Plastics Bags: A Devil To Be Banned

Plastics Bags- A Devil To Be Banned Plastic bags are normally given to customers by vendors when buying. It is a very convenient method for transporting goods. Moreover, it is highly popular to the customers and retailers because of its light weight. But, ultimately this much usage of the plastic bags leads to the many serious problems. Plastic bags should be banned in Canada because it have a critical environment problems, health problems and also because of its cost of production and recycling. Plastic bags should be banned because it creates very harmful environment problems.Throwing plastic bags could make the soil pollution. It also creates marine pollution. As per the research â€Å"over 13 billion plastic bags are handed to consumers each year, representing a substantial proportion of all floating marine litter (http://www. guardian. co. uk/ environment/2007/nov/13/plasticbags. pollution). Plastic bags wastes block the drainage and also it is dangerous to marine life. Every y ear thousands of seals and whales are dying because of eating plastic bags. For making a plastic bags earth’s precious natural resources are being used.Burning plastics produce much polluted gases which cause air pollution (http://debatewise. org/debates/ 1011-should-plastic-bags-be-banned/#yes9). All of this pollution in combine produces a Green House Effect. Moreover, during the production of the plastics many harmful waste chemical is produce which also contribute in the pollution and ultimately environment problems. So, plastic bags should be banned in Canada as it has dangerous environmental issues. Another, reason for banning of the plastic bags is because of its effect on the health.Air produce after burning of plastics can lead to an asthma or can worse the asthma. When a plastics break down it release many harmful chemicals and by drinking this type of water it enter into a human body and can produce a disease like diabetes, heart problems, cancer (Copperkitten). The se all health problems are serious and they cost much for treatment also. â€Å"Toxic emission produces daring an extraction of plastic bags, their manufacturing, and their transportation contribute to acid rain and smog† (Environmental Literacy Council).Moreover, some people put their foods in plastic bags for a long time and during that many toxic chemicals enter into a food and that may degrade food and also have an adverse effect on a health. Sometimes animals eat plastics bags with other food and in the body plastics not get metabolized and cause the serious problems. Many times it happen like birds eat a part of plastic bags and that stick to their neck and because of that they are unable to take a breath, and die. That’s why the usage of plastic bags should be banned in Canada due to its health risk.Production as well as recycling of plastic bags is very costly. During a production many natural sources of energy are used and that increase the production cost. Mo reover, this will leads to a decrease of these types of an energy sources. The price of oil used to produce petrochemicals for making recycled plastics is so high (Miller, 2005). One could drive their car for a few meters in production cost of one plastic bag. Also, the plastics are non-biodegradable so recycling is very complicated and it will cost too much money.After the recycling another big problems is of removal of the waste. Overall, production and recycling of plastics bags affect the economy of the country. For recycling there are a separate bins required to put in each street and also special vehicles are required for collection of that bins, and these all ultimately increase a cost of recycling. For a disposal of non-biodegradable plastic bags separate farmyard is required and day by day more and more space required storing plastic wastes. Therefore, it is better to ban a usage of plastic bags and it must be banned.Some people give a counter argument that plastic bags sho uld not be banned in Canada. They give a reason like plastic bags are convenient, cheaper and also not harm the environment too much. Some says, it is better to add a tax on production and usage of plastic bags than banning it. But it is not necessary that all convenient things are good for environment and economy. Moreover, the plastics are never degraded into a harmless ingredient, it always produce a toxic substances. Another way to reduce the environmental problems is to use a bio degradable plastics bags.But, the production cost is too high for making bio degradable plastics bags. Some says to reduce the use of plastics bags rather than banning it. But, nobody can control the usage of plastics if it is not banned. And it is proven that the plastic leads to critical environmental problems. It also reduces the other sources of energy and that will affects lot in future. And there is no need to use plastic bags as paper bags already available at the same cost in a market. Also, su ch types of paper bags are bio degradable as well as safe for a environment.So, plastic bags must be banned in Canada. In a nut shell, due to the high risk associated with the usage of plastic bags, it should be banned in Canada. Nobody have a right to damage a environment of a earth. So for a environment and for other living creatures usage of plastic bags must be stop and that is only possible by banning of a usage as well as production. In such types of issues awareness is not much useful. Government must have to take a firm steps for it. And, banning of plastic bags is only a solution.Work cited Copperkitten: Sustainable Living, June 2010 http://copperkitten. wordpress. com/2010/06/22/the-health-hazards-of-plastic-bags/ Environmental Literacy Council. 2005. â€Å"Paper or Plastic? † November 20, 2005. http://www. enviroliteracy. org/article. php/1268. html Miller, G. T. 2005. Sustaining the Earth: An Integrated Approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole. http://www. guardian. co. uk/ environment/2007/nov/13/plasticbags. pollution http://debatewise. org/debates/ 1011-should-plastic-bags-be-banned/#yes9

The Role of Information Technology in Education Essay

The Role of Information Technology in Education explores the potential for technology to redefine the terms of teaching and learning. Can the tools of technology break through the barriers to educational progress? What inhibits the effective use of technology? What are the perceived and the real limits of these tools? Thirteen grantees are helping to answer these questions. In 1998, we noticed that computers in classrooms, frequently donated by well-intentioned companies, too often sat idle, or if used, amounted to little more than enhanced typewriters. Making computers available in schools was not sufficient to realizing technology’s potential. The Role of Information Technology in Education initiative explores factors necessary to help technology reach its potential for learning. From the public school to the university setting, from local communities to nonprofit organizations, these grantees each offer a unique perspective on the role of technology in education. To learn h ow technology is one of the many tools that can educate and train employees, visit: Pioneer Employers. Early Assumptions The Hitachi Foundation issued the Tech Ed Letter based on these ideas: 1. A vast majority of schools have the equipment. Schools, districts, and states seem to have found money for hardware, but have invested only meagerly, if at all, in training teachers to use the technology. 2. The education sector has no systemic approach to upgrading the skills of its professionals in both pre-collegiate and higher education. If done at all, in-service technology training for teachers has been limited in number served and scope, traditional in its delivery (typically one-time sessions), or left primarily to individual teacher initiative. Training typically has not helped teachers understand how to integrate technology into the curriculum. 3. There are pockets of innovation. Individual teachers, students, and communities are delivering specific advances at every educational level. Advances can be grouped into 5 categories: pedagogy: enhanced capacity for tailoring instruction for individual students and monitoring student performance to assess instruction efficacy. constructing local content: through collaboration made possible by technology, students or professors in  several locations, drawing on local content can transform classroom practices. professional development: information technology makes possible high-quality professional development at times convenient for the teacher. Technology can overcome school scheduling problems by delivering training during off-hours or as the teacher works with students and colleagues in the classroom. collaboration: teachers and students can collaborate outside the classroom in synchronous (real-time) and asynchronous (delayed response) fora, which brings far more resources, perspectives, and analysis to classroom assignments. economic efficiency: schools and universities are finding ways to use technology creatively to save money or expand productivity. 4. Technology is a tool — a means rather than an end. 5. Using technology effectively in the classroom means transforming the classroom, teaching, and learning. Productive use of technology does not mean using it solely to help slow students catch up, to occupy quick achievers, to reward good behavior, or to baby-sit. Where technology is yielding results, the classrooms are student-centered, with teachers as coaches and guides. Outside resources come to class and students go outside the classroom. Technology allows engagement, review, and especially assessment in broader, deeper ways. Portfolio Goals In addition to each project’s individual goals, we had these broad goals for the portfolio: Illustrate how technology is being used to make possible new methods, outcomes, and advancements in teaching and learning. Illustrate specifically how information technologies can improve or advance teaching or learning, and for whom. Identify unused or unexplored opportunities to strengthen teaching and learning through the use of information technology. Advance the practice of collaboration. Document and disseminate program models. Grantees California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA This project is creating interactive Web Site teaching applications for K-12 teachers in the Banning/Carson Cluster (Los Angeles Unified School District). Teachers will be able to tailor self-paced and class-wide  instruction, develop and revise the applications, monitor and evaluate their approaches and student performance on specific subjects and problems, provide students with individual problem sets, and collaborate with other teachers. Catholic University of America, Washington, DC International Virtual Department for Historical Studies of Mathematics The Catholic University of America, in partnership with the Mathematical Association of America and numerous scholars at universities worldwide (including Oxford, Russian Academy of Sciences, Princeton, and Kyoto), is implementing, evaluating, and disseminating an International Virtual Department for Historical Studies of Mathematics. The Children’s Museum, Boston, MA – Teacher-to-Teacher On-Line @ The Children’s Museum The Children’s Museum’s Teacher Center is creating Teacher-to-Teacher On-Line @ The Children’s Museum, a training and discussion forum for elementary teachers to exchange activities, ideas, and curriculum as the state institutes new curriculum frameworks. Delaware Education Research and Development Center, University of Delaware, Newark, DE First-State Instructional Resource System for Teachers (FIRST) This project is establishing, testing, and refining the First-State Instructional Resource System for Teachers. FIRST is an Internet-based professional development system linked to Delaware’s state education reform movement. The site will include professional development units that illustrate effective teaching of curriculum concepts, curriculum units linked to state standards, teacher discussion and collaboration forums, teacher comments on curriculum units, related commercial curriculum resources, and assessment techniques. Eagle Rock Junior/Senior High School, Los Angeles, CA The Eagle Rock Junior/Senior High School started The Talons 2000 Academy – a four-year, college preparatory program with a focus on business and technology. The Academy, within the walls of ERJ/SHS, is developing a student-led business to build, refurbish, and support computers throughout ERJ/SHS, the LA Unified School District, and the community. Information and Referral/Volunteer Connection, Coeur d’Alene, ID Community Science Online uses information technology to teach science by integrating scientific content with local and regional history and discussions of contemporary events in an interactive Multi-Object-Oriented environment. Leadership,  Education, and Athletics in Partnership, New Haven, CT – LEAP Computer Learning Centers Leadership, Education, and Athletics in Partnership, in conjunction with the Hartford and New Haven Housing Authorities, Yale University, and Connecticut College is creating parent and student outreach programs in LEAP Computer Lea rning Centers in three CT cities. LEAP is evaluating the impact of the centers’ programs on child development and technology skill building and increasing the breadth of technology training for LEAP parents and schools. New York Institute of Technology, Central Islip, NY – Educational Enterprise Zone The New York Institute of Technology, in partnership with the Nassau and Dutchess County Board of Cooperative Educational Services and seven museums is creating an Educational Enterprise Zone. Linked by low bandwidth videoconferencing and a host of other technological tools, museums, libraries, teacher centers, and others will beam their knowledge into schools. Northwest Arctic Borough School District, Kotzebue, AK – The Virtual Village Northwest Arctic Borough is creating The Virtual Village project to train student technology leaders to be mentors to teachers, students, and staff in order to help teachers incorporate modern technology so students can preserve and spread traditional cultural knowledge. The project addresses challenges and opportunities that include a transient teaching pool, isolated villages accessible only by air, and curriculum material that is not linked to village re alities or traditional knowledge and ways. Scott Lane Elementary School, Santa Clara, CA – 1000 Days to Success in Reading Scott Lane Elementary School is adding technology as it starts the second year of its 1000 Days to Success in Reading project – a warranty program that guarantees all children who entered kindergarten in September 1997 will be reading at or above grade level by the end of second grade. The project is training teachers to use technology and integrate it into the curriculum, establish a cyber-space library, allow broader interactions among teachers to expand their resources and support services, and engage parents, community volunteers, and the larger school population in the educational process. Tucson Unified School District, Tucson, AZ – Community Learning Project The Tucson Unified School District, in collaboration with The University of Arizona, is implementing the Community Learning Project at two elementary schools. The project will coordinate three existing pilot programs to  provide a comprehensive, experiential, interdisciplinary education experience for children and their university mentors. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA – Facilitating the Community as a Learning Community The Facilitating the Community as a Learning Community project expands and improves the Blacksburg Electronic Village community netw ork and its links to K-12 education and community interaction with a new Web-based multi-user domain. The project will develop, implement, and investigate educational activities that involve real-time collaboration with community members and activities that engage citizens on matters of community interest. World Game Institute, Philadelphia, PA – NetWorld Game Learning Project The World Game Institute (WGI) and four collaborating museums are supporting the NetWorld Game Learning Project -a comprehensive Internet-based education program for high school teachers and students. The NetWorld Game Learning Project creates an Internet-based simulation of real world situations that complements high school curricula in four U.S. cities. University of Oklahoma Colleges of Engineering and Education, in partnership with the State Department of Education, Norman, OK The Colleges of Engineering and Education, in partnership with the Oklahoma State Department of Education, is creating an Internet-based training program to instruct teachers how to incorporate electronic media into their classrooms. Teachers learn how to develop and use graphics, animation, simulation, distance learning, network-based collaboration, online courseware, and streaming video to both amplify their teaching style and immerse students into the constantly changing world of technology.

UVA Acceptance Rate: What Does It Take To Get In?

The University of Virginia accepts 27% of students. What does it take to get in? One of the most prestigious public universities in the nation, the University of Virginia was founded in 1812 by Thomas Jefferson. The school prides itself on cultivating leadership and providing education at a reasonable cost. Located in beautiful and historic Charlottesville, UVA boasts distinguished faculty and alumni, numerous research opportunities (especially in medicine), and emphasizes the holistic student experience. If you are looking for one of the best educations you can get at an affordable price, UVA might be the school for you. Keep reading to learn more about the tips that have helped ’s students get into UVA. Apply using the Common Application or the Coalition Application. We recommend that students use the Common Application, because it is more established than the Coalition Application. Students must apply by November 1 for Early Action, or January 1 for Regular Decision. To apply, be sure to send in all of the following: Getting into UVA takes hard work—last year only 27% of applicants were admitted. UVA had 36,779 students apply last year, and only 10,058 were admitted. As of their Early Action deadline this year, they already had 24,950 applications, so it’s definitely a popular choice for many high-achieving students. UVA has a preference for in-state students, aiming for two-thirds of the student body to be from Virginia. Last year, 39% of Virginian applicants were admitted versus 22% non-Virginians. If you aspire to attend a school like the University of Virginia, it’s critical to surround yourself with people who have been through the process previously. offers mentorship for underclassmen and applications counseling for seniors to help you set yourself apart from the crowd. Even if you don’t choose to work one-on-one with one of ’s trained near-peer mentors, connecting with someone who has successfully gained admission to a school like UVA can make the difference between rejection and acceptance. UVA is interested in you as a person, not just your grades or your essays. Use your application to reflect your strengths in these areas. Academics. You’ll want to take challenging courses throughout high school, but you’ll also want to do well in them. Last year, 89.4% of the enrolled students ranked in the top tenth of their class. For standardized test scores, the middle 50% of admitted students earned SAT scores of 1320-1500 and ACT scores of 31-34. It’s important to note that UVA is a Top 40-50 college for in-state students in terms of profile competitiveness. UVA for out-of-state students, however, is about as competitive as a Top 20 college (more than USC/UCLA, slightly less than UC Berkeley). Students should keep this in mind when looking at overall admissions statistics like GPAs and test scores. Extracurricular activities. UVA admissions officers don’t care about what you love so much as that you pursued your passions meaningfully. This could mean founding new clubs, taking on leadership within existing school organizations, or creating opportunities within your school and community. But formal leadership isn’t the only way that you can show your passion—pursuing excellence through competitions or serving your community as a dedicated volunteer can demonstrate how you live your values. Character. UVA spends a lot of resources on their students, providing enriching research and study abroad opportunities so that students can develop as leaders and pioneers in their fields. Use your essays to showcase your strengths and values, and choose recommenders who know you well enough to write a compelling letter for you. Contributions to Community. UVA wants to bring together students with a wide array of talents and past achievements who will be a credit to their school. Whether you’re a leading medical researcher in the making or an aspiring entrepreneur, show how you will bring new ideas and energy to UVA’s community. Submit your application early if you’re out-of-state. Applying EA at UVA has some value for out-of-state students but holds little admissions value for in-state students. It offers less of an admissions boost overall, however, than other colleges with unrestricted EA. Also know that UVA tends to accept more students off the waitlist than peer colleges. So students who have lower chances should still consider applying to UVA, and waitlisted students should always follow the full follow-up process. Our Early Advising Program helps students in 9th and 10th grade discover their passions and build strong academic and extracurricular profiles to succeed in high school. Explain how your choice of school plays into your goals for college. When you apply to UVA, you’ll apply to one of 5 schools: the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Architecture, the School of Engineering, the School of Nursing, or Kinesiology. You don’t choose a major until the end of your first or second year at UVA, so really hone in the reason behind your selected school and what your academic goals are. Tell your story. The only things that a UVA admissions officer knows about you is what is in your application, so make sure you highlight your strengths, your values, and your passion. To provide a little extra insight into who you are, consider including the arts supplement if you are talented and have earned awards at performances or showcases. Partner with recommenders. Most students choose a recommender and let the recommender do all the work. But because UVA doesn’t accept supplementary materials beyond the arts/architecture supplement, you need to make sure that every piece of your application is strong. Brainstorm ideas of what to include or emphasize in your letter with your recommender, and let them read drafts of your essays. Give them all the help they need to make their letters flow with the rest of your application. UVA receives more qualified applicants than it can admit each year, so don’t be too hard on yourself if you’re ultimately rejected. There are many other amazing schools where you can find success. Admissions appeals are not accepted due to the long list of qualified applicants on the waitlist. We do not recommend petitioning your decision. UVA does accept transfer students, but you need to have at least a 3.0 college GPA, and ideally a 3.5 GPA. The transfer acceptance rate is still selective, ranging from 35-40%. You may want to consider attending Virginia Community College to guarantee your ability to transfer. We think that the best option, however, is to commit to another equally great school. If you still want to transfer after a year or two, you can consider it then. If you’re looking

Modernist Trends toward Abstraction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Modernist Trends toward Abstraction - Essay Example The main feature that characterizes the modern thought is an escapable tendency towards abstraction. The artists’ thoughts today are mainly focused on the modern trends towards abstraction that analyses the resultant universal idea and acts as a key facet to human thoughts. Therefore, the modern view and thoughts are mainly dominated by abstraction. The need of creating a new kind of art by artists was mainly to encompass the fundamental transformations that were taking place in technology, philosophy and science. At that period, most individual artists drew their theoretical arguments from more diverse sources that reflected the intellectual and social preoccupations in all aspects of the western culture. Some artists including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Paul Cezanne practiced most of the modernized art trends such as Fauvism, western painting, Cubism and Post Impressionism that had a very great impact on the art in the twentieth century that led to the advent of the c entury’s abstraction. The heritage of these artists was essential to develop the modern art, the trend towards abstraction. The main reason why artists develop new trends in art is to ensure that the viewers have deep site and hope to reveal the truth concerning the abstract, artist’s approaches to reality that may be valid in the other areas as well. Artists mainly develop the work of art in order to present an article that reveals or portrays some message to the viewer. Paul Cezanne’s early works on art were mainly pictures, of violent and melodramatic subjects mainly made with thick but dark paints. He is exposed to the work of impressionist, lacked a good structure in the impressionist’s paintings, and therefore developed some ways of using color in order to render his image as a composition of planes. The efforts he made established a basis of the modernist trend towards abstraction making him to be regarded as the father of modern art. The example o f an article that Paul Cezanne decorated was a self-portrait in a Beret. This article was made between the year 1898 and 1900. It was made of oil on canvas in the Museum of fine arts in Boston. The movements or styles used in the article were impressionism and post expressionism. Paul Cezanne used thick paintings and shapes and presented the article with a course texture. The work can be classified as expressionism or post expressionist. The work can be seen as good and cool. Therefore, due to its good nature, it impresses various viewers and acts as a source of inspiration. In addition, the work emphasizes on the natural colors that look out to the natural world and reveals a profound feeling to the viewers. Paul Cezanne’s main goal or aim in his work was to produce something solid that can last for several years out of impressionism. He was aiming at producing a better work that reveals the natural world as it really is. The paintings are aimed at revealing the message or s ign that the artist was trying to disclose to the viewers. At first, the viewers of the first work of art under expressionism rejected the impressionist art due to its apparent relationship with the world. The abstract due to its scale and nonrepresentational imagery enables the viewers to have an easy interpretation and its social and intellectual origin had some important insight on the viewers. Â  Another artist that showed great efforts toward abstraction was

Survey method and discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Survey method and discussion - Essay Example It involves group of students discussing a lecture or students from different schools working in groups together on a shared assignment. The growing body of international researchers explores the relationship between social emotional learning and the cooperative learning in academic achievements. In the study most of the students were of the view of cooperative learning to improve their academic performance. In cooperative learning individual student performance was more superior as compared with the individualistic or the competitive method where everyone is for himself or herself. The cooperative method is found superior for promoting metacognitive thoughts, transfer of learning from one setting to the other, persistence in working towards a goal and it also helps in one’s motivation intrinsically. In cooperative learning, the members of the group are obliged to rely on one another to achieve the set goals, all the students are also held accountable for doing their part of work in order for them to master all the content to be learnt (Durlak et al, 2010). The method also involves face to face promotive inter action with group members required to provide the members with feedbacks, challenging reasoning, conclusion and in most cases they teach and encourage one another in order to improve the level of understanding compared to the case where the teacher does all the lectures and the student may not be free and ready to ask the questions. The primary goal of this study which is carried among 20 respondents is to measure the academic achievements for social emotional learning cooperative learning methods as ways of instruction and to compare the findings on the achievements with those of the lecture method or the teacher based method where the teacher does all the talking and the student the listening. When assessment was carried out on these two kinds of methods were carried out, it was found that the students who undergo the cooperative method were

Analogical paper on Gambling related to the Mahabharata or the Essay

Analogical paper on Gambling related to the Mahabharata or the Bhagavad-Gita - Essay Example Gambling can be a major entertainment in Las Vegas and Macao, and it is legal. However, public gambling is illegal in my home town, Taiwan. This gambling issue in Taiwan can relate to how Yudhisthira loses everything including himself in the dice gamble with Sakuni. It seems to me that gamble is like a drug and people who like to gamble cannot get rid of it because they are already addicted to gambling. If people are addicted to gamble, they lose their focus from their life goals. Gambling is betting of money or anything of material value on an event with unknown outcome. It is made to win instant and additional money or material goods. Gambling is both legal and illegal. It is the major commercial activity; the legal gambling market estimated in 2009 was worth $335 billion. The types of gambling are Casino games Table games Electronic gaming Non-casino gambling Fixed-odd betting Pari-mutuel betting Sports betting Arbitrage betting Gambling in the modern world has taken many shapes. The world spends billions on gambling every year. It may be a hobby of the elite class but those who lose everything because of gambling is the subject of debate. 1.1 History of gambling They history of gambling is ancient and relates to the different parts of the world. From Hindu to catholic and Jewish to the modern man or atheists; gambling has always been there, expanding and modernizing. Different parts of the world have different ways to gamble. Many popular games played in modern casinos originate from Europe and China, whereas the card games originated in the Middle East. Betting on horses originated from Arab (Aasved, 2003, pp.194). 1.2 Why do people gamble? The first answer to this question is because they want to become rich (Brenner and Brenner, 1990, pp.81). They want their money to double in a blink of an eye which is not possible in reality. That is why without being sure of the result they spend money so that they get a far greater amount in return. Gambling is an ad dition to have easy and quick money. Their lust for it is so strong that the negative outcomes never overtake the prominent desire to earn a lot of money in return to the smaller amount. According to Brenner and Brenner (1990, pp.169), number of attempts is made to understand gambling behaviors. One of the facts is that, gambling is a matter of taste. People who like to take risk usually gamble whereas those who are afraid do not. Gambling is a dangerous game not everyone risks for it. The poor who have the desire for money relatively fall for it more than the rich. It is also observed that those who lose money or business may gamble to meet their requirements. Gambling is a big business; people who want others to gamble make it attractive and appealing. Nice talks are made about gambling, prizes are highlighted. Both small and large amounts on lotteries and bets attract those who want to risk or are addicted to gamble. 1.3 Issues and problems related to gambling There are many issu es related to gambling, it is not necessary that always the outcome of gambling is a problem. Low risk and safe gambling can also be made, but when the limits are crossed and large risks are taken gambling problem arises. Some of the problems related to gambling are: a. Impact on families Families are mostly affected by gambling problems. People lose almost everything in gambling even there place to live. It causes long term issues. b. Money problems: It is the most important problems which brings with it all others. It may be

Financial Risk Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial Risk Management - Assignment Example 141). In this paper, Deutsche Bank, AG will be the organization that will be analyzed for its risk management and risk types it confronts. The types of risks that Deutsche Bank faces include: Credit risk: Credit risks come up from all dealings where concrete, conditional or possible claims in opposition to any counterparty, debtor or obligor. Deutsche Bank jointly refers to these parties as counterparties, as well as those claims that the bank plans to allocate (Deutsche Bank, 2011, p. 13). The dealings done on this risk are normally part of our conventional non-traded loaning operations like advances and provisional liabilities, or the direct exchange activity with clients like OTC byproducts, FX advances and forward rate agreements. Market risk: Market risk can be described as the likelihood for adjustment in the market worth of the bank’s exchange and investing positions Deutsche Bank, 2011, p. 14). Risk could come up from contrary alterations in interest rates, credit spre ads, foreign exchange tolls, equity costs, prices of goods and other pertinent parameters like market instability and market indirect default possibilities. The bank distinguishes amid three considerably dissimilar sorts of market risks. Operational risk: Operational risk is the likelihood for failure, as well as authorized risk, with regard to workers, predetermined conditions and records, expertise, substructure failure and crises, powers from outside the bank and client relationships. Operational risks do not include business and reputational risk Deutsche Bank, 2011, p. 13). Liquidity risk: Liquidity risk is the risk coming from Deutsche Bank’s potential incapacity to meet every responsibility when they arise because of simply being able to meet these duties at excessive expenses Deutsche Bank, 2011, p. 14). Business risk: Business risk describes the risk that Deutsche Bank presumes because of potential adjustments in overall business necessities the bank’s market environment, clientele actions and technological development. This could have an impact on the results of the bank is they do not change rapidly to these adjusting circumstances. Additionally, Deutsche Bank also encounters some other sorts of risks under the business risk category. They include reputational risk, insurance-specific and concentration risk. These risks are considerable linked to one or more of the stated risk sorts Deutsche Bank, 2011, p. 13). Reputational risks: With Deutsche Bank’s risk management procedures, the bank is able to describe reputational risk that advertising regarding dealing, counterparty or business parties engaging a customer will destructively affect the community’s faith in Deutsche Bank. A number of strategies and guidelines create the outline of the bank’s reputational risk management. The main accountability for the recognition, escalation and solution of reputational risk problems are inherent with the trading sector Deuts che Bank, 2011, p. 15). The risk management departments help and recommend the business sectors in determining that reputational risk issues are properly recognized, intensified and handled. Insurance-specific risk: Deutsche Bank’s disclosure to insurance risk is associated with Abbey Life Assurance Company Limited and the described advantage pension obligations of Deutsche Bank Group. The risk management of Deutsche Bank considers insurance-associated threats

Business Risk Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Risk Management - Assignment Example 132). The average of three hundred and fifty dollars they receive is as too low to cater for the needs and demand of their families. Working hours and salaries: Within the last ten months, all the three Apple factories operating in China exceeded both the Chinese legal limits on working hours and the fair labor association standards. The fair labor association allows a maximum of sixty working hours per week, including both standard shifts and paid overtime. According to its survey, the Apple branches in China broke this rule by subjecting its employees to more than maximum working time per week. Though the workers are forced to work over the limits allowed by both the government and the fair labor association, Apple own investigation has shown that most of its facilities located in foreign countries broke legal limits by failing to pay proper overtime wages as stipulated by the law(Sad grove, 2005, p. 338). The fair labor associations found that almost a quarter of Foxconn’s workers do not get the compensation they are owed for unscheduled overtime. Health and safety: Almost half of the employees surveyed, by the fair labor federation, said that they were either experiencing or witnessing some kind of work related accident. Before FLA investigations, Foxconn recorded only accidents that resulted to production stoppages (Pickett, 2006, p. 275). This has for a long time led to torture of many of its workers, who had no one to return to their rescue. Prevention of underage labor: In its 2006 audit, Apple Company placed some of its findings on its website. Its current reports, on breach of labor and human rights including the use of underage workers, indicated that in more than hundred of its facilities, excessive work hours were a common thing and that most of those facilities failed to pay proper overtime wages (Froeb & McCann, 2009, p. 204).

The challenges in ageing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The challenges in ageing - Essay Example Understanding of the nature of major challenges associated with the ageing population is becoming an increasingly critical aspect of modern health care system. A considerable body of evidence is now available to show that the process of aging is largely due to molecular damage caused by reactive oxygen species, electrophiles, and other reactive endobiotic and xenobiotic metabolites (McEwen et al. 2005). Ageing is associated with the degeneration of functional capacity in all parts of human body, and at all levels of organisation from molecules to complete organ systems. This process is normally referred to as 'senescence' and comprises genetic and external factors (Mera 1992). Quality of life of elderly patients depends more on ageing-related disease than solely on chronological characteristics. 'Natural' transformations in the status of the organism during the process of ageing, such as the changes in the immune, cardiovascular and endocrine systems (Martin, & Sheaff 2007), occur simultaneously with pathological processes associated, in their turn, with variety of age-related diseases, such as wear and tear of skin, muscles, and skeleton (Freemont, & Hoyland 2007), cardiovascular system (Greenwald 2007), etc. These two types of changes interact closely in various types of age-related diseases such as hearing loss, noise damage, skin damage, hypertension, increased body mass index, etc (Martin, & Sheaff 2007). At the cellular level the process of ageing is associated with chromosomal, nucleic acid, protein and other changes (Terman et al. 2007). The pathways involved in these changes have been revealed to possess common features with disease processes. This discovery is very essential for it enables the researchers to identify and describe some mechanisms that play the key role in the interaction between which natural and abnormal ageing-related changes. Specifically, the interactions between environment, nutrition, disease and the process of ageing have become the focal point of research intended to reveal the basic mechanisms of the pathogenesis of age-related disorders (Martin, & Sheaff 2007). Sensory impairments, especially those related to hearing and vision, often substantially limit elder adults' intellectual functioning and ability to interact with their environments (Baltes & Lindenberger, 1997). Many of the illnesses and chronic physical conditions that are common in late adulthood tend to have substantial impacts on particular aspects of cognition, as do many of the medications used to treat them. Accumulation of these factors may produce a noticeable decline that elder adults experience in intellectual functioning, as opposed to the normal process of growing old (APA, 2003). In addition to sensory integrity and physical health, psychological factors such as affective state, sense of control and self-efficacy, coupled with active use of information processing strategies and continued practice of existing mental skills may influence elder adults' level of cognitive performance (APA, 2003). Over the last two decades, the importance of professional psychological services has been increasingly

Letter to Isle of Wight County Press Essay Example for Free

Letter to Isle of Wight County Press Essay As an adolescent and Islander I can fairly say there are few activities for children to partake in, however due to mass demand a skate park has been recently built in one of the parks in Cowes, my local town. Although this new facility is considered to be very good for local children there has been widespread opposition from local residents and council officials, due to the appearance and conduct of a number of children. There are also acute problems with noise for local residents, who complain it goes on all-day and late at night, especially in the school holidays. Whilst Ive neither visited the skate park, nor plan to do so, I have many constructive and supportive arguments for the retention of the facility, but on the other hand, those negative unsupportive opinions. As an adolescent I can see why so many children are enthusiastic about such a provision, generally as there are few such services on the Island. However I do not support the council in such a controversial decision and feel the money could have been spent more wisely. Similarly I can see why there is such harsh opposition from local people. Moreover, I support the idea that skateboarding is another of the child fashions, and is likely to become out of date soon in the future; subsequently the funds spent on such a package, could be another misuse of taxpayers money. Inevitably, drugs are ubiquitous in the park and there have been criticism from the parents of younger children who use the park, this is the most compelling piece of evidence for the closure of the park. Correspondingly, there is a possibility that drugs could become even more prominent in the local town. In conclusion, I think that however much the provision is used the problem of drugs and violence is unacceptable, consequently in my opinion though much fun is enjoyed at the skate park, such things are deplorable and though this may seem harsh, I believe the skate park should be either disbanded or assisted with adult supervision.

Samsung SWOT and PESTEL Analysis

Samsung SWOT and PESTEL Analysis SWOT ANALYSIS Definition This is part of a companys strategic planning process that connects the companys objectives and strategies to tactics and actions carried out by employees. Often SWOT is part of a companys strategic planning process that connects its objectives and strategies to actions and tactics carried out by employees.   To better decide what changes to be made in a company and know where it stands on four key strategic areas it has to use a SWOT analysis. SWOT Basics Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats (SWOT) is an acronym that identifies the four critical elements of this analysis.   Strengths usually explain in detail an analysis of the companys advantages over its competitors. Weaknesses evaluate areas in which the company is at a competitive disadvantage and has a possibility of failure. Opportunities are untapped markets or business developments that the company could venture in and make profit. Threats transverse the external environment that could affect the company, an example being technological, environmental and regulatory factors. Strengths and Weaknesses The main reason for using the SWOT analysis is so as to be able to evaluate and assess a companys strengths and weaknesses. This helps the company understand its main market advantages and areas that competitors could take advantage of.   Companies take advantage of its strengths by using them as marketing messages so as to differentiate them from their competitors.   By understanding their weaknesses companies can decide what areas need improvement and what areas are deeply rooted in the nature of its business. Opportunities By exploring untapped opportunities company leaders are able to consider ways to grow. Any strong company has to look for ways to improve and elevate its growth curve because without growth means failure and lack of utilization of opportunities, therefore, giving an advantage to the competitors. Opportunities are areas that could create more sales and profits to the company, and these can be the inclusion of new and emerging markets, new business and product developments and lastly strategic business partnerships. Threats Though this is not fun at all, companies always need to have an idea of what external threats they may encounter so they can always be prepared and avoid being caught unawares.   Government regulation changes may affect the level of competition or costs companies face. Ways in which a company gets access and uses natural resources can be affected by environmental or conditional changes.   Companies that do not incorporate new technologies are always affected negatively. (Hill and   Westbrook (1997). WHAT IS PESTEL   ANALYSIS AND WHY IT’S USEFUL? So as to be able to achieve maximum results and get to its optimum performance a company has to consider some factors. The Pestel analysis explains these factors in six categories.   POLITICAL These refer to the magnitude of government intervention in the economy.   Most times the foreign policy of a country plays an important role in determining the trade regulations that could either lead to trade restrictions or trade incentives.   A company can be highly affected by specific regulations imposed by the government. ECONOMICAL Future operation of a company/organization is highly affected by economical factors. Also, the cost of imported and exported goods are highly affected by the changes in exchange rates in different regions. The expansion and growth of an organization are highly influenced by the economy since there is a change in cost of capital. (Yà ¼ksel, I. (2012). SOCIAL The macro-environment of the organization is formed by different social factors, cultural and demographic aspects of the Social factors include attributes in ones career, age distribution, growth rate, population, how individuals are conscious about their health and safety. A keen analysis of these factors helps one understand the PESTEL analysis and help organizations understand the dynamics of existing and the availability of potential markets and future customer needs. TECHNOLOGICAL With the speed at which technology is evolving and customers becoming more acquired to it, organizations have no option but to keep up with this pace.   New technology makes the old one obsolete and outdated. An organization/company that is not ready to embrace new technology is at a chance of lagging behind its competitors and losing its market value. LEGAL These are factors that affect the behavior of customers and the operation of businesses. Things which may be affected by legal factors are product transportation, profit margins, and viability of certain markets just to mention a few. These factors help in knowing if there are any dangers behind selling certain products like drugs and sharp objects and can also affect how a company stocks their inventory or interacts with the customer. Consumer law is used so as to protect consumers from companies that are involved in fraud and also preserve their rights when in the market. This affects business because they have to put aside resources so as to give detailed information about their products and services.   Employment law is also known as labor law, and it explains how companies’ employees should be treated. This also helps protect children from child labor and also it makes the firing of innocent employees a bit harder. SAMSUNG SWOT ANALYSIS Samsung Electronics Co. Limited is the consumer electronics subsidiary of the Samsung Group, based in Suwon, South Korea. Samsung is popularly known as the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones, smartphones such the highly popular and successful Galaxy as well as other electronic devices like Television sets, LCD panels home theaters, refrigerators and even cooking appliances. Having a great and undisputed manufacturing and marketing expertise, Samsung is regarded as the world’s second largest consumer electronics company the first being Apple,Inc. its American rival. STRENGTHS †¢Ã‚  Ã‚   It is the world’s most successful electronics manufacturer of television sets, liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, mobile phones and smartphones and other electronic appliances. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By use of its strategic marketing style Samsung is the world’s number one mobile phones seller with the world’s largest market share of 21.4% in 2015s second quarter. Apple comes second   with 13.9% †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By use of its impressive research and design capabilities, Samsung has been able to create and roll out a payment app with similar capabilities to Apple Pay, in less than a year the Samsung Pay.   Also, the company has been able to incorporate many of the capabilities of both Apple phones and Google Android operating system to its mobile devices. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Samsung not only has strong manufacturing capabilities but also have undisputed marketing strategies that have led to the success of the company. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Samsung has been able to sustain long-standing relationships with retailers in the United States and Europe that have been able to provide a steady sales channel for its products through out the years. WEAKNESSES †¢Ã‚  Ã‚   It is quite clear that Samsung has not been able to match Apple Inc.’s marketing capabilities for smartphones. This is because   Its share of the U.S. smartphone market fell by 2.3% between 2014 and 2015 yet Apple’s share price grew by 34.9%. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some Chinese competitors such as Huawei and Xiaomi are catching up to Samsung in the smartphone market. In the year 2014 and 2015 Huawei’s share grew by 48.1%, and Xiaomi’s share grew by 29.4%. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Samsungs dependence on customer electronics sales in markets that have limited resource for growth is dangerous. The company depends on these markets an example being the United States and Europe, for much of its revenue. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The public has not accepted the Android operating system in an equal manner like the tech community. This is because many consumers view Android as an inferior product to Apple’s IOS.   Samsung devices use the Google source application system and this is a weakness because it is not preferred by a majority of people.   †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Apple products are viewed as more technology advanced and dependable on than Samsung products by a large number of consumers. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚   Samsung needs to improve its marketing efforts and standards, so as to be in the same level as Apple. OPPORTUNITIES †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Samsung needs to grow its market for smartphones, tablets and other technological devices in developing regions where consumers are not familiar with PCs.   This is because in 2015 sales of tablets overtook sales of traditional personal computers. An example of these regions is Africa and India. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Samsung should seize the increased demand for tablet and smartphone-based solutions and market some of its products that are not known to many such as Samsung Pay †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The company should venture into new technologies such as wearable tech †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The growth of the middle class in the developing world will increase the market for consumer electronics †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sales channels such as Amazon.com can be used by Samsung to grow its online market THREATS: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Samsung has not been able to outdo Apple. This is because Apple has emerged as the dominant smartphone and tablet brand in some markets, such as the United States. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The growth of Apple’s reputation for quality, reliability, and sophistication is a threat to Samsung because it seems to be lagging behind. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Samsung is most popular for its Galaxy devices. We could even say that it depends on these devices. The problem is, the Google Android operating system, which these devices depend upon, is not as popular with average people as iOS that is in most other devices incuding Apple is. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚   Key markets for Samsung are North America and the United States.   The declining and stagnating of the middle-class incomes in these areas could reduce consumer buying power and therefore affect Samsungs sales. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Samsung is experiencing rivalry from Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi. This is evident because the capital share of these companies rose and Samsung’s is falling. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If Apple decided to produce more consumer products like home appliances and cameras, Samsung could be greatly affected. Though Samsung has been able to maintain an impressive research, design and manufacturing capabilities, its marketing strategies are questionable. There is a need for the company to revisit and improve its smartphone marketing and design efforts so as to be able to maintain its market share in crucial arenas like the U.S. If the Samsung wants to maintain its position as an industry leader it needs to: 1. New capabilities like Samsung Pay 2.   learn to deal with aggressive Chinese competitors like Huawei and Xioami 3.Compete with Apple’s reputation. PESTLE ANALYSIS OF SAMSUNG INTRODUCTION Samsung is a global company that operates in the market for consumer appliances and gadgets. Samsung is owned by a South Korean family and has global aspirations to expand into newer markets. Since Samsung is not content with operating in some markets in the world, it wants to cover as many countries as possible. This analysis focuses on the external environmental factors that drive the Samsung’s strategy. POLITICAL A large number of markets where Samsung operates have a political environment that is conducive for business. This means that its operations run smoothly and though there might be some minor distractions to its operations in some of the foreign markets like India, Overall it can be concluded that Samsung is operating in markets where the political factors are not harmful. Samsung has faced significant political blows in its home country South Korea because of the country’s tensions with North Korea. Due to this instability, the company has had to take into account this political factor and also the threat of war in the Korean Peninsula. In areas where the political environment is unstable Samsung faces a lot of political pressure. This includes areas in many African and Latin American countries where the political environment is unstable and experiences frequent changes in the governing structures.This is not yet a major cause for worry for the company because it has factored the political instability into its strategic calculations. ECONOMICS Opening up of several markets in the developing world means that Samsung can expand in the global markets. This, therefore, means that economic factors are a critical consideration. The current global economic crisis has affected the purchasing power of customers forcing the company to seek profitable ventures in the emerging markets. The global environment in which   Samsung operates in has a lot of uncertainties and volatilities which means that the company has to keep on adjusting its strategies. Through expansion of Samsung into emerging and developing markets has made it possible for the company to adjust well to the tapering off of the consumer disposable incomes in the developed world. This is the main reason that Samsung has an aggressive push into the emerging markets with hopes that it shall recover all its lost businesses in the developed world. SOCIO-CULTURAL Samsung being a South Korean multinational owned by a family means that despite its global footprint it still operates from the core of a Korean company and culture. This means that among its global operations, adapting itself to local conditions is paramount. Since Samsung is a global company that has had to act locally, therefore adapting a global strategy makes it possible to be productive in emerging markets. Together with this, Samsung has had to tailor its products in markets it operates in so as to cater to their customers whose preference changes so fast.   It is important to note that Samsung operates in a market niche that is strongly influenced by the lifestyle preferences of consumers.   The fact that socio-cultural factors are different in each country; Samsung has had to reorient itself in each market accordingly. TECHNOLOGICAL Samsung is considered to be among the world’s leading innovative companies. Therefore, the company is at an advantage of controlling and making use of the power of technology and driving innovation for sustainable business. This has resulted into an obsessive mission by the company to outdo its rivals and competitors when it comes to technology and innovations. The companys main goal is to be the first to reach the produce devices that are preferred by customers and also be the first products of their kind in the market. LEGAL Due to Samsungs alleged imitation of the Apple’s iPad and iPhone it has had to face substantial penalties and law suits. This affected the company negatively on areas of public perception and consumer approval strategies. From Samsungs experience of having various lawsuits with its competitors, other technology driven companies should know that having an elaborate basis of a design or model is key rather than making a fast move so as to be able to present a product to the consumers that shall, in the end, ruin your reputation. ENVIRONMENTAL Samsung has to be on the lookout when making its products so as to be able to satisfy its customers. When doing this, it has to take into account its social and environmental responsibilities so as to make sure they are both ethical.   Therefore, this means that the company should ensure that it does not compromise on its staff wages or their working conditions for they are all involved in producing the final product. (Grade and Pestel) CONCLUSION As Samsung prepares to expand globally, it has to be sure of what is expected of it. Technology changes so fast and customer preference even faster. Therefore, with this analysis, Samsung has clear guidelines on what to expect in the global consumer landmine. REFERENCES GRADE, G. B. PESTEL Analysis Of The Energizer. Hill, T., & Westbrook, R. (1997). SWOT analysis: its time for a product recall.  Long range planning,  30(1), 46-52. Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A Critical Analysis of Internal and External Environment of Apple Inc.  International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management,  3(6), 955-961. Kim, M., & Park, J. (2011, February). Demand forecasting and strategies for the successfully deployment of the smart TV in Korea. In  Advanced Communication Technology (ICACT), 2011 13th International Conference on  (pp. 1475-1478). IEEE. King, R. K. (2004). Enhancing SWOT analysis using triz and the bipolar conflict graph: a case study on the Microsoft Corporation.  Proceedings of TRIZCON2004, 6th Annual Altshuller Institute. Yà ¼ksel, I. (2012). Developing a multi-criteria decision making model for PESTEL analysis.  International Journal of Business and Management,  7(24), 52-66.

Child Abuse and Neglect Essay -- Violence Against Children

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Child abuse is the â€Å"saddest and most tragic problem† in the United States today (Child Abuse). Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children. Victims range from ages of a few weeks to late teenage years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While most child abuse cases are not fatal, some do end in death. Some researchers have even labeled child abuse an â€Å"epidemic.† Because more than fifty percent of child abuse cases are not reported, the exact numbers will never be known. In the 1970's the United States government issued a survey about the number of child abuse cases. The survey showed that there are more than 60,000 cases of child abuse in some form each year. Another survey, in 1976 showed that the annual number of cases had grown to half a million. Though this study was found to have many repeated cases, the government estimated that the number of cases had risen to 100,000 to 200,000 cases per year.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dr. Vincent Fontana, a doctor at New York City’s Foundling Hospital estimated that one and a half million children would be abused in any given year (Child Abuse). He predicted that 300,000 victims will be permanently injured, physically and/or emotionally, and that in the next five to ten year period 50,000 children will die (2,000 per year). He also predicted that it would surpass the top four leading causes of death (accidents, cancer, physical defects, and pneumonia).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Child abuse can be classified into four basic groups:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Physical   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  a.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sexual   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  b.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Physical Beatings   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emotional   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Neglect   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Moral, Educational, Etc.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Physical abuse counts for twenty-four percent of all child abuse cases. Sexual abuse is twelve percent. Neglect counts the most with fifty-two percent, and emotional and educational abuse makes up the remainder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Physical abuse comes in two forms: Physical beatings and sexual abuse. Physical includes any actions that injure a person’s body (Havelin 6). Hitting, kicking slapping, punching, burning, pulling hair, and poisoning are all forms of physical abuse. The use of belts, shovels, fists, feet, whips, chains, ropes, electric cords, leather straps, canes, baseball bats, wooden sticks, brooms, scalding water, coffee and any other hot liquids have all been used in som... ...ll for help. Their phone number is 1-800-999-9999.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The American Humane Association (AHA) is an organization that works with the Child Protection Agency to assist communities everywhere in developing new programs for protection or improving ones in existence. The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) works to improve the welfare of neglected children in the United States and Canada. Patents Anonymous is a self-help organization. Members meet once a week and speak openly about their problems and why they abuse or neglect their children.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Child abuse is a serious offense in today’s society. Most offenses are punishable by jail and fines, but this is not doing enough. As the number of child abuse cases increase each year, all we can do is ask, â€Å"What can we do to prevent it.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Works Consulted "Child Abuse." Child Help 2014. Web. 28 May 2015. https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse/ Havelin, Kate. Child Abuse: â€Å"Why Do My Parents Hit Me?†.Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone Press, 2000. â€Å"Understanding Child Sexual Abuse.† American Psychological Association. 2011. Web. 28 May 2015. http://www.apa.org/pi/about/newsletter/2011/12/sexual-abuse.aspx   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Summary of A Tale Of Two Cities :: essays research papers

Dr. Alexander manette was a prisoner in the Bastille for 18 years. He is released and taken back to London by Jarvis Lorry of Tellson Bank. Dr. Manette is a little crazy because of all the years he spent locked up in solitary confinement. He has a daughter, Lucie, who was a young girl when he was sent to prison. On a boat trip, Lucie meets a young man named Charles Darnay and is taken with him. They discuss the American Revolution. Darnay is a Frenchman, but he has relinquished the title of his nobility. He is tried for treason in England. However, Darnay's lawyer, Sydney Carton, points out that there is no way to prove that Darnay could have done it because the two men look alike and the witness could not say for sure that it was Darnay. Despite this brilliant defense (on which Darnay is released) Carton leads a solitary life of drunkeness, playing secone man to his boss, Stryver (who is by all means incompetent). By this point, Carton, Darnay, and Stryver all want to marry Lucie. She chooses Darnay and they are married. Right before the wedding, Darnay mentions to Dr. Manette that he has something important to tell him. Darnay tells him that he is Charles St. Evremonde, the nephew of the Marquis St. Evremonde, who was responsible for Dr. Manette's imprisonment. When Darnay tells him this, Dr. Manette falls back in to his stupor. Darnay is convinced by the Revolutionaries to return to France by a fake letter from an old servant. Upon his arrival, he is arrested for being an aristocrat, even though he renounced his property. Unfortunately, Darnay is not as lucky in his second trial. He is condemned mainly on the testimony of his father-in-law, Dr. Manette, who wrote a statement against the Evremondes while still imprisoned. He is sentenced to death. Out of love for the Manette family and Lucie in particular, however, Sydney Carton goes to Paris. He manages to smuggle himself into prison and Darnay out.

Toward Effective Emotional Intelligence Simulation Essay -- Psychology

The ability to understand the emotions of others is critical for successful interactions among humans (Dias & Paiva, 2009; Kazemifard, Ghasem-Aghaee, & Ãâ€"ren, 2010). The psychological theory of emotional intelligence (EI) proposes four categories of relevant abilities (Mayer & Salovey, 1997): (1) identifying emotions, (2) understanding emotions, (3) using emotions in thought processes, and (4) managing emotions. This research focuses on emotion understanding, the cognitive activity of making inferences using emotional knowledge about why an agent is in an emotional state (e.g., unfair treatment makes an individual angry) and which actions are associated with the emotional state (e.g., an angry individual attacks others). Such emotion understanding in humans develops through their experiences with other agents. How might such learning in humans inform a model to enable artificial emotional agents to develop emotion understanding? Our approach to answering this question proposes a model of emotion understanding that combines psychological theories of episodic and semantic memory with ...

Football and Sociology

American football as we know it originated from rugby played in Britain in the mid-19th century. The person who Americans consider the â€Å"Father of American Football† is Walter Camp. Professional football can be traced back to 1982, when there was a $500 contract for the Allegheny Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club to play a game against each other. Originally football was primarily a sport of the Midwestern industrial towns in the United State. In 1902, the American Professional Football Association was formed and two years later the National Football League. The competition was fierce between the two leagues, which led the two leagues to merge. Football eventually became national. When the two leagues merged is when the Super Bowl was formed. This is the most viewed event in the United States on a yearly basis. Football has grown for many years now and now has 32 teams. According to the Scarborough Research data, the NFL fans mirror the general United States population in many areas including age, race and income. There are a few discrepancies which include that men account for 49% of the general population, however the account for 58% of the NFL fans versus women who account for 51% of the general population but only account for $35-50K, in which they account for 19% of the fan base for the NFL. The report also states that there are more NFL fans that are married than non-married. The age group with the highest attendance whether on television or at the actual games is 35-44 years old. The Scarborough Report has a tremendous amount of statistics regarding NFL fans. The list goes from what they like to eat or drink to how many kids live in the household. I was very amazed by the information that was researched. In the society today, football affects almost every household. The impact of football has grown over the last few decades. The number of channels on the television in which sports can be watched has had a massive effect on the society. There are now channels just for specific sports and these channels only show that particular sport on that channel, all day. Football is a very physical sport. Youth like to see the physical part of the sport and they use the sports players as their role models. They all want to have muscles like the football players and be tough like the football players and of course they want to play football as well. The impact of football has both negative and positive factors. I found an article on the wives of the coaches of football. It was very interesting. In the article it states that in 1989, a group of women who were married to football coaches met at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Nashville, Tennessee (Tucker, 2001) and decided to form a support group. Evidently, they were feeling a little let out of the loop. For many men, football allows for violence and male bonding (Nelson, 1994), however, for women, football often means competing for men’s attention, or worrying about boyfriends, husbands or sons on the field. Within this article it also talks about how the spheres changed because men were known to leave the home and go outside to work and women stayed inside and were domesticated. Football is for men and it classifies them as performers and heroes, however women are classified as watchers and admirers. This article overall is showing the differences in men and women in regards to football. There were a lot of different opinions by different people who had heard about the organization of the American Football Coaches’ Wives Association. How this group puts together recipe books and visits the sick children in the hospital was a great asset to the group but they still don’t get the recognition that the football players get. This was a very tougher paper for me to write due to the fact that even though I like football, I have never looked at it in any other way than occasional entertainment. I am not a die-hard fan who watches the sport every chance that I get. Scarborough Research Examines NFL Fan Demos, QSR (2009, September) Preferences, http://www. sportsbusinessdaily. com/Daily/Issues/2009/09/Issue-12/The-Back-Of-The-Book/Scarborough-Research-Examines-NFL-Fan-Demos-QSR-Preferences. aspx Tucker, Diana, A Gender Drama in American Football Culture: The Case of the Coach’s Wife. , (2001) Football Studies, vol. 4 no. 2 http://www. la84foundation. org/SportsLibrary/FootballStudies/2001/FS0402g. pdf Nelson, M. B. (1994). The stronger women get, the more men love football: Sexism and the American culture of sports. New York: Avon.

World Without

After day at work, Montage arrives at his house to find Mildred passed out and unresponsive. He calls for an ambulance and her stomach Is pumped. Montage confronts Mildred in the morning: â€Å"Yes,' he said. ‘l wanted to talk to you. ‘ He paused. You took all the pills in your bottle last night. ‘ ‘Oh, I wouldn't do that,' she said, surprised. ‘The bottle was empty. ‘ ‘I wouldn't do a thing Like that. Why would I do a thing like that? She said. ‘Maybe you took two pills and forgot and took two more and forgot again and took two more and were so dopey you kept right on until you had thirty or forty of them in you. ‘Heck,' he said, What would I want to go and do a silly thing like that for? † (Bradbury 19). Mildred is depressed and attempted to take her life. When confronted by her husband, she denies it. This is because the marriage lacks the communication and interaction that marriages need to survive. She will not express her feelings to her husband, so she only feels worse. Similarly, Montage cannot try to comfort Mildred because she will not talk. This leads to the fact that the world cannot function without social interaction. In Montage's world, people simply do not interact normally. This leads to a Vicious cycle of depression and isolation.Mildred started only slightly sad, but because she has no one to talk to, she dwells on the subject and becomes deeply depressed. This is normal occurrence in their world. Society is in such a poor state that people would rather kill themselves than talk to someone! This shows that people are depressed, and stay depressed, because they cannot communicate and interact. Alternatively, Montage comes to realize that society has no value for life. Montage's only true friend, Claries, reveals to Montage the terrible acts that are committed everyday: † ‘I'm afraid of children my own age. They kill each other.Did it always used to be that way? My uncle s ays no. Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died In car wrecks. I'm afraid of them and they don't Like me because I'm afraid'† (Bradbury 30). The way Claries says this makes It seem to be obvious to the whole world, but to Montage it is a revelation. He sees that the society has transformed into something where life is worth no more than the gas in the car that hits the body. The most basic unit of living has changed from morality to mortality. People are killed for no reason other than for the entertainment of others.In this society, the government Is killing all their enemies and that Is the cause of the devaluation of life. The public sees the mass destruction of life In the world, which killing. Simply killing someone would soon leave them board though, so they make up games where they kill innocent by-standers. This degradation of life causes people to not only not care about each other, but leads to them not caring about themselves. They see the fragility in their lives, which leads them to the question â€Å"If life can end so quickly, then why is life worth living? † Thus, the devaluation of life causes unhappiness in Montage world.Additionally, Montage realizes that the people are not sorry for their actions. Montage has Just read aloud an excerpt from a book, which are illegal to have. Milliard's friends are over and are appalled that Montage is reading this, so they start to tell him to stop. Montage responds with this:† ‘Go home. ‘ Montage fixed his eyes upon her, quietly. ‘Go home and think of your first husband divorced and your second husband killed in a Jet and your third husband blowing his brains out, go home and think of the dozen abortions you've had, go home and think of that and your damned cesarean sections, too, and your children who hate your guts!Go home and think how it all happened and what did you ever do to stop it? Go home, go home! ‘ he yelled. ‘Be fore I knock you down and kick you out of the door! ‘† (Bradbury 101). Montage sees that the world has no recognition of their actions anymore. He verbally abuses his wife's friend. He knows that if the world does not change then it will not improve. Montage knows that people have to show remorse for their actions. Montage is not above attacking someone to get reactions. The world does not reflect upon their actions because they are too centered on themselves, and not their effect on others.By seeing the effect of their actions, society could improve. However, since people will not reflect upon their actions, then society will worsen. This proves that society's lack of reflection is a factor in the depressive nature of Montage world. Finally, Montage understands that the world is unhappy even though it is full of niceties. First, he sees that the society needs to communicate better. Second, Montage learns that life is devalued. Third, he understands that people are not s orry for anything. In conclusion, Guy Montage realizes that his world has no Joy because society is missing key elements that guarantee happiness.

Smart Cards

1. INTRODUCTION Smart card is one of the greatest achievements in the world of information technology. Similar in size to today's plastic payment card, the smart card has a microprocessor or memory chip embedded in it that, when coupled with a reader, has the processing power to serve many different applications. As an access-control device, smart cards can be used to access server remotely over the Internet and they can make personal and business data available only to the appropriate users. Smart cards provide data portability, security, convenience and the like. According to Gemplus (ref. 19]), smart cards can be categorized into the following . Memory and microprocessor- Memory cards simply store data and can be viewed as a small floppy disk with optional security. A microprocessor card, on the other hand, can add, delete and manipulate information in its memory on the card. Contact and contactless – Contact smart cards are inserted into a smart card reader, making physica l contact with the reader. However, contactless smart cards have an antenna embedded inside the card that enables communication with the reader without physical contact. A combi card combines the two features with a very high level of security.Smart cards help businesses evolve and expand their products and services in a changing global marketplace. The scope of uses for a smart card has expanded each year to include applications in a variety of markets and disciplines. In recent years, the information age has introduced an array of security and privacy issues that have called for advanced smart card security applications. â€Å"Key to the global village†,  that is how the Smart Card has been described. Smart Cards will bring big changes to the way people provide and receive information and the way they spend money. They will have a profound impact on retailing and service delivery.A  Smart Card  is like an â€Å"electronic wallet†. It is a standard credit card-s ized plastic intelligent token within which a microchip has been embedded within its body and which makes it ‘smart'. It provides not only memory capacity, but computational capability as well and thus the chip is capable of processing data. It has gold contacts that allow other devices to communicate with it. This chip holds a variety of information, from stored (monetary) value used for retail and vending machines to secure  information  and  applications  for higher-end operations such as medical/healthcare records.New information and applications can be added depending on the chip capabilities. Smart Cards can store several hundred times more data than a conventional Card with a  magnetic stripe  and can be programmed to reveal only the relevant information. For Example, it could tell a device in a store that there is sufficient balance in an account to pay for a transaction without revealing the balance amount. The marriage between a convenient plastic card an d a microprocessor allows information to be stored, accessed and processed either online or offline.Therefore, unlike the read-only plastic card, the processing power of Smart Cards gives them the versatility needed to make payments, to configure your cell phones, TVs and video players and to connect to your computers via telephone, satellite or the Internet anytime, anywhere in the world. 2. HISORICAL PERSPECTIVE Smart card was invented at the end of the seventies by Michel Ugon (Guillou, 1992). The French group of bankcards CB (Carte Bancaire) was created in 1985 and has allowed the diffusion of 24 million devices (Fancher, 1997). For the physical characteristics the first draft proposal was registered in 1983.A long discussion resulted in the standardization of the contact location. Next was the standardization of signals and protocols which resulted in standards ISO/IEC 7816/1-4. Logical security came next, as it was clear from the beginning that there was a need for cryptograph ic capabilities, though this was a bit difficult due to the limited computing power and the few bytes of RAM available at that time (Quisquater, 1997). Nowadays, smart cards are used in several applications. The technology has its historical origin in the seventies when inventors in Germany, Japan, and France filed the original patents. While inventors in the U.S. , Japan and Austria, were issued patents, it was the French who put up big money to push the technology. They did this in the 1970's, during a period of major national investment in modernizing the nation's technology infrastructure. Due to several factors most work on Smart Cards was at the research and development level until the mid-eighties. Since then, the industry has been growing at tremendous rate is shipping more than one billion (1,000,000,000) cards per year (since 1998). The current world population of Smart Cards of some 1. 7 billion is set to increase to 4 billion or more cards within the next 3-4 years.A sur vey completed by Card Technology Magazine (http://www. cardtechnology. com) indicated that the industry had shipped more than 1. 5 billion smart cards worldwide in 1999. Over the next five years, the industry will experience steady growth, particularly in cards and devices to conduct electronic commerce and to enable secure access to computer networks. A study by Dataquest in March, 2000, predicts almost 28 million smart card shipments (microprocessor and memory) in the U. S. According to this study, an annual growth rate of 60% is expected for U. S. smart card shipments between 1998 and 2003.Smart Card Forum Consumer Research, published in early 1999, provides additional insights into consumer attitudes towards application and use of smart cards. The market of smart card is growing rapidly due to its wide range of applications. The worldwide smart cards market forecast in millions of dollars and billions of units as shown in figure 1: 3. CONSTRUCTION OF THE SMART CARD The main stor age area in such cards is normally  EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory),  which can have its content updated, and which retains current contents when external power is removed.Newer Smart Card chips, sometimes, also have  math co-processors  integrated into the microprocessor chip, which is able to perform quite complex encryption routines relatively quickly. The chip connection is either via direct physical contact or remotely via a contact less electromagnetic interface. Its chip therefore characterizes a Smart Card uniquely; with its ability to store much more data  (currently up to about 32,000 bytes)  than is held on a  magnetic stripe,  all within an extremely secure environment.Data residing in the chip can be protected against external inspection or alteration, so effectively that the vital secret keys of the cryptographic systems used to protect the integrity and privacy of card-related communications can be held safely against all b ut the most sophisticated forms of attack. The functional architecture of a GSM (Global system of mobile communication) system can be broadly divided into  the Mobile Station, the Base Station Subsystem, and the Network Subsystem. Each subsystem is comprised of functional entities that communicate through the various interfaces using specified protocols.The subscriber carries  the mobile station;  the base station subsystem  controls the radio link with the Mobile Station. The network subsystem,  the main part of which is the Mobile services Switching Center, performs the switching of calls between the mobile and other fixed or mobile network users, as well as management of mobile services, such as authentication. Fig 3. 1. 1: Smart Card Construction. Fig 3. 1. 2: Smart Card Construction. Mostly all chip cards are built from layers of differing materials, or substrates, that when brought together properly gives the card a specific life and functionality.The typical card to day is made from PVC, Polyester or Poly carbonate. The card layers are printed first and then laminated in a large press. The next step in construction is the blanking or die cutting. This is followed by embedding a chip and then adding data to the card. In all, there may be up to 30steps in constructing a card. The total components, including software and plastics, may be as many as 12 separate items; all this in a unified package that appears to the user as a simple device. 3. 1 Types of smart cards:Today, there are basically three categories of Smart Cards – A microprocessor chip can add, delete and otherwise manipulate information in its memory. It can be viewed as a miniature computer with an input/output port, operating system and hard disk. Microprocessor chips are available 8, 16, and 32 bit architectures. Their data storage capacity ranges from 300 bytes to 32,000 bytes with larger sizes expected with semiconductor technology advances. 3. 1. 2 Integrated Circuit (IC)   Microprocessor Cards – Fig 3. 1. 1: An Integrated Circuit used in Smart Cards.Microprocessor cards (generally referred to as  Ã¢â‚¬Å"chip cards†) offer greater memory storage and security of data than a traditional magnetic stripe card. Their chips may also be called as  microprocessors with internal memory  which, in addition to memory, embody a processor controlled by a  card operating system,  with the ability to process data onboard, as well as carrying small programs capable of local execution. The microprocessor card can add, delete, and otherwise manipulate information on the card, while a memory-chip card (for example, pre-paid phone cards) can only undertake a pre-defined operation.The current generation of chip cards has an  eight-bit  processor, 32KB read-only memory, and 512 bytes of random-access memory. This gives them the equivalent processing power of the original  IBM-XT  computer, albeit with slightly less memory capacity. 3. 1. 2 . 1. Uses: These cards are used for a variety of applications, especially those that have cryptography built in, which requires manipulation of large numbers. Very often the data processing power is used to encrypt/decrypt data, which makes this type of card very unique person identification token.Data processing permits also the dynamic storage management, which enables realization of flexible multifunctional card. Thus, chip cards have been the main platform for cards that hold a secure digital identity. Hence they are capable of offering advanced security mechanism, local data processing, complex calculation and other interactive processes. Most stored-value cards integrated with identification, security and information purposes are processor cards. Some examples of these cards are – * Cards that hold money  (â€Å"stored value cards†) Card that hold money equivalents (for example,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"affinity cards†) * Cards that provide secure access to a network * Cards that secure cellular phones from fraud * Cards that allow set-top boxes on televisions to remain secure from piracy 3. 1. 3 Integrated Circuit (IC)  Memory Cards – Memory cards can just store data and have no data processing capabilities. These have a  memory chip with non-programmable logic,  with storage space for data, and with a reasonable level of built-in security. IC memory cards can hold up to  1 – 4 KB  of data, but have no processor on the card with which to manipulate that data.They are less expensive than microprocessor cards but with a corresponding decrease in data management security. They depend on the security of the card reader for processing and are ideal when security requirements permit use of cards with low to medium security and for uses where the card performs a fixed operation. There is also a special type memory cards called the  Wired Logic (or Intelligent Memory)  cards, which contain also some built-in logic, usually use d to control the access to the memory of the card. 3. 1. 3. 1 Uses:Memory cards represent the bulk of the Smart Cards sold primarily for pre-paid, disposable-card applications like pre-paid phone cards. These are popular as high-security alternatives to magnetic stripe cards. 3. 1. 4 Optical Memory Cards – Optical memory cards look like a card with a piece of a CD glued on top – which is basically what they are. Optical memory cards can store up to  4 MB  of data. But  once written, the data cannot be changed or removed. 3. 1. 4. 1 Uses: Thus, this type of card is ideal for record keeping – for example medical files, driving records, or travel histories. 3. 1. Fundamentals of Card Operation: Today's Smart Cards need electrical power from outside, plus a way for data to be read from, and sometimes to be transmitted to, the chip. They interact with an  Ã¢â‚¬Å"accepting device†,  usually known as a  card reader, which exchanges data with the card and usually involves the electronic transfer of money or personal information. The information or application stored in the IC chip is transferred through an electronic module that interconnects with a terminal or a card reader. There are two general categories of Smart Cards:  Contact  and  Contactless  Smart Cards. Fig 3. 1. 5. 1: Contact Smart Card. The  contact  Smart Card has a set of gold- plated electrical contacts embedded in the surface of the plastic on one side. It is operated by inserting the card (in the correct orientation) into a slot in a card reader, which has electrical contacts that connect to the contacts on the card face thus establishing a direct connection to a conductive micro module on the surface of the card. This card has a contact plate on the face, which is a small gold chip about 1/2† in diameter on the front, instead of a magnetic stripe on the back like a â€Å"credit card†.When the card is inserted into a Smart Card reader, i t makes contact with an electrical connector for reads and writes to and from the chip it is via these physical contact points, that transmission of commands, data, and card status takes place. Such a card is traditionally used at the retail point of sale or in the banking environment or as the GSM SIM card in the mobile ‘phone. Fig 3. 1. 5. 2: Contactless Smart Card (This diagram shows the top and bottom card layers which sandwich the antenna/chip module. ) A  contactless  Smart Card looks just like a plastic â€Å"credit card† with a computer chip and an antenna coil embedded within the card.This antenna allows it to communicate with an external antenna at the transaction point to transfer information. The antenna is typically 3 – 5 turns of very thin wire (or conductive ink), connected to the contactless chip. This aerial coil of the antenna is laminated into the card and allows communication even whilst the card is retained within a wallet or handbag. The same activation method applies to watches, pendants, baggage tags and buttons. Thus no electrical contacts are needed and it is therefore called as â€Å"contactless†.Such Smart Cards are used when transactions must be processed quickly, as in mass-transit toll collection or wherever the cardholder is in motion at the moment of the transaction. Close proximity, typically two to three inches for non-battery powered cards (i. e. an air-gap of up to 10cms) is required for such transactions, which can decrease transaction time while increasing convenience as both the reader and the card have antenna and it is via this contactless link that the two communicate. Most contactless cards also derive the internal chip power source from this electromagnetic signal.Radio frequency technology is used to transmit power from the reader to the card. Two new categories, derived  from the contact and contactless cards are  combi  cards and  hybrid  cards. A  hybrid  Smart Card h as  two chips,  each with its respective contact and contactless interface. The two chips are not connected, but for many applications, this Hybrid serves the needs of consumers and card issuers. Fig 3. 1. 5. 3: Combi Card (This shows both the contact and contactless elements of the card. ) The  combi  card (also known as the  dual-interface  card)  is a card with both contact and contactless interfaces.With such a card, it becomes possible to access the same chip via a contact or contactless interface, with a very high level of security. It may incorporate two non-communicating chips – one for each interface – but preferably has a single, dual-interface chip providing the many advantages of a single e-purse, single operating architecture, etc. The mass transportation and banking industries are expected to be the first to take advantage of this technology. 4. SMART CARD APPLICATION The self-containment of Smart Card makes it resistant to attack, as it doe s not need to depend upon potentially vulnerable external resources.Because of the security and data storage features, Smart Cards are rapidly being embraced as the consumer token of choice in many areas of the public sector and commercial worlds and are often used in different applications, which require strong security protection and authentication. Many of the applications of Smart Cards require sensitive data to be stored in the card, such as biometrics information of the card owner, personal medical history, and cryptographic keys for authentication, etc. Smart Cards are being deployed in most sectors of the public and private marketplaces.Here are some  popular application areas where  Smart Cards are being used in today’s world: * Loyalty * Financial * Information Technology * Government * Healthcare * Telephony * Mass Transit * Identification on Internet 4. 1 Some of the major applications of the Smart Cards, as seen around the world, are: * There are over 300,000 ,000 GSM mobile telephones with Smart Cards, which contain the mobile phone security and subscription information. The handset is personalized to the individual by inserting the card, which contains its phone number on the network, billing information, and frequently call numbers. Various countries with national health care programs have deployed Smart Card systems. The largest is the German solution which deployed over 80,000,000 cards to every person in Germany and Austria. * There are over 100 countries worldwide who have reduced or eliminated coins from the pay phone system by issuing Smart Cards. Germany, France, UK, Brazil, Mexico, and China have major programs. * Almost every small dish TV satellite receiver uses a Smart Card as its removable security element and subscription information. They are used as a credit/debit bankcard, which allows them for off-line transactions and store the credit and debit functions of financial institutions. * They can be used in retail loyalty schemes and corporate staff systems. Other applications for Smart Cards include computer/internet user authentication and non-repudiation, retailer loyalty programs, physical access, resort cards, mass transit; mass transit ticketing schemes, electronic toll, product tracking, national ID, driver’s license, pass ports, and the list goes on. . 2 Automating Transportation Services: With billions of transport transactions occurring each day, Smart Cards have easily found a place in this rapidly growing market. A few of the numerous examples of Smart Cards in transportation are: * Mass Transit Ticketing  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Using contactless Smart Cards allows a passenger to ride several buses and trains during his daily commute to work while not having to worry about complex fare structures or carrying change. * Urban Parking  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ You don’t need to carry the correct change anymore†¦ ust a prepaid contact Smart Card. * Electronic Toll Collection  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ As you driv e through the toll gate of a bridge, a Smart Card, inserted into an RF transponder within your car, electronically pays the toll; without you ever stopping! * Airline Application  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Your frequent flyer miles are added onto your airline Smart Card as your ticket is removed from it at the gate, eliminating paperwork! 4. 3 Internet: The role of the Internet has developed to include the support of electronic commerce. It was designed for the free exchange of information, and as such, t is a rich supply of academic, product and service information. But how does an Internet shopper go from looking at the product to actually buying it? The Smart Card is the ideal support for payment over the Internet, whether in cash or as credit. However, the Internet shopper needs to connect his smart payment card to his computer and through the computer to the Internet. Smart Card readers are inexpensive, low-power devices which can be easily added to existing computers. The additional cost of building them into future computers or peripherals is extremely low.The Internet is focusing the need for online identification and authentication between parties who cannot otherwise know or trust each other, and Smart Cards are believed to be the most efficient way of enabling the new world of e-trade. Smart Cards can act as an identification card, which is used to prove the identity of the cardholder. Besides using Smart Cards for payment over the Internet, the possibilities are endless like  carrying your favorite addresses from your own personal computer to your friend’s Network Computer and downloading your airline ticket and boarding passes, telepayments of the goods purchased online and such others. . SMART CARD TERMS AND CONCEPTS 5. 1 Memory Management Smart card is a device with major hardware constraints: low-power CPU, low data rate serial I/O, little memory etc. Today, card technology utilizes 8 bit processors (mainly of the 6805 or 8051 family) whose memory si zes are about a few tens of kilobytes (Urien, 2000), typically 1-4 kb RAM (Random Access Memory), 32-128 kb ROM (Read Only memory) and 32-64 kb EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) at least, with options on FLASH and FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory) as well.As the demand for smart cards matures the standard memory of 32 or 64 Kbytes can prove a serious limitation. A solution to this is to look at some of the design issues and techniques to incorporate multiple memory chips in a single smart card. Gemplus had already produced a twin card, incorporating two unconnected chips in a single card. Other approaches include the use of PC in conjunction with smartcard. For instance, Blaze (1996) proposes the use of a powerful PC with a smart card for symmetric key encryption because the PC provides higher encryption bandwidth.Table 1 below shows storage capacity needed for various communication rates. | Communication rate| Storage capacity| P C (Pentium IV)| 1 20 Mbps | 10 K Bytes| Standard smart card| 9600 bps | 64 K Bytes | Multiple chip card| 20 Mbps | 224 M Bytes | Table 5. 1. 1: Communication rate and storage capacity According to Junko (2002), the EEPROM used in current smart cards is reaching its scalability limits, particularly for smart card devices built in 0. 13-micron technology and beyond. For this reason, companies like Philips agree on the need for alternative non-volatile memory for future smart cards.Currently Philips is leaning toward magnetic RAM as an alternative to EEPROM. Another important application that requires memory management is the application of biometrics. The use of biometrics within the card itself will mean that biometric features (fingerprint, retina, voice etc) can reliably identify a person. With enhancement in memory system, it will soon be possible to authorize the use of electronic information in smart card using a spoken word. The use of some of these features has already been implemented in many applications. Malaysia’s national ID, for instance, is a multipurpose smart card with a fingerprint biometric.The card is first of its kind in the world as it combines many applications such as driving license, passport, healthcare, and non-government applications such as an e-purse. (See http://www. jpn. gov. my/ or www. iris. com. my for details). Table 2 below gives the required bytes for various biometrics. Additional information about biometric technology and standards can be found from the following organizations: The Biometric Consortium (www. biometrics. org), International Biometric Industry Association (www. ibia. rg), or Bio API Consortium (www. iapi com) Biometric| Bytes Required|Finger scan| 300-1200| Finger geometry| 14| Hand geometry| 9| Iris recognition| 512| Voice verification| 1500| Face recognition| 500-1000| Signature verification| 500-1000| Retina recognition| 96| Table 5. 1. 2 Required Bytes for Biometrics 5. 2 Security Issues Security is always a big co ncern for smart cards applications. This naturally gives rise to the need for reliable, efficient cryptographic algorithms. We need to be able to provide authentication and identification in online-systems such as bank machine and computer networks, access control and the like.Currently such facilities allow access using a token; however, it is vital that the holder of the token be the legitimate owner or user of the token. As smart card is handicapped or highly restricted in their input/output (unable to interact with the world without outside peripherals), this leads to the involvement of many parties in its applications. Some of the parties involve: Cardholder, Data Owner, Card Issuer, Card Manufacturer, Software Manufacturer, and Terminal Owner as mentioned in (Schneier, 1999).It is there for essential to ensure that none of the above mentioned parties is threat to one another. To achieve this, there is need for further investigation in the design and analysis of smart card auth entication and identification protocols. For this reason, Gobioff (1996) proposes that smart cards be equipped with â€Å"additional I/O channels† such as buttons to alleviate these shortcomings. Further, there are numerous intrusion techniques able to tamper with smart cards and other similar temper-resistant devices as presented in (Anderson, 1997).This also indicates the need for effective intrusion detection/prevention techniques. 5. 3 Open Architecture Existing smart card standards leave vendors too much room for interpretation. To achieve wider implementation, there is need for an open standard that provides for inter-operable smart cards solutions across many hardware and software platforms. Open Platform, as defined by Global Platform (www. GlobalPlatform. org) is a comprehensive system architecture that enables the fast and easy development of globally interoperable smart card systems.It comprises three elements; card, terminal and systems, each of which may include specifications, software and/or chip card technology. Together these components define a secure, flexible, easy to use smart card environment. Development environment in use today include; Java, Visual C, Visual Basic, C++, and the like. The development of standards like GSM, EMV, CEPS, PC/SC, OCF, ITSO and IATA 791 represents an opportunity for manufacturers to produce products on an economic scale and give stability to systems designers. According to a report by Data card Group (White paper version1. ), True ‘open’ smart cards will have the following characteristics: * They will run a non-proprietary operating system widely implemented and supported. * No single vendor will specify the standards for the operating system and the card’s use. * The cards will support a high-level application programming language (e. g. , Java, C++) so issuers can supply and support their own applications as well as applications from many other vendors. * Applications can be writte n and will operate on different vendor’s multi-application smart cards with the same API (Application Programming Interface).To overcome the problem of lack of standardization, U. S. organizations have developed an add-on piece of smart card software meant to overcome communication problems between chip cards and readers from different vendors. They would like to see this technology, which they call a â€Å"card capabilities container,† used worldwide, making it an industry standard that would allow U. S. agencies to buy cards and readers from many vendors, sure that they would work together (Cathy, 2002).Another move is the development of a new organization called Smart Card Alliance, formed by Smart Card Industry Association (SCIA) and Smart Card Forum (SCF) to act as a single voice for the US smart card industries. Even in biometrics, each vendor has its own methods for enrolling individuals and later checking someone’s identity against the stored image. Howe ver, there are efforts underway to create biometric standards, largely driven by the U. S. government. In a major step, the American National Standards Institute approved Bio API as a standard way for biometric devices to exchange data with ID applications.ANSI now is preparing to propose Bio API to ISO for adoption as an international standard (Donald, 2002). 5. 3. 1 Operating Systems Today’s smart card operating systems and application frameworks are intrinsically local and mono application. Moreover, smartcard communicates with the outside world through a serial link. As the chip has a single bi-directional I/O pin, this link can only support haft-duplex protocol. The majority of chips work at the speed of 9600 baud, although the ISO standard 7816 has defined a maximum data rate of 230400 baud.A new type of SPOM (Self-Programmable One-Chip Microcomputer), named ISO/USB has been introduced in 1999; it provides a direct connection between a SPOM and the terminal via an USB p ort (Urien, 2000). According to USB specification, a data throughput from 1. 2 to 12 Mbits/s may be obtained between the chip and the terminal. The vision of smart card as an application platform rather than a simple security token is a paradigm shift for smartcard operating systems.According to Jurgensen (2002), the current operating system model cannot completely support the needs or the vision of Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC). The move is now towards the development of Next Generation Smart Card Operating Systems (COSng), which will be able to handle multi-applications and support future requirements. 5. 4 Performance Performance and speed are very important factors that need to be considered in most smart card application.To achieve this, transistor scaling or the reduction of the gate length (the size of the switch that turns transistors on and off), must be taken into consideration. This idea not only improves the performances of chips but also lowers their manufact uring cost and power consumption per switching event. Recently, IBM have built a working transistor at 6 nano meters in length which is per beyond the projection of The Consortium of International Semiconductor Companies that transistors have to be smaller than 9 nano meters by 2016 in order to continue the performance trend.The ability to build working transistors at these dimensions could allow developers to put 100 times more transistors into a computer chip than is currently possible. The IBM results will lead to further research into small, high-density silicon devices and allow scientists to introduce new structures and new materials. Details are available from IBM Research News 9thDecember 2002, available online: http://www. research. ibm. com/. 5. 5 Reader Requirements As the needs and uses of smart card increases, the need for a Smart Card reader that is not portable, small or light, but also easy to connect and access has arrived.However, some developers like â€Å"Browns † (http://www. brownsbox. com/) believe that the need for a reader is a problem, meaning extra expenditure, and, when working with a laptop, is a waste of a port. In view of this, an approach toward a device that can be attached to a PC (internally or externally) has arrived. To solve this problem, Browns developed a method that turns a floppy disk drive into a smart card reader. Another popular approach in Europe is the smarty smartcard reader/writer the size of a 3. 5-inch diskette by Smart Disk Corp.The device does not require a serial, parallel, or USB port, instead it works directly from a diskette drive. Smarty supports all smart card a protocol, including ISO 7816 and it works under different operating systems. Details are available from: http://www. smartcomputing. com/. This idea of smart diskette was initially proposed by Paul (1989) as shown in figure 3. A similar approach involves the development of keyboard with integrated card reader, and/or keyboard with integra ted fingerprint sensor and card reader by â€Å"Cherry†(http://www. accesskeyboards. co. uk/cherry. tm). 5. 6 Portability As mentioned earlier, portability or convenience of handling is one of the most important characteristics of smart cards. Since the smartness of smart card relies on the integrated circuit embedded in the plastic card, it is possible that the future smart cards might look like other everyday objects such as rings, watches, badges, glasses or earring because that same electronic function could be performed by embedding it in these objects. What remain is for developers and researchers to look into the best way of implementing it if the need arises. 6.SMART CARD VS BIOMETRIC One of the primary reasons that smart cards exist is for security. The card itself provides a computing platform on which information can be stored securely and computations can be performed securely. Consequently, the smart card is ideally suited to function as a token through which the security of other systems can be enhanced. Most of today’s systems need proper user authentication/identification as it is a crucial part of the access control that makes the major building block of any system’s security. Three methods are currently in use: what the user has (e. . smart card), what the user knows (e. g. password), and what the user is (biometrics). Each of these methods has its own merits and demerits especially when used alone. When a single method is used, we believe smartcard is the best choice. Passwords can easily be forgotten, attacked, and guessed. Similarly, biometric schemes alone are not good enough to ensure user authentication, as they are also vulnerable to attacks. First, we look into some of the benefits in using biometric schemes and then analyze some of their limitations.The primary advantage of biometric authentication methods over other methods of user authentication is that they use real human physiological or behavioral characteri stics to authenticate users. These biometric characteristics are (more or less) permanent and not changeable. It is also not easy (although in some cases not principally impossible) to change one’s fingerprint, iris or other biometric characteristics. Further, most biometric techniques are based on something that cannot be lost or forgotten.This is an advantage for users as well as for system administrators because the problems and costs associated with lost, reissued or temporarily issued tokens/cards/passwords can be avoided, thus saving some costs of the system management. However, as reported in (Luca 2002), the major risk posed by the use of biometric systems in an authentication process is that a malicious subject may interfere with the communication and intercept the biometric template and use it later to obtain access. Likewise, an attack may be committed by generating a template from a fingerprint obtained from some surface.Further, performance of biometric systems i s not ideal. Biometric systems still need to be improved in terms of accuracy and speed. Biometric systems with the false rejection rate under 1% (together with a reasonably low false acceptance rate) are still rare today. Although few biometric systems are fast and accurate (in terms of low false acceptance rate) enough to allow identification (automatically recognizing the user identity), most of current systems are suitable for the verification only, as the false acceptance rate is too high. Moreover, not all users can use any given biometric system.People without hands cannot use fingerprint or hand-based systems. Visually impaired people have difficulties using iris or retina based techniques. Some biometric sensors (particularly those having contact with users) also have a limited lifetime. While a magnetic card reader may be used for years (or even decades), the optical fingerprint reader (if heavily used) must be regularly cleaned and even then the lifetime need not exceed o ne year. Biometric data are not considered to be secret and security of a biometric system cannot be based on the secrecy of user’s biometric characteristics.The server cannot authenticate the user just after receiving his/her correct biometric characteristics. The user authentication can be successful only when user’s characteristics are fresh and have been collected from the user being authenticated. This implies that the biometric input device must be trusted. Its authenticity should be verified (unless the device and the link are physically secure) and user’s likeness would be checked. The input device also should be under human supervision or tamper-resistant. The fact hat biometric characteristics are not secret brings some issues that traditional authentication systems need not deal with. Many of the current biometric systems are not aware of this fact and therefore the security level they offer is limited. User’s privacy may be violated by biometr ic schemes. Biometric characteristics are sensitive data that may contain a lot of personal information. The DNA (being the typical example) contains (among others) the user’s preposition to diseases. This may be a very interesting piece of information for an insurance company.The body odour can provide information about user’s recent activities. It is also mentioned in (Jain, 1999) that people with asymmetric fingerprints are more likely to be homosexually oriented, etc. Use of biometric systems may also imply loss of anonymity. While one can have multiple identities when authentication methods are based on something the user knows or has, biometric systems can sometimes link all user actions to a single identity. Furthermore, biometric systems can potentially be quite troublesome for some users. These users find some biometric systems intrusive or personally invasive.In some countries people do not like to touch something that has already been touched many times (e. g. , biometric sensor), while in some countries people do not like to be photographed or their faces are completely covered. Lack of standards may also poses a serious problem. Two similar biometric systems from two different vendors are not likely to interoperate at present. Although good for user authentication, biometrics cannot be used to authenticate computers or messages. Biometric characteristics are not secret and therefore they cannot be used to sign messages or encrypt documents and the like.On the other hand, smart cards provide tamper- resistant storage for protecting private keys, account numbers, passwords, and other forms of personal information. Smart cards can also serve to isolate security-critical computations involving authentication, digital signatures, and key exchange from other parts of the system that do not have a â€Å"need to know. † In addition, smart cards provide a level of portability for securely moving private information between systems at w ork, home, or on the road. A better approach for the usage of biometrics is to combine biometrics with smartcards.The advantages of this may include: all attributes of the smartcards will be maintained, counterfeiting attempts are reduced due to enrolment process that verifies identity and captures biometrics. It will be extremely secure and provide excellent user-to-card authentication. 7. THREATS TCG does not really address security from a user point of view; as the model is centered on platforms. User identification and authentication mechanisms, including owner, are rather rudimentary. Basically, proof of knowledge of a secret value shared between the owner and the TPM is proof of ownership.In the case of the owner proof of knowledge is even proof of identity. To some extent, the pair (object UUID, Authorization Data) corresponds to a capability associated to a TPM-protected object. Threats are actually similar to those applying to capability-basedmodels. For example, the access authorization to a TPM-protected object is given very early, when the authorization data is associated to the object and not when the access is attempted. But more important authentication data can be freely duplicated and the user has to find some way to protect them.Like for every sensitive piece of information the key issue with authorization data is storage protection. Because it is impossible for an operator to remember a 20-byte random value, most of the TPM administration products available today implement a simple password-based technique. The authentication data Auth Data is computed from a password value using SHA-1 hash algorithm. Auth Data= SHA( password)Of course, all the well-known weaknesses of password-based authentication apply to such a mechanism: †¢ One-factor only authentication, †¢ Easy to guess, subject to dictionary attacks, Easy to snoop, visible in the clear when keyed or transmitted to the verifying party, †¢ Easy to lose and forget, †¢ Easy to write down and to share with others This type of implementation is so common that TPM manufacturers had to implement countermeasures like lockout or response degradation in order to protect from dictionary types of attacks. Another natural solution would be to securely store the authorization data directly on the platform hard drive. This type of solution is considered subject to attacks [9] and raises a lot of side issues.For example, the authorization data must be stored on an opaque container that is generally protected by a password and hence prone to dictionary attacks. Outside of the platform owner, who just plays an administrative role, regular platform users have also to be taken into account. In every day operations, platforms interact with users and user identity is a critical piece of the security and trust puzzle. For that matter all platform operating systems implement user identification and authentication mechanisms.How users fit in this picture is not comple tely in the scope of TCG specification. As a consequence, authentication data are not assigned to specific users. Even though this is not a threat in itself, there is lot of practical cases where TPM-protected keys have to be assigned to specific users only. For example, the file encryption keys used by one user on a platform must be kept separated from the other platform users. 8. SMART CARD-BASED USER AUTHENTICATION Smart card-based authentication is a first step towards the TPM and-smartcard cooperative model introduced in section 2.The principle is to use a smart card during the execution of the user side of the TCG authorization protocols. The most critical piece of information in TCG authorization protocol is the Authorization Data that is either stored locally on the platform or computed from an external seed secret such as password. This model raises many issues. Since smart cards another hardware tokens, are used to address this type of user authentication issues in environ ments like corporate IT or banking, smart card-based authentication can be the answer to the threats identified in section 3. 4.For instance, as smart cards are physically secure and cannot beckoned, the duplication of an authorization data becomes impossible. Likewise, smart cards allow the usage of truly random authorization data, offering a particularly efficient protection against a dictionary attack. To offer a higher protection level, access to the authorization data can be protected by a Personal Identification Number (PIN). In the context of user authentication, smart cards will also provide: †¢ Two-factor authentication, †¢ Tamper-resistant storage for protecting authentication data and other user personal information. Isolation of security-critical computations involving the authentication data from other parts of the system that do not have a â€Å"need to know. † †¢ Portability of credentials and other private information between computers. But the integration of smart cards within TCG authorization protocols has an impact in terms of smart cards capabilities. 8. 1 Smart cards requirements In a smart card-based authentication scheme, the smart card will be primarily used to physically protect the Authorization Data. This means that the smart card must be able to: 1.Store the Authorization Data, 2. Process the user side of the authorization protocol computation that requires the Authorization Data. Storing the Authorization Data in a smart card presents no particular difficulty. Every smart card, including the most basic one like simple memory card, has the capability to store a 20-bytevalue. On another hand, how much of the authorization protocol can be processed by a smart card is directly linked with the card cryptographic capabilities. In order to perform the entire user side of the protocol a smart card will have to be able to: Generate random values, †¢ Compute a shared secret using a SHA-1-based HMAC, †¢ Comput e and verify authentication values using SHA-1 andSHA-1-based HMAC operations, †¢ Encrypt authentication data using a XOR Most of cryptographic smart cards today have robust Random Number Generator and support SHA-1 in native mode, but smartcards offering HMAC in native mode are less common. A solutions to simply implement a Java Card applet providing these features. Following sections describe three, incrementally secure, possible implementation of smart card-based authentication. . 2 Importance of Smartcards to Computer Security 8. 2. 1 Importance of Smartcards as a Design Mechanism for Computer Networks This section highlights the fundamental security challenges that face us in this increasingly computer network oriented world, and how smartcards can provide key advantages towards security. 8. 2. 2 Fundamental Security Challenges Because computers and networks are becoming so central to our lives in this digital age, many new security challenges are arising. This is the era of full connectivity, both electronically and physically.Smartcards can facilitate this connectivity and other value added capabilities, while providing the necessary security assurances not available through other means. On the Internet, smartcards increase the security of the building blocks Authentication, Authorization, Privacy, Integrity, and Non-Repudiation. Primarily, this is because the private signing key never leaves the smartcard so it’s very difficult to gain knowledge of the private key through a compromise of the host computer system. In a corporate enterprise system, multiple disjointed systems often have their security based on different technologies.Smartcards can bring these together by storing multiple certificates and passwords on the same card. Secure email and Intranet access, dial-up network access, encrypted files, digitally signed web forms, and building access are all improved by the smartcard. In an Extranet situation, where one company would like t o administer security to business partners and suppliers, smartcards can be distributed which allow access to certain corporate resources. The smartcard’s importance in this situation is evident because of the need for the strongest security possible when permitting anyone through the corporate firewall and proxy defenses.When distributing credentials by smartcard, a company can have a higher assurance that those credentials cannot be shared, copied, or otherwise compromised. 8. 2. 3 The Smartcard Security Advantage Some reasons why smartcards can enhance the security of modern day systems are: 8. 2. 3. 1 PKI is better than passwords – smartcards enhance PKI Public Key Infrastructure systems are more secure than password based systems because there is no shared knowledge of the secret. The private key need only be known in one place, rather than two or more.If the one place is on a smartcard, and the private key never leaves the smartcard, the crucial secret for the sy stem is never in a situation where it is easily compromised. A smartcard allows for the private key to be usable and yet never appear on network or in the host computer system. 8. 2. 3. 2 Smartcards Increase the Security of Password Based Systems Though smartcards have obvious advantages for PKI systems, they can also increase the security of password based systems. One of the biggest problems in typical password systems is that users write down their password and attach it to their monitor or keyboard.They also tend to choose weak passwords and share their passwords with other people. If a smartcard issued to store a user’s multiple passwords, they need only remember the PIN to the smartcard in order to access all of the passwords. Additionally, if a security officer initializes the smartcard, very strong passwords can be chosen and stored on the smartcard. The end user need never even know the passwords, so that they can’t be written down or shared with others. 8. 2. 3. 3 Two Factor Authentication, and more Security systems benefit from multiple factor authentications.Commonly used factors are: Something you know, something you have, something you are, and something you do. Password based systems typically use only the first factor, something you know. Smartcards add an additional factor, something you have. Two factor authentications have proven to be much more effective than single because the â€Å"Something you know† factor is so easily compromised or shared. Smartcards can also be enhanced to include the remaining two features. Prototype designs are available which accept a thumbprint on the surface of the card in addition to the PIN in order to unlock the services of the card.Alternatively, thumbprint template, retina template, or other biometric information can be stored on the card, only to be checked against data obtained from a separate biometric input device. Similarly, something you do such as typing patterns, handwritten sig nature characteristics, or voice inflection templates can be stored on the card and be matched against data accepted from external input devices. 8. 2. 3. 4 Portability of Keys and Certificates Public key certificates and private keys can be utilized by web browsers and other popular software packages but they in some sense identify the workstation rather than the user.The key and certificate data is stored in a proprietary browser storage area and must be export/imported in order to be moved from one workstation to another. With smartcards the certificate and private key are portable, and can be used on multiple workstations, whether they are at work, at home, or on the road. If the lower level software layers support it, they can be used by different software programs from different vendors, on different platforms, such as Windows, UNIX, and Mac. 8. 2. 3. 5 Auto-disabling PINs Versus Dictionary AttacksIf a private key is stored in a browser storage file on a hard drive, it is typi cally protected by password. This file can be â€Å"dictionary attacked† where commonly used passwords are attempted in a brute force manner until knowledge of the private key is obtained. On the other hand, a smartcard will typically lock itself up after some low number of consecutive bad PIN attempts, for example 10. Thus, the dictionary attack is no longer a feasible way to access the private key if it has been securely stored on a smartcard. 8. 2. 3. 6 Non RepudiationThe ability to deny, after the fact, that your private key performed a digital signature is called repudiation. If, however, your private signing key exists only on a single smartcard and only you know the PIN to that smartcard, it is very difficult for others to impersonate your digital signature by using your private key. Many digital signature systems require â€Å"hardware strength on Repudiation†, meaning that the private key is always protected within the security perimeter of hardware token and can’t be used without the knowledge of the proper PIN.Smartcards can provide hardware strength Non Repudiation. 8. 2. 3. 7 Counting the Number of Private Key Usages So many of the important things in our lives are authorized by our handwritten signature. Smartcard based digital signatures provide benefits over handwritten signatures because they are much more difficult to forge and they can enforce the integrity of the document through technologies such as hashing. Also, because the signature is based in a device that is actually a computer, many new benefits can be conceived of.For example, a smartcard could count the number of times that your private key was used, thus giving you an accurate measure of how many times you utilized your digital signature over a given period of time. Figure 8. 2. 3. 7. 1: Smartcard Electrical Contacts Table 8. 2. 3. 7. 2 : Description of Contacts POSITION TECHNICAL ABBREVIATION FUNCTION C1 VCC Supply Voltage C2 RST Reset C3 CLK Clock Frequency C4 RFU Reserved for future use C5 GND Ground C6 VPP External programming voltage C7 I/O Serial input/output communications C8 RFU Reserved for future use 9.SMART CARD ENABLED PRODUCTS This section lists popular security products and explains how smartcards can be used to enhance their security. 9. 1Web Browsers (SSL, TLS) Web browsers use technology such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) to provide security while browsing the World Wide Web. These technologies can authenticate the client and/or server to each other and also provide an encrypted channel for any message traffic or file transfer. The authentication is enhanced because the private key is stored securely on the smartcard.The encrypted channel typically uses a symmetric cipher where the encryption is performed in the host computer because of the low data transfer speeds to and from the smartcard. Nonetheless, the randomly generated session key that is used for symmetric encryption is wrappe d with the partner’s public key, meaning that it can only be unwrapped on the smartcard. Thus it is very difficult for an eavesdropper to gain knowledge of the session key and message traffic. 9. 2 Secure Email (S/MIME, Open PGP) S/MIME and Open PGP allow for email to be encrypted and/or digitally signed.As with SSL, smartcards enhance the security of these operations by protecting the secrecy of the private key and also unwrapping session keys within a security perimeter. 9. 3 Form Signing Web based HTML forms can be digitally signed by your private key. This could prove to be a very important technology for internet based business because it allows for digital documents to be hosted by web servers and accessed by web browsers in a paperless fashion. Online expense reports, W-4 forms, purchase requests, and group insurance forms are some examples.For form signing, smartcards provide portability of the private key and certificate as well as hardware strength non repudiation. 9. 4Object Signing If an organization writes code that can be downloaded over the web and then executed onclient computers, it is best to sign that code so the clients can be sure it indeed came from areputable source. Smartcards can be used by the signing organization so the private key can’tbe compromised by a rogue organization in order to impersonate the valid one. 9. 5 Kiosk / Portable PreferencesCertain applications operate best in a â€Å"kiosk mode† where one computer is shared by a number of users but becomes configured to their preferences when they insert their smartcard. The station can then be used for secure email, web browsing, etc. and the private key would never leave the smartcard into the environment of the kiosk computer. The kiosk can even be configured to accept no mouse or keyboard input until an authorized user inserts the proper smartcard and supplies the proper PIN. 9. 6 File EncryptionEven though the 9600 baud serial interface of the smartcar d usually prevents it from being a convenient mechanism for bulk file encryption, it can enhance the security of this function. If a different, random session key is used for each file to be encrypted, the bulk encryption can be performed in the host computer system at fast speeds and the session key can then be wrapped by the smartcard. Then, the only way to easily decrypt the file is by possessing the proper smartcard and submitting the proper PIN so that the session key can be unwrapped. 9. 7 Workstation LogonLogon credentials can be securely stored on a smartcard. The normal login mechanism of the workstation, which usually prompts for a username and password, can be replaced with one that communicates to the smartcard. 9. 8 Dialup Access (RAS, PPTP, RADIUS, TACACS) Many of the common remote access dial-up protocols use passwords as their security mechanism. As previously discussed, smartcards enhance the security of passwords. Also, as many of these protocols evolve to support public key based systems, smartcards can be used to increase the security and portability of the private key and certificate. . 9 Payment Protocols (SET) The Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) protocol allows for credit card data to be transferred securely between customer, merchant, and issuer. Because SET relies on public key technology, smartcards are a good choice for storage of the certificate and private key. 9. 10 Digital Cash Smartcards can implement protocols whereby digital cash can be carried around on smartcard. In these systems, the underlying keys that secure the architecture never leave the security perimeter of hardware devices.Mondex, VisaCash, EMV ( Europay-Mastercard-Visa), and Proton are examples of digital cash protocols designed for use with smartcards. 9. 11 Building Access Even though the insertion, processing time, and removal of a standard smartcard could be a hassle when entering a building, magnetic stripe or proximity chip technology can be added to sm artcards so that a single token provides computer security and physical access. 10. PROBLEM WITH SMART CARD Even though smartcards provide many obvious benefits to computer security, they still haven’t caught on with great popularity in countries like the United States.This is not only because of the prevalence, infrastructure, and acceptability of magnetic stripe cards, but also because of a few problems associated with smartcards. Lack of a standard infrastructure for smartcard reader/writers is often cited as a complaint. The major computer manufactures haven’t until very recently given much thought to offering a smartcard reader as a standard component. Many companies don’t want to absorb the cost of outfitting computers with smartcard readers until the economies of scale drive down their cost.In the meantime, many vendors provide bundled solutions to outfit any personal computer with smartcard capabilities. Lack of widely adopted smartcard standards is ofte n cited as a complaint. The number of smartcard related standards is high and many of them address only a certain vertical market or only a certain layer of communications. This problem is lessening recently as web browsers and other mainstream applications are including smartcards as an option. Applications like these are helping to speed up the evolution of standards. 11.FUTURE WORK Different usage scenario can be defined to explore additional synergies between TPM and smart cards. For example, a MIS department orders trusted platforms from their favorite PC manufacturer. The machines are configured and personalized according to the end-user profile, following the corporate policies. The MIS representatives possess a specific smart card, the owner card, which is used for trusted platforms initialization and maintenance. During the initialization process the user smart card is created for the platform end-user.This card stores the user secrets and credentials, to be used during the processing of security functions like digital signature of documents. Our scenario provides features to securely share the TPM among several users. Each user owns a dedicated Protected Storage Tree under the Storage Root Key (SRK), protected by local User Root Keys (URK). The first phase in the trusted platform life cycle will be the initialization of the TPM. During this step, the corporation, through the MIS department, will â€Å"take ownership† of the TPM.This phase covers the loading of secrets into the TPM, the creation of a root storage key, but also the generation of a smart card that will be given to the main platform user. During this process a URK can be created for the first user, secured by the SRK, and then user keys can be generated under the URK. These keys will be used to generate quotes for a given user. The platform is then given to the main end-user, who also receives a user smart card. 12. CONCLUSION Most of the smart card systems in use today serve one purpose and are related to just one process or is hardwired to only one application.A smart card cannot justify its existence in this respect. The approach of future smart card is therefore towards designing multi-application card with own operating system based on open standard that can perform a variety of functions. It must be configurable and programmable and it must be able to adapt to new situations and new requirements especially in areas such as security, memory management, and operating system. Most of smart card application methods today rely on the fact that the code of functions to be performed should be imported by card operating system from an outside server.This approach is quite weak with regards to security. It is, therefore, important t