Animal Behavior on their Natal Territory Assignment

Animal Behavior on their Natal Territory - Assignment Example The reproductive success of a female mammal depends on a few factors such as safe territory, brood feeding area, and resources such as food availability (Stockley & Bro-Jorgenson, 2011, pg344). The male members of the mammalian species, on the other hand, wander far away from the nest in search of possible female mates who defend their own territories. Thus, we can say that the reproductive success among mammals depends largely on its female members. However, males of avian species are the ones that remain on or near the natal territory since in case of birds it is the quality of the† habitat that the male defends that determines the reproductive success† (Hill,1988,p379). Reproductive success among avian species depends on the male members and on the provisions available for the brood and attraction of female birds in the territory defended by the males. Therefore, remaining within or near the natal territorial range in case of male birds is more beneficial since they are able to attract females while in case of mammal males, remaining near natal territory is not beneficial since the reproductive success depends solely on the female members of mammalian species. 2.In  their  classic  paper  on  mating  systems,  Steve  Emlen  and  Lew  Oring  suggested  that  two  ecological  factors  could  promote  the  evolution  of  monogamy:  a  high  degree  of  synchrony  in  reproductive  cycling  within  a  population  and  a  highly  dispersed  distribution  of  receptive  females.  Try  to  reconstruct  the  logic  of  these  predictions  and  then  make  counterarguments  to  the  effect  that  synchronized  breeding  could  facilitate  the acquisition  of  multiple  mates  while  a  relatively  dense  population  of  receptive  females  might  actually  promote  monogamy.  

What has happened to careers To what extent can and should HRM be a Dissertation

What has happened to careers To what extent can and should HRM be a part of career management - Dissertation Example Since the world is changing at a rapid pace, the economic, cultural, political and technological changes have an immense impact upon the world of work. Moreover, due to uncertainties that accompany with them, these changes can have an adverse effect on the career and lives of the people.In the present competitive era, careers have become too challenging than they used to be. This means that an attempt has to be made to manage the careers. The term career can be defined as the sequence of the job related roles and positions, activities and experiences that are encountered by the person (Anderson & Et. Al., 2002). The major objective of the proposed study is related to the career management. The study will try to focus on the research questions which would look to address the existing scenario regarding careers along with to what extent HRM (Human Resource Management) can or should be a part of career management. Through this proposed research paper it is intended to identify the role of the HRM in career management. Various steps of career management process involve career exploration, development of the career goals and the use of various strategies in order to achieve the career goals. The question that now arises is whether the career management is related to the employee’s development and the performance. For this purpose the relationship that exists among the different aspects of the career management steps as well as the development behaviour of the employee need to be gauged. In this regards, the employees can provide information by considering their personal characteristics, career management strategies, the support of their managers for the career development and their willingness to participate in the development activities. On the other hand, the managers can appraise the performance of the employees and the development behaviour. In this regard, it can be identified that the managers support development. Distance from career goals brings about significant differences in the willingness of the employees to participate in the development activities along with development behaviour (Noe, 1996). It has been argued by the authors and the researchers that the career management programs in formal organisations are part of the firms’ overall human resource strategies. The career management programs are adopted by the organisation in a belief that the performance of the individuals will be enhanced and it will increase the employee’s commitment. If the career management systems are implemented without enough preparation of the organisation, then it might result to ineffective and misleading programs. If the organisation is involved in the individual’s career planning activities, then it might help to reduce the uncertainty that the employees face. It will also assist them in planning and help them in yielding positive results for the organisations (Portwood, 1987). With regards to the question about the exist ing scenario regarding careers, it can be denoted that there has been little changes in the world of work and the career of the people. Support for changing the focus upon the career stems from the psychologically grounded ideas about people as sculptors of their own careers. It also comes from the fact that the person themselves are the creator of the personal meaning in their lives (Arthur & Et. Al., 1999). The HRM systems of the organisation that would include the workforce planning and staffing procedures, career management and the training and development efforts have to be consistent with the strategic plans of the firms. If the objective of the company is to downsize and shed the business, then in that case the HRM system and the related career programs will be concerned

Advantages and Disadvantages of Biometrics

Advantages and Disadvantages of Biometrics ABSTRACT Organisations have goals and therefore acquire assets to ensure these goals are met and the continuity guaranteed. Financial sector while trying to promote convenient methods such as online banking and use of ATM for their customers to access their money strives to ensure only the right person has access to the account. Also, military and national security services store high sensitive and critical information that must only be accessed by specific individual thereby deploying security measures to keep this tradition. However, achieving these goals largely depends on securing and controlling the assets as documented which means only authorised individuals have access to these environments and eventually the assets. Sequel to the importance of access control, different security techniques have been deployed to safeguard these assets which ranges from PINs and passwords, ID cards, smart card est. Vulnerabilities to these methods have lead to the recent surge in biometrics industry as many believe this is the future. Reasons such that the physical presence of the authorized person is needed at the point of access and also, the fact that it is unique and almost impossible to duplicate emphasis the benefit of biometrics and explain its glooming popularity. However like any other security methods, biometrics has limitations and threats which can impact its effectiveness and efficiency. It is not suitable for every application and can be a very wrong choice for certain applications. Therefore, it is essential to manage these limitations and threats properly to enhance the success factor of biometrics. Finally, it is important for any sector deploying biometrics to understand the various issues associated with biometrics such as privacy, standards and what the law requires of biometrics. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Organizations strive to secure their assets and provide means of controlling access to these assets. This process requires identification and authorization to ensure the right person is accessing the right asset. Over the years, traditional methods of authentication, mainly passwords and personal identification numbers (PINs) have been popularly used. Recently, swipe card and PINs have been deployed for more security since one is something you have and the latter something you know. However, these methods still have vulnerabilities as swipe card can be stolen. Also, bad management of passwords has left people writing them on papers and desks or simply choosing easy and general words for quick remembrance which expose the password to intruders. More recently, stronger identification and authorization technologies that can assure a person is who he claims to be are becoming prominent and biometrics can be classified to this category. Biometric technology makes use of a persons physiological or behavioral characteristics in identification. Every human being is unique in nature and possesses physical parts completely different from any other person. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack did not help security concerns as governments and organizations all around the world especially the border security agencies have greatly embraced this human recognition technology. As both private and public entities continue to search for a more reliable identification and authentication methods, biometrics has been the choice and considered the future. WHAT IS BIOMETRICS? Biometrics refers to the automatic identifications of a person based on his or her physiological or behavioral characteristics (Chirillo and Blaul 2003, p. 2). It is an authorization method that verifies or identifies a user based on what they are before authorizing access. The search for a more reliable authorization method to secure assets has lead to the revelation of biometrics and many organizations have shown interest in the technology. Two main types of biometrics have been used mainly physical and behavioral. A physical biometrics is a part of a persons body while, a behavioral biometric is something that a person does (Lockie 2002, p. 8). He added that although there are some more unusual biometrics which may be used in the future, including a persons unique smell, the shape of their ear or even the way they talk, the main biometrics being measured include fingerprints, hand geometry, retina scan, iris scan, facial location or recognition (all physical), voice recognition, signature, keystroke pattern and gait (Behavioral). However, it has been argued by Liu and Silverman (2001) that different applications require different biometrics as there is no supreme or best biometric technology. HISTORY OF BIOMETRICS According to Chirillo and Blaul (2003, p. 3) the term biometrics is derived from the Greek words bio (life) and metric (to measure). China is among the first known to practice biometrics back in the fourteenth century as reported by the Portuguese historian Joao de Barros. It was called member-printing where the childrens palms as well as the footprints were stamped on paper with ink to identify each baby. Alphonse Bertillon, a Paris based anthropologist and police desk clerk was trying to find a way of identifying convicts in the 1890s decided to research on biometrics. He came up with measuring body lengths and was relevant till it was proved to be prone to error as many people shared the same measurement. The police started using fingerprinting developed based on the Chinese methods used century before by Richard Edward Henry, who was working at the Scotland Yard. Raina, Orlans and Woodward (2003, p. 25-26) stated references to biometrics as a concept could be traced back to over a thousand years in East Asia where potters placed their fingerprints on their wares as an early form of brand identity. They also pointed Egypts Nile Valley where traders were formally identified based on physical characteristics such as eye color, complexion and also height. The information were used by merchant to identify trusted traders whom they had successfully transacted business with in the past. Kapil et al also made references to the Bible, first pointing to the faith Gileadites had in their biometric system as reported in The Book of Judges (12:5-6) that the men of Gilead identified enemy in their midst by making suspected Ephraimites say Shibboleth for they could not pronounce it right. The second reference is to The Book of Genesis (27:11-28) where Jacob pretended to be Esau by putting goat skins on his hands and back of his neck so his skin would feel h airy to his blind, aged fathers touch. This illustrates a case of biometric spoofing and false acceptance. They finally wrote Biometrics as a commercial, modern technology has been around since the early 1970s when the first commercially available device was brought to market (p. 26). HOW BIOMETRICS SYSTEMS WORK A biometric system is essentially a pattern-recognition system that makes a personal identification by determining the authenticity of a specific physiological or behavioral characteristics possessed by the user (Blaul 2003, p.3). Biometrics has so far been developed to work in two ways mainly verification and identification. Verification systems are designed to give answer to the question, Am I who I claim to be? by requiring that a user claim an identity in order for a biometric comparison to be performed. The user provides data, which is then compared to his or her enrolled biometric data. Identification systems gives answer to the question, who am I? and do not require a user to claim an identity as the provided biometric data is compared to data from a number of users to find a match (Nanavati 2002, p. 12). An illustration of a scenario using an identifying biometrics system is given below and thus gives an answer to the question Who am I? In October 1998 in the United Kingdom, Newham Council introduced face recognition software to 12 town centre cameras with the sole purpose of decreasing street robbery. Images are compared against a police database of over 100 convicted street robbers known to be active in the previous 12 weeks. In August 2001, 527,000 separate faces were detected and operators confirmed 90 matches against the database. Where a face is not identified with any in the database, the image is deleted; if a match is found a human operator checks the result. The introduction of face recognition technology to Newham city centre saw a 34% decrease in street robbery. The system has not led directly to any arrests, which suggests that its effect is largely due to the deterrence/displacement of crime. The face recognition system has been widely publicised by the council and 93% of residents support its introduction (Postnote Nov 2001, p. 1). The case study below illustrates a verifying biometrics system and supply answers to the question Am I who I claim to be? The US Immigration and Naturalization Service Passenger Accelerated Service System (INSPASS) has been introduced at eight airports in order to provide a quick immigration processing for authorised frequent flyers entering the US and Canada. On arrival at an airport, a traveller inserts a card that carries a record of their hand geometry into the INSPASS kiosk and places their hand on a biometric reader. A computer cross-references the information stored on the card at registration with the live hand geometry scan. The complete process takes less than 30 seconds. If the scans match, the traveller can proceed to customs; if not, travellers are referred to an Immigration Inspector. There are more than 45,000 active INSPASS users with, on average, 20,000 automated immigration inspections conducted each month (Postnote Nov 2001, p. 1). Verifying system is often referred to as a one-to-one process and generally takes less processing time compared to the identifying systems. This is due to the fact that in identifying systems, a user is compared to all users in the database (one-to-many). Verifying systems are also more accurate since they only have to match a users data against his or her stored data and do not need hundreds, thousands or even millions of comparisons like the identifying systems. However, it is important for an organization to decide the type appropriate for the applications. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research methodology designed for this dissertation is mainly the qualitative approach. A quantitative approach has been overlooked due to limited time as designing surveys, distribution take time and response time could not be predicted. Therefore, my effort will be concentrated on critically reviewing previous literatures in order to acquire an overview of, and intakes on the topic. For more details, Journals, Books, Publications, Documentaries and previous dissertations related to the topic will be reviewed, compared and analyzed. The objectives will be achieved by purely reviewing literatures and previous researches and the literatures critically analyzed by comparing information obtained from different sources. Findings, recommendations and conclusions will be made from the analysis. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The aim of this research is to critically analyse biometric security as an emerging and booming industry by examining the positives and negatives and providing ways of improving the method effectively and most importantly efficiently. Since biometrics applies to many applications, access control will be the main focus of this dessertation. Also, issues such as privacy, laws governing biometrics and standards will be examined. The main objectives of this research are; To review biometric security and issues related to it. To evaluate the threats, advantages and disadvantages of biometrics. To propose ways of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of biometrics from previous researches. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is aimed at critically reviewing and analysis of numerous works of researchers in the area of biometrics, threats to biometrics, advantages and disadvantages and ways of improving biometrics efficiency in access control. The effect of privacy (human rights) and the need to conform to biometrics standards will also be examined and reviewed. DEFINITION OF BIOMETRICS According to Jain, Ross and Pankanti (2006, p. 125), one great concern in our vastly interconnected society is establishing identity. Systems need to know Is he who he claims he is, Is she authorized to use this resource? or simply who is this? Therefore, a wide range of systems require reliable personal recognition schemes to either verify or identify of an individual seeking access to their services. The purpose of that scheme is to ensure that the rendered services are accessed by only the authorized and not any intruder or imposer (Ross 2004, p. 1). Biometric recognition, or simply biometrics, refers to the automatic recognition of individuals based on their physiological and, or behavioral characteristics (Jain, 2004 p. 1). Woodward (2003, p. 27) cited biometric industry guru Ben Millers 1987 biometric definition: Biometric technologies are automated methods of verifying or recognizing the identity of a living person based on a physical or behavioral characteristic. Shoniregun and Crosier (2008, p. 10) provided several definitions of biometrics which include: Biometrics is the development of statistical and mathematical methods applicable to data analysis problems in the biological science. Biometrics = identification/verification of persons based on the unique physiological or behavioral features of humans. Biometrics is the measurement and matching of biological characteristics such as fingerprint images, hand geometry, facial recognition, etc. Biometrics is strongly linked to a stored identity to the physical person. Nevertheless the various definitions, it can be seen that the science of biometrics is based on the fact that no two people are the same and this has a significant influence on its reliability and success factor. THE BIOMETRICS INDUSTRY According to Lockie (2002, p. 10), the biometric industry did not really get established until the middle of the twentieth century. The researchers at that particular time were investigating whether various human parts and characteristics, such as the iris or the voice, could be used to identify an individual. This was made public by publishing papers and as a considerable number of these strands of research began to form a piece, the biometrics industry as we know it these days was established. As organization search for more secure authentication methods for user access, e-commerce, and other security applications, biometrics is gaining increasing attention (Liu 2001, p.27). Higgins, Orlan and Woodward (2003, p. xxiii ), emphasized that even though biometrics have not become an essential part of all systems requiring controlled access, the emerging industry has come a long way from its modern founding in 1972 with the installation of a commercial finger measurement device on Wall Street. He made reference to the highly respected MIT Technology Review called biometrics one of the top ten emerging technologies that will change the world. The growth in biometric industries is reflected in the numbers. The trio cited Rick Noton, the executive director of the International Biometric Industry Association (IBIA), who reported in the Biometrics 2002 Conference in London, United Kingdom, that the industrys trade association has indicated the surge in biometric revenues over recent years. From $20 million in 1996, it has increased to $200 million in 2001 and Norton believes they will increase as the years pass on significantly in 5 years time. Also, a forecast made by the International Biometric Group (IBG), which is a biometric consulting and integration firm located in New York City, estimate that biometric revenues totaled $399 million in 2000 and will increase to $1.9 billion by 2005. Both IBIA and IBG believe that the private sector will be responsible for much of the growth. These give evidence of the relevance of biometrics in organizations in modern times. BIOMETRICS AND ACCESS CONTROL Over the years, biometrics has evolved rapidly and many vertical markets such as governments, transport, financial sectors, security, public justice and safety, healthcare and many more have adopted biometrics. Due to this wide range of users, biometrics has been deployed to many applications. Biometrics has been of high benefit to organization as they seek a reliable security method to safeguard assets. Fully understanding how biometrics work, it can be said that the ultimate aim of applying biometrics in the vertical markets listed above is to control access to a resource irrespective of the system used whether a verifying or an identifying process It has been stated by S. Nanavati, Thieme and R. Nanavati (2002, p. 14), that biometric systems are deployed for two primary purposes which are physical and logical access. LOGICAL VERSUS PHYSICAL ACCESS Physical access systems monitors, restricts, or grant movement of a person or object into or out of a specific area (Thieme 2002, p. 14). This could be implemented to control entry into rooms or even the main building. Popular examples are control towers, bank vaults, server rooms and many other sensitive rooms requiring controlled access. In physical access, biometrics replaces the use of keys, PIN codes access cards and security guards although any of these could be combined with biometrics as a complementation. Common physical access application is time and attendance. Thieme also gave a definition of logical access systems as one that monitor, restrict or grant access to data or information listing examples such as logging into a PC, accessing data stored on a network, accessing an account, or authenticating a transaction. In this case, biometrics replaces and can be designed to complement PINs, passwords and also tokens. Basic biometric functionality precisely acquiring and comparing of biometric data is often identical in both physical and logical systems. For example, the same iris scan data can be used for both doorway and desktop applications. Thieme explained that the only difference between the two is the external system into which the biometric functionality is integrated. The biometric functionality is integrated into a larger system. This applies for both physical and logical access system and actions such as access to any desktop application or access to a room via a doorway are effected by a biometric match. However, not every system can be classified as physical or logical access as the end result does not indicate access to data or a physical location and the result therefore may be to investigate more. An ATM secured by biometrics allows access to money, a physical entity. This is made possible by allowing the user logical access to his or her data. In the example above, the application is even difficult to classify as either physical or logical. Thieme (2002, p. 15) suggested that the distinction between physical and logical access systems is a valuable tool in understanding biometric. He noted that key criteria such accuracy, fallback procedures, privacy requirements, costs, response time and complexity of integration all vary effectively when moving from logical to physical access. WHAT ARE BIOMETRIC STANDARDS Stapleton (2003, p. 167) defined a standard in a general term as a published document, developed by a recognized authority, which defines a set of policies and practices, technical or security requirements, techniques or mechanisms, or describes some other abstract concept or model. The growth of the biometric industry has been relatively slowed by the absence of industry wide standards and this has also impeded various types of biometric deployment. Nanavati (2002, p. 277) stated that the relative youth of the technology in use, coupled with the disunified nature of the industry, has impacted the developments of standards resulting in a sporadic and frequently redundant standards. Nanavati also noted that the live-scan fingerprint imaging is the only segment of biometric industry with widely accepted and adopted standards. Due to this absence of biometric standards, some institutions have been concerned of being tied into technologies they actually believed as not mature or even dev elopmental. However in an effort to actively address the standards issue, the biometric industry has finalized some blueprints and the process of getting industries to accept these standards is ongoing WHY IS STANDARDIZATION NECESSARY? The high rate of biometric development and rapid growth in adoption of biometric technologies in recent years has resulted in ever-increasing levels of what is expected in terms of accuracy, adaptability, and reliability in an ever-wider range of applications. Due to the adoption of biometric technologies in large-scale national and international applications, involving a potentially unlimited range of stakeholders, Farzin Deravi (2008, p. 483) stated that it has become essential to address these expectations by ensuring agreed common frameworks for implementation and evaluation of biometric technologies through standardization activities. Majority of biometric systems, including both the hardware and software are made and sold by the owner of the patent at this stage in their development. They are being proprietary in numerous aspects including the manner in which biometric devices and systems as a whole communicate with applications, the method of extracting features from a biometric sample, and among many more, the method of storing and retrieving biometric data. This resulted in many companies in most cases, being wedded to a particular technology, once they agree to implement that particular technology. Nanavati (2002, p. 278) stated that in order to incorporate a new technology, the companies are required to rebuild their system from scratch upward, and in some cases duplicating much of the deployment effort. Deravi (2008 p. 483) noted that the need for interoperability of biometric systems across national boundaries has implied a rapid escalation of standardization efforts to the international arena, stating that the sense of urgency for the need for standardization has been the priority of internal security concerns. The industry wide or universal adoption of biometric standard will not make biometric technology interoperable at least, to the state where an old device can be replaced by a new device without rebuilding the system. However, Nanavati (2002 p. 278) argued the core algorithms through which vendors locate and extract biometric data are very unlikely to be interoperable or standardized, the reason being that these algorithms represents the basis of most vendors intellectual property. Numerous reasons are responsible for the motivation towards standardization. These include the desire for reducing the overall cost of deploying biometrics technologies and optimize the reliability of biometric systems, to reduce the risk of deploying solutions to biometric problems, to ensure in the area of encryption and file format, that the basic building blocks of biometric data management have been developed based on best practice by industry professionals. Nanavati (2002 p. 278) concluded that standards ensure that, in the future, biometric technology will be developed and deployed in accordance with generally accepted principles of information technology. EXISTING BIOMETRIC STANDARDS Shoniregun and Crosier (2008 p. 22) stated that the evolving interest and developments have made developments of standards a necessity with the sole aim of allowing compatibility of different systems. The detailed standards in the Biometrics Resource Centre (2002) report are summarised below: Common Biometric Exchange File Format (CBEFF): The Common Biometric Exchange File Format (CBEFF) sets a standard for the data elements essential in supporting biometric technology in a common way irrespective of the application involved or the domain in use. It makes data interchange between systems and their components easier, while promoting interoperability applications, programs as well as systems based on biometrics. INCITS MI-Biometrics Technical Committee: The committee which was established by the Executive Board of the International Committee for Information Technology standards (INCITS) with the responsibility to ensure a focused and reasonably comprehensive approach in the United States for the rapid development and approval of previous national and international generic biometric standards (Shoniregun ad Crosier 2008, p. 22) BioAPI Specification (Version 1.1): The BioAPI standard defines the architecture for biometric systems integration in a single computer system. (Deravi 2008, p. 490). The Bio API specification has been one of the most popular standards efforts since it was formed in April 1998 according to Nanavati (2002, p. 279). Nnavati stated that the standard was formed to develop an API that is both widely accepted and widely available while being compatible with various biometric technologies. Other general standards available are Human Recognition Module (HRS), ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000, American Association for Motor Vehicle Administration and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) which specifies the acceptable security requirements necessary for effective management of biometric data especially for the financial services industry. BRITISH BIOMETRICS STANDARDS The British Standards Institution (BSI) commenced work in June 2004 on biometrics standards and since then, has published according to Shoniregun and Crosier (2008, p. 24) a set of four new BS ISO/IEC 19794 STANDARDS, reported to have covered the science of biometrics, and using biological characteristics in identifying individuals. The objective of publishing these standards is to promote interoperability between the several products in the market. BS ISO/IEC 19784-2:2007: This standard defines the interface to an archive Biometric Function Provider (BFP). The interface assumes that the collected biometrics data will be managed as a database, irrespective of its physical realization. Crosier (2008, p. 24) defined the physical realization as smartcards, token, memory sticks, files on hard drives and any other kind of memory can be handled via an abstraction layer presenting a database interface.) BS ISO/IEC 19795-2:2006: According to Shoniregun (2008, p. 25), this standard provides recommendations and requirements on collection of data, analysis as well as reporting specific to two types of evaluation (scenario evaluation and technology evaluation). BS ISO/IEC 19795-2:2006 further specifies the requirements in the development and full description of protocols for scenario and technology evaluations and also, in executing and reporting biometric evaluations. BS ISO/IEC 24709-1:2007: ISO/IEC 24709-1:2007 specifies the concepts, framework, test methods and criteria required to test conformity of biometric products claiming conformance to BioAPI (ISO/IEC 19784-1). (www.iso.org). Crosier (2008, p. 25) stated ISO/IEC 24709-1:2007 specifies three conformance testing models which allows conformance testing of each of the BioAPI components mainly a framework, an application and a BSP. BS ISO/IEC 24709-2:2007: The standard BS ISO/IEC 247 defines a number of test assertions composed in the assertion language explicitly required in ISO/IEC 24709-1. The assertions allow a user to test the conformance of any biometric server producer (BSP) that claims to be a conforming implementation of that International Standard to ISO/IEC 19784-1 (BioAPI 2.0) (www.iso.org). BIOMETRICS AND PRIVACY The fact that biometric technologies are based on measuring physiological or behavioral and archiving these data has raised concerns on privacy risks, and also raised discussion on the role biometrics play when it comes to privacy. As stated by Nanavati (2002, p. 237), increase in the use of biometric technology in the public sector, workplace and even at home has raised the following questions: What are the main privacy concerns relating to biometric usage? What kinds of biometric deployments need stronger protections to avoid invading privacy? What biometric technologies are more prone to privacy-invasive usage? What kinds of protections are required to ensure biometrics are used in a non privacy-invasive way? Woodward (2003, p. 197) cited President Clintons speech in his commencement address at Morgan State University in 1997: The right to privacy is one of our most cherished freedomsWe must develop new protections for privacy in the face of new technological reality. Recently, Biometrics has been increasingly deployed to improve security and a very important tool to combat terrorism. Privacy issue is central to biometrics and many people believe that deploying biometrics poses a considerable level of risk to human rights, even though some are of the opinion that biometrics actually protect privacy. Human factors influence the success of a biometric-based identification system to a great extent. The ease as well as comfort in interaction with a biometric system contributes to how people accept it. Jain, Ross and Prabhakar (2004 p. 24) stated an example of a biometric system being able to measure the characteristic of a users without touching, such as those using voice, face, or iris, and concluded that it may be perceived to be a more user-friendly and hygienic system by the users. They added that on the other hand, biometric characteristics not requiring user participation or interaction can be recorded without the knowledge of the user, and this is perceived as a threat to human privacy by many individuals. According to Sim (2009, p. 81), biometrics compared to other security technologies has significant impacts on users privacy (Civil Liberties). It can protect privacy when deployed in an appropriate manner; but when misused, it can result in loss of privacy. ADVANTAGES OF BIOMETRIC OVER TRADITIONAL METHODS Password and PINs have been the most frequently used authentication method. Their use involves controlling access to a building or a room, securing access to computers, network, the applications on the personal computers and many more. In some higher security applications, handheld tokens such as key fobs and smart cards have been deployed. Due to some problems related to these methods, the suitability and reliability of these authentication technologies have been questioned especially in this modern world with modern applications. Biometrics offer some benefits compare to these authentication technologies. INCREASED SECURITY Biometric technology can provide a higher degree of security compared to traditional authentication methods. Chirillo (2003 p. 2) stated that biometrics is preferred over traditional methods for many reasons which include the fact that the physical presence of the authorized person is required at the point of identification. This means that only the authorized person has access to the resources. Effort by people to manage several passwords has left many choosing easy or general words, with considerable number writing the Advantages and Disadvantages of Biometrics Advantages and Disadvantages of Biometrics ABSTRACT Organisations have goals and therefore acquire assets to ensure these goals are met and the continuity guaranteed. Financial sector while trying to promote convenient methods such as online banking and use of ATM for their customers to access their money strives to ensure only the right person has access to the account. Also, military and national security services store high sensitive and critical information that must only be accessed by specific individual thereby deploying security measures to keep this tradition. However, achieving these goals largely depends on securing and controlling the assets as documented which means only authorised individuals have access to these environments and eventually the assets. Sequel to the importance of access control, different security techniques have been deployed to safeguard these assets which ranges from PINs and passwords, ID cards, smart card est. Vulnerabilities to these methods have lead to the recent surge in biometrics industry as many believe this is the future. Reasons such that the physical presence of the authorized person is needed at the point of access and also, the fact that it is unique and almost impossible to duplicate emphasis the benefit of biometrics and explain its glooming popularity. However like any other security methods, biometrics has limitations and threats which can impact its effectiveness and efficiency. It is not suitable for every application and can be a very wrong choice for certain applications. Therefore, it is essential to manage these limitations and threats properly to enhance the success factor of biometrics. Finally, it is important for any sector deploying biometrics to understand the various issues associated with biometrics such as privacy, standards and what the law requires of biometrics. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Organizations strive to secure their assets and provide means of controlling access to these assets. This process requires identification and authorization to ensure the right person is accessing the right asset. Over the years, traditional methods of authentication, mainly passwords and personal identification numbers (PINs) have been popularly used. Recently, swipe card and PINs have been deployed for more security since one is something you have and the latter something you know. However, these methods still have vulnerabilities as swipe card can be stolen. Also, bad management of passwords has left people writing them on papers and desks or simply choosing easy and general words for quick remembrance which expose the password to intruders. More recently, stronger identification and authorization technologies that can assure a person is who he claims to be are becoming prominent and biometrics can be classified to this category. Biometric technology makes use of a persons physiological or behavioral characteristics in identification. Every human being is unique in nature and possesses physical parts completely different from any other person. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack did not help security concerns as governments and organizations all around the world especially the border security agencies have greatly embraced this human recognition technology. As both private and public entities continue to search for a more reliable identification and authentication methods, biometrics has been the choice and considered the future. WHAT IS BIOMETRICS? Biometrics refers to the automatic identifications of a person based on his or her physiological or behavioral characteristics (Chirillo and Blaul 2003, p. 2). It is an authorization method that verifies or identifies a user based on what they are before authorizing access. The search for a more reliable authorization method to secure assets has lead to the revelation of biometrics and many organizations have shown interest in the technology. Two main types of biometrics have been used mainly physical and behavioral. A physical biometrics is a part of a persons body while, a behavioral biometric is something that a person does (Lockie 2002, p. 8). He added that although there are some more unusual biometrics which may be used in the future, including a persons unique smell, the shape of their ear or even the way they talk, the main biometrics being measured include fingerprints, hand geometry, retina scan, iris scan, facial location or recognition (all physical), voice recognition, signature, keystroke pattern and gait (Behavioral). However, it has been argued by Liu and Silverman (2001) that different applications require different biometrics as there is no supreme or best biometric technology. HISTORY OF BIOMETRICS According to Chirillo and Blaul (2003, p. 3) the term biometrics is derived from the Greek words bio (life) and metric (to measure). China is among the first known to practice biometrics back in the fourteenth century as reported by the Portuguese historian Joao de Barros. It was called member-printing where the childrens palms as well as the footprints were stamped on paper with ink to identify each baby. Alphonse Bertillon, a Paris based anthropologist and police desk clerk was trying to find a way of identifying convicts in the 1890s decided to research on biometrics. He came up with measuring body lengths and was relevant till it was proved to be prone to error as many people shared the same measurement. The police started using fingerprinting developed based on the Chinese methods used century before by Richard Edward Henry, who was working at the Scotland Yard. Raina, Orlans and Woodward (2003, p. 25-26) stated references to biometrics as a concept could be traced back to over a thousand years in East Asia where potters placed their fingerprints on their wares as an early form of brand identity. They also pointed Egypts Nile Valley where traders were formally identified based on physical characteristics such as eye color, complexion and also height. The information were used by merchant to identify trusted traders whom they had successfully transacted business with in the past. Kapil et al also made references to the Bible, first pointing to the faith Gileadites had in their biometric system as reported in The Book of Judges (12:5-6) that the men of Gilead identified enemy in their midst by making suspected Ephraimites say Shibboleth for they could not pronounce it right. The second reference is to The Book of Genesis (27:11-28) where Jacob pretended to be Esau by putting goat skins on his hands and back of his neck so his skin would feel h airy to his blind, aged fathers touch. This illustrates a case of biometric spoofing and false acceptance. They finally wrote Biometrics as a commercial, modern technology has been around since the early 1970s when the first commercially available device was brought to market (p. 26). HOW BIOMETRICS SYSTEMS WORK A biometric system is essentially a pattern-recognition system that makes a personal identification by determining the authenticity of a specific physiological or behavioral characteristics possessed by the user (Blaul 2003, p.3). Biometrics has so far been developed to work in two ways mainly verification and identification. Verification systems are designed to give answer to the question, Am I who I claim to be? by requiring that a user claim an identity in order for a biometric comparison to be performed. The user provides data, which is then compared to his or her enrolled biometric data. Identification systems gives answer to the question, who am I? and do not require a user to claim an identity as the provided biometric data is compared to data from a number of users to find a match (Nanavati 2002, p. 12). An illustration of a scenario using an identifying biometrics system is given below and thus gives an answer to the question Who am I? In October 1998 in the United Kingdom, Newham Council introduced face recognition software to 12 town centre cameras with the sole purpose of decreasing street robbery. Images are compared against a police database of over 100 convicted street robbers known to be active in the previous 12 weeks. In August 2001, 527,000 separate faces were detected and operators confirmed 90 matches against the database. Where a face is not identified with any in the database, the image is deleted; if a match is found a human operator checks the result. The introduction of face recognition technology to Newham city centre saw a 34% decrease in street robbery. The system has not led directly to any arrests, which suggests that its effect is largely due to the deterrence/displacement of crime. The face recognition system has been widely publicised by the council and 93% of residents support its introduction (Postnote Nov 2001, p. 1). The case study below illustrates a verifying biometrics system and supply answers to the question Am I who I claim to be? The US Immigration and Naturalization Service Passenger Accelerated Service System (INSPASS) has been introduced at eight airports in order to provide a quick immigration processing for authorised frequent flyers entering the US and Canada. On arrival at an airport, a traveller inserts a card that carries a record of their hand geometry into the INSPASS kiosk and places their hand on a biometric reader. A computer cross-references the information stored on the card at registration with the live hand geometry scan. The complete process takes less than 30 seconds. If the scans match, the traveller can proceed to customs; if not, travellers are referred to an Immigration Inspector. There are more than 45,000 active INSPASS users with, on average, 20,000 automated immigration inspections conducted each month (Postnote Nov 2001, p. 1). Verifying system is often referred to as a one-to-one process and generally takes less processing time compared to the identifying systems. This is due to the fact that in identifying systems, a user is compared to all users in the database (one-to-many). Verifying systems are also more accurate since they only have to match a users data against his or her stored data and do not need hundreds, thousands or even millions of comparisons like the identifying systems. However, it is important for an organization to decide the type appropriate for the applications. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research methodology designed for this dissertation is mainly the qualitative approach. A quantitative approach has been overlooked due to limited time as designing surveys, distribution take time and response time could not be predicted. Therefore, my effort will be concentrated on critically reviewing previous literatures in order to acquire an overview of, and intakes on the topic. For more details, Journals, Books, Publications, Documentaries and previous dissertations related to the topic will be reviewed, compared and analyzed. The objectives will be achieved by purely reviewing literatures and previous researches and the literatures critically analyzed by comparing information obtained from different sources. Findings, recommendations and conclusions will be made from the analysis. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The aim of this research is to critically analyse biometric security as an emerging and booming industry by examining the positives and negatives and providing ways of improving the method effectively and most importantly efficiently. Since biometrics applies to many applications, access control will be the main focus of this dessertation. Also, issues such as privacy, laws governing biometrics and standards will be examined. The main objectives of this research are; To review biometric security and issues related to it. To evaluate the threats, advantages and disadvantages of biometrics. To propose ways of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of biometrics from previous researches. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is aimed at critically reviewing and analysis of numerous works of researchers in the area of biometrics, threats to biometrics, advantages and disadvantages and ways of improving biometrics efficiency in access control. The effect of privacy (human rights) and the need to conform to biometrics standards will also be examined and reviewed. DEFINITION OF BIOMETRICS According to Jain, Ross and Pankanti (2006, p. 125), one great concern in our vastly interconnected society is establishing identity. Systems need to know Is he who he claims he is, Is she authorized to use this resource? or simply who is this? Therefore, a wide range of systems require reliable personal recognition schemes to either verify or identify of an individual seeking access to their services. The purpose of that scheme is to ensure that the rendered services are accessed by only the authorized and not any intruder or imposer (Ross 2004, p. 1). Biometric recognition, or simply biometrics, refers to the automatic recognition of individuals based on their physiological and, or behavioral characteristics (Jain, 2004 p. 1). Woodward (2003, p. 27) cited biometric industry guru Ben Millers 1987 biometric definition: Biometric technologies are automated methods of verifying or recognizing the identity of a living person based on a physical or behavioral characteristic. Shoniregun and Crosier (2008, p. 10) provided several definitions of biometrics which include: Biometrics is the development of statistical and mathematical methods applicable to data analysis problems in the biological science. Biometrics = identification/verification of persons based on the unique physiological or behavioral features of humans. Biometrics is the measurement and matching of biological characteristics such as fingerprint images, hand geometry, facial recognition, etc. Biometrics is strongly linked to a stored identity to the physical person. Nevertheless the various definitions, it can be seen that the science of biometrics is based on the fact that no two people are the same and this has a significant influence on its reliability and success factor. THE BIOMETRICS INDUSTRY According to Lockie (2002, p. 10), the biometric industry did not really get established until the middle of the twentieth century. The researchers at that particular time were investigating whether various human parts and characteristics, such as the iris or the voice, could be used to identify an individual. This was made public by publishing papers and as a considerable number of these strands of research began to form a piece, the biometrics industry as we know it these days was established. As organization search for more secure authentication methods for user access, e-commerce, and other security applications, biometrics is gaining increasing attention (Liu 2001, p.27). Higgins, Orlan and Woodward (2003, p. xxiii ), emphasized that even though biometrics have not become an essential part of all systems requiring controlled access, the emerging industry has come a long way from its modern founding in 1972 with the installation of a commercial finger measurement device on Wall Street. He made reference to the highly respected MIT Technology Review called biometrics one of the top ten emerging technologies that will change the world. The growth in biometric industries is reflected in the numbers. The trio cited Rick Noton, the executive director of the International Biometric Industry Association (IBIA), who reported in the Biometrics 2002 Conference in London, United Kingdom, that the industrys trade association has indicated the surge in biometric revenues over recent years. From $20 million in 1996, it has increased to $200 million in 2001 and Norton believes they will increase as the years pass on significantly in 5 years time. Also, a forecast made by the International Biometric Group (IBG), which is a biometric consulting and integration firm located in New York City, estimate that biometric revenues totaled $399 million in 2000 and will increase to $1.9 billion by 2005. Both IBIA and IBG believe that the private sector will be responsible for much of the growth. These give evidence of the relevance of biometrics in organizations in modern times. BIOMETRICS AND ACCESS CONTROL Over the years, biometrics has evolved rapidly and many vertical markets such as governments, transport, financial sectors, security, public justice and safety, healthcare and many more have adopted biometrics. Due to this wide range of users, biometrics has been deployed to many applications. Biometrics has been of high benefit to organization as they seek a reliable security method to safeguard assets. Fully understanding how biometrics work, it can be said that the ultimate aim of applying biometrics in the vertical markets listed above is to control access to a resource irrespective of the system used whether a verifying or an identifying process It has been stated by S. Nanavati, Thieme and R. Nanavati (2002, p. 14), that biometric systems are deployed for two primary purposes which are physical and logical access. LOGICAL VERSUS PHYSICAL ACCESS Physical access systems monitors, restricts, or grant movement of a person or object into or out of a specific area (Thieme 2002, p. 14). This could be implemented to control entry into rooms or even the main building. Popular examples are control towers, bank vaults, server rooms and many other sensitive rooms requiring controlled access. In physical access, biometrics replaces the use of keys, PIN codes access cards and security guards although any of these could be combined with biometrics as a complementation. Common physical access application is time and attendance. Thieme also gave a definition of logical access systems as one that monitor, restrict or grant access to data or information listing examples such as logging into a PC, accessing data stored on a network, accessing an account, or authenticating a transaction. In this case, biometrics replaces and can be designed to complement PINs, passwords and also tokens. Basic biometric functionality precisely acquiring and comparing of biometric data is often identical in both physical and logical systems. For example, the same iris scan data can be used for both doorway and desktop applications. Thieme explained that the only difference between the two is the external system into which the biometric functionality is integrated. The biometric functionality is integrated into a larger system. This applies for both physical and logical access system and actions such as access to any desktop application or access to a room via a doorway are effected by a biometric match. However, not every system can be classified as physical or logical access as the end result does not indicate access to data or a physical location and the result therefore may be to investigate more. An ATM secured by biometrics allows access to money, a physical entity. This is made possible by allowing the user logical access to his or her data. In the example above, the application is even difficult to classify as either physical or logical. Thieme (2002, p. 15) suggested that the distinction between physical and logical access systems is a valuable tool in understanding biometric. He noted that key criteria such accuracy, fallback procedures, privacy requirements, costs, response time and complexity of integration all vary effectively when moving from logical to physical access. WHAT ARE BIOMETRIC STANDARDS Stapleton (2003, p. 167) defined a standard in a general term as a published document, developed by a recognized authority, which defines a set of policies and practices, technical or security requirements, techniques or mechanisms, or describes some other abstract concept or model. The growth of the biometric industry has been relatively slowed by the absence of industry wide standards and this has also impeded various types of biometric deployment. Nanavati (2002, p. 277) stated that the relative youth of the technology in use, coupled with the disunified nature of the industry, has impacted the developments of standards resulting in a sporadic and frequently redundant standards. Nanavati also noted that the live-scan fingerprint imaging is the only segment of biometric industry with widely accepted and adopted standards. Due to this absence of biometric standards, some institutions have been concerned of being tied into technologies they actually believed as not mature or even dev elopmental. However in an effort to actively address the standards issue, the biometric industry has finalized some blueprints and the process of getting industries to accept these standards is ongoing WHY IS STANDARDIZATION NECESSARY? The high rate of biometric development and rapid growth in adoption of biometric technologies in recent years has resulted in ever-increasing levels of what is expected in terms of accuracy, adaptability, and reliability in an ever-wider range of applications. Due to the adoption of biometric technologies in large-scale national and international applications, involving a potentially unlimited range of stakeholders, Farzin Deravi (2008, p. 483) stated that it has become essential to address these expectations by ensuring agreed common frameworks for implementation and evaluation of biometric technologies through standardization activities. Majority of biometric systems, including both the hardware and software are made and sold by the owner of the patent at this stage in their development. They are being proprietary in numerous aspects including the manner in which biometric devices and systems as a whole communicate with applications, the method of extracting features from a biometric sample, and among many more, the method of storing and retrieving biometric data. This resulted in many companies in most cases, being wedded to a particular technology, once they agree to implement that particular technology. Nanavati (2002, p. 278) stated that in order to incorporate a new technology, the companies are required to rebuild their system from scratch upward, and in some cases duplicating much of the deployment effort. Deravi (2008 p. 483) noted that the need for interoperability of biometric systems across national boundaries has implied a rapid escalation of standardization efforts to the international arena, stating that the sense of urgency for the need for standardization has been the priority of internal security concerns. The industry wide or universal adoption of biometric standard will not make biometric technology interoperable at least, to the state where an old device can be replaced by a new device without rebuilding the system. However, Nanavati (2002 p. 278) argued the core algorithms through which vendors locate and extract biometric data are very unlikely to be interoperable or standardized, the reason being that these algorithms represents the basis of most vendors intellectual property. Numerous reasons are responsible for the motivation towards standardization. These include the desire for reducing the overall cost of deploying biometrics technologies and optimize the reliability of biometric systems, to reduce the risk of deploying solutions to biometric problems, to ensure in the area of encryption and file format, that the basic building blocks of biometric data management have been developed based on best practice by industry professionals. Nanavati (2002 p. 278) concluded that standards ensure that, in the future, biometric technology will be developed and deployed in accordance with generally accepted principles of information technology. EXISTING BIOMETRIC STANDARDS Shoniregun and Crosier (2008 p. 22) stated that the evolving interest and developments have made developments of standards a necessity with the sole aim of allowing compatibility of different systems. The detailed standards in the Biometrics Resource Centre (2002) report are summarised below: Common Biometric Exchange File Format (CBEFF): The Common Biometric Exchange File Format (CBEFF) sets a standard for the data elements essential in supporting biometric technology in a common way irrespective of the application involved or the domain in use. It makes data interchange between systems and their components easier, while promoting interoperability applications, programs as well as systems based on biometrics. INCITS MI-Biometrics Technical Committee: The committee which was established by the Executive Board of the International Committee for Information Technology standards (INCITS) with the responsibility to ensure a focused and reasonably comprehensive approach in the United States for the rapid development and approval of previous national and international generic biometric standards (Shoniregun ad Crosier 2008, p. 22) BioAPI Specification (Version 1.1): The BioAPI standard defines the architecture for biometric systems integration in a single computer system. (Deravi 2008, p. 490). The Bio API specification has been one of the most popular standards efforts since it was formed in April 1998 according to Nanavati (2002, p. 279). Nnavati stated that the standard was formed to develop an API that is both widely accepted and widely available while being compatible with various biometric technologies. Other general standards available are Human Recognition Module (HRS), ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000, American Association for Motor Vehicle Administration and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) which specifies the acceptable security requirements necessary for effective management of biometric data especially for the financial services industry. BRITISH BIOMETRICS STANDARDS The British Standards Institution (BSI) commenced work in June 2004 on biometrics standards and since then, has published according to Shoniregun and Crosier (2008, p. 24) a set of four new BS ISO/IEC 19794 STANDARDS, reported to have covered the science of biometrics, and using biological characteristics in identifying individuals. The objective of publishing these standards is to promote interoperability between the several products in the market. BS ISO/IEC 19784-2:2007: This standard defines the interface to an archive Biometric Function Provider (BFP). The interface assumes that the collected biometrics data will be managed as a database, irrespective of its physical realization. Crosier (2008, p. 24) defined the physical realization as smartcards, token, memory sticks, files on hard drives and any other kind of memory can be handled via an abstraction layer presenting a database interface.) BS ISO/IEC 19795-2:2006: According to Shoniregun (2008, p. 25), this standard provides recommendations and requirements on collection of data, analysis as well as reporting specific to two types of evaluation (scenario evaluation and technology evaluation). BS ISO/IEC 19795-2:2006 further specifies the requirements in the development and full description of protocols for scenario and technology evaluations and also, in executing and reporting biometric evaluations. BS ISO/IEC 24709-1:2007: ISO/IEC 24709-1:2007 specifies the concepts, framework, test methods and criteria required to test conformity of biometric products claiming conformance to BioAPI (ISO/IEC 19784-1). (www.iso.org). Crosier (2008, p. 25) stated ISO/IEC 24709-1:2007 specifies three conformance testing models which allows conformance testing of each of the BioAPI components mainly a framework, an application and a BSP. BS ISO/IEC 24709-2:2007: The standard BS ISO/IEC 247 defines a number of test assertions composed in the assertion language explicitly required in ISO/IEC 24709-1. The assertions allow a user to test the conformance of any biometric server producer (BSP) that claims to be a conforming implementation of that International Standard to ISO/IEC 19784-1 (BioAPI 2.0) (www.iso.org). BIOMETRICS AND PRIVACY The fact that biometric technologies are based on measuring physiological or behavioral and archiving these data has raised concerns on privacy risks, and also raised discussion on the role biometrics play when it comes to privacy. As stated by Nanavati (2002, p. 237), increase in the use of biometric technology in the public sector, workplace and even at home has raised the following questions: What are the main privacy concerns relating to biometric usage? What kinds of biometric deployments need stronger protections to avoid invading privacy? What biometric technologies are more prone to privacy-invasive usage? What kinds of protections are required to ensure biometrics are used in a non privacy-invasive way? Woodward (2003, p. 197) cited President Clintons speech in his commencement address at Morgan State University in 1997: The right to privacy is one of our most cherished freedomsWe must develop new protections for privacy in the face of new technological reality. Recently, Biometrics has been increasingly deployed to improve security and a very important tool to combat terrorism. Privacy issue is central to biometrics and many people believe that deploying biometrics poses a considerable level of risk to human rights, even though some are of the opinion that biometrics actually protect privacy. Human factors influence the success of a biometric-based identification system to a great extent. The ease as well as comfort in interaction with a biometric system contributes to how people accept it. Jain, Ross and Prabhakar (2004 p. 24) stated an example of a biometric system being able to measure the characteristic of a users without touching, such as those using voice, face, or iris, and concluded that it may be perceived to be a more user-friendly and hygienic system by the users. They added that on the other hand, biometric characteristics not requiring user participation or interaction can be recorded without the knowledge of the user, and this is perceived as a threat to human privacy by many individuals. According to Sim (2009, p. 81), biometrics compared to other security technologies has significant impacts on users privacy (Civil Liberties). It can protect privacy when deployed in an appropriate manner; but when misused, it can result in loss of privacy. ADVANTAGES OF BIOMETRIC OVER TRADITIONAL METHODS Password and PINs have been the most frequently used authentication method. Their use involves controlling access to a building or a room, securing access to computers, network, the applications on the personal computers and many more. In some higher security applications, handheld tokens such as key fobs and smart cards have been deployed. Due to some problems related to these methods, the suitability and reliability of these authentication technologies have been questioned especially in this modern world with modern applications. Biometrics offer some benefits compare to these authentication technologies. INCREASED SECURITY Biometric technology can provide a higher degree of security compared to traditional authentication methods. Chirillo (2003 p. 2) stated that biometrics is preferred over traditional methods for many reasons which include the fact that the physical presence of the authorized person is required at the point of identification. This means that only the authorized person has access to the resources. Effort by people to manage several passwords has left many choosing easy or general words, with considerable number writing the

Austin Museum Of Art :: essays research papers

The Austin Museum of Art was the first of the three galleries attended. At the time, the museum had a touring â€Å"Rock and Roll† exhibit, which had its focus on the influence of the Rock –and-Roll culture on art. The pieces were arranged in a chronological order and started with the Pop Art of the early 1960’s. Located in the section were two silk screens, one of Mick Jaggard and the other of Prince, done by Andy Warhol. There were a few other pieces in this time period that helped to point out a major turning point in both art and photography. It was now okay to use other people’s photographs in an art piece. Also, it symbolized a beginning of the manipulation of the photograph. No longer were the artists bound to having their work on paper, there were new and limitless areas to explore now in photography. These were the main works that caught my attention in the museum, but there were many other pieces. Other works went through the abstract and full of color 1960’s, until the newer more mechanical art of the 1980’s and 90’s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After attending the Austin Museum of Art, the students headed for a smaller, more informal gallery. The Dumont Gallery contained works from various photographers that were entered into a contest earlier in the year. Now the pictures were traveling around the state of Texas, and had even made a stop at the MSC in College Station. The pieces in the exhibit made visible the numerous ways in which art and photography can be presented. There were huge photographs, Polaroids, pictures developed onto clothing, series photographs, bound pictures, and a large amount whose methods of production could not be identified. There was one group of photographs done by the same artist that truly caught my attention. The artist, while a young woman did not have a very interesting life, and often sought refuge in the Nancy Drew mystery novels. Now, she has often caught herself talking to people about her life and actually telling the events that happened in the books instead of her l ife. It was because of those events that she did a series of photographs were she dressed up like Nancy Drew and posed in her pictures that played out the different stories from the books. She decided, why not be her if you think you are her.

Solar Energy Facts

ASTOUNDING SOLAR ENERGY FACTS What is solar energy? People often think of solar energy as solar panels mounted on roofs in sunny neighborhoods. This is only part of solar energy (â€Å"Solar energy facts,†2012). Solar energy is the oldest energy source. Plants, animal and the microbial life have been using it as a principle energy source since the times of creation. It is in the form of heat and light. In the past years, people have tapped solar energy enabling it to be used at all times; including the nights, in all weather conditions, can be stored as well as be transferred.Solar energy can be defined as the technology used to exploit the sun’s power and make it usable. Solar energy facts * Solar energy makes life a reality. Through photosynthesis, plants absorb sunlight and provide food and oxygen which animals consume to live. Human bodies absorb solar energy this helps to regulate body temperature. Sunlight also provides vitamin D, which is necessary to human healt h. * Solar energy is an extremely clean energy source. It is environmentally healthier than traditionally fossil related forms of energy since it does not emit any known pollutants to the environment. The earth absorbs approximately 3. 85 million exajoules of energy from the sun. This is big compared to the earth’s use of about 56. 7 exajoules. The sun is the sole source of solar energy, believed to last for more than 5 billion years. This means solar energy is the most renewable and viable source of energy. * The practical use of solar energy is inexhaustible. Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) proposed the concentrating solar principle, which a concave mirror directs rays to solar water heaters. Also upon launch, satellites and spacecrafts use solar energy as their main source. Solar energy is responsible for the weather and ocean currents. Majority of the thermal energy which is due to solar energy stored in the ocean. This means the transfer of energy on the earth’s sur face relates to the ocean-atmosphere. Utilization of solar energy * Solar thermal plants concentrate the sun’s energy as a heat source to boil water used to run steam powered turbines to generate electricity. * Solar panels using photovoltaic cells convert solar energy into electricity to light homes, though storage batteries may be needed. Solar energy can be used in war, as from Archimedes who by directing heat rays using mirrors burned down ships that had siege Syracuse. * Solar water heater utilizes solar energy to warm water for homes. Also by the use of heat absorbent surfaces, solar energy can be used to heat pools. * In food processing, solar energy presents a significant functionality in drying. In summary, solar energy is a renewable source of green energy and has a tremendous and endless industrial utilization.It is also vital to life and nature. This solar energy facts reveal that solar is the main green energy source at hand. References Solar Energy Information a nd Facts(2010). Retrieved from http://www. valopia. com/index. php/Solar/solar-energy-information-and-facts. html Solar Energy Facts. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. solarenergy-facts. org/ Solar power facts. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. solarpowerfacts. biz/ Wind Solar Projects. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. windsolarprojects. com/

Cause, effect, solution to deforestation Essay

Deforestation means clearing forest cover or tree plantations to accommodate agriculture, industrial or urban use. It may cause the end of forest cover because of human purpose. So what can cause deforestation? As earlier mentioned, agricultural activities are one of the major reasons. Nowadays the demand for food products of people is overgrowing, so a large number of trees is cut down to grow crops or for cattle grazing. Another reason is for logging. Wood based industries, like paper, match-sticks and furniture, are now used frequently, so several trees are chopped down for this purpose. Also, wood is used as fuel in an either direct or indirect way, for example firewood or charcoal, so trees are destroyed. Some of the factors is the desertification of land. It happens because there isn’t much land enough for houses, roads and for the overpopulation in urban areas. One more example is forest blazes. Thousands of trees are lost each year because of the forest fire. It happen s due to extreme warm summers or milder winters. As a result, deforestation can affect a lot on nature. As we know, trees play an important role in controlling climate balance and global warming. They release water vapor in the air, give shades so that soil is kept moist and is prevented from erosion and utilize the greenhouse gases. They also protect some areas from floods as trees absorb and store large amount of water with their roots. In addition, the falling of trees can cause wildlife extinction. Because forests and jungles are natural habitats for wild animals, when these places are destroyed, the animals have nowhere to live. They are forced to move to a new location, some of them are even pushed to extinction. To stop these terrible effects from happening, we need to have solutions to this problem. So as to reduce the number of trees falling down, the government should make a series of rules and laws of cutting trees. Also, clear cutting of forests must be banned. And they should have a policy of planting young trees to replace the older ones tha were cut. We should make a mov e as soon as possible, to save the trees for our future.

History of the Hula Hoop - Trivia and More

History of the Hula Hoop - Trivia and More The hula hoop is an ancient invention - no modern company and no single inventor can claim that they invented the first hula hoop. In fact, the Ancient Greeks often used hooping as a form of exercise. Older hoops have been made from metal, bamboo, wood, grasses, and even vines. However, modern companies re-invented their own versions of the hula hoop using unusual materials, for example; plastic hula hoops with added bits of glitter and noisemakers, and hoops that are collapsible. Origins of the Name Hula Hoop Around 1300, hooping came to Great Britain, homemade versions of the toy became very popular. In the early 1800s, British sailors first witnessed hula dancing in the Hawaiian Islands. Hula dancing and hooping look somewhat similar and the name hula hoop came together. Wham-O Trademarks and Patents the Hula Hoop Richard Knerr and Arthur Spud Melin founded the Wham-O company, which helped popularize another ancient toy, the frisbee. Knerr and Melin started the Wham-O company from their Los Angeles garage in 1948. The men were marketing a slingshot originally invented for training pet falcons and hawks (it slung meat at the birds). This slingshot was named Wham-O because of the sound it made when it hit the target. Wham-O also became the companys name. Wham-O has become the most successful manufacturer of hula hoops in modern times. They trademarked the name Hula Hoop ® and started manufacturing the toy out of the new plastic Marlex in 1958. On May 13, 1959, Arthur Melin applied for a patent for his version of the hula hoop. He received U.S. Patent Number 3,079,728 on March 5, 1963, for a Hoop Toy. Twenty million Wham-O hula hoops sold for $1.98 in the first six months. Hula Hoop Trivia Japan once banned the hula hoop because the rotating hip action seems indecent.On June 4, 2005, Australian Kareena Oates set a Guinness world record for hula hooping - with 100 hoops for three full revolutions.101 hoops were spun by Alesya Goulevich of Belarus on June 11, 2006105 hoops were spun by Jin Linlin of China on October 28, 2007.The world record for the largest Hula Hoop (by circumference) spun was set by American Ashrita Furman at 51.5 feet on June 1, 2007.

Joy Luck Club-Magpies Summary essays

Joy Luck Club-Magpies Summary essays The story starts with An-mei Hsu talking about her daughters (Rose Hsu Jordan) troubled marriage and how its starting to fall apart. Rose thinks she is severely suffering and all she can do is lie down on a psychiatrists couch squeezing tears out of shame. This triggers powerful memories for An-mei Hsu who gradually starts to remember her own past. Now she sees herself in her daughters pain and remembers what she tried to conceal. Only her tears were generated by more than just shame. Sixty years ago, An-mei remembers seeing her mother for the first time. Popo (grandmother) had sent her mother away because she had dishonored her family and her widowhood by becoming the third concubine to a rich man. It was only when An-mei was nine years old and her grandmother was terminally ill (and eventually died) that Mother came back to take care of Popo, and An-mei finally realized her mother was not as evil as her aunt, uncle and Popo had portrayed her to be. After caring for Popo and after many arguments with her brother Mother finally managed to take her daughter back to Tientsin where she lived with her rich husband and his other wives. Life in Tientsin was very comfortable. Foreign luxuries from boiled peanuts to elegant Victorian dresses were introduced to An-mei. She lived in a spacious new house with her mother and many servants and did not question her happiness. Soon the Fifth wife (a young beautiful woman) arrived home with Wu Tsing (the husband of all five wives) and, while everything seemed peaceful, it was not. Her mothers position was low and shameful, as a fourth wife is less than a fifth. The Second wife (Big Mother) and Third wife, their children and servants returned home to Tientsin. Big mother had a son named Syaudi who now became An-meis smallest brother and Third wife had three daughters who became An-meis sisters. ...

10 Ways to Blog Your Book to Increase Sales Without Being Pushy or Annoying (Part 1)

10 Ways to Blog Your Book to Increase Sales Without Being Pushy or Annoying (Part 1) A lot of people think that once a book is written, the work is done. Often times, especially if you are a self-published author, the work is just beginning. After the brainstorming and drafting, writing and revising, editing and publishing comes the†¦ selling. There are only so many times you can say, buy my book! But the fact of the matter is, you need to continue placing your book in front of your audience if you have any prayer of selling copies. To help, I’ve come up with a list of ten ways you can blog about your book. I am breaking this article up into two parts, so read on for the first five suggested ways to blog about your book and then check back in next week to learn the second set of ways to increase your book sales through your blog without being pushy or annoying. The Inspiration Every story has to start somewhere. If you write about the inspiration behind the story, you don’t even have to wait until it’s published to engage your audience. Readers will feel like they are getting a behind the scenes sneak peek at your work in progress and endear them to the project right from the start. In this post, I shared all about how I turned my friend’s reality into inspiration for a fiction story. Writing Tips   Another topic you can talk about before you publish are the techniques you are using to write the story. For example, for my most recent book, I wrote about outlining, writing sprints, and using YouTube for research. First Chapter and Cover Reveal   A few weeks before you publish, give your readers a little teaser Music Play Lists   Mark Parsons wrote Road Rash, a â€Å"band-on-the-road† story about growing up- and growing into yourself. There probably isn’t a better scenario on the planet for a novel playlist. Being both a writer and a musician, Mark wrote this article for Huffington Post: 10 Best Road Trip Songs. Your book doesn’t have to be about music though to pull this off. Wisconsin based author Valerie Biel created playlists for her YA historical fantasy novels. Playlists are a great content addition to her website and also an excellent way for readers to create the atmosphere of the book to enhance their reading experience. Book Trailers Another way you can engage readers is â€Å"As authors, we want to give readers as much information as possible about our books so they can decide if it’s worth their precious time and money because let’ face it, this is a busy and expensive world. A book trailer can do this in 60 seconds or less using visuals and music. If a picture says a thousand words, adding tone and music says ten thousand.† – Teri Case, author of the award-winning novel Tiger Drive and forth-coming title, In the Dog House Once the trailer is finished, you can write a post about the creation process, including how you chose the images and music, how you scripted the video and any tips and tricks you’d recommend for other’s looking to give a book trailer a try. Okay! That’s it for today! Be sure to come back next week for the second half of the list!! (Click here for Part 2)

Health and Wellness in Saudi Arabia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health and Wellness in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example This paper tells that in Saudi Arabia they did not take a lot of medicines. Instead, they were served a healthy diet all the time. They also played a lot outside by running and playing sports and that served as their daily exercise. These basic things have shaped t beliefs about health and wellness. I once had a classmate in school who was very sickly. He would miss school often and when he came back, he would be very thin. I learned he had Cancer. My classmates and I were very surprised because we thought Cancer only struck old people. My teacher then had to explain that Cancer does not choose any age or gender or even status in life. She reminded us to take care of our bodies well so that there is less likelihood of contracting diseases. That got me more health-conscious. I kept myself clean all the time, made healthy choices in my eating and exercised every day. Coming to America, I realized just how different the culture is and how Americans regard health. I come from a country w here there is a limited choice of food as compared to here in the US where fast food restaurants abound. I look around me and see various kinds of diseases resulting from eating food loaded with calories and preservatives. On the other hand, I also discovered how fortunate Americans are because they are provided with health coverage from their government. Healthcare here is much more advanced than in Saudi Arabia. I also observed that children also play, but their kind of recreation is mostly done indoors, with video games. Television also plays a huge role in their lives that they spend so much time in front of it while munching on snacks. Thus, they do not get enough physical activity and become prone to being overweight or even obese. The adults, on the other hand, seem to be obsessed with fitness, as seen in popular shows like â€Å"The Biggest Loser†. Exercise videos and a whole lot of gadgets that promise a sexier and more fit body to abound in advertisements. Numerous diets have been developed such as the Atkins diet, South beach diet, the GM diet and so many more. Sometimes, these diets contradict each other in recommending which foods to eat or avoid that people get confused about what is the truth. Thinking about these things convince me that good health practices should start from childhood. If children have been trained to eat healthily, engage in exercise or more physical activities instead of just being entertained passively by electronic media, then they do not grow up to be adults who are obsessed to regaining their health and fitness. For me, health and wellness can easily be achieved by not only caring for the body with good food, exercise, enough sleep and maintaining one’s hygiene well. One should also consider caring for his mind and heart. This means feeding the mind with good thoughts, ideas, and information from books, shows or worthy and sensible and worthy conversations with people. Right now, I have no problems with tha t, being a student. I am learning so much from my courses as well as from discussions with my peers. In terms of caring for one’s heart, I do not mean just physically, but to keep the heart happy as well. This can be achieved by having harmonious relationships with others and keeping peace with them instead of drawing up negative emotions and stress. Having no enemies and keeping a positive outlook in life truly brings about wellness. My current perspective about health and wellness has been influenced by my parents and teachers in Saudi Arabia who all served to be good role models to me by living healthy lives and having positive dispositions. I am grateful to my parents, for raising me with good health practices, and my teachers for stressing the importance of good health.

Explain Gandhi's contention that external independence (swaraj) Essay

Explain Gandhi's contention that external independence (swaraj) depends upon internal swaraj. Do you think his reasoning is correct why or why not - Essay Example All citizens should enjoy the fruits of their labor and enjoy their human rights and freedoms (Singh 14). Gandhi’s thinking contention that external independence will depend on internal swaraj is correct. First and foremost, self-government ability should depend on internal strengths and ability to resist all odds. Political self-government which is not sustainable is not worth its name and thus external swaraj will be attained by attaining internal swaraj. According to Gandhi, internal swaraj forms the basis of civilization and internal strengths can only be maintained when the masses remain patriotic in achieving the national goals and good which are above any personal considerations such as personal profit. Gandhi is correct to assert that swaraj is an inclusive government but the majority should refrain from selfish and immoral acts since this can only spell anarchy. Internal swaraj is not based on any race or religious affiliations, or controlled by the moneyed men thus all citizens are able to unity and resist external pressures of colonization and achieve external independ ence (Parel 77). Gandhi’s thinking is correct since he clearly asserts that Indian swaraj is not based on any major community such as Hindus but rule of all people thus ensuring justice to all the citizens. Gandhi is correct since civilization should ensure public resources are safeguarded by ensuring morality in all public affairs, private undertaking and public undertakings. Internal swaraj will eliminate all violent acts and unify all the citizens in resisting the heaviest external odds and external control of their nation’s affairs. According to Gandhi, all citizens are entitled to amenities that are enjoyed by moneyed men but they are not necessary for happiness thus self-government should guarantee this amenities to all citizens. Through internal swaraj, Gandhi demonstrates that Indians can attain a healthy and dignified independence and nationalism spirit

National Trust Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

National Trust - Essay Example Even though a non-profit organization has no investors or return on investment to consider, it must weigh such factors as fundraising, volunteer staff and goodwill that a commercial firm does not (Greechie 2003). Since it only charges, membership fee, a fee to visit its sites and purchase of its products at special stores, this is hardly enough to pay for their places. This means that the more they have to rely on donations and collect the funds to pay off all these additional costs National Trust is unstable economy. During economic difficulties the organization may experience has problem with finance given by good people. When times get tough, people will spend less money for charity due to the high cost of living. unless there is a strong relationship between the established donors to the National Trust, solution to this problem may not be found. The fact that it is the non-profit organization makes it less competitive and any work vacancies can be avoided people. This can be solve by effective advertisement strategies National Trust is a strength on their part National Trust uses newspapers, magazines, billboards and Internet ads to reach a large audience. They have a good chance to take an interest in people who have never heard about organization. They achieved great success in advertising. It has employed; Above the line and Below-the-line promotion tactics. Above -the-line method involves the use of traditional methods of advertising such as newspapers and magazines. Below -the-line promotions must have deal with specifically chosen audience. Group receives letters by mail, news articles, press releases, promotions, exhibitions and sponsorship activities. It is a form of an integrated campaign aimed at sending messages to a clearly defined audience. Advantage above the line promotion is that it reaches a wider audience while below - line

Managing the Impaired Nurse Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Managing the Impaired Nurse - Research Paper Example As an integral part of the delivery of quality healthcare, the functioning capabilities of the nurse must be on par with the standards required by the institution and the position within that institution held by the nurse. An impaired nurse, by definition, is lacking in the ability to perform their duties at a level sufficient to successfully provide their patients with quality care and meet the standards defined by their position. The complete technical definition, according to Dunn considers a nurse to be impaired â€Å"when alcohol or drug use affects their cognitive, interpersonal or psychomotor skills to the point where they can no longer satisfy their professional code of ethics or standards of practice†. As a management leader, the quality of the decisions made regarding the identification of a nurse impaired, whether due to drug abuse or the use of other mind-altering substances, is vital to the success or failure in the ability of the staff to provide their patients w ith proper care. Since nurses represent the largest discipline within the healthcare infrastructure, strong leadership is vital to a healthy work environment, job satisfaction, improved patient safety outcomes, lower turnover rates, and positive outcomes for organizations, patients and healthcare providers. (Curtis, de Vries, & Sheerin, 2011). The primary requisites for successful management and leadership, as depicted by Marquis & Huston (2012), are decision making, problem solving, and critical thinking, which are considered to be learned skills that improve over time and with consistent use. The overall imperative of nursing, like all healthcare practices, is to provide optimal care to patients to help cure or better their conditions and, since the ability of the impaired nurse to achieve this function degrades according to their degree of impairment, it is vital for nurse leaders and managers to address these issues. Impaired nurses pose a significant risk to the health and safe ty of patients and it is essential that management and leadership staff members have accurate information regarding the prevention, identification, investigation, and reporting of a nurse with a substance abuse or chemical dependency problem so that they are able to assist in the referral of a nurse with a substance abuse or chemical dependency problem for appropriate assessment and monitoring (Colorado Board of Nursing, 2003). In addition, seeking help for the impaired nurse can potentially enable the nurse to eventually return to their duties once they have completed their recovery. Each year, statewide monitoring agencies receive thousands of complaints against RNs and LPNs, and a significant number of these complaints are regarding suspected drug/alcohol/chemical dependency issues, which makes the condition of the impaired nurse a significant national problem. For this reason, the topic of managing the impaired nurse is of significant interest and is one I feel should be address ed.

Impact of international field experience on agricultural Education Article - 1

Impact of international field experience on agricultural Education - Article Example It is sometimes a manifestation of the human natural instinct to save one’s own race that leads to discrimination against international students in America. The international students coming to America are not disadvantageous to the country but rather they contribute to the economy, society and culture in many ways. So it is the prime duty of the country to protect the international students from bias, prejudice and discrimination. As Poyrazli, Thukral and Duru (2010) maintain â€Å"The international students face considerable difficulty in making new adjustments initially due to lack of social support, communication problems, and homesickness†. First and foremost, every educational institution in America should be bound legally to be answerable to the government regarding the mishandling of the international students. Secondly, as a protective measure, the government should give a chance to the international students to report to the institute regarding their experience in their new

New American Vision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

New American Vision - Essay Example For many modern day individuals, those of whom will have grown accustomed to the present state of the market and the working world, it can become quite easy to forget the earlier days of how things such as cars and utilitarian items, would have been produced. A classic example of the evolution of production, would have been the assembly line perfected by automaker Henry Ford. Due to his creative thinking, American consumers were able to possess the opportunity to have an automobile at the fraction of the time it would have taken prior. In this case, "The Industrial Revolution was a transformation of human life circumstances that occurred in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (roughly 1760 to 1840) in Britain, the United States, and Western Europe due in large measure to advances in the technologies of industry," ("Industrial Revolution", p.1). It would be this revolution, that would lead to changes in production measures that would result in a shift in the modern work force. Where previously the workforce had been predominately individuals themselves, it would now become a scenario in which machines would be able to alleviate a level of the strain, so that it would be a mixture of man and machine. American families would be impacted by such changes in the workforce. Mainly in such areas as, the ability for the heads of the household to be at home more, rather than spending the vast majority of their time at work. This would give way to the stronger sense of the modern American family. The family that would be able to eat meals together and also interact with each other on levels previously not had, had it not been for the adjustments made to the workplace in conjunction with the boom of the technological advancement age. From a business standpoint, it would enable business owners to lower wage costs by having fewer employees on the floor at the same time. Such cost savings would in turn, be able to be transferred to the customers of their products, in the form of decreases in the cost of products purchased. Further assessing the automotive aspect of the revolution, "For American automobile workers, one relatively constant feature of their daily factory lives was this simplified, monotonous, and degraded work. Although work tasks, work situations, and work routines varied considerably from automobile firm to automobile firm and from one shop or department to another, the work tasks of assembly line workers were the simplest, most boring, and most degrading," (Meyer, p.1). For those individuals that sought to achieve the basic needs of life as they saw them, the advancements in the production line, courtesy of the increases in industrialization, would seem as a saving graces of sorts. The opportunity to have work environments that were simple. Many who were a part of the workforce, worked in factories that resided in their respective towns. " As in Britain, the United States originally used water power to run its factories, with the consequence that industrialization was essentially limited to New England and the rest of the Northeastern United States, where fast-moving rivers were located," ("Industrial Revolution", p.19). With such limited presence in the modern world, the ability of transferring created goods to a broader grouping of people, would prove to be quite difficult. The vision of a modern America, would be hindered in that, at this point, only a