Homeless Veterans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Homeless Veterans - Essay Example To save the veteran homelessness, everybody has to join hands. Being in the army is no easy job, and everybody of us knows the implications of such a dangerous profession. Dealing with stressful situations on the battle field and experiencing one of the worst kinds of human slaughter, the thought of war brings with it grisly images for the veterans even when they have returned home. Almost every one of the army men faces extreme depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) once their numbness begins to lift. For some war veterans it has even taken a decade before the effects of the war have emerged plunging them into complete darkness. This is helped by little or no support from the government which even though has made independent organizations such as the U.S. Department of the Veteran Affairs (VA) but no real improvements can be observed on ground. This fact is further supported by the figures given by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that on a single n ight in the United States at least 62,619 war veterans are homeless and living on streets or in shelters (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans). Another 1.4 million veterans are suspected on the verge of homelessness due to various reasons. Is that how we return our services to people who had once served us? If the issue of fixing homelessness for war veterans is not treated as a grave emergency, things can be safely assumed as getting out of control. Though the VA argues on successfully providing shelter, medication and other services to the war veterans, which is even true to some extent, but the number of veterans still homeless indicates huge loopholes. Once the US troops in Afghanistan start returning home, will they as well be welcomed by similar homelessness? Taken the fact that the VA could not get the 62,619 war veterans off the road, little hope can we have for the 63,000 troops. The matter to address veteran homelessness is also barred by political circumstances. Some of the confidential Pentagon reports have suggested that the United States has no intention of evacuating all of its troops from Afghanistan as soon as 2014; it intends to stay much longer. However, even if we expect a fourth section of soldiers from our army, they easily exceed the number that is already homeless. Thus solutions covering a much wider ground are needed to not just home the existing war veterans but any of the future ones as well. To reduce veteran homelessness an array of measures will have to be taken. An organization or two supported by another few cannot alone fight the consequences of such a grave matter. Veterans do not just need shelter but immense psychological and physical support, taken their horrendous experiences at the battlefield. Most of these men have faced extremely unpleasant situations – after all a war has nothing pleasant to it – and as a result they are at a very high risk of developing psychological disorders. Though people argue that families should be responsible for the health of the veterans once they return, they fail to recognize the fact that many of these ex-soldiers have severed ties with their families after the long time-period spent abroad. We have clear evidences of wives leaving their veteran husbands for other guys since their husbands could not provide for them. As veterans find it difficult to acquire jobs after their services in the army,

Electronic Industry in Asean Essay Example for Free

Electronic Industry in Asean Essay Several factors make electronics a leading industry in South East Asia: 1. Possibilities of application – greatly impact the growth of economy and society of one particular country 2. The drop in the prices of important hardware Electronic industry is divided into two main category: industrial electronics and consumer electronics. Industrial electronics: 1. Servers 2. Telecommunications 3. Robots Consumer electronics: 1. Radios 2. TVs 3. Video, Music Media Players 4. Cell Phones 5. Tablet PCs and Laptops Risk in Electronics Industry mainly in high obsolescence (limited product life-cycle). Electronics production in ASEAN is mainly in the field of consumer products and components. The industry underwent considerable growth in 1970s and Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines had become important production bases. Main reasons that contribute development of electronic industry in ASEAN, from 1960s to 1980s: 1. Import Substitution Starting from 1960s to 1980s there were many import bans (protective barriers) for consumers in ASEAN countries. This also includes electronic products such as Televisions (BW and Color), Audio Stereo and Radio Cassette. Hence, Japanese corporations like Sony and Toshiba started to setup production plants, namely in Singapore and Malaysia in the early history of electronic industry in ASEAN. 2. Competition between Japanese States manufacturers. Earlier, due to quality control reasons, American manufacturers such as GoldStar (now bought over by LG) were reluctant to relocate their production plant to Asia. However, due decreasing component cost (especially production of electronic diode and cathode ray – important components for TVs at that time) from ASEAN Countries, they decided to create new plants in ASEAN – as a result, more schools in ASEAN are starting to open basic electronic education (unique opportunity for technology and knowledge transfer for ASEAN countries) 3. Changing in Industrial Policies The most pronounced change happened in Singapore after breaking up with the Federation of Malaysia in 1965. EDB was formed with the mission to find investors from US and Europe. Within 3 years, Singapore became the largest semi-conductor assembly in Asia. Electronic industry employed 2,400 people in 1968 to 35,000 in 1976 and 60,000 in 1984. In Malaysia, there was a New Economic Policy. Electronic industry was given a priority status – tax exemption was given in the first 7 years of business. Since Malaysia had more manpower as compared to Singapore, it took over the leading position in 1985 (General Electric employed 38,000 labour in West and East Malaysia). In Thailand, more and more citizens were exposed to Television and Radios. Hence, export of electronic goods represented up to 13% of annual exported products. In Indonesia, export-processing zone was opened in North Jakarta, however the ‘boom’ was not as huge as garment production over that period of time. 4. The growing demand for computer related equipment More government and private offices required Personal Computer and its equipment such as disk drives. Interestingly, contrary to popular belief, low wages alone do not create comparative advantage. In fact, countries that earned major foreign investments were Singapore and Malaysia, where wages, still are the highest in the region. In our findings, we believe that infrastructural environment in terms of transport telecommunications played an important role. In addition, political stability and industrial environments in terms of supporting firms in plastics, machinery, as well as the quality of manpower were crucial for the offshore production of new electronic products such as micro and minicomputers.

Wide Area Networks, Observer Management and Monitoring Tools

Wide Area Networks, Observer Management and Monitoring Tools Abstract In this report the concepts of different network management principles will be explored with a view to demonstrating how Observer manages wide area networks. The report will explore the issues with WAN and how Observer overcomes these problems. Introduction Wide area networks are becoming far more complex and far wider spread than ever before, this of course leads to some big problems for the network managers of these large scale networks. Most of these networks are huge in size and can easily encompass an entire city, whereas most of them are transcontinental. This poses the first of many problems for a network manager, they may not be in the same continent as a large proportion of their network. This makes the use of network management software essential, such as Observer. Using network management software means the network manager would not have to leave their desk to find any fault in the network whether it was in the next room or half way across the globe. Literary Review The most useful literary text the author found was from the new owners of Observer, the software used in this report. The new owners ViaviSolutions have published a white paper on using   Observer Analyser, their latest version of the observer suite as a security tool. (anon, 2014) The journal by Liu et al. (2014) provided a lot of insight into where wide area networks are going, and their optimisation. It contains interesting formulae for network optimisation using the Gauss-Newton method of nonlinear least squares. This principally agrees with the first text in this review about the nature and make up of a wide area network. Ahmed Boutaba, (2014) goes on to agree in part with the rest of the journals about the nature of a WAN but goes on to discuss the fact that traditional controllers can cause bottle necks in the network and that opting for SDN (Software Defined Network) allows for a faster network and a higher level of quality overall. Ahmedi Mitrevski, (2014) looks at possibly the only real area of disagreement with regards to WANs and that is how much they cost. The relative cost of implementing and the monthly upkeep of a network seems to be the only area where professionals disagree about these networks. Anon (2008). This seminar outlined the principles of network management that are considered as industry standard. Cahn, (1998). This journal looks at the design of WANs and their benefits, and this also agrees with the principles outlined in the previous articles mentioned, including the ambiguous nature of the costing of a network. It outlines there are only three important numbers when considering a WAN, these are the cost, either monthly up keep, total set up cost or a mixture of both, the reliability and the response times, and goes on to say these are all directly proportional to each other, as in if you reduce the amount of money spent the response time goes up which brings the reliability down. Dian Septama et al., (2015). In this journal there is lots of information regarding providing a high quality of service, one of the main areas a network manager faces the biggest struggles and can cause the biggest issues aside from security. Feng et al.,( 2014) this journal explores the real world application of a WAN and covers the issues in using traditional methods against new technologies which are opting for more automation and utilising programs and algorithms to manage the trivial day-to-day running of a network which frees up the human element to focus their time on more important tasks. Geer,( 2013)this journal focuses more on the security and current state of the internet, but in essence the internet is just a very large WAN and so its management and security are relevant here (Langer et al., 2010) this journal uses the example of a healthcare organisation utilising the fast and secure delivery methods of a WAN to transport confidential patient files and details across the WAN to remote geographical locations, the main example used is radiology images. These are now digital images and are large in size due to the resolutions required to accurately use them for medical diagnosis. Malhotra et al., (2011) this journal replicates closely the experiment that was carried out by the author of this report, the main differences are this journal experiments with a LAN and uses OPNET to generate the usage. Shin et al., (2007) this journal agrees with Ahmed Boutaba, (2014) and Feng et al.,( 2014) in so much as they state that a network should be monitored and managed by an algorithm based on the existing SNMP framework. Tiropanis et al., (2015)this journal explores the development of networks and their respective sciences and how these have evolved, specifically into internet science and web science. And how each of these areas are evolving in their own areas and how each of them has an impact on the others. Travostino et al., (2006) this journal outlines another real world application of WANs for the distribution of virtual machines and how they can be utilised to compute large tasks aver the network instead of only using local resources. Wang et al., (2014) this journal documents an experiment into the future of how security of a WAN could be implemented. It outlays an idea of sending the authentication key across the network securely but not via mathematical encoding to deter eavesdroppers but by quantum physics. The system uses high frequency lasers beamed down fibre optic cables which are encoded by the transmitter and then decoded by a receiver, the encryption is encoded into the specific frequency of the lasers architecture and photon length. Each transmitter and receiver contain sophisticated monitoring circuitry which monitor the incoming traffic and actively scan for Trojan horse photons from the channel. Observer and wide area networks For the purposes of this report the author created a simulated WAN to utilise the software Observer to implement network management. The network simulated three terminals situated in three cities around the world. The console was simulated as being in London, one was in Paris and the other was in New York Fig 1: Showing Simulated Geographical Location of Console (Circled) Fig 2: Showing Simulated Geographical Location of Second PC (Circled) Fig 3: Showing Simulated Geographical Location of Third PC (Circled) Once the author had set up the WAN they opened Observer on each of the machines connected to the virtual WAN. The machine simulated as London was selected as the machine to be the console for the purpose of managing the network and so was configured to collate the data generated by the network. The other two machines utilised the inbuilt traffic generation tool in Observer. Although the software produces traffic this is of a CBR style and so the data received is evidently simulated but for the purpose of this report this is acceptable. The traffic generator in Observer comes with a plethora of options. The default option sends a small group of packets through on a broadcast channel (ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff) the author altered this setting to generate the top talkers and pair matrix graphs as on a broadcast channel all the traffic appeared to be generating and received by the switchs MAC address which wasnt the case. The size of the packet and the transmission length were also altered to gi ve a larger test sample. The author also tried to generate random traffic which is one of the options but this seemed to have no effect on the traffic generated as it was constant bit rate style simulation traffic. Fig 4: observer running on first PC (Simulated location Paris) Fig 5: Observer running on third PC (simulated location New York) Fig 6: Traffic Generation on second PC (Paris) Fig 7: Traffic Generation on third PC (New York) On the console PC observer was running several of its functonal windows, first of which was the top talkers windows. This window is utilised to identify the staations on the network with the highest traffic volumes. This is particularly usefull from a management perspective as to monitor the personality of the network in order to maintain smooth operation, and identify potential security threats. (Anon, 2016) the top talkers screen provides a huge amount of information about the different stations attached to the network, including the amount of traffic generated and received by the node in both packets and bytes, its MAC address, its IP address . From this screen the network manager can monitor all the nodes on the network and diagnose issues as they happen. If a node suddenly starts generating large amounts of traffic for no apparent reason the network manager can have observer set up an alert and even have it send a SMS message or email reporting the issue. This ensures the networ k manager can stay on top of all aspects of the network regardless of time or location. If any issues arise the network manager can deploy a resource from the technical team to resolve the problem swiftly so as not to impact upon the quality of service. Fig 8: Observer Top Talkers window with Paris PC selected Fig 9: Observer Top Talkers window with New York PC selected Looking at the top talkers window identifies that the two Traffic generating PCs were indeed the ones with the heaviest traffic flow, followed by the swiches and hub that connected them all together. A network manager looking at this screen can monitor all machines connected to the network regardless of geographical location, even wireless connections are shown and can be monitored. (Liu et al., 2014) Another window on the console pc is the paired matrix screen. With this tool the network manage can monitor the pathways the network traffic is taking on the network. Through this analysis the network manager can optimise the network through routing manipulation. If a particular router is getting the brunt of the network traffic a second router can be installed to share the traffic burden and reduce the utilisation of the initial router and theoretically improve the quality of service. (Anon, 2016), (Anon, 2008) Fig 10: the Pair Matrix window showing traffic from the Paris PC the the New York pc and then to conslolePC Fig 11: Paris and New York PCs traffic going straight to Consloe PC The final tool used by the author is the packet capture window. The first attempts at packet capture by the author demonstrated the need for checking the settings thouroughly as the buffer for capture was very small and so the captured line on the graph was tiny to start with untill this was increased by the author. After increasing the buffer size the graphs look much better and the data far more usable. After increaseing the buffer hugely the traffic was restarted and the capture began again. The packet capture showed the traffic being generated as it monitors all traffic on the network, but will only capture a certain amount for analysis. Fig 12: Packet Capture window showing the current traffic on the network (yellow line shows packets captured, blue line is total packets on network) Fig 13: Packet cature after buffer increased Fig 14: Dialogue box from Observer detailing total packets and ability to save the range for later reference Through the packet capture the network manager can observe the networks personality again to monitor for threats and general maintenance of the network. (Anon, 2016) Results After running the experiment the data collected showed exactly how powerful the observer tool can be, although there was only three machines the scope of observers abilities is evident and can easily be imagined for a network of three thousand machines. The interface can be de-cluttered to show only relevant information so the network manager wouldnt get bogged down with an information overload. Looking at the paired matrix graphs there are several lines on the screen all of which are communiquà ©s between nodes on the network, not all of these are PCs most of them are routers and switches along which the WAN is established. The thickness of each line denotes the amount of traffic it has dealt with. These lines show both incoming and outgoing traffic and the lines connect the source to its destination address. The labels are a combination of the assigned name, normally the name assigned in the NIC and its MAC address EG. Broadcom[5A:7C:09] the label for the console PC. As shown in fig 11 the packets do not have to be routed to or even through the console PC for Observer to pick the packets up and display them. The data collected from the packet capture can be used to manually calculate the utilisation of the network, although this can also be worked out by Observer automatically. The packet capture screen is in a graph format with time across the bottom and the amount of packets per second up the side. There are three coloured lines on the graph blue which denotes the total packets on the network, yellow which are the packets captured by Observer and red which denotes the amount of dropped packets. In the data captured there were no dropped packets, and a peak of approximately 500 packets per second. This flow rate lasts for five minutes with no dropped packets, showing the networks utilisation was within acceptable ranges. if there had been dropped packets it would show that the network was working too hard and there for would mean it had a high utilisation and would prompt the network manager to address the utilisation, and to optimise the efficiency of the network. Looking at the top talkers table in fig 9, in this data it is evident which nodes on the network receive the most and also which transmit the most. This information is highly important to the network manager as these are essential to the security and effective maintenance of the network. For example if there was an employee using the companys network to watch movies on their workstation the network manager would see within Observer a radical change to the stoichiometry of the network and its personality would change. Once this change had been brought to the network managers attention they could look on Observer at the top talkers and paired matrix charts and identify which terminal was using an abnormal amount of the networks bandwidth and then take action against the offending party in line with the companys IT policy. Conclusion This report has looked at the management techniques used in applying wide area networks, their future, their application in the real world and their design and deployment, it is the opinion of the author that the general consensus is that the IT community seem to be in agreement about most concepts of wide area networks, apart from the cost of them, and how to control them. Although the majority of newer reports (Shin et al., 2007), (Ahmed Boutaba, 2014), and (Feng et al., 2014) are swayed towards having the majority of the control handed over to algorithms and evolution programs, there is also still call for there to be a human element to be involved in the management process.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   After looking through the papers used in the research for this report it is the opinion of the author that the application of a well managed WAN is far more beneficial than any other communication option, considering the internet is in reality just a huge WAN its self, a WAN can run everythi ng in a business or academic environment, from physical security like door locks and fire alarms through to phones (Dian Septama et al., 2015) and lighting, there are even applications to control environmental conditions. With the introduction of automated network managers, the buildings air conditioning could be being controlled by a computer thousands of miles away. With the development of encrypted laser communications utilised in QKD making networks virtually completely secure the control of more sensitive systems may fall under the control of larger WANs and possibly a large central, global WAN to control all the mundane systems around the globe. To conclude this report the author believes in view of the huge advances in using automated network management options and the amount of non communications based areas controlled by nodes on the network, coupled with the advancements made in artificial intelligence the role of the human network manager could become extinct as we know it. The role could progress to either being an overseer of the AI or completely redundant altogether. Bibliography Ahmed, R. Boutaba, R. (2014) Design considerations for managing wide area software defined networks. IEEE Commun. Mag., 52 (7), pp.116-123. Ahmedi, B. Mitrevski, P. (2014) On The Development of Methodology for Planning and Cost-Modeling of A Wide Area Network. IJCNC, 6 (3), pp.71-90. Anon (2008) 10th IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS2008). IEICE Communications Society Magazine, 2008 (7), pp.7_12-7_15. Anon (2014) USING A NETWORK ANALYZER AS A SECURITY TOOL. 1st ed. Minnetonka. Available from: [Accessed 17 December 2015]. Cahn, R. (1998) Wide area network design. San Francisco, Calif., Morgan Kaufmann. Dian Septama, H., Ulvan, A., Hlavacek, J. Bestak, R. (2015) High Available VoIP Server Failover Mechanism in Wide Area Network. TELKOMNIKA (Telecommunication Computing Electronics and Control), 13 (2), p.739. Feng, Y., Cui, D., Li, Y., Zhang, J. Li, J. (2014) Contrasting Meteorological Wide-Area Networks and Evolutionary Programming. AMM, 687-691, pp.2557-2560. Geer, D. (2013) Resolved. Communications of the ACM, 56 (6), p.48. Langer, S., French, T. Segovis, C. (2010) TCP/IP Optimization over Wide Area Networks: Implications for Teleradiology. Journal of Digital Imaging, 24 (2), pp.314-321. Liu, L., Ling, Q. Han, Z. (2014) Decentralized Gauss-Newton method for nonlinear least squares on wide area network. IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng., 67, p.012021. Malhotra, R., Gupta, V. K. Bansal, R. (2011) Simulation and Performance Analysis of Wired and Wireless Computer Networks. International Journal of Computer Applications, 14 (7), pp.11-17. Shin, K., Jung, J., Cheon, J. Choi, S. (2007) Real-time network monitoring scheme based on SNMP for dynamic information. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 30 (1), pp.331-353. Tiropanis, T., Hall, W., Crowcroft, J., Contractor, N. Tassiulas, L. (2015) Network science, web science, and internet science. Communications of the ACM, 58 (8), pp.76-82. Travostino, F., Daspit, P., Gommans, L., Jog, C., de Laat, C., Mambretti, J., Monga, I., van Oudenaarde, B., Raghunath, S. Yonghui Wang, P. (2006) Seamless live migration of virtual machines over the MAN/WAN. Future Generation Computer Systems, 22 (8), pp.901-907. Wang, S., Chen, W., Yin, Z., Li, H., He, D., Li, Y., Zhou, Z., Song, X., Li, F., Wang, D., Chen, H., Han, Y., Huang, J., Guo, J., Hao, P., Li, M., Zhang, C., Liu, D., Liang, W., Miao, C., Wu, P., Guo, G. Han, Z. (2014) Field and long-term demonstration of a wide area quantum key distribution network. Opt. Express, 22 (18), p.21739.

Night :: essays research papers

Elie Wiesel’s Night   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eliezer Wiesel was one of the few Jews that escaped Hitler’s evil hand during World War II. There are only a handful of novels that accurately depict the fate of those persecuted, and Night should be at the top of this list. Regarded by many as the memoir of the terror to read, teachers spanning the globe have presented this book to their students. The systematic extermination of the Jewish people all over Europe was unknown until after the war, and even then the horror could only be expressed through pictures and bits of accounts by prisoners. For over thirty years the general public was privy to few facts about the dreadfulness, until Night was published in 1982. It changed the way many people thought about the Holocaust, finally presenting a historically accurate account of the mass homicide of the Jewish people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Sighet, Transylvania, a fourteen-year-old boy began studying Jewish theology as World War II began. Eliezer Wiesel began his lessons against his father’s advice; his father thought that he was too young. The Jews in his small town believed that they were beyond the reach of Adolph Hitler and the Facists, but they were mistaken. After the non-Hungarians were deported and taken to a concentration camp, one of the townspeople escaped, immediately returning to Sighet to warn the residents. He described the horrific violence that he had seen, but the people refused to believe him. They thought that he just wanted attention, or perhaps insane.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Until 1943, they continued on with their lives, living normally. Even after the Fascists come to power, the townspeople remained optimistic. Germany invaded Hungary in 1944 and the German army arrived in Sighet. Elie’s father refused to take his family and attempt an escape from Joseph, A2 the country. The persecution of the Jews began on Passover that year. For three days they were forbidden from leaving their homes; after they were allowed they were forced to wear a yellow star on their clothes. The Jews were ushered into two ghettos, but people still lived normal lives, remaining hopeful. Summoned to a Jewish Council meeting, Elie’s father hears terrible news: all the Jews would be deported. Elie ran to awaken his neighbors and all began to pack for the journey.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  His family was scheduled to leave in the last convey and they were moved into a smaller ghetto.

Examine Shakespeare’s presentation Essay

When Hamlet was first performed in 1601, England had been successfully ruled for forty-three years by Elizabeth I, a strong and influential monarch who reigned without a male counterpart, establishing England as one of the most powerful and prominent countries in the world. This is proof that women can be as successful as men; however women were still seen as second class citizens, and â€Å"property† of their husbands, during the Elizabethan period. Polonius says of Ophelia â€Å"I have a daughter – have while she is mine. † (2.2, line 106). This is reflected in Shakespeare’s portrayal of women in Hamlet, which shows Gertrude in a very different light to Elizabeth Tudor. For many years in the past, many women played a small role socially, economically and politically. As a result of this, many works of literature of this time, including Hamlet, were reflective of this diminutive role of women. Shakespeare suggests the danger of women’s involvement in politics at the sovereign level, and reflects the public’s desire for a return to a state of stability through a change to a patriarchal system. We can examine Shakespeare’s presentation of women in Hamlet through the way the two women in the play, Gertrude and Ophelia, are treated by the men in their lives, and by analyzing the context in which they are referred. The first time Claudius refers to Gertrude he says: â€Å"Our sometime sister, now our Queen, Th’ imperial jointress of this warlike state,† (1. 2, lines 8-9) which shows how he took advantage of his dead brother’s wife whilst she was still mourning her husband’s death to settle his place on the throne. â€Å"She married. O most wicked speed, to post, with such dexterity to incestuous sheets. † (1.2, lines 156-157) Here Hamlet is accusing his mother of corruption because of her improper sexual activity and marriage. Even though a marital bond existed between Claudius and Gertrude, the rushed and incestuous aspects of the marriage enrage Hamlet. The couple were married less than three months after the death of Hamlet’s father, and in Hamlet’s eyes, Gertrude’s actions have defiled her character. Royal sexual activity created concerns about both power and purity in the Elizabethan world. As women had no opportunity to fight on the battle field, chastity was the principle measure of their honour and virtue. Therefore Hamlet’s opinion of his mother has a negative reflection of a woman’s virtues. Sir Walter Mildway, 1510, said: â€Å"Choose thy wife for virtue only. † Elizabeth’s sexual conduct drew public attention, and she publicly vowed her purity, even adopting the title â€Å"Virgin Queen. † When King Hamlet’s ghost appears he refers to Gertrude as his â€Å"most seeming-virtuous Queen. † (1. 5, lines 4-6) He is expressing his belief that Gertrude had always seemed faithful, but now she has married much less of a man she has dishonoured him, and lost all his respect and trust. Even though Hamlet and his father are seeking revenge on Claudius, they continue to speak of Gertrude. In his second soliloquy we expect Hamlet to be expressing his hatred towards Claudius, however he is focusing all of his energy on this â€Å"most pernicious woman,† (1. 5, line 105) who is his mother. This dis-belief at his mother’s behaviour is understandable, however, as it is so soon after his father’s death, and you would expect Gertrude to still be mourning the death of her husband that she apparently loved dearly. One of the most famous quotes regarding women in Hamlet is â€Å"Frailty – thy name is woman. † (1. 2, lines 146-147) This quote sums up the attitudes of the male characters in the play, that women are by far the weaker sex and gives us a clue as to why the men treat Gertrude and Ophelia with so little respect. In 1558, writer, John Knox described women as â€Å"weak, frail, impatient, feeble and foolish. † Emphasizing the way that women were viewed at the time Hamlet was written. Both the women are greatly controlled by the men of the play, particularly Ophelia who is often told what to do and who has been treated as if she does not have a mind of her own all her life. When asked a question Ophelia often replies with â€Å"I think nothing,† (3. 2, line 118) and when she does express an opinion it is dismissed. Polonius says â€Å"Affection? Pooh, you speak like a green girl unsifted,† (1. 3, line 101) which is extremely patronizing, saying she speaks like an inexperienced and untried girl who does not know what she is talking about. Ophelia could have an out-going personality; however, she is so oppressed that we never get to see a true reflection of her character, due to the constraints of the society she is living in. We even hear Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark, saying to her husband: â€Å"I shall obey you. † By obeying the men and giving in to a passive existence Gertrude and Ophelia are living up to the label that women are the weaker sex. The men give ‘good advice’ to both women, telling them what to do and when, Polonius tells Ophelia not to give her virginity away too easily when he uses the metaphor â€Å"set you entreatments at a higher rate then a command to parley,† (1. 3, lines 122-123) where her virginity is compared to a castle under siege. Even though Polonius is Ophelia’s father, he seems to have no respect for her, or her privacy, and rarely thinks of how she may be feeling. He reads Hamlet’s love letters out-loud to the King and uses Ophelia as bait to improve his image in front of Claudius, which is extremely self-centred and obsequious. Another quote that really stands out in ‘Hamlet’ that shows how little respect the men have for Gertrude and Ophelia is â€Å"Get thee to a nunnery. † (3. 1, line 121) This is Hamlet telling Ophelia that because he can not have her, no one can, so she has to go to a nunnery, away from all other male contact. He does not ask her how she feels, and is willing to make the rest of her life miserable simply because he can not be with her. It never even occurs to Hamlet that she might be willing to move on and find someone other than him to spend the rest of her life with. After the nunnery scene, Ophelia speaks to Polonius and we hear her opinion for the first and only time. She presents herself entirely as the victim of Hamlet’s rough treatment. She says: â€Å"I of ladies most deject and wretched, that sucked the honey of his musiked vows,† (3.1, lines 158-159) showing how Ophelia had believed in what Hamlet told her and how she feels dejected about the fact that he claims to have never loved her. â€Å"God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another,† (3. 1, lines 145-146) is Hamlet saying that women wear too much make-up and in doing so are deceiving men into thinking that they are something that they are not. He accuses Ophelia of being a typical woman and is therefore not treating her as an individual. He says: â€Å"For the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is bawd,† (3.1, lines 111-112) explaining his opinion that beautiful women are untrustworthy and insincere. Even though Hamlet accuses women of this, he is saying it in the heat of an argument so he may be exaggerating and may not be giving his true opinion. Ophelia hardly says a think back to him though, again reflecting the idea that women are frail and passive. Throughout the play Hamlet makes reference to prostitutes, and seems to make a connection between women, sex and corruption. When Hamlet and Polonius are speaking he says: â€Å"For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion. † (2. 2, lines 184-185) He uses this metaphor of a dead dog, and a pun on the word â€Å"sun,† to make the point that if the son (Hamlet) kisses the daughter (Ophelia) then she may breed, like the maggots in the dead animal. The characters of the play often refer to sex in a negative manner, and it is never described as a loving act between a couple. In Hamlet’s second soliloquy he is blaming himself, and compares himself to a slatternly woman saying that he â€Å"must like a whore, unpack my heart with words, and fall a-cursing like a very drab, a stallion. † (2.2, lines 592-594) His references to women are always negative, and he presents them as objects that men can use for sexual pleasure whenever they want. The final point to make about the way Shakespeare presents women is the fact that Ophelia is the only character driven to suicide, and that she is one of only two women in the play. This is possible another way for Shakespeare to make his point that women are by far the weaker sex. Audiences today would find the way that the women in Hamlet are treated extremely surprising as today women are so much more independent. Instead of being a husband’s possession, a wife is seen as an equal. Women today have the freedom to be more open-minded, and are allowed to voice opinions other than their husbands’. Women today have almost total sexual freedom as well, so the connection between women, sex and corruption would probably cause mixed reactions. This, however, also brings me to the point that even though Shakespeare’s presentation of women is negative, so is his presentation of men. He shows the men being insensitive, selfish, oppressive and shows them treating women with very little respect. â€Å"Frailty – thy name is woman,† no longer applies to the women of the 21st Century as there are more or less equal opportunities for men and women now, and everyone has the same education and job opportunities no matter what sex you may be. I think that this quote sums up Shakespeare’s overall presentation of women and the treatment of Gertrude and Ophelia shows us how women were oppressed, and often seen as objects rather than human beings.

Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank

Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank Introduction Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank (BSIB) have developed to be a major player in banking industry in Australia. Although relatively new having been established ten years ago, the bank has experienced a fast growth rate. Due to good business environment, the bank was able to expand its domestic operation by increasing the number of branches.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The bank currently has branches in all major towns and cities in Australia. BSIB still maintains its Head Office in Brisbane major operations are based. Among the major operations at the Head Office include Retail Banking, Internet Banking and Business Banking. Retail Banking focuses on management of branches, customer accounts, loan and mortgage and cards. On the other hand, internet banking sector deals with managing online customers and online banking products. Business banking focuses on managing business based accounts, loans and mortgages and overdrafts. Apart from the Head Office, BSIB has another major office in Adelaide. The major operations based at Adelaide office include Institution Banking, Superannuation Products and Insurance Products. Operations in foreign exchange, hedge funds, share trading and bonds are managed from this office under Institution Banking. The office is responsible for management of insurance products such as life insurance, land protection, home and contents insurance. BSIB has experience rapid growth over the last ten years. When it started ten years ago, the bank had 1000 employees. The number of employees has increased with increased operations and it currently stands at about 17000. Computers and computer based information systems are integral part of every organization in modern days. Information system in an important resource in any organization and has significant contribution to an organization†™s productivity. In order to integrate the use computers and computer based systems effectively, an organization must exercise control over these important resources (Hall Singleton, 2005, p. 39). Although computer systems have positive contribution on productivity and efficiency, cost of irregularity and errors that may develop in the systems may have very severe effect on an organization. Control is essential in order to enable an organization to avoid or mitigate the negative effects.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More An organization can be affected severely by destruction or corruption of its database; data and information loss, loss of computer assets; effect of computer abuse; ineffectiveness of some computer systems and overall way in which computers are used within the organization. To avoid or mitigate negative effects that can result from use of compute rs and computer systems, information system auditors have become necessary. Information audit have become essential in order to enable an organization find gaps between its IT policy and usage and deficiency in information system design, results and usage. Information System Audit has become very essential with increased use of information systems. It entails gathering evidence which aids in the determination of whether a given computer system meets the required data integrity. In addition, it ensures effective utilization of resources. This increases the probability of an organization attaining its goals. Information System auditors not only ensure that there is adequate internal control on information system but they also ensure that the systems achieve their objectives. The IS Auditor should see that not only adequate internal controls exist in the system but they also wok effectively to ensure results and achieve objectives. Audit should ensure that internal controls implemented are proportional to assessed risk in order to reduce the identified risks to a health level. They also need to assess adequacy of internal of internal control in mitigating IT related risks. Information system has an important place in BSIB growth plan. The banks operations are fully computerized form normal baking operations to human resource management. Failure of information system can therefore have negative impact on the bank and affect its competitive advantage in a highly competitive environment. Auditing services for BISB for the last ten years have been provided by an external auditing firm. An audit team of six auditors have been responsible evaluating the organization’s IT systems. External auditors’ audit services however have been at a high level. BSIB executive management feels the need for more detailed audit and has proposed to establish an internal audit team. The internal audit team has the mandate of conducting a detailed audit of the major processe s of the bank, business operations, databases, systems, application, IT security and general business and IT management. IT Environment Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More ACL Software Audit Command Language (ACL) Software is one of the audit software packages. It is the most popular and common audit package followed by IDEA (Interactive Data Extraction Analysis). The software is used to help audit process in an organization. The software play significant role in supporting financial statement audits. ACL helps auditors to be more efficient when conducting their roles. The package has become very important as electronic environment becomes more standardized. Using ACL auditors can be able to obtain important information for evaluation as well as simplify data processing. The software is an effective tool to data extraction and analysis therefore m aking it easier to perform information system audit. BSIB will be using ACL software to extract and analyze information from its information system. Auditing the bank’s information system without the help of a program would be challenging. The company has complex IT environment with a lot of processes, data and information supported by the system. By using the program, the auditors will be able to extract the information they require, analyze the information and be able to make appropriate recommendation. By using the ACL software, the auditors will be able to take less time to conduct their audit, cause less disruption to normal working of the bank and be able to obtain more reliable result. ACL uses queries to obtain information from extract information from information system. BSIB has a wide IT environment. The organization used information technology to carry out most of its function. ACL queries could be prepared and used to extract data and information from the system. Queries could be prepared to obtain information on how the organization’s resources are used. Information system is very important resource to BSIB. Auditors need to obtain information on how the resources are used in order to verify whether they are used for the good of the organization. Apart from obtaining information on how the organization’s resources are used, queries could be prepared in order to obtain information on effectiveness of the system in meeting the organization’s objectives. The organization’s IT environment comprise of various system to make up the overall system. For instance, queries could be prepared in order to obtain information on effectiveness of ERP in managing the bank’s human resources. Variables to effectiveness of an ERP should be identified in order to assist the auditors to prepare appropriate queries.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Appropriate queries are required in order to obtain the appropriate information from the bank’s information system. Before preparing queries, the auditors must identify the king of information that they require from the system. After identifying the data that they require to extract from the system, the auditors should outline the design of their queries. The queries should outline the variables that would be used and the way the data would be obtained. After preparing the design, the auditors would then prepare the queries using ACL command. This would call for detailed knowledge on how to use ACL. An individual with technical knowledge on ACL software would be required for this process. ACL will help the auditors to identify various issues of interest. Through ACL software, the auditors will be able to point out activities and control weaknesses that can compromise the organization from meeting its objectives. Auditors will be able to identify data integrity, security, phys ical environment security, system efficiency and management continuity (Piattini, 2000, p. 107). The software will enable the auditors to identify weaknesses in input control, access control and data integrity. The software will enable the auditors to get information on how the server is used and management. They will be able obtain information on disaster recovery situation of the organization. The information system has various components that have to work together for the overall goals and objectives of the organization. The ACL software will enable the auditors to obtain information on how well the various components work together. It will enable them to identify weaknesses in the whole system and pinpoint the areas that would require to be reviewed. Concern for Audit and Control Information systems are a major resource at Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank. Most of the activities in the bank are carried using computer system. The bank’s success therefore depends highly on effectiveness of information system. Various risks associated with information such as data loss, abuse, and data integrity can compromise the bank’s performance. The bank has grown at a high rate in the last ten years. Starting in Brisbane ten years ago, the bank has been able to establish branches in almost all major cities and towns in Australia. Because of size of the bank’s operations, it is not possible for the management to exercise control over each and every activity. The bank’s employees have been able to increase from a thousand ten years ago about seventeen thousand currently. Managing the large size of staff could be challenging without the help of information system. To ensure that the information system is used effectively to help the organization meet its objective, auditing is essential. Information system auditing would help the organization to identify weaknesses in the system and therefore help the organization take the appropriate correc tive measures. Auditing would also ensure the computers and computer systems in the banks are used in the intended way and for the benefit of the organization. Role of Internal Audit Group BSIB has been relying on external auditors to audit its resources including information system. The executive management however feels that the external auditors are not adequate. The external auditors are not able to conduct detail audit since their audit is mainly at high level. Internal audit group is essential for the organization in order to conduct a thorough audit of the organization’s resources. Since internal auditors are centered at the organization, they will be able to conduct more detailed audit and therefore help the organization gain better control of its resources, be able to identify weaknesses in the system and take appropriate and timely corrective measures. The main functions of the Internal Audit Group will include verifying whether computer and computer systems are use d appropriately, verify where security issues are in order, ensure security of physical environment of the information system, verify whether there is appropriate input and access control and audit effectiveness of information system in meeting the organization’s objective (Dube Gulati, 2005, p. 72). Information system has great impact on the other auditing conducted in the organization. The information system is used for most of the banks activities. All other auditing therefore is influenced by the information system auditing. The information system holds most of the organization’s data and information. The organization’s databases have data and information on how other resources in the organization are used. They contain financial information, information on human resource and other important information. Information system audit therefore have great impact on the other audit. Components of Internal Audit Group Internal audit is important for BSIB to exercis e successful internal control. For internal control to be successful, the Internal Audit Group must be well composed. It should contain individuals with appropriate qualifications but above all, they should be able to work together as a team. The internal audit group would be comprised of team of well trained qualified staff drawn from various departments in the bank. The team will be led by an Audit Team leader. To ensure cooperation within the team, the Audit Team Leader will play a significant role in identifying members to the internal audit team (Dube Gulati, 2005, p. 67). Retail Banking, Internet Banking, Business Banking, Institutional Banking, Insurance Products, and Superannuation Products should be represented in the internal audit group. Audit team may be subdivided into business audit and IT audit, each headed by an audit leader. Five audit team leaders will be involved, each heading an audit team. 35 internal audit group members will be required. The members will distr ibuted among the audit team depending on workforce. The personnel working as auditor should have obtained sufficient training in the prerequisite on internal auditing techniques. To qualify, internal audit group members should have completed an internal audit course offered at a recognized third party. Members may also receive training by a personnel having successfully completed internal audit course and also having adequate experience in practice (Cascarino, 2007, p. 132). The audit group must demonstrate high level of integrity and professionalism in their practice. Audit Plan is essential for successful internal audit. Using the Audit plan, the auditors will be able to identify priories and establish strategies for meeting auditing goals. Importance of identifying Risks and Controls Successful Internal Audit begins with a successful identification of risks and the controls involved. Identification of risks and control play a significant role in preparation of Audit Plan and ther efore has important role in determining the direction of an audit (Cascarino, 2007, p. 117). Risks and controls enable auditors to set priorities for their audit process. Various risks and access issues have to be considered in BSIB audit. Physical risk such as system failure and theft are involved. For example, the bank’s server room is poorly ventilated therefore exposing the server to physical failure. The server room is also accessible to employees and visitors therefore exposing the system to several risks such as theft, physical and internal tampering. Controls are necessary in order to ensure that information system works effectively. The auditors should identify the available controls. The controls would give the auditors a guideline on how to carry out their duties and help them identify weaknesses in the system more easily. Detection of Risks at BSIB There are various ways which are used in detection and control of risk at BSIB. Inherent risks refer to vulnerability of an audit area to errors that could be significant individually or in combination with others. They occur where necessary internal control is lacking. Control risks refer to errors that could be significant either individually or in combination with others considering that the errors could not controlled by internal control. Various inherent risks are involved within the banks IT system. Group data warehouse is used by all applications using a common interface. This can lead to errors in case of failure. The bank’s server room is accessible to all employees and visitors without control. The server room is also poorly ventilated therefore exposing the system to possible failures. Some of controls risks involved include use of outsourcers to offer IT services. The IT infrastructure is managed by an outsourcer whose location is currently not well known. Mortgage/loans products, insurance and superannuation products are also management by outsourcers. Although these are possib le sources of error, the internal control may not be able exercise absolute control. Information System Risks at BSIB BSIB information system environment is prone to various risks. Some of these risks are outlined below. Physical risks Controls risks, Security risk Data integrity Performance risks IT infrastructure of the bank is managed by an outsourcer whose location is not well known. This poses the banks to possible risks in case the bank losses track of the IT service provider. Access to sensitive IT resource is not well controlled. For example, access to the banks servers is open to all employees and visitors therefore exposing the bank to risk. The server rooms are poorly ventilated therefore exposing the servers to possible failure. All the data in the bank is interfaced to the mainframe at real time. This can lead to bottle-neck especially during peak hours raising some data integrity issues. Various applications used to manage various processes such as Syst-Tell, Bus-Ban k, Cust ID and Trade-FX are add-up application. The application can lead to scalability and efficiency issues as the bank’s operations increase. Data integrity is a major issue at BSIB. Integrity of data inputted into the bank’s ERP is not certified by the necessary authorities. Common Information System Risks Information system auditing is essential in order help an organization indentify risks and take timely corrective measures (Piattini, 2000, p. 92). Organization security is the most important information system risks considered in information system auditing. An IS auditor should ensure that an organization has well defined policy to ensure security its information system. Information system resources are vital to an organization. An auditor should verify that the IT assets declared in an organization’s policy are actually existent on the ground. Employees and other individuals using information system can contribute to IT System risks. IT system users sho uld be aware and adhere to laid down security policy. Other risks include physical or environmental security, operational management, business continuity and compliance. Various measures should be taken to mitigate the information system risks. An organization must develop and maintain an IT policy to provide guidance on the way IT resources are used (Hall Singleton, 2005, p. 68). There should be proper access and input control to manage the way data is inputted into the system and the manner access is allowed. Authentication policies such as accounts and password controls are necessary. Audit Methodology Appropriate audit methodology is necessary for a successful information system audit. Key areas in an information system audit consist of audit planning, risk assessment, performance of an audit work and reporting (Cascarino, 2007, p. 87). Adequate planning is necessary before conduct. During planning, the purpose of the audit will be stated clearly. Various requirements for the a udit would be identified and appropriate preparation made. The responsibility, authority and accountability of the auditors are defined during this stage. Planning involves also identification of essential resources including members of the audit members (Weber and Jamieson, 2008, p. 95). Risk assessment is the second stage in information system audit. In this stage, possible risks in the information system are evaluated in order to provide the auditors with direction to follow in their audit. After risk assessment, the actual audit work is conducted. Audit work depends highly on audit planning and risk assessment. Using risk assessment results, the auditors develop audit plan or program that would be used for auditing. Reporting is an important step in auditing methodology. After conducting the audit test, IS auditor is expected to prepare and present appropriate report that communicate the outcome of the information system audit. The audit report includes findings from the audit, conclusions and recommendations. The reports may also include reservations that auditors have on their audit, qualification and limitations of the IS audit. Communication in Information Auditing Communication is a very important element in auditing. Good communication is required in obtaining information as well as communicating the results to the appropriate authority. Information System auditors work as a team. The outcome of audit process is not an individual effort but collective effort from all the audit team members (Weber Jamieson, 2008, p. 65). Proper communication framework is therefore required in order to enable the members to share information and thoughts as they carry out their duties. Apart from communicating among themselves, Information System auditors need to collaborate with other employees in an organization in order for them to obtain the necessary information that they require. Information system auditors need to communicate the results of their audit to the n ecessary authority. Reporting and other ways of communication should therefore be streamlined. Information Systems Audits BSIB IT Environment Information system audits are required in BSIB IT environment. Areas of high risks should be given more emphasis during the audit process. An audit is required to assess the services provided by the IT outsourcers. Management of the organization’s IT infrastructure, mortgages/loans, and insurance and superannuation products is provided by outsourcers. The resources and services are vital to the bank’s performance and should therefore be audited. Oracle ERP has raised various performance issues. To verify the system’s performance and contribution to overall BSIB performance, a detailed audit is required. The organization’s mainframe is vital to performance of BSIB’s information system. Performance and management of the mainframe require auditing. The bank’s information system is comprised of various app lications. The applications are possible source of shortfall in the organization and therefore require auditing. The bank’s server room and Hot Site are other areas that requires audit. Financial Environment BSIB financial environment has some shortfalls that impede the bank’s performance. The shortfalls should be addressed in order to improve the bank’s performance. Finance senior managers and Team Leaders should be provided with intensive in-house training in order to enable they understand financial assertions. This would enable them to exercise more control on their areas of responsibility. More resources including additional employees should be deployed to the Payroll Team in order to enable it review remuneration amounts for each business unit group on daily basis. Human resources core function application should be expanded in order to enable it handle the increasing number of employees. Training program and employees motivation strategies are required in order to improve performance of Accounts Payable Teams. To ensure improved performance, Account Payable Team Leader should be provided with appropriate resource in order to enable daily review of processing report and Exception report. Appropriate data integrity strategies are required in order to improve data accuracy and integrity in HR department. Oracle ERP Enterprise Resource Planning uses computer technology to undertake various functions of an organization. ERP integrates various functions therefore making management easier. The Oracle ERP can lead to various benefits to BSIB. The system can enable the bank integrate various functions conducted in human resource management. Instead of having independent systems to perform various issues in human resource management, the Oracle ERP will be able to handle them satisfactorily. The system will therefore lead to cost reduction. The system requires fewer personnel and is therefore efficient. When well implemented, Oracle ERP will improve on accuracy. Some of disadvantages of the Oracle ERP are inflexibility, cost and complexity. Oracle ERP is relatively complex and therefore not easy to use. Training and retraining would be required for best performance to be realized. Physical, Logical and Environmental Control Information system control should be all inclusive. Physical, logical and environmental controls should work together. Physical control required in BSIB IT environment includes computer maintenance, training, backup and physical access control. Logically, flow of data and information in the system should be well outlined. The logical structure of the information system should ensure data integrity and accuracy. Direct interface of the bank’s data with the mainframe may compromise data integrity and disaster recovery. The structure should be altered to allow indirect access to the mainframe. Various environmental controls are essential in BSIB IT environment. Access to sensitive IT resources sh ould be controlled. For example, criteria should be laid on individuals that can have access to the bank’s server room. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Disaster recovery and business continuity plans are necessary for success of information system. BSIB IT environment is lacking in disaster recovery and business recovery. Failure of some core IT resource could lead to great impact on the bank’s performance. The banks server rooms in Sydney and Adelaide need to be distributed in order to mitigate physical risks such as fire and other failures. Sharing Hot Site and Warm site with other organization may affect business continuity. Since, the bank is expanding at a high rate, it should consider establishing its sites. Data interface the bank’s mainframe directly. This may lead to great data integrity problem in case an interface fails. The system should be improved to allow caching and buffering. Some disaster recovery and business continuity strategies wi ll be necessary for BSIB. A disaster recovery and business continuity team will be necessary; alternative operational locations should be identified in case of disaster; backup sites should be implemented for the bank’s data while there should be proper safeguard of IT resource such as the servers and data store. Auditor’s Opinion Information system is a major resource to BSIB. The bank highly depends on its information system for most of its operations. To ensure consistent growth and high performance, BSIB information system should be well managed. There are material risks identified by BISB IT environment. Access to some sensitive IT resources is not well regulated. In addition, various applications in the bank’s IT environment are poorly integrated. There is physical failure threat due to poor management of some resources. Data integrity is compromised by poor training of some of the bank’s employees while disaster recovery and business continuity pla n has a discrepancy. Oracle ERP and other core systems are not working well together. Brisbane Savings and Investment Bank’s information system should review its information system in order to enable the firm gain a high competitive advantage in banking industry. Reference List Cascarino, R. 2007. Auditors guide to information systems auditing. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Dube, D. Gulati, V. 2005. Information system audit and assurance. Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Hall, J. Singleton, T. 2005. Information technology auditing and assurance. Sydney: Thomson. Piattini, M. 2000. Auditing information systems. New York: Idea Group Inc. Weber, R. Jamieson, R. 2008. Information Systems Control and Audit. New York: Pearson Education, Limited.