Saturday, October 12, 2019

Cinematic Techniques in Strictly Ballroom Essays -- Baz Luhrman Film M

Extended Film Response How the film techniques used by Baz Luhrman to influence the portrayal and development of characters in the film Strictly Ballroom? In the film Strictly Ballroom, the director Baz Luhrman uses many different film techniques to influence the portrayal and development of characters. Costume and makeup is used as a vital technique to show the audience the characters’ personalities and also the development of some characters. Camera angles and lighting is another technique that is used to exaggerate the characters’ personalities and the scenes they are in. Luhrman also uses character behaviors as an effective technique in portraying each characters’ personality. In the film Luhrman uses costume and makeup to portray characters’ personalities. Such as Shirley Hastings. Shirley’s costume and makeup shows the audience a great deal about her personality. Shirley always wears pink, puts ‘over the top’ makeup on and wears a lot of jewellery. This tells the audience that she is ‘over the top’ and maybe insecure about herself or her past. Liz Holt is another character whose personality could not have been portrayed if it wasn’t for the costume and makeup used. Liz is a drama queen and exaggerates everything including her costume and makeup. She nearly always wears yellow and also exaggerates her makeup with bright colours even when she’s not dancing. Luhrman also used costume and makeup to show the development of one of the main characters, Fran. At the start of the film, Fran is introduced with acne, glasses and baggy clothes, which shows the audience that she is not comfortable with herself and not confident. But when Fran starts dancing she slowly becomes more confident and her costume and makeup changes. Fr... ...eally talks and is presented as someone who is quite awkward. Doug also gets pushed around by everyone, until at the end of the film when he yells at his son Scott to listen to him, giving the audience the impression that he is tired of getting pushed around and no one listening to him and also because he didn’t want his son to make a mistake. Film techniques are used extremely effectively in Strictly Ballroom by the director Baz Luhrman. Costume and makeup, camera angles and lighting and also character behaviours were used to influence the portrayal and development of all of the main characters. Without these film techniques, Strictly Ballroom could not have been made into a film as entertaining as it is and the characters personalities and development would not have been portrayed. Bibliography Baz Luhrman, 1992, Strictly Ballroom, Motion Picture, Bazmark.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Investing Stocks and Bonds Essay

Investing in Stocks and Bonds Stocks and Bonds are different in many ways. A stock is a portion or share of the ownership of a corporation. A share will give the owner of the stock the company’s profits or loses over time. The good thing about stocks is they can be sold at almost any time as long as there is someone willing to buy. A bond, on the other hand, is a fixed interest financial asset issued by governments, companies, banks, and other large entities. Bonds also are called funds. Bonds pay the owner a fixed amount a specific date, or on specified dates depending on the type of bond. If the bond is a discount bond, then there is one pay date at the end. If the bond is a coupon bond, then it pays a fixed amount over a specific time. The time could be by month, or by year. My team was assigned the task of investing 120,000 dollars over ten years. We were to invest 80% of 120,000 dollars in stocks and 20% in bonds. We invested in six different stocks and two bonds. Also, we split the money. Therefore, we each invested 6,000 dollars per year in three stocks and one bond. The first stock I decided to invest in was Nike Inc. Nike Inc. is a strongly advertised and a well-distributed company (Nike). Nike Inc. is known well across the world (Nike). When it comes to shoes, clothes, or sports apparel, everyone has at least one item of Nike. In most cases, people own multiple things of Nike equipment. Nike Inc. spends great amounts of time and money on their products (Nike). Also, Nike Inc. is extremely popular among sports. That is relevant because I am an athlete, and own many Nike products. Almost every pair of shoes I own is Nike, besides dress shoes. This all proceeded to tell me, as an investor, to get involved in a part of the company. I took 2,000 dollars of the 6,000 dollars and invested in Nike Inc. Every year for ten years I bought 2,000 dollars worth of shares. The number of shares each year ranged from 24 shares to 42 shares of Nike Inc. stock. In April of 2007, there was a stock split for Nike Inc. The shares split 2:1. So the number of shares I owned up to that point doubled. I owned roughly 197 shares before the 2:1 split. After the split I accumulated about 395 shares. The total number of shares at the end of ten years was approximately 527 shares. My shares sold for $89. 34 each. The total earned from Nike Inc. was $47,130. 76. Another stock is Buckle Inc. This is another company in the clothing industry; however, Buckle Inc. urprised me with how well they did. Buckle Inc. is a popular clothing store for young adults (Buckle). They have jeans, dress shirts, shoes, and other clothing (Buckle). Their products can get expensive, but they are made well (Buckle). Many young adults shop at Buckle Inc. for the variety of trendy options they offer (Buckle). This is relevant beca use I am a young adult, and have shopped at Buckle before. I also know many friends and family who has shopped in Buckle as well. If someone asks around looking for a nice pair of jeans the answer is, â€Å"Have you tried Buckle? They have a nice selection. Like in Nike Inc. , I took 2,000 dollars to invest in this fine company. In 2001 when I started, the shares were quite low in price. The first year I owned over 100 shares. Unlike Nike Inc. , there was more than one split for Buckle Inc. There were two stock splits within the ten years. One split came in January of 2007, and another split came in October of 2008. Both of the stock splits were 3:2 splits. Prior to the first split I owned around 460 shares. After the split I owned about 690 shares. Before the second split I had approximately 786 shares. Following the second split I owned around 1,180 shares. The total number of shares in the end was about 1362 shares. Each sold for $44. 21 coming to a total of $60,238. 45. The last stock I invested in was in the outrageous oil and gas industry. The oil and gas industry can be a risky investment; therefore, I was not guaranteed to come out on top or, in another words, succeed. If success were the outcome, the profit would be fairly significant. I tried Chevron Corporation because they seemed reliable compared to other oil and gas companies (Chevron). Chevron Corporation has been known to strive beyond expectations, and care for the safety of the workforce and environment (Chevron). Chevron products are recognized for their quality, performance, and technology around the world (Chevron). I decided to be on the safe side and only invest 1,000 dollars in Chevron Corporation because of the risk factor that comes into play with the oil and gas industry. Chevron Corporation actually did well after all. The share prices were high to start with. Chevron Corporation had one stock split within the ten years. In September of 2004, the 2:1 split helped my number of shares go from about 48 shares to around 97 shares total. In the end I owned a total of approximately 180 shares. These shares sold for a big $105. 38 each. This nearly doubled the 10,000 dollars. The total after the ten years in Chevron Corporation was $18,982. 67. The one mutual fund I invested in was with PIMCO. This global investment authority offers many different bonds such as: absolute return bonds, asset allocations, convertibles, municipal bonds, core bonds, etc. (PIMCO). The bond I chose was a core bond. This bond was the PIMCO Total Return Fund. This particular fund focuses on a solid core fixed-income (PIMCO). The fund will typically invest in a diversified portfolio of securities (PIMCO). One thing I noticed when researching PIMCO Total Return Fund was that the worst one year return for this bond was 0. 28% (PIMCO). This made PIMCO a reliable source in my eyes. I selected to invest 1,000 dollars with PIMCO because it is a popular, reliable investment company. The shares for this fund had a low price. Each share was $10. 65 in July of 2001. This investment consisted of many more shares at a much lower price. I owned roughly 90 more shares every year. The total number of shares after ten years was about 1030 shares. Each share sold for $11. 12. This gave me a total of $11,456. 71 in returns. After investing 60,000 dollars over ten years in three stocks and one bond, I accumulated a total of $137,808. 59. Buckle Inc. was my best investment earning $60,238. 45 over ten years. Surprisingly Buckle Inc. was able to triple its profit over the total ten years I invested. Nike Inc. over doubled in the ten years. Nike Inc. did quite well throughout the ten years. Chevron was the least earning stock; however, this investment earned almost double the 10,000 dollars initially spent on the stock. The PIMCO Total Return Fund was what Dr. Duke considers a low risk/low reward investment. The PIMCO Total Return Fund was conservative. The total at the end of ten years in the PIMCO Fund was $11,456. 71. This fund earned a small amount over 14% profit. This was actual a very respectable profit for a mutual fund. Overall the total return from all the investments was a tremendous profit. Going from 60,000 dollars to 137,000 dollars was remarkable. Not everyone succeeds in the market; however, this is a great illustration of how well someone can do in the world of investment when it comes to stocks and bonds. Works Cited â€Å"Buckle Inc. † Buckle. com: Men’s and Women’s On-Trend Fashion Clothing & Designer Jeans

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Kmart and Sears Merger Essay

Kmart had been established in 1962 by its parent company S. S. Kresge as a discount department store offering the most variety of goods at the lowest prices. Un- like Sears, the company chose not to locate in large shopping malls but to establish its discount stores in highly visible corner locations. During the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, Kmart prospered. Retail formats in operation Kmart – is a chain of discount stores that are usually free standing or located in a strip malls. Big Kmart – signals a different kind of Kmart. These stores are bigger, brighter and offer big savings, big value, big selection and big convenience. Big Kmart stores are designed to increase store sales by increasing the frequency of customer visits. The format focuses on three distinct businesses – home fashions, children’s apparel and consumables – and features an expanded food area known as the â€Å"Pantry†. Kmart Super Center – is a chain of hypermarkets that carry everything a regular Kmart carries, but also have a full grocery section with meat and poultry, baked goods, a delicatessen, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Most Kmart Super Centers operate 24-hours a day and offer special services. In 1999 Kmart began offering a dial-up internet service called BlueLight, which was eventually spun off as an independent company. BlueLight was initially free and supported by banner ads. BlueLight dropped the free service in February 2001 and was reacquired by Kmart in July 2001. In 2002 United Online, which also owns NetZero and Juno, bought the BlueLight service after Kmart filed for bankruptcy. In August 2006, Bluelight dropped the banners. As of August 2006, the service costs $14. 95 a month and has around 165,000 subscribers. Promotional Pricing model Promotional pricing had always been the forte at Kmart. Offering a lower price temporarily in order to enhance the effectiveness of product sales efforts to cost sensitive consumer. In 1990, Wal-Mart overtook Kmart in sales, they tried to wean the company away from this strategy. Kmart cut process on 38,000 items and promoted the with expensive television commercials, which failed to lure younger shoppers. Then Wal-Mart countered by using its greater efficiency and economies of scale to fight back on pricing. The outcome was 1% drop in Kmart’s sales in December and 8% increase in those of Wal-Mart. Financial Analysis Prior to 2001, company was making continues losses, in order to understand scenario; we first analyze the period from 1995 to 1998. Here, Kmart started making some profit. And the second part from the year 1998 to 2002, where they actually went bankrupts. In 1995, the firm suffered a huge loss of $571 million. This was because of the non-performance of 127 international stores. It was in the same year that COGS as a percentage of sales were too high as 78%. Operating expenses as a percentage was in proportion to that of the industry. However due to the low performance of the international stores, stores outside t United States, Kmart had a bad financial year in 1995. It was the same year that the management decided to do away with the non preforming stores and thereby closed all its international stores and started four new stores in the home market. The list of stores by Kmart during the period can be seen as under: In 1999, COGS was 78% of sales as compared to 72 % of sales in the year 1998. Also, COGS increased drastically compared to increase in sales. Sales in 1999 increased by 6. 26%, however COGS increased by 12. 23%. Thus, there was a major decrease in the grow profit from 27% of sales to 21% of sales. This was the beginning of the downfall of Kmart. From here on, COGS kept on increasing. In 2002 COG reached 85%, thus gross margin reduced from 21% in 1999 to 14% in 2002. During the same time, Kmart’s operational efficiency too decreased and it increased from 18% in the year 1999 to 21% in 2002. Thus, increase in the COGS, lowering of the gross margin and increase in the operational costs, all contributes to the fall of Kmart. Competitors within the industry Its primary competitors were Wal-Mart, Sears, Target, Kohl’s, and J.  C. Penney, with secondary competitors in certain categories. Wal-Mart Wal-Mart followed the lower cost competitive strategy of cost leadership. According to our textbook cost leadership aims at the broad mass market and requires efficient scale facilities, cost reductions, cost and overhead control; avoids marginal customers, cost minimization in R&D, service, sales force and advertising. Therefore Wal-Mart could get following benefits: this strategy provided defense against competitors, provides a barrier to entry for new competitors and generate increased market share. Wal-Mart managed to maintain â€Å"everyday low prices† and achieve highest sales in the industry. It should be noted that Wal-Mart’s 2005 revenues exceeded that of the next ? ve U. S. retailers combined: these are Home Depot, Kroger, Sears Holding Company (which includes Sears and Kmart), Costco, and Target. Wal-Mart’s technological edge is in its logistics, distribution, and inventory control helped it reduce cost and offer customers product cheaper than its competitors. Moreover it could benefit from economies of scale. Wal-Mart also used differentiation focus strategy by creating a product and service unique to customers, according to ReferenceForBusiness. com. It could be argued that this feature is not real and just in the mind of the customer; customers believed they were being offered something special. Wal-Mart achieved this strategy by offering unique warranties and brand images. Wal-Mart customers believed they were being provided with something that they cannot find at any of the store’s competitors. Wall-mart’s value chain worked in following way: Vendors, Wal-Mart’s suppliers delivered products to Wal-Mart’s distribution center or directly to one of the stores. Wal-Mart was able to bargain for the lowest possible price because of the high volume of sales. Therefore, Wal-Mart could pass this savings to its customers. After that once the products were delivered to the distribution center, they were sorted and placed on trucks to be delivered to stores. This allows for less than 48 hour deliveries to stores and increased efficiency on trucks with backhauls. After products were delivered to the stores, they were placed on the appropriate shelf location for customers to view. Store locations were located throughout the U. S. in rural and urban towns. Moreover customers could purchase products at very low prices and have the ability to return any item. These were the key elements of Wal-Mart value chain. Overall Wal-Mart’s competitive advantage over its competitors was efficient supply chain management and lower prices achieved through maintaining low costs. Sears Sears, with the second-highest annual sales, had a strong position in hard goods, such as home appliances and tools. Around 40% of all major home appliance sales continued to be controlled by Sears. Nevertheless, Sears was struggling with slumping sales as customers turned from Sears mall stores to stand-alone, big-box retailers, such as Lowe’s and Home Depot, to buy their hard goods. Sears main competitive disadvantage was its store locations. Sears has been too slow to expand away from mall locations, industry analysts said. As Sears Chairman Alan Lacy said: â€Å"Our service and products are as good as our competitors but they’re not where our customers are. † Target Target was third in sales but second in profits, behind Wal-Mart. It used differentiation strategy and tried to offer customers quality products and had distinguished itself as a merchandiser of stylish upscale products. Targets mission statement focused on great guest service, clean stores and speedy checkouts. Along with Wal-Mart, Target had flourished to such an extent that Dayton-Hudson, its parent company, had changed its corporate name to Target. Its main focus was statically higher income consumers and early internet adopters. Target’s main competitive advantage was good customer service and quality product. This is where it creates value for its customers. Kohl’s, and J. C. Penney Both Kohl’s and J. C. Penney emphasized on soft goods, such as clothing and related items. They both chose differentiation strategy. Kohl’s concentrated on selling both private and exclusive brands which were â€Å"only at Kohl’s† as well as national brands like Nike, Adidas, Lee, Levi’s, Jockey, Van Heusen. Private and exclusive brands contributed a lot more to the gross margin as Kohl’s has significant control over the production, manufacturing and marketing expense of these brands. Keeping this in mind, Kohl’s has shifted its merchandise gradually towards this section of merchandise. In 2004, Kohl’s carried 25% in Private and Exclusive Brands, and this figure rose to 50% in 2011. Moreover it tried to provide â€Å"convenience† promise to customers – an easy and satisfying shopping experience. Kohl’s organized departments by lifestyle, added signage and graphics depicting key trends, and presented merchandise to suggest how customers can create new looks. They also continued to improve inventory management to deliver more new product more often, to differentiate line mixes according to geographic preferences, and to assure a â€Å"shelf never empty† of products the consumer desires. J. C Penney targeted moderate income customs, mainly women who as company executive said that were with, â€Å"too little time, too little money, and two little kids. † Kmart versus Competitors Kmart’s main problem was that it did not have clearly defined competitive strategy. In 2001, Kmart proclaimed a new retailing strategy that included less advertising, fewer advertised specials, and lower daily prices on many items. In short, Kmart tried to challenge Wal-Mart as the everyday low-price leader. Wal-Mart responded to the Kmart challenge with still lower prices. These new initiatives further weakened the ? nancial position of Kmart Corporation. The Kmart assault on the Wal-Mart image as the low-price leader failed, and Kmart was left with huge volumes of unsold merchandise (Turner 2003, 71–72). Kmart forgot to take into consideration that its capacity to lower prices was limited because of its poor supply chain management, often popular products would be out of stock, in some cases stored in trailors outside of the stores. Kmart was not successful in using differentiation competitive strategy either. While Wal-Mart reigned supreme as the low cost leader, Target was perceived as being a â€Å"higher quality† retailer. There was basically nothing left for Kmart. In attempt to pursue differentiation strategy Kmart updated and enlarged the stores, added name brands, however this was not successful either, acquisitions all performed poorly posting minimal net income or losses and distracted management from core business. Kmart’s main competitive disadvantages were problems in value proposition, poor supply chain/inventory management and poor customer service. It needed to choose competitive strategy suitable for it and concentrate on it.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Assessment and Management of Pain

Morphine is one of the prevalent analgesic opioid that is considered as potent and effective pain relievers and has been undertaken for past many years. This is used for undertaking both acute and chronic pain management. Morphine targets the pain due to myocardial infarction, surgery, injuries and others (Macintyre and Schug 2014). Morphine is an opiate drug that targets opioid receptors leading to the formation of the analgesia with the help of the mechanism of hyperpolarisation of interneuron and decrement in the release of the transmitters of pain. Human body consist of inbuilt analgesic and pain relieving system that regulates in the body by minimizing the sensations in the spinal cord that further transmits the sensations of the pain to different locations with the help of synapse within the neurons. Activation of the pain management in the spinal cord occurs by the supraspinal mechanism. This mechanism includes opioid system that is responsible for the release of endorphins, the adrenergic system that is responsible for the release of norepinephrine and serotogenic system that is responsible for the release of serotonin. Synergy and communication among all leads to the activation of analgesic activity. When the inbuilt analgesic system fails to control pain, additional analgesic drugs such as morphine is used to increase the working capacity of this inbuilt system. Besides this, morphine also regulates the generation of supraspinal structures leading to the activation of the whole system. Adrenergic drugs react with specific receptors for the production of the analgesia and morphine further reacts with these drugs for the regulation of the analgesia (Stang et al. 2014). Visceral pain targets the thoracic, abdominal and pelvic organs of the body and it is considered to be one of the most common types of the pain a doctor responds to. Visceral pain targets chest, prostate gland, pelvis, gastrointestinal tract, gall bladder, scrotum and vulva (Mayer et al. 2015). Surgical treatments available for the treatment of Angina pectoris and other chest pain is coronary artery bypass surgery or grafting and percutaneous coronary intervention that undertakes the change in the oxygen concentration in the body with the help of certain channel blockers such as nitrates and calcium. Alteration in the oxygen demand and supply leads to the reduction of the pain. Besides this, Cordotomy is another surgical procedure that is used for the treatment of visceral pain due to terminal maladies or illness such as cancer, AIDS, pulmonary fibrosis and many others. This surgery is undertaken percutaneously with the help of fluoroscopic or computerized tomography scan. The laminectomy surgery is undertaken in the spinothalamic tract under the presence of anaesthesia. Another technique that is appropriate as the surgical treatment for the visceral pain is myelotomy which are of two types Commissural and Punctuate or limited Midline. Commissural Myelotomy undertakes the m ultiscale laminectomy in the spinal cord. This targets the nerve fibre joining the brain with spinal cord and interrupts the pain there. While Punctuate or Limited Midline is a neuroablative surgery that undertakes the treatment of bladder, pancreas and colon by interrupting the center of dorsal column. This is one of the most effective methods as it can be used for the treatment of posterior columns of the organs (Lazzeri et al. 2015). Lazzeri, L., Vannuccini, S., Orlandini, C., Luisi, S., Zupi, E., Nappi, R.E. and Petraglia, F., 2015. Surgical treatment affects perceived stress differently in women with endometriosis: correlation with severity of pain.  Fertility and sterility,  103(2), pp.433-438. Macintyre, P.E. and Schug, S.A., 2014.  Acute pain management: a practical guide. CRC Press. Mayer, E.A., Gupta, A., Kilpatrick, L.A. and Hong, J.Y., 2015. Imaging brain mechanisms in chronic visceral pain.  Pain,  156(0 1), p.S50. Stang, A.S., Hartling, L., Fera, C., Johnson, D. and Ali, S., 2014. Quality indicators for the assessment and management of pain in the emergency department: a systematic review.  Pain Research and Management,  19(6), pp.e179-e190.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Philosophy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Philosophy - Assignment Example 104-105). A person or human is defined by the author as a creation of God that possesses moral freedom with the capacity to make decisions at will, which can either be good or evil. This distinct character is what makes a person what he or she is (p. 107-108). Free will is the human being’s freedom to make decisions in their own ‘volition’ and to take responsibility or accept the consequences that can occur through the interplay of different factors such as morality. Hick equated freewill with personal or moral freedom (p. 107). 2. In the creation of man by God the main aim is to have moral freedom which is defined by the process of making a decision or choice on the basis of his own will. For that matter if man is exposed in the natural evil that is present in his environment, he acts on his moral freedom. Man is different from God, thus, mistakes and evil acts can occur as a manifestation of being human. For that matter, the actions and behavior of man is not a ground to question the omniscience of God (p. 107). Evil is necessary because without it goodness has no worth (p.104-105). Evil is natural since the only perfect being is God and every entity can be influence by the presence of pain, suffering or degradation (p.106). The human or moral evil is a distinct characteristic of people since they are finite beings. If they only do the right things then they are ‘self-contradictory’ because they cannot randomly choose the right or the good decision in every step of the way (p.107). 4. Hick would express his view that natural evil is present as good is but it depend on the choice of the human to choose evil over goodness. For that matter it cannot be stated that human evil comprise the evil present in the world since there are pain and suffering that cannot be related to man. In addition, decisions made by

Monday, October 7, 2019

Factory Gate pricing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Factory Gate pricing - Essay Example either directly to the stores or to his retail ware houses. The retail got the finished goods at reduced prices than before. Prior to the implementation of the FGP the supplier used to incur the transportation costs and the retailers the inventory costs at the warehouses. The factory gate pricing give the option to reduce the investment cost on maintaining the inventory for the distribution centre at times as the retailer will have he option to transport the goods directly to the shops. The retailer has the option of making the entire supply chain operations under one roof. FGP brings the control of primary transportation from the factory to distribution centers and inventory into one hand which likely leads to generate cost savings operations. In addition FGP offers two other sources for savings. Firstly, retailers generally have a vast product range for which they can make the transportation-inventory trade-off at one point of time. The orders from different suppliers that are located close to each other may be synchronized in time, such that they can be combined in the same vehicle route. Secondly, under FGP, primary and secondary distribution can be integrated and can be handled by one single entity. The supply chain initiative can be improved by optimizing the usage of space by the retailer by using the same vehicle to deliver the goods to the shop and to the distribution centre on one single trip.Significance of factory gate pricing The significance of FGP is that it removes traditional geographic transport boundaries where an assigned logistics provider controls all vehicle movement within a particular region for a... The significance of FGP is that it removes traditional geographic transport boundaries where an assigned logistics provider controls all vehicle movement within a particular region for a retailer. Better vehicle utilization as suppliers shares vehicles in order to reduce costs by sharing the space with the vehicles. Removal of uneconomical vehicle movements through combining additional products from different sources to ensure every lorry is full when it sets out on its delivery route. Benefits of implementing factory gate pricing. The benefits of factory gate pricing are Effective Transportation as the retailer is involved with the supplier and the time for transportation reduces to a considerable extent. Effective transportation may lead to Improved Availability of the goods in the stores and sustainable stock can be maintained in the shops. The decrease in transport costs leads to reduced prices on the finished goods. Environmentally it will be a positive aspect as the vehicles wi ll fully carry the goods of different supplier thus reducing the repeat trips to the same route thus reducing the vehicular traffic which results in reduced air pollution. Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment â€Å"CPFR is the sharing of forecasts and related business information among business partners in the supply chain to enable automatic product replenishment†. CPFR is designed to link the supply and demand processes allowing for a more consumer driven supply chain. CPFR aims to seamlessly link the industry from manufacturer to consumer.

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Centralized PC Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Centralized PC Security - Essay Example To protect data, security policies are required to be defined. Contingency planning is also an essential aspect which cannot be disregarded. As per Ramesh, V.C., and Xuan Li there are three dimensions of contingency planning â€Å"The first issue concerns the handling of multiple objectives; we discuss the benefits of using fuzzy logic for handling this issue.  The second issue is the consideration of the economic cost of post-contingency corrective actions as well as the utility of discrete control actions that complicate the modeling and solution of the contingency planning problem.  The last issue is the need for of advanced parallel computing techniques for addressing the real-time aspects of many contingency planning problems;† 2 Analysis of Problems ABC Corporation has twenty seven desktop workstations either connected with each other via a hub or a switch. The workstations are only workgroups as there is no domain and security policies applied in the organization ex cept some users have Internet access and only the manager has a separate email account. There is no email server available to provide separate email addresses to employees. The separate email addresses enables instant correspondence between the subordinates, hence making the communication better and cost effective. Currently the employees are using telephone for coordination which is not cost effective. Some workstations are used to store data. There is no access policy defined for the data stored in the workstations. The data is vulnerable as anyone can access it or delete it. The server is used only for providing internet access and data transfer within the network. There is no firewall installed in the network, either hardware or software which makes the data, hardware, software defenseless. There is no connectivity between the regional offices and head office. The manager access the financial information from the head office using the computer network. The 5 regional offices hav e five databases which they are maintaining individually. Immense amount of time is wasted when head office sends a CD named â€Å"House types data† to each regional office. The administrator copies the files available on the CD to the locally maintained database. The data is updated because the project managers have to access the plans and building specifications of the houses the company builds. The data contains all the detailed information of the house construction material which is required. There is no backup of devices, data, workstations and server. If any workstation containing database crashes, the data will be lost. 2.1 Security Vulnerabilities The impact of the security breach issues is unpredictable. It can be diverted and involves human suffering as well as revenue loss for the organizations. One of the security breach took place on 21 October 2010, as per â€Å"www.networksecurityedge.com† The Philadelphia Inquirer states â€Å"Keystone Mercy Health Pla n and AmeriHealth Mercy Health Plan have notified 280,000 Medicaid members that their information may be at risk after a portable computer drive containing the names, addresses, and health information was lost. The last four digits of 801 members' Social Security numbers were also stored on the hard drive†. This incident is related to theft of the hardware devices risking 280,000 Medicaid