Saturday, August 31, 2019

Employment Law Compliance Essay

Our client, Bradley Stonefield, is planning to open a limousine service, Landslide Limousines, in the Austin, Texas area. Mr. Stonefield plans to hire approximately twenty-five people to provide first class transportation to a variety of clientele. Before Mr. Stonefield begins hiring it is imperative that he has an understanding of applicable employment laws. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) is a well-known and widely used federal anti-discrimination law (LaMance, n. d. ). Title VII make it illegal for employers to discriminate against someone based on their race, religion, national origin or sex (U. S. EEOC, 2014). The Act also made it illegal for employers to retaliate against a person who files a complaint of discrimination or participates in a discrimination investigation (U. S. EEOC, 2014). An employer who violates Title VII may find themselves subjected to a number of legal consequences such as having to pay large sums for damages and being required to readjust the company’s policies (LaMance, n. d. ). To avoid violating Title VII Mr. Stonefield and his managers should treat all employees and applicants equally without regard to any characteristics except job performance (HR Specialist, 2013). The Texas Payday Law covers all business entities in the state of Texas, regardless of size except public employers such as the state or federal government (TWC, 2013). This law gives the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) the authority to enforce wage laws and investigate wage claims (TWC, 2013). Texas Payday Law covers compensation for services rendered, commissions and bonuses, and certain other fringe benefits according to a written agreement with or policy of the employer (TWC, 2013). The law states that employers must pay employees for all hours worked and these wages must be received by the employee no later than payday (TWC, 2013). If the employer lays off, discharges or fires an employee they must pay all wages owed to that employee within six calendar days of the date of separation (TWC, 2013). If an employee voluntarily quits or retires their final payment of wages is due to them on the payday following the date of separation (TWC, 2013). If an employer violates the Texas Payday Law they may be fined the lesser of the wages claimed or $1,000 (TWC, 2013). To avoid violating this law Mr. Stonefield should make sure that employees are paid for all hours worked and that all wages due are paid to employees on time. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act applies to all employers that employ twenty or more employees (U. S. EEOC, 2008). The Act states that it is â€Å"unlawful to discriminate against a person because of his or her age with respect to any term, condition or privilege of employment, including hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments and training† (U. S. EEOC, 2008). Violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act can cause the business to incur legal liability and require payment of large monetary judgments (Mayfair, n. d. ). Mr. Stonefield and his managers can avoid violating this Act by never taking a person’s age or proximity to retirement into consideration when making decisions about hiring, firing, pay, benefits or promotions (HR Specialist, 2013). The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 prohibits an employer from knowingly hire, recruit or refer for pay any person who is unauthorized to work in the United States (Boston University, n. d. ). If an employer violates this law they can be fined from $100 to $1,000 and the fine is not just for the employer but also for each employee working for them illegally (Boston University, n. d. ). There is also the possibility of imprisonment for employers that are deemed to show a pattern of violating this Act (Boston University, n. d. ). To avoid violating the Immigration Reform and Control Act Mr. Stonefield must verify the identity and employment eligibility of each employee he hires. He must complete and retain a complete INS Form I-9 documenting this verification (Boston University, n. d. ). Conclusion It is important that Mr. Stonefield and his management team understand that labor laws were passed in order to provide protection for both employees and employers. That is why the government puts so much emphasis on making sure organizations take them seriously by enforcing the laws with strict consequences for noncompliance. Staying in compliance with these laws is not only important to avoid legal penalties but will also protect the business from gaining a negative public image that can be extremely damaging to their bottom line.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Missionary

Bartolome de Las Casas was one of the pioneers and a champion of human rights in the most critical period of history. The context of his presence needs a deeper understanding. The Spanish Inquisition or the Crusades were ‘justified’ as a sanction granted by God. The natives were seen as uncivilized beings and the only way to ‘tame’ them was by using brutal force.The genocide of the natives by the Spanish Inquisition resulted in many tribes erased without a trace. The natives referred by Bartolome da Las Casas were only to name a few.The significance of Las Casas was his ability to push the law and have many inhuman authorities removed from the Council. Under such pretext, it would be unfair to use modern day judgment to criticize Las Casas. This paper establishes that Las Casas, given his time that he lived in and the kind of family that he was raised in, was justified in his manner of referencing to the natives. The world has not become a better place and o ur modern understanding of human rights and the violation of human rights, at least as expressed by the UN stems from the views of Las Casas.The historical context explicitly implies that Las Casa himself was from an upper class family who then later had the power to negotiate in favor of the natives. Las Casas was himself ‘gifted’ with Juanico, a Taino youth for a servant when he was a little boy. So for a man of his stature who belonged and had the ‘luxury’ of the oppressor, was willing and believed he could stop the evil. He had the ear of the courts who were the decision makers. Although his supplications were met with heavy criticism, he was determined to stop the brutality towards the natives.As far as the wealth was brought in, and exhibited in Spain from the New World, people were drawn towards it and were completely blind to the atrocities committed by them, and to make things worse, they were all done in the name of religion. Under such pretext wh o would have been a better person to condemn than a seminarian. The setting is a world where the masses are mesmerized by wealth and are willing to do anything to get their hands on it. This very thought and behavior is against the very religious belief that the colonizers practiced to massacre the natives.Hence it is understandable if Las Casas is isolated in terms of being the only person who despite his disposition took the risk of condemning and putting his own life on the line to speak for the voiceless. Over and over the attitude of Las Casas is focused only on his description of the natives, whose plight is all the more pitiful, because of the brutal behavior of the colonizers. When he is describing the natives as gentle beings, it highlights their state of helplessness in comparison to the beastly behavior of the colonizers.God has created all these numberless people to be quite the simplest, without malice or duplicity, most obedient, most faithful to their natural Lords, a nd to the Christians, whom they serve; the most humble, most patient, most peaceful and calm, without strife nor tumults; not wrangling, nor querulous, as free from uproar, hate and desire of revenge as any in the world. . . . From a seminarian perspective, the natives are the humble sheep possessed of Christian virtues and the sinners are the Christian colonizers. The description of the natives is in stark contrast to the description of the colonizers.The Christians, with their horses and swords and lances, began to slaughter and practice strange cruelty among them. They penetrated into the country and spared neither children nor the aged, nor pregnant women, nor those in child labour, all of whom they ran through the body and lacerated, as though they were assaulting so many lambs herded in their sheepfold. Hence Las Casas urge to take up the cause of the voiceless natives to the highest authority possible, the royalty, portrays him as a humanitarian by nature and an un-ordained a dvocate of human rights.It is true that he suggested to bring slaves from Africa as opposed to making slaves of the natives, but he later repented when he saw that the treatment of the slaves were just as bad. He later regretted when he had to witness the cold blooded violence that the Africans were subjected to, and repented. Though his repentance had no impact on the brutal nature of the colonizers, he is the only one of his time publically known to have repented without himself having inflicted any pain on any human being. The rest of the inquisitors took pride in what they did.In a world where the natives and Africans were seen as deformed or incomplete or uncivilized human beings, Las Casas addresses them as ‘people’. Bartolome de Las Casas reports first hand of the cruelty in its raw graphic nature to evoke sympathy in the eyes of the decision makers. For most part colonizers have been successful in erasing the past of the colonized but Las Casas did not let that happen. It is his record of what he witnessed that makes a significant mile stone in the history of human rights.Among these gentle sheep, gifted by their Maker with the above qualities, the Spaniards entered as soon as soon as they knew them, like wolves, tiger and lions which had been starving for many days, and since forty years they have done nothing else; nor do they afflict, torment, and destroy them with strange and new, and divers kinds of cruelty, never before seen, nor heard of, nor read of. . . . . The Language used to describe the native is a surface level issue given the fact that Las Casas was an ordained priest and a colonist. But he set himself up as an example by denouncing encomienda.He also suggested peaceful co-existence between colonists and the natives which was implemented and successful until the colonizers could not refrain from provoking the natives. Hence it is completely unfair to overlook all of Bartolome de Las Casas efforts towards safeguarding natives over words that depict them as inferior to the Europeans. Had Las Casas not spoken for them, more people would have fallen victims to the genocide. It is not the language but the content of the text that should be the focus, since it is filled with compassion and evokes sympathy through the painful description of torture.Also, his life was constantly under threat yet he was willing to walk the line for the cause he believed in, until the massacre stopped. Bartolome de Las Casas, can be isolated for his efforts to stop human rights violation but not to be judged over the language he used. He could be given the benefit of doubt that he used humble descriptions to invoke sympathy from a prejudiced court. Works Cited American Taino, Commentary from the perspective of a American Latino. http://americantaino. blogspot. com/2007/10/bartolom-de-las-casas-witness-to-evil. html

Human Observation

Mobile phones are conveniences but can impinge on the privacy of other people. Generally every place of public interaction regulates that people should switch of their mobile phones. However it is observed that this code of conduct is constantly violated. (Ralph, 2002). Repeated violations of this prime principle of mobile phone etiquette have led to its inclusion time and again in all dictums on the subject. (Briody, 2005). People generally tend to avoid switching off mobile phones in, â€Å"no cell phone calls† zone due to anxiety or fear of losing contact with the support group. II. Theory.Despite accepting the necessity of switching off mobile phones in public places, people do not comply with the same resulting in avoidable irritation. This violation of modern etiquette is an increasing trend. (Morgan, 2001). Constant connectivity provided by a utilitarian communication device creates unprecedented dependency on mobile phone in users, the absence of which leads to anxiety . Thus people tend to avoid switching off mobile phones in public places. III. Hypothesis. Students entering the library on the college campus will not switch of their mobile phones on entry as required by the library code of conduct.The scope of the study is restricted to students entering the Library and not to college professors or other staff. Library Code of Conduct. Library code of conduct requires mobile phones to be switched off to prevent disturbing fellow students. Adopting the silent, meeting or vibrator mode on the phone does not construe as switching off the mobile phone as the user can receive an indication of a call and would be tempted to converse on the phone leading to disturbance to other library users. IV.Procedure or Methodology. The investigator placed himself in the main hall of the library during the week end on Saturday and Sunday during the library working hours from 1000 hours to 1400 hours on both days. An assistant was placed in the second reading room o n the first floor during the same time to record findings. They could visually see a student on entrance and thus note whether he had put off his mobile phone or not. They could also hear ring tone of mobile phone in their respective areas.The investigator also arranged to obtain mobile phone numbers of all students based on their library records for this investigation against an integrity certificate that this information would not be used for any other purpose. The investigators noted the name of the student who was not seen switching off his mobile phone on entry in the library and having tallied his phone number from library records awaited for a ring tone on the subject’s mobile phone.After passage of one hour, the investigator(s) rang up the mobile phone number of the student carrying the phone without switching off and who had not received a call to confirm that he was indeed carrying his phone and had not switched it off. A tally sheet was used to record details of st udents who visited the library during the period, students who had switched off the mobile phone on entry, those who had not switched off the phone and received a call, those who were called by the investigators and responded, those called by the investigators and who did not respond.The gender and term record of students was also maintained. V. Results. 52 Students used the library on Saturday and 48 students used the library on Sunday from 1000 hours to 1400 hours on each day. The results of students observed on Saturday indicated that 13 students switched off their mobile phones on entering the library, 34 students attended the calls including 28 student’s calls not initiated by the investigators and 6 student’s calls initiated by the investigators. 5 students did not attend any calls in the library and presumably did not carry mobile phones.(Baseline Information Observation, 2006). The result of students observed on Sunday indicated that 11 students switched off th eir mobile phones on entering the library, 33 students attended the calls including 24 student’s calls not initiated by the investigators and 9 student’s calls initiated by the investigators. Only 4 students did not attend any calls in the library. The gender pattern of 13 students who had switched off their mobile phones on Saturday indicated that 9 were female and 4 were male. While of the 11 students on Sunday, 8 were female and 3 were male.The gender pattern of 34 students who attended calls on Saturday indicated that 22 were female and 12 were male. While of the 33 students who attended calls on Sunday 19 were female and 14 were male. The term pattern of the 13 students who had switched off their mobile phones on Saturday indicated that 9 were IInd term or higher and 4 were first term students. The term pattern of students who had switched off their mobile phones on Sunday indicated that 8 were IInd Term or higher and 3 were first term students.The Term pattern of the 34 students who attended calls on Saturday indicated that 21 were first term students and the remainder were IInd Term or higher. The Term pattern of students who attended calls on Sunday indicated that 15 were first term students while remainder were IInd Term or higher. VI. Discussion The results of students who had switched off telephones analyzed from gender pattern indicate that on Saturday 69 percent and on Sunday 72 percent were female. While the gender pattern of those attending calls on Saturday indicated that 65 % were female and 35 % male and on Sunday 58 % were female and 42 % male.The term pattern of students who had switched off mobile phones indicated that only 30 percent were first term students and the balance were IInd Term or higher on both days. While those who attended calls indicated that 61 % were first term student and the remainder were IInd Term or higher. A review of the results has proved the hypothesis that students entering the library on the colle ge campus will not switch of their mobile phones on entry as required by the library code of conduct. The results clearly indicate that a majority of students did not switch off their mobile phones on entering the library.This percentage was 75 % on Saturday and 77 % on Sunday. Of those who had not switched off their mobile phones in the library, 87 % attended to a call in the library violating norms on Saturday and 89 % on Sunday. The review of the gender pattern and the term pattern of students indicates that the tendency amongst females to switch off mobile phones was higher than males while first term students were prone not to switch off their sets on entering library. On the other hand amongst those who attended to calls in the library, a majority were female and first term students.This supports the premise that there is a possible link between the level of anxiety and tendency not to switch mobile phones on entering a no calls zone for fear of losing contact with the support group even for a limited period of time thereby missing important information or happening in their lives. The first term and female students are considered more vulnerable amongst the student community. The results attained could not be discussed directly with the participants to further seek their underlying assumptions and reasons for not switching off mobile phones and attending to calls in the library.This would have added greater credibility to the research but due to constraints could not be done so. Behavior Change VII. State the Problem. Observation results support the theory that due to high levels of anxiety people generally do not switch of their mobile phones on entering no call zones. The dependency syndrome created by the mobile phone thus needs to be altered. (Harrison, 2000). VIII. Theory. Mobile phones reduce anxiety and hence people tend to avoid switching them off even while inside a no call zone. Communicating with ones peer group is an essential feature of anx iety.Mobile phones enable us to remain connected with our support group at all times which indicates that in case people remain close to their in group, there would be reason to believe that they will comply with instructions on cell phone etiquette. IX. Hypothesis. Students entering the college library will switch of their mobile phones in case they come to the library with their, â€Å"in† group. The, â€Å"in† group comprises of those students who provide primary support in college. X. Procedure or Methodology The focus group was the first term students of the college.Library attendance was planned in groups for the first term. This was done with the assistance of the college administration on two days a Saturday and Sunday from 1000 to 1400 hours. The cooperation of the college administration was forthcoming given the pay offs of better mobile phone discipline in the college library. The first term students were selected keeping in view their greater likelihood to use mobile phones when staying away from their support group. The investigator along with the assistant retained a record as indicated in IV above.XI. Results. Six small first term groups attended the library on Saturday and five groups on Sunday. Each group comprised of three to four students, thereby total sample in a day varied from 15 to 20 students. The groups were comprised evenly of both the genders and gender comparison has not been undertaken. Of the six groups on whom data was gathered on Saturday, all students in four groups had switched off their mobile phones on entering the library. Two students one each from the other two groups did not switch off their mobile phones.Both the students attended to calls which were external and not from the investigators. Of the five groups on whom data was collected on Sunday, all students in four groups switched off their mobile phones on entering the library. One student from the fifth group did not switch off his mobile phone. The s tudent attended to the call from an external source. XII. Discussion The overwhelmingly positive response of the student groups indicates that when these students did not feel anxiety to communicate with their peers on telephone, their adherence to the rules was much better.There were only three students who violated the code. Each of these had received an external call. This indicates likelihood of their expecting calls other than from their, â€Å"in† group and thus leading them to carry their mobile phones. Thus an effective link of reduction of anxiety through availability of mobile phones has been clearly established, while at the same time there is a clear correlation of a high degree of dependence on mobile phones in people which needs to be overcome with more structured corrective interventions.The evolution of such interventions could form a further subject of research as the problem of mobile phone call interruptions is a perpetual one. While technology has attempte d to resolve the same through measures such as silent mode, behavioral interventions also need consideration which can be a subject of structured research. Reference 1. Morgan, John. (2001). Debrett's New Guide to Etiquette and Modern Manners. New York: Thomas Dunne. 2. Harrison, Linda (2000). The dos and don'ts of mobile phone etiquette. Retrieved on 02 January 2007 from http://www.theregister. co. uk/2000/06/01/the_dos_and_donts/. 3. Ralph, Louise. (2002). Look who’s talking: mobile phone etiquette. Retrieved on 02 January 2007 from http://www. econnect. com. au/pdf/quicktips/mobile. pdf. 4. Briody, Dan. (2005). The Ten Commandments of cell phone etiquette. Retrieved on 02 January 2007 from http://www. infoworld. com/articles/op/xml/00/05/26/000526opwireless. html. 5. Baseline Information Observation. (2006). Observations recorded during experiment. 6. Behavior Change. (2006). Observations recorded during experiment.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Analysing the effect of long working hours in Hong Kong's clothing Research Paper

Analysing the effect of long working hours in Hong Kong's clothing retail industry - Research Paper Example This paper will examine the current state of the work of employees in the clothing industry and will show how this is currently affecting those who are subjected to long working hours and the inability to take off more time for family. There will also be an association with how the longer working hours change the effectiveness of the organization and the ability to create sustainable development because of individual complexities from the longer working hours. 1.1 Statement Problem and Rationale The problem with long working hours in Hong Kong is now considered at an epidemic level, specifically among the apparel industry. The demands that are a part of the competition have created the specific problems with the industry because of the amount of competition and the need to remain a priority among Western demands. This is combined with the long working hours becoming socially and culturally accepted to stimulate the economy without having political recourse or labor intensive laws tha t change the main attributes within the industry. The working hours are intertwined with the individual, family, organization and overall apparel industry, making the issue complex with finding policies and standards among a culture. The physical and mental health of employees is first affected. However, the long working hours often don’t change because the inability to produce in a highly competitive environment may become detrimental. The image, reputation and the high performance levels expected then begin to affect the company. This complexity makes it difficult to carry through with specific standards and policies that would demand ethics sand the reaction within the culture provides several problems that are a part of the long hours. The need to alter the standards and understand the detrimental effects of longer working hours is one that is intertwined with the individual outcomes, family problems and the corporate changes that don’t provide the correct affiliat ion with building into the economy with ethical considerations in mind first. Understanding how each area is affected by the longer working hours and what this leads to can then help those working in the fashion industry to begin to change ethical standards and find different alternatives to compete with human resources. 1.2 Investigative Questions The problem with the working industry is one which is defined specifically by the inability to change the needs of employees who are expected to work long hours. The investigative questions asked in this study include: 1. What are the impacts of long working hours on individuals and families in the Hong Kong clothing retail industry? 2. What are the main influences of the long working hours on organizations in the Hong Kong clothing retail industry? 3. What measures can be taken to prevent and relieve negative effects of LWH in Hong Kong clothing retail industry? 2.0 Literature Review The problem with long working hours is one that begins by impacting the individual then moves into the associations with the organization. While higher amounts of productivity are expected with longer working hours, there is also the impact that is made on the organization that

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

The ONLY goal of the corporation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The ONLY goal of the corporation - Research Paper Example This principle means to say in a nutshell that a company’s sole interest is to maximize profits. According to Milton Friedman, a company should not focus on issues of social responsibility, but should focus on the welfare of the shareholders, as well as its profits. When it tends to concentrate on improving the society in matters such as reducing inflation, it can lead to autocracy. The social responsibility of the business is to use its resources to maximize its profits so long as it does so within the set rules. Milton comes out strongly to oppose any move that would seem to spend the shareholders money in a way that is not in their interest. The reason for this is that the stockholder is not able to decide how the corporate executive spends his money, for which projects and the amount to spend for such projects. Even charitable activities that are not geared towards generating revenue should not be taken up. This view by Friedman suggests that an enterprise should only undertake a certain activity because it is good economically and not because ethics dictates so. Though this view has been criticized by many, it has been taken up by business

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Operations Management - Inventory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Operations Management - Inventory - Essay Example Here, when t he inventory of raw materials is over, it does not prompt a requirement. The entire action is towards coming up with the end product or the complete product. It is important to distinguish between both the philosophies, since goods are classified as end products and raw inventory. Each of these is governed by a particular kind of demand, which in turn, is governed by the above philosophies. Therefore, inventory management requires the differentiating between the two philosophies. Independent demand inventories are the ones that include the finished goods or the spare parts of these goods. The demand is independent of the operations and is solely dependent on the market conditions. On the other hand, dependent demand inventories are unfinished raw materials that go into the making of goods. These are governed by the demand for the end product as well, apart from the market conditions. Therefore, it is dependent, not only on the market scenario, but also the operations and the demand for the end product. For instance, if a toy wagon is the subject, then the wagons would fall under independent demand, while the wh

Monday, August 26, 2019

Evaluation of Slum Dog Millionaire Film Movie Review

Evaluation of Slum Dog Millionaire Film - Movie Review Example The story is heartbreaking how he and his brother led an adventurous life, their hardships, their frequent encounters with local gangs. To everyone’s surprise each chapter of the story reveals the key to the answer of each question. The introduction of the character is extremely unexpected. The seven year old boy is listening to the howling of the crowd welcoming the stupendous actor Amitabh Bachan. He was destined to move through the dirt to get an autograph of Mr Bachan. Orphaned by the killing of his own mother in a Hindu Muslim riot, the seven-year-old boy of Dev Patel tries to make his living by joining in the gangs of professional beggars and at one time he turns traitor on his sibling. The chai-wala who sells fragrant tea to call centre workers in Mumbai who after a series of hardships and adventures, at last seated on the television game, is now at the moments of grabbing the big prize. The struggle of the lower caste in economically developing Mumbai is well depicted through the life of the street boys. The screenplay by Simon Beaufoy which is slightly adapted from a novel by Vikas Swarup captures the flow of time and space, the childhood time and the grown-up times etc. The flow of life is exactly portrayed. Cast in to the friendless world with another orphan Latika the three children make their way fighting against the reality of life. The story of his short but rich life unfolds in a series of flashbacks. It may be brutal to some foreign audience. But the events drag the spectators to the edge of appalling. After doing the roles as pickpockets, vendors, dishwashers and even guides to the tourists, it is Jamal that insists Salim return to Mumbai to find Latika. The young actors have done their roles beautifully. They are appealing and sympathetic. The most remarkable thing about Slum Dog Millionaire is it a Bollywood film which has the sense of a typical Indian Cinema. It was shot on the street of Mumbai, the typical thickly populated place wi th full of tin-roofed huts.  

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Different Aspects of Statistics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Different Aspects of Statistics - Research Paper Example man about his likes and dislikes. For these different methods of statistics like sampling, probability, index numbers and others are used. Different aspects of statistics There are various aspects of statistics that are used in the business and cover different areas. All those aspects differ in their use and application. From policy making to administration and from raw material to the final production and sales, from demand forecasting to the supply of the product, statistical methods are required in every kind of business. However, the fact cannot be denied that there are certain limitations of statistics as well where it cannot work however in most of the cases the use of statistics has been made possible by the renowned statisticians and policy makers. Statistics is not only used by the private entrepreneurs but also by the government entities in formulating the policies. Those include both the short term and long term policies. (Keller, 2008) Demand forecasting Demand forecastin g is an analysis about the demand of a specific product in a given locality. Many factors likewise per capital income and economic condition of the country and similar others are considered before forecasting the demand. This is mainly done by the sales and marketing departments of the entity. This enables the production department to work more effectively. The due care must be taken before doing such a forecast because if it is underestimated it means the company has lost its sales and if it is over estimated this can result in waste of resources. Therefore it is recommended that demand forecasting must be done by specialists after reviewing all the necessary information available with them. Though the forecasting is very difficult and seems impossible however if information available with the forecasters is accurate and also they possess the required skills they may forecast the demand up to almost accurate level. This makes the company competitive in the market and helps in bette r provision of services and meets the real demand of the market. Some unusual factors like seasonal changes, promotional schemes and discount for valued customers may also cause an error in accurate forecasting of demand as these would attract more customers. All such factors should also be considered before collecting any kind of data. Concept of demand forecasting can better be understood by the following example. (Keller, 2008) Example: The demand for a product in each of the last five months is shown below. Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Demand 10 13 18 27 29 26 20 We can see that demand for a specific product is increasing slowly for the first three months but there is a sudden increase in the demand in the 4th month. This may be because many factors like seasonal change, a promotional scheme or some other however demand starts decreasing from the 6th month. At the time of forecasting demand professionals consider all the factors that what would be the demand of the product in a particula r time. Decision makers then use different kinds of statistical methods which are

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Robie House, University of Chicago,Frank Lloyd Wright Essay

Robie House, University of Chicago,Frank Lloyd Wright - Essay Example as his profession and this was the right decision he made, that is which resulted in his successful career of building a lot of famous civil, commercial and public building. From his child hood aspiration of natural beauty he adopted prairie style of architecture. And for a lot of period before he got inspiration from Japanese art of architecture he built number of famous buildings the most famous among them are Robie House and Unity Temple in Oak Park. He brought a revolution in the field of architecture by building these places. Robie house was completed in the first decade of twentieth century. Other famous buildings that he made was his own house Taliesin which caught due to different reasons many times and rebuilt it again and again. The Taliesin was mixture of the prairie and modern style of architecture he obtained from his long experience. In 1915 he went to Japan on the request of Japanese emperor for building Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. He spent 7 years of his life here and a natural style Imperial Hotel was constructed in this period. The feature that become the reason of fame for him was that this building was â€Å"earthquake proof†. This was acclaimed by Frank Lloyd Wright after completion of the construction and was proved right after the earthquake struck of Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. The whole city was devastated except this building in the whole city. He in his life gave idea of new thinking in the field of architecture. The novelty of his ideas was the key to his successful works. He was a nature lover and believed in construction for pleasurable life of man. This fact is evident from his works all the buildings he constructed in the symbol of simple beauty. He was considered retired from profession after construction of Taliesin, but he came back to the profession dramatically by constructing Falling Water Residence in 1935 which was one of the masterpieces of his works. The social conditions that influenced Robie House was that it is situated

Friday, August 23, 2019

Law Assignments Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law Assignments - Research Paper Example This form of contract falls under the idea of Statute of Fraud as one of the parties has failed to complete assigned task on the basis of the agreement. Parol Evidence Doctrine: The Parol Evidence policy is a rule under contract law which binds/ restricts the court from admitting evidences from the parties involved in the contract, prior to the conduct of oral or written agreements. It is worth mentioning that determination of parol evidence is dependent on the basis of the final look of agreement that is done mutually by both the parties (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers and Langvardt 1-1250). Example: X and Y have mutually agreed to start a firm with equal capital and the share of profit was to be done equally. But on the day of sharing, it was found that though both the parties had invested equal amount of capital, but the profit was not distributed equally. This form of contract generally falls under the guidance of parol evidence doctrine. The contract can fall under the collateral contra ct as both the parties can be benefited. QUESTION 2 An assignment contract is a form of contract which provides an authority to give or transfer its rights to another/third party. It is generally viewed to be a transfer of a party’s benefit to a third party in terms of fully issuing authority rather than including the name of the party in a contract (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers and Langvardt 1-1250). Example of Assignment Contract: Suppose Sam has entered into contract with James to clean his lawn and all the waste from his backyard for US$ 300. It was seen that Sam later assigns the benefit arising from the contract (i.e. US$ 300) to Daniel, though his name was not mentioned in the contract. In this example, Sam is the assignor, Daniel is the assignee and James is the delegator. A delegation contract is a form of contract where the delegator has a right to transfer or transmit his duty to a delegate. Example of assignment contract: Suppose Rose had assign her right to Mary to col lect $US 1000 from one of her customer for the purchased made by the customer. In this case, Rose is the delegator, Mary is the delegate and the customer is the obligee. A third-party beneficiary mode of contract is regarded as a contract wherein a person who is neither a promisee nor a promisor is benefited by the performance of the contract. Example of assignment contract: Suppose Smith has applied for insurance with a company and has mentioned Mrs. Smith names as the nominee or the person whom the company would be liable to pay the amount after his death. In this scenario, the company is the promisor (as it promises to pay Mrs. Smith the required amount on her husband’s death), Mr. Smith is the promise and Mrs. Smith is the third party (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers and Langvardt 1-1250). QUESTION 3 Jude had entered into a contract with Edward to sell a bicycle which would have electrical braking and a light that would occur while cycling the paddles. Later, it was found that the specification of the electrical lighting method in the bicycle was not working resulting in default of 25% of the total amount mentioned in the contract. Edward also sued Jude for breach of contract as the specification was not complied with the requirements. In this similar concern, it can be stated that if the party sues for breach of contract and the defense of failure of conditions is asserted, certain theories are available that the plaintiff could assert resulting the court to

Thursday, August 22, 2019

External Environment Analysis of Disneyland Park in Anaheim Research Paper

External Environment Analysis of Disneyland Park in Anaheim - Research Paper Example This outbreak started in December 2014 when 36 people including visitors and workers of Disneyland amusement park contracted measles (Leifer, 2015). In addition, further 90 people across seven states in the US and the neighboring country Mexico were reported infected from the outbreak. Though the measles outbreak in Disneyland had adverse effects on their visitors and employees, it only had a slight impact on the park’s attendance (Comb, 2015). The park lost revenues of unvaccinated visitors who were advised by health officials to avoid Disneyland. In addition, Comb says minors who could not be vaccinated were also locked out of Disneyland as a result of doctors’ recommendation. The park’s management incurred extra expenses by catering for the medical bills of their employees who were infected by measles. Even though, the measles had no adverse effects on Disneyland business, the park’s social image was tainted as a result of the outbreak. Currently, many visitors are medically advised before visiting the park something that portrays the park a dangerous place. Unlike Disneyland Park, Universal Studio Hollywood is a working movie studio. Levine (2014) states that the studio began in mid-1960s as modest backstage tour that offered tours to the public. The studio offers big thrills to the visitors by combining scary effects with high-speed coaster rides. These rides and amusement are based on some of the most famous scenes and characters from popular films and televisions. It also offers the celebration of special events such as treatment of intrepid visitors at the annual Halloween Night Horror and celebration of the Christmas holiday (Levine, 2014). Though the studio has over time grown into more of a theme park that offers roller coasters, it has managed to maintain its focus on movies and culture. Additionally, this park offers water activities for its visitors. Universal Studio

Lil Wayne vs World Essay Example for Free

Lil Wayne vs World Essay During a CBS interview with rapper Lil Wayne, Katie Couric asks What does that mean, when you say Im a gangster? Wayne replied, â€Å"I dont take nothin from no one. I do what I wanna do, And Im gonna do that until the day I die. And if I cant do that, then Ill just die(All Access). Katie Couric and Lil Wayne sat down together on national television for an interview where two people of vastly different backgrounds had a conversation. Kwame Anthony Appiah, a professor in top Universities across the world, describes a conversation to be engagement with the experience and ideas of others. Also, the more dissimilar the backgrounds are the more information can be exchanged between two people. â€Å"America’s Sweetheart† Katie Couric and ‘Weezy’ (Lil Wayne) are undeniably two very different people. Seemingly their only similarity is their fame. Although as their interview progresses one can see how they are able to connect and exchange their own cultures with one another. The famous Lil Wayne is far from average, making this and all of his exchanges other extremely valuable to cosmopolitanism exposing his miscellany to the masses. By the end of the interview, although not necessarily in agreement, they both seem to have an understanding of one another accomplishing the main goal of conversation. Any person who is somewhat familiar with hip-hop should know who Lil Wayne is. 28-year-old Lil Wayne is loved by millions of teenagers for his music with his recent album The Carter III being the highest selling album in 2009. By default Lil Wayne is a role model, anyone with his amount of fame and recognition is going to have influence on others. What makes Lil Wayne a unique role model is that he is not the standard ‘liked by all’ leader that most mothers would approve of. Rapper Lil Wayne has been arrested for possession of drugs and illegal weapons three times with the third putting him in jail. A majority of his raps consist of drugs, money, and sex. Is this a role model teenage fans should follow? These aren’t typical traits that one would normally see in a role model but his unconformity is what defines him and makes him the icon he is. In countless interviews and talk shows Lil Wayne is asked about his notorious drug abuse. He gives the same response each time showing no shame, I will stand up for marijuana any day Im a rapper. That’s who I am†¦ I am a gangster and I do what I want. And I love to smoke. And I smoke(all access). In his mind what he does is not wrong and as Kwame Anthony Appiah understands, â€Å"A good deal of what we intuitively take to be right, we take to be right just because it is what we are used to.† Who can say that what Lil Wayne does is wrong? Right and wrong at the most basic level is man made. What he believes is right is what makes him happy, and it is only because we are used to marijuana being illegal or we are used to frowning upon his life style that it is considered â€Å"wrong.† For someone who does a lot of ‘wrongs,’ he is overwhelmingly successful. Lil Wayne has a net worth of 75 million dollars, â€Å"Following the drop of his sixth studio album Tha Carter III in 2008 he was nominated for eight Grammy’s, the most for any artist that year taking home four awards. Wayne†¦ was named #2 on MTV’s list of hottest MC’s in the game behind Brooklyn bred rapper Jay-Z† (Celebnetworth). Lil Wayne is only 28 years old yet h as more success than most can ever dream of obtaining. â€Å"Some call him the best rapper to ever live others say he’s self-destructive but whatever you believe Lil Wayne has become a staple in American music and will remain there, indefinitely†(Celebnetworth). People aren’t used to a successful â€Å"gangster† like Lil Wayne coming from nothing and breaking the law while reaching the top. Lil Wayne embraces his vice-filled lifestyle, and thrives off of it. Like his hit song ‘I’m me’ expresses â€Å"Baby, Im me, so who you? Youre not me, youre not me.†(metrolyrics) He knows he is one of a kind and he knows he is the best. This is the attitude that attracts so many of his fans. His confidence and arrogance is what really defines him and his success just adds to his ego. While arrogance is not usually good, he gives off a confidence that many people can learn from when engaging in any of his conversations. At first look he may not appear to be very intelligent, but what many people do not realize is that Lil Wayne received straight A’s while in school. For me, it was always a way of showing someone my intelligence, a way of showing someone who I really am, Wayne says about his music(all access). When listening to Lil Wayne converse with Katie Couric, he is actually a very articulate speaker. Even through his lyrics one can see how descriptively he express his mind. Even the way he creates his rhymes is impressive. Lil Wayne never writes lyrics down before he records his songs. Every time he records a new song he raps impromptu, putting together rhymes as he goes. The ability to think that quickly and produce coherent thoughts unrehearsed in the form of music is astounding. The majority of people I’m sure do not know this about Lil Wayne and would never think of him as genuinely very intelligent. His intelligence confuses most people who immediately profile this black thuggish rapper as brainless. As Appiah understands â€Å"Understanding one another may be hard†(25). To fully understand Lil Wayne or any person is not easy, and those hidden characteristic of people, such as Lil Wayne’s genius, is what conversation can unveil. The complexity of this 28-year-old rapper allows for extremely beneficial conversation, changing first impressions and providing new perceptions. Lil Wayne uses music to reach the world exposing his intelligence and talent to millions. I believe that music is another form of news, he tells CBS News anchor Katie Couric. Music is another form of journalism to me so I have to cover all the areas with my album(allaccess). In many of his songs Lil Wayne will address current events. Katrina was a very sensitive subject to many and Lil Wayne having grown up there and lost ones who were close to him as shown in his lyrics. â€Å"To those restin in peace, those dead and deceased, soon again we meet†(metrolyrics). Lil Wayne donated $200,000 To Hurricane Katrina Relief Project to help the area where he grew up(Gigwise). Through the medium of his music he expresses his feelings, and has a vast amount of influence. This is what Appiah believes is necessary; to influence others and exchange ones own ideas like little Wayne does through his music quoted above. Whether people like it or not Lil Wayne is a leader. There is a reason he is so loved by his fans and has had so much success. He is a success himself and what people all over the globe strive to achieve. Alternatively when examining his habits and way of going about life it is hard see him as a positive influence in any respect. He does illegal drugs, possesses illegal weapons, and is known to be a womanizer in many of his lyrics. Recently he was arrested for possession of weapons without a permit. To many teens this looks â€Å"cool† and just adds to his notoriety. Illegal activity isn’t the key to success for most people, yet as he proclaimed, he is a gangster and can do what he wants when he wants. This cocky attitude gets him in a lot of trouble, but it also fuels his greatness. With every hero there is a flaw and Lil Wayne’s flaw is breaking the law. Most of his followers understand that some of his actions we should follow; instead following his confidence and individualism that yield success in an increasin gly competitive world. During the CBS interview Katie Couric asked if he views himself as a positive role model, Lil Wayne replied, I’m not an example for how people should live their lives, Never in my life would I ever set out to be an example for people on how to live their lives. If you need an example for how to live, then you just shouldn’t have been born.† Practicing what he preaches Lil Wayne does not live for anyone but himself. It is this attitude that intrigues people and causes conversation. Every time he makes a new song that tops the billboard charts he is reaching out and sharing himself with the world. Lil Wayne has conversation everyday when he makes his music, sharing himself with many different types of people each with their own varying backgrounds. Appiah would agree that Lil Wayne is someone people of differing cultures can learn from being as unique as he is. His uniqueness allows for good conversation by crossing boundaries like done in the CBS interview with Katie Couric, while still being able to connect easily with society as shown through his fame. Lil Wayne has always been himself and while many times misunderstood he will keep being Weezy F Baby, â€Å"The Best Rapper Alive.†

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Cryptography: Theories, Functions and Strategies

Cryptography: Theories, Functions and Strategies Abstract Digital signing is a mechanism for certifying the origin and the integrity of electronically transmitted information. In the process of digitally signing, additional information called a digital signature is added to the given document, calculated using the contents of the document and some private key. At a later stage, this information can be used to check the origin of the signed document. The mathematical base of the digital signing of documents is public key cryptography. This work presents the theory behind digital signatures, signature schemes and attacks on signatures and provides a survey of application areas of the digital signing technology. Moreover, there are lab exercises developed in Mathlab, to reinforce the understanding of this technology. 1. Introduction The Concise Oxford Dictionary (2006) defines cryptography as the art of writing or solving codes, however modern cryptography does not met this definition. Therefore, this work starts with a literature review defining some key concepts, like what cryptography and cryptographic system are and the different types of cryptographic system are presented. The other interesting and preliminary concept is the notion of cryptosystem functions which are also discussed in the introductory section. Furthermore, it is stated that public-key encryption represents a revolution in the field of cryptography, and this work poses some basic definitions on this topic trying to explain the theory behind. The rest of the literature review is concentrated on public key cryptography and it focuses on the theory behind digital signatures, signature schemes and attacks on signatures. And finally, the literature review presents a survey of application areas on digital signatures. One part of the contribution of this work, is an overview of the secure hash standard (SHS) and implementation of the secure hash algorithm (SHA-1), required for use with digital signature algorithms. The main part though, is the implementation of AES and RSA by utilizing Mathlab. The code of all these implementations is thoroughly discussed and explained in this work. Moreover, a comparison is also presented subsequently. 2. Cryptography The Greek words â€Å"krypt ´os† standing for â€Å"hidden† and the word â€Å"l ´ogos† that means â€Å"word†, are in essence the base from where the word cryptology was derived. As these words denote, cryptology can be best explained by the meaning â€Å"hidden word†. In this context, the original purpose behind cryptology is hiding the meaning of some specific combination of words which in turn would insure secrecy and confidentiality. This is a very limited viewpoint in today’s perspective and a wide range of security applications and issues now come under the term of cryptology (rest of the portion of this section will clarify this point of view). As field of mathematical science, Cryptology includes the study of both cryptanalysis as well as cryptography. On one hand, cryptography is a very broad term and represents any process used for data protection. On the other hand, the study of security related issues and the probabilities of breaking the cryptographic systems and a technique is known as cryptanalysis. By making reference to (Shirey, 2000), the field cryptanalysis can be best described as the â€Å"mathematical science that deals with analysis of a cryptographic system in order to gain knowledge needed to break or circumvent the protection that the system is designed to provide.† In simple words, cryptanalyst can be regarded as the opponent of the cryptographer i.e. he/she has to get around the security which cryptographer devised on his/her part. (Buchmann, 2004) claims that a cryptographic system (or in short a cryptosystem) describes â€Å"a set of cryptographic algorithms together with the key management processes that support use of the algorithms in some application context.† This is a diverse explanation that includes all sorts of cryptographic algorithms as well as protocols. However, hidden parameters like cryptographic keys may or may not be used by a cryptographic system (Delfs, 2007). Similarly, participants of the undergoing communication may or may not share those secret parameters. Thus, cryptographic can be classified into following three types: a cryptographic system in which no secret parameters are employed (called an un-keyed cryptosystem); a cryptosystem which makes use of secret parameters and at the same time shares the parameters between the participants (known as a secret key cryptographic system); and a system that utilizes the secret parameters, but not sharing them with the participants (call ed a public key cryptographic system) (Shirey, 2000; Buchmann, 2004). Cryptography aims at designing and implementing cryptographic systems and utilizing such systems which are secure effectively. The first a formal definition about the term cryptography dates from relatively past time. Back then, the approach known by the name â€Å"security through obscurity† was being used (Dent, 2004). There are a lot of examples based on this approach by which security of the system was improved by keeping internal working and design secret. Majority of those systems do not serve the purpose and security may well be violated. The Kerckhoffs’ principle is a very famous cryptographic principle which states that (Kerckhoffs, 1883): â€Å"Except for parameters clearly defined to be secret, like the cryptographic keys, a cryptosystem must be designed in such a way as to be secure even with the case that the antagonist knows all details about the system†. However, it might be noted that one important aspect is that a cryptosystem is perfectly securing theoretically grounds, but it may not remain the same when implemented practically. Different possibilities of generating attacks on security of such systems can arise while having the practical implementation (Anderson, 1994). Attacks which make use of exploitation of side channel information are the examples of such attacks. If a cryptosystem is executed, it can result in the retrieval of side channel information with unspecified inputs and outputs (Anderson, 1994). In encryption systems, the input is plaintext message plus the key, while the specific output is the cipher text. Thus, there are chances on information leakage. Power consumption, timing characteristics along with the radiation of all types are some examples in this regard. On the other hand, side channel attacks are the types of network attacks which extract side channel information. Since the mid 1990s there were many di fferent possibilities have been found by the researchers in order to build up side channel attacks. A few examples in this regard are the differential power analysis (Bonehl, 1997), and fault analysis (Biham, 1997; Kocher, 1999) as well as the timing attacks (Kocher, 1996). It is a very practical statement that any computation performed on real computer systems represents some physical phenomena which can be examined and analyzed to provide information regarding the keying material being employed. Cryptography does not help to cope with this situation because of the inherent nature of this problem. 2.1 Cryptosystem functions Other than the usual random bit generators as well as the hash functions, there are no secret parameters that are used in cryptosystem functions. These are the junketed functions that characterize the cryptographic system functions. In cryptographic functions, the elements used are usually one-way and it is difficult or almost impossible to invert them. This follows that it is easy to compute a cryptographic function whereas it is hard to invert the functions and also to compute the results of the relationships (Kerckhoffs, 1883). It is difficult to apply any mathematical method for inverting the cryptographic system functions in a way that will be coherent and meaningful. For example, a cryptographic system functions such as F: X → Y is easy to comfortably use mathematical knowledge to compute while it is hard to use the same to invert (Buchmann, 2004; Shirey, 2000). There are many examples of one-way functions that we can use to demonstrate the meaning of the cryptosystems. In a situation where one has stored numbers on the cell phone, computation of the same is possible and easy due to the fact that the names are stored in an alphabetical manner (Garrett, 2001). If one inverts the relationship of these functions, it will be impossible to compute because the numbers are not arranged numerically in the storage phonebook. It is notable that a lot of other things that we do in daily life are comparable to cryptosystem function in the sense that you cannot invert or undo them. For example, if one breaks a glass, the process is one way because it is not possible for these pieces to be restored together again (Goldreich, 2004). Similarly, when one drops something into water, it is not practically possible to reverse the action of dropping this item (Mao, 2003). The English corresponding action would be to un-drop the item as opposed to picking it. Cry ptosystem functions cannot be demonstrated as purely one-way and this is the branching point between cryptosystem functions and the real world of things and circumstances. The only one-way functions in mathematics can be exemplified by discrete exponentiation, modular power and modular square functions. Public key cryptography uses these functions in its operations but it has not been well documented whether they are really one-way or not. There has been debate in practice whether one-way functions really exist in the first place or not (Garrett, 2001). In the recent day cryptographic discussions a lot of care should be applied when referring to the one-way functions so as not to interfere or make false claims to the functional attributes of these parameters. There is a need to look for extra information and knowledge concerning one-way functions so that efficient and meaningful inversions are possible and mathematically coherent. Therefore, functions such as F: X → Y is considered to be a one-way function (Koblitz, 1994; Schneier, 1996). This follows that if F can successfully and coherently inverted, the need for extra information is needed. This will hence bring the notion of the meaning of the other parameters in relation to F. Computer science uses the hash functions in its operations. This is because these functions are computable and generates output dependent on the input that was used (Katz, 2007; Koblitz, 1994). 3. Digital signatures The public-key encryption presents a revolution in the field of cryptography and until its invention the cryptographers had relied completely on common, secret keys in order to achieve confidential communication (Smart, 2003). On the contrary, the public-key techniques, allow for the parties to communicate privately without the requirement to decide on a secret key in advance. While the concept of private-key cryptography is presented as two parties agree on a secret keyk which can be used (by either party) for both encryption and decryption; public-key encryption is asymmetric in both these respects (Stinson, 2005). Namely, in public-key encryption: One party (the receiver) generates a pair of keys (pk, sk), where pk is called the public key and ps is the private key, The public key is used by a sender to encrypt a message for the receiver, and The receiver uses the private key to decrypt that message. There three parts of information form part of public key certificate: Some naming information A Public key Digital signatures (this can be one or more) Encryptions and digital signatures were introduced to make the web transactions secure and manageable. The use of cryptographic techniques was applied to enhance and provide security layer such that the encrypted information and files would remain secure and confidential. Very frequently, a digital signature is mistaken with the inverse of a public-key encryption, but this is not entirely true. In the history, a digital signature could be obtained by reversing, but today in the majority of the situations this process would be impossible to be performed. Basically, a digital signature is a form of a mathematical scheme for signifying the genuineness of a digital message. A valid digital signature would provide a proof to the person that receives the message or the document that these information is indeed created by a specified sender. Moreover, it would prove that message or the document was not altered during the transportation. Digital signatures are usually used for software distribution or mainly money transactions, where it is very important to detect the possibility of forgery. As a part of the field in asymmetric cryptography, it might be noted that a digital signature is somehow equivalent of the traditional handwritten signatures. On the other hand, in order to be effective, a digital signature should be correctly implemented. Another very important concept is the notion of non-repudiation. This means that if somebody signs a document by using a digital signature, they can not say that it was not signed by them, even though their private key remains as a secret. On the other hand, there is a time stamp, so that even if the private key of a sender is compromised in future, the digital signature will remain valid. Examples of such messages are: electronic mail contracts messages sent via some cryptographic protocol A digital signature usually is comprised of: An algorithm for producing a key. This algorithm would find a private key by chance from all the possible private keys available. Then it will output that private key with a matching public key. A signing algorithm that, given a message and a private key, produces a signature. A signature authenticating algorithm that, given a message, public key and a signature, it will accept or reject the message. Primary, a signature produced from a fixed message and a private key verifies that the genuineness of that message is ok, by means of the matching public key. Then, it has to be computationally infeasible to make an appropriate signature for a party that doesn’t have the private key 4. Algorithms 4.1. Introduction to SHS This section provides an overview of the secure hash standard (SHS) and implementation of the secure hash algorithm (SHA-1), required for use with digital signature algorithms. SHA-1 is used for computing a compressed version of a message or a data file. If that data has a length smaller than 264 buts, then the output will be 160-bit and is called a message digest. The message digest used for an input to the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA). This algorithm will verify the signature for the message. Signing the message digest instead of the originall message itself, might advance the effectiveness of the procedure. This is since the message digest is usually much slighter in size than the original message. Very important is that the same hash algorithm should be used by both the verifier and the digital signature creator. The usage of the SHA-1 with the DSA can be presented as follows: Interesting for SHA-1 is that it is computationally impossible to discover a message which matchs to a given digest. Moreover, it is also impossible to find two dissimilar messages which create an identical message digest. 4.2. Implementation of SHA-1 The following functions were implemented for the SHA-1 algorithm: Name of source file: secure_hash_algorithm.m. Function in the source file: secure_hash_algorithm (message). This function takes an input a string of characters. Example: Hello, How are you? How is it going on? Output is the message digest, the hash value of the message. Thus, the hash value of the above message is F418F52AE6DC208599F91191E6C40FA876F33754. Name of source file: arithematic_shift_operations.m. Function in the source file: arithematic_shift_operations (number, position, op). The inputs are: number: it is a hexadecimal large number of any size. The number is represented in base 16 and is stored as a string. Ex: ‘FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF’ position: the number of positions to be shifted by. It is a decimal number in base 10. Op: it is the type of operation done. Inputs are ‘SRA’ -> shift right arithematic and ‘SLA’ -> shift left arithematic. For example, the function: arithematic_shift_operations(‘FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF’, 3, ‘SRA’) would return ‘1FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF’, and arithematic_shift_operations(‘FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF’, 3, ‘SLA’) would return ‘FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF8’. Name of source file: bi2hex.m. Function in the source file: bi2hex (number). The input to this function is a vector of ones and zeros and the result is a hexadecimal output represented in string. For example, for the input â€Å"Number = [1 1 1 1]† bi2hex (Number) returns ‘F’ and for â€Å"Number = [1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 ]† bi2hex (Number) returns ‘F1’. Name of source file: hex2bi.m. Function in the source file: hex2bi (number). The input to this function is a number stored in form of a string in base 16 and the result is a vector containing the binary representation of input string. For example, for the input â€Å"Number = ‘F’ †, hex2bi (Number) returns â€Å"[1 1 1 1]† and for â€Å"Number = ‘F1’ â€Å", bi2hex (Number) returns â€Å"[1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1]†. Name of source file: hexadecimal_big_number_adder.m. Function in the source file: hexadecimal_big_number_adder (number_one, number_two). The inputs to this function are numbers stored in hexadecimal string format. Output is the result, a hexadecimal string and carry, a decimal number. After using this function, it has to be checked if the carry is generated, Incase if it is generated then the carry has to be appended in the beginning to the result. For example: Number_one = ‘FFFFFFFF’ Number_two = ‘EEEEEEEE’ [result, carry] = hexadecimal_big_number_adder (Number_one, Number_two) Result = ‘EEEEEEED’ , carry = 1; Hence the real sum is Result = strcat(dec2hex(0), Result); this results to ‘1EEEEEEED’ Name of source file: hexadecimal_big_number_subtractor.m. Function in the source file: hexadecimal_big_number_subtractor(number_one, number_two). The inputs to this function are numbers stored in hexadecimal string format. Output is the result, a hexadecimal string and sign, a decimal number. If sign is -1, then the result generated is a negative number else is a positive number. . For example: Number_one= ‘EEEEEEEE’ Number_two= ‘FFFFFFFF’ [result, sign] = hexadecimal_big_number_subtractor(Number_one, Number_two) Result = ‘11111111’ Sign = -1. Name of source file: hexadecimal_big_number_multiprecision_multiplication.m. Function in the source file: hexadecimal_big_number_multiprecision_multiplication(multiplicand, multiplier). The input is a multiplicand stored in string format is a hexadecimal number. And so is multiplier. The output is a result and is stored in form of a string. For example: multiplicand= ‘EEEEEEEE’ multiplier= ‘FFFFFFFF’ hexadecimal_big_number_multiprecision_multiplication(multiplicand, multiplier) result is ‘EEEEEEED11111112’ Name of source file: comparision_of.m. Function in the source file: comparision_of(number_one, number_two, index). This function compares two numbers in hexadecimal format stored in form of strings. Always input index as decimal 1. Therefore, it: Returns 1 if Number_one > Number_two, Returns 0 if Number_one = Number_two, and Returns -1 if Number_one For example, if Number_one= ‘EEEEEEEE’ Number_two= ‘FFFFFFFF’, the result would be: comparision_of(Number_one, Number_two, 1) returns -1. Name of source file: hexadecimal_big_number_modular_exponentiation.m. Function in the source file: hexadecimal_big_number_modular_exponentiation (base, exponent, modulus). This function calculates (power(base, exponent) % modulus). Here the input base, exponent and modulus are hexadecimal strings of any size. For example: Base = ‘FFF’ Exponent = ‘EEE’ Modulus = ‘AAAA’ hexadecimal_big_number_modular_exponentiation (Base, Exponent, Modulus) returns ‘8BAB’ Name of source file: hexadecimal_big_number_multiplicative_inverse.m. Function in the source file: Z = hexadecimal_big_number_multiplicative_inverse(number_one, number_two). This function returns multiplicative inverse of number_two modulo number_one. If az = 1 (mod m) then z is the multiplicative inverse of a mod m. Here â€Å"number_one = m†, â€Å"number_two = a†, â€Å"number_one = ‘FFFF’ †, â€Å"number_two = ‘1235’ â€Å" andresult is ‘634D’, which in turn is the multiplicative inverse of number_two.Hence : (result * number_two) mod number_one = 1 Name of source file: hexadecimal_big_number_test_for_primality.m. Function in the source file: hexadecimal_big_number_test_for_primality(number). The input to this function is an ODD number stored in hexadecimal format as a string. This function returns 1 if the input is a prime and returns -1 if input is composite. Name of source file: power_of_two_conversion_to_hexadecimal.m. Function in the source file: power_of_two_conversion_to_hexadecimal(power). The input is the number, the power to which two has to be raised to. It is a decimal number and the output is a hexadecimal number in form of string. For example, power_of_two_conversion_to_hexadecimal(4) returns ‘10’ i.e 16 in decimal system. Name of source file: hexadecimal_big_number_division.m. Function in the source file: hexadecimal_big_number_division (dividend, divisor). This function returns quotient and remainder both in hexadecimal string format. The inputs to this function are strings of hexadecimal format. This function uses other two functions in turn which are defined in source file Get_multiplier.m, multiplication_by_single_digit_multiplier.m. Name of source file: remove_leading_zeros.m. Function in the source file: remove_leading_zeros (number). This function takes number in hexadecimal string format as input and removes the leading zeros in the string and returns it. For example, if â€Å"Number = ‘000000012345’ â€Å", then the function returns ‘12345’. Some of the most prominent functions are presented in Appendix A. 4.3. Introduction to MD5 The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm is a extensively utilised in cryptographic hash functions. Basically this is the case for cryptographic hash functions with a 128-bit (16-byte) hash value. MD5 is used in many security applications, and in addition it is frequently used to check data integrity. An MD5 hash is typically expressed as a 32-digit hexadecimal number. The following figure represents a schematic view of the MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm. 4.4. Implementation of MD5 This algorithm would compute MD5 hash function for files. For example, if as input is given the d = md5(FileName), then the function md5() will computes the MD5 hash function of the file specified in the string FileName. This function will returns it as a 64-character array dwhere d is the digest. The following methodology that the MD5 algorithm was implemented: Initially, the function Digestis called. This function would read the whole file, and will make it uint32 vector FileName = C:\md5InputFile.txt [Message,nBits] = readmessagefromfile(FileName); Then, it would append a bit in the last one that was read from that file: BytesInLastInt = mod(nBits,32)/8; if BytesInLastInt Message(end) = bitset(Message(end),BytesInLastInt*8+8); else Message = [Message; uint32(128)]; end Consequetly, it will append the zeros: nZeros = 16 mod(numel(Message)+2,16); Message = [Message; zeros(nZeros,1,uint32)]; And a bit length of the original message as uint64, such as the lower significant uint32 first: Lower32 = uint32(nBits); Upper32 = uint32(bitshift(uint64(nBits),-32)); Message = [Message; Lower32; Upper32]; The 64-element transformation array is: T = uint32(fix(4294967296*abs(sin(1:64)))); The 64-element array of number of bits for circular left shift: S = repmat([7 12 17 22; 5 9 14 20; 4 11 16 23; 6 10 15 21].,4,1); S = S(:).; Finally, the 64-element array of indices into X can be presented as: idxX = [0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 1 6 11 0 5 10 15 4 9 14 3 8 13 2 7 12 5 8 11 14 1 4 7 10 13 0 3 6 9 12 15 2 0 7 14 5 12 3 10 1 8 15 6 13 4 11 2 9] + 1; The initial state of the buffer is consisting of A, B, C and D. such as: A = uint32(hex2dec(67452301)); B = uint32(hex2dec(efcdab89)); C = uint32(hex2dec(98badcfe)); D = uint32(hex2dec(10325476)); The message is reshaped, such as: Message = reshape(Message,16,[]); The look between the blocks, such that X is an extraction of the next block: for iBlock = 1:size(Message,2) X = Message(:,iBlock); The buffer states are stored as: AA = A; BB = B; CC = C; DD = D; The buffer is transformed by utilizing the X block from above, and the parameters from S, T and idxX k = 0; for iRound = 1:4 for q = 1:4 A = Fun(iRound,A,B,C,D,X(idxX(k+1)),S(k+1),T(k+1)); D = Fun(iRound,D,A,B,C,X(idxX(k+2)),S(k+2),T(k+2)); C = Fun(iRound,C,D,A,B,X(idxX(k+3)),S(k+3),T(k+3)); B = Fun(iRound,B,C,D,A,X(idxX(k+4)),S(k+4),T(k+4)); k = k + 4; end end The old buffer state is also being added: A = bitadd32(A,AA); B = bitadd32(B,BB); C = bitadd32(C,CC); D = bitadd32(D,DD); end The message digest is being formed the following way: Str = lower(dec2hex([A;B;C;D])); Str = Str(:,[7 8 5 6 3 4 1 2]).; Digest = Str(:).; The subsequent functionality is performed by the following operations: function y = Fun(iRound,a,b,c,d,x,s,t) switch iRound case 1 q = bitor(bitand(b,c),bitand(bitcmp(b),d)); case 2 q = bitor(bitand(b,d),bitand(c,bitcmp(d))); case 3 q = bitxor(bitxor(b,c),d); case 4 q = bitxor(c,bitor(b,bitcmp(d))); end y = bitadd32(b,rotateleft32(bitadd32(a,q,x,t),s)); And the bits are rotated such as: function y = rotateleft32(x,s) y = bitor(bitshift(x,s),bitshift(x,s-32)); The sum function is presented as: function sum = bitadd32(varargin) sum = varargin{1}; for k = 2:nargin add = varargin{k}; carry = bitand(sum,add); sum = bitxor(sum,add); for q = 1:32 shift = bitshift(carry,1); carry = bitand(shift,sum); sum = bitxor(shift,sum); end end A message is being read frm a file, such as: function [Message,nBits] = readmessagefromfile(FileName) [hFile,ErrMsg] = fopen(FileName,r); error(ErrMsg); Message = fread(hFile,inf,ubit32=>uint32); fclose(hFile); d = dir(FileName); nBits = d.bytes*8; Lastly, the auto test function is the following: function md5autotest disp(Running md5 autotest); Messages{1} = ; Messages{2} = a; Messages{3} = abc; Messages{4} = message digest; Messages{5} = abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz; Messages{6} = ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789; Messages{7} = char(128:255); CorrectDigests{1} = d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e; CorrectDigests{2} = 0cc175b9c0f1b6a831c399e269772661; CorrectDigests{3} = 900150983cd24fb0d6963f7d28e17f72; CorrectDigests{4} = f96b697d7cb7938d525a2f31aaf161d0; CorrectDigests{5} = c3fcd3d76192e4007dfb496cca67e13b; CorrectDigests{6} = d174ab98d277d9f5a5611c2c9f419d9f; CorrectDigests{7} = 16f404156c0500ac48efa2d3abc5fbcf; TmpFile = tempname; for k=1:numel(Messages) [h,ErrMsg] = fopen(TmpFile,w); error(ErrMsg); fwrite(h,Messages{k},char); fclose(h); Digest = md5(TmpFile); fprintf(%d: %sn,k,Digest); if ~strcmp(Digest,CorrectDigests{k}) error(md5 autotest failed on the following string: %s,Messages{k}); end end delete(TmpFile); disp(md5 autotest passed!); 4.4.1 Results This algorithm is tested with the input: university of Portsmouth department of electronic and computer engineering. This was written on the file: â€Å"C://md5InputFile.txt†. The outpus results are as in the following fugures: Textual description of the output results follows: OUTPUT FileName = C:\md5InputFile.txt Running md5 autotest FileName = C:\md5InputFile.txt 1986621045 1769173605 1864399220 1867522150 1836282994 1752462703 1885692960 1836348001 544501349 1696622191 1952671084 1768845170 1851859043 1868767332 1953853549 1696625253 1852401518 1769104741 26478 1: 3129b41fa9e7159c2a03ad8c161a7424 FileName = C:\md5InputFile.txt 1986621045 1769173605 1864399220 1867522150 1836282994 1752462703 1885692960 1836348001 544501349 1696622191 1952671084 1768845170 1851859043 1868767332 1953853549 1696625253 1852401518 1769104741 26478 2: 3129b41fa9e7159c2a03ad8c161a7424 FileName = C:\md5InputFile.txt 1986621045 1769173605 1864399220 1867522150 1836282994 1752462703 1885692960 1836348001 544501349 1696622191 1952671084 1768845170 1851859043 1868767332 1953853549 1696625253 1852401518 1769104741 26478 3: 3129b41fa9e7159c2a03ad8c161a7424 FileName = C:\md5InputFile.txt 1986621045 1769173605 1864399220 1867522150 1836282994 1752462703 1885692960 1836348001 544501349 1696622191 1952671084 1768845170 1851859043 1868767332 1953853549 1696625253 1852401518 1769104741 26478 4: 3129b41fa9e7159c2a03ad8c161a7424 FileName = C:\md5InputFile.txt 1986621045 1769173605 1864399220 1867522150 1836282994 1752462703 1885692960 1836348001 544501349 1696622191 1952671084 1768845170 1851859043 1868767332 1953853549 1696625253 1852401518 1769104741 26478 5: 3129b41fa9e7159c2a03ad8c161a7424 FileName = C:\md5InputFile.txt 1986621045 1769173605 1864399220 1867522150 1836282994 1752462703 1885692960 1836348001 544501349 1696622191 1952671084 1768845170 1851859043 1868767332 1953853549 1696625253 1852401518 1769104741 26478 6: 3129b41fa9e7159c2a03ad8c161a7424 FileName = C:\md5InputFile.txt 1986621045 1769173605 1864399220 1867522150 1836282994 1752462703 1885692960 1836348001 544501349 1696622191 1952671084 1768845170 1851859043 1868767332 1953853549 1696625253 1852401518 1769104741 26478 7: 3129b41fa9e7159c2a03ad8c161a7424 md5 autotest passed! 4.5. Introduction to Caesar cipher The Caesar cipher in cryptography, is in essence a shift cipher. It represents as one of the simplest and most widely known encryption methodologies. The Caesar cipher is a kind of substitution cipher. It means that each letter in a given plaintext is replaced by another letter. This is done due shifting by some fixed number of positions down the alphabet. Julius Caesar was the first to use this ci

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Social Phobia and Perfectionism: Theories, Types and Models

Social Phobia and Perfectionism: Theories, Types and Models Contents (Jump to) Abstract Chapter 2 – Epidemiology of Generalized and Specific Social Phobia Chapter 3 Etiological Hypotheses and Findings Chapter 4 The Behavioral Models of Social Phobia Abstract Derived from the Greek word for ‘fear’, a phobia represents a ‘fight or flight’ response that is described by the American Psychiatric Association as â€Å"†¦ an uncontrollable, irrational and persistent fear of a specific object †¦ situation †¦activity† (Phobia King, 2006). Social phobia, which is known as ‘phobia des situations socials’, was first termed by Pierre Janet (1903) whereby he described patients that demonstrated and or had a fear of being observed as they were either speaking, writing or performing other functions. Hurka (1993, p. 3) tells us that perfectionism is a â€Å"†¦ moral theory (that) starts from an account of the good life † Hurka (1993, p. 3) goes on to add that the ‘good life’ develops humanity properties to a high degree and or thus realizes what is important as well as central to human nature. The history of perfectionism can be traced back to Aristotle’s conception of eudaimonia, the good life, and his belief that political structures and politics should thus promote this in its individuals (Aristotle and Irwin, translator, 1999, pp. 1-4). Other notable individuals throughout history noted for their devotion to perfectionism in varied forms are Thomas Aquinas, Francis of Assisi, Clement of Alexandria as well as Jesus who stated in his Sermon on the Mount said â€Å"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect† (MainBelieve.com, 2006). The dictionary defines ‘perfectionism’ as â€Å"a tendency to set rigid high standards of personal performance† (free dictionary.com, 2006). In psychology, perfectionism represents the belief that this is something which should be strived for and in its pathological sense it represents the unhealthy belief anything that is not perfect is unacceptable (coping.org, 2006). It also represents not making mistakes and striving to be the best, as well as the attitude that what one attempts needs to be done perfectly and a habit that is developed in one’s youth keeping one consistently alert to imperfections as well as weaknesses and failings in one’s self as well as others (coping.org., 2006). This paper shall examine these two areas, delving into their individual specificities as well as linkages and commonalities, revealing opposing views concerning the diagnosis and causes of these afflictions and the views which seemingly share many similar aspects. The term, phobia, is generally classified by psychiatrists and psychologists into three basic categories (Bourne, 2005, pp. 33-42) (Kessler et al, 2005, pp. 629-640): Social Phobias Specific Phobias Agoraphobia Isaac Marks (1969, p. 362) advises that the syndromes representing shyness, social anxiety along with social avoidance had been described as early as Hippocrates. Marks (1969, p. 362) reported that individuals with this affliction â€Å"†¦ through bashfulness, suspicion, and timorousness, will not be seen abroad, †¦ he dare not come in company, for fear he should be misused, disgraced, overshoot himself in gestures of speeches †¦ he thinks every man observed him †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mark’s (1969) views and analysis is amplified by Heimberg et al (1995, p. 96) who state that individuals having this affliction â€Å"†¦ experience excessive fear of being humiliated or judged negatively in social or performance situations.† Juster et al (1996, pp. 403-410) state that perfectionism is linked to social phobia and is also related to anxiety as well as depression. Frost et al (1990, pp. 449-468) ‘Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale assesses perfectionism in terms of it being a phenomenon that consists of three segments: Self oriented, is described as the tendency for a person to seek as well as set high self standards concerning performance, Other oriented, is the tendency for a person to expect others to be perfect in their performance(s), Socially prescribed represents the tendency that a person expects others to think and or believe others expects them to be perfect in their performance. Frost et al (1990, pp. 449-468) define perfectionism as a malady that entails excessive self criticism that is associated with the setting or belief in higher personal standards and the allied concern of meeting expectations on a social level. The preceding also includes the tendency for excessive self criticism that is associated with their higher personal standards as well as their concerns for meeting what is, in their internal view, social expectations, along with the excessive focus concerning organization as well as neatness and doubts with regard to their effectiveness in their actions (Frost et al, 1990, pp. 449-468). The preceding describes the inter relatedness between social phobia and perfectionism that will be explored herein which shall examine each aspect and their links. Perfectionism has roots in aspects of social phobia, as well as the reverse being true. These two afflictions sometimes are present in individuals having social anxiety and are generally conditions that have their roots in early childhood. In examining these two areas, attention shall be paid to their individual diagnosis areas, signs, conditions and foundations, as well as the linkages between the varied forms of social phobia and perfectionism. This examination has been organized to set forth the preceding via segmenting the foregoing into areas that identify and explain the aspects of social phobia as well as perfectionism revealing the foregoing linkages and commonalities. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2000, pp. 154-156) defines social phobia as a persistent and marked fear of one or more performance and or social situations whereby an individual is exposed to people that are unfamiliar and thus subject to scrutiny by others whereby the person in question thus feels (fears) that they might or will act in such a manner, and or exhibit anxiety, which will either be embarrassing and or humiliating. The preceding concurs with Heimberg et al (1995, p. 96) who stated that individuals having this affliction â€Å"†¦ experience excessive fear of being humiliated or judged negatively in social or performance situations.† Social Anxiety Disorder represents the third highest mental health care problem globally and afflicts an estimated seven percent of the world’s population at any given point in time, with a thirteen percent chance that it will affect any one of us during our lives (Social Phobia / Social Anxiety A ssociation, 2005). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Social Anxiety Institute, 2006) defines social phobia as: A persistent fear of either one or more performance and or social situations whereby an individual is exposed to potential scrutiny by unfamiliar people and that they, the person in question, will act in a manner, and or show anxiety symptoms, which will be either humiliating and or embarrassing. That the exposure to the situation in almost all situations results in anxiety that can and usually does take the form of what is termed as being based upon situations and thus pre-disposed or bound Panic Attack. The individual experiencing the symptoms of social anxiety recognizes that they have a fear that is excessive and or unreasonable. The feared situations are thus avoided by this type of individual or are endured under intense distress and anxiety. The individual’s avoidance, distress and or anticipation of the feared situation thus significantly interferes with this person’s normal routine, functioning and an occupational and or academic manner, their social activities /relationships, and or they experience a marked distress concerning having the phobia. In those persons 18 years of age or less the general period of the duration of such an experience is generally six months. That the fear and or avoidance of the aforementioned is not due to the direct physiological effects of either drugs or medications, and or a general medical condition which could be accounted for by virtue of another mental disorder. The preceding diagnostic criteria provide a guideline, however they do not substitute an analysis and or visit to a mental health practitioner (Ohio State University, 2005). Examples of diagnostic criteria historical facets are described as (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2000) : patients having a hypersensivity to criticism, along with a difficulty in being assertive, and or low self esteem as well as potentially inadequate social skills. They avoid speaking in front of groups of people, with the preceding potentially leading to difficulties in either work or education. In order to reach a diagnosis concerning social phobia in children the situation calls for observing their interactions with peers as opposed to observing them with adults, which represents a different context. In reaching and or considering a diagnosis, clinicians should seek to consider what is termed the co-morbid diagnosis represented by avoidant personality disorder when an individual exhibits generalized social phobia. It has been determined that a high percentage of individuals with social phobia have or have developed alcohol and or sedative abuse that aids them in tolerating social situations, however the preceding is not universally true. Symptoms and characteristics of social phobia consist of one, some or all of the following (Helpguide.org, 2006): Avoidance, Whereby an individual will go to great lengths to avoid the prospect of socializing based upon the fear that they will by either perceived in an adverse manner or be humiliated. If left untreated this condition can accelerate or develop into the condition known as agoraphobia. Low Self Esteem, Represents a condition which most individuals who are afflicted with social phobia experience and it is marked by the fact that the longer one remains in this condition the more it affects one’s sense of self worth. Depression, A common outgrowth of having a social anxiety disorder is that the feelings of extreme anxiety as well as the sense of the lack of control over one’s life can very well lead to depression. Alcohol and or Drug Abuse, It has been estimated that one fourth of the individuals with this condition abuse either alcohol and or drugs usually starting to alleviate the pain and then accelerating into wholesale abuse. Academic and Occupational Difficulties, The condition has been known to interfere with one’s ability to function at work as well as academically and can as well as has presented obstacles in these regards. Interpersonal Difficulties, Statistics and studies have determined that as a result of this condition, individuals are prone to be less likely to marry and also have fewer friends as well as social support. The symptoms represented by social phobia defer in respect to children and adults as generally represented by the fact that in the earlier stages children tend to fail to achieve their levels, and adults show declines from prior functioning levels (Biederman et al, 2001, pp. 49-57) (Stein, 2001, pp. 28-39). The symptoms as manifested by children frequently are observed as temper tantrums, clinging to parents, crying and interactive aspects such as the refusal to talk to others (Biederman et al, 2001, pp. 49-57). In adults, the symptoms include a number of physical anxiety signs along with behavior and attitude manifestations (Bruce and Saeed, 1999, pp. 2311-2322): blushing, nausea, dry mouth, sweating, tremors and other similar types of anxiety indicators, difficulty as represented with self assertion, an extreme sensitivity concerning criticism, negative evaluations and or rejection, an intense preoccupation and concern regarding the responses as well as reactions of other individuals, increased fears regarding the prospect of being either humiliated and or embarrassed, and the avoidance of situations that cause or create fear and or anxiety Olfson et al (2001, pp. 521-527) advise that the diagnosis of social phobia is generally based upon the history of the patient, along with reported symptoms. In keeping with an accurate diagnosis the physician may also utilize what is termed a diagnostic questionnaire which aids in ruling our other possible phobias, anxiety orders as well as major depression (Olfson et al, 2001, pp. 521-527). Screening and testing procedures for adults suspected of suffering from social phobia represents a problematic assessment as some general screeners, for example the Structured Clinical Interview does not include questions that are related to social phobia and such a test can take upwards of twenty-five minutes (Bruce and Saeed, 1999, pp. 2311-2322). In addition to the foregoing there are instruments such as the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale as well as the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale which are long and in general are useful more in the measurement of therapy progress (Bruce and Saeed, 1999, pp. 2311-2322). Interestingly, physicians have found that the utilization of a selected group of questions added to a general screening questionnaire has proved helpful in their detection of this condition; examples of the preceding are as follows (Olfson et al, 2001, pp. 521-527): Are feeling embarrassed or feeling as if you look stupid among your worst fears? Does the fear of embarrassment cause you to avoid doing certain things and or speaking to people? Do you avoid situations where you could be or are the center of attention? The diagnosis of children takes into account additional factors as a result of their age. Such includes the fact that they do not have the options of avoiding most situations which frighten them (Bogels and Zigterman, 2000). The preceding provides an explanation as to why children are less likely to be able to provide why they are thus anxious. Bogels and Zigterman (2000) advise that thus it is important for physicians to therefore evaluate their capacity concerning social relationships with individuals the child knows, as well as assess their interactions with those in their peer group for signs of social phobia indications in addition to their behavior with and around adults. Examples of the procedural aspects for the preceding entail the utilization of what are termed the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents and Children, the parent completed Child Behavior Checklist and the Teacher’s Report Form (Bogels and Z igterman, 2000). Social phobia differs from shyness in that the former condition causes individuals to avoid the anxiety producing situations by all means, whereas shyness can be attributed to a number of broad classifications as it represents different things to differing individuals. Crozier (1990, p. 2) states that â€Å"†¦ shyness is not a precise term. It refers to feeling awkward or uncertain in social situations.† Crozier (1990, p. 2) continues that shyness is associated with being and or feeling self conscious, the â€Å"†¦ excessive monitoring of one’s behaviors and over rehearsal of potential utterances† â€Å"The shy person feels anxious and often †¦ appears anxious to others† (Crozier, 1990, p. 2). Berent and Lemley (1994, p. 9) state that the word itself is â€Å"†¦ too general to be of much help in identifying a problem and solving it† and that shyness has varied degrees of complexity and intensity from extremely mild and applicable in a few situations, to more perverse whereby it can thus be termed as a social phobia. Berent and Lemley (1994, p. 10-11) advise us that shyness and social anxiety are closely related and in both instances as they represent a â€Å"†¦ learned response to social interaction†. They go on to explain that shy and or socially anxious individuals â€Å"†¦ may hesitate to pursue the things he or she is interested in, or even begin to avoid situations that cause nervousness or anxiety†. Thus, the spectrum entailing shyness ranges from relatively few instances to actual social phobia. Shyness is not necessarily a criterion for social phobia in that individuals having a social anxiety disorder can be comfortable with certain types and or many differing people; however, they feel intense regarding certain specific situations (CNN.com, 2006). Social anxiety disorder is termed as a social phobia, and or as a psychiatric anxiety disorder which entails overwhelming anxiety as well as excessive self consciousness concerning everyday situations (Crozier and Lynn, 2001, pp. 18-24). Individuals with this affliction often exhibit an intense, chronic as well as persistent fear that they are being watched along with being judged by others, thinking that they might be either humiliated and or embarrassed as a result of their own actions (Crozier and Lynn, 2001, pp. 18-24). The distinction between generalized and specific social anxiety is indicated as those having the generalized type have significant distress with most, if not all social type situations, whereas specific, as the word implies, refers to such situations with specific connotations. Examples of the preceding are evidenced by glossophobia, which is the fear of speaking or performing in public, scriptophobia, which is the fear of writing in public, or paruresis, the fear of utilizing public restrooms (Bruch, 1989, pp. 37-47). Sometimes referred to as anxious personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder is recognizable as a result of a pattern of social inhibition that is pervasive (Mental Health Matters.com, (2006). The foregoing description includes feelings of inadequacy as well as an extreme sensitivity regarding negative evaluation, and people with this affliction very often consider that they are socially inept and or unappealing on a personal level, thus they avoid situations entailing social interaction due to a fear of either being humiliated and or ridiculed. In general, avoidant personality disorder is usually first noticed in one’s early childhood and is usually associated with either a real or perceived rejection by one’s parents and or peers in that period (Dayhoff, 2000. pp. 29-38). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2000) is widely utilized in diagnosing avoidant personality disorder and is identifiable by four or more of the following (Rettew, 2 006): Avoidance of occupational activities which involve degrees of significant interpersonal contact as a result of fears regarding criticism, rejection and or disapproval. Being unwilling to get or be involved with someone unless being certain that one will be liked. Through showing restraint in intimate relationships as a result of fearing shame or ridicule. Being preoccupied in social situations with being criticized and or rejected. By being inhibited in new situations entailing interpersonal relationships due to feelings of being inadequate. Viewing one’s self as inept socially, being unappealing and or inferior to other people. Being reluctant to take on personal risks and or to engage in new activities as such could or might thus prove embarrassing. Comorbidity is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary (2006) as â€Å"A concomitant but unrelated pathological or disease process† with in the context of social phobia means the presence of either one or more such disorders as well as the primary disorder. Schuckit et al (1990, pp. 34-41) state that it represents the disorder that occurred first or the one representing the symptoms that are most dominant, which Klerman (1990, pp. 13-17) refers to as the primary disorder. The critical issues in dealing with comorbidity represents the proper and correct analysis of the varied disorders and understanding which one is the prevalent or primary one as well as the order, and impact of the associated disorders in which there are combination and their influences on the patient. Biederman et al (1991, pp. 565-577) indicates that there are several hypotheses which may be utilized to account for the true patterns of comorbidity and critical issues: that comorbid disorders are not distinct entities, they represent expressions termed phenotypic variability in the same disorder, that each comorbid disorder is a distinct as well as separate entity, that these disorders share vulnerabilities that are common, represented by genetic and or psychosocial, that these disorders have a distinct subtype, or genetic variant, and a heterogeneous disorder, that one syndrome represents what is termed an early manifestation, and that the development as represented by one syndrome can increase the risk of comorbid disorder. Caron and Rutter (1991, pp. 1063-1080) advise that the failure in understanding and attending to comorbidity patterns can thus cause researchers and physicians to come to misleading conclusions thereby creating negative intervention results. Achenbach (1990. pp. 271-278) warns us that the appearance of comorbidity might develop as a result of varied conceptual and or diagnostic models which can result in boundaries between disorders that are inappropriate and can potentially lead to the tendency for comparison of one diagnosis against normal individuals as opposed to other diagnosis. He warns that there is a need for well defined diagnosis in the instance of this occurrence, comorbidity (Achenbach, 1990. pp. 271-278). Chapter 2 – Epidemiology of Generalized and Specific Social Phobia Termed the study of the scientific factors which affect the illness and health of populations, epidemiology serves as the logic and foundational basis for interventions that are made in the interests serving public health, along with preventive medicine (Rothman and Greenland, 1998, p. 29). The field is regarded as a cornerstone in the methodology of health research for the public sector and has the reputation of being highly regarded in the field of what is termed evidenced based medicine for the identification of disease risk factors and the determination of optimal treatment in the approaches representing clinical practice (Rothman and Greenland, 1998, p. 29). Morabia (2006, p. 3) explains that epidemiology, in terms of the public, represents a medical discipline dealing with the â€Å"†¦ large scale outbreaks of infectious diseases†. Chronicled in â€Å"Epidemiologia Espanola† spanning a period of thirteen centuries, Villalba, a Spanish physician, complied a li sting of epidemics as well as outbreaks which helped to define the term (Morabia, 2006, p. 3). Even though the practice extends back to the 16th century, as a scientific discipline it is relatively recent. The mission of epidemiology has â€Å"†¦ historically been to identify determinants of human diseases †¦ mostly at the population level† (Morabia, 2006, p. 3), and this holds true today. Epidemiology is prevalent in today’s communities under the term ‘Community-oriented primary care’, or COPC) and represents a systematic health care approach that is based upon principles of epidemiology (Rhyne et al, 1998). Usage has demonstrated that COPC, representing primary care, health promotion and preventive medicine has positive community benefits on a global basis (Rhyne et al, 1998). The methodology, ‘Community-oriented primary care’, entails the process of seeking to improve the health of a community utilizing the aforementioned principles, public health, primary care and epidemiology, which traditionally has been used to describe the health care system whereby a community and or targeted population is thus the focus (Wright, 1993). The American Public Health Association description of Community-oriented primary care states that it represents a â€Å"†¦ systematic process †¦ identifying and addressing †¦ health problems of a defined population† and that it thus can be implemented via the resources which are already available within most communities (Rhyne et al, 1998). It, COPC, represents a team comprised of health professionals, along with community members, who work in partnership over a long duration in treating and diagnosing patients in a community in a similar manner as does a primary care doctor, and while primary care physicians are not needed for or in every project, they nevertheless need to be involved in the process (Rhyne et al, 1998). The availability of epidemiologic studies from Europe, Asia and the United States over the past twenty years has permitted a clearer and sharper picture of social phobia with respect to its incidence, severity, prevalence and other correlations (Zucchi et al, 2000, pp. 17-24). The preceding historical base of epidemiologic information helps to provide a comprehensive reference point concerning the age of onset and incidence of social phobia from a broad population cross section. Studies conducted indicate that social phobia is the most prevalent of anxiety disorder (Carta et al, 2004), as shown by the following: Table 1- Lifetime Prevalence of Social Phobia in the General Populations of Europe and the United States (Carta et al, 2004) The preceding show the lifetime prevalence of Social Phobia of 2.2% across the board, representing 1.5% for males and 2.8% for females. Table 2 – Lifetime Prevalence of Social Phobia According to Age and Sex (Carta et al, 2004) The preceding Table represents studies conducted in Europe and the United States for the countries indicated with OR representing the degree of associated disorders that were observed regarding frequency in the populations that were not affected by social phobia. Table 3 – Lifetime Comorbidity of Social Phobia (Carta et al, 2004) * Where p is less than 0.001 The preceding Table represents the rate of comorbidity concerning major psychiatric disorders which were observed in the overall general populations of Europe and the United States, along with the degree of associated disorders (OR) in the reported populations which were not affected by social phobia. The mean age representing the onset of comorbid DE represented 6.5 plus or minus 6.6 years, whereas GAD represented a mean of 4.3 plus or minus 7.8 years later (Carta et al, 2004). In a study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, they found six regions in the human genome that very well could play a role with regard to the susceptibility of obsessive compulsive disorder (Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, 2006). The study added to the growing evidence of a genetic basis for obsessive compulsive disorder and thus its inheritability through the finding of genetic markers, or what are termed similarities, in the genomes of individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder as represented by six significance regions within the genome that are on five differing chromosomes which appeared to be linked to obsessive compulsive disorder (Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, 2006). Dorak (2006) advises us that genetic epidemiology is related to and overlaps molecular epidemiology and that the epidemiological evaluation aims to seek the detection of the inheritance pattern regarding a disease, localize it and find the marker that is associated with its susceptibility. D orak (2006) states that the steps in genetic epidemiologic research are: the establishment of the fact that there is a genetic component concerning the diso