntosh 3). The strong training divisions are usually part of the organizational culture, as they are not always mandated by the company policy. They develop on their own depending on the number of trainees, the lessons that are supposed to be offered, the influence of the departmental head, the frequency of training and the autonomy given by the management. As the department grows, it becomes part of the organizational culture as the influence on the entire company grows. The human resources function need to address the fears of the trainers to ensure that they embrace e-learning. The trainers have the potential to derail the success of e-learning if they are not included from the beginning and the importance of the initiative demonstrated to them. The human resources department requires or must assure the trainers that the adoption of the initiative will not jeopardize their jobs.  The information technology department takes a central role in the company communication structure (Hung and Cho 173). Companies usually have a unique communication structure entrenched as part of their corporate culture. The people in the department are aware of what is expected and new employees carry on the culture. Thus, it becomes essential to incorporate the unit in the deliberations anytime such a project is inaugurated. The people need to be made aware that such a move will make learning easier for new and current employees; hence, the initiative needs to be supported. The culture of having the information technology department as the central sou rce of electronic information needs to be changed to accommodate e-learning at individual levels.  McIntosh asserts that it will be difficult for e-learning initiative in organizations where the executive does not support e-learning. There are organizations where the culture is framed in such a way that an initiative that does not originate from the executive receives little or no attention. E-learning is an essential revolutionary event that requires the support of the chief executive officer. Thus, it is important to have the decision-makers take the e-learning course so that they are aware of what they are discussing.  The needs of the employees are essential when developing e-learning. Fundamentally, employees in companies with strong organizational cultures usually lack some aspects of learning due to the perceived restrictions on how things are done in the organizations. Learners may feel that they will be overstepping when they ask the human resources managers for the opp ortunity to access e-learning. This s particularly the case in situations where the course that the employees wish to undertake is not in line with the tasks allocated to them in the organization. Therefore, it is imperative for the designers of the e-learning program to consult with the employees about how they wish to develop their careers. When this concern is addressed, the success of e-learning will have partially been achieved given that the employees will be ready to embrace the initiative.  The change in attitude of the employees will assist in the development of the e-learning program that will eventually benefit the needs of the organization. In this respect, organizational e-learning symbolizes the mechanisms through which the company transforms the knowledge acquired by individuals into intellectual assets (Servage 305). This indicates how the organizational culture can mold the type of learning that takes place. The mode of learning is often influenced by the needs of the company, organizational choices and practices creating diverse levels of learning. It becomes important that in designing and delivering e-learning, the organization must assess corporate conditions for learning as well as employee’s experiences in the learning procedures as they impact on the success of e-learning. The motivation of the employee to participate in e-learning is preconditioned by the prevailing organizational culture. Previous experiences shaped by the corporate culture determine the motivation of the employees to participate in the e-learning program as it interacts with organizational structures.  The issues emerge in linking the individual learning needs with the organizational practices. There is usually conflict that develops in organizations in view of the individuals being identified as both a worker and a learner. Such structures require change if e-learning is to be effective. The attitude of the management requires change so that learning can be viewed as an investment in the employee as opposed to the employee being viewed as the sole beneficiary. E-learning offers companies the distinctive opportunity to deal with swift changes in knowledge requirements (Isenmann 290). Companies, therefore, require being ready to embrace e-learning given that the concept demands a significant amount of investment in terms of finance and human resource. The management must recognize that e-learning at the initial stages will have an impact on the performance of the employees as they strive to engage in daily tasks and learning at the same time. Some organizations have corporate cultures that encourage employees to learn continuously. This is through having a culture in which employees that take frequent training are recognized and given material incentives such as certifications and promotion preconditions (Masie 2). A culture that facilitates the recognition of employees makes it easier for e-learning to be successful. Conclusion Tradi tionally, training is an interpersonal process. Contemporary, it is an individual process where employees use electronic information to advance their knowledge. E-learning is contemporarily an essential tool that companies need to adopt to enhance their competitiveness. This requires modifications to the corporate culture while newly contemplating about the position of computers as part of corporate life. Corporate cultural factors are observed in areas such as corporate arrangement, assistance by the administration, the climate for novelty and transformation, the situation of human capital, the managerial processes, guidance and learning, as well as the connection with information technology. The success of e-learning depends on the willingness of participants to modify these areas. Besides, it is important to underscore that e-learning will not replace all other forms of training. Literature further shows that it is important for the management of an organization to understand the benefits of e-learning to the top managers and the employees so that they can assist in developing a culture that is supportive of e-learning. An organizational structure that supports classroom learning easily integrate e-learning and helps workers to get time to use technology to learn. The management in such companies practically schedules time for e-learning and execution of daily tasks as the time spent in learning is viewed as investment.  Certain objects are hardly carried out properly in e-learning, including the in-person connections and lab responsibilities. This calls for organizations to ensure that e-learning does not replace all the learning process. When changing the corporate culture to accommodate e-learning, the support of the management is critical in ensuring the success. Changing the corporate culture requires the participation of all the stakeholders, including employees, management and stakeholders. Factors that support e-learning include executives who bel ieve in technology as an investment. The attitude of the learners and the trainers is also important as it determines the level of acceptance of changing the culture to embrace e-learning. Inflexible organizational cultures hinder the implementation of diverse initiatives such as e-learning. Thus, changing the corporate culture to accommodate e-learning requires the management to view the initiative as an investment that will facilitate the company to remain competitive. Works Cited Govindasamy, Thomas. â€Å"Successful Implementation of E-Learning: Pedagogical Considerations.† Internet and Higher Education, 4.3 (2002): 287-299. Print. Hosseini, Seyed, Khodakaram Salimifard and Shahrbanoo Yadollahi. â€Å"On the Effects of Organizational Culture on E-Learning Readiness: An Iranian Experience.† International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development, 3.3 (2012): 42-52. Print. Hung, Humphry and Vincent Cho. â€Å"Continued Usage of E-Learning Communication T ools: A Study from the Learners Perspective in Hong Kong.† International Journal of Training and Development, 12.3 (2010): 171-187. Print. Isenmann, Ralf. â€Å"Progression in Corporate Sustainability Reporting: Taxonomy for Sustainability Reports.† International Journal of Training and Development, 2.3 (2010): 289-317. Print. Liu, Ying, Yu-An Huang and Lin Chad. â€Å"Organizational Factors’ Effects on the Success of E-Learning Systems and Organizational Benefits: An Empirical Study in Taiwan.† International Journal of Management, 2.4 (2012). 1-23. Print. Masie, Elphie. E-Learning: If we Build it, Will they Come? Alexandria, VA: The Masie Centre and ASTD, 2001. Print. Masie, Elliot. E-learning: If we build it, Will they come? Alexandria, VA: The Masie Centre and ASTD Report, 2001. Print. McIntosh, Don. E-Learning and Organizational Culture, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage, 2006. Print. Normark, Richard and Cetindamar, David. â€Å"E-learning in a Competi tive Firm Setting.† Innovations in Education Teaching International, 42.4 (2005): 325-335. Print. Seal, Eyal and Yesha Sivan. â€Å"Enterprise E-Learning Success Factors: An Analysis of Practitioners’ Perspective (with a Downturn Addendum).†Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects, 2.2 (2009): 335-343. Print. Servage, Luke. â€Å"Strategizing for Workplace E-Learning; Some Critical Considerations.† Journal of Workplace Learning, 17.5 (2005): 304-317. Print. Venkatesh, Vitash et al. â€Å"User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward a Unified View.† MIS Quarterly, 27.3 (2003): 425-478. Print. This essay on To What Extent Does the Success of E-learning Depend on a Change in Organizational Culture? was written and submitted by user Kyler Wise to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Monday, November 25, 2019

how to design a network essays

how to design a network essays The college of Business (COB) server is now being used to support deliver to the Computer Information System (CIS) department. The CIS professors would be using the server for various operations. Assignments, e-mail, and other types of information would be easier for the students to access. Network users are able to share files, printers and other resources; send electronic messages and run programs on other computers. However, certain important issues need to be addressed and concentrated on. In order to begin the process of setting up the COB server, the total numbers of users (faculty and students) must be determined. Some other significant factors to be approached are: the required software applications needed on the network, an efficient and appropriate directory structure and effective security structure. In designing the directory structure, the major focus must be on accessibility. The number of undergraduate CIS courses that the server will be used for is be! tween 15 and 17. For the users to be ensured that their information is not at risk, we will create an effective security structure. In composing the appropriate security structure there must be certain access rights assigned to the users. An important technical detail in setting up a server is the amount of money that will need to be allocated for the restructuring of the system. For the system to function properly, the amount of hardware/ software will need to be determined. The COB server will primarily be used by CIS professors and CIS students. The approximate number of professors in the CIS department is between five and seven and the approximate number of CIS majors is between 100 and 120. As computer technology continues to grow, the number of CIS majors is vastly increasing. If we see a considerable rise in Computer Information Systems majors the department will have to expand its faculty me...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Death Humor of James Thorson and Allen Klein Essay

Death Humor of James Thorson and Allen Klein - Essay Example Thorson. It was published in the Journal of Popular American Culture. Vol. 16:2. It revolves around gallows humor and covers different aspects of the topic. It covers the history and various other types of gallows humor. According to the Oxford Dictionary, Gallows Humor is grim and ironic humor in a desperate or hopeless situation. (The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English, 2008) It refers to humor that is directed towards something or some event that is frightening in real life. Getting electrocuted at a yogurt dispensing machine at National Institute of Health makes us realize how unpredictable this life is. It makes us realize that it can end any time without us knowing it which makes it very frightening. Still we smile at the unexpected pattern of circumstances. I agree with James A. Thorson when he says that there is a cognitive shift in the way we perceive this event. I agree with James A. Thorson when he says that smiling at frightening and unfortunate events, like when a man gets electrocuted while dispensing yogurt at a National Institute of Health cannot be put under the heading of 'gallows humor'. Gallows humor is something that is intentionally created in order to help people cope with death and its anxieties. This event that I described above was not intentional. It is just a combination of a lot of unexpected events being put together. On the other hand gallows humor is there for a reason. It has motive of helping people cope with death better. What supports gallows humor and makes it so acceptable The fact that no one can escape death creates a lot of anxiety but gallows humor allows us to accept it which, as a result, decreases the anxiety that everyone in this world goes through.Jokes regarding war and combat also help us ignore the ugly reality of war itself. We just concentrate on the humorous aspect of it and ignore war as a bloody, loud and violent event. In war jokes, the real situation is ignored and put aside. In my opinion, Sigmund Freud was right when he stated that we make fun of death as a defense mechanism. Even though this results in pushing us away from what is real and distorting reality, but at least it allows us to live happily whatever time we have.However, when one laughs at someone else's death makes it unethical, prejudice and inhumane. Terms used by medical officers like Trainwreck and Gork for their patients are clearly just a result of these medical officers being sick of their jobs. Making fun of others death just makes us feel better because it reassures us that we are not like them. We start to consider them as outsiders, a term which refers to people who are not a part your group. We make fun of the outsiders and this makes us prejudice towards them.Also those people who are oppressed by others use humor as a weapon against political repression. This point was put forward by Antonin Obrdlik, a sociologist who studied the Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Humor helped them feel better about them selves and these people used it against their enemies. Similarly, gallows humor is used by people to help them feel better about themselves and not so insignificant. It helps with deal with death and all other harsh realities emotionally. It is like psychological reassurance and could also be considered as passive-aggression. We have a natural tendency to make fun of

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

My Leadership experiences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

My Leadership experiences - Essay Example As a student in a graduate school, I have maintained my position as a group leader. As a result, I have learnt to appreciate and deal with individuals who have different cultural backgrounds and ethnicity. There were also times when conflicts of interests are present within the group that I handle. By establishing an open communication line with the team members, I was able to successfully resolve the misunderstandings and arguments within the group. In the process of calming down the increasing tension, I have taught my group mates the importance of Tai Chi as a relaxation technique wherein the group members have decided to individually write down their frustrations, anger and discouragement in a piece of paper and place them in the ‘garbage basket.’ As a result, I was able to successfully reduce the negative pressure that exists among the team members. In general, the practice of a weak leadership is likely to contribute to the organizational failure and inefficient operations within the Navy. In line with the inefficiency in the Navy’s operational system, there is a higher chance of having a decreased working attitude and morale of the leaders as well as his or her subordinates. In the end, it becomes more difficult to create and maintain a healthy and peaceful working environment for the team members. Based on my previous leadership experiences when implementing an important organizational change, ‘resistance to change’ among the team members is one of the most common loop-hole or bottleneck that could impede the planning of developmental stage in the Navy. Basically, the three major factors that could promote resistance to change include: (1) the fact that people may feel that they have no control over the sudden changes; (2) the workers may see change as a threat to their current positions of

Monday, November 18, 2019

The Effect of Budgeting on Nursing Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Effect of Budgeting on Nursing Care - Essay Example Keywords: budgeting, nursing care, nursing leadership, quality care, cost control Introduction In this literature review, the proponent wants to emphasize the substantial effect of budgeting on nursing care. The proponent seeks to find answers as to what are the probable impacts of budgeting on nursing care by using reputable sources from reliable researches in this field. This in particular would prove that changing nursing practice would have substantial impact on budgeting and eventually on the prevailing quality of nursing care. The article written by Gordon, Buchanan and Bretherton (2010) suggests the importance of contemplating on the issue of controlling health care costs while making sure that there is substantial number when it comes to nurse-to-patient ratios. This primarily is a good point showing the fact that patients are given with high value of care. On the contrary, as discussed in the said article, nurses have to be forced to accept specific hospital changes just to obtain the above objective. In the long run, this particularly would result to making nursing career a less promising field to be explored and it would further result to crisis in finding the right and necessary skills (Gordon, Buchanan & Bretherton, 2010). There is quite a contradiction in here between the above-mentioned approaches. Pursuing the former would basically lead to lack of human resource in the field of nursing and would even aggravate the prevailing issue about the shortage of nurses around the world (Gordon, Buchanan & Bretherton, 2010). The main arguments The article of Blum (2010) explores governance within health care system, in which all essential laws and institutional concerns can be elaborately applied. Regulatory formats are therefore based on these institutional operations. These institutional formats are remarkably used in order to support major changes within the health care system, making them legal and substantially applicable for the society. The importa nce of Blum’s article in this argument is to point out the fact that whatever changes made in the health care system could be substantially backed up with working regulation in its delivery. In other words, whatever changes within the health care system for as long as it is supported by regulations emancipated by the government, it may still sound legal, but it actually does not fully change the fact that there are other various concerns that need to be taken into account. For example, the stated concern on budget and the quality of nursing care are still covered within this act. The problem is that the governing laws surrounding the health care system could actually justify specific moves, and the very proof of this is the continuing high price for health care system in the United States. It is true that the very purpose of this governance is to come up with financial improvement, improving patient safety and realizing work-force to be more engaged in the health care system. Unfortunately, the problem based on the varying models explicated by Blum is the need to understand better the prevailing leadership involved in health care system. Highly commercialized health-care system may actually try to figure out financial concerns, plus patient

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Ipsec implementation

Ipsec implementation There are many methods to IP Security. In the Microsofts Windows 2003 the server version, there are many such techniques and tweaks which are useful to help provide a secure base to the system. The operating system is very good in protecting the system from attacks which may be active attacks or in some cases passive attacks. The procedures for IPSec are placed properly into the system which helps it tackle such attacks. This is possible by providing a secure packet filter for packet transport and also using cryptography. This technology is very in high use for communication types like host to host, router to router, gateway to gateway, site to site and also in virtual private networks. Some other places for successful implementation are secure servers. The IPSec comes as a basic Group Policy controlled by Dos Prompt commands and it also has user interface with custom programs installed. The implementation of IPSec involves these steps: Overview of IPSec Deployment Determining Our Internet Protocol Security targets Preparing a Internet Protocol Security Policy Implementation of the designed policies Overview of IPSec Deployment: There are many techniques such as usage of cryptography and authentication software to secure the communication in a network. The connection may be between two parties or between a group of users. Security is to make sure that the communication is not broken, the communication is not intervened and the data is not altered. The Internet Protocol Security has some features which help running a secure transmission. IPSec has set procedures which help achieve these ends. Today there are many companies and it is getting harder day by day to ensure the security of such humungous networks with a heavy workload on the networks. It is also very hard to track any attacks on the network in millions and millions of request. Using firewalls to protect a network did work for some days but it has proved to be impractical as it has no proper rules to detect intrusions or attacks. The advent of IPSec is a leap in computer and network security. This protocol has a wide spectrum of features which are strong enough to contain such high volume of network requests and also handle intrusions. The Internet Protocol for Security is not a versatile detection protocol. It is capable of managing most of the policies to grant or reject, block and negotiate the traffic in a network. This can also be permitted to a specific set of addresses or in some cases protocol and also a different policy to each port. It is recommended that we use ICF (Internet Connection Firewall) when we are in need of a firewall which is capable of providing a network interface for very big networks. This is because the internet protocol for Security has a very strict and a very stern strategy which is based on static filtering based on IP addresses. But this is it is totally different in the case of the Internet Connection Firewall. The ICF has policies which has a set of filter for all the addresses which are capable of being accessed. The Internet Protocol for Security can be used when the restriction is only to a particular set of addresses or the communication between a group of computers. There are many ways to use IPSec in a network but the best way is bye using a directory with all the domains and also a GP when needed. Some areas of interest when implementing IPSecurity: The decision of where we must secure computers and how on our network which can be done by running a group of systems in a directory which is also called as the Active Directory Organisational Units or OUs. The next step is to determine the strength of the policies we assign. Determining Our Internet Protocol Security targets: The first step in deploying IPSec on our server or the network can be done properly by deciding which set of systems are in dire need of security. There are surely some places on the network which are in a need of higher security than the other sections. It is for sure that IPSec is capable of providing optimal security but the problems starts when the network slows down due to the excessive data to be processed and also a large number of systems for IPSec to follow and maintain. In some cases, there are systems which are not upgraded to be able to support the IPSecurity. Determining Your IPsec Needs In beginning of the protocol design procedure, proper planning should be done to make sure that our current network environment available for use. It is always helpful to have a set of the network topology with all of its hardware and software components. This procedure is of high importance mainly in the designing procedure. IPSecurity is highly vulnerable to a network topology. There are many network topologies in which IPSec is not well suited. Preparing a Internet Protocol Security Policy: As said earlier, there are many network topologies which are not suitable to the default structure of the IPSec policies. There is a need to develop a custom IPSec set of policies well suited for the current network. Some organisations can run their network with a small set of policies. But in companies with a very huge network, there are many policies which are to be implemented properly and also a stringent structure is to be maintained. Steps below shows how IP Sec policies work. Designing IPsec Policies There might be some cases where the company or the organisation is interested in implementing a policy which sets a secure communication between two specified computers. This can be done by restricting all traffic and adding exceptions which relates to these two systems. This method can be done vice versa. A network can be setup with policies to allow all requests and block specific ports or computers. To implement such exceptions, a thorough analysis of the network is clearly needed. Computer roles: Security for Data Transmission: Security needs are different from each and every data packet transmitted. The security policies are also very different. There are many levels in this instance. When considering encryption, there are many types such as AES, DE5, RSA and many more. RSA is the best encryption software available presently. These programs can be used to secure files on transmission, on a network or even in the system. Operating System Computers: IPSecurity is a very unique technique used to implement security in a network. There are many operating systems which are not so advanced to implement IPSec. There is no support for IPSec. But there are many operating systems which are capable of running IPSec in transport mode. Some other cases, the policies are stored locally which makes it easier to decide as the implementation doesnt take long enough. In some cases, IPSec policies are implemented through the Group Policy. General IPSec Policy Settings General IPSec policy settings must be specified whether we want the policy to provide packet filtering or end-to-end networks. IPSec Rules IPSec rules determine which traffic is affected by an IPSec policy and which actions take place when that type of traffic is encountered. Table6.5 describes the contents of IPSec rules that two computers use to establish a secure, authenticated channel. Specifies a named list of filters. Each filter in the filter list specifies the types of traffic to which the filter action is applied. Filters can be defined to match specific IP protocols, source and destination TCP and UDP ports, and source and destination IP addresses. The filter list name might include the version number, the last update time, and the administrative owner. Each computer discards the filter list name during policy processing. Filter action Specifies whether a packet is permitted, blocked, or secured. If packets are to be secured, specifies how they are secured. A list of security methods specifies the security protocol, cryptographic algorithm, and session key regeneration frequency. Request Security Authentication methods One or more authentication methods, which are specified in order of preference. Available options are KerberosV5, certificate, or preshared key. Specifies whether to use tunnel mode and, if so, the tunnels endpoint. Specifies whether the rule applies to LAN connections, remote access connections, or both. Assigning IPSec Policies: As a domain administrator, we can configure IPSec policies to meet the security requirements of a user, group, application, domain, site, or global enterprise from a domain controller. IPSec policy can also be implemented in a non-Windows2000-based domain environment by using local IPSec policies. Deploying Our IPSec Solution: After scoping our needs, building IPSec policies, and determining our strategy for assigning the policies to specific OUs, test the IPSec policies in a lab environment and conduct a pilot project before rolling them out for production use. To ensure that IPSec policy functions as expected and provides the appropriate level of security, test specific IPSec policy configurations on clients and servers in a lab environment, and then conduct pilot or beta tests in a limited operational environment before conducting a full-scale deployment. A Cryptographic Evaluation of IPsec: Even with all the serious critisisms that we have on IPsec, it is probably the best IP security protocol available at the moment. We have looked at other, functionally similar, protocols in the past (including PPTP [SM98, SM99]) in much the same manner as we have looked at IPsec. None of these protocols come anywhere near their target, but the others manage to miss the mark by a wider margin than IPsec. This difference is less significant from a security point of view; there are no points for getting security nearly right. From a marketing point of view, this is important. IPsec is the current best practice, no matter how badly that reects on our ability to create a good security standard. Our main criticism of IPsec is its complexity. IPsec contains too many options and too much exibility; there are often several ways of doing the same or similar things. This is a typical committee efiect. Committees are notorious for adding features, options, and additional exibility to satisfy various factions within the committee. As we all know, this additional complexity and bloat is seriously detrimental to a normal (functional) standard. However, it has a devastating efiect on a security standard. It is instructive to compare this to the approach taken by NIST for the development of AES [NIST97a, NIST97b]. Instead of a committee, NIST organized a contest. Several small groups each created their own proposal, and the process is limited to picking one of them. At the time of writing there has been one stage of elimination, and any one of the five remaining candidates will make a much better standard than any committee could ever have made. The Complexity Trap: Securitys worst enemy is complexity. Complexity of IPsec In our opinion, IPsec is too complex to be secure. The design obviously tries to support many difierent situations with difierent options. We feel very strongly that the resulting system is well beyond the level of complexity that can be analysed or properly implemented with current methodologies. Thus, no IPsec system will achieve the goal of providing a high level of security. IPsec has two modes of operation: transport mode and tunnel mode. There are two protocols: AH and ESP. AH provides authentication, ESP provides authentication, encryption, or both. This creates a lot of extra complexity: two machines that wish to authenticate a packet can use a total of four difierent modes: transport/AH, tunnel/AH, transport/ESP with NULL encryption, and tunnel/ESP with NULL encryption. The difierences between these options, both in functionality and performance, are minor. The documentation also makes it clear that under some circumstances it is envisioned to use two protocols: AH for the authentication and ESP for the encryption. Modes As far as we can determine, the functionality of tunnel mode is a superset of the functionality of transport mode. (From a network point of view, one can view tunnel mode as a special case of transport mode, but from a security point of view this is not the case.) The only advantage that we can see to transport mode is that it results in a somewhat smaller bandwidth overhead. However, the tunnel mode could be extended in a straightforward way with a specialized header-compression scheme that we will explain shortly. This would achieve virtually the same performance as transport mode without introducing an entirely new mode. We therefore recommend that transport mode be eliminated. Recommendation 1 Eliminate transport mode. Without any documented rationale, we do not know why IPsec has two modes. In our opinion it would require a very compelling argument to introduce a second major mode of operation. The extra cost of a second mode (in terms of added complexity and resulting loss of security) is huge, and it certainly should not be introduced without clearly documented reasons. Eliminating transport mode also eliminates the need to separate the machines on the network into the two categories of hosts and security gateways. The main distinction seems to be that security gateways may not use transport mode; without transport mode the distinction is no longer necessary. Protocols The functionality provided by the two protocols overlaps somewhat. AH provides authentication of the payload and the packet header, while ESP provides authentication and confidentiality of the payload. In transport mode, AH provides a stronger authentication than ESP can provide, as it also authenticates the IP header fields. One of the standard modes of operation would seem to be to use both AH and ESP in transport mode. In tunnel mode, ESP provides the same level of authentication (as the payload includes the original IP header), and AH is typically not combined with ESP [KA98c, section 4.5]. (Implementations are not required to support nested tunnels that would allow ESP and AH to both be used in tunnel mode.) One can question why the IP header fields are being authenticated at all. The authentication of the payload proves that it came from someone who knows the proper authentication key. That by itself should provide adequate information. The IP header fields are only used to get the data to the recipient, and should not afiect the interpretation of the packet. There might be a very good reason why the IP header fields need to be authenticated, but until somebody provides that reason the rationale remains unclear to us. The AH protocol [KA98a] authenticates the IP headers of the loour layers. This is a clear violation of the modularization of the protocol stack. It creates all kind of problems, as some header fields change in transit. As a result, the AH protocol needs to be aware of all data formats used at loour layers so that these mutable fields can be avoided. This is a very ugly construction, and one that will create more problems when future extensions to the IP protocol are made that create new fields that the AH protocol is not aware of. Also, as some header fields are not authenticated, the receiving application still cannot rely on the entire packet. To fully understand the authentication provided by AH, an application needs to take into account the same complex IP header parsing rules that AH uses. The complex definition of the functionality that AH provides can easily lead to security-relevant errors. The tunnel/ESP authentication avoids this problem, but uses more bandwidth. The extra bandwidth requirement can be reduced by a simple specialized compression scheme: for some suitably chosen set of IP header fields X, a single bit in the ESP header indicates whether the X fields in the inner IP header are identical to the corresponding fields in the outer header.2 The fields in question are then removed to reduce the payload size. This compression should be applied after computing the authentication but before any encryption. The authentication is thus still computed on the entire original packet. The receiver reconstitutes the original packet using the outer header fields, and verifies the authentication. A suitable choice of the set of header fields X allows tunnel/ESP to achieve virtually the same low message expansion as transport/AH. We conclude that eliminating transport mode allows the elimination of the AH protocol as well, without loss of functionality. We therefore recommend that the AH protocol be eliminated. IPSEC methodology using different operating systems: IPSEC is a framework for security that operates at the Network Layer by extending the IP packet header. This gives it the ability to encrypt any higher layer protocol, including TCP and UDP sessions, so it offers the greatest flexibility of all the existing TCP/IP cryptosystems. While conceptually simple, setting up IPSEC is much more complex that installing SSH, for example. IPSEC also has the disadvantage of requiring operating system support, since most O/S kernels dont allow direct manipulation of IP headers. Linux IPSEC support (the FreeS/WAN project), for example, isnt included in the standard kernel distribution for this reason, and has to be applied as an add-on. Furthermore, putting the cryptography in the kernel isolates it from the application, making it more difficult to code crypto-aware software. Using SSL, for example, simply requires linking a library into the application and allows the application to easily query what certificates have been used to authenticate a client. IPSEC defines a Security Association (SA) as its primitive means of protecting IP packets. An SA is defined by the packets destination IP address and a 32-bit Security Parameter Index (SPI), that functions somewhat like a TCP or UDP port number. SAs can operate in transport mode, where the IPSEC data field begins with upper level packet headers (usually TCP, UDP, or ICMP), or in tunnel mode, where the IPSEC data field begins with an entirely new IP packet header, ala RFC 2003. Furthermore, SAs can be encapsulated within SAs, forming SA bundles, allowing layered IPSEC protection. For example, one SA might protect all traffic through a gateway, while another SA would protect all traffic to a particular host. The packets finally routed across the network would be encapsulated in an SA bundle consisting of both SAs. A common use of IPSEC is the construction of a Virtual Private Network (VPN), where multiple segments of a private network are linked over a public network using encrypted tunnels. This allows applications on the private network to communicate securely without any local cryptographic support, since the VPN routers perform the encryption and decryption. IPSEC is well suited for this environment, more so than tunneling PPP over SSL or SSH, since it operates directly on the IP packets and preserves a one-to-one correspondence between packets inside and outside the network. In the case of tunneling PPP over an encrypted TCP connection, any packet loss in the public network would trigger a TCP retransmission, stalling the link until the packet was delivered. In particular, running Voice Over IP (VoIP) traffic through a TCP/PPP tunnel would largely defeat the RTP protocol used for VoIP; IPSEC is better suited in this case. IPsec Development for Linux: In the Linux IPv4 IPsec world, a lot of people use FreeS/WAN projects implementation. It consists of an inkernel IPsec processing part, Key Exchange daemon Pluto and some utility commands/scripts. To run Pluto with small changes on our IPsec kernel implementation and reduce impact for user who use FreeS/WAN implementation, we have decided to keep compatibility with FreeS/WANs IPsec programming interface between kernel and userland. For this, we use the same PF KEY interface which FreeS/WAN project extended. In kernel IPsec packet processing part, we developed AH, ESP, SAD and SPD from scratch. PF KEY interface PF KEY(v2), which is described in RFC2367, is key management API mainly for IPsec. PF KEY is used for handling the IPsec Security Association Database. Additionally we have to handle the IPsec Security Policy Database, but there is no standard for the IPsec Security Policy management API. In FreeS/WAN implementation, PF KEY interface is extended to manage the IPsec Security Policy Database. Our kernel 2.4 IPsec implementation also uses the same PF KEY interface as FreeS/WANs one. It is important to be able to run the FreeS/WANs userland application (e.g., Pluto) with small changes. Encryption and Authentication algorithm We provide HMAC-SHA1 and HMAC-MD5 for authentication, NULL, DES-CBC, 3DES-CBS and AES for encryption. We thought encryption and authentication algorithm is not only used by IPsec and there are many algorithms so that we consider encryption and authentication algorithm and those interface should have good modularity. We adopted cipher modules which provided by CryptoAPI Project. Security Association and Security Policy SA and SP themselves dont depend substantially on the IP version. FreeS/WAN project architecture depends on their special virtual network interface for IPsec because it might focus on IPv4 tunnel mode (Their implementation also provides IPv4 transport mode). Their SA, SP, SAD and SPD also depend on their special virtual network interface. We considered and decided it was not suit to IPv6 because the IPv6 stack needed the neighbor discovery and the auto address configuration in its basic specification. If we had implemented IPv6 IPsec stack with their architecture, we had to implement those basic specification in their special virtual network interface. Therefore we implemented our own SAD and SPD in order to handle both IPv4 and IPv6. To improve the system performance, Each database will be locked by smallest granularity. And in many cases we use the read lock. SA and SP are managed by the reference counter to prevent used SA from removing by accident. IPsec Packet Processing Output There are various packet output paths from the IP(v4/6) layer to the network driver layer in Linux kernel networking stack (TCP, UDP/ICMP, and NDP[10] for IPv6). The packets which may be applied IPsec will go through these paths. We had to add IPsec functionality for these output paths, e.g, in IPv6 ip6 xmit() for TCP, ip6 build xmit() for UDP/ICMP and ndisc send ns()/ndisc send rs() for neighbor discovery packets. Output process is as follows): check IPsec SP lookup the IPsec SA by the IPsec SP apply IPsec processing to the packet output the packet to the network driver layer To reduce SA searhing time, we link the SP and the found SA after lookup from the first time. Input At input, there is only path for IP packets. We added IPsec processing part in ip6 input finish. Input process is as follows: receive the packet lookup the IPsec SA by SPI(which resides in AH/ESP header) check integrity and decrypt check IPsec Policy. IPsec Tunnel mode We are using IPv6-over-IPv6(and IPv4-over-IPv4) virtual tunnel device to implement IPsec tunnel mode. This implementation can avoid to duplication code of encapsulation/ decapsulation outer IP header compairing with having these code in the IPsec processing part itself. The virtual tunnel device is not different from the normal IP-over-IP virtual tunnel device in Linux. 4 IPsec implementation for kernel 2.6 The most important difference between ours and them is SAD/SPD part. They thought the whole SPD/SAD mechanic should be flow cache based lookup system shared by IPv4 and IPv6. One month later, they introduced the new network architecture called XFRM to Linux kernel 2.5. At first their developing code lacked IPv6 IPsec only for IPv4 IPsec. In order to suport IPv6 IPsec, we have implemented IPv6 IPsec code based on XFRM (and discarded our original code). PF KEY interface The PF KEY interface of Linux kernel 2.6(and 2.5) is compatible with KAME[3] PF KEY interface. We can use setkey command for configuring SA and SP and Racoon for IKE. Additionally we can add IPsec Policy each socket via Netlink3. They have suported only IPv4 in their first code, we have added IPv6 support. Security Association and Security Policy On the XFRM architecture, IPsec SP, which is represented as xfrm policy structure, will be bound to the routing flow cache (and IPsec policy will point IPsec SA bundle) and IPsec SA, which is represented as xfrm state structure, is included in destination cache, dst entry structure. The chaining destination cache means IPsec SA bundle. IPsec Packet Processing Output The output part of the XFRM architecture is placed between the IP layer and the network driver layer. In general, non IPsec packet will be passed to the network driver layer by a single destination output function, which is resolved routing lookup. But IPsec packet will be need to apply some IPsec processing (e.g., encryption, hash). XFRM functions make a chain of destination output functions (We call Stackable Destination, as shown in Figure3). Each function match each IPsec processing (AH, ESP and IPcomp[11]). To be more specific, in order to pass a packet to the network driver layer we have to do as follows. lookup routing table to decide output function by ip6 route output lookup IPsec Security Policy lookup IPsec Security Association(s) suitable for IPsec Security Policy and create destination chain to apply IPsec, pass a packet to the destination chain Input The input part of the XFRM architecture is simpler than output. The XFRM input function is handled as same as upper layer protocols like TCP, UDP, etc. In IPv6, IPsec headers are defined as IPv6 extension header but IPsec input functions are handled as an upper layer protocol handler. As the result of introducing IPv6 IPsec input processing in Linux. kernel, inconsistencies existed between IPsec headers and other IPv6 extension headers. In order to resolve this, we moved to the other IPv6 extension header handler functions to upper layer protocol handler. In detail, we registered IPsec header (both AH and ESP) handler functions with upper layer protocol handler array inet6 protos. Incoming IPsec packet processing flow is as follows: process IP packet from IP header in sequence process IPsec part (check integrity and decrypt) if founded check IPsec Security Policy pass IP packet next handler IPsec Tunnel mode Linux kernel 2.6 IPsec tunnel mode doesnt use the virtual tunnel device to create tunnel. The IPsec stack builds the outer IP header during IPsec processing by itself. IPSec Best practices Best practices IPSEC in transport mode has some serious advantages over other solutions. Compared to other technologies, IPSEC is built into to the Linux kernel. In other words there is nodaemonrunning in the background. Better yet, IPSEC does not require port-forwarding; some people elect to useSSH, stunnel, and other technologies that rely onport forwarding. With IPSEC, you simply have to run a program and its configuration file. After running it,encryptionbetween hosts is mandatory. Connections will be refused if the other connection does not have the appropriate keys. Groups of computers can share the same key, and it can even be done on a per-port setting (for example securing VNC, etc). Downsides? IPSEC in transport mode does have a couple draw backs. In transport mode you cannot have any dynamic setups where the IP addresses change from time to time. In other words, IPSEC is usually insufficient for workstation environments or dynamically assigned networks. Also, if you want to do a per-port setup the configuration becomes harder. Security Implications A very astute user can use IPSEC to bypass firewalls and other security measures. Since IPSEC uses cryptography, information is passed between machines in encrypted format. If the keys are not known, there is no practical way to decrypt the information (it is virtual impossible due to the sheer amount of time it would take). Machine-to-Machine IPSEC installations should be considered as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for security considerations. Please check with yoursystem administrator, business policies, and laws and regulations of your locality in order to establish whether or not to institute IPSEC. Requirements ipsec-tools package static IP addresses for each machine Configuration file The configuration file, /etc/setkey.conf, contains the information about the IPSECpolicy. Below is a sampleconfiguration policy(i.e. dont implement this policy because it is insecure). These lines are the actual keys and the encryption that will be used. The first block has the keys that will be used for authentication. In this case, it is the hmac-md5algorithm. The second block contains the keys that will be used for privacy, and the method of encryption. In the example, AES-CBC will be used, which is probably stronger than should be required; the key that we will be using is 194bits, meaning that it is good enough for US Government Secret and below classifications. The final block includes the actual policy. This is where you can put port numbers and even define whether it will be TCP orUDP. Generating the keys The more random the key, the better. Obviously, the example above is insufficient to secure a network. The following command will generate a random key. While running this command, youll need to wiggle the mouse to make it run faster. Or, if you are using a terminal use/dev/urandom instead. dd if=/dev/random count=16 bs=1| xxd -ps Depending on the size of the key that you want, adjust the count (16 will produce a 128 bit key, 24 will produce a 196 bit key, and 32 will produce a 512 bit key) The size of the key is important. If you really paranoid or just haveCPUcycles to

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Anointed King :: essays research papers

Within Shakespeare’s play Richard II there are many questionable and untrusting characters. Truth and duty are only illusions within the play. Lust for power and control override the order of England and its ordained king. It’s believed that it is by the will of God that Richard is king. No mortal man can come between what God has set before them as rule. The final decision is God’s and the only way that God’s choice can be changed is by God himself, and no one else. God takes the Garden of Eden from Adam, and like Adam, England is taken from Richard. It is questionable if Bolingbroke acts against God’s will or through God’s will. Richard is king, and though a sad choice, he has been ordained by God as king and ruler of England. It is not for his followers to decide if he is to be replaced by someone that they feel would be a better caretaker of the “garden';. In Richard II , by overtaking the crown and replacing R ichard with Bolingbroke, society is going against its own belief that Richard is ordained by God. From an Englishman’s point of view it could be argued that God is somewhat responsible for the state that England is in, because they believe Richard was chosen by God. Within Richard II , God is believed to be forsaken so that England can become a great kingdom again, and this is done in hope that Richard’s wrongs can be made right by Bolingbroke. Richard’s opposition - York, Bolingbroke, and Northumberland - believe that what they are doing is done to regenerate the badly tended “garden';. They want to replant it with Bolingbroke as king, and this they believe will restore England to order. By judging and replacing Richard they are going against what their society believes is God’s will. This is the worst mistake of all, because as the saying goes “two wrongs don’t make a right';. They are playing against a power fa r greater than anything they could imagine Richard being able to do. Their worries should not be of what Richard will do to them if they do not succeed, but what God will do to them at any given time. Northumberland tells of how the kingship will be restored and the garden revived. "If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke,/ Imp out our drooping country’s broken wing,/ Redeem from broking pawn the blemished crown,/ Wipe off the dust that hides our scepter’s gilt,/ And make high majesty look like itself," (Richard II II.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Nursing: Promising Pathways

I once heard it said that vocation should be the place where your greatest talents meet the world’s greatest needs.   For me the intersection between those two things lies in nursing.   Without question nursing has become one of our country’s greatest needs, as the deficit for certified nurses rises and more and more people in our nation’s hospitals are cared for by unqualified nurses.  Ã‚   Likewise, I believe that my greatest talents lie in this field and that my skill set will help me to provide the highest standard of care at a time when patients need it the most. Nursing is not the glamorized profession that one often sees on popular television shows.   It is not about looking pretty in a white uniform.   From my experience, being a nurse is actually the opposite of all that.   It entails working long hours and doing a lot of hard work. These are all part of why I chose to be a nurse. All the hard work and the fatigue pay off in the end when one has been able to save lives and make patients feel more comfortable during their times of need. In addition to the need that I will be fulfilling in my nursing career, I believe that it will be a rewarding job, as I will have the opportunity to help and to care for many people.   I have a passion for working closely with patients, regardless of their background or beliefs, and I believe that nursing is not merely a way to make a living, but a means of giving back to society. Not only will nursing be a rewarding and meaningful career for me, but my specific skill set gives me a great deal to offer my patients and my colleagues.   I am competent in Professional Health Care Management with the ability to provide and promote the highest standards in the rapidly changing and ever demanding Healthcare sector, driven by a vast global economy and vibrant technological innovation. I am attentive to detail, highly organized with strong analytical and decision-making skills. I have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, allowing me to provide care, compassion, and emotional support for irritable, stressed and ill patients.   I am highly knowledgeable in current and pertinent issues within and without the Healthcare sector.   I am able to work under pressure for long hours and to do a considerable amount of lifting such as moving patients, assisting with toileting needs and responding to emergencies.   I have a polished professional demeanor, which enables me to develop and maintain relationships with professionals in the healthcare sector. Furthermore, I have excellent conversational skills in three international languages; English, Spanish and Italian. I believe that my prior experience and my education will also help me to contribute significantly to this field.   I received a Pre-Med and Trustee scholarship to attend Suffolk University in Boston, where I major in Radiation Biology.   I have also become certified as a Phlebotomy technician, EKG technician and a Medical Clinic assistant.   Furthermore, I am pursuing a nursing assistant course as a State Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at the American Red Cross in Peabody, MA where I am learning procedures such as psychosocial care, restorative care, resident personal care, resident rights, communication, general safety procedure and infection control. In addition to my training, I have also held several positions in the medical field that have both increased my knowledge and proved to me that nursing is indeed the field that I want to dedicate myself to.   Since 2006 I have worked as a Radiation Therapist Intern at the Massachusetts General Hospital/ Brigham and Women Hospital / DFCI Boston. My responsibilities include accurate positioning of patients for treatment, operation of advanced medical equipment, quality assurance and providing competent patient care. I am also in charge of assisting the oncologist and the physician with treatment plans during delicate procedures.   From 2005 to 2006, I worked as a Medical Assistant at Alexyenko Medical Associates Lynn, MA. My duty was to assist in phlebotomy and EKG procedures. These are delicate procedures that demand the maintenance of high standards, both of which I believe I showed great aptitude for. I aim to work for an organization where personal growth is encouraged, human values are nurtured and talents are utilized in the attainment of organizational goals. I would like to be able to apply what I have been learning so far by taking a hands-on and direct approach.   I would like to attain a Masters Degree in order to gain the knowledge and experience to better prepare myself for medical school.   By earning my degree, I am being both practical and responsive to the needs of the time.   It is practical because I have chosen a career that will allow me to utilize my talents and experience, and responsive because there is an overwhelming need for qualified nurses. I believe that I have had an abundance of valuable experiences and talents to offer the healthcare field.   My prior positions have taught me both technical and soft skills. Technical competence is a core requisite of being successful in any profession. And yet more than this, my exposure in these institutions has taught me fortitude, patience, love of authentic service, and a strong spirit of volunteerism. My desire to be of real service to others has compelled me to move ahead and take advanced studies in this field.   It is with great joy and excitement that I join the place where my talents meet one of our country’s critical needs.   

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Macro

International trade is an economic phenomenon is a strategy that has taken the experiences of many countries in the world.   Between joining and not joining globalization that promotes international trade few will disagree that joining is the better option. This paper seeks to analyze and discuss the manner that greater international trade benefit or hurt the US economy, by identifying likely sectors which will benefit or suffer from expanded international trade, the good or bad reasons for expanding the NAFTA to into the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and finally to make a conclusion in sum, whether   expanded international trade is really to be a good or a bad thing for the United States. In so discussing the to topics, the paper incorporates in detail, five of the concepts from Economic Concepts section. Analysis and Discussion: Expanded international trade aims to promote free trade among nations. For the USA, having the NAFTA and CAFTA as just examples of more definite agreement between or among nations to promoted the trade between or among them.   The WTO is actually a bigger organization that promotes the same purpose. The seeming aim therefore of free trade agreements and America under the NAFTA and CAFTA may have other reasons that US has in mind but for the purpose of this paper, the economic benefits for the US as simply undeniable. The greater international trade and the US economy: Greater international benefit rather than hurt will go to the United States because the United States could produce more than it consumes.   It is being net producer should have been reflected in its trade balance which should have reflected a Surplus Trade Balance but over the years the United the states have always bee in trade deficit†¦ What makes in interesting for America is that despite the trade deficits over the years since it has imported more than it has exported, its gross domestic products over the years have still been increasing over the years. Viewed from the whether its people have benefited from the high GDP over the years, it could be argued that whether the trade balance is surplus or deficit, it is favorable to the United States. As how does this happen, could still be explained   the fact that many countries make investment in US dollars in term of US stocks and bonds and even in currency.   This reaction of countries seems to put the US almost always in a better position. The net effect for the US despite the trade deficit is the gains from as translated in terms of better foreign exchange as against other countries. Again on this angle, although strong dollar as against other foreign currencies would have made US in a better position, devaluating the same could still result to the US still winning the net effect of things. On this note, Samuelson (2004) said that a sliding dollar would have three possibilities:   The first one is that the United States wins and no one else loses if a falling dollar incites the â€Å"U.S. economy by increasing exports and restraining imports.† This will have the effect of Surplus industrial capacity which will keep the inflation low. Samuelson however believes that under this scenario, Europe and Japan don't suffer much, because the ongoing global economic recovery gathers strength and cushions export losses The second possibility is for the second, the United States and China to win while Europe and Japan lose. This happens because China keeps its currency, the renminbi, fixed to the dollar, and that it also gains competitive advantage when the dollar drops. This is further supported by the fact that China stabilizes the renminbi by investing surplus dollars in U.S. Treasury securities rather than selling them for local currency.). This however will depress exports of Europe and Japan and destroys their economic recovery and then protectionism rises.   The third although possible to happen be remote to happen that is the dollar â€Å"crashes† and that everyone loses. This happens when foreign investors dispose of their U.S. stocks and bonds, as values weaken in terms of their currencies which will trigger massive selling (Samuelson. 2004) As to how the US does it depends on it monetary policy. The US government through the Federal Reserve Bank can influence the foreign exchange market in the world because of the bigness. Using the power of the Reserve Bank, it can increase interest rates hence attracting many holders of other currencies to buy the US dollar and this will again put the value of the US the dollar stronger despite fact that the US has have may trade deficits in terms of more imports as against its exports. The sectors that will get affected by expanded international trade: There are sectors that benefit and some which will suffer from the expanded international trade. To prove such effects, it is was reported that thousands of US jobs were lost due to NAFTA. Scott and Ratner (2005) blamed the rise in the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico through 2004 for the lost of more than a million since NAFTA was signed in 1993. Jobs displacement occurred in every state and major industry in the United States and that more than half those lost jobs were in manufacturing industries.† The US may have lost in terms of jobs but it may have won in terms of more investments made in the US and in terms of cheaper goods that have entered and the US where its citizens benefited. Expanding the NAFTA to into the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA): The issue of whether I would be in favor of expanding the NAFTA into the CAFTA appears to depend on what is the purpose of this organization.   The main issue is whether free trade is better for America.   Again on the basis that America produced more than it consumers it is always better to for America to expand NAFTA to CAFTA. Zoellick (2005) said that if CAFTA is voted down, the region's poor in Central will not improve their lot but instead, a door to upward mobility will be slammed shut. The US is doing not only free on economic reasons but also for political reasons since it believes that by generating employment it lessens problems to society. In sum, expanded international trade is a good for the United States: Boyes, et. al (2003)   said that the US need to be the leader in strengthening the world trading system to promote freer, fairer trade and consequent efficiency gains. Most urgent is for the U.S. to improve its diplomacy within the Doha Round of the ongoing World Trade Organization talks. They even recommended that the U.S. should make concessions to developing countries in agriculture and in intellectual property relief for critical medicines so as to successfully extend and improve the more important multilateral system under a free trade. By so adopting and other public policy actions, Boyes, et. al (2003) believes that US will maintain its long-term strength in its economy.   By so adopting freer trade as a rule for the US, it necessary has to turn its back against protectionism and this is the antidote to freer trade.   Boyes, et. al (2003)   explained that â€Å"protectionism and isolationism aim to maintain advantage in particular industries and professions, but other nations can and have emulated and bested the U.S. in selected and targeted areas, and they will continue to do so.† They also believe that â€Å"the strength of the U.S. is not to found in isolation from globalization. The nation's strengths are instead its ability to adapt to change, its ability to attract foreign capital, and its ability to attract the best and brightest from across the globe.† Conclusion: We have found that the US will benefit more from greater international trade than not joining than not joining. The simple of joining international trade is the fact that it produces more than it consumes.   There is however some sectors that will likely benefit and some which will suffer from expanded international trade because it could not be that America monopolizes all the knowledge in the world.   As it opens its economy, there are industry sectors where America is not good at but it employs so many people. When we say, America is not good at certain industries, we are saying that America is simply not efficient economically that other nations are simply better than it that America could acquire it at a lower cost, hence it should leave America to source the industry outside and instead concentrate on industry where it is good or in industries where is has potential for growth. The industries that it is good are on agriculture while an industry where it is not good at is on services of some professional like those of nurses. Since free trade is better to America as a rule, expanding the NAFTA to into the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) must be deemed to be a better option. In sum, I believed that expanded international trade is to be a good thing for America. Protectionism is no place in America. Its democratic government would be inconsistent to adopt the same since democracy means freedom and freedom means freedom not only to vote in elections but also freedom to excel where its people have the capacity. The US is very reach to lose many things in free trade if one would look at it. Hence it is difficult to see why other developing nations like those in Central America would fail to see the benefits of free trade. References: Boyes, et. al. (2003) Lessons From the Past: History Says the Future of U.S. Industrial Competitiveness Is Brighter Than We Think, {www} document URL, http://www.ernestmorgan.com/macro/essay3/boyes120103.html, Accessed June, 2007 Samuelson, R. (2004) A Global Glut of Greenbacks, Newsweek January 5, 2004,   {www} document URL, http://www.ernestmorgan.com/macro/essay3/samuelson010504.html, Accessed June, 2007 Scott and Ratner (2005) Issue Brief #214, NAFTA's cautionary tale Recent history suggests CAFTA could lead to further U.S. job displacement, , {www} document URL http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/ib214, Accessed June, 2007 Zoellick, R.   (2005), CAFTA Is a Win-Win, The Washington Post,   , {www} document URL http://www.ernestmorgan.com/macro/essay3/zoellick052405.html, Accessed June, 2007      

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Initiative 200 essays

Initiative 200 essays Affirmative Action Under Attack by Initiative 200? Affirmative action is under heavy attack by initiative 200, and it should not be. It should not be under fire because it serves as an act of restitution for the discrimination and hurt that we have caused African-Americans and other minorities throughout this century. It is our job to repair and repay blacks because our performance in the past has immediately affected their present status. Americans, especially white males until late, were not opposed to affirmative action. This is only because affirmative action primarily benefited white males. It was the privileges our colonial fathers established on the basis of race and gender that allowed white males to dominate the job market with little or no contention. Some even believe that affirmative action is preferential treatment for white males. White males have used race consistently in two ways since the Civil War: for the purpose of inclusion and exclusion. They have used race inclusively to benefit themselves and exclusively to deny opportunity to others. In the past, white males were preferred. In the present, however, affirmative action, though still based on race and gender, is used to include those who in the past were excluded. In more precise terms, with todays affirmative action, or preferential treatment, we are attempting to adjust for the imbalances of the past that have been carried on into the present. All of this seems so intuitively obvious, so why then cant most Americans understand why affirmative action is obligatory? I believe the answer is as follows: Americans have refuse to recognize that there is and empirical relationship between the past and the present. They refuse to recognize that understanding the effects of past discrimination on the present is the key to explaining why affirmative action is not only needed in the present, but is the moral and political responsi...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Ethically acceptable research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethically acceptable research - Essay Example These rules were made regarding overflow of putting predication on nonscientific explanation and experiences rather than on proof. The primary practices at the origin of evidence-based practice can be categorized into three steps: Evidence based regulation specifies the way in which criminologists make decisions based on the identification of rating its reliability scientifically. Hence, it eliminates exceptionally dangerous practices in favor of those that have better results. One of the forms that the regulation may take is a form based on social control theory which is expressed through law as bills, rules, and policies against any nonstandard behaviors. It measures the amount of people connected to their society to the probability of them committing a crime. This can be situational and not as much reliable as evidence based regulation as instances have been seen where people commit crime as a habit or other strange examples. Moreover, as social control theory is based on hypothesis it can always be proved wrong. It is based on the explanatory and predictive form of research research. Probabilistic assumption is another form of the regulation in which professionals assume that an effect will likely occur if specific causes are present. It eliminates the need for any scientific research which is, again, much more accurate and reliable than probability. Criminology and criminal justice are social sciences meaning that these are highly influenced by any political or social incidents taking place in a particular society. Ethically, invasion of privacy, potential harm and deception are protected by law. In addition, researchers should be aware, at all times, of the influence of the research on the society. Hence, to me, evidence based regulation is the most reliable and effective use of proving the crime as it uses reasonable explanations of

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 22

Business - Essay Example During peak seasons, the statement will indicate more cash in than cash out, but the opposite is true during the off-peak season. If seasonal fluctuations are discovered by the owners, they should brainstorm strategies to keep their cash-in and cash-out equal no matter the season. This may include selling different products during the off-peak and peak season or even offering discounts. The balance sheet is the best financial statement to indicate impact. This is because the new building bought is an asset and will therefore reflect on the balance sheet. The income statement will also be impacted on because it will indicate the expenses of purchasing that building during that financial year. Whether the building brings in cash or demands more cash out of the coffee shop will be reflected in the statement of cash flows (Fridson and Alvarez, 2011). c) Which financial statement shows a quick view of the coffee shops ability to pay back a loan? Are there other factors that are not shown on the statement that should be considered by someone making such a loan to the owners? The income statement is the best financial statement that gives a quick view of the coffee shop. This is because it just indicates the annual profits and losses the shop has made since it began. The statement does not indicate the assets the shop has which if financially boosted can increase the profits by far but since they are not in use or are underutilized have become a liability to the shop. If the person granting a loan is able to view their assets, then he or she may be in a better position to make a fair judgment of whether to grant the shop a loan based on its potentialities of expansion or